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Posted February 7, 2017
We are often asked to help fire engineers substantiate the use of a fire curtain in many different building types. This is done by stepping through the different types of irradiance performance between the products. Let's explain.
Download Now
- Radiation calculator – FireMaster
- Radiation calculator – FireMaster Plus
- Radiation calculator – FireMaster Concertina
Why do I need a fire engineer to use a fire curtain?
Fire curtains are predominately used to protect openings in fire walls within buildings. The requirements to protect openings is covered in Part C3 of the National Construction Code (NCC) Volume One. The fundamental minimum requirement for fire barriers to protect openings is an insulation performance, usually at least 30 minutes.
Insulation is defined in the NCC as :
Insulation, "in relation to an FRL, means the ability to maintain a temperature on the surface not exposed to the furnace below the limits specified in AS1530.4."
The limits set out for insulation in AS1530.4 – 2014 is :
- the average temperature on the unexposed face of the fire barrier can be no hotter than 140°C above the ambient (room) temperature
- any location on the unexposed face of the barrier can not be hotter than 180°C above the ambient (room) temperature
As fire curtains are normally made from a glass fibre fabric that is approximately 1 mm thick, it is not possible to achieve the performance requirements for insulation as the temperature on the fire side can exceed 1000°C.
A fire engineer is required to assess the suitability of the fire curtain in the particular application, in the particular building due to the lack of insulation which is required to demonstrate the deemed-to-satisfy (DTS) requirements of the NCC.
How can a fire engineer substantiate the use of a fire curtain?
Insulation allows a building designer to have confidence that fire spread within a building is minimised or eliminated and the safe egress of occupants can be achieved. A fire engineer will evaluate the suitability of the fire curtain, usually with reference to the below criteria:
- Is there likely to be fire spread by having combustibles in close proximity to the location of the fire curtain. Combustibles could be
- flooring
- furniture
- stock or other materials that may be stored near the location
- fixed building materials; walls, cupboards etc
- moveable items that may be expected to be left in the area near the fire curtain
- any other items that may be considered to be of risk
- Is there required to be egress near the fire curtain. If the answer is yes, the fire engineer may consider
- will the temperature near the fire curtain be too hot for people to egress? Is it tenable?
- how many people and for how long is it expected people to egress past the fire curtain
- is the egress path wide enough, taking into consideration the higher temperatures due to the lack of insulation
- Will fire brigade intervention be affected by the incorporation of an insulated fire curtain
The list above is not exhaustive and a fire engineer could consider other points that me be required to consider on a project by project basis.
The scientific measure used by a fire engineer to determine whether fire spread may occur or if people will be safe is irradiance. This is the flux of radiant energy per unit area and is measured in kW/m2. By comparing the different irradiance for the different uninsulated fire curtains a fire engineer can justify which type of fire curtains is going to be most suitable for the particular application.
What is the different performance of fire curtains? Aren't all fire curtains the same?
There can be a large difference between fire curtains and certainly the way that their performance is reported in the market. We all know of the FRL and this is the common way to distinguish between products. To keep this comparison as simple as possible I will focus on 3 Coopers fire curtain products.
- FireMaster with an FRL up to -/240/-
- FireMaster Concertina with an FRL up to -/240/-
- FireMaster Plus with an FRL up to -/120/-
Looks like FireMaster Plus is the lesser performing product. Well that depends on the application.
Irradiance is tested as part of an AS1530.4 test and the result recorded at 365 mm from the fire curtain. Most fire curtains are tested to international test standards which normally record the irradiance at 1,000 mm from the fire curtain. Usually a 3m x 3m fire curtain is tested and the results recorded over the duration of the test.
The irradiance of each of these products being reviewed at 1,000 mm is given in the table below.
Irradiance (kW/m2) @ 1 m for a 3m x 3m fire curtain
|Time (mins)
|FireMaster Plus
What these results show is that FireMaster Plus is going to reduce the irradiance significantly more than the other two products and will be more suitable for use in areas with combustibles or expected egress in close proximity to the fire curtain.
What affects the irradiance?
We can see from the table above that irradiance increases over time. That makes sense as the standard fire heating curve gets hotter over time.
We also learnt that different fire curtains and the materials within them can perform better or worse with regard to irradiance.
There are three other factors that will provide different irradiance figures. They are; the setback distance, the size of the fire curtain and the fire heating curve.
Setback distance – the further your move away from the fire curtain the lower the irradiance. Likewise the closer you get to the fire curtain the higher it will be.
The size of the fire curtain – by increasing the size of the fire curtain you are effectively increasing the size of your radiator/radiant panel. This means that more heat will pass through the fire curtain and the irradiance will increase.
Fire heating curve – it is possible that a fire engineer may consider a different fire scenario to that of the standard heating curve in AS1530.4. If the fire is expected to be hotter or cooler, this will effect the irradiance through the fire curtain.
What is the magic number that will make it safe for egress and the fire brigade?
Most published guidelines believe that designing a system based on safe egress where irradiance is limited to a maximum of 2.5 kW/m2. Below are links to a number of credible sources for this information.
- Practice Note for Tenability Criteria in Building Fires – Society for Fire Safety
- Fire Safety Engineered Alternative Solutions – Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA
- Tenability criteria for design of smoke hazard management systems – Umow Lai – Dr Weng Poh
It is therefore going to be of most interest to a fire engineer to determine at what distance and time is irradiance under 2.5 kW/m2 for the fire curtain being considered. This can be calculated using our calculators that have been provided in this article. Below is a table of the results using the 3m x 3m test fire curtain size.
Setback distance (mm) to have less than 2.5 kW/m2 irradiance
|Time (mins)
|FireMaster Plus
Not all fire curtains are the same. Understanding the application, risks and developing the performance criteria is important to ensure that the right fire curtain is specified.
In case you missed it at the top of the article, you can download our calculators which will provide you irradiance based on the curtain size being used.


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You'll meet all kinds of different people when you go travelling. It really opens your eyes up to different cultures, and puts you outside your comfort zone, as you're usually around people you wouldn't necessarily associate with. But during my travels, I always met the same kind of people. And the more I spoke to people, the more I realised I wasn't just the only one. Everyone meets these kind of people…
- The know it all
Everyone will meet at least one of these, and if you haven't, you're probably it. You'll always meet someone that's done everything you've done, but better. Want to check out that temple, or waterfall? They've already done it, and will probably tell you exactly what to do and how to spend your experience. They know everything about everything. And they can usually tell you more about your country, than you can, despite them never visiting. If you're a photographer/blogger, so are they, but better.
- The drunk one
The one that isn't usually that bothered about what country they're in, just as long as there's a bar nearby, with cheap beer. You'll usually find them passed out all day, and only see them awake at night. This is when they'll usually have a cheap bottle of vodka in their hand, wandering around talking to everyone and anyone.
- The tight one
There's always one person that wants to join everyone for a group meal, but then will do nothing but moan about spending £3 on a meal, despite the fact it's loads cheaper than home. They'll sooner spend £1 on street food, then will sit moaning the next day they have food poisoning. They'll usually sit around the hostel doing nothing all day, as they don't want to spend a couple of pounds visiting local attractions.
- The flash one
The opposite of the tight one. Usually never worked a day in their life, and usually living off their parents and their trust fund. They are very rarely found in hostels, as usually they wouldn't be seen dead in somewhere like that. You usually meet these people in bars, where they are offering everyone drinks, and sipping on a bottle of prosecco. They don't look like a backpacker, more like someone who's on a holiday.
- The old one
Whenever I've been travelling, I've always come across someone who's in their 50's/60's, who have either had a partner pass away so they've decided to travel the world and feel young again. Or someone who just didn't bother with a gap year, and has regretted it ever since. You'll either love them or hate them. They're either a pain in the ass, wanting everyone to be quiet from 10pm, so they can sleep, waking you up first thing. Or they'll be a bigger party animal than yourself, and outdrinking the lot of you 'young'uns.' Either way, they're great to talk to. They can usually tell you a few stories.
- The spiritual hippie
The dude that can't remember when they started travelling, or where they've been. Usually stoned out their face, and just sat chilling all day in their own little world. Claiming how travelling changed their life man, and they've found god at some hippie retreat. Catch them on a good day, they can usually spill you a few stories, if they can remember.
- The quiet, sleepy one
The one you'll never hear speak. They'll probably introduce themselves when you arrive, but then that's it. You'll never see them leave their bed, and usually sat watching films all day on their laptop. They make you wonder if they've just come travelling, to pretend to their parents they're finally leaving their rooms.
- The moaner
The one that does nothing but moan everyday about everything. It's too hot, it's too cold. I'm ill again. I miss home. This place is disgusting, blah blah blah. These are usually the ones that do my head in the most. They just bring everyone down. Make the most of everyday. If you're ill, go to the pharmacy. If the place is disgusting, move to another hostel. If you miss home, go home. If it's too hot, put the air con on. We all like a moan now and then, but not all day, every day!
- The Jay
Jay from Inbetweeners is the perfect example of someone we all know, or have met in our life. The guy or girl that brags about everything. They've slept with everyone, and have done everything you've not, that you want to. They've fought off tigers, nearly died 50 million times…you get the picture.
- The 'wrapped in cotton wool' one
The one that really shouldn't be travelling without supervision. You'll feel like a parent to this one. They'll have been wrapped in cotton wool all their lives, therefore have no common sense, and you end up wondering how the hell they've made it this far, without being killed or kidnapped. They'll trust and believe everything they hear and think everyone is out to do them good. Usually the wimp in the group. They won't want to try anything, without ringing and asking their Mum first.

