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Discover your career at Barchester
Discover your career at Barchester
Assisted Living at Bushey Beaumont, High Street, Bushey, Herfordshire, WD23 1QN
As a General Assistant at a Barchester care home, you'll carry out a range of tasks to help us provide the quality care and support our residents deserve. No two days will be the same as you take on diverse responsibilities across housekeeping, cleaning, laundry and catering. It's because this is such a wide-reaching role that you'll be able to play your own part in creating a warm and homely environment. Caring and empathetic, as a General Assistant you'll put our residents first and build the kind of positive professional relationships with them that make their experience with us happy and meaningful.
People in a General Assistant role come from all walks of life and have all kinds of life experiences and career paths behind them. You'll be a big part of our home so what matters is that you're reliable, compassionate, caring and always ready to make a difference. You should be practical too, happy to turn your hand to different tasks. If you have all of this, our training will cover everything else you need to thrive. You'll also have the opportunity to take courses that will develop your skills even further.
As well as a competitive salary, Barchester offers one of the best rewards packages in the care sector. Your generous benefits would include:
• Free learning and development
• Automatic enrolment into our profit share scheme
• A range of holiday, retail and leisure discounts
• Unlimited access to our Refer a Friend bonus scheme
If you'd like to use your can-do approach and people skills in an organisation that provides the quality care you'd expect for your loved ones, this is a rewarding place to be.
We recognise that you and your role is pivotal in shaping the future of our organisation. That's why in return for your dedication, you'll receive a competitive salary plus our sector-leading benefits and rewards package. Take a look at how we're committed to rewarding your amazing work and commitment when you join us.
We're proud to have over 240 care homes and six independent hospitals nationwide, that continually meet and exceed all relevant regulatory compliance standards. Join one of our fantastic teams and you'll make sure our residents and patients get the outstanding quality of care, support, services and facilities they deserve.
We recognise and celebrate difference and pride ourselves on creating an inclusive environment for all. Whoever you are, we want you to be yourself, always. This enables greater diversity across the entire organisation for the benefit of our workforce and also the people we celebrate life with in our homes and hospitals. Barchester is proud to be an equal opportunities organisation.


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Those tasked with helping organizations better manage their processes are themselves having to manage a lot of change these days.
Enterprise architects are looking at several trends impacting their roles in the business world — the growth of cloud computing, the arrival of big data, more security challenges and the overall rate of technological advances.
These are the topics discussed at conferences, and the feedback from EAs at these events ranges from struggles in defining their roles so they can remain relevant, to embracing the new opportunities that can help businesses drive transformation.
A panel of enterprise architecture experts discussed the trends, challenges and opportunities in their field at the recent Open Group Conference.
The panelists included Chris Forde, general manager for Asia-Pacific and vice president of Enterprise Architecture at The Open Group; Iver Band, vice chair of The Open Group ArchiMate Forum and enterprise architect at The Standard, a financial services company; Mike Walker, senior enterprise architecture adviser and strategist at HP and former Director of Enterprise Architecture atDell; Henry Franken, the chairman of The Open Group ArchiMate Forum and managing director at BIZZdesign, and Dave Hornford, chairman of the Architecture Forum at The Open Group and managing partner at Conexiam.
The discussion was led by Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions.
Download the podcast (28:48) or use the player:
Here are some excerpts:
Dana Gardner: When it's a dynamic environment, lots of change, lots of movement, the enterprise architects' value can go up. If things were slow, constant and predictable, perhaps their value wouldn't be as high. Any thoughts about that?
Henry Franken: Well, sure. What you see is that the challenge within large organizations on business transformation is increasing and the number of good enterprise architects is small, so their value increases. It's simple mathematics.
Gardner: Mike Walker, how do you see EA and the role of the architect changing, vis–vis your experiences?
Mike Walker: I'll provide the perspective of an EA leader and practitioner in the trenches of not only my company, but also talking with colleagues in other companies as well. I see a lot of what was referred to from Henry and Chris. To add to that, there is more and more focus on reinvigorating EA practices. There is less of a focus on the traditional things we come to think of EA such as standards, governance and policies, but rather into emerging areas such as the soft skills, business architecture and strategy. To this end I see a lot in the realm of working directly with the executive chain to understand the key value drivers for the company and rationalize where they want to go with their business. So we're moving into a business-transformation role in this practice.
At the same time, we've got to be mindful of the disruptive external technology forces coming in as well. EA can't just divorce from the other aspects of architecture as well. So the role that enterprise architects play becomes more and more important and elevated in the organization.
Two examples of this disruptive technology that are being focused on at the conference are big data and cloud computing. Both are providing impacts to our businesses not because of some new business idea, but because technology is available to enhance or provide new capabilities to our business. The EAs still do have to understand these new technology innovations and determine how they will apply to the business.
To Henry's point around the need to get really good enterprise architects, it's difficult to find good ones. There is a shortage right now, especially given that a lot of focus is being put on the EA department to really deliver sound architectures.
Gardner: We've been talking a lot here about big data, but usually that's not just a standalone topic. It's big data and cloud, cloud, mobile and security.
So with these overlapping and complex relationships among multiple trends, why is EA and things like the TOGAF framework and the ArchiMate modeling language especially useful? Iver?
Iver Band: One of the things that has been clear for a while now is that people outside of IT don't necessarily have to go through the technology function to avail themselves of these technologies any more. Whether they ever had to is really a question as well. One of things that EA is doing, and especially in the practice that I work in, is using approaches like the ArchiMate modeling language to effect clear communication between the business, IT, partners and other stakeholders. That's what I do in my daily work — overseeing our major systems modernization efforts. I work with major partners, some of which are offshore.
I'm increasingly called upon to make sure that we have clear processes for making decisions and clear ways of visualizing the different choices in front of us. We can't always unilaterally dictate the choice, but we can make the conversation clearer by using frameworks like the TOGAF standard and the ArchiMate modeling language, which I use virtually every day in my work.
Gardner: And so the more moving parts and the more complexity, the less likely that you can wing this or use traditional linear tools. You need something that's a bit more up to the task. Dave, help us understand how these tools can grapple better with these multiple levels of complexity, and then also bridge some of these communication gaps among different constituencies in these large organizations.
Dave Hornford: The fundamental benefit of the tools is the organization realizing its capability and strategy. I just came from a session where a fellow quoted a Harvard study, which said that around a third of executives thought their company was good at executing on its strategy. He highlighted that this means that two-thirds are not good at executing on their strategy.
If you're not good at executing on your strategy and you've got big data, mobile, consumerization of IT and cloud, where are you going? What's the correct approach? How does this fit into what you were trying to accomplish as an enterprise?
An enterprise architect that is doing their job is bringing together the strategy, goals and objectives of the organization. Also, its capabilities with the techniques that are available, whether it's offshoring, onshoring, cloud, or big data, so that the organization is able to move forward to where it needs to be, as opposed to where it's going to randomly walk to.
Chris Forde: One of the things that has come out in several of the presentations is this kind of capability-based planning, a technique in EA to get their arms around this thing from a business-driver perspective. Just to polish what Dave said a little bit, it's connecting all of those things. We see enterprises talking about a capability-based view of things on that basis.
Gardner: Because we're here with a couple of the chairpeople from these forums, where a lot of the development and direction for these tools comes about, let's get a quick update. The TOGAF framework, where are we and what have been the highlights from this particular event?
Hornford: In the last year, we've published a minor upgrade for TOGAF version 9.1 which was based upon cleaning up consistency in the language in the TOGAF documentation. What we're working on right now is a significant new release, the next release of the TOGAF standard, which is dividing the TOGAF documentation to make it more consumable, more consistent and more useful for someone.
Today, the TOGAF standard has guidance on how to do something mixed into the framework of what you should be doing. We're peeling those apart. So with that peeled apart, we won't have guidance that is tied to classic application architecture in a world of cloud.
What we find when we have done work with the Banking Industry Architecture Network for banking architecture, Sherwood Applied Business Security Architecture for security architecture, and the TeleManagement Forum, is that the concepts in the TOGAF framework work across industries and across trends. We need to move the guidance into a place so that we can be far nimbler on how to tie cloud with my current strategy, how to tie consumerization of IT with on-shoring.
Franken: The ArchiMate modeling language turned two last year, and the ArchiMate 1.0 standard is the language to model out the core of your EA. The ArchiMate 2.0 standard added two specifics to it to make it better aligned also to the process of EA.
According to the TOGAF standard, this is being able to model out the motivation, why you're doing EA, stakeholders and the goals that drive us. The second extension to the ArchiMate standard is being able to model out its planning and migration.
So with the core EA and these two extensions, together with the TOGAF standard process working, you have a good basis on getting EA to work in your organization.
Gardner: Let's also go back to the big data concepts that are driving this conference. I've been interested in this notion of the information architecture, data architecture and how that relates to the TOGAF framework. Mike, you've been doing some interesting writing on this subject. Fill us in on some of your thoughts about the role of information architecture vis–vis the larger business architect and enterprise architect roles.
Walker: Information architecture is an interesting topic in that it hasn't been getting a whole lot of attention until recently.
Information architecture is an aspect of enterprise architecture that enables an information strategy or business solution through the definition of the company's business information assets, their sources, structure, classification and associations that will prescribe the required application architecture and technical capabilities.
Information architecture is the bridge between the business architecture world and the application and technology architecture activities.

