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Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency Anemia caused by vitamin B12 or folic acid deficiency can cause a variety of symptoms. These symptoms usually develop gradually but will worsen if left untreated. Anemia is when you have fewer red blood cells than normal, or when your hemoglobin level is abnormally low. - extreme fatigue (tiredness), - lack of energy (tiredness), - shortness of breath, - weak skin, - pale skin Vitamin B12 deficiency Symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency are difficult to find because the symptoms develop very slowly. Common signs of being aware of this condition include fatigue, persistent tingling, and jaundice. The tongue may also be severely swollen or painful. Vitamin B12 is a water-soluble vitamin that has many important functions in the daily life of the human body. However, if you are not getting enough vitamins, it may cause serious consequences. According to the National Health Administration, vitamins can help the body produce red blood cells and maintain a healthy nervous system. It is also used to release energy from food and the production of folic acid in white blood cells. Most people need about 1.5 µg of vitamin B12 every year. On a normal day, the body will naturally not do this. Awareness Of Deficiency This means that many people in the world are not even aware of the lack of vitamin B12. Read more: Vitamin B12 deficiency: There are two signs on your face: what signs? The lack of symptoms can take years to show up, which means it may be difficult for you to notice changes immediately. However, the condition must be detected as early as possible, as this can lead to unnecessary complications. Some patients will experience cognitive impairment, neurological damage, and even anemia. One of the most common warning signs of vitamin B12 deficiency is abnormal whitening or yellowing of the skin. A jaundice symptom characterized by a light yellow complexion and white parts Seeks immediate medical attention if you suspect that I have jaundice, because it may be caused by a variety of diseases. Moreover, according to nutritionist Helen West, some patients with B12 deficiency may feel very tired or keep on needles. The slight changes in language are caused by their mistakes. Vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms: - muscle weakness, - constant needles, - exercise changes, - tongue swelling, - persistent mouth ulcers, - difficulty breathing, - visual disturbances, - mood swings, and fever. Vitamin B12 naturally exists in animal products, such as The former nutritionist says - dairy products. Unfortunately, B12 deficiency is especially common among the elderly. “If your diet is insufficient or unable to absorb enough food, you may become weak. Unfortunately, the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency can last for years and are difficult to diagnose. Symptoms of deficiency may develop slowly and are difficult to diagnose. Two changes in the face may indicate that your B12 level is too low. Jaundice occurs when the human body cannot produce enough red blood cells. These are red blood cells that circulate under the skin in the blood, giving it a normal color. Cells tend to collapse. Release bilirubin faster. Bilirubin gives the skin its characteristic yellow color. In addition, when human organs are deprived of oxygen, people may feel severe fatigue. Read more: Arthritis symptoms: There are six obvious signs of arthritis on the skin: red or purple lines. Vitamin B12 deficiency: Two signs on the face indicate low blood lipid levels production, which is necessary for red blood cell production. Without it, the instructions for creating the cell will be incomplete, and the cell will not be split. This causes a type of anemia called megaloblastic anemia, in which red blood cells are present. The red blood cells produced in the bone marrow are large and fragile. Anemia is when you have fewer red blood cells than normal, or the hemoglobin content in each red blood cell is extremely low. These red blood cells are too large to leave the bone marrow and enter the blood. Vitamin B12 deficiency: There are two signs on the face [INSIGHT] Prostate c

The variety of Blockchains and How it does Impact Crypto Paymentsdredin As a result of Bitcoin’s fame as a first-generation blockchain technology, corporations have begun implementing their own blockchain initiatives. According to the Gartner 2019 CIO Survey, CIOs expect to utilize blockchain by 2022, but just 5% feel it would be a game changer in their enterprises. But as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies gain popularity and supply chain transparency becomes a need for investors, middleware is being developed to address this issue. What is a Blockchain? A blockchain is a decentralized database that any nodes in a computer network may access. The term “blockchains” refers to distributed databases. A blockchain is similar to a database in that it electronically saves data in digital form. Blockchains, which are well-known for their critical role in cryptocurrency systems such as Bitcoin, are gaining traction as a broader technology. Through the use of blockchain technology, it is possible to ensure the accuracy and security of a record of information without relying on third parties. The data structure on a blockchain is fundamentally different from that of a traditional database. A blockchain is a collection of data that is organized into blocks, each of which has a unique piece of data, and these blocks are connected together. Data is saved in blocks on the blockchain, each of which may contain a finite amount of data before being closed and connected to its adjacent block to form a chain of data. When a new block is added to the chain, it is combined with all of the extra information that has been available since the previous block was introduced. While tables are the standard in databases, a blockchain connects pieces of data (blocks) to build a chain. Due to the structure’s construction, it creates an irreversible temporal stream of data in a decentralized system. When a block is completed, it becomes an indelible part of the chronology that is being constructed. Each block is inscribed with a unique time stamp to enable easy identification as a component of the chain. How Many Types of Blockchain are There And How do They Work? Public, private, consortium, and hybrid blockchains are the four main types of blockchain networks. While public blockchains are the most widely utilized, private and consortium blockchains are not far behind. They all have their own benefits and weaknesses, but they may all be used in the right circumstances. The initial kind of blockchain technology is known as a public blockchain. As a result of the widespread use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) made possible by the rise of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin . Centralization’s downsides, such as lowered security and transparency, are no longer an issue. Instead of storing data in a central place, DLT disseminates information over a network of peers. Because of the system’s decentralized structure, a method is needed to verify the legitimacy of data. This is a way for blockchain users to come to agreement on the current state of the ledger. PoW and proof of stake (PoS) are two prevalent methods for reaching a consensus. Public blockchains are open and permissionless, which implies that anybody with an internet connection may join a blockchain network and become an authorized node. This user can execute mining operations, which are complex computations needed to verify and add transactions to the ledger, and has access to both current and historical data. No genuine record or transaction can be changed on the network, and anybody may monitor transactions, identify faults, and propose revisions owing to the open-source nature of the system. It is a private blockchain network that runs in a constrained setting, such as a closed network or under the supervision of a single firm. Peer-to-peer connectivity and decentralization are the same in this version of blockchain, but its size is much lower than that of public blockchain. In contrast to public blockchains, which may be used by anyone who wants to join and supply processing power, private blockchains are often hosted on a restricted network inside a company or organization. It is possible to refer to this form of blockchain as a “permissioned” or “enterprise” blockchain. Private blockchains are an excellent solution if the controlling entity does not want its data to be publicly available but still requires a cryptographically secure blockchain. “Examples include businesses that choose to use blockchain technology while maintaining control over their internal business procedures. They may employ private blockchains for a number of purposes, including the maintenance of trade secrets, auditing, and other services “Godefroy made a public statement about the matter. Apart from supply chain management and asset ownership, private blockchain applications include internal voting and monitoring asset ownership. Companies who desire to integrate the benefits of both private and public blockchains, and as a result, employ hybrid blockchain technology, are very rare in the business world. A private, permission-based system may be used in conjunction with a public, permissionless system, allowing organizations to select which data is made public and which data is kept private, allowing for more flexibility. Validating transactional and informational information on a hybrid blockchain is popular, and may be accomplished for example via the use of a smart contract. The data may still be validated inside the network, even if the information is kept secret. The hybrid blockchain is held by a private entity, yet transactions on the hybrid blockchain cannot be altered in any way. Anyone who becomes a member of a hybrid blockchain gets complete access to the whole network. Other users are not aware of the identity of the users unless they participate in an actual transaction. Once the other person’s identity has been established, the situation becomes more complicated. As with hybrid blockchains, it combines characteristics of private and public blockchains. A fourth kind of blockchain, dubbed federated or consortium blockchains, combines the finest characteristics of both private and public blockchains. It is distinguished, however, by the fact that it requires the participation of various organization members through a decentralized network. There are no hazards associated with having a private blockchain managed by a single entity, as is the situation with the majority of them. A consortium blockchain is a mostly private blockchain with access restricted to a single enterprise. Consensus procedures in a consortium blockchain are controlled by the consortium’s pre-selected nodes. Transactions are initiated, received, and validated by validator nodes. A member node is capable of both accepting and initiating transactions. How does Blockchain Impact on Crypto Payments? Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are built on the basis of blockchain technology. The US currency is controlled by the Federal Reserve. Under this centralized power system, a user’s data and money are potentially at the whim of their bank or government. Personal information of a customer is at risk if the bank’s security is breached. Clients’ currencies may lose value if their bank goes under or if they live in an unstable country. Many bank failures in 2008 were saved in part by the government’s bailout money that year. These are the issues that prompted the creation of the Bitcoin currency. Blockchain allows Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to operate decentralized because it distributes their activities over a network of computers. In addition to reducing risk, this also saves a significant amount of money in transaction and processing costs. For citizens of countries with unstable currencies or financial infrastructures, a more stable currency that can be used for many different purposes and that has a larger network of people and organizations with which to conduct business on a national and international level may be more beneficial to them. For those who lack state identity, using bitcoin wallets as savings accounts or payment methods is very helpful. Identifying a person might be difficult in countries that are war-torn or do not have the requisite infrastructure in place. Citizens in these countries may not have easy access to a safe place to save their money, such as a savings or brokerage account.

Many people, when they hear the phrase “simple diet”, think of one of two things. An image of a plateful of rice and beans is the first. The second is a picture of pioneers in the 1800’s eating food cooked from scratch over a fire. I’m not sure how we came to romanticize this time, particularly their diet, as we do. Yes, they did not consume fast food, frozen dinners, or potato chips. But they did consume plenty of white flour in the form of bread, cookies, cakes and pie crusts. Those who spent weeks and months on the prairie subsisted on cornmeal cakes and prairie chickens. No greens, no fruit, no omega-3 fatty acids. And a startling percentage of women died in childbirth – many times, along with the baby they were trying to deliver. Part of that was due to the ignorance of sanitation back then, but I believe a large part was also due to wrong diet. A deficiency in vitamin E, for example, makes the labor and birth process much more difficult than if a mother has plenty of the nutrient in her system. Read the history of author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s family. Almost everyone in her immediate family died in their sixties. That is young. And if you read through all her books, and notice what was lacking in their diet and what was prevalent, you get a good idea as to why they died so young. The truth is, a simple diet does not have to be boring, like rice and beans. And it has nothing to do with what farm families in the 1800’s consumed. Even by that time – nay, many years before, because white sugar has been around for hundreds of years – people were eating unnatural foods. A simple diet is a diet consisting of food that is as close to its natural form as possible. If it is impossible to eat in its natural form, it should be avoided altogether, or considered as a condiment or occasional special treat. There is one kind of food, and one only, that is so easy for the human digestive system to handle that I have heard it referred to as “pre-digested.” I am talking about fruit. Most fruit can be picked off the tree, vine, or bush and eaten as-is. Most of the tropical fruits require some peeling, but this is easily accomplished with a moderately sharp tool, if not with hands. The next easiest foods for humans are raw fish and raw egg yolks, and after that, cooked fish and cooked egg yolks. I would put the raw tender greens, such as lettuce and spinach, equal to cooked fish and egg yolks. Next in line would be cooked dark, leafy greens such as broccoli and kale, tied with raw milk since the protein in raw milk (yes, even goat milk) is a little tough to digest, while the fiber in dark, leafy greens – unless chewed thoroughly – makes it hard for your body to extract the nutrients from it. Cooked dark leafies, however, are generally more easily digested than their raw counterparts, unless they are fermented as with raw sauerkraut. I could go on, but I think you’re beginning to see what I mean by a “simple diet.” The more a food has been removed from its natural state, the less nutritious it is – and usually, the more toxic it is. Some people, if they were to hear the term “simple diet,” would immediately think of raw food. After all, uncooked, natural foods have not been processed. That makes them the simplest of all, right? I used to buy into that. But as I just explained, the vegetables that belong to the cabbage family are very difficult to digest in their raw state because of their tough fibers. These tough fibers also make it difficult for your body to extract the nutrients from the juice of the plant. Blending facilitates that process as cooking does, but you can’t pick a green smoothie out of the ground, can you? Or, for that matter, a glass of juice, however fresh and organic it may be. I am not excluding raw kale or egg whites from a simple diet, only making the point that the human body deals with some natural foods much more easily than with others, and those foods might be eaten more frequently and in greater quantities than the others. If you’re like me, you’re going to be tempted, as you read, to look for the ideal diet for humankind. Or, at least, for you. You’re going to want me to tell you the exact number of servings of the best foods you should eat every day for optimum health. I’m not going to give you what you want. We do not live in an ideal world. We live in an imperfect world where different people deal with different constraints that keep them from eating the healthiest diet possible. Some families cannot afford to buy all organic food. Others have developed autoimmune digestive issues that prohibit them from consuming fiber in any form. It might be healthier for me to eat salmon three times a day rather than eat nuts and seeds, but at $12 a pound for the fish, this habit would send our food budget through the roof. You must get the idea of “ideal” out of your head, because if you don’t, it will continually prod you into seeking for it. And since it doesn’t exist, you will only increase your stress levels. Jason is a fictional name of a real person. I read a book of his that he had published to Kindle. He got into raw food, eventually dropping greens, nuts and seeds out of his diet until he was living on only six pieces of fruit per day. He talked about it in a “holier than thou” way, as if he were the only person on earth eating the ideal diet: only the food that is easiest to digest, and just enough to keep him from looking like a complete skeleton (he had a photo of himself in his book, and he was very thin. And I say that as someone who is just below her “ideal” clinical weight). Later on in the book, he confessed to binging on fast food and packaged foods various times. He could not explain these cravings. Could you? My readers are always smart, so I’m going to assume you can figure it out as easily as I could. Six pieces of fruit per day. Nothing else. Moreover, I visited his blog and found that he was in a state of despair because the world refused to live up to his ideal of how it should work. Ideals can make you crazy. Depressed. Get them out of your life. You don’t want to be like Jason. Instead of ideals, shoot for principles. Simplify your diet by following the ten food-related principles outlined, one per chapter, in most of the rest of the book. You don’t even need to follow them 100%. Aim to start with following them 75% of the time, with a goal to end up following them 90-95% of the time.

All over the world, states, organizations as well as individuals have been, and continue to be, in the habit of coming together for a cause. The agenda of the cause varies according to the conveners. No matter the calibre/stature of the conveners, there is ordinarily an agenda that brings them together. Despite such meetings having clear agendas to spearhead an initiative, it is another thing altogether, to have them achieve the agreed and discussed action points thereafter. Buntwani , an annual event organised and steered by the Open Institute is no ordinary event. It is an action point. Butwani is a swahili word that means a “meeting of elders from villages”. The elders welcome elders from other villages and go ahead to discuss issues affecting them. In September 2015,193 states came together and unanimously agreed to adopt the Sustainable Goals.The SDG initiative anchored on the slogan “ Leaving No One Behind” is not just a slogan for the Open Institute. In our work as the Open Institute, geared towards implementing the SDGs, we began noticing a tendency. A tendency in which people worked in silos despite having the same agenda of implementing the SDGs. We found that people would often at times be working in certain locations and duplicating an activity being done by another organisation or even government. It became very clear that organisations: civil society, private sector, academia and government hardly meet to at least talk and share about what they are doing. Buntwani 2017, held at the dLAB in Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania, saw the coming together of: community level leaders such as the chiefs who represent the lowest administrative unit of the Government, county government officials, civil society, public and private sector from diverse nationalities from Africa and Asia. The unconference setting opened up the floor to open and free discussions where participants got to discuss their successes, challenges and share insight on their implementation of the SDGs through effective citizen engagement and participation. The participants went on to discuss their innovative strategy in achieving community engagement and participation, and came from various corners of the world: the Jakarta data lab in Indonesia, where the World Web Foundation works with Government to solve community issues, Data Zetu in Tanzania holding listening campaigns amongst the communities to elicit pain points to identify where to begin in solution building, Ramani Huria in Tanzania working with University students to mapp drainage ways with an aim of making better city drainage and building better flood resilience among the Dar-es-Salaam community and Lanet Umoja community in Nakuru Kenya data collection exercise and its advocacy to the Governors’ platform specifically that led to their acquisition of a new health centre. The sessions also exposed barriers to participation, the wishes the participants would like to see, a to do list in achieving the wishes, the metrics on achieving the wishes, events already planned for the achievement of these Discussions on how to better collaborations between government, civil society, public and private sectors were had in both depth and length. Finally, it was unanimously agreed that having a subnational.group to constantly evaluate progress, enrich each other’s ideas, and brainstorm on better strategy towards community engagement and participation was not only a start but a great start. Afterall, “communication leads to community, understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing.” Rollo May

Ralph Langner is one of the foremost experts on the security of critical infrastructure that we have. So, generally, when Ralph says something – whether its about Stuxnet, or cyberwar or the security of nuclear power plants – folks listen. And these days, Ralph is wondering, out loud, whether our reliance on digital systems to manage critical infrastructure has gone too far. The answer, he suggests, may be to go “back to the future,” as it were: reintroducing analog systems into the control process chain as a backstop for cyber attacks. Case in point: the Department of Homeland Security’s ICS-CERT warned on Friday that firmware for Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 CPUs (Central Processing Units) contain nine vulnerabilities that could enable attacks such as cross site request forgery, cross site scripting and URL redirection. (Siemens has issued a firmware update that patches the holes.) Langner is among the world’s foremost experts on control systems security. He was among the first to suggest (publicly) that the Stuxnet worm was a targeted, nation-backed attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. Writing on Saturday, he said that the critical infrastructure sector is in a headlong rush to replace aging, analog control system infrastructure with modern, digital systems. Software based control infrastructure, he notes, offers many advantages – flexibility, the possibility of remote operation and management and access to a much larger pool of talent and expertise. Engineers who understand and can manage analog systems are, after all, a dying breed – literally. But Langner cautions against the wholesale embrace of digital systems by stating the obvious: that “every digital system has a vulnerability,” and that it’s nearly impossible to rule out the possibility that potentially harmful vulnerabilities won’t be discovered during the design and testing phase of a digital ICS product. Even casual review of recent headlines about the security of industrial control system software makes it clear that the vast majority of dangerous, remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in ICS product are not found until those systems are already deployed in the field. At the recent S4 Conference, cyber security experts warned that energy and transportation networks remain vulnerable to attacks leveled at security holes in critical systems that can linger for months or years without being patched. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has also warned that, under the right circumstances, small scale cyber or physical attacks on a handful of electric transmission substations could cause a nation-wide blackout. Langner’s proposal isn’t to abandon the move to digital, but to continue to rely on analog control systems as a hedge against crippling cyber attacks that are almost certain to occur. “It would seem to follow that if …the hacking of digital safety systems at nuclear power plants was unacceptable, then analog control of safety systems ought to be a viable option on the table,” he writes. Official sanction of analog systems as a way to segment- or backstop critical digital systems would provide the market an incentive to make, market and sell such systems – creating a market for the types of technologies that critical infrastructure owners need.

It’s summertime, it’s hot and you want to reach for that cold refreshing soda at the bottom of the ice chest. You suddenly change your mind and gulp down the chilled fruit juice because you think it’s healthier for you and after all, it is swim suit season, right? Is fruit juice really that much better than soda? And why didn’t you reach for the water instead of either one of those choices, that would have been the healthiest choice of all. Our modern taste buds have adapted to the foods we eat on a daily basis, most of which contain added sugars to please the taste sensors in our mouth. Our minds enjoy the taste of sweetness, which becomes an addiction we must satisfy everyday. After your body is used to foods with added sugars (fast food, packaged food) and beverages like juice/soda/sweet tea, we are no longer satisfied by plain water. This is when we reach for the soda and unknowingly consume an extra 45+ grams of sugar at every sitting. Typically, we reach for the fruit juice when we want to make a healthier choice because the thought of drinking artificial sugars is well, not healthy. This is somewhat correct because the sugars in most sodas and soft drinks come from ‘high fructose corn syrup’, which is metabolized differently in our bodies than natural sugars. However, this doesn’t exempt fruit juices from the sugar conundrum. Most of the sugars from fruit juices come from fructose and the typical concentration of fructose in juice is about 45.5 grams per liter. To put this into perspective, soda has about 50 grams per liter. So you’re definitely not saying NO to sugar when you reach for the juice Why is Sugar the Big Problem? The form of sugar in fruit and fruit juice is otherwise known as fructose. When we consume an entire apple in one sitting, we are consuming not only the natural sugars but fiber as well. This combination creates a slower digestion movement throughout the body, causing you to remain full after the snack. When we consume only fruit juice, the fiber is left out and only the fructose remains. Fruit juice is highly concentrated in fructose (think how many apples it takes to make one beverage) and therefore gets metabolized faster and does not fill us up. This ultimately leaves us wanting more, drinking more and intaking more sugar. Oh the vicious cycle of sugar and health. Sugary drinks can rack up the calories because they don’t fill us up, it only creates an addiction The Liver is the only organ that can break down fructose. When loads of fructose is dumped into the system, the liver gets ‘overloaded’ and tries to metabolize it as fast as possible. Many of the sugars get converted into fat storage, which can lead to insulin resistance and ultimately diabetes. Some researchers claim there is a direct link between children’s overconsumption of juice and obesity/ diabetes rates. Sugary drinks can lead to insulin resistance and ultimately, Diabetes Four Tips for Better Juices Like I said, it’s summertime and it’s hot. You crave the freshly squeezed fruit juice that pops with color. When you don’t have time to juice your own everyday- the next best thing is the grocery store, right? Here are my top four tips to choosing a better juice, one that won’t leave you questioning if it’s healthier than soda. - Look at the ingredients on the label. So many times, we see the 100% fruit juice on the label and think that’s all there is. I challenge you to take a look at the nutrition label and see if that is truly the case - Fresh, nutritious fruit juices should not contain any other ingredients like added colors or added flavors. - Look at the sugar content on the label. There will always be a sugar count in grams on the back of every item purchased from the grocery store. - Try to keep the sugar content below 20 grams per serving. 20 grams is still pretty high, but lower than most all sodas and processed juices. - Avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup like the plague. HFCS is an artificial sugar, which is processed differently in our bodies contributing to fat, diabetes, insulin resistance and other metabolic problems. - The fresher, the better. Look for bottles that are freshly squeezed, or juiced. Most often, food companies will juice the fruit several weeks/months prior to packaging. This disintegrates the nutritional value of the juice, and flavor. Look instead for a brand that is fresher, most of these ‘fresh juices’ will expire sooner since they do not contain preservatives.

The Outlook for the Canadian Economy and the Conduct of Monetary Policy Today, I would like to bring you up to date on the Bank of Canada's views about the outlook for the Canadian economy. Prospects for the period ahead are generally very favourable. But, as is often the case, there are also uncertainties that the Bank will have to deal with as it pursues its objective of keeping the economy on a sustainable, non-inflationary track. Dealing with such uncertainties presents a constant challenge for the Bank in its job of conducting monetary policy. Another part of our job involves always looking at ways to enhance the effectiveness of policy—by reducing uncertainty about our actions, by increasing transparency and accountability, and by broadening public awareness of how monetary policy works. Today, I want to outline some new procedures for announcing changes in official interest rates that we plan to introduce later this autumn. We believe that these procedures should help improve the effectiveness of monetary policy in Canada. But first let me give you an update on the current economic situation. The Canadian economy has been expanding strongly for some time now, and particularly since mid-1999. Indeed, between mid-1999 and mid-2000, it grew by about 5 1/4 per cent. Through much of that 12-month period, economic growth outstripped expectations. In part, this can be attributed to the spillover of greater-than-anticipated demand from the United States. The rapid growth of the American economy has been confounding observers for quite some time now. And, as might be expected, buoyant U.S. demand has been pressing against that economy's capacity to produce. One safety valve that has helped to relieve the pressures on U.S. capacity has been the inflow of goods and services from abroad. Canada's export industries have benefited greatly from this spillover of excess demand from the United States. Not only have these exports contributed directly to the rapid economic expansion in Canada, they have been a source of encouragement that has added to the surge in purchases of machinery and equipment by Canadian businesses. And, of course, the recent gains in employment and incomes in the export sector have strengthened the momentum of spending by Canadian households. Together, buoyant exports, strong investment by domestic businesses, and robust household spending have led to a surprisingly strong demand for Canadian goods and services. What is remarkable under the circumstances is that pressures on the basic trend of inflation in Canada have been minimal. Now, I know that the 12-month rate of increase in the total consumer price index has risen to around 3 per cent because of the sharp rise in energy prices. Although these higher prices have boosted activity for Canada's energy producers, they are also raising living costs for most Canadians. The Bank remains fully committed to preserving an environment of low and stable inflation. But monetary policy can control only the future trend of inflation—not the temporary ups and downs caused by movements in the prices of very volatile items such as energy and food. Of course, if there was evidence that higher energy prices were beginning to feed into prices of other goods and services, or into expectations about the future trend of inflation, that would be different. But so far, this has not been the case. In order to get a better fix on the underlying trend of inflation, we should look at the Bank's core measure of inflation—the measure that excludes fluctuations in energy and food prices and the effects of changes in indirect taxes. This core measure has remained in the bottom half of the 1 to 3 per cent target range we have set for controlling inflation. This is somewhat lower than we had expected. It suggests that total demand, although stronger than anticipated, may not have been putting as much pressure on our economy's production capacity as we had thought at the beginning of the year. The economic outlook Let me now shift to the Bank's view on the outlook for the economy. When it comes to monetary policy, "looking ahead" is very important. Why? Because the actions that your central bank takes today will not have their full effect on the economy and on prices for another 18 to 24 months. That is why the Bank must always base its decisions on a judgment about future economic growth and future inflation. The Bank's latest projection for economic growth in 2000 (published in the August Monetary Policy Report Update) is within a range of 4 1/4 to 4 3/4 per cent—somewhat higher than we had expected in the spring. This projection assumes a slowing through the balance of the year from the very rapid pace of the first half. But, even then, output will probably be growing faster than production capacity; and so pressures on capacity are likely to increase. Because of this, we are predicting that the core measure of inflation will move up to 2 per cent—the centre of the Bank's 1 to 3 per cent target range—by early next year. At the same time, if world crude oil prices stabilize, we expect that the rate of increase in the total CPI will gradually come down and eventually converge with our core measure of inflation. But, as I said before, there are a number of uncertainties attached to this projection. The most important uncertainties revolve around future developments in the U.S. economy. Will that economy slow to a more sustainable pace? Or will there be another surprising spillover of U.S. demand into our exports? Right now, it looks as if the growth of spending by U.S. households is moderating. What if the American economy does not slow fast enough to prevent a rise in U.S. inflation? Will that have a significant adverse effect on expectations of inflation in Canada? This is where the Bank's commitment to keeping the trend of inflation within the target range really comes into play. Our role is to reassure Canadians, by seeing to it that inflation here remains low and stable even if U.S. inflation rises. Another major area of uncertainty has to do with our economy's capacity to produce. As I said earlier, our remarkable inflation record to date suggests that there was probably still some excess capacity in the economy in the early part of this year. Although our projection assumes that pressures on capacity will contribute to an increase in the underlying trend of inflation—from around 1 1/2 per cent now to 2 per cent next year—there is, in fact, a significant margin of uncertainty around these numbers. It is possible that the investment boom we have witnessed in Canada since 1996 will increase productivity growth and capacity more quickly than we are allowing for. There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence that some of the American experience (burgeoning investments in technology leading to robust productivity gains) is being replicated in Canada. Until recently, there had been little evidence of this in our official, economy-wide productivity statistics. But there was a significant gain in productivity in the data for the second quarter of this year that were released recently. Of course, it remains to be seen whether this will continue. Monetary policy response How has monetary policy responded to all this? Because of the surprisingly strong momentum of demand in Canada since mid-1999, and because of the likelihood that this could lead to inflation pressures in the future, the Bank of Canada raised interest rates four times—by a total of 1 1/4 percentage points—between November 1999 and May 2000. These four interest rate increases followed similar actions by the U.S. central bank. The Federal Reserve's assessment that interest rate increases were necessary because the growth of demand in that country continued to outstrip the growth of supply, was an important factor in our decision to match those moves. The reason was that this implied a continued spillover of U.S. demand into Canada, which would add to the already buoyant growth in spending by Canadian households and businesses. This additional external demand for our products, at a time when domestic demand here was already brisk, essentially increased the risks that we would run into capacity constraints and pressures on inflation. Clearly, U.S. economic and financial developments will always be relevant for Canada. After all, we do over 80 per cent of our foreign trade with that country. And U.S. financial markets have an important influence on interest rates worldwide, including ours. But that does not mean that the Bank of Canada must always follow the Federal Reserve, or that interest rate levels here and in the United States must be the same. The job of Canadian monetary policy is to respond to trends in our own economy. Naturally, because of the close ties between Canada and the United States, economic trends in the two countries are often similar, and may require similar policy responses. But this is not always the case. Since mid-1999, the Americans have raised their interest rates on six occasions. We have raised ours four times. Moreover, Canadian interest rates continue to be below U.S. rates because inflation here has been lower and our economy has not been growing as quickly, or for as long, as theirs (so that the risks of pressures on capacity and inflation in Canada are not as intense). Still, I can appreciate that, when our economies move together, people may find Canadian monetary policy difficult to interpret—particularly when the Bank has moved immediately to match increases in U.S. policy rates. On those occasions, there has been a tendency to conclude that either the Bank does not have much choice but to follow, or that it must have targets for the Canadian dollar that require interest rates here to move in lock-step with U.S. rates. Neither of these assumptions is correct. When U.S. monetary authorities take a policy action, the Bank looks carefully at the reasons behind the move and at what it all means for our ongoing assessment of the outlook for total demand and inflation in Canada. Our job is to do what we think is necessary to keep our economy on a non-inflationary, and thus more sustainable, growth path. New procedures for announcing monetary policy actions I would now like to turn to another aspect of the way we conduct monetary policy in this country. As I said at the outset, the Bank is constantly searching for ways to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy. Over the past couple of years, we have been looking at how other major central banks go about announcing changes in official interest rates, and we have been assessing whether our current arrangements could be improved. We have noted that most foreign central banks announce their decisions on interest rates only on certain dates that are set well in advance. In the United States, this has been the practice for some time. And now it is also the case in the other major economies (Japan, the euro zone, and the United Kingdom) as well as in a number of smaller industrial countries (e.g., Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand). After carefully considering all the relevant issues, we have concluded that pre-set dates for announcing interest rate actions would improve the implementation and effectiveness of Canadian monetary policy. We have decided that eight specified dates per year would be appropriate in the Canadian context. The scheduling of these eight dates would be based on the timing of the flows of economic information that the Bank relies on to gauge the economic situation in Canada, to make projections, and to assess the need for monetary policy action. Each of these eight dates would be separated from U.S. policy action dates by a week or more. In preparing to move to this new system, we will be consulting interested parties on the most appropriate day of the week and time of day for announcing interest rate changes. The way we see it, this new approach has several advantages over the existing arrangements, advantages that should contribute to a more effective monetary policy. I would like to briefly highlight some of these benefits. To begin with, the new arrangements should reduce uncertainty in financial markets about the timing of policy actions. Under the current system, the Bank can move interest rates on any business day (Monday to Friday), at 9:00 a.m. Because market participants are not sure exactly which day a change in interest rates may be announced, trading can slow in the early morning, for several days, when there is an expectation that the Bank may move. Removing this uncertainty should improve market efficiency and liquidity. We also believe that the new system will help to focus public attention more closely on economic trends here in Canada, and on the appropriate monetary policy response based on those critical trends. Let me explain. On each of the eight pre-set dates for interest rate action, the Bank would issue a press release that would give a brief assessment of the economic situation in Canada and explain why we chose either to change interest rates or to leave them unchanged. This would also give us an opportunity to link the latest developments more directly to the underlying economic trends in the medium term—the 18 to 24 months over which the effects of monetary policy actions are spread. Integrating the information in these eight press releases with our other key monetary policy statements throughout the year would provide a more regular, frequent, and continuous account of our views on the Canadian economy. In the end, if the Bank does its job of keeping people well informed, we expect that economic analysts, market participants, and the public generally will be clearer about the factors that influence monetary policy and will be in a better position to anticipate the direction of policy. This has certainly proven to be the case in the United States, the euro zone, and the United Kingdom. There could, of course, be extreme cases that might call for an immediate policy response from the Bank rather than waiting for the next scheduled announcement date. The new arrangements would not preclude such an option. It would be used very infrequently, however, and only under extraordinary circumstances. Details of this new approach to announcing interest rate changes will be issued next Tuesday and will be posted on the Bank's Web site, along with an invitation for comments from the public. We plan to implement this system in the autumn, with the first date for interest rate action set for November 2000. To conclude, let me return to my main points regarding our economic situation. The Canadian economy has been performing very well in recent years and the Bank expects that it will continue to do so. The task for monetary policy is to ensure that the economy stays on an expanding but non-inflationary path. Monetary policy faces some challenges in the period ahead—challenges arising from several uncertainties surrounding the economic outlook. The key uncertainty is the future performance of the U.S. economy and the implications for Canada. From this perspective, what matters most is that the U.S. monetary authorities succeed in bringing their high-flying economy onto a more sustainable track. Another important challenge for monetary policy will be to keep demand and supply here at home in balance at a time when the application of new technology may well be transforming Canada's economy and moving it onto a higher growth path. But we are not sure of that yet. While the recent productivity gains are encouraging, it is too early to tell if this is the beginning of a sustained improved performance on this front. Because of this, the Bank will be closely watching all indicators that could provide early signs of such an occurrence. But we must be careful not to let our hopes run ahead of reality and take risks with inflation. A flare-up in inflation and the higher interest rates that would go with it would discourage investments, especially those in high-tech equipment and software, that enhance productivity and are so crucial to improved economic performance in the future.

A court has ruled that 22 wind turbines in south France are illegal and should be removed. Judges from an administrative court in Marseille found that the developer of the wind farm failed to get environmental authorisation to install the 125-metre-high turbines and thus the wind farm is illegal. But their removal is not yet assured as the prefecture in Var is keen to keep the 22 turbines. In May 2020 it signed an order giving the developer, Provencialis, one year to provide documentation showing it had made an application for environmental authorisation. The company already provided some environmental documentation in support of its site in 2011 - but courts found the dossier to be invalid. Not only did the company provide the documentation after an agreed deadline, but in 2010 stricter environmental laws came into place. The courts ruled that the company must now comply with the newer laws, which entail a stricter study of the site before environmental authorisation can be given. Turbines on recognised nature site The 125-metre-high turbines are located near Sainte-Victoire mountain in Var, a landscape that was often painted by the post-impressionist artist Cézanne. The area is home to many protected plants and types of bird which are at risk from wind turbines including the golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, the booted eagle and the short-toed snake eagle. It entered into the Grands Sites de France network in 2004 - a label given to sites that run successful rehabilitation programs and allow people to visit in ways that benefit the surroundings. It also became a Natura 2000 site in 2014, meaning it is recognised by the EU as a nature protection area. Wind farm caught between politics and law Opponents have said the order from the prefecture is an unacceptable political intervention in the law. Julien Lacaze, manager of the association Sites et Monuments, told newspaper Le Figaro that the court ruling was a “rare victory”, which had now become a “Kafkaesque situation”. Francis Monamy, lawyer for Sites et Monuments, said: “Without the May 2020 order from the prefecture, the wind farm would have been stopped during construction.” But, the same Marseille court that ruled the wind farm was illegal on March 31, 2021, also ruled that the prefectorial order was within the law and should be maintained. As such, Provencialis now has until May 24 to submit their paperwork and - possibly - save the windfarm. But a final decision will take time. After the application for environmental authorisation is submitted, an investigation will be conducted into the impact of the turbines on surrounding plants and wildlife. Only after this can a decision be made about whether they should be removed or not.

The Cave Painters Prehistoric cave paintings are among the most fascinating relics left behind by our ancestors. They belong to a time when the human struggle for survival was far more intense. Unlike tools and weapons, cave art shows that the desire to express how one perceives the world is as old as humanity itself. One wonders where the impulse to make art took root. Was it the relative safety and warmth of the caves that gave them room to think about matters other than survival? Or would they have painted anyway, because the desire for creative expression is unconditionally woven into the psyche of all human beings? Animals large and small walk the rock walls of many a cave around the world. Humans congregate on the walls of others. With the march of time, the intricacy and skill involved in cave art has evolved in step with other advancements made by humanity. Still, the question remains, what were our ancestors thinking when they left these marks of their existence upon the world? Were these paintings an act of worship? Did they signify ritual? Were they drawing the domesticated animals they loved, or celebrating the triumph of a great hunt? These are a few among a long list of questions, with a wealth of beautiful, awe-inspiring cave art to see around the world as we look for answers. Prehistoric Cave Paintings in India India has a rich tapestry of cave art from sites all over the country. The most famous site is Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh, whose paintings depicting both animals and human are believed to be over 10,000 years old. Karnataka is home to diverse sites which show how people adapted their technique to the properties of the rocks where they lived. Odisha’s Gudahandi is remarkable for its enigmatic and beautiful geometric art including grids, circles, spoked wheels and ovals. Earlier this year, cave paintings were discovered in Mangar Bani, a forest nestled in the Aravalli hills not far from Delhi. The simple pigments used in prehistoric cave art are very sensitive. While they survived centuries of isolation, crowds of curious tourists in the modern day pose a strong threat to them. Moisture from exhaled air corrodes the ancient pigments and ultimately destroys the paintings. Lascaux faced a similar danger, with an average of 1,500 visitors a day after the Second World War. It has been closed to the public eye since 1963. The original paintings that Robot helped Marcel discover (yes, the characters in our comic are based on a real-life man and his dog) are no longer accessible to the average tourist. In 1983, Lascaux II, featuring exact replicas of the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery has been available for tourist viewing, about 200 metres from the original site. Lascaux III is a replica of other paintings from the original caves that have been part of travelling exhibitions across the world. Lascaux IV is yet another collection of replica paintings which integrates digital techniques into the display, housed in the International Centre for Cave Art in Montignac, France. How prehistoric paints were made If you’ve ever seen a prehistoric cave painting in person, one of the first questions you might ask yourself in awe is how did our ancestors make such beautiful art thousands and thousands of years ago? Where did they find the art supplies, where did the lovely pigments come from?

5 Steps for Building a Great NLP Model If you’re about to embark on your chatbot journey, don’t worry. The steps outlined in this article will help you build a great chatbot that responds to customer requests effectively and avoids using the response, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” The adoption of chatbots continues to rise, but finding a high-performing bot is rare—it’s often pretty easy to identify unseen chatbot weaknesses after testing it just a couple of times. But if you’re about to embark on your chatbot journey, don’t worry. The steps we outline in this article will help you build a great chatbot that responds to customer requests effectively and avoids using the response, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” After the initial planning to define your chatbot’s purpose and goals, the work starts with mapping out your intents and entities and ends with… well, actually, there is no end, because a chatbot will need continuous monitoring, adjusting, training—and scaling, if you’re successful—throughout its life. Here are five steps to help you build a great natural language processing (NLP) model: 1. Mapping your model You’ll need access to real customer logs, FAQs, support inboxes, or databases as a starting point. This data won’t necessarily be used as your training data but as a guide to your chatbot intents. The data will need to be divided into categories (which may not be intents at this stage), and these might also need to split into subcategories. If you can’t obtain this, you might need the help of a subject matter expert to create an initial set of customer questions. Map each question to a category using Excel. Subcategories will then start to evolve, creating your intents and entities. For example, a chatbot for a bank might have a category for LENDING, which could then have subcategories for LOANS and MORTGAGES. And then, within the MORTGAGES, you might have further subcategories for mortgage types and so on. Here’s an example of what your intent-mapping document might look like: As you build your map, consider how questions will be asked and if they will be asked similarly, look to group them within the same intent, and use entities for the variables, as we’ve done in the example. Your mapping document will continue to evolve, and there may be multiple versions through the build stage. 2. Building your base model If you’re using real customer logs, you should set aside 20 to 30 percent of them to use as cross-validation data in the future. This is essentially test data that your model will not have been trained on, and it must always be kept separate from the training data. Ensure that you have an even coverage of all intents in this dataset. The remainder of the logs can help you devise your training questions (or utterances) at this stage and can be used as a training dataset at the performance-maximization stage. (We will dive deep into this in step 3.) If you don’t have real data, you might consider asking colleagues for some example questions to use as test data (but give them limited information on each intent). Once you’ve mapped all the main questions into categories, intents, and entities, you’re ready to build your model using your chosen NLP provider. Start with creating a small model, so prioritize your intents and add them in phases. As a guide, aim for about 40 intents initially. Build out each intent with a set of utterances. If you have example data (i.e., real customer logs), you can refer to this to help you devise utterances, but only use it as a guide. It’s important to keep utterances short, concise, and relevant to the intent. Most NLP providers recommend at least five utterances per intent. Having 15 to 20 will give better results. As you build out your intents, you may need to revisit your mapping document and make further changes, either by merging or separating intents, or perhaps by adding more entities. 3. Maximize your model’s performance Once you’ve built out all your intents and added entities as appropriate, you’ll need to test and train your model, and there are various ways of doing this. Two popular methods are k-fold cross-validation testing and test-data validation, visualized by building a confusion matrix. The result of those tests will help you identify any weaknesses. K-fold is trickier to interpret, because each time you modify or add new training data, the “folds” of k-fold change. Test data is great, but you’ll have to keep changing it as you refine the mapping of your model. There are specialist tools available to help with model testing and training, such as QBox.ai and Botium. These will help to make the process more efficient and improve your model’s performance. QBox helps improve accuracy and performance—in a matter of minutes—by analyzing and benchmarking your chatbot training data and giving insight into and understanding of where your chatbot does and doesn’t perform and why. You can see your chatbot’s performance at the model level, intent level, and utterance level—and even word-by-word analysis. Botium is more for test automation (a bit like Selenium), where it will run the tests that you have prepared. Once you’ve maximized the performance of your training data, you can either add more intents (if the first 40 weren’t enough) and go back to step 2—or go live. 4. Going live and monitoring Following a robust period of testing and training, you’ll be ready to launch your chatbot. But the work doesn’t stop at this stage—there’ll be ongoing monitoring and maintenance through additional training and retraining. The monitoring will involve checking that the user logs are returning the correct intents with good confidence, that entities are being detected and used correctly, and that dialog flows are as expected. You might need to update responses to accommodate user demands and ensure your chatbot stays relevant, and you’ll no doubt have new intents crop up that you need to note and monitor to see if they’re popular new subject areas. As you do this, it’s good practice to update your mapping document. Daily monitoring and training will be needed for at least the first few weeks of launch. This can then progress to weekly monitoring and training, and as your bot matures and performance is proven and stable, this could reduce to monthly training (although weekly monitoring is still advisable). Most NLP providers can extract live logs for this. 5. Adjust and scale Once your chatbot has been stabilized and you have resolved any teething problems, you’ll be ready to adjust your bot to optimize its performance even more. Take the time to reassess any problem intent areas that might have emerged from monitoring, and merge or separate them as necessary (although you might have done this already in step 4), revisit any dialog flows that might not be running smoothly, and update content to include additional questions associated with any intent. To scale your chatbot, go back to step 2. Make scaling a gradual process if you have a lot of new intents to add. Prioritize the intents and add them in batches of 20 to 40 at a time. The scaling phase tends to generate regression, so it’s really important to keep checking your chatbot’s performance. The key to building a great chatbot is to start with a good base, using a mapping document. Start small, and gradually build up your chatbot’s scope. Once it’s live, carry on monitoring and improving your chatbot with regular training before you attempt scaling. It’s essential to find a systematic way to measure the performance of your training data to benchmark your work.

LANSING — High-speed Internet access remains out of reach for many Michigan residents, especially in rural parts of the state, and many who have access don’t appreciate it, research by a Michigan State University team shows. “There are still a lot of areas, especially in our state, where you just can’t get broadband. It’s a question, even where it is accessible, of whether it’s being adopted,” said Robert LaRose, a professor of telecommunication, information studies and media at MSU. Broadband refers to a high-speed Internet connection that is always on. It can be delivered several ways, including the ones that carry telephone and cable television service. A legislative liaison with the Public Service Commission said he mostly agreed with LaRose’s assessment. “The kind of calls that I tend to get are from people who are aware of the values and benefits of the Internet, but are frustrated that they don’t have access,” said Greg White. But the president of an association that represents 35 small, rural phone companies in Michigan disagreed. “They have done a fantastic job rolling out broadband in their rural counties. When you think of some of the remote areas that now have broadband access, it’s pretty remarkable,” said Scott Stevenson, president of the Telecommunications Association of Michigan. Stevenson said that many of the areas where broadband is still not available are serviced by Verizon, which is not a member of his organization. He also said that legislation under consideration that would reduce the fees large companies like Verizon pay to use small companies’ infrastructure could seriously hurt small providers’ revenues, making it harder for them to expand. LaRose has completed a four-year study about rural Internet access that was supported by a $408,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The study, which compared Huron County in Michigan to other counties in Kentucky and Texas, found that Internet use was strongly tied to economic class, and suggested the danger that those without access would become “second-class citizens” in a technology-driven economy. “We found broadband access increased, but we’re still seeing a gap between rich and poor,” he said. LaRose said that efforts to build the necessary technological infrastructure for high-speed Internet have been mostly successful, but that not enough has been done on the human side of the equation — explaining the benefits to potential users and letting them know about Web resources that can help in both their personal lives and business endeavors. And despite increased infrastructure, many users still rely on community resources such as libraries because home access is unaffordable, he said. In many parts of rural Michigan, there is heavy competition between users for those limited computers. The spread of Internet access will open business opportunities in depressed areas of the state, he said. “Starting up home businesses is a way to revitalize our rural areas by jump-starting entrepreneurship,” he said. The Public Service Commission’s White agreed about the potential of broadband access to help business development. “I think people really understand that you can now live in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and work and have the kind of job you want and save on the commuting,” White said. However, White also pointed to the state’s economic difficulties and troubled history with government intervention in broadband. “My own personal view is, yes, this is not the time to be pulling back. But we just don’t have the money in Michigan,” White said. In Oakland County, for example, the Wireless Oakland project, which would have offered free Internet access to the entire county, has been on hold since June 2008 because the county said its “private sector partners have been unable to secure funding.” “It’s a tight credit market right now,” said Phil Bertolini, deputy executive of Oakland County and leader of the project. His team is looking at various funding possibilities and “still thinks it’s the right thing to do.” “We’re working with high schools in four counties up north, teaching basic Web skills. They’ll be building sites talking about what it’s like in their community,” LaRose said.

Despite its ultimate aim to benefit society, the psychological aspects of culture have historically been overlooked because many elements of culture cannot be observed. For example, the way that gender roles are learned is a cultural process, as is the way that people think about their own sense of duty toward their family members. Also, there has been an overrepresentation of research conducted using human subjects from Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic nations (WEIRD). Findings from psychology research utilizing primarily W.E.I.R.D. populations are often labeled as universal theories that explain psychological phenomena but are inaccurately, and inappropriately, applied to other cultures. Recent research findings revealing that cultures differ in many areas, such as logical reasoning and social values has become increasingly difficult to ignore. For example, many studies have shown that Americans, Canadians and western Europeans rely on analytical reasoning strategies, which separate objects from their contexts to explain and predict behavior. Social psychologists refer to the fundamental attribution error or the tendency to explain people’s behavior in terms of internal, inherent personality traits rather than external, situational considerations (e.g. attributing an instance of angry behavior to an angry personality). Outside W.E.I.R.D. cultures, however, this phenomenon is less prominent, as many non-W.E.I.R.D. populations tend to pay more attention to the context in which behavior occurs. Asians tend to reason holistically, for example by considering people’s behavior in terms of their situation; someone’s anger might be viewed as simply a result of an irritating day (Jones, 2010; Nisbet et al., 2005). Yet many long-standing theories of how humans think rely on the prominence of analytical thought (Heinrich, 2010). By studying only W.E.I.R.D. populations, psychologists fail to account for a substantial amount of diversity of the global population. Applying the findings from W.E.I.R.D. populations to other populations can lead to a miscalculation of psychological theories and may hinder psychologists’ abilities to isolate fundamental cultural characteristics. A major goal of cultural psychology is to have many and varied cultures contribute to basic psychological theories in order to correct these theories so that they become more relevant to the predictions, descriptions, and explanations of all human behaviors, not just Western ones (Shweder & Levine, 1984).