subset: commoncrawl


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Law & School: Will respect for legal precedent save affirmative action?
August 15, 2012
(Editor's note: With August being the "back to school" month for everyone from preschoolers to law students, we'll be looking at recent important developments in education law throughout the month.)
You can read the first week's post about the unconstitutional high school graduation practices in church here.
You can read the second week's post about the legal liability for school bullying here.
Back in February, I wrote a post about the Supreme Court's granting of certiorari to Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin.
The case is a challenge to the University of Texas' (UT) admissions policy, which incorporates some race-based factors, and it's being brought by Abigail Fisher, a white applicant rejected from the University.
My last post about this has a much more detailed factual synopsis, but UT's admissions policy almost identically mirrors those set out and approved in the Supreme Court's 2003 decision Grutter v. Bollinger.
UT's admissions policy was upheld by the court of appeals, which considering how closely the policy was tailored to match Grutter's, that should come as no surprise.
In spite of the appeals court's compliance with Supreme Court precedent, the Supreme Court granted Fisher's petition for certiorari.
This fact alone has many observers predicting that the Court will overturn Grutter and rule all race-based admissions policies unconstitutional.
I actually looked at this possibility in my February post, and I came to largely the same conclusion.
Because Grutter's majority is down from five Justices to three.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired, and her replacement – Justice Samuel Alito – will almost certainly vote to strike down Grutter.
And although Justices Stevens and Souter were replaced with Justices very likely to support Grutter, Justice Elena Kagan – Stevens' replacement – recused herself.
Thus, conventional wisdom seems to suggest that the Court will strike down Grutter.
However, there is no "conventional wisdom" when it comes to the Supreme Court.
Case in point: National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (the health care ruling).
Especially after March's oral arguments, everyone assumed that the Court would strike down the individual mandate; it didn't.
Chief Justice Roberts provided the swing vote to uphold it then, and he may provide the swing vote to save Grutter in the upcoming Fisher.
Except that his vote to uphold Grutter would create a 4-4 split.
Enter: Arizona v. U.S.
In Arizona, Justice Kagan also recused herself, and Justice Kennedy and Chief Justice Roberts sided with the liberal Justices to strike down Arizona's immigration reforms – a result that was, again, unexpected after March's oral arguments.
Of course, the areas of law at issue in Arizona were far more settled than those in Fisher, which deals with an issue that has been extremely contentious with certain groups since its inception.
More likely than not, then, the Court will strike down Grutter, despite its young age of only nine years.
Then again, the decision's youth could be what sways Roberts and Kennedy toward upholding, or at least salvaging a good portion of it.
So it looks like no one will know for sure how Fisher will come down until the Supreme Court announces the decision next year.
In the meantime, dozens of amicus briefs have been and will continue to be filed in support of both sides – with conservative and anti-affirmative action groups behind Fisher, and the U.S. government, colleges (both private and public), minority advocacy groups, and civil rights organizations behind UT.
Nevertheless, the case is not truly about whether affirmative action policies are constitutional.
Rather, in light of Grutter's young age, Fisher is a battle for supremacy between legal precedent and political ideology.


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New Delhi, Aug 2 :
Flights were diverted due to bad weather after rain lashed the national capital and its adjoining areas Saturday leading to clogged roads and traffic snarls.
"Around nine flights were diverted due to bad weather," an official of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here told IANS.
The rain, which lasted for close to an hour, led to clogged roads in many areas, including GTB Nagar, Civil lines, Yusuf Sarai, Green Park, Lajpat Nagar, Aurobindo Marg, R.K. Puram, Saket, Malviya Nagar and Anand Prabat.
"The rain in Delhi is always welcome, but the accompanying traffic jams ruin the fun," Kapil Verma, a Delhi University student, told IANS.
"I had to do so much work today, but I was stuck for over 45 minutes for a four km ride," Renuka Rai, a resident of Lajpat Nagar, told IANS.
The morning was sunny with a minimum temperature of 28.1 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average.
The Met Office had forecast light rainfall and thundershowers in some parts of the city.
Friday was warm with the maximum temperature settling at 37.7 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season's average. The minimum temperature was 28.1 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average.


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Our catalog and price list can be found in electronic format at this link (Catalog). Alternatively we can send you a paper copy if you email us your address via the Contact us form.
Much of our ribbon is weather proof. ALL of the Velvet and Polysatin bows and ribbon are weather proof. The details page for each item on our web site will indicate the level of weather durability. See below for more details on our weather durability clarifications.
Weather proof decorations and ribbon can withstand extreme outside weather conditions. Colors will not run. However as with anything left in the sunlight fading may occur over time. Weather resistant decorations and ribbon can withstand normal outside conditions. Weather sensitive decorations and ribbons should have minimal exposure to outside weather in order to maintain their appearance.
At this time we take Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover. We DO NOT ship COD. If you wish to apply for credit, please fill out this form (Credit Application) and fax back to us. Please make sure you provide as much information as possible, including fax numbers so we can expedite your request. Credit applications can take 1 week to process.
We ship ground shipments via UPS and overnight packages via the US Postal Service (USPS). If we have an item assembled and the order is placed before 1 p.m. ET it will usually ship that day. Orders placed after 1 p.m. or are not assembled will normally ship the following business day. Transit time for USPS is one day and is also delivered on Saturdays, anywhere in the country. Transit time for UPS Ground shipments can range from 1 day in New England to 6 business days to the west coast. Please refer to the transit map on our Shipping Info page
We DO NOT mark up shipping. We only charge the rates that UPS and the USPS charge us. Bows are a bulky product and therefore shippers charge based on the dimensions and not the actual weight. In some cases we have negotiated rates that are better than published rates. We pass these savings on to you.
There is no minimum order amount. However, our packaging is designed for the volume buyers. We cannot sell in quantities less than those listed for each item.
Our discounts for volume purchases will automatically apply to your shopping cart when your order exceeds $250. If you prefer faxing or emailing an order use the order form at this link. Our online discount structure is as follows:
- Over $250 - 15% discount
- Over $500 - 20% discount
No. The 6" wide bow is the smallest bow we stock at this time. If you have a large custom job with smaller bows, we would be happy to quote it for you.
No. We show some of our bows with wreaths so you can envision them on your wreaths. If you are looking for wreaths we can provide the names of some of our customers who sell wreaths.
If you are a wholesaler, please provide your tax reseller ID in the comments section upon check-out and we will remove the sales tax from your order. Please note that tax is only added to products shipped to a Massachusetts address.
We are please to announce that we now will ship internationally. The locations we will ship to are listed when you calculate freight. Please note we have made a conscious choice to ship to these locations as shipping internationally can get very expensive for our bulky products. If you reside somewhere not listed, please let us know, and we will provide a custom freight quote.
If your decorating job requires a size or item you do not see in our online store, please call for a custom quote. We stock and have access to numerous ribbons that are not shown online. We have the capability to manufacture other types of bows as well. For custom orders we prefer quantities of 1,000 or more. Email us through our Contact us form with a detailed request and we will be happy to provide a quote.
We pay particular attention to ensuring that a bow is as beautiful when it reaches you as when we first placed it in the box. We pack our bows in crush proof trays that withstand the rigors of common shippers. When they arrive, you can either pull them from the trays to decorate, or just sell them right from the trays.
|Ribbon Width
|7/8 inch
|1 7/16 inch
|2 1/2 inch
|4 inch
|6 inch
No. Due to variations in computer monitors and digital cameras we cannot guarantee the colors will be exactly as shown in the pictures.
These are suggestions based on customer feedback throughout the years. However, there is no correct answer for choosing the right bow size. Factors such as wreath thickness and personal preference will vary.
|Wreath Size
|Bow Size
|Bow Dimension
|8" ring
|6 loop # 9
|6" diameter, 6" tails
|10" ring
|4 loop #40
|8" diameter, 12" tails
|12" ring
|6 loop #40
|8.5" diameter, 14" tails
|16" ring
|8 loop #40
|10" diameter, 17" tails
|24" ring
|10 loop #40
|12" diameter, 24" tails
|36" ring
|10 loop #100
|15" diameter, 35" tails
|48" ring & larger
|10 loop BIG!
|24" diameter, 60" tails


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The Launch of Lifting-The-Barriers Reports 2014
Asean Business Club (ABC) Co-Chairman Datuk Nazir Razak has urged the government to lay out Malaysia's strategy for the Asean Economic Community (AEC), which will be a reality from next year.
He said Malaysia, the Asean chairman in 2015, should further push the country's aspiration and contribution to making the AEC a more meaningful economic reality.
ABC Corporate Networking Lunch 2014
ABC delegates had an opportunity to listen to Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia at a special networking luncheon hosted by CIMB Group. She shared on what the business community can expect from the impending financial integration for Malaysia and ASEAN.
Dialogue With Cabinet Ministers
The ABC delegates had a dialogue with two ministers from Prime Minister's Department, YB Senator Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid Omar and YB Senator Dato' Sri Idris Jala.
Special Session with Prime Minister YAB Dato' Sri Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak
Special meet-and-greet session with Malaysian Prime Minister YAB. Dato' Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak later in the evening.
4th Annual Gala Dinner
The ABC 4th Annual Gala Dinner was held alongside the forum. Speakers at the dinner included His Excellency Ambassador Kirk Wagar, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore who spoke about America's continued and significant contribution and support to the ASEAN integration agenda. Former Vice Chancellor of Germany, Dr. Philipp Rösler, who is the Managing Director and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum, gave a speech on transformation in a disruptive world.
ABC Forum 2014
Key regional business leaders and stakeholders from across ASEAN converged in Singapore for the two-day ASEAN Business Club Forum to identify bottlenecks and barriers hindering free trade ahead of implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. The forum was held from 8th-9th September at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore.
ABC Forum 2014 Chairman, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes who is also an ASEAN Business Club (ABC) Council Member and the Group CEO of AirAsia stressed the importance of co-operation between government and private sector to facilitate businesses so that their growth will not be impeded.
ABC Delegation to Manila, Philippines
The ASEAN Business Club spearheaded a delegation to Manila, which included a courtesy call on President Benigno S. Aquino III and a unique roundtable discussion with members of the Philippine government. The panelists at this roundtable were Gregory Domingo, Secretary of Trade and Industry, Cesar V. Purisima, Secretary of Finance and Bangko Sentral Governor, Amando Tetangco Jr.


