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|Reviews for Because
| dimonyo-anghel chapter 3 . 10/25/2004
hahah this is so funny! i love it!
| Kaarsis chapter 1 . 10/1/2004
Aya-chan should have asked: "Would you object to me going out with Yohji-kun?"
Ran: "No- ...damn!"
sorry couldn't resist...
| minerva solo chapter 3 . 4/1/2004
eep! Ken and Omi are absolutely adorable. And AYa nad Yohji, of course, but the last scene with Ken and Omi made me melt. Actually, this whole chapter did. Fluff to start the day!
| HeavenGoddess chapter 3 . 4/1/2004
so cute i love it lovew it love it
| Sky Rat chapter 3 . 3/26/2004
Adorable _ esp. where Ken and Omi decide to get together. But...it ended too quick! ;_;
| LadyDragonWolfKnight chapter 3 . 3/26/2004
aw...that's soo kawaii!so sweet, hee*dances*
| Schu chapter 3 . 3/26/2004
LOL They sure don't waste any time. I mean Ken was supposed to be against it? Yet dude they went from like first base to home base LOL. How sweet of Aya to kiss Yohji and think of that pretty picture at least they are taking it slow. I guess Aya-chan wont get the date though I'm sure it was all part of her plot to get them together very good
| Tysoyo Kalli chapter 3 . 3/26/2004
Kawaii! I love your writtings! _ This was a cute ending. I loved it. I don't have much time but yeah, I just want to say your just a wonderful author and all of that and this was a great humour fic, and I normally can't stand humor at all! _
| Crystal Okamino chapter 2 . 3/20/2004
Cute! I adore this! _ I'm a huge AxY fan, so of course I am loving this story, heh. And Aya-chan is so cute the way she's going about everything like that, heheh. Well, keep up this great story! _ Jaa!
| Lapis Sanura chapter 2 . 3/20/2004
Yu have to update soon!
| LadyDragonWolfKnight chapter 2 . 3/18/2004
o...what's going to happen between those two?hee, wonder what's going to be said, update soon!
| LadyDragonWolfKnight chapter 1 . 3/18/2004
hehehe, showin the Yohji already likes Aya eh?hee, can't wait to read more,which i will!hee
| annakas chapter 2 . 3/14/2004
Aw little Aya/Ran is confused and Aya-chan is so very smug. The Ken/Omi hint was hilarious. Go write more.
| Joist chapter 2 . 3/13/2004
EEp! Haven't been reading much Weiss Kreuz fanfiction lately - but I *always* make time for you, Misura! Your storylines are so easy and simple (in a good way), but you make them so intricate and loveable! ..Speaking of, I loved this. They do make a rather cute couple. ;) Continue soon!
| Santurion1 chapter 2 . 3/11/2004
Well well well, isn't it great to see Aya falling in love? And with Youji none of the less (are those 4 words making sense?). Anyway, it's an awesome story!


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Every Sunday, Seasons at the Ocean House features its popular Sunday Champagne Jazz Brunch. Brunch at the Ocean House combines unlimited sparkling wine along with classic breakfast items and lunch fare, plus a variety of additional buffet items.
Seasons is transformed into a food emporium, with a raw bar featuring the freshest seafood, a house-made pastry and dessert display, and a selection of local artisanal cheeses and charcuterie. At the crepe station, a member of the Ocean House staff prepares crepes to order, with fillings of the guests' choice. The à la carte menu changes every week, offering scrumptious breakfast dishes and savory lunch preparations.
Sunday Brunch now features a "Make Your Own" Bloody Mary Bar. Choose from five Bloody Mary mixers, ten spirits and 22 garnishes to create the ideal brunch companion beverage. An Ocean House bartender will be on hand to mix up your concotion, as well as guide you through selecting the perfect flavor combinations.
Musician Greg Piccolo, a Rhode Island native, performs a combination of jazz, blues, and soul each Sunday in the lobby. Reservations are required.
Seasons At The Ocean House Reservations
Please click on the links below to view the menus.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Accessories News
Customer-Centric Approach Boosts A&F
Its international businesses were strong in the third quarter.
— November 20, 2015
Le Tote Secures $15 Million in Series B Round
The funding will help with technological investments.
— November 19, 2015
How The Ultra-Affluent Are Spending Their Money
The ultra-affluent are feeling more skittish and shelling out less for luxuries.
Wal-Mart Shares Climb 3.5% on Earnings Beat
A wage increase for sales staff and investments in technology continued to weigh on the retailer's bottom line, as did currency fluctuations.
— November 17, 2015
Dillard's Stock Falls on Weak Third-Quarter Profits, Sales
Dillard's stock is dropping on weak third-quarter sales and earnings.
— November 16, 2015
H&M Sales Rise 12% in October
The Swedish fast-fashion retailer reported a slight improvement versus the previous month.
J.C. Penney Beats Wall Street Estimates, Comps Grow 6.4%
The retailer reduced its losses for the quarter to $137 million from $188 million a year ago.
— November 13, 2015
Bebe Earnings Still Hurting From Boho Clothes
Bebe's earnings miss analyst expectations as the company continues to pay the price for stocking boho clothes.
— November 12, 2015
Gildan Earnings Rise on Lowers Costs, Brand Growth
Gildan said the improved earnings performance in the third quarter reflected unit sales volume growth and operating margin expansion.


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Tuesday, November 2, 2010
WALLA WALLA -- A new trial date has been set for a College Place woman accused of sending e-mails threatening to kill local judges and a state Supreme Court justice more than two years ago, as well as stalking her former boyfriend and stealing his identity.
Kathy A. Hendrickson, 49, of 1200 S.E. Broadway Ave., Apt. E, had been scheduled for trial Nov. 9 and 10 in Walla Walla County Superior Court. But the proceedings are being delayed until Jan. 4 and 5.
Hendrickson is charged with three counts each of cyberstalking, threatening to bomb or injure property, harassment and intimidating a public servant, in addition to one count each of stalking and second-degree identity theft -- domestic violence crimes.
Officials said she used an assumed name and sent a message to College Place Municipal Court Judge Richard Wernette on July 31, 2008, threatening his life through a bombing. Then on Aug. 14 of that year, she allegedly sent a similar message to county Superior Court Judge John Lohrmann and state Supreme Court Justice Debra Stephens.
A name identified on the messages as the sender is similar to that of a woman Hendrickson worked with at one time.
The messages were sent through a Yahoo account from a computer in the library at Walla Walla Community College where Hendrickson was a student, according to a police report.
Charges relating to alleged crimes against Hendrickson's former boyfriend, Gregory J. Riordan, date back to 2005 after he reportedly tried to break off the relationship. Riordan -- who lived in Irrigon, Ore., at the time, but since has moved out of state -- reported that someone had been using his computer address to send threatening e-mails to various people he knows.
Also, in 2007, Riordan's retirement check was redirected to an address in New York, someone arranged for the power to be turned off at his home, and one of his online charge accounts was accessed and numerous orders sent out -- all without his authorization, officials said.
Hendrickson is not being jailed pending the outcome of the case.
Terry McConn can be reached at email@example.com or 526-8319.
More like this story
- Trial date set for College Place woman in cyberstalking, threats
- Trial date moved for College Place woman in cyberstalking, threats
- College Place woman accused of sending e-mails threatening to kill judges
- Trial again moved for Walla Walla woman in threats, stalking
- Trial again delayed in threat, stalking case


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Node.js – It's new, its exciting…but what, exactly, is it? Let's start at the beginning…Full Post
I'll be speaking at the Environments for Humans JavaScript Summit on November 21st. The conference is a 3-day, all online conference, which means no travel hassle/cost, and you get to watch great talks from the comfort of home! It's shaping up to be a great lineup (check out the list of talks!), and your registration includes copies of slides and access to recordings of talks after the event. The organizers have given me a discount code to share with you: Use 20COIS to get 20% off individual or meeting room tickets. Enjoy!Full Post
Automate Your Development Environment With Vagrant
Vagrant leverages virtualization and automated system configuration to deliver you customized virtual environments for your development projects. With VirtualBox and its comprehensive API under the hood, Vagrant creates and manages custom virtual environments to your exact specification. But wait, we've been able to create virtual machines for years. What's new here? The problem is configuration of a brand new virtual macine for each project is a massive chore, reinstalling all of your dev tools each time sounds like torture, and developers will still each want VMs of different operating systems…what are we solving? Vagrant does it differently. By giving you the option to leverage powerful, proven automated configuration technologies such as Chef or Puppet (as well as your own custom shell scripts, if you like), Vagrant takes the time and tedium out of configuring a virtual environmentFull Post
This is the introductory screencast from my online course, Learn Node.js by Example! In this screencast, I present the basics of Node.js, and develop a small "Hello, World!" app. Enjoy!Full Post
Here is a free screencast from my online course, Learn Node.js by Example! In this screencast, I present the basics of using the MongoJS module to add MongoDB to your Node.js applications. Enjoy!Full Post
Excited about version 3.x of Express, the Node.js web framework? It has some great new features, and is certainly worth migrating to. Many of my apps make use of Socket.io, one of my favorite Node modules, and in this case, and as of now (Socket.io v9.1) the migration isn't as smooth as it could be. Until socket.io catches up with the changes to Express, here's how you can use it with Express 3.x.Full Post


