text: American College of Surgeons Advocacy Federal Legislation Health Information Technology Federal Legislation Federal Legislation Medicare Physician Payment Medicare Efforts Frequently Asked Questions Medical Liability Reform Liability Reform Efforts Defining Medical Liability Provisions Ending the Confusion: Economic, Non-Economic, and Punitive Damages The Medical Liability Crisis GME and Workforce Trauma and EMS Cancer and Research Health Information Technology Patient Safety and Delivery System Our Changing Health Care System Scope of Practice Pediatric Issues Other Federal Legislative Issues Regulatory Issues Regulatory Issues How to Avoid Medicare Penalties EHR Incentive Program EHR Efforts EHR Incentive Program Reporting Options Timeline Medicare EHR Incentive Program Timeline Basic EHR Starter Guide Guide for EHR Vendor Selection Negotiating the Electronic Health Record Vendor Contact Final Criteria of Stage 1 EHR Use Medicare vs Medicaid EHR Programs Regional Extension Center Medicare Inpatient & Outpatient Rules Medicare Inpatient & Outpatient Rules Overview Inpatient Prospective Payment System Rule Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Rule Outpatient Prospective Payment System/Ambulatory Surgical Center Rule Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) Physician Quality Reporting System PQRS Efforts and Information MAV Process Value-Based Payment Modifier Health Care Reform Health Care Reform Efforts Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) General Surgery Bonus Payment Medicare Claims Data Physician Payment Sunshine Act Program Integrity Reporting and Returning of Overpayments Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Regulatory Burden Reduction Stark Law and Anti-Kickback State Legislation State Legislation State Advocacy Resources State Advocacy Resources What Is Advocacy? How to Start Developing a Legislative Strategy: When (and How) to Get Involved State Lobbying and Ethics Resources Organizational Websites State Legislature Websites Testimony to State Legislature Chapter Advocacy Lobby Day Grant Program State Legislation Tracked by the College Legislative Priorities Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act Quality Quality Overview of Medicare Quality Programs Physician Quality Reporting System Value-Based Payment Modifier Quality and Resource Use Reports Electronic Health Records (EHR) Incentive Program Surgical Quality Alliance S-CAHPS S-CAHPS Overview NQF Endorsement of the S-CAHPS Survey About the S-CAHPS Survey Information about the CAHPS Survey Measure Application Partnership Pre-Rulemaking Input Participate Get Involved SurgeonsVoice SurgeonsVoice Overview Visit SurgeonsVoice Grassroots Advocacy American College of Surgeons Professional Association ACSPA About the ACSPA ACSPA Board Visit the SurgeonsPAC State Legislative Action Center Leadership and Advocacy Summit Leadership and Advocacy Summit Overview Leadership Summit Presentations Webinars Practice Management Practice Management CPT Coding Bulletin Articles CPT Coding Workshops ICD-10 Coding ICD-10 Coding Overview ICD-10 Factsheet ACS Coding Hotline Physician Quality Reporting System How to Avoid Medicare Penalties Primers and Compendiums Webinars Health Policy and Research Institute About the Health Policy and Research Institute Center for Surgery and Public Health Contact HPRI HPRI Factsheets Surgical Workforce Maps Health Care Organizations Other Publications Surgery Workforce Policy Program Current Projects Journal Publications from Surgery Workforce Policy Program AMA House of Delegates ACS in the AMA House of Delegates Surgical Caucus of the AMA About the Surgical Caucus Surgical Caucus Executive Committee Surgical Caucus of the AMA Bylaws June 2014 Minutes Executive Committee February 5, 2014 Minutes Advocacy Committees Contact Us Committee on Health Care Disparities Committee on Health Care Disparities Overview Why Optimal Access Matters NIH-ACS Symposium Search Relevant Publications Optimal Access Resources Members Joint Statements Joint Statements Overview Lancet Commission on Global Surgery Health Information Technology HIT Resources ACS Supports EHR Improvements Act EHR Stage 2 Hill Letter 2013: Electronic Health Records Improvement Act Introduced in Congress EHR Stage 2 Hill Letter Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Bonus American EHR Health IT Buzz Blog Centers for Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs Where Are We in 2014 The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Repeal Act consolidated three existing programs, the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), the Value‐Based Modifier (VBM), which adjusts payment based on quality and resource use; and Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) into its merit-based incentive payment system (MIPS). The MIPS program will assess the performance of eligible professionals in four performance categories: quality; resource use; meaningful use of EHRs; and clinical practice improvement activities. The penalties associated with the current programs are sunset at the end of 2017, including the 2 percent penalty for failure to report PQRS quality measures and the 3 percent penalty (increasing to 5 percent in 2019) for failure to meet EHR meaningful use requirements. However, if the SGR Repeal Act is not enacted, the existing programs and associated penalties remain in effect. ACS Cohosts Discussion on HIT and the Effects on Providers The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Division of Advocacy and Health Policy (DAHP) and the National Coalition of Healthcare Providers (NCHP) held a leaders meeting with individuals from other provider groups on health information technology (HIT) on April 18. This meeting was a follow-up to the March 13 HIT roundtable discussion cohosted by the College and NCHP. Some of the targeted issues during the March 13 meeting included meaningful use requirements, compliance with the 10th edition of the International Classification of Diseases, workforce issues, e-prescribing, and the Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics' impact on the legislative agenda. Don E. Detmer, MD, FACS, Medical Director, DAHP, spoke at both meetings and highlighted some of the current barriers to and benefits of implementing the electronic health record and its impact on the surgical community. ACS Represented at Capitol Hill Discussion on HIT The U.S. Capitol Hill Steering Committee on Telehealth and Healthcare Informatics hosted a panel discussion on May 9, 2012, entitled "Saving Lives: Advancing Health Information Technology Towards Improved Patient Safety and Quality." Since 1993 this bipartisan steering committee has convened more than 170 widely attended educational sessions and health care technology demonstrations for members of Congress, congressional staff, key federal agency officials, industry professionals, and the general public. The program focused on potential benefits of implementing HIT as a means of measuring quality improvements, the various approaches to IT-enabled quality programs, and the risks potentially defective or poorly implemented systems pose. Panelists included Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN); and Kevin Larsen, MD, FACP, Medical Director, Meaningful Use, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Don Detmer, MD, FACS, Medical Director, ACS Division of Advocacy and Health Policy, moderated this important discussion. ACS Comments on Stage 2 Meaningful Use Proposed Rule ACS and several other organizations responded to a request for comments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) concerning the Stage 2 meaningful use proposed rule, "Medicare and Medicaid Programs; Electronic Health Record Incentive Program—Stage 2." Stage 2 meaningful use defines what eligible professionals (EPs) will be required to do in order to demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) in the second part of the program, which is proposed to begin in 2014. Physicians who have not demonstrated that they are meaningful users of EHRs by 2015 will face penalties, starting at 1 percent, to their Medicare payments. The letter expresses support for general EHR implementation but clearly articulates the challenges the organizations foresee with compliance in the program. For example, in order to be considered a meaningful user CMS proposes the following: EPs must have a threshold level of 50 percent or more outpatient encounters during the EHR reporting period at a practice or location equipped with certified EHR technology. EPs must provide a patient with clinical summaries within 24 hours. EPs who are eligible for a Medicaid EHR incentive payment in a given year and who have "adopted, implemented, or upgraded" certified electronic health records technology (CEHRT) would not be considered meaningful users and could still be subject to a penalty under the Medicare side of the program. Other areas of concern include the time frame for patient reminder requirements, the number of ordered clinical lab test results, medication reconciliation transitions, and the methodology for recording immunization data. Contact: Heather Smith


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Google Inc. shares tumbled Thursday after the company unexpectedly released its third-quarter results early, showing the search giant widely missing Wall Street's profit estimates.
Trading in Google GOOG, +0.62% shares was halted for a time after the stock plunged more than 9% to $687.30 following the release of results that were expected after Thursday's closing bell.
The stock ended the session down 8% closing at $695. Google's market capitalization fell by $19.8 billion. The stocked edged up fractionally in after-hours trading.
The initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission included the line, "Pending Larry quote," apparently referring to Chief Executive Larry Page.
In a call with analysts, Page apologized for the "scramble" which the company said happened after R.R. Donnelley RRD, +0.46% the company's financial printer, "filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization."
"We have ceased trading on Nasdaq while we work to finalize the document," the company said in a statement, saying it would release its full report "once it's finalized."
BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis labeled the early release an "unprofessional" move, which "created panic in the market." See: Google's early release draws Twittersphere response
Sanjay Shirodkar, attorney at DLA Piper in Washington, said a printer typically gets the company's approval before sending the report to the SEC's electronic filing system.
"It is up to the companies and their service providers such as R.R. Donnelley to make sure the process is followed," he said, noting the kind of error seen in Google's case is rare.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company reported a third-quarter profit of $2.18 billion, or $6.53 a share, compared with a profit of $2.73 billion, or $8.33 a share, for the year-earlier period.
Revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, was $11.33 billion, up from $7.51 billion in the year-earlier period. Adjusted profit was $9.03 a share. Analysts were expecting an adjusted profit of $10.63 a share, on revenue of $11.39 billion.
It was Google's first full quarter following its acquisition of Motorola Mobility and the impact of the merger was evident in the results which showed $527 million operating loss for Motorola Mobility.
Lenovo sees growth in PC market
With the outlook for the PC market gloomy, how is Lenovo Group, China's biggest PC maker, positioning itself for growth? Lenovo's Asia-Pacific and Latin America president, Milko Van Duijl talks about its ambitions in smartphones and tablets.
The company reported a 33% gain in paid-clicks, the number of times Internet users click on the company's advertising and generate revenue, over the third quarter of 2011.

