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Colleen Pillus
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Colleen Pillus
Poughkeepsie… Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro and New York State Senator Stephen Saland announced $100,000 in funding secured by Senator Saland from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice for Dutchess County to expand the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program. The funding will enable Dutchess County's Office of Probation and Community Corrections to integrate researched-based family strengthening and summer components into the GREAT program through a collaboration with the Catherine Street Community Center in the City of Poughkeepsie.
The GREAT Program is a federal program designed to prevent youth crime, violence and gang involvement while developing a positive relationship with law enforcement, families and young people through collaboration with other community-based prevention programs to create safer communities.
Senator Saland said, "Dutchess County has seen positive outcomes from its successful GREAT program. I am very pleased to provide additional funding to enhance this program that will enable the County to integrate the community-based programming at Catharine Street Community Center and offer a unique approach to combating gang involvement among our youth and keep our communities safer."
County Executive Molinaro said, "The work of our dedicated probation officers with the GREAT program has made Dutchess County a leader in New York State for anti-gang initiatives. We are grateful to Senator Saland for recognizing the value of this program and assisting us with the necessary funding to be able to take the program to the next level of success."
The GREAT program can be offered in multiple components: middle school curriculum, elementary school curriculum, a family strengthening program, and a summer program. Dutchess County Probation and Community Corrections currently offers the middle school curriculum in a partnership with Poughkeepsie Middle School. The $100,000 funding secured by Senator Saland will allow the department to add family strengthening and summer program components into the Catharine Street Community Center's (CSCC) after-school and summer enrichment programs.
Catherine Street Community Center Executive Director Shirley Adams said, "By weaving the GREAT program into our after-school and summer enrichment programs, we can focus on positive pro-social activities that include a strong family component. Parental involvement is essential to successful youth development and it is important to keep the whole family working together to prevent participation in gang activity."
The GREAT Families component is a research-based family strengthening program designed to strengthen communities by engaging parents and youth in an effort to facilitate better communication and enhance family decision-making skills. Engaging parents is considered a critical element in the program. The GREAT Families curriculum covers a wide range of issues facing today's families. Approximately 10 families will participate in six week cycles. During the six weeks, there will be multiple sessions, each designed to encourage positive behaviors and interactions as well as promote healthy family development. Session topics include:
The GREAT Summer Component offers youth an opportunity to enhance their social skills, giving them an alternative to gang involvement by providing them with positive activities. Sports, educational and recreational as well as community service projects will be featured. The goal is to provide students with positive activities to fill their free hours over the summer months and increase their opportunities for social, cognitive and interpersonal growth.
Dutchess County Probation and Community Corrections Director Mary Ellen Still said, "We are very pleased to be able to add the Family and the Summer component to our GREAT program in such a conducive setting as the Catharine Street Community Center. The probation officers who teach the GREAT curriculum develop long lasting relationships with participants. The partnership is already off to an excellent start with kids getting a chance to visit a local firehouse and meet the K-9 unit of the Dutchess County Sheriff Office."
The Dutchess County Office of Probation and Community Corrections has offered the GREAT program curriculum in the Poughkeepsie Middle School since 2006, when Dutchess County Probation Officer Norm Roush became the first probation officer in the Northeast United States to be certified as an instructor of GREAT by the U.S. Department of Justice. Dutchess County is the only county in New York State to offer the GREAT curriculum through Probation and today has three probation officers certified as GREAT instructors.
"Gang activity is a concern in Dutchess County, and we want to deter our youth from joining gangs by providing pro-social activities and promoting positive and supportive relationships between youth and law enforcement," said Probation and Community Corrections Director Mary Ellen Still. The City of Poughkeepsie Police Department serves as lead agency for the Operation Impact, a state initiated and funded effort to reduce crime, including gang related crime, in targeted jurisdictions in 17 counties outside of New York City. The Office of Probation is a member of Operation Impact. "We have seen the successful outcomes of focused law enforcement agencies partnerships with Operation Impact. When criminal justice agencies then partner with community agencies demonstrating positive relationships, we can diminish the attractiveness of gangs for young people."


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Are You Fruitful?
April 8, 2013
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Galatians 5:22-25
So many times we beg God to give us more patience, more joy, more peace, or more love for the lost. As children of God the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, therefore His fruit is inside of us.
We have to think of God as an eternal God…who has no beginning and He has no end. God sees us from an eternal perspective and therefore we have a new past, present, and future. Everything we beg God for He has already given to us to live a godly life right here on this earth. We just need to believe and walk in light of what He has already given to us and stop begging Him for what we already have.
Self must be crucified. You must realize it is, "Not I but Christ." As we walk under the power and control of the Holy Spirit, we are being led by the Spirit, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit will come through our life.
For more resources from Above & Beyond Fellowship, visit www.above.org.


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Hospitals are getting into the generic drug business.
For years, health systems have been on the hook for skyrocketing drug prices for injections or drugs delivered through IV solutions. And as of Thursday, there were 148 drugs currently facing shortages, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.
Those shortages include everything from bags of saline solution to common antibiotics. It's something Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, and Catholic health systems Ascension, SSM Health, and Trinity Health, along with the Department of Veterans Affairs health administration (a group that in total represents 450 hospitals) want to fix by creating a nonprofit generic drug company.
"The new initiative will result in lower costs and more predictable supplies of essential generic medicines, helping ensure that patients and their needs come first in the generic drug marketplace," the health systems said in a news release.
To pull this off, the health systems will need to create a company that's an FDA-approved manufacturer of certain generic medications that will either make the drugs itself or contract with other manufacturers to make the generic drugs.
Once the generic drugs are made, the health systems that are part of this group will need to purchase the medications to use in their hospitals, which could give the health systems a lot of power over the generic drug industry.
"If they all agree to buy enough to sustain this effort, you will have a huge threat to people that are trying to manipulate the generic drug market. They will want to think twice," Dr. Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine at Duke University told The New York Times.
Why hospitals are facing drug shortages and price hikes
There are a number of explanations for generic drug shortages. Most are related to manufacturing problems. In the cases of saline, Baxter's facilities in Puerto Rico were hit by the hurricanes, adding to existing shortages.
In other cases, some of the companies which make large portions of the drug simply stop making it, or a drug is only being produced by a single manufacturer.
And therein lies the problem: There simply are not enough companies making the drug to keep up with demand.
It's all part of a consolidation of the manufacturers who produce generic drugs.
US generic companies have had a harder time turning a profit on generic drugs while competing with companies outside the US that are able to make the same drugs at a cheaper cost. That's caused manufacturers to home in on certain generic drugs and discontinue others that don't make as much money.
If a generic manufacturer has a shortage, there's no easy fix — you can't just pass off the job to another company while the first fixes its problems, since getting approval to take on a new drug can take years. It also creates situations in which only one or two companies produce a certain drug, making it vulnerable to price increases.
This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Read more at Business Insider:
* Amazon reveals the 20 cities that could be the home of its next headquarters
* Here's how your tax bracket will change in 2018
* Inside the swanky private club where Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, and Justin Timberlake go to ski
* Just 9 of the world's richest men have more combined wealth than the poorest 4 billion people


