text:
One last thought about trade shows and conferences. They really are what you make of them.
These trips offer a chance for you and your employees to network, to learn, to try new equipment and — don't forget — to bond with each other, building a better team when you get home.
The problem is that often the educational portion of this mix is the least effective aspect. That's not to say that the conferences aren't jam-packed with fitness professionals; it is just that too often those in attendance look like bobblehead dolls, also called notoriously bad students.
You know the nod that these classroom bobbleheads get. As the person leading the seminar talks excitedly about the latest training method or marketing trend, the bobblehead nods in agreement, often scribbling as fast as possible to capture every word. Except for Bob over there. He is actually just nodding off after a late night of "networking." Maybe part of the cure to the bobblehead epidemic is moving the first sessions back a little later, especially for shows located in cities that never sleep such as Las Vegas or New York.
Those participants with their eyes still open often have a glazed look in their eyes. You know the look. The one that you and I (I'm willing to admit it now and so should you) had in geometry or French or any of the other classes you knew you would never need upon graduation. I bet these people were bobbleheads back then, too, especially Bob.
The biggest problem is that conference attendees are missing out on information that they can use every day; information that can help them in running their businesses better and more profitably.
Sure a session on hiring staff may not be as high-energy as the early morning workout (well, again, I wouldn't plan on seeing Bob at that 6:30 a.m. step or cycling class). And a customer service seminar doesn't hold half the glitz of the trade show floor with the latest treadmill with all the bells and whistles or that new functional trainer. But missing or not, paying attention in those sessions may just hurt your business a little more than not plunking down seven grand on that treadmill, especially if your competitor is sitting in the front row and actually paying attention to the Power Point presentation (you know the type, the ones that always ruined the grading curve in freshman English for guys like Bob and I, um me, um…). Again that is not to say that the products on the floor aren't exciting or aren't part of running a successful fitness facility. It is just that there are some great ideas in those often too warm conference rooms that people are missing out on, even those sitting in on them.
Now don't get me wrong. Not all bobbleheads are going to miss the message of these sessions. Some people are really paying attention and nodding in agreement. Also, not everyone seemingly paying close attention, taking meticulous notes and asking pointed questions is going to really take advantage of the information crammed into their brains over the two, three or four days at the show. It is similar to cramming for the verbal portion of the SAT. Much of the vocabulary learned at the conference is forgotten on the long flight home, that great sales tip learned on day one is lost in the day-to-day of running a business and that even greater design idea picked up a few hours before heading out for the airport is gone during unpacking. In the end those people are no better off than Bob, and they are probably a lot more tired and without ascendancy (ah, the SAT rears its ugly head) of the subject matter.
So, keep this in mind next time you are at a conference and trade show. Jump on the equipment. Take a class. Go out for dinner and drinks with vendors, clients and staff members. But when you are in a session, make the most of it. Take notes, tape a session and ask questions. When you go home, use the information and don't let it slip away.
And lastly, WAKE UP, Bob!


text:
09-09-2008 : FlySim 1.5.3 Released. The new version fixes a few bugs in the previous version.
01-21-2008 : Telephone numbers for phone orders have changed. Please use the following numbers for placing orders only.
Phone orders: (+1) 952-908-4090
Fax orders: (+1) 952-908-4092
FlySim 1.5.3 - Fly Fishing Simulator
FlySim is a full 3D, physics-based fly fishing game featuring accurate fly casting dynamics, multiple destinations, different types of fish, and realistic fish behavior. Practice overhead casting, roll casting, mending, dry and nymph fishing, and other fly fishing techniques. And if you catch the biggest fish, you will get your name on our trophy page. A free demo is available for download. Upgrade to the full version for only $24.95 (USD).
KiteSim 1.0 - Kite Surfing Simulator
KiteSim is an 3D interactive simulation of a LEI traction kite, the type of kite most often used for kite surfing. KiteSim can be used for learning to fly a kite, practicing stunts, or just for fun. You fly the kite by moving the control bar and chicken loop with the mouse. Other features include Kite force, wind speed and kite speed indicators and wind speed and line length controls.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I apologize if this seems like a quack question, but I need some insights by those who know much more than me in Physics.
Anyway, the gravitational "force" (not really a force) is a manifestation of the curvature of space-time, caused due to presence of mass. Suppose I conjecture that ANY force (electroweak, strong...) is also a manifestation of some property of space-time effected by "something" (as in mass in the case of gravity, and different for different types of forces).
So is there any blatant fault with this line of thought? (I'm asking for blatant faults, since it's a wild supposition anyway)


text:
Good that you return, the wrhg has new life once again. With a bunch of new members and the return of old ones. May I recommend the suicide sisters?
You there! Let us engage in GLORIOUS SINGLE COMBAT! It's time to put that character to good use!
pls join, I have no idea what I'm doing
Pro tip: take your time and play the games you made BY YOURSELF. Also, Skype? Available for 35 mins. (Facebook is okay)
Yes. Duy Aorora.
Are you on comp? I want to speak with you.
So you're Ryan? Ryan Cay?
Ares. has Skype? Or IRC? I want to contact you.
I'm in a battle against ErrorBlender at the moment, so I can't at the moment~
Besides you seem to be going against Xate~
o w o
And challenge me?
Besides, I do it in my own time so I'll get to it eventually~
o w o
Send an Instant Message to Ares Using...
The Cutest Latios
Prince Angel
Slow-Motion Shooter
Secret Psychopath
Just Getting Started
Fairest of them all
i like turtles
King Veir


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Discover a range of outdoor clothing suitable for all types of activities from hiking, camping, backpacking etc. Our men's collection of outdoor clothes includes waterproof jackets, base layers, fleeces, trousers, hoodies, t shirts, mid layers and more. We stock the biggest brands such as Millet, Karrimor, Gelert, The North Face, Columbia to guarantee the best quality adventure wear.
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Free Delivery over €75
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We started making girls' ski jackets for girls who love the feel of their skis in the powder and we tried to use as much of our proven technology as possible. Our 10k/10k waterproofing/breathability promises that you stay dry and warm when you're on the slopes! So our girls' ski & snowboard jackets don't only look and feel great, but also protect you from the cold during a full day on the mountain.
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Which products are you interested in?


text:
As Gyani Maiya Sen nears the end of her life she worries that her final words may the last ever spoken in her mysterious mother tongue.
The 76-year-old, part of a vanishing tribe in remote western Nepal, is the only surviving speaker of Kusunda, a language of unknown origins and unique sentence structures that has long baffled experts.
"There's no one else with whom I can speak in my language. I used to speak with my mother but since her death in 1985, I am left alone," she told AFP by telephone.
Yet the frail, gnarled tribeswoman is the focus of renewed interest among linguists across the world who are trying to ensure her language survives in some form after she has gone.
Sen's Kusunda tribe, now just 100 members strong, were once a nomadic people but she has found herself living out her twilight years in a concrete bungalow built by local authorities in Dang district, western Nepal.
"How can I forget the language I grew up learning? I used to speak it when I was a child. Even now, I wish I could talk to someone who understands my language," Sen said in Nepali.
Nepal, wedged between China and India, is home to more than 100 ethnic groups speaking as many languages and linguists say at least 10 have disappeared in recent decades.
UNESCO lists 61 of Nepal's languages as endangered, meaning they are falling out of use, and six, including Kusunda, as "critically endangered".
"Language is part of culture. When it disappears, the native speakers will not only lose their heritage and history but they will also lose their identity," said Tribhuvan University linguistics professor Madhav Prasad Pokharel.
"Kusunda is unique because it is not related to any other language in the world. It is also not influenced by other languages," Pokharel told AFP. "In linguistic terms we call it a language isolate." Until recently, there were two other native speakers of Kusunda, Puni Thakuri and her daughter Kamala Khatri, but Puni died two years ago and Kamala migrated to India for work, leaving Sen the sole surviving native speaker. Tribhuvan University, in Kathmandu, started up a project 10 years ago to document and preserve Kusunda, inviting Thakuri and Khatri to the Nepalese capital. But as the money ran out, the research ground to a halt.
The project has been given new life by Bhojraj Gautam, a student of Pokharel who recently spent months recording Sen speaking, and gaining the knowledge to speak basic Kusunda himself in the process. As part of the project, funded by the Australian Research Council, Gautam has written down the entire language and the outcome, he says, will eventually be a Kusunda dictionary and a comprehensive grammar. Kusunda, incorrectly first classified as a Tibeto-Burman language, has three vowels and 15 consonants, and reflects the history and culture of its people.
"They call themselves 'myahq', which means tiger. That's because they think themselves as the kings of forests," Pokharel said.
The origins of the Kusunda people have never been established but they are believed to have lived in the midwestern hills of what is now Nepal for hundreds of years. They traditionally rely on hunting to survive and are adept at using arrows and bows for killing wild animals, with lizards and wild fowl being their meal of choice.
Pokharel said Kusundas have no equivalent of the word "green" because the forest-dwellers are surrounded by vegetation and don't recognise greenery as something that needs its own word.