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|View single post by trench nerd
|Posted: Sat May 5th, 2007 06:06 pm
trench nerd
|In coastal SC most of the evidence of Federal Occupation is gone although there are many sites in Beaufort as well as Charleston associated with the war, and many buildings used by the occupying forces. Much of the battlefields are in private hands, same with almost all of the earthworks in the coastal areas. There are some you can drive to in the Beaufort and Charleston areas.
Coosawatchie and Pocotaligo were both "running" skirmishes and small battles and cover a large area. There again mostly on private property, but there are a few historical markers around. You can stop in at the KOA Campground in Point South and the owner can direct you to a number of visitable sites in the area. Take a good highway map for directions.
The vast majority of the Honey Hill battlefield and earthworks are on a private plantation. They are still in good condition, but other than a few historical markers there is not much to see on public property. You can see some of the earthworks from Hwy 462 but don't go off the road. I would estimate 90% of all existing sites are in private hands with no guarantee of protection.
Rivers Bridge is a State Park. A little out of the way but a really great place to visit. If you go on a week day you may be the only one there. Follow the signs to the Memorial grounds as well.
While everyone knows of Ft. Sumter an even better place to visit is Ft. Moultrie on Sullivans Island. Easily reached by car adjacent to Charleston. Good little museum and a good job interperating the fort and the siege of Charleston.


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B&H Photo-Video offers the EnGenius Gigabit PoE Injector for EAP900H, EAP1750H, and ECB1750 Access Points, model no. EPE-4818G, for $29.99 with free shipping. (NextWarehouse charges the same.) This device supplies power and transmits data to Power over Ethernet (PoE)-capable access points. That's the lowest total price we could find by $4, outside of the mention below.
A close price: NothingButSavings offers this for $30.11 with free shipping.


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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was audibly heckled during the club's recent 2-1 league defeat to Chelsea for not spending enough money on new players, which when you tackle the net spend debate is certainly true, but isn't the main problem over the past three or so years been his lack of success in the transfer market on those he has spent money on?
Supporters won't want me reminding them in too much depth of the club's failings in recent times, but having made approximately £83m on the sales of Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri alone in the past two years, it's fair to say that there should be enough money in the bank to go on the odd splurge.
In a situation straight out of supermarket sweep, Wenger did go on a mad trolley-dash on deadline day last summer bringing in Per Mertesacker for £10m, Andre Santos for £6.2m, Mikel Arteta for £10m and Park Chu-Young for £3m. This was preceded by the £10.6m move for Gervinho and the £12.6m swoop for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in January. That all comes to the rather hefty total of £53.1m over the course of two transfer windows and the space of seven/eight months.
This highlights the main problem with shouting at Wenger, as the fans did at Stamford Bridge, to 'spend some f*****g money', he has done, but it's the quality of those players that he's brought in where the real problem lies, for not only are they a significant drop down on the major departures of van Persie, Fabregas and Nasri, they have come at a significant cost so as to prevent moves for players that are up to the required standard. The club clearly has deep pockets and resources to tap into, but when Wenger does, the success rate of his signings has been very poor.
This summer the club sold van Persie to Manchester United for £24m and brought in Santi Cazorla for around £13m, Olivier Giroud for £13m and Lukas Podolski for £11m – two of them were proven and experienced internationals while the other had just helped steer his former club side to a the domestic league title in France somewhat unexpectedly. All three have shown glimpses of their ability, but they've had to adapt to a new environment, culture and style of football, and when they have struggled, it's been noticeable than it perhaps should have been because they've already become such central figures, thus exposing the team's support cast and ropey past dealings in the process.
The departure of the Dutchman wasn't the only major one out of the Emirates, though, with Barcelona signing Alex Song for £15m, a player that simply hasn't been replaced. This just smacks of being cheap for the sake of it, but it also points to the complete lack of a coherent long-term plan on Wenger's part, because had Barcelona not moved for Song, then the club would have started the season with a recognised holding midfielder of sorts, but when he left, there was no move for anyone else, rather statements about how the injured duo of Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby would fill the gap.
This gamble on Diaby's fitness, one which just hasn't paid off by any estimation, has seen Arteta play a deeper role than we've previously become accustomed to seeing him in, while Santi Cazorla has then dropped deeper, having less impact in the final third, to cover his fellow Spaniard. The result is that the side lacks any sort of presence in midfield, which has come to cost them in games of importance, picking up just one point out of a possible 15 on offer this term against the league's top three. It's all about just 'making do' rather than making a statement of intent, and when you have the finances available that Arsenal have, that's simply not enough.
Even going back to the £10m spent on Laurent Koscielny or the £15m on Andrey Arshavin, these are players that have displayed their ability on a number of occasions and have promised much, but in practice have delivered very little. Of Wenger's dealings over the past few years, only Arteta and Cazorla have firmly established themselves in the side, become key players and represented value for money and that's a worrying downwards trend which has more than contributed to the club's gradual decline.
When you factor in the net spend debate, which of course deserves recognition, for Wenger has aligned himself far too closely with the bean counters on the board in the pursuit of some 'Socialist' model within the Financial Fair Play framework, Arsenal haven't spent enough. However, that shouldn't detract from closer inspection on the significant amount of money he has had to reinvest, even if he's just been balancing the books at the same time.
Arsenal, to use the words of those eloquent fans, have been 'spending some f*****g money', but it's just that when they have dipped their toes into the transfer market, they've come up short more often than not, wasting it on players that simply aren't good enough to match the club's ambitions. Suddenly, the Frenchman's reluctance to move for anyone this month doesn't seem so strange.
Unfortunatly AW has become Reactive instead of getting the buying done early and paying the market price, instead its wait untill the end and see whats on the S**t shelf that is cheap, until we get a real Major shareholder instead of "Stingy Stan" Aw will not be under and pressure to achive something/anything and given any other direction but his own. Personnaly I think the Yanks have played him for a fool, taking his ideals and using them to their own ends (profitability over success)
Sad but could well be true.
You got a lot of things wrong, my boy.
1) Specify which of the players acquired over the last two summer transfer windows were of insufficient quality. Only Santos and Park never really made it – that's less than £10m wasted. Have you looked at the other clubs? How much money does Fergie waste?
2) You're totally off the mark on Song and Arteta – there was never to be any straightforward replacement for Song, and Diaby definitely wasn't supposed to play Song's role. Quite the opposite – it was Arteta who was summoned as a more defensive-minded player, while Diaby was responsible for providing the link between Arteta and Cazorla.
3) Arsenal have been spending below their means, which in itself was very shrewd. Yes, they did spend a lot of money the summer of 2011, but this was caused mostly by the sudden departure of Nasri. Last summer, our bill fell well below £50m, by some accounts even below £40m, and we got all we really wanted.
You can easily fault Wenger for failing to reckon with problems such as Diaby's recurring ailments or the necessity of introducing new players straight into the first XI, but his transfer policy is very logical, and in monetary terms, very sensible. He committed one huge error, though, and that was relying on players who did not want to align themselves with the club for too long. Fabregas has been on the cards for ages, but Clichy, Nasri and RVP were the ones that really stung.
I'd hate to go Xmas shopping with AW, it would be worse than my misses who sees what she likes in the first shop, then looks in all the other shops only to go back to the first shop and find that somebody had bought what she wanted. She then has to go round the other shops again and eventually buys something that sort of does the job but not nearly as well as what she really wanted.Sounds like anyone you know.
Also footballers careers are shortish and they would rather win something rather than go on a crusade, if they can double their wages at the same time so much the better, What Gooner fan would decline a chance of doubling their income for doing the same job and having more able workmates to share the load. We havn't seen the end of our top top players leaving until our monetary policies and objectives drastically change.
I don't like Fergie but I can't knock him either as he's got a winning mentality unlike Aw who reminds me of the "thinker" statue
You omit to say that top players have left AFC NOT only for money. But because they knew from the inside that Arsene's dreams were unachievable.
Read RVP's statement carefully.
If Arsene Wenger spent on the proven premiership footballers, i.e. Demba Ba, Victor Moses, Dembele – we wouldn't have a problem, however he insists on spending the same or more money on players who are unproven. This may be ok if we didn't rely on these players, but we do. Gervinho is clearly a disaster – after well over a year he should've settled down, but hasn't.
Yes indeed … there is a reason why proven EPL players cost more. Somebody tell Arsene.
Profitability over success is only the case while the club is in the Champions League. If they fail to qualify this season, as I expect, profitability is suddenly in jeopardy again.
Unfortunately Kroenke has the other sports club businesses. First one will be making excellent cash flow then another. He can carry under performers for a while. He will milk the fan base AS LONG AS HE CAN.


