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ROWAN'S LAW in ONTARIO Effective July 1, 2019
Rowan's Law Overview & Requirements July 2019
OAS Concussion Code of Conduct for Athletes July 2019
Are you currently or have you been a synchronized swimmer in Ontario within the last 5 years? Are you the parent of a current or former Ontario synchronized swimmer? If so, the University of Toronto Concussion Lab and Ontario Artistic Swimming are looking for your participation in an important joint project examining risk factors in artistic swimming-related concussions.
The goal of this project is to determine how to prevent artistic-related concussions and make our sport as safe as possible for all athletes. To participate, please click on the link below.
All participants have the chance to win one of three Swim Artistic sweatshirts!
Thank you,
Laura McClemont Steacy, M.Sc.
PhD Candidate, U of T Concussion Lab
Department of Exercise Science
University of Toronto
Ontario Artistic Swimming (OAS) has taken steps to over the past several years to become a leader in concussion management, education and prevention to prioritize the safety of its athletes. Our Concussion Policy and the OAS Artistic-specific Concussion Guidelines are among the most comprehensive, sport-specific concussion policies for amateur sport in Ontario. These documents also implement the mandatory requirements of Rowan's Law (Concussion Safety), 2018.
OAS Concussion Policy
OAS's Concussion Policy ensures athletes who are suspected to have sustained a concussion during artistic activity are removed from sport and do not return to activity before being cleared by a medical professional. Together with the OAS Artisitic-specific Concussion Guidelines the Policy provides coaches, officials, parents and others with the resources they need to recognize, report and manage a concussion injury including through use of artistic-specific removal-from-sport and return-to-sport protocols and a return-to-artistic concussion progress tracker.
Concussion Resources for Clubs
OAS encourages all clubs to establish their own concussion policy consistent with the responsibilities described in the OAS Concussion Policy. The attached concussion policy template may be customized by clubs.
OAS Concussion Policy Template for Clubs
Concussion Awareness Resources
Clubs must give all new and returning athletes and, for athletes under 18 years of age, their parents a copy of the OAS Artistic-specific Concussion Guidelines prior to registration. Athletes or parents, as appropriate, must confirm in writing that they have reviewed the resource.
Clubs must also give a copy of the OAS Artistic-specific Concussion Guidelines to all coaches and receive confirmation in writing by no later than October 15 of each year that their coaches have reviewed the resource.
OAS Artistic-Specific Concussion Guidelines, 2018
Clubs must keep a copy of the Concussion Recognition Tool on deck and available to coaches.
The OAS Artistic-specific Concussion Return-to-sport Protocol must be implemented for all instances of concussion injury including medical clearance by a medical professional prior to re-introduction of physical activity. This includes a family physician, pediatrician, emergency room physician, sports-medicine physician, neurologist or nurse practitioner. Documentation from any other source will not be acceptable.
OAS Removal-from-sport Protocol
OAS Return-to-Artistic Concussion Progress Tracker
An incident report must be submitted through Injury Tracker for all instances of suspected or confirmed concussion injury sustained during artistic activity.
Concussion Resources for Athletes and Parents
This document has been designed to help athletes and parents learn more about concussion recognition and management.
Ontario Artistic Swimming Concussion Information and Guidelines for Athletes and Parents
Helpful Concussion Resources
Concussions -Developed by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, this web portal gathers resources on various aspects of sport-related concussions from external sources. The resources have been organized in sections with information for parents, coaches, officials and athletes.
Rowan's Law (Concussion Safety), 2018
Concussion: The Basics – Parachute is a leading organization for injury prevention in Canada.


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Brainard, G. C., Sliney, D., Hanifin, J. P., Glickman, G., Byrne, B., Greeson, J. M., et al. (2008). Sensitivity of the human circadian system to short-wavelength (420-nm) light. J Biol Rhythms, 23(5), 379–386.
Abstract: The circadian and neurobehavioral effects of light are primarily mediated by a retinal ganglion cell photoreceptor in the mammalian eye containing the photopigment melanopsin. Nine action spectrum studies using rodents, monkeys, and humans for these responses indicate peak sensitivities in the blue region of the visible spectrum ranging from 459 to 484 nm, with some disagreement in short-wavelength sensitivity of the spectrum. The aim of this work was to quantify the sensitivity of human volunteers to monochromatic 420-nm light for plasma melatonin suppression. Adult female (n=14) and male (n=12) subjects participated in 2 studies, each employing a within-subjects design. In a fluence-response study, subjects (n=8) were tested with 8 light irradiances at 420 nm ranging over a 4-log unit photon density range of 10(10) to 10(14) photons/cm(2)/sec and 1 dark exposure control night. In the other study, subjects (n=18) completed an experiment comparing melatonin suppression with equal photon doses (1.21 x 10(13) photons/cm(2)/sec) of 420 nm and 460 nm monochromatic light and a dark exposure control night. The first study demonstrated a clear fluence-response relationship between 420-nm light and melatonin suppression (p<0.001) with a half-saturation constant of 2.74 x 10(11) photons/cm(2)/sec. The second study showed that 460-nm light is significantly stronger than 420-nm light for suppressing melatonin (p<0.04). Together, the results clarify the visible short-wavelength sensitivity of the human melatonin suppression action spectrum. This basic physiological finding may be useful for optimizing lighting for therapeutic and other applications.
Keywords: Human Health; Adult; Circadian Rhythm/*radiation effects; Female; Humans; *Light; Male; Melatonin/metabolism; Models, Biological; Neurosecretory Systems; Photons; Pineal Gland/metabolism; Retinal Ganglion Cells/*metabolism; Vision, Ocular


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Dorothy Kim Vella
Dorothy started her career with PwC Malta managing a team of systems, process and controls specialists servicing a portfolio of local and international clients operating across various business sectors both as an information systems auditor and performance improvement adviser. Dorothy later specialised in banking assuming the position of Risk Manager at the local subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International AG where she was responsible for setting up and developing the risk function of the bank. At KPMG Malta, she formed part of the risk consulting advisory team providing regulated entities with on-going and ad-hoc advice on regulatory and compliance matters. Dorothy currently heads the risk, internal control and compliance function of RCI Life Limited and RCI Insurance Limited, the insurance arm of RCI Banque SA (owned by Renault SA), where she assumes the role of Compliance Officer and Risk Officer of the insurance companies and Solvency II project lead. Dorothy is a certified public accountant and auditor, holds an honours degree in Accountancy from the University of Malta and is a member of the council of the Malta Association of Risk Management.


