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Jacaranda Trace was home to a collection of nationalities as the Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County welcomed both students past and present and tutors to its 30th anniversary International Dessert and Coffee Party on Nov. 13.
An affiliate of ProLiteracy America, the Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County trains and supports local volunteers to become tutors of English to adults whose common goal, according to the organization's promotional literature, is to "provide men and women the English literacy skills they need to reach their full potential as individuals, parents, workers, and citizens."
Although the thought of teaching English as a second language may sound daunting, the truth, according to tutor trainer Esther Bird, is far from overwhelming.
"Potential tutors believe they have to be former teachers or be fluent in another language, but that's not true," Bird said. "Yes, we have former teachers, but volunteers who want to become involved are simply required to take a 12-hour training course. All you need is commitment."
Covering a region stretching from North Port to Osprey, the organization's tutors currently help more than 200 students from 45 countries.
Based at libraries in the Sarasota County library system, tutoring sessions include conversation classes, citizenship classes, one-on-one tutoring, business support and computer-based instruction.
The computer-based program can often cause the greatest confusion for students, at least at the beginning, one volunteer tutor said.
"Some of the students are far more tech-savvy than others," volunteer tutor George Adamczyk said.
The Long Island native and former ITT engineer is currently installing literacy software in North Port Library and Venice Library to allow students to learn at their own pace. There also is the possibility that they can learn at home.
"Some students really take to the software quickly and realize its possibilities," Adamczyk continued. "It really depends on their age. But I get a real kick when they finally 'get it.'"
Adamczyk added that because of the Internet, the learning possibilities, regardless of location, are limitless.
"One of my former students has a husband in the Merchant Marines," Adamczyk said. "She travels with him for six months of the year, but keeps up with her studies through her iPad. She's like a snowbird, but she travels a greater distance to return."
Closer to home, current Literacy Volunteers President Nancy Pike described the predicament of one of her former students.
"He had worked as an auto mechanic for 20 years," Pike said. "But he was made redundant. Suddenly, he was in the job market, but his reading and writing skills were totally inadequate — he could barely understand application forms.
"He came to us, determined to improve his reading and writing skills and he did," she added. "That took a lot of courage to address his problem and look for help."
Volunteer Robin Blair said everyone's needs are different.
"Volunteers have to address individual sets of needs and goals, because everyone wants to pursue a individual, successful life," she said. "We want to make a difference that can last a lifetime."
As for the students, their collective appreciation for the Literacy Volunteers was summed up by Irina Phillips, who arrived in the United States from the Ukraine with little knowledge of the English language.
"It's hard to survive the American way of life if you struggle with the language," she said. "I'm thankful to be surrounded by hard-working people who help people like me become a success in this country."
Family fun and movie are Kidfest highlights
Family fun with an emphasis on activities for children was the main goal of the fifth annual KidFest and Film event.
The free event on Nov. 10 at Heron Creek Middle School, North Port, was sponsored by the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce with participation by local businesses and organizations that offered creative activities and entertainment for all ages.
"It's a great way to reach out to the community," said Jill Luke, of Patriot Self Storage, who offered a game of toilet paper toss. "Even the parents get to have fun."
Nonstop entertainment by local dance studios, taekwondo demonstrations, pony rides, games and bounce houses kept the families busy throughout the day. There also were special guest appearances by Elmo and SpongeBob SquarePants.
"We came back because the girls had a blast last year," said Lynn Shorter, great-grandmother of Hayley Rupe, 8, Bella Lowe, 6, and Jadelyn Lowe, 4. "The festival is definitely the most cost-effective event in town to take kids to, seeing as it's free. Depending on how the afternoon goes, we might even make the free movie tonight."
Later in the evening, all were invited bring their blankets and chairs to see for free the film "Goonies," courtesy of the City of North Port.
For the parents and guardians, the event brought together many of the extracurricular activities that their children might be interested in, all in one place. Some adults signed up children to participate in activities, but that was not the only goal of the day.
"Today is not so much for sign-ups," Tim Steger of North Port Taekwondo said. "It is our way of giving back to the community."
— Betsy Williams, correspondent
Literacy volunteers celebrated at a party
Jacaranda Trace was home to a collection of nationalities as the Literacy Volunteers of South Sarasota County welcomed both students past and present and tutors to its 30th anniversary International Dessert and Coffee Party on Nov. 13.


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§ The Lord Chancellor
My Lords, I understand that no amendments have been set down to this Bill and that no noble Lord has indicated a wish to move a manuscript amendment or to speak in Committee. Therefore, unless any noble Lord objects, I beg to move that the order of commitment be discharged.