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Last updated: July 03, 2013
NHGRI finds \"off\" switch that underlies rare genetic disease affecting boys
NHGRI finds "off" switch that underlies rare genetic disease affecting boys
By Steve Benowitz
Special to NHGRI
A rare, genetic disease found only in boys is helping researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) unlock secrets about how the body fends off infection. Studying a mouse model of an inherited disease called X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome (XLP), they have discovered new details explaining how a missing protein can disrupt communication between two important types of white blood cells, T and B cells, which play key roles in immunity.
The findings also help explain why in some patients with XLP, miscommunication between T and B cells can be deadly, turning it into an often fatal immune disorder triggered by infection with an otherwise non-lethal, common virus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The findings, Positive and Negative Signaling through SLAM Receptors Regulate Synapse Organization and Thresholds of Cytolysis, were reported in the June 7 online version of the journal Immunity.
XLP affects about one in a million boys. About half of these children experience a severe immune response to infection with EBV, resulting in symptoms that can include fever, hepatitis, an enlarged spleen, abnormally low numbers of antibodies, and, in some cases, lymphoma and other blood disorders. EBV infects B cells, and normally, the body clears such infections, but individuals with XLP are unable to kill these EBV-infected cells.
"It wasn't clear why all of these patients were dying from Epstein-Barr virus, and now we have a much better idea," said Pamela Schwartzberg, M.D., Ph.D., senior author and a senior investigator in NHGRI's Genetic Disease Research Branch (GDRB). The paper's other authors included Roseanne F. Zhao, Jennifer Cannons and Mala Dutta, also with GDRB, and Gillian M. Griffiths with the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research in the U.K. "These results teach us a whole new way of looking at how T cells and B cells interact and provide insights into how T cells regulate B cell function. This gives us a better understanding into not only the pathophysiology of the disease, but also into the basic mechanism of how we get long-term antibody immunity."
T cells come in two flavors - the virus-killing version, called cytotoxic or "killer" T cells, and helper T cells, which aid in a variety of cellular functions. For example, B cells produce antibodies against infection with aid from helper T cells. Killer T cells, on the other hand, are responsible for recognizing and killing virally-infected cells. Normally, T cells kill off the EBV-infected B cells and patients recover from infection.
The system breaks down in XLP due to the mutation of a gene that prevents individuals from making a protein called SAP. When normal, SAP regulates communication between antibody-producing B cells and T cells, which destroy foreign invaders such as viruses.
Dr. Schwartzberg and her colleagues showed that such mutations result in a complex interplay of both so-called "positive" and "negative" signals, which interrupts an even more complicated temporary marriage between T cells and B cells. They found that in the absence of SAP, another molecule steps in and shuts down the T cell-B cell connection, preventing the immune system from preventing EBV infection.
The latest findings come on the heels of Dr. Schwartzberg's earlier work in mouse models of XLP and immunity. Dr. Schwartzberg's group, in collaboration with researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, previously showed that the impaired immunity is caused by abnormal interactions between T and B cells. The SAP-deficient mice lacked structures called germinal centers. These are sites where B cells produce specific antibodies, and where so-called "memory B cells" are made for long-term immunity.
"Since the T cells couldn't stick well to B cells, and the major defect is that XLP patients can't kill EBV-infected B cells, we thought that this inability to stick together could be a major feature of the disease. The helper T cells can't help the B cells make antibodies, and the killer T cells that normally kill off infected B cells can't kill them," Dr. Schwartzberg said.
Using a combination of special microscopy to visualize cell interactions, along with detailed biochemistry, Dr. Schwartzberg's team subsequently acquired an integrated image of why these animals don't respond properly to infection. Investigators showed that the killer T cells don't react properly to signals on B cell surfaces in SAP-deficient mice. They also can't kill B cell targets, though the T cells can kill any other type of infected cells. Normally, SAP binds to a family of cell surface receptors.
More specifically, an organized structure called the "immune synapse" forms where T and B cells interact. In XLP, T cells - both helper and killer - can't interact with B cells in a stable way because they lack SAP, which is a crucial link in a series of biochemical messages. They also can't provide help to the B cells in forming antibodies or long-term immunity.
"It was thought that if you don't have SAP, you don't get positive signaling from these receptors," she says. "But we found that in the absence of SAP, it's not that these receptors don't signal, but rather, they recruit a strong negative signaling molecule, an enzyme, which actively turns off signaling." When the researchers blocked one of the receptors or the enzyme, they found that they could halt the negative signal and, in fact, allow the T cells to kill EBV-infected B cells.
Most patients with XLP have few good treatment options, beyond perhaps bone marrow transplant. While new therapies are years away, Dr. Schwartzberg is hopeful that her team's ongoing research efforts, including its most recent findings, will continue to "provide new insights to the mechanism of the disease, and open up new possibilities for therapeutic approaches."
Dr. Schwartzberg notes that in many chronic infections, such as HIV and hepatitis C virus, T cells can be characterized by a condition called "exhaustion," where they don't work properly.
"These findings raise the question of whether these same types of negative signals we see in XLP are involved in exhaustion," she says, adding these results "provide insight not only into how to approach this disease, but also how to approach many long-term viral infections where we don't have good treatments."


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What is the OPC's view on the rapture?
If you've done any reading on the "end times" you know that there are lots of opinions and lots of books! I won't write a book, however.
You may know that the doctrine of the rapture as it is popularly understood in the "Left Behind" series of novels, is actually a very recent teaching. It grew out of a particular kind of teaching about the last things (eschatology), which you have no doubt heard of, called dispensationalism. In that scheme, there are several returns of Christ to the earth. There is a return in which Christ comes back for the church and another return in which Christ comes back with the church. The "Left Behind" series pictures this with Christ returning a first time, removing all the Christians as they are "raptured" out of cars, planes, classrooms, factories, homes, etc. I remember a popular, old Christian song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" which said "Two men walking up a hill, one disappears and one's left standing still, I wish we'd all been ready". In this scheme the removal of all Christians is an evangelistic tool which God uses to frighten people into turning to Christ because they realize that they were not "ready".
If that is the idea of the rapture which you wonder if the Orthodox Presbyterian Church holds in her standards (the Westminster Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms) or with her officers (ministers, elders, and deacons), the short answer is, no. The OPC as a denomination rejected the teachings of dispensationalism nearly 75 years ago, although individual non-ordained members may hold to that. Instead the OPC looks to the Bible's very simple and straight-forward way of describing Christ's return: it is visible, personal, and glorious (Acts 1:11). The hinge or key passage is, however, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 in which the apostle Paul describes the return of Christ as the Lord descending from heaven with glory (cf. II Thess. 1:5ff) and taking all living Christians to be with himself for all eternity as there is what is called "the general resurrection". That simply means that those who have died already but had been present with the Lord, absent from their bodies, are reunited with their now-glorified resurrected bodies along with the wicked dead who are raised to dishonor and judgment (see the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapters 32 and 33). The whole church of the redeemed is thus united in glory with Christ at the end of history.
In the sense of I Thessalonians 4:16-17, yes, there is a "catching away" of believers, but it is not the "rapture" idea of popular dispensationalism. This "catching away" is the Shepherd gathering his lambs to himself. There will be no further action or return, no empty seats in planes or cars, simply an end to human history as we know it, the swallowing up of this sin-cursed world in the glory of the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. We have plenty of evangelistic tools in the gospel of God's free grace found in Jesus Christ and all the power we need for evangelism in the Holy Spirit who can sovereignly convert anyone at anytime in any way he chooses. As well-intentioned as Mr. LaHay and Mr. Jenkins may be, they have written fiction not biblical teaching. If you want to read more, a book you might find is "Christ and the Future" by Cornelius Venema.
I hope this has been helpful and I kept my promise not to write a book! Lastly, the best and only way to be "ready" is to believe the gospel and entrust your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps forever safe those who trust in him (John 6:39,54, 10:28, etc.).
"Questions and Answers" is a weekly feature of the OPC website. The answers come from individual ministers in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church expressing their own convictions and do not necessarily represent an "official" position of the Church, especially in areas where the Standards of the Church (the Scriptures and the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms) are silent.
The questions come from individuals like yourself. If you have questions about biblical and theological matters, you are invited to send them by e-mail by using the "Pose a Question" link on the OPC home page or by clicking here.
At least one new question is posted each week, so there should always be something new here for you to read. (For those people who would like to look at previous questions and answers, they will continue to be available as well.)
The purpose of the OPC website's "Questions and Answers" is to respond to biblical and theological questions. Matters of church discipline, disputes, or debates go beyond the scope of our work. We recommend that you present your concerns in these areas to the appropriate judicatory. In most cases this will be to a local pastor, elder, or session. We do not want the website to replace personal involvement in, or commitment to, the local, visible church.
While we will respond to every serious questioner, we are not bound to give a substantive answer to every question, should we deem the question to be beyond the scope of our purpose or our own ability to answer.
You will receive an answer by e-mail. Please be patient as many of our respondents are busy pastors. The response to your question may take up to two (2) weeks. Some of the questions submitted will be chosen to be posted here, along with the corresponding answers.
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Chaplains and Military Personnel


