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War stories: Lives are still being shaped by Iraq War
The war started a decade ago and the sorrow and hope it created are still powerful
Man marks 10th year of waving U.S. flag on Everett corner March 19, 2013
List of Washington's Iraq War dead March 17, 2013
Need to Know: List of Washington's Iraq War dead March 17, 2013
The goal was to topple Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime, which was believed to possess weapons of mass destruction.
Weeks later, on May 1, 2003, President George W. Bush declared "Mission Accomplished" from aboard the Everett-based USS Abraham Lincoln.
The U.S. would remain a powerful presence in Iraq until its withdrawal in December 2011.
Nearly 4,500 Americans and 100,000 Iraqis were killed in the conflict, which lasted eight years, eight months, three weeks and four days.
Of those, 286 servicemen and women from Washington were killed.
But behind the statistics are people who have stories to tell.
Stories of identity, family and the search for home.
Stories of small-town dreams, honoring friends, and recovery.
Stories of freedom, duty and lost children.
Stories of gratitude, struggle and building new lives.
These are stories of some who have been touched by a war that may have ended years ago, though its effects will never be forgotten.
Read their stories
Hadil Al-Tamimi and Zahraa Al-Salman: Born refuges, they made America home
Brett and Keri Rickard: Friends joined up together, only one survived
Shellie and Jeffrey Starr: In fallen son's honor, a family gives back
Muntaha Nasir and Nasir Nasir: Despite struggles, they are grateful to live here
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Zahraa Al-Salman, 20, a student at Everett Community College, was born in a Saudi refugee camp and has lived most of her life in Everett.
Two giggly college students, wearing colorful hijabs, sit side-by-side and carefully spell out their names. Hadil Al-Tamimi and Zahraa Al-Salman are both 20-year-old Shia Muslims.
Al-Tamimi says they used to hate each other when they were girls, but now they're best friends.
They came from similar backgrounds. Their families both fled Hussein's regime during the first Gulf War, and they were both born in the same year at the same Saudi refugee camp, Rafha.
They traveled across the world, and now their families live in Everett, only minutes apart. Today, both women are American citizens.
At Everett Community College, Al-Tamimi is studying to become a nurse and Al-Salman is studying to become a pediatrician.
Although neither lived in Iraq during Hussein's reign, both have family there. And since his fall -- which Al-Tamimi celebrated with her family on Colby Avenue -- they've visited their families in Iraq.
Al-Salman explains that after Hussein's execution on Dec. 30, 2006, Iraqi refugees began to feel safe enough to return to their homeland, if not to stay, then just to visit.
"Everyone started going back to Iraq for the first time," she says.
Al-Tamimi remembers her 2009 trip. She visited places such as Najaf, Karbala and Baghdad. During her visit she experienced a country wracked by anti-American sentiment.
"I couldn't tell anyone I was from America, or speak English," she recalls. Her family warned her that Americans could be kidnapped or even killed.
Al-Tamimi is used to the Catch-22 faced by many Americans of Middle Eastern descent.
"Here, we're too Middle Eastern, but when we go back to Iraq we're too American," she says, "So you don't really fit in 100 percent in either country."
She recalls an experience she had shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when she was walking home from elementary school.
"I remember this perfectly … five guys pulled up in a black two-door car, they called me a terrorist and told me to go back to my country," Al-Tamimi says. "Ever since then I've felt that I'm not fully wanted. So whenever people ask if I'm American, it's a yes, but not a strong yes."
Al-Salman nods in agreement.
Al-Salman returned from Iraq after living there for two years. She was in an airport waiting for a connection on Sept. 11, 2012.
"I didn't realize until they announced it (over an intercom) that there was going to be a moment of silence for those fallen."
Once the moment of silence was finished, an older couple in front of her turned around, saw her hajib, and glared at her, she says.
On a recent afternoon, the women began to reminisce about their experiences in Iraq.
"Baghdad is probably the best-looking place," says Al-Salman.
"Yeah the best place … even though every building had a hole on the side from a bomb," says Al-Tamimi.
Al-Salman objects. "No, when I went everything was nice, it's nice."
She goes on to say that the streets of Baghdad aren't covered with as much garbage as they used to be, that the government has begun planting flowers in some courtyards, and that there are even music and dance academies.
Al-Tamimi says that under Hussein's rule, the streets were kept clean and orderly.
They explain that many Iraqis are split on whether or not the country was better with Hussein or without him.
The women agree that Hussein was an evil tyrant. Under him, Iraqis felt like prisoners in their own country, subjected to hunger, torture and murderous state police squads.
But the women believe that his regime brought a degree of stability to the country, as dictators tend to do. With stability came a measure of predictability.
And in Iraq, the ability to predict danger, then avoid it, could be the difference between life or death. That predictability ensured a small degree of safety.
That type of safety disintegrated during the occupation. Threats came from bombs, or being caught in crossfire while walking down the street.
"A lot of people in Iraq say that they were better off with Saddam Hussein because with him it wasn't as dangerous for people to go out, and they knew their limits," Al-Tamimi says.
"The people, before, had something to follow, they had places to go and things to do," Al-Salman says. "But now, everything is messed up."
They explain that unemployment and poverty are some of the worst problems in Iraq today. That's why Al-Tamimi wants to return to Iraq someday to open a series of clinics, schools and orphanages. And Al-Tamimi expects Al-Salman to return with her.
There is one small problem: Al-Salman never wants to live in Iraq again.
Al- Tamimi swears she will drag Al-Salman back if it comes down to it, and once Al-Salman completes her schooling to become a pediatrician, she can work at one of Al-Tamimi's clinics in Iraq.
"Yeah, right," Al-Salman yells. "Hadil, I will never ever …"
Al-Salman has made her choice. America is her home.
Al-Tamimi says that within her family the big debate is not if they will return to Iraq, but when.
Al-Tamimi warmly recounts visiting her family in Iraq. She misses spending the days going from house to house, meeting family for the first time. Walking along the yellow, sandy streets, bare of the seemingly endless expanse of concrete Americans are accustomed to. She misses the gilded mosques covered in Islamic calligraphy, the fresh bread, the people, the sun.
Al-Tamimi says she will return because "the only time I've ever felt my heart be at peace was when I was in Iraq."
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Veterans Brett and Keri Rickard grew up in Silvana. Brett's best friend, Justin Hebert, was killed while serving in Iraq. Keri made the quilt behind them to honor their fallen friend.
Brett Rickard was at Disneyland on Aug. 1, 2003, when he got the call.
His longtime friend U.S. Army Spc. Justin Hebert had been killed by a rocket-propelled grenade in Kirkuk, Iraq.
Rickard, also a soldier, had just returned from a tour in Afghanistan and was waiting to deploy to Iraq.
Rickard and Hebert grew up together in Silvana.
The two rode the same bus when they went to middle school, played on the same soccer team, and played basketball in Rickard's back yard. When they were older, they'd often wind up snowboarding instead of going to class.
They were juniors, in 2000, when they talked it over and decided to join the Army. They chose an early entry program. As soon as they graduated from Arlington High School, they were in.
Rickard says they signed for "money for college, adventure and growing up -- the whole shebang."
Rickard says that he and Hebert just wanted to get out of their small town.
Rickard recalls something that makes him smile. Once they were in, he and Hebert both signed up for the exact same job -- airborne fire-support specialist -- without ever talking about it ahead of time.
He laughs. Justin hadn't ever flown in an airplane before he signed up to jump out of one.
Rickard was in radio training when he learned of the 9/11 attacks and knew he would probably be going to war. He arrived in Afghanistan in 2002. He remembers the extreme heat, heavy packs and long walks.
"Your expectations change once you get over there," he says. "It's not all glory. It's not a video game. And it's not as cool as it looks in the movies."
Rickard said that his family back home in Silvana, upon hearing about Hebert's death, were terrified knowing that he would have to go to the country where his friend was killed.
Hebert's death in combat didn't scare Rickard any more than he already was.
"When I was on patrol going through Baghdad, I remember every single time when I was on patrol in the back of the Humvee just scanning the area thinking, 'It could happen now. It could happen now. It could happen now.' "
Rickard served as a pallbearer at Hebert's funeral. He handed the folded American flag to Hebert's mother.
"He was very proud of what he did. He was a terrific soldier," he said. "And I don't think he would have changed anything."
Rickard says he experienced "the equivalent of survivor's guilt" after Hebert's death.
"You feel lucky, but at the same time he was a really good guy and didn't deserve what happened to him."
Rickard is a disabled vet. His combat service left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.
"It's terrible to lose friends, sons and daughters, husbands and wives and brothers and sisters. But the guys that are coming back deal with a lot of things people forget that they have to deal with for the rest of their lives."
"They have to deal with not just the physical wounds but the mental wounds, and they last forever. I think that people who send you off to war forget that it's a lifetime of hardships."
Years later, he has had time to reflect. His thoughts tumble out.
"With the Afghanistan war, they had it coming, they attacked us. With the Iraq war, I think it was harder for some people to agree with. I didn't care. I was young, I was a soldier, I went where they told me to go."
Rickard says he keeps up with current events in the Middle East. He sees the turmoil that the newly established Iraqi government still faces.
"Now that I'm older, I do question. Was it worth it?"
He fears that the Iraqi government may crumble as it battles fierce resistance from Islamic extremists.
"I'm definitely afraid that we just fought in two wars where it's just going to go back to the status quo," he says. "If that happens, it's really a mistake for going over there in the first place, at least staying.
"The freedom of others sounds like a very moral thing to fight for, but when it's at the cost of so much blood, I don't know if it was worth it."
He feels the American forces did "most of the heavy lifting," while it should have been the Iraqi people taking charge of their nation.
