1. Gaslighting -- The toxic person uses phrases like "You're too sensitive" or "It didn't happen that way" to make you doubt yourself and question what you deserve.
2. Elaboration -- The toxic person gives huge responses to appear smarter or more skilled than you, but what they say might lack relevancy or bounce around from point to point.
3. Tonal Messaging -- What the toxic person says is perfectly acceptable in terms of words or phrasing, but how they say those words and phrases communicates something hurtful.
4. Downsiding -- Every time you try to be positive or talk about the good happening to you, the toxic person rains on your parade, pointing out the "yeah, but" considerations or responding with "Are you sure..."
5. Identity Shaming -- The toxic person constantly comes up with something negative to say about what you love or do so that, eventually, you feel ashamed of what makes you you.
6. Generalizing -- Rather than take the time to get facts and acknowledge all the subtleties that can make an argument more complex, toxic individuals make blanket statements that defy rationalization, typically in an accusatory or judgmental way. They treat "never" and "always" as some of their favorite words.
7. 180 Deflection -- Rather than take responsibility or face difficult conversations, a toxic individual tries to turn the focus to what you did, or they try to get you to focus on a different "real" issue.
8. Goal Shifting -- A toxic person continuously requires you meet new, often unanticipated and unrelated expectations so that you never know if you've made progress or are good enough.
9. Push and Pull -- The toxic person pushes against limits you've set, just to see what your reaction will be. Then they get you to forgive them with gifts, promises or other sweet talk. Once they've pulled you back to them, they push again to extend the new boundary even further, slowly taking away your self-respect and control.
10. Pressure Valving -- The toxic person offers to handle certain tasks or jobs for you so as to "relieve your stress". Then they keep information about those tasks or jobs from you so you're no longer able to approach them independently, or they make jabs about your competence, saying you "need" them to do the work for you.
If someone's contaminating your life with these types of behaviors, don't stand for the abuse--the stress quite literally can hurt your brain and health. Using "I feel" statements, pressing for facts, rewarding yourself, saying "no", following through with warned consequences, focusing on solutions and simply walking away are all valid ways to show a toxic person you mean business.


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Cigarette may have ignited Cape Town blaze
Tuesday 3 March 2015 - 6:06am
A general view of a fire raging in the mountains above Muizenberg, Cape Town that started on 2 March 2015.
Click here to view the interactive map-based timeline about the fire which started on Sunday 1 March in Muizenberg, Cape Town.
CAPE TOWN - The Safety and Security Directorate in Cape Town says the blazes could have been ignited by a cigarette butt thrown out of a car window.
Firefighters have been working through the night to extinguish one of the biggest blazes the city has seen for some time.
The fire started in Muizenberg and crossed the Peninsula to Hout Bay. A luxury resort has been destroyed, and several homes, as well as an old age complex, had to be evacuated.
"I have just been sent a photograph from someone who whatsapped it to me saying they've just seen someone throwing a cigarette out of the window on Boyes Drive, exactly where the fire occurred, so negligence and callus behavior by people putting people and property at risk, people's lives at risk, so very sad," said Cape Town Safety and Security Directorate, JP Smith.
"We've had a huge increase of fires, with dry and windy conditions and I'm afraid negligence by people doesn't help.
The blaze has already raised over 3,000 hectares and homes from Hout Bay to Muizenberg remain under threat.
Hard hit by the inferno is the Tintswalo Atlantic Resort in Hout Bay, which was engulfed by flames in the early hours of Monday morning.
"Out of about 11 rooms we have four left. Our main area has completely burned to the ground," said Warwick Goosen of the Tintswalo Property Group.
"All the milkwoods are burnt which is a big tragedy for us. It&39;s a building, but the energy comes from the people and thankfully nobody was hurt."
Dry and windy conditions continue to frustrate firefighters&39; efforts to contain the inferno, although wind speeds had dropped considerably compared to those on Sunday night and early Monday morning.
"We&39;ve got more or less about 135 firefighters on the scene, we have deployed them on various flanks on the fire," said Philip Prins of San Parks.
"That&39;s firefighters from the table mountain national parks, working on fire, and also from the volunteer wildfire services. We will not put this fire out today. It&39;s going to continue. It is going to keep us busy for the rest of this week."
Noordhoek residents are among the worst affected.
Those who were evacuated have sought shelter at nearby churches and community halls.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We celebrated Khye's fullmoon last Sunday 14 October 2012.
We had a very small celebration, all family, including both sides of grandparents.
I didn't plan to do much initially, maybe just order some food and take some photos. But then my buddy Josie said she would lend me a very nice banner and a pretty 3-tier cake stand for deco. So I thought ok, I would deco a desert table for photography purpose and ask Win Win to come snap a few photos.
So I then took out my nice white tableware and started arranging the night before.
The photo above is the very nice banner Josie did for me.
Ok, let's look at my 1-month-old baby boy.
He behaved superbly well that day, waking up during photo shoot session, and then slept throughout the eating session.
Ain't he my cute little baby?
This was how the whole 'so-called desert table' deco looks like.
Impressive or not for a last-minute planning?
All the food were not cooked/baked by me ok? Even the table cloth is too small to fit my dining table. Up to the night before, I could not make up my mind which table to transform into the desert table.
My 'so-called desert table' were not just sweet bites, but savoury bites as well.
These were the compulsory hard-boiled red eggs for fullmoon celebration. This tray of eggs was beautifully done by Josie.
I bought some macarons from Ritz, which ended up me eating 5 out of 6 of them. No others liked them. Guess they don't have such a sweet tooth like me.
I made the little banner as the cake topper, using the extra little stickers of the eggs. Made it the night before.
These colourful fruit tarts were placed on my not-so-pretty cake stand. lol.
And the colourful M&Ms were Shern's favourite.
These cake toppers were made by me rather hurriedly the night before, together with the little cake banner just now. As I didn't have cupcakes/muffins, I just topped them on the fruit cake, and I think they looked lovely too, didn't they?
I love these very mini apples from South Africa. They are very sweet and always crunchy. I always buy them from the pasar malam. 10 for RM5. Cheap and healthy and delicious.
And there were other main food as well such as fried maggi mee, curry chicken and pork knuckle vinegar in another table. No deco so no photos. Hehe.
The owls were Khye's Modern Fullmoon Gift Packs which I distributed to friends and relatives.
Next, family photo shoot with Khye.
This is A-Ma with Khye.
And this is Pho-pho carrying Khye.
Khye with A-Ma and Ah-Kong.
And this is Khye with Pho-pho and Kong-kong.
Yiu-Shern joining in the photos with the grandparents.
And this is Shern kissing his 'lil bro Khye.
I like these 2 family photos of the 4 of us!
Taking photo with the Lims.
Khye with the erm... senior citizens. lol.
And lastly, a photo of all of us!
MAY YOU GROW UP HAPPY, HEALTHY AND WISE!
This is absolutely beautiful and I just love love love the way the red eggs are presented.
Congrats on Khye's full moon!


