TRAVIS VIRGADAMO | Deemed suicidal in boot camp, Virgadamo was still shipped to Iraq — with a prescription for Prozac — when he turned 18. After continuing to struggle with depression in Iraq, his prescription was switched and he was put on a week of "stress management," his grandmother said. When his gun was returned to him, he shot and killed himself.
SHELBY BERRETT | Chad Barrett's widow says his profile showed he shouldn't carry a weapon or go anywhere "remote from definitive psychiatric care." A psychologist had recommended his discharge, but he fought to stay.
THE DUERKSEN FAMILY | William Troy presents a flag from the casket of Amy Duerksen to the fallen soldier's parents, Michelle and Doug Duerksen, at her burial in March 2006 in Killeen, Texas.
"She had stopped eating. She was telling people she was going to kill herself. … Reading the investigation was just horrifying to us." Michelle Duerksen, mother of Amy Duerksen, left, who committed suicide in Iraq. When Michelle and her husband read the investigative report on their daughter's death, they learned one soldier had said, "Duerksen finally did it," the moment he heard the gunshot.
These photos of Chad Barrett were provided by Shelby Barrett.
Chad Barrett's war on terror started in the hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when he was called to help dig bodies out of a smoking Pentagon.
It ended Feb. 2, 2008, in Mosul, Iraq, when his roommate awoke to find him gasping and gurgling, with foam coming from his mouth.
Barrett had been cleared for a third combat tour in Iraq despite a recent suicide attempt, crushing headaches and a mental illness treated with medication for anxiety and depression. Two months after he arrived, he killed himself by swallowing an unknown number of pills.
He was the sixth soldier from Fort Carson to commit suicide in Iraq. At least 10 others have killed themselves in the U.S., nine after returning from the war.
After five years of war in Iraq, Army suicide rates have reached their highest level since the Army started keeping such records in 1980. Reported suicide attempts jumped 500 percent from about 350 in 2002 to 2,100 last year, an increase the Defense Department says may be partly attributable to better compliance with reporting requirements.
Personal issues such as relationships, work and financial problems are among the main causes of suicide, Army officials say. But they also acknowledge that multiple deployments are contributing to the suicide rate — and to the stress in personal and family relationships.
"Army leaders are fully aware that repeated deployments have led to increased distress and anxiety for both soldiers and their families," said Secretary of the Army Pete Geren.
In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Army provided The Denver Post with names of 123 soldiers who killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to early 2008.
This year, the Army reported that 76 percent of suicide attempts in Iraq and Afghanistan were deployment-related, and 61 percent of the soldiers who killed themselves in 2007 had been deployed at least once to Iraq or Afghanistan.
"There appears to be a direct relationship between the incidence of suicide and the number of deployments, which, of course, is no surprise," said Dr. Bob Scaer, a neurologist who served as medical director at the Mapleton Rehabilitation Center in Boulder.
Army leaders say they are striving to reduce suicide risks, identify signs of stress and encourage troubled soldiers to seek help.
"The Army is making great strides in treating soldiers with post-traumatic psychological symptoms as well as decreasing the stigma associated with treatment for these symptoms," Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum said when its yearly suicide report was released in May.
Some soldiers and their advocates question whether that message is getting through, particularly at Fort Hood.
Carissa Picard of the Fort Hood-based group Military Spouses for Change agreed.
Col. Elspeth Ritchie, a psychiatrist and medical director of the Army Strategic Communications Office, said the Army does not treat soldiers simply to redeploy them.
On Sept. 11, 2007, an Army psychologist decided Chad Barrett might get better if he left the Army. Barrett had been deployed to Iraq twice and attempted suicide once. The psychologist recommended discharging him for medical reasons.
A career soldier, Barrett fought to stay. In mid-November, he met with military doctors, asking them to stop his medical evaluation and let him return for a third combat tour in Iraq.
At a post struggling to find enough healthy soldiers to fill a brigade, Barrett found a willing taker. Fort Carson doctors re-evaluated him and cleared him to go. He left for Iraq with prescriptions for Ambien and Lunesta to sleep; Klonopin, for anxiety; an antidepressant, Pamelor — and a medical profile specifying that he should not carry a weapon or go anywhere "remote from definitive psychiatric care," his wife said.
In March 2003 — 18 months after witnessing the carnage from the Sept. 11 attacks — Barrett had been assigned to a unit that invaded Iraq. During that tour and a second, he "saw some pretty horrific things," and "anything that burned reminded him of the sights and sounds of picking up bodies at the Pentagon," his wife said.
A gunner, he was exposed to numerous blasts from improvised explosive devices. After two tours, "Chad would get very severe migraines that would knock him to his knees," his wife said.
In June 2007, he tried to kill himself for the first time, swallowing an orange juice glass full of pills in front of his wife after she came home from a night out with friends. He survived at an Army hospital, then spent three days in a lockdown facility.
On his third tour, Barrett was assigned to work from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in the radio room at the Mosul base. On Jan. 28, 2008, he came in to hear choked-up voices crackling over the radio. A convoy had been hit by a roadside bomb, and when the survivors jumped out, they were sprayed by machine-gun fire from a mosque. Five soldiers died.
He called again on Feb. 1 to wish his wife a happy birthday and to tell her that he loved her. That was his last call.
His roommate found him dying at 9:20 the next morning. His wife said an autopsy ruled his death a suicide from "multiple-drug intoxication" and "heavy lungs." Two drugs were found in his system: Pamelor and sleeping pills.
Army officials would not comment directly on Barrett's death.
But "the Army takes suicide prevention very seriously. We are honor-bound to ensure we do everything possible to minimize potential risks," spokesman Paul Boyce said — including training for soldiers and leaders to recognize signs of suicidal behavior and helping people at risk.
To meet growing demands for mental- health treatment, the Army has added more than 190 contract behavioral-health providers to work on its installations. It is also treating more soldiers with "telepsychiatry" — providing a psychiatrist by video conference on a high-definition television set instead of face-to-face meetings.
Jonathan Berry, a 19-year-old soldier from White Cloud, Mich., with a history of suicidal thoughts, had three weekly televised conversations with a psychiatrist last month while assigned to an Army behavioral-health clinic in Maryland, according to his fiancee and an Army source.
He jumped out of a window after the third, killing himself.
Marla VerDuin, Berry's fiancee, said he told her that he "just had to sit and talk to someone over a TV" once a week.
Jeffrey Castro, a spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Command, said the command is investigating Berry's death and will not comment.
Ritchie and Dr. Michael Lynch, the director of Walter Reed Army Medical Center's telepsychiatry program, also said they could not discuss an individual case.
But they agreed the Army is increasing its use of telepsychiatry as a treatment tool, particularly when soldiers are stationed in places where psychiatric care is not readily available.
Ritchie called telepsychiatry a useful tool that can serve an Army facility lacking psychiatrists, speed up a medical board evaluation or enable a pediatrician to consult a child psychiatrist.
Parents of several of the soldiers who reportedly committed suicide after deploying from Fort Hood say warning signs were missed or overlooked by an Army bearing the brunt of a prolonged war in Iraq.
Two were women who had reported being raped. A third woman was killed by a jealous soldier who then killed himself.
When 19-year-old Amy Duerksen shot herself in Iraq, her diary was left open to a page describing how she had been raped at a training session before Fort Hood deployed her.
Her mother, Michelle Duerksen, said Amy's unit ignored clear signs that she was feeling suicidal.
Michelle and her husband, a retired Army chaplain, adopted Amy at age 4, a girl who had been severely abused and neglected and who would struggle with depression as a teenager.
After Amy was raped, "she had evidently told people about the history of abuse," because her commander knew about it, her mother said.
When she and her husband read the investigative report on their daughter's death, they learned one soldier had commented, "Duerksen finally did it," upon hearing the gunshot.
Last August, Paul Norris became the 20th Fort Hood soldier to commit suicide in Iraq, according to records provided by the Army.
Norris, a 30-year-old veteran of combat tours in Bosnia and Iraq, shot himself. But first he shot and killed Kamisha Block, a 20-year-old woman who had spurned him.
Military officials announced both deaths as "noncombat" incidents under investigation.
Kamisha's parents, Jerry and Jane Block, say Norris had stalked and assaulted their daughter before he killed her, and she had reported the assaults to the Army.
"He just kept doing it. He was 'in love' with her. She was trying to get away from him," Jerry Block said.
She said Army officials have never explained why officers who knew of Norris' assaults and harassment failed to protect her daughter. The Army did give them a hefty investigative report that included sworn statements from other soldiers "that he was out of control," she said.
Army officials did not respond to the comments of parents whose children killed themselves or were murdered after deploying from Fort Hood. Nor did they comment directly on the high number of reported suicides in two years among soldiers deployed from a single base.
Instead, they emphasized the efforts already underway — training for all soldiers on traumatic brain injuries and combat stress, policies to reduce the stigma of seeking help, family life chaplains, a video program called Battlemind that shows soldiers what they are likely to see, hear and feel in a war and how to cope as a warrior.
Fort Hood will soon launch a new ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) program to broaden those efforts. Although that program has not officially begun, "chaplains are constantly working to prevent suicide at every level, most importantly at the soldier level," said Army spokesman Boyce.
In November 2006, the Defense Department issued new guidance for "deployment-limiting" psychiatric conditions and medications.
The new policy lists psychotic and bipolar disorders, and the medicines used to treat them, as disqualifying for deployment. It also states that "caution is warranted in beginning, changing, stopping and/or continuing" other drugs prescribed to stabilize or improve mood, mental status or behavior.
That policy — allowing deployment on psychotropic drugs with caution — enabled Chad Barrett to embark on a third combat tour with Klonopin and Pamelor.
It also enabled Travis Virgadamo, an 18-year-old soldier from Nevada, to take Prozac to Iraq.
Virgadamo's grandmother, Katie O'Brien, said he joined the Army as a 17-year-old after his father married a Filipino woman and moved to the Philippines.
The Army does not discuss suicides of individual soldiers. But spokeswoman Cynthia Vaughan said it is wrong to call Prozac a suicidal medicine.
While there is an increased risk of suicide in the early treatment phase for depression, particularly among young adults, "both Prozac and Paxil are in the class of medications called SSRIs, which are a very safe category of antidepressants," she said.
Virgadamo told his grandmother he was put on a suicide watch again in Iraq.
In July 2007, he came home for a rest-and-relaxation break. He talked to his grandmother about terrible things he'd seen and said he couldn't go back. He talked of fleeing to Canada. She asked if he wanted to spend the rest of his life as a fugitive, looking over his shoulder.
Virgadamo went back. Last August, on his 19th birthday, he called his grandmother from Iraq. She urged him to go to a doctor and demand to stop taking Prozac.
On Aug. 30, the Army gave Virgadamo his gun back, and "he killed himself that night," she said.
Outside the Fort Carson gate, a stone memorial lists the names of all its soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq.
Shelby Barrett visited the memorial for the first time last month. She looked down the long list of names, recognizing those of a dozen soldiers she once knew. She knelt and ran her fingers over the name at the bottom of the last stone: Chad Barrett — Feb. 2, 2008.
That's when she noticed something odd. Her husband's name was out of sequence, chiseled beneath those of two other soldiers who died more than a month later.
"It looks like an afterthought," she said.


