text:
Out on the Ice
Brian Burke isn't just a legend of the NHL. He's a fists-up, knock-your-teeth-out gladiator. But when his hockey-loving son came out of the closet and died soon after, he was thrust into a strange new role: advocate for gays in a macho sports culture. He's no cheerleader—he looks like he hates every minute of it—but locker-room homophobia may have finally met its match
Brian Burke is tormented by how much terror you can squeeze into ten seconds. Ten seconds in a car careening into oncoming traffic on a stretch of Indiana highway just shy of the Ohio border. Ten seconds sailing sideways through sheets of falling snow, straight at a reinforced truck. Ten seconds with the same unthinkable ending every time.
The sheriff at the other end of the phone told Burke that his son didn't suffer. The impact fractured the base of Brendan's skull and killed him instantly. In the passenger seat was his friend Mark Reedy. When the cops and paramedics arrived, Brendan's car was so mangled they couldn't tell Mark was inside. Mark was dead, too. Burke pressed the sheriff for more details. He needed to know exactly what happened, even if it added to the nightmare reel in his head.
The sheriff knew he was talking to one of the most powerful men in the National Hockey League. Burke is the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the most storied and lucrative franchise in NHL history. He's a six-foot-two beast of a man, a former minor league player renowned for his fierce temper and heavy hands in a brawl, a Harvard Law graduate and Stanley Cup winner as G.M. of the Anaheim Ducks. In the past thirty years, Burke has blistered through the ranks of NHL management, including a stint as discipline czar for commissioner Gary Bettman. "When he was working for me," Bettman recalls, "there was a picture of him in his office from when he played for the Maine Mariners, with blood all over his face and uniform. I knew this was a good, smart, tough guy with no b.s. about him."
But now the combative G.M. had taken the biggest hit of his life. Lying on the side of the road was his 21-year-old son, who had stunned the hockey world three months earlier when he'd come out as the first openly gay man closely connected to the NHL. Listening to the sheriff's voice down the line, Burke could see Brendan in the snow that was still falling, surrounded by strangers who didn't know a thing about him. He must be so cold, Burke thought, and he could see the furrow in his brow that Brendan always got when he was worried. He could see the paramedics give up and step away, and already ticking in the background were those ten seconds of knee-buckling fear.
The next morning, February 6, 2010, Larry Tanenbaum, the chairman of the Maple Leafs, chartered a plane to fly Burke from Toronto to Cincinnati, but the same snowstorm that hammered the Midwest was now grounding flights out of Pearson International. He sat at the airport for six hours watching the snowbanks build along the sides of the tarmac and the daylight drain away. Brendan had already spent one night alone, and Burke was frantic at the thought of the sun going down on his child for the second time. He told himself he wasn't being rational. Brendan was dead—what difference would it make? Finally his flight left, and he arrived in Cincinnati late in the afternoon. From there, an air ambulance took him to Dayton, Ohio, where he landed just as the light was fading. They had Brendan waiting for him in a private room at the Dayton airport. He noticed a small cut on his chin. He thought to himself, This is not the right sequence of events; things aren't supposed to happen in this order.
Within an hour Burke was in the air again, flying his son home to Bedford, Massachusetts, where Brendan's mom, Burke's ex-wife, Kerry, was waiting with their three other grown children. A few days later, at Brendan's funeral, almost a thousand people, including the entire roster of the Maple Leafs, squeezed into the St. John the Evangelist Catholic church in Canton, just outside Boston. Then, three days after the funeral, Burke led the U.S. hockey team into the Vancouver Olympics. There were offers to replace him as general manager, but Burke knew quitting wasn't part of the deal. Throughout the Olympics, from their opening 3–1 win over Switzerland to the heartbreaking overtime loss to Canada in the gold-medal game, every member of the U.S. team wore a dog tag bearing the inscription In Memory of Brendan Burke.
As he tells this terrible story, Burke is sitting in the expansive backyard of his Toronto home, which overlooks one of the city's most beautiful ravines, maneuvering his cell phone on the patio table to show which way Brendan's car was facing when it crossed the center line. His voice is a low moan as he chokes out the words and lurches his way through the details. At his feet, on the weathered deck, are wet blotches from the tears he can't slap away fast enough. "Brendan died alone in the snow," he sobs. "And it haunts me that the last ten seconds of his life were filled with terror."
Before Brendan came out to an ESPN reporter in November 2009, his dad warned him how big this story would get. Nobody affiliated with the NHL—active, retired, or dead—was out as gay, because hockey isn't like any other sport. A hockey arena is a Thunderdome where giant men on steel blades crash around in pinball machines disguised as rinks, spitting out teeth and getting sewn up on the bench. It's a game with a strict code of macho behavior that most players learn before they're old enough to drive a car.
Less than a quarter of all NHL players come up through the NCAA. The best players are drafted into junior hockey when they're 15 or 16 and play for small-town teams across Canada and the United States. They live with local families and go to high school in town, but their job is hockey. By the time they lace up for an NHL game, they know that losing teeth is not a real injury, that backing away from a fight isn't an option, and that the worst thing you can call another player, the cluster bomb you drop to let a guy know just how soft you think he is, is cocksucker.
Cocksucker is just one of the words Burke promised Brendan he'd never use again.
Brian Burke is the fourth of ten kids from an Irish Catholic family. His dad worked as a salesman for Sunbeam, and every time he got a promotion, the family moved, working their way through Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston until they finally settled in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb outside Minneapolis, when Burke was 12. Hockey is king in Minnesota, and Burke was determined to compete. "I didn't have any equipment, I didn't know how to play, but I went down to the neighborhood rink in the middle of a team practice and asked the coach if I could play. The first game I played, I could hardly stand up." By his senior year of high school, he was good enough to make the team at right wing.
A year after that, he was a walk-on for the Division I team at Providence College in Rhode Island. In his second year he earned a half scholarship, and by the following season he was getting a full ride. But he never kidded himself about his talent. He was a mediocre skater and lacked finesse with the puck. Along with this unique gift for ruthless self-appraisal, Burke possessed size, hostility, and a ferocious work ethic. He was always the first on the ice for practice and last off, while maintaining a 3.9 GPA his last three years.
When he graduated, he had two golden tickets in his hand: admission to Harvard Law School and a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers to play for one of their farm teams, the Maine Mariners. He put Harvard on hold, but after a year in minor league hockey, he took a hard look at the depth of the Flyers bench and asked his general manager for advice: "He told me, 'If you were my son, I'd tell you to go to law school.'" Burke graduated from Harvard Law in 1981 and went to work as an attorney representing NHL players. A decade later, he was G.M. of the Hartford Whalers. In his interview for the job, he told the owner, "If you hire Brian Burke to run your team, there will only be two hands on the steering wheel, and they'll both be mine." It's a warning he has issued to every potential employer who ever interviewed him. That includes his three-year stint in Anaheim (where his team brought home the Stanley Cup in 2007), the prestigious G.M. position for the Olympic team, and his current megawatt gig in Toronto.
Brendan was Burke's third child. He was born in 1988, just as Burke's career was taking off in Vancouver. Burke has six kids, four grown children with Kerry and two little girls with his second wife, Jennifer. After Burke and Kerry divorced in 1995, she moved back to Boston with the kids. Over the next decade, he spent countless hours in the air flying back east two weekends every month to see his children: "The physical wear and tear of that was tremendous, but I made it clear to my bosses in Vancouver and later Anaheim that I had committed to these two weekends. And now, especially after what happened with Brendan, I'm glad I did that."
Brendan was 16 when he told his family he was quitting hockey. He hadn't started playing sports until he was in seventh grade and was never an outstanding athlete, but he'd played for Xaverian Brothers High School, a small Catholic school outside Boston, since he was a freshman. He was six feet four and ungainly and played goalie because he could fill the net. Like his dad, he was passionate about hockey and had spent hours at NHL arenas with Burke, studying the game, meeting other general managers and the league's top players. His family was surprised when he quit but accepted his explanation that he wasn't keen on riding the bench his senior year. What they didn't know was that Brendan was sick of listening to the locker-room slurs about faggots and homos and the dreaded cocksucker. He was terrified that someone would out him to the other players, and he wanted to leave the team while his teammates were still his friends.
After high school, Brendan surprised his family again by choosing Miami University in Oord, Ohio. A state school with 16,000 students and a sprawling campus, it was a hard right turn from Xaverian Brothers and a departure from the elite private colleges his family favored. He met his best friend, Scott Wiley, his first week of school at a fireworks display in Cincinnati. That night, the two freshmen talked for hours about high school and their worries about college. "I thought, I just met this kid and I feel like I'm best friends with him," Scott says. "Knowing that I could trust him was huge for me. I just latched on and didn't let him go."
Scott came out to Brendan in the middle of their freshman year. Brendan was the first person he'd ever told, even though people had been taunting him about being gay since he was a little boy. "With Brendan you could talk about anything," Scott says. "You could talk about guys. If a boy gave you a weird look and you thought he was interested, you could immediately text Brendan." When Brendan saw Scott struggling with coming out to his family, he walked him over to student health services to set up some counseling appointments.
It was Brendan's turn to come out to Scott in their sophomore year. "I knew something was up when Brendan came into the study room and sat across from me, acting skittery. He does this fumbly thing with his hands and says 'ah' a lot in this weird, drawn-out Canadian-Boston accent when he's feeling awkward. Then he said, 'I know we've talked a lot about you being gay, and I want you to know you're not alone.' I said, 'I know.' And he said, 'No, I mean you're not alone. I'm sorry I haven't told you this before, but I'm gay, too.'"
Even though they had a special connection, an unspoken understanding almost, Scott was surprised. "Brendan was such a sports guy, a pretty masculine dude, really, until you put on some Madonna," he says. "He wasn't your typical gay guy." A running joke between them was the glossary of butch hockey phrases that Brendan taught Scott so he could play along when friends started talking about the game.
By then, Brendan had found his way back to hockey as team manager for the Miami RedHawks, one of the top-ranked hockey teams in the NCAA. All those years shadowing his dad at NHL arenas paid off. He was a standout in the job, working closely with the coaches, reviewing game film, analyzing players, and handling recruiting correspondence. By Christmas, he'd also found the courage to come out to his family. He flew home to Boston and told his mother, his sisters Katie and Molly, and his brother, Patrick.
Patrick is five years older than Brendan, a Notre Dame graduate, part-time law student, and scout for the Philadelphia Flyers. Through the phone line, his voice is eerily like his father's but with more steel behind it. Patrick always knew he'd follow his dad into hockey management. He was coming off a road trip to Rhode Island when Brendan told him he was gay: "I had a bunch of bags in the car, and I went inside to tell Brendan he had to help get the luggage out. We're walking to the car and he said, 'I have something to tell you: I'm gay.' I said, 'Are you being serious? Are we having this conversation, or are you just joking around?' He said, 'No, I'm serious.' I said, 'Well, that doesn't change anything, and I love you—now grab those bags and let's go inside.' The whole conversation was about thirty seconds long, and when I opened the door I yelled, 'Mom, you owe me twenty bucks—I told you he was gay!'"
A couple of days later, Brendan flew out to Vancouver to tell his dad and his stepmom. "I had no inkling," Burke says. "So I said, 'Are you sure?' because I know for some people there's an ambivalence about it, and he said, 'Yeah,' and I said, 'Well, that's fine with me.' But later, I did say to Jennifer that I was worried. All I want for my kids is for them to be happy. I still think that being gay in our society, there's a great burden to it, and that's not right. As I went to bed, I thought, 'I hope he has a happy life. I hope it's not marked with persecution and bias and bigotry. I hope this burden isn't too much for him.' Especially if he was going to work in hockey."
Two years after coming out to his family, Brendan Burke decided to come out to the world. He understood this would be a big deal. Patrick agreed and told Brendan he should brace himself. As a scout, Patrick had racked up a lot of hours in locker rooms listening to the kind of talk that drove his little brother out of the sport in high school: "These are farm boys from Western Canada who haven't been exposed to much. It's not like N.Y.C., where everyone has fifteen gay friends. If you told an NHL player, 'You're going to have a gay teammate,' the first thing that would pop into his mind is Richard Simmons skipping into the locker room in a leotard and then he sits on your lap. That's the stereotype most of the guys have." Like his father, Patrick worried that coming out could scuttle Brendan's chances for a career in the NHL.
Brian Burke was consumed by deeper worries: "I said, 'Look, once this comes out, you have to be real careful, Brendan. You're walking home from a bar and some football player or some other guy decides we're gonna teach this homo a lesson. I don't want you walking home alone. Just keep your head on a swivel, because there are a lot of stupid people out there.' " Burke still shudders when he remembers how in those first few days after Brendan came out publicly, he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to Matthew Shepard out in Wyoming. "That poor boy. I can't even talk about that boy. I can't even say his name."
On November 24, 2009, Brendan gave an interview to ESPN.com, and news outlets across Canada and the United States immediately picked up the story. The next day, Brendan and his dad appeared together on TSN, the Canadian equivalent of ESPN, for a special edition of their prime-time program NHL on TSN. It's one of the most popular sports shows in the country and is watched by NHL insiders on both sides of the border.
The interview ran live, between the first and second periods of the Toronto–Tampa Bay game. Brian Burke and TSN host James Duthie were in Toronto, and Brendan was in a studio in Boston. Duthie seemed nervous introducing Brendan and lingered awkwardly on the word gay, stretching it into two syllables, but nobody blinked. Brendan looked poised, with an easy smile and the same broad, handsome features as his dad. If he had any trepidation about telling hockey fans across the country that he was gay, it didn't show. Duthie hit him with his first question, which was why, when he came out to his family, did he save his dad for last? Brendan grinned, as if he knew what Duthie was thinking, and reassured him that the order was just a coincidence. In fact, a big part of the reason he was coming out to the world now was the uninching support he'd gotten from his dad all along. "I think it's important, because I've been supported so strongly by my family," he said. "There are a lot of gay athletes out there and gay people working in pro sports that deserve to know that there are safe environments where people are supportive of you regardless of your sexual orientation."
Duthie turned and asked Brian what he thought of Brendan's decision and got a vintage, unscripted Burke answer. "I'm very proud of Brendan," he said. "If I had to pick, I would have picked him to go second. Let someone else go first. It's not the message that he has, which is a wonderful one, but pioneers are often misunderstood. You don't wish this on your son. You wish that someone else carries that burden first, but this is what he wanted to do, and we support him.... It takes a lot of jam to take this step. He's obviously a fearless kid. But he's a real bright kid and a sweet kid, and I'm very proud of him."
After the interview, there were the usual nasty trolls posting on the Internet, but Brendan also received hundreds of e-mails and letters from gay athletes across North America thanking him for coming out. Clips from the interview were posted on YouTube and aired on news and sports programs in the United States and Canada. Back at Miami University, Brendan's teammates embraced him, and the hockey coach, Rico Blasi, says the news changed the tone of the locker room. Brendan let everyone know that there was one word he despised even more than cocksucker, and that was faggot. But his rapport with the players made the transition easy. "He was good about it," Blasi says. "He had a great sense of humor, and if something was questionable, he'd be the first to laugh about it or crack a joke."
Around the league, Patrick found most people were polite, at least in public: "I'm sure there were people who were surprised or had something cruel to say behind closed doors, but at the end of the day, everyone I heard from, with varying degrees of awkwardness about it, was supportive." Patrick knows having the last name Burke didn't hurt; a lot of people in the league had known Brendan since he was a little boy. But what would it be like for a fringe player, the guy who wasn't a superstar or related to a powerful NHL ecutive? "You hear tons of rumors about different guys," Patrick says. "Most statistics say one in ten people are gay. Factor in how hard it is to be a professional athlete and the fact that we [the NHL] haven't been the most welcoming group—even if it's one in thirty, you're probably talking about thirty players at least."
Despite the rock-'em-sock-'em, no-cocksuckers-allowed culture of the hockey world, Patrick is optimistic about the future: "I know there are people who would disagree with me, but I think in the next five years we're going to have a gay player come out. Everything that has happened with Brendan has really started a discussion. People in hockey are talking about it. I have to think that some of the gay players in the NHL have seen this and are thinking about it, too."
Within weeks of Brendan's death, gay and lesbian advocates were reaching out directly for some of Brian Burke's candlepower. It felt impossible to say no, but inside Burke was floundering. "It's a comfort level," he says. "Before all of this, it was just a circle that I didn't move in. I didn't have any gay friends. I still don't, technically. It's not that I don't like it, but it's new territory, a learning process. I'm 55 years old. I've spent a lifetime acquiring habits. Before I went to the Pride Parade I was thinking, 'Good Lord, I'm a tough Irish Catholic hockey player with six kids. I drive a truck, chew tobacco. I hunt. I kill things.'"
Last May, just three months after Brendan's death, Burke got an e-mail from Jack Keilty, a senior at Royal St. George's College, a private boys' school in Toronto. Back in the fall, Jack had founded the gay-straight alliance at his school. There were only two members in the alliance (three if you count the earnest female guidance counselor): Jack, who is straight, and Andrew Mok, a junior at the time and the only openly gay student at RSGC. Despite its single-digit membership, Jack was determined to push the gay-straight alliance forward before he graduated. His first idea was to get Elton John to come to the school, but when that didn't pan out, his father suggested Brian Burke. In his e-mail, Jack told Burke that he'd followed his son's story and admired his bravery. He asked Burke if he'd come to the school and talk about Brendan. Burke fired back a one-line e-mail within minutes: "You name the time and the place and I'll be there."
The school set up a video camera in the front corner of the chapel to record Burke's speech. It's a beautiful church with vaulted ceilings and stained-glass windows. Burke introduces himself with a warning: "We'll see how this goes here. I've not talked about my son, and I'll apologize in advance if this doesn't go real well for me.... My son, who passed away in February, was gay and, uh, just a great kid, a wonderful kid." Burke is tugging at his ear and his voice is cracking. "And died in a car accident, and I haven't been able to talk about it since then, and as you can see, I'm not quite ready." He's fighting back tears, and some of the boys are squirming in their seats, afraid of what's going to happen next. Burke keeps his head down until he can pull himself together. He breaks the tension by apologizing in advance to the teachers in case he drops a curse word or two.
He tells the boys that it took a lot of courage for his son to tell him he was gay: "If you look at the line of work I'm in, the macho image that I have, I'm probably the biggest proponent of hard-nosed hockey that there is on the planet." He reminds them of the Welsh professional rugby player Gareth Thomas, one of the most rugged guys in the world, who recently came out. Some of the kids are bored, and you can see it in their restless legs. He grabs their attention back with a story about bullying when he was in ninth grade. "We had a boy with a learning disability in our class, and I came out of gym class and someone had tipped his books on the floor. Then someone kicked this kid, as hard as he could, as he bent down to pick up his books. I grabbed the kid who kicked him and threw him right through the trophy case on the other side of the hall. Broke all the glass, knocked all the trophies down. I just snapped. I didn't think it was right." This is the Brian Burke everybody in the room recognizes.
Burke finishes talking, invites questions, and steps back from the podium. The room is dead quiet until Burke needles them: "Not one question in a whole room full of kids?" When a student asks if he regrets tossing that bully into the glass case, Burke doesn't hesitate. "No. I know your teachers would like me to give a better answer than that, but no.... It seemed like a really good idea at that time, and the bullying stopped."
Somewhere in the crowd of khaki pants and blue shirts is Andrew Mok. Andrew came out at the beginning of his freshman year by changing his Facebook interests to "men," but nobody noticed for months. Now he has two lives. At school he's careful to tone down his more feminine mannerisms and butch up his voice. He tries to look busy when the talk inevitably turns to sports or girlfriends. Outside of school he gets to be more flamboyant and talkative with his friends, who are mostly girls.
Andrew says he's not sure that Burke's speech will make any difference to the clowns who have been hissing things about his sexuality at him for years, but he says that he felt recognized, and that was amazing. "He told us you can be buff and masculine and all that and not be homophobic," he says. "I never would have thought that anyone like him, with his character—a butch, manly kind of person—would be advocating for me. I was really glad."
Burke still thinks he shouldn't have spoken at Andrew's school. "I wasn't ready," he says. "I'm still not ready." But people keep asking, and Burke keeps saying yes. Saint Michael's College, Canada's premier all-boys hockey high school, has asked him to speak. Last July, on a ferociously hot and sticky day, he marched in Toronto's Pride Parade. Despite the heat, Burke wore jeans and a hockey jersey with Brendan's name and the number 88 across the back. In October he attended the annual Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) dinner in New York City. And on November 3, Burke and Paul Tagliabue, the former NFL commissioner whose son, Drew, is openly gay, met in Washington, D.C., to talk about how they can work together to address homophobia in pro sports. "After my son came out, I had Hall of Fame athletes come to me and say, 'My mother is a lesbian' or 'My uncle was gay,'" says Tagliabue. "When Brendan came out, Brian had a top hockey player tell him his sister was a lesbian. Moving forward, Brian and I want to work together to try and pull some of these prominent people together through PFLAG. We can do more together than on our own. I know it makes a difference."
Still, Burke desperately wishes he didn't have to do any of this. He doesn't want to cry in front of teenage boys. He doesn't want to stare at the overflowing basket of unopened sympathy cards sitting on his desk. He doesn't want to tell Brendan's story to strangers. All he really wants to do is something he's the best at in the NHL: managing a professional hockey team and winning a fistful of games along the way.
Mostly, though, he doesn't want to believe he's the worst possible person for the job that Brendan started, but he knows it's true. He's built a career on not blowing sunshine up his own ass and pretending he's good at something he's not. He knows that everything he needs now, to carry this water for Brendan, he doesn't have. Brendan had it, the poise and natural charm, the easy passage between two worlds. Brendan was perfect for the job. Brendan went first. Now he has to go second.


