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Tonight's game
It's the start of in-stadium All-Star balloting tonight so if you're coming out, punch out your favorite Dodgers (not literally). Or you can vote online up to 25 times.
Also, in case you didn't see it in the comments section of the last post, the three-second radio delay on KFWB is gone, thanks to new leadership at CBS Radio. I know many of you have posted comments about that and I'm glad that we could all work together to get it fixed.
Here's the lineup:
Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Nomar, 1B
Kent, 2B
Gonzo, LF
Martin, C
Betemit, 3B
Ethier, RF
Penny, P
48 Comments
Not sure if I like Ethier batting behind Betemit, but maybe Betemit will see a couple more fastballs and get it going.
Can't think of a better pitcher for the boys to get their bats going against. If Penny can toss a decent game I love our changes.
Thank God the radio delay's gone. Props to the new execs at CBS Radio. Well done.
"the three-second radio delay on KFWB is gone, thanks to new leadership at CBS Radio. I know many of you have posted comments about that and I'm glad that we could all work together to get it fixed."
I read about that, that's pretty cool while @ the stadium. i can take my walkman.
Well it looks like management is finally going to make a decision on Betemit. I expect that if he can't get his bat going in the #7 spot we'll
probably see a new starter at 3B sooner than later. It might not be a bad idea to see a flip at the top of the order with Furcal & Pierre. Raffy might be able to get it going by seeing a few more fastballs with Pierre on first.
All things considered, not a bad start to the season even with the left side of the infield hitting under .180. I do think that even with the pitching being as strong as it
has been so far, the Dodgers are going to need to add some power to the middle of the lineup on or before the trade deadline
even if it means giving up a prospect.
cdlv wrote, "All things considered, not a bad start to the season"
Um, I'll say. 13-8 is a 100-win pace. That's with Lowe so-so, Schmidt with about nothing, and about league-average offense. I am cautiously optimistic.
I've got to agree, I keep looking at our line up thinking that we have yet to put our best foot forward considering injuries and such, and here we are taking it to the rest of the league. "Cautiously optomistic" is a great way to put it, I really like the way this team is shaping up. I'm curious to see when Loney finally gets called up, maybe we should start a pool and see who comes closest. I'm going with my birthday, May 23rd, any guesses?
Go Blue, let's avoid the first sweep of the season and stick it to the Giants.
HOORAY!!!!! Thanks to everyone involved for getting rid of the delay on KFWB. It will definitely be good to listen to Vin again while I'm at the Stadium.
I think we've got the Giants' number today, and worst case scenario, we'd be even, but that's not happening. To quote the great Danny Kaye: "C'MON YOU FLATBUSH REFUGEES!"
Speaking of Flatbush, I guess the episode of The Munsters was on earlier with Leo Durocher when he has Herman Munster try out for the Dodgers. I missed it 'cause I was in class, but maybe it'll come on again soon.
phew… now they hit Betemit too. Giants are lucky it's Penny pitching and not Drysdale.
Good call, since The Big D would hit two Giants for every one of ours Bochy would be scraping the bench for replacements by now. Did Ethier really try to steal home or was the double steal on? Carl Crawford he ain't!!!
Greg Miller is rolling again. He is dominating Tacoma. I think its time to bring him up. Either in the pen, or the rotation. This guy is nasty
I love the kids!!! What a great feeling to see the farm system working again, I hope it brings us many rings for many Octobers to come.
Go Blue!!!
no Pierre messed up a squeeze attempt. Not Ethier's fault because he had to be going on the pitch.
I'm watching the gameday on the mlb site so it gets interesting trying to figure out whats going on. Late here in Florida so I can't listen on my XM radio without waking children. Thanks jspelk2.
This is it for Betemit. Bases juiced. If he does not deliver, it's time for Nomar to move to third and call up Loney.
It's time for Betemit to get out of his funk. Copy my boy Russell and hit a grand slam!!!
I think its time to move Martin into the 2 spot. Furcal is going to get forced out at second ALOT this year.
Betemit strikes out on a fastball down the middle.
That's it. Nomar–get the fielder's glove. Loney, get on a plane to San Diego for the weekend series.
Says Grady "I'll make my decision on Betemit between now and the end of time"….hurry up!
I'll stich the letters on Betemit's 51's jersey. I wonder if Grady already has one hanging in his office for that unavoidable day. Maybe my May 23rd guess was a little late.
A 2 pitch out to Bonds, now I feel better!!!
Gotta love a 7 pitch, 1-2-3 inning from Penny. On top of that 1.48 ERA he's also hitting .300. Maybe he can play third when he's not pitching!!!
In Vegas: Matt Kemp has HR and 3 RBI's, Abreu is 2 for 3 and batting a ridiculous .420. I would not be surprised to see Abreu before or even if they move Nomar across the diamond.
yeah Abreu has been tearing it up! La Roche is starting to get hot too. Greg Miller should be in the Rotation by mid may if he keeps up what he's doing. Talk about a STUD
our team is going to be better once Kemp get back.. that is IF they actually let him return to LA, which is no guarantee.
I think Wolf should play 3rd because he's our best hitting pitcher…hmmm.
I still have yet to see the positives Pierre brings to our club?
character. character wins championships guys!
Pierre and Betemit issues need to be dealt with? Missed sign on the squeeze, and the ball that must be caught by Pierre? Betemit stiking out with the bases loaded and a 3-0 count?
eheuerman… as Vinny put it best tonight, and I paraphrase here: "…not the type of bunt attempt from a guy who makes a career of bunting." How on Earth does one miss a squeeze play? By not knowing the signs… that's how. I for one, do not like the signs I see from one Juan Pierre. And the ball he should have caught in the 8th inning was severely misplayed… what angle was he running to the ball on in the first place? It's almost like he plays the ball so he has to catch it at the last possible moment. Yes, he made some good catches, but on balls like this where the game is riding on the outcome of a catch… it seems like perhaps he is just trying WAY too hard instead of letting his talent flow. He's pressing, and it's not like it's just going to go away anytime soon. This guy was severely overrated… oh and yes… FIVE YEARS!!
And with Betemit… it looks like he's swinging under the baseball. There's something different about his swing this year than last. It's something when his bat is going through the strike zone that makes it look like the bat is dropping from its intended target. He needs to get it going quickly.
Go Dodgers!!!
1) On Tuesday morning, I woke up to an email telling me I had been rejected from an internship I interviewed for (one I thought I had a pretty good shot at), and realized my options were decreasing to the point where I don't have a clue what I'm doing this summer. Now the Dodgers get swept by the Giants. I've had better weeks.
2) There's a bit of improbability that the Giants are this hot right now, but in the very short term a lot is possible. The law of averages being in effect, though, I'd expect San Francisco to sink down eventually. After all, everyone in the division saw first place last year.
3) As for Wilson Betemit, he's clearly in some kind of nasty slump, and I appreciated that double tonight. However, if he doesn't really step it up, the Dodgers need to put someone who's not Martinez or Valdez at the hot corner. Plan B seems to be to slide Nomar over and put Loney at first, and then for LaRoche to come up when Nomar hurts himself (we're on Plan A now). I'm willing to give Betemit until June 1, but if LaRoche is tearing up AAA and Betemit is struggling to tear up a piece of tissue paper, then it's time for a switcheroo.
4) Martin is good, and it's his consistency that does it. Still, as long as you don't bat him cleanup, give Lieberthal a little bit more playing time. I mean, he's only started 2 games; the reason you have a backup catcher isn't in case your primary catcher gets injured, it's so that you can play him enough to keep your primary catcher fresh.
5) Finally, I think we should keep our old friend Willy Aybar in our thoughts and prayers. Substance abuse can do a whole lot of damage, not just for yourself but for your family. It gets especially scary when it's hard to contact him, as it was for his brother Erick and his mom. There are worse things than dropping three in a row to the Halloween team.
You'd think getting swept by a halloween streak at Chavez ravine is the worst possible thing but it could be worse…. We could all be Yankee fans with the Hottest Power Hitter in the game and score 120 runs in 20 games and yet still be in last place with the D-Rays….
Tomorrow is a new day and Hendy is up with great numbers against a pitcher we should be able to knock the snot outta by the 3rd inn.
High Notes…
we are still in first place albeit tied we are still on top.
Either is starting to hit the ball as is furcal.
Low points…. well we all know those and I really don't want to rehash them all but atleast we are past Bochy for awhile and can get it going again.
Go Blue 2007!!!
1) patriotacts425, I'm driving down to South America this summer after my graduation from UC Berkeley, so join me if you want.
2) I also had a horrible day. On the drive down here from UC Berkeley to LA last night, the studs on my tires blew out and I had to get towed the last 50 miles…
3) I for one am thankful that I'm not a Yankee fan right now.
4) At least the Lakers won!?
Here's to 5 years of Juan Pierre in a Dodgers uniform!
He can do it all folks. Lose the game with his bat, wheels, glove, and arm… What a bargain! Is anyone else starting to get a little whiff in the air of Delino Deshields? I can't believe they gave this first class bum over 40 million…..thats what you call "theft by false pretenses." See what happens when you panic Ned?
We all know why we lost last night. There are 3 players that are directly responsible for the way the team is playing. If these 3 players are left in ,and do not perform , it's going to be a long season. I for one miss Lofton.
How many balls that Pierre has "misplayed" would not even have been touched by a slower CF?
If the ball hits his glove it should have been caught.
In the first game of this series the team pretty much beat itself, with sloppy fielding. In the second and third games, the fielding was much better. Kent's age and Gonzo's arm are things that cannot be improved on. The team improved where it could. Pierre made a splendid catch on a sinking line drive.
The hitting improved too, and the batters worked deeper into the count. Unfortunately, the lack of power in the lineup contributed to runners left on base, and the automatic outs from Betemit-pitcher-Furcal-Pierre meant only six innings to really score runs in.
Still, the Dodgers played well these last two games. It was fun to watch them. They just didn't win. Even playing well overall wasn't enough to win. And that's a little bit disheartening.
It time for Loney and Kemp to BOTH come up play in the OF.
Ill take my chances with Kemps CF defense.
If Pierre and Gonzo don't lead the league in dribblers to second base id like to know who does.
Im not a hater of Pierre and Gonzo at all, but we need to mix in Kemp and Loney…
I would like to get others opinion on having Gonzo and Pierre in the postseason? Do you think we can actually win when runners will take an extra base on every ball hit to them?
I would definitively say that NO we will do nothing in the post season with Pierre and Gonzo in the outfield and Betemit at third base. We might get there but we will not win anything. This team is not a championship team. I don't think its a stretch to say that. Especially with Tomko AND Hendy in the rotation…and who knows how long that is going to last. If some roster moves are made, then it might be different.
I keep reading, that we should put Nomar @ 3rd and bring up Loney. OK , I agree with that. BUT, IF they do that, we are forgetting, that Loney, Is NOT doing it, at the moment, so that's out.
Well, looks like we're even with the Giants… didn't see this comming a week ago. Oh well, it's still only April.
Time to put a whoopin' on San Diego. They're just like everyone else, let's go get 'em and pound the ol' Budweiser… well, except for those who can't or won't drink, in which case, the non-alcoholic beverage of your choice would be greatly appreciated.
Put one back at the Bear for me merc.
The Dodgers have been having a rough week. Losing all three games to the Giants only reinforces the problems they have been having.
If the Dodgers expect to be in the World Series, they better step it up a notch.
I can forgive physical errors. But mental errors like the miscommunication between third base coach Rich Donnelly and the batter, Juan Pierre on the failed squeeze play are hard to let go.
Signs and signals are the nerve center of baseball. Without them, the manager can not control a game. When he wants to put on a play, he will signal his third base coach who in turn will let the batter and runners what to do. Some plays require a player to give an acknowledgment signal in return.
That being said, how could the Dodgers, so soon out of spring training, mess up such a vital play? So Pierre missed the squeeze play sign. Not good. But more important, doesn't the manager and coach require him to acknowledge the play?
If he missed the sign and did not acknowledge, it is up to the third base coach to give the sign again. Maybe Grady Little needs to run a few more communication classes with the coaches and players until they are all on the same page.
Tony Jackson, LA Daily News sportwriter, in his blog wrote:
"…Pierre admitted that he missed the sign. His half-bunt, half-swing at the pitch appeared to be a panic move when he saw Ethier barreling down the line. But here's the rub: because the suicide is such a high-risk, low-percentage play — Grady says there is one thing that can go right and 10 things that can go wrong — teams generally employ a sign system that involves not only the sign being given to the runner and the batter, but the sign being acknowledged by all parties so everyone knows they have the signs. 3B coach Rich Donnelly was understandably vague after the game, because obviously you can't tell reporters how your sign system works. But Donnelly DID say the acknowledgement mechanism is something that happens BEFORE the sign is given. (I'm guessing that would make a lot more sense if we knew what the signs were, but we never will, so just go along with it). Grady implied that Pierre had acknowledged the sign. But Pierre said he wasn't aware of any such acknowledgement mechanism."
It was bad that Pierre missed the sign but that happens sometimes. What gets me is that the Dodgers apparently have a system where the batter is supposed to acknowledge a sign before it is given. If there is no acknowledgment, the sign must be given again coach!
But the coup de grâce for this play was Pierre's admission that he did not even know about any such acknowledgment mechanism.
Winning baseball is as much a head game as it is a physical one. Apparently we know where some of the Dodgers' (both management and players) heads are at.
Pierre gets really bad jumps on balls you don't think he needs glasses or something?


