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What Makes them special is that they have added features over the years that none like an event management tool, surveys, and social campaigns. These add to the diverse list of options in addition to automations and newsletters.
On top of these choices, they also boast a Market with over 400 programs and integrations that cater for even the most niche of products. Yet despite these flashy numbers and attributes, curiosity about Constant Contact appears to be on the decline, at least according to Google Trends. Enough reason for us to take a look at Constant Contact’s ins & outs and check if it’s still relevant in the 21st century.
If you are choosing an email Marketing tool for your business, you can do a lot worse compared to Constant Contact (which starts at $20 per month). If you want to test out some of the features without committing, then the business offers a 6-day free trial. This review looks at the program, which supports up to 500 contacts. Were it not for some unexplained hiccups, Constant Contact might have been an easy choice for our choice.
How does Constant Contact pile up against the Contest in its marketing database for companies with 2,500 contacts? It carries a $45-per-month price that is high. Many email advertising programs also have a cap on but Constant Contact doesn’t.
Constant Contact is Simple to Use and has plenty Starting with the data icons located alongside choices and disciplines explaining what they are, extensive Knowledge Base trainers accessible at a toll-free number, and articles. Constant Contact has a Task page that lists the status of different tasks, such as uploaded contacts, so that you know what’s happening in the background.
Phone support Isn’t 24/7 but the hours are Still pretty generous, going from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the week, also 10 a.m. to 8 pm on weekends. Chat is available, along with the agents will also call you to ensure to have.
Constant Contact offers a number of plans Depending upon the size of your subscriber base. The plan is $20 a month for up to 500 subscribers and $45 for up to 2,500. A plan costs $335 for 50,000 and $195 for 10,000 subscribers. Price-wise, it’s not too different from Campaigner. You can sign up for additional add-on providers, such as EventSpot ($20 per month for one occasion; $25 for up to five events) for event registrations, and Survey ($10 per month) to run surveys (all of which are included at no additional charge on the Email Plus plan). The Basic account comes to store images used from the campaigns with a Library. MyLibrary Plus ($5 per month) expands your storage to 1 GB. Newsletter Archive ($5 per month) creates a widget which may be added to your site on which you may display links to around 100 mails. If you want your clients to have the ability to see your older messages, this is a.
The free trial gives you access to all of You can send up to 100 mails although these features for 60 days. The trial is a superb way to get used to the platform for a number of messages. Once you are sure about the platform, update to the paid version and get started blasting away. There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee, which is uncommon in this area.
Once you’re satisfied with your newsletter, You can send it immediately or schedule it for later (in 5-minute periods, such as 3:05 a.m., 3:10 a.m., and so forth ). We couldn’t find a recurring program to send messages on a daily, weekly, or yearly basis the manner Campaigner doesto send messages based on the local time at the recipient’s location, as GetResponse can.
The Business also recently announced a new Feature named Action Blocks, which allow marketers to include polls or RSVP blocks to regular emails. This permits recipients to respond to messages with a single click without having to depart the email inbox and go to some web page.
You are able to monitor, As Soon as You’ve sent a newsletter By using the Reports tab Its achievement. The dash displays the fundamentals, including unsubscribe requests, and opens, clickthroughs, bounces. A handy bar graph shows open prices and a graph compares performance over multiple campaigns. Users may also pick up to five emails to compare high speed results side by side. The report has a convenient Refresh button so that you may see real-time outcomes. It is not like MailChimp where you’ve got to manually load the webpages. When we opened mails and clicked on the links, they had been registered nearly immediately.
The Resource Center offers links to Information about average clickthrough rates by industry. You can even look at relative metrics to figure out if your level of engagement with your clients is improving or declining over the past three months. The cellular app is handy if you need to see the campaign functionality from your mobile device.
There are several ways to add contacts to Constant Contact: copy and paste, manually sort addresses into a form, upload a file (CSV, XLS, XLSX, or TXT), import from Gmail, or pull from Outlook and other (CRM) tools.
When we used the shape Address, we repeatedly received an error message but it did not say what had gone wrong. We were motivated to hit on the Previous button to go back and resolve the issue but we couldn’t because the page had expired out of our browser (Firefox) cache. After a couple of attempts, the entire webpage crashed. This was an unusual experience, to say the least. Constant Contact has ensured us has greatly improved since our initial test and this is not likely to happen again.
The file upload import, and CRM Migration alternatives, on the other hand, were easy to use and stable. We think most people would end up using these options. We tracked the upload improvement under”Contacts: Task” and was informed when the import was complete. Much like Campaigner, Constant Contact allows disposable addresses and Mailinator. It’s too bad many services do not comply with the example of GetResponse$15.00 in GetResponse, which filters out known disposable domains. Constant Contact rather flags contacts that are inclined to be other or transactional such addresses so the user can choose whether to remove or store them.
Our only quibble with the Contact Manager is That it’s a pain to edit the user records. When we glued our list and cut, we just dropped in email addresses. We did not have other fields, such as address or name. We had to load each person record and update the fields to bring this. This wasn’t that simple because the pages were slow to load in our testing. Since we could see the entire list in Contact Manager, then it would have been nice to be able to simply click on the lost area, input, and just keep going down the page. So, lesson learned: Be sure to have each of the applicable fields before uploading the names populated.
Constant Contact also lets you create forms That customers can use to sign up for newsletters and emails. These forms may be hosted either on your own site or on Constant Contact’s servers. The users can be segmented by you based on whether they used the sign-up form or procedures, which may be useful. The business also recently announced a new sign-up form editor that is intended to allow users to create inline forms which may be embedded on a site as well as pop-up forms which can be customized to show after a fixed amount of time or when a visitor attempts to leave the website, the company stated.
Constant Contact requires you to confirm that You already have approval from your entire list–no purchased lists permitted! As there is no way to verify you have consent from each person receiving messages sent to that 37, you also can’t use group addresses like sales @ or marketing @ addresses or distribution lists. You can also make autoresponders, recorded under the Generate button, to send every time a user is added to some list. We used the templates to build a particular publication .
If you do not need these extra features, Then Constant Contact is a superb option. Should you need a little bit more flexibility in your marketing strategy, then have a look at email marketing Editors’ Choices Campaigner and MailChimp instead.
That is because, unlike other tools, for example Editors’ Choice marketing automation systems Pardot and HubSpot, Constant Contact doesn’t doesn’t offer branching logic. It focuses to begin automation campaigns. For instance, you can begin an automation workflow whenever someone joins a listing or achieves a milestone, like a birthday or anniversary as a customer. But you can not alter automationsbased on whether or not somebody opened an email, forwarded an email, or clicked on a link.
Automation platforms more smart and, well, automatic, compared to email tools, make life easier for entrepreneurs and personalized for customers. In addition, Constant Contact does not offer A/B testing (they do provide subject line A/B testing), no research advertising inclusion, and also the restricted workflows you can create don’t offer drag-and-drop builders, which are pretty much standard nowadays. If you need automation for first and second interactions with customers, then Constant Contact is a reliable automation system. But if you would like adaptive workflows and innovative sequencing that adapt to your clients’ specific actions, then Constant Contact is not powerful enough to compete in the marketing automation area.
These days, the Matter, is that there are Lots of other email Tools that offer even more than Constant Contact, and also for a lot less money. This includes user experience, but also not only features. In reality, for the volume you pay with Constant Contact, you could find yourself using tools like GetResponse and ActiveCampaign. | 2019-04-23T12:51:05Z | https://healthydaysonline.com/constant-contact-blurry-images-constant-contact-email-automation-tool-review-2019/ |
I have been working hard to explain to people that Iran’s nuclear weapons are not the major threat to Israel. It is obvious.
The problem is that after almost a century, Israel is not just the object of genocide by the Arabs but by many Iranian, Turkish, and newly European and North American Muslims. It is truly awesome how few politically active would-be peacemakers among Arabs and Middle Eastern Muslims there are.
Given Secretary of State Haman the Agagite, it is unfortunate that there is no King Ahasuerus.
Of course some of this, especially in the West, is due to the phony two-state or at least two-stage-to-extinction solution.
I should mention this was not just a knee-jerk conclusion on my part but one reached over the course of 45 years.
Somehow, I don’t think Michelle would play such a role.
Why use nuclear weapons when you believe you will win by conventional means and while you make billions to shore up the Tehran regime so effectively in the short-run?
Iran’s nuclear effort is ironically a defensive strategy to neutralize any possible Israeli nuclear option or an Israeli attack on Iran.
This is a massive misdirection — get it?
Let’s see. Can you imagine this misdirected “detail”? Simply: the almost decades-old effort to destroy Israel.
1929: Hebron massacre of Jews. No Arabs massacred.
1937-1939: Arabs fight war against British mandate of Palestine including terrorist assassinations.
1939: Jordan and Egypt are inclined to prevent Israel by diplomatic means but the Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq want violence.
1939: Saudi Arabia secretly negotiates weapons purchase for the Palestinian Arabs from Nazi Germany.
1939: Muslim Brotherhood subsidized by Nazi Germany. Seventy-five years later, the grandson of the head of the Brotherhood and the son of the Palestinian European leader were permitted by the New York Times, without contradiction, to write that the Brotherhood believed in parliamentary democracy and was pro-British during the war. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood and the Arab-Palestinian leadership from Berlin were advocating massacres of the Jews in Egypt, and the government was providing maps of British fortification to the German army.
1941: The Palestinians’ Arab leadership asks for a safe haven in Berlin. For the next four years, this leadership organizes thousands of German Nazi troops and SS imams, advises the German government, sends delegations to concentration camps with an eye on setting up death camps throughout the Middle East, etc.
1941: Massacre of Jews in Baghdad; revolt by radical Iraq’s Nazi ally put down.
1948: Refusal of UN partition giving a Palestinian Arab state.
1956: Suez War: Israel pressed to pull back by U.S. victory but gets nothing.
1967: 1970 War of Attrition.
1970: Arab summit–no recognition of Israel, no negotiations, no peace.
1970-1982: Decades of terrorism; the murder of any Israeli in reach; yet relatively little retaliation. And there was the assassination of almost every Arab leader willing to make peace with Israel.
2000: Refusal of UN partition to receive a Palestinian Arab state.
Now consider today. Well, it’s the same thing. It is obvious that despite the thinnest veneer, it is pretty much the same thing as 1929, 1941, 1948, 1979, 2000-2004, etc. That is a terrible and sobering situation, but it is true. Maybe not inevitable, but it is based on leadership. Remember Iran (34 years) and Turkey (about 12 years) are relatively new additions to existential conflict with Israel.
When asked by a recent poll if Israeli-PA negotiations would ever lead to peace, 25 percent of Jewish Israelis said yes, while 73 percent of them said no. Remember, many of those Jews who were against still–or used to–vote for the left. It is angering that Israel and PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s “hard line” are being blamed for this, but it should be obvious that the conflict will not end.
In the meantime, Iran is getting nuclear weapons while Israel is getting nothing but insults from Kerry as the–wait for it–“bad” guy after 65 years. He is unintentionally encouraging murders (two of four Israeli soldiers killed in two weeks were not killed in the territories–one was killed while visiting what he thought was an Arab “friend” and another while sleeping on a bus bench).
Or as former U.S. Secretary of State Shultz explains what is really happening: Iranians will “cut your throat.” He is really encouraging this Iranian throat-cutting.
Failure of the talks will increase Israel’s isolation in the world. The alternative to getting back to the talks is a potential of chaos. I mean, does Israel want a third intifada? I believe that if we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing isolation of Israel.
Two intifadas? Is he going to do something about this if there is a third intifada? Is Kerry going to protect Israel? Because there will be cross-border attacks, and they will only be covered in one-paragraph shorts, while any photos will be of Palestinian terrorists’ grieving families.
So what is Iran doing in the meanwhile? Here are some public statements by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
First, Israel is “the rabid dog” of the region. Iranian leaders have also said that Israel wants genocide against all Muslims. In fact, antisemitism is justified on the basis of the Koran by Iranian leaders. Iran says that everybody in the Middle East wants to destroy Israel.
And he continues, “We fight against the arrogance. Arrogance is a word in the Koran. It is used in the Koran for people like Pharaoh, malevolent groups which are hostile to truth and righteousness….” I think that pharaoh ended up being drowned in the sea. I don’t think that there is any good intention for the U.S. here, even though it is going to stop sanctions worth billions of dollars to Iran, and enable them to develop nuclear weapons.
Zionist regime is doomed to oblivion. The Zionist regime is an imposed regime which is formed by force. None of the formations or creatures which are formed by force is durable, and neither is this one….Unfortunately, some European countries cringe before this creature which is not worthy of the name of a human being, before these leaders of the Zionist regime, who look like beasts and who cannot be called human.
Sounds like he wants peace to me!
But who cannot be called human? Where have we heard that before? Say, Nazi propaganda? Didn’t end well then.
Any by the way, the Obama administration did not condemn these vicious anti-Israel statements nor did it alter any policy because of them.
Meanwhile, the U.S. policy has also hardened Palestinian Arabs’ lines, as shown in statements by leaders. In turn, the Palestinian Arabs have hardened their policy, insulting the United States. Recently, there was a situation in which a Georgetown University session ditched a Nazi speaker but still featured a Nazi professor who denied that bin Ladin had played a role in September 11.
And moreover, Professor Rima Najjar posted on her Facebook page: “What Brandeis University does not understand: Palestinian armed resistance to Zionist colonization is a path to liberation.” Brandeis University suspended its partnership with al-Quds University after the West Bank University had a rally that was meant to honor the martyrs of Islamic Jihad, in which the symbol of Israel, the Star of David, was symbolically stepped on by all demonstrators.
This is going to justify the murder of any Israeli. "If we don’t end the presence of Israeli soldiers perpetually within the West Bank, then there will be an increasing feeling that if we cannot get peace with a leadership that is committed to nonviolence, you may wind up with leadership that is committed to violence."
Well, what do you think has been happening for almost 90 years?
There is something very strange about the political situation. You can call it a failure of "Profiles In Courage." Profiles In Courage was a book that people think was written by President John F. Kennedy, but in fact was written by Professor Jules Davids. Professor Davids, who was my dissertation advisor, was a wonderful man. I'm always irritated that he is not given the credit for what Kennedy pretended to write. Profiles In Courage is a book about the heroism shown by senators who took an unpopular position and even went against what was popular or partisan politically because they knew it was right–for example, the people who voted against the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson after the Civil War, because they knew it was the right thing to do (1868).
What is shocking is that there are so few profiles-in-courage moments at present. In other words, in other words, the judgemetn of a statement is not whether its true but whether it serves indoctrination. Just think of how many Democrats are willing to publicly contradict Obama; how many people have rethought their assumptions; how many journalists are willing to report the truth, even if it is in contradiction of ideology. Just think how few people are even willing to prepare a balanced course for teaching or non-slanted teaching. How many New York Times stories are non-biased?
It seems, I believe, that only 1% of the “Progressive” elite are doing this professional job. Also consider how few people are willing to contradict the cowardly leadership of the Republican Party, even though they must understand that it is only opportunism and careerism that make them follow the current leadership. This cowardice and dereliction of duty–by those who know that there's something wrong here–is calling public decency and democracy into question. That institutions are pretty broken, that money is being wasted, that lies are being told, that Obamacare is very dangerous, is often simply ignored. I am ashamed and shocked by this failure of the journalistic and academic system.
By the way, I think it is significant that the last time I had a meeting with Blumenthal’s father, he was then a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton. Also, the last time I had lunch with him was with… Wolf Blitzer. Don’t forget these connections.
I wonder whether his “anti-Semitic” training affected him in the heart of the Hillary Clinton camp.
In 1948, there were hopes that the Arab-Israeli conflict would be resolved in the long-run. But it wasn’t. In 1967, there was hope that the magnitude of Israeli victory meant that the Arabs would eventually come to terms (Egypt and Jordan did in a way, although the final word has not been written). In 1982, people believed that the conflict could still be solved, but it wasn’t. And finally, during the negotiations from 1993-2000, there were renewed hopes that the conflict would be resolved. It wasn’t.
Today, the conflict is even further from being resolved, especially with the entry of Iran, Islamism, and the radical government in Turkey. Maybe it is time to conclude the Arab-Israeli conflict will never be resolved.
There have since been at least three more examples following the same pattern. The first is obviously Iran, its nuclear intentions, its trickery, and its desire to dominate the region.
The statement from the Saudi ambassador to London also expressed in his Times of London interview an unusually abrasive criticism of the West for what he said was a too-soft approach toward Iran, calling Washington's "rush" to engage with Tehran "incomprehensible."
A senior Saudi diplomat issued a rare direct threat to Iran, warning that "all options are available" should the international community fail to rein in Iran's alleged drive to acquire nuclear weapons.
This statement could easily come out of the mouth of an Israeli politician. It is amusing that with this parallelism to Israel's viewpoint, the senior diplomat had to deny that he saw something in common with Israel. In other words, Saudi Arabia feels that it has been betrayed by the United States, and will respond to that betrayal.
Then there is Egypt. Let's review American behavior. Two years ago, the United States basically helped and celebrated a Muslim Brotherhood electoral victory. Every anti-Islamist knows this. When the Egyptian military coup happened a year later, the U.S. opposed it. In other words, if the Muslim Brotherhood had won and crushed freedom by staying in office, it would be have been backed by the United States, but since there was a coup, the election was stolen.
Doesn't everyone in Egypt know that if the coup had not taken place, the U.S. would have the supported the Muslim Brotherhood government? Don't the Egyptians know that the United States would be willing to sell Egypt into Islamic fundamentalist slavery? Would anyone believe the United States would protect any of its other allies?
But suddenly, the U.S. turned around and Kerry actually said that the Muslim Brotherhood had "stolen" the revolution. And that is why the Egyptians are turning toward Russia today and do not trust the U.S. Frankly you would think that the Obama administration wants to sabotage U.S. Middle-East policy.
By the way, the Egyptians were so angered by their perception of Turkey cuddling up to Iran and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, that they threw out the Turkish ambassador.
*David Gerstman has kindly sent this three-year-old article to me, which is still relevant today.
We must now face an extremely unpleasant truth: even giving the Obama Administration every possible break regarding its Iran policy, it is now clear that the U.S. government isn't going to take strong action on the nuclear weapons issue.
Note that I didn't even say "effective" action, that is, measures which would force Iran to back down. I’m neither advocating nor do I think there was ever any possibility that the United States, even under Obama’s predecessor, might take military action.
I'm saying that they aren't even going to make a good show of trying seriously to do anything at all.
Some say that the administration has secretly or implicitly accepted the idea that Iran will get nuclear weapons and is now seeking some longer-term containment policy. I doubt that has happened. They are just not even this close to reality.
From their behavior they still seem to expect, incredibly, that some kind of deal is possible with Tehran despite everything that has happened. Then, too, they may hope that the opposition—unaided by America–will overthrow the Iranian government and thus solve the problem for them. And they are too fixated on short-term games about seeking consensus among other powers two of which–China and Russia–are clearly not going to agree to do anything serious. This fact was clear many months ago, but the administration still doesn’t recognize it.
Not only is the Obama administration failing the test, but it is doing so in a way that seems to maximize the loss of U.S. credibility in the region and the world. A lot of this comes from the administration's philosophy, almost unprecedented concepts of guilt, apology, defeatism, and refusal to take leadership never seen before among past liberal Democratic governments from Franklin Roosevelt through Bill Clinton.
Yet the British, French, and Germans are ready to get tough on Iran, yearning for leadership, and not getting it.
All of this is watered down in media coverage, focused on day-to-day developments; swallowing many of the administration's excuses plus its endlessly repeated rhetoric that action is on the way. When the history of this absurdly failed effort is written the story will be a shocking one, the absurdity of policy obvious.
It was totally predictable that the Iranian government would not make a deal. It was totally predictable that Russia and China weren’t going to go along with higher sanctions. It was totally predictable that a failure by the United States to take leadership and instead depend on consensus would lead to paralysis. And it is totally predictable that a bungled diplomatic effort will produce an even more aggressive Iranian policy along with crisis and violence.
First, the administration set a September 2009 deadline for instituting higher sanctions and then, instead of following a two-track strategy of engagement plus pressure, postponed doing anything while engaged in talks with Iran.
Second, it refused to take advantage of the regime's international unpopularity and growing opposition demonstrations due to the stolen election. On the contrary, it assured the Iranian regime it would not do so.
Third, the administration set a December 2009 deadline if engagement failed, then refused to recognize it had failed and did nothing. It is the failure even to try to meet this time limit by implementing some credible action that has crossed the line, triggered the point of no return.
Fourth, the U.S. government kept pretending that it was somehow convincing the Chinese and Russians to participate while there was never any chance of this happening. Indeed, this was clear from statements repeatedly made by leaders of both countries. Now, this duo has sabotaged the process without any cost inflicted by the United States while making clear they will continue doing so.
Here is something tremendously ironic: The British, French, and Germans want to act. Obama has the consensus among allies that he says is required. But he’s letting himself be held back by China and Russia.
The three European allies now have the opposite problem they felt with Bush. They wanted to pull back the previous American president. Now with Obama, they can’t drag this guy forward!
Fifth, high-ranking U.S. officials continually speak of their unending eagerness to engage Iran, begging it to fool them with more delays. But Tehran doesn’t have to do so since the same officials speak of at least six months more discussion before anything is done about sanctions.
Sixth, the administration now defines sanctions as overwhelmingly focused on the Revolutionary Guards, which it cannot hurt economically, thus signaling to the Iranian regime that it will do nothing effective to damage the country's economy. This means that even if sanctions are increased, they will be toothless. The White House ignored the face-saving way out given it by Congress, where the vast majority of Democrats supported an embargo on refined fuel supplies and other doable measures.
All of these steps tell Iran's regime: full speed ahead on building nuclear weapons; repress your opponents brutally, and the United States will do nothing. It isn’t a good thing when the world’s most dangerous dictator is laughing at you, and your friends in the region are trembling because they have been let down.
An angry U.S. government that feels Iran's regime made it seem a sucker. A calculating administration that believes the American people want it to get tough, and thus it would gain politically from being seen as decisive. A great power strategy that it would make an example of Iran to show what happens to repressive dictators who defy the United States and spit on its friends and interests. And a diplomatically astute leadership that understands how threats and pressure must be used even by those who want to force an opponent into a compromise deal.
There is not the slightest indication that the Obama administration holds any of these views. On the contrary, without any apparent realization of the absurdity of the situation, high-ranking officials keep repeating in January 2010 as in January 2009 that some day the United States might do something to put pressure on Iran. Perhaps those in the administration who do understand what's wrong don't have the influence to affect the policy being set in the White House.
At a minimum, the administration should implement the tough sanctions envisioned by Congress and supported by its European allies, an attempt to cut off the maximum amount of fuel supplies, loans, and trade from Iran. If this hurts average Iranians, it also sends the signal that the current regime is unacceptable and aids the opposition. In diplomatic history, this is how sanctions have always been viewed.
Instead, while the United States does nothing, Russia is completing Iran’s Bushire nuclear reactor and China is finishing up a massive oil refinery in Iran. While Obama fiddles, the regime is getting stronger, not more isolated.
This sad debacle is going to be a case study of how failing to deal with a problem sooner, even if that requires some diplomatic confrontations, will lead to a much bigger and costlier conflict later involving military confrontations.
When I read what I wrote back in September 2009–four months before the article you are reading now was written–I find that every point made has proven true.
Unless a civilization or country has continuity, it cannot exist. And that goes for America, too.
This is the basis of America and democratic government. If the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were defining moments of America, the second defining moment was the Civil War.
This month, President Barack Obama did not go live to Gettysburg. Perhaps, he had a golf game or some banquet to attend, or some accusation of racism to level. But, in fact, the trip would have been incredibly convenient. He even could have dropped by the Camp David presidential resort. All he had to do was travel a short distance to Frederick, Maryland, and drive north to Gettysburg.
I cannot tell you how upset and angry this has made me. Obama could have claimed this was a natural act to sell his agenda. For example, he could talk about racism that is at the heart of America, he claims. But there is a curiosity here, because in fact, if Obama had given this address, he would have actually proven the contrary: that America's history proved the opposite, that this was a central act to oppose racism, that it was risky but it would be worthwhile to wager the whole nation on this outcome.
In other words, he would have shown that America was an anti-racist country and the first country that had a civil war to end slavery.
If he had gone to Gettysburg, he would have needed to show the theme that America was against racism implicitly. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they were endowed by their Creator by certain inalienable right, that among them are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But he wanted to hint that America's essence was pro-slavery.
Second, he wanted to reject the interpretation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and to substitute this with the regulation, dependence, and the definition of others' idea of happiness.
My ancestors did not arrive in the United States until after the Civil War. Still, I understand this centrality, just as I understand the Revolution, Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence. It seems Obama does not understand these things.
And incidentally, if center-stage commemoration of the Civil War does not exist today, will, for example, World War II–the victory over Nazism–be commemorated in future decades? I think that this is highly symbolic.
It is time to call this the first officially atheistic regime in history. Note that in his Gettysburg Address speech (and in other speeches), Obama omitted the phrase “under God” from the quotes.
May I point out that the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, and Obama may have an interest in that.
But then I assume that he wants to imply that the slaves were never freed and that racism in fact forever persists.
I've always been amazed that anyone thought the United States would ever act against the Iranian nuclear threat. There was never any chance that such a thing would happen. The United States would never go to war with tens of millions of people.
Moreover, there was never any chance the United States would let Israel "attack" Iran.
"'I believe that we can now say that Israel has reached childhood’s end, that it has matured enough to begin approaching a state of self-reliance… We are going to achieve economic independence [from the United States].' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a Joint Session of the United States Congress – Washington D.C., July 10, 1996 (Source: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs)."
Unfortunately, today, almost 20 years later, this is not a fair statement to quote. Strauss continues: "In 1997, Israel received $3.1 billion in aid from the U.S. In 2012, Israel was still receiving $3.1 billion annually in U.S. aid."
This, however, is not an appropriate comparison today. Let us look at the current situation: Egypt will receive $2 billion in U.S. aid; Saudi Arabia will receive military aid as well as the anti-Asad Syrian rebels; Turkey will receive billions of dollars and probably military equipment. Moreover, the United States and Europe will also reach out to Iran, and Hizballah and Syria will receive aid from Iran. In addition, the Palestinians have not made the least bit of commitment on a two-state solution. In other words, only Israel would lose. And this is the childhood's end?
Strauss further notes, "Israel has become an affluent and developed country that can afford to pay for its own defense." But the point is that other hostile countries will be receiving more while Israel will get the same amount.
He continues, "… Israel has a well developed economy in other ways." But again, Israel will be placed at much more of a disadvantage.
The article's claim, "Other countries/programs could better use this aid money," does not state the reality.
"Even domestically, the aid that goes to Israel could be useful. Detroit is bankrupt, and our Congress is cutting back on food stamps, and making other painful budget cuts." Again, the United States does not face an immediate threat from its neighbors, while Israel does. Moreover, this is shockingly implying that Israel is stealing money from poor people in the United States.
In other words, this is not equivalent.
"Israel and the United States have increasingly different visions about the future of the Middle East." But again, so what? This is absolutely irrelevant.
"A major (bipartisan) goal of the United States has been the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." Once again, this is a policy that is impossible, but the United States is going to try to force it on Israel anyway.
Note that the less security the United States and the West provide to Israel, the more difficult it makes it to secure or promote a desirable two-state solution. Strauss adds, "However, the current Israeli government is clearly not committed to the U.S. vision, and has done everything possible to sabotage American efforts."
The problem with this last point is that the Palestinians have always tried to sabotage this. If this concept hasn't gotten across in a quarter century, I can't imagine when it will get across.
The current Israeli government has tried for many years to achieve a two-state solution and has made many concessions. And if Kerry can't take Israel's side on this issue, then I can't imagine how decades of U.S. policy has been carried out. To say that the Israeli government is not committed is a fully hostile statement.
This claims Israeli settlement and not Palestinian intransigence has blocked the peace process.
Note that the author of this article has "distinguished" credentials: "Steven Strauss is an adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government."
Yet if this is what the U.S. government understands, it will end badly. Moreover, the issue of Iran and nuclear weapons is not the important point; rather, it is the transformation of the U.S. Middle East position that is significant. I do not believe there is any chance Iran will use nuclear weapons. The problem is that this is reversal of the U.S. policy. In other words, it is like going back to 1948 and opposing partition.
Finally, what this is all about is money and greed. Many European countries are drooling about the money to be made. For example, Vittorio Da Rold writes (Il Sole 24 ore), "Italian SMEs are hoping for a rapid agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue in order to return as soon as possible to trade without limits with Tehran and the rich Iranian market in hopes of finding new markets in a time when the European market flirts with deflation."
During the 1930s and 1940s, a unique and lasting political alliance was forged among Third Reich leaders, Arab nationalists, and Muslim religious authorities. From this relationship sprang a series of dramatic events that, despite their profound impact on the course of World War II, remained secret until now. In this groundbreaking book, esteemed Middle East scholars Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz uncover for the first time the complete story of this dangerous alliance and explore its continuing impact on Arab politics in the twenty-first century. Rubin and Schwanitz reveal, for example, the full scope of Palestinian leader Amin al-Husaini's support of Hitler's genocidal plans against European and Middle Eastern Jews. In addition, they expose the extent of Germany's long-term promotion of Islamism and jihad. Drawing on unprecedented research in European, American, and Middle East archives, many recently opened and never before written about, the authors offer new insight on the intertwined development of Nazism and Islamism and its impact on the modern Middle East.
Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center of the Interdisciplinary Center, Israel. He is the author of many books and publishes frequently on Middle East topics. He lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. Middle East historian Wolfgang G. Schwanitz is visiting professor at the Global Research in International Affairs Center of the Interdisciplinary Center, Israel, and an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum of Pennsylvania. He lives in New Jersey.
Published by Yale University Press. Available February 25, 2014. Pre-order here.
Several students from Students for Justice in Palestine have just written a letter to the university newspaper. They asked why Jewish students on campus weren't open to a more moderate pro-two-state solution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I will tell you the secret of why that is.
First of all, Israel has a great deal of experience, in fact, repeat experience for 50 years. Israel had many experiences that prove that the Palestinian leadership and the great majority of Palestinians are not interested in a long-term two-state solution. This is both in terms of Hamas and in terms of the Palestinian Authority. There have been tens of thousands of cases that show that both organizations want to destroy Israel.
True, Israel often wanted to give them a chance–indeed, from 1983 to 1993, it certainly tried. I remember clearly on the day the Oslo agreement was signed, I reached out to shake the hand of a Fatah official, who (even then) reluctantly accepted. Three years later, I stood on the street corner watching ambulances race to the scene of a bus terrorist attack, which was not condemned by the PA. In fact, out of many thousands of articles, I can only remember one when a PA official, a military commander, explained why terrorism was really bad for the PA.
Once at a private dinner with a PA official (who later became a PA foreign minister), he said Arafat was stupid for not agreeing to a compromise two-state solution.
Again, even many liberal and left-of -center Israelis know that peace and a two-state solution are not going to happen, at least not without a major ongoing strategic threat to Israel and also terrorism.
Certainly there are those individuals and groups open to peace with Israel, but these are mostly Turks, Kurds, Lebanese, Jordanians, Egyptians, Iranians, North African Arabs, Berbers, some Christian Arabs, and Druze.
In addition, Israel has not been given real security by the UN and Europe and most recently the United States. It has no reason to feel secure even in the furthest extent of concessions that Israel can afford to make.
Even if one is sincere, it appears there is no comprehension of what conditions Israel is facing nor of the hostility to ever accept Israel. This shows a lack of understanding of the structural situation. There is no concept or understanding of the situation, nor is any informed advice offered, yet such people want to risk the lives of Israelis.
This is ludicrous. Maybe one will come to understand in the future how ridiculous this is or perhaps this is known already.
Hamas will continue the violent conflict and stage as many episodes of violence as possible, even if a future state of Palestine doesn’t want to. Hamas will commit terrorist acts, and the government of Palestine will not do much to stop this or punish them.
Whenever a future Palestinian state indulges in violence, it will do so with state support. If Fatah or other government coalition groups engage in terrorism, it the state will usually do nothing to stop it and will deny it.
The West and Europe will usually ignore violence because they want to pretend and suggest the peace process really worked.
It is unfortunately that this is true since the overwhelming majority of Israelis would prefer to have peace.
–Most Israelis believe, on the basis of their experience during the 1990s' Oslo era and with the "peace process" generally, that Palestinian leaders cannot and will not make peace, and that most Arabs and Muslims still want to destroy Israel. As a result, they explain, past Israeli concessions have made Israel's situation worse, risks to show that Israel wants peace have not persuaded onlookers, withdrawals from territory have only led to that territory being used to launch attacks on Israel.
–In justifying their stance, Israelis cite the extremism of Iran; the advances of Hamas and Hizballah; the growing radicalism and Islamist influence in the Egyptian revolution, and other such factors. In addition, they worry that the Obama Administration policy is undermining Israel and enabling a growing extremism in the region. This is a prevailing viewpoint across the political spectrum.
–Peace would be easily and quickly obtained if not for Israel's policies.
–Settlements and not Arab/Muslim positions are the factor preventing peace, even though it could be pointed out that if the Palestinians made peace all the settlements on their territory would be removed.
–If Israel only had a different government the peace process would rapidly advance.
–Obama and his supporters want to save Israel in spite of itself and they, not Israel' own leadership, knows what's best for the country.
–Israelis "know" that Obama is right which is why public opinion polls, statements, and evidence to the contrary is suppressed or spun away. American Jews can support anti-Israel policies in the firm belief that they are really "pro-Israel" policies.
–It is far more pleasant to believe that conflict can be made to disappear, hatreds quenched. If they are all our fault than we can easily fix them.
Or, in short, "Why do they hate us?" because we've behaved so badly but we can fix it by behaving properly.
Consequently, the systematic misrepresentation isn't because these people are mean or that they hate Israel as such (well, actually, a lot of academics but relatively few journalists or government officials do) but because their worldview and political line–including 100 percent support for Obama–requires it.
Equally, their systematic view that revolutionary Islamism isn't a real threat but just a marginal movement of those who misunderstand Islam and want to hijack it, requires it. Equally, their systematic view that to portray certain peoples as hardline, intransigent, "irrational," etc., is a form of racism and Islamophobia.
I constantly receive letters from Iranians, Turks, Lebanese, Egyptians, and Syrians about their despair at losing their country, being oppressed, or seeing so much bloodshed in their struggle for democracy and to avoid being crushed by Islamist or radical nationalist dictatorships.
Genuinely moderate Muslims in the West have similar complaints and experiences. One case that typifies many is of a courageous man who is shunned by the politicians, virtually barred from the two mosques in his small city, and sees those who threaten him being praised in the media and feted by local politicians.
These people often have similar symptoms. They are depressed, often close to tears, deeply frustrated, and bewildered. What makes their lot even more bitter is the lack of sympathy for the Western MUG that praises their enemies (and all of ours) at the same time. They, too, are victims of the same syndrome that Israel suffers from.
One of the worst things in life is for someone to wake up and discover he's been supporting evil. Indeed, not only an evil in the abstract but forces and ideas that threaten his own freedom and happiness. A lot of people in the West have already woken up but many more need to do so. | 2019-04-21T04:16:49Z | http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2013/11/ |
Things were looking up for William Obio when he decided to invest more in his logging business. For the first time in years, his nine children and three brothers were eating well, and he could support his over half-a-dozen team of machine operators, saw men, scouts, and wood carriers.
Such success, rare in Owai, a heavily forested and impoverished community less than 20 kilometres from Nigeria’s southern border with Cameroon, emboldened Mr. Obio. He took a chance and purchased a small cassava crushing machine and got more saws.
“God answered our prayers; things really changed,” said the part-time pastor.
Everything indeed changed in 2008, Mr. Obio said, when the Cross River government imposed a sweeping ban on forest use in the state’s 18 local government areas, including Mr. Obio’s Akamkpa – where Owai is located.
Governor Liyel Imoke had said wealthy merchants, mostly from outside the state, were taking advantage of lax laws to deplete the state’s forest cover.
The site of more than half of Nigeria’s remaining rainforest, the governor warned, Cross River needed to save its green stock to boost investment and tourism. Under this plan, the state would become Nigeria’s pilot site for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), a United Nations climate change mitigation programme that offers payment to states and communities for conserving their forest.
For a state that had lost monthly federal payments to oil producing states, following the ceding of oil-rich Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon in 2008, the proposal drew wide support. Besides, Cross River’s forest cover had declined from 7,920 to 6,102 square kilometres between 1991 and 2008, according to figures from Nigeria’s Ministry of Environment.
In the years that followed, the government fiercely enforced the embargo and chased out local traders like Obio, seized wood, and raided timber markets. Officials also stopped locals from hunting game and fetching bush mango and afang – popular delicacies in the region.
As the new policy disrupted traditional livelihoods many forest communities relied on, the government failed to provide alternative means of support, despite making clear that promised benefits from REDD+ payments would take years to come.
Michael Eraye, Cross River State’s Commissioner of Environment told PREMIUM TIMES that the government did make efforts to equip those affected with new skills, but poor funding affected the plans. He said the government built roads in affected areas, as part of its compensation plans.
Salisu Dahiru, Nigeria’s UN-REDD Coordinator, said efforts to find affected communities and determine how their livelihoods are linked to the forest, were ongoing. But he acknowledged that training programmes had yet to commence nearly eight years after the first ban, and four years after the start of the REDD+ programme.
Meanwhile, only a few years after the REDD+ initiative got underway in Cross River State, Governor Imoke, who had once championed the programme, quietly began to back away even as the ban continued. In May 2015, days before leaving office after eight years as governor, Mr. Imoke told shocked officials that REDD+ did not return on investment.
“I got to the point when I felt that it was not worth my effort,” Mr. Imoke said, according to the UN-REDD National Programme Semi-Annual Report January to June 2015 edition. Two senior officials who attended the meeting confirmed the former governor made those remarks. They said the governor directed his comments at Odigha Odigha, head of the state forestry commission at the time.
The report said months before the meeting, state officials demonstrated diminishing interest in REDD+, and the ambitious programme began to stall.
The first phase, known as the Readiness Phase, is now set to end in December 2016, nearly two years later than originally intended. Local communities will have to wait much longer for REDD+ resource-based payments, if they ever come. While they wait, little to no help has come from the state.
A PREMIUM TIMES’ examination of Cross River State’s anti-deforestation and climate change mitigation programme, which began in 2008, shows how the implementation of an otherwise well-intentioned policy deprived forest-dependent communities of their primary source of livelihood. It also provides a glimpse into the abuse and policy missteps that characterised the government’s execution of the programme.
Forests play an integral role in regulating the amount of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. When present, they absorb carbon emitted by human activity—an estimated 25 per cent of these emissions over the past four decades—and help moderate the effects of climate change. When lost through deforestation, they release carbon back into the atmosphere and are responsible for up to 20 per cent of global manmade carbon dioxide emissions.
REDD+ is a global mechanism designed to reward governments in developing nations for preserving forests and constraining the impacts of climate change. To date, REDD+ has pledged nearly US$ 10 billion to developing countries, with $4 million allocated for Nigeria’s National Programme, of which Cross River State is a pilot model.
The first formal steps taken by the Governor Imoke administration toward monetizing Cross River State’s vast forest resources began in October 2009, a year after the forest embargo went into effect. Mr. Imoke worked with the then Minister of the Environment, John Odey, a Cross River native, to apply to be part of REDD+.
In addition to joining the Governors’ Climate and Forest Task Force, based in the United States, Mr. Imoke attended COP 15 in Copenhagen later that year, where he announced efforts to protect Cross River’s tropical forests.
In April 2010, Nigeria became a UN-REDD partner country, and from then, followed through with a series of REDD+ programmes.
Despite such efforts, the government failed to provide economic relief for the local population and did not fully engage with them before and after the ban, those interviewed told PREMIUM TIMES.
Tony Attah, in charge of the Cross River forestry commission’s outreach programmes, acknowledged that the ban and initial phase of REDD+ were not well communicated. Despite initial missteps, he said that extensive community engagements were carried out by the state between January and August 2014.
Many environmentalists who support forest conservation, however, have taken issue with the REDD+ programme, blaming it for loss of indigenous land rights and branding it as property colonisation by developed nations. They also argue that the programme lacks mechanisms to ensure pledged payments reach affected people and are not pocketed by greedy politicians or other representatives.
They argue that forest-dependent communities like Mr. Obio’s Owai, who have yet to receive any payments years after the forest ban went into place, are made to pay more than their fair share for environmental clean-up, and for the pollution caused by developed countries.
The Cross River timber union has said thousands of its members and affiliate workers, lost their livelihood—some, allegedly, even their lives—after the ban. They include timber dealers, machine operators, saw men, scouts, and carriers.
“Our members lost out when the ban started, some died of shock. Many lost everything they had,” said David Essien, the head of Akim Timber Market union, the biggest timber market in the state.
Reliable statistics depicting such damage are hard to come by in the state, but studies conducted in the area paint a gloomy picture.
The Social Development Integrated Centre, a Port Harcourt-based policy analysis group, in a 2014 report on the impact of REDD in Cross River, concluded that “the move towards REDD has been made without any clear community development programme that addresses livelihoods and income generation alternatives for forest dependent communities”.
Before 2008, to harvest timber in Cross River, the state required loggers to pay between N20, 000 (US$102) and N50, 000 (US$254)—of which 70 per cent went to communities as royalty. Dealers were also required to plant five seedlings as replacement, and be cleared or “stamped” by forestry commission officials that harvested timber was mature.
The ban stopped the royalty and kept communities from harvesting wood even to build their homes, said Oyi Akama, the village head of Owai. Importantly, it kept many youth out of work.
Stephen Mbeh, head of nearby Oban town, told PREMIUM TIMES how a government task force twice seized timber he harvested to construct a home. He succeeded the third time after young people in the town helped ward off the enforcers.
“This is our own oil. This is all we have, and even to cut mango at your backyard, we could not,” he said.
Mr. Obio began his lumber business in Owai, a small community with no access road, electricity or potable water, in 1998. His mother, the family’s breadwinner, had died five years earlier.
After getting clearance from the government to harvest from areas with mature timber, Obio logged at least once a week and sold to buyers from distant towns. “We were beginning to do well a little. I even paid fees for my brothers,” he said.
By the time the ban came into force, Mr. Obio’s business was booming. He purchased six sawing machines and had broken ground on a block family home—a rarity in Owai where the majority of people live in mud houses.
He initially brushed off the news as rumour when he heard about the ban on the radio—as many others did—in August 2008. Two days later, he says, he saw members of the state anti-deforestation task force rounding up a man who frequently bought timber from him. The operatives confiscated the logs and forced the man to drive to Calabar, the state capital.
“That was when I knew it was serious,” Mr. Obio said.
In the days that followed, a brutal crackdown unfolded. The taskforce barred Obio and others from removing harvested wood from the forests. This claim was echoed by other timber dealers PREMIUM TIMES interviewed in the region.
Anietie Bassey, vice president of a timber market in Calabar, said the task force not only seized his timber, but also seven of his sawing machines during a raid in 2010. Mr. Bassey suffered a stroke shortly after the incident, an ailment he says was brought on by the loss of his business. He is yet to fully recover.
Mr. Obio said he lost four of his six sawing machines in a similar raid.
Seized machines and timber were never recovered. Those arrested were freed after the payment of fines ranging between N150, 000 to N1 million, dealers said.
Those interviewed, including government officials, community leaders, timber traders and activists, accused the armed taskforce of violating people’s rights—even attacking dealers with supplies from outside the state—and arbitrarily detaining people and seizing their equipment for years after the ban went into effect.
The head of the taskforce at the time, Peter Jenkins, told PREMIUM TIMES he could not immediately respond to the claims without knowledge of where they originated from. The communities, he said, initially told the government they needed roads and some were indeed provided. Though he defended the government’s policy, he acknowledged that more could have been done to ease the impact of the ban.
Asked about allegations of highhandedness, Odigha Odigha, the former chairman of Cross River’s forestry commission, told PREMIUM TIMES that the taskforce refused to submit to his supervision.
Two senior forestry commission officials in Calabar, who asked not to be named, told PREMIUM TIMES that they believed both the ban and its implementation were flawed.
“The ban on logging was wrong, but its implementation was worse. The anti-deforestation task force was supposed to be under the forestry commission, but it was lawless, reporting directly to the governor,” the first official said.
“REDD did not say don’t cut down trees, it is a wrong perception. You can’t say don’t cut down the forest without alternatives,” said the second. She also spoke of a “lawless taskforce”.
Edem Edem, the programme coordinator of Green Concern for Development, an environmental advocacy group in Abuja, said he initially supported the ban until “they started violating people’s rights”.
“That was when I backed off,” Mr. Edem said.
Initial funding for the $4 million project was meant to finance preliminary REDD+ processes like preparing an action plan, training officials, providing environmental and social safeguards, and others. The money was not meant for the communities. Mr. Edem said the state spent much of its budget organising endless “workshops and seminars”.
Bridget Nkor, the state coordinator of REDD+, told PREMIUM TIMES that the state was worried about not providing alternatives for the affected communities. “That is one area that raised a lot of concerns,” she said.
Due to the structure of the REDD+ programme, it’s likely that any economic benefit for affected people could take years to materialise.
But Mr. Dahiru, the national coordinator for the programme, used the example of a charcoal vendor to illustrate the impacts that REDD+ programs can have on local communities.
Instead of continuing to use wood—which destroys the forest—REDD will support the person with needed skills to grow bamboo, he said.
The only problem is that the REDD+ programme would not directly support the funding needs of such initiatives. Though it could help those trained receive support from donors at the later Investment Phase, this third stage could take five or more years to attain.
Such trainings in Cross River State are currently targeted at only 30 pilot communities. Even so, they remain mere proposals seven years after the first ban started. An October 2015 UN-REDD progress report said proposals had been submitted and approved, but implementation would not start until late 2016, four years after the REDD+ project started.
Activists say a rapid response should come from the state government, which so far has done little in support of the communities.
Despite the ban on community use of the forest, the state government under Mr. Imoke granted bigger business interests access to the same land, and allowed it to harvest and sell timber to local dealers.
One firm given such a concession is Dansa Allied Agro, a subsidiary of the Dangote Group that is owned by Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man. The company secured over 75,000 hectares of land at Oban community for its pineapple farm, used as the fruit base for the popular Dansa beverage.
Tons of timber sourced from the land during clearing process were sold to local dealers, for months under the protection of the government taskforce, PREMIUM TIMES confirmed from several government officials and traders.
Dansa Company did not deny it sold timber, when contacted.
Pressed on the propriety of such deal when locals had been barred with no alternatives, a senior Dangote group official told PREMIUM TIMES that the company has helped the community in many other ways, like providing jobs and palm seedlings to farmers. The company promised a formal response to our questions, but never followed up.
The forestry commission explained the concession, saying that despite the ban, the Ministries of Land and Agriculture retained the right to licence promising investors.
The Dangote group got the sprawling property with a promise to provide 10,000 jobs to locals, build a five-star hotel, roads, schools, and a mini market. The company has yet to make good on many of its promises.
At an elaborate event March 2014, Governor Imoke praised Dansa Allied Agro for donating 8,000 palm oil seedlings to host communities and constructing a bridge to link Oban, Okarara, Ekong Anaku, Neghe, and Ekpene Eki communities.
Mr. Dangote’s brother, Sani Dangote, who runs the Dansa affiliate, promised that the company would provide more oil palm seedlings and said Dansa was planting five trees for every one harvested during the clearing.
Overall, steps that could have quickened the delivery of REDD+ benefits to the communities and the state faced delays and haphazard implementation due to “dwindling political will”, according to the UN’s 2015 progress report.
An earlier progress report in 2014 noted that the programme “has suffered an important delay in delivery of outputs and finance, due to a mix of factors, some internal and some external”.
One senior official said part of the problem was because the forestry commission had “serious leadership problems”.
“For example, a politician was named as head of the REDD board, and when the board was dissolved, there was no replacement,” the official told PREMIUM TIMES. Nearly two years would pass before the state finally reconstituted the REDD+ board in October 2015.
As Governor Imoke prepared to leave office in May 2015, he issued a scathing criticism of the state’s REDD+ programme.
The time it would take to receive results-based payments was “ridiculously long for anybody to earn anything,” said Mr. Imoke during his handover remarks before top level civil servants and his successor, Ben Ayade.
Mr. Odigha, the former forestry commission chairman, whom officials said was the focus of the governor’s criticisms during the meeting, told PREMIUM TIMES that everyone involved in the programme had been well advised that the REDD+ programme takes years to yield benefits.
The UN report for October 2015 supported the notion that senior forestry commission staff also became detached from the programme—ostensibly following the governor’s example.
“Despite participation in various one-off training and workshop events, only a handful of FC staff understand the fundamentals of REDD+ and fewer have shown interest in the programme,” the report noted.
Mr. Imoke did not respond to multiple calls for comments. He requested questions to be sent via text message, but he ultimately did not respond to our enquiry.
Mr. Imoke’s successor, Ben Ayade, only agreed to continue with REDD+ after the national coordinator, Salisu Dahiru, intervened.
The new governor initially relaxed the ban and replaced the anti-deforestation task force with the “green police,” which was made up of members from all local government areas of the state. He left coordination of the partial ban to the forestry commission.
Since taking over, Mr. Ayade also named a ministry in charge of climate change – the only state in Nigeria to do so. The commissioner in charge of that ministry, Alice Eku, did not also respond to request for comment.
Despite the relaxed embargo, Obio William told PREMIUM TIMES that he would never return to timber trading, as the government could always reinstate a full ban. “I don’t want to die,” he said.
He foresaw tomorrow. About two weeks after we interviewed him, the Ayade administration reinstated a full ban on forest use in late October 2015 after a five-month hiatus.
Mr. Ayade courted additional controversy with a plan to build a 260 kilometre “superhighway” through the protected forests. Initial plans to construct the highway straight through Cross River National Park, however, were changed after President Muhammadu Buhari learned that a required environmental impact assessment had not been filed. The new route will come within seven kilometres from the border of the park, which some environmentalists say still poses risk.
The governor has also revoked the occupancy rights of thousands of more forest dependent villagers on ancestral lands on either side of the six lane 260 kilometre super highway.
Mr. Odigha, who now runs a nongovernmental environment advocacy, warned that the government’s superhighway could deny the state carbon credit under the REDD+ programme.
In Owai, Mr. Obio—who said he could barely feed himself and family after the ban in 2008—now sells pepper, salt and other food ingredients. He depends on Ekum Obio, his brother he helped train, to send his children to school.
Outside where he lives sits a rundown cassava grating machine he bought before the ban. The machine became useless after he could no longer replace parts. Nearby, the block house he had proudly started constructing at the height of his timber business sits unfinished and overgrown with weeds.
Ubong Edet contributed reporting to this investigation, which was done with support from Internews. | 2019-04-24T13:57:56Z | https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/202150-investigation-4-million-un-climate-programme-impoverished-tortured-nigerian-communities.html?amp_markup=1 |
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Would Bank of America (now the servicer of both loans) even agree to write off over 200K of negative equity team in possession may choose to advance by kicking the ball forward from the hand they will usually seek to. | 2019-04-21T20:25:11Z | http://mafdetcares.org/smart-learning/ |
How Can I Get Read At A Group Reading Event?
How Can I Improve My Chances of Getting Read at a Psychic Group Reading?
My group reading are what I love doing the most. It’s so great to have personal interaction and meet so many of you up close and personal.
Most people come to group readings hoping to hear a message from their loved ones, and sometimes people are disappointed when they don’t receive a direct message. Some people do the strangest things they think will help them get a reading.
At every event it amazes me how some people come hours early to be first in line and rush to the front row seats in hopes of “being seen” by those in Spirit. People bring their loved one’s belongings, memorabilia and even ashes. One woman even brought her husband’s glass eye! People try all kinds of things to get a message. But does any of that really work?
When you come to a reading don’t worry about where you are in the room, it doesn’t matter where you sit. If your loved one has a message, that message will find you. I have had messages for people sitting at the back of a room as often as I’ve had them for people at the front. The important thing is to come to the event with an open heart and a positive attitude.
That is why I treat every seat at my event like the front row. Each event is a group experience, and every seat is a good seat. I might get pulled to the way back corner to deliver a message to a mother who lost her son. Later, I may be pulled to the middle of a row to talk to a woman who lost her sister. Going in, I never know where the messages will be going, all I know is to listen and follow the direction of Spirit.
When your loved one has a message for you, that message will come when the time is right. Messages from Heaven don’t always come when we want them to or when we think they should. The messages come when we need them to and when we are supposed to receive them. Remember that time doesn’t matter, If your loved one passed recently, that doesn’t make it any more likely you will hear from them. Many times, It can be the ones that passed years ago that come through the strongest. If you don’t get a message during a reading, that doesn’t mean your loved one doesn’t want to talk to you. It might just mean that isn’t the right setting, and they will reach you in some other way.
Keep in mind that sometimes it can take up to a years time for a loved one to come through with a message. Not all the time, but sometimes it might take a little longer to hear from that special someone. This doesn’t mean they are not with you, it just means they are waiting for the perfect moment. Spirit will only deliver a message when you are ready to hear it and when it will help bring you happiness, comfort and joy.
Your belongings don’t help when it comes to receiving a message at a group reading. Your loved ones are connected to you. To your loved ones in Heaven, memories and the soul connection you share are much more important than any physical objects. The physical objects are great for helping you feel the connection, but they aren’t necessary to your loved ones. Bring them if they make you feel good, but remember the connection is in your heart, not in your hands.
Sometimes you might attend an event hoping to hear a message from your mom, but your dad comes through instead. It depends who has a message. You might even get a message from someone you don’t like or didn’t even want to hear from. Sometimes an ex-husband will come through with a message to apologize for bad behavior. It’s so important to keep an open mind and be receptive to whatever comes your way.
A group reading can be a great way to learn about the ways your loved ones try to communicate with you. Remember that they are learning how to communicate in this new way just as much as you are. They might come in a way you aren’t expecting, even through someone else’s reading! I have had many people tell me that even when they didn’t receive a message, the feeling of connectedness and hope of being part of a group reading lifted their spirits and gave them hope.
The saddest thing I see is when someone comments on Facebook and says they won’t come to a group reading because they are not “guaranteed a reading”. I have to shake my head at that. Even during private one-on-one appointments I cannot guarantee that the certain loved one you want to hear from will come through. No Medium can say that for certain. When I channel a message it is a request from the other side, and it is Spirit who makes the decision on whether they decide to speak.
As the old saying goes ” you never know unless you try”. When you attend a group reading, your loved ones see it as an opportunity to reach you and speak to you. If there is a message waiting for you that you need to hear, they will make sure that it gets delivered to you. At a group reading I don’t pick the people, those in Spirit do. I just am the messenger waiting for the next message they need me to deliver.
I hope to meet you at an upcoming group reading. My team & I have been working hard to add new cities states and locations each week. If there is one thing I can leave you with it’s that each event is so much more that just a show. It is literally a family reunion with Heaven. I hope you will take a look at my upcoming tour schedule by clicking here. Each is a two hour experience where I will be delivering as many messages as possible. There might just be a message waiting for you!
Matt I LOVED reading this. It reminded me of the first time I came to see you. I remember packing up all of my mothers things and demanded her to come through to you on the way to your event. I was devastated when I came and got nothing. After a few days I calmed down and decided to try again. I had realized I had been acting selfish. So many people in the room had a far greater loss than I did. I waited a few months until you were in town and I booked my tickets. This time I came with nothing but an open heart and mind. Guess what? She came through ! I was so happy, shocked and emotional. It was the perfect message at the perfect time. Thank you.
This happened to me. I came to your show wanting to hear a message from my father, but my brother came through instead. I was so shocked I couldn’t speak. We never had a good relationship and had been estranged for quite some time. His wife didn’t even tell me he died! I found out in the newspaper obituary. When he came through all I could think about was my Dad. I couldn’t process the message at the time because it wasn’t who I wanted to hear from. When I got home all I could do was cry. For once, the grief had left me and your words from him sunk in. I had been carrying a big burden of guilt that I buried deep inside myself. It was your message that healed me. I will always be grateful.
I came to your show a while back with my Mom and my daughter-in-law.
My Dad came through, you spoke to my Mom with his message.
I have absolutely no doubt that it was him. You knew how he died and you also knew things about him and my Mom that I didn’t know until that night. Their love was a beautiful and undeniable thing to see when he was alive. A life together that lasted over 60 years.
It was so reassuring to see it live on even after death.
I had hoped so much that I would hear from my late husband that night but it was my Dad instead. He carried the message that he was okay and he was whole, happy, and well. He also let her know that he knew and appreciated all she did for him. The message was for her from him but it also put me at peace that my husband was also well, happy and okay. Thank you!
Matt I have come to many of your shows. You read my twice! I will never forget how special those moments/ readings were. Now, I make sure that I am at every event when you are in my area. I feel that if I am there, it gives my loved ones an opportunity to connect with me. Even when I don’t receive a message, I leave feeling renewed.
Matt, I absolutely LOVE coming to your group readings. Each time you come to town I get a group of girl together and we get tickets. Each time we have come, someone in our group has gotten a reading. We go to dinner after the show and talk about it over wine. It is amazing to be part of each experience.
Dear Matt, I would love to come to the group reading.
Matt I cannot go to your reading I would love to go but I live in Spain I had a reading about 14 years ago before I moved to Spain I could smell flowers around me and my father came through with an very important message to me which I believe saved my life I was seated at the back of the church God Bless.
I am praying that I get read when I see you in June I have positive thoughts you will send some peaceful messages from my Husband who I need to hear from. I know if I do I will be so relieved. Thank you and see you in June it’s a birthday gift from my sister and hopefully a message will be a gift from him..
I laughed when you said “Hello!!!!! Wake UP!” It wasn’t my row that was standing….but the “Horses…..Judy” you were looking around for was for me. Judy saved my life……with a connection to horses……many years go. I didn’t know she had passed, but I did the math and realized it must be so….I should have raised my hand I guess. I just thought (this can’t be for me!) but it was. Thanks. totally unexpected.
This will be my first experience at a group reading. As someone with a gift I am truly looking forward to seeing how this is done. I do readings for friends but can never get any information that connects to my own life. I am a skeptic of my abilities but have had many people tell me there is no way I should know the things I do. I know I am not a medium, more of an empath I guess. Anyways looking forward to this experience very much.
Thank you so much Linda for the great reply. I am also a true believer in everything happening for a reason. The day my Mother and I are seeing Matt is my deceased Grandmother’s 90th birthday. I am on the edge of my seat to see whst this journey has in store for me!
I was at one of your events a few nights ago in New Hampshire. What I began to realize was you connected to people who really needed to hear your messages at this time. You brought comfort and answers to so many people. Thank you for your kindness and compassion you showed everyone. You are a remarkable young man to share such an emotionally draining gift with so many. I will keep you in my prayers for your continued health and happiness. Love to you and yours. | 2019-04-26T01:59:42Z | https://meetmattfraser.com/blog/how-to-get-read-at-a-group-reading/ |
Apparently Russia is now a Christian country and Putin, the champion of Christian values, is in Syria solely to protect the Christian population. Putin is the Traditionalist’s friend because he has banned homosexuality. He should be supported simply by virtue of his enmity to our own godless Western leaders. Orthodoxy is a safe haven for the Traditional Catholic as the Catholic Church lurches towards apostasy in the form of liberal Protestantism, rampant Modernism and (soon) open schism. Fr. Malachi Martin said that “salvation will come from the east” so this means that Modernism in the Church and Vatican II will be swept away by Russia and then true religion will be restored. After all, according to Joanna Bogle and others, Russia has already been converted. (Funny that the period of peace doesn’t seem to have accompanied this conversion Joanna, but I suppose we can’t have everything).
Over the last eighteen months to two years these views have been heard more and more openly on some Traditionalist sites and blogs. Sadly, what these views have in common is that they are so full of factual inaccuracies, false assumptions and ignorant claims that this latest blip on the Traditionalist radar constitutes a material danger and really should be dismissed before it becomes an accepted part of the global Traditionalist mind-set.
The Remnant in the USA has on several occasions pushed the ideas in question. Although to be fair to him Michael Matt, the Remnant’s Editor, has in one or two recent articles rowed back somewhat from his earlier position (which tended to canonise Putin and ascribe to him a divine mandate of some sort), nevertheless he has led the way in promoting the trend in question, even banning posters who sought to balance his and others’ speculation and even pagan-like numerology (the 100 years meme) with a dose of Russian reality.
My objective is to show that these views about Russia are all false, resting as they do on a total lack of understanding of the current nature of Russia and of its so-called Christian revival. Suffering from a sense of helplessness and even despair at the vacuity of Western policy, and the state of the Church and society, it is my contention that those who hold these views are investing an inchoate hope in a “false Messiah” and that this hope will surely be dashed. Indeed, ultimately I hold that those who place their hope in Putin and Russia are guilty of a serious spiritual fault in that they are putting their trust in politics and in a man rather than in Jesus Christ.
My own interest in this subject comes from my own long association with Russia. Having been a student of its literature and history from my early teenage years, in the middle 1990’s I started what was to be a twelve-year plus period living in the former USSR. During that time I lived for nearly three years in Central Asia and then more than ten years in Moscow. I speak Russian, I am married to a Russian, I owned a business in Russia, I know the history of the country and of the Russian Orthodox Church. The years I spent there changed me profoundly. Russia will be part of me until I die. I therefore consider myself well-qualified, at least amongst Traditionalists, to comment on Russian affairs.
Since 1991, it’s true that around 6,000 churches have been built or rebuilt. Ancient monasteries and convents again contain many religious. It is normal for many Russian Orthodox to attend Easter and Christmas liturgies and popping into a church to light a candle is an unremarkable activity. Around 75% of Russians are now baptised. The country’s leadership appear with high prelates on TV on important feasts and all dutifully make the Sign of the Cross (albeit badly) at the appropriate moments. There is a genuine piety to be found among believers. And as everyone knows, Russia has enacted a law preventing the advertising or marketing of homosexuality. All this is of course to be applauded. But does it mean that Russia is now a Christian country? What is the state of Russian society? This should tell us how real is Russia’s Christian life.
According to a Moscow Times survey, only 1% of the population attends the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. This is almost exclusively the old, particularly the women. The same picture is found in another study (http://tinyurl.com/q5r8xvb).
Another Moscow Times survey from last year showed that both trust in the Moscow Patriarchate and support for the building of a new church in one’s immediate locality have plummeted. Has indeed the high-water mark of the restored Patriarchate been reached within twenty-five years of the fall of the Communist regime? It may be so: I am told by one Catholic religious in Moscow that the number of students in Russian Orthodox seminaries has drastically fallen in the last two or three years. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/hu365zo).
While the excellent law against homosexual “propaganda” certainly exists, so do gay clubs. Homosexuality is not criminalised nor is its practice restricted in any way. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/z56lzmd).
Abortions continue by the million. Both Ukraine and Russia have debated banning abortion in their respective parliaments but neither have done so. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/jm55enf).
AIDS cases are now in excess of one million and are rising fast. Drug-resistant TB has broken out of the prisons where it was nurtured for decades and is now rife among the general population. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/hbqgb6u).
Drug use is decimating the younger generations in the cities, particularly in Siberia and other places riven by poverty and is growing out of any control. (Source: http://tinyurl.com/zeq85q6).
The moral leadership of the government is nil. Putin and those close to him are thieves, knaves, plunderers and looters on a scale beyond the imagination. The very language they use between themselves is the colourful (and utterly vile) “blatnoi yezik”, or “thieves tongue” of the “vor v zakone” (thieves-in-law, aka the mafia).
Putin has not conducted any reform of Russia’s economy which would eventually benefit the poorest. The reason is that if he did, his entire system would be in danger of collapse and his power with it. The pigs with their snouts in the trough would get rid of Putin before they allowed other pigs to take their place. Battles between oligarchs are at the moment controlled by Putin as the top Godfather, but if too many pigs lost their place at feeding time that control might be lost. Billions upon billions of dollars are at stake. Some thoughtful Russians I know now worry about civil war conducted between rival oligarchic armies fighting for control of Russia’s natural resources.
Crime as ever pervades Russian life. Life expectancy, particularly for men, is static at around 60 due to alcoholism, a collapsed health service and hopelessness. Corruption pervades Russian life. There is no rule of law as understood in the West. Innocence is lost at a very young age (Source: http://tinyurl.com/zgkbch9).
Many Russians are turning to eastern sects, philosophies and religions. Buddhism, Indian “spirituality”, Siberian shamanistic paganism: all these are growing in popularity. (Source http://tinyurl.com/zdwfkjz).
As ever, the Orthodox Church is the creature of the State. It has been so since even before the Church’s submission to Tsar Peter and his suppression of the Patriarchate. Imagining the Russian Orthodox Church without the crutch of the Russian State is impossible. In return for the State’s provision of tax benefits, cash, Presidential and Prime Ministerial time and constant TV exposure, the Church plays the part of chief cheerleader for the Russian regime. It has always been thus and it certainly is now. Both parties gain but one does wonder who or what the Russian Orthodox Church really worships. Is it the Holy Trinity or the Russian State?
For some, the Russian State undoubtedly comes in first place. For Father Vselovod Chaplin for example, America is Satan, Britain is his chief demon and God demands nuclear warfare against both. And, according to Chaplin, Russian women should have their reign of debauchery ended by the practice of universal female genital mutilation. This oaf has said so many mad things that the so-called philosophy of “Eurasianism”, as developed and taught by Alexander Dugin, seems almost sane in comparison. For Dugin, by the way, the SS was the perfect society and as usual for fanatics of Slav nationalism, the chief enemy for him is the Anglo-Saxon, which means Britain and America. Today’s Russia is semi-fascist and so is its national Orthodox Church.
There is much else that is deeply rotten in the Russian Orthodox Church. Apart from the very ugly nationalist ideology and greed for material reward (remember the Patriarch and his $450,000 watch?), anti-Catholic sentiment remains very high. As told directly to me by a Catholic priest in Russia (and confirmed by an Anglican), some years ago the Catholic Archdiocese in Moscow had to go through the local Anglican vicar to arrange meetings with the Patriarchate. The Catholic side would state what subjects it wished to discuss, the Patriarchate would say how many BMWs and Mercedes it wanted in return for the meeting. (Ecumenism Russian Orthodox style …).
No, the Russian Orthodox Church inspires no confidence. It is this body that is to save the West? I think not. In fact, despite its high position in State and society, it may well have already entered a period of decline only two decades after the fall of Communism.
Putin is lauded as a strongman who runs rings around Western leaders and makes them look foolish. There can be no doubt that he is a clever man. But consider: if you do not operate by the norms of international law, if you are prepared to lie and cheat your way to your objectives, it is an easy thing to surprise those who do operate by the norms of international law and those who do more or less, in their dealings with each other, tell the truth and act honestly. Thus Putin is a very strong tactician but no strategist. Russia may contain much of genius but in global terms, whatever its showing in Syria (a Russian success only possible because Obama reneged on his “red line” promise) its influence is that of a regional power.
Led by thugs and gangsters, Russia has no vision beyond its own preservation. This indeed is the real key to understanding Russian policy. Russia is an almost-failed State governed by serial liars, thieves and Secret Police operatives. I can personally confirm that FSB officers still, to this day, have a statuette of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the mass murderer who founded the CHEKA, on their desks.
Is Putin a believer? He may be, it’s truly difficult to say. I think he probably is, but that this belief does not prevent him from doing all manner of murder in the interests of his true god who is Mother Russia. God for the Orthodox is a strongly Slavic nationalist deity.
Did Putin ask the Pope to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart? I do not believe it for a moment. The Orthodox Church is extremely hostile to Fatima and Putin would not antagonise the Patriarchate unnecessarily. Nevertheless, does Russia have a role to play in the cosmic battle currently being fought? Yes, it does: Our Lady has told us so. If the Consecration does not come as Heaven wished it, then instead of being converted, Russia may well play the part of being the instrument of God’s punishment on an unfaithful, godless world which has long since been soaked in Russia’s own atheistic, Bolshevik errors. It is interesting that some pre-Revolutionary Orthodox prophecy supports a very old traditional reading of Scripture which states that Gog and Magog is Russia.
We can see I think that the real attraction of Putin to Traditionalists is that he provides clarity whereas our own leaders are mired in leftist social engineering (through mass immigration) and political correctness, and thus are imposing on us a revolutionary globalist ideology that is straining our system and very civilisation to the limit. Similarly, the attraction of the Orthodox Church to many Traditionalists is the beauty of its liturgy and music. But do either of them offer the West anything that we cannot better find by restoring what has been taken, both from our society and from the Church? I strongly believe not.
The waters have been badly muddied for the Traditionalist by those useful idiots in the modern Church who hold that Fatima is fulfilled and Russia has already converted. Aside from the asinine suggestion that Our Lady would be pleased by the conversion of Russia to a schismatic sect, the reality of Russian society today cannot but exclude the possibility of Fatima’s completion. I myself am not so hard on this question as many Traditionalists: I am quite able to accept that the 1984 Consecration might have led to the fall of Communism and a partial conversion of Russia; however, this was not what Our Lady requested, desired or promised. That there is no period of peace is self-evident. So the likes of Joanna Bogle not only fool themselves but sadly many others too and the popularity of Putin among so many Traditionalists is at least indirectly and in part due to this false Fatima propaganda.
Following Putin and trusting in Russia is a dangerous temptation and one that must be resisted. The true solution to our woes, which are real, is the restoration of a truly Catholic (= Christian) civilisation, not the adoption, out of despair, of a rotten schismatic and heretical Orthodox one. | 2019-04-23T04:37:42Z | https://catholictruthblog.com/tag/putin/ |
My new to me 2015 CPO 535i XDrive Luxury Line came equipped with Goodyear Eagle® LS-2 ROF tires. (245/40R19) As I head into my first Michigan winter with them I am reading reviews and beginning to worry. Worry about their winter performance and their overall performance.
I'm reading about a lot of early failures and the warranty seems to be crap. Only seems to cover issues, like noise and roughness, found in the very first bit of use. No real coverage for failures as far as I can tell. But I can only read so much fine print, I will admit.
And their winter performance seems to be sub par.
Anyone have experience with them? What's the go to tire(s) I should be looking for?
I dread the cost of both new all seasons to avoid failure and new winter to survive in Michigan. This is my daily driver.
The LS2's are garbage, IMHO. I believe your stock tire is a 245/45. IMHO you would need a dedicated snow tire/wheel combo to be safe. a 245 wide tire, IMHO, is a little wide for snow driving. If you get little/light snow a good all-season should be OK.
If you are looking for a reason to replace your tires, you will find many if not most on this forum will tell you to ditch the Goodyear LS2s for all of the above and more. Having said that, you should be OK for an Ann Arbor winter except for perhaps going to the ski hill or braving a winter storm.
Thanks for the confirmation. Much of my reading on this forum has confirmed that these tires are crap. I'm glad they haven't caused me trouble yet. Odd that BMW would use them at all.
Recommendations? For winter wheel and tire combo? 17s or 18s? I'm coming from a long line of subaru's and used to just plowing through whatever winter throws at me. I'd like something that won't break the bank, but also won't look too horrible. Will stick with RunFlats too, for now, to avoid the spare tire work.
For better all season for the rest of the year? I'll probably stick with the LS2s until one fails, but want to know what to have lined up for when that happens.
I see quite a few recommendations on the forum over time. Hard to know if they all stand the test of time. Is there a collective current thinking about this?
I'm not sure the 17's fit the 5 series any longer.
Of course dedicated winters are the best option but I get by on Conti DWS just fine.
of run flats, this will greatly lower your choices.
For winter driving in the Canadian snow-belt, I had Nokian Hakkapeliitta runflats on 18 x 8" aftermarket wheels on my F10 that performed exceptionally well. They were oversized at 245/50/18, but worked without any rubbing issues and configured like this my xDrive was unstoppable. When I lowered my car, I had to switch tires and ended up switching wheels too, so now I now have a set of Nokian WR A4 runflats on a different set of 18 x 8.5" wheels. These newer tires are 245/45/18 which is a correct size for the F10. I have not yet tried them in much snow, but expect to soon when I go skiing in the near future. They should be nearly as good as the Hakkapeliittas but are more performance oriented.
For winter wheels, I'm looking for 18x8, right? What offset am I looking for? I'm trying to figure it out from what I can find on this forum, but I'm unclear how to take into account the wheel size change from 19x8.5 to 18x8 and I'm not sure how to find out what my existing offsets are. I think they are 35.
I'm thinking that 18x8 with a 40 offset is about equivalent. Did I get that right?
Here are two options I'm considering. Thoughts? Alternatives? Alternative sources?
Last edited by SonOfAnakin; 12-12-2018 at 10:43 PM. Reason: wrong attachment.
I'm nervous about running tires as wide as 245, from what I've read. Really surprised to hear you had such luck with them in the Canadian snow-belt. Did you face much bad snow when you had them?
Would this option look like what you had?
Last edited by SonOfAnakin; 12-12-2018 at 11:43 PM.
you can get some ideas in the MarketPlace as you'll find people selling they're winter setups.
Call Tire Rack and ask about a package. They will be able to tell you the correct offset.
I lived in Ottawa, Ontario, for the first three years of my F10 ownership. We regularly got 12-15" / 30-40 cm of snow per dump, and sometimes more. By the end of the snowing season, the snow was 3' high in the yard, and the snow banks were of course higher than that. I would wake up in the morning and the snow would be up to the middle of the wheels. I would not have to shovel, just place the car in gear and drive. Amazing traction on snow, ice, slush, etc, with the Hakkapeliittas. Yes, narrow tires would work better, but I can say without reservation that the xDrive / Nokian combination made the best vehicle in snow I have ever owned in the past 40 years.
Regarding your tire/wheel choice, tires are oversized in that they are taller than stock. I did use that size for my aforementioned review, and they can work for you as long as your wheel offset is OK and you are not lowered. The wheels will not fit as the bolt pattern is 5 x 114.3 vice the 5 x 120 that you need for the F10. Also, if the offset is truly 40 (I'm guessing at the number down in the description), then this is too high, and you will be facing rubbing issues against the suspension.
Last edited by cdmulders; 12-14-2018 at 12:42 PM.
I lived in Ottawa, Ontario, for the first three years of my F10 ownership. We regularly got 12-15" / 30-40 cm of snow per dump, and sometimes more. By the end of the snowing season, the snow was 3' high in the yard, and the snow banks were of course higher than that. I would wake up in the morning and the snow would be up to the middle of the wheels. I would not have to shovel, just place the car in gear and drive. Amazing traction on snow, ice, slush, etc, with the Hakkapeliittas. Yes, narrow tires would work better, but I can say without reservation that the xDrive / Nokia combination made the best vehicle in snow I have ever owned in the past 40 years.
cdmulders, I really appreciate you sticking with me on this. I think I have this figured out. My current wheels are 19x8.5 with 33 offset. Moving to 18x8 wheels, I should be ok with a 32 offset. I have the bolt pattern correct now as well. With that, and the tires you are recommending, I think I can go with the following combination from Discount Tire. It doesn't look like TireRack sells Nokian, or at least, not these Nokians.
Moving to 18x8 wheels, I should be ok with a 32 offset. I have the bolt pattern correct now as well. With that, and the tires you are recommending, I think I can go with the following combination from Discount Tire.
- 245/45/18 is the proper size for the F10. As I said, 245/50/18 you propose will work, and will fill the wheel arches a little more since the overall diameter of the tire is about one inch more than a 245/45/18. I have a picture somewhere of what these wheels / tires looked like on my F10, and will post if I can find it.
- A 245 size tire (this is the width of the tread, just in case you did not know) is a little wide for a 8" wide wheel, but can work. The tires will bulge a bit. If you wanted a more streamlined fit, then you should go with 8.5" wide wheel, still keeping the 32mm offset.
Edit: I found a couple of pics to show you the size of the 245/50/18 tires.
Last edited by cdmulders; 12-14-2018 at 12:45 AM.
Med Blue F11 with square 8x18” ET30 with 245/50-18 Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2!
Save your money and go with 17" wheels and 225/55-17 winter tires. For example, BMW wheel style 327 was standard on base model 528xi and are available for about $100 each on the internet (ebay or craigslist). Modern winter tires are formulated with similar compounds and perform much the same, so not much is gained from spending top dollar for Nokian or Michelin. In fact, Consumer Reports ranks Cooper and Hankook ahead of more expensive brands. Finally, while 245 tires will look cooler on your car, narrower 225's are more effective in deep snow and on slippery roads.
I am confident about the fit as I have those wheels and tires on my '16 535d xdrive and live in a snow belt off of Lake Erie. Last year we had 200 inches of snow, so I can vouch for the value of narrower 17" wheels and winter tires. Good luck on your purchase.
Thanks for all the help. My baby has her winter boots on now. | 2019-04-25T08:28:32Z | https://f10.5post.com/forums/showthread.php?s=e82e8c6f782628e603337e22b7bd2655&p=24143259 |
Blogging the Beatles 25/26/27: “Ticket to Ride”/”Yes It Is” and “Help!”/”I’m Down” singles, and Help!
The year 1965 rolled in for the band with an already tight schedule–the first two weeks of January saw them finishing up their lengthy Christamas show ‘revue’ at the Hammersmith Odeon that had started 24 December, same as last year’s. After a few weeks of well-deserved rest, it was time to jump back into the fray in mid-February. Between 15 February and 11 May, they would be busy not with a tour or the endless radio and tv appearances, but jumping between recording studio, film studio and other locations for their next film project. At first entitled Eight Arms to Hold You (officially given the name–another Ringo malapropism!–on 17 March during the Austria location shoots, until it was changed a month or so later), this new film would strive to be different from the semi-biographical A Hard Day’s Night. It would not only be in color, it would also be a completely fictional story. This second movie would also be directed by Richard Lester and produced by Walter Shenson, though screenwriter Alun Owen was not retained. In retrospect, the lack of snappy, funny dialogue and smart plot that permeated the first film would be part of its faults–the “Beatles on the run” theme is turned into a farcical chase between a religious cult who want Ringo for their next sacrifice, and the boys are relegated to a lot of what sounds like halfhearted ad-libbing (most of which was inspired by their use of marijuana at this time)–but regardless, it would be a hit as expected.
And with a new film project meant new recordings. In between filming (and the occasional one-time appearance here and there), they returned to Abbey Road Studios to record their next batch of songs. As before, they’d planned on doing a half-album’s worth of actual soundtrack songs on Side One, with new album tracks on Side Two, with the occasional non-lp single here and there. In this case, they’d record two non-lp b-sides this time. It was a crazy and busy schedule to be sure, but at the same time, it actually worked to their advantage. Unlike the previous movie, which had a relatively tight script, this one left things open to chance, with many scenes filmed but never used. When they needed to be filmed performing new songs, they were often new tracks that had just been written a few weeks previously. This happens plenty of times: “Ticket to Ride” was recorded on 15 February, filmed in late March in Austria, and released as the lead single in early April; “I Need You”, started on the same day, was filmed in Salisbury Plain in early May; “You’re Going to Lose That Girl” was started 19 February and filmed in a fake-EMI studio on 30 April.
The filming would finish on 11 May, with post-production (overdubs and whatnot) finishing in mid-June. The movie itself would be released in the UK on 29 July and worldwide soon after. The album recording would finish on 17 June, with George Martin doing the final mixing days later. Now it was time to return to Beatlemania: new singles, new album, more touring, more radio and tv appearances. Their summer would be jam-packed again, only to have them return to the studio again in August for another album come August (thankfully, they were given six weeks off in between, so they could recharge). In some ways, 1965 could be considered a rerun of the previous year, but with some differences–they no longer had to puddle-jump all over Britain to appear everywhere, and sonically they sounded even better than every before. Still, it had already started to wear on them.
Interestingly enough, one idea they had come up with to combat this was to send out pre-filmed performances, something they had come up with late in 1964 for “I Feel Fine” and a few other songs. The benefits would be two-fold: they would not need to visit every television studio and perform the same song endlessly, and they could also make as many copies as needed and have them sent out to television studios, who could then insert them on any show they chose. This could be considered the birth of the modern music video; a simple but effective promotional tool and also a quick and easy way to get out of physically appearing on everyone’s shows. By 1966 when they stopped touring, this would become the only way you could see them performing.
The first new single of the year was also the first to break the three-minute mark in a Beatles single. It’s also a change in sonic direction for the band; the straight-ahead rock of 1963 and 1964 had become infused with more folky sounds, thanks to the influence of Bob Dylan and the burgeoning folk scene in the United States. These tracks take their time unfolding, giving the listener a chance to pay attention to what’s going on underneath. At the same time, George Martin had suggested a new approach to recording: instead of attempting multiple takes of the same song and hoping a gem would surface, they would let the songs grow organically. They would record the backbone of a song with minimal instrumentation, leaving them room to overdub when necessary to build up the track. In this way, there would be very few actual full “takes” and much less tape used, and more creativity being given to the details. The Help! singles and album would definitely have their share of quick-take rock songs they were known for, but their sound had definitely matured because of this approach.
The new single opens up with a beautiful, chiming riff courtesy of Paul McCartney, who also happened to suggest the curious, slightly off-beat drumming to Ringo, which you hear next. Moments later John steps in and gives us a stellar vocal delivery about his girl leaving him. Unlike the downbeat lyrics of many of his Beatles for Sale lyrics, however, this one is almost a return to their earlier lyrical sound–it’s less introspective and a lot simpler. He knows he can’t do anything about her leaving, except feel sad, even when he tries to convince himself that “she ought to think right, she ought to do right by me”. She really doesn’t care what he thinks–she’s out of there, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.
One can definitely hear the outcome of Martin’s new approach to recording–the band-as-a-cohesive-whole is still there, especially with the changes in tempo and the deft harmonies of John, Paul and George, there’s also a fuller sound, with plenty more to hear. There are layered guitars and strong additional percussion right there in the foreground, and John’s multitracked vocals sound rich and full. Musically it’s similar to their recent previous output, but they’ve given it more life.
John often dismissed this track as a failed attempt, and one can kind of understand his reticence…it’s almost a slower, sadder “This Boy” without the pleading middle eight. On the other hand, that’s it’s strength: it features absolutely beautiful three-part harmony from John, Paul and George (recorded live and not separately, I should add), and though its bridge is more sedate, recalling the self-deprecation of John’s previous songs like “I’m a Loser”, it’s still a strong piece. Of note is George’s guitar playing, this time with yet another new toy: a tone pedal (later dubbed the ‘wah-wah’ pedal), which gives his meandering notes a plaintive touch.
The next single would be the all-new theme song for their next movie, which would premiere the following week. Both tracks featured sounds that fans hadn’t expected: “Help!”, while quite an upbeat number, is also an extremely folky one, not to mention one of John’s first truly heartbreaking songs about his insecurities; on the flip side, “I’m Down” is a barebones, nothing-held-back rocker that ended up being a concert favorite of theirs. It was a hint of even better, more personal things to come.
One of the main reasons for John’s writing the song–aside from it being a real cry for help–lies in the band’s and the director’s indecision on what to name the new movie. Richard Lester had been calling it Beatles 2 or some version thereof, and the semi-official title early on had been Eight Arms to Hold You, in reference to the multi-armed Hindu goddess Kali that is part of the movie’s main plot. John and Paul didn’t like the title, mainly because they really didn’t want to write a song with such a mouthful to sing, and instead came up with the movie’s other main plot: the band on the run and unable to find the help they need to save themselves.
The song itself, as mentioned, is quite upbeat–it’s one of their faster tracks of the time–but the lyrics are quite unexpected. Never before had John been this bare in his emotions. It’s not just about the imagined conflict of the movie, but the stress of life: the feeling of drowning, the inability to find a foothold, the loss of direction. John’s delivery is desperate but not whining–it’s breathless and just this side of breaking, and Paul and George’s harmonies serve not just to punctuate the cry for help, but to bring that tension that much closer to the surface. It’s a simply-written melody, but it’s relentless and doesn’t let up until the final exhalation of “ooh’s” at the end.
This is a fascinating track of Paul’s, and a revisit of Britain’s fascination with American soul at the time. It’s very reminiscent of their earlier “Long Tall Sally”, but where that track is tight and rocking, this one is purposely disjointed and full of spite. They turn a simple twelve-bar blues riff into a track that threatens to fall apart every time it comes to the chorus, there’s so much tension. Even the lyrics are accusatory: instead of the usual “you’re making me blue” they delivered in the past, it’s now become almost a “how dare you make me feel this way” (“How can you laugh when you know I’m down?”). This track soon replaced “Sally” as their show closer on their international tours (an incredibly spirited version from Shea Stadium in New York can be seen here).
One interesting side note is the studio chat in between takes 1 and 2, when Paul comments on the song, saying “Plastic soul, man…plastic soul.” [This can be heard on the version of “I’m Down” on the Anthology 2 album.] The origin of the phrase is unknown, but it’s said that a black musician had used it to describe the appropriation of American soul by white British musicians, specifically Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. By the end of the year, it the phrase would be slightly changed and a new album name would arise: Rubber Soul.
The first Beatles album of 1965 (and the second soundtrack of their career) was released a week after the UK premiere of the movie, just in time for midsummer. The movie itself, while not nearly as clever as A Hard Day’s Night, was full of music, silliness, and capable acting by the foursome, and both the movie and the album quickly became hits of the year. Another interesting outcome was that it introduced eastern music to the band, specifically George Harrison, who would introduce the sitar and other eastern instruments to the band. The foreign sounds didn’t show up on this album, but the change in direction towards folk and balladry definitely did. Given more time than the rushed production of Beatles for Sale, Help! features the band spreading their wings and testing out even more creative ways to define their sound.
As before, the album starts off with the theme song. The movie uses this song in quite a cheeky way: after the prologue, we see the foursome playing the song in black and white, a nod to their previous film. Only eventually do we notice that darts are being thrown at it by the evil-but-pathetic Klang (played to amusing effect by Leo McKern), hinting that, honestly, that’s the most harm this so-called villain could cause.
Another track recorded early in the process, this one was first laid down on 17 February. It’s a typical Paul track that might have fit nicely on Beatles for Sale, so similar is the sound and feel. It’s a surprisingly sparse track, actually–aside from John’s electric piano playing and George’s short but fun solo, there’s not too much that stands out here. In fact, all the instrumentation stays in the background and doesn’t venture too far, saving the front end for Paul’s strong vocals. Of note here, however, is a reference to a drumming trick Ringo used on “I Want to Hold Your Hand” a few years earlier: he plays a loose high-hat through most of the track, only to close it for effect on the quick bridge (during “…last night is a night I will remember you by”). It’s a simple song, but it’s fun. This one appears during the extended Salisbury Plain scene, the second of two songs they’re trying to record surrounded by soldiers.
John returns here with an overt nod to Bob Dylan, right down to the bare, raspy vocal delivery and the jangly acoustic guitar. It’s an absolutely gorgeous ballad in 6/8 time that extends on the insecurities he sang about on the title track. Here, he’s been beat down and made “two foot small” to the point that he doesn’t dare show his emotions, for fear that he’ll only get hurt again. Even when someone tries to lift his spirits (“How could she say to me ‘love will find a way’?”), he shouts back with a “Hey!” during the chorus, refusing to play along.
Recorded on the same days as “Yes It Is” (thus the return of the tone pedal on this track), George’s first of two offerings for the album is a summery love song similar to “The Night Before” in that it’s sparse and quite acoustic. It’s even used during the same Salisbury Plain scene. It’s not one of George’s stronger songs lyrically or even musically, but on the other hand, it’s actually a good example of how different his songwriting is to John and Paul’s. It’s a simple love song on the surface, but underneath all that, there are a handful of offbeat elements: ending the verse melody on a seventh note, using the guitar melody to “respond” to the vocal melody, things that John and Paul wouldn’t normally put in their own compositions.
Another Paul song recorded the same day as “Ticket to Ride” and “I Need You”, so it definitely shares that acoustic vibe. The track starts off with the chorus, right down to the “…for I have got / another girl” incomplete sentence (it ties in with the end of the previous verse later on in the song), and is full of folksy goodness. Like the other previous similar songs, the instrumentation is secondary to the vocal delivery, and in retrospect that was very much key in the folk songs of the time. The song isn’t all that adventurous either, but it does hint at the old skiffle sound they grew up with…one can easily hear this being played by a young John and Paul with their friends on washboard and other homemade instruments. Filmwise, this song actually works in its scene, shot on a rocky shore in the Bahamas, inciting a laid back, summery feel.
A rather quick song from John, this one doesn’t get anywhere near the personal demons of the previous songs. Instead, it’s a track similar many of his early love songs, only this time he’s warning his friend that if he doesn’t watch it, someone (namely John himself!) is going to take his girl away from him. This song can easily be seen as a nod to all their previous hits, such as the call and response vocals of “Twist and Shout”, the talking to a friend of “She Loves You”, and the downside of relationships of Beatles for Sale.
The soundtrack side ends with the first single, simply one of their greatest tracks of the time. The song features in a classic scene in the film with them miming to the song in the Austrian Alps with grand piano, skiing and sledding, falling about themselves, and having a fun time.
Ringo very nearly didn’t have a vocal track on this album, due to the fact that John and Paul’s offering of “I’ve You’ve Got Troubles” (recorded but never released until Anthology 2) was rejected as a failed attempt, the band quickly relied on their extensive back catalogue of cover songs they knew and loved. In this case, they took the 1963 Buck Owens country hit and turned it into a fun and pleasant Ringo track. Having noticed that country songs fit well with him, such as the previous “Honey Don’t”, it was a perfect fit. In 1989, Ringo and Buck would record it together as a duet.
Both Paul and John have admitted this was a throwaway song with uninspired lyrics–in fact, it’s kind of a bland ballad with many stereotypical tricks inherent in that kind of song (the pleading vocal, the lyrics describing a rough relationship, the melody relegated to the background). Still, only the Beatles could dismiss a song as such and still get away with a strong track. George’s wonderful guitar work, the creative uses of sixth and seventh chords, the delayed release of tension in the chorus…it might be a simple song and not very adventurous, but it’s still catchy and well done.
George’s second offering was almost in the running for the film but was dismissed to this side instead. It’s not one of his strongest songs–he was a good writer, but clearly not in the same league as his bandmates. Still, it’s a very typical song of his, full of interesting and unexpected chord changes and melody lines that one wouldn’t necessarily hear in a pop song. Added to that, both John and Paul added some wonderful keyboard work here, with Paul on piano and John on a much more upfront electric piano. The call-response of John and George during the solo is simple but creatively done.
Another John/Paul duet, right down to the dual vocals. Neither remember much about this track, hinting that it might be another throwaway, but it does have its interesting quirks. It’s full of percussion in addition to Ringo’s drums. There’s a guiro, claves, and a tambourine all throughout the track, blending in almost seamlessly with the rest of the track. There’s also the breakdown right at the end of each chorus, with the electric piano bringing it back up to speed until the last time around, where it’s used as an outro.
Like “I’ll Be Back” on A Hard Day’s Night, this track and the next feel completely out of context with the rest of the album, partly as they were some of the last songs to be recorded for these sessions. At the same time, they’re both perfect examples of just how fast their songwriting evolved, even within the span of a single album project. This track of Paul’s is purely inspired by country music, with an incredibly fast tempo and some absolutely stunning work from all three guitarists, from the layered 2/4 intro to the hoedown rhythm to the eighth-note solo. Paul’s wordy yet poetic lyrics are pure bliss. It feels more at home on the follow-up album Rubber Soul (it would in fact be released on the US version of that album), but here it’s used to hint at what’s coming soon.
The Beatles were consistently at the top of the charts, but in the context of their whole oeuvre to date, they really hadn’t had a bona fide perfect song since “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “She Loves You”. Then on 14 June–the same day the previous track was recorded–Paul finally laid down a song that had been running through his head for quite some time. The song had resonated with him so much that he was convinced it wasn’t his, but no one could prove otherwise. It’s a deceptively simple song, just a short but catchy melody about love and loss. There’s no resolution, no “it gets better” or “I wish she would return”…it’s just “she’s gone and I can’t get her back”…simple, but heartbreaking. It was recorded with just Paul on acoustic guitar that day, and three days later a string quartet was added, the first Beatles song featuring only one Beatle. The end result became one of the most covered pop songs in the world, and one the best songs Paul has ever written.
To end the album on an upbeat note, they relied on an upbeat cover of a Larry Williams hit (they also recorded Williams’ “Bad Boy” on the same day, 10 May, and that track would only show up on the US album Beatles VI and not appear on any UK release until late 1966’s A Collection of Beatles Oldies). It’s another rocker similar to “Long Tall Sally” or “Money (That’s What I Want)”, played more for a party mood than a serious track, and they’re clearly having fun here. This is the Beatles finally releasing their tension with some good old rock and roll. After the fact, these two Williams tracks are the last cover songs the band would record as a group, not including the random covers played during the Get Back sessions in 1969; from here on in, they would only record their own compositions.
Help!, the album, could easily be considered the point that marked the end of the band as a “pop group”. While there are certainly a handful of pop songs here that are a logical progression from A Hard Day’s Night (specifically its second side) and Beatles for Sale, their songwriting had moved well past the point of simple love songs and covers. Lyrically they’d started to dig well past the surface and into introspective and even philosophical territory, even while still retaining the catchy melodies. Despite it being a half-soundtrack to what was essentially an absurdist comedy film, it was their most personal album to date, even more so than Beatles for Sale, and the fans definitely noticed. And given the last few tracks on the album, it was clear that they were no longer going to keep writing and recording the same style of pop songs. By the time they returned in October to record their second album of the year, their songs would include one with a sitar, another with a piano solo recorded at half-speed to sound like a harpsichord, and a complex, multi-tempo track that would only see release as a single.
Quick flyby–I’m getting there…thanks for your patience!
So continuing from the PS to my previous post–I ended up purchasing a completely new PC to replace the old one, and am currently getting everything up and running. Again, sorry for the delay, and I hope to get a new post to you all soon. Thanks again for your patience.
Note: As it just so happens, the PC here in Spare Oom has decided to have some serious issues in booting up this morning. This has been an ongoing issue over the last few months, and I’ve been hoping it would be minor, but today seems to be the worst–as of 11am PT it’s still running a Startup Repair, so I’m not entirely sure if it’s stuck in a purgatory loop or if it’s actually fixing itself. Either way…looks like it’s high time for me to do some PC shopping soon. I’ll try to keep to my expected schedule as mentioned below while using my laptop, hopefully it won’t be much of a problem. If it does end up screwing with my posting schedule, I’ll let you all know.
Hi all, I apologize for the delay in updating. It seems that I finished up the major revision of the first novel in my sf/f series, A Division of Souls, a bit sooner than I’d expected, and have been using this time to get the manuscript (and its few extra bits) all nice and tidy for when I submit it to an agent. I hope to submit it within the next few weeks, so that takes precedence.
In the meantime, not to worry, I have not forgotten to update the Blogging the Beatles posts, nor have I forgotten to do some Walk in Silence music posts either, I just have not had the time. I’m looking forward to a lot of these music posts, as they’re going to be covering quite a few great alternative albums from the 80s. As soon as I have something new up, I will post the links over at Twitter and LJ as well. I should hopefully have something up by midweek the earliest, or next weekend the latest.
Also, thought you’d like to know that A. and I will be going to Outside Lands again this year, so sometime in August I will be posting pictures from it like I did last year. There are a lot of great bands playing this year, so I’m really looking forward to it.
I do apologize for not letting y’all know sooner, and will definitely do better at keeping everyone updated when there’s going to be a delay.
I know that I’m the rare music collector–I’m one who will download music, but also still head over to Amoeba on Haight Street and pick stuff up on a semi-regular basis. I did that yesterday as part of my slow-but-ongoing plan to weed out most of our cd collection, having gotten a good ninety dollars’ store credit out of a pile of titles that have been gathering dust in a closet the last few years. In the process, I spent a good hour or so digging through equally dusty clearance bins and making out pretty well. The dollar bins are my friends, because a lot of the time I can find stuff that I want that isn’t available digitally. As always, the time frame of the titles there are about ten to fifteen years ago (with the occasional exception–for some reason there were a lot of copies of Morning Parade’s album from last year in there), which means it aligns with a lot of the titles I remember seeing during my tenure at HMV and during my weekly jaunts to Newbury Comics back when it was in Amherst. In the process I also picked up a few new titles that we’d been looking for. In addition to this, I’ve been ordering a few import cds online lately–the recent and excellent reissues of We’ve Got a Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It!!’s two albums from 1986 and 1989 being the latest–again, because they’re not available digitally.
I’m also an obsessive when it comes to listening. I’m not sure how rare or how prevalent that is with others, but I’ve always got some music going on in the background wherever I am. Roadtrips? Got the local stations on the car radio. Work? Streaming something online. Working out at the gym? Listening to my mp3 player. Writing? Playing something from my digital collection. Not at my desk? If we’re not watching something, we’ve got one of the Sirius stations on. I’m not always focusing on the music, but I’ve always got it playing when I can. I’ve been that way since I was a young kid in the early 80s.
In the past, I would find new music by listening to the radio–more to the point, once I became obsessed with indie rock, I started paying attention to new things and their release dates. Again, this really came to the fore once I started working at HMV, previewing them in the stock room before I brought them out onto the floor on Tuesdays. Even more so when I had my weekly Wednesday comic book/music purchase run in Amherst during the early 00’s. I fell out of the habit in 2005 when I had couple of major life changes, and I didn’t really get back into it until a good couple of years later. This would probably explain that gap in 2005-2007 where I kind of remember some indie music, but it doesn’t really stick with me unless I really look at the chronology. I got back into the habit around 2010-ish when I found Save Alternative, and later started actively looking for college and radio stations on the internet, and even more recently when my wife and I started listening to AOL Music’s Spinner. Interestingly, I rarely pick up new information from music magazines or websites other than release dates. I don’t have much against them, but while their coverage is similar to my tastes, they don’t converge enough for me to actually benefit.
I say all this because lately I’ve been listening to college radio again. I’ve been listening to it for awhile now, but more so than in the last few years. Because nothing beats getting it from the source.
I wish I could say I’ve got the Jonzbox plugged in and I’m taping stuff as it’s being played, but alas that isn’t true. I do still have a handful of blank tapes that my sister found lying around, and the Jonzbox still works, albeit just barely, but those days are over. As much as I’d love to tape radio shows again like I did so many years ago, a handful of the college stations I listen to are well out of range–some of them being on the other side of the country. That’s the beauty of the internet for me in this respect. I love being able to listen to WZBC out of Boston College one moment, and KSCU out of Santa Clara U. here in California the next. There’s also the fact that I can listen to any college station and not really know or expect what they’re going to play next, because for the most part they’re still freeform after all these years, bound only by their show’s theme.
And despite not being able to record these shows, it does occur to me that I can do the next best thing–if I’m interested in a song, I can do what my wife and I have been doing whenever we listen to Sirius XMU and Alt Nation: write the songs down on Post-Its for further checking out and possible downloading. I just did that this morning, actually…while listening to a great set on KSCU, I wrote down a small handful of songs I liked and realized I could just as easily zip over to Amazon and download the mp3s whenever I wanted. While I miss out on recording the semi-professionalism and occassional silliness that goes on with student-run stations, it’s a small price to pay when I can instead buy the music immediately if I so choose, instead of waiting for the weekend/when I get paid to go to the local record store. And as I’ve mentioned earlier, most of my trips to Amoeba as of late have been for back catalogue.
Still, I do like the idea of listening to the radio again, especially when it’s to listen on certain days for a specific deejay’s show. It’s a refreshing change from the daily (and sometimes hourly) repeat of the same sounds, and there’s a much higher chance of something new and unknown being played that will catch my attention. And by listening online, I also get to savor the sounds of different cities. Northern California’s college radio is a bit more lively and odd than New England’s laid back autumnal sound, for instance. It’s a pleasant reminder that just when I’m in the mood for a specific sound, or sick of the same music being played, there’s a hell of a lot more always out there that I haven’t tried yet. | 2019-04-19T05:17:11Z | https://jonchaisson.com/2013/05/ |
McMaster University (commonly referred to as McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on 121 hectares (300 acres) of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It operates six academic faculties: the DeGroote School of Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Science, and Science. It is a member of the U15, a group of research-intensive universities in Canada.
ACU, ATS, AUCC, CARL, COU, CUP, Fields Institute, IAU, U15.
The university bears the name of William McMaster, a prominent Canadian senator and banker who bequeathed C$900,000 to its founding. It was incorporated under the terms of an act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1887, merging the Toronto Baptist College with Woodstock College. It opened in Toronto in 1890. Inadequate facilities and the gift of land in Hamilton prompted its relocation in 1930. The Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec controlled the university until it became a privately chartered, publicly funded non-denominational institution in 1957.
McMaster University is co-educational, and has over 25,000 undergraduate and over 4,000 post-graduate students. Alumni and former students reside across Canada and in 139 countries. Its athletic teams are known as the Marauders, and are members of U Sports. Notable alumni include government officials, academics, business leaders, Rhodes Scholars, Gates Cambridge Scholars, and Nobel laureates.
As the university grew, McMaster Hall started to become overcrowded. The suggestion to move the university to Hamilton was first brought up by a student and Hamilton native in 1909, although the proposal was not seriously considered by the university until two years later. By the 1920s, after previous proposals between various university staff, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce launched a campaign to bring McMaster University to Hamilton. As the issue of space at McMaster Hall became more acute, the university administration debated the future of the university. The university nearly became federated with the University of Toronto, as had been the case with Trinity College and Victoria College.
Instead, in 1927, the university administration decided to move the university to Hamilton. The Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec secured $1.5 million, while the citizens of Hamilton raised an additional $500,000 to help finance the move. The lands for the university and new buildings were secured through gifts from graduates. Lands were transferred from Royal Botanical Gardens to establish the campus area. The first academic session on the new Hamilton campus began in 1930. McMaster's property in Toronto was sold to the University of Toronto when McMaster moved to Hamilton in 1930. McMaster Hall is now home to the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Hamilton Hall was constructed in 1926 in preparation for the university's move to Hamilton.
McMaster's oldest buildings are examples of Collegiate Gothic architecture, with architectural elements such as carved ornamentation, bas-reliefs, recessed arched entryways, and ashlar found throughout these buildings.
McMaster University is in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, in the Golden Horseshoe along the western end of Lake Ontario. The main campus is bordered to the north by Cootes Paradise, an extensive natural marshland, to the east and west by residential neighbourhoods, and to its south by Main Street West, a major transportation artery. Its northern boundaries are a popular destination for walkers who use the many trails that connect the campus to Royal Botanical Gardens. While the main campus is 152.4 hectares (377 acres), most of the teaching facilities are centered within the core 12.1 hectares (30 acres). In addition to its main campus in Hamilton, McMaster owns several other properties around Hamilton, as well as in Burlington, Kitchener, and St. Catharines, Ontario.
The university owns and manages 58 buildings, both on and off campus. The buildings at McMaster vary in age, with Hamilton Hall opening in 1926, to the university's new Bertrand Russel Archives and Research Centre, which opened 25 June 2018. McMaster main campus is divided into three main areas: the Core Campus, North Campus and West Campus. The Core Campus is where the majority of the university's academic, research and residential buildings are located while the North Campus is made up of the university's athletic precinct and a small number of surface parking. The West Campus is the least developed area of the main campus, containing only a few buildings, surface parking, and undeveloped land.
Panoramic view of McMaster University's main campus from the southwest, taken on June 2008. The majority of the university's facilities are located on this campus.
University Hall is one of the oldest facilities still used by the university.
The university's campus has gone through continuous development since 1928. The main campus's six original buildings are of Collegiate Gothic architecture, designed by William Lyon Somerville, who also laid out the initial campus plan. They are now flanked by over fifty structures built predominantly from the 1940s to 1960s. The largest facility is the McMaster University Medical Centre, a multi-use research hospital that is home to the second-largest neonatal intensive care unit and the third-largest child and youth mental health unit in the country. It is connected to the Life Sciences building and the Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery, which houses many well-funded research groups in areas of genetics, infectious diseases, and several specific conditions.
The McMaster Museum of Art holds the highest attendance figures for a university-affiliated museum in Canada.
The university's library system is a member of 31 organizations, including the Association of Research Libraries. Around 2.8 million articles were downloaded from the library system's electronic journal collection during the 2016 academic year. The university library employs a total of 138 professional, and support staff. The library's resource expenditure for the 2016–2017 academic year was approximately $11.5 million, with 81 per cent of the budget allocated to serial and e-resource subscriptions, 9 per cent on hard copy acquisitions, and 10 per cent to membership and collections support. The library system include four libraries housing 1,274,265 paper books and 3,689,973 total resources, including videos, maps, sound recordings, and microfilm. Mills Library houses the humanities and social sciences collections, with a wide range of print and digital resources. Innis Library houses content which supports the academic and research interests of the DeGroote School of Business. Thode Library houses academic material of various disciplines of science and engineering, while the Health Science Library houses books pertaining to medical sciences. The William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University consist of papers of Canadian publishers; British personalities and of Canadian literary figures such as Farley Mowat, Pierre Berton, Matt Cohen, and Marian Engel. It includes the archives of Bertrand Russell, and of labour unions.
The McMaster Museum of Art's (MMA) principal role is to support the academic mission of McMaster University and to contribute to the discourse on art in Canada. The museum has the highest attendance figures for a university-affiliated museum in Canada, with 30,000 visitors in 2016. Established in 1967, the museum houses and exhibits the university's art collection. As of 2015, that collection of 5,971 pieces holds a total value of $98.7 million. The collection includes works by Gustave Courbet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Walter Sickert and Vincent van Gogh. The museum also boasts the most comprehensive collection of German expressionist and Weimar period prints in Canada.
As of March 2019, McMaster has twelve smoke-free student residences: Bates, Brandon, Edwards, Hedden, Les Prince, Mary E. Keyes, Matthews, McKay, Moulton, Wallingford, Whidden, and Woodstock Hall. McMaster's student residences can accommodate 3,685 students. The latest residence to be built was Les Prince Hall, a large co-ed building, completed in 2006. It was named for a long-time hall master in the residence system who lived with his family on campus until after his retirement in 1980. In September 2010, 50.19 per cent of first-year students lived on campus, with 15.54 per cent of the overall undergraduate population living on campus. Residences provide traditional room and board style, furnished apartment style, and suite-style accommodation. Brandon Hall houses the university's substance-free lifestyle living spaces. The residence system is supervised by Residence Life staff, who provide guidance and help the transition to university life for many first-year students. Residence students are represented by the Inter-Residence Council (IRC), which aims to build a sense of community among the residents through programming. Additionally, the IRC seeks to advocate for residence students on issues they may face, such as facilities, dining, environment, and more, and provide opportunities for residence students to gain valuable leadership opportunities. They are an integral part of the McMaster residence community.
The McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) is the centre of student life and programming. It has a café, study space, common areas, and several administrative departments, including the CIBC Conference Hall. The MUSC contains the offices of a number of student organizations, including the McMaster Students Union and The Silhouette weekly newspaper as well as other services such as the Campus Health Centre and the campus dentist. The university has over twenty dining outlets throughout the campus, including two major residence dining facilities. The university has several vegetarian establishments, such as a completely vegetarian cafe known as Bridges Café and a farmers market stand. The university was voted as the country's most vegan-friendly university through People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for a number of years. Several other dining outlets at McMaster have garnered awards throughout the years for food services.
As of 2010 McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business operates a 1.82-hectare (4.5-acre) site in the neighbouring city of Burlington. Consideration for the new building began in 2004, when McMaster University had announced its initial intent to construct a new arts- and technology-intensive campus in partnership with the city of Burlington. In 2009, the City of Burlington, Halton Region, and McMaster University signed an official agreement laying out the timelines and next steps for the university's expansion into Burlington. Construction began on 17 June 2009, and the official opening was on 7 October 2010. The four-story, 8,400-square-metre (90,000 sq ft) building is called the Ron Joyce Centre. The Ron Joyce Centre is home to DeGroote's MBA program and its business management program (both degree and non-degree programs).
The David Braley Health Sciences Centre at the McMaster Health Campus in downtown Hamilton. The Centre is one of several off-campus facilities operated by the university.
McMaster has a number of administrative offices at its Downtown Centre. The McMaster Centre for Continuing Education, which offers a variety of certificate and diploma programs as well as personal and professional development programs, is located within the former Bank of Montreal Pavilion at Lloyd D. Jackson Square. McMaster had also announced that construction of the McMaster Downtown Health Campus in downtown Hamilton had begun in December 2012. The Health Campus is expected to provide teaching spaces, exam rooms and clinical spaces for local residents.
The Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine is on the main campus as well as in two regional campses at St. Catharines and Kitchener. The Waterloo Regional Campus is located in downtown Kitchener, sharing facilities with the Health Sciences Campus of the University of Waterloo. The campus in St. Catharines is at Brock University's Niagara Health and Bioscience Research Complex. Approximately 30 medical students in each year of the program attend each campus. Those who apply to McMaster's School of Medicine are asked to rank their site choice (Hamilton, Niagara Region, Waterloo Region) from first to third, or no preference. Offers of admission to the medical school are made from a rank list irrespective of geographical preference. Subsequent to an applicant's acceptance, registrants to the class are placed based on their preference and geographical background. The offers given out by McMaster are bound to the assigned site.
McMaster purchased a large industrial park three kilometres east of its main Hamilton campus in 2005 with the intention of creating an array of research facilities for the development of advanced manufacturing and materials, biotechnology, automotive, and nanotechnology. In July 2005 the federal government announced it would relocate CANMET, a federal government materials research laboratory, from its Ottawa centre to Hamilton. This decision helped spearhead the development of the McMaster Innovation Park. The United Nations University-International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) is headquartered within the park. UNU-INWEH is the only United Nations agency headquartered in Ontario and the only North American host site for a United Nations University, after moving to McMaster Innovation Park on 23 April 2008.
The senate is responsible for the university's academics, including standards for admission into the university and qualifications for degrees, diplomas, and certificates. The senate consists of 15 ex officio positions granted to the chancellor, the president, the vice-presidents of the university, the senior dean of each faculty, the dean of graduate studies, the dean of adult education, the principal of McMaster Divinity College, and the chairman of the Undergraduate Council. The senate also consists of 51 other members, appointed or elected by the various communities of the university, including elected representatives of the student body. Meetings of the board of governors and the senate are open to the public.
McMaster University is affiliated with one post-secondary institution, McMaster Divinity College. The seminary is located within the campus of the university. As an affiliated institution, two members of the Divinity College sit on the university's senate, as well as appoint one representative to sit in the university's board of governors. However, the Divinity College operates with its own senate and board of trustees. Although Divinity College has the authority to confer their own degrees, students taking the College's Master of Divinity and Master of Theological Studies are awarded degrees by McMaster University. Students of Divinity College have access to the catalogue of McMaster University Library, while students of the university similarly have access to the Canadian Baptist Archives, managed by the university's library system.
The university and the divinity college were incorporated as the same institution in 1887, a result of a merger between two Baptist institutions, the Canadian Literary Institute in Woodstock, Ontario, and Toronto Baptist College. McMaster University continued to operated as a Baptist-run institution until 1957, when provincial legislation allowed for the governance of the university to pass from the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, to a privately chartered, publicly funded arrangement. McMaster's Faculty of Theology was spun-off into McMaster Divinity College, a separately-chartered affiliated college of the university.
The total net assets owned by the university as of 30 April 2018 stands at C$1,209.1 million. The university had completed the 2017–2018 year with revenues of C$1,109.5 million, expenses of $985.7 million, for an excess of revenues over expenses of $123.8 million. McMaster's revenue comes from endowment income, gifts, fees, and annual grants from the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton-Wentworth Region, the Province of Ontario, and the Government of Canada. In the 2017–2018 academic year, the largest source of revenue for the university was tuition fees, followed by operating grants provided by the government. As of 30 April 2017, McMaster's financial endowment was valued at C$727.4 million. The financing of McMaster's scholarships and bursaries takes up 40 per cent of the endowments received. Financial Services comprises the following areas: Student Accounts & Cashiers, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and Budgeting Services.
The university has been registered as an educational charitable organization in Canada since 1 January 1967. As of 2011, the university is registered primarily as a post-secondary institution, with 70 per cent of the charity dedicated to the management and maintenance of the university. The remaining 30 per cent has been dedicated under research.
McMaster is a publicly funded research university, and a member of the Universities Canada. McMaster functions on a semester system, operating year-round on academic semesters, fall/winter and spring/summer. In the 2016–2017 academic year, the university had a total enrollment of 31,265 students; 26,780 undergraduate students, 4,485 graduate students. Programs, departments, and schools at McMaster are divided among six faculties, the DeGroote School of Business, the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Science, and the Faculty of Social Sciences.
By enrolment, McMaster's largest faculty in September 2016 was the Faculty of Science, with 7,004 full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The Faculty of Humanities was the smallest faculty by enrolment, with 2,729 full-time and part-time undergraduate and graduate students. The Faculty of Health Sciences holds the highest graduate enrolment, with 1,144 graduate students. A number of university students are enrolled in interdisciplinary programs, administered by two or more faculties, including 549 graduate students. At the undergraduate level, the Arts and Science program is taught jointly by the six faculties at McMaster. Created in 1981, the program aims to provide a broad-based, liberal education, providing substantial work in both the arts and sciences. In September 2016, 278 undergraduate students were enrolled in the Arts and Science program.
The university also jointly administers several undergraduate collaborative programs with Mohawk College, of which 2,697 students are enrolled in. The university also awards degrees to graduate students of McMaster Divinity College. The Divinity College was originally the university's Faculty of Theology, before it was reorganized into a separately chartered, affiliated college of the university in 1957.
Students may apply for financial aid such as the Ontario Student Assistance Program and Canada Student Loans and Grants through the federal and provincial governments. The financial aid provided may come in the form of loans, grants, bursaries, scholarships, fellowships, debt reduction, interest relief, and work programs. In the 2016–2017 academic year, McMaster students received approximately C$100,972,910 in Ontario Student Assistance Program loans and C$40,061,756 in grants, approximately $140,981,009 in total. In the same year students received C$10,135,233.65 in bursaries.
The McMaster Model is the university's policy for a student-centred, problem-based, interdisciplinary approach to learning, a policy which has been adopted by several other universities around the world. During the 1960s the McMaster University Medical School pioneered problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials that have since been adopted by other programs and faculties within the university. PBL is now used in medicine, occupational therapy, physical therapy, nursing, midwifery, and other allied fields. Most medical schools in Canada and more than 80 per cent of medical schools in the United States employ PBL in their curriculum, and many international universities do the same.
In 1991, McMaster's School of Medicine adopted progress testing, developing the personal progress index (PPI), a system based on progress testing invented concurrently by the University of Missouri-Kansas City's medical school and the Maastricht University. The PPI is used as an objective method for assessing acquisition and retention of knowledge for students in the medical program. The PPI is administered at regular intervals to all students in the program, regardless of their level of training, and plots students' scores as they move through the program. Students typically score 20 per cent on their first examination, and increase by five to seven per cent with each successive examination. Students can monitor the changes in their scores and receive formative feedback based on a standardized score relative to the class mean. Due to the overwhelming success and research supporting the use of the PPI as an evaluation tool, it is now used in Canada, US, Europe, and Australia.
McMaster University has placed in post-secondary school rankings. In the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) rankings, the university ranked 84th in the world and fourth-highest in Canada. The 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings placed McMaster 77th in the world, and fourth in Canada. The 2019 QS World University Rankings ranked the university 146th in the world and fifth in Canada. In U.S. News & World Report 2019 global university rankings, the university placed 130th, and fourth in Canada. In 2011, Newsweek had also ranked McMaster as the 15th top university outside of the United States, and the fourth best university in Canada. In Maclean's 2019 rankings, McMaster placed fourth in both their Medical-Doctoral university category, and in their reputation ranking for Canadian universities. McMaster was ranked in spite of having opted out from participation in Maclean's graduate survey since 2006.
McMaster also placed in a number of rankings that evaluated the employment prospects of graduates. In QS's 2019 graduate employability ranking, the university ranked 93rd in the world, and fifth in Canada. In the Times Higher Education's 2018 global employability ranking, McMaster placed 78th in the world, and fifth in Canada. In an employability survey published by the New York Times in October 2011, when CEOs and chairmans were asked to select the top universities which they recruited from, McMaster placed 61st in the world, and fourth in Canada.
In 2018, Research Infosource named McMaster as the most research intensive university in the country with an average sponsored research income (external sources of funding) of C$434,700 per faculty member in 2017, the highest average in the country, and nearly double the average for universities in the "Medical-Doctoral" category. In the same year, graduate students averaged a sponsored research income of $82,800, the highest out of any full-service university. With a total sponsored research income of $379.959 million in 2017, McMaster has the seventh largest sponsored research income amongst Canadian universities. In the 2015–2016 academic year, the federal government was the largest source of McMaster's sponsored research income (excluding affiliated hospitals), providing 61.4 per cent of McMaster's research budget, primarily through grants. Corporate research income account for 7.3 per cent of the overall research budget.
McMaster has been ranked on several bibliometric university rankings, which uses citation analysis to evaluate the impact a university has on academic publications. In 2018, the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities ranked McMaster 112th in the world, and sixth in Canada. The University Ranking by Academic Performance 2018–19 rankings placed the university 126th in the world, and sixth in Canada.
Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery is a multipurpose building primarily used by Faculty of Health Sciences. Along with teaching facilities, it houses several research institutes for the Faculty.
McMaster has received accolades for its research strengths, particularly in the field of health sciences. For five years in a row, McMaster has ranked second in for biomedical and health care research revenues by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada. The Faculty of Health Science oversees $130 million a year in research, much of that research conducted by scientists and physicians who teach in the medical school. The Faculty of Health Sciences operates several research institutes, including the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, and the Population Health Research Institute. The university also operates a brain bank, whose collection includes a portion of Albert Einstein's brain, preserved and held for medical research. Researchers there have identified differences in his brain that may relate to his genius for spatial and mathematical thinking.
In addition to traditional forms of research, members of Faculty of Health Sciences have also been credited with developments within the medical practice. A McMaster research group led by David Sackett and later Gordon Guyatt had been credited for establishing the methodologies used in evidence-based medicine.
A titan arum blooming inside the McMaster Biology Greenhouse. The Greenhouse is one of many facilities used for research at the university.
Other notable research facilities include the McMaster Biology Greenhouse, and the Brockhouse Institute for Material Research (BIMR). The Biology Greenhouse holds 217 plants in a 780-square-metre (8,400 sq ft) facility, and is used as a teaching and research facility by the Department of Biology. In addition to maintaining its permanent collection, the Biology Greenhouse also grows plants for both short term research studies. The Brockhouse Institute was created in 1960 by Howard Petch, the institute was named after McMaster alumnus Bertram Brockhouse. The BIMR is an interdisciplinary research organization with the mandate to develop, support, and co-ordinate all materials research related activities at McMaster. Its membership of 123 faculty members is drawn from 13 departments in the Faculties of Science, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as several Canadian and international universities. Facilities of the BIMR include the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy, Centre for Crystal Growth, McMaster Analytical Xray Facility, Electronic and Magnetic Characterization Facility, and the Photonics Research Laboratories. The Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy is home to the world's most advanced microscope. The Titan 80–300 cubed microscope has a magnification of 14 million and is used for material, medical, and nanotechnology research.
The McMaster Nuclear Reactor is the largest research reactor in the Commonwealth of Nations.
In addition, the university also operates the McMaster Nuclear Reactor, used for nuclear science and engineering research since 1959. The university regularly acquires an operating license for the reactor from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, with the latest 10-year license issued on 1 July 2014. The strength of nuclear science at McMaster was augmented in 1968 under the presidency of Dr. H.G. Thode by the construction of a 10MV Model FN Tandem particle accelerator. The 3MV Model KN single-ended accelerator was added the same year. The academic direction of the laboratory fell to the Physics Department in the early days, as it was primarily a nuclear structure laboratory. During the next 28 years, the nuclear research effort was extensive, with hundreds of graduate students trained and many publications generated. The Pool-type Reactor is used for research, educational, and commercial applications such as neutron radiography, and medical radioisotope production; Iodine-125 is used in cancer therapy. The reactor at McMaster produces 25 per cent of the world's supply of iodine-125, an isotope used in nuclear medicine to treat prostate cancer. The production of molybdenum-99 at Chalk River Laboratories has occasionally been moved to the university's reactor, when Chalk River's National Research Universal reactor is forced to shut down.
The requirements for admission differ between students from Ontario, other provinces in Canada, and international students due to the lack of uniformity in marking schemes. The acceptance rate at McMaster for full-time, first-year applications in 2018 was 52.6 per cent. In September 2014, the secondary school average for full-time first-year students at McMaster University was 87.7 per cent. Students entering McMaster's more selective undergraduate programs, including the Integrated Sciences program and the Arts and Science program, had a secondary school average of 96.3 per cent. McMaster received 28,079 applicants in the 2016. McMaster's medical school is the most competitive medical program in Canada by application numbers, with more than 5,200 applicants competing for 204 positions.
The Michael DeGroote School of Medicine has notably developed admission tests that has since become adopted by other schools. In 2001, they developed the multiple-mini interview in an effort to address long-standing concerns over standard panel interviews; viewed as poor reflectors for medical school performance. This format uses short, independent assessments in a timed circuit to obtain aggregate scores in interpersonal skills, professionalism, ethical/moral judgment, and critical thinking to assess candidates. The multiple-mini interview has consistently shown to have a higher predictive validity for future performance than traditional interviews. The multiple-mini interview process has since been adopted by the majority of Canadian medical schools, as well as a number of medical schools in the United States. In 2010, the medical school developed the Computer-based Assessment for Sampling Personal Characteristics, in order to better assess the personal characteristics of the applicant. A number of other medical schools have since adopted the CASPer test, including New York Medical College, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine.
In the 2016–2017 academic year, the university had an enrollment of 31,625 students: 26,780 undergraduate students, 4,485 graduate students. The student body is largely made up of Canadians, making up 90.27 per cent of the student population. International students represented, respectively, 9.73 per cent of the student population. Full-time students make up about 93.8 per cent of the student body. Among full-time students, the university has a first-time student retention rate of 90.9 per cent.
The McMaster University Student Centre plaza. The Student Centre, to the right, houses a number of student groups, including the McMaster Students Union.
The main student unions on administrative and policy issues are the McMaster Students Union for full-time undergraduates, the McMaster Association of Part-Time Students for part-time undergraduates, and the McMaster Graduate Students Association for postgraduates. In addition, each faculty has its own student representative body. There are more than 300 student organizations and clubs, covering a wide range of interests such as academics, culture, religion, social issues, and recreation. Many of them are centred on the McMaster student activity centre, the McMaster University Student Centre. The Silhouette, the student-run newspaper, is the oldest student service at McMaster University, in publication since 1929. Since 1968, the McMaster Engineering Society has published The Plumbline, the main satire magazine of McMaster University. The campus radio station CFMU-FM (93.3 FM) is Canada’s second-oldest campus radio station, and has been broadcasting since 1978. MacInsiders, a popular online student-run forum and information network, has been operating since 2007 and has over 18,000 registered members. The McMaster Marching Band, created in September 2009, is a brass, reed and percussion marching band composed of 45 graduate and undergraduate students as well as members of the surrounding community who wish to participate.
Athletics at McMaster is managed by the university's student affairs, under their athletics and recreation department. The university's varsity teams compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports (formerly called Canadian Interuniversity Sport). The university's team sports programs include baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, swimming, volleyball, and water polo. The first major sport game played at McMaster was in 1889, when a group of alumni from Toronto Baptist College and Woodstock College played an exhibition game against one another, sparking an early intercity rivalry between McMaster students. In 1897 the university placed all physical activity and sports under the jurisdiction of a central executive committee. The varsity teams have been known as the McMaster Marauders since 1948, through a contest run by the student newspaper, The Silhouette, to name the university's men's basketball team. In 2016–2017 academic year, McMaster had over 1,100 student-athletes in either varsity or club teams.
The McMaster Marauders football team at Ron Joyce Stadium.
