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What's Cooking – Food Challenge Saturday
The technology of preparing food has drastically changed over the last 300 years in Iowa. Our historical interpreters usually don't begin working at Living History Farms knowing how to cook over an open fire, on the coals of an open hearth, or in a wood-fired cook stove. Historical recipes are also very different—standardized measurements really didn't take hold in books until after the 1890s. Many historic receipts call for "butter the size of an egg" or "enough flour and milk to make a batter." On Saturday, July 6, our 2019 college intern class will test the new cooking knowledge they have been practicing since arriving at the museum in May. At 9 am, their sites will begin to receive a "secret ingredient". The intern will have two hours to prepare the item in the most historic way possible, using period technology. A panel of judges will tour between the sites, tasting and awarding points for the best dish! Food preparation begins at 9:30am at the 1700 Ioway Farm and moves through the historic kitchens throughout the morning, ending around 1pm. Join us with encouragement and a discerning eye for these intern food creations!
"What's Cooking" Program Presenting Sponsor – Hy-Vee
Women were the main food preparers in the Ioway culture. They were cooking over open fires, outside in the summer, and inside lodges in the winter. Cooking techniques made use of clay cooking pots, animal stomachs, and other natural products. Water could be boiled by placing hot stones in pots and animals stomachs which could not go directly over the fire. Often women kept stews going all day, and family members came and ate when they had time between tasks or were hungry.
Iowa pioneer settlers arriving in the 1850s, were giving up many of the comforts they were used to in the East. This included cooking technology. Most homes in the east had an iron cook stove in the 1850s—but these were heavy and expensive for early settlers to bring. These emigrants had to learn to cook over an over hearth, using basic cast iron or tin equipment. The logistics of hearth cooking seem straight forward. A good wood fire is started first thing to prepare for cooking and allowed to create glowing wood "coals."
Directly over the fire is the "stovetop." Settlers hung pots and kettles on hooks on varying heights of hooks to change temperature, and to boil. Frying pans on legs (called spiders) were set directly over coals to fry. Baking had to be done in a heavy iron pot, sometimes called a Dutch oven or a bake kettle, with legs and a lipped lid. Coals are raked under the kettle. Food is placed inside and the lid set over it. Additional coals are scooped into the lid circulating heat all the way around the item.
By 1875, railroads crossed the state of Iowa, bringing cheaper cast iron stoves, new types of pots and pans, and new exotic ingredients. Stoves could burn wood, coal, or even just corn cobs/twists of paper. The firebox sat to one side of the stove and a series of dampers circulated hot air around an internal oven and up the chimney. These stoves helped reduce the heavy lifting of iron pans and allowed cooks to more easily prepare many dishes as once.
By 1900, ornate, nickel plated cooking stoves could be ordered from Montgomery Wards and Sears and Roebuck for $50 to $75.
Read more posts on the LHF Blog
1700 Ioway Farm 1850s 1900 Farm From Field to Table In the Kitchen Recipes What's Cooking
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Machias Seal Island has the largest Atlantic Puffin colony on the Maine coast. The trip to the island takes about an hour. Weather and sea conditions permitting, you should have over two hours on the island, with 45-60 minutes in a blind with puffins all around. The rest of the time, you'll be on a ground-level, open-observation platform. If the boat is unable to land, you will cruise around... The trip to Machias Seal Island can be made in the fog, but not in conjunction with any of the other elements mentioned above. Whale watching tours must take all three elements into consideration. If the weather is questionable, we do our best to keep you informed about the status of your tour.
Recently returned from Grand Manan where we fortunately booked a tour with Sea Watch Tours to Machias Seal Island. Rave reviews, cannot say enough about this experience.
29/07/2003 · Jeremy pretty much summed it up - good advice. I have a trip report from when I was there on my site; Machias Seal Island It is a good idea to have a couple of days planned just in case weather won't allow you to get out there.


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Apox – PC Review
Brash Games January 24, 2011
Imagine if Mad Max came as an RTS, how cool would that be? Oh, wait, hang on, here comes Apox from Bluegiant Interactive, set in a near post-apocalyptic, Mad-Max-esque future. Blimey, it's as if they read my mind.
Apox looks like a very cool game, why? Well get a load of this:
– Multi-player games with up to 32 players.
– Over a hundred maps.
– A map editor.
– The ability to place soldiers into vehicles to form new units.
– Plus, loads of updated, playable maps from the Apox community.
Told you it looked cool, but how does it play? You start the game by choosing any one of several mission options: Basic Training, Missions, Single Player, Co-op and Multiplayer. The basic training comprises of a pretty good tutorial that gets you used to the RTS system to start with, followed by the Apox method of supply and battle scenarios, although if you've played games like this before then it won't take you long to get into the flow of things.