text:
In an ideal world, we would never get sick and never need to see a doctor. Here in the real world – as those of us who have found our way to AF's board have learned all too well – sometimes disease strikes and PCPs refer people to specialists. It would be nice if the first specialist to whom we were referred was a good fit. When it isn't, how do we go about finding a new one?
If you are leaving one specialist in search of another, knowing why it isn't a good fit should be helpful in finding a new doctor. Maybe the travel distance is too great. Maybe you and the doctor do not have the same native language and it hinders communication. Maybe the doctor doesn't listen to you. Maybe you want to try alternative treatments and the doctor ridicules you for that. Maybe you have a strong preference for one gender. It could just be bad chemistry. Or maybe your insurance changes and you are forced to go elsewhere. Every person's criteria will be unique. The key is to figure out which factors are important to you, and do your research based on those that you think really matter.
Throwing darts at a list of doctors probably isn't the best method to use in selecting a physician. Especially if it's someone you'll need to see long-term.
First, go back to your PCP and ask if your doctor could recommend someone else.
If, for some reason, that doesn't work, or if you want to do some research on your own first, here are some things to consider.
Where is the doctor located?
Does this doctor take your insurance?
Does this doctor have privileges at your preferred hospital?
Is this doctor board-certified?
Where did the person attend medical school? Residency?
What is the lead time for new-patient or second-opinion appointments?
After that, how long does it take to get an established-patient appointment?
Does the doctor see patients, or are patients farmed out to a PA or NP?
If a patient phones with a question, how long does it take to get a response? Are calls returned the same day?
Are special tests done in-house, or referred out?
Do you like the support staff?
Does the doctor take questions by e-mail?
Since the results are more important than a party-game, it's important to do it right.
Location – How far will you have to drive? Is the doctor ten minutes away, or three hours? It might be worth driving farther for an excellent doctor.
Insurance – It makes sense to begin your search with doctors covered by your insurance plan. Visit your insurance company's website and do a search by specialty. If there is only one local specialist in your insurance network, but you don't like that doctor, then it might be worth travelling farther to find someone within your network, or it might be worth paying more money to see someone local that you really like.
Credentials – If board certification is important to you, then check the credentials of the doctor. Some perfectly competent doctors choose not to be board certified. Some doctors don't have a good enough grasp of English to be able to pass the board exam. Some doctors don't stay current with new developments within a specialty, so are unable to pass the board exam. If someone isn't board certified, I'd ask why. Credentials can be checked at the American Board of Medical Specialties website.
The American College of Rheumatology has a doctor-finder feature that allows patients to search for member physicians. Obviously, ACR's website won't do you any good if you need a different specialty, but the AMA's patient resources page includes a Medical Societies Directory.
Education – Physician training in the United States is different than in other countries. If this is a factor for you, then find out where the doctor attended medical school.
Appointment Lead Time – Will you be seen in two weeks, or not for three months? If the lead-time is lengthy, why? A doctor might be backlogged because the person is such an excellent doctor that patients feel it's worth the wait. Or maybe the office is only open two days a week. The reason for the wait is just as important as its length. If the wait is lengthy, work with your PCP on interim treatment.
MD/PA/NP – I have nothing against healthcare providers who don't have an MD after their name. A PA or NP trained by a specialist probably knows more about that specialty than an MD in a different specialty. However, there's no point in doing all your research about a particular doctor, only to learn that the doctor will not be the one to see you. If you'll actually be seen by a PA or NP, then that is who you need to vet. When phoning the doctor's office, simply ask. Some places will say, "The doctor isn't taking new patients, but the physician's assistant can see you." Other offices will say, "We don't employ NPs or PA; doctors see all the patients."
Phone Calls – The receptionist will claim that the policy is to return calls the same day (or immediately the following morning). Reality doesn't always conform to policy, though, and existing patients are who will give you the real scoop. This is one of those questions that needs to be asked of patients in the waiting room.
E-mail – If being able to email your doctor is important to you, then that's one of the criteria you need to consider. Lots of doctors won't do email because it's not billable, even though email could often be quicker than returning phone calls.
In-House Testing – If the RD wants x-rays, it's nice to walk down the hall and have results in five minutes, instead of waiting an hour at an x-ray clinic and not getting results for a day or two. Since x-rays only show damage after the fact, and MRIs are the best method of detecting inflammation, at some point rheumatologists will probably switch machines. It's a big expense, though, so I wouldn't expect anyone nearing retirement to invest the money. Does the doctor have an in-house laboratory, or will you need to go elsewhere for blood draws? Since RA meds can cause osteoporosis, does the RD have a machine to do bone density scans in-house, or will you need to go elsewhere for dexa? There's no right or wrong answer to these questions – just things to find out and consider when you're making your choice.
Support Staff – When you've had to wait while the receptionists and nurses are gossiping about how aggravating they think the last patient was (even if you agree), or the nurse's B.O. just about knocks you over at 8 in the morning, you might decide that it's time to factor support-staff into the equation.
Age – Sometimes age matters, sometimes it doesn't. You might prefer a doctor with years of experience. There are times that extensive experience is appropriate (if I need a surgeon, I don't want to be the doctor's first patient). Other times you might want a younger doctor. If you know that you will need to see a rheumatologist for the next 40-50 years, you might not want to choose a doctor who is 65 years old – unless you enjoy the vetting process and want to repeat this whole mess again soon. You can check your state's licensing board for a doctor's year of birth. Or just phone the office and ask.
Clinical Trials – Some people do not want to be a guinea pig. But if currently approved treatments aren't working for you, it can be nice to have access to experimental treatments. Double-blind studies mean than some people get placebos, and going without treatment isn't what people really want. But that's not the only type of study. At the time of this writing, there is (at least) one RA medication currently given as an infusion – but my RD is part of the trial seeing if injections will work just as well. In this trial, everyone gets treated.
Rating Sites – Three internet sites with physician ratings are vitals.com, ratemds.com, and RevolutionHealth.com. Check if you want, but take the comments with a healthy dose of skepticism. A doctor sees hundreds (thousands?) of patients. Three or four comments don't really give you an accurate picture. Visiting a few offices to talk to patients is more time-consuming than the point-and-click method, but probably worth doing.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.
Press Releases
Date: Aug. 5, 2013
Contact: Michael D'Aquino or Lindsay Williams
Phone: 404-562-2076 or 404-562-2078
U.S. Department of Labor
Wage and Hour Division
Release Number: 13-1325-ATL (202)
South Carolina's El Jimador Mexican Restaurants agrees to pay more than $74,000 in back wages following US Department of Labor investigation
Investigations conducted under multiyear initiative in local restaurant industry
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Two El Jimador Mexican Restaurants in Clemson and Westminster have agreed to pay 13 employees $74,619 in back wages following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. The establishments, owned and operated by several members of the Macias family, were in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime, minimum wage and record-keeping provisions at both locations.
The investigations were conducted under the division's multiyear enforcement initiative, focused on the restaurant industry in South Carolina, where widespread noncompliance with the FLSA's minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions has been found. Since fiscal year 2012, the division's Columbia District Office has concluded more than 130 restaurant investigations, resulting in the recovery of more than $1,580,000 in back wages for more than 1,630 workers.
"We found several low-wage, at-risk employees working off the books at both El Jimador Mexican Restaurants. Many of them worked long hours, often averaging 60 hours a week, but earned far below the minimum wage and no overtime compensation," said Michelle Garvey, director of the division's Columbia office. "These workers deserve every penny of the wages they have rightfully earned. Through the effort of our ongoing enforcement initiative, the Wage and Hour Division continues to combat widespread labor violations among South Carolina restaurants to protect workers and ensure a level playing field for law-abiding employers."
The FLSA violations found at both restaurants resulted from the employers' failure to compensate employees properly for all work hours. By reviewing payroll records and conducting employee interviews, investigators determined that tipped employees, such as servers, were made to rely primarily on tips for pay. Their wages amounted to less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Additional minimum wage violations occurred when the employers made illegal deductions from workers' pay for the cost of their uniforms. The employer failed to pay workers overtime compensation at time and one-half the employees' regular rates of pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek, as required by the FLSA. The employer also failed to maintain records of employees' work hours and wages, in violation of FLSA's record-keeping requirement.
In addition to paying the back wages owed, the restaurants agreed to maintain future compliance with the FLSA by signing a Stipulation of Compliance with the department.
The restaurant industry employs some of the country's lowest-paid workers who, due to a lack of knowledge of the law or an unwillingness to exercise their rights, are vulnerable to disparate treatment and labor violations. In addition to the initiative in South Carolina, the Wage and Hour Division has other ongoing enforcement initiatives throughout the U.S. to identify and remedy violations that are common in the restaurant industry.
The FLSA requires that covered, nonexempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and one-half their regular rates for hours worked beyond 40 per week. It also requires that employers maintain accurate time and payroll records.
Accessible and searchable information on enforcement activities by the department is available at http://ogesdw.dol.gov/search.
For more information about the FLSA and other federal labor laws, call the division's toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243) or its Columbia office at 803-765-5981. Information also is available at http://www.dol.gov/whd.
U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at (202) 693-7828 or TTY (202) 693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America's employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.


