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Wall Decors and Clocks Fundamentals Explained
During this period, lamps designed for the wall started to work as a and commemorative product, together with employed for maintaining moment. The myriad of unique clocks is down in a sizable level to technological changes. There are always a lot of distinct wall clocks accessible from which to choose why don't you present it a go.
The Pain of Wall Decors and Clocks
Basically from the fundamental wall lamps located on the comforts of your dwelling, there are many clocks you could select from, ideal for indoor use. Several lamps contain temperature screen also alongside time and day. Due to clock 's value, there are many of different sorts of clocks in the marketplace today.
Home clocks today can also be elements of graphics. They come in every conceivable shape and size. While in the same way as another items, interior decor clocks can be purchased in assorted styles, patterns, forms, and colors and undoubtedly technology.
Lamps may likewise be found on numerous tools and tools. These lamps arrive in various makes and shapes. They're incredibly stylish and scream course. Of both broad types of wall lamps, you're able to choose the one which convinces you probably the most. The bigger wall lamps have various measurements, but usually change from no more than 10 and up to 40 inches or more. There are various wall lamps accessible to accommodate every taste and manner.
Wall clocks may put in a little school for your house for you personally together with somewhat of fun on your son or daughter. The initial indicate determine when purchasing a wall time could be the size you would like to have. Today, modern wall clocks are employed not only for period except to present your rooms a popular look. Well, some women and men discover that hanging wall lamps inside the appropriate place can be quite as hard.
The Start of Wall Decors and Clocks
Wall clocks go nicely with clear walls. Wall clocks of unique sizes and types could quickly be found online. They'd often be part of every house is decoration. Whatever layout topic that you have, you will discover a wall time that is right for your character and decor.
Lamps could be fixed anywhere within the house and they'll try place with its surroundings. One-of-a-kind and personalized clocks create a superb present for many ages. In reality, several wall clocks are created to be an alternate to wall art. The huge wall lamps may be the emphasis of the room. Acquiring it may not be easier, whether you'll need a popular wooden or steel end, or perhaps a contemporary, smart glass time which may go nicely in a modern furnished home. There are many reasons I've begun utilizing the inexpensive big wall clock.
Wall Decors and Clocks Options
Lamps are equally enjoyable and educational. These clocks have the ability for you yourself to express your nature and luxury in your house. These lamps have variable power choices and a few of these have stationary display free from flickering that is mild in your eyes along with delivering the huge display items. They appear to fill your home with love and laughter. An enormous time may take within the overall wall without support. In the place of having various smaller wall decorations, a person huge clock can perform just fine for you. Even though you-can't find exactly the related huge wall clock to use, you almost certainly can come rather near the fashion, and use the suggestions to receive the exact same try your own property.
Clocks are a significant portion our culture and history. Just how do you determine which time to select from so many one-of-a-kind and decorative clocks. Furthermore, there are the analog clocks. You can also become new German lamps that seem much like older parts.
Clocks have existed for a large number of years. Today, these lamps are offered in huge selection of charges. Today, you'll locate a wide selection of expensive clocks that can come in a variety of forms, colours, habits, measurements and designs.
Typically, wall clocks are intended for family room. The wall clock is really a substantial part of the typical design, permitting you to conclude that look. Traditional wall clock consists of sturdy components such as lumber and stone which means you may assure its durability. Frequently, oversized wall lamps will cost at the least $100. A massive wall clock may generate a positive change within your decorating. It may be very versatile and will come in a variety of types too. For instance, having a sizable wall clock in classic or contemporary fashion will do to ascertain style of your dwelling.
In regards to wall design, few people consider wall clocks. Once completed, you're currently willing to display them as wall decors. Wrought iron wall decoration are available in most possible budget and manner.