subset: commoncrawl


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The boy had a mouth on him.
He was the shortest, darkest, angriest trumpet player I had ever seen. Furthermore, his embouchure (through no fault of his own) had never been properly set and his tone, well, that's what happens when your embouchure hasn't been set right.
But, there was something in him. He had a deep, inborn sense of the good. He had principle. And, this combination produced a student of such determined commitment, a young man who put forth with every cell in his body to produce. I was merely the music teacher – a scant, 29 year old, belated second year fledgling – and this guy had convinced his impassioned concoction of underprivileged, underserved, and undertrained in the East High marching band to vote "Yes" to compete. I had my work literally cut out for me – by John Jefferson.
The first solution seemed to be a transfer to the F horn. This instrument's conical bore mouthpiece would allow an easier tone production, in an alto range. John took to it. He learned the solo. I felt my first small triumph.
But, this, of course, was short lived. John spoke out. From the top tier of the bandroom at the end of the annex, he'd answer me back, in full on challenge, and loud enough for the whole room to hear. He was the alpha male, and I needed to know my place.
As for the next decision, I can remember neither the day nor the hour. I only knew that John needed to be out front. He needed to lead. And, that is exactly where I put him. By the end of his first season as a sophomore, John Jefferson was East High drum major.
The whole uniform fit him like the glove on his right hand. The epaulets were never more proud to grace any shoulder. But, most of all, John could finally assume the position he was born to take. John Willis Jefferson could stand, stock still – chin up, eyes fixed – at attention. And, John Willis Jefferson could salute.
The band did their absolute best. I always regretted that the association in charge of the competitions never produced a trophy for Most Developed Ensemble, because my kids deserved a big one. Nevertheless, led by John and his cohorts Shawn and Melanie, the students faltered not once. They just held up their heads .
John graduated from public education during my final year at his high school. The district would move me, against my will, across town to fill a vacancy, and I would never see either him or the rest of the students who would call me "mom" again.
That is, not until one, singular occasion.
Via the blessing of social media, I had been reunited with several former students. Naturally, one of the first to find me was John. Except that he had produced quite a life story – married, to Mindy, and the father of at least two of his three boys. But, about to realize more of that story, quite without warning I received news of an upcoming event: a 20th Class Reunion.
I'd been to several. In fact, every five years, my classmates from Academy High had dutifully taken on the enormous task of bringing us all together for dinner and more.
But, John.
John didn't just tell me about his. John invited Miss Scanzillo to the East High 20th Reunion of the Class of 1990.
He was hosting, he said. Would I please come? They would be honored by my presence.
To my memory, no teacher had ever attended a high school class reunion. Certainly none of my former teachers were ever present at any of mine – not the 5th, the 10th, the 15th….you get the picture.
The night of the event, I thought perhaps I should appear low key. Clad in a casual, soft summer top and capris, I slipped into Calamari's Squid Row.
The doors opened into a full diningroom draped in white linen. A grand buffet spread across the front, covered in decorative stainless steel. And, presiding at the head of the long, formal room was: John Jefferson.
Master Sergeant John Jefferson, US Air Force.
In full dress.
The red and grey drum major's costume had been replaced by the dark woolens of the United States Military, Sgt Jefferson's chest emblazoned with three rows of colored ribbon and precious medals. I was beyond stunned.
Finding a discreet seat at one of the table rounds, I set my gaze on our John. He spoke as loudly as ever before, but with a refined speech, a grace, and a carriage that made my heart well up. I couldn't take my eyes off of him.
We kept in touch, after that. Facebook chat was a great place to convene, no matter where he was deployed. He'd check in, from Iraq, Afghanistan….and, always, the sign off: "I love you!"
See, something else had happened to John.
During the first year he and Mindy became a couple, they had both committed their lives to Jesus Christ. Now, not everyone will know what that means to those about whom such an act bespeaks. But, to the faithful, becoming a born-again Christian is what happened to John. This meant that, like my father before him, John accepted a life changing force into his heart. They called this the Holy Spirit, and to this Spirit's direction and counsel both men would vow to remain true.
John and I continued, now familiar references to prayer and faith peppering his dialogue.
Life marched on, past another decade of Veteran's Days. Twenty five more years, to be nearly precise. My adored father passed on into eternity, age 95, and I retired from public school music education. Then, word came to me that John and his family were coming back to Erie for another visit. Would I please join them all, for dinner?
Overjoyed, I met the entire family – at Chic-Fil-A. The boys were sweet, quiet (like their mother!) and polite. John talked of his travels and experiences, of meeting President George W Bush; I marveled. Mindy and I met, for the first time, that day – and, before we ate, John bowed his head and publicly asked the blessing for our food.
Last October, (could it be?) John had reached a life milestone. Now Senior Master Sergeant, he was set to retire from the US Air Force. Twenty six years of devoted service to his God and country. A full military ceremony was scheduled, at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. On Facebook, the word went out as an open invitation.
It only took me a couple days to decide.
I flew in. Mindy met me, at the gate, to grant guest of family passage. High security, all around. Miles of real estate, devoted to air power, air men and women, and their commander. I was introduced to the latter, in the office where SMSgt Jefferson had been spending most of his time. A gracious civilian base employee chauffeured me all around the grounds, allowing me a few select photos.
And, then the ceremony. Getting a bear hug from John was the icing on the cake, or so I thought. But, then John's colleague, a Major, stepped to the podium.
What followed was a litany of awards and accomplishments so vast that I could not contain the realization. John hadn't just devoted his life to service; he had positively excelled. Officer of the Year. Medals for this, and medals for that. A contract officer, SMSgt Jefferson had, near as I could tell, managed millions of dollars of military monies over two decades of military action across the globe.
The celebration was surreal, a fascinating trek through life passing before one's eyes. His insisting that I sit "with the family", me stubbornly resisting that "order" so as to get my choice photos, I sat on the officers' side. The formal presentation was followed by John's individualized "thank you's". I received the final, single red rose, and words of gratitude which could only be overtaken by those of my own; this old music teacher just had to make sure everyone in the room knew that John had begun his career out front, directing the East High Marching Band. Always a leader, always an outstanding man, from the beginning.
Then, the final occasion.
Last week, I would receive the last of so many words on my beloved student, the boy who came closer to being my own son than any other child I would ever know. Inexplicably, after a mere two months of retired bliss and following a statistically innocuous routine medical procedure, John would cease breathing; efforts to revive him failing, his brain would swell; by sundown the same day, those in power would declare his brain death and, only hours thereafter on a vent and then off, at the age of only 45 his body would give up its ghost to the God of all believers.
This time, I could not attend.
John's had been a life so worth celebrating; how could I even acknowledge his untimely and unacceptable death? My best effort was to sit, holding the single rose he'd presented to me, and weep.
The world had become, in large, increasing part, a frightening and sinister place for humans to reside. Nations, rising up against nations; holy wars fast becoming the order of the day. Addiction and apathy, married; deceit and treachery, lurching into the limelight; and, all efforts to revive hope, faith, and charity met by the darkest of demons.
Today, many a Scripture verse from the Book of my childhood speaks to me in solitude, along with the memes on my grandmother's wall:
"For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
I hope to God it's all true.
Because, if ever there were a voice on earth deserving of the realization of its passionately held convictions, that voice belongs to the soul of SMSgt John Jefferson.
And, I can still hear him.
© photo by Ruth Ann Scanzillo 10/17.
© 3/9/18 Ruth Ann Scanzillo. This piece dedicated to the life and memory of SMSgt John Willis Jefferson, of Erie PA. All rights to its contents the strict property of the author, copied only by the author and shared with those who carry respect for its subject.


