Home » Blogs » Charles Gaba's blog » Here's the future of Medicaid expansion under "work requirements".
I was untreated by my FORMER doctor for 11 mos. By then, the tick bacteria had infected my Cerebral Spinal Fluid. Now I have a Pseudotumor Cerebri and have lost the use of my left side. (Coxsackie virus is a "Cousin" of Polio). I cannot drive. I need help dressing/bathing. I just had my 7th spinal tap on Monday last. I may need a brain shunt to drain the excess fluid. I have been hospitalized at least 5 times, have been to the Mayo Clinic, have had 20 + MRIs/CT scans, and have been rushed to the ER at least 20 times. I live in Chronic Pain.
One of my Ten + medicines cost $1600/mo. Before the ACA, I paid $1000/mo. + meds for my health insurance. I quickly went through both my mine and my mother's LIFE SAVINGS of over $120,000. Three months after I was sworn in as an attorney, my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given six mos. to live. I closed my law office and moved back home to care for him. He made it almost 2 years. My parents had been married 40 years. My mother and I already lost my brother to a hit and run driver. He was 19 and I was 14. My mother cannot bear to lose her only other child. We are about to lose our home of 47 yrs. Besides being homeless, our home is the last thing we have left of my Dad and brother.
I also face losing my healthcare under the ACA. I tried to do everything "right". I went to school to take care of my parents and worked as a criminal defense attorney helping those less fortunate and the wrongfully charged and convicted. During my undergraduate years I ran a childcare program that cared for low-income and disabled children. We had no life insurance when my dad died. He accidently let it lapse and was too embarrassed to tell us.
My mother worked until age 75 but had to quit to take me to my Drs. appointments. If we don't lose our house in the next six mos., I will be homeless when she dies. I can't drive. My disability process takes 24 mos. We cannot make it that long. If I lose my Healthcare, she will have to try to find a job at age 76. Even if I am able to keep my ACA, we will lose our family home. Please, will someone help us? If she outlives me, she will be homeless with no money for retirement or medical assistance. If someone can help us, I promise to pay it forward. I will take in rescue animals or take in a person who needs shelter. We are desperate and need help. Please open your hearts so that we can keep our home. I am in chronic pain and my mom and I want to die at home like my father.
Me: I take it you're among those who'll be subject to the new work requirement rules?
Julie: Yes. My Dr. already wrote me a letter stating I could do no meaningful work. Now, I've received notice that my Medicaid/ ACA will be canceled as of 7/1/18. My Dr has to write another letter stating I am "Medically Fragile". My disability is still pending. Once I get this new letter, it is my understanding that the final decision will still be left up to the Ins. Cos. Talk abt the fox guarding the hen house.
Here's the letter [screen shot below] notifying that my Medicaid/ ACA will be canceled on 7/1/18.
For the work requirement I was able to get my PCP to write a letter, stating that I was too ill to work. I had my SSI/SSDI hearing & the judge ruled in my favor for SSI (I had waited too long for SSDI bc I kept thinking I would get better & be able to go back to work: I was a trial attorney) . But it could take 3-4 mos to go through bc of the red tape. So, once again, I fell through a crack. I have had to set up a gofundme account to pay for my RX, food, & shelter. I live in Louisville which has always been a blue city & we haven't had a GOP gov. for years! I can't afford to move bc we are underwater on our mortgage & my mom is 76. If I am declared " Medically Fragile " will they still come after me?
Now, I want to be clear about something: I have not independently confirmed Ms. Evans' story beyond her words and the screenshot of her Medicaid termination shown above. Is it possible that parts of her story are exaggerated or made up? Anything's possible.
However, that's not the point. The point is that even if her particular story doesn't end up panning out, there are thousands of other people faced with similar situations who will be extremely hard-pressed to be able to meet the "work requirement" provisions for Medicaid coverage being laid out in Kentucky and other states.
UPDATE: Strike that...I have received enough confirmation of Ms. Evans' story to be reasonably confident that her entire awful story is accurate.
Several commenters noted that the state's Medicaid offices, where many beneficiaries must go to report those changes, and the phone lines used to call to report changes are already busy and the calls and visits are time consuming. We understand that the state has made improvements in its call center operations and beneficiaries are able to report changes both over the phone and electronically. This is expected to reduce the burden of reporting and increase beneficiaries' likelihood for success in meeting the requirements. CMS also will track beneficiary success in meeting these requirements as part of ongoing demonstration monitoring.
Additionally, Kentucky will allow good cause exemptions in certain circumstances for beneficiaries who cannot meet their requirement. Kentucky also will be required to provide reasonable modifications for beneficiaries with disabilities.
...but again, that assumes that there are "reasonable" people making such decisions who aren't incredibly overloaded and backed up.
You have to "recertify" by providing all your verification paperwork every 6 months. The only way you are allowed to submit the paperwork is by uploading it to the DFACS website. The DFACS website gives you no tracking number, no confirmation number, no way you can verify what you submitted and when. But you upload all your paperwork and assume everything is fine.
A few weeks later you're checking out at the grocery on the day after your SNAP is credited to your account each month, and the cashier tells you there's no credit on your EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer, SNAP) card. You go home (hungry), call the DFACS statewide 800 line to see what paperwork they didn't get—copy of your driver's license? Your latest pay stub? Your third child's birth certificate?—and you're on hold for HOURS. Like, 8 hours. (Seriously.) The state just doesn't give DFACS enough money to hire enough operators to handle the call volume.
A few days, maybe a couple weeks later, a notice comes in the mail from DFACS. It says you've been cut off because you didn't submit all the required paperwork. It still doesn't tell you which paperwork they need that they don't have. It tells you to call the 800 line. You do, again you're on hold for hours, still nobody answers.
You have the right to appeal, but nobody knows that, and the caseworkers will steer you into just filing a new application. Which takes weeks or months. You never get back the SNAP benefits you lost in the interim.
Apply that system to Medicaid work requirements, and you have people dying.


text:
On the Political Report
Political Report Newsletter
Explore Elections
2020: Explore Criminal Justice on the Ballot
2019: Revisit Criminal Justice on the Ballot
Our Interactive tool: Where Criminal Justice is on the Ballot in 2018
Referenda: criminal justice & law enforcement
Referenda: voting rights
Explore State Politics
Legislatures: Our Interactive Tracker
Disenfranchisement: Spotlight on States
ICE Cooperation: Spotlight on States
Death Penalty: Spotlight on States
Prison Gerrymanders: Spotlight on States
Youth Justice: Spotlight on States
The Coronavirus Response
Explore Local Officials
The politics of prosecutors: An interactive page
The Stakeholders: Our Q&A series
What are state lawmakers up to? Interactive
The Badge: The powers of sheriffs
Sarah Lustbader Nov 06, 2018
2018 Election Preview: Initiative 940, Washington State
Ballot measure would change law that currently makes it nearly impossible to hold police officers accountable for excessive force
If voters approve Washington's Initiative 940, Washington would no longer be the only state in the country that requires prosecutors to meet the "malice burden," a standard so high that it has made it nearly impossible to prosecute police officers for killing civilians. Current law protects officers from being held criminally liable for using deadly force if they act "without malice and with a good faith belief that deadly force is justifiable." King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, who has complained about how difficult it is to get convictions in police shooting cases, has said the current law provides an "almost perfect defense to a mistaken use of force" and "has kept police officers out of court as defendants." The Seattle Times compiled data in a special report on the 1986 malice law, finding 213 fatal police shootings in Washington between 2005 and 2014. The lone case in which an officer was criminally charged in the shooting of a driver resulted in a not-guilty verdict.
Initiative 940 would impose a two-part test to determine if an officer acted in good faith. One part requires proof that a reasonable officer would have used deadly force in the same circumstances. The other asks if the officer "sincerely and in good faith believed that the use of deadly force was warranted in the circumstance." It would also require independent investigations into all police officers' use of force that results in serious injury or death. Finally, it would mandate de-escalation and mental health training for all police officers, and create a duty for them to provide first aid.
The initiative is supported by De-Escalate Washington, a coalition of civil rights groups, in addition to certain law enforcement groups and individuals, including King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht and the Black Law Enforcement Association of Washington. Meanwhile, a group that supports local police officers has spent more than $111,000 fighting the initiative. The group laments that the initiative makes police "put greater emphasis on providing medical care to individuals instead of actually doing their job of protecting the community from crime." They claim it would make communities less safe. Over half of the contributions to that group came from the Seattle Police Officers Guild and other police guilds have contributed significantly to fighting the initiative.
update (Nov. 11): Initiative 940 was adopted on Nov. 6.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
In US, Quebec's Top Separatist Wants to Talk Trade (in English)
By David Francis
Lucien Bouchard, the man who wants to make Quebec a separate nation, was speaking excellent English - and complaining about the English language.
Never in history, the provincial premier told a few reporters, has there been "such a strong language." Two "empires," first the British and now the American, have spread English around the globe.
"It is very difficult to see a time that we don't need some protection for French in Quebec," he said.
Mr. Bouchard was visiting Boston in May as head of a Quebec trade and investment mission aimed at strengthening economic ties with the United States. The Parti Qubcois (PQ) head wasn't keen on talking about separatism. "It is really a domestic issue," he said. "It will be decided at home by a vote."
Nonetheless, when American business executives (or journalists) think about Quebec, the two-decade-long push of the PQ for separation comes to mind. For most such observers, the breakup of Canada, often ranked as the most livable of nations, seems puzzling, if not nutty. So Mr. Bouchard must explain his cause. He tells Americans that they have nothing to fear from an independent Quebec.
One Toronto observer - English speaking - spoke of Bouchard's trip as the "I-am-not-crazy tour."
Quebec is a pioneer in the business of warding off English. It was conquered by Britain in 1759. But with the American Revolution simmering to the south, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act of 1774 permitting the colony to keep its Roman Catholic religion, French civil law, and its language. The measure helped keep Canada loyal during the American Revolution.
Nowadays, English is sweeping the world. It is becoming the common language of the European Union. When a German and Frenchman chat at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, they likely speak English.
About half of EU documents are written in English and translated into the other official tongue, French. French used to be dominant. An EU diplomat expects 70 percent English within a few years.
English is the lingua franca in many multinational corporations. Half of Europeans aged 15 to 24 can now converse in English.
But Quebec so far has successfully resisted a takeover by English.
Bouchard points out that Quebec's 6 million French-speakers are a mere 2 percent in a sea of English-speakers in North America.
One vehicle for maintaining French is a strict language law. The law is supported by both the opposition Liberals and the PQ.
Even many of the 600,000 or so English-speakers in the province have some sympathy with the desire to keep the French culture alive. Most of them are bilingual by now.
"The Anglophones in Quebec are a fine bunch of people," says Nycol Pageau-Goyette, the chairman of Aroports de Montreal and one of 50 business people and others traveling with Bouchard. "They feel the magic."
But enforcement of the law frequently invites ridicule, and sometimes annoyance, among the non-French in Quebec. The Liberal Party was critical of the PQ for expanding the province's language office, which has 20 bureaucrats checking on the illegal use of non-French languages on such things as outdoor signs. "Sometimes there are mishaps," confessed Bouchard. But he defended the recent requirement that in Montreal's Chinatown, French must be added to the colorful Chinese-character signs.
Critics charge that the language law represents a mild form of "ethnic cleansing." English speakers have been leaving "La Belle Province" - some 24,000 during the years 1991-96. It's difficult to sort out how much of this loss was because they feel like second-class citizens, and how much was purely economic. Quebec usually has a jobless rate about 2 percent above Canada's average, now 8.4 percent.
Bouchard's priority after the narrow defeat of secession (49.4 percent in favor) in 1995 has been getting the Quebec economy in better shape. Many Francophones voted "no" because of economic concerns.
Mrs. Pageau notes that most business managers are federalists, preferring to remain in Canada. But they also, she says, support Bouchard's efforts to promote the economy of Quebec and wipe out a huge deficit in the provincial budget.
Bouchard says there will be a surplus in his budget for 1998-99.
Also, a provincial election will be held in the fall or in 1999, Bouchard said. His victory is not assured. A popular French-Canadian federalist, Jean Charest, quit his seat in the federal parliament in March to lead the Quebec Liberal party and fight separatism.
If the PQ does retain power, it is expected to call another vote on separation if polls show a chance of winning it. They don't at this time.
Uncertainty around a plebiscite "would likely have repercussions on financial conditions, business and consumer confidence, investment, and, ultimately, the economic performance of the province," says a Bank of Montreal analysis.
* David Francis is the Monitor's senior economic correspondent.
Independence's import wanes in Quebec, but identity still entangles politics
Masked assassin opens fire during speech by new Quebec leader
Should Quebec become more secular? Residents vote today.