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ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - ArmsUp Motorsports had an eventful month of July, running in three different disciplines of motorsports over three weekends.
Kicking off the three week stint, Walther Vollrath made his race debut in his beautifully-restored 1978 Lola 497 C-Sports Racer at the prestigious
Kohler International Challenge vintage race. Returning to Road America one week later, Revere Greist led a five-car ArmsUp armada to a third-place
result in the SCCA Club Racing Cathouse National. After a year absence, ArmsUp Motorsports returned to the Pro Racing scene; scoring a podium finish
with Revere Greist in the F2000 Championship Series. The result was a continuation of the success ArmsUp Motorsports has achieved every time it has
stepped up to the pro level.
Walter Vollrath's vintage racing debut could not have gone smoother. After a two-year restoration, the Elkhart Lake resident's 1978 Lola T497 ran the entire weekend without a problem. Vollrath, who has logged several miles around the Road America track, had not sat in the car until opening practice of the Kohler International Challenge. Gaining knowledge with the car each time on the track, Vollrath drove to a fifth-place finish in the 70's sports racer category at the prestigious KIC.
"This was a great event for our team," Gregg Borland said after the Kohler International Challenge. "It was great for Walter's Lola to run so well straight out of the box. That is going to be a fun car to work with for the rest of the season. We can only get quicker with the car as Walter gets more comfortable."
After visiting the past, ArmsUp Motorsports returned to the Road America circuit for the SCCA Cat National with four Formula Continentals and one Formula Atlantic. Revere Greist once again led the Formula Continental charge with a third-place finish after a race-long battle for the second spot. Kirk Kindsfater, who had been fighting the stomach flu most of the weekend, drove to a well-deserved fourth-place finish. John Greist claimed a seventh-place finish after an electrical gremlin restricted his pace during the qualifying session. John Dickmann was forced wide in the Carousel early in the FC race but was able to recover to bring home an eleventh-place result in the number 60 EVScorvette.com car.
Jose Paredes bounced back from a difficult June Sprints weekend to score a podium finish in the Formula Atlantic category. After qualifying fifth, Paredes was able to move up to the third position in his ArmsUp-prepared Swift .014.
"This was a solid Cat National for us." Borland said from the team's hospitality unit. "Our SCCA Club effort continues to make progress. Revere did a great job and keeps getting better in the Van Diemen. Kirk, John Greist and John Dickmann all had to overcome different difficulties this weekend and did so really well, I'm proud of all of them for dealing well with the adversity."
Just one week after the Cathouse National, ArmsUp Motorsports once again returned to the 14-turn Road America track, this time for the F2000 Championship Series Presented by Hoosier Racing Tires. Revere and John Greist would be joined by ArmsUp newcomer Rick Balsley for the team's return to pro racing. The double-final event would have its share of ups-and-downs as the team fought rear upright problems, resulting in the lost of valuable test time. Race one was an abbreviated affair as caution periods in the timed race allowed merely two laps of green flag running. Even with the lack of green conditions, Revere Greist was able to move up 16 positions from his 27th starting spot to eleventh. John Greist and Balsley were also able to capitalize on the yellows with each driver moving up from their starting spots to finish 17th and 24th respectively in the 40-car field.
Race two would show the true form of the ArmsUp cars with the younger Greist bringing home a third-place result when it was all said and done. Coming from eighth on the grid, Greist battled his way forward to score his first professional podium finish in his second start. Rick Balsley, who had not sat in a Formula Continental car before Thursday's test day continued his steady progress to finish 16th in race number two.
The podium finish for Greist was ArmsUp's third podium-finish in four starts in the F2000 Championship, dating back to Steve Welk's double podium in 2006 with the ArmsUp squad.
"Revere did a great job today and showed what caliber of team we truly have," Borland commented at the end of the F2000 weekend. "We weren't able to test much on the radial Hoosiers, and by the end of the weekend we were running with the best in the series. Our crew worked really hard to overcome the upright problems we were having so my hats off to them. I want thank Rick Balsley for coming out and running, he did a great job and didn't put a wheel wrong all weekend in his debut in these cars."
ArmsUp Motorsports will now take a short break before the team returns to Road America later in the month for more testing at the four-mile circuit.
Formed in 1995, ArmsUp Motorsports is one of the premier SCCA Formula Continental and Formula Atlantic racing teams. Based in Elkhart Lake, Wis ArmsUp Motorsports is a full service prep shop for Formula Continentals, Formula Atlantics, and Vintage racing cars. For more information please visit the official ArmsUp website at www.ArmsUpMotorsports.com.
Walter Vollrath had a trouble free debut with his 1978 Lola 497 C Sports Racer
Revere Greist scored his first professional podium finish with a third place during the F2000 Championship round at RA.
(Photo Courtesy Repcon Media)
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Red Dwarf XI: Interview with co-creator Doug Naylor
'Red Dwarf' went supernova when it touched down on BBC Two in the late 1980s and remains a cult favourite with fans across the cosmos today. Lister, Rimmer, Kryten and The Cat have returned for an eleventh series of sci-fi parody and smeg ups on Dave, and Your Move has taken five with co-creator Doug Naylor to find out more about the new season, the aborted 'Red Dwarf' movie and his time studying in Liverpool.
Interview by Mark Langshaw
'Red Dwarf XI' marks your second full season for Dave following the ninth instalment 'Back to Earth'. How is this series different from the last one?
Both series were obviously made for UKTV but series 11 looks much better. It looks like we had a lot more money for this season, although we didn't. After the success of 'Red Dwarf X' I felt we were able to be more ambitious and the response so far has been terrific.
At the end of the day it's all 'Red Dwarf' so series 11 can't be completely different – there has to be consistency, but I can tell you that the reaction has been incredibly positive with lots of fans praising the production values since the first trailer landed.
A 'Red Dwarf' movie was stuck in development hell after the show's BBC run ended. Were you always confident there would be more 'Dwarf'?
You can't ever be 100% confident in case one of the guys doesn't want to do it or can't do it, but I knew they all wanted to make a film. It took a long time not to get the funding we needed, by which time we probably wasted 10 years. Once we got over that everyone was keen to do more. The biggest difficultly was Craig Charles being in 'Coronation Street' but he's left the soap so that problem has gone away. We just have to make sure Danny John-Jules isn't doing 'Death in Paradise' when we shoot.
> Read more: Craig Charles to perform at Liverpool International Music Festival 2016 (LIMF)
Just how big could the film have been if you'd done it at the right time?
It depends on how much the budget was. We were talking about a very big budget at one point and I was encouraged to rewrite the script to make it more expensive because the bankers who were raising the money didn't think it was worth their while unless it was a lot of money.
If they had raised it, it's hard to say whether it had made all of that money back. But if the budget had remained below £10 million I think it would have been very successful and done similar business to what 'The Inbetweeners' movies have managed.
Are there any elements from the film that you salvaged for the TV show?
There are definitely elements of the movie in series 10, a few bits and bobs. There were 30-odd drafts of the film, cheaper ones and more expensive ones, and in the process of writing and rewriting there were some ideas I managed to salvage. I want to keep the premise of the film under wraps because there's a good chance we could end up doing something in the future.
You and your fellow 'Red Dwarf' co-creator Rob Grant studied psychology at university here in Liverpool. Do you look back on that time fondly?
I don't look back on it fondly as such. I didn't like the course I was doing. I realised quite early on it wasn't for me – I thought it was going to be more about the psychology and less about the statistics, so I didn't go into uni very often.
I decided I wanted to write at that point and was reading a lot of books about how to produce scripts and then, quite rightly, got kicked out at the end of the second year for not doing the work or passing the exams.
I did receive one good piece of advice at uni, though. The professor who was kicking me out sat me down and asked me 'what are you good at? If you think you're not good at anything, you need to get good at something and do that as a job'. So I took that on board and my main interest at that point was writing scripts.
I really liked Liverpool as a city. The people are great, although weirdly when we cast 'Red Dwarf' everyone on TV in a sitcom seemed to be from Liverpool and when Craig Charles emerged as the best person to play Lister in the auditions, I did worry that it was going to look like all these other shows. Of course now, that's not the case at all. It's weird how these things move in cycles.
Is studying psychology what helped you create such convincing neurosis for Rimmer?
Psychology is something Rob and I were interested in and it was kind of disappointing that we didn't really learn much about it at uni. We read books on the subject after the course so I think Rimmer's neuroses stem from an interest in the topic.
"When we cast 'red dwarf' everyone on tv in a sitcom seemed to be from liverpool… I did worry that it was going to look like all these other shows."
You've spoken at length about the breakdown of your partnership with Rob. If he had a dramatic change of heart and wanted to return to 'Red Dwarf' would you be up for working with him again?
That's not for me to say because he was very much the one who wanted to go off and do other things, and he did – he did 'The Strangerers' and 'Dark Ages' as well as his novels. He wanted to work on his own and has certainly never called me and said he wants to write more – I don't think he would want to, but never say never.
How does making 'Red Dwarf' for Dave compare to making it for the BBC? Do you have more creative freedom now?
We've had creative freedom from both UKTV and the BBC. Nobody has ever really interfered but we never really felt a part of the BBC. We were always outsiders while UKTV are absolutely thrilled that we're making it and couldn't do more for us. They couldn't be more enthusiastic.
Where would you have taken 'Red Dwarf' if you'd had the chance to make a ninth series for the BBC?
It would absolutely have gone back to basics after series eight because that season was only a diversion. Rightly or wrongly, we used to throw away the format and that's what we did in series three – it was quite different from two and six was different from five, eight was different to seven and so on.
> Read more: Interview with 'The Five' creator Harlan Coben


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LOS ANGELES, CA — On Monday, Terrence C. Jones, an LAPD police officer, called fellow police officers on himself. During his daily 3:00 p.m. bathroom break, Jones looked up from washing his hands, and the mirror above the sink proved him guilty on an unmistakable crime: existing while black.
"When I was a kid, my parents gave me 'the talk' about racism and police brutality so I could try to protect myself," Jones said. "They told me to how to dress and how to speak, but they didn't prepare me for the day I'd have to call the police on myself."


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Courtesy photo
Courtesy photo
I love music, and I love musicians. I grew up in a house full of musicians and as a maestro's son, I bore witness to hordes of them throughout my childhood. Not only do I love that special personality trait that leads one to become a serious musician, but I have the utmost respect for those willing to bet on themselves and make a living from it.
So living in an area that produces so much music means that I can mostly stick to the local stuff and be happy listening all year round.
I only drink Colorado brews for the same reason. There's just so many damn good beers brewed around us — why buy anything else?
I'm sure I'll forget one or two of my local faves from this last year, and one of these bands actually moved away from the area in 2017. But the now Brooklyn-based duo in A Shadow of Jaguar have made so much music here as members of local bands over the years (and they still visit) that I had to include their new record.
Let's get to it.
My favorite local album of the year goes to Boulder-based reggae and world music all stars Intuit. Their 2017 album "Canyon Roots" has received considerable play in my audio system this year, for good reason. Top to bottom, it is polished and catchy, and the sound is full bodied. This is a rare album you can play on repeat a couple times before changing it.
Runner up is Ted Thacker's release under the moniker The Red Tack, "(K)Night Of The Sorrowful Face," because it likewise is one you can not only listen to all the way through, but a few times over. Ted's songwriting is the main event in this wide-ranging alt-rock album with synth touches. My 2-year-old and my wife love it just as much as I do.
Boulder/Denver's own Yawpers made a splash this year by releasing a big-time album on an actual label. The local boys done good. But fire up "Boy In A Well" — a mind bender of an album — and you find it's a storytelling concept record with twists and turns galore. My favorite aspect is that its recording and production quality is of the highest caliber.
Not an album, but Fort Collins-based guitar wizard Grayson Erhard has been busy this year. He's begun to release an album's worth of recorded material, one track at a time as singles. The young virtuoso is as impressive as ever in these new solo guitar tracks, and you should really give them a listen.
Fort Collins sisters SHEL (Sarah, Hannah, Eva and Liza) are really killing it lately — scoring movies, slaying it on social media and cranking out the best-sounding albums you can find of anyone their age making anywhere. "Undercover" is a recent release of cover songs, but the arrangements are so fresh and engrossing that you end up feeling like it's a new disc of SHEL tunes. Incredible.
I'm outta column space, but here are the fave runners up: A Shadow of Jaguar's "Raw," The Railsplitters' "Jump In," Gypsy Moon's "Songs of Olde," Monocle Band's "The Clearing," and Masontown's "In This Time."
Shop local! Check out these awesome 2017 albums as we celebrate another great year of excellent local music.
Read more Taylor: coloradodaily.com/columnists. Stalk him: instagram.com/duncanxmusic.


