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Builders likely to offer incentives after federal tax credits expire
With the April 30 deadline looming, home buyers need to get a move on if they hope to qualify for the federal tax credits of $8,000 for first-timers or $6,500 for owners wishing to move up.
But even if you don't have a binding contract in place by the end of the month, there's a good chance that plenty of incentives will be available after the federal stimuli expire.
In the new-home sector, builders are likely to dangle free options and upgrades, help with closing costs or perhaps even cash in an effort to keep the sales momentum going into the heart of the spring and summer home-buying seasons.
The goodies may not be as great in the resale market, if only because anxious sellers have probably already cut their asking prices to the bone. But sellers might be persuaded to chip in on closing costs or pay for a home inspection. And local jurisdictions or utilities may offer tax breaks of their own.
It's doubtful that builder incentives will be as prevalent in the new-home market as they were in December 2008, at the height of the housing meltdown. But giveaways are almost always available, even when the market is smoldering.
"Incentives don't disappear, even in the best of times," says Steve Melman, director of economic services for the National Assn. of Home Builders. "Even in the good times, builders will throw things in."
Just 16 months ago, according to the NAHB, nearly 3 of 4 builders were trimming their prices in an effort to dump their huge backlogs of finished but unsold product.
At the same time, two-thirds were trying to entice worried buyers off the sidelines with offers of no-cost options such as fireplaces, tricked-out kitchens and finished basements; 59% were offering to help with closing costs; and 41% were willing to absorb the points that lenders were charging buyers.
Also, even though interest rates were practically at rock bottom, 28% of the nation's builders were offering to buy down, or subsidize, their buyers' mortgage rates.
Fast-forward to June 2009, the last time the NAHB quizzed its members about the freebies they were offering, and the deals weren't as widespread. Nevertheless, 64% were still cutting prices, 55% were offering no-cost options, 45% were paying closing costs and 28% were absorbing the lender-required points. About 17% were even offering rate buy-downs.
Now that there are few empty houses sitting on builders' shelves -- new-home inventories are at their lowest level in 40 years -- some real estate figures believe that there is no reason to offer incentives. Others contend that the recession has beaten down builders so badly that it's time they started beefing up their bottom lines.
"Inventories are incredibly low," Melman says. "Builders have stopped building."
But others think incentives might make a comeback, particularly in the hardest-hit markets where there is still a heavy load of foreclosures or an oversupply of existing homes on the market -- or both. And some say builders who have benefited from the government's largesse may be willing to make some concessions.
A check around the country confirms that.
For example, Ryan Homes is offering an $8,000 "stimulus package" in communities in numerous states to be used for closing costs or customer selections.
In the Chicago area, Lennar Homes is offering closing-cost assistance, plus a free washer and dryer if buyers register online.
And in San Diego and Riverside -- where the state of California is offering a tax credit of as much as $10,000 in addition to the federal credit -- no closing costs is the come-on at most Brookfield Homes communities.
Of course, not all incentives are created equal. For example, home buyers would do well to avoid offers of a free vacation or automobile, which add nothing to the value of their properties.
Beware, too, of freebies in exchange for using the builder's mortgage company. Sometimes good deals are available from the in-house lender, but if the incentives aren't offered to all buyers regardless of whether they use the builder for a loan, it is a violation of federal law.
The best options are items for which the next owner would be willing to pay extra. A larger garage with an extra parking bay fits that bill, for example. So do top-of-the-line kitchen cabinets and countertops. And upgraded windows not only add net worth, they also help lower utility bills.
Fancy appliances, on the other hand, may look good, but they wear out. Even if the appliances are still running, the next owner isn't likely to want to pay for a souped-up range or refrigerator that has seen better days.
Distributed by United Feature Syndicate.


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Advisory Committee
Advisory Committees play an integral role at RCC. A key goal for advisory committees is to better prepare students for today's jobs by promoting a greater cooperation between the educational environment and the private sector.
Advisory committee members have three major roles: to advise, to assist and to advocate for quality education. It is through these three roles that advisory committees work with instructors and administrators to initiate activities, procedures and methods that help strengthen our programs.
The input from advisory committees helps to:
- Update and improve the quality of programs at RCC
- Support and strengthen relationship between education and business, management and labor and the College
- Identify needs and priorities in the program
- Articulate short- and long-term College goals and objectives to community members, employers, and prospective students
The Advisory Committees meets a minimum of twice a year to advise faculty and administration in several areas:
- Curriculum
- Facilities and equipment enhancements
- Instructional quality – Instructional delivery
- Student support
Committee Composition and Duties:
A minimum of 10 members, (50 percent of which must be industry leaders, employers and employees)
- Attend meetings scheduled at least twice a year.
- Work with faculty and administrators to identify and implement committee objectives that are reviewed and evaluated annually.

subset: commoncrawl


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Information on joining the forum and registering your user name.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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It's so disappointing to read a book or see movie and find a great story idea surrounding a protagonist I couldn't care less about. It robs the excitement and enjoyment from the tale, and hurts my soul a little. Great ideas deserve great protagonists. Without them, those ideas wither away and die slow, horrible deaths.
But we can save our stories from this terrible fate.
At the heart of every story is a person with a problem, and the more compelling that person is, the better the story will be. Flat, boring protagonists lead to flat, boring stories. And no one wants that.We want jump off the page and grab the readers by the throat kind of characters. The ones you keep thinking about long after the book is over.
Here are ten ways you can turn your protagonist from good to great:
1. She has a problem that needs solving
You'd think this would be obvious, but I've seen plenty of manuscripts where the protagonist could have died on page one and the story would have continued without missing a step. Make sure the protagonist is the one with the problem that has to be solved. No one else can solve this problem (or solve it as well as she can) and she's central to the entire issue.
2. He has the ability to act
Protagonists who do nothing but react to the situation are boring. A good protagonist makes things happen and moves the story along through his actions and choices. If your protagonist isn't in a position to affect change, consider how you can adjust it so he is.
3. She has reasons to act
Plenty of people might be able to do something, but unless they have a good reason, it starts to stretch credibility why they would get involved in something that clearly doesn't matter to them. Imagine how unrealistic Die Hard would have felt if John McClane hadn't been a cop and hadn't had a wife being held hostage by bad guys. Why on earth would he have risked his life if there wasn't a good reason? If your protagonist is risking her life or happiness, make sure it's for a reason readers will understand.
(More on raising your stakes here)
4. He has something to lose
Just having a reason to act isn't enough. Losing something that matters is a powerful motivating tool and will force your protagonist to do what he normally wouldn't. He'll take risks he'd never take if he didn't have this consequence hanging over his head. It'll also make readers worry that he might suffer those consequences and lose what matters most to him.
5. She has something to gain
This is an important aspect of the story's stakes that's sometimes forgotten or not thought through well enough. Watching a protagonist not lose has its merits, but when was the last time you went to a sporting event to see if your team didn't lose? Readers want to see a protagonist rewarded for all her hard work and sacrifice, and a reason for her to keep going when everything tells her to give up.
6. He has the capacity to change
Character growth feeds the soul to the story. It's what turns it from a series of plot events to a tale worth telling. A great protagonist has the ability to learn from his experiences and become a better (though not always) person. He won't be the same person he was when the story started.
(More on creating strong character arcs here)
7. She has a compelling quality
Something about the person is interesting. Maybe she's funny and likable. Maybe she's twisted and fascinating. She might have an unusual talent or skill, or a unique manner about her. Whatever it is, there's a quality that makes a reader curious to know more about her. Often, what's compelling is also contradictory, and wanting to know how these two things work together is what keeps readers hooked.
8. He has an interesting flaw
Perfect people are boring--it's the flaws that make them interesting. Flaws also give you an opportunity to show character growth and give the protagonist a way to improve himself. Maybe he knows about this flaw and is actively trying to fix it, or he has no clue and change is being forced upon him. Maybe this flaw is the very thing that will allow him to survive and overcome his problems. Or the cause of the entire mess.
9. She has a secret
Open-book characters are too predictable, and predictable usually equals boring. If the protagonist is hiding something, readers will wonder what that secret is and how it affects the story. Let your protagonist be a little cryptic until readers are dying to know what her secret is.
(More on raising the tension through secrets here)
10. He has someone or something interesting trying to stop him
A protagonist is only as good as the antagonist standing against him. Where would Sherlock Holmes be without Professor Moriarty? Dorothy without the Wicked Witch? Buffy without Spike? A great protagonist needs someone worth fighting or his victory is meaningless. Think of your antagonist as the opposite of your protagonist. The dark to his light, the evil to his good. Match them well for a villain readers will love as well as hate.
A protagonist who knows what she wants and makes the story happen is a far more compelling character than one who sits around and waits for the story to happen to her. Make sure your protagonist is more than just someone in the middle of a mess.
Who's your favorite protagonist? Why?
Find out more about characters, internalization, and point of view in my book, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems.
With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems offers five self-guided workshops that target the common issues that make readers stop reading. It will help you:
- Flesh out weak characters and build strong character arcs
- Find the right amount of backstory to enhance, not bog down, your story
- Determine the best point(s) of view and how to use them to your advantage
- Eliminate empty dialogue and rambling internalization
- Develop character voices and craft unique, individual characters
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.
When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.