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History Repeats Itself
During the 1970s to 1990s, as social enterprises, most cooperatives and mutuals were registered under Industrial and Provident Society and Industrial Common Ownership rules. Yet between 1998 and 2002, the wider cooperative and mutual movement almost allowed these structures to be swept aside.
As shown below, with Public Service Mutuals, this is now happening all over again – and Paul Myners is definitely not to blame.
Rory Ridley Duff and Cliff Southcombe show in The Social Enterprise Mark: A Critical Review of its Conceptual Dimensions Appendix A (November 2011), (1) that almost all the Founders and Initial Directors of Social Enterprise London on Monday 26 January 1998 had a cooperative background. As they write:
"In this statement of objects, the influence of the co-operative movement and New Labour are evident. Terminology remains characteristic of socialisation (e.g. participatory democracy, co-operatives, co-operative solutions) and this reflects the orientation of the co-operative development agencies and worker co-operatives that collaborated in its creation"
Three years later, cooperatives and mutuals were still in the headlines. In January 2001, in "The Cooperative Advantage: The Report of the Cooperative Commission" (2) with an introduction by Tony Blair and chaired by John Monks, TUC General Secretary said:
"The Commission is recommending that a 'Social Enterprise Summit' should be held in 2001, hosted by The Co-operative Bank with the support of the Co-operative Union and the UKCC. The Summit should bring together social enterprise partners and representatives from the retail sector from around the UK, the Labour Party and the Trade Union Movement to discuss in depth how to pursue further co-operation between all sections of the Co-operative Movement in the UK".
Despite this national significance and prominence of those with cooperative and mutual backgrounds, Jim Brown, in a presentation 'Defining Social Enterprise' to a Small Business and Entrepreneur Development Conference at the University of Surrey in 2003, (3) explained how by the time the Department of Trade and Industry set up a Social Enterprise Unit in October 2001, its initial definition of social enterprise "challenged the cooperative movement's right to be included under the social enterprise umbrella":
"We should not rule out a business because it has part share holders [sic], providing its primary purpose is not simply to deliver share holder value, nor include a business just because it is run as a co-operative"
For coops and mutuals, there was worse to come. When in July 2002 the Department of Trade and Industry issued "Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success" (4), its first 'official' definition said:
"A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.
"There is no single legal model for social enterprise. They include companies limited by guarantee, industrial and provident societies, and companies limited by shares. Some organisations are unincorporated and others are registered charities."
'Social Enterprise' loses its Meaning
In other words, the insertion of "principally" was the best that the lobbying efforts of the wider coop movement could achieve. From then on, as shown below, 'social enterprise' as a definition gradually lost its meaning for coops and mutuals and deteriorated in public recognition.
Fast forward to 2008 and Emma Carmel and Jenny Harlock in "Instituting the Third Sector as Governable Terrain" (5) were writing:
"…For the central state, procurement means that the same process is adopted for contracting-out service provision for all providers, irrespective of whether they are private sector (known as 'mainstream') or Third Sector providers. ….. Not only does the definition of the Third Sector specifically extend to include Social Enterprises, but Social Enterprise has explicitly been adopted as a generic name for Third Sector organisations working in partnerships".
By May 2013, in a BMG Research Report for the Cabinet Office "Social Enterprise Market Trends" (6), produced for the Lough Earne June 2013 G8 Summit focus on Social Investment, the Cabinet Office had become even more ingenious:
"For this reason, this report will focus on both those enterprises who consider themselves a very good fit to the social enterprise classification, and also those enterprises who consider themselves a 'good fit' to the social enterprise classification (which includes both those enterprises who think that are a 'very good fit' and 'quite a good fit', to the social enterprise definition)".
In other words, call yourself a "Social Enterprise" if you feel like it. According to the Cabinet Office Report, this produced no less than 688,200 "good fit" SME Social Enterprises, including 508,700 with no employees.
No wonder that in the British Council's "What will Social Enterprise look like in Europe by 2020"(7), published in December 2013 on page 7:
"There may well not be a recognisable 'social enterprise sector' by 2020. Certainly any attempts to confine social enterprise to specific legal structures or models of governance will have ceased".
There's no need to wait till 2020. Already, except in Scotland – where a different and definite Social Enterprise Code continues – most people no longer know what a social enterprise really is. As the section below shows, with pressure for Public Service Mutuals, coops and mutuals are going the same way.
Public Service Mutuals
Driven by Coalition Government policy of outsourcing services to secure cheaper delivery, the concept of Public Service Mutuals is already undermining the meaning and public acceptability of cooperatives and mutuals. Many now openly deride them as "pretend mutuals". The following represents an abbreviated list of organisations and initiatives, funded by the Cabinet Office, with its Mutuals Information Service and Mutuals Taskforce, whose members include Social Enterprise UK and Coops UK, including a £10mn Mutuals Support Programme, with contracts awarded till March 2014
- Cooperative Councils Innovation Network – 19 Councils, mostly Labour, led by Oldham
- Royal Society of Arts "Enterprise Solutions: Public Service Mutuals" – a series of guides, toolkits and reports
- Transition Institute – especially in its report: Public Service Spinouts: the State of the Sector, June 2013
- Cooperative Group through its Public Service Mutuals service
- Cooperatives UK – a Partner in the Cabinet Office Mutuals Information Service
Though Coops UK has jointly with the TUC belatedly published guidance on "Public Services, Cooperatives and Mutuals", its Chief Executive Ed Mayo, with Ruth Lea from the far right Institute of Directors in 2002 wrote "The Mutual Health Service: How to Decentralise the NHS" (8) which proposed a significant expansion of the principles underlying Foundation Trusts:
"The autonomy of financial management, within a regulatory framework, is a basic guarantee of the ability of NHS mutuals to achieve their results in the way they feel is best. (p24)"
"There should be a Health Regulator supervising the NHS. One of us (Ruth Lea) has already proposed that the role of the NHS as such should be to become the regulator and funder". (p25)
Parts of this could have been written by Andrew Lansley as a forward to his Health and Social Care Act 2012, which under Jeremy Hunt is now dismantling the NHS.
With friends like these, no wonder that Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude in his Robert Oakeshott Memorial Lecture on Tuesday 25 March 2014 (9) was able to boast:
"4 years after the last general election, the number of mutuals has increased tenfold to nearly 100. Between them they employ over 35,000 people, delivering around £1.5 billion worth of services. They're in sectors ranging from libraries and elderly social care to mental health services and school support. They range in size from a handful of staff to upwards of 2000 staff".
Royal Bank of Scotland SE100 Quarterly Data Report March 2014 (10) reported that Health and Social Care spinouts are growing rapidly:
"The health and social care sector is big and it's growing fast: 15.8% of SE100 members state that this is their primary business market, making it the single largest business market on the Index according to the number of organisations; the sector's mean growth is 121%, compared with 42% for the whole Index.
"…What's particularly interesting about this sector is that it's not at all reliant on grants or fundraising – 97% of the income for organisations in this sector comes from local authority or health service contracts, compared with 36% for the Index as a whole.
"One of the most significant types of organisation in this sector is the public sector spin-out – created by entrepreneurially-minded local authority or health service employees leaving to set up their own independent social enterprises which then deliver the same public services under contract with the local authority or health service commissioner".
Reports on Public Service Mutuals
The UK Government has secured amendments to the new EU Procurement Directive, which came into force on Thursday 14 April 2014 and which initially allows the reserving of contracts for Public Service Mutuals – though these will later be retendered in open competition.
Huckfield supports trade unions in their resistance to this whole process, which is widely seen as a Government and local council response to austerity through outsourcing, cutting jobs and deteriorating pay and conditions.
Reports which follow include some from those closely involved in implementing the policy of Public Service Mutuals.
University of Northampton and London South Bank University
One of the most significant pieces of research on spinouts is Public Service Spinouts 2014: Needs and Wants (11) published by the Transition Institute, University of Northampton and Collaborate (London South Bank University). This detailed Report, based on 66 organisations from 201 (a 33% response rate) shows that under Right to Provide, Right to Request and the Mutuals Support Programme, considerable funding has been made available to form what are now generically known as Public Service Mutuals:
"Nonetheless, the aforementioned marketisation of the public sector means that spin-outs must compete with private and third sector organisations for contracts to deliver services".(p12)
The Report defines a Public Service Mutual:
"An organisation that has transitioned out of a public sector body to become an independent public service provider. Spin-outs tend to prioritise the maximisation of social value within their services and usually take the structure of a co-operative, mutual or social enterprise".(p18)
47% were in the Health and Care sector and 32% were in Leisure (p19)
"The results …identify that the main triggers for spinning-out were budget cuts, a decision made by the parent authority and/or a service management decision. The need to restructure a service, the existence of policy frameworks and local political support also all scored highly".(p21)
"During the decision to spin-out the parent authority and the service management were the most involved stakeholder groups."(p22)
"Though 38.5% were Companies Limited by Guarantee, 50.8% were either Community Interest Companies or Companies Limited by Shares (p24)
"Beneficiaries and to a lesser extent service staff are less involved (or excluded) in the decision to spin-out, but once this decision is made they are increasingly involved in strategic decision-making. This offers support to prior research that identified the importance of engaging service staff but suggests that this need (and de facto engagement) may be in flux" (p35)
Page 41 of this detailed Report concludes:
"Indeed, the participants in this research identified a number of serious concerns relating to the future sustainability of the sector and felt that action was needed to remedy them."
The same page identifies:
"A lack of perceived political support for spin-outs"
Lack of consultation and the emerging structures in this detailed Report on Public Service Mutuals do not represent a resounding tribute to the principles of cooperation and mutuality!
Pioneers Post
Pioneers Post is normally an avid supporter of all these developments but on Wednesday 07 May 2014 Simon Denny from the University of Northampton painted "a picture of sustainable growth with serious challenges":
"This is not the march of the mutuals
"I believe that this report brings into focus a key issue at the heart of spin-outs: what are they supposed to do? If the UK wants successful new businesses driven by the desire to serve the public, spin-outs seem to be capable of fitting the bill. However, if we we're expecting these organisations to be mutuals, or new worker-managed organisations with extensive and formalised community engagement, then we may not get them"
National Audit Office and Articles in peer-reviewed Academic Journals
National Audit Office Report on Establishing Social Enterprises under the Right to Request Programme June 2011: (12)
(p18) "While the options set out by the Department were not intended to be exhaustive or prescriptive the guidance did, in effect, steer some PCTs towards using a Social enterprise model. The Department told us Right to Request proposals took precedence over other models to provide protection for staff groups that may otherwise have been ignored."
In "Jumped or Pushed: What Motivates NHS Staff to set up a Social Enterprise", Kelly Hall and colleagues describe New Labour's "Transforming Communities" and the "Right to Request": (Hall et al., 2012) (13)
(p56) "This is evidence of a top-down led venture, with a limited amount of choice being exercised by these respondents as changes within health policy "pushed" some them into forming social enterprises. As one respondent expressed it, … there wasn't anywhere else to go".
In a further review – "New Development: Spin-outs and Social Enterprise: the 'Right to Request' Programme for Health and Social Care Services" – Robin Millar and colleagues concluded: (Miller et al., 2012): (14)
(p 236) "However, as a minimum, the Right to Request scheme provides an example of a process through which Governments can spin out public sector services in the face of po-tential large-scale opposition from unions and existing healthcare institutions and professionals".
Like Paul Myners, Huckfield was brought up in a household dependent on the Coop.
Genuine coops, mutuals and social enterprises – democratically set up and controlled by their members rather than prompted by Cabinet Office funding and local council responses to austerity – deserve support.
But Public Service Mutuals, like Social Enterprise, are becoming a term of public derision, killing off what's left of the cooperative and mutual idea.
(1) Ridley-Duff,Rory; Southcombe,Cliff: "The Social Enterprise Mark:A critical review of its conceptual dimensions" Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference, Sheffield November 2011
(2)"The Cooperative Advantage:the Report of the Cooperative Commission". Chaired by John Monks, TUC General Secretary. January 2001
(3) Brown,Jim "Defining Social Enterprise", Small Business and Entrepreneur Development Conference, University of Surrey 2003
(4)"Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success" July 2002. Department of Trade and Industry
(5)"Instituting the 'Third Sector' as a Governable Terrain: Partnership, Procurement and Performance in the UK": Carmel, Emma; Harlock, Jenny. Policy & Politics, Volume 36, Number 2, April 2008, pp. 155-171(17)
(6)BMG Research: "Social Enterprise:Market Trends" 2013, Cabinet Office, May 2013
(7)Ingram-Hill,Simon; Woodman,Paula; Benians,Stephen: "What will Social Enterprise look like in Europe by 2020?" 2013, British Council, Manchester
(8)"The Mutual Health Service: How to Decentralise the NHS" 2002 Ruth Lea and Ed Mayo. Institute of Directors and New Economics Foundation.
(9)Maude,Francis: 2014 Robert Oakeshott Memorial Lecture on Employee Ownership and the Future of Public Services Tuesday 25 March 2014.
(10)Royal Bank of Scotland "SE100 Quarterly Data Report March 2014", Royal Bank of Scotland, London
(11)"Public Service Spin Outs 2014: Needs and Wants" May 2014 Richard Hazenberg for the Transition Institute, University of Northampton and Collaborate (South Bank University)
(12)National Audit Office 2011. Department of Health: Establishing Social Enterprises under the Right to Request Programme In: Comptroller and Auditor General (ed.) National Audit Office June 24 2011 ed. London National Audit Office
(13)Kelly Hall, Robin Miller, Ross Millar, (2012) "Jumped or pushed: what motivates NHS staff to set up a social enterprise?", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 8 Iss: 1, pp.49 – 62
(14)"New Development: Spin-outs and Social Enterprise: the 'Right to Request' Programme for Health and Social Care Services. 2012. Robin Miller, Ross Miller and Kelly Hall. Public Money and Management, Volume 32 (3) pp 233-236