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Seahaven FM - Genuinely Local Radio
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subset: commoncrawl


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My Target Leggings by retrodiva
I recently grabbed two pairs of cable leggings from Target. I absolutely love them, and I couldn't stop talking about how they were leggings! That were sweaters! Sweater leggings! Almost as good as pants!
For the record, I'm not a huge leggings girl, but these really just take over with outfits that I should be wearing heavy tights with. I have lots of sweater dresses, as well as knit dresses that I like to do the tights with, and I'm hoping these will give me just a bit more warmth on those cold days.
Of course, I've also paired it with some of my beauty choices, because you just can't leave that out. My makeup is just as much a part of my outfit as my accessories, so I tend to give it just as much thought. With a gray knit dress and bright accessories, I thought varying shades of plum would work the best.
While I would wear the black flats, I wouldn't hesitate to pair this with boots, either. I'd probably stay away from slouchy boots as well as booties, and go with traditional heeled boots in either black or gray.
How to Wear It Thursdays: My New Target Leggings
Posted by Retrodiva on Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 9:28 AM
Labels: how to wear it, polyvore, style
2 comments:
- Virginia Janet said...
You have a fabulous taste..! I too got a pair of pairs of cable leggings from Target.November 9, 2008 at 11:53 PM
- Retrodiva said...
Thank you! Aren't they the best $20 you have ever spent? Like tights but even better. I love mine.
November 11, 2008 at 12:09 PM


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This is not an offer for credit and should be used for estimation purposes only based on the information you provided. You should not base your decision on this estimate alone. Title, registration, tax and other fees, and personal circumstances such as employment status and personal credit history, were not considered in the calculations.
Front - 260 mm disc
Rear - 220 mm disc
Front - 1.60 x 21 in. DID
Rear - 2.15 x 18 in. DID
Front - 80/100-21 in.
Rear - 110/90-18 in.
Forks - WP USD, AER 48; 310 mm travel
Shock absorber - WP Monoshock with linkage; 300 mm travel


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The Australian Heavy Vehicle Repairers Association (AHVRA) represents the heavy vehicle accident repair industry at a national level.
Created by MTA NSW, the Employment Relations Information System (ERIS) is a web based interactive employment relations system.
Green Stamp is an environmental program that aims to help businesses achieve environmental compliance.
MTA Training delivers innovative and flexible, industry focused training and prides itself on producing quality outcomes.
The Service Station Association (SSA) is a division of MTA NSW representing businesses within the petroleum industry.


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Save Student and Staff Vocies
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The voice of New Zealand's 400,000 students.
The New Zealand Union of Students' Associations exists to advance the political, social and economic interests of tertiary students whatever they study and wherever they live. NZUSA is a membership body of local students' associatons. We believe in opportunity for all.


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If you want to stream YouTube videos in 4K you need:
Once a 4K video is selected, the PS4 Pro will automatically stream the content in 4K resolution.
If you want to make sure you're streaming in 4K, in the You Tube app go to [Settings] > [Show Video Info] > [Enabled].
A 4K video normally has 3840 x 2160 resolution, so if you see these values, you are streaming in 4K quality.
Picture quality also depends on the video you are streaming.


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At the extreme opposite end of the spectrum from "hobby" machine tools are those used to build ships and power plants. I have no technical details about the lathe shown above, but the photograph was taken in 1957 or 1958 at the Doxford Engine Works in Pallion, England. If you like it, don't miss the gallery over at Ships Nostalgia about English shipwrights William Doxford and Sons. It's chockablock with absolutely gorgeous, amazing photographs of giant men building giant machines with giant tools.
Check out the machine torch:
I bet that guy hoisted that slab of steel into place all by himself. [Thanks, Lee!]