You are looking to venture out and do business abroad, but you're unsure of where to start. When crossing borders, it's not just about opening a new office and seeing more units in a new country. You'll need to consider the new culture, taxation system, laws, and ways of doing business.


David Cushley is mobbed by his Ballymena United team-mates after his remarkable long-range goal in today's Danske Bank Premiership match against Linfield at the Showgrounds. Picture: Press Eye.
David Cushley's goal of the season contender wasn't enough to prevent Linfield from recording a 3-1 victory at the Showgrounds on Saturday.
The winger's spectacular long-range strike had given Ballymena United a first half lead but the Blues stormed back to claim the three points with second half goals from Sean Ward, Andy Waterworth and Guy Bates to keep their flagging Danske Bank Premiership title hopes intact.
It was the visitors who made the brighter start with Jamie Mulgrew robbing Tony Kane of possession in midfield in the second minute and feeding Paul Smyth but he blazed his effort over.
The youngster was again involved a couple of minutes later when he got away from Michael Ruddy but as he bore down on goal, his effort was blocked by the feet of United keeper Alan Blayney.
The former Northern Ireland international stopper was again called into action on eight minutes, diving to his left to tip Niall Quinn's curly free kick around the post, as the Blues dominated the early exchanges.
After that early flurry, Ballymena eventually got a foothold in the game, which went into a disappointing lull for a spell.
Linfield had another chance on 27 minutes when centre-back Mark Haughey's powerful goalbound downward header from a Quinn corner kept out by the feet of a team-mate.
Instead it was Ballymena who went ahead with their first meaningful effort on 34 minutes - and it was an astonishing strike from Cushley.
Collecting a clearance from Linfield keeper Ross Glendinning on the left hand touchline, five yards inside the Linfield half, the winger spotted the keeper out of position and fired an audacious effort which sailed over the keeper's head and bounced once before bouncing high into the roof of the net.
Linfield's response was almost immediate as Blayney was caught out of position on the edge of the area after a collision between a number of players but Paul Smyth's attempt to emulate Cushley's long-range finish dropped over the crossbar.
Right on half-time, Paddy McNally produced a marvellous last-ditch tackle to preserve United's advantage when he dived to block Jamie Mulgrew's effort just as the Linfield midfielder was about to pull the trigger.
Linfield had a chance to level matters five minutes into the second period when Andy Waterworth's near post flicked header from Paul Smyth's corner landed on top of the net.
A clever chipped effort from Cushley met with a similar fate before Linfield drew level on the hour mark.
Sean Ward ran untracked from midfield to burst clear onto a through ball and he lobbed the advancing Blayney with a neat finish.
And the visitors almost went in front on 67 minutes when Jimmy Callacher's diving header from a Quinn corner kick was met with a fabulous reflex save by Blayney.
As the Blues began to turn the screw again, Niall Quinn's first time effort from a Smyth cut-back clipped the top of the crossbar on its way over.
But the visitors did eventually grab the lead on 75 minutes and, not for the first time this season, it was a goal in which Ballymena contributed to their own downfall.
Keeper Blayney rolled the ball out from the back and United carelessly gave away possession inside their own half and Linfield quickly countered, switching the ball to the right flank where substitute Jonny Frazer, with his first touch of the ball, cut the ball back for Andy Waterworth to sweep a shot past Blayney.
Ballymena tried desperately to salvage something from the game but a strong penalty appeal, when Allan Jenkins appeared to be brought down on the edge of the penalty area, was all they could muster, and instead Guy Bates added a third for Linfield deep in stoppage time when he blasted past Blayney to seal the points.
Ballymena United: Blayney, Ervin, Taylor, McNally, Ruddy (sub Ferguson 21), T Kane, E Kane, Thompson, Cushley (sub Hanley 63), Jenkins, Shevlin. Subs (not used): Henderson, McVey, Taggart.
Linfield: Ross Glendinning, Haughey, Callacher, Stafford, Clarke, Quinn (sub Burns 81), Millar (sub Frazer 74), Ward, Mulgrew, Smyth, Waterworth (sub Bates 87). Subs (not used): Kee, Reece Glendinning.


Lotus is an exclusive brand to Salons Direct which offers great quality furniture at unbeatable prices. An ideal trolley for the salon or the mobile therapist. A very sturdy and lightweight all metal trolley, 2 shelves, large easy glide wheels. Positive easy folding action. Dimensions when erected: Height 63cm, Width 40cm, Depth 72cm, Weight 5.5kg *Please refer to terms and conditions for delivery details.


All of our Bristol Vein Specialists are listed below. Click on their name to see the details for that specific Bristol Vein Specialist.
Only show me skin care specialists near Bristol who perform this procedure.


But looking more like October before light of day.
More details have surfaced today in regards to AMD's first run of CPU's (codenamed Zambezi) based on Bulldozer, though the same source of this info also indicates that the previously rumoured Q3 release plan may well be missed and it's looking more like October before AMD decides to launch the new family.
A chart obtained by the folks at DonanimHaber helps give a clearer picture on what to expect, however, with eight FX-series models on the cards comprising four octo-core chips, two hexa-core and two quad-core.
These processors are built around GlobalFoundries 32nm process in an AM3+ package, with a built-in dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory controller. They are given 1MB of L2 cache per core, sport an unlocked multiplier as well as having Turbo Core 2.0 tech implemented to boost the clock rate depending on current load levels.
As for the individual models, the cream of the crop is the FX-8150 with a core clock of 3.6GHz and Turbo clock of 4.2GHz with a TDP of 125W. The model beneath it includes two variants of the FX-8120 running base and turbo clocks of 3.1 and 4GHz respectively. One variant of this model has a 95W TDP while the other is 125W. The final, entry octa-core model is the FX-8100 with a 95W TDP, running base and turbo clocks of 2.8GHz / 3.7GHz.
Slightly scarce details on the hexa and quad core variants can also be seen within the chart provided. Unfortunately with the launch still being a ways away, pricing info is still kept under wraps for the time being.


text:
27 January 2017 / Talk at the Summit
The trip to Washington by UK Prime Minister May in part underscores the unfolding hardball nature of trade relations between the United States and the rest of the world. Forget all-encompassing arrangements intended to build a level playing field for a broad swath of nations. Think tactics and favored partners. Under the Trump administration, Turkey may have a broader deal than Indonesia, Japan could rank lower than Germany. The approach is a perfectly sensible business strategy, however inconsistent with the current global trade regime. The White House will likely move to isolate and constrain perceived competitors. The danger is that distinctions among trading partners becomes capricious and discriminatory. US trade policy now reflects blunt commerce, if not raw emotion, rather than affirmative diplomacy. ■
Learn more at the BBC.
© 2017 Cranganore Inc. All rights reserved. Image: Bellphotography423 at Can Stock Photo Inc.
— Craftsman One —


The distance between Budapest, Hungary and Timbuktu, Mali is approximately 3,966 km or 2,465 mi.
To reach Budapest in this distance one would set out from Timbuktu bearing 25.7° or NNE and follow the great circles arc to approach Budapest bearing 38° or NE .
Budapest has a marine west coast climate (Cfb) whereas Timbuktu has a subtropical hot desert climate (BWh).
Budapest is in or near the cool temperate moist forest biome whereas Timbuktu is in or near the tropical thorn woodland biome.
The average annual temperature is 18 °C (32.3°F) cooler.
Total annual precipitation averages 354.5 mm (14 in) more which is equivalent to 354.5 l/m² (8.7 US gal/ft²) or 3,545,000 l/ha (378,984 US gal/ac) more. About 2 3/4 as much.
There are 1451 fewer hours of sunlight per year in Budapest. In whichever way circa 3h 59' less per day or about 4/7 as many.
The altitude of the sun at midday is overall 28.4° lower in Budapest than in Timbuktu.
The table shows values for Budapest relative to Timbuktu. You can also view this comparison the other way around from the perspective of Timbuktu vs Budapest.


text:
Q: Bootstrap: How to make columns wrap @ 1024px How do I make columns wrap EVEN at 1024px? Because, (@ 1024px) the page IS responsive, but the "stretchiness" is ugly.

