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Business Travelers Can Stay Fit and Healthy on the Road
"Many people don't realize the benefits of exercising when they're traveling," Exercise can help reduce the stress of traveling, burn extra calories from business meals and allow you to transition back into your normal routine when you return home. Maintaining some type of exercise routine may help you sleep better in all of those uncomfortable beds and reduce the effects of jetlag.
Workouts may be shorter-than-normal and still have a big impact on your health. Traveling forces you to be creative and proactive to keep an exercise regimen consistent. Here are some tips to help you stay fit and healthy on the road, especially when you are a frequent corporate traveler.
1. Complete Condensed but Intense Workout, with or without Equipment
Create your own 30-minute, in-room workout by choosing three body weight exercises, such as squats or lunges, and three upper-body exercises, such as push-ups, chair dips or rows. You may want to invest in a travel band or TRX to assist you. Spend a few minutes on a warm-up by marching or jogging in place. Your workout can be 1 sets with 10 to 20 repetitions of each lower-body exercise and 10 to 15 reps of each upper-body exercise. Next, increase your heart rate by doing one minute of jumping jacks, hopping or jogging in place. Repeat this same routine for a second and third set of exercises.
2. Work it Out with a Plan
Plan to succeed by knowing what you'll do before you go. You want a travel workout that's easy and automatic—so practice it! Be comfortable with your routine before traveling, by practicing it at home. Keep it interesting by creating 2 workouts that can be interchanged while you are away. Consult with a personal trainer for suggested routines for your trip.
3. Get Active in Airports Instead of Sitting and Waiting for your Flight
Flight delays can benefit your health. Spend the time, walking through the airport, taking the steps and remaining active. If traveling alone, lock up your valuables and keep moving.
4. TRX and Travel Bands Will Produce Results
Before traveling, put any necessary exercise tools in your suitcase, have your favorite apps loaded on the phone, comfortable walking shoes, a bathing suit, and any other gear you think you might need. I suggest investing in some travel bands and a TRX, which is small and easy to pack. These will bring your travel exercise routine to a new level while keeping it fun.
5. Pools are Cool
Hotel pools work well for exercise. Jogging in the shallow end or swimming laps in deeper water can elevate your heart rate. Swimming is fantastic exercise for your body with minimal impact to your joints. When you're traveling, every little bit counts.
6. Jump Rope if Your Joints Can Take It or Just Take the Stairs
Jumping rope is a great way to get a short but beneficial cardio workout—and it can be done in your hotel room. Another great alternative: Walk up as many flights of hotel stairs as possible, and concentrate on stepping through your heel to activate your glute muscles.
7. Know Before You Go
Gather information on your destination in advance. Are you close to a beach, ski resort or good hiking trails? Mixing up your exercise routine by experiencing the sites and sounds of your "new city" keeps it fun and increases motivation. When it's possible, get outside as much as possible. By planning ahead, you can come up with new, memorable adventures. When possible schedule an added day or two to experience the area and activities without the stress of work.
8. Relaxation and Sleep Increase the Benefits of Your Hard Work and Exercise Program
Relaxation takes practice and work, especially when you're out of your environment and on the road. Set some time aside to take a walk clear your mind and connect with your thoughts and breath. Download soothing sound apps before you go and use relaxation breathing exercises on the plane, before you go to sleep, and after you wake up.
9. Drink Water All Day
Drinks such as soda, coffee and alcoholic beverages, although wet and somewhat refreshing, actually dehydrate your body. When traveling the best advice, we have for you, is to cut down or avoid these beverages altogether. Instead, try squeezing a lemon into your water to start your day. This will hydrate you, keep you mentally tuned in longer and help avoid travelers' constipation. Think about how much better you will feel without a bloated belly affecting your exercise routine. Drink eight ounces of water every hour to help tired, dehydrated muscles aiming for ½ your body weight in ounces of water each day.
10. Bring Healthy Alternatives
Bring bottled water, fresh raw nuts like almonds and walnuts, fruit, vegetables with hummus, Purely Elizabeth granola, turkey roll-ups and other healthy snacks. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, soda, and salty snacks, all of which dehydrate you.
10. Share Your Inside Info On Healthy Snacks at the Office
Have your hosting company (temporary offices) provide healthy snacks because they may aid in weight control, improve mood, and boost energy. Companies like Snack Nation will deliver health snacks to the office, making your choices a no brainer. At the same time, you'll be sharing habit changing information wherever you go.
12. Take it Easy
Depending on how hard you worked out while traveling, gradually get back into your usual routine. You may want to use lighter weights or decrease intensity or duration of your cardio workout for a week before returning full force.
These are all suggestions that we implement as we travel around the country educating employees on wellness. From personal experience, as corporate travelers and travelers for pleasure, these methods work and allow you to stay fit on the road. To make this easy for you and your employees, create a chart or create a Corporate Wellness initiative where you encourage your employees who travel to adopt one new habit on each trip. It will make a huge difference in how you feel, look and sleep, while also keeping you fit, happy and energetic on your trips. These benefits will lead to more successful business travel and healthier and more productive employees as a whole. Exercise, Food and habits will increase everyone's WELLTH.[/text_output]


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SaultFPFproject Team Seeking Letters of Support
The project team working on a proposal to have Sault Ste. Marie considered as a potential site to host a ferrochrome processing facility (FPF) is seeking letters of support from area businesses and organizations. The letters will be included in the proposal package that's being sent to Noront Resources. Letters can be emailed to email@example.com. Please send by Friday, January 19. Questions and feedback can also be sent to this email address.
Noront Resources is planning to build an FPF in Northern Ontario. Sault Ste. Marie is shortlisted as one of four potential locations. This initiative is currently in the economic development phase.
A project team, which includes representatives from the City of Sault Ste. Marie and Economic Development Corporation, is building a case on the community's competitive business advantages. If Noront selects the Sault as the most feasible site economically, a comprehensive, multi-year environmental assessment and consultation process will take place. Only if the development has public support and passes environmental regulations will construction begin on the plant.

subset: commoncrawl


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Sir Robert Mc Alpine's Bloomberg Place project is the largest development in The City of London and PHD Modular Access have secured the access & scaffold package from valued logistics client, Avondale Construction Ltd.
PHD's works comprise of a Public pedestrian access and goods loading gantry over Cannon Street ( 117m x 3m x 4m high) and Queen Victoria Street (87m x 3m x 4m high).
This enables safe access to the perimeter of the massive site in the middle of The City for the Public as well as the safe unloading and distribution of materials into the site which has the full footprint maintained for construction purposes.
The building will provide 9,290 sq m of office space across two buildings connected by a covered arcade. One of the two buildings will be the new European Headquarters for Bloomberg L.P.
The building is due to complete ready for occupation by Bloomberg in 2016.


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jade beads, black jade, semi-precious stone red
Natural Mashan Jade. Dyed. Round. Red.
Mashan Jade it is the trade name of White Dolomite Mable. It is not a true Jade. Mashan Jade is dyed in vibrant colours.
Dolomite is believed to stimulate the metabolism of calcium and magnesium, and keep a balance between the two.
Colour: Christmas Red (Colour of Jade beads may slightly vary from computer),
Size: diameter 8 mm, hole 1mm
1strand/pack (about 51pcs/strand)
What's in the box
1x 1strand (about 51pcs/strand)


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Income Tax Estimator 2008 is a full featured tax estimator that attempts to combine ease of use with realistic and accurate tax estimation. Not only will you have your tax estimate but you can, if you choose to, learn more about income taxes and how the tax system works.
This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore. Browse the full list of all AppStore apps filed under the AppStore category.
Welcome to AppSafari. Our team loves apps and is dedicated to writing iPhone app reviews to help you find the best new & free iPhone apps in the App Store. For the latest App Store buzz check out the Trending iPhone apps updated daily with free games worth downloading. Enter our giveaway contest to win free apps every day. You can browse the site in either gallery or list layout.
Got mail? Subscribe to AppSafari by Email. Watch funny and interesting iPhone Videos gathered from around the web.


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In the modern, fast moving, business environment, the need for specialised insurance protection cover has never been greater. Our range of business cover is tailored to meet your particular needs.
Whatever the size and scale of your business we have a range of policies and the expertise to handle your needs.
We provide customised advice and cover on an ongoing basis. We can arrange a risk management report for those interested in quantifying and controlling their risk exposure.
Our panel of insurers are selected carefully based on their proven track record, their technical support, their claims settlement procedures, and their value for money.
We exist to ensure that in the unfortunate event of a loss, your claim is dealt with quickly and professionally so that any inconvenience to your business is kept to a minimum.
One of our many strengths is establishing niche speciality insurance markets for the corporate and commercial sector.
OMI has particular expertise in the following areas:
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Request a Quote


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Tag Archives: pace yourself
Being a parent is a trip that has plenty of good times and bad times. By reading the tips below, you can make it become one of the best journeys you will ever take. You can get quality baby items without spending a small fortune on nursing equipment right before you have your baby. You [...] Read more
Simple Being A Parent Tips That New Parents Tend To Forget
Parenting is universally challenging, and acquiring positive skills and techniques in how to best parent your child is of paramount importance. The greater your knowledge about child development and methods of handling situations as they arise, the better you will be at parenting. Think about what kinds of messages you're sending to your Read more
Navigating The Confusing World Of Childhood: Tips, Tricks And Advice For Parents
There are many reasons to choose to become a personal decision as to which style is right for them. It is quite the journey, however, to ignore the fact that parenthood comes with a unique combination of challenges. No matter what their age, your kids are unique individuals, children each have an individual personality and [...] Read more
Raising A Child Needs Structure, Note These Tips To Guide You
Being A Parent is quite the journey that is full of ups and lows. By reading the following tips, you are finding ways to make that journey more interesting and rewarding. Think about the types of messages you're sending to your child. You want your kids that they can be trusted. Clear some room on [...] Read more