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Item Description
Letter, Samuel C. Smith to Dear Friend [Rev. T. W. Higginson]
Author: Smith, Samuel C.
Date: November 26, 1856
This letter, written from Lawrence, Kansas Territory by Samuel Smith, was addressed to Rev. T. W. Higginson of Worcester, Massachusetts. The letter began with several small matters regarding aid for Kansas, and then turned quickly to the most recent events in the struggle between proslavery and free state forces. Apparently, thirty two of the free state prisoners held by U. S. troops at Tecumseh had managed to escape, and Smith rather sarcastically commented that the troops had done a favor to "Uncle Sam" by relieving the government of the cost of supporting all those prisoners. The author also spoke of [Thaddeus] Hyatt's presence in the territory, and of George Washington Brown, editor of the Herald of Freedom. He also informed Higginson that Col. Eldridge and Thomas Eldridge have had complaints filed against them, stating that "nature never designed them for distributions of charity." The letter concludes with information regarding land sales in Leavenworth, and the founding of a new city, Quindaro. In general, Smith's writing style is quite humorous, as well as informative.
Location of Original: KSHS Call Number: Thomas W. Higginson Collection, #380, Box 1, Folder 4
Item Number: 101884 Number of images: 4
Keywords: Brown, George W. (George Washington), 1820-1915; Donalson, Israel B.; Eldridge, Shalor Winchell, 1816-1899; Eldridge, Thomas B.; Geary, John White, 1819-1873; Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 1823-1911; Hyatt, Thaddeus; Kansas Central Committee; Leavenworth, Kansas Territory; Prisoners; Quindaro, Kansas Territory; Relief; Smith, Samuel C.; Tappan, S. F. (Samuel Forster), d. 1913; Tecumseh, Kansas Territory; Titus, Henry Theodore; Town development; United States. Army; Worcester, Massachusetts
pg. 1
pg. 2
pg. 3
pg. 4


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PORTSMOUTH — Rick Holt put pen to paper on Wednesday morning and immediately felt a sense of relief.
PORTSMOUTH — Rick Holt put pen to paper on Wednesday morning and immediately felt a sense of relief.
The Portsmouth High School standout two-way lineman had traded in his No. 71 jersey for a black sportcoat — his dad's — and blue tie, but still looked every bit a football player whose best days are ahead of him.
Holt's signature on a National Letter of Intent finalized the decision he made three days ago, that he will be attending and playing football at the University of New Hampshire next year on a partial athletic scholarship.
"A lot of relief," he said. "I couldn't be happier to be playing at UNH. It feels really good to have this done."
The short ceremony in the lobby outside the high school gymnasium included a dozen or so of his football teammates and classmates; Portsmouth football coaches Bill Murphy, Kevin Mills and Russ Russo; and Holt's parents, Dick and Patty.
The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Holt, a three-year starter on both lines, was the unmovable anchor on a defensive line that helped the Clippers win their second straight Division III championship last fall, marking the program's first titles since 1981.
Ironically, Dick Holt was part of that 1981 team, playing offensive and defensive line, and linebacker. A Rye native, he went on to play college football at Maine Maritime.
"I played with his dad, so I kind of knew from the pedigree a little bit what we were going to get," said Mills, who served as the Clippers' defensive coordinator this past year. "The biggest thing I recognize with Rick is that he's very talented, athletically talented, but he's also matured from sophomore year to senior year, and through this process ...; he showed a great deal maturity in deciding where he was going to go."
Holt chose UNH over Marist (N.Y.) College and Division II Stonehill (Mass.) College, both of whom offered partial scholarships. UMass, which recently elevated its program to the Football Bowl Subdivision level, recruited him as a "preferred walk-on," he said, with no scholarship money offered.
At Portsmouth, Holt was twice an All-Division III selection on the defensive line, which will, at least initially, be his position at UNH. He and classmates Dillon Crosby and Kurtis Leonard were also chosen for the CHAD East-West All-Star Game this June.
"He's blessed with a great body," said Murphy, the program's head coach. "He's maximized it recently. We knew the potential was there; the question early on was could he take advantage of that? He did."
"You saw (as a freshman) he had a great motor," said Russo, a defensive coach. "It was raw. But progression-wise, maturity level ...; we just kind of pointed him in the right direction and his ability took over. The way he raised the ability of the players around him was great."
This spring, Holt again figures to be the ace pitcher and first baseman on a Portsmouth team that has won four of the last five Division II titles. After that, baseball gets pushed to the back burner and football takes center stage.
"Coach McDonnell said I could play baseball this year," said Holt. "Then he said, 'Once we get you to camp in August, all that (training) will start then.'"
At UNH, only an occasional incoming freshman sees game action his first season. Almost all freshmen take a redshirt year to get acclimated to the program and get stronger, and then have four remaining years of eligibility.
Holt will be one of at least two outgoing Portsmouth seniors playing college football next year. Colin MacDonald, a 6-foot-4 wide receiver, has been accepted at Division III Endicott (Mass.) College, the coaches said, and cornerback Jack Mackey has also drawn Division III interest.
Holt becomes the first Division I scholarship football player from the school since Rod Walker, who played at UNH from 2007-11 and started at outside linebacker as a senior.
"This is a big thing, for the school and for me, so I'm really happy," said Holt. "We were able to win two championships; we were able to do a lot. Hopefully, people will remember that from the time that I played here. ...; It's been a good ride."
"Every couple of years, if you're lucky, you have that kid," said Russo. "We had Rod Walker go a few years back but we've had a span. We've been fortunate to do well in the program, but then a kid like Ricky comes along and he exceeds all your expectations. Just to go to the next level is awesome."


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When Christine Fahlund of T. Rowe Price asked a packed crowd of NAPFA advisors on Wednesday afternoon if they had clients who weren't prepared financially for retirement, nearly every hand went up in the audience. Almost the same number also agreed that their clients were not psychologically prepared for retirement, either. Speaking at a breakout session at the NAPFA annual conference in Chicago, Fahlund then laid out a way to improve retirement preparation for clients while also giving them hope and helping advisors to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
"It's all about the 60s," said Fahlund (left), a CFP, a Ph.D. and a former fee-only advisor herself. She described those years as the age that for many years was considered "Nirvana" for clients who hoped to retire and spend that decade of life enjoying all the activities on which they had delayed gratification while working. With the Practice Retirement program (recently trademarked by T. Rowe), Fahlund said advisors can tell clients, "Yes, you have to keep working, but you can start playing" as well. She also argued that the research is clear that "lives built exclusively around leisure do not deliver the satisfaction level hoped for," which has led to what she calls the "unretirement trend."
The program encourages people who have reached age 60 to begin 'practicing' retirement by cutting back on the number of hours worked to start exploring on a part-time basis those activities that they envision themselves doing once they are totally retired. As an example, she said that some clients might see themselves as wanting to travel around the country in an RV. "So buy an RV and try it for a few months," the program would suggest, or even better, rent an RV and discover whether such a lifestyle is really rewarding.
However, continuing to work while practicing those retirement activities helps clients in multiple ways. For one thing, it allows them to put off the day when they start receiving Social Security benefits, thus increasing the level of those benefits when they do begin distributions. Fahlund said her research shows an increase of about 8% in Social Security payments for every year that a client waits from age 62 to age 70.
She also shared with the audience her research (available for free at practiceretirement.com) on the financial effects of following one of the three most common paths toward retirement. First is the "cliff diver mindset," under which a worker works until arriving at age 62 and then completely retires. Second is the "worker bee mindset," under which a worker continues to work full time until age 70 or older. The third approach would be a "retiree in training," who continues to work while practicing retirement. That third approach provides the highest income to workers in their 60s, and allows them to achieve more than 75% of their income replacement goals when they reach their 70s. She also said that following the practice retirement approach benefits advisors. While other advisors might harp on the lack of sufficient money saved for retirement, the T. Rowe plan allows advisors to tell their clients that "the glass is half-full," and that they can enjoy their 60s after all. "Others will want to hear that same upbeat message, too," she predicted, resulting in referrals. In addition, presenting the Practice Retirement program to clients will allow advisors to have conversations with their clients on both the financial and emotional issues around retirement.
Since clients continue to work throughout their 60s, funding their activities with income, there will be a delay on tapping the assets in their portfolios, so advisors will continue to be paid for managing those assets. Perhaps most important, advisors will also help their clients "find balance on the path to retirement," so that they are not left adrift when they transition from their work lives, from which many people receive much of their self-worth, to when they are no longer working.
Fahlund, a T. Rowe vice president and senior financial planner, doesn't just preach practice retirement, by the way; she practices it as well, as she cheerfully admitted in a brief interview following her presentation. While she speaks and writes about the program, she also takes time off for her other passions, including spending time with her children and grandchildren. But she feels so strongly about the value of the program that she says she can't imagine suspending her promotion of the plan.
Check out further coverage about the NAPFA national conference 2012 at AdvisorOne.