A: At a basic level, you can mimic the Bootstrap method:
//
// Responsive: Landscape phone to desktop/tablet
// --------------------------------------------------
@media (max-width: 767px) {
  // GRID & CONTAINERS
  // -----------------
  // Remove width from containers
  .container {
    width: auto;
  }

  // Fluid rows
  .row-fluid {
    width: 100%;
  }

  // Make all grid-sized elements block level again
  [class*="span"], .row-fluid [class*="span"] {
    float: none;
    display: block;
    width: 100%;
    margin-left: 0;
    .box-sizing(border-box);
  }
  .span12,
  .row-fluid .span12 {
    width: 100%;
    .box-sizing(border-box);
  }
}

Which of course is LESS CSS. This is the compiled LESS:
[class*="span"], .row-fluid [class*="span"] {
    -moz-box-sizing: border-box;
    display: block;
    float: none;
    margin-left: 0;
    width: 100%;
}

And here is a small snippet that begins the task of replicating this:
@media all and (min-width: 1000px) {
    [class*="span"], .row-fluid [class*="span"] {
        width: 100%;
    }
}

http://jsfiddle.net/userdude/ZJJFJ/1/
There's also a responsive CSS file for greater than 1200px, which may also be helpful. If you do this with LESS, I'm sure it will be simpler as well, instead of pure CSS.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"Sixth International Conference of Gaudinist Studies"
There has been much talk about Gaud� and Jujol, very often including conflicting ideas and all too frequently displaying a marked lack of knowledge of both artists. Jujol worked with Gaud�; Gaud� trusted Jujol. How far did the work of one go, and where did the work of the other beginNULL This year's conference aims to focus on Jujol as an architect of colour and iron.


Get The Red Solstice for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get Company of Heroes 2 for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag for free on Uplay! Free until December 18th!
Thanks to Kjetil-Hestvik for the heads-up on this promotion!
Get Homefront for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get The Bureau: XCOM Declassified for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get Sanctum 2 for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get Brütal Legend for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get Killer is Dead - Nightmare Edition for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!
Get Guns of Icarus Online for Steam free of charge on Humble Bundle! Free for a limited time only!


text:
—back to ngpcap.com
NGP Digital Health Newsletter
Welcome to the Digital Health Newsletter by NGP Capital, where we cover industry news, financing and exits in the Digital Health sector.
Big tech power players prioritizing Digital Health
While several themes dominated headlines in August, big tech's growing involvement in Digital Health seems most pressing.
From six giants pledging their commitment to healthcare interoperability, to Alphabet's jaw-dropping investment in insurer Oscar Health, to a reflection on the major ways in which Facebook is embracing Digital Health, it remains clear that tech's power players are prioritizing this field.
While exciting, keeping tabs on their progress will be key, as large organizations – even those with the most innovative of missions – are often slower to act than the nimble upstarts their efforts support.
CVS dives deeper into medical services, offering virtual visits through Teladoc
Fitbit, BCBS team upto discount device prices for member
Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce pledgeto remove interoperability barriers
Alphabet invests $375M in Oscar Health
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Collaborateswith Propeller Health to Support Consumers with COPD
10 ways Facebook is embracing digital health
23andMe and other DNA-testing firms promise not to share data without consent
Healthcare consumers in a digital transition
Mega-rounds of Digital Health financing
Digital Health financing closed the summer strong, with significant mega-rounds coming from Peloton's $550M raise and Oscar's $375M investment from Google.
Peloton, which expects to go public as early as 2019, reports it is on track to meet its $700M revenue target for this year, and acts as a poster child for the rapidly-growing boutique fitness space. Meanwhile, Google's investment in Oscar has sent a wave of optimism through the health insurtech space: while opponents have criticized new underwriters such as Oscar and Clover for failing to gain widespread traction, these leaders maintain that disrupting insurance will be a long-term play. Google's near-$400M investment signals its own faith in Oscar's future success, further insinuating that patience will be key in this space.
Naked Labs, manufacturer of a turntable scale and smart body-scanning mirror, raised a $14M Series Aled by Founders Fund with participation from NEA, Lumia Capital, Venture 51, and Seabed VC.
*Telemedicine company MDLive announced a $50M funding round led by Health Velocity Capital, with participation from Cigna and HCSC.
*Peloton, a startup that makes web-connected home fitness equipment and content, raised a $550M round led by TCV with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Tiger Global Management, and GGV Capital, valuing the company at over $4B; the company stated this was its last fundraise before its planned 2019 IPO.
Personalized supplement company Care/of raised a $29M Series Bled by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, with participation from Goodwater Capital, Juxtapose, RRE Ventures, Tusk Ventures, Beth Kaplan, and Dough Hudson.
AlayaCare, a Toronto-based home care platform, raised a $14M Series B led by iNovia Capital.
Digital therapeutics company Akili Interactive Labs announced an additional $13M to its previous $55M Series C financing, bringing the round total to $68M.
Hinge Health, a musculoskeletal digital health platform, raised a $26M Series B led by Insight Venture Partners; existing investor Atomico also participated.
*New York City-based Capsule, a day-of-delivery pharmacy, raised a $50M Series Bled by Thrive Capital and Brook Capital Partners.
EHR integration startup Sansoro Health, a healthcare integration company, raised an $8M Series B led by LRVHealth with participation from existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Healthy Ventures.
*Profusa, a company that is developing connected tissue-implanted biosensors, raised over $45M in Series C funding from VMS, Tasly Pharma, Maxim Integrated (all new), 3E Bioventures, and Atinum Investment (returning).
Israeli-based Carbyne, which seeks to digitally update emergency response systems,raised a $15M Series Bround led by Elsted Capital Partners with participation from Founders Fund.
*Google's parent company Alphabet invested $375M in Oscar Health, a digital-first health insurance company, to help it expand to the Medicare Advantage market; Alphabet has been a longtime supporter of the company through previous investments.
BioBeats, which uses AI to deliver digital wellness support to consumers and employers, has raised a $3M round led by Oxford Sciences Innovation, White Cloud, and IQ Capital.
Healthera, a UK-based platform that enables patients to manage their medication and has connected to over 800 pharmacies, announced a $3.8M Series A led by Accelerated Digital Ventures.
Klara, a healthcare communication platform, raised a $11.5M Series Aled by FirstMark Capital; other participating investors include Lerer Hippeau, Project A Ventures, and Atlantic Labs.
Freeletics, a European fitness clothing line and line of training apps, announced a financing (amount not disclosed) from Courtside Ventures, Elysian Park Ventures (affiliated with the LA Dodgers), Causeway Media Partners, JAZZ Venture Partners, and ward.ventures.
RDMD, whose platform has built a database for rare diseases through aggregating personal health records,raised $3M in seed financing from Lux Capital, Village Global, Garuda (First Round's healthcare co-op), and Shasta Ventures.
*Renovia, manufacturer of a dual device-app system intended for pelvic floor disorder management and therapy, raised a $32M Series B equity round and $10M in debt financing; the round was led by Perceptive Advisors and Ascension Ventures.
Provider telemedicine platform Zipnosis raised a $3M round from existing investors.
San Francisco-based Sempre Health, which encourages healthy behavior of its users through monetary incentives, raised an $8M Series A round led by Rethink Impact with participation from other investors such as Social Capital.
Nebula Genomics raised a $4.3M seed round and announced it would be partneringwith Veritas Genetics, a genome sequencing company; investors in the round include Khosla Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Fenbushi Capital, Mayfield Fund, F-Prime, Hikma Ventures, and others.
Digital Health exits accelerating
Exits picked up noticeably in August. WebMD maintained its recent streak in an attempt to grow its provider directory, and telemedicine, behavioral health, and engagement platforms all continued to see continued activity.
Most notable, though, is Best Buy's acquisition of GreatCall for $800M: while not quite unicorn status, this investment elucidates the electronics retailer's strong thesis in the eldercare space. We expect investment activity – both new financing and successful exits – will continue for this growing market.
WebMD made its second acquisition this summer, purchasing Mdx Medical's Vitals Consumer Services Division, a group that focuses on giving consumers online tools to connect to clinicians and their peers.
Patient engagement company SmartER announced it isacquiring care coordination company ConciergeStat for an undisclosed sum.
*GreatCall, a mature digital health company that makes a suite of connected safety products for the aging population, was acquired by Best Buy for $800M; the retailer has cited a larger strategy to invest in tech for the 65+ market through 2020.
WellBrain, which focuses and addiction prevention and chronic pain management through a meditation lens, acquired Mevoked, a behavioral analytics platform that offers a digital platform for perinatal and postpartum mental health conditions; deal terms were not disclose.
SOC Telemed announced its acquisition of behavioral health telemedicine company JSA Health; deal price and terms were not disclosed.
Mediware, a leading supplier of health and human services software, acquired its business partner Rock Pond Solutions, and business intelligence and analytics software provider for the home medical equipment (HME) and specialty pharmacy space.
Harris Healthcare acquired Iatric Systems, manufacturer of technology for medical device connectivity and security, for an undisclosed sum; it will run the company as an independent business.
*Large deal ($30M+ raise, $200M+ exit)
A focus on Digital Transformation – NGP Capital's 4th annual World of Connections conference
We are delighted to announce our 4th annual World of Connections conference. World of Connections is an invitation-only event assembling 300 entrepreneurs, innovators, VCs, and technology leaders creating the Connected World. This year, the conference is focused on Digital Transformation. See the latest speakers and conference program on the event website.
We will have several sessions on the following subjects:
Physician and Caregiver Burn-Out: can technology and automation can help address some of the contributing factors such as administrative, regulatory, and compliance related overhead? Can technology and automation allow implementation of more robust patient engagement with out adding to physicians' already overwhelming workflows?
Employer Activism in Healthcare: Beyond the Amazon-Berkshire-Chase Joint Venture: How Large Employers Across the Country and Across the Globe Are Taking Direct Control of Employee Health and Wellness"
The Rapidly Evolving Role of Payors in the U.S. HealthCare System: New Models, New Entrants and Established Player Strategies
Join fellow healthcare thought leaders from BlueCrossBlue Shield(s), UCSF, Stanford, UPMC, Merck, Humana, Allianz, Walmart, P+G, Cleveland Clinic, Sandbox Ventures; Venrock; Health Velocity Capital; Canvas Ventures, IBM Watson Health, Anthem, and many others.
© 2020 NGP Capital
Welcome to NGP Capital. This site uses cookies. Read our policy.


