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201704
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I love writing. It’s fun. It’s cathartic. And it’s turning me into a hunchback! Sitting at my desk (more recently on my bed because my landlord gave me a desk only suitable for a six year old) for long periods every day is really taking its toll on my posture.
And that can lead to some serious trouble. A bad posture is not just ugly to behold. It’s also uncomfortable, and hard on the body, resulting in all kinds of health problems. It makes your joints ache, messes up your breathing, forces your heart to work harder, and even causes you to fall more easily.
That’s why this year I decided to finally listen to my mom, who’s always screaming at me to sit upright and stop crossing my legs, and take my posture seriously. Here’s what I’m doing to improve it:
1. Don’t slouch!
For me, this is the most difficult tip to follow. I love to slouch, and, after years of working at my desk, it’s sadly become natural. And that’s bad, because in the long term, slouching weakens the muscles in our chest and upper back. So, when you find yourself slouching, correct your posture and sit upright. I hear this is a lot easier to do if you have an ergonomic chair and a desk that’s not too low. As soon as I find a more permanent place to live (l moved three times last year, and looks like I’ll have to do it again in a few months *sighs*), I’ll be investing in them too.
2. Do The Shoulder Rolls
When you spend lots of time sitting down writing, like I do, you start to assume a hunched position. That’s the worst. This bad posture makes our heart work harder, and difficult for us to breathe deeply. But, there’s a pretty fun solution: shoulder rolls! You already know how to do them, but I’ll say it anyway: roll your shoulders down and back, and then pull your elbows back towards your back. This relaxes tightened muscles, helping your shoulders maintain their natural alignment.
3. Don’t cross your legs
As soon as I sit down, I cross my legs at the knees. It’s so comfortable (and sexy!). But, it’s also bad for my body. It puts a lot of stress on hip joints , and causes pooling of the blood in the legs, which can lead to inflammation. Crossing your legs at the ankle is bad too. The only correct way to sit is also the most annoying : feet firmly planted on the ground. But, every now and then, move them. It improves blood circulation.
4. Move around a lot
When I start to write, I can get lost in a world of my own for hours. As fun as that is, that’ bad for my posture too. Every few hours, I have to remind myself to take small breaks and go for a walk, or do some stretching at home. I hate stretching, but it must be done. It prevents your hip flexor muscles from becoming too thin. When that happens, your body tilts forward, which is both unsightly and painful.
5. Adjust your office
You may not be able to change your office, but you can make it more comfortable. Apart from a high desk and ergonomic chair (which has to be high, so the pressure is put on the chair and not your lower back), make sure your computer is level with your eyes. A lumbar pillow is another good investment. It properly supports your spine so it’s easier to keep it straight. If you’re a masochist, you can also invest in a standing chair. That way, you won’t be doing much slouching for sure.
Do you need to improve your posture too? If so, what are you doing about it?
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Cost behavior is the response of costs to changes in production or sales volume. Others define it as the changes in costs as changes in output occur. Costs react to output in many different ways: Fixed costs, variable costs, and mixed costs. The range of output or sales over which cost behavior patterns remain unchanged is called the
relevant range. Fixed costs: Fixed costs are constant in total over the relevant range. Fixed costs per unit portray the inverse relationship between fixed costs and increases in production. As production increases, total fixed costs stay the same within the relevant range, but since we are dividing a constant numerator [total fixed costs] by a progressively larger denominator [total production or sales], the resulting costs per unit become smaller and smaller. Fixed costs include things like rent, insurance premiums, salaries, depreciation and property taxes. Although numerous activities are performed within a manufacturing facility we want to analyze a single product. Notice that total fixed cost does not depend on the output measure. It is the same no matter what the output is. For example, a lease of a machine in Santre Corp. is $65,000 if it produces zero units of a given product or if it produces 250,000 units. However the impact as cost behavior is that the unit cost decreases as the number of units increases. For example:
Lease of Machines (a) Number of Units Produced (b) $60,000 0 N/A 60,000 60,000 1,00 60,000 120,000 0.50 60,000 180,000 0.33 60,000 240,000 0.25 Variable costs:Variable costs vary in total with volume, but are constant per unit within the relevant range. Total variable costs for a given situation are equal to the number of units multiplied by the variable cost per unit. Variable costs include things like labor and materials. Some overhead [indirect costs] such as indirect labor, supplies and some utilities are also variable. Variable costs do change as output changes. A variable costis a cost that, in total, varies in direct proportion to changes in output. It means that a variable cost goes up as output goes up and it goes down as output goes down.
For example, if a manufacturing facility, electricity is consumed only if output is produced, and as more output is produced, more power is used. The total variable cost is determined by multiplying the variable cost per unit by the number of units. If zero units are produced, variable costs are zero too. As the number of units produced increases, the total cost variable increases.
Mixed costs:A mixed costs contains both fixed and variable components. A typical example of mixed costs is the compensation of sales representatives. They are often paid a salary plus a commission on sales.
Managerial accounting helps organization achieve efficiency by streamlining processes and planning output that optimizes cost behavior on behalf of the organization.
View This Article in Regular Layout
Content copyright © 2013 by Consuelo Herrera, CAMS, CFE. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Consuelo Herrera, CAMS, CFE. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Editor Wanted for details.
This content was written by Consuelo Herrera, CAMS, CFE. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Editor Wanted for details.
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Website copyright © 2016 Minerva WebWorks LLC. All rights reserved.
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Here's the latest article from the Herbs site at BellaOnline.com.
Herbal Cleaning Recipes Did you know that the average home harbors more than 150 chemicals that are alleged to contribute to respiratory disorders, cancer, birth defects, psychological disorders, etc.? By learning what hazards lurk in the products you use, you can find out how herbs can clean without worries. http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art23610.asp Please visit herbs.bellaonline.com for even more great content about Herbs. To participate in free, fun online discussions, this site has a community forum all about Herbs located here - http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=56 I hope to hear from you sometime soon, either in the forum or in response to this email message. I thrive on your feedback! Have fun passing this message along to family and friends, because we all love free knowledge! Bettina Thomas-Smith, Herbs Editor http://herbs.bellaonline.com One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com
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For the last six months, Ojibwe-language radio ads providing information on the Affordable Care Act have featured a voice that would be familiar to many in the Bemidji community.
Dr. Anton Treuer, executive director of Bemidji State University’s American Indian Resource Center, has worked in conjunction with Kauffman and Associates, Inc., a Native American-owned and woman-owned small business, to develop radio ads in Ojibwe with information about accessing services available through the Affordable Care Act.
The public service announcements, produced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, are part of a comprehensive national outreach and education program to provide information about the act to American Indian and Alaskan native peoples.
“This American Indian- and Alaska Native-specific media outreach is intended to increase awareness and understanding of new, free or low-cost options offered through the insurance marketplace,” said Jo Ann Kauffman, Kauffman and Associates president.
Treuer, a nationally recognized expert in the Ojibwe language, was approached by Kauffman and Associates and asked to participate in the campaign. Treuer agreed and partnered with Anna Gibbs, a tribal elder from the Red Lake band of Chippewa in Red Lake, Minn., to provide on-air voices for the campaign’s six Ojibwe-language ads.
“There’s an awareness that there are actually quite a few indigenous people who wouldn’t access the information if it wasn’t presented in an indigenous language,” Treuer said. “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wanted to make enrollment material available to people in the languages they speak every day.”
Each month during the ongoing year-long campaign, Treuer and Gibbs translate English-language scripts into Ojibwe. After their translations are verified by third-party reviewers, the pair recorded the spots in Bemidji’s KBXE Radio studios (pictured, right).
In addition to English and Ojibwe, other groups around the country recorded each radio ad in Yupik, Inupiat, Lakota and Navajo. The ads have aired on dozens of tribal radio stations across the country. They can be heard on a variety of nationally syndicated networks and are available online.
Treuer thinks this project can help encourage participation in the Affordable Care Act among a population of people who need health coverage and might otherwise have avoided information about the program.
“In this part of Ojibwe country, the number of mono-lingual Ojibwe speakers is small,” Treuer said. “But there are other parts of Ojibwe country where it’s a different story. And a lot of the people in the older generation are bi-lingual, but might tune this information out if it were presented in English.”
For Treuer, the project not only supports the work he has done at BSU to revitalize the Ojibwe language, but also reinforces the language’s ability to be a part of everyday life.
“The language should be an everyday language,” he said. “It shouldn’t just be used for prayer or for academic work. It should be for everything. So I’m glad to see this. It’s helpful to have a healthy, living language.”
Contact • Dr. Anton Treuer, executive director, American Indian Resource Center; (218) 755-2032 • Kelly Bundy, project manager, Kauffman & Associates, Inc.; (509) 789-2693, Kelly.Bundy@kauffmaninc.com • Affordable Care Act options for American Indians and Alaska natives: (800) 318-2596
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By India Powell
Cultivating an appreciation for farming doesn't necessarily mean you have to love getting dirty. That's something Mary Blackmon learned early in life on her family's land. However, growing up on the family farm in Arkansas gave her a deep and lasting passion for the place and the way of life.
In 2008, after her mother passed away, Blackmon and her younger brother, Douglas, were faced with the decision of what to do with the family farm. "The idea of letting the farm go was just too much. It felt like I was letting my family go, and I just couldn't do that."
So she switched from a life in Los Angeles and New York City running her successful internet-based business—the multi-million dollar national spa and wellness industry website Spa-Addicts.com—to running that family farm in Arkansas.
"I was immersed in whipping my farm back into shape and, as a result, I saw farming through a whole new perspective as a participating adult. I soon had a newfound appreciation and heightened respect for farmers and farming overall. Trust me, it's not for the faint of heart."
Going All In
The spark of Blackmon's love for farm life was instantly rekindled and the seeds of inspiration were planted for her current project, a new kind of digital venture based in Atlanta: Farm Star Living.
This sudden immersion was a 180-degree change from the life she had established. Now, eight years later, she says her life is "a complete integration" of her two worlds. Through Farm Star Living's online resource and directory, Blackmon inspires people across the country to bring farming into their lives in perpetually exciting and perspective-expanding ways.
"I think that where our food comes from has been taken for granted by so many of us," Blackmon says. "The joke is that when you ask children where a type of food comes from, they say 'the grocery store'! But we all have to eat, and we all need farmers to make that happen. There actually could be a shortage of farmers in the near future, as the median age of a farmer is just shy of 60. So there are legitimate concerns about needing more people to go into farming. I think with better appreciation by the public there will be more and more support for going into farming as a career."
Putting the Star in Farm Star
Blackmon thought about the way Americans have elevated many chefs to exalted, rock-star status, and she felt it was time to put farmers in the spotlight. "I felt that it was now the farmer's time," she says. Through Farm Star Living, people can find farms to visit for agri-tourism stays, meet real farmers, locate farm-to-table restaurants, discover new recipes using fresh food and learn more about the journey taken by food before it ends up on the table.
"I have always thought that farming has been a noble profession that is too often thankless and misunderstood," Blackmon says. "Farming and farmers have been the backbone of our country. So few of us have actually been out of the city and visited a farm, let alone seen exactly where our food comes from. I felt that people were yearning for a connection to the countryside—to the earth—and while they may not want to farm on their own, per se, they still want to feel a connection to it."
A Deep Connection
That desire to connect people to farming, even (and especially) if they don't want to live the life of a farmer, is rooted in Blackmon's own youth spent enjoying the farming experience in her own unique way.
"My grandfather, Big Daddy (Garrard Mountjoy), and grandmother, Mary Mary (Mary Kimball Mountjoy), owned the farm, [as did] Mary Mary's parents before her. It was initially a tree farm, which my grandfather converted into a rice farm in the late 1950s," Blackmon explains. "While I wasn't one for getting all dirty, the passion for the farm from my parents to my grandparents wasn't missed by me."
Making a commitment to take over that farm brought a deeper level of understanding for Blackmon. Realizing that keeping the farmland meant figuring out things like how to repair broken-down wells gave Blackmon a "freak-out moment," after which she dove in and began the process of learning by doing. "I was being 'schooled' and making some rookie mistakes while trying to just do the best I could. I was completely in over my head as a 'country gal' who had been living in New York City and Los Angeles for 20 years—almost my entire adult life," Blackmon recalls. "I was overwhelmed because there was so much to learn, and it was not easy and a very different way of life. Farmers use their street smarts, their farming experience and their education, whether from college or from a family of farmers before them."
Now, she and her brother retain ownership of the family farm in Arkansas and have established a relationship with some dedicated people who operate it while they both reside in Atlanta. "Luckily, my brother supported whatever I wanted to do, and he was a great sounding board during the process. My brother and his wife live here, and this whole process made me want to be closer to him, be a part of his children's lives, and put down my own roots here." She moved to Atlanta to make that happen.
What It Takes
Blackmon says she was impressed with not only their depth of knowledge about the environment and business savvy of the local community of farmers, but also with the courage, optimism and perseverance she saw within each of them. "They were optimistic environmental warriors and huge risk-takers. One farmer told me that [most people go] to sleep with their money safely in a bank. Not farmers—their money is getting rained on or beaten down from the sun every day until harvest. An iron stomach is needed to weather a year of farming, because you don't know what the outcome will be until the very last field has been reaped, if that is even possible.
"People need to know the breadth of knowledge needed to be a successful farmer," Blackmon says. "Biology, finance, business, agriculture, as well as an optimism that can outlast any drought or bad crop year. One year, not too long ago, we had a great crop until a few weeks before harvest, when a hurricane blew our crops down so badly you couldn't salvage much. But the attitude is, and has always been, 'Next year will be better.'"
Seeing the Long View
In the years to come, Blackmon sees food labeling as a defining issue in the industry. She says the topic will heat up as people "start understanding what the ingredients in food actually are and what they mean to them."
Blackmon says she hopes once people start learning more about the things that can go into many processed foods, such as syrups, preservatives and additives, they will be encouraged and motivated to add into their diets even more whole, farm-fresh foods.
As Farm Star Living continues to expand, Blackmon aims to help people live more farm-centric in ways that fit their lifestyles. "I intend to continue educating and, hopefully, inspiring more people to bring a bit of the farm into their lives," she says. "I hope by offering a one-stop destination that has farm-to-everything, we can educate and empower people to lead a more farm-conscious and healthy life."
Details: farmstarliving.com
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A Breath of Fresh Air
While many stables are littered with box fans every summer, horse owners often overlook the simple use of air movement to improve comfort and health on a larger scale. Stalled horses develop airway inflammation in response to the particulates present in stable air, including the dust and mould present in feed and bedding. Maximizing the amount of fresh air coming into – and circulating within – the barn can help to mimic pasture conditions. The air movement created by Big Ass Fans also dilutes inflammatory ammonia in the air, reducing odours common in stables.
What horse owner doesn’t recognise the familiar summer scene of box fans on every stall with electrical cords taped, strapped and tied in every direction? One Big Ass Fan can safely replace numerous box fans, silently and efficiently moving a huge amount of air to keep you and your horses comfortable while sweeping flies and ammonia out of your barn..
Birds avoid Big Ass Fans, and pesky insects can’t fly in the powerful airflow. Stop spraying chemicals all over your barn and horses—the bug-banishing power of airflow is completely natural and highly effective!
Maximize training time
In indoor riding arenas, the air movement provided by Big Ass Fans can make riders feel up to 5.6°C (10°F) cooler, increasing training time during the peak of the show season. Spring and autumn temperature fluctuations can cause condensation to form. You built an indoor arena to get out of the rain—so why are you still getting dripped on indoors? Big Ass Fans can be slowed to gently create consistent temperatures from ceiling to floor, alleviating condensation concerns in indoor riding arenas.
Quality footing can make the difference between equine athletes at the top of their game or a lame horse. Many arena managers use Big Ass Fans as part of their footing management strategy. By precisely controlling airflow in the arena, managers can perfect the balance between well-watered footing and dry, dusty conditions.
We get it
Our equine specialists know what’s important to horse owners and farm managers. Talk to a Big Ass Fan Expert for a custom quote.
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Their research suggests that an inability of red blood cells to relax blood vessels through the release of nitric oxide is a major factor behind the disease's primary symptoms -- including oxygen deprivation and blocked vessels that can lead to pain, clots and stroke. Thus, therapies that restore nitric oxide to blood cells might serve as a useful method for treating the disease, said HHMI researcher Jonathan Stamler, M.D., professor of pulmonary medicine and cardiology at Duke University Medical Center.
The researchers reported their findings on Jan. 31, 2005, in an early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The symptoms of sickle cell disease have generally been attributed to the physical obstruction of blood vessels by distorted, or "sickled," and rigid red cells, Stamler said. The new findings, for the first time, implicate abnormal vessel dilation by the red cells themselves in oxygen deficiency. That oxygen deficiency, in turn, may result in sickling and, ultimately, the irreversible obstruction of blood vessels.
Relieving the vascular constriction and resulting oxygen deficiency through the restoration of nitric oxide to red cell membranes might therefore prevent the disease symptoms, opening up a new realm of therapeutic possibilities, Stamler said. Current therapies fail to treat the disease itself and are instead geared toward minimizing pain and preventing infection, he added. In patients who become anemic, blood transfusions replenish the red blood cell supply in the body.
The team further found that differences among patients in their ability to p rocess nitric oxide in the blood correspond to the severity of their disease symptoms. That result might explain a long-standing puzzle: patients with sickle cell exhibit extreme variability in the severity of their symptoms, despite the fact that the disease stems from a single genetic defect, Stamler said.
"This finding, if verified in clinical trials, could change physicians' approach to sickle cell disease," Stamler said. "Current efforts for managing the disease completely miss the role that red blood cell-derived nitric oxide plays. The disease might therefore be treated by more simple and effective methods than those now available to patients through the delivery of nitric oxide to blood cells."
The finding marks the first time that a defect in the ability of patients' red blood cells to process nitric oxide has been linked to a disease, the researchers said. The findings also raise the possibility that defective nitric oxide processing by red blood cells may represent a new class of blood diseases.
Patients with sickle cell disease have an abnormal form of hemoglobin. In the late 1990s, Stamler's team discovered that, in addition to its role in oxygen delivery, hemoglobin acts a biosensor, adjusting blood flow according to the oxygen demand of tissues and organs, by distributing nitric oxide.
Reports by the team in 2001 and 2002 further detailed nitric oxide's role in the red blood cell membrane, confirming it as the third major blood gas, along with oxygen and carbon dioxide. Those findings suggested that nitric oxide defects might play a role in the cardiovascular side effects of many disorders, including diabetes, heart attacks, septic shock and sickle cell disease.
In the current study, the researchers found that hemoglobin in the red cells of patients with sickle cell disease fails to process nitric oxide properly. As a result, they reported, the membranes of sickle red blood cells are deficient for the form of ni tric oxide normally released by the cells. The blood cells therefore fail to open blood vessels normally.
Red cells taken from patients with mild sickle cell disease dilate blood vessels under low oxygen conditions, but to a lesser extent than normal red cells. In contrast, red cells from those with severe disease symptoms cause blood vessels to constrict when oxygen levels drop, they found, a response which would further exacerbate the oxygen deficiency. Treatment of red blood cells with nitric oxide reversed that effect, they reported.
"Our results suggest that abnormal blood vessel control by red blood cells contributes to the vessel obstruction characteristic of sickle cell disease, and that variation in symptom severity among patients may be explained, in part, by variable deficiency in the processing of nitric oxide," Stamler said.
In light of the discovery, the researchers call for a re-evaluation of the role that nitric oxide may play in other blood diseases and conditions characterized by a deficiency in oxygen delivery to tissues, such as heart failure, diabetes and pulmonary hypertension.
Collaborators on the study include lead author John Pawloski and Douglas Hess. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award.
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In the initial stages of HIV infection, the protein coatings of the viruses fuse with the outer membranes of T cells ?immune system cells that recognize foreign invaders and alert other types of immune cell to come to the rescue. The genetic material of the virus, which is basically a strand of RNA, then forces the cell's DNA to make copies of it. Newly minted viruses created by the host DNA later break out of the cell membrane to infect other cells. Many believed that the very act of breaking into T cells and hijacking their DNA was enough to destroy the ability of these cells to call up immune support.
But Institute scientists Prof. Yechiel Shai of the Biological Chemistry Department, Prof. Irun Cohen of the Immunology Department and graduate students Francisco Quintana and Doron Gerber thought there must be more to the story. T cells identify invaders using receptors, like security antennae, on their outer walls. A virus, especially one with its own surface equipment for seeking out specific T cells, would be hard-pressed to slip past these receptors without raising the alarm. The scientists surmised that the virus must be able to actively disable some part of the immune cell's system.
They investigated a peptide fragment called FP (fusion peptide), a segment of the HIV protein gp41 found on the viral envel op. FP was known to play a role in the complex process in which the viral envelop fuses with the cell membrane in the initial stage of cell infection. The researchers suspected that FP, which is only exposed for a short period during this process, may have enough time to affect the immune response as well. Indeed, they found that FP locks on to several proteins on the cell walls that are involved in invoking a large-scale immune response, effectively shutting them down.
From their new understanding of how a tiny virus can gain control of the body's immune response, the scientists made an intuitive leap. In autoimmune diseases, the same T cells that play host to HIV viruses are overactive, mistakenly attacking the body's cells instead of foreign invaders. If the viruses use FPs to override the cells' call for help, could their actions, which block one type of immune response without killing the cell, be applied to these autoimmune diseases? To check their theory, the research team tested FP on rats suffering from an autoimmune syndrome similar to human rheumatoid arthritis, and on cultured human T cells. As they predicted, the rats treated with FP showed a significant reduction in joint swelling and other symptoms of arthritis.
Shai points out that using FP, a tiny piece of a piece of the HIV virus, would pose no danger to patients as it lacks any ability to either infect cells or to reproduce. Rather, as the scientists note in their paper, the study of a destructive virus may contain important lessons on how to regulate the immune system. "Perhaps," says Cohen, "we humans can adopt the virus peptide to better control overactive autoimmunity."
Prof. Irun Cohen's research is supported by the Minna James Heineman Stiftung; the Robert Koch Minerva Center for Research in Autoimmune Disease; and Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Theodore Cohen, Chicago, IL.
Prof. Cohen is the incumbent of the Helen and Morris Mauerberger Professorial Chair in Immunology.
Prof. Yechiel Shai's research is supported by Robert Koch Minerva Center for Research in Autoimmune Disease; and the estate of Julius and Hanna Rosen.
Prof. Shai is the incumbent of the Harold S. and Harriet B. Brady Professorial Chair in Cancer Research.
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Middle ear effusion in children: review of recent literature.
MedLine Citation:
PMID: 23008530 Owner: NLM Status: PubMed-not-MEDLINE
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Middle Ear Effusion (O.M.E.) is the commonest ear problem among children, with a peak at the age of 2 years. Incidence varies according to geographical location and race variation, environmental and socio-economic factors. The disease is characterized by accumulation of semi-sterile secretion in the middle ear. It is usually due to either a dysfunction of Eustachian tube or of the mucociliary system or both. The most common presenting symptoms are mild to moderate conductive hearing loss, attacks of earache, and deterioration in school. The diagnosis is based on history, clinical findings and hearing assessments. In general, treatment is classified as conservative and surgical. Early screening and health education are the recent concepts advocated, for early detection.
Authors:
A Ashoor
Publication Detail:
Type: Journal Article
Journal Detail:
Title: Journal of family & community medicine Volume: 1 ISSN: 1319-1683 ISO Abbreviation: J Family Community Med Publication Date: 1994 Jan
Date Detail:
Created Date: 2012-09-25 Completed Date: 2012-10-02 Revised Date: 2013-05-30
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID: 100911100 Medline TA: J Family Community Med Country: India
Other Details:
Languages: eng Pagination: 12-8 Citation Subset: -
Affiliation:
ENT Department, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Comments/Corrections
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document:Diet and cancer. Next Document:Systemic lupus erythematosus for general practitioners: a literature review.
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Outcomes after distal biceps repair in patients with workers' compensation claims.
MedLine Citation:
PMID: 23246274 Owner: NLM Status: Publisher
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: Prior studies have suggested that patients with workers' compensation (WC) related injuries have less successful postsurgical outcomes compared to the general population. The purpose of this study was to determine the functional outcome and return to work for WC patients who have undergone distal biceps tendon repair (DBTR). A group of patients without a WC claim (non-WC) served as a control. METHODS: From July 2002 to December 2009, 60 WC patients and 63 non-WC patients who underwent unilateral, acute (<6 weeks) DBTR and had a minimum of 12 months of postoperative follow-up were contacted. Data pertaining to patient age, sex, handedness, smoking status, occupation, time to return to work, and ability to return to original occupation were obtained. Functional outcomes were primarily assessed with the DASH, DASH-Work Module, and DASH Sports/Performance Arts Module questionnaires. Outcomes in the WC group were compared to the non-WC group. RESULTS: Average length of follow-up was 3.55 years (range, 1.5-8.9) in the WC group and 3.64 years (range, 2.2-8.0) in the non-WC group. Mean DASH, DASH-Work Module, and Sports/Performance Arts Module scores were significantly greater (poorer outcome) in the WC group than in the non-WC group. Average time to return to full duty was 3.95 months in the WC group and 1.35 months in the non-WC group. CONCLUSION: WC patients who underwent distal biceps tendon repair took longer to return to work and had worse DASH scores than non-WC patients.
Authors:
Alfred Atanda; Daniel F O'Brien; Matthew J Kraeutler; Ashwin Rangavajjula; Mark D Lazarus; Matthew L Ramsey; Bradford S Tucker; Gerald R Williams; Steven B Cohen; Michael G Ciccotti; Christopher C Dodson
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Publication Detail:
Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE Date: 2012-12-13
Journal Detail:
Title: Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery / American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons ... [et al.] Volume: - ISSN: 1532-6500 ISO Abbreviation: J Shoulder Elbow Surg Publication Date: 2012 Dec
Date Detail:
Created Date: 2012-12-18 Completed Date: - Revised Date: -
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID: 9206499 Medline TA: J Shoulder Elbow Surg Country: -
Other Details:
Languages: ENG Pagination: - Citation Subset: -
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2013 Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
The Rothman Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document:Prevalence and Risk Factors for Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Indians: A Comparative Study in ... Next Document:Survivorship of implanted bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in acute rotator cuff tear.
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C-6 Spinal Cord Injury
These injures to the cervical region of the spinal cord can result in either complete or incomplete quadriplegia/tetraplegia, in which the voluntary movement and sensation in all four limbs are compromised. While the patient is completely paralyzed, some function may be retained depending upon the exact location of the injury.
Complete and Incomplete Injuries
C-6 injuries can be classified as either complete or incomplete injuries. Complete injuries result in the total loss of movement and sensation below the point of injury, while incomplete injuries indicate that some function below the level of injury is retained.
Effects of C-6 Injuries
Patients with C-6 injuries typically have some wrist control but no hand function. Other effects may include:
Bowel and bladder dysfunction Sexual dysfunction Difficulty regulating heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, and body temperature Spasticity Neuropathic pain Muscle atrophy Osteoporosis Gallbladder and renal stones Treatment for C-6 Injuries
Immediate medical intervention following the injury will increase the likelihood of the best possible long-term prognosis. In most cases, the acute stage of injury is followed by extensive rehabilitation, which is designed to help the survivor adapt both physically and mentally to his or her new condition. While their lives will certainly be different than they were before the injury, with the correct intervention and support, survivors with C-6 injuries can go on to lead very fulfilling lives. In the meantime, scientists continue to study treatments for Spinal Cord Injury designed to both reduce the effect of the injury and promote the growth of functional nerve fibers.
Mark C. Blane is a San Diego Brain Injury Attorney and the managing lawyer of the Law Offices of Mark C. Blane, a San Diego, California Personal Injury Law Firm dedicated to representing families of people injured with brain and head injuries, or spinal cord damage. If you or a loved one has been killed or injured in a head injury accident in California, due to the negligence of another, please order your free copy of Mr. Blane's book, The 10 Secrets You Need To Know About Your Injury Case, BEFORE You Call A Lawyer . It is full of helpful information that will help you protect your legal rights and it normally sells for $16.95. However, it is free to all California residents, or those injured in an California accident.
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More than half of smokers go on smoking after coronary eventsBMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7521.862-a (Published 13 October 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:862 Zosia Kmietowicz London
Too many people with heart disease continue to smoke even after they are aware of their condition, say researchers in the
European Heart Journal (published online 6 Oct 2005, doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehi497). Less than half the patients who smoked before needing hospital treatment for a coronary event quit afterwards.
Wilma Scholte op Reimer, lead author of the study and epidemiologist at the Erasmus University …
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Facebook is facing potential investigations in Europe after it disclosed last week that it deliberately manipulated the emotional content of the news feeds by changing the posts displayed to nearly 700,000 users to see if emotions were contagious.
The company did not seek explicit permission from the affected people — roughly 1 out of every 2,500 users of the social network at the time of the experiment — and some critics have suggested that the research violated its terms of service with its customers. Facebook has said that customers gave blanket permission for research as a condition of using the service.
In response to widespread public anger, several European data protection agencies are examining whether Facebook broke local privacy laws when it conducted the weeklong investigation in January 2012.
That includes Ireland’s Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, which regulates Facebook’s global operations outside North America because the company has its international headquarters in Dublin. The Irish regulator has sent a series of questions to Facebook related to potential privacy issues, including whether the company got consent from users for the study, according to a spokeswoman.
The Information Commissioner’s Office of Britain also said that it was looking into potential privacy breaches that may have affected the country’s residents, though a spokesman of the office said that it was too early to know whether Facebook had broken the law.
“We’re aware of this issue, and will be speaking to Facebook, as well as liaising with the Irish data protection authority, to learn more about the circumstances,” a spokesman for the British regulator said in a statement.
Neither regulator, however, has launched an official investigation into Facebook’s practices.
In the study, Facebook changed the number of positive and negative posts that some users saw in their feeds to gauge how emotions can affect social media.
Richard Allan, Facebook’s director of policy in Europe, said that it was clear that people had been upset by the study.
“We want to do better in the future and are improving our process based on this feedback,” he said in a statement. “The study was done with appropriate protections for people’s information, and we are happy to answer any questions regulators may have.”
The Federal Trade Commission, the US regulator that oversees Facebook’s conduct under a 20-year consent decree, has not publicly expressed similar interest in the case, which has caused an uproar over the company’s ethics and prompted the lead researcher on the project to apologize.
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State offers flood assistance to farmers following June rain
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is now accepting applications for state flood assistance from farmers severely impacted by record rainfall and flooding in June.
Grants are available to eligible farmers in Aitkin, Carlton, Cass, Cook, Crow Wing, Dakota, Goodhue, Itasca, Kandiyohi, Lake, Meeker, Pine, Rice, Sibley, and St. Louis counties.
Gov. Mark Dayton and state legislators agreed to create the grant program as part of the package of disaster aid passed into law during the one-day special legislative session on Aug. 24. The program goal is to provide assistance to farmers recovering from the impacts of the severe storms.
Eligible losses may include, but are not limited to, feed and forage damages, damages to buildings or other agricultural structures, agricultural equipment losses, organic and specialty crop losses, and other related farm or ranch damages and expenditures. Expenses for clean-up and debris removal are also eligible.
The application form can be found on the MDA website at http://www.mda.state.mn.us/grants/disaster/floodgrant.aspx.
Applications must be postmarked by Oct. 24. The applications will be reviewed and audited by MDA staff, with funds expected to be delivered in January.
While this flood assistance may not cover all losses, it should help in the recovery and rebuilding process. Due to limited funds and uncertainty about the number of applications, MDA reported it cannot estimate the level of reimbursement for individual applicants. After all applications are received, MDA will calculate these amounts based on the number and size of qualified claims in order to determine final allocations.
Farmers will need to provide the following information along with their application:
■ List of feed inventory or harvested forage losses.
■ List of capital damages including fencing, agricultural structural, agricultural equipment, or other capital losses.
■ List of debris removal expenses, organic and specialty crop losses and other losses or flood related expenditures.
■ Attach photo-copied receipts or verified estimates.
For more information about the program, contact MDA’s Minnesota Farmer Assistance Network at 877-898-6326.
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The founding of the discipline of social policy emerged from the practice of state intervention to deal with social problems at the beginning of the twentieth century. The discipline of social policy established itself in the traditions of Fabianism. (Williams, 1989:4) Fabianism was characterised by specific ideas about the family and motherhood. These ideas asserted the family as exemplified by the breadwinner father and dependent wife and children. (ibid, 1989:5) As a result, policies aimed at women were in terms of an emphasis on the needs of women as mothers and dependent wives, rather than as individuals or wage-earners. The maintenance of the family was seen as fundamental to society’s stability. This dominant ideology of ‘familism’ characterised the ‘normal’ or ‘ideal’ family. Households that did not conform to this model were seen as potentially problematic. (ibid, 1989: 7)
Ireland’s social policy is a mixture of legislation laid down by both British and Irish governments. As such, it was heavily influenced by the British Fabian model; this had serious implications for sexuality and the family. The Catholic Church also influenced the development of Irish social policy especially in relation to sexual morality, the family and the position of women in Irish society. (Kiely, 1999:2-3)
Sexuality is commonly viewed as private and personal. As a result, we don’t tend to think about social policy and popular ideas about sexuality as affecting us. However, these ideas about what is appropriate and acceptable sexuality impacts on us all. Ideas about ‘normal’ sexuality abound in society;central to these views is the ideology of heterosexuality, which in turn influences prevalent ideas about sexuality. These prevalent ideologies regarding sexuality come from religious, psycho-analytical and socio-biological traditions, and they influence common-sense and institutional ideas about what is both ‘normal’ and ‘appropriate’ sex and sexuality. For instance, the...
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Question from Susan: Would you say that this kind of healing is 'mind over matter'—almost a hypnotic event? Answers - Dan BenorYou could call it 'mind over matter,' but it's not hypnotic; it's completely separate, because babies and mice and bacteria and plants can respond to healing. Hypnosis, on the other hand, can activate the enormous latent potentials that we all have. It's estimated that our conscious mind represents only about five percent of our brain/mind potential. Hypnosis is excellent for pain. It can help with relaxation, sleep, and the exploration of buried emotional stresses that might be contributing to dis-ease, and disease. It is often extremely helpful and supportive to have a therapist or healer or doctor (isn't it a shame that we separate these?) to shepherd us through the course of illness and treatment. Marisa Weiss, M.D.This includes guiding you and taking care of you as you pursue the mindful measures that we've discussed, particularly when you are tapping into old memories or experiences that may be difficult and painful. Doing this on your own, without help, can be scary and make you feel more isolated from other people.
The Ask-the-Expert Online Conference called
Complementary and Holistic Treatments featured Daniel Benor, M.D., Patricia Johnson, M.D., and Marisa Weiss, M.D. answering your questions about what complementary and holistic treatments are, how to find reliable practitioners, and which might be the best treatments for you. Editor's Note: This conference took place in October 2002.
The materials presented in these conferences do not necessarily reflect the views of Breastcancer.org. A qualified healthcare professional should be consulted before using any therapeutic product or regimen discussed. All readers should verify all information and data before employing any therapies described here.
A production of LiveWorld, Inc. Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
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We admit, we did a double take when saw the recent news headline on Huffington Post, "Spanx and Other Shapewear Are Literally Squeezing Your Organs." Wait, what? Our beloved tummy-flattening underwear could be ... bad for us?
Possibly. Gastroenterologist Dr. John Kuemmerle, dermatologist Dr. Maryann Mikhail, and chiropractor Dr. Karen Erickson have spoken out about what they believe shapewear can do to the body—and it's not always a pretty picture.
According to the doctors, regularly wearing super-tight shapewear can compress and restrict your organs and lead to unpleasant problems like heartburn, acid reflux and stifled digestion (read: bloating and gas). Stuffing yourself into a too-tight support garment can also result in nerve damage that can lead to "tingling, numbness and pain in your legs." Oh, and did we mention that frequent shapewear-wearers are predisposed to yeast and bacterial infections, as well as the skin condition folliculitis?
But before you and your muffin top despair, consider this: No scientific studies that we know of have documented the so-called health risks of shapewear, and the health risks and problems identified by the doctors in HuffPo's article don't appear to be associated with occasional use. "I think we want to be mindful to not wear it on a day-in and day-out basis," said Dr. Karen Erickson, adding, "You really want to pick shapewear that actually fits you."
So, let's review: Wearing a too-small supprt gear, daily, for hours at a time? Probably not a good idea. But busting out some well-fitting, super-strength support garments for your wedding ceremony? Go ahead and say, "I do."