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Get ready for the outdoors with our range of ladies sandals. Whether you need walking sandals, or a pair of lightweight sandals to wear outdoors, you're sure to find a comfortable pair here. Our range of ladies walking sandals includes top brands like Karrimor and Gelert.
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Recipe from Helen Blank of Pa.
2 cups cooked and cubed chicken breasts
1 bag deluxe frozen broccoli florets, cooked and drained
2 cans low fat Cream of Chicken Soup
2/3 cup low fat mayonaise
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup shredded low fat cheese
1 cup soft bread crumbs
2 tbspns melted low fat margarine.
Layer cooked chicken and then cooked broccoli florets in 13x9 casserole dish. Thoroughly mix Cream of Chicken soup, mayonaise and lemon juice and spread over broccoli. Sprinkle cheese on top of soup mixture. Mix together bread crumbs and margarine and sprinkle on top of cheese.
Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and top is browned. Let stand for 10 - 15 minutes after removing from oven.
Enjoy! My family loves this recipe.
*DISCLAIMER*: The information contained in or provided through this site section is intended for general consumer understanding and education only and is not intended to be and is not a substitute for professional advice. Use of this site section and any information contained on or provided through this site section is at your own risk and any information contained on or provided through this site section is provided on an "as is" basis without any representations or warranties.


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0Rs.300.00 Rs.350.00
Trinity of Carnatic Music Photo Frame ; - It's a unique one with exclusive quality.
Dispatch time max 7 business days.
Delivery Time :
Domestic - 7 Business days
International - 15 Business days
Expecting shorter delivery time? Contact @ +91 9790809957
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Carlo Pagoda
Habit de jardinier
- Medium
- oil and permanent marker on stainless steel
- Read label text
The subject of Carlo Pagoda's painting is his father Pietro Pagoda.
'My father, who turned 97 earlier this year, left his rural southern Italian village in 1958 to escape post-war poverty and start a new life in "the lucky country", followed by my mother and myself a year later,' says the artist. 'He had no particular skills, money or English. He acquired all his gardening skills here while working second jobs to support his family, and in the process transformed his backyard into a self-sufficient market garden.
'The inspiration for this image came from Nicolas de Larmessin, a 17th-century French artist who produced numerous engravings depicting professions and their tools of trade, but as part of their uniform: a perfect metaphor for my father's journey and transformation.
'I used oils and permanent marker on stainless steel to create a strong juxtaposition between the hard flat reflective surface, whose lights and shadows simultaneously hide and reveal the black lines thus allowing the texture and colour of the oils to highlight the face, and the jewel-like "produce" that dangles from his suit.'
Essentially a self-taught artist, Pagoda has always made art, while pursuing a graphic design career spanning more than 30 years both here and overseas. He continues to explore various mediums and subject matter, be it in two or three dimensions.


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Incorporation of Local Sales Subsidiary, Clarion India Private Limited, in India
-A Strategic Sales Base Directed towards the Expansion of Sales in Growing India and the ASEAN Region-
As one part of its world-wide growth strategy, Clarion Co., Ltd. (President: Tatsuhiko Izumi, hereafter; "Clarion") will establish in New Delhi, India a solely owned local sales subsidiary, Clarion India Private Limited (tentative name), and will commence operations from April. The objective of this subsidiary will be to extend and bolster commercial rights in the expanding Indian market and ASEAN region.
Clarion currently engages in activities in the ASEAN region centered around Clarion Asia (Thailand) Co., Ltd., which is located in Rayong Province, Thailand. However, in order to respond to the Indian market which continues to grow, we will promote the acquisition of new commercial rights and the development of commercial markets along with seeking the maintenance and expansion of OEM commercial rights directed towards automobile manufacturers by putting in place a sales, services and technical support system within India. The new sales subsidiary will engage in business related to marketing and services focusing on the sales of Clarion products in India and we anticipate sales of 1 billion yen in the first fiscal year.
|(1) Trade name (tentative name)
|Clarion India Private Limited
|(2) Representative
|Mitsuo Matsumoto
|(3) Location
|Units 802A, 802B, Tower 2, 8th Floor, "Konnectus Building", Bhavbhuti Marg, Near Minto Bridge, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110001, India
|(4) Incorporation Date
|April 1, 2013 (anticipated)
|(5) Capital
|430 million rupees (600 million yen)
|(6) Shareholders
|100% Clarion Co., Ltd.
|(7) Number of Employees
|four (at the time of incorporation)
|(8) Sales
|1 billion yen (initial fiscal year)
Overview of Clarion Asia (Thailand)
|(1) Trade name
|Clarion Asia (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
|(2) Representative
|Tadashi Wada
|(3) Location
|500/39 Moo,3 Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate Tambol Tasith Amphur Pluakdaeng Rayong, 21140 Thailand
|(4) Capital
|690 million Thai baht (1.7 billion yen)
|(5) Shareholders
|100% Clarion Co., Ltd.
|(6) Description of Business
|Manufacture and sales of car audio systems and car navigation systems
|(7) Number of Employees
|693 (as of the end of December 2012)


text: Submitted by Nik on 11 July 2008 - 1:05pm Blog Tags: AccessibilityUK Add new comment Your name * E-mail * The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. Homepage Comment * More information about text formats Text format Filtered HTMLPlain text Filtered HTMLWeb page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>Lines and paragraphs break automatically.Plain textNo HTML tags allowed.Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.Lines and paragraphs break automatically. Leave this field blank


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›NewSpace 2012
United States
Santa Clara, CA
The next disruptive innovation is already underway and it is in space.
The commercial space industry is building a new market with efficient business processes, a wide spectrum of technology, and almost prescient investors. It's been said that the first trillionaires will be made through space industrialization and we're going to show how space pioneers are creating new products and profits. NewSpace is undergoing rapid expansion, similar to the Internet explosion of the 1990's, and needs to be filled with revolutionary businesses like yours.
The Space Frontier Foundation's annual conference is one of the most important commercial space conferences in the nation, and will be in July in Silicon Valley. NewSpace 2012 is where networking with leaders, supporters, investors and activists evolves into enterprises that propel the industry upward. It will host a wide-range of thought-provoking panels and visionary keynote speakers that will surpass NewSpace 2011's already highly-praised programming.
This is the fourth year that the conference has been in Silicon Valley and we are pleased to continue holding the most stimulating conference on the world of commercial space in the home of cutting edge technology. We personally welcome the experienced Silicon Valley technologists and entrepreneurs to come and get on board with NewSpace.
The three day event will focus on the current, near term, and future potential and challenges of the emerging commercial space industry. People from throughout the space, advocacy and technology industries to those in startups, government and media bring their ideas for opening the high frontier making this conference a hotbed of innovation and partnership. We look forward to having you join us.
Space settlement is no longer a dream, it is an industry.