Answering the Most Common Questions About Assisted Living A: PBH RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES are existing private homes in an established neighborhood, fully renovated according to state regulations, accommodate a small number of aging-in-place seniors where each resident receives 24/7/365 credentialed compassionate care. All PBH RESIDENTIAL CARE HOMES are licensed small type-B assisted living aging-in-place communities. A PBH RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME fosters a family-like environment with tasteful appointments, nutritious home-cooked meals, a safe environment and beautifully landscaped grounds centrally located to major hospitals and easily accessible to highways and main thoroughfares. When moving into a 'home' environment, we have seen first-hand that it is a common occurrence for a resident to experience a smooth transition without the trauma commonly associated with moving into a "large facility". A: Small Type-B Facility = a facility licensed for 16 or fewer residents. In a Type-B facility, a resident may: Require staff assistance to evacuate Require attendance during nighttime sleeping hours Be incapable of following directions under emergency conditions Require assistance in transferring / must be able to stand, pivot and be a single-person transfer Must not be permanently bedfast / bedridden A: Care Amenities: Home environment where family relationships are fostered Assistance with bathing, grooming and dressing and general mobility 1:6 Maximum ratio of staff to resident (in many cases a smaller ratio) 24/7/365 "Always Awake" staff on site Registered Nurse Director supervision Certified Assisted Living Manager for each home Credentialed, attentive and compassionate staff Monitoring of weight and blood pressure House call Primary Care Physician services House call Podiatrist services House call Dental services Exercise programs / Daily Activities 3 Nutritious meals a day Wheelchair accessible throughout Fully renovated private home to accommodate seniors Clean, bright and cheerful surroundings with maintained grounds Beautiful appointments for common areas All utilities included Flat-screen TVs in each with basic cable services provided Tranquil Outdoor settings Use Of recycled and sustainable products in construction / Energy Star efficient Certified Aging-in-place Specialist Designed Renovations Dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes a wide range o symptoms associated with decline in memory Or Other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person's ability to perform everyday activities. The most common dementia is Alzheimer's accounting for approximately 40—70% of all dementias. Vascular dementia, which occurs after a stroke, is the 2nd most common dementia type (15 — 25%). But there are many other dementias such as Parkingson's, Lewy Body, Fronto Temporal, brain traumas, Huntington's and alcohol-related diseases. Thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies are conditions that can cause symptoms of dementia but are usually reversible. Dementia is Often incorrectly referred to as •senility' or 'senile dementia', which reflects the formerly widespread but incorrect belief that serious mental decline is a normal part of aging. People With dementia may have problems With confusion, short-term memory loss, keeping track Of personal belongings, planning and preparing meals. remembering appointments, taking medications, etc. Core mental functions significantly impaired by dementia include: memory, communication and language, ability to focus and pay attention, reasoning and judgment, visual perception. Dementia is caused by damage to brain cells interfering with their ability to communicate With each other. Yes. most of our residents experience some level of cognitive impairment and many of our caregivers have additional training and Skills in handling memory care issues. PBH, however, is not a lock-down full memory care facility. Residents who live at PBH homes and have cognitive impairment must be manageable and able to respond to direction. Those who experience extreme cognitive issues and manifest symptoms of difficult behaviors are not a good fit for PBH Residential Care Homes. Residential care homes are a small environment and uncontrollable behaviors cannot be isolated and dealt with properly. Three behavioral characteristics would prevent admission into any PBH home: Combative- where the senior tries to hit Or attack others Wandering or elopement - where the senior tries to escape his / her surroundings Prone to verbal outbursts— where a senior has disturbing verbal outbursts; abusive language A: According to the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), the following are general characteristics of someone who may qualify to live in an assisted living residential care home: May need assistance with mobility, bathing, dressing and grooming May require routine skin care and / or oral care May need reminders to encourage toilet routine May require temporary services by Outside professionals; home health care, hospice, physical therapist May need assistance with administration of medication May require encouragement to eat / participate in activities May need help with personal hygiene May be experiencing incontinence issues May require an established therapeutic diet May be experiencing loneliness and / or depression A: PBH Residential Care Homes is a private pay entity. Payment can be made by: Automatic Bank Draft, personal Check, Cashier's Check or Cash. PBH does not accept credit cards. The one-time non-refundable Community Fee, an administrative fee, is common to all assisted living communities and is payable at time Of contract signing. PBH has kept this fee substantially lower than most Other communities. Monthly pricing is calculated by adding the base rate + level of care fees. PBH is not an all-inclusive fee based community. PBH has 5 levels Of care fees: - Incontinent Care - Medication Management - Diabetic Care - Advanced Decline in Cognitive Abilities Because PBH Residential Homes are all existing homes, room dimensions vary along with bathroom configuration and closet size. Base rate pricing is determined by room. A minimum of a four-month commitment is required for move-in with a month-to-month thereafter unless prevented by expiration Of life or level Of care exceeds PBH'S ability to accommodate resident. A: The following is the process for admission into one of our communities: - A priority Reservation Agreement is signed along With a refundable $500 deposit. Should the party go forward With PBH, the deposit is applied to the first month's rent. Should the party decline, the deposit is processed for a refund within 30 days. - An assessment required by the State of Texas is scheduled for our team to do an assessment of the potential resident. That assessment determines whether the candidate is a proper fit for our community. - Once the resident passes the assessment, the following is required for move-in: - A TB test or chest x-ray (stating free Of TB) dated within I year - A physical conducted by resident's physician dated within 30 days Of move-in - Copies of current medical history - Contract signed - Covid Test within 5 days Of move‑in or Covid Vaccination

Stop Snoring Nose Strips Have you ever been irritated at your partner for maintaining you up all night with loud snoring? Better yet, have you ever woken yourself up with your own snoring and asking yourself the best ways to quit snoring? Despite just what you might think about yourself, every person snores sometimes. It’s a natural occurrence due to the loosened up state your throat relocates right into during sleep. However if it’s serious, it can interrupt rest patterns, create sleep problems, and also result in irritation in both the snorer as well as the one lying awake as a result of the snoring. It is essential to note, however, that snoring can also be an indicator of rest apnea, a possibly life-threatening problem that needs to obtain clinical interest. Rest apnea is typically brought on by a breathing blockage, which awakens the sleeper, at which point the person begins breathing once more. Normal snoring typically does not influence the top quality of sleep as much as sleep apnea. If you experience extreme tiredness, sleepiness and also fatigue during the day, your problem may be greater than simply snoring, and you ought to obtain it took a look at by a doctor. Ways To Stop Snoring Naturally Exactly what is snoring anyhow? Snoring results from the absence of freely relocating air through the nose as well as throat during rest. When this happens, the surrounding cells vibrate, which produces the bothersome snoring sound. People that snore commonly possibly have much more throat and nasal cells or “drooping” tissue, also known as uvala, that’s susceptible to vibrate greater than others. Not only that, however the setting of your tongue can additionally get in the way of smooth breathing. Snoring likewise occurs when the throat muscular tissues are unwinded. Throughout sleep, the tongue falls backwards toward the throat, as well as the wall surfaces of the throat could shake, which creates those snoring audios you long to obtain out of your room. While we all require a great evening’s sleep, consisting of the non-snoring companion, if you can’t sleep as a result of snoring, it can lead to some major illness, such as weight gain, anxiety, mental retardation, hormonal problems, danger of cardiovascular disease and stroke, increased high blood pressure, enhanced risk of diabetic issues, as well as accelerated aging, to name a few. 1. Side Resting If your snoring trouble is minor, this just could suffice. The biggest problem may end up being the best ways to maintain you in your corner. Using a body pillow can be useful in preserving the setting. Eventually, this position can protect against the relaxed as well as untoned muscles in the the throat from obstructing the breathing paths. An old treatment that might be helpful is to tape a tennis ball to the rear of your pajamas so you do not roll onto your back. If you have a bed with a recline control, you can set the bed in an angled head-up position, which could open the nasal airway passages. Stop Snoring Nose Strips 2. Pepper Mint Oil and also Goldenseal If your snoring takes place as a result of nasal or breast congestion, pure pepper mint oil can relieve the blockage. It’s been shown to be an excellent important oil sore throat relief and blockage in the nasal passages, which in turn could be how you can quit snoring for blockage problems. Goldenseal is an additional supplement you can make use of to assist ease blockage in your upper body and also nasal flows as well as is typically found in powder, liquid or capsule kind. You can even have a cup of organic tea which contains pepper mint or goldenseal. Simply make sure you do not have a tea with high levels of caffeine, as that could substantially interrupt your sleep. 3. Spearmint and Fenugreek Digestion plays a large duty in our sleep patterns and can trigger snoring. Fenugreek and also spearmint are fantastic herbs that can treat snoring from digestion concerns, specifically brought on by acid indigestion– an acid issue in the digestion system. These herbs can aid free your body of this acid and also decrease your opportunities of snoring while you sleep. Fenugreek has been shown to combat rest apnea and also enhance digestion problems that cause snoring, while spearmint likewise eases acid indigestion and heartburn signs and symptoms that could likewise contribute to snoring. 4. Vitamin C The sinuses could block the airways, creating the mouth to open up and also the uvula, the fleshy expansion at the back of the soft taste buds that hangs over the throat, to vibrate and develop the annoy of an all-night snore. Vitamin C might aid stop this because we know it aids promote a healthy and balanced body immune system. That healthy and balanced body immune system could remove the sinuses. Papaya, pineapple, which also has sinus-fighting bromelain, broccoli as well as red bell pepper, among others, are the some of the very best vitamin C foods. 5. Eucalyptus and Pepper mint Eucalyptus has long been around in order to help with chest colds. There are a couple of manner ins which you can apply eucalyptus oil to provide a snore-free night of rest. Placing eucalyptus leaves in a steam inhaler and breathing it through your mouth or nose could assist clear your sinuses.Stop Snoring Nose Strips You additionally can try using a steam bowl by putting your going a dish of pure warm water as well as covering it with a towel so you could breathe in the vapor. Add 5 decreases of eucalyptus and 5 drops peppermint important oils to the dish. Always remember that heavy steam is warm and also can melt you, so take care. Do this just before bed in order to help clear out your airways as well as decrease inflammation in your nasal passages that may be a contribute to the snoring problem. If you’re not a fan of the steam, a neti pot utilizing the appropriate service of salts and pure water can do wonders, too, but do not place essential oils in the neti pot, as this could burn the membrane layers of the nasal passages! You might intend to speak to your dental expert concerning obtaining an oral appliance that could help transform the opening of your air passage so your tongue has enough space, avoiding an obstruction when you rest. The American Dental Association reports that gadgets put on only throughout rest may be an effective treatment option and could aid get rid of snoring completely. A dental device fits like a sporting activities mouth guard or an orthodontic retainer. It sustains the jaw in an onward placement to help keep an open top airway. 7. Obtain Your Bodyweight Back to Regular If you carrying around additional body weight, this excess weight, particularly around the neck, can cause the throat to narrow when you set. This develops a higher incidence of snoring. For example, in a research published in Lung India, “neck area of snorers was considerably greater than the neck area of non-snorers in all BMI groups. ” This shows the greater the neck area, which is extra regular in those who are overweight, plays a pivotal duty in snoring. Reducing your weight can result in healthier sleep in addition to other health and wellness benefits, and also it is among the very best remedies for people wondering the best ways to quit snoring. 8. Consider Getting a Humidifier Dry air can contribute to your snoring issue due to the fact that completely dry air dries the throat and also nasal membrane layers, creating blockage. Blockage could limit the natural breathing pattern and trigger the tissues to shake. A humidifier might assist by eliminating the dry air and also producing even more comfort for the body, eventually allowing for more natural breathing. You could even include basics oils to the humidifier. 9. Limitation or Prevent Alcohol Alcohol relaxes most individuals, and also because snoring occurs when the throat and also tongue is loosened up, alcohol can contribute to the issue as a result of the extreme loosened up state it might create. This might really make your snoring even worse. Limit your alcohol consumption or avoid it entirely to get a much better night’s rest.Stop Snoring Nose Strips 10. Attempt Routine Throat as well as Tongue Workouts A more powerful throat as well as tongue may assist prevent over-relaxation of the throat area. Attempt putting your upper and lower molars carefully with each other. Open your mouth, concentrating on pushing your molars vast apart yet not to the factor of overstretching. Repeat this 10– 15 times, and you will certainly start to really feel the rear of your mouth opening. 11. Avoid Dairy Products and also Big Cuisine Late at Night Consuming milk or having various other dairy products could make snoring a lot worse due to the fact that it leaves a layer of mucus in your mouth and throat. This mucous contributes to the blockage of the airways. Also, try to prevent eating a huge meal right before bedtime. When your belly is complete, it could raise against your diaphragm as well as influence your balanced breathing.

THE EAST AFRICA MONITOR More countries in Africa are holding “democratic” elections than ever before with 31 of the continents’ countries holding national votes in 2018 and 2019 alone. However, there are distinctly undemocratic themes that taint the vast majority of votes across African nations. Transparency is often non-existent, accusations of vote rigging are almost synonymous and the list of leaders extending their mandates beyond term limits continues to grow. The DRC’s election in the final days of 2018 was a fine example of African democracy in motion. After Joseph Kabila overstayed his mandate for more than two years, the country finally held a vote that was shrouded in controversy and ended with a result that remains highly dubious. Doubts over whether the person people in the DRC actually voted for is now their president aren’t surprising in the least. Perhaps this is why institutions inside and outside of the country were so quick to simply accept the election result, despite reasonable calls for the electoral commission to publish its data. Still, democracy is in an even worse state in countries like Uganda and Rwanda, where rulers continue to extend their regimes, simply removing constitutional measures in their way with relative ease. It’s a model that appears to be spreading to other countries such as Burundi, as the concept of “third-termism” becomes so commonplace it requires its own name and risks being normalised in African politics – if it isn’t already. All things considered, it’s not surprising to see media outlets such as the BBC ask whether democracy is going backwards in Africa. It’s a common question in the Western media and it’s difficult to argue that democracy isn’t failing in Africa. However, these debates – especially when mediated by Western parties – have a habit of conveniently overlooking the fact that democracy never really worked in the first place for African nations. When did democracy ever work for Africa? Proponents of democracy in Africa will point to countries like South Africa and Kenya where constitutions are adhered to and new leaders are elected five or ten years. These are the success stories and two of the continent’s largest economies (South Africa is the second largest and Kenya the eighth, according to IMF data) steering Africa to a more democratic future. However, elections in Kenya and South Africa are constantly marred by controversy. South Africa’s new leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, was the only candidate in the country’s presidential election in February 2018 as its democracy failed to produce a single rival candidate. In 2017, Kenya was forced to hold two presidential elections after the result from its first was annulled over claims of vote fraud. President Kenyatta’s only opponent pulled out of the second election, insisting that nothing had changed since the first vote, and communities of opposition supporters were prevented from voting amid security fears. Kenyatta won the second poll with a 98% majority from a turnout of under 39% – less than half of the people who voted in the first election. Dozens of opposition supporters were killed in violence across the prolonged election period. In January, Africa celebrated another “democratic” election and one of its most historic. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had never managed a peaceful transition of power until opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi was named the country’s new president. It was a democratic fairytale in a nation dogged by political insecurity. The problem with fairytales is they’re pure fiction. The DRC’s historic election was quickly disputed by losing opposition candidate Marin Fayulu whose party insisted he won the poll with a 60% majority. An opposition group crying foul of an election result is nothing new but the party’s claims were backed by the DRC’s influential Catholic Church, which stationed 40,000 election monitors across the country to ensure a fair vote was executed. The church didn’t name Fayulu specifically but it did say the wrong winner had been announced and that another candidate won with roughly 60% of votes. Opposition theory has it that Tshisekedi struck a deal with outgoing president Joseph Kabila to secure his election win. In return, Kabila supposedly maintains influence over the DRC’s democratically-elected new president. His party has since secured a majority in both upper and lower chambers of parliament, which makes it very difficult for Tshisekedi to implement any kind of political change without the backing of Kabila’s coalition. These election controversies are quickly forgotten by the international communities, though. On paper, the likes of Uhuru Kenyatta and Felix Tshisekedi have been democratically elected and that’s all the history books will remember. The people detained, tortured and killed during those election campaigns have already faded from memory, except for those most directly affected. Instead, it’s the leaders such as Yoweri Museveni and Paul Kagame, who extend their time in office beyond constitutional term limits who draw criticism. If the goal of democracy is to provide people with options, fair elections and political freedom, it has failed on all three counts. So the premise that democracy is suddenly failing in Africa is moot. The more pressing question is whether democracy can provide African nations with what they really need: security, stability and self-sustainability. So far, it hasn’t come close.

I lead guided birding hikes open to the public as well as customized private outings. I work at a variety of locations but Venetucci Farm and Cross Creek Park are mainstays. In addition, I've added foothill canyons like Bear Creek, the mountain wetlands of Manitou Lake and a private residence sitting at 10,000 ft, north of Cripple Creek, to be able to see a variety of birds in different habitats. One of my favorite things is to scout new locations! Putting the "coyote" in "Coyote Willows"-Venetucci Farm Virginia Rail-Cross Creek I was the Education Coordinator on the farm from 2008-2017 and I have been granted exclusive access to lead guided birding hikes at Venetucci Farm. I still consider it my home base for guided birding hikes and environmental education classes. From around the buildings, to farm fields, to the wild edges, this farm offers a lot of different habitats for wildlife. So far, 161 bird species have been identified: =all&m=&rank=mrec Venetucci Farm dates back to the late 1800's and has been a community icon for over 75 years! Though it is going through a transition right now and is not open to the public, hope still lives that it will again be a working farm and a place for the community to connect to the source of their food. In the meanwhile, I offer an array of guided birding hikes throughout the year. Some of these outings include neighboring Pinello Ranch, a property currently owned by Colorado Springs Utilities and blessed with a series of ponds. Cross Creek Regional Park This 60 acre urban park in Fountain, CO has become a birding hotspot with 171 bird species documented thus far. The park managers are keen to connect people to the park as they prepare for the renovation of Hale Reservoir, the heart of the park. I have led guided birding hikes, overseen an Eagle Scout habitat restoration project, conducted bird surveys and taught environmental education programs for children, like Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Surveys and Sweep Net Safaris. Exploring Colorado-Garden of the Gods Oasis, AirBnB The prairie, canyons and mountains of Colorado offer an incredible diversity of habitats and thus wildlife. From our home, minutes walk to Garden of the Gods park, there are endless trails to hike and bike and incredible birding opportunities. I am happy to customize a birding outing to fit the season and interests of participants.

Biofuels are witnessing a surge in production and consumption globally, as the fight against climate change is calling for renewable and clean fuels that do not contribute excessively to global greenhouse gas emissions. In Europe, numerous policies since the early 1990s have encouraged the production and use of renewable energy, particularly in the transport industry. Presently, the European continent is recognised as one of the largest biodiesel producers and consumers globally, with many countries including Germany, Italy, France, Austria, and Sweden contributing to the annual production of nearly 11 million tonnes of biodiesel. While the extensive rapeseed and sunflower cultivation across the continent contributes to the locally-produced biofuels, Europe also imports large volumes of palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, the top two producers of crude palm oil globally, for its consumption in the food and automobile sectors. For the two Southeast Asian countries, the EU is one of the key markets for the export of crude palm oil. However, the European Parliament passed a resolution in 2017 to gradually reduce and eventually make palm-oil-based biofuel ineligible to count towards the Union’s renewable transport targets for the national governments. This verdict was based on numerous reports that pointed out palm oil cultivation’s negative impact on the environment. This would mean that the European Commission’s most recent policy, enacted in May 2019, aims to phase out biofuel feedstocks that are responsible for Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) by 2030. In other words, this move will blacklist raw materials, including crude palm oil, if its share of expansion into forest areas with High Carbon Stock (HCS) has increased to more than 10% since 2008, along with an annual expansion of more than 1%. This policy, which falls within the framework of Europe’s new Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), thus categorises palm oil sourced from large plantations as high-risk and unsustainable. Moreover, individual member countries, such as France and Norway, have imposed additional restrictions on biofuels derived from palm. Although this policy applies to all countries that export palm oil and palm-based biodiesel to Europe, the restrictions will not impact palm oil’s use for human consumption. Palm Oil Production In Southeast Asia Palm trees are indigenous to tropical and subtropical terrains and are typically found in moist and hot climatic conditions. The oil derived from the fruit of these trees is edible and nutrient-rich. It is a key ingredient in nearly 50% of the packaged products found in supermarkets. Considering that this commodity is both versatile and affordable, it finds use in numerous food, cosmetic, personal care, and biodiesel industries worldwide. Today, among the 44 countries that produce palm oil, Indonesia and Malaysia contribute to approximately 85% of the global palm oil supply. Since the boom in the production of palm for its oil began five decades ago, several advantages have been identified with it. ⦁ Firstly, being perennial and evergreen plants, palm trees facilitate year-round production. ⦁ Secondly, as crops, they require far fewer agrochemicals compared to other oilseed plants. ⦁ Thirdly, these trees offer the highest yield among all oilseed crops. The yield per acre of a palm tree is nearly five times as much as rapeseed, almost six times that of sunflower, and more than eight times that of soybeans. ⦁ Fourthly, palm trees can grow in soil conditions that do not sustain other crops. ⦁ Lastly, a combination of these properties, together with the right cultivation practices, bring down the cost of production well below that of other similar oilseed crops or animal fat. Essentially, the cultivation of oil palm is much more efficient and favourable in comparison to other oil crops, particularly when the question of greenhouse gas savings rises. More importantly, palm oil cultivation also contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by ensuring that millions of farmers have a dependable source of income to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger, have access to quality education and healthcare, and have a better standard of living on the whole. However, despite these benefits, palm cultivation is associated predominantly with deforestation and its adverse impact on the environment and wildlife. A majority of the present-day plantations across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Central and West Africa, were once natural rainforests or carbon-rich peatlands. In Indonesia, the land area dedicated to palm cultivation is currently at 12 million hectares, a number that is said to have tripled since 2000 after tropical forests were cleared and burned extensively. The conversion of carbon-rich peat soils to drainage-based agriculture, along with forest fires, results in substantial emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The large-scale deforestation has also raised concerns among environmental and wildlife activists about the destruction caused to the habitats of several endangered plant and animal species. The Way Forward For Sustainable Supply Chains Indeed, it is only reasonable to question the sustainability of palm oil production when several countries are, in fact, building their efforts towards realising the SDGs. However, considering the world’s deep-rooted dependence on palm oil for production of processed food, cosmetic and personal care products, biofuels, and several other products, banning the importation of this commodity on the grounds of irresponsible production will only increase the strain on replacing this commonly-found ingredient in thousands of products with one that is as inexpensive and can be produced without much difficulty. Governments and NGOs around the world are battling to implement regulations on how and where oil palm can be cultivated, taking into account its impact on biodiversity, local natural resources, and climate change. These regulations will also aid oil-producing companies to ensure a sustainable supply chain and to comply with the importing market’s demands for commodities that are low-risk in the context of carbon emissions. To this extent, several national and international certification programs were introduced over the last two decades. In 2004, RSPO or the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was the first certification organisation that promoted the cultivation and use of ethical palm oil. This multi-stakeholder, non-profit organisation brings together investors, growers, retailers, and NGOs to develop and implement standards and criteria for sustainable practices by its members. Notable stakeholders in the organisation, including WWF and Unilever, strive to shift global consumers towards opting for certified sustainable palm oil over the conventional counterpart. Apart from the RSPO, the Southeast Asian countries have taken stringent measures to ensure the responsible production of palm oil in their respective countries. Earlier in 2019, the Malaysian government capped the total area of palm plantations within the country at 6.5 million hectares and has banned any new conversion of permanent forests or peatland to oil palm plantations. Towards the end of 2019, the country also made it mandatory for plantation, independent smallholdings, and oil processing plants to be certified as per the relevant Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification standards. The certification necessitates producers to adhere to specific environmental and labour rights standards. Presently, nearly 60% of the total plantations and 73% of all the mills in the country have received the MSPO certification, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council (MPOCC). In 2011, Indonesia introduced the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) as the mandatory certification program for all palm oil producers in the country, to encourage sustainable palm oil management in the country. Having said this, there are growing concerns with regard to the sustainable production of palm oil for biofuels. Although entities such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) and the International Sustainable and Carbon Certification (ISCC), which the EU already requires, are seeking to certify biofuels, their efforts are still at a very nascent stage in the palm oil sector. The lack of transparency in the biofuel market makes the go-to option for companies that have not yet adopted sustainable production practices. Existing certification programs such as the RSPO do not extend to biofuels, making it difficult to track the entry of certified oil into this flourishing market. Nevertheless, this is a challenge that needs to be addressed through the active collaboration of global organisations. Considering that this is a fight against climate change, private and public sectors around the world need to work together and collectively drive their efforts towards making oil palm as sustainable as possible. Several producers in Asian, African, and South American countries have already committed to eliminating deforestation and other unsustainable practices linked to the cultivation of oil palm, and private operators are also taking similar bold initiatives. Bearing in mind that palm oil has become an unavoidable ingredient in innumerable food and non-food products and that it continues to offer immense opportunities in diverse industries, it is nearly impossible to do away with it altogether. On the contrary, such a move would result in rather negative consequences. Implementing Digital Technologies To Strengthen Commitment to Sustainable Production As mentioned previously, stakeholders in the palm oil sector need to collaborate to ensure that the production is as sustainable as it can be. Further, the supply chain needs to be made more transparent to simplify the certification process. Companies need to improve the visibility of processes right from the origin where farmers collect the fruits, to their movement to the mills, followed by the distribution of the oil to its consumers across industries. Technological innovations have, in recent years, played an indispensable role in establishing traceability of the palm oil, from the plantation to the end consumer. Tracing the product back to the mill or plantation where the fruits were sourced from makes it possible to determine whether producers adhered to sustainable and ethical production practices. A combination of technologies such as GPS, satellite imaging, and the blockchain technology that are driven by a broad spectrum of big data permits actors the mapping of the supply chain directly to the mills and further even to the farmworkers. Creating A Digital Footprint From Source CropIn’s digital ecosystem is one such global platform that has a proven track record of achieving traceability to source for numerous crop value chains. CropIn enables producers to geo-tag the exact location and the acreage of the cultivated land with its farm data management solution, SmartFarm®. This mapping initiates the chain traceability for the end product, and each activity that follows can be recorded against the corresponding farm or plantation worker, all the way till the oil is packaged for export or sale. Post-harvest activities, including sorting and inventory management, and order processing and tagging, can be efficiently managed using SmartWare®, CropIn’s packhouse solution for traceability and compliance. Training and Advisory For Sustainable Practices SmartFarm® is also an effective solution for information dissemination to plantation workers. The organisation’s management can configure the activity schedule and the package of practices (POP) for the crop in the application. This can be used by the extension staff to guide the farmers in following the right practices for high-quality yield. The digital record of the completed activities will assure the certifying bodies that only the recommended, sustainable practices were followed during the production of the palm oil. Besides, the agronomists can provide extensive training for the farmers and monitor its result throughout the production cycle. The training helps farmers to understand the need to adopt practices that do not harm the environment. Monitoring Land Usage CropIn’s AI/ML-powered engine SmartRisk® leverages satellite imaging and proprietary algorithms to map land usage and categorise them according to the land use classification system developed by the United State Geological Survey (USGS). This classification based on remote monitoring of land usage will enable stakeholders to compare the current and past land cover records to determine a change in land usage if any. SmartRisk® can also be utilised by palm oil producers to identify abandoned or unused tracts of land for cultivation purposes, thus preventing the need to clear forested areas or peatlands. Compliance and Certification The digital record of production activities in CropIn’s platform, supported by customised Farm-Level Survey Forms, streamlines the certification process for palm oil companies. Oil producers can use SmartFarm® to regulate and track vital parameters that impact quality, including pesticide residue levels, crop quality, and alerts raised by field staff at the farm level and resolved by remotely-located agronomists. Authorised users can then extract the data this Form in the form of a structured report to submit for quality certification purposes. These users can also prepare customised reports by extracting relevant data from the record of events and activities in the database. In addition to the above, plantation managers can also record personal details of the farmer to establish that no child labourers were employed by the company. CropIn’s multi-stakeholder platform promotes the collaboration between palm oil producers and public and private sector organisations to strengthen the global initiative towards sustainable agriculture. CropIn’s ecosystem facilitates the flow of information and the mutual sharing of relevant agri-data to monitor and optimise sustainable and ethical practices.

The presence of pink pumice in the giant gumice raft of the 2012 Havre eruption that drifted across the southwest Pacific Ocean has led researchers to recognise the immese power of underwater volcanic eruptions. In research published in the Nature portfolio journal Communications Earth and Environment, the researchers including Professor Scott Bryan, Dr Michael Jones and PhD candidate Joseph Knafelc, were intrigued by the occurrence of pink pumice within the massive pumice raft that resulted from the Havre 2012 deep-sea eruption. The publication of the new research comes after the recent dramatic explosion of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga, about 1200 km north of the Havre volcano, which has sharply brought the world’s attention to the explosive potential and hazards associated with submarine eruptions. Professor Bryan, who has been studying pumice rafts for more than 20 years, said the pink pumice produced in the 2012 Havre eruption revealed insights into how magma can shoot out and up from underwater volcanoes. “Unlike Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, Havre is in a much more remote location. Its summit is 900m below sea level, and the nearest populated areas are around 800km away on the North Island of New Zealand,” Professor Bryan said. When the volcano erupted in 2012, there was no one to see it happen. But the colour of the pumice tells the story of what happened. Joseph Knafelc, lead author of the research, said the new model put forward in the research challenged the known depth limits for explosive eruptions. “The common theory is that underwater eruptions, particularly in deep water such as at Havre, cannot be explosive and instead make lava flows on the seafloor,” Mr Knafelc said. “But few submarine eruptions have been able to be observed, and past studies had failed to consider the existence of the pink pumice in the pumice raft. “The colour in this case is critical – the pink to red colour tells us the pumice had to be ejected into the air at temperatures above 700 °C for tiny iron minerals to then oxidise and cause the reddening. “The problem is that it was an underwater eruption that had to push up through nearly 1 km of ocean. The only way it can do this is if the eruption was very powerful and able to punch through the ocean water and produce an eruption column in the air.” The research details how the core of the eruption was a powerful jet and able to be shielded from the surrounding water. “The pink pumice and its thermal history tell us that the core of the eruption column was untouched by the cooling effects of the ocean water,” Professor Bryan said. “An explosive eruption column could get hot pumice into the atmosphere in as little as a few seconds. “This was a very powerful eruption. The problem is that previous studies had not recognised or downplayed the explosive potential of submarine eruptions even in very deep water and thus the hazards posed by submarine eruptions. “As a timely reminder, we recently witnessed in Tonga the power of, and devastation and impact from, explosive submarine eruptions, the effects of which could be detected around the world.” The research team included Professor Andrew Berry and Dr Guil Mallman from the Australian National University, Professor David Gust and Dr Henrietta Cathey from QUT, Dr Eric Ferré, from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and Daryl Howard from the Australian Synchrotron. QUT researchers are from the QUT Earth and Atmospheric School and the Central Analytical Research Facility (CARF).

John Keppler is the CEO, Chairman and co-founder of Enviva, a leading global energy company specializing in sustainable wood bioenergy. With the United States settling into a new administration, renewed focus on combatting one of the greatest challenges of our time — climate change — is emerging. Most recently, the Biden Administration is considering a $3 trillion infrastructure plan that is expected to include spending on climate-related research and development to combat climate change as well as investments in infrastructure related to electric vehicles and green transit. Additionally, by reentering the Paris Climate Agreement, the U.S. is back to moving in the same direction on climate change as much of the industrialized world. However, with my business firmly rooted not only in the U.S. but also in the U.K., Europe and Asia, I hear a common refrain from policymakers: We can’t regulate our way out of climate change. We can’t “goal” our way to “net zero.” We can’t science-paper our way to a low-carbon future. Change depends on industry. The need is now, and the charge is bold. As business leaders, we are called on to take action — with the backing of government, academia, technology innovators and the global business community at large — to bring real, measurable change to decarbonizing, from the industrial sector to transportation and consumer goods. It’s incumbent upon industry to combat the climate threat that is upon us. Laying The Framework For A Renewable Energy Future Today, many governments, corporations and global NGOs are actively working to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by midcentury. This is a lofty, yet achievable, goal that requires intellectual honesty, a firm commitment and a desire to achieve what some may call the unachievable. Let’s start with the science. Looking at recommendations from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading authority on climate science, every pathway to meeting decarbonization goals demands major investments in several renewable energy technologies. That means replacing high-carbon fossil fuels with renewable alternatives that complement each other, such as wind, solar, nuclear, hydropower and bioenergy. To be clear, getting to net zero will require an all-in approach if we expect to decarbonize our current energy infrastructure. New policy tools will be required, and capital investment in societal infrastructure will be essential for success. For starters, we need to ensure energy that powers homes, businesses and transportation comes from renewable, clean sources. To achieve this, governments will need to rethink how to transport alternative energy feedstocks from the source of production to the source of power and heat generation, and all companies will need to actively review and revise their supply chains to eliminate excess sources of carbon emissions. Existing fossil fuel uses that can’t be eliminated will need to be mitigated with negative emissions — either by geologic sequestration or direct air capture. For as long as the energy transition has been underway, the expectation has been set that wind and solar energy will soon be able to deliver clean power at scale; however, realities on the ground and the structure of our current electricity grids continue to mean that wind and solar must be backed by some form of dispatchable, baseload renewable source of energy. Additionally, we may need to further leverage nuclear and hydropower energy to ensure clean energy targets are met. Furthermore, bioenergy will need to be utilized to create hydrogen through gasification to avoid carbon emissions that are associated with natural gas. In fact, bioenergy is one solution that can help both produce energy and provide negative emissions (through carbon capture and storage) to get economies on the path to net-zero today. As industrialists, we have to also acknowledge that major contributors to carbon emissions are found in building materials. As decarbonization efforts in the steel and cement industry rapidly increase, I believe they too will look to bioenergy solutions to achieve their targets. Additionally, I expect to see the emergence of a wider bioeconomy evolve in fields such as bioplastics, bio-based chemicals, biohydrogen and more. Until then, renewable alternatives such as the use of cross-laminated timber sourced from sustainable forestry are one solution that can actually store carbon for decades. Climate Change As An Economic Driver While the global economy continues to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, systemic investments in clean energy can enable governments to meet the existential threat of climate change while creating millions of good-paying, green jobs across the globe. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen an increased global interest in and commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Looking ahead, with the increase in renewable energy generation, I foresee a job transfer — or perhaps a job boom — away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. As we continue to power down coal plants, governments should consider converting those plants to renewable fuel use. In doing this, the existing plants, grid connection and transport links can all be repurposed and essentially recycled from coal to alternative, renewable technologies. It keeps costs down, people employed and communities supported and can deliver change in coal-dependent countries quickly and at scale. For example, last year, the world witnessed the U.K. complete a record-breaking 67-day period without burning coal, thanks in part to recycling and repurposing segments of grid infrastructure. Most recently, research shows, the U.K. is halfway to meeting its 2050 net-zero emissions targets. Climate Change As A Common Goal Setting parties and politics aside, mitigating climate change is a common goal for industries, governments and NGOs alike. Transitioning to a cleaner, greener, renewable world will require detoxifying the debate, finding compromise and resolutions, collaboration across industries, and a commitment from every global citizen and business. Across the globe, it is vital that all governments and corporations take an active role today in reducing carbon emissions if we desire to see a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative world tomorrow. Fortunately, we’ve seen many corporations step up to the challenge and commit to net zero, including Mastercard, GE and Microsoft. At my company, we too have made a net-zero commitment in our operations by 2030. If you haven’t yet, 2021 is the year to take that step and make a change — the world will thank you.

Do you know who the other two characters in Scripture were that may have committed suicide? And the more difficult question, Is suicide a forgivable sin? I had been raised with the theology that suicide condemns the soul as it is a sin that can never be repented of (assuming one is successful in the effort). Now that might make sense for a "sane" individual, but is a person that commits suicide sane? If a person is mentally incapacitated or unstable or distraught, will the Lord of the universe look at the last moments of a life and reject one who otherwise might have been a faithful servant? A: A very interesting question! Suicide is a very difficult subject to tackle for many reasons, not the least of which is the emotional pain that is associated with this act in the lives of anyone who has experienced loss in this life due to suicide. As with any potentially emotionally charged topic, it is wise for us to tread very carefully in order to not add to the burden of anyone who is walking with hurts caused by suicide. That being said, it seems that there are many who would argue that there were seven suicides recorded in the Bible, not six. It is interesting that the above mentioned author didn't include a list to go along with his statement. To fill out the list from our Questioner we can add the following three: 1) Abimelech (Judges 9:54) 2) Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23) 3) Zimri (1 Kings 16:18) To consider these all "suicides" is a bit of a stretch for me. Suicide is the act of taking one's own life. Abimelech more accurately asked to be euthanized by a (male) friend so as to not be dishonored by being killed by a woman (Judges 9:54). Samson seems to be more interested in killing Philistines than he is in ending his own life -- it just so happens that he is willing to die with them as more of a suicide attack. However, the primary intention of Samson's final act was not the ending of his own life but the infliction of vengeance upon his enemies. If we were to classify this as the same as other cases of suicide, then I can see the difficulty. Not all actions that lead to a person's own death are the same. The Questioner is right that Samson is included in the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11. The author of Hebrews seems to point to Samson's actions as heroic and strong (based on Hebrews 11:33-34) towards his enemies. Samson is included even though his act of faith killed him in the process. It may simply seem like semantics. But I don't believe Samson was "suicidal" in the way that term is usually meant. Unless we want to describe anyone who acts heroically and dies also as a "suicide." Would we consider a police officer or firefighter to be "suicidal" simply because they lost their own life through their actions while on duty? I think not. It is important to point out, as a side note, that this inclusion of Samson in Hebrews 11 does not in any way validate other forms of "suicide attacks" like we see in our contemporary culture. Although the God of the New Testament and Old Testament is the same God, it is fairly clear that the Old Testament records far more instances of sanctioned bloodshed than the New Testament does. Although war and death are always ugly, Samson lived in a very different time and culture than we do. It is difficult to judge his actions by our own, contemporary, standards. What is clear in the New Testament is that we are no longer to wage war as the nation of Israel was once commanded to do. Our weapons are not fleshly, but spiritual. In no way, shape, or form do Samson's actions condone suicide killings in our own day. Based on such a loose idea of suicide some argue that even Jesus himself committed suicide! Perhaps I'm missing someone. But if we use the standard understanding of "suicide" as the intentional taking of your own life, there are five (5) examples recorded in Scripture that will form the basis of our biblical testimony for consideration in this answer: 1) Saul; 2) Saul's armor-bearer; 3) Ahithophel; 4) Zimri; and 5) Judas Iscariot. To claim, as the Questioner mentioned was claimed in their question, that the Bible never condemns these men is a bit misleading. The Scriptures tell us that Saul's death was a result of the judgment of God. It was not the product of him choosing to end his own life: So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the LORD, because of the word of the LORD which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, and did not inquire of the LORD. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14, NASB) Notice that verse 14 says that "He killed him"! God killed Saul for his trespass and his seeking a medium. God handed Saul and his army over to the Philistines. When seriously wounded in the battle, Saul did not want his enemies to get the glory for killing him or to capture him and abuse him (1 Samuel 31:3-4; 1 Chronicles 10:3-4). So, he sped up the process. But the Chronicler says that God killed Saul as an act of judgment. This issue can get really complicated, really fast. We see divine sovereignty in the orchestration of events, leading to the Scriptures declaring that God killed Saul. We see human responsibility in Saul's own action and participation in the judgment by falling on his own sword and actually committing suicide. We also have a distinction to draw between judgment in the temporal sense and eternal judgment (i.e. condemnation). While Saul was clearly "condemned" to death in this life because of his actions (pre-suicide), the Scripture doesn't describe Saul as being condemned (eternally) as a result of his suicide (or other actions). At least, not explicitly. Similarly, the account of Zimri's death by suicide is linked to the judgment of God for the sins he committed: When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house over him with fire, and died, because of his sins which he sinned, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, making Israel sin. (1 Kings 16:18-19, NASB) Verse 19 tells us that Zimri's death was caused ("...and died, because...") by his sin. However, the condemnation upon Zimri results in his earthly death without any commentary on the eternal state of his soul as a result of his suicide. Similarly, Judas is clearly condemned in the Scriptures. He is described as the "son of perdition" (or, "the one destined for destruction") who was lost (John 17:12). Of course, the reason for his condemnation is more complicated than simply the way in which his biological life ended here on earth. Going simply on the information presented by our Questioner (without knowing the book or the author of the comments in question), it seems like the conclusion is on the right track: it is difficult to make a case from the Bible that any of these men were condemned (eternally) as a result of their suicide. It seems like a case could be made in the opposite direction, however, that the condemnation upon these men ultimately led to their death -- even a death at their own hand (cf. Romans 1:18ff). I, too, was raised to believe that suicide was an unpardonable sin. However, it seems clear to me that this view is not based on a clear teaching of the Scriptures. There is no passage that states it that way. One of the aspects of the question above includes an inquiry into the sanity of someone who commits suicide. I'm not a mental health professional. I hesitate to wander into such foreign territory. I do feel safe in saying that the person who commits suicide (or even contemplates it) is in a dark and difficult place. As someone who has battled depression and suicidal thoughts in my past, I can honestly say that I don't ever believe I was "out of touch with reality" (which, of course, is usually what someone who is out of touch would say!), even though I was hopeless and desperate. Being without hope and being desperate are not emotional states that are reserved for the person who is insane. I don't think that the sanity of Saul, his armor-bearer, or Judas should necessarily be in question. I don't think psychoanalysis would prove fruitful for our purposes. All of these men, however, were clearly in a dark place. They were being tormented and led by external (and sometimes internal; Luke 22:3) forces beyond their understanding and control. come to Christ. It becomes a leap in logic and faith to connect the reality that suicide is outside of God's plan for His children and that it is, therefore, a sinful act to the conclusion that it is unforgivable. According to my understanding of Scripture, there is only one unforgivable sin: blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Of all of the possible interpretations of this particular passage, I've never heard anyone attempt to link suicide to the blasphemy of the Spirit. That doesn't mean it hasn't been. I just don't see the connection. The question above raises a different reason for this being unforgivable: the fact that repentance for this particular sin is impossible if the act itself succeeds. As I was growing up, this was the reasoning I remember receiving for the belief that suicide was a direct ticket to Hell. However, I now see that this theological reasoning isn't sound. This brings us dangerously close to a works-based salvation. The Scripture clearly denies we can be saved by our works (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 1:9). Also, Salvation is not something that can be "lost" on a technicality. I don't believe that this reasoning works any better than one I hear a Christian radio host use frequently: "If I am driving down the road and see a billboard with an immodestly dressed woman on it selling some product and a fleeting lustful thought crosses my mind, and then I'm killed in a car accident without having the opportunity to repent, have I lost my salvation?" I think that the answer to this question is clearly, No. Repentance is a gift from the Lord. All of His children should walk in a lifestyle of repentance in order to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us constantly and move freely in our lives without being hindered or quenched by our living in sin. However, each of us has more "sin" in our life than we even realize. You would be hard-pressed to convince me that anyone (aside from Jesus) ever passed into death without any un-repented-from sins on their account! So, what reason would we have for believing that suicide is the exception? I suppose it could be argued that suicide is an act of apostasy. But you'll have a hard time making that case from Scripture. In the end, I'm not sure that I can answer this question with certainty. The admonition of the Scripture is to endure until the end. God is faithful. His promises are for those who endure (Mark 13:13; 2 Timothy 2:12). I'm not sure that someone who commits suicide has fallen short of that goal or not. Ultimately, entrance into relationship with the Living God and consequently, into His heaven, is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ. While it is difficult for me to understand how someone who is genuinely saved and walking as a child of light could be in such a dark place as to commit suicide, that doesn't mean it's impossible. Many things that are hard to believe are nevertheless true. My own depression has changed now that I'm a Christian. It didn't disappear completely. I no longer have suicidal thoughts. But my experience is just that - mine. I don't want to go beyond what the Bible teaches and think my experiences are true for everyone. We have to trust in the One who judges all things impartially and who is always good to do what is right. And He will. Suicide isn't a good option. It is not the only option. My prayer is that all who are in darkness will come into the light of Jesus. That they will allow Him to be their source of victory and joy in this broken world. For those who have endured the loss of a friend or a loved one through the act of suicide, my encouragement is that the Bible does not declare without a shadow of a doubt that this is clear evidence of their damnation for eternity. God will do what is right. We can rest in His goodness, even in such a difficult case.

An easy method, accessible to all, that allows you to learn the technique of ka and all the rhythms of gwoka. It uses two forms of writing. The first uses letters and the second signs are inspired by the ka itself. It has a proven track record and is used by many teachers. A technique for those who master their instrument. It allows you to play the rhythms while allowing you to hear mawkaj phrases. Thus one has the impression to hear two drums. Boulamawkaj requires great rigor. Musical reading allows you to play complex and long rhythmic parts. It allows better management of sounds in space and time, while respecting a color specific to Guadeloupe. The history of the scales tells us that the pentatonic scale is by far, Some musicologists think that it is more than 40,000 years old, av. J. - C., and that all the musics of the world are thus coming from this pentatonic range. The major and minor ranges, they, exist only since 3-4 centuries. The gwoka does not escape the rule, it comes directly from the pentatonic system. Moreover, it offers within it all the evolution of music over 40,000 years. Christian DAHOMAY, in his latest book "Ganm a gwoka" (gwoka scales), shows this evolution over only about fifty years, through works of the tradition, and how the songs passed of the pentatonic scales (music modal) to the major and minor scales (tonal music). He embellishes his subject with many traditional gwoka songs. He also proposes, in a second time, a whole series of exercises which will make it possible to control the pentatonic scales in the gwoka. This document is voluminous, it represents 47 years of research that it puts at the service of all.