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Summer may very well be on its way out, but that hasn't stopped a few stylish celebrities from shielding themselves from the last bits of sun with their favorite headwear. Whether they're trying to be inconspicuous (yeah, right) or hide a bad hair day (dirty hairy), they all look quite chic from morning til midnight in everything from fedoras to a standard straw hat.
1. Mod Cloth Fedora-ble Hat, $17.99, 2. Rachel Zoe Devon Pintuck Dress, $450, 3. Alexander Wang Textured Leather Fold Over Clutch, $545, 4. Splendid Sanford Oxfords, $98
1. Juicy Couture Two Toned Cropped Fedora, $68, 2. Splendid Florence Striped Cotton Blend Top, $68, 3. Current/Elliot The Gam Shorts, $117.60, 4. Alexander Wang Distressed Leather Ankle Boots, $625
1. Brixton Louella Hat, $40, 2. Cosabella Peacock Camisole, $121, 3. Velvet Bambi Native Pants, $108, 4. Matt Bernson Jack Strappy Flat Sandals, $72.50
Hats off to you, ladies!
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Most people have heard that forming a corporation provides "limited liability" — that is, it limits your personal liability for business debts. What you may not know is that there's more to creating and running a corporation than filing a few papers. You'll need to keep excellent records to handle the more complicated corporate tax return, and in order to retain your limited liability, you must follow corporate formalities involving decision-making and record keeping. In short, you've got to be organized.
Limited personal liability
One of the main advantages of incorporating is that the owners' personal assets are protected from creditors of the corporation. For instance, if a court judgment is entered against your corporation saying that it owes a creditor $100,000, you normally cannot be forced to use personal assets, such as your house, to pay the debt. Because only corporate assets need be used to pay business debts, you stand to lose only the money that you've invested in the corporation.
Exceptions to limited liability
There are some circumstances in which limited liability will not protect an owner's personal assets. An owner of a corporation can be held personally liable if she:
- personally and directly injures someone
- personally guarantees a bank loan or a business debt on which the corporation defaults
- fails to deposit taxes withheld from employees' wages
- does something intentionally fraudulent, illegal, or clearly wrong-headed that causes harm to the company or to someone else, or
- treats the corporation as an extension of her personal affairs, rather than as a separate legal entity.
This last exception is the most important. In some circumstances courts can rule that a corporation doesn't really exist and that its owners are really doing business as individuals who are personally liable for their acts. This might happen if you fail to follow routine corporate formalities such as:
- adequately investing in ("capitalizing") the corporation
- formally issuing stock to the initial shareholders
- regularly holding meetings of directors and shareholders, or
- keeping business records and transactions separate from those of the owners.
Business insurance
Incorporating should never take the place of good business insurance. Even though forming a corporation normally protects your personal assets, you should use insurance to guard your corporate assets from lawsuits and claims.
A solid liability insurance policy can protect you against many of the risks of doing business. For instance, if you operate a clothing store, good business insurance should adequately cover the bill if someone slips and falls in your store. Also, insurance can protect you where the limited liability feature will not — for example, if you personally injure someone while doing business for the corporation, say by causing a car accident, liability insurance will usually cover the accident so that you won't have to use either corporate or personal assets to pay the bill. Be aware, however, that commercial insurance usually does not protect personal or corporate assets from unpaid business debts, whether or not they're personally guaranteed.
Paying corporate income tax
If an owner of a corporation works for the corporation, he is paid a salary, and possibly bonuses, like any other employee. He pays taxes on this income as do regular employees, reporting and paying the tax on his personal tax return.
The corporation pays taxes on whatever profits are left in the businesses after paying out all salaries, bonuses, overhead and other expenses. To do this, the corporation files its own tax return, Form 1120, with the IRS and pays taxes at a special corporate tax rate.
Alternatively, corporate shareholders can elect something called "S corporation" status by filing Form 2553 with the IRS. This means that the corporation will be treated like a partnership (or LLC) for tax purposes, with business profits and losses "passing through" the corporation to be reported on the owners' individual tax returns. To learn more about S corporations, see S Corporation facts.
For more details on regular corporate taxation, see How corporations are taxed.
Forming a corporation
To form a corporation, you must file "articles of incorporation" with the corporations division (usually part of the Secretary of State's office) of your state government. Filing fees are typically $100 or so. For most small corporations, articles of incorporation are relatively short and easy to prepare. Most states provide a simple form for you to fill out, which usually asks for little more than the name of your corporation, its address and the contact information for one person involved with the corporation (often called a "registered agent"). Some states also require you to list the names of the directors of your corporation.
In addition to filing articles of incorporation, you must create "corporate bylaws." While bylaws do not have to be filed with the state, they are important because they set out the basic rules that govern the ongoing formalities and decisions of corporate life, such as how and when to hold regular and special meetings of directors and shareholders and the number of votes that are necessary to approve corporate decisions.
Finally, you must issue stock certificates to the initial owners (shareholders) of the corporation and record who owns the ownership interests (shares, or stock) in the business.
To learn more about how to form your corporation, see How to form a corporation.
Retaining corporate status
Corporations and their owners must observe certain formalities to retain the corporation's status as a separate entity. Specifically, corporations must:
- hold annual shareholders' and directors' meetings
- keep minutes of shareholders' and directors' major decisions
- make sure that corporate officers and directors sign documents in the name of the corporation
- maintain separate bank accounts from their owners
- keep detailed financial records, and
- file a separate corporate income tax return.