As in most RTS games, going all the way back to C&C, you have to gather resources to keep yourself going, build an effective defensive system, and likewise, build an effective offensive. In Apox, the resources are oil/gas refineries and valuable scrap metal, survivors of the wasteland and ammo. You start any game with a scarp yard, a barracks and your command building. From there you can create other basic buildings and soldiers to build everything with. Each building has a unique tech tree that flows accordingly to the amount of resources you have at hand. For example, the barracks, they dish out gunners, flame-thrower units and the like. Gather more resources via your scrap yard and you can upgrade the barracks to a soldier barracks that allows you to create a sniper and a heavy gunner. This upgrade also allows you to start researching molotov cocktails and mines. Upgrade again to the siege barracks and you get to build RPG and mortar units. The same goes for the auto factory where you can build cars with machine gun emplacements, or flame-thrower units, eventually upgrading to armoured anti-tank units. In fact there are a good number of ways to inflict pain and misery on your opponents, not that anyone reading this would enjoy that, of course!
Resources, resources, resources, they are the key factor to anything you want to build or research in APOX. Send your men out to capture oil refineries and populate the commandeered buildings with soldiers to operate them. Watch them build a pipeline from the refinery to your base, then setup flame-thrower defence towers to guard the pipeline against the enemy. Find scrap cars or other sources of metal and your men gather it up and ferry it back to your scrap yard. The same with ammo factories. Employ a couple of men to operate it and they'll run back and forth delivering ammo to your troops as well as your main base. This resource sharing ability works with other friendly units as well. If your hunkered down and running low on ammo send a friendly unit over (or ask for one online) and the troops will share the ammo out automatically. The same goes for fuel, metal and weapons. I like this feature of sharing resources and it certainly comes in handy when your back is against the wall and you're running low on just about everything. You can even build a pipeline to another players' and share their refinery's output. Stick one near an enemy and you can nick it!
However, all the scrap metal and oil/gas supplies in the world are useless without survivors from the wasteland to help operate and build them. This is probably the single most important resource you can have in this game, as you can gather fuel and metal fairly easily. Capture enemy buildings and units though and you receive a few extra survivors to add to your complement, but be careful, as while in some RTS's you can just keep building and building, in Apox some thought is needed, as your survivor rate is very slow to grow which, in a way, forces you out of the relative safety of your base to capture and explore.
The Missions and Single Player options consists of a number of pre-built maps that ask you to defend your base, capture an oil refinery, sneak into the enemy camp and take the prisoners and steal resources from the enemy CPU camp. There also a versus mode against bots in either a 3 Vs. 3, 5 Vs. 5 or 16 Vs. 16 scrimmage. Again, all fairly standard stuff that gets you used to the controls and how to win against the CPU, but it does begin to ready you for Apox's massive online maps so it's worth having a blast at them at least.
Co-op and Multiplayer are where this game really shines. As previously stated, you can have up to thirty two players online in either, humans Vs. bots or human Vs. human or any combination of the two, it all depends on how the host has set up the match. Get a server full of players and the game becomes very interesting and a race against the clock for domination of the map. The game servers are located all over the world and have, surprisingly, very good ping rates – I played a Texas based server without any noticeable lag with a 2Mb line. The AI of the bots can be set to easy, normal and hard with easy being a good twenty minute play and hard being an almost-all-nighter, especially if you have sixteen of them to beat.
Graphics are nicely drawn, with the usual 3D-RTS view. The units move and operate without too much difficulty, and when zoomed in, look very good. But again, the graphics really only come into play when you're sending in a large troop of men, together with the collective armies of a couple of online co-op buddies and they run across flame-thrower towers and RPG's units. Then the battlefield comes alive with action, mixing explosions with flaming bodies, gunfire and a rampaging car with a machine gun rattling away on the roof. Fantastic, and music to my eyes. Speaking of which, the music is a fairly bland affair, but then who's listening to music when you have to listen out for attack alarms and enemy gunfire. At times it can all become a bit confusing with so many cries of agony and loud booming explosions you lose track of where you are.
I did come across a few problems, although they are only minor niggles and may improve with updates. The AI seems to have the ability to rapid build. In under a few minutes from starting a game they had machine gun cars and mortar units, whilst I was still waiting for enough survivors to build my auto factory. And whilst I'm on the subject of the AI, how come their ammo depots and refineries are right next to them and mine always seem to be half way across the map, making defending them a nightmare. Maybe the game just wants to make me cry? My only other gripe is the stability. I'm playing via Steam, an application that for some reason I've never got on with and I've had a few instances where, mid-online-battle (plus I was winning!) the game crashed out to the desktop. But I'm going to be positive, and I'm going to blame Steam for this rather than Apox. As I've said, I've found Steam to be shockingly unstable at times.
Apox is a great RTS and I'll be online for many months to come, more than likely I'll be famous for being cannon-fodder, but at least the game keeps me playing, which is a lot more than other RTS's that are currently out there. The micro-management of resources isn't too intensive to distract from the combat and the units behave themselves and defend/attack admirably well and winning the game isn't completely unachievable providing you use good tactics and manage your resources effectively. If you're going to try an online RTS then try Apox, you won't be disappointed.
REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.
Brash Games
Tags:Bluegiant Interactive, PC, PC Review, Rating 9/10, Real-Time Strategy, RTS
Far Cry Review
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture Review
Worms Crazy Golf Review
NOT A HERO Review
Rakesh	January 25, 2011
Awesome game I will buy it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Does evaporation take place more over water or land?