The tribe has been dying out for decades, with women marrying outside the blood line, and the language is perishing with it as many take to speaking Nepali.
"The native speakers shifted to other languages. Factors such as marriage outside their tribe, migration and modernisation also contributed to the loss," Pokharel said.
When King Mahendra dismissed the elected government in 1960 and put in its place an autocratic, partyless system which would govern Nepal for the next 30 years, the use of languages other than Nepali was discouraged.


text:
The Coke Zero 400 that was supposed to run this past Saturday night was postponed to Sunday morning due to rain, and the broadcast interrupted a Lord Of The Rings marathon on TNT. Irate LOTR fans took to Twitter to voice their disappointment and hilarity ensued.
No disrespect to Lord Of The Rings fans, however I struggle to sympathize with the plight of people who complain about not being able to watch an edited version of a 10-year old movie, with commercials, but I digress.
Here are some of the best Twitter responses from the LOTR and NASCAR fans:


text:
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text:
The RPi will still boot from the SD card, but in essence, will no longer write to it. The original idea was to keep the SD card from failing due to excessive writing to it. It will NOT protect you from disk corruption when you pull the power plug without first properly shutting down or halting the RPi. Depending on your setup, this procedure can provide some overall speed improvements, but greatly removes the speed, size and reliability requirements for the SD card.
Starting with the 2017-04-10 kernel version, the Foundation changed to a more reliable way of using drive identifiers. This post still shows both methods, but note that using /dev/sd* for the filesystem is no longer recommended. Please implement the procedure for "Multiple Drives" further down. to stay compatible.
In more recent releases, root=PARTUUID=xxxx is now used in /boot/cmdline, and root=PARTUUID=xxx in /etc/fstab by default.
This method is not for NOOBS installations!
You can use Jessie, Stretch or Buster other versions may work but are not tested.
Using a USB "stick"
If you're looking for a speed improvement, this procedure will be a disappointment for you when you are done. The speed advantage, if at all, is at the theoretical very best, only 2x.
Using a "real" disk drive
Things change dramatically however when you use a "real" USB disc or even better, an SSD drive, although the maximum speed is still limited due to the architecture of the RPi hardware.
If you have an RPi Model 3, you can also try out the latest method of displacing the SD card completely, and really boot from your USB drive. Have a look here, but remember, this is still under development at this very moment and may not work with all drives or in all situations.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... des/msd.md It worked for me on a 3B+ and a (rotating) hard disk but there were some issues to go through because the resize procedure for my disk did not work.
1. Installation
Power down your RPi or leave it powerless.
Connect your USB stick or drive to the USB slot of the RPI now. Only use one stick or drive for this procedure! If you have a real hard disk, it is even more important that you connect that to the USB port before you boot. Older model Pi's cannot handle the power surge when they are running, and will reboot abruptly and can damage the SD card.
After a reboot, check to see if your USB drive is recognized:
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[email protected]:~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 413c:2002 Dell Computer Corp. SK-8125 Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 413c:1002 Dell Computer Corp. Keyboard Hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0781:5571 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Fit
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp. LAN9500 Ethernet 10/100 Adapter / SMSC9512/9514 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Also check to see if the OS recognized the device: (you can also use the command dmesg | grep sda)
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[email protected]:~ $ cat /var/log/messages | grep sda
Nov 25 17:56:35 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.024472] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 61489152 512-byte logical blocks: (31.5 GB/29.3 GiB)
Nov 25 17:56:35 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.025804] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Nov 25 17:56:35 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.026652] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Nov 25 17:56:35 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.063316] sda: sda1 sda2
Nov 25 17:56:35 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.081595] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 13 14:25:51 raspberrypi kernel: [ 3.993300] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 61489152 512-byte logical blocks: (31.5 GB/29.3 GiB)
Jan 13 14:25:51 raspberrypi kernel: [ 3.995088] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Jan 13 14:25:51 raspberrypi kernel: [ 3.996142] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jan 13 14:25:51 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.017894] sda: sda1 sda2
Jan 13 14:25:51 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.022524] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 13 14:36:48 raspberrypi kernel: [ 691.357635] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] 61489152 512-byte logical blocks: (31.5 GB/29.3 GiB)
Jan 13 14:36:48 raspberrypi kernel: [ 691.358933] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Jan 13 14:36:48 raspberrypi kernel: [ 691.359948] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jan 13 14:36:48 raspberrypi kernel: [ 691.379078] sda: sda1
Jan 13 14:36:48 raspberrypi kernel: [ 691.384786] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 13 14:37:05 raspberrypi kernel: [ 3.993309] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 61489152 512-byte logical blocks: (31.5 GB/29.3 GiB)
Jan 13 14:37:05 raspberrypi kernel: [ 3.995048] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Jan 13 14:37:05 raspberrypi kernel: [ 3.996068] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jan 13 14:37:05 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.002434] sda: sda1
Jan 13 14:37:05 raspberrypi kernel: [ 4.011623] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Yes, the USB stick can be referenced as /dev/sda[sda] Attached SCSI removable disk < ===
There is no way of knowing what name the OS assigns to additional USB drives. It could also be /dev/sdb. To prepare for the eventuality of you adding another USB drive or stick, we are going to prepare the RPI for that now.
You need to install a program that is needed for this procedure.
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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gdisk
It used to be that you should not use fdisk or parted, because that stops you from adding drives reliably in the future.
If you know fdisk/parted, gdisk works the same, but adds unique partition identifiers we need later on.
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sudo gdisk /dev/sda
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[email protected]:~ $ sudo gdisk /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10
Partition table scan:
MBR: MBR only
BSD: not present
APM: not present
GPT: not present
Found invalid GPT and valid MBR; converting MBR to GPT format
in memory. THIS OPERATION IS POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE! Exit by
typing 'q' if you don't want to convert your MBR partitions
to GPT format!
Warning! Main partition table overlaps the first partition by 2 blocks!
Try reducing the partition table size by 8 entries.
(Use the 's' item on the experts' menu.)
Warning! Secondary partition table overlaps the last partition by
33 blocks!
You will need to delete this partition or resize it in another utility.
Command (? for help):
Enter d to delete partion(s). It will say "Using (partition) 1", that's the default and OK.
I'm now recommending that you pause for a moment, and consider to create two partitions as a minimum. If you have a large USB disk, you may even want more, and now is the time to do it. I will be creating two partitions on my stick. Partition 1 will hold the Raspbian filesystem, and partition 2 will hold my data. I like to keep those two separate as much as I can.
The first partition, for Raspian, can be any size you want (but larger than 2 GB). I'm going to create an 8GB partition, and use the rest for data. The size of the Raspian partition does matter, because the larger it is, the more room the "internal" file system on the card/stick has to move blocks around and optimize the "wear" leveling on these flash drives. If you have a "real" disk, this does not matter.
If you want more partitions, do as I do with the second, just keep track of the size. You may want to put that disk structure on paper first because backtracking is very difficult unless you are an expert.
Create the partitions:
Enter n to create a new partition, and select number 1:
Select the starting sector by hitting Return, then select +8G for the size 0f 8GByte. Now select the default filesystem ('Linux filesystem') by hitting Enter again.
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Command (? for help): d
Using 1
Command (? for help): n
Partition number (1-128, default 1): 1
First sector (34-61489118, default = 64) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (64-61489118, default = 61489118) or {+-}size{KMGTP}: +8G
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300):
Changed type of partition to 'Linux filesystem'
Command (? for help):
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Command (? for help): n
Partition number (2-128, default 2):
First sector (34-61489118, default = 16777280) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Last sector (16777280-61489118, default = 61489118) or {+-}size{KMGTP}:
Current type is 'Linux filesystem'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = 8300):
Changed type of partition to 'Linux filesystem'
Command (? for help):
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Command (? for help): v
No problems found. 30 free sectors (15.0 KiB) available in 1
segments, the largest of which is 30 (15.0 KiB) in size.
Command (? for help): w
Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/sda.
The operation has completed successfully.
Formatting the partition(s)
You need to format every partition you created in the previous step. After the partitioning, we now have more devices. device /dev/sda now has two children, called sda1 and sda2 or even more if you were (re)productive.
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[email protected]:~ $ sudo mke2fs -t ext4 -L rootfs /dev/sda1
mke2fs 1.42.12 (29-Aug-2014)
Creating filesystem with 2097152 4k blocks and 524288 inodes
Filesystem UUID: ecd95e15-0cdb-46d6-b705-b03b1ad5cb09
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632
Allocating group tables: done
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
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sudo mke2fs -t ext4 -L my_data /dev/sda2
Mounting the root partition
In order to use the new partitions, we need to mount them. Initially we're only going to mount the first partition that will hold the Raspian files (also called rootfs):
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[email protected] ~ $ sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
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[email protected]:~ $ df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 1.2G 885M 244M 79% /
devtmpfs 237M 0 237M 0% /dev
tmpfs 242M 0 242M 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 242M 4.5M 237M 2% /run
tmpfs 5.0M 4.0K 5.0M 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 242M 0 242M 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p1 63M 21M 42M 33% /boot
/dev/sda1 7.8G 18M 7.4G 1% /mnt
We can copy (mirror) the Debian filesystem data currently on the SD card in /dev/root to the new drive. You can use dd, but that is a bit copy program and, because it also copies the empty space on the SD card, it is very, very slow.