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Larkin Community Hospital named the Only Hospital in South Florida to Win the Top Urban Hospital Award
Miami-Dade County hospital among select group recognized for highest quality In nationwide hospital review
SOUTH MIAMI, Florida – December 6, 2013 – (HISPANICIZE WIRE) – Larkin Community Hospital (LCH), one of Florida's twelve statutory teaching hospitals and the largest osteopathic teaching hospital in the nation, has been named Top Urban Hospital by The Leapfrog Group. LCH is the only hospital in South Florida (including Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties) to receive this elite designation. The Top Hospitals award is widely recognized as the nation's most competitive hospital quality awards. Award winners were announced and presented their awards at Leapfrog's Annual meeting in Washington, D.C., this week.
"This award is a testament to the dedication of our team and our shared commitment to deliver the finest quality care for every patient we see"
Hospitals from across the country were included in the group considered for the Top Hospitals designation. The South Miami healthcare provider received the high honor after a rigorous evaluation process. The award recognizes Larkin Community Hospital for demonstrating the highest standards in quality of care, including lower infection rates, higher survival rates for high-risk procedures, decreased length of hospital stay, and fewer readmissions.
Dr. Jack J. Michel, Chairman of Larkin Community Hospital said the Top Hospital honor is a team achievement. "This award is a testament to the dedication of our team and our shared commitment to deliver the finest quality care for every patient we see. It is particularly gratifying to accept this honor on behalf of everyone at the hospital whose hard work has been recognized with this prestigious award. This recognition sends a clear message to our patients and their employers that if they are looking for a quality and cost effective alternative for their health care needs they can find it at Larkin. It is an established fact that lower quality providers not only harm patients but also contribute to the spiraling costs of health care in our country" he said.
The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization founded more than a decade ago by employer organizations with support from the Business Roundtable, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and organizations around the country focused on initiating improvements in the safety, quality, and affordability of healthcare for Americans. According to The Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder, "The field of hospitals' considered for this year's elite Leapfrog Top Hospital distinction was more competitive than ever. By achieving the Top Hospital accolade, Larkin Community Hospital has demonstrated exemplary performance across all areas of quality and patient safety that are analyzed on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. If my family or friends needed care, I'd be comfortable sending them to Larkin Community Hospital."
About Larkin Community Hospital
Larkin Community Hospital (LCH) is a 146 Bed Medical/Surgical Teaching hospital. LCH is one of 12 designated Statutory Teaching Hospitals in Florida and the largest teaching hospital for Osteopathic physicians in the United States, offering the largest number of training programs (offering training in 30 different specialties in total). LCH sponsors an allopathic residency program in Psychiatry. In addition, LCH also has a Nursing School (Registered Nurse Associate Degree program).
LCH is also the home of:
— The Miami Neuroscience Center at Larkin, a state of the art facility which specializes in Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. This 25 member team, led by world renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Aizik Wolf, has performed over 8000 procedures during the past 20 years. Gamma Knife is a non-invasive state of the art neurological procedure used to treat brain tumors, head and neck cancer, and neurological conditions, such as trigeminal neuralgia and Arteriovenous Malformations.
— The Center for Advanced Orthopedics at Larkin, which specializes in advanced orthopedic surgery using the latest multimodal perioperative pain management modalities and state of art technology and instrumentation with advanced robotic technology. The center, led by world renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Carlos Lavernia, includes an outcomes-oriented robust research component with an ongoing prospective surgical registry and a comprehensive rehabilitation department.
The hospital is committed to providing the highest quality compassionate care in an educational environment. For more information about Larkin Community Hospital, visit www.larkinhospital.com.


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|Assistant Coach
|Alma Mater:
|North Carolina
|Graduating Year:
In her collegiate coaching debut, Carla Overbeck made an immediate impact on the Duke University women's soccer program, helping the 1992 Blue Devils advance to the NCAA title game. Over the last 25 years, she has continued her work with the Blue Devils as Duke has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 23 times, including NCAA College Cup appearances in 2011, 2015 and 2017.
Most recently, Overbeck's work with the Blue Devils helped them capture the 2017 ACC regular season championship, their third such honor in program history. Behind a school record 23 wins and a perfect 10-0-0 record in conference play, Duke secured the honor and then captured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history, eventually advancing to its second NCAA in the last three years. For their success, Overbeck and the entire Blue Devil staff were named the United Soccer Coaches National Staff of the Year, becoming the first DWS staff to receive the honor.
A three-time All-America selection at the University of North Carolina, Overbeck was a member of four unbeaten Tar Heel national title squads from 1986-89. North Carolina posted a phenomenal 95-match unbeaten streak (89-0-6) during her career.
Overbeck was a four-time member of the NCAA All-Tournament Team and a two-time All-ACC selection. In addition, she was a member of the 1986 Soccer America All-America Freshman Team and was the Most Valuable Defensive Player of the 1988 NCAA Tournament.
Overbeck's playing accomplishments include competing for the United States National Team. Overbeck was an instrumental player for the U.S. in winning the 1991 Women's World Cup in China. She captained the 1995 U.S. World Cup squad that advanced to the semifinals and also served as captain of the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team that won the gold medal.
In 1998, Overbeck competed on the gold-medal-winning Goodwill Games squad. She again captained Team USA to the 1999 World Cup Championship and to a silver medal in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
On May 6, 2006, Overbeck was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame and was a 2010 North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inductee. Overbeck, who graduated from North Carolina with a degree in psychology in 1990, attended Richardson High School in Richardson, Texas. She and her husband, Greg, have one son, Jackson (19) and a daughter, Carson Elizabeth (13). Jackson will be a freshman at Texas in the spring of 2017.


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Hillsville mayor could remain in office even if convicted
Greg Crowder charged with impersonating officer
According to Hillsville Town Manager Travis Jackson, Mayor Greg Crowder may be able to remain in his elected position even if he's convicted of the charge he's facing in a Bristol General District Court.
Crowder and his wife, Rebecca Louanne Crowder, were arrested on Aug. 23 and each was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer. Their court date has been continued from Sept. 5 to Nov. 14. The charge carries a fine of up to $2,500 and one year in jail.
"There's nothing in the town charter or code that addresses this. We rely on the state code and state attorney's office for interpretation," said Jackson. "There is a code in Virginia that addresses this. Generally, when a person has been charged but not convicted, it's left up to that person as to what course they take."
However, even if Crowder is convicted, Jackson said what happens next will most likely remain "a personal decision" since the crime he's charged with is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
"Anyone convicted of a felony cannot vote or hold office. However, if it's a misdemeanor, unless it has to do with the manufacturing, sale or distribution of a controlled substance, or a hate crime, a person can't be forced to resign," said Jackson. "The only other way a person can be forced to resign is if there is a misuse of office, neglect of duty or incompetence."
Jackson added there was one other way Crowder could be forced out, but that would require an order by a circuit court judge.
Vice-Mayor Ed Terry said when he found out on Aug. 26 he was stunned.
"It is such an unprecedented event, as least during my time on the council, I really didn't know what we, as a council, could do," said Terry. "I'm disappointed and I'm sure (Crowder) is disappointed. I've talked to (Crowder) and I know he has his own thoughts on it. We'll just have to let it ride itself out since it's a personal issue. Until it's resolved, I'll stay out of it."
Terry added that it was his understanding that if "a person wasn't willing to step down, the only option left was to petition the courts."
Councilman David Young said he "had complete confidence" in Crowder.
"It's all a misunderstanding," said Young. "I feel confident there is no impairment to the mayor and his ability to run the town. I think the citizens have nothing to worry about."
A statement faxed to The Carroll News by Crowder's attorney, Robert V. Ward of Bristol read: "I received your telephone call concerning Mr. Crowder. I have been retained to represent Mr. Crowder. I met Mr. Crowder several years ago at a Virginia Tech football game. I have found him to be a good man. I recently learned of allegations against Mr. Crowder. I am in the process of investigating those allegations. It is my hope and belief that these allegations result from a simple misunderstanding. I will not have further comment until I have the opportunity to complete my investigation. Thank you for your kind cooperation."


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How much has the nutrient content of food crops declined over the last 50 years?
Crop Nutrient Decline
Nota del Doctor
Check out these videos for more information on GMOs:
Are GMOs Safe? The Case of BT Corn
Are GMOs Safe? The Case of Roundup Ready Soy
Is Monsanto's Roundup Pesticide Glyphosate Safe?
GMO Soy & Breast Cancer
And check out my other videos on nutrition myths.
For more context, also see my associated blog posts: Prevent Breast Cancer by Any Greens Necessary, and Best Nutrition Bang for Your Buck.
If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here.
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Patio Sessions
The Days w/ Glen Farris
Free Local Music
5:30PM Thursday, April 11, 2013
The Days was once the collaboration between brothers Addison and Robert Day. The two began writing together while sharing a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington, TX. Robert (guitar) was studying architecture at UTA and Addison (keyboard) was studying classical voice. The brothers moved to Denton and spent the next year playing with musicians until meeting Abdon Gonzalez (drums) and Glen Farris (bass). Their music is a blend of old styles, the result of years glued to oldies radio stations, and they make no apologies. "Sometimes I imagine us being The Jackson 5 or Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem," admits Addison (keys) whose vocals and harmonies bare little resemblance to the traditional style of his training. In February 2013, The Days released their first demos. They recorded the two tracks in Abdon's home-studio, and made them available on their website.
Glen Farris has been playing about town for years, seen on stage with Doug Burr, The Naptime Shake and now The Days, among others. His solo crooning will warm the cockles of your heart and leave you wanting more.
Patio Sessions Food Trucks Epic Cones, Pompeii, Simply Dosa, Cup Cakin Machine will be serving from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
Event Information
Dates 5:30PM Thursday, April 11, 2013