In order for evaporation to occur, water bodies must be present. Large water bodies are more suitable for higher evaporation. Land is mostly building and land. The volume of water vapor coming from land to the volume of water vapor leaving large water bodies would be greater.


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From Mbaka to Bakare to Momodu to Red Card: The season of recanting
From Abiola to Adenuga: My biggest encounters with life changers
How goodwill and good friendships opened doors for me
The great lessons life has taught me at 59
By Reuben Abati
"I wish I could travel to the US right now"
"Why? Why not wait till summer time?"
"No, I feel like going there physically to tell President Donald Trump exactly how I feel about the statements he has been making about the black world."
"You don't need to go to the US to do that. Follow him on twitter and tell him what you feel."
"I am just angry."
"We all are. Each time the man opens his mouth, pure shit comes out. I mean, he has lowered the dignity of the office of the American President."
"You know when he said Haiti and African countries are shit-hole countries, it was as if a part of me died. I am black and proud. But by calling us citizens of shithole countries, President Trump just stuck a pin in the entire framework of the African Renaissance, Negritude, and the growing wave of Afro-optimism".
"But the man has recanted though. He said he didn't actually say so, and that he is not in any way a racist."
"He only used tough words. I heard him. But what are those tough words? The words of an American villager who does not believe in the dignity of other peoples of the world; the words of a nativist, and an egotist."
"This was how the man once said Nigerians live in huts"
"He should visit the private palaces of Banana Island or Asokoro and come and see what he calls huts."
"Can you blame him? He says he has special intellect, and he is a stable genius and a billionaire."
"Which billionaire? Is he richer than Dangote? Let him stop boasting. He is a billionaire. Can he spray better dollar at a party? The man is an accidental President. He should learn to carry himself with decorum. That was how the other day he even said the people from Haiti all have AIDS."
"He has been most unfair to the people of Haiti if you ask me. He needs to be reminded that the people of Haiti fought for American independence. The Volunteer Hunters of Saint-Domingue, the largest unit of men of African descent fought in the American Revolutionary War in Savannah, Georgia."
"The year was 1779. But what has been Haiti's reward. America has consistently joined Europe to plunder and humiliate Haiti. I know the history. Haitians did not go to America on a boat. They went there as revolutionaries. Henri Christophe and the other Haitian Revolutionaries must be turning in their graves. To be so insulted by a man whose ancestors were not part of the Revolution that he now benefits from as President of a United States."
"It is the black man's burden. You know even during the American Revolution, men of colour were treated as second-class citizens. Trump speaks for an established tendency. You'd be surprised that the mainstream, average American doesn't see anything wrong in what he has said. Many white Americans actually believe that we live in shitholes. In fact, worse, hell-holes"
"What surprises me is the fact that there are many Uncle Tom Africans and black people who believe that Trump has not said anything that we do not know already."
"Some people enjoy being oppressed and abused. They have no pride. If you abuse their mother, they will say Yes sir (!), before realising their folly"
"It is called the Stockholm syndrome."
"One guy sent me a video message on whatsapp showing some people in Agege, jump-starting a train, and he asked: what is this? Is this not a shit-hole? And we are blaming Trump?"
"How do you jump-start a train? What is that?"
"The train suddenly stopped on the rail-track and the engine refused to start. The passengers came down. Passers-by joined them and they pushed the train until the engine coughed back to life."
"In Nigeria?"
"In Agege, Lagos. I saw the video. The passengers were so happy and they cheered as if something glorious had occurred."
"Whatever. That still doesn't make us a shithole. Growth is a process, not a structure."
"I got a note from one of our brothers in the US. He said we should see the Trump statement as a challenge to make our continent better. When Americans hear that state Governors in Nigeria do not pay salaries, or that African leaders change the Constitution so they could remain in office for life, or that some countries have no electricity, no potable water supply and that the United States has to assist some African countries to buy mosquito nets, while the country's lawmakers are busy dancing and junketing around the world, they simply conclude that Africa is a shithole."
"Which shithole? There are many Nigerians in the United States who are better educated than most Americans. We are the most educated set of African immigrants in the United States."
"So, how does that take the shit out of you? That's what the average American thinks. With all your education, they may still ask you: where did you learn to speak English?"
"Right inside my mother's womb"
"And then of course, when they hear about Boko Haram and the killing of human beings to avenge the theft of cattle, I mean, I mean, the confused American would just start screaming shit, shit, shit mehn."
"There is more shit in America than in the entire African continent and Haiti. Trump owes us an apology."
"Some people are likely to say it is African leaders who owe our people an apology for turning us into the laughing stock of the world. Are you aware that the Chinese and Asians in general also think Africans and black people are full of shit; it is just that they don't say it?"
"If anybody tries that, I will punch him or her in the face."
"If you are looking people to punch in the face, I can recommend some people around here. Let's leave Trump alone with his shit."
"Like who and who?"
"The people who put Nigeria in this mess. All the people who had the opportunity to deliver change and progress but turned Nigeria into Trump's wash-hand basin."
"How many persons are you going to punch in the face? You'd end up having bruised knuckles. Shouldn't we at least thank God that some people are beginning to confess and recant?"
"Fulani herdsmen have confessed and recanted?"