It is better to use rsync that we already installed earlier.
Rsync is a lot faster, but it will still take some time to create a mirror image of the complete file system on the USB drive. We will copy everything from the root "/" to the just mounted drive /mnt (which is /dev/sda1 at the moment)
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[email protected] ~ $ sudo rsync -axv / /mnt
On my Model B system it took only 5 minutes. Make sure this process does not get interrupted! If there are errors, have a look to see if it is something obvious, or just try the rsync again, or even the whole process. Don't continue unless this worked without errors.
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var/tmp/ <== this is the last file
sent 858,620,180 bytes received 556,875 bytes 3,141,415.19 bytes/sec
total size is 856,440,892 speedup is 1.00
We're now going to tell the system where to find the new filesystem when we are going to boot from the new drive.
The first file we need to change is /boot/cmdline.txt on the SD card.
Before we do that, we're going to create backup copies of that important file so we can easily switch back and forth to booting from the SD card or from the USB disk.
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sudo cp /boot/cmdline.txt /boot/cmdline.sd
The contents of this file is one very long command string, and we need to replace the reference to the partition on the SD card (root=/dev/mmcblk0p2) to the new USB drive (/dev/sda1)
Here is a copy of the original file on my SD card:
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[email protected]:~ $ sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt
dwc_otg.lpm_enable=0 console=serial0,115200 console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait quiet
Here is where we are going to decide what we're going to use. If you only use one extra drive -at this moment- (it does not matter how many partitions are on it), you can safely use:root=/dev/mmcblk0p2
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To be on the safe side, there is one more command we should add to that single line. During the power-up/boot sequence, it may take the USB drive a little longer to spin up to speed and be ready, than the OS expects. The default waiting period seems to be 2 seconds for USB devices. If we add a delay of 5 seconds (rootdelay=5), the USB drive should be ready when it's needed. If not, use an even longer period. When you use a stick or SSD drive this will most likely not be needed.
[update] The more up-to-date method now seems go towards adding
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Depending on the power consumption of your stick or drive, and if you use an RPI that supports it, you can add:
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Make sure again the command in /boot/cmdline.txt is still only one line! Save the file and close the editor. Also save this version of the file so we can switch back and forth.
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sudo cp /boot/cmdline.txt /boot/cmdline.usb
Mounting the new drive during boot
The next step is to actually mount the rootfs system during the boot process. This is handled by the file system during the later stages of the boot process itself. It uses the information located in the file /etc/fstab.
NOTE We are only going to change the data on the new drive, so we keep the SD card unchanged. This will make it easier to go back and forth with only changing the /boot/cmdline.txt file on the SD card.
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sudo nano /mnt/etc/fstab
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proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot vfat defaults 0 2
/dev/mmcblk0p2 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
# a swapfile is not a swap partition, no line here
# use dphys-swapfile swap[on|off] for that
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We are ready to reboot the RPI now. Even when you will need to go to the extended version, try this out first.
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sudo reboot
If something goes wrong however, you need to look at the error messages and back-track carefully. This procedure really works, if you follow it carefully and not make short-cuts or changes. Make it work first, then change whatever you want later.
Adding the second Partition
If you now want to add the second partition on the USB drive, the one I designated for data, do as follows. First create a place holder to mount to.
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sudo mkdir /mnt/my_data
sudo chown pi:pi /mnt/my_data
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/dev/sda2 /mnt/my_data ext4 defaults 0 1
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[email protected]:~ $ cat /etc/fstab
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot vfat defaults 0 2
/dev/sda1 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/sda2 /mnt/my_data ext4 defaults 0 1
#/dev/mmcblk0p2 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
# a swapfile is not a swap partition, no line here
# use dphys-swapfile swap[on|off] for that
Multiple Drives:
If you will use, or already have more disks that will be directly connected to the USB ports on the RPI, you need to make sure that the kernel always assigns what we now have in /dev/sda1 for the rootfs system. You can never be sure if the drive will be assigned sda or sdb when the system sees multiple drives of whatever kind.
Here's how you do that. I may oversimplify this a bit, but every drive, and in addition, every partition we just created now has a unique identifier (thanks to gdisk). There is a UUID for the drive itself, and a PARTUUID for every partition. Here is where you can see that :
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[email protected]:~ $ sudo blkid
/dev/mmcblk0p1: LABEL="boot" UUID="0F5F-3CD8" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="244b8248-01"
/dev/mmcblk0p2: UUID="0aed834e-8c8f-412d-a276-a265dc676112" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="244b8248-02"
/dev/sda1: LABEL="rootfs" UUID="ecd95e15-0cdb-46d6-b705-b03b1ad5cb09" TYPE="ext4" PARTLABEL="Linux filesystem" PARTUUID="72d9a26d-1064-4ff0-8e0a-c8ee1102b296"
/dev/mmcblk0: PTUUID="244b8248" PTTYPE="dos"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="my_data" UUID="5cf4fde0-8c39-4b3d-be7a-0236b2e217e0" TYPE="ext4" PARTLABEL="Linux filesystem" PARTUUID="049e6bac-b5d8-4721-9e3e-e8b03f730067"
For the cmdline.txt file in /boot, we're going to tell the system what partition to boot from, so we need the PARTUUID for that. Instead of "root=/dev/sda1", we now need to use from blkid:
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sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt
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sudo cp /boot/cmdline.txt /boot/cmdline.usb
Fstab also needs to know about the actual drive it needs to mount, so we need to give it the UUID of what is currently /dev/sda1.
That information was also in the "sudo blkid" we ran before, so just highlight and paste the UUID code to replace "/dev/mmcblk0p2" or "/dev/sda1" with
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With this you are again ready to reboot to see the results.
If something goes wrong, you can revert back to the easy method and replace the UUID's one by one to see where the error is. You cannot really break anything so just backtrack your steps and carefully make note of what I did. It should work!
If it does work, and you have everything running on the USB stick or drive, you can also add the second or more partitions to /etc/fstab, similar to what I showed earlier. My /etc/fstab looks like this with both drives added:
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[email protected]:~ $ cat /etc/fstab
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/mmcblk0p1 /boot vfat defaults 0 2
/dev/disk/by-uuid/ecd95e15-0cdb-46d6-b705-b03b1ad5cb09 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
/dev/disk/by-uuid/5cf4fde0-8c39-4b3d-be7a-0236b2e217e0 / ext4 defaults 0 1
# alternatives and backup:
#/dev/sda1 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
#/dev/sda2 /mnt/my_data ext4 defaults 0 1
#/dev/mmcblk0p2 / ext4 defaults,noatime 0 1
# a swapfile is not a swap partition, no line here
# use dphys-swapfile swap[on|off] for that
If that also works, you can now update and upgrade Debian:
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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y
sudo apt-get autoremove
Changing the process back to the SD card
If you ever run into problems booting from the USB drive, you can move the original /boot/cmdline.txt back by putting the SD card back into your PC, and use the Filemanager to copy the file /boot/cmdline.sd back to /boot/cmdline.txt. You don't need to do anything to the /etc/fstab file on either the SD card or the USB drive if you are going to boot from the SD card. (watch out: if you want to do this while the card is in your PC, do not use rename, because Windows may rename the file called cmdline.txt to cmdline.txt.txt !)
If your system still works with the USB stick, you can also make the changes to the cmdline files from within Debian (in /boot). You can also run a disk check in the USB drive when you have dismounted that drive and run from the SD card.
One thing you need to keep track off is the difference in kernel versions between the boot code on the SD card and the file system on the USB drive when you apt-get upgrade. The original kernel software on the SD card may get out of synchronization with the newer boot files on the DOS partition. One way to fix that is to revert back to the SD card and also update that file system with apt-get upgrade.
This updated version/revision was made possible by the contributions of many users. Their posts are below, just be aware that many inputs or comments are now outdated, or hopefully integrated. It was the only way for me to keep new users from going through 12 pages (currently) of comments, discussions and other contributions.
Enjoy and stay tuned!


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A Look at the 472 Private Tech Companies Currently Worth $100M or More (Slides)
An investment research outfit called CB Insights has a report out tonight that identifies 472 venture capital- and private equity-backed technology companies that are valued at $100 million or more.
They include Palantir, SurveyMonkey, GitHub, Square, ZocDoc, Zulily, LegalZoom, Twitter, Warby Parker and others.
CB Insights calls the report "The Tech IPO Pipeline" — which is perhaps a bit generous given its cutoff was a $100 million valuation, and especially considering the problems some newly public Internet companies have faced in the past year.
But still, it's an interesting slice of the industry, with some observations about who and what is creating value in tech.