subset: commoncrawl


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The Los Alamos Hilltopper girls basketball team will try to lock up its third straight District 2AAAA tournament title tonight.Los Alamos, which finished a spotless 8-0 in District 2AAAA play, will host tonight's 2AAAA tournament championship game when it hosts Española Valley.Española Valley tripped up second-seed Taos Thursday, winning 48-39 at Taos to qualify for tonight's 2AAAA title game. It was the second straight victory by Española Valley's Sundevils over Taos, including a 46-38 win in its regular season finale Feb. 22.Los Alamos' eight wins over 2AAAA competition includes a pair of wins over Española Valley. The Sundevils gave the Hilltoppers one of their closest calls in district play this season, a 55-51 decision in Española Jan. 25. The 'Toppers beat the Sundevils handily in their most recent meeting, however, a 47-26 win at Griffith Gymnasium Feb. 13.Going into tonight's game, Los Alamos (16-9 overall) has held its last three opponents to under 30 points.The Hilltoppers clinched the regular season district title with their second win over the Sundevils.Los Alamos, by virtue of its regular season district title, has already assured itself of a spot in the Class AAAA playoffs.
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Torn designer Ronny Kobo says she creates clothing for "the ultimate chameleon girl." Given her multinational background, it's no wonder. Born in Israel and raised in Hong Kong, Kobo has also lived in London and New York — tapping into a global range of fashion influences. Her aesthetic is sexy with a touch of quirkiness — think asymmetrically cut tops and dresses, lace cutouts, dramatic puff sleeves, clever draping, and animal prints. Leighton Meester, Rihanna, and other It Girls have been spotted wearing Torn by Ronny Kobo. Maybe you should be, too.
Flattering, feminine picks for work, weekend, and everything in between
Our favorite brands and styles from this week's can't-miss sales
Glittering dresses, shoes, and more standouts for stylish ladies
Exceptionally chic second layers perfectly timed for autumn


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Lord, please help me gain employment. I desperately want to take care of my children and myself.
Pray along with our community, or submit your own.The prayers on this page are also being prayed by The Episcopal Community
- Bethany T.
oremos por liberacion y salud para el mundo. damos gracias por este instante. Amen.
- hugo rodriguez
damos gracias por el amor infinito
- Hugo M.
for my mother to overcome her depression and anxiety.
- elizabeth s.
Please pray for me in my coming recital, that I may have the determination to be prepared, and be free from any fear of performing.
- Will
Protection and spiritual guidance for Dylesia who at 13 is struggling to make good choices for herself and prayers for strength and guidance for Carrie, her mom
- Sharon B
Please accept me on this new journey, and bless your prodigal son. I haven`t always put you first in my life, therefore, I have been empty. Please receive my prayer and myself Lord, as I begin anew.
- James C.
Please pray for my father that he be restored to full health and wellness soon
- Kathryn S
Пожалуйста помогите мне выбрать правильный путь.
- Curil


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Ashlee Simpson: Jess Is "Always Saying, 'I Want a Baby!'"
Ashlee Simpson says her big sister Jessica Simpson can't wait to be a mom.
"She's always saying, 'Oh, I want a baby!'" Ashlee, 24, who welcomed Bronx 10 months ago, tells the October issue of Redbook.
When asked if she envies her single sister, who was dumped by Tony Romo in July, Ashlee admits, "I really don't.
See how Ashlee and Jessica spent the summer
The Melrose Place star, who wed Pete Wentz in May 2008, says "being a mom's so empowering and incredible. I'm one of those people who believes that life brings things to you at a certain time for a certain reason, and if you just go with it, that's where the best moments come from."
Since having Bronx, Ashlee admits she's "grown up so much.
See what Ashlee used to look like before plastic surgery
"The great thing about being pregnant is that you have nine months and it really does prepare you. Your body is changing, and it's such an amazing time to feel that connection," she says.
Ashlee -- who has bragged she could do the splits while nine months pregnant -- says she also kept fit by doing "prenatal yoga, which was a nice way to mellow down and focus on me and Bronx.
See photos of the most romantic couples in Hollywood
"Being pregnant was the healthiest I've ever been in my life," she adds. "Except for the cupcakes."


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NSSL Hot Item
NSSL scientists receive NOAA and OAR awards
2010 NOAA Distinguished Career Award
For Sustained Career Excellence
Robert Davies-Jones
For scientific achievements in the application of observations and theory to the understanding of the dynamics of severe convective storms and tornado genesis mechanisms.
Davies-Jones (retired) has had an impactful 38-year career with the lab, sharing his tornado expertise with the world.
Davies-Jones emigrated to the U.S. from England in 1964, started his career with NSSL in 1970, and obtained U.S. citizenship in 1983. He is a world-renowned expert on tornadogenesis, tornado flows, thunderstorm updrafts, short-term mesocyclone prediction, estimation of maximum tornado parameters, and vorticity dynamics of larger-scale meteorological flows. Davies-Jones' has contributed to the profession as a meteorological journal editor, co-chair of conferences, student advisor, expert consultant, Principal Investigator on projects, and has served on scientific committees. He has the rare ability to simplify research results communicated in newspaper interviews, magazines, encyclopedias, popular articles, and on TV.
Davies-Jones' colleagues have this to say:
"He came in as a gifted theoretician and continued to make important contributions to our understanding of tornadogenesis, in particular, from a theoretical perspective. On top of that, he became really good at the technical aspect of collecting data in field projects. DJ wasn't a storm chaser who became theoretically gifted; he was a gifted theoretician who became a storm chaser to collect data to help him and others in their theoretical work. "(Harold Brooks)
"Bob has been an important member of the Lab in many ways (theoretician, storm intercept leader, solid citizen, and friend to student and scientist alike) for many years. I greatly respect Bob for his scientific/mathematical understanding and his ability to communicate complicated dynamic/mathematical concepts to those with lesser understanding. Bob's expenditure of effort, his calm-amid-chaos leadership, and his patience and understanding have been huge components in NSSL's Storm Intercept Program over the many years. The level of respect he enjoys within the severe storm community has long been a part of NSSL's position as leader in scientific research." (Don Burgess)
"I am especially impressed that, as a theoretician, Bob wants to find out about the phenomena that he models. Consequently, he has taken a very active role in storm intercept field programs so he can see first-hand how nature behaves. He will be missed because he is NSSL's primary resource person for explaining the theoretical underpinnings of severe storm phenomena, especially tornadoes." (Rodger Brown).
"Bob is a complete scientist in that he contributes to the advancement of science in multiple ways. He develops new theory, enhances understanding through observations he participates in collecting, and provides the scientific underpinning for applications that improve operational meteorology. His article on tornadoes in Scientific American was a masterpiece in helping the non- meteorologist understand the complexity of tornado genesis. We at NSSL are grateful for the 38 years he has spent among us." (Jeff Kimpel, former NSSL Director)
2011 Outstanding Scientific Paper
Mr. M.R. Kumjian and Dr. A. V. Ryzhkov
Storm-Relative Helicity Revealed from Polarimetric Radar Measurements. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 66, 667-685
The dual-polarization radar variables are especially sensitive to the microphysical processes of melting and size sorting of precipitation particles. In deep convective storms, polarimetric measurements of such processes can provide information about the airflow in and around the storm that may be used to elucidate storm behavior and evolution. Size sorting mechanisms include differential sedimentation, vertical transport, strong rotation, and wind shear. In particular, winds that veer with increasing height typical of supercell environments cause size sorting that is manifested as an enhancement of differential reflectivity (ZDR) along the right or inflow edge of the forward-flank downdraft precipitation echo, which has been called the ZDR arc signature. In some cases, this shear profile can be augmented by the storm inflow. It is argued that the magnitude of this enhancement is related to the low-level storm-relative environmental helicity (SRH) in the storm inflow.
To test this hypothesis, a simple numerical model is constructed that calculates trajectories for raindrops based on their individual sizes, which allows size sorting to occur. The modeling results indicate a strong positive correlation between the maximum ZDR in the arc signature and the low-level SRH, regardless of the initial drop size distribution aloft. Additional observational evidence in support of the conceptual model is presented. Potential changes in the ZDR arc signature as the supercell evolves and the low-level mesocyclone occludes are described.