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Privacy and Cookies & GDPR
Pure Editions, Pure E Go and Le Parfumeur à l'Ancienne are brand names from DecoSoap BVBA.
DecoSoap BVBA ambition is to be an exemplary corporate citizen to help make the world a more beautiful place. We place great value on honesty and clarity, and we are committed to building a strong and lasting relationship with you based on trust and mutual benefit. Part of this commitment means safeguarding and respecting your privacy and your choices. Respecting your privacy is essential to us. This is why we set out "Our Privacy Promise" and our full Privacy Policy below.
We respect your privacy and your choices.
We make sure that privacy and security are embedded in everything we do.
We will not send you marketing communications unless you have asked us to. You can change your mind at any time.
We will never sell your personal data.
We are committed to keeping your personal data safe and secure. This includes only working with trusted partners.
We are committed to being open and transparent about how we use your personal data.
We will not use your personal data in ways that we have not told you about.
We respect your rights, and will always try to accommodate your requests as far as is possible, in line with our own legal and operational responsibilities.
For more information about our privacy practices, below we set out what types of personal data we might collect or hold about you, how we use it, who we share it with, how we protect it and keep it secure, and your rights around your personal data.
Note that all of the information set out below may not apply to you. We have explained below an overview of all possible situations in which we could interact together, and one or more of these may apply to you depending on how you have interacted with us For example, if you have not provided us with a photo for your account, then these details will not apply to you. Similarly, if you have not created a Professional Account, then that information will not apply to you.
When you share personal data with us or when we collect personal data about you, we will use it in line with this Privacy Policy. Please read this information carefully. If you have any questions or concerns about your personal data, please contact us.
Please note that you must be at least 13 years old or older to use our services, or older where the terms for a specific service require this.
Please find out more information about us here.
"Personal data" means any information or pieces of information that could identify you either directly (e.g. your name) or indirectly (e.g. through pseudonymised data, such as a unique ID number). This means that personal data includes things like email/home addresses, usernames, profile pictures, personal preferences and shopping habits, user generated content, financial information, and health information. It could also include unique numerical identifiers like your computer's IP address or your mobile device's MAC address, as well as cookies.
This Privacy Policy covers all personal data about you that is collected and used by DecoSoap BVBA
You, the consumer, are our priority. You drive what we do. We love hearing from you, learning about you, and creating and delivering products that you enjoy. We know that many of you love interacting with us and because of this, there are many ways that you might share your personal data with us, and ways that we might collect it.
How do we collect or receive your personal data?
We might collect or receive personal data from you via this website via forms, apps, devices, DecoSoap BVBA products or brand pages on social media or otherwise. Sometimes you give this to us directly (e.g. when you create an account, when you contact us, when you purchase from our websites or stores), sometimes we collect it (e.g. using cookies to understand how you use our websites). We do not collect any data from third parties.
In the table below, we explain:
In what context is your personal data collected? This column explains what activity or scenario you are involved in when we use or collect your personal data. For example, whether you are making a purchase, signing up to a newsletter, or browsing a website.
What personal data may we hold about you? This column explains what types of personal data we may collect when you take part in a particular activity.
How and why we use it? This column explains what we do with your personal data, and the purposes for collecting and using it.
What is our legal basis for using your personal data? Whenever we use your personal data, we will have a legal basis to do this. For example, you have asked us to provide a service, you have given us your consent, or we have a legitimate interest in using your personal data.
The legal basis for the processing of your personal data can be:
Your consent – This applies where you provide your personal data and specifically consent to us using it to provide you with a specific service, for example, so that:
you can receive marketing communications from us. If you later ask us to stop sending you marketing communications, we need to keep some of your personal data on a suppression list so that we can make sure we do not contact you again. This is a legal obligation; and
we can store certain cookies on your device. We may place targeted advertising cookies (these allow us to tailor services we offer, specifically to you), analytical cookies (these measure your interaction with our site so we can make improvements) on your device.
The performance of a contract – This applies where you provide us with your personal data in order for us to provide you with a service (e.g. you ask us to create a customer account for you or you wish to purchase a product and we can manage the associated logistics).
Our legitimate interests –This applies where you provide us with your personal data and we use it to:
improve our products and services. By providing us with your personal data, we are able to better understand your needs and expectations when it comes to the products and services we offer. This understanding means we can improve our products and services so they match your needs. This might involve performing analytics on how you use our products, services, and websites/apps/devices, or trying out new functions which we think you might like based on what we know about you.
better engage with you. Where you provide us with your personal data, we may use it to encourage you to be more actively engaged with our products and brands and increase your overall brand engagement and awareness. One way we do this is by tailoring the marketing communications we send you so that you receive the information most relevant to you.
prevent fraud. Where you provide us with your personal data, it means we can action any payment you make when you purchase any of our products and/or services, and importantly, check that your payment is free from fraud.
secure our tools: We may use your personal data to keep our tools (websites/apps/devices) safe and secure. This involves making sure our tools are working properly, and that your personal data is kept secure.
To comply with a legal obligation – This is where you provide us with your personal data which we need to keep for our legal reasons (e.g. when you make a purchase we need to keep your transaction information to comply with our tax and financial reporting obligations).
To protect the vital interests of an individual – This is where we use your personal data to protect you (or someone else) where there is evidence of danger to your (or someone else's) health and/or safety.
The table below sets out which legal basis we rely on when processing your personal data for each context.
When we collect personal data, we will indicate which types of personal data are mandatory via asterisks. Some of the personal data we request from you are either necessary for us to:
Perform our contract with you (e.g. to deliver the goods you have purchased on our websites/apps);
Provide you with a service you have asked for (e.g. to provide you with a newsletter);
Comply with legal requirements (e.g. invoicing).
If you do not provide the personal data marked with an asterisk, this may affect the goods and services that we can provide.
In which context is your personal data collected?
What personal data may we hold about you?
How and why we may use it?
What is our legal basis for processing your personal data?
Personal account creation and management
Where your personal data are collected during the creation or management of an account on DecoSoap BVBA websites/apps, through a social media login or in store.
Newsletter and marketing subscription
Where your personal data are collected when you subscribe to receive our marketing communications.
To :
Purchases and order management
Where your personal data are collected during the purchase process made on DecoSoap websites/apps or in store.
Online browsing
Where your personal data are collected by cookies or similar technologies ("cookies"*) when you browse DecoSoap websites/apps or on third-party websites/apps where we have cookies.
For information on the specific cookies placed on a particular website/app, please check the cookies table or tool available on the specific website/app.
*cookies are small text files stored on your device (computer, tablet or mobile) when you are on the Internet, including on DecoSoap BVBAebsites.
Data related to your use of our websites, including:
Technical information:
We use cookies, together with other personal data you have already shared with us (such as previous purchases, or whether you're signed up to our email newsletters) for the following purposes:
You can opt out of targeted advertising by using the function available on our website (where applicable), or in your browser settings. For opting out of targeted advertising on social media platforms, please visit the relevant social media platform to explore the options they may provide.
Where your personal data are collected during a competition, game, contest, promotional offer, sample request, survey etc.
User Generated Content
Where your personal data are collected when you submit content (for example images or ratings and reviews) on one of our websites/apps/social media platforms, or accept our re-use of any content you posted on social media platforms.
Use of websites/apps and devices
Where your personal data are collected as part of your use of our apps and/or devices.
Where your personal data are collected when you ask questions relating to our brands, our products and their use, or your purchases, account or rights.
Automated Decision Making
Automated decision making means the ability to make decisions using technology, without human involvement.
We may use automated decision making in the following circumstances:
For the purposes of securing transactions placed through our websites/apps/devices against fraud. We may use a third party provider's solution to protect against fraud. The method of fraud detection is based on a number of different data prediction and data intelligence techniques that may change over time, to keep up with technological advancement. These may include, for example, data comparison or association, or detecting outlier (unusual) data patterns. This fraud detection process may be completely automated or may involve some human intervention where the final decision is taken by a person.
As a result of automatic fraud detection, you may experience a delay in the processing of your order/request whilst we review your transaction. You may be limited or excluded from using a service if a risk of fraud is identified.
You have the right to access the information on which we base our decision.
This means automatically processing personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects about an individual, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements.
When we send or display personalised communications or content, we may use some profiling techniques. This means that we may collect personal data about you in the different scenarios mentioned in the table above, and use this data to analyse, evaluate, or predict your personal preferences, interests, behaviour and/or location.
Based on our analysis, we then send or display communications and/or content specifically tailored to your interests and needs.
You may have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for "profiling". Please see "Your Rights and Choices" section below.
Who may access your Personal data?
First, we want to be clear that we do not sell your personal data.
We may share your personal data within DecoSoap BVBA
DecoSoap BVBA represents several different brands and products: Le Parfumeur à L'ancienne, Pure E Go and Pure Editions are both brand names belonging to DecoSoap BVBA.
Your personal data may be accessed within DecoSoap BVBA. Where appropriate, we may share your personal data between our brands to harmonise and update the information you share with us, to tailor our communications based on your preferences, and to run analytics and perform statistics. Where you have opted in to receive communications from all DecoSoap BVBA, rather than one or two specific brands, your personal data may also be shared within DecoSoap BVBA
We may share your personal data within DecoSoap BVBA
Your personal data may be accessed by DecoSoap BVBA. This means that we may share your personal data across the DecoSoap BVBA, which includes our ultimate parent company and its subsidiaries. Access will always be controlled on a need-to-know basis, and only provided where it is necessary to provide you with requested services or to allow us to perform any necessary or legitimate functions.
We may also share your personal data in a pseudonymised way (not allowing direct identification) with DecoSoap BVBA scientists, including those located outside of your country, for research and innovation purposes.
Your personal data may also be processed on our behalf by our trusted third party suppliers.
We rely on trusted third parties to perform a range of business operations on our behalf. We only provide them with the information they need to perform the service, and we require that they do not use your personal data for any other purpose. We will always use our best efforts to make sure that all third parties we work with will keep your personal data secure. Examples include:
Third parties that assist and help us in providing digital and e-commerce services such as social listening, store locator, loyalty programs, identity management, ratings and reviews, CRM, web analytics and search engine, user generated content curation tools;
Advertising, marketing, digital and social media agencies to help us to deliver advertising, marketing, and campaigns, to analyse their effectiveness, and to manage your contact and questions;
Third parties required to deliver a product to you e.g. postal/delivery services;
Third parties that assist and help us in providing IT services, such as platform providers, hosting services, maintenance and support on our databases as well as on our software and applications;
Payment service providers and credit reference agencies for the purpose of assessing your credit score and verifying your details where this is a condition of entering into a contract with you;
Third parties that assist us for customer care and cosmetovigilance purposes.
The legal basis for this sharing is our legitimate interests – (i) to improve our products and services; (ii) better engage with you; (iii) prevent fraud; (iv) secure our tools and design new features; and (v) use appropriate suppliers.
We may also disclose your personal data to third parties:
In the event that we sell any or part of our business or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the prospective buyer of such business or assets. If DecoSoap BVBAor a part of its assets are acquired by a third party, personal data we hold about our consumers relating to those assets will be one of the transferred assets. In such cases, your personal data will be processed by the buyer acting as the new data controller and its privacy policy will govern the processing of your personal data.
If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use/sales or other terms and conditions you have agreed to; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of DecoSoap BVBA, our consumers, or others.
In other circumstances if we have your consent or we are permitted to do so by law.
We may disclose your personal data to our partners:
In the event the service you subscribe to was co-created by DecoSoap BVBA and a partner (for example, a co-branded app). In such cases, DecoSoap BVBA and the partner will process your personal data each for their own purposes and as such your personal data will be processed:
By DecoSoap BVBA in accordance with this Privacy Policy;
By the partner acting also as a data controller and its privacy policy will govern the processing of your personal data for its purposes.
Where you have agreed to receive marketing and commercial communications from a DecoSoap BVBA partner through a dedicated opt-in (for instance, through an app branded by DecoSoap BVBA and made available to its partners). Your personal data will be processed by the partner acting as a data controller under its own terms and conditions, and in accordance with its privacy policy.
We may publish content created by third parties. Where we do this, the third party may place a cookie on your device if you read this content. Please read the third parties' Cookie Policy for details on what information they may gather from the cookie, and how it is used.
Where we Store your Personal data
The personal data that we collect from you may be transferred to, accessed in, and stored on our Server in Belgium. It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our service providers.
Where DecoSoap BVBA transfers personal data outside of the EEA, this will be done in a secure and lawful way. As some countries may not have laws governing the use and transfer of personal data, we will take steps to make sure that third parties adhere to the commitments set out in this Privacy Policy. These steps may include reviewing third parties' privacy and security standards, and/or entering into appropriate contracts (on the basis of the template adopted by the EU Commission and available via its homepage).
For further information, please contact us as per the "Contact" section below.
How Long Do We Keep Your Personal data
We will keep your personal data for as long as we need it to provide you with your requested service(s) or to meet our commercial or legal obligations.
To determine the retention period of your personal data, we consider several criteria to make sure that we do not keep your personal data for long than is necessary or appropriate. These criteria include:
The purpose for which we hold your personal data;
Our legal and regulatory obligations in relation to that personal data, for example any financial reporting obligations;
Whether our relationship with you is ongoing, for example, you have an active account with one or more of our brands, you continue to receive marketing communications, or you regularly browse or purchase off our websites/apps);
Whether you are no longer actively participating or engaging with our brands, for example, you do not open our emails, visit our websites, or share user generated content;
Any specific requests from you in relation to the deletion of your personal data; and
Our legitimate business interests in relation to managing our own rights, for example the defence of any claims.
When we no longer need to retain your personal data, it will be deleted or be anonymised so that you can no longer be identified from it.
Is my Personal data Secure?
We are committed to keeping your personal data secure, and taking all reasonable precautions to do so. We contractually require that trusted third parties who handle your personal data for us do the same.
We always do our best to protect your personal data and once we have received your personal data, we use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. As no transmission of information via the internet is completely secure, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal data transmitted to our site although. Any transmission is therefore at your own risk.
Links to Third Party Sites and Social Login
Our websites/apps may, from time to time, contain links to the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and/or affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you share any personal data with these websites.
We may offer you the opportunity to use your social media login when interacting with our websites/apps. If you do so, please be aware that you will be sharing your profile information with us. The personal data that is shared will depend on your social media platform settings. Please visit the relevant social media platform and review its privacy policy to understand how your personal data is shared and used in this context.
Social Media and User Generated Content
Some of our websites and apps allow users to submit their own content. Please remember that any content submitted to our social media platforms can be viewed by the public, and you should be cautious about providing certain personal data e.g. financial information or address details. We are not responsible for any actions taken by other individuals if you post personal data on one of our social media platforms and we recommend that you do not share such information.
Your Rights and Choices
DecoSoap BVBA respects your right to privacy: it is important that you are able to control your personal data. You have the following rights:
Your rights
What does this mean?
The right to be informed
You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your personal data, and your rights. This is why we are providing you with the information in this Privacy Policy.
The right of access
You have the right to access, and receive a copy of, any personal data we hold about you (subject to certain restrictions). In exceptional circumstances we may charge a reasonable fee for providing such access but only where permitted by law.
The right to rectification
You have the right to have your personal data rectified if it is incorrect or outdated and/or completed if it is incomplete. If you have an account, it may be easier to correct your own personal data via your "My Account" function.
The right to erasure/right to be forgotten
In some cases, you have the right to have your personal data erased or deleted. Note this is not an absolute right, as we may have legal or legitimate grounds for retaining your personal data.
The right to object to direct marketing, including profiling, and any processing based on our legitimate interests
You can unsubscribe or opt out of our direct marketing communication at any time. The easiest way to do this is by clicking on the "unsubscribe" link in any email or communication we send you. In circumstances where you have the right to object to profiling or any processing based on our legitimate interests, you should contact us using the details below.
The right to withdraw consent at any time for and personal data processing based on consent
You can withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal data when such processing is based on consent. Where you withdraw your consent, this does not affect the lawfulness of our processing before your withdrawal. Please see the table in section "what personal data do we collect from you and how do we use it" specifically the column "What is our legal basis for processing your personal data?" to see where/when our processing is based on consent.
The right to object to processing based on legitimate interests
You may object at any time to our processing of your personal data when such processing is based on our legitimate interests. Please see the table in section "what personal data do we collect from you and how do we use it" specifically the column "What is our legal basis for processing your personal data?" to see where/when our processing is based on legitimate interests.
The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated decision-making
Where we use your personal data to make an automated decision about you (please see "Automated Decision Making" above for examples), you have the right to object to our decision. Your right does not apply if: (i) you gave us your explicit consent to use your personal data to make our decision; (ii) we are allowed by law to make our decision; or (iii) our automated decision was necessary to enable us to enter into a contract with you.
The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
You have the right to contact the data protection authority of your country in order to lodge a complaint against our data protection and privacy practices. Do not hesitate to contact us at the details below before lodging any complaint with the competent data protection authority as we will always seek to resolve your complaint in the first instance.
The right to data portability
You have the right to move, copy or transfer personal data from our database to another. This only applies to personal data that you have provided, where processing is based on a contract or your consent, and the processing is carried out by automated means. Please see the table in section "what personal data do we collect from you and how do we use it" specifically the column "What is our legal basis for processing your personal data?" to see where/when our processing is based on consent or the performance of a contract.
The right to restriction
This right means that our processing of your personal data is restricted, so we can store it, but not use nor process it further.
It applies in the following limited circumstances set out in the General Data Protection Regulation:
The right to deactivate cookies
The settings from the Internet browsers are usually programmed by default to accept cookies, but you can easily adjust it by changing the settings of your browser or, where available, by using the tools on our websites.
Many cookies are used to enhance the usability or functionality of a website; therefore disabling some types of cookies may prevent you from using certain parts of our websites.
If you wish to restrict or block all the cookies which are set by our websites, please use the tool available on the particular website (if applicable), or refer to the Help function within your browser to learn how to manage your settings within your browser. For more information please consult the following links:
How can I exercise these rights?
For more information, or to request any of the rights noted above, please contact us on the details set out below.
Note that we may require proof of your identity and full details of your request, before we process any request(s).
If you have any questions or concerns about how we treat and use your personal data, or would like to exercise any of your rights above, please contact us on our contact form or by writing to us at:
Data Protection Officer
DecoSoap BVBA
Borrestraat 37
3090 Overijse
Any changes we may make to our Privacy and Cookies Policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our Privacy and Cookies Policy.