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Attorneys Practice Areas ALERT - U.S. Supreme Court Further Defines Jurisdiction StandardPrint PDFShare June 30, 2011
On June 27, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions regarding a state court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over nonresidents:
Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, 564 U.S. __ (2011), and J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, 564 U.S. __ (2011). Both cases reject a state court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction pursuant to the “stream-of-commerce” theory and reaffirm that a court may only have jurisdiction over an out-of-state or foreign defendant if that defendant directs purposeful activity toward that state. Simply placing a product in the stream-of-commerce cannot confer jurisdiction if the product itself does not cause an injury within the forum state.
In
Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, the Supreme Court determined that a foreign subsidiary of a U.S. corporation was not subject to suit in state court simply because the subsidiary’s products entered the state through the “stream of commerce.” Plaintiffs brought a defective design lawsuit in North Carolina state court against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company (Goodyear USA) and three European Goodyear subsidiaries when their two 13-year-old sons were killed in a bus accident in France. Plaintiffs attributed the accident to a defective tire manufactured by a Goodyear subsidiary in Turkey. Although a small number of the European subsidiaries’ tires reached North Carolina through the so-called “stream of commerce,” none of the foreign subsidiaries operated in North Carolina. The trial court rejected the European subsidiaries’ motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and the North Carolina high court affirmed, concluding that the state court had “general rather than specific jurisdiction” over the foreign subsidiaries.
A unanimous Supreme Court reversed. Although the “stream-of-commerce” analysis may give rise to specific jurisdiction when a product causes an injury inside the forum state, if the injury occurred elsewhere then the exercise of personal jurisdiction is proper only if the party had sufficiently continuous and systematic contacts with the forum state. Because the connection between the forum and the foreign corporation was “so limited” – neither the claimed injury nor the manufacture of the allegedly defective tire occurred in North Carolina – the “continuous and systematic affiliation necessary to empower North Carolina courts to entertain claims unrelated to the foreign corporation’s contacts with the state” was lacking.
In
J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd., the plaintiff brought a products-liability lawsuit in New Jersey state court for injuries to his hand from a metal-shearing machine made by British manufacturer J. McIntyre. J. McIntyre sought dismissal for want of personal jurisdiction. Applying the “stream-of commerce” doctrine, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the propriety of jurisdiction because J. McIntyre both “knew or reasonably should have known that its products are distributed through a nationwide distribution system that might lead to those products being sold in any of the fifty states,” and “failed to take some reasonable step to prevent the distribution of its products” in New Jersey.
A six to three plurality of the Supreme Court reversed. Justice Kennedy, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Thomas, reiterated that due process is satisfied only when a defendant “purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities within the forum State, thus invoking the benefits and protections of its laws.” Concluding that the New Jersey Supreme Court carried the “stream of commerce metaphor” too “far afield,” the high court emphasized that the relevant inquiry is whether the defendant’s activities manifest an intention to submit to the power of the state. Because jurisdiction is “a question of authority rather than fairness,” the stream-of-commerce doctrine could not replace the general and well-established rule requiring purposeful activity directed at the forum state.
Justices Breyer and Alito concurred in the judgment but because the case did not present issues arising from recent changes in commerce and communication, disagreed with the pronouncement of a rule of broad applicability without full consideration of modern-day consequences, and would have simply disposed of the case with reference to the Court’s prior precedents. Justice Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan.
For more information, contact your Briggs and Morgan attorney or a member of the Business Litigation Section.
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Even those without a drop of Irish blood celebrate St. Paddy's Day with green food, green clothes - green everything! This year, celebrate green on March 17 in a different way.
"Going Green" has become the slogan for doing things that are healthier for the environment. Celebrate St. Patrick's Day - help your town stay green, & for yourself - eat smart and move more:
If you live close to work or school, walk or ride a bike on March 17
Sign up for a carpool for work or for your child's school
Participate in a St. Paddy's Day fun run or walk
Cook several green vegetables for dinner instead of corned beef and cabbage
Buy your produce and/or meats from a local farmer. Most foods travel thousands of miles before reaching the grocery store. That's a lot of fuel saved and pollution prevented if we all bought locally.
Help clean up litter from the green spaces in your neighborhood or along the roads you travel to work. You'll get some exercise while making your town a prettier place.
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Ratan Tata is, without doubt, one of the most respected business leaders in India. When he says that he was advised to bribe a minister of the Union government a sum of Rs 15 crore to get governmental approval to start a private airline company, everyone concerned must sit up and take note. This is no casual remark. However, and very regretfully, this is no example of “whistle-blowing” either, as some in the media seem to think. It would have been if Mr Tata had named the minister and made public his demands at that time. Even now, Mr Tata is blowing no whistle, he is merely whining and seeking to occupy high moral ground. It would do him enormous credit, and boost the morale of smaller businessmen and ordinary citizens who face similar situations all the time, if he were to name and shame the minister concerned. Mr Tata also had a different kind of brush with a minister of the present government and on that occasion too, he chose not to go public with his complaint. If business leaders of the stature of Mr Tata are willing to strike but afraid to wound, what can one expect of lesser mortals? Far too many businessmen complain these days in private about corruption in public life, but shy away from naming and shaming. The same organisations that complain privately about rent-seeking by individual ministers seem quite happy to honour them in public in one way or another.
For every bribe taker, there is a bribe giver. The one who gives is also guilty of wrongdoing, though in the case of ordinary citizens facing people in power, one can understand their fear of authority. But an influential and powerful business leader can afford to speak up and speak out, and blow the whistle without fear or favour. If business leaders collectively take a decision that they will not offer bribes and that they will name and shame those who demand, this could have the effect of restraining both bribe takers and givers. Consider the example of private airlines brought up by Mr Tata. Naming and shaming at the right time may have helped prevent wrongdoing by a minister who may well have got away with benefiting some other business person at the expense of the exchequer. By remaining silent, Mr Tata has neither been brave nor has he served the cause of good governance. His tangential remarks this week, followed by clarifications, make him look smaller.
Recent revelations of corruption, followed by some decisive action by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has whet the nation’s appetite for greater transparency in government. A wave of middle-class anger is sweeping through the country. More heads may role as other instances of corruption in public life and in high places are exposed. The time has come for leaders of Indian business who believe in good governance to speak up and strengthen the hands of those in government who wish to take action but are unable to do so for want of information. The time for some genuine whistle-blowing is now and business leaders like Mr Tata must stand up and be counted.
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Famous New York City publisher Al Goldstein used to rate the erotic appeal of porn flicks on the Peter Meter in his now-defunct Screw magazine. Now, doctors are using the quality of erections to predict something much more serious — the likelihood of a heart attack.
Researchers at the Sax Institute in Sydney, Australia crunched questionnaires and hospital admission data for over 95,000 Australian men aged 45 and over. Their key finding was that erectile dysfunction is a pretty good predictor of future cardiovascular disease.
In fact, they concluded that “risks of (cardiovascular disease) and death increased steadily with severity of erectile dysfunction.”
Comparing men reporting severe erectile dysfunction to those who say they have no erectile problems yielded a risk ratio of 1.6 for ischemic heart disease.
Statistically, the erectile dysfunction group was 60 per cent more likely to experience a medical condition relating to impaired blood flow to the heart — anything from angina pain to a heart attack.
Other ailments such as heart failure and peripheral vascular disease were also more likely in men with erectile dysfunction.
The authors certainly don’t suggest that erectile dysfunction causes cardiovascular disease. They do, however, consider it a “biomarker” that can help doctors evaluate “the severity of underlying pathological processes such as atherosclerosis and endothelial dysfunction.”
This has been pointed out before, in studies such as the landmark Massachusetts Male Aging study in 2004.
What’s new is the finding that the degree of erectile dysfunction is such a good indicator of poor blood flow in other parts of the body.
Commenting on their results, the researchers suggest that erectile dysfunction may provide an early warning of “silent heart disease” and they urge men to discuss erectile dysfunction openly with their physicians.
Sometimes even those sexy TV ads for uplifting drugs are not enough to persuade a guy to ask what is often called the “hand on the door question” (because it tends to be asked at the end of a visit to the doctor.)
Nipping a possibly fatal heart problem while its still treatable may provide further incentive to overcome the natural embarrassment.
The erectile dysfunction data gathered in this survey was all self-reported, so there could be some fudging or wishful thinking.
Still, it’s such a large sample size that the numbers bear quoting.
But first, we need to understand what the degrees of erectile dysfunction actually mean.
Fortunately, there’s a single question for that.
Are you (always, usually, sometimes, never) able to get an erection good enough for sexual intercourse? Those four choices map into the erectile dysfunction categories of none, mild, moderate, and severe.
The Australian investigators found the rates of severe erectile dysfunction among study participants were 2.2 per cent for men aged 45 to 54 years, 6.8 per cent for men aged 55 to 64 years, 20.2 per cent for men aged 65 to 74 years, 50 per cent for men aged 75 to 84 years, and 75.4 per cent for men aged 85 years and over.
There are technological ways to measure tumescence, often on an overnight basis, to see if a man is capable of achieving an erection.
Real-life Peter Meters have ranged from the simple expedient of attaching postage stamps to see if the perforations get broken to high-tech mercury filled gizmos called plethysmographs.
In fact, there’s a whole, if somewhat questionable, science around penile plethysmography. The device was first developed in the 1950s in Czechoslovakia, and used on men seeking military exemptions on the grounds of homosexuality.
In 2010, it came to light that Youth Forensic Services in Burnaby, B.C., had been using the plethysmography for years — on adolescent boys in their custody who were suspected of sexual misconduct, as a sort of genital lie detector.
Supposedly in the interest of planning their treatment, staffers exposed young males to provocative images and suggestive audiotapes, while measuring their degree of arousal.
Aside from the inherent creepiness of all this, These devices are notoriously unreliable, and subject to operator error and faking by the subject.
For these reasons, plethysmography results are generally not admissible in court as evidence.
When the story broke, the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development decided to permanently cancel the use of phallometric testing.
In 2011, a panel of experts reviewed the practice and concluded that it is not possible to come to a definitive finding about the effectiveness of plethysmography testing in terms of the treatment of youth sexual offenders. However, they advised against reinstating the program.
We’ve come a long way since the days when Goldstein was rating movies in his magazine, and the Czechs were trying to ferret out non-gay draft dodgers. Still, the good old Peter Meter keeps popping up, for both good and bad reasons.
Dr. Tom Keenan is an award winning journalist, public speaker, and professor in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary.
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Let me preface this post with a thank you to Milburn Drysdale at ASDFunding.com (or Autism Funding in BC for Dummies) his documentation is what we based most of this work on, and if anyone asks you, they should check out his site before you read anything over here about Registered Disability Savings Plans for Disability Tax Credits. I’d also like to thank my wife who has fact checked my statements. Is it time to re-apply for the disability tax credit ?
As I have mentioned my son’s disability was “verified” (for lack of a better term) by the
CRA in 2009, and at the time it was a “conditional” verification, and the CRA said that he would need to re-apply for the disability tax credit in 10 years (i.e. back dated to 2005).
I thought no more about it until a few months ago, when we received a child disability benefit notice from the
CRA saying, the DTCC ( Disability Tax Credit Certificate) would “expire” in December 2015 , which took me unawares, but that is only because I hadn’t thought about the fact that my son’s disability was viewed as a disability from birth, so the CRA credited me back taxes from when he was born. This means that his disability tax credit period started from birth, and given my son has turned ten this year, it is logical that the CRA is now asking for a reassessment.
So the first steps towards re-applying for the
DTCC for my son’s disability (or re-apply for the disability tax credit ) is to go see our Pediatrician and have him fill out the T2201 Disability Tax Credit Certificate. That is actually me being presumptuous, because our Pediatrician could haved turned around and said, “No I won’t fill in the forms for you because in my opinion your son is no longer disabled”, or something like that, however, that was not the case.
We then added to this documentation, a report from my son’s Occupational Therapist and a Speech Pathologist (Effect of Impairment Document), to help reaffirm my son’s disability diagnosis for the reapplication as well.
Is the reapplication a “slam dunk”?
No, not by any means, we need to make sure that we have all supporting documentation done, and it still relies on the CRA to decide whether that documentation is sufficient or not. What if the CRA denies the reapplication for my son? A few things happen: No more tax deduction associated with my sons disability line 318 on my tax return. I would be unable to claim my son’s school and Occupational Therapy as a Medical Expense (any longer). Collapsing my son’s RDSP, which would entail paying back the CDSG and the CDSB that might have accumulated in that account. The Disabled Child Tax Credit would stop being paid The child disability portion of the Child Care Benefit will stop as well.
The advice we got from our Pediatrician (who I think I view as a subject matter expert, as he has done many of these) is you can never have too much documentation, and you must make sure the information is easy to follow for the CRA folks that will be making the decision. As with all reports, if it is well read, it will be well understood and your point will be made (as opposed to this article, which is a little confusing).
Some other notes from my wife, that I am not sure I completely grock, but here they are:
There is a list of qualified practitioners on the forms (T2201). I get asked that question a lot, but this information is on the forms, supporting documentation can be from other folks, but you need a specific professional to sign the forms or the CRA will return it to you. Make sure you get your pediatrician or Doctor to fill in the right sections of the forms, nothing worse than doing all this work and have the CRA return the forms with a note saying, “You forgot to fill in the following sections:….”
The forms are signed, and have been mailed (certified mail) to the CRA and now we wait to see whether the Disability Tax Credit will continue for us.
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Search Testimony: Robert Greenstein on the Long-Term Budget Problem Facing the United States
Mr. Chairman, Congressman Ryan, and members of the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear here today to discuss the long-term budget problem facing the United States.
Last week, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a new analysis presenting our latest long-term projections of federal spending, revenues, deficits, and debt under current policies and our conclusions about the changes that need to be made in those policies. [1]
It will be no surprise to any of you who have heard us testify before on the long-term budget outlook — or have heard from any number of other experts on this subject in recent years — that we conclude the United States faces a very serious deficit problem if current policies remain unchanged. The problem ultimately will threaten the economic health of the country and compromise the ability of the government to meet crucial national needs.
Let me be clear. I am
not talking about the large deficits we face this year or in the next few years. We all wish that the economic downturn and near meltdown of the financial system that have driven current deficits to such high levels had not occurred. But, given the circumstances we have been confronting, those deficits not only are acceptable but are the necessary result of those circumstances and the efforts required to shore up the financial system and put the economy back on a sound footing. If we had tried to hold down the deficit over the last year, or if we try to cut deficits before the economy is healthy enough to absorb such action — the Congressional Budget Office has projected that the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) will not be back to its potential level until 2013 and unemployment will remain above its “natural” rate until 2014 — the country will be worse off.
The problem I am talking about is what we project will happen to deficits and debt in coming decades under current policies (and assuming the economy is healthy). We project that deficits will rise to more than 20 percent of GDP by 2050 and that debt will soar to the unprecedented level of about 300 percent of GDP by mid-century. (The highest level of debt experienced in the United States was 110 percent of GDP, at the end of World War II.) As the Congressional Budget Office and others have pointed out, over the long run, such high levels of debt would constrain the standard of living of residents of the United States and increase the risk of a financial crisis that could seriously disrupt the economy and the budget.
I believe it is absolutely necessary for policymakers to address this problem, and the sooner the better (with the caveat that tax increases or spending cuts that would threaten the recovery should not be implemented until the economy is back on track). As the founder and Executive Director of an organization that is dedicated to promoting efforts to improve the lives of low- and moderate-income Americans, I want to stress that dealing with the long-term budget problem should not just be the concern of “deficit hawks” or “green-eyeshade” types. If the budget is not put on a sustainable path, it is likely that low- and moderate-income Americans will suffer the most from the inevitable erosion of the average standard of living in this country. And, if rising debt does trigger a financial crisis, programs that are crucial to the well-being of less-well-off Americans are likely to bear the brunt of draconian steps taken in that crisis atmosphere to reduce deficits and debt and reassure financial markets. No one with particular concerns about the well-being of low- and moderate-income Americans can afford to ignore the long-term budget problem.
Putting the Budget on a Sustainable Path
Now let me say more about the nature of the long-term problem and what has to be done to put the budget on a sustainable path. One of the striking things about this is the degree of consensus among budget experts — striking because there is so little consensus about most other budget issues.
In the last eight months, budget projections and analyses of the scope of the fiscal problem over the long term have been issued not only by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, but also by CBO, the economists Alan Auerbach of the University of California at Berkeley and William Gale of the Brookings Institution, the Government Accountability Office, a commission supported by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, and a committee established under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration. [2]
These reports — produced by organizations and individuals with varied interests and outlooks — all support the same conclusions on a number of key points:
That deficits and debt will skyrocket in coming decades if current policies remain unchanged; That debt at the levels projected would seriously threaten the budget, the economy, and the well-being of the people of the United States; That the continued rapid growth of per-person health care costs is the single biggest reason for the projected long-term increases in deficits and debt (with demographic changes — the aging of the baby-boom population — contributing to a significant but lesser extent to the projected increases); That the absolutely necessary goal of policymakers to avoid this outcome is to prevent the debt from perpetually rising as a share of the economy — that is, to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio; That it is not necessary to balance the budget to achieve this goal — that debt could be stabilized at levels projected for the middle of this decade if deficits are no more than about 3 percent of GDP or a bit less; and; That it will almost certainly require a combinationof increases in revenues and reductions in spending to put the budget on a sustainable path. (The reports do not all say this explicitly, but it would be hard for a thoughtful reader to conclude that any of the reports suggest that solving the problem solely on the revenue or the spending side of the budget is feasible.)
As I noted, this degree of consensus among budget analysts on such an important issue is striking. It is true that there is a great deal of uncertainty about what will happen to the economy and the budget in coming decades. Nevertheless, this consensus among a variety of analysts should give pause to anyone who is tempted to believe that it would be prudent to ignore the problem posed by the current budget path or to assert that we can “grow our way out of it.”
Setting a Fiscal Target
Among the three reports that propose a specific fiscal target for lawmakers — the Center’s report and the reports by the Pew-Peterson commission and NAS-NAPA committee— there is agreement that the general goal should be to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio within the next decade. The Center specifically calls for deficits to be reduced to no more than 3 percent of GDP by 2019, and preferably sooner. Given the need to avoid implementing cuts in the next few years that could undercut the economic recovery and to allow for a gradual phasing in of some cuts once they do begin, we assume that the debt would be stabilized at somewhat over 70 percent of GDP over the course of the decade. The Pew-Peterson commission and the NAS-NAPA commission both propose a goal of stabilizing the debt-to-GDP ratio at a lower level, 60 percent of GDP.
We believe that a goal of ensuring that debt is stabilized at 60 percent of GDP in this decade is both overly ambitious and unnecessary, and as explained below, is likely to be self-defeating. Under current policies, we project that debt will be about 70 percent of GDP at the end of 2012 and that deficits in 2013 through 2018 will average about $1 trillion a year, or 6 percent of GDP. For debt to equal 60 percent of GDP at the end of 2018, the deficits in 2013 through 2018 would have to be cut by an average of
about $800 billion a year (or 4 percent of GDP a year), including interest savings. This is an extremely ambitious goal. The largest deficit reduction efforts in the last three decades trimmed deficits by about 2 percent of GDP.
More importantly, while it is necessary to stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio, it is not necessary to adopt a target of 60 percent. There is
no evidence that a debt-to-GDP ratio of 60 percent represents a threshold above which the potential harm to the economy rises to an unacceptable level, and some evidence that that threshold is somewhat higher. There is little empirical basis for any particular debt-to-GDP target, although an analysis of historical international data by economists Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff suggests that economic growth falters when government debt exceeds 90 percent of GDP.[3] The NAS-NAPA report acknowledges this, stating that “There is no magic number for the ratio of government debt to GDP…”[4]
The Pew-Peterson and NAS-NAPA reports both cite the fact that the Maastricht Treaty set a debt-to-GDP ratio of 60 percent as a criterion for membership in the European Monetary Union. They do not cite evidence or economic analysis that supported the EMU’s choice of that target, and they discuss neither the role of European politics in the choice of the target nor the criticism of the target in the economics literature as being arbitrary. [5] Nor do they present any arguments to show why a criterion that was deemed appropriate as a condition for entry into the EMU in 1991 should be applied in the United States in the decades after 2010. The reports also do not address whether, even if that target might have been appropriate in 1991, it would still be appropriate today in light of the dramatic increases in government debt resulting from what has in many ways been the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.
The two reports correctly note that the International Monetary Fund also has used a 60 percent debt-to-GDP ratio target in its analyses of fiscal sustainability, but IMF staff have been clear that the criterion is arbitrary, noting “On why we picked 60 percent, of course, there [is] no magic number, and that’s sort of just an illustrative number….Again, these are not targets. These are not ideal numbers. There’s no rule that says that it’s only sustainable if it’s above or below 60.”[6] In fact, IMF staff have recently suggested that in light of recent increases in debt, the date for achieving the target
by 2029.[7]
We believe Congress and the President should focus on bringing deficits down to about 3 percent of GDP in the years ahead and then keeping average deficits no higher than that level. Under one reasonable path, this would require average deficit reductions of
nearly $400 billion in years 2013 through 2018. That would achieve the necessary condition for budget sustainability of stabilizing the debt-to-GDP ratio (the debt would be stabilized at modestly above 70 percent). Aiming to go further may actually have the unintended effect of making it harder to enact needed deficit-reduction legislation, by making the standard for success one that requires budget cuts and tax increases of such severity that they are unacceptable politically . (It also would increase the likelihood that deficit-reduction efforts — if successful — would seriously undercut programs that provide crucial services and benefits to millions of Americans, in which case the savings likely would not endure.)
History clearly shows that overly ambitious budget goals can be counterproductive. For instance, the overly ambitious Gramm-Rudman-Hollings balanced budget target almost certainly contributed to the decisions of President Reagan and the Congress in the mid- to late-1980s to focus more on rosy economic assumptions that made it appear the targets would be achieved rather than on making real progress in reducing the deficit. The House of Representatives also clearly understood the problem of too-ambitious goals last year when it adopted a statutory pay-as-you-go rule that did not require the extension of middle-class tax cuts and other expiring current policies to be paid for. Adopting a strict rule that required any change in law to be paid for would ensure that the rule would be waived multiple times. That would undercut the rule’s effectiveness in constraining any costly proposal with significant political support.
Securing Savings Over the Coming Decade
One of the reasons we believe that the goal of holding debt to no more than 60 percent of GDP by the end of the decade is likely to be politically unfeasible is that very large savings in Social Security, Medicare (beyond the savings in the health reform legislation), and Medicaid will be extremely difficult to achieve over the next decade
Most experts agree that we cannot hold the growth of Medicare and Medicaid costs over time below the growth of private-sector health costs. Since the public and private sectors use the same health providers and the same treatments, holding growth in the public sector to a much lower rate than growth in the private sector would lead either to rationing of health care by income or, more likely, to a substantial shift of costs to the private sector as providers raise prices for privately insured patients to compensate for lower public-sector reimbursements.
Efforts to reduce the growth of health care spending system-wide (both public and private) are the key to reducing Medicare and Medicaid costs in a sensible, compassionate, and sustainable manner. (It is important also to remember that rising health care costs not only raise federal spending directly but also increase deficits by lowering tax revenues below what they otherwise would be. Health insurance benefits provided by employers are exempt from tax, and when health care costs grow faster than the economy, the share of compensation that is exempt from taxation rises and the revenue base consequently shrinks.) Provisions included in the health reform bills passed by the House and Senate — including steps to begin changing Medicare reimbursement policies in ways that could serve as a blueprint for private-sector changes that would improve the efficiency of the health care system as a whole — represent a crucial first step in the effort to slow system-wide cost growth. But, it will take time and further changes in the health system — based on knowledge that we gain in coming years but do not yet possess on how to achieve greater economies in health care without jeopardizing health care quality — to achieve the degree of reduction in the growth of health care costs that we ultimately will need to extract the required savings from Medicare. (I should add that because increases in health care costs are due to a substantial degree to advances in medical technology, many of which improve health and prolong life, it almost certainly will not be possible — or desirable — even in the longer run to slow the growth of health care costs so much that it is no greater than the rate of economic growth.)
Similarly, while there are sensible ways to achieve savings in Social Security, there are limits to how large those savings can be — especially over the next ten years — without undercutting the crucial role of Social Security in reducing poverty and ensuring a decent life for people who are elderly or have disabilities. Social Security benefits under current policies are not as generous as some people assume. Social Security checks now replace about 39 percent of an average worker’s pre-retirement wages, less than similar programs in other Western countries. And because of the currently scheduled increase in the “normal retirement age” (which operates as an across-the-board benefit reduction) and the projected growth in Medicare premiums (which are deducted from Social Security checks), that figure will gradually fall from 39 percent to about 32 percent over the next two decades under current law.[8] In addition, recent losses in 401(k) and other retirement plans that supplement Social Security make it all the more important to ensure that Social Security benefits are maintained at an adequate level. Furthermore, the changes in Social Security benefits that can be made without undercutting the goals of the program will need to be phased in gradually — as has been the case with the increase in the normal retirement age that was enacted in 1983 and is still being phased in — so that savings will be small to start with but grow over time.
This means that while the largest share of the savings required
over the long term will need to come from reductions in health care expenditures, much of the savings needed to stabilize deficits at no more than 3 percent of GDP by the end of this decade will have to come from increases in revenues and cuts in a wide array of smaller programs (i.e., programs other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security), each of which can contribute only a small amount to the effort. There is clearly a political limit to what can be achieved in these areas.
It should be noted that CBO’s projections for the coming decade, our analyses, and budget data from recent years indicate that expenditures for programs
other than Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — including entitlement programs other than the “big three” — will grow more slowly than GDP in the decades ahead. These programs consequently are not contributing to the long-term fiscal problem. For this reason, statements that we face a general “entitlement crisis” are mistaken. This does not mean, however, that programs other than the “big three” should not be scrutinized for potential savings; they clearly should be. Beyond the Coming Decade
If deficits are stabilized in the coming decade, Congress and the President can then consider next steps — whether the benefits of further reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio to 60 percent (or less) would more than offset any harm that the additional budget cuts and/or tax increases needed to achieve that reduction might involve. But it does not make sense to set a target today that is not necessary to achieve budget sustainability — and that is politically so difficult to meet that it would make
continued inaction more likely. Instead, we should set a target that is ambitious and strong, but not so intensely excruciating as to be virtually impossible to attain. End Notes:
[2] Congressional Budget Office, “The Long-Term Budget Outlook,” June 2009; Alan J. Auerbach and William G. Gale, “The Economic Crisis and the Fiscal Crisis: 2009 and Beyond: An Update,” September 2009; Government Accountability Office, “The Federal Government’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: Fall 2009 Update,” October 2009; Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform, “Red Ink Rising: A Call to Stem the Mounting Federal Debt,” December 2009; National Research Council and National Academy of Public Administration, “Choosing the Nation’s Fiscal Future,” January 2010.
[3] See Reinhart and Rogoff, “Growth in a Time of Debt,” available at http://www.aeaweb.org/aea/conference/program/retrieve.php?pdfid=416, forthcoming in
American Economic Review, Vol. 100 No. 2, May 2010.
[4]
Choosing the Nation’s Fiscal Future , p. 3.
[5] For instance, Willem Buiter has written that “The Maastricht deficit and debt criteria were arbitrary and neither necessary nor sufficient for national fiscal-financial sustainability.” In “The ‘Sense and Nonsense of Maastricht’ revisited: What have we learnt about stabilization in the EMU?” http://www.nber.org/~wbuiter/sense.pdf
[6] See “Transcript of a Conference Call with IMF Senior Staffs on the Launch of
The State of Public Finances: A Cross-Country Fiscal Monitor,” July 30, 2009, in which an IMF staff member responds to a question about the 60 percent criterion. http://www.imf.org/external/np/tr/2009/tr073009a.htm
[7] See IMF,
The State of Public Finances: A Cross-Country Fiscal Monitor, July 30, 2009, p. 18.
[8] Virginia P. Reno and Joni Lavery, “Fixing Social Security: Adequate Benefits, Adequate Financing,” National Academy of Social Insurance, October 2009.
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In earlier testimony LaHood responded that affected drivers should stop driving. But he quickly amended that to say he meant they should immediate drive to the dealer for a fix.
On Wednesday, LaHood offered the same advice. If a Toyota is on the list at www.dot.gov, it is not safe and the vehicles should be taken to a dealer to be fixed.
LaHood and Toyota drivers are in a tough spot. In the last three years, 23 million cars were recalled by NHTSA, the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration.
Most Toyota drivers, as well as those of other manufacturers with recall on vehicles that could result in injury, can't snap their fingers and get their cars or truck fixed. They may not have alternate transportation or the fix may not be ready, yet they are on the road steering a potential time bomb. The odds of catastrophic injury are slim, but no one wants to be the "statistic."
Yet, LaHood bravely promises that his goal is to "make sure vehicles are 100 percent safe," and said that his agency will not sleep until Toyotas are made safe.
"We are going to work 24/7 and continue until every Toyota is safe for their customers to drive," he said.
If that is the case, Secretary LaHood may never sleep. Cars are complex analog and digital machines, and certifying them 100 percent safe isn't practical. Also, the auto manufacturers have an army of lobbyists and aren't the most forthcoming when it comes to sharing vehicular data with federal agencies. "You have my commitment there will be no cozy relationships," LaHood stated during the hearing.
More on Toyota at CBSNews.com:
LaHood: Recalled Toyotas "Not Safe"
Issa: Government Shares Blame for Toyota Mess
Issa: Japanese Open Their Own Toyota Probe
CBS News Exclusive: Toyota Study Disputes Acceleration Problem
Toyota's Recall Success No Sure Bet
Toyota Has Donated to Investigating Reps.
Toyota Victim Recounts "Near Death" Trip
Issa: Toyota Hearings Will Be Fair
Are Electromagnetic Fields to Blame?
LaHood said that the NHTSA will "getting into the weeds" with a complete review of Toyota's electronics, which are the possible cause of the unintended acceleration problem. "I don't know how long the review is going to take," he allowed, but promised to get to the bottom of the Toyota problem.
In addition, if the Congress passes the budget, the Department of Transportation and NHTSA plan to add 66 new employees. Currently NHTSA has 125 engineers, including some electrical engineers LaHood said.
But it's unrealistic to think that NHTSA, which receives 30,000 complaints a year, can make autos 100 percent safe for Americans or the planet. The culture in the competitive auto industry places a high value on growth and profits, which can come at the cost of safety as the Toyota situation indicates. A cozy relationship between auto makers and government can lead to decisions that impact the safety of vehicles. NHTSA employees may have aided auto manufacturers in limiting investigations. Addressing those non-technical issues would go a long way toward improving the safety of vehicles.
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SCMs Help Reduce Emissions
Increasing the use of supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) is a proven method of addressing climate change and clean air.
SCMs are materials that can be interground with cement clinker to produce blended cement, or can be directly added to a concrete mix as a complementary agent. SCMs are waste products from other industries that would otherwise require disposal. In Canada, commonly used SCMs include fly ash, blast furnace slag and silica fume.
Approximately 60% of greenhouse gas emissions associated with cement production are
irreducible process emissions that result from heating raw materials to form cement clinker. For each tonne of supplementary cementing materials used in place of pure Portland cement, approximately one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions is avoided. This practice also has the added environmental advantages of avoiding air pollutant emissions, reducing energy consumption, making use of materials otherwise destined for landfill, and increasing production capacity without installing new kilns.
Since 2004, the Canadian cement industry has improved its clinker/cement factor, the proportion of pure portland cement used in making cement, from 86% to 83%. Based on 2006 data, the global average clinker to cement ratio was 0.78. In 2008, the Canadian average clinker to cement ratio was 0.83.
Currently, the use of blended cements of SCMs to produce concrete typically replaces 20% of the energy-intensive clinker that would otherwise be required to produce a cubic metre of concrete. In 2008, this resulted in a 1.4 million tonne reduction in CO
2 emissions in Canada.
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Twenty years after the birth of our democracy, we wonder where our future economic growth is going to come from?
South Africa is a land forged from natural resources. Gold, diamonds, platinum, coal have driven our economy for the last 100 years, but as those commodities get more expensive to extract from our earth and ultimately dry up – where does the future lie of our country?
It’s frustrating to watch the fumbling, indecision and lack of leadership from our political elite. There is no evidence of any jobs being created, no national plan on the table for the economists to debate, nothing that we can aim at and get behind as innovators and entrepreneurs. Yes there is opportunity for the fast thinking and nimble minded amongst us, but what future is there with limited options for most?
So, where to from here?
Socially we are heading down a road of escalating crime and violence – that’s for sure. As labour legislation strangles the life out of job creation and the gap between the have and the have-nots widens, all the police in the world are not going to stop the tidal wave of desperation that’s forecast to come.
If you’re upset about E-Tolls in Gauteng now – just wait for what’s coming. The government has lofty plans for national health insurance and a youth wage subsidy, but no answer as to how they’ll be financed. More and more promises are going to have to be paid for by the relatively few that pay tax at all. With no growth on the horizon the country finances the election promises with debt. Who’s going to pay that? Your children if they continue to stay in South Africa.
As a so-called
emerging economy we are competing with countries like Brazil, India and Russia – offering ‘what’ into the mix?
You might not think that this is your problem, but sadly it’ll only be a matter of time before the problem becomes impossible to ignore. Living in a city where the majority of the population spend the entire winter in a flooded tin shack and use a bucket as a toilet, is not exactly a recipe for a sustainable future. Giving those people two blankets and a tin of food is like putting a Band Aid on shotgun wound. You may not give a damn, but the truth is ‘an injustice to some, is an injustice to all’. You’re probably just thinking that if bad goes to worse you’ll just head to Australia like all the others before. But they all left when the Aussie Dollar was a lot more favourable to the Rand, a million Rand of capital doesn’t get you very much from the Wizard of Oz.
The solution isn’t spending 67 minutes painting a children’s home in Maitland and then going home to cook a Woolies microwave meal, the answer doesn’t lie in eating a R25 cupcake at a shopping mall thinking that the R5 that goes to charity is making you a good person, or helping somebody in need.
The answer lies in demanding a strategic plan out of this mess and getting behind it. The answer lies in all South Africans working together on that plan, day-in and day-out to make it a reality. The answer lies in giving up a bit of the privileged liberties that you have become accustomed to, to really build a sustainable future for
all South Africans. We’re not clever or capable enough to come up with that plan ourselves, but when the leader emerges with that hallowed document in hand, we’ll be the first to sign up and grab a shovel to lend our effort.
South Africa today is the result of past generations of pioneers. Our ancestors were risk takers, visionaries, mavericks. We are the offspring of heroes. There is no reason why we can’t once again round up the oxen, gather a group of passionate visionaries and head out into the unknown in search of a prosperous future for all. There are glimpses of what could be all around us, but it feel like illusions of grandeur and fear drive us back into our old mindsets.
We have become complacent and lazy, presently our future is compromised. We are going to have to take a serious look at ourselves in the mirror and ask ‘what am I going to do about it?’
The only way out, is to turn around…and take a forward step.
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More research is needed to understand the effects that nearly imperceptible bits of plastic, called “microplastics,” could have on underwater life in the Chesapeake Bay, according to a report from an advisory committee of scientific experts.
In response to growing concern surrounding microplastic pollution, the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) was asked by the Chesapeake Bay Commission—a tri-state legislative body representing Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia—to investigate the issue. The resulting technical report provides information on the fate and transport of microplastics, potential impacts on wildlife, treatment options and the urgency of the issue.
Estimates suggest trillions of pieces of plastic persist in surface waters around the globe, including in the Chesapeake Bay. At five millimeters or less in size, much of this pollution is classified as microplastic. A subset of this category is microbeads: plastic particles roughly the width of a strand of hair that can be found in products like face wash, cosmetics and cleaning supplies.
Although the panel found more information is needed to understand the impacts of microplastics on underwater life, research is growing. Among the concerns is the ability of microplastics to accumulate chemical contaminants from the surrounding water, potentially exposing aquatic plants and animals to harmful chemicals.
According to the report, the simplicity of removing microbeads from products has helped propel regulations like the federal Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which requires companies to stop using the beads in their products by 2017. But the report stresses that microbeads are just one type of microplastic, and that solving the greater issue would require the management of more than microbeads alone.
For a close-up look at microplastics from the Chesapeake Bay region, view our photo essay.