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United Nations Statistics Division
Glossary of Environment Statistics
Series: F, No.67
Sales number:96.XVII.12
Languages available:E, * A, *C, F, *R, *S
This quick reference tool has been prepared by the Statistics Division to define key terms used in the fields of environmental statistics, indicators of sustainable development and integrated environmental and economic accounting. It presents concepts and definitions for these rapidly developing new areas of applied statistics, covering 1,200 terms referring to environmental elements of air/climate, land, soil, water and ecosystems and related socioeconomic concerns such as natural resource use, waste management, public health, human settlements and the effects of natural disasters. The glossary should appeal to environmental statisticians and to data users such as environmental managers and policy analysts looking for operational concepts and definitions.


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Scholarship Donors: Clarence'46 and Fayetta (DeBord) Sekerak '47
The lifelong love story of Clarence '46 and Fayetta (DeBord) Sekerak '47 began with their first date: a mile-plus walk from Cleveland Bible College to Chen's Chinese restaurant.
The pair worked their way through college - Clarence made 40 cents an hour as an assistant to "Daddy" Francis Rice, the caretaker of the CBC property. A diligent employee, he helped the school move from Cedar Avenue to the Euclid Avenue mansion – which had once been the Spenserian Business College – and found many chores to do in the mansion: painting latticework on a ladder on the roof, turning dormitories into residence halls, unloading produce from then-President Worthy Spring's father's farm, making repairs. Fayetta, one of nine children, began her college career as a "Day Girl" which meant that instead of living in the residence halls, she did chores for a wealthy family in exchange for room and board; her second year, she moved onto campus and worked for Halle Brothers Department Store wrapping packages and worked at a sweater factory. Her sisters Marcella and Gladys Ream x43 also attended CBC.
Though his college years were during World War II, Clarence had a 4-D classification as a divinity student, which allowed him to continue his education.
Clarence and Fayetta were active in many organizations such as the Gleaners and the missionary league. In their senior yearbook, Clarence is described as "superior in size, intellect, and spirituality... a valuable student and real soul winner;" Fayetta as, "modest, sweet, and agreeable."
"Most of our closest friends for the past 70 years have been people we first met as classmates at Cleveland Bible College," says Fayetta. "We have learned, laughed, loved, and shared our faith in Christ with this warm and wonderful community."
In those days, student life – especially for residents – included housekeeping duties, such as dusting, as well as what the students called "KP" or kitchen patrol. In his sophomore yearbook, Clarence is pictured next to President Spring, pouring buckets of potatoes into a potato-peeling machine.
"Each class presented the college with a gift every year," Clarence explains. "Ours was a potato peeler so we wouldn't have to peel by hand anymore."
The couple married after Fayetta's graduation – they'll celebrate their 67th wedding anniversary in August. They have five children – daughters Lois and twins Nancy and Becky. Their sons, Richard and Michael '77, attended Malone in Canton. Fayetta returned to Malone to earn a teaching degree the same year Lois graduated from high school and graduated in 1965 (pictured in her yearbook at right) after which she taught third grade at West Branch Elementary for 20 years.
Clarence began his career as a minister, first at a Friends church in Boston Heights for a year; then Hughesville, Penn. From 1947-1953, where Fayetta remembers, "his first sermon was only 10 minutes long. He just ran out of things to say! I think he was nervous."
The nerves quickly subsided: in 1953 Clarence was called to preach at Alliance Friends Church, and he also started the popular local morning radio program, "Sunrise Scriptures."
The hardworking family lived frugally, as Fayetta had a special knack for growing vegetable gardens to can and freeze their food to stretch dollars as far as possible. As a pastor's wife, says her daughter, Lois, Fayetta was always ready to entertain guests in their neatly kept home.
Clarence's final full-time pastoral assignment was at East Goshen Friends. During those times, he researched Quaker history and created beautiful publications for the Ohio Yearly Meetings and other events. After seeing the publications and knowing Clarence's love for Malone in the early 1960's, President Dr. Everett Cattell asked him to be the public relations director for the College, which at the time included a seat on the president's cabinet.
Clarence had numerous duties, including fundraising and estate planning, collaborating with the late Ed Jeffries '58, then-director of admissions. At such a small college duties were varied and everyone "kind of did everything," he says. While learning more about financial investments, several Malone graduates from Michigan, including the late Norman Huff '53 encouraged Ed and Clarence to get involved with his company, First Investors Corporation, based in New York City.
The men rounded up about 40 newcomers, including insurance agents in Canton, to take licensure tests to be able to sell mutual funds. All of them passed, and Clarence left his role at Malone: first to work for First Investors, then to start his own business, Portage Brokerage Company, after passing the registered principal's exam.
Clarence worked until 10 years ago - when he celebrated his 80th birthday – and, last year, moved to Copeland Oaks Retirement Community; Fayetta is a patient in the adjoining Crandall Medical Center.
Because of all that Malone has meant to Clarence and Fayetta, the couple set up a scholarship for Malone students who are active attendees and/or members of one of the six churches where the Sekeraks either pastored or attended:
- Barberton Evangelical Friends Church
- Boston Heights Evangelical Friends Church
- Hughesville Evangelical Friends Church (Pennsylvania)
- Alliance Evangelical Friends Church
- East Goshen Evangelical Friends Church
- Damascus Evangelical Friends Church
Students may pursue any field of study to be considered.
For more details, please contact the Financial Aid Office at Malone University at 800.521.1146.
To contribute to this scholarship in honor of Clarence and Fayetta, please contact the Advancement office at 330-471-8235.
"In my studies of Ohio Quaker history, I've appreciated the real life stories of Quaker men and women whose lives are witness to their faith," says Clarence. "Perhaps some of the young people who benefit from this scholarship will one day be studied by Quaker historians of the future."


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953 Tasting Notes
I received this as a sample when I bought a Finum Teeli filter from an Amazon vendor who turned out to be Lana's The Little House. It's my first experience with a dessert-like flavored tea, and I wasn't sure what to expect. As it turned out, I quite enjoyed it. The aroma of coconut and almond is delicious and not overpowering. The coconut and almond flavors were sweet and delicate, and the tea was a nice backdrop to them. It stood up well to multiple steepings. I can see making teas into no-guilt desserts. I had this while my kids were having ice cream and I didn't feel at all deprived!
This is the second in the Introduction to Oolongs sampler and an interesting comparison to the Formosa Fine Grade. The dry leaves are very different in color and texture. Much bigger and formed into curls, whereas the Fine Grade ones are much smaller and less formed. They smell less toasty than the Fine Grade; actually the smell reminds me of champagne. The liquor, too is reminiscent of champagne; a lighter, yellowy-amber than that of the Fine Grade with a more delicate aroma that is warm and slightly fruity. The taste is more delicate, too, and I have a feeling there is a lot more to be discovered here on subsequent tastings. The flavor is pleasant and mild, and as noted by others, nutty. The leaves uncurl during steeping until they are surprisingly long and pretty. I can see myself spending quite a bit of time with this one.
I prefer this to the Tazo version. As others have said, the bergamot scent is palpable but not overpowering; it doesn't greet you with an almost eye-watering blast of perfume when you open the packet. The bergamot taste is present in the drinking, but in a much milder, even, more balanced way. On a side note, am I the only one who has trouble with Numi's bags? Seems like they break, or the string comes off, or the tag falls off, far more often than those of other brands but perhaps that's just bad luck on my part.
This is the first loose tea I've tried since I started my tea adventure, and I'm thoroughly amazed at how much of a difference I'm seeing between this and just about anything else I've been drinking these past weeks, even the whole leaf bagged teas. And I realize it's pretty basic as oolongs go, so I can only imagine what's in store when I graduate to higher grades.
This is the first in the Introduction to Oolong (Oolongs 101?) sampler and I've been enjoying it yesterday and today. I would not have thought it could add so much to the experience to examine dry leaves prior to steeping, but it does. These are a dark, chocolatey brown, with flecks of lighter brown. They have a warm, toasty aroma. The liquor is a rich, dark amber/burnt orange. It smells very similar to the dry leaves, and the flavor is in turn very true to the aroma, warm and toasty, with a very subtle note I can't put my finger on — very slightly floral, perhaps? The aftertaste is slightly sweet and pleasant. I used two teaspoons rather than one after the first try and preferred it stronger. I did not notice much change over multiple steepings (I lengthened the steeping time from 3 minutes to 4 after the first, and to five on the last).
I was surprised — this one actually made me smile. It's the first darjeeling I've tasted since I started my tea adventure and I suspect there is much better to be had, but it's enough to make me really look forward to venturing further into finer darjeeling offerings. The liquor is not light as darjeeling's is usually described; but it's pretty, a medium to dark brownish-red. It smells woody, almost coffee-like, with a hint of mossy greenness. Foresty. There's a richness and complexity to the taste that I wasn't expecting, especially in the finish where I taste butter, sweet cream, nuts (almonds, I think, maybe a little hazelnut?). I tried it at the recommended 5 minutes steep time, but found it a tad bitter. Much better at 3 minutes.
The perfumey note of the aroma hit me immediately, so much so that I was tempted to dab a bit on my wrists. :-) After a minute or two it settled down to a gentler citrus. Initially, I steeped for 5 minutes but the second time around after reading the comments here I limited it to 3. Three is definitely better, and I'm wondering if I should take it down from there a bit.
My experience with Earl Grey in the past has been limited to Twinings and Bigelow, and this one doesn't seem significantly better than I remember those being. I'm detecting a twinge of the bitterness others have mentioned in the drinking, but for me it is mellowing to a pleasant, lingering citrusy finish where the underlying tea taste predominates. There's even a bit of sweetness, right at the tip of my tongue. I'm looking forward to comparing it to other Earl Greys.
I am far from a chai expert, but this seems to have a well-blended flavor if you're in the mood for something spicy. I can smell the ginger, cinnamon and cloves primarily, but none of these predominates in the taste. There's a peppery afterburn, but the pepper flavor in this whole leaf bag version isn't as strong as that in the decaf bagged version I tried (not whole leaf), which borders on harsh. I started my morning with this one today, and I'm moved to try another cup and see what else I can get out of this one on a second tasting.
And here's an update after the second tasting (different bags, not a resteep)… with the after effect of the original cup still on my tongue, the new cup is very different. Even more balanced, and I can taste the mildness of the tea. The spices are more around the edges this time. Very interesting contrast to the first spicy attack and worth an additional couple of rating points.
This was what got me interested in giving tea another shot after a number of failed attempts. Now that I'm branching out it isn't quite as stellar as my first impression, but I'm still enjoying it. The vanilla is very present in the aroma, but not so much in the taste. Still, the taste is pleasant — cinnamony, sweet, full. I can't explain it, but to me it tastes "red."
I was pleasantly surprised when I tried the sachet version in a store (as a free refill). I was really just trying it to confirm that it was as gross as it sounded. In fact it was pretty good!
Greenish-golden clear liquor; sweet, vaguely grassy aroma; mild, smooth, ever so slightly pungent flavor without being bitter; slightly sweet, vegetal finish. I expected to like this better than the Green Tips from Tazo, but I actually liked the Tazo better. In any case, both are a significant improvement on my first encounter with bagged greens (though that was probably more my fault than the tea's)….