For instance, it isn't cheap to be considered a potential IPO candidate. The average company worth at least $100 million — though many on the list are valued at more than that — has raised $84.7 million, with 90 percent of them in the Series C stage or later.
The 472 companies have raised a total of $40 billion.
Only 20 percent of the companies on the list target consumers, with the remainder selling to enterprises or small and medium businesses.
By breaking down who's investing in these 472 companies, CB Insights was able to get a real-time tally on which VCs seem to be most effective at finding and helping strong start-ups. Sequoia Capital and Intel Capital both had 35 companies on the list, and Sequoia and Accel Partners have been the best at finding these companies early in their lives, at the seed or Series A round.
The full report is here.


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Researching sideshow mermaids was an interesting little task. A quick google mostly made reference to the eponymous Fiji Mermaid. A macabre splicing of a monkeys head and torso, sewn to a fish's tail. I fancied something a bit more glamorous so kept on searching and began to uncover stories of simple illusions involving a trick of perspective. A girl made up in finest mermaid garb would position herself behind a small tank and appear to interact with rocks and plants within it. When viewed from the right position, she appears to be submerged in the briny deep.
Having always had a bit of a thing for mermaids it seemed the ideal excuse to get out my sequins and start sewing a little aquatic siren of my own, here she is!
Bryony Tide has never seen the sea. She grew up in a mining town in the Midlands on a diet of Bovril and artichokes, with nothing much to do except play tricks on the neighbour's elderly and frankly quite flatulent dog. She despises water and hates even to get her face wet in the shower, the consequence of which being a constantly Bovril stained face. Ironic then that she secured a job in the sideshow as their resident fake mermaid.
And so, I find myself halfway through my sideshow ten-in-one. What a motley crew they make:


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You are here:
Related Information
- What is Spinal Stenosis? (fast facts, easy-to-read)
- ¿Qué es la estenosis espinal? (Esenciales: hojas informativas de fácil lectura)
Other Information
Health Information
Spinal Stenosis
January 2013
Questions and Answers about Spinal Stenosis
This booklet contains general information about spinal stenosis. It describes the condition's causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments. At the end is a list of additional resources. If you have further questions after reading this publication, you may wish to discuss them with your doctor.
What Is Spinal Stenosis?
Spinal stenosis is a narrowing of spaces in the spine (backbone) that results in pressure on the spinal cord and/or nerve roots. This disorder usually involves the narrowing of one or more of three areas of the spine: (1) the canal in the center of the column of bones (vertebral or spinal column) through which the spinal cord and nerve roots run, (2) the canals at the base or roots of nerves branching out from the spinal cord, or (3) the openings between vertebrae (bones of the spine) through which nerves leave the spine and go to other parts of the body. The narrowing may involve a small or large area of the spine. Pressure on the lower part of the spinal cord or on nerve roots branching out from that area may give rise to pain or numbness in the legs. Pressure on the upper part of the spinal cord (that is, the neck area) may produce similar symptoms in the shoulders, or even the legs (see figs.1, 2, and 3).
- Who Gets Spinal Stenosis?
- What Structures of the Spine Are Involved?
- What Causes Spinal Stenosis?
- What Are the Symptoms of Spinal Stenosis?
- How Is Spinal Stenosis Diagnosed?
- Who Treats Spinal Stenosis?
- What Are Some Nonsurgical Treatments for Spinal Stenosis?
- What Are Some Alternative Therapies for Spinal Stenosis?
- When Should Surgery Be Considered and What Is Involved?
- What Are the Major Risks of Surgery?
- What Are the Long-Term Outcomes of Surgical Treatment for Spinal Stenosis?
- What Research Is Being Conducted on Spinal Stenosis?
- What Can People Find More Information About Spinal Stenosis?
Who Gets Spinal Stenosis?
This disorder is most common in men and women over 50 years of age. However, it may occur in younger people who are born with a narrowing of the spinal canal or who suffer an injury to the spine.
What Structures of the Spine Are Involved?
The spine is a column of 26 bones that extend in a line from the base of the skull to the pelvis (see fig. 1). Twenty-four of the bones are called vertebrae. The bones of the spine include 7 cervical vertebrae in the neck; 12 thoracic vertebrae at the back wall of the chest; 5 lumbar vertebrae at the inward curve (small) of the lower back; the sacrum, composed of 5 fused vertebrae between the hip bones; and the coccyx, composed of 3 to 5 fused bones at the lower tip of the vertebral column. The vertebrae link to each other and are cushioned by shock-absorbing disks that lie between them.
The vertebral column provides the main support for the upper body, allowing humans to stand upright or bend and twist, and it protects the spinal cord from injury. Following are structures of the spine most involved in spinal stenosis (see figs.1, 2, 3, and 7).
- Intervertebral disks. Pads of cartilage filled with a gel-like substance that lie between vertebrae and act as shock absorbers.
- Facet joints. Joints located on the back of the main part of the vertebra. They are formed by a portion of one vertebra and the vertebra above it. They connect the vertebrae to each other and permit backward motion.
- Intervertebral foramen (also called neural foramen). An opening between vertebrae through which nerves leave the spine and extend to other parts of the body.
- Lamina. Part of the vertebra at the back portion of the vertebral arch that forms the roof of the canal through which the spinal cord and nerve roots pass.
- Ligaments. Elastic bands of tissue that support the spine by preventing the vertebrae from slipping out of line as the spine moves. A large ligament often involved in spinal stenosis is the ligamentum flavum, which runs as a continuous band from lamina to lamina in the spine.
- Pedicles. Narrow stem-like structures on the vertebrae that form the walls of the front part of the vertebral arch.
- Spinal cord/nerve roots. A major part of the central nervous system that extends from the base of the brain down to the lower back and that is encased by the vertebral column. It consists of nerve cells and bundles of nerves. The cord connects the brain to all parts of the body via 31 pairs of nerves that branch out from the cord and leave the spine between vertebrae.
- Synovium. A thin membrane that produces fluid to lubricate the facet joints, allowing them to move easily.
- Vertebral arch. A circle of bone around the canal through which the spinal cord passes. It is composed of a floor at the back of the vertebra, walls (the pedicles), and a ceiling where two laminae join.
- Cauda equina. A sack of nerve roots that continues from the lumbar region, where the spinal cord ends, and continues down to provide neurologic function to the lower part of the body. It resembles a "horse's tail" (cauda equina in Latin).
What Causes Spinal Stenosis?
The normal vertebral canal (see fig. 4) provides adequate room for the spinal cord and cauda equina. Narrowing of the canal, which occurs in spinal stenosis, may be inherited or acquired. Some people inherit a small spinal canal (see fig. 5) or have a curvature of the spine (scoliosis) that produces pressure on nerves and soft tissue and compresses or stretches ligaments. In an inherited condition called achondroplasia, defective bone formation results in abnormally short and thickened pedicles that reduce the diameter (distance across) of the spinal canal.
Acquired conditions that can cause spinal stenosis are explained in more detail in the sections that follow.
Degenerative Conditions
Spinal stenosis most often results from a gradual, degenerative aging process. Either structural changes or inflammation can begin the process. As people age, the ligaments of the spine may thicken and calcify (harden from deposits of calcium salts). Bones and joints may also enlarge: when surfaces of the bone begin to project out from the body, these projections are called osteophytes (bone spurs).
When the health of one part of the spine fails, it usually places increased stress on other parts of the spine. For example, a herniated (bulging) disk may place pressure on the spinal cord or nerve root (see fig. 6). When a segment of the spine becomes too mobile, the capsules (enclosing membranes) of the facet joints thicken in an effort to stabilize the segment, and bone spurs may occur. This decreases the space (neural foramen) available for nerve roots leaving the spinal cord.
Spondylolisthesis, a condition in which one vertebra slips forward on another, may result from a degenerative condition or an accident, or, very rarely, may be acquired at birth. Poor alignment of the spinal column when a vertebra slips forward onto the one below it can place pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots at that place.
Aging with secondary changes is the most common cause of spinal stenosis. Two forms of arthritis that may affect the spine are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and is more likely to occur in middle-aged and older people. It is a chronic, degenerative process that may involve multiple joints of the body. It wears away the surface cartilage layer of joints, and is often accompanied by overgrowth of bone, formation of bone spurs, and impaired function. If the degenerative process of osteoarthritis affects the facet joint(s) and the disk, the condition is sometimes referred to as spondylosis. This condition may be accompanied by disk degeneration, and an enlargement or overgrowth of bone that narrows the central and nerve root canals.
- Rheumatoid Arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects people at an earlier age than osteoarthritis does and is associated with inflammation and enlargement of the soft tissues (the synovium) of the joints. Although not a common cause of spinal stenosis, damage to ligaments, bones, and joints that begins as synovitis (inflammation of the synovial membrane which lines the inside of the joint) has a severe and disrupting effect on joint function. The portions of the vertebral column with the greatest mobility (for example, the neck area) are often the ones most affected in people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Other Acquired Conditions
The following conditions that are not related to degenerative disease are causes of acquired spinal stenosis:
- Tumors of the spine are abnormal growths of soft tissue that may affect the spinal canal directly by inflammation or by growth of tissue into the canal. Tissue growth may lead to bone resorption (bone loss due to overactivity of certain bone cells) or displacement of bone.