text:
Maya Christine
Maya Christine's Details
Maya Christine's Likes
I love life and people, I adore beauty and pray everyday for peace. I would like having a nice and big family, a house on the beach and an husband that loves me to the moon and back :) I am very loyal person and I like making people happy. So, I don't think it will be hard for you to conquer me and make me love you more and more :)
My Fantasies
I have a very rich imagination when it comes of fantasies! I've always dreamed about having sex on a lush beach or with a hot stranger. I have a passion for men with beard and a hot french kiss always turns me on! I love to feel your skin, and I enjoy very much beeing kissed to the top of my toe to my lips and back. I always like to try new things in bed becouse I get bored very fast. What about a hot bath with foam, some champagne, strawberies.I wanna make love with you all night long.
My Obsessions & Desires
I have many fetishes and i just like to try new things everyday. I love leather and latex, high heels, stockings and pantyhose. i love my ass to be spanked and i'd love to let you put me handcuffs ;)
Additional Info
I am a nice girl! Treat me good, and I'll definitely treat you better. I would love to meet nice and friendly peolple, I wanna keep a good vibe in my room. In open room I'll do my best to put a smile on your face. In private you'll always get what you want because I want you to live with me unforgettable moments. So don't be afraid to ask me kinky things, I'm openminded and I will also enjoy them.
Special Info
Life it's so beautiful, let's enjoy it togheter :) Share your taughts, say hello, let's talk, let's be frinds, let's be lovers, let's just be.
My Fetishes
Anal, Big Toys, Breast Play, Feet, Legs, Role Play/Costumes, Spanking, Stiletto, Stockings/Panty Hose, Teasing
My Sex Toys
Butt Plug, Feather, Giant Dildo, Handcuffs, Tickler, Vibrator, Whip
Role-Playing Scenarios
Bad Cop/Good Cop, Boss / Secretary, Cheerleader/Jock, Dirty Talk, Doctor / Nurse, Flight Attendant/Pilot, French Maid/Client, Prisoner/Guard, Service Worker/Housewife, Student/Teacher
Tip Target
I'd love to reach my next level on flirt as soon as possible! I will greatly appreciate your support and be sure that it will be rewarded as you expect. Thank you and kiss you sweet and slowly (K).
Send tip for this target
Top Contributors
My Recent ReviewsMore Reviews Post Review
My Schedule
Please change the timezone to your locale by choosing your location from the drop-down menu.