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Grand Jury Investigation Could Ruin Rick Perry's Prospects
By db
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent a record 14 years in office vanquishing nearly all who dared confront him: political rivals, moms against mandatory vaccines for sixth graders, a coyote in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But with eight months left on the job and a decision to make about the 2016 presidential race, the long-serving governor known for his Texas swagger is now the focus of a grand jury investigation that could cause more difficulty than any adversary has.
What should have been a political victory lap for Perry could now wind up in a final tussle that has implications for his political future.
"Gov. Perry is used to being challenged every step of the way in almost every issue. In that sense, this is not significantly different," said Ray Sullivan, Perry's onetime chief of staff and a former spokesman. "This just comes with the territory."
A judge seated a grand jury in Austin this week to consider whether Perry, who is weighing another run for the White House, abused his power when he carried out a threat to veto $7.5 million in state funding for public corruption prosecutors last summer.
Aides to Perry say he legally exercised his veto power. Others say Perry was abusing his state office and is finally getting his comeuppance.
The state Public Integrity Unit operates under Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, a Democrat who has been the subject of Republican grumbling that the office investigates through a partisan lens. Lehmberg, who took office in 2009, was convicted of drunken-driving last year and filmed in a jailhouse video berating officers following her arrest.
Perry called on Lehmberg to resign and torpedoed the funding when she didn't.
Craig McDonald, whose public watchdog group filed a complaint that a Texas judge took seriously enough to hire a special prosecutor, said the veto embodied a brash governor who's gotten too accustomed to dictating to others.
"He threatened her in broad daylight just like it was high noon," said McDonald, the executive director of Texans for Public Justice. "I think it's indicative of perhaps someone in the office a little too long."
Lehmberg, who served about half of a 45-day jail sentence, has called Perry's attempts to remove her partisan. The public corruption unit, which prosecuted former Republican U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in 2010 on charges of laundering campaign funds, now runs on a smaller budget with local taxpayer funds and a scaled-back staff.
Special Prosecutor Michael McCrum has said he has specific concerns about the governor's conduct but refused to elaborate. Perry's office has hired a high-profile defense attorney, David Botsford of Austin, who is being paid $450 hourly and with public funds.
The grand jury is impaneled for three months. In the original complaint, McDonald accused Perry of breaking laws related to coercion of a public servant and abuse of official capacity.
Perry never lost an election until his run for the Republican presidential nomination flamed out in 2012. If he makes another bid upon leaving office in January, he's positioned to boast of an even more robust Texas economy and to project a slightly toned down image: he now wears a pair of thick-framed glasses and seldom slides on his cowboy boots anymore.
But the grand jury probe could draw attention back to more contentious issues, even if Perry is not indicted. And if the panel does pursue charges, "that would be very, very hard to overcome, particularly because voters already have a perception of him in their mind, and right now he's been busy cleaning that perception up," said Ford O'Connell, a Republican strategist in Washington. "It would put him on life support as a presidential candidate."
A Texas governor hasn't been indicted since 1917. Democrat James E. Ferguson was eventually convicted on 10 charges, impeached and removed from office for vetoing funding for the University of Texas after objecting to some faculty members.
Some legal experts see the allegations against Perry as shaky.
"If the governor were to pressure someone to not prosecute someone, that would be some violation of some clear legal duty. Pressuring them to quit? That's a little less clear," said David Kwok, a law professor at the University of Houston.
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber


Duties Assist in office with general reception duties. Ability to work in a fast paced environment with good communication skills including experience with business phones and computers required.
Benefits To directly support office staff, front line staff, clients and volunteers.
Clients Seniors in Orillia and surrounding townships of Oro-Medonte, Severn and Ramara Townships.
Skills/Experience Positive / Cheerful Demeanor ; Ability to work in a fast paced environment.
Experience with office reception work with telephone and computer experience.
Team Member with good communication skills.
Commitment Length Long Term (More than 1 year) ; Long term commitment is required for ongoing support.
Transportation Near public transit ; Own transportation to the office but if required Helping Hands can provide transportation to the office.
Additional Requirements Enjoy working with seniors, volunteers and staff.


By CE Pro Editors · July 13, 2018 • OneVision is expanding its existing recurring monthly revenue platform to include manufacturer's reps and hopes to expand the service nationwide.
By Julie Jacobson · June 28, 2018 • OneVision becomes the only smart-home tech-support provider to work with four major managed services platforms in the custom installation channel.
By Julie Jacobson · June 18, 2018 • AmTrust's innovative TapSafe IoT initiative has Fing scan networks for connected devices, and then offers smart-home warranties and tech-support on-the-fly based on risk-assessment profiles.
By Jason Knott · June 11, 2018 • NYC home-technology integrator Sage Audio Video stays efficient by standardizing every project from sales to design to service plans; reaps RMR through OvrC remote system management platform from SnapAV.
By CE Pro Editors · May 8, 2018 • Compare your own service department vs. industry averages for monthly truck rolls, timeframe between service requests per client, response time and common causes of service requests.
By Julie Jacobson · May 4, 2018 • I-View Now and newcomer Chekt enable security and smart-home dealers to add video verification to traditional alarm monitoring, providing recurring revenue to the installer and improved emergency response to the end user.
By Jason Knott · April 26, 2018 • Azione Unlimited buying group targets lighting fixtures, recurring monthly revenue and voice control as key initiatives for 2018 and beyond.
By Joseph Kolchinsky · April 13, 2018 • Providing free round-the-clock support is taxing your business. Here's a step-by-step guide to converting your business to a paid support model.
By Julie Jacobson · April 5, 2018 • Way beyond a "distribution deal," the partnership between Lutron and SnapAV is an ambitious effort to expand the lighting-control universe, and to extend the ecosystem of OvrC-enabled managed services for the home-technology channel.


Posted July 30, 2008 by Judi Alberi & filed under Uncategorized.
The National Fire Protection Association has released the 2007 Firefighters Fatality Report. The report describes the attributes associated with the on-duty deaths of 102 firefighters in 2007. Only 3 of the firefighters were killed on wildland fires which is the lowest number of wildland fire ground deaths since data collection began in 1977 and well below the 10 year average of 10 wildland fire ground deaths. Another 7 firefighters were killed responding to or training for wildland firefighting.
Wilderness medicine providers should also note that the leading category of firefighter fatalities was from exertion, stress, and other medical issues. Sudden cardiac injury, not burns or trauma, is the leading nature of injury for all firefighters.
The report does not compile statistics for non-fatal injuries, but based on your knowledge or experience with wildland firefighting what are likely or common injuries?
Since near misses are the leading predictor for future illness, injury or fatality firefighters can learn from others and apply those lessons to their own prevention efforts. Read more at the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.


Love to sing in harmony?
A NEW Love To Sing In Harmony campaign launches in January. Women of all ages from Bristol and surrounding areas are being asked to sign up for a four-week A Cappella course on Thursday evenings at Fairfield High School, Horfield. Places are limited.
The course, which starts on January 10, is aimed at both enthusiastic "wannabe" and returning female singers interested in four part harmony. Open to all levels and abilities who wish to try something new whether you are a shower diva, karaoke queen or a seasoned performer.
This Is Me Love To Sing 2019 event is recognised by the nationally registered charity LABBS & Making Music and sponsored by a local A Cappella Group Avon Harmony.
There is a small cost of £10 to help cover costs. Further information at www.avonharmony.com, or you can email musicdirector@avonharmony.com or call 07954170532.


Stock Interiors offers top quality Dodge Durango Rear Deck for the years: 1998-2003. All of our Rear Deck are custom molded to the original Dodge Durango 4 Door, SLT floor pan. May require trimming to install. See our Auto Carpet Install Instructions for details. Unless otherwise noted, the mildew resistant jute padding is heat bonded to the backside of the carpet and a heel pad is welded to the correct location. This item will fit the following years: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003. This item is custom made after the order is placed, and typically ships within 2 business days. Optional custom Embroidered Logos are available for select years of Dodge Durango Floor Mats!