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12th May 2013 was one of the few Mothers' Days I have spent without seeing any of my offspring. It was to be expected since we had moved to sw Victoria of gorgeous beaches to be nearer to needy son in Adelaide but still within range of other family in Victoria. An idealistic move that didn't do much else but isolate us from family and friends as it turned out.
I was invited to my youngest daughter's place in Castlemaine where my other daughter would have joined us The moon boot I was wearing to protect the ankle fractured on the way home from visiting family in Olinda recently made the long drive impractical mainly because I have the bad habit of using both feet to drive an automatic car and wouldn't have been able to share the driving.
Saturday had its share of nostalgia. At the Port Fairy market I bought a passion fruit sponge that we later shared with my friend since age six sitting in her small sheltered back porch just a few metres from the beach. Naturally enough the conversation turned to fishing and I recalled how my teenage sons loved that particular activity. Wild and hyperactive as they were they would sit still and quietly for hours waiting for the elusive fish to bite. I'd happily drive them to pleasant haunts and enjoy several hours of unaccustomed peace while they fished. I still wonder where that patience came from. Only yesterday my eldest son declared he doesn't have the patience for technology and I pointed out how he still loves to fish for hours on end.
On reaching home I had a message from my second son telling me he had received a message about my lost mobile phone. I texted him back saying 'the lady wearing a moon boot' as described by my friend on the Contacts list was easily found and reunited with her phone!
Next morning I received a mms from that son with a photo of my gorgeous grandaughter looking as if she were saying Happy Mothers Day though I knew she wasn't. Soon I had a phone call from him saying I had rung him and incidentally, Happy Mothers' Day, did I get the photo he had tried out with his new phone. My phone had rung him accidentally, and serendipitously as it turned out.
Daughter from Castlemaine texted greetings and later youngest son from Brisbane phoned and was sad that the wedding dvd he had posted wouldn't play on our computer. Older daughter texted that night with apologies for lateness, but promise that a parcel would arrive soon. Eldest son in Adelaide who relies on being near a phone where he can use Telecard at my expense left a message of greeting next day.
Sunday was a rainy day and already picnics at a sunny beach less than a week ago began to look like a distant dream. I had the urge to go to Lake Cart Carrong, an isolated fishing spot not far from here. Swans usually glide on that silvery body of water but not this time. What an isolated spot! Shabby picnic table, no toilet, and the small jetty under repair. Not even a walking track around the lake. Thank goodness for the thermos of coffee we had brought and the family of black tailed native hens that had temporarily settled in the paddock next to the small car park, Their antics were a joy to watch and a challenge to photograph with my new camera with powerful zoom.
An old friend from long ago in the Hills, a Warrnambool resident for many years, had called with his wife and their 103 year old friend while we were out. Another Hills friend phoned to say she and her friend were coming to Warrnambool that night and wanted to catch up next day. So old friends enhanced the nostalgia of Mothers' Day and made up a little for the fact family were far away.


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Stop disturbing me, you can't tell me how to live my life – A Plus to NPP Ministers
Known for his 'no nonsense' and candor, staunch member of the New Patriotic Party and Musician, A Plus, has served warning to Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) who have made it a point to 'call' or 'text' him as part of efforts to 'cool' him down whenever he takes to social media to 'spit fire' over some bad decisions being taken by the incumbent government.
The fact that he supported the party to win power, he insists, doesn't guarantee its leadership any right to assume they have any hold on his utterances or actions.
A Plus maintains that he would not hesitate to 'hit' out at government at any point he thinks they need to be 'bashed' as a wake-up call.
In a post on his Facebook page, the musician wrote; "The only time NPP people remember I exist is when I write the truth they don't want to hear. Then all of a sudden they remember my number. Then you'll find all their ministers and their deputies and whoever calling and sending me messages and screenshots from websites; Kwame did you say this? Kwame did you write that?"
"You people behave as if I owe you something. I only supported you to win power. It ends there. You cannot tell me how to live my life. You cannot tell me what to say and what not. I'm not a member of your communication team."
The nonchalant NPP Member insists that he will, regardless of which party is in power, criticize and 'make all the noise' when need arises.
"Enjoy your power and leave me to be a citizen and not a spectator... Take a screenshot and share it in your WhatsApp groups" he continued.