- Trauma (accidents) may either dislocate the spine and the spinal canal or cause burst fractures that produce fragments of bone that penetrate the canal.
- Paget's disease of bone is a chronic (long-term) disorder that typically results in enlarged and abnormal bones. Excessive bone breakdown and formation cause thick and fragile bone. As a result, bone pain, arthritis, noticeable bone structure changes, and fractures can occur. The disease can affect any bone of the body, but is often found in the spine. The blood supply that feeds healthy nerve tissue may be diverted to the area of involved bone. Also, structural problems of the involved vertebrae can cause narrowing of the spinal canal, producing a variety of neurological symptoms. Other developmental conditions may also result in spinal stenosis.
- Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament occurs when calcium deposits form on the ligament that runs up and down behind the spine and inside the spinal canal (see fig. 7). These deposits turn the fibrous tissue of the ligament into bone. (Ossification means "forming bone.") These deposits may press on the nerves in the spinal canal.
What Are the Symptoms of Spinal Stenosis?
The space within the spinal canal may narrow without producing any symptoms. However, if narrowing places pressure on the spinal cord, cauda equina, or nerve roots, there may be a slow onset and progression of symptoms. The neck or back may or may not hurt. More often, people experience numbness, weakness, cramping, or general pain in the arms or legs. If the narrowed space within the spine is pushing on a nerve root, people may feel pain radiating down the leg (sciatica). Sitting or flexing the lower back should relieve symptoms. (The flexed position "opens up" the spinal column, enlarging the spaces between vertebrae at the back of the spine.) Flexing exercises are often advised, along with stretching and strengthening exercises.
People with more severe stenosis may have problems with bowel and bladder function and foot disorders. For example, cauda equina syndrome is a severe, and very rare, form of spinal stenosis. It occurs because of compression of the cauda equina, and symptoms may include loss of control of the bowel, bladder, or sexual function and/or pain, weakness, or loss of feeling in one or both legs. Cauda equina syndrome is a serious condition requiring urgent medical attention.
How Is Spinal Stenosis Diagnosed?
The doctor may use a variety of approaches to diagnose spinal stenosis and rule out other conditions.
- Medical history. The patient tells the doctor details about symptoms and about any injury, condition, or general health problem that might be causing the symptoms.
- Physical examination. The doctor (1) examines the patient to determine the extent of limitation of movement, (2) checks for pain or symptoms when the patient hyper-extends the spine (bends backwards), and (3) checks for normal neurologic function (for instance, sensation, muscle strength, and reflexes) in the arms and legs.
- X ray. An x-ray beam is passed through the back to produce a two-dimensional picture. An x ray may be done before other tests to look for signs of an injury, tumor, or inherited problem. This test can show the structure of the vertebrae and the outlines of joints, and can detect calcification.
- MRI magnetic resonance imaging). Energy from a powerful magnet (rather than x rays) produces signals that are detected by a scanner and analyzed by computer. This produces a series of cross-sectional images ("slices") and/or a three-dimensional view of parts of the back. An MRI is particularly sensitive for detecting damage or disease of soft tissues, such as the disks between vertebrae or ligaments. It shows the spinal cord, nerve roots, and surrounding spaces, as well as enlargement, degeneration, or tumors.
- Computerized axial tomography (CAT). X rays are passed through the back at different angles, detected by a scanner, and analyzed by a computer. This produces a series of cross-sectional images and/or three-dimensional views of the parts of the back. The scan shows the shape and size of the spinal canal, its contents, and structures surrounding it.
- Myelogram. A liquid dye that x rays cannot penetrate is injected into the spinal column. The dye circulates around the spinal cord and spinal nerves, which appear as white objects against bone on an x-ray film. A myelogram can show pressure on the spinal cord or nerves from herniated disks, bone spurs, or tumors.
- Bone scan. An injected radioactive material attaches itself to bone, especially in areas where bone is actively breaking down or being formed. The test can detect fractures, tumors, infections, and arthritis, but may not tell one disorder from another. Therefore, a bone scan is usually performed along with other tests.
Who Treats Spinal Stenosis?
Nonsurgical treatment of spinal stenosis may be provided by internists or general practitioners. The disorder is also treated by specialists such as rheumatologists, who treat arthritis and related disorders; and neurologists, who treat nerve diseases. Orthopaedic surgeons and neurosurgeons also provide nonsurgical treatment and perform spinal surgery if it is required. Allied health professionals such as physical therapists may also help treat patients.
What Are Some Nonsurgical Treatments for Spinal Stenosis?
In the absence of severe or progressive nerve involvement, a doctor may prescribe one or more of the following conservative treatments:
- Nonsteroidal anti–inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as aspirin, naproxen, ibuprofen, or indomethacin, to reduce inflammation and relieve pain.1
- Analgesics, such as acetaminophen, to relieve pain.
- Corticosteroid injections into the outermost of the membranes covering the spinal cord and nerve roots to reduce inflammation and treat acute pain that radiates to the hips or down a leg.
- Anesthetic injections, known as nerve blocks, near the affected nerve to temporarily relieve pain.
- Restricted activity (varies depending on extent of nerve involvement).
- Prescribed exercises and/or physical therapy to maintain motion of the spine, strengthen abdominal and back muscles, and build endurance, all of which help stabilize the spine. Some patients may be encouraged to try slowly progressive aerobic activity such as swimming or using exercise bicycles.
- A lumbar brace or corset to provide some support and help the patient regain mobility. This approach is sometimes used for patients with weak abdominal muscles or older patients with degeneration at several levels of the spine.
1Warning: NSAIDs can cause stomach irritation or, less often, they can affect kidney function. The longer a person uses NSAIDs, the more likely he or she is to have side effects, ranging from mild to serious. Many other drugs cannot be taken when a patient is being treated with NSAIDs because NSAIDs alter the way the body uses or eliminates these other drugs. Check with your health care provider or pharmacist before you take NSAIDs. Also, NSAIDs sometimes are associated with serious gastrointestinal problems, including ulcers, bleeding, and perforation of the stomach or intestine. People age 65 and older, as well as those with any history of ulcers or gastrointestinal bleeding, should use NSAIDs with caution.
What Are Some Alternative Therapies for Spinal Stenosis?
Alternative (or complementary) therapies are diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine. Some examples of these therapies used to treat spinal stenosis follow:
- Chiropractic treatment. This treatment is based on the philosophy that restricted movement in the spine reduces proper function and may cause pain. Chiropractors may manipulate (adjust) the spine to restore normal spinal movement. They may also employ traction, a pulling force, to help increase space between the vertebrae and reduce pressure on affected nerves. Some people report that they benefit from chiropractic care. Research thus far has shown that chiropractic treatment is about as effective as conventional, nonoperative treatments for acute back pain.
- Acupuncture. This treatment involves stimulating certain places on the skin by a variety of techniques, in most cases by manipulating thin, solid, metallic needles that penetrate the skin. Research has shown that low back pain is one area in which acupuncture has benefited some people.
More research is needed before the effectiveness of these or other possible alternative therapies can be definitively stated. Health care providers may suggest these therapies in addition to more conventional treatments.
When Should Surgery Be Considered and What Is Involved?
In many cases, the conditions causing spinal stenosis cannot be permanently altered by nonsurgical treatment, even though these measures may relieve pain for a period of time. To determine how much nonsurgical treatment will help, a doctor may recommend such treatment first. However, surgery might be considered immediately if a patient has numbness or weakness that interferes with walking, impaired bowel or bladder function, or other neurological involvement. The effectiveness of nonsurgical treatments, the extent of the patient's pain, and the patient's preferences may all factor into whether or not to have surgery.
The purpose of surgery is to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves and restore and maintain alignment and strength of the spine. This can be done by removing, trimming, or adjusting diseased parts that are causing the pressure or loss of alignment. The most common surgery is called decompressive laminectomy: removal of the lamina (roof) of one or more vertebrae to create more space for the nerves. A surgeon may perform a laminectomy with or without fusing vertebrae or removing part of a disk. Various devices may be used to enhance fusion and strengthen unstable segments of the spine following decompression surgery.
Patients with spinal stenosis caused by spinal trauma or achondroplasia may need surgery at a young age. When surgery is required in patients with achondroplasia, laminectomy (removal of the roof) without fusion is usually sufficient.
What Are the Major Risks of Surgery?
All surgery, particularly that involving general anesthesia and older patients, carries risks. The most common complications of surgery for spinal stenosis are a tear in the membrane covering the spinal cord at the site of the operation, infection, or a blood clot that forms in the veins. These conditions can be treated but may prolong recovery. The presence of other diseases and the physical condition of the patient are also significant factors to consider when making decisions about surgery.
What Are the Long-Term Outcomes of Surgical Treatment for Spinal Stenosis?