He draws an example from the American Revolution. He says that getting help from allies is perfectly fine; after all, Americans were aided by the French.
Americans held together because they shared a united identity they fought for, bled for. They died for the nation they wanted to become.
In Iraq, the majority of the fighting was done for the Iraqis.
"If Iraq is ever going to make their country what they want it to be we (American forces) need to not be there," he says. "I personally think we stayed way longer than we ever should have."
There are no easy answers when it comes to the Iraq war, says Rickard, 30, who now lives in Arlington with his wife, Keri Rickard, and their daughters, ages 3 and 6.
Keri Rickard, 26, is a veteran of the Army reserves, and she is also from Silvana. The two met when Brett Rickard was on leave.
Their youngest daughter's middle name is Jae, in memory of Justin. If they ever have a boy, they'll name him Justin.
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Shellie Starr of Snohomish lost her only son, Marine Corps Cpl. Jeffrey Brian Starr, pictured behind her in a painting, to sniper fire in 2005 while Starr was serving in Iraq.
The greatest irony of all, according to Shellie Starr, was that her son, Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr of Snohomish, was scheduled to leave combat on June 1, 2005. He was enrolled at EvCC to study psychology.
He was killed by a sniper in Iraq on May 30, 2005.
Jeffrey Starr didn't regret going to Iraq the first time. He didn't regret being deployed twice more after that.
He even may not have regretted dying there, writing as much in a letter he wanted read in case of his death.
However, he wrote, he regretted not spending enough time with his girlfriend, whom he hoped to marry.
Shellie Starr flips through a leather scrapbook filled with snippets of prayers, Iraqi currency with Saddam Hussein's face, and photos of her son.
Many were taken while he was hanging around at base. In one photo, Starr, under thick layers of combat gear, smiles widely with one arm wrapped around a fellow Marine.
The scrapbook, with a Marine Corps medallion on the front, chronicles her son's time in the service. Shellie Starr says she put the book together because she needed something to keep her occupied when her son was off at war.
"I had to distract myself from the horribleness of the news in 2003," she says.
She carefully turns page after page, explaining her son's time in the Marines. At one point she chokes up, but quickly collects herself.
When Jeffrey Starr enlisted in March 2001, he was a senior at Snohomish High.
By August he was part of Bravo Company, the highly decorated 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Division.
In 2003, Bravo Company would be the first to enter Iraq.
Jeffrey was 19 years old when his battalion occupied the Republican Palace, one of Hussein's fortified strongholds.
He deployed to Iraq three times.
Shellie Starr shares a photo of one happy homecoming, and then another, with Jeffrey in the arms of his family and friends.
She sighs and says, "We didn't get the homecoming for the third one."
Soon the scrapbook's pages are blank. She folds the book up and gently sets it down.
Shellie says she and her husband, Brian Starr, still keep in touch with their son's old friends. Brian Starr likes to shoot pool with them and go camping with them in the summer.
"It lets him be a part of what Jeffrey would have been doing," she says.
Shellie Starr says most Gold Star families, those who have lost an immediate family member serving in the armed forces, supported President Bush's leadership in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"But there is a very strong 20 percent that are very resentful," she says.
She says she falls more on the side of the supporters. Although, she says, the war could have gone much more smoothly if the military had been left to make its own decisions, and if it had been left unhindered by politicians in Washington, D.C.
"The politicians start directing the actions from D.C. and these guys are on the front lines," she says. "It's just an injustice to them."
Shellie Starr is frustrated at the lack of forward thinking by the U.S. government, not for its decision to invade Iraq, but its lack of a plan for what happened after it invaded.
She wasn't necessarily happy with the decision to withdraw from Iraq. She hoped that the U.S. could negotiate a lasting presence.
After all, she says, she shares the same view as her son did. She believes the troops were there to help the people of Iraq, to give them opportunities that they would have never had under Hussein.
Shellie Starr says troops stationed in Iraq weren't able to transfer American values over to the Iraqi people -- American values like independence, individuality and resourcefulness, values her son certainly held dear.
She isn't optimistic about the future of Iraq. She says a pattern of restrictive and oppressive rulers who abide by a radical understanding of the Quran will eventually prevail in the country.
And although her son gave his life, she thinks some of the people most affected by the Iraq war are the surviving veterans -- particularly those who have PTSD.
"I've lost my son, but these guys have to deal daily with life-changing situations," she says. "It would break my heart to watch my child go through what these people have to go through."
Shellie and Brian Starr are both grateful to the community that has supported them. "The Snohomish community has been wonderful to us and to Jeffrey," she says.
That's why, in 2006, the Starrs decided to honor their son by giving back.
From an initial fundraiser hosted at Mardini's Restaurant in Snohomish, they raised $15,000 and put that money towards a scholarship fund in their son's name.
Since then, the Jeffrey Starr Fund has provided $1,000 scholarships to students at Snohomish High School who can best answer the question "what is freedom?"
Students are asked to reflect on what freedom is by responding to one of Jeffrey Starr's quotes from his last letter:
"I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom.
"It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it is not to me. I'm here helping these people so they can live the way we live. To do what they want with their lives."
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Muntaha Nasir (left) and Nasir Nasir moved to the U.S. in 2010. Muntaha worked as a dentist in Iraq, but she is now having trouble finding work.
After surviving Saddam Hussein's regime, years of warfare, and becoming refugees hopping around the globe, the Nasirs' biggest concern is a fairly common one: finding work close to their Everett home.
Muntaha Nasir lived in Baghdad during the initial invasion in 2003. She owned a successful dentistry clinic. Her success made her a target of people who wanted her money. She fled to neighboring Jordan, where she was an illegal immigrant trying to find work.
That's where she met her future husband, Nasir Nasir. In Iraq, he was a delivery driver at a chicken farm. In Amman, the capital city of Jordan, he found work in a warehouse in the shipping department. They married in Jordan in 2007.
The Nasirs worked in a big city like Amman because it was easier to find work.
They immigrated as refugees to the U.S. in September 2010. They settled in Everett a short time later; they live in a small apartment with their 4-year-old daughter, Ghadeer.
Their home is kept neat, and in one corner the computer displays an English-language tutorial, paused in the middle of a lesson.
Muntaha Nasir and Nasir Nasir practice a meticulous form of Arab hospitality whenever they welcome guests into their home.
Muntaha Nasir, delighted to learn that a guest enjoys her American coffee, will race to the kitchen to jot down the exact portions of cream and sugar she used, to replicate it the next time.
Nasir Nasir is equally excited, although he has a harder time expressing himself in English. He is taking English as a Second Language classes at Mariner High School.
He sits perfectly straight, nods, and smiles widely. His wife will sometimes translate for him if a sentence becomes too complex, but he is proud to exercise his English abilities whenever he can.
Nasir Nasir is hoping his new-found language skills can help him find a job. He recently attained a Washington Association of Building Officials certificate from Everett Community College and hopes to work as a welder.
Muntaha Nasir says her master's degree from the University of Baghdad hasn't helped her find work at a local clinic -- as she had hoped -- nor has her 16 years as a dentist.
She says that immediately after the fall of Hussein's regime, Baghdad was a very dangerous place.
"We started to face something that we've never seen before or heard of," she says.
Her dentistry clinic was only blocks away from a deserted military base. Once Hussein's regime fell, the weapons inside the base were left unprotected.
She remembers that gangs would steal weapons from there, and kill people randomly on the street.
One time a bomb was found near her clinic. Thankfully, it was a dud.
Muntaha Nasir isn't sure whether America's decision to invade Iraq was a good one.
Although the war brought the freedom for Iraqis to speak their minds, the country was a more dangerous place, at least during America's time there, she said.
She says poor Iraqis have suffered both under Hussein and with the new government.
"Maybe the decision was good, but the war is wrong," she says.
But to Nasir Nasir, there is no question: If the United States hadn't come to Iraq, Saddam Hussein would still be there.
Nasir Nasir smiles, bobs his head and says,"(The war) is good for us because we're here."
Despite the Nasirs' trouble in finding work in the U.S., they'll never move back to Iraq. Besides, they say their families back in Iraq are having trouble finding work there, too.
Their daughter, Ghadeer, has never been to Iraq. She was born in Jordan.
At first, the Nasirs didn't know what people were upset about when they told them their daughter's birth date. She was born on Sept. 11, 2008.
When someone told them that it was because of the al-Qaida attacks in 2001, Muntaha Nasir went to Everett Municipal Court and asked if her daughter's birthday could be changed. She was afraid that her girl could be bullied when she started school.
She says the court wouldn't let her, and she would have to work with the government of Jordan to do that.
The Nasirs are grateful to live in America, where they can raise their daughter safely. They say they will continue to help other Iraqi refugees who come to the Everett area get settled in.
Muntaha Nasir hopes to return to Everett Community College so she can finally get back into dentistry.
Nasir Nasir just wants to get to work.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Marvin J. Ofstun, Janesville, WI (1935 - 2014)
September 18, 1935 - April 6, 2014
Marvin J. Ofstun, age 78, of Janesville, died on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at Rock Haven Nursing Home. He was born in Soldiers Grove, on Sept. 18, 1935, the son of Carl and Malena "Malla" (Wee) Ofstun. He graduated from Soldiers Grove High School in 1954, and had been employed by General Motors for more than 20 years, retiring in 1986. Marvin was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church and the UAW Local 95.
Marvin is survived by four sisters: Eleanor Wagner of Waukesha, Caroline (Monce) Erickson of Madison, Margaret "Muggie" Furley of Fort Atkinson, and Sonja (Arnie) Skrede of Madison; numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends, including his special lady friend, Mary Tullis of Janesville. He was preceded in death by his parents; three siblings: Eda "Edy" Branstadt, Myron "Red" Ofstun and Peter Ofstun; and two nephews, Doug Wagner and Steve Erickson.