"Who is talking about Fulani herdsmen? Fulani herdsmen want grazing colonies across Nigeria and their right to do business in any part of Nigeria."
"Who is questioning that? Every Nigerian is entitled to basic freedoms but not at the expense of others. And as for grazing colonies, government has to come up with a more creative and acceptable solution. Nobody in the South wants a grazing colony."
"I don't want anybody to graze cattle on my family's ancestral land. If anybody tries that, I'll report the matter to the Aaare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Chief Gani Adams. "
"Not the police?"
"Which police? The same police that described criminal conduct as community clashes? You think the Yoruba traditional rulers who have appointed a Generalissimo of the Yoruba army do not have a strategic reason for doing so? Let anybody come and take Yoruba land and let us see."
"Government can take land in the public interest and convert it into a cattle colony."
"In that case, I hope the same government will take land in parts of the North and give to the National Piggery Association to establish pig colonies across the North. Igbo livestock farmers are also demanding colonies for their pigs in all states of the Federation."
"I don't think Northerners will want anybody to come and set up piggeries all over their territory. Muslims regard a pig as a dirty and unclean animal. Muslims don't eat pork, but you eat beef."
"No. I eat fish. In fact, I am planning to join the Boycott-Beef-Movement of Nigeria, if that will put an end to cattle grazing and the conflict between pastoralists and farmers. I can't accept that the life of a cow is more important than that of a human being. Did you see some of those gory pictures from Benue? Human beings were slaughtered like cattle at the abattoir."
"I am sorry, you are beginning to sound like Trump. You are describing a shithole of a place."
"I can criticise my country if I wish, but Trump has no right to be rude to us."
"When we become a country in a real sense, you'd be able to speak with true pride. Look at Ghana. Look at Botswana. Their Presidents immediately issued statements to tell Trump off. Nigeria has not uttered a word. The shithole countries tend to know themselves. But there is is hope. May be things will change."
"Change. I hear that all the time. Afterall, they have started again. Fr. Ejike Mbaka recently preached that the only way we can have change is for President Buhari not to seek a second term, and that if he does, he will be disgraced at the polls."
"The man don recant be that oh. He don change prophecy. I think he owes us an apology."
"Let him keep his apology. The one that really shocks me is that of Pastor Tunde Bakare delivering a state of the nation address in which he scored the Buhari administration so low."
"I am not interested in his scores. He should revive the Save Nigeria Group and return to Ojota. What is fair is fair."
"But the man spoke oh. No holds barred. I couldn't believe he would attack President Buhari like that. I listened to him as he spoke about signs of retrogression, unemployment. "
"I hear he wants to be President"
"This his last sermon was not about Presidential ambition. He called for a renegotiation of Nigeria because according to him, Buhari has failed Nigeria."
"What? Did he mention Jonathan?"
"I think that trick of blaming Jonathan for everything wrong with Nigeria is no longer working. People have seen through that. If you know the number of young people who campaigned for the APC in 2014/2015 who are now recanting. In fact, many of them are very angry."
"The children of anger have found another victim! I read those things and laugh. I thought we told them and they said we were clueless. They have now seen the true meaning and nature of cluelessness."
"I won't say that. It is not good to gloat. In a democracy, the people have the right to make choices and that includes the right to make mistakes."
"One of their aunties, the Red Card auntie, has moved from looking for Chibok girls to distributing red cards and asking people to reject both the PDP and the APC. You know what her yesterday's friends told her?"
"They told her to go and join the National Referees Association, and stop abusing the Red Card. She too has recanted. She has seen the light."
"I don't see why you find this funny."
"Let me finish. You see one of those boys who used to flex muscle on twitter. I read an article by him too. He publicly apologized for being misled and for misleading others."
"He doesn't have to. The problem with us in Nigeria is that we are too emotional. We should learn
to be analytical. Suppose it is corruption that is fighting back, at the root of whatever is making you laugh."
"Even our brother, Bob Dee, Dele Momodu has expressed his regrets. He wrote this hot article…"
"The problem with us in Nigeria is that we love slogans. We should learn to get to the root of things before taking positions. The people are emotionally conflicted; our bail-out Governors don't know what to do. Every little thing, they run to Abuja to beg for a bail-out. The failure of governance at the state level is the real problem."
"You mean the real shit-holes are in the states?"
"Shit. Shit."
Related Topics:Dele Momodu, Ejike Mbaka, Featured, Oby Ezekwesili
Benue: Of cattle colonies, ranching and grazing routes


Laying a three-foot wide (or more) tick barrier between your lawn and potential tick habitats will restrict the pest's migration into your yard. This barrier can consist of either gravel or wood chips – two materials that ticks cannot travel over or really survive in.
There are a couple of other ideas you might consider, as well. First, making an extra "barrier area", so that your wood pile can sit atop the wood chips or gravel, could help with tick control.
Also, using wood chips or gravel in the beds that are planted right next to your house will help reduce the tick population in the overall yard.
Finally, building a fence around your property is an additional type of "tick barrier", because it will keep out wild or stray animals that could carry ticks onto the property.