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Reeling - Rene Rodriguez
In "The Dance of Reality," Alejandro Jodorowsky mixes fantasy with autobiography
The Dance of Reality, the first film in 23 years by the iconic director Alejandro Jodorowsky ( El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre), was a family affair. In the film, an autobiographical fantasy about his childhood in Tocopilla, Chile, Jodorowsky's son Brontis plays his father. Another son, Adan, scored the film and has a small role. His wife Pascale designed the costumes. And Jodorowsky, 85, appears in the movie as himself, directly addressing the viewer by doling out advice such as "Bear the painful burden of years, yet in the heart keep the child."
The movie, which opens Friday at the Miami Beach Cinematheque, is relatively tame compared to his previous films, which were often awash in blood and grotesqueries, wild religious allegories and symbolism, incomprehensible plots and surreal, disturbing imagery. His first film, 1967's Fando and Lis, an intentionally provocative, ultra-violent tale of a couple trying to find a mythical city, caused a riot at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival and was later banned in Mexico. When it was released in the United States as a midnight movie (the first of its kind), El Topo earned Jodorowsky legions of fans, including John Lennon and Mick Jagger. The extreme nature of his films, combined with their trippy visuals and unconventional narratives, have influenced two generations of filmmakers, from David Lynch and Oliver Stone to Drive's Nicolas Winding Refn — who dedicated his most recent film, Only God Forgives, to Jodorowsky.
Even if old age has cooled Jodorowsky's desire to rile and shock, The Dance of Reality still carries his trademark vibe of a waking, philosophical dream, and it, too, contains torture, nightmarish imagery and sexual violence. But the film also has an undertone of compassion and kindness — a wistful love of the eccentricities of life, both light and dark, and a hopeful outlook. The picture feels like the work of a man who has made peace with a world often filled with tragedy and despair.
"I turned 85 this year," the lucid, chatty Jodorowsky says via telephone from his home in Paris. "At this age, people die. You become extremely conscious that time is running out. It's not the same thing to make a work — a film, a book, a play — about youth as it is to make one about old age. I know I'm near the end. I wanted this movie to be a testament of my life, in case I die. But I'm also hoping it can be a comeback for my career, because I still have a lot left to say."
Jodorowsky hadn't made a film since 1990's little-seen The Rainbow Thief, which marked his first time working with famous actors (including Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif and Christopher Lee). Unlike his counter-culture hits of the 1970s, the movie was a critical and commercial disaster, but that wasn't what soured Jodorowsky on filmmaking.
"I had a big problem working with stars, because they are too expensive and have too many demands," he says. "Their names help you raise the money to make the movie, but then they demand close-ups. They change things. You end up doing things at their service instead of servicing the film. A poet can't work with them. The Rainbow Thief is not a bad picture, but after that experience, I realized you can't really be an artist in Hollywood. You're not free to do what you want. You're an employee. There is a total loss of dignity. I feel terrible for directors of TV, because all the episodes have to look the same. They make a great series for five or six years, and then when it's canceled, they can't break out on their own.
"Hollywood annihilated [the Austrian actor/director] Erich von Stroheim. They killed him. Tod Browning and David Lynch, too. It's just too big of a battle. That's why I hired so many members of my family for Dance. When there was a problem, we would get together and talk it out. We're very communicative, and we believe in the art we are making. A butcher has a son who grows up to become a butcher. I have a family of artists."
During his two decades away from films, Jodorowsky kept busy. He directed stage plays, painted, wrote novels, poems, comic books and several nonfiction books about "psychomagic," a kind of therapy he invented to help people overcome psychological traumas from their past. The Dance of Reality is adapted from his own autobiography, which was published in Spanish.
"I think of those 23 years as my time in exile," Jodorowsky says. "I was always able to find creative outlets outside of film. But every night I would watch a movie at home at 11 p.m. with great pain, because that's what I really wanted to be doing. After Santa Sangre [in which an armless circus performer goes on a murder spree using her son's arms as her weapons], I was offered a lot of serial killer movies. But I didn't want to do that. I had already made Santa Sangre. I would have preferred to make a movie about an ostrich that was a serial killer. I suffered a lot during those years. But I also had patience."
While the making of the recent documentary Jodorowsky's Dune, which recounted his failed attempt to adapt Frank Herbert's novel into a mammoth film, the director rekindled his friendship with his former producer and partner Michel Seydoux, who helped him raise The Dance of Reality's $3 million budget. The movie, which recounts Alejandro's tumultuous childhood (played as a boy by Jeremias Herskovits) with his tyrannical Stalinist father and his loving but somewhat ineffectual mother (Pamela Flores), was shot on location in the neighborhood where Jodorowsky grew up. A former clown and mime, the director makes room for such fantastical detours as an encounter with a group of amputees and his mom's unusual home remedy when he gets sick.
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The movie's depiction of Alejandro's hometown isn't as otherworldy as the landscapes of El Topo and The Holy Mountain. But the overall setting fits in with what film critic Michael Atkinson described in an essay for The Village Voice titled How to Watch and Think about Jodorowsky. "[His] world is all of a piece, and it has always seemed to me to be a hellish place to visit, a nightmare vision of Mexico (and by extension all of the Third World) as a post-civilized wasteland of cripples, corpses, fruitless rituals, and primal ruin.
"When we got to my city to start filming, I realized it hadn't changed a bit," he says. "The street you see in the movie was my whole universe. I was surprised how small it was. How did I see such strong colors and spaces? Everything was gray and dry. It was very important to recreate all the details. And also to forgive my parents. I had the actress playing my mother sing all her dialogue because my mother — she always wanted to be an opera singer — but she was forced to be a shopkeeper. My father was a communist who wanted to kill the Chilean dictators. His brother was gay, and that was a great shame to him, so he was very machista. He always said men don't touch each other and that they're strong and fearless. He also hid the fact that he was Jewish. He passed himself off as Russian. He used a fake name. I didn't know I was different, so when I realized I was circumcised, I felt like a monster. I couldn't have friends. So I learned to read when I was 4 and read all day and then went to the movies on Saturdays and Sundays. I started to develop my imagination, which helped me deal with my reality."
Making The Dance of Reality helped Jodorowsky exorcise a lot of the demons that had haunted him since childhood. Casting his eldest son to play his father made the experience even more cathartic.
"When he proposed I play the role of his grandfather, I said no, because I knew the resentment my father had for him," says Brontis, 51. "I told him I was just going to play the character in the script. We didn't think about all the subconscious stuff. I had acted for him before. I was in El Topo and The Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre, and we staged seven plays together, so we already had a good working relationship. But making this movie felt different. He's the same person, but he's not the same man. A lot of time has passed. His earlier movies were about opening your mind. This movie is about opening your heart."
And despite the film's outlandish flourishes and its depiction of a ruinous fantasy land, The Dance of Reality is one of Jodorowsky's most accessible films to date — second only perhaps to Santa Sangre in terms of its mainstream-audience friendliness.
" The Dance of Reality is very much a personal statement — perhaps one of the most personal statements ever turned into a movie," says Eric Kohn, chief film critic and senior editor of the movie website indiewire.com. "It captures Jodorowsky's relationship to his childhood even as it embellishes on it with his trademark eccentricities. Fans of his trippy midnight movies will certainly find much to appreciate, but the director has never presented his surreal visions in such a sympathetic context, which is what makes the story universally accessible in spite of its subversive ingredients."
Despite his age, the sprightly, eloquent Jodorowsky has no plans of retiring. Depending on how The Dance of Reality fares, he even hopes to make another movie soon.
"I tweet 15 times a day to keep my brain stimulated," he says. "My wife is 40 years younger than me: Just touching her keeps me young. Through her I discovered love really existed. I thought marriage was like the Vietnam War, but it's not. Marriage is magical. I never took drugs other than a few times when I first came to the U.S. and smoked pot. I couldn't drink because of my live. I don't drink coffee. I don't eat red meat. Age is not a hindrance. It opens your mind and brings you experience and teaches you not to worry about things that don't matter. I make movies not to be famous or to make money, but to express my artistic vision. That's the only thing I know how to do."


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Nuvectra Announces Divesture of NeuroNexus Subsidiary
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements we make regarding the outlook for Nuvectra as an independent publicly-traded company. Forward-looking statements are based only on our current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions, and therefore they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and may be outside of our control. Our actual performance may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements include: (i) our ability to successfully commercialize Algovita and to develop, complete and commercialize enhancements or improvements to Algovita; (ii) our ability to successfully compete with our current SCS competitors and the ability of our U.S. sales representatives to successfully establish market share and acceptance of Algovita, (iii) the uncertainty and timing of obtaining regulatory approvals in the United States and Europe for our Virtis SNM system, (iv) our ability to successfully launch and commercialize the Virtis SNM system if and when it receives regulatory approval (v) our ability to demonstrate the features, perceived benefits and capabilities of Algovita to physicians and patients in competition with similar products already well established and sold in the SCS market; (vi) our ability to anticipate and satisfy customer needs and preferences and to develop, introduce and commercialize new products or advancements and improvements to Algovita in order to successfully meet our customers' expectations; (vii) the outcome of our development plans for our neurostimulation technology platform, including our ability to identify additional indications or conditions for which we may develop neurostimulation medical devices or therapies and seek regulatory approval thereof; (viii) our ability to identify business development and growth opportunities and to successfully execute on our strategy, including our ability to seek and develop strategic partnerships with third parties to, among other things, fund clinical and development costs for new product offerings; (ix) the performance by our development partners, including Aleva Neurotherapeutics, S.A., of their obligations under their agreements with us; (x) the scope of protection for our intellectual property rights covering Algovita and other products using our neurostimulation technology platform, along with any product enhancements or improvements; (xi) our ability to successfully build, attract and maintain an effective commercial infrastructure and qualified sales force in the United States; (xii) our compliance with all regulatory and legal requirements regarding implantable medical devices and interactions with healthcare professionals; (xiii) our reliance on each of Integer, our exclusive and sole manufacturer and supplier of parts and components for Algovita, and
Company Contacts:
Nuvectra Corporation
(214) 474-3102
Investor Contacts:
The Ruth Group
Tram Bui /
(646) 536-7035 / 7028


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Another Michael Papps century has seen the Wellington Firebirds draw with the Canterbury Wizards at Karori Park in Wellington.
The Firebirds had been set a daunting total of 395 to win, with the Wizards needing to capture ten wickets on the final day. Instead, the sides played out a stale mate, with Papps (103*) and Stephen Murdoch (17*) batting out the final two session of the day.
The Wizards had batted through to lunch and declared at 255 for five. They went in search of early wickets, but came up fruitless against a resilient Murdoch and entertaining Papps.
While Murdoch faced a massive 122 balls for 17 runs, Papps was in full flight, notching up his century after just 115 balls. It's his second century against the Wizards in a row, having scored 188 in their previous encounter.
The teams will now take a break from the Plunket Shield, with plenty of HRV Twenty20 action over the Christmas and New Years period.