When you first find out you're going to be a parent, it can be a mixture of nervousness, fear, happiness, and excitement all at once! However when bringing new life into the world, no one expects having to deal with the surprise of having a baby weeks before they are due. Not only are you not ready or prepared, but the care and time that is needed in order to take care of a preemie may be overwhelming for many. When this unexpected experience happens, know that there are ways that you and your partner can support each other while you give your little one the care needed.
Take time for yourself to let out your emotions. Going through a premature birth and taking care of your new baby causes a storm of emotions that can make it difficult to cope with your situation. There's a phrase: "You can't help others if you don't help yourself." Don't be afraid to acknowledge or even start logging your feelings and experience. It will help you make sense of your situation and lead to accepting these whirlwind feelings.
Leaning on the support of your friends and family! It's okay to ask for help, especially if you have little ones of your own that need looking after while you're in the hospital. On the contrary, you could also use this time with friends and family as breaks—like meeting up for lunch—to give yourself an hour or two to try to relax from the stress.
Find a support group that is going through the same experience as you. You could find this kind of support either in-person or online. Talking to families going through the same experience can help feel like you're not alone. You could also talk to a counselor or psychologist one-on-one if you so desire. Sometimes hospitals will offer group counseling or private counseling for parents with preemies, just ask a staff member or doctor for more information!
Spending as much time as you are allowed with your premature baby is important. With all the machines and sounds, it can be confusing as to how you can help your baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). As always, listen to what the doctors and nurses say. It is highly recommended to use skin-to-skin contact, breast feeding, and talking to your baby—they will most certainly recognize the mom's voice. Also, make sure to limit who sees baby. There should only be three people, including the mom and dad, in the room at one time.. If visitors have children, it is recommended that they are not introduced to the baby while still in the hospital. This helps in regards to keeping a calm environment for the brand new parents as well as protecting the new baby from germs and illnesses. If the parents of the baby have other children, it is acceptable for them to be in there, but make sure to have them practice safe hygiene.
In addition to the tips above, if you are not the mother of the baby then it can be hard to know how to be helpful and supportive. Be there for each other and communicate with open-mindedness. Allow yourself to be emotional when you feel emotional and talk to each other about your feelings. Also, show your spouse or partner that you are thinking of them by way of little reminders. This could range from a simple text message to even a surprise homemade dinner!
Lastly, the mother may feel at fault for her premature baby. Reassure them that even the experts are not aware of all the reasons why premature birth occurs. A majority of the time, it is not in our control to prevent this from happening. If your spouse or partner shows signs of depression or something worse, approach your concern with a gentle and non-judgemental conversation. Together, talk to your doctor about the best treatments for these symptoms. Communication for you and your partner is vital and key in this supportive process.
Want to get involved and help premature babies? We would like to let you know that on April 28 we will be participating in March for Babies 2019, an annual walk that is 3 to 5 miles long which helps raise medical funds for premature babies. Whether you have a preemie, know of someone who does, or just want to support the babies who need money for their healthcare you can help by joining our team or donating to our fundraiser. Thank you!


We love stickers too. Now we have them available for everyone! Show your support for the Findlay Force with pride on your favorite things. Hooray!
This is a special promotion, limited to the first 10,000 customers then it will be gone for good. Simply add the stickers to your cart & checkout.
Because of the high demand for these free stickers, these are shipped in bulk, so your shipping time may take longer than a standard order from us.
If you order more than 1 free sticker pack, you order will be flagged we will only ship the original 3 stickers.
Limit 1 free sticker pack per address & 1 per customer. We will only ship 1 free sticker pack, regardless of total free stickers ordered. Additional stickers may be purchased under the accessories section of our website.


Russia took sole possession of first place in Group B competition after beating the Czech Republic by a 3-1 score on Wednesday.
It was the second day of round-robin action at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship.
Both teams were coming off opening-game victories which saw Russia beat Germany, 4-0, and the Czech Republic take a key 3-2 win away from Sweden.
For the Czechs, the game was a tale of penalty trouble and superb goaltending, while the Russians continued to show that they're not afraid to use their bodies to block shots or move the puck. Shots on goal were almost even on each side, with 19 for Russia and 20 for the Czech Republic.
The first period was full of spirited play in both ends. Team Russia opened scoring at 3:22. After a brief scramble in front of Czech netminder Radka Lhotska, Russian forward Yekaterina Lebedeva put it away for a 1-0 lead.
Penalty problems for the Czech Republic also started early in the first, with defenceman Katerina Flachsova being sent off for hooking at 6:08.
The Czech penalty kill was strong and did a superb job of limiting Russia's chances. Building on the momentum, the Czech Republic generated more sustained offence in the second half of the period, forcing Russian goaltender Anna Prugova to make some big saves.
The Czech Republic had more penalty trouble later in the first when forward Lucie Povova was sent off for holding, but the Russians still couldn't solve the Czech penalty killers.
The Czech Republic came out strong to start the second period, forcing the Russian goaltender to stay sharp. But they went down a man again when forward Eva Holesova went off for tripping. Building on the strength of their penalty kill, the Czechs almost put away a shorthanded goal.
The Czech Republic went to the box again, with forward Tereza Vanisova sent off for tripping. This time, the Russians made no mistake. With plenty of traffic in front, Russian forward Alexandra Vafina tapped the puck in following a cross-crease pass, to bring the score to 2-0.
Just over a minute later, the Czechs were back in the box, this time with Alena Polenska heading off the ice for hooking. Again, a strong Czech penalty kill held the Russians at bay, which gave the Czech team a much-needed power surge. With just over three minutes left in the second period, Czech forward Denisa Krizova rushed in and potted a beautiful goal, sending the Czech-friendly crowd roaring.
Both teams met penalty trouble in the third, but Russia scored a short-handed goal by Tatyana Burina.
In the dying moments of the third, it was clear that Czech legs were getting tired. Although the Czech Republic pulled its goalie with one minute remaining, the contest closed 3-1 in favour of Russia.