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Active-military suicides almost 1 a day in U.S.; in Connecticut, active, non-active toll reaches 1 a week
It was Veterans Day 2011, and state Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz was on a float at a welcome-home parade in New York City, behind Connecticut singers performing Star-Spangled Banner and other patriotic tunes.
"You're going down Fifth Avenue and it's just like in the movies! People are waving; it's all going well," Schwartz recalls. "And then you come home and there's a message on your phone, and someone is calling because their sister who had served in Bosnia ... committed suicide. And you say to yourself, here on this day, to feel so alone ..."
Her voice trails off as she recalls the day she heard veteran Lisa Silberstein of Hamden had taken her own life at 37.
Silberstein's death was one catalyst for the expansion of a state support program for veterans, but the wave of returning vets from two wars and multiple deployments has arguably stacked the deck and pushed military suicide totals to disturbing numbers nationwide.
Active-military suicides are running almost one a day in this country, according to new Pentagon figures.
There were a record 349 suicides among active-duty troops last year, up from 301 the year before.
A records check by Scwhartz of those buried at one of two state veterans cemeteries shows suicides are running about one a week in this state for active and nonactive service people. Officials on the front lines of the suicide-prevention fight are fighting back with a mix of outreach, local clinical help and programs that partner with the huge and plodding Department of Veterans Affairs.
No nationwide system exists for tracking suicide among all veterans; according to a report this month by the Congressional Research Service. In 2010, the VA estimated the number at 6,000 a year.
Officials and clinicians are convinced the localized focus (the Military Support Program) is helping in the state, although the problem here and nationally is likely worse than the official numbers since some such deaths in military zones aren't officially logged as suicides.
Other times, the cause of death at home isn't stated as suicide out of respect for the family, religious concerns or insurance claims, Schwartz said.
Silberstein's sister, Cindy Dubuque of East Haven, said Silberstein suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after Bosnia, where friends of hers died in a mess hall fire and she was held up at gunpoint.
But she was denied claims for compensation by the VA, which kept delaying the process of reviewing her qualifying paperwork.
"She was very devoted to her military service," said Dubuque. "Her work was her life ... and her identity was so wrapped up in being a soldier. After she got out ... it was hard for her to make that transition to civilian life." Especially in a new state.
After leaving the service with an honorable discharge, Silberstein worked as a corrections officer in Arizona, but moved to Connecticut to be near her fiance. With no job here and a growing depression, Silberstein may have felt "worthless," for lack of a better word, said her sister. Which makes the VA's delays so frustrating.
"These are people's lives," said Dubuque. "These are people who sacrificed a lot for the rest of us. And the least you can do is either stick to the time line (for help) ... or adjust your time line so that people aren't sitting around hoping and praying. ... Be honest."
Asked about agency responsiveness, VA suicide-prevention worker Maureen Pasko said, "It's pretty complex. I think the biggest thing we've done over time, and need to continue to do, is kind of get the message to the people who need it. And a lot of that is just education, awareness and training, because if you don't know how to identify somebody who is at risk, you won't know they need help."
She said she can't comment on Silberstein's case because she's part of the Veterans Health Administration, while another part of the VA, the Veterans Benefits Administration, decides on benefits.
Hundreds of suicides
After the suicides of Silberstein and another female vet, Schwartz began looking at the recent records of vets buried at a state veterans cemetery, and found more than a dozen. Recently, she said, the toll is averaging one a week.
There are two things that are epidemic among military people, said Schwartz: The number of suicides and the number of reported sexual assaults and harassment cases.
The suicide problem is so daunting, that the Department of Defense and veterans agencies have thrown hundreds of programs and reports at it, with mixed results at best. Defense spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith called suicide "one of the most urgent problems facing the department."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has made it a priority, and said last year that supervisors cannot allow anyone to "haze or ostracize" those seeking professional help.
The Connecticut National Guard has lost at least five people to suicide since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars began -- all of them in 2011 and 2012, including an apparent suicide just after Christmas.
Col. John Whitford of the Army National Guard in Hartford said five is still too many for the Guard, but that the state's recent approach does work, sometimes by identifying and following an at-risk service person from before deployment.
Schwartz noted the Guard and Reserve members are different from active Army because "they grow up together, they train together ... go to war together. It's like going to war with your high school class. ... It's just a very strong and intense bonding that people may never know."
But a Connecticut resident who serves in the Massachusetts National Guard saw it another way.
"The programs are there for the active-duty guys," said Capt. Kyle Knowles. "The Guard guys, they're put through the ringer of all these medical and psychological tests ... and then they go back into the civilian world, and you kind of lose track of them."
Mental health awareness
Jim Tackett, director of veterans services for the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said he wishes that not only could all military folks returning to Connecticut connect with counselors, but also that citizens be educated on the challenges of war because "a grateful nation has a role to play."
He said, "One of the hallmarks of returning from deployment is that there are some predictable psychological and behavioral challenges, symptoms that have everything to do with PTSD, but might not rise to the full level of a diagnosis," he said. "And it's all normal; it's part of the adjustment process."
As for causes of suicide, Tackett said that according to an analysis of state cases, top presenting conditions involved depression (41 percent), anxiety (17 percent), PTSD (17 percent) and other issues (13 percent). Whitford said relationship issues played a major part in the Guard suicides.
New figures by the U.S. Defense Department, based on analysis of 2011 numbers, show the connection to relationship problems, according to Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, who listed "a known failure in a spousal or intimate relationship (47 percent of suicides), with many experiencing the failure within the month prior to suicide (28 percent).
Pasko said, "People who have lost a significant relationship in their life can certainly be at increased risk, particularly if they don't have other supports or resources to help them during that loss."
In online forums on suicide, veterans complain also about the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act, which puts future retirement pay in the realm of divorce judgments, as a factor in depression.
The difficulty of a draw-down of forces during an economic downturn isn't to be ignored either. A history of job loss or demotion was linked to 21 percent of suicides.
Other connections: One in four had a history of substance abuse. Firearms were the leading method of suicide, the report said.
Multiple deployments -- pushed by the military to serve two wars -- are a serious factor, too, Schwartz said, leading some soldiers to make return visits to drug-and-alcohol treatments centers.
"They never had a chance to decompress from the first one; they just keep living it, and it's almost like they're trying to outrun their memories."
Asked about the Newtown tragedy's effect on veterans, Tackett said, "One of the features of post-traumatic stress disorder is that it can be delayed. And something like Newtown can certainly trigger PTSD in folks."
Tackett said he and MSP coordinator Fran Simcic make up the entire Veterans Services unit at DMHAS (which, like other state departments, is in a budget hole), so the clinicians' work is key.
But some DMHAS employees around the state do chip in, such as on the new veterans' jail-diversion program, for example.
That initiative allows two uses of accelerated rehabilitation for minor offenses and works with court personnel to identify and engage veterans who are in the criminal justice system to try to avoid a full downward spiral. Court personnel have been very cooperative, Tackett said.
"What's different about Connecticut's approach is that we invested a lot of effort in systems integration. Elsewhere in the country, veteran treatment courts for instance, the veteran has only one treatment option, and that's with the VA. ... (Here) the veteran can choose from among the services being offered" from various sources.
Asked about her older sister's legacy, Dubuque tells the story of going to funeral services for her partner's nephew in Massachusetts, who was killed in Afghanistan in August.
She met a care coordinator there who referred her to one at the Connecticut State Armory.
"And it was very helpful to me. ... And on Veterans Day (2012), which was the one-year anniversary of my sister's passing, they did a 5K run in honor of Michael (the fallen warrior) and I wore a shirt that on the front said 'PTSD' and on the back said, 'Some wounds you can't see' and it had a picture of my sister.
"My goal at that event was not only to honor Michael ... but to help us remember that people not only die from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) but from the after-affects of war. ... The war's not over for these folks when they come home."
Call Joe Amarante at 203-789-5675.
Suicide Prevention and Veterans:Congressional Research Service Report by


text:
When you build a package whose build system relies on libtool, it could be a problem to specify GCC command-line options that libtool does not understand. A frequent case in point is that you want to specify -static-libgcc or -static-libstdc++, to avoid run-time dependencies on libgcc or libstdc++ DLLs.
The problem here is that libtool will not pass to GCC any switches it does not explicitly understand and support. So, for example, specifying LDFLAGS='-static-libgcc' during the configure step will not work: libtool will not pass that switch to GCC.