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Back by Popular Demand – Josh Rawitch
No, it's not me or this blog that's back by popular demand, though we hope you're enjoying it. It's the names on the backs of the jerseys. In case you missed it, Dodger Owner and Chairman Frank McCourt announced yesterday that he's going to put the players' last names back on the jerseys.
So picture Nomar with G-A-R-C-I-A-P-A-R-R-A across the back of this photo…or Gagne, or any of the other names of your favorite Dodgers. It won't be able to happen until 2007, as Major League Baseball has rules on the amount of lead time it needs to make these changes happen, but your opinions really do matter.
Speaking of Gagne, Eric threw a live batting practice session today and looked pretty impressive to most of the people watching. Everyone seems very optimistic that he's going to be at full strength by the time Opening Day rolls around.
There was some good reading in the L.A. Times today, as Frank McCourt sat down with national writer Tim Brown for a Q & A session that covered a number of topics. And, Tony Jackson wrote an interesting piece in the Daily News about why the Dodger clubhouse might be a little quieter this season.
And while I'm giving some love to some of our writers, take a look at Ken Gurnick's article on the Dodgers' history with non-roster pitchers. I can attest to the fact that Ken has managed to predict which non-roster pitcher will have an impact with the big league club in each of the past three years. First he called Wilson Alvarez when no one else thought he would pitch again in the big leagues. Then it was Jose Lima and last year it was Scott Erickson. He hasn't given us his pick yet this year, but I'm interested to see who Dodger fans think will wind up on the Opening Day roster.
There's nothing like a little Spring Training competition…
33 Comments
Saito and Wunsch are my picks
Having no names on the back of the jerseys, was one of the only policies I agreed with McCourt about.
Is there any policy he will stick to?
hey if anyone can answer this (probably roy smith).
Is Blake Johnson injured? I ask, because he is not listed in scout.com's list of the players who are attending the "advance minor league camp" at vero.
any info on blake johnson would be great thanks.
I also like having no names on the back of the jerseys. I think the McCourts did not listen to the silent majority.
How hard is it to figure out who's who on the field … really
Scott Erickson? An impact? If I were Ken, I probably wouldn't take credit for that call.
I personally like the jersey's the way they are. With players changing teams as easily and as often as they do, wouldn't it be smarter to leave them off?
I think that the McCorts were hugely overwhelmed after the purchase of the Dodgers and are now putting the pieces together. Now it's time to give them a break and move on. Clearly the verbal majority wanted the names back. If being silent is working for you, stick with it. I think the end of the days of McCort bashing are swiftly approaching.
So let's just home that Garciaparra and Gagne are here in 2007 to actually see this happen…
Let's just hope they can actually sew "Garciaparra" on the back of the uniform…
No, come on, the Jersey's look tight. Look Dodgers, can you see we are tying to compete and look like the Yankees! Come on Don't do it McCourt. Just focus on fixing Dodger Stadium! better yet with all that money spent might as well build a "NEW" stadium
They should keep the names off and bring back the alternate blue jersey they wore a while back that they used with the hat that had the silver bill and letters. If they bring that jersey back i buy it for sure
****! I wish one day, just one day, where me and family would enjoy a dodger game without bald gangsters with their beer in their hands shouting "Culero" and trying to beat up any giant or padre fan. (pavillions) ViVa La RAZa!! (please dont change the Jersey)
Eso nunca va pasar. Thats never going to happen.
The new jerseys are a reflection back to the traditional dodger look when we had team chemistry as opposed to the vanity of todays baseball fans. look at your records and tell me if any of our championships seasons have had names on the jerseys. i'm with u pacino.
Thanks jriz, and another thing, besides keeping the no-last name on the jersey. NO MATTER WHAT, DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT get rid of any of the minor leaguers! We all (Dodger fans) know that every year dodgers make most of the moves in the offseason, but look at who they get! Not to say they are bad player, but we need a consistent lineup! And those my Dodger friends, those minor leaguers are our future. We will have another CHAMPIONSHIP in L.A. But we are expecting something good this season.
Love the last names coming back. Great move Mr. McCourt. I wish they were never gone.
Names on the back of the jerseys, yeah that's what we need. Hey, how about changing the name on the front to oh I don't know, "The Los Angeles Dodgers who live in close proximity to Anaheim."
Now that McCourt listened to fans about names on jerseys, it's time he listened to us about having more Nancy Bea Hefley music at games!
Hazaah to McCourt for listening to us Loyal fans !
I love having the names back on the jerseys. McCourt may have made some early mistakes, but now he has brought in the people that can bring good old fashioned baseball back to L.A. Lets give him a chance and concentrate on the season ahead. Put your energy into supporting the team, not bashing the management.
I agree with Vin Scully about the names on the shirts. When there are so many new faces, it's just plain annoying not to know who the guys are.
Also: I like Nancy Bea and her organ interludes and would prefer this authentic addition to the game rather than the over-amped **** becoming more common.
Fewer sound effects, please! I'm sick up to here of the **** synthesized bugle "cavalry charge" and I mute it at home and plug my ears when I'm in Dodger Stadium.
They need to keep the names off because they are getting paid to play a game and people know who the players are. If you dont then buy a program. I believe that you are playing for the name on the front of the jersey and not the back. There are other clubs that do this and I like it. A lot of these players have bloated heads so they feel that they need to have there names on the back so people recongize who they are for the next big contract. Mr McCourt leave it the way it is!
Vin Scully is correct as usual. The names should be on the jerseys. When I go to a game or watch on TV, I want to concentrate on the game, without having to flip back and forth reading a program.
Besides, without the names they look too much like Yankees. No one in their right mind wants to look like a Yankee.
I'm all about playing for the name on the front, and was really excited when we boasted the new nameless backs last season, but it was fun while it lasted. We SHOULD bring back the names. If you don't like it, then hurry up and buy one now before they're gone!
I'd also like to add that the best jersey change our organization ever made was bringing back the Los Angeles away jersey, thanks!
I agree with gregg! Who ever want's to look like a Yankee!!
No one!!
We need the names to return!!
Also bring back the alternate jerseys and caps that we had a few years ago that were blue! Those were great!
NO LAST NAMES, McCOURT! and for those who dont know who the heck the player is, then you dont know Dodger Baseball.
I don't care for the names but I want to see the Dodgers win it all,and have a heathy team this year
Why can't McCourt admit his mistake by putting the names on this year? Is a budget problem? You goota be kidding me. Scully actually called him out on this at the press conference. If your gonna put the names on do it this year. Get it done.
The names aren't on this year because the proposal was presented to MLB too late and the deadline for changes had passed.
Frank McCourt is the worst thing to ever happen to Dodger Baseball. The names should of never been taken off the jerseys in the first place, and he needs to stop messing up Dodger Stadium it looks horrible since he became the owner…maybe he should spend money on players and not cusion seats for the stadium…i think the true fans will **** it up and sit on hard seats to see a winning team
McCourt up untill now has done few things that I agree with one was taking off the last names on the jerseys. Players should play for the name on the front not on the back. Now they should think about putting the legends back on the outfield wall.
First of all, thanks to McCourt again, our outfield walls look like the yellow pages, second of all it has nothing to do with playing for the name on the front…no baseball player does that anymore anyways, they play for the money and that is the way baseball is and will be forever, its sad but thats the way it is
Bring the Dodgers back to Brooklyn!!!
L.A. is not a city but a bunch of towns stuchk together


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Product Specifications
- Polycarbonate
- 2BA thread
- 3 x shafts with rings
- Blue Black
- Short 35mm, Inbetween 39mm, Medium 47mm (does not include thread)
Shot Darts Eagle Claw shafts are manufactured from a tough and durable polycarbonate material with a 2BA thread. The deep cut in the shaft ensures your flight can be pushed well down into the slot which means a greater contact surface. Shafts are fitted with additional ring to ensure a tight fit between flight and shaft during play and feature Eagle Claw™ icon.
Shot Darts Eagle Claw shafts are sold in sets of 3 and are available in 12 striking colours.
Measurement: Does not include thread.
Shaft lengths help to determine the way a dart performs, here's a quick guide to help you choose what's right for your throwing style.
Short Shafts tend to move the centre of gravity of the dart towards the front of the barrel, ideal if you hold the dart at the front end.
In-between shafts gives good balance to the flight of the dart and ensures that it hits the board at an optimum angle. A complimentary balance between control and stability is what makes the In-between shaft so popular among players.
Medium shafts are the most forgiving length. Slightly longer than the In-between length, these are ideal for a player that wants assistance towards achieving maximum stability of their darts.
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Procter & Gamble 3Q net income up on cost cuts
Revenue totaled $20.56 billion
Procter & Gamble's fiscal third-quarter net income rose 2 percent as it cut costs to offset sluggish sales in categories like beauty and family products.
The world's largest consumer product maker's adjusted earnings topped analysts' estimates, but revenue fell short. Investors were looking for stronger growth and shares fell slightly in morning trading.
Since CEO A.G. Lafley returned to the company in May, Procter & Gamble Co. has focused on its most profitable markets and products and on introducing new products. It sold off most of its pet care business earlier this month for $2.9 billion.
"We're operating in a slow-growth, highly competitive environment, which places even greater importance on strong innovation and productivity improvement," Lafley said in a statement.
The Cincinnati-based company's turnaround plan also includes cutting costs to save $10 billion by fiscal 2016. It said it is redesigning its supply chain in North America, including enabling more of its 35 manufacturing facilities to make more than one category of goods and bringing them closer to its customers and consumers.
For the three months ended March 31, the maker of Tide detergent and Gillette razors earned $2.61 billion, or 90 cents per share. That compares with $2.57 billion, or 88 cents per share, last year.
Excluding restructuring charges and other items, earnings were $1.04 per share. Analysts' forecast $1.02 per share, according to a FactSet survey.
Revenue totaled $20.56 billion, down slightly from last year's $20.6 billion on foreign currency fluctuations. Wall Street expected $20.68 billion.
P&G maintained guidance for a rise of 3 percent to 5 percent in full-year adjusted earnings.
Citi Investment Research analyst Wendy Nicholson said that the global marketplace is sluggish and intensely competitive, so Procter & Gamble's results are "pretty darned impressive."
The stock fell 67 cents to $79.94 in midday trading. The stock is flat for the year.