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Until I attended my first dwarf convention—the 2003 Little People of America (LPA) meeting in Danvers, Massachusetts—I had no clue how many kinds of dwarfism there are, nor how many varieties of appearance are collected under the category. Dwarfism is a low-incidence condition, usually occurring because of a random genetic mutation. Since most dwarfs are born to average-height parents, they do not have vertical community. There has been occasional talk about building a town for little people (LPs); there are metropolises where activist LPs have settled; there are high concentrations of otherwise rare dwarfing conditions among the Amish; but there has never been a significant geographic concentration of people of short stature. This means that the national LPA gatherings are not simply occasions to attend lectures and consult medical experts; for some participants, they are the annual exception to a certain kind of loneliness. The gatherings are emotionally intense; one dwarf I met told me she was "happy for one week a year," although others emphasized that they love both of their lives—the one in the larger world, and the one among their LPA friends. More than 10 percent of Americans of short stature belong to LPA, and the organization has a role in the LP community that is greater than that of similar groups for comparable populations.
Arriving at the Sheraton Ferncroft Resort, where the convention was taking place, I was struck by how the concentration of LPs changed my perception of them. Instead of seeing, primarily, short stature, I saw that one was exceptionally beautiful, that one was unusually short even for a dwarf, that one laughed uproariously and often, that one had an especially intelligent face—and so I began to recognize how generically I had responded to little people until then. I understood what a relief it had to be for them that no one was focused on their height. Of course, the LPA convention was all about stature, but it was also the place where stature became blessedly irrelevant.
It would be difficult for an outsider to acknowledge this particularizing view of, for example, Latinos or Muslims. To say that a person's ethnicity or religion had overwhelmed, even temporarily, one's ability to appreciate his other personal characteristics would seem bigoted. But dwarfism has been the exception to these social rules. According to Betty Adelson, author of The Lives of Dwarfs and Dwarfism, "The only permissible prejudice in PC America is against dwarfs." Mary D'Alton, chair of Columbia University's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a leader in the field of high-risk pregnancy, told me that dwarfism is the most difficult diagnosis to communicate to expectant parents. "You say that the baby has a hole in his heart," she said, "and they say, 'But you can fix that, right?' But when I tell someone that they will be having a dwarf, they often seem disgusted by the idea."
Many of the attendees I met my first day at LPA could identify instantly conditions that I had never heard of or imagined and had certainly never seen. When I went down to the conference disco the first night, I saw a brother and sister who had primordial dwarfism; they were full-grown, perfectly proportioned, and only about twenty-nine inches high. Their parents stood with them to make sure they weren't trampled—a danger even at the dwarf convention. I learned that the girl played percussion in her high school band; she had a classmate who pushed her tiny wheelchair, and she held the drum in her lap—looking, in the words of a dwarf who was herself just three foot eight, "like a marionette." The conference featured athletic competitions; a marathon-length talent show, including acts from Christian music to break dancing; and a fashion show, which revealed a broad range of dressy and casual styles, all tailored to little bodies. The conference also provided an eagerly awaited opportunity for dating. A dwarf comedian cracked, "You know you're a teenager at LPA if you've had more boyfriends this week than you've had in the last year."
• • •
When I met Mary Boggs on my second day at LPA, she told me that the organization had changed her life. When her daughter Sam was born in 1988, the obstetrician initially assumed that the baby's diminutive size was a result of her premature arrival. A month later, while she was still in the neonatal intensive care unit, he diagnosed her with achondroplasia. "We would have rather had a child that was deaf or blind," Mary told me. "Just anything besides a dwarf would have been better. When you're thinking about what could go wrong with a pregnancy, this doesn't cross your mind. We were thinking, 'Why did we have another child at all?'"
Sam came home to her parents' house in the suburbs of Washington, DC, on oxygen and a monitor. After six months, when Sam was declared physically healthy, Mary took her to her first local LPA meeting. When Sam was a year and a half old, she had a shunt inserted in her head to relieve her hydrocephalus (the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the head); fortunately, she did not have the skeletal problems that in later life afflict so many people with achondroplasia. Mary and her husband got step stools and put them all over the house; they purchased light-switch extenders; they moved the faucet on the kitchen sink. These adjustments at home were easier to control than the challenges outside. "We've had people chase us down the grocery aisle to ask questions," Mary said. "We learned to stare back. It frightens them off. I'd watch Sam not playing with the other kids because she's too small to do what they do. You just feel sad."
Before Sam set off for kindergarten, her parents told her that other kids would call her names; they reviewed what some of those names might be and taught her appropriate responses. Mary went to the school and explained Sam's special needs, giving the teacher a book about dwarfs that she could read aloud to the class. The school lowered the sink and water fountain and installed a grab bar so Sam could pull herself up on the toilet. The kids in her class learned her story, but each year it was new to an incoming kindergarten class, and some would call her names. So Sam decided to make a presentation to each incoming class. She would explain, "I'm little, but I'm eight years old. I'm in third grade. I'm a dwarf, and I'm just like you all, but just short." She did that every year through elementary school, and the teasing stopped.
When Sam was five, the Boggs family attended their first national LPA convention. "We walked in and saw a thousand dwarfs," Mary said. "Sam was in shock. I thought my other daughter, who is average height, was going to cry. It took two or three days for us to take it in." Over the years that followed, the Boggs family persuaded extended family and friends to come to meetings, so that they would know dwarfs other than Sam. "The grandparents could see adult dwarfs and realize, 'Okay, this is what Sam's going to look like,'" Mary said. She considered for a minute. "We went for Sam, but also so we could be comfortable with her. To make it easier for us to love her right."
Middle school was more difficult than elementary school. "People who had been friends for years were suddenly not wanting to hang out with her anymore," Mary said. "She was not called to go roller skating or go to the movies on Friday night. They pretended that it wasn't because she was a dwarf. But she knew." The athletics department gave her a varsity letter for being manager of the track team; she participated in student council and was elected treasurer of her class. Despite this, she was down to a couple of friends. "She's a little lonely," Mary said. "She'd have crushes on the boys at school, but eventually realized that average-size guys were not interested in going out with her. It was a big turning point when she started looking more at the hot guys at LPA."
When I met Sam, she was in the throes of her first romance. She was fifteen going on sixteen, attractive and strikingly mature, and, at three feet nine inches, fairly short for a teenager with achondroplasia. Mary was optimistic about the future. "I would prefer for her to have an LP boyfriend or LP husband," she said to me. "I think it'll be easier for her. It's kind of neat. I mean, you have a dwarf child. But it doesn't just stop there; it goes on forever. We're going to have, probably, a dwarf son-in-law, and dwarf grandchildren. What used to be an average-size family then becomes, when we're gone, a dwarf family! And to think, if I'd known about this early in my pregnancy, I might have terminated."
• • •
Writing in 1754, William Hay, a dwarf and the first notable memoirist of disability, described visiting a general: "I never was more humbled, than when I walked with him among his tall Men, made still taller by their Caps. I seemed to my self a Worm and no Man: and could not but inwardly grieve, that when I had the same Inclination to the Service of my Country and Prince, I wanted their Strength to perform it." This feeling of inadequacy salted with the wish to transcend it has been a common narrative among dwarfs, but in the long pause between Hay's dignified early account and the modern literature on the experience of being an LP, a grossness of prejudice has often quelled that dignity.