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Commodities Trading
What is the fundamental challenge for the commodities industry?One of the biggest challenges the commodities trading industry is facing is a dual one: the need to meet rising demand for energy and natural resources while at the same time reducing carbon emissions. For both elements, the role of China appears to be critical.
The Swiss commodities sector: What's new and what's left to do?Taking strong measures to combat corruption and increase transparency are just some of the steps Switzerland is taking to ensure it's commodities sector remains competitive. Compliance with CTRIII is just one of the steps companies must take to make sure it stays that way.
Freundliches Klima für Investitionen in EnergieinfrastrukturenBis vor kurzem war auch der Energiesektor für direkte Infrastrukturinvestitionen grösstenteils geschlossen. Der steigende Energiebedarf und die ambitionierte Schweizer "Energiestrategie 2050" haben die Ausgangslage im Energieinfrastruktursektor jedoch verändert.
Regulation trends impacting the commodity trading sectorOn 19 November 2014, the United States Senate Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigations published a nearly 400-page-long report on Wall Street banks and their involvement in physical commodities trading and storage activities. How do such reports affect regulators?
The role of commodities trading in global economyCommodity trading companies today operate in a highly competitive and dynamic environment. Richard Sharman summarizes the current challenges facing the industry, talks about Switzerland as a business location for commodities trading and points out the global trends of the sector.