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One of the most popular Star Wars video games spawns a TV special this week, as Lego Star Wars tells a story about Yoda, C-3PO and R2D2 battling the Sith. Meanwhile, Lifetime's new J.K. Rowling biopic looks face-clawingly hideous.
Our guide to this week's TV also includes new clips from Adventure Time, Warehouse 13, Eureka, Haven, Teen Wolf and Chloe King. Also on TV this week: new Futurama, Torchwood and True Blood! Find out more below!
Disney is once again showing episodes of their My Babysitter's a Vampire series — at 7 PM tonight, there's "Three Geeks and a Demon." With more coming tomorrow night.
Cartoon Network's Monday night animation bloc returns again — starting with a new Johnny Test at 7, in which:
Johnny and Dukey missed last week's 10% off video game sale, so they travel back in time, but a malfunction causes them to go back too far, landing them in the black & white 1950's! Johnny's poodle-skirted sisters help them get back to the future... Johnny is envious that Gil gets free stuff because of his irresistibleness, so he asks the twins to increase his own popularity, and quickly learns it canbe too much of a good thing.
Then at 7:30 there's a new Amazing World of Gumball. And that is followed by a new Adventure Time!, at 8 PM. In which "Finn and Jake try their hand at a little boxing." (See a clip at left.) And then there's a new Regular Show at 8:15.
Speaking of Monday night blocs, Syfy is really hoping you'll devote your Monday evenings to Syfyification. (Is that a word? It is now.) At 8 PM, there's another new Eureka, "Reprise": "Fargo demonstrates the FTL device and Holly disappears causing a stir." That Fargo! Check out a sneak peek at left.
But there's a third option at 8 PM: Lifetime is having an original TV movie, Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story, starring "Poppy Montgomery (Without a Trace) as the author struggling to bring the beloved wizard fantasy of Harry Potter to life as a single mother on welfare and become one of the world's wealthiest women and most prolific writers." (I'm sure J.K. Rowling wasn't actually "struggling... to become one of the world's wealthiest women," back when she was on welfare.) Judging from the trailer (at left), this could be one of the most epically so-bad-it's-awesome things we've seen in ages. And here's a news story about the making of this masterpiece:
There's a new Warehouse 13 at 9 PM on Syfy, with "Trials," where Myka's return to the warehouse coincides with a case where witnesses to a crime are having their memories erased. Witness a sneak peek from the episode!
And then at 10 PM, there's the second episode of Alphas, "Cause and Effect": "Marcus escapes from Bringhamton causing Rosen to reevaluate his feelings about the government."
But if you feel like something more wolfy and less mutated, you could always check out a new Teen Wolf on MTV at 10 PM: "Derek is on the run; Stiles helps Scott face his second full moon; Jackson takes advantage of complications." Here are a couple sneak peeks.
The first season finale of My Babysitter's a Vampire airs on Disney at 7 PM. Goodness, that season flew by fast. It seems like just a few weeks ago that it started... oh, right.
At 7:30 PM, the Cartoon Network has another new Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc., "Pawn of Shadows." That's followed at 8 by a new Looney Tunes Show.
Also at 8, G4 has a new episode of G4's Proving Ground, focusing on "Gadgets from the Goonies."
And then at 9 PM, there's a new episode of The Nine Lives of Chloe King on ABC Family, "Nothing Compares 2 U," in which Chloe shaves her head and covers a Prince song. Or maybe not. Here's the actual synopsis:
Chloe is excited to go to the Rezza Capital art gala with Brian, but she is caught off guard by an overwhelming sense of danger. Then she receives a call that Amy is in trouble and leave Brian alone again, but just before that Brian reveals something that could change their relationships future.
And here are three whopping sneak peeks!
There's another new Iron Man: Armored Adventures on Nicktoons, with part 2 of "The Invincible Iron Man," "Reborn!".
When Tony is injured and his father's company is put in jeopardy, Iron Man must don his new Mark II armor and fight alongside War Machine to battle the combined forces of Blizzard, Whiplash and Mr. Fix - all three of whom have a common, mysterious boss.
And at 10 PM, there's a new episode of Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, "Can We Travel Faster Than Light?"
It's called the speed limit of the universe. Einstein blew all of our minds when he worked out the Theory of Relativity, and showed that space and time were malleable substances. He also theorized that we as humans can never travel faster than the speed of light, which leaves the stars and other galaxies almost impossibly out of our reach. But the dreams of Star Wars and Star Trek are not dead. In fact, there could be ways to travel faster than the speed of light-and some of them are already being tested in labs around the world.
At 8:30 PM, Nicktoons has a new episode of Voltron Force, "Flash Forms a Go!".
And then at 9 PM, there's a new Burn Notice on USA, "Square One."
And there's another new Futurama at 10 PM on Comedy Central, "Yo Leela Leela." Featuring Amy and Zoidberg in their strangest costumes yet (at left!). The episode is a weird tribute to Yo Gabba Gabba, and also features Bender in a fur coat and lots of bling. And there's a show called Extreme Toddler Wrestling, which pays tribute to the late Randy "Macho Man" Savage.
Also at 10 PM: another new Wilfred! on FX, probably featuring some sort of talking-dog humor.
And then at 10:30 PM, Comedy Central has a new episode of Ugly Americans, "G.I. Twayne."
At 7 PM, find out the actual reason why you own a television set and get cable and stuff. Cartoon Network is airing the first ever Lego Star Wars special, "The Padawan Menace!". Here's the official synopsis:
A routine Jedi Academy field trip is turned into a rip-roaring comic adventure in LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace. Tour guide Master Yoda leads a group of rambunctious Jedi younglings through Senate chambers when he senses a disturbance in the Force. Summoned to help save the Republic, he discovers that one of the younglings secretly boarded his ship…and has a taste for adventure! Meanwhile, C-3PO and R2-D2 are put in charge of the boisterous group and find themselves in over their heads. As the evil Sith prepare to wreak havoc, it's up to Yoda and the droids to ensure that their young charges aren't torn to bricks!
Come on... it actually sounds kind of fun.
And then at 10 PM, there's a new installment of Torchwood: Miracle Day on Starz, "Dead of Night."
Torchwood goes on the run and finds a new enemy, but as they launch a raid on PhiCorp headquarters, Jack must confront the mysterious Oswald Danes.
Also at 10 PM, Syfy has a new Haven, "Fear and Loathing." And here's a sneak peek!
BBC America is showing two Battlestar Galactica episodes, "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down" and "The Hand of God."
At 9 PM, BBC America has a new episode of the BBC's Outcasts:
When missing expeditionary Josie Hunter walks back into the settlement, she is different. Her children can't communicate with her and reports of her violent behavior circulate. Tate and Stella must find out what is behind these changes.
Disney has a new Wizards of Waverly Place at 7:30 PM, "Misfortune at the Beach."
And then there's another new True Blood on HBO at 9 PM, "Me and the Devil."
Sookie nurtures Eric; Bill gets involved personally in the necromancy crisis; Pam takes the veil; Sam becomes Tommy's accomplice; Arlene and Terry look to religion to solve their problem; Jesus and Lafayette head to Mexico to harness a shaman's power; Jason convalesces.
Also at 9 PM: another new Leverage on TNT, "The Hot Potato Job."
There's a new Falling Skies at 10 PM, "Sanctuary Part 2." In which we find out just how tonight's skin-crawling first half gets resolved.
Also at 10 PM, there's a new Breaking Bad on AMC, "Thirty-eight Snub."
And then at 11:45 PM, Cartoon Network's Adult Swim has the season finale of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, followed by a new Mongo Wrestling Alliance.
Sources: Futon Critic, MSN TV, TV Guide, and various TV studio press releases.