This week i have been considering what gloves to use and how to construct a durable and hardwearing interface. The following research helped me form my choices whilst considering quality and cost.
I want to achieve the look of a proffesional example but at the cost of a home project. I want to attach the sensors much like the second set of gloves but want to have the workings concealled.
and for the outer glove i have decided to use what is described as a 'running' glove. A elasticated, lightweight 95% polyester glove as show below. Which has been purchased from DW Sports for at a cost of £5.99.


There's nothing quite like the frenetic energy backstage at a runway show. From scores of excited models stepping into hair and makeup to the backstage dressers in a flurry to prepare clothes for their moment in the spotlight, we can't get enough of life backstage!
So, suffice to say, we loved every minute backstage at Fashion Palette Spring Summer 18 at the Art Gallery of NSW last week.
As the official makeup partner for the event, Alison Jade directed beauty looks for acclaimed designers including Sass & Bide, Akira Isogawa, Nicola Finetti, Haus of Song, Eliya The Label, Zerryn, Heaven Swimwear, Alin Le Kal, Danielle Aridi, Lena Kasparian and Wild Pony Swimwear.
Check out the beauty looks Alison designed via the behind-the-scenes pics below!


Please arrive promptly for your lesson. Arriving very early may disrupt the lesson that is in progress before your own.
Lessons may be booked in advance by phone or text. I am happy to deal with these between 9am and 8pm. Please avoid calling outside these hours.
Young singers aged 16 and under should be accompanied to their lesson by a parent or guardian. The accompanying adult is welcome to wait in an adjacent room or to sit in on the lesson.
In exceptional circumstances, where students are unable to attend in person, lessons may take place using Skype. This service is available for students who have worked with me for a minimum of 18 months.
Lessons must be paid for at the time of the lesson, by cash or cheque. If you wish to pay by bank transfer (BACS), please arrange to do so before the start of your lesson and please confirm payment with me by text, again before the start of the lesson.
Singing teaching is my livelihood. When you book a lesson, that time has been put aside for you and I undertake not to sell it to anyone else.
Lessons cancelled with less than 48 hours' notice incur a booking cancellation fee (£15 adults, £10 children and students) and the lesson must be rebooked for the following week unless there are exceptional circumstances.
Lessons cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice must be paid for in full.


text:
Watch the Dollars Roll Right In: First Legal Cannabis Sales Begin in New York City
The first public sales of regulated cannabis in New York began on Thursday 29 December 2022 at a dispensary in Manhattan's East Village at 4:20 p.m, hours after the first sale was made to a city official, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced.
CNN reports that on 29 December 2022 Housing Works Cannabis Company became the first licensed dispensary in New York City to open its location for business.
The dispensary is operated by Housing Works, a non-profit that services people living with HIV/AIDS and those who are homeless and formerly incarcerated, Hochul said. The store will be open seven days a week and all proceeds will be directed to Housing Works, which runs a "network of charitable retail storefronts," according to the release.
"We set a course just nine months ago to start New York's adult-use cannabis market off on the right foot by prioritizing equity, and now we're fulfilling that goal," Hochul said.
The measure will attempt to address the racial disparities in cannabis-related arrests with a social and economic equity program to "facilitate individuals disproportionally impacted by cannabis enforcement," city officials have said.
The program includes "creating a goal of 50% of licenses to go to a minority or woman owned business enterprise, or distressed farmers or service-disabled veterans to encourage participation in the industry," a city news release said.
"Today marks a major milestone in our efforts to create the most equitable cannabis industry in the nation," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a statement on 29 December 2022.
"The legal cannabis market has the potential to be a major boon to New York's economic recovery – creating new jobs, building wealth in historically underserved communities, and increasing state and local tax revenue," Adams said.
Bill signed in March 2021
In March 2021, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill allowing recreational marijuana use across the state by adults 21 and older after the state Senate and Assembly voted to approve the legislation. The New York State Cannabis/Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act also expunges previous marijuana convictions for actions that would be legal under the new law.
The bill allows adults 21 and older to buy cannabis from authorized sellers. Adults can also possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis and 24 grams of cannabis concentrate. Eighteen months after the first sales begin, the law will allow adults to grow six mature and six immature plants at home per household.
It also establishes the Office of Cannabis Management, an independent office operating as part of the New York State Liquor Authority, to implement a regulatory framework. The office was designed to have a two-tier licensing structure that would separate growers and processors from those owning retail stores, Cuomo's office previously said.
The law will also add a 13% tax to retail sales for state and local tax revenue.
Testing the key to the next step in SA cannabis evolution says Silverleaf's Darryl Weisz
Is Pres Ramaphosa Capable of Fixing the Mess He's Made of Cannabis Reform or Will 2023 Be Another Broken Year?
Parliament Faces Ground Hog Day in 2023 as all cannabis laws will come back for review because they are constitutionally defective.
Impilovest Emerges as New SA Cannabis Giant After Mega Merger of Afriplex, Releaf and Other Major Brands
Imbilovest launches itself as the "Bidvest of Cannabis" as several established businesses merge under an international investment platform.
Cannabis in South Africa: The People's Plant
We are a civil society organisation with the interests of the existing Cannabis industry and the Human Rights of ALL citizens at heart.
WE'RE BRINGING A NEW STANDARD
We are more than just a cannabis retail company. We are about a lifestyle that promotes vitality, balance & good health.
Resources & Equipment
Explore cannabis growing equipment for growing weed at home.
Whether you're just starting out, or you're looking to enhance your outdoor or indoor weed grow setup – we have the perfect range of cannabis growing equipment to match your marijuana growing ambitions.
Find everything from LED grow lights, grow tents, fans, and hydroponic setups, to environmental equipment and controls, harvesting accessories, extraction equipment and plenty more.
Design your ideal cannabis growing setup with high quality growing equipment available in South Africa.
Explore cannabis growing equipment we've curated from reliable online suppliers in South Africa


Dream catch me when I fall.. out of bed.
had a really tough week. trying really hard to make things better. i'm really sorry if ive offended any of you, and that would be the least thing i want to do. i dont have the guts to face any of you, as i am a big fat coward. hope any of you do read this, I'M SORRY and thanks for being patient with my silly atitude.
Had a family meeting today. So I had a little kenduri at my place. Woke up really early to help mum out(mum didn't really cook.it was me and kakak all along.LOL). I made gelatin, I must say it was very delicious. :) Took a family photo. And now, my family officially has its own koperasi. yeay ! Invited a few friends of mine but they couldn't come. AS EXPECTED. You know, sometimes I wish that this world would be much larger. Cz it's getting smaller and now everyone knows everyone. except me. That fact really annoys me. And i'm dealing with it.
i wish u happy birthday. miss you loads. hope i have enough money to come visit you soon !