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Tuesday, 06 September 2016 06:45 AM
President Barack Obama says the United States will work with allies to toughen sanctions on North Korea after further ballistic missile launches Monday. But Obama says there is room for dialogue if North Korea changes direction.
Obama's comments come after a meeting with President Park Geun-hye (goon-hay) of South Korea on Tuesday. The two leaders are attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He says the two leaders want peace and security for all peoples.
Obama says the latest North Korea launches are provocative and that North Korea needs to know that such actions will increase its isolation in the world.
Park says a nuclear test and continued missile launches are fundamentally threatening the security of the Korean Peninsula.
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Critique Drought
For the first time since I joined my critique group the Skyway Writers, we took a summer hiatus. Most of us are traveling, restoring body and spirit, feeding the muse with new sights and experiences. We keep in touch through email and social media. Writing is never far from our thoughts and if there's a need, we're available for input on book projects.
Although I didn't leave town, I did honor my muse with a summer conference, a mini workshop and trips to art shows and bookstores. And I wrote.
Still, July felt like a creative desert. It stretched long and hot, and I squinted to see the end.
I missed my group. I guess I'm slightly addicted. We're a seasoned, serious group. There are five of us, three with books published and two with agents working to sell first books. We aim to publish books until the day we die. And we want them to be good books, so we hire freelance editors to review our work. But before agents, editors or readers see our pages, we look for a thumbs up from each other.
We meet every two weeks. If we have pages we want reviewed, we offer our best effort. When we give input, it's presented with love and sensitivity, but fully loaded with honest critical feedback. Every book is a journey and we travel that path together, sharing triumphs and failures that weave into our bond. Twice a year, we retreat to a quiet rural spot where we write, brainstorm and gather around food. For three days we share a guest house on a lake and our muses run free. As the sun goes down and the stars appear, we come together to discuss, celebrate and laugh.
Having good writing partners is a blessing I'll never take for granted. Not all groups are alike. It can be a challenge to find the right fit. But a tight knit, productive group doesn't happen overnight, so if you're in a group you're not satisfied with, it might be worth the effort to help it grow. In my next post, I'll talk about what I've learned in a decade of critique groups: what makes them work, what pitfalls to avoid and how to make them flourish.
Next week, the Skyway Writers will reunite. Energy will pass between us, and when I leave, I'll be refueled. It will feel like walking out of the desert and into the sea.
Bring The Emotion
That photo is hard for me to look at because of the feelings it evokes: sadness, loss and longing. Photos do that. So can books.
I recently did a workshop with screenwriter and New York Times best selling author Stephanie Storey. What struck me in her talk was the emphasis on bringing EVERYTHING when depicting emotion in a character. It's easy to capture emotion in a photo of beloved dog.
In writing, it's so. Hard. To. Do.
My critique group partners and I talk about this all the time. We love books because of the emotional connection, but we struggle to write emotion in depth. In a recent Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Insight interview, author Stephanie Garber said that it isn't a colorful cover or favorite genre that makes us keep reading a book. It's the feelings we connect with. She believes feelings are the heart of books.
Although I love novels with fantastic world building and intriguing plot, I agree with the Stephanies. What keeps me reading past midnight, what makes me slow down when I near the end, what makes me long for more pages, is my relationship with the character. I want to love a character so much, I dread every bad moment. I want to fight not to close my eyes when danger threatens. When their heart is broken, I want my tears to be unstoppable, and when they triumph, I want my heart to soar.
I think most writers try to achieve this and most succeed on some level. But few accomplish a heart-stealing read. I repeatedly ask myself why. I WANT, yes with capital letters, want to write that kind of book. But how do I make that happen?
Stephanie Storey goes to great lengths to explore her character's emotions. She visits museums as her character, takes online personality tests, even sees a therapist as her character. She says writers need to bring their deepest, most vulnerable feelings to the page. The part of themselves they're afraid to show to others. Those feelings are what make characters real.
So easy peasy, right? Bringing everything means revisiting places in ourselves we'd rather forget. It means remembering painful moments in great detail. So, no, it isn't any more easy or fun than looking at a photo of a dog I lost at a difficult time to a pain-riddled disease. But for books that stay with readers long after they return to shelves, we must go there.
When I was a new writer, dreaming about the books I would write and what they would become, I came to conferences hoping to learn. I was in starstruck awe of everyone, from the seasoned attendees and published authors to the agents and editors.
After a few years, I came to conferences hoping to be inspired and learn something from workshops, but I also hoped to earn critiques with agents or editors who might be interested in my work. I knew some of the authors and quite a few attendees. The agents were familiar from the lists I had researched to query my manuscripts. I was no longer starstruck, but I had great respect for authors, agents and publishers.
A couple weeks ago I attended Florida's SCBWI summer conference as an agented writer with a book on submission to publishers. My respect for everyone in the children's book world hasn't diminished, it's grown. I'm in awe again, not starstruck-new-writer awe, but the kind of awe that comes from learning how hard everyone, from regional volunteers to agents and editors, works to make published books happen.
As I sat in the conference gathering room, waiting for seats to fill and our Regional co-leader Linda Bernfeld to welcome attendees and send us off to workshops, I realized this year was different for me. I was no longer here just for learning or publishing opportunities. I was here because of the people. The writers, young and old, new and seasoned, published and unpublished. We need each other, and I'm one of those seasoned writers now. I want to support new attendees. I want to support the regional volunteers who devote hours and hours for the good of children's writers. I want to be a link in the bond that weaves us together and makes us strong.
Artists and Writers in the garden
Summer is a time to embrace the outdoors and growing things. I love hanging out with plants. There's so much color and texture in a garden and fascinating paths to explore, from the tiny trail of ants to stepping stones that lead to gates and doors. And everywhere you look, there's a vivid picture or story. I can't go into my yard without seeing a void that needs a spot of color, tall, linear plant or a twisting pathway. When it came time to paint our house, I asked the blooming plants what color they'd like. They picked a medium blue with green tint. Now, my calla lilies, allamandas and Hawaiian Tis are preening and strutting in front of the walls, and the house seems happy with the color. Treating my home and garden as a work of art isn't something I think about, it just instinctively happens.
I'm not alone. Many creative minds apply fertile imaginations to their environment. Frida Khalo's home demanded attention just as she did. Called La Casa Azul after the vivid blue color on her walls, her garden complimented the color, or vice versa. Maybe she consulted her plants before she chose that hue. I know she loved them. In self-portraits, blooms from her garden crowned her hair. The New York Botanical Gardens was so fascinated with Frida's planting skills, in 2015 they recreated her home and garden (see above).
Beatrix Potter was fascinated with plants, fungi and wildlife and she drew them in exquisite detail. From that love, Peter Rabbit sprang to life. Beatrix was a farmer and a conservationist and she created more than one stunning garden.
Many writers escape to their gardens to work. Dylan Thomas penned his poems from this shed overlooking the Taf estuary in Wales. Roahl Dahl admired this shed so much, he recreated it in his garden.
Someday, I hope to add a writing shed to my garden. In the meantime, I'll keep asking my plants what they'd they'd like next.
The Blue House by Peter Andersen / CC BY-SA
Hill Top, Near Sawrey by diamond geezer / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Dylan Thomas Writing Shed by wardyboy400 / CC BY 2.0
The Life of a Novel
Until I began my journey as a writer, I never fully understood what it took to create a novel. I knew writers had to write them and publishers print and bind them, but I imagined it as a charmed process, with ideas springing to life on the page. Painlessly, seamlessly, in the blink of an eye, there's a book.
If you're an author or someone who supports authors, I'll give you a minute to stop laughing before we continue. Done? Okay, let's move on to reality.
Most books take years to achieve. First a writer has to learn how to write a good story. That is not a speedy or painless process. Part of that education is writing books. All of them start with an intriguing idea. It may ferment in the author's head for decades before it grows big enough to be a first draft. First drafts take some people months and others, a year or longer to write. And revision, please, lets talk revision. How many drafts is enough? I don't count anymore. My critique group gets my second draft to review. Then I analyze plot and character arcs, map scenes, scribble notes all over the place. Many drafts later, my agent is allowed to see it. Of course, she has suggestions, all of them excellent, for making a better story.
Yesterday, after a month or so of brainstorming and revising, I sent my manuscript back to her. I'm waiting for her response. Is it ready to take the next step, be submitted to publishers? Often, I hear books being referred to as babies, birthed on the day they're offered to the public. But I think they're born when they're released from the author's head. My story is now a toddler, taking wobbly steps, hoping to grow into a real book. This is what it looks like today:
This is what I hope it grows up to be, a beautiful middle grade book, like my friend Augusta Scattergood's.
If you're an aspiring author, I wish you courage and perseverance, and the confidence to believe in your abilities and your books. If you're not a writer, but you love books, I hope you'll treasure them all the more, knowing how hard they worked to reach you.
My Journey to Agentdom
I've been querying agents for about eight years. When I started, I kept a hand-written journal, noting the dates and responses I received from my list of carefully researched agents. The last two years, I abandoned my journal for a digital spread sheet. February 12, 2018, I typed the final entry:
Ten years learning to write. Four novels queried. Over ninety queries sent. Seventy-one rejections. One offer to represent. The other nineteen agents were informed that I signed with an agent, so I don't know how they would have responded to my work.
I've always learned from and been inspired by posts about authors' journeys to acquiring an agent, so I thought I'd share a bit of mine. When I submitted my first book, I had no idea how far I was from being ready. I sent off the requested pages, along with a horrible synopsis. I'm sure it was the easiest rejection of the day for every agent on my list. Was I crushed? Yes, but I moved on. I took online classes, read books on craft, joined two critique groups on top of the one I already belonged to, thinking I'd learn three times faster. And I revised over and over and over again.
Five months later, I submitted my first book again, but more cautiously and to fewer agents. I received two requests for partials. Jump for joy, progress! In the end, they all rejected my dear book. So I set it aside, thanking it for all I'd learned. A year or so later, I queried my second book. By this time, I expected the rejections, but they stung just as much. I took my book to workshops and conferences, read more books on craft and listened to critique partners.
By the third book, I knew how much I didn't know and was intimidated by how much I had to learn. I considered an MFA, but, given a writer's earning potential and our budget, I couldn't rationalize spending the money. So I plugged along the path. I knew quite a few published authors by now, and it was wonderful to celebrate their new books. It was also growing harder to imagine my books ever sitting next to theirs on a shelf.
I learned to write lovely prose and create enticing concepts. Yes, the third book was also rejected when I queried. But two agents said they'd like to see more of my work! And I discovered something crucial in the agents' responses, the weak spot I needed to focus on . . . structure. I needed to learn how to plot. So for my fourth book, I chose a story that would fall apart without a well-conceived plot. Ignoring the urge to create pretty writing, I gave my character a concrete goal and charged towards that goal on an armored-horse with a lance in hand. I worked on that book for almost two years. It won Florida's 2018 Rising Kite contest. I submitted it to agents the week after and was offered representation one week later.
Here's what I learned from this journey:
Read new books in the age category that's your focus. Read award-winning books. You don't have to analyze them, but become familiar with what kids are reading today, and soak up the way good stories are told.
Learn everything you can about writing for children. There are many good books on craft to choose from. Join the Society of Children's Book Writer and Illustrators. Jump on their forum, ask questions and participate in discussions. Attend SCBWI workshops and conferences for motivation, education, networking and opportunities to pitch your book to editors and agents.
Find a good critique group. Your local SCBWI chapter can help with that. Critique partners not only help you grow your book, they help with query letters and they're there to support you. Writers understand writers.
When you're facing an inbox of rejections, agents can seem like the enemy. They're honestly not. They work weekends and nights, shuffling through massive piles of queries. They give up their days off because they want to find their next client. They want to find stories they love. So, before you send a query, ask yourself if it will shine in that pile of hopeful submissions.
Learn what you can from rejections. If an agent responds with a personal comment, read it carefully. Decipher it. Has she said I'm not relating to the character? Study character emotion and how to put that on the page. Did she not connect with the concept? How can you make it more original and dynamic?
Perseverance is your best friend. Embrace it. Feed it vitamins. You need it healthy and strong!
No two paths are alike. When you start comparing yourself to someone who published their first book after only two years of writing, put blinders on and focus on telling the stories only you can tell. Every book you write teaches you how to write better. There are no wasted efforts, unless you quit. Don't give up!
From Introvert to Groupie
I'm a world-class introvert who, except for college, has been perfectly happy creating art by myself without a soul intervening. But the day I realized I wanted to write books for children, I went looking for people with the same goal. I needed to learn and I wasn't prepared to go into debt for an MFA. So I joined the Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators and found a local critique group.
That was ten years ago. Not only did I discover writers who were willing to share their knowledge and experience, I found people who accepted and supported me. My critique partners, the Skyway Writers, are committed, compassionate women. We're as dedicated to helping each other succeed as we are to achieving our own goals. We share our stories, our hopes, our devastation over hurtful book reviews, or agents and editors who pass on our projects. As our knowledge evolves, our writing grows stronger through honest, intensive feedback. Today, I consider these women great friends and I can't imagine writing without them.
Bolstered by my critique group experience, I fought my reclusive tendencies and dragged myself to SCBWI events. Here in Florida, we have an amazing community of writers. For many years, writing teacher and picture book author, Rob Sanders organized local SCBWI workshops and presentations. No introvert stands a chance when confronted with Rob's charm. He has a smile as warm as Texas and a passion for helping writers achieve their goals. He has now passed his local responsibilities to writing coach Bob Schwartz, but Rob hasn't stopped encouraging writers. At the state level, Florida's Regional SCBWI Advisor, Linda Bernfeld, works year round with a host of dedicated volunteers to support writers. They orchestrate two conferences, gathering some of the publishing industry's best and brightest to teach and inspire Florida writers. Florida SCBWI also provides mentoring opportunities, a website and newsletter, a statewide boot camp, an annual writing contest and a growing list of critique groups. If you visit a conference, you'll see Linda and her team, racing here and there, making sure writers and presenters have what they need. They come to those conferences, determined to make writers' dreams come true.
From the start, everyone, and I mean everyone, has been kind and friendly. I'm not sure what it is about children's writers, but if you sit next to one, you've likely made a friend for life. Some are shy like me, some outgoing and engaging. But they all scoot over to welcome new members. And that feeling isn't contained to Florida. SCBWI President Stephen Mooser answers emails as if he's sitting across from you, sipping tea. He and Executive Director Lin Oliver, travel from their homes in California to teach and inspire at our conferences. They offer a fantastic yearly grant contest, opportunities for members to publish articles, poems and illustrations in their magazine The Bulletin, and a place to interact, ask questions, find and form groups on their website.
But even with that army of goodwill permeating a decade of SCBWI membership, the child inside me who moved too many times to make friends, hesitated to believe I belonged.
Until two weeks ago.
It was the weekend of the SCBWI conference in Miami where the results for Florida's 2018 Rising Kite writing contest would be announced. I wasn't able to attend, but encouraged by writing partner Augusta Scattergood, I entered my middle grade book in the contest. Sunday afternoon, my phone pinged. Fellow Skyway writer Teddie Aggeles texted "Look at your email!"
I did. There in my inbox was a message from two more Skyway Writers, JC Kato and Janet McLaughlan. They were at the conference, cheering and accepting my award for first place in middle grade fiction. My phone pinged again and I pulled up Facebook to see a photo and congratulations from author/illustrator Fred Koehler:
More cheers followed, many, many cheers, from people I knew and people I didn't. I cried happy tears off and on all afternoon. Winning was a great honor and a thrill, but it wasn't the award that overwhelmed me. It was the kindness and love from writing friends. It went straight to my heart and broke that rusty, old lock that chained me to the belief I didn't belong. So, thank you Rob and Dorian Cirrone, for your special efforts to support this reticent writer. Thank you Janet and JC, for cheering my win, accepting my award and pitching my book to an agent. You are the most awesome writing pals. Thank you Fred and Teddie for elevating my Sunday afternoon by announcing my win. Thank you Augusta for always, always encouraging writers to reach for the dream. And last, but in no way least, thank you Linda, Dorian, Linda Shute, your brigade of volunteers and every person who scoots over to make room for shy people. You are a powerful force for good in this world.
Don't Let Rules Rule
Writers invest a lot of time learning their craft. We study books and blogs and attend talks by authors, editors, agents and teachers, all in an effort to write better stories. We hear pretty much the same advice from everyone:
Show,Don't Tell
Never Open Your Book With A Dream
Avoid Backstory Whenever Possible
Shun Passive Verbs
Balance Dialog, Action and Internality
Get Rid Of Adults (for children's writers)
We listen. We take their advice to heart. We work to present dramatic stories with dynamic verbs and sparse backstory. We avoid sleeping scenes with even a hint of a dream. Then apologizing to our beloved parents, we kill off the adults. We advise our critique partners to attack every instance that doesn't follow the rules and we slash the offending sections.
So, it's with utter dismay that we pick up the latest award-winning novel and discover it opens with a dream and pages and pages of backstory, or the author uses to-be verbs in every other sentence, or most of the story focuses on adults. I used to frown at these books, scratch my head. Fellow writers and I would discuss the mystery. How did these books get published when they break the rules we've been taught?
What I've come to understand is that great books tell a great story. Period. Readers don't know the rules and they don't care. And when it comes right down to it, neither do publishers. No doubt, they want writers to know their craft. They want them to write the best book they can with bonus points for beautiful language and style. But compelling story and voice is what sells books.
When I was an art student, we were told, learn the rules, then you can break them. So that's my advice to new writers. Study, learn the rules and apply them. Practice, practice, practice. But don't ever let rules get in the way of your creativity. When you write a first draft, kick them out of your head and let the story flow. Focus on what makes your story original. Run wild with its uniqueness. Tell it the way only you can. The rules will be waiting in your handy dandy toolbox when you revise. Apply them with care, where needed. They should always make your story better. If not, put them aside.
Raising our Fists at Irma
twinkiesNative Floridians aren't easily distracted by nature. We grow up with a variety of amphibians and reptiles, including alligators, over 12,000 insect species and forty-four snake species. We learn early on to leave gators be. Don't feed them, for crying out loud, unless you want them knocking on your door and looking at your fingers as if they're Twinkies! We know which snakes and bugs are poisonous and we learn to get along with them all. It's their planet, too, and they'll likely be here long after we're gone. I'm always surprised at newcomers who are disgusted by lizards. I think they're cute.
We're used to hot, humid weather that melts ice cubes before they've had a chance to chill your drink. Daily thunder storms with booming lightning don't stop Floridians from going about their business. When I was a little girl, we invited the family to our house during hurricanes. The kids played games. I don't remember what the adults did but it seemed everyone had a good time and the next day, we picked up and moved on.
Writers are a lot like Floridians. We don't let much distract us from our work. Even when we stop typing, we're figuring out story in our heads. We do it while driving, doing chores, waiting in lines and sometimes when we're supposed to be listening to the person next to us. Work isn't nine to five for us and storytelling isn't just a job, it's a mission.
Two weeks ago a storm called Irma headed to Florida with her eye set on Tampa Bay. I imagine every writer in the state stopped writing like I did, to watch that storm on the news. It was a monster, wider than the state, chewing up the islands below us and leaving devastation behind. Now that I'm grown, I take hurricanes seriously. And from the sounds of it, so do most Floridians, including the children's writing community. Thousands listened to the dire warnings and evacuated. The people who stayed behind searched for a safe place to ride out the storm.
We boarded our windows and doors, filled our cars with gas and our cupboards with canned food and water. Neighbors helped neighbors and wished each other well before heading inside to sit awake all night, listening to Irma batter our houses. On Facebook, the children's writing community lit up with offers of help and thoughts for everyone's safety. After Irma passed, Floridians cleaned up downed trees and smashed fences. They sweated in houses that no longer had electricity. Some faced destroyed homes and a long road back to normal.
The writers in my group struggled to drag their thoughts back to their stories. A statewide series of workshops was postponed and a contest deadline extended. But we will recover, and we won't have to do it alone. The children's writing community supports its members. Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators have offered to cover the costs of everyone (everyone!) wanting to attend the postponed workshops. The workshops have already been rescheduled, and I'm busy working on my contest entry. Writers, like Floridians, expect hardships and challenges. We're not going to let a storm, no matter how fierce, keep us from our art.
How Story is Born
Authors are often asked where their stories come from and they give a variety of answers: dreams, memories, an event that rattles the insides of their brains and demands to be honored, like the bombing of New York's twin towers.
Kelly Barnhill, who recently won the Newbery Award with her middle grade book The Girl Who Drank the Moon, talked about the book's origins in Publisher's Weekly. She said an image of a swamp monster spouting poetry sparked the story idea. That image percolated and mixed with her interest in how people see the same thing differently, and her setting was inspired by a trip to Costa Rica.
I think most stories evolve like that. A seed's planted, then another and another, growing a jungle of words in our heads. They have to get along at some point, come together in a cohesive way and they have to make us ask "what happens next? That's when our fingers start typing.
The book I'm working on now started with drawings I did of fantasy figures I saw in the wood floor of an old house my husband and I were restoring. I imagined a lonely girl finding those figures and the story was born. Another book grew from a longing to commemorate the days I spent riding and training horses and the last book sprang from living in a dynamic urban neighborhood.
I like to hear the main character's voice in my head before I start, but I'm not always that lucky. Sometimes, I have to write for a long while before that voice emerges. Since I'm a visual person, setting is vitally important. I need to see the world first, to understand the geography, the buildings and environment. If I try to write without that, the world doesn't feel real.
My critique partners and I have discussions about describing our characters. Should we be specific, so readers have clear visuals, or should we be vague so more people can identify with the characters. I rarely know much about my character's physical description at the start of a story. For me, physicality is not nearly as important as personality.
Let's not forget plot and conflict. It's what drives the story and I've learned the hard way not to start a story without knowing the protagonist's goal. If you have a story screaming to be written and you don't know the main conflict, take a deep breath, take a walk, take the time you need to figure that out. Explore issues that are important to you, like Kelly Barnhill's interest in the way people's perspectives color their world. Ask yourself how your interests and concerns might shape your character's world. Then ask what your character wants and what's the worst thing that could happen. Now, you have the start of a solid story.
What are you waiting for? Start typing!
I write middle grade and young adult books with a magical twist. And creatures, always creatures. I'm represented by the fabulous Leslie Zampetti of Dunham Lit.
Augusta Scattergood
Maggie Stiefvater
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August 2018