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- Refine Search
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Pearl Street
- Date:
- 2009
- Description:
- This image is taken of Pearl Street on a busy afternoon. On the right side of the image the post office and a large office building can be seen on the corner of Pearl Street and Elmwood Street. On the left stands a tall building with a strip of smaller buildings leading their way into the distance. Both cars and bikers line the street, there are even protesters who stand in front of a black iron fence on the right side of the image at the streetlight. Blue mountains and further streetlights can be seen down the road in the distance. This image is very similar to the one taken in 1980 during the time when Dutch Elm disease decimated the elm tree population in the area. The buildings are the same in both images, yet there is a much greater presence of plant and tree life in the 2009 image. Also, Pearl Street in 2009 is buzzing with commotion, while the street in 1980 seems almost deserted.
- Filename:
- LS12921_001.jpg
- Size:
- 3072 x 2304 pixels; 1369578 bytes
- Original Filename:
- LS12921.jpg
- GPS Location:
- 44.48061 N latitude, 73.21242 W longitude
- Keywords:
- Automobiles; Building,Brick; Buildings; Cities and towns; City trees; Commercial buildings; Culture; Deciduous; Electric lines--Poles and towers; Forests and Plants; Geology; Hills; Human Constructs; Lampposts; Landforms; Landscapes; Living Things; Mountains; Nature; Public buildings; Roads; Roads,Paved; Season; Sidewalks; Spring; Streets; Time; Traffic signs and signals; Transportation; Trees; Wood poles;
- Source:
- Katherine Zephir
- Photographer:
- Katherine Zephir
- Submitted By:
- Katherine Zephir
- Submitted On:
- 2009-04-28
- Original Media:
- Digital Photograph
- Times viewed:
- 3094


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Q. How are private parties booked?
A. Call the office at Mackinaws at @ 920-406-8000 & ask for information for the date/time you desire, or feel free to e-mail us firstname.lastname@example.com. Menu options that are detailed on the Web site can be explained in more detail as well.
Q. Can reservations be made via E-mail?
A. No. Although we love our computers, there are simply too many variables (availability, stairs, time, etc.) that need to be answered. Simply call at 406-8000 anytime.
Q. Is Mackinaws wheel-chair accessible?
A. Yes. We offer an easy front drop off and first level entry. It's beneficial to call ahead as ground floor tables can be taken at peak times.
Q. Is the same menu available on the 2nd floor as on the 1st floor?
A. Yes.
Q. What are the price ranges at Mackinaws?
A. We range from $11 to $35. Check under MENU for a full list but there's lots in between.
Q. Do we need reservations?
A. No. However, groups of 5 or more or those with special needs should call ahead, especially on the busier nights (Friday and Saturday).
Q. How can I purchase gift certificates?
A. Simply stop in at Mackinaws and either the front hostess or bartender will issue you the certificate with a Mackinaws logo envelope and sample menu. Any amount is available. You can also purchase them online /gifts/purchase-gift-cards/
Q. Do you have an ATM?
A. Yes. It's conveniently located in our front lobby.
Q. Explain your Rewards Card.
A. Simply fill out a form at the table including your name and e-mail address. That's it! Your card is issued immediately and we accrue your "points (every dollar equals one point). Accumulate 300 "points" and receive a 10.00 gift certificate! Every Tuesday we offer "Double Point Tuesday" for our Rewards Card holders - so earn double points on any dining room or Cabin Bar purchases!
Q. What are your hours?
A. Monday- Tuesday 11:00 AM to 9:00PM, Wednesday – Saturday 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Sunday 9:00 AM (brunch till 2:00 PM) Serving food till 9:00 PM. Cabin Bar is always open "late"
Q. Do you have Live Music?
A. We showcase our live music every Friday and Saturday night in our Cabin Bar from 7:00 to 11:00. Some of our staple acts include Triple Play, Chartier and Norton, Good for the Soul, and Ants Marching. Genres range from the Americana Folk Rock to Acoustic Southern Jams.


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Smile Family Dental is a professional and friendly family dental office that serves your needs. We specialize in cosmetic, corrective, implant, and family dentistries. From teeth cleaning, fillings, root canals, crowns, dentures to extractions and dental implants, we have the expertise, process, and instrumentions in place to meet your needs.
Led by Dr. Dorothy Chao, a UCLA School of Dentistry graduate, Smile Family Dental provides high quality dental services with the use of state of the art dental technologies. Our highly trained and experienced dental professionals excel in the latest dental care procedures and will make your dental office visit a pleasant and comfortable experience.


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Equality, diversity and community cohesion are seen as central to the achievement of the council's corporate plan and the way we do things as a council.
In line with our commitment to equality and diversity, all service areas across the council are required to carry out Equality Impact Assessments.
This is a way of systematically and thoroughly assessing the effects of a proposed policy or project on different groups within the borough.
You can view equality impact assessments for all the council's functions, which are grouped under their service areas below.
Our Workforce Equality Profile is also available by clicking this link.


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Article Writing Promoting Branding And Ultimately Profiting From Your Hard Work, is an article that will discuss the follow up necessary to ultimately receiving a nice passive income from your on line writings.
There are many venues to showcase anyones writing. On line article directories abound throughout the Internet and most will entice you with promises of grandeur and large profits with little work.
The truth lies in how well the articles are promoted. The best of the best can just submit their work and instantly they go to the top of the list in search results because they are using SEO techniques and writing valuable content that the end user is actively searching out.
In order to get the kind of traffic that is needed to make a good living in this uncertain income producing business, the first thing you must accomplish is getting the work out there. The second thing that must be accomplished is making sure that the people that are looking for the information you are providing are seeing the work. Targeted traffic, simply put can make you a bundle. The problem most will have is rambling.
Information is not best delivered with more words. People today are in a hurry. They search and they want to look at the best results and get it done quick. This means that the overstuffed work with a bunch of unnecessary words are going to bore the reader. This boredom will only cause them to leave your work like it may be contaminated and never return.
The other side of the coin is what where trying to achieve. Giving the reader the most information in the shortest possible way is what everyone's looking for today. Pertinent information is good. It can take the reader where they wanted to go. Stuffing the work with a mess of keywords to try and rank, may get the reader to your piece but it won't keep them there long enough to give any benefit.
Search engines are getting smarter today. If you have some good information and can present that information in an easy to read as well as comprehend method, then the world will flock to your door. This will translate directly into increased income and you'll be on your way.
So How Do We Do It
Getting the word out
How we do it is something that no two writers will agree on. There are many ways of publicizing your on line content. Blogs are one way as people are now following their on line articles within their own blogs and this method is good it will provide links back to your work for the search engines to find.
These back links are good but a better link would come from an authoritative site like wikipedia or any .edu site. These are known as high interest websites and people trust them. The search engines also trust them and they take a lot of weight when they see links coming to your work from any of these high priority established web sites.
There are also paid methods of getting traffic to your work. The problem with these paid methods is that not always will the Right people be coming from the paid ads. Natural organic search in my humble opinion is the best traffic generator there is.
In order to get people to your work with organic search, you must have the best and most relevant information that the world is looking for on that subject. There is no short cut and as a good writer you shouldn't be looking for one.
Produce quality writing and give the user/ reader what they need. This is the best way to almost guarantee that your work will show up high in any result pages when the subject is searched. This translates to interested viewers and ultimately profit on your articles.
Amazon Price: $17.00 $13.00 Buy Now
(price as of Aug 11, 2015)