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Product DescriptionThis is a cotton boucle tweed, a fashionable, evergreen fabric often seen in winter collections. Designer collection surplus fabric. Limited Stocks. Destashing surplus yardages made for a fashion house in early 2016. This is all we have remaining with us. Grab them while they last!
Sold in convenient measurement units. Choose a measurement unit to suit your project requirement. Size of sample swatch is 2 in x 2 in.
Product Details
|54in / 136cm
|Hay and Black
|Recommended usage
|Perfect for winter jackets and accessories.
|Design ID
|Product Weight
|50 g / 50 grams
Shipping cost
- Standard shipping through India Post's Registered Airmail starts at $5 USD.
- Expedited shipping through DHL starts at $20 USD.
Shipping is calculated by weight. Estimate shipping costs for multiple items in your cart.
Ready to ship in
- Un-customized: 1 - 3 business days
- Custom Dyed: 7 - 10 business days
- Custom Printed: 8 - 10 weeks
Order arrives by
- Standard shipping arrives within 12 - 15 business days of shipping
- DHL expedited shipping arrives within 5 - 6 business days of shipping
We'll do our best to meet these shipping estimates, but cannot guarantee them. Actual delivery time will depend on the shipping method you choose.
Customs and import taxes:
Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.
Returns & Exchanges
We gladly accept returns and exchanges.
Just contact us within: 14 days of delivery
Ship items back to us within: 30 days of delivery
We don't accept cancellations after shipping
But please contact us if you have any problems with your order.
The following items can't be returned or exchanged
Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, We can't accept returns for:
- Custom or personalized orders
- Digital downloads
- Items on sale
Conditions of return
Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.


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September 1998
- What responsibilities do I have under a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement?
- What must I do if I need to change some part of my project from the original application?
- What can I do to help my request for a change get processed more quickly?
- What are OMB Circulars? Do they apply to my grant award?
- How do I make sure that I am complying with the regulations that apply to my award?
- Do grant team members visit my project?
- What do I need to do to prepare for a site visit?
Grantees often ask what is required for them to do their projects 'right.' In fact, there is more than one answer to that question since a grant project is really a combination of different efforts: performing the substantive activities related to the project's professional discipline or field of endeavor, managing the personnel and the other administrative aspects of a project, learning and following the various requirements of law and regulation that govern federally funded projects, and undertaking the whole project within the framework of the organization that has received the grant and is sponsoring the project activities. This section presents some of the most frequently asked questions grantees have about trying to do it 'right.' As your project progresses, you will undoubtedly think of others.
What responsibilities do I have under a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement?
You have the following major responsibilities when undertaking a project funded by the Department of Education:
- performing the work promised in the application;
- exercising proper stewardship of federal funds;
- complying with all legal and regulatory requirements;
- demonstrating and/or measuring progress towards achievement of project goals; and
- reporting all required information to the Department
In addition, each award for a discretionary grant or cooperative agreement imposes specific responsibilities on a grantee, depending on the program from which you receive funding.
What must I do if I need to change some part of my project from the original application?
If you need to alter some portion of your project's activities, the first step is to determine whether or not the planned change requires prior approval. Many changes do NOT require the prior approval of the grant team. Recent amendments to EDGAR have given grantees greater flexibility in managing their projects and have reduced the need for prior written approval from the Department. Known as the 'expanded authorities' regulations, these amendments to Part 75 of EDGAR renew the Department's emphasis on partnership with grantees by giving them more autonomy in carrying out the activities of their projects. The new provisions permit grantees to undertake the following administrative actions without seeking prior approval from their grant team although, in some cases, a routine notification to the Department might still be required:
- extend the grant at the end of the project period for a period of up to one year;
- carry funds over from one budget period to the next;
- obligate funds up to 90 days before the effective date of the grant award; and
- transfer funds among budget line items. Grantees are urged to contact their grant team to get full details of the requirements.
The amendments significantly reduce regulatory and administrative burdens and give grantees more flexibility in planning and implementing program activities, provided that all administrative actions are consistent with the approved goals and objectives for the project, the program regulations, EDGAR, and OMB cost principles. If you are still not certain whether prior approval is required after reading the regulations, contact the grant team member shown on your Grant Award Notification for technical assistance.
It is the goal of the Department to reduce the paperwork burden on grantees, including those related to administrative actions, to the full extent allowable. However, if prior approval is required, you need to send your request by e-mail, fax, or regular mail to your grant team. Changes that require prior approval might take up to 30 days to process. The grant team will provide a written statement regarding the approval or disapproval of your request. Grantees are urged to use electronic communications such as e-mail and faxes as much as possible to expedite processing of their requests.
What can I do to help my request for a change get processed more quickly?
You can take a number of steps that greatly add to the speed with which grant teams can process your request for a change to a project. Although most of them seem minor, multiplied over thousands of grants, such small items add up to great gains in efficiency and help the grant team and your project's staff to work together more effectively. For example:
- Always use your PR/Award number . Also called your 'grant number,' this number gives the grant team a great deal of information. We recommend you even put it on the outside of your envelopes so that, in the event your grant is reassigned to another staff person, your correspondence can be properly redirected before we even open the envelope. The PR/Award number is the only quick and accurate way we have to access your official file or your records in our data system. Always have it handy and leave it with any phone message as well.
- Always check your computations in budgets more than once . We recommend that you ask others on your staff to proof the math portions of your application and any other materials associated with your grant that you send to your grant team. Computation errors are one of the biggest causes of delays in processing requests.
- Read carefully the attachments and enclosures that came with your Grant Award Notification . The attachments and enclosures sent with your Grant Award +Notification contain important information that can simplify the administration of your grant in regards to receiving payment, sending required reports, and following special terms and conditions.
- When in doubt, ask. If you are not sure about something, do not hesitate to contact a grant team member assigned to your grant. That person is here to give technical assistance and to help you understand grant regulations and the award documents. Their guidance can ensure that your documents are complete the first time so you can avoid unnecessary paperwork.
What are OMB Circulars? Do they apply to my grant award?
The Office of Management and Budget, in the Executive Office of the President, issues OMB Circulars. OMB Circulars are guidance for federal departments and agencies on a variety of topics. Some circulars establish federal policy on matters of grant administration. It is important for you to remember that OMB circulars apply to Department of Education grant awards only when the Department adopts them in regulations that specifically govern the Department. (Information about obtaining OMB circulars is given in the section, 'Other Information,' which begins after the 'Glossary' section of this booklet.)
How do I make sure that I am complying with the regulations that apply to my award?
Carrying out your project in a way that is consistent with the requirements of federal regulations is a process that begins before you even receive a Grant Award Notification. It begins with the application process. You should make yourself very familiar with the program regulations when you are filling out the required forms and preparing your application for submission to the Department. You can find these regulations in the application materials that the Department originally sent to you. As time passes, we encourage you to develop the same knowledge of the administrative regulations found in the copy of the EDGAR book mailed to you with your Grant Award Notification. EDGAR is also available on the Department's Web site. The table of contents at the beginning of each part of these regulations helps you locate the area(s) of interest to you.
If you still have questions after reading through the regulations, call the grant team member whose telephone number appears on your Grant Award Notification under the line that reads 'Education Program Contact.' If that person is not available, you can talk with the authorized official who signed your Grant Award Notification.
Do grant team members visit my project?
There is no way to predict exactly which grantees will receive a site visit from the Department. However, since the Department has limited resources for travel and makes almost 8,000 awards for discretionary grants and cooperative agreements each fiscal year, the likelihood that any particular grantee will receive a site visit in any given year is very small.
There also seems to be some misunderstanding among grantees that the Department chooses only 'troubled' projects for site visits. Nothing could be further from the truth! Ideally, the Department seeks to make site visits to a representative sampling of grantees and projects across programs.
There are numerous reasons for a site visit to a grantee's location, most of them favorable. Grantees should view site visits as unique occasions which present an opportunity for staff members from the Department and project staff members to get to know one another better. Site visits permit the grantee to present information to the grant team about the project in greater depth and detail.
What do I need to do to prepare for a site visit?
Since the requirements and procedures of each program office vary, you should contact the grant team member assigned to your project for guidance on preparing for an announced site visit.
|Getting Funded!