text: Back Preparticipation Physical Examinations A preparticipation examination may be required for any child who wants to take part in a school athletic activity or in an organized sports activity outside of school. Why is a preparticipation exam important? A preparticipation exam for your child is used to: Find any medical or physical problems that could make participation a risk Find any medical or physical problems that could be corrected to make participation more beneficial Help maintain health and safety Make sure your child is fit enough to participate in the activity Teach your child about the activity Meet all the legal and insurance requirements for participation in the activity When is preparticipation exam needed? Preparticipation exams are usually required before starting an activity and may be required again if treatment is needed before clearance is given. If your child is injured while playing the sport, he or she may need to have another examination for clearance to return to play. How often your child needs to have an exam depends on the activity and the local laws governing the activity. In many cases, annual examinations are required. What's involved? Preparticipation exams usually require a medical history and physical examination by a qualified medical professional, such as your pediatrician. In many cases, a specific form will need to be filled out. Sometimes, your family doctor will be able to do the exam and fill out the form, but in other instances the examination may have to be done at a specified clinic. These are the usual parts of the examination: Past medical history. Questions will be asked about any medical conditions, such as heart problems, neurological problems, asthma, allergies, and issues involving the muscles and joints, as well as any medications your child is taking. Previous sports history. This part of the medical history may cover questions about any fractures, sprains, and dislocations your child has experienced, including any surgeries, dental trauma, concussions, breathing problems, or restrictions from participation for any reason in the past. Family history. Questions will cover any family history of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. It's important to mention any unexplained sudden death in a family member younger than age 50. Physical exam screening. This may include checking your child's pulse, blood pressure, weight, and height, and doing vision and hearing testing. Physical exam proper. This part of the physical usually includes checking the head and neck, listening to the heart and lungs, doing a neurological check, and examining the abdomen, the arms, legs, and possibly the genital area. Diagnostic tests. Blood tests, X-rays, and cardiograms are rarely included in a preparticipation exam unless there are findings in the other parts of the exam that suggest a possible problem. Girls usually receive the same type of preparticipation exam as boys. They may be asked if they have any problems related to menstrual periods. They may also be asked about their feelings concerning their weight and appearance, to check for an eating disorder. Girls may also be counseled about an increased risk for stress fractures and knee injuries. Results of the preparticipation exam After the results of the preparticipation examination are analyzed, your child will likely get one of the following recommendations: Full participation Partial or restricted participation Re-evaluation after treatment Referral for further testing No participation in the activity A preparticipation examination is a good way to make sure your child can safely enjoy an organized physical activity. It is also an opportunity to learn about the activity and the potential risks of participation. And the good news is that of roughly 10 million preparticipation examinations, only about 1 percent result in disqualification.