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About GW
Welcome to the Green Warriors of Norway
The Green Warriors (GW) have tirelessly been fighting - always been up front and often on their own - for the last 29 years, for the environment and for the wildlife. Kurt Oddekalv built his own environmental group and has established Green Warriors of Norway, for almost twenty years ago. GW engages in active political influence, public education and information, fieldwork and direct actions.
Kurt Oddekalv is a one-of-a-kind environmental warrior with a strong integrity; he is uncompromising and fiercely honest. These are irreplaceable virtues in a time where money usually governs all. The organisation's driving force is a deeply rooted love of nature, the deep-ecological idea and a consistent respect for all life. We talk in a way that people can understand, and our slogan and life motto is: He who dares, wins!
The organisation is democratic and is built from the roots and up, with fractions working both locally and centrally. Our local groups fight against a specific issue or industry, with the assistance of our central office which brings the fight to a national level. This combination has proved itself to be very powerful.
Our aim is to show that environmental protection does not have to be difficult. Anyone can take up the fight and get heard, and we can show you how to do it. And this organisation is daring. We have sided with nature in any fight, even taking on priests, bishops and, indeed, the pope himself. We have fought the world's greatest polluters such as the oil and gas industry to international top politicians.
GW has confronted the Norwegian Church and challenged the clergy to ask nature to forgive mankind's betrayal of it. We have put overcrowding and contraception into a climatic context.
The Green Warriors have challenged Norway's "flagship" Statoil in a manner that has led to the name 'Kurt Oddekalv' appearing in many a Board meeting. He has also inflicted many severe blows to Statoil, especially by opposing against Mongstad but also directly by applying them large fines for direct pollution.
The Green Warriors have reported Kjell Magne Bondevik – Norwegian Prime Minister at the time – to the Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime on account of ivory smuggling. This in turn led to a particular paragraph in CITES concerning heads of state, gifts and endangered species.
Also, in the event of two UN Climate Change Conferences, GW has confronted and criticized two candidates for the American Presidency; George H. W. Bush at first, and then his son George W. Bush. Both times, these actions were press covered by CNN and it aroused considerable international interest.
GW has fought the mighty Walt Disney concern because it dispersed children's toys containing PVCs and phthalates in their Donald Duck comic books.
GW has on several occasions experienced people trying to "buy" us. But instead of selling his case, we have gone public and exposed whoever made the offer. GW has spoken out on every heavy and controversial environmental issue concerning the so-called "environmental nation Norway". We have repeatedly been the one to warn about dangers. The leader Kurt Oddekalv has been ridiculed, called names and been threatened by strong monetary stakeholders, politicians and established communities.
GW is currently best known both nationally and internationally for having implemented an "environmental war" against Norway's second largest export industry – the Norwegian aquaculture industry. GW focused on contaminants in the farmed fish, over-exploitation of wild fish to produce fish food, organized animal abuse, sea lice that kill the wild Atlantic salmon strains, and the vast organic pollution of the beautiful Norwegian fjords.
Besides the fight against the aquaculture industry, GW will take on any environmental issues worth fighting for. We have campaigned for biological diversity in nature and the welfare of our predators, such as the wolf. We have also campaigned against unnecessary development that destroys nature and wildlife, and ensured that polluting industry gets caught and fined. Enclosed is a short list of merits/curriculum vitae:
• Total prohibition against eviction of fish after a police report filed against 3 fishing boats that were dumping mackerel.
• Successfully fighting fish farms and launching campaigns worldwide. We have campaigned in Canada, Scotland, England, China, Russia, Germany, the USA and Chile. Due to our efforts, China has banned import of Norwegian farmed salmon.
• The exportation to Denmark of salmon based fish entrails containing antibiotics was stopped.
• A police report was filed against a prime minister, in office at the time, for attempts of smuggling ivory, and the police confiscated the tusks.
• The use of antibiotics and chemotherapeutics in the aquaculture industry was reduced.
• The use of the herbicide Roundup along Norwegian roads was stopped.
• Limits were reduced for low-frequency radiation from masts and high voltage transformers.
• Combustion plants at all Norwegian plants were closed
• A sulphur treatment plant at the industrial area Mongstad was constructed.
• A national waste plan was established for the construction industry, as well as a waste sorting system at the Norwegian State Railways.
• In 2009, Statoil was imposed a fine of 25 million NOK for oil spills after a police report filed from Kurt Oddekalv.
• In 2008, the Norwegian National Authority for the Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime launched investigations on the basis of police reports filed from Oddekalv, two of these cases are currently in court; the dumping of toxic sediments in the Oslo fjord, and the West Tank accident in Sløvåg.
• Following a police report from Kurt in 2002, Aluscan was imposed a fine of 4 million NOK for committing environmental crimes.
• After a break-in at Norway's largest gas terminal, the Supreme Court came to the conclusion that ordinary laws could not judge Kurt since his work was very useful for society.
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Why the Mormon-Facebook Rumor Made Sense
Several bloggers high and low took a great deal of heat for publishing a rumor yesterday that the Mormon church was looking into purchasing or acquiring social networking giant Facebook. WinExtra, The Industry Standard, Inquisitr and VentureBeat all covered the rumor that seemed to originate from Zach Klein and Brady Brim-DeForest.
Zach Klein said on his blog:
I heard from an employee close to the deal that the Mormon church's genealogy business made an unsolicited bid to acquire Facebook.
While maintaining the country's largest ancestral database, they certainly have a motive to control this generation's biographical data, and they certainly have the cash to do it. In 1996, Time Magazine estimated the church's annual revenues to be $5 billion, with total assets at $25 to $30 billion.
Zach is co-founder of video site Vimeo, and Brady has a laundry list of founding, executive, and directing positions at Web 2.0 companies in his bio. These folks aren't unreliable sources of information, but as with all merger and acquisition rumors, they must be taken with a grain of salt. Who would have thought that AOL was seriously buying an Old Media organization like Time-Warner before it was confirmed? I remember the morning I woke up to Adam Ostrow telling me that Microsoft was trying to buy Yahoo - I had a hard time believing that one, too.
That the Mormon Church would attempt to buy Facebook is a semi-credible rumor, and it's given even more credence when you start to throw in background bits of information about the LDS organization and Facebook itself.
First of all, as almost everyone noted, Facebook has started allowing employees to sell off stock at a much lowered valuation than the $15 billion that Microsoft invested in. Second of all, and again, widely discussed, the Mormon church has a very ingrained to the theology interest in creating very detailed genealogical records of all church members.
This didn't prevent a literal virtual mob from forming around the rumor, which went into full-on attack mode against anyone who posted anything that entertained the idea. I'll grant you it was probably the politest mob I've ever encountered in one of these "let's get'em" situations, but a mob none-the-less.
Brady's initial write-up was probably the most succinct and thorough treatment of the rumor, and it was re-hashed by the other bloggers who talked about it as well:
The Mormon Church maintains the largest genealogical database in the United States and apparently has the cash reserves necessary to make an offer of the magnitude necessary to acquire Facebook.
According to a 1997 Time Magazine Report, the Church of Latter Day Saints' assets exceeded $30 Billion in 1996, and three years later was reported to be making over $5 Billion in revenue each year.
The Church is no stranger to the technology world, and in the 1980's even created the first standard for exchange of genealogical information, Genealogy Data COMmunications, or GEDCOM for short.
The sheer depth and breadth of the Church's genealogical information is staggering - the specter of pairing it with one of the most detailed, accurate, and widespread social maps in existence (Facebook) is truly terrifying.
How much did they offer? Well, according the the latest executive stock sale rumors, Facebook may actually be valued at around $5-8 Billion – so we can only assume that the Church made an offer somewhere north of the $5 Billion mark.
Brady established the feasibility and motive for it to be true, but the response was swift and certain from members of the church who were offended by the notion. Louis Gray and Jesse Stay both posted to their blogs questioning the rumor, and Louis Gray questioned the intelligence and common sense of the other bloggers who gave the story play on their own blogs. Jesse Stay, though, went further out of his way to show his displeasure with the blogosphere for considering it, even for a moment!:
Frankly, I never share [rumors] (well, rarely), but they are fun to read because, well, they're funny. But rumors like an entire Faith buying a huge company like Facebook are ridiculous, unfounded, and frankly offensive to me that anyone would take such a rumor seriously when the Faith is my own. It's a religion, people - tell me one reason a religious Faith would need a social network like Facebook to further its mission. Do you seriously believe any religion would be so stupid as to try this? People would leave Facebook in droves if that were to happen, and a network like Facebook has no good way of building up the members of the Faith itself.
Mormonism is a For-Profit Organization The problem is that like many other modern religious movements, the Mormon church looks more and more like a business than a faith as time goes on. I did some research last night to compile some very interesting facts about the Mormon church with relation to their finances.
The church has not publicly disclosed its financial statements in the United States since 1959, and only their UK revenues are audited (where it is required by law). Most of the revenues for the church supposedly come from tithes and offerings, but there are a wide variety of commercial efforts and enterprises that the church undertakes, some of them a part of the non-profit side, while others have been spun off into a for-profit corporate arm of the church named Deseret Management Corporation.
Assets of this company include: America's largest nut producer AgReserves Inc, a company called Hawaii Reserves, Inc. that generated $280 million in revenue alone, a half-million acre farm named Farmland Reserve Inc, a TV and radio chain named Bonneville International Corporation (the 14th largest in the US), and an insurance company named Beneficial Financial Group which has $3 billion in assets.
This, of course, doesn't include the second largest newspaper in Utah or Brigham Young University, both of which generate substantial revenue and fall under the ownership of the church in one form or another.
A lot of these subsidiaries are rationalized by the fact that they have benefit to members of the church. The insurance company can sell insurance to the church members at a discount, the radio and TV chain can provide all-Mormon all-the-time entertainment. The farm and nut producer can be used to feed the flock on missions as well as the starving folks of the world. I still haven't figured out how a tourist attraction in Hawaii can be justified, but I'm sure if you ask the Mormon PR folks, they'll give you a decent answer.
The truth is, though, that these corporations do more than just what their justifications dictate. A lot more. You don't accrue $3 billion in assets by taking a loss selling insurance to your flock. The radio and TV stations that are owned by Bonneville may be "family oriented," but include a whole lot of secular content (mostly adult contemporary music and right-wing talk shows).
Does the rumor sound so offensive, outlandish, moronic and ridiculous now?
But Wait, There's More! I've intentionally stayed away from talking about the theology of the movement because it's not germane to the business dealings in the context of this rumor, and frankly I know a lot of Mormons that are really cool people, and I don't really want to go to war with them over religion. The truth is, though, that there is a lot more than what some of their apologists and fervent defenders are saying, and their attempts to quash the rumors ignore some very large truths.
That said, to understand why this is such a particularly plausible rumor requires understanding why heritage research is so very important to Mormons. A little bit of searching found a website for a (very long! and) even-handed documentary I watched recently on Mormon history by PBS. They explained it thusly:
One of the core tenets of Mormon faith is that the dead can be baptized into the faith after their passing. Baptism of the dead evolved from the beliefs that baptism is necessary for salvation and that the family unit can continue to exist together beyond mortal life if all members are baptized.
Mormons trace their family trees to find the names of ancestors who died without learning about the restored Mormon Gospel so that these relatives from past generations can be baptized by proxy in the temple. For Latter-day Saints, genealogy is a way to save more souls and strengthen the eternal family unit.
There are enormous resources put into this endeavor, and it's not something they take lightly. There's an entire mountain compound devoted to the discovery for and cataloging of these records. What was originally estimated to be a 120 year project is now estimated to be completed in 10 years thanks to what? You guessed it: technology!
Acquisition and Merger Rumors in General So we've established that Mormon-owned organizations like to buy stuff, and they're not particularly hung up on them being secular organizations in nature, they have enough cash to buy most, if not all, of Facebook at the lowered valuation, and they really love having records on people.
All this is moot, though, since the church debunked the rumor? The official line from the church since 3:00 PM yesterday has been, "This rumor has no foundation whatsoever."
Let me throw another quote at you: "We're not shopping the company." That one comes from Kevin Rose, talking about Digg. If you believe that, I've got some land in the Everglades for you.
Still not convinced? Tell me if you remember this line: "Microsoft taking over Yahoo — that conversation has never come up." That's Terry Semel, former CEO of Yahoo. Caterina Fake also laughed off the prospect of Yahoo buying Flickr weeks before it happened. If you go back over the years, denials of impending acquisitions where the takeover or a deal was imminent are just as common as when it isn't.
The bottom line? This potential deal makes great sense for the Mormon organization, and is still plausible to boot. The mob should think twice before they get so offended that we entertain rumors along these lines in the blogosphere. It certainly isn't cause for a lot of the insults and accusations of poor journalism that were hurled.