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Toddler behavior problem is one of the most common problems faced by most of the parents. It can be pretty challenging as well as requires rights methods to teach your child the right behaviors. The problems usually start around eighteen months and some children have problems beyond three years of their age. During this time, they pass through many new emotional, intellectual and physical experiences. You must remember that you are dealing with a child, therefore, make sure you are taking the right steps with the help of an experienced person. Your child has a limited vocabulary and does not understand everything you say. They have no common sense and cannot reason. Your child does not understand the mixed messages or subtleties. Make sure your body language does not give a different message of what you are saying to your children. Your child has Normal Child Behavior problems. He or she does not have a malicious streak and they just do what kids do. It is part of normal development of the child who wants to be the center of attention. Your child needs to receive clear messages from you and you have to be consistent. In addition, both parents must be given the same message, to their child. Toddler behavior problem is a common; therefore, you do not have to worry about it. Your child will have unacceptable child behavior problems and being out of control from time to time. That does not make him or her a bad child. Positive reinforcement works on the behavior problems of young children can work quickly. Give lots of positive attention from the behaviors you want to view from your child. We are usually pretty good at criticizing, but not so good at giving positive feedback. Your child needs a positive vote. Therefore, when he or she is being good, let them know how much you like and reward them. For example you can print out some of their favorite coloring pages for them to color. You can find a large variety of coloring pages such as my little pony coloring pages free online. Ignoring the toddler behavior problems will also create a major impact on the discipline of your child. Your child’s motivation is to get his attention and if you do not receive the attention, he will try something else. Remember, you have to be consistent while opting for these tips. You can plan a birthday party that both your child and you can enjoy. The birthday kid will enjoy their big day, and you will enjoy the smiles – and even the work that goes into planning it. It’s easier than you might think. No stress, just fun! Birthday Party Philosophy 101 Before we party, let’s wax philosophical. The party is NOT about us, the parents. It’s about the birthday kids. I’m sorry if that seems elemental, but it’s a concept that I had to embrace after stressing out about a four year old’s party. This is what I learned: four year olds pretty much don’t care how fancy the party is, they just want one. So in subsequent years I decided to relax and have discovered a whole new stress free version of party planning that works even now that my kids are older. Home Sweet Home Every store, restaurant and entertainment center offers easy birthday party options – for a price . The birthday party ideas listed here bring the birthday party back to home sweet home and consequently lets you keep some extra cash at home sweet home. Homemade Trade (Up) There’s a saying “you either pay time or you pay money.” Usually you save time by paying for convenience or you pay with time by saving money on homemade. I’d like to suggest that you don’t have to pay very much of either to have a birthday party your girl will enjoy. There are money saving parties that are not time intensive. “Keep it simple, sweetie.” Don’t try to impress the other moms with your kid’s birthday party. It’s not about you, it’s about the birthday kid. Keeping it simple and hitting the highlights listed below will make you both happy. If it stesses you out, don’t do it. What kid wants a stressed out adult running the show? Keep it simple. To have a successful birthday party, these are the things you must have: The number of friends invited will impact the expense of the party. Communicate the limit to the birthday child and his or her expectations will not be disappointed. Once you’ve chosen a limit of guests, you know the number of invitations to send out. Store bought invites are easy, but I love encouraging my children to be creative. With a scanner it’s easy to duplicate their artwork and then with an office suite program, it’s simple to type in the info next to her drawing. Not only is it creative, but it’s personal (and cheap!). Things such as balloons and streamers to let people know that this is not just any ordinary day. If you are having a theme party, save money by having one theme item (such as the plates, or even just a balloon) and have the rest of the paper goods be coordinating solid colors. 4.Birthday Cake / Cupcakes Besides the presents, this is the most exciting part of the party. It’s when everyone sings to the birthday child and focuses all their attention on them. Homemade cakes are inexpensive. Decorative frosting is easy to use, but too many colors & you might as well have bought a store made cake. Use simple white frosting and add food coloring to it, then put it in a plastic bag with a corner cut off. It works well, is cheap & you can have multiple colors for the cost of one. This could be a game or a craft. Have one to do and a back up planned just in case things go faster than you planned and the friends’ rides aren’t coming for another 15 minutes. Usually, though, the kids entertain themselves, so no stress here. Some basic craft ideas: decorate a frame & put a photo of the parties in the frame for them to take home, paint a mini-pumpkin, make a door hanger. Some easy party games: Cake Walk, Balloon Stomp, Pinata, Coloring Pages. These are a necessary expense. These little friends got your child a nice birthday present, so it would be nice of you to give them a little something to take home too. No need to go crazy on cost of the goodies, just be sure to have one for each friend who was nice enough to come. A zip-loc bag with candy inside will do the trick. Add whatever else you want according to your budget. Decorate the bag with stickers that coordinate with the party theme. 7. Thank You Cards Again, acknowledge the gift and teach your child the wonderful qualities of thankfulness and politeness. These can be handmade for a personal touch and to keep costs down. Address the thank you card when you address the invitations to make things easier. Creating is perfect for a lot of reasons. But, you may find it tough to come up with new ideas that can be done at low costs. Read this article for a few tips. Do you require an awesome resource for art items? There are plenty of online shops which may have key financial savings on these things. A quick research can help you track down the very best bargains. Numerous best Online stores even offer shipping and delivery. You will have the choice of using various kinds of things in your arts and crafts. For example, papers items are wonderful. From document bath towel rolls to bathroom pieces of paper moves, there is a variety of things to make. Save of your respective aged publications to use for collages or scrap-booking. By utilizing it inside your jobs instead, keep imaginative using what you generally chuck out. Beadaholique is really a store to find practically almost everything required to make custom jewelry. You can find various add-ons, chains and beads to generate beautiful precious jewelry. Costume jewellery is modern at this time. There is lots of cash to get protected, and also a new addition to choose your clothing, if you are searching for creating your own personal bit. Examine Beadaholique to find precious jewelry products. There are many different chains, beads and add-ons for producing gorgeous precious jewelry. Much of today’s fashion is focused on costume expensive jewelry. It can be possible to help save lots of money and have tightly corresponding goods, by making products of your own. Set your give attention to one factor while keeping it there. When focusing on this particular pastime, it can be luring to launch many different assignments all at once. On the other hand, consistently starting new assignments signifies in no way finishing them. Finish off your creating task before starting a replacement. This will aid ensure that your craft jobs get done. You don’t have to have a conclusion activity when working on projects with children. Enable your children work wilderness because of their imaginations, sometimes by not demonstrating cases, or by showing a selection of different types of possibilities. They could enjoy their encounters like Picasso, as an example. Ideas which come from them will be more significant compared to final results. Many little ones appreciate crafts and arts. If there is a couple of little one included, consider a group exercise they can all adore. It is simple to discover ideas on the Internet or perhaps question other moms and dads for recommendations if you cannot think about anything your children will delight in performing. To generate a adorable pet bird feeding together with your youngsters, use some pine cones and peanut butter. Roll the pine-cone in birdseed in order that it sticks to the sticky peanut butter. The seeds will keep to the cone, despite the peanut butter dries out. Then you can definitely affix a string and dangle if through your beloved plant for that wildlife to feast on. Look in your kitchen for create components. You can find many wonderful ideas about crafts and arts there. Light weight aluminum foil, plastic-type material storage containers and jars are just some of them. You could potentially even make use of dried up noodles and legumes for your personal resources. These tips will bring you all set for your upcoming create task. Whichever sort of art work you produce, you could always improve your talent and utilize good tips. Imagination is focused on expansion and change while you strive to make greater art. Many people learn how to turn out to be mother and father without prior coaching past the things they have kids of their mothers and fathers. Investigate the advice provided by the following post if you want to boost your raising a child abilities. It can be time for you to deal with each of the being a parent with information and also intuition. Obvious some area with a counter close to the kitchen sink, have your son or daughter set down, and operate water from your tap across the your hair and head. This procedure is beneficial for preschoolers who happen to be afraid to dunk their mind dunked in to the h2o. When traveling having a tiny little one, strive to keep his having and resting timetable the same as it really is at home. Vacation might be nerve-racking for newborns and children. Preserving bed time rituals can provide convenience to your kid inside the unknown room and support ensure that he / she gets plenty of you to have the sleeping you will need. Infants and children should not should beverage any kind of soft drink. Though it may be factual that your children will need and deserve your time, you usually must set aside a little while for your self. This assists you be yourself and a father or mother. Each and every child is distinct requirements and requirements.Successful tactics with one particular kid may have no effect in any way on yet another.This applies to advantages in addition to willpower type. Keep in mind what strategies you may have attempted that proved helpful effectively, and the ones that usually do not. A lot of young children truly feel resentment about the truth that their true mother and father are not any longer together. Your stepchild and you will slowly learn how to go along together, by moving not and gradually looking to speed up a relationship. These actions are an easy way to your little ones to produce friends and build self-confidence, that can help your son or daughter right through maturity. Crew sports support your child develop their confidence. Several international airports now have lanes specifically for households. This enables you to not hurried or think that other tourists are getting impatient along with your youngsters through the longer outlines. Every thing has to be x-rayed, such as the kids’ shoes or boots in addition to their car seats. Comprehend that you may have to respond to some tough questions when your youngster becomes a suitable age when you are an adoptive father or mother. Followed children are always going to need to know exactly where they were in the beginning from, and finally they will come your way for replies. If very good actions doesn’t get them the eye they desire, they use inadequate actions, youngsters love praise provide it with for them whenever they act nicely.. Moms and dads who forget to supply their children with beneficial focus on proper events are be inspiring potentially bad habits. Because you look at this article shows you wish to become a better father or mother. Congrats, and keep in mind that excellent moms and dads attempt as tough as they are able. There may be constantly time to become a much better father or mother.

The topic of debate was “how effective is the process of justice (police, courts and prison) in Sri Lanka”. The law students who are being trained to defend and uphold the justice system of the country and the prisoners who at times have become victims of this system argued the pros and cons of its everyday realities. The debate organized by the Human Rights Office Kandy, called it the ‘Mandela Shield Debate’ and according to its lawyer, Suren Perera, who wanted to prove that, “prisoners too were talented and as everyone else and deserved the same dignity and respect”. This debate between law students and prisoners was fashioned after a famous debate between the Harvard Debate Team and a debate team of New York Prison inmates in 2015. The debate rose to much fame as the prestigious Harvard team which had earlier won the National title, lost to the team of inmates at the debate. The debate in Kandy, however, chose to have a friendly debate and not a competition. It was targeted to raise awareness around the state of prisoners and prisons on ‘Prisoners week’ which was commemorated in September. The Human Rights Office Kandy, which explained what took place, said the prisoners used material published by the Asian Human Rights Commission to strengthen their case while the law students used the Penal Code, Constitution and other legal documents to support their arguments. The prisoners also chose to use their own personal experiences as well as those of their fellow inmates to highlight examples of when the justice system did not work and its practical implications in their everyday life. “Three of the prisoners are serving a death sentence for murder. They had both English and Sinhala material and there was one prisoner who could speak in English. He chose material from English books to argue. The prison had debates within prison to choose the best orators for the team,” explained Suren Perera. “We had two rounds and the prisoners wanted more time to speak. The first round had five minutes each. The second, we gave each speaker three minutes,” he said. The law students who used their legal training, in the meantime, spoke of the various laws and avenues the prisoners had when faced with an injustice, but the prisoners had pointed out that accessing these avenues was difficult for them and even when they did, it did not work in reality. The law students showed that the Constitution had guaranteed the Fundamental Rights of all citizens and that they had the right to file a Fundamental Rights petition when they felt that their rights have been violated. The prisoners, however, said that there were problems when submitting such a petition and that it was hard to get an experienced lawyer for a fee which ordinary people can afford. The prison debate team which was also up to date on their current affairs, used the most recent example of the murder of Wasim Thajudeen and the inability to decipher video footage as a serious flaw in the system. Ironically, on the day of the debate, the verdict on the murder of Bharatha Lakshman, was delivered and this too became a highlight in the arguments used by the prisoners. The Human Rights Office, Kandy, also stated that the law students who had attended the debate, found the debate to be a lively and sensitive one where they were able to gain first-hand experience on the lives the prisoners, the problems which occurred during legal cases, and issues when dispensing justice through the system. The debate also brought up the need to treat prisoners and those who have been rehabilitated and released as part of society and not as outcasts. A prisoner speaking on his own experience said that due to the stigma of his being in prison, his child found it hard to get even a Grama Sevaka certificate. At the end of the debate, a visibly moved law student had declared that she did not want to use the word ‘prisoners’ to refer to her opponents and that she felt that they were part of her own family. Many important aspects in the arena of human rights too were discussed; the law students who spoke of the law against torture in Sri Lanka pointed out that there were several legislations against torture. But the prisoners said that even though they had made several complaints regarding torture, the police was not independent enough to enforce the law. One of the most important arguments revolved around the Victims and Witnesses Protection Act No. 4, 2015. The prisoners pointed out that with no independent organisation outside of the police to help enforce the Act, it was hard for the national body responsible for such an Act to keep the victims and witnesses safe. The debate ended on a high note. Given its success, the University has agreed to continue such debates and discussions with the prisoners and law students in future. The Chairman of the judging panel, a lawyer also chose to speak further with the prisoners after the debate and promised to pursue the injustices they faced within prison with the courts and other agencies. The debate, however, was a spotlight on the gaps in our justice system. It helped realize that the system needed to do more to protect the vulnerable and live up to the common values of equality and fairness. The Peradeniya University students in the end, similar to students from Harvard, walked away at the end of the debate, knowing that they had met their match amongst the orators behind bars

By Lauren Berkow, MD, UF Sustainability Committee Did you know that April was Earth Month? In our practice as anesthesiologists, what we do every day can directly impact the environmental footprint of our hospital. The inhalational anesthetic gases we deliver to our patients are greenhouse gases. The exhaled anesthetic gas from our anesthesia machines is vented off the roof of the hospital, and these gases remain in the environment for several years (see Tables). Environmentally sound choices such as using isoflurane instead of desflurane or sevoflurane and using low-flow anesthesia can mitigate these effects. In addition, the operating room is responsible for approximately 30% of all the waste in the hospital and is the largest producer of red bag hazardous waste, which requires incineration and is more costly to dispose of compared to clear bag waste. Did you know that unless an item is saturated in blood or infectious material, it can be placed in a clear bag trash can? Proper segregation of trash in the operating room can also reduce both red bag waste and the cost of waste disposal, and we as anesthesiologists can lead the way in educating our colleagues about proper waste disposal. Pharmaceutical waste is also a major problem. Unused, wasted medications thrown in the trash or placed down the sink eventually enter our soil and water supply via landfills. Medications have been found in ground water in almost every state in America. This is concerning because propofol and morphine are toxic to aquatic life. We as anesthesiologists can reduce this impact by using unit dose pre-filled syringes and drawing up only medications that need to be administered. With the recent widespread medication shortages, wasting less can mean having more available! Medication disposal systems, which we use at UF Health, offer an alternative to the sink or trash can; these systems solidify the liquid medication and bind the pharmaceutical to a denaturing agent. The Department of Anesthesiology has been on the forefront of expanding sustainability initiatives at the University of Florida. When I joined the department in 2016, one of my goals was to promote and increase awareness of sustainability at UF. In addition to some grand rounds and resident lectures on sustainability, I created an informal Committee on Sustainability that meets monthly and includes representation from anesthesiology faculty and residents, nursing staff, supply chain, environmental services, Alachua County Recycling, Stryker, and Stericycle. To date, the committee has created several quality improvement projects that have focused on: - Ensuring that both red bag and clear bag waste bins are available in all operating room locations - Investigating propofol disposal and waste habits among staff - Completing a sustainability survey - Converting to a more sustainable carbon dioxide absorbent for our anesthesia machines that does not require red bag disposal - Using a circuit filter that allows for reuse of anesthesia circuits for ECT and outpatient center procedures For the first time in many years, UF Health celebrated Earth Day on April 12, 2018! The celebration consisted of several displays in the North Tower Atrium highlighting our sustainability initiatives and providing education to patients and staff on recycling and reprocessing. The operating room display demonstrated our cost savings from using hard cases instead of blue wrap for sterile instruments. Our food services department displayed their use of recyclable plates, bowls, and cups, and our facilities department demonstrated their myriad energy-saving strategies throughout the hospital. Environmental services provided education on what needs to be placed in a red bag trash can and what does not, and Alachua County Recycling provided resources on recycling and composting. This year’s event was a huge success and we hope to make it even bigger in 2019! In March 2018, UF Health became a member of Practice Greenhealth, an organization that works with hospitals to expand their sustainability efforts. This partnership will provide resources and support to UF to expand our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. Our current efforts have conservatively saved the hospital almost $300,000 this past year. This is probably an underestimate due to the challenges of data collection, but these endeavors were significant enough to earn UF Health a “Greening the OR Environmental Excellence” award from Practice Greenhealth! Our goals for the upcoming year are to create a Sustainability Dashboard to track and highlight our environmental successes and to continue to increase awareness about sustainability throughout UF and our community. Lauren Berkow, MD, is an Associate Professor of Neuroanesthesiology at the University of Florida. She joined the faculty in 2016 and currently serves as the Director of Supplies and Equipment for the Department of Anesthesiology with a strong interest in sustainability. She was recently elected to the UF Sustainability Committee. As the sole representative of the College of Medicine on the committee, her goal is to increase collaboration between the undergraduate and medical campuses related to sustainability initiatives. While a faculty member at Johns Hopkins, she served on the Johns Hopkins Health System Sustainability Leadership Council and was a member of the Maryland Hospitals for Healthy Environment Advisory Board. In 2015, she was awarded the Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment Physician for Environmental Health Award. She is a member of the American Society for Anesthesiology Task Force on Environmental Sustainability and served as the liaison between this task force and Practice Greenhealth from 2013 to 2017.

We’re the highest millennial growth city in America. The Monday after Thanksgiving, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney made an hour-long appearance on the WHYY program Radio Times, speaking at length about city issues like addiction, homelessness, trash and development. Despite the gravity of issues, Kenney tried to keep listeners optimistic about Philly’s future. At one point, he touted the city’s growing millennial population as a pride point. If young people are moving here in droves, the mayor suggested, then we must be doing something right. “We’re the highest millennial growth city in America,” Kenney said. “With all the things we’ve been talking about on the negative sides, there’s a positive side to that, too.” The boastful claim about millennials has been bandied about by Philly boosters, but is it actually true? We decided to check. As it turns out, there’s a ton of research on which cities and towns young people are moving to these days — marketers and advertisers want to know — and most of the time, Philadelphia doesn’t even make the top 10. A report released in January by the Brookings Institute analyzed population data from all metro areas in the United States to determine which spots are attracting the most 18- to 34-year-olds. Using Census data, the report named 10 metropolitan areas in the U.S. that experienced the highest percentage of millennial population growth from 2010 to 2015: - Colorado Springs, Colorado: 14.7 percent - San Antonio, Texas: 14.4 percent - Denver, Colorado: 12.8 percent - Orlando, Florida: 12.7 percent - Honolulu, Hawaii: 12.2 percent - Austin, Texas: 11.8 percent - Cape Coral, Florida: 11.7 percent - Houston, Texas: 11.7 percent - Sarasota, Florida: 11.1 percent - Seattle, Washington 10.8 percent Philly didn’t make the list — by a long shot. The city’s metropolitan area saw just 3.7 percent millennial population growth during the same five-year period, per Brookings senior fellow William Frey, who conducted the research. “The Philadelphia metro falls considerably below fast growing Sun Belt metros or even northeast corridor metros like D.C. or Boston,” Frey told Politifact PA in an email. Research from the real estate analytics firm RCLCO backs Frey up. It gave Philly a 6.2 percent for millennial growth from 2010 to 2015 — that’s 11th nationwide behind cities like Pittsburgh, Boston and Miami. So where’d Kenney get this idea in the first place? To be fair, looking only at the largest U.S. cities, the mayor’s bright-side claim about Philly holds a little more weight. Back in 2006, Philadelphia’s population was at its lowest point in a century and young people started moving into the city en masse for the first time in years. With the city’s population in such a historic slump, the relative uptick among younger residents was notable. According to a 2014 Pew report that analyzed Philly’s population from 2006 to 2012, the proportion of millennial residents in the city grew 6.1 percent over that time period. Pew compared that number to the 30 most populous cities in America, and Philadelphia came out on top. Last year, another report published by JLL campaigns agreed, claiming that in the last decade, Philadelphia had the highest percentage of young people moving in. But that research only reviewed population data from the 10 most populous cities in the states. So, at one point, Philly’s millennial population growth did top the nation — but that was more than five years ago, and that’s only among major cities. For its part, the Mayor’s Office acknowledged Kenney’s statement wasn’t exactly right. “The Mayor’s answer could have been better worded, but he was speaking off the cuff during a lengthy interview on a variety of topics,” said Philadelphia spokesperson Mike Dunn. “A more precise answer would have been, ‘The rate of growth of our millennial population over the past decade outpaces other major U.S. cities.’” On Nov. 26, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said Philadelphia has the fastest-growing millennial population in the country — but the most up-to-date research suggests otherwise. Several reports rank Philadelphia at 11th in the nation or lower for relative population growth of young people. While some legitimate reports do suggest that Philadelphia comes out on top, those reports often use data from at least five years ago and they only consider major cities.

In this blog, we are going to discuss the following points: - What is Kubernetes? - Why we need Kubernetes? - What is its industry use case? - How does Kubernetes work? So let’s get started 👩💻 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘒𝘶𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘴? Before we start with what is Kubernetes? we should know what are containers and what is the drawback of containers. Containers are a form of operating system virtualization. A single container might be used to run anything from a small microservice or software process to a larger application. Inside a container are all the necessary executables, binary code, libraries, and configuration files. This makes the container fast, reliable, lightweight, and scalable, then there is a problem that comes with that and this is what is the result of the need for Kubernetes. Containers are scalable, we can scale two containers or four but in the real world, we have to scale it up to 50 or 100 containers and that kind of scalability is not easy and we need to manage those containers and making sure servers are connected to each other. The drawback of the container are: - The container at that scale is hard to manage as containers should be connected to each other if they are not connected there is no reason for scalability. - Distributing traffic in challenging in containers. - Containers are not auto-scalable In containers when lots of traffic comes to the server it makes hard for the server to handle that much traffic then we need to manually scale up the server and if again traffic increase again we need to manually scale up, which is not ideal and soon the time will come when the server will crash. And that’s where Kubernetes comes into play, what Kubernetes does is it keeps analyzing the traffic and load that has been used by the container, and when traffic reaches its threshold auto-scaling happens. If more traffic comes up Kubernetes auto-scale up the container. So, kubernetes is an open source Container Management tool which automates container deployment, container scaling, descaling and container load balancing. The Feature of Kubernetes are: - Automatic Binpacking - Service Discovery and Load balancing - Storage Orchestration - Self Healing - Secret and Configuration Management - Batch Execution - Horizontal Scaling - Automatic Rollback and Rollouts Now we have discussed What Kubernetes is and why we need it so, now let’s discuss its industry use case… Pokémon Go is a 2016 augmented reality mobile game developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android devices. A part of the Pokémon franchise, the game is the result of a collaboration between Niantic, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company. The Challenge faced by the Pokémon Go Engineers: Pokémon Go engineers never thought their user base would increase exponentially surpassing the expectations within a short time. Even the servers couldn’t handle this much traffic. The challenges were: - The biggest challenge for any application is Horizontal Scaling. - But for Pokémon Go Vertical Scaling was also a major challenge, because of real-time activity in a gaming environment for millions of users worldwide. - Niantic was prepared for traffic disasters of up to 5x time What was the solution for these challenges? The Solution “The magic of containers”. The application logic for the game ran on Google Container Engine (GKE) powered by the open-source Kubernetes project. Niantic chose GKE for its ability to orchestrate their container cluster at a planetary-scale, freeing its team to focus on deploying live changes for their players. In this way, Niantic used Google Cloud to turn Pokémon Go into service for millions of players, continuously adapting and improving. This got them more time to concentrate on building the game’s application logic and new features rather than worrying about the scaling part. Here you heard the term orchestrate and that might made you think what that is, so let me simplify it for you. Kubernetes orchestration allows you to build application services that span multiple containers, schedule containers across a cluster, scale those containers, and manage their health over time. Kubernetes eliminates many of the manual processes involved in deploying and scaling containerized applications. “Going Viral” is not always easy to predict but you can always have Kubernetes in your tech stack. How does Kubernetes work? So in Kubernetes, there is a Kubernetes master that controls everything, point to be noted that the container does not run in Kubernetes Master, containers run in nodes. First, we need to create a master that’s the first step to create a cluster then connect nodes to the master. Master only be scheduling and replicating containers to the nodes and makes sure that configurations are right. There is two way to access Kubernetes master: The default way to access the Kubernetes master is using CLI. Lets first discuss the terminologies: - Master: Master control the cluster and nodes in it. - Node: Node host the container inside them and containers are inside pods. - Pods: Pods are a logical collection of containers that need to interact with each other for an application. So basically Master control the nodes and inside the, here are containers and containers are stored in multiple pods.

Mutual Funds Disclaimer On Investing What is investing? At its simplest, investing is when you acquire possessions you anticipate to make a benefit from in the future. That might refer to purchasing a house (or other residential or commercial property) you believe will rise in value, though it typically refers to purchasing stocks and bonds. How is investing various than conserving? Saving and investing both involve reserving money for future use, but there are a great deal of distinctions, too. It most likely won’t be much and typically stops working to keep up with inflation (the rate at which costs are rising). Usually, it’s finest to just invest cash you will not require for a little while, as the stock exchange varies and you do not want to be required to sell stocks that are down due to the fact that you need the cash. Before you can invest any of the cash you have actually developed up through investments, you’ll have to sell them. With stocks, it might take days prior to the profits are settled in your bank account, and selling residential or commercial property can take months (or longer). Normally speaking, you can access cash in your cost savings account anytime. You don’t have to choose just one. You canand most likely shouldinvest for numerous objectives at as soon as, though your method might need to be different. (More on that below.) 2. Pin down your timeline. Next, figure out just how much time you have to reach your goals. This is called your investment timeline, and it dictates just how much risk (and for that reason the types of investments) you might be able to handle. So for relatively near-term objectives, like a wedding you want to spend for in the next couple of years, you might want to stick with a more conservative investing strategy. For longer-term objectives, nevertheless, like retirement, which may still be decades away, you can assume more threat due to the fact that you have actually got time to recover any losses. Luckily, there’s something you can do to alleviate that disadvantage. Go into diversification, or the procedure of differing your investments to handle threat. There are 2 main methods to diversify your portfolio: Diversifying in between asset classes, like stocks and bonds. Generally, as you grow older (and closer to retirement) or are otherwise nearing completion of your investing timeline, experts advise moving your asset allocation towards owning more bonds. Time is your biggest ally when it pertains to investing. Thanks to compoundingor when the returns on your money generate their own returns, therefore onthe longer your cash is in the marketplace, the longer it needs to grow. Invest typically. By investing even little amounts routinely gradually, you’re practicing a habit that will help you construct wealth throughout your life called dollar-cost averaging. Make it automatic. Automating any repeating job makes it easier to stick to over the long term. The very same is true for investing. Whether it’s by immediately contributing a portion of your income to a 401(k) or setting up automatic transfers from your monitoring account to a brokerage account, automating your financial investments can make it a lot simpler to hit your long-lasting goals. When you invest, you’re giving your cash the opportunity to work for you and your future goals. It’s more complicated than direct depositing your income into a savings account, but every saver can end up being an investor. What is investing? Investing is a method to possibly increase the quantity of money you have. 1. Start investing as quickly as you can, The more time your money has to work for you, the more chance it’ll have for growth. That’s why it is very important to start investing as early as possible. 2. Attempt to remain invested for as long as you can, When you remain invested and don’t move in and out of the marketplaces, you could generate income on top of the cash you’ve currently made. 3. Expand your financial investments to manage risk. Putting all your money in one investment is riskyyou could lose money if that financial investment falls in value. But if you diversify your cash throughout numerous investments, you can lower the threat of losing money. Start early, stay long, One important investing strategy is to start sooner and stay invested longer, even if you start with a smaller quantity than you intend to invest in the future. Compounding happens when incomes from either capital gains or interest are reinvestedgenerating extra revenues in time. How crucial is time when it comes to investing? Extremely. We’ll take a look at an example of a 25-year-old financier. She makes an initial financial investment of $10,000 and has the ability to earn an average return of 6% each year. 1But waiting 10 years prior to beginning to invest, which is something a young investor may do earlier in her working life, can have an impact on just how much cash she will have at retirement. Instead of having over $100,000 in cost savings by age 65, she would have simply $57,000 almost half as much. See what an individual retirement account from Principal needs to use. Currently investing through your employer’s pension? Visit to review your current selections and all the choices available. Investing is a method to set aside cash while you are busy with life and have that cash work for you so that you can completely reap the rewards of your labor in the future. Investing is a method to a happier ending. Legendary investor Warren Buffett specifies investing as “the procedure of setting out cash now to receive more money in the future.” The objective of investing is to put your money to work in one or more kinds of investment lorries in the hopes of growing your money with time. Online Brokers Brokers are either full-service or discount rate. Full-service brokers, as the name indicates, provide the complete variety of traditional brokerage services, consisting of monetary suggestions for retirement, healthcare, and whatever related to cash. They usually only deal with higher-net-worth clients, and they can charge considerable costs, including a percentage of your transactions, a percentage of your assets they manage, and often, an annual subscription cost. In addition, although there are a number of discount rate brokers without any (or extremely low) minimum deposit limitations, you might be faced with other limitations, and certain fees are credited accounts that do not have a minimum deposit. This is something an investor should take into consideration if they want to buy stocks. Jon Stein and Eli Broverman of Betterment are often credited as the first in the space. Their objective was to utilize technology to reduce costs for investors and improve investment guidance – Mutual Funds Disclaimer On Investing. Because Improvement launched, other robo-first business have actually been established, and even established online brokers like Charles Schwab have actually included robo-like advisory services. Some firms do not require minimum deposits. Others may frequently reduce costs, like trading costs and account management costs, if you have a balance above a certain limit. Still, others might offer a particular variety of commission-free trades for opening an account. Commissions and Fees As financial experts like to state, there ain’t no such thing as a complimentary lunch. Your broker will charge a commission every time you trade stock, either through purchasing or selling. Trading charges vary from the low end of $2 per trade but can be as high as $10 for some discount brokers. Some brokers charge no trade commissions at all, but they make up for it in other methods. Now, picture that you choose to purchase the stocks of those 5 business with your $1,000. To do this, you will incur $50 in trading costsassuming the charge is $10which is equivalent to 5% of your $1,000. If you were to fully invest the $1,000, your account would be lowered to $950 after trading expenses. Mutual Fund Loads Besides the trading fee to acquire a shared fund, there are other costs connected with this type of financial investment. Shared funds are professionally handled pools of financier funds that invest in a focused way, such as large-cap U.S. stocks. There are numerous costs a financier will incur when purchasing mutual funds (Mutual Funds Disclaimer On Investing). The MER ranges from 0. 05% to 0. 7% yearly and differs depending on the type of fund. The greater the MER, the more it affects the fund’s total returns. You may see a variety of sales charges called loads when you purchase shared funds. Some are front-end loads, however you will likewise see no-load and back-end load funds. Check out your broker’s list of no-load funds and no-transaction-fee funds if you wish to avoid these extra charges. For the beginning investor, shared fund fees are actually a benefit compared to the commissions on stocks. The reason for this is that the charges are the same despite the quantity you invest. The term for this is called dollar-cost averaging (DCA), and it can be a terrific way to start investing. Diversify and Decrease Threats Diversity is considered to be the only free lunch in investing. In a nutshell, by investing in a variety of assets, you reduce the danger of one investment’s performance significantly harming the return of your general investment. As mentioned earlier, the expenses of investing in a large number of stocks could be harmful to the portfolio. With a $1,000 deposit, it is almost impossible to have a well-diversified portfolio, so understand that you might require to purchase one or two business (at the most) in the first place. This is where the significant benefit of shared funds or ETFs enters into focus. Both types of securities tend to have a a great deal of stocks and other financial investments within their funds, which makes them more diversified than a single stock. The Bottom Line It is possible to invest if you are simply beginning with a small quantity of cash. You’ll have to do your research to discover the minimum deposit requirements and then compare the commissions to other brokers. Chances are you will not be able to cost-effectively purchase private stocks and still diversify with a small quantity of money. You will also need to select the broker with which you want to open an account.

JCPA was proud to be a cosponsor of the "No Hate, No Fear" Solidarity March, organized by the JCRC of New York, UJA-Federation of New York, NY Board of Rabbis, ADL, and AJC Global. The day was a meaningful and important show of unity to rally against growing antisemitic hate crimes and violence. More than 25,000 people from across the U.S. attended. Antisemitism must to be included in the fight against hate, bigotry and racism by our entire society—not just the Jewish community. At this march, we stood together, Jews and non-Jews, minority and civic leaders, to say no to hate and no to fear. Click here to watch the live stream. JCPA Led Interfaith Amicus Brief in Support of the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program — JCPA filed an amicus brief with 28 interfaith partners in a lawsuit challenging an Executive Order permitting state governors and county executives to veto refugee resettlement within their borders. The brief supports a motion for preliminary injunction, which would halt the Executive Order’s implementation while the case proceeds. The Executive Order would force the nine U.S. resettlement agencies, including HIAS to obtain written consent from the states and localities in which they plan to resettle refugees. Without that consent, resettlement will cease, preventing refugees from reuniting with friends and family, and undermining resettlement infrastructure. The lawsuit was filed by HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Click here for JCPA's press release. JCPA Filed a Lawsuit Challenging Public Charge Rule — JCPA filed a lawsuit with co-plantiff JCRC of Greater Washington challenging the Department of Homeland Security's new rule penalizing low-income immigrants and greatly expanding the criteria for determining who is likely to become a "public charge," which is a ground for denying a visa or green card. Federal courts temporarily blocked the rule, but legalimmigrants are already choosing between risking their legal status and meeting their family’s basic needs. The Justice Department will file motions to dismiss, to which JCPA will respond, in early February. JCPA thanks Harvey Reiter and his law firm, Stinson LLP, for their pro bono representation.Click here to read JCPA's complaint. JCPA Submitted Comments Opposing Proposed Rules that Would Harm the Most Vulnerable: The Health and Human Services Department (HHS) Proposed Rule Overturning Nondiscrimination Protections would allow HHS grant recipients to discriminate on the basis of religion, sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation across a range of important programs—such as foster and adoption services, health care, and social service programs for food, shelter, elder care, and violence prevention—that assist millions of vulnerable people. Click here to read the full comment. The Proposed Rule on Citizenship and Immigration Fee Schedule Changes would significantly increase fees on legal immigrants for naturalization, work authorization, and permanent residence applications, and, for the first time, impose application fees on asylum seekers. It would also eliminate fee waivers for those unable to pay. If enacted, these barriers will undermine access to legal status for millions of qualified immigrants. Click here to read the full comment. JCPA joined The Jewish Federations of North America and the Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies in submitting comments on three poverty-related proposals: The Proposed Rule on SNAP Standardization of State Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowanceswould cut SNAP (formerly "food stamps") benefits by $4.5 billion over five years, exacerbating food insecurity for one in five SNAP households and forcing many low-income people to choose between paying for food or utilities. Click here to read the full comment. The Proposed Rule on Categorical Eligibility in SNAP would reduce states’ flexibility in administering SNAP, making it more difficult for millions of hungry Americans to access the food through the program and leaving 3.1 million SNAP recipients, including an estimated 1 million children, at risk of hunger. Click here to read the full comment. The Proposal to Change the Poverty Threshold Calculationwould lower the poverty threshold used to determine eligibility for Health and Human Services (HHS) programs like Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and subsidized school meals, ultimately reducing or eliminating assistance for millions of low- and moderate-income Americans. Click here to read the full comment. JCPA Signed "Faithful Democracy 2020: Restoring the Voters Covenant" — The Faithful Democracy Coalition, of which JCPA is a member, released a comprehensive platform,"Faithful Democracy: Restoring the Voters Covenant," to coincide with the one-year-out mark until the 2020 elections. The Covenant outlines concerns about campaigns and voting rights, as well as the reforms needed to ensure free and fair elections. Click here to read the Covenant. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM Action Alert: Counting Down to JUST MERCY’s Opening Weekend! The nationwide release of JUST MERCY is now only a few days away. JCPA staff had the opportunity to attend an advanced screening, and we encourage you and your community to see JUST MERCY together and have a conversation about how criminal justice impacts your communities and how you can take action to address systemic issues of injustice, poverty, and racism. Spread the wordacross social media using the toolkit at www.justmercyfilm.com/toolkit and click here sign up to bring your community to see the film, in theaters January 10. JCPA and Auburn Seminary Join Forces on Criminal Justice Reform — The Auburn Seminary's Ending Mass Incarceration Network and JCPA have partnered to offer bimonthly briefings on federal criminal justice legislation and advocacy initiatives, along with several sessions that will feature expert speakers who will delve deeper into specific areas of criminal justice reform. The new initiative launched in November with a first legislative briefing featuring Tammy Gilden, JCPA Senior Policy Associate, and Bruce Turnbull, Chair of the JCPA Criminal Justice Reform Initiative. JCPA2020 National Conference Register for the JCPA2020 National Conference (February 8-11)! Register today for JCPA's upcoming National Conference at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Delegates Assembly will be considering resolutions on the following topics: antisemitism, gun violence prevention, marijuana legalization, restorative justice, federal judicial nominations, and federal unions. Please contact your local JCRC to ensure that they provide their input by Wednesday, January 8. Click here to register. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations Dr. Tal Becker Senior Fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute Israeli Legal Expert, Peace Negotiator Dr. Deborah Lipstadt Professor, Emory University Author, Antisemitism Here and Now Rev. John Vaughn Executive Director, Auburn Seminary Cofounder, Ending Mass Incarceration Multi-Faith Advocacy Campaign Evie Litwok Founder, Suitcase Project Rabbi Justus Baird Courageous Leadership, Shalom Hartman Institute New Yorkers are Invited to the Marlene Meyerson Manhattan JCC's Social Justice NY Film Festival (January 16-20) — The NY Social Justice Film Festival, cosponsored by JCPA and the JCRC of NY, will present impactful films that engage the community toward a more democratic, inclusive, and just society. Through films, special events, and conversations, the festival aims to inspire participants to reflect and take action in order to create a community of civic-minded individuals eager to make positive change in our society and beyond. Enter discount code JCPACINEMATTERS2020 for 20% off tickets. Click here for the full lineup. How Israel’s Founding Leaders Shaped the Jewish State Two of JCPA's most trusted advisors and renowned thought leaders on Israel and the Middle East share their insights on how Israel's past can inspire its present and future. Ambassador Dennis Ross and David Makovsky discuss their new book, “Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel's Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny,” and present novel ideas that can be realistically implemented over time to ensure separation and preserve Israel’s character—the character that Israel’s founders fought for and that guided their actions. Rabbi Menachim Creditor Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar-in-Residence UJA-Federation of New York Gun Violence Through a Jewish Lens On October 27, 2018, a domestic terrorist murdered 11 Jews during Shabbat services at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. This was both the worst antisemitic attack in America's history and the 12th shooting massacre at an American house of worship in three years. Too much blood has spilled, killing over 40,000 Americans every year. Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the founder of Rabbis Against Gun Violence, discusses gun violence through a Jewish textual lens and reflects on the particular Jewish experience of hatred in the context of a nationwide gun violence epidemic that violates both sanctuary and street.

Everyone should be entitled to an income guaranteed not to fall below a level that is sufficient for a decent standard of living. Most Labour Party members would agree about that. But what form should it take? Mounting calls for a universal basic income (UBI) have so far failed to get backing from Keir Starmer’s team. Here’s why Starmer is right. UBI is a proposal to make regular, unconditional cash payments to everyone, whether they need it or not. That’s different from payments guaranteed to all whose income falls below a sufficient level. The phrase ‘UBI’ signals a broad-brush ambition, to which many subscribe without thinking too hard about the practical and political implications. On the practical side, the cost of paying everyone would be astronomical, even if some of it is later clawed back through taxes. Familiar measures are listed as a means of paying for UBI: abolish tax allowances, eliminate tax avoidance, tax the rich, tax wealth and so forth. But it remains very expensive and there’s an even longer list of urgent causes looking to spend the same money – from ending a decade of austerity to implementing a green new deal and everything in between. Most UBI proponents now suggest a ‘partial’ payment, arguing that this will provide income security and set us on the right track. Compass, for example, suggests £60 a week for adults. But even a relatively generous offer like that would fall well below the poverty line, requiring a range of means-tested, top-up benefits. Further steps towards a ‘full’ and sufficient UBI would absorb more and more public funds that are urgently needed in other quarters – to retrofit homes, generate renewable energy, support social care and make sure local councils can function effectively. By contrast, a guaranteed income scheme, such as that proposed by the New Economics Foundation, is a lot more affordable and cost-effective. On the political side, the case for UBI is seriously flawed because it is only about money. We need cash, of course. But we also rely heavily on a ‘virtual’ income made up of in-kind benefits funded through taxes. The value of this social wage is enormous, though we tend to take it for granted. It is highly redistributive, as it is worth much more to low-income households. And it reinforces a genuine sense of ‘being in it together’ – the social solidarity that is fundamental to Labour. Earlier this year I published a book, co-authored with Andrew Percy: The Case for Universal Basic Services. We set out detailed arguments for improving and expanding the social wage. The aim is to make sure everyone has secure access to life’s essentials – according to need, not ability to pay. Life’s essentials are what make it possible to survive, participate in society and flourish. Healthcare and schooling are obvious examples, but the aim is to improve and expand what we already have – to make childcare, adult social care, housing, transport and internet services available to all as a social entitlement, according to need, not ability to pay. The list doesn’t end there, of course. Clean air and water, energy, green spaces, libraries, recycling, street lighting, social work, legal aid and policing are part of the same picture. Few of us can afford to pay directly for these essentials. They require a collective approach, funded through taxes. All our services have been catastrophically undermined by a decade of austerity and are in even greater peril as efforts are made to ‘balance the books’ after the Covid blow out. That’s why it is so important now to focus on pooling resources and sharing risks so that everyone has access to life’s essentials, not just now but in future too. Compared with UBI, universal basic services (UBS) makes better use of public money by investing in the social infrastructure on which all our lives depend. It costs less by meeting needs collectively and thereby avoiding the moral hazards, transaction costs and profit-extraction of individual payments in the marketplace. It generates huge social value by building a secure, fair, well-educated, caring and healthy society. UBS offers a principled framework for policymaking in different areas of human need. There’s no nostalgic return to the ‘good old days’ of the post-war welfare state. It involves a radical transformation of how services are designed and delivered, with devolution to localities and active engagement by citizens and service users. The state provides directly where appropriate but otherwise has four key roles: to ensure equality of access, to collect, distribute and invest funds, to set and enforce standards and to co-ordinate across sectors to get the best results all round. We argue that this approach can deliver substantial benefits in terms of equality, efficiency, solidarity and sustainability. Progressive supporters of UBI usually insist that they too want more and better services. But I’ve yet to meet anyone who has shown how UBI and UBS fit together or how both could be afforded at the same time. Once you scratch below the surface sentiment, UBI is not an answer to our current problems, but a distraction. Unless it is so minimal as to be self defeating in its own terms, it leaves no fiscal space for improving and expanding the services we need. Its exclusive focus on cash payments to individuals diverts political energy away from the collective purpose of UBS. So what are the best emergency measures for post-pandemic recovery? If our goal is sustainable social justice then what matters is not just money and markets, but caring for each other and working together to make sure everyone gets what they need – reimagining the ambitions of Beveridge and Attlee for our times, and staying within planetary boundaries. The UBS framework generates secure employment because most services are labour intensive, dependant on people and relationships more than technology. It safeguards money income by including an income guarantee. Crucially, it recognises the limits of cash in hand and the huge value of a generous, secure, collectively controlled social wage.

Guest “Situational statistics” by David Middleton Strategically platooning Paul O’Neill against righthanded pitching and using Fred Manrique exclusively as a pinch-hitter with runners in scoring position, racked up some impressive Strat-O-Matic results, but bore very little resemblance to reality, just like wind’s one day second place finish. The Bloomberg headline (article pay-walled) is fake news on steroids: Clickbait dominated the headlines: - Wind power produced more electricity than coal and nuclear sources for first time ever - For the first time, wind power eclipsed both coal and nuclear in the U.S. - Wind power hit a major milestone The E&E article, posted on Unscientific Unamerican is less misleading, but still fake news: In a First, Wind Generation Tops Coal and Nuclear Power for a Day The milestone showed both how far renewable energy has come and the lengths the country must go to reach President Joe Biden’s climate goals By Benjamin Storrow, E&E News on April 15, 2022 Wind was the second-largest source of power generation in the country on March 29, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported yesterday, marking the first time wind output had ever simultaneously exceeded coal and nuclear over a 24-hour period. The surge in wind output on March 29 was driven by the Great Plains states. The Southwest Power Pool, the regional grid operator for 14 states stretching from Oklahoma to North Dakota, reported that renewable generation accounted for 90 percent of its electricity production on March 29, with nearly all of that coming from wind. The Unsci-Unam article links to this EIA article: APRIL 14, 2022 Wind was second-largest source of U.S. electricity generation on March 29 On Tuesday, March 29, wind turbines in the Lower 48 states produced 2,017 gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity, making wind the second-largest source of electric generation for the day, only behind natural gas, according to our Hourly Electric Grid Monitor. Daily wind-powered electricity had surpassed coal-fired and nuclear electricity generation separately on other days earlier this year but had not surpassed both sources on a single day. Consistent growth in the installed capacity of wind turbines in the United States has led to more wind-powered electricity generation. In September 2019, U.S. wind capacity surpassed nuclear capacity, but wind still generated less electricity than nuclear because of differences in those technologies’ utilization. The average capacity factor of U.S. wind generators (35% in 2021) is lower than the average capacity factor of nuclear generators (93% in 2021), which are designed to run at or near full output, which they typically do. Wind turbines currently rank as the third-largest source of generating capacity in the United States, behind natural gas-fired generators and coal-fired generators. In the United States, wind speeds, and correspondingly, wind-powered electricity generation, often peak during spring. On March 29, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which covers parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and neighboring states, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) both reported new wind penetration records. Wind penetration represents the share of electric demand satisfied by wind generation. SPP reported wind penetration of 88.5% on March 29, and ERCOT reported wind penetration of 67.2% for the same day. Because electricity demand tends to be lowest in the spring and fall months, some generators—including both nuclear and coal—reduce their output or scheduled maintenance during these months. Also, on days when weather patterns lead to more wind generation, competing coal-fired and natural gas-fired generators often are called upon to reduce their output so that overall electricity supply matches demand. The natural variation of wind speeds contributes to very different amounts of wind generation, depending on the time of day or season. Wind first ranked as the second-largest source of U.S. electricity generation for an hour in late March 2021. On a monthly basis, we have had less wind generation in the United States than natural gas-fired generation, coal-fired generation, or nuclear generation. We do not expect wind to surpass either coal-fired or nuclear generation for any month in 2022 or 2023, based on our most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook forecast. On a particularly windy spring day, when thermal power plants are gearing down for a low demand season, in the windiest season of the year, wind edged out nuclear and coal generation on one day. This “milestone” was largely driven by the Southwest Power Pool (SWPP), a region with phenomenal wind resources and a lot of installed wind capacity. At this time of year, wind is often the top generation source in the SWPP… Putting this into context and we can see that wind is still in a distant fourth place: Wind works OK where it works, when it works, unless you happen to be a migratory bird… In which case it works best when it doesn’t work, which is most of the time in most places. Fake news isn’t necessarily false… It’s often an un-newsworthy headline story, reported breathlessly by the media because it fits their worldview.

There's no doubt that data analytics has become a vital part of running a successful e-commerce business. Analytics can help identify the right products to promote, monitor customer behaviour and uncover opportunities to grow sales. Understanding your customer better and knowing what they want can boost your sales and profits. Less than a decade ago little information was available about consumers. Today with high technology it is easier than ever to monitor customers and see what they look at, read or buy. It is a great way to figure out what they want and how to cater to their needs. With the right insights and the right budgets, some people have been able to use data analytics to make their businesses grow. Here are some of the ways in which e-commerce sites use data analytics to convert their sales - - Product Page Optimization - Product page optimization is a process that takes customer data gathered through online shopping and turns it into actionable insights for the business owner. PPO is one of the most cost-effective ways of driving higher sales and profitability for e-Commerce businesses. With increasing competition in the e-commerce sector, many entrepreneurs are looking at ways to optimize their existing product pages in order to improve conversions. Data analytics can then be used to make product development decisions, monitor market trends and measure overall unit productivity. - Predictive Analytics - Predictive analytics can offer valuable insights into how to react to these variable factors in order to determine the most profitable strategies for your business. This is particularly valuable in cases where the price of a product or service is completely arbitrary and there isn’t really a way to know how much other customers are willing to pay for it. Data analytics can help identify price gaps and help determine which customers may be more price sensitive than others. - Diagnostic Analysis - Diagnostic analysis can help solve root causes of performance issues. It explains why a certain behaviour occurs or how a customer conducts business. While the analysis may initially identify factors that can be changed, it usually requires the development of a more comprehensive set of information to fully evaluate the situation. The goal is to identify changes that will lead to improved performance and increased customer satisfaction. Advanced research using data analytics and actionable insights is a powerful way to solve problems and make decisions for your business. In the digital world this is more important than ever. Knowledge is power and having access to data allows you to do more with less. That is why data analytics is essential for growth hacking and e-commerce companies. Understanding your customer allows you to provide personalized service and increase sales. Knowing how users react to offers and promotions allows you to create a detailed profile of each person that comes into your store or clicks on an ad. This provides you with a better understanding of: Where are your customers moving? What products are selling well? How can you better communicate with these customers? E-commerce data analysis is one of the most important aspects for entrepreneurs who wish to operate successful businesses online. If you wish to be successful in your own online business venture, then you must learn how to analyze and use data in an effective way. E-commerce data analysis has become an important part of almost every type of business. For students who aspire to work in the field, the best choice would be to pursue an MBA in Business Analytics and Data Science. Companies are looking to hire MBA graduates from the field of Business Analytics and Data Science as they would be well-suited and qualified for these roles. Bengal Institute of Business Studies (BIBS) is the first MBA college in West Bengal that offers an MBA in Business Analytics and Data Science in collaboration with IBM. Students get access to Amazon Web Series (AWS) Academy where they can explore many cloud based programmes which have been designed in a way that prepares students to pursue industry-recognized AWS certifications along with careers in cloud computing.