The on demand tankless unit is a water heating system that is capable of providing an endless supply of hot water to multiple locations in your home. With this system, there is no need for a holding tank to keep gallons of water hot, increasing energy efficiency. This 'on-demand' way of heating water has several major benefits, making it a popular choice for home owners.
Tankless water heaters work differently than storage tank-style water heaters. Water is heated as needed, there is no set amount of heated water stored, but rather a gas powered heat exchanger ready to provide hot water on demand. The result is endless hot water.
This powerful unit can provide enough hot water for multiple simultaneous tasks in an instant without worrying about running out of hot water or unexpected temperature fluctuations.
Tankless water heating technology works on an on-demand basis so there's no holding tank of pre-heated water, making energy consumption more efficient. Without the traditional tank, there isn't the normal cycle of heating/cooling/reheating; and as a result stand-by loss is eliminated, increasing energy efficiency. The tankless features an electronic ignition system, eliminating the need for a pilot light.
The high Energy Factor rating (0.82 - 0.98) means less fuel is needed for operating, producing less carbon emissions, making the tankless water heater rental a more environmentally friendly choice.
Tankless water heaters are compact in size because they are not designed to store gallons of pre-heated water. The unit is mounted up on a wall, freeing up valuable floor space.
Storing hot water comes with the risk of the tank leaking. That risk is eliminated with this unit as no water is being stored.
For more information on how you can have a tankless on-demand system installed for no upfront cost, contact an @home Energy representative to set up a home visit today!
@homeENERGY representative to set up a home visit today!


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Clues to What a Woman's Life Was Like
Clues to What a Woman's Life Was Like
March 31, 2016 By Guest Blogger Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
In the 20th Century, much of a man's history was preserved in documents. A woman's, not so much. The story of a woman's life often must be gleaned from unexpected sources, from the things the individual left behind, Harvard history professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich told a Utah audience recently (March 10, 2016).
Ulrich presented the 2016 annual address for the Aileen H. Clyde 20th Century Women's Legacy Archive in the J. Willard Marriott Library on the University of Utah campus. Her focus is on women's history, and she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for a book based on the diary of Martha Moore Ballard, a 20th Century New England midwife. Ulrich said the diary was . . .
often boring and repetitious, but Ballard's life could be discerned amid the minutiae of details about weather and mundane daily tasks. Ballard became one of the first of her generation to become a doctor.
Snippets of the life of Maude May Babcock were found in the records of a Howard University Summer School program for physical training. Babcock later became a leader in higher education in Utah as the first female professor at the U. and founder of theater, speech and other programs at the university in the 1920s. The Babcock Theater on the campus was named for her. The Howard summer school program included taking very precise measurements of students as a first step in the students' efforts to design an ideal man and an ideal woman. Babcock's detailed measurements were included in the record.
Alice Harries Siddoway, Teton City, ID, c. 1900
A vintage photo of one of her own relatives inadvertently chronicled some women's history, Ulrich said. A close examination showed that the woman was holding ledgers and a cigar box. The thoughtful identification on the back of the photo explained that the woman, educated well beyond most women of the time, was a member of a local school board and that the cigar box held district financial records. The woman also was wearing an elaborate hat sporting bird feathers, she noted. When women's hats switched to other decorations, it was a veiled message that the Audubon campaign to save the hundreds of millions of birds whose lives were forfeit for the fashion trend had succeeded. Many women were involved in the campaign.
Ulrich said that there may be historic value in many of the odds and ends people find, often in drawers, backs of closets, and other obscure places. "Don't throw them out," she advised. "Even in an age when digitization has become common as a way to preserve artifacts, the original materials should be preserved," she said. "Newspaper clippings, old invitations. Newsletters and other publications, even recipes, all may be clues to what a woman's life was like. What do you have in your house that would fit in a 20th Century archive?" she asked.
The professor, a native of Idaho, praised the work of an increasing number of archives focused on women's history. The U. archive is growing steadily, she said. "Archives matter, not just for the public. They make materials accessible, not scattered. They perform a great service." Such collections can contribute to a better future for women in Utah and everywhere, she said.


(Tea Party PAC) – The President's approval rating has jumped 7 points since Friday, February 8th.
Trump's approval rating is now at 50%, following his epic State of the Union Address on Tuesday.
At the same point in his presidency, Barack Obama's approval rating was 49%.
It is worthy of note, however, that while Obama's high approval rating was achieved with the support of constantly glowing media coverage, Trump's higher approval rating is even more significant considering the press reports on him negatively 92% of the time.
In his State of the Union address, the President had an hour and a half to speak directly to Americans about the state of our union, so it is unsurprising that his approval ratings skyrocketed when he had the chance to tell his side of the story while Democrats scowled and refused to applaud a call to ban the murder of newborn babies.
This is exactly why Nancy Pelosi tried to cancel the SOTU.