A Private family service will be held with Rev. Stephen J. Umhoefer officiating. Interment will be in Soldiers Grove Cemetery. SCHNEIDER APFEL SCHNEIDER & SCHNEIDER FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORY is assisting the family. For on-line condolences and registry: www.schneiderfuneraldirectors.com


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To the delight of those able to afford it, several markets now exist for companies looking to insure Wage and Hour (W&H) risk, which is one of, if not the, largest employment-related exposures in the U.S.
"Carriers are beginning to dip their toe in," says Gerald L. Maatman Jr., a partner in Seyfarth Shaw, a leading national employment and labor law firm. "They are beginning to warm up to the idea."
There may be no better time for the insurance market to enter this particular risk transfer.
According to Seyfarth's widely attributed "Annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report," penned by Maatman, the top 10 private settlements entered into or paid on W&H class-action lawsuits in 2012 amounted to $292 million, up from about $221 million the previous year.
"Five years ago, of every 10 big lawsuits, seven were employment discrimination and three were wage & hour," says Maatman. "Now for every 10 big lawsuits, nine are wage & hour and one is employment discrimination."
Coverage isn't cheap for cases involving employee claims that weren't paid properly. And for now, W&H coverage is basically meant for larger corporations since retentions are very high (at around $5 million for starters). But this testing of the waters—especially if these W&H solutions are relatively successful and gain the attention of competition—could push W&H insurance into the mainstream, similar to how Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) has become more common.
W&H claims remain largely nonexistent from coverage under EPLI policies under the Fair Labor Standards Act exclusion. An insured could perhaps get some defense costs paid if it creatively wrapped a covered peril into the claim, but carriers had become increasingly aware of this tactic and tightened up policy language. Some policies included W&H defense costs, but limits were very low; therefore, the coverage was meant for smaller businesses.
However, as insurers largely shied away from the exposure, businesses did more to mitigate on their own. After all, W&H claims remained an enormous expense: As a result, data was accumulating.
"We felt it was necessary to begin to look at this exposure differently," says Adeola Adele, U.S. Employment Practices Liability product leader in Marsh's Financial and Professional Liability Practice (FINPRO).
It didn't happen overnight. Adele says this was a three-year process of data compiling and careful policy creation, but there are now three lead markets on Marsh's Wage & Hour Preferred Solution program, introduced in January.
"We convinced these markets they wouldn't lose their shirts," Adele says from her office in New York. The policy is gaining traction, she adds: Marsh has one completed application, and there are a few more submissions.
"If you don't test new ideas, you don't get to develop them," she says. "You have to start somewhere."
At least initially, the starting point is with large clients who may still be able to benefit from retaining the first $5 million. This is also the business segment most likely able to absorb the premium the market is demanding. The policy provides up to $100 million in coverage.
Marsh's product also includes a proprietary W&H risk management toolkit from sister company Mercer.
Last year, Aon Risk Solutions was first to appear on the W&H scene with a $50 million-limit W&H product for large employers.
"The problem has always been the archaic nature of the law—a Depression-Era statute applied to the 21st Century workplace," says Tom Hams, national Employment Practices Liability practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions. "This disconnect created an opportunity for the plaintiffs' bar."
However, corporations have been trying to "get it right," Hams adds. Human resources departments are initiating controls to limit claims.
"They've always had the exposure but couldn't transfer the risk," says Hams. "The challenge was educating the marketplace and then one [carrier] stepped up and said, 'I got this.'"
Four others have stepped up as well to create a core W&H market of five carriers. The competition has surprised Hams: Changes within the first few W&H insurance deals related to terms and conditions offered has been "dramatic," he adds.
"You get the competitive juices flowing—the desire for premium," he says. "It's promising for clients."
Richard Betterley, president of Betterley Risk Consultants, once predicted insurers might first start offering W&H coverage to small and mid-sized businesses, whose violations of the FLSA are often times unintentional because they can't keep up with regulations, he says. Still, he calls the current W&H products a "significant step forward in EPLI coverage for larger employers," adding that he "would not be surprised to see other carriers offering comparable products, and perhaps even extending into smaller employers" eventually.
A W&H solution for all could be even more welcomed soon. Maatman says he predicts W&H claims trends to continue since a recent Supreme Court decision (Dukes v. Wal-Mart) makes it much more difficult for plaintiffs to certify class-action discrimination lawsuits.
Whether this ruling applies to W&H claims has yet to be seen, which means "a lot of good lawyers are migrating into [W&H]," observes Maatman, adding in his report that the "crest of the wave of W&H litigation is still not in sight."
W&H litigation outpaced all other types of employment class actions in 2012, and W&H-related ruling from state and federal courts more than tripled decisions for class actions for employment discrimination or Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) combined.
"We are advising employers to make wage-and-hour compliance and risk management a top priority," says Maatman.


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The Canadian Opera Company is delighted to be part of the ever-growing support of honeybees, Currently we host seven hives onthe roof of our opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Follow the honeybees' progress on Parlando, with visits and posts from beekeeper Fred Davis!
NEW - Our bee blog has moved!
Visit Parlando for more updates about our honeybees.
Photographer Geoff Fitzgerald is chronicling the work of urban beekeepers, as they try to understand the issues behind CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). In this article in today's Metro, beekeeper Fred Davis is photographed on the roof of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts!
Posted by Gianna Wichelow / in Press, Bee Update / comments (0) / permalink
This has been a very hot summer, and - as you'll have read in the previous post - the honeybees have their own ways to keep themselves and their hives cool.
But they needed some extra help this year, as the roof of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a very hot place.
Devoted members of the building services team got creative with a very long hose and a sprinkler. The areas around the hives were misted to help cool things down a bit.
The bees, approximately 100,000 of them, are busy producing honey. A big thank you to the wonderful members of the building services team!
Posted by Gianna Wichelow / in Bee Update / comments (0) / permalink
Beekeeper Fred Davis updates us on the honeybees that live on the roof the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts:
We are just about at the mid point of the nectar-gathering period for this year. The bees are playing catch up for the late and wet spring and most hives are very active. Of the seven hives there are three that are doing exceptionally well and are bringing in all kinds of honey. Their queens are doing a fine job of laying eggs. There are two hives that are struggling. We found the queens in both hives but they are not laying many eggs. Unless things change in the next week or two I will have to remove the poorer performing queens and combine hives.
There is a dearth period each summer when honey production slows down and I think we are in the midst of it right now. The bees will pick up production in the next week or so once more flowers bloom.
Hot Bees - I'm happy to see that they have found another source of water other than the little reservoir we placed on the roof which they had been using to drink from and cool themselves. On hot days it's not unusual to see the bees mass outside of the hive in order to keep the temperature cooler inside. There are a number of bees positioned at the entrances fanning their wings in order to create a breeze into the hive. I created a gap to increase ventilation in the hives by placing chopsticks and popsicle sticks in between the supers (hive boxes). This will let a little air escape and cool air enter the hive during these hot summer months.
I plan to harvest all the honey some time in late August. Last year we all remarked on the difference in flavour between the honey we harvested in July and then in September. The first harvest seems to be the sweetest!
Posted by Gianna Wichelow / in Update from Fred / comments (0) / permalink
Read the nutritional guidelines for the FSC Honeybees Honey!


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The Fiber Disease
Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine. Anything human!
Moderator: BioTeam
Since you won't click on a link..I have no choice.
A nanofibrillar cell culture surface that provides a biomimetic environment for more consistent, reproducible, and in vivo-like cell culture, leading to more biologically accurate results.
Nanofiber Inserts
These inserts provide a synthetic nanofibrillar electrospun cell culture surface that mimics the architecture of the basement membrane (BM), a specialized form of the extracellular matrix (ECM) within in vivo systems. This surface provides physiologically important nanotopography for cell attachment, growth, maintenance, and cell-to-cell interactions that more accurately reflect the in vivo environment.
Nanofiber Inserts, Polyamine Surface
These inserts provide a synthetic nanofibrillar electrospun cell culture surface that has been modified with a polyamine surface treatment. This modified surface provides nanotopography with enhanced surface biochemistry for cell attachment, growth, maintenance, and cell-to-cell interactions that more accurately reflect the in vivo environment. It may be used to covalently attach specific biomolecules for desired cellular functions.
Product has been irradiated with electron beam processing. Inspect package integrity before use.
Product remains stable if stored at room temperature and out of direct sunlight. An accelerated stability test was performed with the accelerated challenge providing equivalency to 384 days at room temperature.
Quality Control
Each lot of Ultra-Web Synthetic ECM is monitored for uniformity of fiber size distribution and tested in an attachment assay using the PC12 cell line.
Cells Cultured on Ultra-Web Synthetic ECM
Please see Peer-Reviewed Publications for details on the following cells that were cultured on Ultra-Web Synthetic ECM:
NRK (normal rat kidney)
NIH 3T3 (mouse fibroblast)
T-47D (human breast epithelial)
MCF7 (human breast adenocarcinoma)
Mouse embryonic stem cell
Primary rat cerebellar granule neuron
Primary rat cerebral cortical neuron
Primary rat hippocampal neuron
Primary rat ventral spinal cord neuron
Primary rat dorsal root ganglion neuron
Primary rat astrocyte
PC-12 (rat adrenal pheochromcytoma cell line) (Data not published)
Usage Guidelines
1. Though inserts have been irradiated by electron beam processing and are ready to use, insert may be further sterilized by exposing each side to UV irradiation, if necessary. The standard UV light provided in a biological safety hood is sufficient. (Use of methanol, ethanol, or ethylene oxide is NOT advised.)