text:
Send Results to This Email:
Street Address:
Street Address:
Healthy Memphis Common Table and the League of Womens Voters hosted a public forum Monday, March 18, at the Great Hall and Conference Center in Germantown to discuss findings from the seventh Take Charge For Better Health Report released earlier this week.
The report examines the misuse of hospital emergency departments and how it impacts the quality of care and the overall cost of care for the entire community.
A panel of speakers included lead researcher for the report, Dr. Cyril Chang, professor of economics at the University of Memphis. Chang was joined by Dr. Anne Sullivan of Baptist Medical Group, Darla Belt of Baptist Memorial Hospital, Carolyn Wade of Methodist South Hospital and Betsy Freidman of Healthy Memphis Common Table. Attendees included Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy.
"My real intention is to bring attention to the delivery of health care in the community in terms of primary care," said Chang, who specializes in health care economics. "There is a distinct link between the delivery of primary care and what happens at the hospital ER."
In 2009, Tennesseans made more than 2.3 million trips to emergency departments, with Shelby County accounting for 14.4 percent of the total (340,000 visits).
More than half (52 percent) of those emergency room visits were found to be non-urgent, and 57 percent were primary-care-sensitive and potentially avoidable, according to the report.
Chang pointed out that Shelby County is doing better than the state of Tennessee as a whole but lags well behind other areas of the country.
Non-urgent visits resulted in more than $434.7 million in billed services to patients and their third-party payers in Shelby County during 2009.
The newest Take Charge report suggests a wide range of measures that patients and hospitals can do to reduce the number of emergency room visits.
Sullivan believes there is a need for more patient-centered medical homes with a network of physicians that communicate better with each other.
"Everyone should have a medical home, a place to go for continuous, comprehensive, collaborative, compassionate, cost-effective primary care," Sullivan said.
Wade would like to see more primary care physicians in certain ZIP codes around the city, including 38109 and 38116, where there are currently only a total of three primary care practices. She believes it would alleviate some of the non-urgent ER visits from those areas.
"We had 66,000 emergency department visits in 2012 and only 10 percent of those patients were admitted," Belt said. "Case management is my passion. We need to talk patients through the clinical and financial aspects of care, and help them explore options and resources available to them."
Belt agrees that creating case management programs to help patients manage chronic diseases will be a very effective way to help lessen unnecessary ER visits.
"Personal accountability when taking advantage of ER access is also a big problem here in Memphis," said Belt, a registered nurse at Baptist. One health care professional in attendance pointed out that some local patients have used ambulance transport for non-urgent care as an excuse to simply get a free ride across the city.
Friedman promotes the development of patient-centered medical practices across the city, including educating patients on appropriate emergency department visits.
"I use a style called motivational interviewing that helps evoke from patients what is important to them about their health and health care," said Friedman, who believes behavioral changes are needed for most patients to take charge of their health and health management.
She believed a policy change could be needed, since for many low-income families the fact that there is no co-pay needed for ER visits versus a $20 co-pay for primary care doctor visits can be the determining factor in visiting the hospital for a non-urgent problem.
The Take Charge report debunks the myth that only uninsured patients use hospital emergency rooms for non-urgent and primary-care sensitive problems. In fact, insured patients were responsible for nearly 80 percent of all non-urgent and primary-care-sensitive visits.
Many participants suggested some form of triage unit at the hospital to redirect patients with non-urgent conditions to primary care providers instead of the ER.
The League of Womens Voters hosts monthly forums to discuss issues that are of importance to the community. Next month's meeting will feature a forum on understanding the effect of charter schools and vouchers on public education, and it will be held April 15 at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library on Poplar Avenue.
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


text:
Special Editions
- Global
- Vaccine Education Summit
- Bitcoin Summit
- US-Arizona
- US-Tennessee
- Ernie's Favorites
- "It's Not My Debt"
- Fascist Nation's Favorites
- Surviving the Greatest Depression
- The Only Solution - Direct Action Revolution
- Western Libertarian
- S.A.F.E. - Second Amendment is For Everyone
- Freedom Summit
- Declare Your Independence
- FreedomsPhoenix Speakers Bureau
- Wallet Voting
- Harhea Phoenix
- Black Market Friday
Current News | Contents By Subject
Additional Related items you might find interesting:Related items:
Lunatic left-wing twitter users are about to go to JAIL over making "terroristic threats".
News Link • Military
Four Americans Killed After ISIS Suicide Attack Targets US Patrol in Syria
News Link • World News
A New American Leader Rises in ISIS
News Link • Courtroom and Trials
Navy's Top SEAL Chief Faces Court Martial, Possible Life in Prison For Killing ISIS Terrorist
News Link • Egypt
Egypt Goes Guns-a-Blazing:
Outrage After Swedish TV Downplays Gruesome ISIS Beheadings,
With US out of the Way Syria's Elite Tiger Forces Will Finish off ISIS
News Link • Arizona's Top News
High Profile Terrorist Arrest Made In Phoenix-No MSM Coverage!
Suspected French Christmas Market Terrorist Identified as Another "Known Wolf"
News Link • False Flag Operations
Suspected French Christmas Market Terrorist Identified as Another "Known Wolf"
Strasbourg Christmas market shooting: suspect on the run after three killed
ISIS Group's NYC New Year's Threat: 'Harvest Them with Silencers and Snipers'
News Link • Syria
Rebels Use Chemical Weapons on Government-Held Aleppo, This is not the first time!
Feature Article • TERRORISM
US/Israeli Open Secret: Supporting Terrorists
Over 60 Killed in Suicide Bombing at Major Kabul Religious Gathering
News Link • General Opinion


text:
Boosted by investment gains and lower catastrophe losses, insurer CNA (NYSE:CNA) surpassed forecasts on Monday by more than doubling third-quarter earnings.
Shares of the Chicago-based insurance holding company were inactive Monday morning as U.S. markets were shut down due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy.
Continue Reading Below
CNA said it earned $221 million, or 82 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $75 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 80 cents a share easily trumping the Street's view of 68 cents.
"We are pleased to report our third quarter results which include a much improved level of earnings and a continuation of favorable rate and retention trends in our core P&C business," CEO Thomas Motamed said in a statement.
CNA said its pretax net investment income for the third quarter surged by $207 million due to a "significant increase" in limited partnership investment results.
At the same time, catastrophe losses plunged to $18 million after taxes from $32 million in the same period a year earlier.
CNA also said its results were helped by the acquisition of the Hardy Group, which posted net earned income of $64 million.
Shares of CNA have gained 7.4% so far this year, underperforming the S&P 500 and rivals like Loews (NYSE:L).