Have you recently been ticketed for a traffic violation in Columbus, Ohio? Traffic ticket fines aren’t the same throughout the state of Ohio. In Ohio, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) doesn’t handle traffic tickets – the cities and counties where citations are written handle them. Fines for traffic violations vary from one city and county to another. You have three options for responding to a traffic ticket: you can pay for the ticket and plead guilty, pay for the ticket and plead no contest, or not pay for the ticket and plead not guilty. You can pay for your traffic ticket by mail or in person at the court listed on your citation. By paying the ticket, it means you are waiving your right to a trial in court. When paying your traffic ticket, you can plead guilty or no contest. A plea is your formal response to a traffic charge. If you plead guilty, you are essentially admitting that you committed the offense and accept the legal consequences. Pleading no contest means that you admit the facts but not your guilt. The benefits of pleading no contest include avoiding a trial and preventing your plea from being used against you in a civil proceeding in the future. Your other option is to plead not guilty and contest your traffic ticket through. If you choose to do this, you must notify the court listed on your traffic ticket of your intention to fight the traffic ticket in court. Some courts require you to do this in person. The court will then schedule a date for your trial. It’s best to hire a traffic ticket attorney in Columbus, Ohio to represent you. You’ll be up against an experienced prosecutor, so it’s important to be well prepared and to present a strong defense. An attorney can improve your chances of obtaining a favorable decision, which could include the outright dismissal of a charge or reduced charges. An attorney can help you prepare your case by obtaining your driving record, subpoenaing witnesses, etc. During a trial, a judge (or jury in some cases) will listen to both sides of the story in order to issue a verdict. If you’re found not guilty, you won’t have to face the fines and penalties for your traffic violation. Ohio uses a point system to keep track of drivers’ traffic offenses. If you accumulate 12 points on your driving record, your driver’s license will be suspended for six months. After that, you’ll be required to take a remedial driving course and then retake the driving test in order to get your license back. Examples of traffic violations that could earn you points on your driving record include the following: · Drag racing · Hit and run · Moving violations · Operating a motor vehicle without the consent of the owner · Willful or blatant disregard for the safety of people or property · And more… Most people just pay their traffic ticket fines, assuming that contesting the ticket isn’t worth the trouble. However, a traffic ticket could cost you a lot more than just a fine. In addition to increasing your insurance premiums by up to 50%, traffic tickets can boost the number of points on your driving record which can ultimately lead to your driver’s license being suspended. A poor driving record can also hurt your employment opportunities, since some employers don’t look kindly upon applicants with a poor driving record.

To help a learner (child or older) remember the spelling of a word, or the way a character is written (especially with complex Chinese characters – hanji / kanji), we generally focus on the repetition aspect of memorisation. Yes, the more your child encounters and writes a word, the more likely they are to remember how to spell/write them. However, to ensure effective learning, three other aspects need to be taken into account. The cognitive effort i.e. how much intentional effort is put in the task. The cognitive load i.e. how much information is thrown at the brain. The emotional involvement of the child. Of course, writing accurately is not just about accurate spelling. Grammatical rules and conjugation need to be mastered too, and they will be discussed in a future post. In the meantime, I invite you to check my previous post and YouTube video on various ways to make dictation fun. Let’s see what research says about these different points. Why is repetition not enough? In their 2014 study, Zachariah M. Reagh and Michael A. Yassa show that although repetition can strengthen the memorisation, details are lost. When it comes to literacy, it means that when reading, your child will remember overall what the word / character looks like, but won’t remember the details. It is a bit as if you could recognise my face among dozens of others. But if I asked you to draw my face from memory, you would only be able to pick up on the more memorable details. In a nutshell, the more our children are exposed to a word, the more they will recognise it. And the more they write it, the more they will remember the details. BUT, this is not all you need to create effective retention of the spelling of words. And contrary to the majority language (or school language) a child is typically less exposed to their home language(s). Memorisation therefore has to be made more effective. In their 2017 article titled The more total cognitive load is reduced by cues, the better retention and transfer of multimedia learning: A meta-analysis and two meta-regression analyses , Heping Xie et al. show how the overload of information can reduce retention, and how creating cues reduces the cognitive load. In other words, if you give your child a way to remember how to spell a word, retention will be a lot easier. Let’s have a look at an example. Try to remember this series of random numbers: 1407178924121000314153945. This is really difficult. Now, how would you find the task with the following #cues: 14/07/1789 = Bastille Day (probably easier to remember for French people) 24/12 = Christmas eve. 1000 = a round number that is easy to remember ’39 – ’45 = years the second world war started and ended. Now, instead of 25 individual numbers arranged in a random order, you only need to remember 5 cues. This cue simplifies the task, give some order in what might look like chaos, and relates to previous knowledge that is better known. This also means that we cannot ask your child to remember the spelling of a word without context. The context creates several cues they can refer to, to help them remember the word and its spelling. The meaning is the most obvious context there is. Here, it is important to note that when we follow a curriculum made for children living in the country where our home language is the majority language, there might be words our children do not know. It then becomes important to adapt the task, and to make sure the meaning of the words are taught before expecting them to remember how to write them. Lists of words or characters (hanji/kanji) therefore cannot be given to revise for spelling tests without the meaning being clear. Although our children can memorise them for the test, they won’t be able to use them and write them afterwards. Let’s keep in mind that we are teaching them to expand and use their vocabulary in real life, and not simply for tests. The words/characters can be explained, but it is important to relate them to a bigger context. In other words, if the word is seen and learnt while reading a story, it will be a lot more memorable. Children living in another country than the one where their home language is (one of) the majority language(s) (or the school language) will inevitably know less words than if they were surrounded by it. If you would like to know more about “The Benefits of reading Comic books for multilingual children” make sure to check back later for my future blog post on this topic. Reducing the cognitive load to help memorisation: The aim is to help your child find again the piece of information they need without having to remember it. The cue can be a spelling rule. For example in French, the silent letter that is at the end of a word is not random. It is linked to the spelling of words from the same family. The word “vent” (wind) has a silent “t” at the end. This “t” is pronounced in words such as “ventilateur” (an electric fan) or “éventail” (a fan). The reason rules are effective is that this one cue can be used to spell many other words. Mnemonics: They work in a similar way to rules but are made up! E.g.: In Spanish, the only letters that can be doubled are c, r, l, and n. An tip I often use when teaching this to my English speaking learners is that only the consonants of the name CaRoLiNa can be doubled. In French, when I learnt the homophones “emprunte” and “empreinte” in French (respectively the verb “borrow”, and the noun “a mark / imprint/ fingerprint”) I focused on the differences and associated the meaning to the cue. In “emprunte” the U is the same shape as your two hands put together to receive something. And the “ein” in “empreinte” is round and wavy like your fingerprints. Now, let us talk about the aspect of memorisation that I enjoy the most thinking about: How to involve children emotionally in their learning. You have probably experienced it yourself. You are listening or reading something that you find extremely boring. After a short while, you realise that you cannot remember anything. Your boredom took your attention away from what you were listening/reading. As emotionally, you were not involved, your brain did not deem it important enough to remember. In their enlightening book Make it Stick, the authors and psychologists Brown, Roediger and McDaniel explain that "On your first reading of something, you extract a lot of understanding. But when you do the second reading, you read with a sense of ‘I know this, I know this,’ […] So basically, you’re not processing it deeply, or picking more out of it. […] this gives you the illusion that you know the material very well, when in fact there are gaps." In other words, when trying to memorise the spelling of a word (or all the strokes of a Chinese character) a conscious effort needs to be made to remember the details. Here are different other ways to create the emotional connection with the spelling details: Of course, my favourite one! When our children play games, they are excited, it is playful, and if they can win by noticing the details, they will definitely remember them (Not at once of course, but the strong emotion helps!) Hangman/crosswords/unjumble the word: These three games all play on the fact that there are a limited number of letters. Each letter discovered helps figure out the others, and where they go. By paying attention to the number of letters and/or those available, your child consolidates their knowledge of the spelling of these words. It can be especially helpful to remember double letters or silent letters. Here is an example of how I have helped my son remember the spelling of some words by unjumbling the words in a playful way. In this video, I also refer to the “power” of mistakes when it comes to helping your child remember certain details. Spot what's changed: Although the three previous games cannot really apply to Chinese characters (hanji/kanji), as they are not spelt, this one would be more appropriate. For this game, you need a double-sided whiteboard (or two separate sheets of paper). On one side, you write one word/character or a short sentence. For example, a typical sentence I could give my son who is schooled in England and learning French with me, would be : “Le garçon est très curieux” (= The boy is very curious). On the other side, I could write “Le garcon est tres curioux”. Can you spot the three differences? The “ç” is replaced by a “c”, the accent on “très” is missing, and the “e” in “curieux” is a “o”. These differences highlight details, such as the cédille and accents, that get lost as they don’t exist in English. The French “curieux” also has a very similar spelling to the English “curious”. By replacing the “o” by a “e”, you can help your child reinforce the knowledge of different graphemes. “eu” is pronounce [ø], and “ou”, is [u]. For more ideas to work on reading and writing in your home language(s), please check on The Parents’ Guide to Raising Multi-literate Children. Using colours: Here is a little additional tip. If you notice a mistake that your child is making, you can write it using different colours. The word is in one colour and the point that you want your child to remember can be written with a different colour. Even better, you ask your child to choose a colour and write the detail THEMSELF. By involving your child in making the details / corrections of mistakes more visible (i.e. memorable), your child will remember them better. - Repetition is important to help our children remember how to spell a word or write a character. - Providing cues help your child memorise for effectively. - We need to help our children focus on the important details, so that they can remember them. - By involving our children emotionally, they are more likely to remember everything.

It's that time of year again: allergy season. You may be desperate to find relief, but beware of treatments that won't help with these myths that have been busted by the experts. Myth 1: Local honey helps you build immunity to pollen You've probably heard that eating raw honey (honey that hasn't been heated or filtered) from local bee hives can help reduce or eliminate allergic reaction to the pollen in the air where you live. Though studies show honey has antibacterial properties and may be an effective cough suppressant, researchers have yet to prove it can treat seasonal allergies. In fact, honey contains only a tiny amount of pollen—probably not enough to provide any immunotherapy benefits. Plus, bees don't pollinate the types of trees, grasses or weeds that cause seasonal allergies. Myth 2: Over-the-counter decongestant nasal sprays are addictive This is a common myth that has some people worried about using over-the-counter decongestant nasal sprays. However, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, over-the-counter decongestant nasal sprays are not addictive. You can stop using them at any time without experiencing any symptoms of drug addiction. Even so, you should only use them for as long as their label recommends (typically three consecutive days). If you're still congested after that, see your doctor. He or she may prescribe a prescription nasal spray, which is more effective and also not addictive. Myth 3: Acupuncture is an effective treatment for spring allergies Though acupuncture can be an effective treatment for pain and other conditions like insomnia and nausea, there is no hard evidence to show it can treat seasonal allergies or allergic rhinitis. However, since a few studies suggest acupuncture may be beneficial and the therapy has few side effects, it might still be worth discussing this form of complementary and alternative medicine with your doctor. Myth 4: Moving will cure your symptoms According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, moving as a treatment for seasonal allergies is often not necessary and, in many cases, won't help at all. Tree, grass and weed pollen is everywhere. You might move to escape the pollen in one city only to find you're also allergic to the types of pollen in your new city. A better solution is to visit your local allergist. He or she can help you discover exactly what's causing your symptoms and how to manage them successfully.

A team of astronomers has obtained the first direct measurement of a young galaxy’s magnetic field, and were surprised at their findings. Using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope, the researchers were able to peer back in time, to gauge the nascent galaxy’s magnetic field as it appeared 6.5 billion years ago. Surprisingly, the magnetic field of this distant “protogalaxy” is at least 10 times greater than the average value in the Milky Way. “This was a complete surprise,” said Arthur Wolfe, a professor of physics at UC San Diego’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences who headed the team. “The magnetic field we measured is at least an order of magnitude larger than the average value of the magnetic field detected in our own galaxy.” So what does this mean for the “dynamo effect” theory of galactic magnetic fields? Astronomers have believed the magnetic fields within our own Milky Way and other nearby galaxies—which control the rate of star formation and the dynamics of interstellar gas–arose from a slow “dynamo effect.” In this process, slowly rotating galaxies are thought to have generated magnetic fields that grew very gradually as they evolved over 5 billion to 10 billion years to their current levels. Until recently, astronomers knew very little about magnetic fields outside our own galaxy, having directly measured the magnetic field in only one nearby galaxy. But in July of this year, a team of Swiss and American astronomers reported that an indirect measurement of the magnetic fields of 20 distant galaxies, using the bright light from quasars, suggests that the magnetic fields of young galaxies were as strong when the universe was only a third of its current age as they are in the mature galaxies today. And now, this most recent direct detection of a galactic magnetic field seems to cast doubt on the dynamo effect as well. Astronomers from the University of California campuses at Berkeley probed a young protogalaxy DLA-3C286, located in a region of the northern sky that is directly overhead during the spring. “Our results present a challenge to the dynamo model, but they do not rule it out,” he added. “Rather the strong field that we detect is in gas with little if no star formation, and an interesting implication is that the presence of the magnetic fields is an important reason why star formation is very weak in these types of protogalaxies.” Wolfe said his team has two other plausible explanations for what they observed. “We speculate that either we are seeing a field toward the central regions of a massive galaxy, since magnetic fields are known to be larger towards the centers of nearby galaxies. It is also possible that the field we detect has been amplified by a shock wave generated by the collision between two galaxies.” “In either case,” he added, “our detection indicates that magnetic fields may be important factors in the evolution of galaxies, and in particular may be responsible for the low star formation rates detected throughout the gaseous progenitors of young galaxies in the early universe.” “The challenge now,” said J. Xavier Prochaska, another member of the team who is a professor of astronomy at UC Santa Cruz, “is to perform observations like these on galaxies throughout the universe.” The giant radio telescope, can be pointed with an accuracy of one arcsecond–equivalent to the width of a single human hair seen six feet away–enabled the astronomers to measure the magnetic field of a single galaxy.

The fields of astronomy and astrophysics are poised for a revolution in the coming years. Thanks to next-generation observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scientists will finally be able to witness the formation of the first stars and galaxies in the Universe. In effect, they will be able to pierce the veil of the Cosmic Dark Ages, which lasted from roughly 370,000 years to 1 billion years after the Big Bang. During this period, the Universe was filled with clouds of neutral hydrogen and decoupled photons that were not visible to astronomers. In anticipation of what astronomers will see, researchers from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPIA) created a new simulation suite called Thesan that simulates the earliest period of galaxy formation.Continue reading “New Simulation Recreates an Early Time in the Universe That Still Hasn't Been Seen Directly”

People have all manner of reasons for writing a memoir (or their memoirs). If you’re reading this article, you may have your own reasons. Maybe you’re writing your memoirs because you want some record of your life to survive you after death, a lasting mark that you were here, something your grandkids and potentially great-great-grandkids might one day read. Well, that’s a fine reason. Maybe you’re writing your memoirs because, over the years, you’ve learned some very important things about life that you think others might be able to benefit from hearing, lessons you learned the hard way. Maybe yours is a cautionary tale. Or maybe you have a story of inspiration to share. Maybe you’re thinking of writing a memoir because you’re trying to make sense of a tragedy. Or maybe you just feel like your life would make more sense somehow if you saw it in print. Maybe you’re retired and you just want a nice, neat collection of all the successes (and failures?) from your long and storied career. Maybe your story can help advance a social or political cause that’s important to you. Or maybe you’ve lived a life you know others would be intensely curious about—that of a combat veteran, leader of an outlaw motorcycle gang, circus performer, porn star, drug addict, sports celebrity. Maybe you feel the need to tell your side of a story that someone else has publicly characterized wrongly, maybe even egregiously so. Maybe you just want people to understand you better. Or maybe you want to understand yourself better. These are all legitimate reasons, and while ghostwriting three dozen or so memoirs, I’ve heard every one of these and more. But that last one…that might be the best reason of all. Maybe you want to understand yourself better. “We do not write in order to be understood,” the English poet Cecil Day-Lewis once said. “We write in order to understand.” No matter what reason you have for writing your memoir, I’ll guarantee one thing: if you write honestly, if you really plumb the depths of your own story, if you seek to tell the account of your life (or some part of your life) as objectively and truthfully as you can, you’re going to learn something about yourself in the process. Something you never knew before. Here’s what’s really interesting. Writing an honest memoir requires self-awareness, and self-awareness is often the result of writing an honest memoir. It might seem like a catch-22, but it’s not. The writing feeds off the honesty, and the honesty, in turn, feeds off the writing. It’s a beautiful symbiosis. And it is in that symbiosis that you can learn something about yourself, something important, something you never knew before. I’ve never had a single client who, somewhere along the course of writing his or her memoir, didn’t have at least one aha! moment. Something epiphanic always occurs. Something hidden becomes revealed. Always. And I would submit that it is in that aha! moment (or aha! moments) that you have every reason you ever need to write a memoir.

Columbus was forced to spend a year on the island after beaching his last two ships in 1504. A year later, Juan de la Cosa also lost a pinnace. - Capitana and Santiago de Palos (1504) - a pinnace of Juan de la Cosa (1505) Christopher Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain after landing there in 1494. His probable landing point was Dry Harbor, now called Discovery Bay, although there is some debate that the landing was actually St. Ann’s Bay. St. Ann’s Bay was named Saint Gloria by Columbus, as the first sighting of the land. About a mile west of St. Ann’s Bay is the site of Sevilla, the first Spanish settlement on the island, which was established in 1509 and abandoned around 1524 because it was deemed unhealthy. The capital was moved to Spanish Town, then called St. Jago de la Vega, around 1534 (at present-day St. Catherine).

Memphis Belle (1944) Director: William Wyler Actors: Eugene Kern Runtime: 40 min. The story of the 8th Bomber Command and the last bombing raid of a B-17 bomber over Wilhelmshafen, Germany. From preparation at the airbase in England, the flight over Germany with live aerial combat footage, B-17s being shot down and their crews bailing out, and then the flight back home. Trivia: The Memphis Belle was named for the girlfriend of its pilot. William Wyler was one of the greatest Hollywood directors. Three of his pictures won the Academy Awards for both Best Director and Best Picture: The Best Years of Our Lives, Ben-Hur and Mrs Miniver, an accomplishment surpassed only by John Ford. During World War II Wyler joined the Air Force Film unit and was filming on board the bomber during the making of this film. Another member of the camera crew, flying in another plane, was killed during the filming when his plane was shot down.

Battery light: Why is it lit? A shining battery light means something is wrong with your battery or you need to replace the car battery. Something may have broken that prevents the battery from charging while driving, for example, that the generator has broken or that the generator belt has come off. It can also mean that your battery is simply old and has stopped receiving charge efficiently. Why is the battery light on? The battery light is on because something is wrong with your car battery or the charge of the battery. If the battery is old and bad, it may not receive charge as well, then the light can come on to warn that the battery level is low. There may also be other problems with the charging of the car battery. For example, that the generator has broken or that the generator belt has come off. If the light suddenly turns on while driving, you can check under the hood and see if it looks like a strap is missing. It can also mean that the battery has become bad and needs to be replaced. If you drive your car very rarely, it can be so simple that your battery needs to be charged. If you rarely use your car and only drive short distances, the battery never really has time to recharge properly. Can you drive with a shining battery light? Since the lamp is lit because the battery can not be charged, I do not recommend driving the car until you know what is wrong. If there is something wrong with the generator or battery so that the car loses power, you will lose many important functions. It can be more difficult to steer the car, the brakes can stop working, all lighting goes out, and more. If the battery is not charged, it will eventually be completely discharged and then you will be left with your car. Sometimes it can work to use jump leads to start a car where the battery does not have enough power to start the engine.

Exoplanet transit spectroscopy enables the characterization of distant worlds, and will yield key results for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. However, transit spectra models are often simplified, omitting potentially important processes like refraction and multiple scattering. While the former process has seen recent development, the effects of light multiple scattering on exoplanet transit spectra have received little attention. Here, we develop a detailed theory of exoplanet transit spectroscopy that extends to the full refracting and multiple scattering case. We explore the importance of scattering for planet-wide cloud layers, where the relevant parameters are the slant scattering optical depth, the scattering asymmetry parameter, and the angular size of the host star. The latter determines the size of the "target" for a photon that is back-mapped from an observer. We provide results that straightforwardly indicate the potential importance of multiple scattering for transit spectra. When the orbital distance is smaller than 10-20 times the stellar radius, multiple scattering effects for aerosols with asymmetry parameters larger than 0.8-0.9 can become significant. We provide examples of the impacts of cloud/haze multiple scattering on transit spectra of a hot Jupiter-like exoplanet. For cases with a forward and conservatively scattering cloud/haze, differences due to multiple scattering effects can exceed 200 ppm, but shrink to zero at wavelength ranges corresponding to strong gas absorption or when the slant optical depth of the cloud exceeds several tens. We conclude with a discussion of types of aerosols for which multiple scattering in transit spectra may be important.

Nanny is the only woman among Jamaica’s National Heroes, and in many ways the most mysterious. When I think of Nanny, Queen of the Maroons, I think of mountain mists and waterfalls and dark hiding places and ambushes in the rain. Now there is an open call for artists to “reimagine” and interpret her spirit, her life, her energies. This is such an exciting project that I don’t know why I have waited to tell you about it! But – better late than never. It incorporates so many interwoven strands of culture and tradition, sustainability, spirituality, feminism – a complex fabric. The Reimagining Nanny Project (subtitled: “Chieftess of Blue Mountain’s Biodiversity, Forests and Waters”) is a project to commemorate Jamaica’s 60th Anniversary of Independence next year (2022). The theme is: “Her Sword – A Seed.” The project is a partnership among the Natural History Museum of Jamaica (a division of the Institute of Jamaica); the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT), which maintains the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Blue and John Crow Mountains were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2015. Now, the deadline for a small scale concept design is December 11, 2021. This can be as small as a letter-size design. The final work would be a gallery-type framed canvas art piece of approximate diameter 6.5 feet in height and width unframed. The announcement of selected artist(s) will be in the first week of January 2022 (or by January 12th at latest). The unveiling of the finished work will be in August 2022 (Key dates in this month of the 60th Independence Anniversary Year of Jamaica will be August 1st, Emancipation Day, and August 9th – International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples). However, all applicants must watch the informational webinar (if they did not already attend) which took place on October 30 and which provided detailed and important background information on the goals and concepts of the project with a panel of speakers, including a review of the rubric to grade submissions and a discussion of artist submission (Artist’s statement of explanation and artwork submission expectations). Applicants will find this very useful. The link, with an introduction by New York University Professor, ornithologist and environmental educator Dr. Leo Douglas and Dr. Susan Otuokon of JCDT, is here. There were presentations by: Leo R. Douglas – Vision, Project Timeline & Submission Expectations. Vivian Crawford – Maroon and Executive Director of the Institute of Jamaica. Thera Edwards PhD – Botanist and Blue & John Crow Mountains specialist. Adedamola Osinulu PhD – Ghanaian Religion Professor of African Spirituality. Beathur Mgoza Baker – Madlozi Art & Heritage Africa (Ltd), Cape Town, South Africa There are Sites for Public Viewing: - Natural History Museum – Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), Kingston. - The Moore Town Maroon Cultural Center & Museum – Upper Rio Grande Valley, Portland. - National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston and Montego Bay. And now, here is more, just to give you some inspiration, from the conceptualizers of the project: The Akan people of Ghana, particularly the Asante (a subgroup of the Akan) were fierce warriors. Their valor is well recorded in history, such as their three wars with the British in West Africa before being subdued after the invention of the Maxim Gun (a recoil-operated machine gun). Among the iconic leaders of the Asante were powerful warrior queens, such as Yaa Asantewa – Asante Queen Mother, who commanded a well-documented uprising against the British. With this well-known history of African women as both military leaders and heads of state, it is not surprising that the most celebrated of the Windward Maroons of Jamaica was a woman, Ghanaian-born Nanny of the Maroons, and that our collective education about her life and legacy is overwhelmingly that of a skillful commando and venerated military strategist. Jamaican Maroon communities undoubtedly maintained much of their knowledge of the forest gods of West Africa and must have both gathered and benefited from the biocultural experiences of the Taino through their interactions and co-habitation with the indigenous Taino people, with whom they joined forces and established settlements during their early history. By extension, more than any other group, the Jamaican Maroons invested in, acquired and cultivated a broad literacy of the island’s indigenous flora and fauna, and the rich landscapes of Jamaica’s Blue and John Crow Mountains mobilizing these biocultural experiences for ceremonial purposes, wellness, sustainability and military advantage. Indeed, some historians argue that it was the Maroon’s mastery of the Jamaican forests that ultimately determined their success in times of conflict. Within the current climate and biodiversity extinction crises, and concerns about the rapid loss of indigenous knowledge and indigenous ways-of-being globally, this project aims to mainstream the significance of Maroon traditional ecological knowledge, practices and beliefs with respect to their deep and existential relationships with the natural and the eco-spiritual worlds. This re-telling is also of greater importance today with the international recognition of the Blue and John Crow Mountains of Jamaica, home of the Windward Maroons, as a UNESCO World Heritage “Mixed Site”. The latter designation is rare acknowledgement (only one of 35 global sites) of both the exceptionally high proportion of plants and animals of the Blue and John Crow Mountains that are uniquely Jamaican as well as its associated indelible cultural heritage and histories of indigenous peoples. Within the boundaries of this UNESCO World Heritage Site over half the flowering plants are found only in Jamaica, and about one third are endemic just to this section of the island as a whole. Additionally, these lands (space/places) remain important archaeological and heritage sites – including Nanny Town, Woman Town, key treaty locations and spaces of definitive battles, in addition to trade-routes, waterfalls and water-courses that were central to the political life, security, freedom and sovereignty of Jamaican Maroons. Drawing on African and Taino spiritual values in which the nature itself is sacred, and West African cultures where women are traditional leaders and the female-form is commonly deified (examples: the goddess of fresh water, the goddess of rain and storms, and the goddess of land and fertility), we seek a retelling of the story of Nanny in keeping with her other undoubtedly broad and significant real and symbolic roles as a shaman of the forest, healer, priestess and protector of the springs and watersheds, and commander of energies of the earth, creatures, mountains and valleys of the Blue and John Crow Mountains. Key questions for reflection under this project: - Did Nanny re-imagine and re-create the forest gods of Africa from the sights, grit, and ecological elements of the forests of the Blue and John Crow Mountains? - In what ways did Nanny incorporate the established Taino belief systems and symbolic representations of nature into Maroon culture and value systems? - How did Nanny mobilize her literacy of the natural history of the Blue and John Crow Mountains for healing, social sustainability and in war? - Within what aspects of the unique flora and fauna of her territories did Nanny deploy in symbolic representations for either conflict or as symbols of maroon independence and identity? - What are the untold stories of African womanhood, local resource use, dignity, love, ingenuity, grief and/or triumph that are embedded in Maroon relationships to biodiversity, space and place? - How can present day Jamaican citizens reimagine the experiences of this 17th century Jamaican icon in ways that encourage discussion and provide persuasive arguments of our own relationship and stewardship of the land and Jamaica’s unique natural heritage? This is not just about public education. It is about storytelling, about elevating Jamaica’s heritage, about forests, about water, about mountains, about paths through the mountains, about ancestral relationships to Nature…and what all of that means to us modern beings, as we celebrate Jamaica’s Independence next year.

Contactless cards were used for 31% of all card transactions in 2017 and while we’re clearly getting used to them, are we more at risk? To top it off, RFID wallets and protection are now popping up in all major shops, making it look like we need to buy them. But will RFID wallets solve the issue? Is there even an issue in the first place? How much contactless fraud is there? According to UK Finance, contactless fraud from both cards and mobiles cost £14 million in 2017. They consider that to be low as there was over £52.4 billion spent over the course of the year. It works out that contactless fraud is equivalent to 2.7p in every £100 spent using contactless technology. Compared to other types of card fraud it represents just 2.5% of overall card fraud losses, so while it’s an issue it seems like they’re trying to play it down. But enough with the facts and figures – is contactless fraud really an issue? What is contactless? With a contactless card, you can pay quickly and easily when you need to spend less than £30. Simply touch or wave your card in front of a terminal when you need to pay and wait for the green light and then they’ll be a beep. You won’t need to sign anything or enter in your PIN number. What is RFID? RFID stands for radio frequency identification. It uses wireless electromagnetics to track things and does the same things as a barcode or magnetic strip but should be more secure. RFID technology has been used for over 50 years and has been used in tags on clothes to stop shoplifting, on doors to get access, on passports, chips on animals, and now on payment cards. Can contactless cards be skimmed? Well, that all depends on who you talk to! Visa says that contactless technology is “very secure indeed” and more secure than carrying cash. They’ve said that the only information a fraudster can get if they skim your card is the card number, the expiry date and in some instances, the cardholder name. But, that it’s not enough to do anything with as they’ll also your CVV code (the three-digit security code on the back of your card), PIN number, Verified by Visa passcodes, card security codes, billing address and other hidden security data. None of those details can be read from a contactless card. Worryingly, this isn’t what Which? found. They carried out their own RFID fraud test to see how good contactless cards really are. They picked up a cheap contactless-card technology in 2015 and use it to remotely ‘steal’ key card details from a contactless card. After stealing the details, they went on to order a £3,000 TV online. How do fraudsters do it? They would need to be really close to you to try to skim the card details. Contactless cards need to be within a few centimetres (less than 10 cm, usually 2cm) of a machine to be read. Bumping into you probably wouldn’t work and they couldn’t steal any money like that as it needs to be processed through a system. How can I avoid contactless card fraud? If you’re worried about using contactless there are lots of simple things you can do to stop some risk. To be honest, most of these tips aren’t just about contactless but are about making sure you keep your bank or credit card protected too. Use blocking technology A new favourite for retailers is tools for RFID blocking. Whether they are just trying to cash in with a new market and squeeze more money out of you is something you need to consider. 1. RFID wallet Contactless card protection wallets are big business and while they used to be really expensive, they can cost about the same as a normal wallet. RFID wallets for men can be pricey in some shops still, but I’ve seen them online for less than £5. An RFID wallet has blocking protection inside it to stop anyone from being able to steal your card details. 2. RFID blocking card If you don’t want to buy a whole new RFID wallet, you could look to get a blocking card instead. The idea is you just add the card in your wallet or purse and it should stop any skimming from fraudsters. You can buy them for less than £10. 3. Tin foil While tin foil keeps your chocolate wrapped, is perfect to cook sweetcorn on the BBQ and a tin hat (may) help to keep the aliens away, a bit of aluminium might be all you need. Essentially, an RFID wallet just has a bit of tin foil on the inside. While wrapping your phone or bank card in a bit of foil might not look at attractive, if you are genuinely worried about your card being skimmed, then it’s a thrifty way to protect yourself. And, yes we’ve tried it – and yes it works :) Am I barmy? Been trying out thrifty alternatives instead of buying expensive fraud wallets that are taking over shops. . Check the link in @skintdad bio to see if tin foil can save your money and if contactless card fraud is really that big of a problem. . #thrifty #lifehack #tinfoil #preventfraud #fraud #shopping #shops #cards #pay #creditcard #debitcard #rfid #rfidwallet #rfidprotection #savemoney 4. Keep your card Don’t hand over your card to anyone and let them wander off. While “out back” they could be running your card through a skimming device and taking copies of the card information. 5. Get a receipt It’s easy to pay and run with contactless but make sure to hang about for the receipt. This way, not only can you track your spending, you can make sure you’re not being overcharged. 6. Look at your statements Whether you get a bank statement through the letterbox monthly or have a paperless account, be sure to check through your statement regularly. Check for any unusual transactions that you don’t remember (which might still happen after you cancel your card). 7. Be suspicious of calls Remember that your bank or the police will never call, text or email you to ask for your PIN number. If someone contacts you, you might find it safer to not give any information and call your bank back from a phone number on your latest statement or the one printed on the back of your bank card. 8. Cancel your card If you realise your card has been lost or stolen, cancel it as soon as possible with your bank. Your bank will have a 24 hour number you can call to cancel. 9. Keep your cards together If your contactless card is next to another one, the signals get blocked and jammed. They have “anti-collision” features that mean only one card can be processed at a time. If more than one card is near a reader it won’t be processed unless you pick which card to use or the transaction will be cancelled. 10. Ditch contactless Ask your bank to issue you a card without contactless as an option. It would be a sure fire way to not have to worry at all. Is contactless fraud really that much of an issue? With all these new fads popping up, is there really a worry of RFID fraud or are we being a bit too paranoid? It’s going to turn into a massive industry of people making money from our worries. While there is some fraud going on, the banks have promised to refund any fraud and Visa says it isn’t really an issue. You are protected from fraud by the banks and will never be left out of pocket. Therefore, maybe take that into account before you rush out and spend money on a new RFID wallet that may or may not really need to protect you. Or, are you of the mindset that it’s better to be safe than sorry? As ever, if you believe you’ve been a victim of fraud please do report it to Action Fraud.

by Elizabeth Turnbull On Oct. 13, the Port of Seattle Commission passed a motion that aims to promote equity and to stop structural racism in its workplaces by working to eliminate bias, increasing support for the port’s office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and requiring mandatory unconscious bias training for port employees. Similar to efforts the port began in July to assess its police department, Tuesday’s motion was created in response to ongoing racism across the country and the recent murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. While he agrees that pushing for change in the port’s policing is a step in the right direction, Sam Cho, one of the port’s commissioners and the only commissioner of color, said he and his colleagues felt the effort was incomplete. “The reality is that the fight for racial justice goes well beyond just policing. It’s systemic. It’s institutionalized,” Cho told the Emerald. “So what I said is, ‘Let’s introduce a motion that goes beyond policing and looks at the Port of Seattle holistically and can look to see if we are perpetuating any policies or practices that are contributing to these social injustices.’” Overall, the motion aims to increase support for the port’s relatively new office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and require racial equity and unconscious bias training for employees of the port at all levels of seniority. In addition, the plan entails the creation of an internal “Change Team” and a community advisory board. The Change Team will consist of representatives from each division and department within the port who will be responsible for conducting an assessment of equity and inclusion, due in October of next year. Through this group and through work from the Office of Equity Diversity, and Inclusion, there will be an examination of hiring processes, promotions, equitable pay, and other practices. Conversely, for the community advisory board, the port intends to invite individuals who are part of communities of color, leaders of nonprofits, and activists to be part of a larger board to keep the port accountable and to inform the assessment process and the implementation of equitable practices. The Port of Seattle encompasses a large quantity of land in King County and includes not just Seattle’s seaport but Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as well. Through the motion’s efforts to root out bias and racism in general, the goal is that individuals who fly in and out of Seattle are also not discriminated against based on the color of their skin, according Cho. In addition, the Port of Seattle is one of the largest economic drivers in the Pacific Northwest, generating more direct jobs than either Microsoft, Boeing, or the University of Washington individually in 2013. The port has also been a point of contention in the past over its treatment of minority business owners. In 2015, three minority-owned businesses filed a lawsuit against the Port of Seattle after they said their stores were relegated to undesirable locations in Sea-Tac Airport and that they were subjected to verbal harassment and were required to expend more cash to build out their spaces than other businesses. Part of the port’s new motion, which has been in the works for roughly six months, specifically aims to do business with a greater percentage of minority-owned businesses that specialize in dining and retail — but also in construction and other professions, according to Cho. “We have a huge footprint,” Cho said. “If we have practices that are disadvantaging small businesses or minority business owners, then we should address that.”

Newman’s is situated on the privately-owned Swan Island, at the point where the Thames transitions from tidal estuary to freshwater channel. The shipyard is run by Fiona Gunnion, the daughter of Francis ‘Frank’ Newman, who established the business in mid-1950s. Swan Island was originally a small mudflat known as Milham’s Ait after its owner Harry Milham, a local builder. Harry built the island entirely out of clay excavated during construction of London Underground in the 1890s. Frank Newman purchased Swan Island in 1962. Originally a cooper, a builder of wooden casks, Frank used those skills to transfer to boatbuilding. He had a great love of boats, but was also a businessman, owning not only Swan Island but also a number of other boatyards and businesses in England and Scotland. From 1969, Frank became a joint owner of Tough’s boatyard alongside Bob Tough. Tough’s and Newman’s yards had a strong connection over many years. Newman’s Shipyard was originally located on the mainland across from Swan Island. In the 1990s, Frank and Fiona re-developed the island, increasing its height to protect it from flooding at high tides, and renting out the workshops on the mainland to other local businesses. Today the shipyard gets business from a community of forty houseboats moored at the island, some of whom repair their boats at the yard and slipways, as well as maintenance of pleasure boats, and privately owned vessels. Fire Patrol boats also continue to be repaired and maintained there by Babcocks Marine Services.

Magnesium is an essential mineral that your body needs in order to have a healthy immune system, regulate blood pressure, process stress, maintain healthy bones, balance your hormones and so much more. Unfortunately – it is estimated that over 90% of people in the U.S. are magnesium deficient! So unless you don’t suffer from stress, live by the ocean, eat food from magnesium rich soils, and drink magnesium rich water then you may need to read this. Magnesium Deficiency- A New Problem Unfortunately, because of the way we farm the land today many of our magnesium rich soils have run out of essential minerals. This means that fruits, veggies and even many animals that graze on plants are not as healthy as they once were. What makes this problem worse is that when we add harmful chemicals to our water such as chlorine and fluoride it will bind to the magnesium making it much harder for our bodies to absorb. Diet is Also an Issue If you consume high levels of sugar or caffeine then you are actually causing issues with your body’s magnesium supply. These chemicals can deplete the natural magnesium in the body while making it hard for us to regular our calcium levels. Though a lot can go wrong when you have low amounts of such an important mineral as magnesium here are 10 of the biggest issues that can come about. 1. Anxiety & Depression No one likes being depressed and trying to deal with anxiety is terrifying to say the least. Though there can be many factors to cause these common issues it is important to make sure that your body has everything it needs to heal. Magnesium deficiency has been linked to many mental health issues and Psychology Today thinks they may know why: MAGNESIUM HANGS OUT IN THE SYNAPSE BETWEEN TWO NEURONS ALONG WITH CALCIUM AND GLUTAMATE. IF YOU RECALL, CALCIUM AND GLUTAMATE ARE EXCITATORY, AND IN EXCESS, TOXIC. THEY ACTIVATE THE NMDA RECEPTOR. MAGNESIUM CAN SIT ON THE NMDA RECEPTOR WITHOUT ACTIVATING IT, LIKE A GUARD AT THE GATE. THEREFORE, IF WE ARE DEFICIENT IN MAGNESIUM, THERE’S NO GUARD. CALCIUM AND GLUTAMATE CAN ACTIVATE THE RECEPTOR LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW. IN THE LONG TERM, THIS DAMAGES THE NEURONS, EVENTUALLY LEADING TO CELL DEATH. IN THE BRAIN, THAT IS NOT AN EASY SITUATION TO REVERSE OR REMEDY. Protecting our brain cells is extremely important for long term health and function in day to day life. That is why we strongly recommend if nothing else you protect your brain by getting enough magnesium. If that isn’t enough to convince you we ask you to consider the following as well. 2. Calcification of Your Arteries When your magnesium levels are out of whack your calcium levels often get too high. Calcification of the arteries is another way of saying that the walls of your flexible and life giving arteries are suddenly as rigid as bone. This rigidity makes it really easy to have further complication including heart attacks. If you show up to a hospital because of a heart attack the doctors will quickly give you a shot to help prevent calcification and blood clotting which is made out of magnesium chloride. According to a study done by Framingham you can even lower your long term risk of coronary heart disease by making sure that you get enough magnesium. 3. High Blood Pressure & Hypertension While we are on the topic of the heart and blood vessels it is important to understand the importance of magnesium when it comes to hypertension and high blood pressure. One Harvard study found that people with healthy blood pressure also had the best magnesium intake. Another study done by the University of Minnesota found that women who ate plenty of magnesium could reduce their risk of hypertension by up to 70%! People with high blood pressure can help reduce that number by taking supplements with magnesium or making sure to increase foods high in magnesium. 4. Cramps & Muscle Spasms Since magnesium helps to regulate so much within the body while also helping to keep calcium in check it is no wonder that having a low level of magnesium can cause muscle spasms, cramps and stiffness. In fact, the next time you are having these symptoms try adding potassium to your diet such as a banana or avocado and if that doesn’t relieve the symptoms I recommend getting some magnesium. 5. Low Energy Without the right amount of magnesium in your body the cells don’t get the right amount of energy. In order for your cells to consume energy they need a magnesium ion. This means that you aren’t just tired, your cells are exhausted and starving for energy. This unfortunately can lead to many different problems from stress all the way to a weakened and sluggish immune system. 6. Problems Sleeping If having low energy wasn’t enough, someone who is low in magnesium may also have problems getting enough sleep. Magnesium is very important when it comes to being able to relax both your mind and your body. It specifically works by making sure your GABA neurotransmitters allow your brain to slip into a restful level of sleep. It also helps your body absorb vitamin D which is important for making melatonin and getting proper rest. If you feel restless and what I often call ‘too tired to fall asleep‘ then you may want to add magnesium into your daily life. Trust me you will be grateful in the morning. 7. Hormone Unbalance If you have high levels of progesterone or estrogen which is common during pregnancy then you most likely have low levels of magnesium in your body. This can lead to common muscle complaints such as leg cramps. During menstrual cycles and pregnancy it is very common to crave chocolate which is actually a decent source of magnesium. The next time you find your self craving chocolate you may want to also load up on the common foods that are packed with magnesium that we will share with you below. 8. Other Pregnancy Complaints Your mood, morning sickness, and health during pregnancy is often linked with magnesium levels. In fact, if you are wanting to stay balanced and reduce your nausea then make sure you have a healthy amount of magnesium rich foods in your diet. Transdermal Magnesium is common during pregnancies to help keep away hypertension, muscle cramps, headaches and even preterm labor making it extremely important. 9. Healthy Bones While we have all been taught that calcium is good for our bones we often are not taught that magnesium is essential also. This simple mineral is needed for your body to absorb vitamin D, and properly use calcium. This means that magnesium’s job in your body is to get the hormone known as calcitonin to pull calcium out of your tissue and muscles and make sure it gets back into your bones where it belongs. 10. Other Mineral Deficiencies Without magnesium doing its job your body cannot keep a normal amount of vitamin D, calcium, vitamin K, potassium or other essential nutrients. So much of your body is dependent upon this simple mineral that it is crucial that you make sure that you have enough of it in your diet. How to make sure your are getting enough Magnesium You can get magnesium from specific organic foods that were grown in magnesium rich soils such as spinach, avocados, chard, bananas, black beans, pumpkin seeds, almonds and figs. You can also get magnesium from chocolate (I prefer cacao) and yogurt. Magnesium can also come from supplements and many doctors recommend that adults take 1,000 mg/day and children take 400-500mg/day. However, if you find that these supplements irritate your stomach you can get them in the form of transdermal injection from a doctor or there are even magnesium sprays you can use on your skin before bed each night. Just make sure that whatever you do you are getting enough to keep your body in balance. Use them anytime, anywhere... even while stuck in traffic or watching TV. Plus the results are permanent!

'In future I want to cut down a little' When bad eating habits put a strain on the body, planning to eat less in the future is generally among the top of the list of good intentions. However, the answer often doesn't lie in a reduced menu or strict fasting since the problem generally only arises when unhealthy eating habits are not the exception, but rather have increasingly become the rule. 'Concepts based on limiting food selection are too one-sided in the long run and are difficult to sustain,' says Dr. Karin Pirc, Medical Director of the Maharishi Ayurveda Private Clinic in Bad Ems, Germany. 'Your metabolism can be weakened and the body can be deprived of important nutrients.' Instead of the expected improved sense of vitality, the exact opposite happens and we become frustrated and discouraged. The concept of nutrition in Maharishi Ayurveda is based on thousands of years of experience. Apart from the quality of the food, the functionality of the digestive system in particular must be considered in order to best supply the body with important vital substances. Only food that can be properly digested and absorbed impacts your physiology positively. If your metabolism is disturbed, metabolic residues and waste are deposited, thus weakening the tissue, disrupting the inner balance and possibly causing abdominal fullness, tiredness, headaches, indisposition or weight problems. A stone in the stomach 'Avoid heavy food in the evening.' That is the most important recommendation of the American Ayurvedic doctor and book author Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf. 'This really cannot be said often enough, as most people who are watching their diet and resort to special slimming products still make the mistake of eating food that is too heavy in the evening', explains the Medical Director of The Raj Ayurveda Health Centre in the US state of Iowa. Ayurveda believes that the digestive power decreases towards the end of the day. 'Because we are moving about less and go to bed a few hours after eating, the body has no opportunity to process the food properly. A factor that can disrupt sleep, stress the body's functions and negatively impact weight', Dr. Lonsdorf stresses. The main meal of the day should instead be taken at noon when agni, the digestive fire in Ayurveda, is at its strongest. Another useful tip, as Ayurvedic practitioners know, is to drink hot water at each meal time or throughout the day. This helps to loosen metabolic waste and satisfy feelings of hunger between meals. The frequency is far more important than the quantity of liquid. Two or three sips hourly or half-hourly should suffice. 'Boil the water first for ten minutes so that it loses its heaviness and is energised', Dr. Lonsdorf advises. To avoid having to prepare fresh water continuously, simply keep it hot in a thermos flask. Eat fresh, feel fresher According to Ayurveda, the body absorbs nutrients from freshly prepared, hot meals. Reheated or precooked food is taboo. 'Food imparts energy and life force, which is referred to in Ayurveda as Prana. The level of Prana is reduced when food cools down and is destroyed by reheating. The individual nutrients become difficult to digest and cannot be utilised optimally,' explains Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf. The Ayurvedic diet plan therefore includes mainly light, easily digestible, naturally left foods that are spiced in a well-balanced manner. Not too cold and not too hot, dishes should ideally contain all six flavours, i.e. sweet, sour, salty, spicy, bitter and tart. For this you can also use the Maharishi Ayurveda spice mixtures. Making headway in a fun way 'Keep moving' is the final recommendation of Ayurveda expert Nancy Lonsdorf. Yoga and gentle sports like hiking, cycling, Nordic Walking, golf or swimming stimulate your metabolism, are good for your mental equilibrium and optimally balance the stress of everyday work. 'Simply leave the car behind and use every additional opportunity to get moving,' Dr. Lonsdorf adds. So, first take a lovely meal, and then take a walk in the open air.