2. Place insert into well with the dull/frosted side up. The dull/frosted side contains the nanofibers.
3. If using a hydrogel, poly-l-lysine, lipids, or extra cellular matrix proteins such as laminin, fibronectin, or collagen, incubate the insert with these items prior to seeding.
4. Seed wells by placing "bubble" of cells directly onto disc surface. Use
~100 ml per disc for 24-well plate,
~ 200 ml per disc for 12-well plate, and
~ 400 ml per disc for 6-well plate.
5. After cells are allowed to adhere at standard culture conditions (~30 minutes), add remainder of media to wells, dispensing down the side of each well.
6. Proceed with planned protocol.
Technical Papers List
User's Guide
Organic crystalline nanofibers are a new class of nanoscaled objects for next-generation photonics and optoelectronics
(Polarized fluorescence video of a light-emitting p6P microring; 5 micron diameter.)
Our Mission is to develop protocols for growth and transfer of morphologically and optically controlled organic nanofibers and to produce demonstrators for the implementation of nanofibers into radically new nano-photonic devices.
Air & Water Purification: Battling Bugs
Within the transparent chamber of the Vortex Water Machine, water swirls and ozone bubbles as both are flooded with UV light.
by Mary Lowe
June 1, 2006
New technologies provide safer water.
The market for point-of-use water purification products is expected to grow by leaps and bounds, as consumers want to take more control over the quality of the water they use. They don't just don't water to taste good, they want to be sure it is safe, as in free of contaminants and harmful microorganisms. In some cases, the reason may be a distrust of their municipal water treatment or fear of bio-terrorism. Or perhaps they just want to cut back on the amount of money they spend on bottled water. In any case, there are a number of new technologies emerging that allow consumers to take charge of their water supply.
One such device is the Vortex Water Machine, which launches an all-out, multi-step assault on water.
Ozone. At the beginning of the process, the machine uses UV light to create ozone, a well-established, powerful oxidant that attacks microorganisms and organic compounds. The ozone is siphoned and mixed with the incoming water.
UV light. The water is then subjected to high intensity UV light, which also has an established capacity to destroy microorganisms.
Photo-oxidation. The combination of the UV light and ozone initiates another process called photo-oxidation, in which the UV light causes a rapid conversion of the ozone (O3) back into oxygen (O2), leaving a high concentration of free radicals that further attack microorganisms and organic compounds with an effectiveness many times greater than either the ozone or the UV light by themselves.
Filtration. The water then passes through a 2-micron activated carbon filter with lead adsorption media that removes particulates, lead, parasitic cysts, chlorine and other contaminants.
More UV. After leaving the filter, the water is given a parting shot of high-intensity UV light.
Fig. 1. Effectiveness of Vortex Water Machine.
Vortex says that this last step is critical because of studies that have revealed the colonization of bacteria on and around granular carbon filters. Vortex says that one study found such filters discharging water with more bacteria than the unfiltered water entering it.
The company says its system prevents this problem by zapping the water with UV light both before it enters the filter and after it leaves the filter. Effectiveness of the unit's purification process can be seen in figure 1.
As the photo on the previous page illustrates, a lot of industrial design went into the unit, as well as technology. The transparent, glowing chamber with swirling water makes some of the process visible, in effect, putting on a show for the consumer, and enhancing the products visual appeal.
The unit is easily installed on a countertop, on the wall, or under the counter. It produces clean water from almost any source for less than 7 cents a gallon for up to 1/2 gal. per minute of flow.
The UV light has a lifetime of 10,000 on/off cycles or about three years of normal household use, while filter life is 500 gal., or six months of normal household use. The unit weighs in at just 5 lbs.
A portable solar-powered or battery-powered Vortex Voyager system is available for emergency situations. It can quickly produce clean drinking water from many sources including muddy streams, stagnant ponds, lakes, mud holes, livestock water holes and holding tanks.
Formidable filter
While high-tech approaches to water purification may be a good fit for affluent households looking to cut back on the fancy bottled water, more cost-effective methods may need to be employed in order to achieve wider penetration of point-of-use devices. This will be especially true in the larger, global market. There are many areas of the world where the need for clean water is great, where the water quality is low, but incomes are also low.
Simple filtration with carbon filters has always been the simplest and most cost-effective approach for treating water at point of use, but these traditional methods exhibited a shortcoming in their inability to intercept microorganisms. A few years ago, KX Industries, Orange, Conn., attacked that problem head on by unveiling a breakthrough carbon block filter that provided comprehensive microbiological reduction.
The company then took the technology a step further by developing an inexpensive, chemically coated paper filter flat-sheet medium possessing similar microbiological reduction capabilities, permitting the design of extremely effective point-of-use purification devices that don't require ozone, UV light or chemical disinfectants. Importantly, this new filter media has almost no resistance to water flow, so that even with only gravity as a force, the filter functions effectively. This feature allows the design of purification devices that won't require water pressure to function, further expanding design possibilities for the market.
The filter removes chemical contaminants such as chlorine, taste and odors, and can be arranged to remove specific ion contaminants, such as mercury and lead. The filter additionally removes fine particulate matter, including microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses and cysts with a >99.99-percent interception rate of virus and >99.9999 percent reduction rate of bacteria, in line with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criterion.
Fig. 2. Structure of KX carbon block/nanofiber filter. A multi-layer microbiological interception device might consist of: 1) a prefilter for enhanced dirt-holding capacity, 2) a layer of chemically-treated pulverized activated carbon to provide NOM adsorption and that gels at high NOM concentrations to shut off flow and 3) a final nanofiber barrier treated with the cationic silver halide complex.
The fiber is a composite consisting of a low-cost nanofiber and particulate ingredients, such as an activated carbon and zeolites. The activated carbon intercepts the chemical contaminants, while the nanofibers help to intercept even very fine particulates.
The nanofiber alone, however, does not provide for the ability to intercept virus particles (sometimes as small as 25 nm.), so the nanofiber is chemically treated with a high molecular weight polymer that works almost like a "molecular pico-fiber."
The particles are pulled down to the surface of the nanofibers by the polymer, which extends into the surrounding fluid. The chemistry of the surface treatment additionally includes silver, which over a period of hours, kills the microbiological contaminants that accumulate within the filter medium.
Fig. 3. Enhanced microbiological interception of KX filter. A high molecular weight positively charged polymer extends from the nanofiber surface, and is then complexed with a silver halide colloid to form a final structure (on right) with enhanced interception of microbiological agents, which resists biofilm formation.
Many state governments not only require that water purification products demonstrate microbiological interception efficacy in any quality of water against any organism, but also mandate that the product be intrinsically safe. To meet this intrinsic safety requirement, KX Industries added one additional, but critical, feature to its product.
The chemistry of the surface treatment monitors the amount and quality of water that is sent through the filter, and it shuts down the flow of water after the filter's useful life is completed. This chemical shut down of the filter ensures that the filter either passes microbiologically safe water or no water at all. This feature must be demonstrated during the product's testing and registration for sale, and ensures the consumer's security, according to KX Industries.
Sidebar: Protecting Parts
Ions are released from the surface of the material into moisture layer.
It seems counter-intuitive, but water purification devices themselves can occasionally be sources of water contamination. Filters can be breeding grounds for microbes because of their complex and hard-to-clean structures, which are continually wetted. Tubing, orifices and valves can develop bio-films.
One way makers of such components can prevent that problem is by using antimicrobial compounds that are either embedded in the component materials or as a coating over the materials. An example is a silver-based technology from AgION, Wakefield, Mass., that has been shown to provide long-lasting antimicrobial protection in a variety of commercial, consumer, and medical applications.
The compound, which is comprised of naturally occurring silver ions and a ceramic material called zeolite, has been proven effective against a broad range of microorganisms including bacteria and mold.
Cleaning components with a disinfectant provides a quick, "instant kill" approach that is briefly effective. But in a wet environment, microbes can quickly reestablish themselves. By contrast, components that are fabricated with or coated with an antimicrobial compound deliver enduring protection.
Zeolite ion exchange mechanism allows controlled release of silver ions.
The AgION compound provides continuous protection against microbes by releasing silver ions at a slow and steady rate. This continuous protection prevents the build-up of bacteria, mold and other microbes on filters, decreasing the frequency at which filters require maintenance, or must be cleaned or replaced.
A multifaceted crystal carrier combats microbes in three ways — interrupting cell metabolism, inhibiting membrane transport processes and preventing cell multiplication.
In its ion exchange process, zeolite crystals containing silver ions are randomly oriented and distributed through the surface of a polymer or coating. In conditions that support bacterial growth, the sodium ions, in ambient moisture, exchange with silver ions at reversible bonding sites on the zeolite.
The most significant difference between silver antimicrobials and chemical antimicrobials is the method of attack. Chemical and man-made antimicrobials generally interact with one specific site on a microbe. Silver-based antimicrobials interact with several sites on a microbe, using multiple methods of attack, essentially suffocating the organism.
Comparison of microorganism growth of untreated stainless steel and stainless steel with AgION.
This difference is significant as it relates to the issue of antibiotic resistance, which occurs when microbes find ways to counteract antibiotic attack. If a microbe develops resistance to an antimicrobial that uses a mechanism of attack that is similar to the method used by an antibiotic, resistance to that antimicrobial is likely.
Chemical antimicrobials are often ineffective against common groups of bacteria, while inorganic antimicrobials, such as silver, can kill a wide variety of microbes. Since silver antimicrobials use very different mechanisms than those used by antibiotics, it is unlikely that any resistance to these antimicrobials will translate to resistance to chemical antimicrobials, according to AgION.