The Marauders have won 11 national championships and 139 provincial champions since 1961. The men's water polo team has won the Ontario University Athletics championship 25 times, making it the Marauders' most successful team at the provincial level. The men's wrestling team has been the Marauders' most successful team at the national level, winning the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship four times. McMaster University has graduated 34 Olympic athletes, eight Olympic coaches, two Olympic administrators and two Olympic officials. As is mandatory for all members of U Sports, McMaster University does not provide full-ride athletic scholarships.
The fireball is the emblem of the Faculty of Engineering. The emblem is based off the coat of arms of the defunct Hamilton College.
In addition to the visual representations of the institution, the university's individual departments, faculties, and schools also employ symbols to visually represent them. One such example is the Faculty of Engineering's fireball emblem, adopted by the faculty in 1960. The fireball was adopted from the coat of arms of the defunct Hamilton College.
The coat of arms consists of a shield, a crest, and a motto, together with a helmet. The shield contains an eagle, symbolic of the heavenly vision, with a cross on its breast to indicate Christianity as the inspiration for the university's vision. The chief of the shield bears an open book, a common symbol of learning. A golden maple leaf is situated on each side of the book, signifying the university's charter was granted by the Province of Ontario. The helmet, above the shield, has the open visor and forward-facing style typically used by universities. The mantling surrounding the shield and helmet represents the cloak worn over a knight's armour as protection from the sun. The crest, located above the helmet, is a stag and oak tree, which serves as a tribute to the Canadian senator, William McMaster, who also used a stag and oak on his insignias. The motto is located above the crest, as is common in Scottish heraldry.
Tihomir Orešković, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia.
Tommy Douglas, 7th Premier of Saskatchewan and first leader of the NDP.
Bertram Brockhouse, Nobel laureate in physics, for his work with neutron scattering.
Myron Scholes, Nobel laureate in economics for his work with the Black–Scholes model.
Harold Innis, contributed to the staples thesis and Toronto School of communication theory.
Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of the Nokia Corporation.
Cyrus S. Eaton, founder of Republic Steel and chairman of C&O Railway.
In the year 2016, McMaster University has over 184,000 alumni residing over 139 countries. Throughout McMaster's history, faculty, alumni, and former students have played prominent roles in many fields, accumulating a number of awards including Nobel prizes, Rhodes scholarships, the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, and the Lasker Award. Nobel Prize winners include alumnus Myron Scholes, awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1997 for his work with the Black-Scholes model. Two individuals from McMaster were also award the Nobel Prize in Physics, faculty member Bertram Brockhouse in 1994 for his work in neutron scattering; and alumna Donna Strickland in 2018 for her work on laser physics. Alumnus James Orbinski accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 on behalf of Doctors Without Borders as the organization's president.
Prominent alumni in the field of science include Douglas L. Coleman, who discovered leptin; Richard Bader, noted for his work on the atoms in molecules theory; Harold E. Johns, who pioneered the use of cobalt-60 in the treatment of cancer, Karl Clark, who pioneered the separation method to extract bitumen from the oil sands; Steve Mann, a researcher and inventor in the field of computational photography; Peter R. Jennings, computer programmer and developer of Microchess; and Simon Sunatori, an engineer and inventor. Notable faculty members include chemist Ronald Gillespie, who helped shape VSEPR theory, as well as David Sackett and Gordon Guyatt, whose research team was credited for establishing the methodologies used in evidence-based medicine. Notable alumni and faculty members in the field of social sciences include Harold Innis, who helped shape communication theory and the staples thesis, and sociologist Henry Giroux, one of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy. Two medical researchers, and members of McMaster had travelled in space; faculty member Dafydd Williams, and alumna Roberta Bondar, the first Canadian woman in space.
Many former students have gained prominence for serving in government. Croatian Prime Minister, Tihomir Orešković was an alumnus of the university. Lincoln Alexander, the former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, as well as the first visible-minority Lieutenant Governor in Canada was another alumnus of the university. Canadian premiers that have graduated from the university include the former premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, and the former premier of Saskatchewan, Tommy Douglas. Many graduates have also served in the House of Commons of Canada, including, Tony Valeri, the Government House Leader; and Lawrence Pennell, the Solicitor General of Canada. Roy Kellock, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada was a graduate from the university. Charles Aubrey Eaton, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and signor of the United Nations Charter on behalf of the United States, was an alumnus of the university.
A number of prominent business leaders have also studied at McMaster. Examples include David Braley, owner of the Toronto Argonauts and BC Lions of the Canadian Football League; Stephen Elop, former president and CEO of Nokia; Cyrus S. Eaton, founder of Republic Steel and chairman of Chesapeake and Ohio Railway; Paul D. House, current executive chairman of Tim Hortons; Lynton Wilson, chairman of Bell Canada, CAE Inc., and Nortel; Michael Lee-Chin, current chairman, CEO of AIC Limited;, Kathy Bardswick, president and CEO of The Co-operators, and Rob Burgess, former chairman and CEO of Macromedia.
A number of McMaster alumni had also had successful sports careers, including Syl Apps of the Toronto Maple Leafs; and NHL coach Roger Neilson. The university has had 34 of its graduates compete in the Olympic games, including Olympic medalists Larry Cain; Adam van Koeverden; and Mark Heese. McMaster faculty member Norman Lane was also an Olympic medalist. Several alumni of the university have also become prominent in the entertainment industry, including comedians, actors and directors. Such alumni include Eugene Levy; Martin Short; Jonathan Frid; Ivan Reitman; Dave Thomas; and John Candy.
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WINDSOR, ONT.: Susan Patolot, left, enjoys a moment with her daughter, Ava, 2, during last year's Mother's Day brunch buffet at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts in downtown Windsor. (By Dax Melmer).
WINDSOR, ONT.: Susan Patolot, left, enjoys a moment with her daughter, Ava, 2, during last year’s Mother’s Day brunch buffet at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts in downtown Windsor. (By Dax Melmer).
Don’t forget your mothers this weekend. Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery celebrates Mother’s Day with a gourmet lunch and wine-tasting event. Chef Jeff Wright prepares a special menu and winemaker Tanya Mitchell pours five wines and offers a tasting seminar. See details under Special Events.
Also, if you’re fan of classical music, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra returns to Caesars Windsor on Saturday, May 12. This show tells the tale of Beethoven’s last night on Earth. See Concerts. Have a great weekend!
Bully: Lakeshore (PG) Alex, Ja’Maya, Kelby, David Long, Tina Long, Kirk Smalley. This is a documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America.
Dark Shadows: Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity (PG) Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonny Lee Miller, Helena Bonham Carter. An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins, is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional descendants are in need of his protection.
The Dictator: Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity (14A) Sacha Baron Cohen, Megan Fox, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly. This is the heroic comedy of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.
American Reunion: Devonshire, SilverCity (14A) Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Chris Klein, Mena Suvari, Seann William Scott, Tara Reid. Jim, Michelle, Stifler, and their friends reunite in East Great Falls, Michigan, for their high school reunion.
Chimpanzee: Devonshire, Lakeshore (G) This documentary looks at a three-year-old chimpanzee who is separated from his troop and is then adopted by a fully-grown male. Narrated by Tim Allen.
The Five-Year Engagement: Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity, Star (14A) Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Lauren Weedman. This is a comedy that charts the ups and downs of an engaged couple’s relationship.
The Hunger Games: Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity (14A) Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley. Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the 12 districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match.
The Lucky One: Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity, Star (PG) Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner, Riley Thomas Stewart, Jay R. Ferguson. A Marine travels to North Carolina after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war.
Marvel’s The Avengers (2D & 3D): Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity, Star (PG) Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth. Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans, Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.
The Pirates: Band of Misfits (3D): Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity, Star (PG) Voice of Hugh Grant, Imelda Staunton, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, David Tennant. Pirate Captain sets out on a mission to defeat his rivals Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz for the Pirate of the Year Award. The quest takes Captain and his crew from the shores of Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.
Safe: Devonshire, Lakeshore, SilverCity (14A) Jason Statham, Catherine Chan, James Hong, Anson Mount, Reggie Lee. A young girl whose memory holds a priceless numerical code, finds herself pursued by the Triads, the Russian mob, and corrupt NYC cops. An ex-cage fighter whose life was destroyed by the gangsters on her trail comes to her aid.
Think Like a Man: SilverCity (PG) Taraji P. Henson, Michael Ealy, Meagan Good, Jerry Ferrara, Regina Hall. Four friends conspire to turn the tables on their women when they discover the ladies have been using Steve Harvey’s relationship advice against them.
The Three Stooges: Lakeshore, SilverCity (PG) Sean Hayes, Jane Lynch, Will Sasso, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Hudson. While trying to save their childhood orphanage, Moe, Larry, and Curly inadvertently stumble into a murder plot and wind up starring in a reality TV show.
21 Jump Street: Devonshire (14A) Channing Tatum, Johnny Depp, Holly Robinson Peete, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube. A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring.
Artcite: MayWorks Windsor 2012: A Festival of International Workers’ Solidarity, Social Justice and Community Cultural Projects. Artcite collaborates with the MayWorks Windsor committee to develop an activist-themed exhibition. The 2012 exhibit features the Windsor, Ont. collective Go Home’s installation, The Break Room; the Occupy Windsor Documentation Project and video histories of Occupy Windsor participants, through May 26. Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. or by appointment. Call 519-977-6564. At 109 University Ave. W.
Art Gallery of Windsor: Mary E. Wrinch: Muskoka landscapes and Wychwood Park gardens, through June 10; Jamelie Hassan: Re-enacting Resistance, through June 10; Land Marks: Contemporary Photographs, through June 10; Correspondences: British artists Simon Payne, Nicky Hamlyn and Angela Allen examine colour, frame and perceptual modalities, through June 10; Sundays in the Studio free drop-in studio workshop, Printmaking, 12:30 p.m.-2 p.m. Hours: Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Thursday and Friday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Free admission. Call 519-977-0013. At 401 Riverside Dr. W.
Chatham-Kent Museum: Quilts in Queue exhibit: Examples of Tufted quilt, Log Cabin quilt, Pineapple quilt, Rose of Sharon quilt, Victory quilt, Signature quilt and Commemorative quilt, through 2012. Daily 1-5 p.m. Call 519-354-8346. At 75 William St. N., Chatham.
Gibson Gallery: O’h ya, ‘h ohdiwenagqh: Through the Voices of Beads: Bead workers have played a vital role in preserving Iroquois beliefs over the centuries. The exhibit features historical and contemporary pieces from the Royal Ontario Museum and works from the collection of Iroquois beadwork artist Samuel Thomas, through May 27. Hours: Thursday-Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Call 519-736-2826. At 140 Richmond St. Amherstburg.
Henry Ford Museum: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition: The exhibit marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, through Sept. 30. Special timed tickets for members are US$10. Non-member tickets include admission to the museum for US$27 for adults, US$22.50 for youth, US$25 for seniors and children four and under are free. Call 1-313-982-6001. Hours: Open daily, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Call 1-313-271-1620. At 20900 Oakwood Blvd. Dearborn, Mich.
Mudpuppy Gallery: Recycle Show: See what art can be made from recycled materials, through May 27. Hours: Monday, 1-4 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday noon-8 p.m., Sunday, noon-6 p.m. Call 519-736-7279. At 264 Dalhousie St., Navy Yard Park, Amherstburg.
Nancy Johns Gallery: Forty X Forty: Various artwork from local artists, available for purchase, through Saturday, May 12. Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Call 519-945-2222. At 4755 Wyandotte St. E.
SB Contemporary Art: SB and Dodolab present The River and the Land Sustain You? Prof. William Starling visits Windsor to study the starling community around the Ambassador Bridge. His activities are in conjunction with Windsor’s Mayworks 2012. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. Call 519-819-0536. At 1017 Church St.
Windsor’s Community Museum: Living in 1812: Life on the Sandwich Frontier. This exhibit explores the daily lives of the various inhabitants in the Sandwich Frontier and how they interacted; Woof! Woof! Hot Diggity Doggie: This is a collection of dog stories, photographs, collars, tags, and artist renderings of family pets. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday. Call 519-253-1812. At 254 Pitt St. W.
Patty Larkin & Lucy Kaplansky: 8 p.m. The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets US$22.50. Call 734-761-1800.
Sarah Jarosz: 8 p.m. The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets US$20. Call 734-761-1800.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra: 9 p.m. Colosseum, Caesars Windsor, 377 Riverside Dr. E. Tickets start at $45. Call 1-800-991-8888, ext. 4, or visit caesarswindsor.com.
Abigail Stauffer, Pearl and the Beard: 7:30 p.m. The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets US$15. Call 734-761-1800.
Chickenfoot: 6:30 p.m. Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Tickets US$39.50. Visit livenation.com.
Mayer Hawthorne & The County, The Stepkids: 8 p.m. Majestic Theater, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Tickets US$25. Call 1-313-833-9700.
Kenny White, Jess Klein: 8 p.m. The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets US$15. Call 734-761-1800.
Jonathan Edwards: 8 p.m. The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. Tickets US$25. Call 734-761-1800.
Slash: 6:30 p.m. Orbit Room, 2525 Lake Eastbrook Blvd. southeast, Grand Rapids, Mich. Advance tickets US$32.50. Call 1-616-942-1328.
Blue Man Group: With no spoken language, Blue Man Group is best known for their wildly theatrical shows and concerts which combine comedy, music and technology to produce something very unique. Performances continue through Sunday, May 13, at Fisher Theater, 3011 West Grand Blvd. Detroit. Tickets range from US$120.60 to US$99.10. Call 1-313-872-1000 or visit broadwayindetroit.com.
Brahms at Assumption Church: The Windsor Symphony Orchestra performs as part of the Masterworks series tonight and Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m. at Windsor’s Assumption Church, 350 Huron Church Rd. Tickets range from $58-$22 for adults, $35-$20 for seniors, and $19-$11 for youth. Visit mywso.ca.
French Without Tears: The Shaw Festival presents the play that established the international career of celebrated British playwright Terence Rattigan. Set in a villa on the coast of France, young British diplomats work to improve their French but their real preoccupation is with girls. Performances run Friday, May 11, through Saturday, Sept. 15, at the Royal George Theatre, Shaw Festival, 10 Queen’s Parade, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. Tickets range from $67.80-$33.90. Call 1-905-468-2172 or visit shawfest.com.
I Pagliacci: Leoncavallo’s only successful opera, the tale of a hunchback pagliacci who becomes embroiled in a fatal love triangle, plays at the Michigan Opera Theatre, 1526 Broadway, Detroit. This production includes the addition of a dream sequence by director Bernard Uzan to music from Leoncavallo’s Zaza. Showtimes are Saturday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 16, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 19, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 20, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are US$121-$29. Call 1-313-237-7464 or visit michiganopera.org.
Legally Blonde The Musical: The Windsor Light Music Theatre presents this show, based on the 2001 movie, Legally Blonde. This is the story of UCLA sorority girl Elle Woods, who, after being dumped by her Harvard-bound boyfriend, decides to follow him cross country when she’s accepted into Harvard law. Performances are Friday, May 11, at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 13, at 2 p.m. at Chrysler Theatre, St. Clair Centre for the Arts, 201 Riverside Dr. W. Tickets start at $25. Call 519-974-6593 or visit windsorlight.com.
Masterwork Performances: Maestro John Morris Russell completes his 11th and final season as Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra with a pair of Masterworks performances on Friday, May 11, and Saturday, May 12, at 8 p.m. at Assumption Church, 350 Huron Church Rd. Saturday’s performance is SOLD OUT. Tickets are $58-$38. Call 519-973-1238 or visit mywso.ca.
Mari Sings!: Soprano Mari Emilie Voelker with pianist Monique Simone perform songs in honour of Norwegian heritage by Grieg and Kjerulf along with classics by Handel, Poulenc, Offenbach and parodies by Barab. Free admission. The event is Saturday, May 12, at 7 p.m. at Paulin Memorial Presbyterian Church, 3200 Woodland Ave. Donations witll be accepted. Call 519-969-7561.
Mother’s Day Brunch: Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery celebrates Mother’s Day with a gourmet lunch and wine-tasting event. Chef Jeff Wright prepares a special menu and winery’s winemaker Tanya Mitchell pours five wines and provides a tasting seminar. Tickets are $35 per person or $20 per person for children under 10. The event is Sunday, May 13, from noon to 2 p.m. at Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery, 7258 County Rd. 50 W. Call 519-738-9253 or visit sprucewoodshores.com.
Rock ‘n’ Rodeo: The Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village presents The Country 95.9 Rock ‘n’ Rodeo. During the weekend, there will be rodeo events, barrel racing, hot air ballon rides, dog race, and more. Live music from Windsor’s Crystal Gage and Canadian country singer Dean Brody. Advance tickets are $20 each day or $25 for Saturday and Sunday. Tickets at the gate are $25 a day and $35 for Saturday and Sunday. The event is Friday, May 18, gates open at 4 p.m.; Saturday, May 19, at 9 a.m. and Sunday, May 20, at 10 a.m. at Canadian Transportation Museum and Heritage Village, 6155 Arner Townline, south of Essex. Call 519-776-6909 or visit rocknrodeo.ca.
Sports Optics Expo and Sale: Nine manufacturers of fine binoculars and spotting scopes exhibit and demonstrate their sports optics on the lakefront. Special guest appearances and book signings by Bill Rapai, Ernie Jardine and Sharon Stiteler. Free admission. The event is Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Pelee Wings Nature Store, 636 Point Pelee Dr. Leamington. Call 519-326-5193 or visit peleewings.ca.
Walkerville High School Reunion: The reunion features a variety of events all weekend including a silent auction, dancing, karaoke, basketball game, golf tournament, buffet dinner and more. Tickets are $40 for an all access weekend pass. The reunion is Thursday, May 17, Friday, May 18, from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday, May 19, from noon to 11 p.m. at Walkerville Collegiate School Grounds, 2100 Richmond St. Call 519-252-6514 or visit walkervilletartans.com. | 2019-04-25T10:16:39Z | https://windsorstar.com/life/weekend-scoop-for-may-11-to-17 |
Geneva: Germany is admitted to the League of Nations.
Spain: Day 54 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
Spain: Day 419 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 64 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 27 of 106 of the 2nd Battle of Shanghai.
Day 8 of 70 of the Battle of Taiyuan.
Spain: Day 784 of 985 of the Spanish Civil War.
CBI - China: Day 429 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 90 of 139 of the Battle of Wuhan.
ETO: At Bedzin, 200 Polish Jews are burned alive in a synagogue by the Germans who charge Poles with the crime, and then execute 30 of them in a public square.
The Germans instituted a special campaign of burning down synagogues, or, after destroying their interiors, turning them into stables, warehouses, bathhouses, or even public latrines. In Bedzin, flames from the burning synagogue spread to neighboring Jewish houses. The area was cordoned off by soldiers and SS-men who did not permit anyone to escape or to fight the fires. The rabbi of the community was forced to sign a "confession" that the Jews themselves had started the fire and was ordered to pay heavy fines as punishment for the "arson." The Jewish community was also compelled to bear the cost of tearing down the remaining walls of the houses and clearing the rubble.
Poland: Day 8 of 36 of Germany's Invasion of Poland. Polish defenders at Danzig surrender after a week of continuous bombardment. The Polish government leaves Warsaw for Lublin, while its forces at Radom are surrounded.
CBI - China: Day 794 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
CBI - Mongolia: Day 121 of 129 of the Battle of Khalkhin Gol.
ETO - UK: Day 3 of 258 of the Blitz. A national Day of Prayer is proclaimed throughout Britain.
ETO - UK: Day 61 of 114 of the Battle of Britain. RAF bombers concentrate on disrupting the German invasion effort.
East Africa: Day 91 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,160 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 299 of 381 of the Battle of South Guangxi.
Day 20 of 42 of the Hundred Regiments Offensive.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 79 of 164 of the Battle of Hanko. The Soviets will be forced off their leased naval base.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 5 of 28 of Finland's reconquest of East Karelia in southern Finland. The Soviets continue withdrawing from the Karelian Isthmus back to Leningrad.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 72 of 142 of Operation SILVER FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign to capture the Russian port of Murmansk in the Arctic. The German troops begin withdrawing back into northern Finland.
Russian Front - Finland: Day 70 of 140 of Operation ARCTIC FOX, a joint German-Finnish campaign against Soviet Northern Front defenses at Salla, Finland.
Russian Front: Day 79 of 167 of Germany's Operation BARBAROSSA, the overall invasion of the USSR.
Russian Front - North: Day 1 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad. Leningrad is now completely surrounded after German troops had closed the land bridge at Schluesselburg.
Russian Front - Center: Day 23 of 23 of the Battle of Dukhovshina, Russia. Soviets liberate Dukhovshina.
Russian Front - Center: Day 10 of 10 of the Battle of Yelnia, Russia. The Soviets liberate Yelnia.
Russian Front - Center: Day 10 of 14 of the Battle of Roslavl-Novozybkov, Russia.
Russian Front - South: Day 32 of 70 of the Siege of Odessa, Ukraine.
Russian Front - South: Day 17 of 35 of the 1st Battle of Kiev, Ukraine.
MTO - Libya: Day 152 of 256 of the Siege of Tobruk.
Middle East: Day 15 of 24 of the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
East Africa: Day 456 of 537 of Italy's East African campaign in the lands south of Egypt.
CBI - China: Day 1,525 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 3 of 33 of the 2nd Battle of Changsha.
Atlantic: Twelve British merchant seamen are awarded Russian decorations.
Russian Front - North: Day 366 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 127 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - Center: Day 41 of 64 of the 1st Battle of Rzhev-Sychevka, Russia. Though it will end in a stalemate, it will keep German troops from going to Stalingrad.
Russian Front - South: Day 73 of 150 of Germany's CASE BLUE, the failed offensive to take the Caucasus oil fields.
Russian Front - South: Day 17 of 165 of the Battle of Stalingrad, the bloodiest battle in human history.
MTO - Greece: US B-24s attack the harbor at Suda Bay.
East Africa: Day 127 of 186 of the Battle of Madagascar.
CBI - China: Day 1,890 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
Day 117 of 124 of Japan's Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, launched to punish anyone suspected of aiding the Doolittle raiders in China. Roughly 250,000 Chinese will be killed.
PTO - Alaska: Day 94 of 435 of the Battle of Kiska, Aleutian Islands. The US and Canada will defeat the Japanese invaders.
PTO - Malaya: Day 202 of 357 of the Battle of Timor Island, a long guerrilla war ending in Japanese victory.
PTO - New Guinea: Day 50 of 119 of the Battle of the Kokoda Track. The Japanese continue driving over the Owen Stanley Range toward Port Moresby. This will become an Allied victory.
PTO - Solomon Islands: Day 33 of 187 of the Battle of Guadalcanal.
ETO: US 8th Air Force: B-26s hit airfields and coastal defenses in France.
ETO: US 8th Air Force: 44th and 93rd Bomb Groups resume operations in the UK after detached service in Africa.
Russian Front - North: Day 731 of 872 of the Siege of Leningrad.
Russian Front - North: Day 492 of 658 of the Siege of the Kholm Pocket, USSR lays siege to the Kholm Pocket but the Germans hold out for a about a year and a half.
Russian Front - Center: Day 33 of 57 of the 2nd Battle of Smolensk, Russia. Becomes a Soviet victory as the Axis are pushed completely away from the Moscow region.
Russian Front - Center: Day 23 of 48 of the Battle of Bryansk, Russia. German troops continue retreating.
Russian Front - South: Day 16 of 122 of the Battle of the Lower Dnieper River, USSR.
MTO - Italy: Operation AVALANCHE, the Allied invasion of Italy begins. Troops land at Foggia and Salerno with US 9th and 12th Air Forces providing air support. The Italian army surrenders. German forces seize control of Rome and northern Italy and continue the fight.
CBI - China: Day 2,255 of 2,987 of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War.
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This performance of Sting’s “Desert Rose,” the second song from his new CD Brand New Day, brought Middle Eastern-influenced music to 170 million viewers in over 156 countries, the widest Western audience to date. It also introduced the general American audience to the talents of Algerian raï star Cheb Mami, who has already experienced great success in Europe and the Middle East.
Cheb Mami’s high tenor voice is heard in the solo opening of the piece, weaving a rich tapestry throughout over Sting’s Western lyrics and rock instrumental foundation. He sings in Arabic of longing and lost love in the bayati maqam, with the beautiful ornamentation and intense feeling characteristic of Middle Eastern music. Simon Shaheen, well-known Arabic violinist from New York, arranged the music for the string section, and was the lead violinist. The musicians who played with Shaheen were Jihad Racy, George Hamad, Joseph Chamaa, Mike Zamir and William Shaheen, and Zafer Tawi played doumbek. Riq, duff, , zills, and zaghareets were also in evidence. Although the song’s foundation is Western popular music, Mami’s contribution gives it a quality of Arabic authenticity. The song is the second single from Brand New Day, and a “Desert Rose” music video is currently airing on MTV.
I was fortunate to be able to arrange an exclusive interview with Mami the day after the Grammys. His manager, Algerian Michel Levy, helped translate from French, and added his own knowledge of Algerian culture and raï music to the conversation. Mami told me that his collaboration with Sting began because of Sting’s interest in Middle Eastern music. Sting was writing “Desert Rose” as a duet, and he was on a search to find a raï singer to provide authenticity. He went to several concerts of major raï singers before he heard Mami’s performance at a concert in Paris. After the show, Sting went backstage and asked Mami if he would help him with the song. He sent Mami a demo tape, and Mami worked at home for two weeks until 3 or 4 in the morning, developing his soaring vocal part. Sting didn’t tell Mami what the song was about when he shared the melody with him, waiting to see what would come from the collaboration. Sting told CNN, “I’m singing about longing—romantic, philosophical longing. He (Mami) came back a week later with some lyrics and started to sing them, and they sounded great to me. I said, ‘What are you singing about?’ and he said, ‘Well, I’m singing about longing.’ So that proved to me that the music was telling the story, not the other way around.”1 The song was recorded in Italy, and after the CD was released, Mami accompanied Sting on a world tour.
Raï permeated the youth culture of Algeria at that time. The name arose from the tradition of wise men in Algerian villages who gave their ra’yy (advice, opinion, view, notion, “my way,” “Tell it like it is!”). Traditional raï had originated during the 1800’s in Oran, with roots in Sufi and other poetry, and a female cult, the zawiyya. Rooted in traditional folk music common to the Oran-Tlemcen region sung by male singers (sheikhs), it was adopted and expanded by urban female singers in Oran (sheikhas). Its development can also be traced to the Bedouin song form melhoun. It had a place and feeling in Algerian culture much like the blues in America, and early music was typically a soulful, solo voice over darbouka and reed flute. Rimitti, one of the earliest and most influential singers among the Oran sheikhas, is still performing (see article page 12). During the 1950s and 1960s, younger musician-singers adopted elements of flamenco, jazz, Eastern Arab pop music, and Euro-Pop, and more modern, electrified instruments began to be used. Many of the new, younger generation of singers use the prefix Cheb or Cheba (“young”) to distinguish themselves from the older generation. Some musicians refer to the newer, European-influenced version “pop raï” to distinguish it from the older, indigenous tradition from which it derives. A significant event in the development of pop raï was the meeting between trumpet player Massaoud Bellamou and jazzman Safi Boutella in 1974. A few years later, the new raï generation began using keyboards and rhythm boxes. What is now known internationally as raï music is a phenomenon of the late 1970’s and the cassette revolution.
During Cheb Mami’s childhood, raï was the music of choice of Algerian young people. Because raï music was not allowed to be played on the one Algerian television station, which was owned by the State, artists became known through the distribution of locally produced cassette tapes. When he was fifteen, Mami entered a talent contest on national television called “Voice of Tomorrow.” Although he came in second, it was generally acknowledged that he was the clear winner, especially obvious since the first-place contestant was the daughter of the head of the panel of judges. The audience booed when she was announced as the winner, and cheered wildly when Mami performed and was awarded second place. After that show, all of the music producers in the country, including Boualem (the producer of “Disco Maghreb,” the main label of Oran that had produced most raï successes in those years), were on the phone to him, trying to get him to agree to record with them. One week later he was recording his first cassette. Over the next several years, he recorded ten cassettes, each of which sold between 100,000 to 200,000 copies, one selling over 500,000 copies. Although he became very popular and well known among the Algerian people, he was still not recognized by the national media because of the ban on raï by the government-controlled radio and television stations. In 1985, he made his first official public appearance at the first raï festival in Oran.
In spite of Mami’s success, the sale of cassettes did not bring him much money, and in 1985 he went to Paris to play in the clubs to earn cash to buy his band more equipment. His intention was to return to Algeria soon to continue his music there. In 1986 he sang at the first raï festival outside of Algeria at Bobigny in France, resulting in a great deal of media attention. Because of the worldwide acceptance of raï after the Bobigny Festival, the Algerian government reversed its position and began to embrace raï as its own, allowing it to be played on national radio and television for the first time. Mami met Michel Levy at Bobigny, and decided to extend his stay in France. In December 1986, Mami sang in a recital at the Olympia, a famous concert hall in Paris.
In 1987 Mami returned to Algeria to complete his two-year military service requirement, which interrupted his singing career, although he said the army was generous in allowing him to continue to sing for other soldiers and in cabarets. When he returned to Paris in May 1989 to sing again at the Olympia, it was clear that he was the hottest rising star of the new raï. More venues and tours followed in close succession: New Morning in December 1989; Bataclan in May 1990; Festival d’Anoulême; New York; Québec; Italy; Netherlands; Germany; l’Auditorium des Halles in January 1991; Switzerland; Spain; the Festival of Roskilde in Scandinavia; and England. He came to Los Angeles in 1990 to record his first album, “Let Me Rai,” and returned in 1994 to record, Saïda, which reached gold status in France. Douni el bladi followed in 1996. His latest CD, Meli Meli, was recorded in Paris in 1999, and reached platinum status in France, with several of the singles from the CD reaching #3 on the French national charts.
Raï is now a worldwide phenomenon, and most of the major raï singers live outside of Algeria, primarily in France. Mami continues to live in Paris and tours internationally, but he still feels close to his homeland. This was demonstrated by his return for military service, the naming of his first CD after his hometown Saïda, and the inclusion on his latest CD of “Bledi,” (My Country). Based on an ancient Mexican theme with Andalusian origins, “Bledi” tenderly describes Algeria and its various regions, a “tribute to a country torn apart by civil war.”3 Another song on the same CD, “Azwaw 2,” features a song based on a poem by and sung with Kabyle poet Idir, who sings in Qabayil, the “Berber” (Latin for “barbarian”) language of the Maghreb region (which includes the coastal mountain regions of Northern Algeria).
Much has been said in the media about the rebellious, anti-authoritarian nature of raï, but Mami insists that this is not true of current raï singers. An air of controversy has hung over raï throughout its history, but there are as many opinions about raï as the name would imply. Since the early 1900’s, raï lyrics have been racy and bold, sometimes laced with social and political criticism, tinged with wantonness and individualism. Some songs had hidden meaning critical of fundamentalist Muslims. Raï came to symbolize a lifestyle of freedom, cynicism and anti-authoritarianism. Militant Islamists began their campaign against raï singers after the start of the civil strife in Algeria. Some say that militant religious leaders called for a fatwa against raï singers, and that Cheb Hasni was assassinated and another singer kidnapped and released because of it. Mami and Michelle Levi denied this, however, insisting that these are merely rumors. They pointed out that no one has been able to identify who issued the alleged fatwa or who killed Cheb Hasni.
Mami insists that current raï is non-political. He says that it deals primarily with the problems of everyday life and love. Each singer sings about his own life, and gives his opinion about what it means, how he sees it. He says that because of this, the subject matter of current raï music tends to be different than the old music because life conditions have changed and people are facing different problems.
You tell me I have the same rights as you, but when you look at me I see in your eyes it is not true, I am not considered to be your friend. When I want to work or rent a house, you don’t have a job for me because of my color, because I am Arabic.
Mami is a Muslim, and says that his music, and raï music in general, does not attack the fundamentalists. When I asked him if raï music has been critical of Islam or was religious, he responded, “Carlos Santana is Catholic, right? Would you call his music religious?” Was this an elusion to the subtle way that good lyrics point to profound spiritual and philosophical truths? Perhaps referring to the origins of raï, Mami included a song entitled “Cheikh” on Meli Meli: “In Muslim tradition, the Cheikh is considered as the wise person, the one who has knowledge, the leader. The patriarch is loved and respected because he is able to give good advice and to calm down fights.”4 In the title song, “Meli Meli,” (What’s Happening to Me), he uses the phrase “mystical attraction” to describe his feelings of love.
Today, thanks to the influence of Cheb Mami and others, raï music has become so popular in Europe that it is synonymous there with Arab music. According to Mami and Michel Levy, even Arab singers who do not sing raï music are promoted as raï singers in France. Although Mami is clearly rooted in the raï tradition, as was further demonstrated in Meli Meli by his use of many traditional Middle Eastern instruments, it would be a mistake to merely classify Mami as a raï singer. He has developed a unique style of singing and song writing, and looks beyond the tradition of raï and the borders of Algeria for inspiration. The blending of numerous traditions is not uncommon in raï, which may account in large part for its international appeal as “World Music.” For instance, on Meli Meli there are influences of Andalusia in “Bledi,” Scottish bagpipes on “Azwaw 2,” and reggae rhythm and sound on “Hatachi.” His affinity for Western popular music is clear in his collaboration with Sting, and Sting’s choice of Mami for the duet is a tribute to Mami’s voice and musical talent. He is very comfortable in the higher ranges, and he demonstrates incredible vocal technique with his accuracy and quick changes. Mami skillfully blends Western popular rock with the nostalgia of Arabic lyrics and the traditional Oriental music line. His song writing demonstrates creativity as well as commercial savvy, and his songs are infectious and very singable.
3. from CD liner notes.
4. from CD liner notes. | 2019-04-20T20:13:28Z | http://thebestofhabibi.com/vol-18-no-1-april-2000/cheb-mami/ |
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There are also services to the Greek Aegean Islands (including Cyclades, Dodecanissa, North Aegean Sea and the Sporades).
It is both inexpensive and easy to travel around the islands. There are ferry services on numerous routes, with sailings most frequent during the summer. The main ports are Attica, Rafina and Piraeus, although there are regular sailings to the islands from the smaller ports of Alexandroupolis, Igoumenitsa, Patras, Kavala, Kyllini, Thessaloniki and Volos.
Tickets can be bought from the shipping lines’ offices located around the quaysides. In major ports the larger lines have offices in the city centre. There are two classes of ticket Economy Class and First Class) which offer varying degrees of comfort; couchette cabins can be booked for the longer voyages or those wishing to avoid the sun. Nearly all ships have restaurant facilities. During high season it is wise to buy tickets well before hand, as inter-island travel is very popular.
Routes from Piraeus: There are regular sailings to the following ports: Dodecanese: Astipalaia, Chalki, Karpathos, Kassos,Kalymnos, Kastelorizo, Kos, Leros, Lipsi, Nissiros, Patmos, Rhodes, Symi and Tilos. Cyclades: Aegiali and Katapola (both on Amorgos), Anafi, Donoussa, Folegandros, Heraklia, Ios, Kimolos, Koufonissia, Kythnos, Paros, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos,Santorini, Schinoussa, Serifos, Sifnos, Sikinos, Siros and Tinos. Peloponnese: Kithira, Gytheion, Hermioni, Methana, Monemvassia and Porto Heli. Saronic Gulf Islands: Aegina, Hydra, Poros and Spetses. Crete: Heraklion, Kastelli, Agios Nikolaos, Chania,Rethymnon and Sitia. Samos: Karlovassi and Vathi. North Eastern Aegean Islands: Chios, Evdilos (Ikaria), Limnos,Agios Kirykos (Ikaria), Mitilini (Lesvos) and Psara. Northern Greece: Kavala and Thessaloniki.
Confirm sailing times either with individual lines, the Greek/Hellenic National Tourist Organisation, or in Piraeus upon arrival in Greece.
Routes from Rafina: There are local services from Rafina (near Athens) to: Amorgos, Andros, Agios Efstratios, Chalkida (summer only), Chios, Donoussa, Kavala, Koufonissi, Karistos (Evia), Kythnos, Limnos, Marmari (Evia), Milos, Mykonos, Heraklia, Naxos, Schinoussa, Serifos, Sifnos, Syros, Thessaloniki and Tinos.
Other routes: These include Agia Marina–Nea Styra; Aedipsos–Arkitsa; Perama–Salamis; Rio–Antirio; Eretria– Oropos; Glifa–Agiokambos; Patras–Ithaca; Patras–Kefalonia (Sami); Patras–Corfu; Patras–Paxi; Preveza–Aktion; Igoumenitsa–Corfu; Corfu–Paxi; Kyllini–Zante; Kyllini– Cephalonia (Poros); Kavala– Thassos (Prinos); Kavala–Thassos (Limenas);Keramoti–Thassos; Alexandroupolis– Samothrace and Lavrion–Kea.
A hydrofoil service (also called the Flying Dolphins) offers a speedy and efficient service from Piraeus, travelling to many of the nearby islands. Though this is somewhat more costly than travelling by ferry, journey times are cut drastically. There are also fast hydrofoil services from Agios, Gytheion, Kimi (Evia), Konstandinos, Lavrion, Thessaloniki, Volos and Zea Marina (Piraeus).
For further information on various ferry and hydrofoil timetables, visit www.gtp.gr.
Many types of yachts and sailing vessels can be chartered or hired with or without crews. ‘Flotilla holidays’ are popular, and the Greek/Hellenic National Tourism Organisation (see Contact Addresses section) has a full list of companies running these types of holidays.
The two main railway stations in Athens are Peloponnissos (with trains to the Peloponnese)and Larissa (with trains to northern Greece, Evia and Europe).
Information and tickets are available from the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) in Athens (tel: (210) 529 7313 or 529 7777) or in Thessaloniki (tel: (310) 599 143).
Travelling north, there are regular daily trains from Athens to Thessaloniki, Livadia, Edessa, Florina, Seres, Drama,Paleofarsala, Larissa, Plati, Komotini and Alexandroupolis (connections from Thessaloniki and Larissa).
Travelling south, there are regular daily trains from Athens to Kiato, Xylokastra, Diakofto, Tripoli, Patras, Olympia, Argos, Megalopolis and Kalamata.
Inter Rail Cards are open to all European residents for unlimited rail travel in 2nd class in numerous European countries. Passes are valid for 16 or 22 days or 1 month.
Euro Domino Cards are open to passengers of all ages and offer rail travel in either 1st or 2nd class travel in one or more European countries. Passes are valid for 3 - 8 days and do not have to be taken consecutively.
Vergina Flexipass offers unlimited rail travel in Greece for 3, 5 or 10 days within 1 or 2 months in either first or second class, depending on the choice of ticket.
Greek Flexipass offers unlimited rail travel in Greece for 3 or 5 days within 1 month in first class.Students may be entitled to a 25 % reduction in the price of domestic rail fares. Travel is limited to certain routes and times. For more information on the above schemes, contact the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE).
Greece has a fine quality road network on the whole, totalling approximately 116,150km (72,174 miles), mostly paved. Traffic drives on the right.
Examples of some distances from Athens: to Corinth, 85km (53 miles); to Igoumenitsa, 587km (365 miles); to Thessaloniki, 511km (318 miles); and to Delphi, 165km (103 miles).
Buses link Athens and all main towns in northern Greece, Attica and the Peloponnese. Service on the islands depends on the demand, and timetables should be checked carefully. Some islands do not allow any kind of motorised transport, in which case islanders use boats, or carts and donkeys to travel around. Fares are low. The Greek/Hellenic Railways Organisation Ltd (OSE) runs bus services to northern Greece from the Karolou Street terminus and to the Peloponnese from the Sina Street station.
Bus information: There are two long-distance bus terminals in Athens-Terminal A and Terminal B. For detailed information on long-distance buses, run by KTEL, from Athens to the provinces, enquire at Terminal A, 100 Kifissou Street, Athens (tel: (210) 512 4910) or Terminal B, 260 Liossion Street, Athens. Additional information can be obtained from KTEL offices.
Rates are per km and are very reasonable, with additional charge for fares to/from stations, ports and airports. Taxis run on a share basis, so do not be surprised if the taxi picks up other passengers for the journey.
There is an additional charge from 0100-0600, with double fare from 0200-0400.
Most car hire firms operate throughout Greece. For details, contact the Greek/Hellenic National Tourism Organisation (see Contact Addresses section). Reservations can be made either in writing or by telephoning the car hire agency direct.
Minimum age for driving is l8. Children under 10 must sit in the back seat. Seat belts must be worn at all times. There are fines for breaking traffic rules and regulations.
The maximum speed limit is 120kph (70mph) on motorways, 110kph (60mph) outside built-up areas and 50kph (31mph) in built-up areas. There are different speed limits for motorbikes. It is against the law to carry spare petrol in the vehicle. EU nationals may import a foreign-registered car, motorcycle, caravan, boat or trailer for a maximum of six months. This period can be extended to 15 months for a fee and further paperwork.
A national driving licence is adequate for EU nationals. EU nationals that are taking their own cars to Greece are advised to obtain a Green Card, to top up the insurance cover to that provided by the car owner’s domestic policy. It is no longer a requirement by law for visits of less than 3 months, but without it insurance cover is limited to the minimum legal cover in Greece. The car registration documents must be carried at all times. Nationals of non-EU countries may need an International Driving Permit and must contact ELPA (Automobile and Touring Club of Greece).
A breakdown service is available on main roads, conditions of which have improved. For details, contact ELPA, Athens Tower, Messogion 2-4, 115 27 Athens (tel: (210) 779 1615; fax: (210) 778 6642; e-mail: [email protected]). Emergency breakdown services can be contacted toll-free-dial 104. There are good repair shops in big towns and petrol is easily obtainable.
There are numerous services around Athens and Attica. The terminal at Mauromateon Street, Areos Park, Athens has regular services to Amfiaraio, Nea Makri, Porto Rafti, Marathonas, Ramnous and Sounio. Trolley buses ILPAP) and regular buses (ETHEL) have frequent links to tourist sights and places of interest. Tickets for buses and trolley buses can be bought from the Athens Urban Transport Organisation (OASA) at various booths and kiosks situated around the city. For more information contact OASA at 15 Metsovou Street, 106 82 Athens (tel: (210) 883 6076; fax: (210) 821 2219; e-mail: [email protected]).
Athens has a consistent underground system (ISAP) that consists of three major lines. The old line runs north–south between Athens (suburb of Kifissia) and Piraeus daily 0500-0015. There are also two new lines: Line 2 runs between Aghios Antonios and Aghios Dimitrios and line 3 runs between Monastiraki and the airport. Tickets can be bought at every Metro and ISAP station. Information on timetables and schedules are available from Athens Metro or OASA (see address details above).
A new tram system in Athens cuts through the city from Syntagma Square right through to the coast and runs a pleasurable route from Peace and Friendship Stadium all the way to the most southern point of Glyfada. Tickets can be booked at all stations and trams connect with the Metro at Neos Kosmos and Neo Faliro (website: ww.tramsa.gr).
The following chart gives approximate travel times (in hours and minutes) from Athens to other major cities/islands in Greece.
*The travel time by road to Corfu includes a sea crossing from Patras. | 2019-04-20T00:18:08Z | http://travelpuppy.com/greece/getting-around.htm |
Showing results for tags 'gentle giant'.
It was announced today that Diamond Select Toys will be acquiring Gentle Giant Ltd.. A move that will certainly bolster DST on the statue market front. See the press release below: Both Diamond Select Toys and Gentle Giant Ltd. have long been known for delivering high-quality busts, statues and action figures to collectors worldwide. Now, fans can get the best of both worlds, as DST finalizes the purchase of select assets of Gentle Giant, taking over manufacturing and distribution of many of the company’s key lines. Beginning February 1, Diamond Select Toys and Collectibles, LLC, will assume operations for all of Gentle Giant’s existing licenses, and release previously developed and newly created busts, statues and scaled-up vintage action figures. Any in-progress and future products will be offered to retailers through the Previews catalog, published by DST’s sister company Diamond Comic Distributors. Gentle Giant’s collector club, the Premier Guild, will continue to operate, with exclusive items for members and reserved access to certain products. DST has pledged to fulfill any outstanding exclusives and rewards to current members, and to expand on the club’s scope going forward. “This is a great moment for DST,” said Diamond Comic Distributors owner Steve Geppi. “The unification of many of Gentle Giant’s licenses and built-in fan base with DST’s sales and distribution channels is a recipe for success. Two wonderful companies uniting talents to produce the best of the best. I am confident the final product will be well received by both companies’ wonderful supporters and customers.” "It is a great honor for Gentle Giant to continue our strong creative relationship with Diamond,” said Karl Meyer, VP of Entertainment at 3D Systems. “With great pleasure, I am personally thrilled to have DST uphold the Gentle Giant Ltd brand and work with our artists in bringing entertainment magic from the screen to the collectors’ hands." “I have been a longtime fan of Gentle Giant’s products, and I am excited to continue their legacy,” said DST president Chuck Terceira. “Once we’re up and running, we plan to deliver seamless service of existing product lines, so expect to see the same level of quality, with the added bonus of DST’s broad distribution.” In addition to resin busts and statues, DST produces Gallery PVC Dioramas, Select action figures, Minimates mini-figures, Vinimates vinyl figures, D-Formz PVC figures, prop replicas and vinyl banks. Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, LLC, was formed in 1999 by sister company Diamond Comic Distributors as a source of collectibles for all ages, developed primarily for the collector’s market. It has enjoyed relationships with a number of content producers, including Lucasfilm, Disney, Marvel, Warner Bros., Sony, CBS, Legendary, PopCap, EA and many more. Here is a FAQ list that DST has released as well: What will change when DST takes over Giant Gentle? Very little. Most products already developed will move forward, and new products will be developed to follow them. Many of the existing designers, sculptors, painters and factories will continue to be involved. You can expect to see some new artists that DST has worked with in the past start to work on traditional Gentle Giant Ltd. products. Convention attendance will remain largely the same, and the Premier Guild will continue to operate as it did. Will Gentle Giant be changing its name? Gentle Giant Studios are not involved in this acquisition and will continue to operate, performing sculpting services for a variety of clients, including DST. The Gentle Giant Ltd. brand will be joining the DST family. Will DST take over Gentle Giant’s licenses? Including Star Wars? Yes, DST will take over the majority of the Gentle Giant Ltd licenses and will continue the existing lines that Gentle Giant has started, releasing already-developed items and developing new items. Each license will be reviewed and discussed, and we will update you as soon as possible on their status. What should fans of Gentle Giant look forward to? A continuation of everything that they know and love about the company, with the addition of some new product categories, an injection of new artistic talent, and more ways to get the products they care about.
New Star Wars Exclusives Coming to Celebration 2019!Gentle Giant Ltd. Is traveling to Chicago, IL this month to attend Star Wars Celebration April 11-15, and they’re bringing two popular Clone Wars characters – Hera Syndulla and Darth Maul – as this year’s exclusive offerings! The captain and heart of the Ghost crew, Hera Syndulla was a gifted pilot and leader. While Hera was a strong commander – and especially adept at dogfighting with TIE fighters – she was also warm and nurturing. The Twi’lek could bring out the best in her team, which consisted of very different personalities, making them believe in themselves, each other, and their struggle against the Empire. Hera will be made available as a 1:6 scale resin bust, for a price of $120.00. A deadly, agile Sith Lord trained by the evil Darth Sidious, Darth Maul was a formidable warrior and scheming mastermind. He wielded an intimidating double-bladed lightsaber and fought with a menacing ferocity. Though he fell in battle against Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Zabrak from Dathomir would prove to be much harder to destroy than originally believed. Darth Maul will be depicted with his Force-constructed spider legs in a 1:8 scale Collector’s Gallery statue, available for $200.00. Star Wars Premier Guild members will be able to pre-order the busts beginning March 25. All others can come by the Diamond Select Toys/Gentle Giant Ltd. booth between April 11 and 15th! See you in Chicago!
https://jediinsider.com/8-20210 DARTH VADER ESB COLLECTOR'S GALLERY STATUE $159.99 Expected release date is Q3, of 2019 Something emerges from the fog… something that should not be here. A sinister shape forms and you cannot believe your eyes! Master Yoda told you not to take any weapons with you into the cave. He warned you that inside you would find “only what you take with you.” You are young and impulsive and you have not completed your training, so you charge in regardless and now, standing before you, is a figure that shouldn’t be here, the menacing shadow of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader!! Can it be? No…this apparition is something darker still… this is the pure dark side of the Force! Moreover, It is coming right at you! Sculpted by Gentle Giant's master artisans, this new Collector’s Gallery statue recreates the scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where Lord Vader suddenly appears before Luke Skywalker in the boggy Dark Side cave of Dagobah and silently challenges him to their first confrontation. Vader, surrounded by the denizens of the swamp, ignites his fearsome red lightsaber and advances on our young hero! Each limited edition, hand-painted 1:8th scale Collector Gallery Statue is cast in high quality polyresin with crisp details. This statue also comes individually numbered with a matching Certificate of Authenticity. This Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Darth Vader Collectors Gallery statue continues our popular line of 1:8 scaled releases of a figure on a detailed, themed base and celebrates the last 40+ years of the Star Wars saga. LIMITED EDITION OF ONLY 750 PIECES!
Gentle Giant has two new statues coming based on the new Star Trek: Discovery TV series. Michael Burnham in Starfleet Long-haul Space SuitStar Trek: Discovery Collector’s Gallery Statue - $185 Commander Michael Burnham was born in 2226 to human parents that were killed by Klingons. She was raised by the Vulcan ambassador, Sarek, and his human wife on Vulcan, where she studied at the Vulcan Science Academy. All her life, she felt the pressure to prove herself to her father and to be more Vulcan, however her mother often counseled her to not lose touch with her humanity. Burnham joined Starfleet and served aboard the U.S.S. Shenzhou under Captain Philippa Georgiou as her First Officer. The captain became Burnham’s mentor, surrogate mother and dear friend. The Shenzhou encountered a strange object in space that their sensors could not scan. Burnham was determined to find out the object’s origin, so she devices a plan, dawns a Starfleet long-haul space suit and goes out into deep space to lay eyes on whatever it was that destroyed their probe. What she finds in the darkness of deep space catches her completely off guard and changes the course of her life. Gentle Giant’s artists worked directly with production to obtain original concept models, reference photos and authentic production files to accurately match and recreate the costume worn by actor Sonequa Martin-Green for our first Star Trek: Discovery Collector’s Gallery 1:8th scale statue. The detail in this piece has to be seen to be believed and looks stunning from every angle. Every detail of the costume has been captured from the insignia shaped mesh, to the clear visor, to the jets, vents and scribe-lines of the suit. You can display her alone or have her facing off against our in-scale Klingon Torchbearer statue (also available for pre-order). This limited edition statue of First Officer Michael Burnam in her Starfleet long-haul space suit is hand-cast, hand-painted and hand-numbered with a limited edition Certificate of Authenticity. Klingon Torchbearer Star Trek: Discovery Collector’s Gallery Statue - $195 The TORCHBEARER is a Klingon ceremonial position, whose role is to activate the Beacon of Kahless to summon the 24 Great Houses foretold in the great Klingon prophecy. The Torchbearer must be a fierce warrior and be of noble birth. Rejac was the Klingon Torchbearer that faced off against Starfleet First Officer Michael Burnham of the USS Shenzhou in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Gentle Giant’s artists worked directly with production to obtain original concept models, reference photos and authentic production files to accurately match and recreate the costume worn by the Torchbearer for our second Star Trek: Discovery Collector’s Gallery 1:8th scale statue. The team at Gentle Giant Studios have a personal connection with this character as we helped 3-D print and prototype the costume used in production. The detail in this piece has to be seen to be believed and looks stunning from every angle. Every detail of the costume, designed by Neville Page and Glen Hetrick, has been captured from the intricate armor plating, to the Klingon insignia to his Klingon bat’leth. You can display the Klingon Torchbearer statue alone or have him facing off against our in-scale First Officer Michael Burnham statue (also available for pre-order). This limited edition statue of the Star Trek: Discovery Klingon Torchbearer is hand-cast, hand-painted and hand-numbered with a limited edition Certificate of Authenticity. Look for these to be released in Q2 of 2019. Check out images for both statues below. | 2019-04-24T18:38:42Z | https://forums.toynewsi.com/tags/gentle%20giant/ |
These healthy Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies make a nutritious and grab-and-go breakfast that tastes like fall! This gluten-free and clean eating breakfast treat is made with wholegrain oats, cranberries, pumpkin seeds and honey.
In the 2 years since posting this wonderful recipe for the first time, it has quickly become the most popular recipe on this site! Mainly thanks to Pinterest! There is not much to be improved or updated on this post. The recipe in ON SPOT! I’ve remade them many times since without changing anything.
Even 2 years later, I still love the images – the lighting was awesome that day. These were some of my first food photos that I truly loved. Maybe I could take slightly better ones now, but the difference would be minimal. And I want to hold on to these almost for nostalgic reasons.
The only one thing this post was missing was a video! Which is hereby remedied. I am leaving the rest of the post and the recipe unadulterated for you below. I have never been a fan of cooking first thing in the morning or making any breakfast that involves a lot of prep.
And some days I am especially happy to have my breakfast already waiting in the fridge. I am not a morning person, still some mornings are harder than others. Like the morning after a night of my baby Olivia randomly deciding to wake up no less than 6(!) times for no obvious reasons.
Or when I went to bed waayy later than I should have either because I was working, binge-watching Netflix, or finishing just one more chapter of a book. It’s on those super-rough mornings that I could hug myself for having prepared some make-ahead breakfast like these breakfast cookies (or awesome overnight oats).
They are like having a bowl of yummy oatmeal with lots of mix-ins only without the bowl. The convenient cookie shape offers itself for breakfast on-the-go.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet.
In a small bowl warm Spectrum® coconut oil and honey (either microwave, inside preheating oven or on the stove top).
In a large bowl combine both kinds of oats, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, ground flax, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
Add pumpkin puree, eggs and warmed coconut oil and honey.
Drop about ¼ cup sized scoops of the mixture onto a cookie sheet and flatten (cookies won’t spread while baking).
Bake for about 15-20 minutes until edges are lightly browned.
Let cookies cool on baking sheet before moving to an airtight storage container.
Ahh you guys, there is seriously nothing I love more than delicious sizzling chicken fajitas! I could eat them pretty much on any given weeknight, I mean not only are they packed with tons of flavor, but with just a few simple ingredients you can easily make a healthy filling dinner! Being that fajitas are literally one of our favorite go-to meals, I thought it’d be fun to do a little spin on the traditional fajita dish and simply roll the chicken up around the veggies to make one perfect little serving.
My hubby absolutely RAVED about these and has already requested that we add them into our weekly meal rotation. As you know we love to meal prep and these chicken roll-ups make perfect leftovers for lunches or dinner. The chicken is super moist, the peppers are cooked just perfectly inside the roll-ups and the whole dish literally only takes about 30 minutes to throw together (after the chicken has marinated).
I went ahead and purchased thin sliced chicken cutlets just to make life a little easier, but you could of course use regular chicken breasts, slice them in half or into thirds (depending on the size) and pound them out until they are about a 1/4-inch thick. Either way will work just fine!
Then comes the fun part – marinating!! Please do not skip this part to save time, the longer the chicken marinates, the more flavor they will have so this is really important. The marinade is super easy to make and is a basic recipe that I use for all my fajita recipes which includes a little olive oil, lime juice and garlic along with a combination of chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and fresh chopped cilantro.
I also add a pinch of cayenne pepper or hot sauce because I like a little heat with my fajitas, but you can leave this out if you don’t like things too spicy. I promise the flavor will still be there!
Oh and don’t let the fact that this recipe requires chicken being rolled up around veggies be a deterrent to you – this couldn’t be easier. Seriously. Any novice home cook (or even your kiddos) could do this! All you need are toothpicks or some kitchen twine, but I personally find that toothpicks are much easier to use annnd I’m sure you already have those lying around your kitchen somewhere. Just roll the chicken up around the slices of bell pepper and secure both sides with a toothpick.
Easy and done! Once the chicken bakes and you’re ready to eat you can remove the toothpicks and the chicken will still remain wrapped around the veggies.
Such an easy dish that takes so little time!
For the chicken breasts, if you purchased pre-sliced chicken cutlets then skip to the next step.
If using chicken breasts, slice them longways into 2 even slices and firmly pound the chicken using the smooth side of a meat tenderizer to an even thickness of about ¼ inch.
making sure they are completely coated.
Allow chicken to marinate for a minimum of one hour to overnight.
Repeat this step until all the cutlets have been rolled up and place seam side down in a prepared baking dish.
uncovered, at 375 for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the juices run clear.
Is anyone else completely freaked out by the monster-sized chicken breasts you seen in the stores these days? Pick up a pack of those guys from the store, and three ( because there’s always three in a pack for some reason ) manage to weigh a pound and a half to two pounds. It’s nuts!
Even when I get the fancy $9-per-pound hormone-free cage-free massaged-since-birth ocean-front free-roaming Prius-driving chicken breasts, they are STILL pretty huge. Oh, and still three to a pack.
Which is funny, because every recipe ever written for boneless skinless chicken breasts seems to call for four. I’m fighting back! My Easy, Basic Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts recipe calls for three, because I’m not in cahoots with the chicken people, and I know how chicken comes packed.
I’m going to do my best to make sure that all of my future chicken recipes ( including this one ) is in a multiple of 3 as well — it just makes things easier for everyone, and is how I tend to really cook. So here, we have another chicken recipe using the ubiquitous boneless, skinless chicken breast, and it calls for only three pieces of chicken! Usually, half of one of these guys is more than enough to fill me up, particularly when crammed full of delicious, tangy feta and cooked spinach.
8 oz chopped frozen spinach, cooked according to package directions and squeezed dry.
Mix the chopped frozen spinach, feta, cream cheese, garlic and half of the salt in a medium sized bowl.
Cut a pocket into each chicken breast.
flat on top of the breast.
Make sure that you are pressing the spatula down hard enough to hold the chicken in place.
You may need to actually dig the edge of the spatula into the meat just a little bit to accomplish this.
Insert the knife ⅔ of the way into the side of the thickest part of the chicken, and slice down to the thinnest part, stopping before you cut through; you want a pocket not a flap.
Separate the spinach and cheese mixture into three parts, and roll into thick logs.
Stuff each log into the pocket you made in the chicken breasts.
today I have a family favorite. 🙂 This Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies recipe is a must have at any holiday gathering.
Peanut butter and chocolate…. what more could you ask for?
Basically this is a delicious and creamy peanut butter cookie recipe with a yummy kiss pressed into the middle. It is oh so good!
Cream together peanut butter, butter, sugar and brown sugar until smooth.
Add egg and vanilla and beat together.
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
Slowly add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, beating until incorporated.
Roll into 24 1″ balls and place on cookie sheet several inches apart.
Gently make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
Place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each cookie. | 2019-04-20T16:50:19Z | http://delish.heafen.info/tag/roll/ |
When I was twenty-three, I wrote a horrible, terrible novel that will never see the light of day. I submitted it to an agent — ONE agent — and received a rejection within minutes. Now I know this was his assistant summarily rejecting everything in the slush pile, but at the time, I took this as the ultimate sign that I was not meant to be a writer. Dejected, I stopped. Instead, I got a job as an assistant at a literary agency, where I remained for four years. Next, I became an editor at Penguin Random House, where I acquired and edited fiction and non-fiction, primarily for teens and young adults. After that, I came to work for Cup of Jo, where I decided to try my hand at writing again. And a few years after THAT, I attempted writing books. So yeah, this was not a situation where I wrote something, submitted it into the ether and got it published. I feel tremendously lucky to have gotten here.
2. Books themselves also take forever.
Dreams aside, the publication of a physical book takes approximately one million years. I wrote this book in 2016, and it’s finally coming out… in 2019. “Why do books take so long?” everyone asks. “How much time can it take to print something?” This is a long and complicated answer, so let’s just say that book publishing is an archaic historic institution, with schedules that harken back to another time, and the process of getting a book into your hands takes many, many steps.
3. You kind of get to do whatever you want.
There are a million inside jokes (with myself) baked into the text. An arcade named after my friend’s cat. A character named after my favorite lipstick. Because I could, and it made the process that much more fun. To that end, I would argue that writing, even when it comes to fiction, is just as much about mining the contents of one’s memory as it is about making things up. How did you feel at a certain age? What was going on in your life? What did it look like? Who or what were the touchstones of that period? Those details are baked into this story, because as much as this is a story about three girls on the cusp of turning thirteen, it’s also my story. And maybe yours, as well.
4. I don’t know where any of this comes from.
For me, the act of writing is a little like blacking out. On the best days, it feels like going into a trance. After the fact, I don’t really remember having written any of it.
5. Reading is more important than writing.
One question I get asked a lot is how to be a better writer, and my answer is always the same. Read. Read more. Read everything you can get your hands on — voices similar to your own and voices that couldn’t be more different. Topics you have no knowledge of and memoirs about all kinds of people. Read the newspaper. Read essays. Read poetry. And then get very, very quiet and let your own voice speak through you.
6. Authors often have nothing to do with the cover.
People will say, “Oh, I like what you did with the cover!” or “That’s an interesting direction you took that in.” But in many cases, writers have absolutely nothing to do with that. Covers are heavily influenced by what sales and marketing think will do well in the current marketplace.
7. You — yes, you! — can make stuff happen.
This is not specific to writing books, but it’s something the process has absolutely taught me. When there is something you really care about — be it a book, a brief, a child — sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands. Do it yourself. Speak up. Don’t be afraid of being aggressive. This is your baby we’re talking about, and you need to do everything in your power to help guide their journey.
8. Writing a book is not fancy.
“When are you going to hit the road?” everyone says. “When is the book tour? Where is the party with celebrity guests?” That’s funny. That is the stuff of ’80s lore and television shows. The vast majority of authors do not go anywhere. My book tour is on Instagram, and you are warmly invited.
This is where I do my best therapist voice and say, “But just having written a book is a success.” And that is true! But commercially, most books do not earn back the expense it takes to make them. The mega bestsellers (like James Patterson or J.K. Rowling or Michelle Obama) are what make the vast majority of money for publishers, while everything else is a loss. So, book sales are very important! Particularly the first week of sales, which often sets the tone for how a book will perform over its lifetime. If a book sells out of the gate, then stores will re-stock, the publisher will re-print, and everyone will be happy. All of which is to say, if there is a writer whose work you love (ah-hem, cough cough), don’t hesitate to support their book when it comes out! Writing, like many other art forms, is ultimately a labor of love.
10. You always have to start somewhere.
After you finish one project, you are faced with the terror of starting another. But for me, the hardest part is always simply beginning. I’ll tell myself, write one paragraph per day, write one page, write one chapter. Run a few meters, run a few blocks, run a few miles. Wherever you are, whatever you want to accomplish, just start somewhere. Because before you know it, you’re actually doing the thing, and that feels pretty amazing.
P.S. 12 beautiful children’s books and 18 great books with female heroines.
Just wanted to let you know my 10 year old daughter finished your book today and loved it! She can’t wait for the next one.
Congrats! I just ordered it for my 8 yr old! And I know her 12 yr old brother will also end up reading it. They both love the babysitter club!
yay! congratulations caroline!! i love your advice from the other side. a while ago i wrote a list of roles but then realized I can’t call myself something if I dont actually do it. so even though it’s just a blog, i can now consider myself a writer. maybe someday i’ll pen a book as well. i wrote more about my aspirations here: https://tps-steph.blogspot.com/2019/02/0028-i-am.html sharing is a way to motivate myself.
I LOVED reading The Baby-Sitters Club series growing up! Mary Anne was my favorite babysitter! I have a 9 year old daughter who loves to read – excited to get this for her.
No salami for anyone you care about! Plenty of research shows that cured meats lead to increased colorectal cancer. Instead, stick with dark chocolate or healthful food choices to show your love!
I ordered this book for my 12 year old neighbor who babysits our kids. Inspite of her age, she is truly a great babysitter; fun, playful, patient, compassionate, and creative. When it arrived, my five year old daughter was enthralled by the cover, so I read her the first chapter. Really fun! Congratulations Caroline!
This is so exciting Caroline! Congratulations! As someone who once upon a time had a babysitters’ club inspired by Kristy’s Great Idea, I cannot WAIT to read your take! I ordered a copy for my classroom library too. My third graders will love this.
Congratulations Caroline! You are so inspiring. I have loved reading your work on Cup of Jo for years now and am so excited for your book.
Congrats on your book!!!! Just some feedback: considering your picture is in front of the oh so lovely Books are Magic in BK, you may want to link to your book on their site (https://booksaremagic.net/r/tu/Z7), or say, quite literally any indie bookstore for that matter! Where you spend shapes where you live, so let’s put that money back in the community, VS a behemoth tax-evading corp that doesn’t need the help. Congrats again on the release of Best Babysitters Ever!
Such an accomplishment, Caroline! Congratulations! As a former BSC fanatic, and attempted club creator myself, I can’t wait to read. Just ordered for my 10 and 11-year-old nieces (and myself)!
Just bought it for my library! Congratulations, Caroline!
Bought it. Happy to support you and this blog that gives me so much. Doesn’t hurt that I also have an 11yo., who, incidentally, loves to watch the old Babysitter’s Clubs. You’re on the pulse.
Congrats! Babysitters Club spin-off are what my 90’s girl dreams are made of!
Congratulations on doing it Caroline! I’ve followed you here for years and it’s so inspiring to read this.
**Added to cart** I feel privileged to support you! Congrats on the book!
Congratulations! I have your book in my cart on amazon.com. And thanks for your insights on writing.
Congratulations! These are such wonderful words of advice. Plus, I was so pleased when I got to the end and saw that your book is a babysitters club spin off!
Caroline, were you obsessed with The Babysitter’s Club like I was? I wrote an award-winning essay about how much I admired Ann M. Martin when I was in second grade (and the prize was a $25 gift certificate to Toys R Us, where I bought a beloved stuffed dog that I named Norman). Then she did a book signing at my local book store, so of course I brought my essay and asked her to sign it! I had every single book in the series, and every reference to The Babysitter’s Club gives me intense pangs of nostalgia!
More importantly, congratulations on your first book! I’m sure it’s wonderful and I hope it introduces a bunch of young girls to the original series, too, like Netflix has done for old TV shows.
Congrats Caroline! Such an exciting thing, to have your book published! You have such skill with language, I’m sure the book will do great.
Curious if you considered self-publishing and your thoughts about it in general? Anyone else who is in the industry, would love to see what you think, too.
Just bought a copy for my 11 year-old daughter! Congratulations!!!
I just ordered it, for myself (age 36), haha. So happy for you, Caroline! You are such a gifted writer who really stands out.
Congratulations Caroline! Former book publicist here (adult and children’s books) and now I’m a freelance writer. I applaud your bravery and the discipline it takes to actually make this happen. A book is no mean feat. Wishing you so much success!
Congrats! Hard work paid off.
Congratulations, Caroline! I just ordered my copy! I work in children’s publishing (and am a writer myself), so this post hits home. Your top ten are spot on. And to speak to #10, I had a writing professor in graduate school who told us she used to set a timer when she sat down to write. Fifteen minutes, she’d tell herself. Just write for fifteen minutes (since that seemed less daunting than sitting down to write for an hour or longer). She told us, oftentimes, she didn’t even hear when the timer went off and kept writing long after those fifteen minutes were up. I’ve always loved that advice as a way to just get going. Have I ever used it? No. BUT I’m doing it. This week. Promise.
Ps. I love how many people are commenting saying they feel as if one of their friends wrote this book. I second that.
1) I totally did this when I was a kid! I started a babysitters club with my friends in the mid 90s – I had a black ledger book, pooled our earnings, made business cards on my parent’s computer and put up a geocities website eventually. We even went to our parents’ offices to present our services and drum-up business. By age 13, I was making more per hour than I did my first job post-college! By high school, I had regular nanny gigs, by college full-time nanny jobs and preschool teaching jobs. 2) This says series – will there be more??
Oh my god. I started one too. Waaaaaay before computers and in a tiny outback country town- the demand for babysitting was pretty low but I made a sign and popped it up in the general store (the only shop for miles). I was babysitting at 12. Now with two babies, my peers look at me with horrified faces when I explain my super capable 19 year old niece is baby sitting my 2 yo and 8 mo. I wouldn’t dare tell them I was babysitting at 12 – inspired by the BSC. I am so excited to read this – good on you Caroline. Your article on getting your baby published was excellent!
So excited for you, Caroline! The biggest congratualtions to you!
Thank you for this, Caroline! I have been working on writing romance novels for a little over a year but I constantly struggle with self doubt and many days I feel like giving up the project. Your list helps me continue to remain dedicated to finishing what I’ve started, even if it never sees the light of day.
Congratulations on your book, I wish you all the success and hope there are many more creative projects to come for you.
So happy for you and love every single thing you just wrote about writing!
I worked at Random House for 15 years. You captured the process perfectly!
Congrats! It’s a clever idea. Hope it sells, sells, sells!
-Library doesn’t have it? Request it!
-And finally, leave a review!
Writer question for you Caroline! How would you feel if someone told you they loved your book, and they took your book out from the library? That is generally where I get all my books, but I sometimes feel bad knowing the authors don’t get paid. Thoughts?
Illustrator from Australia chiming in here. Every year I get $1 royalty per copy of my book that is loaned in libraries that year. I also got $1 per copy when it was purchased. In Aus at least, authors and illustrators still get royalties on loans books.
My husband is an essayist (and a high school math teacher). His writing is gaining traction now, but it has been a slog. He’s about to have an article published in Harvard Ed Review that his been rejected 73 times by other publications! Granted, it’s a tough article on race so I know why people passed on it, but that’s a lot of rejection to absorb while you KEEP ON WRITING! It’s not for the faint of heart, I suppose.
Congrats Caroline! Love your writing and am buying the book. Wishing you great success….
My copy arrives tomorrow and I can’t wait! Your writing on Cup of Jo has been a joy to follow and I’m thrilled to hear your voice in a different context. Plus, as a former tween OBSESSED with the Baby Sitters Club books (remember the “special” editions; they were my fave) I’m thrilled to revisit that time of my life. Congrats!!!!
Just put myself in line for the book at the library – congrats, Caroline!
Congratulations! So exciting. This book looks perfect for my 9 year old daughter–buying it now (and I am a notorious underbuyer of books–we go the library every week and get our fix there. ) But I would love to support you!
Bought a copy for my 11 year old. Congratulations, C.
Congratulations on your new book! As an indie bookstore owner who LOVED The Babysitters Club when I was younger, I’m the perfect demographic for stocking these. BUT – you’ve got a picture of yourself at an indie bookstore and a link for your book on Amazon and no links to indie bookstores anywhere…seems like a bit of a disconnect and a really big missed opportunity to let your readership know how important it is to support their local indie bookstore, and if they don’t have a local, we ship, too! Just thought I’d point it out that you could have linked to your book on the site of the store you’re posing in front of and help to keep them there. Also, have you reached out to any indies for your virtual book tour? We hold them, too! We would love to help support you, and are usually pretty creative with how we can do that, unlike the Amazon algorithm. As someone once said (paraphrasing) – “An algorithm can only tell you about the past. Booksellers give you the key to the future.” I’m excited to share your book with future generations of readers. Please help us stay here by linking to us indies when you can. Thank you!
As a diehard fan of indie bookstores, this made me giggle a little because, as Jessica points out, you have to love the passion of our indie booksellers!
Thank you, BrocheAroe! Well said.
congrats and great advice! #10 is so important!
Congratulations!! I’ve always loved your writing and perspectives on Cup of Jo. It’s very inspiring to read about how you are following many paths in your life.
I strongly encourage you to link to IndieBound or an independent bookstore (perhaps the one your are standing outside of in the Books Are Magic photo?) rather than Amazon. Authors and indie bookstores support each other on a very real and personal level, and these kinds of things go a long way to building a stronger community. Many indie bookstores will ship anywhere in the country and IndieBound is a great resource that can help an interested party shop from local bookstores in their area that might carry your book.
Indie booksellers can hand-sell your book, put it on a staff recommends shelf, write a review of it, hold an in-store event, and many more things that Amazon can’t do for you. Reach out to some of them, tell them about your book, demonstrate your support by linking to an indie store and build those relationships!
Yes please! Thanks for commenting on this as well. I noticed the Books Are Magic photo too—they should be credited at least, and IndieBound is a great resource.
Yes, yes, yes to all of this! The publishing of the first book entails a huge learning curve!
Bravo Caroline and thanks for these “surprising things”, I’m in the process of writing/not writing and the one paragraph a day tip will help, I’m sure. It’s discipline, it’s work, and it’s “I can do it”.
Congratulations! I’ve always loved your writing on CoJ and it feels like there’s some justice in the world now that you’re being published.
Congratulations Caroline! As an indie bookseller, I wish that your link went to Books Are Magic, where your photo was taken, rather than the big A. Indie bookstores do author events, recommend to teachers and librarians, and do lots of other things to support their communities (local taxes, anyone?). Cheers, and congrats again!
where I live, baby-sitters are usually in high school, most parents don’t trust younger teenagers with their kids, isn’t that funny?
I’d love to read your book as my daughter will soon be old enough to baby-sit!
Caroline, congratulations, and thank you very much for sharing what you learned on your process. It is indeed something to be very proud of. Brava!
OK, so I live in South Africa. We get a lot of the international bestsellers, but they’re expensive. So if I’m not sure if I’ll like something, I’ll often get it on audio, especially if I can get it with an Audible credit (it’s often much cheaper that way). Do audio book sales still count towards sales or not as much as printed books?
Congrats Caroline. You’re an inspiration. All the best with your book and your writing career.
Huge congratulation on the publication of your book, Caroline. What an achievement!
Hip hip hooray! Congratulations, Caroline!
Heartfelt congrats to Caroline on this milestone. Please know that your digital audience is cheering for you.
Thank you also for this post, championing all of us to be brave and do brilliant, difficult things by your example.
Btw- buying this for all the young people in my life. And for me.
I’m really curious – did Ann M. Martin give her blessing?
Thanks for sharing Caroline! The publishing world is so so glacial. Even more so With picture books because you’re waiting on an illustrator! I was supposed to get published 2019 but am awaiting illustrators still so lets see.
My first book Lailah’s Lunchbox took a year to make it into print which I now realize was nothing!
I can’t wait to read your book!! I’m a fan of the BSC so Yayyy!
Just ordered a copy for my neighbors daughter who’s 9! Congratulations!
Congratulations on your book, and loved this thoughtful post.
Congratulations, Caroline! I’m so glad I was introduced to your writing via Cup of Jo. I still revisit the 7-step guide to heartbreak every now and then – it is a source of comfort during a time when many of us need it most!
Congrats! I put my hold in (New York Public Library) (for myself, 33!) Someone in the industry once told me utilizing the library system is still very supportive of writers and publishers. I’ve agonized over not spending at my local independent shops but the library is perfect for me and I adore my local branch. I contribute monetarily to the NYPL often. Would you say this is accurate?
Regarding point #2, I actually am very curious to know why exactly does it so long for a book to come out in the States??
If anyone knows of an article that covers this topic, would love to hear!
Congratulations, Caroline! You’ve written some of my favorite words on Cup of Jo (though it’s hard to pick favorites around here!), and I’m thrilled your book is officially out in the world. Woohoo!
Just ordered this for my 10 year old daughter! :) She is super excited! Congrats in making your dream reality.
Congratulations Caroline! I am newish to the book industry (on the independent bookstore side) and one of the most fascinating random tidbits I’ve learned is that there is one woman–the fiction buyer at Barnes & Noble–who has tons of influence and power, and publishers will change a cover, and even a title, if she tells them to. Crazy to think about.
My 8 year old daughter will absolutely devour this book! Congratulations!
My daughter loved that series.
Thrilled to see this arrive on our doorstop today! It’s a gift for my 9-year old daughter. Love that we’ll both enjoy reading it to each other at night. Congratulations Caroline!!
This is wonderful! Ordering right now for my 9 year old daughter and will suggest this for the next meeting of her book club! Congratulations!
SO excited for you, Caroline. I’ve been enchanted with your writing since your first COJ post. Ordering now– for my 30-year-old self :) All the best to you and this book’s journey. HUGE congrats on the NYT review!
Just received my copy today! Congrats on your novel — I can’t wait to read it.
Congratulations! I just ordered a copy for a friend’s daughter.
I felt like telling her that a friend had written it.
Just did the exact same (and felt the same way)!
Congratulation Caroline!!! This is HUGE and I’ll be ordering it today for my girls. My dad has written several college level probability/statistics books and I read them like a novel because it too has inside jokes/ or what I call family Easter eggs. So many of the math problems include relatives’ names, favorite hikes from the French alps, the chances a family will have 4 children (3F, 1M) like us, even my dad’s daily commute to and from work. They are such treasures!!!
Wow! How lovely! I never considered that so much sentiment went into a math problem I was solving!
Congratulations! As a writer myself, I know of what you speak! From one author to another: you’re an author! Soak it in! It feels like a miracle, but we know it’s hard work. Reading this made me want to keep slogging away at my current creative projects. Thank you. And enjoy the launch! I’ll hand sell it at the bookstore I work part-time at out here in Seattle!
Beautifully stated as always. Go Caroline!! So happy for you!
Congratulations! I’m ordering one right now for my daughter.
So thrilled! Gonna buy a copy each for my twin nieces. They’re three years old so it’ll be a while ‘til they can read it, but it’ll be fun telling them how their ‘grown up’ book collection started after a brilliant writer on aunty’s favourite blog back in 2019 published a book.
My niece is two and I too will buy for her a copy for the same reason! Love you Caroline and congratulations!
1. Buy your books from independent sellers or from the publisher directly. Not amazon. The makers get more of a cut and can make and support riskier work.
2. Caroline was kind of vague about the process, but to hold a physical book in your hand (or even kindle I suppose) is a massive process and risk for a publisher. The endless edits, the production meetings, the design meetings, the proofs, the printing, the shipping – it is all time consuming. People in this industry get paid peanuts because they love producing quality literature and adding voices to the world. As in part 1. Of my comment, please support them!
Then how are these so many awful, truly awful books? I’m not trying to be snarky. I’m very curious.
Em, two words: self publishing. Standards have diluted with paper and printing being cheaper. My tip: find a few publishing houses (big and small) that you trust to have put in the hours and go from there, after that it’s a matter of taste, I suppose.
“For me, the act of writing is a little like blacking out. On the best days, it feels like going into a trance. After the fact, I don’t really remember having written any of it.” SO FUNNY SO TRUE.
Kudos! I look forward to picking up a copy and getting nostalgic with the BSC.
100% agree and am glad this is a real thing that other people have too!!!
Thank you for featuring this and the opportunity to learn more about the book process. I am doing a lot of reading for my PhD on colonialism and trauma and I need a break from such heavy reading. I loved the Babysitter’s Club. Thank you, Caroline Cala- I hope you know you wrote this for grown ups too!
Congratulations! I’m ordering a copy for my 10 year old niece. I think she’ll love it!
Just ordered the book for my 9 year old goddaughter!
I had a book published 2 years ago (after having 2 of my top 3 publishers vying to publish it!). I picked out a new set of dishes I would buy myself when my first royalty check came in. A beautiful 12-piece place setting from a pottery studio. Rude awakening: I could buy 2 place-settings with the royalties.
I bought my dishes anyway, as a celebration.
Hehe when on “tour” in schools for my picture book a child asked with stars in his eyes how much money I’d made of it – glad you asked kid, 9c an hour. Lol! Thank goodness I had a day job.
Hey, I also have a middle grade novel coming out this year w/ Scholastic! (I’m actually editing it right now and read this on my *break* time) so this was really helpful and timely! Thank you!
So excited for you! Just ordered it for my 11 year old daughter!
Congratulations, Caroline! I really love the part about how you can make stuff happen. Ordering it, reading it, and leaving you a five-star review on amazon.
Congratulations on the book! The 4th grade version of me, who the best day of the month at school was when the scholastic book order came with the newest Babysitters Club, is very excited to read this book.
And…YES, YES, YES to #7.
I’m so curious- I know you read and write a ton…how and why did you decide to write this book in particular? Did you have the idea for it long before you wrote it or did you think of the idea and then decide to pursue it right away?
I’m curious, why the pen name?
Good question! Cala is my middle name and in my everyday life, I typically use all three names (Caroline Cala Donofrio) because it feels like a way to honor my family, where the names come from.
When it came to the children’s books, I wanted to own them fully, but also keep them separate from my writing for adults. Sometimes my typical essays or stories might have adult themes, and I was careful to keep the children’s books clean and appropriate for younger audiences. Writing under Caroline Cala felt like an additional way to keep the projects separate and ensure I could write as honestly as possible for different readers. | 2019-04-25T08:19:33Z | https://cupofjo.com/2019/02/caroline-cala-best-babysitters-ever/ |
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Wolf, P.G, Rowe, C.A, Sinclair, R.B, Hasbe, M., (2003). Complete nucleotide sequence of the chloroplast genome from a leptosporangiate fern, Adiantum capillus-veneris L. DNA Research , 10:2, 59-64.
Archibald, J.K, Wolf, P.G, Tepedino, V.J, Bair, J., (2001). Genetic relationships and population structure of the endangered steamboat buckwheat, Eriogonum ovalifolium var. williamsiae (Polygonaceae). American Journal of Botany , 88, 608-615.
Wolf, P.G, Schneider, H., Ranker, T.A, (2001). Geographic distributions of homosporous fern taxa: does dispersal obscure evidence of vicariance? . Journal of Biogeography , 28, 263-270.
Rowe, D.L, Murphy, M.T, Fleischer, R.C, Wolf, P.G, (2001). High frequency of extra-pair paternity in Eastern Kingbirds. Condor, 103, 845-851.
Pryer, K.M, Schneider, H., Smith, A.R, Cranfill, R., Wolf, P.G, Hunt, J.S, Sipes, S.D, (2001). Horsetails and ferns are a monophyletic group and the closest relatives to seed plants. Nature, 409, 618-622.
Smith, A.R, Tuomisto, H., Pryer, K.M, Hunt, J.S, Wolf, P.G, (2001). Metaxya lanosa, a second species in the genus and fern family Metaxyaceae. Systematic Botany , 26, 480-486.
Sipes, S.D, Wolf, P.G, (2001). Phylogenetic relationships within Diadasia, a group of specialist bees. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution , 19, 144-156.
Wolf, P.G, Campbell, D.R, Waser, N.M, Sipes, S.D, Toler, T.R, Archibald, J.K, (2001). Tests of pre-and post-pollination barriers to hybridization between sympatric species of Ipomopsis (Polemoniaceae). American Journal of Botany , 88, 213-219.
Longhurst, M., Wolf, P.G, Duffy, A.M, Coster, D.C, Lee, H., Campbell, D.T, (2016). Multi-year professional development grounded in educative curriculum focused on integrating technology with reformed science teaching principles. School Science and Mathematics, 116:8, 430-441.
Duffy, A.M, Wolf, P.G, Barrow, J., Longhurst, M., Campbell, D.T, Beckett, H., (2013). Ecological investigations within an interactive plant community simulation. Science Scope, 36:8, 42-51.
Duffy, A., Wolf, P.G, Barrow, J., Longhurst, M., Campbell, D.T, Beckett, H., (2013). Ecological investigations within an interactive plant community simulation.. Science Scope, 36:8, 42-51.
Campbell, D.T, Longhurst, M., Duffy, A., Wolf, P.G, Nagy, R., (2012). Investigating human impact in the environment with faded scaffolded inquiry supported by technologies.. Science activities: Classroom projects and curriculum ideas., 49:4, 99-107. | 2019-04-26T02:01:16Z | http://biology.usu.edu/about/faculty/paul-wolf |
Libris by PhotoShelter is a cloud-based digital asset managemnt solution for businesses in many industries. Users can upload, organize and share digital assets such as photos, videos and more, with no limit on asset size.
Users can upload files from hard drives, servers, cameras or mobile devices. Users can invite an unlimited number of contributors to the account. Assets can also be shared between accounts in cases of collaboration with other users who have existing accounts. Administrators can set custom permissions to allow specific individuals and groups access to only the files they need.
Metadata for all uploaded files is automatically added and saved, and can be edited by users. Users can creat custom metadata tags. Users can also upload office files such as spreadsheets and text documents to Libris. Libris's library supports a nested folder structure for organizing visual galleries.
Libris is priced on a per-year subscription basis.
Libris is a very effective tool to manage thousands of digital files and share easily with others.
Incredibly effective and efficient file management that's so easy to share with others. It is the solution that emerged from hours and hours of research into digital asset management systems. I simply cannot function well without it.
As a cloud solution, this system is easily accessible to all users. The administrative side of things is well thought and well designed and packed full of the right features to effectively manage countless files. It integrates easily and well with Lightroom and the optional Adobe connector makes managing assets during the production process even easier. This software has saved me countless hours of work and has helped me and my operations to be far more efficient.
Administrators and editors have to thoroughly learn the nuances of this system, but after a week... it's automatic. Processing files take only a few minutes from start to finish, complete with keywording either while importing the images into Libris or by adding them to images after they're imported. Too, the sharing mechanism works great with easy to design templates to ensure clients always get the right info to access their files.
In short, I cannot imagine doing my work well without Libris. Oh, and their support team is FANTASTIC... responsive and thorough.
I would like to see a little more flexibility with back-end privileges. You can have taggers, contributors and editors, but the hierarchy is not progressive in that contributors can also be taggers. Too, the Lightbox is a great option, but it's not designed to share all images within a Lightbox to a user for batch download.
I would like to see a couple enhancements: 1.) better notification options when adding personnel so that email addresses you share to can be automatically incorporated into the notification. For example, if I share to [email protected] but she uses the alias [email protected] this causes confusion. So, as an editor and administrator, you MUST make sure you share the exact email address with the user when they first access the system. It seems this could be automated. 2.) notification to an editor and/or administrator when new files are uploaded for approval and placement. The are minor issues.
It's an easier access storage solution for our library of images. It's a great system for sharing and collaborating. It has given me the ability to hunt down images fast and deliver them to the client easily. I also love that you can organize it in the way that works best for you.
I love that the Libris platform is so intuitive, clean and user friendly. The multiple ways to search give flexibility to the user and the sharing controls really allow you to be specific with who can access your images. Invited users can create light boxes within the system to allow for collaboration which is such a handy feature. I love that the images show up large on the screen making image selection easier and I also love that users can select their desired size of download. You don't always need the full size, full resolution version! Downloads are always fast and without error. The customer support is fantastic and fast. I also appreciate all the tutorials, blogs and webinars offered as part of your membership. They do a great job of keeping photographers up to date on equipment, trends and general news in the field of photography. As a member, you feel like a part of a community that's cheering you on and there to help you succeed.
My only complaint about the system is the lightbox feature feels a bit outdated and cumbersome. You can't "select all" for downloading or even to set permissions for downloading. You have to do it one by one, which is very tedious. I hope they update this soon. I've found it's easier to copy selected images into a new gallery instead and share the gallery link as a way to collaborate, but it's just a half workaround because only the admin can create galleries, whereas invited users can only create light boxes.
We use Libris for city government photo organizing/archiving. My department had over 5,000 photos to organize and Libris helped a daunting task become manageable and achievable. Having a place to organize photos properly makes our department function more efficiently and smoothly; we get many requests for photos on a daily basis. Libris makes photos searchable and easily findable with metadata tagging and keywords, which we love. Libris employees were there for us every step of the way during the initial set-up process and are still there for us currently with any questions we have.
We most like Libris' functionality regarding photo organizing and sharing. Libris equips its users with a variety of ways to quickly upload photos and create a library structure that makes sense to your organization. We love the ability to tag photos in batch and personally add metadata to photos. This way, our photos are searchable, but also browsable through Libris' collections and galleries structure. Sharing photos is easy and super customizable as well. With the option to add passwords to galleries and set expiration dates for links we send to outside shareholders, we have more control over privacy and access to our photos. Through working with Libris, the customer service has been great. Questions are answered in a timely manner and the Libris staff is readily available through email or phone each day. We enjoyed our multiple training sessions and demos. The staff at Libris is willing to help in whatever way possible.
At times the software can run slow and I accidentally deleted 2,000 photos one time due to a display glitch on the backend site. After deleting the photos, I looked in the trash bin to find them but I could not, since there is no structure of collections or galleries in the trash bin. Instead, the photos were in the trash can in order according to date, which is not helpful when you already have other photos in the trash bin as well. I had no other choice but to re-upload the photos.
Libris and the LR plugin have become an important part of our daily workflow, with a few caveats.
Ease of use and user-friendly access for our Art Teams.
Extreme ease of use, excellent tagging options, relatively responsive website and LR plugin. Reasonably quick upload speeds. I am a staff photographer at a regional publisher with 6+ magazines in production. I use Libris daily to file 3-4 assignments a day, 5 days a week.
A customizable "home page" or a way to default Admin accounts to redirect automatically to a collection or gallery would be nice when logging into Libris on the web - I would rather login and start at the top of the root folder of our Library vs the default splash page that I get now, as most of the time I login to Libris to fix a tag or confirm I've uploaded files correctly from LR. I access this page several times a day and any time savings here would pay dividends in the long run given how much I access Libris.
Overall, it's a great product that could use a little UI and interface streamlining to minimize the number of clicks that power users need to perform an action. Right click functionality (a la dropbox) would also be better/faster than the current "Actions" dropdown tab.
If possible, upload setting "profiles" (image quality, image sizing, watermarking, etc) in the Libris LR plugin would also save people like me some time. Thanks!
A great product for managing your digital media, but does have some limitations.
First and foremost I have to say the customer service Photoshelter provides for Libris users is absolutely wonderful. Their team gets back to you quickly with answers to your questions and is always pleasant to work with. Libris truly shines in it's ability to easily organize and then later search for the images you need. You have the ability to set up the folder structure in any way that fits your needs (which is not something I say about the last product we were using) and the backend structure is so user friendly, it's a breeze to move collections, galleries, or even individual photos around after upload. All you need to do is grab them and drag and drop them into a different area. On the search side of things, you have great control over the types of parameters you can give the search. Everything from searching for photos based on a specific orientation, to things photographed on certain dates...it's quite nice and the results are fast and (seemingly) very accurate. Uploading is fast, and has a number of potential ways it can be integrated into your workflow, including a lightroom plugin. As much as we like Libris overall, it is not without it's limitations and there are a couple of big ones we hope are eventually addressed. The biggest one for us at the moment is Libris' inability to allow downloads without either a password or a user login. This is a bummer and is currently a bit clunky. We produce content for a wide range of people and we would like to make that content available for download to everyone, but the best you can do right now is put a password on everything and then try and make that password available to the public, which is just clunky and a bit odd. We really hope they implement a password and login free option soon. Secondly, when you search for images there is no way to sort what we have searched for in the results page. Want to search for something and then sort by "date taken" or "date uploaded"? Not possible. The other slightly frustrating thing is there is no way to change the size of the image thumbnails in the galleries or search results. They are a bit small and it can sometimes be hard to see what the photo looks like until you click on it to make it larger. Really there are so many things to like about Libris that I wouldn't say the above should be deal breakers, but they are things I think could really help improve it.
Libris is helping us build and share our Digital images with dozens of clients through out the university. Its easy to share contact sheets, fast download times and very clean and pleasant display of images. Love the ability to customize and use our Logo and color in the main page and use a copy rights watermark. Before Libris, we used to have a DAM that was painfully slow in all aspects. I've recommended Libris to other universities and they are also very pleased with what it offers.
One of the recurring issues that I constantly hear with some of our clients in the University is that sometimes, whey they search images in the library, they are asked to create a login info, and after that, they are told to contact the administrator. Seems there is a glitch in the system and I've contact their costumer service dept. but they still have not been able to fix it. We like the ability to easily download images using a password, but we don't want our clients to created "another" login in account. Makes no sense to have a "search" button if you can download the images you find in your search.
Our lives are now getting much easier...!
Two years ago we had images scattered all across various hard drives. Then we "MacGyver-ed" an asset collection based on Lightroom, which works wonderfully for one person but is not sharable in an office environment unless you jump through a bunch of hoops to tuck the catalog on the cloud and put all the images on a shared server, blah blah blah. But since we started using Libris about three months ago we've made tremendous progress in setting up our collections and starting to share them with various departments around campus. We're still barely scraping the surface on the possibilities Libris offers, and still have lots of work to do, to be sure. But finally our images are accessible to whomever we want to have access, with just a few clicks. And the customer support is second to none!
There are a few glitches that sometimes generate errors during exporting from LR. For example I can't get the "Export with previous..." to work. And some functionality is still being developed, like the ability to make a lightbox downloadable with minimal effort. Everything I've stumbled with so far is minimal: things like the ability to resize columns and image previews in the browser. Not having various layout options except for the standard template. Minor things to enhance the user experience.
We purchased this product to use at a university. We needed something that could be shared across campus, allowing for folks to be able to search for the photos they needed. We also needed something that all 12 of us in our office could use at the same time, and something that was securely backed up.
I like that it's on a cloud, which means we can access the photos at home or at work. It's also easy to give other people access, or to set up Lightboxes for them to view select photos. It's much easier than emailing photos like we used to have to do! We have shared it with several people on campus and they all say that it's been easy to use and easy for them to search for photos.
I wish that more than one person could be the administrator without having to upgrade to the next payment level. I'm still having a few issues when trying to view the photos --- I'd like them all to be visible on one page, not 20 pages, for example, but I know it's something I could probably figure out.
Photoshelter has a great navigation structure that enables you to easily sort, navigate, and find the exact assets you're looking for. We can customize how we archive our photos, which is a huge help. The search function has numerous options that allow you to be as broad or specific as you desire. Additionally, the capabilities to limit who can see which photo sets and to track who downloads what provides brand security.
Preview images can take a while to load, although I'm not sure if that originates on with our IT infrastructure of Photoshelter's. Additionally, unless you are using an iMac, the metadata and gallery panels take up a substantial portion of your screen, limiting how many photos you can view at a time.
The FTP service is my favorite hidden gem to the Libris. Being able to customize the archive and set up search and gallery perimeters for different users is great.
The ease of use, the built in FTP and the ability to access anywhere. Being a cloud based system makes it easy for us to transmit, archive or access from anywhere.
I don't have any thing that I don't like about this product. The cost is high, but everything that comes packaged into the product proves that the robust design has been well thought out from the user interface to the admin interface. Libris is build for the professional on the move. | 2019-04-23T08:19:01Z | https://www.softwareadvice.com/sg/cms/libris-profile/ |
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Nature Theatre of Oblivia goes to US!
The second week of our US tour is starting. We just arrived to Chicago to perform in In-Time performance festival at the end of the week. The previous one we spent in the amazing city of Detroit and turned the space of Light Box into a forest, the first version outside of the walls of a black box stage. This has been such an experience!
We came together for this project with Marc Melià for the first time in the autumn 2015 and we are super happy to be able to continue to share it with new audiences. This January and February we showed it in few very special venues, in the planetarium of the Lieu Multiple in Poitiers and in the ancient priory, Prieuré St.Cosme in La Riche. At the moment we are working to integrate some new visual elements in the show, so keep an eye for the new dates on Murailles Music.
How to work with kids with as flat hierarchy as possible? How to create a performance where kids and adults can have an equal responsibility on stage? These questions have been on the table while working on the project Children and Other Radicals, a production of the performance group Oblivia, The thematic of this process was to use art to look at money and economic structures. The piece premiered the 24th of May 2018 at Dangerous Minds Festival in Kampnagel, Hamburg, and was performed as well in Helsinki Festival in August with five Finnish kids. In the autumn we worked with a new group, nine Germany based kids and premiered the second part the 15th of Dec in PACT Zollverein, Essen. Catch us next year in FFT Düsseldorf the 18th and 19th of January!
Blaue Frau’s new production Rädslomässa is now open for visitors to become aware of and to deal with their fears! Alongside the convention area that we have designed together with the other convention organisers I’ve developed one of the convention activities called The Unknown Station, a room with no light. There you are invited to enter in a completely dark space where you can encounter the thoughts that your imagination projects to inhabit in the darkness.
A light festival concept Reflektor originally based in Denmark is landing in Finland this weekend. The idea of the festival is to take over a little known remote area in close distance of city center where visitors can experience the light installations in the midst of the nature. In Helsinki the festival is set in the beautiful surroundings of Kivinokka. I have the pleasure to be part of it and to bring an usually invisible place in life with light!
In between holidays I spent one week in a residency in Regional Dance Centre of Eastern Finland ITAK with Sonja Jokiniemi, Inka-Leea Hakkarainen and Ville Nylén working on a upcoming piece that will be premiering at the end of the year. It was an inspiring and productive week including some first tryouts with lights. It feels very nice to have this chance to get into practice already in the early phase of the process.
Sensorial Activities 1 was shown last weekend in Flow Festival, in Helsinki. Besides the extensive musical line up the festival had put effort to gather a wide variety of different art forms to display. Sensorial Activities 1 was part of The Other Light light art exhibition curated by Sun Effects. During the three festival days 84,000 attendees dropped by to enjoy the unique atmosphere of the festival. There is a proof that at least one of them found the way to the installation as well!
Classical music festival Musiq’3 was organised last weekend in Brussels. Helsinki Chamber Choir was invited to perform in the chapel of Abbaye de la Cambre. I was in charge to prepare the lighting for this magnificent venue. Here’s few impressions from far trying to capture the magical atmosphere during the beautiful choral pieces of Einojuhani Rautavaara, Carlo Gesualdo and Claudio Ambrosini.
Sensorial Activities 1 coming up!
The opening of Oksasenkatu 11 is approaching! I’m showing a new installation Sensorial Activities 1 which is an interactive installation that bonds the senses of sight and hearing into a single experience. Chromesthesia, a sensorial ability in which heard sounds evoke an experience of colour, acts as the inspiration of the piece. It’s also a work that each visitor shape with their interaction, It’s more like an ongoing action happening and triggered by the people, activity that is to be proceeded and observed, not anything self-standing object or entity in display. I’m very exited how everything will turn out and how people receive this kind of work in a gallery context! Personally, it has been very enriching to be so straight forward face to face with my own voice. During the testing sessions where specially the sound features are tuned I have been listening my voice consciously maybe more than ever before in my life. I’m surprised how varied my voice is and how well I can entertain myself with it since my previous relation with my voice is almost neglecting, I have been mainly shamed of my non-existing singing skills all of my life. Now I even enjoyed using my voice differently than just talking! That was a nice step to take. Looking forward what kind of thoughts the work brings up in others’ minds.
Last week we spent touring with Blaue Frau’s performance 35 x me and some actresses in Iceland, first in Rósenborg, Akureyri and then in Tjarnarbió, Reykjavík. You can get into the mood of the show through these shots! The educational workshop held by our lovely actresses will return in autumn when we’ll be touring in Sweden, find the dates and venues here.
The sound and light installation Cycles will be presented 9.-11.3.2018 in an exhibition of interactive and sound art in Madrid. The exhibition continues until 25th of March in various locations, check out the full program of IN-SONORA10!
How to do your own soft box?
Inspired by some pretty inventive and fun looking youtube tutorials I decided to try my own version of DIY studio lighting fixture. At the same time it’s a first glance to the workshop station of Blaue Frau’s next performance 35 jag ooh några skådespelare premiering the 16th of February in Helsinki Lilla Teatern. It’s going to be interactive!
On Friday there was an event in Area 42 in Brussels were 9 artists were presenting the fruits of a residency work period they did in the same location last summer. We were showing our installation The last drop makes the cup run over with Marc Melià for the first time. Making the work was time to time a nerve wrecking process, a simple thing turned out to be a much more complicated one as we peeked into the world of sensors as total newbies! For this reason even more happy about the result which stays very formal and minimal.
I will be on tour with Niki, Micke and Steffe on November! Blaue Frau’s new dragking- show Yo-Bro is a hilarious reflection about the modern male roles and values of today’s society. Håll i hatten nu kör vi!
Second edition of Fortune Festival was organised last weekend, the 1st and the 2nd of July, at BRASS – Centre Culturel de Forest in Brussels. Great line-up with Kero Kero Bonito, Kane West, Palmbomen II, Bad Gyal few to mention and amazing party! I enjoyed the evening behind the lighting desk!
A Finnish forest is in the state of preparation at Theater Rampe in Stuttgart by Oblivia. The challenge is as usual in Oblivia’s work to create it all on an empty stage. We are back to the black box setting and the performer is right on the spot. Or is it a tree? The forest can be visited from the 22nd till the 28th of June.
OBJECT in Albertinkatu 16, 00120 Helsinki until 30th of May!
A Performance and Exhibition based on the perplexing question of objectivity and subjectivity. Visit the exhibition daytime and experience the performance in the evenings. More info from Blaue Frau!
I made a small clip for Le Ton Mité song Indépendance, one of the 50 songs of newly released album Passé Compose Futur Conditionnel. The clip launches the album release tour that is organised in France on March.
Lighting up Anna Krzystek’s video installation work that will be presented in Dance International Glasgow this spring. Shootings in Tramway Glasgow from 7th to 11th of February 2017.
I created video for Madama Butterfly by Puccini, staged by Hotel Pro Forma at Opera de La Monnaie de Munt, performances took place 31.1-14.2.2017 in Brussels. We used BackTrax real-time motion tracking system together with d3 media server for tracking video content on moving set. Video was created during the process in collaboration with the artistic team. | 2019-04-26T06:09:55Z | http://meriekola.com/ |
Patient clinical responses and changes in tumor burden during treatment reflect the cumulative effects of diverse phenomena that occur at the cellular level. Therefore, it is useful to describe treatment responses at the level of patients, tumors and cells.
A large majority of cancer deaths are attributable to metastasis, the process by which cancer cells spread throughout the body to form new tumors in distant vital organs1. Despite its central importance to patient outcomes, the cellular and molecular basis of metastasis is incompletely understood.
Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma involving dysregulation of the MYC oncogene by chromosomal translocations. It is most common in children but also affects adults and occurs in sporadic, endemic, and HIV-associated forms.
For over seven years, the Office of Cancer Genomics (OCG) has supported recent doctoral graduates through internship and fellowship programs.
Jaime M. Guidry Auvil, Ph.D., Malcolm A. Smith, M.D., Ph.D., and Daniela S. Gerhard, Ph.D.
The Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET), a large-scale pediatric genomic characterization initiative, continues to demonstrate the importance of integrative analyses using comprehensive data and metadata generated from high-quality patient tissues in both solid and hematologic cancers. March is National Kidney Cancer Awareness month, and a good time to reflect on the successes of TARGET in renal tumors, such as Wilms tumor (WT) and other childhood cancers. TARGET investigators published papers in 2017 integrating the genomic and clinical data of cases with high-risk subsets of WT and cases with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and in February 2018 published an analysis across the spectrum of childhood cancers studied to date. These publications (and previous reported findings from TARGET) proved what many oncologists suspected: many pediatric cancers have distinctive molecular characteristics from adults, and therefore it will likely be important to develop specific treatments for these childhood cancers.
The TARGET initiative’s approach is to provide molecular characterization of each patient’s tumor genome, transcriptome, and epigenome through analysis of both primary and, when available, relapsed tumor tissues together with their matched normal tissue. The TARGET project teams (PTs) had access to cases for which both tumor and normal tissues were available along with the patient’s clinical and outcome data, predominantly from clinical or biological studies run through the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). The PTs integrated the molecular and clinical data to discover mechanisms of disease development and potential areas for improved therapeutic intervention strategies substantiating the critical need for large-scale research studies of similar design for the pediatric cancer community. Here we summarize some of the results recently published.
The genes most commonly mutated in the TARGET WT cohort are TP53 (47.5% DA, 1.7% FH), CTNNB1 (13.5%), DROSHA (10.1%), and FAM123B (13.5%), most of which were already known to be associated with WT.
Novel genes uncovered included certain miRNA processing, transcription, and renal development genes [e.g. DGCR8 (4.5%), XPO5 (1.5%), DICER1 (2.5%), SIX1 (3.8%), SIX2 (2.9%), and MLLT1 (3.7%)].
Other mutated genes with novel association to WT included BCOR (2.6%), BCORL1 (3.8%), NONO (2%), MAX (1.7%), COL6A3 (3.2%), ASXL1 (1.7%), MAP3K4 (1.7%), and ARID1A (1.8%).
The WT PT also reported that chromosome copy number changes were found in a number of discovery cases [e.g., recurrent 1q gain (56/117 patients; 47.9%), MYCN amplification (19/117 patients; 16.2%), LIN28B gain (24.8% in discovery cohort), and loss of MIRLET7A family members (5.1%-22%; up to 4x more prevalent in DA than FH)].
Germline mutations were found in about 10% of the WT high risk cases studied as well (PALB2 (1.2%) and CHEK2 (1.2%) being novel).
Given the relatively high number of genes with candidate driver mutations, future treatment protocols targeting the common processes or pathways affected by the gene mutations may be more efficient than focusing on individual gene mutations.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) – a blood cancer arising in the bone marrow with 50% treatment failure rate – occurs in patients of all ages. The TARGET AML PT published in December 2017 the first large-scale study establishing the prevalence of and relationships among recurrent, somatic genetic and epigenetic alterations in pediatric AML, including how the frequency of these mutations changed as the patients’ age of AML onset increased. The AML PT observed several features common to pediatric and adult AML, including low overall rate of mutation compared to other cancers and overlap of some recurrently mutated genes. Fewer than 40 genes were mutated in more than 2% of cases.
Pediatric and young adult AML exhibit critically important molecular characteristics that are distinct in three age-related groups (<2yrs, 3-14yrs, and 15-39yrs). TARGET investigators identified novel gene fusions, many involving known partner NUP98 and focal deletions (MBNL1, ZEB2, and ELF1) that were more prevalent in young individuals as compared to adults. In addition, novel variants in GATA2, FLT3, and CBL, along with recurrent mutations in MYC, NRAS, KRAS, and WT1 appeared more frequently in pediatric AML. In contrast, targetable IDH mutations that are relatively common in adult AML are practically nonexistent in the childhood disease, reducing the potential role of IDH inhibitors for pediatric AML. Similarly, mutations in other genes commonly observed in adult AML such as DNMT3A and TP53 were nearly absent in pediatric cases.
The AML PT discovered that certain combinations of variants affect patient prognosis, for example FLT3-ITD in combination with a mutation in NPM1 confers a probability of improved survival. FLT3 ITD by itself, or even in combination with other mutations (which are important in AML on their own), are associated with highly aggressive disease. The TARGET PT further found that certain deletions, mutations, and hypermethylation of promoter DNAs cooperatively impacted key signaling pathways in growth, immunity, and alternate splicing that can lead to leukemogenesis. These results suggest that the development of future therapeutic strategies may benefit through an age-tailored, targeted approach to the treatment of pediatric AML.
In February 2018, the first trans-TARGET study3 of somatic alterations in 1,699 pediatric leukemia and solid tumors across six histotypes was published online. The analyses were performed on samples from young patients (most <20yrs and enrolled on COG trials). The manuscript was published back-to-back with a study from German investigators analyzing European childhood cancer cohorts. The studies were complementary inasmuch TARGET’s cohort was >50% hematologic cancers, while the European cohort included >50% brain cancers. The molecular characterization details were not identical, but the “big picture” conclusions agreed remarkably well. Here we summarize the TARGET results.
The median somatic mutation rates among all TARGET pediatric cohorts generally range from 0.17 per million bases (MB) to 0.7/MB and are substantially lower than those observed in common adult cancers (1-10/MB).
The frequency of germline variants which are risks for tumor development are ~10%.
Somatic copy number alternations (sCNAs) and structural variations (SV) comprised the majority (62%) of events observed, specifically single nucleotide mutations or small indels were less frequent. This finding provided strong support to the initial design of the project, to utilize whole genome sequencing whenever possible, since whole exome sequencing would not have allowed detection of sCNAs and SVs mutations. In many patients these genomic alterations are the driver events.
The genomes of 11% of TARGET patients revealed chromothripsis (i.e. massive rearrangements caused by a single catastrophic event).
Analyses revealed a large number of low frequency drivers within and among disease cohorts.
Driver gene alterations produced disruptions in pathways that may be targetable with existing treatments. Specifically, TARGET investigators found 21 biologic pathways disrupted by driver alterations, across cancers (i.e. cell cycle, epigenetic regulation) or histotype-specific (i.e. JAK-STAT, Wnt/ β-catenin, and NOTCH signaling).
Of clinical significance, the genes mutated in shared or separate pathways were different among histotypes. Certain signaling pathways (RAS, JAK-STAT, and PI3K) show distinctive somatic alterations between solid tumors (primarily ALK, NF1, and PTEN) and leukemias (nearly all mutations in FLT3, PIK3CA, PIK3R1, and RAS genes).
The somatic alterations with highest prevalence across certain disease groups occurred in CDKN2A (predominantly as deletions): mostly affecting T-ALL (78%), B-ALL (42%), and OS (11%).
Over half of the pediatric driver genes observed across TARGET cohorts were specific to a single histotype (e.g. TAL1 for T-ALL and ALK for NBL).
The trans-TARGET analyses outlined some known and novel, statistically significant co-occurrences (e.g., USP7, TAL1 in T-ALL; ETV6, IKZF1 in AML, and CREBBP, EP300 in B-ALL) or mutual exclusivities (e.g. MYCN, ATRX, or SHANK2 in NBL; PAX5, TP53 in B-ALL) among more than 300 gene-pairs.
TARGET findings further indicate that subclonal mutations could be contributing to tumorigenesis in various childhood cancers, with nearly half of point mutations in leukemia and NBL driver genes showing low mutant allele frequencies (MAFs, <0.3).
The TARGET initiative and other large-scale genomics projects are transforming precision oncology for childhood cancers by identifying therapeutic strategies based on insights that can only be gleaned through high-quality, large-scale integrative data analyses. By creating a comprehensive molecular compendium of molecular alterations from large cohorts of cancer patients and by making these data available for investigators who will continually improve upon the knowledge base of these cancers, more effective classification and treatment strategies can be developed. Additional integrative manuscripts will be published for TARGET in the coming months, and the community is encouraged to use and follow-up on those important observations as they become available. For more information, including additional TARGET publications and data used for these analyses, please visit and explore the TARGET website and Data Matrix at the Office of Cancer Genomics.
Patient clinical responses and changes in tumor burden during treatment reflect the cumulative effects of diverse phenomena that occur at the cellular level. Therefore, it is useful to describe treatment responses at the level of patients, tumors and cells. Here, we will discuss the terminology that is used to describe the drug responses at each of these levels with a focus on heterogeneity between individual cancer cells.
Clinical responses for patients with solid tumors are judged based on changes in tumor sizes compared to a pretreatment baseline. Depending on cumulative changes across all measurable tumors, patients are judged to have a complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), or progressive disease (PD). Each of these response categories apply to a single time point during treatment and can subsequently change. For example, a patient who experiences a CR or PR may subsequently relapse into PD. Also, distinct tumors within the same patient may respond differently. During treatment, tumors can undergo shrinkage, stasis, or growth. Tumors shrink if they are composed primarily of drug-sensitive cancer cells. However, a shrinking tumor may contain a minority of surviving non-proliferative or actively proliferating cells embedded in a larger population of drug-sensitive dying cells, giving the appearance of tumor shrinkage. Tumor stasis, or lack of change in size, can result from a bulk population of non-responsive and non-proliferative cells, an equilibrium state of dying and proliferating cells, or a mixture of these two scenarios. A related but not an identical term is tumor dormancy which is used to refer to cancer cells which disseminate throughout the body and remain undetected in microscopic groups or as single cells for months or years. These so called dormant “disseminated tumor cells” are thought to be the source of tumor recurrence in the cases where tumors reemerge years after cessation of therapy.
Alternatively, cancer cells can have variable drug response due to non-genetic mechanisms. Distinct from genetic mutations, non-genetic mechanisms of drug resistance are transient and reversible. The clinical observation of secondary responses in patients who have been treated with the same drug they developed resistance to, after a temporary period of time without treatment (drug holiday), supports the concept that reversible, non-genetic mechanisms of drug resistance play an important role in tumors. At the cellular level, emerging evidence indicates that a subpopulation of tumor cells can reversibly enter a non-proliferative (quiescent) “persister” cell state with decreased sensitivity to a range of cancer therapies. These persister cells are affected by drug treatment and stop proliferating, but do not die, hence they are referred to as drug-tolerant rather than drug-resistant. Persister cells have been found to have increased stemness, or capacity to regenerate new tumors, highlighting their potentially important role in tumor regrowth and dissemination after an initial therapeutic response. Recent evidence also indicates that persister cells have increased DNA mutation rates, possibly serving as a cell reservoir from which drug-resistant mutant cells with distinct mutations may emerge during treatment. If this occurs in patients, then a clinical approach to prevent the formation or elimination of persister cells before resistance-conferring mutations are acquired may be essential to achieve durable responses.
Figure: Tumor heterogeneity and drug responses.
This discussion has focused on responses to small molecule drugs in solid tumors. Relative to our understanding of responses to small molecules, our understanding of the intricacies of responses to immunotherapy is at its infancy. However, it is likely that similar principles apply to antibody- and cell-based immunotherapies. Cell to cell genetic or non-genetic heterogeneity is likely to contribute to the emergence of drug-tolerant or drug-resistant cancer cells which are not recognized by or do not respond to effector immune cells. Therefore, continued efforts to characterize responses to therapy are important to identify approaches to overcome drug resistance and provide patients with durable responses from a variety of treatment modalities.
Andrew J. Ewald, Ph.D. and Joel S. Bader, Ph.D.
A large majority of cancer deaths are attributable to metastasis, the process by which cancer cells spread throughout the body to form new tumors in distant vital organs1. Despite its central importance to patient outcomes, the cellular and molecular basis of metastasis is incompletely understood. Surprisingly, metastatic cancer has also been relatively understudied compared to earlier, more treatable stages of the disease2. This discrepancy may in part be attributable to metastasis involving the entire body, occurring deep inside the patient over long periods, and involving many different cells types and molecular pathways in complex combinations. These challenges come together to make metastasis difficult to study in the laboratory.
There has therefore been an urgent need to develop model systems that enable the analysis of key processes in metastasis at cellular and molecular resolution3. We set out to solve this problem inspired by progress with tissue organoid assays originally developed to study normal mammary gland development4,5. The essential concept is to surgically remove a portion of an organ, mechanically disrupt it with a scalpel, digest with enzymes, and then process by centrifugation to separate single cells from the tissue pieces or organoids. The single cells consist mostly of immune cells or fibroblasts and can be included or excluded from the culture as desired. Organoids usually consist of 100-500 epithelial cells. Our approach contrasts with the stem cell organoids pioneered by Hans Clevers: our tissue organoids are freshly isolated, are not generally expanded, do not require Wnt ligands for short term culture, and are available for immediate use. The basic approach of mechanical and enzymatic processing to generate tissue organoids is very flexible, and we have adapted it for use with normal mammary glands, primary breast tumors, and metastatic site breast tumors. We have also extended these methods to liver, pancreas, and lung tumors and can start from fresh human tumors, patient derived xenografts (PDXs), or genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs). We routinely generate ~2,000 organoids per clinical sample, ~20,000 per PDX tumor, and ~200,000 per GEMM model. Accordingly, we can explant organoids from the same sample into a wide range of experimental conditions. We have applied this approach both to understand molecular pathways in the cancer cell and also to interrogate the functional role of specific elements of the tumor microenvironment6,7,8,9.
Figure: Human breast tumor organoid invades collectively into a 3D collagen I microenvironment.
One of the main advantages of our approach is the ability to maintain a tumor's cellular and phenotypic diversity in convenient, multi-well plate compatible assays. Metastasis requires many steps, each of which poses quite distinct challenges for the cancer cell. Accordingly, we have developed a range of assays modeling primary tumor growth, invasion, dissemination, intravasation, and secondary tumor formation. We use highly automated microscopy to image the behavior of cancer cells at subcellular resolution in these assays, which enables us to develop hypotheses for how these processes take place at the cellular level. To understand the underlying molecular regulation, we can introduce signaling perturbations, shRNA, CRISPR, inducible gene expression, or Cre-lox based gene deletion. We have also optimized nucleotide and protein-based molecular analyses in these cultures, enabling mechanistic dissection of the molecular basis of phenotypes. We then integrate the results of the experimental interventions using network analysis and computational modeling. We have projects analyzing the molecular basis of normal, primary tumor, and metastatic site growth and motility that enable us to identify the truly cancer-specific processes.
Our newly launched Center for Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD2) builds on our track record of success and provides substantial new resources to exploit these model systems to develop novel therapeutic targets. Breast cancer is particularly challenging in exhibiting a very wide range of suspected driver mutations, with relatively few present in large percentages of patients10,11. Accordingly, the understanding of which genes are the most important for breast tumor initiation and particularly for metastasis remains largely incomplete. The key insight guiding our CTD2 Center is that quantitative analysis of phenotypes within these 3D organoid assays enables us to adopt the mathematical framework of population genetics to identify genes and mutations responsible for breast cancer growth, invasion, and metastasis. The large number of organoids isolated, combined with quantitative imaging and applied mathematics, enables us to systematically analyze the molecular basis of variation among different clones within the same tumor and between tumors from different individuals. Based on our previous analyses of molecular programs driving collective invasion in breast cancer6 and our past work in population genetics12,13, we anticipate that our approach will enable us to appreciate the underlying molecular logic of metastasis. We will then use techniques from network analysis and graph theory14,15 to prioritize targets for intervention.
Our goals are to understand metastasis at the molecular level, to apply these insights to identify patients at the greatest risk of metastatic recurrence, and ultimately to improve patient outcomes by identifying new anti-metastatic therapies. Past and current support from the BCRF, the JKTG Foundation, and the National Cancer Institute has been critical to the development of these techniques and to their current application in translational cancer research.
Schoger J. VOICES:‘Changing the Landscape for People Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer’—New Report from the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance. Oncology Times. 2014 Nov 10;36(21):36-37.
Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma involving dysregulation of the MYC oncogene by chromosomal translocations. It is most common in children but also affects adults and occurs in sporadic, endemic, and HIV-associated forms. The Epstein-Barr virus-associated BL (eBL) endemic subtype is the most common pediatric cancer in equatorial Africa but also occurs in other parts of the world (e.g. the rainforest of Brazil).
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) established a collaboration with the Foundation for Burkitt Lymphoma Research to develop a genomic databank for BL. One goal of the Burkitt Lymphoma Genome Sequencing Project (BLGSP) is to conduct comprehensive molecular characterization of BL by sequencing DNA and RNA from a large BL cohort–including endemic, HIV-associated, sporadic, pediatric, and adult cases–in order to define the genetic and phenotypic features that drive these cancers. These data will be analyzed and published; the goals are to develop new therapeutic strategies that can be deployed worldwide.
BL in Brazil is characterized by geographically distinct clinical and pathologic features1. In central and southern Brazil, adult BL cases occur with similar diagnosis as in the United States and western Europe. In the northeastern and Amazonian regions of Brazil, eBL-associated infections overlap with either Plasmodium falciparum or Plasmodium vivax malaria similar to cases in equatorial Africa. Intensive chemotherapy is effective, but the associated toxicity requires supportive care that is not readily available in resource-poor regions.
NCI’s Office of Cancer Genomics (OCG) identified, after extensive search, the Hospital das Clinicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (HdC-UFMG) as a potential tissue source site in Brazil and became a member of the project working group (WG). The regulatory process was initiated in November 2013, and all necessary documents (e.g. protocol, informed consent form, etc.) were submitted to the local Institutional Review Board (IRB). Ethical approval was obtained in March 2014; however, the challenge arose because the BLGSP is an internationally-sponsored project involving sample storage and shipping outside of Brazil, and a national IRB approval for biobanking and biorepository (CONEP) was requested. This was a newly developed process, and therefore required extensive (two year) to- and from- exchange to ensure that all required materials were provided in the right format. The approval was obtained in July 2016.
Once we had the approval in hand, Dr. Frederico Melo (a pathologist), the principal investigator (PI), and staff evaluated the availability of cases at the HdC-UFMG in the spring of 2017. It was decided that to ensure the accrual of the promised number of cases, a partnership with the Instituto Nacional do Cancer (INCA), with PI Dr. Fabio Leal, was established.
The BLGSP utilizes SOPs to enhance the ability to integrate results for tissues obtained across multiple collection sites. The TSS are required to collect and store the tissues, perform site-capable pathology analysis to determine the BL diagnosis, and provide the BLGSP-required clinical data. Based on the SOPs, an overview flowchart was developed by the TSS coordinator in Brazil to understand the process. A challenge for the TSS in Brazil was to develop mechanisms and strategies to identify retrospective samples which was successfully overcome at both sites. Below we describe what was done at HdC-UFMG.
Figure. Outline of the Brazil BLGSP Flowchart.
The BL case biobank of retrospective samples is located at the Anatomy and Pathology Unit at UFMG. The Unit has a large bank of samples and diagnostic reports for patients diagnosed from 2005 to 2017. The PI and staff first developed preliminary inclusion criteria to be: (i) patients diagnosed with BL confirmed through laboratory results (i.e. histopathological and immunochemistry exams); (ii) patients with “possible BL” (i.e. B-cell lymphoma in germinal center where turnover cells Ki67 >95% are searched); and (iii) patients with other types of lymphoma (e.g. B-cell with low turnover, T-cell, gray zone, anaplastic large cell, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, mantle cell).
The identification process starts with reading the clinical reports, selecting the patients with a positive diagnosis for lymphoma, and identifying the sample in the biobank. Clinical report forms for each case are available as paper copies, and cases which match the inclusion criteria are selected. Then, the patient ID code, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue block number, and the slice number are recorded. This information is vital to facilitate initial contact with the patient and obtain informed consent to get permission to use their tumor and normal samples in the study. Finally, the samples, which were selected by the Anatomy and Pathology Unit staff, are confirmed to match the BLGSP SOPs by the PI.
To date at both sites, 26 cases of BL in Brazil have been submitted to BLGSP, of which seven cases have both tumor and germline paired-samples. Currently, eight cases have passed diagnostic pathology review, three did not pass, and 15 are still being analyzed.
Challenges of the Brazil TSS have been the identification of prospective BL cases, which require logistical steps and complex operational procedures carried out by clinical staff and a study team involved at the hospital. The TSS have now improved the identification process for the retrospective BL cases from the past 12 years through expanding the search of diagnostic reports and FFPE blocks stored in the Anatomy and Pathology Unit at HdC-UFMG. The TSS are learning about the technical issues with molecular characterization data, and they can continue to use what they have learned today, from identifying the retrospective cases, to improve the collection process of prospective BL cases. Additionally, young investigators in the research community will use the molecular characterization data from BL patients identified through BLGSP to better understand the molecular alterations of BL in Brazil. This breakthrough has steered the TSS teams to improve the operational procedures in Brazil that have led to the current success of the BLGSP.
For over seven years, the Office of Cancer Genomics (OCG) has supported recent doctoral graduates through internship and fellowship programs. This past September, I became the newly appointed Health Communications Fellow for OCG through a Cancer Research Training Award under the Health Communications Internship Program (HCIP). The HCIP provides highly qualified graduate students and recent graduate degree recipients the opportunity to participate in vital health and science communications projects through host offices at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Applicants are required to have some science background and experience and/or education in at least one of the following areas: public health, epidemiology, public relations, health education, communications, science writing, statistics, social marketing, and/or journalism. After the eight-week selection process, fellows are offered either a six-month or one-year full-time internship with the possibility of renewal for a second-year term.
HCIP offers enrichment opportunities through a professional development series of events. Trainings include Managing Up: How to Be Effective with Your Boss, Giving and Receiving Feedback Effectively, and To the Point: Make an Impact by Saying Less. ‘Brown Bags’ are also held throughout the first year as networking events providing the opportunity to interact in a casual environment with individuals from the NCI Presidential Management Fellows program. As part of the HCIP, I was assigned a mentor and a supervisor within OCG, who function as an advisor and day-to-day point of contact, respectively—both also sharing their knowledge and setting fellowship performance expectations that help progress towards my defined goals and objectives at the NCI.
