text:
- Home
- Skin Care
- Shop by Category
- Acne Control
Blemish and Acne Control
Yikes, Zits are the worst; however, our Peppermint Pimple Zapper is an excellent product for dealing with normal outbreaks of acne. It is a straightforward and efficient therapy. Acne can cause emotion distress and anxiety. This misery is particularly the case if you're a teenager, but our Peppermint Pimple Zapper brings relief. This treatment is the one product you need if suffering from common acne.
This astringent and healing formula is a clean, and refreshing ointment. It both treat and nourishes the skin while reducing oiliness and redness. Easy to use, but without all the extra, high-powered ingredients offered in some commercial brands. Made from pure organic plant extracts and essential oils.
Our Peppermint Pimple Zapper comes in a variety of sizes, including the very popular and refillable glass rollerball. A personal 2-ounce size is a perfect bottle from which to refill your roller-ball.
An economical professional size bottle, containing 4-ounces, is also available
Rollerball Zapper, 0.35 oz (5038)
Peppermint Pimple Zapper Rollerball, 0.35 oz
Choose Options


text:
Thursday, April 26, 2007
We're already on the way. For the past month, it turns out that I've been weaning him, slowly and gradually, without much of a plan or intention, and today I didn't breastfeed him at all. My breasts hardly seem to notice — they're not leaking or hurting or anything. Maybe it's because I haven't stopped cold-turkey. The last holdout seems to be at night, when he wakes up next to me, and the easiest thing to do is to nurse him. I hope that will last for a long time. I hope my milk will stay, at least during the nighttime.
It started after what must have been his six-month growth spurt, when it became obvious that he wasn't getting enough to eat from me anymore. I'd feed him, but he'd still cry and seem hungry, particularly in the evenings. We thought, let's try a bottle of formula, just one, at night before he goes to bed. And Daniel was so grateful. The first time we filled a four-ounce bottle with formula, he sucked it down in a matter of minutes and stayed in a smiley mood until he went to bed. Pretty soon, it became the random bottle here and there — at church, at the mall. I thought I'd just try to pump more and force my supply to keep up or get bigger. But I was so busy this month that I let the pumping slide. Breastfeed less, and the body makes less milk. As it turns out, mixing a bottle of formula is so much easier than pumping. So it got to the point where it was my breastmilk supplementing the formula instead of the other way around. And today ... well, the only time I tried to breastfeed him, he wasn't hungry and just bit me.
Mostly, I'm OK with where this is going. I think I'm ready to make the transition, and I'm glad I've been able to take my time and ease off from it slowly. Breastfeeding is hard work sometimes, and physically demanding: My body has ached in the past eight months like never before. Weaning Daniel now means Stephen and I can try for another baby if we want. And even if that doesn't work out, I do look forward to going out and buying some sexy bras again! I am happy to have nursed for as long as I have; I never had a goal of one year or "until he weans himself," like some mothers do — which is admirable, but not my desire. In the back of my mind, I imagined I'd feel good if I could nurse Daniel for six months. I think he's received many benefits from being breastfed this long, and being on formula isn't going to change that.
What does hurt is that this is the first "letting go" I've had to face with my sweet, growing son. The images I have of looking down at his peaceful face, his busy mouth as I feed him, are etched on my heart. I remember the first time he latched on in the hospital — how he rooted around so purposefully until he found what he was looking for and went to town, the perfect little sucker. It's hard to imagine putting all that behind me. It is one of the most exquisite and intimate bonds I have ever known. And now I am teary-eyed again as I write this. (Do hormones run amok when a woman stops nursing?) Part of me wonders if I should pull out the pump and try to build back my milk supply, to go back to the way things were. I don't know if that's the answer. Maybe I just need to feel the sadness and be present to it. Another part of me would like to find some meaningful ritual that will help me honor and say goodbye to this part of our relationship. Do other women do that? I'd like to know. All I know for sure is that I will continue to cherish these nighttime feedings for as long as they last.
8 comments:
I just had to comment on how beautifully written and clost to home this was. Although I am not there yet, I know the day will soon come and I will be feeling the exact same way. Anyhow, reading this made me cry and I hope you're doing okay :)
Jennifer from ECFE
- Emilie said...
Aw, thanks, Jennifer. :)
- Kristine said...
You know, I can't really relate to this specific topic, as I was unable to breastfeed. I do commend you for keeping up with it for as long as you did. I know it must be a tough thing to stop, but just think - you supplied him with all of the nutrients he needed to get as big and strong as he is! You did great!! :)
- liz said...
Kristine, I can't relate to this topic either! ;) But seriously, Emilie, I think it is wonderful that you're doing what works for you. I've noticed that the breastfeeding topic seems to carry a lot of guilt trips... no matter what you do. Kudos for knowing what's right and sticking to it.
- liz said...
P.S. Thanks for the Krista Tippett rec! I didn't know she had a book out - I'm SO excited to read it!
Em, this is a cheezy cliche you've probably heard already, but it's better to have bonded with Daniel via breast feeding, and have to painfully let it go, than to never have breast fed him at all.
You really do bond with breast feeding, and although things are weening off, the bond produced will NOT wear off. Later on, the effects of the bond will show through.
- Susanne
- LutherLiz said...
I can't really relate as of yet, but I would try to think of all the new and wonderful things you will get to see daniel do...talking, walking and interacting with you more and more. There will be so many beautiful moments to capture. It may be sad that the breast feeding moments will naturally fade, but there will be new and wonderful ones to come.
Emilie, I have to echo what Jennifer said. Your comments about breastfeeding were beautifully written and also hit home with me - it made me teary- eyed. I am going to be weaning Kate when she is a year old (which is in 23 days!), and I have been feeling quite emotional about the prospect. I actually stood in my kitchen a couple of weeks ago and cried because of some breastfeeding issues I've been experiencing. By the way, I do think hormones run amok when you're weaning! Just wanted you to know that it was helpful to me to read your comments, and to know that someone else is feeling much the same way as me.
Shannon from ECFE