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Don't miss Orioles players, John Means & Paul Fry, as they guest host at our Brews and O's event!
Weather Alert: in Baltimore City, Prince Georges, Montgomery, Howard, Harford, Frederick, Carroll and Anne Arundel counties.
News Nation World
Rep. Steve King says Iowans have responded better to flooding than Katrina victims, who just wanted handouts
Charlie Neibergall/AP
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, speaks during a town hall meeting on Jan. 26, 2019, in Primghar, Iowa.
(Charlie Neibergall/AP)
Isaac Stanley-BeckerThe Washington Post
Rep. Steve King, the Iowa Republican who has made a series of statements embracing white nationalism, on Thursday noted a contrast between the response of people in his state to spring flooding and the response of the residents of New Orleans to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Speaking at a town hall in Charter Oak, Iowa, a city that is 99.4 percent white, according to census estimates, the nine-term congressman didn't say what attributes explained the differing reactions. But racist tropes about African-American dependence on the government echoed in the observations about New Orleans. The Crescent City maintains a black majority, though the community has shrunk since the disaster struck nearly 14 years ago.
"We go to a place like New Orleans, and everybody's looking around saying, 'Who's going to help me? Who's going to help me?'" King said, recounting what he said officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, had told him about the relief effort, in which he said he had participated. Yet, he was also one of 11 members of Congress to oppose a bill providing federal aid to Katrina victims in 2005.
In his home state, he said, residents looked after one another without government handouts. Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has declared a disaster in more than half of Iowa's 99 counties because of severe flooding and is seeking a federal declaration that would free up funds from Washington.
"We go to a place like Iowa, and we go see, knock on the door at, say, I make up a name, John's place, and say, 'John, you got water in your basement, we can write you a check, we can help you,'" King said. "And John will say, 'Well, wait a minute, let me get my boots. It's Joe that needs help. Let's go down to his place and help him.'"
King, who was stripped of his committee assignments in January over comments questioning whether the term "white supremacist" was offensive, said FEMA officials are "always gratified when they come and see how Iowans take care of each other."
"We're Iowans, and I'm always proud of our reaction to this," he added, suggesting that his constituents displayed up-from-their-bootstraps grit in the face of environmental calamity, while the victims of Katrina - the deadliest storm to buffet the United States since the Okeechobee hurricane of 1928 - helplessly went in search of government assistance.
Katrina was responsible for an estimated 1,833 deaths, more than half of which were suffered by African-Americans, according to data analysis by public health experts.
King then turned to discussing trade negotiations, which have major implications for his constituents. His district received more than $9 billion in federal farming subsidies between 1995 and 2017 - more than any other district in Iowa, which has received more subsidies than any other state in the nation.
An angry reaction met King's remarks on Thursday.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, called the comments "disgusting and disheartening."
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., whose district includes most of New Orleans, said the comparison was further proof that King was a "white supremacist."
"When people show you who they are, believe them," Richmond added.
The two men have clashed before over King's use of New Orleans to draw unflattering comparisons. In 2017, while touting a measure that would have tracked offenses committed by immigrant children from "the most violent places in the world," King said he was struck that the homicide rate in New Orleans was equivalent to that in certain Central American countries.
"It's insensitive, and it's nothing more than traditional white privilege of, 'Let me criticize a minority city,'" Richmond said.
A spokesman for King, 69, didn't return a request for comment.
Examples abound of King disparaging immigrants, minorities and women who undergo abortions, as well as taking up the cause of ethnic nationalism. Most recently, he shared a meme on Facebook suggesting that red states would win a civil war because they have "about 8 trillion bullets, while the other side doesn't know which bathroom to use." He has palled around with figures on Europe's far-right fringes and retweeted a message from a self-described "Nazi sympathizer."
King's record of incendiary statements became so glaring in the weeks before the midterm elections last fall that a party often reluctant to police its own members virtually abandoned him.
The chairman of the House Republican campaign arm assailed his colleague for "white supremacy and hate," saying the group would stay away from King's re-election effort. He ended up narrowly beating back a challenge from a first-time Democratic candidate in his deep-red district.
In February, when he announced his intention to seek a 10th term next year, King appeared unbowed. "I have nothing to apologize for," he said. Competition from Republican state Sen. Randy Feenstra is likely to present a more formidable challenge.
One prominent Republican who has not censured King is President Donald Trump, who has also invoked Hurricane Katrina for his own political ends. Last year, the president pointed to the death toll in New Orleans to cast the relief effort in Puerto Rico in a more positive light. But vastly more people died as a result of Hurricane Maria's devastation in the U.S. territory - nearly 3,000, according to a George Washington University report - than perished in New Orleans.
Critics of how the Trump administration dealt with that natural disaster argue that the response was tinged with racism. Those allegations recall the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, which exposed stark racial inequities.
Despite President George W. Bush's statement in 2005 that "the storm didn't discriminate, and neither will the recovery effort," most of the people who languished in the city's low-lying eastern areas were poor and black. An estimated 73 percent of those displaced by flooding or damage were black, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. Of those who survived, many fled New Orleans the year after the storm, including more than 175,000 black residents, according to FiveThirtyEight. More than 75,000 never returned.
"No one is going to tell me it wasn't a race issue," an evacuee said in congressional testimony in December 2005.
Another victim said she blamed every level of government. "I blame local. I blame state. I blame federal," she said.
City residents as a whole were more likely to acknowledge the contribution made by charities and religious organizations than by the federal and state governments, though most still said public assistant was at least somewhat helpful, according to a 2015 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Race remains a fault line in opinions about the storm and its aftermath. In 2015, a Louisiana State University survey found that 80 percent of white residents of New Orleans believed the state had "mostly recovered" from the destruction. Nearly 60 percent of black respondents said the opposite, believing that the state had "mostly not recovered."
Most white residents said the city was better off than it was before the hurricane struck, while most black people said the opposite.
The deluge inundating the Midwest has already been blamed for three deaths. While scientists have not yet completed models assessing the contribution of planetary warming to the most recent outbreak of heavy rainfall, they do believe that climate change is intensifying extreme precipitation.
King is an outspoken climate skeptic. In 2010, he said at a town hall that climate science was the "modern version of the rain dance."
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Anne Arundel County revokes developer's permits due to erosion, wetlands violation in Deale
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Floods and Flooding
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms
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text:
TOP STORIES / Culture
A German Artist's Quest for Authentic America
Germans are pedantic, obsessed with "Ordnung," beer and bratwurst. Americans are loud, superficial and pushy. True or false? A German-US artist duo wants to find the answer.
Florian Thalhofer, about to take to the open road
"1000 Stories" is the name of a project launched by a Berlin-based media artist and a US filmmaker with the backing of the Goethe Institute. It sets out to explore some of the perceptions and misconceptions in the trans-Atlantic relationship, in the process identifying the "real" American and the "real" German.
Florian Thalhofer plans to spend 40 days traveling through the United States, on a quest for an authentic America. While he documents his experiences in a daily video blog, his American counterpart Mark Simon will be embarking on an odyssey through Germany, recording his own thoughts about the land of sauerkraut, fast cars and soccer.
Overturning prejudice
Mark Simon, Thalhofer's US counterpart
"I used to think America was dreadful," Thalhofer said, adding that he eventually began to wonder if there might not be more to the States than he thought. Ever since, he has made it his mission to distinguish between imposed ideas and personal experience.
As an artist, he said he is intrigued by the fact that every country trades in cliches. In many ways, he explains, they serve a practical purpose, and they often have an element of truth.
But sifting through them and separating fact from fiction is a complex matter. Thalhofer would describe himself as typically German, when ultimately he is hard pressed to explain exactly what that means.
As an example of cultural misunderstanding, he cites the fabled American friendliness, which Germans like to dismiss as superficial.
"It's just one way of dealing with people," said Thalhofer. "It's like trying to adjust two radios to the same wavelength. In Berlin people are essentially grumpy, in America they're friendly."
Everyday stories
Is there some truth to the images of America produced in the movies?
Thalhofer said he believes that telling and listening to stories is the best way to understand the world, but that the stories do not necessarily have to be linear. That's one of the reasons why he chooses to work with fragments. He collects tales and images and allows viewers to assemble their own version of his documentary work.
To this end, Thalhofer has developed a customized authoring tool for media artists, which he has named the Korsakow System.
A computer program that helps create a database of narrative films, it serves as a storage center for short films about his many experiences. The user is left to decide in what order the material is used, while the program itself merely makes suggestions.
Accidental tourism
The real America?
The video Weblog at 1000Stories.com will be accompanied by an installation at the Goethe Institute in New York. The idea is to expand it as the two protagonists' trips unfold. On Oct. 1, Thalhofer will set of on the trip, whose itinerary is being voted on by visitors to the project's Web site. At the end of the trip, he said he plans to turn his video material into a Korsakow film.
So far, reactions have been mixed.
"I think Germans find the project more challenging than the Americans," he said.
Lost Your Wanderlust? Germany Can Help You Find It
Jaded by the globalization of travel, writer Ben Donald wanted to go somewhere -- anywhere -- not yet colonized by the "distasteful hordes." His personal patch of paradise turns out to be closer than expected -- Germany. (23.07.2007)
"The US-German Relationship Was Never an Easy One"
Nicole Renvert from Berlin's Institute for International Relations is the author of "Changing Values and Interests." She told DW that Germany and the US were drifting apart even before the rift over Iraq. (25.02.2007)
Searching for a German Childhood
People living in a foreign country often feel left out when the natives start reminiscing about their common childhood memories. A German-based artist from New Zealand might have found an answer to the problem. (25.10.2005)
Author DW staff (jp)
Related Subjects Germany
Keywords germany, America, goethe institute, 1000 Stories, Florian Thalhofer, mark Simon
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/Bhsp