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Deals: Save $200 on 2013 MacBook Airs while supplies last; prices start at $799Apple's minor revamp of the MacBook Air lineup has triggered price drops of up to $200 on several of last year's models —all of which are identical to the models introduced Tuesday with the exception of a 100MHz speed bump on the four standard retail configurations.
In particular, our Price Guides show that and Apple authorized resellers (and AppleInsider sponsors) B&H Photo and MacMall have significantly reduced the price of the following 2013 MacBook Airs, which they say are limited to existing supply and will not be restocked at these prices:
From B&H:
11-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/128GB
11-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB
11-inch Air 1.70GHz/8GB/128GB
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/128GB
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/8GB/256GB
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/8GB/512GB
13-inch Air 1.70GHz/8GB/256GB
13-inch Air 1.70GHz/8GB/256GB
From MacMall:
11-inch Air 1.40GHz/4GB/128GB
11-inch Air 1.40GHz/4GB/256GB
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB
To take advantage of the above MacMall pricing, simply use the links above or in our Price Guides to activate the Promo Code field on MacMall's pages and then manually apply Promo Code APPLEINSIDER01. MacMall also only charges sales tax in a handful of states: CA, CO, GA, IL, MN, NC, NY, TN, and WI.
For cost conscious consumers, B&H offers the added benefit of only charging sales tax on orders shipped to its home state of New York, and exclusively offers readers discounted pricing on 3-Year AppleCare Protection Plans when purchased on the same order as a new Mac (See Mac + AppleCare Price Guide). In this case, attaching AppleCare to one of the aforementioned MacBook Airs will cost $180 as opposed to $250 (how to attach). Here's how B&H's reduced MacBook Airs price out, in total, with 3 years of AppleCare for consumers outside NY state:
From B&H:
11-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/128GB + AppleCare
11-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB + AppleCare
11-inch Air 1.70GHz/8GB/128GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/128GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/4GB/256GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/8GB/256GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.30GHz/8GB/512GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.70GHz/8GB/256GB + AppleCare
13-inch Air 1.70GHz/8GB/256GB + AppleCare
With the exception of 100MHz clock speed increase to 1.4GHz from 1.3GHz on the four standard retail configurations, Apple's 2014 MacBook Air models are identical to its 2013 models. The company acknowledged this much by uncharacteristically deciding not to issue new, unique manufacturers part numbers for the 2014 models. It instead tweaked last year's part numbers. For example: Apple's 2013 11-inch MacBook Air (1.30GHz/4GB/128GB) carries part number MD711LL/A, while the new (1.40GHz/4GB/128GB) carries part number MD711LL/B.
To further offset the cost of buying a new MacBook Air, readers can consider trading in their old MacBook notebook to Gazelle or one of the other cash-paying buyback services listed in our Trade-in Guides. For instance, Gazelle is currently paying over $400 for a previous generation baseline 13" MacBook Air in "good" condition.
B&H, along with MacMall, is also accepting orders for several new 2014 MacBook Air configurations, which they say will begin shipping to costumers tomorrow. Orders placed online at these resellers will be filled in the order they are received; the same tax-savings and AppleCare offers mentioned above also apply. Additional models will turn up in the Price Guides as they become available to Apple's authorized resellers.
For its part, MacMall currently offers AI readers the lowest prices anywhere on the new 2014 MacBook Air retail configurations (without AppleCare) by using the links in our Price Guides (segment below) and applying promo code APPLEINSIDER01. MacMall says orders placed online for Apple's 4 standard retail configurations are currently shipping out within 24 hours. All custom configurations are currently scheduled to ship 3-5 business days. The same promo code also works for all other MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros from MacMall listed in the Price Guides:
Stay tuned over the next several days as more configurations become available.