Since its establishment in 1995, the CHEER Foundation has been devoted to education, research and development of joint venture programs and schools, with a focus on cross cultural understanding. We provide an educational consultancy service to Western and Chinese education institutions in the development and promotion of international curricula and programs. One such example is the feasibility studies conducted by CHEER for British and Chinese schools in the establishment of joint venture schools in China. WLSA Shanghai Academy is an outstanding example of one of these joint venture schools, and has become a leader in Sino-British education in mainland China. In a world where new technology and digital media continuously drives development at a fast pace, CHEER has refocused its research and innovation on ways to facilitate innovative, holistic and comprehensive approaches in dealing with challenges within the education field. To remain on the forefront with these developments, CHEER in collaboration with its partners, has developed the following programs and services: Skills Development Program (SDP) SDP is a Program built around a series of investigations into different global issues, in English, culminating in an enterprise project. The aim is to encourage students to develop those very attributes of critical, independent thinking, understanding of different perspectives, and enterprise skills, that are valued in upper secondary, Higher Education and beyond. Cross Cultural Leadership Program (CCLP) This unique and challenging program, developed exclusively for potential leaders in WLSA Associate Schools, brings together students from across the world to work together in small groups with a dedicated leadership mentor over two 10-week terms, culminating in an international capstone conference in the summer. To learn more, visit: the CCLP page on the WLSA website by clicking here. Eastern Thought and Strategy (China) This course is designed for western students who want to gain a better understanding of China. The course provides a holistic view of the origin and evolution of Chinese philosophy over the past 5000 years, and provides a comparison between Eastern and Western values and norms, where the differences are identified, and similarities highlighted. Students are tasked with comparing different concepts to their own cultural perspectives, critically and objectively questioning and analyzing actual issues, and reviewing how different people deal with similar situations in various ways. This course will make students around the world discover mutual understanding. After all, communication and cooperation will be vital for all nations in the future. Market research and feasibility studies CHEER is uniquely positioned to identify & explore new developments in education in China, and we do this by conducting market and feasibility research services for Western education institutions. For example, CHEER helped the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), a group of 25 independent schools in the United Kingdom and Wales and the largest secondary school group in the United Kingdom, to conduct market research and feasibility studies in finding suitable partners for establishing schools in China. Furthermore, CHEER conducted market surveys and analyses for Dutch university NHL Stenden in Leeuwaarden snd helped facilitate the establishment of a representative university office in China.

Enjoy the flexibility of online learning Participate in rich discussions Earn three graduate credits Foundations & Frameworks—a time-tested, research-based program—begins with this dynamic basic course that covers essential foundations and frameworks for building deep text comprehension in students. Updated Summer 2020, the course is now available online. Three options for course participation: Enroll in the online course as an individual Move through the course at your own pace—the course is open for six weeks Request an on-site course for your school Move through the conveniently scheduled course together as a staff Schedule hybrid instruction: online course modules + Ideal for schools certified to conduct F&F Basic Training How it works in the course and wait for your required texts to arrive The Architecture of Learning (book) by Kevin D. Washburn, Ed.D. F&F Basic Course Book and the F&F Toolbox (2021 update) the sessions & participate in assignments when the course opens Discussion boards, optional Zoom sessions, and feedback provide meaningful learning that sticks your reading instruction with confidence Equipped with feedback, materials, and strategies, you’re ready for these challenging times Already familiar with Foundations & Frameworks? If it’s been more than three years since you attended training, this online course is the best way to become aware of new research and better practices for today’s reading classrooms. Here’s a brief summary of what you can expect in the updated course and completely revised teacher materials. Would you say your reading comprehension instruction is like a “three-course meal?” Three activities in Foundations & Frameworks strengthen reading comprehension in different ways—I think of them as a three-course meal: - The Collaborative Comprehension Preparation is an appetizer, exciting students with new words and some more insight into the upcoming lesson (“meal”). - Our Collaborative Comprehension Session is the main course—a multitude of conversations (“food choices”). - The Intellectual Art is the finishing touch (“dessert”). Students are able to have a rich experience with the text in different scenarios (whole group, small groups, independent). As students go through this learning process, they are taking more contraol and developing individualized ways of learning and understanding content. Is your vocabulary process something you “love because it is effective and not too time consuming?” I love this Vocabulary process because it is effective and not too time consuming. I started using this way of introducing vocab words after the PD last school year and I saw a huge difference in student application. It gave them multiple opportunities to practice using the word and gave me a chance to see their improvement. They were more likely to retain the word and able to use it more broadly because they had multiple examples to select from. When I did introduce words visually, they focused on recalling them as fact, not how to manipulate the word in different contexts. Each time students practice using new words, we are guiding them to dig for deeper understanding. This approach promotes appropriate and achievable levels toward mastery of content very well. TEACHING SKILLS, BUILDING COMPREHENSION Defining comprehension and identifying its skills An introduction to visual tool use for deep comprehension VOCABULARY: MAKING WORD DEPOSITS How rich text provides context for greater retention Why exciting teacher-directed, student-dominated conversation is critical MEASURING WHAT MATTERS Research-based assessment strategies that ensure learning for life RECOGNIZE CRITICAL COMPONENTS See the power of interwoven tools and strategies designed for deep text comprehension. CONFIDENTLY DESIGN INSTRUCTION Use a plan that teaches the way the brain learns so students thrive. See how meaningful tools and dynamic collaboration equip students with skills that matter for life. The Foundations & Frameworks Basic Course fee includes the following required materials: The Foundations & Frameworks Basic Course Book (updated 2021), The Foundations & Frameworks Toolbox (updated 2021), and the book, The Architecture of Learning: Designing Instruction for the Learning Brain by course instructor, Kevin D. Washburn, Ed.D. If you would like to purchase the book ahead of time, contact us BEFORE enrolling to receive a coupon code that discounts your enrollment fee.

Chapter 19 Section 1: THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Answer the following guiding questions while reading pages 581-588 in the textbook. 1. When and where did the Industrial Revolution begin? 2. What five factors contributed to the start of the Industrial Revolution? 3. What four inventions advanced the production of cotton cloth? 4. How did the steam engine affect the iron and coal industries? 5. Why did factory owners begin to require workers to work in shifts around the clock? 6. Which three European countries were the first to be industrialized after Great Britain? 7. What two classes of people emerged in society during the Industrial Revolution?

Cutting forests and disturbing natural habitats increases our risk of wildlife diseases A new study found that animals known to carry harmful diseases such as the novel coronavirus are more common in landscapes intensively used by people. Natural habitats across the planet that humans have converted to farms, cities or suburbs are much more likely to harbor wildlife that carry parasites or pathogens such as the novel coronavirus than undisturbed areas, according to a new study. "The global expansion of agricultural and urban land that is forecast for the coming decades—much of which is expected to occur in low-and middle-income countries with existing vulnerabilities to natural hazards—has the potential to create growing hazardous interfaces for zoonotic pathogen exposure," the authors wrote in the study published today in Nature. The findings come as countries remain ravaged by the novel coronavirus and the resulting COVID-19 disease that has killed an estimated 694,000 people worldwide, including 155,935 in the United States alone. Experts suspect the coronavirus that induced the current global pandemic likely originated in bats. "Zoonotic diseases" — those caused by germs passing between animals and people — account for roughly 75 percent of new or emerging diseases in people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new study warns that the way people have been changing—in many ways dominating—landscapes will only leave us more vulnerable to similar outbreaks of disease-causing pathogens. "The way humans change landscapes across the world, from natural forest to farmland for example, has consistent impacts on many wild animal species, causing some to decline while some others persist or increase," said Rory Gibb, lead author and PhD candidate at the UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research, in a statement. "The animals that remain in more human-dominated environments are those that are more likely to carry infectious diseases that can make people sick," Gibb added. Gibb and colleagues looked at evidence from 6,801 ecological communities on six continents, which incorporated data on nearly 7,000 species—376 of which are known to carry pathogens that can infect humans. They found the proportion of animals that host pathogens harmful to humans is anywhere from 18 percent to 72 percent higher in agricultural or urban areas. And the total abundance of such animals is anywhere from 21 percent to 144 percent higher in human-disturbed areas compared to non-disturbed habitats. There could be many different reasons for the findings, however, the authors say the pathogen-carrying animals more than likely have traits associated with a "fast pace of life" that are correlated with resilience to human pressure and pathogens—for example, animals that historically have had high reproductive rates but reduced immune systems. The study found pathogen-carrying rodents, bats and certain birds were more likely to thrive in human-disturbed areas, but longer-lived, and larger animals such as monkeys and gorillas were more likely to be negatively impacted. Over the last few centuries, as human populations have exploded, land use has been significantly altered. Most land-based species—around 80 percent—live primarily in forests, and the planet is losing millions of acres of forests per year, mostly due to agriculture. Roughly half of Earth's habitable land—which excludes glaciers, deserts, dry salt flats, exposed rocks—is now used for agriculture. In addition, more and more people are moving to cities and suburbs: roughly 55 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas, according to the United Nations, which projects this number could jump to 68 percent of the world's population by 2050. Countries such as China, India and Nigeria are urbanizing at the fastest rates. (The definition of "urban area can vary. Researchers from the European Commission, for example, estimate 85 percent of the world lives in urban areas). "As agricultural and urban lands are predicted to continue expanding in the coming decades, we should be strengthening disease surveillance and healthcare provision in those areas that are undergoing a lot of land disturbance, as they are increasingly likely to have animals that could be hosting harmful pathogens," said Kate Jones, a senior author and professor at the UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research and ZSL Institute of Zoology, in a statement. The authors did caution that there are many factors in a disease spreading like COVID-19 has—and just having more pathogen-infected animals in an area doesn't guarantee it will spill over into the human population. However, the study underscores there is an urgent need to "manage agricultural landscapes to protect the health of local people while also ensuring their food security," Jones added.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, many Californians could find a glimmer of hope in the actions of local, state and federal governments to provide much-needed economic relief for people and businesses. But one very vulnerable population group has been largely ignored in the government response: California’s 2 million undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants tend to work in low-wage sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, such as hospitality, food service and construction. If they haven’t lost their jobs, they’re likely considered “essential workers” and are putting their health and their lives on the line every day as farmworkers or caregivers. Undocumented workers make up 10 percent of the California workforce, and they pay more than $3 billion in state and local taxes every year. Despite their critical role in the California economy, and in the economies of other states and localities across the nation, undocumented immigrants are excluded from receiving any form of economic relief under federal coronavirus response laws. They also do not qualify for federal and state safety-net programs that could help them with housing, food, unemployment benefits and other support to weather this crisis. Recognizing that undocumented immigrants and their families are at grave risk right now, a collaborative of funders has joined together with the State of California in an effort to help. The California Immigrant Resilience Fund aims to raise $50 million as an initial goal to support local and regional funds that provide direct relief to undocumented immigrants and their families. In addition, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the state is committing $75 million to a separate fund to support the relief effort. Cathy Cha, president of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, said the Fund joined the collaborative because immigrant communities are hurting and need help. “Supporting the California Immigrant Resilience Fund helps our vulnerable neighbors at a time of great need—and it’s good for all of California. We need to work together to make sure our immigrant families, our communities and our economy can stay strong and resilient through this crisis. In addition to supporting the new fund, many California foundations also are calling on the state government to provide added support for undocumented immigrants through expanded safety-net programs, increased access to personal protective equipment and home-schooling technology, and other supports. The COVID-19 crisis is shining a bright light on the challenges facing undocumented immigrants in California and across the country. Providing emergency relief to our immigrant neighbors, colleagues and friends is a necessary step in California’s response.

Personnel planning basically deals with staffing. Therefore before going to personnel planning, first of all we discuss Staffing. Staffing deals with the hiring personnel for the position that are identified by the organizational structure. - defining requirements for personnel. - recruiting (identifying, interviewing and selecting candidates). - compensating. also - developing and promoting employees. For personnel planning and scheduling It is useful to have effort and schedule estimates for the subsystems and basic modules in the system. At planning time, when the system design has not been done. The planner can only expect to know about the major subsystems in the system and perhaps the major modules in these subsystems. Once the project schedule is estimated and the effort and schedule of different phases and tasks are known, staff requirements can be obtained. From the cost and overall duration of the project : The average staff size for the project can be determined by dividing the total effort (in person-months) by the overall project duration (in months). Typically the staff requirement for a project is - small during requirement and design, - the maximum during implementation and testing, and - drops again during the final phases of integration and testing. - Using the COCOMO model, average staff requirement for the different phases can be determined as the effort and schedule for each phase are known. When the schedule and average staff level for each activity is known the overall personnel allocation for the project can be planned. This plan will specify how many people will be needed for the different activities at different times for the duration of the project. A method of producing the personnel plan is - to make it a calendar-based representation, - containing all the months in the duration of the project, and - by listing the months from the starting date to the ending date. - The total effort for each month and the total effort for each activity can easily be computed from this plan. Drawing a personnel plan usually requires a few iterations to ensure that the effort requirement for the different phases and activities (and the duration of the different phases) is consistent with the estimates obtained earlier. This type of plan, although it has the overall staff requirement, does not distinguish between different types of people. A more detailed plan will list the requirement of people by their speciality. For example, stating how many programmers, analysts, quality assurance people, and so forth are needed at different times.

When crime is truly the product of rational choice, the offender commits the act for reasons of personal gain or gratification. His or her behavior is under his or her complete control. How and to what degree, however, might other factors intrude on and compromise his or her ability to exercise free will? The response to this question has come in the form of innumerable theories, each purporting to explain criminal behavior in terms of specific factors. Broadly speaking, criminal behavior theories involve three categories of factors: psychological, biological, and social. Read more about Criminal Behavior. The long tradition of assuming crime to be the product of volition, unencumbered by aberrant psychological or biological processes, is under attack. In the end, we may find it is psychologist Adrian Raine’s bold conceptualization of criminality as a clinical disorder that best fits what we learn. To embrace this position, however, would require us to revisit our notions of crime and punishment—and treatment. If criminal behavior, at least impulsive violent criminal behavior, is inherently pathological, the implications are legion. In their determinations of culpability, the courts are thus wise to proceed with caution. As behavioral science research and technology advance, it is likely that the critical mass of the data will, ultimately, persuade.

This is part of the index of names on the attalus website. The names occur either in lists of events (arranged by year, from the 4th to the 1st century B.C.) or in translations of sources. There are many other sources available in translation online - for a fuller but less precise search, Search Ancient Texts. On each line there is a link to the page where the name can be found. - a mountian and plain in Campania, Italy; famous for its wine → Wikipedia entry + Falerna , Falernian Two new Roman tribes are created, Ufentina and Falerna. Cn.Pompeius is defeated by the Italians near Mount Falernus. her Lucius Papius of the Falernian tribe, son of Luc Orfius, son of Marcus, of the Falernian tribe. Rufa, ank of the river Volturnus, in Falernian territory. c. Lucius Lucius Pomponius of the Falernian tribe, son of Text (i) Esquiline, 102 B.C. Falernian-Massic. In the ould not touch, but only Falernian and Chian, and other nius, the son of Caius, of the Falernian tribe, were prese approved specimens are the Falernian, so called because they (c. 140) mpronius son of Aulus of the Falernian tribe. Where

Although I’d read a number of Japanese novels as a kid, I only became interested in Japanese literature in earnest via Jessica Schneider, who’s reviewed a number of Japanese classics for PopMatters, and elsewhere. Compared to the West — at least in the past century or so — Japanese art has always struck me as a little more mature. No, this does not necessarily mean that it’s always better, but merely that, if you look at the subject matter, it aims a lot higher, and either succeeds, or fails, but fails nobly. This is true of books, film, and even Japanese anime, wherein shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop, while delivered by solid/good directors who simply never grew up, have enough moments of poesy to keep things interesting and fresh, despite such films’ more obvious lacks. That said, Haruki Murakami is one of those writers I’d suspect to be better in his short stories than long novels, and his latest book (quite the best-seller, today) is no exception. This is because, on the plus side, he attempts philosophy, and sometimes even poesy; he tries to get to the bottom of this or that idea, and, more importantly, see how characters might live this idea out, in real-time, which is really the difference between philosophy and art. Some of his situations are innately interesting (fantastical plot-points in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle; the melding of waking and dream in Kafka On The Shore), and he doesn’t necessarily go with the most obvious trajectory. On the negative side, however, some of his novels go on too long, have many pointless details (the taste of coffee and croissants; lots and lots of ‘characterizing’ description, yet without the interaction to make it real), half-assed attempts at philosophy (Chronicle’s opening: “When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along to an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini’s The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta”), and other flaws that, had they simply been concentrated into a far shorter burst, via a story or novella, would naturally trim Murakami’s worst tendencies, and force him into a poesy that more often comes out in Murakami’s structure and juxtapostions, rather than any innate feature of the prose itself. So Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage is long — too long — and is simply not a good book in its duration. Its biggest weakness, by far, is its over-reliance on a group of 5 high school friends to both form the narrative, as well as the narrative’s purported reason. Yet despite how deeply affected the 5 characters are by their friendship, one NEVER sees any genuine, much less affecting, interaction between them, at all, merely a bland, mechanical, and rote description of what they’re like and what they do early on in the book, as teenagers, so that when the inevitable ‘update’ comes, via adult life, it has little intellectual heft, and even less emotional resonance. In a short story, this omission would be perfectly fine, as the focus would merely shift to Tsukuru’s (the protagonist’s) feelings, potentially making these friendships a ‘rosebud’-like event whose meaning is more tied up with Tsukuru’s reactions, rather than anything intrinsic to the adolescents, themselves. Yet in a 400 page novel that continually hammers home the “perfection” of this friendship, and even goes as far as ascribing a mystical, numerological quality to their special group, it’s much harder to avoid this need. Thus, after a while, their behaviors are no longer recognizably human, in the living sense, for characters become mere vessels for this or that (limited) idea, and not a means to watch this idea play out within people that are well-sketched and therefore actually matter. The crux of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki is this. Tsukuru, a bland (“colorless,” in the book’s world-view) adolescent, strikes up a friendship with Ao, a jock, Aka, a natural leader, Kuro, a nice girl who is always ‘second best,’ and Shiro, a beautiful, talented, and apparently sick young woman, a set of relationships that follow him into the sophomore year of college. Then, quite suddenly, Tsukuru gets cut off, and angrily, at that, for an offense he does not understand, but slowly must come to grips with as he grows up. For much of the book, Tsukuru is already an adult, in his late 30s, but obsessed with death and his various failings and insecurities, and admits multiple times that he’s never been able to get over his friends’ cruelty 15+ years ago. That is, until he meet Sara, a deus ex machina in the worst sense of the phrase, for she is not only almost purely symbolic, and non-living (as a wiser ‘angel’ of some sort), but very much arising from Murakami’s own ‘machination’. In other words, we are led to believe that Sara, a seemingly beautiful and successful human being, would start dating Tsukuru, who is sexually incompetent, emotionally closed-off, bland-looking, obsesses over death and wacky dreams, and more or less mopes about for the entirety of the 20 or 30 pages until Sara comes into play. If they have some deep initial flirtation that gets them together, we do not feel it; if they exchange genuine emotions, which might superficially overcome Tsukuru’s shortcomings, we do not see it; if they engage in a deep colloquy, thus drawing each other in intellectually, we do not hear it, but must simply assume the best from the utter detritus we are given. And this is simply a lot of suspending one’s disbelief, for the sake of a tale that provides too little payoff to reasonably ask for such leaps from the reader. In time, Sara tries to get Tsukuru to, well, grow the hell up, meet his old friends, and discover what happened. In between this, he gets flashbacks to Haida, another, later friend that axes their relationship in much the same way. Introduced as a lively, “younger” man, the reader senses, correctly, that there will be some sort of homosexual detour, wherein Tsukuru can be further stereotyped as a ‘lost soul,’ both sexually and psychologically, in an all-too predictable narrative arc that is meant to cast doubt on Tsukuru’s guilt in his friends’ behavior, given that this all seems to be a pattern. In fact, upon meeting up with his friends, a decade and a half later, Tsukuru learns that he was accused of rape by the deluded Shiro, forcing them to cut all ties, despite no one really believing Shiro. (Again: too much suspension, and for what?) Yet the end’s finally in sight, for after he makes amends with all, and forgives them, he must also come to terms with Shiro’s death: a murder by strangulation, which, as with Haida, he takes a kind of metaphysical responsibility for given his obsession with her, as a kid. If that seems too much for Tsukuru to handle, however, it pays to note that all the others take some responsibility, as well: “We have all killed her,” the adult Kuro tells him, forcing the already-wan character of Shiro into yet another symbolic role, and into being the dumping-ground of each and every character’s neuroses. In between these revelations, however, no one character really comes out much deeper, which is forgivable, as far as art is concerned, and the reader’s not much wiser, which is not. This is because while characters can be reasonably static (for most people, in reality, change only a little), art in fact COMMUNICATES something about this static, whether it’s the extreme self-destructiveness of Bigger Thomas in Native Son, from beginning to end, or the way that people and things are beholden to patterns, and use that as a spring-board for even deeper examinations. By contrast, the stuff Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki communicates is middle-school level truisms, moral lessons that seem like didactic art for the wrong audience, since there’s that adult mix of sex and violence, but the thinking of children: or rather, the thinking that children might find ‘deep’. In fact, the real extent of the book’s ideas devolve to Tsukuru, while being bland, and rarely, if ever, being loved, is still a “good person”; can, unlike most people “build stations” (he is an engineer, a play on his name– another obvious, clunky symbol); is a “taxpayer,” a proper “citizen,” and is “productive”. Now, this is not exactly enlightenment, for any intelligent reader knows these things, and it’s dull– incredibly dull– to watch such ideas play out in a book marketed for symbolically-minded adults. Perhaps it’d be OK if the tale in the interim was better-told, yet the writing, itself, is often bad, from the massive number of cliches (“the prison, after all, was his own heart”); odd clunkers (“anxiety raised its head, like a jagged, ominous rock”); ridiculous and silly (“their pubic hair was as wet as a rain forest”); and the forced exchanges. And no where does this last element come out more than in the dialogue: “You mean maintaining the group itself, and keeping it going, became one of your aims.” “I guess so.” Sara narrowed her eyes in a tight line. “Just like the universe.” “I don’t know much about the universe,” Tsukuru said. “But for us it was very important. We had to protect the special chemistry that had developed among us. Like protecting a lit match, keeping it from blowing out in the wind.” “The power that happened to arise at that point. Something that could never be reproduced.” “Like the Big Bang?” I mean, just look at those transitions; it is almost something that one might say to be funny. To keep a friendship going becomes as good as perpetuating the universe — all in casual conversation, that — and its origins are now the Big Bang, done in with a question mark. Worse, the language is not only over-the-top, but completely unsuited for describing something that the reader can never even get a glimpse of, on either an emotive or intellectual level. In fact, so much of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki‘s dialogue devolves to this sort of ‘philosophy’, that one is better left with Murakami’s expository prose, which is often solid, and sometimes offering an unexpected turn of phrase or two. Just as often, however, one gets the following, which is in fact quite similar to Murakami’s sex passages in other books: “Leisurely foreplay, caressing her, had been amazing, and after he came, he had felt at peace as he held her close. But that wasn’t all there was to it. He was well aware that there was something more. Making love was a joining, a connection between one person and another. You receive something, and you also have to give.” Yet this is not just bad, cliched writing, but damaging to what little differentiation Tsukuru, as a character, might otherwise have. If Sara, for instance, was something deeper to him, more special, somehow, it cannot appear in such a passage, whose utter triviality overshadows their other interactions, too. For in a world where so many of the characters have color-names, where entities such as Haida (and his father) merely come and go, and everything else so god-damn THIN, quotes, like the above, make such obviousness even worse, as there is not even some stylistic veneer to play off of. Does this stop the good reviews from rolling in, however? Well, let’s see what the New York Times has to say: Tsukuru Tazaki’s unfathomable anguish seems to contain every color of the rainbow. The colorless color of death. He pictures his heart stopping but does not take his life, as no method of suicide corresponds with his “pure and intense feelings” for death. He survives the terrible disaffection but carries profound invisible scars. Precise without, desperate within; plagued by graphic sexual dreams, aspects of astral projection, nameless guilt and confusion. A strange fellow even unto himself, tangled up and colorless. Here, they merely regurge Murakami’s own words, and while invoking “profound invisible scars”, offer nothing in the way of describing how, exactly, such “scars” are communicated, within. Because, if they would, they’d have to quote passages re: “the pain in his heart,” that he’s “become like stone”, or dialogue wherein Sara, in a moment of faux depth, offers the brilliant advice that, if Tsukuru merely does not think about his problems, it doesn’t mean he’s any closer to solving them, and that it’s THIS sort of interaction that belies “the colorless color of death”– not a solution, really, to most normal human beings, and certainly not one of the solutions that art needs to condescend to offer for those that might not ‘get it’. Then, there’s The Guardian, whose negative critique of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, which devolves to a single sentence that says little of the book, qualitatively, and merely offers what Mark Lawson, himself, ‘wants’ from a book: “Although as adept as ever at setting up Kafkaesque ambiguity and atmosphere, he disappointingly chooses to leave most of the mysteries unresolved.” But, as I pointed out, the issue is not so much the lack of resolution (in fact, the book’s biggest selling point is the ambiguity of its ending), but in how so very little of its narrative goes for depth, or follows believable trajectories, or offers either intellectual or emotional pay-off, due to flaws in both structure as well as individual sentences. Yes, one may argue that not every cliche in the book is there in the original Japanese, but realistically, there are so many cliches that go beyond cliche of words, and into the territory of narrative, structural, or ideational cliches, that it becomes quite difficult to argue anything to the contrary– making Murakami’s dissolution into poor writing all the more believable. As for The Wall Street Journal? I’ll merely stick with one word: Yet Sara is a kind of angel; Haida a source of manliness Tsukuru aspires to, and nothing more; Shiro the sick, beautiful, asexual ‘type’ that represents nostalgia and desire; and Tsukuru’s own name, as well as pretty much everyone else’s, has a color, theme, or idea that comes up over and over again, whose meanings are repeated, ad nauseam, as if Murakami is afraid the reader will somehow not get him. The gay tropes can be seen from a mile away; Sara’s possible rejection of Tsukuru is expected, given his cowardice for the greater part of the book; and Murakami’s use and re-use of music, as a kind of thematic piece, is only tiring, for despite the number of times it is connected with the friends’ childhoods, nothing of substance, nothing of import, can be learned of their group, thus making such attempts (music, analysis, etc.) a kind of window-dressing fixed on broken glass. Alas, this is not at all ‘subtlety’. In fact, it is the very opposite of such, for the word implies hinting, and gently guiding. Instead, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki force-feeds the reader in pretty much all things, and it’s telling that, of all these 3 supposedly major arbiters of literary culture, not one review quotes from the book at any real length, choosing, instead, to declare things by fiat, all evidence be damned. No, Murakami is not a bad writer, but can, in a weird way, do a kind of proto-MFA thing with his words, wherein details are larded upon details, thus drowning out narratives that are already too forced, and ideas that are both maldeveloped and provide the wrong function, in the wrong mouth. I’ve not read his shorter stories, but it’d be interesting to see what he does when concision makes demands, or even in the much earlier novels, wherein a sense of comfort and re-treads had not yet settled in.

Getting Started with Amazon EC2 Containers, Part 2 In this installment, Brien shows you what an AWS container looks like once it's up and running, and how to manage it. In Part 1 of this series, I showed you how to create a really simple container using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Because of space limitations, however, I was unable to talk about what happens after the container is created. Once you click the button to create the container, you are taken to a screen that is similar to the one that is shown in Figure 1 below. As you can see in the figure, there are a number of automated tasks that AWS performs during the container creation process. Although it is easy to ignore this screen because it does not require you to do anything, there are two important things that I want to point out. First, the EC2 Instance Status at the bottom of the screen. Although everything would appear to be normal in the screen capture, I found that at least in my case, this screen gets stuck on Step 12 of 13. The console makes it appear as though the task is still in progress, even though it has completed. The other thing that I want to point out about the figure is the test at the top of the screen. It indicates that usage hours start immediately and continue to accrue unless you stop or terminate the container. To view the running container, all you have to do is to click the View Service button that is shown in Figure 1. Of course, this button is only available to you immediately after creating a container. Normally, you would access your container by going to the Services screen and clicking on the EC2 Container Service. Doing so takes you to the screen shown in Figure 2. When you click on the EC2 Container Service option on the list of AWS services, you are taken to the Clusters screen. This screen gives you a dashboard view of the cluster that you have created. Remember, your container is really just a special type of EC2 instance that is running on top of a cluster. The dashboard view displays the cluster name (in this case, it is called Default), as well as the number of container instances, services and tasks that are running on the cluster. You can also see the cluster's CPU utilization and memory utilization. Some of the terminology used on this screen can be a bit confusing if you are new to EC2 containers, but the way that AWS does things is pretty straightforward once you get used to it. Specifically, there may be some confusion as to the difference between services, instances and tasks. A task, which is also known as a task definition, defines the container parameters for your application. You might have noticed in Figure 2 above that the console contains a Task Definitions tab. Clicking on this tab displays containerized applications (or tasks) and their status, as shown in Figure 3. As you can see in Figure 3, the containerized application is hyperlinked. If you click on this link, you will be taken to a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 4 below. This screen allows you to create task revisions. You can also use this screen to take a look at container definition parameters such as the number of CPU units and the memory limit. The screen shown in Figure 2 earlier also makes mention of container instances. A container instance is just an EC2 instance that is acting as a container. A container can be scaled by creating additional instances. If you want to see the instances that make up a containerized application, then click on the cluster link that is shown in Figure 2, and then go to the EC2 instances tab. As you can see in Figure 5, this tab gives you the option of scaling the container up or down by adjusting the number of container instances. The AWS EC2 container interface takes a little bit of getting used to. It is absolutely nothing like working with the Docker command environment. Even so, AWS has done a good job of making containers easy to use and accessible to those without significant container experience.

See also: Irrigation - The act or process of irrigating, or the state of being irrigated; especially, the operation of causing water to flow over lands, for nourishing plants. the act or process of irrigating irrigation f (plural irrigations)

Although best known for its German and Irish immigrants, Indianapolis also had a small population of Chinese residents as early as the 1880s and estimated by local newspapers as 100-150 residents by the early 1910s. Finding photographs of the Chinese community or businesses has proven difficult so I was surprised to find several stereographs of Moy Kee & Company’s Chinese Restaurant in the collections of the Library of Congress this week. Moy Kee, owner of a restaurant and tea house at 506 E. Washington Street, was recognized as the Chinese mayor of Indianapolis in the early twentieth century. As a young boy, Moy moved with his uncle from Guangdon (Canton) Province to California in the late 1850s, first selling newspapers and eventually working in the governor’s home. By the 1870s he had converted to Christianity, had returned to China to marry, and was living in New York City where he became outspoken against the strict U.S. laws that no longer favored Chinese immigration. His appointment to a Methodist Chinese mission to preach and teach English ended abruptly when he was accused of theft and jailed. He soon moved to Chicago where he opened a laundry and later a tea house, all the while attempting to become a U.S. citizen. Why he moved to Indianapolis in 1897 is unknown, but Moy Kee had visited at least once before as an interpreter. He soon was naturalized and by 1901 had opened Moy Kee and Company’s Chinese Restaurant in the Hazelton Hotel building on the northeast corner of E. Washington and East Streets. He and his wife lived in the building, described as the most grand Chinese restaurant the city had seen with black ebonized wood, native decorations, and the lingering smell of Chinese tobacco and incense. Newspapers noted the unusual foods served there, including 100-year-old eggs, and often called it a chop suey restaurant. Photographer Monroe George documented the exterior of the restaurant on May 20, 1904 when the Royal Prince Pu Lun visited Indianapolis after his visit to the St. Louis World’s Fair. A committee headed by William Fortune planned many events for the prince, including fireworks, a reception in the State House, a visit to May Wright Sewell’s Girls’ Classical School where he spoke and passed out diplomas, and a streetcar ride to Fairview Park to see “King and Queen” the diving horses who jumped from a forty-five foot platform into a tank of water. Scott D. Seligman wrote about Prince Pu Lun’s visit to the restaurant in “The Hoosier Mandarin: the ‘Mayor’ of Indianapolis’s Chinatown,” in Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Fall 2011: Pu Lun accepted Moy’s invitation to a luncheon at his restaurant. A large lantern was hung outside the door, and the facade was festooned with colorful ribbons.Oriental rugs were laid, and on a teakwood table incense, food, and Chinese wine were placed. [Indianapolis Mayor John W.] Holzman, civic leader William Fortune, and poet James Whitcomb Riley were also in attendance. The repast pleased Pu Lun, who presented Moy with a silk scarf and made a surprise announcement: upon his return to China, the Prince would recommend that Moy be granted a title. Pu Lun proved as good as his word, and two months later Moy received certificates bearing the seal of the Emperor of China elevating him to the rank of Mandarin of the Fifth Degree. The title, which did not confer any practical benefit but permitted him to display an embroidered silver pheasant badge on his tunic, had not been bestowed simply because the prince had enjoyed his company. This was certainly a business transaction of some sort. During this era, the declining Manchu government courted overseas Chinese merchants because it needed capital, and it is possible Moy paid for his title. Another possibility, though, is that the Chinese government saw in him a potential standard-bearer in a drive to push the United States to ease restrictions on its Chinese population. The title might have been given to encourage him in this effort and to signal that the Chinese government supported him. A large crowd followed the prince to all of his engagements in Indianapolis and here they gather in front of Moy Kee’s restaurant in the Hazelton Hotel (also home to a drug store and Gordon’s Pool Room). Prince Pu Lun is the front seat passenger. To copyright his images, photographer Monroe George sent two copies of each photograph to the Library of Congress in 1904. A handwritten note under the stereograph image reads “Royal Prince Pu Lun, future Emperor of China, with Mayor Holtzman’s party attending Moy Kee’s reception.” Although at that time Prince Pu Lun was expected to eventually become emperor of China, that never came to be. With his many American as well as Chinese friends, Moy Kee was the go-to source for local newspaper reporters and was often quoted (although his accented English was sometimes spelled phonetically, for example “Melican” instead of “American”). Sadly, both countries later rejected him. The Chinese government revoked his honorary title and he was eventually stripped of his U.S. citizenship. Many of his friends supported his efforts to remain in the country. Even Mayor Samuel L. Shank wrote a letter to President Taft proclaiming him one of the city’s upstanding citizens. Being unsuccessful, Moy Kee and his wife returned to China for a year but, stating that China was too slow, they returned home to Indianapolis where in 1914 he died suddenly of a heart attack at age 65 while eating in his restaurant. At the time he was one of the city’s wealthiest residents, worth $25,000 (over $600,000 today). Chin Fung, his grieving widow, escorted his body to China for burial and never returned. Today, not a hint remains of the importance of this thriving Chinese restaurant, a long-ago visit by a Chinese prince, or even the fact that this strip on the National Road had ever been a busy block full of hotels and stores. Since the 1970s, the block has been a non-descript surface lot, currently providing parking for the adjacent Harrison College. Read more about the life of Moy Kee in Scott D. Seligman’s article “The Hoosier Mandarin: the ‘Mayor’ of Indianapolis’s Chinatown,” in Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, Fall 2011. Seligman has since published a book about Moy Kee and his brothers titled Three Tough Chinamen (Earnshaw Books Ltd., 2012).

Ampelopsis brevipendiculata 'Elegans' Elegans Porcelain Berry Elegans Porcelain Ampelopsis Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: - Deciduous variegated vine, less vigorous and less aggressive than non-variegated forms. Leaves simple, alternate, dark green and heavily mottled with white and some pink. - Sun (best for fruiting) or part shade, nearly any soil. Requires support for climbing. Recommended as patio plants or for a hanging basket. - Hardy to USDA Zone 4 Introduced before 1847, reportedly true-to-seed. (syn. 'Tricolor'). - Silverton, Oregon: The Oregon Garden

Are you looking for ways to save some cash? If yes, then you should definitely check out these DIY instant pot trivets. They are very useful and they can also add a touch of style to your kitchen. Instant pots are great for cooking meals at home because they allow you to cook multiple dishes simultaneously. The problem is that they don’t come cheap. And even though they are relatively inexpensive, they can get quite expensive over time. You can create your own DIY instant pot trivet using a plastic container or a glass jar. All you need is a piece of fabric, glue and scissors You can easily make a DIY trivet for your Instant Pot using a piece of wood, a metal plate, and some screws. Step 1: Cut the wood into 4 equal pieces. Step 2: Drill holes in the center of each piece of wood. Step 3: Screw the wood together using two screws. Step 4: Place the wood trivet on top of the Instant Pot. Step 5: Put the lid on the Instant Pot. When Would You Use a Trivet? A trivet is used to prevent burns from occurring on your stovetop or oven. It is especially useful if you are cooking something that requires a lot of attention such as stir-frying, sautéing, baking, roasting, or grilling. A trivet is also helpful if you are using a wok or other type of pan that does not fit directly on the burner. Boiling eggs is a great way to get rid of any bacteria that may be present on the shell. To boil eggs, place the eggs into a saucepan filled with enough cold water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Bring the water to a rolling boil, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs from the hot water and run under cool running water until cooled completely. Peel the eggs and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Steaming vegetables is another easy way to remove harmful bacteria from the surface of the vegetable. Fill a medium sized pot with about 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Add the vegetables to the pot and cover with a lid. Steam the vegetables for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on how tender you prefer them. Remove the vegetables from the pot and serve immediately. Cakes and cheesecakes To bake cakes and cheesecake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the pan and line with parchment paper. Prepare cake batter according to package directions. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. For cheesecake, pour mixture into springform pan and place in refrigerator until set. To unmold, run knife around edge of pan and release sides. Serve chilled. Pasta dishes and casseroles For pasta dishes, follow package instructions. For casserole recipes, preheat oven to 375°F. Grease baking dish and layer ingredients in order listed. Bake covered for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. Uncover and continue baking 5 to 10 minutes longer if needed. Soups and stews Answer: Follow package directions. Add vegetables during last 15 minutes of cooking time. Delicate foods like fish Follow package directions. Answer: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Prepare batter according to package directions. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting. If you lose your phone, you can still get help. Here are some tips to help you recover your lost smartphone. 1. Check your contacts. If you know someone who owns a similar model phone, ask if he or she has any information about where you left your phone. 2. Look for clues. Try to remember what happened immediately after you last used your phone. Did you leave it somewhere? Was it stolen? Can you create a DIY Instant Pot trivet? Instant Pots are great for making quick meals but sometimes you need something else to hold your food while it cooks. This DIY trivet will allow you to place your food anywhere in your Instant Pot. It is easy to make and requires only two materials. Step 1: Take a piece of cardboard and cut it into a square shape. Make sure it is big enough to fit under the lid of your Instant Pot. Step 2: Cut another piece of cardboard and fold it in half lengthwise. Then unfold it again and cut off the excess material. I’m No Handyman – What Else Can I Do? If you are not handy around the house, you can always hire someone who is. Hiring a handyman is a good way to save money and get things done quickly. But if you are looking for a DIY project, here are some ideas to help you get started. 1. Repairing leaky faucets 2. Installing new light fixtures make equal-sized balls out of You can use a drill press to make these. Put a piece of wood under the table and put the balls on top of it. Then drill holes into the balls using a drill press. 3. Making wooden boxes 4. Building shelves use the rings from canning bottles 1. Make sure you have enough wood to build the box. 2. Use a circular saw to cut the wood. 3. Drill holes in the bottom of the box. 4. Screw the legs onto the base. 5. Cut the sides of the box. 6. Glue the sides together. 7. Paint the box. 8. Add handles. 9. Cover the box with fabric. 10. Hang the box. 11. Fill the box with toys. 12. Decorate the box. 13. Use tape to decorate the box. 14. Wrap the box with ribbon. 15. Tie the ribbon around the box. 16. Use glue to attach the ribbon. 17. Use scissors to trim the ribbon. 18. Use hot glue to attach the ribbon to the box. 19. Use a hot iron to attach the ribbon to a shirt. 20. Use a sewing machine to sew the ribbon onto a shirt. 21. Use a sewing machine needle to stitch the ribbon onto a What can I use instead of Instant Pot trivet? Instant Pots are very useful devices. It saves a lot of time and energy. But if you are using it for the first time, you might not know how to use it properly. So here we are giving you a quick guide on how to use an Instant Pot. First thing first, turn off the power switch. Then press the button “Manual”. This will open the manual mode. Now select the function you want to use. For example, you can choose the saute function. Press the button “Saute”. After selecting the function, press the button “+” to set the time. Select the quantity of food you want to cook. Press the button ‘Cancel’ to cancel the setting. Press the button � to start the process. Once the process is done, press the button ‘QR’ to confirm the process. And now you are ready to enjoy your meal. Is the Instant Pot trivet necessary? Yes, if you want to cook meat. It is important to note that the rack does not fit into the pressure cooker. So, if you want to use the rack, you will need to buy another model. Do you need the rack in the Instant Pot? Instant Pot trivets are useful for many reasons. First, they help prevent burns from hot liquids splashing onto the surface of your stovetop. Second, they protect the surface of your stove from scratches and dents. Third, they provide additional stability to your Instant Pot while using it. Fourth, they allow you to place your Instant Pot directly on the burner without having to worry about burning yourself. Fifth, they are easy to clean. Sixth, they are inexpensive. Seventh, they are dishwasher safe. Eighth, they are reusable. Ninth, they are eco-friendly. Tenth, they are non-slip. And finally, they are easy to install. Instant Pot trivet is used to prevent the bottom from burning while cooking. It is not necessary to use trivet if you are using electric stove top.

Panic Disorder 411 "Trust The Journey" is a guided meditation video created by The Mindful Movement. All the other videos were created by Michael Jackson Smith and were designed to help you to learn how to calm anxiety. Guided imagery is the process of being guided through calming or helpful mental images. It includes following along with a description of a peaceful place or calming scene, healing process, or other guided images. Visualization is the process of visualizing something for the purpose of relaxation or making positive changes. This may include visualizing a relaxing scene, visualizing healing, or other mental images. Meditation is the process of focusing the mind for the purposes of relaxation or making positive changes. Relaxation/Meditation Videos Deep breathing, nature scenes, flowing water, gentle motion, and music calm our minds. Focusing on peaceful scenes while listening to music diverts our attention away from our anxiety. Position: You don't have to get into a yoga pose to practice meditation. Simply sit in a comfortable position in a quiet place. Breathing: Take a deep breath, expanding your diaphragm, then hold your breath for a few seconds, and slowly exhale. Continue to breathe deeply through the meditation. Music: Slow, classical music helps you to focus because it has structure. Music without lyrics is best.

On Tuesday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) launched the first in a series of articles about “Hate In God’s Name,” an examination of what it calls “Dominionism,” a Christian ideology which inspires terrorism as deadly as the radical Islamic terrorism of the Islamic State (ISIS). While the SPLC article focused on groups responsible for domestic terrorism, it warned that this Christian ideology is widespread, and linked to a source which used Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) as the key example of Dominionism. “Much like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, right-wing terrorists — who often refer to themselves as “Soldiers of Odin,” “Phineas Priests,” or “Army of God” — are inspired by their interpretations of religious concepts and scripture to lash out and kill in God’s name,” the SPLC’s Daryl Johnson wrote. Johnson discussed FBI standoffs with extremist groups like the white supremacist Covenant, Sword, and Army of the Lord (CSA) in 1985, the armed white supremacist at Ruby Ridge in 1992, and the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas in 1993. Were Johnson merely discussing such extremist groups, his article might have been revealing and unproblematic. But he did not stop there. “According to Frederick Clarkson, a Senior Fellow at Political Research Associates, ‘Dominionism is the theocratic idea that regardless of theological camp, means, or timetable, God has called conservative Christians to exercise dominion over society by taking control of political and cultural institutions.’ This is similar to fears over Muslim extremists attempting to invoke Sharia Law in America,” Johnson wrote. In that very article Johnson cited (published by Political Research Associates, a group whose tagline is “challenging the right, advancing social justice”), Frederick Clarkson pointed to Ted Cruz as the predominant example of “Dominionism.” “The son of a Cuban refugee and evangelical pastor, Cruz was raised in the kind of evangelicalism-with-a-theocratic-bent that has come to epitomize a significant and growing trend in American public life,” Clarkson wrote. He warned that Dominionism “arose from the swirls and eddies of American evangelicalism to animate the Christian Right.” According to Johnson at the SPLC, “Dominion theology calls for Christians to assert God’s dominion over all mankind, including their communities, secular politics and American society to achieve the fulfillment of their Messianic expectations — to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.” In some isolated cases, as with the Branch Davidians, this is partially true. The link to Ted Cruz is a rather large stretch, however — and Johnson does nothing to alert the reader that Clarkson’s message about Cruz is a stretch. Johnson also quoted Genesis 1:26-31, where God directs Adam and Eve to “fill the Earth and subdue it,” as a scriptural basis for Dominionism. He added, “Dominion theory teaches that Jesus has commanded his followers to begin building the Kingdom of God in modern day, by incorporating the doctrine and principles of the Christian faith into the political establishment with the ultimate goal of creating a Christian nation.” Such goals are radical and fringe, and the Christian Right is not motivated by the ideology of making God’s kingdom come to Earth via political means (Jesus Himself explicitly forbade any such idea, in multiple ways). Adopting a common SPLC tactic, Johnson defined Dominionism in a way that tarnishes mainstream Christians with the label. “First, Dominionists celebrate Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should again be, a Christian nation,” Johnson wrote. He cited Political Research Associates writers again, who wrote, “In this way, they deny the Enlightenment roots of American democracy.” “Second, Dominionists promote religious supremacy, insofar as they generally do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity,” Johnson added. “Lastly, Dominionists endorse theocratic visions, believing that the Ten Commandments, or ‘biblical law,’ should be the foundation of American law, and that the U.S. Constitution should be seen as a vehicle for implementing biblical principles.” Finally, Johnson set out to tarnish the Christian Right by connecting some of their real political goals with radical positions they do not advocate. “More radical orthodox Dominionists reportedly advocate the abolishment of civil rights, labor unions, public schools and any laws with which they disagree,” he wrote. “In addition, they favor withdrawing U.S. citizenship from non-believers, as well as the removal of women from the workforce.” “Further, they believe federal, state and local government should eventually be replaced with a Christian theocracy, thus empowering religious institutions to run every aspect of the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of government,” the SPLC writer warned. “Their ultimate goal is the creation of a Judeo-Christian nation where the only legitimate voice is Christian.” Johnson’s presentation of Dominionism not only has a clear leftist slant, but it unfairly tars conservative goals and principles. The Right to Work movement, for instance, does not seek to “abolish labor unions,” but to make sure that no worker is forced to join a union or pay dues to a union that advocates for political causes with which he disagrees. Similarly, the School Choice movement does not wish to “abolish public schools,” but rather to open up the school system to a competitive free-market approach. Finally, the United States was indeed founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and the founders were religious men who divided the national government from churches in order to preserve the churches. Most of the states had an established church at the time of the founding, and Sundays were considered a day of rest until the 1940s. The very first law of the United States was the Northwest Ordinance, which declared, “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” The Enlightenment which inspired America’s founding was not anti-religious — far from it. Finally, as for the concern that “Dominionists” — like Ted Cruz — “do not respect the equality of other religions, or even other versions of Christianity,” this is blatantly false if applied to the Christian Right. The pro-life movement has brought together Roman Catholics and Protestants of all stripes (along with secular pro-lifers), while religious freedom issues have seen Catholics and Protestants defending one another. Indeed, Ted Cruz himself has allied with another staunch conservative, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who is Mormon, a member of a religion which evangelicals like Cruz tend not to even consider Christian. Even Muslim reformer M. Zudhi Jasser has supported Cruz, something that should be impossible if Cruz really were a Dominionist. The idea that the mainstream Christian Right shares an ideology of religious supremacy to the destruction of civil law is preposterous. Rather, Christian conservatives support the Constitution as grounded in Judeo-Christian principles. Finally, the biggest rebuke to the SPLC’s claims comes from Jesus Himself. Jesus, a man claiming to be the Jewish Messiah — prophesied to bring God’s kingdom on Earth — stated over and over again, “My kingdom is not of this world.” When asked whether it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus asked for a denarius, a Roman coin, pointing out that Caesar’s likeness is on it. He said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). In this passage, Jesus called on His followers to give their ultimate allegiance to God (as they are made in God’s image), but to pay taxes to Caesar, honoring the worldly authority. As St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, Christians are to acknowledge the civil authorities, and to work the best they can to achieve peace within them (Jeremiah 29). They should live in the world, but not be of the world, and they seek to make things better for everyone. In Christian theology, Jesus will come again and establish His kingdom on Earth, but that is not for Christians to bring about. Jesus Himself said no one knows the day or the hour when He will return. Dominionism — if indeed it is a coherent ideology and not something cooked up in the minds of crazed liberals illogically terrified of evangelicals and their supposed “Handmaid’s Tale” agenda — is antithetical to Christianity, and the vast majority of Christians are nothing close to Dominionist. Naturally, the SPLC’s Johnson argued that his articles should “not be misconstrued as an assault against Christianity,” but rather as “an exploration of the links between violent right-wing extremism and its exploitation of Christianity.” The problem is, by citing scripture, by twisting mainstream conservative positions, and by quoting an article describing Ted Cruz as a Dominionist, Johnson has indeed attacked mainstream Christian conservatives. The SPLC is infamous for doing this. It lists Christian organizations like D. James Kennedy Ministries, the Family Research Council (FRC), Liberty Counsel, the American Family Association (AFA), and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) on its list of “hate groups” along with the KKK. Indeed, the group’s branding of FRC as a “hate group” inspired a terrorist attack in 2012, when Floyd Lee Corkins II tried to kill everyone in the organization. He pled guilty to committing an act of terrorism and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He later testified to the FBI that he intended to move on to other groups after decimating the FRC, and that he targeted these groups because they were listed as “anti-gay groups” on the SPLC website. This past summer, James Hodgkinson opened fire at a Republican practice for the Congressional Baseball Game, nearly killing Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.). Hodgkinson had “liked” the SPLC on Facebook, and the SPLC had repeatedly attacked Scalise as a white supremacist, even after he apologized for giving one speech to a white nationalist organization (and was attacked as a traitor by former KKK leader David Duke). Just last week, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) cited the SPLC, comparing an organization on its list of “hate groups” to the genocidal Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. CNN, NBC, and ABC have parroted the SPLC’s “hate group” designations (which compare mainstream Christian and conservative groups to the Ku Klux Klan). CNN even posted the group’s “hate map,” which inspired a terror attack in 2012. The SPLC claims to be a nonpartisan nonprofit organization monitoring “hate groups,” but it really is a Left-wing defamation organization. An SPLC spokesman even declared that his organization’s “aim in life is to destroy these groups, completely.” At least three of those targeted by the SPLC have filed lawsuits against it: Christian nonprofits Liberty Counsel and D. James Kennedy Ministries, and Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, who the SPLC called an “anti-Muslim extremist” for visiting a strip club for his bachelor party. In fact, in labeling the Ruth Institute (RI) a “hate group,” the SPLC cited the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. This lead RI President Jennifer Roback Morse to argue that if the SPLC were to be consistent, it must brand the Catholic Church itself a hate group. The SPLC may pretend that its series of articles on “Dominionism” is an honest look at “right-wing extremist” ideology, but its political slant is apparent, and the fact that this same organization lists mainstream Christian groups as “hate groups” should destroy any credibility it has in addressing Christian theology.