Woody Allen once quipped that dwarf is one of the four funniest words in the English language. To be in your very essence perceived as comical is a significant burden. When I described the other categories included in this book, my listeners were hushed by the seriousness of the enterprise; at the mention of dwarfs, friends burst into laughter. I would describe, for example, the time during a convention when a miscreant dwarf had made a bomb threat at 8:00 a.m., so that all hotel guests, most recovering from a night of intense partying, had to evacuate the building. People found hilarity in the mere idea of some five hundred sleepy dwarfs, many of them hungover, standing in the hotel's forecourt. This had some resonance for me; I know that not so long ago, people might have found the idea of five hundred sleepy homosexuals similarly hilarious. But homosexuality can be hidden, and being among gay people is not a visual gag. Passersby who might avert their eyes tactfully from wheelchair users stare at dwarfs. A sighted woman who marries a blind man inspires admiration; an average-size woman who marries a dwarf inspires suspicion that she has a fetish. Dwarfs still appear in freak shows; in dwarf-tossing competitions; and in pornography, where a whole subgenre featuring dwarf sex exploits an objectifying voyeurism. This is testimony to a callousness beyond that shown to almost any other disabled group. Barbara Spiegel, now director of community outreach at LPA, described how her grandmother said, "You're a beautiful girl, but no one's going to marry you. You need to be able to do everything because you're going to be alone." Barbara's stepmother complained about having to be seen on the street with her.
More than 80 percent of people with skeletal dysplasias—the primary dwarfing conditions, the most common among which is achondroplasia, resulting in shortened limbs, a large head, and an average trunk—are born to average parents with no history of dwarfism in their families, either because of de novo mutations or because both parents carry a recessive gene. Other forms of dwarfism include pituitary dwarfism, based on lack of human growth hormone, and psychosocial dwarfism, caused by severe physical abuse.
Parents are still dealing with a legacy of blame assigned to mothers. From medieval times into the eighteenth century, "monstrous births" were said to indicate the unfulfilled desires of lascivious women, whose obscene longings supposedly produced deformity. This theory, called Imaginationism, was hotly debated for hundreds of years. The Princeton historian Marie-Hélène Huet describes how "in the nineteenth century, discoveries in the fields of embryology and heredity provided scientists with new ways of explaining resemblances. But if the mother's imagination was no longer perceived by the medical field to be a factor in resemblances, its role as the shaper of progeny was never totally forgotten." John Mulliken, a pediatric surgeon, writes that every parent wants to know what he or she did to cause the situation. "In most cases, the answer is nothing. But every mother is blamed."
Dwarfism is also often outside the experience of doctors with whom these parents initially interact, and parents frequently recall being told of the condition with particular insensitivity. Adelson recounts one doctor's pronouncement to the parents of a newly diagnosed child—"You have given birth to a circus dwarf"—and another's equally heartless recommendation that a child he had diagnosed should "be institutionalized or sent to live with a dwarf troupe in Florida." One mother reported that most doctors acted as though her daughter were defective and therefore didn't deserve to be treated like a "real" baby. Another described being in the delivery room with her dwarf husband when the doctor said to them both, "I regret to tell you that your child is a dwarf."
Such behavior from a doctor is not merely a breach of etiquette; the way the news of a dwarfing condition is communicated to parents may have a lasting effect on their ability to love and care for their child. Mothers and fathers are helped by knowing right away that the child will have a full life span, that they did not cause the dwarfism through acts during pregnancy, and that their child can lead a happy, healthy, and independent life. Parents, in turn, influence friends and family; embarrassed parents create awkward friends. In addition to LPA, organizations such as the MAGIC Foundation and the Human Growth Foundation have fact-filled websites and sponsor both online chat rooms and local support groups, providing average-size parents of dwarf children opportunities to meet dwarfs who are living positive, fulfilling lives.
Nonetheless, many parents begin in sadness, denial, and shock. One dwarf, Ginny Sargent, wrote online, "No matter what we (as dwarfs) feel about how great it is to be alive, I still can't help but wonder how much more pain (more than I) my mother was in when I was in discomfort . . . upset, hurt, or disheartened and beaten down by my uniqueness."
Matt Roloff, former president of LPA and father on the popular television program Little People, Big World, said, "My parents didn't wonder what I would like to do, what kind of woman I'd marry, or how many children I would have. They wondered what I could do for a living, if I could ever marry, and if I could have children." He is now married to Amy, also a dwarf, and they have four children. Little People, Big World, which ran for almost four years on the Learning Channel, documented the Roloffs' lives on their farm in Portland, Oregon. The show is somewhat voyeuristic but fairly clear of sensationalism, and it has helped to normalize perceptions of LPs.
Amy Roloff grew up in a household in which few accommodations were made for her. Friends who came to visit wondered why the phone was positioned where she needed to climb on a stool to reach it. "My mom said, 'If Amy has to learn to adapt outside of the home, she might as well feel comfortable and learn to adapt within the home.' Nothing was really tailored to my needs, and that was a good idea, 'cause I'm more independent." The Roloffs have three average-height sons and one, Zach, with achondroplasia. Amy didn't want to set up a house that suited the LPs in the family and felt foreign to the average kids, so she kept things "regular." She encouraged Zach to be both proud of and nonchalant about his dwarfism. "He said one day, 'Mom, we were playing and the kids were a little too rough.' I said, 'Zach, why don't you be a little grateful that, perhaps, this was a moment where they don't even think of you as a little person; they're just hanging out and goofing around with you? That's a good thing.'"
This equalizing spirit is extended to all of her children. Jeremy is the eldest and the tallest. "I have to remind Matt that we can't take advantage of Jeremy because he's tall. I don't want him to think that he's only good in the family 'cause he's tall." But even the New York Times, commenting on her children as they appear on TV, described Jeremy as "a gorgeous young athlete who manages the soccer ball with lazy grace," and his brother Zachary as having "a clever and intense persona." There's nothing wrong with a clever and intense persona, but it's interesting what different vocabulary comes up when the writer is describing, with kind intent, someone with a body that is not beautiful within the conventions of our larger society.
• • •
Lisa Hedley hosts her own radio program on NPR and is chief executive of a group of spas. She used to be a ballerina and comes from a prominent New York family; she lives between the city and Connecticut. The film she produced and directed for HBO, Dwarfs: Not a Fairy Tale, is joyous, yet clear-eyed about the difficulties faced by the people whose lives it chronicles. Lisa did not have the wisdom of that film when her daughter, Rose, who has achondroplasia, was born. While Lisa was in the hospital after Rose's birth, "they gave me a little pamphlet called 'My Child Is a Dwarf' and some other materials that showed a photograph of a toothless man cleaning the street, and another photo of dwarfs tending sheep," she recalled. Lisa decided she would do whatever she could to keep Rose from such conceptions of dwarfism.
When Rose was two, Lisa wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine, in which she said, "With one word my husband and I became unwitting members of a community whose bonds are not only the natural elations and tribulations of parenthood but also deeply confusing sorrow—a new understanding of random events, a skewed sense of reality. It never occurred to me, not even in my wildest disaster scenarios, that I would have a child different enough to elicit stares and change the way I think about a trip to the store or a walk on the beach. Early on I learned that the way other people react to a child of difference becomes integral to your experience of the world. Perhaps the most important thing about people's reactions is that they take their cues from me: if I'm cheerful and positive, people are delighted to point out all of my daughter's special qualities—bright eyes, charming smile."
When Rose turned four and developed self-awareness about her condition, Lisa sent her to a child psychologist so she could have a relationship in place if she ran into bumps and challenges as she engaged with the world. "Rose went one day a week after school," Lisa said. "But she hated it from minute one. She didn't want to talk about herself. She was almost vicious about it. I realized that we were medicalizing her condition, turning it into something that required treatment, when, in fact, she doesn't require treatment at all."
Lisa has had to balance her relationship with Rose against her relationship with her other three children, two of them older than Rose and one younger. "I'm particularly sensitive to her needs. I neuroticize them," Lisa said. "Her school did a concert at Carnegie Hall, and she walks out with that funny dwarf gait, going to her seat. I look at my husband, like, 'Did we forget she's a dwarf?' I tend to be shocked all over again and very sad in such situations." Lisa feels it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise, to herself or to Rose or to the world. "I adore Rose and I can't imagine life without Rose. I wouldn't trade her for the world. But I'm very tall; I'm thin; I was a ballet dancer. I imagined those experiences for her. When you have a child who can't share those things, you mourn the loss of an imagined life. On the other hand, I have an almost violently passionate feeling of who she is."