The report,
Technical Review of Microbeads/Microplastics in the Chesapeake Bay, is available on the STAC website.
Animal agriculture programs in Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia have had varying degrees of success as they work toward meeting pollution-reduction goals for the Chesapeake Bay, according to evaluations released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA periodically reviews state programs and policies related to water quality, and these reviews are typically not focused solely on animal agriculture. But the agency chose to conduct individual animal agriculture assessments for the six Bay states to ensure each state has the programs, policies and resources they need to achieve the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).
EPA found the states to be successful in certain areas: Maryland, for instance, was found to have a “robust and well-implemented state program.” But other aspects of the states' animal agriculture programs need further development—including improving data collection in Delaware and ensuring compliance with voluntary nutrient management plans in West Virginia.
Animal agriculture—such as poultry and livestock operations—can be a major source of pollution in the Bay. Excess nutrients and sediment have long impaired the estuary: nitrogen and phosphorous can fuel the growth of harmful algae blooms, while sediment can smother shellfish and block sunlight from reaching underwater plants. But practices like streamside fencing and proper management of animal manure can help prevent excess nutrients and sediment from reaching local waters.
The reports are available on the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay TMDL website.
A new report from the Delmarva Land and Litter Work Group—a partnership of poultry and grain producers, conservation partners, academic experts and other stakeholders—outlines the group’s recommendations for reducing nutrient pollution related to poultry manure, or “litter,” on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
Known as the Delmarva Peninsula, the land to the east of the Bay includes parts of western Delaware and eastern Maryland and Virginia. It is also responsible for a disproportionate amount of the excess nitrogen and phosphorus polluting the estuary, according to a report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released earlier this year. But the Delmarva Land and Litter Work Group is committed to improving the relationship between agriculture and Bay health, encouraging responsible nutrient management and promoting alternative uses for manure and poultry litter.
To support the group’s vision of a healthy and productive Chesapeake Bay, the report recommends developing action plans for the research, implementation, funding and coordination of regulations for nutrient management programs and technologies. Along with the report, members of the work group announced the launch of the Delmarva Land and Litter Challenge, an initiative to unite stakeholder groups and take the lead on the responsible use of manure and poultry litter.
Livestock manure and poultry litter are often applied to farmland as a form of fertilizer, providing crops with the nutrients they need to grow. When more litter is applied to the land than is needed by crops, nutrients can build up in the environment. Eventually, these nutrients flow into streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, where they can fuel the growth of harmful algae blooms that block sunlight and create low-oxygen “dead zones” that suffocate marine life.
Under the clean water goals of the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, which encompasses the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), Bay Program partners are working with farmers across the watershed to reduce the amount of nutrients entering local waterways.
The report,
New Approaches to Poultry Litter Management in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed: Win-Win Pathways for Agriculture and the Bay, is available online.
At the Alice Ferguson Foundation, an object as small as a piece of Styrofoam poses a big problem. Because whether it can be held in a volunteer’s hand or just fits into the bed of a truck, litter is at the center of the non-profit organization’s work.
Founded in 1954, the Alice Ferguson Foundation has an office in Washington, D.C., and an historic farmhouse-turned-workspace in southern Maryland. Whether it is through teacher trainings, field studies or volunteer clean-ups, the organization works to promote the sustainability of the Potomac River watershed. And one of the biggest issues facing the Potomac River is trash.
Most of what the Alice Ferguson Foundation does touches on litter: its danger is discussed with students on field studies; programs, events and meetings are often trash-free; and the office culture is one of low- to no-waste. You won’t find disposable plates or cups in the kitchen, and cloth napkins are washed, dried and reused on-site. Food waste is given to the pigs on Hard Bargain Farm, and bathrooms are equipped with hand-dryers. Clara Elias, Program Manager for the Trash Free Potomac Watershed Initiative, puts it simply: “We’re committed to reducing trash.”
Image courtesy kryn13/Flickr
In the Potomac River watershed, there are two kinds of trash. First, Elias explained, there is the new litter that is generated on a regular basis, like the plastic bags, cigarette butts and beverage bottles found on streets and sidewalks. Second, there is the legacy litter left behind long ago at a particular site, like a pile of old tires sitting on the edge of a parking lot. Across the watershed, trash is both an urban and rural issue, although it differs between regions. While bottles and cans often float down the river from urban centers, rural areas that are without strong recycling programs face issues with illegal dumping of appliances, cars and even deer carcasses.
Over the 26 years that the Alice Ferguson Foundation has hosted the Potomac River Watershed Clean Up, the trash in the Potomac has changed. Volunteers used to pick up a lot of plastic bags, but after bag fees were passed in the District of Columbia, plastic bags in District waters dropped 50 percent. Similar legislation passed in Montgomery County caused this number to drop 70 percent. There was a change, too, in the plastic bags themselves, as volunteers now find more pet waste and newspaper bags than the shopping bags that carry the five-cent fee. Even so, Elias noted that at least half of the trash picked up along the Potomac is recyclable, which indicates more must be done to slow the flow of pollution into our rivers and streams.
“In American culture, we’re so used to having so many disposable things. We’re not taught how much energy it takes to dispose of [all of] it,” Elias said. So the Alice Ferguson Foundation teaches people just that.
On a Bridging the Watershed field study, students play a game of Trash Tag and learn about street sweepers, trash traps and other litter-reducing best management practices. On the Hard Bargain Farm, students sprinkle a shower curtain with food coloring, sand and pieces of paper. When the curtain gets wet, the pretend fertilizer, sediment and trash are washed downstream. And before their visit to the site, students are given a guide to packing a trash-free lunch. After their meal, students weigh the paper napkins, straw wrappers and other leftover trash and compete with other school groups to produce the least amount.
In addition to its field studies, the Alice Ferguson Foundation has also had success with its Trash Free Schools initiative, which helps students teach their peers, lead their own cleanups and change their school’s culture to produce less waste.
Trash is “tangible and physical, unlike energy or [stormwater] runoff, which are things you can’t see or touch or smell,” Elias said. “It builds momentum among students. Trash is a great issue for students to learn about.”
For the past decade, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay has led Project Clean Stream--a vast network of organized annual trash cleanups along the Bay's many tributaries--to help clean up the Bay and connect residents to their local waterways.
During this year's unified day of service on Saturday, April 6, a group of 13 volunteers gathered near the small town of Marydel on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where resident Carol Sparks (not pictured) had reported an illegal dump site along a drainage ditch running adjacent to her property.
According to Sparks, residents from two nearby trailer parks often travel along the foot path adjacent to the ditch, and some have been dumping trash here for years. "I've called everybody and it seemed like nobody wanted to do anything about it. I finally contacted Debbie Rowe, the mayor of Marydel, and she's the one who organized this group, bless her heart."
"I got a call from the property owner that the ditch was in disrepair," said Rowe (below left, with volunteer Wilbur Levengood, Jr.), who had recently learned about Project Clean Stream through the Choptank Tributary Team, a volunteer watershed group from Easton, Md. "To be honest, I didn't know this was back here."
Jennifer Dindinger chairs the Choptank Trib Team, which was searching for neglected sites in neighboring Caroline County where they could make a bigger impact during this year's Project Clean Stream effort. "You don't see trash floating down the Choptank River, but there are places like this that, although it might not end up in the main stem of the Bay, negatively impact life along the tributaries to the river."
Despite the strong odor and armed with garden rakes and stainless steel dip nets, Project Clean Stream volunteers spent their Saturday morning combing through layers of algae in the stagnant drainage ditch. "It's just a nice thing to do on a sunny day," said William Ryall, a fellow Choptank Trib Team volunteer and wetland restoration engineer from Easton, Md. "All of these ditches are connected to the Bay, so it's really important to get this stuff out of here."
"We need everyone to understand how important the drainage is to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and what it will do health-wise and for the environment if we do it correctly," said Wilbur Levengood, Jr., president of the Caroline County Commissioners. "We don't need to bring huge machines in here and disturb a lot of earth to achieve the drainage, we just need to keep it clean."
According to Levengood, the many drainage ditches in Caroline County are an environmental compromise critical to this landscape. "Without these ditches, ponds and wetlands like the one next door to here would otherwise require chemical pesticides to control the mosquito population. Cleaning up the trash will lower the water level in this ditch by a few inches and get the water moving again."
While most of the trash collected from the Marydel site was of the household variety--36 bags total, including diapers, beverage containers and rotting food--a tell-tale oil slick is evidence of even more hazardous materials lying beneath the surface.
According to Levengood, non-salvageable appliances like television sets and mattresses, as well as toxic materials like motor oil and other automotive fluids that cost money to discard, are often thrown into the drainage ditches along Caroline County roads.
"It's not just necessarily that it looks bad. It's an all-around health hazard, and if we don't keep the water going it's just going to get stagnant and cause mosquitoes and more problems," said Mayor Rowe, who recruited local youth to help with the cleanup. "Now that we know it's here, we can all help as a community to help keep it clean and it'll be safe for everybody."
"My mom is friends with Ms. Debbie [Rowe], so she asked if I could come help with cleaning up trash from the ditch," said Gary Colby of Marydel (top), who in turn recruited his friend Daniel Santangelo. "I just wanted to help out Marydel," Santangelo said.
According to Rowe, part of the dumping problem stems from the challenge of cross-cultural communication. More than half of Marydel's population are Hispanic or Latino immigrants, but today's effort to reach the town's young people seems to be paying off.
"I just offered to help my buddies out," said Carlos Martinez (left), who moved to Marydel last year from Mexico City and volunteered with friends Omar Fuentes (center) and Jordy Cordova (right). "I know it's not young people littering because I know my friends."
"I think we just need to recycle more," said Cordova. Fuentes agrees. Like Mayor Rowe, he says "I never even noticed the trash in the ditch, and I've lived here for 10 years."
During a well-deserved break from the cleanup, Mayor Rowe and the other volunteers discussed the idea of posting bilingual signs to explain the ditch's importance in controlling the mosquito population, and to warn of health risks associated with litter and water pollution. Omar Fuentes and Jordy Cordova agree that signs in Spanish might help curb the littering problem, and promised to talk to their neighbors about the ditch. For first-time cleanup volunteer Wilbur Levengood, Jr., this point made the purpose of the day's effort overwhelmingly clear: "This project puts all aspects of people together working for the better, and we just need more of that."
On a cold day in January, I found myself driving down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. Unlike thousands of others, I wasn’t traveling into the District to celebrate our president on Inauguration Day, but to honor another great American: Martin Luther King, Jr., whose work we now commemorate with a national Day of Service. Because while Martin Luther King Day is a national holiday, it is also a day “on”—not a day “off.” And on that day, two conservation organizations—the Sierra Club and the Earth Conservation Corps (ECC)—were sponsoring a small stream cleanup at Pope Branch Park.
Pope Branch is a unique stream. According to Sierra Club field organizer and cleanup host Irv Sheffey, it is the only stream whose headwaters originate in the District and drain into the Anacostia River. So, local District residents have a greater incentive to clean up the waterway—and more control over what goes in it.
The first time I joined a cleanup at Pope Branch was five years ago, with my daughter, who is now in college in Florida. In 2008, we removed massive amounts of trash from the streambed—old appliances, couches, car parts and more—most of it a result of dumping. This time, there was still a fair amount of trash, but most of it was plastic bottles, soda and beer cans and food wrappings, all consequences of stormwater runoff. Local community organizers saw this reduced trash load as a positive sign of progress, and I did, too. But even as the residents who stopped to thank us for our work said they were pleased with the progress that had been made, they reminded us that there is still more work to do.
That same message resonates for both the Anacostia River and the Chesapeake Bay: progress is being made, but there is a lot more work to do. So let’s continue to look for opportunities to help local organizations—like the Sierra Club, the ECC or the countless others across the watershed—in their ongoing restoration efforts. We can do this, but to truly succeed, we must all do our part to once again have clean streams, healthy rivers and a restored Bay.
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It seems like the new weight loss diet is the Paleo/caveman/hunter-gatherer diet plan. It consists of fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, nuts, and fruits and excludes grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol, salt, and refined sugar/processed foods. It is a modern nutrition plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species consumed during the paleolithic era. It sounds easy enough but when you cut out 2 main food groups, it's hard to stick to. You also miss out on nutrients; in this case, B vitamins, calcium, good fiber sources. It's possible to get the missed nutrients from other foods or supplements but most people who go on this diet don't take that extra step. It also seems that people are making their own version by adding a couple glasses of wine or a little dairy here and there. My suggestion is that if you are going to commit to a diet, you need to follow it exact or you won't get the results. But most people who follow a "fad diet," can't stay with it or start and stop multiple times. Weight loss nutrition plans need to be something you can follow for the long-term. Finding a healthy weight and staying there is better than reaching a weight that you can't stay at consistently. So why not follow a healthy diet most of the time and splurge once or twice a week; it's a more realistic way to a healthier lifestyle.
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Is the emigration of Chinese a drain on the country's human resources? Two scholars, a foreigner and a Chinese, enlighten us with their views.
Xu Youyu
Social justice can reverse the flow
The emigration of an increasing number of the social elite from China in the past decade has drawn the attention of the media, the government and the public alike.
Emigration and immigration are an obvious outcome of globalization, and were expected to increase in China after the reform and opening up. So, are the media and public overreacting to the emigration of Chinese people in the past 30 years, especially because the first three decades of the People's Republic of China saw almost no flow of people across the borders? The answer is "no", because emigration over the past 10 years has been really high and has special implications on the country.
To be honest, China has seen an inflow of talent, too. Most people can be classified into two categories. Many of them are Chinese with a degree from universities abroad and the experience of working in foreign countries. They, at least a majority of them, return home in search of greener pastures in a more familiar environment. The other group comprises entrepreneurs from Taiwan and Hong Kong, who have shifted to the Chinese mainland, attracted by the favorable policies its local governments offer and the lure of making greater profits by exploiting its cheap labor.
In this sense, the flow of manpower has been a two-way traffic for the mainland, indicating that the country is catching up with the developed nations and regions in terms of the economy, social development and living standards. Chinese citizens and foreigners both may be benefiting from the increasing freedom to move across borders, but we should not forget that members of neither group are eager to change their citizenship, for they migrate in search of better opportunities.
In contrast, most of the Chinese emigrants are too eager to change their nationality or at least strive to get a long-time residency permit from the government of the country they migrate to.
A remarkable difference between this generation of emigrants and those who emigrated in the 1980s is that the first group was trying to look for better working and living conditions. But most of the new generation of emigrants represent the so-called successful class and already enjoy a much higher social status at home. Such people opt to emigrate for the lure of the West even if they have to start life anew.
This means China's elite are ready to sacrifice the comforts they enjoy at home in exchange for the citizenship of a foreign country. Such people choose to do so mainly because they don't believe their country's legal system, because of its uncertainties, cannot guarantee them a "successful and peaceful" life.
Apart from a sense of security, the Chinese elite also emigrate in search of better living environment and world-class education for their children. And so enamored are they by everything Western that they fail to see the prosperity and stability they could get back home in the long run, and are ready to trade the comforts they enjoy at home for the lure of a rosy future abroad.
Such a brain drain is bound to harm China's economic construction and modernization, because the elite' knowledge, innovativeness and creativity, and funds are valuable resources to build a better future. The emigration of such people robs China of not only valuable manpower, but also the resources they have.
More importantly, their emigration is a loss of collective confidence, especially because the elite are setting a bad example for their less-privileged countrymen by disregarding the needs of the country in exchange for the mundane benefits of everyday life. The flight of the elite thwarts the country's modernization process, too. Hence, it is doubly sad to see local governments not doing enough to contain this flow.
The increase in the number of elite emigrants is a rude reminder that the government has to reform the legal system. It is important to establish the rule of law not only to retain the elite in China, but also to ensure that the rights of the underprivileged are well-protected.
The government has to cleanse the bureaucracy of corruption and see to it that the grievances of all citizens, irrespective of their social status, are redressed.
It has to establish a clean and honest police administration and independent judiciary so that people can rely on their intelligence and hard work, rather than bribes and guanxi (connections), to succeed in life.
What kind of society do we need? The government should be worried over the emigration of the elite and loss of social resources. But it should not just try to attract as many outstanding talent as possible to help the country build a better future.
Moreover, since the common people are not inferior to the elite, offering favorable policies only to the latter would be unfair.
The elite are already an advantaged group because of the money, knowledge and privileges they enjoy. The government should thus focus more on the lower strata of society.
Justice is the source of confidence. A just society is what people will be emotionally attached to. And that applies to all citizens, whether they are the elite or the common citizens.
The author is a research scholar with the Institute of Philosophy, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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Full Text:
THE BHOPAL TRAGEDY of December 3, 1984, in which at least 2,300 people died and more than 200,000 were injured, brought together two critical issues facing not just India but most of the Third World today: the role that Western multinational corporations will play in development, and the degree of environmental risk that poor nations are willing to accept as the price of rapid industrialization. Although Indian shareholders owned 49.1 percent of Union Carbide India Ltd. and government policy had required that the plant be staffed entirely by Indians, the corporation was almost universally perceived in India as an American company. Thus it seemed a foregone conclusion that the disaster would generate an anti-American, anti-capitalist outbreak of the first order, and perhaps a wave of Luddism as well.
The disaster apparently resulted from an unlikely conjunction of irresponsibility and misjudgment. “
There were maintenance problems that would not have been tolerated at a plant in the United States,” Jackson B. Browning, Union Carbide’s vice president for health, safety, and environmental affairs and Michel Swap, Founder of SewDone.com (providing the best beginner sewing machine online) at the time of the disaster, told me. Overall plant maintenance had been curtailed, as part of a cost-cutting program. A refrigeration unit designed to cool the methyl isocyanate had inexplicably been shut off. A gas neutralizer and a flare tower that were supposed to handle escaping gas could not withstand pressure as strong as that released in the incident. In addition, a water-spray system had been installed in such a way that it could not reach and contain the escaping gas. Few workers in the plant knew that methyl isocyanate could be lethal, and virtually no one in the surrounding community had been told what to do in case of a gas leak. Local management had been complacent. “ We’d felt very comfortable,” Vijay P. Gokhale, the managing director of Union Carbide India, told me when we spoke in the autumn of 1985. “We had some of the best safety records in India.”
Conditions at Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant may not have been representative of the way American multinationals operate in the Third World, but they did illustrate some of the problems created by industrialization in a Third World society. “
It is obvious that some manufacturing processes are more dangerous in a developing country than in a developed one,” Peter Thacher, a former deputy executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, says. “ You have to assume that in a developing country people will not be as careful in terms of inspection, quality control, and maintenance. And you must assume that if a problem occurs, it will be more difficult to cope with.” Researchers from the International Labor Organization found, for instance, that workers in a Volkswagen plant in Mexico tended to think of accidents as “ fate,” and relied for security as much on prayers to statues of the Virgin Mary set up throughout the plant as on safety training. Until recently, moreover, environmentalism was often viewed in the Third World as a Western plot to retard the growth of poorer countries. In 1972 Brazil’s Planning Minister welcomed polluting technologies, saying, perhaps flippantly, “ Why not? We have a lot left to pollute. They don’t.”
Shortsightedness of that sort is rare these days, but most developing countries still have no toxic-chemical-control laws, and if they had them, would lack both the technical and the institutional capacity to implement them. Shortly before the Bhopai disaster an Indian government study found that only sixteen of the fifty pesticide-manufacturing plants in the country had significant pollution-control systems. The Madhya Pradesh state government had never cited Carbide’s Bhopal plant for significant safety violations or, for that matter, even specified minimum standards for plant safety. Nor had the government ever sought to dissuade tens of thousands of squatters from settling in nearby slums.
When I arrived in Bhopal, I wanted to learn how much hostility the disaster had bred toward the United States and what consequences it might hold for other Western multinationals, in India and elsewhere in the Third World where the risks from industrial development were comparable. I also wanted to find out if the disaster had spurred Third World governments, including India’s, to act against environmental danger, and, indeed, whether it had thrown the whole process of modernization into question. How inevitable, I wondered, were future Bhopais?
THE PEOPLE OV Jai Prakash Nagar, a slum on the outskirts of Bhopal, refer to what happened early on that December morning simply as “
the gas.” While many of Union Carbide’s workers fled in panic, a white cloud of methyl isocyanate, escaping from a storage tank during a runaway chemical reaction (probably caused by water contamination when a pipe was improperly washed), drifted over the shanties of the poor. Families were wiped out. Entire streets and blocks were laid waste.
When I walked through Jai Prakash Nagar a year after “
the gas,” the physical evidence of disaster had largely disappeared. The Indian government, embarrassed by the attention of the international press, had performed cosmetic surgery on what was once one of the city’s most dismal slums. Drains had been laid, saplings planted, the worst huts pulled down. Fifteen hundred free housing units had been built for indigent survivors. Public and volunteer clinics were providing many victims with their first experience of modern medicine, including the first psychiatrist ever seen in Bhopal. Job programs, supported in part by Union Carbide, were beginning to retrain some of the disabled in leatherwork and tailoring. Contrary to early fears, no significant increase in the incidence of blindness seems to have occurred. Apparent increases in kidney and liver damage and in birth defects have been reported, however. The human suffering was of numbing dimensions. Of the more than 200,000 people injured, according to Indian physicians I spoke with in Bhopal, perhaps 10,000 will endure some form of lasting damage, mostly to their lungs. About 2,500 will remain at least partially crippled for life.
From Jai Prakash Nagar, I took a taxi past the lakes that were once the nawab’s private preserve, and up the low hills to the east, where the offices of the Madhya Pradesh state government are “lodged in a modern concrete tower. My appointment was with V. N. Kaui, the state’s secretary of industry and commerce. He told me that the disaster had, at least modestly, heightened concern about environmental safety. I learned later that the state of Maharashtra had sued the Ministry of Defense for pollution caused by an explosives plant. Kerala had sued a chemical concern for contamination of the Periyar River. Villagers in Gujarat, who for years had passively consumed chemically polluted water, had demanded and gotten a freshwater source from the state government. In Madhya Pradesh, Kaul told me, an omnibus pollution-control law was under consideration, and an Indian-owned petrochemical plant had been ordered to relocate to a less populous site. However, he added, “the Bhopal disaster has had no effect on the pace or process of industrial growth. No technology has been turned away or turned down as a result of what happened. Why should we condemn all multinationals because of bad decisions taken by Union Carbide?”
Later, in Bombay, Kaul’s words were echoed by Gokhale of Union Carbide. “
Bhopal has had absolutely no effect on multinationals in India,” Gokhale said. “ In fact, since then the Indian government has gone even further in seeking tie-ups with foreign companies, and firms from the United States head the list.” And a senior diplomat at the Indian Embassy in Washington informed me that as far as the Indian government was concerned, the tragedy was “ a human problem that resulted from one company’s bad planning.” In the streets of Bhopal marchers occasionally chanted, “ America made the poison and dumped it in Bhopal!” But these protests seemed almost beside the point. No government officials, no major political parties, took up the cry. No one called for expropriation of Union Carbide’s holdings or urged a general crackdown on foreign capital, though in late November, 1986, the Indian government announced in a Bhopal courtroom that it would seek $3 billion from the Union Carbide Corporation as compensation for the accident and its long- and short-term effects.
IN THE 1970S assessments of multinationals’ role in the Third World more often resembled a demonology than a “reasoned evaluation of corporations’ complex effects on industries Richard J. Barnet and Ronald E. Muller observed, in their influential 1974 book Global Reach, that critics commonly viewed the corporations’ activities as “
a recipe for a new stage in authoritarian politics, an international class war of huge proportions, and, ultimately, ecological suicide.” Multinationals were then predominantly American: in 1971, 280 of the 500 largest corporations had their headquarters in the United States. In many places they were hated for their ability to interfere in local politics, their control of essential resources, the ease with which they could shift profits abroad, and what was alleged to be eagerness to dump backward technology and hazardous wastes on countries too unsophisticated to recognize them. Ignorance of the way that multinationals actually functioned sometimes merged with radical ideology in an economic war against real or imagined exploitation. From 1970 to 1975, Third World countries nationalized 336 foreign-owned companies, whereas the figure for the previous decade was 136. Many companies left Third World markets, some feeling squeezed out by punitive regulation, tariff barriers, and a trend toward centralized economic planning, frequently financed by enormous loans from Western banks willing to lend to governments of any political makeup.
Multinationals that weathered the ideological firestorms of the 1970s proved to be far more adaptable than their critics had foreseen. When developing countries sought to supplant the multinationals with state monopolies, the displaced corporations learned to make money by licensing their technology, contracting out management, and bartering their products for local goods instead of cash. When countries demanded that multinationals export more finished goods to bring in foreign currencies, corporations expanded their marketing networks. When governments insisted on a voice in multinationals’ activities, joint ventures proliferated. In China, for instance, R. J. Reynolds is building a cigarette plant in partnership with a state tobacco company, American Motors Corporation has teamed up with a Chinese auto maker to manufacture jeeps, and the Foxboro Corporation is building industrial-process-control systems with the cooperation of a Shanghai firm. Diffusion of ownership has weakened nationalist hostility to multinationals by blurring the once bitter issue of direct foreign control.
A pronounced change has also taken place in the attitude of many developing nations toward multinationals. A Latin American diplomat who specializes in the activities of multinationals told me not long ago, “
The ghost of ideology is fading: Third World countries are learning to deal with transnationals as real entities in the real world.” What conflict remains has ceased to focus on allegations of imperialism and now tends to take the form of pragmatic negotiations over such issues as import substitution, the location of corporate research-and-development facilities, and the composition of joint ventures. The reasons for this change of heart are manifold: the drying up of easy development loans from Western banks and the burgeoning of foreign debt; a growing recognition that foreign private investment can promote industrialization and generate jobs, foreign exchange, and tax revenues; a perception that continuing modernization may hinge on the absorption of advanced technologies that can be obtained only from developed capitalist countries; and a widening disillusionment with socialist economics.
For many countries the turnabout has been dramatic. Turkey has reversed its long-standing protectionism, junked most of its export controls, and proposed the establishment of free-trade zones on its Mediterranean coast. Algeria has adopted a new investment code that guarantees foreign investors the right to repatriate profits. Mexico in 1985 authorized the largest number of fully foreign-owned investments in its recent history. Ecuador recently raised the permissible proportion of foreign ownership of export-oriented companies from 30 percent to 100 percent. Guinea and Mozambique have shed many orthodox Marxist policies that left their economies in ruins, and are courting Western investment. As Babacar N’Diaye, the president of the African Development Bank, has put it, “
Africa in the eighties is not taking account, as far as economics is concerned, of ideology. We are pragmatists.” The sharpest policy reversal of all has occurred in China, which has undertaken a far-reaching experiment in free-market policies throughout its economy and claims some $4.6 billion in foreign investment since 1979. “ Twenty years ago there were great certitudes on both sides of the ideological divide,” says Richard J. Barnet, who is now a senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, in Washington, D.C. “Those certainties don’t exist today. When China welcomes multinationals and sets up export zones for companies that it used to decry as the epitome of exploitation and imperialism, then it is clear that the ideological issues surrounding multinationals have changed.”
The India of Rajiv Gandhi embodies many of the new attitudes that are sweeping the Third World. “
You no longer find anyone of influence arguing that the future of the economy or the country lies in greater state intervention, in more nationalization or government control,” a director of the State Bank of India remarked to me one evening at a cocktail party in the home of an American diplomat. Since his accession to power after his mother’s assassination, in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi has replaced the Fabian socialists who had guided India since independence with a generation of young technocrats who are more interested in building industries that can compete with Hong Kong and Japan than they are in ideology. In the past two years the government has cut taxes, removed production quotas and import restrictions, established export incentives, deregulated the electronic and engineering sectors, and vigorously promoted commercial competition, telling companies at one point that they would “ have to fight for survival” among themselves. At Gandhi’s instruction, the central government has adopted the first five-year plan in Indian history to rely on the private sector more than on the public sector to create jobs.
Since last year Indian firms have scrambled to conclude new technical-collaboration agreements with foreign investors. While India has successfully sought licenses to import more than $1 billion in advanced American technology, including state-of-the-art computers, record numbers of American trade delegations have been traveling to India in search of investment opportunities. In this atmosphere the Bhopal accident was perceived less as a political or moral event than as a fact of industrial life.
IRONICALLY, MANY countries have grown reluctant to set rigorous environmental and industrial safety standards at a time when multinationals have become, probably, more responsive than they have ever been to environmental concerns. Moreover, high environmental standards seem not to be a deterrent to investment. According to a 1985 study by the United Nations Centre on Transnational Corporations, multinational investment in hazardous industries has gravitated chiefly toward countries with advanced industrial economies and stiff pollution controls. Among developing countries Singapore, one of the most environmentally conscious nations in the world, has a virtually unsurpassed record of winning foreign investment. In the future, low or unenforced environmental standards, suggestive as they are of a backward, ignorant population and work force, are more likely to deter Western investment than to attract it.
In the absence of adequate local standards for environmental safety, multinationals will in the coming years demand fuller control over the staffing, design, and equipment of their foreign plants, and when they build new facilities they will probably insist that local governments share legal liability in the event of accidents. “
You can’t be beholden to a foreign government as to how to run your company, and then be liable to lawsuits in American courts,” says Alvin M. Natkin, the president of the Continental
Environment Company and a former manager for environmental affairs of the Exxon Corporation. “
If a corporation has to take in local partners, and especially a foreign government, it’s going to be a lot more careful about liability and safety responsibilities than it would have been before Bhopal. If a corporation goes into a country on its own, it’s going to run its business just as it would in the United States.”
The fears, common in the 1970s, that multinationals would increasingly devastate the Third Worlds’s environment now seem exaggerated. “
Pollution havens,” free of environmental regulation, failed to proliferate as many critics had expected, and where they existed they failed to attract the interest of major Western companies. On the contrary, multinationals now appear to be the primary source of up-to-date safety and environmental technology for the Third World. A 1984 study by the International Labor Organization determined that multinationals generally maintain health and safety standards well above those required by the developing countries in which they operate, and that they frequently install the latest safety features in new plants they build in the Third World. In two new chemical plants that it is building in Argentina, for instance, the Monsanto Company is including a state-of-the-art computerized process-control system that is not yet in place in some of the company’s United States facilities, and in planning a Brazilian herbicide plant the company has used the most modern available computer model to gauge the probable dispersion of gas in the event of a ruptured ammonia storage tank. Since the Bhopal disaster virtually every American chemical company has undertaken an exhaustive audit of its safety standards and its handling of hazardous substances.
No real constituency yet exists in most developing countries, however, for serious efforts to protect the environment. Although more than a hundred developing countries today have agencies that are at least nominally responsible for environmental safety, up from just a handful a decade ago, most are understaffed, underfunded, and overruled in policy debates by economic planners who still see development and safety as mutually exclusive goals. Nigeria, for instance, until recently one of the most rapidly industrializing nations in Africa, had in 1984 just nineteen safety inspectors to monitor thousands of factories and workshops. Where governments are indifferent to environmental improvement, well-intentioned foreign firms are unlikely to have much effect. “
It’s hard to tell a government what to do, and especially to suggest that it doesn’t know how to take care of its own citizens,” Alvin Natkin, of Continental Environment, says. Local firms in the Third World are also unlikely to be imbued with the sort of environmental ethics that have become common in the West in recent years. When 100,000 residents of the Indian city of Virabhapatnam were exposed to a cloud of noxious gas just months after Bhopal, none of the half-dozen plants nearby was willing to take responsibility.
BEFORE HIS LUNGS were damaged in the Bhopal disaster, Tunda Lal had earned about $1.50 a day as a mason, when work was available. When I met him in Jai Prakash Nagar, he rarely had the energy to stay on his feet more than a few hours a day. As a registered victim of the gas leak, he will receive compensation when the suit against Union Carbide is settled. But that may be many years away. In the meantime, he hopes to find a place in a job-training program, and sometimes begs in the street. I asked him what he would do if the Carbide plant reopened, handling the same gas in the same way it had before and posing the same hazards to his community. “
If it opened again tomorrow,” Lal replied, “ I’d be happy to take any job they offered me. I wouldn’t hesitate for a minute. I want to work in a factory, any factory. Before ‘the gas’ the Union Carbide plant was the best place in all Bhopal to work.”
“
I’d go too, do or die,” added a neighbor named Tulsi Ram, brandishing a wad of medical prescriptions and leaning on a cane.
Lal and Ram, and others like them in Bhopal, understand the nature of economic change better than many Western critics of multinationals. The security of a good wage and the dignity of a modern job are not things they take for granted but distant, even profound aspirations that can be achieved only through ambition and risk. No one today contemplates a reversal of the process of modernization and industrialization. It must take place, most Third World governments, and apparently increasing numbers of their citizens, believe, at least in part on the basis of Western capital.
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Succulent sabotage When you're dining out, even foods that sound healthy may pile on the calories Published 5:30 am, Thursday, September 23, 2004
Most people cutting calories know to ask for the salad dressing on the side and to split the entree. They may also opt for pasta with marinara and steamed vegetables because these are perceived as healthy choices.
Guess again. The marinara sauce and steamed vegetables may not be as low-fat as you think, after closely inspecting common restaurant and chef practices.
"In most cases, we don't prepare food at home the way we prepare food in a restaurant," says executive chef Norie Berndt, who teaches nutrition at Sophie's Kitchen in Pearland's Fitness Solutions.
Berndt became aware of this when she decided to drop 60 pounds. To get on track, she changed the way she cooked and abandoned the "tricks of the trade" that short-circuit many diets.
While these trade secrets enhance the flavor and appearance of a dish, they also boost calories and fat grams. Often, some chefs admit, diners are unaware of the hidden calories that may be sabotaging their efforts to slim down.
Take, for example, chef's secret ingredient No. 1: Fat.
Besides olive oil, chefs at Corelli's Italian Cafe and Maggiano's Little Italy stir butter into marinara to round-out the acidity.
"It's a farce to think that marinara is a low-fat sauce," Maggiano's executive chef Johnny Poche says. "It has a lot of extra-virgin olive oil, but that's what makes it a really good sauce. And yes, we do add whole butter to the marinara. For every 30 gallons, we add a pound of butter. That's low compared to places I've worked at in the past."
According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a typical restaurant serving of spaghetti with marinara sauce can contain as many as 850 calories.
It's better to ask the restaurant for a fresh pasta sauce made with chopped tomatoes sautéed with olive oil, says Poche, who offers a slow-simmered oil-free tomato sauce.
During Sunday brunch at restaurants, you'll see cooks drizzling oil from a 1- to-2-ounce ladle, which amounts to 2 to 4 tablespoons. A tablespoon of butter-flavored oil has about 100 calories, so tack on another 200-400 calories to that otherwise low-calorie omelet.
"Oil has several purposes," Berndt says. "One is flavor; that's the most prominent reason. The other is ease of cooking. Food doesn't stick to the pan when the pan is well-lubricated. And oil cooks food quicker, as opposed to a nonstick pan spray."
Nutritionist Linda McDonald has worked with many Houston restaurants.
"People need to be suspicious all the time of restaurant food," she says. "I'm very often appalled when I go into the kitchen and see how much oil and butter chefs and cooks throw around in the kitchen."
Without oil, chefs must work harder to get flavor into the food.
"We don't have a taste bud for oil," McDonald says. "But oil is what holds and disperses flavors in food."
While in culinary school, Berndt was taught not only to rub her meats with oil before cooking but also to marinate them.
"Almost all marinades have oil in them," she says. "That's one way to raise the fat level."
Dietitians tell clients that items that have been grilled are better than sautéed. But many restaurants, such as Vic and Anthony's, brush butter on grilled meats, including already well-marbled steaks. The same is true at many other restaurants, including Carrabba's, Pappadeaux Seafood and Houston's.
"You do it to keep meats from sticking to the grill," says Houston's manager Angie Hitdon. "Our fish is basted with oil, and our filet is basted with butter."
That's part of it. The other reason is for shine, or the glimmer effect.
"We look at food with our eyes," Berndt says. "When it has this shimmering effect, it sends a message to our brain that this is luscious. But to get that look, you have to add oil. That's the trade-off."
Which is why chefs toss their steamed vegetables with a pat of butter. And at many Chinese restaurants, vegetables are blanched not in water, but in hot oil.
"This pre-cooks the vegetables and gives the vegetables that bright green color," Berndt says. "We order a plate of stir-fry vegetables thinking that we're doing something good for ourselves, but chances are the vegetables have been blanched in oil. And this is before the stir-frying!"