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La Manga and Cabo de Palos Night Life ("La Marcha" means an active and amusing Night Life in Spanish) is tremendously full of activity and noise (specially from Friday to Sunday and from June to September)
There are a lot of places to go and drink, listening to music and dancing, open from 11 pm to 4, 5 or 6 am. Then you can have breakfast in other places.
There are several main areas where many of these music pubs are concentrated. We will start in Cabo de Palos:
Cabo de Palos - Downtown
Most of the places here are located within the triangle made by three adjacent streets: Calle Salero, Calle Marín and Plaza de Los Arcos. You get there following the road that drives from the Port of Cabo de Palos to the Light House, just before reaching El Mosqui Restaurant.
(see location Cabo de Palos, Downtown, LaMangaWind map)


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Be the Face of RTA. Be a Bus Driver, Mechanic, Utility Cleaner, or Accountant.
Looking to Start a New Fast-Paced Career? Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is an equal employment opportunity employer.
If you answered "yes," then a career with RTA might be for you. Our employees receive excellent benefits, including a competitive salary, health insurance, public retirement, wellness facilities, vacation time and more.
Click Here for ALL Current Openings.
RTA encourages all interested individuals to apply. You do not need prior commercial driving experience. Our training program will provide you with the essential skills needed to succeed on the job.
There are two bus driver positions, Fixed-Route and Connect Paratransit. Fixed Route drivers carry a Commercial Driver's License (CDL), Class B, with passenger endorsement. If you don't have your CDL now, that's OK, you can still apply and obtain a temporary CDL permit before you begin training. Connect Paratransit drivers do not require a CDL, drive smaller vehicles, and is for customers who cannot access our bus route service due to a disability or disabling health condition.
Obtaining a CDL Permit
You can get the permit by taking a three-part written test given by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). There are three parts to test: General Knowledge, Passenger Endorsement, and Air Brake Endorsement.
To study for the test, you can get a free copy of the Commercial Driver's License manual from any BMV office. Or by visiting this site: https://www.bmv.ohio.gov/dl-cdl-testing.aspx
Training takes place over a four to eight week period depending on the driving position and your previous experience. If you do not have a CDL, an RTA trainer will teach you all aspects of the CDL driving test before you take the Ohio State driving test. You will drive an RTA bus when you take the test. By the end of training, you will have logged many hours driving a bus, be very comfortable behind the wheel and be ready to begin serving our customers.
Qualifications for these Positions
- Must obtain prior to training, a Commercial Driver's License permit (except for Connect Paratransit drivers).
- Must have a high school diploma or equivalent (G.E.D.) from an accredited school.
- Must have proof of U.S. citizenship or authorization to work in the U.S.
- Must have reliable transportation.
- Must verify the past three (3) years' driving record and meet the following criteria:
- Must be able to actively engage with the general public and provide excellent customer service.
- Must be able to work early mornings, late evenings, weekends, and holidays.
RTA operates nearly 24 hours each day, 365 days per year. Prior to the start of training, all applicants will be required to pass a drug test and a physical capabilities assessment, and acquire a Department Of Transportation Medical Card (except Connect Paratransit drivers).
Interested applicants may complete an application online at https://www.rtacareerhub.org.


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January 24, 2018 |
Uncategorized |
Natasha Vand |
Let's face it, we can all be our own toughest critics. But for some people, this behavior goes beyond small criticisms to a long-term pattern of destructive behavior. This is
January 24, 2018 |
Uncategorized |
Kari |
Did you know that your brain can become cluttered just like your home or office can? Much like home clutter, it's something that you might not notice every day but definitely
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Throughout the month of April I am taking a break from writing in order to focus on other things. As a result I am re-posting some of my most popular articles.
We have all been in situations where we have felt confused, overwhelmed, frustrated, or some combination of the three. You may even be there now.
Few things are as depressing as being in such a dark place in your life that you cannot see your hand in front of your face, so to speak.
None of us truly wants to remain there, but finding your way out of that black hole can be very difficult.
I may have talked about this before, but I remember being in such a dark place when I was in college that I cried myself to sleep every night. I understood what David meant in Psalm 63 when he said that he was in "a dry and weary land where there is no water." (63:1, NIV)
Since then there have been many times when I have been confused and overwhelmed, not knowing what to do.
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Many people ask me which podcasts I listen to, especially after the launch of my own podcast: Deep See With Bilal. There are so many, that I couldn't fit them into one blog, so I thought I'd start with best macro podcasts. When I say macro, I mean not only economics and finance but also tech and politics. I'm not ranking the podcasts, but they are the best ones I'm come across. I also include a sample episode to give a taste of the podcast. I'm sure I must have missed some, so feel free to send me your recommendations!Continue reading "The Best Macro Podcasts Of 2019"
Category: Politics
13 Rules For Have-Nots To Gain Power
Obama used his ideas on his path to the US Presidency, Hilary Clinton wrote her thesis on his work, and grass-roots movements, from both the left and now the right, treat his work as the template for action. Yet many people have never heard of the American Saul Alinsky. He is thought be the founder of modern community organising and wrote one of the most influential books on setting up grass-roots movements: the 1971 book "Rules For Radicals". The basic philosophy was to give power to the have-nots. In his introduction he wrote:
"WHAT FOLLOWS IS for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away"Continue reading "13 Rules For Have-Nots To Gain Power"
3 Big Structural Forces To Watch: Tech Cold War, Diesel Car Collapse, Liquidity Illusion.
I recently gave a speech on 3 key themes many investors are neglecting . Here's the summary:
1) US-China tech cold war. The essence is that the US establishment led by the US Department Of Defense (DoD) has deemed China's tech development as a national security issue. The view has been publically articulated by US Vice President Mike Pence in his Hudson Institute speech last October, where he talked about "using stolen technology, the Chinese Communist Party is turning plowshares into swords on a massive scale". Meanwhile, the DoD's venture capital unit, the DIUx, has described in a white paper that a key dimension of China's technology transfer strategy is to invest in US start-ups, which had to be curtailed. On top of all of this, Congress has taken an increasingly hawkish stance to China.Continue reading "3 Big Structural Forces To Watch: Tech Cold War, Diesel Car Collapse, Liquidity Illusion."
The Subversive Origin Of the Monopoly Board Game (3 min read)
We've all played Monopoly. You go around the board, try to accumulate sets of properties (ideally the green and dark blue ones), build hotels and then drive everyone else into bankruptcy. It can often drag on and on, but it's worth the wait if it means you defeat your siblings. But did you know that this celebration of monopolistic capitalism was actually based on a game that was meant to show the evils of monopolies?! Continue reading "The Subversive Origin Of the Monopoly Board Game (3 min read)"
Best Of the Web: Nightmarish AI Pictures, Hipster Goats and Low-Carb Diets
Here's my latest batch of great articles I've come across on the web. Enjoy!
Tech World (7)
Who Wants To Be A YouTube Billionaire? Great article describing the landscape of YouTube stars. Worth reading with this piece which argues that the old system of endorsements from big studios, TV shows or other "authorities" no longer holds for artists – the field is wide open, and you need to stand out, and also this piece, which argues that the education system needs to teach people the art of iteration. Continue reading "Best Of the Web: Nightmarish AI Pictures, Hipster Goats and Low-Carb Diets"
How Well Do You Know the Good Or Bad State Of the World?
The late Hans Rosling found fame through his TED talks on visualising facts about the world. His last book,"Factfulness", was published this year, and is a great read.
The thrust of the book is that we lazily make assumptions about the world, which are not based on facts, and then go on to formulate big world views. To make his point, he starts his book with 13 questions on the state of the world. I was surprised by many of the answers. Here are the questions (and the answers). See if you get them right!
13 Questions About the World
1. In all low-income countries across the world today, how many girls finish primary school? Continue reading "How Well Do You Know the Good Or Bad State Of the World?"
Best Of the Web: Talking To Children, Belly Fat, Uber For Snitching and more…
I come across so many great articles on the web, so I thought I'd try to regularly share the best ones. Let me know if you like the selection or if you like more (or less) of certain types.
Personality and Self-Help (6)
How Emotional Intelligence Boosts Your Endurance
A new paper has found that those who were better at recognizing and regulating their emotions ran faster races. Runners who agreed with statements like "Expressing my emotions with words is not a problem for me" or "I often pause and think about my feelings." turned out to be Continue reading "Best Of the Web: Talking To Children, Belly Fat, Uber For Snitching and more…"
Don't Take Politicians So Seriously!
In the current climate of taking political debate over social media so seriously, it's worth deflating our pompousness by hearing politicians over the ages mocking their profession*:
The Nature of politics
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it wrongly and applying unsuitable remedies. (Ernest Benn)
'Politics' is made up of two words: 'poli', which is Greek for 'many', and 'tics', which are bloodsucking insects. (Gore Vidal) Continue reading "Don't Take Politicians So Seriously!"
My 23 Favourite Podcast Episodes So Far This Year
I'm a huge fan of podcasts. Listening to them forms part of my daily routine and I get many of my insights from them. I typically list my favourite podcasts, but this time I thought I'd list some of my favourite specific episodes. These may give you a springboard to enjoy the rest of the episodes of those podcasts. So here they are for this year (episode name first, followed by podcast name): Continue reading "My 23 Favourite Podcast Episodes So Far This Year"
The James Comey Book – Be Afraid, Very Afraid (6 min read)
James Comey, the former director of the FBI, recently published his account of working under the Trump administration in the book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership". It's the second high-profile book of the workings of the Trump administration – the other being Michael Wolf's "Fire and Fury". That was revealing in parts, and Comey's book is also revealing, though not in the way many reviewers have focused on. Continue reading "The James Comey Book – Be Afraid, Very Afraid (6 min read)"


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"I'd go to Abu Dhabi because there's expensive cars there like Ferraris". – Melvin Kumar | Radiology
"I'd take my funds and go to Houston to help flood victims further and to help rebuild the city". – Markus Coleman | Math
"I would go back to Alaska because that's where I was born and raised and that's where my heart lies". – Josh Salazar | National wildlife conservation