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A Convicted Murderer's Case for Gun Control
Why a man serving 28 years to life at the Attica Correctional Facility believes a few simple laws could significantly affect criminal behavior
It was swift and cowardly.
Defenseless, distracted by music, Alex sat in the passenger seat of the rental as I made my way to the trunk. I remembered Frankie's words: "It's loaded, cocked, and the safety is off. All you have to do is pull the trigger."
At that point in our lives, Alex and I, both in our early twenties, were gun-toting thugs immersed in gangster culture. We were out on bail for separate gun charges. A few years before, Alex had been acquitted of murder for allegedly shooting a woman through the peephole of a Brooklyn housing project door. After that, his reputation preceded him.
On that night I knew Alex had been extorting a man who sold drugs for me. It sounds sick but part of me aspired to murder because it's considered an accomplishment in gangster culture -- it would enhance my reputation, complete my image. Yet another part of me knew this culture was foul and murder was horrible.
Despite the Xanax dulling my emotions, my heart pounded when I picked up the M-16. A surge of power rushed through me when I felt the trigger. I pointed in the driver's side window ... and squeezed.
Arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to a jarring 28 years to life at Attica, I entered prison. For many years I sifted through a host of rationalizations, but today I accept responsibility. I'm sorry for killing Alex, sorry for taking all the life he could have had.
With this in mind, I wish to add some perspective to the gun-control debate. My first gun was a chrome .25 caliber automatic with a pink, pearl handle. It was beautiful. But it was a killing machine, and at 14 years old I had the same hole in my heart that President Obama, in a Chicago speech, stated other child killers had. I had no business with that gun. Yet making guns accessible to troubled souls is business as usual in America.
Here's how the game works. Criminals manipulate people with clean records -- cash-strapped students, vulnerable women, drug addicts -- to buy guns for them in states with minimal oversight, like Virginia. The criminal transports the guns to New York, then resells them or trades them for drugs that he'll take back to Virginia to sell. This was the hustle when I was out in the '90s. I'm sure some form of it still continues.
However, since the Senate -- the most undemocratic aspect of our government -- halted gun legislation in April, the nation has moved on. But the shootings and killings in the world I know have continued and will continue unless we refocus on the root of the problem: our gun culture, and the easy access it affords criminals. Background checks for killing machines cannot be rudimentary, where criminals know every step -- the rules of the game I describe have to change.
Disconnected Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, says, "Criminals do not submit to background checks now. They will not submit to expanded background checks." Grassley's full-scale alternative gun measures, which focused on funding prosecutions for illegal gun possessions rather than background checks, helped derail the legislation in April. Aggressive prosecutions are punishment measures that, frankly, do not deter criminals from acquiring, possessing, or killing with guns. Conversely, intensifying background checks will change the game and spook those who buy guns for criminals. This will deter so-called straw purchases.
Government should also create a system that tracks gun-purchasing patterns. Credit-card companies already respond to irregular spending patterns—I used to shop with stolen credit cards, and when the employee at the register said, "I have to call the company," I knew the jig was up. Similarly, it should raise red flags when a person who has never bought a gun suddenly buys five handguns. If the buyer is, for example, purchasing the guns for a drug dealer in the parking lot, he or she will be shaken if the sales clerk says something like, "We have to call and document this purchase with a new agency."
Likewise, it's bizarre that the bazaars selling guns aren't regulated. Websites like Armslist.com provide a buffet of leads for charismatic criminals to buy guns from private sellers. These sites are like perpetual gun shows, which are truly the ultimate forums to make connections for criminals who blend in well -- like me.
Bottom line, criminals create an indirect demand for gun manufacturers and merchandisers. For most criminals, purchasing a gun isn't a one-shot deal. I had two separate gun-possession charges before I killed with an assault rifle. These are my convictions, but they hardly represent the number of guns I went through during my criminal career.
Engulfed in an orgy of violence, my last month of freedom was chaos. Home invasions, robberies, murder -- at the center of it all were guns: They would be disposed of, tossed after shoot-outs, then bought again. Easily. And I always bought new guns, so the notion that criminals just use stolen guns, acquired from a neighborhood burglar, is absurd. (The paper trail may suggest that, because the people making straw purchases also file false reports claiming the guns stolen.) Like most criminals, I created an extraordinary demand for the gun sector.
I'm where I belong. But without a gun I would not have killed. Like most misguided, impulsive youth in America, I was emotionally and socially retarded, with a killing machine on my waist. The gun sector and I do not share the same culpability. Hardly. It's unethical, however, for stakeholders of Sturm, Ruger and Smith & Wesson to contest oversight that would prevent arming individuals like me. Hiding behind manipulative interpretations of the Second Amendment and arguments crafted by the gun lobby, which suggest that the panacea is to enrich our moral fiber, is no help. God knows I'd support moral reform -- but fixing moral decay is a tall order. Meanwhile, our free-market gun culture is out of control. Let's fix that. Now.
Congress needs to take up gun control again when members return to Washington in September. This debate isn't going away. "The world is watching the United States Senate, and we will be held accountable," Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, one of the senators at the helm of gun-control efforts, said after the bill stalled this spring. Perhaps it's too utilitarian or oversimplified, but as a nation we're left with the following question: Is the benefit of experiencing that surge of power, which some individuals get from sport shooting, worth the cost of unhealthy individuals, like me, experiencing a similar surge of power while they swiftly and cowardly shoot people?
For our own sake, for the sake of thousands of victims' families affected, and thousands more whose lives will be affected, the answer seems clear.


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It is one thing to talk about "fairness" when it comes to allowing gays and lesbians to marry; it is quite another to claim biblical authority for such relationships.
President Obama cited the "Golden Rule" about treating others as you would like to be treated, but in doing so he ignored the totality of Scripture and the Lord Himself, who alone gets to set the rules for human behavior.
The president says he is a "practicing Christian." It is difficult to be one while simultaneously holding a low view of the Bible, which his position on several social issues might suggest.
The same Book that informs him about the Person he told Pastor Rick Warren in 2008 is his "Savior," also speaks to the beginning of human life (he has done nothing to limit abortions), fornication between adults of the opposite sex (no word yet on his position on that subject), marriage, and adultery, which the Seventh Commandment and New Testament passages condemn.
I recently wrote that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people who believe the Bible is God's Word to impose their beliefs on those who disagree with them. But it is something altogether different for those who disagree to claim the Bible doesn't say what it says, in effect calling God a liar. President Obama apparently hopes there are sufficient numbers of biblical illiterates -- and he could be right about this -- that either won't notice his sleight of hand, or don't care.
Thousands of years of human history have sustained marriage between one man and one woman. Even human biology testifies to a natural order.
Genesis 2:24 says "...a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. The two shall become one flesh." Jesus, Whom President Obama likes to selectively quote when it suits his earthly political agenda, honored traditional marriage at a wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1). He also reaffirmed the Genesis passage in Matthew 19:5.
Paul, the Apostle of Jesus, wrote in Ephesians 5 about husbands and wives, male and female.
Scripture teaches that the marriage union between a man and woman is an illustration of how Christ and the church are one (Ephesians 5:32). It also teaches that since God made us, conceived of marriage and created sex to be enjoyed within the marital bond, He gets to set the rules and establish the boundaries for human behavior, not because He is a curmudgeon who wants to deny us pleasure, but because He knows what is best for us.
Liberal theologians have tried to modify, or even change, what is contained in the Bible and there are those in our time who are following their example with the issue of same-sex marriage. People are free to accept or reject what Scripture says. What they are not free to do is to claim it says something it does not. In modern times that's called "spin." In an earlier time it was called heresy.
The Apostle John warns in Revelation 22:18-19 about the punishment awaiting anyone who adds to, or subtracts from Scripture. Deuteronomy 4:1-2 has a similar warning. The consequences aren't pretty. There are also warnings not to preach "another Gospel" (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4, among others).
As he seeks to justify his position on same-sex marriage and other issues that are either questionable at best, or deny Scripture at worst, President Obama might be said to be preaching another gospel. This could possibly lead to a fissure in his solid support among African Americans, costing the president votes in November. It will also likely galvanize the culture warriors. Minorities mostly vote for Democrats, but they don't like their faith denied. That could cause some of them to stay home on Election Day, or even vote for Mitt Romney.
The negative reaction the president received from some of the African-American ministers he called last week after declaring his support for same-sex marriage should serve as a prophetic warning.


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The Secret Beyond Matter
The Little Man in the Tower
This book has examined the essence of "matter" from a rather different perspective than that in our other books. (For more details, see Harun Yahya, Matter: The Other Name for Illusion (Istanbul: Arastirma Publishing, 2001))
The analogy of the little man in the tower yields yet another noteworthy truth:
If you believe you have direct contact with the original matter then your true body cannot be the same one that you are seeing right now.
You must have another body "outside"—in other words, outside your mind—which you have never seen or felt.
And that body is a "giant," many times larger than the body you are now seeing.
And you are a prisoner, locked into a tiny room at the top of a tower.
To put it another way, most probably you have been living under the assumption that your body is living in this world, and you are looking out through your eyes. But this is an illusion.
A more rational conclusion is that in fact, this "tower" does not exist at all. There is no evidence that it does! The only thing that makes us share in this belief is the preconception that we have direct knowledge of the original matter.
Once we are freed from this preconception, we can understand that the world is, in reality, a very different place: Everything we see and feel is a perception revealed to our soul by Allah. The only absolute being is the Almighty Allah, Lord of all the Worlds and Creator of all.


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Using Software to Design Sustainability into the Manufacturing Process

As the world of manufacturing gets increasingly more high-tech, there are a growing number of tools that can help companies focus on reducing energy and materials use at every stage from concept to production.