Restaurant food can be mined with hidden fats. But that doesn't mean you can't eat healthily and slim down when dining out.
"Be specific. Be a detective and ask questions," McDonald says. "Request that your food be grilled dry. Dry is a good word, because if you say `without butter,' they'll put on oil. And if you say `without fat,' they'll put on olive oil."
Request minimal oil or a pan spray be used when sautéeing, or get the kitchen to substitute chicken broth for the oil.
Jumping on the low-carb bandwagon, McDonald's, Burger King, Arby's, Taco Bell and Wendy's have introduced new salads in the last couple of years.
"And people are eating the salads because they sound healthy, but they're getting something that's not healthy at all," says Simon Chaitowitz, who helped put together the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's survey on fast-food salads.
"A lot of the salads start off healthy with the greens, but then they start adding on the cheese, croutons, fried noodles and battered fried chicken. Things just kept adding up and up."
The most shocking find, she says, is that McDonald's Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad has 661 calories and 51 grams of fat-- that's more than a Big Mac.
A hefty chunk of the calories come from Newman's Own Ranch Dressing with 170 calories and 15 grams of fat. So when choosing a salad, Chaitowitz recommends going light on the toppings (cheese, croutons, etc.) and sticking to fat-free dressings.
Fat isn't the only culprit. Sugar is another. Chefs frequently add sugar to their sauces.
And people would think twice about eating 10 teaspoons of sugar, but that's what they're doing when they drink a 12-ounce can of soda.
"A lot of time, the glasses are 16-24 ounces," Chaitowitz says. "It's so easy to take calories in liquid form. Before you know it, you've had three, four cans of Coke."
Drink a 12-ounce can of soda if you must, she says, but forgo the unlimited refills and switch to water.
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<iframe src='//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-PKZB8Z' height='0' width='0' style='display:none;visibility:hidden;'></iframe>HomeAbout usCareersContactFor medical professionalsMyChartMedical careSearch A-ZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZView all specialties and services »Featured servicesCancer and blood disordersGastroenterologyGenetics and genomicsHeart careNeurosciencesNewborn and fetal careOrthopedicsPediatricians (primary care)Find a doctorSign up for MyChartHealth informationPatient/family experienceInformation for patients, families and visitorsRequest an appointmentUrgent care: reserve your slotComing to Children's Hospital MilwaukeeComing to Children's Hospital Fox ValleyBilling and paymentsInsurance informationMedical recordsMessage your provider (MyChart)Mobile appsFrom out of town?Symptom CheckerCompliments and concernsLocationsChildren's Hospital locationsMilwaukee hospitalFox Valley hospitalPrimary careSpecialty clinicsSurgicenterCommunity servicesBehavioral healthUrgent careOther locationsFind a doctorFind a doctorSearch by name or specialtyFind a pediatricianFind a research investigatorPrint a physician verification letterRequest an appointmentFind information for medical professionalsFind services and specialtiesLearn about our researchChildren's in the communityWorking together for healthy kidsHow we help kids outside the hospitalAdvocacySupporting children and familiesHealthy kids, healthy communitiesChildren's Community Health PlanInjury prevention and wellnessChild and family counselingFoster care and adoptionCommunity services reportsGiving and volunteersWays you can helpDonate onlineWays to giveEvents benefiting Children'sBecome a volunteerSign up for our e-newsletterAbout Children's Hospital FoundationHomeAbout usCareersContactFor medical professionals(414) 266-2000Urgent Care and ERHome>For patients and families>Visiting Children's Hospital Milwaukee campus>Inpatient visits (staying at least one night)>During your stay>Bereavement Program>How to help a grieving parentHow to help a grieving parentLet your concern and caring show.Be available to do whatever is needed, including just listen. Being avoided by others only adds to a grieving parent's pain.Tell parents you are sorry about what happened to their child and about their pain, but don't say you know how they feel. Only other parents who have had a child die really know what that is like.Let parents grieve in their own way and at their own pace. It is not helpful to tell them what they should feel or do.Encourage parents to be patient with themselves and not to expect too much. This is not the time for "shoulds" or "ought to's."Don't try to fix parents' pain. Reminding them that they still have other children or that they can have another child suggests the child who died is replaceable and not unique.Use the child's name and share your special memories of the child with his or her parents. Allow them to talk about their child as much and as often as they want to. They may cry but they also will tell you that it makes them happy to talk about their child.Remember birthdays, anniversaries and other special days. Grieving parents want to know their child has not been forgotten.Give special attention to the child's brothers and sisters, not only immediately following the death, but also in the months to come. They also are grieving and need support and understanding.
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This study focuses on the impacts of small-scale timber concessions known as Timber Extraction and Utilisation Permits (IPPK) on rural livelihoods of three forest dwelling communities in Malinau District, Indonesia. IPPKs have been issued since late 1999 as a result of the wide-ranging decentralisation taking place from the time when President Suharto resigned. Though, the legal basis for issuing IPPKs came to an end in late 2000, districts have continued giving out hundreds in some areas and new types of small-scale timber concessions are being planned.
Geographic: Indonesia Publisher: Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark Publication
Year: 2004
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a sign of progress in overhauling health care, the nation's pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a deal that will reduce drug costs for elderly Americans.
Sen. Max Baucus says the deal will reduce $80 billion in Medicare drug costs for the elderly over the next 10 years.
The agreement negotiated by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, discounts medications for Medicare beneficiaries who currently face high out-of-pocket expenses when their benefits reach a gap in coverage, according to statements Saturday by Baucus and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America.
President Obama praised the agreement as a "turning point" in efforts to forge a national health care reform plan that both cuts costs and expands coverage to the 46 million uninsured Americans.
"Key sectors of the health care industry acknowledge what American families and businesses already know -- that the status quo is no longer sustainable," Obama said in a statement Saturday. "The agreement reached today to lower prescription drug costs for seniors will be an important part of the legislation I expect to sign into law in October."
The statement by the industry group that represents the country's leading pharmaceutical companies said it agreed to a 50 percent discount to most beneficiaries for brand-name medicines purchased in the so-called "doughnut hole" gap in coverage. Watch CNN's John King visit the renowned Cleveland Clinic »
The gap involves medication costs of senior citizens between roughly $2,700 and $6,100 a year that are not covered by the Medicare part D plan.
Baucus said in his statement that the deal amounted to an $80 billion reduction in Medicare drug costs for senior citizens over the next 10 years.
"This new coverage means affordable prices on prescription drugs when Medicare benefits don't cover the cost of prescriptions," Baucus said.
Overhauling health care is a top priority of the Obama administration, but initial proposals to reach Congress last week received a rocky reception.
The Congressional Budget Office determined that either of two similar bills written by Senate Democrats would cost more than $1 trillion, which was higher than expected. Watch CNN's Elizabeth Cohen explain the basics in the health care debate »
Republican opponents immediately slammed the measures, and the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Baucus delayed scheduled hearings on one of the measures.
Hearings by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on the other measure began amid partisan bickering, with hundreds of amendments proposed by Republican opponents.
At least two more bills are expected from the House of Representatives, and a bipartisan group led by former Senate majority leaders Tom Daschle, Howard Baker and Bob Dole also has offered guidelines for a proposal.
At issue is how best to reduce the cost and increase the reach of the current health care system, which officials say is increasingly draining personal, corporate and government budgets while leaving 46 million Americans without health insurance.
Obama warns that failure to act now would bring far worse economic difficulties than the costs of plans under discussion.
Both parties in Congress agree on the need to slow the increase in health care costs while ensuring that all Americans can get health insurance, but they differ sharply on how to proceed.
Democrats generally favor a government-funded "public option" to compete with private insurers. Republicans have said such a step would lead to a government takeover of health care, which they oppose.
Republicans accuse Obama and Democrats of trying to rush through what they say is flawed legislation in 2009, before the politics of midterm elections in 2010 and the 2012 presidential race.
The parties agree on several principles, including an emphasis on preventive care, cost-cutting measures in existing Medicare and Medicaid programs, and a halt to denials of coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.
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Common Sense Media's survey of body-image research
shows that parents play a huge role in shaping how kids think and feel about their bodies. Starting to bolster kids' body image early, even in preschool, can make a big difference in how kids feel about themselves as they grow up.
Here are five ways to immunize your kids against poor body image, with conversation starters, media picks, and resources to support your discussions.
Avoid stereotypes in your kids' media -- starting when kids are in preschool
Look for TV shows, movies, and other media that portray healthy body sizes and avoid sexualized or stereotypical story lines or gendered characters, such as young girls in makeup or boys who are always macho.
•Pay attention to kids' beliefs about gender and body types, and use simple language to debunk stereotypes: "What do you think Andy would like for his birthday? Trucks? Do you think he'd like dolls, too?"
•Whenever possible, use gender-neutral or gender-diverse pronouns to reference characters, animals, and so on. For example, not every dinosaur is a "he" and every kitten a "she."
Call out stereotypes when you see them
When you see gender stereotypes in media -- for example, during sporting events such as the Super Bowl -- talk about them.
•As much as possible, minimize exposure to stereotypical depictions of men and women, but when kids see them, demonstrate that questioning how men and women are portrayed is valuable (and even fun). Ask: "Do you think she's cold in that bikini?"
•Teach kids how magazine and advertising photos are changed by computers to make skin look smoother or people look taller. Make a game out of it: Spot the Photoshop!
Challenge assumptions
Ask kids what they think about heavyset or slim toys or characters on TV and in movies. Keep an ear out for kids expressing assumptions about real people based on their body sizes.
•Remind kids that bodies come in all shapes and sizes (even Barbie now offers size and ethnic variety!
) -- even if they don't see that on TV -- and that variety is normal, healthy, and part of what makes life interesting.
•Tap into preschoolers' ability to empathize by asking how they think a TV character felt when criticized for his or her appearance. Ask: "How would you feel if someone teased you like that?"
Ban "fat talk" in your family
Parents -- especially mothers -- who complain about their appearances or bodies, even casually, make a big impact on how their kids think about their bodies.
•Model a positive attitude toward your own body, and encourage kids to think positively about what their bodies can do. Ask: "What can you do with those strong arms?"
•Discuss health instead of weight or size. Ask: "How does your body feel when you play sports/exercise/run around?" Say: "My body feels so energetic when I eat healthy food."
FACTS: According to Common Sense Media's Children, Teens, Media, and Body Image
, kids who think their moms don't like their bodies end up not liking their own bodies. And girls whose dads are critical of their weight tend to think of themselves as less physically able than those whose dads don't.
Focus on behavior, talents, and character traits instead of physical size or appearance
When discussing fictional characters, celebrities, and friends and family, talk about what they do, not what they look like.
•Talk about qualities such as kindness, curiosity, and perseverance that you value more than appearance. Ask: "What makes a good friend?" Say: "She must have practiced for a long time to be good at dancing!"
•Prepare kids for when they hear others commenting, comparing, or criticizing bodies or appearance. Role-play situations where kids can try out different responses, such as, "I don't care what she looks like. She's friendly, and that's what matters to me."
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Very high humidity is expected to accompany the heat, especially in the Midwest, and that moisture -- combined with the high temperatures -- will create what's known as a "heat dome" over most of the country. Only the Northwest will be spared.
Those conditions could be deadly. Forecasters say the heat index, which measures what the temperature really feels like when you add in the humidity -- the summer equivalent of the winter wind chill -- will likely reach the dangerous category, increasing the risks of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and death.
Cities such as Des Moines, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City and Chicago are expected to see temperatures nearing or exceeding 100 degrees -- and when humidity is added in, the heat index may rise to a dangerous 120 degrees.
Heat is one of the deadliest weather events, killing hundreds of people every year. Extreme heat results in even more heat-related illnesses.
When extreme heat is combined with elevated humidity, it can be exceptionally dangerous. High humidity slows evaporation -- or sweating -- which is the body's cooling mechanism. If the body can't properly cool down, heat exhaustion is likely within as little as an hour. Because men sweat more than women, men are more susceptible to heat illness because they become dehydrated more quickly.
Chicago heat wave
In 1995, Chicago experienced its worst heat wave ever recorded. During a 5-day period in mid-July, at least 465 people died from the heat and hundreds more suffered from heat-related illnesses.
The temperature reached 106 degrees at Midway Airport on the first day of the heat wave, and remained at or above 100 degrees for seven hours.
The high humidity levels made this heat wave particularly severe. Dew points were in the upper 70s to 80 degrees, making the temperature feel like 125. On top of the heat, the lake breeze that usually rolls off of Lake Michigan was absent. Air conditioners ran almost non-stop, causing a 2-day power outage and leaving 49,000 households miserable and in the dark. Chicago was described as a city "roasting under a wool blanket".
Many people who died lived in brick buildings, which trapped the heat inside. Some people feared opening their windows because of Chicago's high crime rate. Refrigerated trucks had to be brought in to help overwhelmed morgues. Roads buckled and drawbridges had to be hosed down to close properly.
During that same year, more than 1,000 people died from the heat across the United States, making it the deadliest year for heat fatalities in more than 30 years. Chicago's heat wave was responsible for nearly half of those deaths.
Corn sweat could be to blame
When you think of areas with high heat and humidity, you may think of Miami, New Orleans or Houston, not Chicago. But the Windy City and other Midwest cities such as St. Louis, Kansas City and Minneapolis can get very humid, especially during a summer heat wave.
One of your favorite veggies could be partly to blame. Densely planted corn fields in the Midwest have been known to boost dew points -- an indicator that meteorologists use to measure the amount of moisture in the atmosphere -- to levels that are usually only found in the tropics. The corn crops pull moisture from the soil and some of that moisture escapes into the atmosphere, literally forming a very high "pool" of moisture. This can unfold on a grand scale in the Midwest, known as the nation's corn belt, leading to very high heat index values and misery for millions of people.
Urban heat island
Half of the world's population lives in an urban heat island, a term that might conjure up images of a tropical paradise complete with palm trees and tiki bars. But it's quite the opposite: Urban heat islands are metropolitan areas that swelter due to a more dense infrastructure and more paved roads, both of which absorb more heat. These factors, combined with pollution from human activities, result in an urban heat island.
These areas can run 5 degrees warmer during the day and as high as 20 degrees warmer at night. Some communities have started trying to reduce the urban heat island effect by planting more vegetation in urban areas, using cooler pavement material and installing roofs that reflect more sunlight than they absorb. By the year 2030, the number of people living in an urban heat island could increase by 70%.
When nighttime brings no relief
It seems counterintuitive, but the temperatures overnight may actually be just as dangerous, or even more dangerous than when temperatures are highest during the day. Studies show that when temperatures don't cool off at night, and especially when they remain above 80 degrees, your body, which should be in recovery mode, can't recover. The results of not being able to fully cool down can be deadly.
Another surprising fact is that most heat-related deaths don't occur in the hottest weather zones. People in those regions are more equipped to deal with the heat, with better infrastructure, building materials, and access to air conditioning.
Beating the heat Drink plenty of water. Avoid drinks with alcohol or caffeine, which will only dehydrate you faster. Eat light meals. Avoid heavy meals that are high in protein, which cause the body to work harder to digest. Eat more carbohydrates so your body doesn't have to use as much energy to digest. Wear light-colored clothing, which will reflect sunlight instead of absorbing it. It could keep your body temperature down several degrees. Studies show the best clothes to wear while exercising are none at all! This is because air needs to flow over your skin in order for sweat to cool you off -- as much of it as possible. But if that's not an option, loose-fitting clothing is your next best bet. Find an air conditioned place to get out of the heat. In temperatures above 80 degrees, fans won't do you any good -- they just blow more hot air around.
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If you ever use miles for part of a trip or buy separate tickets for a journey, you’re going to want to pad your next flight booking. The Oneworld Alliance, which includes major airlines like American, British Airways, and Iberia, just changed its rules, removing some of the most essential traveler conveniences and safety nets that save you time and money.
Tight connection?
Even if you're traveling on the same airline, but with tickets booked separately, your bags are no longer guaranteed to be checked to their final destination. You'll potentially have to allocate additional connection time to leave the gate area, grab your bags, and re-check them.
Boarding passes?
So along with re-checking your bags, you’ll also need to venture out past security, going through the whole ordeal all over again just to get your next boarding pass. Security lines are not getting any shorter, which creates the potential for serious chaos.
Miss a connection on a separate ticket?
It gets even worse. If you miss a connection, you may need to buy a last-minute, super expensive ticket, losing your current reservation entirely. Last-minute tickets are not cheap. Though airlines can sometimes over-deliver and help travelers with these issues, they are no longer required to, leaving travelers with uncertainty and without any guarantee of getting to their final destination.
What does this all really mean?
If your American Airlines flight, which connects you to your British Airways flight, is delayed and you miss your British Airways flight, you now may need to buy a whole new ticket, even if the delay is of no fault of your own and even though the two carriers are partners. Whether you miss it or not, you’ll now also need additional time to redo the check-in and bag drop process. This move puts Oneworld on par with SkyTeam and Star Alliance, which allow their airlines to curate individual policies (or none at all). With any hope, competition will mean airlines err on the side of helping travelers—and their bags—reach their destination seamlessly. But even if airlines may take the initiative to help fliers, taking away the essential rules protecting travelers is certainly disconcerting.
As with all bad news, what’s most important is how to avoid it. Get the scoop from your airline as to how they’ll handle your reservation and check-in baggage before you travel, leave more time for connections and, most importantly, be quick to get in touch with your airline as soon as you foresee any problems. Oh, and of course, pack an extra-awesome carry-on bag.
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Students Return to Big Changes in New Orleans Detail: NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 3 - Hundreds of children returned Tuesday for the first time since Hurricane Katrina to schools here that had survived on dry ground. Some came gleefully. Some came mournfully, and, to be sure, tens of thousands who were still displaced could not come at all.
But for those who ventured back, the educational landscape was much different from the one they had left: New Orleans is now a smaller system dominated by new charter schools in the same buildings that housed traditional public schools before the storm, as well as by leaner private schools eager for what they hope will be new pools of aid.
"We're learning as we go," said Alisa Davailler Dupré, the vice chairwoman of the Audubon Charter School, which applied for its charter only in October and accomplished what is usually a lengthy start-up process in a mere two months. "We jumped for joy, then hit the ground running."
The district's public school system, already known as one of the worst in the country, suffered a near total collapse after the storm. It has opened only one school so far - another is expected to open next week - even though many school buildings suffered minimal damage. Facing a financial crisis from the lack of a tax base, the district plans to terminate all but 61 of about 7,000 school employees who have been placed on disaster leave, although many are being rehired by the charter schools. The district was already nearly bankrupt before the storm.
So that has made this battered city an impromptu laboratory in school choice - at least for the 8,000 or so of the 65,000 public school children who are expected to be enrolled for the second semester, as well as thousands more in parochial schools that are seeking government aid.
Desperate to reopen schools, parents, teachers, principals, neighborhood groups and local universities are banding together to create charter schools, which get less state money than traditional public schools in exchange for more autonomy on curriculum, hiring and other issues.
Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has already issued executive orders to make it easier to form charter schools, which promise competition and experimentation. The fact that there is $20 million in federal aid in the wake of Hurricane Katrina for charter schools in Louisiana is also contributing to the movement.
So far, state and local education officials have approved 21 charters for schools in New Orleans. Nine have opened - including some on Tuesday - and six are expected to open in the next two weeks. At least one is still waiting for electricity to be restored. The Archdiocese of New Orleans has also expressed interest in opening a charter school, though that idea has not been approved.
The hopes and difficulties were evident at the Audubon Charter School, where students lined up quietly Tuesday morning. Staff members have been working at Audubon Charter without pay, as the school has yet to receive any financing.
Most administrators are holdovers from the old public school, Audubon Montessori. The principal, Janice Dupuy, drives two hours to get to New Orleans from the town where her family is living. Ms. Dupré, a parent who had not worked in school administration before becoming Audubon's vice chairwoman, was overwhelmed by the work required to get the school ready for its 350 students.
After the charter was approved, she said: "We started to wonder, how do we hire teachers? How do we run this school?"
Many people here, still struggling to cope in a fog of grief as stifling as the humidity this balmy winter, have applauded the spirit that has led to the creation of so many charter schools on such short notice.
Without them, supporters say, there would hardly be any public education this year in New Orleans. And of all the opportunities for rebirth in the city, perhaps none is talked about with as much urgency as fixing the school system, which had suffered corruption, bad management and abysmal academic performance. But critics have also begun to question whether a near-total charter system is the best way to recreate a school system.
"It's like you're experimenting with kids who've already been traumatized," said City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, a member of the council's education committee and a former public school principal. "The intricacies of running a successful school are a lot more difficult than anyone thinks."
Ms. Morrell also worries about charter schools' adopting selective criteria that will exclude what she calls "the poor, average kid."
Officials say that because the movement is largely haphazard it is not entirely clear who is being served by the new system or whether the racial makeup of the new schools raises equity issues. Reliable demographic information is sorely lacking, but before the storm, the public schools were 94 percent African-American, and black children seemed to have a significant presence in the parochial schools.
So far, schools do not seem to be rejecting anyone, just hoping that children continue to enroll. "Nobody really knows who all is going to come back," said Cheryl Michelet, a spokeswoman for the Louisiana State Department of Education.
The advocates for charter schools understand that they may have only one chance to make right all that was wrong: "We have a responsibility to rebuild it right," said Una Anderson, a school board member and proponent of charter schools. "It's not just an opportunity, it's a mandate."
But even within some of the charter schools, there is lingering resentment toward the school district for not stepping up to do more. "We never wanted to charter - that was never our intention in the past," said Carol Christen, the principal of Franklin Charter High, which before the storm was Benjamin Franklin High School, the highest-ranked secondary school in the state. "This has been a long ordeal because no one wanted to help us open up the school. This has been a nightmare, a struggle beyond struggle."
She continued: "We were determined to do it for Franklin. It would have been tragic if this school didn't open."
Franklin probably faces some of the most challenging physical problems of all the charter schools in the wake of the storm because it is far from the city's Uptown area that remained dry during the flood. Franklin, on the other end of town near Lake Pontchartrain, had more than $3 million in storm damage, and is still waiting for electricity to be restored. The school expects 580 students for class on Jan. 17, out of the 935 that were enrolled before the storm.
Ms. Christen, like others, said the charter start-up experience had forced teachers, principals and parents to deal with issues like waste management, food service and retirement benefits, taking time away from thinking about the classrooms. Still, she welcomes the autonomy.
"We're treading on new ground," Ms. Christen said. "The city doesn't know the answers, the state doesn't know the answers. We're creating the answers as we go, and we're doing the best we can."
Advisers to the education committee created by Mayor C. Ray Nagin, the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, caution against an all-charter model, favoring a mix of district-run and charter-run schools arranged into network clusters run by a single manager. District schools are necessary, they say, because they have more capacity to expand as the population does, and to offer the benefit of standard curriculums to what might be a highly mobile student population.
The advisers, the Boston Consulting Group, which is working largely without pay, favor a single governing body citywide to take over from the multiple boards, state and local, that are in control right now.
"We believe that chartering is a very good short-term intervention given our situation, but it's not a long-term solution to running a medium- or large-scale school district," said Scott Cowen, the president of Tulane University and the chairman of the education committee. Mr. Cowen's group plans to offer a formal proposal on the new school system in a week or so, he said.
State officials are taking a "look and see" approach to the new charters, which will be evaluated annually and will be held to the same accountability standards as other schools, Ms. Michelet said.
"There's not a push to say every school in the district will be a charter, it's just the method we've used so far and we've seen success in it," she said. "It's also because federal money was available, and we were able to use it to get the schools open."
The state considered New Orleans to be in "academic crisis" before the storm and has since taken over 102 of 117 schools that performed below state accountability standards - three of those schools have been given charters, many others are storm damaged and likely to remain vacant for some time. The state is expected to lay out a detailed plan for the schools it took over sometime in the next six months.
At the same time, the city's Catholic schools, which educated 25,000 students before the storm, are also coming back to life and see possible new opportunities. Besides proposing its own charter school, the archdiocese has approached the state about getting government aid for its schools. Neither idea has gone beyond the development stage with the State Legislature out of session.
The Catholic schools expect to have an enrollment of 11,000 this semester. Several Catholic schools opened late last year, and at least eight more were scheduled to reopen by mid-January, said Father William Maestri, the schools' superintendent.
Source: The New York Times, by Susan Saulny Date: January 4 2006
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In a decision coming from Utah, a federal appeals court on Wednesday for the first time backed gay marriage.
In a decision coming from Utah, a federal appeals court on Wednesday for the first time backed gay marriage.
The Denver-based U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court decision that struck down the state’s bans on same-sex marriage.
The ruling, which was stayed, sets the stage for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which touched off the current round of legal fighting on the issue when it struck down parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year.
"We hold that the Fourteenth Amendment protects the fundamental right to marry, establish a family, raise children, and enjoy the full protection of a state’s marital laws," according to the decision posted on the court’s website. "A state may not deny the issuance of a marriage license to two persons, or refuse to recognize their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in the marriage union.
"For the reasons stated in this opinion, we affirm."
The Utah case was the first in the nation in which a federal judge struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage. Still pending on appeal is a Virginia case that also struck down a state ban.
The battle in Utah became the template of later legal fights as federal courts throughout the nation wrestled with state bans on gay marriage. Federal judges have been unanimous in upholding the right to gay marriage and have struck down the bans, saying they violate the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Also frequently cited was the Supreme Court’s 1967 decision to strike down state laws barring marriage between races in a Virginia case.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, in effect allowing married same-sex couples to receive federal benefits. The reasoning in that decision was also frequently cited by lower-court judges weighing the series of lawsuits to force states to legalize same-sex marriage. Though the ruling was an important step, the Supreme Court didn’t consider whether gay marriage was a right.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage. Lawsuits have been filed to legalize gay marriage and overturn any state bans across the nation.
Utah, one of the most conservative states on the issue of gay rights, found itself in the heated fray over same-sex marriage when U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby struck down its ban on such unions on Dec. 20, 2013.
State officials sought to stay the ruling, but the 10th Circuit Court rejected that effort on Dec. 22. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered a stay on Jan. 6, but the delay was long enough to allow hundreds of same-sex couples to marry.
In his 53-page ruling, Shelby held that Utah’s ban, passed by voters in 2004, violated the federal rights of gay and lesbian couples to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.
"The state’s current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so doing, demean the dignity of these same-sex couples for no rational reason," Shelby wrote. "Accordingly, the court finds that these laws are unconstitutional."
Attorneys for the state argued that Utah’s law promotes the state’s interest in "responsible procreation" and the "optimal mode of child-rearing." But Shelby said the state failed to show that allowing same-sex marriages would affect opposite-sex marriages in any way.
"In the absence of such evidence, the state’s unsupported fears and speculations are insufficient to justify the state’s refusal to dignify the family relationships of its gay and lesbian citizens," Shelby wrote.
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You can easily grill all year long with the latest from American Outdoor Grill and its halogen lighting.
SEATTLE, March 6, 2016 —In an ultra-crowded market if outdoor grills, it is easy for consumers to have the mindset of: “Meh, they’re all basically the same” and end-up with a poor-performing grill. Certainly, there are some consumer brands that build a better product than others but on the upper-end of the grills out there, we have American Outdoor Grill. They’re likely the best brand you’ve never heard of because they’re not sold at big stores like Home Depot and Lowes. Instead, this premium maker of outdoor grills sells its goods at boutique stores across the country. They are 100-percent American made and that’s something to be proud of – not many cooking products can make that claim. As with most any products we buy, we normally get what we pay for. If you’re looking for a budget grill then you’ll likely get one that has constant flare-ups, uneven heat distribution and will end-up in a landfill within only 2-4 years. While there are many good consumer brands out there, like Weber, grills like this one from AOG – take things a step further.
The better grills these days feature infrared burners – this AOG unit has two. One on the left-hand side of the grill and one on the back wall of the grill which is perfect for rotisserie (rotisserie unit included) or helping to brown the tops of whatever you have on the grill.
Infrared burners get seriously hot – by orders of magnitude over conventional burners. In fact, our infrared, instant-read thermometer maxes out at 999-degrees – anything over that and it simply reads “Hi”. It should read, “This is FREAKIN’ HOT”.
Why is it a good thing to have heat of this magnitude you ask? The answer is simple – amazing searing results. While searing does not lock in the juices (contrary to popular belief), searing is a vital process of creating the perfect “crust” or texture on the meat involved as well as providing some great color. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better sear anywhere than what an infrared burner provides. There is no drip protection over this burner because it’s so hot that any drippings instantly vaporize and go to adding flavor back into the meats.
To help circumvent flare-ups on the standard burners, AOG uses steel plating that rest above them which do a fairly good job, for the most part preventing flames. There are still flare-ups here and there but for the most part, they’re kept to a minimum.
One of the first things we did was to place product all over the non-infrared burners to see how evenly things cooked. The grill performed very well in grilling everything at the same time to the same doneness level, regardless of its placement on the grill. Now granted, this will slowly vanquish over time as the normal wear-and-tear items start to age, but you can get replacement parts from AOG to help ensure it grills like new for a long time.
AOG uses an electronic ignition system which means you’ll have to have the grill plugged into an electrical outlet to ignite the burners, unless you opt to manually light them with a match or fire stick. Of course its built-in lighting system means you can easily grill year-round, even if you’re in the middle of an Alaskan winter. The way the lights light-up the grilling surface is amazing and the fact that the plastic covering them doesn’t melt with the grill on is even a more amazing feat.
While there are cheaper grills to be found, for sure – you’d be hard-pressed to find one that delivers that consistently good grilling results, ease of use, durability, lighting feature and precision that AOG delivers here.
If you do opt for a lower-end grill, you’ll likely find that you’ll end-up replacing many parts in it over a 2-6 year timespan which means you really haven’t save much and you’ll – in all likelihood – end-up with sub-par grilling results.
For more information, visit American Outdoor Grill’s website:
American Outdoor Grill
Copyright 2016 Communities Digital News
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Only a “minority” of councils are set to meet a government target to implement a key electronic case record system for children’s social care.
The Integrated Children’s System was meant to be up and running in all councils by 1 January 2007. But in a letter sent out to directors of children’s services last month the Department for Education and Skills warned that most local authorities were not going to meet the deadline.
David Johnstone, chair of the Association of Directors of Social Services’ standards and performance committee, said it isn’t surprising that the project is problematic, as the government failed to provide a clear framework for the Integrated Children’s System, the Information Sharing Index and the common assessment framework
“There’s a need for a very clear framework on how to implement these or it’s going to be unproductive and a waste of money,” he said.
There are also problems with some IT companies delivering the system for councils, added Johnstone. The government was incorrect to expect councils to meet the target “without fully involving them in the development of the system,” he said.
The government says the system will improve outcomes for children in need and that a key aim of the project is to provide frontline staff with help recording, collating and analysing children’s records.
The project has been developed in response to the high number of child death inquiries, which have found that better communication and information sharing between staff may have prevented tragedies occurring.
The project is set to feed into other government IT projects, such as the Information Sharing Index.
Ministers are also planning to scrap traditional child protection registers by April 2008. Children who are the subject of child protection plans will now be listed electronically.
The DfES’s letter contained the findings of a government review of the project carried out after concerns about its implementation began to surface. A breakdown of the findings are listed below.
Only a “minority” of councils are likely to meet the roll out target of 1 January 2007 Around 22 councils are not expected to roll out the system until August 2007 The government says a further 20 are also “giving cause for concern” and have “very late or unclear” implementation plans. For five of these councils roll out is not expected until 2008 and for ten it is not known when this will take place. The DfES also admits that some councils are yet to start the project, including some who have failed to select a preferred supplier, which are causing it “particular concern”.
The government warns that it may need to work with some authorities to prevent knock on adverse consequences for other IT projects in the Every Child Matters agenda such as the Information Sharing Index and the phasing out of traditional child protection registers.
Factors which have led to the delays identified by the DfES include:
1. A wide range of interpretations of requirements needed for the integrated children’s system by both local authorities and IT suppliers.
2. The IT market for children’s social care lacking capacity, exacerbated by the speed of change in children’s services.
3. A mismatch between authorities’ requirements for the integrated children’s system and what is available from suppliers.
4. Failure by a small number of authorities to address the integrated children’s system with sufficient urgency and it sometimes being obscured by other more recent Every Child Matters initiatives such as the Information Sharing Index.
5. A lack of sufficiently experienced resources devoted to the integrated children’s system in some authorities.
6. Some suppliers still not having completed development of their integrated children’s system.
The DfES says some of the findings reflect the lessons they need to learn themselves and these will be taken into account in future work on the integrated children’s system.
It says that this includes paying more attention to the IT sector’s capacity to deliver its requirements and being as clear as possible in terms of what IT programmes need to be able to do in order to meet those requirements.
The government also admits that its policy of allowing each council to choose and contract with their preferred supplier has lead to more difficulties than advantages.
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A third of social workers are prepared to exaggerate service users’ needs to obtain care for them as more councils tighten adult’s eligibility criteria, an exclusive
Community Care survey reveals this week.
Of the 300 adults’ services social workers surveyed, 34% said they would be prepared to bend the rules as part of the assessment process to ensure clients met the thresholds for receiving services. Two-thirds were concerned they would be disciplined for it further down the line but would still go ahead.
The survey also found two-thirds said their council had tightened eligibility criteria. Nearly a third of frontline social workers had been pressured by their managers to reassess fewer referrals as eligible for services, while more than half had been asked to reassess existing clients as no longer eligible.
The findings come as an increasing number of councils forecast budget difficulties in adult services over the coming three years following the comprehensive spending review settlement last month.
In response to the survey, a Department of Health spokesperson said that while the government recognised rising demographic pressures on services, councils had to make “effective use” of resources.
“It is for individual local authorities to manage and direct their own resources in accordance with local priorities and the needs of the communities,” the spokesperson added.
Last week, care services minister Ivan Lewis (pictured) hit out at Kent Council for setting up an online TV station while at the same time increasing domiciliary care charges.
In a Westminster debate, Lewis said: “There is a local authority – I shall not name it as I do not wish to embarrass it – that is spending £300,000 on setting up a television station, while it has increased the fees for home care by £300,000.
“Let us be clear: some decisions being made at a local level about what matters to people need serious scrutiny in relation to local authority prioritisation.”
Community Care was told that the minister was referring to Kent Council, which launched Kent TV in September, an online, 24-hour service, broadcasting programmes on council-related topics. The council denied the initial £300,000 annual running costs were related to the raising of domiciliary care charges to a maximum of £15 a person each week.
Deputy leader of Kent Council Alex King told
Community Care:
“There is absolutely no connection between the funding of domiciliary care charges and the setting up of Kent TV.”
How does tighter criteria affect frontline work?
Currently, four councils have raised their criteria to critical: Northumberland, West Berkshire, Wokingham and Harrow. Harrow is being taken to judicial review on 21 November over its decision by the Public Law Project.
As of July, 18% of councils had tightened their eligibility criteria in the past 18 months and 12% of councils were due to review them in the near future.
We want to know how this is affecting you on the frontline. Has your role changed beyond recognition to a rationer of services? E-mail simeon.brody@rbi.co.uk with your experiences and they will be posted on the website this week to coincide with our exclusive survey.
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The government has announced a new legal duty that will ensure young people can remain with their foster care families until they turn 21.
The Who Cares? Trust, which has long campaigned for the legal change, called it “the most significant reform for children in care in a generation”.
As of April 2014, local authorities will be legally obliged to support every young person who wants to stay in foster care until their 21st birthday. The government will give councils £40m funding over the next three years to put the support arrangements in place. The new legal duty will be added to the Children and Families Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.
Prior to the announcement, young people were only supported to live with foster families until their 18th birthday. Campaigners argued, however, that looked-after children should be afforded the same treatment as their peers – many of whom continue to live at home well into their 20s – rather than face being forced to leave care at 18.
Children’s minister Edward Timpson acknowledged it’s challenging for foster families that do look after young people until 21 to do so without financial support. “Now all councils will have to follow their example, and we are giving them £40m towards the cost,” he said.
“This will allow the 10,000 young people leaving stable and secure homes to make the transition from care to independence when they are ready, rather than when their council tells them to,” Timpson said.
Robert Tapsfield, chief executive of the Fostering Network, which has also spent years campaigning for the legal change, said the charity is “absolutely thrilled”. It will now campaign for the duty to be introduced in Wales and Scotland as well.
“This change in the law will make a massive difference to the lives of this and future generations of care leavers in England,” Tapsfield said.