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Kevin Westenberg Photographer
'I think in black and white,' admits Kevin Westenberg. 'If I didn't have to do colour, I probably wouldn't.' This is not what you expect to hear from the purveyor of some of the most striking and vividly-coloured photographic portraits of recent years. Then again, Westenberg's monochrome images are equally powerful. Evidence, certainly, of his versatility and professionalism, but perhaps there is more to it than that.
This apparent contradiction is just one of several associated with this rising talent of contemporary photography. He's a North American who fell in love with London. His passion for music drew him towards rock photography, but he never yearned to join a band. He's a consummate technician, but one who has never studied photography and is entirely self-taught. (Instead he spent six years as an architecture student.)
At heart a great portraitist,nevertheless his portfolio can boast peerless live shots, and his images have recently illustrated tour programmes for Coldplay, The Corrs, U2 and Dido.
Having grown up in Vancouver and Seattle, it was during a 6 month Architecture exchange program in Denmark, which he describes as ?a completely transforming experience?, that he had his first meaningful encounters with both photography – he bought his first camera in Copenhagen – and the European music scene. Inspired by punk, he moved to London and tried his hand as a music photographer.
It is twenty years now since his first published work appeared, and his images have graced the covers of countless records – by the likes of Sting, BB King, The Pixies, Tom Jones, Soundgarden, Jane's Addiction, The Corrs, The Breeders and U2 – and of magazines including Mojo, Rolling Stone, NME,Time Out, Rockin?On Japan, Studio Magazine, X-Ray and The Daily Telegraph.


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Are you planning a holiday? If that is true, then you are definitely looking for accommodation also. There are plenty of choices when it comes to lodging, these days. You could either rent a villa out or even decide to stay with friends or family or book yourself. For now, we're going to be looking at a few tips that can help you pick the best villa out. We will let you know that you should go about when choosing one. Find someone reputable to help out you. If you're visiting a city for the first time, you would need to find someone reputable to utilize. Should be a type of tourist guide who would have the ability to offer you an unbiased review of the various villas available. If you are searching for more information on luxury orlando villas, view the earlier mentioned site.
However, before choosing an agent, you will need to be certain that they're qualified and recognized by the authorities of their country. Don't pick somebody who owns a string of villas. Usually, most of the travel agents have their own assortment of villas. They give you reviews of their other choices and thereby get themselves their next customers. Take a look at the sites of various travel agents, and you would surely encounter some that are really good at their job. Take a look. Well, there is a vacation something that you would want to remember for quite a long time, and it needs to be perfect. Take a look at all the possible options that are available. Be certain to do accept an offer when it looks good because there could be others that are a whole lot better.
Pick a villa based on your interests. Well, once we go on a holiday we usually plan the trip out. We plan the things that intend to do and we plan to see. So, when you've made up special plans try to book a villa where you are going to spend a whole lot of time. As soon as you've found a villa which fits your preferences, have a chat with the villa's supervisor before closing the deal. A good manager needs to be knowledgeable and friendly. He should have the ability to make you feel comfortable and provide you with advice on various things. Price the frontier. No matter states or which country you're currently visiting, the price is going to pay a really crucial role when it comes to picking a villa for your holiday. Have a look at the options available and inspect them. Now create a list of the pros and cons of them all and then make a final decision by considering all the factors.


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Big Data - Beyond the hype
Big data, along with cloud computing, is a term that has come to dominate current IT industry debate. With the continued rise of smartphones, tablets and social networks, and an ever increasing proportion of business processes becoming digitised, we all see evidence of the vast amounts of data that these transactions and communications produce.
At Interxion, we wanted to get a real understanding of the current state of play in how businesses were tackling big data. In our Europe-wide report, Big Data – Beyond the Hype, we explore some of the following themes:
The appetite and capability of business to capitalise on big data
- The ability of IT departments to take the necessary long-term view to make big data a success
- Restrictions on IT's capacity to deliver
- The robustness of the business case and expected commercial benefits
The study has unearthed some interesting findings – for instance:
- A third (33%) of IT decision makers struggle to take a proactive and long-term strategic view due to the pressures of dealing with short term, reactive business requirements (cited by 80%)
- Big data is a strategic proposition – companies where the IT strategy is aligned with the business plan are much more likely to have explored the possibilities of big data
- Just a quarter of businesses had explored and made a successful business case for big data
- Customer management systems (41%), e-commerce (35%) and financial transactions (34%) are the applications driving big data needs
- Although only 7% of respondents see big data as a priority currently, 62% believe it will become a priority within the next three years


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2012 – You're Dead To Me… Part Two – Reflections
January 1, 2013 Leave a comment
June 2012
Eyes wide open… Reflections In the darkest hours of the night, when sleep should prevail, without prejudice, without mercy, questions pour into my head. I lie awake and I wonder…
May 2012
"If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." Friedrich Nietzsche I made a point to take my two young daughters to NYC shortly after 911 even though they missed the ascent to the top of the Statue of Liberty for security reasons, they were able to ascend to the top of the Empire State Building.
April 2012
The Tampa Bay Times "Scott Bashing" on the Wrong Track… The Tampa Bay Times in the editorial section of the 04/10/2012 edition AGAIN trashes Governor Rick Scott on the issue of rail.
Have You Hugged Your Building Custodian Today? Leadership begins with mutual respect. The leaders I respect the most lead by example. Politicians, pundits and the media can go around trying to divide people into haves and have-nots, but there's really no divide between most of us.


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Last year, the Dolphins' star receiver, Brandon Marshall, and quarterback Chad Henne were rarely on the same page. The team didn't play well; Marshall didn't catch touchdowns. Marshall even went as far as to tell a radio interviewer that Tyler Thigpen "gets it" more than Henne does. (In case you were wondering, he was talking about the same Tyler Thigpen who screws skeletons.)
But now things are all lovey-dovey between Marshall and Henne, per the Sun-Sentinel:
"I mean, it's just the communication," Henne said. "We're building it, I'm happy with it. The more our offense communicates as a whole, the better our offense will be."
After the game in the locker room, Marshall went out of his way to praise Henne—something that never happened a season ago. A reporter asked Marshall a non-specific question about the success of the offense, and Marshall used it as a platform to instead talk about Henne.
"I love how Chad Henne took over the offense," Marshall said. "He's just done a tremendous job of taking over the huddle. You need that in a quarterback. The talent is there, but the leadership he's shown from the offseason into this camp has been amazing, a huge difference."
Marshall underwent treatment for a borderline personality disorder during the offseason, so this all has the familiar ring of a couple fresh off their first few counseling sessions. Just wait until Henne comes home to find Marshall in bed with Thigpen. Then it all goes out the window.
Dolphins' Chad Henne, Brandon Marshall working to improve relationship [Sun-Sentinel]


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DISH Network carries NYC TV stations in HD
EchoStar Communications' DISH Network satellite TV service will carry local high-definition TV channels, via its satellite TV service, to customers in New York City and surrounding counties.
Customers who sign up for any of the new DishHD packages can take advantage of more than 1700 hours of HD programming every week, including their local HD broadcasts.
DISH Network offers local channels via satellite to New York area customers in 14 counties.
DISH Network said it would launch HD local channels through its satellite service in up to 50 markets in 2006, starting with New York and reaching more than 50 percent of U.S. TV households with local HD channels by year's end. To make this possible, the company is beginning to transmit newly added HD channels using MPEG-4 signal compression.