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Top ISMS Headlines June 26, 2015
ISMS to Governor Rauner: Veto Mandate for Hep C Screenings
ISMS sent a
detailed letter to Governor Rauner urging him to veto S.B. 661. The bill would require primary care physicians (including family physicians, general internists and ob/gyns), physician assistants and advanced practice nurses who provide primary care services to offer a one-time Hepatitis C screening to persons born between 1945 and 1965, if providing a "comprehensive physical examination."*
The bill would also require all physicians to offer a one-time screening when blood is drawn during a comprehensive physical examination.
Essentially, S.B. 661 would mandate adherence to practice guidelines set forth by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). While ISMS supports these guidelines, we remain vehemently opposed to inserting them into the statute.
Read more ...
Supreme Court Upholds Subsidies for Health Insurance
In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that tax subsidies provided under the Affordable Care Act to patients obtaining health insurance policies via the Federal Exchange are valid. Illinois was one of 37 states that did not create a state-based Exchange. The Court's decision ensures that individuals obtaining policies via the Federal Exchange are entitled to the same subsidies as beneficiaries who obtained their policies via state-based Exchanges.
Read statement by ISMS President Scott A. Cooper, MD.
Illinois Delegation Brings State Issues to the AMA Annual Meeting
Earlier this month, the Illinois Delegation to the AMA represented you at the 2015 annual meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. Our delegation shared the Illinois perspective and submitted 16 resolutions. Several of our resolutions will result in AMA policy and/or action, including these two in the area of public health:
Visit the
2015 AMA Annual Meeting webpage for more details.
If ICD-10 Must Be Implemented, Grant Grace Period
Physicians rallied at the 2015 AMA annual meeting to call on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to institute a two-year grace period that would alleviate practice disruptions when the ICD-10 code set kicks in on October 1.
During the proposed grace period, claims would not be denied or withheld due to:
Since it appears implementation will not be delayed, let's hope CMS considers and approves the request for a grace period. After all, ICD-10 hikes the number of codes by a whopping 400 percent!
Questions? Call your ISMS Advocacy Team at 800-782-4767 ext. 1470 or
send an email.
Learn About Certifying Minors for Medical Cannabis
Patients under the age of 18 may now participate in the medical cannabis pilot program as a result of changes to the law.
The Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, which took effect Jan. 1, 2014, was revised to allow minors to participate as of Jan. 1, 2015.
That's why ISMS updated its medical legal guideline,
Medical Cannabis, to include how changes to the law impact physicians for certifying minors. The guide also contains waiver forms (a physician would need to fill out a waiver form if a patient should be allowed more than the 2.5 ounces of medical cannabis every two weeks) and certification forms for both minors and those who are 18 years of age and older.
Questions? Please call 800-782-4767 ext. 6485 or
send an email.
Source: Illinois Department of Public Health
"Thumb Drive" with Patient Resources Available at No Cost
On June 9, 1840, a dozen dedicated physicians gathered in Springfield for the first meeting of an organization that would become the Illinois State Medical Society. To commemorate 175 years of patient and physician advocacy, ISMS is also making available a USB data drive at no charge, containing digital copies of ISMS resources, including advance care planning forms, a personal health record, a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) screening assessment tool and a series of informational flyers to keep young Illinoisans in good health.
Request your ISMS Patient Resources USB drives
here or call 800-782-4767. Patients may also access these materials online.
MERS Outbreak: Stay Informed with Latest Guidance, IL Reporting Regulations
In response to the most recent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in South Korea, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidance for hospitalized patients with the virus. Visit ISMS'
MERS webpage for this updated guidance, along with reporting requirements for Illinois and other helpful resources.
Questions? Call your ISMS Advocacy Team at 800-782-4767 ext. 1470 or
send an email.
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What Does Your Cervical Mucus Look Like Before Your Period? Experts Explain
There sure is a lot of calculating and tracking when it comes to trying to conceive (TTC). And tracking your cervical mucus (CM) is super important for timing when you'll actually do the deed so you can make sure to hit the day before, during, or after ovulation. But what about when it comes to deciphering early pregnancy symptoms versus PMS symptoms? Can you use your CM as a guide to determine whether you're pregnant or if Aunt Flo is coming to town? What does your cervical mucus look like before your period?
The American Pregnancy Association (APA) noted that the role CM plays when TTC is fundamental, "by nourishing and protecting sperm as it makes the long, arduous journey through the female reproductive tract to meet the egg. So, as you become more familiar with your [CM], you will be able to better time having sex in order to conceive."
So what about the final part of your cycle, after the hopeful conception? The tumultuous end of the dreaded two-week wait when you're trying to decide if your cramping and symptoms are PMS-related or early pregnancy symptoms? What does your cervical mucus look like before your period as opposed to early pregnancy?
Some women produce clear, watery discharge right before they start their periods, while others have no secretions whatsoever. According to Dr. Adrienne Zertuche, an OB-GYN at a division of Atlanta Women's Healthcare Specialists, right before your period and "after ovulation, most women return to having no cervical secretions for the remainder of their cycle." However, if you do have discharge before your period, clear, watery discharge may almost look like ovulation CM, but typically, most women are no longer ovulating at that point. Plus, women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) like myself can produce CM that looks like egg-white creamy mucus — fertile CM — throughout their entire cycle, so it may be harder for those women to know exactly when they're ovulating based on CM alone. Because of course it is.
As far as early pregnancy discharge, according to Kameelah Phillips, an OB-GYN and founder of OBaby, what early pregnancy discharge looks like depends on the woman. "For many women, it increases in volume and is white and creamy," she says in an email interview with Romper. "A discharge should not itch or have a foul odor, and it is generally not the clear, sticky discharge associated with ovulation."
So how exactly does tracking your fertility via checking your CM help you plan for pregnancy? Is it a reliable method? Zertuche says while it is a component of fertility awareness-based (FAB) method to prevent or plan pregnancy, other strategies that go along with it and make it more effective are monitoring your menstrual timing and your basal body temperature. "Most gynecologists are accepting and even encouraging of [FAB] methodology for women attempting pregnancy. However, the FAB method is not a top-tier strategy for pregnancy prevention, as more than 20 percent of typical users fail in execution and end up with an unintended pregnancy. You should sit down with your gynecologist to hear about the full range of contraceptive options before deciding to use fertility awareness-based methods," she recommends.
The best and most accurate way to check your CM, according to the APA, is to check with your finger after a bowel movement, and not necessarily just looking on the toilet paper or your underwear. "To do this, wash and dry your hands well, then insert your middle or index finger into your vagina, getting as close to your cervix as possible. Remove your finger and observe the consistency of the mucus sample by rolling the mucus between your thumb and finger, pressing your fingers together, and then slowly moving them apart," the APA explained. If the fluid stretches in between your fingers, that's considered egg-white CM, which is the best type for conception. If there's nothing there after you know you've ovulated, don't fret — that's pretty normal.
Every woman is different when it comes to her "secretions." Just because you're dry as a desert down there right before you're scheduled to have your period doesn't necessarily mean you're out of the running for conceiving this month. Likewise, if you're producing a ton of creamy mucus right before your period, that doesn't necessarily mean you're pregnant. Try not to stress too much and happy tracking.
Check out Romper's new video series, Romper's Doula Diaries:
Check out the entire Romper's Doula Diaries series and other videos on Facebook and the Bustle app across Apple TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV.


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We have thermoses, and we have thermos cups, but they don't really give you any options when it comes to adjusting the temperature of your beverage, and they can keep it cool or hot for only a couple of hours, but there are some capable of doing that for almost two days. And then we have the S2 Mug that can keep your drinks hot for 12 straight hours on top of giving you a way to adjust the exact temperature you want for the drink to have and showing the current temperature on its cool-looking display.
First off, we have to say that the S2 Mug looks really fresh and futuristic. It features a combination of black and silver color that make it different from the competition and the display showing the temperature is making it even more attractive.
When it comes to features, the S2 Mug can hold the temperature of your beverage for up to 12 hours thanks to its superb insulation. Not only that, but you can also adjust the temperature from 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius) to 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 Celsius) meaning you can heat up your coffee or tea while on the go.
You can adjust the temperature by using the controls on the cup or via the smartphone app, and it is effortless. The cup will also notify you if the beverage inside it is too hot, so you don't burn yourself, and it will also show when its battery is weak so you can recharge it. The S2 Mug is the best thermos cup we ever saw, and it can be yours for just $69 (if you are really fast), or for $89 (regular early bird price).