Removal of the obstruction that has caused the symptoms usually gives patients some relief; most patients have less leg pain and are able to walk better following surgery. However, if nerves were badly damaged before surgery, there may be some remaining pain or numbness or no improvement. Also, the degenerative process will likely continue, and pain or limitation of activity may reappear after surgery. NIAMS-supported researchers have published results from the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT), the largest trial to date comparing surgical and non-surgical interventions for the treatment of low back and associated leg pain caused by spinal stenosis. The study found that for patients with spinal stenosis, surgical treatment was more effective than non-surgical treatment in relieving symptoms and improving function. However, the functional status of patients who received non-surgical therapies also improved somewhat during the study.
What Research Is Being Conducted on Spinal Stenosis?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other Federal agencies are supporting several research projects related to spinal stenosis. For example:
- Continued followup of participants in the SPORT trial will assess long-term outcomes and the cost effectiveness of surgical or nonsurgical management of spinal stenosis and other back problems.
- SPORT researchers are also developing web-based tools that allow patients with low back disorders to apply the best clinical evidence to their individual circumstances and make more informed treatment choices about back surgery. A strong collaboration of researchers will develop, validate, and evaluate novel methods for disseminating individualized risk and benefit information.
- Researchers are investigating the safety and value of new technologies for the surgical treatment of back problems.
- Other studies are focused on nonsurgical approaches for dealing with back pain, including a web-based program that provides worksite employees with a multidisciplinary intervention for the self-treatment of back pain.
- Researchers are working to identify optimal approaches for the prevention and early treatment of the many underlying causes of spinal stenosis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Paget's disease.
More information on research is available from the following websites:
- NIH Clinical Research Trials and You helps people learn more about clinical trials, why they matter, and how to participate. Visitors to the website will find information about the basics of participating in a clinical trial, first-hand stories from actual clinical trial volunteers, explanations from researchers, and links to how to search for a trial or enroll in a research-matching program.
- ClinicalTrials.gov offers up-to-date information for locating federally and privately supported clinical trials for a wide range of diseases and conditions.
- NIH RePORTER is an electronic tool that allows users to search a repository of both intramural and extramural NIH-funded research projects from the past 25 years and access publications (since 1985) and patents resulting from NIH funding.
- PubMed is a free service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that lets you search millions of journal citations and abstracts in the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, and preclinical sciences.
What Can People Find More Information About Spinal Stenosis?
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Information Clearinghouse
National Institutes of Health
1 AMS Circle
Bethesda, MD 20892-3675
Phone: 301-495-4484
Toll Free: 877-22-NIAMS (877-226-4267)
Fax: 301-718-6366
Email: email@example.com
Website: http://www.niams.nih.gov
Other Resources
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
NIH Neurological Institute
Website: http://www.ninds.nih.gov
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
Website: http://www.aaos.org
American College of Rheumatology
Website: http://www.rheumatology.org
North American Spine Society (NASS)
Website: http://www.spine.org
Arthritis Foundation
Website: http://www.arthritis.org
Spondylitis Association of America (SAA)
Website: http://www.spondylitis.org
For additional contact information, visit the NIAMS website or call the NIAMS Information Clearinghouse.
The NIAMS gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following individuals in the preparation and review of the original version of this booklet: David G. Borenstein, M.D., Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates, Washington, DC; James S. Panagis, M.D., M.P.H., NIAMS/NIH; Peter C. Gerszten, M.D., M.P.H, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA; and James N. Weinstein, D.O., M.S., Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH.
The mission of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health (NIH), is to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases; the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research; and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases. The NIAMS Information Clearinghouse is a public service sponsored by the NIAMS that provides health information and information sources. Additional information can be found on the NIAMS website at www.niams.nih.gov.
For Your Information
This publication contains information about medications used to treat the health condition discussed here. When this publication was developed, we included the most up-to-date (accurate) information available. Occasionally, new information on medication is released.
For updates and for any questions about any medications you are taking, please contact
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Toll Free: 888–INFO–FDA (888–463–6332)
Website: http://www.fda.gov
For updates and questions about statistics, please contact
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics
Website: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
This publication is not copyrighted. Readers are encouraged to duplicate and distribute as many copies as needed.
Additional copies of this publication are available from:
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Information Clearinghouse
National Institutes of Health
1 AMS Circle
Bethesda, MD 20892-3675
Phone: 301-495-4484
Toll Free: 877-22-NIAMS (877-226-4267)
Fax: 301-718-6366
Email: email@example.com
Website: http://www.niams.nih.gov
NIH Publication No. 09–5327


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Archive for Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Register now for Kerry Roberts Winter Basketball
October 13, 2010
Registration is now open for the 2010-2011 season of Kerry Roberts Winter Basketball.
The league is open to boys and girls in third through sixth grade. Participants may sign up individually or as a team. All players receive a team T-shirt.
The program includes both competitive and recreational leagues. Teams will be placed in divisions of comparative skill levels.
All teams will play 11 to 12 games. The games are played on Saturdays in Bonner Springs from Dec. 4 through Feb. 26.
Cost is $75 per participant. Admission fee is $1 for all spectators 12 and older and will be good for all league games that Saturday. Deadline for sign-ups is Oct. 29.
To register, call Ken May at (913) 907-8720 (day) or at (913) 441-6752, or call Fred Stanbrough at (913) 449-7440 (day) or at (913) 441-1527.
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Kushner, Parks, Hwang: Panel excerpts
At a panel including playwrights Tony Kushner and David Henry Hwang, Suzan-Lori Parks acknowledged this is "The Age of Obama" … "But I think we're still allowed to be angry." Photos by Tom Kimmell.
Playwrights Tony Kushner (Angels in America"), Suzan-Lori Parks ("Top Dog/Underdog") and David Henry Hwang ("M. Butterfly") joined together on Wednesday, Feb. 3, for a wide-ranging public panel discussion at Colorado College titled, "Art, Culture, Politics." The moderator was Laurence Maslon. Here are excerpts from their talk:
David Henry Hwang: One of the things I had to learn early was how to filter criticism. I was fortunate enough to have my first play accepted by the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference the year after my senior year in college. And just a few weeks later, Joe Papp, the founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival, became interested in my play. Joe took me into his office and said, "Well, you know, I like this play." And he gave me a few notes … but I didn't actually agree with them.


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Faith & Tim: the GOOP version
As you know, I default to Gwyneth Paltrow all the time.
Look, if you want to shout me down for this...fine.
It's just...
Faith Hill wasn't exactly known for being the best dressed, like, ever. Google "Faith Hill rainbow Oscar dress" right now, see what you come up with. Is what I'm saying...
And in the last two years, since my G graced Nashville for Country Strong, well, Faith Hill has been decidedly UN-Nashville in Nashville and especially at the Country Music Awards. She and GOOP are wardrobe AND body twins now. Did G have anything to do with these braces?
Obviously I'm no dentist. Maybe this is required and not cosmetic. I hope it's not cosmetic. Because I just spent several minutes looking at Faith Hill's teeth and they were perfect. ADORABLE. Two larger ones right at the front like bunnies. The teeth I've always wanted...
You know what a dental specialist told me recently? His name is Dr Uche Odiatu and I met him at a Sonicare event. Dr Odiatu told me that it's ironic that people are constantly wanting to file down their front teeth because having two bigger front teeth is a sign of youth. The more uniform teeth are, the longer they've been around and ground down, therefore OLDER.
Anyway, Faith's two front teeth were super cute and they gave her a slight, SLIGHT overbite, which was even cuter. Like classic sexy and sweet. Really don't want her to get rid of it...
PS. Tim's tux fits beautifully.
PPS. Please don't break up, ever, ever, ever.
PPS. Country blogging is SO MUCH FUN. Have to move on now to other gossip but next year, we are totally liveblogging this situation. HOLD ME TO THIS.
Jason Kempin/Getty


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Keep it simple with the above ingredients or optionally add 1/4 – 2 teaspoons any of these:
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New York, July 1, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the security of journalists covering ongoing mass protests in Egypt. One journalist was killed and six others were injured while covering demonstrations against President Mohamed Morsi over the weekend, according to news reports.
In response to the mass protests, the Egyptian army demanded today that Morsi must address demonstrators' demands or face intervention within 48 hours, according to news reports.
"Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood have fostered an atmosphere where journalists are attacked with impunity," said Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa coordinator. "We call on all sides to respect the safety of the media and urge journalists to take precautions for their security in this dangerous climate."
Millions of Egyptians took to the streets over the weekend to seek Morsi's resignation. At least 16 people were killed and 781 injured across the country on Sunday alone, according the Ministry of Health said, according to news reports.
On Saturday, Salah al-Din Hassan, 37-year-old reporter with independent news website Shaab Masr (Egyptian People), was killed by a homemade bomb thrown by an unidentified person while covering a demonstration against Morsi in the city of Port Said, the website reported. The bomb was hurled at protesters in Shuhada Square; Hassan picked it up to throw it away but it exploded, killing him and injuring 16 others, according to news reports. Ayda Sobh, Hassan's mother, blamed Morsi's supporters for hurling the bomb, according to the reports.