When deciding on a fence, remember that it is not just small animals that carry ticks. Deer are another primary carrier of blacklegged ticks (a.k.a. deer ticks). In fact, deer are considered a reproductive host for adult female ticks – meaning that the adult female tick will feed on the deer to gather the protein to lay thousands of eggs. So your fence should be tall enough that a deer will, at least, not be able to see what is on the other side.
According to University of Vermont's Dr. Leonard Perry, even though a taller, slanted fence is recommended, a basic privacy fence can be effective because deer cannot see what is on the opposite side of it. And, not knowing if there is danger on the other side can be a strong deterrent – even if they smell something that is very attractive to them.
However, if you have a large deer population in your area, and feel like a more robust fence is a necessity, consider the other features of deer-proof fencing outlined by Dr. Perry, and by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.


"I'd give you full Marx," said David Cameron.
Jeremy Corbyn has faced the loudest and most sustained jeers yet from Tory MPs at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
At his fifth head-to-head with David Cameron, the Labour leader was met with a wall of noise from the Conservative benches as he asked about tax credits and the NHS.
The rowdy atmosphere was a marked change from Corbyn's earlier House of Commons sessions, when Tory MPs largely restrained themselves in front of the new Opposition leader. This time, however, the gloves were off.
As soon as Corbyn stood up, he was greeted with loud ironic cheers from the Tory benches. He pressed Cameron on the impact of tax credit cuts on the poorest people – after failing to get an answer last week – but was again told to wait until the autumn statement later this month.
The PM said: "If he wants to spend the next five questions asking it all over again I'm sure he'll find that's all very entertaining and interesting. How it fits with the new politics I'm not quite sure, but over to you!"
As Tory MPs went wild, Corbyn said: "Mr Speaker, this isn't about entertainment..." That remark sparked fresh peals of laughter from Conservative benches, prompting Corbyn to roll his eyes before looking at them seriously.
"This is not funny for people who are desperately worried about what's going to happen to them next April," Corbyn said, quietly.
Corbyn focused on tax credits for three of his allotted six questions, before turning to pressures on the NHS. Quoting Dr Cliff Mann at the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, he warned that "this winter would be worse than last winter and last winter was the worst winter we've ever had in the NHS".
Cameron insisted the NHS had adequate resources and was "benefiting from £10 billion we put in". He said a Conservative government could fund an NHS – unlike "the countries he admires all over the world with their crazy socialist plans".
Reaching for his notes, the PM added: "If you want to know who is heading for a winter crisis, I would predict it is the Labour party!
"Look at your appointments: your media adviser is a Stalinist, your new policy adviser is a Trotskyist, and your economic adviser is a communist – if you're trying to move the Labour party to the left I'd give you full Marx."
The jibe sparked huge cheers from his party and shouts of "more, more".
Corbyn's team were not impressed at Cameron's responses. Speaking afterwards, his spokesperson told reporters: "We're disappointed we don't get straight answers in Prime Minister's Questions."
Asked by BuzzFeed News what they made of Cameron's "winter crisis" jibe, they added: "We're not going to respond to that kind of attack. We don't feel the Labour party is in crisis."
The Tory jeers and jibes didn't go down too well with commentators either.
The jeering from Tories during today's #PMQs is utterly, unforgivably disgusting. What a sickening spectacle.


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California Chapter Division of AAEM
The American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM) is the specialty society of emergency medicine. AAEM is a democratic organization committed to the following principles:
Every individual should have unencumbered access to quality emergency care provided by a specialist in emergency medicine.
The practice of emergency medicine is best conducted by a specialist in emergency medicine.
A specialist in emergency medicine is a physician who has achieved, through personal dedication and sacrifice, certification by either the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) or the American Osteopathic Board of Emergency Medicine (AOBEM).
The personal and professional welfare of the individual specialist in emergency medicine is a primary concern to the AAEM.
The Academy supports fair and equitable practice environments necessary to allow the specialist in emergency medicine to deliver the highest quality of patient care. Such an environment includes provisions for due process and the absence of restrictive covenants.
The Academy supports residency programs and graduate medical education, which are essential to the continued enrichment of emergency medicine, and to ensure a high quality of care for the patient.
The Academy is committed to providing affordable high quality continuing medical education in emergency medicine for its members.
The Academy supports the establishment and recognition of emergency medicine internationally as an independent specialty and is committed to its role in the advancement of emergency medicine worldwide.
Not since Catholic Healthcare West (now rebranded as DignityHealth) announced its plan to buy the MSO (management services organization) portion of EPMG (now reorganized as a part of EMP) in 1998 has controversy swirled like that surrounding publicly-traded Tenet Health's plan to put multiple EM, anesthesiology, and hospitalist exclusive service contracts out to bid at its 11 California hospital facilities. Tenet reportedly sent out RFPs (requests for proposals) sometime in June to EmCare, TeamHealth and ApolloMD, all publicly held entities. Emergency medicine, anesthesia and hospitalist contracts were all placed on the auction block, with essentially no input from the medical staff at the Tenet facilities. Tenet's managers hoped to eliminate stipends to hospitalist and anesthesiology services by using ED profits to subsidize these specialties. Tenet's plan sparked the formation of The Coalition for Quality Hospital Care3, which represents the hundreds of affected physicians and serves as a focal point for information relevant to Tenet's activities in the contracting matter.