A great blog post about Monarchs, including the relative size and OE infection rates of Western and Eastern subpopulations, and the astounding conclusion below about probable causes for the increasing parasite problem. An in-depth and interesting read. “From my view of the world, I see three anthropogenic practices that have all arisen during the save-the-monarchs movement, and each of these probably has some influence on this, because of what we know about its influence on OE numbers. They are, in no particular order: 1) commercial monarch breeding operations, where thousands of monarchs are raised, sold, and shipped around the country for release. These monarchs are often infected with OE (we’ve checked). And, these operations are always touting that their monarchs are helping to boost the population 2) homeowner rearing of monarchs for release. If people rear more than just a few monarchs, their kitchen-rearing operations have the potential to result in major OE spread. 3) planting of tropical milkweed. In places where it doesn’t freeze, this milkweed has been proven to enhance local OE spread. Even though these places are usually more southern, migrating monarchs still pass through them on the way south, and/or north, and, they probably interact with the highly-infected resident monarchs there.”The science of monarch butterflies

Space is just another place where humans are going to live. And because space is almost limitless humans are going to live there in vast numbers in the future - in other words, it will become a whole new habitat. Today most activities in space are government ones because getting to and from space is so expensive. Once travel to and from orbit is cheap enough, as on Earth, most activities in space will be carried out by individuals, private companies and organizations. At that time space activities will involve almost every industry - not just the aerospace industry but construction and interior design, catering and drinks, fashion and music, sports and entertainment, advertising and law, to name just a few. Obviously, if people are going to live in space, they are going to need somewhere to live. Hotels are all very well for tourists, but workers will have more practical needs for their permanent accommodation - being close to work for one. Living in space for long periods of time, or even permanently, is far more serious a prospect than merely staying for a few days or weeks. Much research in space today concerns the effect on the body of living in weightlessness or "zero gravity" for long periods. While this isn't a concern for tourists (we already know that living in zero G for a few weeks has no harmful effects) the long-term effects of low gravity have both benefits and drawbacks to health. Plenty of books have been written about living in space, but they tend to concentrate on the past experience of people who have stayed in orbit. These people have nearly all been in the unusual situation of doing scientific research. And they have all undergone extensive selection and training, because going to orbit is so expensive today that it would be very wasteful if they were ill or failed to do some of their planned work. And so they've mostly been very busy all the time. So most books don't say much about how it will be for people to live in space for fun, for example in an orbiting hotel. Some astronauts have complained about being in zero G because it makes their work difficult. Objects like screwdrivers and screws don't stay still but float around. You can't use your body's weight to hold things down - you have to brace yourself against something rigid, and so on. It would be easier to do their experiments on the ground. But most of us will be staying in space for a holiday, not working, and for that zero G is fun. Even the most ordinary activities like eating and drinking, having a bath, moving around your room or along a corridor, undressing and getting into bed (with or without a partner) all become new and entertaining in zero G. Children are sure to love it! And once sports facilities are available, a whole new range of activities will be possible. Living in space for longer periods like a few months or permanently, is more complex, as you have to take precautions against the long-term effects of zero-G and cosmic rays. Living in space for just a few days as a tourist you won't have to worry about most of this. The fact is that anyone can live in space for a few weeks without any problems, without any ill effects, and in doing so they will have endless opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of zero G. Hotel staff will stay in orbit for longer periods of a couple of months at a time, and they'll have to follow a number of health rules. First they'll have to exercise regularly, particularly their leg muscles, because in zero-G without the usual weight acting on them, leg-bones get thinner. This is done with a variety of equipment, such as "exercise-trousers" which have strong elastic between the ankles and the waist which the leg muscles have to stretch, and which puts pressure on the bones and joints. Second, hotel staff will be above the atmosphere which filters a lot of the radiation coming in from space. So orbital hotel staff will be like staff at nuclear power stations, research centers which use radioactive materials, astronauts and other professions: they'll receive higher radiation doses than the general population, which will be closely monitored. As in these other professions, the additional risks will be very small, and staff will receive close health monitoring to prevent any problems arising. Like professional "radiation workers" on Earth, they'll generally be people who don't intend to have more children, since reproduction is particularly sensitive to disruption by radiation. No barrier to working in space Of course hotels are going to need a lot of staff. It's easy to see: as tourism reaches a rate of hundreds of thousands of guests per year, most of whom will stay in orbit for a few days, the number of guests in orbit simultaneously will reach thousands - presumably divided between a number of hotels run by competing companies. And since a high ratio of hotel staff will be needed to provide top quality service, there are going to be thousands of professional hotel staff who do an occasional tour of duty in orbit. But even given the extra health risks, I don't think there'll be any shortage of applicants for the job! In fact it's likely to be a popular posting! And it will probably be a long time before any other sort of work employs more people in orbit than hotels. Rather different from the usual image of the future of space activities, but business does what makes money!

The first thing you should understand about what is Ripple is that it’s a platform and a cryptocurrency. The platform is an open-source protocol built to enable cheap and fast transactions. Ripple has its own digital asset (XRP), but anyone on the network can use RippleNet to create their own. This article explains what is Ripple, the problems it solves, the difference between Ripple and XRP, the technology, competition, developments, partnerships, and XRP price prediction. In this article, you will learn how to use a Ripple paper wallet. Relationship and Difference Between Ripple and XRP Brad Garlinghouse, the current CEO of Ripple and Chris Larsen, current chairman, have been forced to confirm whether Ripple and XRP are one and the same. This came from different individuals in the crypto market debating about this topic, which forced them to confirm that Ripple Inc. and XRP are different entities. Ripple Inc. is a tech company that offers efficient solutions and platforms to financial companies for sending money globally. Founded in early 2012, the company later released the Ripple platform, real-time gross settlement system, and remittance network and currency exchange. On the other hand, XRP is a digital currency created on the XRP ledger, a decentralized and open-source blockchain. The cryptocurrency can be traded on different crypto exchanges as an independent asset. Note: XRP is not a security, as such, being in possession of the digital asset does not mean you share on Ripple Inc. as is the case with stocks. Nonetheless, both entities share a unique relationship. First, Ripple owns about 60% XRP tokens in supply. While most crypto companies release a high number of their coins for a private or public sale, the coin’s executive, Garlinghouse stated that they released the tokens to Ripple Inc. as a gift. The team developed the xRapid feature on the platform, which integrates XRP and the XRP ledger. This feature allows users on the platform to reduce their liquidity costs and facilitate payments around the world in real-time. This feature is illustrated in the figure below: One major fact about this feature is that it’s not owned by the Ripple platform or any single entity, which nullifies the claims that it is centralized due to its connection to Ripple Inc. Ripple is a registered company based in the United States and is led by a board of directors, founders, and other shareholders. The company’s management is done by individuals that own and control the functions and running of the firm. On the other hand, XRP is not managed by any single entity. Rather, it’s owned by a community of XRP holders who play a significant role in the coin’s success. Additionally, this community develops solutions on the XRP ledger at will. Ripple Inc. is owned by both Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, the two major shareholders of the San Francisco based company. Larsen owns a 17% stake and an additional 5.19 billion XRP tokens. Garlinghouse owns a 6.3% stake. Currently, the state of global payment systems is quite behind. For instance, you can stream and download entire movies on your phone in the most remote areas, but sending little money to your relatives in a different country takes time and requires processing fees. The technology for convenient global payments is already there, but why is the global payments sector so far behind? It’s no secret that financial institutions make billions of dollars on payment fees, and they’ve been trying to innovate systems that will always put money in their pockets. This is one of the main reasons why Ripple has developed a system that aims to work with the current financial system. The system is based on internet protocols that permit international and domestic payments of any currency and eliminates third parties in the process. The system has already been adopted by several banks in the United States, and the platform is looking to become adopted on a global scale. Here is a list of the 6 biggest banks using Ripple. The system works alongside the current global financial system. The platform links these financial systems seamlessly, enabling them to operate more efficiently on a single global network. According to Welly Sculley, the Director of Business Development, “Ripple is not designed to replace central banks or correspondent banks.” It’s a natural technology that they can adopt to increase the efficiency of transferring value domestically and cross-border. What is Ripple Net RippleNet consists of institutional payment providers that use solutions developed by Ripple to ensure frictionless global financial transactions. To understand how this works, let’s first talk about RTGS and RTXP. When sending money via BTC, the value of the transaction amount is set in real-time. This is what is meant by Real-Time Gross Settlement. Ripple uses gateways, this entails a global ledger containing private blockchains. The Ripple gateways provide a way through which companies, financial institutions, and governments can be part of the network. This is known as Ripple Transaction Protocol (RTXP), also known as RippleNet. After joining the RippleNet, a company or any other government can conduct business with other companies in the gateways faster and while spending less. Additionally, RippleNet enables you to receive payments on any digital currency or fiat currency. xCurrent, xRapid and xVia xCurrent is Ripple’s enterprise software solution that enables banks to instantly settle cross-border payments with end-to-end trading. Using this solution, banks can communicate with each other to confirm transaction details, before and after initiating a transaction. The main aim of this software is to ensure that these transactions are consistent and that there is legal clarity of each transaction. We have already explained xRapid above. xVia is part of RippleNet, and it enables banks and other companies to leverage benefits of RippleNet to send and receive payments from emerging markets. Basically, this development is a chance for emerging markets to succeed on a global scale by transacting with global financial companies. Any financial institutions around the globe can grow their business faster and customize their services as they look to meet the individual needs of their customers. This gives them an opportunity to quickly scale their business, differentiate their service and address the unique needs of their customers. Similarly, xVia provides quick and easy to implement solutions for financial institutions and corporate marketplaces that are looking to expand their business. The solution acts as a bridge that connects large and small markets in the global payment transactions. The xVia creation will see tremendous growth of markets in a cost-effective way since transactions have been made easier and more affordable. Ripple Protocol Consensus Algorithm Unlike Ethereum or Bitcoin, Ripple does not have a blockchain. This sounds very strange, right? How can a digital currency without a blockchain verify transactions and ensure everything is okay? This is where RPCA comes in. The word ‘consensus’ in the abbreviation means that, if every node agrees with the rest, there are no issues. For instance, take an example of an arena with about 50 wise old men, and a city needs a unanimous decision from them to decide on something. If all agree to start a war, march on another territory or punish a certain offender, then it will be done. However, if one disagrees with this decision, then it will not be done. In an interview with Fortune, Garlinghouse stated, “Not many months ago, the media was saying no one will use XRP, which made for good skeptical headlines. Today, you can’t say that as people are starting to use xRapid because it’s better, faster and cheaper.” Some of the major companies that have partnered with Ripple include, MoneyGram, SBI Remit, Axis Bank, MUFG Bank, Standard Chartered, BMO, Cuallix, Mercury FX, IDT, Euro Exim Bank, SendFriend, Western Union, and the list continues. The platform’s major competitor is Stellar. In factor, the founder of Stellar Jed McCaleb was one of the founders of Ripple, but left the company in 2013, due to some disagreements with team members. Both platform work specifically to better cross-border payments and have a similar build. Nonetheless, Ripple is for profit, while Stellar is non-profit. The overall mission of both projects differs to some extent. While Ripple is mainly focused on major financial institutions, Stellar is focusing on the little guy to enable banking to the unbanked. Ripple’s Decentralization Strategy Ripple announced its decentralization strategy in mid-2017. In this announcement, the company mentioned plans to increase the number of XRP ledger validators and expand them to 55 nodes by mid-2017. Currently, Ripple has about 26 nodes. However, Ripple only has control of 7 nodes, meaning that the majority are being controlled by external parties. This push towards additional third-party nodes is evidence enough of the platform’s efforts towards more decentralization. Is XRP a Good Investment? Note: There’s nothing as 100% free-risk investment. In any case, it is up to you to make a decision. Nonetheless, let’s look at some benefits and drawbacks of XRP. - Evidently, Ripple is a trusted organization that works with many financial institutions. - There’s no inflation to XRP since they are initially mined and already exist. - The more adoption Ripple continues to experience, the higher the value of XRP. In case one day all banks decide to use it as a unified bank currency, it will make a nice fortune of all the early investors. - Ripple platform is highly centralized. The whole idea of cryptocurrency is avoiding central control. In this case, the developers can decide how much to release and when thus controlling the price. - Ripple Labs owns 60%, thus a monopoly. - It’s an open-source, but still hackable. According to the CEO of Pinnacle Brilliance Systems Inc. Roman Guelfi-Gibs, “Ripple certainly has the potential to move up a notch in 2018, but I think it will be more likely in 2019. As the market observes more projects being coded in other algorithms such as XRP, ETH will likely take a backseat to the next big coin. It will take some time for the markets to digest this, so I am projecting 2019 to be the likely time for it to take place. Of course, with crypto, anything can happen, so watch closely.” You can buy or sell Ripple on exchanges such as Kraken, Binance, and Bittrex. If you intend to buy Ripple in large amounts and hold it for long, we recommend you buy a hardware wallet. Hardware wallets are much safer since they are offline. Here is a list of the best XRP wallets. Final Thoughts On Ripple Ripple is a unique digital payment asset, which acts both as a currency and a platform. Many famous people supported Ripple in the time as they saw in it innovation and opportunity. Whether or not you decide to invest in XRP, you should watch out for the developments by the Ripple Platform. The platform has proven to be a force to reckon with in the global payment systems, and may likely replace the old guard financial system. The platform has developed many solutions to better global transactions, despite its minimal applications to the average person. Nonetheless, when looking at Ripple, view it with the lens of the global payments ecosystem, it’s the proverbial established Goliath vs. high-tech David.

‘This Is Us’: Blake Stadnik Wishes There More People ‘Like Him’ On TV Growing Up Roles for disabled actors on TV have become far too scant from what they should be. While we’ve seen many disabled characters in movies and TV over the years, they’re frequently played by actors pretending to have those disabilities. Blake Stadnik from This Is Us might have set a new precedent on this, at least in the realm of hiring more blind actors. Now Stadnik is speaking up about it and how he wishes there were more like him growing up watching TV. It’s worth taking a look at why this was so slow to become reality and whether it really will change thanks to the influence of Stadnik’s Jack Damon character. Why has Hollywood shied away from finding more blind actors? Some exceptions to disabled actors exist in Hollywood, or at least one going back over 70 years. The iconic 1946 WWII film The Best Years of Our Lives had a real-life war veteran named Harold Russell who happened to lose most of his arms during the D-Day invasion. Thanks to director William Wyler hiring him (despite no acting experience), Russell was able to win two Oscars for his amazing performance playing Homer Parrish. To date, he’s the only actor to win two Oscars for the same part, with the other being honorary. Not that this extraordinary achievement necessarily set any new bars for more disabled actors in Tinseltown. Yes, there have been some rare examples, namely hearing-impaired actors and others who’ve had various conditions. When it comes to blind actors, however, there just haven’t been any who play characters who are legally blind. Seeing general statistics on disabled actors will make you wonder if there hasn’t been a deliberate bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment community going back decades. What does Blake Stadnik have to say about this? Here’s one sobering statistic: More than 95% of all disabled characters are played by able-bodied actors. This really shouldn’t be a reality, especially in a time when there’s a push to bring more inclusion to TV and movies. From the perspective of Blake Stadnik, it’s long overdue someone like him is hired to play a real sight-challenged individual. The twist to his Jack Damon character on This Is Us is that he’s seen 20-25 years in the future when we presume there could be a treatment for blindness. His particular condition (retinopathy of prematurity) doesn’t always result in complete blindness, but enables the person to only see shapes and bright lights. According to Stadnik (who actually has Stargardt disease), TiU is doing a major service to people like him. He says he would have appreciated having people like him on TV when he was a kid to represent the blind with a sense of realism. Has Hollywood been selfish in hiring able-bodied actors instead of more disabled? No doubt Hollywood was selfish on this front, simply because producers probably thought it would pose problems hiring someone with a disability on a film set. So many disabled people have proven themselves true professionals in many fields, making the above argument complete nonsense. Because Hollywood still worships beauty and winning awards for A-list actors, both have taken unfortunate precedence. Stadnik is probably going to change things, or at least one can hope. This Is Us is already an anomaly from usual TV shows with its influence being felt in numerous ways. Several TiU derivatives have begun to show up on network TV as a result, if not necessarily with disabled actors. Based on Stadnik’s Instagram comment of being a true advocate for people like him, things may change … slowly. Maybe all it takes is one overwhelming performance to prove to producers hiring someone with a disability is connecting to a larger audience.

The CLA has welcomed the UK Government’s ambitious plans to reach net zero emissions, following the launch of its Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener. The government says that the strategy will help secure 440,000 jobs and unlock £90bn in investment in 2030 on the UK's path to net zero by 2050. New investments announced include: - An extra £350m of the government's £1bn commitment to support the electrification of UK vehicles and their supply chains and another £620m for targeted electric vehicle grants and infrastructure. - £140m Industrial and Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme to accelerate industrial carbon capture and hydrogen. - An extra £500m to develop green technologies. - £3.9bn to help decarbonise heat and building, including a £450m three-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme. - £124m towards the Nature for Climate Fund. Mark Bridgeman, CLA President CLA, said: On tree planting “We welcome the additional funds to support tree planting and peatland restoration, but we note with regret that government is already significantly behind in its existing targets. “To plant 30,000 hectares of new trees per year by 2024 across the UK means more than doubling current rates of planting. The ambition is good, but the delivery will be extremely challenging, particularly in England where competition for land use is stronger than ever. “Landowners across the country are willing and able to help government meet its tree planting targets, but they can only do so with the right support. While the grants scheme in England is now more attractive, farmers will need long term certainty if they are to plant trees on land that could have another use.” On electric vehicles The UK Government has announced £620m for the installation of electric vehicles and on-street charging points. Mr Bridgeman said: “If government is suitably ambitious it will invest in a fast-tracked rollout of electric vehicle charge points in rural areas, helping create new jobs in assessment and installation, while safeguarding rural jobs and economic activity across key sectors such as tourism and leisure. “There are around 550,000 rural businesses in England alone and, if we are to have a green revolution, the rural economy must not be left behind.” Heat and Buildings Strategy Meanwhile, government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy announced that that homeowners in England and Wales will be offered subsidies of £5,000 from next April to help them to replace old gas boilers with low carbon heat pumps. The grants are part of the government's £3.9bn plan to reduce carbon emissions from heating homes and other buildings. Mr Bridgeman added: “While we welcome the scheme, this level of funding is a drop in the ocean to what is needed. Some 26 million homes are heated by oil or gas which will need transition to low-carbon heating. At present, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will fund 90,000 homes over three years, which is a step in the right direction but may not be sufficient to ramp up the supply chain. We hope that lessons have been learnt from the Green Homes Grant Scheme, and rural homes are given equal access to the grants.” The CLA has long called for reform to the methodologies that underpin the Standard Assessment Procedure, that is used to measure the energy performance of buildings. Current methodologies are based on modern construction methods, despite one fifth of UK homes being built before 1919. While the UK Government has committed to refining these methodologies, this action does not go far enough. Mr Bridgeman added: “The simple truth is that many rural homes cannot ever be insulated well enough to meet the minimum rating of C that government is demanding. Government must recognise that a targeted support package to support rural homeowners will be necessary if meaningful improvements are to be delivered. “Government, at present, is falling well short of that ambition.”

The goal of Intellectual Output 3 is to create and disseminate in a publicly accessible form guidelines on how to enable and organize international digital learning environments. These virtual and blended environments will include courses created to prepare for an international experience, thus permitting rich interaction with the host institution, city, and country. They will include modules on European cultural competences accessible by learners of all kinds and enable innovative solutions like carrying out practical activities in university laboratories. The intellectual outcome has a great transferability potential as it could be adopted by any university that wishes to provide digital learning beyond simple online lessons. The activities planned for producing the guidelines are composed of the following steps: first, an analysis will be performed of the surveys already carried out during the pandemic and new jointly designed ones to map and understand the main difficulties met by students and teachers in current virtual environments and define a set of requirements to create optimal virtual environments; with the help of experts in psychology and communication, possible solutions and strategies will be designed to facilitate the virtual integration of mobile students; in particular we will focus on practical online activities outside of a physical laboratory for disciplines such as computer science, physics and health sciences, proposing and testing solutions for their efficacy; nano-modules will be offered to promote European values, citizenship and history, and engage students in a virtual interchange leading to a reflection on European diversity and unity; the solutions proposed will be tested in all partner universities to verify their effectiveness; as a final outcome of this process, we will define a set of guidelines, based on a formal model, on how to improve the perception of the classroom climate and university life, but also to assess the risks of failures and actions to mitigate their effects.

You can get your toddler the toy he or she requires to have a better learning of subjects, words, literacy skill and learning. These toys come with a range of different choices from which you can select your choice and in return, give your child something they can adore for time and keep the memories in mind for life. Surprisingly, you can have your toy of choice according to the age group as you can grant your kid a new toy each year as a birthday gift as it remains entertaining and engaging. Like every monthly or yearly update that comes for Windows, you will have to keep your number toys and alphabet learning toys updated each year or as soon as your toddler or kid is able to repeat the same words. Helping your kid learn in different ways: Each toy comes with everything that is required by a toddler to start word recognition and phonics. There are flashcards and word topic books that come with great vocabulary options and they have a similar option that comes under the hearing toys category. For a child, it’s important to develop skills and have an extensive selection of support materials as well as having alphabet learning toys that are both, designed to meet with EYFS(Early Years Foundation Stage) and the national curriculum requirements. There is a stock of great resources of toys to learn alphabets, number toys and inculcating the habit of learning books. For each of the age groups, there are different toys to teach skills like literacy, new words for every group, numbers and learning using memorable books. Your children can practice their vocabulary and the ability to build up sentences using the guided plays or having imaginative techniques.This is the right place the learning toys will be able to help you. Many toys come with the option of learning while playing the same back to you, which will be able to teach your toddler in a fun, happy manner.Listening games, having great educational speaking for the class or games that you can play as a family with your child are some of the things these toys can help in doing. How can toys help in learning? There are toys that allow your toddler to write.Whether it’s about writing in a cursive manner or learning to write the letter shapes and correcting application by spelling it out. This also depends on developing motor controls in the hand and fingers of your toddlers. Until the children reach nursery standards, they can take the help of these learning toys and number toys. With these options, they can have an edge over the other children. You can teach your children how to have fun while learning. This will improve dexterity and mindfulness in the children.You can select for your toy of choice that should be dependent on your kid’s choice.

By Christa Graber This project, which I worked on with supervisor Keith Graber Miller of the Bible and Religion Department, has made me reflect on why it is we do biographical research; why we examine some peoples’ lives and not others. Some people are well known because of some heroic event, making it obvious that theirs is a story worth telling. I thought also about the contrast between autobiographies and biographies. While neither is a fool-proof way of getting all the facts about someone’s life, it is exceptional to note a difference between those who choose to write their own memoirs and those who don’t get around to it because they are too busy with other causes and needs they observed. Among his many other accomplishments as a father, spouse, physician, and church leader, Willard Krabill was instrumental in helping Mennonites negotiate their way through changing cultural understandings of sex and sexuality. He remained open and yet grounded, helping Mennonites come to terms with their sexuality in a healthy way that was clearly and notably in contrast to the “get [sex] wherever you can” attitude becoming more accepted in American culture. A necessary element of studying a life is having resources from which to study and analyze actions and reactions. Fortunately, Krabill’s family saw the importance of remembering his life and helped him to record ten hours of audio interviews with him shortly before his death in January 2009. They acted on a favored African proverb of Krabill’s, “when an old man dies, a library burns down.” As I read and sorted through this “old man’s” library I learned of his life experiences and how he began playing his significant role in the Mennonite church. Although I never had the privilege of meeting Krabill, the audiotapes gave me insight about what things specifically influenced his life. These included incidents in his growing-up years, such as watching his father have the courage to be a pioneer in the education field and lose his job because others did not agree with him. Another was hearing about the sexuality course Krabill took as a continuing education course in California that prompted him to begin Goshen College’s own Human Sexuality course. Another important resource for this project was personal interviews with former colleagues, such as Norman Kauffmann and Anne Krabill Hershberger; and two of his children who live in the Goshen area: Merrill Krabill and Jeannie (Krabill) Miller. Norman Kauffmann was dean of students during the time Krabill was advocating for a sexuality course at Goshen College. Dr. Kauffmann’s support was an integral part to making changes on campus and a source of encouragement for Willard Krabill. In an interview with his youngest son, Ron, Krabill stated, “Norm was always behind me in everything I did.” Another important player in making changes on campus was then-president J. Lawrence Burkholder. Unfortunately, I missed interviewing Dr. Burkholder personally because he died on the very day I had arranged to talk with him. Anne Krabill Hershberger, Krabill’s youngest sister, was another source of encouragement to Krabill. It was she that edited the book Sexuality: God’s Gift. In addition I am planning on continuing to interview colleagues of Krabill’s or former students whose lives were guided by their contact with him. In the book, Mennonite Peacemaking, sociologists Leo Driedger and J. Howard Kauffman draw on a sociological concept from Peter Berger called plausibility structures. These are conversations, interactions, and other social factors that form a context that can support beliefs. The authors of Mennonite Peacemaking used these structures to talk about how Mennonites’ response to war has changed throughout our history. They name people who re-formed the understanding of the meaning of pacifism ideological brokers, a term that identifies someone who responds to changing societal conditions without abandoning previously accepted convictions. I have changed these quotes from the book to apply to the sexuality issues Krabill dealt with: “The Mennonite brokers struggled with a formidable task—how to reconstruct beliefs [about sexuality] in ways that paid deference to Anabaptist tradition and yet rang credible in modern Mennonite ears.” “The ideological brokers, following the forays of the activists, sought to reconstruct [sexuality] in ways that would lend it credibility as Mennonites traveled through the throes of modernity. To discard it outright would have been to erase … the distinguishing mark of Mennonite identity.” When Krabill came onto the sexuality scene in the Mennonite Church and on Goshen College’s campus in the 1960s and 1970s, he functioned as an ideological broker in part because he helped open up conversations about sexuality on campus and in the church. Similar to most other Protestants and Catholics in the first 60 years of the 20th century, Mennonites tended to avoid speaking openly about issues related to sexuality. It was not something normally addressed in church services and only minimally discussed in homes, nor was it a popular topic in Mennonite publications; the 1956 Mennonite Encyclopedia has no entry for sex education or sexuality. There were some Mennonite authors who wrote sex education manuals. In 1942 Mennonite C.F. Derstine, for example, wrote a pair of books, The Path to Beautiful Womanhood and The Path to Noble Manhood. These two books vary in their description of anatomy depending on the audience and one other thing: the book for girls states that men only want virgin, clean women. For boys, they are cautioned against associating with loose women. These research-free arguments include the idea that masturbation drains “life fluid” and thus energy; in addition, it can cause mental disturbances. That was the common belief among most religious writers – and even medically trained speakers on sexuality – since the 18th century. Krabill once gave Keith Graber Miller a 1909 pamphlet circulated in Mennonite circles that identified about 20 different ailments associated with male masturbation. To Derstine’s credit, he did have helpful suggestions, such as something along the lines of “children will learn about sex so make sure it is in the right context,” but he failed to give helpful suggestions for how to do so; he suggested a literal “birds and bees” explanation for children. The most helpful suggestion in the group of books I read came from H. Claire Amstutz in 1956. In Growing up to Love: a guide to sex education, he pointed out that sexuality is not something you teach a child about all at once, in the same way you do not raise a child in one afternoon. It is a lifelong process that should be approached at deeper levels as the child becomes able to understand more. At the time Krabill started the human sexuality class on campus in 1974, there were few, if any, other Christian college campuses with semester-long sexuality courses, and certainly none of the other Mennonite Colleges had such a course. In the early 1980s he was also a part of a Human Sexuality Study Committee made up of representatives from both General Conference and Mennonite Church Mennonites, out of which came a document that was grounded in the Bible and provided a guide for churches to study and discuss sexuality. The booklet talks about the meaning of the account in Genesis in which indicates that God created man and woman in God’s image and that they were created male and female in the beginning. Their sex was not something that appeared after the fall, making it some sort of punishment. God’s intention was to make sexual beings, not only for purposes of procreation but for the relationship that could be formed between two such beings. He led the way in encouraging the Mennonite church to be honest with members about the sexuality present in them and fostering safe places for discussion by providing honest guidelines rooted in the Bible. In the context of society’s changing sexual mores, Krabill functioned as an ideological broker by making an effort to help Mennonites affirm the good of sexuality and sexual expression while also speaking about guidelines for appropriate sexual practice. Like Most Protestant and Catholic groups, Mennonites had always supported saving genital-genital sexual intercourse for a covenanted marriage relationship. For a time this was not different from the sentiment of society as a whole, generally, whether or not it was always successful in practice. And it was usually stated as a negative: genital sexual relating before marriage is bad. The 1960s sexual revolution changed cultural perceptions of sexuality as the pill was invented and use of it became common. This was the first time that a quite simple and reliable contraceptive was invented that could be separated, in timing, from the act of heterosexual intercourse; one could take the pill throughout the month and be prepared for sexual engagement at any time with a low risk of pregnancy. Krabill sought to counter the trend of sexuality as self expression; instead, he insisted, “our sexuality is who we are, not what we do.” And that, “Having a proper theology of the body would lead us to feel exuberant about the way our bodies allow us to express ourselves, enjoy a wide variety of sensations, reach out to others in fostering relationships, experience this good creation, and reflect the image of God.” He remained grounded in the church tradition, yet “reshape[d] doctrines to make them chime with credibility in the context of new conditions.” Krabill attempted to normalize discussing sexuality by emphasizing its unavoidable presence in every situation. It was from this context that he hoped to open the church to discussions about homosexuality. In a 1995 Sexuality Sunday School elective at College Mennonite Church where he was a member, he introduced his section on the background of homosexuality this way: “It’s important to realize that the term human sexuality is redundant actually because only humans have the gift of sexuality. Other mammals have sex, have gender, have instincts, sexual reflexes, they copulate they reproduce sexually. But only humans have true sexuality; that rich tapestry of feelings of attraction of affection of affirmation of appreciation of reaching out which is all part of our sexuality. That need for intimacy or connectedness with other human beings. Our quest for wholeness, really. A biblically affirmed dimension of our humanity, sexuality is a marker of our humanity…. As we talk about homosexuality it is important that we place it in the context of our overall sexuality. In Genesis 1:27 you recall that we were created sexual “in the beginning.” Sexuality was not added after the fall. We are created by design male and female both in God’s image, sexual beings, and I am a sexual being from my birth to the day I die. This is a sexual body. We are whole creatures body, mind, and spirit, and these whole beings happen to be sexual in God’s good wisdom and we should rejoice. We are all sexual beings, married or single; young or old; celibate or otherwise. Sexual intercourse does not define our sexuality. Marriedness and singleness do not grade our sexuality. Sexual intercourse, genital interaction, is but a small part of our overall sexuality, which really includes everything about us that defines us as either male or female. It includes my body, my male feelings of masculinity, my male roles in home and community, society. My overall sense being male in a world that is populated by females as well. My sexuality is much more than my erotic feelings or any genital activity.” This pointed out in an acceptable manner the importance of recognizing the sexuality in all people and the importance of accepting all persons, whether their sexuality is like or unlike that of the majority of people. His role as a physician allowed him to speak clearly and articulately about the body and body parts and sexual bodily functions, without embarrassment. Perhaps more importantly, his education as a physician gave him credibility with those with whom he came in contact. He had established himself early in his life as a public speaker, beginning with his role in the peace problems committee that was part of the church peace oratorical commission after his graduation from Goshen College; this continued to benefit him as the topics he spoke on became less comfortable for listeners. His knowledge of students’ sexual lives as campus physician and, over time, as teacher of Human Sexuality, gave him a window into sexual realities that essentially no one else in the Mennonite world had at the time. At the same time, Krabill was honest and realistic about what he was observing in students’ sexual behavior. He was quite empathetic with those students who discovered their same-sex orientation, and put in place the primary support systems for gay and lesbian students on campus. Most students exploring their sexual orientation eventually found their way into the Human Sexuality class and were guided by Krabill there and outside of the classroom context into understanding themselves. Krabill also understood fidelity and covenant to be a part of same-sex relationships (similar to what he saw in heterosexual ones) and was instrumental in opening the Mennonite world to consider blessing same-sex relationships. So he had the unique opportunity of being both aware of what was happening in the lives of young adults and in a position in which people trusted his authority on the subject. Krabill sought to speak positively about sexuality; rather than focus on the badness of sex before marriage he supported the goodness of sexuality within appropriate contexts. That allowed him to promote relatively traditional views of sexuality but helped him provide a different sort of rationale for avoiding too early engagement in sexual intercourse, or engagement outside of a covenanted context. He also wanted sexuality to be something that is more freely discussed (like society was beginning to at the time), although in the right context and with the appropriate understanding that sexuality comes from God and with that there are certain responsibilities attached to that gift. He believed that sexuality could and should be celebrated. Although this supported what society was beginning to display, it is also shown in the Bible. Part of what allowed Krabill to function as an ideological broker was that Krabill was conversant in the language of the Bible and the church, and also conversant in medical language and academic idioms. He was intentional about developing this quality; in 1984 he was scholar-in-residence at the Institute for Religion and Wholeness at the School of Theology at Claremont, California. That plus his gentle, authentic spirit are what allowed him to make inroads in Mennonite congregations and the classroom. Another major focus was his work on intimacy, which he saw so lacking among men and women who came to his medical practice and so little discussed in academic textbooks. He emphasized his position as a doctor and said, “never have I seen anyone die from the lack of sexual intercourse. I have, however, seen many people die premature deaths because they felt rejected and lonely, and they lacked intimacy.” The importance of intimacy is how it is beneficial to both parties involved. By putting sexuality in the context of humanity Krabill opened up the Mennonite understanding of sexuality to include elements of the sexual revolution. He did not uphold society’s way of expressing these elements, but supported a more positive view of sexuality than was true for some previous generations. He encouraged a deeper exploration of elements of sexuality. Most notable was his support of persons with a homosexual orientation as children of God and his encouragement for a closer look at the meaning of sin in relation to sexual orientation and behavior. Another important element was the inclusion of all the elements that must be in place before a healthy sexual relationship can take place. Krabill’s understanding of sexuality permeated both his career as a doctor and his role as the physician on the Goshen College campus. He was, according to his sister, Anne, “an articulate author, spokesperson, and innovator” even into his retirement years. He emphasized the importance of a complete understanding of persons as whole beings, mind, body, and spirit. He hoped this would lead to a whole church, despite disagreements. His friend and colleague, Norman Kauffmann affirmed Krabill’s important contributions and expressed his belief that Krabill left an important legacy: that of his published works from which the church can continue to draw insight on important issues related to sexuality. Krabill, Willard. Interviews by Ron Krabill, Goshen, IN. September-November 2008. Krabill, Willard, Overview of Sexuality. VHS, Homosexuality and Christian Faith: A 13-Week Study on Homosexuality. College Mennonite Church. Goshen, IN, 1996.

At a time when the Trump administration is rapidly unraveling healthcare protections for LGBTQ people, one institution is launching a class to help its doctors serve the community. The University of Minnesota has announced an LGBTQ elective for medical students starting this fall. The school is among the first in the nation to offer such a course. Harvard Medical School made headlines in late 2016 when it launched a similar elective in partnership with the LGBTQ clinic Fenway Health. Like Harvard’s program, UMN is partnering with two community organizations that serve queer people: the Family Tree Clinic and the Pride Institute, which focuses on addiction issues. “The ultimate hope is, one, to legitimize this as an area of interest and maybe even focus for future physicians,” said Dr. Michael Ross, chair of Sexual Health Education in the Program in Human Sexuality. “The second is to provide the medical students who are about to become physicians with actual focused training in the populations they have an interest in serving.” For 47 years, the university has prided itself on its prestigious Program in Human Sexuality. But some students yearned for trainings not offered in the current coursework, said Ross. “The students had frequently said they would like to follow up in areas of human sexuality,” said Ross. “One of the areas that the students and faculty both prioritized was LGBT health.” Six of the program’s 170 students will take the elective this fall, but Ross hopes to grow the course over time, adding to the community partners students can work with. The elective will be open to third and fourth-year students. The course not only means a new opportunity for students but an unusual opportunity for LGBTQ care providers to expand their reach beyond their doors. It’s not often that prestigious universities partner with radical health clinics, says Family Tree Clinic Executive Director Alissa Light. “I think one of the most important learning opportunities is to be in an immersive environment with LGBTQ patients and LGBTQ staff and providers so that you’re learning in an experiential way about how to respectfully honor people’s identities and self-determination,” said Light. “That is just not something that is a routine or rote part of medical provider education.” The new elective comes at a time of increased awareness about LGBTQ issues at UMN. The school is in the midst of debating an ambitious new gender identity policy. Under that rule, students, faculty, and staff would be required to refer to transgender community members by their preferred names and pronouns or face possible disciplinary actions. Trans people would also granted access to bathrooms, locker rooms and housing that correspond with the gender identity. Light says the new elective reflects heightened visibility for queer Minnesotans that she credits to grassroots leaders like local activist Roxanne Anderson and Andrea Jenkins, the first black trans woman elected to public office last year. But she also hopes the new course will resonate beyond just Minnesota. “I think it’s deeply replicable and pretty straightforward,” said Light. She hopes other universities will follow suit.

Neuroscience and Psychoanalysis - Books Mark Solms, Oliver Turnbull, Chris Mathys, Robin Carhart-Harris and Filippo Cieri are promoting a new Research Topic, called Frontiers in Psychodynamic Neuroscience (), within the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. As editors, they are inviting researchers, neuroscientists and psychoanalysts to submit papers (research, case reports, review articles, hypothesis and theory, commentaries, etc.) that deploy, review, compare or develop the methods and theories of psychodynamic neuroscience and neuropsychoanalysis. Could we keep having a psychoanalytic model of the mental apparatus that does not contemplate any reflection on consciousness? We know that Freud neglected the study of consciousness to emphasize the unconscious, around which he built all his theories. Therefore, consciousness has remained the prerogative of philosophy (debate on quality) and neurology (debate on quantity) for a long time. Solms's book gives it the right value within the neuroscientific, psychoanalytic, and philosophical panorama, putting forward a new theory of consciousness. Psychoanalysis, alongside neuroscience, is something familiar by M. Solms. He conveyed all his scientific research on both disciplines; the challenge, through this book, is to be able to provide psychoanalysis (and neuroscience) with a concept consciousness, which is still considered "unfamiliar" (Uncanny). Indeed, the book opens with a private episode of experience of Unheimlichkeit (the uncanny), something familiar that becomes uncanny (eeriness) and shakes little Mark, who begins to wonder what the mind is made of and how much it transforms us by transforming itself. Freud, finding the consciousness erratic, inconsistent, assumed that it could only be explained by implicit links of which we are unaware. Although he wrote: "Biology is truly a land of unlimited possibilities. We may expect it to give us the most surprising information…" (Freud, 1920, SE, p.83), at that time biology could not support his research and he abandoned the Project. Today we can resume this investigation knowing that, according to Solms, thoughts and feelings can be studied neuroscientifically (Link 1, below). Solms overturns the primacy of the cortex (Cortical fallacy) in giving rise to representations, which in turn gives rise to psychic life. According to the author, affects, feelings, and emotions are at the origins of the psychic world and, thus, of existence. For human beings feelings are the only way to monitor their biological needs, adapting them to environmental conditions, that are not always predictable; feelings enable to prioritize action to make the best choices to survive. If we did not have these experiences continuously, if we were not therefore aware of our feelings, how could we navigate a world of uncertainty? Clara Mucci: Borderline Bodies: Affect Regulation Therapy for Personality Disorders W. W. Norton & Company, New York/London, 2018, p.357 Beginning with the work of four psychodynamic clinicians, Ferenczi, Kernberg, Fonagy and Shore, Clara Mucci proposes a new integration of neuroscience and psychoanalysis. She states that working with borderline personality disorders means facing the traumatized body, as well as problems of identity diffusion, narcissism, suicidal tendencies, hypochondria, antisocial traits, just to mention the content of some chapters. The author, competent in both neuroscience and psychodynamic psychotherapy, offers a way to deal with impulsivity, the internal void, problematic relationships, severe dissociation, perversion, attachment, in accordance with Schore’s developmental model of psychopathology. This model, based on the right brain/mind/body pathogenesis and attachment theory, is illustrated by clinical vignettes and case histories in several chapters which explain the psychotherapeutic work with the somatic self's severe symptomatology and earlier traumatic relationships. Quoting Allan Shore (foreward, p. xiii ) "Thus, for Mucci, the reconstruction of the relational origin of borderline dysregulation, destructive behavior, and negative self– other representations is the starting point for treatment, aiming at a reconstruction of the map of attachment relationships, including early relational traumata, deprivation, loss, and maltreatment." The book also reviews the process of "mentalization" (Fonagy, 1995) which is highly damaged in personality disorders. In these cases, and under the influence of the affective dysregulation, the body acts as a "foreigner", a “not- me”, an alien inauthentic self, sometimes becoming the repository of the "death wish", following a classical psychoanalytical position. According to the author: "The alien self not only is formed through the lack of constant tuning and the lack of congruent and coherent marking of the affects of the child on the part of the caregiver, but also is built and embodied intergenerationally in the future subject through negative affects and feelings translated from the mother to the child". (p. 19) Many grids and figures in the book guide the readers towards a better understanding of the many borderline disorder models as well as of the mechanisms by which adverse childhood experiences influence health and well-being throughout the lifespan. While an in depth discussion of the book is beyond the scope of the present review, certain key questions are noted that may be of particular interest to the reader. Are personality disorders a peculiar right- brain disorder? Do the domains of neuroimaging and genetics confirm most of what we know at present? Do right - brain treatment for personality disorders exist? The author provides many clinical vignettes which attempt to illustrate how to best treat significant forms of psychopathology such as severe personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, hypochondria, as well to address problems such as suicidality that frequently arise in the course of treatment. The journey proposed in the book The strange order of things by A. Damasio starts from primordial life and ends with the more complex forms of social organization linked to the production of culture. How should we read the book? Not as the nth neuroscience publication, but following the indication that the author provides in the introduction: we humans are storytellers and love telling stories about the beginnings. But not only on the beginnings. We continue to produce, create and generate culture in a continuous effort to face human tragedies. And a primary and significant role is played by feelings in this continuous production. Starting from the primordial life forms, A. Damasio is taken by surprised by the term “strange”. In fact, “strange” is the word used in reflecting on the complexity of human life that evolved from simple organisms, such as bacteria. Again, it is “strange” that a single word such as “homeostasis” “is sufficient to describe the development of life both in simple and complex terms. If “homeostasis” is perceived as feelings in the organisms with a nervous system, this has created, over millions of years, an unbreakable bond between body and mind, a partnership that spawned culture and civilization. This is the strange order of things. The complexity contained in the simple unfolding of things that make human existence complex. Homeostasis, feelings, consciousness and subjectivity were already found in his last book: Self comes to mind (2012); so, what is the perspective presented in this new endeavour? First of all, and perhaps above all, the homeostasis, feelings, consciousness and subjectivity sequence is described as an increasing degree of complexity and generativity of culture and sociality society . Feelings contribute to this by providing a motivation to the cultural process, by monitoring the success and failure of the instruments used and by participating in negotiating over the eons. The book opens with two fundamental questions that are thoroughly analysed in the third part devoted to the cultural mind at work. Is this sequence the prerogative of the human mind or does it also involve other living beings in different ways? And why would feelings push the mind to act in an advantageous way? The element in common to all living beings is homeostasis. That is, on a primary/physiological level, we share the regulation of life by maintaining it in a specific homeostatic range which not only makes survival possible, but which has paved the way to the differentiated flowering of life. The differentiated flowering towards the human mind was made possible by the birth and the subsequent organization of the neural network. Only the organisms with a nervous system can feel impairments in the homoeostatic regulation as negative, as negative feelings, while its readjustment to appropriate levels can be perceived as positive, as positive feelings. Therefore, life is certainly possible in the systems with a homeostatic regulation, but it evolved in a different way with the appearance of feelings: - that is, with the perception of the quality of homeostasis. But this is still not enough to think of living organisms as having a mind. A new ingredient is necessary, i.e. consciousness. It is only through consciousness that it is possible to monitor, regulate and change, that is interfere with, the homeostatic automatisms. Changing the homoeostatic regulation and representing this variation, can be considered as a first form of cultural production. In other terms, fighting against the regular tendency to proceed from order to the lack of order calls for accepting the genetic imperative of maintaining the hereditary homeostatic range; and at the same time, the creation of always new forms of homeostatic control (and this concept can be applied not only to the physiology of organisms but also to maintaining group/social homeostasis). How was this possible? Through the creation of images that map the inner/external state of the body moment by moment. In sum, this is the differentiating line with other non-human life forms. The possibility to create maps/images is given by the complex organization of the nervous system, a capability that is missing in simpler organisms. Why is the production of images so important and differentiating? Because the lack of this ability results not only in the absence of feelings (maps/images of the quality of homeostasis), but also in the absence of consciousness and ultimately of subjectivity. In fact, it is only by creating images that an organism is able to represent its inner and external state and hence adjust the response according to the images stored and transmitted both horizontally in the social organization and vertically, generation after generation. The addition of our more recent acquisition, i.e. verbal language, to the stage linked to the production of images completes the journey proposed in the book. The development of the nervous system, its cortical organization and the development of verbal language have facilitated the transfer of acquired advantages; and by promoting a different social set up (for example with respect to other primates), all this has created new and unparalleled forms of culture with respect to other non-human living species: art, construction skills, music, faith and much more that we gather under the term: human mind.