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Frances LeMaster
Frances LeMaster, 1914-2016. Orange residents were saddened to hear of the death of Frances LeMaster, 101, who died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California on January 8, 2016. Fran LeMaster moved to Orange in 1946 when her husband Richard, a DuPont engineer, came to Orange when DuPont Sabine River Works opened. Mrs. LeMaster and Richard Spent 50 years in Orange, and she moved to Rancho Mirage, California in 1997 after Richard's death to be with her son, Terry, who lives and works there. Mrs. LeMaster gave generous grants for the First Presbyterian Church in Orange which is used to help the church's youth ministries and other programs. Mrs. LeMaster gave a grand piano to the church, and her grants to the Fire Department paid for the development of the first responder program, which trains firefighters as emergency medical technicians and equips them for the job. Her grant to the police station when it was built paid for the weight room, community center and much of the security equipment. She also gave a grant to the Orange County Sheriff's Department to buy child safety car seats for a program to exchange for unsafe child seats and paid for DARE scholarships to Lamar State College-Orange. She was the first woman to serve on the Orange County Grand Jury, and during her long time in Orange, she was involved in numerous civic and church activities. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard; and daughter, Missy. She is survived by her son, Terry.
Mrs. LeMaster will be interred with her husband in West Virginia. She lived a long and worthy life, and is remembered by a plaque in honor of her and her husband in the City of Orange Police Station. Orange was very fortunate to be graced by the life of this marvelous lady.
Cynthia Marie Neie
Cynthia Marie Neie, 72, of Bronson died Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016 at St. Luke's Memorial Hospital in Lufkin. Graveside Services... read more


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The recently announced Panasonic GX8 camera , the camera features newly developed sensor and world first camera to feature DUAL IS system, the camera features built-in image 5-axis stabilization system and also utilizes the lens IS correction mechanism.
Take a look at the sample videos captured with Panasonic GX8, the first video 4K video is captured with a pre-production camera and the next one is uploaded by Panasonic itself,
Daniel Berehulak, a world-renowned award-winning photojournalist, travelled to Cuba with new LUMIX DMC-GX8 to document an evolving culture and society going through significant social, political and economic change. This is a part of his journey recorded with GX8 in 4K.
You can also enjoy photos shot by him and the behind-the-scenes with shooting impression of GX8.


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Better to trade for quick profits until after the US election, unless the stock market starts to tank, at which point we would go with the longer term play in that direction.
EURJPY: Short-term traders who are short from the 11/02/12 recommendation, cover your shorts and look to resell on the next 75-120 pip rally, as long as the 240 and/or 60-minute trends are down. A break of 102.37 would likely confirm a 5-wave bearish decline, but may also complete this leg and set up for the 75-120 pip rally to sell into. See daily and 240-minute Euro-Yen charts below with the analysis.
SGDJPY: The predictive stochastics on this pair has crossed over to the downside and is within the SELL AREA provided by the automated Gartley BAT pattern that is bearish. The market will either sell off from here or make one last spike and then sell off. Looks like most markets are playing it tight until the US election results are in or very clear by early Tuesday evening. Not that it will matter who gets elected, unless someone wins by a shocking margin, which is not likely at this juncture. See daily SGDJPY charts below (second chart provides a close-up of the bearish Gartley BAT pattern).
USDJPY: COVER SHORTS at the market, since the decline has had low momentum and looks like it will rally 40-80 points from the low.
ACTION 1: BUY intra-day pullbacks as long as the 60-minute trend is up. Caution around 80.40 area were a downtrend resistance line is at.
ACTION 2: SELL AGAIN if the 80.15 low is taken out on the downside (80.15 sell stop to open), use 80.26 stop loss, move stop to break even at possibly at 80.05, cover 1/2 to all at 79.94 limit.
We may sell again at the end of this intra-day or two-day rally if we get another systematic signal at around the 80.40 area. See hourly Dollar-Yen chart below.
If you found this report helpful, please use our social media buttons below to show your support. Cheers!


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Princess Pink isn't a princess, nor is she a fan of the color pink. In defiance of her frothy moniker, Princess prefers "dirty sneakers, giant bugs, mud puddles, and cheesy pizza" over fairies, ballerinas, and the princess dresses her mother attempts to foist upon her. Unsurprisingly, the magical world Princess stumbles upon through her refrigerator door one night isn't a Narnia, an Oz, or even a sideways Wonderland. Instead, the Land of Fake-Believe is a shared fairy-tale universe gone amok, with an oddball cast of subverted characters such as the green-haired Moldylocks (of Three Beards fame—"much scarier than bears"), The Three Pugs, a kleptomaniac fowl named Little Red Quacking Hood, and, perhaps oddest of all, the Tunacorn, a kind of unicorn with a tuna fish for a horn.
My First Book of Girl Power (DC Super Heroes)
I've never been a fan of the term "girl power." Despite its '90s riot grrrl origins—the "grrr stood for growling," according to feminist scholar Anita Harris—girl power has become less an expression of feminine empowerment than a form of prepackaged consumerism masquerading as dumbed-down ideology. Get over the patronizing attitude, however, and My First Book of Girl Power is a pretty decent Who's Who of DC Comics' female pantheon for the board-book set. Just don't expect a whole lot of depth—or diversity.
Giants Beware! (The Chronicles of Claudette)
Set against the rolling hills of pseudo-medieval France, Giants Beware! is the story of Claudette, a pint-size rapscallion who wears her hair short and her temper shorter. The daughter of the village blacksmith, Claudette has a singular ambition: to snuff out the neighborhood baby-feet-eating giant and destroy it. There are a few kinks in the would-be giant slayer's plans, however. Her father, who was maimed fighting a dragon, makes light of her quest, considering it a child's idle fancy. She also has to rally a pair of reluctant squires—an aspiring princess named Marie and her timorous younger brother, Gaston—to her cause, which she succeeds through some light chicanery.
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade
Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade is less about a 12-year-old adjusting to life as a superhero than it is about a superhero figuring out how to be 12 years old. Gawky, insecure, and a complete fish out of water, Landry Q. Walker and Eric Jones's Kara Zor-el is the antithesis of her broodier, more volatile "New 52" counterpart.
Granted, it helps that this iteration of the Last Daughter of Krypton didn't witness the destruction of her home planet in a cataclysmic explosion. In this alternate canon, Argo City survives after the force of the blast shunts it into a pocket reality known as Quasi-Space, where. Kara, like most preteens, engages her parents in a constant battle of wills. That is, until an impulsive decision sends her careening to Earth on an interdimensional rocket, with no hope of return in sight.
I Can Read: I Am Wonder Woman
Still think that Wonder Woman's Greek myth origins are "too complicated" for the silver screen, movie execs? I Can Read: I Am Wonder Woman gets down to the brass tacks, explaining Diana's story so cogently even a five-year-old could follow. (Mine certainly did.)
The early reader covers the basics: Paradise Island, princess, Amazons, Gods-given powers. But it also throws in the magic truth-inducing magic lasso, Wonder Woman's invisible jet, her civilian identity, and even her friendship with Superman and Batman—all in fewer than 32 pages, most comprising pithy sentences.
Princess at Midnight
Princess at Midnight is the story of Holly Crescent, a preadolescent girl who lives a cloistered existence in a narrow townhouse somewhere in England. By day, she's homeschooled by an overprotective father alongside her twin brother, Henry. At night, she's magically transported to another plane of existence, where she reigns as princess of Castle Waxing. Instead of squaring off in the classroom with Henry, Holly engages in a land dispute with her kingdom's sworn enemy, the Horrible Horde.
Princess Holly isn't a milquetoast regent—she's brash, irascible, and frequently unsympathetic; more Boudica than Belle. When ogres from the Horde attack her favorite picnic spot, Holly declares war. Her chancellor, a dragon, suggests drawing up a treaty to declare the area common property, but the princess will not be persuaded. "Share?" she barks. "I'm a princess, I don't do sharing." Someone fetch the smelling salts!
The Radically Awesome Adventures of the Animal Princess
Animal Princess would rather muck about in the sewers fighting slime monsters than wear another frilly princess dress. In fact, she frequently does, ditching the usual royal trappings for animal-themed pajamas that grant her the abilities of the creatures she emulates.
With her trusty feline steed, Buttercup, at her side, Animal Princess dispatches nefarious thee-head wizards, frosting-spewing sentient cupcakes, and spectral dust bunnies alike with moxie and an almost fiendish aplomb. You won't find any shoehorned moral lessons here; The Radically Awesome Adventures of the Animal Princess is pure bombastic mischief.
Broken Age (Act I)
Double Fine's Broken Age is only half the game it set out to be, but that's OK. One of Kickstarter's biggest crowdfunding triumphs, the point-and-click adventure surpassed its $400,000 goal less than 12 hours into its campaign in February 2012. It would go on to rake in $3.3 million, a sum so princely that the game could only grow in scope to match.
A victim of its own ambition—studio boss and LucasArts alum Tim Schafer blamed himself for designing "too much game"—Double Fine ran out of money mid-development. But instead of begging its backers for more, the company settled on an unorthodox solution: selling the first half of Broken Age to fund the second, to be delivered as a free update at a later time.
It's apparent from the outset that Hilda isn't your typical blue-haired little girl. For one thing, she lives with her mother in the mountains, on the edge of a forest populated by magical creatures. In Hilda's world, boys are made out of wood, antlered foxes gambol alongside itinerant water spirits, and furry beasts flock across the skies.
Hildafolk is an amuse-bouche of a tale. One of London publisher Nobrow's 17×23 series, a format for emerging artists to "tell their stories in a manageable and economic format," the book offers a glimpse into a world that's tantalizingly, almost vexingly, brief.
DC Super Friends: Flower Power
Wonder Woman may currently be filling Batman's knee-highs in the digital revival of Sensation Comics, but it's not the Amazon's first rodeo in Gotham City. In Flower Power, one of Golden Books' DC Super Friends line of early readers, the princess of Themyscira finds herself at Gotham Botanical Gardens, where she tag-teams with Batgirl to investigate the arrival of a glowing green meteorite.
Turns out our dynamic duo aren't the only ones who are after the space rock. Poison Ivy, sensing the meteorite's spooky "plant powers," wants to use it to the planet into her own private terrarium. Before long, Wonder Woman and Batgirl are caught in the tentacled embrace of a rabid Venus flytrap.