Thanks to everyone who is using my sugar candy skull patterns to celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. I'm thrilled to show you that Sharon from gentlestitches.com used my patterns to help her bring Day of the Dead to Australia! Thank you, Sharon, for spreading the word about this celebration with your friends down under. If you want to share photos of your skulls, send them to squirrelpicnic@gmail.com. I'd love to see them!
First up our the famous Australian red backed spiders.
Grab yourself a free zombie bunny pattern before they grab you.
Just in time for día de los muertos, a large or small sugar skull from Jennifer at squirrel picnic. Pattern here.
Happy Halloween everyone! Enjoy the music as Shane pipes you out.
Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: crafts, crochet, flowers, handmade, Hodge & Podge No. 8, love, roses are red, squirrels, Valentine's Day | Permalink.
The year can't end without taking a look at all the fun we had in 2013.
Wow! I can't believe that our smiles didn't explode!
You challenged me to make a lot of interesting things in 2013. Two of my favorites were the Batman mask for Justin and the Bowser Sweater for Myrtle. The Bowser Sweater even went viral in June, landing Myrtle his very own Cheezburger meme. I also had the honor of bringing Rainbow Donkey (from Bill Brown's Evil Squirrel's Nest) into the 3-dimensional world. The Make It! Challenge series will continue in 2014… and it will be fantastic.
We added two new characters to the Squirrel Picnic cast: Eric, the diabolical scientist who's seeking to bioengineer the largest acorn on the planet and his cute and cuddly robot sidekick MEAP… who would much rather be at the picnic than in the lab.
And I'll never forget putting croshades on all the statues on Pearl Street in Boulder. What fun!
I can't wait to tell you about the crochet wildness I'm already dreaming up for the new year, but we've still got a few days left in 2013, so let's send it out with a bang first. Will you be showing off your crocheted M. and Mme. Champagne tomorrow night? I'll be taking mine with me and taking lots of pictures too. Don't forget to share your photos on our Facebook page or on Twitter @SquirrelPicnic.
Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 2013, crafts, crochet, diy, fun, new year, patterns | Permalink.