Is Juice Worse For You Than Soda? You know orange juice has a lot of sugar -- 21 grams in one small cup -- but is it worse than a cola? 1. The dark secret in your glass of sunshine. When fruit is stripped of its skin, pulp, flesh and other fibrous parts, it's distilled down to its sweet essence. That means that orange juice has roughly the sameamount of sugar as the demon of the nutritional world, soda -- about 5 to 8 teaspoons per cup. Add to this: the sugar in pure, natural juice and the sugar in sugar-sweetened beverages are both densely packed with calories, say Naveed Sattar, MD, PhD, a professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow. In a recent article in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology journal, Sattar points out that eating whole fruit is associated with a reduced (or neutral) risk of diabetes, but drinking fruit juice is linked to an increased risk. 2. The cold truth. The marquee vitamin in orange juice, vitamin C, is good for your immune system, and it's an antioxidant that protects cells from free radicals. But some of its benefits are overrated: No studies have been able to conclude that vitamin C helps cure colds. Further, you may not realize that the information on the label of your store-bought juice (even not-from-concentrate brands) refers to the amount of vitamin C that was present when the product was packaged, explains Alissa Hamilton, PhD, a former Food and Society Policy Fellow with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the author of Squeezed: What You Don't Know About Orange Juice. All juice loses nutrients over time (that's why the people at the juice bar urge you to drink their blends ASAP), and modern storage technology has radically extended the shelf life of mass-market juices. For example, today’s more efficient mode of storage is to strip the liquid of oxygen and then keep it in million-gallon tanks. The juice can remain in those tanks for upwards of a year. Then after it goes into the carton, it can sit on a truck, in a supermarket, and in your fridge, steadily losing vitamins. 3. The hidden extras. When juice is processed and treated for storage, it inevitably loses flavor. To remedy this, Hamilton says that big juice manufacturers work with chemical companies to come up with "flavor packs" that make the juice taste like the beverage we know and love -- those are added to the juice before it's packaged for sale. The chemicals in the flavor packs are essences and oils found naturally in oranges, but they don't necessarily come from the same oranges that are in that carton of juice. Hamilton discovered that some of the flavor-makers are known to source their ingredients from countries like Brazil, which has different restrictions and pesticide controls than we have in the U.S. 4. The juicy conclusion: With its links to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and gout and its utter lack of nutrients, soda is still worse for you than orange juice. The problem comes when non-soda drinkers swap out all their fruit or water for juice, an increasingly common diet habit. People know that soda is bad for them, but I had one client drinking 2 liters of orange juice a day thinking he was getting all these health benefits, all while gaining weight, causing liver problems and increasing his risk of diabetes.

Councils demand that the state of Berlin officially declares a climate emergency. The world is running towards a full-blown catastrophe. And the German government? Reacts with a ‘climate package’ that’s not even worth its name. But we already know what needs to be done to save the world. Step number one: acknowledge the reality. Politically this would mean to officially declare a climate emergency. The councils of Pankow and Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf have already done so on a local level. But not so the government of the state of Berlin. Regine Günther, the senator for environment, is in favour, but some of her colleagues are still blocking the move. When the highest level of politics is too slow, the lower level has to take up the task: councils have always been faster and more pragmatic in their decision making anyway. So this year on November 2nd, representatives from the different councils will hold a climate emergency conference. There, they will share how they’ve declared the emergency, and discuss with scientists and the general public how to take the next steps. More information on klimanotstand.berlin (German only).

Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) is pleased to join our teachers in commemorating World Teacher’s Day which falls on 5th October. Teachers are very important professionals in the education sector and therefore ZANEC always looks forward to celebrating them. Teachers play a significant role in modelling our learners both academically and socially. It is vital to mention that World Teachers’ Day provides us with an annual occasion that helps us take stock of the contributions of our teachers towards achieving our national and global education targets. This year’s theme is “Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future.” The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us of the important role that teachers play in the education of our children. Among others, we have proved that removing teachers and replacing them by remote technology is not effective enough to bring about the learning that our children require. This has manifested itself in the low reach of the alternative modes of education designed to provide continuity of learning at home through television, radio and e-learning, hence the recent decision to just reopen schools. Our research showed that only remote learning initiatives that involved physical contact with children were more successful, given the many ICT access challenges among our teachers and pupils. Thus, the issue of teacher leadership in relation to mitigating the COVID 19 crisis response is timely given the contributions teachers have recently made in supporting remote learning and embracing the reopening of schools amidst the COVID 19 pandemic. Therefore, ZANEC is of the view that our government needs to ensure that teachers are trained in the use of various ICTs to deliver remote learning to mitigate the crisis of limiting education to the physical presence of a teacher. Reshaping the teaching methodologies is crucial in this digital era where learning should also be provided to out of school children. Investment in digital skills and equipment is therefore not an option but a must. It is also important to note that the pupil – teacher ratio according to the 2018 Education Statistical Bulletin of the Ministry of General Education is 1 to 36.9 at secondary level and 1 to 61.9 at primary school level, which is too high for teaching recommended under the COVID 19 pandemic. This means that our teachers are having so many shifts in order to observe the social distance among the learners in order to ensure the prevention of COVID 19. Therefore, the Coalition is calling upon government to recruit not less than 20,000 more teachers now in order to reduce the huge burden and workload that our teachers are currently carrying as they deliver lessons amidst the COVID 19 pandemic. Finally, ZANEC would like to wish all teachers in community schools, Early Childhood Education (ECE) centres, primary schools, secondary schools, tertiary institutions and Adult Literacy Instructors a safe, happy and successful commemoration of the 2020 World Teacher’s Day. They are truly our COVID 19 heroes in the education sector.

Registration is still open for the Virtual Fall 2021 Group Meeting, taking place online from Wednesday, October 20 – Friday, October 22. Please read the Group Meeting Tips and Highlights post in this issue. A new study by researchers in the Cancer Control and Outcomes Program analyzed allostatic load and genetic ancestry data from the E5103 phase III clinical trial, one of the first large breast cancer treatment trials to assemble a biorepository and database of patient information for future research, including demographics and DNA (Miller KD. J Clin Oncol 2018). Prior studies suggested that allostatic load and genetic ancestry each play a role in poor breast cancer outcomes; however, no studies have looked at both factors at the same time in a study population. "We observed that women with breast cancer who had a high allostatic load at the beginning of the study had a greater likelihood of stopping chemotherapy early and a higher risk of death," said lead investigator Samilia Obeng-Gyasi, MD, MPH (Ohio State University). "In contrast, we did not observe an association between genetic ancestry and survival or chemotherapy completion. This finding suggests that allostatic load may be better than genetic ancestry at predicting chemotherapy completion and overall survival." This analysis received national attention when Dr. Obeng-Gyasi was featured on the press program for the 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved in October. Patients in the trial had lymph node-positive or high-risk lymph node-negative, HER2-negative breast cancer. The study chairs for this trial are Alice Chen, MD (NCI) and Keith Flaherty, MD (ECOG-ACRIN). The study co-chairs are Lyndsay Harris, MD (NCI) and Peter O’Dwyer, MD (ECOG-ACRIN). The EA2185 pancreatic cyst surveillance trial is currently enrolling people with newly identified pancreatic cycts measuring 1 centimeter or greater, to determine the most effective surveillance strategy for these individuals. Recently, The Cancer Letter featured the trial in a cover story, Pancreatic cysts are common and usually benign—except those that turn deadly. (Vol. 47, No. 37). The story is based on interviews with several ECOG-ACRIN leaders about the trial—and the challenges of conducting prevention and screening studies. "There's almost an epidemic of pancreatic cystic lesions. I can tell you, because I do this for a living, the challenge is that the imaging studies are becoming so good that, inadvertently, we're finding pancreatic cysts are incredibly common, and we've got to get our arms around figuring out how to manage these," said Mitchell D. Schnall, MD, PhD, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania and group co-chair of ECOG-ACRIN. "Because every time somebody's getting a workup because of hematuria, we're looking at their kidneys. Every time somebody's getting a workup because of GI distress or because their biliary tract is being worked up, right, we're seeing the pancreas." A conversation with Dr. Schnall and Peter O’Dwyer, also group co-chair of ECOG-ACRIN, appears here. "Nobody, patients or doctors, want to operate on people who aren't going to benefit. By the same token, they don't want to withhold surgery from patients who will," said EA2185 study chair David S. Weinberg, MD, MSc (Fox Chase Cancer Center). "Our ability to risk-stratify needs to improve because missing the chance to prevent cancer is a terrible thing. On the other hand, subjecting someone to a major operation with major complications, at least potentially, is also a terrible thing. So, how to balance those two poles through a surveillance strategy is the question."

Cybersecurity is a fascinating field where out-of-the-box ideas are appreciated more than any other field out there. We interviewed Aviram Jenik, a cybersecurity expert/CEO and Co-Founder of Beyond Securities on cybersecurity careers and prospects. Share this video with your students. This session was organized for Lied STEM Academy students. - Why is computer science so important? - Interview with Aviram Jenik, CEO and Co-Founder of Beyond Securities (Acq. by HelpSystems) Hear what Aviram has to say about these questions: Why is cybersecurity important? What cybersecurity trends have you seen recently? What are the career prospects like for this field? What do you look for in an employee when you hire? For students struggling with STEM and coding, what tips do you have for overcoming challenges?

being able to calculate upon the probable consequences of his own system, and that if Paul had not espoused the cause of the infant sect, the religion of Jesus would never have been extended beyond the walls of Jerusalem, and would soon have gone out of itself, like the snuff of a candle.--I quote from memory, not having M. Vil ler's book at hand, and, therefore, I do not pretend to give the very words of the French philosophe, but the sentiment is correctly stated. To be serious—if serious a man can be, while he surveys the awkward form, and witnesses the unwieldy gambols of self-sufficient ignorance and broad absurdity—it is necessary that the Gleaner should recollect, or, if she has never known, that she should now learn, that Solomon, when he recommended the use of the rod, merely alluded to a particular mode of punishment to designate the necessity of imposing a restraint upon the will of children, when they err through obstinacy and a spirit of mischief. It argues a complete ignorance of the heart, and of all human character, not to know that iniquity is bound up in the soul of every child, that is born into the world ; that every child is shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin. Suppose that a child refuses to obey the command of its parent or instructor, although every attempt has been made to convince its reason, and to win upon its heart by mild and gentle treatment ; -in such a case, a case which all parents know must be of frequent occurrence, is no recourse to be had to bodily punishment ?-In such a case the question comes to this issue, whether the child or the parent shall be master ?-A question easily answered; for the child must be always directed and governed till it acquires sufficient strength of mind to govern and direct itself, or the whole human race will be inevitably involved in misery and in desolation. Stubborn audacity, then, must be overcome; if it cannot be done by soothing, it must be done by force; but the force should always be administered with coolness and with temper, or it is no longer dictated by the love of justice, but is the offspring of fury and of passion, which only serves to corrupt and harden the child's heart, by compelling it to attribute its chastisement to the brutality of cruelty, and of superior bodily strength, and not to uprightness, punishing a fault, in order to prevent its future recurrence, and to promote both the temporal and the eternal welfare of the being, who momentarily suffers. But there is yet a stronger objection to this flippant impertinence against Solomon ; namely, that the Proverbs not only contain the best and the most extensively useful code of moral wisdom, that is to be found among any of the writers who have adorned either ancient or modern times; but, also, that the son of David was under the influence of the Holy Spirit when he penned these sage precepts. If this be not allowed, the whole basis on which Christianity rests, is taken away; for if it be denied that the scriptures contain the revealed will of God, what is to induce our faith in Christ? and if you deny the influence of the Spirit of God to one part of the scriptures, why not to another, and why not to all the parts; where are you to stop; who shall say unto you, thus far shalt thou go, and no farther? The Proverbs of Solomon, then, may be still entitled to the praise of all wise and good men, notwithstanding he recommends a mode of training children, which is altogether conformable to the nature and structure of the human heart, and notwithstanding the Gleaner is of a contrary opinion, and says that—"Solomon had lost that balance of equanimity, which is so proper to the philosopher." We have, however, a still more unequivocal proof of the mode in which the Gleaner upholds the cause of morality and religion ; for the Gleaner has favoured us with a plain avowal of her religious sentiments in page 182, of the first volume, part of which I shall quote for the benefit of the reader. “ He (alias she, the Gleaner) is free to own, notwithstanding the despotism of tradition, the prejudices of education, and the predominating sway of revered opinions, that he (alias she) cannot help regarding that plan as the most eligible, which represents the Father of Eternity as benificently planning, before all worlds, the career of a race of beings, who, however they were immersed in ills, and, from the various vicissitudes of time, plunged into a series of misfortunes, were destined, nevertheless, to progress on to a state of never-ending felicity. Jehovah, while thus employed,”_&c. &c. &c. Now, what is all this, but to confound all the distinctions between right and wrong; to break down all the barriers, which separate virtue from vice; to lift up the flood-gates of iniquity, and let out the waters of bitterness to overflow the land ?-A God all mercy is a God unjust.-Does the Gleaner believe in the scriptures ?-If she does, pray what does she understand by these words "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God?"-or these-“ And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever?"_and many other passages, both in the Old VOL, I, and in the New Testament, particularly where our Saviour himself says—" It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched ?" Or does the Gleaner consider the scriptures as not entitled to any credence; does she despise them, and put them under the ban of her censure, as belonging—“to the despotism of tradition, and the prejudices of education ?"- If she rejects the authority of the scriptures, how will she uphold the cause of morality ; since all moral obligation must, for ever, rest upon the will of God, which will we can only know by consulting that book, wherein he has revealed it unto men ?-If the Gleaner doubts this, let her endeavour to find another basis, upon which to rear the super-structure of moral obligation :- let her go and ask the sages and the philosophers of ancient and of modern days; let her go and explore the depths of Plato's illumined page, and fathom Tully's mighty mind; let her peruse with all diligence the lucubrations of Aristotle, and Xenophon, and Plutarch, and Epictetus, and Seneca, and Hume, and Beattie, and Paley, and a thousand other celebrated writers upon morals, and they will tell her that moral obligation is founded upon the beauty of virtue-upon utility—upon expediencyupon the fitness of things, &c. &c.—But what do all these phrases mean ?-Search again, and you will find that they all amount exactly to—nothing.—I have, more than once, after having been for a while dazzled and bewildered by the parade of words, and the specious reasoning displayed in the works of these ingenious and subtle disputants, and having, in vain, sought, by their aid, to find a firm and a durable foundation, on which moral obligation might rest, been tempted to apply to all their perplexities and to all their sophisms, an unlucky anecdote, which I heard, while yet a child; -An itinerant mountebank was perambulating the southern district of Britain, and regaling the rustic inhabitants of the villages, through which he passed, with an account of the moon and its inhabitants, its trees, and lakes, and seas, and running streams, its. beasts, and feathered fowls; all of which he declared roundly, that he saw. by peeping through a telescope, which he held in his hand, and which, ever and This exhibi tion had continued some time, and the wandering philosopher astounding the credulous multitude, and beguiling them of their pence, when a countryman unfortunately happened to say-Why, neighbours, I don't see, but what I am as near the moon as that. there fellow, with all his glasses.—This observation dispelled the charm ; the mob seized the quack, broke his telescope, and ducked him in the kennel, so plentifully, that he never after saw either fish, fowl, or beast in the moon. It would appear but little better than trifling, to waste much time or many words in remarking upon the language of a book, whose contents are of so very reprehensible a nature; I shall, therefore, merely observe, that the style is, in general, stiff, forced, inelegant, coarse, affected, and feeble, and, oftentimes, incorrect; the use of the word “approbated” for approved, "ingenuity” for ingenuousness; and much more of the same sort, sufficiently proves, that the Gleaner must not be considered altogether as a model of accurate writing ; neither are these deficiencies, which occur in almost every page, to be attributed to the haste and carelessness wherewith the essays were written, for the fair author tells us in the preface that—“With such sentiments I shall not be suspected of writing hastily, or carelessly. The truth is, I have penned every essay as cautiously as if I had been assured my reputation rested solely upon that single effort."-Since this is the case, it is necessary for us to inform the Gleaner, that the words6 them” (anglicè those) “ blessed drops,” -cannot be considered as English. But a truce to this; I am wearied with stooping down to rake in the kennel for impurities. To the Gleaner, religion and morality may well say “ Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis AN INQUIRY into the Effects of our Foreign Carrying Trade, upon the agriculture, population, and morals of the country.-By Columella. A Pamphlet. New-York, Printed by D. & G. Bruce, for E. Sargeant, 1806. OLUMELLA devotes the pages, now, under review, to the very laudable purpose of endeavouring to open the eyes of his countrymen to their own truest and best interests. In order to ascertain the effects produced by our foreign carrying trade, he lays down these data for his reasonings, namely, that every nation should pursue the three following objects, Ist. The possession of domestic independent funds capable of supplying all the means of enjoyment, which contribute to the happiness of man. 2dly. A population, so numerous, and extended, as to employ these internal resources to the greatest advantage, and to render them secure against all foreign aggressors.-3dly. Virtue in the utmost extent of the term. The means of obtaining these desirable ends, Columella tells us, are,—1st. Agriculture.—2dly. Manufactures, (the natural commerce, which gives vent to the surplus produce of these two employments of labour being supposed always to attend them).--3dly. A foreign carrying trade. Columella, then, proceeds to show, that agriculture is the best and the most productive employment, which a people can follow; that manufactures rank next in the scale of utility; and that the foreign carrying trade is the most injudicious mode of using national industry. To a certain extent, the inferrences drawn by Columella, are just; there can be no doubt that agriculture has a tendency to produce a more abundant, and a more healthy population, than that which springs from manufactures : but agriculture and manufactures act and re-act upon each other for their mutual benefit. For the greatest and the most important branch of the commerce of every nation, is that which is carried on by the inhabitants of the towns with those of the country. The townsmen draw from the people of the country the rude produce, for which they pay, by sending back into the country a part of this rude produce manufactured, and prepared for immediate use. Or, in other words, this trade between town and country consists in a given quantity of rude produce being exchanged for a given quantity of manufactured produce. Whatever, therefore, has a tendency to diminish, in any country, the progress of manufactures, has also a tendency to diminish the home market, the most important of all markets for the rude produce of the land, and, consequently, to cripple the efforts of agriculture. In young, and lately established countries, however, where the population is not, as yet, sufficient to answer the demand for labour, it is, perhaps, more adviseable to confine their attention, chiefly, to the raising of rude produce ; because they can import manufactured goods from an old country at a cheaper rate than they can rear them in their own; and they will more rapidly increase the strength and wealth of their people by so doing, than by consuming a larger quantity of capital in raising manufactured goods of a worse quality, and at a higher price, than that for which they can bring them from abroad. Besides, as the wages of labour are so

You Repeat What You Don’t Repair What patterns are shaping your decisions? You may have unhealthy patterns in your life you’re unaware of…most of us do. Not all patterns are bad, yet much of our lives are shaped by generational patterns we continue to repeat without stopping to ask, “is there a better way?” Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Hey folks, welcome to the show. You’ve heard the old saying, you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. We all know that this is true, but I wonder if we have thought about it as deeply as we should. Have you ever thought about that in terms of your upbringing? What about your childhood? What about your relationships? Especially thinking those areas where there has been maybe dysfunction or toxicity, and in speaking of dysfunction and toxicity, let me say the old saying another way. You repeat what you don’t repair. Let me say that again. You repeat what you don’t repair. Now some of you may hear that and go, Nope, I’m totally not doing the things that happen. We’ll talk a little bit about that. The big thing here is I want you to be able to see some of the areas that if you don’t fix these things, then it’s affecting you in a negative way. And hopefully you know, by now my heart is to help you in every way possible to be doing things that are helping you and that are healthy. So because we are in a broken world, there are imperfections no matter what. There’s always areas of toxicity, always somewhere somehow with us, with our friends, with our family, with the people we work with, with our leaders, with our team members, whatever it is. And these things are things that we have an opportunity to repair so that we don’t repeat them, right? And relatively, whether you had a healthy home or a broken home, you may have a lot of stuff to work on, right? But here’s the thing, I want you to understand, even folks that come from healthy backgrounds, because we are in a broken world, we tend to have things that we still need to fix. Even the most loving of parents can still instill in us things that affect us negatively later on in life. Now you are not hearing me say, let me be very clear like I am every single time and next level life. We don’t make any victims and we don’t make any monsters. Our goal is to gain the greatest perspective so we can make the best decisions. So it is very possible that you could come from a healthy home or a healthy environment and still have things that are affecting decisions that you’re making today. So let me give you some examples in just everything, right? Toxicity in relationships, if you grew up with unhealthy conflict and fighting, if you grew up in a household where there was a lot of stress, a lot of fighting, a lot of conflict, then you probably still have unhealthy conflict. Now, especially if you never did the work to repair those areas. Now it could be that the conflict is something that you are initiating. It could be that you fight, it could be that you create conflict. It could be the opposite. It could be you are so conflict averse that you will not face the things that you should do. You know that you don’t have healthy conflict. You’re afraid to face the conflict of whatever it is. That’s an area that we’ve got to fix for us, right? So that we can make us healthy. Or another example would be, um, maybe you grew up in a very controlling household or maybe it’s not even the household, but maybe somebody in your life was incredibly controlling and took control away from you. So maybe now you struggle when feeling that things are out of control, which is very common. Control can be a big piece for people either the, I can’t let things be out of control, so I must take control. Or whenever I feel out of control, I make other unhealthy decisions. Maybe you resist getting close to people or on the other side, maybe you fear losing people so you really get close to them, whatever that is. That’s another example. Um, another one is, uh, you know, if you’ve ever heard somebody say, I am never going to be like my parents. You know, my dad and my mom or whatever they did. Now here’s the deal. If you’re feeling the need to say that they’re trying not to act as a way that you felt was a bad thing when you were growing up, and that’s an indicator that there’s something there that needs to be repaired. Either it is you’ve been letting correctly or maybe you’re seeing it incorrectly, or maybe they did stuff that you really shouldn’t be doing. Either way. If we don’t fix this piece, then what happens is, is we do what I call the pendulum swing. And when we say we’re not going to be like them, instead of swinging down into the middle, which is healthy, we swing all the way to the other side, and we do the same thing from a different angle. If we have a controlling parent, then we say we’re not going to be controlling. But the thing is, the outcome of the controlling parent is that it causes a lot of dysfunction inside of the child, right? So instead we swing all the way over to the other side. And instead of being controlling, we are incredibly lenient. And then what happens is we ended up raising very entitled children who don’t know how to take care of themselves. So if you’ve ever experienced the, I’m not going to be like, well then there’s probably something there that we need to fix. Another thing would be if you grew up in a home where emotions weren’t handled in a healthy way, so may be you showing emotions wasn’t okay. Maybe you experienced that now that, uh, you couldn’t share emotions at home. Um, because maybe, you know, your parents just wouldn’t allow it or call it out and called it bad. And so now you struggle with it. You know, maybe you get irritated when your kids are showing emotions and it’s not a bad thing, but you know, you’ve got the, you know, tell them to stop, you know, knock it off, stop feeling that way. You shouldn’t be crying about things and, you know, whatever that is. If the response, if you’re getting irritated or dismissive, you know, showing somebody that, uh, they can’t be emotional and your response is not equal to the situation, then there’s probably something that we need to fix, right? So maybe you had a parent who was emotionally exploding on a consistent basis and you felt the need to essentially parent them or to rescue them from their feelings. Then guess what? That’s probably something we’ve got to fix because now and this part of your life, how are you responding if the response that you’re having is not equal to the situation? So, you know, if your kids get their feelings hurt and they’re trying to express that emotionally, but the response is, Nope, you don’t get to do that, then we may have a problem. So there’s just some examples. There’s four examples or so that, uh, could be things that you’re experiencing, um, from growing up or just living life that need to be fixed. If we don’t fix them again, if we don’t repair this stuff, then we’re going to tend to repeat it. Even if we do it from a different angle and convince ourselves that we’re not doing the same thing. So before we get deeper into today’s content, I want to tell you about something I love, a powerful two day event. Learn how to move past the things, robbing you of peace. Go to chrislocurto.com/discover and take the next step. So here is how we ended up repeating what we don’t repair. The first thing is that we seek what we know. Guys, I hate to say it, but so many times we will focus on what’s comfortable, what we know. Whatever dynamics were present in your home growing up, um, you’re probably gonna be naturally drawn to. It’s the thing, you know, when we are working with leaders on their leadership styles, when we’re working with leaders on how they treat people, um, how they lead people or how they don’t lead people, uh, what we discover is it’s what they were taught. So many leaders are stuck in the leadership crazy cycle. Why? Because it’s what they were taught. So when you look at you as an individual, there’s a really good chance that you’re going to gravitate towards the thing that was most comfortable for you. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that that’s a healthy thing as well. So if you come from let’s say a positive, healthy home, right? A healthy family, that cycle draws you towards positive attributes. That’s a great thing. What if you come from unhealthy habits? What if you come from an unhealthy family life? Then there’s a really good chance that you’re going to be drawn towards unhealthy things. And uh, the problem with that is it’s most likely because it’s something that’s familiar and we’re comfortable with it. So what we need to look out for is as adults, we have a tendency to repeat the patterns that we have experienced, even if it takes on different forms. So maybe you find yourself trying so hard to make your current spouse happy because that was, you feel that it is your responsibility. Listen to me, those of you who feel it’s your responsibility to make people happy, then you’re probably trying to do that with your spouse. You’re probably trying to do that with your kids. Maybe it’s your team members, maybe it’s your leader. Maybe it’s you know, you’re the leader and it’s your team. You cannot be responsible for other people’s happiness. I know I just shocked the whole bunch of you out there-scared the daylights out of you because you’re going, well, what do I do with that? Listen, understand. It’s something that you’ve been trained to believe is correct and it is not. You need to discover that if you do not fix that, then it’s going to be something you do for the rest of your life. Another thing is maybe you’ve tried to bring peace and calm to your home and you still run yourself ragged trying to make sure every one around you is okay like 100% of the time and you can’t rest until they are. So that’s another thing where maybe you felt that responsibility when you were younger and so now you’re doing it everywhere in your life, right? Or at least in your family. Maybe you tried to prove yourself to one of your parents or both your parents, or maybe your parents responded as though you were never good enough. You never did things well enough. Whatever that is, you are just never quite enough. So now you try even harder to prove yourself to the world or your current family. Guys, listen to me. There are teachers out there right now. There are people, so-called thought leaders that are preaching in. Ladies, listen to me. A lot of those are preaching to the women that you need to get up on a mountaintop and scream to the world who you are. No, you don’t. That is horrible teaching. Your worth is not in what the world thinks you are. Oh, I’m going to just, I’m going to go off on this. Guys, your worth is not in trying to prove yourself to everybody on this planet or the people who appear to be important. That’s not your worth. Those of us with a personal faith. Your worth comes from God. It’s defined by him. You can find it throughout the whole Bible what your worth is. So quit trying to find your worth from man or quit trying to prove yourself to people. You’re wasting your time, right? It’s making you unhealthy. So if you came from something like that, we don’t repair this thing, then you’re going to do that or you’re going to fall for these bad belief systems that say that you got to get on the top of the mountain and scream to the world who you are. Go tell the world who you are. Oh my gosh, such a colossal waste of time. Um, maybe another one is maybe success in your household growing up meant accomplishing things and getting awards or getting the response that you didn’t do well enough because you didn’t accomplish things and you’re still chasing success to feel like you’re accepted and loved, that the more you accomplish, the more accepted and loved you’re going to be. It’s just, again, just not true guys, all these things that I’m sharing with you, it’s not good stuff. If you don’t repair it, then you’re never out of it. You’ll continue to repeat it over and over and over again. You repeat what you don’t repair. Now, let me give a big gut punch to all of those who are parents out there. You’re perpetuating this to your own children. Okay? If this is something you’re struggling with, I know right now you might be saying, that’s not true, Chris. I’m doing everything I can, trust me. This is what we do. This is what we do for a living, right? We try to not do the same things that we experienced and unfortunately, like I say, that pendulum swing, we end up perpetuating it into our children. So if your child was trying to prove themselves, if your child was only getting worth from accomplishments and awards, if your child felt it was their responsibility to take care of everybody, if your child felt it was their responsibility to make people happy, what would you tell them? Would you be like, yep, absolutely. That’s your job, sucker. Make it happen. Heck no, you wouldn’t. It would break your heart to watch your kid do that in many of you are absolutely seeing it and not knowing what to do about it right now. You see it happen with your children. We know because we help people in Next Level. I have to get rid of that junk. So understand this, you repeat what you don’t repair. So before we get into how to stop repeating these cycles, I want to tell you about something that is coming this spring. I’ve never seen a leader that’s had everything that they wanted. Out of thousands of leaders that I’ve coached most are probably a lot like you. You wish you saw greater productivity and less drama from your team that you didn’t spend your energy putting out fires, that you had more time to invest in your family and the things that you enjoy and you felt more equipped to lead your team to success. The only thing that’s holding leaders back from the results they desire is having the right tools and you can get those tools at the Next Level Leadership Live Event. So if you’re young, old, new, experienced, struggling, or really successful, this event is for anyone who is ready to learn from 25 years of best practices that get proven results. It’s not about short term fixes. In three days I’m going to teach you how to have sustained revenue growth to generate greater productivity from your team and get immediate momentum toward the results that you want. It’s going to be detailed, practical in loaded with how-to’s from the lessons we’re teaching, our clients have seen an average of 46% increase in gross profit in one year’s time. That’s one year’s time. These clients run normal everyday businesses and your business can have the same level of success. So if you’re ready to see those results, go to chrislocurto.com/events and get your tail to this event and invest in your leadership and your business. That’s chrislocurto.com/events I can’t wait to see you there. All right, before the break, I mentioned many times if you don’t repair it, you’ll continue to repeat it. So here are three steps you can take right now to start repairing. Okay? These are pieces you need to do just to get the start going. Trust me on this. This will help in a lot of ways. The first thing is identify your patterns. Now, this may be really difficult without outside help because a lot of people choose to deny their patterns, right? Denial is the glue that holds dysfunction together. Think about that, right? So if we are denying our patterns or if we can’t identify him, it’s going to be almost impossible for us to fix those. So let’s make sure we identify the patterns. Get outside help if we can to do this. Number two, recognize your triggers in those patterns. Chris, what does it trigger? Something that causes us to respond in the pattern? So let me just pick something. Let’s say that somebody comes along and tells you that, uh, the work you’re doing needs help. Your leader comes to you and is like, Hey, help me to understand why this is the result of the project you’re working on. If immediately the question of a leader asking you to explain yourself causes you to go into heavy defense, causes you to feel out of control, causes you to feel not worthy. So instead of just helping them to understand the thing that you’re doing, you go into defense mode. Maybe you go into blaming others mode. You know, throwing other people under the bus, maybe you start diverting, deflecting from it. If you feel any of those things or I mean there’s a whole ton of things you can experience in this specific situation. If the authority asking you a question for an explanation, not accusing, not ripping you apart, not talking down to you, not demeaning, you just asking for some perspective causes you to respond in a negative way. That’s going to be a trigger. It could be, I have an authority figure questioning me. There is your trigger. So you need to recognize what are the things that cause you to start going into what we would call, you know the patterns, what we would call surface level responses in Next Level Life. But what causes you to go into those specific patterns. Recognize that. Number three, do the work to discover the why behind the triggers. So some examples are you can see a counselor, do Next Level Life. Get your butts in here so we can help you in Next Level Life. Join a recovery group like celebrate recovery. All of these can be great tools to help you discover the why. Now we also have a podcast that speaks more directly to this, so go back and listen to episode number 242 and we’re going to put a link in the show notes and all that kind of fun stuff. But this can help you to discover the why behind the triggers. Now it may sound like work and guess what? It should because it is what the alternative is to not change anything. Continue struggling with the same conflicts, continue struggling with relationships, continue having anxiety, continue being frustrated and the bad thing is passing that on to the next generation. So here’s the deal, folks, you are absolutely capable of stopping the patterns or of repairing. Now, some of you may be thinking right now, and this is a thing that breaks my heart more than anything, Chris, that’s definitely for a lot of people. Maybe that’s probably even for my spouse or friends that I know, but you know, I’m not worth that. I don’t deserve that. Oh my gosh, that breaks my heart. I have heard that for years where people are stuck in a pattern, a broken belief system, a limiting belief system where they think they are not worth getting this stuff fixed, that they are not worth getting help seeing somebody to get this stuff repaired. Guys, it is a lie. It is an absolute lie. You are worth it. You are worth it. You are worth it. So get it done. Do not listen to that lie. Do not hold yourself back. Do not wait. It drives me nuts when I have folks that come in and they’re like, yeah, I’ve known for three years, I should come through Next Level Life now I believe God has amazing timing.

The supply chain is under historic pressure, but pressure on its cybersecurity and risk management may be in even worse condition. As 2021 draws to a close, the global supply chain is in a state comparable to peak hour traffic in bad weather. Everything seems to be backed up, whether due to supply and demand issues, wait times at shipping ports, or any other delays. If the supply chain is to have any chance of recovering in the near future, organizations must tackle cybersecurity and risk management. Indeed, cybersecurity and supply chain efficiency are closely linked. Cybercrime and supply chain crisis Cybersecurity and risk management have always been vital to the flow of any business. However, the current state of the global supply chain makes it exceptionally vulnerable to severe damage from an attack more than usual. When the supply chain is barely functioning, criminals are more likely to assume they have influence over companies. A ransomware attacker may be more brazen and exert higher demands than a few years ago. Most people remember 2020 for the global COVID-19 pandemic. A less noticeable global problem was happening at the same time, affecting all industries and millions of people: the cyber pandemic. When COVID-19 took hold of the world, cybercriminals saw an opportunity to wreak havoc in tandem. Risk assessments carried out by INTERPOL have reported a meteoric rise in cyberattacks parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two biggest increases in cybercrime were phishing attacks and ransomware. It is not a coincidence. Both of these types of cyberattacks take advantage of the most common circumstances that plague the world’s population. People are grappling with fear, uncertainty and an unprecedented addiction to the internet, which is creating more opportunities for successful phishing attacks. In (Read more…)

Perhaps it doesn’t come as a surprise to know that when a child has been abused in their family of origin, he or she is more vulnerable to developing an addiction to either drugs or alcohol. Studies related to drug addiction treatment show that adults who were abused as children tend to perceive the use of alcohol or drugs as a positive experience and were not able to identify the risks associated with substance use. Also, in the year 2000, there were over 2.7 million children who were reported as being abused, and of these cases, 879,000 confirmed the presence of some form of abuse. Kyle’s story is an example of this. He was addicted to alcohol and heroin for 13 years. If it weren’t for an old time friend from the military who continued to stay in touch and lend his support, Kyle wouldn’t have ever entered substance abuse treatment. In a crucial moment of darkness and desolation, Kyle called his friend. However, the start to sobriety was a mess for him. There were deep feelings of shame, a terrible shyness, and an all around horrible feeling for being who he was that kept him from getting drug addiction treatment. He admits that those heavy feelings stem directly from his experience of physical abuse as a child. Finally, seven months after making the decision to get sober and calling his friend, and Kyle finally began drug detox. It is important to point out that abuse and neglect of children can exist in families across all socioeconomic, religious, and ethnic groups. And it’s clear that there is a connection between abuse of children and the presence of addiction in families. Families in which there is substance abuse are more likely to experience abuse or are at a higher risk of abuse. Families that have members who abuse either drugs or alcohol are more likely to also have a history of either physical or sexual abuse. Members of those families are more likely to find themselves in substance abuse treatment. The Child Welfare League of America (2001) recently found that substance abuse is present in 40-80 percent of families in which children are abuse victims. These statistics and past research have clearly made the connection between abuse of children and the presence of addiction in adolescence and later life. According to studies of those who have been in drug addiction treatment, patterns seen in adults who have an addiction are similar to the patterns of those who have experienced childhood abuse. Examples of these patterns are: - Beating yourself up for what you should have done, reacting to life versus being proactive when faced with a challenge - Playing the role of victim or having a “poor me” attitude - Holding on to resentments - Engaging in wishful thinking and devaluing what you already have - Expecting the worst - Frequently experiencing fear or worry - Feeling unworthy or lacking a healthy self image - Perpetually pleasing others before meeting your own needs - Looking for life satisfaction externally such as in sexual relationships, overeating, drugs, overworking, or in other excessive behavior - Avoiding where you are right now by frequently thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. For example, moving out of town with the thought that it will be better there versus right where you are now. Although the correlation between childhood abuse and addiction is not surprising, perhaps it might lead to the better understanding of patterns among families and individuals. A wider breadth of knowledge leads to enhanced treatment methods, meaningful public education, and the prevention of harm in our communities.

THERE ARE NUMEROUS POTENTIAL CAUSES OF HIP PAIN. - Inflammation around the hip, such as bursitis or tendinitis; - Hip arthritis, with damage to the cartilage within the hip joint - Femoral-acetabular impingement (FAI). This is when extra bone grows along the bones that form the hip joint, causing the bones to be irregularly shaped - Abnormal development of the ball and/or hip socket - Acetabular labrum tear. This is damage to cartilage and tissue in the hip socket - Small pieces of cartilage or bone that break off in the hip joint after injury - Hip dysplasia. This is when the hip socket doesn’t fully cover the ball portion of the upper thigh bone. This causes the hip joint to become dislocated - Hip pain caused when a nerve to the hip area becomes pinched in the lower back area. Dr. Davis routinely sees and evaluates patients with hip pain. He first evaluates each patient to discover the source or cause of the pain. After the cause is found, Dr. Davis will then develop a treatment plan to target the hip problem and help alleviate the pain. In most situations hip replacement surgery is recommended for patients with severe arthritis of the hip. This is recommended when conservative or non-operative treatment is not effective. Dr. Davis routinely performs total hip replacement surgery as a treatment plan. During this procedure part of the hip and part of the femur is replaced through a small incision on the front of the hip/thigh. The benefit of this approach is that the procedure is done working between the muscles on the front of the hip. This is beneficial because minimal muscle damage occurs and the patient has a faster recovery. See the section on Total Hip Replacement for more surgical details. Total Hip Replacement A total hip replacement may be recommended for patients who experience severe hip pain. Avascular Necrosis (AVN) of the Hip Avascular necrosis of the hip can cause pain and loss of mobility in the hip joint. Inflammatory Arthritis of the Hip This condition is an irritation of the hip joint that can cause inflammation, pain, and limited mobility. Muscle Strain Injuries of the Hip This injury is a stretching or tearing of fibers in one of the muscles at the hip joint. Hip strains may be mild, moderate or severe. Osteoarthritis of the Hip Osteoarthritis, also called degenerative arthritis, is a gradual breakdown of cartilage in the joints. Cartilage is a tough, flexible connective tissue that protects the ends of bones in the joints. This disease is a condition of the hip bone and is only seen in children. It occurs when the blood supply to the hip is temporarily disrupted. This loss of blood supply to the ball part of the hip joint causes the bone to die resulting in a noticeable limp and pain. Snapping Hip Syndrome This common condition is a sensation of snapping or catching in the hip. Many people experience this sensation when performing certain movements of the leg. In most cases it is not harmful or painful. Arthroscopic Surgery for Femoral-Acetabular Impingement (FAI) This minimally-invasive surgical procedure is used to identify and correct problems in the hip joint, such as a torn labrum or damaged articular cartilage, that commonly result from femoral-acetabular impingement. Core Decompression for Avascular Necrosis of the Hip This procedure treats avascular necrosis by removing degenerated and dead bone tissue and creating room for new, healthy tissue to grow. Hip Dysplasia (DDH) Treatment Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) is an uncommon, but potentially disabling condition of the hip. Femoral-Acetabular Impingement (FAI) FAI caused by an improperly-shaped femur is called a cam impingement. Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) This condition is a painful inflammation of the iliotibial band, a thick, tendon-like portion of a muscle that travels from the hip down the outer side of the thigh to the knee. Labral Tears of the Hip With this injury, the head of your femur (which is shaped like a ball) slips out of your hip socket. It may slip forward or backward out of position. Muscle Strain Injuries of the Thigh Your thigh has groups of powerful muscles. The quadriceps, the adductors and the hamstring muscles handle high loads of stress. They may suffer from overstretching and tearing. Pediatric Femoral Fractures This serious injury is a break of a child’s thigh bone, called the femur. Because the femur is the largest and strongest bone in the body, this type of injury is relatively uncommon, accounting for only a small percentage of all pediatric fractures. Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE) This disorder, which affects children between 10-15 years old, occurs when the head of the femur slips off the femoral neck. This misaligns the femur with the socket. Transient Osteoporosis of the Hip This condition is a sudden onset of pain in the hip that usually subsides within six months to a year. Computer-Assisted Hip Replacement Surgery In this minimally invasive surgical procedure, the surgeon replaces the hip joint with the aid of a computer guidance system. Femur Fracture Fixation (Stryker® Gamma Nail) This procedure stabilizes severe fractures of the femur with a metal rod and screws implanted into the center of the bone.

Music plays an important part in the life of the school. The subject is taught both discretely and as part of other lessons. The 'Charanga' program is used to support teachers in the delivery of the music curriculum. Singing is a particular strength of the school where all children participate in KS1 and KS2 singing time on a weekly basis. Children are able to join a variety of music clubs including KS1 Choir and KS2 Choir. The Choirs perform regulary in concerts as well as at community events. They also have the opportunity to have 1:1 lessons with Musical Minds. Music is led and managed in school by a team of staff including Mrs Blakely and Mrs McGowan.

When speaking about jewelry, there are many different terms to learn and become quite familiar with. One of the most commonly misused and misspelled words in the industry is Carat & Karet. Many people tend to confuse the spelling of carat or karat with caret, and yes, even carrot. The misuse of this word can come verbally or when typing it out when requesting a jewelry quote. By knowing the difference between each of these, you can better understand the jewelry business and how some of the most popular jewelry finishes are measured. Professional jewelers such as All In Faith, off many different types of jewelry made from different materials that are measured in carats. Today, we are going to look at the correct spelling of the two, and the many definitions of commonly misused words. A Carat is a measurement of weight for gemstones such as diamonds. For example, a specific diamond can be measured in “two-carats”. 1 carat is going to be equal to 200mg when measuring out the diamond or even pearls. So for a two carat diamond, you are getting a diamond that weighs 400mg. This is often confused with the word Karat. A Karet is a measurement of weight for gold in an alloy. For example, a ring or necklace could be made of 24 karat gold. 24 karat gold is pure gold while 18 karat gold is a measurement of an alloy that is 75% gold. Anything less than 24 karat gold is going to have a mixture of a different alloy with the gold. Typical gold percentages within common carats are as follows: 10K is 41.7% gold, 14K is 58.5% gold, 18K is 75% gold, 22K is 91.7% Gold, and 24K is 100% gold. Alloy is added to gold to give it specific desired properties such as different colors or hardnesses. A Caret is a mark that an author or editor uses to show were something needs to be inserted into a text. For example, an author will mark a caret in the text to show that a word needs to be inserted between two words. This has nothing to do with jewelry but is sometimes found as a misspelling when trying to reference Carat or Karat. A carrot is an orange vegetable that is grown in the ground and has no relation to jewelry. While this is not one of the most used misspellings, it sounds similar to carat and karat, which can make it confusing for those who are not familiar with jewelry terminology. While this seems pretty self explanatory, this type of misuse does occur frequently.

National Fire Protection Association data shows that Thanksgiving Day followed by Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are when the largest number of kitchen home fires occur. While you would expect electrical equipment, wood, paper or trash to cause these blazes, they’re not the top reasons that fires occur. Instead, house fires often get started because of grease in a pan on a stove. Although many of us who have watched Sacramento firefighters have been conditioned to believe that water is the best way to put out a blaze, it’s not what you want to use to put out any type of fire, such as a grease one. The reason that you shouldn’t do this is because any time that you add water to a hot pan with oil in it, it has the potential of causing a fire to escape from it. If this occurs, then the flames may overcome you. When cooking with oil, you should aim to keep a lid handy that you can use to quickly extinguish a small grease fire before it gets out of hand. Once the pan has been covered and your body is not in the direct line of flames, you’ll also want to cut the burner off. You should only attempt to remove the lid once you’re sure that the pan has cooled down. If you don’t have a lid for your pan to aid in extinguishing a grease fire, then hopefully you have a fire extinguisher on hand. If you don’t, then you’ll want to purchase a Class B or kitchen use one to protect you should a blaze get underway in the future. When using it, it’s best to step back as much as six feet from the source of the fire and then for you to use the P-A-S-S method, which incudes pulling the pin out, aiming low, squeezing and sweeping the blaze until it’s fully out. Burn injuries often leave behind far more than visible or emotional scars. Victims are often left behind with disabling injuries or die from secondary infections. In these types of cases, you’ll want a highly skilled personal injury attorney representing you who has made a difference for numerous people like you throughout the state of California.

By Chris Allchin, Matt Austen, Ross Eaton, Serge Gwynne, Mike Hepinstall, Patrick Hunt, Ted Moynihan, and Ian Shipley. The banking industry has a crucial role to play in helping the global economy weather the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and return to growth. Yet banks face an enormous challenge in supplying the economy with credit: dealing with the uncertainty of future credit-worthiness and how this will be affected by the course the pandemic takes. Critical decisions need to be made now based on an understanding of the increased risk across the economy, differentiating across individual businesses and consumers, and understanding which effects are temporary and which are permanent. This won’t be like a normal recession; the impact will be highly asymmetric and influenced by public policy decisions. As a result, banks face four challenges in supplying credit. First, how to incorporate all the new and constantly changing information on the pandemic and manage against a nuanced set of scenarios. Second, understanding the impacts of COVID-19 over time across each corporate sector, given their financial condition and future consumer demand. Third, managing consumer credit portfolios when traditional indicators of payment behavior are distorted and payment capacity is highly uncertain. Finally, banks must upgrade their models to support loan loss provisioning and capital requirements with only intermittent regulatory guidance. In the third installment of our Pandemic Navigator Series we share some of the insights we have gleaned from our work with leading financial institutions, and then look more broadly at the likely impacts on bank financial returns and capital. The entire credit and balance sheet management architecture of banks, built over decades, is being upgraded in a matter of months.