On the same day, unidentified assailants threw Molotov cocktails and beat a group of journalists, including correspondents for private satellite television stations, who were meeting at two cafés to prepare for covering the demonstrations in Suez governorate, according to news reports. The assailants chanted anti-media slogans as they attacked, Khalid al-Balshy, a board member of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate, told CPJ. The journalists' equipment, including cameras and laptops, was destroyed, according to al-Balshy. Three journalists--Mohamed Kamal of Al-Youm Al-Saba'a newspaper, Ragaei al-Attar of website Suez News, and Karim Anwar of Al-Badil newspaper--were beaten and hospitalized, according to news reports.
On Sunday, reporters Ahmed Ragab and Ahmed Al Nagar with the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm were hit by birdshot while covering attempts by protesters to burn the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo, the paper reported. Brotherhood members inside the building in Mokattam shot live ammunition and rubber bullets and threw Molotov cocktails out of the windows at anti-Morsi protesters, killing eight, according to news reports. Seventy people were injured, the reports said.
Also Sunday, Al-Arabiya news TV reported that Morsi supporters gathered in Raba'a Al-'Adawiyya Square in Nasr City forced its crew to leave the square.
Today, a group of unidentified assailants beat Omar Zoheiry, a photographer with the daily Al-Watan, at Mohammad Mahmoud Street near Tahrir Square, according to news reports. All of his equipment was stolen, the reports said. He suffered injuries across his body and was hospitalized for treatment.
Also on July 1, the Dutch embassy in Cairo said in a statement that a 22-year-old Dutch woman was repatriated after being sexually assaulted in Tahrir Square on the evening of June 28. Egyptian news reports initially identified the woman as a television reporter, but Dutch officials told CPJ on July 9 that the reported details about her profession were incorrect. Egyptian officials said they were investigating the assault, the Dutch embassy said.
- For more data and analysis, visit CPJ's Egypt page.


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The goal of assisted living is to allow your parent or loved one to stay independent in a home-like setting. A quality assisted living facility can have a tremendous positive impact on your parents' mental, physical, and social well-being. But you need to find the right one. The checklist on the left will guide you.
An assisted living facility usually include a room or small apartment and meals, along with personal care and support services, social activities, and 24-hour supervision.
Some also offer health-related services. Their mission: to help your loved one enjoy the freedom and independence of private living.
Assisted living provides relatively independent seniors with assistance and limited health care services in a home-like atmosphere. They are designed to:
Services include 24-hour protective oversight, food, shelter, and a range of services that promote your quality of life. The facilities are licensed by state governments.
They may be called many different names including residential care, board and care, congregate care, and personal care. Assisted living care is not the same as nursing facility care.
Because there is no common definition for assisted living facilities, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of facilities. However, it is currently estimated that there are 36,000 assisted living residences nationwide.
The "typical" assisted living customer is 85 years old. Three quarters of assisted living residents are female. About 68 percent of assisted living residents need assistance with bathing and almost half need help with dressing.1
Assisted living homes are very different from one another in size, appearance, and the types of services they offer. Some provide only meals, basic housekeeping, and help with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, dressing and grooming. Others also arrange transportation and certain health services. Costs vary greatly, and the monthly fee varies depending on the services provided.
The facility could be a small home with just a few people or a high-rise apartment-style building with as many as 200 or more residents. Living areas could be a single room or a full apartment with a small kitchen, with prepared meals also served in a common dining area.
This arrangement is good for people who can't live on their own but who don't need a nursing home. Older people have many different needs.
Those needs often change over time, so assisted living offers different levels of care at different costs. Residents who live in an assisted living facility that is associated with a nursing home may be able to get additional services if they need them later. 2
Services And Activities
The services and activities provided or arranged for in assisted living residences generally include:
In most states, assisted living residences are registered, licensed or certified by an appropriate department or agency of the state that has a process for issuance of initial licenses and for renewing existing licenses.
Each resident receives individualized services to help him/her function within the residence and within the community. Upon admission, a service plan is usually developed to coordinate the delivery of services to each resident.
The agreement, which includes an assessment or evaluation of the resident's physical and psychosocial needs, is reviewed and updated regularly by the staff, and as the resident's condition indicates. The resident and family, or responsible party are encouraged to play an active role in the development of the service plan.
A resident care or wellness coordinator is usually designated to oversee the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating the progress of the service plan. A copy of the service plan is provided to the resident, family, or responsible party upon request.
Personal Care And Health Services
Assisted living residences provide supervision or assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs); coordination of services by outside health care providers; and monitoring of resident activities to help to ensure his or her health, safety, and well-being. Assistance may include the administration or supervision of medication, or certain personal care services by a trained staff person.
The residence may assist in arranging the appropriate medical, health, and dental care services for each resident. The resident generally chooses his or her medical doctor and dental services.
Residents who have periods of temporary incapacity due to illness, injury, or recuperation from surgery often are allowed to remain in the residence or to return from a rehabilitation center, skilled nursing facility or hospital if appropriate services can be provided by the assisted living residence.
It is important to remember that assisted living residences are a bridge between living at home and living in a nursing home. Assisted living residences do not typically provide the level of continuous skilled nursing care found in nursing homes and hospitals.
Residence Accommodations
A residence is defined by the scope of services it provides, not by the number of residents it serves. It is important for residents and families to understand what services the residence offers, as well as the costs and limitations of those services.
Accommodations and options may vary greatly from one assisted living residence to the next (e.g. private rooms, private baths, kitchenettes, etc.). Personal needs and preferences are important criteria for selecting a residence and the amenities it offers.
Most residences are constructed and equipped to comply with a host of local, state and federal regulations. Assisted living residences are designed to be operated, staffed and maintained in a manner appropriate to the needs and desires of the residents served.
Caring for residents with Alzheimer's or other dementias and disabilities requires a residence design and philosophy that assure resident safety and autonomy. Such services should be provided in an appropriate and safe setting that adheres to appropriate local, state and federal regulations.3
3Long Term Care Living
As they age, parents or other family members may have trouble getting around the house, driving, or remembering the things they used to.
Your first step: Get a professional assessment of their cognitive and physical abilities.
An assessment can help your family member live at home longer. It can also prevent accidents and producer a longer and high quality lilfe.
It's never easy to recognize when a family member needs help. Learning how to assess their needs will make it easier to help.
Assessments should focus on the following areas:
The above items will help you think broadly about your loved one's needs. However, you may want to consider hiring a geriatric consultant to conduct a more rigorous assessment. Get referrals from your local senior center, hospital, or agency on aging.
Nearly half of all Americans will need long-term care at some point in their lives. In fact, one in five over the age of 50 is at a high risk of needing long-term care within the next 12 months.
Therefore, try to arrange for care before your loved one actually needs it.
Have the conversation about long-term care before the need arises.
By planning ahead, you can find the quality of care and quality of life that you desire in a long-term care facility. Planning ahead will also make the transition easier because many important decisions will already have been made or at least discussed.
When considering long-term care, a key advantage to planning ahead is that you will be better prepared financially. While many people pay for long-term care with their own funds, purchasing long-term care insurance is an excellent way to prepare for these expenses.
In some cases, employers will provide long-term care insurance in their benefits package. Medicare, a government program for citizens 65 and older, may cover the first 20 days of skilled care in a nursing facility and may partially pay for the next 80 days for a total benefit not to exceed 100 days, as long as the person qualifies.
Another way long-term care is financed is with Medicaid. Medicaid is a government welfare program for those individuals without the ability to pay for health care themselves.
Financial concerns can be the most challenging part when considering long-term care. The level of care needed, the setting where the care is provided and the geographic location determines cost. To ease the process, your financial records should be well organized.
Take the initiative by doing your homework and offering options.
Before beginning the conversation with your loved ones, it is important to know the basics of long-term care. Being knowledgeable about the types of care available in your community will help you through the conversation.
With this information, you will be able to lessen the fears of your loved ones by providing educated answers to questions they might have.
Many people experience feelings of guilt when they consider long-term care for their loved ones. This is normal and. However, there may come a time when you are going to need more care or supervision than you or others can provide.
Long-term care gives professional caregivers the opportunity to provide the quality of care and quality of life you need and deserve in a safe, secure environment.
Include others in decision-making.
There are other people who will be able to offer guidance on what kind of services your loved one will need and how to tap into community resources.
During the discussion, it is helpful to designate what is most important when it comes to your care. That can include input from many different sources including your family members, physician, spiritual advisor, close friends or neighbors. They may have an understanding of what type of care is necessary and some will be able to help determine what facilities can best meet your needs.
Consider long-term care insurance.
Many Americans do not plan ahead financially for their long-term care needs. Others wrongly assume that Medicare, Medicare supplemental policies or standard health insurance policies will cover the costs of long-term care services provided in settings such as nursing facilities or assisted living residences. Consequently, many Americans are needlessly impoverished each year by the costs of long-term care.