text:
Another 9/11 Survival Tale to rival that of Scott Shields' – Updated
It was interesting to see this story make it to the front page of the New York Times yesterday.
Tania Head's story, as shared over the years with reporters, students, friends and hundreds of visitors to ground zero, was a remarkable account of both life and death. She had, she said, survived the terror attack on the World Trade Center despite having been badly burned when the plane crashed into the upper floors of the south tower.
Crawling through the chaos and carnage on the 78th floor that morning, she said, she encountered a dying man who handed her his inscribed wedding ring, which she later returned to his widow.
Her own life was saved, she said, by a selfless volunteer who stanched the flames on her burning clothes before she was helped down the stairs. It was a journey she said she had the strength to make because she kept thinking of a beautiful white dress she was to wear at her coming marriage ceremony to a man named Dave. But later she would discover, she said, that Dave, her fiancé, and in some versions her husband, had perished in the north tower.
The problem is, no part of her story can be verified and much of the information that this woman has provided about herself has proven to be false. Interestingly, she has not profited monetarily from these claims. Yet, she has coveted the power that comes from her newfound recognition since the tragedy.
The problem with the situation with Scott Shields is, that his actions have cost the federal government a great deal of money, and he continues to mislead folks and solicit funds for his own foundation. And, yet, his story never makes it to the New York Times despite being carried in many other lesser known, more regional newspapers.
To get folks up to speed, here is some info from a previous entry:
This photo shows an almost 12-year-old "Bear" during his 1 1/2 days on the pile at the World Trade Center's Ground Zero. Old Scott and his old dog Bear were asked to leave then by Lt. Dan Donadio, head of the NYPD's canine unit, due to their not being qualified.
It should be noted that dogs of this age would never be allowed into an urban disaster site, given the inherent danger of the situation. Urban Search & Rescue dogs must have specialized agility training and continually train to remain in working shape. They are typically retired as they approach 8 to 9 years of age.
The entire ugly tale can be found here:
TRADING IN ON TRAGEDY FOR FAME: Succumbing to the Lure of Truthiness.
But, the saga continues as evidenced in this July 15th New York Post article from Brad Hamilton and Ginger Otis, 9/11 'HERO' CHARGED IN 40G SCAM
A self-proclaimed Ground Zero hero who says he and his golden retriever rescued victims from the World Trade Center rubble has been charged with fraud for allegedly ripping off $40,000 in federal relief funds. Scott Shields could face up to 35 years in jail after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him and his sister last month for allegedly swiping rental-assistance money from FEMA and other agencies.
Shields showed up in the days after the attack, accompanied by Bear, his cancer-stricken canine, but the dog was too sick to do any real work, and he two were on hand only for "a couple of days," according to a former NYPD officer.
That part is not quite right. Bear was not cancer-stricken when he initially went onto the pile for two days in September 2001, and thereby "too sick to do any real work". He was untrained and almost 12 years of age. No untrained dog would have been allowed into a situation that required advanced agility skills. And, certainly no working dog in urban search and rescue is on active status at such a senior age.
"There's something wrong with the guy," said Lt. Dan Denadio, who as head of the NYPD's K-9 unit spent nine months at Ground Zero. "I don't know how he got so far."
Shields claims he and Bear "made the only live finds" at the site. "Nonsense," Denadio said.
After his brief stint on the pile, Shields, who had resided in Greenwich, Conn., moved into an apartment across from the site – a swanky $3,182-a-month pad on Rector Place – and got one check for $16,443.50 from FEMA to pay for it, records show.
Shields collected thousands in additional rental assistance, the indictment says.
This copy of the felony indictment clearly displays the depth of the case that the US has against this brother and sister team. Although my legal knowledge is extremely limited, the 3 detailed counts of the indictment seem quite extensive and well documented. I can see by looking up the actual violations (through Title 18, Sections 641, 1341, 2) why the punishments are so steep.
Further court documents from Pacer indicate that Scott was arrested on March 20, 2007 and was freed on $50,000 bail with travel restricted to NY, NJ, PA, CT, NH & VA. Sadly, he is still traveling the circuit of dog, boat & security show events–providing presentations to both children and adults and peddling his version of the truth.
The last addition to Scott's case file shows a Memo Endorsement that was reviewed by the court on June 18th, and so entered and approved on July 2, 2007. It seems that bail conditions were modified to include a mental health assessment and mental health counseling.
The trial is set for November 5, 2007, Federal Judge Robert W. Sweet hearing the case of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. SCOTT SHIELDS, and PATRICIA SHIELDS, Defendants.
I fear no one is paying much attention to the fact that this man is under federal indictment. It must be the reason he continues to do gigs professing great knowledge in Search and Rescue, when he has no official training in the area.
Just look at this blurb about his upcoming presentation that he will be doing at the Pittsburgh Pet Expo on October 13-14:
The Search and Rescue Foundation
This is a Search and Rescue Organization based out of Connecticut. It was originally comprised of Capt. Scott Shields, who is the emergency management director for a New York-based private security company, and his rescue dog Bear. Captain Shields and Bear had been among the first emergency responders to reach ground zero. Shields and Bear, who is a golden retriever, worked 18-hour days, and Bear is credited with finding the most victims of all rescuers. More recently, they have been involved in the rescue efforts in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina. At the Pittsburgh Pet Expo Captain Shields and Theodore, who is Bear's offspring, will be present and doing various safety demos and a Search and Rescue overview of the World Trade Center.
If you go to my page on Scott about truthiness, you will be able to see the multitude of lies in this one small paragraph. What is interesting is how he has gotten the person to not write out the name of his foundation as the Bear Search and Rescue Foundation so that it would not be picked up by folks, like myself, who look out for where he may be lying his way into another performance. You see, when we find out about these events, we call and let the folks there know the real story. And, then we ask them if they want a man speaking about the WTC who is under federal indictment for alleged acts of fraud with respect to 9/11. You can well imagine what their response is.
Please help us be sure that this man is not allowed to solicit monies at this event or provide demos in an area that clearly diminishes the true heroes and hard work that our honest search and rescue folks are known for.
Please let them know that this man is clearly not who he professes to be.
UPDATE!!
I just read the following post at the Scott Shields Fraud Forum. We need more persons like this to speak their mind about what is going on:
Feel free to copy and send to Pittsburgh newspaper reporters or anyone else:
Dear ________ ,
ARE YOU AWARE THAT YOUR PRESENTER "CAPTAIN" SCOTT SHIELDS IS INDICTED FOR FEDERAL FRAUD?
Are you aware that Mr. Scott Shields and his sister Patty Shields are under Federal Indictment for FEMA Fraud (taking appox. $40,000 in 9/11 funds)? They have posted bond and are scheduled for trial in early November 2007? SEE:
US District Court – Southern District of NY
Case 1:07-cr-00320-RWS Document 15 Filed 04/17/2007
Are you aware how the scam works? Shields, a self-proclaimed hero and self-promoter, misrepresents himself to the public and to organizations in order to obtain awards and honors for himself and his dogs. He then uses these accolades to promote himself and seduce the public into giving money to his foundation.
Are you aware that Mr. Shields is not a "Captain"?
Are you aware that Mr. Shields was a volunteer at Ground Zero for less than three days and that he was not affiliated with any rescue organization?
Are you aware that Bear was NOT a trained search and rescue dog, he did NOT find the most victims and he did NOT find any live victims?
Are you aware that the publisher of Mr. Shields' book Bear Heart of a Hero has removed it from stores, and it is no longer available for sale—except through used book sellers?
Are you aware that Mr. Shields' co-author, Nancy West, has published a letter to readers on Amazon.com detailing misrepresentations about the book?
Are you aware that Dr. Jane Goodall removed her endorsement from this book?
Are you aware that Mr. Shields' dog Theodore is not Bear's offspring?
To investigate more about Mr. Shields and his sister and the a private foundation they operate (Bear Search and Rescue Foundation) contact: New York State Attorney General's Office (Andrew Cuomo) 212-416-8000
To speak with Mr. Shields Pre-trial Officer call: 212-805-4100
UPDATE: Well, something worked. The Pittsburgh Pet Expo is not allowing this man to be involved with their event!! One for the good guys.
This entry was posted in 9/11 fraud, Scott Shields Fraud and tagged bear search and rescue, bearsdad, bearsdad2. Bookmark the permalink.
← Remembering Therapy Golden Retriever Hannah
Scott Shields: in less than 20 words, so many lies – Updated →

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When you blend text messaging with other marketing channels, such as email, you get more value from all your marketing programs. That's why we make it easy to use text messaging with your Marketing Cloud platform. So you get the most value possible from every marketing dollar spent.
Quickly deploy cloud-ready, compliant messaging. 360º conversation histories tightly align marketing and sales.
Converse compliance captures consent, tracks conversations and opt-outs, then reports status. All data is stored in your Salesforce database to assure full audit trail protection. You focus on attracting more leads and moving them through your pipeline to sales, not potential legal issues.
Converse includes Quickstart campaigns for popular marketing use cases, including message blasts, nurtures, surveys, promotions and profiling. Our Guidance System empowers users to create and manage new campaigns. Using automated text messaging campaigns has never been easier.
Converse dashboards give real-time results for key marketing metrics including compliance opt-ins, campaign results, Lead progression through the pipeline and other metrics to measure ROI.
Quickly attract and move Marketing leads through the pipeline with out-of-the-box solutions.
Bring your Marketing Short Code. Use your same short code to optimize your marketing budgetary spend.
Sync with your Marketing Cloud Subscription center. Converse automated compliance syncs your text messaging consent with your subscription center so you have a single audit trail for regulatory compliance.
Seamless integration with Marketing Cloud or Pardot Campaigns. Configure and run Campaigns and Nurture programs with Marketing Cloud Journey builder. Responses can be seamlessly routed to sales reps in the Sales Cloud.
Converse QuickStarts are packaged versions of the Converse advanced text messaging solution.
Each Quickstart is pre-configured for a specific Salesforce Cloud and/or industry segment.
Our Marketing QuickStart gives you everything you need to quickly begin to use text messaging to create compelling conversations, out-of-the-box. From reference campaigns and automations to compliance management to seamless Marketing Cloud integration.
You can easily tune QuickStarts, using Clickable Wizards, to meet the unique needs of your business.
Converse also offers access to Salesforce admins and developers who wish to create custom text messaging campaigns using native Salesforce tools, including Process Builder and more.


When I had a C64 back in the days, the only IF/THEN statement we could create in BASIC v2 was just that: IF and THEN.
There was no ELSE, and everything had to be on a single line. It was the only flow control we had back in those days, and it was a severe limitation compared to what we can do with higher level languages today.
Such constructs weren't very convenient when you wanted to react to anything other than the tested value. Instead you had to write an IF statement for every possible other outcome which could make the code very cluttered with several GOTO statements.
20 if x=1 then print "x is one" : else print "x is not one"
ELSE needs to be on the same line as the IF/THEN statement and separated by a colon.
ELSE was a very handy addition to the BASIC arsenal, but it still didn't solve the problem that your evaluation had to be cramped into a single line. This was improved on the C128 with the introduction of BEGIN/BEND.
30 print "x is one"
40 print "which is like totally awesome"
70 print "x was obviously not one"
80 print "which is a shame"
90 print "but that's life"
BEGIN means that everything starting from now until BEND is met will be executed as part of the IF/THEN statement – as many lines of code you like.
When BEND is met the code continues as normal – but we can also use ELSE after a colon on the same line, indicating that this is still part of the first IF/THEN statement. Here we can use BEGIN again for as many lines as we like, until we finish with BEND again.
It was very very cool!


FRIDAY, Dec. 26, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- High blood sugar may slow brain growth in young children with type 1 diabetes, a new study indicates.
The research included children aged 4 to 9 years who underwent brain scans and tests to assess their mental abilities, as well as continuous monitoring of their blood sugar levels.
Compared to children without diabetes, the brains of those with the disease had slower overall and regional growth of gray and white matter. These differences were associated with higher and more variable blood sugar levels, according to the study. But, the researchers didn't find any significant differences in the children's thinking and memory skills ("cognition").
"Our results show the potential vulnerability of young developing brains to abnormally elevated glucose [blood sugar] levels, even when the diabetes duration has been relatively brief," lead author Dr. Nelly Mauras, chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., said in a clinic news release.
"Despite the best efforts of parents and diabetes care teams, about 50 percent of all blood glucose concentrations during the study were measured in the high range. Remarkably, the cognitive tests remained normal, but whether these observed changes will ultimately impact brain function will need further study," Mauras said.
"As better technology develops, we hope to determine if the differences observed with brain imaging can improve with better glucose control," she added.
Results were published in the December issue of the journal Diabetes.
"This is the thing that parents always worry about when it comes to a child with a chronic illness," study co-author Dr. Karen Winer, a pediatric endocrinologist at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in the news release.
"Does it affect their brain? The good news here is that there may be some viable solutions on the horizon that parents should be aware of," she said.
The association seen in the study does not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.


text:
são a parte visível de plantas em estágios iniciais de desenvolvimento, no geral consistindo de um caule em desenvolvimento e folhas.

Os rebentos são, frequentemente, comidos por animais porque as paredes celulares de suas células ainda estão em desenvolvimento, fazendo com que suas fibras sejam mais fáceis de digerir. Como proteção, certas plantas produzem toxinas que fazem com que os brotos sejam inedíveis ou menos saborosos.