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Flashback Friday- Trimming The Tree
Friday, November 26, 2010
Oh sorry, I was one of the crazies lined up outside of Old Navy at midnight last night. Pajama pants for $5. ...FIVE, DOLLARS.
...but when under the pressure of savings, I ditched my bag full of slippers and plaid pants around 12:45am, when I realized that it was probably going to take until 4:00 in the morning, no joke, for the line to move from the little boys section, past the fittings rooms, down to the cash registers.
Maybe because the majority of Old Navy employees are 16 (I used to be one of them, by the way), so they were majorly under staffed? Fa la lala.
And when we left (my friend Autumn braved the chaos with me), there were still people lined up outside, bundled up and freezing in the 20 degree weather, to get into club Old Navy. Was ridiculous.
So, I may not have gotten all of the $5 pajama pants that I had intended to, but- at least I got to come home and go to sleep before the sun came up. You people are nuts. I can't compete.
Now... lets do some flashbacking?
I don't know about you guys, but its tradition in our house, to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. This year I kinda jumped the gun a smidge, by letting the kids watch A Charlie Brown Christmas three times in a row the other day (I needed a babysitter, and I needed to make pie), and we maaaybe have been listening to the Christmas swing station on Pandora every day for the past week, but- we save the decorating for today.
This is a picture from last year. Eleanore's fluffy butt tutu, the kitty on the window sill, and our beautiful tree in the making.
Do you think that tutu will still fit her this year?
...my fingers are crossed that all of her growth from the past year was upwards, and I'll get another year of Christmas ballet and tulle enchantment?
If you share this tradition with us, I hope that you all have a wonderful day filled with ornaments and trimmings!
And for all you crazies out there shopping your plastic bag grabbing fingers to the bone- may you have a quick and painless recovery.
Flashback with us! Go through your polaroids, scrapbooks, old crappy cell phone pictures- whatever you've got. Scan them, upload them, get them onto the computer somehow, and then share them with the world! Or... with us at least. Post them onto your blogs, write a little bit to go with them- tell us your story. When you're all finished, grab one of our buttons from down below (wayyyy down there at the bottom of our page) and put it somewhere inside your post (or link back to us the old fashioned text way). Come back here to this post, and add your link to the photo list below!
And if you've got a minute, maybe go poke around some of the other flashbacks posted, and leave a comment on another blog or two?
This is a comment-free blog, but if you need to, or want to get in touch, our email is at the bottom of the page :)


text:
Bradford (Brad) Hines is a digital marketing strategist, writer, and founder of HungryKids.org.
He also runs an online toy store called Nerd Playthings!
And you guessed it: he uses transcriptionists to boost his businesses.
"I am a content marketer both as a consultant to others and to myself for my e-commerce businesses," says Brad. I help people with content inception, SEO, social media marketing, writing, online ads, strategic planning, as well as digital PR."
I got on the phone with Brad for just 15 minutes in order to ask him more about how he uses transcriptionists to create blog content — and guess what? I got our 15-minute chat transcribed to help me create the blog post you're reading right now.
Talk about PROOF that transcription work is everywhere, huh? Even a transcription blog uses transcriptionists!
Why This Entrepreneur Uses General Transcriptionists
Brad runs HungryKids.org, his own consulting business, and several e-commerce sites — including an online toy store.
"With all of those businesses, it behooves me to have written word on the website," he says. "Small business and entrepreneurs are being told all the time now, 'You need to be producing video. You need to be doing social media posts.' All of that is great. All of that is true. But it has always been a good premise to have your marketing central hub be your own website," Brad says.
"For example, I have an online toy store. Even though it could very simply just be nothing but the products and selling the products, I make a point to have articles up on the site at least once a month," he says.
What does that mean? Text. "That means written words. They're not podcasts; they're not video — not even little snippets — but actual, north-of-400-word blog posts, articles… whatever you want to call them," says Brad.
The point? Brad says, "The point of that is for search engines."
Google Likes Frequent Content
"Periodically, I will look up, either through Google itself or through any of the best SEO blogs, like moz.com, about what Google search is looking for," says Brad. "One of them is frequent content. They don't want so much a static website."
What's the Easiest Way to Get Text on a Website?
"Sometimes the easiest way to [get text] is to simply have something transcribed,"
Brad uses the $10 app Tape-a-Call. "I downloaded [it] a few years ago when a fellow marketer recommended it to me. It's very easy to get written content this way."
"I could call somebody up and use the app, get an audio file, and then — because it's not worth my time — it's much easier to just send that dialogue, literally the MP3 file, and have that transcribed into text," says Brad.
It's not enough to have just rough speech, though. "Adding the punctuation and having it edited to make sense, then just being able to then paste that into a website," he says. "In a way, it's like instant content. It's much easier for someone to just speak."
How Transcriptionists Help in the Content Creation Process
Instant content is a huge time saver for clients, so the closer you can get a transcript to usable and blog-worthy, the better. The transcriptionist needs to know how to organize text, know what things they can safely take out, so if there's a false start, if someone says "um" a lot, they can actually clean that up so their client can literally just copy and paste it into a blog post and it's already perfect.
Great transcriptionists know how to proofread. They know how to use punctuation. There aren't any weird things in there, and they never send back just a giant paragraph. They can actually parse it out to where it makes sense, and it's usable as a quality blog post.
We Asked! Is Training Important?
Brad says, "I know that, in the past, I've definitely had problems with the person not being familiar with the language because they were transcribing in English, which was not their first language. And it was evident they were typing words that were not actually said because they were being heard incorrectly. So, that could either be a function of people that don't have a good ear, the language problem, or both."
Skill comes with experience. "Sometimes, it can be our own fault because we slurred a word in our speech or we weren't talking into the microphone clearly. Then, if the transcriptionist has a good contextual mind and can figure out what's being said in that moment that makes the most sense — and get it correctly — I believe that would come through experience," says Brad.
Why Brad Doesn't Like Outsourcing Transcription Work
Brad and I talked at length about why it's not a good idea to outsource non-native English speakers.
"[It's because of] the cultural differences," says Brad.
"Sometimes they won't take initiative to explain back to you that something you're asking them to do doesn't necessarily make sense. So if you're incorrect in what you ask them, they will go ahead and use up your time and your money because, in their culture — I'm referring to the Philippines especially — their culture is to do exactly what the boss tells you to do. They would do something, six billable hours, eight billable hours, that they know doesn't even make any sense just because you asked them to do it, rather than simply say, 'Wait. Do you think maybe we should do this instead?'"
On the other hand, a high-quality, native-English-speaking transcriptionist can much more easily understand what you're trying to accomplish with your business and, can create a transcript to align with your vision.
Our Take
So we've posted accounts of several other marketers who use transcriptionists for books, podcasts and the like, but how incredible it is to know there's also demand for transcriptionists in the e-commerce sphere — even selling toys!
But it's critical to take time to learn the basics and put in the practice before going out there and looking for work — or you could shoot yourself in the foot. As we learned from Brad today, transcription is more than just typing words — it's about assisting in creating quality content.
To be excellent, you need to actually practice and get a good feel for hearing people speak, typing at the same time, and understanding the context so you can help fill in the gaps and create a finished product for your client.
Follow Brad on Twitter.
Your Turn!
What do you think about Google's preferential treatment toward e-commerce websites with quality content? Do you see the benefit of quality transcriptionists in creating that quality content? Do you know how another entrepreneur uses general transcriptionists in their line of work? Leave a comment below!


text:
As soon as I finished the doily, I told myself it was all right if I cast on for Ryan's Wallaby. Part of the reason for that was because I managed to talk Tracy out of making this pattern (the one on the front cover) and instead, to join me in making a Wallaby. After much arm twisting she decided to cast on with me for a Wallaby, but using the stripe sequence and yarn from the sweater she was going to make before
She's making tremendous progress, especially considering that this will be (basically) her first non-scarf project. Both Rori and Tracy catch on extremely quickly. Well, either they act like they understand what I'm telling them and then go home and look it up and pretend that I taught them, or they're just smart women. I think it's the latter.
So I decided that for my Wallaby I wanted to put a train on the pocket. My boy LOVES trains (or anything with wheels, really) so I thought he'd get a kick out of it. I managed to design a motif from scratch which I'm quite proud of (and will probably post to share later). Pride goeth before a fall, as I used some bastardized combination of fair aisle and intarsia that created quite the smorgasbord of ends. Witness the horror:
But man, the front looks great!! It doesn't really lean like that in real life--I managed to smooth it crooked I guess. Really. I think it's darn cute.
As I was about halfway done with the train motif Ryan came up and looked at the chart and yelled "train, Mom!!" And I said "yep, I'm putting a train on your sweater! See?" and held it up. His face was totally blank. Then he said "no Mom, train here!" and pointed to the chart. He fell asleep before I finished it, so maybe he'll see a train on his sweater in the morning.
The knitting goal for tomorrow is to get the body of the sweater knitted up to the point when I can "fuse" the pocket and body together.
I am really proud of that silly train motif. It's recognizable as a train! Woo hoo!


text:
The House of Coquis - a house hold name in the mens clothing industry since 1970....
We supply all the well known brands like Scozia, Polo, Jeep, etc. at very competitive prices. We also have our own in house seamstress, who will adjust your new bought trousers or suits to custom fit as if the clothes were custom made for you, free of charge.
Do you need an evening suit for a special occasion? Why buy one if you are only going to use it once? You can rent an evening suit from from us at a fraction of the cost.
Need a suit for your matric farewell? Look no further. Our professional staff will advise and assist you to look like a million dollars on this special occasion.
We also provide corporate clothing, including custom made ties for companies and we believe in a long and lasting realtionship with our clients.
Over fourty years, and many customers later, the House of Coquis men's outfitters tradition of expert qualityclohing continues. Today we make use of the intenet, electronic mail and mobile device communication to stay in touch with our customers and can respond immediately to their individual requests.
Styles certainly change but our customers have remained fiesrcely loyal. This is the highest compliment we can hope to achieve. In this rapidly changing world, the fact that our customers stay with us year after year means everything.


text:
With our rich industrial experience and expertise, we offer a vast assortment of Parking Vitrified Tiles. These Parking Vitrified Tiles are specially designed for installation at the areas that prone to constant vehicle access. Some of the special features of these Parking Vitrified Tiles is their long life, dimensional accuracy and crack resistance. Also the Parking Vitrified Tiles offered by us are resistant to abrasion and are anti-skid. We offer Parking Vitrified Tiles in varied dimensions like 300 x 300 mm, shapes, sizes, colors, patterns, etc.
|Pages: 1 2
|Next »


text:
Saturday, November 21, 2015
November 21 Field Trip Report
Thirteen of us put up with snow covering the ground, filling the air, and melting on our binoculars at the Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve this morning. Eight continued on to Snug Harbor. We recorded a dozen bird species at each location and a total of 16 species for the day.
Notable at the preserve were 15 American Tree Sparrows, a Pied-billed Grebe, 3 Fox Sparrows and a first-year White-crowned Sparrow. Snug Harbor provided another Pied-billed Grebe and an appropriate sixteenth species: Dark-eyed Junco (the "snow bird").


text:
если плохое зрение, примеру, то острый слух.
- create any project inspired by our theme – natural beauty
- use at least one 7 Dots Studio product
- publish your project on you blog with a link to our challenge
- do not forget to include in your blog post our "inspirational circle" ( you will find it at the top of this blog post)
- use inlinkz and please link directly to your blog post, not to whole blog
Challenge is open till September, 19th midnight CET
We announce winners by the end of the month. One lucky person will win a 50 USD grab bag of our products.


text:
Still have space available for the Morrisville NC day crop. Make plans NOW! Get full detailed info and registration info from the website.
Other events are also posted on the website and registration for those events is open as well. Events for 2011 include Statesville NC, Wilkesboro NC, Greenville NC and Black Mountain NC.
Talk to your friends,.... make plans NOW! Scrappin' & yappin' with some old and new friends.... working on those holiday layouts.... what could possibly be better?


text:
Our Foreign Policy
By SUMNER WELLES, Under Secretary of State
Delivered at the Dedication of the Sara Delano Roosevelt Memorial at Historic St. Paul's Church, Eastchester, Mount Vernon, New York, December 6, 1942, Broadcast by National Broadcasting Company
Vital Speeches of the Day, Vol. IX, pp. 214-215.
WE are meeting this evening in St. Paul's Church at Eastchester, New York, to pay tribute to the memory of Sara Delano Roosevelt, the great mother of a great son.
By the erection of this memorial to Mrs. Roosevelt, generations still to come will remember that it was largely due to her devoted interest and assistance that there was made possible the restoration of this historic church—the Shrine to the Bill of Rights—a sanctuary that has always since 1733 been identified in the minds of the people of the United States with that great right later established in our Constitution—the freedom of the press.
For nine years Mrs. Roosevelt was the chairman of the restoration Committee which at length succeeded in the task of renewing this grand memorial of our colonial days,so that it now stands once again in its original beauty. To that task Mrs. Roosevelt gave of herself generously and untiringly as she did in so many countless ways, and for so many worthy causes, throughout the years of her life.
Mrs. Roosevelt was the life-long friend of some of us gathered here. And I think we feel her gracious presence very near to us as we meet in this old church that was so close to her heart. None of us who had the privilege of her friendship can ever fail to be grateful for it. For no more loyal, no more devoted and unselfish friend could any man or woman have. Her transparent integrity of soul and mind, her radiant goodness, her charm of personality, and above all else perhaps, her love for her fellow-men, have engraved her image deep in the hearts of all of us. That image will not grow dim.
We are gathered together in these dedication ceremonies on the eve of the first anniversary of that treacherous attack upon the United States which involved our people in this great world war which has engulfed all of the continents of the earth.
It is a solemn moment as we think back over the crowded history of these past twelve months, during which our united people and their Government have made the supreme effort to preserve the freedom with which this land of ours has been blessed, and to turn the tides of battle towards the ultimate victory of the great cause which we uphold—the cause of human liberty.
We think back to those first difficult months when we had to achieve the readjustment of our national life, in all of its phases, so as to insure an all-out war effort, and of the months thereafter when the long and difficult task of translating military and naval plans into accomplishment had to be realized. Now at the end of this twelve-month period, thestrategy which our Government has been devising has become clear. The successes of our military and naval forces and of those of the peoples who are fighting at our side have instilled in us new hope and renewed conviction. It may well be, however, that a dark and anxious time may yet have to be traversed before the ultimate victory, which we know we will attain, is won. Until that time, the efforts, the devotion, and the sacrifices of every one of us must be consecrated to the supreme task of winning the war.
But there are many of us today who are thinking back further than the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. They are thinking back over the past quarter of a century and are asking themselves whether this shattering world upheaval in which all of mankind is engaged was in fact inevitable.
They are asking themselves: if, at the conclusion of the last world war, the Government of the United States, in association with the other governments of free peoples, had sought the ideal which Woodrow Wilson once held up before the eyes of the people of this country—"a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free"—would this tragedy have come to pass?
The foreign policy of any nation must inevitably be a policy of self-interest. The foreign policy of the United States should ever be a policy based upon that course and upon those principles which, in the judgment of the American people themselves, will most clearly further the individual interest of their country, and the general welfare of the people of the United States.
And I think a question that we can well afford to ask ourselves, on the eve of the anniversary of our entrance into the present war, is whether the policy pursued by the people of the United States during the years subsequent to the end of the last world war has proved in any sense to be to the interest or to the individual advantage of the American people. During that period we refused to assume the slights est measure of responsibility for the maintenance of world order. During the greater portion of that period we divorced ourselves from almost every form of cooperation with other powers, and as a people and as a government we stood aside while the forces which resulted in Hitlerism and all that which Hitlerism implies were shaping themselves. We stood aside pretending to ourselves that the United States could keep itself secure and free from danger even if all the rest of the world went up in flames.
From the standpoint of narrow and selfish self-interest alone, there are two straight questions which we might well ask ourselves.
The cost of our participation in the war and of our military and naval production will burden the United States with a staggering national debt which must be paid by the taxpayers of this country. To win this struggle we are necessarily diverting the greater portion of our tremendous productive capacity into channels of destruction, not those of construction, and the debt burden which will have been created will inevitably affect the manner of life of every one of us and will inevitably diminish the opportunity for the progressive advancement of the generation to come.
Would we not as a people have been better advised if we had been willing twenty years ago to Join with the other free peoples of the earth in promoting an international order which would have maintained the peace of the world, and which could have prevented the rise of those conditions which have resulted in the total war of today? Is it conceivable that the material sacrifices which we might have been called upon to undertake to maintain world order in those earlier years could have involved a thousandth part of the material sacrifices which we are called upon today to undertake?
And the second question we may well ask ourselves is a question which hits straight at every family in the United States which has a father, or a son, or a brother serving this country today in the armed forces of the United States. Had the American people been willing a generation ago to bear their fair share of responsibility for the maintenance of world order, would our men today be forced to offer up their lives in order that they may insure the preservation of the independence and the security of their fellow citizens?
Already we hear again the voices of those who decry all forms of practical international cooperation. Already we can see the efforts of those who would make this fundamental issue, the issue of our national future, a question of party politics. Already we can once more follow the machinations of those special privilege interests which would again turn the policy of the United States into one of narrow isolation, because of their belief that they themselves would profit through such a course.
Surely this is a question which transcends the bounds of any aspect of party and any claim of material advantage by a special few.
Today we are fighting this war in the closest collaboration with the governments joined with us. Our military operations, so successfully carried out recently on different fronts, have required effective cooperation and understanding with our allies. The very conduct of the war makes it indispensable that this form of agreement as to the strategy of our military and naval undertakings be continued by all of the governments of the United Nations. Our own security depends upon it.
We realize now that in this war this form of association of free peoples, struggling to preserve their liberty, is vitally necessary for the safety of our nation.
Do we realize that an association of the free peoples of the United Nations when the war is won is just as essential to the future security of this country?
Surely we must assure ourselves when we achieve the victory for which we are fighting that this free people of ours, joined with the other free peoples who are fighting at our side, will see to it that the necessary measures of international cooperation are undertaken so that this catastrophe will not occur again.
In this shrine dedicated to the freedoms which we, the American people, by an inalienable right enjoy, we may well dedicate ourselves to the supreme task of the creation in the future of a world in which all peoples may in truth be free—free from the fear of war and assured of the right to live out their lives in safety and in peace.


text:
order by popularity | order by alphabet
Four CornersRio TicinoRendevouz UsaRed Leg BoyRed BirdPink And Black SongPeggy LeggOurlandOuiOh What A Dangerous LifeOh Hally LouNight CafeNew Delhi Freight TrainMy AmigoRoll Truck RollRoom To RoomX-mas On The IsthmusWolfman Of Del RioWilderness Of This WorldWhatever Happened To JesusWhat Of AliciaTruckload Of ArtThrity Years WaltzThere Oughta Be A Law Against Sunny Southern CaliforniaThat Kind Of GirlTexas TearsSouthern ComfortShowSalvationManhattan BluebirdLubbock WomanLubbock TornadoCrisis Site 13Cortez SailCollectorCocktails For ThreeCantina CarlottaBuck NakedBlue Asian RedsBloodlinesBilly The BoyBeautiful WaitressBack To BlackAmarillo HighwayAin't No Top 40 SongDollFeelin EasyLittle SandyI Just Left MyselfHighplains JamboreeHelena MontanaHeart Of CaliforniaGreat Joe BobGone To TexasGive Me The FlowersGirl Who Danced OklahomaGimme A Ride To Heaven BoyGalleria Dele ArmiFlatland BoogieFfaAfter The Fall
Related Information for Terry Allen Terry Allen (May 7, 1943 in Wichita, Kansas) is a country music singer in the outlaw country genre, painter, and conceptual artist from Lubbock, Texas, and living in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His father was Fletcher ("Sled") Allen (b. August 23, 1886 in West Plains, Missouri – October 16, 1959 in Lubbock, Texas) a catcher in 1910 for the St. Louis Browns who continued his career as a player-manager in the Texas League.He attended Monterey High School in Lubbock, Texas. His contemp.. read more


text:
Birkett Fell, Hart Side & The Dodds - Friday 28 October 2016
Time Taken
Total Ascent
Troutbeck Head - High Row - Dowthwaitehead - Birkett Fell - Hart Side - White Stones - Stybarrow Dodd - Watson's Dodd - Great Dodd - Randerside - Groove Beck Old Coach Road - High Row - Troutbeck Head
We began from the Caravan Park at Troutbeck Head but this walk can be started from High Row above Dockray where there is free parking for several cars - Grid Ref NY380219
14.8 Miles - if starting from High Row the total mileage is 10 miles
Mountain paths both stony & grassy. The conditions underfoot were good although the path from Dowthwaitehead to the wall turning for Birkett Fell was boggy in places. The path from Randerside to The Old Coach Road was also intermittently boggy.
Mild & overcast with some sunny spells. Visibility generally good.
6hrs 30min (Approx 5 hrs if starting from High Row)
3028ft (923m)
OL5 - The English Lakes (North Eastern Area)
Walk Description
The superb airy ridge from Helvellyn to Clough Head provides some of the best walking in the Lake District. In the middle of the ridge sit The Dodds (Stybarrow Dodd, Watson's Dodd & Great Dodd) - three summits that provide a switchback route which are normally combined with Calfhow Pike & Clough Head to enable a superb Horseshoe from High Row near Dockray. There are many ways up on to the ridge but once on the top some fantastic high level walking can be enjoyed. The paths are mostly grassy swathes that sweep from summit to summit and the views on a clear day from all 3 peaks are excellent - this is ridge walking to be enjoyed and savoured.
We have been up on The Dodds many times and always enjoy the solitude that they provide. Despite their appeal, they never seem to be busy fells even though the walking and views are fantastic. We were staying in Troutbeck Head therefore decided to do without the car today and walked from the door - it would add just over 4 miles on to the route but what the hell - it was a nice day and what better way to spend it. The route today would head out from Troutbeck Head to Dowthwaitehead and then summit Birkett Fell, Hart Side, The Dodds and return to High Row via Randerside and the Old Coach Road. The walk can be made longer by carrying on from Great Dodd to Calfhow Pike & Clough Head to reach the Old Coach Road via White Pike.
The 2 miles from Troutbeck Head to High Row was fairly uneventful and is mainly walked along forest track and a very quiet road. Reaching High Row we carried on down the road to arrive at the small hamlet of Dowthwaitehead to where a path heads over a small bridge on to Watermillock Common. From here the path became a tad boggy but nothing too onerous and we soon arrived at a wall coming up from the northern end of Sheffield Pike. Crossing the wall at a stile we were now on its left hand side (although the wall can be crossed easily a bit further up at a gap) and followed the wall up steeply to reach the summit of Birkett Fell and a large cairn with an engraved plaque.
From Birkett Fell the next summit of Hart Side was clearly visible and we reached it via a carpet like grassy path that started off level and rose gently to reach the top. From Hart Side there is a wonderful view of The Dodds and beyond and we could see our path to Stybarrow Dodd stretching away to the south west. There are two paths visible to Stybarrow Dodd - one slants away to the right to reach the summit via the shortest way or there is a path to the left that visits the Birkett of White Stones on Green Side. We chose the latter, subsequently leaving White Stones to rejoin the right hand path near the summit of Stybarrow Dodd.
Stybarrow Dodd's summit is a flat expanse adorned by a cairn with a wind shelter to the north east. There are a couple of options from here and we chose to descend slightly on another grassy path to reach the summit of Watson's Dodd - there are superb views here for very little effort - over to Thirlmere and beyond plus Skiddaw & Blencathra. From the summit there is another easy walk on a long, gently sloping path to reach the dome like summit of Great Dodd - again there is a cairn here plus a wind shelter to the south of the summit. More great views aplenty from the summit, particularly to Clough Head & Blencathra. From Great Dodd there is the option to make the walk a few miles longer by heading due west to Little Dodd and then north west to Calfhow Pike and then on to Clough Head. However we decided to head down to the Old Coach Road to the delightful summit of Randerside from where we descended via an occasional boggy path to reach the Old Coach Road at Groove Beck. The path junction at Groove Beck is a lovely little spot for a break and we therefore did just that before walking the half mile or so to High Row. It was now a simple case of retracing our outward route from High Row back to our caravan at Troutbeck Head.
Any day on The Dodds is a great days walking - considering this was a Friday and a pleasant day to boot we only saw 1 other walker. Whilst The Dodds lacks the ruggedness of other parts of Lakeland, they still provide high level ridge walking with a remote feel and superb views.
Heading out from Troutbeck Head
Great Mell Fell to the left with Little Mell Fell to the right
A Great Mell Fell panoramic
On the quiet road to High Row with Birkett Fell & The Dodds ahead
The parking area at High Row - despite there being a few cars here, we saw 1 person all day
Birkett Fell
Dowthwaite Crag above Dowthwaitehead
A hazy Helvellyn Range over Glencoyne Head with Catstycam centre & Helvellyn to the rear
The path from Dowthwaite Head reaches a stile lower down from here - the wall is then followed to the summit of Birkett Fell
Ullswater over Swineside Knott & Common Fell
Approaching the summit of Birkett Fell - Fudge as usual is ahead of the game
The memorial cairn commemorates Lord Birkett of Ulverston who, in the 1960's successfully resisted
proposals to turn Ullswater into a reservoir. He was also an early advocate of National Parks
proposals to turn Ullswater into a reservoir. He was also an early advocate of National Parks
The summit cairn on Birkett Fell with suitably engraved plaque
A Birkett Fell panoramic looking towards Ullswater
It was a lovely spot up on Birkett Fell
Heading for Hart Side
Looking back to Birkett Fell from the path to Hart Side
The summit of Hart Side
Hart Side summit looking to Great Dodd
White Stones, Stybarrow Dodd & Great Dodd from Hart Side
Our route from Hart Side leading to firstly White Stones then Stybarrow Dodd to the right
Layers & layers of fells
Looking back to Hart Side - Fudge is clearly enjoying this terrain
The cairn on White Stones as we head to Stybarrow Dodd
Raise & The Sticks Pass
Looking back to Hart Side from White Stones
Our path continues over to Stybarrow Dodd
The summit of Stybarrow Dodd looking to Great Dodd
This area on Stybarrow Dodd's summit is normally dry in the summer but today was a doggy swimming pool.
Behind the makeshift tarn is a wind shelter built from the remnants of an old wall
Behind the makeshift tarn is a wind shelter built from the remnants of an old wall
Fells everywhere from Stybarrow Dodd's summit
Looking back to Stybarrow Dodd's summit from the shelter
Stybarrow Dodd summit panoramic
The path to Watson's Dodd
The summit of Watson's Dodd looking to Skiddaw & Blencathra
Stybarrow Dodd & Raise from Watson's Dodd
Looking towards St John's in the Vale, Keswick & Skiddaw from the summit of Watson's Dodd
Angie contemplates the gentle rise to Great Dodd
The shelter on Great Dodd's south summit
The summit of Great Dodd
Clough Head, Skiddaw & Blencathra
Dropping down from Great Dodd to Randerside
The summit of Randerside looking to Clough Head & Blencathra
The path from Randerside to Cockley Moor plantation & The Old Coach Road
Back at High Row
Blencathra in the evening sun
© Copyright Dave Walsh 2013 - 2018 All Rights Reserved


text:
no consumables
- less handling required[/wpcol_1third]
- single 15-second capture
- long lasting Lithium battery[/wpcol_1third]
- compressed digital ECG trace
automatic data transmission[/wpcol_1third_end]
Telecardia, 12-lead 12 simultaneous channel ECG
Telecardia is the only machine in its category enabling the automatic capture and transmission of a 12-lead, 12 simultaneous channel electrocardiogram (ECG). The dry electrodes replace the conventional adhesive electrodes.
The new generation electrocardiography
Telecardia is an innovative medical device:
- portable, compact, ultra-light (500 g),
- fixed thoracic electrodes,
- no consumables (gel, paper, adhesive electrodes).
Making ECG as simple as taking blood pressure
Telecardia allows easy captures of ECG trace:
- 15-second capture in a single session,
- seated or lying patient,
- no need to undress or shave patient,
- less handling required.
The value of a 12-lead ECG
The ECG is the necessary complement to the medical examination of a patient reporting chest pain, palpitations, dizziness or shortness of breath.
Emergency doctors and other medical facilities using telemedicine are used to a universal standard format for viewing 12-lead (6 peripheral leads and 6 precordial leads), 12 simultaneous channel.
The topographic diagnosis of myocardial infarction can not be properly differentiated only by placing 6 precordial leads. The diagnosis of some cardiac arrhythmias requires completely synchronous precordial leads.
A digital ECG trace combining accuracy and speed of transmission
Telecardia generates high-precision and compressed digital traces:
- automatic and wireless Bluetooth transmission and view on a PC,
- stored in a Patient file for a network consultation,
- transfer to a remote medical centre via Internet, 3G, satellite or radio link.
This medical device is a CE marked health product, under the supervision of European healthcare authorities.


text:
COBWEB CORNERS: More burgers!
By Mel McFarland
I mentioned a few columns ago some memorable places for burgers. Well I got several interesting comments from some of you, even telling me things I did not remember.
There were comments about the burger spots that were mentioned, like Barthel's, Colt's, Cy's, and Jay's. Some of you well remember Garth's on South Nevada. There is a closed building on South Nevada near Cimarron with a big sign that says Schooners. This was Garth's in the 1950s and '60s. Jay's was on Cache La Poudre south of Colorado College. Next to Jay's was the Meadow Gold Creamery, which supplied the well-known ice cream shop. In downtown Colorado Springs, Barthel's was on Bijou at Tejon. It had been started years before as a candy store and sold ice cream as well. In the 1950s, the candy counter shrank and the ice cream and food took over. Colt's, at Nevada and Bijou, was popular with not only the high school crowd but local businessmen. In the 1950s, there was a Safeway between the YMCA and Colorado Springs High School, and it was reopened as a restaurant. On the south side of the high school in the '50s, on Platte, was a place called the Mayflower. On Nevada, there was a drive-in burger joint, the Matchless, which did a lot of business with the school kids at lunch, even those that did not have a car.
Over on our side of town, some reminded me of Howard's Barbeque when it was where Safeway is now, and later, when it was on either side of Colorado Avenue in the 3000 block. One of those spots had been Eddie's Drive-In in the 1950s. That place is where McDonald's is now located. Across the street were two little motels, made up of cottages, the Glendale and Sleepy Hollow. Their former locations are now a dance studio and everything over to Wendy's. Years ago, my family even lived in a cottage at the Glendale. On the corner of 31st and Colorado is a little house where for years Earl James lived. He had a gas station near where the Taco Bell sits.
Others talked about Jones' Drive in, which was an A&W for many years, in the 2700 block of West Colorado Avenue, on the southwest corner, just east of the big Clark's service station. Cy's was in the small building (now a propane sales office) just west of Clark's. Before that it had been a used car office and a Frosty Delight soft-serve ice cream business. Cy and Roberta Long continued the Frosty Delight franchise for a year before turning the location into an independent burger restaurant in 1954. Cy's closed its Colorado Avenue location in 1968, then reopened two years later at its current site, Uintah and 19th streets. There are years and years of these little memory gems. I really enjoy sharing these with all of you. As you can tell, we will travel this path again.


text:
Alopecia, commonly known as hair loss or baldness, refers to a set of disorders which cause the rapid hair falling coupled with a reduction in hair regrowth which leads to gradual hair thinning and eventually to the complete loss of hair in certain areas of the scalp. Under the umbrella-term "alopecia", there are a number of conditions of varying severity, from alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes random bald spots to appear on the scalp, to alopecia universalis, which refers to the complete loss of all hair on the human body. The most common form of alopecia is male pattern baldness, or androgenic alopecia, which can affect up to 70% of the male and 40% of the female population at some point in their lives.
Androgenic alopecia, or simply male pattern baldness, is a form of hair loss that is caused by the gradual androgenic miniaturization of the hair follicles which eventually leads to permanent hair loss. Androgenic alopecia is one of the most common hair loss causes and can appear in the case of both men and women. Men will often display a hairline recession at the temples and the vortex that will often result in areas of total hair loss while women usually experience a more diffused hair loss that rarely produces any complete bald spots. While the precise causes of male pattern baldness have not been identified, it is believed that a number of factors that contribute to its manifestation, including the individual's genetic predisposition and his hormonal levels. It has been discovered that individuals who present this condition also have below normal levels of testosterone, epitestosterone, sex hormone-binding globuline and follicle-stimulating hormones. In the case of individuals with androgenic alopecia, the testosterone is converted into dihydrotestosterone (DHT), an androgen hormone that is essential for the development of male secondary sex characteristics, such as facial hair and a deeper voice. Dihydrotestosterone contributes to the miniaturization of hair follicles and eventually leads to partial or total hair fall.
The causes of alopecia tend to differ from one form of hair loss to the other. Alopecia areata, for example, is considered to be an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks its own anagen follicles thus suppressing the growth of new hair. It is also believed that heredity can contribute to the appearance of alopecia areata under the form of a genetic predisposition shared by several members of a family. The violent autoimmune reaction can lead to the formation of bald spots of different shapes and sizes on the patient's scalp, though they can also occur on other parts of the body. Other types of alopecia, such as alopecia totalis, which implies the total loss of all head hair, and alopecia universalis, referring to the complete loss of all body hair, are autoimmune disorders that occur very rarely, alopecia universalis, for instance, having an incidence of merely 0.0005%.
While there is no effective way to prevent hair loss when it has a hormonal or an autoimmune origin, the hair specialists of Renew Skin & Health Clinic can provide you with a number of very efficient, safe and convincing hair loss solutions in order to address the aesthetic challenges posed by male baldness. At Renew Skin & Health Clinic, you can undergo both surgical hair transplant, such as Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE) surgery and Follicular Unit Transplantation (FUT) surgery, as well as non-surgical hair transplant for those who want immediate results without opting for a medical procedure. The procedures through which the hair implants are transplanted to the areas which are affected by hair thinning or by total hair loss are safe and produce excellent medical and aesthetic results if conducted in the proper environment by a skilled hair specialist.
If you wish to establish a precise diagnosis and benefit from specialized treatment, the experienced staff of Renew Skin & Health Clinic is prepared to help you address the effects of alopecia. You can simply contact Renew Skin & Health Clinic Head Office in order to schedule an appointment at a facility near you.


text:
With a well-targeted focus, Bank of Beirut has not only grown to become one of today's leading commercial banks in Lebanon, but has also proved to be the pioneer in more than one field. After taking the lead in"Super Affluent Net-Worth Specific Services in Lebanon" according to Euro money Private Banking and Wealth Management Survey; and receiving Zawya Funds Ranking Award for its "Beirut Golden Income Fund II and winning the "Best CSR Initiative", Bank of Beirut was recognized in 2014 as the "Fastest Growing Banking Lebanon" by "Banker Middle East" magazine.
Long repayment period that suits your needs
A great customer support team at your service
Great offers to make the most of business opportunities.
Bank of Beirut – List of Banks: 75 | Online banking services licensed by virtue of BDL letter number 11/629 dated October 2, 2008 | 2018 Bank of Beirut s.a.l. all rights reserved


text: Jerry Geis writes: > I have been trying to find out if the /etc/aliases file > can accept wildcards in the user name > > I was hoping that a line like or similiar: > > machine*: myaccount > > would take any name matching machine* and forward onto the myaccount > mailbox. > > man aliases didnt really help me nor did I find anything else. > Is there a way to pattern match in /etc/aliases with an * or something? Not supported. Maybe doable in postfix with header_checks and REDIRECT. If you control the recipient address on the sending end, you could change it to myaccount+machine at domain and not need the alias. Or if you know all possible values of machine*, use a script or Makefile to generate a file with all these aliases and :include it in your main aliases file. The disadvantage is this is not maintenance-free.


text:
Institute Occasional Paper 15: The Seven Red Herrings About Standardized Assessments in Higher Education
Roger Benjamin, President of Council for Aid to Education, outlines seven red herrings associated with administering and utilizing standardized tests of student learning. Including a foreword by Peter Ewell, the occasional paper provides four commentaries from national thought leaders in the field of student learning outcomes assessment examining further the promise and pitfalls of using standardized tests to measure and enhance student learning.
This occasional paper by Roger Benjamin outlines the merit and role of standardized tests for assessment in higher education by addressing familiar arguments against standardized assessments that have confused participants on each side of the debate about the need for and the possibility of new benchmarks on student learning outcomes. Benjamin argues that the key seven assertions, or red herrings, need to be set aside in order to achieve progress toward the goal of continuous improvement in student learning outcomes. In his foreword, Peter Ewell sets the context for Benjamin's position. Four commentaries by higher education thought leaders knowledgeable about assessment examine further the promise and pitfalls of using standardized tests to measure and enhance student learning.
Roger Benjamin has been President of CAE (Council for Aid to Education) since 2005. He was a research scientist at RAND from 1990 to 2005 (director of RAND Education, 1994-1999). Previous to his appointment to RAND, he was professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, 1966 to 1983 and associate dean and executive officer, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, 1980 to 1983, vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the University of Pittsburgh, 1983 to 1986, and vice president for academic affairs and provost, University of Minnesota, 1986 to 1988, and professor of political science, 1988 to 1990. He is the author or co-author of numerous books, monographs and articles in political economy and public policy, including governance, strategic planning, and assessment in education policy. His latest book is The New Limits of Education Policy: Avoiding A Tragedy of the Commons. London: Edward Elgar, 2012. He directs a program implementing performance assessment throughout the K-16 education system in the United States and beyond.
Margaret A. Miller is a professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, president emerita of the American Association for Higher Education, and editor-in- chief of Change magazine.
Terrel L. Rhodes is the Vice-President for the Office of Quality Curriculum and Assessment at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). He is also director of the annual AAC&U General Education Institute.
Trudy W. Banta is Professor of Higher Education and Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Academic Planning and Evaluation at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. She is the founding editor of Assessment Update, a bimonthly periodical published since 1989 by Jossey-Bass.
Gary R. Pike is the Executive Director of Information Management and Institutional Research at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, and an Associate Professor of Higher Education.
Gordon Davies served as the Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and as President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. He currently serves as a senior advisor to a Lumina Foundation project.
Peter Ewell, NILOA Senior Scholar, is the Vice President at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), a research and development center founded to improve the management effectiveness of colleges and universities.
Comments and Commentaries about "Seven Red Herrings"
The Culture Change Imperative for Learning Assessment
Association for Institutional Research, NILOA Occasional Papers. February 11, 2013.
"Although the discussion has deepened over the years, as evidenced by this collection of essays, the debates are sure to continue into the future about the appropriate merit and role of standardized testing."
Peter T. Ewell


text:
... but alas, it's not exactly a sight we want to see.
|no, not when you're standing in the middle of the tunnel
These are the facts of the situation:
(a) TMI reports that the Shura Council forbids PAS from picking Wan Azizah, Azmin for Selangor MB post, which also informs us PAS has nominated 2 from PAS and 2 from PKR but neither of the latter two are Dr Wan or Azmin Ali.
Much earlier, Mustafa Ali, sec-gen of PAS, has been saying one thing after another about PAS' nominated candidate or candidates for the MB post in the letter to HRH, until I suspect, either he had confused himself thoroughly, or he was bullshitting us throughout on PAS nomination or nominations.
Anyway, I hope by now PAS hasn't provided seditious confusion to HRH, wakakaka.
But based on the TMI report (incidentally taken from a Utusan report, wakakaka. so we might just have to minus several percentage points off it, but alas, not much), I believe it spells out two things, namely, (i) PAS doesn't want to have Anwar Ibrahim or/and any member of his family to hold political power in any dominating position, and (b) the end of Pakatan as we know it.
Whether (a) above has anything to do with Pak Haji Hadi Awang's personal unhappy relationship with his former ABIM matey, or merely PAS' notorious misogyny no longer matters. PAS just won't support Dr Wan or Azmin (the latter would be considered a family member fo Anwar).
As for the DAP (and we need to look at the PAS-DAP relationship because of the future for Pakatan), recall just prior to May 2013, the happy chummy-buddy-matey relationship between PAS and DAP.
Then DAP relied on PAS willingness for it to use the PAS logo for its DAP candidates standing in the general elections when RoS put a question mark on the legitimacy of the DAP CEC.
The DAP CEC's lawful rights to issue letters of authority for its candidates to show the EC was in serious doubts, and via PAS-DAP lateral thinking which would have made Edward de Bono proud, PAS offered to issue those letters as if the DAP candidates were authorized PAS election candidates and for them to use the PAS logo as if the DAP candidates were standing in both the federal and state elections as PAS candidates.
Then Subky Abdul Latif, a PAS man, almost had his wet dreams realized, of PAS flags flying everywhere especially in Penang, wakakaka.
As Subky said, we all knew then and were waiting to see if RoS would delegitimize (haramkan) DAP.
RoS sudah mengingatkan supaya DAP mengadakan undi semula pemilihan pimpinan pusatnya jika tidak mahu dikenakan tindakan. Tindakan itu mungkin diharamkan. Dan pihak yang benci DAP memang mendesak supaya RoS membatalkan pendaftarannya.
DAP bersedia untuk diharamkan. Penasihatnya Lim Kit Siang menyatakan DAP sedia bertanding atas nama PAS dalam PRU13 ini. Dan reaksi Setiausaha Agung PAS, Datuk Mustapa Ali ialah PAS sedia memberi laluan.
Soalnya sekarang bila RoS hendak mengharamkan DAP? Jika RoS sebuah agensi yang tegas dalam serba serbi, maka ia mesti haramkan DAP dengan segera sekurang-kurangnya sebelum hari penamaan calon.
Sukby was obviously getting excited, wakakaka.
* by convention a caretaker MB or CM or PM cannot issue new major policies, approve major projects, or enter into contracts but only the necessary action and routine financial approval to run the government on a day-to-day basis until the brief caretaker period ends. But in Malaysia, it's known that one ca f**k conventions


text:
A quick Friday post for Unity's FWF. I have been loving all of the great Chrisstmas cards I have been seeing. I decided to try my hand at my own washi Christmas tree. I love this tartan washi tape :)
Friday, December 7, 2012
8 comments:
Fantastic washi tree! Now I know just what to do with some green patterned tape I picked up last week, thanks!ReplyDelete
Super sweet washi tree! Love the plaid tape!ReplyDelete
Very cute, those washi tapes are great!ReplyDelete
Great use of the Washi tape. I just bought some to try this week.ReplyDelete
Great washi tree -- love it!ReplyDelete
Oh how fun!!ReplyDelete
That is such a clever tree! Love it!ReplyDelete
OK now, how brilliant is that? And now I feel sad that I don't have any green washi...I want to try this! :)ReplyDelete
Thanks so much for visiting my blog and commenting on my creations! Won't you consider following me? Have a great day! :)
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
In Part 1, I discussed the overall design of the survey, highlighting the possible caveats we should apply when looking at the results. Here, we look at the results.
The survey asked a set of questions each on three subjects: housing, foreigners and cost of living. On housing, Today newspaper published these numbers:
In its write-up, the newspaper said "Housing not so hot after all".
I came to the opposite conclusion. To me, the key figure was 52.4 percent. That's the proportion — a slight majority — who felt that the government's recent measures to rein in prices are not adequate. While it may be a slight majority, I think it's very significant, as I will explain below.
The newspaper might have been looking at the first four questions ("Are you concerned about. . . .") to arrive at its conclusion. To my eyes, those numbers, far from being "not so hot" are very high. Why do I say that? Because at any given time, about half the population would be existing home-owners, most of whom would not be planning a new purchase. To them rising home prices are either of little immediate impact or may even be seen as a good thing, enhancing the value of their main asset. Only the other half of the population are, at any given time, exposed to the problems of escalating home prices, and as you can see from those numbers, just about all of them are "concerned". Just about all of them are unhappy with the government's measures so far.
* * * * *
The questions in the section on foreigners were poorly crafted. On of the face of them, they each pointed to common complaints we have heard around us, e.g. congestion on public transport, but in this section these issues are now framed in a way that blamed foreigners for them. This linkage is logically sloppy, and turns many of the questions into leading questions.
Take, for example, the question about longer waiting times at government hospitals and polyclinics. You'd notice that 69.7 percent said they were concerned that the influx of foreigners have led to this. Really? First of all, have even 69.7 percent been to a hospital or polyclinic recently as a patient or close relative of one, to have experienced longer waiting times? Are we so sick as a nation? And are we to believe that all those who have been to a hospital or polyclinic as an ill person noticed that the jam was due to foreigners? I seriously doubt that. It is far more likely that once presented with a question phrased in such a manner, the survey respondent felt that it was expected of him to answer: Yes, I am concerned. That's what I mean by a leading question.
The same effect may be seen in the question about "gambling, prostitution and drunkenness". First of all, where is the evidence that foreigners contribute disproportionately to these problems? What I have heard is that data-wise, it is the opposite — foreigners in our midst commit fewer such crimes than local citizens+Malaysians. Even with the issue of prostitution, it may be true that most sex workers are foreigners, but don't forget most of their clients (and clients outnumber prostitutes several times over otherwise the industry can't be profitable) are locals. Here again, it's more a leading question than a meaningful one — and worse, a leading question that plants an idea that is horribly unjust to non-Singaporeans.
Take the question about congestion on public transport, where 76.4 percent agreed that they were concerned that foreigners have led to that. As indicated above, there are in fact two separate issues: whether people feel overcrowding is a problem, and if so, whether people feel that foreigners are a significant contributor to that. Plausibly 76.4 percent might represent the strength of feeling about the first part of the question, but I am doubtful if it represents how people see the second part of the question.
Even if it is, I would think it's more a reflection of racism than any understanding of the issues involved. We just feel more crowded when the persons sitting or standing next to us are different from us.
Then, despite the "concerned" scores in the 60-percent, 70-percent range for the opening questions, when asked the last question — whether they felt the government's steps to slow down immigration were adequate — a majority said Yes. The steps taken are not particularly drastic, yet they are still satisfactory. This only shows that anti-foreigner feeling is not that strong, suggesting that the high percentages in the preceding questions were more the result of how the questions had been phrased.
* * * * *
You see the same pattern in the section on cost of living. High "concerned" scores for the first four questions, but nearly a majority still say they find the government's measures "adequate". In this case however, the high initial scores are justified by the reality. The Statistics Department has been reporting escalating inflation rates recently; it's a worldwide phenomenon too.
There are two likely explanations why a near-majority finds the government's measures adequate. One: people understand that sources of inflation are largely external and there is only so much that the government can do about it. (Actually this understanding is somewhat unfounded. A good part of cost push pressures are domestically generated, e.g. rents and the rent component of anything we purchase.)
Two: people still have faith that the People's Action Party knows what they are doing.
* * * * *
To sum up, the more one thinks about these numbers produced by Mediacorp and Today newspaper's survey, the more unsure one becomes as to what they really represent. Today asserted that the rising cost of living is the "hottest" of three issues. Yet even though the cost of living affects everybody, only about half said they were dissatisfied with the government's measures. This is unlike housing prices which only affects the (approximately) half of the population that does not own a property, and this entire half (52.4 percent of total) is dissatisfied. So. . . . which is the hottest issue again?
A lot of ink has been spilled, but we're not that much wiser.