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Icahn is looking more and more like the Picture of Dorian Grey.
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|Gomso Salt Field (곰소염전)
|VisitKorea does not guarantee the quality of products or services introduced on its site and is not responsible for any direct or indirect losses resulting from use of said products or services.
|Located in Gomso-ri, Jinseo-myeon in Buan-gun County, the Gomso Salt Field is one of the few salterns in Korea that produces Cheonilyeom solar salt. Unlike other salterns, Gomso is not located by the ocean, but is situated along Gomsoman Bay, adjacent to the sea.
During the Joseon Dynasty, salt fields covered the area from Julpoman Bay to Gomsoman Bay, producing salt that was sent along with rice to Noryangjin from Geonmopo (Gujin). Aside from its long history, the salt of Gomso is also known for containing 10 times more minerals than any other salt.
The coast from Chaeseokgang Cliffs to Gochang, which includes Gomso Salt Field, features one of the world's most well-developed wetlands. With some luck, visitors can even see people at work at the saltern. When the weather is hot in the summer, work is done mostly in the early morning.
|N/A (Open all year round)
|From Buan
Bus Terminal bus stop, take a local bus bound for Naesosa Temple (내소사).
Get off at Gomso Salt Field (곰소염전, Gomso Yeomjeon).
* Tell the bus driver in advance that you want to get off at Gomso Salt Field.
From Buan Bus Terminal, take a direct bus to Gomso (곰소).
* Bus Schedule: 08:10-18:50, runs 7 times a day


text:
Gun Video "Extreme Accuracy: Highpower Rifle Competition With G. David Tubb" 2 DVD Set
Product #: 534156 Gun Video #: X0355SETD UPC #: 711669903556
- Information
Step inside the shoes of competition shooter David Tubb and learn about the equipment, shooting positions and other techniques he uses when he's preparing for a competition. Released in 1999. 2 Hrs 57 Mins.
Technical Information
Host/Producer: Lenny Magill with David Tubb
Date Released: 12-16-031999
Running Time: 2 hours 57 Minutes
Summary of Material:
In this video, G. David Tubb, one of the most successful competition rifle shooter to eve live, shows you the techniques that have propelled him to the top of the charts in the shooting world. Tubb uses an SR-25, a rifle similar in design and function to the AR-15, as he shoots and explains an entire course of fire. You'll learn all about his equipment, how he prepares, how he shoots the shot, and how he adjusts to compensate for wind and other effects. Tubb covers all the basics, shooting positions, and advanced techniques. A great resource for those of you who want to be more accurate and more effective in competition shooting.
Technical Information
Host/Producer: Lenny Magill with David Tubb
Date Released: 12-16-031999
Running Time: 2 hours 57 Minutes
Summary of Material:
Delivery Information
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Product ships from MidwayUSA, separate from any other products on your order due to its size. Products that are Shipped Alone incur separate "Per Order" and "Per Pound" shipping charges.
Product is regulated by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and cannot be shipped via USPS or air shipping methods. DOT-Regulated products must ship UPS Ground.
Product is restricted by shipping carriers and cannot be shipped to certain locations or via certain shipping methods.
Additional shipping charge for HazMat products. Carriers charge extra to ship packages with products they consider hazardous, such as reloading powder and primers.
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text:
Released April 6, 2005
– The University of Southern Mississippi table
tennis team was determined to win a national title at the National Collegiate
Table Tennis Championship. It came about as close as anyone can without taking
home the trophy.
Seeded second in the three-day tournament,
Southern Miss took defending national champion Texas Wesleyan to the wire Sunday
in the finals of the National Collegiate Table Tennis Championship in Forth Worth,
In the fourth game of the finals, team captain Chandramouli
Shankaren, the Golden Eagles' No. 2 player, came within one point of defeating
Texas Wesleyan's No. 3 player, Dinko Kranjac, which would have forced a
tiebreaking doubles match. Southern Miss instead lost 3-1 in the Davis Cup-style
"You wouldn't believe how silent
the arena of several hundred hometown fans got when we were one point from winning
that match and forcing a fifth and deciding match. It was total silence, except
for a few guys screaming for Southern Miss," said Dr. Adel Ali, team manager
and club director.
Ali said all the pressure was on
Texas Wesleyan, which spends about $40,000 a year on its table tennis program.
The Rams have a full-time coach and recruit players with scholarships. Southern
Miss, like most of the 20 universities competing at the championship, does not
offer scholarships or have a full-time coach.
gave them a run for their money. We started out strong on Friday, got our confidence
with each win, and were confident things would go our way. They didn't,
but there's always next year," Ali said.
Southern Miss defeated seven teams on its run to the championship match, including
Canada's top table tennis team. Ali said he used the trip as an opportunity
to sell Southern Miss' program to some of the nation's top players.
"I think finishing runner-up to the national
champions will greatly increase our name recognition as we continue to build our
program," he said.
Nara "Tiger" Ramakrishnan,
the tournament's 17th-seeded player, said he was proud of Southern Miss'
improved success. Last year, the Golden Eagles went into the tournament ranked
ninth in the nation and finished 16th after losing to eventual champ Texas Wesleyan.
"This was quite an accomplishment for us. Our
hopes are to win a national championship next year," Ramakrishnan said.
This page is maintained by the Department
of Marketing and Public Relations at The University of Southern Mississippi
at http://www.usm.edu. Comments and suggestions
are welcome; direct them to email@example.com.
April 20, 2005 2:40 PM


text:
This 45-Mile 'Wi-Fi' Could Connect a Smarter Power Grid
A startup's wireless technology sends low-bandwidth signals over long distances, even underground.
Long-distance link: This device can send a signal at the same frequency as Wi-Fi 45 miles, while using much less power.
If your home Wi-Fi router wasn't cooped up indoors, it could send a signal about a 20th of a mile before the signal became too weak and distorted for a computer to receive it. Technology developed by San Diego startup On-Ramp Wireless uses the same frequency, but less power, to send data signals 45 miles, thanks to algorithms that make the signals very resistant to noise.
The technology, called Ultra-Link Processing, transfers data at a very low rate compared with a home broadband connection. But On-Ramp intends to offer it as a way to enable "smart energy" grids, in which simple sensors installed in home energy meters, for example, report local activity back to utilities, allowing them to manage power generation and distribution more intelligently.
Smart-grid infrastructure is needed to cope with the fluctuating output of renewable energy sources at large scale, and it could make feasible micro-generation, whereby consumers make their own power and sell any surplus back to the grid. Today's smart-grid sensors typically use Wi-Fi-like technology with Wi-Fi-like ranges, or unlicensed radio bands that can reach a couple of miles. Cellular networks can also be used, but these connections are under growing pressure from data-hungry phones and tablets.
"There's no technology available for devices that just need a trickle of connectivity over long distance," says On-Ramp's chief technology officer, Ted Myers, who says that with a clear line of sight, On-Ramp's technology can send a signal 45 miles. He is targeting devices that use less than 50 bits per second, roughly 100,000 times less than the average U.S. broadband speed of five megabits per second.
A trial network in San Diego requires just 35 strategically located access points to collect data from smart meters and other devices equipped with On-Ramp's technology across a 4,000-square-mile area. "It boils down to a cost advantage," says Myers. "You need fewer access points this way." California utility PG&E is currently rolling out smart meters based on more established technology which will require over 1,000 access points to cover the same area, Myers claims.