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My beauty has layers you will never comprehend.
My layers have layers more complicated than cake.
Haven't I been cut down enough?
My body is not yours. My health is my own!
My layers have beauty you cannot behold.
My curves and ripples smash your square pegs.
You see me a tin of minced meat,
yet I have already severed myself
and sewn in all the candy hearts
with more precision than any surgeon.
My fat has protected and comforted me through cultural abuse.
It has wrangled me from suicide,
branded me with its sigil for my future powers.
I embody the bounty of Creation.
Foundation from my ancestors,
the ones that transformed your bland colonial diet.
The ones who knew their beauty could never be owned.
Their ghosts are as essential as the soil,
as elemental as the sea.
You cannot cut them from me.
Flesh is the flimsiest layer,
manipulated and undulating
sister to fantasy: of me but not me.
I used to dream of slicing myself open
to chuck the fluff and texture, then
sew it all back together
"the right way":
with flimsy plastic and sharp edges.
My layers have layers you will never comprehend.
In between are all the nuanced strata of resent
for the wretched systems you build
to conform me, convert me, contain me.
All the locks I have picked, the puzzles I unfurled
and now you tell me to hack apart my prize.
The frosting of my survival
has nothing to do with the flowers that made me.
I learned to jiggle and juggle the present and future
while standing tiptoe on a burning shit box of the past.
My body is my own.
I am the only architect of my triumph.
I hold the sledge hammer of happiness.
I only use the scaffolding and tools
given me by the universe; I do not own the plans.
I do not expect the fruits, I focus on the labor.
Every step forward is an application
for self-employment.
My health is not yours. I exist on my own terms.
I gave my hair to the river; I've wept for the fallen deer.
My organs may fail, my mind might fall to disarray,
but I have lived a thousand lies your science cannot detect.
I have read all of your books, studied your ways, conformed
for your comedy.
What have you sacrificed for me?
There is no compensation for these tribulations.
No quick fix or suppressant.
My twinkle would explode the vaults
where you hide your preciousness.
You fear I will Super Nova your ass.
For every shimmering stretch mark,
each curiously healed scar,
even the cookies and the kale
are all a testament, an experiment
that led to this inevitable unfathomable conclusion:
My body is not yours. My health is my own!
©Tonya Cherie Hegamin
© 2018 | Tonya Cherie Hegamin


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Roller Hockey Clinic
Roller Hockey Clinic
Event Description:
The Tri-City Inline Hockey League is holding a Roller Hockey Clinic for children and youth in Oceanside-Carlsbad-Vista and surrounding areas Saturday, February 16 at the roller hockey rink at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 4300 Mesa Drive in Oceanside.
The clinic will coincide with optional in-person registration for TCIHL's Spring-2019 Season, a co-ed recreational program for kids and youth from March to June.
Click here for more info.


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It was Monday, April 15, 2013. Tax Day. Patriot's Day. And a normal school day at Stoneleigh-Burnham. During Morning Announcements in my Humanities 7 class, the notion came up that Patriots' Day was a day off for most residents of Massachusetts and Maine and, after some good-natured grumbling, the students got down to work. Out of a class of 10, seven students wanted to read from their independent writing, and the entire class listened carefully and patiently to over an hour's worth of readings, bringing insight and empathy to their comments and suggestions. The rest of the period continued in the same vein, and later on my French 2 students would be similarly willing to work to understand at a deep level how you distinguish when to use the imparfait and when to use the passé composé instead.
Following this class, I went to Reception to meet the students who were travelling with me to volunteer at the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society. As we loaded up the car, one of the girls mentioned there had been some sort of an explosion in Boston and, thinking of the Boston Marathon and my cousins who were running in it and my brother who often is involved with it, I lent them my phone when one of theirs died so they could look up what happened. They stuck to the facts, which were still sketchy at the time - two explosions, some injuries - and we moved on to talk about other things.


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Brooklyn, New York – The International Association of HealthCare Professionals is pleased to welcome Robert Michael Hersh, DMD, Dentist, to their prestigious organization with his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World. Dr. Hersh currently serves patients at his private practice in Brooklyn, New York. Holding over 30 years of experience, he specializes in implantology and prosthetics.
Dr. Hersh was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and then completed a residency at Brookdale Hospital. He is an inductee of Alpha Omega Alpha International Dental Society and is a professional member of the Academy of General Dentistry, the 2nd District Dental Society, the American Dental Association, and the American Academy of Implant Dentistry.
Dr. Hersh attributes his success to his father, his education, dedication, and making a difference in the field. When not assisting patients, he enjoys traveling, being outdoors, and spending time with friends and family.
View Robert Michael Hersh's Profile here: https://www.findatopdoc.com/doctor/Robert-Hersh-Dentist-Brooklyn-New-York-11234 and be sure to read his upcoming publication in The Leading Physicians of the World.
About FindaTopDoc
FindaTopDoc.com is a hub for all things medicine, featuring detailed descriptions of medical professionals across all areas of expertise, and information on thousands of healthcare topics. Each month, millions of patients use FindaTopDoc to find a doctor nearby and instantly book an appointment online or create a review. Findatopdoc.com features each doctor's full professional biography highlighting their achievements, experience, patient reviews and areas of expertise. A leading provider of valuable health information that helps empower patient and doctor alike, FindaTopDoc enables readers to live a happier and healthier life.
For more information about FindaTopDoc, visit http://www.findatopdoc.com
Media Contact
Company Name: International Association of HealthCare Professionals
Contact Person: Lauren
Email: email@example.com
Phone: 877-447-8360
Country: United States
Website: www.findatopdoc.com


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FREE Service; You will receive email within 1 hour when your order is Ready for Collection. Have your phone with this Ready for Collection email with you. We will hold your order for 2 days. Still can't make it, no problem, no charge.
Leeds Birstall
Ring! Ring! Hello, who's calling? The Peek & Play Phone is a fun and exciting way for little ones to use their imaginations and encourages pretend play. This brightly coloured phone has 4 press buttons packed with fun phrases introducing feelings, numbers, colours and first words. The Peep and Play Phone features 3 happy songs and 15 melodies.
Supplier Contact Details: email@example.com Supplier Phone: UK: 03306780149 ROI: +443306780149
For full shipping and delivery information please visit Shipping & Delivery. For information on how to return items, please visit Returns Policy


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Beta Bloc Canada
Set of 2 pegs — Entirely scalable and supremely versatile, the Beta Bloc series opens up a world of possibilities for bottle storage and display. With its refined and minimalist design, each shared Beta Bloc rod allows your bottles to rest securely with the Beta's fixed horizontal spacing, optimized for your 750ml bottles, while preserving your wine display's overall design aesthetic. Beta Bloc rods are meticulously constructed to be both your stand-alone storage and display solution, or to seamlessly expand your cellar's existing capacity.
Connector bolts are purchased separately
For custom cellar design and build services please contact us via email at firstname.lastname@example.com
- x2 rods (7" L x 1" Ø)
- x4 o-rings
- Connector bolts purchased separately
Requires a backing panel and fasteners for installation (not included) and a hand drill.
Panel & Hardware Installation Guide