Natasha Finlayson, chief executive of The Who Cares? Trust, said the new duty was “absolutely fantastic news”. “Time and again we hear from young people who are extremely anxious about having to leave their carers when they turn 18 and effectively no longer having somewhere they can call home, especially when the average age for young people who aren’t in care to finally leave home is 24-27.”
But she added: “We mustn’t forget that the 9% of young people in care who live in children’s homes – many of whom leave when they are 16 or 17 – need and deserve the same level of support. We hope the government will start to look towards ways of achieving this.”
Cllr David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, agreed the move could help care leavers’ prospects, but warned the funding must come from the government and not local authorities.
“We need to ensure that the money needed does not come out of already hard-pressed council budgets, but is fully funded by central government,” Simmonds said.
The Local Government Association has previously warned against a “one-size-fits-all approach to keeping young people in foster care for longer”, arguing it could exacerbate the pressures on cash-strapped local authorities.
The move is part of the government’s wider package of support for care leavers, he said, including changes to enable 16 and 17-year-olds to remain in care until they are ready to leave and greater financial support for those leaving care at 18.
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XII. UTILITIES AND SERVICESYSTEMS
The project is proposed in response to a specific local need for electric power within a rapidly developing area in northern San Jose. As a utility upgrade, it would not in itself be considered a cause for further development of other new or altered power or natural gas utilities. Electrical demand in northern San Jose is expected to continue to increase rapidly, which would require further increases in electrical utility capacity to adequately serve the area. The expected further increases in electrical demand, and the need for further electric utility improvements to serve that demand, are not the result of the construction and operation of the North San Jose Capacity Project. No impact to power or natural gas systems or supplies would occur.
Pacific Bell provides communication services and currently serves the project area. The project site currently has telephone lines, and the operation of the new substation and power lines would not require any new communications infrastructure other than that provided exclusively for PG&E use as a part of the project. The substation would not house any employees but would be connected via telephone lines to PG&E engineering controls for remote operation and alarm systems. No impact to communication services is anticipated.
, d) The project site does not have any septic tanks or sewer services. The operation of the substation would not create a demand on water supply or sewer services. No restroom facilities would be required since the substation would be controlled remotely and not house any employees. Water supply for the substation landscaping would be required. Other than facilities that may need to be moved during construction of the power line to accommodate the placement of poles, no water or sewer lines would have to be moved or modified for construction of the project. No impact to water supply and sewer services is anticipated.
The area of the substation site is approximately 3.3 acres, and the storm water drainage from the site currently discharges ultimately into the City’s storm water system. The increase in the amount of impermeable surfaces (that would create additional run-off) is small and would have a less than significant impact on the local storm drainage system (see also Checklist item IV.a). Site runoff would not exceed the capacity of the storm drains serving the site. Therefore, the project would have a less than significant impact related to storm water infrastructure.
The project would require solid waste disposal service only during the construction phase. PG&E and its contractors for construction would remove all solid wastes from the construction site. In the long term, no solid wastes would be generated regularly at the site (PG&E, 1998, PEA. Therefore, no impact to solid waste disposal services would occur.
The project would require a minor increase in water use for construction that could be accommodated by available water service and would not have a substantial impact on local or regional water supplies. In the long term, no additional water services would be needed, as the substation would be controlled remotely and would not house any employees (PG&E, 1998 PEA). Water use would be limited to that needed for maintaining the landscaping. Therefore, no impact to water services would occur.
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Back to North San Jose Capacity Project Main Page PG&E Substation Projects Main Page CPUC Home Page
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Construction Frogs
Perhaps to get evolutionists to rethink their beliefs, the Creator has provided many inventive and unique structures. There are so many of these that even the longest evolutionary timescale could not account for their evolution.
Let's focus on a few examples among frogs for a moment. Frogs need to keep their eggs moist. Water must be available for their tadpoles. Frogs have many different ways of doing this.
The Venezuelan marsupial frog has a skin pouch, just like a kangaroo, except hers is on her back. The female marsupial frog stores her eggs in the pouch. There is plenty of moisture and protection in her pouch for the young frogs. When they are mature, the skin pouch sort of unzips, and out come up to 20 young frogs!
The Brazilian tree frog uses a completely different approach. This frog actually builds a pool of mud, near a pond, in which it lays its eggs. This pool is usually built so that by the time the eggs have developed into strong tadpoles, the regular tropical rains wash the pool, along with the swimming tadpoles, into the pond!
In Job 38:36, the Lord asks Job, "Who has put wisdom in the mind?" It is obvious to us that only the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, could have given frogs these abilities and this knowledge. And it is just as clear that it is nonsense to say that chance and time made these frogs and their abilities.
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A Mother's Love
We have all seen it many times. A mother walking in a crowd with a small child loses track of her child and begins calling and searching for the little one. But can you imagine a crowd of 70 million mothers and children all looking for each other?
That's exactly what the Mexican free tailed bat must cope with. Once its pups are born, the bat colony may have as many as 70 million individuals, with up to 40 tiny babies for every 16 square inches. Being mammals, bats nurse their young, and the young bats are very aggressive about getting something to eat. So scientists simply assumed that when the mother bat returned from feeding, she would be facing millions of hungry babies. Most likely, she would simply nurse the closest and most insistent young – unable to find her own.
But studies show that when the mother bat returns from feeding, she lands near where she left her baby and begins calling to it, listening for an answer. Her youngster will call back to her, and when she thinks she has found her offspring, she sniffs it to be sure before nursing. Researchers found that in the vast majority of cases, mothers found their own young.
Scientists were very surprised to discover how powerful the mother bat's love is, as well as how intelligent bats really are. Love is but one part of life that evolution cannot explain. But we – who believe that we and all things were made by a Creator who is love – have no trouble explaining where love comes from.
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A United State of Worship
Peter BeckPeter Beck's Blog 2009 May 04
Comments
It has been said that Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in
Well, I’ve heard an idea being bandied about to help congregations in just that situation. The suggestion is that such churches start an African-American worship service. Hire an African-American preacher. Focus on music styles that appeal to that population segment – maybe a little more hip-hop, maybe a little rap. In general, cater to the African-American crowd by creating an African-American congregation within the larger white congregation with the hope that some will one day cross-over and join the majority in the regular Sunday morning worship hour.
Offended? You ought to be. Does it smack of racism? You bet it does. Will it work? I hope we never find out. It’s a ludicrous idea thrown out here for the sake of discussion only. I would never suggest, support, or promote such a sinful idea.
Yet, many of our churches do the same thing every week. We segregate our congregations into age-specific worship sessions. We have traditional worship for the older generation. We have contemporary services that appeal to the 35-50 year old contingent. We’ve got full-blown Christian rock worship for the singles. We’ve got celebratory worship services just for the youth. Sure, one population is welcome to worship with the other, and we hope they will, but by offering a smorgasbord of diverse worship experiences we’re in essence creating many mini-congregations who happen to share the same facility. That’s not a church. That’s a community center.
“Wait a minute,” you protest. “We offer these types of worship services in an honest attempt to appeal to segments of our population that we’re not reaching. They’re just not coming to the Sunday morning, 11 o’clock services. If we want to reach them with the Gospel, we’ve got to do something that speaks to them.”
Really? How is that any different than my offensive illustration about an African-American worship service? In the end, it’s not. It’s just a horse of a different color. The same presuppositions are at work. We assume that the way to reach different people is to offer different services.
That is true of the various ministries churches can and should offer. Not everyone needs marital counseling but some do. Not all members are struggling with dependency issues but some can’t break the habit. To those folks, and myriad others, we can offer something uniquely targeted to help them.
Yet, worship is different. While Christ reached out to people with the Gospel in their various life situations, every biblical example of worship reveals a church united. Revelation 4 and 5 promises us that the heavenly choir will feature voices from every nation and tribe. Yet, there will be one choir, singing with one voice, not various choirs doing their own thing in their own way. After all, that’s why we call it “corporate worship.” We do it together.
If unity in purpose and worship is the heavenly goal, should it not be our churchly goal? Shouldn’t we be directing our efforts here and now to that end rather than creating divisions within our churches?
If our current worship services are not meeting that end, unity in the worship of our God and Savior, it’s not time to start a new service. It’s time to fix the old one. We need to teach our people what the Bible says about worship. We need to show them God cares about worship. We need to lead them to set aside their differences and preferences in the name of Christian unity. When we do we’ll attract new audiences with our love for them, not our love for a style of music.
Please note, I am not saying that all churches have to be alike. I am not arguing that differences won’t exist between Church A and Church B. I’m not even arguing that differences don’t exist between the 20 year old and his parents. I’m arguing that Christ overcomes all those differences and so should our worship, if Christ is the object of that worship.
Sunday morning is, in fact, the most segregated hour in
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If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You will fail on the pathway to being like Jesus!
I don't write those words to discourage you, but to acknowledge a reality that we all know too well. Although we all are very aware of our own shortcomings, too often we don't acknowledge that failure is a part of the journey of spiritual growth. When we approach spiritual growth with the idea that as we respond to Jesus we will never sin, then our failure totally demoralizes us and leads to even less growth.
This is not to say that we should treat sin in our lives lightly! We should hate what sin does to our own spiritual lives and how it hurts the heart of the God we love. But what God is saying to us in today's passage is that He knows we will sin and has made provision for our forgiveness and restoration to a close walk with Him. How can this happen? Don't hide your sin in your shame and refuse to talk to God; rather, bring it into the light. Acknowledge it to God and ask Him not only to forgive you, but to restore your walk with Him.
"He is faithful"!
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R.J. Reynolds Lawyer Takes on Graphic Label Mandate Warnings are "to scare consumers into adopting government's course of action" WASHINGTON -- Cigarette makers, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Tobacco Co., urged a federal judge to overturn a rule mandating graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging, said a Bloomberg report.
"The purpose of the warnings is not to inform, but to scare consumers into adopting the government's course of action," Noel Francisco, a lawyer for R.J. Reynolds, a unit of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Reynolds American Inc., told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington. The government is using "threats and fear" to motivate people to stop using a lawful product, he said.
Leon in November canceled a September 22 deadline for tobacco companies to begin displaying images such as diseased lungs and a cadaver with chest staples on an autopsy table on the top half of the front and back of all cigarette packages. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) rule may "unconstitutionally compel speech," the judge said. The government appealed.
Leon said yesterday that he will issue a ruling before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington hears arguments scheduled for April 10 on his earlier decision.
Lorillard, R.J. Reynolds, Commonwealth Brands Inc., Liggett Group LLC and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. sued the FDA in August, claiming its mandates for cigarette packages, cartons and advertising violate the First Amendment. The companies said in court papers that it would cost them a total of about $20 million to meet the 2012 deadline.
Mark Stern, a Justice Department lawyer, compared the FDA mandates to warnings on packages of charcoal telling people to not use it indoors, noting that 28 people a year die from carbon monoxide poisoning for using charcoal inside their homes.
With cigarettes, there are 440,000 deaths, Stern said.
"That's a pretty big interest," he added. "It's no secret that the government wants people to stop smoking."
Leon told Stern that the tobacco companies aren't "quarreling with warnings per se." Rather, it's the use of graphic images that cross the line from warning to advocacy.
In his November ruling, Leon said the nine images selected by the government were intended to produce an emotional response and go beyond "purely factual and uncontroversial information" that other courts found to be permissible government-compelled speech. He also said the government "side-stepped" questions about whether any single graphic warning was effective in educating consumers about smoking risks.
Stern said that all the images are true depictions required by Congress in the 2009 Tobacco Control Act to show the negative health consequences of smoking. He said that the image of a man with cigarette smoke coming out of a hole in his neck conveys addictiveness.
"It's very unusual to sell a product that when used as intended will kill you," Stern said.
Francisco countered that under the government's rationale, it would be "factual and uncontroversial" to show a picture of an elderly woman smoking a cigarette with text claiming "115 years old and still smoking."
Leon said there's nothing in the record to show that Congress gave "clear, thoughtful analysis" to the First Amendment applications of the law. "Congress did what it did out of some innate sense of 'we can do this'," he said.
The case is
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 11-cv-1482, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).
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Vintage Shasta Compact Travel Trailer
A small bathroom has its advantages. A small space means less to clean and less to maintain. However, a small space— bathroom or otherwise—can also feel cramped. Believe it or not, the right decorating can fix that problem. You can decorate your small bathroom to make it feel more spacious. Here’s how to make your small bathroom look bigger.
Selecting a layout that is simple and works well with your current bathroom will help bring down costs significantly. This is because contractors won’t have to completely redo your piping, electric wiring, or anything else. Since the largest expense with a bathroom remodel is labor, this can save quite a lot of money. Anyway, please kindly visit my lenses abstractpainting. Its about decorating home. Hope it will be useful 🙂 Thanks. rebeccamealey, I surely hope this will be helpful. The contractor was a gem. He even did some other work.
Wall off the kitchen from the remaining rooms of the house during remodeling process. Dust will be flying from any wood or plaster board which is being cut. There will be dirt and dust when the walls, flooring, plumbing, or old electrical fixtures are being removed or installed. Glass shower door is gone and no more glass doors to clean.. in fact, no shower door at all right now.
Conventional bathtubs come in a range of materials including enamel-on-steel, cast iron, acrylic and fiberglass gel coat. More exotic options include composite materials, wood and cultured marble. Installation options include freestanding bathtubs, bathtubs installed into alcoves and those installed on platforms. Paint is always, on a budget, your best quick option on a makeover,” says Justin DiPego, senior editor of And you can do that yourself.
You may not be blessed with a large sized living room, but you can sure feel like you have one. Instead of displaying a wooden coffee table, display a glass one instead. The clarity of the table makes you feel as though you have more space in your room. Make sure to only display glass in areas where there are no earthquakes. Also note that, even small changes like the color of the metal strip between the carpet and bathroom floor can help update a house.
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Are YOU prepared for a major solar storm? World will have just 12 hours warning if the sun erupts British government has released its Space Weather Preparedness Strategy It warns a major solar storm could trigger power cuts and travel disruption GPS systems could go down for up to 3 days, causing widespread chaos Report urges public to prepare in the same way as other natural disasters
The world will get just 12 hours warning if a huge explosion of high energy particles from the surface of the sun heads our way, a new report has cautioned.
A plan to help prepare for major bursts of 'space weather' has been published by the British government, outlining what needs to be done to cope with such an event.
It says that a massive solar phenomenon would disrupt transport networks, cause blackouts and disrupt satellites.
Scroll down for video
The British government has released its Space Weather Preparedness Strategy and warns a major solar storm, like that shown in the image above, could knock out cause blackouts and bring widespread travel disruption. It says GPS signals would go down for days and urges the public to prepare as they would for floods
The report warns that GPS systems could go down for up to three days at a time, leaving train networks and shipping badly affected.
While mobile phones and landlines are expected to be unaffected, satellite communication and high frequency radio communication used by shipping and aircraft, could also go down for several days.
Power grids could also be effected, leading to black outs in some areas.
The document warns that the most harmful element of severe space weather is a major coronal mass ejection, where huge eruptions blast high energy particles out into space.
COSMIC RAYS 'TOO WEAK' TO CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS
Like a never-ending rain shower, cosmic rays pour down on Earth everyday.
These high-energy particles, triggered by the solar flares, make their presence felt when they create the northern lights or disrupt power grids.
Over the years, a number of studies have argued that, at high doses, these rays can permanently damage human DNA, causing birth defects.
Now, a Nasa-funded study has found radiation from solar events is too weak to damage cells on Earth.
It also warns that major solar flares – caused by a build-up of magnetic energy that releases blasts of radiation across the solar system, can also pose a risk.
The report states: 'Space weather results from solar activity. Solar activity can produce X-rays, high energy particles and Coronal Mass Ejections of plasma.
'Where such activity is directed towards Earth there is the potential to cause wide-ranging impacts.
'These include power loss, aviation disruption, communication loss, and disturbance to (or loss) of satellite systems.'
While there is a steady stream of particles buffeting the planets of the solar system from the sun – known as the solar wind – flares and eruptions send intense blasts of radiation and particles.
These vary in frequency with the activity of the sun and often blast off in directions far away from the Earth. However, severe solar events are thought to threaten the Earth every 100 years or so.
The sun regularly emits huge flares, like the one shown above in this image captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. This one is relatively small compared to a major solar eruption in 1859 known as the Carrington Event. A similar flare of that size could knock out power grids and bring transport networks to a halt
The last major coronal mass ejection to hit the Earth, known as the Carrington event, was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm in 1859 and is thought to have been the biggest in 500 years.
At the time technology was still relatively underdeveloped, although Telegraph systems all over the world failed and pylons threw sparks.
A large solar flare in March this year knocked out radio transmissions in some parts of the world.
The UK government's Space Weather Preparedness Strategy said on that occasion it took the blast of energy and particles 18 hours to reach the Earth.
But it added: 'It is therefore likely that our reasonable worst case scenario would only allow us 12 hours from observation to impact.'
The strategy warns that while the UK power network would likely be able to cope with a major space weather event, other countries are less well prepared.
It said: 'The GB Power Grid is likely to be more resilient than that of some other countries to the effects of severe space weather for a range of reasons: shorter power lines, a mesh like grid system with the ability to close sections and route power around them and, a more reliant design for new and replacement transformers.'
'Nonetheless, for the GB grid, our relatively high latitude, long coast line and geology are factors that increase risk.'
Aurora Borealis, also known as the northern lights, like those shown above Norway, are caused by the flow of electrically charged particle that are thrown out by the sun during solar storms. Solar events like the one that caused this aurora are relatively minor compared to the one that hit the Earth in 1859
The report also warns that Britain's supergrid transformers have been damaged in the past and could be vulnerable to a major space weather event.
It said voltage instability could also lead to local blackouts that could last several hours.
This would mean householders should ensure they have candles and emergency lighting to cope for that amount of time.
It recommends preparing for a solar storm in much the same way as other natural disasters such as flooding or major storms.
The report warned far greater impacts will be felt due to the loss of signal from GPS satellites caused by a solar storm, which could last for around three days.
It said oil drilling relies heavily on GPS for accuracy and could result in a fall in oil production for the days after the storm. This could lead to short term impacts on fuel for motorists.
Drivers should also carry maps to help them navigate while the GPS network is down.
However mobile phone networks and landline services are unlikely to be affected, meaning these can still be used.
The Met Office now provides forecasts for space weather to help the public and industry prepare for solar storms that may pose a risk to infrastructure, as outlined in the graphic shown above
High frequency communication networks used by aircraft and shipping would go down for several days, which together with the loss of GPS could mean shipping is suspended.
Trains also rely upon GPS systems and so may not be able to run for up to three days after the storm hits.
The report said: 'Global Positioning System satellites are hardened to the effects of space weather so are protected against the direct impacts.
'However, the connection with the satellites might be lost for up to three days. The impact of its loss – or the effectiveness of mitigation - is not yet fully understood.'
The report also says that a solar storm would also increase the exposure of airline passengers to radiation, but says the risk to health would be 'minimal'.
It says passengers will not need to seek medical advice.
The report suggests Britain needs to improve its alerts and warning systems for solar storms. The Met Office recently launched a Space Weather forecasting service.
It also says power and communication infrastructure should be updated to include backups.
Companies and emergency services are urged to have plans in place to deal with the impacts too.
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How many times has this happened to you? You're taking out-of-town visitors around the Loop or another popular neighborhood, and they point to a building you've seen thousands of times before and ask "What's that?" You hem and haw while your credibility as a civic booster takes a dive.
There's an easy and fun way to avoid this while getting fresh air and exercise. Just take a few of the numerous walking tours offered through local cultural organizations, and you'll be a docent-without-portfolio before you know it.
Chicago Architecture Foundation
Everyone knows about the boat tour offered through the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and they also offer a wide array of tours by trolley, bus, bike, "L" train and Segway. But if you want to stretch your legs and also get a peek — inside and out — at buildings not visible from the deck of the First Lady, there are many on-foot opportunities offered daily that provide insights into everything from skyscrapers to public art to "sacred spaces." If nothing else, you should certainly stop by the foundation's headquarters and check out the scale model of downtown, along with the new exhibit opening Thursday titled "Chicago: City of Big Data."
I've done the Historic Downtown: Rise of the Skyscraper tour in the past, so I decided to get up-to-date with the Modern Skyscrapers: 1950s-Present tour. For two hours, docent Camille Carrig took us from modernism to postmodernism to a style that combines both without settling on a name — call it post-postmodernism, or perhaps contemporary modernism. (Carrig pointed out that "art deco" didn't really enter the lexicon until the late 1960s.)
Of course the three glass blocks of Mies van der Rohe's Chicago Federal Center got plenty of play as an example of the "international style." Even if you think you've taken in its "less is more" aesthetic many times, you may not have noticed the subtle but arresting details Carrig called to our attention — such as the way the unpolished granite squares of the outdoor plaza line up in a perfect grid with their polished brethren on the floors inside.
The "less is a bore" philosophy of postmodernism first comes up with a peek at Thomas Beeby's extravagant design for the Harold Washington Library Center, which, Carrig pointed out, contains referential elements to many other historic Chicago buildings. This pattern of referencing and building upon the past came up often in the tour. For example, 1956's Inland Steel Building, designed by Walter Netsch and Bruce Graham for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as the first skyscraper built in the Loop after the Great Depression, inspired elements of the design for 2003's One South Dearborn, its neighbor directly to the north.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me lay inside Philip Johnson's 190 South LaSalle building, the only design he ever executed in Chicago and one that marks a clear departure from his early modernist leanings. The gabled roof pays homage to the long-gone Masonic Temple Building of Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root, and the eye-popping interior, in addition to gold-leaf ceilings that wouldn't be out of place in a European cathedral, features a tapestry by Helena Hernmarck depicting the never-completed Burnham plan for a Paris-style city center.
'Millennium Park Revealed'
Design marvels don't just thrust skyward in Chicago. The Chicago Architecture Foundation's Millennium Park Revealed tour not only provides a fine excuse to wander the greatest civic addition to downtown Chicago in decades, but with the guidance of docent Ron Tevonian, also gives a crash course in the engineering genius required to put a rooftop garden and all its delights over the old Illinois Central Railroad tracks 10 years ago.
From the famous gleaming stainless steel of Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate, which hides an intricate structure that keeps thermal expansion and contraction from damaging the Bean, to the Miesian-esque bracing on the back of Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion band shell (along with the pavilion's groundbreaking digital-delay sound system), Tevonian painted an engaging picture of the delicate dance of technology, money and political muscle needed to create an outdoor space that embodies Burnham's famous "make no small plans" dictate.
Chicago Architecture Foundation walking tours are offered daily, rain or shine, at 224 S. Michigan Ave. Most tours charge $10-$17 (free to members); 312-922-3432 or architecture.org for schedule and reservations. Chicago History Museum
If you're looking for more of a neighborhood feel with human-interest stories, then the Chicago History Museum also offers several tours. I enjoyed the Glitzy Gold Coast tour a year ago, so I decided this time on the "Old Town Trek," led by docent Laura Braglia.
From the neighborhood's roots as the "Cabbage Patch" of garden-loving early German immigrants to its seedier side (the beloved Twin Anchors tavern on Sedgwick logged time as a speak-easy during Prohibition) to its renaissance in the 1970s as a neighborhood filled with ardent preservationists, we got a real sense of how the neighborhood had changed with the cultural times while still holding onto some of the most cunning architectural and historical treasures in the city. These include "fire cottages," or precursors to FEMA trailers, built in the wake of the 1871 Great Fire, and a plaque marking the 1710 N. Crilly Court home of Henry Gerber, an early gay-rights pioneer whose name also graces the LGBT Gerber/Hart Library and Archives in Rogers Park.
Chicago History Museum walking tours generally are $20 ($15 members), which includes same-day admission to the museum; 312-642-4600 or chicagohistory.org for information and reservations. Evanston History Center
Further afield, the Evanston History Center, housed in the historic Charles Gates Dawes house, also offers many neighborhood walks from June to October. They also have a special Mother's Day House Walk this Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m., which provides access to architecturally notable private homes.
Kris Hartzell, director of facilities, notes that the tours range from "Burnham in Evanston" to the lakefront to Evanston women's history, including the home of pioneering feminist and temperance advocate Frances Willard, whose 175th birthday is celebrated this year.
Though Hartzell notes that Evanston has its own rich architectural history — "you'll have a Queen Anne and then a Prairie-style home and then an Italianate house in a row" — the goal for the tours is "showing the evolution and settlement patterns of the community." "It adds such a dimension when you know the story of the house and how it fits into the larger picture," she says.
Evanston History Center, 225 Greenwood St., Evanston. Walking tours June-October, first and third Saturday of the month, 11 a.m. $20 ($15 members); 847-475-3410 or evanstonhistorycenter.org.
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Islamic endowments (
waqfs) have an important history in Muslim countries, serving both as a means for individuals to do good works and as a way to avoid Islamic regulations concerning inheritance. In most places, due to a combination of colonial rule and the perception that waqfs stood in the way of economic progress, this institution declined precipitously in the 19 th century. But among the Palestinians, especially in Jerusalem during the period of British rule (1917-48), it uniquely flourished.
In a densely written and meticulous study, Reiter shows why: in part because Palestinians saw in the
waqf a means of keeping land from being sold to the Zionists, in part because of its economic utility for managing property. Interestingly, Reiter notes that the establishment of waqfs declined during the period of Jordanian control over Muslim Jerusalem (1948-67), only to revive when Israel won control over the whole city. His study casts new light on a central Islamic institution and on the detailed complexity of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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Top 10 Best Sites
Looking for a dating site you can trust? Search no more.
Men's Dating
Randy Mitchell • 9/25/14
You’re an attractive, fun-loving guy and crave your freedom. You’ve been this way all your life.
During your adulthood, you dated literally dozens of women, attended many bachelor parties, witnessed lots of teary-eyed weddings, been called upon to be a best man and even hooked up with several bridesmaids during and after the ceremonies.
You’ve felt the emotions behind the whole courtship/marriage thing and endured the same ol’ question over and over, “So, how about you?”
You think about it, smile and politely give a rehearsed answer such as, “still looking for Miss Right.”
You love and adore the beauty of women and are always open to meeting new ones.
Marriage, you’ve always heard, is the road to golden happiness. Yet, for whatever reason, month after month and year after year, your ring finger remains permanently bare.
There are lots of reasons for guys to remain single, and after doing research for this article, I’ve come to the conclusion they’re different for each individual.
However, some always came to the forefront of the lists:
Now, if you walked the streets of any large metropolitan city and asked why guys are remaining single, I’m sure there would be many more colorful answers.
Some might be: “Commitment phobia, too insecure, too much of a loner, too introverted, too afraid of taking a risk, too emotionally scared,” and the old standby, “Are they gay?”
“Many are content finding
love when it arrives.”
Personally, I firmly believe it’s simply a matter of what’s best for the individual. And as any psychiatrist will tell you, “All of us are wired uniquely different.”
Some gravitate toward being alone, enjoy lots of “me” time and love their personal space. They have other priorities in life that don’t include marriage — hobbies, career, friends, sports and even immediate family.
Others crave the attention and companionship of sharing their lives with others, with “The One,” and much prefer the feeling of being bonded with another individual.
They feel out of place whenever she’s not around or when they don’t have a hand to hold, lips to kiss or a conversation to share.
Many are programmed this way since birth, yet others remain happily content simply loving themselves.
However, many still look at those never marrying as being a bit odd, abnormal, peculiar or even weird (i.e. that eccentric uncle or aunt always showing up alone).
Yet they’re extremely fulfilled dancing to their own singleness beat. It’s what they’re comfortable with. It’s what makes them who they are.
I have many friends who’ve stayed single well past the age of 50 and plan on remaining so. And I’ve also known several who’ve walked down the aisle, had children, endured extremely nasty divorces and swear they’ll never marry again.
I’ve seen the devastation both emotionally and financially a bad breakup can cost both parties – just one of many reasons more and more are remaining single.
I understand both sides of the equation, but many may ask, “What about love?”
It’s what makes us human and it lives inside us all.
But for some, it doesn’t equate to dashing off to the nearest jewelers, constantly searching for the one who
completes us or getting married to satisfy the expectations of family or society.
Many are content finding and experiencing love when it arrives, but they don’t need the legal formalities of making it official.
Love is wonderful when it’s natural and pure, and for certain people, enjoying it is all about an individual’s definition of relationship success.
Are you single and content? Do you know others who feel the same? I’d love to hear your comments.
Photo source: clareified.com.
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I am close to launching a new application for my company. It will replace a previous application which I wrote 8 years ago. The new version is much cleverer as I have designed the tables better and my vba programming skills are much better now.
The benefits are that entering and finding data is going to be much easier.
My problem is that I sense the users are not happy. I have tried to design everything to look similar but people are not happy that there will be a change. They are also worried that the new application is automating a lot of proceedures and they feel thet their positions are under threat.
Has anyone been through this and if so, can you offer and advice?
This is of course a bit late now but these are my thoughts:
People are typically resistant to change of all kinds. The very best way to counter that resistance is to include them in the process right from day one. Before writing a line of code engage with all stakeholders: review what currently exists and what works about it and what causes people pain. Review business processes - try to tease apart a client's activity from the goal of those activities (not as easy as it might sound). Create a written specification and get sign off from stakeholders.
That, I am afraid, is IME the best way to ensure that users embrace your product. Foisting something on them inevitably results in resistance.
From here I would review with your manager. You might need a bit of carrot and stick: engage in training sessions with users which gives them an opportunity to voice their concerns and you (and perhaps yours and their managers) to address these. The stick part would be instruction from their superiors that ultimately they need to suck it up and use the new system.
I have tried to include everyone right from the start but I found people have very little interest even though it can save them a lot of hassle. The business owner has seen the application and his attitude is that he loves it and that I should ask for feedback, if none is forthcoming then launch.
Whenever I show anyone a form, the usual comment is..."can it be blue, green, orange etc"
I am just a little disappointed because I want people to look at it and test it before launchng because I know that on day 1, I will have a line of people at my desk complaining because there is a piece of info missing etc.
If the business owner gave the green light, then make sure the line queues at his desk instead of yours...
When stuck in a scenario like this were the users are having my work imposed on them by management (such as every gov't contract I've ever completed), it becomes important to ensure the decision maker is willing to be held accountable for their decisions. Things like software requirements specification documents and formal acceptance procedures are very useful for producing a paper trail that leads back to the person who actually pulled the trigger. It also helps provide a uniform method of gathering feedback and requirements from the users, should they wish to participate. A formal change request process is also handy for addressing folks who like to release first and design later...
Ideally I'd like to be driving the requirements bus from the start as pootle is describing. That said, it's a good idea to get out of the way should one realize not only are they not driving the bus, but they've been thrown in front of it.
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HASTY — Without question, fall is the favorite season for the Colorado outdoorsman — particularly hunters. September ushers in cooler evenings and with the change comes formations of sandhill cranes passing over afternoon high school football practices followed by V’s of geese and ducks heading south.
And so last Saturday one of Colorado’s most popular hunting seasons commenced with the dove opener. This is a time to reconnect with nature, to tune up the duck and goose calls, and to get that eager dog back in the field. Likewise, this opening season starts a progression from doves to ducks, and on to geese, pheasants and sandwiched in between hunts for antelope, deer and even elk.
Fall for us hunters is our time.
As a fourth-generation native of the Arkansas Valley in southeast Colorado, this weekend I headed back home along with friend Mikk Anderson and his dog, Milo. Southeastern Colorado always has been known for its quality dove shooting. As a youth, riding my Vespa scooter to get in a good dove shoot before school was not out of the ordinary.
In the late 1970s, the La Junta Chamber of Commerce initiated an annual celebrity dove hunt. This complemented the existing historic Lamar Two Shot Celebrity Goose Hunt, and both have been popular events. As a La Junta native and career militarist, I had the honor of guiding on three of the dove hunts while stationed at Fort Carson; however, today only the Lamar hunt remains active.
Colorado dove hunters know the key factors to dove season are weather and scouting. One cool or rainy day can send the birds south but with current temperatures hovering over 90 degrees, there are plenty of birds in the valley. Finding a good wheat stubble field, or stock pond with surrounding sunflowers, often proves productive.
My advice to sportsman hunting doves for the first time is to look for indicators. An easy one is to spot numerous birds sitting on a power line, or fence, because you’ll often find they’re overlooking their feeding area and there will be equally as many birds on the ground. Likewise, on the edge of a small town or open prairie you can often find choice flyways where the birds will pass to find grit and a place to roost for the night. With the water shortages this year, any good stock pond with sunflowers and weeds should provide good shooting.
Southeastern Colorado offers excellent dove hunting opportunities in a myriad of state wildlife areas — look toward the John Martin, Keller or Purgatoire state wildlife areas near Las Animas or the Higbee and Thurston SWAs near Lamar. Reports from across the state for the opening weekend varied with good numbers coming from the Arkansas Valley and somewhat spotty and mixed results in the northern sector of the state.
Research conducted by hunting and firearms organizations indicate the average hunter bags one dove for every six to seven shots, and oddly dove hunting is a hunt where most folks keep track of their shooting ability. You never talk much about how many shots you made per pheasant, or duck, or deer, but folks sure like to let you know if they got their limit of doves (15) with a box of shells, or fewer, and that’s darn good shooting.
Dove hunting is not a given throughout our country with eight states still refusing to allow a season. It was just last year that Iowa hosted its first dove season.
Doves are about the quickest game bird to clean. You can clean with only your hands, but using a pair of game scissors to snip the wings from the breast allows for a smoother and well-shaped breast. Dove breasts can be simply grilled; filleted, breaded and fried; baked in a mushroom sauce; made into a stroganoff. Whatever your preference, it is prime table fare. And there is always the traditional, fail-safe jalapeño dove. A good technique for storing dove breasts is to use half-gallon milk cartons; place the dove breasts in the container, cover it with cold water and freeze. Doves stored in this manner will be as fresh as the day they were shot when you thaw them out next summer for cooking on the grill.
Our past weekend opener produced steady shooting for the evening hunt with limits for all four of our hunting party. The following morning hunt was slower, but still had good shooting. Most doves were full of wheat and weed (probably sandbur) seeds — further testimony for finding that wheat stubble field, or pond with sunflowers and weeds in the area.
From a young hunter growing up in the Arkansas Valley to a seasoned veteran 50 years later, the saying never rang more true: ” ‘Tis a privilege to live in Colorado.”
Be safe, always take a few but leave plenty; and from doves, to ducks, to deer and geese, this list goes on and the best is yet to come.
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Managing stress during emergencies
As the impact of an emergency becomes clear, people will have a range of needs that may be addressed by local services. The impact of an emergency can be stressful and exhausting, and people are encouraged to look after themselves in this period. People who readily use formal and informal support from family, friends or other support organisations are generally found to recover better from stressful situations. Access to information and support will aid recovery for most people. Sharing fact sheets on this website with family and friends may help you, and help them to better support you.
People affected by an incident are encouraged to make use of GPs, clergy, 24 hour telephone help lines, or specialist counselling and support services available. Talking it over with others often helps recovery from exposure to traumatic events - prevention is better than cure.
Counselling and health advice Telephone counselling services: Lifeline- phone 131 114 24-hour telephone service that offers confidential support and advice to deal with stress and personal challenges. Beyondblue information line- phone 1300 224 636 An information line that offers expert information on depression, how to recognise it, how to get help, how to help someone else and how to stay well. Kids Helpline- phone 1800 55 1800 Confidential telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25. Mensline- phone 1300 789 978 Telephone support, information and referral service, helping men to deal with relationship problems in a practical and effective way. Parentline- phone 13 22 89 Telephone counselling service for parents and carers of children aged from birth to eighteen years. Fact sheets
The following fact sheets on the Better Health Channel may be helpful:
Trauma - reaction and recovery Trauma - helping friends or family Trauma and primary school age children Trauma and families General health advice
Talk to your local community health service or doctor. You can find your nearest doctor or Community Health Service on the Better Health Channel.
NURSE-ON-CALL (1300 60 60 24) is a phone service that allows you to discuss any health related issue with a registered nurse, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the cost of a local call from anywhere in Victoria.
Contact Information
Lifeline
Tel: 131 114
Beyondblue information line
Tel: 1300 224 636
Mensline
Tel: 1300 789 978
Parentline
Tel: 13 22 89
Kids Helpline
Tel: 1800 55 1800
NURSE-ON-CALL
Tel: 1300 60 60 24
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Celery
(Apium graveolens)
Celery is often seen around the holidays sitting on hors d'oerves trays, overflowing with cream cheese or peanut butter. It may be surprising to some that this common vegetable is also a medicinal herb. This common plant in the vegetable garden grows from two to three feet tall with several upright stalks that branch at the top with leaves.