Before coming to the NCI, I had recently earned my Ph.D. degree in Public Health and, prior to that, received an M.P.H. in Global Health Practice with a graduate certificate in Disaster Management from the University of South Florida in Tampa. I also received a B.S. in Exercise Science from Florida State University in Tallahassee and became a Certified Health Education Specialist in 2015. My doctoral dissertation focused on understanding Latina breast cancer survivors’ perceptions of the importance of diet and nutrition in helping them cope with the effect of cancer treatment and survivorship. My research study revealed unmet information needs; Latina breast cancer survivors relied on organizational and online nutrition-related resources but identified a gap in culturally and linguistically tailored information related to diet and nutrition following diagnosis. Understanding the limitations that individuals face in their ability to function in daily life roles through cancer survivorship heightened my interest and influenced my decision to come to the NCI.
While in the doctoral program, I was also employed as Project Coordinator of the Florida Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program evaluation. The Florida MIECHV initiative is funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration with the goal of improving health and developmental outcomes for at-risk children through evidence-based home visiting programs. Our evaluation team was required to collect data and submit quarterly performance reports which served to assist the Maternal and Child Health Bureau in monitoring our grant and providing oversight. Throughout my four years working on the MIECHV program evaluation, I came to understand how organizations apply for, meet the requirements of, and report on federal research funding and competitive grants. My current position at the NCI now affords me a glimpse of how the National Institutes of Health (NIH) award and monitor the success of grants and contracts distributed to the extramural research community and help to disseminate the information achieved through such awards—the other side of the spectrum. As part of the OCG team, I currently collaborate with OCG program managers in supporting innovative scientific programs.
OCG aims to advance the molecular understanding of cancer by funding and managing national and international cancer genomics and translational research programs, with the goal of improving clinical outcomes, and thereby contributing to precision medicine. OCG currently supports four collaborative programs: the Cancer Genome Characterization Initiative (CGCI), Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments (TARGET), Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD2), and the Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI). My responsibilities as Health Communications Fellow include managing and creating website content; collaborating with OCG program managers on updating guidelines and manuals; interpreting website engagement analytics; and developing topics, writing articles, and editing the OCG e-Newsletters. I also collaborate with the Center for Cancer Genomics (CCG) Communications team regarding the development of video tutorials, tweets for the NCI Genomics Twitter page, and posts for the Insights and Innovations Blog.
Throughout the past seven months, I have become actively involved in assisting with communications initiatives for the CTD2 program. CTD2 is a collaborative Network of 12 research teams called Centers. Through robust cross-Network collaborations, the Network Centers use a combination of computational and experimental approaches to advance cancer research by translating large-scale genomic datasets into clinically-relevant information. For this program, I attend monthly steering committee teleconferences where presentations are given by each Center on a rotating basis to provide updates on their research. I also work closely with the CTD2 Dashboard and Data Harmonization Informatics Portal working groups. Through my OCG tasks and communications activities, I have come to better understand extramural federal grants from the award and management end.
My passion in the field of public health stemmed from my drive to help underserved and vulnerable populations through culturally and linguistically tailored health education programs. From my experience so far as part of the OCG team, my future career goals entail working in a government research-entity, ideally NIH, that would provide me the opportunity to develop targeted research and subsequently implement and manage specific programs. My current 12-month Health Communications Fellowship is just a starting off point to improving my understanding of cancer genomics research, bioinformatics, and precision medicine. It is important for me, through the HCIP, to build upon the community-based and analytic research skills I have attained as an evaluator in Florida and apply that knowledge to my work and collaboration activities at the OCG. I am now eager to continue contributing to research that will ultimately improve the health of the people in the cancer community for years to come. | 2019-04-25T11:03:42Z | https://ocg.cancer.gov/news-publications/e-newsletter-issue/issue-18 |
wear a Do Not Disturb sign round your necks. Brace yourselves for the impact.
Like KJH said the day feels like the calm before the storm!!!..
Soohyun may look selfish, weak-hearted on the breakup (I totally don't agree with that but there are so many attacks on her character, not here though) but from my point of view, she did that out of love. She had no choice or whatsoever. Yes she can tell Jinhyuk about this but what if he confront his mum? She did not want to destroy their loving mother-and son relationship just because of her, a person she thinks did not deserve happiness.
It's hard and pressuring especially you know the person you love most in this world, values and loves his family a lot; and one of his family members (his mum omg) is asking you to end the relationship for the better! What is she supposed to do? There is nothing like "face-this-together" on the cards for her! The way she sees Jinhyuk runs to Jinmyung at the police station, it's the end of her. She knows no matter what is going to throw at Jinhyuk, he will often say "it's okay" but deep down he endures everything on his own and it pains her to see him like this.
I really hope KJH’s good son acts to mom can melt his mom’s heart promptly.
enduring any obstacles to his life and his family from being with CSH is MUCH LESS torturing than living without CSH.
KJH did not make decision from naive view but he chose this being with CSH with pros and cons in his life including his family unavoidably and from the bottom of his heart.
He has planned to do the best with this choice, CSH, please trust and believe in KJH and do the best ever together.
“Sometimes it is cool, sometimes it is cute, and sometimes it has a lot of charms, which makes it a "lover of lovers"
The TVN 'Boyfriend' (play Yoo Young-ae / director Park Shin-woo / production studio dragon, this factory), which is making poetic dialogue and sensitive acting, Especially, the attraction of Suhyun (Song Hye-kyo) and Jinhyuk (Park Bo Gum) So I gathered moments of attraction of Suhyun and Jinhyuk.
- Soo Hyun , a word with the courage to raise your thumb! The scandal between the hero and the thumb!
In the 6th episode, Soo Hyun caused a heart attack with a courageous word. The reporter planted by Choi, Choi (Park Sung Geun) at the opening ceremony of the Sokcho Donghwa Hotel opened a trap by asking Suhyun what the scandal was about. So, Jin-hyuk turned back laughing that he was okay for Suhyun, which is difficult to answer, but Seo-hyun who looked at the backwardness of such a dilemma gave a surprise by acknowledging the relationship with " This was the moment of courage that Suhyun had never experienced in his chosen life and made the audience to raise his thumb.
# Jinhyuk, Confession of a Scandalous Scandalist in the Face of a Woman!
- 4th episode, Jinhyeok made a fascination with his stepping toward Suhyun. Suhyun was taken to the scandal by taking a photo of ramen at Jinhyuk and resting place, and the company became cluttered with Suhyun's gossip. In addition, Suhyun has been pushed to the brink because of the best wishes to call for clarification in front of the employees. At this time, Jinhyeok "Dear sir!" He called Suhyun and then stepped forward with his dignity and said, "I have some money. I will go to dinner if I will live today, "he said, pointing out that the main character of the scandal is himself. Especially in the end of the solo cliffs for the sudden hyeolhyeonhan hot hand touching Jinhyeok's solid eyes, and 'Do not ask me what this feeling. I do not know yet. The story of 'I am not going to leave you alone' is a tremendous tremor.
- Suhyeon, the audience disarmed the charm of drunkenness!
11th episode, Suhyun disgraced viewers with charming shot mixed with drunkenness. Suhyeon went to Jinhyeok and the stalls and showed her confidence that he drank well. However, Suhyeon, who has been sobered, has a cute smile on his mouth and says, "I like Jinhyeok nowadays because he is next to me." In addition to this, Suhyun is more cute because she is so drunk. "I am a little cute. Actually, I'm cute style, but I do not know people. " Above all, Suhyon 's expression and tone of drunkenness caused an automatic smile on his mouth.
# Jinhyuk, squid when I'm sleepy!
- Audience automatic clown ascension to the drenched shot!
2nd episode, Jinhyeok captured the eye with a cute intestinal shot holding a squid in his hand. Suhyun was going to pass by looking at the image of Jinhyuk who was drunk, but he turned her car to the falling raindrop and burned it. Jin-hyeo boasts a zipped tie and says, "Of course I both look good. The man laughed at the shot, saying, "I'm a suitor!" Furthermore, Jinhyeok took the squid out of his pocket in the worry of going back to home, and asked Suhyun, who was in his hand, to say, "Am I dirty? My hands were dirty, my pockets were dirty, and my hands were torn apart, and my hands were dirty ". At this time, Jinhyeok's loose balls, unfolded eyes, and tongue-free cute tone made him ascend to the clowns of viewers as well as Suhyeon.
- Suhyun, seeing the heart that made me tear down, Jinhyuk Mum before the mood!
In the 13th, Suhyun stimulated the lacrimal gland in a way that he was silent in front of Jinhyuk Mom (Paek Jiwon). She was shocked to hear about the relationship between Suhyun and Jinhyeok, asking for a job for her son, and treading Jinhyeok's efforts. After that, Jin Hyuk-Mo, who confronted with Suhyun, begged with tears, saying, "Please let us have a break." Soo Hyun grabbed her gaze as she tilted her head with no tears. Suhyun, who was breathing and trembling like a tree, tore the hearts of viewers.
9th episode, Jinhyeok was saddened by the loneliness behind his longing for Suhyun. Jinhyuk, who was invited to the Donghwa Hotel Sokcho, made a heartbreaking bet that Suhyeon and no-nothing were good news, and he could not hide his nostalgia for recollecting the past where he had been with Suhyun. Especially, sitting on the bench in front of the sea where he sat with Suhyun, the gaze of Jinhyuk who looked at the place he was seated and the lonely rear view made the viewers feel sick.
Like this, 'boyfriend' Suhyun and Jinhyeok capture the attraction that can not be denied at every moment.
Most of all, Song Hye Kyo - Park Bo Gum are filled with the delicate acting power of black tube, making viewers laugh, cry and thrill.
There is a growing expectation that Suhyeon and Jinhyeok will show another attraction in 'Boyfriend', which leaves only episodes to the end.
Wow..this is the truth..hope both the women in his life realize that asap!!
CSH, please trust and believe in KJH and do the best ever together.
CSH main weakness is this.she needs to trust him!!
I'm so nervous waiting for the live recaps here tonight.
I've postponed watching Episodes 13 & 14 thus far, wanting to avoid a cry-fest, until a feel good & happier Episodes 15 & 16 come about (I hope!).
The problem is, I watch Kdramas mainly for escapism (real life is already stressful at times.. moan.. whine.. grumble..) and I steer clear away from the ones with sad endings. Because of this, I have a stash of unfinished sad Kdramas that I chickened out from watching their endings. Those of my friends who are avid Kdrama addicts always argue that I lose out on the top quality dramas with this kind of behaviour. Well, to each his own I say. I may be a chicken but the sad endings really really pain me despite the protagonists being mere fictional characters.
Having said that, I thought Encounter would be different. It made me squeal happily mostly, from its very beginning. With each watch of Encounter, Episodes 1 to 12, I became more and more invested in Soo Hyun & Jin Hyuk's love story and I felt happier and happier seeing their growing love and the positive effect it had on them both. But after reading the reviews on Episodes 13 & 14, I can feel my "I'm a chicken" mania coming on and I don't think I can take it if the ending episodes this week lead to their permanent heartbreaking separation. So if the upcoming episodes did go down that way, (sob, splutter,) then this will be added to my stash of unfinished dramas.
Friend watch episode 13, but skip the last part. There are a lot of good scenes in epi 13.
I am usually good with watching angsty movies/dramas and even writing fanfiction stories that are tearjerkers but for some reason, I find myself so so so hesitant to watch the scene between SH and the mother as if it's truly going to break me if I do. Maybe because I read so many sad things about it in this thread? Or maybe I'm just really reluctant to see SH falling apart. This drama, especially the last two episodes, can really make one feel things that almost seems out of this world. I just can't properly explain the fear and the desperate hope of wanting them to achieve more than just a happy ending but the best kind out there. CSH is just as one of a kind like KJH.
I promised myself last week that I would watch 13 and 14 on Tuesday so I wouldn't suffer too much but after seeing ep 13 and stopping exactly before the last scene of the episode, I found myself backing out and being a coward. Anyway, 6 hours feels like waiting for some sort of court (death) sentence or something. I'll watch that scene, ep 14, and 15 altogether and save myself from early heart-stopping heartbreak.
@bubblechoco will you be doing live recaps? If you are then I might pass on live recaps this time, last 4 episodes I keep getting kicked off the stream.
@dukesa1122 Thanks, I’m fine just bummed out that the drama is getting over.
I wanted to post something and see what everyone thought but I’m going to wait till the drama gets over so that we have something to discuss after (dreaded) Thursday.
For the sake of your chingus in the thread, please brave tonight's episode. Of course, we are so happy to have @bubblechoco around to help in the live recap...but having both of you would be such a treat for all of us in the thread!
Whatever happens, we can get through this!
@bubblechoco: For as long as it will NOT jeopardize your studies/work.
On another note, I recently discovered this song by Roy Kim titled "Hug Me" which literally made me cry thinking about CSH's character. This so fits so much with the drama, especially in the recent episodes. Give it a listen. Here are the lyrics which I found in the comment section.
It absentmindedly wakes me up again in the morning.
In the countless nights I spent resenting you, It feels like I’m in hell.
All I have to do is take a step closer, isn’t it?
Those empty eyes, that cold expression.
You’re quite a pretty person, aren’t you?
You know me well enough, don’t you?
Remember the new JTBC Traveler's show that was going to Cuba influenced by the popularity of the drama?
what a wonderful lyrics. For anyone who suffered greatly from a break-up could relate to how painful that song is.
Is there a possibility for no live recaps tonigh? Why do I feel relieved and dismayed about it?
Dont know when Im gonna see SHK again. It might take longer than usual because you know.... hoping for one more project though! | 2019-04-24T17:58:59Z | https://forums.soompi.com/topic/422637-drama-2018-2019-encounter-boyfriend-%EB%82%A8%EC%9E%90%EC%B9%9C%EA%B5%AC/page/353/ |
Gardening and photography are two pastimes that, combined, in addition to providing us with the way to escape from everyday worries, relax us and give us the pleasure of creating a living and refined works. Even a simple camera, used with the necessary precautions, is sufficient to obtain good results, without having to resort to high-quality devices, what can be done later, when the needs increase as the photographer’s expertise increases and his sensitivity. The garden offers the amateur photographer great satisfaction. There are hundreds of ways to make a garden useful for creating compositional effects, suggestive combinations of figures, flowers and color contrasts; in it the portraits find an ideal frame, a harmonizing scenario, especially as regards the children who take on that casual attitude, unfailingly lost when they have to pose in another environment. Photographing your garden, in the splendor of spring or summer, also allows you to make comparisons, think of other accommodations for the following year; it means to see it grow.
Power of macro photography and technique that allows you to keep the subject in focus and blur the background, on which the flower stands out in all its beauty.
To understand how this happens, you first need to know how the images are formed on the sensor (on film in analog cameras). It all stems from the fact that the angle of view of a lens is different from the binocular field of vision, that is, from what the two eyes of man see.
By simplifying, we can state that, when we observe, what is outside the field of vision is not perceived by our eyes. The same thing happens with the angle of view of the lenses, which changes depending on the focal length.
For our example, among all the possible targets we have chosen the normal objective. A target is said to be normal if its focal length is even (or approximately equal) to the diagonal of the sensor. The full frame sensor (24×36 mm or Leica) is as large as a frame of the film and is, in our opinion, the format par excellence of photography, more expensive but preferable to various APS formats, which are smaller. The normal lenses for the full frame, all have a focal length of 50 mm. Photographs made with the normal lens have the property of reproducing the framed scene more or less as our eyes see it. But this does not mean that the angle of view of a normal lens is equal to the human visual field. In fact, a 50 mm lens has a field angle, both horizontal and vertical, equal to 46 °, very different from the human visual field.
After these premises, we can proceed to the discovery of how the image is formed on the image plane, which we will call PI.
Today, lenses are made up of several lenses which, however, behave substantially like a single lens. We therefore feel free to represent the lens as a single lens. And we do not do anything wrong: the first objectives of the history of photography were really composed of a single lens.
In Figure we see what happens when we look at a scene with a flower and a butterfly, where we have placed three points, all at the same distance D from the lens. We note that the lens does not see the point 3 (butterfly) that is out of its angle of field.
Therefore on the image plane (PI) we will find only the footprints (ie the images) 1 * and 2 * of the points 1 and 2. (En passant we point out that the image will result below, but we will not insist on this point).
Then we removed the flower, the butterfly, the angle of field and left only the points 1 and 2 of the flower. We have added two important elements of the goal. First of all the focus F (red dot), an important point because it is the one where the light rays reflected by a very, very distant point converge: in the language of the photographers they say “a point to infinity” (∞). Then we added the optical center C (point blue) and we have indicated the focal length 50 mm (distance of C from F). Finally we added an indispensable element of the camera, the sensor (S), which will record the fingerprints for us. Let’s go into detail.
● Imprint of point 1. Between all the beams of reflective light 1 there is the one parallel to the optical axis (red line). When this ray meets the target, it is deflected (refracted) through fire F. Let’s take another ray of light reflected from 1, the one passing through C (green line) and that is not deflected. The PI image plane is where the two rays (red and green) meet (ie in 1 *, fingerprint or image of 1) and is parallel to the lens (lens).
● Imprint of point 2. Between all the light beams, refer to 2, the one parallel to the optical axis (gray dashed line) does not meet the target. To find its footprint, consider the light ray reflected by 2 which passes through the optical center C (blue line) and which is not deflected. The impression 2 * is formed where the spoke meets the PI image plane previously found.
Why are these prints formed on the image plane? explains it. With respect to the previous one we left the PI image plane where the 1 * and 2 * impressions of points 1 and 2 are formed. These impressions are formed thanks to the sunlight reflected from 1 and 2 (photography means written with light).
It may seem a trivial question, but the answer would be enough to fill all the pages of this book. Its appeal also derives from the fact that photography has different meanings for each person. Photography is so present in our life that it would be impossible to imagine one without it. We probably could not look at a wedding photo, see the growth of children or we would not be able to go on holiday without a camera. We are continually bombarded with images: newspapers, magazines, advertising as well as on paper, even on television, on the internet. Yet we are never satisfied. What drives us to take pictures? What role does photography play, in relation to other forms of visual expression, in the communication of information and ideas? Does a photographer have any responsibility? What does it actually imply? And what makes an image a success? Throughout the book we will try to give an explanation to these questions with the awareness that photography is a combination of subjective thoughts, creative imagination, visual creation, technical competence and practical organization. With a broad circular look at all aspects of photography, you will be able to focus on your ideas in photographic terms. On the one hand you need to know the technical aspect and the camera, even if you do not need to exceed the details too early, on the other you have different approaches on how to take a picture suitable for the purpose, from documenting an event to communicating an idea to a particular audience, working by expressing their ideas or those of some other person, or by free interpretation to the public.
Perhaps you have been attracted to photography because it appears to be a quick, convenient and objective way to register reality. All the importance lies in the meaning of the subject itself and your intent is to objectively show what it is or what it is doing (the first steps of a child or the scratches on the bodywork to show to the insurer). Photography is then realism, it becomes a proof of that situation. In this case the camera is used to capture a visual memory. The other side of photography is when it is used to manipulate or to propose its own interpretation of reality, then the images will essentially bring out personal evaluations and positions. You can create unreal situations (as in advertising) or choose to resume only some aspects of an event and not others (as for internal politics news). Photography is a powerful means of persuasion and propaganda. It enjoys such a reputation for objectivity that, in shrewd hands, makes it possible to transform any reality into another. Take for example the album of your memories. What does it contain, your daily life or just happy moments? Another reason why we dedicate ourselves to photography could be the search for a means of personal expression that allows us to explore our own ideas. It may seem strange that a apparently so objective means can be used to express, for example, the object of a desire, identity, race or fantasy. Probably all of us have seen images ‘represented’ in other objects, like seeing some animals in a cloud formation, in shadows or in rust. A photograph can become intriguing, thanks to the questions we ask ourselves, allowing us to see things that do not exist. The way in which the image is presented is also important, at least as much as the subject. Other types of photographers seek only the beauty and the portray in their ‘picturesque’ style, as an art form in its own right. For many people one of the biggest attractions for photography is equipment. All an ingenious technology designed to satisfy our dexterity and the eye, in fact we feel a great satisfaction in pressing buttons, in triggering high precision mechanisms, in collecting and carrying sophisticated photographic equipment. The tools are undoubtedly of vital importance, and their perfect knowledge is absolutely necessary, but let’s not reduce ourselves to taking pictures just to test the performance of the device! Another attraction is the photographic process itself: a challenge between our technical skills and the final result of the portrait object. The results will then be judged and enjoyed on the basis of their intrinsic photographic qualities: contents of high interest, superb details, richness of tones and colors strongly expressive. The photographic process provides the means to ‘capture what we see’, to obtain images without having to work laborious designs. The camera is a kind of time machine, which ‘freezes’ any person, place or situation we want. It seems that it gives those who use it the power to dominate reality. Another aspect that fascinates is the pleasure of the visual structure of the photographs. There is a real complacency that comes from the composition of the images as such: the geometry of the lines and shapes, the balance of the tones, the ‘cut’ and the structure of the elements, whatever the subject portrayed. All this can be achieved with a change of point of view or with the choice of a certain moment to shoot. These are just some aspects of the different possibilities and the different interests connected to photography. Many then find themselves fused together in the practice of a photographer’s work. Your current interest can be based primarily on technology, on the artistic aspect or on visual communication. We can know where interest is born, but not where it evolves, so it is It is important for a beginner to maintain a certain openness in his mind. Try to equip yourself with the right bases by learning something from all the various aspects, preferably not limiting yourself to the theory, but with a good support of practical applications. | 2019-04-23T20:09:00Z | http://bestlandscapedesign.com/tag/photography/ |
So glad Kirstin Springmeyer and Manale Elewah were able to connect in Houston yesterday to talk about the healing power of art. Kirstin was one of my first "kids" to go into ordained ministry from my first call. She's now working on the healing power of art.
Last time I was with Dr. Elewah was in Cairo. She took me to see her work at a children's cancer hospital and we cartooned, sang, and played all day. She took me to visit one very sick child who wasn't able to join us. The boy was staring blankly at the wall. I told him I bet I could make him smile. I did everything I could think of, and no... no smile. Then I pulled out my final trick in the bag and yes, he rolled his eyes and finally smiled.
There are many medicines that don't cost a thing. Art and smiles are maybe two of the best.
We're all living next to a cliff.
How can we train our homes to be the places of stranger conversations and invitations to tea?
Can we learn to feel other’s pain?
How do we raise a child, a family, a society of true compassion and empathy? Joan Halifax has some marvelous thought on nurturing compassion in a oft-times cold and polarized world.
Great talk for Cross+Gen conversations.
Her thinking about Robotics and Digital Artificial Intelligence would especially make a marvelous conversation starter between the ages.
We're not listening to each other.
1/3 of teens send 110+ texts a day… but would much rather text than talk to a human being.
Conversational competence is the single most important skill we can teach our children and achieve ourselves today. And yet, we seem to have more and more time for tech and less and less time for talk. Without it, how can we achieve true understanding? Without the time, attention and energy, how can we hone interpersonal conversation skills?
Teaching how to talk and how to listen, Celeste Hedlee shares these 10 basic rules to be Engaged, inspired, perfectly understood.
10. Be brief - My sister said, "A good conversation is like a mini-skirt; short enough to retain interest, but long enough to cover thee subject."
This Ted Talk would make a great Cross+Gen conversation.
So, how might something like FAITH5 help us get good at this, every week in a Cross+Gen community and every night in every home?
Over my years in ministry and education, I have found using theater is both attentive and retentive. And, whether you're Nathan the Prophet telling David off ("you are the man!") or Shakesphere's Hamlet ("the play's the thing whereby I'll catch the conscience of the king") or George Bernard Shaw ("If you're going to tell the truth, you'd better make them laugh or they'll kill you"), embedding a message in drama is rather brilliant neurology.
We are bombarded with billions of bits of info per second. Most of our senses have gate-keepers to keep information out. (except the sense of smell). There's just too much information! The brain uses these filters in order to focus on what's important.
But when you bombard the senses with theater - the eyes (the visual cortex processes 7 billion bits per second), the ears (they process up tp 10,000 bps), the tingling skin (when the empathetic nervous system gets involved in the story), and what story and music do to engage significantly more of the brain (the logical centers of the brain, the sense of humor or drama), you have a tool for attention and retention. Engagement and involvement.
And you get beyond the gate-keepers to encounter the audience (ie, listeners) an spectators (ie, viewers) in more than just a show.
You get to the heart of the matter... because great theater gets to the matter of the heart.
From a neurological perspective, a para (beside) bala (to throw or lob) is the most brain-engaging form of speech. It lights up the visual, logical, emotional and curiosity centers of the brain.
It is written that Rabbi Jesus only taught in parables.
Raising A Teen Who Talks Every Night?
He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents.
Imagine raising a daughter who wouldn’t think of going to bed without talking to you about her highs and lows every night, even though she’s 16.
Imagine raising a son who won’t turn out the lights without asking you about your day, praying for your highs and lows, and blessing you.
Imagine growing up in a home where everyone feels loved, valued and heard every night; a family that seeks God’s wisdom, will and Word at the center of their lives; an intimate community where every night is an experience of caring, sharing, comfort and peace. Does this sound like an impossible dream?
Does it sound like an improbable dream?
One thing is for sure: This dream is not going to magically materialize without intention, commitment and a workable plan on your part to make it happen. Having a close and caring family is a beautiful dream, but a dream without a plan isn’t worth a nickel. However, a dream with a workable plan may be worth a million bucks.
Think of your highest high and lowest low in the last five years.
• Where was God in the high?
• Where was God in the low?
• What wisdom have you gained from these two experiences?
• Shares a significant high with a trusted friend?
• Shares a significant low with a trusted friend?
• Falls asleep every night of his or her life knowing that he or she is loved, heard and valued?
• Reflect on the significant highs of the day every night?
• Reflect on the significant lows of the day every night?
• Share highs and lows, caring conversations, faith talk and reflection at the end of the day (as opposed to mornings, after school, in the car or around the dinner table)?
What if you frequently have to go out of town on business? What if you are sitting on a military base half a world away? What if you are sitting in a jail or prison cell? All the more reason to connect with your kids! Your kids need you now more than ever in order to feel loved, secure and safe.
Just because you're gone doesn't mean you have to be absent.
Do everything in your power to check in regularly with your kids, ask about their highs and lows, share your own concerns, pray for them, ask for their prayers, and offer your blessing. Don’t let physical distance create emotional distance. Leverage the technology available to Skype or FaceTime or phone them. So much of communication happens without words. The smile, the eyes, the face muscles, the visual clues say more than mere words ever could.
Let your loved ones know that even though you are away, you care too much about them to let a single day go by without building a memory they will treasure and take with them the rest of their lives. They will remember that their daddy or mommy always had time for them. You can’t buy that kind of message for a child. It will mean more to him or her than you will ever know.
We only had two rules for sharing highs and lows when our children were young. First, no interruptions. When someone was sharing, no one else was allowed to speak, except to ask clarifying questions. Second, no judgment. The first time you judge your children’s highs or lows may be the last time they risk being honest with you about what is really going on in their lives.
1. A timer: Brevity is the way to go for highs and lows, so set a time limit for the amount of sharing. Save the longer conversation for the amount of sharing. Save the longer conversation for Step 3: Talk.
2. Journaling: Writing before speaking is brilliant neurology. It connects thought to muscles, motions to emotions, and eyes to fingers. It begins the process of moving a person’s short-term memory from scratch pad (hippocampus) to hard drive (neo cortex). Writing connects the brain to the body to the environment, thus engaging the whole mind. It wires and fires and connects the new to what you already knew, setting the pieces in place for insight, problem-solving and innovation. If you want to grow reflective children into wise and thankful adults, start journaling.
3. Photographs and “emotographs”: As long as you are journaling words, why not consider adding a journal of images? Take at least one photo every day and add it to the mix.
Mental and emotional snapshots recorded in the form of simple sentences about your highs, lows and prayers serve as great mementos. Add a photo each day along with your writing and your journal will become the kind of scrapbook I call an emotograph—a rich, simple, memory- jogging tool that ensures that the day and its lessons will never be forgotten.
Setting aside 5 to 15 minutes each night for these communication practices might not merely hold a family together; it might also teach children—and adults—how to hold a marriage together.
Here's the link to "Life Moves Pretty Fast." Show it to parents, then invite them to start a nightly check in with FAITH5 (share, read, talk, pray, bless).
If all you had time for each night was five minutes of sharing highs and lows, you would be miles ahead of most families—psychologically, sociologically, neurologically and theologically. But this is just the start of the art. In the chapters that follow, we’ll get to the good stuff. In the meantime, let’s look at how this first step of FAITH5 might look in your nightly routine.
Whoever is going to bed first in your home is empowered to call the nightly home huddle. This could be, “Highs and lows!” or “Huddle up!” or “FAITH5 in five minutes!” After a little exercise to get oxygen, glucose and BDNF coursing through your children’s veins, invite each person to look back on the day. What was one high (a good thing) that happened during the last 24 hours? What was one low (one thing they didn’t consider so great)?
Go around the room. Take turns. Ask everyone to be on watch throughout the day for the highest high and the lowest low. Consider recording your highs and lows in a journal for later reflection. Think of this as a little gift to your family and yourself. Be honest. Be real. Don’t interrupt. Expect everyone to contribute.
When our children were young, our pillow fight always ended on our waterbed. We followed with highs and lows on the waves. When they hit grade school, the home huddle rotated between Kathryn’s and Joseph’s rooms. For some magical unseen reason, it shifted back to Mom and Dad’s bedroom when they hit high school. Most nights found them lying comfortably on our bed—often with Kathryn Elizabeth’s feet sticking in my face for a foot rub. Even on nights when we were angry with one another and not all that elated to be related, the act of returning to that ritual and comforting space was often all it took to bring us back “home” in our home.
"If you talk for several minutes, the other person’s brain will only recall a fraction of what you’ve said, and it might not be the part you want to convey. The solution? Brevity followed by intense listening to make sure the other person has grasped the key points of what you said. If they have, great! You can say another sentence. If not, why move on? If the other person hasn’t understood you, what good will it do?"
Here’s the other good news if you have a child or teen (or spouse) who doesn't talk much: The person who shares highs and lows in a couple sentences in 10 to 20 seconds may not only be more efficient in communicating - but they may be significantly more effective in getting messages across! Any one-way communication beyond a half-minute increases the likelihood that the message a person is trying to get across will not be registered and remembered by anyone.
You can keep pouring water in a full glass all you want, but it’s only going to hold so much. Everything else will just be a waste of water. Likewise, after 10 seconds, you can keep talking all you want, but if there is no give and take—no true conversation—everything else is just a waste of time, energy and breath.
Don't worry if highs and lows are done in a couple sentences or syllables. Worry if they aren't done at all. | 2019-04-19T01:00:44Z | https://www.richmelheim.com/the-blog/?category=Communication |
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Metal-semiconducting or cell photovoltaic of the joint of Schottky.
Hybrid solar cell of the Polymer-semiconducting.
Solar cell sensitized point of Quantum.
The flexion of the excessive control as large as the energies of the bandage proposes new methods to the photo-answer of the regulator and the effectiveness of the photo-conversion of the solar cell. Several policies to maximize the photo-induced processes of the transference of the separation and the electron of the load to refine the global effectiveness of the slight conversion of the energy are available. To indicate the efforts of the investigation that come in the way to the use from nanostructures adapted will be a significant challenge for the progress in solar cells 36 of the following generation .
These last years the solar cells of the colloidal points of the quantum have been the subject of the extensive investigation. A promising alternative existing the solar silicon cells, solar cells of the point of the quantum is between the candidates for the devices photovoltaic of the following generation. The colloidal points of the quantum are attractive in the investigation photovoltaic due to their capacity of the process of the solution that is useful for their integration in the several solar cells. Here, we reviewed the recent one we progressed in the solar cells of I vary point of the quantum that are prepared of colloidal points of the quantum. We discussed the methods of the preparation, the work concepts, the advantages and the disadvantages of the architectures event of the device of I gave ff. The discussed important subjects in this revision include the integration of the colloidal points of the quantum in: The solar cells of Schottky, the exhausted solar cells of heterojunction, the solar cells of the extremely fine shock absorber, the solar cells organic-inorganic hybrids, the solar cells of heterojunction in bulk and the point of the quantum sensitized the solar cells. The revision organizes according to the principle of work and the architecture of the devices photovoltaic .
These last years, the inorganic crystals of semiconducting Nano of the (also known like puntea Quantum, QDs) have been to sees promising it pave cell [3, 4] of the following generation. QDs have been explored due to its size and competitive dependent absorption [5-9].
The colloidal points of the quantum have been used in solar cells of heterojunction in bulk also. [10, 11] hand reposed recent progress in this field. Due to the great research interests in one-dimensional (1D) structures highlighted integration of colloidal nanoparticles in Nano rods and nanowires based to pave cells In addition , has reviewed a wide range of applications of quantum dots in optoelectronic devices such as photo detectors, light emitting diodes and briefly about quantum dot solar cells.
CdSe quanta dots have been prepared with different sizes and exploited as inorganic dye to sensitize a wide band gap TiO2 thin films for QDs solar cells. The synthesis is based on the pyrolysis of organometallic reagents by injection into a hot coordinating solvent. This provides temporally discrete nucleation and permits controlled growth of macroscopic quantities of Nano crystallites. XRD, HRTEM, UV-visible, and PL were used to characterize the synthesized quantum dots. The results showed CdSe quantum dots with sizes ranging from 3 nm to 6 nm which enabled the control of the optical properties and consequently the solar cell performance. Solar cell of 0.08% performance under solar irradiation with a light intensity of 100 mW/cm2 has been obtained. CdSe/TiO2 solar cells without and with using Mercator propionic acid (MPA) as a linker between CdSe and TiO2 particles despite a Voc of 428 mV, Jsc of 0.184 mAcm−2, FF of 0.57, and η of 0.05% but with linker despite a Voc of 543 mV, Jsc of 0.318 mAcm−2, FF of 0.48, and η of 0.08%, respectively .
A high surface area pn-heterojunction between TiO2 and an organic p-type charge transport material (spiro-OMeTAD) was sensitized to visible light using lead sulphide (PbS) quantum dots. PbS quantum dots were formed in situ on a Nano crystalline TiO2 electrode using chemical bath deposition techniques. The organic whole conductor was applied from solution to form the sensitized heterojunction. The structure of the quantum dots was analysed using HRTEM technique. Ultrafast laser photolysis experiments suggested the initial charge separation to proceed in the sub picosecond time range. Transient absorption laser spectroscopy revealed that interfacial charge recombination of the initially formed charge carriers is much faster than in comparable dye-sensitized systems. The sensitized heterojunction showed incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies (IPCE) of up to 45% and energy conversion efficiencies under simulated sunlight AM1.5 (10 mW/cm2) of 0.49% .
Quantum dot (QD) solar cells have the potential to increase the maximum attainable thermodynamic conversion efficiency of solar photon conversion up to about 66% by utilizing hot photo-generated carriers to produce higher photo-voltages or higher photocurrents. The former effect is based on mini band transport and collection of hot carriers in QD array photo electrodes before they relax to the band edges through phonon emission. The latter effect is based on utilizing hot carriers in QD solar cells to generate and collect additional electron–hole pairs through enhanced impact ionization processes. Three QD solar cell configurations are described: (1) photo=electrodes comprising QD arrays, (2) QD-sensitized Nano-crystalline TiO2, and (3) QDs dispersed in a blend of electron- and hole-conducting polymers. These high-efficiency configurations require slow hot carrier cooling times .
Finally, in recent years it has been proposed and experimentally verified in some cases , that the relaxation dynamics of photo-generated carriers may be markedly affected by quantization effects in the semiconductor (i.e., in semiconductor quantum wells, quantum wires, QDs, superlatives, and nanostructures). That is, when the carriers in the semiconductor are confined by potential barriers to regions of space that are smaller than or comparable to their de-Broglie wavelength or to the Bohr radius of exactions in the semiconductor bulk, the relaxation dynamics can be dramatically altered; specifically the hot carrier cooling rates may be dramatically reduced, and the rate of impact ionization could be-come competitive with the rate of carrier cooling.
Semiconductors such as CdS, CdSe, CdTe, CuInS2, Cu2S, PbS, PbSe, InP, InAs, Ag2S, Bi2S3 and Sb2S3 have been synthesized as QDs and deposited onto wide-band gap nanostructures as sensitizers. Depending on their size, these materials can absorb photons over a broad spectral range or within a confined window of the solar spectrum. Especially CdS, CdSe and PbS have been used to investigate the operating principles of QDSCs. The limited number of materials listed indicates that much room remains for materials scientists to identify new semiconductors which can be applied as QD sensitizers. Table 1 lists the most common material compositions used for QDSCs. Due to the many publications in later years, the table only includes a fraction of the work done in this field, in order to highlight articles that contain a detailed description of QD deposition and methods for solar-cell fabrication.
CdSe quantum dots (QDs) with different organic linker molecules are attached to ZnO nanowires (NWs) to study the luminescence dynamics and the electron tunnelling from the QDs to the nanowires in time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) and photoconductivity measurements. The PL transients of the QD luminescence indicate two different recombination channels: the direct recombination inside the QD core and the recombination via QD surface defect states. After linking the QDs to the ZnO NW surface, photo-induced electron tunnelling from an excited state of the QD into the conduction band of the nanowire becomes visible by a clear decrease of the PL decay time. Efficient electron tunnelling is confirmed by a strong enhancement of the photocurrent through the functionalized nanowires in which the tunnelling rate can be controlled by using different organic linker molecules .
During the decade last colloidal QDs they have been integrated in the types event of I gave ff of solar cells for example: The exhausted solar cells of heterojunction of the solar cells of Schottky extremely rarefy the solar cells of hybrid polymer of the cells of the shock absorber, the solar cells of hetero-junction inorganic-organic and the solar cells sensitized point of the quantum (QDSSCs) [54-62]. Figure 1.4 demonstrations used the typical architectures of the device in the solar cells of QDs.
Fig. 1.4: Comparison of various QDs based photovoltaic cells. (a) Schottky cell; (b) depleted heterojunction cell; (c) hybrid polymer solar cells and d) QDs sensitized solar cell. Adapted from .
CdSe QDs, capsuled with trioctylphosphine (COVER), was prepared by a solvo-thermal route that allows control of the size. Briefly, the selenium reacts with microstate of cadmium in toluene in the presence of acid oleic and of the COVER. The reaction happens in ◦C 180 in a sealed sterilizer. Changing the time of reaction, diverse sizes of the points of the quantum were obtained. The like-prepared colloidal solutions were characterized by a PC of Shimadzu UV-2401. In the case of electrochemical measures of the photo, the points of the quantum of CdSe were purified previously by the ethanol precipitation, the isolation by the centrifugalization and the movement, three times. Picture 1.5 demonstrates the phantoms of absorption of the three dispersions of QD with diverse sizes of QD used in this study. The QDs was synthesized on 2, 5, 5 and 15 H. The changes in the wavelength of the absorption limit reflect the confinement of quantization of the size, the tip that it changes of position to lower wavelengths whereas the size of QD diminishes. Comparing the maximum of the absorption limit (495, 517 and 536 nanometre) corresponding to the first transition exciton with the curves disclosed by Peng and the fellow workers, the diameters of QD could be obtained (2, 3, 2, 5 and 2, 8 nanometre, respectively) [18, 19].
Figure 1.5: UV–vies absorption spectrum of colloidal CdSe QDs, informed with three diverse reaction periods, 15, 5 and 2.5 h, and dissimilar quantum dot sizes. Adapted from .
Slowed hot electron freezing in InP QDs has been practical by the research exploration assembly at NREL . For QDs, one mechanism for breaking the phonon bottleneck that is predicted to slow carrier cooling in QDs and hence allow fast cooling is an Auger process. Here a hot electron can give its excess kinetic energy to a thermalized hole via an Auger process, and then the hole can then cool quickly because of its higher effective mass and more closely spaced quantized states. This effect was first shown for CdSe QDs; it has now also been shown for InP QDs, where a fast hole trapping species (Na biphenyl) was found to slow the electron cooling to about 7 ps. This is to be compared to the electron cooling time of 0:3 PS for passivized InP QDs without a whole trap present and thus where the holes are in the QD core and able to undergo an Auger process with the electrons [21-23].
QDs are very trifling semiconductor Nano crystals with a size analogous to the Bohr radius of an exciton. For utmost semiconductors, the Bohr radius of an exciton is in the series of 1-10 nm: for instance, it is 4.2 nm for Si, 3.1 nm for CdS, 6.1 nm for CdSe, and 2.2 nm for ZnO. Yet, the Bohr radius of the exciton is actually huge for more or less semiconductors: it is 20.4 nm for PbS, 46 nm for PbSe, and 67.5 nm for InSb. Owing to the facet effect, the performance of electrons in QDs varies from that in the agreeing bulk substantial, which is baptised as the ‘quantum confinement effect’. A semiconductor with a bigger exciton Bohr radius means that the QDs made from the factual may reach a strong quarantine effect more simply. For the reason that the quantum confinement effect, the band gap energy (Eg) of QD rises with the reduction of particle dimensions. Eg can be explained by Eg 8 1/r2, wherever r is the radius of QD. The surge of Eg earnings that additional energy will be desired so as to be engrossed by the QD. So the variety of optical fascination wavelengths of QD can be altered by governing the size of QD. Such a piece of QDs with tuneable Eg has directed to their submissions in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for full-colour presentations, and in QD-sensitized solar cells for the group of optical absorption at favourite wavelengths [23-30].
Ref. (36) has established that the conduction band energy (Ecb) of QD would go up to the in height energy level by lessening particle size because of the quantum confinement effect, which is very important to solar cells. Fig. 1.6 (a) shows the Ecb of bulk PbS is 4.74 eV, which is inferior than that of TiO2 (4.21 eV). The electrons in the conduction band of bulk PbS is hard to hedge into the conduction band of TiO2. The Eg of PbS can be enlarged by dropping its particle size, as shown in Fig. 1.6 (b), chief to the conduction band minimum move to higher energy. Once the conduction band energy of PbS ties that of TiO2, the electrons separated from exciton couples by photons can simply handover from the conduction band in PbS interested in the conduction band in TiO2. So the quantum confinement effect is the essential ailment for the building of QDSCs. For QDSCs, smaller QDs are favourite so as to attain more QDs adsorbed on the photo electrode film. Smaller QDs have also established an advanced electron injection degree than their larger matching part.
Fig. 1.6 (a) Schematic sketch of energy levels of PbS; and (b) association among the PbS Eg and particle size, as described in Refs [31, 32].
Fig. 1.7: (a) The requirement of the electron transfer rate on the energy and (b) an outline exemplifying the attitude of electron transmission from two dissimilar CdSe quantum dots hooked on a TiO2 nanoparticle .
Figure 1.7: demonstrate the necessity of the electron transmission rate fixed on the energy alteration among the conduction bands and the cipher of electron transmission from two altered-sized CdSe QDs into a TiO2 nanoparticle . It can be realised that the electron allocation rate obviously surges with lessening QD size in the CdSe TiO2 system. For QDs, the surge of band gap would be predictable to consume constructive conduction band energies for vaccinating electrons obsessed by a photo electrode.
Fig. 1.8: Absorption bands of CdSe quantum dots in toluene; Adapted from Ref. .
But, the rise of Eg directs that single extraordinary energy photons can be engrossed by the QD, foremost to the absorption wavelength control of the QD blue swing as exposed in Fig. 1.8: Too minor QDs will pointer to too much stumpy the optical absorption on behalf of the photo electrodes, which has bad influences on the solar cells. Thus, the top solar-to-electricity alteration effectiveness can be gotten by improving the band energy assembly of QDs to contest the oxide film and find an extensive optical raptness wavelength .
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“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic. While there has been a marked decrease in the use of some illegal drugs like cocaine, data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) show that nearly one-third of people aged 12 and over who used drugs for the first time in 2009 began by using a prescription drug non-medically.
Some individuals who misuse prescription drugs, particularly teens, believe these substances are safer than illicit drugs because they are prescribed by a healthcare professional and dispensed by a pharmacist. Addressing the prescription drug abuse epidemic is not only a top priority for public health, it will also help build stronger communities and allow those with substance abuse disorders to lead healthier, more productive lives,” says the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Below we examine the definition of the non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD), what some of the commonly diverted medications are, the current trends in use nationally and in Massachusetts, the physical and psychosocial consequences of NMUPD, and where people are accessing prescription drugs.
Both Monitoring the Future5 and CDC’s Youth Risk Behaviors Surveillance survey6 define NMUPD as the use of a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription.
Pain relievers, also known as opioid analgesics or opioids, are commonly prescribed for the management of acute or chronic pain, including post-surgical pain.
Stimulants are frequently prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, or depression that does not respond to typical medication.
Tranquilizers and sedatives both fall under the category of central nervous system depressants. These classes of drugs are commonly prescribed for sleep problems (e.g., insomnia), anxiety, panic disorders, and seizure disorders.
Data from the most recent NSDUH indicate that of these four categories, pain relievers (opioids) are the most commonly misused and abused type of prescription drug, far exceeding the misuse and abuse of stimulants, tranquilizers, and sedatives.
SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) provides one of the best population-level snapshots of prescription drug misuse and abuse at the national level among civilian, non-institutionalized individuals 12 years of age or older. The most recent NSDUH results, which cover the 2014 implementation, were released in September 2015.
NSDUH asks about four types of prescription drugs: pain relievers, stimulants, tranquilizers, and sedatives. Respondents are asked to report on use without a prescription or use simply for the feeling caused by the drug.
Lifetime non-medical use of psychotherapeutics ranged from 9.2% among 12–17 year olds to 26.3% among 18–25 year olds.
The 2014 survey marked the lowest reported lifetime use on record among this age group.
At the state level, the Massachusetts Youth Health Survey (MYHS), funded by DPH, provides selected data on NMUPD.
Note: The data points listed below are from the 2013 survey, as the report on the 2015 survey was not available at the writing of this document.
Changes in the wording of these items between the 2011 and 2013 implementations limit the ability to examine trends in lifetime misuse.
Past-year non-medical use of psychotherapeutics in the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) ranged from 6.2% among 12–17 year olds to 11.8% among 18–25 year olds.
Non-medical use of psychotherapeutics among 18–25 year olds peaked in 2006 at 15.7%; the 2014 NSDUH marked the lowest reported past-year use on record among this age group.
Past-year non-medical use of psychotherapeutics peaked in 2003 among 12–17 year olds at 9.2%, and the 2013 NSDUH marked the lowest reported lifetime use among this age group (5.8%).
Within NSDUH’s psychotherapeutic category, pain relievers were the most prominent type of prescription drug misused, with past-year misuse rates of 4.7% among 12–17 year olds, and 7.8% among 18–25 year olds.
Monitoring the Future (MTF) estimates past-year non-medical use of psychotherapeutics among 12th-graders at 14.8% in 2012, 15% in 2013, 13.9% in 2014, and 12.9% in 2015, indicating a downward trend in past-year use in recent years.
Broken down by type of prescription drug, MTF found past-year use rates among 12th-graders at 7.7% for stimulants, 5.4% for pain relievers, 4.7% for tranquilizers, and 3.6% for sedatives.
Limited data on past-year misuse of prescription drugs at the state level are available from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which aggregates two years of data together. The 2013 and 2014 pooled estimate from NSDUH indicates that 3.8% of individuals 12–17 years of age and 7.6% of individuals 18–25 years of age in Massachusetts misused prescription pain relievers in the past year.
Past-month non-medical use of psychotherapeutics in the 2014 NSDUH ranged from 2.6% among 12–17 year olds to 4.4% among 18–25 year olds.
Non-medical use among 18–25 year olds peaked in 2006 at 6.5% and has been lower than that rate in each successive year—the 2014 survey marked the lowest reported use on record among this age group.
Similarly, non-medical use of psychotherapeutics peaked in 2002 and 2003 among 12–17 year olds at 4.0% and has been lower than that rate in each successive year.
Within the psychotherapeutic category, pain relievers were the most prominent type of prescription drug misused, with past-month misuse rates among 12–17 year olds of 1.9%, and among 18–25 year olds of 2.8%.
Past-month misuse of pain relievers was second only to marijuana among the specific illicit drugs measured by the survey (CBHSQ, 2015).
Monitoring the Future (MTF) estimates past-month non-medical use of psychotherapeutics among 12th-graders at 7% in both 2012 and 2013, 6.4% in 2014, and 5.9% in 2015, indicating a downward trend in past-month use in recent years.
Prescription drugs all have potential acute side effects that range from mild symptoms to more severe reactions that can lead to significant morbidity and, potentially, death. Effects vary by the type of medication misused.
Common acute side effects of opioid prescription drugs include nausea, sedation or drowsiness, depressed respiration, euphoria, dysphoria, constipation, and itching.
NMUPD is associated with a greater likelihood of developing dependence,1, 15, 16 particularly for adolescents who begin use early. Opioid analgesics, which are in the pain reliever category of prescription drugs, are more likely to lead to dependence.
It is well-documented that NMUPD, particularly misuse of narcotic pain relievers, is associated with an increase in the number of emergency department (ED) visits. Between 1972 and 2011, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) tracked drug-related ED visits in the United States.
In the final year of DAWN, 1,244,872 ED visits involved NMUPD, 366,181 (29%) of which involved narcotic pain relievers—mostly oxycodone (12.1%), hydrocodone (6.6%), and methadone (5.4%).
This constituted an increase of 117% (from 168,379 to 366,181) between 2005 and 2011, although there was evidence of a stabilization in trend between 2008 and 2011 (Crane, 2015).
Drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2013, resulting in 43,982 fatalities nationwide.
Among young adults and adults (ages 25–64), deaths from drug overdose exceeded the number of deaths from motor vehicle fatalities.
Breaking down these numbers a little further, roughly half the drug overdose deaths in 2013 (52%) were related to prescription drugs (22,767 cases).
Within this group, almost three-quarters (71%) involved opioid pain relievers, and one-third (31%) involved benzodiazepines.
Within Massachusetts, DPH confirmed 1,099 opioid overdose fatalities in 2014 of unintentional or undetermined intent and estimates an additional 61–89 cases once unresolved cases have been finalized. Based on the confirmed cases alone, this constitutes a 65% increase over the number of opioid overdose fatalities observed in 2012 (n = 668).
The unintentional and undetermined intent opioid overdose death rate (including heroin deaths) was estimated at 17.4 people per 100,000).
This constitutes a 228% increase from the observed death rate in 2000 (5.3 per 100,000) and a 28% increase from the observed death rate in 2013 (13.6 per 100,000).
On a year-to-year basis, the death rate has increased in 9 of the past 14 years, with small reversals in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010.
The death rate has increased every year since 2010, which is the longest period of uninterrupted growth since 2000.
Hall, Howard, and McCabe22 found that among a sample of 723 adolescents in residential care for antisocial behavior, those who reported high levels of anxiety and depression also reported significantly greater amounts of sedative/anxiolytic misuse compared to adolescents who did not report high levels of anxiety and depression.
Several studies have demonstrated a link between major depressive disorder and greater rates of NMUPD;13, 23, 24, 25 however, it is unknown if this indicates a directional relationship or whether another factor might account for both conditions.
Additional research is needed to determine whether certain classes of prescription drugs are related to different types of psychiatric or other medical conditions.
Greater misuse of prescription drugs is associated with lower levels of educational attainment.27 Adolescents reporting greater rates of NMUPD also demonstrate poorer academic performance24, 30 and a greater likelihood of school dropout.23, 31 Due to the cross-sectional design of these research studies, it is not possible to rule out that poorer academic functioning occurs prior to the onset of NMUPD or that another factor is associated with both academic functioning and NMUPD. | 2019-04-21T15:22:14Z | http://masstapp.edc.org/prevention-planning/context-problem |
Background: This study was done to detect multidrug resistant (MDR) and extremely drug resistant (XDR) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa among strains isolated from patients in Tehran, Iran, due to importance of these phenotypes in treatment of human infections. Methods: Eighty eightP. aeruginosa were isolated from patients in Tehran, Iran, and identified by routine methods and PCR for oprL gene. Their antimicrobial susceptibility to 16 antimicrobial agents from 7 antimicrobial categories (aminoglycosides, carbapenems, cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, penicillins/ß-lactamase inhibitors, monobactams, polymyxins) were determined by disk diffusion method, according to recommendation of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. Characterization of P. aeruginosa isolates as MDR and XDR was done according to standardized international terminology presented by European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011. MDR was defined as acquired non-susceptibility to at least one agent in ≥3 antimicrobial categories and XDR was defined as non-susceptibility to at least one agent in ≥6 antimicrobial categories. Results: The rates of susceptibility to antimicrobials were as follows: gentamicin 27.3%, tobramycin 54.5%, amikacin 56.8%, netilmicin 36.4%, imipenem 55.7%, meropenem 55.7%, doripenem 60.2%, ceftazidime 63.6%, cefepime 56.8%, ciprofloxacin 59.1%, levofloxacin 60.2%, ticarcillin-clavulanic acid 37.5%, piperacillin-tazobactam 63.6%, aztreonam 43.2%, colistin 90.9%, polymyxin 95.5%. Altogether, 48 (54.5%) and 29 (33%) isolates were characterized as MDR and XDR, respectively. Discussion:The high frequency of antibiotic resistance in clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa in Iran makes epidemiological surveillance of susceptibility of this bacterium more essential for the best selection of empirical antibiotics.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen in human (1). The most worrisome characteristic of this bacterium is its low antibiotic susceptibility, which is attributable to low permeability of the bacterial cellular envelopes and action of multidrug efflux pumps. In addition to this intrinsic resistance, P. aeruginosa can get resistance by mutation either in chromosomally encoded genes or by the horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance determinants (2, 3). Unfortunately, rates of antibiotic resistance in P. aeruginosa are increasing worldwide (1, 2). Besides, some of strains have shown resistance to multiple antibiotics, which could be mediated by several mechanisms including production of hydrolyzing enzyme, loss of outer membrane protein, efflux systems and target mutations (4). These isolates were named multidrug resistant (MDR), extremely drug resistant (XDR) and pandrug resistant (PDR), according the extreme of their resistance. Infections with these resistant isolates may be associated with increased morbidity and mortality, which can attributed to limited effective antimicrobial options (4, 5).
Review of literature on MDR P. aeruginosa has revealed considerably different definitions (6, 7). The absence of specific definitions for MDR in clinical study protocols makes difficult the comparison of data (8). In addition, the true prevalence of MDR isolatescannot well establish (4). However, in the majority of the published studies, multidrug resistance was defined as resistance to at least three drugs from a variety of antibiotic classes, mainly aminoglycosides, antipseudomonal penicillins, cephalosporins, carbapenems and fluoroquinolones (4).
In 2011, a group of international experts came together to create a standardized international terminology with which to describe acquired resistance profiles in bacteria often responsible for healthcare-associated infections and prone to multidrug resistanceincluding P. aeruginosa. List of proposed antimicrobial categories for characterization of MDR, XDR and PDR in P. aeruginosa are shown in Table 1. MDR was defined as “acquired non-susceptibility to at least one agent in three or more antimicrobial categories”, XDR was defined as “non-susceptibility to at least one agent in all but two or fewer antimicrobial categories” (i.e. bacterial isolates remain susceptible to only one or two categories) and PDR was defined as “non-susceptibility to all agents in all antimicrobial categories” (8).
Since most studies performed in Iran about MDR P. aeruginosa do not include these criteria and there is a lack of study about presence of XDR P. aeruginosa, this research was designed to detect these phenotypes among P. aeruginosa isolated from patients in Tehran, Iran.
(5'-ATGGAAATGCTGAAATTCGGC-3' and 5'-CTTCTTCAGCTCGACGCGACG-3') was used for molecular identification of P.aeruginosa (9). Product length of amplicon was 504 base pair. Genomic DNA was extracted from overnight cultures of P. aeruginosa by boiling.
Disk diffusion method was used for detection of antimicrobial susceptibility in clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines (10). The following antibiotics disks from MAST Categories Ltd., Merseyside, UK, were used: gentamicin (GM, 10µg), tobramycin (TN, 10µg), amikacin (AK, 30µg), netilmicin (NET, 30µg), imipenem (IMI, 10µg), meropenem (MEM, 10µg), doripenem (DOR, 10µg), ceftazidime (CAZ, 30µg), cefepime (CPM, 30µg), ciprofloxacin (CIP, 5µg), levofloxacin (LEV, 5µg), ticarcillin-clavulanic acid (TIM, 85 µg), piperacillin-tazobactam (PTZ, 110µg), aztreonam (ATM, 30µg), colistin (CO, 10µg), and polymyxin B (PB, 300U). Control strain used for all antibiotics disks was P. aeruginosa ATCC27853, except for penicillins/ß-lactamase inhibitors, which was E. coli ATCC35218.
Defining of MDR and XDR in P. aeruginosa isolates were done according to new standardized international document (8), by the results of antimicrobial susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to all antimicrobial agents listed in Table 1 except fosfomycin, since interpretive criterion recommendation by CLSI and EUCAST for fosfomycin disk diffusion test of P. aeruginosa is not available yet (10, 11). Therefore, isolates of P. aeruginosa, which have shown non-susceptibility to at least one agent in ≥3 antimicrobial categories considered MDR, and isolates exhibit non-susceptibility to at least one agent in ≥6 antimicrobial categories known as XDR.
Antimicrobial susceptibility of 88P. aeruginosa isolates against 16 agents from 7 antimicrobial categories is shown in Table 2. The highest susceptibility was shown to polymyxins categories, which was >90%, and the lowest to gentamicin (27.3%), netilmicin (36.4%), ticarcillin-clavulanic acid (37.5%) and aztreonam (43.2%).
In three isolates (3.4%), there was not non-susceptibility to any tested antimicrobial categories. Non-susceptibility to one and two categories were seen in 21 (23.9%) and 16 (18.2%) isolates, respectively. In addition, non-susceptibility to three, four, five, six and seven categories were seen in 8 (9.1%), 4 (4.5%), 7 (8%), 26 (29.5%) and 3 (3.4%) isolates, respectively. Therefore, non-susceptibility to ≥3 antimicrobial categories was seen in 48 isolates (54.5%), which characterized as MDR P. aeruginosa, and non-susceptibility to ≥6 antimicrobial categories were seen in 29 isolates (33%), which characterized as XDR P. aeruginosa. Pandrug P. aeruginosa was not detected, because non-susceptibility to all used agents was not seen in any isolates.
Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of studied P. aeruginosa isolates and their frequency were shown in Table 3. The most prevalent patterns were as follows and other patterns were seen in ≤3 isolates.
In XDR P. aeruginosa isolates, the two later were the most common pattern and P. aeruginosa to all 7 tested categories (patterns 35-37) was shown only in three isolates. All XDR isolates, except four isolates, exhibit susceptibility to polymyxin B and colistin.
In this study, the antimicrobial susceptibility of 88P. aeruginosa isolates against 16 agents from 7 antimicrobial categories was determined. Altogether, the highest susceptibility was shown for polymyxin antimicrobials (90.9% and 95.5%, respectively, for colistin, and polymyxin B). Resistance of P. aeruginosa clinical isolates to all antibiotics except the polymyxins was shown in many medical centers (3). These agents may not be as effective as first-line agents and may be associated with more significant adverse effects (12, 13). The difference between the rates of susceptibility of P. aeruginosa isolates to different agents in aminoglycosides and penicillins/ß-lactamase inhibitors categories was also shown in this study. Susceptibility to gentamicin and netilmicin was low (27.3% and 36.4%, respectively) comparing susceptibility to amikacin and tobramycin (55% and 51%, respectively), while intermediate phenotype were high to gentamicin and netilmicin. In addition, susceptibility to ticarcillin-clavulanic acid was much less than piperacillin-tazobactam (37.5% and 63.6%, respectively), probably due to antagonism of the bactericidal activity of clavulanate with ticarcillin, which has been shown by other researches (14).
In this study, 48 isolates (54.5%) was recognized as MDR, 29 isolates (33%) as XDR and there was not PDR among 88 clinical isolatesof P. aeruginosa isolated from patients in Tehran, Iran. There is few published literature about multidrug resistanceinclinical isolates of P. aeruginosa in Iran with proper definition of MDR, and the study with our used criteria was not found. However, high prevalence of MDR was reported in the studies defined MDR as resistance to ≥ 3 classes of antibiotics; 100% by Moazami-Goudarzi et al. and Ranjbar et al., 60% by Bayani et al., 45.3% by Nikokar et al. and 33.1% by Salimi et al.(15- 19). In the studies in other countries, lower prevalence was usually reported; Morales et al. 5.46%, De Francesco et al. 20% and Tacconelli et al. 14% (5, 20, 21). Geographic differences in antimicrobial resistance was shown in other studies and population demographics, access to medical care and illicit drug use are some of the variables explaining such differences (4, 22).
One limitation of our study was the absence fosfomycin susceptibility test results of isolates, because we used only disk diffusion test, which interpretive criterion of fosfomycin for P. aeruginosa recommended by CLSI and EUCAST is not available yet (10, 11). Since we used all antimicrobial agents listed in Table 1 except this antibiotic, some of MDR and XDR P. aeruginosa isolates were not detected in this study.
The observation that high percentage of studied clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa in Iran are multidrug and extremely drug resistant (46.6% and 33%, respectively), is worrisome and requires proper methods to prevent the spread of these strains.
This work was funded by grants from the Molecular Microbiology Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. We thank Rahim Nosrati, Seyedeh Marzieh Moosavi and Fatemeh Rezaei for collaboration in this study.
Tenover FC. Mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. Am J Infect Control 2006; 34(5): S3-10, discussion S64–73.
Strateva T, Yordanov D. Pseudomonas aeruginosa a phenomenon of bacteria resistance. J Med Microb 2009; 58: 1133-48.
Bonomo RA, Szabo D. Mechanisms of multidrug resistance in Acinetobacter species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Clin Infect Dis 2006; 43 (Suppl 2): S49-56.
Hirsch EB, Tam VH. Impact of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection on patient outcomes. Expert Rev Pharmacoecon Outcomes Res 2010; 10(4): 441-51.
Morales E, Cots F, Sala M, Comas M, Belvis F, Riu M, et al. Hospital costs of nosocomial multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa acquisition. BMC Health Serv Res 2012; 12: 122.
Falagas ME, Koletsi PK, Bliziotis IA. The diversity of definitions of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and pandrug-resistant (PDR) Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Med Microbiol 2006; 55 (Pt 12): 1619-29.
Obritsch MD, Fish DN, MacLaren R, Jung R. Nosocomial infections due to multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa: epidemiology and treatment options. Pharmacotherapy 2005; 25 (10): 1353-64.
Magiorakos AP, Srinivasan A, Carey RB, Carmeli Y, Falagas ME, Giske CG, et al. Multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant and pandrug-resistant bacteria: an international expert proposal for interim standard definitions for acquired resistance. Clin Microbiol Infect 2012; 18 (3): 268-81.
De Vos D, Lim A Jr, Pirnay JP, Struelens M, Vandenvelde C, Duinslaeger L, et al. Direct detection and identification of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in clinical samples such as skin biopsy specimens and expectorations by multiplex PCR based on two outer membrane lipoprotein genes, oprI and oprL. J Clin Microbiol 1997; 35 (6): 1295-9.
CLSI. Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing; Twenty-Third Informational Supplement.CLSI document M100–S23. Wayne, PA: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; 2013.
Lu CL, Liu CY, Huang YT, Liao CH, Teng LJ, Turnidge JD, et al. Antimicrobial susceptibilities of commonly encountered bacterial isolates to fosfomycin determined by agar dilution and disk diffusion methods. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2011; 55 (9): 4295-301.
Kim J, Lee KH, Yoo S, Pai H. Clinical characteristics and risk factors of colistin-induced nephrotoxicity. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2009; 34 (5): 434-8.
Zavascki AP, Goldani LZ, Li J, Nation RL. Polymyxin B for the treatment of multidrug-resistant pathogens: a critical review. J Antimicrob Chemother 2007; 60 (6): 1206-15.
Lister PD, Gardner VM, Sanders CC. Clavulanate induces expression of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa AmpC cephalosporinase at physiologically relevant concentrations and antagonizes the antibacterial activity of ticarcillin. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1999; 43: 882-9.
Moazami-Goudarzi S, Eftekhar F. Assessment of Carbapenem Susceptibility and Multidrug-Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Burn Isolates in Tehran. Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology 2013; 6 (2): 162-5.
Ranjbar R, Owlia P, Saderi H, Mansouri S, Jonaidi-Jafari N, Izadi M, et al. Characterization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from burned patients hospitalized in a major burn center in Tehran, Iran. Acta Med Iran 2011; 49 (10): 675-9.
Bayani M, Siadati S, Rajabnia R, Taher AA. Drug Resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter cloacae Isolated from ICU, Babol, Northern Iran. Int J Mol Cell Med 2013; 2 (4): 204-9.
Nikokar I, Tishayar A, Flakiyan Z, Alijani K, Rehana-Banisaeed S, Hossinpour M, et al. Antibiotic resistance and frequency of class 1 integrons among Pseudomonas aeruginosa, isolated from burn patients in Guilan, Iran. Iran J Microbiol 2013; 5 (1): 36-41.
Salimi H., Yakhchali B, Owlia P, Lari AR. Molecular Epidemiology and Drug Susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Isolated from Burn Patients. LabMedicine 2010; 41 (9): 540-4.
De Francesco MA, Ravizzola G, Peroni L, Bonfanti C, Manca N. Prevalence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in an Italian hospital. J Infect Public Health 2013; 6 (3): 179-85.
Tacconelli E, Tumbarello M, Bertagnolio S, Citton R, Spanu T, Fadda G, et al. Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa bloodstream infections: analysis of trends in prevalence and epidemiology. Emerg Infect Dis 2002; 8(2): 220-1.
Croft AC, D'Antoni AV, Terzulli SL. Update on the antibacterial resistance crisis. Med Sci Monit 2007; 13 (6): RA103-18. | 2019-04-18T22:36:01Z | http://ijp.iranpath.org/article_13213.html |
The presumption that people with health insurance plans, under the Affordable Care Act, will be healthier may be a farce. It often follows the idea that consumers with a particular illness will get the right drugs at their disposal, if they get health insurance plans.
An Oregon research for people selected randomly by lottery, for health insurance plans or coverage, showed a major impact on financial health and mental health by Medic pressure and cholesterol level, experienced no significant change.
Another study shows less child and infant mortality, because of Medicaid expansion to pregnant women in the 80’s and 90’s.
We can infer that, health insurance play an important role in improving health, to a degree depending on how the research is conducted or questions asked.
I suppose one of the major motivations for us in doing this study is there’s been so much debate about the Affordable Care Act and relatively little discussion of health, whereas there’s been quite a bit of discussion about financial outcomes.
said Joshua Salomon – a global health professor, at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.
They analyzed the health status of participants, by comparing the health of those with health insurance plans and those don’t have it. The participants were extracted from a National survey between 1999 and 2012. The result showed that the likelihood of being diagnosed and getting the chronic disease under control is higher within the insured (with health insurance plans).
insurance, which is not a direct contributing factor to health.
Sharon Long, of the Urban Institute health policy center, said that the large survey numbers, can overestimate the importance of having a health insurance plans. In general, researchers do agree on the benefits of health insurance plans.
A health economics professor from Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Katherine Baicker feels that having health insurance plans are better than not been insured.
What seems much less clear to me is how that option compares to other options. None of these studies say which is better: expanding Medicaid, or vouchers for private insurance.
The ideal question now, should be how to restructure health insurance plans, in other to make people get the best from it, and not how big is the effect of health insurance plans on health. Also, there are growing interest involving health insurance coverage and the best way to improve health like poverty eradication. Poverty is mostly associated with poor health.
In response to this, Sharon Long asks whether if pollution (air and water) are addressed, what do we see? Rather than expanding health insurance plans, can there be new strategies?
A high deductible health plan is a low premium insurance plan that comes with higher deductibles. They are designed to take care of more serious, calamitous or catastrophic ailments, while offering less coverage for consistent checkups involving prescription medication.
The high deductible health plan can exceed $6,000 within a calendar year, and once completed the medical insurance plan will begin. During this period, the high deductible health plan has additional co-payments, unlike other medical insurance plans. It comes into play once the deductible is met.
A flexible or health saving account (HSA) is usually connected to a high deductible health plan, in several cases. A specific sum is deposited into your flexible account every payday, while a tax deferral solitary yearly contribution, to a health saving account is made.
A high deductible health plan using flexible spending account, comes with restriction. You either use all the cash in the flex account within the calendar year, or you lose them. Strict measures do apply to how you utilize the cash, so there will be no room for an end of the year spending spree, just to consume all of it. A tight budget is ideal to avoid depositing more money, than you can actually spend within the calendar year.
Using a high deductible health plan with a HSA, any cash commitment made is removable on the basis of tax deferral. Also, certain expenses like for medical are not taxed, while interest accrued in the process, is subject to tax deferral. The balance (unused money) might be rolled over and utilized for future health expenses. The healthier you are, the better the choice of a high deductible health plan with HSA. It can result in a maximum balance. Your medical insurance policy will be greatly reduced, if more money is left in the HSA. This can be re-used in future. Numerous retirees utilize the cash for bill payments, as well as paying for medical insurance policies amid times of unemployment.
High Deductible Health Plan: Who is it for?
Buying a health plan involves a substantial investment. Money is needed for paying medical expenses. So anyone with difficult financial standings, may find it hard should an on-foreseeing medical condition occur. Clients or individuals who need regular medical appointments, is not an excellent fit for high deductible health plan. In the event that medication is required regularly, the monthly cost should be considered prior to investing in a high deductible health plan.
Choosing the right medical insurance plans will help you overcome troublesome times. A high deductible health plan is the ideal choice for many clients. It’s HSA, offers excellent investment opportunity, although it was particularly created for individuals with calamitous medical condition.
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Another interesting MEDEX International travel medical insurance plan would be TravMed Choice. This is a special coverage for people who are travelling outside their country. The plan lets customers handpick their medical benefit and deductible. It is ideal for global travelers who want sickness and accident insurance. There are many optional services offered by TravMed Choice. This includes package benefits like interruption, trip cancellation and lost luggage.
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For a lot of people, holidays are all about spending time with their loved ones and feeling relaxed. However, the process of planning for a successful trip is easy said than done. Regardless of where, how and when you travel, it is quite important to have MEDEX International travel medical insurance policy. An ideal policy will make sure you are taken care at all times.
If you are a novice International traveler, here are few important things you must keep in mind.
In accordance with the old adage, “The sooner the better” – you must plan ahead of time. Take off few hours from your busy schedule and start planning. Look for the towns’ best International travel medical insurance. Remember that there are many service providers with exquisite features. You must compare and contrast as many as possible to bag the best deal.
When you opt for an International travel medical insurance policy, make sure the details are shared and stored properly. Always carry a copy of the papers with you, leave a copy with your dear ones back home and at the hotel room. Additionally, you must provide details of emergency contact too.
Medical insurance service providers are known for a comprehensive range of assistance. Before you go on an international tour, make sure you are aware of the nation’s health risks. There are several nations with identified health problems. If you are ought to visit these countries, you must be physically and mentally prepared.
Never make assumptions with your travel medical insurance scheme. If you are confused or worried about something, read through the policy’s terms and conditions. For example, it would be wiser to inquire if the policy covers luggage and accidents like slipping on ice. After all, it is always wise to be safe than sorry.
At all times, try to buy your medical insurance plan as early as possible. Never wait for last minute offers and deals. Also, take time and read through the policy’s cancellation formalities. Insurance companies have a unique way of reimbursing costs and covering medical conditions. To be safe, you must choose the right policy with the right features.
A lot of ardent travelers tend to extend their period of stay in the travel destination. This is when your travel medical insurance scheme should be modified too. Check if the policy lets you buffer and extend the cover. Do you know that some travel medical insurance schemes offer comprehensive coverage to gears? There are plenty of credit cards and policy providers with special coverage facilities. These covers will ensure the product is replaced or funded when lost or stolen.
Regardless of the policy you pick, make sure you know what you are getting. If you have doubts about the coverage, ask for help from professional healthcare service providers. They will give you a comprehensive insight on what should be done before, during and after the trip for a successful cover.
Are you looking for healthcare insurance quote? We can help. Read up our tips to find out how to find cheap insurance quotes online. We will help you to make the right choice and get the medical insurance plan that will best fit your needs. Choosing the best health insurance does not have to be hard.
When involved in a healthcare insurance, be sure to get as many quotes as possible on your own. This will ensure that you can stand your ground versus an insurance adjuster as well as ensure you are getting a fair quote. If there is a debate, be sure to calmly confront your adjuster and assume that they are not trying to cheat you.
If you can afford to do so, it is cheaper to pay your healthcare insurance premiums all at once rather than by making monthly payments. Most medical insurance companies will charge interest and other fees in addition to your monthly payments, or may offer a discount for paying in a single lump sum.
Healthcare insurance is like any profession: it uses a lot of specialized words (indemnification, liability, etc.) So if you don’t understand something about a policy you’re about to buy, STOP. Ask the health insurance professional you’re talking with to back up and explain in simpler understandable terms. Let them continue or do it again and again, if you still don’t it. Nothing is far worse than buying a health insurance policy with little coverage or costs too much, because you weren’t comfortable in asking the right questions beforehand.
If you have filed a claim for whatever it is, the job of the insurance company is to try minimize that claim, while it’s your job to get back what you lost. If you are fortunate to work in a trustworthy and principled company, you should understand that you and the company are effectively at cross purposes and that you need to be an advocate for recovering your own loss.
The wise consumer will take their own loyalty into account when comparing health insurance companies. An insurer that has provided years of effective, reliable and trouble-free service should not be abandoned the instant a slightly cheaper alternative becomes available. It is quite likely that a healthcare insurance company that offers rock-bottom prices is cutting corners somewhere in the service they provide their clients.
Healthcare insurance, car insurance, renter’s insurance, pet insurance, travel insurance, you name it.
All of those things are necessary and they insure one’s peace of mind. It is easy to think that paying a minimal monthly amount is ridiculous, but when something catastrophic happens, insurance saves the day. Medical insurance will reimburse one for or pay medical bills.
Purchasing healthcare insurance is necessary and it should factor into everyone’s budget. One hundred dollars every month is far easier to handle than one hundred thousand because something unexpected happened.
With a little knowledge and research you will be better able to find the healthcare insurance you need. Now that you are better equipped to find the healthcare insurance that will best fit your needs you won’t be caught in the trap of making mistakes that many make as they are looking to get a new healthcare insurance policy.
Purchasing reliable health insurance policy is always a great way to have help on the way, when you need it the most, because you never know when you are going to get diagnosed with a disease. You can go through any kind of medical issues and through the financial stress associated with it, if you have the right kind of medical insurance plans. Read these tips to learn more about health insurance policy.
treatment by a dentists, is crucial in preventing further spread down the body, which could ultimately affect the digestive system and other organs. A greater number of Americans lack proper dental care because they do not have dental insurance, so try to stay healthy by buying a proper health insurance policy.
Healthy habits like Exercise, play an important role in lowering a health insurance policy. Cash bonuses are given out by corporations, mostly to employees to fill out a questionnaire about one’s lifestyle; such as exercise and smoking. A favorable score on this questionnaire, can greatly reduce the company employee’s health insurance policy.
So it’s essential, you verify all possible perks provided by your employer in your insurance policy. If you are not careful enough, plenty discounts can pass by without you knowing it. Discounts from exercise equipment, recreation centers, gyms, from non-smoking or even just answering a questionnaire on healthy habits, are usually given out.
More on: what is the best coffee maker?
Nutrition often provides an opportunity for you to lower health insurance policy, just by per-taking in special nutrition programs. To be eligible, you need to consult your health insurance agent. Also losing weight can attract added incentives to your health insurance coverage.
The above health insurance tips, should guide you in your choice of medical insurance plans. Your budget and personal need, should come to mind when searching for the best health insurance plans.
The choice of health insurance policy is based on necessity and not a luxury. So go search for an affordable medical insurance plans now!
Free health insurance will help you meet up with high medical bills and protect you from expensive physician appointments. No one intends to fall ill or meet up with an accident; however, no one can stay away from visiting medical facilities or health care industries in the long run! This is when free health insurance policies become useful. Generally, this insurance scheme will make sure you pay little for health care units that are classed as a part of its in-network hospitals. Some free health insurance plans offer preventive care like check-ups, vaccines and screenings. Even before the deductibles are applied, you will receive preventive care. Above all, the health insurance scheme will take care of your dear one’s medical coverage too.
to individual, there are plenty of policies with fine-tuned requirements. With this being said, you must handpick a policy that best suit your needs and wants! Always remember that there is a thin line between the actual needs & wants.
Free Health Insurance: Commonly Asked Questions!
To begin with, you should come in touch with your parent’s health insurance service provider. Verify if the company offers coverage for dependents too. If yes, you must inquire how long the coverage would be provided. In most cases, free health insurance schemes are offered till the dependents turn 26. Also, you will be eligible for the insurance scheme till you live with your parents and are unmarried. Meanwhile, if the service provider does not offer coverage for dependents, you must wait for a different plan or enroll in a separate health insurance policy.
1) You should be a legal resident or citizen of USA. Several terms and conditions should be satisfied by immigrants. One should read through the state’s local statements to know if they are eligible for the free health insurance. For instance, US citizens who are outside the country for more than 300 days are not expected to avail the free health insurance coverage. Thus, you are not expected to pay any annual fees that is expected from other non-insured citizens.
2) You must have a stable source of income. Generally, if you are single, you should earn at least 11,000 USD. If you have a family of three, you must make 23,000 USD every year.
3) You should be more than 18 years of age.
4) You should be prepared to by an effective coverage health insurance policy from a reliable Marketplace like Exchange.
5) You should be at least living in United States.
6) You must not be incarcerated. This is a fundamental requirement of the free health insurance policy.
There are different types of health insurance policies for people who earn lessor than 16,000 USD. When compared against many health schemes in the market, Medicaid offers affordable health schemes for potential buyers. If you get hold of a free health insurance scheme, you can free yourself from tax credits. In case your employer offers a scheme that costs 10% more than your annual income or if it does not cover 50% of the possible medical expense, you should opt for better health insurance schemes that can delight you with enticing tax benefits. As mentioned previously, remember that there are many free health insurance schemes in the market for potential buyers.
Meanwhile, the process of filling health insurance forms is easy said than done. The applications are based on many important details like the family size and your income. If you don’t fill in the right information, you may not qualify for the free health insurance policy. In case you are unable to visit the service provider, opt for online assistance. These professionals will state if you are eligible for the health benefit or not!
As mentioned previously, Medicaid is one of the finest health insurance policies you can obtain. It offers coverage to people with very little income. In most cases, pregnant women, little children and families are covered. Over the years, Medicaid has witnessed many changes. Experts state that the policy’s rules change once in every three years. Hence, people who did not qualify for the free health insurance scheme several years ago, may qualify now! Above all, the policy does not have a limit on how many times it can applied for.
Another interesting free health insurance scheme would be CHIP alias Children’s Health Insurance Program. It is a low/free coverage for little ones from families that do not qualify for Medicaid. In some states, even pregnant women are allowed to avail the benefits of this free health insurance scheme. Conversely, CHIP is one of those most wanted health insurance benefits in the market.
If you qualify for anyone of these free health insurance policies (Medicaid or CHIP), you can apply for its actual benefits at any time of the year. Nevertheless, you must make sure you are eligible for the free insurance scheme.
Though the facilities offered by free health insurance policies differ from one to another, there are few basic offerings. As mentioned previously, the policies will give free preventive services, at least three free visits to the hospital and plenty of deductibles. Nevertheless, you must read through the policy’s terms and conditions before opting for any free health insurance coverage.
Compare USA companies with the best medical insurance plans for 2015. Everybody is keen on reliable healthcare insurance coverage. Over the years, medical bills have become expensive and complicated. This has increased the need for legit healthcare support. If you are searching for reliable health coverage schemes, here is a quick walk through best medical insurance plans for 2015 in USA.
The list of best medical insurance plans begins with “Express Scripts”. The American based company is extremely famous for its drug utilization program, management services, drug data analysis services and exquisite benefit-design consultation help. It is an ideal plan for government agencies, self insured employers and individuals from the military.
the largest healthcare carrier in the nation. It has more than 7+ million people in its directory. Apart from fine-tuned health insurance schemes for individuals, United Healthcare supports Medicaid programs and state-sponsored initiatives too.
The collection of best medical insurance plans will remain incomplete without “Blue Cross Blue Shield”. It is a federation that combines 37 healthcare companies (separate) and organizations in United States. Conversely, they offer health insurance coverage to more than 100+ million people. BCBSA serves as one of the prime administrators of Medicaid in many regions of United States. In terms of numbers (enrolled number of insurance policy holders), Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is the biggest in the nation (or even in the world).
Another prominent player in offering best medical insurance plans would be Aetna. Some of its best medical insurance plans are out-of-the-box and truly useful. Aetna has being in the industry for a very long time! Being one of the largest healthcare insurance providers in the market, Aetna covers a wide range of health issues. From dental to group life disability to drug services to employee benefits to long term care insurance, Aetna has a plan for everyone in the family. Hence, it is one of the finest health insurance companies to work with! In fact, Aetna delights employers with special benefit programs and insurance facilities through Medicare.
Architecture (MITA). Molina uses a special Health PAS system to help insurance policy holders on the go! Health PAS is a web based solution that uses a local MMIS unit to find patient data, plan benefit and authorize services. Additionally, the PAS System has a comprehensive online portal that provides essential details in just few clicks of a button.
Cigna is ranked amongst the very few companies with best medical insurance plans that can support you when expenses that are not covered by your major healthcare policy arise. For instance, some medical insurance schemes don’t handle accidents or unexpected diseases. In such situations, Cigna’s Supplemental insurance will lend you a hand of help. The insurance service providers will support you with direct cash, when the need arises. This cash can be used for daily expenses and out-of-the-pocket medical bills. Supplemental insurance from Cigna is certainly one of the best medical insurance plans you can avail, since it pays during both recovery and treatment!
Next in the line of best medical insurance plans comes from “Humana”. The insurance policy is meant for families and individuals. The service provider focuses on a discreet motto. It revolves around health and gives people a choice to live well! Humana offers a wide range of best medical insurance plans. This covers vision plans, medical assistance, dental schemes and life insurance policies. Humana stresses on the need for personalized support and affordable insurance help. For instance, individuals who combine vision plans and dental schemes will save at least 35 USD. Humana has many Veteran Packages that are meant for families and US Veterans. As a result, you will have the wit to pull together a healthier you and stronger tomorrow!
Moving on, Kaiser Permanente has some of the best medical insurance plans in the market. The service provider makes life easier by offering better coverage and care. They are not deemed as typical healthcare providers with best medical insurance plans. Instead, they thrive hard to support everyone with health needs! To be more precise, Kaiser Permanente has paired with local communities like fitness establishments and farmers’ markets to promote health. Kaiser Permanente is a healthcare company that focuses on preventive wellness and overall care. They provide many wellness programs, routine appointments and preventive screenings that can remove sicknesses from your life!
Round the clock nursing services.
Endless amount of care, physical support, spiritual assessment and emotional upliftment.
Celtic offers a special Palliative care program. It has exquisite inpatient hospice facilities too!
Last in the list of best medical insurance plans comes from Altius. They offer different types of products like prescription coverage, network coverage and special services. As suggested by its name, prescription coverage deals with dependable health care that handles medical prescriptions. It will help you by drugs at an affordable price! And, in terms of network coverage, Altius has more than 5000+ participating hospitals.
The trend of major medical insurance plans from top companies, is hitting hard though plenty of insurance firms are now emerging with the most innovative approach. Thus, no matter how in debt you are, there is always a solution to your problems. There is no doubt that you will come across affordable medical insurance plans.
Always find out and ask them to send you the conditions, total costs, etc. Compare products listed from other major medical insurance plans and take your time. By contrast, remember to stay tuned to enjoy medical insurance deals that appear online and beware on fine prints and details. Reading policies and insurance plans will help you avoid frustration in the future. Now, let’s move forward.
Let’s proceed by analyzing everything you need, to feel at your best. Thanks to the most affordable medical insurance plans, you can now start taking care of your body; with an espresso maker.
innovations in development or use after your signing up, will no longer be a problem. Since you have the power to make selection prior to selecting any major medical insurance plans.
It is typically to see in the offers of major medical insurance plans, big letters on their medical insurance plans offerings and basic aspects of their health coverage. But in the fine print, is where you are expected to put down all the exclusions in medical insurance coverage or information such as vesting periods (must be taken into account especially in pregnancies) that may affect the type of coverage you want to employ.
It is very unpleasant to learn what is not covered, by medical insurance plans once hospitalized or whenever you require the health care services. It is about having confidence in the health insurer, and what looks too good to be true or attractive should be well investigated.
For this reason, it is important to take time to read all kinds of details in the contract or plan. Many major medical insurance plans experts make emphasis on the fine print and recommend you ask questions. You need to clear all your doubts from the medical insurance plans before signing any insurance contract.
Before formalizing the medical insurance plans, the Policy holder and or insured must make and sign the statement. This statement is necessary for the insurer to know in advance if there is a medical risk to evaluate and assess.
Depending on your age, change your strategy. If you are a young adult, opt for one with low deductibles. If you are older than 50 years, go for the high deductible health plan. Thus, analyze carefully and avoid problems.
You can go ahead and start by comparing extras, premiums, travel assistance, major medical insurance plans discounts and much more. Begin now and change your lifestyle!
Obamacare is an affordable healthcare act that was passed by the congress and signed by the President during early 2010. The act comprises of a set of reformed health insurance schemes and policies. It was promoted to increase the number of individuals with legit health coverage. Obamacare works by overhauling current health insurance service providers and expanding Medicaid. Officially, Medicaid is meant for citizens with very low incomes. The policy offers minimum essential coverage. Conversely, it falls in line with medical facilities offered by employer-based-coverage, Medicare, Medicaid, and many more players in the marketplace. Nevertheless, Obamacare is much more than any ordinary health coverage policy. It covers almost everyone in the healthcare industry, from doctors to patients to restaurants to hospitals or even chocolate shops (this is because all food joints are expected to display calorie listings)!
“Obamacare is working. I talk to a lot of hospital directors. It is working.
Obamacare 101: How does it Work?
It expands Medicaid in a strategic manner.
New insurance exchange policies are designed. Many online portals are set up to help Americans search and buy coverage.
All individuals in the country are expected to have a health insurance policy. Else, they will be forced to pay a hefty penalty.
Obamacare 101: Who Gets Benefited?
Obamacare 101: How Do You Enroll?
According to the Act, individuals can buy a private medical insurance plans only through open enrollment. However, you will be exempted from this condition if a major change has happened in your life. This en covers over marriage, shifting locations or losing your current source of income. In such situations, you can opt for special enrollment.
The Act decides Cost assistance based on your annual income. Individuals qualify for cost assistance if their income falls between 138% and 400% of FPL (Federal Poverty Level). Meanwhile, “Out of Pocket Assistance” is provided only to individuals with silver plans. People who have availed the Cost Assistance benefit must fill a special file called Form 8962 during taxes.
While choosing a healthcare plan from Obamacare, you must keep the plan open till next enrollment (open). Always verify if the plan meets all your requirements. For instance, check if drugs, doctor visits, medical services and major surgeries are covered by the healthcare plan.
Five people, including a former hospital executive and two surgeons, are charged with a massive kickback scheme that resulted in billing $580 million to the government and insurance companies, authorities announced Tuesday.
Two already pleaded guilty and the others have agreed to plead guilty in connection to the scheme, which involved paying tens of millions of dollars to dozens of doctors, chiropractors and others to refer patients to two Southern California hospitals for spinal surgeries, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Over an eight-year period, Pacific Hospital of Long Beach and Tri-City Regional Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens billed thousands of operations to California’s workers’ compensation system, the U.S. Department of Labor and workers’ compensation insurers.
informed that medical professionals had been offered kickbacks to induce them to refer the surgeries to Pacific Hospital,” the U.S. attorney’s statement said.
“Injured workers were treated like livestock by doctors and hospitals who paid or accepted kickbacks and bribes in exchange for referrals,” California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said in a statement.
Pacific Hospital’s former owner, Michael D. Drobot, pleaded guilty last year to taking part in the fraud. He also has acknowledged bribing state Sen. Ron Calderon, who has pleaded not guilty to bribery, fraud and money laundering charges that carry a maximum sentence of 396 years in federal prison. Calderon is awaiting trial next year.
Calderon (D-Montebello) allegedly accepted about $100,000 in exchange for promoting legislation to expand Hollywood tax credits and to protect the financial interests of Pacific Hospital, which benefited from a provision of the workers’ compensation law.
In the other cases, charges were filed against two people on Tuesday, and three previous cases were unsealed Monday.
James L. Canedo, Pacific Hospital’s former chief financial officer, pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to engage in fraud, money laundering and other crimes. Paul Richard Randall, a health care marketer previously affiliated with Pacific Hospital and with Tri-City Regional Medical Center, pleaded guilty in April 2012 to conspiracy for recruiting chiropractors and doctors to refer patients to Tri-City.
Orthopedic surgeons Philip Sobol of Studio City and Mitchell Cohen of Irvine and Alan Ivar, a Las Vegas chiropractor who used to live in Southern California, have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy or other charges.
Under terms of their plea agreements, Sobol could be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison while Canedo, Ivar and Randall could get up to five years. Cohen faces up to three years for filing a false tax return.
“Health care fraud and kickback schemes burden our health care system, drive up insurance costs for everyone, and corrupt both the doctor-patient relationship and the medical profession itself,” U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement.
The five defendants will have to pay restitution, which in Canedo’s case will be at least $20 million, authorities said.
WASHINGTON — Cancer researchers say there has been a substantial increase in women under the age of 26 who have received a diagnosis of early-stage cervical cancer, a pattern that they say is most likely an effect of the Affordable Care Act.
Starting in 2010, a provision of the health law allowed dependents to stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26. The number of uninsured young adults fell substantially in the years that followed. The share of 19- to 25-year-olds without health insurance declined to 21 percent in the first quarter of 2014 from 34 percent in 2010 — french press coffee, a decrease of about four million people, federal data show.
leading to more early-stage diagnoses. Early diagnosis improves the prospects for survival because treatment is more effective and the chance of remission is higher. It also bolsters women’s chances for preserving their fertility during treatment. And women with health insurance are far more likely to get a screening that can identify cancer early.
Researchers used the National Cancer Data Base, a hospital-based registry of about 70 percent of all cancer cases in the United States. They compared diagnoses for women ages 21 to 25 who had cervical cancer with those for women ages 26 to 34, before and after the health law provision began in 2010. Early-stage diagnoses rose substantially among the younger group — the one covered by the law — and stayed flat among the older group.
About 79 percent of the younger group had an early-stage diagnosis in 2011-12, up from about 71 percent in 2007-09. For the older group, the percentage dropped to 71 percent from 73 percent, a change that is not statistically meaningful.
The effect for younger women looked even stronger when analyzed by year. About 84 percent of the younger group had early-stage diagnoses in 2011, compared with 68 percent in 2009. Early-stage diagnoses dropped to 72 percent of the group in 2012, a drop that Dr. Jemal said was typical during increases in screenings, because many of the early-stage cases have already been detected.
For several years, researchers have been trying to test whether the law is working to improve health, but isolating its effects has been tricky. A study this spring found that the number of new diabetes cases identified among poor Americans had surged in states that embraced the Affordable Care Act, but not in states that had not.
Since November 2009, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recommended that cervical cancer screening begin at age 21, the only cancer screening recommendation for that age group. Dr. Jemal said that change made it impossible to compare the total number of women who got screened before and after the health care law came into effect. | 2019-04-20T13:14:20Z | https://medicalinsuranceplans.org/page/2/ |
You’re working on a snippet of code, and out of the blue, you happen to need a class of which you should only have one instance of, and which needs to be referenced by other classes.
Sounds like a job for a singleton! Or is it?
Realistically speaking, if you’re using a singleton solely to store state, you are doing it wrong. What you’ve made isn’t a singleton — what you’ve made is a bunch of glorified globals. Using singletons to store state seems appealing at first, because you want to avoid using a global and every programmer knows that globals are evil. But using a singleton in this case is just abstracting the globals one layer back so that you can feel happy about your code not having globals.
Furthermore, having globals will make your code unpredictable and bug-prone. This becomes exponentially worse as the number of dependencies in your singleton increases. If you are using a singleton because you need its global properties, it’s because you are not taking advantage of dependency injection (DI) / inversion of control (IoC). You should be passing the state around with IoC, not by creating a giant global and passing around the global fields.
Singletons can’t be easily tested when they are integrated with other classes. For every class that uses a singleton, you will have to manually mock the singleton and have it return the desired test values. On top of this, singletons are notoriously difficult to debug when multi-threading is involved. Because your singleton is a major dependence for several classes, not only is your code tightly coupled, but you will also suffer from hard-to-find multi-threading bugs due to the uncertain nature of globals.
Occasionally, you may be tempted to use a singleton to perform an expensive IO action exactly once, and then store the results. An incredibly common example of this is using a singleton for a database connection. But doing so in addition to having multi-threading will cause massive headaches unless your connection is guaranteed to be thread-safe.
In general, database concurrency will not be easy to implement if you are using a singleton for the connection. What you really want is a database connection pool. By caching the connection, you avoid having to repeatedly close and open new connections, which is expensive. As an added bonus, if you use a connection pool, you simply won’t need to use a singleton.
You just need a data transfer object. No need for a singleton here. And worse, giving your singleton access to methods that can modify the data makes your singleton a god object. It knows how to do everything, knows all of the implementation details, and is likely coupled to basically everything, violating almost every software development principle.
Worse yet, using a singleton to provide context is a fatal mistake. If a singleton provides context to all the other classes, then that means every class that interacts with the singleton theoretically has access to all the states/contexts in your program.
Actually, this is really one of the few acceptable use for a singleton. Why? Because a logger does not pass around data to other classes, provides no context, and there is generally minimal coupling between the logger and the classes that require the logger. All the logger needs to know is that given some log request or string, it should output the log as a file or to the console.
As you can see, a logger will provide nothing to classes that require it — there is nothing to grab from the logger. Therefore, it’s impossible to use the logger as a glorified global container. And best of all, loggers are incredibly easy to test due to how simple they are. These properties make loggers an excellent choice for a singleton.
In the future, you’ll probably find a scenario where you’re considering using a singleton for any of the reasons above. But hopefully, you’ll now realize that singletons are not the answer — inversion of control is.
In Python, there are two types of arguments : Positional arguments and keyword arguments.
A positional argument is a normal argument in Python. You pass in some data as input, and that becomes your positional argument.
There’s nothing unique or inherently special about positional arguments, but let’s say you have a function that evaluates your pet. Is your pet happy? Is your pet healthy? Is your pet playful?
That’s fine and dandy, but what does it look like when we call the function?
The result is correct, but the function call is absolutely unreadable.
A reader who has never read the documentation for evaluatePet will have a difficult time understanding what it does. From a quick glance, it takes three booleans. But what do those booleans describe? Whether it’s alive? Whether it’s a ghost? Whether it’s a flying ten thousand feet tall purple dinosaur?
The solution to this issue of readability is to avoid using a positional argument, and instead use a keyword argument.
A keyword argument is an argument that follows a positional argument, and allows the user to pass in arguments by explicitly stating the argument’s name, and then assigning a value to it.
In other words, you can call evaluatePet(True, True, False) in any of the following ways, without changing anything in the evalulatePet function.
#Switching the order of the arguments.
#the order can be anything you like.
#are AFTER the positional arguments.
However, there are some things that you can’t do.
#"Positional argument follows keyword argument."
#Also will error for the same reason.
It would be a huge understatement to say that this is the only thing that keyword arguments can do.
You can also load in defaults.
Now, all three arguments become optional, and become automatically assigned to False if that specific argument has not been assigned.
#and the rest will automatically be False.
Convenient, isn’t it? You can give your function a ton of default values, and then allow the user to change any defaults they don’t like, without requiring them to rewrite all the default values.
Underneath all of this magic, Python created a dictionary with a key value pair, where the keys are the argument names, and the values are the values you assign to those argument names.
If you want to prove this fact, you can use a true keyword argument by putting a double asterisk before an argument.
In other words, Python has been converting evaluatePet’s arguments into a dictionary.
Naturally, Python wants the group of keyword arguments together, because it is cheaper to lump all the arguments together if they are all within one specific range (and not broken up between multiple ranges). In addition to this, Python can’t accept a positional argument after a keyword argument because it is impossible to determine which argument you are referring to. Are you referring to the first argument? Or the argument after the keyword argument?
These two reasons combined are why you can’t put in positional arguments, and then keyword arguments, and then another positional argument.
Since there are only three arguments, and two of them are keyword arguments, the third argument must be “isPlayful”.
So while Python could potentially have allowed this special case to work, their mantra of sticking strongly to rules prevents you from doing so.
In a nutshell, keyword arguments are simply augments to Python’s core philosophy that “readability counts”. Without keyword arguments, readers must examine the documentation to understand what the arguments mean, especially if there are many arguments. The use of defaults also makes functions shorter if the user is unlikely to modify the defaults.
Shorter argument lists? Argument defaults? Understandable parameters? That’s elegant.
You’re sitting at your desk, glaring at your monitor, but it glares back at you with equal determination.
Every change you make introduces new bugs, and fixing a bug causes another bug to pop up.
You don’t understand why things are randomly breaking, and the lines of code just increase every day.
However, by coding in a rigorous and specific fashion, you can prevent many of these issues simply by being slightly paranoid. This paranoia can save you hours in the future, just by dedicating a few extra seconds to include some additional safeguards.
So without further ado, let’s jump right into the top five tips for safer code.
As you call foo and bar and other functions, all of which depended on garbage_input, you find that everything has turned into garbage. As a result, functions will start throwing errors a few dozen passes down the line, and things will become very difficult to debug.
Another common mistake is attempting to correct the user’s input in potentially ambiguous cases, which leads to the second tip.
Imagine you had a box that exported values from 0 to 1 on a display, depending on the number the user passed in.
The technique shown above is known as clamping, which is basically restricting the value to a certain range. In this case, it is clamped to 0 and 1. However, the problem with the above example is that it is now impossible to debug the code.
If the user passed in bad input, you would get a clamped answer, instead of an error, and if the calculateValue function was buggy, you would never know. It could be slightly inflating the value, and you would still never know, because the values would be clamped.
As an exaggerated example, if calculateValue returned 900,000,000, all you would see is “1”. Instead of embracing and fixing bugs, this tactic throws them under the carpet in the hopes that no one will notice.
If your code is going to fail, then fail fast and fix it fast. Don’t try to polish garbage. Polished garbage is still garbage.
Many programmers already adhere to this principle, but some do not.
Since Python prevents the bug caused by double checking a boolean value, I will be using Java, as the bug can only happen in languages where assignment is possible in if statements.
Aside from being redundant and taking up extra characters, this practice can cause horrible bugs, as very few programmers will bother to glance twice at an if statement that checks for true/false.
At first glance, you would expect it to print out “1 + 1 is not equal to 3!”. However, on closer inspection, we see that it prints out “1 + 1 equals 3!” due to a very silly but possible mistake.
The programmer had accidentally set someBoolean to true instead of comparing someBoolean to true, causing the wrong output.
In languages such as Python, assignment in an if statement will not work. Guido van Rossum explicitly made it a syntax error due to the prevalence of programmers accidentally causing assignments in if statements instead of comparisons.
This is a nifty trick that piggy backs off the previous tip. If you’ve ever done defensive programming, then you have most likely seen this before.
Flip the order such that null is first.
Null is immutable, meaning you can’t assign null to the object. If you try to set null to obj, Java will throw an error.
As a result, you can prevent the silly mistake of accidentally causing unintentional assignment during equality checks. Naturally, if you set obj to null, the compiler will throw an error because it’s checking a null object when it expects a boolean.
However, if you are passing around methods inside the if statement, it can become dangerous, particularly methods that will return a boolean type. The problem is doubly bad if you have overloaded methods.
In this example, the user expects foo to be passed in a boolean of whether or not x is equal to a constant number, 5.
However, instead of comparing the two values, x is set to 5. The expected value if the comparison was done correctly would be false, but if x is set to CONSTANT_NUM, then the value will end up being true instead.
It doesn’t matter what language you use, always leave your uninitialized variables as null, None, nil, or whatever your language’s equivalent is.
The only exception to this rule is booleans, which should almost always be set to false when initialized. The exception is for booleans with names such as keepRunning, which you will want to set initially to true.
In particular, for Python especially, if you have a list, make sure that you do not set it to an empty list.
The same also applies to strings.
There is a world of a difference between a null/None/nil list, and an empty list, and a world of a difference between a null/None/nil string, and an empty string.
An empty value means that the object was assigned an empty value on purpose, and was initialized.
A null value means that the object doesn’t have a value, because it has not been initialized.
In addition, it is good to have null errors caused by uninitialized objects.
It is unpleasant to say the least when an uninitialized string is set to “” and is prematurely passed into a function without being assigned a non-empty value.
As usual, garbage input will give you garbage output.
These five tips are not a magical silver bullet that will prevent you from making any bugs at all in the future. Even if you follow these five tips, you won’t suddenly have exponentially better code.
Good programming style, proper documentation, and following common conventions for your programming language come first. These little tricks will only marginally decrease your bug count. However, they also only take about an extra few seconds of your time, so the overhead is negligible.
Sacrificing a few seconds of your time for slightly safer code is a trade most people would take any day, especially if it can increase production speed and prevent silly mistakes.
Your friend, Ruby, goes out and buys Java a pet duck. But wait, on closer inspection, it’s not a duck at all! It just walks like a duck.
And quacks like a duck.
“What’s the matter?” Ruby asks.
“It’s not a duck!” Java complains, distraught that the pet has no inheritance relations with the Duck class.
So what is duck typing?
Duck typing is a feature that allows a language to call a method on an object, if it has the method. Ruby doesn’t care what the object is, but rather, what methods the object has.
However, a caveat of duck typing is that the it tends to only be built-in to the language if the language handles type checking during runtime. This means that duck typing will only work on dynamically typed languages, such as Ruby. In languages like Java and C++, type checking is done during compile-time. As a result, if there is a type conflict, the program will not even compile. Languages that do type-checking during compile-time are called statically typed languages.
The type (int) is explicitly stated, which means that Java checks for types during compile-time, making it a statically typed languages.
Ruby sees that x was assigned a number at runtime. Since x was assigned a number, Ruby automatically knows that x must be a Fixnum.
First, we need two different objects that have the same method name. However, the method can’t be given to the object via the same superclass, because it would instead be inheritance.
Let’s take a look at a simple example of duck typing.
puts "I'm not a duck, but... Quack!"
I'm not a duck, but... Quack!
In Ruby’s mind, the Alien instance and the Duck instance are essentially the same. When we called the try_quack method, Ruby wanted an object that had a quack method.
In this case, when we passed in the Duck instance, Ruby saw that the Duck object would quack, so it called the Duck instance’s quack method.
For the Alien, even though the Alien class has nothing to do with the Duck class, it still has a quack method. As a result, Ruby happily calls the Alien class’s quack method.
Duck typing is a powerful feature of Ruby that allows you to call methods on seemingly different objects, as long as those objects have the same method names. As a result, there is no need for inheritance. You simply call the method, and if the object has it, it will work.
Ruby doesn’t care who the object is, but rather what it is.
You open your favorite programming IDE, and right there. A glorious mess of spaghetti code. You have no clue what it means, and you can’t understand a single thing.
Bad code can waste precious hours of time, when it really should have only taken a few minutes to understand the code if it were refactored and cleaned up.
So today, I’ll teach you, in five simple tips, how to spare other programmers from facing a giant plate of spaghetti.
Everyone knows this, but few actually do it correctly. First of all, and this is the critical, stop shortening your variable names. Yes, you can shorten the word “minimum” to min, but if you’re working on an application that handles time, your reader may think min refers to minutes. In particular, if you’re shortening a word, and that shortened word can possibly refer to more than one word, don’t do it.
Readers may also be confused if your variable names don’t actually say what you mean.
For example, imagine if you created a variable called “days”. What does that mean? Days elapsed? Days before something happened? The amount of days in the month? Be specific. Refactor days to daysElapsed, daysInMonth. Do NOT put a comment and write “days refers to the days elapsed since …”. That is absolutely nonsense. Make your variable names self-explanatory.
3. Keep It Simple, Stupid!
If you’re programming a certain function, be clear. Avoid using silly round-about ways. Especially avoid “clever” solutions. Clever and tricky solutions may be shorter or faster, but they can cripple reading speed. Usually, when people do these clever solutions, they will put comments everywhere to compensate for the fact that no one actually understands what they wrote, which ties into tip #1.
This principle also applies to re-inventing the wheel. If your language comes built-in with a feature, use it. Don’t re-implement a data structure that already exists. Often, it isn’t the programmer’s fault, though, since they might not know about the existence of a certain feature. However, this is not an excuse when you are working with other programmers. If what you wrote in 100 lines could be replaced by 1 line, then it should be refactored.
A good object is one that knows only what it should know, and no more.
A god object is one that knows too much, in particular, things that it shouldn’t.
For example, imagine you had a chair object. It should not know anything except for itself. If your chair knows your social-security number, how much money you make a year, and how many chairs there are around it, then your chair is either the world’s greatest secret spy agent, or it shouldn’t exist.
All variables in a class should be private, unless there is a very compelling reason for a variable to be public. There are very few reasons for a variable to be public, unless it is a global constant, such as Math.PI.
The inverse of this is also true. Stop exposing your privates! If your private variable does not require a getter, do not make a getter. You should be encapsulating your code.
If you have a rectangle class, and you only ever need its area, then don’t make a getter for its width or length. Just make a single public method that multiplies the private width and length variables.
Hide your implementation details! If you have a computer, and you just want to send an email, then there is no reason the user would need to know about the internal workings on the computer. The user doesn’t care how many volts the computer needs. The user doesn’t care about how many gigabytes of RAM the computer has. The user just wants to send an email. And your computer should allow them to do exactly that, in one simple function, without knowing anything else about the computer.
Remember these five points, and you’re sure to write cleaner code. | 2019-04-21T02:36:02Z | https://henrydangprg.com/category/general-programming/ |
Patrick Barron, an Austrian Economist: Why Isn't QE Causing Inflation?
Why Isn't QE Causing Inflation?
Our monetary czars lecture us to be unconcerned about their unprecedented expansions in base money and the money supply, since there has been little sign of inflation in the economy. For the purposes of this essay, we will assume that there has been no inflation, although John Williams at www.shadowstats.com and anyone who tries to make ends meet on the same money income will tell you a different story. Our purpose is to explain the theory behind the price level and how theory can explain the so-called miracle/mystery of an increase in monetary aggregates with little or no inflation.
There is no miracle or mystery as to why prices have not gone significantly higher. Our monetary authorities have not found the magic formula that allows the government to engage in noninflationary spending sprees, funded neither by an increase in taxes nor an increase in interest rates. Our monetary masters remind me of the story of the man who jumps off the Empire State Building. As he is passing a floor on the way down, an office worker leans out a window and asks him how he's doing. He replies: so far, so good!
unspent, it will have no effect on the price level. In fact, if the demand to hold money exceeds the growth of the money supply, prices actually will fall. Likewise, notice the importance of the supply of goods as that portion of production actually sold. For example, inventory accumulation does not affect the price level. The goods must be both offered on the market and sold at some market clearing price for them to affect the price level.
Therefore, two events, or a combination thereof, can cause prices to rise--an increase in sales expressed in money terms, independent of whether or not the supply of money has increased, or a decrease in supply sold on the market, even if increased production goes into inventory accumulation. The opposite of these two events, of course, will cause prices to fall.
We easily see from this simple yet powerful explanation that a falling price level need not be of concern, if it is the result of an increase in the supply of goods offered on the market. As John Stuart Mill explained over two hundred years ago, the purpose of production is consumption. Goods are produced to satisfy human wants. The Keynesian view that digging holes and filling them up again adds to the general welfare of an economy is nonsense. Jean Baptist Say explained that increased production becomes the means by which increased sales are realized. Again, man produces for the purpose of consumption, and his production becomes the means by which he consumes via market exchange expressed in money terms. Digging and refilling holes does not represent anything that would be valued on the market. Neither would printing money and giving it to welfare recipients to spend.
OK, but what would cause an increase in the demand to hold money that would suppress the price level? And is this increase in money demand something that we can rely upon to hold down the price level forever?
Ludwig von Mises explained that there are three phases to monetary destruction. Murray N. Rothbard summarizes Mises' explanation in his Mystery of Banking, Chapter V (The Demand for Money), pages 68 through 72.
In phase one the monetary authorities inflate the currency, but the public expects that prices will not rise or may actually fall, so they withhold their spending, which is the same thing as saying that they increase their demand to hold money. Prices may actually drop during this period of monetary inflation, which seems paradoxical but actually is explained by proper theory. The demand to hold money rises faster than the supply printed by the monetary authorities. The people believe that whatever crisis causes an increase in money will end and prices will fall to pre-crisis levels or even lower. They are long accustomed to lower prices or even a gently falling price level. Therefore, their firmly held belief in lower prices becomes self-fulfilling, at least for awhile, because their increase in demand to hold money brings about this very situation.
Phase one may last a long time, but eventually the demand to hold money abates and prices start to rise, gently at first but more robustly as time progresses. In this second phase the people come to believe that prices are not going to fall and that they actually will continue to rise. Therefore, they begin spending more to purchase goods before the inevitable increase in prices. In this phase, even if the monetary authorities shrink the money supply, prices still can rise, because the people's demand to hold money is falling too fast. Again, the people's belief that prices will continue to rise becomes self-fulfilling. Price increases in phase two come faster and faster, as more and more people accelerate their spending to thwart the falling purchasing power of their money.
Phase two morphs into phase three, when people lose all confidence in the future purchasing power of their money and demand to hold money goes to zero. In this final phase the monetary authorities are unsuccessful in stopping the loss of monetary confidence even if they take drastic action to curb monetary inflation. People wish to exchange their money for any vendible commodity. The panic feeds on itself. This is what Mises calls the "crackup boom", because there is a flurry of buying as everyone tries to exchange his money for whatever he can.
Not only do our monetary masters fail to understand the real danger of monetary destruction that they have unleashed with their zero interest rate and quantitative easing policies, they do not understand the true nature of money as part and parcel of the market. For example, they fail to understand that money is not neutral. Its expansion does not fall upon the economy equally, perhaps raising the price level but not disturbing its underlying structure. In his eighteenth century book, An Essay on Economic Theory, Richard Cantillon first observed that money enters the economy in certain places, enriching the early receivers of new money at the expense of later receivers. Money expansion transfers wealth within society, benefiting the politically connected and harming the true engines of progress, the savers. This is the Cantillon Effect of the non-neutrality of money. In his first great book, The Theory of Money and Credit, Ludwig von Mises went even further and corrected a major deficiency of the classical economists by integrating money into general economic theory that governs all economic processes. For example, money is just as much subject to the law of diminishing marginal utility as all other goods and services. Our monetary masters admit as much when they muse that more recent quantitative easing measures have had less effect on their favored monetary metrics than earlier ones. What they do not understand is that the economy was not helped by increases in money. Quite the contrary.
At the conclusion of The Theory of Money and Credit, Mises introduced another great contribution to economic theory: that bank credit expansion is the source of the boom/bust business cycle. Money and GDP aggregates fail to identify the capital destruction set in motion by monetary interventions. GDP may indeed increase but only due only to the Keynesian fascination with monetary aggregates. The capital structure of production is set in disequilibrium, sending too much capital to the earlier, long term stages of production which eventually cannot be completed due to the fact that there never were enough resources in the economy for their profitable completion. Mises termed such misallocation "malinvestment".
No one can predict when people will begin to lose confidence in the purchasing power of the dollar. Each new dollar that the Fed creates is like one more strand of straw laid on a mountain of straw. The real question is "Is this next strand of straw going to be the one that breaks the camel's back?"
I love the strand of straw image. | 2019-04-26T06:21:26Z | http://patrickbarron.blogspot.com/2013/11/why-isnt-qe-causing-inflation.html |
Status: Unsure on how to proceed.
Still, it’s a problem to consider, and one that probably means I’ll wait at least another year before going to war. It also means my next target is probably Wallachia, just to remove one high-AE country from the map. By my calculation, Hungary is not going to get into Coalition levels of AE if I vassalize Wallachia.
Since I’m planning on vassalizing Wallachia, that’s a 50% reduction, taking it to 20 AE. Then a border hop should reduce that a bit.
Hungary has 30 AE already, and it’ll be a bit lower by the time I peace out with Wallachia. So I should be barely OK.
The war actually goes quicker than expected, but by a combination of improving relations with a bunch of faraway countries, and a lucky event that gives me a bunch of free prestige, I barely manage to vassalize Wallachia without risking a coalition forming.
If I don’t break that alliance, I will be stuck with two avenues of expansion blocked, and I’ll be at the mercy of any coalition forming that includes one of those two states. And such a coalition would be inevitable: either I expand in Christian lands which would make Hungary eventually go into Coalition, or in Muslim lands in which case the Mamluks would join..
But that means it’s time for a big war.
You’d think that for a game about world conquest, battles would have been one of the subjects I’d have covered early. But EU4 combat is quite abstracted, and it’s not something that I bother micromanaging.
But let’s cover them now, while they’re still relatively simple.
Armies are made of thousand-men regiments. Regiments can be infantry, cavalry or artillery. We’ll cover artillery later, when it finally enters the fray, but for now I can only field infantry and cavalry.
Cavalry is more expensive, but much more powerful and durable than infantry. However, barring a few exceptions, you need lots of infantry to support your cavalry or your army will take a tactics penalty. Also, infantry takes the brunt of losses, so you need to have extra infantry to compensate for that.
To compound that, terrain also affect how many regiments can join the battle, as do your tech level, through a concept called combat width. Basically, your troops form a line of regiments (infantry covering most of the center position, and the last few spots on each side of the line being occupied by your cavalry.
The tech level determines the maximum possible width, and terrain reduces it. Once artillery enters the game, it can fire from a second row of regiments onto the enemy army, but otherwise you’re stuck with that line formation.
Now, there are tons of factor that go into figuring out an army’s strength and resilience. But again, it’s not something worth micromanaging. It’s a bunch of little modifiers that add up to something great.
First, armies intended to see combat need leaders. Leaderless armies can be broken completely (disappearing from the map entirely), while even on a defeat an army with a leader will almost always just retreat (thus saving some of your men). Plus leaders give significant bonuses, especially in the early game, so a good leader is one of the few ways to give a visible boost to your army.
Second, when at peace, it’s a good idea to drive down the army maintenance slider. Your soldiers’ morale will collapse, but who cares, we’re at peace. But when you do go back to war, make sure you’ve paid your soldiers in full for a few months, because low-morale units don’t last long in combat.
Now, this has barely touched upon all the little fiddly bits that make EU4 combat. But if you want more detail, head over to the wiki.
Blog will continue. Editing will continue. Progress will continue. Novelwriting is on hiatus unfortunately as I find my footing again.
Status: Depressed at my small, small size compared to how big I was last game.
I have a couple of false starts (allying with Crimea and getting dragged into one of Crimea’s patented “let’s piss everyone off” war, overreaching and getting Europe angry at me) as I readjust to “not-monstrous-blob” play.
Then I set up my alliance with Bohemia, and go with my usual opening of wiping away Albania and Byzantium. Then I take on Trebizond and Theodoro. Then Poland and Lithuania again decide not to form a personal union. Cool start.
And then Qara Qoyunlu eats Aq Qoyunlu. Whoa. That’s… actually a fairly significant development, setting me on a path to war against Qara Q early.
And then I get a random event that’s usually no big deal. I’m about to click it away then I realize it means I could get a development discount in Edirne, one of the province in Thrace, my capital region. Ergo… it’ll be cheaper to force the Renaissance there when it appears, meaning this isn’t an irrelevant event, it’s a major boon.
Then I notice that somehow, Ramazan, one of the minor countries on my south has allied with the Mamluks. It’s bothersome but not a huge issue – I think. It’s not something that usually happens, so hopefully this means the Mamluks failed to get one of their more significant alliances up, but I’ll need to check that out.
Really – this game just got interesting. That’s not how the early game usually pans out. Typically, Qara Qoyunlu will take its time vassalizing Georgia, letting me eat reconquer Aq Qoyunlu. And the Mamluks ignore Ramazan, letting me eat them without trouble. Interesting times.
Over the course of the next few wars, I slowly build up my territory, recovering cores and capturing the small local powers. Those wars are pretty much formalities: crush the small opposing force, siege everything, win. Then I vassalize Georgia, triggering the first coalition of minor powers against me. Time to let the men take a breather.
Oh, also, the Renaissance happened.
Institutions are the current system intended to simulate the evolution of technology. In the time period covered by EU4, Europe saw rapid technological development while most of the rest of the world didn’t. The idea behind Institutions is that they’re the cultural forces which made that fast technological progress possible.
How they work is that as soon as an Institution appears, technological costs go up for all countries that haven’t Embraced the institution. It’s a small tick (1% per year, topping at 50% per institution) that ends up being prohibitively expensive.
If you have the right expansion installed (Common Sense) you can spend monarch points to develop provinces, which also speeds up adoption of an institution in a province. It’s the only way you can affect Institution spread inside a province, with one exception.
Institutions are adopted over time by provinces – each province slowly ticking upward to adoption. And once provinces totalling 10% of your Development value have fully embraced an Institution, you can force the rest of your country to embrace it, erasing the tech cost penalty at a rather high cost in ducats.
Lots of factor affect institution spread (and they vary depending on the institution), but at least in the case of the early institutions like the Renaissance and Colonialism, you’ll want to force one of your provinces to adopt the institution as fast as possible, so that it can then spread more quickly to surrounding provinces.
The thing to understand is that institution spread is incredibly slow except for that Friendly province factor. Waiting for the spread to occur naturally means you’ll have to buy multiple tech levels at a large penalty. So it makes sense to throw monarch points at a province, just to get the institution in one province to start that faster spread.
I’m a huge David Weber fanboy.
Scratch that. I’m a huge fan of his Honor Harrington series, as well as of some of his other works.
The Safehold series, of which At the Sign of Triumph is part… not so much.
1-Unwarranted Doorstopper Syndrome. It’s, so far, nine big books long… for a series that could probably have been pared down to maybe six medium-sized books. The problem is that Weber really wants to give the readers at least a quick look at every major engagement in a world-spanning war. Which leads to a lot of awfully formulaic “Character X’s viewpoint of Battle Y, whose outcome is pretty much a foregone conclusion.” That’s bad enough… but then there’s problem 2.
2-Tech-Driven Lack of Tension: The main conceit of the series is the rapid reintroduction of various bits and pieces of technology. The good guys benefit from that, while the bad guys are effectively opposing the introduction of that tech. Then to compound that, the main protagonist has indistinguishable-from-magic levels of tech available to her as well.
I think Weber wanted to show the entirety of the conflict and the detail of the evolution of military tech… which is interesting from a very dry worldbuilding/world management perspective, but really makes most of the books in the series feel the same. And At the Sign of Triumph, despite being at least the end point of the first major arc of the series, doesn’t buck the thread.
There’s a supposedly big military conflict looming for most of the book – but it gets neutered by a simple intelligence ploy (in a series where the bad guys’ spies have been ridiculously ineffective from day one.) There’s one last series of naval battles which are just a victory lap for the good guys’ navy (because the naval war was conclusively won at least two or three books ago.) And ultimately the big bad gets taken down for the count in a handful of pages by minor characters, yet another application of magic tech, and a logical but utterly undramatic series of events… which coincidentally doesn’t resolve the core conflict of the book, so that another series taking place 25 years later can be written on the same premise.
So… not a recommendation, unless you have an enormous amount of free time available, or a passion for the nitty-gritty of Age of Sail/Early steam naval warfare.
Well, I’m slowly beating my backlog into submission. With this post I’ll be up to date on blog content, I’m catching up (slowly) to where I want to be on revisions for Book the First, and I’ve completely cleared my free-time schedule so I should be able to make up some lost ground on the actual writing of books.
In addition, I have another work-light week, so I should be able to keep making progress at a good clip.
I really want to diversify my projects a bit – in particular, I want to get started on the blog redesign and theme. But that’s a reward I’ll give myself once I’m closer to being in control of my workload.
The whole “scrubbing out on the LP” was in theory a setback, but honestly, I wasn’t that happy with my blog post anyway. So it’s a mixed blessing – the content I’ll eventually produce there will be better than it would have been otherwise.
So – back to work! And by that I don’t mean (just) playing EU4. I think.
… and we’re done. Great run, but we just couldn’t do it.
Heh. Actually, I made it to 1710, had my best game yet, but then I got greedy and triggered a coalition war. I could probably play the game out, but between that, a few other dumb mistakes and a lot of small, suboptimal plays, I don’t think that particular World Conquest is salvageable.
I learned a lot, though, and I’m not about to quit such an interesting project.
So I’ll restart in a couple of days. Meanwhile, here are some of the lessons I learned during this playthrough.
1-Fight wars to 100% warscore (or near to 100%) – in the early stages of the game, I wasted lots of time and manpower by going for early peace agreements. That’s a crushing mistake: by the time the enemy is willing to sign a peace deal at 35% or so, you’ve generally won the war anyway. Driving up the warscore higher is a formality by then.
2-Focus my aggression. It’s not always possible, but it’s better to kill off a nation completely than to have it stick around with 150 AE. That’s something I should absolutely have done throughout the entire run. The coalition that ruined me in the end wasn’t a huge European blob, it was a dozen country from all across the world.
3-Don’t ignore the economic game. In this playthrough I learned the importance of trade, but also that ignoring the invest-reap rewards value of buildings and ships was deadly.
… and tons and tons of nifty little tricks. | 2019-04-23T22:18:53Z | https://vincentdehaut.com/2017/09/ |
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In 1989, Joy lived six days’ walk from the nearest road and could only communicate through letters. Things are going to be very different during her second long-term stint with BMS World Mission in Nepal. Get to know her and her fascinating story in our Q&A!
It’s almost thirty years since Joy Ransom first boarded a plane to Nepal to teach with BMS. Now, God’s called her back. She flies on Tuesday 28 August, arrives in Tansen (her new home) on Friday 31 and begins teaching on Monday 3 September – talk about hitting the ground running! The next two weeks are going to be an absolute whirlwind for Joy and she would love it if you would pray for her.
But how rude of us… first you better get acquainted.
Joy is getting ready to move back to Nepal, where she'll be working as a teacher and making lots of new friends.
You’re about to leave to serve long-term with BMS in Nepal, but this definitely isn’t your first rodeo. Tell me about when you’ve worked with us before.
In 1989 I went to teach missionaries’ children in a very remote place called Okhaldhunga, in the east of Nepal. There was a hospital there, a community health project, a forestry project and non-formal education. I taught the children of the missionaries who were working there.
I was there for five years, and at that time Okhaldhunga was very remote and the nearest road was six days’ walk away. We used to travel by plane, which only went twice a week, and in the monsoon it often didn’t fly at all because it was too cloudy. So it felt quite isolated. But there was a good community there as well.
What was it like to live so remotely?
It always felt like a lot of thought to leave, because you had to walk to the airstrip and that was about five hours away. So it wasn’t like you could just nip home again if the plane didn’t come. And in the monsoon it did feel quite cut-off. We had no radio, no telephone and no computer in those days, so it felt very different.
I went back to Nepal with BMS as a volunteer in 2015, and I had the chance to go back to Okhaldhunga to visit. That’s the first time I’d been back in 20 years. Now they’ve built a road and you can actually get there by jeep or bus. It’s changed the place. It was lovely to be back there.
How did you keep in touch with people? Through letters?
Yes, through letters. But we only got mail when the planes came. Quite often I’d be in school with the tutorial group and we’d hear the plane overhead, and the children got very excited and so did I, because we’d think ‘oh yay, the plane’s come today, we might get mail from home.’ But some letters took three months to get to us.