text:
Organic Smash needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 216 designs submitted by 74 freelance designers.
Our start-up will provide products that make it easy to be green. We are called Organic Smash because we want to provide organic alternatives with innovative packaging that smashes industry norms. The word smash for us is more about breakthrough than destruction. We need a logo that helps build our brand – clever, unique and represents our company values.
Organic Smash
The founders of Organic Smash are two green moms that are leveraging their experience with raising families and marketing expertise to launch products that are healthy, green and affordable. We think the best way to get folks to be more green is to make it easy to be green.
- Include tagline: Making Green Simple
- Easily identifiable graphic (ala target)
- Simple font
- Flexible enough to work on a web site, product package and stationary
- Complicated
- Standard, Cookie Cutter
- Negativity
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
Alyce of At Home With Books hosts a meme called Saturday Snapshot; this is my first time to participate.
Awhile back, Jenners informed me that I was required by the Blogger's Handbook to post about my prom. Thought the time was right for me to share. Enjoy. I am hiding the identity of the guy we shall henceforth refer to as "Steve".
I hated prom. H.A.T.E.D. Prom. The whole concept of prom, the whole idea of prom, the whole 'gotta find a freakin' date for prom, prom crap.
Do I look like I'm enjoying myself? I wasn't.
I hated my dress. I was embarrassed that I felt I had to go. I didn't want to go. I hated that I was peer pressured into actually going to prom because I didn't have the guts to (be goth and) NOT go to prom. (not that 'goth' was around in 1983 Kansas; I was a "good girl".)
My mother made that horrid hot pink mess of a nasty dress. Keep in mind that in 1983, the Gone-With-the-Wind hoop skirts were "in".
I'm getting all worked up just writing about this.
Steve was a boy I knew from church who went to a different high school and was nice enough to go to prom with me when I asked him. I took him to a nice restaurant – he drove, I paid – and we attended PROM. It was at the school. I have no idea what the theme was.
I was home by 11 pm.
THAT was my prom.
The next time I attended a formal-dance-like event was with my husband – we were only dating then – in my 5th year of college, at a sorority formal. I never attended ANY of my sorority (or anybody else's) formals until I was an "Alum'.
My husband was my first boyfriend.
I'm still married to my first boyfriend; twenty-three years and counting.
Am I done now? Did I fulfill the Blogger's Handbook obligation, Jenners?!?


text:
|Attention: DocWiki has reached EOL and will be decommissioned January 25, 2019.
Changes related to "Internetworking Case Studies -- Using the Border Gateway Protocol for Interdomain Routing"
From DocWiki
This is a list of changes made recently to pages linked from a specified page (or to members of a specified category).Pages on your watchlist are bold.
Legend: N - new page, m - minor edit, b - bot edit.
No changes on linked pages during the given period.


text:
Maria Elena Infantino will be performing a one woman show honoring the French singer Edith Piaf, celebrating the 50th anniversary of her death. The performance will be at the Grammy Museum on the April 27th 2013, at 8pm. It will be a one night only special event with celebrities such as Doris Robertsand many more. Tickets for the show can be purchased here.
Leading entertainment reporter and bestselling author Sandro Monetti says, "It takes a great talent to do justice to Piaf's immense abilities but Maria Elena Infantino pulls it off and then some in a triumphant tribute to the French songbird. Her golden voice soars just like the Little Sparrow herself and the powerhouse performer's physicality, stagecraft and acting skill leave audiences enchanted, awestruck and hugely entertained."
Also for the 50th anniversary of Piaf, on Tuesday, June 12, 2012 there was a dedication ceremony for the Edith Piaf and Miles Davis Forever Stamp overseen by United States Postal Service Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman. The dedication ceremony was held at 11:00 a.m. EDT at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY. Grammy Award-winning composer Mike Stoller spoke about the French music legend Edith Piaf and her biggest selling single record, "L'Homme à la Moto" ("Black Denim Trousers and Motor-cycle Boots"), which he co-wrote as a member of the songwriting team of Leiber & Stoller. Bulgarian/Italian actress and singer Maria Elena Infantino performed a scene from a one-woman show titled "Edith Piaf," about Piaf's life journey. Carolyn Burke, who wrote the book, No Regrets, The Life of Edith Piaf, was an honored guest. Family members, artists, musicians and friends of jazz legend Miles Davis also attended and spoke at the historic stamp dedication ceremony on June 12th. The ceremony was open and free to the public. To learn more, please visit http://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22336/html/info_013.htm.


text:
Make the most of your of your outdoor project with Deck Mate brand exterior screws. Lifetime polymer coated and zinc plated for extra corrosion resistance. T-25 bit included in the box.
- Auger thread design aggressively cuts through material
- Star drive helps transfer torque and prevent cam outs
- T-17 pre-drill point reduces wood splitting for faster starts
- Nibs under head allow screw to countersink better for a smoother finish
- California residents see Prop 65 WARNINGS


text:
Ancient Chinese curse: may you live in interesting times. This web site is my attempt to document, from my perspective, these "interesting times".
Democracy for America has a petition
posted by Chris Andersen at 1:28 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home
"We Are What We Believe" -- Howard
Dean, Dec. 8th, 2004


text:
Incorporating Remoting http transport into MessagingRon Sigal Sep 21, 2006 3:18 AM
I'm starting this thread to discuss the integration of the JBossRemoting http transport into messaging. With some changes to Messaging code and some changes to Remoting code the test org.jboss.example.jms.http.HttpExample passes.
The Messaging changes revolve around JMSWireFormat:
1. JMSWireFormat can't expect to get passed ObjectInputStreams and ObjectOutputStreams. This has been discussed already, although I can't find the reference. I changed it to create object streams as necessary. However, when they are created, e.g.,
oos = SerializationStreamFactory.getManagerInstance("key").createOutput(out);
"key" has to be replaced by a suitable value. I assume it would be acceptable to just hard code "jboss", but the solution to problem 2) below involves passing in the server's InvokerLocator, so it's easy to do a quick check for any specific instructions about serialization. By the way, I see that in ServerPeer, the key "jms" is associated with jboss serialization, but I don't see any use of "jms" anywhere, so I commented that out. Since ServerPeer doesn't currently have access to the InvokerLocator, I also commented out the registration of a JMSWireFormat keyed on "jms".
2. JMS uses instances of SerializableMarshaller and SerializableUnMarshaller in some default cases. However, the http transport needs to use subclasses HTTPMarshaller and HTTPUnMarshaller, which means JMSWireFormat needs to know what transport is being used. An easy way to determine the transport would be to look at the InvokerLocator, but currently the InvokerLocator doesn't seem to be available everywhere it would be needed. Instances of JMSWireFormat are created in the following classes:
JMSRemotingConnection - no problem: it has the InvokerLocator
ClientConnectionFactoryDelegate - no problem: it already gets the InvokerLocator
ServerConnectionEndpoint - I changed the constructor so that ServerConnectionFactoryEndpoint can pass in the InvokerLocator
TestWireFormat - it calls the JMSWireFormat default constructor, which defaults to the socket transport and jboss serialization
It was also necessary to change the ServerConnectionFactoryEndpoint constructor to pass in the InvokerLocator, so it could pass it to ServerConnectionEndpoint.
3. A third change was necessary in JMSWireFormat, due to the way the server side http invoker (CoyoteInvoker) returns invocation results. In particular, since it doesn't know if it's talking to the client side http invoker or some other foreign client, it can't necessarily return the result wrapped in an InvocationResponse. We made some changes to the http transport so that the client side can tell the server side that it's a remoting invoker, but that involves putting a flag in the InvocationRequest. Since JMSWireFormat doesn't wrap messaging messages in an InvocationRequest, the changes don't help JMSWireFormat in general (though it solves a problem with null responses from internal Remoting requests). So, I changed the decision tree in JMSWireFormat.write() to accept arbitrary objects.
4. The http transport needs tomcat jars.


text:
Smittybuilt Sure StepPosted in How To: Body Chassis on October 1, 2011
Stepping into a modified vehicle can sometimes be a challenge. Even the step-in height on some stock vehicles can make you look as though you are performing amateur gymnastics as you lurch to get behind the wheel. Fortunately, Smittybilt has a full line of affordable step-in aids known as the Sure Steps.
These classic tubular steel step rails are an easy bolt-on product that is especially helpful for those with vertically challenged physiques. Available in either a glossy black or stainless steel finish, each Sure Step set is application-specific and doesn't require any drilling to install.
Since our '88 Ford Bronco totes coolers, kids, and camping gear to the beach, we thought the fullsize two-door was an excellent candidate for the step rails. They installed in just over an hour, and now our friends (and their kids) can venture in and out of the rig with more ease and grace.