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There are two current cases that finally drive me to write down this article. First of all, when one of my friends gave me a screenshot picture about those who offer service to be your couple when you are going to a wedding party or other parties that you have foreseen that you will be asked about "when you get married?" The second case does seem more serious than the former. I took the case from the BBC website telling a story in Dubai that the government there offers one gram of gold for those who are success in reducing one kilogram of their body weight in a 30-day of exercise. The Dubai government thinks that this incentive will work to fight against obesity that lingering the country.
At a glance, it does seem that there is no something to be objected in regard with both of the cases. Is it wrong to pay someone to be your couple just for a while? Since you pay him/her for both of your good, could it be considered as wrong action? Furthermore, by giving gold as incentive, is not it a good idea to drive people to hinder obesity and drive them to a more healthy life? But both cases cannot be only highlighted from such a point of view. There is a more deep strong objection, as Michael Sandel strongly puts it, namely a society that is currently paving its way toward a market-society rather than market economy.
What Money Can't Buy?
The subtitle of this article is actually derived from the book written by Michael Sandel. For those who never read the book, let me give you a brief view about the book. In the book, Michael Sandel says that actually we are now living not only in a market economy but also in a market society. Market society can be easily described as society that is driven mainly by the market mechanism and it could be said: money.
Market society strongly depends upon cost-benefit analysis but the analysis' basis is money. Thus, you must put a price tag for every single thing that you have in your life including a price tag for yourself when you are dead or when you are suffering severe injury by accident, for example. In a market society, everything is valued by money. The more valuable the things, the more expensive it will be paid.
The interesting parts of the book lay on the examples Sandel gives to his readers. But, for me individually, the most interesting example lies not in the book rather to his former book "Justice" in regard with the case of Ford Pinto gasoline tank. For those who are interested to know the detail of the case, it can be easily found out by google. There you could find many articles describing the case, including the ethical issue of the case. But in order to explain briefly the case, I would like to give you a short explanation.
Engineers in Ford had been aware the vulnerability of the gasoline tank of the Ford Pinto when it collided with another car coming from the rear. But, "company executives has conducted a cost-benefit analysis and determined that the benefits of fixing it were not worth the eleven dollars per car it would have cost to equip each car with a device that would have made the gas tank safer." To sum up the cost-benefit analysis, this is the calculation posed by Sandel in his book.
Life lost
Adding safety device
Estimation Number of life lost
Amount of cars
12,5 million
Estimation Number of injury
Around $49,5 million
$137,5 million
From the table, it is clear that the cost outweigh the benefit that will reap. Based upon this calculation then the company decided not to adding a safety device and this case went to surface after "more than five hundred people died when their Pintos burst into flames and many more suffered severe burn injuries and then one of the burn victims sued Ford Motor companies for the faulty design."
In Indonesia, there are also real examples when money can buy everything including justice. Corruptors in this country can easily bribe judges in order to flee from law enforcement. There are also cases where our corruptors' prisons are indeed very luxurious just because they can pay much money. Prison that should have to be a place where justice is preserved is then altered to a place where injustice is hold up. It does seem that prison can be more correctly said as the place of perversion of justice.
When we back to the above cases, it is clear that money does seem can buy everything. It can buy a couple just for several hours and also to be used as incentive to a healthy lifestyle. The question is: is a couple a matter of money? Will there be a moment where I could use my own money to buy my future wife? Furthermore, should I always be incentivized by money in order to preserve my own good life? Should I release my consciousness and succumb to the money in order to achieve healthy life?
Human beings and their dignity
When we talk about human beings, there is something that is currently often neglected: human dignity. It is often get disappeared because of we are now living in a market society where dignity can be simply quantified by money. Thus, what does matter is no longer about dignity but rather about how much money I should pay equivalent with your dignity.
A question about human beings' dignity can be proposed by a simple question: when there is a human being died, why do not we consume his/her flesh? Tracing his/her evolution pathway, is it correct that human beings are the latest evolution of animal? And why does, on the other hand, we can easily consume steak made from cow, chicken, and so on? Do we actually have the same nature, namely animal? Why should put differences to human beings?
Consider this thing: if we value an animal is merely a thing that can be utilized to be consumed, we want them to be formed as what we desire. Thus, no problem will arise, for example, when they died since we will freely consume them. But, if we exalt an animal as our god, for example, we are very reluctant to kill them. We rather choose other animals to be consumed. Even the dead-body of such an animal will be well-cured and should naturally diminish. What is the thing that we can actually pick up in this matter?
The answer lays in the dignity and how we put others in this matter, especially human beings in our current circumstances. When we put a non-utilization paradigm upon others, we are very reluctant to utilize others since we know that it will harm their dignity. The case is same with human beings. Human beings are not merely things that can be freely utilized by others as Kant points out: human beings cannot be utilized as means to achieve end. Rather, human beings are end in themselves. Human beings cannot be considered based upon what they are useful for. They should be valued in a more transcendental and holistic way since possibilities is always within them. This means that human beings are free and can choose their own path to achieve their good equipped with reasons, affection, and so on. Hence, we exalted them because they are priceless by their dignity. The further question is then: why should we are nowadays put price tag on human dignity?
The answer can be put upon the fact that our current circumstance does not realize the moral limit of the market as Sandel points out. When everyone thinks that he/she could buy other's dignity and utilize them to his/her individual end, everyone will follow. This is a vicious circle. Since no one is reluctant to live alone and rather follow their peers, everyone will also follow majority who think that money can but everything. This then puts market society in the rise.
A further question will be asked: why can people put dignity as a commodity? The answer lays in the fact that we are now living in what Erich Fromm calls a having-mode structure. We are now overwhelmed with the paradigm that we are what we have and not we are what we are. With the premise that "we are what we have," it is clear that I will be valued based upon what I have rather than what I should be as human beings. It may be very potential then to throw away dignity in order to have material things so we will not be viewed as inferior by others.
This is the simple example of vicious circle that lingers our society: having-mode structure will lead people to become greed since the more I have, the more other will value me. Thus, those who have much means will do everything efficiently to use other to have more. And on the other side, those who lack of means will sell everything include their dignity to have more means to have more. Indeed, both of them are downgrading their value as human beings since they neglect their dignity as human beings that are actually priceless and not based upon material things.
Thus, should we always walk in this kind of market society? Should we always put a price tag in everything? I am no longer amazed then if one day no one will do anything voluntarily just because they are not incentivized. No one will think about how to be a good human being by conducting healthy lifestyle except one gram of gold will be given upon them and also no one will think to find his/her own couple that he/she will spend the rest of his/her life since they may think that everything can be bought including couple. No one will value love as a transcendental value and no one will value human dignity as priceless either. In such a future, everything will be price tagged and there is a guide book named "The price of everything" that will be a guide to make a policy, to conduct justice, and so on. And in that era, we never remember what we ought to be as human beings.


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There is an excellent article on Front Page Magazine by Soeren Kern about how serious mistakes by its socialist government have damaged Spain's standing in the world. Here is the first paragraph:
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodrique's Zapatero and his political spin doctors have been especially busy this summer. Indeed, they have been making furious rounds on the national television talk show circuit, trying to explain to an increasingly skeptical Spanish public just why the Socialist government's "progressive" foreign policy of coddling third world despots has turned Spain into one of the most marginalized countries in the European Union.
He goes on to detail Spain's relationship with Cuba in particular has worked to marginalize Spain in the European Union and seriously damaged its relationship with the United States.
As I read through the article several points leapt out at me. One of them was this. The socialist government came to power in Spain after the 2004 Madrid train bombings. Spain was targeted by al Qaeda for several reasons.
One is that Spain was a part of the coalition of nations taking part in military actions in Iraq and the bombings were intended to punish the Spanish people. Another is that Spain was nearing elections and the bombings were an attempt to intimidate Spanish voters into defeating the conservative Partido Popular (People's Party) and replacing them with the leftist Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), who the terrorists believed - correctly as it turned out - would be likely to surrender and stop Spanish participation in the War on Terror.
The final reason that Spain was targeted is often overlooked. The bombings were revenge for the Reconquista, the "seven-and-a-half century long process by which Christians reconquered the Iberian peninsula".
Islamists believe that all the earth belongs to Islam with some parts of it still awaiting conversion or conquest. Any place which has ever been under Muslim control must forever remain under Muslim control and any removal of Muslim control over any area is an outrage, an affront to Allah and absolutely intolerable. It should also (if Muslim theology is correct - which it isn't) be impossible, but that's a topic for another post.
To the Islamist mind Spain and Portugal are Muslim territory which is being occupied by infidels in exactly the same way as Israel. Israel occupies a larger place in the Muslim mind because it was created more recently, is a nation specifically of the hated Jews and is actually on Middle Eastern soil, but make no mistake, Spain, the rest of Europe and the rest of the world are on their list as well.
Another aspect of Spain's socialist government's foreign policy has been to seek closer ties to dictatorial regimes like Castro's Cuba and Venesuala's Hugo Chavez:
During his first three years in office, Zapatero has established a consistent practice of reaching out to authoritarian regimes at the expense of democratic states: Venezuela in lieu of Colombia; Iran and Syria in lieu of Israel; and so on. Indeed, Spaniards increasingly are asking themselves why Spain's Socialists insist on forging alliances with authoritarian regimes when that support is beginning to damage Spain's own reputation in the EU and elsewhere.
Although Spanish political commentators are deeply divided on how to answer that question, in the case of Cuba, most analysts seem to agree that three main issues are driving Spanish foreign policy on Cuba: Oil, nostalgia and politics.
The issue of oil is straightforward. In 2004, Spain's energy giant Repsol-YPF found signs of oil in the deep waters off Cuban shores. Repsol, which has six concession blocks along a narrow sector of the Gulf of Mexico off Cuba's northwestern coast, says it will spend more than $40 million on the project, but believes its investment could yield up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil below the seabed. Repsol's venture, which is established with Cubapetroleo, a company owned by the Cuban government, is now bidding for new oil contracts in Cuban waters. Thus it comes as no surprise that a number of EU countries suspect that Spain's love affair with Castro has more to do with money than with principle, and that its mantra that dialogue with the dictator is a fig leaf for more cynical interests.
Stop for a moment and gaze in wonder at the current situation. Spain has managed to make itself appear more immoral, more greedy and more craven than the rest of the European Union! Try and wrap your mind around the concept. It's like being a skankier than Paris Hilton, more corrupt than the New Orleans Police Department, or a bigger ass-clown than Ron Paul.
Another point which drew my attention was Mr. Kern's explanation for the Spanish peoples' dislike of the United States:
Then there is the issue of nostalgia-based anti-Americanism. Although it has been more than 100 years since Spain lost Cuba, a highly prized Spanish colonial possession for more than 400 years, in the Spanish-American War of 1898, many Spaniards still have an almost mythical attachment to the island. Indeed, lingering resentment over the loss of Cuba, which marked the definitive end to the Spanish Empire, is often cited as the root source of anti-Americanism in contemporary Spain. In this context, many Spanish leftists glorify Castro as a revolutionary hero who has bravely resisted American efforts to promote democracy on the island.All hail the hero who bravely resists democracy!
Mr. Kern sums his article up:
Finally, there is the issue of politics, both foreign and domestic. Since taking office, Zapatero has shifted Spain's long-standing Atlanticist foreign policy to one focused almost exclusively on Europe. This precipitous policy shift has had disastrous results: Not only has it severely damaged Spain's relationship with the United States, it has also cost Spain much of its credibility in Europe.
In the main, Zapatero's foreign policy has been motivated a desire to prove that the Socialists are better than the center-right opposition Popular Party at running Spanish foreign policy. The problem for Spain is that Zapatero has made it personal, turning Spanish foreign policymaking into an obsession that has become detached from common sense.
Thus the main beneficiaries of Spanish foreign policy have been authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Iran, Syria and Venezuela. It comes as no big surprise that this, in turn, has damaged Spain's credibility with other EU countries, most of which are trying to forge a more responsible European foreign policy vis-à-vis the United States.
Isn't that interesting. European leaders are attempting to "forge a more responsible European foreign policy vis-à-vis the United States." I thought that George W Bush had made the United States a global pariah. Could the truth be that Europe's leaders have finally grown up enough to realize that they only remained free through the 20th century because of American strength and that only American strength will keep them free through the 21st?
Could Europe, at least the part governed by grownups, be finally aware that the true source of the strain on transatlantic relations does not reside in the White House but is rather to be found in the mirror?
Please someone run and tell John Kerry, but take a camcorder because I want to see him drop dead from the shock.
Soeren Kern is the Senior Analyst for Transatlantic Relations at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group, one of the leading foreign affairs think tanks in Spain. As an essayist on the roles of America and Europe in the world, his objective is to help Spaniards (and other Europeans) better understand the ins and outs of American foreign policy, and vice versa.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Spain has painted itself into a corner
There is an excellent article on Front Page Magazine by Soeren Kern about how serious mistakes by its socialist government have damaged Spain's standing in the world. Here is the first paragraph:


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A Human Activity Recognition System Using Skeleton Data from RGBD Sensors
A Human Activity Recognition System Using Skeleton Data from RGBD Sensors - Download this document for free, or read online. Document in PDF available to download.
Computational Intelligence and Neuroscience - Volume 2016 2016, Article ID 4351435, 14 pages -
Research ArticleDipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
Received 3 December 2015; Revised 3 February 2016; Accepted 18 February 2016
Academic Editor: Robertas Damaševičius
Copyright © 2016 Enea Cippitelli et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The aim of Active and Assisted Living is to develop tools to promote the ageing in place of elderly people, and human activity recognition algorithms can help to monitor aged people in home environments. Different types of sensors can be used to address this task and the RGBD sensors, especially the ones used for gaming, are cost-effective and provide much information about the environment. This work aims to propose an activity recognition algorithm exploiting skeleton data extracted by RGBD sensors. The system is based on the extraction of key poses to compose a feature vector, and a multiclass Support Vector Machine to perform classification. Computation and association of key poses are carried out using a clustering algorithm, without the need of a learning algorithm. The proposed approach is evaluated on five publicly available datasets for activity recognition, showing promising results especially when applied for the recognition of AAL related actions. Finally, the current applicability of this solution in AAL scenarios and the future improvements needed are discussed.
Author: Enea Cippitelli, Samuele Gasparrini, Ennio Gambi, and Susanna Spinsante
Source: https://www.hindawi.com/


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I completely understand why my mom traveled here so much and then finally moved down here. I am SO dreading returning to the cold + snow.
We weighed at WW on Tuesday night. I walked in saying I hoped I hadn't gained 10 pounds – that would be the embarrassment mark.
I gained 7 and he gained 7.8.
The weigh-in woman went into panic mode and started asking us if we'd gone to the bathroom … telling us that flying could have made us retain water … she weighed us twice … etc. I almost felt bad for her until she started in with weight loss tips and a story about how she went about losing weight on a cruise.
She has no idea that we're crazy people who vacillate between extremes – so we just graciously accepted her advice and left.
We went to keep up the commitment so we'll keep it up when we return home, but we're making no effort to count anything right now. It's sort of like how I might urge someone who is actively drinking to continue to try to go to AA in hopes that one day that person will walk in sober. We're going through the motions for now.
OH MY GOD the food, though.
Late night nachos + drag show = one of the best nights yet.
(garlic soup – never heard of such a thing)
We sat at a table right across from Christian Slater. Seriously. I wouldn't let Jon ask him to take a picture, though, because it seemed rude.
My mom has been very kind to play tour guide for us since we finished everything and the truck left with her stuff.
It's been a beautiful week.
Lots of naps and good food and fun.
A little too much sun.
I would need some exposure therapy if I lived down here full time, though. Not a fan of the lizards.