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Sens send Hammond down to Binghamton
The crowded crease is crowded no longer.
As the Senators went back to work Monday morning, goaltender Andrew (The Hamburglar) Hammond was officially assigned to Binghamton because the club no longer wanted to carry three netminders.
That means Mike Condon will play the role of No. 2 behind Craig Anderson.
The club had wanted to carry three goalies when they first learned about Anderson's wife Nicholle being diagnosed with cancer but, for the most part, he should be available.
No, this doesn't come as any surprise, but Hammond is going to earn his $1.35-million salary in the minors while trying to get his game together.
GM Pierre Dorion said he tried to find Hammond another home in the NHL, but couldn't find anyone willing to bite on the Burglar.
"He refused a conditioning assignment about a week ago, I put out a note to all the GMs saying if anyone had any interest to contact me," Dorion said Monday. "A few teams inquired about him, but at the end of the day, they decided to go in another direction.
"We just decided that Andrew needed to play games. We took a chance by putting him through waivers. We feel we've got three quality goaltenders in our organization, but Andrew needed to play games. Andrew will be back with us when Craig (Anderson) isn't here."
The Senators have liked what they've seen from Condon in the three games he has played since being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"We've seen someone that is definitely one of the highest competitive goalies I've ever seen in my career," Dorion said. "Someone who takes a lot of shots, someone who has the ability to help us win games whether Craig was here or not here."
Condon will make his return to Montreal, but this date wasn't circled on his calendar and Anderson will make the start anyway.
He enjoyed his time with the Habs, but the trip isn't anything special.
"I've kind of moved on from that stage in my life so it's just another hockey game," Condon said. "I was back there with Pittsburgh."
He learned a lot from playing with the Habs for parts of three seasons.
"I took a lot of things," Condon said. "There were a lot of lessons learned, a lot of good friends over there and good memories and some bad ones with everything that happened.
"There's nothing but good stuff from my time there. I've moved on from that part of my life and now I'm happy to be with the Senators."
Getting to work with Price helped give Condon a good perspective on what it takes in this league.
"He's playing on top of his game right now and he's hard to beat. It's not so much worrying about who's in the net, it's about doing what we need to do and I'm sure we'll be successful," Condon said.
"I watched him in practice for a long time. When you watch a goalie as good as him you're going to pick up a few things and a lot of the things he does right but you just try to be yourself. You can't play like anyone else. I can't play like Craig and Carey and I just try to take the parts of their game I like and mould it into myself. I try to do what got me here."
Centre Derick Brassard was in Drummondville on Sunday to have his No. 61 retired during a pre-game ceremony. With the exception of a drive through a snowstorm, he was touched and happy to see his number sitting in the rafters beside Daniel Briere, another Gatineau native who went on to a successful NHL career.
"It was a great day," Brassard said. "It was fun. It was a great honour getting my jersey retired beside all those guys and seeing it in the rafters — especially Briere. I grew up watching him and my jersey is right beside him. That's pretty special. It's a moment I'm going to remember the rest of my life."
Brassard said it was emotional especially when he thanked his parents.
"I kind of lost it a little bit because I know how hard they worked for me and my sister growing up and I'm really just thankful for everything they've done for me," Brassard said.
Dorion told reporters that Clarke MacArthur's absence from practice at the Bell Sensplex Monday doesn't mean the winger has had a setback in his recovery from a concussion. The Senators are still confident MacArthur will play again this year after he was injured in training camp. "Don't look into that he's there and he's not there. It's an ongoing process," Dorion said. "I feel really confident that he's going to be back with us at a certain point, but there's certain days where he's not going to be here and I don't want to to talk too much about it. But there's certain days where he might be doing something else. It's all for him to get better and, once the doctors give us the clearance, he'll be back playing." … The Senators haven't decided whether they'll keep three goalies in Binghamton. With Hammond now there, the club could send either Matt O'Connor or Chris Driedger to Wichita in the ECHL just to make sure they get some playing time.


text: Slowing downstream consumption pushes upriver for minerals By Laura Syrett Published: Thursday, 28 May 2015 Potash producers secure higher contract prices; TiO2 outlook still offers little cheer for feedstocks; refractory minerals mixed on steel Waning demand from major industrial mineral-consuming segments such as paints, plastics and refractories is filtering back to raw materials suppliers with increasing clout. Fluorochemicals, pigments and carbon materials used in steel production have been among the hardest hit, with participants in these industries telling IM that even with inventories running... This is a preview of the full article 2 years pricing data on all minerals The latest global news and features Print magazine Article archive ranging from 1988 Access on the move with IM Insight mobile app Take a Trial or Subscription today. Start below: Free Trial OR Subscribe


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What is mandatory arbitration?
Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!
Fast, Free, and Confidential
Some states, and many insurance companies, require auto accident disputes to be resolved first through arbitration, rather than litigation. In these situations, liability for damages must be determined as a result of an arbitration process before a civil lawsuit can be filed in the court system. In arbitration, neutral arbitrators (often knowledgeable practicing attorneys) are selected and evidence is presented.
The arbitrators then determine the amount of the arbitration award, if any. If the arbitration award is agreed to, that is the end of the matter (and often the arbitration award is made a final court judgment). If one of the litigants refuses to accept the arbitration award, a lawsuit may then be filed to have a "trial de novo" (new trial) in a court of law, with liability to be determined by a judge or jury.


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This year LeFrivole attending eroFame on October 3, LeFrivole 2018 is going to open its doors to the international trade for the first time! It will be a great chance to meet us at the exhibition and see our new products!
Let's have great fun and do great business! At the eroFAME 2018


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My lab is in The Ohio State University Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
Email : gerry'(at)'socialbat.org
Office: 482 Aronoff Lab
Office phone: 614-247-8117
To schedule a meeting, please send me 3-5 preferred times that work best for you, and I'll pick the first one that works for me.
Mail: Gerald Carter, 318 W. 12th Avenue, 300 Aronoff Laboratory, Columbus, OH 43210


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TSB website and app glitch locked customers out of accounts
People received an error message when they tried logging in
HUNDREDS of people were locked out of their TSB accounts after the bank's app and online banking went down this morning.
Customers on social media say they couldn't log in and received an error message when they tried.
A spokesman for TSB said that the issues were fixed at about 11am.
The Down Detector service - which tracks websites when they go offline - said there were 165 reports of problems at the height of the issues.
Some customers said they received an error message when they attempted to access their bank account, which said: "service unavailable".
One customer, Tessa Shepperson, wrote on Twitter that her error message said: "The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems.
"Please try again later."
Customers who tried to use the TSB app received a different message, which said: "Sorry, it looks like there was an unexpected error.
"You should check if your request has gone through before you try again."
The issues mostly affected customers in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow, according to a live outage map on Down Detector.
A spokesman for TSB told The Sun that online and mobile banking was working for some customers, but that the service was running very slowly.
She said: "We're aware that some customers experienced issues with their internet banking and mobile app this morning.
"Our services are returning to normal and we apologise for any inconvenience caused."
It's not yet clear what caused the problems this morning.
TSB has more than 5million customers in the UK and the issues only affected some of them.
More on Money
TSB has 550 branches in the UK. You can find the nearest one to you using its online branch finder tool.
Meanwhile, Martin Lewis has revealed how you can earn more than 100 times on your savings.
The Money Saving Expert also shared how to save THOUSANDS of pounds on your mortgage.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Money team? Email us at email@example.com


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28 September 2018
Long-term test
John Deere 8500i forager:
It's the little things:
While last month our attention was on John Deere's new 9000 series foragers, this time around we are focused on the long term reliability of the 8500i. Cheshire contractor R E Williams tells us what it has been like to live with.
Driving impression
Tribine T1000 combine:
New take on old concept
First seen back in 2016, the Tribine sets itself apart from the rest of the combining pack by boosting capacity with a 35,000-litre hopper. We take a look at the commercial model and answer the question if we will see it in Europe.
Grimme Ventor 4150 self-propelled potato harvester :
SE goes self-propelled
For fans of Grimme's trailed SE harvester but wanting more output, the Ventor 4150 could be the answer. It's packed with nifty features.
John Deere combine updates for 2019:
Good to go in '19
John Deere has announced a series of upgrades and improvements for its next wave of combine harvesters. We headed to the firm's UK base in Langar, Nottinghamshire to see what's coming up.
Claas Tucano 430 Montana combine:
Live life on the level
To compete with the likes of Deere's Hillmaster or New Holland's Hillside, Claas could only offer its Montana self-levelling chassis on the Lexion line-up ... until now. For next season this feature also comes to the Tucano, along with a host of other updates.
Krone Big X 1180 forager:
More muscle for the Big X
Some 130-150 new self-propelled foragers are sold in the UK each year, and Krone is looking to its new four-model range of Big Xs to increase its share of this highly competitive market.
Harvesting timber with Komatsu kit:
Drop, measure, chop
If you want to see proper harvesting tech, you need to head to the woods and check out the likes of Komatsu's 951 in action. A slick operator interface and telematics combine to make the most of felled timber.
New Holland CX8.90 at work in Wiltshire:
Tracks and walkers
When looking to boost combine output, the knee jerk reaction is to go bigger. Not George Hosier, who has upped the performance of his existing New Holland CX 8.90 by simply fitting a stripper header ... although he still uses a conventional table for 20-30% of his combinable acres.
Canadian farm sends hay from Ontario to Florida:
Making the hay the Canadian way
Originally from the UK, Mike Faulkner moved out to Ontario back in 2000 to milk a 50-cow herd of commercial Holsteins. Those dairy cows have long since departed, replaced by a 12,000-bird egg-laying enterprise and, more recently, a hay operation that ships around 115,000 small bales a year down to wholesalers and retailers in Florida. Here we focus on the forage part of the business
Used machinery
Massey Ferguson 9280 and 9380 Delta combines:
Navigating the Delta minefield
There are certain parallels between Massey Ferguson's Delta combines and New Holland's TM175/190 tractors: after a heap of razzmatazz at
launch, both products failed to deliver with customers. However, since then, the respective manufacturers have stepped up to the plate and the product has become much improved. We show you what to look for.
Future combine design:
Ten years after
What do machinery designers think the future combine harvester will look like? We speak to the leading combine makers, and then go on to ask some machine designers what they reckon the near future could have in store.
Machine management
High capacity harvest:
Chasing gains
So, just how do you deal with the massive amounts of grain coming from two high performance combines? For Oxon farmer Ben Smith the answer was to install a new drier.
Buyers Guide
Combine harvest guide 2018
Our new guide to combine harvesters provides a concise but comprehensive pictures of models, features and specifications covering everything from compact machines for smaller farms to the techno-giants of big arable operations.
Non-stop harvesting
Slick peas
With a tight 150-min window to get peas from the field to the processing plant, there is not much room for error. HMC Peas shows us how it hits its targets.
Combine harvesters
Thinking of harvest '19
With next harvest some way off, there's still plenty of time for a bit of combine fettling to make your summer life easier. While all of
these home-made solutions feature on a John Deere WTS 9560, they could be adapted, with minimal hassle, for most other brands


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The building is located in the most affordable city in Texas and has 2nd and 4th floor availability. This property is leased and managed by RJL Real Estate.
Transmountain MOB
123 West Mills AvenueSuite 420El Paso, Texas 79901
Phone: 915-587-8310 Fax: 915-587-8311Texas Brokerage DisclosureNew Mexico Brokerage DisclosureTexas Consumer Protection Notice
designed by stantonstreet.