Please forgive the way this was written- in a hurry and my thought processes scattered.....I am in fear and do not know what else to do.....this is the best i know how....it is not directed at the posters here but mainly to the people that have physically infiltrated my life....the ones in my immediate environment. I'm just trying to survive.,...someone messed with me, it is not the other way around and do not ever forget that....
Attention all you Alien Hunters.....this goes to all........From the NSF, technocults, Raelians, and the other ones that are breaking the law......Especially my new found one.....
The National Institute of Discovery Science Also to: The JoHN E. Mack Institute AND TO THE Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin AND Harvard to The SETI institute.Yes, you know who you are that lead the pack on Flickr......
I swear to God, I hope this is not Project MKULTRA, god I hope and pray not.
..YOU(referring to the last FEW Co. named here) are...private. You are breaking the law and you know it.My hopes are for you all to get the equipment off of my property and off my body...(This goes to the remote transistors and recievers as well)..if anything happens to me you all will be held responsible.....that goes right down the line to OSU and Nasa too. Also I have the names of the key players that write and speak on forums and shows and the ones that own forums, to Saber and Darrel Sims and the plethora of Dr.s that go with it,.......no, I'm not attempting to single any one organization out in particular either.
Are we playing star wars or stardreams, huh?
Oh hell yeah I got your names, the board members names too and you betcha I'm Scared, and guess what? I'm not going to live like this any longer....not another god damn day... Let me tell you what.....I have a much more extensive list and I have turned it into my attorney, my two doctors, Many other people in my circle......this goes down to the Property manager at my complex, the board President, The fellow here that says he is in training to be a property manager and has the electronic equipment set up in his home to monitor me, to the new art teacher that moved into here, to the names of: The two neighbors that live in front of me, to the one guy that lives directly behind me....and lastly, to the ones across the street that flash their strobes and lasers at my home to the people that live adjacent to me that bbq outside everytime my windows are open (i mean c'mon, dead-arse givaway to BBq when the wind chill was 7 degrees two nights ago)
oh yeah, and the other ones that are here to play virutal reality games everyday when I was still on the internet YES, i DO HAVE YOUR LICSENSE PLATES.........>>>>>(that was just a quick run-down) but this is my final post to you all attention regarding this matter.......
You will not get away with your wicked ways.....there will be no abduction of me.....oh hell no there wont be unless you want to be held responsible......Again, this is my life and I will end it before you do....
I'm not going to report anyone or any company, I just want out of being in your study or in your words "search /quest for a candidate" You all plan on the symbolic, gravity synthesizing enactment of space to further your own psychotic wishes that money will be raised if you prove you agree on the paradigm regarding SETI, nanotechnology, biotech.blah, blah societies and institutions,,,,.....
I know where the gas and particles are coming from and this is inside my home.....got that??/ My home>this goes right down to mr elmore and his design co that rigged up the place last summer when you did the interior of my home.....I know where the dirt particles and gas ARE COMING FROM.....NOW, ALL I WANT IS FOR THEM TO BE REMOVED AND FOR THIS TO BE SHOWN TO ME....
THAT'S ALL i WANT....WHEN AND IF SOMETHING DOES HAPPEN TO ME WELL YOU ALL WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE AND YES, THE NAMES, PHONE #S AND ADDRESSES, PLATES #'S HAVE ALL BEEN TURNED INTO MY SIG. OTHERS.....
SO YOU DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO.....LIKE i SAID, i JUST WANT OUT OF THIS NIGHTMARE.....iF i DO NOT GET PROOF THEN i WILL GO TO THE ONLY OPTION i HAVE LEFT.
THIS IS NOT A THREAT NOR ACCUSATION OF GUILT TO ANYONE....EXCEPT THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN INSIDE OF MY HOME....THE REST THAT i HAVE NAMED HERE, WELL, AGAIN, YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ACCUSED BY ME OF DOING ANYTHING, WHAT i SAID WAS WHEN AND IF SOMETHING DOES HAPPEN TO ME THEN YOU WILL THEN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE.
tHANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION....SORRY IN ADVANCE IF i SOUND RUDE, OR OFFENDED ANYONE BY NAME.. I do not no what else to do and am only trying to survive, I know you can blow my house up and probably will do so or even elecrtrocute me to death if you wish; but I'm not going to participate in your hunted game, you got it?...(i DON'T RECALL GETTING AN APOLOGY FROM YOU, ...) AND LAST THING....NO THIS LIST DID NOT HAVE ALL THE COMPANIES DOWN, NOR ALL THE PEOPLE...THIS WAS JUST WRITTEN OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD.....
Just a quick added note.....I know the vibration of my building is the lasors....Please, just let me go. Maybe this is stupid to post but I am a female and I am scared for my life. Now, I do know (just found what is the proper medicine for us too. I will not post this as a means of good faith. But when and if something happens to me , my doctor will, I just gave him the written copy of this medication and the articles that go with it 2 days ago....so there, that is all. I will keep my word and await you to do the same....ONCE MORE.......THE ORGANIZATIONS I HAVE LISTED AT THE TOP OF THIS POST HAVE DONE NOTHING TO ME THAT i CAN PROVE; THEY ARE THE ONES THAT i HIGHLY SUSPECT. WELL, LETS SEE IF MY CAR BREAKS DOWN SOON SHALL WE.....? WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I WILL COME OUT WITH THE LIST OF NAMES,.....WRITE DOWN TO HUGH R DELUSIONAL'S.....I AM NOT BEING SILLY , NOR PLAYING GAMES....YOU ARE BREAKING THE LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION.
NOW HERE IS THE seti ARTICLE TO PROVE SOME OF THIS.....
National Institute of Discovery Science - Wikipedia, the free ...
The National Institute of Discovery Science (NIDSci) is a small, private, controversial, and somewhat clandestine scientific research group based in Las ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_of_Discovery_Science - 16k - Cached - Similar pages
London..take your damn meds!
But no, they are clean as a whistle......just take a look at the fields of interest, more pigeon fancier types, unless I'm mistaken.
http://www.nemasys.com/rahome/library/p ... ltra.shtml
Dearest Randy,
I see three options here.....
1. I could say something ugly to you
2. Hopefully get South to put a "Muzzle" on you
3. Post the the cure meds......
You PIck, which would you prefer????????? B/c the next ugly post to me then you will not get to choose. How that degree by the way? Nursing was nt it???
Now drugs, me? Why I'm fresh out....but I think that is the best thing for me at this point in the game. why? So I can stay the phuck awake and not dream.....Yeah, it exacerbates the polymer and M5 Fibers in us, but so what? It;s better than the wacky ass dreams.......
Frank, you were a gentlemen in my few post w/ you and I appreciate that but this was all staged.....your entrance and exit.....just scare tactics by some here,.....I have said for the longest I have always had clairvoyance.
Funny, just like the watch bloggers post hate post about lymebusters, etc., it's all fun and games to throw this disease off.....just like with Mary grom Morg. Lying research fndtn......and if I'm not right, then how come the bloggers still can access Lymebusters, etc?????
blah, blah, Anyway, the scare tactics will not work on me as regard to this whole Frank thing.......
Deena, Yes, I guess I don;t get it.....and just for the record to all, the God I love and pray to is the same as Maggie's......
Hang in there Maggie,,,,,Hang it girlfriend.....stay off your computer if you see this Maggie, stay off......I am most worrie about you.....
This is how Randy has arrived at Nanotechnology. No stretch at all, obviously, "not even her mind."
PS: Randy some people here have long ago arrived at nanofibers et al, Dr. Straniger even confirmed it. I believe for our "wee stretch of minds" we were called, "drunks, drug users & abusers, meth. users, crazy, crazy, crazy..."
I am glad you see the nano-light!!! Now, could you please stop with the litany of abusive remarks when someone proffers something you can not comprehend?
Hahahaha. Pigeon fanciers, that's right, that meet for iced-tea and bible study once a fortnight.
This has mkultra all over it, al. Thanks for the link
A side note to JJill regarding CFS,
I am making that connection. I have CFS for 10 years along with some other health problems that may or may nor be related ( ie: thyroid troubles seem to be related, scoleosis doesn't)...
I see the similarities with CFS, the fiber disease, Gulf War Syndrome, Lupus. They are all stealth pathogens. I didn't know CFS was so close to Bb or Lyme disease but the symptoms are similar!
Be Well All,
Any comments about this?
Randy, where is the consern for the sufferers? I thought you were here to lend support?
Guess you're busted too.
Why do you refuse to answer this question?
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text:
The faces behind the scenes
A brief glance behind the scenes at the Kunsthaus is sufficient to confirm that without electricians, painters, carpenters and good organization nothing would work at all. Technical services make a major contribution to ensuring that a new exhibition can be wholly staged in line with the curatorial concept. When it comes to setting up and dismantling an exhibition, time is of the essence and there's not a moment to spare. Departmental head Ronald Arndt's team frequently find themselves confronted with tricky situations, for example working together with restorers to carefully place an artwork.
Technical services maintains and monitors the air conditioning, lighting and alarm systems. "Our men behind the scenes" make a huge contribution to the well-being of museum visitors, who naturally take it for granted that the art on display will be shown in the best possible light. Our department always does its utmost to create the best possible atmosphere; however, unfortunately we are often forced to compromise, as our modest technical resources do not always allow us to accommodate the wishes of the exhibition head. But ultimately it's always an exhilarating feeling when all of a sudden the impossible becomes possible and the museum visitor is able to enjoy another successful exhibition in our Kunsthaus.


text:
For many companies operating in the Eurozone, the deadline for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is looming large on the horizon. As of February 1, 2014—less than five months from today—all domestic credit transfers and direct debits denominated in euros will need to be processed using SEPA credit transfers (SCTs) and SEPA direct debits (SDDs). PwC estimates that these payments account for between 40 percent and 95 percent of in-country transaction volumes. Yet because the European Payments Council took a while to announce the so-called "end date" for SEPA compliance, some corporations kept their SEPA projects on hold for years. The projects should be in high gear at this point.