Morfologia vegetal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


cheap web hosting frontpage cheap web hosting frontpage For exam- ple, to specify an alternate port use: sftp -oPort=24. -s subsystem | sftp_server Specifies the SSH2 subsystem or the path for an sftp server on the remote host. A path is useful for using sftp over protocol version 1, or when the remote sshd does not have an sftp subsys- tem configured. -v Raise logging level. This option is also passed to ssh.
cheap web hosting frontpage -B buffer_size Specify the size of the buffer that sftp uses when transferring files. Larger buffers require fewer round trips at the cost of higher memory consumption. The default is 32768 bytes. -C Enables compression (via ssh's -C flag). -F ssh_config Specifies an alternative per-user configuration file for ssh.
cheap web hosting frontpage This option is directly passed to ssh(1). -1 Specify the use of protocol version 1. INTERACTIVE COMMANDS Once in interactive mode, sftp understands a set of commands similar to those of ftp(1). Commands are case insensitive and pathnames may be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces. bye Quit sftp.
cheap web hosting frontpage cd path Change remote directory to path. lcd path Change local directory to path. chgrp grp path Change group of file path to grp. grp must be a numeric GID. chmod mode path Change permissions of file path to mode.


text:
News - British Composer Award for Brian Elias
Brian Elias has won a 2013 British Composer Award in the vocal award category for his 'breathtakingly powerful' work Electra Mourns. Scored for mezzo-soprano, cor anglais and string orchestra, this 18 minute scena (in the original ancient Greek) sets a speech from Electra, a 5th Century BC play by the great dramatist Sophocles.
On awarding the prize, the judges said:
'This is a truly marvellous work: mesmerising and breathtaking.
From the opening notes, it sustains a terrific level of intensity and gets inside one of the great dramas of Western culture. Both vocal and instrumental writing is full of skill, artistry, maturity and creative wisdom. The pairing of voice and cor anglais has an exquisite beauty.'
The work was premiered in August 2012 at the Cadogan Hall, London, by Susan Bickley (mezzo-soprano), Nicholas Daniel (cor anglais) and the Britten Sinfonia conducted by Clark Rundell, as part of the BBC Proms 2012. On reviewing the concert the Daily Telegraph reported that it '...stole the show as a moving study of madness and remorse.'
The score can be viewed online here and is also available to buy from Musicroom here.


The effects of cardioplegic potassium concentration and myocardial temperature on electrical activity in the heart during elective cardioplegic arrest.
A major objective of cardioplegic arrest for protection of the heart during cardiac operations is total electromechanical quiescence. Recent studies from our laboratory in which we used multiple bipolar intracardiac and unipolar intramural electrodes have detected the presence of electrical activity in the lower atrial septum, the atrioventricular node-His bundle complex, and in ventricular myocardium during elective cardioplegic arrest that cannot be detected on the limb-lead electrocardiogram. Moreover, this low-amplitude electrical activity is not associated with visible mechanical activity of the heart and occurs at ventricular septal temperatures previously thought to be adequate for myocardial protection. The present study was designed to determine the effect of cardioplegic solution potassium concentration and myocardial temperature on the occurrence and duration of low-amplitude electrical activity during elective cardioplegic arrest. Fifty adult mongrel dogs were subjected to two consecutive 20 minute periods of cardioplegic arrest. The animals were divided into six groups, depending upon the cardioplegic solution potassium concentration they received and on whether or not topical cooling techniques were employed. The probability of occurrence of low-amplitude electrical activity during the arrest interval was significantly decreased by application of topical hypothermic techniques and reinfusion of hyperkalemic, as compared to normokalemic, cardioplegic solution. These effects of hyperkalemic cardioplegic solution and myocardial hypothermia acted synergistically, but independently, to decrease the likelihood of low-amplitude electrical activity occurring during the period of cardioplegic arrest. Nevertheless, low-amplitude electrical activity did occur in all groups after each cardioplegic solution administration and was not detected by routine monitoring techniques. This suggests that low-amplitude electrical activity may represent a fundamental type of metabolic activity that can be recorded from the heart during arrest and may be responsible for the temporary depression in ventricular function that frequently follows a period of elective cardioplegic arrest.


text:
Q: Why does QScrollArea scroll on multi-touch even if nobody told it to? I'm using a multi-touch monitor (EIZO DuraVision FDF2382WT) with Lubuntu 18.04.
I have a QScrollArea with a QLabel as widget. The QLabel has a QPixmap. Touching it with two or more fingers scrolls the picture. Why does this happen? According to my understanding of the documentation QTouchEvent handling is opt-in, except for QWindows which always receive them.
I've tried setting AA_SynthesizeMouseForUnhandledTouchEvents to False, setting WA_AcceptTouchEvents for the QScrollArea and QLabel to both True and False. I saw no changes. I've tried reimplementing QScrollArea.event, QScrollArea.scroll, QLabel.event and the scroll bar setValue to log the calls, but nothing is printed.
import sys

from PyQt5 import Qt

qapp = Qt.QApplication(sys.argv)

picture = Qt.QPixmap('picture.png')

qlab = Qt.QLabel()
qlab.setPixmap(picture)

qsa = Qt.QScrollArea()
qsa.setWidget(qlab)
qsa.setGeometry(10, 30, 200, 200)
qsa.show()

sys.exit(qapp.exec_())

I was expecting the picture to stay in place, instead it is dragged. Nothing happens when dragging with the mouse or with just one finger.

A: Finally I've solved this: it was gestures!
I brutally disabled them with something like
import sys

from PyQt5 import Qt

qapp = Qt.QApplication(sys.argv)

picture = Qt.QPixmap('picture.png')

qlab = Qt.QLabel()
qlab.setPixmap(picture)

MyScrollArea = Qt.QScrollArea

def event(self, event):
    print('DEBUG: event type {}'.format(event.type()))
    if event.type() in (Qt.QEvent.Gesture, Qt.QEvent.GestureOverride):
        event.accept()
        return True
    else:
        return super(MyScrollArea, self).event(event)

MyScrollArea.event = event

qsa = MyScrollArea()
qsa.setWidget(qlab)
qsa.setGeometry(10, 30, 200, 200)
qsa.show()

sys.exit(qapp.exec_())

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The fear of becoming destitute and so having to enter the 'House of Industry', or workhouse, was a shadow over the lives of many people until the 1930's. Tewkesbury's House of Industry on Holm Hill featured in maps of the town in the nineteenth century, as it had been built in 1796, and then extended to accommodate a larger number of paupers when surrounding parishes in the Poor Law Union had to send their poor to Tewkesbury, under the terms of the infamous Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. Locals were not slow to nickname it the 'Bastille', after the prison in the French capital, which was very much in the news at the time when Tewkesbury's was being built!
The worthy Quaker gentleman, Moses Goodere, who travelled to London in 1792 to obtain the permission of the Committee of the House of Commons for an Act to establish a workhouse here for the better relief and enjoyment of the poor' was subjected to much harassment from the 'lower orders' in the town.
The Poor Law Act had hoped to put an end to the high demands on ratepayers caused by the system of giving money to those needing assistance, while they stayed in their own homes. It was hoped to deter the majority of claimants by ruling that no 'outdoor relief' should be given except in kind, i.e. in bread, coal or medical supplies. Conditions in the workhouse were to be a deterrent by being worse than anything the workers would experience outside the establishments.
In view of this requirement by the central government, one might have expected that the support of claimants 'on the parish' would have ceased by 1835. How far, in fact, did the Tewkesbury Guardians of the Poor and Board of Health follow the directive? They certainly found that savings were made by gathering all the paupers of the area into one central workhouse instead of placing them in several smaller establishments. (This has a twentieth century ring to it!) However, it became apparent that it was more costly to provide complete board and lodging for a family inside the walls of the workhouse than to allow some help for them under their own roof. Bennett published the accounts of the workhouse in the Tewkesbury Register. In the Autumn quarter of 1837, for example, there were 78 inmates, maintained at a cost of £105.12s.10d., and 365 'outdoor paupers' who were helped for E169.7s.9d.. Administration costs were £92.16s.7d., and some loans were advanced, costing £21.8s.4d..
The Minute Books of the Board of Guardians and the Board of Health give some examples of cases. Aid sometimes took the form of loans. In December 1836 a loan of thirty shillings was made to a Tewkesbury man with a wife and five children to enable him to buy furniture. In June 1838 a loan of ten shillings was sanctioned for Richard Sandilands of Tewkesbury to buy rods 'with which to follow his employment of basket-maker'. In the same year Edwin Edgeworth was given a loan of seven pounds to buy a cart.
Moses Harris had injured a limb, and a certificate proved him to be incapable of work. 'The family are in great distress, and have not bread for a poultice necessary to the injured limb.' The Guardians ordered that he should be allowed a shilling in meat and six loaves of bread.
John Weaver's wife was dangerously ill with 'typhus fever'. The Medical Officer certified that she should be supplied with a change of linen, and with wine (often prescribed as a restorative), tea and sugar. The linen cost 5/10d. and the provisions 5/6d. Joel Mowbray of Bredon had 'English cholera' and was allowed meat and two loaves of bread. Isaac Purser, with a wife and seven children, from general debility is incapable of attending to his employment regularly'. During his illness he was to have a shilling's worth of meat and eight loaves of bread every week.
In 1841 Samuel Hughes, an able-bodied man of Hasfield, had broken his leg. While he was in Worcester Infirmary his wife and five children were to be given two shillings and five loaves of bread each week. John Devereaux of Ashchurch had a whitlow on his thumb which prevented him working, and was allowed relief.
These records are also useful for the study of public health, as they list, for example, ten cases of smallpox in children in Tewkesbury between December 1840 and February 1841. The Guardians could be humane, as is shown by their treatment of Elizabeth Vale, a widow of Kemerton. In 1843 she was given special permission for non-resident relief, because if she and her children went into the workhouse they would not be able to go to Kemerton school, where they were receiving instruction.
At this time paupers were deemed worthy of respect, as is shown by the Board's serious consideration of a complaint made about Dr. Tunnicliff, who visited a young woman whose family were on outdoor relief. He examined her without the presence of another female, which greatly shocked her mother, who complained to the authorities. The doctor was exonerated from blame, but was advised that in future he should ensure the presence of another female when making such examinations.
The deputation proposed that the men should be continued in employment under their respective employers, and that the Union (local poor law authority) should bear the cost of employing them. This was a contrast to the complaints of high rates, which had been heard from ratepayers some years earlier, and which had led to the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. The Commissioners advised the Tewkesbury Guardians that 'this could not be done under the present laws'. All the Guardians could do was issue a statement regretting the distress of the district and assuring the ratepayers that they would pay due attention to any case of distress that came before them. In June that year they were told by the Commissioners that the Workhouse could contain no more than 350 inmates, serving all the parishes in the Union, so other forms of help would have to be used. In the quarter from June to September 1842 there had been 169 persons in the workhouse, at a cost of £194, and 1,033 'out-paupers', costing 231. For the corresponding period in the previous year, the figures had been £100 and £669 respectively.
The Chairman of the Guardians at this time was Joseph Longmore, Esq. of the Mythe; John Moore, the auctioneer, was vice-chairman. Bennett, the bookseller and publisher, was well-placed to report on the circumstances since he was himself a Guardian, the others being Joseph Higwell, gardener, of the Oldbury and Joseph Smith, farmer, of Lincoln Green.
In his classic book on The Workhouse', Norman Longmate gives descriptions of how applicants for relief in many areas were discouraged by the draconian attitude of the Relieving Officer. Even at the end of the nineteenth century and later respectable applicants were humiliated when desperate enough to apply for relief from 'the parish'. The formal records available to us do not give any clues to this aspect of the situation in Tewkesbury.
Public concern for the poor in winter in the early 1840's had caused a charitable fund to be set up, initiated by the local clergy, to buy coal to be sold to the needy at a greatly reduced price. 7,579 tickets for bread, groceries and meat were also distributed. Some 865 families, totalling 3,450 people, benefited from this fund, which in 1841 amounted to £385.6s.0d. For the corresponding period the Poor Law Union spent £166 on inmates of the workhouse, and £256 on outdoor relief for the whole of the Union. As this was only one of the charities which helped the inhabitants of the borough, it can be seen that more was given freely to help the poor than the public system provided. Individuals such as John Terrett or Thomas Caddick used to give £40 or £50 annually, and considerable time was given to public service by the privileged classes of society.
The Minute Books of the Tewkesbury Guardians of the Poor are listed in the Gloucester Records Office under G/TEW, and Bennett's Yearly Register and Magazine for the years 1830-49 are in the reference section of Tewkesbury Library. These glimpses of the administration of the system of poor relief outside the workhouse bring to life the everyday problems of ordinary people in the early 1840's.
The Tewkesbury Poor Law Union 1835-43 consisted of Tewkesbury, Walton Cardiff, Ashchurch, Oxenton, Woolstone, Tredington, Elmstone Hardwick, Boddington, Leigh, Deerhurst, Kemerton, Twyning, Stoke Orchard, Bredon, Norton-by-Bredon, Overbury, Teddington, Conderton, Forthampton, Pendock, Chaceley, Tirley and Hasfield.
The Tewkesbury Union proved to be too large, so after 1843 Forthampton, Pendock, Chaceley, Tirley and Hasfield were removed to form the new 'Forthampton District'.