Joy previously served with BMS as a volunteer in Nepal in 2015, when she taught English to teachers.
Tell me about your most memorable experience from that time?
It was monsoon time and I needed to leave the project because it was the holidays and I’d just been in the village for such a long time. So a friend of mine, Florence (who was in her 60s), and I decided that we would walk out. There were no planes, because it was the middle of the monsoon. So we set out with a porter.
The first few days were fine, but then when we got further south the rivers were huge, and we ended up walking through flooded rivers really, full of grit and sand. Florence nearly got washed away – and the porter literally saved her life by helping her. Reaching out to her, holding her up, and then taking her across the river.
When we eventually got to the road, we still had a 12-hour bus journey to get to Kathmandu.
Wow! It sounds like it’s going to be pretty different this time. Why are you going back to Nepal?
When I left in 1996 I felt that God had still got a work for me to do in Nepal. I had just adopted my daughter Bethany, and she was six months old when we came to the UK. I thought maybe she and I would live in the UK for a few years, and then when she was old enough, we would go back. But that didn’t happen. And although I kept asking God, ‘is it time to go back?’, it wasn’t.
But then three years ago, Bethany was at university and so I applied to go as a volunteer. I thought I’d go for a year just to see what it’s like, because, having been there 20 years ago, I knew the country would have changed, but also I would have changed. So I thought it would be a good chance to see if there’s still a role for somebody like me, and if that was really what God wanted me to do.
I built up relationships in the community and found that my Nepali language came back, and I felt very comfortable in Nepali church. So I felt like that was confirmation that I should explore the possibility of going back longer term. And maybe God did have a plan for me in Nepal.
Joy with some of her students when she was teaching in Nepal in 2015. We're so thrilled that God has called her back there.
We obviously agree! What are you going to be doing?
For the first year I am going back to Tansen, to the same place and same role that I had three years ago. The teacher who took over from me has to go back to the US for a year, so they have a need for a teacher.
After that year, I am hopefully going to work with KISC EQUIP [the Kathmandu International Study Centre’s Education Quality Improvement Programme] doing some teacher training or mentoring of teachers in local Nepali schools in Lamjung, with Simon and Wendy Hall.
This year I also have to complete my Master’s degree, because to get a visa in Nepal you need to have a Master’s. That’s what I’ve been working on this last year, but I still have the dissertation to write in Tansen.
Is it fair to say you’ve left a bit of your heart in Nepal?
Yes. I love Nepal. I love the people.
What are you most excited about, about getting there?
Meeting people again. The people that I made friends with last time. I used to walk every day along the same path from my house to where I worked at the school and there were lots of people who sat along the path, and we would chat every day. That was really nice.
It’s the Church who are supporting me and sending me. We’re doing this together.
Joy is keen to get back to Nepal and see her friends again! We can’t wait to bring you more images of her serving there.
Apart from family… I’ll miss having a bath.
Would you like people in the UK to get behind you with prayer and donations?
Yes! I believe that mission is a partnership, and although I get the opportunity to go to Nepal and hopefully have some skills and experiences that mean I can be useful there, it’s not just me going off on my own. It’s definitely the Church who are supporting me and sending me. We’re doing this together. And if I can pray for people here and they can pray for me then hopefully everything will be more effective.
What’s the first thing you’ve packed in your suitcase?
Family photographs and mosquito repellent!
What can we be praying for?
Please pray that in the next few weeks I get to know the children quickly, and their families. Pray too that I can support them and find out what their needs are. I feel the role of teaching the children of missionaries involves supporting the families too, because often parents feel guilty about taking their children away from their family and culture and peer support.
Pray also that I can make a good start on the study for my Master’s dissertation, that I can choose a really good subject. And that with the internet and the time difference, I can still catch up with my tutor back here in Scotland.
Settling in basically and making a good start.
Two amazing couples. Two wonderful countries. Six incredible months. The latest from Team Lynch and Team Vokuhl.
New friendships, hard work, lots of prayer and one very embarrassing language mix-up. These past few months have certainly been challenging and rewarding ones for BMS World Mission workers the Lynches and Vokuhls. Louise and Peter Lynch are working with church leaders in Bangladesh, while Toby and Pippa Vokuhl are helping Nepal rebuild after the 2015 earthquakes. They couldn’t have got this far without your support so please read on for an update on their work.
Louise and Peter Lynch are currently based in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
Tell us what it was like when you first arrived?
Peter: It was a bit disorientating. We were tired, and we went straight into meeting people, being at church and getting our bearings. That was easier than going to bed though! The Proctors (BMS workers) were our chaperones for the first couple of weeks. They were really good, very kind to us.
Louise: They took us shopping, showed us how to dress, helped us buy our clothes and showed us the supermarkets. It feels like we’ve settled in well.
Toby: When we first arrived in Pokhara we were very warmly welcomed, which was great. Our housing situation was a little bit of a challenge because our flat was still under construction and we didn’t have a kitchen at all, so for two months we were living in a building site. We now find ourselves in what is a really lovely flat, not far from the children’s school. It’s worked out really well for us as a family with our children having friends nearby.
How is the language learning going?
Louise: We have completed three books, so we’ve finished the basic course. We’re given about 25 new words every day and we’ve learnt tenses we never knew about. So we’re doing our homework. We get most of right, but there is quite a lot of red ink on it most days too!
The most useful phrases we’ve learnt so far are things like ‘kemôn achhen,’ which is ‘how are you?’ So we spend a lot of our time saying that, and ‘bhālō,’ which means ‘fine’, ‘āstē āstē,’ which means ‘slowly slowly’, and ‘ami janina,’ which is ‘I don’t know’, or ‘I don’t understand’. I think we are the entertainment sometimes, but sometimes you just have to go for it. People come along and they come and watch us trying to speak Bangla, and it is almost a sport!
Peter: We make everyone laugh! People appreciate us trying because they’re very proud of their language and they love people trying to learn it. They’ve been great.
Pippa: It’s hard work! We started off doing four mornings a week and we are just doing one or two now. It’s nice to have some basic conversations with friends and people at church, and the local shops, but we have a lot more hours of study ahead. I’ve had a few embarrassing moments. I went into a shop to try and ask for two kilos for carrots and I managed to ask for two kilos of marijuana. The poor shopkeeper looked extremely shocked and distressed, and then said in English, “Oh, you want carrots.” I mentioned it to my language teacher who pointed out what I’d asked for.
Toby: Our landlady seems to think we are doing well settling in. The other day I could make out her saying to me in Nepali, “Toby, you’re so fat… your wife also.” I relayed that to Pippa, but in Nepali culture when you call someone fat you are just referring to how well they are doing. It was still rather funny!
Louise: We just want to build relationships and understand the culture first before leaping in. We sat alongside pastors in some training for discipleship making, I think that’s an area where we’re looking to see how we can support them and help them to put their training into action in their churches.
We’re going up to Dineshpur for a month soon, and we’ll be staying with some of the pastors who were on the training, so it’ll be interesting to see what they’re doing.
Peter: We’ve met most of the key people we’ll be working with in Dhaka, and people from the districts have come here for conferences. It’s been great to meet pastors and regional leaders. We’re developing a really good relationship with them, they’ve been so gracious and welcoming to us.
Everyone says to us that life outside of Dhaka is very different to life in Dhaka, so it will be great for us next month to just be outside of the capital and mix with the local community there.
Pippa: Until recently, I’ve been doing language study and orientation, and at the moment our three children (Jakey, Ella and Millie) are on school holidays so that’s keeping me out of trouble.
Toby: We were waiting for a work visa for quite some time, so we have focused quite heavily on language study, and we’ve also been attending the local church. We’ve had a slightly longer language and culture adjustment period than we expected, but it has helped, and we’re pleased to have moved into the space where I can contribute to the work here.
Peter: I just enjoy the life and vitality of the city, everyone is so industrious and active, there’s so many people everywhere doing so many things. It’s an energetic, lively and colourful place. We love the people.
Louise: We like walking around and we like the buzz of the place.
Pippa: We went as a family to have a look around some of the projects that INF (International Nepal Fellowship) is running in the west of the country in villages and hospitals. It was amazing to see some of the projects that are making a difference to the poorest of the poor in Nepal.
Toby: There has been a wealth of experiences, such as being in a different culture and in a beautiful environment when you get out into the hills and mountains. Another highlight has been being able to make a difference through my work. That has been very rewarding.
Peter: I think pacing ourselves has been difficult. It is hot, and you find yourself on certain days having lower energy. So, I think knowing how to pace yourself and how to navigate your way through that.
Louise: It’s hard on your downtime because it’s not a recreational city. What to do when we’re not studying Bangla is the biggest challenge for us. But we’re enjoying Bangla learning, so it’s quite a win win really, as that’s what we spend most of our time doing.
Toby: Not being able to communicate is disempowering, such as when you can’t say what you want to say to the local shopkeeper. Another challenge is finding your way around locally.
Louise: I think for next month, that we travel and stay well in Dineshpur, and that we make the most of that chance as it’s a really unique opportunity.
Peter: We’re moving house at the beginning of September and we’re moving to an area that’s close to the office. So please pray for that process of moving and getting into a local community.
Pray too for the church in Bangladesh. They’ve got big hearts and a big vision but it’s quite tough. So pray for them, that God would empower them.
Pippa: Please pray for my ongoing language study, and also pray for developing deeper relationships with local Nepali women. I’d also appreciate prayer as I find a role for myself. Please pray that God would move me into what I can do to serve him here.
Toby: Please pray for continued cultural awareness. Please also pray for a construction project that I’m managing at the Green Pastures Hospital, where a new chapel is being built. Everyone would like that to be a success for the hospital and for the people of Pokhara.
Are you inspired by the works our mission workers are doing? You can commit to giving regularly to support the Lynches or Vokuhls by becoming a 24:7 Partner. Just click here. Thank you for standing alongside them.
We bring you the finalists in the annual BMS World Mission Action Team photo competition.
Be warned, you’re about to be bitten by the gap year bug. We certainly were as we looked at the Action Team photos submitted by the class of 2017/18, though sadly most of us are beyond our gap-year years! If you know anyone who isn’t old like us and might want to do a Christian gap year in places like these, share this story with them! They could be our next crop of Action Teams.
We loved judging these photos. And, after much debate (it went on for hours), we finally picked our top ten. They are beautiful.
What a stunning sight this is. We adored this photo of the Annapurna Himalayas the moment we saw it.
Rachel Paton will never forget this view from a five-day trek in the Annapurna Himalayas.
This candid shot of a woman smoking a cigarette was taken when the Nepal Action Team were visiting a temple.
This woman was begging at the foot of a temple staircase in Bhaktapur, a town east of Kathmandu. And then for a moment, she retreated behind an enormous stone statue just as Rachel Paton took her picture.
“She seemed to be hiding; weary, perhaps, of being visible but often ignored by so many people passing by,” says Rachel.
Children fill a classroom in Guinea, though just like in classrooms around the world, concentrating all the time is not possible for every child.
There are over 80 young children packed into this preschool classroom in Guinea. Teaching assistant and Guinea Action Team member Eleanor Hyde found space somehow to take this photo of the children’s eagerness to learn.
This picture from Nepal captured our attention because of its beauty and the sense of tranquillity.
The serenity of Phewa Lake in the Pokhara Valley was captured by Rachel Paton (she really did take a lot of great photos!), with its stillness contrasted by what was happening behind her.
It is play time at a Nepal school, with these young children having the time of their lives.
Children couldn’t contain their excitement when this parachute was brought out at a rural school in Nepal. And Action Teamer and gifted photographer Rachel Paton was there to capture the joy.
“We had to work hard to convince them that this particular parachute was not to be used for flying, just for playing with on the ground!” says Rachel.
Children on a small island off the coast of Guinea head into the water in search of fish to catch.
Guinea Action Teamer Mhairi Cole was on a small island off the African nation’s coast when she saw a group of children being given a fishing lesson.
This adorable scene during a game of hide-and-seek was captured in Mozambique.
Who doesn’t love a game of hide-and-seek? The children Action Teamer Rhiannon Cleghorn met in Mozambique clearly do. And though this boy had only trees to hide behind when Rhiannon was playing, it meant an adorable photo of him could be taken.
Along with great need and a history of conflict and colonial oppression, Mozambique has glorious beaches enjoyed by local people every day. They are even more stunning as the sun sets, as this image shows.
Living by the coast was one of the biggest blessings for the Action Team in Mozambique, says Rhiannon Cleghorn.
These prayer bells in Nepal were wonderfully captured with the contours of the valley in the background.
This is a photo that makes you want to stand where photographer Rachel Paton did. She took this photo at the iconic Buddhist temple, Swayambhu, which is on top of a hill in the Kathmandu Valley.
“We were up there as the sun was setting, and the evening light striking this row of bells caught my attention just before we started to head down,” she says.
This photo, taken in Nepal by Rachel Paton, caught our attention straight away.
What a striking photo this is, and an obvious first place in this year’s Action Team photo competition. It was captured in Nepal by Rachel Paton (who else?!), and shows the beauty of God’s work in the form of this majestic elephant, Mayabhati.
Congratulations not only to those in the top ten, but to everyone who submitted a photo. You’ve inspired, moved and challenged us, and reminded us all of how magnificent God’s creation is.
Do you know a future Action Teamer?
Our Action Teams programme is one of the best Christian gap year programmes out there. If you know anyone aged between 17 and 23 who wants to serve God overseas then encourage them to get in touch with us today. You never know, they might just make next year’s photo competition top ten!
Here are some of the ways you’ve helped people in desperate need this year.
A tarpaulin. A plastic groundsheet. Some thermal underwear. Did these items make your Christmas wish list?
You’ve given these – and other great gifts – to people in desperate need this year.
You’re providing a lifeline for Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Burma (Myanmar), and keeping hundreds of people warm in the harshness of a Ukraine winter.
As you wrap your presents and prepare for Christmas, consider this our thank you note for what you’ve already given. And a reminder of the suffering you’re helping to alleviate, in Jesus’ name, every time you give to BMS World Mission.
Vital aid is reaching refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, thanks to your donations. Photo by Medair/Nath Fauveau.
The Rohingya people have witnessed their loved ones being raped, beaten and executed, and their villages reduced to ashes in a brutal military offensive. The scale of the terror inflicted by Burma’s soldiers is unimaginable, as is the exodus of those being targeted. More than 650,000 Rohingya refugees have crossed from Burma’s northern Rakhine State into Cox’s Bazar district in southern Bangladesh since August. Hundreds are still crossing every day, many of them children who have run for their lives.
How you are helping: By giving to BMS you’re helping more than 500 refugees. They arrive at camps exhausted, hungry and traumatised. They have next to nothing. The tarpaulin, ground sheet and stretch of nylon rope you’ve funded for these refugees are providing shelter. Thanks to you, Rohingya people have protection from the elements, and women can maintain their dignity thanks to hygiene kits containing sanitary products. People will also receive soap for washing and laundry, as well as a cup and a three-litre water jug.
The conflict that erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and pro-Ukrainian groups has displaced 1.5 million people and killed at least 10,000. Government pensions and social benefits have been stopped for people living in areas under separatist control, while schools and hospitals have also had their funding halted.
How you are helping: The temperature in eastern Ukraine is expected to drop to -7 degrees Celsius early on Christmas Day, and it could drop as low as -28 later in the winter. You’re providing over 1,000 people with coal, firewood, ceramic heaters and wood burners so they can survive, and children are being given thermal underwear.
Rachel Conway-Doel, our Relief Facilitator, talks about the crisis in Ukraine and what you can be praying for.
Lebanon continues to host the highest concentration of refugees per capita in the world, with an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 15,000 people from Iraq living there. Close to half of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon are children.
How you are helping: You’ve already helped dozens of children who have had their access to education shattered by conflict, and that support continues.
Thanks to your giving, at least 30 more refugee children are being taught English, Arabic and maths this school year, and doing what every child has a right to do – play.
Refugee children in Lebanon are being given an education thanks to you.
Your support this year has been amazing – look at what else you’ve done!
Mozambique — You gave food to 1,000 people affected by a fuel tanker explosion in Mozambique.
Haiti — You helped provide cholera prevention and treatment through water filtration after Hurricane Matthew.
Nepal — You provided food, blankets and medicine to more than 1,100 people following severe monsoon flooding.
Philippines — You helped to give medical check-ups and disaster training for community leaders following July’s earthquake.
Bangladesh — You helped to fund the rebuilding of 50 family homes destroyed by landslides in June.
South Sudan/Uganda — You gave food, tools and seeds to over 1,000 South Sudanese people in danger of starving.
No matter how much you gave this year, you made a difference. People you will never meet have been fed, sheltered and comforted thanks to your kindness. We thank you for all that you have done, and can’t wait to see what we can achieve together in 2018. Happy Christmas from all of us at BMS. | 2019-04-20T16:28:10Z | https://www.bmsworldmission.org/news_tag/nepal/ |
Today, the 31st August, is the last day of the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) Dinosaurs Encounter exhibition. By tonight the doors to the dinosaur exhibit will have closed for the last time and the engineers and technical experts will be working over the next few days to dismantle and crate up the various animatronic dinosaurs that have been on display.
No doubt these mechanical marvels will be making an appearance at another venue in the near future, but for the time being we have to see them packed off and the sets cleared ready for the next event to be staged at the Bournemouth Pavilion.
The Solent Hall has echoed to the sounds of Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Oviraptors and Ornithomimids over the last few weeks but by 5pm this evening the hall will be silent as the great prehistoric animal models are switched off at this venue and the first part of the breakdown of the sets takes place.
We met lots of lovely people when we worked down at the event, it does not seem like two months ago when we were helping to open the event and meet all the journalists and hoteliers as we promoted the exhibition. Our fossils and casts even got their very own dressing room. This was really handy as we had somewhere safe to store them and we could then bring lots of different ones out to show the visitors. Many thousands will have seen the event over the Summer months, all of them enthusiastically met by the helpful Bournemouth staff.
I know the management team at the Pavilion received some lovely comments from the visitors, especially all the excited young dinosaur fans who came to meet the prehistoric animals and take part in the activities organised by the Bournemouth Pavilion team.
We remember the little blind boy and his Mum and Dad who came to visit on the opening weekend. We got out lots of fossils and replica casts and this one special dinosaur fan and his parents got to hold Mammoth teeth, T. rex claws, the skull cap of an Ankylosaurus and the lower jawbone of an adult Triceratops. We think this made his day. He was certainly very excited and could hardly contain his excitement as his fingers traced over the contours of each fossil.
Our thanks to everyone at the Bournemouth Pavilion who helped to make the event such an enjoyable experience for all the visitors.
In this digital age with so many different forms of media it is sometimes easy to forget the importance of radio. Whilst most of the United Kingdom is undergoing the digital revolution with television broadcast media at the moment, for radio, the change over to digital programming and all the added benefits that the transition brings has already taken place.
We have several digital radios, one in the office, others around the warehouse, even one in the dinosaur fan. The van radio is quite a sophisticated device, it allows mobile phones and other equipment to be used by the passenger whilst providing updates on the Test match and other valuable information for the driver.
Many of us at Everything Dinosaur, have fallen back in love with the radio and for some of us, we have only just begun to realise the rich variety and diversity of radio programming in the UK. All the automatic digital tuning stations on each set are used and at the touch of a button the listener can switch from Radio 7 (comedy, sci-fi and drama), to Radio 5, 5 Sports Extra and back again, all in crystal clear clarity.
The controllers at Radio 4 deserve a special mention. This station, (news, current affairs and information), has always provided an excellent range of programming, the Archers (longest running soap in the country- “an everyday story of country folk”), is popular, as are the science programmes.
Over the last few weeks, the BBC have been broadcasting on Radio 4 a series of short monologues by Sir David Attenborough entitled “David Attenborough’s Life Stories”. Each ten minute programme is a talk by Sir David on the natural histories of creatures and plants from around the world. Broadcast twice a week (Friday evenings 8.50pm GMT) and repeated on the following Sunday 8.50am GMT), it has proved to be essential listening. Not only is Sir David an eloquent and erudite speaker, but his love and fascination for the natural world really comes over in these short programmes. His life long interest in nature has proved a rich and fertile ground from which to create this series of twenty talks. He has covered a wide variety of topics, from recalling his first encounter with a South American Sloth, to musing over the discovery of Archaeopterxy.
One of his recent episodes covered the story of how he was duped into buying a pair of mating Trilobites from a local trader in Morocco. A number of our team members have been lucky enough to travel to that country and we too have been taken in by the fantastic fossil specimens of these Arthropods that can be purchased by the roadside. His most recent programme covered the story of the discovery of a Coelacanth and the controversy over how closely related this particular type of prehistoric fish was to the first Tetrapods.
Next weeks ten minute programme is about the Dodo. Radio 4 are to be congratulated for creating such an informative and interesting series. A programme narrated by a knowledgeable person covering subjects that they love and are enthused by. Sometimes it is the most simple programme ideas that are the most effective.
Good luck to the Radio 4 production team behind these programmes and good luck to you Sir David Attenborough, may you continue to have many more adventures whilst filming the natural world, and hopefully you will commit some more stories to tape so that Radio 4 can produce a second series.
Australia is beginning to rival China when it comes to announcing the discovery of new types of dinosaur. Hot on the heels of last month’s announcement of the discovery of two new Titanosaurs and a new Theropod (meat-eater), the Australian press is carrying reports of another exciting dinosaur discovery from down under.
An expedition has uncovered the fossilised remains of a large Sauropod at a site to the west of Eromanga, in southwest Queensland. This area of Queensland is proving to be a real hot spot for mid Cretaceous dinosaur remains and this new find is one of a number of dinosaur discoveries made recently in the area.
The fossils are believed to represent a new genus of Titanosaur, a long-necked dinosaur that may have had dermal armour. Preliminary examination dates the fossils to around 97 million years ago (Albian/Cenomanian faunal stages). During this time, (mid Cretaceous), the area was covered by a shallow inland sea. The sea is named after the nearby town of Eromanga, ironic as one of modern day Eromanga’s claims to fame is that it is the town in Australia furthest away from the sea.
Although, not the largest specimen of an Australian Titanosaur known to date, the Queensland Museum palaeontologists who studied the fossils are confident that this dinosaur is going to turn out to be one of the most complete sets of fossil bones discovered in the area to date. Like many other palaeontologists, the dinosaur has been given a nick-name whilst the scientists and volunteers work at the dig site. This dinosaur has been named “Zac”.
It will be sometime before “Zac” is formerly named and described, there is a lot of work to do on the delicate fossils in the meantime, however, the Queensland Museum team are confident that this particular dinosaur will turn out to be one of the most important dinosaur discoveries made in Australia.
“The discoveries made this year confirm the south-west Queensland site is likely to be of great significance – not only for Australia – but for a wider scientific understanding of the age of dinosaurs”.
Other dinosaurs from this region include the primitive mid Jurassic Sauropod Rhoetosaurus , a member of the Cetiosauridae perhaps? This dinosaur has been dated to around 175 million years ago.
Scientists are confident that more prehistoric animal remains will be found in the area, providing a detailed insight into life down under during the mid Cretaceous.
It seems that Australia is putting itself firmly on the map when it comes to finding dinosaurs. Now, if only they could put together a decent cricket team..
The original King Kong film was released in 1933. Merian C Cooper (who produced the film) along with Edgar Wallace (the writer of the screen play) wrote the story, a twist on “Beauty and the Beast” between them. It was the pioneering special effects engineer Willis H. O’Brien that brought King Kong, the gigantic ape and the prehistoric animals that shared Skull Island to life. The 1925 film “The Lost World” was a very big influence on the original King Kong movie. In the novel, the Lost World, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a team of daring explorers led by Professor Challenger venture up a remote plateau and encounter prehistoric creatures.
Kong the great ape, is worshipped by the natives on Skull Island. Kong falls for the beautiful actress that accompanies the explorers as they visit the island. The actress is offered to Kong as a sacrifice, but the huge simian does not eat her but steals her away into the jungle. Kong is eventually captured and taken to New York as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”. However, the ape escapes from his shackles and meets his end on top of the Empire State Building in perhaps one of the most memorable scenes in the whole of cinema.
Giant apes the size of Kong, as far as we can tell from the fossil record did not exist, Kong was the figment of the script writer’s imagination. The fossil record for primates and early human ancestors is actually very incomplete, although there is no credible evidence to suggest that giant gorillas roamed the Earth. However, sometimes real life can reflect fiction. Two years after the film King Kong was released a German palaeoanthropologist Ralph von Koenigswald purchased a very large molar from a Hong Kong pharmacy. Animal teeth and bones are commonly used in Chinese medicine, even today. Chinese doctors used “dragons teeth” found in remote caves in a number of traditional medicines. Koenigswald correctly identified the tooth as a molar from an unknown, giant primate species. He went onto name the animal Gigantopithecus blacki.
Gigantopithecus fossils are known from South east Asia (China and Vietnam), this animal lived during the Pliocene epoch but survived into the Pleistocene, before finally becoming extinct approximately 200,000 years ago. Like Orangutans and Gorillas extant species today, the males were much larger than females. A mature male could weigh over 500 kilogrammes and stand 3.1 metres tall.
Although known from a few fragments of jawbone the rest of the animal has been deduced following studies of extant species of primate. Fortunately, for our ancestors and other hominids such as Homo erectus, Gigantopithecus was a herbivore, feeding mainly on bamboo.
Switzerland might be more famous for cuckoo clocks and Swiss army knives but it is gaining a bit of a reputation as a hot spot for Triassic dinosaur remains. For example, back in 2007 the discovery of a huge bone bed of Plateosaurs was announced by scientists from the University of Bonn. The site in question is regarded as the largest congregation of dinosaur bones ever found in Europe.
A team of researchers from the Natural History Museum in Basel have found a set of three-toed dinosaur footprints, half-way up a mountain. The footprints, believed to be from a bipedal, Theropod dinosaur are some of the largest footprints of their kind ever found in Europe. The tracks indicate that approximately 210 million years ago, this area of Europe was stalked by a large predatory dinosaur, perhaps more than 6 metres long. Evidence of such a large, carnivorous dinosaur from such ancient sediments has caused scientists to re-think the evolution of the Theropod lineage, footprints of this size are known from the early Jurassic but not from the late Triassic. This indicates that large meat-eating dinosaurs evolved earlier than previously thought.
During the Triassic, Switzerland was part of a huge landmass in the northern hemisphere called Laurentia, this part of the world was a coastal plain and a number of important Mesozoic fossils have been found in the country, but never before has evidence of such a large meat-eating dinosaur been discovered. The footprints measure up to 40cm long and indicate a very large carnivorous dinosaur, perhaps exceeding Liliensternus, a late Triassic carnivore, a member of the Coelophysoidea whose fossils have been found in Germany and France.
The footprints were found at approximately 3,300 metres on a mountain in Ela Nature Reserve. During the late Triassic this part of the world had a tropical climate and it seems that the footprints were made when this dinosaur walked across a shallow area of salty water. The prints were fossilised and then over millions of years geological pressure forced the strata to buckle and fold forming the Alps. The prints are difficult to spot, they are only visible when direct sunlight does not shine on them, and to see them tourists will have to endure an eight hour hike. Hopefully, casts will be made and these will be put on display at a local museum and visitor centre.
The three-toed print can be just made out in the centre of the photograph. As trackways have been discovered (a set of fossil footprints), the Swiss scientists hope to calculate how fast this dinosaur was moving. Other dinosaur footprints are known from this area but they are all herbivores, most likely Prosauropods such as Plateosaurus.
It is impossible to state precisely what sort of Theropod dinosaur made these footprints. It could be a very large Coelophysid or perhaps a primitive Ceratosaur. The fossil record for meat-eating dinosaurs of the late Triassic is particularly poor.
If it was a crested meat-eater it may have resembled a Liliensternus, but at this time this is pure speculation.
The Pterosaurs are an extinct group of flying reptiles. Known from the fossil bearing strata dating from the Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous, these bizarre creatures were the first truly diverse and successful flying vertebrates (not withstanding one or two genera of Permian gliders). The wings of these strange reptiles were formed out of skin that stretched from the body over the forelimbs and were supported by an elongated fourth digit.
For many years scientists have debated the aerial capabilities of these flying reptiles. Studies of endocasts of braincases and papers written on these animal’s ability to balance have been published and many researchers now believe that these animals were very capable fliers. However, whilst graceful and fully at home whilst airborne, how these animals moved around on the ground has long been debated. It has been argued, almost since the first Pterosaur fossils were studied in the 18th Century, that these animals were clumsy on land. Some scientists have proposed that these animals had a bipedal stance (especially the larger Pterosaurs such as the Late Cretaceous Azhdarchids), whilst others have proposed a quadrupedal stance.
Ichnologists (scientists who specialise in the study of footprints and tracks), have found a number of Pterosaur trackways. A paper was published recently on a set of tracks made by a large Pterosaur and preserved in late Cretaceous strata in Mexico. These indicate a quadruped gait and stance. This evidence is supported by trace fossils from perhaps the best preserved Pterosaur trackway site in the world, that found in the late Jurassic limestone deposits of Crayssac in south-western France.
A number of Pterosaur tracks have been identified in the Crayssac site. Some scientists have argued that previously described Pterosaur trackways may actually be Crocodilian but the absence of a tail drag and five digit impressions at the French location suggest that the majority of the trackways ascribed to various types of Pterosaur have been accurately described.
A number of different sized and different length trackways are known from this region. They indicate the presence of a number of different types of Pterosaur in the environment at the time. The trackways were made in shallow, inter-tidal water and some of the tracks are several metres in length. Crucially, the tracks indicate a quadrupedal gait, and, surprisingly measurements taken by French scientists indicate that some of these Pterosaurs were capable of moving quite quickly when on the ground. How these animals took off, or landed has yet to be determined, but it is suggested that these graceful reptiles were capable of touching down or taking off in a similar fashion to modern birds. Some of the footprints indicate that certain species had webbed feet, an adaptation to their marine environment. Perhaps these animals filled an ecological niche similar to extant Pelicans of today. | 2019-04-18T20:53:36Z | https://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/blog/_archives/2009/08 |
Chana Roberts is a mom and a product tester for Parenting Pod. She has spent over 200 hours researching, comparing, and writing about products for families, and cares deeply about everything kid.
Buying a rebounder isn’t just about fun – it’s about health.
Hard bounce or a poor quality mat can jar an adult’s muscles and bones, causing slipping, discomfort, or injury.
It’s important to make the right choice, the first time.
So, which rebounders offer the best quality and bounce? We’ve done the research for you, and come up with the seven best ones.
What about all those other sites comparing rebounders’ impact and bounciness?
JumpSport offers good quality, sturdy trampolines, at a price which is on the lower end of average. And unlike the other trampolines listed in this article, most of JumpSport’s Fitness Trampoline have arched legs for added stability.
The good: All of JumpSport’s models have either a 250 lbs or a 300 lbs weight limit. Also, two of their three series offer adjustable mat firmness, which in turn means adjustable bounce. Some of the models fold in half.
The not-so-good: JumpSport does not offer a carrying case. Also, while the quality is decent, it’s not top-of-the-line: A few customers said the trampoline gets a bit loose after bouncing sessions, and they needed to tighten it. Not all customers had this complaint, though, and the vast majority were happy they’d bought the trampoline.
The summary: JumpSport uses bungees instead of springs, and offers good bounce and relatively good quality. Their trampoline mats cover most of the bungees’ length, which means more jumping space and better safety – because the bungees are nearly covered, the chance of a digit getting caught drops.
The best: JumpSport’s Fitness Trampoline offers a terrific, smooth, nearly-noiseless bounce. It’s also sturdier than some of the others, thanks to its arched legs.
Is it for you? If you’re looking for a rebounder offering good bounce, working quality, and covered springs at a reasonable price – JumpSport has the rebounder for you.
Considered by many to be the top rebounder, the Cellerciser has lots of raving fans.
The good: Cellerciser’s fabric won’t stretch out when jumped on continuously, preventing back pains. Also, two of the Cellercisers have a balance bar which comes with the trampoline. Cellerciser rebounders can hold up to 300 lbs.
The not-so-good: Cellerciser offers no options for color, size, or shape.
The summary: These trampolines have springs, but their springs are specially made so you don’t turn your ankles in when jumping. And, as the company points out, springs don’t leave little pieces around the house – but rope bungees may well. The company also offers good customer service: When I needed to speak to someone, I got a quick answer via chat, from a live, friendly, responsive person.
The best: The Cellerciser folds – either in half or in thirds – and fits into a neat carrying case with wheels and a pull-out handle. Cellerciser customers say the trampoline has a great bounce and is light on the joints – and one customer said he prefers Cellerciser to Bellicon.
Is it for you? If you’re looking for a high-quality, comfortable trampoline at a great price, this is the one for you.
A professional-quality rebounder, Needak offers two types of rebounders: hard bounce and soft bounce.
The good: Both Needak’s hard bounce and soft bounce rebounders come in both blue and black, and offer folding and non-folding options. The folding option allows the trampoline to fold in half and be placed in a carrying case.
The not-so-good: One customer returned the trampoline because the bounce wasn’t soft enough. However, that customer did not state if they had bought the hard bounce or soft bounce trampoline. And, another customer combined the soft bounce and hard bounce springs to get the exact bounce they wanted.
The summary: Needak’s rebounders offer a unique technology designed to take pressure off the ankles and reduce the impact of each bounce. More importantly, the majority of customers said the Needak rebounder offered good quality and a smooth bounce.
The best: Needak’s “soft bounce” rebounders have a weight limit of 300 lbs, and their “hard bounce” rebounders have a weight limit of 600 lbs.
It’s worth noting that Needak’s weight limit of up to 600 lbs – even if only for the hard bounce – is unique in the rebounder area. Most other trampolines have a weight limit of 300-350 lbs; one or two offer 400 lbs.
Is it for you? If you want to customize the hardness or softness of the bounce, Needak is a good, high quality choice. And if you need a higher-than-standard weight limit, Needak gives you that option.
If anyone is competing with Cellerciser for top place, it’s Bellicon, ranking in second place only because it is less popular on Amazon.
The good: The Bellicon rebounders are completely silent and the bounce is gentle on joints. One review said Bellicon’s rebounders are “especially helpful” for people with back pain. Also, Bellicon rebounders can take up to 440 lbs.
The not-so-good: High quality sometimes comes with a high price: These trampolines range in price from $399-$1000. Some users found its bounce to be too hard, but others solved that issue by mixing bungee strengths.
The summary: Each top-quality Bellicon trampoline comes with a starter kit and includes socks and DVDs. Bellicon offers a variety of bungee strengths, with each clip color represents a different strength. Also, the variety of strengths offers you the ability to customize your bounce.
The best: The bungees themselves come in six different colors, all available in every strength. These different “strengths” are designed to support different weight loads different exercise intensities. Also, the legs on Bellicon’s trampolines fold up to allow it to fit into a carrying case.
Is it for you? If you have the budget, want to choose your bungee strength, and are looking for a high quality trampoline, Bellicon is probably the one for you.
Pure Fun offers two rebounders, sold as “mini trampolines,” intended for use by people age 13 and up.
The good: Pure Fun’s rebounders are are significantly cheaper (two digits instead of three) than the other trampolines mentioned in this article, and both hold up to 250 lbs.
The not-so-good: Customers were split on the quality of this trampoline, with some saying it was great quality and others saying springs broke too easily. Also, some customers said the Pure Fun gives a hard bounce.
The summary: This trampoline is on the list for one reason: It offers decent quality for one of the lowest prices out there. Bear in mind, though, that the Pure Fun’s simplicity and 90-day warranty suggest it may not be the best buy if you’re looking for a long-term investment.
One customer said the Pure Fun rebounder does not bounce much if a child is under 60 lbs (which is good, considering their age limit).
The best: Besides for their can’t-be-beat price, Pure Fun’s rebounder is relatively quiet, and considered to be “extremely sturdy.” Also, even if you need to replace some parts, the replacements are dirt cheap.
Is it for you? If you have joint or back issues, Pure Fun is probably not the rebounder for you. But if you’re looking for a low-cost rebounder for yourself, and you’d like your child to avoid using it, Pure Fun may just be the perfect rebounder for you.
Founded by a wrestling champion-turned -health researcher, ReboundAIR aims to provide healthy and safe bouncing.
The good: ReboundAIR’s Standard and Classic trampolines both come with a weight limit of 300 lbs; their Ultimate trampoline has a weight limit of 400 lbs. Also, ReboundAIR customers described the product as sturdy, good quality, and good for bad knees, with good bounce and light impact.
The not-so-good: Like Cellerciser, ReboundAIR offers no choice of color, size, or shape.
The summary: ReboundAIR uses springs instead of bungees – so that’s a safety minus – but both the Standard and Classic trampolines have covers which go over the springs, and maybe even cover an additional centimeter or two. Also remember that these aren’t trampolines meant for huge leaps and jumps – most of the users will jump only a few inches off the mat.
The best: Two of ReboundAIR’s trampolines fold – one in half, and the other in quarters. Plus, they provide a carrying case, and even an airport dolly. As an aside, I found Rebound AIR’s Facebook page and asked a few questions. The rep answered me within less than five minutes and was very friendly and helpful. Add ten points for customer service.
Is it for you? If you’re looking for an easily portable, sturdy rebounder that won’t hurt your knees, ReboundAIR is for you.
The cool thing about Boing is that it comes in several colors – not just the mats, but the bungees, too. Boing offers green, blue, orange, and pink mat stripes and bungees, in addition to their classic black.
The good: When you order a rebounder with colored bungees, you can choose size, weight limit, and bungee color. If you choose the black bungee trampoline, you’ll choose mat stripe color, weight limit, and size. Boing also uses bungees instead of springs, offering a safer jumping experience.
The not-so-good: While most Boing customers were happy with their purchase, some described Boing as a great Bellicon replacement and others said the company was a Bellicon “wannabe.” That said, there were no actual complaints about the rebounder.
The summary: Boing offers two size options and three weight options. Customers ordering on their site choose either a 40″ or 50″ diameter, as well as a weight limit of either up to 150 lbs, 150-250 lbs, or 250-350+ lbs. You can also buy a full set of replacement bungees for just under $70.
The best: Boing offers your choice of green, blue, orange, and pink mats and bungees, in addition to their classic black.
Is it for you? If you’re sick of seeing black and gray rebounders, and want to make your exercise session more fun, Boing will probably be your favorite pick.
Bellicon Round - 39", 44", 49"; hexagon - 54". Frame - 5 years for stainless steel, 3 years for lacquered steel; 3 years for mats and pads; 3-6 months for rope rings. Frames are either stainless steel or lacquered steel; mats are UV-resistant woven polypropylene; bungees are polyisoprene. Support bars, carrier bags, frame cushions, DVDs, replacement parts, various fitness aids, tablet holder, non-slip socks, rubber caps. 30-48 bungees, number depends on rebounder size.
Boing Round, 40" and 50" Frame - lifetime; mat - 2 years; bungees - 1 year. Mat is made of polypropylene mesh; frame is powder coating mild steel tubing. Option to buy replacement bungees. 30 or 36 bungees, depending on the size.
JumpSport Fitness Round, 39" and 44". 30-day money back guarantee; 10-year warranty on frame. Frame is made of cold rolled steel; no other information available. Adjuster, attachable bar, DVDs, game pack, bottle, toe socks, carrying case for ONE of their models. 30 or 36 bungees, depending on size.
Pure Fun Round, 38" and 40". 30-day money back guarantee; 90-day warranty. Galvanized steel springs; polypropylene mat. Replacement parts, handlebar (not sold separately on website). 32 or 36 springs, depending on size.
*Please note: All warranties listed are for residential use. For commercial use, please see the company’s site.
Originally made to be “mini trampolines,” rebounders have become a popular way for sedentary adults to exercise efficiently. The health benefits of rebounding include boosting your immune function and lymphatic drainage; improving digestion; increasing bone mass; thyroid stimulation, improving the cardiac system’s function; and stimulating the endocrine and adrenal systems.
Rebounding, unlike trampolining, does not involve high jumps. Instead, it involves jumping no more than a few inches off the trampoline. Because of this, rebounders generally do not need nets and the adults using them are generally less at risk of injury than children and teens are when using trampolines.
That said, children should not use rebounders without constant supervision, and should not be allowed to bounce high on them. This is because limbs can get caught in the spaces between the bungees/ springs and the frame, and energetic jumping can cause dangerous slips. It’s important to follow the rebounding safety rules.
Stabilizing bars can be bought for several trampolines on this list, and the bar adds a different dimension to the rebounding, since its use requires arm muscles and not just leg muscles.
It’s worth noting that different people experience different rebounders – differently. The way you jump and your weight, as well as any existing pains, will make your rebounder experience different than anyone else’s.
The best thing to do is to test various trampolines to see which one feels best for you. When you know how each rebounder feels, you can decide which rebounder to purchase.
Rebounders can be great fun, and are definitely helpful tools for adults who want to fit exercise into their schedules. The wide variety of rebounders means there’s something for everyone – but if you want my personal opinion, I’d go for a Cellerciser or a JumpSport.
Have you owned any of these trampolines? Is there anything you’d like to know but which wasn’t covered? Let us know in the comments.
Your article says “Below is a table combating the rebounders’ different specs,” but I don’t see any table. Am I missing something? Does it not show because I’m using an iPad, not a computer, to view this article?
I’ve had back surgery, foot surgery in both feet and a bad knee. I build trucks for a living. I’m 56 yrs old and over 230 lbs. I want it to be comfortable and quiet. I had one years ago but the legs broke or the leg covers that touch the floor wore out quickly. I want one that can take the impact for a long period of time. Thank you. | 2019-04-21T01:30:13Z | https://parentingpod.com/best-rebounder-trampolines/ |
aExact breakdown for exclusion not documented.
bThe Institute of Medicine 1990 guidelines differ from the 2009 guidelines. In the 1990 guidelines, the recommended weight gain range was 12.5 to 18 kg for women with a body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) less than 19.8; 11.5 to 16 kg for women with a BMI of 19.8 to 26.0; 7 to 11.5 kg for women with a BMI between 26.0 and 29.0; and at least 6.8 kg for women with a BMI higher than 29.0.
Pooled ORs are shown for the association between gestational weight gain below (A) and above (B) guidelines with adverse outcomes. Reference group is women with recommended weight gain in each category of body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). For each outcome, the sample size represents the total number of women in the studies that assessed the outcome. For each BMI category, the sample size represents the total number of women with gestational weight gain below or above the guidelines. LGA indicates large for gestational age; SGA, small for gestational age.
Pooled ORs are shown for the association between gestational weight loss (A), gestational weight gain below guidelines (B), and gestational weight gain above guidelines (C) with adverse outcomes. Obesity classes indicate body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) as follows: class 1, BMI of 30 to 34.9; class 2, BMI of 35 to 39.9; and class 3, BMI of 40 or higher. Reference group is women with recommended weight gain in each category of BMI. For each outcome, the sample size represents the total number of women in the studies that assessed the outcome. For each obesity category, the sample size represents the total number of women with weight loss, gestational weight gain below the guidelines, or gestational weight gain above the guidelines.
Institute of Medicine. Nutrition During Pregnancy: Part I: Weight Gain, Part II Nutrient Supplements. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 1990.
Rasmussen K, Yaktine AL, eds; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council. Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Reexamining the Guidelines. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2009.
Committee on Obstetric Practice, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Weight gain during pregnancy: committee opinion 548. January 2013, reaffirmed 2015. https://www.acog.org/-/media/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Obstetric-Practice/co548.pdf?dmc=1&ts=20160723T0702247216. Accessed July 23, 2016.
Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation. Evidence Synthesis Program Template for Critical Appraisal of a Cohort Study. Melbourne, Australia: Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation; 2014.
World Health Organization. WHO Recommendations on Antenatal Care for a Positive Pregnancy Experience. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2016.
Teede H, Harrison C, Lombard C, Boyle C, East C, Brown W. Case for Action proposal: obesity prevention through preventing excess weight gain during pregnancy and postpartum. September 2014. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/research/research-translation/research-translation-faculty/ideas-research-translation-faculty-cases. Accessed August 31, 2016.
Question What is the association between gestational weight gain above or below the Institute of Medicine guidelines and maternal and infant outcomes?
Findings In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 1 309 136 pregnancies, gestational weight gain below recommendations (in 23% of women) was associated with higher risk of small for gestational age (odds ratio [OR], 1.53) and preterm birth (OR, 1.70) and lower risk of large for gestational age (OR, 0.59) and macrosomia (OR, 0.60). Gestational weight gain above recommendations (47%) was associated with lower risk of small for gestational age (OR, 0.66) and preterm birth (OR, 0.77) and higher risk of large for gestational age (OR, 1.85), macrosomia (OR, 1.95), and cesarean delivery (OR, 1.30).
Meaning Gestational weight gain below or above the Institute of Medicine guidelines was associated with higher risk of some adverse maternal and infant outcomes.
Importance Body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain are increasing globally. In 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) provided specific recommendations regarding the ideal gestational weight gain. However, the association between gestational weight gain consistent with theIOM guidelines and pregnancy outcomes is unclear.
Objective To perform a systematic review, meta-analysis, and metaregression to evaluate associations between gestational weight gain above or below the IOM guidelines (gain of 12.5-18 kg for underweight women [BMI <18.5]; 11.5-16 kg for normal-weight women [BMI 18.5-24.9]; 7-11 kg for overweight women [BMI 25-29.9]; and 5-9 kg for obese women [BMI ≥30]) and maternal and infant outcomes.
Data Sources and Study Selection Search of EMBASE, Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews, MEDLINE, and MEDLINE In-Process between January 1, 1999, and February 7, 2017, for observational studies stratified by prepregnancy BMI category and total gestational weight gain.
Data Extraction and Synthesis Data were extracted by 2 independent reviewers. Odds ratios (ORs) and absolute risk differences (ARDs) per live birth were calculated using a random-effects model based on a subset of studies with available data.
Main Outcomes and Measures Primary outcomes were small for gestational age (SGA), preterm birth, and large for gestational age (LGA). Secondary outcomes were macrosomia, cesarean delivery, and gestational diabetes mellitus.
Results Of 5354 identified studies, 23 (n = 1 309 136 women) met inclusion criteria. Gestational weight gain was below or above guidelines in 23% and 47% of pregnancies, respectively. Gestational weight gain below the recommendations was associated with higher risk of SGA (OR, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.44-1.64]; ARD, 5% [95% CI, 4%-6%]) and preterm birth (OR, 1.70 [1.32-2.20]; ARD, 5% [3%-8%]) and lower risk of LGA (OR, 0.59 [0.55-0.64]; ARD, −2% [−10% to −6%]) and macrosomia (OR, 0.60 [0.52-0.68]; ARD, −2% [−3% to −1%]); cesarean delivery showed no significant difference (OR, 0.98 [0.96-1.02]; ARD, 0% [−2% to 1%]). Gestational weight gain above the recommendations was associated with lower risk of SGA (OR, 0.66 [0.63-0.69]; ARD, −3%; [−4% to −2%]) and preterm birth (OR, 0.77 [0.69-0.86]; ARD, −2% [−2% to −1%]) and higher risk of LGA (OR, 1.85 [1.76-1.95]; ARD, 4% [2%-5%]), macrosomia (OR, 1.95 [1.79-2.11]; ARD, 6% [4%-9%]), and cesarean delivery (OR, 1.30 [1.25-1.35]; ARD, 4% [3%-6%]). Gestational diabetes mellitus could not be evaluated because of the nature of available data.
Conclusions and Relevance In this systematic review and meta-analysis of more than 1 million pregnant women, 47% had gestational weight gain greater than IOM recommendations and 23% had gestational weight gain less than IOM recommendations. Gestational weight gain greater than or less than guideline recommendations, compared with weight gain within recommended levels, was associated with higher risk of adverse maternal and infant outcomes.
The purpose of this review and meta-analysis was to compare gestational weight gain with IOM guidelines from diverse international cohorts and to evaluate associations between gestational weight gain above and below guidelines with maternal and infant outcomes.
This systematic review, meta-analysis, and metaregression was prospectively registered with PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO identifier CRD42015023325).
A systematic search string of relevant terms was developed (eAppendix 1 in the Supplement). Searched databases in Ovid included EMBASE, all Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews, MEDLINE, and MEDLINE In-Process from January 1, 1999, to January 28, 2016 (Figure 1). The search was limited to articles from 1999 onward to represent more current populations. The search was later updated to February 7, 2017. Of 7 newly identified studies, 4 were included in the analyses. Three studies were excluded because the data were not in the required format, and there was insufficient time to obtain data from the authors. Bibliographies of included studies were reviewed to identify additional studies. Details of the search strategy and data extraction are shown in eAppendix 2 in the Supplement.
Observational studies published in English and assessing singleton pregnancies in women aged 18 years or older were included. Study sample sizes larger than 500 women were required to identify outcomes present across the BMI categories. We postulated that small studies would have insufficient sample size to detect outcomes within each BMI group. Studies were included if they presented data examining women by prepregnancy BMI category, stratified by the total gestational weight gain. Studies that categorized by mean weight gain per week were excluded. Only studies presenting odds ratios (ORs) stratified by maternal BMI and gestational weight gain were included. Studies that simultaneously adjusted for categories of BMI and gestational weight gain to estimate the independent associations of weight change with outcomes were excluded because the aim of this review was to assess the association of gestational weight gain (specific for each BMI category) and outcomes.
Studies meeting these criteria used different BMI categories (eg, Metropolitan Life Insurance Tables, WHO classifications, or Chinese classifications11 [BMI for underweight, <18.5; normal weight, 18.5-23.9; overweight, 24-28; and obese, ≥28]) and gestational weight gain categories (eg, 1990 IOM, 2009 IOM, population-specific, or study-specific categories) to classify participants. Additionally, some studies used a reference of normal gestational weight gain within each BMI group, whereas others used a reference of normal-weight women with normal weight gain.
In this review, BMI was defined by WHO categories and/or Chinese BMI categories. Gestational weight gain was defined by 2009 IOM criteria; thus, authors of identified studies were contacted to reanalyze data using these categories. The ORs were calculated using recommended gestational weight gain within each BMI category as the reference.
Gestational weight gain was defined as the difference between the final weight and the prepregnancy weight and was classified as below, within, or above the 2009 IOM guidelines. The prepregnancy weight was either self-reported (which correlates well with measured weight12,13) or measured at first antenatal visits. Final pregnancy weight was measured at the last antenatal visit or the time of delivery or was self-reported within 1 year of delivery.
Two authors assessed risk of bias (R.F.G. and S.K.A.). Discrepancies were resolved by consensus in discussion with a third reviewer (M.M.). Methodological quality of included studies was assessed using the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation evidence synthesis appraisal assessment tool.15,16 Individual quality items were assessed using a descriptive approach including exposure and outcome measures, reporting bias, confounding, and conflict of interest. Each study was classified as low, medium, or high risk of bias.
Findings were synthesized by target population characteristics, study type, and outcome. Outcome measures were produced for each study by calculating ORs and 95% confidence intervals, using recommended gestational weight gain within each BMI category as the reference. When 2 or more studies assessed the same outcome, results were pooled using both fixed- and random-effects meta-analysis. There were no significant differences between fixed- and random-effects analyses. Random effects are presented given heterogeneity among studies. Extracted pooled ORs for individual outcomes were combined to construct summary pooled ORs. Crude data were used where possible, given variable control for confounding factors. However, some articles presented adjusted ORs only.17-24 Absolute risk differences (ARDs) per live birth were calculated from event rates (available for a subset of studies) using random-effects meta-analysis.
Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic, where I2 > 50% indicated substantial heterogeneity.25 Metaregression was performed to investigate sources of heterogeneity (percentage of smokers during pregnancy, mean age, and percentage of nulliparous women). Race/ethnicity data were not available for the metaregression. Where 5 or more studies were available, publication bias was assessed using Egger test plots.26,27 Statistical significance was defined as 2-sided P < .05. Statistical analysis used Stata software version 14 (StataCorp LP).
A subgroup analysis was performed in specific population groups identified a priori (studies using Chinese or Korean BMI categories, not presented herein). Obesity subclasses were included after reviewing studies that stratified by obesity class. Tests for trend based on the Cochran-Armitage test in Stata were used to assess trends in this subgroup analysis.
Of 5874 studies identified by the initial search, 302 were selected for full-text review; 261 of these were excluded, leaving 41 (Figure 1). These studies grouped women by prepregnancy BMI category, stratified by total gestational weight gain. One study28 did not meet inclusion criteria as published; however, prior collaboration had made data available in the required format. Of 41 identified studies, 18 were excluded because data could not be obtained in the required format. Of these 18 studies, authors of 15 were contacted and unable to reanalyze and authors of 3 were not contacted from the updated search because of insufficient time prior to publication (eAppendix 2 in the Supplement). Overall, 23 cohort studies17-24,28-42 were included, involving 1 309 136 women. Of these 23 studies, 7 were included without contacting the authors because data were in the required format. Of 16 authors contacted, 13 reanalyzed data and were included; 3 provided additional information, thereby avoiding reanalysis.
Table 2 and Table 3 list characteristics of the studies (descriptive characteristics are shown in eTable 1 in the Supplement). Eighteen studies were retrospective, and 5 were prospective.20,29,32,33,42 Ten were from the United States,18-20,23,28,31,35,38,40,41 8 were from Asia (4 from China,21,29,32,36 2 from Korea,34,39 and 1 each from Taiwan24 and Japan22), and 5 were from Europe (1 each from Norway,33 Belgium,30 Italy,37 Denmark,42 and Sweden17). Sample sizes ranged from 1034 to 570 672 women.
Underweight women composed 7% (n = 94 399); normal-weight women, 55% (n = 720 456); overweight women, 18% (n = 235 295); and obese women, 20% (n = 258 986). Gestational weight gain was below, within, or above guidelines in 23% (n = 300 723), 30% (n = 387 409), and 47% (n = 621 004), respectively.
Figure 2 shows pooled ORs for primary and secondary outcomes. eFigure 1 in the Supplement shows pooled ORs for individual outcomes. eTable 2 in the Supplement reports event rates. eTable 3 and eFigure 2 in the Supplement report ARDs and P values. The ARDs are expressed as percentage difference per live birth.
Across BMI categories, gestational weight gain below guidelines was associated with higher risk for SGA than gestational weight gain within guidelines (OR, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.44 to 1.64]; I2 = 82.8%; ARD, 5% [95% CI, 4% to 6%]). This association was greatest in lower prepregnancy BMI (underweight: OR, 1.89 [95% CI, 1.67 to 2.14]; ARD, 8% [95% CI, 6% to 11%]; normal weight: OR, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.54 to 1.71]; ARD, 5% [95% CI, 4% to 6%]; overweight: OR, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.24 to 1.44]; ARD, 3% [95% CI, 3% to 4%]; and obese: OR, 1.24 [95% CI, 1.06 to 1.45]; ARD, 2% [95% CI, 2% to 3%]).
Compared with gestational weight gain within guidelines, gain above guidelines was associated with lower risk for SGA (OR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.63 to 0.69]; I2 = 56%; ARD, −3% [95% CI, −4% to −2%]). The association was similar across BMI categories (underweight: OR, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.53 to 0.72]; ARD, −6% [95% CI, −8% to −3%]; normal weight: OR, 0.65 [95% CI, 0.62 to 0.68]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −3% to−1%]; overweight: OR, 0.65 [95% CI, 0.59 to 0.71]; ARD, −3% [95% CI, −4% to −2%]; and obese: OR, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.65 to 0.80]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −3% to −1%]).
Compared with gestational weight gain within guidelines, weight gain below guidelines was associated with higher risk for preterm birth (OR, 1.70 [95% CI, 1.32 to 2.20]; I2 = 97.3%; ARD, 5% [95% CI, 3% to 8%]). This association was greatest with lower BMI (underweight: OR, 2.41 [95% CI, 1.01 to 5.73]; ARD, 8% [95% CI, 1% to 15%]; normal weight: OR, 1.96 [95% CI, 1.17 to 3.29]; ARD, 6% [95% CI, 0% to 11%]; overweight: OR, 1.55 [95% CI, 1.10 to 2.19]; ARD, 4% [95% CI, −1% to 9%]; and obese: OR, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.03 to 1.40]; ARD, 3% [95% CI, 1% to 5%]).
Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with lower risk for preterm birth (OR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.69 to 0.86]; I2 = 78.7%; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −2% to −1%]). This association was significant for normal-weight and overweight women (underweight: OR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.50 to 1.28]; ARD, −1% [95% CI, −3% to 0%]; normal weight: OR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.59 to 0.97]; ARD, −1% [95% CI, −2% to 0%]; overweight: OR, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.53 to 0.93]; ARD, −3% [95% CI, −5% to −1%]; and obese: OR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.62 to 0.93]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −5% to 2%]).
Gestational weight gain below guidelines was associated with lower risk of LGA than gestational weight gain within guidelines (OR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.55 to 0.64]; I2 = 78.9%; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −10% to −6%]). This was significant for underweight and normal-weight women (underweight: OR, 0.41 [95% CI, 0.34 to 0.50]; ARD, −3% [95% CI, −5% to −1%]; normal weight: OR, 0.58 [95% CI, 0.54-0.62]; ARD, −3% [95% CI, −4% to −2%]; overweight: OR, 0.66 [95% CI, 0.62 to 0.70]; ARD, −11% [95% CI, −33% to 10%]; and obese: OR, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.64 to 0.76]; ARD, 13% [95% CI, −34% to 60%]).
Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher risk of LGA (OR, 1.85 [95% CI, 1.76 to 1.95]; I2 = 74.6%; ARD, 4% [95% CI, 2% to 5%]). The association increased as BMI decreased (underweight: OR, 2.17 [95% CI, 1.81 to 2.60]; ARD, 4% [95% CI, 4% to 5%]; normal weight: OR, 1.95 [95% CI, 1.83 to 2.08]; ARD, 6% [95% CI, 5% to 7%]; overweight: OR, 1.79 [95% CI, 1.61 to 1.98]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −14% to 9%]; and obese: OR, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.56 to 1.70]; ARD, 7% [95% CI, 5% to 8%]).
Gestational weight gain below guidelines was associated with lower risk of macrosomia (OR, 0.60 [95% CI, 0.52 to 0.68]; I2 = 66.3%; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −3% to −1%]). The association was strongest in underweight women (underweight: OR, 0.43 [95% CI, 0.27 to 0.69]; ARD, −1% [95% CI, −3% to 0%]; normal weight: OR, 0.54 [95% CI, 0.43 to 0.68]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −5% to 1%]; overweight: OR, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.60 to 0.89]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −6% to 2%]; and obese: OR, 0.70 [95% CI, 0.59 to 0.82]; ARD, −3% [−4% to −2%]).
Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher risk of macrosomia (OR, 1.95 [95% CI, 1.79 to 2.11]; I2 = 58.2%; ARD, 6% [95% CI, 4% to 9%]). This association was strongest in underweight women according to the ORs, and all associations were significant according to the ARDs (underweight: OR, 2.31 [95% CI, 1.62 to 3.29]; ARD, 3% [95% CI, 2% to 4%]; normal weight: OR, 2.01 [95% CI, 1.77 to 2.27]; ARD, 10% [95% CI, 5% to 15%]; overweight: OR, 1.90 [95% CI, 1.54 to 2.33]; ARD, 5% [95% CI, 1% to 10%]; and obese: OR, 1.83 [95% CI, 1.52 to 2.22]; ARD, 6% [95% CI, 1% to 12%]).
Eight studies assessed cesarean delivery. Seven included emergency and elective deliveries,22,28,29,33,36,37,39 and 1 did not specify.24 One study28 included repeated cesarean delivery (total cesarean deliveries), 1 included primary cesarean delivery only,24 and 6 did not distinguish these.
Gestational weight gain below guidelines was not significantly associated with cesarean delivery (OR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96 to 1.02]; I2 = 62.6%; ARD, 0% [−2% to 1%]).
Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher risk of cesarean delivery (OR, 1.30 [95 CI, 1.25 to 1.35]; I2 = 21.9%; ARD, 4% [95% CI, 3% to 6%]). The ARD was significant for underweight women only (underweight: OR, 1.45 [95% CI, 1.22 to 1.71]; ARD, 6% [95% CI, 1% to 12%]; normal weight: OR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.24 to 1.36]; ARD, 0% [95% CI, −4% to 3%]; overweight: OR, 1.29 [95% CI, 1.21 to 1.39]; ARD, 1% [0% to 3%]; and obese: OR, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.05 to 1.42]; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −5% to 1%]).
Six studies assessed GDM, but they did not use consistent definitions and had different findings for gestational weight gain above guidelines and GDM risk. Black et al28 defined GDM by International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups criteria and included only women not treated for hyperglycemia (the center used different criteria in clinical practice and excluded those treated). They found no association between weight gain above guidelines and GDM in the underweight, normal-weight, and obese groups but reported lower risk in overweight women. Enomoto et al22 used International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups criteria, with higher risk in normal-weight women and lower risk in overweight women. Durst et al23 used Carpenter-Coustan criteria and found no association. Hung and Hsieh24 used Carpenter-Coustan and International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups criteria and found an association of gestational weight gain above guidelines with lower risk of GDM in overweight and obese women. Li et al36 included both impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes by WHO criteria, with weight gain above guidelines associated with lower risk of GDM in all groups except obese women. Shin and Song31 used self-reported GDM and found an association of gestational weight gain above guidelines with lower risk in all groups except underweight women.
An intended meta-analysis of gestational weight gain and its relationship to GDM could not be completed because of inconsistent definitions and treatments.
Obesity classes include the following: class 1, BMI of 30 to 34.9; class 2, BMI of 35 to 39.9; and class 3, BMI of 40 or higher. Obese studies generally included a subgroup-defined weight loss as well as gestational weight gain below, within, or above guidelines. Three studies assessed outcomes stratified by BMI classes 1 through 3.17,18,30 Another study35 investigated only superobese women (BMI ≥50) and was included in the obesity class 3 analysis. These 4 studies were included in the subgroup analysis only (not in the overall meta-analyses). Class 1 included 67% of women; class 2, 22%; and class 3, 11%. Weight loss and gestational weight gain below, within, or above recommendations occurred in 6%, 13%, 25%, and 57% of pregnancies, respectively.
Figure 3 summarizes pooled ORs for primary (SGA and LGA) and secondary (macrosomia and cesarean delivery) outcomes. eFigure 3 in the Supplement shows pooled ORs for individual outcomes. eTable 4 in the Supplement reports ARDs and P values. Only 1 study35 assessed preterm birth and GDM in the obese subgroups, preventing meta-analysis. Kominiarek et al18 provided separate ORs for nulliparous and multiparous women (multiparous values used herein), whereas other studies combined women with different parity into 1 group.
Weight loss and weight gain below guidelines were associated with higher SGA risk (weight loss: OR, 1.79 [95% CI, 1.56 to 2.05]; I2 = 0%; ARD, 3% [95% CI, 1% to 5%]; weight gain below guidelines: OR, 1.27 [95% CI, 1.14 to 1.41]; I2 = 20.7%; ARD, 1% [95% CI, 1% to 1%]). Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with lower SGA risk (OR, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.67]; I2 = 13.5%; ARD, −1% [−2% to 0%]). Weight gain in class 1 had the strongest association with lower SGA risk (lowest OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.72]; P for trend < .001).
Weight loss and gestational weight gain below guidelines were associated with lower LGA risk (weight loss: OR, 0.58 [95% CI, 0.52 to 0.66]; I2 = 11.6%; ARD, −5% [95% CI, −7% to −3%]; weight gain below guidelines: OR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.71 to 0.84]; I2 = 0%; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −3% to −1%]). Weight loss in class 3 had the strongest association with lower LGA risk (lowest OR, 0.53 [95% CI, 0.41 to 0.67]; P for trend < .001). Weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher LGA risk (OR, 1.79 [95% CI, 1.70 to 1.89]; I2 = 69.3%; ARD, 5% [95% CI, 5% to 6%]). LGA was most strongly associated with class 1 obesity compared with the other classes (highest OR, 1.87 [95% CI, 1.75 to 2.00]; P for trend < .001).
Three studies assessed macrosomia, defined as birth weight greater than 4000 g in 1 study,30 greater than 4500 g in 1 study,18 and both greater than 4000 g and greater than 4500 g in 1 study.35 Meta-analysis used data for birth weight greater than 4000 g.
Weight loss and gestational weight gain below guidelines were associated with lower macrosomia risk (weight loss: OR, 0.46 [95% CI, 0.36 to 0.58]; I2 = 34.0%; ARD, −5% [95% CI, −9% to −2%]; weight gain below guidelines: OR, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.68 to 0.86]; I2 = 0%; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −3% to 0%]). Low weight gain in class 3 had the strongest association with lower macrosomia risk (lowest OR, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.49 to 0.85]; P for trend = .046). Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher risk of macrosomia (OR, 1.60 [95% CI, 1.46 to 1.75]; I2 = 66.9%; ARD, 3% [95% CI, 0% to 6%]).
Four studies assessed cesarean delivery. They included emergency,30 emergency and elective,18,35 and undefined17 indications for cesarean delivery.
Weight loss and gestational weight gain below guidelines were associated with lower risk of cesarean delivery (weight loss: OR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.72 to 0.85]; I2 = 34.3%; ARD, −4% [95% CI, −6% to −3%]; weight gain below guidelines: OR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.82 to 0.93]; I2 = 0%; ARD, −2% [95% CI, −3% to −1%]). Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher risk of cesarean delivery (OR, 1.21 [95% CI, 1.16 to 1.25]; I2 = 0%; ARD, 2% [95% CI, 0% to 3%]).
Substantial heterogeneity (I2 > 50%) was present for gestational weight gain below and above guidelines for SGA, preterm birth, LGA, and macrosomia and for gestational weight gain above guidelines for cesarean delivery. When sufficient data were available, metaregression analysis was performed to investigate possible sources of heterogeneity: percentage of smokers during pregnancy, mean age, and percentage of nulliparous women (eTable 5 in the Supplement). The obese subgroups had insufficient studies to perform metaregression.
Gestational weight gain above guidelines and LGA demonstrated a source for heterogeneity (P = .04); specifically, there was an association between the treatment effect and the covariate smoking (P = .02). For gestational weight gain below guidelines and preterm birth, mean maternal age was the only covariate associated with outcome, where the risk for preterm birth varied by maternal age due to the heterogeneity in maternal age in included studies (P = .03); however, the overall P value was not significant (P = .09). Heterogeneity was unexplained for remaining outcomes.
There was no evidence of publication bias for SGA, LGA, macrosomia or cesarean delivery (eFigure 4 in the Supplement). Assessment for publication bias was not performed for preterm births (<5 studies).
Participants were selected from maternity clinics or from large data sets (Table 4). Apart from 3 studies,19,23,32 inclusion and exclusion criteria were adequately described. Performance bias (a potential difference in the care provided between BMI groups) was difficult to assess. Very few studies provided information regarding diet and/or exercise advice given and whether this differed between groups. Overweight and obese women were possibly treated more intensively, which could introduce bias.
Three studies demonstrated moderate bias risk19,21,31 and 20 demonstrated low bias risk.17,18,20,22-24,28-30,32-42 Reasons for moderate bias risk included self-reported final weight (detection bias), self-reported outcome measures (detection bias), failure to report all outcomes (report bias), and insufficient adjustment for confounding variables (confounding bias). Nineteen studies reported no conflict of interest.
Quiz Ref IDIn this analysis of 1 309 136 pregnancies from diverse international cohorts, gestational weight gain below or above 2009 IOM guidelines among women across the BMI range was associated with greater risk for maternal and infant adverse outcomes. Underweight women composed 7%; normal-weight women, 55%; overweight women, 18%; and obese women, 20%. For gestational weight gain, 23% gained below and 47% gained above guidelines. Compared with recommended gestational weight gain, gain below guidelines was associated with 5% higher risk of both SGA and preterm birth and 2% lower risk of both LGA and macrosomia. Weight gain above guidelines was associated with 3% lower risk of SGA and 2% lower risk of preterm birth and 4%, 6%, and 4% higher risk of LGA, macrosomia, and cesarean delivery, respectively.
Gestational weight gain below guidelines was associated with higher SGA risk, with greatest risk in underweight women, as shown previously.43,44 Obesity was associated with higher risk of SGA, with weight loss and gestational weight gain below guidelines increasing risks, similar to prior systematic reviews.26,45,46 Underweight status combined with gestational weight gain below recommendations as well as obese status combined with gestational weight loss present the highest risk groups for SGA, at 8% and 3%, respectively.
Gestational weight gain below guidelines was associated with lower risks of LGA and macrosomia. This association was lowest in underweight women. Weight gain above guidelines was associated with higher risks of LGA and macrosomia, with ARDs of 4% and 6% greater risks, respectively. Underweight status was associated with the greatest risk. This is similar to the 2009 IOM report6 that stated, “the lower the prepregnancy BMI, the stronger the association between increased gestational weight gain and birthweight”; it may be related to higher absolute weight gain in underweight women.1 Animal studies suggest that baseline maternal BMI and gestational weight gain are associated with changes in the hormonal milieu, including insulin resistance.50 Similarly, excess weight gain in underweight women may be associated with greater changes in the hormonal milieu and placental function than in normal-weight or overweight women. Weight gain above guidelines was associated with increased risk of cesarean delivery across the BMI spectrum.
Quiz Ref IDSimilarly, within the obese subgroups, weight loss was associated with a 5% lower risk for both LGA and macrosomia and 4% lower risk for cesarean delivery. Weight gain below guidelines was associated with 2% lower risk across all these outcomes. Class 3 obesity combined with weight loss was associated with the greatest LGA risk reduction. Gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with increased LGA risk. Class 1 obesity was associated with the greatest risk for LGA, which may be partly due to higher absolute weight gain in less obese women.10 While other systematic reviews have assessed gestational weight gain below guidelines,26 to our knowledge, this is the first review exploring relationships between weight gain above guidelines and outcomes within obesity classes.
While GDM has adverse maternal and infant outcomes51 and is related to maternal BMI and possibly to gestational weight gain, associations could not be assessed because of heterogeneity of diagnosis and treatment as well as the potential effect of GDM treatment on gestational weight gain. Prior systematic reviews have not demonstrated that healthy lifestyle and gestational weight gain reduced rates of GDM,14 even in high-risk populations.52 Consistent diagnostic criteria and reporting of gestational weight gain at GDM diagnosis are needed to study associations between gestational weight gain and GDM.
Lifestyle interventions in pregnancy can help women attain recommended gestational weight gain.14 Optimal interventions and effects on outcomes are currently being studied in a large-scale international individual patient data meta-analysis.53 The WHO has prioritized achievement of ideal BMI prior to conception and prevention of excess gestational weight gain.54 Identification of women prior to conception and implementing healthy lifestyle strategies before and during pregnancy have yet to be integrated into routine health care,55 requiring research implementation.
Strengths of this review are the inclusion of common maternal and infant risks associated with gestational weight gain below and above the 2009 IOM guidelines in women across the prepregnancy BMI spectrum and across international cohorts. Four databases were searched, a risk of bias appraisal was performed, and reanalyses were undertaken, allowing inclusion of data from more than 1.3 million pregnant women globally. Collaboration with other authors facilitated more homogeneous data, data integration, and meta-analysis.
This study has limitations. It lacks studies from developing countries and excluded non-English-language articles. Fifteen of 31 authors contacted were unable to reanalyze data, so these studies were excluded from the meta-analysis. A meta-analysis could not be performed for GDM because of inconsistent primary data. Some outcomes were assessed in only 1 study, precluding meta-analysis. Inconsistent definitions of preterm birth, cesarean delivery, and macrosomia limited interpretation of findings. Study heterogeneity may have affected reliability of results, although the metaregression did not identify characteristics responsible for this heterogeneity. Studies published before 2009 IOM guidelines were included, and gestational weight gain targets before and after these guidelines may have differed. Preterm birth was not adjusted for gestational age, potentially resulting in less total gestational weight gain than would have been otherwise attained. Spontaneous and induced preterm birth were not clearly differentiated, and studies did not distinguish between emergency and elective or primary and repeated cesarean deliveries. These factors may limit interpretation and underscore the importance of improving outcome definition reporting. Event rates were not available for all studies, limiting interpretation of ARDs. Findings from this review are based on observational data and no causal links may be concluded. They may be applicable on a population level, but recommendations need to be individualized when applied clinically.
Quiz Ref IDIn this systematic review and meta-analysis of more than 1 million pregnant women, 47% had gestational weight gain greater than IOM recommendations and 23% had gestational weight gain less than IOM recommendations. Gestational weight gain greater than or less than guideline recommendations, compared with gestational weight gain within recommended levels, was associated with higher risk of adverse maternal and infant outcomes.
Corresponding Author: Helena J. Teede, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, Monash University, 43-51 Kanooka Dr, Clayton, Melbourne, Victoria 3168, Australia ([email protected]).
Accepted for Publication: May 10, 2017.
Author Contributions: Dr Goldstein and Mr Ranasinha had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Concept and design: Goldstein, Abell, Ranasinha, Misso, Teede.
Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Goldstein, Abell, Ranasinha, Boyle, Black, Li, Hu, Corrado, Rode, Y. J. Kim, Haugen, Song, M. H. Kim, Bogaerts, Devlieger, Chung, Teede.
Drafting of the manuscript: Goldstein, Teede.
Administrative, technical, or material support: Goldstein, Ranasinha, Teede.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Dr Boyle reported serving on the Women’s Health Global Advisory Board for Pfizer. No other disclosures were reported.
Funding/Support: Dr Goldstein is supported by a Research Training Program scholarship from the Department of Education and Training. Dr Abell is supported by a scholarship from the National Health and Medical Research Council. Drs Boyle and Teede are supported by fellowships from the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Additional Contributions: Tiffany Moore Simas, MD (University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester), Sohyun Park, PhD (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Atlanta, Georgia), and Michelle Kominiarek, MD (University of Illinois at Chicago), assisted in providing additional data. | 2019-04-18T16:27:12Z | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2630599 |
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Bob Sheldon helped us find our dream vacation home on the cape through what I can only describe as patience and perseverance. Bob was sensitive to our price range, showed us a full range of properties in the area we were interested in but most importantly counseled patience in sticking with the place we eventually bought. Since we bought a forclosed house, more went wrong than right in the process with the seller, but Bob stuck with us in making the deal happen. Because of his counsel and patience we got the house we were after.
"Just a short note to let you know how pleased we were with how the purchase of our new home in Eastham went this past fall.
We found you to be easy going, organized, knowledgeable and personable. You anwered all our questions, from building code and home inspection requirements to obtaining financing and legal. All your professional referrals were first rate and helped the closing process proceed quickly and smoothly. You obviously enjoy your work and it shows in your people and communication skills. Thanks again for all your help and we look forward to seeing you as neighbors next summer! "
Thanks for all your work on our property and my mother's. She is doing very well since we moved her here.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. Even in times like this the Lord is in Control (as evidenced by the selling of our land) and we must keep looking up as His return is close. May He bless you richly.
You did a fabulous job for us. I can't tell you how many times we told each other we "lucked out" and got the perfect agent for our situation. It was a long and sometimes grueling process trying to find the perfect house being four hours from the Cape. When a property came up we were interested in you made the trip out worthwhile by scheduling a number of houses to look at.
The itinerary you planned was always very detailed and allowed us to make the most of our short visits. Although it took a long time to find the perfect home, you never lost patience and we never felt pressure from you to rush our decision. When that perfect house did finally come, your aid in the whole process from the starting negotiations through to the closing was invaluable.
Thanks again Bob. We love the house and hopefully will run into you when we are in town.
Long overdue thanks for helping us make our quest for a Cape home a reality.Even though we were in the starter house market, you gave us the attention due a big purchase buyer. You kept in touch, flagged properties you thoughtmight be of interest, showed us many houses, and allowed full access to your listings. It was helpful to have access to listing addresses so we could efficiently decide which properties were worth a visit. We greatly appreciated your attentiveness, patience, good humor and generous sharing of resources and knowledge.
Responding to a last minute request about a listing (we were heading home to NY after a holiday weekend), you offered to meet us in twenty minutes at the house we ultimately purchased. It still amazes me that you immediately responded and gained access and (knowing it was a longshot), arrived in twenty minutes with your usual cheerfulness and enthusiam. Twenty minutes! Who else offers that kind of service in any field? Not many I have encountered.
When we proceeded through the contract, you kept us informed of important things due to keep the process rolling and provided resource lists for everything from cable tv service to repairs. You are a very good guide through the sometimes baffling road of real estate. We are delighted with our little house and greatful you were our guide. Many thanks.
We want to thank you for all you did to help us find our perfect Cape Cod home. We began the process almost a year ago, and the amount of properties available made this an almost overwhelming experience. Your patience and understanding enabled us to find exactly what we needed, and your assistance through the closing process and beyond made us comfortable every step along the way.
We look forward to many years of joy with family and friends at this wonderful home.
E. and I would be remiss if we did not take the time to thank you for your outstanding help to us in purchasing our "dream home" in Eastham. Unlike other realtors, you really took the time to understand exactly what we were looking for, and with that knowledge, researched the market to find houses that fit our criteria. In doing so, you saved us lots of time and allowed us to focus our attention on only those properties that truly matched our wants and needs.
Once we found the right home -- which you had identified for us -- you worked with us every step of the way through the negotiations, inspections and closing. Your assistance was invaluable in getting through the entire purchase process very smoothly and successfully. And unlike other realtors we have worked with, you have continued to help us even after the closing with countless tips and practical advise to help us settle into our new community. We can't thank you enough for all your help.
In short, you have been enormously helpful to us and we would very strongly recommend your excellent services to others who are interested in purchasing property on the Lower Cape. When you work with the best . . . everything becomes much easier!
Thanks again for all of your excellent help, advice and counsel. It has been a real pleasure working with you.
Bob, N. and I would like to thank you for your perseverance in our five month quest to obtain this property. I know that the profit for you had to be at a minimum and your efforts to put this deal together were above and beyond. Again, thank you and hope we can stay in touch as neighbors.
R. and I would like to thank you for your hard work and your commitment to us as our realtor for our new Orleans home. Your service was spot on and you exhibited an amazing amount of patience and knowledge of exactly what to do to make our dream of owning a Cape Cod come true. You provided us with so much detailed information and helped us find the right people in adapting our home to suit our needs.
Thank you for all the help you gave us. If you ever need a reference, please let us know and we would be only too happy to send one along.
Bob, Just a brief note of thanks for the professionalism you bring to the Realty Business and to us personally. The plaudits and credits that come to our mind are: Integrity, honesty, immediacy, trust, friendliness, and representation to name a few. Your instant follow up, 24X7 availability, flawless representation of the seller are commendable and we thank you for being our representative listing agent.
As we end 2007, G. and I would like to thank you for all your assistance in purchasing our home. We love it! As you know, we were a client of yours for about 5 years before we became fortunate enough to purchase this home. We will never forget your excitement and ours the day we toured an "aggressive" amount of homes, narrowed things down, went the next day and made our offer. Things went very smooth through the whole process, including the 20 minute closing!
So thanks again for your professional & helpful advice. We are so happy & blessed to have this home to enjoy Eastham, as we have for 17 years - but now to share with our family & friends.
Mrs. W. and I would like to express our appreciation for your efforts on the sale of our Lieutenant Island cottage. Especially your pursuing all the required inspections and remediation needed when necessary. Also, for protecting our interests to be sure everything came together by the time of closing.
Again, many thanks! We would recommend you as broker agent anytime.
S. and I want to thank you for all of your help in buying the property at 65 Alston Ave. Your knowledge of the real estate market on the outer Cape was a valuable asset as we tried to figure exactly what we were trying to accomplish. I think I was more frustrated than you when we came close on our first offer but could not come to terms with the seller. The next week end you just set us up to look at more houses on our list, even though you were in the midst of your daughters wedding and all the responsibilities that go with that magic event. Once we found our property, you stayed on top of the schedule of events and made referrals to excellent resources that we needed to satisfy the contingencies. With any luck at all, we will be part-time neighbors by next Summer.
This summer marks our 25th anniversary as a married couple, and the year we were finally able to become homeowners in Eastham, after renting for as many years! We want to thank you, Bob, for helping it all to become possible. More particularly, we are grateful for your friendly professionalism and sincere efforts on our behalf every step of the way, for your accessibility, and for your follow through every time we phoned from PA with a concern. From our initial acquaintance last summer, through and including the closing on our new home, this purchase process has been a pleasurable experience. Once we complete our renovations, we would very much like you to visit and share a toast!
We greatly appreciated your advice during the purchase negotiations, particularly your ability to create a "win-win" agreement for both us and the sellers. The suggestions you gave us for mortgages and lawyers were excellent. The inspector you recommended was very thorough, and you were kind enough to meet with him in our absence. You followed up well in subsequent negotiations for repairs.
We’ve bought and sold a number of homes before this, but no sale or purchase has ever gone as seamlessly as this one, (once we made up our minds!) We’re really eager to get back to the Cape this April, and we hope to have a chance to say "hello" to you again and to thank you in person for doing such a fine job for us.
The house is wonderful. Amelia has named it "Sweet heart home"! It is perfect for our family. Thank you for your time, advice & endless showings. Thank you for everything.
L. the boy's and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you again for helping us find our "dream house " in Eastham. After guiding us to our first home in Eastham a couple of years ago, we had a brief discussion about "trading up" some time in the remote future. Amazingly, through your open lines of communication and intimate knowledge of the market, we were able to make it happen in only two years! Not only were you able to find us a beautiful home in an incredible location (with great neighbors..haha), but, during a flat real estate market, you employed innovative techniques to sell our previous home within a couple of percentage points of the asking price.
Thanks again Bob. Hope to see you soon.
Bob – It has been a year since we closed on our “CapeEscape” and we continue to be so thankful you are our Realtor. From the moment we met, you quickly sized us up, and help guide us in a direction that made the most sense for us and our family.
When you located our dream vacation home you helped us see what an incredible location it was for our family, and then helped us through the process to closing. Your knowledge, dedication, and passion for customer service is second to none. We have a great house with a fantastic location – all thanks to you.
We’ve also been amazed at your service after the sale. You never disappeared, continuing to provide your warm, personalized service after the sale, and have been a great help in providing quality referrals to local craftsmen.
We can’t say thank you enough – we will recommend you to everyone we meet. If you’re considering buying or selling on the Cape, make one phone call to 508-237-9545. Bob is the Realtor you want on your side. He makes dreams come true.
We saved this day, Thanksgiving Day, 2006, to thank you for your faith in us and recognizing our passion for our house on [S.] Road. G. saw the house on Craig's List and was immediately captivated. She e-mailed you and within minutes, early on a Sunday morning, you called her. That moment has changed our lives in the most remarkable way. That was in September. On October 11th we closed and today we can enjoy our first Thanksgiving dinner, like our ancestors have, 1/2 mile from 1st Encounter Beach. It could not have been possible if it were not for your enthusiasm, your faith in us, and your ability to recognize our particular vision for home that was suited for us. Besides this, you have been a contact for critical services, a friend, and a mentor to us, newbies as homeowners on the Cape. Bob, we thank you and hope to see around the town.
K. and I are simply and positively thrilled with our new home and we wanted to write to tell you how important you were in making the process smooth and easy, and how lucky we feel to have had you as our realtor. From the first, it seemed to us that you were on our side, that you sincerely wanted to help find the perfect house for us. And you seemed to "get" exactly what that was--though our "want" list was long and varied and our resources more modest than our dream. You were always available for house-hunting; you were always on time for our appointments; and you were extraordinarily patient with our "we'll know it when we see it" approach. You know your town and your neighbors--you were both candid and informative when we asked for recommendations for local service people. You went out of your way for us at every turn and you never let us down.
Thank you again for the large part you played in our finding our perfect, private, little house on a pond--just exactly what we asked for. K. and I both feel that you are our first friend in our new home here in Eastham--hope you won't mind when we show up at your house for Thanksgiving dinner this year.
Thank you for all your help in making our dream of living in Eastham (while only part time) a reality. Your knowledge and professional manner made buying "long distance" easier than buying our first home local!! Thanks again and we hope you'll stop by in the spring!
We wanted to let you know how much we valued the time and attention you provided us regarding the recent sale and purchase of our homes on the Cape. You were virtually available 24/7 and kept on top of everything. You provided us with good consul as we pondered both our decision to sell and buy. Above all, your knowledge of the changing market conditions was right on the mark. You represented our interest well, and it was a pleasure working with you.
"Bob Sheldon was the best realtor we have ever had. We have purchased 4 homes and our experience with Bob was the best. He is knowledgeable about all ... more "
"Bob is an exceptional RE Agent who exceeded my wife and my expectations as Sellers of an Eastham summer rental cottage. He went far beyond the role ... more "
During our season of house hunting, Bob Sheldon proved to be an outstanding real estate professional. He was consistently well prepared for appointments, with a wealth of information presented in a positive way. There was never any high pressure, and he always was helpful when dealing with our questions and concerns. Bob provided us with good connections with other professionals in the process, and made the search an enjoyable, educational one.
We highly recommend his outstanding services. And we love our new Eastham home!
It was fun seeing the picture of our house in your "Sold" gallery. We are still pinching ourselves about how we are now owners of a house in Cape Cod! Thank you for everything you did to help us make it happen!
We want to thank you for all you have done over many years to help us find our dream house! Your patience, honesty, sense of humor and diligence exceeded our expectations! We were very fortunate to have you on our side throughout the whole process. We think you are "The Man" !! Without question we will encourage others to seek your guidance when buying on the Cape.
We would like to thank you for your assistance in helping us find our dream cottage by the bay in Eastham. Your commitment to our search was top notch, as was your advice and professionalism.
We hope to run into you in Eastham, during one of our stays in our new second home.
We want to express our gratitude to you for helping us to find a Cape Cod home that is exceeding our wildest dreams. You not only showed us many existing homes, you helped negotiate our land purchase, introduced us to our builder, and helped secure our loan. Your knowledge in many areas is extensive and impressive, and you have great patience and perseverance. We would recommend you to anyone looking for Cape Cod real estate of any kind.
You are a gem, and anyone would be blessed to have you as their realtor, their friend and/or neighbor.
Thank You for your patience and good humor through it all, as I thank God you are my real estate professional. I can not recommend you highly enough, but will do so when asked.
Hope all is well. I'm finally back in the office after a whole week in Eastham - it was sooo tough to leave on Sunday.
We've been having a blast with the house, we love every minute that we are there. We still laugh because it was the first house we looked at (in person) and it is definitely the perfect house for us - our dream house. And to make a long story short, if it wasn't for you, we don't think we would've looked at or found the house so we owe you a big thank you.
Thanks again and hope to see you soon. | 2019-04-24T23:53:18Z | https://www.robertsheldon.com/My_Testimonials/page_1365894.html |
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In Genesis four we saw the effects of sin on the nature of humanity vividly illustrated in fratricide of Cain on Abel, the offspring of Cain and the sinful boasting of Lamech. At the end of Genesis four we saw the start of the first revival in the Bible which gave us a glimmer of hope. Now in Genesis five we will see the summary of Adam’s offspring. What we will see is that Adam’s offspring are in his image more than they are in the image of God.
Genesis 5:1-3 - This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. 3 And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
One of the structural characteristics in the book of Genesis is that the end of one section is preceded by the words, “This is the book of . . .” Here we have the end of the section on Adam and it is introduced by the words, “This is the book of the genealogy of Adam.” This therefore marks the end of the account of Adam and in Genesis six we will begin the story of Noah.
Sin is like a cancer that spreads throughout the body if left unattended. Sin is like a contagion that has infected the human race. The sinful nature is the inclination (lust) to feed natural appetites to excess. The sinful nature is an attitude that centers on self, worships self instead of God (e.g. preoccupation with self; self serving; self promoting; self reliant; etc.). All humanity since Adam has been born with this sinful nature, except Jesus (who was born of a virgin).
The New Testament solution to this sinful nature is Jesus Christ (Romans 7:24-25) as revealed by the Holy Spirit (see Romans 8). It is Jesus who provides the cleansing needed by our sinful hearts and that cleansing comes as He applies His word to us (Ephesians 5:25-27). Jesus can wash away the sin in our hearts with the force of a powerful tsunami (John 7:37-39).
· Galatians 5:16-26 - 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
The Holy Spirit indwells a person when they turn from their sins to God and seek forgiveness for their sins through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:9-11).
The availability of the Holy Spirit to ALL people is a New Testament blessing dependent upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (John 7:39; 16:7; Acts 2:33; Galatians 3:1-6). But the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, is present and working in the Old Testament.
Based on these examples we see that in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit is involved with believers for specific tasks on particular occasions, e.g. To build the Tabernacle; To prophecy; To lead; To battle; To proclaim God’s word.
The Bible indicates that those looking forward from the Old Testament to God’s promises were in part looking for a Messiah and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on ALL believers (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:33,39; Hebrews 11:39-40, 12:18-29). Old Testament believers recognized the indispensability of the Holy Spirit’s anointing in their lives (Psalm 51:10-11). The Old Testament foretells a time when the Holy Spirit would be poured out on ALL believers and this was fulfilled at Pentecost (John 7:39; Acts 2).
Genesis 5:4-5 - 4 After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters. 5 So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.
There may have been many children produced by Adam and Eve. From these children Cain could have found his wife and other marriage relationships could have come into being.
The climate of this pre-flood world (i.e. atmosphere that would shield out destructive rays from the sun) was conducive to long life and this is why Adam could live 930 years. When people read these verses and the verses that follow they likely are impressed with the longevity of the people in the genealogy. But there is something that is repeatedly emphasized in these verses and it is emphasized by the repetition of the phrase, “and he died” (Genesis 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31). Each time this phrase occurs it is as though God is telling us “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Thank the Lord that in the New Testament we can find eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23b).
An interesting fact to take note of here is that since Adam lived 930 years, he would have been able to pass on first hand the history of humankind from day one to his descendants up to Lamech. If we look at the genealogical list we can determine that Adam was born in year 1; Seth in year 130; Enosh in year 235; Cainan in year 325; Mahalalel in year 395; Jared in year 460; Enoch in year 622; Methuselah in year 687; Lamech in the year 874; and Noah in the year 1056. Since Lamech was born in the year 874 and Adam lived until he was 930 years old, Adam likely shared the history of humankind from the beginning with Lamech. And Noah would have been schooled in human history from his father who had likely been taught by Seth, son of Adam. All of this speaks to the accuracy of the history of humanity as it was passed down in oral tradition.
Genesis 5:21-24 - 21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
Before we go to the genealogy as a whole we need to focus on one of its characters who experienced an incredible thing. Enoch it says, “walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” Enoch was miraculously taken by the Lord. He hasn’t yet died! Since all human beings must die some have taken this and speculated that Enoch (along with possibly Elijah who also was taken up to heaven by the Lord before he died – 2 Kings 2:11) is one of the two witnesses of God in the book of Revelation (Revelation 11). That is a possibility but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What does “walked with God” mean?
In Genesis six it describes Noah as someone who “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (6:8) and as “a just man, perfect in his generations,” and then it continues, “Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). So grace, justness and perfection (i.e. spiritual maturity and fruitfulness) are associated with walking with God.
In the Bible walking with God is also connected and described as walking in agreement with God (Amos 3:3). This implies a relationship characterized by communication and agreement, cooperation. From this and the above we see the walking is another way of referring to the way of life we live or the direction in life that we go.
In the New Testament we are instructed to not walk in the way the world walks seeking only to fulfill the lusts of their flesh (Ephesians 4:17; Philippians 3:17-21). Rather we are to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) and to walk in the light of God’s revelation or word (Ephesians 5:5; 1 John 1:7a). When we do this it leads us into pure fellowship with God (1 John 1:7b). Ultimately we are called to follow in the steps of Jesus (1 Peter 2:21) and to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6). Jesus is the pattern of walk or way of life to be followed. This is not something we do in our own strength (i.e. our flesh). The only way we can walk as Jesus walked is to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). And to walk in the Spirit is the means to overcome the sinful nature or flesh (Galatians 5:16).
· Hebrews 11:5-6 - 5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Enoch walked with God and walking with God is described in Hebrews 11:5 as “he pleased God.” Enoch’s walk with God pleased God because it was a walk of faith in God. Then in Hebrews it explains to please God you have to have faith, not just any old faith or faith in “faith” like the world seems to propose, but faith in God, “that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” That’s what it means to “walk with God” and that is the example that Enoch gives to us. And most importantly, that is the solution to the sinful nature, to walk with God.
To walk with God is another way of saying you abide in Him. To abide with Him is to have a relationship with Him. Jesus spoke about abiding in Him. To abide means to cling to, to depend on, to live for, to see Jesus as our life and indispensable reason to live and our necessary source of eternal life (John 15). To abide in Jesus is to walk with Him. To walk with Jesus pleases God. Why does it please God when we walk with Jesus? Because when we walk with Jesus, when we come close to Him, when we abide in Him, we follow in His holy steps. The closer you are to Jesus, the more clearly you can identify sin and the more power you will have over sin. To walk with Jesus steers you away from sin and toward the holiness of God. That pleases God.
Genesis 5:6-32 - 6 Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. 7 After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. 8 So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. 9 Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. 10 After he begot Cainan, Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and had sons and daughters. 11 So all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died. 12 Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. 13 After he begot Mahalalel, Cainan lived eight hundred and forty years, and had sons and daughters. 14 So all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.15 Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. 16 After he begot Jared, Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters. 17 So all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died.18 Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. 19 After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 20 So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died.21 Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. 22 After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walked with God three hundred years, and had sons and daughters. 23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.25 Methuselah lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. 26 After he begot Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and had sons and daughters. 27 So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died.28 Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years, and had a son. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord has cursed.” 30 After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and had sons and daughters. 31 So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died.32 And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The Bible is not simply a compilation of 66 books written by 40 authors over about 1500 years. The Bible is a supernatural work of God. Jewish rabbis say that they will not understand the scripture until the Messiah comes. They say that when He comes, He will not only interpret individual passages for them, but He will interpret individual words, the letters of the words and even the spaces between the letters of words (cf. Matthew 5:17-18). The Messiah has come and His name is Jesus. And Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to illuminate and open up the word of God, the Bible (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14).
· Enosh = “mortal; frail; miserable” (Hebrew root word ANASH means to be incurable e.g. to have an incurable wound, incurable grief, incurable sickness, incurable wickedness).
· Enoch = “dedication; teaching” – Enoch is described as a prophet (Jude 14-15). Arab legend attributes the origin of written language to him (see Haley’s Bible Handbook page 71). He may be one of the prophets who returns in Revelation (Revelation 11).
· Methuselah = MUTH – “death” + SHALAK – “to bring” therefore “his death shall bring.” The year Methuselah died was the year of the Flood. Therefore it is speculated that the prophetic message declared by Enoch may have been in part that when his son Methuselah died the period of God’s grace giving opportunity to repent, would end.
· Lamech = “despairing” (This word is closely connected to the English word for “lamentation”).
When we take the meanings of these genealogical names and put them together we get Man [is] appointed mortal sorrow [but] the Blessed God shall come down teaching [that] His death shall bring [the] despairing rest. That’s an amazing message because it is a gospel message clear to see.
In Hebrews 10:7 it quotes Psalm 40:6-8 as saying in part, “In the volume of the book it is written of Me – to do Your will. O God.” The most important question of any study of God’s word is to ask yourself prayerfully, “What does this tell me about Jesus?” Then you must prayerfully ask, “Lord how would You apply this to my life for Your glory?” Do that and you will begin a life of blessing and spiritual growth. And it all started in Genesis.
Personal Update – Chuck Missler – issue June 1993, page 13. | 2019-04-26T04:45:45Z | http://calvarychapelofhope.org/index.php/pages/verse-by-verse/genesis?id=30 |
Daylight Savings Time came during the night, but we made no adjustment to our schedule to account for it. On one hand we could have fret that we lost an hour of sleep during the night and mutteringly wondered why it was so dark out in the morning. But instead we just got up at 5a instead of 4a so that it would appear nearly the same as it had the two previous days. Our plan as we drove out of South Lake Tahoe was to bag Thunder Mtn (Amador County highpoint) and Thimble Peak (a class 4 summit block), a relatively mild outing. I had tried to talk Matthew into a more ambitious outing (and if you noted the title of this trip report you'll see I eventually succeeded) the night before, but we couldn't come to a satisfactory arrangement whereby we'd hike the entire ridge in opposite directions. The main sticking point seemed to be the summit block of Thimble - Matthew was very interested in climbing it, but was afraid if he was solo he would back down from it - a valid point. So how could we both hike the same direction and still do the whole ridge? I had a plan, but figured I'd wait to see how the day progressed before suggesting it.
We arrived at Kirkwood around 6:15a, and some 15 minutes or so later we were off and climbing - along a groomed ski run. This was the same route I'd used three weeks earlier to reach Martin Point (which I had mistaken for Thunder Mtn). After five or ten minutes it occurred to Matthew that he'd forgotten his gloves, so we paused. Not wanting to go back to retrieve them, he asked me how long the day would take. About four hours, I surmised (It took us four and half just to reach Thimble Peak, so even if we'd kept to the original plan my estimate was well more than an hour off). Wisely, Matthew went back to retrieve them. The sun rose soon after his return, and we headed up through the trees on the right side of the ski area. It wasn't long before we switched to crampons for the steeper portions of the slope. The snow was well-consolidated, somewhat soft among the trees, harder higher up where it was more exposed. Again we had snowshoes with us, but this time we would manage without them the entire day. The slope heading up to Martin Point was steep enough that I somewhat wished I had an axe with me for additional safety - A slip would have sent either of us down several hundred feet into the trees with a questionable chance of arresting ourselves before impending injury. Fortunately, no falls.
Even with the reset to retrieve the gloves, it took us only about an hour to reach Martin Point, almost 1500ft above the parking lot. We signed into the register and almost immediately I left to go over and check out the interesting NW summit a short distance away on the pretense that it might be higher, though it seemed unlikely. It was a short class 3 scramble from the side facing us, and once on top it was clear that all the other sides were considerably harder. It looked to be about the same height from atop, and that was enough to goad Matthew into climbing it as well after I'd come back down. Our next goal was Thunder Mtn, about a mile and a half distance, so we set off in that direction. We bypassed a rocky outcropping on the southwest side over some firm snow before landing on the sunny ridgetop and finding a very nice trail for the next half mile or so. Warning signs let us know we were at the ski area boundary, apparently they want to make sure to indemnify themselves to skiers who may chose to ski in unpatrolled parts (the bowl immediately west of the ridge in this case). We passed an interesting feature known as The Glove on the west side - it appeared to have no easy scramble route on any side. The bypass was not without some class 3 rock scrambling itself, which was far better than a steep snow traverse that we thought we might have to make when viewed from a distance.
Thunder Mtn has two summits separated by about a quarter mile. The nearer northeast one is shown on the USGS maps as being 2 feet higher than the named southwest summit, but it is impossible without a level to tell which is higher. To be sure, we first climbed the northeast one (it has an abrupt drop on its southwest side along the ridgeline), then backed off and headed over to the southwest one. This took some time as we walked around a number of obstacles, clambering over rocky features in an effort to avoid the steeper snowy slopes just below on the southeast side. It was 9:15a when we reached the named summit where we found a large tackle box that served to hold the several summit registers - this is a popular peak. We could see south to Mokelumne Peak (where we'd been two days earlier), northwest to Desolation Wilderness, north to the Carson Range (where we were the previous day), northeast to Round Top and the Mokelumne Wilderness. It was a fine county highpoint, much better than some of the ones we'd visited earlier in the year. We made a small diversion to visit a nearby memorial to Paul M. Ruff, a skier who died in the area attempting to make a record 200ft jump in 1993. It was even more sobering to read his story on the Internet later while writing this report. A pair of old leather boots (presumeably his?) lay at the foot of the cross.
After getting our requisite pictures, we headed back to the main ridge. Ahead of Matthew a short ways, I stopped for a class 3-4 diversion on an interesting rock formation. I went up what I would call a class 4 chimney on the right side, leaving my pack on the rocks below. After reaching the top I traversed across and found an easier class 3 route back down on the left, retrieved my pack, then rejoined Matthew who had patiently waited for me to finish the exercise. Heading east along the main ridge, we came upon the top of Chair 6 (Cornice) and the groomed cat tracks that graced the top. It made for easier travel, even if we had to share it with others, some of whom looked at us a bit oddly. Further east along the ridge, just past the chairlift we were greeted by a Skull & Crossbones Experts Only! sign. It was pretty much a class 1 walk the way we were taking it though. Most of the slopes heading down past the sign looked to be of the advanced category, but a few narrow, steep chutes would definitely qualify as expert. We continued along the ridge, favoring the easier slopes on the south side, much of which we found free of snow. We passed below the top of Chair 10 (Wagon Wheel) on the south side, and then climbed up to the top of the ridge again a short distance before Thimble Peak.
Thimble Peak looked fairly innocuous from the west side that we approached from, but once atop the visible false summit, one could glare across a gaping chasm at the higher true summit. A thin, rocky ridge joins it to the main ridge, and it was obvious that this was the advertised class 4 route up the summit block. Before Matthew had time to get a view of it, I had crossed the twenty feet to the start and scrambled up. The rock was very solid with really good holds, but the exposure was a bit draining. Better not to think about it too much I figured. When Matthew popped his head into view I had been at the summit five or ten minutes, and greeted him with a friendly wave. Matthew looked at the intervening space but didn't wave back. "How was it?" he asked. "Not bad, really," was my attempt at an optimistic reply. With a bit of coaching and a great deal of self-determination, Matthew followed the short 15-foot section to the top. Success! At the summit we found a glass jar encased in a rusty tin can with something resembling epoxy, inside a small Sierra Club Register not two-thirds full dating back to 1964 - a real find. Ours was the first entry in over two years. Pete Yamagata's name was the only one I recognized in the register. Not being an SPS peak, it is ignored by the likes of Doug Mantle and RJ Secor, though we both agreed it was a true hidden gem of the Sierra.
It was 11a now, having taken 4 1/2 hours to reach the peak (more than we thought the round trip would take). We discussed where to go next. I was up for continuing along the ridge. Matthew had pointed out the night before that we could continue along the ridge to Melissa Coray Peak, then drop down to Emigrant Valley to the north and back over a low saddle in the vicinity of Chairs 2 & 3. I thought that would involve a good deal of elevation gain, but from his TOPO! software last night and now the view before us, it didn't look so bad. So with little fanfare, we decided to continue along the ridge (the trap was nearly set...). First we had to get back off the summit block, and reversing the moves took a tad more nerve than it did climbing up, but with only one awkward move not found in Freedom of the Hills, we managed to extract ourselves from that loftly perch.
Back on the snow, we headed down the North Face of Thimble Peak, a fairly steep slope with excellent runout for a thousand feet. The snow was softer here and there was almost no way we could have an uncontrolled slide, but Matthew remained cautious until I took a swift glissade down for several hundred feet. A group of skiers below watched the spectacle, probably wondering where we'd managed to lose our skis. We landed on a cat track and traverse over to the top of Chair 4 (Sunrise), continuing east along the ridge. The next peak was Covered Wagon Peak, though really it was just a long ridge with a highpoint somewhere in the middle. Here we started playing the game of staying on the ridge as faithfully as possible, primarily to enjoy some class 3 rock and snow we found there. It made for a really fine quarter mile traverse, some of the more enjoyable scrambling we found all day. The peak can easily be bypassed on the south side, but I was glad we found the more challenging scramble. At the far east end of the peak we had some more tricky downclimbing, but this was done with fine style and grace (unlike our descent of Thimble Peak).
Next up was a short walk to the higher, but far tamer Melissa Coray Peak. At the saddle between it and Covered Wagon, we came across a sign indicating the crossing of a California historical trail. Apparently this spot, at 9,400ft, was the highest point in the Sierra to which a covered wagon was taken. Quite impressive, but in looking at the surrounding terrain, neither of us could figure out why anyone would have taken a wagon up here. Not on the Sierra Crest, and a thousand feet higher than Carson Pass, it seemed only someone who was lost could have managed such a feat. This saddle also marked the boundary between the ski area and the Mokelume Wilderness. We continued up the West Slopes of Melissa Coray, one of the most rounded peaks one can find in the Sierra - there was really nothing resembling a ridge leading to the summit on any side (later we noticed there are some steep slopes that get skied found on the north side). The top is broad and just discernably rounded, at the very center a memorial marker to Melissa Coray, an early pioneer who crossed with some of the first wagons over Carson Pass. As a mormon her writings have been carefully preserved and her memory immortalized by the Church with this fine plaque and the naming of the peak on which it was placed. To the side a short distance was a radio tower (the Wilderness boundary follows the ridge from the saddle up to the peak to allow the tower it would seem). Not satisfied with the nearly flat summit of Melissa Coray Peak, I climbed the 30 feet or so to the top of the tower, some of the more exposed climbing I would do all day - definitely satisfying. Matthew was content to let me do this one without him, even though I chided that the top of the tower was well above the summit marker. The memory in my digital camera was nearing its capacity, and with no clear indication how many pictures I might have remaining, I began to defer to Matthew to get the views and other shots.
It was now 12:45p, and we figured we had about plenty of daylight left - about 7 hours or so. Round Top had seemed quite distance when we started the day, but it was looming nearer and higher the further east we travelled along the ridge. Thinking the time was ripe, I suggested to Matthew that instead of heading back through Emigrant Valley, it would be shorter to continue heading along the ridge to Carson Pass. Once at the pass, we ought to be able to thumb a ride from passing motorists back to Kirkwood. Matthew was of the same mind it turned out, and it seems I had spent far too much energy plotting the traverse than was necessary. So with almost no further discussion, we continued on.
The next point on the ridge is Peak 9795ft just northwest of Melissa Coray. It is higher than both Covered Wagon and Melissa Coray, yet goes unnamed. In reading up about the naming of Melissa Coray Peak, there was mention of BGN stipulations that the peak cannot be in a Wilderness area (which Peak 9795ft falls in completely). It was a short walk and we marvelled at the many skiable chutes in the small, north-facing cirque formed by it and Melissa Coray. There were a number of tracks around where we walked and several of the chutes had been recently skied. It seems the whole ridge between Kirkwood and Round Top is a regular haunt of the backcountry ski crowd. We followed the ridge down the northeast side of the peak to a saddle and up to another small bump just west of Fourth of July Peak. Voices on the north side got my attention and upon looking over that way we saw 4 skiers skinning their way up to the ridge. Though the whole ridge was busy with tracks, these were the only skiers we saw out today between the ski area and Carson Pass.
Fourth of July Peak was named feature number six for the day, and we arrived on the rounded summit just past 1:30p. The peak itself is nothing to write home about, pretty much class 1 or 2 from any angle. But it does provide a great view of the monarch on the ridge - Round Top, and an equally impressive view of The Sisters, our next stop. The weather was a bit more threatening now as the cloud layer began to lower and the higher peaks were obscured by passing clouds from time to time. It seemed prudent to get up and down Round Top before any threatened thunderstorms were to develop. The next section seemed like it would be harder than it turned out to be. After zipping down to the saddle where it crosses the trail, we had a long climb of 600ft back up to the rocky ridge. The 600 feet were a talus slog, but after that it became more fun. We still had another 400ft or so to the top of The Sisters, but now we had some class 3 that provided some entertainment, even as we were climbing into the clouds. Staying faithfully on the ridge the entire way to the top of The Sisters was great fun, some knife-edge, some exposure, and generally much better rock than the loose class 2 stuff found just off the ridge on the south side (the north side was a near vertical cliff for much of this). I arrived at the lower peak of The Sisters thinking I had was at the higher one (the lower had two closely spaced summits that fooled me) - it took me a moment to realize I wasn't looking at Round Top to the east so I must not be atop The Sisters. We reached the higher summit just after 3p. We could see the West Face of Round Top, but the clouds were swirling all about. A temporary hole of blue sky gave Matthew the delusion that it might be clearing (it wasn't).
Heading off to Round Top, we took differing routes up the West Face. We tried to stay on solid rock where we could, but there is just too much loose rock on the west and south sides to avoid all of it. Just short of the higher east summit, I came upon one of the notches leading down to the Crescent Moon Couloir. I walked out onto the North Face a short distance so I could get my bearings and check out the eastern arm of the couloir. The snow looked pretty decent in it, and I was wishing I'd brought an axe. It was just before 4p when I reached the top, and maybe ten minutes later I heard Matthew's voice as he made his way to join me. We perused the summit register and I noted Doug Mantle's entry from Nov 2, 2002 where he commented that he had climbed Freel in the morning. Matthew remarked that he had met Doug on the summit of Round Top that very day as Doug was working on his quest to climb as many SPS peaks in a single year as possible (100+ we believe he finished with). Matthew was now on a similar quest, but he has a long way to go to reach 100 - I think Round Top made something like #14 for the year. I'd told my wife to expect me home around 8p that night, but with our extra-curricular activity we were going to be many hours later than that. I tried to use the cellphone to call her from Round Top's summit, got good signal indicators, but the call would not go through - try again later. Clouds all about us, we took a hard look at the East Ridge, our preferred descent route. It had two attractions - neither of us had used that route before, and it would make the more elegant route to continue our traverse of the ridgeline. But as the day was growing later now, it looked like it might take us several hours to cover the long East Ridge. Neither of us wanted to go back the West Ridge, a decidedly unappetizing route to us now. I hit upon the idea of the Crescent Moon Couloir. I'd been up the western arm but not the eastern one, so it would be fun to explore this other aspect of it. Matthew had wanted to try the couloir as well so he took to the idea immediately.
Off we went back to the notch that I'd checked out earlier. We talked briefly about not having axes, but I countered that the snow conditions appeared quite favorable. I offered to go down first and kick steps to which Matthew happily agreed. My crampons weren't the best - this lightweight pair has smaller teeth, the front pair pointing down instead of forward as most standard crampons. They're really better off for lower angled snow slopes, but they would have to do. Matthew offered to switch with me but I declined, fearing mine would unnerve him even if he was following me. The upper 30 feet were the easiest - soft snow with an angle that actually inclined one into the rock on the side rather than down the steep face of the couloir. I kicked steps quite easily down this and waited for Matthew. I had a heavy pair of mittens I wore to keep my hands off the ice. Matthew had but a lightweight pair of gloves that would have been wet in short order. When I realized this, I told him to wait while I climbed back out of the couloir, then dug out a pair of overmittens I had in my pack. These would prove quite valuable as we were to be a long time coming down the couloir. I retraced my steps and Matthew followed easily enough. The next section looked down the barrel of the couloir and was quite steep and more than a bit discomforting. I told Matthew my plan was to head down about 15 feet then I'd start angling to my left at which time he could start down. This would keep me out of his fall line should he slip during the descent.
After the easy upper section, the next several hundred feet were far more difficult. At first I had lots of strength and energy to kick excellent steps half the length of my foot into the snow. But the snow grew harder as I descended and I soon tired from the tremendous effort. My toes were none too appreciative either, and I could feel them throbbing with each blow I subjected them too. When I started to angle off to the left I found this harder in practice than I had expected. While descending straight down I could use the foot holes for hand placements as well as I moved past them and kicked lower steps. But now as I tried to angle, my left arm had nothing to hold on to, I couldn't punch a hold with my hand, and I felt insecure. To compensate, I lifted my left foot up and kicked an extra hole to the side with each regular step I made. This gave my left hand some purchase but put double duty on my left leg which soon tired. I found I couldn't keep angling so I switched back to heading straight down after about 15 steps or so. Matthew kept a good distance above me, about 20 feet or so, steadily descending at the same rate I could kick steps ahead of him. Within a few minutes of course he was directly above me and we were both descending the same line. Being on the bottom of this arrangement made me uneasy, but it seemed I couldn't have him hold off to the side or just wait until I was safely down. Matthew had so far descended about 50 feet over the steeper slope without seeming too unnerved, so that helped me some with my own anxiety. The most difficult part took a half hour descend, but it felt like twice that. I was surprised that my legs held up as well as they did after we'd already been out for so many hours, climbing over 5,000 feet. As I neared the "Y" junction in the couloir, the snow grew a bit softer. It was enough to let me change technique from kicking steps into the slope to using my weight to step down heavily on the slope and create the next foothold without a kick. This made all the difference in the amount of effort it took, and I now made rapid progress down to the bottom of the couloir. My toes were very thankful as well. I watched and waited for the next fifteen minutes as Matthew continued the descent in fine style. Never complaining, never getting unnerved, it was the most difficult snow slope I'd seen him on and he performed flawlessly. While I was waiting for Matthew I tried the cellphone again and to my surprise was able to get through while perched on a snow platform I'd stamped at the base of the couloir. Unfortunately I only got to speak less than a minute before the call was interupted, and I'd only been able to communicate that we wouldn't be home until midnight without any explanation. Hmmm - that might have given her more reason to worry than if I hadn't called in the first place.
When Matthew reached my location I asked if he still wanted to hit peak #9 - Elephants Back. Like myself he was still interested, so I offered a modification to our plan. I'd go ahead (tagging Elephants Back of course) to Carson Pass and thumb a ride back to Kirkwood. Then I could bring the car back up to Carson Pass while he was finishing up the hike. That seemed pretty agreeable to Matthew (we were off the dangerous part of the mountain now), so I packed up and headed off. I went down in great leaps and bounds 800ft to Winnemucca Lake in less than 10 minutes - it was great fun, really. The less-than-fun part came next as I slogged my way up the southwest side of Elephants Back, the last 500ft of the day's climbing. I reached the non-obvious highpoint on the far north side of the ridge at 6p, the wind now blowing steadily. I moved a short ways down the east side to get out of the wind and try the cellphone again. This time I got a good connection and was able to convey the reason for our delay adequately. We talked for about two minutes, then I started down. The snow was much sloppier now and it would probably have helped some to switch to the snowshoes, but it became a test to see if I could go the whole day without them. I postholed a few times up to my thighs, but for the most part faired well in just my boots. Continuing along the ridge, I passed Frog Lake on its eastern shore, the PCT somewhere nearby still buried under the snow. I lost my drive to stay faithfully on the ridge when I saw a few more uphill bumps, so I bailed off to the east side when I was still a quarter mile from the pass. I found my way through the forest to the road, and walked the short uphill to the pass shortly after 6:30p - a fine 12hr outing. | 2019-04-20T20:40:22Z | https://www.snwburd.com/bob/trip_reports/martin_point_2.html?reports=martin_point_2.html |
On November 29, 2018, the Florida Association for Insurance Reform, FAIR, hosted its Sixth Annual Awards Gala and Benefit. Former Florida Governor Bush delivered the keynote presentation to two hundred guests gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of FAIR. FAIR recognized Jeff Reamer, Southern Safe Construction, with its Founders Award and Paul Huszar, VetCor Services, with its Community Champion Award.
The honored speaker, Jeb Bush, is the 43rd governor of the State of Florida, serving from 1999 through 2007. During his two terms, Governor Bush championed major reform of government, in areas ranging from education and health care to civil service and tax reform. On matters pertinent to the insurance industry, Bush supported caps for medical malpractice litigation and launched a landmark Medicaid reform initiative. Governor Bush is also known for his leadership during two unprecedented back-to-back hurricane seasons, which brought eight hurricanes and four tropical storms to the state of Florida in less than two years.
The annual event benefits and supports the educational mission of the FAIR Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to creating safer, more resilient communities through education mitigation, and reducing uninsured risk.
Joseph L. Petrelli: Thank you for agreeing to speak with us this afternoon.
Long-term insurance solutions are achieved when everybody’s involved in the process. How do you involve all stakeholders in a process of resolution?
Governor Jeb Bush: It’s harder to reach consensus when we don’t start with the premise that there’s a shared set of facts. The first step is to re-establish that mindset. You will never reach consensus, between the left and right, or in the case of insurance — consumer versus company — until you’ve established what the facts are.
That’s harder in the insurance world because insurance is pretty esoteric. The language used is different, the accounting principles are different. No one understands contingent liability, and we’re living in the here and now. But it’s essential. I think now is a good time to be focusing on insurance issues in Florida because we’ve had a few storms and people are back to thinking about these things, like the importance of how you harden your home, how you access insurance and why building codes matter.
It’s simple to understand when you go through damaged areas and you see previously beautiful homes effectively destroyed. In one neighborhood, the only house that survived was a Habitat for Humanity home built on a corner one year earlier, but after the building code was changed. It was a home for people at or near the poverty level, but it was sturdy and it survived.
So, when you go through these storms, people realize there are things we need to do. Now’s the time to start establishing what the facts are, and the facts are that in Florida, with the changing climate and in a paradise-type environment — there is a price to pay. We need to think longer term and, as esoteric as insurance is, it’s really vital when our long-term survival is at stake.
Our insurance needs to be robust, it needs to be deep, it needs to be market-driven and needs to provide incentives to the successful.
JP: What are some of the principles for furthering cooperation?
JB: First of all, it requires public leadership. I’m very optimistic about the future of our country, but I think the one thing that the states have that the federal government doesn’t have is the requirement to balance a budget. That forces everyone, whether they like it or not, to come together.
The best policies are the ones where you get bipartisan support. The best policies are ones where you try to find a Nixon-in-China moment, where a leader says I want to do something that breaks the mold, gets outside of the conventional wisdom, to forge consensus. It was a long time ago, but when I was governor, I tried to find ways to find someone who didn’t look like me or think like me but who agreed with me on a particular issue to be a partner on that issue. Restoring that would be really useful.
JP: Florida is the 19th largest economy in world, correct?
I would say, we need to build capacity for the next generation of Floridians, so they can take advantage of the jobs that don’t exist today but will be the important jobs of the future. Dealing with the downside of living in Florida — the uncertainties, such as the eight hurricanes and four tropical storms in 16 months (in 2004-2005) that are etched into my soul.
The climate is changing, irrespective of what your views are on climate change … Florida will be on the vanguard of that and we will have to adapt and make long-term infrastructure decisions to be able to protect our quality of life, including our water and our environment.
You don’t experience that in a leadership position and forget it. Too many policymakers and people in our state have forgotten. That’s the biggest deterrent. The climate is changing, irrespective of what your views are on climate change, and how much impact man has on it. Florida will be on the vanguard of that and we will have to adapt and make long-term infrastructure decisions to be able to protect our quality of life, including our water and our environment. To me, these things comprise the biggest opportunity to ensure our sustained and improving quality of life.
We have all these advantages, but we have to invest long-term to protect, to make sure we’re ready to grow but also to ensure we have a robust insurance market. People don’t get it. We will make real estate growth impossible if we socialize all the risks and create massive uncertainty.
JP: In terms of leadership, balancing cooperation of team members and still having those team members compete with one another to make them better is tricky. How do you do it?
JB: I lean more towards competition and less toward ‘kum ba yah.’ That doesn’t mean you can’t find consensus and cooperation, but if we merely accept incremental change or the status quo, we’re not going to get where we need to be. To break through, you need to be creative, you need to find common ground. So, let a thousand flowers bloom, let the best ideas emerge, and let people steal those ideas and make them even better.
The Founders envisioned that as the way it’s supposed to work. The Federal system works pretty well. Whether it’s health or property insurance — when we had 100 million people living in our country, the property liability issues were significantly less than when we have 330 million, where we aggregate all in the same place, where disasters seem to happen more often.
Think about Sandy. That storm — the damages were tens of billions, and that’s going to happen more often than not when you have these communities where property values are high, where insurance is politicized and not market-driven, where the infrastructure is depleted and running down, and everybody’s like “what, me worry?” These costs are going to create dramatic consequences, and if we do nothing, we socialize that risk. We outsource our lack of responsibility for our own future to the government. The United States already has about a 60 trillion-dollar net present value cost with the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Obamacare, Freddie, Fannie, all the loan programs the government has. All that totals 60 trillion dollars — three times our national economy.
You want to socialize the insurance risk? Flood insurance for sure. Or wait for the big earthquake to happen. This is ridiculous. When a country like ours, the greatest country on the face of the earth, is so focused on the here-and-now, we’re going to pay a heavy price later. Whatever the path that takes us toward being less focused on immediate gratification and more focused on the long-term, that can allow us to remain the greatest country on the face of the earth, I’m all for it.
JP: Any public projects you’re involved with that our readers should get behind and would benefit from hearing about?
JB: The main thing I’m involved with outside my business is the Foundation for Excellence in Education. In fact, we’re having our annual summit next week in Washington, D.C. We do it outside of Washington one year and, after the election, in D.C. the next year. We’ll have 1100 education reformers talking about how you create a more dynamic, innovative education system.
This is a place where Florida is one of the leaders, and why I’m pleased that Ron DeSantis got elected. Because his opponent, as dynamic and interesting and charismatic as he appeared to be as a candidate, would have gone back to the old way which would have made it, ironically, harder for many of the people who voted for him. Their children would not have had a chance to rise up.
So, we focus on school choice, robust accountability, harnessing technology, a lot of things trying to transform our education system to the 21st century. Our country is lagging way behind other countries in this regard, we have these 20th century institutions that need to be as dynamic as the rest of us to deal with all the competition and globalism opportunities and too many students are not gaining the power of knowledge. So I spend a lot of time on that.
JP: A few questions, just for fun. What is your favorite comfort food?
JB: Tacos el carbon – beef tacos.
JP: What is a good book you would recommend?
JB: I’m reading a phenomenal book right now — a book by Hans Roland titled “Factfulness.” He deals with this pressing problem: there is a universe of facts that are real. You can’t argue about them, and yet people ignore them. His point is that human progress has been incredible over the last 40, 60, 100, 200 years. However you measure it, this is the most extraordinary time to be alive. Those are facts, not opinions.
Also, I just finished “Them” by Ben Sass. Another good book is “Bad Blood” by John Carreyrou, which was the book about the Wall Street Journal and the woman who founded Theranos, which was a multibillion-dollar biotech fraud. It’s an amazing story.
JP: What is your favorite movie?
JB: The Mel Gibson movie “Braveheart.” I watch that once a year.
This article first appeared in the Winter 2019 issue of The Demotech Difference, a publication of Demotech, Inc. | 2019-04-18T10:44:36Z | https://www.floridainsurancereform.org/2019/02/11/leadership-strengthened-through-storms-an-interview-with-governor-jeb-bush-the-demotech-difference/ |
Following a recommendation from the Governing Body to investigate the advantages of belonging to a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) and for Chantry to convert from a Single Academy Trust (SAT) into a newly established MAT called the Pioneer Learning Trust, a decision has been made to go out to consultation. This decision has been made because we believe that being part of the MAT will strengthen the future education of our children.
Whitefield and Southfield Primary Schools would convert to become academies at the same time, joining Chantry in establishing the new Pioneer Learning Trust. Other Luton schools are currently in discussions to join at some point in the near future.
This change in status will have very little noticeable impact on the day to day operation of our school. The name of the school will remain the same and so will the current school uniform.
Formal consultation will begin on Tuesday 18thSeptember 2018and end on Monday 29thOctober2018.
1. Will the catchment area remain the same as it is now?
We do not anticipate significant changes to admission arrangements in the future.
2. Will you automatically be accepted if you live in the current catchment area?
3. What procedures will be put in place to ensure that pupils with special educational needs are admitted to the Academy on a fair basis?
4. Will the Academy’s exclusion policy change?
5. How would SEND students be catered for and can you give an assurance that current levels of SEND support would be maintained?
The school is not seeking to change the way SEND students are supported as a result of academy conversion, but national funding changes may lead to a review in the future.
6. What will the Academy’s relationship with neighbouring schools be?
The school will continue to work collaboratively with neighbouring school partnerships including the West Area Partnership at Chantry and the North Improvement Partnership at Whitefield.
7. What effect will academy’s conversion have on the curriculum?
No detrimental effect. The school will continue to offer a broad curriculum defined by quality and the best interests of the children. The school values the importance of the National Curriculum and will continue to support all pupils regardless of need or ability to achieve their full potential.
8. Will teacher representatives be included on the governing body?
Yes. Each academy in the Trust will have its own Local Governing Body (LGB) and staff are part of the membership.
9. How will parents’ views be represented?
Parent representatives are elected to the LGB.
10. How will parents’ and stakeholders’ views be considered when a decision is made?
11. Can you confirm what percentage of people opposed to the academy it will take to stop the proposal going ahead?
There is no percentage. The decision to proceed to academy status will be defined by the potential advantages to our pupils and careful consideration of any disadvantages.