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The day may be coming when PCs, cell phones and many other devices will be run without a battery or electrical cord.
Last week, an MIT research team announced that it had juiced up a 60-watt light bulb using "WiTricity," the name it has given a wireless electricity source it is developing.
The team generated the WiTricity using two copper coils, one attached to a power source. The power coil emitted a field of magnetism to the unpowered coil, stimulating it to generate a current that powered the light bulb from seven feet away, said Andre Kurs, a graduate student in MIT's physics department who worked on the project.
The team has been testing WiTricity options over the past year, he said.
The WiTricity generated by the coils powered the light bulb in a way similar to magnetic induction, which is used in power transformers so that one coil carries power to another, Kurs said.
Using an energy converter, any object near the WiTricity generating coils could be powered, explained Kurs, who said the technology could, in the future, be used to replace cords and bulky batteries, which often contain toxic chemicals.
Kurs also contended that WiTricity is safer than electricity or batteries and will "run forever if you take care of it."
Depending on how the coils are configured, a single WiTricity source could provide power for several laptops or dozens of cell phones, he said.
The team plans to expand the tests with a goal of covering greater distances and generating more power, Kurs added.
"We're working to make this efficient, so it could be competitive with rechargeable batteries. It could be commercially available in a few years," he said. "We're going to get to work on this and get some more exotic applications, possibly even for consumers. We're cautiously optimistic."


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SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
On-line version ISSN 2078-5135
Print version ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.100 n.12 Pretoria Dec. 2010
GP remuneration compared with non-health care costs
To the Editor: While working for the National Pathology Group (NPG) to help them understand the pathology cost trends in medical schemes from publicly available data, we came across two interesting relationships between costs in the private industry.
Medical schemes have lamented the inflation increase in pathology costs over the past 5 years. This gave rise to a Discovery Health advertisement in a medical publication, 'Working together we can ensure a strong, sustainable health care system', where the increase in pathology costs was raised as a problem and doctors were requested to assist Discovery Medical Scheme manage these costs. In reviewing pathology trends against other trends within Discovery, using data obtained from the Council for Medical Schemes, we established the following.
Fig. 1 clearly shows that Discovery Medical Scheme experienced greater pressure in average beneficiary per annum (pabpa) trends for medical specialists (this measure excludes all radiology, pathology and anesthesiology) and general practitioners in the 5-year period than the scheme experienced in pathology costs. This graph supports the Lifechoice view that it is the increase in members accessing specialist care that drives pathology, radiology, hospital and other benefit expenditure areas.
Comparing Discovery Medical Scheme's non-health care costs (NHCs) against the other South African medical schemes reveals the other interesting cost relationship.
Fig. 2. shows that the NHCs of Discovery Medical Scheme, the biggest scheme in South Africa, are significantly higher than the rest of the industry excluding Discovery. The difference shown is more than the amount Discovery Medical Scheme pays the general practitioners who look after its members and what it spends on pathology. This cost comparison cannot be ignored.
This difference may also be seen in some other open medical schemes, and some argue that open medical scheme and closed medical scheme NHCs are not comparable (we are not convinced that consumers would see this argument as relevant).
Lifechoice, together with one of South Africa's most respected independent health actuaries, have researched the cost drivers in South African health going back to 1980. The costs of belonging to medical schemes have increased over 400% in real terms since 1980. The five most significant cost drivers seen over this period are:
1. A lack of focus by medical schemes on primary health care.
2. A focus on specialist curative care and the costs associated with this.
3. The hospital admission and other costs that result from the focus on specialist care.
4. NHCs.
5. Missing medical scheme legislation - the current legislation is only sustainable if all working South Africans are compelled to belong to a medical scheme (so-called mandatory cover), prescribed minimum benefits include primary health care benefits, and clarity is provided regarding exactly what is covered by prescribed.
We must indeed start working together to ensure sustainable health care. It is critical that as we do this, we focus on all of the above areas. Until we move towards models that support primary health care and fund primary health care properly, we will continue to see costs escalate.
Andrew Good
MD, Lifechoice


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Burger King's management is just not having it their way lately.
Two weeks after traces of horse meat were found in beef patties at a European Burger King supplier, the burger chain's Twitter account was hacked. Making matters worse, the yet-to-be-identified hackers made it appear as though Burger King was bought by McDonald's.
"We just got sold to McDonalds! Look for McDonalds in a hood near you," the company tweeted at noon ET Monday.
Burger King's Twitter profile photo was changed to a McDonald's logo, and its profile information said, "Just got sold to McDonalds because the whopper flopped." It also included the misspelled line "FREDOM IS FAILURE" and a dead link to a press release.
Over the course of an hour after it had been hacked, the account's attacker tweeted out a slew of increasingly ridiculous or obscene items. Twitter suspended the account around 1 p.m. ET.
Burger King did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Twitter said the company doesn't comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.
McDonald's on Monday tweeted, "We empathize with our @BurgerKing counterparts. Rest assured, we had nothing to do with the hacking."
"Somebody needs to tell Burgerking that 'whopper123′ isn't a secure password," tweeted @flibblesan. The hacker, using the @BurgerKing twitter account, denied the password was related to the Whopper, Burger King's iconic burger.
The company's account included a mention of @DFNCTSC in its first message after it was hacked. It's unclear if that is the account's attacker, since no one has tweeted from that account yet. But the attacker appears to be a fan of hacktivist group Anonymous, using Burger King's account to ask the group to follow it.
"We're guessing the @BurgerKing social media team is having a bad day…" tweeted @YourAnonNews, one of Anonymous' most active Twitter accounts.
The hacked account did not mention anything about the horse meat scandal, though it did tweet out a gross-looking photo of a burger, saying "This is why we were sold to @McDonalds."
On Jan 31, Burger King announced that it had terminated its relationship with supplier Silvercrest Foods after finding traces of horse meat in beef patties at a Silvercrest facility.
Silvercrest provided beef for Burger King restaurants in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark. Burger King said that while samples of beef from restaurants in these countries showed no evidence of contamination, four samples from a Silvercrest plant in Ireland showed "very small trace levels of equine DNA."
Burger King said the tainted product was never sold in restaurants, and appeared to have originated from a sub-contracted supplier in Poland.
Faces of Meth
People of Walmart
Awkward family photos


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Depart from Ponta Delgada from the southwest of the island to see the view over Mosteiros and the youngest eruptions on the island. On the way back, drive to the inside of the crater of Sete Cidades that was formed thousands of years ago. Visit Santiago Lake viewpoint followed by the most important view of the crater. Stop at Vista do Rei to admire the twin lakes.
The calm waters along the edges of the crater make a striking contrast with the steep slopes and create a fascinating scene. Inside the crater lays the picturesque village of Sete Cidades. Afterwards visit Pico do Carvao to see both sides of the island at the same time. Back to Ponta Delgada, stop at Portas do Mar to enjoy an Azorean tasting of local cheeses and wines with a view over the sea and the marina.