text:
BETTER THAN WRESTLEMANIA? - FIRST BATCH OF READER FEEDBACK TO TNA LOCKDOWN
By PWInsiderXtra Readers on 4/16/2007 2:43 PM
I would give the PPV a 7 out of 10. The X division title match was the best match of the night. Sabin and Shelley were off the chart! Awesome match and very happy that Sabin walked out with the belt. The Main Event was the second best match of the night. Glad to see Sting win the match, because he will probably job cleanly to Christian. Also was good to see Angle tease turning bad, my friends and I are sick of him as a face and a heel turn may make him more interesting again.
The ladies match was really good, Gail Kim can really go and is very hot. My friends and I liked the tag title match and thought the "Fire Russo" chants were uncalled for. The blind fold match sucked. That brought the show down one grade.
Better PPV than the Destination X and way better PPV than Wrestlemania XXIII was.
TNA's Lockdown pay-per-view in my opinion was okay. I had to admit when I saw the first match, I began to have some high hopes for the PPV, because I want TNA to succeed, and doing good in this PPV may mean they would be closer to achieve that goal.
The first match was good for an opener. The rules were easy to follow and I liked the cool duo moves Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin were doing. Sabin won, no biggie for me.
Petey Williams vs. Robert Roode was alright. I live in Petey's Hometown of Windsor so I always hope for good things from him. It even made me pop when Eric Young shoved Ms. Brooks and handed Petey the hockey stick. Nice to see all the Team Canada members involved in each others storylines again.
Jackie Moore Vs. Gail Kim was a great match even for ladies wrestling. It's nice to see women in action not just for the sake of T n' A (no pun intended) Did Gail Kim really do a freaking cage dive?!
I didn't pay much attention to Starr vs. Senshi
Storm vs. Harris was the point where I began to bury my face in my hands in exasperation. I knew where it was going. I know TNA likes the gimmick matches to keep them from becoming just a bunch of matches in a cage. But Harris and Storm are good workers. Quit this one eyed baloney and put them in an actual match. Getting breakaway glass in you eye and not being medically cleared its too much theatrics even for wrestling...
Daniels vs. Lynn I had to take out the dog during this. I'll watch it on DVR later.
Electric Cage match was the point where I said to myself "Russo's not going to like what the crowds opinion on this match is..." And he probably won't. I thought the entire thing where people were touching the cage and convulsing was goofy. The canned humming and zapping made it worse. This is TNA's attempt to appeal to the old FMW fan base. TNA needs to think on its own, not do what's been done many times and better.
P.S. WCW, WWF, and ECW tag belts? I smell the WWE legal department spitting out their coffee.
Lethal lockdown put a smile on my face. The level of unpredictability they put into the match was great. Jarrett's looking like he was going to hit sting only to hit Abyss was my favorite moment on the PPV. Plus AJ's fall scared the hell out of me.
I attended Lockdown tonight and had great seats in the 6th row. Overall I had a great time. The X-division, women's match and main event were all good to great, and the blindfold and electric cage match were so bad they were entertaining in a 'wrestlecrap' sort of way. My only major problem was with the cage itself. I think a lot of people, myself included, thought the reason they had this cheap, flimsy cage was because they had something special planned for the electrified match. When I saw the laughable 'effects' of the cage, I wondered why they couldn't have just had a regular cage with the same dumb buzzing and lighting. I was very close and could see all the participants brushing against the cage when they went to the top rope, and I think that distracted from the generally good work in the ring. I'm also surprised there wasn't any David Eckstein involvement. Considering TNA pushed him hard in towns where he didn't get near the reaction he would in STL, I was scratching my head. Overall, I crowd was amazing all night. I think it would be wise for TNA to come back annually to STL in the future.
Alex Wolk
Elite subscriber
TNA gave us yet another very good PPV showing with the Lockdown Pay-Per-View. 10,000 fans jam-packed the St-Louis, Missouri arena which was headlined by an awesome Lethal Lockdown contest between Team Cage and Team Angle. The show started off with a bang as X division champion Chris Sabin defeated "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, Sonjay Dutt & Shark Boy in an amazing match-up to start the show. Jay Lethal is really over with the fans and I see X division gold in his near future.
Bob Backlund continues to be great and hilarious at the same time, as I had fun watching him referee Senshi against Austin Starr. I hope that he can make some sort of a wrestling comeback in time for Sacrifice on May 13th. If Ric Flair can do it, then so can he! The master of Chicken Wing and Atomic Drop should be coming out of retirement soon, and that makes one follower of the sport quite happy as Mr. Bob Backlund goes back in action!
The electrified cage match was as expected and kept my heart pounding for the twenty minutes or so that it went on. Very dramatic, and it was good to see Team 3D finally get the win and the NWA World Tag Team titles. Time and time again they had their shot and failed, and in their final chance they won, got back their reputation, and also got their retribution. Good to see VKM vs Serotonin put on the pre-show, as it freed up the card to have longer matches. Who cares about Serotonin, they're a bunch of jobbers! I enjoy women's wrestling, and especially like Gail Kim and Jacqueline Moore who once again have proven that there is a place for females in a wrestling ring. Chris Harris vs James Storm was actually quite fun, at least in my opinion if not for the crowd ruining the match. If people were more open-minded to what the match was all about, maybe they would have enjoyed it too. Both Lynn vs Daniels and the Robert Roode vs Petey Williams were decent matches as well.
All in all, another good PPV from T-N-A. The Lethal Lockdown was awesome and was on-par with last year's classic.Good to see a lot of new stars being built up. Jeff Jarrett is indeed a face, but how long can that last? Plus, Sting has got a title shot next month. Things are definitely starting to heat up going into the summer. And unlike the fans who chanted **** Russo, I say that at some parts of the show **** the crowd! I love Russo and the rest of the creative team. Keep up the good work and I'll be looking forward to Lockdown! I'd give it a 9/10.


text:
"""
    apps.books.models
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    books models

    :copyright: (c) 2012 by arruda.
"""
from decimal import  Decimal
import datetime

from django.db import models

from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _

from model_utils import Choices

from utils.abs_models import Abs_Named_Model, Abs_UniqueNamed_Model

class Genre(Abs_UniqueNamed_Model):
    "define a genre, like: action, romance, etc.."

    class Meta:
        app_label = 'books'
        ordering = ['name',]

class Book(Abs_Named_Model):
    "a book. simple as that"

    author = models.ForeignKey('authors.Author',related_name='books')
    publisher = models.ForeignKey('publishers.Publisher',related_name='books')

    synopsis = models.TextField(_('Synopsis'), null=True,blank=True)
    genres = models.ManyToManyField(Genre)

    release_date =  models.DateField(_("Release Date"), default=datetime.date.today, null=True, blank=True)

    def just_released(self):
        "returns True if the release_date - this date is less then one year"
        release_time=datetime.timedelta(days=365)
        return datetime.date.today() - self.release_date < release_time

    just_released.short_description = 'Just Released?'

    class Meta:
        app_label = 'books'
        ordering = ['name',]
        unique_together = (('name','author' ),)

class UserBook(models.Model):
    "Relation between user and book"

    DESIRE_CHOICES = Choices(
                             (1,'curious',_("1 - Curious About")),
                             (2,'collection',_("2 - Complete Collection")),
                             (3,'survive',_("3 - Can Survive Without It")),
                             (4,'wait',_("4 - Can Wait a Little Longer")),
                             (5,'now',_("5 - I NEED THIS... NOW!!!")),
                     )

    user = models.ForeignKey('auth.User',related_name='books')
    book = models.ForeignKey(Book,related_name='users')

    desired = models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(_("Desired"), choices=DESIRE_CHOICES, default=DESIRE_CHOICES.curious)