12. Will the school uniform change if we convert to academy?
The schools do not intend to make any change to their school's uniform. Uniforms will remain as they are – the subtle change to the Whitefield school logo (School to Academy) will be phased in over time. Parents will just buy new uniforms as usual as children outgrow them.
13. Will the school's name change if we convert to academy?
14. Will the leadership of the school change?
The headteachers of all the schools will remain the same as they are now but Mrs Corisande Bateman will take on the role of Chief Executive Officer, responsible for running the MAT on behalf of Members and Trustees.
15. Will the school day change again because we convert to become an academy?
16. What are the benefits for my child if the school's convert to a MAT?
The pupils will benefit from strengthened links across Trust schools with true collaboration focused on driving up educational standards and a clear emphasis on achievement for all, shared expertise and greater opportunities for pupils.
17. Will the schools continue to work with the Local Authority?
The school will continue to work with services provided by the local authority where effective.
18. Who will make the decisions in each school?
The Headteacher of each school will be responsible for the day to day business of the school, as at present, the Governing Body will continue to exist, however, in a slightly different way and will be referred to as the schools Local Governing Body, and a board of Trustees will Govern the Trust.
19. Will the Academy have an anti-bullying policy?
The schools will maintain all current policies on conversion but in the future, in order to save on work load, we will look to harmonise most policies across the Trust. This will be done through an appropriate process of consultation and collaboration.
20. What is the effect of TUPE?
The TUPE Regulations provide that the current employer's "rights, powers, duties and responsibilities” under the contract of employment of any transferring member of staff would be transferred automatically to the new employer, in this case the PLT.
21. What obligation does the Local Authority have to employees who do not want their contracts to be transferred to an Academy? Do we have any right to be re–deployed and remain employed by the Local Authority?
If an individual employee does not wish to transfer, the LA has no obligation to seek alternative employment for them. This is likely to mean that they will resign and seek employment elsewhere.
22. For current employees, TUPE conditions will apply. Can you give a guarantee that you would not re-negotiate teachers’ terms and conditions under “reorganisation”?
All qualifying staff would transfer from their current employer (the local authority or another academy trust) to the employment of PLT. Qualifying staff are generally those who would have been employed at the school on the date of conversion to PLT. This transfer would take place within the TUPE regulations for staff transfer, which ensures that staff retain all of their existing rights, terms and conditions and pension arrangements, including continuity of service. Pension rights would also be maintained as part of any conversion. The school will always work to secure the best possible terms of conditions for all staff. For teaching staff, this is defined by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). We are not seeking to change staff’s terms and conditions.
23. Would the Academy pay scales remain in line with national agreements, and would future employees be offered the same terms and conditions as transferred staff?
The Trust works to national agreements.
24. How will parents’ and stakeholders’ views be considered when a decision is made?
As now, through responses to consultation.
25. Can you confirm what percentage of people opposed to the academy it will take to stop the proposal going ahead?
26. Will staff be asked/required to work at our partnership schools permanently in teaching roles other than when doing support/INSET i.e. can a member of staff be moved to another school without a choice for the majority of their working time?
New school employees will be asked to work at other schools across the Trust if required and current employees will be given the opportunity to work at other schools where a development opportunity arises, however this would be subject to agreement by both parties. The opportunity to do so will provide excellent CPD for many staff.
27. Having read the document re pensions and it says that pensions will be maintained in accordance with national expectations, but can you advise further – will my pension with council be maintained or does it now cease?
All pensions are maintained by the Trust. You will continue to pay into the pension scheme in the same way.
28. Who will be my employer?
You will be employed by the Pioneer Learning Trust (PLT).
29. What are the terms and conditions of employment for new staff within PLT?
Existing staff will TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) into the Trust on their existing Terms and conditions. The Burgundy Book (which applies to teachers) and the Green Book (which applies to support staff) are collective agreements and will transfer as current, any future changes will not be binding on the Trust. The Trust intends to continue to apply the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STCPD). The Trust will mirror changes as documents are amended over time, this includes pay awards.
30. Will the staff terms and conditions remain the same?
It is anticipated that all school staff will transfer from the Local Authority to the Trust and retain their existing terms and conditions and continuity of employment. However, it is intended that the school will not have a two-tier workforce and new school employees will be offered terms on the same basis as employees transferred to the Trust from the school with one exception. New teachers joining the Trust (but not any transferring teacher and not any teacher seeking an internal promotion) will be subject to a probationary period of 8 school weeks. This period could be extended by the school for a further 8 school weeks. During the probationary period both the teacher and the Trust could terminate the employment on 1 weeks’ notice. Successful completion of the probationary period would be confirmed in writing and once confirmed in writing the notice provisions for the teacher would follow the Burgundy Book. Although subsequent changes are possible following a TUPE transfer, none are planned by the Trust and can only be made if the reason is an ‘economic, technical or organisational reason’ involving changes in the workforce or workplace.
31. Will Job Descriptions be re-written?
Job Descriptions will be reviewed in the same way as currently, if necessary following appraisal or due to restructure or a change in business needs.
32. Will the length of the school day change?
There are no plans to change the length and timing of the school day.
33. Are we going to work longer hours?
There will be no increase in the maximum directed time of 1265 hours that is determined in STPCD.
34. Will the term dates change?
Term dates will be determined by the PLT.
35. Who is the Headteacher accountable to in the new structure?
In the multi academy structure, the Headteacher is line managed by the LGB, like now, but on an executive basis by the CEO. However, the CEO has to abide by the scheme of delegation.
36. Will the unions continue to be recognised?
Unions will continue to be recognised. We have strong relations with the Unions and no history of conflict. The Trust can confirm its intention to purchase trade union facilities time for at least the next year (All academies have the option annually to purchase trade union facilities time) The Trust will continue to consult with recognised trades unions via their HR Provider, a continuation of consultation arrangements is in place currently.
37. Will we receive the same salary?
Yes, under TUPE you will be paid the same, and we honour School Teachers Pay and Conditions documents.
38. Who will be paying our wages? | 2019-04-20T12:10:50Z | http://www.whitefieldprimary.com/news/detail/multi-academy-trust-consultation-1/ |
A Religious Approach to Voluntary Euthanasia.
The moment came upon us without warning. Our old and well-loved cat, Rami, who despite his advanced years had been fit, well, and active, was suddenly seized with a major illness. We could not define whether the agitation which he clearly showed was due to pain or to confusion at finding himself in that totally unfamiliar state, but the question was a purely academic one, for his condition was one of great distress.
Both my wife and I realised as we drove the ten miles to the surgery that this was probably the end. Something serious had clearly occured. It did not take our friendly and sympathetic vet very long to carry out tests and to make a diagnosis.
"Total kidney failure, I'm afraid. It tends to come on in cats without warning. There's really nothing that I can do."
"Do you mean that he has no chance of recovery?"
"None at all. He could live a few more weeks, no longer, and those weeks would be mentally and physically painful. I have to ask you to consider letting him go. It would be the kindest thing to do"
In my mind there formed a mental image of Rami, totally incapacitated, lying in his basket of pain and looking out on the garden where until recently he had walked, slept in the sunshine and sheltered under the potting shed from a sudden shower. He would be wishing that he could go out there again, look for mice in the long grass of the "wild"area where nature was allowed to take its course, or wander with his friends the cats from next door through the flower borders. But that, my wife and I knew, could never be again. There was only one answer. I looked at Elizabeth and she nodded, picking up my thoughts.
It was all so quick and easy. Mr. Richards produced a form headed "Euthanasia Consent." I signed it and by the time that simple act had been completed the vet had a hypodermic in his hand. Quickly checking that the consent form was in order he pushed the needle into Rami's now unresisting body. Almost immediately our old friend lost consciousness. Mr. Richards now had his stethoscope on Rami's heart.
"He's not gone yet." A brief pause. Then the final diagnosis. "That's it, he's gone now."
Goodbye, Rami, old pal. May your journey into the unknown be a happy one. We shall miss your happy maiow when we see you for the first time each morning, we shall miss watching you wander sedately across the lawn to the more interesting area of the shrubbery. We shall grieve for you but we could not let you suffer.
It had been so easy. Not emotionally easy, of course, for it was a wrench to lose a faithful companion of so many years, but physically it was an easy and routine proceedure. The vet had the power and the legal right, indeed a duty, to release our suffering pet from his agonies.
A few days later we visited a very elderly relative in a nursing home. There was a great deal of similiarity between her case and that of Rami. She had always believed that it was her right to die when the condition of the physical body became such that there was no quality of life left to her, and she had recorded that wish in writing, hoping that if and when this occured the law of the land would have shown mercy. Clearly that time had come but the law had not moved. It would have been just as easy to bring her sufferings to and end as it was to terminate those of Rami, but there was the great and unsurmountable barrier of legislation. In the case of our cat the law permitted us to exercise mercy, and indeed may actually have compelled it, for it is possible to argue that the legal requirement that demands of us all that we do not cause unnecessary suffering to an animal may be interpreted as meaning that we MUST use euthanasia in such conditions. But on a human being we may not carry out such a ministry. To do so is murder, even when the sufferer has made the choice for himself or herself. The most that any of us can do is to sign an advanced declaration, a Living Will, in which our attendant physicians at the time when an illness occurs which would, untreated, lead to death, are instructed not to administer any therapeutic agents. Living Wills now have the weight of law in Britain, as the courts have established that they MUST be obeyed by the attending doctors.
I am sorry to say that the Christian church, of which I have been a minister all my working life, has been one of the most vocal bodies in the battle about voluntary euthanasia, taking the negative viewpoint. In fostering and encouraging such an attitude I believe that the church has on its conscience a vast, unmeasurable, load of human suffering.
Why has the Christian church opposed euthanasia so strongly? We have no word from our founder on the subject. The euthanasia issue does not stand alone on that, there are a number of ethical positions which are not arrived at by taking a stand on the words of the Master but by a process of deductive theology working out, from what we know of his personality and opinions, what he would have said on the subject had it been raised in his day. Such an approach is fraught with danger, especially as we need to unravel the dark and sinister cloak which theology has knitted over the ages. We take this garment and place it on the shoulders of Jesus, producing a character who bears very little, if any, resemblance to the Jesus of history, the prophet of two thousand years ago who ever sought happiness for all around. We can all too easily take the cloak as the reality and draw our conclusions about Jesus from it, in which case our labours will producea false reading. The church has concluded that Jesus would have opposed mercy killing and has acted accordingly, but my opinion is that Jesus would have taken quite the opposite view and would have enthusiastically supported the cause.
The first issue which I would like to raise is the fact that while there is among Christians violent opposition to the very idea of taking the life of a human being in this way, few seem to object to the exercise of the technique in animals. Is there then some theological difference between death in a human being and death in an animal?
Many sections of the church believe that animals do not have souls. It does not therefore matter how they die. I have found that it is more or less the same group of people who maintain that God sends suffering, either as a punishment or to teach a valuable lesson to us humans, whereas in cats and dogs and other examples of the animal kingdom the disease is entirely mechanical, the result of physical conditions alone. It was because of this belief in God-sent pain that in the days of Jesus there was strong opposition to the idea of healing at all. The Gospels recount several instances where Jesus is condemned by the religious leaders of the day for healing on the Sabbath, but Doctor Leslie Weatherhead in his major work "Psychology, Religion and Healing" argues that they would have opposed healing on any day of the week, and if it occured on the Sabbath it was just that much worse. God sent sickness as a punishment and therefore to alleviate it at all was a sin. Even today that astonishing belief is still present in many people. It is apparent that when this viewpoint is held there can be no support for euthanasia, for it would involve wiping out the suffering which God had sent for a purpose.
In the days of Jesus there was a tragic event at Siloam, a suburb of Jerusalem. A tower collapsed, killing eighteen people. ( Luke, chapter 13, verse 4 ) Jesus used this unfortunate incident to make the point that their demise was not a punishment for sins. In doing this he was clearly responding to a belief which was current in his day and time and in his condemnation of the concept he stood out clearly as a rebel, one who differed from the given wisdom of the age and was not afraid to say so.
If we had no record at all of his words but only an account of his actions, it would be perfectly apparent that the whole life of Jesus was devoted to the relief of suffering. From this we may take our cue and make a reasonable assumption that he would have supported euthanasia if he were physically alive here and now with us in the twenty first century. It is often said that we would be "playing God" if we were to introduce euthanasia. I have never been happy with that phrase and it seems to me to be one widely used without consideration of its implications. If God sends suffering then it is just as much "playing God"to seek alleviation of pain from, say, a dentist, as it is to terminate a life when the motive is merciful.
In the Biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus it is recounted that he was wrapped up in swaddling clothes. These were a very tight, restrictive form of dress which had the effect of keeping the child quieter than it might be in more free-fitting garments, and the intention was to give the parents a quieter life. Gradually the use of swaddling clothes and allied forms of childwear have been outlawed, the final ending of the practice being when the English missionary, Gladys Aylward, succeeded in getting the custom banned in the last Chinese province to use it. It is perhaps ironical that after their founder had been wrapped in swaddling clothes the church which stemmed from him should have taken a major part in banishing them from the face of the Earth. Yet Jesus would not be confined in psychological swaddling clothes when he grew to adulthood. There is evidence that his parents were associated with the Nazarenes and the Essenes, but from the broad minded attitudes of Jesus it is apparent that he had broken with both of these institutions. His great spirit would not be wrapped in psychological swaddling clothes.
Another point with regard to the religious attitude to euthanasia arises out of the concept of an afterlife.. It is a basic part of Christian belief that there is life after death. If that is so then surely the practice will merely result in the recipient of the service passing on to another level of life, and if the Christian view is incorrect then surely it does not matter either way.
A major ethical questiuon arises around the issue of personal freedom. Does anyone have the moral right to deny another the relief of pain occasioned by voluntary euthanasia? I believe that none of us should have that power and that it is wrong, a great and grevious wrong, to subject great suffering on others because of what we believe. Whose life is it anyway? It is germane to note on this point that in repeated public opinion polls taken in Britain under controlled and scientific conditions, it has been shown consistently that over 80% of the British people favour a change in the present law. Among Parliamentarians the figures are reversed! Around 80% of our Members of Parliament oppose any such measures and as a result bills to legalise voluntary euthanasia have consistently come to nothing. Would that our elected representatives had more respect for the views of the people whom they represent.
At this moment thousands of people in Britain are suffering the mental and physical agonies of painful terminal illness. Many of them will have chosen the option of a controlled and merciful death under such circumstances, but this is denied them. The agonies of tens of thousands who suffer because of the refusal of their members of Parliament to allow them freewill amounts to a considerable degree of agony. Our politicians have not instigated this pain, but I hold that they are not less guilty for that. In my view it is just as bad to refuse to alleviate human need as to cause it in the first place. Over the years great suffering must have been endured by those who have been refused this basic human right, the right to die with dignity. The screams of tortured souls cry out to the politicians for mercy, and the politicians remain dumb.
Should that day arrive I will accept and welcome it, for it will bring in its wake a tremendous relief of suffering, but I earnestly hope that the change will come from consideration of human rights and compassion. When it does come - and I firmly believe that it must - then one of the greatest possible advances in human development will have been made. | 2019-04-24T03:53:53Z | http://theologica.net/euthanasia.html |
The 2018 March Box has both tools to help around the homestead, as well as elements to help heal, relax and play after a hard days work! We love The Homestead Planner and Logbook because of the durable cover that contains tons of helpful information and lots of predesigned log books for tracking almost everything on the farm!
You can use this information to make critical decisions from year to year, and understand the workings of your environment and climate much better. Once you start using this on a daily basis this will be pure gold to your homestead.
We love American Made. You don’t get much more American Made than CASE Knives. This beautiful but basic EDC style yellow handle slimline trapper has served hard working men for at least 100 years. We are still finding uses for ours everyday as it fits comfortably in our pocket and is always sharp enough for just about any task! The yellow handle is a classic that allows for easy handle care (there is none required since it is synthetic!) , plus it has the added bonus in that it is easy to see when you drop it! Whether this is your first CASE or one of many, you can rest assure that this tool will be handed down to your grandkids one day.
This March box had something for the entire family! The lady of the house loved the Georgia Rain Soy Candle and The Georgia Bath Bomb as well as the Smith’s Rosebud Salve. These were used so quickly we were not able to get photos of all of them in use! The wonderful bath bomb was their fragrant Eucalyptus Spearmint Giant Bath Bomb + Soap. The aroma of the Georgia Rain Candle was wonderful and helped cover the smell of fresh cooked fish in the kitchen perfectly. Our dry skin was quickly remedied by the unique healing power contained within the Rosebud Salve.
For tea lovers we have discovered a wonderful new brand in organics, Davidson’s Classic Teas. Their breakfast blend was smooth and rich in flavor. We cant wait to try more of their selections.
It was perfect to mellow down with after a hard days work.
Their organic farming methods protect their farmers, who are helping all of us, while also taking care of the environment. They, their children, and own animals avoid exposure to chemicals which might harm them. Unlike in conventional tea gardens, the tea pluckers and their families are exposed to harmful chemicals when spraying the pest affected crop. Insecticides and pesticides sprayed on crops are toxic, banned from several countries and are seriously dangerous to the farmers’ health. These chemically treated conventional teas are then indirectly passed on to the end-consumer. Davidson’s is seriously committed to organic farming, not just for the benefit to our consumer, but to the well being of our farmers.
Our rain gauge has been busy recently measuring our early spring rains. Our box this month also included a durable metal thermometer, and rain gauge. We placed our thermometer near our chicken coop door to measure the variant temperatures that affect egg production.
See our entire unboxing in detail in the video below.
What’s Your Weather Like Today? Are your reliant upon your cell phone to know the temperature, or the local weatherman? Why? -Why don’t you take control of your homestead and document and review the weather every day at your exact location? Better yet, document it from year to year so you feel the heartbeat of your land and better understand the changes in climate and the accurate arrival of Spring, or the exact entry of the first frost.
How Much Rain Have You Had?
The Water Gauge: Mark your rain gauge and add up your precipitation over the month to better understand your water table. The Homestead Box Water Gauge is you perfect tool for doing just that. With a slide marker you can note the last measurement after emptying the glass container.
This informational can be critical to your plants and the overall health of your homestead.
Make sure you check it daily!
Temperature changes, of just a few degrees can mean the difference between an early Spring planting, or a complete loss due to frost. It can also mean loss of animal life in the winter, or busted pipes under your house.
We posted our Aluminum and Glass Thermometer outside our chicken coop to make sure our gils were not too hot or too cold. If we let them get too cold our egg production ends. The large, easy to read numbers are easily read in any environment- even from several feet away.
Do You Have The Itch To Plant?
We all feel it. The long winter nights shortening, while the days are getting longer. With the tease of warmth in the air we are daydreaming of planting gardens that yield fresh and healthy vegetables– especially plump, juicy tomatoes!
STEP 1: Open your box of ‘High Mowing’ Non-GMO Organic Seeds and place them into your Seed Dial Sower for precise sowing. After you select the right dial position for your seed size, place your favorite seed starting soil into the provided Biodegradable Coir Seed Starting Pots.
STEP 2: Once your soil is placed into your pots, prepare your accurate hole depth using the included Dewitt Seed Dibbler. Our Organic Brandywine Tomato seeds needed to be planted at 1/4″ deep, so we marked our Dibbler with a sharpie -since it stops at 2″.
We are almost done, and we can almost taste those tomato sandwiches and fresh salsa now!
STEP 3: After selecting the proper hole size on the dialer for your seed to pass through one at a time, tap the top of the Dialer with your finger to get the proper number of seeds into the hole made by your new Dribbler.
STEP 4: The last step includes saturating your pots with the Dramm Watering Nozzle, and controlling the flow with the Dramm Cutoff Valve.
Place your planted seeds in your grow area. Ours is in our basement under a grow light. We placed our tomato seeds beside our squash seeds which are already sprouting. As you can see, the starting pots fit perfectly into our other container systems!
Spring is here and it is time to get outside!
Here at The Homestead Box, we are passionate about providing our families with fresh food that we grow, raise, or gather. Having a stable, local food source is at the top of most homesteaders list, and we want to take advantage of all of the sources available to us. This month is all about tapping in to the “uncultivated” food source. We regularly fill our freezers and pantries with fresh fish, meat, greens, nuts, fruits and berries. With this month’s box let us show you how to get started.
This book will serve as your guide and inspiration, not only for this month, but for seasons to come. Hank Shaw is a chef turned author, that hunts, fishes, gathers, and grows most of his own food. Not only that, he shares how he uses those fine ingredients to prepare fine meals for your family. In this book, Shaw covers how to get started in foraging by finding easy plants that can be found in backyards and local parks. He not only covers identification of those plants, but how to safely process and prepare them.
In the second part of this book, Shaw covers fishing. Fishing is a great way to tap into an easy and fun food source that requires little in terms of equipment. You can get a simple cane pole or a rig costing hundreds, but concepts remain the same– find a body of water and learn it well. With a little practice, you can be eating fresh fish on a regular basis almost anywhere in the country.
Part three covers perhaps the most intense part of tapping into this uncultivated food source– hunting. If you eat meat, hunting is a great way to fill the freezer. The US has tons of public land, and with websites like Outrider.us, access to hunting grounds can be easier than you think. We will be covering some of the Topics on our YouTube channel and here in the Blog later this month. Also stay tuned for a LIVE interview with the author, Hank Shaw, later this month.
This little beauty keeps finding ways into our daily use here on the Homestead. We included it in the box as an all purpose tote and gathering bag, but has flexed into many different roles. The all natural canvas can be waxed or dyed to suit your needs. It can be rolled and stuffed into a backpack or behind a car seat for that unexpected forage. When we are ready to head out to find some greens, tubers, or berries, we tuck our water bottle, mosquito spray, digging tool, and gloves into it and head out. A great tip is to keep this kit ready to roll so that when you find some good weather and some spare time, you are ready to go. Other uses we have found are in the garden. Its a great place to store seed, small tools, and irrigation fittings. We’ve also been known to carry nails and tools around for small repair jobs.
This is the “big brother” to the Garden Satchel. When you find that giant grape vine, or grove of wild plums, this fruit hauler fits the bill. Again, it is just as useful in the garden when your tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and squash are ready. Due to the ergonomic design, you can carry heavy loads with ease. With little or no modification, it makes a great stripping basket for fly fisherman.
Versatility comes to mind when describing this tool. It’s design is a variation of a Hori Hori knife which is designed to dig, scrape, and cut all sorts of natural materials. This makes it an ideal foraging tool. With this beast and your Opinel No. 8, there is little that can’t be harvested. Make sure to sharpen you Digging tool and keep it sharp. Try not to store in the sheath for long periods of time if the tool or the sheath is wet.
dish out in the for of sun and pests. We included a few items to keep you protected so that you can have better experience in the outdoors.
As with all of their products, this mosquito spray uses all natural ingredients. It also smells great. The best way to avoid mosquito bites is to cover up, but having a repellent really helps. We like to cut out the harmful chemicals, so this all natural solution fit the bill.
This simple tube can be the difference between a terrible outing and a great one. It is essentially a super versatile piece of head gear. Weather you need to protect your head, face, neck, or ears, this tube has you “covered”…Get it? It is also made in the USA–always a plus.
We love working with small homesteads. This family run business created some great products for those who work with their hands. The Comfrey Salve is perfect for those who abuse their skin. Small cuts, insect bites, or just dried and cracked skin will all benefit from the comfrey and plantain in this salve. In addition to that, we have included some Jewel Weed based Poison Ivy Treatment. Just as we advocate for learning to find the beneficial plants of the forest, we urge you to learn the nasty ones as well. If you should happen to come in contact with poison ivy, this salve should help to relive some of the symptoms.
So there you have it. A simple, quality kit that will put you well on your way to finding the food that requires no tilling, fertilizing, and no watering. Garden space is precious, so there is no need to grow something you can just go gather. In addition, fishing and hunting free you from fencing and feed cost. Before we jump back into gardening, we wanted to take a month to educate ourselves on Fruitful Foraging.
So if you are into the super technical science part of seeds and the like, this may not be the blog post for you. Just go to this Wikipedia page, and soak it up. If you are into seeds for their almost supernatural ability to provide you and most things on the planet a ready food supply, then this might be the place for you.
Ok, I know that might not be a word, but their is a quality about seeds that defies language. Garden geeks like me cannot get over the fact that this hard little speck that resembles sand or rock can somehow determine when it is in a reasonable enough environment to “wake up” and produce a living organism much, much, much bigger than itself. If you have ever seen a Yellow Pear Tomato plant loaded down with ripe golden fruit, it is hard to believe that the seeds are super hard to handle if you have fingers like mine. Tomato seeds are flat little jokers that are almost impossible for me to drop one or two into a starting tray at a time… I digress. They are just amazing, but they are not magic.
Everyone who has been to public school should know that plants need something to grow in (I favor dirt), some water, some light, and some nutrients. Seeds, however, do not need most of those to get started. In that tiny packet of dormant life, seeds carry a food supply to get them off an going until they can establish roots and leaves. They usually only require moisture and a warm environment (sometimes actual light). After they drop their first little semblance of a root, they will emerge and spread their pre-embryonic solar panels/food packets called cotyledons. These are not leaves, but allow the seedling to start converting light energy into food. Then will come true roots and true leaves, and it’s off to the races.
Why do we start some seed inside and some outside? Why don’t we transplant everything? Why don’t we direct seed everything? Why did we include tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the February Box and not squash, corn and beans? Why are you hounding me with all of these questions?
There are some very practical and nonspiritual criteria for deciding which seeds to start inside and which to direct sow. Most of them can be attributed to seed size, strength of seedlings, and specific growing seasons. You will have to decide this based on the length of your growing season and your style, but as for me its simple.
Medium sized uniform seeds like okra, peas, and corn that will function best in my garden seeder get the direct seed treatment. Unless I am trying to be the first at the market (in Zone 8), they get direct seeded.
Small difficult seeds get started in trays and uniformly transplanted in my garden. This includes Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and most brassicas. Carrots, I buy pelleted and direct seed via garden seeder.
Next comes the big or weird shape seeds. Think pumpkin, squash, and huge beans. These guys are too easy to hand seed for me. They usually need copious amounts of growing space (like feet), so I just drop them out and hill them up. Another reason for the bigger seeds to be direct seeded is that the seedlings usually emerge pretty stout. Think of the size of a newly broken through squash compared to a tomato. That squash can handle most conditions (except cut worms and vine borers).
Other reasons to consider are the “transplant-ability” of a certain plant. Carrots, southern pea, most beans, and most root crops will not transplant well due to various reasons like transplant shock, fragile roots, disease susceptibility, etc.
So those are some thoughts for this week. I know some of you will disagree or do things a little differently. That’s cool. Let us know in the comments or drop us a line at [email protected]. I hope to hear from you, but until then, keep working, keep learning, and keep in touch.
I want to start by thanking our subscribers. Thank you for joining us on this journey. We have had some awesome feedback, and we hope to hear from you guys more often.
Now lets move on to the first ever Homestead Box, and discover, together, what we can do with the items inside. These are just a few ideas, because this system of items in the Intro Box will flex into many rolls on your homestead. In this post we will cover how to restore a hoe or shovel, how to sharpen an ax or hatchet, and how to make a strop. This blog post is made in conjunction with our YouTube page, so don’t forget to watch the videos that go along with the Instructions here.
Sand all finish off of the handle with coarse grit paper. Sand along the grain enough to get down to bare wood.
Apply Boiled linseed oil one thin coat at a time by putting the oil on a rag and wiping with the grain. Remove any excess and allow to dry 24hrs. Add up to 5 coats for great protection.
Take your Medium Sanding sponge and remove any rust from the blade of the hoe.
Next use your farmer’s file to work on the edge. Wear a glove and file into the edge (as opposed to off of the edge. Eventually you will feel a burr turn on the non-beveled side of the hoe blade.
When you feel the burr along the entire edge you can stop filling. Take your Lansky Puck and soak it with mineral oil or olive oil. Take a few stroked on the flat side to remove the burr. You are done sharpening.
Take some oil and wipe down all of the metal parts and store your hoe out of the weather. Revisit the handle treatment every 6months, and sharpen as necessary.
Remove all dirt and rust.
Clamp your axe into a vise with the head oriented flat.
With a gloved hand, file your axe at approx. 25 degrees until a bur forms along the other side of the bit.
Turn the Axe over in the vise and repeat the filing until the bur turns to the other side of the axe bit.
Use the coarse side of your Lansky Puck to remove the file marks from the bit. The goal here is turn the bur to the other side while polishing out the file marks. Hold your Puck at 25 degrees and sharpen into the edge.
Flip your axe over and repeat step 5 until the bur flips to the other side.
Flip your axe again and use the finer side of your puck to polish out the marks from the coarse side. Turn the bur to the other side.
Flip your axe and repeat step 7.
When the bur turns and all of the coarse side marks are gone, strop your edge to remove the bur.
Your axe should be very sharp at this point.
Cut a piece of wood to the width of your leather. IT IS BETTER TO USE THE REAL WIDTH INSTEAD OF MEASURING AND TRANSFERRING. See video for example.
Leave the length 3-5inches longer than the leather piece.
Mark the length of your leather by placing the leather on the wood, flushing it at one end and marking where it stops on the wood.
Next draw your handle pattern on the wood.
Cut or chisel the rough handle out.
Sand or chisel your handle until you like it.
Next glue the strop to the wood with wood glue. Use a vise or clamps to ensure good consistent bond.
Let set for an hour.
Trim up all of the edges with sand paper.
Apply green compound to the leather. Always stop off of the blade edge.
These three projects should help you increase your skill set around the homestead. We not only want you to see the value of your box today, but also of the value of your box five years from now. If you take care of that hatchet it could out live you. Those skills gained never die. So until next time, keep learning, keep working, and keep in touch.
In our last email newsletter I listed Planning as #4 on the list. It should have been #1, and here’s why: Homesteading has so many moving parts that are interconnected that planning is a must. So let’s start off the year right with some practical steps to take our homestead to the next level in 2017.
There are several, and by several I mean seemingly endless, philosophical approaches to homesteading and a self-sufficient lifestyle. People are approaching it from all different angles—prepping, green living, hobby, etc. This has given rise to so many systems (and books about those systems) that it can be hard to settle on one. This January, I encourage you to pick ONE. If you think it is reasonable, apply yourself to it, and stick with it. It doesn’t do anyone any good to keep changing systems before they have truly seen the outcome of one. There are a few exceptions to this, but for the most part it pays to stick it out. Learn from the flaws of your system. Next January, re-evaluate and change. For systems that take years to get going (like permaculture) you might have to give it some time before you decide whether or not it is for you.
Books are nice. Books are safe. If you are like me, you can get comfortable somewhere and read the day away. The problem is that reading won’t get your hands dirty. Personally, I was caught up in the “research phase” of homesteading for a long time. It wasn’t until I started muddying up my boots and getting some blisters that I started learning. Research it great and greatly needed in the planning phase, but start working now. Build that chicken coop. Till that patch of dirt. A year flies by before you know it, and a season is a flash. Don’t get caught in Spring having not limed your garden. Don’t get caught Mid-Summer having not planned for how to deal with pest and weeds. You have a small lull in early January, but for Zone 8’ers especially, your works starts now.
I cannot stress enough that The Homestead Box staff really has a passion for seeing people actually take steps forward. I hope that some of our boxes can inspire some to get going and get those hands dirty. But no man is an island. Lean on each other in 2017. Ask questions. Ask us, but ask others on our YouTube and Facebook Pages. Someone has been there and failed. Someone may have had great success. Let’s help each other figure it out. Host a dinner for like-minded people to pick their brains about their plans and systems. Participate in the community. Hope to see you there.
We are so excited about launching this new adventure. We have been working hard to get the website up and running, put together giveaways for you guys and find the best tools, materials, and information to pack those boxes with. The first box is a perfect example of what we are about here at The Homestead Box. Let me explain.
While we can only ship you physical items (and not brain waves), we are passionate about conveying practical skills to our members. We chose to approach this by curating our boxes around projects. These projects are designed to introduce you to skills that you will need to run a successful homestead. In the end we believe that self-sustainability and self-reliance are skills based lifestyles. It doesn’t matter how many tools you have if you never learn to use them correctly. Some things take time to learn. Let’s put in the time. Some things need the guiding hand of someone that has been there. Let’s ask those people. If we fail to commit to certain concepts and practices, this lifestyle can become difficult. But like putting a fresh edge on a trusty pocket knife, honing your skills can make life much easier.
In every lifestyle, there are certain sets of skills that allow you to grow faster. These are skill sets that may seem unrelated at first, but once we get too far down a path, they seem crucial. Business can seem like the world ofmath and numbers from the outside, but being able to network on personal level can make a or break a business person. The Homestead Box “Intro Box” will start you with an awesome foundation that will expand into almost every other aspect of the homestead. I want to tell you what’s in it, but I can’t. January is not far off. I will see you then. | 2019-04-21T09:08:36Z | https://www.thehomesteadbox.com/blog/ |
This paper uses the automotive industry as subject of study in determining the effects of the economic indicators to an industry. Taking off from a brief history of the automotive industry and followed by an industry overview, this paper will also prepare a SWOTT analysis of the industry. It will also address the possible impacts on the industry of the following economic indicators: real GDP, the unemployment rate, and the inflation rate as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), interest rate, foreign exchange rates and money supply (measured by M1, M2, or M3). To determine the impacts of these economic indicators, the paper will also define each of the six indicators, and describe their status. To complement the analysis, a separate graph illustrating the historic trend for each indicator as found in the appendices.
The automobile industry is known to have been relatively stable through several years with no much change among the players. Nobody will disagree that the largest car company in the world for many decades has been General Motors of the US. The long years of having such a stable environment could be explained by the fact of high fixed costs of entry that normally restricts many potential entries in the industry. Until recently, the hybrid technology for car manufacturers brought dramatic and world-shattering changes. With Toyota known to have been the leader and innovator in hybrid technology, it is not surprising to see the possibility how Toyota will surpass General Motors as the biggest car company in the world.
As the above events develop, the U.S. car companies are experiencing difficulties as evidenced by the decisions to terminate a big number of their employees just to survive the competition that the new technology has brought to the market. On the other hand, China, which was known to use fewer cars and more bicycles, is now a booming market as evidenced by the rise of many Chinese car companies are. Under normal conditions, companies in car manufacturing and car dealership take advantage of this growth opportunity and this is a very appropriate time for those who want to come in the industry and for the existing players.
There are only few players of segmented markets of the automotive industry, thus the industry is showing what economists called an oligopolistic market structure, as characterized the sales growth of companies that are relative stable. High barriers to entry further characterize this stability. Recent events show foreign car companies increased presence in the US, which confirms the effect of hybrid technology. The industry is known also for operating on a very high leverage because of fixed costs. For US companies, they now treat labor cost as fixed cost although direct labor cost what was conceptually considered as variable cost because the labor contracts of US which guaranteed the income of a worker, even in case of termination of employment. To attain profitability therefore, because of high fixed cost as describe is to produce more.
Despite the seeming low cost of production because of mass production in quantities by supplies, today’s customers in the industry still demand the production of high quality vehicles at low prices. For producers to survive economies of scale is needed. This could have triggered the factors for the adoption of hybrid technology that has changed the face of the automobile industry by preventing new competitors to come in. There is thus the continuing desire for car makers to deliver the car at least cost so that they could serve the changing needs and wants of customers.
To evaluate the US domestic automotive industry, this paper uses an S.W.O.T.T analysis. S.W.O.T.T stands for strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats, and trends. The automotive industry’s strengths are large revenues and stability as evidenced by industry value of billions of dollars and that fact that a car has become a necessity for many American households. In addition, car sales produce tax revenue of more than fifty billion dollars due to the fact most Americans have at least one vehicle. It has however a weakness which is its heavy dependence on macroeconomic factors. This means that economic depressions can cause negative results on the sales of automobiles. The latter effect of event of economic depressions, however. is normal for many industries.
As for threats, the US domestic automotive industry has competition to face from Japan, Europe and many other countries. As for threats, strong brands may have advantage over others. With the opening of the Chinese economy and the development of hybrid technology, there are really plenty of opportunities for industry players. The opportunities of automobile companies involve a strong brand that can be leveraged into other markets.
As for new trends, the industry the rise in the production of hybrid vehicles is already a big reality. For the US companies to survive the competition both from inside and outside, it must have to take advantage of the use of the hybrid technology as the new trend. The increased competition from foreign car companies like Japan and Western Europe and increasing number Chinese car companies can be considered as real threats to American car manufacturers. American automotive must keep up with hybrid technology, which was introduced by the Japanese.
2.4 The impact on the industry of the following three economic indicators: real GDP, the unemployment rate, and the inflation rate as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), interest rate, foreign exchange rates and money supply (measured by M1, M2, or M3).
Before knowing the impact of the six indicators, there is a need to define each indicator and to describe their status. In the discussion of the impacts in the following indicators, definition and description of the status of each indicator is made before the impact of each on the automotive industry is explained.
An economy grows because a country produces more products and services and the happening of which will cause more people to have more money to spend for their needs. Gross domestic product (GDP) measures how much a country produces in terms of products and services. In the case of the US, its present status is still positive of about 2% as of 2006. See Appendix A for the graph of GDP to understand status. Since GDP measures the growth of the economy, it could be properly claimed that the higher the GDP, the higher would be the demand for cars and therefore more beneficial for the automotive industry.
Unemployment rate in the measure of the extent joblessness within an economy for a certain period and is equivalent to the number of unemployed workers divided by the total employable labor force. The current unemployment rate of the US is less than 5% as of June 2006. See Appendix B.
The higher the unemployment the lower is the income generation by the people. If people have less income, they will have less money to buy for the basic needs. Under the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people tend to satisfy first basic their basic needs before they go into higher needs, therefore unemployment will cause people to have less needs for automobile than food and other basic necessities,. Although transport is a basic need to be satisfied, the same could still be satisfied by mass transport system which the players in the automobile industry may have to compete because of limited income of people in case of high unemployment rate. Low unemployment rate, on the other hand, means more money for people and better lives greater demand for the higher need for cars.
Inflation in terms of consumer price index measures the general rise in prices against a standard level of purchasing power. The most recently available inflation rate as o 2007 for the US is less than 3%. Please see Appendix C. By comparing two sets of goods at two points in time and one could have inflation, and if increase in cost is not supported by change in the quality of a product. As to the effect of inflation on the automotive industry it could argued that inflation could drive prices of cars high and if this happens, there will be less demand for cars and companies making product will have to be affected accordingly.
Foreign exchange rate is the value of host country’s money in relation with other country’s currency. For example, the current status of 1 US dollar to 1 British pound as of June, 2007 is 0.5037. See Appendix D for the graph.
The impact of the foreign exchange rate on the industry will depend on the exchange from US may have trading relationship. As a rule, it would be best for US to have a strong currency as against another foreign currency. As to the impact of the foreign exchange rate on automotive industry depends on whether the US exports or imports more in relation to a given country. For the purpose of this paper, foreign exchange rate with Japan and UK were determined, (See Appendix A) where it was found that in relation to Japan the foreign exchange rate was more stable that of the UK. In the latter it is found that most recently the dollar depreciated in relation to British UK when year 2000 is compared with most recent years. As to its effect on the automotive industry assuming that US exports cars to UK and Japan, is that prices of US cars have become more affordable in UK than in Japan because UK importers would need less US dollars to import American cars.
Interest rate is the so-called cost of money. It is part of an economy and as a rule its effect on the economy is found in investment. The current status of the industry is below 6% as of 2006. See Appendix E. The higher the interest, the less would be the investment in the economy, and the less would the growth in the economy. When applied to the automotive industry, higher interest rate means less sales for cars since sales of cars are normally dependent on the availability of credit which is greatly influenced by the amount of credit.
Money supply is the amount of money measured in terms of M1 M2 and M3 and its adequate supply is every important to the economy. Being influenced by monetary authorities, this money supply normally increases in relation to time because of an assumed increase in population and increase in spending over time both by governments and private sectors which includes personal spending of the citizens. Its effect on the automotive industry therefore is to influence sale of more products if money supply in increase with increasing demand for cars over time. This observation is confirmed by Appendix F which shows an ever increasing money supply over the years.
In the past, the automobile industry may have been held to be stable or saturated with low growth potential. The increasing cost of energy and the dwindling supply of oil which have driven prices of car to go up, inventions under technologies have come into the picture. The growth or decline of an industry is however, a function of what is happening in the economy. For the automotive industry to grow, there must be an increased demand, which is best evidenced by the growth of the economy as measured by GDP. As for the unemployment rate, a lesser number unemployed means more money and more demand for cars. For inflation, it is better to have low inflation for the industry to benefit since inflation increases prices that may dampen demand for cars. For foreign exchange, it is desirable that US has a strong dollar as against other currencies. For interest rate, it is favorable to the industry if it is low since it affects demand for cars if it is high by causing demand to decrease. For money supply it is desirable that is adequate and must be increasing overtime to supply the needs of the economy but not too much to cause inflation.
Appendix A – US historical Gross Domestic Product, see excel file.
Appendix B – US unemployment rate compared with other countries, see excel file.
Appendix C – US Inflation rate, see excel file.
Appendix D – US Foreign Exchange rate, see excel file.
Appendix E – US interest rate, see excel file.
Appendix F – US Historical Money Supply, see excel file. | 2019-04-20T20:31:40Z | https://visceralbrooklyn.com/macroeconomics-case-2/ |
The crumbs, not bad huh, taste delicious!
Line the base of an 8″ round pan. Do not grease the sides.
1. Put oil in a saucepan and heat on low fire until just simmering. If you have a thermometer it should read 70C. Remove and immediately add the flour and cocoa powder (sift both together before adding) and stir with a whisk until smooth.
2. Add in the milk or water and stir to combine. At this stage the batter will becomes thick and lumpy.
3. Add in egg yolks and whisk with hand whisk until batter is smooth and runny again. Set aside.
4. Beat the egg whites until foamy then gradually add sugar to beat until firm peaks form.
5. Add 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter and using the hand whisk to mix until combined. Add the next 1/3 portion and whisk again. Finally, add the last portion, whisk briefly before switching to spatula to scoop the batter from bottom and fold up on to the batter to make sure all are combined and no more yolk batter can be seen.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake in water bath at 190C for 15 minutes before lowering to 145C for another hour or until the cake bounces back when you lightly press the top.
7. Remove from oven and leave it for a couple of minutes before unmoulding. You can invert it like you would a chiffon cake to cool completely before unmoulding if you wish.
8. Cool completely before you proceed to frost the cake.
Frosting is not easy for me, need lots of practice!
Completed! Not very smooth but I lost patience already!
Super delicious! so soft and moist!
Heat up 100ml of whipping cream and then add into the hot cream, 200g of semi sweet chocolate chips. Let it seat for a while before stirring until the chocolate is fully melted. Add about 20g of butter and mix until the ganache is smooth and shinning.
or you can do a 1:1 ratio for a runnier ganache.
The following is gula melaka variation: – Replace 50g sugar with gula melaka and milk with coconut milk. Melt the gula melaka with the coconut milk by heating both and stir until fully dissolved. Cool completely before using.
Replace cocoa powder with plain flour to make total of 100g.
Hi Jessy, by the time the milk is in, the batter is already cool enough to add the yolk.
Hi Jeannie, firm peaks means stiff peaks, is it?
love to try your cakes, tq.
Tq Jeannie for the reply and again your blog is great.
Thank you for visiting:) Hope you are successful in your bakes.
Hi Jennie, it’s great looking at your cake and I’ve tried making it.
After I incorporated the egg yolks, it didn’t return to smooth and runny state. Could it be I over heated my oil + flour batter?
Hi Lily, When you add in the flour mixture, is the batter smooth? If it’s lumpy, your oil is too hot. It’s only when milk is added that the batter turns lumpy.
When flour mixture is added into oil, it was still smooth. It is only when I added the milk, it lumped (curdled) together. It maintained the same even after I add the eggs.
Ya. The batter is still hot when I added the egg. Could that be the cause that it’s still lumpy? I will try again tonight. Thanks!!
yep batter shouldnt be hot. Warm is fine.
I wanted to try baking the chocolate cake. I read through the recipe on how to make the chocolate ganache. Here you mentioned, “Heat up 100ml of whipping cream and then add into the hot cream”, may I know what hot cream is this and how much is required? Thank you.
I found your ganache on your blog. No need to reply to my queries.
Meaning you heat up your whipping cream!
I am trying to bake the chocolate sponge cake but after abt 25 mins , it started to crack a little. May I know what’s the cause of it?
Hi Cas, I would say your oven is too hot. Try lowering the temperature after 20 minutes and put another baking sheet on the highest level to block excess heat.
Chocolate sponge cake is better as it is more firm.
Can I ask how you create the 2 color thin layer for the 2nd cake ?
Ha! Just dust cocoa powder !
Nice recipe of chocolate spongecake. I like it.
Sorry to ask silly question. Do you slice the cake in half to put in the filling Choc Ganache?
And how did you did it for the Gula Melaka portion?
Hi, you can slice into half or into 3 slices as you can see that I had done it both ways. As for the gula melaka method, it’s already written in the blog, please read.
Hi Jeannie, are you using an 8″ x 3″ round, if so may I know the brand so I can look for it. Another question, did you use Dutch processed chocolate cocoa for the cake or regular unsweetened cocoa? Thanks.
Hi Ramela, no brand pan, just a regular aluminium round pan. Am using varlhona 60% chocolate for the ganache. For the cake it’s natural organic cocoa powder but any type is fine.
would like to check, for the temperature of the oven, is with fan or without? Thanks.
You can try baking at very low temperature according to your oven. However, the chances of cracked top is high.
Do you have any recipes for flourless chocolate cake?
After i took The cake out from the oven, it started to sink a little after half an hour. I can see the sides are a bit higher then centre. Do you know the reason?
Centre sinking is probably due to underbaking.
Thank you for sharing your recipe. I notice plain flour is used and not self raising flour. Wondering what makes the cake rise?.Do I melt the butter first and let it cool before I use it ?
Meringue my dear, so make sure it’s evenly distributed but not deflated. Melt the butter if you are using butter, however this recipe is using oil.
Thank you so much will give a try soon.
Hi Jeanie, the cake looks delicious. May I know if it can be frozen for about 1 week before I Frost it?
regret to say I have not tried that.
Thanks for your reply. I guess it’s best to bake and eat it fresh!
As this is a very moist cake, I would say yes!
Try this cake and love it, very yummy!
Hi Jeanne, i dun have corn oil. Can I replace the corn oil by using canola oil? Thanks!!
Hi Jeannie, thanks but will there be any difference in taste?
Corn oil and canola oil are tasteless!
Hi Jeannie, what can I use to replace the butter in the ganache recipe?
Just try your passion fruit sponge cake recipe, but when to add in the salt as it was not mentioned in the method?
Just add together with the flour or directly into yolk batter.
I have baked this cake a few times and they always turn out good! My family loves this recipe!
Thank you for your feedback! Glad you and your family love it!
Hi, Jeannie. Love your cakes. You have made simple look so good. May I ask if you have a guide to the water bath method. And any difference between this to the steamed bath? Thank you.
Yes, very different, one is submerged into water, the other place on a level above the water. Water bath is also known as bain marie.
can i make the cake 1 day in advance and keep in fridge, then make ganache the next day and complete the cake?
Hi Jeannie, as I have only 9″ pan on hand, so I do adjust the ingredients portion. I have grease the side and bottom, it’s come out pretty but not as tall as yours. I have invert the cake like the chiffon cake method, however, the cake was drop out from the pan (what a disaster), is it because of I grease the side so the cake cannot stick on?
And the cake is not tall enough and more moist, could it be I using too much eggs (64-67 g per egg, I used 6) and the meringue is not beat firm enough? Or 9” pan is not recommend to use if wants a tall fluffy cake?
Hi, you have to bake longer, not advisable to invert for this cake if you have greased the sides. Test for doneness by pressing lightly on the surface, if squishing, bake longer and test again until no more squishing sounds.
Thanks Jeannie, shall try again. Such a fun to do like an experiment. Haha.
Could be you didn’t mix the batter evenly with meringue, resulting in the heavy batter to sink to the bottom.
Do u also need to pre heat the oven at 190C for 10 mins?
1) can i replace whipping cream with whipped topping?
2) What do you mean by add into the hot cream? What hot cream is that?
Let me rephrase it….Heat up the 100ml of whipping cream and pour it on to the 200g of semi sweet chocolate chips.
No you cannot add whipped topping.
Sorry, question about the ganache again, after the choc chips are stired until smooth, do we need cool it and to whisk it ? How long? High speed? Or just wait until room temp and spread it on cake?
is it possible to do in cupcake form?
Can I use cake flour instead of plain flour?
before adding the yolk, the dough should be smooth and flowy. After mixing in the yolk, it’s natural for the batter to curdle but will be smooth again once milk is added.
safe to eat, it’s cooked just still moist. I would suggest you increase baking time or temperature for next bake.
Safe to eat, just continue to bake a little longer next time.
Hello Jeannie, I tried your cake but it sink terribly when it start to cool, any idea why ? When it was the the oven it rose high like yours although it start to crack within the first 15 mins of bake.
Yes, it’s because your oven is too hot and you have underbaked your cake.
I don’t use the stick to test. Just press lightly on the surface. If I hear squishing sounds and it didn’t spring back, I continue to bake.
I understand you are using aluminium pan. I don’t have one. Can I use the non stick pan instead??
You can try but do not grease anymore.
Thanks! How do i make the ganache shining? Add butter?
Sorry Jeannie. Another question. I will need the cake on Wednesday morning for a birthday party in the morning. If i were to bake and decorate the cake on Monday and refridgerate it, will the cake turn hard and dry? Do i need to brush sugar syrup on the sponge before frosting it?
No problem. Once cake is covered with frosting, it won’t dry out unless you cut it and expose the cake itself. THis cake is very moist so I won’t recommend brushing with sugar syrup. Just frost it as it is.
I’ve managed to make a soft, moist cake with your recipe and tips.
Would it make a lot of difference in the result if I use steam instead of water bath? I only have pans wit removable bottom and i don’t want to submerge them to the water. TIA.
yes, you can try with steam bake, you probably need to adjust the temperature a bit to avoid cracks. Experiment a bit to get good results.
Don’t have corn oil can I change to use olive oil ?
Hi Evon, you can use canola or other vegetable oil but no olive oil which has some fragrance.
Can i use this recipe for Strawberry Shortcake, replacing 20g Cocoa powder with plain flour?
Thanks. What is the temperature i should use if baking 2 cakes using 6″x2″ round tin?
You can use the same temperature but bake shorter time or lower the temperature to avoid cracks but bake about same time. Adjust according to your oven.
Thanks for sharing this lovely recipe. The cake turns out beautifully.
Like to ask, for your recipes with plain flour, can it be done with cake flour as well? or it must be strictly plain flour for this recipe? Plain flour would be AP flour right? Thank you!
Hi Jeannie, saw that you baked this into a sheet cake. Did you use water bath for that?
Thanks. What’s the temperature to use?
sorry to ask in this chocolate sponge cake u didint mention any baking powder or baking soda….so it is not needed?
Yes, not needed, therefore make sure your meringue is stable!
Hi, by whisking the meringue into the cake batter, would it deflate the meringue? As I tried making chiffon cake and i always end up deflating the meringue causing the cake to be dense and not rise as much.
You only use the whisk to fold in, not whisk! Use it as you would a spatula. If you can’t manage that then use a spatula all the way.
For the ganache, can I just pour it over the cake instead of spread it on the cake with spatula?
If pour over the cake, do I need to wait it cool down first only pour over the cake?
It has to be warm otherwise it won’t be shiny.
Do you mean pour the ganache over the cake while it is warm? Do I need to use the 1:1 ratio to make runnier ganache so it can be easier to pour over the cake to let it cover the whole cake without have to spread it by spatula.
Yes 1:1 ratio and pour while the ganache is still warm. Cake should be cooled!
Can I use Anchor UHT whipping cream or Emborg Whipping cream in this chocolate ganache recipe?
I made this Cake a couple of days ago into a black forest cake and it was simply amazing. I would like to make a bigger chocolate sponge cake but do I increase all the ingredients proportionately? Thanks in advance.
I tried some of your sponge cake recipes, they are really good, soft and moist even though they cracked and at times under cooked. FYI, this only happens with round pan but with square pans I do not have any problem. For choc sponge cake I baked at 150C water bath method for 1hr 40mins still it is slightly wet on the top and bottom and cracked at 50mins. However with square pans somehow it turn out all ok. I suspect it is either my eggs are slightly bigger about 63 – 65gms (B size) or my meringue is the culprit. Can you please advise how this happens?
square pans are slightly bigger than round so I would suggest you remove some batter and bake in a small muffin cup?
Will do as you say the next round. Thank you so much for your advise and tips. Much appreciated.
Yes you can use vegetable oil. I have not tried with melted butter.
Hi jeannie, I try to bake this and the Choco Sponge has a stale oil taste. Does your cake has this taste? Is it because of the corn oil?
No such smell. Check your oil for expiry date.
Thanks jeannie. I will. Can I change the oil to melted butter? Do I need to change the measurements?
Melted butter sometimes caused the dough to turn bubbly. I am still trying to figure out the science to this.
The cake is absolutely delicious. Very soft n moist! My Husband said this is the nicest cake I have ever baked!
May I know where could I have gone wrong?
Do not heat the oil too hot, warm will do. When you see the oil making some lines on the bottom of the pot, it’s good enough.
Yes, you can use this cake.
you are a wonderful baker..and even more wonderful to share.
have you baked any sponge or chiffon in a BUNDT pan especially where the recipe says DO NOT GREASE the sides ?
also, have you tried baking other cakes where you could grease the pans and still they will not unmould from the BUNDT pans?
i reached out to the makers of BUNDT PANs as i have difficulty unmoulding from their pans, even if i grease really well.
Their reply is that you can bake any type of cake with their pans if done “properly and handled well”.
Hi Pinky, Always grease and floured bundt pans well no matter what the recipes said or you are going to have a hard time unmoulding. Do not grease only when you are using removable based pans or tube pans. If using seamless non-removable pans, always line the bottom. Greasing the sides is optional as you can run a knife around the sides and invert the cake to unmould.
Hi, I have tried many times water bath the steam cake. But it will always collapsed. I sat near the oven to take care the temperature but it raise n towards the 10 mins it started to collapse. When I tiled over the middle compressed very badly.
What is wrong? I have no problem baking chiffon but when it come to water bath it really a challenged. Can u give me your advise. Thankbu.
If the cake is rising too fast and too high it will collapse. Try to take notes on the temperature used and adjust at every bake until you get the perfect one.
Hi jeannie . the cKe look delicious. Can i use this cake as a base for fondant decoration. Is it firm enough?
I don’t think so. Use the nutella one.
Can I steam this using a wok instead of baking it?
Hi Jeannie, I inverted the cake for cooling after baked. When I unmould the cake, the bottom part became dented. What’s the reason and how to prevent? Tks.
Hi Jeannie, I inverted the cake for cooling after baked. When I unmould the cake, the bottom part became dented. What’s the reason and how to prevent? Im using removable pan and I lined the bottom. Could this be the reason?Tks.
Don’t think that’s the reason. Probably the cake sank quite a bit?
Hi Jeannie, may I know what milk do you use? Thanks.
Hi, i noticed that the initial temperature is 190 for first 10 min than reduced to lower temperature. But will the high temp at the beginning will cause the cake to cook too fast on outside and cause the cake to crack later on?
baking at initial high temperature is to form a crust so that it won’t crack as the cake rises.
Hi Jeannie. Good day to you. Can i use this recipe for a ‘kit kat’ cake? i intend to sandwich using choc whipped cream.
I have tried to make this. Cake is moist and soft but my cake dun rise tall.
N when I inverted the cake tin to cool, the cake fell out of the tin.
Appreciate if you could advise how I can improve on it.
It seems like you have underbaked your cake.Adjust baking time according to your oven.
Hi! Sorry for late reply. I was traveling. You bake this cake using Bain Marie method. Just like baking a cheese cake.
Umm can u plz tell whether the water used for baking be hot cold or normal?
it’s hot water. Just boil your water while you prepare your batter.
What altitude are you at? I am wondering what changes I will need to make.. I am at 7500+ above sea level. I really want to find a good moist choc recipe.
I am staying very near the sea so I would say the elevation is about 10 meter or 32 feet above sea level.
Hi, do you have the recipe for 10inch chocolate cake?
Really love this cake recipe. Texture was perfect!
I would prefer it to be more chocolatey.
I use Valhorna Cocoa powder and added 1 tsp Coffee essence.
Can I add more cocoa powder and lesser Cake flours? How much?
Yes you can or melt about 50g of cooking chocolate and add to the yolk batter. | 2019-04-20T06:46:33Z | https://jeannietay.wordpress.com/2015/07/11/chocolate-spongecake-cooked-dough-method/ |
Thanks so much for all the congrats and well wishes on our news! We are really excited, and it makes it all feel a lot more real to share it with you guys. There were lots of questions in the comments, so I thought I would add some more details and things here today to get all caught up on the past few months – how I’m feeling, how long we’ve known, and more!
We have known for a while now – from as early as one can possibly know! I think because we’ve been through this so many times, I’ve gotten used to just taking those early test strips whenever it was even a remote possibility. Casey didn’t believe me this time until I went out and bought one of those digital ones that said “pregnant!” It has felt like a very longgggggg few months, and I’ve spent most of them honestly choosing to not really think about being pregnant very much. Other than obviously trying to take care of myself as best as possible, I refused to allow myself to go down any emotional paths, for fear of what could potentially happen.
I did some early blood work to test hormone levels, two early ultrasounds to check viability, and lots of early blood panels to make sure things like thyroid, iron, antibodies, etc were all where they should be. Thankfully, so far it has all been good news this time around. We did genetic testing blood work at ten weeks that all came back favorable as well, and that felt like another big hurdle we had passed. We have really taken it day by day this time.
A few people asked, and I probably should have added – that Casey and I knew the reveal results just before we did it with the kids. We needed to look at my testing results in order to choose the right baseball! Plus, once we knew the results were available in my email, it was wayyy too hard not to look! It was nice to have that moment just to ourselves, so Casey and I could experience that together privately. And it made it even more fun then to do with the kids since we knew what to expect – and we knew they would be SO excited. Obviously we truly didn’t care either way, but Cullen has been asking for a sister all along!
We told the boys that I am pregnant a few weeks ago — right after their birthdays. We saved it as their final birthday gift, and sat them down and showed them my ultrasound picture. Cullen screamed with excitement and Graham said, “but where is the present?” They are both really excited and talk about the baby every day. When I am feeling bad in the mornings and gagging into the toilet, the boys like to talk about how baby sister is getting an immediate “time out” in the hospital for making mommy sick. I think they are going to be the best big brothers!
So far this pregnancy has been really different from my others. With the boys I was really, really sick – with lots of puking – for a long time. This time around I have only thrown up a handful of times, and have felt mostly okay other than a steady stream of mild nausea most of the time. Instead of puking I have spontaneous dry heaving spells — so glamorous! My appetite is very limited. I have been living on soup, oatmeal, coffee, and cheese. I am so ready to enjoy normal food again!
My energy level is fine until about 7pm when I completely crash, but it means I’m able to get what I need done in a day and take care of the kids, before falling asleep on the couch immediately after they go to bed. For sure my easiest pregnancy to date (so far) – can’t complain about that! I’m not in maternity clothes yet, but I think my days are numbered on my jeans. I did buy a few new things over the weekend so that im prepared. My last pregnancies were for October babies which meant all summer maternity clothes. I have nothing to wear this winter!
I haven’t been exercising much the last few weeks. I quit OrangeTheory as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I want to be clear that in NO WAY to do I think it is dangerous or a bad choice for pregnant women. But given my history of miscarriages and early issues, I wanted to be overly cautious and just really take it easy this time. Also, my favorite coach there left anyway so my motivation was seriously down. I was running a bit for the first 8-9 weeks of pregnancy but then started to feel pretty yucky in the mornings, so have taken a break for this past month or so. I’m hoping to still be able to pick up some jogging and a whole lot of dog walking starting very soon.
Speaking of dog walking, I had a bad fall A few weeks ago when I was out with Indy, and I broke my finger, which has been a huge bummer and nuisance. I’m in a splint now for a few weeks and hoping it heals correctly and quickly. Once I have more mobility in my hand, my plan is to jump back into Barre3 workouts! I did a ton of Barre3 when I was both pregnant and postpartum with Graham, and I think it’s the perfect low-impact, effective workout for expecting and recovering mamas (and women in many other stages of life!).
As far as the road to getting pregnant goes this time, well as I’ve shared before, it’s been a long one. Fortunately for me, getting pregnant has never really seemed to be an issue. Staying pregnant, on the other hand, proved to be more challenging in recent years. This is my sixth pregnancy, and it’s hard to wrap my mind around that number.
The really frustrating thing about miscarriages, other than the very obvious loss of a pregnancy, was the loss of what felt like precious time. There was the time I’d spent pregnant – usually about two months. And then the time spent actually dealing with and recovering from the miscarriage – a few more weeks. And then the time spent waiting for my period to return – typically at least another full month. There was so, so much waiting and when you are in the dark place of infertility, every month that passes feels like a lost opportunity for what might have been. It felt like years of limbo and lack of any long term planning in our lives.
Through the last few years we have obviously gone back and forth on whether or not we were actively trying for another pregnancy. There were a few stretches where we decided to take a break from trying in order to focus in physical and emotional healing. After my third miscarriage in June, we decided to be happy with our family of four and emotionally and physically move on. And so we were both surprised and excited when I realized I was pregnant yet again in late August. I’m finally in my second trimester now and looking forward to feeling better and enjoying what is absolutely my last pregnancy.
Last but not least, it’s worth mentioning that I don’t know how much pregnancy talk I plan to share this time around. For one thing, it’s the third time around so it all feels sort of redundant! I’m sure I’ll add things here and there but I don’t think I’ll dedicate entire posts to pregnancy info. That doesn’t mean I won’t share anything – it just means more here and there (which, let’s be honest, is how I share most things these days!). But also, I know how hard it was for me to be bombarded by bellies and bumps when I was deeply longing for that myself. And while I’m in NO way implying that those who do share those things are doing anything wrong, I just feel differently about it (for me personally) after my own journey through all of this.
I can only imagine how much people who were struggling wanted to throttle me when I was holding up pictures of fruit in front of my belly six years ago when I was pregnant with Cullen. But I didn’t know any differently, and while I don’t think I did anything wrong, I’d like to be more aware and more sensitive this go round. It is so natural and appropriate to be excited and share that excitement! And while of course we are excited, there is also still a piece of me that will probably be apprehensive until May. Until then, fingers crossed that things continue to go well and our baby girl continues to grow and thrive. Thank you guys so much for all the love!
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Thanks for your sensitive post. I’m currently 20 weeks pregnant after two miscarriages in the last 12 months. Now that I am showing I can’t avoid talking about it with people I hardly know. I wanted to keep it to myself for so long. Everyone keeps asking me if I am excited, and honestly that is not the emotion that I feel. I am happy but anxious, cautiously optimistic. I find myself wanting to talk more about the miscarriages than the current baby because I hope that by being more open, these sort of losses might be normalized and not hidden away in shame.
Thanks for sharing and best wishes to you for a healthy pregnancy.
Yes to everything Elora said. I’m almost 36 weeks, but for the first 20-22 weeks, I was so scared to talk about it, acknowledge it, get excited about it, etc. I didn’t tell work until 17ish weeks and I couldn’t bring myself to post about it on social media until almost 20 weeks. It was only after I was obviously showing that I sort of got forced into talking about it/processing it more. It’s good to know I am not alone. Sending you lots of love and a healthy pregnancy/baby, Elora!
I’m so glad to hear that everything has been coming along smoothly to date! I’ve been doing prenatal yoga on Codyapp during my pregnancy and loved it. I had to give up more strenuous exercise because it depleted me more than was comfortable, but still needed to move and stretch a lot.
It didn’t take me super long to conceive, but I got to the point where every facebook pregnancy announcement made me want to do an eye roll. With that said, all of the bloggers who posted their pictures, symptoms, road to baby, etc. were extremely helpful throughout the process, so know that those posts are valuable.
Congratulations on your pregnancy! I’ve been following your blog for about four years now. It started with reading your recipe blog after I was recuperating from an eating disorder and was learning to enjoy food again. A year or so later I started reading more of your pregnancy/baby related posts, since we were trying to conceive. I just want to say thank you for this post! It really sums up the mixed and complicated feelings you can have when trying to conceive, being pregnant and a young mom.
In the Fall we felt ready to start trying again. And again I was pregnant right away. And again an early miscarriage. I have the same thing that I can’t wrap my head around the number of pregnancies I’ve had (four), yet feel very fortunate and grateful for our sweet girl.
Wishing you a great and healthy pregnancy and lots of joy together.
Congratulations on your pregnancy! Wishing you a great and healthy pregnancy and lots of joy together. | 2019-04-19T10:14:56Z | http://www.dailygarnish.com/2017/11/baby-talk.html |
Fitness Ideas That Any person Can Quickly Find out.
Setting a huge objective like running a marathon or losing 100 extra pounds may not be the most effective method to obtain fit. These goals could feel frustrating and cause you to surrender when you don’t see immediate outcomes. Instead, set little, attainable objectives that you could gradually include right into your way of life.
A really good method to assist you obtain fit is to start consuming green tea. Green tea can be an excellent, all-natural alternative to coffee if you’re very little of a fan of coffee. Eco-friendly tea has been verified to offer the metabolism a boost as well as it also offers power.
Something to keep in mind when working out is to exercise in order. The correct order that needs to be adhered to is to use dumbbells, weights and afterwards equipments. This is since the smaller sized muscles will certainly be worked out by the pinheads and lastly, the equipments can be done as you weary.
If you experience often jammed fingers, it is very important that you tape the obstructed finger to a finger beside it when working out. When you have your fingers taped together this way, you are less most likely to bend your fingers. Additionally, the two fingers you have taped with each other will be stronger.
One of the most underrated aspects of health and fitness is a good nights rest! If you are not well rested just how can you ever anticipate to be encouraged and energised enough for your exercise the next day? It likewise is known by too few individuals that you actually shed calories while sleeping, actually compared to you do watching tv!
Commonly, the very best way to absolutely obtain motivated to slim down is to take a long, sincere take a look at yourself in the mirror. Much of us become used to just what we see and fail to remember exactly how unhealthy we can be, but when we are sincere it will assist us to reassess.
While exercising can be a terrific means to shed some weight, it is actually better at strengthening your body. If you wish to in fact shed body fat after that you must integrate a terrific cardio program together with your weight lifting program. This will aid you to acheive your objectives much faster.
Make sure to remain hydration while doing your work out. You body is mainly constructed from water, and also you have to continuously replenish your water. While you exercise you sweat and you shed a great deal of this water. Make sure to replenish it to execute at your top level.
If you are sick, put in the time to recover instead of working out. This is especially real if you are experiencing symptoms below the head. Your body will primarily be putting its sources in the direction of healing itself instead of trying to develop the muscular tissue you are training for, so any work you do will more than likely be of little advantage. It’s better to relax up.
As you could see, there are numerous much better means to progressively relieve physical fitness into your lifestyle compared to making sweeping lasting objectives. Adhere to the pointers pointed out in this post for making small way of life adjustments to boost your health and fitness as well as prior to you recognize it, one little step each time, you will certainly be on your means to that marathon.
A huge part of individual health and fitness pertains to getting the appropriate details and also putting that details to great use. No one intends to be striving at a physical fitness regimen that is not working. The tips supplied in this write-up make sure to help you reach your physical fitness objectives.
If you are just beginning raising weights, ensure you train to failing. Simply puts, lift weights until you cannot possibly lift any more. This is a great method to leap begin your body and also studies have actually revealed that new lifters can make extraordinary gains with this technique.
If running is part of your health and fitness program as well as you are aiming to increase your rate, take quicker actions, not longer ones. The exact same stride size that really feels natural as well as comfortable to you is likewise your most healthy and balanced. Your feet normally come under the best-balanced and also most safe stride. Pushing on your own to take longer actions, minimizes your balance and also boosts your danger of injury.
Integrate exercise right into your life so that it ends up being typical as well as natural. Study has actually revealed, that in order to be healthy, you should be energetic every day. This is one reason medical professionals advise easy things like strolling the dog, taking the stairs and doing backyard work. Any kind of amount of task deserves doing.
Instead of seeing exercise as something you “need to” do, attempt to see it as something you want to do! Love dancing? After that strike the clubs! Take pleasure in a great walk? Then get your running shoes! Cleaning up your home, strolling with an old friend, prancing around in the backyard with your canine, if it’s something you delight in doing, you’re a lot more most likely to stick with it.
When aiming to determine what you wish to do to obtain workout, make a checklist of points you really want to do. If you can include a workout program with tasks you like, You will certainly be more likely to maintain it given that it is much more enjoyable to you.
Fitness doesn’t revolve around health clubs and also sports arenas. Fitness can be done at home with bodyweight workouts or in the workplace with light stretching. Physical fitness can even involve day to day activities, such as, strolling up the staircases or running to capture the bus. Realizing that being healthy and mosting likely to the health club doesn’t always go together, could aid people realize that they could work out anywhere.
To increase your level of inspiration, go to the gym with a good friend. Tell them all about the objectives that you are aiming to accomplish to ensure that they could assist as well as encourage you to obtain to where you want to be. Favorable inspiration could go a long way in attaining leading outcomes.
Take the ideas that were offered in this write-up and put them to work. You will find much success in reaching your physical fitness goals with the information offered, together with some hard work and also commitment. You could reach your objectives, if you furnish yourself with useful information and apply it to your everyday life.
If your health and fitness regimen is not exactly what it could be, provide it some pep as well as pour on the spice, with some reliable ideas that make good sense. Keep on your own inspired with several of the audio suggestions you could discover in this post. Make your health and fitness regular all that it could be.
When you are exercising your arms, it is encouraged to work with one arm each time. By doing it by doing this, you will get better sets. Also, servicing one arm each time enables your other arm to remainder as well as could prevent numerous muscular tissue injuries.
An excellent way to earn certain you routinely do as long as you could to obtain fit is to take a buddy to the fitness center with you. When you take pals to workout with you they not just make sure you don’t slack on mosting likely to the fitness center, however they aid inspire you when you’re there too. Exercising with each other likewise soothes the tension and also stress and anxiety of going to the gym alone.
Working out properly in order to remain active as well as reduce weight does not suggest you have to go out and also purchase expensive tools or join a health club. Several of the most effective exercises you can potentially do can be executed with just your body. Consider toe-touches, sit-ups, push-ups, grinds, jumping-jacks, as well as running in position.
One point you should do is make sure that you work out all areas of your body. You do not should work out every location of your body daily, but instead have a routine of doing different things and a few of the very same workouts daily. It is necessary to exercise all areas of your body with different exercises.
Chances are that you might be sore complying with an exercise, however that doesn’t imply that you must automatically stand out a Tylenol or Advil. Researches have suggested that these as well as other non-prescription pain medicines do not give visible pain relief for post-workout muscle aches. What’s even more, they may really hinder muscle mass development when taken immediately complying with a workout session.
A wonderful tip to obtain fit is to stay energetic when you obtain home from job. A great deal of people get home from job sensation tired, and make excuses to be lazy. You do not wish to fall under that trap. Choose a stroll or meet up with some good friends.
Exactly how usually you toughness train will depend upon the goals you have actually established on your own. If you wish to get bigger and stronger muscles, you should do toughness training exercise sessions less usually. If your fitness goal is to obtain leaner, a lot more defined muscle mass, you should have a lot more strength training sessions.
Understanding how to include the pep and seasoning to your health and fitness routine is easy with the suggestions in this write-up. Inspiration will certainly be no worry when you have a physical fitness plan that is based upon audio guidance and also made just for you. Your health and fitness will certainly be exactly what you desire it to be, beginning today.
Previous: Tips To assist You Obtain Fit And Healthy!
Next: Looking To Obtain Fit Now? Comply with These Tips! | 2019-04-19T10:37:58Z | http://easyworkoutroutines.com/2017/07/11/fitness-ideas-person-can-quickly-find/ |
T: “Do you want to build a temperature logger with Prometheus and a DS18B20+?
It later turned out that that co-worker had been enlisted by yet another individual to provide a temperature logger for their project of brewing cider, to monitor the temperature during fermentation. Since I had all the hardware at hand (to wit, a Raspberry Pi 2 that I wasn’t using for anything and temperature sensors provided by the above co-worker), I threw something together. It also turned out that the deadline was quite short (brewing began just two days after this initial exchange), but I made it work in time.
The DS18B20 digital thermometer provides 9-bit to 12-bit Celsius temperature measurements … communicates over a 1-Wire bus that by definition requires only one data line (and ground) for communication with a central microprocessor. … Each DS18B20 has a unique 64-bit serial code, which allows multiple DS18B20s to function on the same 1-Wire bus. Thus, it is simple to use one microprocessor to control many DS18B20s distributed over a large area.
Indeed, this is a very easy device to interface with. But even given the svelte hardware needs (power, data and ground signals), writing some code that speaks 1-Wire is not necessarily something I’m interested in. Fortunately, these sensors are very commonly used with the Raspberry Pi, as illustrated by an Adafruit tutorial published in 2013.
With that configuration, one simply needs to wire the sensor up. The w1-gpio device tree configuration by default uses GPIO 4 on the Pi as the data line, then power and grounds need to be connected and a pull-up resistor added to the data line (since 1-Wire is an open-drain bus).
The kernel periodically scans the 1-Wire bus for slaves and creates a directory for each device it detects. In this instance, there is one slave on the bus (my temperature sensor) and it has serial number 000004b926f1. Reading its w1_slave file (provided by the w1-therm driver) returns the bytes that were read on both lines, a summary of transmission integrity derived from the message checksum on the first line, and t=x on the second line, where x is the measured temperature in milli-degrees Celsius. Thus, the measured temperature above was 25.687 degrees.
While it’s fairly easy to locate and read these files in sysfs from a program, I found a Python library that further simplifies the process: w1thermsensor provides a simple API for detecting and reading 1-wire temperature sensors, which I used when implementing the bridge for capturing temperature readings (detailed more later).
I wanted to verify for myself how the 1-wire interfacing worked so here are the details of what I’ve discovered, presented because they may be interesting or helpful to some readers. Most documentation of how to perform a given task with a Raspberry Pi is limited to comments like “just add this line to some file and do the other thing!” with no discussion of the mechanics involved, which I find very unsatisfying.
The line added to /boot/config.txt tells the Rapberry Pi’s boot loader (a version of Das U-Boot) to pass the w1-gpio.dtbo device tree overlay description to the kernel. The details of what’s in that overlay can be found in the kernel source tree at arch/arm/boot/dts/overlays/w1-gpio-overlay.dts.
This in turn pulls in the w1-gpio kernel module, which is part of the upstream kernel distribution- it’s very simple, setting or reading the value of a GPIO port as requested by the Linux 1-wire subsystem.
Confusingly, if we examine the dts file describing the device tree overlay, it can take a pullup option that controls a rpi,parasitic-power parameter. The documentation says this “enable(s) the parasitic power (2-wire, power-on-data) feature”, which is confusing. 1-Wire is inherently capable of supplying parasitic power to slaves with modest power requirements, with the slaves charging capacitors off the data line when it’s idle (and being held high, since it’s an open-collector bus). So, saying an option will enable parasitic power is confusing at best and probably flat wrong.
By also connecting the pullup GPIO to the data line (or putting a FET in there like the datasheet suggests), the w1-gpio driver will set the pullup line to logic high for a requested time, then return it to Hi-Z where it will idle. But for my needs (cobbling something together quickly), it’s much easier to not even bother with parasite power.
In conclusion for this section: I don’t know what the pullup option for the 1-Wire GPIO overlay actually does, because enabling it and removing the external pull-up resistor from my setup causes the bus to stop working. The documentation is confusingly imprecise, so I gave up on further investigation since I already had a configuration that worked.
To capture store time-series data representing the temperature, per the co-worker’s original suggestion I opted to use Prometheus. While it’s designed for monitoring the state of computer systems, it’s plenty capable of storing temperature data as well. Given I’ve used Prometheus before, it seemed like a fine option for this application though on later consideration I think a more robust (and effortful) system could be build with different technology choices (explored later in this post).
The Raspberry Pi with temperature sensor in my application is expected to stay within range of a WiFi network with internet connectivity, but this network does not permit any incoming connections, nor does it permit connections between wireless clients. Given I wanted to make the temperature data available to anybody interested in the progress of brewing, there needs to be some bridge to the outside world- thus Prometheus should run on a different machine from the Pi.
Having connected the thermometer to the Pi and set up Prometheus, we now need to glue them together such that Prometheus can read the temperature. The usual way is for Prometheus to make HTTP requests to its known data sources, where the response is formatted such that Prometheus can make sense of the metrics. There is some support for having metrics sources push their values to Prometheus through a bridge (that basically just remembers the values it’s given until they’re scraped), but that seems inelegant given it would require running another program (the bridge) and goes against the how Prometheus is designed to work.
I’ve published the source for the metrics exporter I ended up writing, and will give it a quick description in the remnants of this section.
The easiest solution to providing a service over HTTP is using the http.server module, so that’s what I chose to use. When the program starts up it scans for temperature sensors and stores them. This has a downside of never returning data if a sensor is accidentally disconnected at startup, but detection is fairly slow and only doing it at startup makes it clearer if sensors are accidentally disconnected during operation, since reading them will fail at that point.
The request handler has a method that builds the whole response at once, which is just plain text based on a simple template.
do_GET is called by BaseHTTPRequestHandler for all HTTP GET requests to the server. Since this server doesn’t really care what you want (it only exports one thing- metrics), it completely ignores the request and sends back metrics.
# We're careful to send a content-length, so keepalive is allowed.
The http.server API is somewhat cumbersome in that it doesn’t try to handle setting Content-Length on responses to allow clients to keep connections open between requests, but at least in this case it’s very easy to set the Content-Length on the response and correctly implement HTTP 1.1. The Content-Type used here is the one specified by the Prometheus documentation for exposition formats.
The rest of the program is just glue, for the most part. The console_entry_point function is the entry point for the w1therm_prometheus_exporter script specified in setup.py. The network address and port to listen on are taken from the command line, then an HTTP server is started and allowed to run forever.
As a Python program with a few non-standard dependencies, installation of this server is not particularly easy. While I could sudo pip install everything and call it sufficient, that’s liable to break unexpectedly if other parts of the system are automatically updated- in particular the Python interpreter itself (though Debian as a matter of policy doesn’t update Python to a different release except as a major update, so it shouldn’t happen without warning). What I’d really like is the ability to build a single standalone program that contains everything in a convenient single-file package, and that’s exactly what PyInstaller can do.
A little bit of wrestling with pyinstaller configuration later (included as the .spec file in the repository), I had successfully built a pretty heavy (5MB) executable containing everything the server needs to run. I placed a copy in /usr/local/bin, for easy accessibility in running it.
# a tmpfs to unpack itself in.
This unit includes rather more protection than is probably very useful, given the machine is single-purpose, but it seems like good practice to isolate the server from the rest of the system as much as possible.
DynamicUser will make it run as a system user with ID semi-randomly assigned each time it starts so it doesn’t look like anything else on the system for purposes of resource (file) ownership.
ProtectSystem makes it impossible to write to most of the filesystem, protecting against accidental or malicious changes to system files.
ProtectHome makes it impossible to read any user’s home directory, preventing information leak from other users.
PrivateTmp give the server its own private /tmp directory, so it can’t interfere with temporary files created by other things, nor can its be interfered with- preventing possible races which could be exploited.
Having built the HTTP server, I needed a way to get data from it to Prometheus. As discussed earlier, the Raspberry Pi with the sensor is on a WiFi network that doesn’t permit any incoming connections, so how can Prometheus scrape metrics if it can’t connect to the Pi?
One option is to push metrics to Prometheus, using the push gateway. However, I don’t like that option because the push gateway is intended mostly for jobs that run unpredictably, in particular where they can exit without warning. This isn’t true of my sensor server. PushProx provides a rather better solution, wherein clients connect to a proxy which forwards fetches from Prometheus to the relevant client, though I think my ultimate solution is just as effective and simpler.
Installed as /etc/systemd/system/[email protected], this unit file tells systemd that we want to start autossh when the network is online and try to ensure it always stays online. I’ve increased RestartSec from the default 100 milliseconds because I found that even with the dependency on network-online.target, ssh could fail when the system was booting up with DNS lookup failures, then systemd would give up. Increasing the restart time means it takes much longer for systemd to give up, and in the meantime the network actually comes up.
scrape_interval: 15s # By default, scrape targets every 15 seconds.
That’s pretty self-explanatory; Prometheus will fetch metrics from port 9000 on the same machine (which is actually an SSH tunnel to the Raspberry Pi), and do so every 15 seconds. When the Pi gets the request for metrics, it reads the temperature sensors and returns their values.
I included InfluxDB in the setup to get arbitrary retention of temperature data- Prometheus is designed primarily for real-time monitoring of computer systems, to alert human operators when things appear to be going wrong. Consequently, in the default configuration Prometheus only retains captured data for a few weeks, and doesn’t provide a convenient way to export data for archival or analysis. While the default retention is probably sufficient for this project’s needs, I wanted better control over how long that data was kept and the ability to save it as long as I liked. So while Prometheus doesn’t offer that control itself, it does support reading and writing data to and from various other databases, including InfluxDB (which I chose only because a package for it is available in Debian without any additional work).
Unfortunately, the version of Prometheus available in Debian right now is fairly old- 1.5.2, where the latest release is 2.2. More problematic, while Prometheus now supports a generic remote read/write API, this was added in version 2.0 and is not yet available in the Debian package. Combined with the lack of documentation (as far as I could find) for the old remote write feature, I was a little bit stuck.
The first option just makes Prometheus keep its data longer than the default, whereas the others tell it how to write data to InfluxDB. I determined where InfluxDB listens for connections by looking at its configuration file /etc/influxdb/influxdb.conf and making a few guesses: a comment in the http section there noted that “these (HTTP endpoints) are the primary mechanism for getting data into and out of InfluxDB” and included the settings bind-address=":8086" and auth-enabled=false, so I guessed (correctly) that telling Prometheus to find InfluxDB at http://localhost:8086/ should be sufficient.
Visit https://enterprise.influxdata.com to register for updates, InfluxDB server management, and monitoring.
The fermentation temperature is quite stable, with daily variation of less than one degree in either direction from the baseline.
I later improved the temperature server to handle SIGHUP as a trigger to scan for sensors again, which is a slight improvement over restarting it, but not very important because the server is already so simple (and fast to restart).
On reflection, using Prometheus and scraping temperatures is a very strange way to go about solving the problem of logging the temperature (though it has the advantage of using only tools I was already familiar with so it was easy to do quickly). Pushing temperature measurements from the Pi via MQTT would be a much more sensible solution, since that’s a protocol designed specifically for small sensors to report their states. Indeed, there is no shortage of published projects that do exactly that more efficiently than my Raspberry Pi, most of them using ESP8266 microcontrollers which are much lower-power and can still connect to Wi-Fi networks.
Getting sensor readings through an MQTT broker and storing them to be able to graph them is not quite as trivial as scraping them with Prometheus, but I suspect there does exist a software package that does most of the work already. If not, I expect a quick and dirty one could be implemented with relative ease.
On the other hand, running a device like that which is internet-connected but is unlikely to ever receive anything remotely looking like a security update seems ill-advised if it’s meant to run for anything but a short amount of time. In that case having the sensor be part of a Zigbee network instead, which does not permit direct internet connectivity and thus avoids the fraught terrain of needing to protect both the device itself from attack and the data transmitted by the device from unauthorized use (eavesdropping) by taking ownership of that problem away from the sensor.
It remains possible to forward messages out to an MQTT broker on the greater internet using some kind of bridge (indeed, this is the system used by many consumer “smart device” platforms, like Philips’ Hue though I don’t think they use MQTT), where individual devices connect only to the Zigbee network, and a more capable bridge is responsible for internet connectivity. The problem of keeping the bridge secure remains, but is appreciably simpler than needing to maintain the security of each individual device in what may be a heterogeneous network.
It’s even possible to get inexpensive off-the-shelf temperature and humidity sensors that connect to Zigbee networks like some sold by Xiaomi, offering much better finish than a prototype-quality one I might be able to build myself, very good battery life, and still capable of operating in a heterogenous Zigbee network with arbitrary other devices (though you wouldn’t know it from the manufacturer’s documentation, since they want consumers to commit to their “platform” exclusively)!
So while my solution is okay in that it works fine with hardware I already had on hand, a much more robust solution is readily available with off-the-shelf hardware and only a little bit of software to glue it together. If I needed to do this again and wanted a solution that doesn’t require my expertise to maintain it, I’d reach for those instead.
Reluctantly powered by atomic badgers. Contents licensed under unless otherwise noted. | 2019-04-18T23:38:46Z | http://beta.taricorp.net/2018/temperature-logger/ |
If he truly cared for these people he would have taken the time to get the facts straight. Remember he’s a showman. The bigger the better.
In expressing his condolences to those impacted by the Sri Lanka blasts, President Donald Trump initially claimed incorrectly that millions had died in the South Asia country on Easter Sunday.
At least 138 people were killed in what appears to be coordinated attacks as the death toll is expected to increase, according to multiple media reports. Hundreds were wounded in a series of explosions that targeted churches and hotels frequented by tourists around the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, the Associated Press and CNN report.
Trump offered support for Sri Lanka in the early morning tweet. “Heartfelt condolences from the people of the United States to the people of Sri Lanka on the horrible terrorist attacks on churches and hotels that have killed at least 138 million people and badly injured 600 more. We stand ready to help,” the president said.
The president deleted the original tweet and added a corrected version with the nearly 140 people dead figure in the blasts.
Trump’s tweets come hours after Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe issued his own statement on Twitter cautioning against spreading unverified reports.
These 10 diabetes superfoods can help you control your blood glucose levels, lose weight or maintain a healthy weight and prevent heart disease. That’s great news for people with diabetes! Learn more about these superfoods and how to incorporate them into your daily nutrition plan.
Blueberries contain both insoluble fibre (which flushes fat out of your system) and soluble fibre (which slows down the emptying of your stomach, and improves blood sugar control). Eat a handful of fresh berries with a meal, or sprinkle them on yogurt or oatmeal.
2. NutsAlmonds, cashews and walnuts contain heart-healthy omega 3 fats, and their fibre content also helps you feel full. One ounce of these nuts makes a great between-meal snack; you can also add a handful of nuts to a salad or sprinkle them over yogurt. Learn more about the health benefits of nuts from our dietitian here.
3. BeansAll beans – whether you prefer kidney, pinto, navy, cannellini or black beans – are packed with protein and cholesterol-lowering fibre. In fact, just ½ a cup of beans provides you with ⅓ of your daily fibre requirement. They’re also good sources of magnesium and potassium. Add beans to soups and stews, or sprinkle them on top of a salad.
Fish is one of the best meal-planning options you can go for. It’s high in omega 3 fats and rich in protein. A fish-rich diet can also reduce your risk of stroke. Excellent fish choices include salmon, trout, herring, albacore tuna, mackerel, halibut and sardines. Broil, bake or grill fish, instead of deep frying, to ensure you get the maximum health benefits. Learn more about why fish should be on your menu.
Spinach, collards, kale and arugula are incredibly low in calories and carbohydrate, so it’s impossible to eat too much! Many dark greens also contain a compound called sulforaphane, which helps to improve blood sugar control and prevent heart disease. Enjoy a large salad (with a low-fat dressing) for lunch, or add greens to soups and stews.
When selecting grains, it’s the germ and bran of the whole grain you’re after, as they contain all the nutrients that a grain product has to offer. Whole grains are known to reduce the risk of heart disease by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels. They’re also digested slowly, so they’ll help you feel full longer. Start your day with a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, cook brown or wild rice instead of white rice, and choose whole grain breads for sandwiches to incorporate whole grains into your everyday diet.
It’s well known that yogurt is an excellent source of calcium, helping to build strong bones and teeth. It’s also an excellent source of vitamin D and protein. However, Greek yogurt is especially high in protein, and generally contains twice as much as regular yogurt (Greek yogurt contains 8 grams of protein in a 100-gram serving, vs. 4 grams for regular yogurt). Eat a cup of yogurt for breakfast, and use Greek yogurt to make delicious and creamy sauces and salad dressings. Learn more about the health benefits of yogurt here.
A diet that’s rich in olive oil (for example, the Mediterranean diet) is not only good for people with diabetes, it can also help to prevent or delay the onset of the disease. That’s because extra virgin olive oil reduces blood sugar levels more than other kinds of fats, and is also rich in antioxidant nutrients that protect cells from damage and prevents the development of heart disease. Use olive oil in salad dressings, or in marinades or sauces for meat, fish, poultry and vegetables.
Cinnamon and turmeric have both been shown to reduce blood sugar levels. People who consume one or more grams of cinnamon every day also have reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The active ingredient in turmeric is called curcumin, a compound that helps to lower cholesterol levels and other symptoms linked to obesity. Use these delicious spices when making soups, stews and curries.
This starchy vegetable is chock full of vitamin A and fibre. Sweet potatoes are also known to lower blood glucose levels. Try them in place of regular potatoes for a lower glycemic index alternative. Roasting or baking sweet potatoes (with a drizzle of olive oil) is a delicious way to enjoy their health benefits.
Debbie would appreciate and be grateful for your support!
State regulators have reached a deal with Charter Communications after a year-long spat.
Charter Communications will begin offering high-speed internet to more rural customers following a preliminary deal announced Friday between the company and New York State regulators. The deal, if granted final approval by the state Public Service Commission, would settle allegations that Charter — which does business under the brand name Spectrum — has not adequately expanded its rural broadband network.
But how does this affect current Spectrum subscribers? And who will get these new connections? Below, find answers to the most pressing questions about Friday’s agreement.
What did Spectrum promise under the preliminary deal?
Under the terms of this new deal, Spectrum needs to do two things: expand its high-speed broadband service to an additional 80,173 upstate homes and businesses by Sept. 30, 2021, and pay $12 million to help extend broadband to underserved areas.
Spectrum had previously agreed to extend service to 145,000 new addresses by May 2018 as a condition of its merger with Time Warner Cable. Spectrum has laid almost 65,000 new connections thus far, the deal says, leaving 80,000 for future installation.
Jack Quinn, the former congressman-turned-college president, might be the most well-known person finding relief for his Parkinson’s symptoms through working out at Parkinson’s Boxing in Kenmore, but he’s not the only one.
Jennifer Taggart stood in the center of a ring, pointing to a mat painted with grids, diamonds and dots, and instructed her boxer to position his feet parallel to a line. She demonstrated a pair of quick jabs, narrated them with a “Pop! Pop!” and looked her trainee in the eye.
He’s a tall, silvery haired man dressed in black UnderArmour shorts, his hands cocooned in leather boxing gloves.
This is not his usual uniform.
This is Jack Quinn, the former Republican congressman-turned-college president, a man who spent a career in suits and ties and being the boss. But he’s not in command anymore.
A 52-year-old retired state corrections officer says he was roughed up and tackled without warning or good reason by Amherst police as he waited at a medical office back in January.
A retired state corrections officer says he was badly hurt when police grabbed him without warning and threw him to the ground as he waited at an Amherst radiology practice in January.
Amherst police say they were answering a complaint that a man was waving around a handgun in the lobby at Great Lakes Medical Imaging on Park Club Lane.
John P. Nowak Jr., of the Town of Tonawanda, insists he was doing no such thing and, further, he is licensed to carry a pistol.
Nowak, 52, said he suffered a bruised kidney and a meniscus tear in his left knee and developed inflammation in his right elbow. He has filed a notice of claim, the required precursor to a lawsuit, against the Town of Amherst and its Police Department.
What Do You Think is Going on Inside This Building in Italy?
Skiers are enjoying a sauna!
President Trump tweeted this morning, his true feelings about the Muller Report. Today he called it the “Crazy Muller Report” and then added the entire Muller report was filled with lies. Trump made it perfectly clear the “Crazy Muller Report” was total “BULSH-T”. I understood this to mean Trump was ready to tell the truth.
Again, President Trump tweeted this morning that the Crazy Muller report is total “BULL SHI”. This statement opened a door I don’t think he meant to.
Logic then tells me everything in the Crazy Muller Report is true because Trump said it’s total lies. So Trump did all things the report said he didn’t. Now it makes sense. Trump has lost the privilege of runnig the greatest country on earth.
Some guns are banned in the USA. There are so many more that must be banned.
If you’re over 30, chances are you remember exactly where you were when you heard about the shooting at Columbine High School. And if you’re under 30, chances are you’ve participated in a school lockdown drill.
20 years ago today, two teenage gunmen killed 12 students and a teacher and wounded more than 20 others, leaving a community devastated and a nation in mourning. Amidst heartbreak and grief, the Columbine tragedy spurred a movement to end gun violence. Today, we carry on this legacy, fighting for safer schools for our children and safer communities for all of us.
Comment from the amhersttimes.com: Our prayers go up for the people who were killed that day. Our loving concern continues for all of the loved ones these victims left behind. | 2019-04-22T10:11:15Z | https://amhersttimes.com/category/localnews/ |
NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. / CRWE PRESS RELEASE / August 11, 2016 – Clean Energy Fuels Corp., (NASDAQ: CLNE) announced that it has been selected as a supplier to provide natural gas upgrades to facilities in Cummins Inc.’s Distribution Business Unit across North America. This will allow Clean Energy to assist Cummins with their continued support for natural gas vehicle implementations.
Clean Energy’s Facility Modification Services (FMS) provides natural gas facility assessments and design/build services for the natural gas industry assisting customers in North America. The group works with public and private agencies to support their transition and opportunities the natural gas vehicle provide.
Clean Energy FMS is also installing its proprietary NGV Easy Bay™ for a Ryder System, Inc. facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The NGV Easy Bay™, the first code-compliant industrial fabric barrier system, is scalable and can accommodate a single bay isolation project, or be used to divide a large building into multiple bays. It is retractable for easy storage and can even be relocated to another facility.
The FMS team is also providing design and build services for three McNeilus Truck & Manufacturing facilities, and anticipates beginning construction in early 2017.
Midway Ford Truck Center, Inc. and Clean Energy held a ceremony on August 9th to open a compressed natural gas (CNG) station in Kansas City, Missouri. The station is adjacent to vehicle up-fitter businesses that will provide CNG conversions and vehicle equipment for Ford Commercial Trucks equipped with CNG-prepped gasoline engines, including Transit Van and F-150 pickup trucks which are both manufactured at the nearby Ford Assembly Plant.
Baldor Specialty Foods, one of the largest distributors of fresh produce and specialty foods in the North East, has begun making the transition to natural gas for its fleet after testing a CNG truck provided by Clean Energy. Headquartered in the Bronx, New York, Baldor saw the opportunity to operate the Class-8 CNG truck as a unique way to explore the benefits of fueling with natural gas first hand. Baldor will be fueling at Clean Energy’s National Grid station in Everett, Massachusetts.
Clean Energy expanded its America’s Natural Gas Highway™ with a ribbon cutting ceremony in July to open a new CNG station in Conley, Georgia. Anchor Fleet G&P Trucking Company, and additional fleet representatives, were present to celebrate the occasion. The public liquefied natural gas (LNG) station is expected to dispense approximately 270,000 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGEs) per year.
In addition to opening truck-friendly stations, Clean Energy has added Davenport Transport, a United States Postal Service carrier based out of Blairsville, Georgia, to its list of trucking customers. Additionally, existing customer Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest baker in the United States, has recently added additional natural gas vehicles to its alternative-fuel fleet.
The City of Santa Clarita has extended a 4 year agreement with Clean Energy for the operation & maintenance of the city’s CNG fueling stations, which represents approximately 1.3 million GGEs per year. The city has continued to expand their CNG fleet of more than 70 vehicles within the Transit Department, and has also expanded its CNG fleet in the pool and Public Works departments.
Clean Energy has been awarded a construction agreement with the City of Culver City, California to replace and install new CNG equipment at the city’s Transportation Department. This project will enhance Culver City’s existing fueling facilities, and will support the continued success of their expanding CNG program of more than 100 CNG vehicles.
Atlas Refuel has contracted with Clean Energy to build, own and operate a natural gas fueling station at San Jose International Airport. The public station will support airport and other fleets and is anticipated to dispense approximately 300,000 gasoline gallon equivalents (GGE’s) per year.
The Sacramento County Airport System has contracted with Clean Energy for a multi-year repair and maintenance agreement for its Sacramento International Airport station. Clean Energy will perform repairs and take over maintenance at the station which will fuel an anticipated 500,000 GGEs per year to airport and municipal vehicles.
The Port of Oakland has extended Clean Energy’s ten-year operation & maintenance agreement for another five years with an additional five year option for the Oakland International Airport station. The station provides fueling services to the port authority’s natural gas fleet, as well to vehicles which service the airport.
Clean Energy has been commissioned to construct a CNG station for the Kent School District in Kent, Washington. The station, which will also be maintained by Clean Energy, is expected to fuel 20 buses and distribute approximately 40,000 GGEs per year for the 4th largest school district in the state.
Valley Metro, the regional public transportation agency for greater Phoenix, has extended a CNG station operations and maintenance agreement with Clean Energy for an additional 5 years. Such agreement covers Valley Metro’s Mesa facility and represents approximately 1.4 million GGEs per year. Clean Energy also operates and maintains Valley Metro’s Tempe natural gas fueling facility.
Desert Sands Unified School District has awarded Clean Energy a three-year maintenance contract for its station in La Quinta, California. The station will support the district’s 40 CNG buses, which represents as much as 90,000 GGEs per year.
Homewood Disposal, a refuse company servicing over 12,500 commercial customers throughout Indiana and Illinois, held a ribbon cutting ceremony last Thursday to unveil its new CNG fueling station in Homewood, Illinois. Clean Energy constructed, and will provide operations and maintenance services for the station, which includes 40 time-fill posts and will begin offering fueling to the general public next month.
The City of Scottsdale has renewed its operations & maintenance contract with Clean Energy for an additional year. The station, which supports the city’s natural gas refuse fleet, dispenses over 300,000 GGEs per year.
Republic Services, one of the nation’s largest refuse companies, opened a new CNG station in Wilsonville, Oregon on June 10th. The station, was built and will be operated and maintained by Clean Energy.
In addition to these projects, Clean Energy Fuels announced it obtained $19.5 million in grant funding during the second quarter of 2016. The grants, awarded by multiple states, provide funding to Clean Energy and its customers for 369 natural gas vehicles and a station construction project. The award includes a $1.4 million grant by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for Ruan Transportation Management Systems to purchase 27 CNG class-8 trucks. Ruan is one of the largest, family-owned transportation providers in the country and provides dedicated contract transportation and supply chain solutions to customers across the country.
Natural gas fuel costs less than gasoline or diesel, depending on local market conditions. The use of natural gas fuel also reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 21 percent and up to 90 percent with the use of renewable natural gas. In addition, nearly all natural gas consumed in North America is produced in North America.
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE) is the leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America. We build and operate CNG and LNG fueling stations; manufacture CNG and LNG equipment and technologies; develop RNG production facilities; and deliver more CNG and LNG fuel than any other company in the U.S. Clean Energy also sells Redeem™ RNG fuel and believes it is the cleanest transportation fuel commercially available, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%. For more information, visit www.CleanEnergyFuels.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including without limitation statements about numbers of vehicles expected to be deployed, amounts of natural gas fuel expected to be consumed, the completion of natural gas upgrades and vehicle facilities, and the benefits of natural gas relative to gasoline and diesel. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including, without limitation, the price of natural gas relative to gasoline and diesel, the cost and operating experience associated with natural gas vehicles, and permitting and other factors affecting construction. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this press release and, unless otherwise required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Additionally, the reports and other documents the Company files with the SEC (available at www.sec.gov) contain risk factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. | 2019-04-21T04:43:45Z | http://crwepressrelease.com/press-release/10669/clean-energy-selected-as-preferred-vendor-for-cummins-facility-modifications-opens-multiple-stations-and-extends-long-term-contracts- |
GSFC was incorporated in 1962 and its plants went into production of fertilizers in 1967. In its very first decade of existence, GSFC became known for its path-breaking achievements, to name a few, it was the first industrial complex in the country set up in joint sector, first company to set up fertilizer plants within a short span of two years of getting requisite approvals, it was the first industrial project to secure direct and active equity participation of farmers, the first fertilizer unit to get assistance from IDBI's Assistance Fund, and the first Company to adopt the Steam Naphtha Reforming process for manufacture of Ammonia.
GSFC has set up the first DAP fertilizer complex in India at Sikka, Jamnagar on the west coast of Gujarat. Its technical edge as well as engineering resources acquired during its very first decade have been catalysts in providing impetus to its expansion and diversification strategies spread over the next four decades.
Originally conceived and started as a Fertilizer company with an objective of providing agricultural boost to the farmers in the State of Gujarat and at the same time making Gujarat self-sufficient in fertilizers. Visualising the market pulse well in time, the Company, as a structured diversification strategy, ventured into the foray of industrial chemicals segment. Having this objective in mind, Company's integrated complex at Vadodara has been so designed and structured that it shall be more or less self sustained by using the by-products generated by its fertilizer group of plants.
GSFC was the first Company in India to establish a Caprolactam plant in the year 1974. This was the apt time when Caprolactam was in great demand mainly for the manufacture of downstream products like nylon yarn, tyre cord etc. As a way forward, it led to expansion into Nylon-6 production. GSFC was also the first to recover Argon gas from purge gas, thus entering into the foray of industrial gases by making Argon gas which is prominently used in welding and this was done way back in the year 1981.
GSFC also has to its credit of setting up India's first Melamine plant. The expansion and diversification of GSFC's product portfolio unfolded new growth vistas to the nation by providing much needed fertilizers for agricultural growth and the chemicals for industrial growth.
It is rightly said that you need to take one step backwards if you want to stride forward and this adage equally applied to GSFC and the phase between 1999-2002 was a phase of one step backwards which in fact facilitated endless strides forward. GSFC never ever then looked back. The period between 1999 to 2001 was a phase where it was veering on the brink of a cash crunch. This phase of GSFC was attributed to many reasons. To name a few are increased energy costs, technical hiccups and delayed commissioning of new Ammonia plant after a gestation period of eight years and resultant increased project cost, excess outflow of interest etc. This new Ammonia plant continued with technical snags which could stabilise only by end of 2003. The liquidity problems further compounded due to expansion of DAP capacity at Sikka (1999-2003) which required infusion of Rs. 180 Crores. The Government of India also recovered subsidy amounting to Rs. 375 Crores. The drought during this period further depressed prices and demand for all products. There was also a shortage of gas that resulted into use of costly LSHS and Naphtha. The margins in Melamine and Caprolactam, GSFC's blue chip products, were low in this period due to depressed industrial demand internationally.
The turnaround story of the Company began from FY 2003-2004. Under able leadership and timely intervention of then Hon. Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi in taking certain bold policy decisions, the company could work on the strategies to enhance its productivity, bring down costs through technical innovations and improved management information systems. The revival measures were fully supported by Govt. of Gujarat and the Company was given complete autonomy to roll back to the track. Finally the major factors that brought company out of red were improvement in the Operational Efficiency, Reducing Cost of Sales, Regenerating Confidence in Suppliers & Customers, Moral boosting of employees, strategizing foray in the global market, consolidating through further Expansions, focusing on ideal product mix to insulate performance from downtrends etc.
Govt. of Gujarat provided the proactive support to GSFC, which brought out a scheme of deferred sales tax of an amount up to Rs. 45 Crores per year for five years, thus improving the Company's cash flow position. Another important breakthrough was the increased availability of natural gas in Gujarat, from GAIL, GSPC and Gujarat Gas, which substituted costly Naphtha and LSHS.
All these measures finally resulted into GSFC becoming a financially strong, profitable and stable Company. Coming out of Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR), GSFC approached the CDR Cell, this time to accelerate the debt repayment. The debt, which was scheduled to be completely paid by 2013, was re-paid in 2006.
As a step towards backward integration as well as a part of global trotting for feed-stocks has participated in a joint venture in Tunisia viz. Tunisian Indian Fertilizers S.A. (TIFFERT), this would ensure the consistent supply 1, 80,000 TPA of additional Phosphoric Acid per annum required for the production of DAP. GSFC has also acquired a strategic stake in M/s Karnalyte Resources Incorporation in Canada. This secures availability of Potash for the Company in long run.
The Company during the period of past half decade has entered the Second Green Revolution phase by developing alternative energy generation facilities and initiating the spread of drip irrigation systems in Gujarat. The Company has provided valuable services to farmers by way of agricultural inputs and marketing support.
Entering the second green revolution, GSFC continued its role of encouraging agricultural growth by developing and supplying Bio-Fertilizers and Bio-technology products to the farmers under one roof. The Company has also advanced Tissue Culture facilities to support horticulture and other crops. In order to provide farmers with high-tech inputs, GSFC has formed 100% subsidiary GSFC Agrotech Limited for research and production of liquid bio-fertilizers, Plant Growth Promoters-Sardar Amin Granules/liquid, Tissue culture and Seeds.
GSFC also promoted Gujarat Green Revolution Company Limited (GGRC) to promote drip-irrigation and sprinkler irrigation systems amongst farmers so as to optimize the usage of water and implementation/monitoring the Government subsidy scheme in co-ordination with GSFC.
GSFC is also contemplating an investment outlay of approx. Rs. 8,000 Crores for setting up an integrated fertilizer and petrochemicals complex at Dahej.
GSFC could achieve consistent profitability record and it has touched its highest profits during the period 2001-02 to 2012-13. Its net profit touched ever highest level of Rs.759 Crores during 2011-12 and the total profit after tax during 2001-02 to 2012-13 was Rs.3594 Crores, as compared to total profit after tax of Rs. 1166 Crores earned during the period 1988-89 to 1999-2000.
Significantly, GSFC, which was under loss in the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 on account of various factors, not only turned around but also earned its highest ever profit. Turn-over per share increased from Rs.255/- to Rs.665/- per share.
During this period, GSFC diversified into new chemicals like MEK-Oxime and other raw materials such as Phosphoric Acid, Potassic Acid, etc. It also diversified and increased significantly its Fertilizers portfolio. Its Fertilizers manufacturing capacity today stands at 1.7 Million Tons. It also added significantly to its wind energy portfolio which stands at over 150 MW. The total projects invested by GSFC during the period of Hon'ble Chief Minister is Rs. 8340 Crores.
This performance of the company is brought out amply by investments made by domestic institutional investors as well as foreign institutional investors which stands at close to 40% of its total paid up capital.
All these steps are in line with GSFC's mission of becoming a world-class, multi-product, eco-friendly global company contributing to the nation as well as for the welfare of society at large. | 2019-04-19T19:05:43Z | https://gsfclimited.com/aboutus.asp?mnuid=1&fid=1 |
Index of Can Such Things Be?
frequently addressed to the ear of the suddenly dead.
silk into their pigtails. Kwaagh."
"They are swiping my dust!"
the Gulch two years before.
hymn. In the pauses the silence was dreadful.
the goggles that glowed like lamps.
ashes and smoke in all directions, for a moment obscuring everything.
its silence was no less than hideous!
laid hold of the revolver.
chimney as if drawn up by suction.
strangled in the desert, or a lost soul borne away by the Adversary.
It may have been the coyote.
between you and your correspondent. It is a law.
however, he had inherited enough to put him beyond the reach of want.
entered by an open door into the lighted square room of the tower.
him dispelled any sense of his inhospitality.
disappointed in me--non sum qualis eram."
don't know: your Latin is about the same."
gentle tapping, which appeared to come from the wall behind my chair.
communications than we should care to relate. I glanced at Dampier.
my leave. At this he seemed to recover himself.
"Please be seated," he said; "it is nothing--no one is there."
"Pardon me," I said, "it is late. May I call to-morrow?"
from which the sound seemed to come. "See."
was nothing but the sheer blank wall of the tower.
Dampier closed the window and signing me to my seat resumed his own.
explanation. His silence was irritating and made me resentful.
are still in the flesh."
while I tell you the story."
single word from beginning to end.
gravel walk from gate to door.
I had never before observed. My hope was vain; she did not appear.
attention. Nor did I take any action toward making her acquaintance.
bring about my own awakening?
"The course dictated by all this sense and sentiment was obvious.
the fool's paradise in which I lived.
signal. That was all I could elicit, but it was enough--too much.
spoken of the girl with less of reverence than I thought befitting.
not care to hear any. The manner escaped her observation.
with signs and portents, hints of memory and presages of doom?
Necromantius. There is no more to tell."
he passed into the Unknown.
hopeless. I could only be sure that at least it was not love.
me to resolve my psychological doubt.
the while their bodies go fore-appointed ways, unknowing."
of Prague, on which he had urged me to accompany him.
turned a leaf in his book without removing his eyes from the page.
"Doyle," I repeated, "did they save HER?"
thought me but half awake.
"Her? Whom do you mean?"
tell me after a while."
A moment later I asked: "What ship is this?"
Liverpool to New York, three weeks out with a broken shaft.
to pitch the latter overboard."
weeks a passenger on this steamer?"
"Yes, pretty nearly; this is the 3d of July."
"Right as a trivet all the time, and punctual at your meals."
be serious. Was I not rescued from the wreck of the ship Morrow?"
"First tell me what YOU know of her?"
before us, and the poor girl will not know where to go."
"Doyle, what book are you reading?"
gave it to me; she happened to have two copies. Want to see it?"
knew her name and that of the ship she sailed in."
"You talked of her in your sleep," I said.
witnesses who have had ocular proof, and that of the house itself.
but facts within the observation of all are material and controlling.
the manner of its kind its disapproval of dwelling without dwellers.
direction of the dwelling--"this is the place."
a trick, and it looks to me as if you were in it."
left to the other side. Of course if you are afraid of spooks--"
there which were not a part of the structure.
upward turn at what would otherwise have been the point of contact.
others, who stood apart, there was apparently no kindly feeling.
They avoided looking at each other.
everything is right. Are you ready, Mr. Rosser?"
"You will be pleased to remove your outer clothing."
looking bowie-knives, which he drew now from their leather scabbards.
and tested the strength of blade and handle across his lifted knee.
light, "you will place yourself in that corner."
whatever the cause, the effect was startling.
you will not move until you hear the closing of the outer door."
adventure. But the privilege remained without a claimant.
The events that led up to this "duel in the dark" were simple enough.
its correlative mental and moral defect."
for life and should have made her so."
of more liberal views she escaped with a parted throat."
middle toe of the right foot."
"Damn his impudence!" muttered King--"what ought we to do?"
gentlemen is evidently an unfamiliar situation to you."
done nothing to deserve such language."
and the time there could be but one outcome to the quarrel.
to represent me in this matter."
such encounters were possible we shall see.
Adams and two other men who had come out from Marshall to look at it.
alacrity in obedience to the command.
passage into which it opened, a confused heap of men's apparel.
preservation, albeit somewhat defiled by the dust in which they lay.
his own hand, not another object was in the room.
we were dealing with, murderer and coward that he was!"
disturbed intelligence could not rightly comprehend.
which they ended they did not return; they pointed all one way.
in an attitude of rapt attention, horribly pale.
stood. "The middle toe is missing--it was Gertrude!"
been spoken and he had left the stage.
down upon the face of John Mortonson, deceased.
the glass was shattered to bits by the concussion.
forepaw, then walked with dignity from the room.
"I beg your pardon," I said; "I did not see you, sir."
I had heard it. I was not particularly well pleased to hear it now.
"You are Dr. Dorrimore, I think," said I.
"Which I extend with all my heart."
That was not altogether true.
the town, when we reached it, cheerless, forbidding, and desolate.
light in any of the houses nor a living thing in the streets.
discovery that Dr. Dorrimore was living at the same hotel.
to the verge of lunacy."
"For example, how?" asked another, lighting a cigar.
silken ladder into the air, mounting it and disappearing."
"Certainly not: I have seen them too often."
have my own word for it."
my seat I saw a man in evening dress who had just entered the room.
describe only as disagreeably engaging.
rose and put on his overcoat.
"Mr. Manrich," he said, "I am going your way."
going?" Then I said, "I shall be pleased to have your company."
to this dreadful object now so conspicuous in the white moonlight?
white tie, the broad expanse of shirt front pierced by the sword.
white expanse of sidewalk, unbroken from street to street.
though weak and trembling in every limb.
Margaret Corray and her mother, from Oakland.
to my perfect enjoyment of those golden days was the presence of Dr.
Dorrimore, whom I had felt compelled to introduce to the ladies.
a calumny on the dead, a blasphemy against God.
been a gravel path, I saw emerging from shadow the figure of Dr.
his arm. It was Margaret Corray!
"Are Mrs. Corray and her daughter still here?" I asked.
"Nobody of that name has been here."
that I am all right now; tell me the truth."
no guests of that name."
asked: "Where is Dr. Dorrimore?"
since. It was a rough deal he gave you."
Such are the facts of this case. Margaret Corray is now my wife.
chose to submit himself to the experiment, by merely looking at him.
exempted), making all entertain the most extraordinary illusions.
from time to time suggest, is a trifle disquieting."
where he stood and said, "Thank you."
joined me at the hearth, as tranquil as ever.
cutting it short without ceremony.
to give me your attention and you shall hear all about the matter.
ancestor's arrest one night in his own house by a party of Mr.
him up forever. Not the slenderest clew to his fate was ever found.
his disappearance. He had disappeared, and that was all."
"What is your view of the matter--of the justice of it?"
grandfather. I am wearing that watch."
expression, such as is sometimes observed in cases of dementia.
nay, the experiment itself might be a step in his restoration.
certainly. Do you mind showing me the watch?"
in vogue during the eighteenth century.
painting on ivory was a lost art."
is said to resemble me; do you think so?"
in every feature, line, and expression."
years of a wiser, graver life.
him replace it on his person.
resent my pursuit of proof, you will look at it now."
"Damn you! it is two minutes to eleven!"
He shut the case with a sharp snap and put the watch in his pocket.
when John Bartine rises we shall all rise.
knowledge I cannot say if that was true.
Heaven forgive me!--my victim for eternity, there is no more to say.
indeed, they are two souls.
motionless, and the room being small, not very far from the table.
his arms at his sides. He was dead.
evidently men of the vicinity--farmers and woodsmen.
man's effects--in his cabin, where the inquest was now taking place.
The coroner nodded; no one else greeted him.
done with this business to-night."
account of what I suppose I am called back to relate."
probably, from that which you will give here under oath."
as you please. I used manifold paper and have a copy of what I sent.
may go as a part of my testimony under oath."
"But you say it is incredible."
"That is nothing to you, sir, if I also swear that it is true."
his eyes and said: "We will resume the inquest."
The men removed their hats. The witness was sworn.
"What is your name?" the coroner asked.
"You knew the deceased, Hugh Morgan?"
"You were with him when he died?"
"How did that happen--your presence, I mean?"
purpose, however, was to study him and his odd, solitary way of life.
jest in the death chamber conquers by surprise.
"Relate the circumstances of this man's death," said the coroner.
"You may use any notes or memoranda that you please."
passage that he wanted began to read.
looking for quail, each with a shotgun, but we had only one dog.
in the bushes, which we could see were violently agitated.
Morgan's side, cocking my piece as I moved.
as attentive to the place as before.
voice was husky and unnatural. He trembled visibly.
thrown against me with great force.
the hand--at least, I could see none. The other arm was invisible.
position would bring it all into view again.
and fury as I had never heard from the throat of man or brute!
The coroner rose from his seat and stood beside the dead man.
were dreadful lacerations; the skin was torn in strips and shreds.
better view repented their curiosity and turned away their faces.
thing that was new to them being Harker's testimony.
"Gentlemen," the coroner said, "we have no more evidence, I think.
wish to ask you may go outside and consider your verdict."
The foreman rose--a tall, bearded man of sixty, coarsely clad.
asylum did this yer last witness escape from?"
asylum did you last escape?"
rose and solemnly filed out of the cabin.
Harker started to leave, but paused, with his hand on the door latch.
testifying. May I see it? The public would like--"
toward the centre, and again he would stand still, barking furiously.
with images of the thing that emitted them? . . .
all that were within a degree or two of the crest were blotted out.
outline. Ugh! I don't like this." . . .
if they are fanciful I am mad already.
house, MY land. God hates a coward . . .
if he thinks me mad.
night--suddenly, as by revelation. How simple--how terribly simple!
warning or command, high and shrill above the din, but by me unheard.
cathedral are stirred by the bass of the organ.
scale.' I am not mad; there are colors that we cannot see.
"And, God help me! the Damned Thing is of such a color!" | 2019-04-21T20:20:46Z | http://www.fullbooks.com/Can-Such-Things-Be-3.html |
Note: This week, HIN reports live from the Disease Management Congress in Orlando, Florida.
Orlando — Electronic medical records (EMRs) for all Americans may be years away from fruition, but the recent Gulf Coast disasters have moved this issue up on the national agenda. With most medical records destroyed and many of the one million persons displaced by Hurricane Katrina in need of medical care, the Intel Corporation and other companies rapidly fashioned rudimentary EMRs from health claims databases.
Mark Blatt, director of global healthcare strategies, Digital Health Group for Intel, described the process for the 10th annual Disease Management Congress today. ????????????????We quickly scanned claims databases to put something in place. There were many individuals being moved from one rescue center to another without any medical records. Some individuals would receive a tetanus shot at each center. Things were so chaotic the individual did not know which shots they were receiving. After three tetanus shots, some were getting sick.??????????????? The EMRs helped give some order to the process, he said.
Broadband wireless—also known as WiMax— is another technology on the horizon that has been instrumental in improving communications in the aftermath of recent disasters. WiMax can cover areas of up to 35 kilometers (approximately 15 miles), he explained. Communications companies set up WiMax towers during relief efforts on the Gulf Coast and in the recent Indonesia tsunami disaster.
These disasters and the associated loss of medical records have been a wake-up call for both the government and the healthcare industry, Blatt continued. The movement toward a national health information network is accelerating; the federal government just six days ago announced the formation of a committee to develop standards for this effort. With public pressure on, Blatt expects that this network will be viable in the next five or 10 years, if not sooner.
Technological advances are also changing the face of healthcare delivery. We will soon see the use of ????????????????smart tools???????????????—wireless patient monitors, IV pumps, even hospital beds—that can talk to each other and provide a ????????????????closed loop feedback system.??????????????? This technology will change the way a hospital room looks and can be transferred to homes for continued patient monitoring, he said. We may even see these monitoring capabilities as a value-added offering at many hotels, Blatt predicts.
????????????????These tools can get real-time data and process the data into meaningful information for the patient, family and caregivers,??????????????? he said.
Some tools being piloted by Intel to improve quality of care and get and keep patients healthy include the ????????????????presence lamp???????????????—a light that goes on in one home when a friend or relative arrives at another home; ????????????????contextual caller ID??????????????? that provides a caller’s photo, background and even a summary of the last telephone conversation with the caller to aid recall for the elderly and early stage Alzheimers’ patients; and a ????????????????social health solar system,??????????????? a PC-based network to track family members’ contact with elderly parents.
In the face of rising healthcare costs, these monitoring tools are designed to allow the sick and/or elderly patient to remain in their home longer, limiting nursing home stays and the depression that may accompany it, he concluded.
Orlando — With more than 8 million members, Kaiser Permanente has been lauded for raising the bar of excellence in care management. But these days, Paul Wallace, MD, the executive director of Kaiser’s Care Management Institute, is thinking a lot about Kaiser’s own employees and the type of healthcare they receive. Respecting the different perspectives of value of each healthcare stakeholder—patients, providers and payors—and finding common ground is key to improving the overall healthcare experience, he says.
Dr. Wallace offered a three-part strategy for ????????????????Encouraging the Spread of Innovation to Make the Right Thing Easier to Do,??????????????? which formally opened the 10th annual Disease Management Congress. His presentation underscored the theme of this year’s congress, ????????????????Innovation ?????????????????? Driving Change to Achieve Sustainable Outcomes.??????????????? In addition to respecting stakeholders’ definitions of value, Dr. Wallace recommended making the right things easier to do by focusing on service delivery and information technology. ????????????????And if you make something easier to do,??????????????? he said, ????????????????Makesure it is the right thing to do.??????????????? It’s easier to identify the ????????????????right thing??????????????? when you employ evidence-based clinical practices, identify successful practices, and offer member-centered and culturally competent care.
????????????????The patient should be at the center of care, with the patient’s home as the hub,??????????????? he continued. ????????????????We need to make the best use of the patient’s time.??????????????? He called upon providers to re-think traditional physician-patient contact. Instead of scheduling a finite number of 15-minute patient visits each day, he suggested increasing the number of daily ????????????????patient contacts??????????????? by utilizing U.S. mail, email, phone contact, and group visits. ????????????????By thinking outside the box, this might enable a provider to schedule several 45-minute office visits a day for needier patients,??????????????? he said.
The United States needs to move the focus from ????????????????sick care??????????????? to ????????????????health care.??????????????? Employers, too, are in a prime position to improve workers’ health while they are at the office. ????????????????The average patient spends about two hours annually with their doctor, 2,000 hours in the workplace and the rest of the time at home. We are betting everything on this two hours in the healthcare system, when we really need to do more in the workplace.???????????????
DM Outcomes: Is That Your Final Answer?
It was billed as the ????????????????DM Reality Show,??????????????? but was actually an exercise in behavior modification. This entertaining session used technology—web-based surveys and electronic voting tools—to gauge and then sway public opinion. Attendees were asked to electronically respond to questions on disease management—its economic value, future, validity of ROI measurements, and whether improved DM outcomes are due to changes in clinical practices or in patients’ own behavior. As they entered responses on individual electronic keypads to the strains of the Jeopardy theme song, real-time results were displayed on conference screens.
After two industry experts debated the pros and cons of each issue, audience members were asked to vote again. In several cases, the results showed that debaters managed to influence a sizeable percentage of neutral responses. While primarily entertaining in nature, the session afforded a lively discussion of a hot industry topic and left no doubt about the role of IT in the healthcare marketplace.
Orlando — An aging population that is driving healthcare spending to new levels and impacting worker productivity and the gross national product is not a concern unique to the United States. That’s why representatives from nine countries have gathered at the first annual International Disease Management Summit to share strategies for implementing disease management programs worldwide.
????????????????There is lots of confusion around the world between the prevention of disease (wellness), and true disease management,??????????????? said Warren E. Todd, the executive director of the International Disease Management Alliance (IDMA), which is sponsoring the summit. ????????????????But the dual world crisis of chronic disease and obesity is forcing countries around the world to investigate the benefits of disease management.???????????????
Despite the positive impact disease management has had on ROI in the United States, the variety of healthcare programs, differences between physician- and patient-centric programs and the confusion between wellness and disease management worldwide has made many countries resistant to the idea of disease management, he continued.
Four factors that determine a country’s receptiveness to disease management are that country’s political agenda, healthcare market, IT maturity and readiness to accept the concept of disease management, according to Simone Christiane Seiter, MD, of Germany who is leading a CapGemini-sponsored effort to increase awareness of disease management. ????????????????Some regions of a country that are autonomous may be better prepared than the country as a whole,??????????????? she stated.
Based on these factors, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden have been designated ????????????????fast movers,??????????????? she said. In England, the National Health Service has launched several pilot initiatives that test the efficacy of pay for performance and quality improvement efforts. ????????????????The results have not been very well publicized, but there has been a lot of work in this area,??????????????? according to Dr. Rick Botelho, who has conducted training for UK-based doctors. Dr. Botelho, a frequent speaker on the effect of behavior modification in disease management, has presented at several Healthcare Intelligence Network-sponsored audio conferences.
Because the European Union has ruled that it is up to individual member countries to regulate healthcare, the idea of a union-wide program is a long way off, said Dr. Seiter. ????????????????But we hope to introduce the idea of a healthcare card that can be used in several countries to access patient healthcare information.???????????????
????????????????There is also the NIH—Not Invented Here—syndrome that exists in Europe,??????????????? contributed one participant. European countries are often skeptical of concepts developed outside their country.