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Thinking about the tough questions…
Why is there so much pain?
I've spent vast slabs of my life struggling with this question, and I know I'm not alone.
So many people who have been diagnosed with mental illness have experienced phenomenal adversity. Not just from our so-called 'symptoms', but from our life experiences. Isolation, neglect, violence, abuse, poverty, exclusion, the list just goes on.
The activist in me likes to explore these questions by looking at the world around us. I wish that we could have a world without abusers, war mongers, dictators, bad parents, poverty or pain. And I do believe this is something we should all strive for, every day: to make this the best world that we can.
The healer in me says "well and good, but do remember that no matter what you do, there will always be pain in this world." Pain is necessary, and it has a purpose. And so we need to better understand this phenomenon, rather than put all our energy into trying to get rid of it.
Pain shows us what joy is.
There's a wonderful chapter in Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (1923) which helps me to think about pain and suffering in context:
Gibran suggests life is like a cup, and sorrow carves out the space in the cup. The more sorrow we have, the bigger our cup.
And what is the cup for? It is there to hold our joy.
I love this idea, and it feels true to me. How can we understand and truly appreciate joy, and love, without also understanding their opposite emotions?
As terrible as it is to experience suffering, it does bring us a gift – it deepens our appreciation of all that is good, and kind, and joyful in this world.
Imagine living a life of absolute painlessness. No adversity of any kind. Would we value what we had or take it for granted? And if something painful did happen, would we know how to deal with it?
Sometimes I find it helpful to think about this idea in the context of the physical world. There is no day without night. No beaches without land. No summer without winter. No life without death. And similarly, we can't have joy without pain.
Pain helps us to grow.
The extraordinary poet, human rights activist and Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, also talks about pain.
Forgive my somewhat crass interpretation of his sensitive, poetic words in the book Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames (2002):
Nhat Hanh says that no-one likes shit. Yet this is the substance that creates compost, and without compost new life will never grow.
Our emotional and personal 'shit' is kind of the same. Pain is our inner compost, from which new life, new possibilities, can grow.
I love this idea as well. For me, my pain has helped me find a life worth living – working to change our mental health system into something which is truly healing, and never harmful. Without all of the life 'shit' I would never have found this meaning that I am so passionate about.
Easing Suffering.
These ideas don't make the pain go away, of course, but they can ease the suffering inflicted by the pain.
Firstly, we can begin to understand that we are not being targeted – pain is a normal part of the big, wide spectrum of life experience.
And secondly we can begin to see the gifts in that pain, that it has a purpose. Most people would not exercise at the gym on all those painful machines if they didn't know why they were there. But knowing that the physical pain and exertion will lead to greater fitness, we see the purpose in the pain, and our suffering lessens.
Sometimes I find it helpful to think about this idea in the context of the physical world. There is no day without night. No beaches without land. No summer without winter. No life without death. And similarly, we can't have joy without pain.
There is a Buddhist saying:
"Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional"
I first heard this saying in a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) session, and it made me very angry. I stormed out of the group, went home cursing at the world, and self-harmed. I really did not like this saying!
But I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. I mulled over it again and again, and started reading more about this idea. Today it is one of my favourite sayings, and it often holds me together when times get tough.
I think that when I first heard this saying, I took it to mean that my suffering was my own fault. I was stupid; I was choosing to feel this way, to have such an awful life.
Looking back, in a way this was true – but not in the way I thought at the time. Yes, I had chosen misery, not consciously or willfully, but because misery and suffering were all that I knew. I self-harmed frequently and violently, not to freak everyone out, or to make myself feel worse – it was actually a coping strategy. Self-harm helped me to survive, to transform what felt like unbearable emotional pain into something physical and tangible.
It was not the best choice – self harm is never a great choice. But it is a choice that makes sense when we don't know anything else we can do. And I honour that past self-harm because it helped me to stay alive.
We can do a little, but not always a lot, about the pain that life inflicts on us.
But we can do a lot about how we respond to that pain. Changing our responses to pain take a huge amount of learning, practice, commitment and support – but it is always possible.
I encourage you to take the journey of easing your suffering, while also accepting that pain is inevitable, and that it holds gifts within it.
I don't have all the answers, of course, but here are some places that might be helpful to start…
a. Let go of self-judgment
Your feelings and responses are not there to be judged. They just are. You, like everyone else, have done the best you can with what you know and what you have. Let go of shame.
b. Connect with others
You are not alone.
No matter how strange or awful your experiences are – there are many others who have been there too.
I spent years thinking that I was an absolute freak of nature, evil at my core, and deserving of punishment. It wasn't true. I was a victim of others, and taking the shame that belonged to them onto me. Since I have been able to share my experiences, I have found many other women with similar experiences and beliefs. And each time I do, my shame lessens more.
Share your story and connect with others.
c. Believe that change is possible
The world is full of people who believed they could never change – yet they have. Twelve years ago I myself was told I would never recover or work again – yet here I am, doing fine. Change is really the only thing that doesn't change!
d. Discover new ways of responding to pain
This is an area where your support workers can really help, as can your peers. Take yourself on a voyage of discovery, and know that just because nothing worked in the past, doesn't mean you have tried it all.
e. Be patient and persistent
I once heard a woman talk about her recovery. She said everything that has made her strong took thousands of times of practice before she really got it.
I think learning new ways of being is like flexing stiff old muscles. It takes time before it feels good and right. So give yourself time, practice, and find people who will encourage and support you.
And finally, in the words of that very famous British Prime Minister (and fellow nutter) Sir Winston Churchill:
"Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up.
Never give up.
Never Give Up.


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Cedar Allergy Symptoms
Cedar allergy, or cedar fever, is a form of seasonal allergic rhinitis that shares the usual hay fever symptoms. Some types of cedar trees produce especially prolific amounts of allergenic pollen; Japanese cedar, mountain cedar, and Eastern and Western redcedars actually belong to the juniper and cypress families but are commonly classed as cedars in the United States. Although most cedars pollinate and cause allergy symptoms in the spring, the mountain cedar of the south central U.S. states reproduces in the winter and may cause severe allergic rhinitis.
Eye Symptoms
Winter or spring symptoms in hay fever patients may be caused by cedar or another airborne tree pollen, which affects the mucous membranes of the body. Itchy, red, teary eyes may result, as well as inflammation of the eyelids. Eyelids may swell, and under-eye areas may darken.
These allergy symptoms are triggered by histamine, a substance produced in abnormal reaction to the ingestion of cedar pollen, the Cleveland Clinic reports. Tiny cedar pollen granules can travel through the breeze and stick to unprotected eyes, inducing further irritation. Because of this tree pollen's long-distance mobility, cedar allergy symptoms can occur in areas outside the growing range.
Nose Symptoms
Nasal symptoms and breathing problems constitute the most disturbing effects of allergic rhinitis. According to the Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Clinic of Georgetown, Texas, these effects create a domino effect, setting off other health problems that can combine to significantly disable patients.
A runny nose develops when hay fever histamine sends fluid into the mucous membranes. Excess mucus in the nasal passages can drain into the sinus cavities and the throat. Inflammation causes mucus to accumulate in and congest the airways, creating a stuffy nose. Sneezing may become forceful in an attempt to clear the nasal passages of mucus and cedar pollen.
Throat Symptoms
Histamine-induced itching also affects the mouth and throat, states the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC). People with allergic rhinitis may clear their throats frequently, irritating and inflaming the membranes. As the mucus from postnasal drip contacts this tissue, a sore throat and cough may develop.
Facial and Sleep Symptoms
The stress of coughing and sneezing plus the pressure from sinus inflammation can lead to facial tenderness accompanied by headaches. Some hay fever discomforts make sleep difficult, and the sneeze reflex, in particular, interrupts deep sleep. The UMMC states that fatigue and facial pain may arise from the combined stress of other cedar allergy symptoms.
- David De Lossy/Photodisc/Getty Images


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I get asked all the time how I get such great photos of pets. And to be honest? It's not that tough! It requires a little patience, a little training and, most importantly, GOOD LIGHT. Are you seeing a theme in these posts? I hope so.
So today, I'm going to break down the easiest way to get great shots of your pets. You don't need a studio or anything fancy, you just need a large window and some stinky cheese. Here we go.
1. Get your animal in the room with the best light. For a refresher on lighting, go here. If you see your dog doing something cute at 10 pm by the light of your television, dear sweet jesus do NOT take a photo and post it online. No one else will tell you this, but I will: Photos taken inside at night? They usually suck. For it to be worth it, your cat better be hula hooping. Sorry to rain on your parade.
2. Get the animal up a little. They are less likely to move if perched on something (a bed! a chair! a radiator!). Plus? This creates a more interesting angle.
3. Remove all unnecessary clutter/color from the background. Keeping your shots clean is key. Below is an example of me doing this in my everyday life. Also? Shot on the iPhone.
This was Magda looking all sassy on my messy bed. So my first step was to (somewhat) make the bed and shoot it from an angle where you couldn't see my messy hampers/background. The middle photo is a little better, but by no means does my bed look like it's straight outta Pottery Barn (even though it is, ahem), so I changed up the angle in the last photo to really make the focus my dear, sweet girl. Much better, eh?
4. If your animal is pretty good at sitting/staying, then you'll need a high value treat (bleu cheese is Magda's favorite) to draw their attention. You want to hold the cheese right below (or above) your camera lens. They will hold their gaze wherever the food is.
5. If your dog will not stay and is instead lunging at you for the treat, maybe watch this video. (Yes, the effects and type are horrendous, but I really like this guy's technique.)
See? Simple. And if it's not that simple, and you want ME to take photos of your dog for only sixty bucks, maybe go look at this deal I have going!


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Hello To all the users and subscribers,
id just like to let you know we changed our url to – http://timelessrambles.wordpress.com. Please Update Your Bookmarks And Links. This blog will still remain located at this url but may not be posted on.
I apologise for any inconvenince cause to you, but this was a big desicion and was a lot of work for me.
I may be able to redirect this blog to the new one, i am just waiting on an email from the wordpress staff.