Rose refuses to give audience to self-pity. "She's very heroic about it, very strong," Lisa said. "But her battle is so relentless. I'm a private person and I don't like it. It's like being a celebrity when you didn't mean to be. We walk down the street and people go, 'Hi, Rose.' She's always trying to escape it, and she never can."
Rose has not identified with other little people, so the family has not been involved in LPA. It's always difficult to know how much such decisions create an attitude and how much they reflect it. "Support groups and conferences: is this something our family would do under normal circumstances, join any group, go to any organization?" Lisa said. "The answer is decidedly not. I asked Rose, 'Do you think it would be better if you knew some other little people?' She said, 'No, I want to live here in the life I have. I have plenty of friends. I know who I am.'" Lisa has a friend with a short-statured daughter a year younger than Rose. The family is very involved with LPA and returns from conferences with pictures of "really cute teenage little people," but Rose shows no interest. "The underlying question is to what extent we are fostering denial," Lisa said.
There is a cliché that dwarfs are often "feisty" (a particularly noxious word), and myriad articles run under headlines such as "Little Person, Big Personality." Some of this is just patronizing. Some of it, however, reflects the personality consequences of living as an object of near-universal curiosity. "None of my other children is as tough as she is, nor is my husband, nor am I," Lisa said. "Rose is very angry. It comes from just having to deal with it all the time."
The family arranged life around Rose more than she realized. They had an opportunity to move to London but stayed in the United States because they didn't want to unsettle her. Rose is a serious athlete, and her passion is riding. "I would never have chosen that for her," Lisa said with pride. "But my oldest son was a very good horseman, nationally ranked, and she saw that glory. She can tolerate going out into a ring, in front of a judge. She's competing against average-stature kids, all these cute little girls with pigtails and long, lanky legs, and she still wins awards. She sits up straight and proud. People keep saying, 'Isn't that amazing?' She doesn't want to be amazing because she's a dwarf. What she wants is to be judged like the others."
Lisa has been called on frequently to be a mentor and has convinced many women to keep their pregnancies after learning they were carrying a dwarf. She has also recommended adoption; she described meeting a family who simply couldn't deal with the prospect of having a disabled child. "Their older daughter was a cheerleader, and they thought she would be devastated because her 'sister would be such a freak'; those were the words the mother used. She ended up giving the baby away. Her new baby was never going to be a cheerleader in Westchester, so she couldn't love her." Another family she met with already had a dwarf child. "That family was economically and demographically very close to us," Lisa said. "So I thought, 'This is perfect: the girls can grow up together.'" She was shocked when the parents decided to give their daughter limb-lengthening, a controversial procedure that involves repeatedly breaking bones and stretching muscles. "It was a tough lesson, that just because their daughter is little doesn't mean we're going to have anything in common spiritually or emotionally. Five years in and out of wheelchairs. Limb-lengthening really frightens me for medical reasons, and even more because kids are busy forming their identity and who they are at that age. How do people become their best self? Not by constantly trying to change details."
Lisa said that, in spite of all her questioning, what had frightened her at first had, at some level, become unquestioned. "I was at Johns Hopkins Hospital for one of her treatments many years ago. I was carrying her on the elevator. This other mother got in with her child, who was drooling and had, clearly, a very profound case of Down syndrome. I was looking at her with total pity, like, 'Oh, I can deal with mine, but I would not know what to do with yours.' And that was exactly how she was looking at me."
• • •
Parents can establish a relationship with dwarfism as an identity: travel to dwarf conferences, involve dwarfs in their child's life, put light switches where they are easily reached by a person of short stature, and refit the kitchen to make it convenient for a little person to cook there. There is a danger, however, that a child who grows up with short stature as a primary identity may feel trapped in a context he never chose. Even if he does not, he will have to face the identity's inherent limitation. You can elect to associate primarily with people who share your religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political convictions, recreational preferences, or socioeconomic status, but there just aren't enough dwarfs to make an all-dwarf life feasible.
Parents may prefer to mainstream completely: to persuade their child that being short is not so different from being tall, to encourage him to make friends with other children without regard to height, to say that the tall world is the real world and he will just have to get used to it. But it can be a strain to be told constantly that you don't really have a disability. Barbara Spiegel described how she would ask her father to hand her a glass from the cabinet. Her mother would say, "You're quite capable of getting it yourself," and would insist that Barbara drag a stepladder across the room rather than have the glass handed to her. "Sometimes it was a little extreme," she said. The idea of being just like everyone else, only shorter, is normalizing, but social context does not always support that normalization, and avoidance of the LP world can come at the cost of considerable isolation. Life often gets tough in middle school and high school; few teenagers of average height will date someone who is three foot six. "Most of the people I found attractive, guy-wise, were exceptionally tall," Barbara said. "I really didn't picture myself with an LP. I never imagined that I would marry one—no, two!—LPs."
What is right for one dwarf and family may not be right for another dwarf and family, and most families combine elements of various approaches—providing some access to the LP world, making an attempt to put their child at ease in the non-LP world, and availing themselves of medical treatments that respond to their child's specific needs and desires. The exact nature of the balance differs from household to household. Research indicates that short-statured people generally outscore their parents on measures of overall contentedness, which is to say that parenting a dwarf seems to be emotionally harder than being a dwarf. Another study found that people with achondroplasia were four times as likely as relatives to view their condition as "not serious," as opposed to "serious" or "lethal." One's own identity, replete with problems though it may be, usually looks more tenable than someone else's identity. Of course disparities of income and education are factors, and it is obviously more of a challenge to support a short-statured child with intellectual handicaps or severe skeletal and health problems than it is to deal with someone who is, in effect, just little. It is interesting to note that those close relatives of dwarfs who perceived the dwarfism as more burdensome for the affected individual were likely themsel
Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
Far From the Tree
Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
All parenting turns on a crucial question: to what extent should parents accept their children for who they are, and to what extent they should help them become their best selves. Drawing on ten years of research and interviews with more than three hundred families, Solomon mines the eloquence of ordinary people facing extreme challenges.
Elegantly reported by a spectacularly original and compassionate thinker, Far from the Tree explores how people who love each other must struggle to accept each other—a theme in every family's life.
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Andrew Solomon discusses his audiobook FAR FROM THE TREE
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Winner of a 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award, Andrew Solomon's Far from the Tree tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children but also find profound meaning in doing so. He writes about families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, multiple severe disabilities, with children who are prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially isolating, the experience of difference within families is universal, and Solomon documents triumphs of love over prejudice in every chapter. Life for the parents in this book turns on a crucial question: to what extent should they accept their children as they are, and to what extent should they help them become their best selves? When, then, is their child's condition an illness to be cured, and when is it an identity to be celebrated?
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My mother has a saying about being a parent: whatever you are, your kid will be the opposite. And it's true. Every one of us feels profoundly different from our parents at some point, and every parent has wondered how their child could be so...