Long-term care insurance is an excellent way to protect yourself from these expenses, and this brochure will help you through the important process of understanding and comparing long-term care insurance policies. Finding a good policy will take some effort, but the effort will be worthwhile.
© 2005 American Health Care Association
The types and number of assisted living facilities can be overwhelming. Solution: Do your homework. By asking the right questions, you'll find one with the right services and care approach.
An Assisted Living Facility is a place for people who don't need to be in a hospital but can't be cared for at home. Most facilities have nursing aides and skilled nurses on hand 24 hours a day.
Some facilities are set up like a hospital. The staff provides medical care, as well as physical, speech and occupational therapy. There might be a nurses' station on each floor.
Other facilities try to be more like home. They try to have a neighborhood feel. Often, they don't have a fixed day-to-day schedule, and kitchens might be open to residents. Staff members are encouraged to develop relationships with residents.
Some facilities have special care units for people with serious memory problems such as Alzheimer's disease. Some will let couples live together. facilities are not only for the elderly, but for anyone who requires 24-hour care.
Facilities can be:
Some facilities have visiting doctors who see their patients on site. Other facilities have patients visit the doctor's office. facilities sometimes have separate areas called Special Care Units for people with serious memory problems, often called dementia. When looking for a facility, it's important for families to think about these special needs.
How Do You Choose?
The National Institute of Aging recommends you keep the following in mind if you are looking for a facility:
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) asks each State to inspect any facility that gets money from the government. Homes that don't pass inspection are not certified. Ask to see the current inspection report and certification of homes you are thinking about. Visit www.medicare.gov for more information.
Resources That Can Help
The rules about programs and benefits for facilities can change. Medicare has some helpful resources online. Visit www.medicare.gov for information about different care options.
You can find facilities in your area that are approved by CMS by visiting the Medicare website. You can also see summaries of recent inspection reports. Visit facility Compare at www.medicare.gov/NHCompare. The facility Checklist at the same website is a good guide to use when thinking about facilities.
Many States have State Health Insurance Counseling and Assistance Programs (SHIP). These programs can help you choose the health insurance that is right for you and your family. Visit www.medicare.gov/Nursing/Payment.asp.
Each State also has a Long-Term Care Ombudsman office that helps people learn about long-term care. Your local office may be able to answer general questions about a specific facility. Also, once you are living in a facility, the Ombudsman can help solve problems you may have with a facility. The National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center has more information. Visit www.ltcombudsman.org.
A veteran in need of long-term care might be able to get help through the Department of Veterans Affairs programs. Visit www.va.gov or call VA Health Care Benefits toll-free at 877-222-8387. You can also contact a VA medical center near you.
National Institute on Aging, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, January 2007
In addition to the emotional issues involved, caring for an aging parent often stretches a family's financial resources. According to Consumer Reports, taking in a parent can add $7,000 or more to household expenses, including higher utility, food, and transportation costs and, possibly home remodeling.
A 2004 study of long-distance care providers estimated a monthly cost of $392 ($4,700 a year), which includes travel, medicine, phone bills, meals, and home maintenance. The cost is much higher when the value of lost wages and retirement plan savings, as a result of caregiving, is included.
Assisting a Parent Financially
If your parents need financial assistance, this advice may help you gather information, conserve assets, and make plans.
Pay for care
An important part of planning for long-term care is deciding how to pay for services. This is because long-term care is very expensive, and contrary to what many people believe, their Medicare coverage will not pay for most of the long-term care services they need.
While some people may qualify for Medicaid – the major payer of long-term care services, most people won't. There are other federal public programs, such as the Older American's Act, or state funded programs, that pay some long-term care services, but like Medicaid they target those people with the most functional and financial need.
Consequently, if you are one of the 60% of people over the age of 65 who will need long-term care services – there's a very good chance you will have to pay for some or all of your long-term care services out of your personal income and resources.
Paying for long-term care out of your personal income and resources can be challenging. Even if you have a modest need for assistance at home with personal care, say a visit from a home health aide 3 times a week, based on 2006 average costs, you would have to pay about $16,000 a year for those services.
To make the best decisions about how to pay for long-term care you need to understand what services cost, what public programs you are eligible for and what they cover, what private financing options are available, and which ones work best for you.
What does Long-Term care cost?
LTC includes a broad range of health and support services that people need as they age or if they are disabled. The majority of these services are personal care, or assistance with activities of daily living that many families are able to provide all, or some of, free.
But, as care and support needs increase, paid care is usually needed to supplement family provided services and supports, provide respite to family caregivers, or to pay for more extensive services in a facility, such as a nursing home or assisted living, when individuals can no longer be cared for in their homes.
There are variations in costs based on the type and amount of care you need, the provider you use, and where you live. Home health and home care services, provided in two-to-four-hour blocks of time referred to as "visits," are generally more expensive in the evening, or on weekends or holidays.
The costs of services in some community programs, such as adult day service programs, are often provided at a per-day rate, but vary based on overhead and programming costs. Many care facilities charge extra for services provided beyond the basic room-and-board charge, although some may have "all inclusive" fees.
The average costs in the United States (in 2006) are:
If you have sufficient income and assets, you are likely to pay for your long-term care needs on your own, out of those private resources. If you meet functional eligibility criteria and have limited financial resources, or deplete them paying for care, Medicaid may pay for your care.
If you require primarily skilled or recuperative care for a short time, Medicare may pay. The Older Americans Act is another Federal program that helps pay for long-term care services. Some people use a variety of payment sources as their care needs and financial circumstances change.
Long-Term Care Services
Paying for Nursing Home Care
People usually pay for nursing home in one or more of the following ways:
Many people believe Medicare will pay for long stays in a nursing home, but it doesn't. It is important to check with Medicare and private "Medigap" (Medicare add-on) insurance to find out the current rules. For example, Medicare may only cover the first 100 days in a skilled nursing home for people needing special care after leaving the hospital.
When thinking about costs, keep in mind that there can be extra out-of-pocket charges for some supplies, personal care like hair appointments, laundry, and services that are outside routine care.2
1© 2005 National Endowment for Financial Education. All rights reserved.
2©National Institute on Aging
Plan ahead.
As far in advance as you can, begin planning for the move. Remember, the professionally trained staff understands your concerns and is eager to help your loved one make a smooth transition to the facility.
Tell the facility about your loved one.
Your family physician can provide much of this information. The more the facility knows, the better they can help your family member adjust to daily life. Provide them with written details about individual habits and practices.
Include information about:
Personal Care
Living conditions
Mental state
Habits and Practices
Special Interests
While some changes in lifestyle are going to be necessary, facility staff will do their best to help your loved one maintain their current living practices.
Complete paperwork early.
Get a head start on contract and financial details. Before admission day, fill out forms to the best of your ability, making note of questions. Provide a medical and personal history.
Openly discuss all costs. Know what's included and what's extra. Review your understanding of payment, money management and other details. Don't hesitate to ask questions.
Bring some of your loved one's personal belongings.
Items from home are very important. A small piece of furniture, pictures, books, a radio or TV, a lamp, a clock -- these familiar items will ease the transition. Discuss with staff what's appropriate to bring.
If some of the personal belongings have monetary value, make arrangements with the staff for safekeeping.
Consider clothing needs and laundry facilities. Be sure your loved one has enough comfortable clothing. Label each item with name.
Treatment decisions.
Encourage your loved one to prepare an advance directive. If you have questions, contact an attorney.
Let a new life begin.
Get your family involved.
Frequent visits from friends and family are critical. One way for them to stay involved: join the facility's family council, if available.
Many local and national caregiver support groups and community services are available to help you cope with caring for your aging parents. If you don't know where to find help, contact your state's department of eldercare services.
Or, call (800) 677-1116 to reach the Eldercare Locator, an information and referral service sponsored by the federal government that can direct you to resources available nationally or in your area. Some of the services available in your community may include:
Once you've gathered all of the necessary information, you may find some gaps. Perhaps your mother doesn't have a health-care directive, or her will is outdated. You may wish to consult an attorney or other financial professional whose advice both you and your parents can trust.
© 2005 Forefield, Inc.
Caring for someone can sometimes be overwhelming. As you well know, it can be physically demanding, emotionally draining, and cause stress and conflict when combined with other responsibilities.
So don't neglect your own physical and mental health.
Sometimes we are so deeply concerned about the well-being of the person for whom we are caring, that we forget our own needs.
We "burn the candle at both ends" and become exhausted, emotionally stressed or ill, compromising our own quality of life and our ability to care for our family member.
Some Caregiver Do's and Don'ts
We owe it to ourselves and to our families to also maintain our own physical and emotional health by:
Keep in mind that it is normal to feel angry, frustrated, or depressed from time to time. Caregiving can be a difficult as well as a rewarding undertaking. If you are feeling stressed, angry, or depressed:
If you find that you frequently are angry or depressed or that your emotions are getting out of control, you may benefit from counseling, and/or get relief in the form of respite, caregiver support groups, and supportive in-home services.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Sevices


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