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At a hearing on "Bread Standards," held during the summer of 1949 before the Federal Security Administrator, consideration was given to the possible allergenic ingredients of bread, including corn and the refined corn derivatives. The testimony revealed a sharp difference of opinion regarding the incidence of sensitiveness to corn among the allergic population. The divergence was so marked as to justify an inquiry into the present status of allergy to corn and to present additional and pertinent experimental evidence.
Dr. Theron G. Randolph testified that corn was second only to wheat as a specific cause of chronic food allergy. He
BERNTON HS. FOOD ALLERGY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CORN AND REFINED CORN DERIVATIVES*. Ann Intern Med. 1952;36:177–185. doi: https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-36-1-177
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Queen Elizabeth National Park is the largest national park in Uganda and is home to several hundred species of birds and animals. Although several companies offer complete packages, none fit our budget or our dates – we decided to be adventurous and planned the whole trip ourselves, thanks to the wonderful advice from the folks at Lonely Planet.
It was pouring rain when we woke up on Saturday morning – we got to the bus station almost 30 minutes early and found decent seats. The blogs, we had read back home, had mentioned that African buses tend to run late, sometimes upto an hour late in order to fill all the seats in the bus. Nothing could have prepared for what came next – maybe it was the rain or the start of the long weekend - the bus took almost 2 ½ hours to fill and we left the bus station exactly 3 hours after we boarded the bus! We had plenty of leg room but were cramped at the shoulders as there were no armrests. The bus stopped at every village and town on the route boarding passengers, chicken and some street vendors. We passed rolling hills with lush green tea plantations and miles of banana and sugarcane crops before reaching the famous Rwenzori mountains that form the Ugandan-Congo border. From there we headed south to Kasese, the closest town to the park, 7 hours after we left from Kampala.
Fortunately, our driver/ guide, Vincent was waiting for us at Kasese and drove us straight to the park to the Mweya peninsula where we were staying. We were lucky enough to come across a herd of African elephants as they were finishing their dinner before we checked into our hostel. After a lovely three course dinner at the Mweya Safari Lodge, we went to bed that night, exhausted but content.
The next morning we were up early for the game drive – it was a cool, calm morning and we got to hang out with a family of lions lounging after a big meal (supposedly wild buffalo). We saw plenty of Ugandan Kob (part of the antelope family), waterbucks, elephants and a small family of hippos before we returned back to the hostel for breakfast. Ugandan kob are graceful animals with exquisite eyes - its is featured on the coat of arms with the gray crested crane.
After lunch, we headed to the Kazinga channel for the boat ride. The Kazinga channel is a 41 Km natural waterway that connects Lakes George and Albert in South-Western Uganda and is home to hundreds of native bird species. While it was one of the hottest days of the month, we did get to see some amazing birds- kingfishers, sandpipers, egrets, herons, eagles and even a few flamingoes. The 'biggest' surprise was the hippopotami – apparently they spend the entire day in water and graze at nights. They seemed pretty shy and would duck completely into the water as the boat crossed past them but our guide warned us that they could easily topple a big boat when aggravated. When we got off the boat, we visited the Mweya Visitors Center which has an interesting museum – several displays on the geology of the area, bird species, skeletal remains and stuffed animals. One box I found quite curious was neatly organized and labeled – animal dung from the various animals in the park!
We had an excellent time at QENP and were happy to have seen 3 of the 'big 5' (in safari terms, lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and wild buffalo). The return trip was only slightly better since our seats were in the last row !


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- Welcome
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- Geof Cox's Blog
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- Globalisation, politics and social enterprise
- Social Enterprise Law in South Eastern Europe
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- The dark side of the social enterprise boom...
- What would a social enterprise economy look like?
- Where does social enterprise fit in postcapitalism?
- Can social enterprise save public services?
- Greece, France - making enterprise more social...
- Small is the new big!
- Social impact is no longer an option for big brands
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- Does the social enterprise movement lack leadership?
- Business models based on greed and exploitation
- Not many jokes...
- NHS Social Enterprise Spin-outs - the real story
- Will tendering ever work for social enterprise?
- Learning from the Open Source Movement
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- The focus on a few kinds of social enterprise is blinding us to a bigger picture
- What do social enterprise and chocolate have in common?
- From Albania Again
- Guardian Social Enterprise Summit
- A conflict common to many co-operatives...
- Social Enterprise in Albania
- 2010 social enterprise visit to Russia - 1
- Day 2 in Rybinsk: -18°c
- Post 3 from Russia - Back to Moscow
- A typical question...
- Sounding like David Cameron...
- Do structures stymie social enterprise?
- 'Right to Request' tender collapses
- The number of 'social enterprises' just doesn't add up
- Social Firms Conference
- What is it, exactly, we're doing with Social Firms?
- Social Firms UK Annual Conference
- Social Firms and the CIC Consultation
- What is social enterprise?
- Social Enterprise in Russia – Week 1 - Moscow, Schekino and Kaluga
- Social Enterprise in Russia – Week 2 - Rybinsk
- Social Enterprise in Russia – Week 2 - Vyshniy Volochek & Ostashkov
- Social Enterprise in Russia – Week 3 - Moscow & Aleksin
- Ostashkov Conference, October 2008
- Selected old blog entries
- Social Enterprise Transformation
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- Eastern Europe & Eurasia
- Associates and trusted partners
Geof Cox's Blog
Social Enterprise in Albania
Monday 10th May Tirana to Shkoder
In addition to my social enterprise development work for Oxfam in Russia, I'm also now helping to restructure the Oxfam country operation in Albania as a social enterprise.
To give me some idea of their work here, this morning Oxfam drove me out from the capital, Tirana, to the far northern town of Shkoder (pronounced Shkoddra) where we transferred to a big Landrover Defender – there are no made up roads out to the isolated villlages where Oxfam works – and subsequently to the even bigger and more rugged Landrover of one of Oxfam's partner NGOs, the Albanian Permaculture Resource Centre (which Oxfam actually set up). We were soon among horse and donkey-drawn farm traffic and – despite the valley heat – snow-peaked mountains. Little boys with sticks encourage solitary cows along the track that challenges even the Landrover, until we abandon that too alongside the most beautiful river – the water turquoise under the white rock and sun. We make our way on foot across the valley, over a bridge only passable in summer (though in Albania this is most of the year!) - where you look far down into a deep gorge under the water - then up the other side of the valley to the little farm we are visiting here.
Back to Moscow
Read from the first of my February 2010 blog posts from Russia here.
Russian restaurants, outside the big cities at least, are very different from those in Britain. In the evenings most have live music, and everyone - all ages - dances. It was in such a restaurant that we spent our last evening in Rybinsk, and drank vodka Russian style.
Victor was the master of ceremonies. He doesn't usually drink vodka in fact, but this restaurant had a particularly fine Siberian vodka – unfortunately not available in the the UK – for which he made an exception. First, a small glass is filled with vodka, and a second larger one with tomato or orange juice (most Russians prefer tomato). Then the toast, made in turn by anyone present who feels moved to initiate it, and the vodka is knocked back in one, followed straight down by a large gulp of juice. The other essential, after a few of these, is water: Sergey had the forethought earlier to give us all a bottle of water for our rooms - I drank the whole litre as soon as I got back, and woke up the next day feeling fine.
Day Two in Rybinsk: -18°c
By way of background I gave Helen a copy of the Wikipedia article on Rybinsk – unfortunately her eye was drawn unerringly not to the town's illustrious past or many architectural treasures, but to the article's apocalyptic warning that...
the giant Rybinsk dam, which holds the Rybinsk Reservoir (until recently the largest man-made body of water on Earth) places the town in imminent danger of the dam breaking and the reservoir flooding the city
Hopefully the fact that the reservoir, and most of the huge span of the Volga, are almost entirely covered by ice at the moment makes the danger a little less imminent!
Many people in Rybinsk have other pressing problems. In soviet times this was a closed town, and they still manufacture aircraft engines and components, but during the collapse of the soviet system in the 1990s most military work here ceased, and about 80,000 people lost their jobs. Only about 20,000 new jobs have been created over more recent years – this in a country where welfare benefits are not really enough to live on at all, let alone achieve any quality of life.
My social enterprise development sessions – which sometimes seem to revolve entirely around discussions of the impenetrable workings of Russian customs – are thankfully interspersed with Helen's story development workshops.
2010 social enterprise visit to Russia - 1
When I got into the car in Rybinsk this morning Victor pointed to the temperature displayed on the dashboard. Although it was a beautiful sunny morning and not even particularly early – about 9am – the outside temperature was still only -16°c. Victor told us about a previous visit to Rybinsk, when even he had found it so chilly he ran to the car. When the dashboard lit that day the outside temperature read -42°c.
Over the last two years I've been advising Oxfam on the role social enterprise might play in their anti-poverty work in Russia. At first this was focussed on strategy: understanding the legal/financial environment for social enterprise, the resources and capacity of the NGOs for disadvantaged people Oxfam is working with, what external support might be available, and so on. Now at last the work has moved on to what for me is a more exciting phase: real social enterprise development work.
A typical question...
Here's a question I received in an e-mail last week:
I'm going to the SE conference in Cardiff next week. On their registration form they have Charities and Social Enterprises listed in different delegate fee categories. I thought that Charities (or more specifically their trading arms) are SEs? Am I easily confused?
I get a lot of questions like this at workshops and seminars, and you can read my own attempt to cut through the definitions confusion here: What's all this about social enterprise?
But this particular asking of the question did make me think a bit harder - because it came from a lady who has worked for years at a high level in social enterprise - actually for one of the employee ownership apex bodies - and who is currently researching her Masters in Ethical & Responsible Tourism.
Do we just have a definitions mess - or is there a bigger tragedy going on here? Have we actually succeeded in taking our wonderfully clear and simple and popular message - that you can do business to do good - and muddying it up so thoroughly that hardly anybody can now understand it?
Sounding like David Cameron...
I was in a meeting with a well-known social entrepreneur today who was most disturbed when somebody said he sounded like David Cameron. Are we turning Tory? Or have they finally worked out, in the aftermath of the financial world collapse, that business models based on greed and exploitation really don't work?
Here's what I think is happening...
The historic alliance of Big Business and Conservative Counties has collapsed. Globalisation with its reduction of market town high streets to bland uniformity and replacement of human contact with automated switchboards is no more acceptable to Middle England than it's ability to move production to China is to Trade Unionists.
It's obvious to all now that unfettered competition doesn't lead to real diversity and choice – to the local and individualistic and quirky - but to the illusory choice of colourful wrappers around international monoculture and financial institutions too big to fail.
We may have different views on where to put windfarms, but we can all see that using more and more energy on making more and more stuff we don't really need, spending more on advertising them than making them in the first place, and transporting them half-way round the world, is just plain crazy.
Do structures stymie social enterprise?
At a recent social enterprise investment conference Financial Times enterprise editor Jonathan Guthrie said that although social enterprise was 'an attractive-sounding phrase', one of his worries was the 'vagueness of the structures'. According to Guthrie, this presents problems for funders - and in the end funders will impose what they see as appropriate structures. Nick Temple from the School for Social Entrepreneurs, who shared the podium with Guthrie, disagreed with this.
I think this disagreement is over two sides of the same coin: the positive side of the diversity of structures we have is being better able to develop exactly the right structure for purpose; the negative side is how confusing and difficult the choices involved in this can be.
Funders have always, and will always have specific requirements on legal/financial structure: grant-giving trusts and foundations have them, banks have them, and now specialist social enterprise funds have them. This is not a problem in itself - a big part of developing the right structure has always been anticipating the scale and type of funding that will be appropriate - though getting the optimal structure to meet funders' criteria, plus all the other constraints of business model, scale, mission, values, and so on, can indeed be difficult. I was involved a few years ago in a research project for Social Firms UK that revealed that over half of all the social enterprises surveyed were disatisfied with their legal structure!
'Right to Request' tender collapses
The DoH tender to provide support to NHS staff wishing to set up social enterprises has been suddenly withdrawn.
The collapse of this tender will have come as no surprise to social enterprise developers engaged with the NHS - but the slow take-up of the 'right to request' is not because social enterprise goes 'over the heads' of frontline staff as one senior NHS manager patronisingly claimed.
The problem is much simpler than this: it is the failure of the DoH to deal clearly and honestly with the NHS pensions issue. A survey of PCTs in April revealed that 'the biggest [stumbling block for frontline staff exercising their 'right to request' to set up a social enterprise] is uncertainty over NHS pension rights and benefits'.
In a number of places, such as its official Guide to the Right to Request, the DoH lays out clearly the many contracting routes open to social enterprise, including the so-called 'PMS' contract forms that can provide proper NHS pension scheme membership. Except that – you guessed it – when you actually come to the contract negotiation you find that those forms of contract are no longer really available for social enterprise.
The fact is that far from smoothing the path of social enterprise, it is now almost impossible to set up a social enterprise within the NHS pension scheme (although existing staff already in the pension scheme will probably be able to remain in it).