text:
Bill Nye unveils new version of theme song for Netflix show
Bill Nye unveils new version of theme song for Netflix show
"Bill Nye the Science Guy … ."
Chances are if you loved that television show as a kid, then you imagined the iconic tune that played when the science-based show started.
This week, Bill Nye unveiled a new version of that song and it's a bit different.
Here is the original:
And, here is the updated version.
The internet reaction was positive for the most part with some saying …
"This is so dope."
"Bills back baby!!"
"Bill was the only one who made science fun! Science rules!"
"I hope one day my kids are chanting this like I chanted the original theme. Thanks for teaching me that science rules."
"Bill Nye Saves the World" will be available to stream on Netflix starting April 21.


text:
My mom texted me tonight to see if I wanted to do a charity 5k, which supports the middle school where she works, with her in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I've already got salon plans that morning, so I had to turn down her offer. However, I'm quite proud of her for doing it. I grew up in a relatively healthy household (no sodas, healthy, home-cooked meals, etc...) but, of course, there's always room for improvement. Recently, my dad's made A LOT of healthy changes; he's hitting the gym for lifting and cardio nearly every day, making healthier food choices (the other day he told me that the family was now addicted to Sabra roasted red pepper hummus -- "We eat it with raw veggies! So much better than chips and dip!") and just being overall excited about it and open to learning more. My mom's dabbled in exercise for years. A couple of times a year, she'll sign up for this or that group class (water aerobics, jazzercise, etc.) and has been practicing gentle (hatha, I think) yoga a couple of times per week for the past six months or so. When she texted me tonight, I couldn't help but think that she was slowly slipping over to "the dark side" (if you can indeed call a healthy lifestyle, erm, dark). The following text exchange made me laugh. I think I pushed her a bit too hard, too fast with the Jeff Galloway comment... [bolded text added for clarification]
SoSarahSays: You should do it with dad :)
Mom: He can't -- in Calif. [for work]
SoSarahSays: Can you do it? Is it a walk/run? Sorry I'm not available!
Mom: I have signed up.
SoSarahSays: Exciting! Your first 5k, right? We are becoming such an active fam!
Mom: Before you get excited - I'm walking.
SoSarahSays: So? I walk sometimes. You're still going the distance.
Mom: Wow. [Looking back, I feel like she meant this sarcastically. I know there are a lot of people who will argue that people who walk 26.2 aren't really "running a marathon," but you can't argue that it's not impressive to walk 26.2. Yeah, this is just a 5k, but you've got to start somewhere, right?!]
SoSarahSays: Everyone walks before they run!! Some people ALWAYS walk and run -- google Jeff Galloway and the Galloway Method [Seriously, do it. I was reading on his blog today about a woman who cut 30 minutes off her marathon time -- from 5:15 to 4:38 -- by utilizing a 30s/30s run/walk ratio. 4:38 isn't Kenyan or even Boston-qualifying, but it's not terrible for the average Joe, and certainly nothing to sneeze at. I haven't run a marathon yet, but when I do, I imagine I'd be happy for 4:38, at least for my first one!]
Mom: Barf.
SoSarahSays: Dad's come over to the dark side... You're next. Muahahaha. You've been toeing the line for years with your exercise classes.
Mom: Towing like a tow truck.
lol. :)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
2 comments:
Nice blog you got here... Just droppin' by to say hi! http://www.arts-and-entertainment.info
- May 5, 2010 at 10:10 AM
- Dot Music said...
hey buddy
nice blog. come and check mine too. it's about music reviews:
- May 7, 2010 at 12:49 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
If you're new, we ask that you introduce yourself here. It helps us get to know you, and vice versa.
Sticky Threads
Normal Threads
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.


text:
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Magnetic Button Ring Winners
6 comments:
- Pat V. said...
I can relate to the AC thing. I was visiting my brother and his family in Las Vegas when their air conditioning went out. It was over 100 degrees, of course. I was so effected by the heat that I had them drop me off at a nearby casino, where I hung out and drank cold drinks (soda & water!) til the repairman finished at their house. I survived, but their pet goldfish didn't -- the water in the fish tank heated up so much they cooked!
Hope you are enjoying a cooler day today!
- July 5, 2011 at 12:14 PM
- Jen W said...
Oh I'm so excited! The rings are
so very cute - and versatile too!
Thank you so much - I'd love the
red with black flower please.
- July 5, 2011 at 12:51 PM
- Jenibelle said...
Thank you so much for helping out with the last minute guest. He loved your house and felt very at home. Of course. (He said "Mom, remember when I was little and Kim was one of my best friends? Yep. I remember!!!)
- July 5, 2011 at 5:14 PM
- Jenibelle said...
Oh, remember when our ac went out during Lauren's wedding festivities? All those people in the house + august in Cali= misery
- July 5, 2011 at 5:16 PM
- Thimbleanna said...
Those are as good of reasons as I've ever heard Kim. Glad you're cooling down now. We moved into a new house once on July 1st -- just like you ... a long weekend and the air hadn't been turned on yet and it was HOT. So, I feel your pain! Hope you had a Happy 4th!
- July 5, 2011 at 9:20 PM
- Lynn B said...
Congrats to the winners Kim!
- July 6, 2011 at 12:28 PM


text:
KARACHI - Men and women wading through waist-deep water with infants straddling their sides; a convoy of donkey carts laden with entire families' possessions moving towards dry land; people being rescued by uniformed men in rubber boats; ailing elderly carried on rope cots; bird's-eye views of vast tracts of land submerged under water.
The televised images of such enormous devastation in Pakistan may well have been reruns from last year, but they aren't. Rather, the glaring pictures of helplessness, starvation, disease and death captured this past month mark the second straight year of floods wreaking havoc on 17 of the Sindh Province's 23 districts, leaving 11 of them completely inundated.
As water levels remain stagnant throughout much of the province, which experts say is facing worse flooding than last year, official figures estimate that eight million people have been affected and 600,000 homes totally destroyed.
The death toll has already hit 400 since the floods began in August.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the United Nations food agency, claims the rains have destroyed 73 percent of the region's crops and 67 percent of food stocks.
"I foresee growing food insecurity in Pakistan as there has been significant damage to cotton and sugarcane; vegetables and fodder have been destroyed and it will not be possible to cultivate wheat in November either," says Dr Bakshal Lashari, director of the Institute of Water Resources Engineering & Management at Mehran University in the Sindh's Jamshoro district. "The rural economy of Sindh depends on agriculture and livestock and both have been severely affected," he told IPS.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), over 94,000 heads of livestock have perished, with "many more at risk of dying if they don't get fodder and are not vaccinated against disease," said Lashari.
In the days to come, he added, this significant loss of agricultural land and livestock will impact not only the lives of those directly affected by the floods, but the whole country.
Yet the disaster has failed to move the international community or the people of Pakistan to dig deep into their pockets. The response towards the victims has been, at best, half-hearted. The United Nations effort to raise 357 million dollars has resulted in the collection of just 19 million dollars.
One possible explanation for this apathy could be the dearth of news reporting from the flood-affected areas, leading people to believe that the floods aren't as bad as last year's, which submerged a fifth of the South Asian country and directly affected 21 million people.
"People are simply not aware how bad it is as the media is not highlighting it...floods don't sell," said Faisal Kapadia, a young entrepreneur, talking to IPS. Now, he says the "trust factor" has decreased because the "mainstream media, instead of encouraging private and public philanthropic ventures, choose to focus on incidents of corruption and (mismanagement) of relief efforts in Pakistan, (even though) this takes place everywhere in the world."
Last week the private television channel DawnNews ran a four-hour telethon about the floods for two days, but Sophia Jamal, one of the programme's hosts, said the whole exercise was not only "quite painful" but futile: "People called in to chat or ask what the government was doing. I had half a mind to ask them what they were doing for their part," she told IPS.
Beyond simple indifference to the plight of flood-affected victims, experts believe that the government's mismanagement of the relief effort last year may have led some to turn their backs on the current crisis.
Speaking to IPS, Mubashir Akram, spokesperson for the UK-based charity Oxfam said experts developed an exhaustive plan for modern disaster risk reduction (DRR) steps after the 2010 floods, which the government failed to implement.
Among the nine priority areas identified by the NDMA were institutional and legal arrangements for disaster risk management (DRM), hazard and vulnerability assessment, setting up a multi-hazard early warning system, mainstreaming DRR into development, capacity development for post-disaster recovery, training, education and awareness.
"The measures would have required spending just 30 million dollars then and would have saved billions of dollars now," he said.
The NDMA has reported that the government still has 56.8 million dollars left from last year's fund, which it failed to release when people needed it most. Former NDMA chairman Nadeem Ahmed said "bureaucratic hitches" led to the non-utilisation of the funds.
Naeem Sadiq, Karachi-based businessman was among the many urbanites who "saw the destruction and helplessness of inundated millions on such a large scale" for the very first time with his own eyes. Along with a few prominent philanthropists, he formed a group that conducted flood relief and rehabilitation work until the onset of the floods this year.
He too has observed a significant waning of enthusiasm or a "tragedy burnout". "Some level of desensitisation and some fatigue, which is natural, have crept in this time," Sadiq told IPS.
"Donor fatigue is a major issue," agreed Kapadia. "People are tired of one disaster after another hitting this land. The economic conditions are very bad so people are donating less this time than last year, simply because they have less."
But not everyone is feeling the dip in enthusiasm. Businessman Salim Tabani and his like-minded friends remain are working to provide immediate relief. In 2010 they distributed rations to 150,000 people over a period of three months. "In addition we finished building 1,000 wooden homes and 30 concrete ones for those whose homes were completely destroyed last year," he said.
This year the group has collected about 20 percent of what they had gathered in 2010, primarily from the same donors. He finds "the excitement is less this year. I guess people are now used to these natural crises."