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Puzzler w/ B&S Intek 7HP mower engine
View Single Post
LawnSite Fanatic
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Show'n my truck off !
Posts: 10,996
Glad to hear you isolated the problem Tommy,
This is one of the problems with on-line (Internet) diagnostics. We can't see/touch or hear the problematic equipment. All we have to work with is what the poster explains (which you explained well) but on larger post as your's some details tend to get over looked.
The fact that you said you had rebuilt many 4 cycle engines lead me/us to believe you had basic knowledge of the functions/operations and knew that most lawn and garden equipment small engine valves are adjusted on compression stroke, Our bad....
Also, There are some that do not know of the 1/4" past TDC on some engines to get past the compression release to obtain a proper valve clearance adjustment.
A mechanical compression release is nothing "new" to lawn and garden equipment engines, Kohler introduced this fetcher back in the late 40's with the introduction of the K-Series engine line.
The first cam picture I posted is from a Kohler K301, I knew that one showed in greater detail the compression release mechanism and I could blow it up without much distortion.
Enough of that.....
There is a process of elimination one should follow when doing diagnostics. That's starting with the easiest probable causes first. Myself had rather remove 3 or 4 screws and check valve clearance first (since spit-back/backfire through valves in 'most' cases is found to be valve related) than remove the whole top of the engine to check the key.
So, It looks like the valve assumption was invalid in your
case but very well could have been reversed, Pull the flywheel and find nothing wrong then check valve Clarence.
In any event; Glad you found the problem and don't be a stranger, We all really try to give each other a hand the best we can......
BTW Tommy,
No pun intended,
But....At times....I would give anything to get my hands on the engineers that design some of this equipment.
Take Care
Originally Posted by
piston slapper
You never learn anything until you admit you don't know it all...
Originally Posted by
some times the man in my mirror isn't so smart...
"Why go out preserved when you can go out beat up, worn out, sliding in sideways screaming, Holy Sh!t What A Ride" !!!
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The Most Bizarre Animal Mating Rituals
Most animals go through the mating process and reproduction as well. Here, we shall explore some of the most bizarre animal mating rituals.
Sex is indeed an important aspect to most living things. We have spent much of our time studying and exploring human sexuality that influences virtually every aspect of human interaction. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the animal world is equally complex and intriguing. But what surprises me is that the inhabitants of the animal kingdom have demonstrated some of the strangest behavioural habits such as their bizarre mating rituals. Let us find out what happens when these animals get busy.
Red-sided Garter Snakes
Found mostly in Canada and the Northwestern United States, the small red-sided garter snake is a venomous snake that exhibits a very unusual way of mating. During the mating ritual, thousands of the snakes get together to have an orgy. As such, one female may have hundreds of mates vying for her. When this happens, it is called a "nesting ball" which can grow to over two feet high. As a result, the female may get killed sometimes.
Octopuses mate in an incredibly unique way. At the end of one of the male octopus' arms is something akin to a penis. After inserting it into the female octopus, he then breaks it off from his body. A transfer of sperm occurs at that point and the female becomes pregnant. The male usually dies within three months of copulation whereas the female dies once her eggs have hatched.
Whiptail Lizards
The whiptail lizard is a fascinating creature as there are no male whiptail lizards – they are all female. They use a method of reproduction called parthenogenesis, whereby the offspring is a perfect clone of its mother. During mating, one female will behave like a male by mounting on the other. This form of simulated sex helps to increase fertility.
As the male anglerfish is born without a digestive system, he needs to find a female very quickly. Once the male has found a female, he will bite her side and attach himself to it. The poor male then wastes away and dies, leaving behind a permanent supply of his sperm for future fertilization of the female's eggs.
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County Executive Leopold Requests Fast Track for Widening of Route 175
Annapolis, MD (January 18, 2007) - In a letter to Governor Martin O'Malley, Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold requested that the timetable for the widening of Route 175 in Anne Arundel County be accelerated to the greatest extent possible.
"This road-widening project is a top transportation priority in Anne Arundel County and is vital to help us prepare for BRAC'S explosive growth," said County Executive Leopold.
The Defense Information Systems Agency is required by law to be functioning at Fort Meade by September of 2011. The current completion date for the 175-widening project is planned for 2013. The County Executive's request to the Governor for an accelerated timetable will allow the road infrastructure to be in place as BRAC-related growth develops.
In the County Executive's request to the Governor, Mr. Leopold proposed utilizing the strategic highway network provision contained in the Defense Highway Act to provide assistance to military bases, such as Fort Meade as a source of funding.


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Faxton St. Luke's Healthcare will host a Senior Sunday: Lunch and Learn Lecture at noon Sunday, May 19, in the Soggs Room in St. Luke's Home at the new Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Services, 1650 Champlin Ave.
The topic is "NuVal Nutritional Scoring System," and will be presented by Caroline Jacobus, director of the Central New York Diabetes Education Program.
The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System aids in diabetes management by helping people to understand the nutritional value of the food by rating items on a scale of one to 100. Learn how this system can lead to healthy decisions at the grocery store.
For reservations, call 624-4663. A hot lunch will be served.
A voluntary donation of $5 per person would be appreciated to supplement the cost of the luncheon.
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) - The Denver Broncos said Tuesday they will grant Jay Cutler his request and try to trade the disgruntled Pro Bowl quarterback.
There is no shortage of teams interested in the 25-year-old rocket-armed Pro Bowl quarterback.
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen released a statement saying both he and coach Josh McDaniels had been unable to get Cutler to call them back over the last 10 days. Bowlen said he spoke with Cutler's agent, Bus Cook, on Tuesday and came away convinced "that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos."
Therefore, Bowlen said, "we will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded."
(Copyright 2009 By The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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1995 Dodge Stratus • 170 miles
Replaced timing belt intake cam froze I think I over tighend the bolts its free now but teeth on belt got striped if cam sensor and crank sensor are not in "time"or right position will this keep the coil from giving spark?1995 stratus 2.4l
January 19, 2013.
January 19, 2013.
Yup. At one tooth off the Engine Computer will set the fault code "cam and crank sync". At two teeth off it will shut the engine down to protect it. You may get a few intermittent pulses from the coil pack but most of the time the automatic shutdown relay will remain off. At three teeth off the open valves will be hit and bent by the pistons as they coast to a stop. Usually when you can't turn the camshaft it's because a piston is being forced against an open valve. The easiest way to avoid this when doing a maintenance timing belt replacement is to back the crankshaft up about1/8 turn from top dead center to insure no piston is all the way up to interfere with the valves, put the camshaft sprocket at top dead center, then bring the crank to top dead center and install the belt.
Jan 19, 2013.
Jan 19, 2013.
The number one piston in my truck needs to be replaced. I was told that I would need to replace all 8 pistons on my truck to avoid future problems. This model does not come equipped ...
3 answers • 2000 International Truck • 223,000 miles
My 1001 toyota pickup piston & rings. What is the least dia. i can use and the biggest i can use. What is the standard size for the truck. Is it .020" or the .030".
2 answers • 1991 Toyota Pickup
Brakes problem 2001 Ford Taurus 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 90000 miles I've been used to using a C-clamp to force 2caliper pistons back in the caliper when the new parts are...
1 answer • 2001 Ford Taurus
While changing the rear brake pads on my 2001 Chevy Tahoe(96320 miles) the drivers side went well, but on the passengers side I didn't compress the pistons together. As I compressed the...
1 answer • Chevrolet Tahoe