During the daylong summit, which is co-located with the 10th annual Disease Management Congress, participants will share how they have adapted and expanded upon successful DM models to address the unique needs of their countries.
Health coaches appear to be the MVPs of healthcare these days, supporting physicians in management of chronic illnesses and helping selected members devise a self-management plan. It would seem to be a win-win situation all around—healthier members and reduced costs for chronic care.
However, I’ve heard a couple of gripes from the peanut gallery. Two people I know have recently been contacted by health coaches, and neither of them was pleased. One woman barely out of her twenties was identified as a potential candidate for a healthy lifestyles program after her insurance company reviewed her medical records—including her weight. And not too long ago, a family member diagnosed with a chronic condition several years ago received a letter from her health plan’s health coach. The coach said she was now available to answer any questions about this condition, and would contact this relative whenever new information in the treatment of this illness became available.
So far, so good, right? In the younger woman’s case, she was somewhat embarrassed to be contacted about her weight issues, but ultimately agreed to participate in the program. My family member, however, found the contact worrisome. She is proactive about her healthcare and has a great relationship with her doctor, who sees her immediately whenever her condition flares up and monitors her medication intake.
This relative is concerned that the health coach will ultimately become the first line of defense, putting her doctor-patient relationship at risk. She’s fearful that if she establishes a rapport with a coach, her insurance company may one day refuse to cover some of her doctor visits, something she’s not willing to risk. She also believes she is knowledgeable enough about her condition to know that changing her behavior is not going to make her condition go away.
She feels she’s become a name and an illness on a list somewhere, and is being unfairly targeted for her health condition. She is scared and angry and for now has decided to ignore the letters from the health coach. But she’s worried about the future ramifications of this new approach.
I admit I hadn’t really thought about it from this perspective??????????????????how it feels to get a call from the coach. Health coaches are doing a wonderful job of recruiting that 20 percent of the population who generate 80 percent of healthcare costs, often by refusing to adopt healthy lifestyles. You’d think most people would be happy to have an additional line of support. But if the patient is succeeding as a free agent, must we force them to be a team player? I’m interested to hear how coaches—and health plans—are reassuring members about this issue.
Given the desperate conditions in the southeastern part of the country, it is trite to grouse about rising gas prices. Paying $3 to $6 per gallon is painful, but a mere pinch compared to the despair and devastation engulfing our southern neighbors. However, we all feel powerless in the wake of conditions beyond our control. We are chastened as we watch the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, situated as we are less than two miles from the Atlantic Ocean and perhaps a nor’easter away from a similar catastrophe.
Most of us will be moved to contribute financially and maybe even personally to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. But perhaps there’s a little something more the average person can do in response to this disaster to send a message. Maybe we can leave the gas guzzler (which with current gas prices pretty much includes all makes and models) in the driveway, open our garages and dust off our bikes. Maybe we can turn off the computers and take our children for a walk downtown, to the park or just down the street. Maybe we can skip our daily latte or Friday night pizza and movie for the next month or two and throw the resulting savings in a jar to send to the relief effort.
A by-product of this effort might be just what the doctor ordered—some healthy lifestyle changes. With childhood obesity increasing at alarming rates, it’s the right time for everyone to up their daily exercise quota. Substituting a healthy home-cooked meal for that pizza can’t hurt, either. Perhaps healthcare organizations already offering incentives for healthy lifestyles can up the ante for those motivated to change right now—for example, by making a contribution to the hurricane relief effort in the name of each member who pledges to stop smoking and start walking.
And while we’re modifying our behaviors, we should take a moment to talk with the people in our lives—our children especially—about caring for their neighbors and the importance of knowing right from wrong, even in the most dire circumstances. We never know when disaster—natural or otherwise—is going to strike. Because after the loss of lives, the most devasting effect of Hurricane Katrina is the failure of the human spirit. | 2019-04-21T08:56:57Z | http://www.holidaycare.org/2005/09/ |
Chairman Gallegly, Ranking Member Lofgren, and other committee members, thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss ICE's new Performance Based Detention Standards. While no reasonable person would be against the humane treatment of detainees, this Obama Administration initiative goes too far and puts the interests of removable aliens ahead of the national interest. The initiative undercuts immigration laws passed by Congress by eliminating reasonable deterrents to illegal entry. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars that is motivated not by a genuine need for reform, but as part of a larger strategy to trivialize immigration law enforcement and minimize the consequences of illegal immigration, which imposes enormous fiscal, economic, national security, and public safety burdens on American communities.
Instead of softening immigration detention standards and helping illegal aliens game the system, the Department of Homeland Security should be expanding ICE detention capacity in order to keep more lawbreakers off the streets until they are removed, and to deter others from remaining. A better way to help immigration detainees would be to reduce the amount of time they spend in detention by making more use of the tools Congress has provided to process removable aliens more expeditiously. DHS should not be helping illegal aliens prolong their stay; they should be devoting more effort to helping the people who were victims of their crimes and illegal actions.
Even before these standards were issued, ICE detention centers were already softer than those at other federal and local facilities. "ICE is a country club compared to anything else", one career federal detention manager told me, with centers equipped with the most modern recreational amenities. One of ICE's existing larger centers has a huge artificial turf soccer field; volleyball and basketball courts; new kitchens and dining areas — complete with juice and soda bars and unlimited refills; flat screen TVs in the housing units, with personal headphones so each detainee can watch their choice of English or Spanish satellite TV in peace; movie nights; potted flowers; and a vegetable and herb garden.
In addition, the standards dictate very generous and flexible visitation policies for detainees' friends and family (including contact visits) and freedom of movement within the facility. Another explicit goal is to improve detainees' access to lawyers and other advocates who seek to help them contest their charges and fight to remain here longer.
New Facilities Costly. Naturally, none of this comes cheaply. The 608-bed Karnes facility cost the private operator, GEO Group, $32 million to build. This works out to $52,632 per bed. ICE is expected to pay GEO Group about $15 million a year to run the center.
A 1,040-bed facility was built just a couple of years ago in Farmville, Va., by a group of private investors for $21 million, or $20,192 per bed, which is less than half the cost per bed of the Karnes center.
ICE must balance its obligation to house immigration detainees humanely with its responsibility to perform its mission efficiently and cost-effectively. Before giving DHS a blank check for detention facility projects, Congress should ask the agency leaders to explain the fiscal impact of the new standards, why the new center is so much more expensive than similar recent projects, and how this center compares in cost to alternatives such as IGSA agreements and leasing space at local corrections centers.
Most ICE Detainees Are Short-Tmers. It is important to evaluate this initiative in the context of the overall ICE/ERO caseload. The vast majority of those eligible for detention in one of these centers represent less than half of ICE's removal caseload, and typically are not held in ICE detention for long periods of time. According to ICE field office supervisors, the average length of stay in detention for a "non-criminal" citizen of Mexico or Central America is 10 to 21 days. They are held just long enough for travel documents to be issued and flights to be arranged. These cases make up 87 percent of the ICE "non-criminal" removal cases.
A large share of "non-criminal" detainees, namely Mexicans apprehended near the border, stay less than one day in detention. These are individuals who are apprehended by the Border Patrol and bused north to an ICE detention center for quick processing and return to Mexico. Their stay in detention is about 12 hours. ICE detention centers in the southwest border areas handle groups of 100 of these illegal entrants twice a day. They are processed as Voluntary Returns, which means they face no penalties or repercussions, are not barred from future legal admission, and cannot be prosecuted as a repeat violator if they try to enter illegally again. The only reason this group is in detention at all is for the purpose of padding ICE's year-end removal statistics. These quick turn-backs numbered about 75,000 last year, or nearly 20 percent of ICE's total reported removals.
Return to Catch and Release. For a large number of detainees, these fancy civil detention centers are really just a brief way station in a massive catch and release program. Far too many illegal aliens who are apprehended and who ICE euphemistically refers to as "non-criminals" (because in most cases they were discovered as a result of being booked into jail for local non-immigration crimes) are quickly whisked back on to the street, usually with a work permit.
This is because under current Obama Administration policies, ICE removal officers and trial attorneys have been instructed to focus their efforts nearly exclusively on those individuals who have been convicted of crimes, while enabling those who are identified, but not yet convicted, remain at large. Some are released on bonds, some on electronic monitoring or other forms of supervision, and some on their own recognizance. In effect, ICE is largely conditioning the exercise of its authority to the disposition of these cases at the local level. According to ICE guidelines, which have been outlined in a well-publicized series of announcements and policy memos, unless an illegal alien is a repeat offender, he or she should be allowed to remain at large, no matter the seriousness of their charges, and regardless of the likelihood that he or she will actually appear in court to face either criminal or immigration charges. Officers are instructed to be especially lenient if the illegal alien offender has been here long enough to acquire a U.S. citizen spouse or child, or other ties to the community.
With few exceptions, the small number who remain in ICE detention facilities for long periods are there because they continue to challenge their deportation. And they often do so because they are given false hope by open-borders advocacy groups intent on using such people as pawns in a political effort to hamper enforcement of American immigration laws. The humane thing to do would be to make clear to these illegal aliens that immigration to the United States is a false dream for them and help them return home and get on with their lives. Instead, they languish in detention — a needed detention, given the virtual certainty that they would ignore a negative decision on their cases if set free — but languish nonetheless.
In addition, according to ICE managers, an increasing number of individuals are taking advantage of the administration's new lenient policies on asylum seekers that went into effect in January 2010. Illegal aliens apprehended by immigration officers, whether at the border or at the port of entry, who find themselves in detention are offered the opportunity to express their fear of return to their home country. According to ICE detention center supervisors, often this fear is articulated shortly after the alien has attended the biweekly "know your rights" presentations that have recently become a fixture in ICE detention centers — and that are a key component of the new detention standards we are discussing today. The most commonly expressed fears are of domestic violence or gang or drug cartels. According to ICE statistics, the asylum officers who evaluate these cases find the fear to meet the new standards of "credible" in about 80 percent of the cases. Aliens then receive a Notice to Appear before an immigration judge, which makes them eligible for release from detention, even if they have been deported before. They are awarded parole status, which makes them eligible for a work permit. This process, from claim of fear to release on parole can be completed in about 30 days. It is no wonder that the number of "credible fear" applications went up nearly 500 percent from 2009 to 2010. The number of grants of parole in these cases went up from 71 percent in 2009 to 80 percent in 2011.
"Non-Criminals" Not Necessarily Harmless. Advocates for illegal aliens are quick to point out that, despite the Obama Administration's claimed focus on the removal of aliens who are a threat to public safety, a large share of the individuals in immigration detention are classified as "non-criminals". The reality is that a large share of the so-called "non-criminals" selected for removal processing have in fact been involved in criminal activity, sometimes violent, and their placement in these new "soft" detention centers could place detention officers, resident advisors, and other detainees at risk. The decisions to release of many of these individuals, rather than remove them, can possibly put everyone at risk.
The detained aliens who are labeled "criminals" are those who have been convicted of a crime. The "non-criminal" category includes a large number of unsavory characters who may or may not have been prosecuted for their activities, including alien smugglers, gang members, drug dealers, drug users, drug mules, sexual predators, identity thieves, petty criminals, drunk drivers, prostitutes, and pimps. Some may have a criminal history in their home country that is unknown to agencies here. Some are serial traffic offenders who have been a menace on the roadways. Those local law enforcement agencies that are able to keep track report that anywhere between 10 and 50 percent of the illegal aliens who are booked into their jails were arrested for drunk driving, often multiple times.
There can be a variety of reasons why these non-citizen miscreants lack a criminal conviction. Many drunk driving and traffic offenses are thrown out by local courts or end up in continuance for technical reasons. Some criminals get off because their victims are afraid to testify; this is especially true in domestic violence or gang cases. But the most common reason some alien offenders are not convicted of crimes is because local prosecutors or investigators are prone to drop charges when they become aware that ICE has issued a detainer and the offender is potentially removable. It is common for these agencies to use ICE and the opportunity of immigration charges as a substitute for local charges as a pressure valve to relieve their crowded local dockets, saving everyone the time and effort required to follow through with the prosecution of what they may see as relatively minor offenders who should not be present in the community anyway.
Convicted or not, ICE still has the responsibility to remove individuals who are here in violation of our laws; especially those who have been troublesome. Nothing in immigration law provides for violators to avoid enforcement and be allowed to stay here simply because they have not been convicted of another crime.
While the circumstances of the Espinoza case may be unusually serious, it is not an isolated case. In recent years, ICE has made increasing use of electronic monitoring, supervision, and bonds as alternatives to detention. The results are not encouraging. Newspapers periodically report on offenders who had been in ICE custody recently and were released only to re-offend. According to data I have reviewed from the Secure Communities program, about 9 percent of the aliens identified through this screening, which occurs at the time of an arrest, are found to be already in removal proceedings — meaning that they were caught once, released to await a hearing, and got arrested again. As of one year ago, this was more than 40,000 aliens across the country who had re-offended while waiting to be ordered removed. That's a lot of unnecessary victims. Other reports are beginning to surface suggesting that a large share of individuals released on ICE bonds also have absconded.
The Alternative to Detention Is Fugitives and Absconders. It is worth re-stating that the main point of immigration detention is not to keep criminal aliens off the street (even though that is a real benefit), but to enable the enforcement of immigration laws. The only way to ensure that illegal aliens actually appear before an immigration court (for the sub-set of removable aliens who are entitled to that form of due process) is to physically compel them to do so through detention. While it can be worth experimenting with various alternatives to detention, in the real world their likelihood of success is limited. Pilot programs to assess the viability of alternatives to detention often either include people who would not have been detained anyway (i.e., cream-skimming or cherry-picking those most likely to yield the "right" result) or fudge the statistics to make the results appear more favorable, or both. For instance, a Houston Chronicle investigation two years ago found that nearly one in five suspected illegal immigrants who went through an experimental ICE intensive monitoring program absconded while under supervision.
One recent study published by my organization found that nearly 60 percent of aliens who are not detained while in proceedings will fail to appear for their hearings or will ignore orders to depart.4 Some of these individuals, such as illegal alien Saul Chavez, a repeat drunk driving felon who killed a pedestrian named Dennis McCann in Chicago last year,5 also flee from local criminal proceedings, leaving in their wake victims and families of victims who are unable to obtain the closure they deserve through the justice system.
Despite this record, the Obama administration is trying to move away from using detention centers, even the softer ones we have been discussing, in favor of alternatives such as electronic monitoring and other forms of supervision. The administration has asked Congress in its recent budget request for the flexibility to shift funds from detention beds, which are specified by Congress and which must be used by DHS, to these less effective alternatives.
Given this abysmal record of enforcement, Congress would surely come to regret awarding such flexibility to DHS under this administration. Instead, Congress should preserve the requirement that all the funded space be used for that purpose, and increase the number of funded detention beds to a level that enables ICE to meet its needs and the expectations of lawmakers and the public. DHS should be expected to use the most cost-effective options possible, including IGSA agreements with local sheriffs and private contractors, to manage its detainee population within reasonable detention standards. In addition, Congress should provide additional funding for contract transportation or transportation agreements with local law enforcement agencies. Some local jurisdictions have devised creative low-cost ways to transport detainees, and ICE should be directed to explore and pilot more such options where feasible.
Most importantly, rather than looking for ways to avoid removing illegal aliens, DHS should be exploring ways to streamline the removal process so that their time in detention is reduced. Specifically, DHS agencies should be expanding use of expedited and stipulated removal. Our review of a sample of cases from ICE's Secure Communities and Criminal Alien Programs suggests that in a number of cases, ICE officers are choosing more drawn-out proceedings rather than taking advantage of these tools that can benefit both aliens and the government.
Detention Standards Include Advocate for Detainees, No Help for Victims. Another curious aspect of the Obama administration's efforts on behalf of immigration law violators is the establishment of a complaint hot line and new official advocate within the ICE bureaucracy.8 Meanwhile, those who are the victims of this unlawful activity have no one in these agencies to speak to or for them. Congress should direct ICE to establish a Victim's Advocacy Unit to address the concerns of those who are victims of crimes and other damaging actions committed by removable aliens. Currently these victims and their families have no voice within the DHS bureaucracy, no avenue to get their questions answered, and no way to help ensure that immigration law enforcement failures that have tragic consequences are not repeated. In fact, ICE appears to have no interest whatsoever in meeting and discussing their cases with surviving family members, much less providing basic information on how they were handled. The Victims Advocacy Unit would provide a point of contact for those directly affected by alien crime and be empowered to investigate incidents and trends with the goal of identifying system breakdowns and correcting policy or procedural gaps. In addition, the unit staff would work with established local and national victims organizations on issues of common concern.
1 Brian Bennett, "New prison for detained immigrants features salad bar, unarmed guards", Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2012.
2 Scott Andrews, "What design elements at Karnes facility tell us about the state of immigrant detention", San Antonio Current, March 21, 2012.
4 Mark H. Metcalf, "Built to Fail: Deception and Disorder in America's Immigration Courts", Center for Immigration Studies, May 2011, http://www.cis.org/Immigration-Courts.
5 Jessica Vaughan, "Cook County Pressured to Reverse Sanctuary Policy", Center for Immigration Studies blog, January 6, 2012, http://cis.org/vaughan/cook-county-pressured-to-reverse-sanctuary-policy; and "The Alternative to Immigration Detention: Fugitives", October 18, 2011, http://cis.org/vaughan/alternative-to-detention-fugitives.
8 Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, "ICE Announces First Ever Public Advocate", http://blog.dhs.gov/2012/02/ice-announces-first-ever-public.html. | 2019-04-20T12:42:33Z | https://cis.org/Holiday-ICE |
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A TBC must also resist environmental degradation. This may occur as oxidation of the bond coat, phase transformation stress deterioration of the zirconia layer, or chemical destabilization of the oxide layer. The severity of these effects depends on the oxidation resistance of the bond coat, the initial crystalline phase mixture of the zirconia coating, the service temperature, and the environmental impurities present.
Bond Coat Oxidation. To test the oxidation resistance of the bond coat and its effect on the spallation of the TBC, a thermal cycle needs to combine extended soak time at high temperatures with periodic heating and cooling cycling to induce thermal stress. One such cycle used to test TBCs for aircraft gas turbine applications is a simple tube furnace that operates at a constant temperature of 1121 °C (2050 °F), with the sample set pneumatically moved in and out of the hot zone. The TBC samples rest on an alumina firebrick boat, with dense alumina pushrods made from thermocouple insulator ceramics, for an all-oxide hot-zone support system. The samples heat to furnace temperature in about 5 min, soak for 50 min, and then are quickly pulled out for a 5 min cooling period. At the end of every 25 cycles, the samples are held out and visually examined at room temperature. After 200 cycles, the samples are inspected for spallation or edge cracking, then are mounted in plastic for evaluation in polished cross section. There the extent of bond coat oxidation and interface cracking can be measured. The test temperature is as much as 110 °C (200 °F) higher than expected for the component in service and is thus an accelerated test for oxidation of the bond coat. To make this comparison test valid, care should be taken that the furnace temperature profile is uniform and covers the full zone occupied by the TBC samples.
A cycle for testing coatings for diesel applications can be similarly designed by setting the soak temperature about 110 °C (200 °F) higher than the measured steady-state temperature of the substrate metal of the component in question. In the case of coatings for steel or cast iron substrates, the bond coat is typically not heat treated, which may allow internal oxidation of the Ni-Cr or Fe-Cr-Al-Y alloys used for thermally sprayed layers. Thus, a cycle soak temperature of 650 to 982 °C (1200 to 1800 °F) may still challenge inadequate coating systems.
Zirconium Oxide Phase Stability. Pure zirconium oxide is an allotropic material and has a cubic structure from its freezing point at 2680 °C (4856 °F) down to 2370 °C (4298 °F), where it transforms to a tetragonal structure of similar cell size. Because of this small difference in crystalline cell volume, thermal cycling across the cubic-tetragonal transition temperature does not impose severe internal stresses. Following further cooling to below 1170 °C (2138 °F), zirconia transforms to the monoclinic structure, which has about a 4% larger crystalline cell volume than the tetragonal structure (Ref 3). Large internal stresses are generated as the transformation front sweeps through the material, which can lead to crack initiation. Commercially useful zirconia is alloyed with yttria, which has a cubic-plus-tetragonal two-phase field in its phase diagram (Fig. 6) and inhibits the low-temperature tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation (Ref 3, 5, 6).
In thermally sprayed yttria-stabilized coatings, the feedstock is powder, which may be fabricated by a variety of methods (Ref 7). Partially stabilized zirconia, with about 6.5 to 9 wt% Y, mostly avoids the monoclinic phase and the fully stabilized cubic-only phase, which is known to have less thermal shock resistance than the dual-phase cubic-plus-tetragonal structure (Ref 8). A powder feedstock may have the correct average yttria content, but it may not be homogeneous at the crystalline grain level. An inhomogeneous powder may have some local volumes that have no yttria and others with yttria concentrations far higher than the bulk analysis. The x-ray diffraction pattern of such a powder thus shows the monoclinic phase characteristic of the nearly pure zirconia grains, along with tetragonal and cubic phases from the volume of the material that was sufficiently combined with yttria. When an inhomogeneous powder is plasma sprayed to form a coating, the particle melting in the arc improves the degree of homogeneity. However, this may not be sufficient to fully homogenize the material, depending on the state of the starting powder and the chosen spray parameters.
where M, T, and C denote the mole percentages of the monoclinic, tetragonal, and cubic phases, respectively, and 7(hkl) is the integrated intensity for the (hkl) diffraction peak. For the high-angle (400) peaks, a deconvolution routine was used first to separate the three overlapping peaks.
Not all TBCs need to be made from homogeneous 6 to 9 wt% YSZ. The importance of the degree of homogeneity and the allowable amount of monoclinic phase in the starting powder depend on the maximum temperature to be experienced by the TBC. Consider the zirconia-yttria phase diagram in Fig. 6 in the following argument. Assume that a coating made from inhomogeneous 8% YSZ powder has some fraction of grains of very low yttria content. These grains will behave as if they were a separate entity and experience the phase transitions characteristic of nearly pure zirconia. At room temperature these grains should exist in the monoclinic structure. The other grains may be partially stabilized with yttria and exist mainly as the nontransformable tetragonal phase, and possibly some cubic-phase material. These higher-yttria-content nontransformable tetragonal grains exist as a nonequilibrium phase because of the rapid quench from the liquid state upon deposition at the substrate. They have high thermal fatigue resistance because they will not transform to the monoclinic phase and experience the large volume change. On the other hand, the nearly pure zirconia grains having the monoclinic structure may be safe from transformation stresses as long as they remain below the temperature of the M + T two-phase field, which can be as high as about 1100 °C (2000 °F).
Therefore, coated components that have a maximum exposure of only 760 °C (1400 °F) should be stable against deleterious phase transformation, even though they may have a zirconia coating composed of both stabilized and unstabilized grains. As the operating temperature of the component increases, the need for a homogeneous coating increases. Applications at temperatures above about 1100 °C (2000 °F) should require fully homogeneous coatings. For applications at 760 to 1100 °C, thermal cycle testing is needed to determine whether the powder and coating process selected are adequate. If monoclinic-phase material exists in the coating and is tested with flame impingement on the oxide face to temperatures that cycle through the transformation temperature, the surface layer will begin to flake away small particles. Because of the insulating effect of zirconia, the lower layers of the coating would be at a lower temperature and thus remain intact. If the same nonhomogeneously stabilized coating is exposed to a uniform temperature test, the whole zirconia layer could develop cracks, leading to early spallation if the whole layer is cycled through the phase-transformation temperature.
Although the use of fully homogeneously stabilized coatings may seem warranted for all applications, regardless of operating temperature, economic considerations argue against this. Fully homogeneous powders, which are more costly, must either be fused and crushed or sintered from pure zirconia and yttria components at high temperatures. If the exposure temperature of the TBC does not demand monoclinic-phase-free material, a less costly powder will still meet the thermal barrier performance required. The key is to know the relation between operating temperature limits and the phase content of the coating.
Chemical Effects on Phase Stability. As discussed above, powders that are inhomogeneous in regard to yttria concentration could lead to coatings with phase-transformation-induced cracking if used at high temperatures. It has also been found that fully homogeneous yttria-stabilized coatings used in high-temperature environments containing vanadium and/or sulfur can experience surface degradation. In this case, the impurities can form yttrium vanadate and yttrium sulfide by leaching yttrium from the coating (Ref 5, 9). This leads to a surface layer that is progressively depleted in yttria content, and eventually to a material that is in the fully monoclinic structure when cooled and has a large volume change and disruptive stresses when thermally cycled. This surface transformation can also be detected by x-ray diffraction, which will give the evidence needed to understand the failure mechanism. | 2019-04-19T19:23:33Z | https://www.civilengineeringhandbook.tk/corrosion-resistance-3/environmental-stability.html |
The City of Calgary offers a variety of property tax payment options to pay directly to The City or through your bank.
Need a copy of your tax bill or a payment receipt? Visit Property Tax Document Request.
CREDIT CARDS cannot be used to pay property tax directly to The City of Calgary.
The Tax Instalment Payment Plan (TIPP) is a monthly instalment plan that allows you to pay your property taxes by monthly pre-authorized debit, rather than in a single annual payment. Find out more about the Tax Instalment Payment Plan (TIPP).
Reduce the risk of late payment penalties by requesting and returning your TIPP agreement early.
The TIPP initial payment and/or a missed instalment must be made separately. It cannot be made by automatic withdrawal from your chequing account. Like all other tax payments, your TIPP initial payment or missed instalment can be made through one of the other property tax payment options listed on this page.
Making a replacement instalment, like all other tax payments, can be made through one of the other property tax payment options listed on this page. Replacing a payment before it becomes dishonoured will not stop the next monthly TIPP instalment from being withdrawn or prevent service fees. For more information on replacement instalments, see non-payment and service charges.
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Property tax payments can be made through most chartered banks, trust companies, credit unions, and Alberta Treasury Branches. Know your bank's policies regarding the effective date of payment. It’s important to pay at least three business days prior to the property tax payment due date to meet the payment deadline and avoid a late payment penalty. Please keep in mind that most bank transactions are based on Eastern Standard Time.
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Make your property tax payment at an ATM following your bank’s instructions. Keep your receipt as proof of the date and time of payment.
The account number is the 9-digit roll number on your property tax bill entered without spaces or dashes. More than one property tax bill? Register each roll number and make payment on each tax bill separately. Failure to remit payment on each roll number separately may result in a Payment Alignment fee of $25.
Make sure the Calgary property tax account number registered in your bank’s bill payment profile matches the 9-digit property tax roll number shown on your most recent tax bill or statement. Failure to remit payment on each roll number separately may result in a Payment Alignment fee of $25.
Make your property tax payment by phone following your bank’s instructions. Keep your receipt as proof of the date and time of payment.
Can’t find Calgary property tax as a payee or are unsure which payee to select? Contact your bank for more information.
Property tax payments can be made through most chartered banks, trust companies, credit unions, and Alberta Treasury Branches. Know your bank's policies regarding the effective date of payment for the method of payment you choose. It’s important to pay at least three business days prior to the property tax payment due date to meet the payment deadline.
Take your tax bill(s): the bank teller will need to see your tax bill(s) to register/confirm your roll number(s) as the account number(s) linked to the Calgary Property Tax payee e.g., “Calgary (City Of) Property Tax” or “Calgary Property Tax” on your bill payment profile with the bank.
More than one property tax bill? Have the bank teller register each roll number and make payment on each tax bill separately.
Make sure the Calgary property tax account number registered in your bank’s bill payment profile matches the 9-digit property tax roll number shown on your tax bill or statement, entered without spaces or dashes. If an invalid 9-digit roll number is used it may result in a Payment Alignment fee of $25.
Keep your receipt as proof of the date and time of payment.
If you pay principal, interest and taxes (PIT) to a mortgage company/bank, the company is collecting property taxes for you with each mortgage payment taken. Your mortgage holder must advise The City of Calgary of their interest in your property in order to receive an invoice to pay your taxes on your behalf.
You will receive the original tax bill for your records. The name of the company being invoiced appears on your bill.
If you believe you are paying PIT but your mortgage holder's name does not appear on your bill, contact your mortgage holder immediately. The company must contact The City to register their interest in your property.
If a mortgage holder is named on your bill but that company is no longer responsible for your tax payment, you are responsible for paying the taxes on or before the due date to avoid penalty.
Some third-party online payment providers in Canada offer credit card as a payment option for property tax.
property owners are responsible to pay their property tax bill by the due date. If payment is received after the due date, the property owner will be responsible to pay any resulting late payment penalty. | 2019-04-25T04:04:46Z | http://www.calgary.ca/cfod/finance/Pages/Property-Tax/Property-Tax-Payment.aspx |
In some ways, the very notion of a China-Pakistan year of friendship is misleading as China and Pakistan have enjoyed a decades long all-weather friendship that continues to strengthen, especially since Belt and Road connectivity has resulted in the inauguration of CPEC. But as a further sign of good will, during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), Pakistan’s Ambassador in Beijing, Masood Khalid declared that this year is to be specifically designated at one of China-Pakistan friendship.
Whilst this is a deeply fraternal gesture, it is imperative that the year of China-Pakistan friendship must entail more than just mutual feelings of warmth between the two neighbours. Instead, this year of friendship must also entail specific actions steps that can help the all-weather partnership to become all the more beneficial for both Pakistanis and Chinese.
It has long been a misnomer in many geopolitical quarters that Belt and Road is somehow an exclusively Chinese driven initiative whilst likewise, similar voices indicate that CPEC is just a bilateral project between Pakistan and China. In reality, Belt and Road is a multilateral initiative that was first proposed by China, but it is one in which multiple partners in the wider Afro-Eurasian space are invited to collectively participate in win-win partnerships in which all sides bring new and exciting proposals to the table. The aims of such ultra-modern connectivity projects can be achieved best through working towards bespoke solutions aimed at expanding trade, capital exchange and cultural exchange across a wide array of multilateral partnerships.
CPEC in particular is not just a road leading from China to Pakistan’s port at Gwadar, but it is instead a global artery that plays a crucial role in ultimately linking China’s Pacific coast with not just the Indian Ocean region, but the wider Afro-Mediterranean region beyond Gwadar.
As such, Pakistan and China share a unique position in being able to explain to potential CPEC partners, the vast potential that investing in CPEC related projects holds. Already, largely because of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s diplomatic skills, Pakistan has transformed the UAE from a country which may have sought to rival Gwadar, into a solid partner that is now working with Pakistan on a win-win basis that looks to ensure Pakistan’s internal development. This of course necessarily indicates a boost for Gwadar and other key development zones.
Likewise, Saudi Arabia’s major investment to construct an oil refinery at Gwadar is a further example of win-win bilateral relations blossoming into win-win multilateral relations thanks to the global magnetism of CPEC. As China has always sought to attract the maximum amount of global capital towards all of its Belt and Road connectivity initiatives, Saudi investment in Gwadar is not just good for the local economy, but good for CPEC and Belt and Road more widely.
As Imran Khan further looks to enhance partnerships with Turkey, Malaysia and Qatar, there is every possibility that a wide variety of nations which have warm relations with Islamabad, will come to play a critical role in ensuring the success of CPEC on a win-win basis.
The task for Pakistan therefore is to expose this great potential to partner nations who may not yet fully realise that CPEC is all about building wider multilateral cooperative partnerships based on maximising the greatest amount of opportunity for the largest number of partner nations.
A largely western backed campaign of disinformation about the lives of Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has a clear geopolitical goal. The aim is to foster discontent among the Ummah (global Islamic community) but among Pakistanis in particular, which will ultimately be aimed at China’s state institutions. Were such provocations to succeed, they could jeopardise not only CPEC, but Pakistan’s long standing all-weather friendship with China.
Fortunately, both the Pakistani government and ordinary Pakistanis have collectively rejected this calculated provocation and instead, more and more Pakistanis are telling the wider world about their own positive experiences in Xinjiang. The inauguration of a new bus route from Lahore into Xinjiang can further help to break the information barrier by allowing Pakistanis to have easier access to Xinjiang and its rapidly developing urban centres.
As a country which thanks to the PTI government is pivoting back to a position of geopolitical non-alignment, the voice of Pakistanis regarding the vastly improved economic and social situation in Xinjiang is invaluable. Pakistani Muslims whose country neighbours China necessarily offer the world a level of credibility regarding Xinjiang that those from further abroad simply cannot. The asset that is human experience through direct connectivity should be used to the advantage of a wider campaign for peace and respect for every country’s cultural characteristics.
By enhancing opportunities for more cross border commerce and human-to-human connectivity, Pakistan and China can help to expose the blatant Sinophobic provocations regarding Xinjiang for what they are, whilst simultaneously working to strengthen cooperation in multiple sectors.
China’s education system is among the finest in the world and beyond this, China’s ability to provide a high quality education even in remote and rural areas, serves as a important model for other nations looking to strengthen social harmony and economic productivity by creating a more educated and informed populace. For Pakistan, the war against extremism has two parts. First of all, there is the direct neutralisation of terrorism by the professionals of the Army and ISI and secondly, extremism is combated through an intensified drive to renew educational and vocational standards in parts of Pakistan that are susceptible to foreign backed anti-Pakistani extremism.
Just as 2013 saw PTI revolutionise the social environment in KP province, so too can other regional and national leaders in Pakistan learn from China’s own experiences in elevating the condition of the people through carefully regimented, modern and effective methods of education.
Education helps to fight poverty and the extremism which thrives in the swamp of poverty. Therefore, China and Pakistan can both share mutually important experiences in how improving education has helped to improve society for both the young and old and consequently build upon these experiences to continually develop ever better education methods.
Cultural exchange, whether in the arts, sport or sharing in one another’s national traditions is vitally important to building a partnership which involves not only megaprojects like CPEC and cooperation in the spheres of economic develop and security, but it further helps to demonstrate that cooperation is also able to feed the human desire for personal enlightenment and fraternal relations.
China’s continued drive for economic opening up and the Naya Pakistan that last year’s political change has ushered in, makes new areas of cultural cooperation all the more possible. For example, Pakistani cricketers could organise test matches in China, thus introducing Chinese to Pakistan’s most popular sport. Furthermore, Pakistan’s rich musical heritage could be brought to Chinese concert halls from Hong Kong to Beijing. Likewise, Chinese drummers, acrobats, scientists and stage actors could demonstrate their talents throughout Pakistan – thus benefiting both countries immensely. Cultural exchange can never be underestimated as a means of pursuing better holistic bilateral relations over extended periods of time.
A China-Pakistan year of friendship offers the perfect opportunity to expand these areas of exchange.
Because of the long and sustained friendship between the Chinese and Pakistani people, it is necessary to intensify these warm relations during a specifically designated year of friendship. Such win-win mutual pursuits across a variety of fields will serve to bring the two nations closer together at a time when key bilateral and multilateral friendships can help to overcome both external pressures and the growing pains implicit in any supreme drive towards long term sustainable development. | 2019-04-23T16:17:43Z | https://eurasiafuture.com/2019/02/06/here-is-what-can-be-accomplished-during-the-2019-china-pakistan-year-of-friendship/ |
We report on OH diffusion effects at preparation of hollow core fibers with large central hexagonal and square shaped cores. The fibers with up to 30 μm central hole diameter are suitable for chemical sensor applications, especially for gases. We demonstrate the single mode guidance at selective bands in the UV, VIS and NIR region. Key feature of low loss in specific spectral windows of such fiber structures is the control of thickness and homogeneity of the web bridges. The fibers achieve a minimum loss of 2 dB/m and effective single mode propagation in the wavelength range between 270 nm and 1500 nm. The thinness of the bridges beneath one micrometer results in a deep impregnation of OH by diffusion from the cavities during thermal processing, e.g. fiber drawing. Up to 1000 ppm by weight of OH had been measured in the silica web surrounding the hollow core. Obviously, the OH sources are atmospheric humidity and condensed water originating from using a hydrogen-oxygen torch at final preform fabrication. The paper shows the good agreement between OH diffusion simulation and experimental observation of OH impregnation in the hollow core web.
We demonstrate a new technique to generate a continuous-wave supercontinuum based on the stimulated Raman effect in an Yb-based ring laser configuration. Continuously pumping this ring cavity with a maximum of 19W optical power, we were able to excite up to 6 Stokes orders and achieved wavelengths up to 1600nm. Due to the feedback mechanism of the ring cavity the generated spectrum does not exhibit plain and separated stokes peaks but the fundamental Raman nature of the spectrum is altered additional nonlinear effects. This results in a dense coverage and an almost complete excitation of the wavelength range from the laser wavelength to the highest stokes wavelength and hence in a continuous-wave supercontinuum. Since the main mechanism of broadening is the Raman effect, we do not rely on anomalous dispersion and modulation instability as typically required to seed continuous wave supercontinuum generation.
Today fiber Bragg gratings are commonly used in sensing technology as well as in telecommunications. Numerous requirements must be satisfied for their application as a sensor such as the number of sensors per system, the measurement resolution and repeatability, the sensor reusability as well as the sensor costs. In addition current challenges need to be met in the near future for sensing fibers to keep and extend their marketability such as the suitability for sterilization, hydrogen darkening or the separation of strain and temperature (or pressure and temperature). In this contribution we will give an outlook about trends and future of the fiber Bragg gratings in sensing technologies. Specifically, we will discuss how the use of draw tower grating technology enables the production of tailored Bragg grating sensing fibers, and we will present a method of separating strain and temperature by the use of a single Bragg grating only, avoiding the need for additional sensors to realize the commonly applied temperature compensation.
We demonstrate three-level laser operation at 976 nm of a large-core Yb-doped aluminosilicate fiber, which is fabricated by powder-sinter technology and shows a very homogeneous refractive index profile. The investigated fiber has a core diameter of 126 μm and a numerical aperture of 0.18, well-matched to standard fiber coupled pump diodes. The core composition has been optimized to reduce photodarkening effects. Multimode and single mode operation with multiple Watts output power is presented for this fiber making it useful for the realization of high brightness fiber coupled pump sources.
We demonstrate volume Bragg gratings inscribed in S-TIH53 glass. S-TIH53 is in the proper meaning not photosensitive; therefore we used a fs-laser system for the inscription process. The grating structure was formed in a Talbot interferometer and was investigated with help of the external Bragg reflection method. With this method we could measure the reflectivity profile and thereto the size of the grating. To ensure that the generated gratings are no surface or absorption gratings the probes were investigated by a microscope and absorption measurements and heating experiments were done.
Few-cycle pulses offer a wide range of interesting applications, for example in time-resolved studies of ultra-fast phenomena in physics, chemistry and biology. Nonlinear spectral broadening in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) followed by dispersive compression allows for the generation of extremely short optical pulses. By employing this technique pulse durations of only 5.5 fs (2.4 optical cycles) have been achieved so far. In this contribution we take advantage of SC generation in all-normal dispersion PCF (ANDi PCF), which features only positive group-velocity dispersion across the spectral region of interest. Spectral broadening therefore is dominated by self-phase modulation and optical wave breaking, leading to smooth and highly coherent SC spectra. We show generation of SC spectra covering more than one optical octave around 810 nm central wavelength. Active phase control and spectral shaping were employed to compress the pulses to 3.64 fs (1.3 optical cycles), which is the shortest pulse duration achieved from SC compression in solid core fibers to date. In contrast to other approaches, the presented concept delivers pulses with an excellent temporal pulse quality and can be extended to even larger bandwidths to reach the sub-cycle regime, provided an adequate compressor is employed.
Recently, the generation of coherent, octave-spanning, and recompressible supercontinuum (SC) light has been demonstrated in optical fibers with all-normal group velocity dispersion (GVD) behavior by femtosecond pumping. In the normal dispersion regime, soliton dynamics are suppressed and the SC generation process is mainly due to self-phase modulation and optical wave breaking. This makes such white light sources suitable for time-resolved applications. The broadest spectra can be obtained when the pump wavelength equals the wavelength of maximum all-normal GVD. Therefore each available pump wavelength requires a specifically designed optical fiber with suitable GVD to unfold its full power. We investigate the possibilities to shift the all-normal maximum dispersion wavelength in microstructured optical fibers from the near infra red (NIR) to the ultra violet (UV). In general, a submicron guiding fiber core surrounded by a holey region is required to overcome the material dispersion of silica. Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with a hexagonal array of holes as well as suspended core fibers are simulated for this purpose over a wide field of parameters. The PCFs are varied concerning their air hole diameter and pitch and the suspended core fibers are varied concerning the number of supporting walls and the wall width. We show that these two fiber types complement each other well in their possible wavelength regions for allnormal GVD. While the PCFs are suitable for obtaining a maximum all-normal GVD in the NIR, suspended core fibers are well applicable in the visible wavelength range.
Silica based microstructured holey fibers offer the possibility for filling with unconventional fiber materials. Of special interest are chalcogenide glasses due to their high refractive index and their nonlinear optical properties. We demonstrate two types of fibers: an index guiding fiber type with high-index glass core and silica cladding and a fiber with silica core surrounded by a periodic, hexagonal high-index glass structure giving antiresonant guiding properties. We prepared such fibers filled with arsenic sulphide glass and arsenic selenide glass by a pressurized infiltration technique. The manufacturing process is modelled on the basis of viscous glass flow parameters and is compared with experimental results obtained from the filled fibers. The propagation and spectral transmission properties of such fibers are measured and discussed.
We numerically investigate supercontinuum (SC) generation in fibers with all-normal group velocity dispersion (GVD) under femtosecond pumping, including photonic crystal fibers (PCF), optical nanofibers and suspended core PCF. It is shown that all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fibers are ideally suited to generate extremely flat and more than octave spanning SC spectra which are highly coherent over the entire bandwidth. Due to the suppression of soliton fission in the normal GVD regime, the SC spectra are mainly generated by self-phase modulation and optical wave breaking dynamics, resulting in smooth spectral profiles without significant fine structure. A single pulse is maintained in the time domain, which can be externally compressed to the few-cycle regime. We present specific design examples of ANDi PCF for pumping at 1080 nm and extend the concept to optical nanofibers for deep ultraviolet (UV) SC generation at 400 nm pump wavelength as well as tapered suspended core PCF for visible and near UV SC generation at 465 nm and 530 nm pump wavelength. First "proof of principle" experiments confirm the basic findings of the numerical simulations and show the feasibility of the proposed SC generation scheme.
We report about spectral transmission behavior and influence on chromatic dispersion of index guiding microstructured fibers (MOFs) in terms of material effects of the light propagating core, geometric parameters of the microstructured cladding and preparation parameters. Two core compositions were investigated pure silica and silica-germania glass with maximum 36 mol% GeO<sub>2</sub>. The MOFs with large pitch (>5 μm) were manufactured by single step technique. Small pitch MOFs were prepared by dual step method. They show a relatively high OH absorption. The dual step prepared silicagermania MOFs show a more than one order of magnitude higher hydroxide contamination compared to similar silica MOFs. This result seems to be caused by the higher permeation of hydroxide groups in silica-germania glass compared to silica. Simulations show that the red shift of the zero dispersion wavelength (ZDW) caused by high germanium doping can be compensated by a holey cladding structure with medium up to large ratios of d/Λ.
Freestanding nanofibers with submicron diameter exhibit a strong waveguide dispersion and field localization caused by both the extreme small core diameter compared to common optical standard fibers and the large refractive index difference of Δn = 0.45 between the silica core and air cladding. These are promising characteristics for nonlinear applications like e.g. supercontinuum generation that require waveguides with large nonlinear coefficients and specific dispersion behavior in dependence on the pump wavelength. Optical nanofibers allow a shift of the zero dispersion wavelength and in addition anomalous dispersion down to a wavelength of about 460 nm. We report on deep ultraviolet broadband supercontinuum generation in optical nanofibers pumped with femtosecond pulses from a frequency doubled titan-sapphire oscillator at 400nm wavelength. Numerical simulations of the generated spectra show a remarkable broadening in the deep ultraviolet wavelength range below 250 nm after only a few millimeter of propagation distance, while a single recompressible pulse is maintained in the time domain. The spectrum can be influenced by nanofiber diameter, pulse duration, and pulse energy. In experiment these nanofibers are situated in an optical fiber taper configuration where a waist of constant submicron diameter is located between two taper transitions with varying diameter. For this reason the generated supercontinuum is not only influenced by the nanofiber diameter but by the taper transitions. | 2019-04-20T10:25:58Z | https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/profile/Alexander.Hartung-118064?SSO=1 |
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A steering committee on the selection, quality assurance and review of the E-Textbook Market Development Scheme has approved 30 applications from organizations wishing to contribute to the development of e-textbooks. About HK$26 million has been allocated to assist the development, said Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim on Thursday.
Ng said the price of the e-textbooks to be developed will be at least 20 percent lower than the average for their printed counterparts, adding, the price of the approved geography e-textbook is as much as 63 percent lower than the average price of a printed text.
The applications to develop textbooks cover the main subjects of Chinese, English, Mathematics, as well as General Studies, Computer Literacy, and Physical Education. Twenty-one applications relate to primary education and nine are for junior secondary, Ng added.
The applications came from 13 applicants, including non-profit organizations, textbook publishing-related organizations, e-learning resources developers and tertiary institutions.
He added, these applications are expected to harness the benefits of e-features to enhance the effectiveness of learning and teaching the subjects. It will also increase consumers’ choices, Ng said.
A total of 88 primary and secondary schools will be invited to try the e-textbooks and provide feedback so that developers can enhance design and content. It is expected that e-textbooks will be available for use in the 2014/15 school year.
The Education Bureau will conduct an interim review of the scheme in progress. Based on the outcome of the review, the steering committee will determine whether or not a second phase of e-textbook development is required.
Vice Chairman of Education Convergence Ho Hon-kuen said the government may underestimate the high production costs, since publishers need to invite experts to write e-textbooks and spend money on multimedia production. High inflation should also be calculated, he added. Ho said he feared that the production costs could not be reclaimed even after five or seven years.
He also cited an example from South Korea where an e-textbook plan failed after being promoted for three years. He said the program has already been abandoned owing to its high cost, adding he is not optimistic about the future of e-textbooks.
President of the Hong Kong Parents Association Lai Tsang-hing voiced concerns that e-textbooks may be harmful to students’ eyesight, and open the door to time being wasted playing games online.
In early May, the government proposed to earmark HK$50 million for the textbook development scheme. The money was to help non-profit making organizations to develop at least 12 e-textbooks sets.
The e-textbook could diversify the market and address the current textbook-market monopoly, said former secretary for education Michael Suen at that time, adding e-textbooks could be a desirable alternative to highly priced printed textbooks as the cost should be 20 percent to 50 percent lower.
Hong Kong (HKSAR) - The Steering Committee (Steering Committee) on Selection, Quality Assurance and Review of E-Textbook Market Development Scheme (EMADS) has approved a total of 30 applications for the development of e-textbooks.
The 30 successful applications cover the main subjects of Chinese Language (7 applications), English Language (5 applications) and Mathematics (6 applications), and other subjects including General Studies (4 applications), Computer Literacy (2 applications), Putonghua (2 applications), Geography (1 application), Life and Society (1 application) and Physical Education (2 applications). Twenty-one applications cover primary education and nine cover junior secondary.
The successful applications came from 13 applicants. Of these, 12 were submitted by five non-profit making (NPM) organisations, while the other 18 applications were submitted by eight other organisations.
Among the 13 applicants, at least three are textbook publishing-related organisations, two are e-learning resources developers and two are tertiary institutions.
In addition to fulfilling the quality criteria of printed textbooks, the successful applications are expected to harness the benefits of e-features to enhance the effectiveness of learning and teaching of the subject. Compared with the prices of their printed counterparts on the same subject, these e-textbooks to be developed under EMADS are generally priced lower. In the case of Geography, the price of the approved e-textbook is lower than the average price of its printed counterpart by as much as 63 per cent.
Apart from countering the continued rise in printed textbook prices, the release of EMADS textbooks will also increase consumers' choice.
For NPM developers, the Government will provide a seeding grant on a 50:50 matching basis, subject to a cap of $4 million per e-textbook set or 50 per cent of the development cost of the e-textbook set, whichever is less. The approved grant may be less than the amount requested if the Steering Committee considers that any of the projected expenses do not fall within the scope of funding or should be of a lesser amount.
Both the NPM applicants and other applicants will enter into an agreement with the Government, which requires them to commit to the sales price of the e-textbooks produced under EMADS for four years and two years respectively.
To field-test the e-textbooks developed under the EMADS in schools, the Education Bureau (EDB) has also launched a Partner Schools Scheme (PSS) to invite aspiring schools to try-out the e-textbooks and provide feedback, so that the developers can enhance the design and contents of the e-textbooks.
Based on their school type, readiness in information technology as well as in curriculum development, a total of 88 applicant schools from the primary and secondary school sectors have been selected to match with the 30 successful EMADS applications. These schools will soon be notified of their participation in the PSS.
To facilitate the development of the e-textbook and e-learning resources market, Hong Kong Education City has launched the EdConnect Directory Service which allows schools, teachers and students to use a single sign-on to access e-textbooks and e-learning resources from different service providers. This will provide a single platform for the developers to manage their resources more effectively for the development of e-textbooks and enhance communication among the concerned parties.
Having undergone the field tests and the quality assurance mechanism under EMADS, the completed e-textbooks developed by successful applicants will be automatically recognised for inclusion in the Recommended Textbook List for e-textbooks in 2014/15.
It is expected that e-textbooks developed under EMADS will be available for use in the 2014/15 school year.
The EDB will conduct an interim review of EMADS. Based on the outcome of the review, the Steering Committee will determine whether or not a second phase for EMADS is desirable and if so, when to implement it.
What Is the Leadership Seminar?
Participants will meet, share with, and learn from a cohort of peers from a wide range of positions supporting teaching and learning from different types of higher education institutions. Both new and experienced participants will benefit from peer interaction and the opportunity to network and engage with leaders in this area during small-group discussions and one-on-one networking.
Separate registration is required and includes all sessions listed below and a hosted seminar lunch on Tuesday, February 5. To register for the Leadership Seminar, you must also register for the ELI Annual Meeting in Denver.
Participation is limited to the first 50 registrants.
Join us in the ELI Adobe Connect Room for this live 30-minute online information session designed to provide a general overview of the program. Open-to-all, this session will cover details of the schedule, activities, and goals. The co-directors will also discuss suggested readings to be completed prior to attending the seminar in Denver and answer any questions about the program.
Participants will be provided with goals for the Leadership Seminar and an overview of e-texts/e-content. They will begin to explore some of the broader leadership issues that inform campus change efforts and discuss strategies for adoption and implementation on campus.
After discussing the potential of e-texts/e-content, participants will explore how they might best be implemented at their institutions. Participants will have an opportunity to hear multiple institutional perspectives on e-text projects and will also meet with several of the presenters over lunch to discuss potential strategies for exploring and possibly implementing e-texts/e-content locally.
Participants will also be encouraged to begin outlining strategies for taking action on their own campuses.
During the closing session, Leadership Seminar participants will have the opportunity to share their ideas, concerns, and potential action steps for strategic implementation of e-texts/e-content at their institutions.
A selected list of e-text and leadership-related readings and resources will be shared to help you prepare for the seminar and to serve as recommendations for your personal library.
This interactive eTextbook predicts a revolution in higher education with respect to the publishing of academic articles, books and, especially, textbooks. As we transition from the print era to the digital era, three things will drive the way this revolution manifests itself in higher education: dissatisfaction with the status quo, the near universal accessibility of easily employed but powerful digital publishing tools and the competition amongst colleges and universities to reduce the cost and debt that students are asked to bear. How exactly will this play out? Who will win? Who will loose? What factors will predict the outcome? Contents include 67 pages, 20 graphics, 28 media files, 25 video files and 5 interactive widgets.
New software from French publishing technology company Gutenberg Technology promises to greatly simplify e-textbook production and distribution.
After years of testing and early programs with major educational publishers such as Hachette in France, Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Gutenberg will announce tomorrow the launch of MyEbookFactory, a software that helps publishers seamlessly create e-textbooks for iOS, Android, Kindle, Windows 8 and other formats.
Working with a PDF, MyEbookFactory creates XML content and stores it in a database where the publisher can add custom enhancements and interactivity before exporting it to multiple device formats at once. Through the database of textbook content, for which Gutenberg has a patent, publishers can update their editions remotely.
The scale and ability to simultaneously create products for multiple platforms is what makes this technology different from others currently available for making interactive textbooks — like Inkling’s Habitat and iBooks Author.
“In two-to-four years, everyone will be using digital in the classrooms and it’s 50% less expensive to produce textbooks online,” said Francois-Xavier Hussherr, the CEO of Gutenberg Technology.
For a company like Pearson, which may have hundreds of textbooks that it wants to convert to interactive e-textbooks, the cost may not be so onerous. Currently, MyEbookFactory can handle several hundred books a month. That number will increase to over 10,000 a month in 2014.
Why is it signifi cant?
The open educational resources model, including textbooks, has emerged as a response to rising text prices, a need for greater access to high-quality learning materials, the proliferation of e-reader devices, and a trend in publishing toward electronic media. Many contend that educational resources should be open and that instructional models increasingly depend on open content. Open textbooks can be offered by commercial publishers or found in open repositories. Open resources can promote active learning through student interaction with the text, particularly when they contribute to authorship. Although open textbooks face questions about the accuracy and reliability of their content, they allow higher education instructors to design content for their courses on an as-needed basis, choosing from an array of books, articles, videos, audio recordings, and readings.
The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.
'CCCOER Webinar: OER Research on Student Impact and Faculty Feedback' on College Open Textbooks Community!
Come hear the most recent OER Research findings from college projects!
Please join us Tuesday, December 4, 1:00 pm Eastern for a webinar on OER Research findings on student outcomes and faculty and student feedback. The Kaleidoscope project, a collaboration between six community colleges and two 4-year colleges, developed OER for eight General Education courses and will report on student learning outcomes and faculty satisfaction. Florida Virtual Campus has been administering surveys to both faculty and students using open textbooks and open educational resources at their college and university campuses through their Open Access Textbook project and will share their findings from the last three years. Another Next Generation Learning Grant funded project Bridge-2-Success has worked with non-traditional students transitioning back to college or entering for the first time to improve college success. Working with Open University UK adapted open educational resources (OER) and online data gathering, they will share student outcome data from Anne Arundel and their 20 pilot colleges.
Dr. Robin Donaldson, Director of Open Access Textbooks and Project Manager of Orange Grove, Florida Virtual Campus.Robin will give us an overview of the student and faculty survey feedback from 2010 and 2011 and will compare how data has changed over time.
Dr. Nassim Ebrahimi, Ann Arundel Community College. Nassim will report on student learning outcomes finding from the Bridge-2-Success project at Ann Arundel and the 20 pilot community colleges that participated.
Kim Thanos, Lumen Learning. Kim will share differences in how students performed in classrooms using OER compared to those who continued to use publisher materials. She will also report on satisfaction among faculty participants.
No pre-registration necessary. On the day of the webinar, ... click [on the link] to login and then press the Connect button.
Rethinking How & Where Digital Knowledge is Stored, Shared, Tagged and Licensed in the 21st Century: New Role for Librarians ?
With the new college year soon to begin, Boston startup Boundless Learning has just released its first products — free online materials aimed at serving as substitutes for college textbooks — out of beta to the public.
The company says it has worked with academic experts to craft "online experiences" that aim to convey the information you'd find in a typical textbook, but in a more engaging manner.
Boundless Learning has released materials in seven subjects — biology, economics, psychology, sociology, anatomy & physiology, history and writing. The materials are particularly optimized for use on tablet computers such as the iPad, said CEO and co-founder Ariel Diaz.
The materials use openly licensed educational content, created and posted online by faculty members over the past two decades, and curated by Boundless Learning's domain experts, Diaz has said.
Boundless Learning has had students at more than 1,000 universities try out the products during the beta over the past year, Diaz said, though the number of students that have used the product isn't being disclosed.
The company is focused on offering a free product, but does plan to test some premium features during the semester, Diaz said.
Boundless taps into the world of free & open access information and turns it into a beautiful yet functional digital textbook.
It’s iPad-friendly, works on laptops, and is simple enough for teachers of any aptitude to use.
The system generates digital resources for you based on the textbook you would normally have used in the course.
You can still use the printed textbook and use Boundless as a free digital supplement.
There’s an instant search feature built into the new Boundless UI.
You can digitally highlight and add notes to all of the content. I could see this being a big help to anyone nervous about deploying technology that could replace printed textbooks.
Boundless has a fun new feature called SmartNotes Premium which boils down all the content into easily digested factoids, summaries, and roundups. It’s like having a customized ‘Top 10′ list for each topic you’re reading about. This feature is $20/course just FYI.
The digital textbooks have no expiration date. They’re not rentals or anything that would cost you money since it’s all open source.
Boundless, the textbook-free option for students, started the next chapter of its service this week by coming out of private beta and opening its online doors to the world.
After a year of working with students at more than 1,000 schools, the Boston-based company's expansive content library is now open to any student who signed up for Boundless. The service connects students with openly licensed, and free educational content content on the Web, with the goal of helping students save money on textbook costs. Boundless covers topics like biology, psychology, and economics, as well as newly added options like sociology, American history, writing, and physiology.
Despite all of its good will toward the education world, Boundless hasn't launched without at least a few roadblocks.
In late March, the company was sued by three of the world's largest publishing companies for alleged copyright infringement. With $8 million in funding just raised, Boundless fought back against its competitors, which it blamed for the high costs of education.
"Don't worry – we won't let the fact that someone slipped a lawsuit in the punchbowl ruin our good time," the company said in an April blog post. "Boundless is committed to bringing educational content into the 21st century, and we remain focused on our mission."
That mission is moving forward, bringing Open educational Resources (OER) from WikiBooks, OCW Consortium, MIT Open Courseware, Creative Commons, and others to its Web and mobile platforms. The new Boundless includes improved navigation, highlights and notes, and full HTML5 and iPad capabilities.
The eTernity project is a new initiative from CEN Workshop on Learning Technologies and actors in the textbook marked together with stakeholders from education. eTernity is about bringing European stakeholders in education together: developing a common vision, frameworks and specifications for e-textbooks for educational purposes. The idea is to fulfill educational requirements for e-textbooks as a channel for creating interactive, adaptable, personlizable resources to improve learning, education and training.
eTernity will provide a common reference framework to support public policy makers, private stakeholders and academic bodies that want to work together to reshape the digital marketplace for educational resources in Europe.
The goal of the eTernity initiative is to provide neutral guidance based on an agreed framework allowing us to move away from the many closed and vertical solutions flourishing in today’s digital content markets. Creation, inter-mediation (also called “curation”), distribution and use of digital textbooks need to be based on open architectural and technical standards that will make the marketplace more interoperable and scalable, in an ecosystem of multiple players and actors.
In a nutshell, this initiative wants to move the European textbook market from a world based on siloed and closed proprietary marketplaces to a future ecosystem where smart, responsive and adaptable textbooks can interoperate across different distribution channels and devices, adapting to the learner’s skills and competencies, delivering the right learning experience where and when the learner needs it. This will affect many providers, producers, consumers and curators of learning textbooks.
You are invited to contribute to this work – join the project kick off meeting in January 2013.
For the first time, 2012 saw the 4th Conference on Open Access Scholarly Publishing (COASP) feature an afternoon of sessions entirely dedicated to Open Access books. In his introduction, OAPEN’s Eelco Ferwerda highlighted that with this year’s milestones – the launch of the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB), PKP’s Open Monograph Press, and Springer’s announcement of SpringerOpen books – the time for Open Access monograph publishing has arrived, culminating in Open Access books being made part of the program at COASP.
Things are speeding up for books, Ferwerda remarked. However, there are still a lot of unknowns: What will be the main business model for Open Access books? Under what license should they be published? What do the stakeholders in scholarly communication—the authors, libraries, funders and publishers—think about Open Access monographs? The afternoon thus set out to explore emerging business and publishing models for Open Access books, and current research on user and stakeholder needs.
This final evaluation and recommendation report is based on the user experiences, needs, and expectations as they emerged from the data collected as part of the DOAB User Needs Analysis. This report aims to advise in the establishment of procedures, criteria and standards concerning the set-up and functioning of the DOAB platform and service and to devise guidelines and recommendations for admissions to DOAB and for its further development, sustainability and implementation.
What are the functional requirements, or needs, which different users have with respect to the platform, the protocols and the procedures that DOAB wants to establish?
What kind of recommendations can we extract from the users’ experiences with the beta-platform and their expectations of a future DOAB service?
The research design has been structured around defining user (librarians, academics, publishers and funders) needs, experiences and expectations with respect to the DOAB platform and system as it is currently set up, paying special attention to users perceptions and needs with respect to Open Access, Open Access books, and a directory of Open Access books; quality and peer review procedures; copyright policies; platform usability; and potential business and funding models both for Open Access books and for DOAB. This study has used a variety of qualitative data collection tools (surveys, online discussion platform and panel discussion) to capture these needs, experiences and expectations.
The Florida Distance Learning Consortium held a one-day symposium on institution and state level digital textbook initiatives, examining national trends and prevailing models for both publisher digital textbooks and open textbooks. Faculty, policymakers, and experts from across the country described their digital textbook programs, policies, results, and best practices. Two panel discussion followed the presentations. The first, the Publisher Voice panel, included digital textbook providers and an open textbook provider. The second, Comparing Pathways, included the speakers from state systems and institutions that have established digital textbook programs.
Panelists representing commercial publishers, value added textbook distributors, and a university press discussed the various licensing agreements they have implemented or considered. Enrollment models—in which every student in a class pays a fee—offer vendors assurance of greater volume and consequently lower prices for new textbooks, whereas optional models allow students to rent or buy used books. The panel explored innovative approaches to supplying content, including open content, and models for institution and statewide licensing arrangements with publishers and vendors for the purchase of textbooks.
Developing and implementing a successful digital or open textbook strategy can provide enormous benefit for students. However, implementation is not always easy and involves many issues. Digital and open textbooks can successfully support teaching and learning while reducing costs if best practices are applied to the process. The panel of educators involved in open and digital textbook initiatives discussed techniques that facilitate the adoption of digital and open textbooks in practice.
This symposium was funded through the Open Access Textbooks Project, a project funded through a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), Grant No. P116Y090040.
Startup companies offering knockoff textbooks are attracting students, and lawsuits.
Diaz, who still resents how much he'd paid for textbooks in college and graduate school, realized he'd hit on his next business idea. In 2011, he started Boundless Learning, a Boston company that has begun giving away free electronic textbooks covering college subjects like American history, anatomy and physiology, economics, and psychology.
What's controversial is how Boundless creates these texts. The company trawls for public material on sites like Wikipedia and then crafts it into online books whose chapters track closely to those of top-selling college titles. In April, Boundless was sued by several large publishers who accused the startup of engaging in "the business model of theft."
McGraw-Hill Education has announced its new Digital Learning Partnership Program, an e-book program for colleges and and universities, which will launch this week at the Educause 2012 conference in Denver.
The new program is the result of a pilot program that McGraw-Hill Education developed with Indiana University and several other institutions, and which was recently expanded to more than 25 educational institutions across the country.
The Digital Learning Partnership Program enables instructors at participating institutions to provide their students with e-books from McGraw-Hill Education or any of its partners: CourseSmart, Courseload, and Vital Source, but they are not locked into the program and retain the academic freedom to choose other textbooks.
The McGraw-Hill Education e-books contain tools for searching, sharing content, annotating, and highlighting. Students who prefer not to use e-books also have the freedom to order a print-on-demand copy of the e-book.
In addition to e-books, the Partnership Program enables instructors to use other McGraw-Hill Education digital solutions, including the McGraw-Hill Connect teaching and learning platform, the LearnSmart adaptive study tool, the Tegrity Campus lecture capture system, and the ALEKS adaptive math program.
The e-books and digital solutions available through the Partnership Program can integrate with any learning management system, and they are accessible through laptops or mobile devices.
The McGraw-Hill Education Digital Learning Partnership Program is open to colleges and universities now for implementation in fall 2013.
Project Blue Sky allows instructors to search, select, and seamlessly integrate Open Educational Resources with Pearson learning materials. Using text, video, simulations, Power Point and more, instructors can create the digital course materials that are just right for their courses and their students. Pearson’s Project Blue Sky is powered by Gooru Learning, a search engine for learning materials.
The primary aim of DOAB is to increase discoverability of Open Access books. Academic publishers are invited to provide metadata of their Open Access books to DOAB. Metadata will be harvestable in order to maximize dissemination, visibility and impact. Aggregators can integrate the records in their commercial services and libraries can integrate the directory into their online catalogues, helping scholars and students to discover the books. The directory will be open to all publishers who publish academic, peer reviewed books in Open Access and should contain as many books as possible, provided that these publications are in Open Access and meet academic standards.
Sorting Out The Concepts: "Open Educational Resources," "Open Textbooks," and "eBooks"
SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CourseSmart®, a leading Educational Services Platform and the world's largest provider of digital course materials, today announced a new pilot program with the Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC) to integrate digital course materials within their Pearson eCollege Learning Management System (LMS). The pilot, which will be offered to more than 200 students across multiple disciplines, will be available on all seven of ICCOC's campuses during the Spring 2013 semester. | 2019-04-20T02:24:58Z | http://digital-textbooks.blogspot.com/2012/11/ |
Having just watched a true story video dealing with a mother’s decision, my own heart broke. This was my attempt to pay homage to this courageous woman. Thank you for your kind comments.
Oh,that is then a doubly beautiful piece-a great tribute to such a mom Rochelle!
An emotional riptide with an amazingly hopeful ending. Wow.
This was a very emotional piece for me. I can’t imagine having to experience any of this personally but I so admire parents who can unselfishly give their child’s organs to another. Glad you liked and I appreciate your comments.
Hard to disagree with the others, so I won’t even try. A very moving piece, Rochelle. Well done.
Thank you for your kind words. Great photo, isn’t it? Thanks.
One of your best Rochelle! Loved it.
Hi Rochelle ! Very emotional superb story. Made me very sad , end is very touching and nice.
A beautifully sad story with an ending I didn’t expect. It brought tears to my eyes. I lost a brother many years ago, and through his organ donation, a dying boy was able to live for more than 20 years with his heart and lungs. The recipient named his first born child after my brother. Thanks for sharing such a touching story, Rochelle.
Wow, two touching story’s in one.
For me this was fiction. Thank you for sharing your heart-wrenching true story. It validates mine.
No “heart” comments from me, but I agree that this might be one of your best. Imagining a child dying (as I have several times in my FF stories) is an unfathomable thing but I think that donating organs is a wonderful way to share the blessings of life even in death.
I admire (and appreciate) your self-restraint on this one. 😉 It was inspired by an incredible video I saw not too long ago. The parents had donated their teen-age daughter’s organs after she was killed in a skiing accident. The recipient of her heart was a nurse with small children of her own. When the parents met her she came with a stethoscope so the parents could hear their daughter’s heart.
I sobbed as I watched, in fact I can’t think about it without tears.
A lyrical and touching story. As always, I’m in awe of your writing. The photo reminds me of my daughter at the age of 3, stomping around in pink boots lined with lambs wool. Such a spirited child she was. And now she’s a spirited young woman.
Thank you for your head-turning compliments.
I loved your poem about your spirited daughter.
Excellently crafted, Rochelle. It hit me in the heart. The only suggestion I’d make (after reading it about four times) is maybe to change “defies” to “defied.” I’m not sure this mother would want to clean Charli’s boots anymore (thus they would have defied her efforts in the past, but no longer). Might she prefer to hold onto not only the boots, but the last pieces of earth through which Charli trod? It’s just a thought, based on what I would do/not do as a mother.
Overall, thought, an absolutely beautiful story!
Good point on defies vs, defied.Although my point in that sentence is to establish then and now. However I’m not adverse to changing it.
Thank you for your comments and compliment.
Rochelle, I always love your work. Confession: So many have remarked on your use of the loss of a child. I don’t have that point of reference. (never had children) What I did have was a young brother who died way before his time, and who also donated so others might live. I consider him very brave in that act. It is one which I am unable to commit to. It is not the act of giving, you see. It’s just that I have this irrational fear of not being quite dead, but just mostly dead… Silly for my part. Too much Sci-Fi in my youth I guess.
Thank you for sharing your touching story and your kind words.
The last line really does add another beautiful element to an already good story, and it’s about such an important issue. I can see why some people find organ donation an icky concept, but struggle to understand why someone would decide against it unless it’s based on religious reasons.
There are some fantastic true stories of donated organs saving lives. Probably the most unselfish thing a person could do. I’m glad the message came across in my story.
Your stories are always top notch and the first one I read, Rochelle. I think this is one of your best and an excellent example of 100 word flash fiction. Your story gave me chills and that doesn’t happen often. I hope she gave the girl the boots too.
As long as I’m here… I thought I’d make a Holiday Gift Suggestion. 100+ writers are Friday Fictioneers… I wonder how many have read a book called This That And Sometimes the Other? It can be found on Amazon… that’s where I bought mine. The Author is a friend of ours.
Thanks for the plug, Ted. Not sure the paperback is available on Amazon right now. It is available on Kindle and the paperback is available at http://www.highhillpress.com or I have some copies to autograph and sell. [email protected].
brilliant. one of the best stories i’ve read from you (and that’s saying something) very powerful and emotional.
Brilliant’s a powerful word. Thank you.
Beautiful and emotional piece. Brilliant as ever.
Oh .. I had to read it before doing my own.. and yes this was hearbreakingly good.. oh yes.. a pair of empty shoes.. very very good.
Your words make me smile. Thank you.
Indeed she does. Thanks for commenting, JK.
A bitter-sweet ending to this beautifully crafted tale.
Thankfully there are unselfish people like Charli’s mom in this world. Thank you for your comments.
That was such a beautifully sad story, amazingly rich with emotion.
Oh so beautiful and yet so sad. You really gave those shoes a different meaning from what I had imagined. I just hope that when she meets the recipient, the girl hates pink and loves to climb trees. Great story, Rochelle. I loved it.
Good thoughts. I hope so, too. Glad you came by with your sweet comments.
Oh, well, I discovered it is a great story though I had to read through the comments to make a meaning out of the last paragraph. This is simply brilliant!
I hope your confusion is merely language barrier. Glad you liked it in the end.
I feel like you’ve been going with sad a lot recently, Rochelle. Another one here – you set us up to love Charli almost as much as the narrator does, then Boom.
Also, what? Christmas in two weeks? Oh help!
In all honesty, Christmas is a little bit of a bummer this year for familial reasons I won’t go into. I’m not at all ready for it. Nonetheless it’s creeping up on us. I hope Sebastian’s going to have a great one.
As always, your comments mean a lot to me.
It was more of an impression, Rochelle, I didn’t go back and check. In any event, nothing wrong with the dark side from my POV, especially when you pull it off so powerfully.
What a moving story. It brought tears to my eyes. That is good writing when you strike an emotional chord! Beautiful and sad.
Nothing compliments an author more than to know her writing evoked true emotion. Confession: I cried while I wrote it.
Many, many thanks, Emmy. Glad you liked.
I am a true fan of your writing, Rochelle. Each story takes me somewhere special and surprising. I love that combination! This is truly poignant and wonderful! Great job.
I’m truly overwhelmed at your words. Thank you.
The loss of a child I would imagine certainly suggest feelings of emptiness. Nice analogy.
All too many parents know that empty feeling of losing a child, don’t they? Thank you for commenting.
So sad! What a terrible thing to have to live through. Very well penned!
I can’t imagine, really, although I have friends who have. Thank you.
Heartbreaking for the mother but applauded for her generosity. Nice one, Rochelle.
So nice to see you here. 😀 Thank you for your comments.
That one was……straight between the eyes…..what an incredibly powerful short tale. Stunning.
I can only say thank you to such a comment.
Many thanks for your comments, Joe.
Such a comment! All I can answer to that is a simple thank you.
Your comment is also poignant and heart wrenching. Thank you for sharing a bit of yourself.
great story straight from the heart.
I hope all is well with you and Mrs. Bullwinkle at this time.
I’m glad you saw my story for what it’s meant to be. A tribute.
What an emotional roller coaster. My mother-in-law is a coordinator for organ transplants. She has many stories of sadness, but then there’s hope as well for the living. Beautiful piece!
Thank you for your validating comments. My story was inspired by a video I saw where a couple donated their daughter’s organs. The recipient of her heart was a nurse with young children. When they all met the nurse brought a stethoscope so the parents could hear their daughter’s heartbeat. I sobbed.
Your mother-in-law is a special person.
That must have been powerful and heartbreaking to watch. My mother-in-law has a very tough job. It takes a special person to do the work she does. That’s for sure. Thanks.
Beautifully done Rochelle – I loved your last words. ” my daughter’s untamed heart”.
I’m very pleased you caught the nuances of the story. Your words make my heart sing.
Wow! Powerful story with a terrific ending! Loved this! Thanks again for the challenge!
Thank you for commenting. Glad you liked. And you’re ever so welcome for the challenge. It’s my passion and has also become something of a family.
“Wow” is good. 😉 Thank you, Joanna.
Sad and beautiful. Well done.
This is so very good, Rochelle. You pull every emotion out of us with seemingly no effort, but I know it took a great deal of effort to choose exactly the right words and the perfect timing as you’ve done. And — as I’ve said before, but it bears repeating — your ending just explodes in our hearts and keeps reverberating for some time.
Thanks for the comments and the hugs, Millie.
Oh! I got a little teary-eyed reading that. Wonderful job, as always, Rochelle!
I got a little teary-eyed writing it. Thank you for your affirming comments. Nice to read.
You’re welcome! It is a great piece.
You tend to write about death and dying a lot, but you also make it save and secure.
I suppose I do write about death a lot. I hope not to come across as a dark and morbid person. Your words are affirming and sweet.
I’m a bit late in reading stories this week, but I’m glad I read this one. What a great story. I misread the last line and thought it was the daughter who had given her heart to a girl. Then I reread it and the real meaning became clear. Wow, what an ending.
I’m pleased that you made it by with your comments.
Very sad, brave. Written like it’s a personal experience. Bravo.
Fortunately it’s totally fiction on my part. I have a great admiration for parents for whom this is a reality. | 2019-04-26T05:53:23Z | https://rochellewisoff.com/2013/12/11/13-december-2013/ |
How do we get better if we have to constantly prove we’re in pain? And does that constant need to prove we’re in pain prevent us from getting better?
In recent posts I wrote about the shame I felt after developing chronic pain and how I’ve been working through that shame. They were the hardest posts I’ve ever written, my most vulnerable by far. But they have also been the most resonant.
Now I want to talk about something that I think is closely related to shame: the desire and need to get better and pursue a meaningful life coupled with the need to constantly prove we are in pain in order to receive care.
It is hard to constantly have to explain one’s pain, to defend it, thereby having to explain one’s self, to defend it.
It’s difficult to get better and move on when you have to constantly prove that you’re in pain in order to receive care or understanding.
It’s difficult to get better and move on when just trying to live a meaningful life in the presence of pain can be used against you to deny treatment or downplay or outright dismiss your condition.
It’s difficult to get better and move on when the focus is on your secondary gains and not your primary losses.
It’s a distressing theme I have come across in my interactions with people living with pain, particularly those in the work comp system.
I mentioned in the shame post one of the interactions that contributed to my own downward spiral: being accused of malingering.
One of the ‘proofs’ laid against me was Facebook. Another was a work party I attended for an hour.
It’s problem too many people in pain face. Any effort to have some semblance of a life, to find some joy, some relief from the pain, worry and stress, to find some light and laughter, is too often used by others as proof that we’re fine.
That we’re better, that we’ve been fixed. That we no longer need care or, worse yet, used as an indictment that our pain was made up or exaggerated to begin with.
I did go to a party while I was off on comp. I hadn’t been out of the house in months so a friend encouraged me to go. I really wanted to see the people I used to work with, people I’d been so distant from for over a year. I wanted to feel connected.
I figured the flare-up that I knew would ensue would be worth it.
My husband drove me to the train station because I still couldn’t drive, it was too painful.
I stood the entire 45 minute train ride because sitting was too painful.
My friend picked me up from the train station where I laid horizontally in the front seat of her car on the way to the party because sitting was too painful.
At the party she blocked people from coming anywhere near my post-surgical hip. I was guarded, wary and tired but smiled and laughed and tried to ignore the pain. I put on a happy face, a hopeful air.
We only stayed a short while because my pain became intolerable.
A drive back to the train station, lying horizontal. Standing on the train on the way home. Husband picking me up from the train station.
Only he saw my agony, my tears, my frustration. Only he saw my pain, unbearable in the days to follow. Only he saw the darkness.
That wasn’t the whole of it. People also saw my posts on Facebook about me loving sunshine, walking with my dog and husband, reading in the backyard. Posts about my workouts at the gym as I tried to get better, tried to get back to work, tried to get back to myself (workouts given me by my PTs, by the way).
I shared my moments of light amidst a sea of darkness, I didn’t share the darkness.
Who’d want to hear that my pain was through the roof and I couldn’t think about anything else and couldn’t function? Or that I incessantly worried about my uncertain future, our uncertain future, that I worried we might lose the house or our marriage? Or that I couldn’t make the simplest of decisions, they seemed so monumental, and that I worried about my cognitive capacity and often felt I was losing my grip on reality?
Who’d want to know my fears, my anxiety, my pain?
Hell, I didn’t even want to know them.
So I hid them. I hid my shame, my fear, my anxiety, my worry, my pain, because I didn’t want to burden anyone. I didn’t want to appear weak, defeated, broken. Less. Unworthy. A failure.
I wanted to appear strong. A warrior. A fighter.
So I shared my few moments of light. Moments I desperately wanted to magnify, to make last, to give me hope.
Those moments would cause me more pain when used against me by those blind to the depths of the darkness those small slivers of light pierced.
I started second guessing not only everything I shared, but everything I did.
It wasn’t just those accusations that hurt. When I first started climbing out of the darkness, when I first started trying to engage with the world again, the restrictions on my work comp paperwork would haunt me, too.
No squatting, no sitting for long periods of time, no climbing, no awkward positions, no lifting more than 20 pounds, no running.
How could I possibly get better if I couldn’t do those things?
Yet if I were to try to do those things, I’d worry that I was being tailed by an investigator who could document it and use it against me. Use it to prove I was trying to cheat the system. To call me a liar. To doubt and dismiss me further.
I didn’t lift more than 2o pounds at the gym, just in case I was being watched. I tried not to squat, climb or get in awkward positions in public because I needed treatment, I needed help. My pain was unbearable and I wasn’t willing to jeopardize my case, my care, by doing those things. Just normal, everyday things.
Things that would have helped me get better.
Those NOs were insidious. They became a part of my psyche, my movement, my beliefs, my fears.
This when all I was trying to do was live, survive, get through one day and into the next. When all I was trying to do was get better.
But how do we get better when there is a battle being waged between trying to improve and proving we still need care and time?
The sad irony was that all I wanted was to get back to work, not avoid it. All I wanted in life was to get back to firefighting. Back to my career, my salary, my future, my retirement in another 25 years. Back to my identity, my sense of worth, my purpose…my life.
People said I was lucky that I could medically retire. The term ‘secondary gains’ was thrown about by various practitioners, many of whom had never met me, who didn’t know my story.
But what about my primary losses? It had never even occurred to me to ask. I only ask it now because of a conversation I had at the 2017 San Diego Pain Summit with Jason Silvernail (an astute and compassionate physical therapist who my admiration for only grows with each meeting).
People living with pain have lost so much. Careers, career prospects, income, financial security, relationships, identities, worth, purpose, hobbies, physical fitness, mental health, social outings, travel, sport, function…there’s so much loss.
No matter what their ‘secondary gains’ may be, they’d never choose them over what they once had.
The primary losses are so much greater than the secondary gains for most of us, so why do we never talk about that?
I’m not the only one. It came to mind recently after someone reached out to me with a similar story. They shared fears of going out for walks for fear it would be used against them in their work comp case, fears of leaving the house because of what conclusions might be drawn if they were seen.
And it’s not just work comp, employers and insurers. It can be friends, coworkers, family and acquaintances.
It’s distressing and confusing and disheartening and difficult. One has to constantly defend and explain oneself, which is exhausting and demoralizing.
I can relate to that. As so many of us can.
Why shouldn’t people with pain or chronic illness have a life? What is the alternative? To retreat to the darkness forever? To never leave the house? Never leave bed? Give up? Die?
Aren’t people with pain or chronic illness allowed to have a life? Isn’t that ridiculous to have to ask?
What if people with pain were encouraged and supported by their healthcare providers and insurers for pursuing their lives while also still being eligible for care? How much more effective could care be under such an approach?
It wasn’t until I started reengaging with the world again that I started to get better, after all. It wasn’t until I realized that those NOs on my work comp paperwork weren’t a life sentence.
It wasn’t until I reconnected with nature, started hiking again and got back on my snowboard that my life changed, even if my pain didn’t.
And eventually my pain changed, too.
I was finally living life again, it wasn’t on hold anymore. I didn’t fear the repercussions if I ‘got caught’ trying to live a meaningful life.
The way we view chronic illness and pain needs change. Worker’s compensation needs change. Healthcare needs change. Society needs change. We need change.
It breaks my heart to see people trying to get better while also having to fight the system and fight stigma. And it is a fight, don’t get me wrong. But it needn’t be.
To be clear, there are good people in the system. The system is broken, though.
There’s a lot of change that needs to happen. It will take a long time. But in the interim, as we’re turning the ship, we can each do our part.
If you see someone who has chronic pain or a chronic condition out having a good time, or you see a post of a moment of light, I beg of you not to make a judgment about their pain or their health or their lives. For that matter, let’s all try not to make a judgment about anyone’s pain or health or lives, whether we (think we) know them to be healthy or not.
If someone is sharing a moment of light, let us be supportive and encouraging, or be silent if we have no support or encouragement to give.
If someone is sharing a moment of darkness, let us be supportive and encouraging, or be silent if we have no support or encouragement to give.
None of us has this figured out. None of us are better than anyone else. And none of us knows what another is going through, what struggles they face, what pain they are living with.
I am going to vow to support others, both personally or professionally, with love and kindness. With compassion and encouragement. With understanding and a willingness to listen.
For further reading, check out “If you have to prove you are ill, you can’t get well’ by Norton M. Hadler in the journal SPINE in 1996. 1996!
The post Trying to get better while having to prove we’re in pain appeared first on MyCuppaJo.com.
This post was posted in Changing Pain, chronic pain, chronic pain management, EPIColorado, FAI, femoracetabular impingement, healing, health, injured athlete, injured firefighter, injury rehabilitation, language, living with pain, mental health, My Blog, ongoing pain, overcoming pain, pain, pain management, pain persistence, pain rehabilitation, pain self management, persistent pain, power of words, recovery, rehabilitation, san diego pain summit, secondary gains, self-management, work comp, worker's compensation and tagged chronic pain, distress, FAI, firefighter, having to prove we're in pain, hip injury, injured firefighter, pain, pain treatment, persistent pain, stigma, stress, trying to get better, worker's compensation. Bookmark the permalink. | 2019-04-23T08:11:46Z | http://www.epicolorado.org/trying-to-get-better-while-having-to-prove-were-in-pain/ |
In a speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, delivered January 19 2018, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced the nation’s latest National Defense Strategy, The first in ten years, Secretary Mattis indicated that the thrust of the nation’s policy had shifted away from fighting terrorism toward countering the threat posed by Russia and China.
Most maliciously, authorities invariably deflect criticism of U.S. policy by attempting to link dissenting publications with Russia.
Given that the U.S. appears to be just as self-serving and law defying as Russia is accused of being, what is the reality behind the unrelenting anti-Russian propaganda campaign? That question is at the heart of this week’s installment of the Global Research News Hour.
In the first half hour, past guest Dmitry Orlov returns to the show to bring us up to speed on some of the latest developments. The Russian-American commentator addresses some of the actions in recent months including the Skripal affair and the stand-off with Israel over the shooting down of a Russian plane. He compares and contrasts the two countries’ military postures and their differing objectives. He also examines the impacts of the sanctions regime and its implications for international political and economic relations.
Our second guest, Ron Ridenour, expands on the theme of his latest book, The Russian Peace Threat: Pentagon on Alert, which provides a historical context for the renewed cold war, deconstructs the propaganda depicting Russia as a menace, and details some of America’s far from benevolent records over the past century. He also hints at where the path to peace may lie.
Dmitry Orlov is a Russian-American writer, blogger and geopolitical analyst based in Moscow. He has degrees in Computer Engineering and Linguistics and has worked in the fields of high energy physics, internet commerce, advertising and network security. He is the author of Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects and Shrinking the Technosphere: Getting a Grip on the Technologies that Limit our Autonomy, Self-sufficiency and Freedom. His blog site is cluborlov.com.
Global Research: We’re joined by Dmitry Orlov. He is a Russian-American writer, blogger, and geopolitical analyst. His work has centered around the political, economic, and ecological and political decline and collapse in the United States, and he’s also the author of numerous articles. His books include Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects and Shrinking The Technosphere: Getting A Grip On The Technologies That Limit Our Autonomy Self-Sufficiency, And Freedom. He joins us here from Moscow. Thanks so much for coming back to the show Dimitri.
Dmitry Orlov: Good to be with you Michael.
DO: Well it’s a bit of a wake-up call for the Israelis because Russia has been extremely accommodating in everything that comes, when it comes to Israel’s security concerns. There is the realization that the rhetoric coming from Tehran has been, you know, quite virulent, you know, Iran is still telling itself that it has the goal of destroying Israel. There’s no way that Israel can avoid responding to such a provocation, and the fact that there are now Iranian troops close to the Israeli border, and that there is weapons manufacturing going on on Syrian territory is something that is a concern to them that the Russians have to allow Israel to take care of its own security concerns.
But the Israelis have acted most irresponsibly because they gave less than a minute warning that this attack was coming. They misnamed the targets, and they misbehaved in the airspace in the sense that they couldn’t have not seen this big lumbering propeller plane that was absolutely no threat to anyone, and they knew that there would be some anti-aircraft fire and drew it not on themselves but on this plane. There are some other, you know unfortunate mishaps that occurred, which are all coming out as a result of the investigation, so it’s still early to say.
But the response was basically to, you know, a dressing-down from Russia to Israelis, saying you cannot do this anymore, and the response was to arm the Syrians with a more up-to-date air defense system which was probably already in place. It was just handed over to Syrian command.
I don’t think that this is a major development. I think Russia and Israel are going to patch things up. I don’t think Israel is going to stop attacking, stop attacking things, on the ground in Syria, that, you know, actions that they see as provocative. They are very fearful of precision rockets, precision weapons being built in Syria that can be smuggled into Syria or even fired, smuggled into Israel, or even fired into Israel from Lebanon or from Syria itself.
DO: Well there is, there will be no declaration of surrender. Let’s not kid ourselves. Basically, what the US does in Syria, similar to what it does everywhere else, it generates activity. It generates activity in order to be in a position to order more weapons systems, more munitions, basically chew through more materiel, because that’s what the contractors require, and those contractors, military contractors, finance various congressional campaigns. That’s the entire political ecosystem, and what happens on the ground is sort of a sideshow.
Now in terms of strategic objectives, whatever they are, the US definitely isn’t achieving them. There’s that encampment they have in Al-Tanf in the south, there are a few other locations in the north where they’re playing along with the Kurds, which is poisoning their relationship with Turkey. They did completely destroy Raqqa and made absolutely no effort to clean it up, to restore it, so there are still rotting bodies there buried under a piles of rubble, and it’s been many months. It’s basically a humanitarian atrocity that they’ve perpetuated in Raqqa, but they’re not achieving anything except wasting money and war materiel. And I think that that is actually their goal at this point is to generate military activity.
DO: Oh, no, absolutely not. Basically, Russian posture, the Russian posture is to make sure that the US and NATO have absolutely no plan whatsoever to attack Russia, or to attack Russia’s allies. Perish the thought. But other than that, Russia’s posture is completely defensive, and American posture, because there is no need to defend the American homeland from anyone, nobody is planning to attack the United States, is purely offensive.
DO: It’s really hard to figure out what is going to snap first. There’s definitely a huge amount of tension between Washington and the European Union. There is a huge amount of tension building up within the European Union itself, because the whole liberal juggernaut that started bringing in unlimited quantities of migrants into Europe, you know that is definitely running into a huge, huge problem, huge conflict that is internal to the EU.
Now, the relationship between the EU and Russia has not really been all that badly damaged by Washington and by these sanctions that the Europeans have gone along with willy-nilly, many of them complaining all along the way. And, definitely, in terms of, for instance, energy cooperation between the EU and Russia is back on track because there are really no other options that the EU has to supply itself with natural gas other than to do business with Russia, and at this point that means also to circumvent the Ukraine because nobody really wants to do business with the Ukraine anymore. It’s basically a sort of poisoned chalice at this point.
You know, in terms of what the sanctions have done to the Russian economy, yes, they cost them a couple of percentage points of GDP growth, but the beneficial effect of those sanctions is often underestimated. It really woke Russia up to the fact that it has to become self-sufficient in many areas, and it has become self-sufficient in numerous areas and is working very hard to achieve self-sufficiency in more areas and to find new trading partners that aren’t going to sanction them. So, the sanctions have really woken up the Russians to the fact that the Americans are not their friends, will never be their friends, and have prompted them to act accordingly.
GR: The US economic situation, they have an unsustainable debt crisis. It doesn’t look like they’re ever going to be able to crawl out of it, they don’t have the ability to maintain the, their current trajectory. I mean, we’re probably looking at another stock market crash, probably sooner rather than later, and I think the writing is on the wall in that regard. That’s bound to affect the way the US comports itself in the world, even though they won’t say it out loud. I mean, you suggested that earlier.
So that you have, you know, falling prices on some things and hyperinflation in other areas. There’ll be huge economic distortions, and the rest of the world will simply have to co-exist. They have a hoard of dollars, they use that hoard of dollars in order to trade with each other, they have contracts signed that are all in dollars. So, how do you de-dollarize that? It’s a gigantic task.
With the Skripal affair, it’s preposterous throughout. There’s absolutely no evidence behind the British story, and there are a lot of facts that are just completely contradictory and negate the narrative that has been voiced. And so the Russians are happy to basically sit back and ignore all of that. They know that there will be sanctions, these sanctions have nothing to do with chemical weapons, they have nothing to do with anything except one fact: Russia is sitting on a stockpile of energy resources that will last it for hundreds of years.
They’re basically jumping up and down mad that they have this problem that they can’t solve. They can’t attack Russia militarily. They’re trying to attack Russia economically, but that’s not working. They’re trying to isolate Russia, and as a result of that Russia is strengthening ties with countries all over the world. You know the SCO organization is now almost half of the world’s GDP, almost half of the world’s population. And it’s a security organization that Russia is part of.
You know, they try to stage little provocations like the little training exercises along the Russian border in the Baltics that are supposed to frighten Russia. Now if NATO attacked Russia, Russia would have them arrested. It doesn’t really make sense as a plan, but it makes sense as an internal narrative, something that these incompetent Western leaders can tell their own people. | 2019-04-25T16:48:47Z | https://www.globalresearch.ca/cold-war-2-0-the-russian-peace-threat-and-americas-addiction-to-war/5655545 |
Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers were true trendsetters in the early days of rock and roll. TheThey were the yardstick by which hundreds of kiddie vocal groups gauged their capabilities in order to bring themselves to the public’s attention.
Groups like the Students (Checker), THE CHANTERS (Deluxe), RONNIE AND THE HI-LITES (Joy), Nicky and the Nobles (Gone), THE KODAKS (Fury), THE DESIRES (Hull), Tiny Tim and the Hits (Roulette), and even Frankie’s brother’s group LOUIS LYMON AND THE TEEN CHORDS, are just some of the many who tried for the bras ring in the footsteps of Frankie and company. Some of those fans that made it big include Diana Ross, Millie Jackson, Ronnie Spector, and Tim Hauser (THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER).
A fateful meeting on 164th Street (where Sherman lived) led to the foursome calling themselves the Coupe De Villes. Across the street lived a family with four brothers, Howie, Timmy, Louis, and Frankie Lymon, all of whom would sing with groups in the future.
The four Coupe De Villes became the Premiers and alternated their practices led to performances at neighborhood talent shows, and one was scheduled for the school auditorium. The Premiers decided to get in some extra practice after a dress rehearsal and entered one of the classrooms. A young teen who was also scheduled to perform with his brother’s mambo band came in and asked to sing a few songs with the group. It was Herman’s neighbor from across 164th Street, 12-year-old Frankie Lymon. They sang “Why Don’t You Write Me” (THE JACKS), “Painted Pictures” (THE SPANIELS), and “Lily Maebelle” (THE VALENTINES), and had such a good time they agreed to do it again, but no one formally asked young Frankie to join.
After the talent show (where Frankie played bongos and his brother Howie played congas with their Latin group), Frankie just started hanging out with the older guys and became first tenor to Herman Santiago’s lead.
Frankie came from a gospel background. His father Howard sang with the Harlemaires and Frankie, Louie, and Howie sang with the Harlemaires Juniors. This seemed to have little impact on his early occupation as a 10-year-old hustler of prostitutes in Harlem. His father was a truck driver and mother a domestic, and it wasn’t easy to feed a family of seven. Frankie also worked in a grocery on his corner as a delivery boy, so pimping was not necessarily his preferred source of income.
By 1955 the quintet was calling themselves the Ermines when they weren’t lapsing back to the Premiers. ON one fateful evening the hallway kids (as they were designated by neighbors) were practicing in Sherman’s hall when they were confronted by a man named Robert, who often stopped and listened to them before entering his apartment.
According to author Phil Groia, he said, “My old lady [her name was Delores] sendsme letters in the form of poems. Being that you’re always singing the same old songs,why don’t you get some original material of your own? I’m giving you some of these poems; see what you can do with them.” The Premiers/Ermines sorted through them and started working on one in particular called “Why Do Birds Sing So Gay.” Frankie worked on a melody line and the others formulated a harmony while tenor Jimmy Merchant came up with a vocal bass intro. It started out as a ballad but soon evolved into an uptempo rocker.
Many evenings later they were rehearsing their repertoire at Stitt’s Night Community Center when in walked the revered Valentines, who also practiced there. Lead singer Richard Barrett had heard there was a hot neighborhood group sing his song and was very impressed by the Premiers’ interpretation.
Barrett’s version of hiss meeting with the group is slightly different: he claims they camped under his 161st Street window and sang until he came down and agreed to hear them audition at Stitt’s the following Monday.
The final (and most probable) version was that Barrett took the group to Goldner, auditioned right after THE CLEFTONES had done so, and were told they had a deal. Herman sang lead on “Why Do Birds Sing So Gay,” “That’s What You’re Doin’ to Me” (THE DOMINOES), and one of his originals, “I Want You to Be My Girl.” He also sang a duet with Frankie. Then Lymon sang a song he’d done with brother Howie’s group. Goldner then suggested Frankie sing “Why Do Birds,” changed the title to “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” moved Herman to first tenor, and told the teens they had a deal.
Within months the record and group were international hits: “Fools” reached number one in England, the first R&B/rock and roll record by an American vocal group to do so. Not bad for three 16-year-olds (Jimmy, Joe, and Sherman), one 15-year-old (Herman), and one 13-year-old (Frankie).
In April their second 45, “I Want You to Be My Girl,” hit the airwaves. Once again the first printing read “The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon,” but the second was changed to read “Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.” Herman Santiago wrote “Girl”; given the typical practices of the day, it’s not surprising that the writer’s credit was given to Goldner-Barrett. “I Want You to Be My Girl” skyrocketed like its predecessor, reaching number 13 (#3 R&B).
Their first big tour started on a dubious note: the Teenagers and co-billed acts THE FLAMINGOS, THE PLATTERS, THE CLOVERS, THE FLAIRS, and Carl Perkins all stood around the Hotel Theresa in New York ready to hit the rod except for one small detail. Frankie Lymon was nowhere to be found. Sherman Garnes then marched the group up to the High School of Music and Art to recruit their friend Jimmy Castor (of the Junior, Wing), who had a style similar to Frankie’s. Jimmy left school that same day and the tour got underway. Frankie showed up later on with little in the way of explanation.
A similar incident happened on another tour when Richard Barrett stepped in as lead in Detroit.
In the summer of 1956 Gee cajoled the group into doing Jimmy Castor and the Juniors’ “I Promise to Remember.” It reached only number 56 (#10 R&B) and its solid rocker flip “Who Can Explain” made R&B number seven.
The group appeared in Alan Freed’s classic teen film Rock, Rock, Rock, which was filmed in the Bronx at the Bedford Park Studios and the nearby botanical gardens. They sang “I’m Not a Juvenile Delinquent” (written by Bobby Spencer of the Cadillacs and the Valentines, though the label credit read “Goldner”) and “Baby Baby,” which became their next single.
The British loved “Delinquent.” It reached number 12 in Britain in early 1957 (and the flip “Baby Baby” reached number four), but U.S. kids nixed the cutesy rocker and it failed to chart.
The group also did a British tour in 1956 that included a performance at the world-famous London Palladium and a command performance in the Queen’s chambers for Princess Margaret. The outstanding ballad “Out in the Cold Again” became their last R&B chart record, reaching number 10.
While still on the six-week European tour, Goldner started tampering with the chemistry that made the quintet so successful. Frankie began recording solo; the results were languid and desperately in need of the Teenagers’ enthusiastic backing. Though the label of the 1957 single “Goody Goody” read “Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers,” The Harlem teens were nowhere to be found on the released recording. It reportedly had the pasteurized harmony of the Ray Charles Singers accompanying Frankie. It reached number 20 Pop and number 24 in England but never made the R&B chart.
The quintet continued to tour through mid-1957 and Gee then moved Frankie to Roulette Records for a series of lackluster singles like “So Goes My Love.” “Little Girl,” “Footsteps,” and Elvis’s “Jailhouse Rock.” In 1960 Frankie charted for four weeks with a remake of Thurston Harris’s “Little Bitty Pretty One” (#58). Meanwhile, the Teenagers were mismatched with Bill Lobrano, a white-sounding cross between Frankie Avalon and an imitation Elvis, for two singles, “Flip Flop” (which it did) and “Mama Wanna Rock” (which it did) and “Mama Wanna Rock” (which didn’t wanna rock). In 1960 they recorded a credible cover of THE SHIRELLES’ “Tonight’s the Night” with Kenny Bobo, formerly of the Juniors, on lead and a second single (both for End), “A Little Wiser now” with Johnny Houston upfront sounding like Jackie Wilson leading the Flamingos. The Teenagers certainly had diversity, but it didn’t help them sell records.
The Teenagers and Frankie reunited in 1965 for a brief period but no recordings resulted. The four Teenagers performed but no recordings resulted. The four Teenagers performed one last time in 1973 with Pearl McKinnon of the Kodaks on lead (whose vocal likeness to Frankie was startling). Sherman Garnes passed on after a heart attack in 1977, and Joe Negroni died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1978.
In 1981, the 25th anniversary of their first hit, the Teenagers were re-formed at the suggestion of Herbie Cox and Charlie James (the Cleftones), Ronnie Italiano (U.G.H.A. founder), and Joel Warshaw. The members were Jimmy Merchant, Herman Santiago, Eric Ward (of the soul group Second Verse), and Pearl McKinnon. The group, managed by Warshaw and helped by Ronnie I., began performing to overwhelming adulation.
By 1983 Ward had been replaced by Derek Ventura, and in 1984 Phil Garrito took over for Derek. Roz Morehead replaced Pearl, and Marilyn Byers moved into Roz’s lead spot.
In the early ‘80s they opened for Manhattan Transfer, thanks to Tim Hauser, who tracked them down and arranged the gig.
The group did a PBS documentary as a tribute to their music and to Frankie, who died of a drug overdose in his grandmother’s apartment at the age of 26. The show was aired on August 14, 1983.
In 1983 Pearl McKinnon discovered that Frankie was buried in an unmarked grave at St. Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.
In September 1985, thanks to Ronnie Italiano, a benefit was held to raise money and a headstone was bought. It now sits in the window of Ronnie’s Clifton Music at 1135 Main Avenue in Clifton, New Jersey, while three so-called widows of Lymon’s, Emira Eagle, Zola Taylor (formerly of the Platters), and Elizabeth Waters, fight over Frankie’s half a million dollars in royalties. | 2019-04-23T10:26:44Z | http://vocalgroup.org/inductees/frankie-lymon-and-the-teenagers/ |
One of the best and most significant changes for me when I moved from high school English teaching to being a college professor was a blossoming of my life as a writer.
In the spring of my first year of college—almost 40 years ago—I had an epiphany: I realized that I was a writer. Much of my life in my twenties while I struggled to develop my professional credibility as a high school teacher, I was also writing poetry, short stories, and even a novel—all of which I religiously cast into the submission pond for publication.
For more than two decades, I dutifully mailed through the postal system 9 x 11 manilla envelopes including my hand-typed manuscripts and another envelope with return postage. Most of that work was returned with terse and impersonal rejections; a few had hand-scribbled notes of encouragement, and a smattering of work was accepted and published in so-called small or literary journals.
I had a couple professional education articles published before I entered my doctoral program in 1995 (Oregon English and English Journal), but I did not begin to recognize my writer life as less than a writer of fiction and more as a scholar and public intellectual until the late 1990s and especially once I left high school teaching and became a professor in 2002.
Since I was mostly a self-taught writer of fiction and poetry (not a part of an MFA program or the “in” circle of writers) and “only” a public school teacher, my efforts at publishing were almost all very discouraging and fruitless.
So here is my first caveat about publishing as an educator: Create a network and make contacts so that your work has a better chance of being considered and thus published.
Since I became a professor, I have published self-authored and edited/co-edited volumes (20+ volumes), about 30 chapters in volumes, and many dozens of scholarly journal articles and public articles and commentaries; as well, I have co-edited state education journals, edited/co-edited columns for 10 years in English Journal, and edited series for education publishers Peter Lang USA and Brill/Sense.
As I noted above, once in higher education, I gained access to publishing that I had not enjoyed previously. My affiliation with a university opened doors to public commentaries in local, state, and national newspapers and publications, and quite significantly, I made a connection through a colleague with a series editor (Joe Kincheloe) who believed in my work and started my career as a scholar.
Here, I want to emphasize that I was prepared for these opportunities by the years of mostly unproductive work prior; I had spent decades honing my skills as a writer—despite my lack of publications—and I had almost two decades under my belt as a classroom teacher (practitioner expertise) as well as a doctorate (scholarly expertise), including, of course, the powerful experience of completing a dissertation (which I later published).
Determine the type of writer you are (or want to be). Essentially educators (K-12 or professors) who want to publish are either writers who want to publish scholarship or practitioners/scholars who need to write in order to publish. This recognition is not about being the right kind of writer (there isn’t a right one), but your attitude about the writing and your path to publishing are quite different between the two types.
Commit time to the craft of writing. If you want to publish, you must practice writing—including drafting a significant amount of text that will never be submitted or published. Read books on being a writer and writing well; read authors and scholars writing about being writers. But most of all, create writing time and build a reserve of writing that helps you hone your skill, explore the type of writer you want to be (voice, style, and genre/form), and accumulate texts that may serve you once you begin writing pieces targeted for submission and publication.
Begin to read professional published work as a writer. My time editing has included a great deal of energy gently responding to submissions that should have never been submitted; the format is unacceptable, or the piece simply does not match the publication or column. Want to publish scholarly articles? Seek out the journals where you would like to publish and read meticulously. What to publish a book? Explore publishers and read the books like the ones you want to write.
Do the due diligence of understanding and then conforming to submission guidelines. Well before actually submitting work, study calls for submissions and calls for proposals. Know the expectations for queries, proposals, and submissions. While some standard guidelines exist, almost all publications and publishers have unique requirements that demand you are meticulous and are willingly to honor the time and professionalism of the editors receiving your work; meet format, citation, and word-length requirements.
Join professional organizations and attend professional conferences. The most effective “in” to publishing as an educator is the professional organization, and then the professional conference. Professional organizations at the local, state, and national levels allow you to begin and grow a network, but they also often have publishing opportunities that far too few educators explore. Presenting at conferences is also an outstanding first step to having an article to submit—especially if you present with other educators and then co-author the article. Collaboration, in fact, is an excellent initial route to publishing, especially if you can collaborate with a published educator.
Create a social media presence (Twitter, etc.) that is mostly professional. Similar to professional organizations, social media can be a great community for entering the conversations you will want to explore as a writer. The key is to focus your social media time (who you follow, and what you share) on a professional community.
Identify your are(s) of expertise and then research to see what has been published, what is being published. As an editor and a peer-reviewer, I have very often had to reject work that simply walks well-worn ground or enters a conversation with no clear awareness of the status of that conversation. Being an educator at all levels can be very isolating, but to publish, you must be aware of what the conversation includes, what the research base has already offered (many call this standing on the shoulders of giants). First-time publishing is daunting, but those initial efforts have a much better chance if you commit yourself to knowing your publication, knowing your expertise, knowing your audience, and knowing the historical and current status of the conversation you wish to influence.
Recognize that academic/scholarly publishing is not the same as other types of publishing. Publishing as an educator is a subset of publishing in general. In my own career, the submission game for fiction and poetry is quite different than academic publishing. The “I want to publish” comment or urge must be qualified, and once you recognize you want to publish for practitioners and scholars, you need to understand the process for education-oriented journals and publishers. This is mostly the world of other educators and scholars; many journals, for example, are edited by practicing educators and professors (not full-time editors). And even book series are also edited the same way. Publishing as an educator is mostly entering a very distinct community, a community you are already a part of as an educator.
Consider blogging as a pathway to more traditional publishing. Nearly as important as the connections and access that moving to higher education afforded me was my deciding to blog, first at open sites and then on my own WordPress blog. Blogging provides for me a way to think through topics and issues, but it also creates a huge reserve of writing that I can cull from for formal submissions. Blogging also motivates me to write nearly daily (in a way that journaling never worked for me). As well, blogging helps you practice entering a conversation in ways that will benefit your formal submissions. Blogging has gained a much better status in recent years, and as I have done, a blog can be established as a place for your professional voice, and an outlet for establishing and developing that voice.
Submit your work. Ultimately, you must draft and finalize a manuscript, and then send it out. As I have detailed above, if you make the right efforts before you do this, you have very good odds of that work finding a home—probably in a smaller venue at first, but eventually in places that you have identified as your larger goals. Due diligence, and baby steps.
And this brings me to a final thought that isn’t so much about how to get published as an educator, but something to expect once you do get published: A sudden sense of terror often follows the thrill of acceptance and publication.
For me, publishing has been a powerful, important, and even necessary aspect of being an educator; I simply can’t see doing one without the other. Once you make the same decision, I think you will find a new level of satisfaction that enhances your life and profession. | 2019-04-23T14:16:24Z | https://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2018/07/18/how-to-get-published-as-an-educator/ |
So, you like to play those personality and spiritual gift inventory games at your church?
Churches do some strange things and high among the head-scratchers is how many churches have an affection for promoting personality inventories in their congregation.
The most well-known of these is, of course, that one with a hyphenated name which doesn’t include the term “personality” at all. I pass on dropping the name because I don’t want the headaches of dealing with the True Believers of the thing. Some years ago an SBC numbers, stat kind of guy, said offhand in a meeting about demographics that the personality typing tool lacked a solid basis in research. His casual remark piqued my interest because I assumed if large corporations used such things that there was a solid basis for such.
Seems the solid basis is faith in the tools rather than the origin, science, and practice of these typing instruments. Every time I’ve been less-than-enthused about typing tools, I’ve been treated to a quick dose of chastisement. Used to be hymnals thrown at me. People do love these things and place a lot of faith in them. I’ll pass, partly because of my distaste for ‘forced choice’ questionnaires.
You might consider the latest foray into typing criticism and exposure, an interesting book by Merve Emre, The Personality Brokers. Christianity Today has an article on the book, a rather soft one. Don’t overlook this salient point: if respondants retake the test a few weeks after their first test over half of them end up with a different typing profile. A simple internet search will return plenty of material short of your buying a book. Take a look.
But if you want to just play games and maybe have the side benefit of learning what you mostly already knew, do the tests.
More popular in our circles are the numerous spiritual gift tools. I’ve used one or two of these. Their benefit is quite modest. If you like these and are sold on their value to the church, then explain how Christendom survived for over nineteen centuries without having these available? Maybe there was relevant teaching from pastors and elders? Maybe believers served and their gifts became evident? The matter of spiritual gifts is far less prominent in the New Testament that we have made it out to be.
But, play the games. Maybe your pastor is lazy and would rather rely on the manufactured and marketed too designed by one who is not the shepherd of the congregation. Mostly harmless. More of a product that might earn its publisher and seller a little money than anything that has deep benefit to a church.
The worst offender on the inventories are the ones that couple a personality test with a gifts test. At least the gifts test has some underpinning in scripture. Having been exposed to one of these paired tools, I conclude that we are in love more with technology (you can do all this online and have results tabulated, tabled, and graphed) and tools than biblical teaching and practice.
We have too much money and too much time; therefore, these commercial products have been thrust upon us with some success.
But…have some fun. Don’t take them too seriously. The pastor who loves his congregation and makes an effort to build relationships with all under his care already has an effective tool: God’s calling and that infallible tool, God’s Word.
And don’t throw that hymnal at me for writing this. Don’t type me either. If you’ve never met me but think you can label me with a string of letters, we won’t be friends anymore.
I will admit to one occasion where a ‘forced choice’ helped me about a decade ago. I was called by the nursing home and informed that my father had been taken to the emergency room. When I arrived and met the ER physician in his examination room. I was shocked when she told me, “I don’t believe he will leave the hospital,” a blunt and candid assessment of his medical condition. Soon thereafter a chaplain or social worker asked me which hospice company I would prefer and named the two that served that hospital. I was hardly in a condition to evaluate the options whereupon he said pick a color: orange or green, a forced choice. I picked one and the decision was made. I don’t know if the hospital approves of such techniques these days.
Took the MMPI years ago and it said I might have religious delusions. It asked if I felt I should be punished for my sins.
I answered yes, but I don’t think they liked that.
Also took the LaHaye temperament thing – sanguine.
Spiritual gifts tests were real popular for a while.
I think knowing people is a lot more than taking a stupid test.
For sure, corporations hold personality inventories in high regard. They spend a lot on them. I suppose some are more accurate than others. In regard to the Myers-Briggs, there are longer and shorter versions. When I served in the Philippines, the FMB (now IMB) had all the missionaries take the longer version. I found it helped me understand the missionaries I worked with much better. I asked a guy with a PhD in religious education about spiritual gifts inventories. He was dubious as to their value, but he said they might provide some indication. I’ve taken several spiritual gift inventories. The most helpful one was the one in MasterLife, a discipleship course of yesteryear. We took MasterLife as a group. We each took the spiritual gift inventory, and then the group commented on each person’s results. The group affirmed my result–that I have the spiritual gift of teaching. So, what is the takeaway here. A spiritual gift inventory may give some direction, but a group of believers who know you well is essential to a fuller understanding.
Off subject – Dr. Terry, I just ordered a book I believe you edited: Missiology: An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions. I had classes with both Ebbie Smith and Justice Anderson at SWBTS.
Stephen, I’m glad you ordered the book. I worked with Dr. Smith and Dr. Anderson to edit the first edition. I edited the second edition by myself. I hope you find the book helpful. The royalties I receive from the book go to buy Christmas presents for little children (my granddaughters).
I’m a sanguine, INTJ, Enneagram number 31.2….
To your point, check out the book The Cult of Personality Testing (2005) by Annie Murphy Paul, where she argues the connection between personality tests and other psuedo-scientific means of determining “personality” such as phrenology.
Another good book. Read it back when it was first published.
It occurred to me a number of years ago that spiritual gift tests might be less than reliable. Why? We assume only a believer would take this test, but what if one of those unregenerate folks snuck into the church and took the test too? We would not only determine the believer’s gifts, but the lost guys gifts too! Hmmm. Something stinks in the frig.
I have something profound to say about how their are unlimited permution when giftedness is combined other characteristics, but I will save that for discussion for when I’m asked to help with interpretive dance or puppets. Instead, I will share a list of Spiritual gifts not mentioned in the canon. If you’re tempted to challenge one or more gifts, it means that you’re envious because you don’t have that gift.
1. Puppet hand tongues. This puppet that seems to be out of control, is actually expressing ecstatic utterances. The puppet that moves its mouth intermittently is the interpreter.
2. Communicating Biblical truth by swaying with fabrics. Interpretive dance.
3. Distillation of the evening news into prayer requests. It takes a special gift to extract that most important nugget of information about the latest escapades of a politician in California, Alabama, or wherever amidst horrific stories from everywhere.
4. Ubiquitous irrelevance. This person has the ability to speak truth into any conversation without the ability to clearly understand or communicate the depth of that truth.
6. The guy who just tries to be funny.
I could list more, but these are the ones that I have.
They were big on Meyers Briggs where I went to college. Over a two year period I took the test 3 or 4 times and got both ESFP and INTJ. (may have some of the letters mixed up, don’t remember for sure, but I got basically opposite results in every category). I think it depended on my mood whichever day I took it.
I’ve cautiously used spiritual gift inventories at our church, only after teaching extensively on the subject and making really clear that it was only one possibly helpful tool to help people think through the issue.
Methinkks those “games” are more about herding folks into someplace to work, and stem from people who don’t know enough Scripture to either decide where God wants them, or teach others how to. And yes, I am aware I used a preposition to end a sentence up with. | 2019-04-20T10:53:53Z | https://sbcvoices.com/so-you-like-to-play-those-personality-and-spiritual-gift-inventory-games-at-your-church/ |
1822 Born in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Robert was the eleventh of twelve children of a local woollen mill owner. His family wished him to study for the ministry but Robert refused, one reason being his inability to master Latin.
He left school at the age of 14 and went to live with an uncle in Charleston, USA, where he was apprenticed to a merchant.
Two years later he returned home and taught himself chemistry, electricity and astronomy with the help of a local weaver who had a knowledge of mathematics.
Robert's father gave him a workshop and by the time he was 17 years old he had rebuilt his mother's mangle so that wet linen could be passed through the rollers in either direction, had successfully designed and built a ribbon saw, and had completed the first working model of his elliptic rotary steam engine which he was to perfect in later life.
He served an engineering apprenticeship in Aberdeen and Dundee before joining a civil engineering company in Glasgow. He then went to work for an Edinburgh firm of civil engineers where he devised a new method of detonating explosive charges by the use of electricity, thus greatly reducing the loss of lives in mines throughout the world.
Thomson next worked as a railway engineer and supervised the blasting of chalk cliffs near Dover for the South Eastern Railway. He set up his own railway consultancy business and proposed the line for the Eastern Counties Railway which was accepted by parliament and eventually developed.
1845 Thomson patented the pneumatic tyre.
1846 He was granted a patent in France in 1846 and in the USA in 1847. His tyre consisted of a hollow belt of India-rubber inflated with air so that the wheels presented "a cushion of air to the ground, rail or track on which they run". This elastic belt of rubberised canvas was enclosed within a strong outer casing of leather which was bolted to the wheel.
1847 Thomson's "Aerial Wheels" were demonstrated in London's Regent Park in March 1847 and were fitted to several horse-drawn carriages, greatly improving the comfort of travel and reducing noise. One set ran for 1,200 miles without sign of deterioration.
1847 Mentioned as Robert William Thomson, 18 Adam Street, Adelphi. Civil engineer.
For many years Thomson was frustrated by the lack of thin rubber and he turned to the development of his solid rubber tyres. It was not until 43 years later that the pneumatic tyre returned, when it was developed as a bicycle tyre by John Boyd Dunlop. Dunlop was granted a patent in 1888 but two years later was officially informed that it was invalid as Thomson's patent preceded it.
1851 At the Great Exhibition Thomson demonstrated his self-filling fountain pen, and an invalid chair with solid rubber tyres.
1852 The following year he accepted a post in Java, where he designed new machinery for the production of sugar, thus greatly increasing profitability. During this time he invented the first portable steam crane but did not bother to patent it.
1862 Williams returned to Scotland and despite ill health, which latterly confined him to a couch, Thomson's genius was undiminished and some of his most significant work was done during the following ten years.
In 1867 he patented solid India-rubber tyres for his road steamers. The Scotsman described this application of vulcanised India-rubber to the wheels of road steamers as "the greatest step which had ever been made in the use of steam on common roads". The resilience of the stout rubber tyres allowed his lightweight five ton steam engine to run on hard or soft, wet or dry surfaces, over obstacles, uphill or downhill. In addition, the thick rubber tyres did not damage the roads as did the iron wheels of heavy traction engines. Thomson's first road steamers, manufactured in his own small workshop in Leith, were fitted with three wheels, the small single wheel at the front being directly below the steering wheel. The tyres, which were 125 mm (5") thick, were corrugated internally and adhered to the wheel by friction.
He designed a 6hp traction engine with a vertical boiler mounted amidships and weighing 5 tons which he had built by T. M. Tennant and Co of the Bowershall Works in Edinburgh.
1871 Designer of five road locomotives that were made in 1871 and these were shipped to India to the order of Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton. One was made by Thomson's own company prior to Tennants taking over manufacture. This was Prima. The other four were Chenab, Ravee, Hindus and Sutlej, these were essentially Thomson designs with a small bit of tinkering by Crompton (if that). These four were made by Ransomes, Sims and Head at Ipswich.
Thomson's road steamers, often drawing four fully loaded coal wagons totalling 40 tons up and down steep gradients, excited great interest in the streets of Edinburgh. Soon the first omnibus was in service between Edinburgh and Leith. Engines were exported to Java, India, Canada and Australia, and by 1871 were being manufactured under licence in both the UK and the USA by companies such as Tennant and Co of Leith, Charles Burrell and Sons in Thetford and Robey and Co in Lincoln.
1873 Died at his home in Moray Place, Edinburgh, aged 50. His mind was active to the end and his last patent, for elastic belts, seats and cushions, was filed after his death by his wife, Clara.
DEATH OF Mr. R. W. THOMSON.- We announce with regret the death of Mr. R. W. Thomson well known as the inventor of india-rubber tires for traction engines, or, as he loved to call them, road steamers.
Mr. Thomson was born in Stonehaven, in 1822,and served his time in shops in Aberdeen and Dundee.
At the age of nineteen he started for London, With a very few pounds in his pocket, to push the ideas which he had conceived of firing mines by electnc1ty. He took his invention to Faraday, who approved of it; and Cubitt, possibly on the strength of Faraday's opinion, gave young Thomson employment in carrying out blasting operations near Dover.
He was next employed by the Stephensons. When not more than twenty-two he turned his attention to the use of india-rubber for tires, but the material was so scarce and dear that he made no progress with the invention.
In 1852 he went out to Java to erect sugar machinery, and be there became partner with a manufacturer. Mr. Thomson visited England from time to time, and invented a steam crane and an hydraulic dock about 1860.
In 1862 Mr. Thomson left Java and settled in Edinburgh. The history of the traction engine and tires with which his name is united is too well-known to need repetition here. Mr. Thomson was a great sufferer for several years, and his death was by no means unexpected.
Mr. R. W. Thompson (sic) was born at Stonehaven in 1822. Early in life he was sent to the United States of America to be made a merchant of, but he disliked the calling, and returned to England when sixteen years of age. He spent two years of his life making experiments in chemistry and electricity, interspersed with engineering schemes.
He was next apprenticed to engineering, at Aberdeen and Dundee, filling up his spare moments during this period in inventing a rotary engine, &c.
After serving his apprenticeship during which he made rapid progress, he was employed by the Stephensons.
In 1844 he commenced business on his own account. Two years later he conceived the idea of applying indiarubber tyres to ordinary conveyances. We read in volume xlv. of the Mechanics' Magazine that noiseless tyres had been applied to a brougham which was running in the London parks, the invention of Mr Thompson. Indiarubber at that time was scarce and badly made, so the invention brought in poor returns. Moreover, the powerful railway companies in due course adopted the tyres to the platform handcarts, and paid him no royalty. Thompson sent in a plan for the 1851 Exhibition, which received some attention; and a fountain pen of his invention was sold inside the exhibition.
In 1862 he had settled in Edinburgh. The portable crane was one of his most useful inventions. A traction engine being required for use in Java, from whence Thompson had recently returned, he commenced to design one in harmony with his own ideas, which resulted in his invention of the indiarubber tyres for the wheels, and the "pot" boiler, in 1867, which made his name famous. Although numerous inventors had cherished the idea of applying indiarubber or other soft substances, covered with leather, &c., to the tyres of road locomotives, before 1867, they having no doubt received the inspiration from his noiseless tyres in 1846, yet he was the first to put the idea into practical shape.
In December, 1867, a small road locomotive having a "pot" boiler and vulcanised rubber tyres to the wheels was being tested, and the newspapers pronounced the engine to be "in advance of everything which had preceded it." The steam cylinder was 5 in. diameter, and 8 in. stroke. The engine was mounted upon three wheels, all of which were fitted with rubber tyres, the driving wheel tyres being 12 in. wide and 5 in. thick. Numerous trials were run with this engine, drawing a large omnibus behind, at the rate of 10 to 12 miles an hour. It was said: "Mr. Thompson intends to run the engine over to Glasgow by the road, for shipment to Java, where it is to be used for travelling between two towns, about 40 miles apart, taking in tow a large omnibus full of passengers, or trains of wagons, at the speed which has already been acomplished in the trials which have been made in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. We illustrate by Fig. 64 one of Thompson's road steamers, made in 1868 by Messrs. Tennant and Co., of Leith, for use in the Island of Ceylon.
From the illustration it will be seen, the horizontal engine and vertical pot boiler were mounted upon a wrought-iron frame of channel iron, presenting a neat and compact appearance. This engine was subjected to some severe trials previous to its shipment for Ceylon. We are unable to afford the space to give particulars of a tithe of the trips made by Mr. Thompson with his road steamers. However, in 1869 some trials were made with two 6-horse engines, under Mr. Thompson's directions, which exhibited their tractive power and speed in a remarkable manner. "One of the 6 ton road steamers was harnessed to four wagons of pig iron — weight of iron and wagons, 34 tons — which it drew without an effort or any stoppage from the foot to the top of Granton Road, a distance of a quarter of a mile, with inclines of one in eighteen. Arrived at the top, it turned with its train and ran back to its starting point It may be pointed out that the drawing of 34 tons, besides the engine's own weight, up one in twenty, is equal to drawing 100 tons or more on a level road. The other road steamer was attached to an omnibus which conveyed a party of gentlemen from Granton to Leith. The distance is two and three-quarter miles, and the journey was performed at the rate of over eight miles an hour, that being the highest speed at which it was deemed safe to run through a town."
This road steamer had been built specially for omnibus traffic, and was exceedingly light and compact One morning a road steamer was taken down on to the sea sands at Portobello, and ran up and down there at the rate of ten miles an hour, the rain pouring all the time in torrents. A road steamer was employed at Aberdeen to draw a 15 ton boiler on a 5 ton wagon through some of the streets at three miles an hour. An engineer writes: "It is certainly a feat for a 5 ton engine to drag out a 20 ton load and climb gradients of one in twenty with single gear. We had all Aberdeen turned out as we passed. It was an unusual sight to see the infant 'Hercules' in front of the great boiler, 30 feet long and 7 feet in diameter, bowling along with it like a plaything at its tail, whilst the plaything itself shook the houses again as it danced over the rough causeway."
It would be amusing to quote the foolish statements made respecting the unprotected vulcanised rubber tyres; indeed a great deal of harm was done to the cause of indiarubber tyres by the inconsistent statements of some of their promoters, who invested them with almost marvellous capabilities. One advocate remarked that because the soft tyres resembled the feet of the elephant and the camel, which have large soft cushions in hard hoofs, and as no other animal can bear so much walking over hard roads as they can accomplish, therefore these tyres would pass over newly- broken road metal, broken flints, and all kinds of sharp things without leaving a mark on the rubber. And we were repeatedly informed that the tyres were not affected by heat, cold, or moisture, and were durable beyond all conception; and yet, in the face of all this claimed durability, no end of schemes were being proposed and patented for protecting the surface of the tyres from injury. As one writer nicely puts it, when noticing one of the methods of attaching metal shoes round the tyres: "Considering how much has been said concerning the everlasting properties of the indiarubber tyres, it is curious that so much ingenuity should be expended in affording them protection."