Georgie Fame, born Clive Powell in Leigh, Lancashire, June 1943 is one of British R&B music's founding fathers. Fame is the only British star to have scored three number one hits with his only Top 10 chart entries - 'Yeh Yeh' in 1964, 'Get Away' in 1966 and 'Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde' in 1967. But it's more important to acknowledge his cultural influence. Fame popularized and educated in equal measure. The black music he championed with his band The Blue Flames brought new sounds to Swinging London and bossed venues like the Flamingo Club and the Marquee where he turned the English mod movement on to a whole bag of soul and authentic US urban and country sounds and also the ska and early reggae he heard in the Jamaican cafes and clubs in the Ladbroke Grove area of London. Like his great friend and collaborator Van Morrison, Georgie Fame found himself raised on jazz and blues with a penchant for Mose Allison and Willie Mabon and of course Ray Charles, not to overlook a grounding in the sophisticated rock and rollers like Chuck Berry who defied categorization. With Latin pop also part of his skill set, Fame can turn his hand to just about anything and since his piano and Hammond organ keyboard brilliance – he is also a fine guitarist - is matched to a gorgeously relaxed vocal style he takes audiences on a melodic journey that combines the sweetest nostalgia with the most up to date interpretations of great songs and songbooks. As a sideman, he has recorded with many artists, including Gene Vincent, Prince Buster, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Joan Armatrading, Andy Fairweather-Low, Bill Wyman and Van Morrison. Ever on the road, Georgie Fame continues to perform his unique blend of jazz/rhythm and blues for live audiences at clubs and music festivals throughout Europe. He is revered in Scandinavia and Germany and even took a local version of the Blue Flames to Australia where he escaped the English winter and built a rapport with fellow players from another hemisphere.
Having taken piano lessons at an early age the man born Clive Powell in the cotton weaving area of Leigh, Lancashire became a professional musician in the 1950s playing at holiday camps before departing to London aged 16 to seek his fortune. He touted his talents up and down the legendary Tin Pan Alley area of Denmark Street just off Soho where he was spotted by impresarios Lionel Bart and Larry Parnes who christened him Georgie Fame – somewhat against his will. Working with touring rock and rollers like Joe Brown, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran young Fame became battle hardened and was snapped up by Billy Fury in 1961 to lead his backing band The Blue Flames for whom he arranged and sang. The Blue Flames and Fury parted company and so Georgie took over and secured a three-year residency at the Flamingo Club. The debut Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo came out in 1963 and was engineered by Glyn Johns and produced by Cliff Richard's console maestro Ian Samwell. After promoting himself via the offshore pirate radio stations Fame struck gold with his version of "Yeh, Yeh", a tune first recorded by Mongo Santamaria in the Cuban style. The next significant hit, "Get Away": was another #1 in 1966 with production from Denny Cordell and a Clive Powell writing credit. The perfect sound for the emerging summer of love with its carefree mood "Get Away" also did well for Georgie in America where Imperial signed him.
In 1967 Fame followed the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" to the top slot with the million selling "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde", inspired by the then current movie. Using an authentic depression era arrangement, banjo, trumpets, trombones, bass and drums, Fame made a smart career move by shifting himself away from the pin-up status he had grown tired of and headed towards mainstream entertainment as a solo artist with high class material like "Sunny", "Peaceful" and "Seventh Son" ushering him towards the new decade as a household name rather than a straight forward pop star.
He was back in the charts in 1971 thanks to the super catchy duet "Rosetta", recorded with his old friend Alan Price, and the two kindred spirits shared a career path for a while until George reformed The Blue Flames and then took to working with classical orchestras and big bands, writing jingles for TV ads, and theme music for TV shows and feature films. His excellent contribution to the movie adaptation of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane gave him extra kudos.
Georgie is such a prolific artist that it would take several books to deal with his catalogue adequately but there are many key moments: Sound Venture (1966) is a jazz pop crossover with a crack horn section and a sound that was a definitive influence on the young Elvis Costello. His self-titled debut for the Island label in 1974 is a marvellous thing with covers of J.J. Cale's "Everlovin' Woman" and the Slickers' "Johnny Too Bad" bookending his talents.
The Sonet release Sylvia Vrethammar and Georgie Fame - In Goodmansland is a gem from 1983 and the Verve issued Tell Me Something – The Songs of Mose Allison (featuring Van and Georgie, Mose and Ben Sidran) is a classic worthy of discovery as is How Long Has This Been Going On (Georgie, Van and various friends).
In the new millennium we point you towards Sweet Things, part of the British Beat 40th anniversary series. Hear Fame pour his magic over Lee Dorsey/Allen Toussaint's "Ride Your Pony" and Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and then dig his take on the soulful beats of "Walking the Dog".
If you're after a fine compilation then 20 Beat Classics has what you need with fantastic interpretations on "Green Onions", "Sunny" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag".
The collection called Funny How Time Slips Away documents Georgie's Pye Records tenure and is remastered and full of quotes from the man himself.
Always the coolest of the cool, Fame continues to perform today, having recovered from illness we are pleased to say. He appeared recently reprising "Yeh Yeh" on the Wallflower (Deluxe Edition) with Diana Krall, thus bringing his immaculate career full circle. A matchless interpreter of swinging jazz vocalese (check his 2000 release Poet in New York) Georgie Fame can take you everywhere from a Gershwin tune to a Bob Dylan protest. He remains a most vital and respected first gentleman of contemporary music.
Georgie FameFame, born Clive Powell in Lancashire in 1943, had been developing his talent since the late 1950s, backing various British pop artists and opening for Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran on a 1960 UK tour. His group the Blue Flames started making their name as a big live attraction and were on record with EMI from 1963. By the time 'Yeh Yeh' hit big, Georgie had already made his album chart debut with 'Fame At Last,' in October '64.
Fame's recent appearance on a remake of 'Yeh Ye,' included as a bonus track on Diana Krall's current album 'Wallflower,' was a timely reminder of his unique place in UK music history, captured on this new retrospective.
It was 1985 that Georgie Fame (my surrogate brother) called to ask if I would be interested in a project that he and Steve Gray(d) were writing for radio in The Netherlands. If I agreed they also wanted me to be the 'mannequin' on which they could hang the story. The studio recording with Het Metropol Orkestra was never released and we were lucky to perform the mini-opera in 2003 in Tilburg, NL. In May 2012 The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw said "let's do it!"
This project dates back to 1984 when Georgie Fame and Steve Gray performed a concert with the Metropole Orchestra for Dutch radio. The following year they began to write a new work. Georgie, who wrote the lyrics, was to be "the narrator", Madeline Bell ('I'm Gonna Make You Love Me', 'Picture Me Gone') the singer, and Steve Gray who wrote the music the arranger. The piece was reprised with this live concert version part of that process of revival, and recorded in Tilburg in January 2004, with the Metropole Orchestra and Jody Pijper Singers conducted by Johan Plomp. Steve Gray died in 2008 and his succinct words on 'the book' behind the libretto act as a sleeve note, describing the story of Singer, a gospel-singing star in the making from small town southern-state America who sings jazz with local bands but who is attracted to the wrong kind of man. This "true story" continues when the singer moves to the big city, fame strikes but she ends up singing the sort of music she doesn't value and keeps jazz to after-hours. She's happy for a while but knows she's sold out. In the course of the tale she's given a second chance but her dilemma is whether she will take it or not.
'Prelude (The Game of Life)' opens the album with a beautifully rendered after hours kind of piano ballad number that opens into a trio setting straight out of a dream before the piece scales up with the orchestra. The sunny 'Small Town' sung by Fame bristles with a blues-rock guitar solo that gains some traction and develops into a fun show number. Then Bell's uplifting 'My Second Home' following brings the mood down with atmospheric organ sending the piece into a 1960s-ish pop/gospel place. Fame sings the lightly swinging catchy title track that begins with horns and reeds and then Bell's feature, 'Learning', has a lovely clarinet opening and the little optimistic motif from before returns. 'Big Town', the counterpart of the earlier 'Small Town', has more of an old school big band feel and the Metropole powers up for the first time.
When The Ballad Of Bonnie & Clyde hit No 1 in early 1968, Fame found himself in ever greater demand on the pop and cabaret circuit, moving him further away from his jazz roots. But although he seemed willing to jump through the occasional glitzy showbiz hoop, there was still much evidence of what his long-term fans considered the "real" Georgie. This compilation sees Fame let rip on his Hammond B3 with gusto, from the mod-ish title track to the Ray Charles vibes of Seventh Son and Peaceful's blissed-out shuffle. Never the strongest singer, the limitations of his laconic voice are nonetheless perfectly suited to the looseness of the music. That's not to suggest there's anything shambolic here; Fame always surrounded himself with the best musicians available, and his quality control and mastery of his craft keeps him in demand to this day. His on-off work with Van Morrison over the last decade or so undoubtedly helped invigorate an artist prone to the odd slip in standards. There's much to admire in Fame's more mainstream output, not least his work with fellow ivorytinkler Alan Price, but these 24 tracks represent the heart and soul of one of this country's most cherished music makers.


When the Houston hot summer finally comes to an end, it's time for the Texas Renaissance Festival. About an hour drive from Houston you'll find a time warp back to the days of knights and damsels, kings and queens, jousts and sword fights. Just what a growing boy needs!


Former members of the band have their own projects (Westbound, Sugarball Express, and Joe Stone).
Rebecca and John have formed a band, Westbound, with an album due later in 2010.
Phil has joined Sugarball Express, also on Facebook.
Joe is playing keyboards with various bands. You can visit his site, and read his blog.


...by simplifying and making it easy!
We are extremely pleased with the processes and how the teams listen to our challenges and delivered custom solutions in record time. Absolutely the best Salesforce implementation team we have used...and I have used many!
At Redbear Films we produce content and advertising for small to midsize businesses, start-ups, Hollywood Studios and Fortune 500 Companies, ...the Salesforce Ecosystem combined with our 360 Marketing Plan is a PERFECT FIT!
...and create QUICK and EASY to USE solutions!
We were presented a problem from a local non-profit who had spent $30K to implement a Salesforce non-profit package...that still wasn't working.
Our team spent weeks understanding the needs and successfully redesigned their site and implemented a Salesforce Solution...pro bono. We now offer our solution as a product to all non-profits...Everything is automated and organized.
"Hey Focus" - utilizes ground breaking, voice-to-text technology, noise cancellation engines, and dynamic field mapping, FOCUS increases Salesforce adoption, improves productivity, and makes it easy to record value-filled information on client interactions.
FOCUS is an application that runs on iOS and Android mobile phones.
It allows authorized users to connect to the FOCUS service running in their Salesforce org.
The app is now successful launched on the SalesforceAPP Exchange.
Why use our Implementation Teams?
EXPERIENCE - Since 2004 our teams have delivered Salesforce solutions for sales, marketing, finance, customer service, operations, project management, professional services, manufacturing, distribution, legal, product development, and more.
PARTNERSHIP - We'll challenge your business processes to deliver solutions that will be enthusiastically adopted by your team.
BENCHMARKS - We provide Key Performance Indicators to manage your resources.
FOCUS - Targeted and measurable goals using an agile and iterative methodology, so you get quick wins and continuous improvement of your results.
IMPLEMENTATION - Quick fast iterations to quickly adapt to your marketplace.
ENGAGEMENTS - Short cycles to build, test and deploy.
DASHBOARDS - Designed for flexibility, consistency, and efficiency.
ACCESS - 24/7 access to your implementation team.
"Solutions to track/optimize/grow like never before."
First we start all engagements with an introduction call to understand your business, current processes, desires, challenges, discuss immediate needs and implementation strategy.