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Following two decades of conflict, violence against women remains a challenge to recovery in Uganda. By providing key life skills, and knowledge in agricultural production and nutrition - FAO's Farmer Field and Life Schools help address the root causes of gender-based violence.
At the centre of a devastating civil conflict from 1986 to 2006 , Northern Uganda remains one of the poorest regions in the country, with 64% of its population unable to meet basic needs – twice as high as the national average. Over the years, an estimated 1.8 million people have suffered displacement as a result of war, pushing both men and women to the edge of chronic food insecurity.
Loss of life and assets, as well as declining livelihood opportunities, have exposed entire communities to a multitude of social injustices, including gender-based violence (GBV). Wife battering and defilement account for 55% of GBV in Uganda, but other common forms of abuse include rape, sexual exploitation, forced marriage and property grabbing. Boys and men have also been the targets of violence, mainly in the form of coercion into military activities.
Studies carried out in the north of the country also point towards a strong correlation between food insecurity and incidences of violence. Unable to feed their families, men often turn to risky coping behaviours like alcohol or drug abuse, while women may resort to sex in exchange for food and other goods. Disagreements on how to manage limited household food supplies frequently escalate into violence as well.
In the northern District of Amuru, for instance, gender-based violence was observed to rise during the hunger gap from April to June, as well as the dry season from November to January, when families were most likely to experience food shortages or lacked access to fresh vegetables.
To tackle the underlying causes of gender-based violence, FAO together with UNIFEM and UNFPA launched a network of Farmer Field and Life Schools (FFLS) in 2009. The project, funded by the Government of Norway, targets Uganda's northern Districts of Amuru, Katakwi and Abim. By helping men and women to regain essential farming skills lost during the years of conflict, the schools aim to provide them with better livelihood options.
As part of the FFLS, groups of neighbouring farmers - both men and women - gather regularly to learn a variety of traditional and modern agricultural practices, such as: field preparation, sowing and transplanting, processing, storage and conservation of resources. Through guided classroom discussions, students are taught about healthy nutrition and HIV prevention, as well as encouraged to address issues of gender inequality and violence.
To date, 60 fully functional FFLS have been set up in the targeted districts, and 21 facilitators have been trained to introduce gender-based violence in the FFLS activities, as one of various special topics affecting rural households. Problems of unequal access and control over resources are freely discussed to promote positive changes in attitude.
FFLS members are also able to access jointly owned mills, and can obtain investment loans or credit to help pay for children's education - thus reducing tensions at home. Participatory methods are used to help them build entrepreneurial skills like record keeping, budgeting and opening of savings account. The farmer schools also help GBV victims to link up with medical service providers, counselors and local authorities.
Acen Helen, an FFLS member living in the district of Katakwi, experienced firsthand the advantages of GBV-prevention activities: "My husband had accumulated debts in the village and was in the habit of selling off items in the house, including food," she says. "Whenever I asked, he would become violent and threaten to send me back to my parents since I came without any property."
"Last year I borrowed money to pay off his debts and to purchase a pig, which recently littered 9 piglets. I could not imagine how this transformed the home – to see my husband willing to help take care of the pigs."
The majority of female beneficiaries have also adopted backyard gardens to reduce expenditure on vegetables, and both men and women are encouraged to invest in alternative income-generating activities to increase self-reliance and food security.
Through a number of related projects, FAO has been at the forefront of livelihood support interventions in Uganda. To date, it has built the capacities of 25 local and international NGOs, as well as supported the establishment of over 2,000 FFLS in the north and north-east of the country.
Entrenched inequalities in the distribution of power, resources and responsibilities between men and women often create a spiral of poverty, GBV and food insecurity. By helping resettling communities to restore their livelihoods, FFLS have proven extremely effective in the prevention of violence. Their approach, which focuses on cohesion and a willingness among farmers to solve problems together, is crucial in building knowledge, self-esteem and the right skills to make positive decisions.