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First put the water in the pan, then place your eggs gently in, turn the stove to med-high to get the water boiling. Once the water is boiling set timer to 15 mins. After 15 minutes, take pan off stove and drain water into sink. Fill the pan with cold water and ice. Let sit for 10 minutes or so. Take out the eggs and peel under cold, running water. Easy!
How To Make Your Own Soda, Tidy A Room In Three Minutes, Cure A Hangover And Become A Movie Extra. Phew!
I'm a big fan of Howcast. Their website is a treasure trove of information, and you can also find their videos on popular sites like Metacafe and YouTube. Sometimes their advice is really useful, sometimes it's just plain weird, but it's always very entertaining. Howcast videos also end with a handy dandy fact; the icing on the cake so to speak.
I was recently searching their wonderful site for a how-to video on hard-boiling an egg. You may scoff, but the last few times I've done this the shell has been glued to the egg, making it impossible to remove. I figured Howcast would have a solution, but became increasingly distracted by some of the other great videos I found.
All in all, I watched about 25 videos and have selected my ten favorites for you to check out. They run the gamut, from simple recipes for laundry detergent and butter, to more complex issues like overcoming fear. All are relatively short and are well worth a watch. Some will save you time and money. Others are just an alternative way of doing things. Enjoy.
1: How To Make Your Own Soda. Cheap, quick and easy.
2: How To Make Your Own Laundry Detergent (liquid and powder).
4: How To Start A Fire With A Battery.
5: How To Hard Boil An Egg So It Peels Easily.
6: How To Overcome ANY Fear. Seriously.
7: How To Make Your Own Butter. Mmmmm.
8: How To Tidy Up In Three Minutes. Start The Timer.
9: How To Peel A Potato In Ten Seconds.
10: How To Become An Extra In A Movie.
Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.
Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Rachel Ray says (and I have used this method successfully) to put eggs in pot, bring to a boil, once you have reached boiling, turn the element off but leave the pot on the element. Cover and let sit for 10 min. She swears she gets perfect eggs every time. I personally fill the pot with ice cold water and change it once it warms up. I do this a few times, usually over a 5-10 min span, then CRACK AWAY! I rarely have trouble - trouble usually appears if the eggs are too fresh.
Yeah, really fresh eggs don't hard-boil well. I don't know why, but it happens whenever I get my eggs from the farmer's market. :)
See, I already know how to do that - I found out the hard way that you don't throw a 9 volt battery in a junk basket that contains steel wool. :) The smoke pouring out of the kitchen cabinet was my first hint. The friends that came over an hour later to watch a movie were very pleased that we have many blankets as the house had to be aired out afterwards and it was the end of October so was just a touch chilly.
Having said that, this site is fascinating. I predict that I will be glued to it for days...


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Constant Contact used to be the most popular solution for author newsletters. But is it the best? Here are 7 reasons why I prefer Mail Chimp to Constant Contact:
1. MailChimp is free(er) than Constant Contact.
Constant Contact costs a minimum of $15 a month. If you have 2000 names or less MailChimp is free. After the 2000th subscriber the prices are roughly the same.
If you are just starting your email list, you probably don't have many names. It takes many authors years to build a good-sized list. Why pay $15 a month for the first slow months when you can start using MailChimp for free?
If it takes you a year to get to 2000 addresses, you can save between $180 and $360 by using MailChimp. That's a free iPhone.
2. MailChimp integrates with Twitter.
Mail Chimp lets your readers share your newsletter with their Twitter followers with one click. Even if you don't use Twitter this can be a big platform builder. It has deep social media integration.
3. Easy to Understand Reports.
One of the key features of any email marketing platform is reporting.
- How many emails were opened in your last campaign?
- What links were clicked?
- Is your email marketing working?
While Constant Contact gives you reports you need a class in marketing to figure out how to interpret them. MailChimp on the other hand gives you a side by side comparison with both your average list performance and your industry average.
4. MailChimp has cleaner embed code.
Constant Contact allows you to embed a subscribe form in your site but the code is bad code. It sometimes breaks other parts of the design and is generally difficult to use. MailChimp, on the other hand, uses relatively clean CSS instead of invisible tables used by Constant Contact. MailChimp is still not standards-compliant but it is, at least, a step in the right direction.
MailChimp also provides a handy MailChimp WordPress Plugin to make it easy to add a subscription form to your website. Constant Contact provides a WordPress Plugin as well.
5. MailChimp is easier to use.
This is a matter of opinion, but in our tests MailChimp is easier to use. MailChimp has a monkey at the top of every page that gives tips on how to use the site. Who can compete with that? This is in addition to the video guides, email marketing guides and intuitive interface. Our clients who use Constant Contact grow to hate the interface for being difficult to use.
6. MailChimp keeps you out of the spam box.
The worst thing that can happen to your newsletter is for someone to mark it as spam. When they do that, your newsletter can get spammed for your other subscribers as well. When MailChimp sees that someone marked you as spam, it automatically unsubscribes that person from the list. Constant Contact does this as well.
What I like better about MailChimp is that they offer a One Click Unsubscribe. This means it is just as easy to unsubscribe as it is to mark the email as spam. Constant Contact, on the other hand forces you to click, type in your email address then click again to unsubscribe. This makes unsubscribing a hassle. You never want it to be easier to click spam than to unsubscribe. Subscribers marking an email as spam which is very bad for your list.
7. MailChimp plays nice with others.
Whether you are putting together an event on EventBrite, a survey on SurveyGizmo or want to see Google Analytics reports from your email surveys MailChimp will integrate with those services.
So let's say you wanted to schedule an event to speak about your book. You could create the event in EventBrite which would kick the info to MailChimp for the invitations. You could then create a speaker evaluation with SurveyGizmo and then MailChimp will do the rest.
Constant Contact does not integrate with much. It is almost like they got lazy a couple of years ago when they got dominant market share and stopped innovating. As a result they feel like a Web 1.0 company trying to compete in a Web 2.0 world.
That said, both MailChimp and Constant Contact work with Zapier which connects with over 240 services allowing you to work with services that may not be compatible out of the box.
What do you think?
- What newsletter solution do you use?
- Are you happy with it?
- What do you like/dislike about Constant Contact?
- What do you like/dislike about MailChimp?


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55:10 minutes (17.16 MB)
This is the first of two shows we've done recently that featured young high school women. On this podcast, we feature the students who have been doing a webcast, Gator Radio Network. TTT#153 features three glib teenage feminists who have begun to make their voices be heard on a group blog, "Womens Glib."
Occasionally I (Paul Allison) blink back a tear and remember the work we used to do with Lee Baber. Recently, I listened to these podcasts from two years ago:
Our SpaceCasts were filled with wild moments in search of meaning, but they were about connection and knowing other young people living in different places. This work supplemented our other work with blogs and wikis, images and text… with a warmth and humanness that I miss.
How can we re-start webcasting with students?
Matt Montagne has been working this school year with his students on the Gator Radio Experience
Broadcasting live on the Castilleja Gator Radio Network! Broadcast dates: 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month.
Matt has invited a couple of his students from the Castilleja School involved with this this broadcasting project to join us on Teachers Teaching Teachers this week.
Paul invited a couple of his students from the East-West School of International Studies and who publish on Youth Voices to meet Matt's broadcasters.
Come learn with us!!
If you've ever did webcasting or podcasting with your students (or with Lee)… please join us. Tell us your stories of success and struggle with this medium. What makes it happen? Why does it fade? How do we get it back?
Click Read more to see a transcript of a chat that was happening during the webcast.