    #purchase data
    purchase_store = models.ForeignKey('stores.Store',related_name='books',null=True,blank=True)
    purchased       = models.BooleanField(_("Purchased?"),default=False)
    purchase_value = models.DecimalField(_("Purchase Value"),max_digits=10, decimal_places=2, null=True, blank=True)
    purchase_date =  models.DateField(_("Purchase Date"),  null=True, blank=True)#, default=datetime.date.today,)

    class Meta:
        app_label = 'books'

    @property
    def desired_text(self):
        "return the correct self.desired text"
        return self.DESIRE_CHOICES[self.desired-1][1].__unicode__()

    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
        """
        if has any purchased information, then mark as purchased
        """
        #if has a purchase value or date then mark as purchased
        if self.purchase_value or self.purchase_date or self.purchase_store:
            self.purchased = True

        super(UserBook, self).save(*args, **kwargs)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This is my latest contribution to Writer's Quote Wednesday, hosted by Colleen Chesebro of silverthreading.com. This week, I also want to link it back to Ronovan's Be Wonderful on Wednesday (#BeWoW) share. I encourage you all to follow these links to discover some stimulating posts.
I blog. Amazing discovering isn't it? Being a blogger you also follow other bloggers. Sometimes you don't know how you ended up making the acquaintance of someone, yes I can make that joke about myself but no one else can (amnesiac rights), but you are glad you did stumble upon someone. One such person grabbed my attention not only because he liked my attempts at writing, but one day a photograph he posted jumped out at me. No it did not literally leap from the page, at least I don't think it did. Perhaps he has sort of 3D Mac power. Yes, I am afraid to say that he is one of . . . those people.
Now I present to you the lovely Colleen Chesebro. Her work will be in fēlan's first issue!
Blog post pictures. They are, if you don't know how to do them, a bit of a mystery.
I have had a couple of lovely compliments recently about the photos I use to start my posts, (thank you, and blush!). But what it's resulted in, is me sharing my photo tweaking knowledge with others. So I thought it might be useful to share that knowledge with everyone else.
If you would like to know how to make photos like mine, or ones in your own style, then read on.


Laos FoisThe new Daniel Brusky oil painting exhibit opens at Windows on Columbus in Jersey City on Friday, Sept. 10.
Artist Jaz Graf has been cutting her teeth on the Jersey City art scene for nearly ten years. I recently caught up with Jaz to discuss an exhibition she organized at Windows On Columbus. The show, Light Spaces, features oil paintings by Daniel Brusky, and opens next Friday, Sept. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. This event is part of JC Fridays. The show will be on view to Nov. 18. Windows On Columbus is located on Columbus Drive between Washington and Greene Street in downtown Jersey City. For more information, go to http://www.jcfridays.com.
Brendan Carroll: Hi. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you, and what do you do?
Jaz Graf: I'm an artist and curator living in Jersey City. I'm on the board of ProArts and a key member of the Manhattan Graphics Center in lower Manhattan. I exhibit my work and others, organize shows and involve myself in local arts activities.
BC: How long have you served on the board of ProArts, and what is their contribution to Jersey City's cultural landscape?
JG: I have been on the board for about 2 years. ProArts organizes the JC Artist Studio Tours annually and implements several other community-based initiatives to promote the arts. The organization offers opportunities for artists to show their work in exhibitions and network with other arts professionals.
BC: Tell me about your curatorial project, Windows on Columbus. What is it, how long have you been organizing exhibitions, and what do you hope to achieve with this project?
JG: Windows on Columbus is a ProArts program sponsored by Mack-Cali Realty Corporation located in downtown/Exchange Place area of JC. It includes a large window gallery and corporate lobby that showcases various local artists' work. I started curating this space in February, 2010 and will continue until February, 2011. The windows and lobby installation spaces are viewable 24 hours a day, every day. This venue is different than most curatorial projects that I have worked on because it's not a gallery or arts institution, it's a corporate space. That being said, the rules are a bit different, but I like that it allows artists to present work to the community and injects art into the general public sphere.
BC: Tell us about Light Spaces, the current show you organized at Windows on Columbus. What is it, who is the artist on view, and why should we check it out?
JG: Light Spaces features oil paintings and drawings by Daniel Brusky. Dan is an emerging artist in Jersey City with a strong body of work. His paintings appear simple yet are cerebral in nature. You should come check it out because it's free and you can network with interesting individuals.
BC: Tell us what you have planned for the opening reception of Light Spaces?
JG: Opening reception is on Friday, Sept. 10th from 6 to 8 p.m. (part of JC Fridays). The artist will be present and light refreshments will be served.
BC: Refreshments-I can hear the ice cubes jingling in highballs. Artists and gallery-goers love refreshments. What type of refreshments will be served, and can people from McGinley Square come to the opening?
JG: Some sweets and spirits, not sure about ice cubes though. And yes.
BC: You have organized numerous exhibitions - True Character; The Memory of Water and Fire: A Celebration of the Elemental; Light Spaces. What does it take to get an exhibition off the ground, from conception to development to execution?
JG: A vision. Artists that are passionate and immersed in what they do. Lots of work, some more work, cooperation and organization.
BC: Exhibitions require a lot of work, and curators need to devote time, energy, and resources. When you organize an exhibition, how do you value your time and services?
JG: Whether I am curating a show or art making I take pride in my work and try to raise the standard. I consider the work I do to be an investment in my own development and in my community.
BC: Where do you find artists that you work with - referrals, happenstance, websites, and online registries, studio visits?
JG: Yes, studio visits, meeting by chance, and by hunting for them online.
BC: What are the advantages of being a curator? What are the disadvantages?
JG: Meeting and working with insightful artist types is a privilege. It's an extraordinary experience to be invited into their studios and introduced into their creative realm. Generating an open dialogue about the work is invaluable. Making decisions about how work should be presented or working through the limitations of your venue can be challenging but essentially part of refining the curatorial craft. I guess the most uninteresting and tedious part of the job is formatting labels and press materials in Microsoft Word. I mean, who likes to do that?
BC: How long have you lived in Jersey City, and what is it like to be a curator here? Has living in Jersey City influenced what type of projects you want to organize, and what artists to include?
JG: I've been living here 10 years and love it. It's got the dynamics of a big city with a small town feel. There are so many talented and diverse artists to work with. Certainly, I have been influenced by my surroundings on the types of projects I work on and the artists I throw into the mix. More than anything, this urban area has encouraged me to interact and engage more with my community and promote local culture.
BC: What are you working on next?
JG: Curating one more show at Windows on Columbus of Greg Letson's mixed media paintings, working with a couple other artists on a JC Fire Department mural, organizing an international print/stencil exchange and then early next year, having a solo show of my print work at the Manhattan Graphics Center.
BC: Congratulations of the solo exhibition. What can you tell us about your print work?
JG: I'm experimental with my printmaking approach and enjoy trying new techniques. Right now I'm working on a series of copperplate etchings that are images of organic material drawn with intricate detail. My prints take form on paper, fabric and wood. I also have a book project in mind, inspired by an EMT class I took this year. Concepts and forms reference the body and natural processes.
BC: You are originally from Nyack, N.Y. Nyack lies directly across from Sleepy Hollow, and Jersey City lies directly across from Manhattan. So, what attracts you to living in the shadows?
BC: The painter Edward Hooper was born in Nyack, and the singer Christina Milan was born in Jersey City. Who would you rather boogie-chill with-Edward or Christina-and why?
JG: Love Ed Hopper, I actually had one of my first shows at his house. As for Christina, I have no idea who she is, but after Googling her, I imagine, she'd be way more fun to shake it with.
BC: I agree with you. It'd be much more fun to get jigglely-jigglely-whatever with Christina Milan than with Ed. Tell us about the show at Ed's house, and why do you love him so much?
JG: My piece at the Hopper House was a type of diorama - multiple sheets of acetate painted with inked drawings, spaced out in a constructed box. It looked very surreal. My 8th grade teacher was crazy about it and entered it into the show. When I attended the opening, I noticed that she had titled it for me, something like "Beyond," which really turned me off. But it won an award for mixed media. As for my appreciation of Hopper's work, his ability to personify isolation goes unmatched. He has a gift with illuminating his subject matter in a warm yet eerie light.
BC: Let's focus on Jersey City. What is your favorite diner? Who has the best jukebox, and where can you find a decent cup of coffee?
JG: I dig Brownstone Diner; they are sweet people and make good pancakes. Jukebox? The only one I know is at Lucky 7's, not a bad selection. And I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I do love the coffee gelato at Tommy Two-Scoops!


One peculiarity of video games is that we often think of them in terms of "games we are able to play" and "games we are not able to play." Much like a sport, and unlike most other forms of consumer entertainment, video games typically demand some standard of performance ability before the player can even begin to enjoy their various workings. From the very moment we start playing a game, we develop an impression of how easy or hard a time it's going to give us.
Some games are quite easy to understand. Regardless of whether there is an explicit tutorial, players instantly intuit what to do, what the basic rules are, what is good, what is bad, and how to go about doing the various things that can be accomplished.
They feel like they're capable of playing the game from the first moment. They don't really expend a lot of effort figuring out how to operate the basic mechanics of the game, they "just do it," and find themselves immediately engaged. Any problems and difficulties they do experience are intrinsic to the game.
Conversely, other games seem to be bewildering and obtuse. When you play those games, your capabilities are unclear, you find yourself punished for reasons you don't understand, and you take guesses (often to find out you are wrong) about what various cues and symbols mean.
You spend far more time thinking about "how to work" the game. If you're an experienced gamer, you'll often ask yourself questions like "What the hell is that?" or, "Why the hell is this here?" -- substituting your favorite expletive for "hell."
Of course, I have just illustrated two extreme situations, and most gameplay experiences have some mix of intuitive-feeling things and counterintuitive-feeling things. In this article, I'll explore some reasons why certain things feel natural or intuitive, why certain other things don't, how two people can have very different opinions of what intuitive means, and what the implications are for video game design.
For the sake of communicating in a more universally familiar way, but also to illustrate a more complete picture of how these dynamics work, I'm going to draw on some non-video game examples throughout this piece. The psychological ideas we explore here are indeed the same ones that govern general human interaction with interfaces. Video games just happen to be an application of these ideas, albeit one of primary importance to us.
Suppose you were presented with two different GUI arrangements. In Figure 1a, we have Mystery GUI A where the Cancel button is always displayed to the left of the Save button. In Figure 1b, we have Mystery GUI B where the order of the buttons is exactly reversed: The Cancel button is always displayed to the right of the Save button.
Is one of these arrangements more intuitive than the other? If so, why? You can make a reasonably compelling argument either way. Incidentally, Mystery GUI A is the Mac GUI standard, and Mystery GUI B is the Windows GUI standard. For the moment, all that we will say about this example is that it is interesting that the two most popular computer GUI interfaces use standards that are complete opposites of each other.