text:
Avoiding or Managing and Disclosing Conflicts of Interest
The "Focus on Ethics" article series takes a close look at topics important to understanding CFP Board's new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.
CFP Board's new Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct ("Code and Standards"), which takes effect on October 1, 2019, specifically addresses a CFP® professional's obligations concerning Conflicts of Interest. The fourth element of the Code of Ethics states:
A CFP® professional must avoid or disclose and manage conflicts of interest.
Read more Focus on Ethics articles about the new Code and Standards.
See the full Focus on Ethics series
This requirement is addressed more fully in Standard A5, which requires a CFP® professional who is providing Financial Advice to make full disclosure of all Material Conflicts of Interest that could affect the professional relationship with a Client and provide sufficiently specific facts so that the Client is able to understand the conflicts and the business practices that give rise to the conflicts and give informed consent to such conflicts or reject them.
A "Conflict of Interest" arises when:
A CFP® professional's interests (including the interests of the CFP® Professional's Firm) are adverse to the CFP® professional's duties to a Client; or
A CFP® professional has duties to one Client that are adverse to another Client.
A Conflict of Interest becomes "Material" when a "reasonable Client or prospective Client would consider the information" about the conflict to be "important in making a decision" about the engagement with the CFP® professional, such as whether to retain, or continue to retain, a CFP® professional or whether to implement a recommendation.
In determining whether to infer that a Client has consented to a Material Conflict of Interest:
CFP Board will evaluate whether a reasonable Client receiving the disclosure would have understood the conflict and how it could affect the advice the Client will receive from the CFP® professional. The greater the potential harm the conflict presents to the Client, and the more significantly a business practice that gives rise to the conflict departs from commonly accepted practices among CFP®professionals, the less likely it is that CFP Board will infer informed consent absent clear evidence of informed consent. Ambiguity in the disclosure provided to the Client will be interpreted in favor of the Client.
Informed Consent by the Client: Whether a Client has provided informed consent depends on the facts and circumstances and may be inferred when not explicit. For example, silence after disclosure may constitute informed consent if the disclosure contains sufficiently specific facts that are understandable to a reasonable Client, but may not constitute informed consent if that is not the case. CFP Board intends for its "informed consent" standard to be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with interpretations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. A CFP® professional may refer to regulatory guidance and case law interpretations to gain a deeper understanding of "informed consent."
Form and Timing of Disclosure: CFP Board recognizes that, in some circumstances, there are logistical challenges to providing written disclosure of Material Conflicts of Interest. Therefore, Standard A5 does not require either the CFP® professional's disclosure or the Client's consent to be in writing. However, the standard also makes clear that evidence of oral disclosure of a conflict will be given such weight as CFP Board in its judgment deems appropriate.
In view of the fact-intensive nature of an inquiry into whether a CFP® professional orally disclosed a conflict, and whether a Client provided informed consent, a CFP® professional operating under a Material Conflict of Interest should consider, among other things, (a) avoiding business practices that create Material Conflicts of Interest that are difficult to manage, (b) describing all Material Conflicts of Interest to a Client clearly and in a manner that will allow the Client to understand the conflict, and (c) obtaining written consent to those Conflicts of Interest that a reasonable CFP® professional would consider adverse to the Client's interests.
While not all Conflicts of Interest may be avoidable, under the new Code and Standards, a CFP® professional must act as a fiduciary at all times when providing Financial Advice to a Client, and the obligation to act in the Client's best interest remains even when conflicts are present.
Access More Guidance Materials
This compliance resource is part of a full library of resources that CFP® professionals can use to comply with the Code and Standards. More guidance materials can be found in our Compliance Resources Library.


SOUTH poetry magazine has earned a special place on the poetry scene. It pioneered a unique system of selection aimed at giving all poets the best possible chance of getting published. SOUTH has just reached its half-century. Some earlier issues can be seen online at the Poetry Library website.
SOUTH 59 has now been distributed. There will be a launch event in May. Please see the Readings page.
The closing date for entries for the autumn edition of SOUTH is May 31st 2019.
To access SOUTH's data protection policy please click on the link available towards the bottom of both the Submissions and Subscribe pages.
SOUTH is published twice yearly. It features previously unpublished poems written in English.
Poems are chosen by a selection panel, which changes for each issue. The poets' names are withheld from the panel, to give all poets a fair chance of being published. Around 60 poems are chosen for each issue.
SOUTH features a specially written profile of a well-published poet, accompanied by a generous selection of poems. Book reviews and information for subscribers also appear in each issue. SOUTH encourages the poets it publishes to get to know each other by inviting them to take part in public readings that launch each issue.
SOUTH is run by a management team. The current team is: Anne Peterson, Peter Keeble and Chrissie Williams.
Members of the management team are willing to give talks on all aspects of publishing SOUTH which they can combine with a poetry reading. Contact us if you would like us to visit your group - no fee is asked, except covering our travel costs.


This topic contains 26 replies, has 12 voices, and was last updated by Abad Morel 1 month, 3 weeks ago.
We are using the Geodirectory theme (geo 1280 with Genesis) and a number of plugins from geodirectory (listing claims, review, multilocation) and several third party plugins (mostly simple stuff like awesome font, SEO, nothing exotic there). Experience with Geodirectory is highly desirable as there are a fair amount of nuisances.
i am a professional website designer and developer looking for work.
Arsalan Shaikh, no spamming is allowed in the forum. If you wish to get GeoDirectory jobs, submit a listing in the GeoDirectory experts website.
Greetings! How long does it typically take to get a response?
There is no rule there, it depends on how busy they are.
If one doesn't answer, try another one.
Thank you for your timely response. Will reach out thank you Paolo.


Howdу! Do you know if they make any plugins to assіst ԝith SEO?
Ӏ'm trying to get my bloɡ to rank fоr some targeted keyԝords but I'm not seeing very good succesѕ. If you know of any please share. Cheers!
Thank you for any other fantastic post. The place else could anybody get that kind of information in such a perfect means of writing?
Thanks pertaining to providing this kind of substantial information.
I'll bookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite certain I'll be informed lots of new stuff proper right here! Best of luck for the following!
Sіmply want to tell you I am ⲣleased that i came оnto your web site!
However, being 'too close' for a writing is amongst the reasons that book editors exist, and of course the same relates to essay writing.
Once you spend some time to master it – it is second nature, like riding a bike. Since these are open-ended questions, the students have to first identify the true secret characteristics they wish to highlight while focusing on them.
Good Web-site, Keep up the excellent work. Thanks for your time.


text:
The story of the search for the perfect number system
By N.S. Rajaram
The Universal History of Numbers, 3 volumes by Georges Ifrah (2005 PB). Penguin, India.
"Finally it all came to pass as though across the ages and the civilizations, the human mind had tried all the possible solutions to the problem of writing numbers, before universally adopting the one which seemed the most abstract, the most perfected and the most effective of all."
In these memorable words, the French-Moroccan scholar Georges Ifrah, the author of the monumental but somewhat flawed The Universal History of Numbers, sums up the many false starts by many civilizations until the Indians hit upon a method of doing arithmetic which surpassed and supplanted all others— one without which science, technology and everything else that we take for granted would be impossible. This was the positional or the place value number system. It is without a doubt the greatest mathematical discovery ever made, and arguably India's greatest contribution to civilization.
The three-volume Indian edition is the English version of the 1994 French edition. It tells the story of humanity's 3000-year struggle to solve the most basic and yet the most important mathematical problem of all— counting. The first two volumes recount the tortuous history of the long search that culminated in the discovery in India of the 'modern' system and its westward diffusion through the Arabs. The third volume, on the evolution of modern computers, is not on the same level as the first two. Better accounts exist.
The term 'Arabic numerals' is a misnomer; the Arabs always called them 'Hindi' numerals. What is remarkable is the relatively unimportant role played by the Greeks. They were poor at arithmetic and came nowhere near matching the Indians. Babylonians a thousand years before them were more creative, and the Maya of pre-Colombian America far surpassed them in both computation and astronomy. The Greek Miracle is a modern European fantasy.
The discovery of the positional number system is a defining event in history, like man's discovery of fire. It changed the terms of human existence. While the invention of writing by several civilizations was also of momentous consequence, no writing system ever attained the universality and the perfection of the positional number system. Today, in the age of computers and the information revolution, computer code has all but replaced writing and even pictures. This would be impossible without the Indian number system, which is now virtually the universal alphabet as well.
What makes the positional system perfect is the synthesis of three simple yet profound ideas: zero as a numerical symbol; zero having 'nothing' as its value; and the zero as a position in a number string. Other civilizations, including the Babylonian and the Maya, discovered one or other feature but failed to achieve the grand synthesis that gave us the modern system. Of the world's civilizations, the Mayas came closest. They, like the Babylonians, had an idea of the zero, but never learnt how to operate with it.
In Ifrah's words: "The measure of genius of the Indian civilization, to which we owe our modern, system, is all the greater in that it was the only one in all history to have achieved this triumph." Modern civilization rests on the modern number system. The decimal system is just a special case of it.
The synthesis was possible due to the Indians' capacity for abstract thought: they saw numbers not as visual aids to counting, but as abstract symbols. While other number systems, like the Roman numerals for example, expressed numbers visually, Indians early broke free of this shackle and saw numbers as pure symbols with values. We see it in other fields also. The great grammarian Panini describes the Indian alphabet in purely phonetic terms, without reference to symbols. It is the same in music. While the Western notation depends on both the form and the location of notes written across staves, the Indian notation can use any seven symbols.
The economy and precision of the positional system has made all others obsolete. Some systems could be marvels of ingenuity, but led to incredible complexities. The Egyptian hieroglyphic system needed 27 symbols to write a number like 7659. Another indispensable feature of the Indian system is its uniqueness. Once written, it has a single value no matter who reads it. This was not always the case with other systems. In one Maya example, the same signs can be read as either 4399 or 4879. It was even worse in the Babylonian system, where a particular number string can have a value ranging from 1538 to a fraction less than one! So a team of scribes had be on hand to cross check numbers for accuracy as well as interpretation.
The Universal History of Numbers is an impressive achievement but not a definitive work. It has several drawbacks— errors of omission and commission that are perhaps unavoidable when one tries to cover a vast area spanning space, time and civilizations. The author's discussion of palaeography sometimes goes awry due to his reliance on secondary sources, some of which go back to the nineteenth century. He accepts as proven conclusions that are contentious and even demonstrably false. (Like his acceptance of the non-existent Aramaeo-Brahmi as the source of the Brahmi alphabet.) These, however, do not seriously detract from a marvelous work. The books may be read by anyone with an interest in mathematics.
In summary, Georges Ifrah has opened the gates for what promises to be a major new pathway for research. It is now for others to rise to the challenge.
N.S. Rajaram is a mathematician who has written extensively on ancient history with an emphasis related to Indian history.
Ancient India's contributions to the modern world as validated by the latest scientific technological evidences.
Order Now | Read a chapter