Moved, That the order of commitment be discharged.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Call up "DIR-ECT-IONS" (clever) on your way to the car and tell the friendly robot who answers where you want to go, and you can have a route beamed to your Dash GPS over the web instantly. Dial Directions already works with a few other online and mobile services, but this Dash integration is a pretty great trick. Just pair your mobile number with your Dash to get started, and start entering routes without having to stoop over and tap in your directions. [Dial Directions - Thanks, Dave!]


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|The Exhibit Hall
It was such an exciting day! I know other genealogists and I attempted to send out tweets early in the morning during the Opening Session and were relatively successful, but after the Opening Session concluded and we went around to the Exhibit Hall and other classes, social media seemed to take a permanent dive. The sad result was that the battery to my phone was almost completely drained by the end of the day since it was trying to catch a signal. So if the tweets are few and far between it's certainly not from a lack of information to relay!
The first big news of the day was the upcoming NGS conference dates/locations. It was common knowledge that next year's conference was going to be in Cincinnati, OH (OK...I just found out the other day, but I tend to live in a box sometimes!) on May 9-12, 2012. Then this morning NGS released that the 2013 NGS conference will be in LAS VEGAS, NV! Get ready for Sin City!
|Charleston Police Pipes and Drums
We were treated by some bagpipe music from the Charleston Police Pipes and Drums (very cool...I love a good kilt!) and then the Knights of Columbus conducted the flag ceremony. The attendees were polled and asked that those who never had been to an NGS conference to please stand. I would guess that at least half of us stood up. We were then asked to stand if we were members of NGS. It was so great to see that the majority of people stood up. It was hard to see anyone sitting from where I was!
|Knights of Columbus
Next we were treated to a talk by no less that the Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero. He talked to us about changes that are going to be occurring at NARA which should streamline operations for the staff as well as for researchers. NARA is being brought into current times with blogs, a YouTube site, Flickr photos, Twitter (@archivesnews), Facebook, etc. With all the changes that are being planned, make sure you're checking out one of the social media sites mentioned so you will be on top of all the great stuff that will be on its way! A final word by archivist Ferriero...spread the word about how important these documents are. Make sure funding isn't cut, that they get preserved properly and that the public continues to have access to them! Make sure the people making these decisions know that these documents and records are important to you, your work and to our country's history!
|Buzzy Jackson
|Jenn Woods, Buzzy Jackson, Ellie Woods and me
Finally, we were treated to another presentation, this time by Buzzy Jackson about her book Shaking the Family Tree: Blue Bloods, Black Sheep, and Other Obsessions of an Accidental Genealogist. She was absolutley the most animated and entertaining speaker I have heard in quite so time! I think the majority of the attendees left saying, "I've got to read that book!" What's the book about? Well, having just gotten my signed copy this evening, I can only give you a little taste of what Buzzy gave us! She was not always interested in genealogy. A PhD from Berkley in History, she seemed to know all about history...except her own. She did have a brief encounter with genealogy before her son was born, but it wasn't until after that she really began to wonder who her people were. I've got to say that if her book is anything like her presentation, it will be a hit! I will be sure to post a review as soon as I get it read!
I was intending on telling a little about the classes I took today, but I've already posted way too much and if you've made it this far you deserve a drink on me! So go and crack open a cold one (beer, iced tea, etc) and enjoy!
I will share some of today's classes tomorrow and leave you with this...I got to meet DearMYRTLE! Pat Richley is an absolute sweetheart and I would have loved to talk to her for hours!
|DearMYRTLE (Pat Richley) and me


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Overcoming Heat Stress in Pigs Through Nutrition
Heat stress affects the pig industry in tropical climates and temperate regions as well. Economic losses due to heat stress in the US swine industry alone are estimated at US$316 million annually.
These losses include non-productive days for sows and economic losses in growing-finishing pigs. Even in mild climate conditions such as the Netherlands pigs have problems in the summer with performance losses due heat stress (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Seasonality and the impacts of heat stress on swine in mild climates.