text:
The TRADE > News > Trading Venues > Japanese/Taiwanese partnership grows with futures listing
Trading Venues July 19, 2016 6:21 AM GMT
Japanese/Taiwanese partnership grows with futures listing
The first-ever futures contract tracking the Taiwan Stock Exchange cap-weighted index – or TaiEx – has gone live on the Osaka Exchange.
By Joe McGrath
It follows a series of collaborative projects between the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation and the Japanese Exchange Group.
Since the second quarter of 2015, exchange traded products tracking the TOPIX, Nikkei 225 indices and TOPIX Futures index have listed on the TWSE.
Today's announcement comes a month after Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) was confirmed as the new chairman of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, replacing Lee Sush-der (李述德), who has now retired.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Taiwan Stock Exchange Group, said: "Interactions between the Taiwanese and Japanese market operators have grown steadily since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2000. These interactions include annual investment forums in each market, cross-listings and joint marketing activities.
"Both exchanges expect to further deepen their cooperation and provide more investment products to investors in the future."
The TAIEX index consists of all listed common shares traded on the TWSE and is the benchmark index for the Taiwan securities market.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange was founded in 1961. It offers trading markets for stocks, warrants, exchange traded products and Taiwan Depository Receipts (TDRs).
Tagged: Asia, Japanese Exchange Group, Taiwan Stock Exchange
« BGC acquires UK equity derivatives broker Sunrise


text:
Q: Is there any reason to switch to Visual Studio 2010 for Windows Forms development? I can't find any new features or improvements for Windows Forms in Visual Studio 2010. Am I missing something? I guess there are new features to C# and other parts of .NET in general. Any reason specifically to the GUI development portion?

A: I thought PEX was being added. I think it's valuable:
Pex Tutorial

A: Although it's not specific to GUI development IntelliTrace is reason enough for me to go to 2010: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd264915(VS.100).aspx
If you have in-house users that test alpha or beta level versions of your application IntelliTrace is a great way to get more detail about what was happening during failures/unexpected situations.

A: Probably not any REAL must haves to require an upgrade, but lots of little things that may make your lives easier.
In .net 4.0 (thus used in VS 2010), the charting controls are built in, as opposed to having to install them manually.  Not a ture reason to upgrade, but will make it easier if you use the charting controls.  ScottGu's Post
In addition, other benefits to VS 2010 (not specific to WinForms, but will be beneficial) are Searching and Navigating improvements, Code Intellisense Improvements, Add Reference Improvements


text:
Chris Cantwell
In brief: "Crying Nazi" faces prison time, neo-Nazi stickers spotted downtown, and more
News | C-VILLE	Writers	| COMMENTS
Locked up The "Crying Nazi" faces up to 22 years in prison. You have to make a lot of bad decisions in life for the local newspaper to write that sentence about you—and that's exactly what Chris Cantwell has done. The New Hampshire far-right radio host came to Charlottesville for the 2017 Unite the Right […]
In brief: VSP whites out, Queen of Virginia sues, Hoos win World Cup, and more…
State police redact—heavily Natalie Jacobsen, a reporter who has written for C-VILLE, has been trying to get the Virginia State Police to release its August 12, 2017, operations plan for almost two years under the Freedom of Information Act. She seemed close May 22, when a Charlottesville judge ordered the state police to produce the […]
And stay out: Cantwell pleads guilty, banned from Virginia for five years
News | Lisa	Provence	| COMMENTS
Chris Cantwell, aka the Crying Nazi, came to Charlottesville a year ago to chant "Jews will not replace us" while marching through UVA Grounds. As the self-proclaimed racist shock jock was booted from Virginia July 20, he hurled a final invective at local media outside the Albemarle Circuit Court when he refused to comment to […]
In brief: Cantwell on Kessler, what stoners are ordering and more
By C-VILLE	Writers	| COMMENTS
Special delivery! Shopping in stores is so 2015, and several Charlottesville services are making sure you never have to step foot in one again. Starting now, locals can sign up for a membership with Shipt, a virtual marketplace with same-day shipping from Target and Harris Teeter, for $99 a [...]
In brief: Red Hen ruckus, 'white civil rights' rally, Republican dropout and more
Red Hen refusal ignites firestorm When two former C-VILLE Weekly writers opened the Red Hen in Lexington in 2009, they loved everything about the Rockbridge County college town—except its lack of a farm-to-table eatery. Since then, the restaurant has become a renowned fine dining option, and [...]
Federal judge to rule on motions to dismiss in August 12 victims' case
By Samantha	Baars	| COMMENTS
In a lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 alleged victims of last summer's deadly August weekend in which hundreds of white supremacists and neo-Nazis descended upon Charlottesville, a federal judge is now considering whether to grant several of the defendants' motions to dismiss the case. Attorneys [...]
Guilty: First August 12 parking garage beater convicted
A Charlottesville jury decided May 1 that a man from Ward, Arkansas, who took part in a brutal beatdown of a local black man in the Market Street Parking Garage on August 12, was guilty of malicious wounding, potentially setting the bar for three other assailants accused of the same [...]
In brief: Taking back their streets, Cockburn controversy, Cantwell returns and more
Calming effect "That's the reason we did this—people fly down the street," says Shawnee West as she watches a car drive through the intersection of Little High and 11th streets. West is standing at the edge of the circular traffic-calming mural she designed with the help of one of her [...]
In brief: #counciloutofcontrol, billionaire's arrearage, Wegmans trail hub and more
Out of order Everyone was ordered out of City Council chambers when the April 2 meeting spiraled out of control following public comments from Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler and Confederate statue shroud-rippers Brian Lambert and Chris Wayne. In a closed session, councilors sought [...]
Watching their backs: Cantwell's request for change of venue and special prosecutor denied
Another high-profile case went through Albemarle County Circuit Court on January 31, where motions for a self-proclaimed racist who found himself in trouble after the weekend of the Unite the Right rally had two motions denied and one granted. Christopher Cantwell is accused of using a [...]
In brief: Bad prank, bad parking, bad practices and more
Meter's not running Crews are set to start ripping meters out of the ground this week after City Council voted at its January 2 meeting to indefinitely suspend the parking meter pilot that began on streets surrounding the Downtown Mall in September. "It seemed pointless to try to convince [...]
In brief: Emmet Street revival, guerrilla knitters and suing reporters
Emmet Street revival The vacant lot on the corner of Barracks Road and Emmet Street that once housed an Exxon station is finally seeing signs of life. Coran Capshaw's Riverbend Development purchased the corner at 1200 Emmet St. for $2.1 million in April, a slightly better price than the $2.25 [...]
'Crying Nazi': Judge dismisses two charges against Cantwell
Two of three felony charges were thrown out in a more than six-hour-long preliminary hearing November 9 for "Crying Nazi" Chris Cantwell, the New Hampshire man accused of pepper spraying multiple people at the violent August 11 tiki-torch march across the University of Virginia. Hundreds of [...]
United we stand: Charlottesville says no to hate
It was the day that kept getting worse. The weekend from hell. Like many of you, C-VILLE Weekly is still processing Saturday's violation from ill-intentioned visitors with antiquated notions who now believe it's okay to say in broad daylight what they've only uttered in the nether regions of [...]


not fit, no error is returned, but the hostname is truncated. It is unspecified whether the truncated hostname will be NUL-terminated.
EPERM  For sethostname, the caller was not the superuser.
SVr4, 4.4BSD  (this function first appeared in 4.2BSD).	POSIX 1003.1-2001 specifies gethostname but not sethostname.
NUL) are limited to HOST_NAME_MAX bytes'.


text:
Icon Films
Icon Films is a Bristol-based production company, with its main office housing over 90 people. GENeco worked with Icon Films to provide food waste recycling collections and overcome issues associated with a busy city centre location.
Tracy Patfield, Operations Manager
"At Icon Films we have a passionate workforce and a Green Team who do everything they can to reduce our carbon footprint. We buy local, recycle, have reduced our single use plastic and coffee cup usage and wanted to do something about our regular office food waste. One of our team discovered an article about the Bio-Bee and it was perfect to take away our weekly coffee grounds, teabags, food waste and flowers. We've persuaded Creative England, based in our office on another floor, to join us and so we share our GENeco bin with their people too. Over the last year the amount of food waste that has been converted to bio fuel gas been enough to power the Bio-Bee over 650 miles. That's from our office to John o' Groats!"
Their challenge
Icon Films is an independent production company based in the centre of Bristol. The team specialises in making natural history and factual programmes in some of the world's most diverse landscapes and are passionate about reducing their impact on the environment. For example, staff had previously taken part in litter-picking, worked with organisations like City to the Sea, and shunned the lift opting only for the stairs. Food waste generated in their self-catered office space was being taken home by an employee for composting.
Since March 2018, GENeco has been recycling food waste from Icon Films' offices in central Bristol on a weekly basis. We are able to accept all types of food waste, including meat and bones, which wasn't previously being composted.
The food is collected in the Bio-Bee, which is powered by biomethane generated from the food waste it collected. Its small profile means the vehicle can easily access narrow lane to the bin store, and the clean nature of the fuel means it is not contributing to poor urban air quality in the city centre.
Due to its central location and on-street bin storage, Icon Films had previously experienced vandalism and contamination with its recycling and were very keen to find an ultra-secure solution. GENeco adapted a standard 240L wheelie bin with a specialist combination lock to overcome these issues whilst ensuring ease of use for the Icon Films team.
We are now recycling roughly 40kg per week from Icon Films; to date this totals over half a tonne of inedible waste that creates renewable energy and biofertilisers. The carbon savings from landfill diversion of this food waste is equivalent to driving a car over 1,000 miles, or a passenger flying to Rome!
The energy produced from this food waste is enough to charge an iPad over 4,000 times or power the Bio-Bee for 225 miles.
A highlight of the partnership has been a visit to Icon Film's offices to deliver a 'Learn at Lunch', where employees found out what happened to their recycling. We look forward to continuing to work together.


text:
USS Queen was a steamer captured by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. She was used by the Navy as a supply ship.