SEPA-compliant payment processing requires some fairly complicated changes to the way that accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P) software stores and accesses data about a company's banks and customers. It also requires that domestic financial transactions use SEPA-specific formats. Organizations that haven't yet begun the transition, or those in which the SEPA initiative isn't making rapid progress, may find themselves unable to make or collect euro-denominated payments six months from now. A PwC study released last month found that systems for SEPA-compliant payment processing are currently operational in only 11 percent of companies. Twenty-one percent of SEPA projects are still in the design phase, and 10 percent of companies are just now assessing their needs.
Meanwhile, leading-edge businesses are taking full advantage of the technology investment they're required to make to comply with SEPA. They're expanding the scope of the project to improve efficiency throughout their A/R and A/P processes and systems.
SEPA's Tech Basics
Four primary SEPA requirements are driving the software changes that companies need to undertake in order to process euro-denominated debits and credits starting next February. First, SEPA compliance requires a company to supply an International Bank Account Number (IBAN) for every SEPA credit transfer and SEPA direct debit. Until 2016, companies will also have to supply a SWIFT Bank Identifier Code (BIC) for every cross-border SCT and SDD.
Second, all euro-denominated payments that are not urgent will have to be submitted using the ISO 20022 XML message format.
Third, companies will need to hold a valid mandate for all consumers and organizations that will be paying in euros using direct debit. A mandate is a form completed by the customer that authorizes the creditor to collect payments via direct debit and authorizes the debtor bank to make those payments. To achieve SEPA compliance, a business will need to store this information in a structured electronic format. That's because companies will need to include some of the mandate information in their ISO 20022 collection messages in order to receive payments. Holding the data electronically expedites this process and reduces the risk of error. But it also requires a mandate-management system that stores customer mandate information.
Finally, SEPA dictates rules and technical standards that companies need to follow when submitting collection messages for direct debits to their banks. The schemes vary depending on the type of receivable—e.g., whether it's the first in a series of direct debits, a one-off payment, etc.—and their rules vary depending on the scheme type (consumer vs. business-to-business). Companies that collect euro-denominated direct debits have to make sure their A/R processes comply with the appropriate SEPA schemes.
Mastering the Master Data
The SEPA credit transfer process is fairly straightforward. Nevertheless, SEPA may cause some complications for companies that make euro-denominated credit transfer payments. One issue is SEPA's use of BICs and IBANs. Companies preparing for SEPA need to locate their master data, the bank data for all the vendors and suppliers they need to pay. Then they need to determine whether the system holding this data (typically the ERP system) has the ability to store both BICs and IBANs. Most ERP systems that are not up to date cannot store BICs and IBANs; they are able to store only domestic bank data. However, newer ERP systems should have been amended to support BIC and IBAN data. Custom-built applications that initiate payments will probably require custom work. Businesses with a complex back-office infrastructure may discover that their master data is stored in several locations, which can cause difficulties because several systems might need to be changed to support BIC and IBAN numbers.
Companies should also determine whether the system that holds their payments master data is capable of exporting BIC/IBAN data with other payment information to construct a valid SEPA credit transfer. Systems that currently initiate payments using domestic formats may not be able to use BIC and IBAN information. It's one thing to change the system to be able to store this information, but another to ensure that it can export the data when doing a payment run. Obviously, one potential solution is to amend the ERP system to export SEPA-compliant ISO pain.001 credit transfer messages directly.
If a company determines that its A/P systems can accommodate banks' BIC and IBAN identifiers, it then needs to confirm that the systems already hold this data for its current beneficiaries. Companies that do not already have SEPA-compliant data may want to hire a service provider in a one-off engagement to enrich their master data with BICs and IBANs. There are also options for checking bank identifier data for new vendors/suppliers on an ongoing basis using software that is either installed locally or available in the cloud.
Finding the Right Format
Some companies have already transitioned to ISO 20022 format for credit transfer messaging in cross-border payments because the format usually allows for large savings on bank fees. However, because domestic payments have not typically offered the same savings incentives, many businesses have held off on reformatting their domestic payments messaging. Companies that have not yet made this transition have three main options for moving to the pain.001 format.
First, they can make changes to all their affected back-office software systems so that each system produces payments in the ISO 20022 XML format, complete with SEPA-compliant bank data. This is likely to be the most expensive option for companies with a heterogeneous back-office environment.
Second, the companies can allow the disparate back-office systems running in each of their divisions to continue to output the domestic payment formats they're used to producing, then they can run every payment through a corporate payment factory or transaction banking solution before submitting it to the appropriate bank. In this type of environment, a software solution converts the instructions produced by a legacy application into ISO 20022 XML and enriches the payments with additional data where necessary for SEPA compliance. This approach offers an efficient path to SEPA adoption because it focuses the changes in one location. In essence, a payment factory can help insulate the company's different back offices from some of the changes that SEPA requires.
Finally, companies may want to try asking their cash-management banks to convert their domestic payments from their legacy formats to ISO 20022 XML. This approach essentially outsources the problem to the banks. Although it might be a viable short-term option, banks are allowed to provide this type of service only for a limited time. Provisions in the EU's SEPA legislation require these services to be decommissioned by 2016. Not only that, but some banks are not currently planning to provide ISO 20022 conversion services. Unless all of a company's banks will provide such a solution, this route may be complex to manage. Obviously, organizations considering turning ISO 20022 conversion over to their banks should ask how much this service will cost before they make a decision.
What to Do About the Mandates
SEPA direct debits are more complex than SEPA credit transfers. In addition to the BIC/IBAN and XML-format issues, which affect both credit transfers and direct debits, SDD rules include further requirements that impact a company's procedures from front office to back office. Thus, SEPA direct debits present business process issues as well as data management challenges. Companies that approach SEPA compliance with this in mind will likely do a better job of examining their processes for collecting payments via direct debits and identifying the touch points within the organization. This improves their chances of setting up an optimal process and avoiding problems in the future.
For many companies, the biggest challenge created by SDDs is the requirement that the business begin storing a mandate for each customer from whom it wishes to collect money. Each Eurozone country has a slightly different approach to collecting the mandate information. For example, Belgium has established a national mandate database containing all existing mandates, and has made the database available for use by creditors.
The first step in achieving compliance is to determine whether the company already maintains SEPA-compliant mandates for its customers. If it does store some mandates, it needs to evaluate whether they are currently in paper or electronic format, and whether it has mandates for all customers or only for a subset. If a company doesn't currently store customer mandates, it should examine the processes and software solutions it has in place, in order to establish whether they can support mandates. It also needs to determine whether its systems are capable of automatically adding this mandate information to collection messages. If the answer to any of these questions is no, the company needs to build a business case, budget, and plan a project to incorporate SEPA mandates into its processes.
Companies that currently store paper mandates but have systems capable of storing them in electronic format can scan the paper version, then use an optical character recognition (OCR) solution or service to translate it into the appropriate electronic format. However, the information on a paper mandate may not include the BIC or IBAN data for the customer's bank, which would then need to be added. Some software solutions enable a company's customers to fill out and validate their mandate information online. Other solutions enable companies to import this data directly from customers' banks; availability of this type of service varies by country. If a company receives customer-mandate information through this type of service, it will need to import the data into a mandate database.
Once a company has made it past the initial deadline for SEPA compliance, it will need a solution for the ongoing addition of new mandates as it acquires new customers. It can implement a software solution for storing new mandates electronically, but it may instead pursue a traditional, paper-based approach, from which it can either enter mandate data manually into the database or use scanning and OCR services on an ongoing basis.
Payment Schemes and R Messages
The last major change to direct debits introduced by SEPA is the deployment of new rules for payment schemes, particularly rules around handling "R messages," which cover the exception processes for direct debit messages across rejections and refunds. Companies operating in the Eurozone have two main options for supporting the new payment scheme rules. One option is to utilize a software solution focused on SEPA direct debit mandates and transaction processing. Such an application can handle all the R messages related to the company's SDD transactions, integrating with the back office to provide required general ledger updates related to payment rejections, refund requests, etc. A company could implement this type of software centrally, routing all its direct debit collections through the centralized solution. It could also enable its various divisions to separately use a cloud-based solution.
The other option is to make changes to every affected back-office system so that all the company's systems can support R messages and the associated scheme rules. This may be the more expensive option, but for companies which drive large volumes of collection messages from billing systems that are integral to their business (e.g., telecommunications companies), it may be the more desirable solution.
This is not a process companies can outsource to their banks. However, large cash management banks are providing solutions to help their corporate customers streamline management of direct debit mandates and transaction processing. These are primarily single-bank solutions, so while this option may be suitable for smaller organizations that can concentrate all their euro-denominated collections with one bank, it may not meet the requirements of large corporations that need to use multiple banks in the Eurozone.
Consider a Wider Perspective on Payments Reengineering
At its most basic level, meeting SEPA requirements forces an organization to examine its internal processes and procedures for receiving payments via direct debits and making payments via credit transfers. Smart businesses are using this examination as a catalyst that spurs a broad-scale reconsideration of how they manage receivables and payments.
Some companies are choosing to centralize euro-denominated credit transfers or direct debits, or both, as part of their SEPA initiative. Doing so can provide several benefits beyond SEPA compliance. It can help the organization rationalize its banking relationships and reduce the number of strategic transaction-processing partners it uses for euro payments and/or debits. Not only might this simplify cash management, but it also has the potential to reduce spending on bank fees, as economies of scale apply in the negotiation process with banking partners.