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Q: Invalid use of void expression I am working on a generic linked list for a class and having problems.
I am getting invalid use of void expression error on this line.
freeNode(L->head, L->freeObject( L->head->obj));

Here is the prototype for freeNode.
void freeNode(NodePtr node, void (*freeObject)(const void *));

Here is the struct for L (generic linked list).
struct list {
    int size;
    NodePtr head;
    NodePtr tail;
    unsigned long int (*compareTo)(void *);
    char * (*toString)(void *);
    void (*freeObject)(void *);
};

I know the problem is in with passing what should be a function pointer rather than the output of the function, but I can't figure out what my mistake is.

A: This prototype:
void freeNode(NodePtr node, void (*freeObject)(const void *));

Indicates that the second argument is a pointer to a function that returns void. However, the call:
freeNode(L->head, L->freeObject(L->head->obj));

The second argument is actually the result of calling L->freeObject(L->head->obj) which, itself, is simply void, not a pointer to function type.
If you want to pass a free function to freeNode, then you'd want to pass the pointer to the node as a third argument to freeNode and just pass L->freeObject as the second argument. So for example, you'd need to call, freeNode(L->head, L->freeObject, L->head->obj). Inside freeNode you could then call the function (from the second argument) with the node (third argument). Although without knowing what you want to do inside of freeNode and all its use cases, it's unclear what the best approach really is here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/ToQoz/dou.png?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/ToQoz/dou)
[![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/ToQoz/dou/badge.png?branch=master)](https://coveralls.io/r/ToQoz/dou?branch=master)
[![GoDoc](https://godoc.org/github.com/ToQoz/dou?status.png)](https://godoc.org/github.com/ToQoz/dou)

Package dou is __tiny__ and __flexible__ toolkit for creating a api server.
And you can creating a custom plugin in accordance with your api type or domain-specific use-case. This is **NOT** framework.

see http://godoc.org/github.com/ToQoz/dou

## By the way

- `胴` means that dou is not fullstack. But when cooperating with other package, it can become perfect. And it is easy to do.
- `道` means that dou provide minimum way by plugin system.
- `銅` means that dou is not gold. So it is soft(flexible) because you can override behaviour provided by plugin.

## Requirement

- go1.1 or later

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Quick One On One With Ray Guercy!
I am into Acting. Besides acting, I'm about my business. I am the Partial creator of Cloud 9TV, which is the brand that has bought the world the hit web series "Money and Violence". This web series has had over 20 million views since it debuted season one in 2014. The show has recently partnered with Jay Z's co- owned Tidal and Lions Gate film production for season two. I am also very much into my family and taking care of them all.
)Who is your favorite artist?
"Lucky Me", and "Song Cry" .
In my free time, I can be caught scrolling through my timeline on Instagram or reading books with Mike Tyson's "Undisputed Truth" being my fave. Currently, Im spending most of my time on set filming the second season of the hit web series "Money and Violence" in which I play one of the lead character most known as "Miz".
I grew up with a small family. It was just my sister, my mother, and myself.
Vegas is the best city I visited so far.
What made Vegas so Memorable?
Before I die I have to go to Amsterdam honestly because I hear they have marijuana on the menus everywhere. That would be an interesting experience. I would also like to visit Paris because I hear it is the most romantic place to bring your significant other.
Yes and no. I like dogs because it reminds me of my father who past away. My most memorable moments with him was with our pet dogs. We owned more than one. The first one unfortunately passed away after choking on a rock on the beach. The second dog was a little vicious and he chewed away at everything. He even tried to attack my dad once! LOL, but I like dogs. Now, cats…I hate cats. Mostly because they are sneaky and I despise anything sneaky.
What turns you on about a woman?
The one thing that turns me on about a woman is her heart. I love a genuine woman.
Where do you see yourself five to ten years from years from now?
I see my self acting in more movies. I will be opening different businesses, getting married, and having a family.
This article is published in February Issue 67. Get the app and print a copy!