As the world of manufacturing gets increasingly more high-tech, there are a growing number of tools that can help companies focus on reducing energy and materials use at every stage from concept to production.
A webcast convened by GreenBiz.com yesterday brought together three experts who are focused on various aspects of sustainable design and manufacturing to share what's possible and what's already happening on factory floors around the world.
"The secret reason for sustainble design is that it reduces costs," said Patrick Coulter, the Chief Operating Officer at Granta Design and one of the presenters on the webcast.
He offered two examples: Walmart and the Dyson Airblade hand dryer. Both are examples of how designing with sustainability in mind save significant costs -- whether in terms of energy used by other hand-dryers or in terms of rethinking entire production, supply and retail lines to trim waste, as in the case of the world's largest retailer.
In addition to reducing costs, sustainable design is driven by a desire to reduce risk. While legislative risk is the primary element here -- especially for European manufacturers and Europe-facing retailers, with their REACH, WEEE, RoHS and other regulations -- there are also well known brand risks and risks to supplies of materials that could be impacted by environmental changes.
In addition to risks, there is also the benefit of increased sales as companies target increasingly (at least outside of the U.S.) green-minded shoppers. Coulter offered Philips as an example, which is marketing some of its devices for their lower impacts (pictured at right).
Coulter offered a number of tips on how to go about designing for sustainability, and more importantly, building sustainability into the design process early and often.
The first step is to estimate where the biggest impacts are for each product -- is it manufacturing, transportation, use or end-of life? -- so that designers can focus their efforts where smaller amounts of work will have bigger impacts.
Once you've got that map of where a product's impacts lie, then you can craft the "objective" of the eco-design. The chart below lays out how a sustainable-minded design process can cut impacts from any phase of life.
It is critical, Coulter said, to focus on sustainability early in the design process, since that's where the biggest impacts can be felt.
David Dornfeld, the department Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley and one of the presenters on yesterday's webcast, backed him up on that point by saying that he sees rapid growth in interest in sustainable manufacturing and sustainable design among his graduate and undergraduate students.
Next page: developing the tools to spread sustainable design
And running alongside a growth in demand for learning these types of tools is similarly rapid growth in the sophistication of methods for measuring and improving the impacts of manufacturing at almost any level.
Whether it's adding new coatings to individual tools on the assembly line, reorganizing the line itself for greater efficiency, or reimagining how the factory itself is laid out, Dornfeld said there are nearly limitless opportunities to make big improvements in the energy use of a manufacturing system.
The final presenter in yesterday's webcast is involved in helping to make some of those tools a reality. Sarah Krasley, a Product Manager for Sustainability at Autodesk, talked about how the software tools that Autodesk has been developing for years can shape design practices now as well as reengineer a greener future for products and processes.
Among the tools that Krasley discussed yesterday was Autodesk's Eco Materials Adviser, part of a design suite that lets companies take products from sketch to 3D modeling to mechanical engineering all in a virtual capacity.
The mechanical engineering aspect in particular offers sustainability benefits, Krasley said, because it lets engineers both see what the impacts of a given design for a product would be along its entire lifecycle, but also helps them make the business case for shifting to a more sustainable material.
Autodesk has also created tutorials to help mid-career design professionals embrace these same sustainability tools that engineering students are learning at college, and the company is also encouraging its software customers to create and upload videos for disassembly and end-of-life disposal to its Inventor Publisher software system, to help demanufacturers and others easily reuse or recycle products at the end of their useful lives.
At the closing of yesterday's webcast, moderator (and GreenBiz.com's executive editor) Joel Makower asked each panelist to give one piece of advice or closing thought on how to push sustainable design forward.
Sarah Krasley: "Start where they are."
David Dornfeld: "Instill young designers with the potential that this can be done, and be done cost-effectively."
Patrick Coulter: "Designers and engineers can achieve almost anything if they set their minds to it.... So we need tools that can insert sustainable design into the normal design process."
The archive of the free webcast will be available to the public to listen to for the next 12 months. You can find more details about it here.


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This week we're going to change it up a bit. Most of the people who come to this site are from Tacoma. So this week, 5 Question Friday is all yours. I'm going to ask 5 Questions and if you like, you can answer t hem in by commenting on this post. Let's start with Tacoma Places.
Make your answers long or short, serious or funny.
1. Where is your favorite place in Tacoma to have a good dinner and why?
2. You're drunk, but the night's not over yet. What Tacoma dive bar is going to be graced with your presense?
3. What Tacoma business that is now gone do you wish would return?
4. Walking the waterfront. Ruston Way or Owen Beach?
5. What's the most overrated place in the city of Tacoma?
I'll be interested in what you come up with.
– Jack Cameron


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In a digital world where we can easily "find an app for that" to help solve many problems, rarely do teachers have a one stop shopping place for all their classroom digital needs. There are many individual tools that can aid a teacher in retrieving student's digital work, polling/quizzing students or assigning work, but each of these tools usually requires a separate account. However, there is one, free, Web 2.0 app that brings everything together that you need for your classroom, including a social learning environment. The app that does all of this is called Edmodo. Here are just a few features that make Edmodo so great for teachers and students:
- A place to assign and turn in work: The teacher can attach any file they may need for an assignment (rubric, worksheet, etc.) and students can upload any file to turn in their work. Links and embed codes can also be used to publish and share work easily.
- A calendar to help students keep up with important dates: Assignment due dates, dates you'll be out, holidays, classroom birthdays or anything you can think of to post. Studentscan also add their own personal notes to dates that only they can see. The notes the students add to the calendar are not published to the class.
- A digital library that will replace a student's flash drive: They can upload files into their "digital backpack" and download them when on any computer. The teacher can add necessary files to their library as well.
- A place to post messages--urgent or not: Only teachers and students can interact with one another, student to student messages are not allowed. This feature is the most powerful and it's what makes Edmodo a "social LEARNING network." This feature looks and works a lot like a "wall" on Facebook.
- A parent connection: every student is assigned a parent code so that parents can connect with the teacher on Edmodo, check grades and see posts to the class by the teacher and their child.
- Groups: Teachers can create groups for classes, parents, study groups or connecting with distant classrooms. This feature keeps students safe and contains content only specific to certain groups. When students sign up for an account they don't need an email address, just the group code to join groups set up by their teachers.
Although, there are a lot more features to discuss, these are the cornerstone of what makes Edmodo so great for the classroom! Did I mention it looks a little like Facebook? Here is a screen shot of my 3rd period's Edmodo page:
If you would like to see some examples of how we've been using Edmodo in the classroom, here is our public page.
You might be asking, "where do all the great online tools I use everyday fit into using Edmodo?" Well, that's easy...any Web 2.o tool that allows your students to create a project and generate an embed code to publish it on a website, can be shared on Edmodo. Animoto, Glogster, Wallwisher, Cover it Live, Voki and many other great Web 2.0 apps can be incorporated into Edmodo, which brings it all together in the classroom. Here are some suggestions of ways to use these awesome tools within Edmodo:
I really do love Edmodo and my students enjoy the interaction it brings in the classroom. Whether you're a math teacher or an art teacher, Edmodo can be used effectively to accomplish your objectives. So if you haven't jumped on the Edmodo bandwagon, now is the time or your classroom is going to be left behind!
- Embed Wallwisher walls into the notes area for a brainstorming session
- Post Animoto videos or Glogster posters into the notes area, then have students reply to at least 3 seperate posts to give peer to peer feedback on other students work
- Embed a Cover it Live, live blogging, window to engage students in a moderated session where everyone shares their thoughts while watching a live event (presidential speech, classroom video, etc.)
- Embed a Fotobabble in the notes area to reflect on a field trip that the whole class can hear. Each student can listen to each person's reflection to hear different experiences and perspectives of the trip.
Kim Munoz is a middle school Technology teacher at Jane Long Middle School in Bryan, Tx. Jane Long is a Title 1 campus that has been apart of a 1:1 laptop program. She has presented at TCEA as well as at the EdTech Unconference, an online conference that is now called the Teacher Learning Community. You can find her sharing resources on her classroom blog as well as on Twitter (@techmunoz) and Skype (kmunoz98).


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A bouncy low arpeggio is underpinned by a solid drum groove and some strange metallic sound effects, riding along smoothly. The piece is happy and bouncy and has quite an open wide feel to it, the groove is infectious and the metallic sounds are reminiscent of a guitar or a harp strum. Its sharp end and repeat make it perfect for your media background sound, presentation, flash, video project, DVD, web page music or personal enjoyment.
KEY: happy moving bounce goal achievement
sound engineering and music production
if you like this track you can browse more of our work from the links below
|ambient / downtempo
|minimal classical, orchestral and jazz
|loops and beats
|if you require any of the audio files to be edited, remixed or somewhat altered do not hesitate to contact us. we would love to hear what you might use any audio you purchase, an email or a message here would be appreciated! TX – we can be contacted through here or directly at: musik [ AT ] blazznet [ DOT ] com
all pictures courtesy of jojobob