Source: Agrovision 2013
Pigs more heat stressed
Pigs are much more sensitive to hot weather than other livestock animals—largely due to the fact that pigs hardly sweat and their lungs are relatively small compared to body size. When pigs are exposed to heat stress, their respiration rate increases, pulse rate falls, they start heavily panting and they stop eating because this contributes to further heat production. The fact that heavier pigs are more sensitive to heat stress can be clearly seen in growth performance parameters. Investigation of different weight classes (75, 80 and 28 kg body weight) showed a direct negative correlation on average daily gain (ADG) with increasing room temperature. While 75 kg pigs start to decrease their ADG at around 23°C, pigs with 25 kg can compensate up to 27°C (Langridge, Western Australia, 2014). A commonly accepted temperature range for sows in the farrowing house typically spans between 21°C and 25°C —though this range is too high. Nursery sows begin to show signs of heat stress starting at 22°C (Table 1). The feed intake drops almost 0.5 kg/day as temperature increases to 25°C.
Table 1. Effect of the level protein of ration in the behavior of lactating sows in atmospheres of thermal comfort and caloric stress (Noblet et al, 2000).
Negative effects on gut and immune systems
Effects of heat stress can be explained by changes in the intestinal barrier. If the barrier is impaired through heat stress, this impairment can lead to an increased permeability for endotoxins, which in turn will result in local or systemic damage or inflammatory reactions (Lambert, 2009) (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Summary of pigs' reactions to increasing temperatures.
Source: BIOMIN
A significant increase in serum endotoxin concentrations was shown by Pearce et al (2013) when pigs were assigned to acute heat stress (35°C, 24-43% humidity) for 24 hours. Especially effects on milk production can be brought in context with endotoxin circulation as it is described that endotoxin decreases prolactin concentrations in postpartum plasma (Smith and Wagner, 1984), which in turn has a negative impact on piglet development.
Addressing heat stress through nutrition
Technical solutions to reduce heat stress are often time consuming and capital intensive investments, e.g. building cooled stables. A nutritional approach can prove more adaptable and quicker to implement. Based on current knowledge there are some aspects which can improve swine productivity during periods of heat stress.
Feeding handling
Smaller, more frequent meals per day and/or night feeding.
A sufficient supply of fresh, clean water. Eliminate bacterial growth in the water by adding acids, such as Biotronic® SE forte liquid or Biotronic® Top liquid, to avoid infections through the system.
Physical rations adjustment
Wet the feed with water.
Use pelleted feed instead of mash.
Lower crude protein
Noblet showed in a lactating trial under heat stress that sows lose less weight with a feed with lower crude protein (see Table 1: Noblet et al., 2000). One of the explanations for this fact is that during digestion, proteins generate more metabolic heat than fats (26% against 9%), due to the complex reactions for the metabolism of the amino acids that compose them (Church and Pond, 1982).
Replace starch with fat as an energy source
Fats are excellent sources of energy for swine to compensate for lower feed intake. Fat is also a more digestible ingredient that generates less metabolic heat during digestion compared to starch.
Less fiber
The higher the tenor of fiber of an ingredient, the worse the digestibility. Undigested fiber goes to the large intestine where it stimulates the growth of microorganisms that will generate heat in fermentation processes.
Maintain the right electrolytic balance
As temperatures increase, an animal's breathing tension increases. Faster respiration takes more carbon dioxide out of the blood stream which is then exhaled. This changes the pH levels in the blood, leading to metabolic acidosis and lower feed intake. Blood 'buffers' such as sodium bicarbonate or potassium can restore the electrolytic balance and support feed intake.
Use Digestarom® to aid protein digestion
Certain plant-based compounds can promote better enzyme secretion and reduce protein loss by lowering pigs' inflammatory response. A heat stress trial for lactating sows in Thailand showed an almost 10% increase in feed intake using a phytogenic Digestarom® P.E.P. which resulted in a 20% reduction in weight loss in the different parities (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Digestarom® improves feed intake by sows.
Source: Khon Kaen University in Thailand, 2008
Combat toxins that negatively impact animal health
Hot and humid weather increases the chance of mycotoxin contamination on the field and under storage conditions. In heat stress conditions the liver is often under stress.
This often appears as poor nutrient utilization and/or chronic inflammation of the liver. It is important to keep the liver as healthy as possible and avoid additional stress from toxins, e.g. mycotoxins. Many trials have shown the negative effect of heat stress on development of endotoxins in the gut.
A significant increase in serum endotoxin concentrations was shown by Pearce et al (2013) when pigs were assigned to acute heat stress (35°C, 24-43% humidity) for 24 hours. Innovative feed additives such as Mycofix® can actively combat major mycotoxins and decrease the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
Heat stress affects swine performance much of the time in tropical climates and seasonally in more moderate ones.