In January, 1870, Mr. Thompson sent out an eight horse road steamer to India, which, though not a success (says Mr. Crompton), proved that the rubber tyres were not affected by climate, and that the engine was handy and manageable.
Four larger engines were eventually Ordered by the Indian Government of which particulars follow. At the Royal Show at Oxford, July, 1870, two road steamers with indiarubber tyres were shown, running about the ground, "twisting, turning — we are inclined to say waltzing — and disporting themselves generally in a manner suggestive of what a pair of gigantic steam kittens or other frolicsome animals might do. One engine was tried without the steel chain armour around the wheel tyre, and on the strain being thrown on one wheel the tyre on that wheel snapped right across."
Fig. 65 shows a section of Thompson's original rubber tyred wheel, which was constructed of wrought iron plates, strengthened by angle iron and diagonal stays, with low flanges on each side to keep the tyres in place. The periphery of the wheel was polished, and then drilled all over with 0.625in. holes. The elastic tyre was made a little less in diameter than the wheel, and being stretched in order to get it on the wheel, had a tendency to contract, which helped to keep it in its place. The boss or nave of the wheel was made of cast iron. The wheel ran with the indiarubber in contact with the ground. To prevent the wheels from slipping on soft and damp roads, the chain armour was introduced. Fig. 66 shows a part side elevation of a rubber-tyred wheel with the chain armour applied. Fig. 67 shows a section of the same wheel. This species of armour consisted of steel plates or shoes, joined together by flat links of malleable cast iron, and was a constant source of annoyance in practice, owing to the breakage of the link pins, and the difficulty of keeping the tyre in its place unless the shoes were very tight. When an indiarubber tyre is working without shoes, at a speed of 8 miles per hour, there is a much greater amount of indiarubber on the leading side than on the following side of the wheel. On the leading side the excess of indiarubber accommodates itself by 'bagging out' as shown by Fig. 68 while in the rear it is in a state of tension, and tightly grips the iron wheel. From this action the indiarubber tyre is continuously working round with a reverse motion to that of the drum. The rate of this motion depends upon the tightness with which it was originally stretched, its density, its thickness, and the weight of the wheel. If the wheel is lightly loaded, the tyre will scarcely move, while if it is heavily compressed, a great portion of it is rolled out towards the front," and the amount of the reverse action becomes very great. Under ordinary circumstances the tyre will move once round the drum in from 30 to 40 revolutions. It is evident that friction must take place in the indiarubber tyre, from its contrary rotation round the iron drum, and also from the continuous change of form it undergoes.
It is self evident from the above remarks that indiarubber tyres, to be successful, should be relieved of all driving strain.
In spite of the bad name, and whatever drawbacks the indiarubber tyres may possess, it is impossible to ignore the following facts, which must be placed to their credit. They act as an excellent spring, and are placed where the spring should be situated — that is, in the nearest point to the road, thus saving the engine from a great amount of wear and tear and rough usage. They are perfectly noiseless. Owing to their flexibility they always possess a regular amount of sur- face of adhesion, which on paved roads is almost indispensable.
The injury to the road may be said to be nil, for there has never been any complaint from the road authorities of any damage done by them ; and they are one of the means devised for enabling a road locomotive to travel over the highway at a sensible speed, say 7 to 10 miles an hour.
Another advantage of the rubber tyre is mentioned by Mr. John Head. "On good macadam its resistance is more than that of the rigid wheel, and on a rough or newly-metalled road, owing to its great surface, it does not sink below the tops of the stones, while the rigid wheel consumes a great amount of power from sinking into the surface of the road with a crushing and grinding action."
The great cost of the rubber tyres had, no doubt, much to do with their ultimate disuse. The failure of the indiarubber tyre at the trials at the Royal Show, at Wolverhampton, in 1871, owing to the slippery state of the land after the excessive rains, is very well known. "The clay was spurted up from under the wheels, and entered between the indiarubber and the rim of the drums, and so lubricated the parts that there was a revolution of the iron rim within the indiarubber."
Thompson's tyres answered well for regular road purposes. The experiments carried out by Mr. Crompton, in India, proved: "(i) That upon the level roads of India, traction engines can be relied on to work a service of trains with great regularity and at a fair speed, and that passengers can be conveyed at eight miles an hour. (2) That the rubber tyres, as used in such running, are of great service in reducing the cost of the ordinary engine repairs, and in giving uniformity of adhesion, without in the least degree damaging the surface of the roads."
Such was the demand for Thompson's road steamers between 1870 and 1873, that Messrs. Tennant and Co., of Leith, could not make them fast enough. Engines of this type were made by Messrs. Robey and Co., of Lincoln ; Messrs. Ransomes, Sims and Head, of Ipswich; Messrs. Charles Burrell and Sons, of Thetford; and others, particulars of which follow.
Thompson's pot boiler was not a success; it was abandoned in favour of the Field vertical, or locomotive multitubular type of boiler. The indiarubber tyres, with suitable protection, continued to be used until the time of Mr. Thompson's death, which occurred on the 8th of March, 1873, he being in his 51st year. Although his two chief inventions were not a thorough success, yet he paved the way for other schemers, and by his efforts steam locomotion on common roads was rapidly advanced.
1922 The centenary of an event which has had a far-reaching effect on mechanical transport was celebrated on June 29th, when a memorial tablet was placed on the house in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, where R. W. Thomson, the inventor of the pneumatic tire, was born.
This page was last edited on 2 January 2019, at 15:31. | 2019-04-22T08:59:59Z | https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Robert_William_Thomson |
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The Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is the best the west coast has to offer. Dedicated as a national park reserve in 1970 by Princess Anne, the park consists of three parts - Long Beach, the Broken Group and the West Coast Trail.
The entire park is 51,300 hectares (126,761 acres) including 22,300 hectares (55,103 acres) of ocean, starting at Port Renfrew in the south and going up island to Tofino in the north.
This park encompasses the most striking features of Vancouver Island's west coast, with inviting beaches, majestic forests, and offshore islands that are home to birds and animals.
The only Highway to Long Beach (Pacific Rim National Park) is Highway 4, that starts at Parksville, travels through Port Alberni and on to Ucluelet and Tofino, 140km (86.6mi) away. The 42.5km (25.7mi) section of Highway 4 between the two villages of Ucluelet and Tofino has road access to Long Beach. There are numerous signs with information about where you can hike, stroll the beach and camp. For a good overview of the park, visit the Wickaninnish Centre, an interpretive centre with theatre programs, exhibits, displays and activities helping visitors to understand the marine ecology, ocean and rainforests.
Start exploring Long beach at Schooner Cove. As you approach the beach, leaving behind the cedar-hemlock forest, the Sitka spruce becomes prevalent. This Sitka spruce fringe goes all the way around the outer edge of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands. The sitka spruce is especially adapted to grow in this area.. To really get a feeling of the fringe, take the Spruce Fringe Trail.
The Rain Forest Trail takes you into a coastal forest where the vegetation is dense, and reaching upward are the gigantic red cedar, western hemlock and amabilis fir. There are six more trails to hike and enjoy: the Willowbrea Trail, Half Moon Bay Trail, Gold Mine Trail, South Beach Trail, Wickaninnish Trail and Shoreline Bog Trail.
There are other natural highlights to the park. Bird watching is very popular, and over 200 species have been spotted, ranging from the albatross to the waxwing. Every spring , over 20,000 gray whales move through these waters on their annual migration from Baja California and Mexico to the Bering Sea.. There are locations in the Park for whale watching, or you can take a whale watching tour. Surfing, a somewhat new sport, is excellent at Long Beach. Incinerator Rock is a popular surfing spot. Or, just go beach combing.
The roar of huge surf, the mists of morning fog, the lush coastal rainforest, combine with an abundance of wildlife to make your west coast experience truly unique and memorable. Make plans to visit Long Beach, a part of the Pacific Rim National Park.
The middle part of the Pacific Rim National Park, consists of the Broken Group Islands located in Barkley Sound. The Islands lie south of Ucluelet and north of Bamfield and cover an area approximately 130 sq. km (52 sq. mi) and vary in shapes and sizes, none larger than 2km (1.3mi) across. This archipelago embodies over 100 small, rocky islands that can only be reached by boat.
You can put in a Toquart Bay, north of the Broken Group, or else take the Lady Rose from Port Alberni and travel down Alberni Inlet. The Lady Rose will drop you and your gear off on a Floating dock, near Gibraltar Island at the northwest corner of the Broken Group. If launching your trip from Toquart Bay, turn off Highway 4, at Kennedy Lake, onto a logging road that heads to the bay.
This is a favourite area with ocean kayakers, canoers and scuba divers. Take note, this is a wilderness area and you must be experienced in kayaking and canoeing. The Reefs, the old shipwrecks and the rich marine life makes this an excellent place for scuba diving. There are also designated dive sites, from novice to expert divers. The canoeing and kayaking season is from April to October, with July and August being very busy. It's recommended that you travel in groups of 2 to 3 kayaks.
There are 7 islands with designated camping areas and you must camp in these areas. The longest stay at any one island is 4 nights, and 14 nights is the maximum total stay on the Broken Group Islands. You can travel back and forth, from island to island if you wish. Expect to see oyster beds and rocks covered in black mussels. Be ready to inspect hundreds of tidal pools. Anglers can expect to go fishing for spring salmon, coho and even cod. River otters, martens, mink and racoons live along the shorelines, so look for them. In the ocean waters watch for habour seals, whales, porpoises. and sixgill sharks. Sea lions like to sun themselves on rocks by Wonwer Island. For a kayaking and canoeing experience of a life time, make the Broken Group Islands your destination.
The most famous hiking trail in British Columbia, the West Coast Trail, is the southern part of the Pacific Rim National Park. A lot of tragedy and history are part and parcel of this section of Vancouver Island's west coast. More than 60 ships have gone down in this part of the ocean, known as "The Graveyard of the Pacific". One of the most tragic was the sinking in 1906 of the steamship Valencia. Rescuers from shore and nearby vessels were unable to reach the ship, and when it went down, 126 passengers and crew members perished.
The following year the federal government began construction of a lighthouse at Pachena Boat and a lifesaving trail along this coastline. The trail followed a rugged telegraph route built in 1890, thus connecting lighthouses at Cape Beale and Carmanah Point with other lighthouses and towns towards Victoria. Between Bamfield and Carmanah Point, a distance of 47km (29mi) a 4 metre (13 foot) wide trail was to be built, so that any shipwrecked sailor could reach coastal communities with ease. From 1907 to 1912, a team of 60 men constructed a route from Bamfield to Pachena Point, from this point it became impractical to continue. From Pachena Point to Carmanah Point the route was a 1.5 metre (4.9 foot) wide trail. South of here it continued as the original telegraph line trail. With modern navigation and communication, the trail became obsolete, and overgrown by vegetation. Only the trail to Pachena lighthouse was maintained.
In the 1960's interest to re-open the trail grew. In 1973, Parks Canada started reconstruction. The 47 km (29 mi) section from Pachena Bay to Carmanah Point was rebuilt, while the 30 km (18.6 mi) portion from Carmanah to Port Renfrew, the most primitive, was upgraded. It was completed in 1980.
The 77 km (47 mi) of beach and forest hiking trail, The West Coast Trail, starts at Port Renfrew in the south. The northwest point starts at Pachena Point, 3km (1.8mi) from Bamfield. There is a reservation-registration system in place. The Trail is open from May 1st to September 30th, and 52 hikers are allowed into the trail daily; 26 hikers from the northern end (Pachena Bay) and 26 hikers from the southern terminus (Port Renfrew). Most hikers prefer to start at Port Renfrew, hiking the most challenging section first.
There's bus service from Victoria to Port Renfrew and from Pachena Bay (trail's end) local taxi provides transportation to Bamfield, with bus service to Victoria. If starting your hike from Bamfield, you can go in from Port Alberni or else from Duncan through the Cowichan Valley.
A boat ride from Port Renfrew to the mouth of the Gordon River means your hiking journey is underway. On the early part of the trail, you should be careful as you negotiate the steep cliff-side ladders and paths. The huge logs that cross the muddy sections, can be very slippery. Cable trolleys span the larger gorges. Be careful, crossing streams, as some do have deep crevices . Do use a hiking staff.
From Carmanah Creek to Klanawa River, the most picturesque section of the Trail, includes the Tsusiat Falls. Near Pachena Bay, there are remnants of cabins used by linemen who maintained the trail in early days. Some people combine hiking the West Coast Trail and canoeing part of the Nitinat Lakes. You must be self sufficient, be prepared for long-days and heavy packs (pack it in, pack it out) and all types of weather. This is a challenging hike. If you are a novice hiker, the West Coast Trail is not for you. To make hiking the West Coast Trail a very pleasant and memorable experience, it takes stamina, planning and caution. Enjoy what Vancouver Island's west coast has to offer; visit one, two or all three regions of the Pacific Rim National Park.
The West Coast Trail is open May 1 to September 30. Reservations must be made to ensure that the parks natural habitat is protected from over-use. Starting points are from Port Renfrew, Bamfield and Nitinat Lake. Beginning in January, reservations for the West Coast Trail can be made for any date between May 1 and September 30 through the Parks Canada Reservation Service. Spaces fill quickly, so consider setting up an account prior to January. | 2019-04-26T14:25:02Z | http://bcadventures.com/adventure/explore/island/trails/pacrim2.htm |
As a hygienist, who owns a dental business that has just celebrated 10 years on Brighton High Street, I revisit my original vision of having 4 hygiene chairs alongside a growing Dental business. I know that having a driven, passionate, committed, thriving, hygiene team is the core that influences the overall success of the practice as it underpins our values of prevention and patient care.
Not only are hygiene services important to overall patient health, they are equally important to the growth of the practice both financially and in patient numbers. New patient recommendations from our existing client base are the best form of marketing and a real accolade to the delivery of care. Subsequently more motivated and empowered hygiene patients are then referred in house to our dentists, looking for the next step to health and beauty (let’s not forget how important the patients wants are alongside what they clinically need).
Our recall systems need to be optimised and we need to stay ahead of the game so that the retention of our clients is as important as the new clients that walk through the door. The Patient Experience is reliant of our skills, knowledge, staff, coominication, clinic, the tools we use and the atmosphere. We need to move with the times on how we interact with the patients through digital and mobile media to make booking and attending appointments easier and more fluid.
As clinicians we have all seen a real sea of change in our knowledge, evidence and understanding in the area of overall health, especially in relation to diabetes, heart disease and systemic health. By 2020 it is predicated that 1 in 4 of the population will be over 65. How many of the dental profession are adapting and making changes in the delivery of care so that the health of our aging patients improves?
We need to provide care ‘From the cradle to the grave’ so what of our children? The main reason a child under 5 has a general anaesthetic is for tooth extraction due to caries, a totally preventable disease. We need to take a pro active approach and educate our children early, not wait for the schools to teach them to brush when they are 8. Bad habits have been learned well before then and many teeth lost. A visit to the dental clinic should become an ongoing journey based on prevention with minimal intervention so it can become a pain free enjoyable experience throughout life, our blue sky dream for oral health care.
Patient’s awareness is increasingly driven by media, advertising by healthcare companies like Philips, Colgate, Oral B on television, in magazines, newspapers and social media. Google search engine provides a library of knowledge and some misinformation which means our patients are fuelled with more knowledge about what is available and what they want. As a result of advertising, we must manage our patient’s expectations to ensure that they are not expecting miracles, especially if they do not take ownership of their problem themselves.
But we are still in the “If only they knew what we knew, saw what we saw” mind frame. The amount of times I say to my clients “if only we had met 20-30 years ago”, with the knowledge and the tools we have as clinicians today we could have a very different outcome.
The days of plaque being called plaque are long gone. People are totally unaware, blind to this slimy substance on their teeth, Biofilm, a highly organised community of microbes with its own delivery, waste disposal, communication and defence systems. Explaining to patients that this forms on any hard surface where there are fluids with nutrients so our mouth is a great habitat., I tell them to think of the slime on the inside of a vase, around your bath taps, explaining this is biofilm. The very nature of what it is means that in can be very destructive and in some cases life threatening, the research is still in its infancy, but the evidence continues to grow.
On July 21st 1976 the American Legion had its annual 3 day conference in Philadelphia, more than 2,000 Legionnaires attended the conference, over the course of the week following the convention over 130 people, between the ages of 39 and 82 who attended the convention were hospitalised and 25 died. The Centre for Disease control finally isolated the bacterium, which was later named Legionella Pneumophila, and had been traced back to the hotel air conditioning systems.
This is why we have to manage water supplies, air conditioning units and hot tubs. Biofilms, the environmental playground of Legionella pnuemophila, are found in your mouth, no where else in your body. These bacterium communicate with each other, known as “quorum sensing“, and therefore become resistant to antibiotics. Consequently mechanical cleaning and removal of biofilm at home and with your hygienist remains key to the health of the mouth.
Can we communicate that in a better way to improve oral health? The health of the mouth is often seen as a separate issue from that of our general health but by optimising dental health we can make significant impact on our well being. If our patients could see Biofilm and really understand what it was, what it did, they would want to do something about it.
Having moderate gum disease is like having an ulcer the size of a 50 pence piece constantly exposed, imagine that somewhere else on your body? If we talk about the blood supply around the mouth and how the bacteria from the biofilm can get into the bloodstream it becomes easier to visualise and understand.
In the UK 47% of our adult population have moderate to severe gum disease, nearly 30 million people unaware of this ulcer as the gateway into their bodies. If they were aware would they ignore it or seek out help?
From a business point of view, and more specifically the business of hygiene, that is a sizable opportunity for the growth of the practice and the revenue. Added to the fact that there has been limited access to dental health care professionals like hygienists which has been fairly restricted until Direct Access came into effect May 2013, and even then it works out on average 1 DCP for every 3,800 patients with disease, so there is plenty of work out there, much of it undiagnosed, many still not putting their foot through the door due to fear of cost, fear of pain or fear of being told off.
When I opened Dental Health Spa in 2007 I wanted to market something different to the Brighton consumer that other dental practices were not offering to their hygiene patients, so I invested in 2 air polishing units. It was not new technology, it had been around for 30 years, so about all of my clinical life. In fact way back in 1999 I had one in my practice where I had a nurse all the time but I knew nothing about it other than it tasted foul and it was a nightmare to maintain (or so I had heard). No one had shown me how to use it, I had never been taught anything about it during my training at dental school, my boss did not tell me, or show me why I had one. Yet it’s the same unit that I have used to build my practice at the start and I found a USP that no one else was marketing. I took to the radio to advertise it as new and different.
Like everything, technology evolves, from twin tubs to automatics washing machines, manual toothbrushes to the first electric, to the all singing oscillating, pulsating and sonic technology we have today. Things improve because research shows us where we want/need more as clinicians for health, from a consumer /customer view it’s about use, comfort, aesthetics, health and feel.
Move forward 30 years with EMS and look at how the powders have evolved, enhancing comfort, and efficacy, ease of use and more importantly removal of biofilm. After a visit to Euro Perio in Vienna 2012 I sat listening to the lectures on Erythritol, for management of perio mucositis and peri implantitis with the new Air Flow Master. I was sold, I came back and made the investment immediately, with additional training through the Swiss Dental Academy, it has changed my working life and my patients certainly noticed the difference. Over the last 4 years my patients show it by choosing their appointments with me and the AirFlow.
Some of my clients say that their teeth are sensitive, the sensitivity they commonly refer to is when using the ultrasonic. I am not only referring to patients who need non surgical root surface debridement, I am referring to our recall maintenance patients. So initially we thought of air polishers just for stain removal. With the newer powders, they move away from the abrasive salty larger grain of bicarbonate at 65 microns to Erythritol extra fine only 14 microns, which makes it great to use on the soft tissues, including the tongue and in the pockets, disrupting and killing biofilm and removing lighter stains. This can be used on both dentine and composites too.
4 years on its now 2018, I have just spent 3 days in Geneva at the Swiss Dental Academy and the EMS factory learning all there is to know about the new Air Flow Master and Guided Biofilm Therapy. The EMS technology, machinery and the treatment protocol, GBT brings everything together so that we will deliver on all that I have written about. The new machine uses less powder, at a higher intensity, with warmer water improving patient comfort, removal of biofilm and soft calculus and no more bicarbonate needed for stain removal as it removes heavier stain, without any damage to enamel, dentine, crowns, veneers, composite fillings, implants and soft tissues. No more hand polishing either as Erythritol will leave the tooth smooth and biofilm free. So one powder that cleans does everything, no changing of powder or chambers and the machine maintenance is easier.
Appointments become easier, it is quicker and patients love it. Now the time has really come to change, out with the old and in with the new and an expanded hygiene team as the demand continues to increase.
The Swiss Dental Academy will be running courses throughout the UK from June 2018. Hands on courses are essential to understand how in practical terms to both use and maintain the equipment. Sharing experiences with other colleagues will help you develop skills and ideas as to how to market them and up sell to your existing clients. | 2019-04-20T12:22:05Z | https://www.ems-dental.com/ru/christina-chatfield-testimonial |
Hi there! I’m Emily, one of Collin’s sidekicks!
I LOVE buzzy skincare. The minute I hear of a new hot product, I simply have to buy it (if it’s within my budget of course). My most recent infatuation is rosehip oil. After doing a quite a bit of research and price comparisons, I ended up purchasing Acure The Essentials Rosehip Oil.
For real, this light-weight oil is worth its weight in gold for its ability to tone, hydrate, and give skin a gorgeous glow. It’s also phthalate-free, sulfate-free, paraben-free, vegan, dye-free, non-GMO, and cruelty-free — a.k.a. it’s everything you want in a product and nothing you don’t.
You’re probably thinking, “facial oil at night? Um, how greasy is your pillowcase?” but let me tell you that this oil really soaks in! I leave about 30 minutes between application and laying my head down to avoid any initial transfer. I also change out my pillowcases weekly — I have a friend who does it every two days, but I just don’t have the willpower to do that.
I usually have some oil left lingering in my fingertips afterward, so I rub the remaining into my cuticles, knuckles, and tops of my hands to give all that delicate skin some TLC.
Aside from the amazing skincare benefits, this oil has also made its way into my makeup routine. I like to add a drop to my full coverage foundation to thin out its consistency, which makes it a dream to apply and blend. It also plays nice with my loose setting powder when I’m going for more of a matte look.
How does it compare to Argan oil or Tarte’s Maracuja oil? Lighter? Greasier?
Hi Christina, in comparisons to Argan oils I’ve used in the past, I would definitely say this is lighter — and there’s also not a sticky feel to it. I can’t comment on the Maracuja oil though since I haven’t tried that product. Hope this helps!
do u find this oil to be better than moisturizer?
I love your recommendations! Last time you posted about The Ordinary I was so intrigued I placed an order. I’m still waiting for it to come, but I’m excited to try it!
Looks like people love the Marula oil in this brand as well. Does anyone have any experience with that?
I have been using The Ordinary’s Rose hip oil and like it a lot. I recently decided to try their Marula oil and like it even better. Mainly because their rose hip oil is a bit fishy smelling and the Marula oil has no scent at all. Can’t beat the prices too. It’s now my go to skin care company thanks to hip2save. I love their foundation and primer too.
Anyone that is thinking of adding this to their skincare routine- be sure to do a patch test first. Oils especially can have comedogenic effects on some people and make them break out. Otherwise, I’d recommend The Ordinary’s 100% Organic Cold-Pressed Rose Hip Seed Oil…their products are formulated to be effective and are unbelievably affordable. It’s under $10!
I’ve been hearing amazing things about rosehip oil lately. Is there a strong odor with this? My family and I are sensitive to fragrances and I’m hesitant to try it.
There’s not a strong odor in my opinion. I think it smells pretty similar to castor oil – there’s really not a rosey smell, it’s a bit more earthy but I wouldn’t consider it a very strong fragrance.
I saw a news report not to long ago abut this brand and child labor, you could probably google it.
wow! I foolishly assumed the child labor allegations were overseas not here in the US. Acure has cut ties with that supplier apparently. Thanks for posting this as I use one of their oils and am interested in checking out more.
What’s your favorite under eye cream?
I sometimes use the Undereye Cream by Arbonne (I used to get it at a discount as a consultant) but I also really like RoC Retinol eye cream as well! I think the RoC brand has just as much potency but it’s a little more wallet-friendly compared to the Arbonne cream.
You’re welcome, Christina! Glad you enjoyed my review 😁!
I love rosehip oil, just be careful using it if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant.
What kind of statement is this? Do you have anything to add? Rosehip oil applied to the face, which is what this post is about, has no negative effects if you are pregnant.
Actually essential oils applied to the skin have the potential to be absorbed into the blood stream and make their way through the placenta to the fetus. I have no idea what the research shows on this product but it works because of the natural Vitamin A content. High doses of vitamin A are well documented causes of birth defects. Bottom line ask your doctor before using any essential oil on your skin anywhere on your body.
You had posted about The Ordinary before and I hear people rave about their Rose Hip Oil (I haven’t tried it). Thier product is cheaper than Acure by a few dollars. Just wondering if you had tried TO and liked Acure better?
Hi Sara! Cass was actually the one who wrote an awesome review about The Ordinary on the site before. I asked her opinion and she absolutely loves the Rosehip Oil from the Ordinary, for very similar reasons why I love the one by Acure. I think it’s a matter of brand preference since they both seem to be very clean products, and you’re correct with The Ordinary having it for a couple bucks less. I was honestly considering buying from the one from The Ordinary myself but it was out of stock during the time I was seeking out the rosehip oil — luckily, it appears to be in stock now if you’re looking to give that brand a shot!
I’ve tried the glycolic acid toner from the ordinary but didn’t like the sticky feeling it left behind. Love acure products but haven’t found a toner. Any recommendations?
Hi Krishna! I actually use the glycolic acid toner from The Ordinary too but I’ve also use Pixi Glow Tonic — I prefer the Pixi brand though I still have a TON of The Ordinary toner so I want to use it before I switch back.
As far as a regular toner, I really like using a simple witch hazel, like one from the Thayer’s brand. I also like the Rosewater mist by Mario Badescu that I briefly mentioned in the post as well!
I LOVE the Pixi Glow Tonic. I buy it at Target when they have $5 off $20 beauty category promos.
I use Paula’s Choice Skin Balancing Pore-Reducing Toner and it’s really good! It has niacinamide which makes skin brighter and more even in tone. I’ve used Pixi Glow Tonic too, but 5% glycolic acid is really too small an amount to give you noticeable results. Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting 8% AHA Gel Exfoliant is a glycolic acid-based product that is an essential part of my skincare routine also…check that out if you need a good chemical exfoliant. It’s super gentle and effective.
I have been using Argan oil on my face and hair for 2 yrs since a friend recommended it. So hydrating. I put it on at night after hydrolaunic acid and in the am prior to my sunscreen/moisturizer. I get dressed and brush teeth in between to give it a couple of minutes to set in.
Wow. I wash my face with neutrogena foaming face wash, while in the shower, and if i notice a breakout area i put differin on it. That is my face routine. I am so pink/white makeup just never looks right, even when applied by professionals! I dont even know what some of the products mentioned are, or what they do! I just wanted to weigh in as a sensitive skinned mama – using oils makes me break out like a teen. What does using acids and witch hazel do for your skin???
You can go to Sephora to get color matched for your foundation…they carry plenty of shades for fair skin, so don’t worry. As for oils…they work for some people’s skin while others do get breakouts. Try a patch test first and then proceed. People use alpha and beta hydroxy acids to exfoliate…it removes the buildup of dead skin which makes your face look dull and dry, giving you brighter and more even-toned skin. Witch hazel usually contains alcohol although Thayer’s has one that doesn’t…I guess some use it as a toner but “toning” isn’t really a need for most people.
2. Laura Gellar’s Balance N’Brighten powder foundation in PORCELAIN is ultra-fair. It looks best over a primer. It’s also very natural looking–not heavy coverage. It’s a good one for people who hate the feel of liquid foundation and those in humid climates. This color looks chalky on anyone but those with ultra-fair skin — but it’s definitely pale enough for those of us who can’t even wear “fair” colored foundation (Fair in this LG line makes me look like I have a significant tan–way too dark).
3. Embrace mineral sunscreen–products that leave an annoying white sheen on others disappear on us! Cotz sunscreen has a barely tinted one that almost looks like a sheer BB cream on me. It’s for extremely sensitive skin — if other sunscreen makes you break out, this one likely will not. Ulta and Target.com both sell it. Ulta gave me a sample of it last time I was there. If you’re still young with such fair skin, please realize that you are in the HIGHEST risk group for skin cancer, and every bit of sun will someday show up as damage in the form of dark spots that have to be removed by derm. Sun damage from your teens and twenties shows up with a vengeance in your forties — so don’t go out the door without SPF 30 (at least) on your face, hands, and arms. Make it an essential part of your morning routine!
Acids are specific. Everyone should use products with Hyaluronic Acid as they age — it’s a hydrator and the moisture plumps fine lines. It’s a great ingredient in serum, esp. after any exfoliating. Glycolic Acid is a chemical exfoliator. Salicylic acid is a peeler/drier for pimples.
Glycolic Acid is an AHA, while Salicylic Acid is a BHA…but they are both chemical exfoliants. You actually don’t need to have acne to use Salicylic acid, it’s perfectly fine for all skin types since all it does is exfoliate.
Have you tried make up forever HD? That stuff is amazing, not oily at all and stays on all day.
Hi Marie! I use It Cosmetics CC Cream). I find it can be a little too thick to apply at times so adding it a drop of the rosehip oil makes it the perfect consistency for me!
Emilly, I use IT cosmetics CC Cream too. At QVC right now in June they have a large size that is close to 4 regular tubes for $61. You must buy before the end of the month, and you can get it auto shipped every 4 or 5 months. Where do you buy that rose oil?
Hi Helen! Thank you for the heads up on that deal. I actually just restocked (I had a 20% off Ulta coupon that I couldn’t let go to waste) but I’ll keep QVC in mind when I run out.
I get the Acure Rosehip Oil from Target, though readers have found it at Amazon for a bit cheaper as well!
think this would go under or over the moisturizer= very dry skin here!
A little info about the “Acure” products. It came about when a chemist wanted to create products for her mother suffering from cancer. “Acure” brand was created. Thus “ a cure “ for her mom was created. I’ve been using Acure products ever since. Great nothing harmful.
On a side note, what color of polish is on your nails? It is beautiful!
I LOVE this brand for facial products!!! I had to literally Hunt down their brightening facial scrub that I found in Target and I swear by it!! try it out this line is amazing and worth every penny !!!
So funny you say that because another writer at Hip2Save just recommended the Brightening Facial Scrub to me too! It’s in my Target.com cart right now 😆Glad to here it’s a fan favorite!
Please no witch hazel. Even if someone has used it and just walks past I get nauseous. Nastiest scent around aside from spearmint.
Try Bio Oil! I Started to use it after my pregnancy and then read some where that you can you it on your face. I love to use it in the winter time. It really hydrates my dry winter skin. | 2019-04-22T20:46:35Z | https://hip2save.com/2018/06/25/skincare-acure-review/ |
Yak farming is the main livelihood source for the high altitude communities in the eastern Himalaya. With increasing access to modern facilities, market opportunities and changes in the legal framework, pastoral systems in the Himalaya are undergoing an unprecedented change. Questionnaire-based qualitative surveys were conducted in five villages of northern Bhutan, to understand how the recent changes in the legal framework for Cordyceps (known as caterpillar fungus) collection have caused specific changes in yak farming practices. Survey results revealed that women were increasingly involved in yak husbandry and household work, after the legalization of Cordyceps collection in 2004. After legalization, the Cordyceps business overtook yak farming as the main income-earning activity. Post-legalization saw a decline in the overall grassland condition and most herders migrated a month earlier to the summer grazing land. Legalization also led to increase in the number of households buying commercial feeds for yaks. Yak mortality increased and fodder scarcity became more acute, which is a major constraint to yak farming. Despite the good income from the Cordyceps business, yak farming was the preferred earning activity over Cordyceps due to herders’ confidence in yak farming as a reliable source of livelihood. Of several measures proposed by yak herders to improve yak farming, increasing grassland productivity and providing subsidies for feed purchases were the most important measures. The study concluded that yak farming practices have undergone a few positive but more undesirable changes after the legalization of Cordyceps collection in 2004. The results suggest multi-disciplinary approaches to address adequately the emerging issues of yak farming e.g. introducing schemes to make yak farming attractive to the mountain youth. The paper suggests interventions to strengthen yak farming and help herders make informed choices in the high altitude rangelands of Bhutan. Essentially, yak farming is at a crossroads where a firm decision is needed to either encourage and strengthen the farming practices or witness the gradual extinction of the age-old tradition.
Mountains occupy one fifth of the earth’s surface and are home to at least 1.2 billion people (Körner and Ohsawa 2005). Inaccessibility and marginality make mountains one of the toughest environments for agriculture in terms of diversification of farm activities, resulting in a higher prevalence of vulnerability and warranting particular attention for sustainability of the overall mountain systems (Körner and Ohsawa 2005). In spite of the complex challenges, pastoralists adopt suitable strategies to sustain their livelihoods, with their ability to transform the extensive marginal rangelands into economically productive areas (Mishra et al. 2010). Pastoralists have sustained their economies through efficient utilization of grassland resources by high altitude livestock species, ranging from camelids in the Andes to yak (Bos grunniens) in the Himalayan mountains. However, pastoralism is evolving more rapidly due to changes in the socio-economic, institutional and policy environments (Shreshtha 1994). Several authors (Roder et al. 2002; Tulachan and Neupane 1999; Wangchuk et al. 2014) note that socio-economic development is the main driver of change in the Himalayan farming systems. To deepen our understanding of transitions in mountain farming in modern times, we investigated the case of yak farming in the Bhutan Himalaya, where farming practices have undergone an unprecedented change after the legalization of Cordyceps (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) collection for medicinal purposes.
Yak farming is predominant and a major livelihood source for the high altitude communities in Bhutan. However, recently yak farming has become marginalized and overtaken by the market demand for Cordyceps or the caterpillar fungus. Cordyceps, a restricted species until 2003, was legalized for collection in 2004, and has become a major source of income for the high altitude communities (Wangmo and Wangchuk 2008). Cordyceps are found in the remote northern parts of Bhutan, at an altitude of 3,400-4,100 m above sea level (Wangmo and Wangchuk 2008). The sale of Cordyceps fetches herding households a good annual income of up to US$ 24,500 (Wangchuk et al. 2012). Internationally, the value of Cordyceps was reported to have increased by over 1,000% between 1997 and 2012 (Winkler 2013). However, economic development has taken place in the mountains at a price. Environmental pollution through littering and grassland degradation are rampant (Wangchuk et al. 2012; Wangmo and Wangchuk 2008), and may consequently degrade the ecosystem services. Economic development in the mountains is also an indirect factor that weakens traditional cultures (Körner and Ohsawa 2005).
To date, empirical studies on Cordyceps have focused mainly on the medicinal properties (Boesi and Cardi 2009; Miller 2009; Panda and Swain 2011), sustainable management (Cannon et al. 2009; Tenzin 2009; Wangmo and Wangchuk 2008) and impacts on livelihood and environment (Wangchuk et al. 2012). A study investigating the effects of legalization of Cordyceps collection on yak farming practices was therefore needed. Wangmo and Wangchuk (2008) provide anecdotal evidence suggesting that Cordyceps collection may compete with yak farming, change yak farming practices and transform the lifestyle of herding communities. Despite these concerns, the changes remain unacknowledged and herding communities do not raise the issue for fear of inviting government policies banning the Cordyceps collection. Hence, there is little understanding of the long-term consequences of indiscriminate and unsustainable collection of Cordyceps to an age-old culture and farming environment of these rangeland communities.
Policies to promote livestock farming require sufficient knowledge of the existing production systems and changing practices, without which there could be highly diverse consequences on farm management and future evolution. Without this knowledge, it is highly likely that policy decisions will become difficult and impending conflicts more complex to resolve. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to understand how changes in the legal framework for Cordyceps collection have caused changes in yak farming practices in the high altitude rangelands of Bhutan, and to suggest future interventions for harmonious development of yak herding communities in view of Cordyceps collection activities. The paper unravels the consequences arising from Cordyceps collection activities, contributes to our understandings of the farming scenario and provides insights to policy decisions to benefit the yak herding communities in the longer run.
The main Cordyceps collection areas are found in north eastern and western Bhutan. The villages of Naro, Lingzhi, SoiYaksa, Sephu and Khangdang were selected for the study (Figure 1).
Study sites in northern Bhutan where Cordyceps collection and yak farming are predominant.
The villages are far flung and about two days’ walk from the nearest motor-able roads.
The topography of study villages is rugged and the mean maximum temperature of 20°C is recorded in summer and the mean minimum of −10°C in winter. Summer is moderately warm and wet followed by freezing cold and dry winters. The annual rainfall shows a unimodal distribution pattern, with the maximum precipitation from June to September.
Every year, huge numbers of people spend about a month from mid-May to mid-June, collecting Cordyceps in the high altitude environment. Collection is banned in other months of the year. To prevent overexploitation of resource, the collection rules were revised within short intervals. Until 2007, only one person from a household was allowed to collect Cordyceps, however, in 2008, the revised rule allowed all members from a household to collect (Cannon et al. 2009; Gould 2007; Wangchuk 2008). From 2009 to date, a new rule was enforced, allowing only three persons from each household to collect. Many of the Cordyceps growing sites in Bhutan are near the border areas of Tibet. This makes easier for the people from the other side of the border to trespass and illegally collect Cordyceps in Bhutan. The practice continues unabated, even with the strict monitoring by the forestry and security personnel.
The study was conducted in the summer of 2014 in selected high altitude areas of Thimphu, Paro, Wangdue and Bumthang districts (Figure 1), where yak farming and Cordyceps collection are major income generating activities. For selecting villages and respondents, we employed the snowball sampling technique (Biernacki and Waldorf 1981) at two stages. In the first stage, researchers, development workers and local government bodies were consulted who provided a list of villages actively involved in Cordyceps business and yak farming. In the second stage, village leaders were consulted who recommended households and elderly herders as potential respondents of survey interviews.
Using the snowball sampling technique (Biernacki and Waldorf 1981), a total of 100 older herders were identified, of who 60% were male. Both male (50–70 years of age) and female (50–65 years) herders from five villages were recruited as key informants since they were actively involved in yak farming over the last three decades and were able to provide farming details of the past, present and changes likely in the future. The selection criteria included: the herder engaged in yak farming for the past 30 years, have witnessed change in farming practices overtime, be a permanent resident of the village, and be willing to cooperate with the interviewer.
The survey was administered through questionnaires with open- and closed-ended questions. The survey questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of questions on the overall situation 10 years before the legalization of Cordyceps collection. The same questions were repeated in the second part of the questionnaire in order to track changes in farming practices10 years after the legalization. Information, missed by the questionnaire was captured through informal interviews and discussions during tea breaks and mealtimes after survey interviews. Topics and questions during informal discussions and interviews included hardships of yak farming, rural out-migration, incomes from yak farming and the Cordyceps business, and migratory and feeding practices for yaks. Informal discussions and interviews lasted from 30 minutes to one hour.
The first subpart of the questionnaire solicited information on the role of gender and socioeconomics of the herding community. The key informants were asked about the role of gender in yak husbandry. To better understand the changes in the population of the younger generation, the key informants were asked to provide opinions on population size before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection. Questions were also asked to quantify changes in the number of households and herds. The key informants were requested to rank the income sources before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection.
The second part of the questionnaire delved into grazing site condition and yak feeding practices. To simplify information, we used a three-point Likert scale (Likert 1932) against the commonly used five-point scale, since reliability and validity of information was found to be independent of the scale points employed by Likert-type items (Jacoby and Miichael 1971). The scale was used to gather information on whether the informants agreed, disagreed or did not know about the changes in grazing site condition, extent of forage oat cultivation and feeding of commercial animal feeds to yak, before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection. We requested information on migratory practices, mainly on the time of migration to summer and winter grazing lands. This part of the questionnaire captured information on the yak mortality rate and its main causes, before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection. The third part of the questionnaire included questions aimed at identifying the major constraints to yak farming. The constraints before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection were compared.
The final part of the questionnaire sought general opinions on whether the herdsmen preferred yak farming or Cordyceps business. Accordingly, reasons were gathered to explain the preference for particular income-generating activities. The key informants were requested to opine on whether yak farming would decline in the future, followed by questions requesting to substantiate their opinions. Finally, the key informants were asked to put forward their important requests to the government, in order to improve and encourage yak farming in the high altitude rangeland.
Depending on the type of data, both parametric and nonparametric tests were performed. The paired-samples t tests were performed on quantitative data. Opinions were displayed by percentages and the chi-square tests were conducted to evaluate differences in opinions before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection. Ranks for income sources were analyzed with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The entire dataset was analyzed with SPSS 22 (Landau and Everitt 2004). Comparisons were not made between villages since our interest was to understand the overall changes in yak farming practices before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection.
The percentage of family heads, yak herders by gender and the population size of younger generation, before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection, are presented in Table 1. The results showed a significant decline in the proportion of men heading the family and herding yaks to and from the grazing fields, whereas the proportion of women as head of family and involvement in yak herding increased significantly after the legalization of Cordyceps collection. The proportion of family heads and yak herders differed by gender, which is consistent with the finding of Joshi et al. (2013) that women are increasingly involved in rangeland resource management in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. Following legalization of Cordyceps collection, women are being increasingly involved in animal husbandry and household work, suggesting the growing leadership of women in domestic affairs. This is a positive development, indicating considerable improvement in women’s role at the family level, suggesting that women might have more control over yak farming in the future. It would also mean that such positive developments may overcome gender-based constraints hindering women as farmers and managers of natural resources, particularly from the perspective of the future of yak farming. However, the bigger role of women would also mean increase in responsibilities and labour burden of women. Although, this study was unable to generate evidence on how men devote most of their time to off-farm activities such as Cordyceps collection, tourism and market related activities, Joshi et al. (2013) reported that men’s roles in the Himalayan region are limited to their involvement in the wage labour and marketing of agricultural products and they spend less time on pastoral activities, as compared with women. Therefore, the results suggest that men shall have a greater role in off-farm income generating activities in the future. The findings of this study on the changing role of gender should not be considered as a general trend but mainly a phenomenon in yak farming and Cordyceps growing regions in the Bhutan Himalaya.
*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ns-non-significant.
The population size of the younger generation was significantly smaller after the legalization of Cordyceps collection (Table 1), showing a decline in the population of rural youth. This is likely to result in acute shortage of farm labourers and may impede yak farming in the future. Informal discussions with both young and old villagers revealed that yak farming is becoming increasingly difficult. The younger generation are aware of the hardship of yak husbandry in remote and inaccessible areas and the low return on investment as compared to the off-farm businesses such as tourism and Cordyceps collection. Thus, yak farming is becoming less popular with the younger generation. Although, the causes of rural youth decline are multiple and complex, Wangchuk et al. (2014) attributed rural–urban migration to the rising tendency of young and literate people to migrate to urban areas seeking better economic opportunities. Relating the current trend of declining number of youth to the future population structure, our study suggests that the future herding community will most likely be comprised of elderly people. This cautions the need for the herding communities to adapt to the generational change. Accordingly, it sends out an important signal for the government agencies to step up efforts to address the issue, if yak farming is not to face extinction.
Although non-significant, we detected an increase in the number of households by 152 over the last two decades and a decline in the number of herds by 75 after Cordyceps collection (Table 1). The increase in household numbers and decline in herd numbers may not necessarily be due to legalization but can be attributed to two other possible reasons. Firstly, the increase in household numbers is probably attributable to the customary practice of traditional rural families in Bhutan of dividing land between the family members, with each generation inheriting consecutively smaller patches of land (Wangchuk et al. 2014). The new houses built on inherited land results in the increase in number of households over the years. Secondly, informal discussions revealed that, due to better economic opportunities elsewhere and increasing difficulty in yak farming, there are cases of some herding families giving up yak farming and migrating to urban areas in the recent years. The herds were often sold to fellow herders, which might explain the consequent decline in the total number of herds without a decline in overall yak numbers, while individual herd sizes may have increased.
About 77 percent of respondents ranked yak farming as the main source of income for the herding families before legalizing collection of Cordyceps (Figure 2). However, after 2004, with herding families legally authorized to collect Cordyceps, about 70 percent of respondents mentioned the collection and sale of Cordyceps as the main source of income, followed by yak farming. Herdsmen often claim that the income obtained from a month- long collection of Cordyceps is by many folds greater than the income earned from year-long yak farming. This is probably the main reason why the numbers of Cordyceps collectors are on the rise in the recent years (Wangchuk et al. 2012).
Main income sources before (1993–2003) and after (2004–2014) the legalization of Cordyceps collection.
Grazing land was said to have degraded after the legalization of Cordyceps collection, according to over 70 percent of the respondents (Figure 3). The results highlight the perception of increased degradation of the grasslands arising from continued intensive collection of Cordyceps and overgrazing by yaks and horses. Amongst the causes of grazing land degradation, Cordyceps collection activity was stated as the main cause by over 50 percent of respondents. According to herdsmen during the informal discussions, the number of illegal collectors from across the Bhutan-Tibet border is unaccounted for, and was said to outnumber the Bhutanese collectors, which contributes to grazing land degradation. Wangmo and Wangchuk (2008) reported that Cordyceps collection involved digging up soil, which is often left unattended, exposing the bare soil to erosion by monsoonal rain. Similarly to findings by Wangchuk et al. (2012), key informants mentioned littering of non-degradable plastic food wrappers and bottles by Cordyceps collectors and lack of proper garbage management as one of the causes of environmental degradation.
Occurrence and causes of poor grazing site condition before (1993–2003) and after (2004–2014) the legalization of Cordyceps collection.
According to a quarter of respondents, overgrazing is another cause of grassland degradation. Herders mentioned that, the Cordyceps collection has led to an increase in the number of horses grazing the grasslands. With the rising number of collectors over recent years, a large number of horses are used to transport basic necessities to the collection sites in order to support a month-long collection of Cordyceps in a difficult terrain. Furthermore, in the informal discussions, the herdsmen described the situation being aggravated by grazing pressure from horses used for tourism activities. Wangchuk et al. (2006) equated grazing by one horse to grazing by ten adult cattle for one day in the same area. Further, the carrying capacity of high altitude grassland is low, with one livestock unit requiring about 4.5 ha of well-managed grassland (Wangchuk et al. 2013). Thus, overstocking on less productive grassland explains the overgrazing and consequent degradation of grassland.
The yak herders migrate to summer grazing pastures in April and May, located in the high altitude region between 3,800-4,500 m above sea level; these are also the sites for Cordyceps collection. Although, there was no significant change in timing of migration to the winter grazing land, we detected a significant difference in migration timing to the summer grazing land, before and after the legalization of Cordyceps collection (Figure 4). The proportion of herders migrating to the summer grazing land in April increased by about 20 percent after the legalization. On the contrary, we detected a significant drop of about 25 percent in the proportion of herders migrating to the summer grazing land in May. The shift in time of migration suggests that most herders are spending more time in the summer grazing land, after the legalization. Since herders found that summer grazing lands are increasingly degraded by Cordyceps collection activities with consequent decrease in the productivity of grasslands, to ensure sufficient forage for their yaks, most herders migrate to the summer grazing land a month earlier, after legalization of Cordyceps collection, as opposed to the migration time followed before legalization.
Month of migration to summer and winter grazing lands before (1993–2003) and after (2004–2014) the legalization of Cordyceps collection.
Our study showed improvements in yak feeding practices after the legalization. We detected a fivefold increase in the proportion of respondents feeding commercial feed (oil cakes and pellets) to yaks (Table 2). This practice reflects the greater purchasing power from the Cordyceps business, which was the main income source after the legalization. This is a positive trend, indicating that yaks are receiving better nutrition. However, about 77 percent of respondents agreed that yak mortality has increased after the legalization. Of the several reasons outlined, forage scarcity featured as the most important cause of yak mortality and a major constraint to yak farming, followed by wildlife predation and disease (Coenurus multiceps multiceps) (Table 2). This means that legalization and escalating pasture forage shortages have contributed to the deteriorating situation of yak farming in the Bhutan Himalaya.
*p ≤ 0.05, ***p ≤ 0.001, ns-non-significant.
About 63 percent of respondents preferred yak farming over the Cordyceps business in the long term (Table 3). This finding suggests that yak farming is an assured source of steady income for a large number of respondents, in spite of the Cordyceps being a lucrative business venture. When probed on the main reason for respondents’ preferences, yak farming was mentioned to be sustainable and resilient at the time of food scarcity. Yaks have been reared for centuries and are strongly linked to the herders’ identity and culture, which instils more confidence for yak farming. The yaks survive the harsh conditions and the herders have an intuitive ability to sustainably derive their livelihood from yak farming (Khan 1995). On the contrary, most respondents viewed Cordyceps collection as an uncertain future, due to overexploitation of the resource, fluctuation in market price and greater risks involved in collection activities in the difficult terrain under harsh weather conditions. This reiterates the prediction of Wangchuk et al. (2006) that the price of Cordyceps would fluctuate in the future. Cordyceps, a resource of immense commercial value, runs the risk of over-exploitation and the issue of sustainability looms large (Winkler 2013). Reports from some parts of the Cordyceps growing region in China indicate a sharp decline in Cordyceps production due to over-harvesting (Stone 2008; Winkler 2013). Winkler (2013) fears that the overly intense collection could lead to extinction of the Cordyceps resource. In Bhutan, without adequate monitoring of the Cordyceps sites, the illegal harvesting by the poachers from across the border with Tibet will threaten the sustainability of the resource.
Which income generating activity would you prefer in the long run?
Why do you prefer the particular activity?
Will the yak farming decline in future?
What are the main reasons likely to cause decline in yak farming in future?
Despite the fact that yak farming is preferred over the Cordyceps business, about 88 percent of respondents felt that yak farming will decline in the future (Table 3). This was linked to yak farming becoming difficult, mainly because of the increased forage shortage and yak mortality due to disease. The second important reason put forward for the likely decline in yak farming was rural out-migration. According to respondents during the informal discussions, the migration trend is on the rise and the younger generation seemed to show less interest to take up yak farming. Rural–urban migration is not only a Bhutanese phenomenon; it has been reported in most rural regions around the world due to better economic opportunities elsewhere, causing damage to rural communities in terms of skewed demographic profiles, reductions in services and loss of local culture (Stockdale 2004). Rural out-migration is becoming common in most Asian countries, where the exit of younger family members is leaving more labour burdens on elderly people and children in rural areas, leading to rise in child farm labour (Meerza 2010). The present scenario highlights the need to consider introducing better rural schemes and opportunities to retain rural youth and encourage yak farming. The growing interest in Cordyceps business shall also contribute to a decline in yak farming. This is because the income from the sale of Cordyceps is invested in land and infrastructure in the urban areas, where the herdsmen and their families are spending more time per year.
The measures proposed by respondents to improve and encourage yak farming are presented in Table 4. Over half of the respondents felt that the improvement in yak farming can be possible through an increase in forage production, in terms of both quantity and quality, at subsidized rates. Improvements in forage production and availability may be beneficial for yak enterprises, but our study shows that the viability of yak farming will be threatened by the increasing farm labour shortage resulting from rural out-migration.
The need to improve the breed of yaks was the second most important request, by 15% herders who thought the yak breed is on the decline. More importance placed on the Cordyceps business could probably have led to less attention on improving yak breed. The decline in breed could also be explained by the repeated and traditional pure breeding practices common in the yak herding community which are reported to have harmful effects on yak performance (Wiener et al. 2003). Inbreeding in yaks is a particular problem in Bhutan, Nepal and India (Cai and Wiener 1995) and the lack of an efficient yak breeding program to maintain the genetic diversity in yaks is reported as a major problem in Nepal (Shaha 2000).
The need for rules and regulations to prevent degradation of grazing land by Cordyceps collection activities was the third most important request to the government. The high altitude communities are fully aware of the ill effects of Cordyceps collection on grazing land and they expressed concern to prevent decline in grazing land productivity. Our findings confirm the apprehension of Wangmo and Wangchuk (2008) who found the collection techniques used by Cordyceps collectors destructive to grasslands.
Our study highlights a series of changes in yak farming practices after the legalization of Cordyceps collection. Legalization has resulted in a few positive but more undesirable changes in overall yak farming. Positive changes included more income from Cordyceps business and better nutrition for yaks. Undesirable changes were the increased role of women in household chores, deteriorated grassland condition, and increased yak mortality due to acute pasture shortage. Legislation has partly contributed to rural–urban migration. The escalating competition between yak farming and Cordyceps business may lead to a decline in yak farming in the long run. This may accelerate the rural out-migration and aggravate the farming situation in the mountains. Yak farming is becoming increasingly vulnerable as the population of younger rural people is reduced and productivity of grasslands declines. Although difficult to achieve, appropriate schemes are needed to make yak farming attractive to the mountain youth. The high altitude communities shall continue to benefit substantially from the Cordyceps business. However, it is of paramount importance to invent and promote suitable harvesting techniques to ensure minimum damage to the grassland. It is hoped that the future government interventions will focus on increasing the productivity of grasslands, improving the breed of yaks and regulating Cordyceps collection to avoid grassland degradation. The government also needs to put in place a levy mechanism, whereby a small percentage of income from Cordyceps is invested in grassland renovation. In essence, yak farming is at a crossroads where a firm decision is needed to either strengthen the age-old tradition or witness its gradual extinction.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Royal Government of Bhutan. We also thank Mr. Thubten, Mr. Samten Nidup, Mr. Harilal Nirola and Mr. Karma Dorji for their valuable assistance during the field surveys.
Both authors contributed to development of the concept and survey questionnaire, field interviews and data collection, data analysis and drafting of the manuscript. The final manuscript was approved by both authors.
KW (Ph.D.) is Pasture Ecologist and Deputy Chief Research Officer at the Renewable Natural Resources Research and Development Center (RNRRDC) in Bumthang, Bhutan and carries out research on rural livelihood, poverty alleviation, climate change and grasslands. JW is a Principal Livestock Health Officer at RNRRDC, Bumthang and conducts research on poverty alleviation and rural dairy development.
Miller, RA. 2009. The Cordyceps sinensis medicinal mushroom. www.nexusmagazine.com/products/the-cordyceps-sinensis-medicinal-mushroom-detail. Accesed 20 September, 2014. | 2019-04-25T18:44:27Z | https://pastoralismjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s13570-015-0025-x |
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I am not talking about physical flexibility (although that is good too), but rather mental and emotional flexibility. Am I able to bend with under the weight of what comes my way... without breaking? Am I able to handle the vagaries of life with grace and poise? Am I able to find a balance between my needs and my responsibilities? Can I be what I need to be for myself, as well as what I believe I need to be for others? (which is a whole other topic, because I often get that one wrong!). And can I do all of that without getting on my high horse and passing judgement on other people’s choices and decisions? (Light topics, huh?) Eight years ago I would have had to answer in the negative to ALL of the questions posed. I had no foundation of self esteem to support a healthy mental or emotional balance between my needs and others needs. I would swing from one extreme to the other... either I was solely focused on myself and my needs/wants, or I was so focused on others that I neglected myself and my needs. There was nothing approaching balance. I couldn’t bend (physically, or mentally) because I was drowning in fear. I am not saying that the fear is gone. Oh no, not at all... in fact, I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder that seems to be getting worse in the last year or so, but I believe I am handling even that with more poise than I was handling my everyday life 8 years ago. I have a need for time alone (Well, time with just my dog), and I have a need for quiet companionship. For the most part I have found ways to achieve that on a daily or weekly basis. (I also have a need for simple, nutritious food.). But I have responsibilities in my family (out of love), to my friends (out of affection), to my fellow tenants ( out of proximity and simple compassion), and recently I have come to face the responsibility I will be facing as health care proxy to an old friend in rapidly deteriorating condition. Do I bend or break? I want to say that I bend like a flower stem in a high wind, not blowing over, or breaking... but simply bending over to raise my head once the storms have passed. I am not certain how accurate that description is though. I get so overwhelmed emotionally and mentally that I have to find ways to escape for a little while. I read a lot, and sometimes I just have to escape into a novel that I know has a happy ending no matter the travails that get to the happy ending... I don’t like reading depressing or really dark novels with no good outcome for any of the characters (and I dislike getting emotionally invested in a character only to have the author kill them off!) and a bleak or uncertain ending. I think that is why I like romance novels... happy ever after is a guaranteed outcome. I know it’s wildly unrealistic, but it feeds my optimistic side, and combats my cynicism. Walking my dog is another form of emotional escape. Being outside with him, and seeing his joy at being in the world lifts my spirits and I focus almost solely on him and his needs, and get out of my own head, without having to meet any conversational expectations, or emotional demands. I just have to do my best to keep him safe and provide him with enough exercise and outside time to keep him healthy and happy... and he is generally pretty clear about what those boundaries are. And the big hurdle/roadblock I need to watch for is being judgmental. I have found myself at various times saying or thinking things that were judgmental about another persons choices or decisions, without knowing where they were coming from mentally, or what was going on in their life. I keep telling myself that I don’t know what is going on in someone’s life unless they tell me, and I shouldn’t pass judgment on someone else no matter what their situation is, because they are generally doing the best they can given their circumstances. I may not agree with them or their choices and decisions, but I am woefully ignorant about what is going on behind the scenes of anyone else’s life (and sometimes even my own life!)... problem is I am human. We are hardwired to make snap judgements. Is this person safe to be around? Will this person help or hinder me? Questions like that zip through our brains and are answered one way or the other all the time. I believe it’s a defense mechanism? I know for me it’s self protection from being hurt again. I have to pose the question to myself often “is this person/situation truly a threat?” And often they/it is nota a threat, though initially I perceived it as such due to past experiences. So what changed eight years ago? For one thing, I found SparkPeople. I read the original book, got involved in the site, made friends, got active, changed my diet (though slowly at first), and began building one success on another. I found it life changing to see that one small seemingly inconsequential success could lead to another slightly more grand success... leading to tremendous successes. I am not solving world peace, becoming famous, or anything like that, but I am generally content within myself most days. I feel like I am allowed to have pride in my accomplishments, and my self esteem is higher than its been in my life (hopefully without being too prideful!)... I am working on balancing needs with responsibilities, and being a flower in the wind. Some days I am more successful than others. Just as some days I am better at not passing judgment than others. (I find when I am less content with myself, the more I tend to be judgmental towards others... hmmmm). I am definitely not aiming for perfection with any of this... just an awareness, and a good faith effort. Are you a flower in the wind?
Good thoughts for all of us to keep in mind because I think it's a natural thing to think the way WE do things is a better way, so why is that person so different. But they ARE!
Beautiful blog. I work on being that flower in the wind, and when I'm not, I reflect on the reasons the wind tore me out of the ground. I love reading romance for the same reason you do - there are times when a happy ending is necessary to go forward. I also love romance for the pure escapism. My favourite author is Debbie Macomber. I used to love watching my fish and my cats for the reasons, you enjoy spending time with your furbaby puppy. I miss not having a cat but my landlord is firm - no more animals allowed. I really enjoyed your blog, thank-you for sharing your insight and wisdom.
Oh, wow...a lovely blog dear one! You are one of the most thoughtful pondering, reaching for the answers, people I know! We all need our alone time, I must admit I can get totally overwhelmed with people at our consignment gallery through the day. There seems to be such an air of discontent these days and being a 'sensitive' I absorb so much of it. I have really enjoyed these several days at home going through so many of my books scanning them into an app that tells me how popular they are in sales standing. Sadly only about 1 in every 15-20 of my dearly beloved books meet the 'standing' test so it's a slow sometimes disappointing process.
I know that your little Cooper dog is your special angel and he is beside you through thick and thin and you two are a perfectly cohesive team. He gets you out and about and you make sure he gets his needed exercise in daily. That is a gift that you support each other in perfect synchronization!
I also can't help but admire your strong spirit and your will to succeed no matter what obstacles are set in front of you...you always find a way around that is beneficial to you.
As far as judging others... I really think this is a bit of a primal instinct...we need to access others and try our best to determine their intent as relevant to our own safety.
Funny thing...in my book search today I found an excellent book on Chinese face reading...I'm going to read it again...so interesting! Letting go of my beautiful books is like letting go of my kids..who knew it would ever be this hard? I just keep thinking of how happy the next recipient will be when they receive my pristine books.
Oh I can do nothing but agree with every word you've said. There are times I can be flexible and other times, not so much.
Thank you for a wonderful blog!!
excellent insight and you have grown so much. Your ablity to realize that your time alone is necessary..your Cooper Dog provides a balance you thrive on. Doing an excellent job of working your way thru life!
Wishing you ease with the health care proxy responsibility.
It's neat watching the changes you're making. So much more than just physically.
What an excellent blog. You have come through so much. Your mental health, along with your physical health has improved as least from what I can tell from reading your blogs for a while now. You don't seem so judgmental here as much as you think. I find that you are now aware of what your needs are to survive, and to be happy. Having time alone suits you, then so be it. I think we all need time to alone, to just recoup from the everyday stress and outside forces that seem to derail our lives.
As I have gotten older I have come to understand the meaning "don't sweat the small stuff" because life has a say in some of the things that happen to us. We are more connected and share common things than you think, and in the long run it really doesn't matter. I say enjoy life as you can, change what you want or need to, and take the rest with a grain of salt.
Take care and thanks for the deep thoughts today.
Many can resonate with this I know I can Thanks for sharing! Keep on sparking!!
Excellent blog- thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I like reading romance novels... i really didn't know why until u put it down on paper! Thank you... sometimes i am like the dandelion seed puff , taking off flying in the wind! Other times I am deeply rooted like that same dandelion! Neat blog! | 2019-04-19T16:49:37Z | https://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=6536873 |
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Among the most well-liked steroids of all time in Slough England, from bodybuilding to football to battling and gym rats and every little thing in-between lots of people buy Deca-Durabolin, much more so than several various other steroids.
An extremely slow-moving behaving steroid as a result of the long Decanoate ester that is affixed, the gains from this anabolic steroid can be significant, especially when piled with testosterone.
Additionally, past its effectiveness in-terms of dimension and durability lots of people buy Deca-Durabolin for the joint relief that is commonly associated with its use.
Also a really low amount of the anabolic steroid can offer a joint soothing result that is most welcomed to any person who practices or performs athletically at a high and extreme level.
We have actually already reviewed Deca-Durabolins popularity in Slough England amongst those that are beginners and progressed and experienced customers. Rather frankly, Deca Durabolin is just one of the most largely readily available anabolic steroids on the black market.
Its appeal goes back to just how reliable it is. A good material to run for those simply starting out and would like to know how their bodies respond to steroids, and popular by IFBB Pro bodybuilders throughout offseason bulking phases.
Undoubtedly Deca Durabolin dosages will certainly differ but the most crucial element is to understand just what you’re acquiring and acquiring a high quality product.
With popularity comes often comes a higher rate as well as artificial or counterfeited products, and Deca is no different to others in this group, like Anavar and Primobolan.
Those which buy Deca-Durabolin in Slough England need to follow some simple rules and this will avoid them from obtaining a product any various from just what they believe they’re investing their challenging made money on.
To start with, readily available on the black market are both pharmaceutical grade and Underground laboratory items to acquire. Pharmaceutical grade refers to Deca-Durabolin products produced by billion dollar firms, specifically for human usage.
These are provided to customers with legitimate prescriptions by physicians and anti-ageing clinics throughout the Usa and world. These human grade or pharm grade products are also given to diseases clients, HIV or those with muscular tissue or weight losing problems.
Pharmaceutical grade anabolic steroids are the best items available to us, as long as the raw or powder producer is good, and it commonly is when bullion dollar business are manufacturing it for sale and use. It’s frequently dosages in between 50-200 mg per ml, which is a fairly low amount.
Secondly, we have Underground laboratory Deca Durabolin. This is manufactured by laboratories that are uncontrolled and do not have to comply with meticulous standards and regulations on ingredients, making procedures or general quality and sanitation. It’s not to share these products are unsterile, yet they are often not as good quality as pharm grade steroids and the rate distinction mirrors that.
Similar to any kind of prominent, reliable and effortlessly obtainable anabolic steroid, Deca-Durabolin is counterfeited a lot. Those that want to buy Deca Durabolin and are exclusively looking for pharma grade preparations ought to seek the two major manufacturers of Deca-Durabolin are Norma Hellas and Orgenon.
These copies are extremely great and often it practically impossible to tell the difference in between a legit item and one that’s counterfeited or forged. Underground laboratory will certainly market underdosed products, mislabelled and cheaper mixes of steroids that give the very same or similar effects in gains and sides.
Fortunately, Deca Durabolin is not a rather expensive anabolic steroid in powder or raw kind, so Underground laboratory’s do not reduce edges when making and offering it. The best weapon versus shedding your money when you buy Deca-Durabolin is to rely on and recognize your steroid source. Legit web sites will certainly be set up and approve bank card shielding both the consumers anonymity and the source.
The legality of Deca Durabolin wil vary from nation to country, yet in the UNITED STATE it’s a controlled substance and punishment brings a fine or jail. It drops under the Steroid Manage act where it’s a course III substance.
When you Buy Deca-Durabolin on the black market in a country where it’s a controlled substance, your plainly breaking the legislation, but in some nations it can be legitimately obtained.
They can be purchased nonprescription in drug stores yet not imported back to the country their illegal in. Deca-Durabolin can be gotten lawfully by going the route of an anti-ageing clinic in the USA; nonetheless, rates for this are higher, some 2-3x times the quantity paid on the black market.
This will however, quit you from being placed in jail and/or getting slapped with a large fine, whilst additionally enabling you to travel to and from the U.S.A with your anabolic steroids.
Those who buy Deca Durabolin are taking threats however usually police are not considering the end individual, simply the dealership, whether that be on-line or in person.
It’s too costly and time consuming for the DEA to pursue little routine steroid users, such as athletes and bodybuilders. So know the risks, yet making sure products illegal does not prevent their use. We see that with medications, in addition to anabolic steroids around the world.
Where to Buy Deca-Durabolin in Slough England?
Well, without inform you specifically where to acquire pharmaceutical grade and UGL Deca Durabolin in Slough England, it can be obtained effortlessly from the appropriate internet sites and firms online if you recognize where to look.
Established web site will certainly sit at the top for their ranks, or near to the leading, we see that with keywords, such as, “steroids for sale”.
These websites and on-line vendors sponsor various other sites and forums, given that their items function and clients return. Apart from on the internet providers, those aiming to buy Deca-Durabolin in Slough England can frequently locate exactly what their seeking by local fitness center dealerships.
Although this is threat (moving toward a gym source), Deca is a widely offered anabolic steroid all over the globe and not hard to get at all. Moving toward a stranger does pose its very own dangers though, they frequently just have actually restricted brand names and could be an undercover agent.
Buy Deca-Durabolin & & Grow: When hunting for anabolic steroids if you buy Deca-Durabolin in Slough England you could anticipate to greatly enhance your red cell manufacturing, an increase in muscular tissue nitrogen retention and even enhanced cravings; all things that will lead to both growth and higher performance.
Additionally, this anabolic steroid is generally well-tolerated by the majority of who use it when used sensibly; this is very important because it enables us to concentrate more on the positive benefits related to the steroid instead of needing to worry ourselves with side-effects to a brilliant degree.
Nonetheless, as all steroids do Deca-Durabolin will shut down your organic testosterone production.
While the majority of all steroids will certainly subdue your all-natural testosterone manufacturing Deca-Durabolin carries this quality to a very solid level. Also at a very low amount and it only takes one, this anabolic steroid will completely close down your organic testosterone manufacturing.
For this reason, when we buy Deca-Durabolin in Slough England we always have to buy testosterone too if we are to keep any kind of testosterone in the physical body.
Nevertheless, by doing so not just do we remain in correct working order but we further enhance our pattern, as these 2 steroids work completely together offering the individual a means to a much more efficient device.
Acquiring steroids on the black market can be quite dangerous; in numerous countries it is prohibited and the fallout from damaging this regulation can be incredible.
Additionally, since numerous laboratories and sources counterfeit this steroid often times youre merely throwing your money away when you purchase. Even even worse, while you might have the ability to buy Deca-Durabolin from a black market source that is not phony several of these sources seriously under-dose their equipment so you are not acquiring your monies worth.
While both of these 2 adverse components are certainly awful it could usually acquire much worse; if you buy Deca-Durabolin on the black market you run the risk of acquiring dirty and unsterile equipment; such equipment can cause infections that are not simply unpleasant yet extremely harmful to your health.
For these reasons you have to stick with true and relied on outlets of acquisition; providers which have put in the time to explore their item and produce it to the highest degree of top quality feasible. You are extremely recommended to check out the banner include above as it will provide to you the ability to legitimately purchase a cleaner and effective anabolic providing you with not only gains yet peace of mind.
If you buy Deca-Durabolin you will certainly be buying one of the truest forms of anabolic steroids you could ever before use. This steroid has actually been prominent for years and was a favored during the golden era of muscle building as much as it is today for one simple reason; it works phenomenally well.
Just like all steroids you are encouraged to speak with your medical professional prior to you buy Deca-Durabolin to guarantee you are healthy and balanced enough for use, in addition to educate on your own thoroughly on the steroid to ensure accountable usage.
Where to Buy Dianabol in Amagasaki Japan?
Where to Buy Dianabol in Phillip Island Australia? | 2019-04-21T14:36:52Z | https://communigeek.net/where-to-buy-deca-durabolin-in-slough-england.html |
Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Las Vegas (NV) | FROM $86 - SAVE ON AGODA!
Have a question for Caesars Palace Las Vegas?
"It definitely had the best buffet by miles."
"Near attractions and the strip."
"Superb location with great views and staff were very polite..."
One of the most well-known and prestigious resorts on The Strip, this luxury property with well over 3000 rooms is spread across five towers. The 129,000sqf Gaming Zone includes slot machines, table games, a Poker room, as well as a Keno Lounge. It is also the current home of the National Heads-Up Poker Championship. If you wish to explore the many attractions in the city, the Leisure Concierge can help make reservations for shows, nightclubs, and tours. The hotel also features a number of award-winning dining venues, including Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. The hot-spots of Vegas are just steps from your room. Browse some of the world’s finest retailers at the nearby Forum Shops or enjoy the popular Pure nightclub, the Pussycats Lounge, and the floating Cleopatra's Barge - all available at the hotel. After a weekend of dancing and high stakes gambling, why not head to the Qua Baths & Spa for a relaxing treatment session before you head back home. Caesars Palace Las Vegas offers unlimited luxury and impeccable service from the moment you step in.
"The stay at Caesers Palace was a wonderful experience."
The minimum age required to check in at this property is 21 years.
A limited selection of drinks and pastries is available for rooms that have the breakfast inclusion. Anything additional will need to be purchased by guest.
A limited selection of drinks and pastries are available for rooms with breakfast.
Gala dinner/breakfast is provided for 2 persons per booking. Any addition person will be charged an extra fee.
The room rate with breakfast includes USD 10.00 credit for 2 persons per day only. Kindly contact the property directly for further details on breakfast.
I loved the Hotel experience but not the Hotel. Very Vegas - all for show and not very genuine. It started with check in when we were asked to pay a charge of US $30 as check in had not commenced. I believe we were checking in it at about 2pm in the afternoon and like most tourists had been up for almost 24 hours. so of course we paid. We received our wifi code. My daughter was concerned it was not free and so I called reception from the room to be told it was included in our resort fee! No mention of an additional fee for this. Naively I assumed it was built into our room fee. No mention of the fee to me at the time.Upon check out we received a bill for the extra $44 per day for the wifi use! Over the top and a money making scam. Would never stay here again and will not recommend to friends. A sharing plate consumed at one of the bars was disgusting. It had been pre made and left in the fridge to dry out. Staff were all rude and Vegas is one big gambling game.
Check in is 4pm and check out is 11am, they should make the check in much earlier and check out later than 11am since you pay for like 200+ per room ,we asked for late check out since my husband need to have much rest needed coz he need to drive for 10hrs back to SF but the customer service said its not an option and wr should check out at 11 even though we receive a text from them that we can check out at 12pm. Beware of the thing in mini bar too. If you touch it intentionally or accidentally even it just a seconds it will cost you. We are not comfortable in that part of the room like theres some trap. And at 330am there this woman who banging our door repeatedly and when my husband open it and said she got a wrong room, she insist its the right room and she asked if she can come in , she just wondering around the hallway in 69floor, such security. Nice clean hotel, great structures tho.
lovely hotel and location. perfect for couples to relax. the pool area was nice and clean and had confortable sun loungers to chill out. would definitely recommend as great value for money. would be even better if they had more hangover related souvenirs in the gift shop!
The rooms are outdated. You have to pay for everything including making coffee in your room in the morning. With all the beautiful hotels in Vegas and the way this place looks like on the outside, the rooms were horrible. I could have gotten a cheaper room that was much nicer and a cup of coffee in my room for free somewhere else. Never again.
Overcharging! They charge for almost everything. You can't use the fridge to chill your own stuff as they'll charge you once you take something out even if you don't drink it. All swimming pools are closed even thought the website was claiming that one heated pool is open all year around. Although all pools closed the resort fee is the same as in summer when you have the pool entrance. They even charge for parking and wifi is free only for 2 devices per room. The location and cleanliness are great, however I could not see any value in the price we paid.
We stayed at Caesars when we came out to see Cher - a quick trip, just 2 nights - we were looking for a bit of "old Las Vegas", and Caesars certainly embodies that classic Vegas feel. Everything was fabulous, the accommodations were great - we stayed in Julius Tower and had a junior suite - and while it was a great size for the 2 of us, I don't know that I'd classify it as a suite, more like a decent sized standard room. At check-in, we had the option to forego daily housekeeping for a $10 credit - which we took because we were only there a couple nights - we didn't realize, however, that the credit - that was accepted at a wide variety of places in Caesars - needed to be used prior to check-out because that credit was NOT taken directly at the establishment, but passed along to the front desk and would be taken off our room bill. And while Caesars was VERY clean, there was an abundance of cigarette smoke throughout the casino, so that was unavoidable.
Pros -wonderful location; near attractions and the strip. -clean and comfy rooms (stayed palace deluxe room with double bed) -lots of signage to guide me ard the hotel though it’s big and my first time being in Vegas it was quite tourist friendly. -check in/ out electronic kiosks to avoid queueing at the front desk to minimize time. Cons -Did not see any hotel staffs therefore no contact at all can’t comment about the service however did see see some cleaning staffs. - Valet for main hotel was full upon arrival so parked at back of hotel ( collosium side ) valet there was almost non existence no staff at duty or little staff to assist in valet for car and parking charge for hotel Guest per day was 30USD pretty steep considered we were staying guests. Overall quite a nice hotels with wonderful location and room just that the room I got didn’t have any view (it was view of back of the building like carpark etc.) sadly.
I love it here and would do it again and again,the one thing I had an issue with was paying for coffee in my room like really?? At least you can offer that for free especially for the price we pay for the room.
Optional last minute exclusive deal to upgrade my room at check in for only $11 - totally worth it! My room was in Octavius Tower, which was super far away from the self park garage (that was my only negative), but the room was huge and the bathroom had separate shower & tub (with jets!). Overall, awesome!
I was stayed 2nights at Octavianus tower. Very large hotel. For check in and check out process you can use the reception machine (no need human here). The breakfast menu was excellent!
Value for money. Great location, the location allowed us to access the main strip with no problems. The only con is that the pools were closed and reception for check-in was a misson to get to. You basically have to walk the entire casinon from the car park.
During my Vegas Trip, Ceasers hotel is the one of best choice i made. Hotel was nice and buffet was wonderful (price is high but good quailty) Staff was very friendly and hotel facilities and pool is super nice.
Location, facilities and friendly staff.
We enjoyed our stay here. However, our room was not cleaned and our towels were not changed. We had to phone the front desk to complain. Our room was cleaned at 7-30pm that night. Parking is "Valet Parking" and is free. This is very convenient. There are no extras included in the room price. There was a coffee machine in the room, but, the price to use it was $13.00 for a coffee. The hotel had typical "extra" charges that are in small print when booking the room. Namely resort taxes you had to pay the hotel.
Comfortable, very large rooms with very large washroom and shower room. Expensive but with best location on the Strip. Beware of getting lost inside the hotel and its shopping center. Super large hotel.
We had been to Vegas before and really wanted to stay at Caesars.. the walls were paper thin and could the couple fighting in the room next door, the beds were so uncomfortable , the entrance to our lift smelt like rotten fish , we ordered room service and a sandwich was $46 and water was $12 !!! But the worst part was we went for a shower and there was no hot water we called reception and they said they were doing maintenance and could move us but our kids were already asleep, they said it would be fixed by 4am but at 8am we still had no water!! All they done was not charged us resort fee for that one night!! Never ever again will I stay at this place. | 2019-04-20T05:05:00Z | https://www.agoda.com/caesars-palace-las-vegas_2/hotel/las-vegas-nv-us.html |
That said, the Super Bowl was another good excuse for us to invite family and friends over. Once the game was done and the kitchen was tidied, though, I got back to reading Circe by Madeline Miller. Miller's first book, Song of Achilles, was the first book I finished this year, and it was riveting. Miller's gifted writing and her intimate knowledge of the flawed characters of Greek mythology make her stories utterly fascinating. Her characters are emotionally-driven and promiscuous, but they also help us understand what it is to be human, and where our choices could lead.
The Lake House by Kate Morton: This has nothing to do with the Keanu Reeves movie that my husband humorously reminded me about when he saw this book on my shelf. Instead, it's the swift moving story of an English family's split after their toddler disappears, and the truth that begins to unravel many years later as their oldest daughter connects with a young detective to understand what happened. I'm interested in the The Lake House because of its themes of responsibility, motherhood, friendship, mystery, and guilt.
MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood: My husband finished this final book in Atwood's dystopian trilogy years ago, so it's high time I catch up to him so we can discuss it together. Atwood's novels are somber, but they simmer with creative, dark humor. A recent meal I ate at a vegan burger café reminded me of Chicky Knobs, and a friend's description of the hymns at a progressive atheist church reminded me of the fictional hymns sung by the radical environmentalist group in this MaddAddam trilogy. Dystopian novels show us how society can go terribly awry, and I love how they inspire me to take action against the wrong turns I see in our society. If you like dystopian novels like I do, you should also read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.
The Brothers K by David James Duncan. Duncan is a beloved writer here in Oregon, where he's written The River Why and other stories set in the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. My husband enjoyed The Brothers K. (Again, I'm trying to catch up on some of his favorite reads!) The story follows a family's course through the 50s and 60s as the sons grow into adulthood, face religious choices, and deal with the brutality of the Vietnam War. Something in the description reminds me of A River Runs Through It—poignant, tragic, and yet moving and meaningful.
Kristin Lavransdattir trilogy by Sigrid Undset (The Wreath / The Wife / The Cross) : Sagas aren't a genre that I'm typically drawn towards, but Undset won a Nobel Prize for Literature, and her Norwegian trilogy comes highly recommended by Sarah Clarkson in her autobiographical celebration of reading titled Book Girl. In summary, Kristin Lavransdattir is a headstrong heroine in Norway's dark 15th century; this tale of historic fiction recounts her early life, marriage, motherhood, and estrangement as the Black Plague spreads. I'm intrigued by all the lavish reviews!
Two From Galilee by Marjorie Holmes: I'm going to read this just before Christmas because it is a fictionalized account of Mary and Joseph's story that seems to be fairly impactful. Readers say it is well-researched and emotionally moving without being preachy or overly fictionalized.
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry: Hannah Coulter was published more than ten years ago, but I'm hearing about it everywhere now. In this sequel to Jayber Crow, an aging and twice-widowed Hannah retells her life and reflects on her connection to the land her family has farmed. I should probably read both novels for their time-worn perspective and significant contribution to American literature, but Hannah Coulter can stand on its own too.
Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam: The author is a speaker, writer, and mother of four, and yet she focuses on sharing concrete principles here for lingering in life's best moments. While I don't want to bow to the idol of "getting more done,” I'd like to learn from her experience and perspective as she explains how to ensure one's life has space for the moments with the most significance.
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport: Newport's latest book also argues that it is possible to choose a focused life in a noisy world. He's an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown and an author whose books (like Deep Work) are always well-received, so I'm sure I could pick up some sage advice on living wisely and carefully in a digitally-saturated culture.
Begotten or Made: Human Procreation and Medical Technique by Oliver O’Donovan: This is a series of fascinating and clearly argued lectures given on the topic of Christian ethics and reproductive medical technology. O’Donovan specifically focuses on the ethics of IVF procedures and the choices our societies will soon be facing, as well as those techniques that are already in practice. This was recommended by a friend for its fascinating and thoughtful arguments.
How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig: Ludwig is a celebrated playwright who shares the practical ways that he taught his own young children Shakespeare, helping them to delight in the wit and wisdom of Shakespeare's passages. I'm reading this now and it's a quick and highly applicable read, reminding me why Shakespeare matters even to the very young, and how to make memorization enjoyable. Ludwig writes the book for teachers as well as parents, and shares free printables on his book's website.
The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart: Bogart regularly shares insightful homeschooling tips and parenting wisdom on the Brave Writer Podcast, and this book promises to funnel that wisdom into a highly practical format. Bogart focuses on answering the question of how parents can educate their children through modeling what it means to be a truly Brave Learner.
You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life by Eleanor Roosevelt: Published in 1960, Mrs. Roosevelt's collection of essays is still considered useful, wise, and informed by readers today. I'll listen with respect to what this distinguished first lady had to say.
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover: There's a lot of buzz around this autobiographical story of a girl who was raised by a "religious nut” of a father and an extremely lax homeschooling mother who never allowed Tara to go to school—yet she managed to attain a PhD from Cambridge. A friend recommended this book to me and I cannot wait to read the author's perspective on her unusual educational path.
I haven't regularly read novels in French since my college years, partially because French novels can be harder to obtain, but also because reading in a non-native language seemed to require too much effort for an otherwise pleasurable pastime. However, I'm going to start choosing more French novels because I want to grow my language knowledge, keep pulse with French literary culture, and broaden my perspectives. For those of you who don't read in French, however, the novels below are also available in English.
Chanson Douce by Leila Slimani: This initially seems like the story of a seemingly perfect nanny who murders her charges, but the author weaves the story back into a beautiful text about family, race, and purposeful relationships. I began reading this in English (The Perfect Nanny) and realized it would be a better read in French since I kept mentally trying to translate it back to French.
Esclave vieil homme et le molosse by Patrick Chamoiseau: This the acclaimed story of a slave's escape into a Martinique rain forest filled with the spirits of former slaves. I'm excited to digest a novel so rich in Caribbean culture as it forces me to reflect more on the value of race and human dignity. The English translation of this is Slave Old Man.
The Circle of Seasons by K.C. Ireton: It seems to me that the Protestant church is showing an interest back towards the rhythms of the early church calendar. This book was written by a homeschooling mama last year and it has excellent online reviews. I am intrigued to learn more from Ireton about the Christian way of marking time.
Great Doctrines of the Bible by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: This book was recommended by our church's new pastor as a solid read to gain a deeper understanding the Bible's theology. I love the Bible itself, but I'm always open to the insight that can be gained from an educated, astute commentary.
The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard - I was gifted this book by a family member who appreciated its life-changing arguments for living an authentic Christian life. Willard is a theologian and philosopher at the University of Southern California; I will appreciate his thoughtful emphasis on discipleship.
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Shaeffer: I love the Shaeffer's story about L’Abri, their ministry of hospitality and theology spreading worldwide from their simple Swiss chalet from the 1950s through the 1980s. Here in The Hidden Art of Homemaking, Edith describes how homemaking is essentially creative as well as meaningful. I want to learn from her experience hosting hundreds of visitors while still raising a family and maintaining a mostly peaceful, beautiful home environment.
What are you planning to read in 2019? If you've read any of the books on my list, what did you think of them? Happiness is better when shared, so I look forward to hearing your what's on your reading wish list.
This post contains affiliate links. Merci for supporting Intentional Mama! | 2019-04-19T22:56:58Z | https://www.intentionalmama.com/home/my-french-american-must-reading-list-books-2019 |
God, admission of my personal sinfulness and desire to set myself free from it.
The outer aspect of prayer is as necessary as the inner one. Both serve to express a person’s spiritual experience. Christian prayer is traditionally accompanied by visible signs of reverence: bowing one’s head, raising one’s hands to heaven, and kneeling. Movement and gesture add to and deepen the words and assist in inner concentration.
The most important physical expression of prayer is the sign of the cross, which usually accompanies prayer and is a preface to a bow from the waist or a prostration. For Christians, the fullness of the spiritual world is the cross-centered love of Christ for man, of God for the world; therefore, the visible sign of this love, Christ’s cross, is the weapon which is the redemption and union of man with God, the mystery of salvation, completed by Christ the Lord. The sign of the cross is ontological. It bears witness to a different reality, to the existence in this world of another life. It seems that especially this ancient Christian sign, inseparably connected with all that Tolstoy had rejected, should have been totally excluded from his inner experience. But it is here that begins one of the “unsolved mysteries” of his soul, his unresolvable contradictions which elude rational interpretation.
For those familiar with Tolstoy’s life and the tragedy of his estrangement from the Orthodox Church, one would assume that this ancient Christian gesture, linked with everything Tolstoy had renounced, should have been utterly rejected by him.
A man of common sense, in his opinion, cannot accept the deliberate deceit and nonsense which compel him to light candles, to raise his hands in prayer, to kiss pieces of wood, etc., but not once did Tolstoy express the opinion that making the sign of the cross was merely a senseless “waving of hands” during prayer.
The symbols of worship and ritual, in his opinion, hindered true faith, leaving no room for the understanding of actual Christianity, which dwells within. If there are some actions which please God and redeem a person from evil, and they must be expressed by the bowing and raising of hands, asks Tolstoy, then why not use legs or feet? Isn’t a pilgrimage performed by the faithful considered a prayer performed with feet? And if a person works all day for a poor widow, couldn’t this be considered a form of prayer? Tolstoy answers these questions in the affirmative.
In this way, following Tolstoy’s logic, a mature person, especially by the age of “noble gray hair,” should have moved beyond all assumptions and superstitions.
But within Tolstoy himself, despite his theory, totally different changes occurred. In the last years of his life, his attitude to the rites of the Church softened noticeably. As Alexandra Lvovna, Tolstoy’s daughter, remembered, “he became more and more tolerant.” In 1906, during a difficult time for Tolstoy’s wife, Sofia Andreyevna, when she was close to death and had already called for a priest, Tolstoy did not object. He was sincerely glad about her wish and “enthusiastically assisted in fulfilling” it.
His steadfast conviction that true faith does not need “external forms,” in the face of the possible death of the person closest too him and he admitted that, within the religious form, is a spiritual foundation. This brings to mind the literary character in Anna Karenina of Konstantin Levin, the author’s brother-in-spirit, who, during an hour critical for his beloved Kitty, grabbed his own head, repeating, “Lord, have mercy!” All of Levin’s reasonable, doubting consciousness was instantly “flung from his soul like ashes” and his unbelieving mind prayed for the help of the One, in Whose hands he “sensed himself and his own soul.” As the saying goes: “The deeper the sorrow, the closer God is.” And He who is above life and death, Who is Himself merciful Love, responds to the prayer of the supplicant.
Perhaps Tolstoy understood that all human accomplishment, all of the creative beauty of religion, is not an accident, that it all emerges from an earthly passion for Heaven, from a surrender to God, from spiritual completeness, from a pure and loving heart. Love is a synonym for God; there cannot be anything unclean in it. Even the least perfect and poorly expressed manifestation of love draws to itself what is higher and more creative. “As we become accustomed to crossing ourselves, saying the words of prayer,” wrote Tolstoy, “so we should and must become accustomed to love....” Love widens the senses, transforms them into words, into song, into the beauty of flowing prayer.
The return of Tolstoy to Orthodox prayers (in his last years he regularly said the prayers “Lord, and Master of my life” and “O Heavenly King, O Comforter”) is the return of the artist to beauty. The crystals of spiritual beauty which had been polished for centuries could not but attract the sensitive artist. This was a return to form as well, to that “outward form” which he might find rude, but which he could not avoid sensing in his favorite poems, the work of Tyuchev and Fet, and in the simple, laconic peasants’ speech, in the prayers of praise read before the decorated icons.
Sukhotin was shocked: the author of Resurrection crosses himself and reads Orthodox prayers! What is this? The habits kept from childhood, or a new spiritual revolution? But there had been no radical change in his views; every year, something emerged from his pen which was new, bright and unique. Outwardly, Tolstoy remained the same: proud, angry, and rebellious. But what seemed mysterious to his “dark,” ideology-driven followers was quite understandable to his domestic circle.
On December 8, 1908, Sofia Andreyevna made an interesting entry in her diary: “I would like to write down that which I have accidentally overheard. Chertkov [leader of the ‘Tolstoyan’ movement], who visits us every day, came into Lev Nikolayevich’s room last night and spoke with him concerning the sign of the cross. Involuntarily, from the hallway I overheard their conversation. L.N. said that he sometimes by habit does the sign of the cross, that is, if his soul is not praying in that minute, then his body is making a visible sign of prayer. Chertkov answered: it might happen that, while dying or suffering intensely, Lev Nikolayevich will cross himself and those surrounding will think that he has converted or would like to return to Orthodoxy; but to prevent this, Chertkov would write down in his notebook every word Lev Nikolayevich would say from now on.
Chertkov, of course, understood what the conversation was really about. Both in his diaries and in his letters Tolstoy did not hide that he had preserved in himself Orthodox “superstition,” and in his most intimate minutes of communication with God he turned to that “primitive expression” of his closeness with Him. Sofya Andreyevna, with her female intuition and inner experience, was able to perfectly comprehend the spiritual suffering of her husband and also to regard Chertkov’s thought processes as overly simplistic. “What for the mind is covered with darkness, for the heart is visible from afar,” a poet has said correctly. Would it really be possible for the words in a notebook to be an adequate expression of a human being’s world – a world, full of aspirations and efforts, full of life and rich in a variety of opinions and attitudes? Could a higher source, which the heart in its fulness recognizes, with its sensory and extra-sensory perceptions, be comprehended by cold rationality? The reformer from Yasnaya Polyana could not entirely free himself from “naive superstitions” and purge his former faith from his heart, just as he could not radically change the Christian way of thinking instilled in his soul by God-loving aunties with their patriarchal mode of existence.
“It may be that while I am dying, my hand will make the sign of the cross.... Even now, I sometimes cross myself. Often, when I sit down to work, with this gesture I invoke within myself a tender religious mood which is connected with the gesture since childhood,” Tolstoy wrote to one of his correspondents three years prior to his death. That far-from-unconscious childish gesture forced him to return to that “happy, irretrievable time” when the young Nikolenka secretly watched the prayer of “the great peasant Grisha.” Grisha was a holy fool who sometimes wandered about Tolstoy’s parent’s estate and even entered the mansion itself and “gave little icons to those he took a fancy to.” He recalled his first confession, when his young soul was filled with a feeling of blessed awe, and the times when, facing ancient icons, his childish lips murmured the words of prayer repeating them after his dear papa.
He grieved for the lost “paradise of childhood,” for that golden time, when everything was perceived as a miracle, when with naive directness, his soul responded to the call of God and glimpsed the eternity of God, which set him aflame. | 2019-04-22T19:25:53Z | https://incommunion.org/2011/02/20/tolstoy-and-the-sign-of-the-cross/ |
Lien Claimants attempted to collect on valid judgments they hold against Iran for their injuries arising out of terrorism sponsored by Iran. Lien Claimants seek to attach a $2.8 million judgment that the Ministry obtained in an underlying arbitration with an American company, Cubic. The district court granted Lien Claimants’ motion to attach the Cubic Judgment. The court held that the United States does not violate its obligations under the Algiers Accords by permitting Lien Claimants to attach the Cubic Judgment. The court also held that the Cubic Judgment is a blocked asset pursuant to President Obama’s 2012 Executive Order No. 13359 subject to attachment and execution under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), 28 U.S.C. 1610 note. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Attachment of Judgments. The panel affirmed the district court’s grant of lien claimants’ motion to attach a judgment that the Ministry of Defense of Iran obtained in an underlying arbitration with an American company. The lien claimants moved to attach the judgment, known as the “Cubic Judgment,” in order to collect on judgments they hold against the Islamic Republic of Iran for their injuries arising out of terrorism sponsored by Iran. The panel held that the Algiers Accords, by which the United States and Iran resolved the Iranian Hostage Crisis, did not prevent the lien claimants from attaching the Cubic Judgment. The panel also held that the Cubic Judgment was a blocked asset pursuant to President Obama’s 2012 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 3 Executive Order No. 13359, subject to attachment and execution under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.
FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE AND SUPPORT FOR THE ARMED FORCES OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN, as Successor in Interest to the Ministry of War of the Government of Iran, Petitioner-Appellant, v. No. 13-57182 D.C. No. 3:98-CV-01165B-DHB OPINION RENAY FRYM; STUART E. HERSH; ABRAHAM MENDELSON; DANIEL J. MILLER; FRANCE MOKHATEB RAFII; ELENA ROZENMAN; NOAM ROZENMAN; TZVI ROZENMAN; DEBORAH RUBIN; JENNY RUBIN, Claimants-Appellees, and CUBIC DEFENSE SYSTEMS, INC., as Successor in Interest to Cubic International Sales Corporation, Respondent. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Barry Ted Moskowitz, Chief District Judge, Presiding 2 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM Argued and Submitted February 2, 2016—Pasadena, California Filed February 26, 2016 Before: Dorothy W. Nelson, Consuelo M. Callahan, and N. Randy Smith, Circuit Judges. Opinion by Judge D.W. Nelson SUMMARY* Attachment of Judgments The panel affirmed the district court’s grant of lien claimants’ motion to attach a judgment that the Ministry of Defense of Iran obtained in an underlying arbitration with an American company. The lien claimants moved to attach the judgment, known as the “Cubic Judgment,” in order to collect on judgments they hold against the Islamic Republic of Iran for their injuries arising out of terrorism sponsored by Iran. The panel held that the Algiers Accords, by which the United States and Iran resolved the Iranian Hostage Crisis, did not prevent the lien claimants from attaching the Cubic Judgment. The panel also held that the Cubic Judgment was a blocked asset pursuant to President Obama’s 2012 * This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 3 Executive Order No. 13359, subject to attachment and execution under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. COUNSEL Steven W. Kerekes (argued), Pasadena, California, for Petitioner-Appellant. Jonathan R. Mook (argued), DimuroGinsberg, P.C., Alexandria, Virginia; Philip J. Hirschkop, Hirschkop & Associates, Lorton, Virginia, for Claimant-Appellee France M. Rafii. David J. Strachman (argued), McIntyre Tate LLP, Providence, Rhode Island, for Claimants-Appellees Jenny Rubin, Deborah Rubin, Daniel Miller, Abraham Mendelson, Stuart E. Hersh, Renay Frym, Noam Rozenman, Elena Rozenman, and Tzvi Rozenman. Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General; Laura E. Duffy, United States Attorney; Sharon Swingle and Benjamin M. Schultz (argued), Attorneys, Appellate Staff Civil Division, United States Department of Justice; Lisa. J. Grosh, Assistant Legal Advisor, Department of State; Bradley T. Smith, Chief Counsel, Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of the Treasury, Washington D.C, for Amicus Curiae United States. 4 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM OPINION D.W. NELSON, Senior Circuit Judge: This case involves an attempt by ten American citizens (hereinafter Lien Claimants) to collect on valid judgments they hold against the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran) for their injuries arising out of terrorism sponsored by Iran. The Lien Claimants seek to attach a $2.8 million judgment1 that the Ministry of Defense of Iran (the Ministry) obtained in an underlying arbitration with an American company, Cubic Defense Systems, Inc (Cubic). The district court granted Lien Claimants’ motion to attach the Cubic Judgment. The Ministry timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm.2 1 With accrued interest and the addition of attorneys’ fees, over $9.4 million is available. We refer to the underlying judgment as the “Cubic Judgment.” 2 The district court stayed disbursement of funds to Lien Claimants pending the outcome of the Ministry’s appeal. At oral argument, the Ministry requested that this Court maintain the stay of disbursement pending the Ministry’s petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court. We decline the Ministry’s request. The Ministry has not shown “both a probability of success on the merits and the possibility of irreparable injury,” or “that serious legal questions are raised and that the balance of hardships tips sharply in its favor.” Cf. Lopez v. Heckler, 713 F.2d 1432, 1435 (9th Cir. 1983). MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 5 I. Background Like all foreign states, Iran is protected by sovereign immunity. See Saudi Arabia v. Nelson, 507 U.S. 349, 355 (1993) (“A foreign state is presumptively immune from suit in United States’ courts.”). Absent an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1602–1611, a foreign state cannot be sued nor can its assets be attached to satisfy a judgment.3 Saudi Arabia, 507 U.S. at 355. One such exception is for claims arising out of state-sponsored terrorism. 28 U.S.C. § 1605A. The Lien Claimants hold judgments against Iran based on terrorist activity that Iran sponsored. Claimant France M. Rafii’s father, Dr. Shapoir Bakhtiar, was a former prime minister of Iran. In 1991, Iranian agents murdered Dr. Bakhtiar in his home in Paris, France, because of his political opposition to the Islamic regime. In 2001, Rafii sued Iran under the state-sponsored terrorism exception to the FSIA. Iran did not appear. The district court conducted a two-day bench trial and entered default judgment against Iran for $5 million in compensatory damages (after making the necessary factual, jurisdictional, and statutory findings). The Ministry does not dispute the validity of the judgment. 3 The Ministry of Defense is an inseparable part of the Republic of Iran, and it therefore qualifies as a “foreign state” within the meaning of the FSIA. Ministry of Def. & Support for Armed Forces of Islamic Republic of Iran v. Cubic Def. Sys., Inc., 495 F.3d 1024, 1034–36 (9th Cir. 2007), rev'd on other grounds sub nom. Ministry of Def. & Support for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi, 556 U.S. 366 (2009). 6 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM In 1997, Hamas detonated a suicide bomb at a pedestrian mall in Jerusalem, injuring many American citizens. The Rubin Claimants are a group of nine individuals who either were themselves injured in the bombing, or whose relatives were injured. In 2001, the Rubin Claimants sued Iran for its part in the bombing under the state-sponsored terrorism exception to the FSIA. Iran did not appear. The district court conducted a four-day evidentiary hearing and concluded that Iran provided terrorist training and other material assistance to the bombers. After evaluating all of the Rubin Claimants’ compensatory damages, based on each plaintiff’s injuries, the district court entered default judgment against Iran and ordered Iran to pay the damages ranging from $2.5 million to $15 million. The Ministry does not dispute the validity of the judgment. Despite these valid judgments against Iran, Lien Claimants initially lacked any means to collect because the state-sponsored terrorism exception to the FSIA created an anomaly. While the exception abrogated a foreign sovereign’s immunity from judgment, it left in place the foreign sovereign’s immunity from attachment of its assets. In 2002, Congress addressed this problem, enacting the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), Pub. L. No. 107–297, § 201, 116 Stat. 2322, 2337 (codified in relevant part at 28 U.S.C. § 1610 note). As originally enacted, section 201(a) provides: Notwithstanding any other provision of law . . . , in every case in which a person has obtained a judgment against a terrorist party on a claim based upon an act of terrorism, or for which a terrorist party is not immune MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 7 under [28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7) (2000)], the blocked assets of that terrorist party (including the blocked assets of any agency or instrumentality of that terrorist party) shall be subject to execution or attachment in aid of execution in order to satisfy such judgment to the extent any compensatory damages for which such terrorist party has been adjudged liable. “Blocked” assets include assets “seized or frozen by the United States” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701–1706. See TRIA § 201(d)(2). The TRIA therefore permits attachment when it might have otherwise been barred by the FSIA.4 In 1977, Cubic agreed to sell the Ministry an air combat maneuvering range system (ACMR) for $17 million. Additionally, under a separate service contract, Cubic agreed to maintain the ACMR for Iran. By October 1978, Iran had paid over $12 million of the purchase price and modest sums on the service contract. By February 1979, Cubic obtained export permits and was poised to transfer the equipment to Iran. 4 Congress amended the FSIA as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, Pub. L. No. 110–181, 122 Stat. 3 (2008). Specifically, Congress replaced the terrorism exception to sovereign immunity that had been codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(7) with a new terrorism exception codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1605A. The new exception provides an explicit private right of action for U.S. citizens injured by state sponsors of terrorism. In addition, Congress created a special attachment provision for plaintiffs holding a Section 1605A judgment against a foreign state. See 28 U.S.C. §1610(g). 8 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM But, by November 1979, the Iranian revolution had disrupted relations between Iran and the United States. The revolution permanently prevented full performance of the sales and maintenance contracts. Iran and Cubic eventually entered into a modified agreement, under which Cubic would attempt to sell the ACMR to another country. Depending on the result of Cubic’s attempt to resell the ACMR, either Iran would be entitled to partial reimbursement for payments it made to Cubic, or Cubic would be entitled to additional payment from Iran. In the Fall of 1982, Cubic sold the equipment to Canada but ignored Iran’s requests for an accounting. In 1991, pursuant to its contracts with Cubic, Iran initiated arbitration proceedings with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). In 1997, the ICC found that Iran and Cubic agreed to discontinue the acquisition and maintenance contracts in light of the revolution, and that they had reached a modified agreement permitting Cubic to sell the equipment to another country. The ICC held that Cubic owed Iran $2.8 million plus interest and costs. In 1998, the Ministry filed a petition to confirm the arbitration award. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California confirmed the award. It entered the Cubic Judgment in August 1999. After the final resolution of this dispute, Cubic deposited funds covering the Cubic Judgment with the Southern District of California. The Lien Claimants moved to attach the Cubic Judgment. The Ministry opposed Lien Claimants’ attempts, arguing: (1) that the Algiers Accords, by which the United States and Iran resolved the Iranian Hostage Crisis, required the United MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 9 States to protect the Cubic Judgment from attachment; and (2) that the Cubic Judgment was in any event not attachable under the TRIA or any other statute. The district court granted Lien Claimants’ motion to attach. It held that allowing attachment would not violate the United States’ obligations under the Algiers Accords because the United States committed only to restore Iran to its preNovember 1979 position. As of 1979, the district court explained, Iran did not have an interest in the confirmed arbitration award. The district court further held that the Cubic Judgment was a “blocked asset” within the meaning of the TRIA. The court reasoned that the Cubic Judgment was blocked pursuant to President Obama’s 2012 Executive Order No. 13359, as well as pursuant to President Bush’s 2005 Executive Order No. 13382. It therefore found that the Cubic Judgment was subject to attachment under the TRIA. In the alternative, the district court held that the Rubin Claimants could attach the Cubic Judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 1610(g), the special attachment provision of the FSIA for creditors holding a Section 1605A terrorism-related judgment against a foreign state. II. Standard of Review We review the district court’s interpretation of treaties, statutes, regulations, and executive orders de novo. See Motorola, Inc. v. Fed. Express Corp., 308 F.3d 995, 999, n.5 (9th Cir. 2002) (treaties); City of Los Angeles v. United States Dep’t of Commerce, 307 F.3d 859, 868 (9th Cir. 2002) (statutes); United States v. Willfong, 274 F.3d 1297, 1300 (9th 10 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM Cir. 2001) (regulations); United States v. Washington, 969 F.2d 752, 754–55 (9th Cir. 1992) (executive orders). III. Discussion We hold that the United States does not violate its obligations under the Algiers Accords by permitting Lien Claimants to attach the Cubic Judgment. We also hold that the Cubic Judgment is a blocked asset pursuant to President Obama’s 2012 Executive Order No. 13359 subject to attachment and execution under the TRIA. Because it is not necessary to our decision, we do not address whether the Cubic Judgment is also a blocked asset pursuant to President Bush’s 2005 Executive Order No. 13382. Similarly, we decline to address the district court’s alternative holding that the Rubin Claimants can attach the Cubic Judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 1610(g). 1. Permitting Lien Claimants to attach the Cubic Judgment does not violate the United States’ obligations under the Algiers Accords. The Algiers Accords do not prevent Lien Claimants from attaching the Cubic Judgment because the Ministry’s interest in the Cubic Judgment did not arise until after November 14, 1979. As the Supreme Court specifically held in Ministry of Defense & Support for the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi, the appropriate property interest to consider is Iran’s interest in the Cubic Judgment, which did not arise until 1998. 556 U.S. 366, 376–77 (2009). In November 1979, Iran took hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran. Invoking the International Emergency MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 11 Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), President Carter responded by issuing Executive Order 12170, which “blocked all property and interests in property of the Government of Iran.” Exec. Order 12170, 44 Fed. Reg. 65729 (Nov. 14, 1979).5 The Department of Treasury promulgated the Iranian Assets Control Regulations to execute President Carter’s Executive Order. 31 C.F.R. pt. 535, 44 Fed. Reg. 65279–01 (Nov. 15, 1979). The Regulations provide that “[n]o property subject to the jurisdiction of the United States or which is in the possession or control of persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States in which on or after the effective date Iran has any interest of any nature whatsoever may be transferred, paid, exported, or withdrawn or otherwise dealt in except as authorized.” 31 C.F.R. § 535.201 (2013). The freeze took effect on November 14, 1979. On January 19, 1981, the United States and Iran settled the hostage crisis and entered into the Algiers Accords. The United States agreed to “restore the financial position of Iran, in so far as possible, to that which existed prior to November 14, 1979.” The purpose of the Algiers Accords was to return Iran to the position it was in before President Carter froze Iran’s assets in response to the taking of hostages at the American Embassy. In essence, the Ministry argues that based on a number of factors—most importantly, $12 million in payments Iran made to Cubic on the $17 million sales contract—Iran had a 5 Under the IEEPA, the President can impose economic sanctions to respond to “unusual and extraordinary” international threats. 50 U.S.C. §§ 1701, 1702(a). These sanctions are administered by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). 12 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM property interest in the ACMR before November 14, 1979. Therefore, according to the Ministry, for the United States to honor its commitments under the Algiers Accords, it must protect the Cubic Judgment from attachment. But, under the Supreme Court’s decision in Elahi, when Iran gained a property interest in the ACMR is irrelevant to our inquiry. Elahi involved an attempt by a different lien claimant to attach the Cubic Judgment under the TRIA.6 The Supreme Court rejected this Court’s determination that the ACMR was the relevant asset at issue. In so holding, the Court explained that the lien claimants in that case did not seek to attach the ACMR, but instead tried to attach the “judgment enforcing [the] arbitration award based upon Cubic’s failure to account to Iran for Iran’s share of the proceeds of that system’s sale.” Elahi, 556 U.S. at 376. The Court explained that Iran’s interest in the Cubic Judgment did not arise until 1998, when the district court confirmed the arbitration award. Id. Further, the Supreme Court explained, even Iran’s property interest underlying the Cubic Judgment—the proceeds from the sale to Canada—did not arise until October 1982 at the earliest. Only after Cubic sold the equipment could it “reasonably, comprehensively, and precisely account” for the result of its resale attempts. Id. at 376–77 (internal quotations omitted). 6 We note that, before the Supreme Court in Elahi, the Ministry made a contrary argument to the one it makes here. There, the Ministry asserted that Iran’s interest in the Cubic Judgment could not be “backdated” to 1981. MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 13 Under Elahi, Iran did not have an interest in the Cubic Judgment or in the property underlying the judgment until well after the Algiers Accords were consummated. Permitting Lien Claimants to attach the Cubic Judgment would therefore not cause the United States to run afoul of its obligations under the Algiers Accords.7 2. The Cubic Judgment is a blocked asset subject to attachment and execution under the TRIA. The Cubic Judgment is a “blocked asset” pursuant to President Obama’s 2012 Executive Order No. 13539. It is therefore subject to attachment and execution pursuant to the TRIA. In 2012, President Obama invoked the IEEPA to block “[a]ll property and interests in property of the Government of Iran . . . that are in the United States.”8 Exec. Order No. 13359, 77 Fed. Reg. 6659, 6659 (Feb. 5, 2012). However, 7 The United States agrees with this conclusion. In its amicus brief, the United States contends that its “longstanding position . . . is that the [Algiers Accords] simply required the United States to return, as directed by Iran, specified Iranian properties that were in existence and subject to jurisdiction as of January 19, 1981 (the date of the Accords). The United States has no transfer obligation with respect to property that Iran acquired after the date of the Accords.” Brief of the United States as Amicus Curiae at 18–19. The government’s interpretation of its own agreement is entitled to “great weight.” Sumitomo Shoji Am., Inc. v. Avagliano, 457 U.S. 176, 184–85 & n.10 (1982). 8 This Court has already found that the Ministry is “an inherent part of the state of Iran.” Ministry of Defense, 495 F.3d at 1036, rev’d on other grounds by Elahi, 556 U.S. 366 (2009). Therefore, the Ministry’s ownership of the Cubic Judgment—rather than Iran’s—does not foreclose the application of President Obama’s blocking order. 14 MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM President Obama’s blocking order exempted Iranian property and interests in property that had been blocked in 1979, and that were then unblocked in 1981. 77 Fed. Reg. at 6660. The Ministry argues that Iran held a property interest in the ACMR that was blocked in 1979 then unblocked in 1981. The Ministry therefore contends that the Cubic Judgment falls within the exemption to President Obama’s 2012 Executive Order. We reject this argument, which just like the Ministry’s argument that the Algiers Accords prevent attachment, relies on misidentifying the asset actually at issue in this case. Under Elahi, the key asset is the one the Lien Claimants seek to attach: the Cubic Judgment, not the ACMR as the Ministry now argues. And the Cubic Judgment does not fall within the exemption to President Obama’s blocking order. Iran did not gain a property interest in the Cubic Judgment until 1998, when the district court confirmed the underlying arbitration award. Elahi, 556 U.S. at 376. Accordingly, Iran’s property interest in the Cubic Judgment existed neither in 1979, when Iran’s assets were blocked, nor in 1981 when those assets were unblocked. Whether and when Iran gained MINISTRY OF DEFENSE V. FRYM 15 a property interest in the ACMR is simply not relevant to this case.9 AFFIRMED. 9 The Ministry’s contention that 31 C.F.R. § 535.540(f) governed the proceeds of Cubic’s sale to Canada is irrelevant for the same reason. The relevant asset is not the proceeds of the sale, but rather the judgment confirming the arbitral award. Elahi, 556 U.S. at 376. Even if it were relevant, the district court correctly found that Section 535.540(f) would not apply. The regulation only requires sale proceeds to be transferred to Iran when the sale of otherwise blocked property is made pursuant to a specific type of OFAC license. The ACMR was not blocked after January 1981, and there is no evidence that Cubic’s sale of the ACMR involved any such license. | 2019-04-20T13:04:02Z | https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/13-57182/13-57182-2016-02-26.html |
September has come & gone, & I’ve been pretty busy. Between scheduling visits to see my doctor about the health & maintenance of my lady parts, & family events, & anniversaries (of sorts), it’s been a pretty hectic time for me. I’ve been inwardly thinking a lot latey, & there have been a few key things that have been circling around in my scattered brain.
First things first, this past month officially marked the 5-year anniversary of my father’s death. I rarely discuss this topic to anyone, ever. Ocassionally I’ll talk to Jian, but I mostly keep this topic to myself. This is an extremely sensitive subject within my immediate family, & I have an even more extremely difficult time trying to talk about this topic with any of my family members. I really have to walk on eggshells around my family if I even mention my dad in passing. I wish I was exaggerating on this, but unfortunately I’m not.
This is an especially difficult subject to talk about around my mom because this will just re-open an old can of doubt she carries around with her in her expensive hand bag at all times. It’s hard to pull her out of her cycle of self-doubt once she gets on the Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda train. I also never talk about this subject with my siblings. We just don’t express our feelings to each other. That’s not what we were taught growing up, to communicate & express our feelings between each other.
I’ve tried talking about my dad to my oldest brother, in which we share this biological father together, but he flat out doesn’t respond whenever I mention “dad”. My other two siblings, on the other hand, are too busy squabbling amongst themselves over their extremely strained & estranged relationship with their own biological father. All of them, due to our glaringly large age gaps, I assume, treat me from childhood up until today like I am just the little baby sister of the group. To them, I’m the spoiled, sheltered, coddled baby of the family. So, I’ve learned to stay quiet & shrink into the background.
On the day of the anniversary of my dad’s death, I thought about him long & hard. However, I mostly thought about how I never got to properly grieve over his death. I never got to mourn his passing. From the time my dad was taken to the hospital up until his death, I did what I always do best. I nurtured & cared for others. More than myself, I took care of everyone else. So, while all of our friends & family poured in to see my dad, hold his hand, shed a tear, say goodbye, I was busy making phone calls & comforting those who were agonizing & weeping over the phone. I wanted to break down & cry my eyes out until they hurt, but I held it all in. I wanted to scream & shout & stomp my feet & pound my fists, but I didn’t want to freak my mom out any more than she already was. Because I didn’t want to see my (at that time) fragile mother completely lose it, I held my composure so that I could be her realiable shoulder to lean on. When everyone around me was crying, I kept a stiff upper lip. I’ve now built this hard shell around the topic of my father. I keep everything to myself. I only let my emotions & feelings slip out when I am completely & utterly alone. No one ever asked me how I felt when my dad was dying. Nobody asks me, even now, how I’m coping (or feeling). I’ve grown accustomed to it.
On another topic, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I will never see eye-to-eye with my sister. We never did when we were growing up together, we don’t now, & I don’t think we ever will in the future. For a brief period of time, I thought my sister & were growing closer as siblings once she started having children. My sister relied on me to help her with the little things like running to the grocery store, or babysitting the toddler kids for a few hours.
Then, when my sister went through the process of her divorce, she grew to become a very difficult person to get close to. She became increasingly controlling in all aspects of her life to the point of overbearingness. It also became difficult to have a conversation with her, even on neutral subjects, for she would get argumentative very quickly.
I always give my sister the benefit of the doubt; I cut her plenty of slack; I give her countless breaks because I know she is struggling & doing her best to be a good hard-working single parent. My sister is struggling to raise her two amazing children, all while juggling a difficult job environment, an overbearing cuss of a boss, & a resistant ex-husband who allegedgly refuses to properly co-parent their children together. While I try to make my sister’s life a little easier by offering to help her in any way I can, she ends up taking advantage of my assistance, & she often tells me that my help is actually not helping her at all. I know my sister has past unresolved issues, extreme insecurities, & a lot of resentment due to her parents divorce (a.k.a. our mom & her biological father) when she was a child, but because she hasn’t dealt with these issues, she unwittingly takes out her resentments on the people around her.
I know she doesn’t mean to project her insecurities & issues on others (myself included), but I can’t help but think to myself sometimes that I should be taken out of her “line of fire” because all of this divorce stuff happened way before I was even born. Why should she take out her resentments & issues out on me, when I wasn’t even born? On top of that, I have no connection to her father whatsoever. I’ve barely met him a handful of times throughout my entire life, & we’ve never spoken more than 1 or 2 sentences to each other at best. I don’t hold anything against my sister. I know these are her own demons to slay, but I can’t help but think that she’s not making things any better by snapping at other innocent people.
The third item I want to talk about is coming from a completely different direction. I want to talk about the dreams I’ve been having lately. I wish I could remember the dreams I’ve been having lately. They’ve been extremely vivid & detailed. For the past several days, I’ve fallen into a terrible sleeping pattern. I’ll try to go to bed at a more reasonable hour than I have been in the past. I really am trying to change my sleeping habits. However, for the past several days I’ve been waking up feeling extremely groggy, exhausted, & like my mind has been on overdrive all night long.
Some mornings I’ll even wake up with a sore back, noticing that I was in such a deep sleep the night before that I didn’t even move or change positions while I was sleeping. My body was frozen into one position all night. I will wake up feeling like I’d only taken a nap & had not really had a full night’s sleep. I can sometimes recall bits & pieces of my dreams in the morning, but mostly all I can remember is that in my dreams there were a lot of action scenes & lots of talking. There was one morning when I woke up & I could remember that I had intense thoughts in my dream, like I knew what my dream-state character was thinking in the dream. I could remember whether I was running or walking in my dream. I could vaguely remember talking to other people in my dream. I remember one scene perfectly, where I was trying to climb a set of stairs in the backyard of my house, & the stairs were crumbling beneath me. I could practically feel the soft wood when I tried to grab the gate door with my hands. That’s how intense & vivd my dreams were.
My dreams lately have been so action-packed, as in I move around a lot in my dreams, & I’m often moving from place to place in my dreams. I also do a lot of thinking & talking in my dreams. There was one day where I woke up from a particularly intense dream. Well, I mostly woke up because my bladder was screaming at me to go relieve myself in the bathroom. However, after that, I fell back to sleep & had yet another vivid dream. That caused me to feel very disoriented when I finally woke up for the day. These past couple of days of dreaming have really messed up my sleeping patterns, & has kind of done a number on my body. Last week, my sleeping pattern was so out of whack that I ended up getting sick. I caught a fever & the chills, but luckily those symptoms only lasted 24 hours. I was back on my feet again by the time the weekend came around. Now, I can assure you that my sleeping patterns have returned to normal. I stopped having such vivid & detailed dreams, & I’m now waking up feeling more refreshed than groggy.
On one final note, I’m excited to tell you all that in two weeks from now, I’ll be in Taipei, Taiwain!! Yes, I’m going on another trip again, but I can promise you that this trip is not for my personal pleasure. This time I’m escorting & chaperoning my mother & her sister, who haven’t been back to the city where they grew up for more than 35 years. I can understand that these two (senior) sisters are reluctant to travel by themselves, so when my mom causally invited Jian & myself to travel with them, we eagerly said yes. Jian loves Taiwain, & I love to travel with my mom & aunt. Also, I like to take care of my mom, & I want to chaperone her so that she will feel safe & comfortable knowing she has someone with her who can help her & keep her company (besides the company of her loving sister).
My mom is feeling both excited & anxious going back to the city where she grew up after too many years of being away. She’s had countless invitations by her friends & many opportunities to go back to Taipei, but she always declined & found an excuse not to go. This time she put her foot down & decided to go back, or else she might miss her opportunity when she gets older & is no longer able to take long flights. I am so excited to be there with my mom as she relives a little bit of her childhood memories. I feel kind of disappointed that my other siblings (the ones that share the same biological mother with me) don’t do these kinds of things for my mom or with my mom. I understand a little that they each have their own obligations in their lives (like difficult work schedules & raising children), in which they can’t just pack a bag & fly off to wherever, but a part of me feels like they’re missing out on important milestones & memorable experiences with our mother that could bring them closer together.
I am so grateful, appreciative, happy, lucky & fortunate to have opportunities like this, especially ones where I can just drop everything, pack my bags & go without a care in the world. I make sure that I take care of my own personal obligations & tasks first, so that I can enjoy these special moments with my family & friends. I can’t wait to showcase my trip to Taipei. I am not going to promise a travel blog this time. I’m really bad at sticking to those, but I’m going to at least try to upload photos whenever I can. Until then, 干杯 (dry cup), everyone! | 2019-04-26T10:03:50Z | https://melsenpai.com/tag/blog/page/2/ |
A new report explores the factors contributing to suboptimal direct spend management, and what to actually do about them. It provides a starting point for enterprises to begin changing their approach to direct spend management — helping them realize the untapped potential in direct procurement by leveraging external expertise and adopting the latest technology.
This new white paper — Change Management in Procurement: Doing It Right in the Digital Era — addresses the biggest challenges facing change management efforts, and also guides procurement leaders to more effectively manage change as a component of digital transformation.
The annual GEP Outlook for Procurement and Supply Chain Management is an indispensable report reflecting views of the industry’s best thought leaders and category experts — equipping you with procurement strategies and other essential tools to prepare you for a successful year ahead. It’s known as one of the most anticipated, most comprehensive and most useful annual trend reports available.
This definitive white paper covers the essentials of AI and showcases the game-changing applications that will be most relevant in procurement and the supply chain.
This new eGuide, Procurement’s Five Steps for Achieving True Digital Workplace Benefits, explains how a digital workplace can get procurement teams to the next level in performance and productivity by eliminating complexity, enabling collaboration, and better utilizing data.
Does your team have a plan for dealing with the new tariffs? This timely paper from GEP, The Trade War: Procurement’s Winning Strategies for Contending With Tariffs, explores the main issues that business leaders must consider to minimize the impact of the trade war.
Enterprises rely upon thousands of suppliers to keep their operation running and to bring products and services to market. But each supplier relationship represents a potential point of weakness that can bring disruption, reputational damage or unexpected loss to the company. This paper from GEP’s INSIGHT IT series presents three crucial technology-related considerations for early identification and management of risks presented by vendors and suppliers.
For procurement, which actively engages with multiple third-party supply partners and contractors, the threat of fraudulent activity emanates as much from within the enterprise as from outside it. So how can procurement be proactive in detecting and preventing enterprise fraud and corruption? A new paper from GEP discusses specific scenarios that lead to risk exposure, and the steps to take to mitigate those risks.
This paper will be helpful to procurement teams that want to forge effective partnerships with IT to green-light digital procurement transformation. IT executives need procurement’s expert guidance to understand what’s really at stake when they make decisions about procurement technology. This knowledge will enable IT and procurement to support each other in identifying the right platform to deliver the greatest benefit to the business.
Automating and streamlining complex processes can better position CPOs to function as strategic thinkers and trusted advisors to the C-suite. This new white paper, The Strategic CPO: Redefining Leadership Priorities in the Transformed Procurement Organization, advises CPOs on how they can free themselves to focus on three critical priorities: managing risk, creating value, and being agile enough to respond to threats and opportunities.
Two years after the Brexit vote, the terms of the deal with the EU are still undefined, but procurement and supply chains will surely feel major impacts. In this timely paper, GEP’s experts highlight key implications of Brexit for global enterprises and share five proactive steps for minimizing risks, optimizing costs, and preparing for the new geopolitical reality.
Profound technology innovations are redefining the boundaries and expectations for procurement. We see it every day in the growing use of digital technologies to generate revenue, improve partnerships, and replace/evolve processes. Now, more than ever, purchasing and procurement are essential to helping companies refine their competitive edge and to thrive in this new digital age.
In this paper, we seek to clear up confusion and misconceptions with a careful, no-nonsense examination of what blockchain is and isn’t, what it does and doesn’t do, where it is actually being applied today, and what it may offer - in the short and long term - to procurement and supply chain teams.
"A Four-Step Formula for Better IT-Procurement Collaboration," lays out four proven strategies that will take the CIO and CPO a long way toward achieving the results and value both teams are aiming for.
This paper is the final part of a 3-part series on digital procurement transformation.
This new report, Intelligent Procurement: How Artificial Intelligence Can Expand Value, looks at the AI opportunity and presents several use cases for intelligent procurement solutions that can help procurement teams make smarter decisions and deliver extended value.
For the sixth consecutive year, GEP has compiled its latest market insights, observations and predictions into its annual Procurement Outlook Report.
The Future of Procurement in the Digital Age looks at the shifting value proposition and the next-generation value creation levers that will change procurement’s model from arbitrage-first to digital-first.
The massive technological advance known as the Internet of Things (IoT) is permanently changing the relationship between people and machines and creating new opportunities for businesses. But what exactly is IoT? And what are the benefits for procurement and supply chain? This concise, engaging guide lays it all out.
Digital technology gives CPOs - and procurement functions - the chance to start afresh. Status quos are often unsatisfactory, with processes and technologies representing an imperfect compromise between past investment, present practice and future needs.
Emerging markets hold enormous potential for global enterprises looking to launch capital projects. But without a holistic understanding of the critical factors that can make or break projects in emerging markets, your prospects for success are seriously compromised. This white paper contains practical suggestions for effective project execution, including the importance of understanding geographical nuances that can impact successful collaboration with local stakeholders.
CFO Magazine and GEP have published a new eBook that takes a fresh look at the relationship between finance and procurement and the benefits of having these functions properly synched. Specifically, this paper will expand your understanding of just how an effective finance-procurement collaboration can lift EBITDA, the key indicator of a company’s health and competitiveness.