Centralization of payments and receivables also streamlines management of euro currency balances, enabling a multinational corporation to move money more easily and cheaply to wherever the company can put it to use most efficiently. Along the same lines, generating all of a company's euro-denominated payments through a centralized group simplifies the adoption of a "payments on behalf of" (POBO) structure, through which the company makes all payments from a very small number of centrally managed accounts. And a centralized organization allows the business to decommission its disparate country-specific systems, focusing resources on centralized solutions for euro-denominated payments and/or receivables processing. This can substantially reduce an organization's technology infrastructure costs.
In fact, a company might consider taking its A/R and A/P centralization even further. The same benefits that it can achieve in the Eurozone may be available if the organization rationalizes and centralizes all payments on a global scale. Because of the move to one currency and one set of scheme rules, SEPA naturally guides an organization toward a centralized approach to cash management. What may be less obvious to corporations is that they can harvest similar efficiency gains by centralizing payments processes across all payment types, banks, and countries in which they operate. The move to a global reengineering project can begin in conjunction with a SEPA compliance project, even though it will likely involve activities that may not be seen as part of SEPA. SEPA requirements build a great launch pad for multinational businesses that want to improve process efficiency throughout their organization.
Andrew Owens is SVP of Enterprise Payments in SunGard's corporate liquidity business, where he is responsible for the Corporate Payment Factory business, supplying comprehensive software and services solutions to large corporations. Owens has substantial business and technology experience relating to both payments and SWIFT across the corporate and bank sectors.


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Let me just come out and admit it: The moment I heard the kiss of a rumor that the State of New Mexico might step in and save the College of Santa Fe, I decided it was the perfect solution and nothing else would do.
The whispering said that Gov. Bill Richardson liked the idea, that the college would remain independent from the University of New Mexico and retain its arts focus, that tuition would drop and that regional enrollment would increase. Lottery funds would offset costs and the state could lay claim to a progressive, arts-centric liberal arts school in its gem of a capital, Santa Fe.
The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and other for-profit colleges vying to scoop up some City Different real estate could, as they say, take a flying f *ck at a rolling donut. Richardson loves to be a hero and Cabinet Secretary of Higher Education Reed Dasenbrock expressed serious interest as well, so I figured those boys and I were on the same page with this one.
So, imagine my surprise when it was reported that the CSF board voted unanimously to move toward a "partnership" with Laureate Education, Inc. Soon after, CSF President Dr. Stuart Kirk announced that the wheels of state government were too slow (meaning, also, that the situation at CSF was too dire) to pursue any option with the state. When I finally sat down with Kirk to get the full story, I wanted to know why the deal with the state is dead.
"Our financial situation is such that the state would have had to take a pretty big bite in order to make us part of their system," Kirk says. "The state has to go through appropriation processes and this and that."
Reluctant to go on the record about the full extent of CSF's debt and the speed with which it must be satisfied, Kirk is clear that it can't wait until the next state legislative session. Talks with the state began approximately four months ago—too late for consideration in the last round of funding—in another demonstration of the sometimes stubborn and insular nature of the college, despite its recent attempts to be more open and involved with the community.
Kirk, however, backs the CSF decision to pursue a partnership with Laureate. He says he's personally vetted the company and its educational holdings, and spoke with at least one of the university presidents within the Laureate network, all to favorable impressions. "They're expecting to invest $80 million dollars here over the next few years," he says. (According to the rumor mill, approximately 40 percent of that would go toward satisfying the existing debt.) Additionally, following detailed discussion with Laureate, Kirk feels satisfied that no Santa Fe staff positions will be lost, and he expects the addition of new positions and facilities.
The idea of a for-profit corporation taking over a beloved community, educational institution is a hard pill. No getting around it. When Laureate's chairman and CEO Douglas Becker led a buyout on the company a few years ago, making the transition from publicly traded to private, there was an uproar and a fight. Shareholders felt that the chairman, in selling the company to a consortium including himself, was low-balling stock prices. Becker and his investors outwitted other shareholders, however, and took the corporation private. Since then, nothing untoward has blipped on the company's radar screen and it has been able to operate unbeholden.
Kirk, who holds a PhD in economics, argues that such freedom is what will allow the company to invest so heavily in Santa Fe with the hope of returns at least 10 years out. Laureate has never purchased and destroyed or parted out a campus. CSF is—cliché as it is to say—cash poor and land rich, but selling everything and parting out the campus is, as Kirk says, "about a wash," given the significant debt.
So, let's look at the best possible situation, which involves a Maryland-based, global education consortium taking hold of our community's most populist full-degree college. Major Laureate investors include Microsoft founder (and regional hero) Paul Allen, liberal icon and progressive global financier George Soros and the conservative but savvy Harvard Endowment Fund. Kirk's assessment is that Laureate is willing to invest in CSF because of the cache of Santa Fe. Doing the numbers on when Laureate might actually pull a profit is brutal; but if it's the truth, nothing but gain exists for the local economy and the future of CSF. True, an ideally superior and more locally friendly situation could have come from working with the state, but would the state have been able or compelled to invest some $50 million beyond satisfying CSF's debt? Doubtful.
So, one may decry CSF's vote to court Laureate, but Laureate's willingness to invest in Santa Fe in many ways outweighs Santa Fe's willingness to invest in itself. If Kirk's belief that Laureate will follow through with its investment and a mission to integrate the college within the community—while leaving admission standards and core mission in the hands of CSF—is true, there could hardly be a better option. At a time when for-profit contractors are making gruesome impacts on military maneuvers and prison management and corporate citizens can hardly be said to have the nation's best interests at heart, it's a frightening place to entrust education. Still, Laureate has a check that other private companies don't. Not shareholders, but a significant student body in countries like France and Mexico where the students don't take poor conditions lying down and are known to rally and protest at the drop of a hat (or the need for a faculty pay raise).
And if the Laureate deal doesn't go through? "It would be a hard scramble," Kirk says. "It would be very difficult."


text:
27th Infantry Division WWII Cap
Enjoy a Military cap that is a Black, poly, five panel, full back (not mesh) and fully adjustable embroidered with the 27th Infantry Division WWII.
Item usually is shipped within 1-5 business days.
Official Licensed Product of the U.S. Army. By federal law, licensing fees paid to the U.S. Army for use of its trademarks provide support to the Army Trademark Licensing Program, and net licensing revenue is devoted to U.S. Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation programs.
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text:
Slick roads cause Interstate crashes
Two semitrailer truck crashes affected traffic on Interstate 90/39 for four hours Monday night and into early Tuesday morning.
According to notifications from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, a semi crashed just before midnight in a northbound lane just north of Newville Road. The crash scene was cleared two hours later.
Just after midnight, a semi rolled over in a northbound lane between County MM and Palmer Drive. The crash scene was cleared just before 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Snow hit Rock County around 10:30 p.m. Monday, and the roads got bad around 11 p.m., said a spokesman from the Wisconsin State Patrol.
"Traffic is doing good, now, but the roads are still probably a little slick now," he said, before 5 a.m. Tuesday.
One person is believed to have been injured in one of the semi crashes, but no other details were available.
Snowplows were out on the Interstate and in the city of Janesville before 4 a.m., said a dispatcher at the Rock County Communications Center.


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Grammar page 4
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Revision as of 07:30, 21 August 2006
The third page of the grammar lessons.
Making adverbs from adjectives
However i-adjectives and na-adjectives can be used other ways as well.
- Adjectives at the ends of sentences.
クレイさんの車は赤いです。kureisan no kuruma wa akai desu.
Clay's car is red.
クレイさんは元気です。kureisan wa genki desu.
Clay is well.
In polite (~masu form) text both sorts of adjectives are used with です desu after them. With i-adjectives it is usual to have the adjective change, but the desu not changing. (前の車は黒かったです。mae no kuruma wa kurokatta desu. The previous car was black.)
In dictionary (plain) form i-adjectives need nothing after them at the end of sentences. (クレイさんの車は赤い kureisan no kuruma wa akai) but na-adjectives are more like nouns and have to have the plain copola だ da after them (クレイは元気だ。kurei wa genki da.)
- Turning adjectives into adverbs
Both i-adjectives and na-adjectives can be turned into adverbs, that is used to modify verbs. Let's see how that works.
i-adjective as an adverb
クレイさんの車は速く走っています。kureisan no kuruma wa hayaku hashitteimasu.
Clay's car is going fast.
As you can see you just change the final 'i' to a 'ku'.
And now for na-adjectives.
ポールさんは下手に歌っています。po-rusan wa heta ni utatteimasu.
Paul is singing badly.
This time you just put a 'ni' after the na-adjective (instead of a 'na').
Making the て form
If you know how to make this form, you can do a lot! Later we will look at other grammar points that are based on the te form. By itself the te form makes a verb a request (or demand)
- のむ nomu (to drink) > のんで nonde (drink)
- たべる taberu (to eat)> たべて tabete (eat)
- する suru (to do) > して shite (do)
These are the ways to make the te form for each of the 3 types of verbs. If you are new to the "types of verbs" thing, don't worry. Now I know there are many grammarians out there that would argue against what I am about to say, but here's my advice. Don't worry about learning all the confusing rules about how to make this verb do that. Just say it as you feel it should be. Of course you will make many mistakes, but if you keep your ears open and learn from your mistakes you will get a feel for how the verbs work. Take the te form for an example. If you memorize the 3 examples at the top you should be able to guess what other verbs may change to. Or even if you guess wrong, the correct form should be at least familiar to you.
Become になります
To show the state of becoming... something, use ~に なります ni narimasu The ni is placed after what is becoming something. The narimasu means to become. Nouns and -na adjectives use ni narimasu. -i adjectives are different, but for now there are enough useful nouns to look at:
yoru ni narimashita.