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Don't forget to inhale
One of the most enjoyable and memorable parts of riding a bike is total envelopment of the rider into the environment.
The scent of cornfields and earth conjures my mind cresting a hill and seeing miles of corn all standing at attention in the valley below in the fields of Kentucky. Cool air laced with peppery pine evokes memories of descending from Clingman's Dome in the Smokies as the rays of morning sunbeams cast diagonally across the roadway. Riding these past weeks has been a pleasure to the senses, especially in the coolness of the evening due to the grills of summer, lilac, honeysuckle and roses.
The actual ability to smell is highly linked to memory. Research has shown that when areas of the brain connected to memory are damaged, the ability to identify smells is actually impaired. In order to identify a scent, you must remember when you have smelled it before and then connect it to visual information that occurred at the same time. According to some research, associating places with the presence of an odor actually increases the vividness and intensity of that remembered place. So the next time you are riding, don't forget to sit back and inhale those aromas to completely process your memories of that ride.
Jay York enjoyed a wet ride north to Iowa the end of May. Raining from Moberly to Minnesota — yes, he had to cross the line to claim he rode in that state, and Jay has decided not all rain suits are created equal! He now highly endorses the HD suits with the reinforced lining and double stitched seams. Pricing out at almost $200, he can tell you they are worth every penny when you ride in that amount of rain. Traveling home he rode more than 500 miles in one day and has decided that the Iron Butt ride is not one he will be doing anytime soon (1,000 miles in 24 hours).
Four bikers set a ride without a destination and ended up at Thomasville, Mo., last week. If you haven't been to Thomasville, it is between Birch Tree and Alton on Highway 99 in northern Oregon County. The Eleven Point River crosses through Thomasville, so it is fitting that the little town is known for its delicious fried fish at the River's Edge restaurant. There the riders enjoyed a lunch of catfish priced affordably under the tin ceiling of an original Thomasville store. Pictures of the town's past and people line the walls of the little fish and grill eatery, and it is a delight to enjoy the banter of the locals. Outside you can easily access the river and watch the fish swim while listening to the bellow of the bullfrogs. The old stone high school where my grandmother attended classes is still standing and now serves as the community center. The filling station, shown in the photo, is a gathering place for local storytellers to sit on the church pews outside and spin their yarns while sipping ice cold soda purchased from the clerks who greets everyone with a smile. Yes, these places do still exist. Get out, see and experience small town USA on a bike.
Our cruise-in for June was a great success, with more than 60 in attendance. Thirty-two bikes rolled in with the bikers farthest traveled coming 58 miles from Rover, Mo., which coincidentally is just five miles past Thomasville. These bikers — as well as others from Salem, Licking, Evening Shade, Plato, Bucyrus, Summersville, Raymondville and Houston — enjoyed the evening talking of rides and iron as well as playing games and enjoying the company. A street performer who dazzled us with her hula hoop skills, Jocelyn Driesel, had a tip jar that collected $17. Trying to raise more tips for the young lady, I challenged the crowd if anyone would join her in hula hooping, I would match the collected money.
Jay York gave $20 added money to have his wife (me) hula hoop with the street performer. Although the hoop was not big enough for these hips and I was not coordinated, Jocelyn was able to guide me in a few rotations of the hoop. She hopes to teach classes locally and devotes a minimum of three hours a day to hula hooping. She is the daughter-in-law of Doug Driesel, formerly of Houston.
Josh York provided our music and PA for the evening. His musical expertise includes DJ, sound system set up for events, as well as HY Element Studio recording. We appreciate his time and efforts to help make the cruise in successful.
Memories and Dreams, a new store in downtown Houston, brought over two nice prizes that were HD themed. This store has something for everyone and if you have yet to visit, make plans this week. We would like to formally say "thank you" to them.
JAZ Trophies of Houston has created some awesome medallions in color featuring our downtown cruise in scene. They are available by contacting me for $5 each. They are a metal medallions, with an adhesive backing and are very pleasing to the eye. Thank you JAZ for your awesome work.
Get out and ride folks, and don't forget to inhale! Store those memories for the recall, as they're some of the best of your life.
Kerry York is a lady rider and resident of Houston, Mo., who coordinates monthly Houston Downtown Cruise-In events from spring to fall. Email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Back to all reports
1 sack of rubbish left by the side of no.2 longfields
Reported in the Fly Tipping category anonymously at 09:29, Thursday 27 June 2019
Sent to Stevenage Borough Council 1 minute later
Customer has noticed someone has dumped a bin bag full of rubbish at the side of her house. she didn't see who did it but it appeared after 3-4pm. there seems to be saucepans inside the bad and has a hanger dumped on top of it. customer would like the bag removed.


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The title of this blog is," Oklahoma City Sprinkler System and French Drain Contractor."
Spring is just around the corner. CMG Sprinklers and Drains has special Winter Discounts For the Installation of New Sprinkler Systems and Drainage Systems. Now is the time to save big. We install all major brands of Home Sprinkler Equipment, but prefer "Rain Bird or Hunter." Now is also a great time to address any drainage problems you might have before the big thunderstorms come in the spring. If you have trouble with water standing on your Driveway, Sidewalk, or in your yard, we can quickly diagnose your Drainage Problems and Design a specific Drainage System to fit your needs. CMG utilizes: French Drains, Surface Drains, Channel Drains, Basin Drains, Trench Drains, Basement Drains, and Sump Pumps. CMG Sprinklers and Drains services Central Oklahoma including: Oklahoma City, Moore, Norman, Midwest City, Del City, Edmond, Mustang, Yukon, Purcell, Blanchard, and Newcastle and all surrounding areas.
This concludes," Oklahoma Sprinkler System and French Drain Contractor."


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Arsenal £80,000-a-week Replacement Found, Deal Imminent
Goonersden brings you news from top football news sites from the likes of ESPN, SkySport, Daily Mail, Daily, Star and Metro… We also Analyse football, player, transfer and predict Arsenal starting line-up.
Arsenal are prepared to do whatever it takes to sign Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama this summer, according to reports.
The Gunners are preparing for a midfield overhaul this summer with Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Flamini and Thomas Rosicky set to be shown the exit door this summer.
The Mirror via the Daily Star claims the three midfielder's contracts will be allowed to run down this summer and the club wants to bring in Wanyama as a replacement.
With the recent acquisition of Mohamed Elneny from FC Basel in January, Mathieu Flamini is reportedly not in Arsene Wenger's plans for the future, hence the French man is set to leave the Emirates.
The exit of Arteta will give way for the arrival of Wanyama, Arsene Wenger has followed the midfielder since last summer and admitted in December that he rates the midfielder highly.
Wanyama was reportedly Wenger's top target in the winter transfer window but the saints weren't interested in losing their top midfielder mid way into the season.
However with the midfielder yet to sign a new contract at the St Mary's, he could be allowed to leave next summer and Arsenal are prepared to usher him to the Emirates.
Tottenham Hotspur were linked with a move to sign the midfielder last summer but since the emergence of Eric Dier in a midfield role, the White Hart Lane side will unlikely move for Wanyama next summer.
Wanyama has impressed since joining Southampton from Celtic in 2013 and the midfielder is keen to move to a Premier League team playing Champions league football.