One of the most exciting and fun parties for children are making use of kid's birthday party themes children can relate to. As you may notice, children are more attracted to themed birthday parties, especially since kids are at a stage where they relate everything with characters that they either see on television or read in books.
There are innumerable themes to choose from, especially with the number of cartoon or fantasy shows in television, which can be a cause for joy among kids, especially when their birthday party is patterned from characters or story plots of their most enjoyed book or television show.
Wanting to establish what kind of birthday party theme to adopt, you need to do one simple thing to get started – ask your child what he wants and how he or she wants it. This is by far the best thing that you could ever do to get started.
Not only will this allow you to know what your child wants, but will also serve as your guide what party theme to play on, be it a favorite cartoon character, a comic hero or a character from a book. This will save you the time to go through voluminous information about party themes and best of all, you know what will make your child happy.
Next, if you feel the need to research more on the character, give time to immerse yourself with the characters for the themes. You can spend watching three or more episodes of a cartoon show your children love or read the book he wants to portray for the party's theme.
Another good resource is research the theme over the internet, surely, you will find thousands of key details, profiles and any information related to the character your child wants to have for the party.
If you plan to conduct the party at home, make room to decorate it with items or backdrops related to the character or theme of the party. For dining utensils, party packages like dining utensils, hats, costumes, decoration items and novelty items are available from party stores, which you can use for the party.
If possible, you can also ask guests to come wearing costumes related to the theme, this will add a more exciting and fun atmosphere for the party.
Always make sure to plan ahead for the party, there are no fast or hard rules for kid's birthday parties, all you may ever want to consider is have fun.
However, you may yet enjoy the fun as long as you conduct the party well-prepared. Also make sure to set a budget for your kid's birthday party since you need to be careful not to overspend and fell bad about the party.
You do not have to spend so much on things you need for the themed party, since you can innovate the theme by making use of common household items or have a friend to ask you to make the party decorations and backdrops. Lastly, you can try to prepare some of the food you hope to prepare, especially if you want to save money.
You can bake cookies, cupcakes, pizza slices, tortilla or nacho chips, anything you can make on your own to help defray costs of catering or costly party fare.
After all, your primary aim is to have fun so try out kid's birthday party themes for a change and enjoy the party.


FIRST of all, you must tell them the truth. There is nothing wrong with presenting the hard facts to a player who has lost his form. And what I would say to anyone whose confidence was wavering is that we were Manchester United and we simply could not allow ourselves to drop to the level of other teams.
Faced with the need to confront a player who had performed below our expectation, I might have said: 'That was rubbish, that.' But then I would follow it up with, 'For a player of your ability.' That was for picking them back up from the initial blow. Criticise but balance it out with encouragement. 'Why are you doing that? You're better than that.' Endless praise sounds false. They see through it. A central component of the manager–player relationship is that you have to make them take responsibility for their own actions, their own mistakes, their performance level, and finally the result. We were all in the results industry. Sometimes a scabby win would mean more to us than a 6–0 victory with a goal featuring 25 passes. The bottom line was always that Manchester United had to be victorious. That winning culture could be maintained only if I told a player what I thought about his performance in a climate of honesty. And yes, sometimes I would be forceful and aggressive. I would tell a player what the club demanded of them.
I tell young managers now: don't seek confrontation. Don't look for it, because you can bet your life it will come your way. If you seek a clash, the player is placed in a counter-attacking role, which gives him an advantage. When the former Aberdeen, United and Scotland captain Martin Buchan went to manage Burnley, he punched the captain on the first Saturday. 'That was a good start, Martin,' I told him.
He was a very principled guy, Martin Buchan. In his playing days, he moved to Oldham and was given a £40,000 signing-on fee, which was a lot of money back then. Struggling for form, he handed the £40,000 back to the board. He couldn't bring himself to keep money he felt he had not earned. Imagine that happening today.
In general, across my career, people always assumed I had elaborate Machiavellian strategies. In reality I didn't set out to master the dark arts. I did try the odd trick. Saying we always finished the campaign at a higher gallop and with heightened resolve could be classified as a mind game, and I was intrigued to see Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, twig it, in the winter of 2009. To paraphrase, he said, 'Alex is saying United are stronger in the second half of the season, but we are, too.' I did it every year. 'Wait till the second half of the season,' I would say. And it always worked. It crept into the minds of our players and became a nagging fear for the opposition. Second half of the season, United would come like an invasion force, hellfire in their eyes. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Tapping my watch was another psychological ploy. I didn't keep track of the time in games. I kept a loose eye on it but it was too hard to work out how long might be added for a stoppage to have an accurate sense of when the game should end. Here's the key: it was the effect it had on the other team, not ours, that counted. Seeing me tap my watch and gesticulate, the opposition would be spooked. They would immediately think another 10 minutes were going to be added. Everyone knew United had a knack of scoring late goals. Seeing me point to my timepiece, our opponents would feel they would have to defend against us through a spell of time that would feel, to them, like infinity.
They would feel besieged. They knew we never gave up and they knew we specialised in late drama. Clive Tyldesley said it, in his ITV commentary on the 1999 Champions League final, at the beginning of stoppage time: 'United always score', which was comparable to Kenneth Wolstenholme in the 1966 World Cup final. That's a mind game.
There is a psychological dimension also to handling individual players. With errant behaviour it helps to look for a moment through their eyes. You were young once, so put yourself in their position. You do something wrong, you're waiting to be punished. 'What's he going to say?' you think. Or, 'What's my dad going to say?' The aim is to make the biggest possible impact. What would have made the deepest imprint on me at that stage of life?
A manager's advantage is that he knows the player wants to play. Fundamentally, they all want to be out there on the park. So when you deprive them of that pleasure you're taking away their life. It becomes the ultimate tool. This is the greatest lever of power at your disposal.
With the incident with Frank McGarvey at St Mirren, I was consistent in telling him, 'You're never going to play again.' He believed that. For three weeks he believed it. He finished up begging me for another chance. In his mind was the idea that all the power was on my side. Freedom of contract wasn't a reality then.
People talked non-stop about my mind games. Every time I made a public utterance, a swarm of analysts would look for the hidden meaning, when 98 per cent of the time there was none. But psychological pressure has its place. Even superstitions, because everyone has one.
When I saw the replay later, I could see the ball had made a violent change in direction. So I started wearing my glasses to games. I couldn't afford to make mistakes like that, to embarrass myself. If you ask a defender, 'Why did you try to play him offside?' and his reply is, 'I didn't try to play him offside,' you need to know you're correct in your assertion.
An early experience was playing Coventry in the FA Cup, at Old Trafford, after we had knocked Man City out in the third round. The week before, I had been to watch Coventry play Sheffield Wednesday. You wouldn't believe how bad Coventry were. Archie Knox and I drove home without a care. Guess what? Coventry were brilliant against us at Old Trafford. Teams who came to our ground often became a different species. Different tactics, different motivation; everything. From those early lessons, I learned always to prepare in home games for the opposition's best team, best tactics, best performance, and make sure they were not in the game.
The better teams would always come to Old Trafford looking to give us a fright. Arsenal, especially; Chelsea, to an extent, and often Liverpool. City, when the Sheikh Mansour era started, would also arrive with noticeably enhanced ambition. Clubs managed by ex-Manchester United players would also be bold. Steve Bruce's Sunderland, for example, were not shy on our turf.
My longevity rendered me immune in the end to the normal whispering and speculation that would envelop other managers after three defeats in a row. My success insulated me against the media calling for an execution. You saw that with other clubs but not with me. That gave me strength in the dressing room. Those benefits transferred themselves to the players. The manager would not be leaving so nor would the players. The coaches and the backroom staff would not be leaving because the manager was staying. Stability. Continuity. Rare, in the modern game. In a bad run we didn't panic. We didn't like it, but we didn't panic.
'You don't cheat and you don't buy referees,' he said.
A certain toughness is required in professional football and I learned that early on. Take Dave Mackay – I played against him at 16 years old. At the time I was with Queen's Park and playing in the reserves. Dave was coming back from a broken toe and was turning out for the reserves at Hearts, who had a great team during those years.
I was inside-forward and he was right-half. I looked at him, with his big, bull-like chest, stretching. The first ball came to me and he was right through me. In a reserve game.
The next time we came together I wired right into him.
'You booted me there,' I stammered.
I was terrified of him after that. And I wasn't afraid of anyone. He had this incredible aura about him. Fabulous player. I have the picture in my office of him grabbing Billy Bremner. I took a risk one day and asked him, cheekily, 'Did you actually win that fight?' I was there at Hampden Park when they picked the best Scottish team of all time and Dave's name was absent. Everyone was embarrassed.
I could criticise my team publicly, but I could never castigate an individual after the game to the media. The supporters were entitled to know when I was unhappy with a performance. But not an individual. It all went back to Jock Stein; I would question him all the time about everything. At Celtic he was always so humble. It almost became annoying. When I was quizzing him about Jimmy Johnstone or Bobby Murdoch, I'd expect him to take credit for his team selection or tactics, but Jock would just say, 'Oh, wee Jimmy was in such great form today.' He would never praise himself. I wanted him to announce, just once: 'Well, I decided to play 4–3–3 today and it worked.' But he was just too humble to do it.
Jock missed a Celtic trip to America after a car crash and Sean Fallon had sent three players home for misbehaving. 'No, I wouldn't have done that, and I told Sean so,' Jock told me when I pressed him to tell me how he would have dealt with it. 'When you do that you make a lot of enemies,' he said.
'But the supporters would understand,' I argued.
Sometimes ice works as well as fire. When Nani was sent off in a game at Villa Park in 2010, I didn't say a word to him. I let him suffer. He kept looking at me for a crumb of comfort. I know he didn't try to do what he did. Asked about it on TV, I called it 'naive'. I said he wasn't a malicious player but that it was a two-footed tackle and he had to go. Straightforward. There was no lasting damage. I merely said he had made a mistake in a tackle, as we all have, because it's an emotional game.
People assumed I was always waging psychological war against Arsène Wenger, always trying to cause detonations in his brain. I don't think I set out to provoke him. But sometimes I did use mind games in the sense that I would plant small inferences, knowing that the press would see them as psychological forays.
I remember Brian Little, who was then managing Aston Villa, calling me about a remark I had made before we played them.
'What did you mean by that?' he asked.
Though it served me well to be unnerving rival teams, quite often I unsettled opponents without even meaning to, or realising that I had.