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Drug-free workplaces are a great way to boost your business. However, did you also know that maintaining a drug-free workplace can bring financial incentives? Continue reading "Drug-Free Workplace Program: Eligibility & Incentives" »
Drug-Free Workplace Program: Eligibility & Incentives
Instant Drug Tests: Not as Handy as They Seem
As an employer, you likely seek out solutions that combine time and cost-efficiency, plus convenience. It's also key to make sure that all of your internal processes follow applicable laws — especially when it comes to your workplace drug testing.
If you have a drug testing program in place, you've probably heard of instant drug tests that seem ideal for pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, and random drug testing. But did you know that instant tests actually run the risk of weeding out people who are not abusing drugs?
At Test Smartly Labs, we advocate the use of instant drug tests as screening tools to be used in conjunction with further testing when necessary. Here's why we see instant drug tests as instant drug screens.
Continue reading "Instant Drug Tests: Not as Handy as They Seem" »
Celebrate Red Ribbon Week to Support Your Teen Employees
As much as it's essential for adult employees to be drug-free, but teen employees should also follow suit. This year, the Red Ribbon Week theme is "Life is Your Journey, Travel Drug Free." Journeying drug-free through your teen and young adult years is essential to future success in being a drug-free adult. Red Ribbon Week is an important effort of pushing back against America's drug epidemic, starting with young people. Continue reading "Celebrate Red Ribbon Week to Support Your Teen Employees" »
Ten Tips for Motivating Employees
Staff morale is more complicated to measure than sales but the morale in your office is essential to the success of your organization. The mental wellbeing and satisfaction of your staff are important for your business because unhappy employees have a higher chance of being unproductive.
If you do not address the issue of unmotivated employees early on, your business may incur costs later due to high turnover and inefficiency. Motivating your employees is not necessarily expensive. Learn how to apply basic principles of motivation to your workplace. Continue reading "Ten Tips for Motivating Employees" »
DOT Four-Opioid Panel Testing Rule Finalized
Last fall, the Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) made a final ruling on the proposed rules to include opioids in their drug testing panel for safety-sensitive employees. The proposal went into effect on January 1st of this year. What does this mean for employees who must abide by DOT regulations? Continue reading "DOT Four-Opioid Panel Testing Rule Finalized" »
How to Host a Successful Fall Health Fair
If you're a Kansas City employer, you know what fall means. We're not just talking about football games and bonfires. Open enrollment is just around the corner. One way to kick off the season is an employee health fair. Health fairs can educate employees on wellness tips and encourage them to take steps toward preventive and/or diagnostic care. If you're interested in hosting a health fair for your employees, here are a few recommendations: Continue reading "How to Host a Successful Fall Health Fair" »
Overcoming Procrastination in the Workplace
Procrastination can be the ultimate enemy of your company. When an employee drags their feet on accomplishing a task, it can negatively harm productivity. However, procrastination may be more than just a bad habit. There are several different factors that can lead to procrastination and there are several ways to fix the issue. Continue reading "Overcoming Procrastination in the Workplace" »
How to Address Absenteeism
Our last post, Absenteeism in the Workplace: A Modern Menace, noted the causes and consequences of frequent absenteeism in the office. Here are some more tips for you if you're trying to monitor the absentee rates at your workplace. We'll also share some advice for handling absent employees. Continue reading "How to Address Absenteeism" »
Absenteeism in the Workplace: A Modern Menace
Absenteeism is commonly defined as the regular or intermittent absence from work which may either be habitual or intentional. This phenomenon can be a major problem for any company or business. Although every employer knows that employees will miss a certain number of work days, excessive absenteeism at work is a major issue. Continue reading "Absenteeism in the Workplace: A Modern Menace" »
Choosing the Right Panels For Your Company's Drug Testing Program
Employees can be a company's greatest asset–or the greatest liability. Average employers actually pay twice their employees' salary in taxes, benefits, and training costs. The cost of replacing a salaried employee is equivalent to six to nine months of their pay. Employees are valuable investments that need to be looked after. One of the best ways to protect and provide for your workforce investment is with drug testing services. Let's take a look at drug testing options for businesses in the greater Kansas City area:
Continue reading "Choosing the Right Panels For Your Company's Drug Testing Program" »


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Digital accessibility
Creating accessible documents and thinking about inclusive user design makes our digital outputs more accessible to everyone. So why are there so many bad practices about? Is it intentional or are we just overlooking this when we produce electronic information?
There are three design concepts that have emerged to describe how we can create resources that are usable for the largest group of individuals, including individuals with a disability. These are:
Accessibility: designing materials that are accessible to people with a disability. This approach looks at removing any barriers that may prevent someone with a disability either engaging in a particular activity or accessing information.
Usability: considers the ease of use to a product or service to achieve a particular task or goal efficiently and effectively. Usable design requires lots of user-testing to ensure that the design of either a service or platform is intuitive to the user.
Inclusion (or universal design): is "the design of products and environments to be useable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation of specialised design" (Center for Universal Design, 2008). Universal design is the broadest concept and aims to ensure products and services are accessible to, and usable by, people with a wide range of characteristics.
There are research methods and principles that can be applied to improve the accessibility and usability of the information we disseminate, the platforms that we develop, and the services we offer. Two approaches that are particularly useful for the design of information technologies are Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and User Experience Design (UX techniques):
HCI considers the way that we (humans) interact with computers: it seeks to find new ways to interact, such as voice recognition, which may enable more initiative and accessible design.
UX design aims to provide the user with the best possible experience; it takes into account both useability and how a person feels about a particular product and service.
Both these research methods aim to improve how we interact and use information technologies, making products and services more accessible to people with a wide range of characteristics.
Things to consider to improve accessibility
There's lots of information available about improving the design of materials. Here are just a few suggestions to get you started:
Clear and concise writing and instructions – improves accessibility generally: more people are better able to understand it. Avoiding jargon, unnecessary acronyms, and the like makes the text more accessible for non-native speakers.
Properly structure your information – while it may seem obvious that some large bold text on its own line is a title of some kind, it won't necessarily be so obvious if your document is being read by a screen reader. Word processed documents and web pages have style and heading options that can give them a proper structure and outline in a range of devices. In web design, it's important to have a clear navigation system and avoid multilayered menus which can be tricky to use (especially with a screen reader).
Be considerate with your use of colour – some colours are more accessible than others so it's useful to think about this when choosing a colour palette. Take a look at these colour blindness filter examples to see the difference good colour selection can make. Be sure to have a clear contrast between text and background and avoid overlaying text on detailed or busy backgrounds as this is problematic for partially sighted users.
Use alt-text for pictures – in web design, alternative text for images allows the image to be understood in a text browser or screen reader. Also consider that hyperlinks should have a meaningful name on the link, rather than just "this link" or "click here", as these can be confusing on some e-readers and screen-readers that build menus from links on a page.
While it's true that some web browsers include tools for improving the accessibility of web pages, it's a lot easier, a lot more effective, and downright friendlier all round, if content is accessible from the offset. If you've any other tips for improving the accessibility of documents, please do share them in the comments section below.
© University of York (author: Susan Halfpenny)


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Seth MacFarlane has at least one fan of his Oscars hosting gig: his political opposite number Rush Limbaugh.
MacFarlane's apparently controversial Oscars hosting performance was far from a resounding success. He's being blasted by various constituencies for off-color, offensive, and even misogynistic remarks during the awards telecast. He got slammed on social media as well. Despite (or maybe because of) of these condemnations, TV ratings spiked during this year's ceremony, but MacFarlane has already vowed he is one and done as far as hosting the Academy Awards.
As the criticism continues to come pouring in, the Los Angeles Times reminds everyone – and the reminder shouldn't have been necessary — that "MacFarlane regularly uses hot-button issues like sex and religion as comedic fodder in Family Guy, the animated television show he created." As The Inquisitr has previously wondered, how realistic was it to expect MacFarlane to tone down his act for the Oscars?
Anyone who even peripherally watches Family Guy or has seen his appearances on CNN or elsewhere in a discussion format knows that McFarlane is a big liberal politically.
Yet it turns out that conservative Rush Limbaugh of all people is in his corner.
But in an email exchange with Rush Limbaugh (who has "appeared" on Family Guy three times), MacFarlane seems to have developed some new-found empathy for how right-of-center persons are treated and ostracized by most elements of the mainstream media, Hollywood, and the music industry. This is how Limbaugh characterized it on his radio show:
"I've been in the recording studio with Seth, and I don't care what you think of him: The man is profoundly, supremely talented. Now, there are a lot of characterizations about how he uses it and what direction he takes it, but there's no denying his talent, and he's a profoundly hard worker. I sent him an attaboy note yesterday morning. I sent him a wish-you-well kind of note. He wrote back and said, 'You know what? I kind of understand how you conservatives feel about the media now.' Because they were already proclaiming him the worst host ever before the show had even aired. I mean, 12 hours before the show."
If you watched the Oscars, and many of us had other things to do than sit through this self-congratulatory hypefest, what did you think of Seth MacFarlane's hosting gig?


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Miracle Gro Bloom Booster Reviewed and Compared
[yasr_overall_rating size="large"]
It is important to have healthy plant growth so that you can enjoy the company of mother nature. For the sound body you consume nutrients, in the same manner, the plants also require nutrients in the form of fertilizers so that they can grow properly. The bloom boosters serve as the nutrients for plants. They help in increasing the quality of the plant. One of the most famous bloom boosters is Miracle Gro Bloom Booster that can be added to soil, flowers, foliage and plant life. Here, I will provide the review and comparison of the same.
Miracle Gro Bloom Booster Review
If plants in your garden are starving, then Miracle-Gro lawn food will provide you great help. You can enjoy the masses of glowingly colored florals by making use of Miracle-gro garden soil for vegetation. You can relish the fresh flowers for the longer time as it works wonders for the fresh cut flowers.
Miracle-gro garden soil is useful in growing lovely vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs naturally. It acts as the natural fertilizer that releases nitrogen either slowly or quickly for rich, vivacious flowers and plants. You will experience it natural and organic that helps in growing better-quality and striking plants. It builds strong roots by improving existing soil. It is meant for in ground use only, and you can feed up to 3 months.
The Bloom Booster consists of phosphorous and other macronutrients that provide the quality plant growth. The vigorous and healthy flower buds are produced by the plants that have the high concentration of phosphorous. The increase of verdure is easy due to high nitrogen content. Whenever you observe that plant is commencing to form the bud, then apply bloom booster formula.
How to apply it?
You can directly apply the formula to your water vase and after 2-3 days replace the water and add a new solution. In this way, you can keep your flowers fresh. It is apt for fresh cut flowers that will keep your fresh-cut flowers enduring and beautiful.
Facts of Miracle Gro Bloom Booster
- It is idyllic for annuals, perennials, and plants that are in containers.
- It contains high phosphorous, so it encourages big plants and great stunning flower heads.
- Through the soil zone of the roots and foliar leaves, it helps in feeding the plants instantaneously.
- If you use with the combination of Miracle-Gro garden feeder, then it provides perfect outcomes.
- It is safe if you use as per the directions. It will not burn the plants if guidelines or instructions are followed carefully.
- It contains – 15% nitrogen, 30% phosphate and 30% soluble potash.
- For indoor plants, it can be applied one teaspoon per gallon of water and for outdoor plants, one tablespoon per gallon of water.
Miracle-Gro lawn food
You will enjoy a healthier and greener lawn in just five days by using Miracle-Gro lawn food. It is easy to apply with the Miracle-Gro Feeder, or you can mix it in a watering can. It is meant for use on lawns, and you can apply it approximately once a month. If you want your garden appears richer and greener, then use Miracle- Gro lawn food every month. Applying from early Spring to the Autumn will be worthy. If your lawn is in bad condition, then use it every two weeks.
>>>Check Reviews On Amazon.com
Miracle Gro Bloom Booster Comparison
I will compare Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster with Fox Farm and Advanced Nutrients Big Bud
|Fox Farm
|Advanced Nutrients Big Bud
|Fox Farm
|Advanced Nutrients
|Use every 7 to 14 days for better results
|Heal damaged root systems
|Enriches terpenoid production
|Meant for
|Absorbed through roots and leaves
|Mature and late-season plants
|Hydroponics and soil
|May leave excess chemicals in soil
|Not intended for hydroponic use
|Excess usage can impact groundwater
|After feeding, the plants absorb the nutrients immediately
|Helps flowering plants throughout their entire growth cycle
|Produce huge, beautiful flowers and tasty edibles
You can make out from the points mentioned in the above Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster review which contributes a lot in home gardening. It is safe for all the plants if you use them after going through the directions to use. If you prefer bigger and beautiful plants, then Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster work wonders.