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For Banks, Rethinking Regulatory Compliance Management
As regulatory guidance for banks becomes increasingly forceful, financial institutions are working to establish compliance frameworks that are equipped to meet more stringent standards. In the post-Dodd Frank Act regulatory environment, the assumption that guidance is just an expectation, rather than a requirement, is no longer acceptable.
Historically, regulatory guidance was delivered in the context of "should," as in, banks should do x, y or z. Recent developments make it clear that "should" is being interpreted as "shall," at least for larger organizations. "Bank leaders and boards are being challenged to come to terms with the new reality of compliance," says J.H. Caldwell, a partner at Deloitte & Touche LLP. "To remain compliant and avoid the major fines and reputational risks that come with enforcement, they will want to understand the size and shape of the compliance infrastructure that will be needed, including the people, process and technology," Mr. Caldwell adds.
Regulatory bodies—such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)—are leading the charge. They are examining banks against compliance risk management guidance, and, in some cases, bringing enforcement actions for an underlying weakness if it rises to an unsafe or unsound condition or practice, or a regulatory violation.
Finding a Baseline Though a Strategic Self-assessment
For a bank, it is critical to develop a strategy for how to assess its compliance with applicable guidance and then enhance its enterprise compliance management program. "A starting point is a strategic self-assessment of the overall compliance risk management program," says John Graetz, a principal at Deloitte & Touche LLP. "Many banking organizations have not undertaken the effort required to proactively assess their level of compliance with regulatory guidance, largely because 'knowing' hasn't been mission-critical," he adds.
An example of regulatory guidance is the Federal Reserve's SR 08-8 guidance on compliance risk management.¹ Another is the proposed regulation involving the OCC's "Heightened Expectations" that codifies its "getting to strong" expectations for banks over $50 billion in assets, effectively evolving regulatory guidance into requirements.² Many banks understand the concepts of SR 08-8 and the OCC's "getting to strong" mantra, and they have implemented compliance risk management frameworks to address them. However, many banks' execution upon these frameworks is increasingly being viewed by regulators as inadequate in meeting the heightened regulatory expectations. The shortfalls often involve establishing true independence for compliance management and decisions around the adequacy of the compliance budget and related issues, such as compensation for personnel and effective escalation of compliance issues.
Strategic self-assessments can be important tools for identifying and assessing how compliance risks are being overseen at both the line-of-business and enterprise levels. They also can help organizations identify issues and noncompliance and allow time to address them prior to internal audit and regulatory examinations. In performing a self-assessment, it is prudent to anchor regulatory guidance to business and enterprise processes, which can provide additional transparency into where requirements are being met, or not, within an organization.
The self-assessment can be used as a basis for analyzing certain aspects that are key components for a compliance program framework (see chart). With respect to these components, there appears to be emerging and common industry challenges in designing and executing effective compliance programs. These challenges underscore the focus of SR 08-8 and include:
—A firmwide approach to compliance risk management that generates meaningful compliance risk information and analysis capabilities, not just static reporting.
—Formalized and systematic processes, as well as clear responsibilities and accountabilities to support independent compliance oversight.
—Comprehensive and risk-focused compliance monitoring and testing that evaluate control effectiveness as well as compliance with laws and regulations.
—Analysis and reporting tools to facilitate effective board and senior management oversight.
Critical components of a robust regulatory risk-management program
For more details, refer to this chart.
Mapping Strategic Planning
After an organization has determined its baseline and identified any compliance program gaps, the next step is building a strategic plan. The plan should help answer such questions as:
—What does our compliance function seek to achieve?
—What is the mission and vision of compliance?
—How will compliance support core business goals?
—Is there an opportunity to drive further cost efficiency through the use of technology and tools?
It is important to keep in mind that this is a strategic plan only for compliance risk, not risk management overall. An organization may already have a strategic vision for risk management. But compliance risk is too critical to be addressed as a subset of the overall risk management plan. A compliance-specific strategic plan should be developed to align with the overall vision of the organization while diving deeper into compliance-specific development needs.
Moving to an Action Plan
Once the strategic plan has been built, detailed actions and milestones for executing the plan should be defined and documented via an in-depth action plan. "The action plan should address gaps identified during the self-assessment process, actions required for implementation of the strategic plan and any open regulatory findings pertaining to the bank's management of compliance," says Mr. Graetz.
Target dates for completion of each action should be identified. "These dates should be heavily considered and discussed prior to being documented as it is likely that the action plan will be shared with internal audit and the regulators and that the dates will be socialized, especially if there are any open regulatory findings related to any actions," he notes.
In addition, accountable executives should be aligned to each action. Demonstration of executive accountability and tone at the top is key in satisfying regulatory expectations and, more important, in cases where an organizational transformation is taking place. "It's critical that associates experience the commitment to change at the top of the house. Their willingness to play an integral part in the operationalization of the bank's strategic plan and target operating model is vital for the success of the future-state vision," Mr. Caldwell adds.
Effective execution of the action plan will typically lead to the development of, or revision to, various elements of the enterprise compliance management program. These elements may include governance and critical compliance risk management committees, global compliance policy and procedures, risk assessment process and a monitoring and testing methodology.
1. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Supervisory Letter SR 08-8. 2008. Compliance Risk Management Programs and Oversight at Large Banking Organizations with Complex Compliance Profiles. http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/srletters/2008/SR0808.htm
2. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 2014. OCC Guidelines Establishing Heightened Standards for Certain Large Insured National Bank, Insured Federal Savings Associations, and Insured Federal Branches; Integration of 12 CFP Parts 30 and 170.
Related Resources
Data Analytics to Play a Central Role in Banks' Growth Strategies
When "should" becomes "shall" — Rethinking compliance management for banks
A Financial Sector Playbook for 'Strong' Risk Management
Aligning Compliance Risk Management to Business Priorities
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How to See the iconic sights of Paris whilst working up a sweat, with a Free running tour
Running is rapidly becoming a popular past time past time amongst Parisians, with attendance rates at local running clubs on the rise. However, for the uninitiated to the confusing streets of Paris, running through the city can quickly become an exercise in getting lost.
The solution: What if you left the maps and apps behind, and take a "running tour" instead?
Running tours are popping up in major cities and centers all over the world, fast becoming a new way to experience a new city for both tourists and expats - particularly those who are fitness minded.
Running tours are nothing new to Paris; they've been operating in Paris for years. However, Paris is now home to the world's first free running tour.
We took a run with Luke at RunParis.fr to find out more.
Luke is an Paris based expat from Perth in Western Australia. As with so many other young men in the expat community, Luke has moved his life to Paris for love.
An avid runner and a writer with too much spare time on his hands, Luke decided to start his own running tour group for fun.
"When I first came to Paris I was spending my time finishing a book I'm trying to write – it's about a motorbike trip I did in Africa a few years back – anyway, I couldn't spend all my time doing that, so I started looking for something else I'd like to do here in Paris to fill up some of my free time."
"I ended up writing a list one day of 'things I'd happily do for free'. That might sound a little weird, but I was trying to find some some inspiration. It ended up being a really long list. Three ideas in particular kept jumping out at me: 'teach', 'learn history' and, of course 'run'."
"In a little flash of inspiration I saw that I could combine the three ideas into one simple idea: Running tours. From there I started to work on RunParis.fr and the free running tour idea."
"Running all over this city to try and find the ideal route, and learning about the history of all the incredible monuments and sights here in Paris; it's been fascinating. It turns out that Paris is actually ideal for a running tour. It really is. All the best sights are packed in tightly in the city centre, which makes an amazing number of things accessible in a pretty reasonable distance."
"After a lot of research and a lot of running, I think I've found the perfect route: something that is both accessible to many different levels of runners, and sees as much of the city as possible."
"We've already had a heap of runners come on the tour, and they've all raved about it. I've been thrilled with the big response. It's really nice to be doing something for other runners and also for expats new to the city, and even for the tourists. I mean, it's for everyone."
"I still can't understand why this isn't being done for free anywhere else. This is great fun, right?"
The Run Paris tour has taken us on a grand loop of Paris, taking in a surprising number of Paris's most iconic sights.
The tour kicks off underneath the statue of King Henry IV on the Pont Neuf Bridge, right in the middle of Paris.
After a lap of the Île de la Cité – taking in views of the Conciergerie (which, Luke explains, used to be used as dungeons, and even once housed Marie Antoinette) we pass by the Saint Chapelle cathedral.
After that jog for a warm-up, the tour takes a quick break to have a stretch, where else but in front of the Notre-Dame Cathedral…
Already it's clear that Luke's done his homework, with little stories and lesser known oddities about each monument. Who knew that the Notre Dame cathedral was intentionally designed to not be symmetrical?
We cross the river Seine to Rive Gauche and then into the tourist hotspot of the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter should be an easy place to get lost – in amongst the narrow streets and tall buildings - but we come out at Place Saint-Michel without any trouble.
Running past the ruins of the Roman Baths at the Musée de Cluny, we all touch Montaigne's foot at La Sorbonne for good luck, and then run up the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève (which isn't as bad as it sounds, but we do work up a bit of a sweat).
The awe inspiring Panthéon is waiting for us at the top of the hill as a reward for the effort.
Thankfully, from here the running tour heads downhill into a favourite amongst the local Parisian runners: The Luxembourg Gardens.
Luke tells us a thing or two about the Luxembourg Palace, which is now the home of the French Senate, and then takes us further into the gardens to surprise us with an unexpected sculpture of the Statue of Liberty. Luke only discovered it for himself a few weeks ago, and tells us that he's discovering new things about Paris all the time.
Coming out of the gardens, we pass the Church of Saint-Sulpice, which is, apparently, dedicated to "Saint Sulpitius the Pious", try saying that quickly three times in a row… Saint-Sulpice, with it's very different style, and the fact it's only slightly smaller than Notre Dame Cathedral, is one of the Parisian landmarks that most tourists might miss out on.
The tour winds its way through the tight network of streets in the typically Parisian sixth arrondissement – another place to easily get lost in.
We pass the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, one of the older monuments in the city, cheek by jowl with Louis Vuitton.
We somehow find our way back through the narrow streets lined with art galleries and back to the Seine, going past the Musée d'Orsay and running step by step with all of the running Parisians, down by the very popular scenic route along the banks.
We all take a drink from the free "sparkling water" water fountain installed there. The tour is full of unexpected surprises!
From Pont Alexandre III we can see great views of Les Invalides, the Petit and the Grand Palais, and, of course, the one and only Eiffel tower.
We cross the bridge over to Rive Droite and see the the Petit and the Grand Palais' up close and personal.
The Petit Palais is another monument often overlooked by tourists and expats; the public can enjoy its magnificent architecture and exhibits all year round, for free.
Inside, Luke tells us, are works of art in the league of Rembrandt and Rodin.
We hit the always busy Champs-Élysées, and get views of the Arc de Triomphe.
Thankfully, we're not running the Champs-Élysées for long, instead taking a small detour through a quieter, greener park.
At Place de la Concorde (or Place de la Revolution…), Luke takes the chance to tell us more about the French revolution (only the good bits) and the guillotine.
There's a lot going on in the Place de la Concorde, with Luke pointing out the Assemblée Nationale, La Madeleine, and explaining just how that three-thousand-year-old obelisk from an Egypt came to find itself in Paris.
We navigate our way through the traffic, under the "Roue de Paris", and into the Jardin des Tuileries, another favourite with local runners and tourists alike.
Making out way under the first Arc de Triomphe, Luke gives us an inside glimpse of the Louvre for free, with artwork and sculpture that, without being told, you wouldn't know it was here for the public for free ( without needing to wait in line for hours!).
The tour heads through the old courtyard of the Louvre and out onto the Pont des Arts - the once famous "love lock bridge".
The tour ends up back where it began, under the statue of King Henry IV at the Pont Neuf Bridge.
It's amazing to think that we've managed to see all of this in just a 10k jog in a little over an hour.
The pace was easy and accessible to runners of all levels and ages.
Luke shakes everyone's hand at the end and wishes us all the best for our stay in Paris, making sure that we all know how to find our way back home.
I'd imagine we'd all know our way around all of Paris by now!
Luke thanks us again for coming along, and then he's off jogging again!
I think we're all so used to "free" walking tours that we were waiting for "the catch", or waiting to be asked to pay "what we think the tour was worth", but there was no such spiel, money was never even mentioned; it would appear that when it's advertised that it's free, it really is genuinely free!!
The Run Paris running tours operate weekly on Wednesday morning's at 10am, meeting in the middle of Pont Neuf.
There's no need to book in advance, just bring your running shoes and show up, ready to run with the group!
If Wednesday doesn't work for you, you can book your own tour (which is still free), you'll just need to get in touch with Luke in advance.
The tours can be booked though RunParis.fr
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text: Located just 20 minutes from Seattle, Bellevue and the Sea-Tac Airport, The Golf Club at Newcastle is the perfect setting for your unforgettable event. With over 8,000 square feet of impressive indoor and outdoor event space, The Golf Club at Newcastle is perfectly suited for business meetings, charity events, golf tournaments and weddings. One call provides you with world-class amenities, spectacular 180-degree views, and unparalleled service from an experienced and knowledgeable team that can handle your every need.