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Find a partner abroad for your business
The Network manages Europe's largest online database of business opportunities.
Search for business or academic partners to manufacture, distribute, co-develop and supply your products, ideas and services.
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- Search our global partnership database based on your criteria
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- We put interested partners in touch
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An Irish company is offering a stock market and currency volatility forecasting program to help keep risk constant in an investment portfolio through licence agreements
An Irish based risk management company located in Dublin has developed a proprietary volatility forecasting program for risk management. The forecasti... See more
An Italian producer of stoneware tiles is interested in selling its products abroad through distribution services or commercial agency agreements
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40 Essential Mashable Stories You May Have Missed in 2012
Now that the year is nearing a close, it's an appropriate time to reflect on the prodigious growth of digital culture in 2012.
Social media is more popular than ever. Facebook has more than one billion users. The number of active smartphones also eclipsed one billion in 2012. The Internet is becoming so essential to our lives, we want to take it with us wherever we go.
Even though the web constantly moves forward at a blistering pace, at Mashable we've been doing our best to keep you up to speed. What you may or may not have noticed as our flurry of posts sailed through your Twitter feed is that, in addition to writing quick hitting news stories, our editorial staff regularly posts in-depth, feature-length articles on a multitude of topics, all relating back to digital and tech culture.
Here is a list of 40 of our most memorable stories from the past year. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we did writing them.
Internet "How-To"
Making the Internet a more user-friendly place is our bread and butter. Here are a few stories that will surely help improve your online experience.
How to Find Anything in Your Gmail Check out these 10 tips for advanced Gmail search functions that'll make hounding old emails a breeze.
Secret Sauce: What Does It Take to Create a Viral Video? Mashable asked viral video agency Seedwell what today's web audience is looking for, and how to recognize a viral sensation before it happens.
How to Fine Tune Your Facebook News Feed Like a Boss Do Facebook's algorithms drive you nuts? Kick your news feed into shape with our handy how-to.
8 Job Search Tips From the Co-Founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman's new book "The Start-up of You" offers plenty of insights into navigating today's tough job market. We've distilled eight of his key tips.
7 Photo Editing Apps to Use With Instagram These tools will help make some necessary adjustments to your photos before you start adding effects to enhance them.
Find Scholarships for College, Student Loans With These Websites You've worked hard to make it into college, and now comes another challenge — finding funding.
10 Free iPhone Apps You'll Use Every Day We've compiled a list of free, everyday iPhone apps, whether to help you wake up in the morning, access the news or manage your to-do list.
What to Do if Your Cellphone or Laptop Gets Lost or Stolen Losing your cellphone can be as bad, or worse, than losing your wallet.
2012's Major Strides in Digital
While the previous batch of stories were about how to utilize the Internet, these features are about how the Internet has come of age in 2012. You'll find stories about technology, social media and digital business.
The End of Facebook: What Will It Take to Kill the King of Social? Facebook is arguably the only mainstream thing on the web today. But is it built to last?
Ecommerce in China: How the World's Biggest Market Buys Online A look at the state of China's online retail market.
Free Rides: The Story of the Smartphone Subway Hackers Mobile security researchers discovered that some subway tickets can be hacked with an NFC-enabled phone to get free rides.
Why the Future of Social Is in the Palm of Your Hand Cutting-edge app developers discuss the future of mobile-first social networks.
Why Are Mobile Ads So Cheap? Mobile may be the future, but right now, mobile ad units still command a lower price point on average than print and web advertisements. Here's why.
Meme Management: Meet the Man Who Reps Internet Stars So your video went viral. Now what? Ben Lashes has built a career on helping meme creators protect their intellectual property and cash in.
Why Burberry Wants to Bring the Online Experience to Stores, and Not Vice Versa Christopher Bailey, chief creative officer of Burberry, talks integrating digital in-store, customization, live streaming and more.
Twitter's API Update Cuts Off Oxygen to Third-Party Clients Twitter unveiled some of the upcoming changes to version 1.1 of its API that could have a drastic impact on the service's third-party ecosystem.
New Twitter API Drops Support for RSS, Puts Limits on Third-Party Clients Twitter officially unveiled version 1.1 of its API, deprecating support of longstanding features such as RSS in the process.
The digital sphere is constantly redefining how entertainers connect and interact with fans. Here are a few stories about how pop singers, indie artists, NBA stars, TV personalities, comedians and slam dunk specialists are leveraging the Internet both to further their personal brands and to have a good time.
Country Star Kenny Chesney Focuses on Online Viewers During Live Concert Kenny Chesney ensured his recent livestreamed concert was just as entertaining for online viewers as it was for the sweaty live crowd.
The Incredible Story of a 5-Foot-5 Dunking Sensation [VIDEO] Tiny Porter Maberry's dunks will blow your mind. This is his amazing journey from a warehouse job to viral YouTube fame to a LeBron James ad and beyond.
Bitchin' Kitchen: How a Web Chef Cooked Up a Hit TV Show Nadia G of "Bitchin' Kitchen" successfully turned her web series into a show on one of the most popular networks in the U.S. Learn how she did it.
How the Flaming Lips Helped the O Music Awards Score an Offline Win The Flaming Lips hit the road with the O Music Awards. We look back at the marathon event and where it succeeded and failed.
'Nekci Menij Show' Parodies Pop Stars With Crude Animations "The Nekci Menij Show," a parody of pop music, began in Microsoft Paint and depicts today's biggest pop stars as crudely drawn ducks and blobs.
How NBA Star Roy Hibbert Wins the Internet The seven-foot two-inch NBA (and Internet) All Star talks Twitter, "Gangnam Style" and Sega in this revealing Q&A.
The Future of Funny: How Old and New Media Collaborate on Comedy How old and new media work together in pursuit of comedy.
A ton of political news broke in 2012, from a contentious U.S. presidential election to continuing uprisings in the Middle East. As you might expect, our political coverage focused on the digital angle. With excerpts from our Politics Transformed series, here are some political stories worth another look.
Election 2040: The First President for Digital Natives By 2040, presidential candidates will have grown up with social media. What will the political landscape look like with Millennials in charge?
How Close Are We to Internet Voting? Online voting is already here, but will we ever be able to elect a president via the Internet?
Google Maps: Tree Density Tells the Story of Income Inequality It isn't always easy to spot income inequality. But it turns out, Google Maps places the measuring stick within reach.
This Man Fights and Films the Last Gasps of the Arab Spring Activist filmmaker Matthew VanDyke fights alongside rebels in Libya and Syria while producing powerful war footage.
Romney Gaffe Could Pay Off for Chinese Owner of Amercia.com Could Mitt Romney's Amercia gaffe help send a young Chinese boy to an American university? That's what the owner of Amercia.com hopes.
Tweeting a War: How One Journalist Is Using Twitter in Afghanistan Mustafa Kazemi, an Afghanistan-born war reporter, is using Twitter to cover political strife and warfare in his home country.
Human Interest
Even though the point of the Internet is usually to interact with others remotely, it is good to keep in mind that there are still human beings involved in this equation. Here are a handful of stories, both inspiring and tragic, about how online interactions can profoundly affect people's "real" lives.
Bullied Teen Uploads Chilling Video Before Being Found Dead Amanda Todd posted a video that detailed her brushes with online and offline bullying. She was later found dead as a result of suicide.
Viral Philanthropy: The Impact of Crowdsourced Compassion Online crowdfunding for worthy causes has complemented traditional forms of fundraising, and may even replace them in the future.
Reddit Users Surprise Terminally Ill Man With Random Acts of Kindness While one man and his family struggled with his terminal liver disease, Reddit users provided them with upbeat cards, letters, music and other acts of kindness.
How Google Earth Is Preserving, Sharing Indigenous Culture The Surui tribe, native to Brazil's Rondonia state, released a detailed cultural map of their ancestral lands, embedded into Google Earth.
Internet Strikes Back After Bus Monitor Harassed After a video went viral of a group of 12-15-year-old children verbally abusing a 69-year-old bus monitor, people reach out to help.
Every so often, something will inspire one of our top editors or brilliant guest writers (such as Sally Ride) to create a strongly-worded opinion piece. Here are a few of our most memorable op-ed stories from 2012.
Triumph of the Nerds: Nate Silver Wins in 50 States Here is the absolute, undoubted winner of this election: Nate Silver and his running mate, big data.
Why SOPA Is Dangerous One writer discusses why we need to understand and oppose SOPA — immediately.
Facebook Is Rigged: Why Personal Promoted Posts Are Bad for Users Facebook's personal promoted posts feature is an unsound revenue stream that will hurt user experience. Here's why.
Twitter Verification Validates My Obsession Twitter doled out a bunch of verifications, and our editor in chief Lance Ulanoff got one of them. Here's how it went down.
Great Science Education Starts With Inspired Teachers Sally Ride talks about the role empowered teachers can play in science, technology, engineering and math.
Let's Face it: Most Social Media Marketing Is a Waste of Time "Social media experts" got several swift blows to the ego in 2012, as critics picked apart the legitimacy of social media marketing.
Images courtesy of Flickr, 孤雲出岫 Free Cloud, and iStockphoto, pavlen and cosmin4000


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By Stefan W•
Nov 29, 2018
I enjoyed the course immensely as it opened my mind to different facets of critical thinking and ways of analysing the true content of material to be discussed. The examples proposed by the different Professors were fascinating in presenting pro and contra viewpoints of an argument.
The course certainly met my objectives and it was time well invested.
By Ramakrishna B•
Sep 30, 2020
An excellent course to bolster one's understanding of the fundamental social sciences, and logical reasoning.
By Kardelen K Ş•
Jun 21, 2017
What you will find here is good, really. But only very few thing are mentioned. Scope is not that wide.
By Vedant A•
Jun 19, 2018
Good course for anybody.


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Total solar eclipse is coming and the US has prime seats
The next total solar eclipse is Aug. 21.
The moon will come between the sun and the earth, completely blocking the sun.
This is pretty rare. The last time a total eclipse could be seen from the contiguous U.S. was in 1979.
SEE MORE: Just How Popular Is August's Total Solar Eclipse Going To Be?
RELATED: NASA provides insight into 'ocean worlds' in our solar system
See Gallery
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The path of the upcoming eclipse starts in Oregon and ends in South Carolina.
Staring directly at the sun is never a good idea. Unless the sun's totally blocked out, always wear eye protection when viewing an eclipse.
After August, the next total solar eclipse in the U.S. can be seen in 2024.


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Compare cheap flights to Uruguay
Book cheap flights to Uruguay with Skiddoo and travel to incredible cities like Montevideo, Colonia, Punta del Este, and more! Compare and choose from our great selection of flights and save your money for the rest of your trip.
What to do in Uruguay
Uruguay is a wonderful country in South America, and it's filled with interesting destinations for you to visit. Culturally sophisticated and on the rise, Uruguay offers you and other travellers plenty of ways to experience off the beaten path moments in your trip.
If you love museums and historical sites, then you should fly to Montevideo. Let your culture vulture go wild and visit the Palacio Taranco, Museum of National History, Museo Blanes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, and Museo de Historia del Arte. Are you a football fanatic? Then you can't miss Museo del Fútbol.
See the stunning architecture of Palacio Legislativo, Castillo Soneira, and Castillo Pittamiglio. Get a fantastic view of Montevideo from the viewing deck of Torre de las Telecomunicaciones, and spend an arvo at the lovely Parque Prado.
Spend your days sunbaking, surfing, and swimming at the beaches of Punta del Este, La Paloma, Cabo Polonio, Piriapolis, and many more. Get closer to nature with camping at Santa Teresa National Park and exploring the Palace Cave. If you love bird watching or horseback riding, then Rocha's estancias is for you. Don't forget to hop on the chairlift to San Antonio Hill, and view the city from above.
Catch a football game at Estadio Centenario. Have a go at Tango in Montevideo. Taste the local cuisine and go on food trip in Uruguay, and go shopping in Lanas de Soriano and Feria de Tristan Narvaja. All these and more are just waiting for you in amazing Uruguay.
So what are you waiting for? Start planning your trip now, and get travel tips and ideas from this quick Uruguay travel guide.
When to visit Uruguay
The best time to visit Uruguay is from January to early April and September to November, when you can enjoy the best weather.
But you can plan your trip whenever you want, because Australians can fly to Uruguay and travel around the country visa-free for up to 90 days. Make sure your passport is valid for at least six months when you travel back to Australia. Check out Smartraveller too for more Uruguay travel info.
Travelling to and around Uruguay
You will be landing in Montevideo Carrasco International Airport. Go and travel around Uruguay by bus, taxi, train, and bicycle too.
If you dream about exploring South America, Uruguay is a fantastic place to start! Get your passport ready now and book your Uruguay flights with Skiddoo today.