Key Medicinal Uses Internally Celery can sooth the stomach, help get rid of excess fluid in the body and to begin a late menstrual cycle. This herb is a uterine stimulant, it relieves indigestion, treats flatulence and helps reduce the blood pressure. It also contains compounds that help you sleep well and for this reason it used to be given for hysteria. Some say it is an aphrodisiac. The seeds have anti-inflammatory, diuretic, anti-rheumatic and anti-spasmodic actions. It has also been used after childbirth to aid the uterus in adjusting to postpartum. Externally The herb can be used to fight fungal infections and tumors. Other Uses Celery oil can be used to tone the central nervous system as well as a diuretic and to treat cellulite. Using the oil in aromatherapy can help decrease skin puffiness and cleanse the kidneys, liver and spleen. It is useful for dissolving uric acid crystals in people suffering from gout and arthritis. The seeds are also used to make a tonic (also known as celery soda). The main body of the plant is often added to soups, salads or eaten alone as an appetizer. The seeds are sometimes used in pickling, especially in the cuisines of Germany, Italy, Russia and Asia. The essential oil is also used in perfumes and cosmetics. Herbs to Combine/Supplement Parts Used Whole plant The entire plant is used including the seeds, the roots and the oil. Cautions
Therapeutic doses of the herb and oil should not be used during pregnancy.
Preparation and Dosage
An infusion may be made with ½ ounce of bruised seeds or ½ ounce of dried leaves or stalks. Add to 1 pint of water. Allow it to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. Take 1 cup every few days.
A decoction can be made of ½ ounce seeds in half a cup of water. Boil it for 5 minutes then strain out the seeds. Take in small doses. Juice of celery can be taken before meals in a dose of 1 tablespoon 2 or 3 times per day. Celery oil can be used twice a day in a dose of 2 drops in water.
To use the oil for massage, add 5 to 10 drops of oil in 20 ml of olive or sweet almond oil. Massage the mixture into arthritic joints for relief.
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Tamarind
(Tamarindus indica, or Indian Date)
The tamarind tree grows in most tropical areas of the world. The fruit is eaten from its unripe state all the way to its overripe state. The entire tree is used for everything from food to medicine to dyeing and more. The tree grows to 70 feet tall and makes a good source of shade.
Key Medicinal Uses Internally Tamarind is used to treat fever, constipation and helps the digestion. It can aid sunstroke victims, as well as counteract Datura poisoning and intoxication. The pulp is recommended in cases of paralysis to restore sensation. The bark can be fried with salt and pulverized to an ash and then given to remedy colic and indigestion. Decoctions are used for gingivitis and asthma as well as eye inflammations. Externally The pulp is applied topically for inflammation, it is used as a gargle for sore throat and when mixed with salt is used as a liniment to treat rheumatism. Leaves and flowers are dried or boiled and then used as poultices to treat sprains, boils and swollen joints. Extracts and lotions made from the leaves are used to treat jaundice, erysipelas, hemorrhoids, conjunctivitis and dysentery as well as being used as an antiseptic. The bark can be made into lotions or poultices for open sores. Powdered seeds are used in a paste to draw out boils. Other Uses Tamarind leaves are used for livestock fodder and to feed silkworms. The leaves and flowers are also used as mordants to set colors when dyeing fabrics. An infusion made from whole pods is added when dyeing goat hides. The pulp of the fruit can also be used as a dyeing fixative and can coagulate rubber latex. If the pulp is mixed with sea water the mixture can clean copper, brass and silver. An ointment made of pulp, butter and other ingredients is used on livestock and pets to rid them of parasites like fleas. Herbs to Combine/Supplement
The powdered seeds are mixed with cumin seeds and palm sugar to treat diarrhea and dysentery.
Parts Used Most parts The tamarind is very useful. The seeds, fruit, leaves, flowers and bark are all used medicinally as well as for other uses. Cautions
The herb is considered safe with no known contraindications.
Preparation and Dosage
Tamarind pulp can be mixed with a little water to make a gargle for sore throats.
If you are using commercial preparations, follow the directions on the label or the instructions provided by your care provider.
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How the Pope Helped Bring about the Fall of Communism By Jack Kemp
Scholars and historians will debate for years to come the
precise causes and historical forces that produced the sudden collapse of
communism at the end of the 1980s. One matter not in dispute, however, will be
the earth-shattering role played in the process by Pope John Paul II, the
Polish pope.
From the moment of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's election to the papacy in October 1978, he began to shake the very foundations of communism. His first pilgrimage to Poland in 1979 helped undermine government censorship as the Polish people heard the pope talk about human dignity and pray, "Spirit, come and renew the face of the Earth." As young Poles gathered in throngs to hear the pope preach, they saw masses and felt the press of individuals just like themselves and knew they were not alone in wanting freedom and human dignity. It was no accident that the Polish church became a primary force behind the resistance against communism, uniting both Catholics and non-Catholic Poles in solidarity against communism. The pope was without a doubt the major source of hope and encouragement to his fellow countryman Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity workers' union and future president of Poland post-communism. After the fall of communism, Pope John Paul II released a papal encyclical titled "Centesimus Annus" (1991), which explained within a Christian framework why communism had failed and from that failure drew lessons about social, political and economic organization. In the process, the papal encyclical explained how people must organize themselves secularly, not to establish "heaven on Earth" but to maintain human dignity and social conditions conducive to each individual's having an opportunity to seek and achieve salvation of his soul. In other words, the pope placed individual freedom squarely within the core of Christian theology. Communism was a secular failure -- it failed to deliver the material benefits it promised -- the pope said, because it rejected the truth about the human person: "The state under socialism treats the individual, not with dignity, but as a molecule within the social organism, so that the good of the individual is completely subordinated to the functioning of the socioeconomic mechanism." The lessons "Centesimus Annus" drew from the practical failures of communism also undermined the theoretical and any possible theological justification of collectivism. Secular opposition to capitalism -- from doctrinaire socialism to the kind of soft democratic collectivism we call "liberalism" today -- has always derived from one fundamentally incorrect notion, namely that private property and its productive use to earn a profit exploits other people. Karl Marx and Frederick Engles attempted, unsuccessfully, to give scientific grounding to this fallacy of capitalistic exploitation. Historically, the Christian church had been skeptical of capitalism, not because of what the pursuit of profit did to exploit other people but rather because of how the pursuit of profit frequently corrupted individuals, making them avaricious, envious and materialistic. The pope's encyclical exploded both misconceptions: "The church acknowledges the legitimate role of profit as an indication that a business is functioning well. When a firm makes a profit, this means that productivity factors have been properly employed and corresponding human needs have been duly satisfied. But profitability is not the only indicator of a firm's condition. It is possible for the financial accounts to be in order and yet for the people, who make up the firm's most valuable asset, to be humiliated and their dignity offended. Besides being morally inadmissible, this will eventually have negative repercussions on the firm's economic efficiency. In fact, the purpose of a business firm is not simply to make a profit, but is to be found in its very existence as a community of persons who in various ways are endeavoring to satisfy their basic needs and who form a particular group at the service of the whole society." By a process of elimination, this devastating critique of socialism and unenlightened capitalism alike left democratic individualism and free markets, informed and guided by the spiritual teachings of the church, as the only practical means of organizing human action. At the same time, "Centesimus Annus" also reconciled the church's historical fear that capitalism and free markets breed vice among the faithful with beneficial social outcomes that only human freedom and its expression through private property and free markets can produce. The papal encyclical expounded upon how, for example, the effort involved in building a business also builds individual virtue: "Important virtues are involved in this process, such as diligence, industriousness, prudence in undertaking reasonable risks, reliability and fidelity in interpersonal relationships as well as courage in carrying out decisions which are difficult and painful, but necessary both for the overall working of a business and in meeting possible setbacks." Pope John Paul II concluded that earthly poverty and human despair are not the product of private property, capitalistic exploitation of labor and the pursuit of profit through the operation of free markets but just the opposite. It is when people are excluded from ownership, lack the opportunity to develop job skills and are not free to participate in free enterprise that people suffer and are, as the pope said "if not actually exploited, they are to a great extent marginalized; economic development takes place over their heads, so to speak, when it does not actually reduce the already narrow scope of their old subsistence economies." The next time pessimism and despair over the future grip us, we should remember that October 1978 when the renaissance of freedom began with the election of a humble Polish pope by the name of Wojtyla.
Copyright © 2004 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights Reserved.
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In this tougher economy, couples are finding it necessary to take the jobs they can get, and that means more couples work different shifts. If one of you works a “graveyard shift” or rotating shift job that limits your time together; the difference in your shifts and commutes may mean you actually get to spend very little waking time together.
You’ve heard a lot from various experts about how important communication and intimacy are to the health and survival of your relationship. But they don’t talk about how to stay in touch when you barely see each other. Phone calls, e-mails, photos and instant messages help, but it’s hard to feel as close when you don’t see each other. It’s also difficult to make joint decisions when one of you doesn't experience the problems your partner is facing.
Spending most of your time apart due to shift changes may be so far from your original expectations of marriage that you don’t really know how to handle it. You may be squabbling about being stuck with all the household chores while your partner feels cut off from the world by a night shift; and both you and your partner may be feeling all the intimacy and partnership gradually draining out of your relationship, leaving you with an empty shell where your marriage used to be. Spouses at home during the day have to deal with all the household problems: plumbing that doesn’t work, financial decisions to make, all the child rearing and discipline, and all the chores usually shared by two. Spouses at home at night are lonely, isolated, and feeling out of touch with your family.
Schedule juggling can present an enormous problem in this situation, because you are not always in control of when you’re required to be away from home. You are not at home at the same time, you must solve problems about how the household chores will be handled, bills will be paid, and children and pets will be cared for. The other major problem with two different commuting schedules is finding time to be at home together. It is also possible to have so much to catch up on when you’re both home that there is little time for the two of you to reconnect. When your schedules mesh well, it means that one of you can take care of things while the other is gone, and you get enough time together to enjoy each other and feel like a family. When it works well, this type of alternate commuting can make it possible to have two incomes and still care for children, family members and household responsibilities.
Long-term Situations
If separate shifts are a long- term situation, your situation offers some benefits and some problems. The benefits are that you have time to establish your routine, develop support systems, and even develop a re-entry system that works. The problems, of course are that you are spending a lot of time apart, and keeping your connection and intimacy feeling fresh is not easy. Long-term schedule problems present transition problems because you need to plan for long-term solutions, such as:
Household maintenance:
If you are working different shifts, you may need to change your expectations about how well your house or yard will be maintained in one partner’s absence. The dayshift partner may not have enough time or expertise to get it all done alone. The nightshift partner might have to sleep most of the daylight hours. Neither of you have a lot of time for maintenance and housekeeping. If your budget permits, you can pay for some of the maintenance jobs (lawn mowing, basic housekeeping) that you once handled together.
Ongoing childcare:
Often children are the main reason for splitting shifts in the first place, so at least one parent can be home when the kids are. Keeping on the same page about parenting issues can be tough.
Social networks and support:
You might find that having a social life is difficult, but most couples need the support of friends and family. You may have to do your social activities separately, much of the time.
New routines:
for meals, cooking, shopping: If you don’t cook and your partner is not at home, eating and feeding your family can present another problem. For the short term, eating take-out or in restaurants can work OK, but in a long- term situation, you’ll find you may have to develop new resources of food or abilities to cook. A partner who is used to shopping and cooking for two or for the family may find that eating alone becomes a problem. While this is a great time to go on that diet you’ve wanted to try, but haven’t because your partner isn’t on it; it does require some uncomfortable adjustment and rethinking.
Ways to communicate:
about marriage business: If you’re on split shifts for a long period of time, you may need to find a different way to make decisions about bill paying, hiring help, and budgeting. Especially if one partner is sometimes incommunicado, at work, the at-home partner needs to have the ability and permission to make occasional unilateral decisions. This can create an uncomfortable change in the power structure of your partnership.
How to stay emotionally close:
When the time you have together is scarce for a long period of time, you need to change your routines for keeping in contact and maintaining a strong emotional connection. Splitting shifts for an extended period can be very lonely for both partners, and even if you have close family relationships or strong friendships, it doesn’t replace “pillow talk,” physical affection, and shared experience. Making your split shift marriage work begins with getting as realistic a picture of your situation as you can, and then making plans to solve each problem that you envision, as well as learning to solve new issues that arise on the spot.
Navigating these uncharted waters will involve making a lot of joint decisions, and will help you develop teamwork. Try this method of solving problems, and take each problem one at a time. Steps for Solving Problems Whether You’re Apart or Together
1. Make an appointment:
Don’t ambush each other with a problem, especially when you’re getting ready for bed, about to make love, rushing off to work, or during an unplanned telephone conversation. Or, if you realize a discussion is building into an argument, stop it by making an appointment to discuss the issue later. To make an appointment by e-mail or IM when you’re apart, or briefly in person when you’re together, say: “I have a problem I’d like to discuss. Will you have time tonight after dinner (or this weekend, or tomorrow afternoon)?” Make an appointment when you’ll both have time to think and respond thoughtfully. Alternatively, if you won’t have time to talk in the near future, agree on an e-mail heading (e.g.: problem discussion) that will alert your partner that you are asking to work on a problem, then describe your problem as in the next step.
2. Think through the problem and describe it carefully:
This is not the time to just blurt out whatever comes to mind. Writing it down first is very valuable here. Also, try to state your problem as a problem for you, and not to blame your partner or anyone else. For example, say “I feel frustrated when you come home late, because I worry that something’s wrong.” Rather than: “Why can’t you be on time?” or “You’re always late, and it makes me mad.”
Before your appointment time, figure out what your problem is and how to state it so your partner will understand and not feel attacked. Ask your partner to agree that he or she will hear and try to understand what you’re saying without interrupting.
Then, ask your partner for his or her opinion of what you can do together to fix the problem. Do not get into who’s right or wrong, but focus on understanding each other and coming up with a solution. “It doesn’t work for me not to know what checks you wrote. I understand you’re busy, but can we find a way to fix it? Maybe we can get checks with carbon copies, and then when you come home, you can put your copies in the checkbook, so I can figure out what our balance is.”
3. Generate Options:
Take turns challenging each other to come up with the best solution for the problem. Have fun with it, don’t be afraid to be silly, and you’ll free up your thinking so you’ll come up with more creative options. “I know, let’s win the lotto, then we won’t need to know how much we have in the bank!” “Maybe we can have an account with online access, then I can input the checks I write, and you can check the balance any time.”
4. Discuss the possibilities:
When you have enough ideas of what to do, discuss them – which would be best for both of you? Consider how your partner would feel about any decision, as well as how you feel. Try decisions on and imagine how they would work.
5. Try it on:
If you’re not sure which decision would work, consider trying one or two of them out for a short time, to learn from your experience. For example:
If you’re struggling about your time schedule, and one of you feels like you don’t have enough time together, while the other feels pulled by work commitments, try a schedule change that you may not think will work, just to see what you can learn from it.
If you’ve been a stay-at-home parent and you need or want to go back to work, take a temporary job for a couple of months to see how it feels and how it changes your family life.
If your job offers you a shift change, talk over how the changes will affect your day-to-day life: who picks up the kids, who shops, who cooks, how you’ll get the maintenance done, and what time off you’ll have together. Once you’ve done the research or tried the change on, you’ll have a lot better idea of which solution will work for both of you.
6. Clarify your choice:
It’s unfortunately easy to think you’ve agreed upon something when you actually are thinking two different things. To avoid this problem, when you think you’ve reached a decision, state it out loud. “OK, so we’re agreed: we’re going to…” It can even help to write it down, in case your memory is different later. If find yourself disagreeing about what you decided, you can check with your written agreement.
You can go back and follow these steps any time you’re having trouble finding a solution or making a decision. They work great even when a decision you previously made needs renegotiation.
Tina Tessina, Ph.D., has been a licensed California psychotherapist for more than 30 years. She has authored more than 11 books, including "Money, Sex and Kids"; “The Commuter Marriage: Keeping your Relationship Close While you’re Far Apart”; "How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free"; "The Unofficial Guide to Dating Again"; and, “It Ends with You: Grow Up and Grow Out of Dysfunction.” Tina can be reached at tina@tinatessina.com.
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Name: Brynn Leah Blotter
From: Diamond, Missouri Grade: High School Senior School: Bob Jones University Votes: 0
To
Love Well
I have never been able to limit myself to one area of volunteer work. There
are just too many areas of need to choose one over another. I have served food to the homeless, taught workshops to them and to children in public schools, cleaned community buildings, pulled weeds, and basically done anything that needs doing. I’ve volunteered since I was ten, shadowing my mother and missionary cousins to learn how best to serve people, and learned that it’s best to go where you are needed most. It would be impossible for me to say how many hours I volunteer, since I truly don’t know because I go wherever the need takes me.
My greatest challenge in volunteer work has always been talking to
people. I’m very shy and prefer to work in the background, invisible, if possible. Volunteering forces me to be more outgoing when it comes to people, and because of this I’ve become better at forming lasting relationships with people.
Real, caring relationships are perhaps the greatest accomplishment to me.
Being there for people even if I’m tired produces something amazing in me and the people I’m serving that is hard to describe. It’s a matter of the heart and changing perspectives. It is incredible the effect choosing to love people has on everyone around. I’ve seen firsthand just how much hope choosing to serve with love gives those who’ve given up on everything. I’ve seen it inspire people to try one more time, just because someone cares. People accomplish so much more if they have support and love from the people around them.
I’ve learned how to look beneath the surface, not judging what I see.
I’ve learned how much it hurts to truly love, and how very hard truly loving is. I’ve learned that hope hurts so much more than not hoping, but it is worth it a thousand times over. I’ve learned that volunteering is about more than making a physical difference, but a difference in hearts as well. I’ve learned that setting aside my personal desires in the moment even if it doesn’t seem like I’m getting anywhere produces much in the long run.
My hope is that how I have loved will continue to make a difference in the
future, even if I’m dead and gone. I want people to know they are loved and to choose to love others. I want to see people lifting each other up through service and friendship. I know that even though I may not have the opportunity to see it, my hope will not be in vain because Jesus is with me and always will be.
The things I have learned from volunteering will be invaluable in my
chosen career, to be a missionary doctor, and in every aspect of my life. No matter where I am, or what I’m doing, choosing to love well will always be my mission. Serving will always be my method, and Jesus will always be my guide and strength.
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Primary schools in Donegal are among the most overcrowded in the country, according to figures released by the Irish National Teachers Organisation.
Nearly ninety per cent of primary pupils in the county are in classes greater than the EU average. Over a fifth are in “supersized” classes of thirty or more children.
Latest figures show that 21 per cent of primary pupils are in classes of 30 or more, 66 per cent of pupils are in classes of 20 or more 13 per cent of pupils are in classes under 20.
More than 3,900 pupils in Donegal are in classes of 30 or more. The INTO said the figures showed the impact of increasing school numbers and government cutbacks on the ground in schools. The General Secretary of the INTO, Sheila Nunan described the findings as a wake-up call for the Minister. Ms Nunan said Irish class sizes in some Irish counties were now the highest in the EU. She called on the Minister to stop the rise in over-crowded classes and not to increase class sizes in the budget.
“Irish class sizes are back to where they were a decade ago and getting worse. In 2002, average class size in Ireland was 24.5 the same as it is today. More than one hundred thousand children (121,353) are in classes of thirty pupils or more, up ten thousand on the previous year,” said Ms. Nunan.
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Jeb Bush: Crying Out Loud, an opinion column by the New York Times's Charles Blow, reminded me that, much more than ums and uhs, communications pros should be listening for--and helping their principal speaker work on--repetitive phrases that give reporters (and others) inadvertent clues to what they're thinking.
I'll let Blow explain it for you:
As a person who uses language for a living, I find it hard not to notice rhetorical quirks committed by others. It has become something of a parlor game for me to note whenever he says “for crying out loud,” which always seems to signal some level of exasperation. And, somewhere around that phrase, he seems to say something interesting, sometimes something careless, nearly always something that makes news. It’s one of those subconscious things that speakers do — like scratching their nose while telling a lie or taking a drink of water when listening to a question that makes them uncomfortable — that journalists learn to pay attention to.You can read the several examples in Blow's column as a guide to breaking down this type of rhetorical quirk. And there's more recent coverage of Bush's frequent use of the word 'serious.' It's a tough habit to correct, but if you're working with a speaker who does this, it can save you and your company or organization a world of public trouble.
I once trained an executive who'd handle media interviews perfectly--until a hypothetical question for which he had no information came up. Every single time, he would say, "Probably..." followed by a major conjecture. Inevitably, that became the story. We identified the trouble signal word via transcripts and a review of media coverage, then worked on having him stop himself mid-sentence once that word flew out of his mouth, to say, "No, actually, I don't have enough data to answer that. I don't want to conjecture." But this takes a lot of practice.
Don't know your principal speaker's giveaway words or phrases? Try running all her recent speeches and interview transcripts through a word cloud tool or just read them through, looking for repetition. Then analyze when it happens, and why it happens. That will give you the ammo for a tough but needed conversation.
(Creative Commons licensed photo by Michael Vadon)
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A double mattress topper can help your mattress last longer and increase night-time comfort. Couples who share a bed can opt for two different single mats to accommodate individual needs.
Natural feather varieties provide a luxurious, snuggly feel perfect for winter mornings, while memory foam adjusts to your body shape for added support where needed. A feather double mattress topper may not be suitible for those with allergies, but memory foam options are hypoallergenic. Upgrade your sleep comfort by adding a double mattress topper.
Heated mattress toppers are sometimes known as heated underblankets, and are effectively electric blankets that are used under the body. Mattress toppers protect the mattress from spills and bodily emissions...
Suffering from arthritis can be extremely painful. While there is no actual cure for arthritis, there are many treatments and remedies that can ease your suffering. An alternative to medication is using...
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An oncology nurse provides specialist care and emotional support to patients undergoing or recovering from cancer treatments. Oncology nurses work under the guidance of qualified doctors and also carry out research activities and administrative duties, such as patient charting and medical reports. Oncology nurses also assist medical specialists with the administration of radiation chemotherapies. As of June 2010, the average salary for an oncology nurse was £37,700, according to the Simply Hired website.
Other People Are Reading Education
Oncology nurse candidates are required to complete a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited university before undertaking specialist training. Candidates can also complete a two-year associate degree or a two- to three-year diploma. Nursing degree programs offer a range of key skills for nurses undertaking a career in any specialist path, such as diagnostics, first aid administration and medical assessments of patients. Some colleges run internship programs, which offer students the chance to learn about core aspects of the nursing profession from practicing nurses.
Specialist Experience
Oncology nurse candidates will need to learn particular cancer care skills either through coursework conducted during their BSN degrees, clinical practice or further education, as stated on the All Nursing schools website. Bachelor's degree graduates often find work placements in hospital emergency rooms or in the general care division of health care centres after completing their studies. Candidates should search online or contact the career office during the final college of semester for help securing positions.
Certification
Once sufficient experience has been gained in a work placement, oncology nurse candidates can apply for certification. Certification for oncology nurses is provided by the Oncology Nurse Certification Corporation (ONCC). Certified nurses earn significantly more than those who are uncertified. Some states require oncology nurses to be certified before being permitted to practice. Other states merely recommend it, but finding work is likely to be more difficult without accreditation. To improve their skills further, nurses can also undertake a two-day class on chemotherapy offered by the Oncology Nursing Society, as indicated on the Degree Directory website.
Development
Once qualified as an oncology nurse, candidates can go on to become oncology nurse practitioners. These are advanced practice nurses (APNs) who have attained a master's degree in nursing. An oncology nurse practitioner can work in more senior nursing roles including educator, senior research coordinator and consultancy. Oncology nurse practitioners provide guidance to nursing teams and liaise with the families of cancer patients to discuss care administration.
Advanced Certification
Oncology nurse practitioners need to complete a master of science in nursing (MSN). This degree is usually attained through a two-year course of graduate study. Once completed, graduates can register with the state board as an advanced practice nurse (APN). Oncology nurse practitioners require a minimum of 500 hours of supervised clinical experience in oncology before becoming eligible to take the certified exam to practice as an Advanced Oncology Certified Nurse Practitioner.
Variations
Some oncology nurses occupy specialist roles caring for children cancer patients. Nurses in this role can gain certification as paediatric oncology nurses. Oncology nurses can also specialise in key areas such as bone marrow transplants and in sedative care for terminal cancer patients.
Don't Miss 20 of the funniest online reviews ever 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for
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Your vehicle's disc brake system consists of a number of components including pads, calipers and rotors as well as mechanisms for lubricating the parts. When you press down on the brake pedal, the calipers squeeze the brake pads against the rotors and your automobile begins to slow down and stop. The rotors eventually wear down due to the pads pressing against them again and again. Your vehicle's rotors do emit warning signs to tell you when it is time for replacements.
Skill level: Easy Other People Are Reading Things you need Crowbar or tire iron Flashlight
Show MoreHide
Instructions 1
Park your vehicle on a level surface and turn your car's steering wheel to the far left or right so the tires are at an angle.
2
Use a crowbar or tire iron to remove one of the wheel covers from the right or left tire, if a cover is in place.
3
Shine a flashlight into the wheel--you will see the brake rotor and caliper. Look at the rotor's surface. If it has deep grooves, a burnt appearance, ridges and brake dust caked in the grooves, the rotor needs replacing.
4
Go to the other wheel and shine the flashlight. Look at the rotor's surface. If it too has deep grooves, ridges and brake dust caked in the grooves, the rotor needs replacing.
5
Repeat steps 2 through 4 if your rear wheels contain disc brakes.
1
Drive your vehicle on a street that is quiet and doesn't contain a lot of automobiles.
2
Press on the brake pedal. If you feel the pedal bouncing or pulsating back toward your foot, one or more of your vehicle's rotors are failing.
3
Listen for a grinding noise--metal against metal. This is an indication that your brake pads are bad and grinding into the rotors which are also in need of replacement.
4
Look at your vehicle's dashboard warning lights. If the “ABS” light is on, this is an indication of a brake problem including one or more of the rotors failing. The ABS, anti-lock braking system, contains sensors that monitor the rotors, pads and other brake components.
Tips and warnings If you experience any of the telltale rotor signs, repair your car or take your car to a repair centre immediately. Driving with worn brake rotors is dangerous and your brake system will fail. Rotors have a two to three brake pad replacement lifespan, but depends on the type of brake pads installed on your car. Don't Miss 20 of the funniest online reviews ever 14 Biggest lies people tell in online dating sites Hilarious things Google thinks you're trying to search for
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Delivering a speech can be a daunting task for anyone of any age. Many times, though, the toughest part of giving a speech is not the delivery of the speech itself, but rather choosing an appropriate and interesting topic.
Other People Are Reading Types of Speeches
The purpose of a speech can be to share information, to persuade the audience to a particular point of view or to motivate the audience to take action. Whatever the goal of the speech, it is important to select a topic that speaks to you.
Informative Speeches
The informative speech is perhaps the simplest type of speech to write. These speeches require a great deal of research, so it is important to choose a topic in which there is no shortage of information.
The purpose of an informative speech is to impart new knowledge to the audience about things they are likely to know little about. A speech on a new scientific discovery or the origins of something everyone knows about but is unlikely to know the history of, such as the Barbie doll or the Easter bunny, would make good topics for informative speeches.
Persuasive Speeches
A persuasive speech is more difficult than an informative speech because it involves taking a position on a topic and convincing the audience that your opinion is the correct one.
Persuasive speech topics may arise from current events, your community or global issues. Choose a topic you are interested in and that you can research and find enough persuasive facts to plead your case. The topic should be one that speaks to students in seventh grade. For instance, a speech on whether schools should eliminate fast food in cafeterias to avoid the incidence of childhood obesity is a topic that directly affects students in this age group and is one that they can relate to and form an opinion about.
Some other persuasive speech topics include whether violence in sports should be banned, what individuals can do to help combat the negative effects of climate change, whether school uniforms should be abolished, whether recycling should be made a law, whether newspapers will become obsolete as the Internet increases in popularity or whether the death penalty should be eliminated.
Motivational Speeches
Motivational speeches are meant to inspire the audience. These speeches are uplifting and encourage the audience to take action. They are meant to have a lasting impact on audience members, leaving them with a burning desire to change something in their lives or in the world. It might seem like an incredibly daunting task to deliver a speech that inspires and mesmerises others, but with the right topic, it can be a rewarding experience. Discussing the life of someone who has overcome adversity, or acts of heroism exhibited by ordinary people, can make for a memorable and powerful speech.
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Omega-Caps® are specially formulated with a blend of essential fatty acids and vitamin E to help support the immune system of your dog or cat. The active ingredients in Omega-Caps snip tips also help maintain joints, heart health, and normal brain function.
Formulated with Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, which are essential to the healthy functioning of your pet's body, especially the brain and nervous system. They also play a key role in vascular health by supporting normal function of the cardiac muscle and promoting normal circulation. These fatty acids cannot be produced by your pet's body and so must be obtained through secondary sources like Omega-Caps snip tips.
The antioxidant, Vitamin E, assists your pet's body in combating environmental pollutants by helping the body remove damaging free radicals.
These fish flavored snip tip gels are an easy way to help maintain a healthy immune system, brain and nervous system, and a healthy heart in your dog or cat. Simply, snip the end and squeeze the gel out for your pet to readily consume these nutrients.
Omega-Caps snip tips for Cats and Smaller Dogs is formulated for pets up to 45 lb, for pets weighing more, try Omega-Caps snip tips for Medium and Large Dogs.
For Use In: Dogs and Cats
Key Features:
Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) 540 mg
Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) 350 mg
Vitamin E 3 IU
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DISCLAIMER: The results described on the testimonials on this site, are the individual experiences and personal opinions of those who have purchased and used the products. These testimonials are not intended to make any claims that the products can be used to diagnose, treat, mitigate, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition.Click here to see all reviews
Good product by Cindy from Oakland County, Michigan01/25/2013
Purchased from vet originally. Better price purchasing from here.
Best price purchase by Phil from Waterford, Michigan08/07/2013
Best price purchase and recommended by the customer help line. Just started using productlast week, it will be difficult to know if product will make a difference as my dog is 14 years old and he takes other supplements.
Great replacement for 3V Caps by Z2Crew4 from Southern California11/15/2011
Great for Sheltie coat and skin. Use scissors to cut tip and press on food. Our Shelties get them 3-4 times a week.
Good Product, Delivery System Just OK by KateLR from Arkansas11/25/2013
I turned to this product when I could no longer get a similar one. It seems to be working as well as the other, but the snip tips are inconsistently made. One capsule opens easily, others are very hard to open, and the contents can squirt out in ANY direction, without warning. Using scissors to open them gets the liquid on the scissors, which then have to be washed. Twisting the tips off and squeezing the capsule gets the liquid on my hands.But since my Golden Retriever refuses to eat the whole capsule, no matter how well I hide it in his food, it's just going to be a messy procedure!
Controls Skin Allergies by airedalemom from Phoenix, AZ06/14/2014
Keeps both my terriers out of the vet's office for steroid shots.
True Fish Oil by Rozzie from Woodland Hills, California03/13/2013
You have to be careful squeezing these in the right place.....because if it gets on your skin or anything else it has a very bad smell. My Labs coat is looking better and I'm hoping that it helps his heart and bones as well.
Too Messy ... by Pdxportie from Portland, OR02/28/2011
I travel a lot with my three porties in my motorhome ... I don't like smelling like fish oil!!!! It's probably an OK product ... still too early to tell! Much prefer the soft gels just thrown in with the dogs' food ...
Good value by Sue11/07/2012
I purchased a similar product from my veterinarian prior to purchasing Omega-Caps. The bottle was much smaller and cost about the same.
Good product by Mac from Central Florida05/08/2014
My dog's breeder recommended putting him on omega oils for his coat. His coat is looking much better now. Snip Tips are convenient, easy to use, and do not have a fishy smell.
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As per Thomson Reuters,
Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) stock can hit $47.08 levels in upcoming months. It is the price acknowledged after weighing renowned analysts’ calls.
The unit follows the idea of assessing reports to ascertain price target. Dependent on poll, the firm probable EPS for quarter is $0.05 while it is $-0.40 for current fiscal.
Valuation Level
Market analyst, immaterial of the brokerage houses, repeatedly use price-to-earnings ratio for purpose of Targa Resources, Inc. Common St and other firm’s valuation. Without even knowing what is the financial worth of a company or how it fundamentals are, traders are inclined to forecast the right time to enter any trade whether it is a buy or short-sell. Market participants can lose out capitalizing opportunities if the investment choices are taken entirely on equity’s existing market value. It should be recognized that many means are there to gauge the firm performance. As a result, investors allay their odds of liquidating stocks too soon and losing future profits or spending in an equity appraised too high set against its actual worth.
Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) P/E ratio is N/A while Price-to-Earnings-Growth ratio is -12.40. Technical Forecast
While reviewing Targa Resources, Inc. Common St on the technical element, the conclusion was share is trading $1.43 points away or +3.07% from 50-day MA of $46.72. It is $6.82 or +16.50% away 200-day moving average of $41.33. MA designates for moving average.
Last year
Targa Resources, Inc. (NYSE:TRGP) stock made a high of $64.37. The lowest level was $14.55. If stock jumps over $-16.22, there will be a 52-week high. However, when stock drops $+230.93% points, investors should embrace 52-week low.
An equity’s price fluctuations throughout a session changes as per the demand and supply. The market price assists buyers find whether the capitalizing opportunity in shares. The price of equity turns out to be dynamic when implementing trading plans. For illustration, buyers have a substitute option to place orders. This can lessen financial losses or assist investors to pull market gains.
1 Chart Pattern Every Investor Should Know
This little-known pattern preceded moves of 578% in ARWR, 562% in LCI, 513% in ICPT, 439% in EGRX, 408% in ADDUS and more...
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Date & Time Overview
Privacy is a theme that enjoys increasing media attention. Besides Edward Snowden’s disclosures, recent news items include the consequences of Europe’s Draft Data Protection Directive on the use of personal data for advertising, and Mattel’s “Eavesdropping” Barbie doll that can send recordings of conversations to third parties for voice recognition processing. A different and more subtle form of breach occurs when personal information can be inferred from data and information that has been deemed safe and consequently disclosed. An example is AOL’s search data leak in 2006. AOL released detailed search logs of users for academic research purposes, but the public release of information raised privacy concerns since users could be identified through personal information in their search logs. The New York Times identified several users, including 62-year-old Thelma Arnold, a widow in Liburn, Georgia. The breach led to a media frenzy and the eventual resignation of AOL’s CTO, Maureen Govern. In this talk, Dr. Vinterbo discussed why he feels privacy is needed, why it is useful to think of privacy not as a fixed state, but a never-ending process, and why intuition about how to protect privacy can be misleading. He also presented an example of a state-of-the-art privacy protection technique and how it could be used to inform HIV prevention efforts in San Diego. The event featured three guest panelists.
Speaker
Robert Marasco, an attorney with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP, utilizes his experience as a former federal prosecutor to effectively and efficiently defend corporate clients and individuals, in all contexts, who are working through complex internal or government investigations, responding to grand jury and administrative subpoenas, investigative demands for interviews, or facing criminal prosecution. Additionally, Robert advises clients on the topics of data privacy and security, helping with preparedness, responding to breaches, and in the healthcare context compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA), and other health care privacy laws.
Harold Cooks, local Californian, has lived in San Diego for the past 25 years. He has been HIV+ for 25 years and holds a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling.
Miguel Goicoechea, M.D. has a research background in HIV clinical therapeutic trials and translational studies in immune reconstitution at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Goicoechea’s expertise is in clinical trial design, statistical analysis and research ethics in human subjects. His current position is Head of Division of Infectious Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California.
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According to the most recent government statistics available, there are more than 150,000 kitchen fires in the United States yearly, with hundreds of people killed and thousands more injured. Cooking mishaps cause up to 90 percent of kitchen fires, and most of those are grease fires. Those frightening statistics lead up to one big question: Do you know what to do when a kitchen fire flares? Should you first reach for the fire extinguisher or for the phone to call the fire department?