It has become night.
[~mashita shows past]
tomodachi ni narimashou.
Let's become friends.
[the ~mashou means "let's"]
genki ni narimashita.
(I) have become fine / healthy.
To do, play する・します
Suru is a very useful verb. It is used where no other verb dares to go! (Foreign words, nouns, and other scary things...) Think of it as "to do..."
ジョギングする jogingu suru - to (do) jogging
ショッピングする shoppingu suru - to (do) shopping
サインする sain suru - to sign (autograph)
勉強する benkyou suru - to study
mainichi, nihongo o benkyou shimasu.
Everyday, (I) am studying Japanese.
The を o is the direct object marker. You will notice it moves around sometimes. Don't worry about this now, just concentrate on suru.
Another usage of する -or- します is "to play" as in sports or games
野球をする yakyuu o suru. To play baseball.
相撲をする。 sumou o suru. To play (do) Sumo.
バスケットバールをする。 basuketto ba-ru o suru. To play basketball.
将棋をする。 shougi o suru. To play shogi (Japanese chess)
more, ~er もっと
One easy way to say "MORE" or "-er" is to add a もっと motto before the thing you want to emphasis. This is one of the rare times that the word order is the same with English - or at least with the more part! Relish the moment (while you can)
{ motto ~ = more ~ }
もっとピーマンを食べなさい。 motto pi-man o tabenasai. Eat more green peppers.[~nasai is like the te form in that it gives commands, but it is stronger. ]
{ motto ~ = ~er }
もっと早く言って下さい。 motto hayaku itte kudasai. (Next time) please say (it) a little earlier. [Useful when someone tells you NOT to cut the yellow wire of the bomb after you have done that...]
There are several different ways of adding the 'if' meaning to a sentence. Here えば, たら and なら are covered.
えば eba
えば Replace the final 'u' of the romaji version with 'eba'. For example the godan verb 'aruku' becomes 'arukeba'. The ichidan verb 'taberu' becomes 'tabereba'.
歩けば十分かかります。arukeba juppun kakarimasu.
If you walk it will take 10 minutes.
たら tara
たら is formed the same way as the past tense of the dictionary verb with ら added. So 'iu' goes to past tense 'itta' to 'ittara'.
手伝うと言ったらそうするでしょう。tetsudau to ittara sou suru deshou.
If he said he'd help then he will.
なら nara
なら goes after the dictionary form of a verb.
手伝う(の)ならさっそくはじめてください。tetsudau (no) nara sassoku hajimete kudasai.
If you're going to help, get started now please.
もし moshi
もし is a word that goes at the start of a sentence and lets you know that an 'if' phrase is coming up. もし can be added to all of the above example sentences.
Special 'if' phrases
Some useful phrases ...
moshi yokereba...
If it is ok with you... [let's do this...]
moshi hoshikattara,
If you want (it), - when offering something to someone
Can できます
There are a couple of ways to say "I can..." in Japanese. The easiest is できます dekimasu. Let's look at how to form some sentences.
1. 日本語ができます。 nihongo ga dekimasu.
I can (speak) Japanese. [I can do Japanese.]
2. 漢字ができます。 kanji ga dekimasu.
I can (read/write) kanji. [I can do kanji.]
3. スカイダイビングができます。 sukaidaibingu ga dekimasu.
I can skydive.
Actually, the above are all shortened versions without the verb. Let's add the verb. koto means thing, but here it is used to make a verb a noun so it will work with dekimasu.
1 日本語を話すことができます。 nihongo o hanasu koto ga dekimasu.
I can speak Japanese.
2 漢字を読むことができます。 kanji o yomu koto ga dekimasu.
I can read kanji.
Be creative and come up with things you can do!
-ing ている
This is a very important grammar point. It corresponds to the English "-ing" form
EAT > EATING (now) たべます > 食べています
CONSTRUCTION: て form + います or いる
Use this to describe things happening now.
1.今あなたに話しています。 ima anata ni hanashite imasu. (I am talking to you now.)
2.今ごはんを食べています。 ima gohan o tabete imasu. (I am eating rice (food) now.)
3.今スカイダイビングをしています。 ima sukaidaibingu o shite imasu. (I am skydiving now.)
To make a question just add か to the end.
あなたは勉強していますか。anata wa benkyou shite imasu ka. (Are you studying?)
This これ・この
This and that. Actually Japanese also has one more. They also have "that over there" - but we will get at that later.
There are 2 words in Japanese that are translated as "this" in English:
これ kore - When "this" is not connected to a noun - hang on you will get it in a minute
kore wa nan desu ka?
What is this?
これはねこです。 kore wa neko desu. This is a cat.
To say "This is" or "is this" the kore will probably be followed by a は wa
この kono - When you put "this" before a noun, it changes to kono
kono neko wa pochi desu ka?
Is this cat, Pochi?.
iie kono inu wa pochi desu.
No. This dog is Pochi.
It may seem strange at first, but after a while This and That become second nature!
That それ・その
This and that. Now we are on the THAT part. So this THAT refers to objects near the listener (not the speaker)
それ sore - when "that" is not connected to a noun
sore wa nan desu ka?
What is that?
sore wa neko desu.
That is a cat.
Begin to think of the words starting with K's as "this" and the S's as "that" words
その sono - When you put "that" before a noun, it changes to sono
sono neko wa pochi desu ka?
Is that cat, Pochi?.
iie sono tako wa pochi desu.
No. That octopus is Pochi.
This is used in the same way as kono
That over there あれ・あの
This and that. Now we are on the THAT OVER THERE part. So this THAT refers to objects not near the listener or the speaker.
あれ are - when "that" is not connected to a noun
are wa nan desu ka?
What is that over there?
are wa neko desu.
That over there is a cat.
And now recognize A's mean That over there
あの ano - When you put "that" before a noun, it changes to ano
ano neko wa pochi desu ka?
Is that cat over there, Pochi?.
iie ano kujira wa pochi desu.
No. That whale over there is Pochi.
Again they ALL are used in the same way.


text:
Thank you for your reply,
Dhammanando wrote:If one is a worldling there is no 'how' about it. One cannot not conceive, nor is not conceiving one's task. Likewise if one is an arahant there is no 'how' about it: having cut off the fetter of māna the arahant does not have to deliberately refrain from conceiving any more than he needs to deliberately abstain from immoral conduct.
Then "how" do you suggest one becomes an Aryan?
With best wishes,


text:
Interdependence refers to how much you need dependency or a "couple identity" with your partner.
Intimacy refers to the how much you need emotional closeness with your partner.
Self-Efficacy refers to your self-image, stability of mood and level of motivation.
Relationship readiness
Relationship Readiness refers to how prepared you are emotionally, psychologically and pragmatically for a committed relationship.
Communication refers to your approach to interpersonal interactions and level of emotional intelligence.
Conflict resolution
Conflict Resolution refers to your stress management and problem solving skills.
Sexuality refers to your needs (frequency, boundaries, expressions) related to physical intimacy.
Attitudes toward love
Attitudes Toward Love refers to your level of needs for romantic love and friendship love.
Preferred Expressions of Affection
Preferred Expressions of Affection refers to your likes and dislikes for different ways a partner can express love and devotion.
This test was created by the world's foremost team of academic psychologists who specialize in personality testing, To read more about our assessment check out our FAQ page.


text:
Zatterberg Playlot Park
4246 N. Hermitage Ave. Chicago, Illinois 60613
(312) 742-7518
Fee: Free
Age Range: Toddlers, all ages
Toddlers, Tunes and Turtles, now in its seventh year, is an outdoor nature program where families can enjoy the park together. We provide animal experts that bring a variety of live animals like frogs, snakes, birds, and of course, turtles. We also have musicians come and sing family friendly music to eager crowds. There are instruments for the kids to play with, puzzles, books, blocks, fishing and more! A star feature is nature free play which is proven to help children developmentally as they build forts out of sticks, touch pine cones or smell cinnamon bark. This event is open to the neighborhood, park groups and everyone in the city. Toddlers, Tunes & Turtles is free thanks to a grant from Parkways Foundation.
Adult supervision is required throughout the evening.


text:
Tuley Park
501 E. 90th Pl. Chicago, Illinois 60619
(312) 747-6763
Fee: Free
Age Range: Any
Dance in the Parks brings free, professional dance performances to new audiences in the most accessible venues in the Chicago-land area and neighborhood parks. Dance in the Parks exposes audiences unfamiliar with dance to the art form as well as to local performers and choreographers in a relaxed, casual atmosphere.Visit www.danceintheparks.org for more information.


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North Park Village Nature Center
5801 N. Pulaski Rd. Chicago, Illinois 60646
(312) 744-5472
Fee: Free
Registration Fee: Free
Age Range: All Ages
Come and see the entire maple syrup-making process from tapping the tree and collecting the sap, to boiling it down into syrup. Take a walk through the sugar bush, enjoy storytelling, make a maple craft, warm yourself by the fire, and taste real maple syrup fresh off the fire. The Maple Syrup Festival is a sweet and warm tradition that is free and fun for all ages. No registration required.


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With Quandoo, reserving a table in Scarborough, Scarborough is as easy as apple pie. After finding the Scarborough, Scarborough restaurant that's right for you, simply select a dining time and book your table instantly. Piece of cake!
Looking to branch out a bit? Shake up your routine with a reservation at a restaurant in Scarborough, Scarborough. It never hurts to change things up, after all, and with Quandoo, dining in Scarborough, Scarborough is cinch. Use a variety of filters to narrow down your search, look up menus and opening hours and see reviews left by other Quandoo users. Reserve for free at more than 13 restaurants in Scarborough, Scarborough.