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The ancient Egyptians described it as a "coagulum of black bile" within the breast.
In their papyrus writings, dating back to 1600 BC, they surmised that getting rid of the excess bile¬ — through surgery, special diets, purging or even attaching leeches to draw out the bad blood— could cure the disease.
Breast cancer is not a new phenomenon, and neither are attempts at treating it.
In 1889, American surgeon William Halsted, a founder of renowned Baltimore teaching hospital Johns Hopkins, performed the first radical mastectomy. The disfiguring procedure, which removed the entire breast and pectoral muscle, prevailed as the standard treatment for most of the 20th century.
It wasn't until 1963, with the invention of the silicone gel breast implant, that modern reconstructive techniques emerged.
Over time, breast reconstruction has become less invasive and more refined. With the delicate surgical options that surgeons have at their disposal, women rarely need to live without breasts.
Yet relatively few women, about one in 10 in Canada, ever undergo reconstruction.
The hurdles women face in getting the surgery are accepted by many as a fact of living in a country with a universal health-care system with its seemingly infinite list of patients and finite pool of resources.
In the final instalment of this six-part series, Canadian plastic surgeons debate solutions for the problems that prevent many women from receiving an important final procedure in their breast cancer treatment.
Ottawa plastic surgeon Dr. Nicolas Guay is a strong proponent of women educating themselves about breast reconstruction to get the most out of the health-care system.
Amid the organized chaos of his second floor office at Ottawa Hospital's Civic Campus are four years' worth of documents that make up the Canadian Collaboration on Breast Reconstruction, a website spearheaded by Guay.
Guay launched the website as a resource for Canadian women seeking information on procedures last year.
"What was frustrating to me is that about 50 per cent of the patients I saw had seen somebody else and were unsatisfied with the options they received," Guay said in explaining how the idea for the website came about.
In Canada, Guay said, "patients are not fantastic health-care consumers."
"In the United States, they know how much they're paying on a monthly basis just to receive care and they shop for their options," he said.
But in this country, said Guay, "patients tend to let themselves be guided by the normal pathway of consultation that their surgeon has," which can mean waiting years before they ever meet a plastic surgeon.
Through the website, women can search through a database of Canadian plastic surgeons who offer breast reconstruction. They can narrow the options based on whatever is their criteria for finding the ideal surgeon, be it shortest wait times, sex, language, or type of breast reconstruction offered.
When they have the name of a surgeon they would like to see, Guay said they can call to book an appointment, then secure the appropriate referral paperwork from their family physician or general surgeon.
"The surgeon finder is what's really innovative," said Guay. "Patients have the tools to select who is going to offer them the care instead of passively waiting for their usual pathway of care to happen."
If patients are informed of their options, they can make the right decision for themselves, which can be incredibly empowering, said Guay.
Arming women with information before they set foot in a consultation room also helps to overcome the "white coat syndrome" that inevitably overcomes many patients when they finally do see a plastic surgeon, said Guay.
"It's sort of an Oprah setting," he explained. "They're being informed in the comfort of their own home (where) patients are more inclined to listen ... to be in tune."
The impetus behind Guay's website is its collaborative aspect. More than 100 surgeons responded to Guay's request for information about the types of procedures they offer, and are listed on the website.
The same collaboration is what Guay believes is the solution to changing how the health-care system approaches breast reconstruction.
Alongside piles of paperwork on Guay's desk, a piggy bank rests with a tongue-in-cheek label inviting visitors to please make a donation to the "plastic surgery fund."
Although its message is in jest, the knick-knack offers some insight into the struggle plastic surgeons face when lobbying for resources to cover breast reconstruction for their patients.
"I didn't anticipate it being so important to be a spokesperson for my patients, but you do have to," he said. "If we approach our ministries of health with a collaborative decision, a majority decision on how this care should be given in Canada, we are going to have the ear of the general public and we are going to have the ear of the politicians, and things will change."
Finding the time to advocate for his patients, however, is easier said than done, said Guay.
"That's where I think sometimes we fail as surgeons, in finding innovative ways to approach the administration, to approach the Ministry of Health and tell them in a very diplomatic and polite way . . . that we need more resources for this," he said.
While many surgeons are quick to point to more funding as a fix, Winnipeg plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Buchel disagrees.
Instead, Buchel said the onus should be on doctors to develop more efficient and cost-effective ways of performing reconstruction within the existing pool of resources.
"We have to realize that we are sucking up more and more and more money to deliver the same care, and at some point, the system is going to have to go, 'No, you as doctors have to figure out how to do this better and more efficiently, or the politicians will,'" said Buchel. "And it's not going to be more efficiently. It's going to be less care."
In Winnipeg, Buchel has improved efficiency from both a surgical and administrative standpoint. In most hospitals, when a general surgeon teams up with a plastic surgeon to perform an immediate reconstruction, the general surgeon inadvertently ends up at a disadvantage.
"If you were a general surgeon, it might take you an hour and a half to do a mastectomy, and then you could do another case right after that," explained Buchel.
But if a plastic surgeon then takes over to begin the reconstruction, which can take up to eight or 10 hours, "then your operating room is down."
"You're doing nothing for the rest of the day, and you're not making any money," he said.
Therefore, Buchel introduced a system where plastic surgeons offer up their own OR time for immediate breast-reconstruction cases, essentially giving general surgeons "a freebie" surgery.
"It's about making a very efficient use of the operating room so we don't penalize any of the surgeons," he said. "(General surgeons) get to use the operating room under plastic surgery time, and we work together."
Buchel said he has also developed surgical techniques that have increased his operating pace by two or three times. Faster operations mean he can see more patients in the same amount of time, and reduce his backlog of delayed patients faster.
His increased efficiency impressed the regional health authority which then agreed to give him more operating time.
"We guaranteed that the resources would be used to eliminate a wait-list for any reconstructive surgery," said Buchel. "Most regions would be thrilled if the physicians would get together and put forward a solution like this."
Buchel has also worked to improve access to reconstruction for Manitoba women. His goal is to ensure all breast cancer patients know about reconstruction before they ever have a mastectomy.
After years of lobbying for change, Buchel said that today any woman diagnosed in Winnipeg is automatically informed of their options for reconstruction.
If a patient wants reconstruction, they see a plastic surgeon for a consultation before their mastectomy, said Buchel. If they are indifferent about reconstruction, they still see a plastic surgeon. Only those who are absolutely certain they don't want reconstruction don't get a referral, he said.
About 90 per cent end up seeing a plastic surgeon, he said. Of those, about 80 per cent go through with reconstruction.
"There is nobody that falls through the cracks," he said. "There's nobody that's not offered it."
If the U.S. approach to raising awareness about breast reconstruction is any indicator, the real power to increase surgery rates in Canada lies in the hands of policy-makers.
Some states have passed laws to help bridge the information gap for women undergoing mastectomies.
In New York, for example, cancer surgeons are now legally required to discuss options for breast reconstruction with patients prior to their mastectomy, even if they have to refer the patient elsewhere for surgery.
Immediate reconstruction at the same time as mastectomy has also increased in the U.S., in part due to a recommendation by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons in 2001 to incorporate the practice in the treatment of early-stage breast cancer.
Dr. Steven Morris, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon in Halifax, says he believes the onus is on government to address the problem in this country as well.
"I'd love to magically swing the wand and fix it, but really that's not our job (as surgeons)," said Morris. "Although we'd like to, we don't have the control of the different pieces of it to fix it. We're just kind of like the guys on the treadmill working."
To accommodate increasing demands for breast reconstruction, Morris said the "current paradigm for the allocation of resources needs to change."
"In the current culture of reduced funding, it is difficult to justify an upgrade in spending for a single program," he said. "And if something else has to be cut to accommodate increased breast reconstruction spending, what is it going to be?"
With an aging baby boomer population, Morris said he is bracing for the inevitable "crunch" on health-care funding.
The problem is compounded by patients becoming better informed through the Internet about cutting-edge medical procedures, which also tend to be more expensive, he said.
"There is no ethical body that will say, 'No, we don't do cardiac bypasses in people over 90,'" he explained. "There is a point when you pull the plug on the respirator and there is a time when you don't do reconstruction on someone with metastatic breast cancer. But that's not my decision. My decision is, as soon as my patient comes through the door, they're the most important thing."
A common barrier for mastectomy patients is difficulty navigating the health-care system. Seeking a second opinion on reconstruction from a plastic surgeon isn't easy when there is a significant wait time for a consultation.
Dr. Stefan Hofer, chief of plastic surgery at Toronto General Hospital and head of the University Health Network's Breast Restoration Program, said the solution to lengthy wait lists could be as simple as a telephone helpline.
In the Netherlands, where Hofer is originally from, if a person is facing a lengthy wait for an operation, they can call a helpline for assistance in finding a surgeon that can perform the procedure sooner.
"So the agency would actually call the office of the doctor ... and they would place people who had excessive wait times," he explained.
A helpline could also prevent Canadian women from seeking surgery in the U.S. when they face excessive wait times in this country, said Hofer.
There are many surgeons in Canada with the skills to perform breast reconstruction who have shorter wait times compared to some highly sought-after surgeons in busy metropolitan areas who have longer wait lists, he said.
"You just have to find a person," he said. "So I think then it is maybe better to have a database of surgeons who do specific procedures."
Dr. Blair Mehling, a plastic surgeon in Edmonton, said he finds it mind-boggling just how much breast cancer survivors are willing to put up with on their quest for reconstructive surgery.
"It blows me away the length of time that women will wait just to see me for a consult and then for the surgery," said Mehling, adding that he has had delayed reconstruction patients wait as long as five years for him to operate.
"Canadians are tolerant, though," he said. "It's not that they're happy about it, but we're very accepting of the flaws in the system."
Mehling said the problem highlights a need for a shift in health-care policy.
In Alberta, he said, trauma cases — patients needing surgical care of physical injuries — appear to take precedence over cancer cases, which sees breast-cancer patients consistently being pushed to the back burner.
"Right now in Alberta, the wait time target to have a patient in for immediate breast reconstruction is three weeks," said Mehling. "Trauma cases are supposed to be in the operating room within a week of us seeing the consult."
The difference points to an official policy, "whether they recognize it or not, that places trauma at a higher priority than cancer," he said.
"We don't meet any of these targets, by the way," he added.
In Edmonton, the main problem is a lack of plastic surgeons who offer breast reconstruction, said Mehling. Of those who do, many are expected to work several on-call emergency room shifts per week, which take up a lot of time that could be spent performing reconstructions, he said.
While the "knee-jerk response" would be to hire more plastic surgeons who do breast reconstruction, Mehling said, "you could equally make the argument that we could solve the problem by getting more plastic surgeons that do trauma."
"That would free up those of us who have a focus on breast reconstruction and who have the training to do it," he said.
The goal, said Mehling, is to develop a collaborative care centre where breast-cancer patients can receive all their care, from diagnosis to reconstruction, under one roof.
In Edmonton, cancer treatment is "extremely fragmented," he said. Patients receive their various treatments at different hospital sites across the city. He himself has performed breast reconstruction at four different hospitals in Edmonton, he added.
"There's huge benefits to that multi-disciplinary, collaborative care kind of environment," he said.
But his hopes for a similar collaborative care model in Edmonton were dashed when a new women's hospital, the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, was recently built in the city. For whatever reason, breast reconstruction was never included in the new hospital's list of services, which Mehling described as a "wasted opportunity."
"We've got this beautiful brand new hospital and they don't even do mastectomies there," he said. "There is no breast surgery whatsoever going on there, nor is there any motivation or interest in pursuing that opportunity."
Mehling was trained in microsurgical breast reconstruction at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where he said he was exposed to the collaborative care model.
However, he said he is skeptical that Canada could become home to a hospital like MD Anderson, even though it is a publicly funded hospital.
"Their whole system is geared toward excellence. It was (geared) to providing the best possible care to the greatest number of patients," he explained. "In Canada, it's the other way around. There is a downside to facilitating (excellence) because it just means it's going to cost more money.
"And if there's a finite pool of health-care resources, well, the entire hospital budget can't go into breast reconstruction."
While they are aware health-care funding is tight, plastic surgeons Dr. Peter Lennox and Dr. Sheina Macadam are adamant that more OR funding is necessary to deal with the heavy breast-reconstruction patient load in Vancouver.
Both said they are struggling to work through a backlog of delayed reconstruction patients who are waiting two to three years.
"The government needs to fund more OR time," said Macadam.
However, even if that were possible, Lennox said it would be difficult for him to use the extra OR hours within his existing schedule. Another plastic surgeon would be needed, he said.
"If we were given the time just for Sheina and I, probably it would be hard for us to utilize it because our schedules are so full," he said. "There's a whole bunch of variables in there. One is getting another surgeon, but you also need the resources to support it, so that's the hard part."
But in a universal health-care system, Lennox said he realizes requesting more resources is not always possible.
"At some point, society is going to have to decide what's more important because it's not an endless budget," he said. "It's a hard one to answer."
Vancouver plastic surgeon Dr. Nancy Van Laeken said she wouldn't be opposed to a two-tier health-care system to better handle the volume of breast reconstruction patients.
Van Laeken has privileges at the Cambie Surgical Centre, a private hospital catering mostly to patients with third-party medical insurance. Although patients can pay for some procedures there, breast reconstruction is not offered at this point, she said.
"I'm not sure if this is politically correct for me to say, but it would be nice to know that if that patient wanted to have that surgery done in Canada, that they could call up one of us," she said.
"There are many aspects of the reconstructive piece that would be considered cosmetic, so it would be more accepting to go ahead and do that here because it is not a purely functional issue."
Van Laeken's solution is a reaction to Canadian women travelling to the U.S. and paying tens of thousands of dollars to get breast reconstruction.
Canada has many surgeons with a high level of expertise in breast reconstruction, she said, and "it's a shame that our patients don't have access to that expertise."
But, if she were a patient facing the same lengthy wait lists for breast reconstruction, Van Laeken said she likely "would look elsewhere as well rather than waiting."
While he is not opposed to the idea of a two-tiered health-care system in Canada, Winnipeg's Buchel said he strongly disagrees with women paying for reconstruction when they have lost their breasts to cancer.
While some may argue breast reconstruction is akin to breast augmentation, a cosmetic procedure for which many women do pay, Buchel disagreed. He reasoned that breast reconstruction is no different than many other "covered" procedures, from cardiac bypass to hip replacement surgery.
"Most of the stuff we do, it's all for quality of life," said Buchel. "You know, you're 65 or 70 years of age, and we're spending $10,000 to $15,000 on these people on new hips for them. Very little of that is survival. That's giving them a quality of life."
Buchel is not opposed to a European-style two-tier system, "where there is a safety net, but everyone has the option of having their own private insurance." But does he ever want to see cancer patients paying out of pocket for their cancer treatment?
"No. Never."