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Customer Aftercare: How To Spend Less & Sell More
By Ernest W. Nicastro
My wife likes to shop at the local Safeway. Is it because of the
competitive prices? Yes, thatís part of it. Is it because of the
convenient location? Yes, thatís part of it too. She also likes
their produce department. But the biggest reason she likes to shop
at the local Safeway is ìMarshall.î
Now Marshall is very good check-out person. Heís fast, efficient and
seldom makes a mistake. But his ìjob competencyî is not the reason
why my wife keeps going back. She keeps going back because Marshall
always has a warm and friendly smile. And because when Marshall
asks, ìHow are you today?î well, by golly, you just know heís
sincere about it.
You see, for those few minutes while sheís a customer in his
check-out line Marshall makes my wife feel genuinely valued and
appreciated. And week after week she buys our groceries at
ìMarshallísî Safeway.
As salespeople and business owners very few of us will have the same
weekly, face-to-face opportunity as Marshall to make our customers
feel valued and appreciated. And yet if weíre smart weíll make sure
we have our very own ìMarshallî Plan in effect. Weíll make sure ó
once weíve ìrescuedî our customer from the grips of our competitor ó
that we have a Customer Aftercare Program in place to maintain the
health and increase the profitability of that relationship.
This makes perfect marketing sense. And, with studies showing that
the total cost of getting a new customer to be 10 times that of
simply holding onto an existing one it can also make you plenty of
dollars and cents. Particularly when you consider that a five
percent improvement in customer retention can lead to an 85-percent
increase in profits.
A One Time Sale? Or, a Lifetime Sale?
For example, ima gine for a moment that you work in the real estate
industry as either a real estate agent or loan officer. John and
Judy First-Time Home buyer purchase their first home or close on
their first loan through your company. Assuming that John and Judy
are upwardly-mobile professionals theyíll probably purchase a
minimum of another 4-5 homes during their lifetimes.
If youíre in the lending business, thatís another 4ñ5 loans, at a
minimum. If youíre an agent or a broker there exists the potential
for another 8ñ10 transactions. (Counting the sells as well as the
buys.) John and Judy alone ó even if they never send you a single
referral ó are conceivably worth many thousands of dollars to you
during their lifetimes. But if youíre actively working on this
relationshipÖ if youíre putting forth a consistent and concentrated
effort to make John and Judy feel valued and appreciatedÖ then
theyíll send you lots of referrals.
Now stop a moment and multiply the above example by 40, 50, 500 or
1000 and youíll understand why todayís savviest marketers are
placing more emphasis on ìShare of Cust omerî and ìLife time Valueî
and less on ìShare of Market.î
Good Communication Is The Key
The key to increasing your ìShare of Customerî and maximizing
ìLifetime Valueî lies in continually strengthening the bond between
you and your customer. An organized and consistent communications
program will keep you in touch with your customers on a regular
basis ó and increase your Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) with them.
Plus, by welcoming and encouraging their feedback youíll be
reminding them how very important and very special they are to you.
And, we all like to feel special, valued, appreciated and ìloved.î
Your objective as a home business owner or sales executive is to
turn each new customer into a walking, talking, word-of-mouth
advertisement for you, your products and (or) services. And here are
a few examples of the direct mail communications that should be in
any good Customer Aftercare Letter Program:
ï Thank You Letter ó To be mailed the very day the sale is closed.
Sure, this is something we all do ó right? Well maybe all of us do
it but I know from experience that a number of those other folks
ï Letter From ìMr. Bigî ó To be mailed 10 days to 2 weeks after the
account is opened. In a smaller company it should come from the
president. In a larger company, a senior manager. This letter is a
warm ownership/senior management welcome and also informs the new
customer that, ultimately, ìthe buck stops here.î Sample wording.
ìIf the product or products youíve purchased, or anyone in my
organization fails to meet with your complete approval ó now or in
the future ó I would like to know about it.î
ï How Did I/We Do? Letter ó Mailed a week after the sale. Itís a
friendly letter explaining how important honest feedback is to you
because itís the only way you can improve. Attached to the letter is
a brief customer satisfaction survey and stamped, return envelope.
The feedback you receive from this survey will be of tremendous
value to you.
ï Happy Anniversary Letter ó Sample opening: ìItís been a year (___
years) since you: opened your account (closed on your house, made
your equipment purchase) with us and I just wanted to say Happy
Anniversary and thanks again. We look forward to working with you
for many years to comeî
ï At Random, Customer Appre cia tion Letter ó Sample opening: ìDo
you ever get so caught up in the mundane everyday responsibilities
of your job that you sometimes overlook things? I know I do. And
thatís why Iím writing you.î From that point you go on to tell your
customer how much you value and appreciate them.
ï How Are We Doing?/How Have We Done? Survey Cover Letter ó You
should regularly survey your customers, at least once a year. Just
the act of sending out the survey sends them a message that they are
important to you. But the greatest value and benefit to you and your
business is the feedback youíll get on how you can improve.
Sample copy: ìWeíre committed to offering you affordable
high-performance widgets backed up by a level of service that sets
the standard for the industry. Your feedback is of tremendous help
to us in measuring how well weíre meeting that commitment.î
ï Birthday Cards ó Visit any Petco store and youíll find forms to
fill out with your petís name, address and birthday. Complete one
and during the month of your petís birthday Petco will send your
ìFidoî or ìFifiî a birthday card and an invitation to come to the
store and get a 10 percent discount.
Shouldnít we treat our human customers with similar care and
thoughtfulness? I think you know the answer.
ï Hand Written ìCongratulationsî Cards ó Whenever you or your
assistant read or hear about awards, appointments, promotions and
other forms of recognition earned by your clients ó or their
children ó acknowledge this with a letter or card. This is a small
thing to do but it is greatly appreciated and will pay big
In addition to the above communications youíll also be sending out
your normal promotional mailings and regular reminders of the
benefits of doing business with you and your company. Plus, youíll
also want to send a quarterly newsletter.
With the inexpensive database marketing technology available today
thereís little reason for any company not to have a
well-thought-out, consistent and clearly defined Customer Aftercare
Program. Thereís only one drawback ó itís not a ìquick fixî for low
sales. But the benefits are many, including: maximized customer
retention and loyalty, reduced marketing costs and higher profits.
Most important, your ìCustomer Aftercareî program will set you apart
from the vast majority of your competition. And give you the
competitive edge that leads to higher sales and profits. HBM
Ernest Nicastro is the President of Positive Response, a direct
response advertising and marketing consulting company. Positive
Response specializes in compelling, response-producing sales letters
and lead-generation programs and servicesÖ based on proven
principles and strategies that have generated hundreds of billions
of dollars in sales. He can be reached at 425-235-1237 or by e-mail
at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Originally Published at http://www.homebusinessmag.com/
About author
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Sale for the first 2 days!!!Emoji - Best Emoticon Keyboard is finally out!
- iTunes Link:Emoji - Best Emoticon Keyboard for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Have you ever wondered how people have managed to use emoticons on their iPhone's, iPad's and iPod Touch's? Well Emoji - Best Emoticon Keyboard, the ORIGINAL and STILL THE BEST, will allow you access to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch emoticons. No app has more better Emoji or features!
Just imagine how you chat with your friends. This is the last emoji app you will ever need! All you have to do is open the app and all of the emoji are right at your finger tips. The Emoji keyboard gives you access to over 460 emoticons that can be used in any iPhone and iPod Touch application. Such as SMS, E-Mail, Notes, Contacts, Safari and Calendar. The Emoji keyboard will also work in applications that are downloaded through the Apple App Store.
To enable the Emoji keyboard press the button in the application. After enabling the keyboard, quit the app and then,
For iOS 4 users:
Goto Settings > General > International > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard then select "Emoji".
For iOS 3.x and 2.x users:
Goto Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards > Japanese and turn on Emoji switch.
Enjoy!05-25-2011 08:15 AMLike 0
- Forum
- Apps & Games Corner
- iPhone Apps & Games
Sale for the first 2 days!!!Emoji - Best Emoticon Keyboard is finally out!


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Our new place has beautiful rose bushes. Can I show you their awesomeness?
This week, my friend Jen came over for lunch and brought along some whole wheat pastry flour for me to try. I love it when friends come over.....and bring stuff. I had been meaning to try whole wheat pastry flour because of it's whole wheat health benefits and how amazing it tastes in baked goods.
In most cases, whole wheat pastry flour is whole wheat flour ground to a very fine consistency that allows baked goods to retain a very light, delicate texture. It's the best of both worlds: the healthiness of whole wheat plus great taste. Now obviously the whole butter/sugar addition isn't healthy, so portion control is still necessary. But whole wheat pastry flour at least provides a source of whole grains.
I'm not going to lie; these lemon poppyseed muffins by Annie's Eats are the result of a very specific pregnancy craving for anything involving lemon and cake.
I subbed whole wheat pastry flour for white flour and the result was just as promised: light, delicate, and fluffy. No heavy whole wheat texture at all. I'm sold!
Now I couldn't have done it alone: I had a big helper (note evidence of poppyseed batter on face). I asked him if he ate any, but of course he denied the whole thing.
I enjoyed my poppyseed muffin with a nice cup of tea.
It was the perfect end to a long day.
On your next baking endeavor, give whole wheat pastry flour a try. It's super yummy and I bet your family won't even be able to tell a difference. It's okay to be sneaky that way; it's for their health.


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Intel Supercharges Underwhelming Atom Line with 16 Cores, Pro-Level Features
The company has announced new C3000 Atom chips that include a nifty number of cores for handling higher streams of data, but for Intel's sake, I hope they don't have any issues like those that plague the C2000 SoCs. These chips happen to have the RAS feature, which corrects data errors on the fly and prevents networking and storage equipment from crashing. I suppose that is noteworthy because this is something you would normally find on the fancier Xeon chips.
The latest Atom C3000 chips announced on Tuesday have up to 16 cores and are more sophisticated than ever. The chips are made for storage arrays, networking equipment, and internet of things devices. The new chips have features found mostly in server chips, including networking, virtualization, and error correction features. Networking and storage devices don't require a lot of horsepower, so the low-power Atom chips fit right in. Only a handful of Intel server chips have more than 16 cores, but the number of Atom cores means the chip can handle more streams of data. The Atom C3000 fits right into Intel's long-term plan to grow in the server, IoT and storage markets.