Several months earlier, a Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) administrator at one of HCA's southern California hospitals approached the longstanding local EM groupat that facility and asked that the group, which had provided decades of excellent service, "talk to EmCare." EmCare had become a subsidiary of Envision Healthcare, which went public in August 2013. HCA subsequently announced a "joint venture" with EmCare, and a significant number of independent EM groups lost their contracts to EmCare.
For past president's messages, click here.
Read CAL/AAEM's latest newsletter here.
CAL/AAEM Membership
As a resident of the state of California, the California State Chapter Division of AAEM (CAL/AAEM) board of directors would like to extend a special invitation to you to join CAL/AAEM. In addition to your state chapter championing for individual physician rights and workplace fairness, CAL/AAEM membership benefits would include:
Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, print and electronic subscriptions (Residents and Students receive an electronic-only subscription. An option to upgrade the Resident/Student membership to include a paper subscription to WestJEM is available for $25.)
CAL/AAEM News Service email updates and information
Latest LLSA summaries online. (Access the materials, for CAL/AAEM members only).
Discounted registration fee to the CAL/AAEM pre-conference educational event at the annual AAEM Scientific Assembly
Discounted registration fee to the annual California ACEP Scientific Assembly and Yosemite conference
Free introductory legal advisory service for workplace fairness issues
Supporting medical student education and conferences in the state
Supporting California Legislative initiatives and the annual Emergency Medicine Legislative Leadership Conference in Sacramento
Free network opportunities and up-to-date information through CAL/AAEM social media
Click here to apply for membership.
Visit CAL/AAEM's website here.
California Chapter Division of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine (CAL/AAEM)
555 East Wells Street, Suite 1100
Email: info@calaaem.org


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E. Orange
S. Orange
Advocates Blast Superintendent's Call to Close Four Newark Charter Schools as 'Unfair' and 'Alarming'
Posted by Essex County Politics 1sc on January 09, 2020
PATRICK WALL, CHALKBEAT | JANUARY 9, 2020
NJ Spotlight
Superintendent of Newark Public Schools Roger León at a school board meeting
Charter school advocates are firing back at Superintendent Roger León after he called for the closure of four Newark charter schools last month and warn that his actions could reignite district-charter clashes.
Two advocacy groups sent strongly worded missives to the state Monday in response to a series of letters León wrote in December urging the state to shutter four charter schools: M.E.T.S., People's Prep, Roseville Community, and University Heights.
"The ideology and factual misstatements that permeate those letters threaten years worth of work to create harmony between district and charter schools in Newark," wrote Kyle Rosenkrans, executive director of the New Jersey Children's Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes cooperation between Newark's traditional and charter schools.
The New Jersey Charter Schools Association, which represents the majority of the state's 88 charter schools, also submitted comments to the state Monday.
"I write this letter in response to the irresponsible and unfair attacks on public charter schools in Newark," wrote the group's president and CEO, Harry Lee, who called León's arguments "factually inaccurate" and "alarming."
Draining money from district
The public dispute comes just weeks after León and charter leaders agreed to continue using a common application system — a partnership that Rosenkrans helped negotiate.
But León's letters to state Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet revealed that he remains deeply skeptical of the schools. León argued that publicly funded, privately managed charter schools drain money from the district and fail to serve their fair share of students with special needs.
Well over a third of Newark's public school students are enrolled in charters. The district sends about 30% of its revenue to charter schools, which receive the public funding attached to every student they enroll.
León urged Repollet to shut down the four schools, which are undergoing a mandatory state review, and to deny "any and all" applications for new charter schools or the renewal of existing charter schools unless they serve "a specific educational need."
Rosenkrans, a former fundraiser for the KIPP New Jersey charter network who launched the foundation last year, has sought to mediate between charters and the district's new leadership. (In 2018, the state ended its takeover of Newark schools and restored authority to the local school board, which chose León as superintendent.) Rosenkrans now appears to be taking a more combative approach in light of León's letters.
'Vehement disagreement' with León
In his message to Repollet, Rosenkrans asserts his "vehement disagreement" with León and pokes holes in León's case against charter schools. Among Rosenkrans' counter-arguments: Traditional and charter schools have made academic gains as the charter sector expanded; the district has the ability to assign more students with special needs to charter schools if it chooses; and the district still has budget surpluses even with its payments to charter schools.
"The district has wildly overstated its fiscal circumstances, including the impact of charter schools on its budget," he wrote, citing a $13 million surplus that the state found last year in Newark's budget.
Lee made similar points in his letter. He argued that charter schools have taken steps to enroll more students with disabilities and are entitled to the public funding they receive when students choose charters over traditional schools.
Lee also asked the state to disregard León's letters because they were submitted after a 30-day deadline and were not endorsed by the school board. However, a state spokesperson previously said the commissioner would review "all relevant records" when deciding whether to allow the four schools to continue operating. A decision is expected by Feb. 1.
A district spokesperson declined to comment on the responses to León's letters.
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MAY'S PLAY
What did Theresa May's Davos Brexit speech reveal? What did she say about globalisation and the UK's plans for leaving the EU?