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In the Canadian context, health care services are governed by the Canada Health Act, which ensures that primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals and dental surgeries are covered through provincial health insurance plans. This ensures access to medically necessary health care services for all Canadians regardless of ability to pay. Despite this important piece of legislation, research has shown persistent inequalities in access between and within socio-demographic groups, and geographic areas. To date, most research has focused on access to primary care, with much less attention paid to specialist care as an important component of the health care continuum. Thus, the objectives of this research are to address this gap in knowledge by examining the factors associated with difficulty accessing specialist services, and the reasons why particular subpopulation groups report experiencing difficulties.
This research uses multivariate logistic regression to analyze data from the Canadian Community Health Surveys' optional content from the province of Ontario (n=21,526) related to accessing specialist health care services. The multivariate logistic regression model identifies several subpopulation groups that are more likely to report difficulty accessing specialist care when required. Cross-tabulations are subsequently used to establish the main reasons why difficulties are faced.
Over 26% of respondents required a specialist visit in the 12 months preceding administration of the survey. Of these, 22% reported difficulty accessing specialist care. Those with difficulties were more likely to be immigrants, post-secondary educated, and have one or more chronic conditions. People living in urban health regions were also more likely to report difficulties accessing care. Primarily wait times were cited as reasons for these difficulties, followed by a perceived lack of availability.
There are difficulties faced by the general population as a whole (e.g., wait times) as well as particular difficulties experienced more frequently by certain groups (e.g., transportation, language, and cost barriers for newcomers). These issues are important, as they may discourage individuals from using necessary health care services, and may contribute to feelings of dissatisfaction with the health care system.
Keywords:Access to health care; Specialist care; Difficulties
Health care services in Canada are governed by the Canada Health Act [CHA], which ensures that primary care doctors, specialists, hospitals, and dental surgeries are covered through provincial health insurance plans [1]. Thus the CHA mandates access to medically necessary health care services for all Canadians regardless of ability to pay. Despite the implementation of the CHA, research has shown persistent inequalities in access to health care between socioeconomic groups, and particular geographic areas (e.g., urban versus rural dwellers) [2]. As an important determinant of the health of populations, such inequalities and inequities in access highlight an important domain for research on health services.
At the international scale, recent data indicate that access to specialists in Canada is not as good as it is in other countries. For instance, 57% of Canadians wait at least four weeks for access to specialty care, second only to the United States (60%), and more than twice the proportions from countries that rank highest - Germany (23%) and New Zealand (22%) [3]. Further, 32% of Canadians wait one to three months for access to specialty care, with 11% waiting longer than that [4].
According to Aday and Andersen [5], the determinants of health care access and use are generally categorized as predisposing, enabling, and need-based factors. Predisposing characteristics such as age, sex, and other demographic and social factors represent the likelihood that an individual will seek out and use health services. Enabling factors are those that enable or inhibit the use of health services. These may exist at the individual level (e.g., level of income or education, access to a personal vehicle) and at the community level (e.g., physical availability of health services). Finally, need factors refer to actual health status of an individual (e.g., presence of chronic conditions, self-rated health); these are often associated most strongly with the use of health services [5].
Studies of specialty care have, in general, considered a range of predisposing, enabling, and need factors that exist at patient, provider, and community-levels as determinants of access and use; there has also been a distinct focus on the role of socioeconomic status (SES) as measured by income or education. For example, [6] found that after controlling for need characteristics, lower income individuals and those with lower levels of education were less likely to visit specialists than those with relatively higher SES. Similarly, in an international analysis of five countries, when needed compared to those with above-average incomes Canadians with below-average income were found to be significantly more likely to find it 'extremely' or 'very' difficult to see a specialist [7]. The inequality with respect to income has been echoed by a recent analysis of general practitioner and specialist services across nine European countries [8].
At the community-level, in terms of availability of specialist services, it has been clearly shown that living in a large urban area may enable use of specialty care. For example, in the largest urban centres in Canada there are 11.0 specialists per 10,000 populations, compared to 1.0 per 10,000 in rural areas [9]. Potentially related to the relative absence of these services, rural dwellers in Canada [9,10], and internationally [11-13] are also less likely to use specialist services than those living in urban areas.
Beyond studies of utilization of specialist services, the majority of research has focused on understanding the factors that determine referrals to specialists by primary care physicians (PCPs) [10,14-21]. The process of referral from PCP or other health professional to specialist is a key coupling in the health care continuum. That is, while patients can self-refer to primary care services, access to specialty care is typically dependent upon a referral [6]. However, the referral process is not straightforward, and is recognized as being a complex process dependent upon the patient (e.g., age, gender, socioeconomic status, disease stage), the practitioner (e.g., age, gender), and community-level factors (e.g., urban/rural, presence of a medical school, specialist supply) [10,15]. The process of referral to secondary specialist care has important implications for patient health as well as efficiency of health care systems, and efforts are being made to improve the current process in Canada, and elsewhere through interventions and iterative development of best practices [3,22].
Though there are important inequalities that have been identified throughout the process of accessing specialty care it is important to consider the potential barriers that exist following a referral. That is, who among individuals who require specialist care face difficulties related to access? The aim of this study is to examine difficulties accessing specialist care in Ontario, Canada, and explore the determinants of experiencing such difficulties.
The Canadian Community Health Survey [CCHS] is an annually collected cross-sectional telephone survey focused on gathering information about health status, health behaviours, and health care utilization from the Canadian populace over 12 years of age. The CCHS public use microdata file is available free of charge directly from Statistics Canada, or through subscribed Canadian postsecondary institutions through the Data Liberation Initiative. This study is based on analysis of data specific to access to specialist health care services from the province of Ontario's optional content module from the 2010 CCHS public use microdata file [23]. In addition to common survey content which is asked of all survey respondents, health regions and/or provinces may choose to have optional content collected that may resonate with provincial or regional priorities. Only the province of Ontario opted to have data on access to specialist services collected for the 2010 cycle of the CCHS [24]. The sample size for Ontario is 21,536 (response rate = 70.0%). It should be noted that Aboriginal people living on-reserve, full-time members of the Canadian Forces, and the institutionalized population are excluded from the CCHS sampling frame by design [23].
Study variables
Dependent variables
Three dimensions of access to specialist services were central to this analysis. These outcomes are related to requiring a specialist visit in the previous year, difficulty accessing specialist services, and types of difficulties faced. These variables were based on the following questions in the Ontario optional content (2010 CCHS question code in parentheses):
1. In the past 12 months, did you require a visit to a medical specialist for a diagnosis or a consultation? (ACC_10)
2. In the past 12 months, did you ever experience any difficulties getting the specialist care you needed for a diagnosis or consultation? (ACC_11)
3. What type of difficulties did you experience? Mark all that apply. (ACC_12A through ACC_12M)
a. Difficulty getting a referral
b. Difficulty getting an appointment
c. No specialists in the area
d. Waited too long – between booking and appointment
e. Waited too long – to see the doctor (i.e. In-office waiting)
f. Transportation – problems
g. Language – problems
h. Cost
i. Personal or family responsibilities
j. General deterioration of health
k. Appointment cancelled or deferred by specialist
l. Unable to leave the house because of a health problem
m. Other
Due to small numbers and missing values for some of the types of difficulties, the above 13 types were recorded into five broad categories for analysis as follows: (i) Availability (3a, 3b, 3c, 3 k); (ii) Wait times (3d, 3e); (iii) Transportation/Language/Cost (3f, 3 g, 3 h); (iv) Health related (3j, 3 l) and (v) Personal/Other (3i, 3 m).
Independent variables
Known determinants of health care access per Aday and Andersen's [5] behavioural model for access to medical care related to predisposing characteristics, enabling characteristics, and need were included as potential covariates of difficulty accessing specialist care. All variables were coded as they appear in Table 1. The reference categories for most variables were selected to be the category least likely to be associated with having difficulty accessing specialist care in the previous 12 months (outcome variable). Marital status, age, sex and time since immigration represent predisposing characteristics. Marital status was coded as living with a partner (legally married and common-law married) versus not (divorced, separated, widowed, never married). Age was categorized into four levels; under 30 years of age, 30 to 44, 45 to 59, and 60 and older. Time since immigration was coded as being born in Canada, less than 10 years of living in Canada, and 10 years or more of living in Canada.
Table 1. Predisposing, enabling and need determinants of access
Enabling characteristics included income, education, having a family doctor, and health region of residence. Low income in this study was defined by having a household income – adjusted by household and community size to – in the province of Ontario's lowest quintile. Highest level of education was recoded to less than secondary school, secondary school only, and post-secondary education (e.g. University education, College education and higher). Statistics Canada uses the 35 health regions in Ontario as the primary sampling frame for the CCHS, and these were conceptualized as being enabling characteristics. Health regions were grouped into three categories: 'Urban,' 'Rural,' and the 'City of Toronto.' The City of Toronto was separated from the other urban health regions because it is the largest metropolitan centre in Ontario, and the main centre for secondary and tertiary health care in the province. Urban areas were those that satisfied one of two criteria: (1) per guidelines proposed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] the health region had more than 150 people per km2[25], or (2) the health region contained a Census Metropolitan Area that represented at least 85% of the population of the region. Census Metropolitan Areas in Canada are municipalities, or clusters of municipalities around a central core, with a total population over 100,000 people of which 50,000 live in the central core [26]. There is no universal definition of 'urban' or 'rural' in the Canadian context at the health region level, thus the addition of the second criteria. Eighty-five percent of a region's population living in a CMA was used as the cut-off point, as the most recent statistics show that 85% of the population of Ontario lives in urban areas versus rural areas [27]. Data used to calculate the proportion of the health region living in a CMA were available from the 2006 Canadian Census community profiles. The use and usefulness of this procedure for defining health regions as urban versus rural will be discussed further in the limitations section of the paper.
The CCHS collects data on a range of chronic conditions used to create the variable measuring health need. These chronic conditions include: asthma, fibromyalgia, arthritis, back problems, high blood pressure, migraine headaches, chronic obstructed pulmonary disorder (COPD), diabetes, heart disease, cancer, stomach or intestinal ulcers, effects of a stroke, urinary incontinence, bowel disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivities, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders. A total number of chronic conditions were tallied for each respondent, and coded as 'No chronic conditions,' '1-3 chronic conditions,' and '4 or more chronic conditions.'
All univariate and multivariate analyses are weighted to population weights provided by Statistics Canada in the public use microdata file for the 2010 CCHS. These weights, calculated based on Census information, ensure that the sample is representative of the population of Ontario. Regression analyses are weighted by a probability weight derived from the population weights. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to explore the determinants of reported difficulty accessing specialist care when needed in the prior year. Coefficients are presented in the results below as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Odds ratios can be interpreted as the odds that a respondent experienced difficulty accessing specialist care relative to the reference category of the variable, adjusted for all other variables in the model. An odds ratio greater than 1 would indicate that a respondent with a particular characteristic was more likely to have difficulty, while an odds ratio less than one indicates that a respondent would be less likely. Subsequent bivariate analyses of type of difficulty experienced were conducted for several sample sub-groups using crosstabulation evaluated with the chi-square statistic. All analyses were performed using R v. 2.15.1.
Table 2 presents descriptive information of the entire study cohort, compared to sub-samples of the cohort that required a visit to a specialist, stratified by those who did (n = 1143), and did not (n = 4633) experience difficulties accessing care. These descriptive statistics have all been weighted to the total Ontario population, and are presented with 95% confidence intervals generated using a bootstrap technique. This table gives an indication of how those who required specialist care in the previous year compare to the overall general CCHS Ontario sample.
Table 2. Sample description with 95% confidence intervals
With respect to access to specialists, 26.5% of the population in Ontario reported that they required a consultation with, or diagnosis from a specialist in the previous 12 months. Of those requiring a specialist visit, 22.0% reported that they experienced some difficulty getting the specialist care they needed.
After filtering the sample to include only those respondents who required a specialist visit in the previous year, a multivariate logistic regression model was used to predict the likelihood that a respondent experienced difficulty accessing required specialist care (Table 3). Predisposing, enabling, and need factors all emerged as important predictors of difficulty accessing care. In terms of predisposing characteristics, only a marginally statistically significant difference (i.e. p<0.10) between males and females was found, suggesting a slight trend towards males reporting more difficulty than females. Age was shown to have an effect, indicating that older respondents over the age of 60 are about half as likely as other age groups to report difficulties accessing specialist care. Time since immigration was highly significant in the model. As suggested by the adjusted ORs, immigrants in general were much more likely to report difficulties accessing specialist care in Ontario in comparison with the Canadian-born population. More specifically, newcomers to Canada (i.e., those living in the country for less than 10 years) were almost three times as likely to report experiencing difficulties accessing specialist care compared to their Canadian-born counterparts. More established immigrants (i.e., 10 years or more in Canada) were still more likely to experience difficulties than those who are Canadian-born, albeit less likely than newcomers [OR=1.72, 95% CI: (1.44, 2.07)]. Marital status was not significantly associated with difficulty accessing care.
Table 3. Multivariate logistic regression of difficulty accessing specialist care
Of the individual-level enabling characteristics, only education emerged as significant in this model. In particular, respondents who had completed some type of post-secondary education were more likely to report difficulties accessing specialist care in the previous 12 months [OR=1.85, 95% CI: (1.42, 2.46)]. Neither income nor having a family doctor was significantly associated with difficulty accessing specialist care in this model. At the regional level, it was clear that respondents living in the City of Toronto Health Unit were less likely to report difficulties in accessing specialist care compared to their counterparts living in other urban regions (OR=2.02, 95% CI: [1.63, 2.52]) or rural health units (OR=1.72, 95% CI: [1.32, 2.25]).