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Abuse surfaces at West African mission school
SENEGAL More than 50 children were allegedly abused at a New Tribes Mission (NTM) boarding school in Senegal in the 1980s. The report, released by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (G.R.A.C.E.), says NTM "emphasized the saving of souls at the expense of children." Recommendations include establishing a $1 million fund for damages to missionary kids and attempting to apologize to each child. NTM, which commissioned the report, said leaders are "deeply saddened" and have begun making recommended changes.
Violence prompts revision of worship law
INDONESIA Authorities in Indonesia will revise a decree that gives districts the power to authorize places of worship. The law has created difficulty for Christians, whose applications for church locations rarely make it through the process. The announcement follows the stabbings of two Protestant leaders in Bekasi and a torch-lit protest in Jakarta, the nation's capital. In early September, a state court in West Java overturned a December 2009 decree that closed the Bekasi church's doors; members continued to meet outside, where escalating conflicts with local radical Muslims made international head-lines.
SBC election spotlights missions debate
The election of the North American Mission Board's (NAMB) new president illustratedtensions in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) over whether missions should be funded cooperatively or directly. Leaders of Arkansas' and Louisiana's state conventions publicly opposed the nomination of Kentucky pastor Kevin Ezell, noting that his 4,740-member church has budgeted more than $1.3 million for missions this year, but that only 2 percent will go through the SBC's Cooperative Program (which ...1
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