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You are tired and you need to catch some Zs.
Late at night, your neighbors start raving, disturbing your slumber.
You wake up, determined to make them wish they didn't…
Developer Pinokl Games has previously created family friendly, social games such as Real Steel and Dino Battle. While publisher tinyBuild has previously worked on games such as the flamboyant multiplayer platformer SpeedRunners, which came out back in August, 2013 on Steam Early Access. Now, Pinokl Games and tinyBuild have partnered up to bring us their latest indie creation, Party Hard, a tactical strategy game that puts you in the murderous shoes of a masked serial killer.
In Party Hard, a detective named John West tells the story of a manhunt for a mass murderer on the loose. You play as said mass murderer, or – in defense (not) of your inevitable unlawful, coldblooded acts – simply a guy trying to get some sleep. You are so exasperated to the point that you believe slaying all partygoers at a myriad of shindigs is the solution to your problem. At some point, you get to play as the demented murderer's henchgirl, Katie, who (minor spoiler alert) happens to be the detective's daughter. You'll also be able to unlock two other playable characters as you progress through the game – a ninja and a cop. Throughout the game, you gatecrash all kinds of parties: BBQ parties, roof parties, casino parties, boat parties, Halloween costume parties (ah, of course, the perfect slash-crime scene!) and more. You even get to combo-kill a bunch of people on a party bus. Pretty groovy, huh?
The most distinct and noticeable elements as you start the game are the music and the art style. As the game launches, the main menu music starts, mirroring the Party Hard vibe the second it hits your eardrums. A few seconds in, all that came to mind was: Daft Punk could be rather impressed by this. The 16-bit music that you listen to throughout the game, even though a bit repetitive, contains just the right amount of groove, retro funk and dance beats that go quite well with each party you're raiding, as well as other in-game elements.
Scienart Media have worked on the sound design for the game, adding layers of ambient sound effects. They've included panicked shrieks (when dead bodies are detected by party attendees), victims' last screams, your blade's slash noises, party ambiance and police/ambulance siren sounds. The sound designers have even added an easter egg, where an audio snippet from the renowned shower scene in the 1960 classic Psycho is cued as you prepare to stab a buzzed reveler by the bathroom tub.
Regarding the graphics in Party Hard, they're quite straightforward and simple. The artists kept it old school, sticking to 8-bit pixels all over: the purple-clothed masked murderer, the black-dressed henchgirl, the NPCs, the festive and decorated environments, script fonts, pause/main menu designs, and the cutscenes. However, there seems to be a couple of issues with some graphic elements in the game. There's a synchronization issue regarding the voice-over parallel to the subtitles in the game's cutscenes. What's written isn't 100% identical to what's being heard in some of the cutscenes. This could sound too detail-oriented, but it could use a little bit of tweaking. More important is the issue of NPC paralysis: there are about a dozen partygoers (a.k.a. your victims) that were frozen in place, not moving an inch throughout several parties. They are mostly found in bizarre body positions (mid-walk freeze, wonky legs while standing up, squatting mid-air…etc.), which is quite a bummer.
So here's how the gameplan in Party Hard goes: you crash a party, kill a specified number of attendees (basically all of those in the party – DJ included), and become the (only) life and soul of the party in the end. The sequence sounds easy, but it requires well-timed tactics and extra in-game aid to hit the body count per party neatly and, as a result, progress to the next bashes. Party Hard does ensure a laid-back gaming experience, but also maintains a challenging scheme by adding obstacles and enemies that you have to evade.
You should always make sure to hide the body after you stab your victim, otherwise someone will see it and call 911. In this case, you have to either leave the room with the unconcealed body and hide in plain sight, or (if you've been sighted by a witness or the police) you'll have to make a run for it until the cop grows tired and leaves. Special forces will show up if you get the cop killed, and it's not a walk in the park to evade them. In each party, you will find helpful items in suitcases placed in certain positions in the map. You can also purchase other items from a mysterious-looking, coated dealer that wanders around at parties sometimes. Gear items include spare clothes (you could use them if you've been spotted), stun bombs, explosive bombs, smoke bombs – some of these bombs could hurt you, so make sure you're somewhat distant when they explode.
As you kill your partying foes, not only will you use your favorite weapon (a sharp knife) and collectible items, but you will use traps in your surrounding environment to maim, murder or lure your victims. By the press of a button, you can dance to repel some people from the dance floor, leading them to other rooms in the area, thus increasing your chance to kill them unnoticed. You can break sound systems nearby dance floors and watch your victims burn in masses. You can poison the food and booze at the party to kill effortlessly and silently. If you have a vehicle parked at the party, you can run the engine and watch it run over multiple bodies. You can make phone calls that bring you randomized additions – whether more costumed party animals to kill, a pizza delivery guy that lures people from point A to point B, or "exterminators" that can annihilate several people for you.
An extra innovation that Party Hard devs added to the game is the Twitch configuration. If you happen to have a Twitch account, you can enable its integration with the game. That way, as you stream your playthrough, those who are watching live can trigger certain events to take place in your game as you play. Events include Sharknadoes (tornadoes that randomly distribute sharks all over the party – killing some people in the process), zombies (green ones, hijacking the party and turning everyone into a zombie – they could bite you, too!) and chainsaw butchers (who basically run around crazy-killing people with a chainsaw until forces arrive). These events also take place in-game without the Twitch configuration, but randomly rather than at your audience's will.
Party Hard in three words: retro, fun, unpolished. With its pixel graphics and hip music it guarantees to catch your eye and ear. But with its immobility glitches and clumsy, uncoordinated details, it rather disappoints. What will keep you holding on to it is mainly the challenging gameplay – your urge to perfect clean kills, hide bodies and escape hazards, as well as your urge to plan on using your environment and gear strategically for bulk and combo kills. You'll find Party Hard available for purchase on Steam for $12 and change.
Party Hard allows for a laid-back gaming experience, but also maintains a challenging scheme by adding obstacles for you to take on...
Party Hard in three words: retro, fun, unpolished.
+ Colorful, pixel graphics
+ Groovy, retro music and accurate sound effects
+ Challenging and enjoyable gameplay
+ Element of utilizing environment for kills
– Glitches in character graphics and movement
– Slightly inelegant synchronization in cutscenes
If you're into further unpredictable challenges, feel free to integrate your game with Twitch and have a blast.


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Good Evening Everyone!
My my, I have neglected my blog over the last few weeks! But I have been sooooo busy so I hope you'll forgive me..
I'm just writing this post, whilst I'm sat with a cuppa, to just let you all know that I will be at the Great British Craft Festival at Donington Park for the whole 3 days!
We kick off next Friday with an action packed day of workshops with myself, Anne-Marie, Debbi Moore and who knows who else will be there ;-)
Then, on Saturday and Sunday, I will be shopping (well, I WILL find some time to shop, before the doors open lol) Seriously though, I will be hosting Make and Take Sessions where you will get half an hour or so with lil ole me to make something fab that you can take with you :-)
It's going to sooooo much fun, I can't wait!
So, if you haven't got your tickets yet, head over to http://www.greatbritishcraft.co.uk/ and get yours whilst there's still time :-)
This will be the best Craft Show, ever!
See you next weekend!!
Happy Crafting!