Content Accounting Vs Bookkeeping Stay Up To Date On The Latest Accounting Tips And Training Why Is A Sole Proprietorship A Good Business Practice? What Are The Various Types Of Leverage Ratios? Debt See Your Credit Scores From All 3 Bureaus Important Accounting Ratios How Much House Can I Afford? How To Assess Your Finances And Calculate What To Spend Therefore, wise investors often compare the debt ratio of one company to another in the same industry to determine whether the debt ratio should be judged as either good or bad. Times interest earned , or interest coverage ratio, is a measure of a company’s ability to honor its debt payments. It may be calculated as either EBIT or EBITDA, divided by the total interest payable. The debt-to-asset ratio represents the percentage of total debt financing the firm uses as compared to the percentage of the firm’s total assets. In banking and many financial-based businesses, it’s not uncommon to see a ratio of 10 or even 20, but that’s unique to those industries. The equation doesn’t tell you how the ratio has changed over time. Used in conjunction with other measures of financial health, the debt ratio can help investors determine a company’s risk level. The debt ratio formula can be used by a company internally and also can be used by investors and debtors. A low debt ratio means that a company has a small amount of debt compared to its equity. She was a university professor of finance and has written extensively in this area. If you are analyzing one company over a single reporting period, fill in the known data points Debt Ratio in column A and press calculate – the results will display below. Here are the financial indicators that will allow you to assess the debt risk-reward trade off correctly. Accounting Vs Bookkeeping Or said a different way, this company’s liabilities are only 50 percent of its total assets. Essentially, only its creditors own half of the company’s assets and the shareholders own the remainder of the assets. If leverage can multiply earnings, it can also multiply risk. A higher debt ratio means that a company is more leveraged and therefore more risky. While the total debt to total assets ratio includes all debts, the long-term debt to assets ratio only takes into account long-term debts. Debt ratios measure the firm’s ability to repay long-term debt. It is a financial ratio that indicates the percentage of a company’s assets that are provided via debt. The debt to assets ratio (D/A) is a leverage ratio used to determine how much debt a company has on its balance sheet relative to total assets. Stay Up To Date On The Latest Accounting Tips And Training With nonprofit debt management, you can consolidate your debt payments with a high debt-to-income ratio because you are not taking out a new loan. You still qualify for lower interest rates, which can lower your monthly debt payments, thus lowering your ratio. The variables that are used to figure out the ratio are not set in stone. If an analyst uses free cash flow instead of operating cash flow, for instance, the calculation excludes working capital and capital spending. Likewise, if only long-term debt is factored into the debt calculation, the ratio may hide a firm’s high current debt. Take care to look not only at the ratio but also how it was calculated. The debt-to-equity ratio is a particular type of gearing ratio. In a way, we could argue that this ratio is of great importance, as it merely calculates the financial leverage of a firm. Why Is A Sole Proprietorship A Good Business Practice? “It’s also a handy gauge of how senior management is going to feel about taking on more debt and and therefore whether you can propose a project that requires taking on more debt. A high ratio means they are likely to say no to raising more cash through borrowing,” he explains. The significant figures drop select box only determines rounding for the ratios themselves. Percent changes are always calculated to four significant figures. The result is your DTI, which will be in the form of a percentage. For more information, see Understand what your ratio means. Bank debt is often used to finance long-term investments, such as a purchase of premises or equipment required for the business. The expanded accounting equation is derived from the accounting equation and illustrates the different components of stockholder equity in a company. However, the D/E ratio is difficult to compare across industry groups where ideal amounts of debt will vary. Full BioPete Rathburn is a freelance writer, copy editor, and fact-checker with expertise in economics and personal finance. “What is a debt-to-income ratio? Why is the 43% debt-to-income ratio important?” Accessed Nov. 2, 2021. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work. What Are The Various Types Of Leverage Ratios? The Rocket Mortgage Learning Center is dedicated to bringing you articles on home buying, loan types, mortgage basics and refinancing. We also offer calculators to determine home affordability, home equity, monthly mortgage payments and the benefit of refinancing. No matter where you are in the home buying and financing process, Rocket Mortgage has the articles and resources you can rely on. Your debt-to-income ratio – how much you pay in debts each month compared to your gross monthly income – is a key factor when it comes to qualifying for a mortgage. Your DTI helps lenders gauge how risky you’ll be as a borrower. Divide the result from step one (total liabilities or debt—TL) by the result from step two (total assets—TA). In this example for Company XYZ Inc., you have total liabilities of $814 million and total assets of $2,000. Take a holistic approach when evaluating a firm’s financial statements. Recalculate your debt-to-income ratio monthly to see if you’re making progress. Company D shows a significantly higher degree of leverage compared to the other companies. The debt ratio shows your long-term and short-term debt as a percentage of your total assets. What counts as a good debt ratio will depend on the nature of the business and its industry. A ratio greater than 1 indicates that a significant portion of assets is funded with debt and that the company has a higher default risk. Generally speaking, a D/E ratio below 1.0 would be seen as relatively safe, whereas ratios of 2.0 or higher would be considered risky. Gearing ratios focus more heavily on the concept of leverage than other ratios used in accounting or investment analysis. This conceptual focus prevents gearing ratios from being precisely calculated or interpreted with uniformity. The underlying principle generally assumes that some leverage is good, but too much places an organization at risk. Gearing ratios constitute a broad category of financial ratios, of which the D/E ratio is the best example. Debt For each data point and ratio that has a value in both columns, the change expressed as a percent increase or decrease will also be calculated. When you apply for credit, your lender may calculate your debt-to-income ratio based on verified income and debt amounts, and the result may differ from the one shown here. An innovative firm that is just starting out will unquestionably have a high debt ratio. A few months on, if the business has grown, revenue streams would start to reduce the debt. If EBITDA is negative, then the business has serious issues. A positive EBITDA, however, does not automatically imply that the business generates cash. EBITDA ignores changes in Working Capital , capital expenditures , taxes, and interest. In addition to housing-related expenses, back-end DTIs include any required minimum monthly payments your lender finds on your credit report. This includes debts like credit cards, student loans, auto loans and personal loans. See Your Credit Scores From All 3 Bureaus If a company is overleveraged, i.e. has too much debt, they may find it difficult to maintain their solvency and/or acquire new debt. Just as in consumer loans, companies are evaluated when taking on new obligations to determine their risk of non-repayment. https://www.bookstime.com/ analysis, defined as an expression of the relationship between a company’s total debt andassets, is a measure of the ability to service the debt of a company. It indicates what proportion of a company’s financing asset is from debt, making it a good way to check a company’s long-termsolvency. Value of 1 or less indebt ratiosshows good financial health of a company. For example, if you qualify for a VA loan, Department of Veteran Affairs guidelines suggest a maximum 41% debt-to-income ratio. It is possible to get a VA or FHA loan with a higher ratio, but only when there are compensating factors. If your annual income is $60,000, the monthly total is $5,000. If your annual debt total is $30,000, the monthly total is $2,500. Most lenders would like your debt-to-income ratio to be under 36%. However, you can receive a “qualified” mortgage with a debt-to-income ratio as high as 43%. This is usually a type of “cash flow loan” and is generally only available to larger companies. Leverage ratios represent the extent to which a business is utilizing borrowed money. Having high leverage in a firm’s capital structure can be risky, but it also provides benefits. How Much House Can I Afford? How To Assess Your Finances And Calculate What To Spend The ratio must be included in your presentation to win over contacts and potential financial partners. Debt ratio, meaning a measure of the financial stability of a company, is a common evaluation for any investment which requires a loan. The lower the company’s reliance on debt for asset formation, the less risky the company is. On the other hand, the higher ratio means a company has high insolvent risk since excessive debt can lead to a heavy debt repayment burden.

In order to ensure you take the best possible dental impression it is strongly encouraged you read the instructions provided with your kit several times prior to taking the impressions. Of those dental impressions we receive from customers, roughly 1/29 are not satisfactory. Among the most common errors we see are: - Too shallow - Scraping on the walls of the tray - Unmixed material Excellent Dental Impression Prior to going into how not to take a dental impression let’s look at what a good dental impressions looks like. Notice the impression goes deeper than the gum lines on all teeth (front and rear). The impression material was mixed until it was a solid blue and there is no noticeable distortion which is caused when removing the material before it has hardened. Shallow Dental Impression We receive 2 types of shallow dental impressions with the most common being the front teeth go deep enough, however the molars are not. Granted we can still make trays from this type of impression, your trays will not cover all of your molars. To avoid shallow molars be sure to position your thumbs on the back of the tray and push evenly into the teeth. The second most common shallow dental impression is where all teeth did not sink into the impression material. At times it is close enough which allows us to forge the rest however it will be far from a perfect tray. Shallow dental impressions are usually the result of the person mixing the dental impression material for too long. Once the material is mixed it triggers a hardening process. Over time the material gets harder making it difficult to sink your teeth all the way into the material. Scraping The Walls of The Impression Tray When inserting the impression tray in your mouth it is very important you position your teeth in the center of the impression material. Failure to do so will result in your teeth scraping the walls of the tray. Granted we can attempt to make a tray using the impression shown, it is doubtful it will fit to your satisfaction. Notice the slight hole in the impression where the K9 tooth is. If the rest of your teeth did not scrape the walls of the tray this minor hole would not be an issue. The walls collapsed inward on the impression Had the front wall not collapsed inward on this impression it would have been a perfect dental impression. The reason this impression collapsed inward is likely because the customer did not allow the material to harden enough before removing it from their mouth. It’s important to leave the impression in your mouth for a minimum of 2 minutes however 3 minutes is optimal. The material will still not be fully hardened; however it will be firm enough to remove with minimal to no distortion. Be sure to let your impressions sit for 30 minutes prior to placing it in the envelope. Unmixed Impression Material It’s not often this occurs however on occasion we do receive an impression where the material has not been fully mixed. Failure to mix the material until it is a solid blue color will result in the material never hardening. We have no way of making satisfactory trays from these impressions.

Italy (Italia), officially the Italian Republic located in the heart of the Mediterranean, ..and shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and Vatican City. Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2. Italy was founded as a distinct and original nation in 1720. The population of Italy is 60,000,000. Today, it has the third largest economy in the Euro-zone and the 8th largest in the world.

How high will the U.S. Federal Reserve take interest rates? It’s a crucial question, given that the value of trillions of dollars in stocks and bonds worldwide is riding on the outcome. Powell didn’t provide a specific forecast at his most recent news conference last week. But he did offer some clues. First, he said the Fed is heading “expeditiously” toward a neutral level of interest rates, which means 50-basis-point increases at each of the next few meetings. Second, he suggested that neutral would likely mean 2% to 3% — assuming inflation was at the Fed’s 2% target. In inflation-adjusted terms, that’s a short-term rate of 0% to 1%. The connection between the neutral rate and inflation deserves much more attention than it received. It means that if underlying inflation remains high, reaching neutral will require the Fed to take rates much higher than 2% to 3%. Discerning the underlying inflation trend won’t be easy, given sharp shifts in demand — first toward goods and now back toward services — and persistent supply-chain disruptions exacerbated by the war in Ukraine and Covid-related shutdowns in China. Judging from the labor market, underlying inflation is running well above the Fed’s 2% target. Average hourly earnings are up 5.5% from a year earlier — which, assuming productivity growth of 1.5% to 2%, implies inflation of 3.5% to 4%. This, in turn, suggests a neutral federal funds rate of about 4% — higher than what futures markets currently expect. Even 4%, though, could easily be an underestimate. For one, the extraordinary tightness of the labor market might push wage inflation still higher. Also, the Fed is still providing stimulus through its vast holdings of Treasury and mortgage securities, which will take three to four years to wind down. As long as the Fed is still holding such assets, the neutral short-term rate will be higher than it otherwise would be. What’s more, the Fed might need to go significantly beyond neutral to get inflation under control. Powell has so far refused to comment on the possibility, arguing that the central bank must first reach neutral before deciding whether to press on. This coyness is a mistake. It reinforces the jarring disconnect between Fed officials’ commitment to curb inflation and their unwillingness to explain what that commitment will entail. It’s hard to imagine that the Fed can address persistently above-target inflation without taking interest rates high enough to significantly loosen an extremely tight labor market. Yet in their March projections, officials still forecast inflation falling to within a whisker of their target even as the unemployment rate remained below the level that they assessed as consistent with stable inflation. If monetary policy operates through financial conditions, as Powell and I agree it does, why obscure what’s necessary to keep inflation in check? If the central bank’s messaging leads market participants to underestimate future tightening, that will leave financial conditions looser now, requiring the Fed to do more of the work through short-term rates. Worse, the Fed’s sugarcoating could undermine its credibility, and hence its ability to do its job. The Fed needs to be clearer about the means required to achieve its goals. Brutal honesty could spare everyone a lot of trouble in the end.

A Fascinating History and Description of the Yea Railway Line by Lance Adams – Part 1 (Tallarook to Cheviot) From the author…Sometime back I was approached to compile some data on the old railway line for use by rail trail users. I was requested to be informative, historical, but up to date and not to use any railway jargon. Faced with this daunting list of requirements, I sat down with this monumentous task and decided to treat it like I was accompanying rail trail users on their experience as a guide on the rail trail, pointing out where certain points of interest lay. I compiled the entire document from memory, even though I had not been over the track in decades. Train services commenced in November 1883, with a morning service daily from Tallarook to Yea, with a return working around 12.30pm ex Yea. In 1889 the service beyond Yea was commenced towards Molesworth and train operations were shifted to Yea from Tallarook. The service was again extended in 1891, when through services began to Mansfield. By this time Yea was being serviced by a morning and evening train to Melbourne (change trains at Tallarook) and a late morning train to Mansfield returning as an early afternoon train to Yea and Melbourne. (with connections to Alexandra Road, later named Rhodes, Lily & Koriella (At Cathkin). This arrangement continued until 1943, when due to a wartime coal shortage, services were reduced and the morning services to Melbourne, several days a week were removed, along with rail passenger services to Alexandra in 1945. The service to Alexandra remained as available to goods train only until the last train operated to this location in October 1978. Mansfield line services continued with the above service working until railmotor services were introduced over the length of the line in 1949. This provided a morning train ex Mansfield (change at Tallarook for Melbourne) and returning to Mansfield in the early evening ex Melbourne and Tallarook. This arrangement lasted many years with minor alterations due to the introduction of the larger 280HP Walker railmotors to the line in 1951 and through train workings to Melbourne, until passenger services were removed off the line in 1977. The line operated as a goods train only operations until regular goods train services were with drawn as well in February 1978. Goods trains still operated but on an as required basis, until total closure in November 1978. The last train, hauled by a Diesel Locomotive Y 158 departed Yea at 6.30pm on Monday 06/11/78. Causing Yea to become devoid of railways from that date. No train ever visited the Yea area again. HISTORY AND DETAILS – TALLAROOK TO YEA AND CHEVIOT The line branches away from the main North East Railway on a 600 metre curve, at app. 90kms from Melbourne (396 metres above sea level), and while descending a long steep drop on some grades as steep as 1 in 40, traversing School House Lane & several 1000 metre curves, before crossing Reedy Creek near the historic homestead “Landscape” sporting picturesque gardens. This property cannot be appreciated, from the view gained from the main road. REEDY CREEK TO COW CREEK This location, “The Reedy Creek bridge crossing”, was the site of a serious derailment in the late 1920’s when the morning train from Melbourne, arrived at the bridge, simultaneously with an inland Tsunami thundering down the creek. The Dd Locomotive made it across the creek crossing, with the passenger cars stranded on the Tallarook side of the bridge, whilst the goods trucks in the middle of the train, were swept clean off the line. Attempts to get the train driver’s attention by local residents were unsuccessful. Their efforts were in vain, & the incident was inevitable. When the line was constructed, a timber trestle bridge would have spanned Reedy Creek, but was replaced in the mid 1940’s, by the concrete & steel bridge, standing here today. COW CREEK TO FIVE MILE GATEHOUSE From here, the formation continues on basically level terrain, traversing a consecutive, 800metre and 600 metre curves, before climbing a short 1 in 40 upgrade. The line then drops sharply, down a short 1 in 40 gradient, traverses two 800 metre curves & crosses “Cow Creek”. After a slight up gradient , it crosses an old Road Crossing (long disappeared) on a right hand sweeping 600 metre curve, after commencing as a 500 metre curve before dropping sharply & undulating. FIVE MILE GATEHOUSE TO TRAWOOL J514 between Trawool and the 5 mile gatehouse Rounding these curves, we come to the site of the 5 mile gatehouse at app.101kms from mileage 0 in Melbourne The former main road used to cross the right of way here, the site being extensively modified in the 1920’s with the main road re-aligned to stay on the right hand side of the trail. The former main road was abolished, & consequently the site, gatehouse & gates were removed, with the alterations. This site was one of a number of locations, in the state of Victoria that had hand operated gates, not protected by lineside signals. These gates were normally closed, against road traffic. When it was required to open the gates for road traffic to be let through, the road user, had to rouse the gate attendant, who after contacting the Signalmen at both Tallarook & Yea, to find out if there was a train in the section. & its approximate whereabouts, would then operate the gates, allowing the road user to go over the line, at his own risk, this arrangement, common in this era, was signified to Drivers of trains, by the attaching of a small white triangular shaped board, to the advance crossing approach board, placed twice the distance out, than normal. This arrangement became unworkable in the late 1920’s with the consequent increase in road traffic, with more cars hitting the Victorian road system. This location featured in a Railway awareness campaign to increase level crossing awareness in 1923 titled, “Stop, Look & listen” An early Red “Austin A7”, featured in the promotion as well. This unusual safety procedure remained in force in Victoria till into the 70’s, when the last two locations at Paddy & Lonsdale Streets, Mentone, just out of Cheltenham in the Metropolitan area of Melbourne, were converted to a boom barrier, type arrangement. Paddy Street however was blocked off altogether. TRAWOOL TO GRANITE The line then continues to undulate, heading slightly uphill, traversing a series of curves, some as tight as 300 metres, before a major heavy climb of 1 in 40 into Trawool Station, (380 metres above sea level) crossing the Main Goulburn Valley Highway on a right hand curve of a 600 metres , which sweeps through the entire station & platform area. Note the tall conifer, pencil pine trees on the platform, planted in the 1930’s. From here the line drops sharply, before a tight pinch, & meanders its way down behind the Trawool Hotel via a series of 800 metre, 500 metre and 600 metre curves & into the Station of Granite, originally named Wrights Siding, & later Trawool Falls (Altitude 370 metres above sea level). GRANITE TO NINE MILE GATEHOUSE DD 541 at Granite Station Granite was a small wayside siding & station, opened after the line commenced running, to serve a small granite quarry, specialising in monumental products, with a small human powered push cart tramway, to bring the quarried product from in the quarry, above Trawool Creek,(Formerly Falls Creek) down to the rail siding at Granite. There have been two wooden platforms over the lifespan of Granite station, both now having been long removed. The first one being on the Trawool side of Trawool Creek, situated on the left side of the line, with the replacement platform erected on the opposite side of Trawool Creek, closer to the Trawool Hotel on the right hand side of the line. The station ceased to exist after quarrying became un-economical in the late 1950’s. Several historic photographs adorn the walls of the Trawool Hotel, of the Granite Quarry & its operation, & are well worth a quick look and visit to this establishment. From here the line rises acutely by a 1 in 40 upgrade, through a series of tight curves, some as tight as 300 metres. If ever a train would have stalled, with an inability to take the whole train forward a/c too much weight between Tallarook – Yea, it was here. Many a train has been divided into two pieces here, with half the train going on to Kerrisdale (the next station) and returning for the rear portion, to clear the section and unite the train. NINE MILE GATEHOUSE TO FLYNN’S CREEK After topping the grade here, it is only short, sharp down hill run, via 300 metre curves, to the 9 mile Gatehouse, where the Goulburn Valley Highway crosses the railway formation once again. Locally known as “the house on stilts”, it was worked under the same rules as the 5 mile gatehouse, but lasted slightly longer before being abolished on the 27/03/47. This unique building that was here, was situated in the small triangular piece of land, backing on the railway formation, and facing the main road. If you leant out of a train here, you could almost touch the roof of the house. A feat often attempted by passengers from a passing train. FLYNN’S CREEK TO KERRISDALE The rail trail now goes under the main road, via an underpass at this site. Once through the underpass, the railway is rejoined on a series of 300 metre curves, on an embankment, and a drop is made towards “Flynns Creek”, with the remains of a local hops farm on your left hand side. A steep downgrade for a short distance is encountered, hugging the sides of the “Warrigul” rocks, traversing many tight curves above the river flats. A short sharp rise is encountered and through a series of 300 metre, 500 metre and 700 metre curves, past the old ballast quarry at approximately 108kms circa 1888 and a 400 metre curve. KERRISDALE TO KING PARROT CREEK Kerrisdale is reached through a long 1000 metre right hand Curve. Kerrisdale (altitude 378 metres above sea level) is an interesting place, as when the line was constructed in the 1880’s it was the major construction point for the growing railway, with a major construction camp situated near the King Parrot Creek, just beyond the Kerrisdale Station proper. This camp, at the time, was a larger settlement than Yea, and boasted hotels, schools and a hospital. Nothing now remains of this temporary settlement. Kerrisdale is now home to the “Kerrisdale Mountain Railway”, which houses many operating exhibits from a bygone era, including the original Kerrisdale Station Building and is well worth a visit. Leaving Kerrisdale, the complete railway formation has been regraded & changed from the time the railway operated. An overbridge, built in the 1960’s conveying the Goulburn Valley Highway over the railway, has been removed, the highway re-aligned, and the whole area regraded to suit this new alignment. The rail trail only vaguely reflects the original course of the line. KING PARROT CREEK TO DAIRY CREEK Once you are back on the original Railway alignment, the King Parrot Creek Bridge is crossed by a modern concrete and steel construction, replacing the original wooden trestle bridge. The area under the bridge and to the immediate right was the site of the temporary construction camp when the line was built in the 1870’s that was mentioned earlier. From here, the line leaves the King Parrot Creek area by means of three 300 metre curves, then heads downhill into a level area. followed by a sweeping 700 metre and 800 metre curve, which take you into a series of three 300 metre curves. From here, the trail rises up a short 1 in 40 grade. On top of this grade, is the local wildlife refuge, called “The Haven”. A refuge for Native Wild Animals requiring special attention, before being released back into the wild, worth a visit, particularly if you are accompanied by children. DAIRY CREEK TO HOMEWOOD The line drops for a short distance on a 1 in 40 grade, rounds a left hand 400 metre curve, a right hand 400 metre curve and enters the flood flats of “Dairy Creek” via a sweeping 800 metre curve. After passing a road crossing, the “Dairy Creek” is crossed with a low level, modern, concrete and steel bridge constructed in the 1940’s. J515 nears Homewood HOMEWOOD TO BOX HILL From here, the line basically continues in a downhill direction for a short distance, meeting three curves in its progress, an 800 metre left hand curve, a right hand 400 metre curve and a final 800 metre curve heading up hill, via several short level sections before a 1 in 40 climb takes the trail towards Homewood. Here the railway again meets the Goulburn Valley Highway on the top of the gradient. This area is also unrecognisable from when the railway operated, with the re-alignment of the Goulburn Valley Highway in the 1990’s. This caused the Highway, at this location to now traverse the former Railway line into the Homewood station area (altitude 172 metres above sea level). After rejoining the railway proper, leaving Homewood by a 600 metre curve, the line rises drastically on a long climb, starting out at a gradient of 1 in 50 and steepening to 1 in 40 towards the top of the gradient, after going through two 800 metre curves. This hill is known locally as “Box Hill”, and is the severest climb between Tallarook & Yea. A long, tough climb! BOX HILL TO YEA K152 Climbing box Hill between Homewood & Yea After topping “Box Hill” a steep downgrade, is met with drops of 1 in 40, an 800 metre curve, sharpening to a 600 metre curve, before crossing “Hamilton’s Road” and immediately after crossing “Hamilton’s Road” a 600 metre curve is reached and the trail continues downgrade through another long 1000 metre curve, before reaching the bottom of the grade. The trail now continues, undulating but slightly uphill through a 1000 metre left hand curve before negotiating the Aldous Avenue, Road Crossing. YEA TO CHEVIOT The line rises again here, through a long 1000 metres left hand curve, crosses “Boundary Creek” & North Street in the process and enters the Yea Township via a sweeping left hand curve of 1000 metres Heading slightly uphill, Melbourne Road is crossed after which the line rises sharply on a 400 metre right hand curve, before crossing another road, which up to the closure of the line was protected by hand operated Wooden Gates at Lyon Street The Yea Railway Station is situated on a level area of ground, between the Lyon Street Gates and the Melba Highway. Yea Railway Depot The area at the Mansfield end of the Railway Station at Yea, including the station area at this end, was drastically altered in 1971 to re-align the Melba Highway, with later regrading work done in the 1990’s when the Yea Hospital helipad was constructed on the site of the Yea locomotive depot, 16 metre turntable & coal stage. Nothing now remains of this previously bustling area. The original Yea Locomotive shed was moved to Wallan in 1892 and a new running shed built in 1929, which remained on site till the abolition of steam motive power, off the line. The shed was removed, but the attached oil house remains in Yea as a garden shed, at a private house in the Yea township today. The 80 mile post (129kms app.) , formerly positioned outside the Yea Locomotive Depot underneath a water tower has also has found a new location in the rear of a private residence in the Yea township. The Yea Station area (altitude 385 metres above sea level) is left, through the site of the former “Oliver Street” hand operated, wooden gates, via a 400 metre right hand curve and basically undulates on a 1 in 997 gradient for about two kilometres then going through two 1600 metre and 2000 metre curves until it reaches the Yea River bridge, which was built to replace the original bridge, replaced in 1945. Opened with the line, early ballast siding, used in the construction of the line, branched off here for the collection of river ballast from the Yea River then known as Muddy Creek. No trace of this short ballast line can be found today, just stories lost in time. The pile remains of the original bridge and can be clearly seen to the immediate left of the trail formation. This bridge was locally known as the “long bridge” as the original water crossing, was one long wooden construction, like the bridges at Yarra Glen and Orbost, rather than the way it is today, separated by several earthen embankment sections, separating several individual bridge spans, The river is crossed via the bridge, on a 600 metre left hand curve. From here, the line rises sharply leading to the climb to the tunnel, some 9 plus kilometres ahead. This climb, on severe grades was a challenge to engine crews operating steam locomotives. Over the decades the line operated using this form of traction. The grades start out as an easy 1 in 80, but get tougher towards the tunnel’s southern portal, steepening to 1 in 40 gradients. Two curves are negotiated between the river crossing and Cheviot. The first is a sweeping long gentle left hand curve of 1200 metres and a second, a little sharper right hand curve of 800 metres. This then takes you across a local road crossing and into the Cheviot Station on a 1 in 200 upgrade.

On 23 August 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised the use of convalescent plasma as a promising new treatment of hospitalised patients with COVID-19.1 This was granted via the emergency use authorisation procedure, which allows the FDA make use of unapproved medical products or unapproved uses for approved products, in an emergency to diagnose, treat or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions. In the press release, the FDA reported that their decision was based on a review of the science and data gathered over the last few months. But what exactly is convalescent plasma therapy and how robust is the data for its use as a treatment modality for patients with COVID-19? History of use Passive antibody administration therapy involves giving plasma or serum that contains antibodies to a particular infection, to an individual in order to help treat the infection. The concept discovered in 1891 by von Behring who used sheep serum containing antibodies against diphtheria toxin to successfully treat a child with the infection. It was later realised that the transferred plasma was not only able to neutralise the pathogen but also provided immunity against subsequent infection and the technique became known as serum therapy. By the 1930s, serum therapy was widely used to successfully treat a range of infections such as pneumonia and meningococcal meningitis.2 However, the introduction of antibiotics in the 1930’s lead to a decline in the use of serum therapy, largely because chemotherapy with antimicrobials was more effective. Additionally, at the time it was difficult to obtain enough sera from convalescing patients for therapeutic purposes because plasma from one donor can only be used to treat a few patients. Nevertheless, today, antibody therapy is used extensively in medicine but in a highly purified form, for example, monoclonal antibodies. Convalescent plasma therapy (CP) represents the modern-day equivalent of serum therapy. Patients who have previously been infected with a disease develop circulating antibodies to the pathogen and transferring serum from these individuals to a patient with the specific disease, represents an indirect but effective means through which the recipient becomes immune against the specific pathogen. Efficacy in viral infections Despite the development of effective antimicrobial and antiviral agents, CP therapy has emerged periodically over the years, especially during outbreaks of infections for which, at the time, there were no effective drug or vaccines available. For example, CP therapy was used to treat patients with the Spanish influenza pneumonia and an analysis in 2006 that included eight studies with 1703 patients, found that patients receiving the treatment may have experienced a clinically important reduction in the risk for death.3 The value of CP therapy has also been evaluated in the context of viral infections such as the SARS-CoV, avian influenza (H5N1) and the 2009 pandemic caused by H1NI (swine flu). A 2015 analysis included 32 studies of coronavirus infections and severe influenza concluded that CP therapy led to 75% reduction in the odds of mortality among treated patients.4 The use of CP therapy has also explored in the treatment of Ebola virus. The first reported use of CP therapy in Ebola virus emerged in 1976. A researcher who accidentally infected himself with the virus, was treated with CP therapy from an Ebola patient and made a full recovery.5 In another study in Sierra Leone, 69 patients infected with Ebola virus were offered CP therapy or standard treatment which included IV fluids, multivitamins, antipyretics, analgesics, antibiotics, anthelmintics and antimalarial drugs. A total of 44 agreed to CP therapy and although one patient dropped out of the study, 31 recovery and 12 succumbed to the disease, giving a case fatality rate of 27.9%. In contrast, for those receiving standard, the case fatality rate was 44%. The authors calculated an odd ratio for survival from CP therapy of 2.3 (95% Cl 0.8–6.5) and concluded that CP therapy was a promising treatment of Ebola in a resource-poor setting.6 The mechanism of action for CP therapy is not fully understood but thought to be related to the presence of the neutralising antibodies which are raised against several of the S proteins present on the surface of coronaviruses, which are involved in receptor recognition, viral receptor attachment and cell entry.7 Convalescent therapy for COVID-19 The increasing death rate and rapid global spread of COVID-19 has resulted in an urgent need to develop either an effective drug or vaccine against the virus. According to the World Health Organization database, there are 2360 current studies looking at treatments and interventions for COVID-19.8 Given its historical success, interested has centred on the use of CP therapy for COVID-19 and it was first used in five critically ill Chinese patients, refractory to steroid and antiviral therapy. All received CP therapy from five different donors and three were discharged from hospital and two remained stable after 37 days.9 In a US-based study that included 25 patients with severe and/or life-threatening COVID-19, a single transfusion of plasma was well tolerated and after 7 days, 36% of patients (9/25) had an improvement in clinical symptoms, whereas after 14 days, 76% (19/25) had improved or been discharged.10 In an effort to summarise the effectiveness of CP therapy in COVID-19, a living Cochrane review (that is, one that is constantly reviewed) has been established. In the most recent review, researchers identified 20 studies with a total of 5443 participants, of whom, 5211 received convalescent plasma. In assessing the efficacy of the intervention, the outcomes considered included all-cause mortality, time to death and an improvement in clinical symptoms, defined in terms of the need for respiratory support. The analysis revealed a non-significant impact on all of the reported outcomes. For example, all-cause mortality (risk ratio, RR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.61–1.31), time to death (hazard ratio, HR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.30–0.82) and improvement in clinical symptoms at 14 days (RR = 1.85, 95% CI 0.91–3.77). In their conclusion, the authors noted that it was currently uncertain whether convalescent plasma was beneficial for people admitted to hospital with COVID-19.11 Moreover, the Cochrane review also examined any associated adverse effects, which included allergic events such as anaphylaxis, transfusion-associated dyspnoea and transfusion-related acute lung injury. While the review included a small number of studies, the authored noted that there were 98 ongoing studies including 50 randomised controlled trials. Until an effective vaccine or drug therapy is developed, there remains an urgent need to find effective alternative treatments for patients with COVID-19. Renewed interest in passive immune therapy in the form of convalescent plasma has shown some promise and has been endorsed by the FDA. While the currently available data are limited, it does suggest some benefit although there remains considerably uncertainty. At the time of the Cochrane review, the authors felt that CP therapy was likely to be of benefit since re-infection with COVID-19 was unlikely although a recent case report of re-infection in a patient casts doubt on this assertion.12 Nevertheless, in the absence of effective treatments, CP therapy may offer hope to some of the patients with more severe disease. As more data emerges from on-going studies, both the value and position of CP therapy in the management of those with COVID-19 infection will become much clearer. - To KKW et al. COVID-19 re-infection by a phylogenetically distinct SARS-coronavirus-2 strain confirmed by whole genome sequencing. Clin Infect Dis 2020; ciaa1275, .

I feel blessed to have been born in the whereabouts of Knossos in a small village called Skalani. During my childhood, the fairytales of my grandmother intertwined the myths to the findings of the excavations in which her grandfather and father took part as labourers. So I was fortunate to grow up with King Minos and his daughters, the tradition of their gold rings, with beautiful princesses like the ones on the Parisian fresco of Knossos, with the Minotaur, and the numerous workshops that forged all royal and religious artefacts. Later when I went to school, I realised that all these took place thousands of years before. Till that time I believed that the Palace and the royal family were distant relatives of mine and lived with my ancestors. The feelings I had during my childhood never abandoned me, and throughout my life, I have been thinking of ways to highlight and bring this incredible civilisation which I was deeply familiar with, to life.I embarked on a long term study of the pictograms of the rings, the seals and frescos of Minoan daily life. I aimed to understand what each posture meant. I have been sympathising with every Minoan woman and man who were depicted in these works of art, and I have tried to decode the feeling of every religious moment I have been studying. The pictograms and depictions of the rites of the Minoans have been my basis of information. When I came to the realisation of what I was supposed to do, a miracle happened. Many individuals whom I had barely known at first but later became close friends and collaborators, joined me on this effort. All of whom were experts in specific fields, shed light on a variety of areas to contribute to bringing the most beautiful ecumenical culture to life. At some point I had the theatre constructed. The architectural advise I was given did not meet the standards the world of my soul dictated. So I was left to my own devices, and I designed along with the stone mason this jewel we call the Minoan Theatre today. For six months workers carried stones from the sacred mountain of Jukhtas – the holy mountain of Knossos. Each stone was hand-picked and carefully put in place so as not to be damaged. In this way, their energy was kept intact, and now it is transmitted in the theatre. Similarly, the Minoan show was created. The costumes are near exact copies of the outfits the Priestesses and Bull – leapers wear on the frescoes in Minoan Palaces. An inspired musician composed the score exclusively for the performance. The artists perform with great respect and esoteric concentration. Other individuals contributed to manufacturing the Bull, accessories, providing scientific information etc.. Minoan Cuisine also enhances the experience. All meals are prepared in replicas of Minoan pottery, and the guests feel that someone from that era was left behind to teach us all that was lost in the devastation of the Palace. I know exactly what I have to do as if there is some kind of guidance. It’s as if it’s not me that I act but someone else – a woman of that era who through me expresses her spirit. Come and live the Minoan Experience…

Google search is by far the most widely used tool on the internet. The average number of searches per day is comfortably in the billions. But people aren’t just using Google to search for websites. Google also helps users find images with the massive Google Images. Start by selecting a subject or keyword. For this example, we’ll use “seashell.” Make sure to also click “Images” to focus the search. Google Images by Color Perhaps you had a particular color pallet in mind to match or complement an existing web page. This Google search can be even further narrowed. By clicking “Search Tools” a number of options appear. Open the drop-down menu for “Any color”, and select from 12 different hues. Here’s what you get when “brown” is chosen: But we’re still not done! If you discover from these results one that looks almost right, hover over the image and more options appear. Click “Similar” and you just might find exactly what you were looking for. Reverse Image Search Another useful, and not well known, feature is search by image. That’s right, you can start a search by one of these means: - upload an image - copy/paste an image URL (found by right-clicking image on the web) - drag and drop an image Google search by image does not have face recognition capability. It will not, for example, find every picture of you on the internet. However, if you upload a picture of yourself standing in front of MIT’s Great Dome, it will focus on this historic recognizable building, and produce results based on it rather than on you. While it does not recognize the specifics of your face it will find if that image has been posted elsewhere. So if you’re worried someone is using your headshot for a fake online profile, then you can put it into Google, perhaps with some contextual text like “facebook” and Google images may find your photo. Pictures Paint a Thousand Words Often, all I want from Google’s image search is the opportunity to actually see what I might not otherwise understand from words alone. Maybe I want to better envision a town I am considering for vacation, or inform my eyes about a poisonous spider I need to look out for. All this is easy now, thanks to Google. For more commercial purposes, like finding an image to reuse on your webpage or post, make sure you understand copyright requirements. To make things easier, seek only images licensed under Creative Commons or as Google Images refers to them “labeled for commercial use with modification”, and always give attribution to the artist/ website where the image was originally hosted.

It is ridiculously easy to see and analyze someone’s energy data now. However, the states and the industry have publicly stated that data is “aggregated” – all the information clumped together and impossible to disentangle. Because of that, they say, people’s privacy is protected. Now, the industry has overcome even their contrived hurdle with disaggregation – creating tools that break down the data even more easily. The article has a photo of a needle in haystack. Privacy? No longer available with Smart Meters and the Smart Grid. EEme is hoping that large-scale tests shared publicly will help demystify this emerging technology. by Jeff St. John March 13, 2015 One of the biggest questions facing the providers of energy disaggregation technology is how to prove that it works as advertised. Then there’s the inevitable follow-up question — how well does it work compared to the competition? Over the past few years, we’ve been covering companies like Bidgely, PlotWatt, Smappee, Neurio (formerly Energy Aware), Navetas, Belkin, Intel, and others offering technology to disaggregate whole-home energy data into specific breakouts of air conditioning, water heating, appliances and other typical building electricity loads. But without large-scale, standardized testing methods, it’s hard for would-be users of the technology to know whether they’re getting what they’ve paid for. Enes Hosgor, CEO and founder of EEme, says that his company wants to change that. Last week, the Carnegie Mellon University spinout released results from what may be the biggest disaggregation technology test out there — a comparison of the results turned out by EEme’s algorithms against the circuit-level, real-time data being collected from 264 homes that are part of the Austin, Texas-based Pecan Street research consortium. EEme disaggregated a year’s worth of 15-minute smart meter interval data, and was able to achieve about 70 percent accuracy in its estimates of air conditioning, water heater, clothes dryer and dishwasher energy use, compared to the granular data Pecan Street was pulling into its supercomputers. That’s on par with what other disaggregation technologies have been able to get out of 15-minute whole-home meter reads, according to tests from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) that we covered in late 2013. But it’s also a lot more comprehensive in terms of the data it’s being compared against, he said. Other disaggregation tests have been limited to mock homes set up in labs, or at most, a couple of dozen homes equipped with expensive and hard-to-maintain circuit-by-circuit sensors. And importantly, those test results haven’t yet been made freely available to the public, as EEme is now offering to do, he said. “If you don’t have that insight in public, you cannot have a benchmark, a reference point, to move the entire knowledge base forward,” Hosgor said in an interview last week. “And if you don’t know the accuracy reference point, you cannot put that in the context for use cases,” which can range from load forecasting, demand response and energy efficiency measurement and verification for utilities, to appliance-by-appliance energy use and cost breakdowns for homeowners. To be fair to the other energy disaggregation companies out there, EEme isn’t revealing the algorithms and approaches it uses. “Everything we’ve built at Carnegie Mellon is our own — and we don’t share how we do things, just like Bidgely and PlotWatt don’t share how they do things,” he said. But at least it’s giving out the results from what’s most likely the largest, and thus most statistically significant, test of this kind of technology out there today, he said. Sharing the wealth from a treasure trove of home energy data Pecan Street offers a unique resource on this front. No other entity, to our knowledge, has sensored and monitored so many homes at such fine detail for as long as it has. Even so, EEme isn’t the first energy disaggregation technology vendor to use this resource as a test bed. “We have done projects like this for several companies, including EEme,” Bert Haskell, Pecan Street’s CTO, told me in an interview this week. “It’s just the first to publicly release its results.” Haskell declined to name the other companies that have used Pecan Street’s enormous residential energy database to test their disaggregation technologies. But he did say that they include at least three Fortune 100 companies — and while he didn’t mention it, Intel publicly announced in 2012 that it was testing its disaggregation tech at Pecan Street. Pecan Street has been releasing some of its own results on this front, like its Sol app, which monitors time-stamped energy data from solar PV-equipped homes to catch problems with their solar generation ranging from dirty panels to faulty electronics. It’s also making its data available to universities and researchers through its WikiEnergy platform. EEme wants to bring its own disaggregation technology into play as a behind-the-scenes addition to other partners, rather than as its own energy portal, Hosgor said. So far it’s piloted with one California utility and another in Texas — while he wouldn’t name either, it’s likely that Austin Energy is the Texas partner — as well as at a U.S. military base. But it’s looking for partners outside the utility space as well, he said. “We want to be the go-to analytics company in the DSM [demand-side management] market, for everybody to make more targeted and intelligent decisions,” he said. The company has received funding from Carnegie Mellon’s technology transfer center, and “we’re currently raising capital to expand our team and operations.” Pecan Street’s Haskell noted that large-scale industrial and commercial power users have been using energy data for diagnostic and analysis uses for years. “The kind of work we’re doing is really focused at lowering the hurdle for people to utilize this capability to the point where a mobile app can use this data to save you money in your house, without you having to do much of anything,” he said. “We would love to facilitate that process,” he said. “I think the industry does need a set of benchmarks — not a single figure of merit, because there are different classifications of problems. We certainly have the data to facilitate a lot of those, particularly when they’re related to residential systems.”

Hull structure surveys, as well as corresponding visual inspections, measurements and tests, are frequent tasks carried out by the UXO Marine team. We check the technical condition of the hulls, analyze the thickness of the outer hull plating to finally assess whether the vessel meets the safety requirements in terms of construction, maneuverability or water protection. If structural damage or corrosion is identified, we determine the scope of repair. After the technical inspection of the hull, UXO Marine prepares documentation and a report of the performed activities, as well as a sketch of repairs, if any. SHIP HULL CLEANING Cleaning of ship hull, removal of external coating, repair and maintenance of its surface are among the compulsory activities included in the calendar of ship owners and shipyards. Cleanliness of the ship’s hull not only translates into efficiency, reduced operating costs and lower fuel consumption, but also has a real impact on the marine environment by reducing the phenomenon of biofouling – the overgrowth of those parts of the ship (and the transfer of aquatic invasive species) that come into direct contact with water. Cleaning of ship hulls prolongs the life of the vessel. As we have seen more than once. Old coatings of paint, covering the surface of the hull, peel and crack. Therefore surface treatment is necessary, but at the same time it generates a lot of hazardous waste (removal of old paint layers and impurities). Uxo Marine carries out regular refurbishment work on contract, cleaning ship hulls so they can be covered with new paint or antifouling coating. extension of vessel life reduction of biofouling reduction of operating costs real impact on the marine environment The technical performance of all propulsion components of a vessel translates directly into safety on the water. UXO Marine performs periodic inspections of propellers (affecting the speed and direction of movement of the vessel), confirming them with appropriate documents. UNDERWATER CUTTING AND WELDING Underwater cutting and welding works are carried out with welding equipment always in accordance with the procedures and the highest safety rules.

Education must critically engage inherited stories of separation and domination, and at the same time responsibly recollect a deeper human inheritance: stories of interrelationship, belonging, dignity and respect. We believe this orientation supports the conditions for much-needed systems change. Please see our page on Relational Education for more context. These four areas are the foundation of all of our programs — whether for youth, teens, or adults — though the specific curriculum we create and use is always tailored to the age, the group, and ideally, the moment itself. Click the feathers above to go directly to a specific section, or feel free to scroll through them all. How well do we know the earth — its cycles and rhythms? How keenly do we perceive seasonal shifts, especially the subtle changes? What relationships do we have with more-than-human beings — the birds, the herbs, the berries, the winds, and other elemental forces that shape a place? Intimacy is a closeness born of time, attention, humility, care, familiarity… Through our earth intimacy practices, we strive for a felt sense of interrelationship with the living planet all around us. These practices encourage a type of closeness through which knowing and caring deeply for another reinforces knowing and caring deeply for oneself. Earth intimacy works to heal the wounds of separation, helping us to remember that we are a part of this earth, not apart from it. Over time, Earth Intimacy challenges and upends whatever investments we might have in notions of human supremacy: the belief that humans rightfully have dominion over all other life. Instead, we nurture an embodied understanding that we are no better and no worse than other life — only different, with unique contributions to make. What sort of world would emerge if our identities, day-to-day choices, and systemic designs reflected this belief? CORE PRACTICES INCLUDE earth living skills — fire, water, shelter, food food, medicine, fiber, vessels “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” -Fannie Lou Hamer At Weaving Earth, we approach our work with a belief that Earth Intimacy is accompanied by a responsibility to understand the history of the land and how that history shapes the present. The nation called the United States is not and never has been a land of equal opportunity. We live in a society that is rooted in colonization, white supremacy, cis-heteropatriarchy, and many other forms of dominance. The “land of the free” has never been free for those who are targets of these systems. Co-liberation is the active, dynamic process through which we achieve and maintain freedom. As articulated in Fannie Lou Hamer’s words, it recognizes the interdependence of all peoples and all freedom struggles and centers the truth that liberation is interconnected — thus “co-liberation”. It is propelled by the understanding that every person has distinct work to do on behalf of the whole, based on how protected they are within the social hierarchy they live in. Those who are more protected have a responsibility to get involved, to act, and to follow the leadership and wisdom of those who are less protected. Why would a protected person take action? Because co-liberation asserts that liberation is essential and beneficial to the oppressor, too. A co-liberated system (community, society, or world e.g.) is the goal of co-liberation work. Like a healthy ecosystem, this system is not homogenous. It is diverse, differentiated, and interdependent! For co-liberation to exist, individuals must recognize and embrace the responsibilities they have to each other and must also embrace accountability for staying true to those responsibilities. The priority is the power and resilience of the system as a whole, not the power of any individual node or subset of nodes. Systems of dominance are not new or unique to the United States. As we work to disorganize the way that they are manifest here, we are also asking broader questions: Are human beings capable of living in communities and societies that are beyond dominance? If so, what values and cultural mechanisms would be in place to support their flourishing? CORE PRACTICES INCLUDE naming & honoring critical analysis of bias, & systemic oppression Co-Liberation requires the participation of individual bodies within collective action. Every individual body is a complex system — a dynamic network of relationships between cells, organs, bones, tissues, muscles, senses, and memories. Home begins in the body. The body is the point of origin through which we all navigate the world, and the variety of physical experiences we each have are an ever-present influence on our lives. Our bodies are the earth in human form. Our bodies are also deeply mysterious! They don’t come with operating manuals, and despite the inevitable intimacy of these physical forms, some of us may feel like strangers within ourselves at times — perhaps even most of the time. Embodiment practices are an invitation to inhabit ourselves more fully by learning how our systems adapt, communicate, and respond to the world around us. The experience we gain by doing so helps us to make body-based decisions and build capacity to face the hardships of the human experience. When skills, practices, ideas, and feelings become embodied, we imagine they are rooted deeply, like perennial grasses, who send taproots dozens of feet into the body of the earth. We study how to regulate our nervous systems; how to track patterns of behavior and thought; how to listen for and receive what we need in any given moment, and also for what may be moving through us. We believe that attuning to our bodies and coming to know their intelligence also helps us to offer more space, presence, and resilience to the body beyond — our communities. Our bodies are always in relationship to the world around us. We return time and again to orienting questions that help us to locate and understand our bodies within this web of relationships: Where is my body making contact with the earth? How is my body impacting and/or being impacted in different spaces I move through? Ultimately, through a somatic orientation, we locate ourselves as deeply embedded, precious, and critical bodies of the Earth within the larger web of life. Transformations large and small can occur when we take our prayers and live them through action. We define “prayerful” as filled with reverence, humility, and appreciation for the bigger story — known and unknown. Prayerful action affirms that the changes we seek necessitate our participation through sustained, daily work, which includes rest and play! This “work” is sourced from our connection to creativity, which is the wellspring of the imagination. When we open a channel for imagination to move through us, unhindered, emergent solutions and innovations are born. This is key to solving today’s problems with different frameworks than the ones that generated them. This is, of course, easier said than done. It is far too easy (and often tempting) to feel that the world is broken beyond repair. Thus, prayerful action also invites us to befriend our joy and gratitude as an act of resistance against fatalism and the life-negating systems that are prevalent right now. Joy and gratitude are an act of presence and aliveness that helps us to recognize that the world is recreating itself in each moment. Our participation can have unimaginably powerful impacts. Finally, prayerful action is the synthesis of our educational pillars — Earth Intimacy, Co-Liberation, and Embodiment — into a type of leadership that is best described as service. Today’s world requires service-oriented leadership that is born out of the maturation of the human spirit. This leadership must be guided by an understanding of the inherent connections we have to communities and systems that go far beyond ourselves. It is enhanced by creative collaboration, deeply aware of historical and present-day patterns of oppression, and considerate of the health and well-being of many generations to come. Community resilience emerges when leadership is sourced out of respect for the whole.