Finally, in terms of the variable measuring health need in this model, number of chronic conditions was associated with difficulty accessing care at a highly significant level. Specifically, as the number of chronic conditions increased from 1–3 conditions to 4 or more conditions, the adjusted odds of experiencing difficulty accessing specialist care increased from 2.18 [95% CI: (1.83, 2.61)] to 3.84 [95% CI: (2.87, 5.12)] compared to respondents with no reported chronic conditions.
Type of difficulty experienced
The multivariate logistic regression revealed four key variables associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing difficulty (or difficulties) accessing specialist care when required in the previous year. These variables are as follows: (i) time since immigration; (ii) highest level of completed education; (iii) number of chronic conditions; and (iv) health region type (e.g., urban, rural). As a subsequent step in the analyses of these data, crosstabulations were used to explore the types of difficulties experienced by these groups (see Figure 1, Table 4). Note that due to the low number of respondents who cited health related issues as barriers to access, these data cannot be reported in cross-tabular format per Statistics Canada's policies on data disclosure related to minimum sample size [28].
Figure 1. Type of difficulty experienced by four selected characteristics.
Table 4. Cross-tabulations of type of difficulty with sample sub-groups (with 95% confidence intervals)
Overall, for all four groups, respondents who had experienced difficulty accessing specialist care in the previous year most frequently cited wait times as a source of difficulty (67.1%), followed by availability (40.8%). It should be noted that wait times in this study may refer to time spent waiting in the specialist's office (12.7%), time spent waiting to secure an appointment with a specialist (77.9%), or, a respondent may have identified both as difficulties experienced (9.4%). Other sources of difficulty, related to transportation/cost/language (5.2%), Health-related (1.6%) and Personal/Other reasons (11.8%), were mentioned relatively less. Note that these percentages do not add up to 100%, as respondents could provide more than one source of difficulty.
Referring to the bivariate analyses of types of difficulty experienced (see Figure 1) some interesting findings emerge. Related to time since immigration, for example, Canadian-born respondents more frequently reported difficulty with specialist availability (45.2%) than immigrants living in the country for more than 10 years (33.7%) or new Canadians (30.0%). However, both newcomers (69.2%) and longer-term immigrants (72.1%) were more likely to report difficulties with wait times compared to Canadian-born respondents (64.3%). A higher percentage of newcomers reported they had experienced difficulties related to transportation, cost, or language (14.2%). Finally, newcomers were also much more likely to report personal or family responsibilities and other factors as difficulties they had experienced (23.3%) compared to Canadian-born (9.8%) and longer term immigrant respondents (10.5%).
Respondents with a post-secondary education experienced difficulties with availability less frequently (38.7%) than those who had not completed secondary school (48.9%) and those for whom secondary school was the highest level of completed education (48.9%). A higher percentage of those who had completed secondary school (69.1%) or higher levels of education (68.0%) reported difficulties related to wait times than those without a secondary school education (55.6%). Personal/family responsibilities and other difficulties were also reported more frequently by respondents who possessed post-secondary educations (13.0%). No significant differences were found in terms of transportation/cost/language barriers to access or health-related difficulties by education level.
Health care need in terms of number of chronic conditions was significantly associated with type of difficulty reported. Respondents with 4 or more chronic conditions were more likely to list availability as a difficulty (54.9%) compared to those with fewer (38.5%) or no chronic conditions (39.6%). However, these respondents reported difficulties with wait times less frequently (56.9%) than others. Finally, respondents without chronic conditions were more likely than those with chronic conditions to list transportation/cost/language and personal or family responsibilities as sources of difficulty.
There were some regional differences evident in this analysis as well. In particular, these were related to availability of specialist services. Respondents living in the City of Toronto Health Unit were much less likely to report availability as a source of difficulty (30.6%) compared to those living in other urban health regions (40.0%). Respondents from rural health regions were most likely to list availability as a difficulty experienced when trying to access specialist care (50.4%). There were no statistically significant differences around wait times, transportation/cost/language, or health-related difficulties; however, a higher percentage of respondents from the City of Toronto listed personal responsibilities/other difficulties (20.5%) than those from rural (11.9%) or urban regions (9.7%).
The goal of this study was to examine the determinants of experiencing difficulty accessing specialist care in the Province of Ontario, when a consultation or diagnosis from a specialist was required in the previous year. Of the 26.5% of the Ontario population who required specialty care, 22.0% reported having some type of difficulty accessing that care. Though the measurement of difficulty differed slightly, this result echoes that from Schoen and Doty [7] international comparison of health care access, that approximately 16% of the Canadian population reported finding it extremely or very difficult to see a specialist when needed. In terms of the types of difficulties experienced, wait times were cited most frequently by followed by availability of services. Wait times and access to services are the preeminent concerns of Canadians with respect to accessing primary care in Canada [29,30]. This study provides evidence that the same is true of specialist care.
We have shown evidence that the likelihood of experiencing difficulty is not equally distributed among the population of Ontario, and that a range of predisposing, enabling, and need factors at individual and regional levels impact difficulty accessing specialty care. Firstly, those reporting difficulty were more likely to be younger (under age 60). This is interesting given that older people are much more likely to be accessing specialist care than younger people [10], and may be accessing multiple specialists as part of their complete health care. While other research has alternatively reported that older people face more barriers to access than others [31], our findings suggest that older adults are less likely to report experiencing difficulties than their younger counterparts. Our findings might reflect the differences between getting a first appointment (perhaps more likely among younger individuals surveyed) in contrast to getting repeat appointments (perhaps more likely among older individuals).
The relationship between immigration status and difficulty accessing specialty care exhibited a very clear trend indicating that immigrants to Canada are more likely to experience difficulties accessing care compared to the Canadian-born population. More specifically, when accounting for time since immigration (more or less than 10 years), it is apparent that though after 10 years, immigrants continue to experience difficulties accessing specialists, new Canadians are almost three times as likely to report difficulties than the Canadian-born population. This result resonates strongly with work by others on access to primary health care among immigrant populations. For example, Sanmartin and Ross [32] found that new Canadians were 2.5 times as likely as Canadian-born to report difficulties in accessing routine and immediate (emergency) health care. Such findings have been linked to difficulties in obtaining a family doctor upon arrival into Canada, something that has been identified as an important challenge for the newcomer population [33]. However, the analysis undertaken in this study adjusts for the presence of a family doctor, which controls for this potential effect.
Some light can be shed on these results if the focus is shifted towards the types of difficulties faced (Figure 1). Specifically, new Canadians were much more likely to report barriers to specialist care related to transportation, cost, and language (14.2%), as well as those related to personal or family responsibilities and other factors (23.3%). Difficulties related to cost of health services may occur as a result of a combination of three processes: (1) there is a waiting period of three months for new permanent residents before the provincial health insurance plan will provide coverage; (2) non-status migrants and refugee claimants are not covered by the provincial health insurance plan; and (3) extended services including for example, prescription drugs and psychotherapy, are not covered under the provincial health insurance plan. Any combination of these processes may present difficulties in accessing specialist care for this particular population. Specific to language, though some efforts are being made in areas with large immigrant populations (See [34]), for many health services in Ontario, language interpretation is not available [35]. Related to personal or family responsibilities – while we are unable to unpack this type of difficulty using the CCHS public use microdata – a number of sociocultural barriers including beliefs about health, and perceptions of the health care system may potentially be playing some role [35]. Given that immigrants represent a large and expanding part of the total population of Ontario, it will be important for future research to continue to tease out these relationships with the goal of developing interventions to improve access to specialist services for this group.
Given the known inequities in access related to socioeconomic status, and more specifically income, it is somewhat surprising that there was no statistically significant effect of income on likelihood of experiencing difficulty in this analysis. This is likely a result of having a universal, public health insurance system that eliminates any direct financial payment barriers in accessing specialist services [1]. However, highest level of completed education was a significant determinant of experiencing difficulty. Overall there was a trend suggesting that the more education a person had completed, the more likely they were to have experienced difficulty. However, this effect was only significant for the highest level of education (post-secondary graduates) (OR=1.85). While education has not received much focus as a socioeconomic covariate of access to health care, it has been found previously to be associated with self-reported problems accessing primary care [36]. When looking at the types of difficulties faced by level of education, there is not much evidence to support why these differences exist, except that those with post-secondary education were more likely than the other groups to list personal or family responsibilities. While this relationship is not currently well understood, we suggest that the increased likelihood of reporting difficulties may be linked to differences in expectations of the health care system as level of education increases [37].
In terms of the needs-based factor included in this analysis, number of chronic conditions emerged as a highly significant predictor. In particular, a positive stepwise relationship emerged whereby respondents with 1–3 conditions were 2.2 times as likely to experience difficulties compared to those with no conditions, and those with 4 or more conditions were almost four times as likely to have had difficulties. As mentioned previously, needs-based factors are important to consider in all investigations of access to health care, as they are often most strongly related with related outcomes [5]. The findings reported here highlight an important inequality related to the population of Ontario who are the 'sickest,' and likely accessing care more frequently. What is particularly interesting is that those with four or more chronic conditions reported wait times as a difficulty less frequently than the other groups. However, they were more likely to report difficulties related to availability (i.e., related to getting an appointment, physical availability of services, and/or cancelation of appointments by the specialist).
Finally, there was a regional pattern of difficulty based on the respondents' health region of residence. After adjusting for other variables in the model, respondents from the City of Toronto were found to be the least likely respondents to report having difficulty accessing specialist care. As mentioned previously, Toronto is the main centre of secondary and tertiary care in Ontario, so it makes sense that residents of Toronto have less difficulty accessing care. Interestingly, those from urban health regions were most likely to report difficulties accessing specialist care (OR=2.0) followed by those from rural regions (OR=1.7). This is counterintuitive because rural residents often have less accessible health care [6], due to barriers related to distance to care. In the analysis of type of difficulty experienced, indeed, a higher percentage of rural respondents experienced difficulties related to availability compared to urban respondents or Torontonians. Again, we surmise that expectations of access for rural residents may be much different than those from urban regions as an explanation for the differences in likelihood of experiencing difficulty. This echoes with the work of [37] who have reported that rural individuals are much less likely to report their waiting times as unacceptable, independent of the length of time they spent waiting. Rural residents may expect certain difficulties to be associated with their access of the health care system, and therefore have a higher tolerance than those from urban regions.
Some important questions arise as a result of the limitations of this study. The first of these relates to the types of specialty care being accessed by each individual. Potentially, the difficulties in accessing care may be heterogeneous among the specialties, and may differ by individual based on predisposing, enabling, and need factors. These data are not available in the CCHS but it remains an important area of future research. Secondly, measures of accessibility are based on self-reported access issues, and expectations may differ among different demographic, socioeconomic, and geographical sub-groups of the population. For example, there is no way to determine in CCHS whether two individuals who noted waiting times as a barrier actually waited the same amount of time, unless the sample is reduced to those who require a specialist visit for consultation or diagnosis of a new condition [23]. Further study focused on unpacking these expectations, including those using qualitative methodologies, will be crucial for developing deeper understandings of the relationships with difficulty accessing care reported in this study. Third, it is important to consider if the places in which people indicate access issues are indeed the places where the supply of specialists are problematic. That is, these data measure the 'demand' side of the access equation, and are presented here independent of the 'supply' side. Finally, the definitions used in this study to define health regions as urban or rural are not universally accepted methodologies in the Canadian context. Various competing definitions of urban and rural exist which raises the question of whether some of the results are artifacts of the definitions of urban and rural chosen. While we are confident that this is not the case, it would take a separate study to rule out any bias due to the definitions chosen.
Despite the limitations addressed in the previous section, the study makes some important contributions to the literature on access to health care. Specifically, this study has focused on access to specialty care, which has received relatively less attention than access to primary care in the broader health care literature. In particular, by focusing on difficulties accessing specialty care when required in the previous year, this study provides an understanding of inequalities that exist beyond direct physical access and likelihood of referral to specialists. Further, the study provides some understanding of the types of difficulties faced by the general population (e.g., wait times), as well as particular difficulties experienced more frequently by certain segments of the population (e.g., transportation, language, and cost barriers for new Canadians; availability for rural residents). Understanding these issues is an important goal for researchers and policymakers, as direct and indirect barriers can potentially have deleterious health effects by discouraging individuals from using necessary health care services, and contribute to dissatisfaction with a health care system. In doing so, such knowledge can be mobilized towards improving access to specialist care.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
Authors' contributions
All authors conceived this study, and discussed the results and implications of the study findings throughout all stages of the manuscript. DWH performed all analysis of the CCHS data. DWH and KW interpreted the data, and DWH wrote the initial draft of the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Pre-publication history
The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:


text:
This Recipe
- Skill Level: Intermediate
- Serves: 4
- Start to Finish: under 2 hours
- Prep: 20 mins
- Cook: 45 mins
Nutrition Facts
- 476mg (20%) Sodium
- 12g Carbs
- 4g Fiber
- 60g (93%) Fat
- 12g (58%) Saturated Fat
- 5g Sugars
- 7g Protein
- 86mg (9%) Calcium
- 2mg (10%) Iron
- 3 medium beets (red or gold), washed, tops removed, and cut in half
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon finely minced chives
- 1 tablespoon diced shallots
- 1 medium bulb fennel, top trimmed
- 6 cups baby arugula
- 4 ounces soft goat cheese, optional
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place beets in a small baking dish. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat.
2. Cover and bake for 45 minutes or until beets are tender. Let beets cool, peel off skin, and cut into bite-size wedges.
3. Whisk together remaining olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, chives, and shallots. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of dressing to beets and toss to coat.
4. Cut fennel bulb in half and remove core. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, thinly slice fennel and transfer to a large bowl.
5. Add arugula and gently toss to mix. Add remaining dressing and toss again. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Heap a mound of fennel-arugula salad in center of each plate. Scatter beets around fennel mixture and serve.


text:
Young brickies building brighter futures for themselves with Derby College apprenticeships
Posted: August 20, 2014|
A SHORTAGE of bricklayers has resulted in wages hitting £1,000 a week for those with the right skills.
The recovery in the UK construction industry is linked to an increase in house-building and demand for brickies.
And forward-thinking construction businesses are looking to build the future by taking on apprentices.
One such firm is Cornerstone Masonry, based in the city, which has employed two apprentices through Derby College.
Related content
Taking on apprentice Jarrad Hutchinson worked out so well that Cornerstone recruited a second, Rory Shotton.
Both from Ilkeston, the apprentices have been learning the construction ropes on nine homes in Broadway, Derby, for developer Radleigh.
Cornerstone Masonry director Jim Tomlinson said: "About six months ago we started to get really busy, so we decided to approach Derby College about taking on a bricklaying apprentice.
"I've lectured at the college in the past and have a good rapport with the construction team, so it seemed the ideal place to go.
"It's not just the ability to do the job that matters. A willingness to learn, politeness and punctuality all count and both Jarrad and Rory have the best possible attitude.
"When Jarrad joined us last September, we were working in the footings at Radleigh's site in Broadway.
"The weather was cold and icy, but it didn't put him off. He came back the next day, just as enthusiastic as the day before."
The company is also on-site at Radleigh's 42-home development in Spondon, as well as providing brickwork on its apartment redevelopment of Bath Street Mills.
Mr Tomlinson's fellow director, Arron Brooks, said: "Radleigh tends to go in for ornate brickwork features, so our apprentices get the chance to work on detailed brickwork patterns such as herringbone."
Cornerstone's other recent high-profile contracts have included detailed brickwork at Glenfield Hospital's new £5.2 million adult mental health unit in Leicester for construction company Interserve.
Mr Brooks said: "Cornerstone employs four of us now, including our apprentices.
"We also have 10 subcontractors, but this number could grow to 25 or 30, depending on how much more work we secure."
As time-served builders who are not afraid to get their hands dirty, both directors believe there is no substitute for structured, apprenticeship training for bricklayers.
Mr Brooks said: "Our apprentice bricklayers are assessed regularly by the college to see how they're progressing.
"Although labourers working on building sites can go on to become experienced bricklayers, bricklaying is a skill which requires properly trained, skilled people."