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Why This Telemedicine Company Won't Be Using Pretty Packaging and Posed Models to Sell Birth Control
Nurx launches a new look to help boost its customer base
Plenty of direct-to-consumer birth control brands are hitting the market today, using pretty packaging, suggestive photography or overly-posed models to sell the product, but Nurx is taking a different approach. Today the brand launched a new look and marketing strategy to encourage more women (who either have or do not have health insurance) to think about Nurx when it comes to birth control.
The brand is particularly focused on expansion to Southern states, including South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.
Nurx has been around since 2015, originally dubbed by many as the "Uber for birth control." Today the telemedicine company offers everything from birth control and emergency contraception to home HPV screening kits and PrEp. As the company continues to expand (it's now in 23 states and the District of Colombia) Nurx decided it was time to rethink the way it communicates with existing and potential customers.
"The reality was we didn't have much of a brand. Our brand didn't necessarily reflect what we are doing here in terms of being an all-in-one service encompassing really primary healthcare needs, things you would traditionally have had to go to a physical doctor's office location, followed by a pharmacy, to get," explained Katelyn Watson, Nurx's vp of marketing.
Today Nurx is debuting a new look, complete with a fresh logo, website and even six custom typefaces to be used in all future marketing in partnership with design firm Koto.
For the casting process, Nurx wanted to stay far away from casting calls and professional models, something Watson feels others in the space rely too heavily on. The brand put out a call for existing customers in Miami and San Francisco to come by, talk about their relationship with the brand and take some real, authentic photos (that would not go on to be photoshopped before being used by the brand).
"You see some of our competitors, some of the women are just in these crazy poses that you would never actually do. For us, we wanted to capture the emotions in our customers but do that in a real way versus trying to say that we are doing something and not really doing it," said Watson.
Another point of differentiation that the brand plays up is that it is discreet and easy to understand. There's no elaborate packaging or Instagram-worthy boxes arriving at the customer's door.
"Some of the competitors we've seen are focusing pretty heavily on things that have nothing to do with getting your birth control in the mail," Watson explained. She said she sees competitors, "giving extras, beautiful packaging and freebies, making their brand all about that, which is a little concerning. It should be about is this safe, is this discreet? Most consumers don't want a big bright box showing up at their door that says 'birth control.'"
Additionally, Nurx launched six custom typefaces that customers will see on the website, app and other marketing materials. The fonts look hand-drawn and not too over the top. It's a move on behalf of the brand to capture its customers' voices through a typeface.
Watson and team also wanted to capture doctor's voices with these new typefaces, which is why customers will start to see representations of doctor's signatures on the website to, "create a sense of openness within the site that says, 'Click here to chat with us,' so that people know this is something that is real and the providers are there for them," Watson said.
While the marketing team discussed the idea of changing the brand name—hundreds of potential options were discussed and eventually narrowed down to 40— but the team decided to stick with Nurx. "We felt like we already had such a strong foothold in the industry," she explained. "People are really starting to understand who we are especially just beyond birth control that we wanted to stick with the name and make it even bolder than it was before."


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Pepsi-Cola Bottling of Eastern Oregon Scholarship
Eligibility: Pursuing a two- or four-year degree in any major except agricultural education, hospitality or other non-ag related majors. Must be a resident of Baker, Malhuer, Union, or Wallowa counties in Oregon. The student musthave participated in community service and have a minimum 3.5 GPA.For more information or to apply, please visit the scholarship provider's website.
Award Amount: $1,000
Competitive: Yes
Essay required: Yes


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I found the option to submit system information.
Learned that it collects traces on the system and submits 'em to QuickHeal.
What happens with that information?
I've not yet gotten any reply on submissions (I perform malware tests in ShadowDefender environment, and submit the traces in order to improve QuickHeal Antivirus Pro).
For example latest report:
ScreenShot_048JPG12.scr opens up a picture file as distraction, while opening wscript.exe to load payload (QuickHeal firewall alert for the outbound connection confirmed). client32.exe gets dropped and triggered (set to AutoRun). It calls out, autoallowed by QuickHeal firewall. Some Comodo signing related file was initally calling out, too (BSSISS.exe).


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Hi there!
If you are a female or gender diverse poet or spoken word artist looking to create and connect, you've come to the right place.
I founded Girls on Key Poetry in 2014 to create opportunities for you to write and share your work in safe, inclusive and like-minded communities.
I look forward to supporting you on your creative journey.
Anna Forsyth,
Founder , Poet & Editor
Girls on Key Press
Our small poetry publishing press, Girls on Key Press publishes up to ten books of poetry by women and gender diverse poets every year.


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More school districts might have to borrow more money this summer as the state continues to delay aid payments.
A new aid delay tied to a property tax bookkeeping shift kicks off what financial advisers expect will be another summer of brisk borrowing by Minnesota's schools. And angst over a possible government shutdown looming in the absence of a state budget deal could also play into borrowing decisions.
This week, districts from Rosemount and Lakeville to Columbia Heights are gearing up to borrow against anticipated state aid, and a deadline to join a borrowing pool sponsored by the Minnesota School Boards Association arrives.
"Instead of recurring payments, we have received IOUs, and an IOU doesn't pay our cash obligations," said Jeff Solomon, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan's finance director. "Our revenue looks like it's even, but it's really money we're waiting on."
The district, the state's fourth-largest, is borrowing $15 million – for the first time in at least 20 years. Though the district maintained a $32 million rainy day fund in the past couple of years, only a fraction of it is handy cash rather than promised aid.
So for almost two months this summer, the district will find itself short on cash to cover paychecks, utility bills and other obligations. The district is preparing to sell so-called aid-anticipation certificates, projected to set it back $57,000 in fees and interest.
According to Joel Sutter, a financial adviser, 130 districts – or almost 40 percent of Minnesota districts – borrowed last year. He expects more will do so this year.
"We have districts like Rosemount that have never issued aid-anticipation certificates that are needing to do it," said Sutter of Ehlers, a financial advising firm that often works with schools.
Patty Heminover at Springsted, which administers a borrowing pool sponsored by the Minnesota School Boards Association, also says participation might go up this year. In 2009, 72 districts borrowed some $161 million through the pool, which allows districts to command lower interest rates and fees; in 2010, 91 districts borrowed more than $300 million.
Interest rates have remained low: Heminover said she hopes the pool will land a rate in line with last summer's 0.45 percent.
But investment returns are also low, making it hard for districts to recoup borrowing costs by reinvesting part of the loans.
Last year, Forest Lake borrowed $10 million at a cost of about $33,000. Thanks to a low interest rate, the district dodged the hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest costs it was bracing for. But says Larry Martini, the finance director, that money still could have covered a teacher salary.
"That's the tradeoff when the state balances its own cash flow on the backs of school districts," said Martini, who expects the district will borrow more this year.
The main reason borrowing has picked up, says Audrey Bomstad at the Minnesota Department of Education's finance division, is recent shifts in how the state distributes aid to districts. Until 2009, districts got 90 percent of their aid in the current school year, with the remainder flowing in the following fall.
To address its deficit problems, the state increased the delayed amount to 27 percent in 2009 and to 30 percent in 2010.
This spring saw another twist. In previous years, districts got – and started spending – half their property tax revenue in late May, though they had to count it on their books as revenue in the following fiscal year.
Now, the state is allowing districts to treat that tax money as revenue in this fiscal year – and delaying until later this summer an equal amount of state aid.
According to Ehlers, the combined impact of these aid delays adds up to $2 billion less in cash in district coffers at the end of this month compared with the same time last year.
Meanwhile, says Colleen Mertesdorf, president of the Minnesota Association of School Business Officials, "As districts continue to spend down their fund balances to stave off cuts, that affects (district) cash flow, too."
More districts are setting up lines of credit with banks to prepare for cash flow emergencies, she said.
The lack of a state budget agreement and the possibility of a government shutdown have added uncertainty. Historically, said Mertesdorf, most school state aid continued to flow despite similar deadlock, most recently in 2005.
Still, said Heminover, "There's a good chance school districts will have some of their funds delayed, putting additional pressure on them."
Despite the added costs and hassle of borrowing, districts acknowledge aid delays have helped spare them actual aid cuts at a time of a steep state deficit. Says Bomstad, "They help resolve state budget problems without cutting program dollars."
Mila Koumpilova can be reached at 651-228-2171.


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Google Chrome Internet browser is now available on Android Market but for only for selected countries (see the list here).
The main feature of Android version Chrome browser is that it supports synchronizing your open tabs, bookmarks, history, and omnibox data from your desktop version of the browser. There is also Chrome to Mobile option which allows sending web pages from your PC to your mobile device. Among other interesting options there is USB Web Debugging, allowing debugging web pages from Chrome Desktop via USB.