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A group of investors, including the U2 frontman, bought a minority stake in the financial publishing company. An investor partner says Bono ?drove this part of the discussion and likes the fact that there has been a consistent philosophy throughout its history.?
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|Sticky Fingers
|HS 4c
|23m. Start 15ft down and L of Indoor Games below the undercut base. From the LH end of the thorn bushes make an awkward layback move to overcome the undercut. Climb up more easily to finish up a faint track just R of a protruding boulder (requires care)
Alan Hill, solo 24/Apr/1987
Submit a new photo of this climb.


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Local Resources
Medical Assistance:
If you become sick or hurt, the Embassy can provide you with a list of local doctors (PDF 70 KB), dentists, and medical specialists. If you are injured or become seriously ill, at your request we can inform your family or friends. Please note that the U.S. Embassy assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or reputation of the persons or medical facilities whose names appear on the list.
Legal Assistance:
When in Jordan, please note that U.S. citizens are subject to Jordanian jurisdiction and to applicable Jordanian laws and regulations. Travelers to Jordan are actively encouraged to familiarize themselves with applicable laws, regulations, customs and norms. The Jordanian legal system is different from the legal system in the United States and may be unfamiliar to U.S. citizens in Jordan. The Embassy has a short guide to the Jordanian legal system; you may print that guide here: Jordanian Legal System.
View information on legal assistance in the United States.
The U.S. Embassy is committed to providing the full range of American Citizen Services to all U.S. citizens present in Jordan. U.S. citizens who are dual nationals, however, should realize that holding Jordanian nationality may complicate legal matters. Please see our information on Dual Nationality (PDF 14 KB). The Embassy maintains a list of local attorneys who are familiar with Jordanian law. You may also print that list here: List of Attorneys (PDF 269 KB).
The U.S. Embassy assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or reputation of the persons whose names appear on the list.
Assistance in Obtaining Funds:
If you need financial assistance while in Jordan, we can help you to contact your family, friends, bank, or employer to arrange for them to send money to you through a variety of available commercial or transfer channels. The U.S. Embassy does not provide financial assistance to U.S. citizens unless the individual's circumstances necessitate an immediate intervention.
Assistance in Cases of Arrest of an American Citizen:
The U.S. Embassy cannot get you released from jail; Jordan is a sovereign country and all persons in Jordan are subject to Jordanian laws. However, the ACS section can work to protect your legitimate interests and to ensure that you are not discriminated against. We can provide a list of local attorneys (PDF 269 KB), visit you, and contact your family and friends on your behalf. You may also find our information regarding Dual Nationality (PDF 14 KB) and the Jordanian Legal System (PDF 18 KB). Visitation rights by the Embassy to U.S. citizens are subject to local laws and notification procedures. It usually takes at least one week before the Embassy receives permission to visit detained U.S. citizens.
Fingerprinting Services:
The Embassy does not provide fingerprinting or background check services, however, we can point you in the right direction. You will need to go to the Forensic Labs of the Public Security Department (PSD), located at Prince Hashim Ben Al Hussein Street in Al-Yasmin, Amman. Their phone number is +962 6 429 3150. They will take your fingerprints there and certify the card.
Upon completion you will need to take the card to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office located at First Circle. An official there will verify the credentials of the Forensic Lab Department, and add his own stamp and signature to the fingerprint card.
Finally, bring the fully executed fingerprint card to the Embassy and we will certify the signature of the Jordanian government official. Please note that you will need an appointment for a notarial service. You can then mail your completed and notarized fingerprint card to the U.S. for your background check.
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Generate beautiful and custom buttons for your bootstrap framework based website
Bootstrapbuttongenerator.com is a web based program for bootstrap websites button generator fully functional automatic button generator, Cinematic generated button object-oriented thinking and design based on three-tier architecture that combines classic color ideas and design patterns, into the adjustment pattern, reflection, and so some thought. Mainly implemented in the corresponding making website in the base class button automatically generated, including generating Code, add, modify, delete, query, existence, Model class constructor Bootstrap Button Generator snippets and other infrastructure to support the different three kinds of architectures button generation, so that programmers can save a lot of time and mechanical entry duplication, but will concentrate on the core business logic development. Cinematic while providing convenient database management functions and a number of other development work aids used to function, you can easily project development. Allows developers easy and fun!
Bootstrap button generator is a powerful website button graphics design tool, you can use it to create and edit button, vector graphics, and you can very easily make a variety of button design effects, color selections sizing etc., the design is complete Later, if you want to use in web design, you can copy codes of your created buttons.
Bootstrap button generator provide professional Bootstrap frame work Buttons design and production program. Through it, you can edit Colors size and content what you want to display on your generated button, supports bitmap and vector graphics. At the same time it Dreamweaver, flash website can achieve seamless connectivity with other graphics programs each HTML editor can work closely with and provide support for the integration of Bootstrap framework users to design
If you have design or you have buy a theme of bootstrap framework and everything is related to you requirement then why should you compromised on button styles, Button Colors, and Button Sizes do not compromised with it because buttons are most important part of website here you can generate beautiful Custom sizes Buttons as per your required sizes, colors or content what you want to write on it. All of these features make Bootstrap button generator is a powerful website for website Button generator.
The site is good, pages have small. In the case where the content is not reduced, when the web can be made as small as possible. And when the page is downsizing the most effective way to reduce the size of the Button.
However, the traditional cutting plans work is very complicated, many designers are using Photoshop class piece of software will figure it well, and then saved as a different color depth gif button generator, although you can use the auto-execute command action like the set, However, the actual amount of work is still very impressive, and very easy to cut the wrong size. Now with the Bootstrap button generator can be very easy to generate the button.
Produced by Bootstrap frame works 3 animated a total of three methods, from simple too difficult to line up are: the formation of the combined button generator animation, using the Button generated and hand-drawn animation. The combined button generator-forming animation, as the name suggests is to generate a series of buttons arranged sequentially formed different frame animation (much like the Director of function), but this arrangement is entirely performed automatically, eliminating a lot of manual operations . Specific method is like this (of course, the premise of using this method is to have a series of consecutive buttons): Select "File> Open Multiple" command. Directory into the family picture is located, and then a series of buttons in sequence will be added (" Add "command) the lower left part of the dialog window, and activate" Open as Animation "option, then press the" Done "button on OK. After the animation is generated, press, you will see the original series of buttons are sequentially to down the row in the end from Frame1. Press the play button on the bottom right of the screen you can browse the animation effects. This pure lazy way most appropriate to the lines I do not draw people, once there is only 10 seconds to get a small bird Feiffer buttons, the effect is great!
However, if there is no ready-made continuous buttons at hand, it can only Excuse me, personally hands. Many buttons have rules if dynamic effects produced by hand, a time-consuming it may not be able to achieve the desired results. So Bootstrap frameworks v2 offers a Tween feature, allowing users to specify the program to generate dynamic transition effects (feeling more flash in the same). Before rendering animation, animation work must be clear beforehand principle. Animation is the same object (object), and becomes an object composed of two parts. Usually the same material as the object is only the background or the like is always displayed in the animation, and becomes an object refers to the formation of by changing the animated object. So before making the same animating objects must first provide a concept (a shared layer for this Fire-Works2 Share Layer). We all know that animation is composed of a different frame (Frame) composed and shared layer is a layer in all frames are displayed, so we only constant thing in the whole movie in this layer, after only need to modify the shared layer contents of a frame can make all the frames have reached the appropriate changes, greatly reducing the workload. Set up a shared layer command is Layer panel pop-up menu in the "Share Layer" command is set to share the layer in the Layer panel has a specific shared symbol (Web Layer is shared layer system automatically set for placing hot, the cutting zone). In the completion of the same object (object) function can be used after Tween animation effects. Tween principle function is to object (Object) into the symbol (symbol), and then determine the initial symbol and end sample (instance), and then convert these samples have excessive effect of successive frames (frame). Tween function supports object displacement, rotation, scaling, distortion, as well as transparency and layers over effects (effect) of. Here I give you an example: through ten frames let my name "Ark" from the upper left corner of the button generator to move to the lower right corner while gradually become darker.
Use the free web button generator (type), type in the upper left corner of the online button generator of font, size, arbitrary. Select command to display the Object panel, transparency will be the object of Object panel is set to 20. Copy this symbol to the lower right corner of the button generator (do not tell me you do not know how to copy! Tell you the easiest way is to drag the object later press the Alt key). And will be the object of the Object panel transparency set to 100. At this point has become a symbol sample (instance) Finally, a method of free online button generator, this is a tiring activity, but also to web button generator, you must be familiar with a variety of drawing tools application toolbar. So, I am going to have to introduce you to a variety of drawing tools to use in a later article. And here to tell you that Bootstrap frame works2 the new onion skin feature paving the way for future articles.
Website button design feature as my friends painted animation with semi- transparent paper, like allowing users to edit the current frame at the same time you can see the previous or next frame content. So that when the hand-drawn animation can easily determine the pattern path. You can find the onion skin feature in the Layer panel where the options are: Multi-time Editing allows users to edit the contents of self-online generated button through the Bootstrap button generator empty useless to say, in order to give you an emotional understanding, I suggest you open an animated GIF file, and then try the onion skin feature in the Layer panel, and will be able to Specifically feel Bootstrap frame works convenience.