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Bunny Friendly Make-UP
The following brands are some that I personally love, there all in different price ranged, and all been 100% tested on a human.
Aveda is my number one go-to company when it comes to hair. Absolutely adore it, I use the Invati Shampoo, it gives my hair extra thickness, a fresh feeling and my scalp get's squeaking clean. I alternate my conditioner between the Dry Rememdy and Damage Remedy, and I swear by the Damage Remedy Leave-in Conditioner .
I alos use some of their beauty products and really like them. Here are some of Avedas best selling products.
The best thing about The Body Shops products it the smell. DELICIOUS! Their all so damn fruity. Prolly my favorite item is the Pink Grapefruit shower gel, really wakes you up in the morning and gives you that fresh start. Another yummy smelling thing is the coconut body butter, it's actually hard not to take a mouth full.
I do get people that are concerned with The Body Shop, it now is owned by L'Oreal and they Do test on animals. However Body Shop is still on Peta's list which is VERY strict so I trust that non of the indigents have been tested on cute little bunnies. :/
Another high quality brand is the earth friendly natural Personal Care Company called Burt's Bees. Try their Natually Nourishing Milk and Honey Body Lotin, Sugar Scrub and lip-balms. Carmex also does animal friendly lip balms, use it on dry winter days to keep your lips kissable.
Two very different make-up brands I love equally are WetAndWild and Smashbox.
WetAndWild have a tones of great eye shadows lip jellies and nail polish at super low prices.
The high end Smashbox is a L.A brand and the favorite of tones of Hollywood starlets. Super potent and amazing quality. Their BB cream, O-gloss, mascara and Blush Rush are just a few best sellers.
Click here.
Take care of your skin with Dermalogica, Dr Hauschka or Murad. Not only are these cruel free brands but darling to your skin it's sex. Time to indulge.
Anyone that really knows me know that I'm passionate about hair. Paul Mitchell is one of those few unbelievable hair care brands that can change your frizzy nightmare into cascading supermodel hair. Awarded with "the leaping bunny" they have never ever tested one of their products on animals. A philosophy I really like.
Wish Prada did more beauty products, it's a brand that not only stands for some amazing innovative and quality things but also care how they do them.
No, I didn't forget about you guys.
Well I haven't personal tested these, but going on the products they make for gals Dermalogica and Aveda does some great stuff.
Also it's usually easy to find The Body Shop in each mall and their prods are really nice too. One pleasant surprise is that Diddy also made it onto Peta's VIP list. I knew there was a reason I always like him when I met him in da Club.


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So – the fabled Amazon Android Appstore (not App Store! That's an App-le trademark!) is here. And almost as expected – these guys get the big things right, but the small things…
First thing you'll notice -The Amazonian design. Besides the obvious branding elements, It is a much more effective design than Google's. It is meant to generate sales. As soon as you open the store, you're faced with credible alternatives – stuff you may well want to download, cause everyone else does. The screen space is used efficiently, and navigation is simple and easy. Very little innovation over, say iTunes, but also no clear disadvantages. The desktop web store is similar in approach, and not very far from the Amazon website that is so effective with retail shoppers in general.
The main attraction is a featured, "bonus" download, updated every day (i.e. a product that is usually not free being given away for free). Amazon takes care of business. To make an app store a business, you need paying customers. This requires people to have a payment method. That's a hassle. That requires an incentive – give them something for free. But force them to connect a payment method to get the free stuff. Makes perfect sense. And gets me Angry Birds Rio for free. It also keeps me coming back every day for something else. Yes, it costs Amazon something. But probably not a lot. You see app developers have a great incentive to be providing these downloads for virtually (or literally) free – that day you were featured and provided as a free app, is going to put you very high in the Top Downloads chart – which will get you paid customers the following weeks (note the Top Downloads in the screenshot – yesterday's free download, and today's…). So even if Amazon pays virtually (or literally) nothing – it's still a great deal. Everyone wins.
Caveat emptor – this also needs to work. The Appstore requires you to set up one-click mobile purchasing to get the download (as it should). However – no matter how many different ways I tried to do it, and despite the fact that all my info is shown, and my account shows mobile one-click purchasing activated (even when I connect on my desktop through a browser) – it still asks me again and again to "please add a payment mehod in your 1-click settings". Now I am a loyal Amazon customer – Prime, Amazon Store Card and all that. My guess is that Amazon is not accepting its own store card on its own Appstore. Otherwise I don't see how such a blatant bug could have slipped their people.
So – as expected, these people mean business, and know how to do it. They'll have to cross a few t's and dot a few i's before they do, however.


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New legislation will require a task force to monitor technology projects in Oregon.
A new technology oversight program is coming to Oregon in the wake of the state's botched health insurance exchange launch.
House Bill 4135 directs Oregon's CIO to appoint a task force to advise and oversee technology projects in state agencies, boards and commissions. Introduced in February at the request of Gov. John Kitzhaber, the proposed law is designed to integrate IT expertise into the inner workings of state government.
Cover Oregon has been under fire since late last year. Amid the exchange's failure, a highly controversial blame game between state agencies and private companies that shared responsibility for the exchange's troubles has ensued.
In an interview with Government Technology, Alex Pettit, CIO of Oregon, denied that HB 4135 was a result of Cover Oregon's problems, saying that the exchange's issues were more in the build-out phase of the project, rather than the governance of it. He added that the process of developing a governance model for IT projects in the state began long before Cover Oregon's problems were uncovered.
Some lawmakers questioned whether an internal IT oversight team would be effective, however. According to a report by OregonLive.com, several legislators expressed doubt about HB 4135's impact during a budget committee meeting discussion.
Pettit – who resigned as CIO of Oklahoma last December to take the same job in Oregon – explained that HB 4135's goal is to start "plugging IT into policy and strategy level type of discussions" in Oregon agencies.
For example, if one agency wants a business analytics solution, an IT expert on Pettit's Strategic Technology Team could recommend a solution that has worked for other agencies, or discuss what challenges were faced, so potential problems and other roadblocks can be avoided.
Michael Jordan, Oregon's chief operating officer, explained that while HB 4135 assigns a good deal of oversight responsibility to the state CIO, the practical application of the bill will promote cross-agency collaboration.
"Strategic Technology Officers within the Office of the CIO, staffed in some cases with agency IT staff, will serve as brokers – striking the balance among flexibility, compatibility and accountability," Jordan said. "This new governance framework will increase enterprise coordination, reduce system duplication, align technology solutions and improve IT portfolio management."
Former Oregon interim CIO Julie Pearson will be in charge of the team. Pettit revealed that he and other state leaders asked Pearson to come back and lead the new oversight initiative. The rest of the Strategic Technology Team's roster is still up in the air. Pettit only has 18 people working under him, so he'll be looking at other organizations to fill the spots.
"There's simply not enough [IT people] to go around with us here," Pettit said. "We're asking the agencies to voluntarily rotate people into what we call rotational assignments for a duration of time to help us get things started. Then we'll be asking leadership for financial support in the next budget."
Oklahoma had a similar IT oversight program in place when Pettit was CIO of the that state. The initiative was a consequence of unifying all IT services under one group, so IT personnel were needed to orient agencies there to a new process.
By way of comparison, Pettit felt Oregon's technology oversight team will be slightly different – it will serve as an extension of a collaborative leadership model championed by Jordan. Theoretically the Strategic Technology Team will have its finger on the pulse of all tech initiatives going on in the state and keep the governor and state leaders better informed.
"Without some way to surface those projects, lessons learned and what's actually in practice … and conversely, what things didn't deliver as expected, we're having to learn and relearn many lessons multiple times," he said.
HB 4135 passed the Oregon House of Representatives on March 3, and the Senate on March 6. At press time, the bill was awaiting the approval of Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem. The measure will become law once signed by Kitzhaber.
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Man survives a decade without spending a penny
DANIEL SUELO LIVES IN A CAVE. UNLIKE THE average American—wallowing in credit-card debt, clinging to a mortgage, terrified of the next downsizing at the office—he isn't worried about the economic crisis. That's because he figured out that the best way to stay solvent is to never be solvent in the first place. Nine years ago, in the autumn of 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money. He just quit it, like a bad drug habit.
His dwelling, hidden high in a canyon lined with waterfalls, is an hour by foot from the desert town of Moab, Utah, where people who know him are of two minds: He's either a latter-day prophet or an irredeemable hobo. Suelo's blog, which he maintains free at the Moab Public Library, suggests that he's both. "When I lived with money, I was always lacking," he writes. "Money represents lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present."
On a warm day in early spring, I clamber along a set of red-rock cliffs to the mouth of his cave, where I find a note signed with a smiley face: CHRIS, FEEL FREE TO USE ANYTHING, EAT ANYTHING (NOTHING HERE IS MINE). From the outside, the place looks like a hollowed teardrop, about the size of an Amtrak bathroom, with enough space for a few pots that hang from the ceiling, a stove under a stone eave, big buckets full of beans and rice, a bed of blankets in the dirt, and not much else. Suelo's been here for three years, and it smells like it.
Night falls, the stars wink, and after an hour, Suelo tramps up the cliff, mimicking a raven's call—his salutation—a guttural, high-pitched caw. He's lanky and tan; yesterday he rebuilt the entrance to his cave, hauling huge rocks to make a staircase. His hands are black with dirt, and his hair, which is going gray, looks like a bird's nest, full of dust and twigs from scrambling in the underbrush on the canyon floor. Grinning, he presents the booty from one of his weekly rituals, scavenging on the streets of Moab: a wool hat and gloves, a winter jacket, and a white nylon belt, still wrapped in plastic, along with Carhartt pants and sandals, which he's wearing. He's also scrounged cans of tuna and turkey Spam and a honeycomb candle. All in all, a nice haul from the waste product of America. "You made it," he says. I hand him a bag of apples and a block of cheese I bought at the supermarket, but the gift suddenly seems meager.
Suelo lights the candle and stokes a fire in the stove, which is an old blackened tin, the kind that Christmas cookies might come in. It's hooked to a chain of soup cans segmented like a caterpillar and fitted to a hole in the rock. Soon smoke billows into the night and the cave is warm. I think of how John the Baptist survived on honey and locusts in the desert. Suelo, who keeps a copy of the Bible for bedtime reading, is satisfied with a few grasshoppers fried in his skillet.
HE WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY. SUELO graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in anthropology, he thought about becoming a doctor, he held jobs, he had cash and a bank account. In 1987, after several years as an assistant lab technician in Colorado hospitals, he joined the Peace Corps and was posted to an Ecuadoran village high in the Andes. He was charged with monitoring the health of tribespeople in the area, teaching first aid and nutrition, and handing out medicine where needed; his proudest achievement was delivering three babies. The tribe had been getting richer for a decade, and during the two years he was there he watched as the villagers began to adopt the economics of modernity. They sold the food from their fields—quinoa, potatoes, corn, lentils—for cash, which they used to purchase things they didn't need, as Suelo describes it. They bought soda and white flour and refined sugar and noodles and big bags of MSG to flavor the starchy meals. They bought TVs. The more they spent, says Suelo, the more their health declined. He could measure the deterioration on his charts. "It looked," he says, "like money was impoverishing them."
The experience was transformative, but Suelo needed another decade to fashion his response. He moved to Moab and worked at a women's shelter for five years. He wanted to help people, but getting paid for it seemed dishonest—how real was help that demanded recompense? The answer lay, in part, in the Christianity of his childhood. In Suelo's nascent philosophy, following Jesus meant adopting the hard life prescribed in the Sermon on the Mount. "Giving up possessions, living beyond credit and debt," Suelo explains on his blog, "freely giving and freely taking, forgiving all debts, owing nobody a thing, living and walking without guilt . . . grudge [or] judgment." If grace was the goal, Suelo told himself, then it had to be grace in the classical sense, from the Latin gratia, meaning favor—and also, free.
By 1999, he was living in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand—he had saved just enough money for the flight. From there, he made his way to India, where he found himself in good company among the sadhus, the revered ascetics who go penniless for their gods. Numbering as many as 5 million, the sadhus can be found wandering roads and forests across the subcontinent, seeking enlightenment in self-abnegation. "I wanted to be a sadhu," Suelo says. "But what good would it do for me to be a sadhu in India? A true test of faith would be to return to one of the most materialistic, money-worshipping nations on earth and be a sadhu there. To be a vagabond in America, a bum, and make an art of it—the idea enchanted me."
THERE ISN'T ENOUGH SPACE IN SUELO'S cave for two, so I sleep in the open, at the edge of a hundred-foot cliff. No worries about animals, he says. Though mountain lions drink from the stream, and bobcats hunt rabbits under the cottonwoods, the worst he's experienced was a skunk that sprayed him in the face. Mice scurry over his body in the cave, and kissing bugs sometimes suck the blood from under his fingernails while he sleeps. He shrugs off these indignities. "After all, it's their cave too," he says. I hunker down near a nest of scorpions, which crawl up the canyon walls, ignoring me.
The morning ritual is simple and slow: a cup of sharp tea brewed from the needles of piñon and juniper trees, a swim in the cold emerald water where the creek pools in the red rock. Then, two naked cavemen lounging under the Utah sun. Around noon, we forage along the banks and under the cliffs, looking for the stuff of a stir-fry dinner. We find mustard plants among the rocks, the raw leaves as satisfying as cauliflower, and down in the cool of the creek—where Suelo gets his water and takes his baths (no soap for him) —we cull watercress in heads as big as supermarket lettuce, and on the bank we spot a lode of wild onions, with bulbs that pop clean from the soil. In leaner times, Suelo's gatherings include ants, grubs, termites, lizards, and roadkill. He recently found a deer, freshly run over, and carved it up and boiled it. "The best venison of my life," he says.
I tell him that living without money seems difficult. What about starvation? He's never gone without a meal (friends in Moab sometimes feed him). What about getting deadly ill? It happened once, after eating a cactus he misidentified—he vomited, fell into a delirium, thought he was dying, even wrote a note for those who would find his corpse. But he got better. That it's hard is exactly the point, he says. "Hardship is a good thing. We need the challenge. Our bodies need it. Our immune systems need it. My hardships are simple, right at hand—they're manageable." When I tell him about my rent back in New York—$2,400 a month—he shakes his head. What's left unsaid is that I'm here writing about him to make money, for a magazine that depends for its survival on the advertising revenue of conspicuous consumption. As he prepares a cooking fire, Suelo tells me that years ago he had a neighbor in the canyon, an alcoholic who lived in a cave bigger than his. The old man would pan for gold in the stream and net enough cash each month to buy the beer that kept him drunk. Suelo considers the riches of our own forage. "What if we saw gold for what it is?" he says meditatively. "Gold is pretty but virtually useless. Somebody decided it has worth, and everybody accepted this decision. The natives in the Americas thought Europeans were insane because of their lust for such a useless yellow substance."
He sautés the watercress, mustard leaves, and wild onions, mixing in fresh almonds he picked from a friend's orchard and ghee made from Dumpster-dived butter, and we eat out of his soot-caked pans. From the perch on the cliff, the life of the sadhu seems reasonable. But I don't want to live in a cave. I like indoor plumbing (Suelo squats). I like electricity. Still, there's an obvious beauty in the simplicity of subsistence. It's an un-American notion these days. We don't revere our ascetics, and we dismiss the idea that money could be some kind of consensual delusion. For most of us, it's as real as the next house payment. Suelo doesn't take public assistance or use food stamps, but he does survive in part on our reality, the discarded surfeit of the money system that he denounces—a system, as it happens, that recently looked like it was headed for the cliff.
Suelo is 48, and he doesn't exactly have a 401(k). "I'll do what creatures have been doing for millions of years for retirement," he says. "Why is it sad that I die in the canyon and not in the geriatric ward well-insured? I have great faith in the power of natural selection. And one day, I will be selected out." Until then, think of him like the raven, cleaning up the carcasses the rest of us leave behind.