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LDC driving schools in Warminster
Looking for driving lessons or an intensive driving course in Warminster? Look no further. LDC driving instructors are amongst the best trained instructors in the UK. All use the revolutionary LD System of tuition for driving lessons and intensive driving courses. The result is you learn faster for less money and look forward to each lesson.
Each LDC driving instructor has been chosen for their caring nature and passion for the job. Look below to find out more about the local LDC driving schools and instructors covering the Warminster area. Simply click on the "More Info" button to find out the instructors phone number, email address or website address. Alternatively call one of sales staff on free phone 0800 400 777 or if calling from a mobile 0330 100 2544 for a free information pack. To book a driving course or a series of driving lessons online please use our store.
Driving Test CentresFor information on how to book your driving test click book driving test.
7.7 miles Trowbridge
Longfield Community Centre, Weavers Drive, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 7DZ
18.1 miles Chippenham
Unit 11 Cavalier Court, Bumpers Farm, Chippenham, SN14 6LH
19.3 miles Salisbury
Rougemont Close, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 1LY
Theory Test CentresFor information on how to book your theory test click book theory test.
5.8 miles Frome
2 Baywell House, Tucker Close, Frome, BA11 5LS
14.5 miles Bath
1st floor East Suite, Charter House, The Square, Lower Bristol Road, Bath, Somerset, BA2 3BH
19.3 miles Salisbury
39 Brown Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 2AS


text: B-595 Материал Brady Brady B-595 Vinyl Film With Permanent Adhesive TDS No. B-595 Effective Date: 31-Aug-2011 Description:Brady B-595 indoor/outdoor marking film is a high gloss, durable, flexible, pressure sensitive adhesive product, designed for use in cartridge form with the BBP® 31 Sign and Label Printer, GlobalMark® Industrial Label Maker, MiniMark™ Industrial Label Printer, PowerMark® Sign and Label Maker, Labelizer® Plus Sign and Label Maker, VersaPrinter™ Sign and Label Maker, BMP® 71 Label Printer, BMP® 21 Label Printer, IDXPERT™ Labeling Printer, and HandiMark® Portable Label Maker. Details:Use: Brady-595 is used for Pipemarkers, Arrow Tape, Warehouse Marking, Warning Panels, Safety Signs, Arc Flash and Visual Workplace labels.Brady B-595 is RoHS compliant to 2005/618/EC MCV amendment to RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC. Special Properties: Permanent acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive can be applied at cold temperatures. Substrate Type: Vinyl film. Standard Material Colors: White, red, yellow, green, blue, orange, black, gray, brown, gold, purple, clear. Standard Legend Colors: Black, white, red, green, blue, yellow, orange, and magenta. Thickness (PSTC-133): 0.004 in.(0.10 mm) Adhesive Properties: Adhesion to Steel (PSTC-101) 15 Minute Dwell (Avg.) – 80 oz/in (87.5 N/100mm) Ultimate Dwell (72 Hrs.) 85 oz/in (93 N/100mm) Tack (ASTM D 2979) (Avg) 1100 g (10.5 N) Adhesion to Powder Coated Metal (PSTC-101) 15 Minute Dwell (Avg.) 60 oz/in (65 N/100mm)Ultimate Dwell (72 Hrs.) 75 oz/in (82 N/100mm) Adhesion to Polypropylene (PSTC-101) 15 Minute Dwell (Avg) 60oz/in (65 N/100mm) Ultimate Dwell (72 Hrs.) (Avg) 69 oz/in (75 N/100mm) Adhesion to Textured ABS (PSTC-101) 15 Minute Dwell (Avg) 37 oz/in (40 N/100mm) Ultimate Dwell (72 Hrs.) (Avg) 40 oz/in (44 N/100mm) Adhesion to Glass (PSTC-101) 15 Minute Dwell (Avg) 82 oz/in (90 N/100mm) Ultimate Dwell (72 Hrs.) (Avg) 88 oz/in (96 N/100mm) Note - B-595 is not recommended for Bare concrete or Unpainted Wood Abrasion Resistance (Method 5306 of U.S. Federal Test Method Std. No. 191A): CS-10 wheels, 500 g wts. The printed legend withstands up to 250 cycles. Gloss (ASTM D 523): 60 ° 50 Gardner Units minimum. Minimum Application Temperature: 0°F (-18°C). Service Temperature: -40°F to 180°F (-40°C to 82°C). Average Outdoor Durability: 8-10 years (Average expected outdoor life of product will depend on user definition of failure, climatic conditions, mounting techniques and material color.) The 8-10 year outdoor durability applies to the vinyl label stock only; ribbon durability will vary. A polyester overlaminate is recommended for harsh environments - long term exposure to wind and rain. Chemical Resistance:Samples were printed with the standard performance R10000 ribbon using the BBP® 31 Sign and Label Printer. Testing conducted at room temperature. REAGENT 7 DAY IMMERSION DIP TEST RUB TEST 30% Sulfuric Acid NE NE NE 10% Sulfuric Acid NE NE NE 30% Hydrochloric Acid NE NE NE 10% Hydrochloric Acid NE NE NE Glacial Acetic Acid F F NE 5% Acetic Acid NE NE NE 50% Sodium Hydroxide NE NE NE 10% Sodium Hydroxide F NE NE 10 % Ammonia NE NE NE 5% Sodium Hypochlorite NE NE NE Methyl Ethyl Ketone F F F Acetone F F F Toluene F F F Methanol F NE F Isopropyl Alcohol F NE NE Heptane F NE NE Mineral Spirits F F NE Turpentine F F NE Kerosene F F NE Diesel Fuel NE NE NE Gasoline F F F ASTM #3 Oil NE NE NE SAE 20 Oil NE NE NE 10% Sodium Chloride NE NE NE Alconox® NE NE NE Deionized Water NE NE NE NE = No Effect NT= Not Tested F= Failed (affected Sample) 7 Day Immersion: Immersed in reagent for 7 days. Dip Test: Five 10 minute dips in reagent with 30 minute recovery. Rub Test: Rubbed sample for 1 minute with swab soaked in reagent. Shelf Life: Product testing, customer feedback, and history of similar products support a customer performance expectation of at least two years from the receipt for this product as long as this product is stored in its original packaging in an environment below 80°F (27°C) and 60% RH. We are confident that our product will perform well beyond this time frame. However, it remains the responsibility of the user to assess the risk of using such product. We encourage customers to develop functional testing protocols that will qualify a product's fitness for use in their actual application. To maintain print quality and performance, the B-595 tape cartridge should be stored at the recommended conditions. Trademarks: ANSI: American National Standards Institute (U.S.A.) ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials (U.S.A.) Alconox® is a registered trademark of Alconox Co. BBP® 31 is a registered trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. BMP® 21 is a registered trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. BMP™ 71 is a registered trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. Fed. Spec.: United States Federal Specification (U.S.A.) Globalmark® is a registered trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. HandiMark® is a registered trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. IDXPERT™ is a trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. Labelizer®Plus is a registered trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. MINIMARK™ is a trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. PSTC: Pressure Sensitive Tape Council (U.S.A.) Powermark® is a trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. SAE: Society of Automotive Engineers (U.S.A.) VersaPrinter™ is a trademark of Brady Worldwide, Inc. Note: All values shown are averages and should not be used for specification purposes. Test data and test results contained in this document are for general information only and shall not be relied upon by Brady customers for designs and specifications, or be relied on as meeting specified performance criteria. Customers desiring to develop specifications or performance criteria for specific product applications should contact Brady for further information. Product compliance information is based upon information provided by suppliers of the raw materials used by Brady to manufacture this product or based on results of testing using recognized analytical methods performed by a third party, independent laboratory. As such, Brady makes no independent representations or warranties, express or implied, and assumes no liability in connection with the use of this information. WARRANTY Brady products are sold with the understanding that the buyers will test them in actual use and determine for themselves their adaptability to their intended uses. Brady warrants to the buyers that its products are free from defects in material and workmanship, but limits its obligation under this warranty to replacement of the product shown to Brady's satisfaction to have been defective at the time Brady sold it. This warranty does not extend to any persons obtaining the product from the buyers. This warranty is in lieu of any other warranty, express or implied, including, but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, and of any other obligations or liability on Brady's part. Under no circumstances will Brady be liable for any loss, damage, expense, or consequential damages of any kind arising in connection with the use, or inability to use, Brady's products.