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"I don't use drugs: my dreams are frightening enough". M. C. Esher
Nightmares. We've all had some version of them, from a single mild disturbance to all out panic and repetitive horror shows. This next series of blogs will begin to address the "full catastrophe" of this ubiqitous phenomenon. (to quote one of my favorite characters Zorba, who is in turn quoted by John Cabot Zinn).
What causes nightmares? The whole range of things that influence our dreams (remember those layers from the last blog?) contribute to nightmares as well. Yes, that spicy pizza we ate last night can be an influence. More to the point though, they are usually generated by upsetting encounters or life circumstances that we've had over the last few days, stuck emotions or unsatisfied places in our life that we haven't figured out what to do about yet, or long term unfinished business from our childhood or beyond. That "beyond" includes sensory and image memories that have not been encoded into language, or scenes from other lifetimes that seep through the thinned veil of our consciousness when we are asleep. Repetitive nightmares are an SOS from our unconscious- something is not right in Mudville, and our dreaming self is trying it's darndest to get us to sit up and figure out what it is, and what we need to do about it.
First, a few words about kids and nightmares. Kids dreams are also affected by what is going on in their lives, but it is also important to know that having nightmares is a normal developmental stage for many children. From about 4 or 5 until about 8 or 9, many kids are just beginning to recognize that their previously "infallible and all protecting parents" are not perfect protectors, and that the world can be a scary place. This comes as a shock! "What do you mean that you can't make Joey my hamster alive again?!"
It seems that this dawning consciousness that parents can't do it all, and that they (the kids) will have to leave the nest for increasing periods of time, make this age span a common time of nightmares. They have to come to terms with how to negotiate and stay safe in the world, and anxieties can seep into sleep. For many kids, the nightmares resolve by themselves, with just a little TLC and good parenting techniques. For others, some of these tried and true methods may help restore them to feeling competence and power in their worlds.
Here are a few techniques that are helpful for kids to gain some power over their night monsters: (ps- they can work for adults too!)
Vanquishing the Nightmare
1. Never underestimate the power of a good nightlight to chase away the scary dark.
2. In addition to an actual nightlight, some kids love to have a "monster vaporizer" in the form of a flashlight, that when pointed into all the dark corners and under the bed, will automatically vaporize any lurking dangers.
3. Have them tell the story of the dream out loud, and join them in deciding what objects, other people, or magical/spiritual beings they want to bring with them into the dream or into the room to keep them safe.
4. Draw a picture of the nightmare, and then change the picture around by making it humorous (i.e., put a funny hat on the monster), or adding the magical safety items from #3 to the picture.
5. Talk back to the monster, once it is safely contained (i.e. put it in jail, or a cage, or behind a fence or a force field). Even "Na na na na na – you can't get me!" can be very powerful for a certain age set.
6. My daughter's personal favorite when she was that age: Draw the dream monster or bad guy, then scribble over it with a heavy black magic marker until it is completely obliterated. Then, if that is not yet enough, rip the paper into tiny shreds. Then, if that is not yet enough, burn the shreds of paper safely in a big pot or container. Then, if that is not yet enough, flush the ashes down the toilet! (part of this method is adapted from "Gentle Reprocessing", developed by Diane Spindler as a variation on EMDR using imagery.) Keep going until you get to until you get to "Dayenu!" (from the Passover Haggadah, meaning "It would be enough!"
7. Have a conversation with the dream monster or bad guy: Find out why it is there, what it wants, and how to appease or befriend it. Feed it a cookie. See what gift it has brought for the young dreamer. (A great book you can read to young readers, and older ones can read to themselves is "The Wizard of EarthSea", the first book of "The EarthSea Trilogy" by Ursula Leguin. This great allegory/story closes with the young wizard Ged learning how to face his monsters.)
8. Don't forget about Native American dreamcatchers: hung over the bed, they "catch" the bad dreams, and the hole in the middle lets the good ones come through.
9. And, of course, hugs, and lullabies, and cuddling, and the power of true and loving presence.
Next time- adults and nightmares: the long and the short of it: methods, techniques, ways to empower yourself, when to seek professional help.
Sweet dreams,
Linda Yael


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Online Jewellery Expert
With a family history of over 200 years, we have an unrivalled experience in delivering jewellery excellence. We have forged unique relationships with diamond and gemstone dealers globally, which affords us the opportunity to bring not only the best quality diamonds and gems to you at very competitive prices, but also quality and value assurance is always guaranteed.
Jewellery and Gemstones Expertise available Online and in Person
Selecting your jewellery requires some very careful guidance, something we provide as standard here at Jonathan Lambert. If you're seeking information about gemstones online, our Online Jewellery Expert section offers some useful tips and information. If your question is not answered here, then please contact us and Jonathan or Yasmin will be in touch.
Buying Diamonds
When buying diamonds it is best to be guided by 4 C's – Colour, Cut, Clarity and Carat
Diamonds are sold by the carat (shown as ct.), which is actually a unit of weight, though most think of a carat in terms of size. The word "carat" comes from the "carob" seed, the original unit of measure for diamond traders. Today, a carat is equal to exactly 0.2 grams (about the weight of a paper clip).
The cut of a diamond is often considered to be the most important attribute. Even diamonds with perfect colour and clarity can lose brilliance if cut poorly. A well proportioned diamond will have each facet properly placed and angled so as to maximize the amount of light that reflects back out of the crown (top) of the diamond, to the eye of the observer. This reflected light is perceived as fire and brilliance.
The colour scale of a diamond illustrates the difference in colour of diamonds. The alphabetical scale is graded from 'D' at the top of the scale which is the whitest, diamond grade to 'Z', which is very brown.
Diamonds come in a variety of colours, some of them highly prized (pinks, blues, even yellow). However in a white diamond, the presence of an obvious yellow tint will lower the price of a diamond. The less body color in a white diamond, the more true color it will reflect, and thus the greater its value.
Diamonds are formed deep within the earth under extreme heat and pressure. Virtually all diamonds contain "birthmarks"; small imperfections inside the diamond called inclusions. Clarity refers to the degree to which these imperfections are present. Diamonds which contain numerous or significant inclusions or blemishes have less brilliance because the flaws interfere with the path of light through the diamond.The scale of diamond clarity runs from FL Flawless to I3 inclusions visible to the naked eye.
Silver was once called the 'lunar' metal – its appearance being cold and luminous, similar to the moon's reflection on water. It has always been a valuable metal, ever since it was discovered and first mined in Anatolia (now Turkey), more than 6,000 years ago. Classed as a 'Noble' metal, silver has a stable chemical structure that resists oxidisation and corrosion from acids.
Sterling silver is an alloy – 92.5% fine silver and 7.5% copper. Copper is added to fine silver so that it becomes more workable and durable, whilst retaining all of its beauty.
Gold has been mined since before 4000 BC. There are many different countries that have produced high levels of gold. Gold has always been and still is a rare metal.
Pure gold 24 karat is a very soft metal and not ideal for jewellery, Gold is therefore normally alloyed with other metals such as zinc, nickel, silver and copper to add hardness. The purity of gold is measured in carats which measures the gold content as part of 1000, with 24 karat gold being 100% pure, 18 karat gold 75% pure, 14 karat gold 58.3% pure and 9 karat gold 37.5% pure.
Gold's price fluctuates every day and is bought and sold as a commodity. In times of economic uncertainty, the price of gold (and all precious metals for that matter) tends to become higher as gold is through of as a safe haven for money.
Gold is a very inert metal and this means that it won't tarnish (i.e. react with the atmosphere) like silver, and therefore maintains its wonderful yellow colour. Gold is mined in South Africa and the United States. The chemical symbol of gold is 'au' from the Latin aurum, which means shining dawn. This relates to the exquisite and uniquely warm, yellow glow radiated by gold – an attribute that has helped make it the most desirable precious metal ever known to man.
White Gold
White gold has all the same properties as yellow gold but has been carefully alloyed with a mix of naturally white metals like palladium to give it a stunning white sheen.
Platinum, is the most hard wearing and expensive of all the precious metals. It is a very strong metal which makes it ideal to set precious stones with, and it's expense is attributed to the fact that it is a rare metal.
Conflict Free Diamonds
Jonathan Lambert always only sources diamonds that are conflict free from suppliers who are signed up to the Kimberley Process
Our diamonds have been purchased from legitimate sources not involved in the funding of conflict and in conformance with United Nations resolutions.
Gemstone Guide
There are a fabulous array of coloured gemstomes available to use as a feature in an item of jewellery, whether this is one that you purchase or one that you have made.
All gemstones have a certain level of hardness and this is defined by the Mohs scale. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a scale which characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs.
The range can be a little overwhelming to say the least, so here is a guide which we hope will help you in making your choice.
Explore our portfolio
Discover the beautiful pieces designed by our in house designer Yasmin Lambert
Speak to our experts
Call us to find out more about this service and arrange a time to come and see us.


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I like supporting multiple languages in my video game projects. Usually, I'm focused on English and Esperanto, since that's what I speak, but there's no reason other languages can't be supported.
Usually on websites, I see flags used to represent language options – as an English speaker, the flag is usually either the U.S. flag or the Union Jack. Seeing either doesn't really bug me; extra "u"s and "s"es where us Americans have "z"s. But, I can only speak for how I feel about this individually, for myself.
For other languages and countries, I have no idea how representing a language with a specific flag might come across. To support Portuguese, if I'm hiring someone from Brazil, do we use their flag? What country for Spanish? Or Arabic? Or Mandarin?
With a website, who cares if you have a list of text to select from, with the language's name being written in the target language. With a game, how do we make a language select screen beautiful without cute flag icons? I do see flags used quite often in video games, like if you pick up a game from Europe, but honestly it might not be appropriate.
There is a good article on Flags are not Languages with ideas for how to present language options.The best option at the moment seems to just be to list out the languages with text.