Capture of a British steamer, conversion to Union Navy supply ship

On 21 June 1863, Union side wheel steamer  captured blockade running British steamer Victory off Palmetto Point, Eleuthera Island after a long chase. The prize had slipped out of Wilmington, North Carolina, laden with cotton, tobacco and turpentine and was sent to Boston, Massachusetts, where she was condemned by the Boston Prize Court. Renamed Queen 1 August 1863, she was purchased by the Navy 29 September 1863, and commissioned 15 August 1863, Acting Master Robert Tarr in command.

Supporting the Union Navy ships and bases of the Gulf Coast blockade

Fitted out as a transport and supply ship, Queen departed Boston 4 December for New Orleans, Louisiana, where she arrived 9 January 1864. For the remainder of the war, she operated between northern ports and the gulf, stopping frequently en route to serve Union ships and bases along the Confederate coast.

End-of-war decommissioning and sale

After the war ended, Queen decommissioned at New York Navy Yard 21 June 1865 and was sold at New York City 16 October 1865 to Smith and Dunning.

See also

Union Blockade

References

Ships of the Union Navy
Steamships of the United States Navy
American Civil War auxiliary ships of the United States
Stores ships of the United States Navy
1860 ships


SUMMARY: A totally J/C version of End Game.
SUMMARY: Sequel to Time and Tides. Janeway resets the timeline once again, and tries to resolve her feelings for Chakotay. Her slightly younger counterpart is there, and the two of them work - and love- together to find a solution. J/C and J/C and J/J/C. No slash.
SUMMARY: Takes place subsequent to Endgame at the first reception after the conclusion of debriefings for the Voyager crew. It is done in the first person from the POV of Tom, B'Elanna, Mike Ayala, Jenny Delaney, Harry, and Admiral Paris. Entered in the Post Endgame Contest.
SUMMARY: What was Kathryn really thinking as she ordered Chakotay to take the helm?
SUMMARY: Yet another version of the fix that Endgame required.
SUMMARY: how endgame should have continued, to fix what tptb managed to mess up.
SUMMARY: An epi addition to Endgame. What happens when things don't happen the way you thought they should?
SUMMARY: When Voyager made it home, Kathryn walked away and let Seven have Chakotay. Will a dire accident give her one more opportunity to repair what went wrong?
SUMMARY: The chance to go home is too tempting for Voyager to pass up, even with a time-traveling Admiral Janeway there to urge them on. What really should have happened in "Endgame".
SUMMARY: Endgame as it should have been.
RATING: PG SUMMARY: The Captain pulls rank making the most of what could be her last opportunity.
SUMMARY: This is a slightly grittier Endgame. Life has some surprises up its sleeves for Chakotay and Kathryn . . . and Kathryn.
SUMMARY: The scene that's missing from Endgame... ;) Or maybe a replacement for those icky (sorry, can't stand them) C/7 scenes.
SUMMARY: SWB with nanoprobes seeks hunky First Officer to form collective. He will comply -- or else.
SUMMARY: After the crew returns to Earth, Kathryn discovers Chakotay and Seven together in his apartment. Not able to deal with this situation she asks for a new mission, which turns into a disaster.
SUMMARY: A depressing look at the A/U presented in Endgame.
SUMMARY: A group project aimed at bringing the whole Voyager series to a more pleasing resolution.
Eleven fanfic writers have each written a chapter, each dealing with the story of one or two of the characters once they return to Earth.
Read what happened to the Maquis, Tom and B'Elanna, Harry, Tuvok and T'Pel, Neelix and Dexa, The Doctor, Seven of Nine, Sam and Naomi Wildman, Icheb, Tal Celes, Mortimer Harren, Gerron, the Delaney sisters, Vorick, Marla Gilmore, Renlay Sharr, Mike Ayala, Joe Carey's widow Sarah... and of course, Kathryn and Chakotay, and Voyager herself.
Written as an interwoven complete story, by AnneRose, Autopilot, Cassatt, Kayla, K.J., LA, LauraJo, Mary S., Sangerin, Shayenne, and Sheri, the entire story can be downloaded in a variety of formats or read on line.
SUMMARY: The Admiral has learned some valuable personal lession through the years and she intends to teach them to her younger self. Of course she plans on enjoying herself on the way.


text:
Dept. Of Good Government
Can Congress Be Saved?
Eight ideas for cleaning up the mess on Capitol Hill.
By POLITICO MAGAZINE
For the first time since 2011, Congress seems has cut a modest deal on the budget, a rare accomplishment in this age of low expectations. But the agreement only serves to highlight just how far the institution has sunk in the last few years. Not only will passing it over the objections of increasingly powerful outside groups be no cakewalk, but the meatball surgery required to get there—an ad hoc, backroom negotiation between budget chiefs Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Ill.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), rather than the usual appropriations process—merely brings the feckless nature of this Congress into sharp relief.
Just look at names of the 50-odd laws passed so far by the 113th Congress—the least productive on record: They say pretty much all you need to know about the body's diminished ambitions.
There's the United States Parole Commission Extension Act of 2013. The School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. The Organization of American States Revitalization and Reform Act of 2013. The Helium Stewardship Act of 2013. The Powell Shooting Range Land Conveyance Act. The District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Vacancy Act. A bill in May even specified "the size of the precious-metal blanks that will be used in the production of the National Baseball Hall of Fame commemorative coins."
Congress did manage to rename a few things. A bridge in St. Louis is now the "Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge." Certain retirement accounts for married individuals have been named for Kay Bailey Hutchison, the former Texas senator. An air-traffic control center in Nashua, N.H., is now the "Patricia Clark Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center."
Congress has always, of course, passed silly laws. The problem is that, with rare exceptions like the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act and a bill on student loans, it is no longer passing serious ones. Overall, it's been a dismal year on Capitol Hill, with a failure to pass once-routine appropriations bills, culminating in October's 16-day partial government shutdown, hitting taxpayers with an estimated $2 billion in direct costs and billions more indirectly. Political polarization, as measured by roll-call votes, has reached levels not seen since Reconstruction, if ever.
The public's regard for the nation's representatives has plummeted accordingly—to a new depth of 9 percent in the latest Gallup poll. When it comes to "honesty and ethical standards," members of Congress ranked just above car salespeople in another recent survey, second to last of the 22 professions measured. Yet if the American people are fed up with their legislators, few seem to have any hope of turning things around. Nor, perhaps, should they: Even the post-shutdown signs of movement on Capitol Hill speak more to its deepening dysfunction than to hints of revival.
Take the filibuster, long a hobbyhorse of Democrats frustrated by GOP obstructionism: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) deployment of the so-called nuclear option last month has unfrozen a number of judicial and executive-branch nominees, but Republicans have vowed to retaliate at the soonest opportunity.
Who's in Washington Purgatory?
By GLENN THRUSH
MoJoe: Biden Matters More Than Ever
By JOEL K. GOLDSTEIN
The Last Taboo
By JENNIFER MICHAEL HECHT
The diagnoses of Congress's pathologies vary, but most observers settle on a few themes: the influx of harder-edged new members, the cocooning effect of redistricting and the rise of uncontested seats, the growing influence and fundraising clout of outside groups, declining traditions of comity, media that reward sensationalism over substance and increasing partisanship among the public at large. The only question seems to be whether, as Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann write, this Congress is actually the worst in history—or merely really, really bad.
So what is to be done? Longstanding ideas for fixing Congress—from expanding the size of the House of Representatives to encouraging members to sit together to mandating a five-day work week to overhauling the way they are elected—have languished in obscurity. Earnest bipartisan efforts like the group No Labels, whose 12-point plan has gone nowhere, have been widely mocked as hopelessly naive, while others lack high-profile champions.
That doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying, so Politico Magazine turned to a frustrated mix of congressional insiders, former officials, experts and scholars of the institution to tell us where to begin. But clearly, there's plenty of room for creative proposals. Have your own idea for fixing Congress? Email us at magazinesubmissions@politico.com, and we'll post the best ones.
In the meantime, here are a few modest ideas from the experts:
Marginalize the Radicals // Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann
Digitize the Vote // Tim Wu
Mobilize the Masses // Julian Zelizer
Stop Meddling on Foreign Policy // Richard Haass
Schmooze, Schmooze, Schmooze // James Manley
Lock the Big Four in a Room // Martin Frost
Defuse the Debt-Ceiling Bomb // Mark Patterson and Tony Fratto
Bring Back the Old Bulls // Vic Fazio


British immigrants brought Anglicanism to South America in the 19th and there was strong work by the South America Missionary Society among the indigenous peoples throughout the century. The Archbishop of Canterbury handed over his metropolitical authority for the dioceses of the Southern Cone in 1974 and a new province – including Chile – was established within a decade. Chile became a separate province in November 2018.


I remember Gayle as a good, gentle person with a smile for all those that surrounded her.
Gayle Sweetwine Saini, 69, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, died after sunset on 9 December 2012.
Information is available from the Ira Kaufman Chapel, Southfield MI.


Enjoy a panorama of the ancient Bagan from hot air balloon.
Savour a nice drink one landing at the starting point.
Hot air balloon over Bagan City is an amazing experience with travelers for Bagan sightseeing. It is one of must-do activities and recommended for everyone who want to explore Bagan in a unique way. The amazing views of Bagan temples and countryside surprise all visitors and make the balloon over Bagan becoming worthy with everyone.
Flying over the unique Bagan area, you will be astounded and amazed by the beauty and diversity of the temples and stupas below you.
The following itinerary is an example of what you may experience with ballooning, but times and locations will be confirmed the night before your flight.
06.00 – 06.15: – You'll meet your pilot, and enjoy pre-flight tea, coffee and pastries. You'll be given a safety briefing.
06.15 – 06.30: – Watch as the balloons are prepared by the trained crew and inflated by the experienced British pilots.
06.30 – 06.45: – All aboard! Climb into the basket and prepare for take off!
06.45 – 07.30: – Enjoy the amazing experience of floating over this amazing historical area with its temples, stupas and other beautiful sights.
07.30 – 08.00: – Celebrate your safe return to earth with a drink of chilled sparkling wine, served with fruit. Receive your personal flight certificate, signed by your pilot.
08.00 – 08.30: – Return to your hotel in time for breakfast.
End of the Balloon Over Bagan Tour!
Thank you for your interest in Balloons Over Bagan Tour – Bagan Sightseeing from Bird's Eye View. Please fill in your details below and we will contact you by phone or email within 24 hours.