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Semi-detached house La Madrague - ANG2322
Holiday rentals | Semi-detached house with swimming pool located in a quiet residential area in easy reach of a wide range of local amenities and services: shops, bus routes, services... Perfect for large families or holidaying with friends. Sleeps 6-8 people.
On the first floor: two bedrooms each with a double bed. One bedroom adjoins a balcony and also has a sofa-bed suitable for 2 children.
On the ground floor: one bedroom with one double bed. Bathroom with shower, corner bath-tub and washing machine. Separate toilets. Large living room with television, living room with fully-equipped open-plan kitchen featuring oven, microwave oven, fridge-freezer and dishwasher. Large patio with garden furniture set and plancha grill. Enclosed garden with sun loungers and above-ground pool. Wi-Fi. Wood-burning stove. Secure car parking with electronic remote entry in the yard. Sheets provided.
Cleaning services can be provided if desired: 100 €
Capacity : 8 persons
Area : 110 m²
Weekly rates:
April: 1100 € / May: 1100 € / June: 1300 € / July: 1500 € / August: 1500 € / September: 1300 € / October: 1100 € / November: 1100 €


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Israeli premier: frontier fence with Syria needed
Israel's premier pledged Sunday to build a fortified fence along the frontier with Syria, warning that radical Islamist forces have taken over the area.
Israel has largely stayed out of the civil war that has engulfed Syria and killed more than 60,000 people, but it is concerned that violence could spill over into Israel.
Israel worries that Syrian President Bashar Assad might try to draw Israel into the fighting as a distraction if his situation becomes desperate. An even greater concern is a scenario in which Assad is toppled, Islamic extremists take his place and gain control of Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke as Assad delivered a rare nationwide address in Syria, calling for a national reconciliation conference. Assad claimed that "terrorists who carry the ideology of al-Qaida" were active in his country and demanding that foreign countries stop arming the rebels.
Speaking at a weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Syrian regime was "unstable," and Israel was concerned about the country's chemical weapons capabilities. Therefore, he said Israel needed a barrier on its frontier with Syria, similar to a structure it has nearly completed along its border with Egypt. That fence has largely stopped the flow of African migrants.
"We intend to erect an identical fence, with a few changes based on the actual territory, along the Golan Heights. We know that on other side of our border with Syria today, the Syrian army has moved away, and in its place, global jihad forces have moved in," he said. "Global jihad" is the term Israel uses for forces influenced by al-Qaida. Syria's rebels include some al-Qaida-allied groups.
"We are coordinating our intelligence and readiness with the United States and others so that we might be prepared for any scenario and possibility that could arise," Netanyahu said. His office did not say long it would take to complete the project.
Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the strategic plateau, a move not recognized by the international community. Despite constant hostility between the two countries, Syria has kept the border mostly quiet since the 1973 Mideast war.
Israel has grown jittery since pro-Palestinian activists breached the frontier during two demonstrations in 2011. Following that unrest, Israel began laying mines along the frontier and reinforcing the fence that already exists.
Defense officials say they have already fortified 10 kilometers (6 miles) out of the planned 70-kilometer (45-mile) route it plans.
Since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, several mortar rounds and other light munitions have landed on the Israeli side of the frontier. Israel suspects these were cases of stray fire and were not intended to spark a new front, but Israel fired warning shots back to deter further incidents.
Israel has almost completed a barrier along 200 kilometers (125 miles) of its border with Egypt to block African migrants and militants from crossing in from the lawless Sinai peninsula.
Israel previously constructed a barrier along and in the West Bank aimed at keeping Palestinian suicide bombers out of its cities.