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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
25 Motif Challenge Motif No.3/25 - Tulip
7 comments:
- Tatting N Craftin RainbowRose said...
Oh WoW!!!! I LOVE this tulip!!! Are you going to be sharing any of your designs by any chance?
Love your tattings!
- March 26, 2008 at 10:40 AM
- singtatter said...
I'm very flattered by your comment! Being fairly new to designing but an experienced tatter, I worked with outlines and I just made up as I tat. I am pushing myself to meet the deadlines of the round robins and in-between, to come up with motifs for the challenge. Now, I'm addicted to just create, and of course, to finish the tatting to send out to my partners. It will be a chore to write out the patterns, as so far, all are not symmetrical motifs. Still hope to find time and the mood some days to sit down to write them out. If I manage to do it, I will love to share some of the patterns. Stay tuned!
- March 26, 2008 at 12:20 PM
- Tattycat said...
The tulip is lovely and very realistic. You did a great job. I hope you will find time to share the pattern one day. I understand the addiction to create as I have just been bitten by that bug recently. Keep up the good work.
- March 26, 2008 at 6:40 PM
- Lace-lovin' Librarian - Diane said...
Your tulip is beautiful! I especially love the leaves! Oh, to be able to design and tat a beautiful flower!
- March 26, 2008 at 6:55 PM
- yarnplayer said...
This is a beautiful tulip!
- March 27, 2008 at 10:32 PM
- LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter said...
I love your free flowing designing style! Keep up the good work!
- March 27, 2008 at 11:19 PM
- lovecrafts said...
Love it! you are a excilent crafter!!! thanks.
- October 10, 2011 at 12:36 PM


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For details, please visit http://malvernbooks.com/event/an-afternoon-with-d-r-goodman/?instance_id=796.
From Malvern's website:
An Afternoon with D.R. Goodman, Cyrus Cassells & Lisa Huffaker
January 25, 2015 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Join us for an afternoon with poets D.R. Goodman, Cyrus Cassells and Lisa Huffaker.
A native of East Tennessee, D.R. Goodman now lives in Oakland, California, where she is founder and chief instructor at a martial arts school. Her poetry has appeared in such journals as Crazyhorse, Notre Dame Review, Texas Review, Cold Mountain Review, Whitefish Review, and many others; in the anthology, Sonnets: 150 Contemporary Sonnets, edited by William Baer; and now in her full-length volume, Greed: A Confession, newly released from Able Muse Press. She is also the author of The Kids' Karate Workbook: A Take-Home Training Guide for Young Martial Artists (North Atlantic/Blue Snake Books); and an illustrated chapbook, Birds by the Bay.
Cyrus Cassells is the author of The Crossed-Out Swastika (Copper Canyon Press, 2012); More Than Peace and Cypresses (Copper Canyon Press, 2004);Beautiful Signor (Copper Canyon Press, 1997), which won the Lambda Literary Award; Soul Make a Path Through Shouting (Copper Canyon Press, 1994), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize; and The Mud Actor(Henry, Holt & Co., 1982), which was a National Poetry Series selection. Cassells is the recipient of a 1995 Pushcart Prize, the Peter I.B. Lavan Younger Poets Award, and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches poetry at the Texas State University-San Marcos for the MFA in writing program.
Since winning Southwest Review's Morton Marr Poetry Prize in 2008, Lisa Huffaker's poems have been published or are forthcoming in Southwest Review, Poet Lore, Measure, Southern Poetry Review, Mezzo Cammin, The Texas Observer, Able Muse, and Southern Humanities Review, which recently nominated her for the Pushcart Prize. Lisa's primary background is classical singing; she holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory, and has sung with The Dallas Opera since 1999. She teaches creative writing at Yavneh Academy of Dallas.


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The low-down on windfarms
The Scottish Wild Land Group has published a special edition of its members magazine devoted to the desecration of the landscape by windfarms. This has been made available to everybody here.
It features articles by Pat Swords, Helen McDade from the John Muir Trust, and John Constable from the Renewable Energy Foundation, among many others.


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Make the most of your running in a shoe that is fast without sacrificing support. An everyday shoe thats easy on your feet.
Best for: Moderate pronators who want a shoe that is stable but fast, free and easy to wear
Benefits: Moderate support delivered by the fanshaped Wave and cushioned U4iC X heel construction together with supportive flex groove design in the forefoot. U4iC midsole delivers a perfect combination of cushioning and lightweight construction. Dynamotion Fit provides a superb fit.
Product features:
- Double Fan Wave and wider gauge for moderate stability
- U4iC midsole for lightweight runs
- U4iC X gives a superbly comfortable and cushioned footbed
Register yourself and get your running analysed with our Gait Analysis Feature.Join us
SIGN INTO GAITLYSign in with Facebook


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Morning Bloggers !
This past weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend so a perfect excuse to get down to some stitching. With the crazy challenge starts out of the way, I got it hard to settle down to a particular project and it did take a day or two for me to settle down to something.
I am doing the next birthday present I need Robin Hood in a stitch along with Linda so I decided the best thing would be to work on the one I need after that which is hubby's hunting picture. This I worked on Friday and Saturday night.
This is where I'd left it after its start for the crazy challenge.
|Prairie School Ornament.
On Sunday night I went onto something that's going to end up as a finished piece for myself and I chose to work on my Mrs Darcy Sampler..oh how I wish I could work on this some more but if I do, none of the birthday pieces will get completed on time lol. So I am doing a little, just enough to feed the soul with it, a reward so to speak for doing the birthday pieces first lol.
This is where it was at the start of last nights stitching session.
This is where I left if off at the end of last nights stitching session. I'm thinking I may leave Sunday evenings for stitching on something that's going to be for me but we shall see.
All in all I'm quite happy with all I got stitched in my weekend. Its amazing how much more I get done since I've cut my computer time right down so I think I shall continue to do that and we might even see the birthday pieces done before birthdays!
Friday shall be a catch up with the stitch a long pieces I'm doing during the week.
Happy stitching,


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Don't Miss the 2017 McCall Winter Carnival
Looking to get out of town for the weekend? Head out to McCall for the annual McCall winter Carnival! The fun begins on January 25th and runs through February 5th. This wonderful community event brings in over 60,000 people to this lakeside resort city.
Festivities start Friday evening with The Children's Torchlight Parade making its way through downtown McCall at 6:30. The parade is followed by a dazzling fireworks display over Payette Lake. On Saturday, you can take in the Mardi Gras Parade beginning at McCall-Donnelly High School at 11:30. Throughout the event, you can wander through town and view the 39 snow sculptures at various businesses.
You will love the parades, snow sculptures, winter sports, ice skating, music, crafts, food and fun that the McCall Winter Carnival has to offer! For more info and a full list of events, visit McCallChamber.org!
Blog by Jenny Cavoretto


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Chuckie boy was out on the Senate floor lambasting Trump for not knowing what he is doing. I can't find that clip, but I found one of his back in 2006 praising his little wonder he created with the so called "Lottery Visa" program he and his buddy best known for his swimming ability, Ted Kennedy. I have posted before on this, but the magnitude of this Trojan Horse has yet to be appreciated. JUST THINK ON THIS! Has anyone posed a greater danger to our Nation?
NEW YORK CITY, New York — The United States' visa lottery has brought in nearly 30,000 foreign nationals from foreign countries designated by the State Department as state-sponsors of terrorism during the last decade.
Since 2007, 28,783 foreign nationals from Iran, Syria and Sudan — three countries which support international terrorism — have become legal immigrants into the United States through the visa lottery, according to new State Department data.
Under the lottery program, championed by former Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the U.S. randomly gives out 50,000 visas every year to foreign nationals from a multitude of countries, including those with known terrorism problems – such as Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Yemen, and Uzbekistan. Winners have undergone only minor screening from immigration officials, even when their ideology is hostile to Americans laws and culture[…]
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