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- Images
This collection contains 36 Stock Vector files. Laurel wreaths have been a well known symbol of victory and glory throughout history. A versatile collection of 36 vector wreaths. Combo these up with your own typography, logo, or crests to create your own unique designs.
Once this item has been added to your cart, you can add any of our affordable Extended Licenses that allow for creating Items for Resale, Electronic Items for Resale, Multi-Seat Usage and Unlimited Print Runs.This product is a vector EPS. We suggest using vector editing software such as Adobe Illustrator, Freehand or CorelDRAW. Adobe Photoshop can open EPS files, but it limits your editing abilities.


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In response to dannycater's comment:
I wonder how Bench, Morgan think now?
hopefully they are honest with themselves
and recall how their teammates and most likely themselves
drank the Gatorade marked 'high test 'with the greenies in it
Rose should go in and he should be reinstated and when he got his 4,000 hits and broke the record for all-time hits, he did so as a clean player.
do you really think he didn't use amphetamines
why do so many say he only bet to win ( not that is matters all that much)
the story goes he made a deal with MLB
well if he got a lifetime ban after making a deal
just what did he get out of the deal ?
keeping the fact that he did bet against his team quiet ?


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The Best Free Trials for VPS Hosting Plans.
If your website traffic is starting to outgrow the capabilities of a shared server, or you simply want more control/security over your website(s), a VPS plan is one of the best ways to start off. Unlike a dedicated server where you get a fixed amount of storage and RAM, with a VPS you can actually adjust these factors to your particular needs. This way you don't overpay for a dedicated server. There are other benefits to VPS, but they are too numerous to get in to here.
The following is a list of the best VPS hosting companies that offer a free trial with their services. We will highlight the benefits of each host, as well as give you any available coupon codes for their VPS plans.
Free Trial Details:
- Trial Period Length: 30 days
- Type of OS: Debian Linux
- Starter VPS plan: $15/month
- RAM in Starter Plan: 300 MB
Dreamhost is unique in that the California-based company offers 100% uptime guarantee. Dreamhost technicians are also on record saying that their VPS services are better than dedicated, because the VPS network is better able to handle sudden surges in traffic (if, say, one of your posts go viral). They also have 24/7 technical support.
The Fine Print on Dreamhost's Free Trial:
The 30 day free trial is free as long as you don't go over 100 GB of storage or 100GB of transfer-out bandwidth. While having a website that goes over these limits would be incredibly rare, you should be aware of these limits. The only time you would be in danger is if your website content is media-rich (i.e. lots of streaming videos and hi-res photos) and has huge amounts of traffic.
You can read the full terms and conditions here.
Click here for Dreamhost Coupon Codes.
Free Trial Details:
- Trial Period Length: 45 days
- Type of OS: CentOS Linux
- Starter VPS plan: $19.95/month
- RAM in Starter Plan: 384 MB
Hostgator's VPS plans have a slider where you can choose the right level of RAM, CPU, and support for your VPS. While the cheapest VPS plan is only $19.95/month, you only get cPanel (an interface that allows you to easily control your VPS) at Level 3, which at regular price is $49.95. That's still a good deal for a VPS plan, and it comes with 768MB of RAM and 500GB of bandwidth.
The Fine Print on Hostgator's Free Trial:
The 45 day money back guarantee only applies to new customers. The guarantee doesn't cover domain name registrations.
Click here to view Hostgator's VPS plans.
Click here to view Hostgator VPS Coupon Codes.
Free Trial Details:
- Trial Period Length: 30 days
- Type of OS: CentOS Linux
- Starter VPS plan: $29.99/month
- RAM in Starter Plan: 2 GB
Bluehost only started offering VPS plans in the spring of 2013. Bluehost has a great reputation as an accessible, friendly company that's great to do business with. The new state of the art VPS network they built has been getting rave reviews. Bluehost's VPS network has been built with cloud technology to ensure more stability across the whole network. It also has an enhanced cPanel with extra features you won't find elsewhere. The best part of Bluehost's VPS plans is the RAM: 2 GB in the starter plan is the largest I've seen.
The Fine Print on Bluehost's VPS Free Trial:
The 30 day money back guarantee only applies to new customers. All new Bluehost plans come with a free domain name, but if you choose to cancel your hosting plan, you'll be charged $14.99 for the domain name.
Click here to view Bluehost's VPS plans.
Also: Click here to see Bluehost Coupons


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Seminar Report
Working Principal of Steam jet refrigeration system
Submitted by
Amit Prakash
Roll No-1126004
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Patna
Patna-800005, Bihar (India)
Candidate Declaration
This is to certify that seminar report entitled Working principle of Steam jet refrigeration system has been prepared by me under the supervision of Dr. Amarnath Sinha Professor of Mechanical Engg. Department N.I.T, Patna has not been submitted by me elsewhere for award of any degree
Amit Prakash
Student of second semester
M.Tech (Mechanical Engg.)
N.I.T., Patna
Steam jet ejector
Advantage and Disadvantage
Recent Development in Steam jet refrigeration system
In steam jet refrigeration systems, water can be used as the refrigerant. Like air, it is perfectly safe. These systems were applied successfully to refrigeration in the early years of this century. At low temperatures the saturation pressures are low (0.008129 bar at 4°C) and the specific volumes are high (157.3 m3/kg at 4°C). The temperatures that can be attained using water as a refrigerant are not low enough for most refrigeration applications but are in the range which may satisfy air conditioning, cooling, or chilling requirements. Also, these systems are used in some chemical industries for several processes, e.g. the removal of paraffin wax from lubricating oils. Note that steam jet refrigeration systems are not used when temperatures below 5°C are required. The main advantages of this system are the...


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Insurance Leads Generation Discussions
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Quality leads are the foundation of any successful insurance business regardless of its size. No insurance agent can afford to be without them. If you are to be successful in the insurance industry, you need a constant flow of fresh quality insurance agent leads that you can convert into customers.
Resourcefulness and creativity in your leads generation system are needed for you to have a continuous flow of prospective customers. There will be time when you will need to outsource your leads generation and buy leads from a third-party service provider.
Quality Lead Purchases – Buying leads is unarguably the fastest way to fill your desk with leads. It entails no advertising or marketing effort from your part, as is the case if you generate leads on your own. You just sit back, receive the leads, and do what you do best: sell!
Boost your sales – If you decide to use purchased leads you wouldn't find it hard to track the returns of your investment. It's a turnkey solution that you can plug and play to your existing business model, and still conduct your business without missing a beat. Insurance agent leads can boost your sales by as much as 40 percent. They have proven ROIs that is just too good to ignore.
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Racetrac Swirl World Yogurt Bar Review, Acworth GA
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When most of us think of a sweet treat, we think of going to grab a Blizzard at Dairy Queen, a cone at Baskin Robbins, or maybe a carton of Ben & Jerry's, depending on the occasion that calls for the treat at hand. Perhaps Ben & Jerry know how to help you through a break-up, but Dairy Queen knows how to help you celebrate your kid's victory in his basketball game. But there is an unlikely new player on the field of dairy products: Racetrac.
That's right: Racetrac. The gas station. At their new prototype location on Glade Road in Acworth, Racetrac has incorporated, in addition to their café and breakfast and lunch items, a yogurt bar. Now, after you fill up your gas tank, you can fill up your belly with a creamy treat. Dubbed Swirl World, Racetrac's yogurt bar is as tantalizing as it is seemingly out of place. In fact, I swear I hear it call out for me at night as I lay in bed, trying to sleep. I was originally skeptical, and came in only because I had a coupon for free yogurt. My mind was quickly changed. Instantly, in fact.
As soon as that red velvet cake ice cream touched my tongue, I was a believer. And then I discovered the birthday cake ice cream. And then the swirl; a tasty amalgamation of both cake-based flavors rolled into one. The cake swirl is by far my favorite, but they are all delicious. Not only is the flavor astounding, but the texture of the frozen yogurt is noteworthy as well.
When I hear the term "frozen yogurt", I'm often reminded of sherbet, and of an almost crunchy, icy texture. But this frozen yogurt at Swirl World, my friend, is much smoother, like ice cream. Swirl World's yogurt is a chilly, velvet burst of flavor on your tongue. Their topping station offers 38 toppings, varying from Twizzlers to animal crackers, and they offer ten flavors of their signature frozen yogurt: French vanilla, double chocolate, Reese's, dulce de leche, cookies 'n cream, red velvet cake, celebration cake, blueberry acai tart, mango tango sorbet, and coffee. You can also combine several different combinations into a swirl, getting the best of both worlds if it comes down to a tiebreaker decision.
In addition to Swirl World and its creamy and flavorful delights, the Racetrac in which it's housed is worth noting. The employees greet you with a smile and willingness to help found in few other places. The windows are spotless. The brand new marble floors sparkle. It is an impressive business, and it feels like much more than a gas station. It feels like a store. It feels like an ice cream shop. It feels like a café. I think this was what Racetrac was going for in this prototype store, and I think they accomplished their mission with perfection. Their many different blends of coffee are a fine compliment to the frozen yogurt, especially to the original vanilla flavor. Or if you don't feel like drinking coffee, but could go for the flavor, you could always try their coffee flavored frozen yogurt!
Dairy Queen, step aside. There may be a new candidate aspiring to the throne of the dairy kingdom. Can Swirl World be crowned king? Time will tell. But with their high quality products and café-style environment, and with their variety of individual flavors and seemingly infinite number of combinations of them, I think I can safely assert that Swirl World will soon ascend to the throne and reign as supreme monarch of ice cream and related goodies.
This review is written by Chris Cannon, Contributing Writer


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Police: Peace Pipe Stolen From Statue In Lehigh County Park
September 7, 2012 11:37 AM
EMMAUS, Pa. (AP) — State police are trying to figure out who pilfered a peace pipe from a statue in a Pennsylvania park.
Authorities aren't sure when the wooden pipe was taken from the life-size carving of an American Indian in Jasper Park in Upper Milford Township, Lehigh County. But it must have disappeared sometime after Aug. 1.
The statue is a tribute to the Lenape tribe that had lived in the area and mined for jasper on what is now the grounds of the park. The Morning Call of Allentown reports the statue was dedicated in 1992.
State police in Fogelsville are investigating.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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