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Topic Page: Barbados
Island state in the Windward Islands, West Indies; the capital is Bridgetown. Barbados' warm climate encouraged the growth of its two largest industries - sugar cane and tourism. It was settled by the British in 1627, and dominated by British plantation owners (using African slave labour until the abolition of slavery) for the next 300 years. It gained independence in 1966. Area: 430sq km (166sq mi). Pop. (2000) 277,000. See West Indies map
Island country in the Caribbean, one of the Lesser Antilles. It is about 483 km/300 mi north of Venezuela.
Government Barbados is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Its ceremonial head of state is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, represented by a governor general. Its constitution dates from independence in 1966 and provides for a system of parliamentary government on the UK model, with a prime minister and cabinet drawn from and responsible to the legislature, or parliament. The legislature dates from 1627, when the British settled, and comprises two chambers, an unelected upper house, the Senate, and an elected lower house, the House of Assembly. The Senate has 21 members appointed by the governor general, 12 on the advice of the prime minister, two on the advice of the leader of the opposition, and the rest on the basis of wider consultations. The House of Assembly has 30 members elected by universal suffrage. The legislature has a maximum life of five years and may be dissolved within this period. The governor general appoints a prime minister (who can command majority support in the House of Assembly).
History Barbados was originally inhabited from around 1000 BC by Barrancoid Indians and, from 1000 AD, by Arawak Indians, who were wiped out soon after the arrival of the first Europeans, the Portuguese, in the early 167th century. Many were seized to work as slaves on plantations elsewhere in the Caribbean. Barbados became a British colony in 1627 and remained so until independence in 1966. Because Barbados was initially largely uninhabited, black slaves were brought to the island, as well as Celts from Ireland and Scotland, to work as servants for British owners of sugar plantations, which were established from the 1640s. After the ending of the slave trade between West Africa and the Caribbean in 1804, there was a major rebellion by slaves in Barbados in 1816, claiming hundreds of lives. In 1834, slavery was abolished in Barbados, as in the rest of the British Empire, but many emancipated slaves were unable to vote because of the high income qualification required for voting.
In 1938, as part of a movement for political rights, Grantley Adams formed the centre-left Barbados Progressive League, which became known as the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). In 1942, the income qualification for voting was lowered and women were given the right to vote. In 1951, universal adult suffrage was introduced, and the BLP won the first general election. Ministerial government was established in 1954, and BLP leader Grantley Adams became the first prime minister. In 1955, a more radical group, led by Errol Barrow, broke away from the BLP in 1955 to form the Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
Between 1958–62, Barbados joined the ten-member West Indies Federation, which broke apart because of nationalistic tensions. Adams served as the federation's prime minister. In October 1961, Barbados achieved full internal self-government and the DLP won a general election and Barrow became prime minister. He instituted social reforms, including free school meals and free education.
Independence In November 1966 Barbados became independent within the British Commonwealth, with Barrow as its first prime minister. The DLP was re-elected 1971, but in the 1976 general election the BLP – led now by Grantley Adams' son Tom – ended Barrow's 15-year rule. During this period, Barbados developed a more diversified economy, with tourism and offshore financial services key elements. The pro-business BLP was re-elected in 1981 and Tom Adams remained in power until his sudden death in 1985, when he was succeeded by his deputy, Bernard St John.
Foreign relations Both main parties were committed to maintaining free enterprise and alignment with the USA, although the DLP government established diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1972 and the BLP administration supported the US invasion of Grenada in 1983.
DLP returned to power The DLP, led by Barrow, won the 1986 general election to return to power with a large majority. Barrow died in office in 1987 and was succeeded as prime minister by Erskine Lloyd Sandiford. A new opposition party, the centrist National Democratic Party, was formed in 1989, but the DLP held on to power after the 1991 general election.
BLP in power under Arthur In 1993 Owen Arthur became leader of the BLP and restored its fortunes. Promising to develop and modernize the economy, based around expansion of tourism and foreign investment, he led the party to a clear victory at the September 1994 general election to become prime minister and also finance minister. The election was held at a time of economic difficulties, with the sugar industry and offshore finance sectors undergoing structural reform, with the aid of the IMF.
The BLP achieved a landslide victory in the January 1999 general election, with over 90% of the House of Assembly seats. Arthur secured a third term at the 2003 elections, but with a reduced majority and 58% of the vote. He had campaigned on a platform of reducing taxes and transforming Barbados into a republic, but there were delays in holding a referendum on this issue. Arthur was active in regional politics, pressing for the establishment of a Caribbean (CARICOM) Single Market and Economy. Liberalization in trade provided the basis for strong economic growth 2004–07, averaging 4% a year.
DLP win in 2008 to end 13 years of BLP dominance After 13 years in government, the BLP lost power at the January 2008 general election and Arthur stepped down as BLP leader (until October 2010). The DLP, led by David Thomson, won 20 of the 30 Assembly seats, with 53% of the vote.
Thompson became both prime minister and finance minister and his government gave emphasis to improving healthcare and the transport infrastructure.
In 2010, Thompson became seriously ill; in May 2010, the deputy prime minister and attorney general Freundel Stewart took over as acting prime minister. On Thompson's death in October 2010, Stewart succeeded as prime minister.
The Stewart government struggled with rising levels of public debt, as the Barbados economy was badly affected by the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008–11 on tourism and the financial sector. However, despite the country's credit rating downgrades in 2012, Stewart and the DLP held on to power at the February 2013 general election, winning a narrow 16 to 14 seat assembly majority.
Barbados – Isle of Dreams
مقالات كريدو ذات الصلة
Full text Article Barbados
Most easterly of the Caribbean island chain, Barbados had been deserted by indigenous Carib Indians by the time it was settled by the...
Full text Article BARBADOS
Barbados is the easternmost nation in the Caribbean. Its size is about three times that of Washington, DC (166 square miles). Its population as...
Full text Article Barbados
The Caribbean island of Barbados is the 60th-richest nation in the world, with a per capita income of $17,300. This relative prosperity is...


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Posted by Christina C. at 8:21 AM
Super edgy layout!!!
This was awesome! Its fresh and exciting! Although i am SUPER upset that you lost a whole roll of film because a) no one likes to lose film and b)Being a Polaroid user myself, i know how DANG EXPENSIVE that film is! So that's upsetting. But I'm glad you rose to the occasion and made a page out of it! Way to be a true scrapper! Scrapping the trash!
sucks about the film!!!!
Hey, I was wondering if you could please refer me to the website where you can send in designs and have them put onto stamps. I think you have done that before, right?
I love your comments on polaroids.....thanks for sharing your precious knowledge with us!!
Terrific layout!
Beautiful layout, love the Polaroids, sorry that you lost a roll of film though, that's always dissapointing!
Love that scalloped edge on your layout - stunning!
Great layout. I love how you stitched the photos on. And very much love the Monty Python-esque PPPPPPS train you were getting on...gave me a chuckle, anyway :o)


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Friday, September 10, 2010
Singer's Wife Dies
The wife of gospel singer Marvin Sapp died yesterday at the age of 43. MaLinda Sapp had a long battle with colon cancer. She leaves behind three children from her 15 year marriage. Marvin Sapp is a pastor of the Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids. His song Never Would Have Made It set a number of sales records and he recently had a #1 hit with the song The Best in Me.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Pastor Loses Granddaughter
Megachurch pastor Joel Hunter lost his 5-year-old granddaughter to cancer this past weekend. Ava Hunter is the daughter of Hunter's oldest son, Josh. She had a rare form of brain cancer. Joel Hunter is pastor of Central Florida's Northland Church.
Labels: Florida, Megachurch Leaders
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Still at the estate, after Todd admits that he's in love with Marty, Marty professes her love to him then convinces a reluctant Todd to go upstairs with her! Though Marty smiles lovingly at Todd, Todd flashes back to the rape, leaving Marty to approach and ask, "What's wrong? Is this because of what happened to me?" Though Marty doesn't remember the rape, Todd worries that she will, after they make love, but Marty doesn't care, begs Todd to trust her then says, "What we're feeling right now had nothing to do with what happened to me in the fraternity house… It's love." Todd confesses, "Everything I touch, I ruin," then admits that he pushed Blair into John McBain's arms - and that he's hurt his kids terribly. "I won't do that to you," Todd finishes.
Todd And Marty… Lovers!
Marty helps Todd bury the past, John makes his move, and Viki realizes what Tess has done to Natalie and Jared...
Marty talks about the 'here and now', and how they make each other laugh, then asks, "Don't you want me? You're not the same man. You've changed." Once again, Todd flashes back to the rape. Marty goes to Todd and says, "You don't scare me. Do you love me?" Todd admits, "Yes," but still sees Marty dressed as she was that night so long ago in college. "Look at me," Marty says. "What do you see?" Todd finally admits, "I see you," takes Marty in his arms and holds her close. Little by little the clothes come off, and Todd and Marty make love! Afterward, Marty expresses how wonderful she feels then asks Todd, "And you?" Todd asks, "How do I look? Do I look different… I feel like I'm better."
In jail, John demands that a cop let him make a call then screams that the man who raped Marty Saybrooke, Todd Manning, is holding her hostage! Even though John reaches through the bars and grabs the cop, he reminds John to play by the rules then leaves John alone, worrying that Marty will end up dead! Desperate to get to Marty, John manages to hang himself but draws the cop's attention back to the cell by pushing over a metal bench! When the cop approaches John, he cries, "John, no," but John quickly punches him then says, "Sorry George," unhooks himself and escapes the cell!
Holding David Vickers in the motel room, Tina is furious to learn that her pup is a female - and a pregnant one at that! Though the jewelry appraiser wonders how Tina didn't realize that the dog squatted when she peed, Tina explains her preoccupation with the goings-on at Llanfair! After the man leaves, Tina apologizes to Cain for trying to give him fake jewels then convinces him to help her prepare David Vickers for birth. Together, they watch as little puppies are born. Tina and Cain bond with a kiss!
Over at the hospital, Janet tries to get Dr. Joplin to warn Starr about Todd's scheme, leaving the doctor to explain that what they are about to do goes against everything she believes in!
Viki joins the family in Starr's room to let Starr know she's thinking of her, to which Starr comments on Jessica being due too. After Viki leaves, Blair and Marcie go to scrub up, leaving Langston and Dorian to reassure Starr that she and the baby are going to be fine. Just as they are wheeling Starr into delivery, Cole rushes in and promises to be there when she gets out.
Out in the hallway, Dorian approaches Viki, as she's leaving Jessica a voicemail, and asks what's going on with her. Viki admits that they are having family troubles then says, "I just came from the morgue looking for my daughters." Viki opens up to Dorian about Tess being back, about Tess making Natalie write a letter saying she left, and about Natalie and Jared being missing. Though Dorian is sympathetic, she can't help but bring up the past - and how Viki once made her write a letter, to which Viki reminds her, "That was Jean Randolph."
Once Dorian is gone, Jean appears on the couch next to Viki, claiming she's there because Viki needs her! Viki reminds her that she's integrated, but Jean says Viki has turned to her for help - to help her realize something that is right in front of her face! Jean talks about how Tess made Natalie write a letter - like Jean made Dorian do - and Viki finally realizes something and says, "Oh, my, God! I know what Tess did to Natalie!"
Inside the delivery room, Blair, Starr, and Marcie listen as the doctor confirms that the baby is fine. However, Starr's labor gets worse, and she cries in pain, "I can't do this," as Blair and Marcie hold her hands and try to give Starr support. Listening to Starr go through labor, Janet and Dr. Joplin make eye contact. Finally, Starr gives birth to a little girl. Though Starr wants Marcie to hold the baby first, Dr. Joplin steps forward and claims that there's something wrong with the baby!
As Tess takes Niki's hand, and agrees to go save Natalie and Jared, she looks around the cottage and says, "I was so sure he'd be here." Niki explains that Nash isn't coming back then watches as Tess drops to the floor in pain! Tess manages to get her cell and screams for Tina to pick up! When she doesn't, Tess leaves her a voicemail begging her to let Jared and Natalie out of the secret room! Screaming in pain, Tess cries, "Nash, I can't do this alone!"
Niki helps Tess up and promises, "You're not going to do this alone." Holding Tess, Niki helps her through the delivery - and she has a little girl. Holding her baby, Tess wonders why her little girl isn't crying…
Next on One Life to Live:
Viki, Charlie and Tina make a discovery!
Todd has no way to stop his plan.
John finally gets everything he's been looking for.
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