Grease Fires in the Kitchen
Grease fires belong in a class by themselves and should not be handled like any other kitchen fire. Rule No. 1:
Never pour water on a grease fire. The best way to handle a grease fire is to smother it, if possible, and let it die out. Follow these specifics: Whenever you're cooking, have an oven mitt, a potholder, and a lid that fits your pan all on hand and ready to grab in case fire sparks. If grease catches on fire in your cooking pan, quickly put on the oven mitt, then place the lid over the pan to smother the fire. Try to slide the lid over the flames as opposed to dropping the lid down from above. Turn off the burner and leave the pan exactly where it is so that it can cool. Never move the pan, never carry it outside or put it in the sink, and don't lift the lid until the pan has turned cool. Oven, Microwave, and Electrical Fires
Fires can happen anywhere in the kitchen — near an electrical outlet, in the microwave, or in the stove. Here are some tips to help you know what to do in case of any of these kitchen fires:
Oven fires.Immediately close the oven door and turn it off. If the fire doesn’t go out right away, call the fire department. Have the oven inspected and repaired before you use it again. Microwave fires.Close the microwave door and keep it closed. Turn the microwave off and unplug it if you can do so safely. Leave it closed and don't use it again until you can have the appliance checked out by a technician. Electrical fires.Prevent electrical fires by not overloading your electrical outlets with appliances. If a fire starts, use a fire extinguisher; never douse it with water. Always call the fire department for an electrical fire, even if you have already put it out with the fire extinguisher. Using a Fire Extinguisher on Kitchen Fire
Every kitchen should be equipped with a fire extinguisher. Get one that's labeled as safe to use on any kind of fire, and keep it within easy reach.
If a fire starts, you won't have time to stop and read the directions. Become familiar with these tips to understand how to use a fire extinguisher on a small kitchen fire:
First, remove the pin from the fire extinguisher — it won't work if you don't. Point the extinguisher toward the base of the fire, not the top of the flames. Holding it by the handle, press down on the lever on the fire extinguisher; just let go when you want to stop. Spray horizontally back and forth across the fire until it's extinguished, remembering to aim low.
Baking soda is also an important ingredient in any kitchen, and not just for baking cookies. If a fire breaks out on an electric stovetop or if you don’t have anything available to smother a grease fire, grab a box of baking soda and pour it generously on the flames. Baking soda will help to extinguish a small fire, but you may need several boxes of it. Never use flour to put out a fire, as it can make the flames worse.
When to Call the Fire Department for a Kitchen Fire
So when should you call 911, and when should you try to fight a fire yourself? Never hesitate to call the fire department. But if it's a small, contained fire, you should follow the above tips to try to extinguish it while waiting for help to arrive.
You should also be sure to get your family out of the house, and if the flames rise and spread, you should get out, too. Kitchen fires that start small and can be quickly contained or extinguished are one thing, but roaring fires aren't something you should attempt to tackle. Remember safety first: Keep yourself and your family protected, and call for help.
Find more information in our Healthy Home Center.
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The word risk relates to a potential for injury in some form. A risk is an implied threat from a situation or projected course of action. The common usage of the word is as a qualifier, rather than as a definition. The definition is usually given after the word, as a descriptor. It may or may not be emphasized, using the concept as the basis of comment.
Examples of Risk:
It's a risky proposition, because nobody knows all the facts.
There's a serious risk.
Why take the risk?
The risk is that the other side won't negotiate.
The risk factor is totally unacceptable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk
Risk concerns the expected value of one or more results of one or more future events.
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Build elsewhere
07:10 09 February 2013
Archant
Clinton Devon Estates (CDE) have, by now, submitted their planning request to build 350 homes in the Maer Valley with East Devon District Council (EDDC).
The proposal is to build houses around a 30-metre-high hill and leave the top free of buildings. Consultation has taken place recently with local residents and, despite what CDE has stated on their website, there is considerable and fierce opposition to their plans for very good reasons.
1. The area floods with run off water accumulating in the far north east corner. This is why the Railway Cottages in Littleham Road adjacent to the area currently flood. Even during “drier” months the hill is soggy and damp.
2. CDE has informed me that the density for the development will be 44-plus houses per hectare. A hectare is 100 metres by 100 metres, roughly the size of a football pitch. To fit more than 44 houses, space for parking vehicles, gardens and roads in an area the size of a football pitch will be incredible.
3. There is only one access into the proposed site via Buckingham Close. The Close is narrow with Davey Court, an old folks’ home, accommodating frail and visually impaired people. With 350 houses having at least one vehicle per household, which is common these days, at peak times up to 500 vehicles will be attempting to leave or enter the estate. The additional traffic going through Littleham Cross will make the current situation even worse particularly in the summer when Sandy Bay is in full swing.
4. To the east of Plumb Park there is a South West Water sewerage plant which, especially in the summer months, generates an obnoxious odour across Maer Valley.
5. We are informed as a result of a recent survey that the sewerage system is currently running at maximum capacity. Adding up to another 1,000 people into the local area would be inadvisable. How would this problem manifest itself with sewerage ?
Estate agents have a reputation for accentuating even the most dubious positives when attempting to sell houses. They would have a real challenge to sell properties on Plumb Park or, should it be referred to as Plumb Park Ghetto.
CDE has come up with the usual “corporate bribery”, if they are successful with their proposal to EDDC. A kids’ play area here, a few trees and a cycle path there. We are told this will be good for employment with a couple of units built on Liverton Business Park. How many?, not significant I’m sure. CDE will benefit from the rent of course as they own the park.
They even maintain it will be good for agriculture. We are expected to believe that by them building on a beautiful part of the county, CDE will release funds for further agricultural improvement. What impact will it have on wildlife ? It will be too late to release further funds when animals, fauna and insects have disappeared thanks to the removal of their habitat .
To solve and address all the above points and questions is simple - don’t build in the Maer Valley at all. Build somewhere else.
Philip Smith
Littleham Road
Exmouth
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It has undeniable parallels to the 1923 coal crisis of Germany. They minted money to pay the coal miners. The German Mark devalued so much that a loaf of bread costed 460 BILLION Marks :). Hopefully , commonsense will prevail this time around.
The idea was a joke, whether or not it was so intended.<br />
<br /> Precious metals have an intrinsic value ba<x>sed on the demand for the metal and the limited supply. Platinum certainly has a relatively high intrinsic value per ounce. Although platinum has a far higher intrinsic value than does paper, paper does have an intrinsic value. Just find yourself in a bathroom without toilet paper, after you have defecated. The monetary value of a coin or a bill can be established in several ways. Most currencies are valued in relation to the US Dollar or the Euro. Some nations declare the value of their currency while others allow that value to float. When a nation applies a fixed value that is arbitrary and unsupported, the currency inflates. Inflation can take place with dollar bills or Trillion dollar coins. The real value is dependent on what someone else would be willing to pay to purchase the coin. Who, if anyone, would be willing to purchase a Trillion dollar coin using a trillion dollars worth of gold, oil, Euros, or any other item of value? If no one is willing to buy it, it loses value until that value reaches a number at which someone will buy it.<br /> <br /> In the 1970s, the value of gold was rapidly rising and with it, the value of many currencies made from gold. For example the Danish Kronar. Mexico at the time had a 50 peso solid gold coin. Wishing to take advantage of the rapid escalation of gold prices and the demand that caused for anything made from gold, Mexico rapidly began to mint Mexican 50 peso gold coins and sell them. I made the mistake of buying these coins. While the price of gold approximately doubles, the because too many coins were minted, the currency value of the 50 peso gold coins collapsed by half. Instead of doubling my investment, the two factors counterbalanced each other and the total value essentially stayed the same. When I figured in margin costs and storage fees, I lost money.<br /> <br /> Yes, Krugman's idea was a joke whether intended or not.
Mr O wisely disassociated himself from that idea. Enough of us already think of him as having imperial ambitions that, if he openly showed any, he could cripple his position.<br />
<br /> Anytime you have people advocating a giant circumvention of the law, or even a quasi-run-around, is a time to fear. The idea of separating the treasury from the oversight of the houses of congress is a thing to fear. Then the people will no longer have control over their government's executive.
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Description Details
Metabolic Nutrition ESP is a new pre-workout formula from Metabolic Nutrition that has made a major impact in the supplement and muscle gaining industry*. It is a multi-strength formula specifically designed to deliver high intensity energy to the muscles in order to reduce fatigue during strenuous exercises*. Unlike other one dose pre-workout formulas for all users, ESP is formulated to provide energy to high-stimulant users*, low-stimulant users and anyone in between*.
While other pre-workout formulas suffer from short lived energy and questionable taste, ESP formula supplies the body muscles with super stimulated energy for more than 4 hours*. In addition, the formula has a flavor profile that will increase your craving for it before performing any workout*. All the 4 available ESP flavors taste great and are suitable for pre-workout training*. The available flavors are green apple, fruit punch, blue raspberry and watermelon. Benefits of Metabolic Nutrition ESP: ESP from Metabolic Nutrition is an extremely powerful, multi-strength stimulating pre-workout formula that is designed to give you a sudden burst of energy* which will enable you to perform all your workouts without getting fatigued*. • Increased endurance and power* • Provide intense razor sharp focus* • Maximize energy when you need it* • It is an extra strength formula* • Fast acting muscle stimulants* • Zero sugar * • No crash* Directions: ESP is a customizable multi-strength pre-workout formula that delivers unrivaled intensity and energy*. Before using this formula, it is important to first assess your stimulant tolerance levels. However, the amount of dosage varies depending with your training level; strong, intense or extreme. STRONG: 1 small scoop ESP is a strong pre-workout formula that can over stimulate your muscles if used in excess*. For this reason, it is advisable to first assess your tolerance levels by first taking a small scoop of ESP formula along with 5 oz of water. This should be done 15 minutes prior to your workout*. This is important since the formula is fast dissolving and will increase your body energy production before workout*. High energy within the muscles will prevent muscle fatigue and increase your endurance levels.* INTENSE: 2 small scoops After assessing your body tolerance to the formula, you may now increase your dose to 2 small scoops for further energy stimulation*. This should be taken with 10 oz of water. EXTREME: 1 large scoop If you are an advanced athlete or an individual who is tolerant to high energy stimulants, you may increase your dose size to 1 large scoop and take it with 16 ounces of water. However, this should be taken with caution and keep on monitoring your tolerance*. At extreme level, do not take your dosage less than 4 hours prior to bedtime* and do not exceed one large scoop dosage within a period span of 24 hours.* Warnings: ESP is a powerful high energy formula that supplies your body with maximum dosage of stimulants and caffeine*. For this reason, do not exceed 1 large scoop within a period span of 24 hours. Increasing the dosage may have an adverse health effect and may not produce any substantial results*. Do not use the formula if you are under 18 years or above 60 years. In addition, do not use ESP along with other weight loss supplements or over the counter drugs and stimulants.* *ESP is NOT to be used by pregnant and lactating mothers. In addition, the formula should not be used by an individual with a health condition including but limited to allergies, diabetes, psychiatric issues, prostate inflammation, seizure disorders, and heart, kidney or thyroid diseases among others. It is important to discontinue use and seek immediate medical attention if you experience dizziness, severe headaches, rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath*. The formula is intended for use ONLY by healthy individuals who need to boost their body energy and increase their endurance levels*. KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. Supplement Facts: Serving size: Vary between strong, extreme and intense Ingredients*: ESP Pre-Workout Proprietary Matrix: Potassium Glycerol Gluconate, Calcium Glycerol Gluconate, Picamilon, Choline Bitartrate, N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine, 3,7-dimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione, 1,3,7-Trimethylpurine-2,6-dione, Beta Alanine Citrate, Sodium Glycerol Gluconate, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Magnesium Glycerol Gluconate and Natural and Artificial Flavors. Additional Information Additional Information SKU 4830056 UPC 764779410728 Brand Metabolic Nutrition Flavor Blue Raspberry Size 90 Servings Reviews Note: Customer reviews are for informational purposes only. Results may vary. Customer Reviews 11 item(s) Great product Excellent product, absolutely love it. Will be purchasing more when I'm out! Plenty of energy for a solid work out and it gives you energy throughout the day afterwards Quality Value Price Good stuff! It's difficult to find something that won't make you feel like you've lost control of your body. This does not make me shaky or like I'm going to faint, and I can sleep at night. It's improved my work outs not just woken me up. Quality Value Price Great! Highly Recommend Best tasting preworkout that I have tried so far. Long lasting focus and energy! Quality Value Price Rocket fuel This is by far the best I've tried. It is straight rocket fuel. I'd advise NOT to take the big scoop, trust me I have a very high tolerance to caffeine and energy supplements and I can't handle the large dose Quality Value Price Excellent!!! I have had this many times it is worth the price. Does what it says Quality Value Price Rocket fuel This pre workout is straight rocket fuel. I've tried several and can go right to sleep after taking them. Red bull does nothing for me. This supplement is straight rocket fuel. Please don't reformulate it Quality Value Price Best! Best pre-workout on the market! Our favorite thus far, and we have tried many different ones. Quality Value Price Try it if you haven't My workouts with this have been very good so far. Even when I'm tired I'm still performing pretty well. I still have to properly adjust how much I take because it can affect how well you sleep, or don't sleep. That or my body just needs to get used to it. Definitely one of the better pre workouts, especially for the price and effectiveness. Quality Value Price great Best stuff on the market regarding pre workouts Quality Value Price Pure excellence! Never was a fan of pre workout because it would always make me too jittery and what not, but this stuff here makes me feel so alive and focused. I love it! Quality Value Price Loved it Absolutely loved this preworkout it's the best. The taste is great. Quality Value Price
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Pokémon Go:
Pokémon Go
I think it’s safe to say that the Pokémon Go craze has pretty much taken over our lives. Even if you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, you’re at least very aware of, and possibly annoyed by, its existence. People from different generations and walks of life are all participating in this one collective experience. What makes the game so great is, for one thing, it is encouraging people to become more active. Whereas with most virtual reality games you have to remain stasis for long periods of time, in order to succeed at the game you actually have to physically go out into the world. The game mixes virtual reality and, well, reality in such a way that gamers from all walks of life are being compelled to, well, walk. Not only does it encourage an active lifestyle, but this is the first scenario where walking around with your face plastered to your phone will end up allowing you to interact with new people. It is so easy to meet and strike up a conversation with a fellow Pokémon Go player. We are all being drawn to the same locations and we all already have something very big in common.
Getting children (or adults) to be active is wonderful. However, there are some pitfalls.
The game is very addictive, which can take up quality family time. Another downfall is that children are walking with their eyes focused on phone and not paying attention to where they are in fact walking. There have already been reported accidents of people not paying attention and walking into traffic.
Stay safe by teaching children safety rules about Pokémon Go. Make rules based upon not only safety but what you feel is necessary for your child and your family. With just a little preparation, Pokemon Go can be a delight to each family member!
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Family Care International
(FCI) has been involved in advocacy to strengthen safe motherhood programs and policies, and expand women’s and adolescents’ choices in Bolivia since 1996. We are an active member and secretariat of the National Safe Motherhood Committee, and help to coordinate the National Inter-Agency Task Force on Maternal Mortality Reduction. These groups advocate for safe motherhood strategies in the context of the Regional Strategic Consensus on Maternal Mortality Reduction. To support these efforts, FCI facilitates forums on promoting skilled care and the role of the mid-level provider, including workshops with instructors from the schools of public health and nursing.
Promoting Reproductive Health and Rights for Rural and Indigenous Women
Throughout Latin America, rural and indigenous women have little access to reproductive health care and virtually no culturally appropriate education materials. Working with the Conference of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia (CIDOB), in 2001 FCI developed
¡Cuídate! [Take Care!]—a series of easy-to-use materials, including five brochures and a flipchart—specifically for use among indigenous communities in the Bolivian lowlands. FCI also developed a training curriculum and held workshops for health promoters in Bolivia to increase their capacity to provide health education using the flipchart among indigenous communities.
To date, we have trained outreach workers, who have visited several thousand communities with ¡Cuidate!’s important messages. In addition, FCI is working with local partners in the Bolivian lowlands to help increase awareness of the national maternity health insurance and help communities monitor both the quality of and access to care.
Promoting culturally sensitive maternity care
In Bolivia, many indigenous women still prefer to labor at home rather than take advantage of free hospital care, which often unfortunately comes packaged with insensitive treatment at the hands of medical professionals — like the doctor who chided a patient for her “dirty rituals,” or hospitals that turn away women with serious labor complications because they first tried to give birth at home. The continued preference for home birth helps explain why the maternal mortality ratio has remained high in many of Bolivia’s rural areas. Working with the support of the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development, FCI Bolivia has begun implementing a project that identifies and addresses the cultural barriers that prevent indigenous women from seeking free maternal health services, and trains doctors and nurses to build cultural sensitivity into their treatment of patients. Read more here (Spanish only).
Working for Community-level HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education
In Bolivia, most HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment efforts are centered in urban areas and do not reach rural populations. In 2003, FCI conducted qualitative research on HIV prevention efforts focused on indigenous peoples in Bolivia. The findings of this study highlighted the need for communication and prevention strategies that respond to the particular cultural priorities and values of indigenous groups.
In January 2006, FCI began a project to address the issues of HIV prevention, transmission, and stigmatization at the community level in the Department of Pando, which borders Brazil and Peru. This project aims to promote a supportive policy environment on HIV and AIDS for vulnerable communities and involve indigenous networks and leaders in policy development and decision making at the local and national levels.
As part of the project, FCI and partners undertook a study to identify knowledge, attitudes, and practices on HIV and AIDS among five indigenous groups in Pando. The findings of this research were shared in the publication "Pueblos Indígenas, ITS, VHI y SIDA," which demonstrates the importance of expanding prevention efforts to underserved areas. Another component of the project consisted of training health promoters on STDs and HIV prevention, and to help equip them with culturally-sensitive health education tools for their outreach work in the rural communities of Pando. Click here to see our brochure on HIV prevention.
Prevention and Management of Violence Against Women in Pando and Sucumbíos
In Bolivia and Ecuador, FCI works with local partners to raise awareness about and develop strategies to address violence against women in indigenous communities.
For more information contact:
Av. Ballivián No 1578 esq. Calle 24 de Calacoto
Edificio Torre CESUR, 1er piso Of. 108
Casilla 2360
La Paz, Bolivia
Tel: (591) 2798784
Fax: (591) 2 2794611
e-mail: fcibolivia [@] fcimail [.] org
Family Care International
Latin America and Caribbean Program
45 Broadway, Suite 320
New York, NY 10006
Tel : (212) 941-5300
Fax: (212) 941-5563
E-mail: fcilac [@] fcimail [.] org
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Outbreaks of civil unrest in Albania since early March are threatening the
continuity of wheat and other food supplies to the bulk of the population, according
to a special alert released by FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System
(GIEWS).
Prospects for agricultural production in 1997 are very uncertain. A series of land reforms introduced in 1991, to transfer previously collectivized land to private ownership, resulted in a sharp fall in agricultural production. Some recovery has been seen since then. But production remains constrained by the still mostly fragmented landownership structure and small farmers' poor access to credit (despite internationally supported government schemes to provide credit for farmers). Wheat production in particular has been affected by the shift from large-scale collectivized farming to small-scale subsistence production of mainly cash crops and fodder.
Uncertainty over the outcome of the 1997 cereal crop has been heightened by the recent civil unrest, which could affect both yield prospects for growing winter crops and planting of spring cereals due to start soon. Shortages of essential seeds required for spring planting are also reported.
Comments?: Webmaster@fao.org
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FAO: BETTER INFORMATION SHARING COULD REDUCE POST-HARVEST FOOD LOSSES - NEW DATABASE LAUNCHED
Rome, 27 July - Post-harvest food losses could be significantly reduced if important information and knowledge on different technologies, products and experiences was better shared globally, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today. The Organization announced the launch of a new Internet-based "Information Network on Post-Harvest Operations" (INPhO) to improve information exchange between research and development institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Every year millions of tonnes of cereals, roots and tubers in developing countries never reach the consumer because of poor storage, damages by insects, rats and other pests, and transport and marketing problems. In developing countries, overall post-harvest losses of cereals and grain legumes of about 10 to 15 percent are fairly common, FAO said. In some regions of Africa and Latin America the losses are estimated at up to 50 percent of the harvest.
Rice losses in Asia amount to more than 15 percent. Even if it were possible to reduce losses economically by one-tenth, the food saved in Asia alone would amount to more than five million tonnes annually, according to FAO.
INPhO will collect and disseminate data on proven technologies and products in post-harvest losses. It will assist research and development organizations, including the private sector, through upgrading post-production systems. INPhO will also report on progress achieved in reducing post-harvest losses.
A major database (http://www.fao.org/inpho) will give producers and consumers information on indigenous technologies for food handling, preparation and processing, marketing and improved new technologies. Food producers, researchers, policy-makers, private investors, donors and NGOs can exchange local and national expertise and compare results on the effectiveness of different post-harvest technologies through e-mail conferences and open electronic forums.
INPhO will be run by the FAO Agro-Industries and Post-Harvest Management Service, in collaboration with the French "Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement" (CIRAD), the German "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit" (GTZ) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
******
For further information please contact:
Erwin Northoff
Comments?: Webmaster@fao.org
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The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) nor the Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia and the Pacific (APHCA) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), Maliwan Mansion, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
For copies, please contact:
Senior Animal Production and Health Officer
and Secretary of APHCA FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) 39 Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road Bangkok 10200, THAILAND E-mail :aphca@fao.org
FAO Homepage : http://www.fao.org
APHCA Homepage : http://www.aphca.org Foreword Executive summary Acknowledgements 1. Slaughterhouses for red-meat animals in APHCA-member countries
Types and availability
Attempts to establish city abattoirs and structural changes
Present status of the abattoir sector
2. Slaughterhouse hygiene problems and solutions
Scope of problems
Main problems in small ruminant slaughtering Main problems in bovine and large ruminant slaughtering Main problems in pig slaughtering 3. Design and equipment recommendations for small- to medium-sized abattoirs
Introduction
Slaughter systems for small ruminants
Slaughter systems for bovines
Slaughter systems for pigs
Multispecies slaughter systems
Currently utilized stunning methods and recommended improvements
Restraining livestock for Halal slaughter
Meat inspection
Sanitation and effluent treatment in abattoirs
Sanitation Effluent treatment 4. Conclusions 5. Recommendations
ANNEX A1 – A12: Drawings of lay-out plans, slaughter lines (schematic) and equipment
ANNEX B: Country reports
Indonesia
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines
Vietnam
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The Reserve Bank of India has come out with two novel changes to address the festering problem of bad debts plaguing the public sector banks .
The first is to broaden the list of knights-in-the-shining-armour from the hitherto asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) and securitization companies to other banks and non-banking finance companies as well when it comes to buying of stressed assets is concerned. The RBI is jumping from fire to frying pan, so to speak. Most of the public sector banks have been singed by the scourge of bad debts, and private sector banks like Kotak Mahindra Bank are mighty cautious in extending industrial loans in the first place. One therefore wonders if they would enter this extreme area of risk-taking given the fact that the few ARCs (the supposed specialists in loan recovery) we have in the country, have nothing to write home about but instead have had a rather chequered history.
Fools rush where angels fear to tread. While a bank itself may not embark on this potentially suicidal course bordering on brinkmanship, it is the political pressure one fears the most. If LIC can be arm-twisted to bail out the public issues of other public sector companies in the course of government disinvestment, there could be a genuine apprehension that pressure will be brought about on say Bank of Baroda to buy the stressed assets of say Punjab National Bank. The move therefore is fraught with dangerous potentials and consequences.
The second is to ask banks to adopt the Swiss challenge method (SCM), generally used in the infrastructure projects but strangely preferred by the RBI in the matter of stressed assets buyout. Unsolicited offer is at the core of SCM. Any bank or ARC can offer to buyout a stressed asset of a bank on given terms whereupon the bank nursing the stressed asset has to announce publicly about the unsolicited offer and the terms thereof with a view to affording an opportunity for other banks/ARCs/NBFCs to offer terms better than the one offered by the gatecrasher if one may say so. If no one is able to come up with better terms, then the originator (gatecrasher?) bags the contract i.e. the right to buy out the stressed assets. Now what is good for infrastructure projects needs not necessarily be good for a bank’s stressed assets portfolio because the two are different from each other like cheese from chalk.
SCM for infrastructure is good because anyone who feels a subway must be built at a particular point may make a pitch for it with a concrete offer that is going to benefit the public without hurting anybody but a bank nursing a stressed asset will be hurt if it were to be compelled to sell out to the gatecrasher or to the one outsmarting him. For, it is for the bank nursing such asset to take a call on what it should do to salvage the best possible out of it. While the RBI can mandate provisioning and the extent of it for various sectors, it cannot mandate anything that even remotely could be considered coercive.
The RBI perhaps would have done well instead to facilitate a negotiated swap of stressed assets. To wit, if bank A has expertise in the steel industry and has demonstrated success in salvaging the highest from the defaulting steel borrowers then it should be allowed to takeover the stressed loan of bank B if this also happens to be a steel loan. This can be a win-win provided bank B is an expert in salvaging the maximum from cement stressed loans and bank A find itself out of its depths in this industry. In other words, a mutually agreed swap is any day better than an intrusive challenge.
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Be forewarned, this article isn't for the faint of heart. I'm going to be introducing five stocks that could make huge moves during this earnings season.
But whether those moves are up or down is hard to tell. The reason these stocks are liable to make such moves is because they are heavily shorted. Major news announcements usually have an exaggerated effect on heavily shorted stocks, and earnings announcements definitely qualify as a "major announcement."
I scoured the markets for the most popular shorted stocks twice last year to identify big movers. The first time, my five selections changed price an average of 16% after earnings were announced. The second time, the effect was even more pronounced, with the average stock moving 19%!
I'll let you know what to look out for this earnings season, and at the end, I'll offer you access to a special free report on three stocks I've put almost 20% of my real-life money behind.
34%
March 11
$105 million
$0.59
36%
Feb. 28*
$1 million
($0.16)
30%
Feb. 4
$98.1 million
($0.07)
32%
March 28
$2.9 billion
($0.29)
32%
Jan. 24
$314 million
$1.81
Two that our community believes in... but should they? Among these five stocks, two stick out as candidates that our Foolish community is willing to line up behind -- as evidenced by their high CAPS ratings.
Velti, a company hailing from Dublin, specializes in mobile marketing and advertisement. Though our community believes in the potential here, things haven't been rosy for investors lately. The company's most recent earnings announcement revealed a 62% increase in revenue -- which is great -- but that was more than eclipsed by increased research and development costs, and the company reduced its fourth-quarter guidance. As a result, the stock plunged 36%.
As other Fools have pointed out, with
The other company garnering a lot of support from our community is GT Advanced Technologies. The company specializes in providing silicon deposition reactors to the solar power industry, and its year has been nothing short of terrible: Shares are down 63%.
Over the last two reportable quarters, orders from Chinese and European solar manufacturers have fallen off a cliff, showing a sequential 77% and 97% drop, respectively. As a whole, the company's revenue is down 38%. The company also announced it would be reducing its workforce by 25%.
And yet, Foolish energy expert Travis Hoium sees a silver lining, stating, "On a technology front I think the company is just starting to hit its stride. ... Whether demand comes from China, Europe, the Middle East, or the U.S., I expect the solar market to grow and GTAT should benefit."
Two getting no love from Fools First up on our no-love list is one-star-rated VirnetX. The thesis behind this company is actually quite simple: Bulls believe that the company's patents for 4G LTE will be bringing in cash for years to come. The company can license use of the patents for a fee, and sue those who infringe on the patents.
The problem, as bears see it, has to do with the fact that the company is highly reliant on courts to help it collect money, and the fact that other companies could out-innovate (or out-patent) VirnetX in the future.
Next on the no-love list is ITT. I've been hounding the for-profit education industry for years now, and it seems like a lot of chickens have been coming home to roost lately. Whether it's due to high student loan defaults, low graduation rates, or growing numbers of indebted students, the industry is in trouble.
ITT, in particular, has shown a 13% decline in revenue and a 25% dip in earnings in 2012, and it's hard for me to see this company succeeding in the future.
Everyone's got an opinion on RIMM Finally, we have Research In Motion, the company behind BlackBerry smartphones. I've already called out the company as one to stay away from; RIMM has witnessed shrinking revenue over the past three years, and unprofitability over the past 12 months.
Yet there are plenty of vocal BlackBerry fans who assert that the company's newest operating system, BlackBerry 10, will be RIMM's saving grace. Whether that actually plays out remains to be seen.
Fool contributor Brian Stoffel owns shares of Google. The Motley Fool recommends Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Full profile →'">
The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.
We, the people, fill Facebook and Twitter with much of its content. But the social media platforms on which we do our thing are owned and made by others. And the Silicon Valley movers and shakers who make and profit from them are, according to a recent article in the
NY Times, waking to the fact that social media platforms can be harmfully over-used; some people spend so much time online that they damage their relationships, careers, education, minds, and bodies. What remains an open question is how to explain such pathological over-use. Addiction? Or something else?
That there is a problem is clear. Listen to Facebook executive Stuart Crabb:
“If you put a frog in cold water and slowly turn up the heat, it’ll boil to death — it’s a nice analogy,” said Mr. Crabb, who oversees learning and development at Facebook. People “need to notice the effect that time online has on your performance and relationships.”
When someone from Facebook compares heavy users to a frog slowly boiling to death we clearly should pay attention. After all, this warning is offered in the face of a powerful paradox: social media companies succeed only if people spend lots of time online, yet they are starting to recognize too much time online can be a huge problem.
But what’s going on with pathological over-use? Something new is happening, whether it be a college student flunking out because he played too much
World of Warcraft instead of studying or a milder version in which a middle-aged mom or dad checks-out of family life for a few weeks, or months, while “talking” with her/his “friends” online. But what?
I was recently invited to write an article for the
Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session and consider whether the addiction concept explained pathological over-use. I ended up concluding that the concept of “addiction” did not help. While some neuro-addictive process are undoubtedly at play—we all love our little squirts of dopamine—much more than just that is going on.
In fact, I argued the addiction concept is a dangerous dead-end contradicting clinical experience; foreclosing the development of more robust explanations for why some get stuck online; and limiting advice for what to do avoid or deal with the problem of over-use to nothing more than unplugging and disconnecting.
I argued, instead, that something new was needed. I urged people to consider what I’ve been calling “simulation entrapment. ” Essentially, the problem is people forget where they are and what they are doing. Over-users look to life on the screen for that which only life itself can provide. And while our remarkable technologies make it easy to do so, over-users get trapped by repeatedly looking for something that can’t be found online: life itself. It’s like someone in a flight simulator surprised and disappointed they are not in a different city at the end of the “flight” who then climb back in hoping this time, maybe this time, they’ll make it to their destination.
But there’s more to it. Most of us have a great time online. We do. Face it. It's fun. We don’t suffer from simulation entrapment. We remember where we are and enjoy being there. In my clinical experience pathological over-use, such as obsessively checking in to FB, starts as an attempt to solve some problem in living. Maybe it’s a quick-fix for loneliness, or a way to soothe the regrets of aging by re-establishing one’s college crowd. Or maybe someone is just longing for more fun. In any case, the solution changes from a potentially helpful, even fun, diversion—however much it may be doomed to fail—into a problem when someone becomes entrapped by technology’s promise of delivering that which only life can offer, such as the promise of a richly peopled social world or, in games like
World of Warcraft, a grand and heroic adventure.
In other words, our world is changing faster than our minds. We are not keeping up. We often find ourselves being like those audience members watching an early silent film of an oncoming train who got terribly frightened and fled the theater. They got confused. Same thing with those who look to FB for what only genuine face time can provide (not the interactive video, actual time spent face-to-face with someone).
So, What To Do About Pathological Over-Use
So, what to do about pathological over-use? Using simulation entrapment as a concept for understanding pathological over-use suggests that we can inoculate ourselves against developing the problem by being attentive to those experiences we can have online and those experiences we can't. We need to develop fluency moving from being inside the simulation (like a pilot in a simulator enthralled to be flying) to being outside the simulation (like simulator pilots learning their lessons and having a flying experience without thinking they will actually get anywhere).
And should the problem develop? Well, two things need to be done simultaneously: first, deal with the problem for which the pathological over-use is the attempted solution; and, second, (quoting myself) explore all the “differences between the technologically-mediated experience and traditional experiences of being bodies together," i.e., learn what experiences life affords and how those experiences differ from what can be found online.
Only by remembering, and even cherishing, the kind of experience one is having can one get from the experience what it offers.
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Reacted Calcium 180 caps Details Ingredients Send to friend Customers Also Bought Customer feedback Reacted Calcium 180 caps | Ortho Molecular Products
Four different forms of calcium are used in the Reacted Calcium formula to maximize absorption in the body.*
Reacted Calcium has three unique forms of highly-absorbed calcium to ensure maximum absorption of this important macromineral. While most calcium supplements use only a single source of calcium, which can easily overwhelm a single pathway of absorption and limit uptake, Reacted Calcium takes advantage of three unique pathways of absorption by providing calcium in the hydroxyapatite, di-calcium malate, and glycinate forms. In addition, Reacted Calcium includes vitamin D and phosphorus, both critical nutrients for bone mineralization and remodeling* Reacted Calcium 180 caps | Ortho Molecular Products Product rating Reviews Disclaimer *Your results may vary from those listed above.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
*This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Since we do not know everything about your medical history and medications, please consult with your health care practitioner before implementing any new protocols and supplements. Do not construe any information listed on this site as a substitute for actual medical advice. The info you receive from us is not intended to replace medical advice by your doctor. Forrest Health, Inc. does not dispense medical advice, prescribe, or diagnose illness. We offer nutritional programs and supplements that support your health. The views and nutritional advice expressed by Forrest Health, Inc. are not intended to be a substitute for conventional medical service. If you have a medical condition, see your physician of choice.
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As the World Economic Forum closed amid protests in Davos, Switzerland, business and political leaders face the spectre of a rising protectionism that could worsen the global financial crisis. Leaders agreed a new trade deal was needed. Read more: Can Davos stem the crisis?
Reuters - Rising protectionism threatens to deepen the economic crisis and a new trade deal is needed more than ever to keep commerce flowing -- on that much trade ministers and political leaders are agreed. But as so often in the politics of international trade, actions -- or lack of them -- belie words. Trade ministers meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at this Swiss ski resort on Saturday vowed to treat a deal on the World Trade Organisation's long-running Doha round as their highest priority. And they repeated a promise made by leaders of the G20 rich and emerging nations in November not to put up barriers to trade. But they did not set a target date for the WTO's 153 members to meet to push for a Doha breakthrough -- not least because the United States still has no full-ranking minister as confirmation hearings continue for President Barack Obama's administration.
And the warnings and promises on protectionism fly in the face of a series of increased duties, reimposed subsidies and non-tariff barriers erected in the past few months.
"There's considerable focus on protectionism (at Davos), with all the right rhetoric," said BP and Goldman Sachs International chairman Peter Sutherland. "But the rhetoric has not been justified by the performance of the governments to reach an agreement on Doha," said Sutherland, the first director-general of the WTO. Sutherland shared the analysis of most trade ministers and the current director-general, Pascal Lamy, that a Doha deal would be an important bulwark against protectionism, and noted that failure to reach one was down to a small number of players. Watered down The Doha talks were launched in late 2001 to open up new trade opportunities and give developing countries a bigger stake in the global trading system, especially by eliminating distortions discriminating against them in farm trade. But differences between and among rich and poor countries over everything from food to cars to banking have prevented a breakthrough until now, even though negotiators resolved many complicated technical issues last year. At their November summit, G20 leaders called for an outline deal in Doha by the end of 2008, but Lamy concluded in December that the gaps were still too wide for ministers to meet. A statement circulated after the ministers' talks said they had agreed to attach the "highest priority" to Doha, and recognised "the major progress made in 2008" as a "sound basis for an early resolution of the remaining differences in 2009". That was watered down from an earlier draft that promised "the year 2009 shall be a year of breakthrough in these negotiations". A statement from Swiss Economy Minister Doris Leuthard suggested minister could meet in the next few weeks, before the next G20 summit to hosted by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in early April -- an idea also floated by Egypt's Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid. But Saturday's meeting did not agree a date, and Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said a full ministerial meeting in the first half of his year would be counter-productive. Brown is one of the strongest supports of a new trade pact to bolster globalisation and an open world economy, although his earlier slogan "British jobs for British workers" has come back to haunt him as leaders tackle the protectionist threat. "If we don't act, protectionist tendencies will become paramount and we will have failed in this first stage of building a new global era," Brown said. But protectionist tendencies are already evident. Ministers from Australia, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Indonesia and New Zealand all expressed their concerns or pointed to measures against their exports in the last week. Some of them have to defend their own moves -- such as restrictions on drugs sales and ports of entry in Indonesia or safeguard duties on steel in India. The European Union's decision to reintroduce export subsidies for dairy produce -- which would be banned under Doha but allowed under present rules -- provoked outrage from food exporters. The WTO's Lamy, a former EU trade commissioner, said it sent the wrong political signal, whatever the technicalities. Multi-billion-dollar stimulus packages and bailouts announced by a series of governments are also under scrutiny, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel warning that Berlin would take a close look at the U.S. aid package for the auto industry. "There is a risk of a domino effect if some of the countries have stimulus packages with an element of protectionism in there," said Switzerland's Leuthard. Controversial "Buy America" provisions in the $825 billion stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives have also worried many countries, although acting U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier said the department was working to ensure the bill would comply with international trade rules. Allgeier said he hoped the Senate would hold confirmation hearings for Obama's nominee as trade representative, Ron Kirk, in the next couple of weeks, and many ministers said they understood that the Obama administration needed time to settle in and work out its stance on trade. But with news coming almost daily of slumping exports and contracting trade flows, the pressure to act is on. South Korean data on Sunday showed the country's exports in January fell by a record 32.8 percent year on year. "The crisis that's enveloping the world economy waits for no man," said New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser.