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This property is a key part and the effective centerpiece of an incredible development push in the area, as it controls two corners of a proposed future interchange off of I-80 at Creamery Lane in Hoytsville. If developed, this new I-80 interchangeand the easterly portion of Creamery Lane (Approx 80% of this road frontage is part of the property) would be the newentrance into the center of Hoytsville. The property is part of a signed Village Overlay application which was officially submitted to Summit County in April 2019, and includes 28 landowners and over 1,000 acres in the Hoytsville area. The property is also being offered in up to three smaller parcel concepts down to 15 acres in size, or as a bulk sale offering of the entire 65.95 acres. Call Listing Agent for a full offering brochure and maps, or visit A5 Real Estate's website for photos, interactive maps, and a video of the property.
Courtesy of A5 Real Estate
54 - Wanship, Hoytsville, Coalville, Rockport
The information provided is for consumers' personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. All properties are subject to prior sale or withdrawal. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate, and should be independently verified.
The multiple listing information is provided by Park City Board of Realtors® from a copyrighted compilation of listings. The compilation of listings and each individual listing are © 2020 Park City Board of Realtors®, All Rights Reserved. Access to the multiple listing information through this website is made available by Summit Sotheby's International Realty as a member of the Park City Board of Realtors® multiple listing service. No other entity, including a brokerage firm or any franchisor, may be listed in place of the specific Listing Broker on the foregoing notice. Terms of Use
Listing information last updated on October 24th, 2020 at 10:13am CDT.


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Hertford Computer and Laptop Repairs
FixITvan repair computers, PC's and laptops in Hertford. Most computer and laptop problems can be repaired and the cost is probably less than you think.
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Experts on PCs, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.Read More
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text: So I walk into work today and a co-worker is watching a documentary on mountain top removal. This is a process were instead of making mine shafts and bringing out the coal, they inject toxic chemicals into the mountain, blow up the top of it and then mine the coal. This has been receiving huge criticisms for several years, but this documentary was really well done and some of the stories are horrific. I think what really hit home for me was when a man is being interviewed and he brings out his entire tray of medicine bottles that he take every day to combat the contaminated water they drink.


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We are located on Gordon Street behind CTC Accountants.
Shop 2, 44 Gordon Street Port Macquarie
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday
10am - 5.30pm
Saturday & Sunday
Open for workshops and private pARTies
Private pARTies by appointment.
~ Where Creativity Grows ~
Welcome to our relaxed and supportive creative space in Port Macquarie! We offer art classes and creative workshops for all ages and abilities. The Seed also hosts school excursions, holiday programs and private pARTies!
1 pack of Mont Marte acrylic brushes - mixed round/square.
Perfect for acrylics, gouache or watercolours
Pack contains: Round 6, 12; Flat 10,16
Delivery options
Please allow 2-3 business days for your order to be processed and 3-10 business days for delivery/post.
*Price includes GST*
The Seed Creative Workshops is a space where we hold regular artistic classes to inspire your individual creativity. It is fun, inspirational and just an all round great space where beginners to advanced kids and adults can learn a range of new creative skills in a variety of mediums. We are passionate about teaching and guiding all individuals to express themselves through art and create THEIR own masterpiece in a fun, supportive environment.
We hold private pARTies for team building, birthdays, hens, baby showers, anything you wish to celebrate!
Our School holiday program for primary kids runs every school holidays for 2 weeks and we welcome school excursions to our workshop!
"Such a great day out! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Wow! Thanks ladies! I had such a great day of relaxing, creating and laughing whilst doing your mosaic tiling class the other week! I'm looking forward to attending more of your classes! 😍😍"
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Such an amazing space for your next social event - fun for all ages and artistic abilities. Stress free planning with the ladies too which is always a plus! -
Aimee and Jen are both creative, talented and warm people. I felt at ease and welcome in the space. The Seed offers so many really cool, thought out and affordable workshops, I am looking forward to returning soon! Thanks for existing, highly recommend 💛
We are located on Gordon Street behind CTC Accountants.
Shop 2, 44 Gordon Street Port Macquarie
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday
10am - 5.30pm
Saturday & Sunday
Open for workshops and private pARTies
Private pARTies by appointment.


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Claim Tools
Secure Sites
Policies & Rules
HIPAA Health Care Claim Adjustment Reason CodesHIPAA Remittance Advice Remark Codes
On Jan. 1, 2003, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) launched a new Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). Along with the new system, OHCA included the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Transaction Set Standards.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a law that affects the entire health care industry. This legislation mandates that several of the major health care electronic data exchanges, such as electronic claims and remittance advices, be standardized into the same national format for all payers, providers and clearinghouses. All providers who submit claims electronically to Medicaid began using the HIPAA formats in mid-December 2002.
HIPAA was enacted for several purposes, including:
While the health care industry has had to address the other areas of HIPAA, the most impact, both in benefit and cost, will be the Administrative Simplification section of the law.
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The Administrative Simplification portion requires the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to adopt standards for health care electronic transactions, data elements for those transactions, unique identifiers for many of the health care stakeholders, security and electronic signatures and privacy and confidentiality rules.
In August 2000, DHHS published rules for standard health care electronic transactions in a draft addenda. At that time, the implementation deadline was October 16, 2002. In December 2001, the deadline was extended to October 16, 2003. The final addenda for the transaction standards were approved in February 2003 and required changes to the new MMIS. OHCA recommended that submitters should retest all transactions to insure compliance.
The following is a list of transactions affected by these rules:
As well as standardization of the electronic data formats, HIPAA Administrative Simplification standardizes the "codes" in the health care transactions. Proprietary or locally established codes are not acceptable under the HIPAA rules.
OHCA continually addresses the requirements of the HIPAA privacy rules. It is important for providers to look at these rules and determine how they apply to their current practices. These rules can be accessed at DHHS's website. Providers may also want to contact their provider associations and accreditation organizations to find out more about the impact of the privacy rules on their practices and/or organization.
DHHS's final rules on Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information were implemented in April, 2003. This established standards for the industry in the protection of individual privacy and confidentiality of health care information. Key elements of the rules include:
DHHS is expected to publish additional rules that will further implement the requirements of Administrative Simplification. Those rules include:
For more information on HIPAA and Administrative Simplification, please refer to the following websites:
The Oklahoma Health Care Authority collects the
personally identifiable data submitted and received in regard to applications
for services, renewals, appeals, provision of health care and processing of
claims. This data is treated as confidential and is stored securely in
accordance with applicable law and regulations. OHCA may share this personally
identifiable data with its authorized business associates, government agencies
with jurisdiction over the OHCA, or as otherwise required or permitted by
applicable law.


text:
- Get link
- Other Apps
- Get link
- Other Apps
WELCOME to the Adirondack Family Time™ guidebooks online resource
Easy, short hikes, four-season activities, swimming holes, inside games, trivia, playgrounds, ice cream and more! Discover nature, museums,horseback riding or enjoy a live performance!
Want to explore New York's Adirondack (ADK) Mountains, but aren't sure what to do? The area offers a variety of adventures for all ages and abilities including kids, parents, seniors and dog owners .