The Prime Minister made her case for Britain in front of world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
By ALAIN TOLHURST and DANNY COLLINS
THERESA May told world leaders Britain is "open for business" in a key speech today.
The Prime Minister addressed government and business leaders just days after she announced Britain would leave the European single market.
In an exclusive piece for The Sun, May roared: "We will make Britain fairer for ordinary working people by getting control of the numbers coming here from the European Union."
Theresa May made her case for Britain when she addressed the World Economic Forum in DavosCredit: Reuters
What did Theresa May's Davos Brexit speech reveal?
May insisted the historic vote to leave the EU did not mean the UK turning its back on the world – but instead seeking out new trading partners and allies around the globe while maintaining its friendship with European neighbours.
Voters who opted for Brexit in last year's referendum were choosing to "leave the EU and embrace the world", and Britain would as a result become "even more globalised and internationalist in action and in spirit," she said.
Conservative leader May was addressing hundreds of key world leaders this morning at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The speech comes just two days after she declared Britain would opt for a hard Brexit following last year's EU referendum.
What did she say about globalisation?
While May said Britain is ready to trade with the world, she warned about the effect of globalisation on ordinary Brits.
The PM said: "Free trade, partnership and globalisation. But outside this hall, those forces for good which we take for granted are being called into question.
"Forces that have had such a positive impact, lifting millions out of poverty, broken down barriers and raised living standards, are now being undermined.
"As we meet here, across Europe parties of the far left and far right are trying to profit from a keenly felt sense, especially among those on modest incomes, that these forces are not working for them."
And she added: "Talk of greater globalisation can make people fearful. For many it means their jobs outsourced and their wages undercut."
Writing in The Sun, the Prime Minister talked of how she wanted a Brexit that stood up for ordinary BritsCredit: Getty Images
What did Theresa May say about the UK's plans for leaving the EU?
Mrs May insisted the UK leaving the EU did not mean it would be turning its back on the rest of the world.
She said Britain would seek out new trading partners and allies around the globe while maintaining its friendship with European neighbours.
Voters who opted for Brexit in last year's referendum were choosing to "leave the EU and embrace the world," and Britain would as a result become "even more globalised and internationalist in action and in spirit," she added.
EU chief praises Theresa May's Brexit speech as she sets down red lines on immigration, exit of the single market – but MPs still get a vote and we'll pay into the EU budget
What is Theresa May's 'clean Brexit', what's the difference between a hard and soft Brexit and what does 'half in, half out' mean?
Theresa May exclusively tells Sun readers 'we'll make Brexit work for workers' as she pledges to build a stronger UK


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Risk & Economy » Audit » A brighter future for accounting?
A brighter future for accounting?
The year ahead may herald some positive developments for the accounting sector, argues Tim Godson, a partner at accountancy firm Duncan & Toplis.
by Tim Godson | Duncan & Toplis - January 2, 2019
The new year is here. Far from being left behind in 2018, discussions around the release of Sir John Kingman's review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) interim report are ongoing.
Duncan & Toplis responded to the open invitation to take part in the CMA consultation and the Kingman call for evidence, and I'm pleased that our suggestions and observations were considered.
Rebuilding the FRC
The Kingman report concluded that the FRC is not fit for purpose. Partly this stems from the perception that the FRC is too close to the big four.
Kingman said the regulator needed "new leadership, new mission, new powers and new funding", and recommended the creation of a new body – the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA).
The problems at the FRC include issues around recruitment: The body regularly recruits big four alumni and rarely advertises openly for top jobs. The report found that only one out of 21 vacancies in relevant positions between 2016 and 2018 was advertised in the national press, while only six involved "external search consultancies." Kingman suggested that though many members of the current regulatory body would move over to ARGA, the new board should be much smaller and there should be minimal overlap in senior management.
Financial Director's year in review
How 2018 affected finance leaders- from audit to Brexit.
Regulating the regulator: how the FRC should transform itself
How can the Financial Reporting Council transform itself into a more effective regulator of the audit and accounting industry to restore customer confidence, asks Sam Walsh from PA Consulting.
As well as recruitment issues, the FRC is partly funded by the same organisations it is supposed to be holding to account. Surprisingly, the body does not have authority to investigate all directors, just those registered as accountants, leaving accountants (and auditors) to take all the blame when things go wrong.
The creation of a new regulatory body (replacing the FRC) with more statutory powers, statutory funding and a clearer remit should bring about significant, positive change.
Big four shakeup
The CMA report into audit market competition found that the market is too heavily dominated by the big four and has suggested sensible reforms for the industry following a review of the audit sector.
While increased scrutiny on the tendering process and enforcing a clear split between the audit and other services offered by firms should bring improvements, perhaps the biggest proposed change would be the introduction of joint audits for all FTSE 350 companies requiring at least one firm appointed to be from outside the big four. Joint auditing would likely force auditors to ensure that their work is of the highest standard, making it much harder to get away with low quality work.
Among the other positives, these changes would be particularly good news for accountants like us because it would force the big four to open up the market and encourage larger companies to look beyond them for audit and accountancy services.
Although previous suggestions from politicians and other groups have had a tendency to offer unrealistic changes that place far too much pressure on auditors, these two sets of recommendations could make real, positive changes throughout the industry.