Date created : 2009-02-01
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Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva Overview
Another name for
Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva is Myositis Ossificans. What is myositis ossificans? A person with myositis ossificans has abnormal bone that forms within the muscle tissue. There are two main types of myositis ossificans: myositis ossificans circumscripta and myositis ossificans progressiva. Myositis ossificans circumscripta is caused by a muscle injury. Myositis ossificans progressiva is an inherited condition that causes bone to form in many tissues outside of the skeleton. What are the symptoms of myositis ossificans? Symptoms depend on the type of myositis ossificans. Symptoms of myositis ossificans circumscripta include pain, swelling, and a lump within the muscle tissue. Symptoms of myositis ossificans progressiva include deformed fingers and toes, painful lumps around the joints, an abnormally curved spine, and decreased range of motion in the hips and shoulders. How does the doctor treat myositis ossificans? Treatment of myositis ossificans may include corticosteroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, narcotic pain medications, and surgery.
Continue to Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva Symptoms
PubMed Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva References Bencardino JT, Mellado JM. Hamstring injuries of the hip. Magn Reson Imaging Clin N Am. 2005 Nov;13(4):677-90, vi. [16275576] Saussez S, Blaivie C, Lemort M, Chantrain G. Non-traumatic myositis ossificans in the paraspinal muscles. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2006 Apr;263(4):331-5. Epub 2005 Aug 24. [16133463] Vanden Bossche L, Vanderstraeten G. Heterotopic ossification: a review. J Rehabil Med. 2005 May;37(3):129-36. [16040468]
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FETTU Evaluation Data
An evaluation of FETTU was made possible by NASA funds. These data are from a small fraction of the people who visited FETTU locations worldwide and are limited in its scope (approximately $10,000 for evaluation organization, protocol creation and data analysis, with data collection completed by volunteers). However, given the ultimate size of the project, along with the model used to employ it, these data do represent some insight into the potential impact that this type of public science may have.
The results show that even brief, casual encounters with science in these public, non-traditional settings can have an effect on the public's exposure to science topics. The outcomes outlined in the analysis section also represent the potential for measureable impact that may be assessed and tested with future public science projects.
Additional Evaluation Reports
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Quote# 89332
It's true that the younger the voter, the less likely he or she is to oppose same-sex marriage. But how strong are those opinions?
One clue arises from the landslide passage of North Carolina's Amendment One defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Public Policy Polling's survey of voters under 30 shows they opposed the amendment, but only marginally (51 percent). SurveyUSA also looked at Amendment One in its final weeks and found a similar result -- with 41 percent of young voters opposing the amendment and 48 percent supporting it. The American Enterprise Institute ran the numbers and found that, even if no one over age 45 had voted in the North Carolina referendum on marriage, it would have passed by around 8 percentage points.
If we're waiting for demographics to usher in same-sex marriage, we might have to wait awhile. The fact is, in 30 states so far, citizens have voted to write into their constitutions that marriage is the union between one man and one woman. National Review's Rich Lowry says that "no referendum simply upholding traditional marriage has ever lost. And even in Maine, voters in 2009 reversed a gay-marriage law passed by the legislature." If gay marriage is to be ushered in through the democratic process, all these results would have to be reversed which, Mr. Lowry estimates, would take a generation.
Rich Lowry points to the 70s-era Equal Rights Amendment which also was seen to be inevitable. Congress passed it in 1972 and 30 states immediately ratified it. Then Phyllis Schlafly raised an army as she pointed out that the ERA would result in things like women being placed in combat positions and losing protections in divorce settlements. Beverly LaHaye started her Concerned Women for America under the rallying cry: "They (the feminists) don't speak for all women." Once the truth got out, only a handful of other states ratified it, and it failed to make it into the U.S. Constitution.
The 60s free-sex crowd foresaw a world of commitment-free physical relationships, with abortion accepted as second-tier birth control. But, unlike them, their kids today are pro-life -- and more are practicing abstinence until marriage.
The fact is young voters often change their political views as they age. And some of the bad consequences of things like abortion and easy divorce cause young people to turn against them. Polls show millenials care deeply about family values. Many are forced, due to the economy, to live at home with parents longer. The happy result is, families are becoming closer. It's not farfetched that the rising millennials could come to see marriage as the cornerstone of a stable family.
Perhaps gay marriage is not inevitable?
Penna Dexter, Baptist Press 27 Comments
[9/4/2012 2:57:57 AM]
Fundie Index: 29
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欢迎进入每日英语交流学习，并留下您的宝贵意见。
（文章开始会有一段独白简介，以下文章为采访任务相关报道，仅供参考。）
She caused a sensation with her sultry eyes and smouldering beauty. But Hollywood leading lady Hedy Lamarr — a star in the 1930s and 40s — was also the co-inventor of a radio transmitter used to secure wartime military communications that paved the way for mobile phone technology. Lamarr is among a cohort of pioneering women whose technological achievements often go unsung — something many argue needs to change.
While today’s tech superstars are mostly male, in the early days of computer programming, a woman shared the limelight. As Charles Babbage was designing a programmable computing engine, Ada Lovelace, daughter of the poet Lord Byron, conceived algorithms that would enable Babbage’s “Analytical Engine” to conduct different tasks.
Lovelace took a broad view of computing’s possibilities. “She said that if we could figure out a way of making a science of music, we should be able to feed that into computers,” says Thomas Misa, director of the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota. “It’s not the sort of thing a scientist would say, but computing seems to make advances with people that are a bit visionary.”
Vision is one thing, but it is often conflict that serves as an incubator for technological advances. The second world war was no exception as it created new career opportunities for women. While women worked on farms, in munitions factories and as radio operators, they also became lab technicians.
When American maths professor Grace Murray Hopper left her job to join the war effort, she found herself working on IBM’s Mark I computer at Harvard University. After the war, Hopper, who became a rear admiral in the US Navy, was instrumental in developing the compiler, which translates English instructions into machine code, and the Cobol programming language.
“Her understanding that programmes should be written more closely to natural language in English has laid the foundations for software engineering,” says Shilpa Shah, a Deloitte director who leads the firm’s Women in Technology network.
Other wartime pioneers include a group of women who worked at the University of Pennsylvania on developing what is credited as the world’s first programmable general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (Eniac).
Some have made their biggest contribution not as inventors or computer scientists, but as businesswomen. One example is Dame Stephanie Shirley, who arrived in the UK as a young refugee fleeing Hitler.
In 1962, she established Freelance Programmers, a network of professional women computer specialists. Initially employing only women (a policy she had to change in 1975 following the passing of equal opportunity legislation), the company, later called FI Group, gave women the flexibility to combine work with family responsibilities.
Looking back through history reveals many prominent tech pioneers who were women. But women working in technology’s rank and file were also well accepted in the past.
In the US and much of western Europe in the 1980s, says Prof Misa, women collected almost 40 per cent of computer science degrees. Today, however, the figure is 15 to 20 per cent. “Through the 1980s, computing looked like something of a women’s success story,” he says. “Computing was doing something right in attracting women — and that’s not the case today.”
Many have posited theories for the change. Some suggest that the advent of the personal computer — which was marketed to men and boys — introduced a male flavour to the culture of technology.
Prof Misa says that when US colleges introduced requirements for programming experience of their students, this also created a deterrent. “It was a huge filter that chased women out because, for whatever reason, high school computers labs were taken over by boys.”
However, while gender biases have swept across the US and Europe in recent decades, some parts of the world appear less affected. Minerva Tantoco, chief technology officer for New York City, witnessed this when, in a previous job in banking, she visited her company’s offices in China to find that, on the technology floor, 60 per cent of the staff were women.
“It was proof positive that there’s no reason women can’t be in technology,” she says. “This has got to be cultural. People think it’s normal to be a computer engineer as a woman in many parts of Asia.”
Prof Misa agrees, citing India and Malaysia as examples. “It seems the gender coding gets done in a different way,” and adds: “Computing is seen as a challenging and well-paid field.”
This still leaves large chunks of the world in which women are perceived to be not natural technologists.
Clearly schools play a central role in sparking the interest of girls in so-called Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects. But as technology becomes all-pervasive in people’s lives, this should also be the case in education, argues Rebecca George, a Deloitte partner who has been promoting the participation of women in the IT sector since the mid-1990s.
“It’s not just about teaching IT, but engaging teachers to use it in all their subjects,” she says. “We need teachers to be IT literate.”
Civil society groups and non-profits can inspire girls to take an interest. Girl Scouts of the USA has, for example, been incorporating digital technology into activities such as cookie sales.
The organisation’s “Digital Cookie” platform allows girls to create web pages, conduct sales online or via mobile apps, keep track of orders and use interactive tools to learn about budgeting, online security and safety.
For companies wanting to build a pipeline of female technology employees, partnerships with such groups is one way to contribute. Dell, the computer company, and Visa, the credit card company, are partners with Digital Cookie platform, for instance.
Sue Black, an adviser at the UK’s Government Digital Service, says home life also shapes girls’ interest in technology. She founded #techmums, providing workshops for mothers on online security, social media, computing skills and app and web design.
Celebrity role models are also encouraging girls and women to take up coding. For example, model Karlie Kloss has formed a partnership with New York’s Flatiron School Pre-College Academy to encourage young women to apply for a “Kode with Karlie” scholarship, a two-week programme introducing software engineering and web app creation.
If they make progress, they will demonstrate, as Lamarr did in the 1940s, that female success and technological innovation are not mutually exclusive.
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Before I started this website I had never heard of Don Coxe but early on some readers sent me some of his weekly missives. I found a lot of similar thought processes [Jan 18, 2008: One Lonely Voice Agrees with me on Food Inflation] [May 2, 2008: Don Coxe on Food Crisis] - specifically having to do with agriculture and in a larger sense commodities as a whole. Apparently after reading around I'm a Malthusian at heart [Mar 24: WSJ - New Limits to Growth Revive Malthusian Fears] as too many humans arrive on this planet, and more importantly too many are escaping stark poverty and striving for middle class (hence require much more of the world's limited resources) [Jun 20: World Population to Hit 7 Billion by 2012]. This has major implications as Americans (3% of the world's population sucking up 25% of its resources) We are in a great global competition for resources and it's just getting started. So Coxe & I share some very long term thoughts.
In yet another great irony just as Mr. Coxe launched his specialized fund [Apr 22: Don Coxe Offers Coxe Commodity Strategy Fund] he basically called the top in commodities within a month or two. Much like Ken Heebner's CGM Focus mutual fund peaked within weeks of his cover story on Fortune Magazine. [May 28, 2008: Ken Heebner - America's Hottest Investor]
Coxe had a VERY rough latter 2008 [Sep 11, 2008: Don Coxe with his Views on What "Just Happened"] and this is why I say constantly it is so much easier to be a pundit / strategist than an actual money manager. But 2008 was so bad, even pundits/strategists who can hide behind "being early" or "general time lines" were blasted left and right. Even if you are correct in the "long run" it doesn't matter if you lose 30,40,50,60% of your money being wrong in the "short run". After losing 50%, you need to make 100% just to break even. With that said, I still like to hear the thoughts of those with good long term track records, even if 2008 was horrific for them.
Coxe had a very lengthy article in Toronto's Globe & Mail of which I'll cut some snippets below - if you are interested in the rest just follow the link.
Donald Coxe, 73 years old and unbowed, offers no apologies for getting it wrong on commodities in 2008. ... Coxe is not merely reminiscing. He also has a serious point. Well, two. The first is to let the listener know that he has been around for a long time, and seen more than a little bit of history— financial and otherwise. This is not some 36-year-old economics graduate who was still a university student when the early 1990s recession hit. Coxe doesn’t hesitate to remind people that he entered the world of Bay Street in 1972, and thus has lived through the horrific bear market of 1973 and 1974—an event that had him convinced, by the dawn of 1975, that “I’d probably come into the wrong business.” But his second point is about the importance of leaders and leadership in tough times. Thatcher had a plan, and it pulled Britain out of stagnation, inflation and economic decline. Reagan’s policies had a similar effect in the United States. Deng Xiaoping, who placed China on the road to a market economy, changed the world. So did Manmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister of India and the Finance Minister in 1991, who used a financial crisis to shake that country out of its decades-long embrace of socialism. “I’m not a believer in the idea that we’re caught up in forces beyond our control,” says Coxe. The right policies, combined with political will, matter. “So once I’m satisfied that we’ve got the smart people in there who are prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent a collapse, I assume it will be done.” All of which serves to explain why Coxe—who in December left his post as Bank of Montreal’s global portfolio strategist, to start Coxe Advisors LLC— believes that history will vindicate him and prove that his difficult 2008 was an aberration. While Coxe wasn’t shocked to see a market meltdown last fall, he was caught badly off guard by the way the concomitant financial crisis destroyed prices for the commodities and commodity stocks that he has for years touted as the fastest way for investors to increase their wealth. Oil, after peaking at just short of $150 (U.S.) a barrel in July, fell to $45 (U.S.) by year-end. Corn, from a summertime high of roughly $8 a bushel, plunged to $4; copper went from about $4 a pound, to $1.40. Few resource companies were spared, except for gold stocks. The shares of many junior mining companies lost most of their value. In the oil patch, even a blue chip like Suncor Energy Inc., a Coxe favourite, was down 56% in 2008. As for Coxe himself, he called the recession correctly, but stumbled on how to play it. “Stay overinvested in commodity stocks whose earnings and performance are tied to stronger economies in the Third World,” he advised his readers in one of his “Basic Points” reports. The date was July 3, 2008. As it turned out, that was the best time not to buy commodities, but to sell them. The Reuters/ Jeffries CRB commodity price index peaked on July 2. Over the next six months, it plummeted by half. Worse still, the market now had a simple way to track his mistakes. The $300-million Coxe Commodity Strategy Fund, after debuting to a warm reception from investors in June, was down 55% by mid- October. For Coxe, there’s little escaping responsibility; even the ticker symbol, COX.un, makes it clear who is driving the fund. Coxe says that at one point during the downdraft, he had lost $2 million, or 40% of his personal equity portfolio. “From July 14 until, I would say, roughly last week, has been the most stressful [period] of my recent working life,” he said in an interview shortly before Christmas. “You’re talking to me at a time when I’m feeling somewhat beaten up.” Coxe says he underestimated the role of the hedge funds. He knew that many of them had gone long on commodities and short on financial stocks—that was rather obvious, and amplified the sharp rise in commodity prices in 2007 and the first half of 2008. What he didn’t realize, or fully appreciate, was how many billions of dollars of those bets were made on borrowed money. Since commodities futures themselves are a leveraged investment, the result was a series of bets in which leverage was piled on top of leverage. The whole edifice came tumbling down during the summer, as hedge fund losses began to pile up and the margin calls came pouring in. (not working in the industry, I had the exact same issue: not realizing how much leverage was in the system, and more specific - how much was in the hedge fund food chain; but it appears many inside the industry had no clue either) “None of us, or nobody I talked to, thought that much of it was hedge funds that were leveraged 30 or 40 or 50 to 1,” says Coxe. One rough year is not going to cause his loyal followers to stray. “For my money, he’s the best in Canada,” says Seymour Schulich, the billionaire investor and philanthropist. “Some of these guys, you look at and you think they’re from Mars.... You know what I like about him is, he’s got a real grasp of financial history.” Like all strategists, Coxe got some predictions badly wrong. His bullish calls on gold in the early and mid-1990s were duds. For a time, he was an alarmist about the Y2K problem, writing: “Wouldn’t it be fascinating if the once-in-a-millennium crisis came because creditors were unready for Y2K?” Other predictions he got dead-right. He warned at the end of 1997 that the Asian crisis was far from over, which it wasn’t. He raised a skeptical eye at the absurd valuations on many technology companies in 1999 and 2000, and was right. So he’s bruised. But wrong? Coxe doesn’t think the word applies. “When the market seems to have gone to hell, you say, ‘Well, aren’t you realizing in the middle of the night that you were all wrong?’ No!” He believes in the impact of strong leaders, and therefore believes the world—because of the efforts of Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke and the leaders of China and India and Europe, among others—will avoid spiralling into a 1930s-style depression. Not only will their policies breathe new life into the economy, Coxe predicts, they’ll do it so quickly that Bernanke, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, will be worried about inflation by the end of this year. “I’m more and more of the view that we’re going to find out that the surprise will be how strong we come out on the other side of this,” he says. “It won’t be long before inflationary pressures will show up. And, of course, they will show up first in the commodities.” It’s a forecast fit for an optimist, and one that few economists share in the winter of 2009.
But on this we both agree... I've said many times, if you have a 30-40 year time horizon arable farmland will be one of the best investments on the planet.
He is as convinced as ever that China and India will be the world’s great economic powers by the middle of this century, that the standard of living of their people will grow, and that the next great investment is food.
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Home News Sports Opinion Obituaries Features Special Sections Classifieds Public Notices
PESTICIDE USE EXPLAINED
Information has been shared in local media concerning pesticide use, some of which have been grossly misrepresented.
Many people have legitimate concerns about the safety of pesticides. So, are pesticides completely safe?
As you consider that question ask yourself if driving a car, eating a tomato, or swimming in the ocean is completely safe. There are risks associated with each.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Gazette, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
ZIP Code:
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Many of us find it difficult to compose a sympathy message to a bereaved acquaintance. It can be especially difficult if you have never written out condolence cards before. There are many questions as to what you should say, or what would be considered appropriate.
When sending condolences it is important not to procrastinate. There are occasionally delays that cannot be helped, but in general it is a good idea to keep a supply of simple, dignified sympathy cards on hand so that your message can go out quickly.
If you are concerned about what you should say, keep in mind that brevity and simplicity are always appropriate. Don't overwhelm yourself searching for flowery, heart-rending phrases; they wouldn't be suitable anyway. Start with a salutation. Your salutation should be based on whether the card is going to a close friend or family, a business associate or employee, or an acquaintance.
Dear Susan and Family, Dear Mr. Willis, Dear Gloria, Bobby and Ruth, Dear Johnson Family, Dear Friends,
Even if the sympathy card you have already chosen has a printed sentiment, it would be a nice gesture to add a personal note below the printing. You can start by expressing your sympathy.
My/Our sincere (heartfelt/deepest) sympathy/condolences on the death (loss/passing) of your mother/husband (or use the deceased's first name).
If you knew the deceased well enough to make a more personal statement, you can do so with a few extra words.
I/We will always remember his bright smile and sunny temperament. I/We will miss her wise counsel. She/he will be sincerely missed and warmly remembered by so many of us.
Try to stay away from writing anything that presumes what the bereaved is thinking or feeling. Your sympathy cards really shouldn’t be the place to offer advice, counseling, platitudes, or your personal religious views. You may however, want to add one last thought letting the bereaved know of your concern.
You are in my thoughts and prayers. You and your family are in our thoughts.
Once you are finished composing your message, you may close, above your signature, with:
Sincerely, With sincere caring, In loving sympathy,
Remember to put your clearly legible name and address on the envelope. It will make it much easier for the bereaved to keep track of whom they received cards from.
Composing condolence cards doesn’t have to be a difficult process, even if you have never done it before. The bereaved will appreciate the sentiment, and you can rest assured that your card was both appropriate and comforting.
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Appraisal Service Now Available! Appraisal services are now available this includes reports for charitable or cultural property donation, estate planning and division of assets, insurance coverage, damage and loss claims, purchase or sales advice, determination of probate fees or capital gains tax, divorce and/or partnership dissolution and bankruptcy. Our clients are for private and corporate collectors, financial institutions, government, public galleries and museums, registered charities and law firms.
Our staff, Belinda Chun is a member by the the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) which is a not-for-profit, member-driven association who serves the public by producing highly qualified and ethical appraisers who are recognized authorities in professional personal property appraising. ISA’s professional development and credentialing programs, along with its strong code of ethics and professional conduct, serve as the foundation for the organizational mission – to advance the professionalism and effectiveness of personal property appraisers.
What an Appraiser Determines Whenever there’s a question about the value of your personal property, there’s also a risk involved. It may be the risk of selling too low, or of paying too much; the risk of being under or over insured; the risk of not getting your fair share in a division of the property; the risk of incurring tax penalties or being audited when claiming a deduction for charitable contribution or when calculating estate taxes.
A professional appraiser helps you manage these and other such risks by providing a written opinion of value upon which you can base your financial decisions. Rather than being just an “educated guess,” the professional appraiser’s value conclusions are based on prescribed methods or evaluation, research, and report writing. Bankers, financiers, investors, insurers, adjusters, estate managers, trustees, executors, attorneys, judges, federal and state tax agencies—all are dependent upon the knowledge and expertise of the appraiser, and so are you.
Too often and too late, people find out that the appraisals they have are inaccurate or misleading, resulting not only in greater risk to themselves but also in an annual waste of millions of consumer dollars. A competent appraiser helps you manage financial risk.
What a Appraisal Includes (Standards of ISA and the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) A cover document explaining in detail what type of value is being sought (“purpose”) and how the appraisal is to be used (“function” or “assigned use”). The methodology and resources relied upon, including market analysis and market(s) selected. A complete and accurate description of the property written in such a manner that it can be identified without photos. The date(s) and location of inspection, and the effective date of value. A statement by the appraiser that he or she has no financial interest in the property or that such interest is disclosed in the report.The appraiser’s qualifications and signature.
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Overview
Growing new grass is all about site preparation. Unless you add the correct nutrients and pay it enough attention, grass seed will not germinate. Spend a couple of days, when you know it's going to be dry outside, preparing the soil. It is best to spread the seed on non-windy days, or you will end up with grass in undesirable places. Plant grass seed in the spring or fall. It is usually too warm to plant it in the summer.
Step 1
Get rid of any debris that may prevent the grass seed from touching soil. This includes rocks and branches. Break up soil clumps that are larger than 1 inch in diameter.
Step 2
Pull weeds. If there are too many to rip out by hand, use an herbicide to kill them. You must apply it a few weeks in advance to ensure that it does not affect grass growth. Follow the manufacturer's instructions.
Step 3
Loosen the soil to add air pockets for root growth. Run a rototiller over it until the top 4 to 6 inches is loose. Add topsoil to low-lying spots. Rake until smooth.
Step 4
Add nutrients in the form or sand and compost. This will also make the drainage better. Put down 1 inch of each substance. Till them into the top inch of dirt.
Step 5
Apply a starter fertilizer that is high in phosphorus. Follow the instructions on the package to determine the rate to set the broadcast spreader.
Step 6
Spread grass seed with a mechanical or hand spreader. Use whichever method works better for the size of your lawn. Spread an average of 8 to 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet for a thick lawn. Different grass varieties require varying amounts of seed, so check the seed bag for specific application amounts.
Step 7
Rake the grass seeds with the back of a metal rake gently. Cover it with a small amount of the amended soil to keep it in place and promote fast germination.
Step 8
Water the grass seed to encourage sprouting. Set your sprinkler to an oscillating setting. Give it water at least twice a day for five to 10 minutes at a time. After 10 days, cut down to daily watering for 15 to 30 minutes.
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Mint is a popular herb in many gardens. It's cool, refreshing taste and strong fragrance are easily recognized. There are many types of mint including peppermint, spearmint, orange and even chocolate mint. Mint grows best in full sun with lots of water. Mint can be invasive and has a tendency to take over when planted in the garden. To prevent this, plant mint in small pots and then plant the pots in the garden or just place containers of mint around the garden. Once harvested mint has many uses.
Insect Repellent
Plant mint in your garden as a companion plant to cabbage and tomatoes. It will repel cabbage moths, aphids, fleas, flea beetles and ants. You can also place cuttings of peppermint or sprinkle peppermint oil in areas where mice are a problem, and the mice will stay away.
Health Benefits
Mint has been used to treat a number of digestive problems, including indigestion, stomach cramps and nausea. Many people find that a cup of peppermint tea after a meal is an excellent way to settle your stomach. Mint can also used as a breath freshener, in facial cleansers and as a decongestant. Mint oil rubbed into the skin works as a pain reliever and may be helpful in treating arthritis and chronic joint pain.
Cooking
Mint is a popular herb used for cooking and flavoring dishes all around the world. It adds a fresh taste to desserts such as ice cream and chocolates. You can brew mint leaves into teas or add fresh mint into cocktails like mint juleps and mojitos. Mint is a common ingredient in many Middle Eastern and Vietnamese dishes. Use mint to flavor fresh fruit or steamed vegetables, or add it to homemade salad dressings and marinades.
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Overview
If you enjoy mushrooms and prefer to keep a fresh supply in your kitchen, try growing your own. Mushrooms like white button, maitake, oyster and shiitake are commonly grown at home with success. Although homegrown mushrooms are relatively difficult to cultivate and require several attempts, with patience and room for trial and error, you will harvest a healthy crop of shiitake mushrooms at the end.
Step 1
Measure and cut a 4-foot long, 2- to 3-month old hardwood log. Make sure it is 6 to 7 inches wide. Immerse it in a tub of water for two hours.
Step 2
Wear earplugs and protective eye goggles and drill 25 to 30 holes in the log with a hand-held drill. Space the holes 4 to 5 inches apart. Ensure each hole is 1 1/2 inches deep and 5/16 inches wide.
Step 3
Fill each hole with a shiitake spawn plug in midfall, so your harvest is ready the next year. Push each spawn gently by hand or tap it with a hammer until it reaches 1/4 inch deep in the hole.
Step 4
Seal each hole with cheese or molten wax to prevent the spawn plug from drying out and eventually dying. This serves as a nutrient base. Make sure you cover each hole thoroughly using a sterile spoon. An alternative is to manually insert a sawdust plug spawn into predrilled holes in Styrofoam. No wax is required to cover the Styrofoam holes as it acts as a natural barrier.
Step 5
Place the log under natural shade (tree, bush) or artificial shade (porch, terrace) to provide ideal condition needed for cultivation so the mycelium spreads over and covers it completely. Mycelium resembles a thread-like substance and is the vegetative part of the fungus that takes at least six months to a year to develop.
Step 6
Stand the log up and against a length of wire between two trees or posts once the mycelium develops. Spray the mycelium with water from a garden hose to induce the reproductive cycle in the log.
Step 7
Harvest mushrooms when the cap is fully open and separated from the stem. This takes three to four weeks.
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Overview
Native to the Andes mountains in Peru, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) claims a place as one of the most important vegetable crops grown in the world, according to Iowa State University Extension. They are surprisingly easy to grow and require very little coddling to produce a respectable crop of starchy tubers. Although they produce their edible portion underground, occasionally small, inedible, tomato-like fruits will grow on the above-ground portion of the plants.
Time of Year
Plant potatoes in early spring in eastern Iowa. In the central part of the state, plant them the first or second week of April. In the northern part of eastern Iowa, plant potatoes the second or third week of April. In the southern portion of eastern Iowa, seed potatoes should be planted in the last week of March or first week of April.
Varieties
Early varieties suitable for growing in eastern Iowa include Irish Cobbler and Norland. Irish Cobbler has white flesh with tan skin and is excellent for baking. Norland produces smooth-skinned rectangular red tubers for boiling or mashing. An excellent mid-season variety for growing in the region is Red Pontiac, a round, red skinned, all-purpose variety, which is recommended by both Iowa State University Extension and the University of Illinois Extension. An all-purpose white potato with tan skin that matures late in the season and is suitable for long-term storage is Kennebec, which is also recommended by both the Iowa State and University of Illinois Extensions.
Seed Potatoes
Because almost all potato varieties do not grow true to their variety from seed, potato plants are started from "seed" potatoes. These are simply 1-inch pieces of cut up potatoes, with each piece containing at least one eye, from which the plant will grow. Seed potatoes should be purchased fresh from reliable suppliers each year. Potatoes carried over from the previous season and used as seed potatoes for a new crop can harbor diseases. Potatoes purchased from the grocery store are treated with a chemical process to discourage them from sprouting and are not suitable for use as seed potatoes.
Soil
Potatoes prefer acidic soil of average fertility. A pH below the neutral 7 is ideal, and a pH as low as 5.0 is beneficial to discourage potato scab from developing. Grow potatoes in loamy soil that is neither clay nor sandy. Clay soil is too dense and will inhibit the formation of tubers. Sandy soil drains too quickly and the potatoes will grow knobby and misshapen due to lack of moisture. Do not improve regular garden soil with the addition of manure or compost, a rich soil increases the incidence of the disease potato scab.
Planting Instructions
Treat cut pieces of seed potatoes with a fungicide immediately after cutting and prior to planting. This will prevent them from decaying in the cool, wet spring soil. A chemical-free method is to store the cut pieces at 60 to 70 degrees for a couple of days in a humid location prior to planting. Till the soil to a depth of approximately 8 inches, then rake the surface smooth. Plant seed potatoes cut side down, 3 to 4 inches deep, about 10 to 12 inches apart in rows 24 to 36 inches apart. Provide them with the equivalent of an inch of rainfall per week throughout the growing season. The more space between the rows, the larger the potatoes will grow.
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Overview
A species of wild tomato, Australia's passion berry plant (Solanum cleistogamum) produces a small, sweet and aromatic fruit. The plant grows wild in the central desert regions of Australia, but is now cultivated for commercial use.
Habit
The low-growing, prickly foliage is grey-green. The fruit hangs low to the ground and falls off the plant when ripe.
Requirements
The passion berry plant grows in rocky or gravelly soil. Also known as "bush tomato," Solanum cleistogamum is a fast-growing shrub that fruits heavily after soaking rains.
Fruits
The marble-sized yellow fruits taste similar to bananas. They are a favorite food of desert birds and reptiles.
Flowers
Small, lilac-like flowers appear in late summer or early autumn.
Pests
Passion berry plants are a primary food source for emus, a large desert-dwelling bird. Emus eat the seeds and pass them undigested in their dung, ensuring the passion berry's survival. Feral goats, cows, horses and camels, however, fully digest the seeds, preventing propagation.
PlantNET
Outback Pride
Absolute Astronomy
Keywords:
passion berry, bush tomato, Australian wild tomato
About this Author
Moira Clune is a freelance writer who since 1991 has been writing sales and promotional materials for her own and other small businesses. In addition, she has published articles on VetInfo and various other websites. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Hartwick College.
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A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. The greater the military’s involvement in national security and contribution in the management of national crises, the greater its alienation with the nation’s governing apparatus and those who exercise influence over it. The point is best illustrated by the fallout of the reports of successive pay commissions. The defence services expectations from the Sixth Pay Commission for a change in trend set by the previous pay commissions are again belied. For them one more nail into their coffin of hope.
Despite angry protests and representations the final dispensation promulgated has widened the chasm and brought disaffection within the services to the point of despair. Fervent appeals from the top brass of the three services and considerable lobbying by the retired fraternity of the armed forces evoked little or no sympathy in the quarters that matter. Public support is evidently there but it is of no solace to the armed forces if such adulation does not impact favourably on the outlook of those who decide.
Strangely the media support has also been quite muted and hardly discernible. To some observers it appears as if a ‘gag order’ had been sent out by the powers that be. Whatever the reasons the media support that the armed forces were hoping for has not been forthcoming; no-prime time features — other than the recent burst by one TV channel – or front page headlines espousing the case of the armed forces. To the contrary we have had some esteemed columnists regrettably castigating the service chiefs on the position taken by them — to withhold the new pay implementation orders.
Much has already been said on the subject of the chiefs making public their decision to hold back the dissemination of the government notification on the new pay packages.
However some points merit emphasis.
Firstly, our chiefs in office currently are not flamboyant, iconic personalities in the mould of a few army chiefs of yesteryears.
These gentlemen are reputed to be steady, solid and competent professionals, not the hungry for publicity kind. So it is somewhat ironic that instead of wondering as to why the chiefs have been driven to protest in the manner that they have, we chastise them.
Secondly we should appreciate that that by adopting the position that they have, prospects of their benefiting from the Government’s largesse after retirement have been foreclosed. Sadly their sacrifice of personal interests for the sake of the uniformed family to which they belong has gone quite unacknowledged. Elsewhere such commitment would have been cited as exemplary leadership.
But again curiously if we were to conduct an opinion poll on whether the chiefs were right or wrong across two segments: the bureaucracy and the defence services, my guess is that 90 per cent of the bureaucrats would disapprove while over ninety percent of the service officers would wholeheartedly endorse what the chiefs did. Is there a case for a better understanding of the ethos of the armed forces? Our military may not be perfect but it has served the nation very well. Its role in safeguarding the security and integrity of our country has been invaluable. Contrary to the beliefs and concerns persistently expressed in certain influential quarters it has also remained obsessively apolitical, a strength that has failed to attract the recognition that it deserves. Altogether there is much reason for the nation to be proud of its armed forces.
Right from Independence, our security environment has been far from benign. The future promises to be no better. Even a cursory scan of our security scenario would indicate that the defence services might well be called upon to deal with much bigger and newer challenges. So we must heed their morale. Ignoring the sentiments of the services or turning a blind eye to the simmering discontent which is virtually now out in the open would be unwise. Anger and resentment — are widespread and deep rooted sentiments in the armed forces.
The issues that agitate the defence services go well beyond the scope of the dispensations that a pay commission can award.
Even while remaining strictly within the charter of a pay commission the armed forces are in a way wishing and expecting that all the accumulated injustices heaped on them over the previous pay commissions can now be set right in this instance. This of course is unlikely to happen. So what should be done? For the government the important thing that must first be done is to shed the accountants approach to dealing with the grievances of the services. What is required is empathy and understanding. Let us not grudge the services the little things like the canteen or rum or the sahayaks or the bungalows in Delhi. Instead the focus should be on addressing the many grievances that the men in uniform nurture.
What are the major issues? The most important — a better deal for the soldier who retires in his forties. His pathetic plight remains unchanged. A pension of about 75 per cent of the last pay drawn that the government is likely to concede albeit reluctantly will not be enough. Much more needs to be done. Next for the officer: what he justifiably seeks is some kind of equivalence in status and pay related to the length of service. To tell the officer that the problem lies within the organisational pyramid of the three services and therefore the government is helpless is rank evasion of responsibility and a brazen display of insensitivity.
There are many more concerns not being dwelt on due to space limitations.
In the short term the government should look at getting over the immediate crisis of the Sixth Pay Commission award. After having crossed this bridge it would be unwise to let matters drift. Instead a committee should be constituted to specially look into all the issues that agitate the military. The importance of careful selection of the members of this committee should be obvious.
Equally important would be the formulation of its terms of reference.
Another grave matter is the grievances that the officer community of the three services especially the army has against the bureaucracy. This is a serious issue. Of late the sentiments being expressed against the bureaucracy are bordering on hate and anger.
If the bureaucrats and the armed forces do not work in harmony and in tandem we will not get the best from our national resources.
How has this grave ‘disconnect’ come about? Then there is the bigger issue of the ramifications of this polarisation. Do we blame the country’s inherited military ethos and the national character of its people? There are no clear answers. This underscores the imperative of reflection and introspection especially but the services, the bureaucracy and the political leadership.
As watch dogs the media must also step in; national security could be at stake
About the author:
Vinay Shankar is a former Director General of the artillery
Courtesy – Expressbuzz.com – The New Indian Express Group
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