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Co-ops Rock
Why all the fuss? What's a co-op? Where'd they come from? Questions, questions … A co-op is a businesses owned by the people who use its services. It's a simple idea, really, with profound implications that serve as a refreshing change from the many sundry predatory alternatives that exist in the world. "Corporations work to meet human greed," said legendary co-op activist and leader Tom Webb. "Co-ops work to meet human need." Today's cooperatives trace their origins to England's Industrial Revolution of the mid-1800s, where working-class people in the textile milling towns of northern England labored long hours under dangerous working conditions for low pay. Plagued by unending poverty, they were forced to buy food on credit from merchants who charged high prices for goods that were poor quality and often adulterated. Sick and tired of it all, the people got together, established their own successful member-owned businesses, and developed a series of operating principles that still guide cooperatives around the world. The rest is cooperative history. Today, many things considered no-brainers—such as environmental sustainability, social justice, Fair Trade, organic food, protecting small family farms, supporting local, and more—were championed by cooperatives long before the rest of the world caught on. There are worker co-ops, bike co-ops, food co-ops, housing co-ops, electric co-ops, art co-ops. All over the world impassioned people have banded together to form cooperatives to take care of themselves and the people around them. Some believe co-operatives can save the world. Do you?
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How to Coach Employees to Maximum Achievement
This new, one-day seminar from Dale Carnegie Training gives you the skills you need to help each employee become as successful as possible, discover abilities they didn't think they had to raise the bar on performance. Even problem employees will respond positively to these performance feedback techniques.
Hva du vil lære
Keep your high achievers challenged and interested, Transform problem employees into assets, Gain cooperation with an appeal that works every time, Go that extra mile, and much more!
Hvorfor du bør lære det
This is the time when you have an employee's full attention and you can speak openly and candidly. Yet so many supervisors waste these precious moments in random conversation because they lack the skills to turn these conversations into behavior change opportunities.
Hvordan det vil hjelpe deg
As a supervisor or manager, your most productive time to motivate success is in your scheduled one-on-one's or those chance one-on-ones' that occur during the day


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ALSEA, Ore. - Paco is a miniature Sicilian donkey - one of many endearing souls guests encounter when staying overnight at Leaping Lamb Farm, in Alsea.
"Farm stays," as they're called, are popping up at a growing number of farms, ranches and vineyards in Washington and Oregon. They give city folk a chance to escape urban life, learn something about where their food comes from, and commune with barnyard animals: sheep, cows, horses, chickens, pigs - and the occasional lovable donkey.
My family's introduction to farm stays came at Leaping Lamb, a small, family business run by Scottie and Greg Jones just west of Corvallis. It spans 69 scenic acres of pasture and woodlands between the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean, an area sprinkled with family-run livestock and hazelnut farms.
The Joneses took up farming in their late 40s, about a decade ago, when a "midlife crisis" (in Scottie's words) led them from Tempe, Ariz., to the Pacific Northwest. They bought a 19th-century homestead and set about raising sheep and turkeys, but within a couple of years, it became clear that livestock alone would not keep the venture afloat.
So Scottie - who knew that farm stays were common in Europe, and had slept in barns herself on bicycle trips in England and France - decided to try her hand at the hospitality industry.
Now, tourists come to Leaping Lamb from all over the world, as far away as Hong Kong, subsidizing the farming operation.
Guests, limited to one family or group at a time, stay in a two-bedroom cottage with a view of the farmhouse, a vegetable garden, orchard and free-range chicken and turkey pen.
The Joneses built the cottage from a kit; it's modest in size but comfortable with a full kitchen and bath, TV and Wi-Fi. Upon arrival, Scottie leads a personal tour of the farm. That's when you meet Paco, the donkey; Peadiddy (a wary peacock); Dutch Boy (a vain turkey); Deedee (a friendly ewe); and a quarter horse who was purchased as Obi-Wan, but promptly renamed Tater.
"We only name the animals we aren't going to eat," Scottie points out, reminding guests that this is a farm, not a petting zoo, and the business of farms is raising food.
"If you eat meat, if you eat eggs, this is how they're produced," she says.
The tour of buildings and grounds complete, guests are free to do what they wish. That may mean pitching in on chores (literally - as hay needs to be pitched from the barn to the sheep pen). Or just sitting on the cottage porch with a good book.
Most visitors stay two or three days and choose to help out around the farm.
"People sort of self-select to come here," Scottie says. They typically want to know how a farm works - or want their kids to learn. About 80 percent of Leaping Lamb's guests come with children.
One of the first things Scottie learned about rural life was that a lot of old sayings derived from agricultural work are true: You really do have to make hay while the sun shines. The grass truly is greener on the other side of the fence. (At least the sheep, who are experts at getting around fences, think so.)
Our recent stay coincided with the onset of fall - harvest time - so there was plenty to keep us occupied. We fed sheep and fowl, collected eggs from a coop and sampled fruits of the garden and the orchard - plums, mulberries, apples, grapes and tomatoes.
We also took a long walk through dense woods surrounding the fields, spying tiny rough-skinned newts and a lazy, well-fed garter snake. We followed a trail of bleating sheep out to pasture, and crossed a burbling stream on the mossy back of a fallen tree.
After a few hours on the farm, time seemed to slow down to animal time. It was bedtime when the sky grew dark; morning when the cock crowed.
Farm stays are one offshoot of agritourism, a growing industry that has sprouted at the crossroads of agriculture and tourism.
When you shop at a farmers market, visit a pumpkin patch, pick berries at a roadside U-pick or tour a winery - that's agritourism. The industry has taken off in the past decade for a lot of reasons: Among them, a growing interest in local, organic food; a renewed admiration for self-sufficiency; and a recession-era tendency to spend tourist dollars closer to home.
But when the Joneses launched their farm stay, there was very little information available - either for farmers who wanted to offer one, or tourists who wanted to book one. So Scottie secured two U.S. Department of Agriculture grants to launch http://www.farmstayUS.com, a website that connects small farmers and ranchers nationwide who offer farm stays with travelers seeking them.
Now, if you're looking for a farm stay, you can search by location, cost, size or type (farm, ranch or vineyard). In the Northwest, the range of experiences offered is vast: From $20 tent-camping on an alpaca ranch near Granite Falls (( http://www.pacapride.com ), to deluxe accommodations in a $395-a-night estate on a vineyard near McMinnville, Ore. (( http://www.stollerfamilyestate.com )
At some, communal meals are included; at others, you cook for yourself. Some allow and encourage children; others don't. The one commonality: They're all working farms or ranches - not just B&Bs with bucolic views.
Even with farm stays helping to pay the bills, Scottie Jones says farming remains hard, physical and often solitary labor. But the rewards of sharing the lifestyle with others are great:
"We're sending people back home who are now more likely to pay farmers-market prices, because they see the amount of work it takes to get the produce to the market from the ground," she says. "We're getting people more comfortable with farming and nature."
City dwellers are sometimes disconnected from the land and the sources of their food, she observes. Occasionally, she's astonished at what some of her guests don't know: "There are some people who call a sheep a goat, or call a goose a duck."
When we arrived at Leaping Lamb, we weren't sure if Paco was a donkey or some kind of miniature mule. Now that we've looked him in his liquid brown eyes, we'll never forget him.
That's the sort of thing that happens on a farm stay. As Scottie writes on her website, "Many people might like to have a farm experience without buying the farm (literally). Just being on a farm is good for the soul."
WHERE: Leaping Lamb Farm is west of Corvallis, Ore., about a five-hour drive from Seattle. From Interstate 5, take Highways 34/20 through Corvallis and Philomath. Turn left onto 34 as you leave Philomath, heading west toward Alsea. Go about 17-plus miles. At mile marker 41, look on left for Honey Grove Road. Drive 1.7 miles up Honey Grove (a maintained dirt road). The farm is on the right.
NEARBY: Alsea, less than two miles from Leaping Lamb, has a gas station, a seasonal restaurant and an old-fashioned general store. The Oregon coast is 40 miles to the west.
COST: $150 per night for two people; $25 per night per additional guest. Breakfast makings included (you cook). Two-night minimum on weekends. Extra charge for single-night stays during the week.
MORE INFORMATION: 877-820-6132 or http://www.leapinglambfarm.com
Find a farm stay, or just learn more:
Agritourism info and resources including day trips, U-picks, tasting rooms and more:
Volunteer opportunities on organic farms:
ALSEA, Ore. - Paco is a miniature Sicilian donkey - one of many endearing souls guests encounter when staying overnight at Leaping Lamb Farm, in Alsea.