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Key attorney for Uyghur Christian among those effectively disbarred.
DUBLIN, June 11 (Compass Direct News) – Li Dunyong, one of several lawyers involved in the defense of Uyghur house church Christian Alimjan Yimit (Alimujiang Yimiti in Chinese) was effectively disbarred at the end of May when Chinese authorities turned down an annual application to renew his law license.
Zhang Kai, another Beijing lawyer who had defended Alimjan, suffered the same fate.
Authorities failed to renew licenses for at least 15 other lawyers who had defended civil rights cases, religious and ethnic minorities and political dissidents, according to watch group Human Rights in China (HRIC).
During a process of "Annual Inspection and Registration" for all lawyers and law firms, with a closing date of May 31 for renewal applications, authorities also denied three law firms the necessary approval to practice. Officials harassed and physically abused several of the affected lawyers in the months prior to the loss of their licenses.
The lawyers can technically appeal this decision or re-apply at a later date, but most see this as a clear warning to avoid handling sensitive cases.
"The process of building a country ruled by law has suffered a serious setback," HRIC claimed in a statement on June 4.
The rejection of applications followed the Feb. 4 disappearance of Gao Zhisheng, a high-profile Christian human rights activist who once said that every human rights lawyer would eventually become a human rights case. Gao's whereabouts remained unknown at press time. (See "Action Urged for Missing Rights Activist," March 25.)
Lawyer Li had planned to visit Alimjan in northwest China early this month, but recent events have forced the legal team to reconsider its defense strategy.
Alimjan, a member of the troubled Uyghur minority in Xinjiang province, remains in arbitrary detention awaiting trial, 16 months after his arrest. Officials initially closed the foreign-owned business Alimjan worked for in September 2007 and accused him of using it as a cover for "preaching Christianity." He was then detained in January 2008 on charges of endangering state security and was formally arrested on Feb. 20, 2008 on charges of "inciting secession" and leaking state secrets.
Court officials returned Alimjan's case to state prosecutors in May 2008, citing lack of evidence. Last May 21, government sources told Alimjan's mother that the Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Kashgar planned to quietly sentence him to three years of re-education through labor, thereby circumventing the court system.
Under Chinese law the PSB, which originally filed the case against Alimjan, may authorize such sentences without approval from the court or other state agencies.
The case was returned to court for consideration last October, but at press time there was no indication of another date for a court hearing.
Li petitioned for and was granted permission for a rare meeting with his client on April 21 after witnesses saw police and a prison doctor escorting Alimjan to a hospital on March 30; Compass sources said Alimjan had been beaten in prison, although it was not clear who beat him or why. When Li questioned him, Alimjan indicated that he was not allowed to speak about his health.
The beating followed a previous meeting with his lawyer – only the second of such visits permitted during his detention – on March 24.
Human Rights Advocates Threatened
On April 13, China's State Council released a new "National Human Rights Action Plan" that focused heavily on protecting the rights of prisoners and included a pledge to abolish torture and other forms of abuse within two years.
Issued at least partially in response to a United Nations review of China's rights record in February, the plan also affirmed the right of prisoners to hire and meet with lawyers and to report abuses in writing to the appropriate authorities.
Contrary to such promises, however, the detention and physical abuse of lawyers has multiplied in recent months, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for HRW, maintains that control over the yearly renewal of licenses remains one of the main obstacles to the independence of China's legal profession.
Authorities placed several human rights lawyers under house arrest or heavy surveillance in the first week of June as China marked the 20th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. According to HRIC, policemen seized one of the 15 temporarily disbarred lawyers, Tang Jitian, from his home early on the morning of June 4; they had already detained him for 10 hours the previous day.
"This is a display of meticulously planned suppression of lawyers who enforce and uphold the law and are dedicated to public interests," Tang told HRIC.
One lawyer, Jiang Tianyong, said officers barred him from leaving his home on June 3 and told him, "Think of your wife and child." Jiang is among those whose licenses were not renewed.
In late May, HRW reported that Beijing authorities had pressured several legal firms not to endorse the renewal applications of members who had defended civil rights cases.
Report from Compass Direct News


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days left til the race . . . and Specialist II sprints about,
Laura K flexes line,
Vera K. holds station,
and Dean does what Dean needs to do . . .
Here's a nose-to-nose contest foto from last year: Nathan E. Stewart v. Lucy Reinauer.
Four is also the number of K-Sea tugs in this foto: from left to right, Adriatic, Baltic, Caribbean, and Aegean.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp unless otherwise stated.


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'Unprecedented' ozone hole opens over Canadian Arctic
Euan Rocha / Reuters
A view of the tundra landscape in Nunavut, at the rim of the Arctic Circle.
A massive Arctic ozone hole opened up over the Northern Hemisphere for the first time this year, an international research team reported Sunday.
The hole covered two million square kilometres — about twice the size of Ontario — and allowed high levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation to hit large swaths of northern Canada, Europe and Russia this spring, the 29 scientists say.
The discovery of the "unprecedented" hole comes as the Canadian government is moving to cut its ozone monitoring network.
Environment Canada scientist David Tarasick, whose team played a key role in the report published Sunday in the journal Nature, is not being allowed to discuss the discovery with the media.
Environment Canada told Postmedia News that an interview with Tarasick "cannot be granted." Tarasick is one of several Environment Canada ozone scientists who have received letters warning of possible "discontinuance of job function" as part of the downsizing underway in the department.
In Sunday's report Tarasick and his colleagues say the "chemical ozone destruction over the Arctic in early 2011 was — for the first time in the observation record — comparable to that in the Antarctic ozone hole."
It also highlights the importance of Environment Canada's ozone networks, which scientists have warned could be drastically reduced. Department officials say ozone monitoring will continue but will be "streamlined" to eliminate "redundancy."
"The Canadian stations were an absolutely key element of the network of stations we used to do the study," says co-author Marcus Rex, of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, in Potsdam, Germany. "Canada is the backbone of that network."
The scientists say maintaining "comprehensive" data is "critical" to understanding Arctic ozone depletion and the threats it poses.
They used U.S. and European satellites, along with ground stations and scientific balloons — including those operated by Environment Canada — to find and track the hole.
"The satellites, ground stations and balloons each provide a piece of the puzzle," says co-author Kaley Walker, at the University of Toronto. "It is important to have them all."
The hole formed over the Arctic in February and March, then swung across northern Canada, northern Europe and Central Russia to northern Asia, prompting scientists to issue warnings this spring about excess radiation.
Sunday's report shows just how big and remarkable the hole was and how it moved. It also points to what scientists are calling "ominous" changes in the Arctic stratosphere, about 20 km above the surface, which may be linked to climate change and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Tarasick and Walker are among four Canadian co-authors, who had front row seats as the hole formed. They released scientific balloons, known as ozone sondes, which make hundreds of measurements on their way from the ground to 30 km up in the atmosphere.
The measurements helped confirm that chlorine-based pollutants in the stratosphere, 18 to 20 km above the ground, triggered a process that chewed up molecules in the ozone layer that protects Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet light.
Walker says it was "exciting" as a scientist to see the hole form, but sobering to see how humans are altering the atmosphere.
Extreme and prolonged cold in the stratosphere last winter and spring speed up and enhanced the chemical reactions that destroy the ozone, says co-author Michelle Santee, of the Jet propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute for Technology. Her group was monitoring the hole from space using satellites.
The ozone-destroying chlorine compounds have been banned internationally, but they are so "long lived" the scientists expect them to stay in the atmosphere for decades.
Rex says it will likely be about 70 years — "a full generation of humans" — before the chlorine compounds disappear from the atmosphere. Meantime a cooling trend in the stratosphere, which is thought to be tied to increasing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, could create more ozone holes.
Rex says the spring's hole "clearly showed us that we don't have a good understanding of what the Arctic ozone layer will do during the next several decades."
The scientists say the destruction this spring "attained, for the first time, a level clearly identifiable as an Arctic ozone hole."
It "far exceeded" any previously observed loss in the Arctic, says the scientists who warn of even more "severe depletion" if temperatures in the stratosphere keep dropping.
They also say "more acute Arctic ozone destruction could exacerbate biological risks from increased ultraviolet radiation exposure, especially if the vortex shifted over densely populated mid-latitudes, as it did in April 2011." The "polar vortex" is the frigid air mass that circles the Polar region in winter and can dip as far south as New York and Rome.
Environment Canada's media office refused repeated requests for an interview with Tarasick. It sent an email instead saying the information could be attributed to Tarasick.
The email says that UV levels were as much as 60 per cent higher than normal under the hole this spring. The ozone layer recovered in late April and May when winds mixed the atmosphere, but the effects of the hole lingered for months.
There was "somewhat lower ozone over our heads this summer, and higher UV levels (about 3% to 5% higher than we would expect if there had not been a hole)," the email says.
Environment Canada media officer Mark Johnson downplayed the "alleged cuts" to the department's ozone monitoring programs. Many scientists and politicians are denouncing the department's plan to reduce scientific staff and ozone measurements.
Johnson said the department will still continue to monitor ozone and is "integrating" the two different instrument networks now in place. He also said "sites critical for long-term ozone trend information, including the world's oldest ozonesonde station in Canada's far north, will be maintained."
Rex says he understands the need for budgetary constraint, but takes issue with recent statements by Environment Canada official Karen Dodds who said there is "redundancy" in the existing Canadian networks that can be eliminated.
"There is no redundancy," says Rex, noting that the current Canadian measurements are essential to the international ozone monitoring program.
"The scientists in Environment Canada are bright guys," he says. "They have never wasted money by doing redundant measurements."


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A pic says a thousand words, sometimes, more. With this in mind..taaa daaaa...here's the Random Shots thread. Give a description to your pic, if you like. And it would be so cool if you could tell us what camera you used for the shot. So, post away, my friends!
And so, I shall begin.
Nothing much to say about this but just that some people simply need to have one just before work.
Taken with my Panasonic TZ15