We Must Live, Accepting Our Calling; Courageous – Being Crazy, Colourful – Being Creative.
Read More Crazy N Creative..
I Took The Bridge, Many Not Known About; I Followed The Bridge, From Human To Divine.
We can build structures for human society never seen before, thoughts never thought before, music never heard before.
When Someone Is Loving To Love One, One Feels Like Love Is First And Last – Above All.
One Feels About #Someone Too!
After All, Love Is The Season, Always Going On, Many Times One Is Loving, Many Times One Is Best. After All, Love Is The Season, Brings One All Good, Many Times One Is Better, Many Times One Is Above All. Feel The Season Of Love – With Love!
I Know – You Are Spending, Sleepless Nights, Waiting For Me, Looking For Set Off. I Know – You Wish, I Know – You Are? Tell Me Love You Are?


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You are at:Home»Inside Fordham»Faculty Profiles»Professor Seeks Best Ways to Communicate Organizational Change
Professor Seeks Best Ways to Communicate Organizational Change
By Patrick Verel on	 March 14, 2011 Faculty Profiles, Inside Fordham
Travis L. Russ, Ph.D., found that business leaders often realize the benefits of consensus-building but fail to implement them on the front lines.
Photo by Patrick Verel
In business, change is not only good, it is often the difference between success and failure. But for change to be effective, everyone from mid-level managers to front-line employees must be on board with the new plan.
That is where Travis L. Russ, Ph.D., comes in. An assistant professor in the Fordham Schools of Business, Russ examines how leaders construct a vision for their companies and then communicate it to stakeholders.
"Sometimes leaders communicate their vision programmatically: 'Here's my vision, I don't want anything about that vision altered, and I want it to be implemented as is.' So there's a high degree of fidelity between their vision and its implementation on the front lines," he said.
"On the other side of the continuum is the participatory approach. Here leaders have some idea of how the organization should be changed but they recruit stakeholders to provide their unique input about the vision and how it might be best applied on the front lines."
To learn how leaders at companies implement strategies for change, Russ draws upon 12 years of experience as a consultant in the private sector to gain access to firms such as Thomson Reuters, Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, Macy's and McGraw-Hill. So when he publishes papers such as "Developing a Typology of Perceived Communication Challenges Experienced by Frontline Employees During Organizational Change" (Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 2009), they accurately reflect corporate reality.
"It's important that you go back and talk to the people who gave you the data, so you're not researching in a vacuum," Russ said. "They, of course, have every right to make modifications and to tell me whether I hit the mark or not. I want to ensure my conclusions reflect their realities."
As with any field, Russ said, there are interesting paradoxes when examining the area of change communication. For example, in a recent study, he and his co-author found that practitioners vigilantly extolled the values of participatory change. What they actually practiced, however, was very different.
"While they said they saw the value of soliciting stakeholders' input, their behaviors were more aligned with the philosophy of programmatic change. For them, asking for others' input was merely symbolic as they would often dismiss or refute their input and march forward with their original plans," he said.
One might expect that a manager who said one thing and did another would spark tension or conflict, but at this particular company, Russ found that not to be case.
"You'd think there would be some fallout and some push-back if people's ideas weren't necessarily heard. But there was a significant amount of appeasement taking place. Those leading the change initiative felt like they just needed to explain why the employees' fears were irrational and why their concerns really weren't valid rather than actually modifying the planned change based on the feedback received. Clearly, this is problematic," he said.
"Research tells us that people prefer participatory approaches. Some presumed benefits include lower resistance to change, increased understanding, greater involvement and engagement, and elevated motivation. Still, while practitioners say that they think participatory approaches work more effectively, when push comes to shove, they're more apt to apply top-down programmatic approaches. There are a variety of pressures that I examine in my research, from time management pressures to resource pressures to a lack of employees, a lack of financial resources or a lack of tools that limit the actual implementation of participatory approaches."
Few managers are strictly participatory or programmatic, of course, and that gray area is where Russ focuses his research. He has found that while top leaders are decent at communicating to middle managers, those middle managers are not as good at sharing the vision with their workers.
"You sort of have two hurdles to overcome—communicating to the mid-level managers, and then having them communicate to their direct reports," he said.
"I found that mid-level managers often withhold information for various reasons before communicating it downward. It might have been that they felt it wasn't appropriate, that they didn't want to overwhelm their employees, or that they didn't agree with the change."
A key aspect of whether any manager, whether high- or mid-level, asks for input, is the manager's communication apprehension or how comfortable he or she feels communicating with others ina variety of contexts.
"Many organizations are confronted with the fact that they must change or die, and leaders know that. So they are under the pressure of implementing change. Are they more likely to ask for input if they're under a large amount of stress? Probably not," he said.
"But if you look at the flip side, they are apt to be more successful if they make sure that everyone is on board, involved and engaged. By soliciting people's input, they can get an idea as to whether their new vision is actually going to work and thrive on the front lines."
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