While regional or local strategic sourcing programs help to realize savings and reduce costs, the stakes for procurement have gotten much higher. To really push the boundaries of what’s possible and deliver strategic value in global enterprises, you need a more focused and effective approach — category management. A new white paper from GEP and the Hackett Group discusses how a category management strategy can optimize value, minimize risk and catalyze innovation.
In a new white paper, experts from GEP advise on identifying and capturing value beyond hard-dollar savings. They also share tips to help you effectively communicate the enterprise-wide impact of your procurement team.
Increasing competition, disruptive innovation, and rapid changes in market dynamics - businesses today face volatility and uncertainty like never before. Add to that the pressures of succeeding in a digital-first economy and things get tricky.
Dedicated vs Shared Resources: Which Procurement Outsourcing Model Is Right for You?
Outsourcing procurement operations is a lot more than just finding the right partner.
Data security is one of the biggest challenges for enterprises today, across industries and geographies.
“Cloud computing” and “security” often find mention in the same sentence and these feature on top of the priority list of today’s CIOs.
For many enterprises, the number one procurement performance metric is still cost savings. And without a doubt, it will remain key.
Brexit is done. What now? How will it impact your sourcing and procurement? What about supply chain?
Procurement Lessons from a CPG Legend.
No matter the vertical, procurement leaders share a lot of similar concerns and challenges.
The GEP Procurement Outlook Report 2016 features global economic and business supertrends that will impact the procurement function in 2016 and beyond.
The Next Frontier in Procurement Transformation.
10 Things Every Procurement Leader Needs to Know.
Few people know more about procurement than Rick Hughes. An industry heavyweight who has witnessed first-hand the impact of globalization on enterprise procurement organizations, the shift toward outsourcing, and the evolution of the procurement function over the last three decades — Rick has been there, done that.
We all agree - strategic sourcing can bring impressive bottom-line benefits to the enterprise. But why are some procurement organizations able to realize long-term, sustainable results, while others see them leak away? Compliance. In a new white paper, Ending Gain Drain: Strategic Sourcing Programs & Compliance, GEP explains why many enterprises fail to achieve the desired outcomes from their strategic sourcing initiatives and how compliance can help them achieve sustainable results.
In a new white paper, IT Services Sourcing in Continental Europe: Changing Preferences and New Directions, GEP’s category experts discuss the shift in the regional IT services supplier landscape and its impact on IT services outsourcing. The paper also talks about the emergence of India as the new IT services outsourcing destination for European companies.
In a new insightful paper, Promote This: How Procurement Can Deliver Big Savings and Better ROI on Branded Promotional Merchandise, GEP’s experts break down the inner workings of the promotional merchandise industry and the unique dynamics that drive the pricing in this category. The paper also offers practical tips and advice to optimize your spend and get the most value from your branded merchandise suppliers.
Next-Gen Spend: Accelerating Procurement Performance with Data-Driven Strategies.
In Next-Gen Spend: Accelerating Procurement Performance with Data-Driven Strategies, industry wiseman Andrew Bartolini of Ardent Partners demonstrates how procurement organizations can leverage next-gen spend analysis tools to drive insight-driven decision making for the enterprise. Bartolini also details how advanced spend analytics tools can help produce strategic intelligence for sourcing and supply risk management.
Procure-to-Pay (P2P) technology can, no doubt, drive some truly significant gains in productivity. But if procurement and finance are not on the same page, your P2P solution can do more harm than good. In a new white paper, Perfect Alignment: How Procurement and Finance Can Work Together to Achieve P2P Excellence, GEP shows you how enterprises can execute P2P initiatives that boost collaboration between procurement and finance teams, delivering far higher productivity gains across the board.
The devil is in the details. More so, in an agency contract. Many enterprises fail to identify the hidden costs in agency compensation and end up paying more than the fair value to their agencies. In a new white paper, Agency Compensation: Identifying, Measuring and Mitigating Hidden Costs, GEP explains how enterprises can uncover and manage hidden costs in agency remuneration, and optimize their marketing spend.
In a new white paper, Track & Trace in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Serialization Strategies and a Roadmap for Procurement, GEP discusses what pharmaceutical companies need to know about T&T, and how procurement can drive and support its adoption. The paper also recommends a six-step process that procurement organizations can follow to ensure a smooth and effective rollout.
Epic Fail: 5 Proven Ways to Botch Your Supplier Relationship Management Program.
More than half of leading global enterprises do not have an effective supplier relationship management (SRM) program in place, studies say. Why do so many otherwise successful organizations founder on SRM? And how can your team avoid the same fate? In a new white paper, Epic Fail: 5 Proven Ways to Botch Your Supplier Relationship Management Program, GEP alerts you to the five key reasons why many enterprise SRM initiatives fizzle out or fade into ignominy.
New year, new goals, new challenges. What should procurement leaders be focusing on in 2015? What should be on their agenda? In a timely new report, Sourcing and Procurement Outlook 2015, GEP shares key global economic and business trends that will shape and drive procurement strategies in 2015 and beyond.
In this whitepaper, we outline a step-by-step ’Make-or-Buy’ process - right from identifying opportunities to implementing them successfully - to help procurement organizations inform and enhance enterprise strategy.
Finding Greener Pastures: A Strategic Approach to Sourcing Suppliers in Emerging Markets.
High-growth, emerging markets promise big savings. How do you capture that value without spiking your risk? In “Finding Greener Pastures: A Strategic Approach to Sourcing Suppliers in Emerging Marketsâ€, GEP outlines five essential steps for success in these high yield, but sometimes volatile markets. A must-read for any procurement professional looking to understand and succeed in any emerging market.
GEP is a leading global provider of procurement services, procurement software and end-to-end procurement outsourcing, focused exclusively on sourcing and procurement. Today GEP helps enterprise procurement teams at more than 200 Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies maximize their impact on business operations, strategy and financial performance.
With the broadest procurement solutions mix available anywhere, we serve a wide range of industries, including consumer packaged goods and services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, heathcare and life sciences, information technology and telecom, financial services, professional and business services, energy and utilities, travel and hospitality, government and non-profit organizations. With more than 10 offices and operation centers in Europe, Asia and the Americas, GEP brings together local, regional and global market expertise in a talent-rich team of more 1000 professionals.
GEP procurement services include spend analysis, strategic sourcing, category management, procurement transformation, procurement outsourcing, tail-spend management, transactions management, procurement operations, source-to-contract and sourcing support services as well as end-to-end procurement outsourcing. GEP also offer procurement advisory and consulting services, such as opportunity identification, procurement strategy, organizational design and low-cost country sourcing.
We have extensive expertise in direct and indirect categories, including MRO/CAPEX, logistics, energy, IT & telecom, packaging, marketing, business & professional services, commodities and a wide range of direct materials, including plastics, metals, electronic components, manufacturing equipment and food ingredients.
SMART by GEP – innovative procurement software native to cloud, touch and mobile technologies – is a comprehensive Source-to-Pay (S2P) eProcurement platform, delivering spend analysis, sourcing, contract management, supplier performance management and procure-to-pay (P2P) functionality a unified digital workspace, native to mobile, touch and cloud technologies. Easy to use and deploy on any backend ERP or F&A system, GEP software requires no extensive training.
Results-driven GEP has earned a worldwide reputation for flexibility, effectiveness and a passionately client-centered culture. Because at GEP, we measure our success the same way you do – by the actual savings you realize and sustain over time. | 2019-04-25T00:52:52Z | https://www.procurementleaders.com/partner/gep |
Everyone thinks Florida is a place where people go to retire. That image is about to change forever. A company named Magic Leap, located in Plantation, FL, just announced that its new mixed reality headset is ready for public consumption. The company promises that they have reinvented the way people will interact with computers and reality.
Magic Leap says it will take augmented reality to a whole new level. Wikipedia explains augmented reality as a “live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are ‘augmented’ by computer-generated real-world sensory input such as sound, video, and graphics.” Watch the above video or click on the link below to see augmented reality in action.
Magic Leap gained notoriety in the tech industry because it managed to raise over $1.9 billion from investors such as Google and Alibaba. This was particular remarkable considering very few people in the industry ever saw the product as it was being developed.
Southern Florida will never be the same. With a little effort, it will become the next Silicon Valley.
Here’s another chance to see Magic Leap in action.
If you don’t have a lot of time this holiday to decorate, this is an easy solution. Approximately $99.95.
If you want to get into the holiday spirit without the traditional tree, this is what is being featured on Instagram–your very own festive pineapple.
Once again, my girlfriend Barbara O’Connell, gave me some old photos to share.
One of the reasons why I don’t lose weight is because I constantly weigh myself. Some people weigh themselves once a week, I weigh myself a few times in a 24-hour period. If I lose a pound during the day, I eat more at dinner thinking I can afford the extra calories.
I know it makes no sense. I am probably better off not knowing my weight and worrying so much about it. At least I wouldn’t be eating all the time. A few days ago, I heard about a scale that doesn’t tell you how much you weigh. The scale, called Shapa, records your weight but doesn’t give you the number.
The philosophy behind no numbers is that this type of scale encourages you to lose weight. Instead of numbers, you get a color. Blue and green mean you’re losing weight, gray means you need to cut back your food intake.
Shapa works with an app. Every time you step on the scale, the app records your weight. The app also tells you when to step on the scale, and gives you goals. The artificial intelligence (AI) gives you smart tips, “Eat something green with every meal,” or “Eat dinner earlier.” AI customizes everything for you once the scale gets to know you better.
Let’s hope this scale works.
Shapa is about $100, with an $8.00 subscription plan.
Sorry, I refuse to take anyone who passed on off my email list. I just have to keep them on. If they stay on, then I feel they are not really gone. I also feel my email list keeps them important. Taking them off would be a betrayal. It’s one of the few places in the world where they will constantly be remembered.
Some of the deceased have been on my list for 20 plus years. Unfortunately, a few recently got added. This is the time of year where I see their names a lot because I am emailing Chanukah and Christmas cards. I have to be very careful not to send them a card. I worry each year that I accidentally did. I cringe that someone in their family will receive my card and think I am nuts. Anything is possible.
It takes me better than 10 hours to email out all the names I have marked. The beauty of email is that I can pick thousands of names. I usually do. It’s the time of year that I want to reach to everyone I ever had a conversation with. This year we came up with a unique card. It’s Eliot’s creation. The reviews so far have been positively wonderful.
Before we get started on today’s topic, I wanted to show PBS fans what a Viking ocean cruise liner looks like. Viking is a major sponsor of Masterpiece on PBS. Many of us have either seen Viking’s river cruise boats in their TV or print ads, or have taken a trip on one. Now I get to show you one of their bigger ships as it passed underneath my Miami condo window last night. I quickly grabbed my smartphone, and took a video for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!
I couldn’t stop staring at a headline from NBC News the other day. It said, “What is headline stress disorder and do you have it?” I couldn’t believe those words. I was who that headline was talking about. I am obsessed with the news. I keep checking my iPhone several times an hour looking for the next astonishing situation that is happening in the United States.
It could be #metoo, North Korea, fires, Russia, fake news, Net Neutrality, Roy Moore, or ISIS. Should I go on? Nah, you get my drift. There is so much to keep up with. Most of my friends are addicted too, checking their smartphones around the clock for news alerts. The digital world has trained us to expect new news all the time.
NBC is worried that many of us are getting more and more out-of-control. The TV network claims we are creating a very upsetting environment for ourselves. Therefore, they have asked the therapists to help cure us.
This is their cure. I am willing to try a few, but not all. For deeper explanations, click here.
If you are an obsessed news junkies like me, make sure you read the entire NBC story.
It was bound to happen. People prefer to take Uber to the hospital, rather than an ambulance. A recent study by the University of Kansas and Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego found that ambulance usage in 766 cities around the United States is declining. The study claims there can only be one reason for that, Uber.
It makes total sense to me. If I needed to get to the hospital, I would immediately call Uber or Lyft. I am not talking about being unconscious or bleeding to death. If I wasn’t feeling well, I would rather call a ride sharing service where I could monitor the pickup time, as opposed to an ambulance that may not be in the vicinity. I want to get to the hospital in the most expeditious way.
The big bonus, in opting for the likes of an Uber or Lyft, is that you can choose exactly when you want to go to the hospital, and which hospital you want to go to. If you call an ambulance, you are at the mercy of the paramedics.
Again, this all makes perfect sense to me. However, we have to remember that Ubers and Lyfts do not come with medical professionals. That could be a matter of life and death.
Mashable covered this story as well.
The Carnival Vista arriving in the Port of Miami today in the early morning hours.
One of the many advantages of living in Miami is that you hear a lot about the cruise industry. You always meet someone who works for one of the cruise lines, or the “Miami Herald” has a news story about some development.
The other day there was a story in the Herald about the technological advancements in cruising. I wanted to write about it because so many DigiDame readers cruise all over the world. The changes that will be incorporated over the next five years will be astonishing.
One big attraction for guests is that new “smart” technology will help eliminate long lines and waiting time. This will be accomplished by facial recognition and geo-location. Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and MSC Cruises are leading the way.
Other advances are using your smart phones for hotel keys, wearable, customized mini discs that will track your whereabouts for personalized service, interactive screens in staterooms, and RFID tags on luggage to track delivery times to cabins.
For more good news read the Miami Herald.
2. If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.
Thank you Barbara O’Connell for these quotes. They make a great blog post. We were out late and I want to go to sleep. Good night.
When I saw these slides on Facebook, I knew I had to share them with you. Thank you, the Today Show, for recognizing these great, senior women.
A good friend, Gary Arlen, a Washington DC tech writer, took the time to add information about Net Neutrality. Thank you Gary. you are always the educator.
Thank you Alabama, thank you, thank you, thank you !!!!!
Now for the next issue…….
I’m not sure if you totally understand, but this Thursday the FCC may decide to repeal the Obama net neutrality protection.
It means that the Internet could get very difficult for you to use.
I am rather shocked that many of us have not spoken about this before. The Trump Administration doesn’t want the Internet to be equal for all of us. Net neutrality means that all content on the Internet is the same for everyone. The current administration may want to play favorites.
Obama made sure that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) couldn’t block or slow down content for any of us. Now all kinds of manipulations may take place.
Please google net neutrality to get more information about this situation. Give us your opinion.
You can write to your Senator or State Rep. | 2019-04-25T05:55:57Z | https://digidame.wordpress.com/2017/12/page/2/ |
The 2007 McDonald's All America Game has came and gone, with the West team taking home a narrow 114-112 victory. O.J. Mayo disappointed, Michael Beasley flourished, and Gani Lawal surprised many.
Included are detailed breakdowns of the games top performers, as well as an interview with Syracuse recruit Donte Greene.
The MVP of this game, and rightfully so considering the way he dominated in the 20 minutes he played, Michael Beasley did a marvelous job displaying his entire arsenal of skills. It wouldnt be a stretch to say that if this were two years ago and players were still allowed to enter the draft out of high school, this performance would have locked him into the top 5-10 spots of this years draft. Unfortunately for Beasley (or not depending on your perspective), hell be heading to Kansas State, where he has a chance to take the Big 12 by storm in a way that will have many people comparing him to Kevin Durant.
An athletic combo forward who can play equally well in the post or on the perimeter, Beasley decided to start off this game going outside-in to show off his skill-set. He knocked down one 3-pointer from close to NBA range, and then followed that up with another from college range. Both looked smooth and effortless coming off his hands. He also handled the ball in transition looking like a true small forward, although the crafty guards of the West did do a good job sneaking up from behind him to try and poke the ball out.
Beasley also did a wonderful job creating his own shot from the perimeter, putting the ball on the floor with a quick first step and getting to the rim with the greatest of ease. Granted there wasnt much defense being played by the East, but its impressive regardless to see a guy that size create for himself like a guard, and then finish with a pretty left-handed floater. Even though he had every reason to, he didnt force the issue at all in his time on the floor, making the extra pass and showing a very good attitude around his teammates throughout.
Where Beasley was at his best, though, was down in the paint scrapping for offensive rebounds. He gets off the floor so quickly and has such great reaction time that no one was really able to keep a body on him when taking his frame and strength into consideration. He produced in this fashion with put-backs, tip-ins and just by cleaning up the old-fashioned way. At times, Beasley even got into a stance and played some defense, being fairly effective defending his position.
All in all, Beasley was the well deserving MVP of this game. If he keeps his head on straight and has the type of season we all know he can under Bob Huggins at Kansas State, there is really no limit on how high in the draft he could end up going.
The nations best player had his worst possible game Wednesday, shooting a frosty 23% from the field and missing the shot that would have won the game for his East squad. He reverted back to his reckless style of play that he had as a youngster, when he consistently forced shots and could be awfully selfish at times. After three fantastic days of practice, Mayo shocked every member of the media in attendance with his atrocious performance, and surely has some ground to make up for in the Nike Hoop Summit and whichever other all-star game he decides to play in.
From the tip, it was apparent that Mayo was looking to score before getting his teammates involved in the game. He was thinking shoot, shoot, shoot every time he came off that pick and roll, rarely even glancing at the roll man. He settled for far too many contested jumpers from the perimeter, opting to take the three instead of going to the rim the majority of the time he was on the court. To O.J.s defense, he made those shots all week long in practice and has shown that he can make them on a consistent basis, but when the lights were on, unfortunately he did not come to perform.
It was troubling to see the three time Mr. Basketball shoot so much after he showed so much promise throughout the week as a playmaker. In the practice sessions, he looked to get all of his teammates involved when he would break down the defense, instead of forcing awfully difficult shots like he did Wednesday night. The Louisville fans even began booing Mayo late in the game, when his desire to put points on the board began to draw more attention then the actual game itself. His superb court vision was not on show at all, leaving many who had not seen him play before believe that he is a pure chucker with no other skills at all.
On the bright side, O.J. was pretty solid defensively when guarding power guard Eric Gordon. He was able to keep in front of E.J. well enough so that the explosive guard was not able to make it to the rim on Mayo like he did on so many others. He also showed flashes of his offensive prowess and creativity in the lane, converting on two pretty ridiculous layups in the paint over Michael Beasley.
It was clear from the tip that Mayos head was not in the game and that he was out there to put points on the board, no matter how much it hurt his team. He seemed to lose the confidence and swagger that he is renowned for, looking like an average high school player instead of the future NBA All-Star he looked like all week in practice. Mayo will look to avenge his poor performance in the Nike Hoop Summit, as well as either the Sonny Vacarro Roundball Classic or the Jordan Classic. Simply put, this was the absolute worst performance that we have ever seen Mayo have on the biggest stage he has ever played on, and dont expect this to happen again in any of the all star games this stud combo guard partakes in again.
Another one of the top performers of the night for the East was their extremely long and athletic big man Gani Lawal, who just wanted to do the dirty work for them all game long. No one played harder in Louisville, whether it was running the floor like a madman, being incredibly active on the glass, playing very strong defense, or trying to fight for position inside with Michael Beasley. 12 rebounds (8 offensive) in 18 minutes should give you an indication of the kind of nose for the ball that Lawal has, and when combined with his incredible wingspan and athleticism, were talking about a guy who can have a real impact in his career at Georgia Tech.
He runs the floor extremely well, has good, strong hands, and seems to be a reliable target to throw the ball to for lobs and easy finishes. Hes not the kind of guy that wants to get pretty around the hoop, hell just go up and dunk it if given the opportunity to. When he tries to start creating offense for himself is when things start getting murky for him. He doesnt look to be the most polished guy in the world by any stretch, but has reportedly only been playing basketball for a few years now. Numerous people we know have gone out of their way to tell us how highly they think of Lawals attitude, character and work ethic, and that alone makes us think hes got a pretty good chance to develop into an NBA prospect down the road.
Nick Calathes doesnt exactly look like an elite basketball prospect. Hes painfully thin, and doesnt move up and down the court like a D1 floor general. But it doesnt take long to realize that there is plenty of reason for all the hype surrounding the next Gator point guard. After a few forced passes early on, Calathes settled down and played an excellent game. His court vision is clearly special, and his feel for the game makes up for a lot of what is lacking in the athleticism department. He is a threat to pull up from just about anywhere, is crafty enough with his dribble to get to the basket, and - most dangerous of all he is a constant threat to create easy looks for his teammates via the pass. There was an assortment of highlight reel passes on the night, the kind that you dont expect a 66 18 year old to make.
Of course, there are those physical deficiencies. Calathes has continued to grow well into his high school career, and it is going to take some time and a significant amount of work in the weight room before he is up to par in terms of athleticism and strength. All in all, this was an impressive performance. He will immediately step into a big role at Florida, and it should be interesting to see how Donovan chooses to utilize him. Donovan already received a committment from 58 standout Erving Walker from the 2008 class, and should have a few other ballhandling options returning from this years roster. Donovan going to more of a multiple lead guard lineup would give Calathes time to develop physically and help him against more athletic defenders. It is fairly clear that he will emerge as a star over the course of his college career. As far as his professional future goes, it all depends on just how much he can improve as an athlete.
The Baltimore native had a fair showing in the McDonalds game, giving fans a glimpse of the inside/outside game that he will take to Syracuse next year. He and future SU teammate Jonny Flynn showed outstanding chemistry, converting twice on pick and roll plays. Greene was on the receiving end, finishing one with a tough layup inside and the other with an alley oop dunk. The combo forward looked quite comfortable playing on the perimeter, knocking down one three pointer and handling the ball well. He showed flashes of why many compare him to Kevin Durant, given his length, athleticism, and inside/out skill set.
Two areas of the game that Donte struggled in mightily were perimeter defense and pure physical strength. He was beat off of the dribble pretty regularly by Michael Beasley and Kyle Singler, not moving as feet as well as you would like to see a small forward do so. When in the paint, Greene was pushed around by Beasley, Love, and Blake Griffin, allowing the trio to combine for 12 offensive rebounds. While his frame is not outstanding by any means, it certainly does have the potential to add another 15-20 pounds to it by the time he plays his first game in a Syracuse uniform. Luckily, Greene acknowledged the fact that these were the two biggest weaknesses of his game, and assured DraftExpress that he will be working on them in the near future.
Greene has been rumored by many to be a potential one and done guy, mostly in part to his size, athleticism, and skill set for a big forward. He said that he would have most likely entered the draft this past year out of high school if given the opportunity, so he is surely a guy that draft fans must keep an eye on for the 2008 NBA Draft.
Lets make one thing clear this game was about shot happy lead guards getting up and down the court, and athletic big men dunking. There wasnt much of a place for a patient, crafty swingman like Kyle Singler. Touches were scarce, and his outside shot wasnt falling. Nonetheless, Singler still found ways to contribute with defensive effort rarely seen in a HS all-star game and deft, unselfish play on the offensive end. He showed off an impressive midrange game with a nice baseline jumper in the first half, and impressed the entire way with his court vision and passing. His jumper loses effectiveness the further away from the basket he is, but he has NBA-ready form and all sorts of ways to get his shot off.
While we dont know for sure just how dominant Singler will be early on in his career at Duke, it is fairly obvious that the program needs an elite level scorer, someone who can put the offense on their back and hit big shots. Singler clearly has the tools, and has the tools to emerge as the next great Duke player in his freshman season. But so did Josh McRoberts, so it will be important for this skilled swingman to assert himself right away. | 2019-04-22T23:57:39Z | http://www.draftexpress.com/article/2007-McDonald-s-All-America-Game-Player-Breakdowns-1960/ |
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Can I view my certificates/policies online?
Why can’t I see all of my certificates/policies?
Why am I getting a message that states my member information is not found?
How can I make premium payments online?
How can I set up recurring automated premium payments?
How can I change my beneficiary? Can you email me this form?
How can I change my bank account? Can you email me this form?
What is WoodmenLife's mailing address?
How can I find out about my certificate?
How can I become a WoodmenLife member?
I no longer smoke or have never smoked. How can I get this changed on my certificate?
Does WoodmenLife offer a College Savings Plan?
How can I get a copy of my certificate annual report?
When do certificate annual reports for traditional and Universal life insurance, and annuities get mailed?
How can I get WoodmenLife's Discount Prescription Drug Card?
How can I get information on a deceased relative for genealogy purposes?
How can I order a duplicate tax form?
When will I receive my tax information?
How can I request a copy of my certificate?
Q. Can I view my certificates/policies online?
Yes, you can view your certificates/policies by creating an online account using the First Time User link in the Member Login section at the top of this page. After creating your online account, any certificates/policies on which you are the owner and the insured will automatically be connected and viewable in your online account.
Q. How do I create an online account?
To create an online account click on the First Time User link in the Member Login section at the top of this page. You will then need to provide a unique user name, a valid email address, and a password, along with answering 4 security questions. After acknowledging the Terms and Conditions, click the Next button to continue.
On the next screen you will need to provide the last four digits of your social security number, your date of birth, and your mailing zip code, then click the Submit button. Once your information has been connected in our systems, you will be prompted to login using the user name and password you created.
Upon login, you will see the certificates/policies on which you are the owner and the insured.
Q. Why can’t I see all of my certificates/policies?
Currently, the only certificates/policies available are those where the member is the person insured and is also the owner. For example: Jane Doe has $50,000 of life insurance coverage on herself. She applied for the coverage and is the owner. Jane will see this certificate/policy information on the member website. Jane Doe also owns $25,000 of life insurance coverage on her son. Because Jane is not the insured, she will not see this certificate/policy on the member website.
Information on certificates/policies that are lapsed (inactive due to not paying premiums) over 45 days will not be available.
Q. Why am I getting a message that states my member information is not found?
This means the site was unable to find your records based on the information you entered in your profile. To make sure that we have the correct information for you on file and to resolve this issue quickly, please contact Customer Service at 1-800-225-3108, or use the Contact Us option at the top of this page and include your name, certificate/policy number(s) and request.
Q. How can I make premium payments online?
You can make a one-time, non-recurring premium payment from your checking or savings account after creating an online account. Login to your account from the Member Login section, then click on the Payments tab at the top of the screen. Complete the online form and then click the Submit button.
Q. How can I set up recurring automated premium payments?
You can have your payments automatically withdrawn from your bank account on a recurring basis for certificates/policies which you are both the owner and the insured. This is very convenient, eliminates late payments and may be eligible to receive a premium discount. Login to your account from the Member Login section and choose the Forms tab at the top of the page; fill out the Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Form completely; print it; get the appropriate signature(s) for the account and mail it to WoodmenLife.
If you need assistance, contact your Representative or Customer Service at 1-800-225-3108. You can also use the Contact Us option at the top of this page if you have any questions.
Q. How can I change my beneficiary? Can you email me this form?
To change your beneficiary for certificates/policies which you are both the owner and the insured, login to your account from the Member Login section at the top of this page, then click the Forms tab at the top of the page; fill out the Beneficiary Change Form completely; print it; get the appropriate signature(s) and mail it to WoodmenLife.
Q. How can I change my bank account? Can you email me this form?
As the owner or payor of a certificate/policy you can login to your account from the Member Login section at the top of this page, then click on the Forms tab at the top of the page and download the Pre-Authorized Payment Plan Form. Fill the form out completely with the new bank account information; print it; and mail it to WoodmenLife.
You can also contact your Representative, Customer Service at 800-225-3108, or e-mail us with your name, certificate number(s) and request.
As the owner of the certificate/policy you can login to your account from the Member Login section at the top of this page and complete the online Change of Address Form. Choose the Change Address/Phone link in the right column, enter the new information and select Save Changes to submit it. For assistance, contact Customer Service at 1-800-225-3108.
You can also contact your Representative, Customer Service at 800-225-3108, or e-mail us using the contact us form.
Q. What is WoodmenLife's mailing address?
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As the owner of the certificate/policy you can login to your account from the Member Login section at the top of this page, choose the Forms tab at the top of the page; then select the Name Change Form to download it. Fill out the Name Change Form completely; print it; provide the appropriate signatures and mail it to WoodmenLife.
Q. How can I find out about my certificate?
If you are the owner and the insured on the certificate/policy, you can create an account to view your certificates/policies online. To create an online account follow the steps in How do I create an online account? Upon login, you will be able to view your certificate/policy information.
Q. How can I become a WoodmenLife member?
For information on becoming a WoodmenLife member, you can call Customer Service at 800-225-3108 or contact us with your name, address, phone number and best time to call you.
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As the owner of the certificate you can contact your Representative or Customer Service at 800-225-3108. You can also use the contact us form. Be sure to provide your name, address, phone number and your request to change to a non-tobacco user. We will then mail you the form and instructions that you will need to complete and return to us by mail.
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College Savings Plans are available through our subsidiary, Woodmen Financial Services. Your WoodmenLife Registered Representative can provide information on the various plans available. For more information, you can also call 800-328-2968 ext. 57040, visit the College Savings page of woodmen.org or contact us by using our email form. Please provide your name, address, phone number, best time to call and request information on College Savings Plans.
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This paper proposes a modified Genetic Programming method for forecasting the mobile telecommunications subscribers’ population. The method constitutes an expansion of the hybrid Genetic Programming (hGP) method improved by the introduction of diffusion models for technological forecasting purposes in the initial population, such as the Logistic, Gompertz, and Bass, as well as the Bi-Logistic and LogInLog. In addition, the aforementioned functions and models expand the function set of hGP. The application of the method in combination with macroeconomic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product per Capita (GDPpC) and Consumer Prices Index (CPI) leads to the creation of forecasting models and scenarios for medium- and long-term level of predictability. The forecasting module of the program has also been improved with the multi-levelled use of the statistical indices as fitness functions and model selection indices. The implementation of the modified-hGP in the datasets of mobile subscribers in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries shows very satisfactory forecasting performance.
Forecasting is an endogenous process intertwined with the evolution of science. Forecasting methodology is divided into two categories: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative methods employ the judgment of experts group to produce forecasts . These procedures are mainly applied without using historical data. Quantitative forecasting methods are used when historical data are available as well as the assumption that some of the past patterns will be repeated in the future .
There is a variation of quantitative methods such as the time series forecasting which use past trend to forecast the future values of the variable and causal methods that, besides the past trend assumption, also examine the correlation of the variable with other indicators.
The adoption of innovative technologies by a society such as the mobile telecommunications adoption has been discussed and some widely used forecasting models have been proposed. The diffusion processes as well as the produced models are described in the literature [3–8].
The most commonly used diffusion models are Gompertz, Logistic, and Bass which are dynamic models and follow a sigmoid curve against time. In order to follow the overall diffusion process of the mobile wireless penetration in time, we also employ the Bi-Logistic and LogInLog models which are described in the next section of this paper. The parameters of the models have been estimated by regression analysis with the Least Squares Method .
In addition to time response, we investigate the relationship of the produced models with some macroeconomic indicators such as GDPpC and CPI. The core work is an expansion, modification, and implementation of the hybrid Genetic Programming (hGP) method which was presented in in terms of the insertion of new diffusion models as well as the macroeconomic indicators dependence.
The term Genetic Programming (GP) method is a generalization of the Genetic Algorithm (GA) which represents a heuristic method that employs the Darwinian principle of natural selection in finding an appropriate solution of a well-defined problem and every produced solution corresponds to a new program [10, 11].
The basic structure of the paper follows. Firstly, a brief reference to the GP method and the diffusion models are presented. The hGP technique analysis follows as well as the description of the modifications and expansion on it. The next section analyses the results of the hGP implementation. After that, we discuss the forecasting results, and, finally, the conclusion is presented.
GP was introduced by Koza in . In his work, the solution of a problem corresponds to a chromosome-program. The main difference between GP and GA is the representation of solutions. The tree-based representation is adopted by GP method, while a string of numbers represents the solution in GA methodology. The tree-based representation consists of nodes. The nodes represent functions or leaves which correspond to the terminals of the solution, such as variables or constants [12, 13].
The steps for the GP construction are generally the following. Firstly, GP produces an initial population of random programs-solutions composed of the functions and terminals of the problem. The next step iteratively performs the following substeps until a termination criterion will be satisfied: execution of each program and assignment of fitness value according to the precision of each solution . Then, GP generates a new generation of solutions by applying the operations of reproduction, crossover, and mutation. The selection of the candidate solution is performed by probability-based criteria on the fitness value. Reproduction refers to the copy of a solution to the new population. In crossover operation, the selected chromosomes are randomly combined per two and, recombining its chosen parts, generate new chromosomes (offspring) . The mutation changes a function in a chromosome structure with another function. The chromosomes of the new generation have better overall fitness value. The whole process is repeated until a termination criterion is satisfied [9, 11, 12].
Rogers considers that the adoption of an innovative product by a society follows the diffusion process and it has the sigmoid curve format. In this paper, besides the well-known Logistic, Gompertz, and Bass models, we investigate the Bi-Logistic [14, 15] and the LogInLog which is inspired by the solution of the Dodd model in [16, 17].
A diffusion process is described by dynamic or nondynamic models according to whether the level of saturation is changing over time (“carrying capacity”) or constant, respectively. The differential equation which describes the fundamental diffusion model follows the following formulation: where is the estimated diffusion saturation level for time and is the diffusion penetration and function is the diffusion coefficient.
The Logistic model is the solution of the differential equation (1) which describes the diffusion process. The Logistic model is described by where is the diffusion of a new product in a society, at time . Also, is a time dependent function and are constant parameters. The constant is the upper limit of the function , known as the saturation level. When time , then .
Also, a variation of (3) format is the following Gompertz II format with constant, in where, in both formats, is a time dependent function and are constant parameters .
Bass proposes that the adoption of a new product by a market consists of two major categories: innovators and imitators. The overall diffusion process starts with the innovators adoption of the new product or the innovative technology and then the imitators follow.
In (5), parameter corresponds to initial purchasers of the new technology product. Parameter is the sum of the innovators and imitators coefficients, and , respectively, . Parameter is , where is a constant and parameter is [6, 9].
In some cases, the overall life of a product, like mobile telecommunications, has many phases-generations. For this purpose we employ the Bi-Logistic curve which is the sum of two Logistic curves . So, where and . In the first generation, saturation is constant as well as of the second generation. Parameters , , , and are constants and and are the introduction time of the first and second generation, respectively [15, 17].
In this case, the saturation level is time dependent and it follows the Logistic diffusion model until the upper saturation of [15–17]. The whole diffusion process follows the Logistic model , as where and ; parameters are constants. The saturation level follows in where parameter is a constant.
This model describes the diffusion process when an innovative technology has created generations which are not clearly separated . It should be noted that this model is derived by the generalization of the solution of the Dodd model in [16, 17]. The parameters of the model are optimized by the least square regression.
The hybrid Genetic Programming method in fitting and forecasting was presented in a previous work . In this paper, the modified-hGP is presented extensively. The modified hGP implements a strategy which consists of three parts, the nonlinear regression analysis, the genetic algorithm part, and the final model selection. The flowchart of Figure 1 shows the parts of the modified hGP.
Figure 1: Flowchart of the modified hGP.
This stage of the method contains the preparation steps for the program execution process [11, 12, 18]. The first step is the function set definition. In the modified hGP, the set has two subsets for the arithmetic and mathematical functions, and , respectively, . So, , where and . It should be noted that division is zero protected for the denominator and is the natural logarithm.
In the second step, the terminal set of the variables and constants sets is defined. The variables set and , where , GDPpC, and PCIn are the variables for time, GDP per Capita, and normalized CPI, respectively, and is the randomly generated constants with domain in .
The next step is to define the fitness function for each solution. Various statistical indicators can be used for the fitness function during the evaluation process. Following the previous implementation of the hGP , two different fitness functions are used as follows.
In (9), the sum is over the time period . Also, is the real data for time and is the model’s value .
In this function, a weight is used, in order to give greater weight at the time interval near the last training data .
Finally, the maximum number of generations is defined to end the execution of the GP.
As mentioned before, the function set of the modified hGP is extended compared to hGP. Apart from the primary arithmetic functions set , a mathematical functions set has been inserted; . So, the modified hGP has simplified the chromosomes structure, Figures 2 and 3, while, at the same time, their mathematical efficiency has been improved.
Figure 2: Representation of chromosomes in modified hGP as strings.
Figure 3: Representation of chromosomes in modified hGP as parse trees.
The expressions of the randomly created solutions combine the following primary block format, whereas each part is randomly chosen. Block: .
The solutions of the initial population are the combination of random chosen functions, variables, constants, and primary blocks. Also, the optimized Logistic, Gompertz I, Gompertz II, Bass, Bi-Logistic, and LogInLog diffusion models are being inserted in the population. The parameters of the diffusion models are optimized by nonlinear regression analysis and the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm has been used .
In modified hGP, each chromosome is a string of characters and corresponds to a program that is a possible solution to the problem . The inner representation of a string of characters is considered as a parse tree using the abstract syntax trees of Python Programming Language. For example, the chromosomes and are presented in Figures 2 and 3 as strings and parse trees, respectively .
The parse tree consists of nodes. There are two types of nodes, the terminal and nonterminal nodes. The terminal nodes (leaves) of the tree contain the variables or the constants. In contrast, the nonterminal nodes of the tree consist of the modified-hGP functions .
As stated above, the best solution is selected according to (9) for fitting and (10) for forecasting purposes. The evaluated solutions are inserted into a sorted Python’s list. The solutions that are not satisfying a precision limit criterion are removed. The remaining accepted solutions of the list are sorted according to their fitness value and they are candidates to become parents for the crossover operation or to be chosen in mutation. In Figure 4, the structure of the list is depicted. It should be noted that the problem of the solutions trapping into local optimum is solved keeping one of all the individuals having the same fitness value in the list.
Figure 4: Representation of the solutions’ sorted list in the selection operation of the modified-hGP.
In tournament selection, a number of solutions from the sorted solutions’ list are selected at random and, then, the best is chosen for the crossover or mutation operation.
In the crossover operation, two parents are randomly selected, according to the tournament selection process, from the sorted by the best fitness value solutions’ list.
In each parent solution, a crossover point is randomly chosen. The substring of each parent beginning at the crossover point is interchanged between two parents’ solutions and the children (offspring) are generated. The crossover operation is presented in Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 5: Crossover of the modified-hybrid Genetic Programming method (string representation).
Figure 6: Crossover of the modified-hybrid Genetic Programming method (parse tree representation).
In the mutation process, a solution is chosen by tournament selection from the tournament list. Once again, a string’s point, which depicts a function, is randomly chosen. The mutation replaces the chosen function from the , set, with a new random function in the solution.
The mutation operation is presented in Figures 7 and 8.
Figure 7: Mutation of the modified-hybrid Genetic Programming method (string representation).
Figure 8: Mutation of the modified-hybrid Genetic Programming method (parse tree representation).
The fitness function of each individual in the modified hGP method is the Sum of Squared Error (SSE) for the fitting process, as in (9), and the Weighted Sum of Squared Error (wSSE), as (10) presents.
The statistical indices in the modified hGP are the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), the Mean Square Error (MSE), the Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE).
In (15), , , and correspond to Fitness Function Value (wSSE for forecasting), parameters of the model, and the number of data points, respectively.
It should be noted that in the final selection process of the appropriate forecasting model we use the half of dataset before the last observed data point.
In this section, the macroeconomic indicators of Gross Domestic Product per Capita (GDPpC) and normalized Consumer Prices Index (CPI) will be presented. The GDPpC is a macroeconomic index for the productivity of a country and it could not be considered as index of personal income.
According to , the basic index of the value of the goods and services produced by a country is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The GDPpC indicates the living standards of the economy in a country.
In general, CPI indicates a weighted average of basic consumer goods prices. Moreover, in this study, the CPI relies on the individual consumption expenditure of households, less energy, and food consumption . It should be noted that CPI is normalized on the CPI of the year 2005. In Figure 9, the yearly GDPpC and CPI for the time period between the years 1997 and 2009 are presented.
Figure 9: Yearly growth of the GDPpC (in 100000$) and CPI (normalized on the year 2005).
It should be noted that, after the year 2008 (“economic crisis year”), the OECD’s GDPpC is decreased for 2009, but, on the other hand, the CPI has bigger tolerance.
According to , the first mobile telecommunications were introduced with analogue networks in the early 1980s, for voice transmission. The second generation (2G) mobile network (Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM) followed in the early 1990s and digital mobile networks were born with the first SMS service. In the late 1990s, enhanced digital generation (2.5G) was introduced for data services. The data services were changed from circuit switched transport (GSM) to packet data transport with General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) and, later, data rates grew with enhanced digital technologies such as Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).
Also, in 2003, the next generation (3G) of mobile networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), emerged with the first video-calls and, later, (around 2006) was upgraded to High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) with data rates of 14 Mbps in the downlink and 5.76 Mbps in the uplink. Then, HSPA was upgraded to HSPA+ with theoretically 168 Mbps and 22 Mbps for downlink and uplink, respectively, and data services as videos, mobile email, and music. In 2009, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) was launched for commercial usage, while a new generation (4G) of technology is coming . Figure 10 depicts the evolution of mobile technologies generations in parallel with the overall OECD mobile subscribers, contract, prepay, and 3G subscribers, from the year 1997 to 2009 .
Figure 10: OECD mobile subscribers (in billions).
It should be noted that the number of the mobile subscribers is growing through the technology generations evolution.
The results will be analysed in order to provide a satisfactory prediction for mobile subscribers which consist of mobile contract subscribers and mobile prepay subscribers in OECD countries, as well as mobile 3G subscribers.
This study investigates the implementation of modified hGP on four different datasets. The datasets present the total yearly number of OECD mobile subscribers, the yearly number of mobile contract subscribers, the yearly number of mobile prepay subscribers, and finally the yearly number of mobile 3G subscribers. The observation period begins from the year 1997 to 2009, which is comprised of 13 data points.
Table 1 contains the initialization parameters for the execution of the modified-hGP concerning the data sets in OECD countries.
Table 1: Initialization parameters of the modified-hGP.
The fitting performance of the first modified-hGP model for the total number of OECD subscribers, according to its fitness value (SSE), is presented in Figure 11. Also, Figure 12 presents the errors of the models in time (residuals). The relative statistical indices SSE, MAPE, MSE, RMSE, and MAE of the modified-hGP models are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Statistical indices in fitting process of the modified-hGP model for the total number of OECD subscribers.
Figure 11: The fitting performance of the modified-hGP model for the total number of OECD subscribers.
Figure 12: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in fitting of the total number of OECD subscribers.
As one can see, this method combines different variables like GDPpC or CPI with the independent variable of time. In Table 2, the modified-hGP method achieves excellent statistical performance, showing an SSE value of .
The fitting performance and the residuals for the remaining data sets are presented in Figures 13 and 14 for contract subscribers, Figures 14 and 15 for prepay subscribers, and Figures 16 and 17 for 3G users, respectively. The relative statistical indices SSE, MAPE, MSE, RMSE, and MAE of the produced modified-hGP models are presented in Table 3 for contract, Table 4 for prepay, and Table 5 for 3G subscribers.
Table 3: Statistical indices in fitting process of the modified-hGP model for the OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Table 4: Statistical indices in fitting process of the modified-hGP model for the OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Table 5: Statistical indices in fitting process of the modified-hGP model for the OECD 3G mobile subscribers.
Figure 13: The fitting performance of the modified-hGP model for the OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Figure 14: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in fitting for the OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Figure 15: The fitting performance of the modified-hGP model for the OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Figure 16: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in fitting for the OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Figure 17: The fitting performance of the modified-hGP model for the OECD 3G mobile subscribers.
It should be noted that this method combines different variables like GDPpC or CPI with the independent variable of time and a variation of diffusion models’ blocks. The performance of the model corresponds to a good enough behavior in fitting process. The error performance in fitting is depicted in Figure 14.
Finally, the modified-hGP model yields a satisfactory fitting performance. The error performance in fitting is depicted in Figure 18.
Figure 18: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in fitting for the OECD 3G mobile subscribers.
The forecasting results of the generated models by the modified-hGP method are presented in this section, as well as the combined diffusion models with the modified-hGP models. As mentioned before, the statistic indicator wSSE has been used for the forecasting process.
The initialization parameters for the execution of hGP are presented in Table 6, for the forecasting process. The forecasting method for a 2-year prediction uses 11 data points as training set of the GP method, except for the 3G training set which consists of 7 points. The forecasting performance of the modified-hGP models concerning total OECD mobile subscribers, contract, prepay, and 3G is depicted in Figures 19, 22, 24, and 25, respectively. In every graph, the forecast period window is presented in the blue rectangle.
Table 6: Initialization parameters of modified-hGP.
Figure 19: The forecasting performance of modified-hGP (forecast period—2 years ahead).
The forecasting performance of the optimized diffusion models, according to their fitness value (wSSE) for the 11 training points, is presented in Figure 20. Also, the relative statistical indices, concerning the whole dataset, of the produced forecasting modified-hGP and diffusion models are presented in Table 7.
Table 7: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and diffusion models for the total number of OECD subscribers.
Figure 20: The forecasting performance of the diffusion models (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the total number of OECD subscribers.
Considering Table 7, it can be concluded that the modified-hGP method achieves good statistical indices combining some optimized diffusion models. We can see that the first hGP model achieves a wSSE value of 0.000226, while the best of diffusion models, Bi-Logistic, has a similar 0.000281. It should be noted that modified-hGP model residuals against time (data points), especially for the 2 last data points (the forecast period), show the error response of the GP model (see Figure 21).
Figure 21: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in forecasting (2 years window period) of the total number of OECD subscribers.
Figure 22: The forecasting performance of the modified-hGP (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile contract subscribers.
The forecasting performance of the diffusion models is presented in Figure 23. Also, the statistical indices of the produced forecasting modified-hGP and diffusion models are presented in Table 8.
Table 8: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and diffusion models for the number of OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Figure 23: The forecasting performance of the diffusion models (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Figure 24: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in forecasting (2 years window period) of the number of OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Figure 25: The forecasting performance of the modified-hGP (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile contract subscribers.
From Table 8, one can conclude that the modified-hGP method as well as diffusion models achieves good statistical indices. We can see that the hGP model achieves a wSSE value of and the Bi-Logistic 0.000116. Once again, the modified-hGP model residuals against time (data points), especially for the 2 last data points (the forecast period), show the error response of the GP model (see Figure 24).
The forecasting performance of the diffusion models is presented in Figure 26. Also, the statistical indices of the produced forecasting modified-hGP and diffusion models are presented in Table 9.
Table 9: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and diffusion models for the number of OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Figure 26: The forecasting performance of the diffusion models (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Table 9 shows that the modified-hGP method achieves a satisfactory performance. The modified-hGP model achieves a wSSE value of 0.000725 and the Bi-Logistic 0.000938. Once again, the modified-hGP model residuals against time (data points), especially for the 2 last data points (the forecast period), show the error response of the modified-hGP model, as Figure 27 depicts.
Figure 27: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in forecasting (2 years window period) of the number of OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Figure 28: The forecasting performance of the modified-hGP (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile 3G subscribers.
The forecasting performance of the diffusion models is presented in Figure 29. Also, the statistical indices of the produced forecasting modified-hGP and diffusion models are presented in Table 10.
Table 10: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and diffusion models for the number of OECD mobile 3G subscribers.
Figure 29: The forecasting performance of the diffusion models (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile 3G subscribers.
Table 10 shows that the modified-hGP method achieves a good performance. The modified-hGP model achieves a wSSE value of similar to the Logistic and LogInLog. The MAPE indicator has the specific performance cause of the initial error at the first data point. As Figure 30 depicts, the modified-hGP model residuals against time (data points), especially for the 2 last data points (the forecast period), show the error response of the modified-hGP model.
Figure 30: Residuals of the modified-hGP model in forecasting (2 years window period) of the number of OECD mobile 3G subscribers.
The forecasting results of the generated models by the modified-hGP method are compared with those of the ARIMA method derived. As mentioned before, the statistic indicator wSSE has been used for the forecasting process.
The operator stands for the order of the autoregressive part and operator for the degree of the derivative of part and the is order of the moving average part of (16). The are the parameters of the autoregressive part of the model, the are the parameters of the moving average part, and are the errors .
The ARIMA models that are derived by the implementation of the “Gretl, Gnu Regression, Econometrics and Time-series Library” for the aforementioned datasets are depicted below. The forecasting performance of the same modified-hGP models and ARIMA models concerning total OECD mobile subscribers, contract, prepay, and 3G, is depicted in Figures 31, 32, 33, and 34, respectively. In every graph, the forecast period window is presented in the blue rectangle. In Tables 11, 12, 13, and 14, the comparison results of the statistical indices MAPE, MSE, RMSE, and MAE for the two predicted points are presented.
Table 11: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and ARIMA model for the total number of OECD subscribers.
Table 12: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and ARIMA model for the total number of OECD contract mobile subscribers.
Table 13: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and ARIMA model for the total number of OECD prepay mobile subscribers.
Table 14: Statistical indices in forecasting process of the modified-hGP and ARIMA model for the total number of OECD 3G mobile subscribers.
Figure 31: Comparison of the forecasting performances of modified-hGP with ARIMA model (forecast period—2 years ahead).
Figure 32: Comparison of the forecasting performances of modified-hGP with ARIMA model (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile contract subscribers.
Figure 33: Comparison of the forecasting performances of modified-hGP with ARIMA model (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD mobile prepay subscribers.
Figure 34: Comparison of the forecasting performances of modified-hGP with ARIMA model (forecast window—2 years ahead) for the number of OECD 3G mobile subscribers.
Considering Table 11, it can be concluded that the modified-hGP method achieves better forecasting performance than ARIMA model.
From Table 12, one realizes that the hGP method presents better performance than ARIMA model.
Also, in Tables 13 and 14, the modified-hGP method achieves better forecasting statistics than ARIMA model.
It could be concluded that the overall performance of the modified-hGP achieves better statistic indices than ARIMA model for the predicted data points.
The proposed method has been tested for the stability and the robustness. The program was executed 20 times in the same dataset of the mobile subscribers. The mean gap between the best and worst solutions was decreasing as the generation was increasing. Also, the curve of the total average of fitness value per generation was decreasing. It should be noted that in Table 15 the program parameters for the testing process are presented. In Figure 35, the mean value for the fitness value for the best and worst solutions (mean gap) per generation of the testing modified-hGP and the average fitness value per generation for the program executions are presented.
Table 15: The hGP parameters for the testing process.
Figure 35: Testing the robustness of the forecasting modified-hGP.
The difference between the worst and the best solutions is decreasing. In particular, after the 25th generation, the indices above are converging. The mean gap of wSSE for the worst-best solution begins from value 0.004146752 and ends up to 0.000165101.
The introduction of GDPpC and CPI outside the time variable leads to the creation of causal forecasting models. This method provides a scenario based approach to forecasting. In order to study the future of mobile subscription in OECD countries, three scenarios are presented, according the GDPpC and CPI growth.
The pessimistic one concerns a continuing crisis scenario, so that the GDPpC and CPI growth rates are not increased. The second is a moderate growth scenario and the last one is the optimistic scenario, with GDPpC and CPI getting increased.
A variation of models is generated by the implementation of the modified-hGP method. According to Bayesian’s criterion as well as the wSSE criterion, two models which combine all the variables, GDPpC, CPI, and time, are chosen. Figures 36, 37, and 38 depict the pessimistic, moderate, and optimistic scenario, respectively.
Figure 36: The forecasting performance (5 years ahead) of modified-hGP models—the pessimistic scenario.
Figure 37: The forecasting performance (5 years ahead) of modified-hGP models—the moderate scenario.
Figure 38: The forecasting performance (5 years ahead) of modified-hGP models—the optimistic scenario.
In Table 16, the selected models and their statistics are presented.
Table 16: Models’ expression and statistical indices of two modified-hGP models in forecasting the total number of OECD subscribers.
The BIC depends on the number of the parameters. The generated models with one variable, like time dependent models, in many cases, have better BIC performance, but not always better forecasting performance.
In contrary, multivariable models, with good enough BIC, yield a good enough forecasting performance.
In the pessimistic scenario, the first model (most likely) achieves 1.538472 billion of OECD mobile subscribers, in the year 2014. The second has a total number of 1.415613 billion subscribers. It should be noted that the GDPpC and CPI growths are unchanged.
In the moderate scenario (the most likely scenario), the first model achieves 1.8 billion of OECD mobile subscribers, in the year 2014. The second has a total number of 1.58 billion subscribers. It should be noted that the average GDPpC rate is 2.5% and average CPI rate growth 1.7%.
In the optimistic scenario, the first model achieves 1.948 billion of OECD mobile subscribers, in the year 2014. The second has a total number of 1.686 billion subscribers. It should be noted that the average GDPpC rate is about 4.4% and average CPI rate growth 2.2%.
This paper is a modification of our previous work where the dataset was bigger, but in different area of interest. In this paper, an improved-hGP method was presented. The improved program achieved interesting forecasting models with more variables than one. This GP method was implemented in dataset concerning the mobile subscribers of the OECD countries. The forecasting performance of the modified-hGP as well as the diffusion and ARIMA models was presented and the method presented satisfactory statistical indices.
The proposed method differs from the hGP in some points. Firstly, the diffusion models’ set is extended with Bi-Logistic and LogInLog except for Logistic, Gompertz, and Bass so that the forecast horizon is improved, for long-term forecasting. Also, the functions’ set of the method is extended by the insertion of new functions and function blocks. According to this technique, chromosomes with complicated syntax expressions can be presented with short length expression stings. The tournament selection is implemented for the crossover and mutation operations in order to maximize the algorithm’s efficiency. Finally, a Bayesian inspired criterion has been implemented which, in combination with wSSE, improves the final selection of the forecasting models.
In general, the method could be considered as a forecasting tool that produces time dependent models and causal models for long-term forecasting with more variables than one. It should be noted that this method is compared with ARIMA model and achieved satisfactory performance. Also, the robustness of the proposed method has been analyzed. The implementation of the method is going to be continued on more datasets and it will be compared with other prediction methods in future work.
The authors wish to express their acknowledgments to Professor Imed Kacem, University of Lorraine, France, for his constructive comments and suggestions, which helped to improve the quality of this paper. | 2019-04-21T00:22:52Z | https://www.hindawi.com/journals/aor/2014/568478/ |
Up pretty betimes, and so there comes to me Mr. Shish, to desire my appearing for him to succeed Mr. Christopher Pett, lately dead, in his place of Master-Shipwright of Deptford and Woolwich, which I do resolve to promote what I can. So by and by to White Hall, and there to the Duke of York’s chamber, where I understand it is already resolved by the King and Duke of York that Shish shall have the place. From the Duke’s chamber Sir W. Coventry and I to walk in the Matted Gallery; and there, among other things, he tells me of the wicked design that now is at last contriving against him, to get a petition presented from people that the money they have paid to W. Coventry for their places may be repaid them back; and that this is set on by Temple and Hollis of the Parliament, and, among other mean people in it, by Captain Tatnell: and he prays me that I will use some effectual way to sift Tatnell what he do, and who puts him on in this business, which I do undertake, and will do with all my skill for his service, being troubled that he is still under this difficulty. Thence up and down Westminster by Mrs. Burroughes her mother’s shop, thinking to have seen her, but could not, and therefore back to White Hall, where great talk of the tumult at the other end of the town, about Moore-fields, among the ‘prentices, taking the liberty of these holydays to pull down bawdy-houses.1 And, Lord! to see the apprehensions which this did give to all people at Court, that presently order was given for all the soldiers, horse and foot, to be in armes! and forthwith alarmes were beat by drum and trumpet through Westminster, and all to their colours, and to horse, as if the French were coming into the town! So Creed, whom I met here, and I to Lincolne’s Inn-fields, thinking to have gone into the fields to have seen the ‘prentices; but here we found these fields full of soldiers all in a body, and my Lord Craven commanding of them, and riding up and down to give orders, like a madman. And some young men we saw brought by soldiers to the Guard at White Hall, and overheard others that stood by say, that it was only for pulling down the bawdy-houses; and none of the bystanders finding fault with them, but rather of the soldiers for hindering them. And we heard a justice of the Peace this morning say to the King, that he had been endeavouring to suppress this tumult, but could not; and that, imprisoning some [of them] in the new prison at Clerkenwell, the rest did come and break open the prison and release them; and that they do give out that they are for pulling down the bawdy- houses, which is one of the greatest grievances of the nation. To which the King made a very poor, cold, insipid answer: “Why, why do they go to them, then?” and that was all, and had no mind to go on with the discourse. Mr. Creed and I to dinner to my Lord Crew, where little discourse, there being none but us at the table, and my Lord and my Lady Jemimah, and so after dinner away, Creed and I to White Hall, expecting a Committee of Tangier, but come too late. So I to attend the Council, and by and by were called in with Lord Brouncker and Sir W. Pen to advise how to pay away a little money to most advantage to the men of the yards, to make them dispatch the ships going out, and there did make a little speech, which was well liked, and after all it was found most satisfactory to the men, and best for the king’s dispatch, that what money we had should be paid weekly to the men for their week’s work until a greater sum could be got to pay them their arrears and then discharge them. But, Lord! to see what shifts and what cares and thoughts there was employed in this matter how to do the King’s work and please the men and stop clamours would make a man think the King should not eat a bit of good meat till he has got money to pay the men, but I do not see the least print of care or thoughts in him about it at all. Having done here, I out and there met Sir Fr. Hollis, who do still tell me that, above all things in the world, he wishes he had my tongue in his mouth, meaning since my speech in Parliament. He took Lord Brouncker and me down to the guards, he and his company being upon the guards to-day; and there he did, in a handsome room to that purpose, make us drink, and did call for his bagpipes, which, with pipes of ebony, tipt with silver, he did play beyond anything of that kind that ever I heard in my life; and with great pains he must have obtained it, but with pains that the instrument do not deserve at all; for, at the best, it is mighty barbarous musick. So home and there to my chamber, to prick out my song, “It is Decreed,” intending to have it ready to give Mr. Harris on Thursday, when we meet, for him to sing, believing that he will do it more right than a woman that sings better, unless it were Knepp, which I cannot have opportunity to teach it to. This evening I come home from White Hall with Sir W. Pen, who fell in talk about his going to sea this year, and the difficulties that arise to him by it, by giving offence to the Prince, and occasioning envy to him, and many other things that make it a bad matter, at this time of want of money and necessaries, and bad and uneven counsels at home, — for him to go abroad: and did tell me how much with the King and Duke of York he had endeavoured to be excused, desiring the Prince might be satisfied in it, who hath a mind to go; but he tells me they will not excuse him, and I believe it, and truly do judge it a piece of bad fortune to W. Pen.
It was customary for the apprentices of the metropolis to avail themselves of their holidays, especially on Shrove Tuesday, to search after women of ill fame, and to confine them during the season of Lent. See a “Satyre against Separatists,” 1642.
Stand forth, Shrove Tuesday, one a’ the silenc’st bricklayers; ‘Tis in your charge to pull down bawdy-houses.
"...great talk of the tumult at the other end of the town, about Moore-fields, among the 'prentices, taking the liberty of these holydays to pull down bawdy-houses."
"Holidays and festivals were traditional occasions when the young men of early modern London indulged in carnivals of misrule. One of the most striking examples of these were the ritualized attacks on brothels by apprentices, which customarily took place on Shrove Tuesday. These rituals, which often involved quite extensive destruction to property, seem to have occurred with persistent regularity, at least in the early Stuart period, there being twenty-four known Shrove Tuesday riots in the thirty-five years between 1606 and 1641. Such activities normally received moderate handling from the authorities, and only in exceptional circumstances did the courts choose to punish the rioters with heavy fines or a period of imprisonment. Contemporaries, it seems, were familiar with, and to a certain extent tolerant of this ‘ancient administration of justice at Shrovetide’ by the apprentices, as James Harrington called it. Such feats were even acclaimed in popular literature as being a sign of the virtue of London's young men. In this context, the response of the authorities to apprentice attacks on bawdy houses that occurred in Easter week of 1668 seems excessive. Here, fifteen of the ringleaders were tried for high treason, on a rather dubious interpretation of the law, and four were eventually hanged, drawn and quartered."
Add Sam to the list of bagpipe haters (but not me, I like them).
The boys are fighting for the right not to party? Meanwhile for the Court, it's support your local bawdy house?...er civic order. One might wonder if some of milords have money sunk in a few.
"...and I believe it, and truly do judge it a piece of bad fortune to W. Pen." One can hear that little snicker at the end, Sam.
"...the wicked design that now is at last contriving against him, to get a petition presented from people that the money they have paid to W. Coventry for their places may be repaid them back..."
"Of course it's not just me, Pepys. This could crumble the very foundations of English government."
"Indeed Sir Will...Why if everyone in the government who sold a place had to pay the money back, the consequences could be severe."
"Why, it could even lead to demands for all bribes to be returned." Coventry nods.
Choking gasp... "I shall do everything in my power to prevent this wrong, Sir Will!"
The Diary entry for last Friday tells us that it was then Good Friday which means that Shrove Tuesday was in early February. Perhaps the authorities were concerned that the apprentices were trying to create another traditional day (Easter Tuesday) for partying.
"To which the King made a very poor, cold, insipid answer: “Why, why do they go to them, then?” and that was all, and had no mind to go on with the discourse."
More wisdom in those words than Sam appreciates. At what point does one take stock of personal hypocrisies? The comment implies that Charles has. Does Sam - ever?
Bagpipes ... with great pains he must have obtained it, but with pains that the instrument do not deserve at all; for, at the best, it is mighty barbarous musick.
I had to laugh at this one. I tried a bagpipe chanter, and it takes too much practice to tame the instrument, and at the end, it's still a crummy instrument. Modern instruments are so much better, like the clarinet. Still, there's a lot of people who do love the bagpipes with Amazing Grace on top. Sometimes I'll use a bagpipe voice on a synthesizer and play Highland Cathedral. They love it to pieces. A related piece is "Time To Say Goodbye" (Andre Bocelli) on an oboe voice or bagpipe.
Society has not changed much. Bawdy houses exist because of customers so blame the houses, not the customers.
As far as bagpipes go, our local police had a bagpipe-and-drum band that accompanied their mounted exhibition. It was quite the stirring sight but, alas, disbanded due to cost cutting.
I am a fan of bagpipes but appreciate a good slam against the instrument which is, admittedly, of limited but effective use. Our county sheriff's office has a group of pipers primarily for funerals but they also do weddings.
A late colleague of mine, who was a lifelong bagpiper, joked that the definition of a true gentleman is someone who knows how to play the bagpipes . . . and doesn't.
-- "meaning since my speech in Parliament."
Ahh, thanks for that clarification, Samuel. The long-awaited textual proof that you knew posterity might be reading over your shoulder!
"Hollis told you he wished he had your tongue where?...And then he took you and Brouncker to a room and made you drink?"
"Why, yes...Then he brought out his bagpipes...And...Bess..? Say, Bess?!...Where the devil is she gone off with that cleaver to?"
I am wondering if these were the outdoor Scottish bagpipes or the smaller elbow-pumped Northumbrian pipes (much more suited to indoor playing). | 2019-04-22T02:11:12Z | https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1668/03/24/ |
I have been writing about Windows to Go (WTG) since Windows 8 was in beta, and I have not stopped because frankly, I think it truly is an amazing tool. I have never really gone without a WTG key, but there have been times when it has been much more important… namely, when I was working for another company.
When I was running SWMI Consulting Group I always had my personal laptop joined to my corporate domain, and it was easy to simply segregate business and pleasure by maintaining separate profiles. Log off – Log on – all good.
When I was with Microsoft and Rakuten I always on contract; I maintained completely separate laptops for both, but I also provisioned WTG keys for both domains because frankly I got tired of carrying both laptops with me… or even having to make sure I had the right laptop with me when I left the house.
Now that I am with Cistel, I have a corporate laptop which I think I once took to a client’s site, mainly because I prefer my personal device… but I would never think of connecting my personal device to the domain at a client’s site, especially since there are Secret Clearance issues involved. Once again, Windows to Go provided me with the perfect solution. I always have a WTG key provisioned that is joined to the Cistel corporate domain, which I boot into whenever I am at my client’s site… or anywhere else other than my desk at Cistel, where my corporate laptop acts as a very expensive desktop computer.
The list of USB keys that I have used for Windows to Go over the years is long and comprehensive. I started out with the Kingston DT Ultimate and then the Super Talent RC8 (32GB), which were essentially the inexpensive ways to go. Before I joined Rakuten someone gave me a Kingston Data Traveler (also 32GB), which I believe I used for a few weeks before giving to my assistant in Tokyo. You get what you pay for of course… the Kingston now holds music for my car stereo, and the Super Talent went into the garbage at some point because it would not stay connected.
The first device that was truly a professional grade Windows to Go key that I got was the Imation IronKey Workspace. Actually I had (and still have) two of these… the W300 is a spectacular key that is not hardware encrypted, and it still works brilliantly. The W500 is hardware encrypted, which I thought was spectacular, and for a couple of years was why I used this one as my always provisioned Windows to Go device. Unfortunately when Kingston bought Imation they stopped supporting it, and while they say it should still work, I have not been able to provision it with any version of Windows later than Windows 10 v1703.
That leaves Spyrus. I have been wracking my brain for when and where I picked up the Spyrus Worksafe Pro device, and while I think I figured it out, it doesn’t really matter… This is the device that is my current go-to Windows to Go device… and has been since earlier this year when I gave up on the IronKey W500. The Spyrus Worksafe Pro is a spectacular device that is military-grade security, hardware encrypted, and yes… still supported. I have had my Worksafe Pro (64GB) configured on the Cistel domain since April… so about six months. It is solid, reliable, and it goes everywhere I need to go. I love the fact that unlike all of the other keys mentioned, its cap is attached, so impossible to lose. Unless something drastic changes, this is what I will be using for the foreseeable future.
There is one more device that I have used for WTG, and I still carry it wherever I go. The Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3z Flash Drive is unique to this group in that it has a physical keypad, and cannot connect to anything unless that key has been entered. Enter the key incorrectly too many times, and your key self-destructs… that is, the security certificate that decrypts your information on the key does, and the data is useless. I got the Apricorn earlier this year, and I really do like it… it is not actually Windows to Go Certified, but it works nonetheless. However, I decided to use it for other purposes – i.e.: as a portable storage device. As great as it works for WTG is how great it is as portable storage.
I spoke with a representative from Apricorn earlier this year, and they told me that they did not go through the Windows to Go Certification program because it doesn’t seem there is anyone at Microsoft focusing on this anymore. I did not reach out to Microsoft to confirm, but I do like the key, and I use it on an (almost) daily basis… just not for WTG.
Of the brands that were actually certified for Windows to Go by Microsoft, the only one that I never tried was the WD My Passport Enterprise. I actually have a couple of these drives, and have never had an issue with them. I also never thought that they would make an ideal WTG drive, simply because, for me, WTG is something I can carry in my pocket. If I am carrying a laptop bag, I might as well carry a laptop. Yes, I know, there are reasons… the bottom line is I never tried it.
As I finish this piece, I am working on my Spyrus Worksafe Pro WTG key, chiefly because I am sitting at my client site waiting for them to get back to me on something. Over the last few weeks this drive has seen a lot of action. I found a bug in either Windows 10, the Surface Pro 4 firmware, or the key itself that has been driving me batty, and I have been working with the Spyrus engineers to see if we can fix it. After the first ten minutes of my first call with them we figured a work-around, so I am able to continue to work. I was worried because they were not able to reproduce the problem, and it wasn’t until Day 6 that they discovered that another member of their team is having the same problem. Believe me, it is not an issue that I will worry about, because the workaround is a single key stroke… and frankly, it might be that last deterrent before a hacker (who has already stolen the physical key and hacked the twenty-two character complex password to get this far) would get into the environment… or, at least, to the point where he could guess my complex password to get into that environment.
The system that I use most often for my WTG environment is my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 hybrid. Yes, some people love it, others hate it. I’ve been using a Surface Pro since the day it was released in 2012, and I am happy to sacrifice a few minor things for the lightweight portability and flexibility. Unfortunately, one of those ‘minor things’ you have to give up (out of the box) is multiple USB ports… and when your only USB port is taken over by your primary hard drive (as is the case with WTG), you may find yourself in a bit of a pickle… enter my friends at Juiced Systems, who make a device called a Universal USB 3.0 Media Adapter (pictured), which takes that single USB port and makes it two, plus adds both an SD Card and Micro-SD Card adapters. Strictly speaking, I seem to recall that when Microsoft announced WTG, they said specifically that it will only be supported when connected directly to the computer, and not through a USB-hub or docking station. Supported or not, it works, and I am happy with the performance.
What you may notice in the picture is that the Spyrus Worksafe Pro is not only connected to the media adapter, but even at that it is connected by a USB cable. That is because the device itself is wider than most USB devices, and would otherwise prevent connecting the second USB device. Fortunately, the 3” cable is solid and an easy workaround.
Windows to Go is one of the features that I thought was going to be a huge game changer for Windows when Windows 8 was released (see article). Unfortunately, I have not seen as much adoption as I expected; in the six years since it was released, I have encountered a few, but not many, organizations that have adopted it. The excitement and buzz that was felt in the room at MVP Nation, the event where I demonstrated it for the first time at a public event, did not convert into the masses running out to buy compatible devices and evangelizing it to their customers.
So be it. I have, over the course of my career, backed a lot of technologies. Some of them were home runs (Hyper-V, System Center), others… not so much (Windows Phone, Essential Business Server). I know of a lot of features in Windows that are lesser-used, but they leave them in because… well, why not? I hope that Windows To Go does stick around; I do not know what the worldwide adoption is, but I use it, I love it, and frankly, I rely on it. If you use it, I would love to hear from you… how do you use it? What do you use it for? What device (or devices) do you use? | 2019-04-19T02:57:08Z | https://garvis.ca/2018/10/12/windows-to-go-state-of-mitchs-union/ |
As long as the topic of electoral-college reform has come up, what about a district allocation plan? I have not attempted to look at what it would have meant in 2016, but from what we can surmise from past elections, it would have tended to favor the Republican candidate in a close election. Presumably this one, too.
One of the proposals sometimes mooted (by disaffected Democrats) is that electoral votes should be allotted proportionally within each state according to the popular vote. Obviously, since Clinton won the popular vote, she would then win the election!
Not so fast. Let’s run the numbers. There are several different formulae to calculate proportional representation. D’Hondt is quite favorable to big parties; Ste. Laguë is quite favorable to small parties.
Ste. Laguë: Clinton 264, Trump 262, Johnson 10, Stein 1, McMullin 1.
D’Hondt: Clinton 267, Trump 267, Johnson 2, Stein 1, McMullin 1.
In both cases, no one gets a majority. The race would then be thrown into the House, where each state delegation would get one vote. Since Republicans hold majorities in 31 state delegations, Trump would almost certainly be elected president.
Of course, this assumes that no voters changed their votes, but of course small parties would almost certainly get more votes under this system. What that would do is make it very, very hard for either big party to get 270 EVs. Almost every election would be thrown into the House, where the Republicans hold a structural advantage in state delegations due to their popularity in rural America (read: small states). In other words, this reform would make it much harder for the Democrats to win the presidency.
In recent weeks there has been considerable attention to proposals by some Republican politicians to change the allocation of presidential electoral votes from statewide winner-take-all to congressional districts–at least in states where doing so would help Republicans. If this method had been used for all electoral votes in presidential contests from 1968 to 2008, what would its impact have been?
I happen to have district-level presidential votes for each of these elections (but not, yet, for 2012*). The graph below plots both the actual and hypothetical** electoral vote percentages for each party against the popular vote. Red for Republican, blue for Democrat. The solid symbols indicate the actual percentage of electoral votes obtained, while the open symbols indicate the hypothetical allocation by congressional district. The plotted curves are local regression (lowess) curves for each party under each condition (solid for actual, dashed for hypothetical).
The exercise shows how any discussion of shifting to this method of allocation should be talked about for what it is: a GOP-biased proposal. Note that, under the actual allocation, the two curves are close to one another, at least through the part of the graph where it really matters–the relatively close elections. There does appear to be a slight Republican bias in the actual method, as that party’s line crosses over 50% of the electoral votes at almost exactly 50% of the (two-party) popular vote, while the curve for Democrats crosses over at just over 50% of the popular vote. In other words, the data plot predicts the Democrat needs a bigger vote lead to get the electoral vote majority. But the effect appears very small, consistent with what Thomas, King, Gelman, and Katz find.
However, under the hypothetical congressional-district allocation, there is a clear Republican bias. The Republican curve crosses over 50% of the electoral vote well to the left of the 50% popular-vote line, while that for Democrats does not break over 50% of the electoral vote until the party has a clear majority of the popular (two-party) vote.
Only in the case of landslides in the popular vote does the congressional-district method result in greater “proportionality”, as indicated by the flatter curve for congressional-district allocation. Otherwise, there is no sense in which the Republican proposal is “proportional“; rather, it is a partisan power grab. It is a power grab especially when employed only in states where the Republican candidate tends to have a better geographical spread of the votes in the state; it is a power grab even if employed for all electors, as assumed in the hypothetical allocations shown here.
Of course, an objection to any simulation such as this is that we do not know how campaign strategy might have changed under different rules. That is certainly true; if each House district actually would have awarded an electoral vote, campaigns would have targeted the marginal districts, some of which would have swung the other way. In other words, the votes themselves could have been different.
We can get a broad understanding of the opportunities for potentially swinging electoral votes by considering how often a district is marginal in the presidential contest.
There are 4,782 observations.**** There have been 730 the entire time that were decided by less than 5 percentage points (15.26%).
Obviously, 1976 could have been swung by district-focused campaigning: there were many more close districts than the margin (two electors!) that Carter would have won by under a district-based allocation. Not surprisingly, 2000 is another year when districts within the margin of 5% outnumbered the overall electoral-vote margin under the hypothetical allocation. In 2008 there are as many close districts as the electoral-vote margin, and in 1992 the two figures are within a few districts of one another. Looking only at these four elections, we can see which party had the greater number of marginal district wins.
This suggests that Bush’s district-based win in 2000 would have been relatively secure, as he had fewer close races to defend against the Gore campaign’s (hypothetical) district-swing efforts. And there would have been little risk of the Republican swinging the 1992 or 2008 outcome, though the Republican could have made the race closer. But 1976 really would have been a complete toss-up, depending on how various individual district contests turned out.
We might think that the candidate who trails in the popular vote would have more marginal districts to defend, but this is not true in either 1992 or 2000.
All in all, it is clear that congressional-district allocation of electors benefits one party more than the other, and that in a close election, the Republican candidate would be likely to have an advantage. The Republican might even be able to win with less than 49% of the two-party vote.
It is easy to see why Republicans might like a district-based electoral college. It is much harder to see why anyone would think it was a democratic (small or large d) improvement over the current method, bad though that may be.
I am actually somewhat happy that some Republicans have opened the issue of electoral-vote allocation. The country needs this conversation. However, what it needs is not one party pushing a plan that would be blatantly distorting in its favor. It needs the Democrats to engage the conversation, and come out in favor of the National Popular Vote plan, which would remove partisan bias from presidential elections.
* See sixth comment, below.
** As is standard for such proposals, I assume that the winner of the statewide plurality of the popular vote would be awarded two electors, in addition to a number corresponding to the number of individual House districts won. Two small states, Maine and Nebraska, are the only two states to have used such an allocation in at least some of the years analyzed.
*** Andrew Gelman suggests that Romney might have won, given the “huge” distortion of congressional-district allocation.
**** Would be 435*11=4,785, if not for the missing districts.
What is “proportional” about robbing a majority winner of his majority?
The LA Times refers today (Jan. 27) to Republican proposals in several states to replace statewide winner-take-all allocation of presidential electors with “a proportional system”.
These proposals are NOT proportional; they are still winner-take-all, but in each congressional district. As noted elsewhere in the article, had a district plan been in effect in 2012 Mitt Romney might have won 9 of Virginia’s 13 electors.
This means Barack Obama, who won 51.2% of the statewide vote, would have had barely 30% of the electors! This does not meet any standard of proportionality.
Even the House of Representatives, which is obviously allocated based on congressional districts, is not proportional: Democrats won the most House votes in 2012, but Republicans won a majority of seats.
Proportional representation is used by most of the world’s democracies. It produces allocations of political power that mirror how people actually vote. By contrast, the Republicans are proposing a house of mirrors to distort the vote for partisan advantage.
The Wall Street Journal has an article about the progress of the National Popular Vote compact, which in turn is being discussed at FiveThirtyEight (whose name would be rendered quaint if NPV passes).
Given that the most likely ‘split’ scenarios continue to favor the Democratic candidate in the electoral vote, I suppose Democrats are now fairly relieved that Amendment 36 did not pass. | 2019-04-22T11:58:10Z | https://fruitsandvotes.wordpress.com/category/american-political-reform/electoral-college-national-popular-vote/ |
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Olleros ML, Vesin D, Bisig R, Santiago-Raber ML, Schuepbach-Mallepell S, Kollias G., Gaide O, Garcia I. 2012, "Membrane-Bound TNF Induces Protective Immune Responses to M. bovis BCG Infection: Regulation of memTNF and TNF Receptors Comparing Two memTNF Molecules.", PLoS One. , 2012;7(5):e31469. , Epub 2012 May 30. [PubMed].
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Christmas was my first real "big" turkey dinner. It was just me & my 17 pound bird early on Christmas morning as I let my hubby sleep in a little. Of course knowing I was going to be making a turkey dinner, I knew I needed to make stuffing but I had never made bread stuffing before (well, except for from a box and no boxed stuff for the holidays!). I'd made French meat stuffing (called Forr) before but never bread stuffing, so I commenced my search for the perfect recipe a few weeks in advance of Santa's arrival.
A lot of bread stuffing recipes call for sausage. My sister-in-law doesn't like sausage so I immediately threw out any thought of making any recipes that called for such. Then some of them just didn't seem appealing to me for one reason or another. Finally after many hours of research I landed on Paula Deen's website and settled on this version of bread stuffing. Wow! I must say it came out AWESOME. I cooked it in the loaf pan as suggested and cut down the amount of celery. Next time I might cut down the celery a wee bit more as it still seemed like a good amount and my husband's only complaint was that there was a tad too much of it. I also used a good amount of turkey stock in this recipe because it took me awhile to achieve the desired level of moistness I was looking for. (I used the Kitchen Basics brand of turkey stock, very good!). But still a great recipe that I will bring out again most likely next holiday season!
Below that is a recipe I used for carrots (from my friend Pam). One of the many side dishes to our Christmas turkey dinner. Let's face it, a turkey dinner is just as much about the side dishes as it is about the turkey itself! I used baby carrots that I just steamed off in one of those convenient Glad steam microwave bags and followed the rest of the recipe (I upped all amounts since I was making a lot more carrots than the original recipe called for). They came out very tasty and just a little something extra than your run of the mill everyday carrot side dish - which was the goal!
In large stockpot, melt butter. Stir in chopped onions, salt and pepper and cook until onions are translucent.
Add celery and cook over low heat until just tender. Tear loaf of bread into pieces and add to stockpot with onion mixture and toss well until mixed.
Turn off heat and allow to cool, 15 to 20 minutes.
Crack eggs into mixture and use hands to toss well. Make sure the mixture is wet. Add more eggs if needed.
Pack cooled mixture tightly if stuffing a bird. A loaf pan can be used. After packing dressing into loaf pan pierce with a knife and pour chicken or turkey stock over dressing ¼ to ½ cup per loaf pan.
Notes from Paula’s test kitchen: This dressing works well in a loaf pan. We found the dressing much more flavorful if you took the time to separate the oil from the stock before adding to the pan. We also added 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary to kick up the flavor. Serves 6 in loaf pan and 12 for turkey.
Place carrots in a steamer basket; place in a small saucepan over 1" of water. Bring to a boil; cover & steam for 4-6 minutes or until crisp-tender.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Add carrots & toss to coat.
So as I mentioned earlier, we hosted both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Besides French meat pies, and the Mac 'n Cheese, I served a nice spinach salad with homemade dressing that I found on MyRecipes.com and also a savory Herbed Monkey Bread courtesy of Paula Deen's website. Both were great, something different than the usual old bread & salad! And on top of that, they were both pretty easy recipes, which was something I needed with 2 straight days of cooking!!!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 12-cup Bundt pan; set aside.
Roll each individual biscuit into a ball. Dip each piece in the 1 stick of melted butter, then coat with the cheese mixture. Place dough into prepared pan; overlapping will occur. Bake bread, 30 to 35 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil during the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning, if needed.
To prepare dressing, combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in onions.
To prepare greens, combine spinach, salad greens, and tarragon in a large bowl; add the dressing, and toss well. Serve salad immediately.
Those were the exact words out of my husband's mouth upon putting the first bite of this dish in his mouth. I had to agree with him. This dish is also every easy to put together. I actually used pre-cookied frozen shrimp (that I unthawed before cooking obviously) and that made it even easier! Just delicious - no other way to describe it! This will definitely make its way into our meal rotations. Thanks to my friend Lindsay for this one!
Spray a small sauce pan with cooking spray. Add the orzo, stirring frequently until slightly toasted. Pour in the chicken broth. Cook until almost all of the broth is absorbed. Place orzo in a medium bowl. Stir in parsley and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cover and keep warm.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in pan. Add garlic powder to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp, juice, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done. Stir the orzo back into the skillet. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
For my annual cookie exchange I usually serve other foods, depending on when I have it. This year, it being on a Sunday afternoon, I served a luncheon. I made lasagna, sweet & sour chicken, heavenly potatoes, and served that along with some fresh rolls from a local bakery and bakery pizza (it's a Rhode Island thing - pizza you eat cold & cheeseless, it's good, just trust me!). I also made a couple of dips for enjoyment - buffalo chicken dip and a new dip recipe I tried out - White Pizza Dip.
You'll never guess where I found this one - the back of a Lipton dried soup mix box! Hey, I don't care WHERE I find them, as long as they are good that is all that matters to me. This was one was full of flavor and I would definitely make it again!
So I just realized I never updated for my annual Christmas Cookie exchange! It is a tradition I started Christmas 2006 - each of my guests brings a big batch of cookies to share. The ladies each send me their recipes so I can collect them all and make recipe "books" so anyone can head home and make any of the delicious concoctions they just had. Oh and of course everyone gets to take home a huge tray of a variety of cookies to share (or to not share) with their husbands, families, etc.
This was the 4th annual exchange and my friends always continue to amaze me with the delicious goodies they make. Everyone always seems excited to come, hang out with each other, chat and celebrate the season! It is always a good time!
Per usual, I make at least two recipes. I always feel as hostess I should provide more than one cookie. Both recipes were from the Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook, which I'd received from my Aunt as a Christmas gift the year before and both recipes were delicious!!!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 13 x 9 inch baking sheet with nonstick spray and line the bottom with parchment paper and set aside.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars on medium high speed until creamy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla and molasses and mix on medium speed until combined. Add flour mixture on low speed until combined. Stir in white chocolate.
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake until golden on edges, about 35 – 40 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, cut into 2 inch squares. Blondies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week.
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts (about 2 ounces), toasted.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together both flours, salt, and baking soda in bowl.
Using 1 ½ inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper., spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 2 days.
I'm going to attempt to catch up to several weeks of missed blogging. I know I'm going to miss some recipe, somewhere along the way....but here goes nothing!
First off, I hosted both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year for our families. I had 8 people for Christmas Eve, 9 for Christmas Day. It was a lot of work but good times.
Traditionally, on Christmas Eve, the food is pretty low key in my family. French meat pies, and then another stand-alone dish (i.e. not a "meat and potatoes" dish, more of a casserole-ish dish). This year I opted for Mac 'n Cheese. But it wasn't your grandma's mac 'n cheese, this one was kicked up a few notches in the cheese & flavor department. It was quite good! I thank my friend Janine for passing this one along to me!
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place bread pieces in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour butter into the bowl with bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Slowly pour hot milk into flour-butter mixture while whisking. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere or 1 cup pecorino Romano. Set cheese sauce aside.
I really think there is nothing better than having a great meal without slaving over it all day. This past Sunday we had big plans - we had to run and errand, put up our outdoor Christmas lights, and get our tree up and house decorated. I knew I wouldn't be in the mood to put a lot of effort into dinner so I gave this recipe I found on the Crock Pot website a whirl. Delicious!
Add pork chops and brown for 3 minutes on each side.
Remove pork chops and place in slow cooker. Add onion to skillet and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Reduce heat to low. Add garlic, water, ketchup, cider vinegar, soy sauce, mustard, and brown sugar. Stir until the brown sugar is dissolved. Pour sauce over pork chops.
For the love of Pioneer Woman!
I am positive every food blogger knows about Pioneer Woman and venerates her as the top dog of the food blogging world. I've made several of her recipes in the past months or so, just been on a Pioneer Woman kick so I wanted to rave about some of the out-of-this-world goodness I have tried lately.
First up, her Baked Lemon Pasta. Run, don't walk, to your nearest store and pick up the ingredients for this! It was delicious and even better as leftovers, if you could imagine that! I actually cut this recipe down and made it as a side dish to tilapia for dinner one night. I would, however, happily make this as a main dish as filed on her site. Yum, yum, YUM!
Next up, I tried her Crash Hot Potatoes. Hello, easy potato insane goodness! Best part of this recipe? It's insanely versatile and would go with anything. I made this as a side to chicken but had extra so I saved them and used them as breakfast potatoes when I made "brinner"(aka breakfast-for-dinner) later that week.
Of course I caved and got Pioneer Woman's cookbook. I couldn't help myself. I also got a copy for my sister-in-law who is really trying to get more into cooking and baking. The pictures and the great stories make it great for someone just getting started.
So far I've tried two recipes from the cookbook: PW's Potato Skins & Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes. If you have the book I highly recommend both! My husband said the potato skins were better than from a restaurant! Not a bad compliment whatsoever.
Sweet potatoes. Oh how I love thee!
I wish I could tell you why I never liked sweet potatoes up until about 3 or 4 years ago. I just didn't. Maybe it was the color, or some crazy pre-conceived notion from when I tried them when I was younger. Perhaps it was because my mother never made them, not being a sweet potato lover herself. Or even because probably most of the sweet potato recipes I'd tasted were very sweet - maybe TOO sweet?
I can't tell you when or where my love for sweet potatoes began but I can tell you my husband fell in love with them around the same time. So now it's nothing out of the ordinary to have sweet potatoes as a side dish to dinner. The other day I decided I wanted to try something a little different than my usual roasted sweet potatoes or my run of the mill mashed sweet potatoes. That's when I came across this little diddy on MyRecipes.com. I love it because it can be easily put together in very little time with ingredients I already have in the house. And I also love it because it's a little sweet and a little savory. As I mentioned above, I think one thing that had turned me off to sweet potatoes in the past were those uber sweet, marshmallow topped casseroles. I'm more of a sweet and savory sweet potato gal, and so is my hubby.
This recipe was seriously delicious and will make it into my typical rotation for all of the reasons mentioned above Also to save time, I just took out my potato masher instead of putting the potatoes through my food processor. I guess that means my potatoes ended up more mashed and less "whipped" but nonetheless they were out of this world!
Melt margarine in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sweet potatoes; sauté 5 minutes. Add mustard and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are very tender.
Place sweet potato mixture in a food processor; process until smooth.
I've never made it a secret in this blog that I love my crockpot. Nothing better than throwing a bunch of stuff in it and hours later a great meal being all ready for you.
This time of the year I also love soup so when I came across this particular recipe for a crockpot soup I couldn't wait to make it! I am so glad I did, this came out delicious. The only thing I would suggest is using bigger than a 4.0 - 4.5 quart crockpot, I used mine and the soup came nearly to the top of it while cooking, and I feel this made the cook time longer than indicated in the recipe. Next time if I chose to do this full recipe again I would make it in my larger 5.5 quart crockpot instead. But, this was still delicious! I also made bread bowls as mentioned in the recipe. Nothing better than hearty soup & crusty bread! | 2019-04-18T22:18:19Z | http://mrsrodeba.blogspot.com/ |
The Sixth Sense -- Director: Night Shyamalan. Comments: Were you fooled the first time you saw this? I was. The Sixth Sense is an incredibly chilling picture about a young boy's ghostly visions and a psychiatrist's attempt to help him. Willis is shot at the beginning of the picture by a former mental patient. The disturbed young man then kills himself with the same gun he used on his doctor. His career is on the skids, there is no communication between himself and his wife, and he is plagued by guilt and doubt. The reluctant psychotherapist treats a young boy that reminds him of his former patient. Willis looks at this opportunity as a chance to redeem himself. Osmont's outstanding performance as the confused young boy with paranormal powers won him an Academy Award nomination. Not only is the acting superb, but this is also one of the best horror movies of the decade. There are some incredibly creepy set pieces that leave the audience with a general feeling of unease. So I watched it, and I loved it, and now I’m going to ramble a bit. Oh, they certainly take the cast and crew to visit the out-of-the-way hotel where eleven people were murdered 35 years earlier, but while most movies would pull in some excuse to strand them all out there and have the havoc locked into that location, Reincarnation takes a much subtler and more roundabout approach. In fact, the beats of Reincarnation would have felt right at home in an E. .
I’m going through all the illegal sites to see what was newly released. I check up on it. Found an article that the director wrote. I get excited. No more boredom. I’ll let you know how it is. It’s shot in a p. . . type style. Plus there is some legit found footage as well. It was a good production with solid acting and even some twits and turns I didn’t see coming. I know some may like the way it ended but I hated it. I felt like i was going on this entertaining enough journey just to get punched in the face. I don’t know if you could even put this movie up because it’s not pure found footage but if you do decide to take a look, let me know what you thought. I’m still looking for a site that has the f.
The public silence for irr. app. (ext) was never by Waldron's design, as numerous recording deals collapsed, one after the other. The story becomes all the more of conundrum as these misadventures of neglect and ignorance occurred despite Waldron's high-profile collaborations with Nurse With Wound and Stilluppsteypa. If a humble organization like the Helen Scarsdale Agency can have its say, then we speak to remove whatever curses that have haunted irr. app. (ext. in the past and provide the world with the opportunity to revel in the spectacle and the beauty that is Matt Waldron's art. For Waldron, Reich's ideas became the starting point for a metonymic exercise seeking to discover that which is near a signifier and spiral beyond each successive discovery along a complicated aesthetic thread by way of intuition and accident. The album tumbles through a series of sympathetic dronings, field recordings, and performative gestures, continuously traversing the emotional polarities of psychological tension and externalized jouissance. The album begins with a heavily processed flutter of sustained woodwinds accompanied by thunderous rumbles in the distance before dispersing amidst Bernhard Hermann-esque slashings of discordant strings. Later on, the grotesque pathos of a Wurlitzer organ dissolves into a blackened emptiness that envelopes the complex resonant frequencies from Waldron's slow, deliberate performance upon bowls and bells. Despite the incredible depth of his source materials, Waldron displays an uncanny intellect that reflects all of his wandering passages through the lens of a melancholic ambience. Another next pearl in the waters of IDM and ambient. This time the protagonist and member of the Ambiguous project chooses a natural way in which are pulsing organic materials and shamanic spaces in original IDM compositions. Project who can attract with his dominated sound and many magical spaces which often exceed the borders of our world.
In addition, volumes of adipose and muscle tissue shielding internal organs are sometimes too small, because adaptation of organ volumes to ICRP-based organ masses often occurs at the expense of general soft tissues, such as adipose, muscle or unspecified soft tissue. These effects have dosimetric consequences, especially for partial body exposure, such as in x-ray diagnosis, but also for whole body external exposure and for internal exposure. A critical approach informed the interviews with six registered nurses regarding their hospitalised experiences, and why they chose to disclose or withhold their professional occupation. Thematic and deconstructive analysis revealed the subjugation and marginalisation of these nurse- patients, suggesting that nurses do not always view nurse- patients as individuals requiring holistic care, as well as the need for a more balanced sharing of power between these two groups. Therefore, in this study, oocyte changes as one of probable reasons of infertility were investigated. Results Results demonstrated that the duration of the estrous cycle, the diestrus phase and progesterone concentration in the experimental groups increased significantly compared to the control group (p 0. 5. Duration of mating to pregnancy increased and the weight and crown-rump length of newborns decreased in experimental groups significantly (p. Measurement of human face is used in identification of person in Forensic medicine, Plastic surgery, Orthodontics, Archeology, Hair-style design and examination of the differences between races and ethnicities. Facial anthropometry provides an indication of the variations in facial shape in a specified population. Bangladesh harbours many cultures and people of different races because of the colonial rules of the past regimes. Standards based on ethnic or racial data are desirable because these standards reflect the potentially different patterns of craniofacial growth resulting from racial, ethnic and sexual differences. In the above context, the present study was attempted to establish ethnic specific anthropometric data for the Christian Garo adult females of Bangladesh. The study was an observational, cross-sectional and primarily descriptive in nature with some analytical components and it was carried out with a total number of 100 Christian Garo adult females aged between 25-45 years. Three vertical facial dimensions such as facial height from 'trichion' to 'gnathion', nasal length and total vermilion height were measured by photographic method. Though these measurements were taken by photographic method but they were converted into actual size using one of the physically measured variables between two angles of the mouth (chilion to chilion).
Kingsman: The Secret Service 15. 1408 14. Do The Right Thing 13. I knew immediately that I loved it, even though I tried to hold back a bit when first writing about it. I’m again writing this too soon after seeing it, which I don’t really like to do as I like to think about a film first. However, this time I’m not worried about going overboard raving about my love of the movie. I hate to make a statement like that so soon as maybe I’ll change my mind. I think the problem, for me, is that it isn’t much like Star Wars. That film instantly felt like a part of the Star Wars universe. I don’t feel that way about any of the new characters introduced in The Last Jedi. In fact, I thought there were too many new additions and it took time away from further developing existing characters that I actually care about. Well, this is tough to talk about in any sort of way as I have to stay completely spoiler-free. I mean, I’m not Holly Willoughby (yeah, she spoiled something major live on TV. Let’s discuss this movie like crazy in the comments, though. Luckily, she does have plenty to do in this one compared to the last one. Finn has a lot to do but I felt he was quite wasted and far preferred his storyline in The Force Awakens.
Covert aversion or sensitisation Aversive methods are not popular these days, but they may have a place. The protocol described in Chapter 20 gives all the necessary details. 24: SMOKING CESSATION, WEIGHT REDUCTION AND INSOMNIA 303 Covert rehearsal As well as covert rehearsal of self-control methods and covert reinforcement, clients are asked to rehearse in imagination everyday situations in which they would normally light up a cigarette, but no longer do so, and that they are feeling the better for it. Self-hypnosis Many approaches encourage the client to use self-hypnosis regularly, although Holroyd (1980) in her review did not consider this added to treatment efficacy. It may be useful for the client to use short self-hypnosis routines several times in the day (see Ch. 9) for tension reduction, rehearsal of covert reinforcement and affirmations, and so on. Hypnosis tape Especially if you are using a single session approach for immediate cessation, you might consider recording the session for the client's use at home. Non-hypnotic techniques and ploys for smoking cessation Some therapists (e. . Crasilneck 1990) have augmented their approach with a nicotine substitute for smoking - for example, nicotine gum or patches. This should be seen as a 'stepping stone' to complete abstinence. Crasilneck (1990) also advocates the use of a cinnamon stick in the withdrawal period. These are preferable to sucking mints, as this is bad for the teeth and may lead to weight gain. Some practitioners precede the hypnosis session with the technique of 'rapid smoking' in which clients chain-smoke until they experience distaste for the next cigarette. Whatever approach is used, it is always very helpful if clients are able to recruit the assistance of family and friends for their support and understanding, otherwise they may sabotage the clients' best efforts to abstain. The studies reviewed were very mixed in their methodology and many of them incorporated non-hypnotic, cognitive-behavioural methods.
Available on Amazon (for the regular price), the Solo hub has gathered mostly positive reviews with a 4. out of 5 stars score. A bit increased in size with about 20MB or more, compared with last month's ISO snapshot, Arch Linux 2018. 3. 1 also incorporates all the package updates and security patches that have been released to existing users through the official software repositories throughout the entire month of February 2018. So, to keep this story short, if you plan on reinstalling your Arch Linux operating system, and you don't want or don't have the time to upgrade the packages to newer versions available in the repositories, you can now download the Arch Linux 2018. 3. 1 ISO snapshot, write it on a USB flash drive and install the OS. Arch Linux 2018. 3. 1 includes the Linux 4. 5. kernel, but it looks like Linux kernel 4. 5. is already in the Testing repository, so expect to update your OS soon. While this may be the case, other companies like Motorola began to pull out of the smartwatch market or reduce their output.
Total folic acid intake, which is associated with neural tube defect risk reduction, has been found to vary by acculturation factors (i. . language preference, country of origin, or time spent in the United States) among Hispanic women. It is unknown whether this same association is present for blood folate status. The objective of this research was to assess the differences in serum and red blood cell (RBC) folate concentrations between NHW women and Mexican American (MA) women and among MA women by acculturation factors. Cross-sectional data from the 2001-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to investigate how blood folate concentrations differ among NHW or MA women of childbearing age. The impact of folic acid supplement use on blood folate concentrations was also examined. MA women with lower acculturation factors had lower serum and RBC folate concentrations compared with NHW women and to their more acculturated MA counterparts. Consuming a folic acid supplement can minimize these disparities, but MA women, especially lower acculturated MA women, were less likely to report using supplements. Public health efforts to increase blood folate concentrations among MA women should consider acculturation factors when identifying appropriate interventions. The purpose of the present study is to assess the DSM-IV AUD symptom criteria as reported by adolescent and adult drinkers in a single representative sample of the U. . population ages 12 years and older. This design avoids potential confounding due to differences in survey methodology when comparing adolescents and adults from different surveys. Methods A total of 133,231 current drinkers (had at least one drink in the past year) ages 12 years and older were drawn from respondents to the 2002a? 005 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. | 2019-04-20T09:16:33Z | http://vmestesmamoy.su/2133604385.html |
Something that has been planned and worked on for over a decade has been realized. The University of Ottawa Heart Institute Invites you to see the next generation Heart Institute!
Come Explore the Brand New State-of-the-Art Heart Institute and Discover the Next Generation of Cardiac Care.
Friday, March 23 - Tours From 3:00 to 8:00 p.m.
The end of construction on the Life Support Tower is drawing to a close - with official handover from PCL expected on March 10. This is a significant milestone in the UOHI project and they are excited to open their doors on March 23rd to the public to show off this wonderful new facility (see invitation to community above!).
Construction will start in the main lobby of the Institute and at the front entrance March 12. This will mean many disruptions as construction starts on our new front entrance and will continue for about a year or more in various phases. Inside the lobby, the Tim Horton's kiosk will be moving into the cafeteria and operate on a smaller scale. Remodeling of the volunteer desk, washrooms and family waiting rooms will get underway and be completed by the this summer.
Significant work will start on the exterior as we push the lobby out to the sidewalk to create better waiting areas for families and visitors, a new volunteer desk and to reposition the front door. The trees that border Ruskin, west of existing entrance only, will be removed to allow for this expansion. Considerable new landscaping will be introduced as part of the new front entrance including to the east of the current entrance.
The ambulance entrance on the south side of the building will reopen so that ambulances will move off Melrose to unload. This should happen by the end of July.
The new circular entrance and exit for people going to proximate TOH buildings will open late spring - early summer allowing cars to drive through this end of the campus and drop off without parking.
Interior work will begin in the basement of the Institute starting in early April and last until approximately late spring 2019. We do not anticipate that this will cause our neighbors any disruption since this will be interior work.
Due to the spring and summer rainy weather, work will be scheduled for most weekends from August 26, 2017 to the end of February, 2018. Typically the work will be on Saturday, but Sunday's are also possible. Please note, the contractor is aware that noisy work cannot commence before 9 am on site and have confirmed they will respect the City by laws. We are also reminding them to be respectful and not smoke and litter in the neighbourhood.
Please note that the tower crane removal from the UOHI expansion site is scheduled to take place on Saturday January 21, and Sunday January 22, 2017. Unfavourable weather may require rescheduling of the removal.
The removal and dismantling will occur from the east side of the construction site - off Melrose Avenue.
Staff, patients, and families should therefore expect a great amount of trucks/flatbeds and equipment coming in and out of the site.
The UOHI expansion has been increased to 6 floors (5 above ground) from the originally envisioned 5 story annex to allow for future growth. The Committee of Adjustment is being asked to approve a minor variance in height. Twenty five feet of the additional floor's NW corner was built between 18" and 1 metre taller than zoning permits.
Please note, the structure for all 6 floors has been built. No additional height above what can be seen today is being added.
We wanted to update you on some current and upcoming work on the Heart Institute's expansion site, and more specifically on the imminent pouring of concrete for the new tower.
The completion of each level in the tower will consist of concrete delivery, placement and finishing. Typically, the deliveries and placement will begin around 7:00 a.m. (at the earliest) with the finishing going into the evening and/or early morning hours. As some of you may know, once you start a foundation pour..you must finish it in one session. The actual duration will depend on multiple factors including when the delivery/placement begins, the quantity of concrete being placed, and the weather/temperature as it affects the setting of the concrete and finishing. Concrete trucks will likely be making deliveries from both Melrose Avenue and Ruskin Street, depending on the exact location of the pouring and other activities around the construction site at that time.
Below is a projected "slab pour" schedule for Level-1 (ground floor) to Level-6 (penthouse) inclusive. The actual dates (days), noted for each level pour will be confirmed as we get closer to each date.
PCL has advised UOHI of their intent to potentially work this weekend, Saturday February 20, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Unfortunately, the weather conditions from earlier this week have prevented them from giving UOHI three days notice. The Heart Institute has requested that any particular noisy work should not begin before 9 a.m.
Work will be done on the UOHI expansion construction site this weekend, on Saturday February 6, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The PCL team will be drilling dowels into the concrete foundation walls in the mass excavation, and/or drilling dowels down the acclimatized link. Site Prep will be working within the mass excavation and around stair H-F backfilling and hauling away material.
The Heart Institute has requested that particular noisy work should not begin before 9 a.m.
Work is expected to be done this weekend on Saturday Jan 30, from 7 am to 5 pm.
Please be advised that we have received 'tentative' notice that the contractor (PCL) may be working this weekend on Saturday, January 23rd, 2016. The notice is weather dependent - as it will be determined if the 'cold' weather has affected their scheduled construction tasks of this week. As soon as we receive final notice, either way, we will advise all parties accordingly and hopefully a posting will be made on the UOHI Expansion site.
Jan 9: There will be noisy work done on Saturday January 9th to remove and demolish the existing concrete parkade slab (former parking garage) at Building J (TOH - Ambulatory Care) including the breaking of concrete. As well, there will be footing preparation to the area of the New Building. Excavation will include some breaking of rock.
Jan 11-14: Roadcut to Ruskin Street. Traffic will be one-way for the duration of the work. The contractor will be providing flagmen to monitor and control the traffic flow, including pedestrians. The road cut on Ruskin Street is required so the new site services (sanitary & storm) can be connected to the existing services.
Ruskin will be one way for these 2 days while the crews make a road cut on Ruskin Street to connect new fire hydrant to the existing water service. Details in the attached.
They have noted that this work will be limited to activities that will not be noisy. Primarily measuring and prepping of protection from the entrance doors & windows, as well minor work on the roof level where the canopy meets the existing building.
This preparatory work is necessitated by the scheduled removal and demolition of the existing canopy on Monday and Tuesday, November 23rd & 24th respectively.
The Heart Institute held a second Public Information session and provided residents with updates on the expansion construction project. We learned that the timetable for excavation has moved up and will start late Sept/early October and it will last 4-5 mos. The contractor will ensure streets are swept regularly. We learned the route the trucks will take to remove the dirt (empty trucks arrive via Parkdale, Ruskin and Melrose..pickup dirt, then back onto Melrose and out via Carling). The good news is that there will be NO blasting. Concrete is expected to be poured before Christmas and there may be evenings that the pour has to continue into the early evening as once a pour starts, it must complete the same day. to pickup We also learned that because of the new location for the temporary ambulance entry, the east side of Melrose will be made a "No Stopping" zone for approximately 2.5 to 3 years.
Here is a copy of the presentation with much more information. As always, you can also check the Heart Institute's expansion website fore more information HERE. For additional information and questions related to the expansion, you can also contact [email protected].
Melrose Avenue will be closed (one way local traffic only will be maintained) on March 31, 2015, to extend a new fire hydrant lead (piping) from the west side of Melrose Avenue to an existing water main located on the east side of Melrose Avenue. The complete road cut and reinstatement of road will be in conformance with permits issued by the City.
During only a short period of time, at both the commencement of the excavation and completion of the backfilling of the road cut, traffic will be closed in both directions locally at the road cut. At all times, residents will have unimpeded access to their respective laneways.
Also, please note, that a portion of the existing west side of the Melrose Avenue sidewalk will be closed between March 30, 2015 and April 9, 2015. This is to allow for the removal of the existing sidewalk and replacement with a new depressed concrete curb/sidewalk.
The Heart Institute will be undertaking some minor work relative to the final completion of the MRI installation project starting March 20th. The work will be internal to the building so they expect there will be minimal impact outside of the Heart Institute. They will, however, need to provide contractor access to the MRI from the entrance on Melrose (the temporary "blue" door) to avoid contractors walking through sterile Operating Room and ICU areas. There will be some supplies delivered, but the main use of the door will be for the contractor to enter/exit the building.
The first part of the project will occur between March 20th and April 2nd. There will be weekend work.
The second part of the project will occur across two weekends as it involves shutting down the power to some of our procedure rooms. We are anticipating the work to happen April 10 - 12 and April 17 - 19.
Once all of the work is complete, the original glass door on the east side of the building will be reinstated.
On Jan 13, 2015, The University of Ottawa Heart Institute held a Public Information Meeting regarding the upcoming Heart Institute Expansion construction project. Over 50 residents attended.
The Heart Institute had on hand their project lead as well as a representative from the construction firm, Jeff Leiper-our City Councillor and Yasir Naqvi -our Ottawa Centre MPP . The meeting reviewed the project, timelines, local impacts and provided responses to our questions. Minutes from the meeting can be found HERE.
Here is a picture of the project timelines as well as a brief summary of upcoming construction with respect to Melrose Avenue for Phase 1 of the expansion project, for the period of January 2015 to May 2015 inclusive.
This summer, the Ottawa Heart Institute is installing a new Cardiac MRI, the first in the Region. Unfortunately that will mean some inconveniences for nearby residents.
In late April a generator and a garbage bin were established in two small fenced in areas near the Melrose ambulance entrance. The contractor will be restoring the greenspace back to its original condition once the project is completed. On May 28th, construction plans were modified as the demolition work was interrupting surgery. Unfortunately, that means that some of this very loud work must now happen on the weekend, impacting local residents even further.
Residents and CHNA have brought forward our concerns regarding noise as well as the abuse of the landscaping by both equipment and the continued parking by contractors on greenspaces and the littering habitually seen by staff. Attached is the response provided by the Heart Institute providing more details on what is being done, why, and what we can expect going forward.
As much as possible, the contractor is to make deliveries to the Ruskin Avenue loading dock entrance prior to 7:00 am and none of these pre-7:00 am deliveries will use Melrose Avenue for access. Any deliveries that must use Melrose will be made during regular business hours.
Concrete will be poured this Monday, July 21, starting at 7 a.m. Unloading will be done from the ambulance entrance. There will be 3 trucks used, on a staggered schedule. A truck may be parked on Melrose for a short time while it waits it's turn to unload.
The City intends to approve a lay-by (ie a road widening) on the south side of Ruskin, West of Melrose. The intent is to provide a patient drop off zone for the Heart Institute as part of their expansion. Attached is a picture of the current proposal as well as the link to the city's notice. | 2019-04-19T15:14:27Z | http://www.chnaottawa.ca/ottawa-heart-institute-expansion.html |
Koenigsegg Agera is a stunning and expensive Swedish car named after the verb “to act”. Koenigsegg Agera is celebrating the company’s 15th anniversary. The Koenigsegg Agera features a V8 910 horse power engine that can reach 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3 seconds or less. Agera is a successor to the Koenigsegg CCX/CCXR.
Although sharing the same values and philosophies as previous Koenigsegg models, the Agera takes the Koenigsegg experience to a completely new level.
Similar to all previous Koenigsegg hypercars, the new Agera is the brainchild of Christian von Koenigsegg. The Koenigsegg Agera has come to life in order to set new benchmarks for hypercars when it comes to control, handling, speed, comfort, practicality and sheer driving enjoyment, while combining these features with clean, efficient and beautiful design.
The name Agera set the tone for the new project. Agera means “to take action” in Swedish. It is also short for the ancient Greek word Ageratos which means “ageless”. These two are very suitable meanings, for the car building the future of Koenigsegg.
The Koenigsegg Agera is designed with the minimalistic “less is more” philosophy in mind. This philosophy means that the shape of the car has to be purely functional with no added features except those purely needed to meet regulation, added safety, ergonomics, practicality and aerodynamics. We believe that if this philosophy is followed, the car will also be beautiful as it is purely purposeful. A good analogy is the evolution of a dolphin that has had to meet similar criteria in order to reach their present configuration through the evolution of nature.
The Agera is proportionate, compact and muscular. Its timeless, efficient and distinctive shape is truly a testament to time. The original shape and concept of the Koenigsegg CC, created 15 years ago, is still valid, fresh and highly competitive today. The Agera manage to stay true to the original philosophy, shape and size of the original CC. At the same time, it looks, feels and performs like something belonging to the future.
Koenigsegg differs from other low volume hypercar manufacturers by the fact that Koenigsegg develops and produces its own engine in-house. This is, by most observers and competitors, deemed as more or less impossible or way too expensive to even consider.
However, year after year Koenigsegg has proved them wrong. Not only are the engines developed in-house, they also have class leading characteristics in many important areas. To mention a few: Lightest and most compact hypercar engine in the world, weighing only 197 kg complete with flywheel, clutch, dry sump system, Inconel exhaust manifold with turbo. The low engine weight is quite astonishing, as the Agera engine also has class leading power and torque characteristics. To give an example, the Koenigsegg 5 litre V8 bi-turbo engine develops more 940 hp on 95 octane regular fuel. The Agera has over 1000 Nm of torque from 2500 rpm and 1100 nm from 3500 to 6000 rpm, showing great flexibility.
These are extraordinary numbers considering the size and reliability of the engine and they are obtained without forsaking drivability or flexibility. This is truly downsizing, without drawbacks. These characteristics make it one of the most flexible and easy to use hypercar engines in the world.
To give a hint of how different the Koenigsegg Agera engine is compared to other production car engines, it is easy to look at the BMEP value (Brake Mean Effective Pressure) in the cylinders during maximum power output. The best production diesel and petrol engines from other leading manufacturers have a maximum BMEP of around 22 bar.
The Koenigsegg engines also meet all the required emission standards in the world. This is nothing short of astounding, given their size and power output.
Furthermore no other production engine in the world, regardless of car type, has the same amount of power potential compared to its EU cycle average CO2 emission(310g of CO2) or cycle fuel consumption( 14,7 litre per 100 km / 16MPG). However, what makes Koenigsegg most proud is how drivable, smooth, responsive, torquey and reliable the Agera engine is – especially given its extreme performance.
The Agera engine complies with the most stringent environmental regulations in the world, EU5 and LEV2, and delivers a significant power increase compared to previous Koenigsegg engines.
Fuel consumption, and thus CO2 emissions, has been lowered. This is an astonishing feat for a 900+ hp hypercar. Turbo response is of vital importance when it comes to driving pleasure and the possibility to control massive amounts of power. Koenigsegg has coupled the latest generation turbo technology with patent pending and proprietary response/back pressure reduction system, invented by Christian von Koenigsegg to really give the Agera engine a competitive edge when combining maximum power while complying with the strictest emission regulations in the world.
Furthermore the large air to air intercooler on the left side of the engine exchanges enormous amounts of fresh air, eliminating the need for water in the intercooling system, thereby saving weight and avoiding heat soak issues, during extended performance driving.
Following the Koenigsegg tradition the engine has a dry sump lubrication in order to lower the engine as far as possible in the chassis and have full control of the crankcase oil even given the massive g-forces involved.
The large 80-litre fuel tank ensures long driving range, due to the relatively low average consumption. The Agera follows the previous generation Koenigsegg and has its fuel tank well protected, built-in centrally into the carbon fibre monocoque chassis. Since the fuel is centrally placed in the car, the weight distribution does not change regardless if the tank is full or empty. Thanks to the safe fuel tank position, the challenging US high-speed rear impact test, was passed at first trial.
The Koenigsegg Agera has four intelligent return-less fuel pumps in order to deliver the correct amount of fuel at any given time. This reduces the energy needed to operate the fuel pumps and eliminates the waste of excessive fuel transport.
The Inconel/Titanium patent pending exhaust system is key in order for the Agera to achieve its remarkable emission and power levels. The exhaust system uses a completely new principle created by Christian von Koenigsegg. The new technology drastically reduces back pressure and gives earlier catalytic light off than any other turbo exhaust system. At the same time the acoustics of the exhaust has been examined carefully in order to maintain the typical Koenigsegg thunderous growl.
The newly developed 7 speed gearbox for the Agera features a world’s first dual clutch system for a single input shaft gearbox.
In order to keep the gearbox light, compact strong and reliable, Koenigsegg together with Cima chose to develop a new gearbox type that enables the use of a combination of a dry and wet clutch system, in order to get class leading shift times. First there is the normal twin disc dry clutch that operates in a traditional fashion. Then there is a hydraulically operated wet clutch-brake inside the gearbox that is engaged during each up shift in order to slow down the input shaft, simultaneously as the gears are changed and prior to the normal synchronisation. This cuts the synchronisation time by two thirds, as the gear is pre-synchronized. The result is a very sporty, smooth and extremely fast shift. Compared to a traditional DCT system, this gearbox is lighter, smaller, has less moving parts and gives a more distinct shift feel, with almost no interruption to the acceleration. Furthermore, the electro hydraulic shift mechanism actuates the shift forks directly with no intermediate mechanical parts. This brings down the inertia of the shift mechanism and any potential slack is minimized since the shortest possible path of engagement is achieved. The entire transmission weighs only 81 kg, which is by far the lightest 7 speed hypercar transmission in the world. The transmission can also be set in full auto mode.
The small size and very low weight, considering the longitudinal 7 speed layout, made it possible to maintain the shortest in class rear overhang, and thereby excellent central mass position and neutral behaviour in extreme conditions.
The Koenigsegg Electronic Differential (E-Diff) is lighter and faster, compared to traditional E-Diff solutions. The difference lies in the fact that Koenigsegg has retained a limited slip differential with plates and ramps with a built-in amount of analogue limited slip functionality. This means that the active hydraulic element can be smaller, more compact and therefore faster and lighter compared to traditional E-Diff solutions. The analogue part of the functionality also has zero processing time as it reacts directly. The analogue system is supplemented by a digital active system.
This way Koenigsegg has obtained one of the lightest and fastest E-Diff solution on the market. Furthermore the Koenigsegg developed algorithms that control the E-Diff, takes input from; throttle angle, g-force, steering wheel angle, yaw angle, car speed, engine rpm, selected gear, plus weather condition.
The way all this data is analysed and how the car reacts to this data also makes the Koenigsegg E-Diff unique and that makes the Agera very safe on the limit and improves performance and feel.
The Koenigsegg E-diff works in harmony with the new traction control system that is the fastest reacting in the industry, with auto adapt functionality to different road conditions and driving styles as well as several manual settings.
The Koenigsegg Agera´s unique carbon fibre monocoque chassis is designed to achieve its maximum stiffness without a roof, as the roof is detachable and stow-able in the front of the car. This in itself is an unusual feature for such a compact hypercar.
The Koenigsegg carbon monocoque chassis has an astonishing stiffness of 65.000 Nm/deg and only weighs 70 kg including the integrated fuel tanks.
The result of constant weight saving exercises is a dry weight of only 1330 kg making the Koenigsegg Agera the lightest fully homologated hypercar presently in production.
The suspension geometry of the Agera was designed to further enhance the award winning behaviour of the CCX. The Agera track is wider at the front compared to the rear of the car, compensating for the narrower front tires and giving the car a square stance of 2 meters in both the front and the rear.
In typical Koenigsegg tradition, the Agera has the longest wishbones of all hypercars presently in production. Long wishbones have several advantages – for example: less track width deviation during wheel movement or cornering and improved geometry over a longer wheel stroke. This is one of the reason why F1 cars have very long wishbones. The wishbones are produced from seamless aeronautical chrome-molybdenum tubing, in order to minimise weight in combination with maximum strength and stiffness.
The extremely strong and light uprights are machined from 7075-T6 aeronautical grade aluminium, and contains 240 mm SKF dual angle contact bearings, normally only found on Lemans prototype cars. The very large bearings contribute to the overall stiffness of the wheel assembly and therefore give better control, handling and comfort. The uprights have large 4.5″ diameter carbon fibre cooling ducts for the brake discs in order to maximise brake cooling.
The Agera is equipped with the absolutely latest ABS technology and is based upon, a very lightweight and performance oriented, racing ABS system. The system makes it possible for the ABS function to react to differently depending on performance mode. Furthermore the ABS braking system operates on massive 392×36 mm and 380×34 mm ventilated and drilled ceramic discs, for unparalleled braking performance and zero fade regardless of track or road condition.
Koenigsegg continued its long standing partnership with Michelin in the tire development for the Agera. Hence the Agera features specially developed, latest generation Michelin Super sport tires.
Due to the tires, advanced suspension and aerodynamics, the Agera achieves lateral accelerations up to 1.6 g in dry conditions with improved handling in wet.
The new tires were developed for the Koenigsegg Agera through testing at the Michelin Ladoux test centre in France.
The tires fitted to the Agera are rated for speeds over 420 km/h making it the highest top speed rated tire in the world, whilst offering cup tire levels of grip and outstanding wet performance , all in one package.
The Koenigsegg VGR wheels are not only for looks. They are real air turbines, increasing the down force of the car by measurable amounts and improve brake cooling. All four wheels are individual so that turbine blades always face the correct direction for extraction. Given that the offset and width is different front to rear, all four wheels have their unique design. The VGR wheels are forged and then fully machined to the final shape. Due to the forging and machining process all excess material has been removed minimising weight, whilst displaying outstanding levels of stiffness.
The Aerodynamics of the Agera has been honed and perfected over many years in CFD and wind tunnel in order ensure best possible outcome. Even with the massive dynamic rear wing, the drag of the Agera is only Cd 0.33, in high speed mode and Cd 0.37 in track mode. Even though the Agera is a full 2 meters wide, it only has a frontal area of 1.87 m². This results in a Cd*A value of only 0.62 and thus a theoretical top speed of around 440 km/h (Agera R), given the gear ratio and power available. All Agera models are limited to 375 km/h in standard mode, but can be unlocked by Koenigsegg for shorter periods of time, if all necessary conditions are met, such as road condition, tire wear, service level of car etc. The car is set in full speed mode by unlocking the top speed mode in the Infotainment system.
The two large side air intakes greatly add to the Agera´s high speed stability as they ensure that the pressure point of the car is behind the mass centre of the car. This makes the car more directionally stable with increasing speed. This is a crucial safety feature when it comes to driving at extreme speeds. Great care has been taken that the car also is stable under high speed braking. The front splitter and rear diffuser has been designed and optimized with this in mind.
For maximum performance and safety it is important that the down force stays as constant as possible even in yaw situations. Therefore the rear diffuser was developed and evaluated specifically to give substantial down force even at wide yaw angles.
The interior of the Koenigsegg Agera is like no other car. No other materials than those deemed worthy by Koenigsegg are allowed in the interior. This means that what you get to touch and see inside the Agera is only aluminium, carbon fibre, precious metals, alcantara and aniline leather. All switch gear is highly bespoke and features wonderfully unique solutions, as for example the Koenigsegg Ghost light, that make solid aluminium buttons gleam with LED powered symbols appearing out of nowhere. A world first in the car industry. The illumination shines through the billet aluminium buttons and surfaces by way of almost invisible micro holes, creating excellent visibility of the symbols as well as a very clean and stylish appearance, framed by an all-new carbon fibre centre console and tunnel assembly.
The new super light full carbon airbag steering wheel incorporates many vital functions directly in front of the driver. Similarly to the CCX, the shifting paddles are mounted directly on the steering wheel to enable shifting without taking your hands off the steering wheel during hard cornering.
The central high-definition touch screen infotainment system controls the audio functions, satellite navigation, Bluetooth phone and secondary functions such as performance meters and car telemetrical data.
The very comfortable and optionally heated carbon seats are great for long journeys but also give excellent lateral support when needed.
The Interior of the Koenigsegg Ageraa is truly minimalistic and efficient in the purest Swedish sense. Nothing in the interior is there only to add visual drama; instead everything is there for a functional purpose. According to Koenigsegg, this is the essence of beauty, as it follows a less is more philosophy that embodies every engineering aspect of the Agera.
The CI is specifically developed for the Agera by Koenigsegg. It features a unique and configurable interface that can be adapted to driver specific demands. As it is connected to the cars CAN bus system it freely communicates with the infotainment screen and all other functions in the car.
By pushing the left stalk button, different priority graphics can be chosen, depending on need. For example in track driving mode, there is a focus on; RPM, pressures, temperatures, lap times, and g-forces. Compared to GT mode, where: car speed, auto shift, satnav, power, music etc is prioritized.
The luggage space is something Koenigsegg is very proud of. It is the largest luggage compartment in the hypercar world, with a space of over 120 litres. It is so well shaped that it actually can fit the one piece Agera roof/hardtop, meaning the driver can choose to go open or closed at any given time during a longer trip. Given the fact that Koenigsegg has engineered the roof to fit the car, it is actually also possible fit a set of golf clubs. This is unheard of in the hypercar world. Given the high comfort level and the large luggage space, the Agera can truly been seen as one of the first GT hypercars.
Not only does Koenigsegg develop their own engines, but also many of the electronic control units, CAN protocols, and management strategies are developed in-house. If you would look closely at many of the circuit boards in the car, inside the control units, you will find the name Koenigsegg in scripted directly on the circuit boards.
Of course there is no self fulfilling need to develop so many critical items in-house, unless it gives the car a competitive edge doing so. This is actually the main reason for Koenigsegg doing it. This, for example, gave Koenigsegg the possibility to pioneer the CCXR and Agera R – the two first environmentally conscious hypercars in the world.
An example of this development is In the Semiconductor Electric Control Central. The ECC controls most of the electronic functions in the car. Most physical fuses or relays have been replaced by software controlled semiconductors which are configurable in function and enable monitoring all power and threshold values. The ECC communicates via CAN with the infotainment system in order to display necessary information to the driver. For example if a door is open, a lamp is broken, or not all roof locks are tight in place, information will appear on the instruments as all electrical functions are controlled and monitored by the ECC.
The Koenigsegg Agera is the first combustion engine powered production car in the world, with an intelligent Lithium Iron battery as standard equipment. First of all, this battery type saves significant weight and is more compact compared to traditional led acid batteries. Secondly Lithium Iron cells cannot reach thermal runway, unlike Li-ion batteries, which makes them very safe for automotive use.
Furthermore, the ILB carries many intelligent functions, developed by Koenigsegg together with the battery supplier. hypercars tend to be parked long periods of time and therefore their batteries can be drained if the car is not hooked up to a trickle charger. Even though all Koenigsegg cars come as standard with a trickle charger it is not always easy to remember, or even possible depending on location, to use it. It is also possible that a driver sometime forgets to turn off all consumers, like parking lights etc causing early battery drainage.
Koenigsegg has therefore implemented a minimum current protection mode, to make the above issues something of the past. The new ILB therefore has an intelligent circuit built into it, so if the car is left on or standing for a long time, the battery shuts down when the voltage drops below a certain threshold. The shut down does not occur sooner than a traditional battery would have been left depleted and useless, so it does not take away any expected battery capacity. Then, if any essential buttons or a door knob is touched, the battery kicks back into life for 5 minutes and has enough power to operate all the functionalities in the car and start the engine and thereby giving charge back to the battery.
Given this strategy, battery concerns are a thing of the past. No matter of the behaviour of the car user. To prove a point you can leave the car with the high beam on and the stereo at full blast in the evening, without the engine running. Wake up in the morning, open the car door, start the engine and drive away. Alternatively, leave the car for a couple of months, open the door, start the car and drive away. | 2019-04-21T16:42:38Z | https://www.topexpensivecar.com/koenigsegg/koenigsegg-agera |
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