text:
Special Offers
Popular Destinations:
Use our checked baggage calculator to determine your free checked baggage allowance, and any additional fees should you exceed it.
Check in from your computer and print your boarding pass.
No printer? No problem – print it at a self-serve kiosk when you get to the airport.
Air Canada Altitude is how we show our gratitude to our most loyal frequent flying customers.


text:
My Room: Lawson
Casey threw down the (medieval) design gauntlet with this clever theme room for her son: My 4-year-old son, Lawson, fell in love with knights and castles recently and since I'm a history teacher who loves medieval topics, I was thrilled to create this "big boy" room for him.
I wanted to create something that looked authentic, but not too scary since he's only 4. I also wanted to do this relatively inexpensively. I found an idea on the IDEA Hack website I liked, but combined other ideas I had with that general concept to come up with this final product that Lawson loves and that cost a fraction of most decent ready-made castle beds.
I bought an IKEA KURA bed and with the help of my dad and his power tools, we cut out MDF to make the fascade and bolted it onto the KURA frame. My seamstress mom, who owns an embroidery business, tackled the curtain to create a fun play space underneath. IKEA moon and star lamps light up the area nicely and are easy for him to turn on and off.
I painted the shield on the wall with fun stencils I found at Hobby Lobby, found the foam eagle shield at Target and bought the UK Royal Standard flags online. My mom sewed the medieval banners and I decoupaged 2 lightswitches (using clip art on Word) to round out the details. The bed is quite large for the room and so I had difficulty taking pictures since I could only back up so far to get things into the frame...
Thanks Casey!


text:
Venture and gain
Green shoots after a long winter
By Andy Perrine ('86)
Some may think capitalism is a rough way to sort things out. In light of the last three years' economic turmoil, you may even wonder whether capitalism is the most fair and effective economic system.
Paul Holland ('82) is one guy whose feelings for capitalism are undiminished. He is the executive producer of the documentary Something Ventured, which premiered at the South by Southwest festival in March. The film's official subtitle, Risk, Reward and the Original Venture Capitalists, is an accurate yet bloodless description compared to The New York Times, which proclaimed the flick to be a "genuine love story about capitalism." Atari, Intel, Cisco Systems, Genentech and Apple are some of the companies founded on money provided by venture capitalists featured in the film. "These are very pointed stories about American companies that actually build things," Holland said in The N.Y. Times. "And while it's important to me that people who watch the film see how capitalism can be a creative force, bottom line is that these are great stories. Epics, really."
Something Ventured arrives at a pivotal time in the American economy. Holland, a venture capitalist himself and member of the JMU College of Business Executive Advisory Council, told the Times, "This film is one of the green shoots after a long winter." Emerging from a brutal season of decline and uncertainty, the American economy is growing again. Unemployment has persisted stubbornly, however, and some believe that a fundamental shift may have occurred right before our eyes.
Author Seth Godin said recently on the program Marketplace, "The guys in Detroit who did everything the foremen told them to — they're just plain out of luck. This economic recession we're living through is about two things. … the cyclical one, that's over. But the other one, the more permanent one, is about the fact that the Industrial Age is dying." Godin, who was promoting his new book, Poke the Box, went on to say, "This age that started with Henry Ford is dying on our watch. This is the industrial revolution of our time."
Labor statistics bear a message
Either the industrial age is dying, as Godin describes, or industrial jobs are simply leaving the United States for emerging economies where labor is cheaper. Whichever condition is true, the evolution from a traditional to a knowledge-based economy plays out clearly in American employment figures. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that while overall unemployment still hovers just below 9 percent this spring, for those with a bachelor's degree or higher unemployment is 4.5 percent. In fact, during the worst part of the recession, when overall unemployment exceeded 10 percent, the rate for those with college degrees never rose much past 5 percent.
In light of these labor figures and the obvious connection between education and employment, the recent trend of disinvestment in higher education among a majority of American states appears counterintuitive — especially during a recession when we ought to be searching for investments that help restore economic strength. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 43 states cut funding to higher education in recent years. Meanwhile, emerging economies overseas are busily funding higher education in hopes of matching what is viewed around the planet as American superiority in education.
Curriculum to meet changing needs
Holland's belief in the value of higher education is one of the reasons he maintains a position on the JMU College of Business Advisory Committee, which assists the college in relating its programs and curriculum to the changing needs of business and society. He leads study missions for current business students to visit JMU alumni at companies including Apple, Google and salesforce.com. And he recommends JMU's entrepreneurship and sustainability programs as areas where the university has become an early leader in providing cutting-edge opportunities for students.
As seismic scale forces continue to shape our American society and economy, preparing for what lies ahead will force a set of priorities that may not always be clearly understood or agreed upon. However, decisions conducive to higher education are an investment in our knowledge-based economy, prosperity and social vitality.
In this context, Holland's film Something Ventured is far more than a paean to capitalism. Events depicted in the film during the late '50s, '60s and early '70s in Northern California arguably mark the start of our shift from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. In a key scene Mike Markulla of Apple says, "You could walk down the street in 1976 and talk to a hundred people and say, 'Would you like a personal computer?' They'd say, 'What's that?'" Not only is the personal computer now essential to nearly every sector of society, according to the National Venture Capital Association, venture-backed corporate revenue also accounts for 21 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. The speed of this transformation is blinding. Not since the late 19th century and early 20th century has business transformed society so fundamentally. Capitalism may be rough, and Godin may be right about the guys in Detroit being out of luck; but we're highly adaptable creatures. And we can learn.
Learn more about the film at http://somethingventuredthemovie.com.
Published: Monday, June 1, 2009
Last Updated: Monday, February 26, 2018


text:
Apollo To Take On #1 St. Thomas At Xcel Wednesday [AUDIO]
The Apollo Eagles will play in their second all time state tournament, and first since 1984, Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center. You can listen to the game live Wednesday night on WJON beginning at 6:00.
Apollo rolled past Wadena-Deer Creek 10-0 in the first round of the section playoffs. Senior forward Jared Christen led Apollo with four goals and freshman goaltender Nick Althaus had 25 saves to earn the shutout.
The Eagles took down the Fergus Falls Otters 7-3 in the section semifinal in a game that was closer than the final score indicates. Apollo led 4-0 after one period but the Otters roared back with three straight goals in the second to cut the Eagles lead to 4-3.
Dallas Haugen scored just over one minute into the third period and the Eagles never looked back in advancing to the sectional final. Paul Kenney scored a hat trick in the game for Apollo as well.
In a raucous MAC packed with 50% purple clad Little Falls fans and 50% sporting the Apollo red, the Eagles upset the #1 seeded Flyers 6-3. This time, it was Jason Omann getting the hat trick for Apollo, the third different player to do so in as many games.
The final buzzer set off a wild celebration with students, parents and fans elated to see the Eagles reach to the tourney for the first time in 29 years.
Coach Pete Matanich cited the Eagles' ability to kill an early five minute power play as the catalyst for the win,
Listen to coach Matanich's full thoughts below.
St. Thomas Academy has been a powerhouse of Class A hockey since the two class system was installed by the Minnesota State High School League, so much so that they will be moving up to Class AA after this season.
The Cadets finished this season at 21-2-2 and went wire-to-wire as the state's top ranked team in single-A hockey. They have defeated Hermantown each of the last two seasons in the state final and are looking for a third straight crown before moving up to the big school level.
This postseason St. Thomas Academy has outscored their opponents 18-0 and outshot them 144-33, beginning with an 8-0 win over Henry Sibley in the quarterfinals. Henry Hart and Austin Sattler each had a pair of goals in the win with goalie David Zevnik needing only seven saves to record the shutout. The Cadets had 55 shots on goal in the game.
In the semifinal STA again overwhelmed an opponent, this time Chisago Lakes, in a 7-0 win. The Cadets outshot the Wildcats 53-5 in the shutout win.
Jack Dougherty led the way for St. Thomas Academy with four points, two goals and two assists. Zevnik again earned the shutout in net for the Cadets.
The section final against Totino-Grace was a bit tighter but still a convincing 3-0 win and another trip to the state tournament for St. Thomas Academy. Alex Johnson and Christiano Versich each had a goal and an assist for the Cadets. Zevnik made 21 saves in the win.
It will be a battle between a stout defensive team in STA and a team with a lot of firepower on offense in Apollo. Make no mistake, it would be a monumental upset if the Eagles can pull it off, but it is not impossible.