While there are many ways to improve management and feed formulations to address heat stress, the techniques listed above provide a good start based on the most current scientific knowledge. These reflect a greater focus on the reduction of toxins and gastrointestinal inflammation under these stress conditions. The best strategies combine different modes of action or techniques that reduce animal stress, improve animal performance and boost the financial result for the farmers.


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Item Code:R310SQBR-JR
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Always close umbrella when not in use, or in inclement weather.
Umbrellas and Gazebo Warranty
D.O.T. Furniture offers a one-year limited warranty on umbrellas and gazebos to be free from defects in material and workmanship. All warranty work must be assessed by the service centre and is only valid with an original receipt.
Warranty does not include nor cover non-residential use, normal fading, normal wear and tear, misuse, abuse, neglect, the use of improper cleaning products, use of sun-tan oils or other chemicals, vandalism, mildew, acts of nature such as wind, rain, hail, freezing, etc. and other circumstances beyond defects in material and workmanship. Warranty also does not include delivery, pick up or home inspection.
Umbrella Care and Maintenance
Create the perfect look for your outdoor setting with an umbrella or gazebo which will not only provide shade and cool comfort for your outdoor living experience but also add a splash of colour and personality. The best way to keep your umbrella looking like new is to take steps to prevent damage from the elements by using a protective cover and removing the umbrella from the table when not in use. Your gazebo should be taken down for the off-season. The simplest and most inexpensive method to keeping your umbrella or gazebo clean is to pull out the hose and spray it down. Occasionally, when hosing off the umbrella or gazebo does not work, a simple mixture of mild dish soap and water is your best solution. It is recommended that the fabric be Scotch Guarded annually. Do not machine wash or put the cover in the dryer. Caution must be used when using an umbrella in your glass table and an umbrella base must be used. Never leave an open umbrella unattended.
All warranty work must be assessed by the service centre and is only valid with an original receipt


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The Technical Assistance for Employers Program (TA) employs a staff of professional trainers, all experts in employment law. Because of our close working relationships with enforcement divisions, TA trainers can provide you with the very latest in employment law developments and trends. Consider attending any of TA's monthly seminar offerings, ordering our handbooks or other publications, or contracting with TA for personalized management training at your work site. Employer Information Line TA trainers staff a free information line to confidentially answer your questions about employment laws. The number is 971-673-0824. If you reach a voice mail recording, please leave your name, number and your question in brief form, TA will return the call within the next 24 hours (and we can usually return your call the same day). On-site Training and Consultations Contact a TA trainer at 971-673-0824, to set up management or employee training at your business site. On-site seminars are $275 an hour--a cost-effective way to train your entire staff on such important workplace issues as fair employment rights or sexual harassment. The benefits of an "on-site" program are many. Training can save your company time and money by helping you learn how to avoid inadvertent violations of wage and hour and civil rights law. Our programs are tailored to focus on issues that specifically meet the training needs of your company. Finally, the time and location can be chosen by you to minimize travel costs and maximize employee participation. Here are some of the topics TA covers:
Effective supervision
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Wage and hour law including payroll, hours worked, employee classification and final paychecks
Predictive scheduling
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Fair employment practices, including civil rights law and preventing sexual harassment and discrimintation
Hiring the fair and legal way
Employee discipline and termination
Coaching for success
Family leave and sick leave including state and federal laws, eligibility and reinstatement rights
On-site Consultation Fees On-site training sessions are $275 per hour. For seminars held within the Portland metropolitan area, a two-hour minimum charge applies. For trainings held more than 50 miles from the Bureau's Portland headquarters, there is a four-hour minimum charge per day and a fee of $50 per hour to cover staff travel time. When an overnight stay is required, charges for meals and lodging at the state's per diem rate also apply. Fees include training and materials for up to 50 participants. Payment is required within 10 business days after confirmation of the training, or 10 business days before the training, whichever is sooner. A full refund of charges is available for cancellations 10 business days ahead of the seminar. For cancellations with less notice, 50 percent of the seminar charge is refundable. Call 971-673-0824, to schedule your company's training session or for more information.
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June 3, 2015 8:41 pm
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Your IPv6-compatible devices will be expected to pass a set of standards laid out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Most agencies have not actually made the switch yet to IP-v6, but they have had to demonstrate they can send and receive traffic using it.
Sheila Frankel, a computer scientist at the Computer Security Division at NIST, tells Federal News Radio's Tom Temin that the process of becoming completely IPv6- compatible starts with the products you purchase.
Listen to the full interview tomorrow at 10 a.m. on the Federal Security Spotlight.
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