As was demonstrated by the collapse of major listed entities such as Carillion and BHS, the present regulatory framework and level of competition in the audit market have serious failings. With those in mind, the new recommendations offer realistic and reasonable solutions to some of the most serious problems in the industry – although questions remain as to how they will work in practice.
As one of the top 30 accountancy groups in the UK, the outcome of the reviews could have a positive impact on us and other groups our size. The reforms should loosen the grip that the "big four" have over the audit market and I they will go some way towards repairing the damage that has been done to the reputation of the accounting industry over recent years.
The government has now launched a new independent review into the current standard of the UK audit market that is being led by Donald Brydon, the outgoing chair of the London Stock Exchange. An advisory board has been tasked to build on the findings of the parallel reviews with a view to ensure our audit sector is world leading.
A full and final report will be revealed by CMA in due course, while a project plan from Donald Brydon's independent review is expected any day. For now, we wait.
Financial Reporting Council
Top corporate scandals in 2018
By Nash Riggins
The collapse of Carillion a year on: the verdict
What is worrying internal audit leaders for 2019?
By Malcolm Murray | Gartner
Rachel Reeves tells FDs to look beyond Big Four
Mismanaging the national minimum wage can be risky business
By James Pike
Cable pursues Government over Big Four audit domination


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What's Up Next for the Obama Administration?
As we await word on whether or not there will be an agreement with Iran about their nuclear weapons program, we've seen a burst of activity recently from the Obama administration on things like diplomatic relations with Cuba and a new overtime rule for workers. But what's next for a White House that plans to play through to the end of the fourth quarter? Carol Lee writes that they're gearing up for another push on domestic policy.
While President Barack Obama's top foreign-policy initiatives - particularly on Cuba, trade and Iran - have dominated the headlines lately, the White House is gearing up for a domestic policy push that's largely been under the radar...
In coming weeks, the White House is expected to roll out more executive orders, perhaps on gun safety. And top White House officials are hoping to capitalize on their successful collaboration with congressional Republicans on trade to advance a business tax overhaul and transportation initiatives targeted at shoring up the country's infrastructure.
Changes to the criminal justice system are also at the top of the president's domestic wish list.
To the extent that any of these require Congressional action, I doubt the odds of movement from Republicans have improved much. But on criminal justice reform, Peter Baker suggests that we are about to see another round of commutations as a result of the President's clemency initiative.
Sometime in the next few weeks, aides expect President Obama to issue orders freeing dozens of federal prisoners locked up on nonviolent drug offenses. With the stroke of his pen, he will probably commute more sentences at one time than any president has in nearly half a century.
Baker goes on to suggest that the anticipated announcement might mean that the President's total of 43 commutations to date will double to over 80. But it's important to keep in mind that this is an ongoing process. Due to the administration's work on this initiative, there are now over 7,000 petitions pending. According to Gregory Korte, the office that reviews these petitions in the Department of Justice has set a deadline of January 2016 for petitions to be filed that will be reviewed by this administration.
Based on that information and what we've seen so far from this initiative, we can expect to see that the kind of announcement Baker is forecasting will happen every few months between now and the end of President Obama's second term.
Baker summarizes the record of modern presidential use of commutation:
Modern presidents have been far less likely to commute sentences. Lyndon B. Johnson commuted the sentences of 80 convicted criminals in the 1966 fiscal year, and no president since then has matched that in his entire administration, much less in a single year. Ronald Reagan commuted only 13 sentences in eight years in office, while George W. Bush commuted just 11 in the same amount of time. The elder Mr. Bush commuted three sentences in his four years.
There is no doubt that by January 2017, President Obama will have surpassed any modern president on the number of commutations granted. In the scheme of things, it will be his small contribution to reducing the number of people who are currently incarcerated in this country. But it makes a bold statement nonetheless. It also marks a huge change in what the President identified as the problem with this process.
The president complained that the pardon attorney's office favored petitions from wealthy and connected people, who had good lawyers and knew how to game the system. The typical felon recommended for clemency by the pardon attorney was a hunter who wanted a pardon so that he could apply for a hunting license.
That is clearly no longer the case. And so this represents yet another example of how President Obama has used the power of the executive branch to make real change.
Tien Le July 5, 2015 at 1:49 PM
Conspicuously absent are a bunch of right wing freakouts about things like the deficit and defaulting on debt. Maybe they're so busy sucking their thumbs about their culture war losses, they're too distracted to blow up the economy.
mlf July 6, 2015 at 12:24 AM
I wonder if this will right wing fears that President Obama is letting all the 'thugs' loose to rape and pillage at will? I say "go for it", President Obama. I am amazed that he continues to push on all fronts. Nothing escapes his attention.
You've probably seen this, but I just did and thought it supported everything you've said about President Obama and his style of governing. It also showed me (although I already knew it) that he is the most consistent person I think I've ever known and that consistency comes from deep reflection on how his ethical/moral/religious values intersect with the world.


I first went to see Atul Shah 4 years ago. I had a long standing problem with my neck due to a sporting injury that made turning around whilst driving very difficult.
After just a couple of sessions of manipulation with Atul, there was a tremendous difference that went on to full use of mobility.