text:
Shop by Type
Designer - Jusme digital
i'm a designer who loves to mix styles – adding a dash and splash of glitter to grungy items. i love paint splats here and there. i tend to create general kits for a variety of your scrap booking needs.
i love being able to add a little glitter to your grunge read more
Displaying products 553 - 576 of 1531 in total
Sweet Pea-Dots Jusme digital


text:
Connection event notifications allow a Message Queue client to listen for closure and reconnection events and to take appropriate action based on the notification type and the connection state. For example, when a failover occurs and the client is reconnected to another broker, an application might want to clean up its transaction state and proceed with a new transaction.
If the Message Queue provider detects a serious problem with a connection, it calls the connection object's registered exception listener. It calls the listener's onException method, and passes it a JMSException argument describing the problem. The Message Queue provider also offers an event notification API that allows the client runtime to inform the application about connection state changes. The notification API is defined by the following elements:
The com.sun.messaging.jms.notification package, which defines the event listener and the notification event objects .
The com.sun.messaging.jms.Connection interface, which defines extensions to the javax.jms.Connection interface.
The following sections describe the events that can trigger notification and explain how you can create an event listener.
The following table lists and describes the events that can be returned by the event listener.
Note that the JMS exception listener is not called when a connection event occurs. The exception listener is only called if the client runtime has exhausted its reconnection attempts. The client runtime always calls the event listener before the exception listener.Table 1–8 Notification Events
Event Type
The Message Queue client runtime generates this event when it receives a notification from the broker that a connection is about to be closed due to a shutdown requested by the administrator.
The Message Queue client runtime generates this event when a connection is closed due to a broker error or when it is closed due to a shutdown or restart requested by the administrator.
When an event listener receives a ConnectionClosedEvent, the application can use the getEventCode() method of the received event to get an event code that specifies the cause for closure.
The Message Queue client runtime has reconnected to a broker. This could be the same broker to which the client was previously connected or a different broker.
An application can use the getBrokerAddress method of the received event to get the address of the broker to which it has been reconnected.
The Message Queue client runtime has failed to reconnect to a broker. Each time a reconnect attempt fails, the runtime generates a new event and delivers it to the event listener.
The JMS exception listener is not called when a connection event occurs. It is only called if the client runtime has exhausted its reconnection attempts. The client runtime always calls the event listener before the exception listener.
The following code example illustrates how you set a connection event listener. Whenever a connection event occurs, the event listener's onEvent method will be invoked by the client runtime.
//create an MQ connection factory. com.sun.messaging.ConnectionFactory factory = new com.sun.messaging.ConnectionFactory(); //create an MQ connection. com.sun.messaging.jms.Connection connection = (com.sun.messaging.jms.Connection )factory.createConnection(); //construct an MQ event listener. The listener implements //com.sun.messaging.jms.notification.EventListener interface. com.sun.messaging.jms.notification.EventListener eListener = new ApplicationEventListener(); //set event listener to the MQ connection. connection.setEventListener ( eListener );
In this example, an application chooses to have its event listener log the connection event to the application's logging system:
public class ApplicationEventListener implements com.sun.messaging.jms.notification.EventListener { public void onEvent ( com.sun.messaging.jms.notification.Event connEvent ) { log (connEvent); } private void log ( com.sun.messaging.jms.notification.Event connEvent ) { String eventCode = connEvent.getEventCode(); String eventMessage = connEvent.getEventMessage(); //write event information to the output stream. } }


text:
Portable Solar for Camping
Think that camping has to be an electricity-free affair? Think about portable solar power. Anywhere the sun is shining, you can generate and store power for reading lights, music, photography equipment and whatever other small items you might want to power.
Portable Solar Photovoltaics
There are a number of solar electric systems designed specifically for use in the case of camping or similar activities.
Flexible paneling is particularly well suited to be rugged and durable in such conditions. It can be rolled up and packed away just as you would with a sleeping bag. The flexibility also makes it easy to set up anywhere. You can drop it, step on it, get it wet-it will still work just fine.
For example, one particularly useful application might be to charge a small heater during winter camping. More practically still, you can use solar power to generate lasting night light or power for your cell phone or PDA.
Solar thermal for camping
You can buy it pre-made
The Solar Sunshower is an excellent innovation. It's a fold up 7 gallon vinyl batch holder with a foot pump to add water pressure.
Or you can do it yourself.
Don't forget the practical possibility of making your own batch heater to heat water. If you know you're going to be camping in one spot for a few days, why not fill a large tub (painted black preferably), fitted with a proper hose and drainage and filled with water. It makes a great warm (or even hot) shower, no matter where you are!
Solar Cookers
The sun's free rays can be concentrated and used to slow cook food. These look like a small fold out oven that faces the sun. Insulated fiberglass and a glass door protect the food, while mirrored metal folds deflect and concentrate the sun's rays. You can also make your own. Click on links nearby to find out more about how these work.


text:
The story so far…
Valuable wildlife photographs and videos have been scattered throughout the world in a wide variety of private, commercial and specialist collections, with no centralised collection, restricted public access, limited educational use, and no co-ordinated strategy for its long term preservation.
Arkive was originally created to put that right, gathering together the most inspirational films and photographs of the world's species into one centralised digital library – creating a unique audio-visual record of life on Earth, preserving and maintaining for future generations.
We've come a long way since we launched in 2003. Not only is it a valuable asset and resource to educators, schools, communities, conservation organisations and anyone with a passion for nature but it is also hugely important in raising awareness of the pressures on our natural environment.
In 2009 Arkive was named one of The Telegraph's top 10 best video websites and The Times' top 10 best education sites (the UK's two leading quality newspapers).
Arkive has now become a formal partner of the IUCN Red Lists (the world's definitive directory of endangered species). We are very proud of this achievement, particularly as the other partners are large, well established international conservation organisations (for example Conservation International, BirdLife International, Zoological Society of London).
Arkive has continued to build its relationship with Google Earth and was invited to join Google's Ocean Advisory Committee, contributing content to the newest version of Google Earth – which enables users to dive beneath the surface of the sea and explore the world's oceans.
Arkive was featured at both the London and Californian launches of Google Ocean in February 2009 and to date, the Arkive layer on Google Earth has helped to engage thousands more people from all around the world.
Our work with Google, IUCN, WWF and other conservation organisations enables us to bring these endangered animals and plants and threatened habitats into your own home, onto your handheld device, into the classroom and out in the community so that we can all partner together to make a difference to our environment.


text:
SanDisk has announced their new 12GB MicroCDHC card at CES.
This is good news for berry lovers that are running OS 4.3 (we
think hope this card will work with OS 4.3). If you are running OS 4.2 or older you will need to wait for the upgrade to use higher capacity cards like this!
So for all of you that take advantage of your BlackBerry's media capabilities, this 12 gig bad-boy will be able to store a combination of 1,500 songs, 3,600 photos and 24.5 hours of video and will be coming down the pipe shortly. No word on a release date yet, but look for it at ShopCrackBerry.com in the near future!


text:
If you child has episodes of fainting, his or her healthcare provider may advise a tilt table test. Syncope can have many different causes. It may occur rarely or often. Causes of syncope related to the heart may include:
Other problems that can cause syncope include:
When a healthcare provider sees a child with fainting episodes, he or she will carefully check the child's medical history and do a physical exam. Tests include an electrocardiogram (ECG) and often an echocardiogram (ultrasound exam of the heart). If the exam or history do not reveal a cause for the fainting, and the child has no history of a heart condition, then further tests, such as a tilt table procedure, may be done.
A tilt table procedure may be done in a special clinic or in the hospital. It may take from 30 to 90 minutes. The test will be as follows:
Your child may feel tired and nauseated for a while after the test. He or she will be watched for about 30 to 60 minutes. You healthcare provider may give you specific instructions. Test results are available in a few days.
The test may not cause any symptoms, or changes in your child's ECG or blood pressure. If so, your child may need more tests or procedures to find the cause of the syncope.
Before you agree to the test or the procedure for your child make sure you know:


text:
PFLAG - Hinsdale PFLAG - Hinsdale
Here's a sample of our volunteer opportunities:VIEW AS
Mission Statement
We, the parents, families and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, celebrate diversity and envision a society that embraces everyone, including those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Only with respect, dignity and equality for all will we reach our full potential as human beings, individually and collectively. PFLAG welcomes the participation and support of all who share in, and hope to realize this vision.
PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.
This information
Might be out of date
Do you work for this organization?
Request administrator status and update its information!


text:
Transcendental Meditation, also called TM, spiritual movement that was founded by the Indian teacher the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1917?–2008).
The Maharishi, whose original name was Mahesh Prasad Varma, earned a degree in physics before pursuing his spiritual calling. For 13 years he studied meditation with the guru (teacher) Swami Brahmananda Saraswati, also known as Guru Dev. In 1958 the Maharishi (he adopted the name in 1955) founded the Spiritual Regeneration Movement and began to spread the practice of transcendental meditation internationally. His movement was popularized in the 1960s when the Beatles and other celebrities began to meditate.
Transcendental Meditation uses one of a variety of Sanskrit mantras, each of which is a short word or phrase that, repeated in the mind, helps the user still the activity of thought and find a deeper level of consciousness. Through this process, it is claimed, the practitioner finds deep relaxation, which leads to enhanced inner joy, vitality, and creativity. The theoretical perspective behind Transcendental Meditation, called the Science of Creative Intelligence, is based on Vedanta philosophy.
To practice Transcendental Meditation, a person must be initiated by a teacher. This involves sessions of formal instruction, followed by a ceremony in which the applicant makes monetary and other offerings and receives his mantra, which is selected by the teacher on the basis of the meditator's temperament and occupation. There are three subsequent "checking" sessions in which the person meditates under the teacher's observation. The person then begins meditating independently twice a day for periods of 20 minutes each and continues to do so indefinitely. Further levels of training are available. Many physiologists and psychologists have recognized Transcendental Meditation's relaxing and vitalizing effects on the body and the mind.
The early 1970s was a period of rapid growth for the movement. In 1971 the Maharishi founded a university and introduced Transcendental Meditation into public schools in New Jersey. Practitioners claimed that it was a nonreligious practice aimed at improving people's quality of life, but in 1977 a federal court in New Jersey ruled that Transcendental Meditation was a religious practice.
In 1972 the Maharishi announced his "world plan" for a new human future, which became the foundation for the World Plan Executive Council, the organization that guides the Transcendental Meditation movement. Each of the council's divisions attempts to introduce meditation into a particular area of human life. In the mid-1970s the council introduced the siddha ("miraculous powers") program, an advanced course that promised to teach students various supernormal abilities, especially levitation, a claim challenged by critics.
In 1987 a former instructor of Transcendental Meditation successfully sued the organization, alleging that the program had failed to deliver on its promises. During the 1990s the movement placed particular emphasis on disseminating ayurveda, the traditional system of Indian medicine, in the West. By the early 21st century some six million people worldwide had taken Transcendental Meditation classes, but the number of formal members in the movement, which continued to be led by the Maharishi until his death, was uncertain.