Why are so many people mislead into idol worshiping the creation of God instead The Holy God? Deuteronomy 4:12-19 says the the Lord knows that people will be tempted because He has a voice without form. The Jewish people were lead into pagan worship because of the form given to their gods. Worshiping a metal form was easier for them than listening to a voice.
"Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form--only a voice. So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves into the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on t he ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth.
An beware, lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the hosts of heaven, and would be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord you God has allotted to all the people under the whole heavens."
Deut. 4:23 "So watch yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord you God, which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you."
24 "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
Hell Really Exists-The Truth about Satan, demons, and hell $27.


WildZests: Pozu's Turns Two !!!
With kids around, time just flies by. I still can't forget the first time I held baby in the operation theater and yesterday she's already turned two!!!
Like we did on her first b'day, even this time we had a small house party with some good old friends joining us for the evening. The kids had a lot of fun together and Pozu enjoyed herself thoroughly.


Swimming pool furniture has certainly come a long way from the days when a plastic table and umbrella graced every pool owner's backyard. A perfect accent for any poolside, deck or patio, pool furniture can now be found in teak, cedar, wrought iron, aluminum, wicker and rattan and in various combinations of metal and wood.
Pool furniture should be durable, water resistant and resist sun damage. Some pool furniture sets come completely preassembled while others may require that you put them together.
Dining sets are available in aluminum, wrought iron, wicker and rattan and many have a matching umbrella for better sun protection. Some have round vinyl umbrellas with aluminum poles while others are Asian-inspired with woven fabric and wood frames. Some dining tables have metal or glass tops while chairs can have mesh fabric seating while others have removable seat and back cushions.
Lounge chairs are great for reading or sunbathing. Chaise lounge chairs are perfect on a pool deck and are available in many colors and can be made of solid fabric or plastic bands.
Hammocks are a unique accessory that is perfect for relaxation or for a short power nap. Some hammocks come with free-standing frames while others can be fastened to trees. Hammocks come in colorful patterns made of solid fabrics while others are crocheted or braided using strong rope.
Tea carts are a great addition to any outdoor decor and can be used as a plant stand or to sit dishes or drinks on while you dine. Freestanding planters also make great accents around any pool.
Adirondack chairs are becoming ever more popular and are offered as a single chair or as a settee that can seat more than one person. Traditional Adirondack chairs are made of natural wood, although more affordable plastic reproductions are currently available.


We also may use a variety of retail analytics tools in our stores for operational and marketing purposes, such as measuring and analyzing traffic patterns, and to improve your in-store experience. These tools may collect data, including location data from sensors, including video cameras, smartphone detectors, Wi-Fi networks, or other devices.
We may share your personal information with other brands within the VF Corporation family of brands (including, for example, The North Face ®, Vans ®, Kipling ®, Wrangler ®, Lee ®, Jansport ®, and Reef ®).


text:
Rediff.com » News » Taliban takeover of Pak is inevitable, imminent
Taliban takeover of Pak is inevitable, imminent
By Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd)
Last updated on: April 30, 2009 19:22 IST
This is an attempt at raising the red flag. In India, preparation for conflict is denounced as war mongering and pacifism at the cost of realism. Indian history could well be called a chronicle of military disasters. We obviously have civilisational strengths, as our civilisation has survived for over 5,000 years while that of Greece, Egypt or Persia has vanished. But unless we understand our weaknesses and rectify them, we may not get a second chance.
The nature of warfare and threat has changed over the years and unimagined destruction is now in the realms of possibility due to the presence of nuclear weapons in the hands of our adversary. It is a reflection of Indian ennui that the impending Talibanisation of Pakistan and how to deal with it, is not even on the electoral radar?
Many analysts, including this one, have been foreseeing the demise of the State of Pakistan for quite some time. Recently, Australian and American security experts have given only six months for this to happen. This 'point of no return' was crossed when the Pakistani national assembly approved the 'deal' with Taliban that for all intents and purposes handed over the Swat valley to the extremist rabble.
'Sharia doesn't permit us to lay down arms,' Muslim Khan, spokesman of Taliban told The Dawn over telephone. Some Taliban fighters last week moved out of Swat and into Bunner district, only 100 km from Islamabad, and Khan said his men would push into new areas. (The Dawn, April 15). The Taliban have made clear their intention to take over the whole of Pakistan.
Malik Navid, the current IG of police of the North Western Frontier Province, told the Pakistani parliament that the Taliban and Al Qaeda 'are present in every city and town (of Pakistan) in some places they are active, in others they are dormant.' The IG had added that jihadi groups were moving through southern Punjab and eventually aimed to reach the financial hub of Karachi. He warned that the Al Qaeda-Taliban combine had developed some expertise in biochemical weapons
One of the most virulent Pakistani analysts, Shireen Mazari accepts that. 'Just the sheer numbers of madrassas/students (218/25,395 in Rahimyar Khan; 185/20,780 in Dera Ghani Khan; 105/8,502 in Rajanpur) show the enormity of the task ahead -- even though not all the madrassas are "jihadi" in type, according to a detailed ground survey I conducted through a local field worker in three districts of southern Punjab. But the background of poverty is rampant and even non-jihadi madrassas can in future produce militants.'
There is a false sense of 'victimhood' that many Pakistanis assert and claim that the radicalisation of their society and the jihadi cult is all the fault of the Americans, who used it during the Afghan war against the erstwhile Soviet Union. This is only partially true. A historical process of Islamist moral policing and militancy began almost the moment Mohammad Ali Jinnah was buried. In 1950, Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan issued an official injunction urging Muslims to fast during Ramadan. Intolerance towards Ahmadis and Shia has an equally long history. In 1953, officially organised riots led to looting and killing of Ahmadis. Pakistan's only Nobel Prize winner, the late Abdus Salam, was heckled in Karachi for being an Ahmadi. He had to flee to Italy. Ironically, Salaam had made a major contribution to the Pakistani nuclear programme. But since he was an Ahmadi, even that could not save him.
In 1979, General Zia-ul Haq went a step further and overhauled the entire education system in Pakistan and handed it over to the Jamaat-e-Islami. Teaching of history was abolished. These textbooks poisoned the young minds of generations of Pakistanis. Hatred of Hindus and Jews was institutionalised. Jihad and Shahadat (martyrdom) were glorified. The entire history of Pakistan prior to the arrival of Mohammad bin Qasim was wiped out. It was only a matter of time before this poisoned generation came of age and produced today's Taliban. The point to note is that it is not just the students of madrassas but even the so-called mainstream schools who were subjected to this brainwashing. Radicalisation of Pakistani society is comprehensive and across the board.
But mere fanaticism or brainwashing is not the only issue in Pakistan. In last 60 years there has been attempt at land reforms. Eighty percent wealth of the country is controlled by seven percent of population. Landlords rule the roost in rural Pakistan and are even known to run private armies and prisons to oppress the poor. The bureaucratic and military elite eats up 40 percent of revenues. Jobs in the Gulf were an escape hatch for many poor Pakistanis. But with the global economic meltdown these are now scarce.
Finally, to cap it all is the population explosion. There are several Muslim nations with very high population growth rates, but Pakistan tops them all. In 1950, Pakistan had a population of about 4 crore. Since then it has more than tripled and stood at 13.6 crore in 1995. It is estimated to be 16 cores today. The real population explosion in Pakistan will come in the next few years.
It has a very young population, and an extremely high fertility. According to the most recent UN estimates, Pakistan currently has a TFR (total fertility rate) of about five children per woman. This is an average and if one accepts that rich and the middle class have fewer children, then the rate at which the poor are breeding in Pakistan may well exceed a figure of 6 to 7 TFR. These hordes of poor are the perfect fodder for the Taliban.
The Taliban takeover of Pakistan is both inevitable and imminent.
Part II: Implications of a Talibanised Pakistan for India
Colonel Dr Anil Athale (retired), is a Chhatrapati Shivaji Fellow of the USI studying internal security and co-ordinator of the Pune-based Inpad.
Colonel (Dr) Anil Athale (retd)
Harsh Pant: Is India ready for Pakistan's coming collapse?
On fighting terror, Cong and BJP have poor records


I am a big fan of Sparkles hard boiled sweets. I have about 5 to 10 a day. This contains about 50gs of sugar. I don't have any other form of pure sugar other that that in fruit etc.
All foods and beverages when ingested in excess can potentially have negative effects. These sweets will contribute 200 cal or 840 kJ to your energy intake and could in time cause you to gain weight. Probably the most negative effect is on your teeth. Make sure that you either brush or rinse your teeth after eating these sweets.


text:
declare module "modeler/bpmn/di" {
  import { Dc } from "modeler/bpmn/dc";
  import Base = require("moddle/lib/base");

  namespace Di {

    export interface DiagramElement extends Base {
      readonly $type: "di:DiagramElement" | "bpmndi:BPMNPlane" | "bpmndi:BPMNShape" | "bpmndi:BPMNEdge" | "bpmndi:BPMNLabel";
      id: string;
      extension?: Extension;
    }

    export interface Edge extends DiagramElement {
      waypoint: Dc.Point[];
    }

    export interface Diagram {
      id: string;
      name: string;
      documentation?: string;
      resolution?: number;
    }

    export interface Node extends DiagramElement {
    }

    export interface Shape extends Node {
      bounds: Dc.Bounds;
    }

    export interface Plane extends Node {
      planeElement: DiagramElement[];
    }

    export interface LabeledEdge extends Edge {
    }

    export interface LabeledShape extends Shape {
    }

    export interface Label extends Node {
      bounds: Dc.Bounds;
    }

    export interface Style {
      id: string;
    }

    export interface Extension {
      readonly $type: "di:Extension";
      values: Element[];
    }

    export type diType = "di:Extension";
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub