text:
Seanad Éireann - Volume 135 - 29 April, 1993
Bovine Diseases (Levies) Regulation, 1993: Motion.
Mr. Mullooly Mr. Mullooly
[1786] Mr. Mullooly: I move:
That Seanad Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft:
Bovine Diseases (Levies) Regulations, 1993,
copies of which were laid in draft before Seanad Éireann on 28 April, 1993.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. O'Shea) Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. O'Shea)
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. O'Shea): Copies of the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Regulations, 1993, were laid in draft form before the Seanad on 27 April 1993. The proposed regulations are being made under the Bovine Diseases (Levies) Act, 1979, and their purpose is to reduce the financial contribution by the farming community towards the cost of the bovine TB and brucellosis eradication schemes by a sum of £2 million. It is proposed that this sum will be saved on the estimated running costs of this year's programme.
A scheme for the eradication of bovine tuberculosis in cattle was first introduced in Ireland in 1954. The scheme was successful by the mid-1970s in reducing the endemic levels of disease in the national herd to an animal incidence of approximately 0.5 per cent. However, the real difficulty is that progress towards final eradication slowed at that level and persistent difficulties were encountered in achieving further sustained reductions in disease levels. Clearing residual levels of any infectious disease is difficult but it is surprising that achieving further reductions in the level of TB has proved so difficult.
In 1988 a new initiative, ERAD — the Eradication of Animal Disease Board — was established by the Government as a specialised agency to implement a vigorous four year bovine TB eradication programme. The main conclusions to be drawn from the ERAD experience is that eradication is more difficult than had originally been envisaged; that high volume of testing per se is not the answer; [1787] and that special emphasis needs to be placed on related issues, such as the development of technological tools, including a computerised movement permit system and a blood based diagnostic test to supplement the existing skin test together with a possible vaccine for cattle and wildlife. Consideration is currently being given to the type of arrangements appropriate for the next four years of the programme and a wide range of consultations have been held with farming and veterinary organisations. In the meantime, however, it is necessary to continue the effort to systematically and progressively reduce the existing levels of the disease.
When ERAD was established the Government undertook that, in addition to meeting the administrative costs of the scheme, which this year will come to about £18 million, it would maintain a financial commitment to the running costs of the schemes. The current running costs are shared by the Exchequer and the farming community. The farmers' contribution is provided through levies collected under the 1979 Bovine Disease Levies Act. In 1992 farmers contributed £29 million by way of levy. For 1993 the amount now proposed for collection will be approximately £27 million while the estimated running costs of the schemes for 1993 will be reduced from £43.5 million to £41.5 million.
The background to the proposed new financial arrangements related to the establishment of the EC veterinary fund under which member states can seek funding for disease eradication measures in the context of reaching a common animal health status to facilitate animal movement in the Single Market. Ireland has made an application to the Commission for EC funding for part recoupment of bovine TB reactor compensation and testing costs amounting to a potential draw down of some £20 million per year. While the application is technically acceptable to the Commission Services it has not yet been approved as the veterinary fund budget is fully taken up for 1993 and cannot, for the present, fund [1788] a number of member state programmes including Ireland's bovine TB programme. However, I am continuing to press that the money be made available at the earliest possible date. The availability of EC funding is central to the provision of the amplified resources needed to push for a sustained reduction in the residual incidence of bovine TB. Securing of that funding remains a priority and is being pursued at every opportunity.
Draw down of this level of EC funding will, of course, allow for the possibility of a significant reduction in the financial burden of the eradication schemes on both the Exchequer and the farming community. However, pending the draw down of the EC funding it is necessary for trading and veterinary reasons to proceed with a full monitor of the national herd and this year's TB testing programme commenced this week. It is intended that a full round of TB testing will be completed before the end of the year. This will involve a test for every herd together with any necessary consequential testing arising from reactor disclosure. In addition, the national herd will continue to be monitored for brucellosis though a combination of milk testing of the dairy herds and blood testing of the non-dairy and suckler enterprises.
Following discussions with the farming organisations it has been possible to identify agreed savings of £2 million through an adjustment in reactor compensation and a slight reduction in the amount of testing originally planned for this year's programme. These savings will allow for a reduction in the bovine disease levies of the order of 0.1p per gallon of milk processed and 60p per animal slaughtered or exported live. It is proposed to pass back the full amount of the savings to the farming community. The savings, while relatively modest, have been accepted by the farming organisations as a recognition of the significant cost to herd owners in the context of tightening enterprise margins.
I am sure that the House will appreciate that given the overriding requirement to reduce the incidence of bovine TB, a thorough analysis of all the factors [1789] involved in disease transmission must be a key element of any eradication programme.
On the overall question of research, the TB investigation unit has been in existence for four years and has carried out a variety of projects in relation to factors which militate against eradication. It has carried out a considerable amount of analytical work on statistical data. A total of 19 projects were completed in 1992 and an extensive programme of work has been mapped out for 1993. Valuable work is also being done by my Department's veterinary research laboratory especially on culturing post-mortem samples and on the evaluation of blood tests. Work is continuing on the development of a blood test which has been identified as a major research priority not just in this country but in others having a bovine TB problem. My Department is participating in EC funded trials and we are also carrying out our own research projects and collaborating with research elsewhere in this area. Although the project is as yet very much at the experimental stage and progress is slow, the objective is to get to a stage where the blood test would be reliable under practical field conditions and could augment and back-up the tuberculin test in certain situations.
Work on the computerised movement permit system is progressing well and, when completed, will be of enormous benefit to the administration of the eradication programme. The system will be extensive and complex and will form part of the current overall computerisation of my Department. In the meantime herd owners should consider the benefit of keeping their own records of the movements of cattle into and out of their holdings. In any event, such record keeping will shortly be a requirement arising from the introduction of the Single Market.
The experience of ERAD would indicate that the goal of eradication is more difficult than originally envisaged. However, I believe that with the full co-operation of all concerned it will be possible to break the back of this disease once and for all.
Mr. D'Arcy Mr. D'Arcy
[1790] Mr. D'Arcy: I welcome a debate, no matter how short, on this issue and this regulation affords us the opportunity for such debate. Disease eradication has been an ongoing saga for many years in this country. I have always argued, and continue to argue, that unless we secure the confidence, support and co-operation of farmers we will never eradicate these diseases. It is as simple as that. We have been criticised for not eradicating TB in particular and brucellosis to a lesser extent.
I describe the present Government policy as one of containment rather than eradication. More resources will have to be made available, no matter from where they come, if the incidence of TB in cattle is to be brought down to an acceptable level. In the last four years the incidence of bovine TB has varied between 3 per cent and 4 per cent, but we have difficulty reducing it below these levels. Different Ministers have made statements to the effect that we are making progress. However, 12 months later we seem to have the same level of disease.
I speak as a practising farmer. There is no one more afraid of disease in his herd than the farmer. The vets are paid, the departmental officials are paid and the Minister is paid but if a farmer is unfortunate enough to detect disease in his herd he must inevitably lock up or depopulate the herd. This has serious consequences for any farmer. I have seen many farms where herds contracted the disease and depopulation began and the farmers never recovered financially from the losses they suffered.
The question of funding has always been difficult. The Minister said that the contribution from farmers in the form of levies was £29 million last year and £27 million this year. The levy has been reduced by .1p per gallon of milk, and by 60p per head of cattle slaughtered. I cannot understand why the Department did not wait until we found out exactly what use will be made of the promised £80 million from the EC for the four years of the programme. The Minister did not tell us when and in what form this money will be forthcoming. Will it be in the form [1791] of a grant towards the overall costs of the scheme — £20 million a year over four years — or in some other form? The Minister can take it from me that profit margins are so tight that farmers can no longer afford to fund this scheme.
Compensation paid to farmers amounts to approximately £18 million. After farmers have contributed enough to cover the full cost of compensation paid, £11 million is available to cover the overall cost of the scheme. That is a substantial contribution from the farming community. The overall cost of the scheme is in the region of £41 million to £42 million, while the shortfall, caused by administrative costs, is £11 million or £12 million. The Minister must accept that the farmers are making a significant contribution towards the eradication of these diseases.
I have criticised the Department of Agriculture and Food on many occasions and I am going to criticise them again today. I will ask the Minister some questions and I presume he will have a chance to reply. These are questions farmers are asking public representatives, including myself and the Minister. What form will the £80 million from the EC take? Will the farmers be able to reduce their contribution to £20 million? Is the Department prepared to carry the same share as the farmers?
Many farmers have disease-free herds. They are very careful and spent a lot of money disinfecting their premises to make sure their herds do not contract TB. They said they did not mind contributing to these levies over a short period but they are being asked to contribute over a long period. These levies have been in operation for four or five years. Can the Minister guarantee today that over the next four or five years the incidence of bovine TB will have reached an acceptable level? I am not talking about brucellosis. That is a different disease and more easily contained than TB.
As far as the eradication of bovine TB is concerned, we have made little or no progress over 25 years. I believe there is something wrong when it comes to [1792] identifying the source of the disease. I welcome the Ministers' statement, and I quote:
On the overall question of research the TB investigation unit has been in existence for four years and has carried out a variety of projects in relation to factors which militate against eradication.
I am asking him a simple question. If I have disease in my herd can that unit identify the source of that disease? The answer is no. Despite all the technology, laboratories and staff, we do not seem to be able to identify the source of the disease.
Let it be clearly understood that there are pockets in every county where the disease exists. County Wexford is the same as anywhere else. I know areas where the disease exists and a farmer is very careful when purchasing cattle from those areas.
The farmers want to hear how this unit is working. If there is a breakout of disease in my herd, will the Department carry out the research on my farm and tell me the source of the disease? We do not seem to be able to do that and I am not sure if that can be done in other countries either. In Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia 15 years ago, they almost depopulated every herd that had the disease but they cleared it. Although I do not have documentation to back it, I believe they had a research unit which could identify the source of the disease. Although there are awful problems in those two countries unrelated to disease, I have been told the herds are disease free although I cannot confirm this. Will the Minister deal with the questions in relation to the research unit? What type of programme is it undertaking and will research be carried out on farms? Laboratory research is not enough, the programme must take place where the disease is, on the farms.
I understand that instances of brucellosis here may have doubled over a 12 month period but I am not sure whether that is true. When I telephoned the Department of Agriculture this morning [1793] no one could supply me with the information. In 1991 approximately 150 herds contracted brucellosis while in 1992 the figure was 300 herds, a very worrying trend. Having dealt with TB and brucellosis on my own farm I accept that it is easier to contain brucellosis even though it is a contagious disease and does great damage to a herd. If there can be that type of increase in the space of 12 months then something is seriously wrong. I understand that the milk round test identifies brucellosis in herds. Every dairy farmer has a milk round test at least twice a month, and some of them have the test four times a month. Therefore, the detection of brucellosis in herds seems to be easy as far as the Department is concerned because it is being notified of the situation by the creameries. What is the position in regard to brucellosis? Was there an increase of 100 per cent over 12 months?
The Minister did not spell out future policy and I would be interested in finding out what is happening in regard to the research unit. We have heard arguments about the source of the disease and how it is carried from one farm to another. Am I correct in saying that there is testing of deer, goats and badgers? There are many deer herds across the country and they are expanding rapidly. Heretofore they have not been tested but they are carriers of TB. Will the Minister state whether all deers will be tested under the 1993 test rounds? It should be done and the same should apply to goats. Since the national goat herd is small, the Department should include all herds of goats in the 1993 test rounds.
We have had a long running argument with the Department and wildlife officials about badgers. I have always believed, and no one will convince me otherwise, that the badger is a source of TB infection. It would take me half an hour to go through figures proving that when badgers were plentiful in areas TB broke out. Inevitably, in most of those areas, designated by the Department as blackspots, there were some badgers. I know badgers are a protected species but the Minister will have to test and identify those carrying [1794] TB. We cannot allow this situation to continue. While the Minister says there is a 1 per cent reduction, that cannot be assessed until the end of testing this year because we will not know until then where we stand in regard to TB.
The question of disinfecting also arises. Unfortunately, nearly every beast in the country will be transported about five times before slaughter and these are acceptable figures. The disinfecting of lorries does not seem to be a priority with the Department. The disinfecting of premises is a priority but farmers are no longer allowed to disinfect their own premises when they have an infected herd. I disagree with that. The vast majority of farmers will do everything in their power to keep their herds free of disease because they know the cost to their families and farms. The Minister stated that farmers must use the milk relief service to disinfect but this will place further expense on farmers. A locked up herd is a very serious matter and costs the farmer a lot of money even though compensation has improved. Substantial fees are being charged for disinfection work by the milk relief service.
The movement of saleable cattle, not cows, from infected areas is spreading the disease. The Minister says every beast will have to be identified but identification alone is not enough. How do you guarantee that lorries in which cattle have been transported are properly disinfected? It is no good just using a spray can. There are high-powered hoses that can do the job in five minutes and they should be used to disinfect cattle lorries. In the UK, cattle are transported on average one and a half times per year, and only once on the Continent.
The levy reduction in this area is so small that it will have no effect on profits. It amounts to knocking £2 million off £29 million. I appeal to the research unit, which has operated in the Department for four years, to visit the blackspots and identify the source of the disease. If we are ever to stop it this must be done.
I served in the Department of Agriculture and Food for a short period in [1795] 1981 and I said to their inspectors at the time that they must try to identify the source of the disease. However, we do not seem to be able to do that. Perhaps the Minister has information that I do not have and if so I would welcome it, so would the farmers. We cannot go on forever with a disease rate of 3.5 per cent. The research unit should have acquired a lot of knowledge by now and a good basis on which to operate. If disease breaks out in my herd I hope I will be able to ring the Department and that the research unit will come to my farm to identify the source of the disease. I support the reduction in the levies.
Mr. R. Kiely Mr. R. Kiely
Mr. R. Kiely: Bovine disease eradication has been continuing for a long time. It was first introduced in 1954 and after all these years we have still not fully eradicated it. The levies were introduced in 1979 and have been essential in funding the eradication of disease. This year there has been a slight reduction in the levies. The last time such regulations came before the House was in 1990 when there was an increase. ERAD was in operation at that time and some people were dissatisfied with it. Members withdrew from ERAD because they did not think progress was being made.
The Minister's speech outlined the difficulty of eradicating bovine TB. I listened attentively to Senator D'Arcy as he discussed its source. My neighbours and I can often identify the source of a break out. It may be because someone brought in an animal from an infected area or that farmers might not have been careful enough. The source to which Senator D'Arcy referred is the original source. It is difficult for the Department to find the source of this problem but I am sure that, eventually, they will be successful.
I am concerned about the depopulation of herds. If a herd is infected and needs to be depopulated, it should be done immediately. This is not happening and the Department is not doing its job in this area. Farmers are anxious to get adequate compensation. I agree with [1796] Senator D'Arcy that the compensation received after a herd has been depopulated is inadequate to bring the herd back to its original standard. I would like to see stricter and better discipline when depopulating herds. I know of a herd infected with a disease — I will not mention its name — and there were ongoing discussions with the Department for 12 months before the herd was depopulated. That is not good enough.
The Minister said that, following discussions with farming organisations, an agreed saving of £2 million has been identified through an investment in reactor compensation and a slight reduction in the amount of testing originally planned for this year's programme. I would prefer to maintain the system of levies. Although I welcome the decrease in levies, I would not mind paying them as long as I would not have TB in my herd or on my premises. When a herd becomes infected, there should be adequate compensation and despite any sacrifices that have to be made, people with infected herds must be adequately compensated. The compensation available to those with pedigree herds and to pedigree breeders who go to much expense to improve their herds is inadequate. There should be an improvement and infected herds should be depopulated as soon as possible.
Every week the Irish Farmers' Journal carries advertisements for Dutch imported and Friesian calving heifers. This activity presents a danger to disease eradication. I do not know what regulations or conditions are imposed on such imports but the practice should be seriously examined. Today, the farming supplement of The Cork Examiner carries an article, on mad cow disease which definitely came to this country through the importation of cattle. Another one — Johnes disease — is mentioned in the article which states that it has been linked recently with the increase of imports of dairy breeding stock from the Continent. We will definitely have to examine the importation of dairy breeding stock from the Continent. There is enough breeding stock in this country to adequately meet replacement needs. [1797] Such importation was not allowed previously and should be again restricted. It concerns me and many others, especially if an outbreak of disease occurs following the importation of cattle. We are trying to eliminate disease, we should do our best to eliminate it and not damage or interfere with the eradication programme. The Minister stated that the EC funding for compensation is £20 million. I would like to see that money going towards adequately compensation for people with depopulated herds. If that was done maybe disease would be eradicated within a few years.
I telephoned the Department today to refresh my memory about the pre-movement regulations. I remember speaking when this regulation was introduced in the House, at that time ERAD changed the 120 day test to a 60 day test and under the rules of the 50 day test, cattle could only be moved twice. I understand that was changed and I telephoned the Department today but there was no one there to tell me whether one could move cattle as often as one liked after the 60 day test or if it is restricted to a certain number of movements. I am engaged in farming and when I take out cattle, I try to sell them immediately, one or two movements are sufficient. I wonder if it is still restricted to one or two movements.
I am also concerned about the agricultural shows which are the show piece of agricultural products, especially dairy and show cattle. The shows organised in Limerick are great occasions when urban and rural people mix. They are wonderful events and the people organising them should get all available help. The 60 day movement regulation is not helping the shows. In the case of one or two day shows, in which the majority of cattle arrive in the morning and home that evening the 60 day movement could be extended to 90 days. Delegations from shows and committees would like to see that changed and an exception made for show cattle. The shows start in May and finish in September, some people are restricted from showing cattle, especially good prize cattle, and something should be done in this regard.
[1798] The draft regulations are before us and the reduction in levies is welcome. I see the regulation as a step towards the eradication of bovine disease.
Mr. O'Toole Mr. O'Toole
Mr. O'Toole: On the last two occasions when a similar order came before the House I made my views clear. We have spent £1.1 billion on the TB eradication scheme since its inception in 1954. It has been a disaster and we are still looking at an incidence of the disease in 3 to 5 per cent of the national herd even at a time when the herd has been reduced.
Everybody blames everybody else. I have seen the reception a vet gets from the owner when he brings news of a reactor in the herd. I have seen vets losing business because farmers "shoot the messenger" when they are told of a reactor in the herd and they may decide to take their business elsewhere.
City people say the vets have a vested interest in maintaining the scheme because it means a lot of money for them. The farmers have a vested interest in ensuring they do not lose their herds because the compensation is not adequate. Vets tell me they have a problem at every stage. One veterinary surgeon told me he had to fill in 13 different forms on diagnosing a reactor in a herd. I do not know how true that is but he said trying to do that in the back of a car in a muddy farm yard is not easy. He also complained that the level of follow up was neither quick nor comprehensive enough. I acknowledge that this is a case of dúirt bean liom agus dúirt bean léi but vets feel they are on the receiving end of public odium and the farming communities think likewise.
There is a constant row about how to get results in this scheme. I do not envy any Minister taking responsibility for such an area, and trying to get a satisfactory result. The vets are the professionals who are involved at every point in the scheme and they argue with the Departments. As the professionals, they should be asked for their views on how bovine TB can be eradicated. Let us try their proposals for a time.
[1799] The present system will never eradicate TB. At the moment cattle are tested once a year. Movement from farm to farm, from one herd to another, sale and resale, means often an animal can have moved up to nine times before being diagnosed as a reactor. This means the animals movements may have to be traced over a period of years. One checks all the herds the animal came from, and all the farms and, in the meantime, other animals have left those contaminated herds. The area affected keeps getting wider.
Everybody is looking for someone to blame, whether it be the vets, the farmers, or the badgers. There is always someone to blame but nobody to take responsibility. Meanwhile, a huge amount of money is being spent. I am not an expert in this area, but in my view a two stage approach must be taken. The first part is a test every time an animal is moved. That would create chaos at the beginning but there must be a period when we stop the movement of animals until we are sure they are clear. We can then proceed from that position.
Other European countries have managed to eradicate TB. We have failed because the movement of cattle has meant we cannot identify contaminated animals early enough. The only way to ensure that does not happen is to test. Annual tests with animals moving in the meantime will never resolve the problem or get the results the taxpayers, the farmers and the vets want.
In Ireland we now have an extraordinary opportunity to become the clean food centre of Europe, and I know the Minister shares that objective. It is one of the few advantages of being an island community. However, problems will arise from that over the next 18 months. There are European directives on the free movement of animals between member states of the European Community. I do not envy the Minister trying to deal with that. It is not clear how we can stop diseases like rabies coming into our country. Nonetheless, I believe that we can be a clean food area. This week [1800] I was talking to two vets and they told me they would not advise people to eat red meat because of surplus contaminants.
However, I am straying from the issue which is TB eradication. Something radical needs to be done in this area. We must stop movement until we are certain the animal is clear. This has to be done over a period of time. We will then have the disease under control and can look forward to a clear national herd.
Nobody has a difference of opinion about what the objective is here, but everyone has a view about how it might be done. I speak as somebody uneducated in this area, relaying stories I hear. I live in a farming community and I hear farmers, vets and taxpayers talking about the amount of money spent. Everybody is supposed to be making a fortune from the scheme but neither vets nor farmers are, although money goes to both those groups. We need radical action quickly.
Ms O'Sullivan Ms O'Sullivan
Ms O'Sullivan: On 4 July 1990 when this issue was last debated in the Seanad, the then Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy O'Kennedy, said:
In 1988 the Government embarked on a new initiative. ERAD was established by the Government with the objective of planning and implementing a vigorous four year programme to accelerate the eradication of bovine TB and brucellosis
The Minister said today the goal of eradication is more difficult than originally envisaged; he can say that again. In 1990 it was hoped the process could be accelerated but that has not been the case. Senator O'Toole mentioned the figure of £1.1 billion spent over nearly 40 years and we have not got much closer to eradicating bovine TB. I quote from a poem, "The Brook":
Men may come and men may go
But I go on forever.
It was about a river but it seems to apply to bovine TB. I sincerely hope it will not go on forever. There were indications in the Minister's contribution that new [1801] radical measures are being considered — Senator O'Toole has suggested that is what we need — and that it is intended to at least look at such measures for the future.
Senator Kiely referred to the need for depopulation immediately infection is detected. That is an important point and I support it. Senator D'Arcy said the Department should concentrate on black spots and directly approach farmers. Farmers should have comprehensive advice if they have a particular problem. There are black spots in every county. County Limerick would not be considered a black spot because movement from that area tends to be outward rather than inward.
The Minister indicated that there was the possibility of radical action in relation to the computerised movement permit system. That relates to another point made by Senator O'Toole — that the movement of animals needs to be properly controlled. I would like the Minister to elaborate on the computerised movement permit system, what does it entail, and would it go as far as the Senator wishes. The question of movement is crucial. Animals being moved around the country is the biggest factor in spreading the disease.
The Minister also referred to a suggestion that blood tests be taken. I would also like him to elaborate that. Mention was made of the proposal to vaccinate wildlife as well as farm animals. Senator D'Arcy referred not just to badgers but to deer and goats. That problem must be tackled. Obviously blame is attributed according to whether you defend the wildlife or the farmers. We need a balanced approach to the problem and more research.
The national herd numbers about seven million and it is important, for the sake of the farmers, vets and taxpayers, that we achieve a proper level of spending on this programme and eradicate the disease. A sum of £18 million from the taxpayers and £27 million from the farmers is spent on the eradication progamme so this is not just an issue for farmers. It is an issue for everybody. The nation's [1802] wealth depends, to some extent, on upholding our reputation as a producer of healthy food.
We welcome a reduction in expenditure for any section of the population and the farmers will welcome this, even if it is a relatively small reduction. I would also welcome any radical initiative to solve this problem which we have had for about 40 years.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. O'Shea) Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. O'Shea)
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. O'Shea): I thank the Senators for their knowledgeable and positive contributions during an excellent debate. It is not possible to respond, in the time available, to all the points that were raised.
Senator O'Sullivan discussed the role of badgers in the transmission of tuberculosis to cattle. My advice from the senior veterinary people in the Department is that there is more scientific evidence to support the theory that badgers do play a role in transmitting the disease. It is alleged at times, although not during today's debate, that my Department encourages the slaughter of badgers. That is not the case. Our badger population is about 0.25 million which would be almost equal to the badger population in Sweden. In a single year between 1,500 and 1,800 badgers are humanely removed, for post-mortem examination, from land where there has been an identifiable problem with tuberculosis reactors and the source of the disease has not been identified by some other means. The Department also examines badger road casualties. It is a serious matter that 15 per cent of the tested badgers carry tuberculosis.
The important point is that the Department and the Minister are vigorously seeking extra funding from Europe for our eradication programme; a sum of £20 million annually over a three to four year period is being sought. A number of Senators asked how this money would be disbursed. Obviously, as the Senators pointed out, we must put further resources into research. At present about £0.5 million is invested in research and, [1803] in view of our disease free status on international markets for beef and other agricultural products, it is extremely important that we vigorously pursue this research.
I disagree with Senator D'Arcy's suggestion that the Department is carrying out a programme of containment. The Department is carrying out a programme of eradication. Obviously a great deal more needs to be done and it can be done if more resources become available and that matter is being vigorously pursued by the Minister.
Our national herd numbers about seven million and the number of tests that will be carried out in the current eradication programme is estimated at about 9.8 million. It should be stressed that significant progress has been made since 1954 when the eradication process began. In 1991, for example, there were 4.4 reactors per thousand animals tested and in 1992 that figure had decreased to 3.3 per thousand. Everybody will welcome that progress. Less than 3 per cent of herds had reactors.
The issue of EC funding was raised by Senator Kiely. We anticipate that these funds will be used to ease the burden of the levy and to increase compensation for reactors. In relation to the question of the movement of cattle inside the 60 day period, cattle can be moved as often as one likes during that time. Agriculture shows are considered important meeting places for country and city people. After recent discussions with the show committee representatives about the validity of attending shows within that time, my advice is that the 60 day rule is acceptable to that group. However, I will discuss any specific problems in that area later if necessary.
It is often said that since this programme was introduced in 1954, it has not given a good return to the country. Between £0.5 billion and £1 billion has been spent on the programme since then and the return is seen in our food exports of livestock and livestock products which are worth £2 billion to this country every year. I was heartened to hear Senators [1804] talk about our reputation in foreign markets for quality food products. CBF was successful in establishing that quality and, at present, it is similarly promoting other meat products.
I would not agree with the impression that may have been given by Senator O'Toole that there is something wrong with our red meat. We have an excellent product. We are the centre for quality food products in Europe and we do not have serious diseases such as foot and mouth disease which has recently been detected in Italy and the officials of my Department are going to great lengths to ensure it stays out of this country. We do not have a serious disease problem, a point I believe should be stressed. Essentially, we have a residual problem with TB. Being frank, we have not eradicated the problem of tuberculosis among humans. From time to time that flares up again.
I once again thank Senators for what I believe has been a very worthwhile debate. I did not get an opportunity to refer to all the points made but I would be happy to respond to any Senators who want more specific information.
Question put and agreed to.
Seanad Éireann 135 Bovine Diseases (Levies) Regulation, 1993: Motion.
General Debate


text:
Libya has halted a scheme to pay compensation to people who fought in last year's revolt against Muammar Gaddafi because it was riddled with corruption and paying out cash to people who do not qualify.
The deputy head of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) said on Sunday he was resigning after a series of protests against the new government which the country's leader warned could drag Libya into a "bottomless pit"
The deputy head of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) was roughed up on Thursday by university students in the eastern city of Benghazi, in a rare incident that indicates a growing popular discontent with Libya's new rulers
Libya risks sliding into civil war unless it brings under control the rival militias which filled the vacuum left by Muammar Gaddafi's downfall, the head of the interim administration said after an outbreak of violence in the capital
The death of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October, may have been a war crime, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said on Thursday.
Militias outside the control of Libya's central government are holding vast stores of tanks, rockets and small arms in the city of Misrata, an arsenal that will test the ability of the country's new rulers to assert their authority
After Libyans turned against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in February, his playboy son Saadi made plans to flee to a Mexican beach resort whose celebrity visitors include Kim Kardashian, Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga, according to those familiar with the scheme.
'The voices that we see now are the voices of the elite' One of the most senior figures in Libya's outgoing government has denounced its leaders as an unelected elite, supported by "money, arms and PR," and warned that 90% of Libya is politically voiceless. Outgoing acting Prime Minister Ali Tarhouni's comments were the strongest […]
The Canadian government has been quietly engaging Syria's opposition and pro-democracy movement, including facilitating several meetings with Foreign Minister John Baird and opening the doors of Canada's embassy in Turkey to the Syrian National Council
By Oliver Holmes TRIPOLI — Libya's ruling National Transitional Council has elected little-known academic Abdul Raheem al-Keeb as the new interim prime minister to guide the country as it emerges from a bitter civil war toward a new constitution and democratic elections. With vast oil and gas reserves and a relatively small population, Libya has […]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
List Price$74.99 20% OFF-$15.00
Now$59.99 Save $15.00 (20%) + FREE Shipping
Duraflame Crackling Log Insert Model:DFL001
Out Of Stock More arriving soon... List Price: $74.99 $59.99
+ FREE ShippingSave $15.00 (20%) Today!
Color: Bronze
Temporarily Backordered (details)
Temporarily Backordered (details)
Description & HighlightsBe the first to Write a Review
Duraflame Crackling Log Insert - Bronze
Enjoy the cozy ambiance of a fire year round without the hassle and upkeep with the Duraflame Crackling Log Insert (DFL001). This realistic set features a flame effect that looks as though the logs and ember bed are rolling and pulsating with real fire. The Log Insert plugs in to any standard 120-Volt outlet and can be used in an existing fireplace.
Decorative:The fire grate has a antique bronze finish and nicely compliments any fireplace
LED Technology:Realistic LED lighting makes this fireplace set appear like real flames
No Heat:There is no heating element in this insert as it is meant to provide ambiance only
Specifications & Manuals
Customer ReviewsBe the first to Write a Review
Learning CenterLearn More: Learning Center
You May Also Like
Dimplex Bifold Glass Doors $199.00
Dimplex 33" Swing Glass Door Kit $229.00
Dimplex Bifold Glass Doors $229.00
Dimplex 39" Swing Glass Door Kit $269.00


text:
Founded in 1898 by the Missouri Press Association and a trustee of the state since 1899, The State Historical Society of Missouri is the premier research center for the study of Missouri state and local history. The Society preserves and provides access to reference materials and historical collections through research centers located in Cape Girardeau, Columbia, Kansas City, Rolla, St. Louis, and Springfield. The Columbia research center also houses a significant art collection with ongoing and varied exhibitions and serves as the administrative headquarters for the Society.
The Society's mission is to collect, preserve, make available, and publish materials that enhance research and support learning opportunities in Missouri studies and the history of the Midwest. Society holdings include rare and specialized books; an extensive newspaper collection dating from 1808 with newspapers from all 114 Missouri counties and the city of St. Louis; editorial cartoons that are national in scope; thousands of maps and photographic images; oral histories; unique manuscript collections; and, major artworks by George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton.
In addition to caring for collections and working to provide easier access to records, the Society offers programs, lectures, historical and genealogical workshops, tours for school students and adult groups, and in-depth orientation for secondary and university students conducting research. A specific educational outreach objective of the Columbia staff is sponsorship and coordination of the National History Day in Missouri program which involves thousands of Missouri students (grades 6-12), as many as 600 of whom, along with their families and teachers, as well as contest judges and support volunteers, come to the University of Missouri campus each spring for the state contest.
The Society's editorial division is located in Columbia and publishes the Missouri Historical Review. This quarterly journal has been the cornerstone of the Society's publications program since 1906, offering scholarly articles on diverse topics in Missouri history. In recent years, the Society has published four volumes of the Century of Missouri History Scholarship Series which are anthologies of articles united by topic and drawn from the first 100 years of the Review. On April 2, 2011, the Society released its newest book, in partnership with the Friends of Arrow Rock, Inc., "But I Forget That I am a Painter and Not a Politician": The Letters of George Caleb Bingham.
Each year the Society holds its membership meeting on a Saturday in late fall – informational sessions, workshops, a silent auction, business meeting, luncheon, and special program are typically part of this annual event.
Cape Girardeau
|Research Center
|9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
|All Columbia facilities are closed on Mondays
|Research Center & Corridor Art Gallery
|Tuesday - Friday
|8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
|8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
|Main Art Gallery
|Tuesday - Friday
|9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
|9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
|Administrative Office
|Tuesday - Friday
|8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Kansas City
|Research Center
|8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
|The Kansas City Research Center will be closed on Mondays beginning August 25th.
|Research Center
|8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
|Requested Materials Available
|Fourth Wednesday of each month
|10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
|Requests must be made at least one week in advance—by the third Wednesday of each month.
St. Louis
|Research Center
|8:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
|The St. Louis Research Center will be closed on Mondays beginning October 6th.


text:
You must log in to access this feature. Sign in with Twellow or Facebook to get started.
By signing in to Twellow, you indicate your agreement to our terms of service.
Simply connect with Facebook and kiss those password blues away,
or go here to reset your password.
Zaheer Nooruddin @WEStudioD APAC Digital Mobile Social Agency Head Integrated Content Marketing PR Communications Insight Analytics Asia Ecommerce Innovation


text:
Stifel Financial Corp. (NYSE:SF)
The Company offers securities-related financial services through its wholly-owned operating subsidiaries. Its subsidiaries provide brokerage, trading, investment banking and related financial services to customers throughout the United States.
Very intelligent management. A great regional Investment Bank and poised to win with the ability to expand organically and through acquisition. But mostly be an ability to play outside the box and to adjust to a changing market / economy.


text:
Monday December 22nd
Parking & Parking Permit Programs
General Information
The City of Great Falls has a contract with Standard Parking Corporation to enforce downtown parking and manage the off-street parking facilities. Staff administers the contract, coordinates the vehicle immobilization process, collects parking citation payments, and follows through on collection efforts pertaining to delinquent parking tickets. Local points of contact include the Planning and Community Development Parking Technician at 771-1180, extension 414, and the Standard Parking Corporation at 454-2278.
To view an enlarged Downtown Parking Map, click the map link on "Supporting Documents" below.


text:
Random Images |
Latest Images |
2012 Art Calendars |
Find Prints |
Facebook |
The only ghost I ever sawWas dressed in mechlin, --so;He wore no sandal on his foot,And stepped like flakes of snow.His gait was soundless, like the bird,But rapid, like the roe;His fashions quaint, mosaic,Or, haply, mistletoe.Hi conversation seldom,His laughter like the breezeThat dies away in dimplesAmong the pensive trees.Our interview was transient, --Of me, himself was shy;And God forbid I look behindSince that appalling day!
No messages have been posted about this poem. Post a new message (requires login).
« More poems by Emily Dickinson
© 1996-2014 ArtMagick
Top of page


text:
Saturday, November 24, 2012
A cat attacks its pen decorations at the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy's 'Supreme Championship Cat Show' held in the NEC on November 24, 2012 in Birmingham, England. The one-day Supreme Cat Show is one of the largest cat fancy competitions in Europe with over one thousand cats being exhibited. Exhibitors aim to have their cat named as the show's 'Supreme Exhibit' from the winners of the individual categories of: Persian, Semi-Longhair, British, Foreign, Burmese, Oriental, Siamese.
© The Seattle Times Company


text: It's shocking what two little pills can do for someone living with HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs have been a lifesaving advance in the treatment of HIV/AIDS because they limit the virus' power to weaken the immune system. A stronger immune system means stronger individuals. Instead of sickness and immediate death, HIV becomes a manageable disease. Mothers can continue to take care of their children, husbands can continue to support their families, and children can continue to attend school.


text:
All posts tagged gt350
[VIDEO] Classic GT 350 And GT500 Mustangs Take Us Back In Time
It's been 18 months since Carroll Shelby's passing and sometimes we just love to be reminded about what the great […]
Road & Track Spend a Day with Classic Recreations' New Shelby GT350 Mustang
It's no surprise really that Classic Recreations would dabble with continuation models of the GT350. So when we saw their beautiful 1966 Shelby GT350 prototype on the road
Classic Recreations to auction prototype 1966 Shelby G.T.350CR during Monterey car week
Classic Recreations, a bespoke coachbuilder known for its award-winning Shelby muscle cars, will offer a prototype 1966 Shelby G.T.350CR through Mecum Auctions on Aug. 16, 2013 at 4:05p.m.
eBay Find: Rare Sapphire Blue 1966 Shelby GT350 Hertz edition
Little known to all but the hardcore Mustang enthusiast is that the 1966 Shelby GT350 Hertz models came in not one colour but four. The Raven Black we
[eBay] Special 1966 Shelby GT350 for Sale
This magnificent example of an original Shelby with a documented and special history is a rare sight these days. This 1966 Shelby GT350 once owned by car enthusiast


text:
Posts Tagged 'Learning'
Learning By Looking: All Disney Movies In Chronological Order Of When They Took Place
This is a chart of all Disney movies in the chronological order of the time period they're set in. I learned a lot by looking at it. I'm kidding, I learned almost nothing. Same goes for high school. I'm pretty sure I learned way more from listening to Wu-Tang. Thanks to Jessie, who at least taught me chronological order doesn't mean what I thought it did. I dunno, I thought it had something to do with chromosomes or something. Maybe I should have paid more attention in high school.
Related Posts:
Learning By Looking: All Disney Movies In Chronological Order Of When They Took Place
This is a chart of all Disney movies in the chronological order of the time period they're set in. I learned a lot by looking at it. I'm kidding, I learned almost nothing. Same goes for high school. I'm pretty sure I learned way more from listening to Wu-Tang. Thanks to Jessie, who at least taught me chronological order doesn't mean what I thought it did. I dunno, I thought it had something to do with chromosomes or something. Maybe I should have paid more attention in high school.
Related Posts:
[Robotics Documentary] Robots in Education – Technology Motivated Learning – NEW 2014
[Robotics Documentary] Robots in Education – Technology Motivated Learning – NEW 2014 Full Documentary [Robotics Documentary] Robots in Education – Technolog…
Related Posts:
Disney Wall-E Robot Learning Laptop Computer Electronic Toy
I ROBOT DVD starring WILL SMITH & Bridget Moynahan Viewed Once The 3 Laws Rule
|$4.99 (0 Bids)
End Date: Monday Dec-22-2014 19:12:47 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list
2 PCS SET Transformers Robot Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Robot Toys Model
|$29.99 (0 Bids)
End Date: Monday Dec-22-2014 19:13:03 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list
Wind Power Car Educational Hobby Robot Puzzle IQ Gadget DIY Car
End Date: Monday Dec-22-2014 19:13:21 PST
Buy It Now for only: $13.95
Buy It Now | Add to watch list
Related Posts:
Playskool Alphie Robot Learning 30 Letters, Numbers, Music, and 2 Booster Packs
I ROBOT DVD starring WILL SMITH & Bridget Moynahan Viewed Once The 3 Laws Rule
|$4.99 (0 Bids)
End Date: Monday Dec-22-2014 19:12:47 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list
2 PCS SET Transformers Robot Optimus Prime and Bumblebee Robot Toys Model
|$29.99 (0 Bids)
End Date: Monday Dec-22-2014 19:13:03 PST
Bid now | Add to watch list
Wind Power Car Educational Hobby Robot Puzzle IQ Gadget DIY Car
End Date: Monday Dec-22-2014 19:13:21 PST
Buy It Now for only: $13.95
Buy It Now | Add to watch list
Related Posts:
Review: Jolla Phone Has Design Flare But Sailfish's Waters Are Muddied By App Issues & UI Learning Curve
Jolla is a very small fish trying to make headway in global smartphone waters dominated by the whale-sized Android OS. In its plucky attempt to make a splash, building its own phone hardware as well as floating a new software platform, the Sailfish OS makers have crafted a device that's different — sometimes refreshingly so — but the Jolla phone's difference can frequently manifest itself as difficulty. The device asks its users to row against the current, requiring they accept a lot more that's rough than smooth.
- 4.5-inch, 960x 540, 245ppi display
- 16GB storage
- Dual-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB RAM
- 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
- 4G/LTE, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 4.0
- MSRP: €399/$ 540 unlocked, off-contract
- Product info page
- Can run Android apps
- Interface navigation can work well one-handed
- Impressive attention to smaller design details
- Swappable NFC backplates for extra colour & function modding
- Very few native apps
- Android app compatibility/stability issues
- Interface has significant learning curve & navigation can be confusing
- Mid-range hardware; unspectacular performer
In recent years, smartphone hardware design has converged to adopt mostly the same slab-shaped template — unsurprisingly so, being as the interesting stuff is what a large enough, responsive enough touchscreen acting as a canvas for the software running on it lets you do. Any alternative hardware form factors — sliders, physical Qwerty keyboards and so on — just get in the way or put a limitation on the software. The main smartphone design trend over the past few years has therefore been for screens to get bigger to allow for more prodding.
Jolla's first phone, for all the startup's talk of doing things differently, does not buck this trend — presenting the user with a rectangle slab of touchscreen glass to act as their playground, albeit one that's relatively modest in size by current palm-stretching standards. It's still a little larger than the current crop of iPhone screens, though.
The main hardware design flare here is the sandwich form factor of the slab, created when the backplate is pushed onto the body of the phone. The edge where the two pieces meet leaves a continuous seam which give a little extra grip as you hold the phone. The test device I was using came with a white backplate, contrasting with the black front for an attractive two-tone look.
If brightly coloured phones are your thing there are options to select a more boldly coloured Other Half (as the backplate is known). The first batch of Jolla handsets, launched by Finnish carrier DNA, had a bright pink rear. Jolla has also now started selling an aloe green Other Half via its website, along with a black option for those that want a less stand-out look.
The backplates aren't just about adding a splash of colour; they include NFC to support a link with the software, allowing a particular colour backplate to also change the theme colours of the OS (for instance). And potentially support other implementations, such as being preloaded with digital content such as a music album. Or those are the sort of use-cases Jolla is hoping to encourage.
It has also released the 3D files for The Other Half as an SDK to encourage developers to get modding the backplates. And with a power (and bus) connector incorporated into the back of the phone where the backplate snaps on, it would be possible for an Other Half to include sophisticated additional hardware functionality, such as a Qwerty keyboard or e-ink screen. (Not that either of those possible Other Halves have been built yet — but the hooks for extending the platform in such ways are ready and waiting).
The handset casing is plastic front and back — so does not feel as premium as metal/glass clad devices like the iPhone or HTC's One device. But Jolla's attention to detail in aspects of the hardware design, such as its mixture of rounded edges with smooth blunt ones, and a gloss logo invisibly inked on the matt backplate that jumps into reflective view when you tilt the device, give the design a confident, sure-footed air, and help to elevate the overall look and feel beyond the plebian plastic Android hoards it's attempting to disrupt.
Similarly aesthetic touches are evident in aspects of the software too, whether it's Jolla's calendar app with its subtle flip animation that turns Sunday to Monday as you scroll, or the dual-dial interface in the Jolla clock app for setting a timer by positioning two glowing beads within two concentric circles, or the understated double tap gesture that can be used to wake the phone from sleep. A distinct design flare is evident.
Size-wise (and weight-wise), Jolla's phone is a good middle ground, with enough screen to showcase whatever content you're playing around with, without being so big the actual device becomes unwieldy. That said, if you've already pushed past the 5-inch phablet mark for your personal mobile device you'll probably miss the extra space. So the one-way-street of mobile phone screen inflation goes.
What's really new here is of course the Sailfish OS — which carries on the MeeGo heritage that Jolla took from Nokia when the startup's core team left to carry on developing the platform Nokia was abandoning in favour of making the leap to Microsoft's Windows Phone.
As a platform MeeGo had plenty of promise but its timing was terrible. Even when Nokia outted the N9 (way back in 2011) Android was pushing ahead of the rest of the field. Now, for Jolla, it's not so much a gap between Android and everyone else as a gulf. Even the industry's third placed OS, Windows Phone, (which has been kept afloat by Redmond's deep pockets), remains a bit-player in an Android-saturated universe.
Realistically Sailfish stands no chance of achieving mass market penetration — but then it's not really being positioned for that. Jolla's appeal has mostly been about serving the non-mainstream margins; aka the fringe folk who are dissatisfied with vanilla and are looking for a less orthodox flavour. People who are bored by the functional similarity of Android and iOS, and don't see a Microsoft-branded alternative as an non-mainstream alternative.
That is necessarily a smaller and more modest market. Indeed, it may be more of a niche than a market but that remains to be seen. Outside Jolla's native stamping ground of Finland, where national pride and Nokia-fuelled nostalgia may help to buoy up Jolla's little boat, Sailfish's greatest chance for building scale is likely to be out East in China — a region that was an early focus for the startup.
However, Jolla has concentrated the launch of this its first handset on Europe (and indeed, on Finland thus far), and appears to have rowed back from talk of a strong early push into China — with no follow up to its 2012 announcement of a distribution deal with Chinese retailer D.Phone. So momentum in the East is not a story it can currently tell, beyond the implied potential of the previously announced Hong Kong-based Sailfish alliance. Ergo, Sailfish's Eastern promise also remains to be seen.
What exactly is different about the Sailfish OS? The Jolla phone interface is built around a series of gestures — pulling down on the screen typically brings a contextual menu into view, and simultaneously incorporates a selector bar so the same fluid movement is used to both point to and select the action from the menu — depending on when/where you release your finger. So, for instance, in the email app, the 'compose new email' or 'update' actions reside just off-screen, in the pull-down menu.
The advantage of this type of drag interface is you can perform actions with the same (single) finger movement, without having to lift off and tap. So there are potentially some time/efficiency savings, plus the ability to control more of the OS with a single digit, rather than being forced to use two hands to navigate. For certain groups of users with dexterity issues or a disability affecting their hands/arms Sailfish navigation could therefore be a bit less challenging than the tap-happy mainstream mobile options.
Another aspect of the Sailfish navigation is built around swipes. A swipe up from the bottom of the screen brings up an events/notification screen. Swiping in from the left or right is used to close the app you're currently in — or partially close it (if you pause the gesture mid way through), by allowing you to peek back at the home screen. You can then either reverse the gesture to go back into the app, or follow through to minimize it and land back on the homescreen.
Why would you want to peek at the homescreen? Because it contains a series of minimised apps that are displayed like a deck of cards, each containing glimpses of active content allowing you to see if there's a new email in your inbox, for instance, or a glimpse of the latest content on a website.
For native Sailfish apps, such as the built in Jolla browser, there is support for functional interaction right from the homescreen card itself — so you can refresh webpages or trigger a call to open up a new webpage just by dragging your finger left or right on the browser card itself. Similarly you can pause/play music from the media homescreen card, and so on.
At this granular point, the Sailfish interface can resemble a Russian doll of nested gestures. For a user who takes the time to get to know all these short cuts, the interface certainly has the potential to feel fluid and productive. But, on the flip side, all these gestural layers and incremental short-cuts can end up piling a confusing amount of possible navigation options atop the OS, resulting in a steep learning curve for the Sailfish newcomer.
Beyond the user-education challenge, Sailfish's reliance on gestures is not without other problems too. The main problem with the side-swipe gesture is that it can mis-register as one of the back/forth swipes also used to move between multiple menu screens in apps. And vice versa. So you can end up closing an app, when you were just trying to get to the next screen. Or doing the reverse.
Misregistered actions like that serve to confuse a navigation system that is already at a disadvantage because it's different to mobile's mainstream, and therefore involves the aforementioned disadvantageous learning curve.
Knowing when you can swipe or pull down to reach other menus also isn't always obvious, so the user has to know to be on the look-out for Sailfish's visual cues — either a glowing bar at the top of the screen, or small glowing dots that indicate the number of additional screens available for swiping to.
Add to that, at times, when — intuitively — you feel you should be able to simply reverse the swipe action you just did to reverse your path and return to the screen you were just on, you find you can't — and instead have to pull down to retrace your original steps via the contextual top menu.
There is a logic there, but it's not exactly taking the path of least resistance from the user's point of view. So the interface can sometimes feel as if you're being made to do something not because it's better/easier, but just because it's different. Which can be irritating.
The navigation also doesn't do away with taps entirely — which does mean that when you need to tap on something to confirm an action, rather than pulling down to bring up the contextual menu, it's not always clear that's what you need to do to proceed. Ergo, more confusion.
The functions supported by the homescreen cards also take some getting used to, especially as non-native Sailfish apps (such as the Android apps that are compatible with the device) don't include support for gestures. And those native apps that don't have any additional gestures sometimes resort to signposting that lack — with a written instruction on the card to 'tap to continue' — to avoid further user confusion about whether they support gestural interaction or not. But having to do that is rather sub-optimal (and potentially introduces further procedural confusion where apps don't include such signpost text).
The card-based homescreen is a potentially richer alternative to the icons of iOS and Android. However the size of the cards can limit their functionality as portals into what's going on elsewhere in your apps. The Jolla phone supports a deck of up to nine cards displayed on screen at once. When there are more than four cards their size shrinks so the text/content displayed on them can be tricky to make out. The cards are far more useable when larger — so when there's between one and four on screen (as pictured left) — allowing for content to be displayed more comfortably, and gestural interaction to be less fiddly.
As a 'glanceable' interface, the Jolla phone homescreen shares something with BlackBerry 10 — with its panel of 'Active Frames' — or Palm's WebOS. Or, to a lesser extent, with Windows Phone's info-displaying Live Tiles. Sailfish's support for gestural interaction with its own take on homescreen cards does take things a little further than Live Tiles. Whether that ability adds significantly to the interface, or is better described as more of an incremental benefit, depends on which apps you use, and the sort of actions you regularly perform.
If, for instance, you're often checking in on a particular webpage or regularly refreshing your inbox for new content, then being able to perform such actions right from the homescreen without having to dive into the app itself may be a boon. But it's a little hard to shake the feeling that the usability benefit here is relatively incremental. If you have a new email, you're going to have to fire up the inbox to read it anyway — and even iOS, with its static icon-based homescreen, sticks a little red digit on your email icon telling you when its time to go check in.
One area where Jolla has delivered a really usable slice of software is the native Sailfish keyboard. The touchscreen keyboard incorporates a scrollable next-word suggestion bar above the Qwerty layout which offers an evolving rack of words to choose from as you're typing.
The typing time-savings can be considerable here as multiple word suggestions can fit on the screen so the chances of the right one cropping up before you've finished spelling it out are good. Plus, even more words lurk just off screen where you can pull them in with a quick swipe on the bar.
It's a great use of available (and implied, i.e. off-screen) screen real-estate to support a smarter kind of touchscreen keyboard. Better than the static old iPhone keyboard? Absolutely!
Jolla has built a series of what it terms "essential apps" for the phone that you can download during the set up process, or snag direct from the Jolla Store later on. These include basics such as a media player, email, maps (powered by Nokia's HERE), calendar, clock, notes, calculator, documents viewer etc.
This is Jolla filling in the Sailfish platform gap itself, as — being the new kid on the mobile block — it's unable to rely on a substantial third party developer ecosystem to do that for it.
Essential here is a synonym for 'basics'. These Jolla-made Sailfish apps really are the bare-bones that any mobile user would expect to get as standard on a smartphone. If you want more ambitions apps — and really, which modern mobile user doesn't? — from ephemeral messaging to insanely frustrating gaming, well, Sailfish isn't going to be able to deliver. Not yet, and perhaps not ever on its own.
There are a handful of native Sailfish apps made by developers other than Jolla available for download on the Jolla store. But, including Jolla's essentials, there are less than 200 apps in total on the Jolla Store in total right now — and that includes plenty of very simple stuff like an age calculator app, and kitchen timer and torch apps, plus some apps that have evidently been ported from Android. The Sailfish app ecosystem clearly remains very nascent.
Jolla's solution for this app gap — or more accurately this 'app gulf' vs Android and iOS — is to add a pipeline into the Android ecosystem to allow for a sub-set of apps to be siphoned off via platform compatibility with Android. The preloaded hub for Android apps on the Jolla device is Yandex's app store – which holds some 85,000 Android apps for downloading and extend the device's functionality.
Jolla users can also download other Android app stores (i.e. in addition to the Yandex store) to get access to additional Android apps, although Google's Play ecosystem is obviously off limits.
Jolla's line in to the Android app ecosystem is an inelegant fix for a platform that wanted to provide an entirely alternative mobile reality. But when your platform lags the mobile category leader by circa one million+ apps then it's a necessary compromise. And that pragmatism means Jolla's device gets a much needed leg up in the app stakes vs other smaller players also trying to crack the Android/iOS duopoly (such as Mozilla and its HTML5 Web apps approach with the Firefox OS).
It is not a trouble free compromise though. The main problem with this approach — ignoring the core philosophical one of having to incorporate the very thing you dislike (including having to tolerate Android navigation keys cropping up within Android apps to sprinkle additional confusion over your alternative navigation system) — is that Android apps don't always run smoothly in the Sailfish OS environment.
This was true when I did a hands-on with the Jolla phone back in November. And it's still true now, although the big bug evident then, of the Android runtime sometimes spontaneously taking over the interface, appears to have been sorted now. App compatibility issues are an ongoing problem, though.
Many Android apps — including the Yandex app store — run sluggishly, with noticeable lag. Some Android apps are also unstable after installation — Skype for instance stopped responding after a moment's use (although, to be fair, the Skype app is pretty universally terrible, regardless of the mobile platform you're accessing it from). Plus, certain actions within Android apps aren't supported within Sailfish — which triggers a dialogue box when you try to do something you can't, informing you that such and such an action isn't possible. Such is the price of compromise.
But, when the Android apps do work, their line in to a dominant ecosystem does help to expand the Jolla experience for its users, providing access to a lot more app 'essentials' — whether that's Facebook or Twitter or Cut The Rope. Whatever your particular app poison. Just so long as you don't expect the next Flappy Bird viral hit to be natively spawned on the Sailfish platform.
Some performance issues on the Jolla phone are clearly directly associated with its Android emulator feature, such as the laggy apps discussed above.
More general handset performance issues that affect the Jolla phone likely relate to what is effectively (on paper) a chunk of pretty mid-range smartphone hardware.
The handset is not a powerhouse in the processor stakes — certainly not by today's flagship phone standards (which is one of the problems with having a long development time to get your debut device to market, as Jolla has). This relative lack of horsepower translates to overall performance that has a tendency to feel a bit plodding.
There are times when the interface has noticeable lag — such as when taking a photo and watching the shot you've just snapped slide off screen and onto the (off-screen) camera roll. The delay isn't huge but it's noticeable.
Likewise, the browser can feel a little underpowered when tackling certain websites. And seem a little slow to scroll and respond to taps. Transitions from one type of content to loading another also require a spot of micro-patience from the user.
The response time lag is more pronounced when running (some) Android apps, as noted above.
Native Sailfish apps fair better, as you'd expect, but there it's not so much overall performance that's the issue but the aforementioned paucity and scarcity of app quantity and quality.
Elsewhere on the performance front, the handset's rear camera is distinctly mid-range. Photos lack crisp clarity, and the lens struggles with variable light levels. Likewise, the handset's qHD screen is far from pin-sharp. Again, these aspects of the Jolla phone are distinctly mid-range.
Battery life at least does seem pretty good, both on standby and for active use. The phone should easily manage a day's normal use without needing a recharge.
Bottom Line
The Jolla phone's gesture-based interface has a steep learning curve for newbies, and considering how embedded most mobile users are with Android/iOS navigation paradigms that's inevitably pushing water up hill. Floating a whole new platform so long after Android and iOS set sail also means Sailfish can't hope to compete on quantity of native apps — or indeed on attracting hoards of developers, so it's a tough ask for it to deliver high quality third party native apps either.
That huge app gap means Jolla has been forced to tether its dingy to the very Android leviathan it's trying to circumvent — to extend the reach of its dinky Sailfish ecosystem in the hopes of building sustainable momentum. It's a practical and pragmatic strategy but it's also an ongoing compromise that muddies this new platform's clear blue waters.
Incoming search terms:
Related Posts:
Blended Learning Forum – October 2013 – UWS on iTunes U
UWS on itunes U Presented by Mark Hodson, Digital Media Coordinator, Blended Learning Team.
Video Rating: 0 / 5
Related Posts:
Coursera teams up with State Department on series of MOOC-based 'learning hubs' around the world
Coursera is already one of the leading providers of MOOCs (or massive open online courses) in the US, and its now getting a helping hand from none other than the US government in broadening its worldwide ambitions. The company announced a new initiative today that will see it partner with the State …
Related Posts:
Sci-Fi, Religion, And Silicon Valley's Quest For Higher Learning At Singularity University
It was the final night of classes at Singularity University's March 2013 Executive Program, and we, the students, had been given a valedictory assignment: Predict the future.
For the past six days, the 63 of us had been immersed in lectures on the nearly limitless potential of artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, and bioinformatics, and now the moment had arrived for us to figure out what we really believed and ponder the big questions. Was a transhuman future — the Singularity — really only three decades away, as SU's chancellor and co-founder Ray Kurzweil had prophesied? Were we really on the brink of a cure for all viruses and an era of radical energy abundance? Would we soon be able to choose to live forever? How many glasses of wine would it take until our group of entrepreneurs, executives, and hippie mystics got impatient and just resolved to build a time machine?
Inside Singularity University's airy classroom on the campus of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, the SU staff distributed about 50 sheets of paper, many bearing newspaper headlines from this radical but not-too-distant future. (A future that, shockingly, still included a print newspaper industry.) We were instructed to break up into small groups to decide when in the next 20 years these world-changing milestones would come to pass.
"LIFE EXPECTANCY REACHES 150 IN AMERICA" blared the first headline. I stared at it incredulously. Life expectancy in the United States was currently 79. For the life expectancy to hit 150, that would mean… I started to do some back-of-the-napkin calculations. One of my fellow classmates, the 66-year-old chairman of an international law firm, was quicker to formulate his answer. "According to a gerontologist in England, the first person to live to 1,000 has already been born," he told us. "I'm not sure I believe that, but everyone thinks that the first person to live to 150 has already been born. I'd even say the first person to live to 200 has been born." The other five of us nodded our heads. We collectively decided that U.S. life expectancy would reach 150 within the next 10 to 15 years.
The next headline declared: "ROBOT LEAVES EARTH, MINES OTHER PLANET AND BRINGS MATERIAL BACK TO EARTH." A number of us exchanged sidelong glances. Progress in space had slowed dramatically in the post-Apollo era. A group of planetary exploration enthusiasts — among them the film director James Cameron and SU co-founder Peter Diamandis — had recently backed a company seeking to mine asteroids, but it was hard to imagine those missions were imminent. Then Diane Murphy, Singularity's PR executive, sidled up to our table. "Elon Musk already announced a plan to create an 80,000-person colony on Mars starting in 15 years," she said. Gently admonished, we decided that planet-mining robots would be operational in the next decade.
After half an hour, the entire class reconvened in SU's main lecture hall to compile our predictions into a master chronology. This is the future we foresaw: Five years from now, a majority of medical doctors will consult with artificial intelligence before making a diagnosis; a genetic-engineering service for fetuses will be an increasingly popular resource for expectant parents; and a synthetically manufactured virus will be found spreading in the wild. Five years after that, 100 million people will have watched the World Cup via virtual reality glasses, and laptops, tablets, and mobile devices will have been abandoned in favor of more immersive computer systems. Jump another half-decade ahead, an AI will be given lead authorship of a scientific paper and a zoo will open that houses 10 species that went extinct more than 15,000 years ago. By 2033, our collective vision became murky: One small group predicted that synthetic grass would have cleaned up 100% of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, arresting the progress of global warming and beginning to reverse its pernicious effects. Another group decided to write their own headline: "WORLD ENDS."
"So how many people here had arguments about something they barely knew existed six days ago?" asked Kathryn Myronuk, SU's director of research. Hearty laughter broke out across the room.
The evening was now a haze, with most of us buzzed on merlot. It was 10 p.m. The lights dimmed in the conference room. Music came crashing over the speakers, and a few students launched into a sweaty dance. In an adjoining room where a late-night bull session on the nature of consciousness had transpired earlier in the week, more bottles of wine were emptied, with a pride of leonine European venture capitalists leading the bacchanal. The party carried on into the wee hours. The future looked bright.
Mary Altaffer / AP Photo
Techno-utopianism is hardwired into Singularity University. Kurzweil and Diamandis founded the organization in 2009, at a time when both men were coming off career triumphs. Kurzweil — an inventor most famous for pioneering the flatbed scanner, creating reading machines for the blind, and developing a line of synthesizers popular in the '80s and '90s (he is, unsurprisingly, friends with Stevie Wonder) — had gained a new level of fame in 2005 with the publication of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, a best-selling manifesto making a scientific case for a merger of man and machine that would collapse distinctions between physical and virtual reality and even life and death. (Kurzweil sets the date for this event horizon at 2045.)
Meanwhile, Diamandis had seen the X Prize Foundation, a passion project he founded in 1995, spur the successful development of the first private spaceship to make multiple passenger-carrying flights. On a hiking trip in Chile in 2006, Diamandis was toting The Singularity Is Near in his backpack when he decided to found a school based on its ideas.
Kurzweil and Diamandis had little trouble amassing powerful friends. Genentech, Google, Cisco, Nokia, and Autodesk lined up to be founding partners of Singularity University, and Google CEO Larry Page played a key role in shaping the organization's mission. At SU's founding conference in September 2008, Page leapt up and told the assembled group that Google would back the organization if it dedicated itself to "addressing humanity's grand challenges." Kurzweil and Diamandis were happy to oblige, and "improving the lives of a billion people within a decade" became a key plank of SU's founding platform. (This January, Page hired Kurzweil at Google to help develop software that better understands natural language, how humans actually communicate.)
SU continues to expand the scope of its grand ambitions. It remains an educational institution, offering weeklong executive education courses like ours and a 10-week summer immersion primarily for young entrepreneurs. It has also become an elite Silicon Valley conclave, staging a three-day invitation-only schmoozefest on the Fox Studios lot in Los Angeles that brings together big-time CEOs like LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman, science heroes like Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and tech-curious celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Will.I.Am, Jodie Foster, and Seth Green. And as of last year, Singularity University is a startup incubator, surrendering its nonprofit status to take an equity stake in companies developing emergent technologies like lab-generated beef and laser-printed DNA. Upon SU's launch in 2009, Peter Diamandis told the Associated Press, "We expect the next generation of multibillion-dollar companies to come out [of] this university." It's perhaps telling of this healthy self-regard that the organization's logo, a serifed "S" inlaid in a shield, recalls nothing so much as the emblem Superman wears on his chest.
Larry Busacca / Getty Images
It was a beaming Saturday afternoon in mid-March when the Executive Program attendees arrived at Singularity University's principal classroom, a low-slung building on the 2,000-acre campus of NASA's Ames Research Center. The skeleton of Hangar One — a 1930s airship garage that was once the world's largest freestanding structure — loomed nearby. Many of us were jet-lagged after flights from São Paulo, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, and Mumbai, but nearly everyone seemed giddy. We were an almost comically eclectic group: a square-jawed brigadier general in the U.S. Marine Corps; a fried-chicken magnate from Cali, Colombia; a Brazilian fashion researcher; the tan and buff mayor of a small California city; a former Goldman Sachs partner who described himself as "an explorer on a journey"; a Canadian geophysicist who had spotted "four or five" UFOs as a young man; a puckish 40-year-old named Malek who had toured the world as the indie-rock act Jupiter Sunrise; and two business magnates who were among the first to purchase flights on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space airlines. The seven-day Singularity University Executive Program, it seems useful to mention at this point, costs $ 12,000.
Singularity University, we were told immediately and often, wanted to teach us to "recognize the power of exponential technology" by "rewiring our brains" to "think exponentially." Exponential technologies, as we learned on that first afternoon, are simply technologies whose principal measures of capability increase by multiples — instead of growing linearly (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), they grow exponentially (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32). In computing, exponential growth has long been observed in a phenomenon called Moore's Law that states that the number of transistors on a silicon chip doubles every 18 months or so. Such rapid enhancement is the reason that your smartphone is a million times less expensive and a thousand times more powerful than the supercomputers of 40 years ago. Kurzweil's contribution to the theory of exponential growth has been to take the principles behind Moore's Law and apply them to everything from cellular biology to interstellar space travel. Kurzweil calls this "The Law of Accelerating Returns," and it gets very radical, very fast. "In the 21st century," he writes in The Singularity Is Near, "we will witness on the order of 20,000 years of progress (again, when measured by today's rate of progress), or about 1,000 times greater than what was achieved in the 20th century."
Later that day, as we celebrated our initiation into this brave new world with a feast of paella under the stars, I sought out the Canadian geophysicist and UFO spotter, figuring he might have an interesting take on what it means to experience "20,000 years of progress" in 100 years. It turned out this was his second turn at Singularity this year. He'd made the trip from Toronto to Silicon Valley only two months earlier for a weekend-long workshop with Kurzweil and Diamandis. "The whole thing is fucking addictive," he said. "Ray and Peter are the high priests. I wanted to come back to get more of the practical side."
I asked him about his UFO sightings.
"I was out prepping a 40-pound drill one night doing geochemical sampling in Saskatchewan," he said. "Then I saw two brilliant, luminous, soundless discs. They combined into one. And then they were gone."
"Do you believe in the Singularity?" I asked.
"Oh, I have a theory about what the Singularity might look like."
"What's that?"
"Well, I can't tell you," he chortled. "I might write a book about it!"
Eric Benson / BuzzFeed
The next morning, the 63 of us arrived back at the main classroom, plowed through a gourmet breakfast buffet, and plopped into our pastel-colored swivel chairs for 14 hours to listen to a marathon of lectures. We learned that artificial intelligence was all around us — Pandora, Siri, IBM's Watson, Amazon.com recommendations, credit card fraud detection, shoot-'em-up video games like Call of Duty — but that soon we'd be able to create a single, massive artificial intelligence that would, as one instructor put it, "master the accelerating wave front of human knowledge."
We learned that mapping the human genome took the U.S. government 13 years and $ 2.7 billion, now takes a lab as little as three days and $ 2,000, and in 10 years will be done instantly for less than it costs to flush a toilet (under a penny). We learned that in 18 years some people will be able to live for "an arbitrarily long period of time," and that we ought to consider cryogenic freezing if we fail to make that cut. We learned that the nation-state is an outdated model at risk of being disrupted and that the future will belong to city-states — the Bay Area, to pick a random example — and global corporations. We watched videos of robots serving as pack mules over broken terrain and heard that wars in the future would be fought entirely by AI-enhanced machines.
But all of that was just the beginning. A day after our lectures on AI, bioinformatics, and robotics, Ralph Merkle, a legend of Silicon Valley — a cryptography innovator, cryonics enthusiast, nanotechnology evangelist, and potbellied reminder that computer geeks didn't always aspire to tech-brohood — arrived at SU to imagine the 21st century for us.
Nanotechnology, he said, would soon enable you to hold your breath at the bottom of a pool for an hour (via red-blood-cell-replacing respirocytes), allow for reverse aging (via nanobots called chromallocytes that would insert fresh chromosomal material into your cells), and end global warming (via solar-powered diamond trees that transform carbon dioxide into oxygen). "We'll have materials that are over 50 times stronger than steel for the same weight," Merkle said. "A single-stage-to-orbit space vehicle would weigh about 3,000 kilograms including fuel. That's about a VW bus. You hop in — you and four passengers and a bit of luggage — and you take off into low-Earth orbit. You'll be able to go anywhere in the solar system in a month for a few thousand dollars. I don't think we'll have these kinds of technologies in 20, 25 years; I think it'll be more 30, 35, maybe 40."
"What could block it?" someone shouted from the back.
"Oh, I don't know, nuclear war would block it pretty effectively," Merkle drolled.
"So basically it's going to happen," the student shot back.
Would it surprise you to hear that multiple lecturers used examples from the films Minority Report, Gattaca, and Prometheus to explain their subjects? Standing in the lunch line one day, a Marin County entrepreneur named Kent and I got into a conversation about all the futuristic talk we'd been hearing. He showed me his iPhone's Kindle app, where he'd amassed a collection of titles by cult writers like "techno-thriller" novelist Daniel Suarez and William Hertling, author of A.I. Apocalypse and Avogadro Corp: The Singularity Is Closer Than It Appears.
"A lot of what we've been hearing sounds like science fiction to me," I said. "It's taking the concepts of science and extrapolating them into fantasy."
"No," he politely corrected. "This is science catching up with fantasy."
Courtesy of the Singularity University
Related Posts:
Niek's EZ-Robot Experience: Revolution Learning Steps
Introducing Niek Blankers! From The Netherlands, the Work Experience program offered Niek the ability to work with a company this summer. On July 15th 2013, …


text:
"Care & Process Venison with Bill Hesselgrave" from Stoney Wolf Productions®
Item # WX2-212254
- Google+
This item is shipped directly from the factory. To see the expected shipping date, please add to your Shopping Cart. Sorry, no express shipping available. We are unable to ship factory direct items to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or APO or FPO addresses.
- Details & Specs
"Care & Process Venison with Bill Hesselgrave" DVD. Over 2 hours of must - know tips, tricks and trade secrets from a game-processing master!
Join pro Bill Hesselgrave as he guides you through every step of processing your deer. He'll show you the ins and outs of cleaning, skinning, caping, deboning, tying roasts and wrapping meat. These are skills you'll have for the rest of your life, and can be used on all big game you harvest.
You'll also get a BONUS "Get the Razor Edge" lesson for knife care made easy. Bill will show you the basics of selecting a quality knife, as well as how to sharpen and maintain an edge on all the knives you use. He'll also teach you how to hold and use steels to touch up and maintain a razor edge. 160 minutes total.
- Reviews
<!--BVSEO|dz:Main_Site-en_US|sdk:v184.108.40.206-n|msg:Error: Request errored out - The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden. -->
You May Also Like
Bag of 30 Steel PenniesBuyer's Club $17.99 Non-Members $19.99
Flag ShowcaseBuyer's Club $22.49 Non-Members $24.99
215-Pc. Deluxe Wood Art SetBuyer's Club $40.49 Non-Members $44.99


text:
Rogers Earns MPSF Athlete Of The Week Honors
Pacific Swimming's sophomore Cooper Rogers collected the first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Athlete of the Week award of his career Wednesday, Oct. 24, as voted on the by league's coaches.
The Western Australia native had an impressive outing at last week's Pacific Invitational, taking second in the 200 Free (1:42.70) and third in the 100 Back (51.80) as the Tigers claimed their-first ever title in the event's 21-year history. His 200 Free time ranks third in the MPSF while his mark in the 100 Back is fifth in the league.
Rodgers also helped Pacific to a pair of second-place finishes in both the 200 Medley Relay and 400 Free Relay before helping the Tigers post their top times in the 200 Free Relay and the 800 Free Relay on the second day of the meet. He also recorded times of 22.14 in the 50 Free and 47.60 in the 100 Free.
This marks the second consecutive week in which a Pacific swimmer has received the conference's Athlete of the Week award. Junior Oliver Simkovic claimed the honor for the Tigers last week.The Tigers will resume competition this Saturday, Oct. 27, when they take on CSU Bakersfield and Seattle in Bakersfield, Calif. The meet is set to begin at 1 p.m.


text:
Photo of Fanna and WSIL photographer taken about an hour before Rick Santorum took the podium as people filed into the gymnasium at Herrin High School.
Fanna hard at work
By: ElizabethCSubscribe Channel: News Location: Herrin, IL
+ Comment!
This story is inappropriate and should be flagged for moderation. Please choose from one of the following options:


text:
Narrow Search
Pink Party
Pretty in Pink Balloons
Express Yourself With Pink Balloons!
Pretty in pink balloons add something special to your party. Add a fabulous splash of pink to your party using pink balloons without being overwhelmed.
Pink Pearl Latex BalloonStarting at: $9.99 pkg/100
Pink Bright Tone Latex BalloonStarting at: $8.99 pkg/100
Hot Pink Neon Latex BalloonsYour Price: $14.99 pkg/100
Hot Pink Bright Tone Latex BalloonStarting at: $8.99 pkg/100
Pink Dots Magicolor Mylar BalloonYour Price: $2.29 each
Pink Circles Magicolor Mylar BalloonYour Price: $2.99 each
Heart Mylar BalloonYour Price: $1.99 each
Fun and Funky Cupcake Mylar BalloonYour Price: $2.99 each
Decorating With Pink Balloons
- Give your daughter a modern girl's Sweet 16 party with hot pink neon latex balloons and black and white accents. Drape zebra stripes print gossamer from an outdoor tent ceiling to create a sassy backdrop. Place black luminescent hanging wave column> inside the tent to use as an accent color. Give pink and black zebra striped high heel personalized candy bars to your guests along with the pink balloons!
- Pink balloons make a perfect addition to your 50's theme party decorations. Use a Sharpie pen to write "Grease Lightning" on the license plate! Add clusters of Rock N' Roll latex balloons around the room for a festive look.
- Create an amazing display of pretty in pink balloons at each table when you hold them in place with balloon weights.
- From classic pink pearl latex balloons to hot pink music theme party balloons, you can create a fabulous splash of pink at your party.


text:
(based on 2 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
2 Stars
1 Stars
Reviewed by 2 customers
Sort by
Displaying reviews 1-2
Back to top
By School with mommy
from Qc, Canada
About Me Homeschooling
Best Uses
Comments about SAFE-T® Compass:
really nice I purchased 4 of them
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
Was this review helpful? Yes / No
- You may also flag this review
Comment on this review
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Love this compass after all these years.
By Mostlymade
from Oneonta, NY
I used these in High School and fell in love with them so much I asked the teacher if I could have it. I still have it to this day and now, as a working artist, I still use it to this day. They are the best compasses I have ever used. They do not loosen like the metal, pointy ones, and you can stick it in your pocket and not have to worry about piercing yourself, and if the little white wheel pops out, it snaps right back in no problem.While the radius is limited, only up to 10", I have never found this to be a problem, and I continue to use and recommend this product to others.Safe, light, reliable, affordable. What more could one want?


text:
Keeping a secret doesn't make it go away.
What Rocky Horror meant to me.
Dreams of meat, summer flings, more more more.
Here's what the big deal is.
The art of seduction.
The one who got away.
Crushes and hair dilemmas on the corner of Dream Avenue and Believe Street.
The first in a monthly series.
My first feminist action.
Life updates from Minna, Dylan, Naomi, and Katherine.
Hi, Rookies! If you've made anything—writing, photos, video, comix, etc.—you think might be right for us, please send it to us here. As always, thank you! ♥
Rookie is a website for teenage girls. With monthly-themed content, we update three times every weekday, and once a day on weekends. Click here to find out where to send stuff you'd like us to see. Learn about the people who write this thing here.


text:
A look at Islamic egoism and the lure of Salafi Islam.
Bret Stephens
January 23rd, 2015
Los Angeles, CA
Register Here
March 6-8, 2015
Terrenea Resort
Palos Verdes, CA
I am sick & tired of black racists, from Sharpton to Samuel Jackson, spreading lies about white people and police and inciting their murder.
The racist war on police that progressives have worked so hard to launch is here.
Bill Whittle dissects the new barbarism, a gift from the progressive left: youtube.com/watch?v=ez60_d…


text:
Writing for children
Find a Conversation
Writing for children
|Wed, 05-15-2013 - 3:16pm
I've been MIA for awhile, but I am looking for some places that accept childrens stories and articles. Having a heck of a time finding any. Thanks for any help!
|Mon, 05-20-2013 - 3:58pm
I'm not familiar with any, but I'll see if I can find anyone who does know. Hopefully someone will pop-in as well.


text:
Remakes that go beyond imitation.
Survival supplies.
Music about invention/creation.
You ask, we deliver.
Heavy songs to power through a rough task or hard day.
Hi, Rookies! If you've made anything—writing, photos, video, comix, etc.—you think might be right for us, please send it to us here. As always, thank you! ♥
Rookie is a website for teenage girls. With monthly-themed content, we update three times every weekday, and once a day on weekends. Click here to find out where to send stuff you'd like us to see. Learn about the people who write this thing here.


text:
Negra MD et al. – This study of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) in combination with an optimized background regimen (OBR) in antiretroviral–experienced adolescents did not meet its primary or secondary efficacy endpoints. The effectiveness of the OBR and baseline genotypic resistance to TDF in both groups may have confounded the efficacy findings. No clinically relevant TDF–related renal or bone toxicities were observed in this adolescent population.Methods
- A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study was conducted.
- Ninety adolescents (12 to <18 years) who were viremic while receiving antiretroviral treatment were randomized to receive TDF 300 mg (mean, 216.8 mg/m2) or placebo in combination with an optimized background regimen (OBR) for 48 weeks.
- The primary efficacy endpoint was time-weighted average change in plasma HIV-1 RNA from baseline at week 24.
- Eighty-seven subjects (45 TDF, 42 placebo) received the study drug.
- Through week 24, the median time-weighted average change in plasma HIV-1 RNA was not different between the TDF and placebo groups.
- The percentages of subjects who achieved HIV-1 RNA <400 copies/mL were similar at week 24 (40.9 versus 41.5%).
- One fourth of subjects in the TDF and placebo groups (24.4 versus 28.6%) had at least 3 active agents in the OBR.
- Many subjects in both groups had baseline genotypic resistance to TDF (48.9 versus 33.3%).
- TDF was generally safe and well tolerated. There were no statistically significant differences in changes of renal function and bone mineral density between the 2 groups.