text:
By On the occasion of our 20th anniversary
Why Do Mexis Like Wrought-Iron Fences?
By Gustavo Arellano
By R. Scott Moxley
By Alfonso Delgado
Women For: OC are Stitching and Bitching
By Courtney Hamilton
Santa Ana River Ready for Its Renaissance
By Joel Beers
By Peter Maguire
Can Tech Ruin the Kim Pham Murder Trial?
By Charles Lam
We were shown the entire second reel. It opens with Grendel's arm getting ripped off and blood pouring over the camera's point-of-view. Beowulf is naked, his dick only just obscured. He is hailed as a hero, but meanwhile, the dying Grendel goes home to Mama, who appears to be a giant fish-demon (though she's not fully glimpsed). In a language that sounds like Old English, he tells his mom, before shriveling and dying, that Beowulf did this to him.
In the night, we see things through what must be Mama Grendel's eyes, flying in through the skylight of the great hall. Meanwhile, Beowulf has a bad dream about the queen, who demands, "Enter me and give me a son!" before getting freaky-evil-looking, and of course Beowulf jerks upward and awakens at this point, to see bodies hanging from the ceiling.
Once he figures out the deal, Beowulf sets off to face Big Bad Mama by himself. He enters her lair, and she shows up . . . but as a naked Angelina Jolie. Yup, naked. The Lara Croft ponytail moves like a serpent's tail. A tiny bit of dripping gold liquid obscures her nipples. Then she approaches Beowulf, and . . .
Look, we can't beat about the bush on this (no pun intended, she's smooth below the waist): She masturbates his sword until it dissolves into a thick liquid. Allegedly, this movie is aiming for a PG-13, but I do not see how. This will make teenage boys grow hair. Remember, it's gonna be in 3-D IMAX.
As for the rest of the movie—how is animation an advantage? Twofold: One, Ray Winstone as Beowulf. Two, it's easier to do cool 3-D stuff in CG animation.
However, it's a bit like Robert Rodriguez was with digital cinema—one gets the sense Zemeckis thinks this technology is a bit better than it actually is. This is an early cut, though. Who knows if there will ever be a market for actual porn in 3-D IMAX, so this may be as close as it "comes" for a while.
You know what sucks, though? McFarlane is doing the toys, and their Mama Grendel figure is the fish-demon version. Not naked Jolie.
A posed photo of us press folk staring at the screen would end up making its way into the pages of USA Today.
* * *
Sometimes the B-level stars who have autograph booths can misbehave.
Upstairs at the convention center is an area called the Sails Pavilion. In the morning, it serves as a holding pen for people waiting to enter the exhibit hall. During the day, several "celebrities" such as "wrestling superstar Virgil" have autograph booths there.
Part of the pavilion is roped off for an art show (no photos allowed). You can only enter this part through a couple of doors.
Posted on said doors is the following warning: "This is access to nowhere but the art show. If you try to use this as a pass-through, you will be turned back—even if you're Sam Jones."
So the star of 1980's Flash Gordon has been trying to break the rules?
"Security! Flash Gordon approaching!"
"Vhat do you mean . . . Flash . . . Gordon . . . approaching?"
* * *
Random observation No. 1: Cans of Coke are $2.50 in the convention center. Just a regular 12-ounce can.
Random observation No. 2: It seems as though every movie being promoted here is opening next May. That can't be right, can it? A new Narnia film is promised every May for the next six years.
On Sunday, the last day, I found the toys I was looking for.
When the announcer over the P.A. system said there were five minutes left till closing, I walked next door to the Marriott bar and had some drinks. It was practically empty. And there wasn't any food.
The guy next to me at the bar was on a trip down the coast with his wife. He had planned this adventure with no idea what he would be finding himself in the middle of.
I wished him well. He admired my 18-inch talking Hannibal Lecter figure.
Time now for both of us to go home.
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- Filed Under
Jake Thomas was not the most visible prospect during the drama of signing week for Mississippi State.
But the longtime Mississippi State commitment, who had little doubt where he was headed to school, certainly has a long history with the Bulldogs.
"I was joking earlier," MSU coach Dan Mullen said Wednesday, "I've been recruiting him since I got here (in 2008)." ...


text:
RINGGOLD, Ga. -- The FBI announced the arrest of four child molestation suspects Tuesday.
Atlanta FBI office special agent in charge Brian Lamkin identified the suspects as Robert Murphy, 45, of Cleveland, Tenn.; Jordan Banther, 20, of Dalton;Brad Jones, 20, of Signal Mountain, Tenn. and Trey Allen, 20, of Chattanoga.
PHOTOS | Mugshots: See 'em to believe 'em
According to Lamkin, they were arrested when each of the four traveled to Ringgold for the purposes of meeting a minor to have sex. The four had entered into a series of chats with undercover agents and officers before they came to the Ringgold location and were arrested.
Lamkin said Murphy and Allen were arrested on August 18. Banther was taken into custody on August 12, and Jones was arrested on August 15.
All four men have been charged with attempted child molestation and violation of the federal Computer Pornography Act.
They were booked into the Catoosa County Detention Center.