text:
St. Vincent de Paul Society is an organization which offers outreach and support for those in our community struggling to provide their family with the basic necessities of life. If you, or someone you know needs help, please call 519-627-2013
From September to June (not July and August) a dedicated group of parishioners plan, prepare and serve a delicious meal to anyone in our community that would like to join them. It is free to all who attend; but a donation is graciously accepted. Serving begins at 5pm at Our Lady help of Christians Church Parish Centre.
2019/2020 Dates
Saturday, Sept-14, 2019
Saturday, Oct-12, 2019
Saturday, Nov-9, 2019
Saturday, Dec-14, 2019
Saturday, Jan-11, 2020
Saturday, Feb-8, 2020
Saturday, Mar-14, 2020
Saturday, Apr-11, 2020
Saturday, May-9, 2020
Saturday, Jun-13, 2020


text:
"It was so hard to think out there, let alone talk," Smith told the USGA, a five-time USGA champion and four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur winner of the historic scene.
Unknowingly to Smith he needed a par on the final hole to make the cut but amid all the chaos and emotions he stumbled and double-bogeyed the hole. In the moments following his final round as a Masters competitor Palmer showed Smith why he is regarded the way he is.
"'I'm sorry this happened to you,'" said Smith, of Palmers post round words. "'You played great. That has happened to me before.' I didn't know what that meant [at the time], but I guess back in the day, he made double there to lose the [1961] tournament (Palmer lost by a stroke to Gary Player). Years later, I realized what that meant."
Smith, originally from Brookville and now a Pittsburgh, PA lives just about 40 miles away from Palmer's home town of Latrobe where just recently Smith was part of the winning amateur side at the 2016 Western Pennsylvania Palmer Cup Matches. The event, played at Latrobe Country Club pits the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association against the Tri-State PGA.
The two first became linked in 2003 when they met at the Palmer Cup Matches and from their a friendship was born. Besides playing together during rounds one and two of the 2004 Masters the two played a Tuesday practice round together.
In the years that followed Smith received an invitation from Palmer to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2013 and last year when Smith underwent shoulder surgery there was Palmer checking in on him.
"What blew me away with him is he could live anywhere in the world and yet he still went back to Latrobe," said Smith. "In Pittsburgh, you don't realize what an icon [he was], living there in Latrobe. People took it for granted because he was so accessible. The one thing I got from him is just how well he treated people, how present he was in conversations. He was just so good to me, not only down at Augusta giving me advice, but at the Palmer Cup."
-The USGA contributed to this story
View Complete Tournament Information
Amateurgolf.com, Inc.6965 El Camino Real 105-631Carlsbad, CA 92011
Home | Tournaments | Courses | Equipment | Players | Rankings | Writers | About Us
About Us
The Majors
By State
AmateurGolf Tour
Men's Ranking
Women's Ranking
Senior Ranking
Privacy PolicyCopyright ©2020 Amateurgolf.com. All rights reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The world premiere of DeviceLock® 5.72 and DeviceLock® Plug and Play Auditor in Munich, Germany!
Meet SmartLine Inc in Munich, Germany at SYSTEMS 2005 IT.Media.Communications, October 24-28. To learn more about device-level security risks and the new DeviceLock® 5.72 stop by our booth 203 in the Hall B2.
Visit us and get the FREE trial version of DeviceLock® 5.72!
All visitors of our booth also receive for FREE the fully functional new product called DeviceLock® Plug and Play Auditor!
To arrange an appointment with someone from SmartLine Inc at this upcoming event, please send an e-mail to support (at) protect-me.com. (Please delete the space before and after the "(at)" letters and also replace "(at)" with @ mark. We are sorry for this inconvenience, but these steps are necessary to help us avoid SPAM.)


text:
Inheritance is the final book in the series that began with the book Eragon about a young farm boy who finds a dragon's egg while hunting. In this final book, Eragon confronts the evil king Galbitorix who killed off the dragon riders and has ruled Aligaisia ever since. Meanwhile, Eragon's cousin Roran leads the armies of the Varden to defeat Galbitorix's solders.
I like this book because it is fast-paced, in depth, and is full of memorable characters. As a great conclusion to the Eragon series, I would recommend it to anyone who has read the first three books and fans of fantasy epics.
Liam, 15
Find at the Library


text:
What's so great about beans?Monday, August 13, 2012
Contributor: Rynn Burke, RN, MD
I thought I'd share some of my most frequent topics. This one comes up for a variety of reasons. Patients may ask what they should do for diverticulosis found on their screening colonoscopy. Sometimes people want to know how they can get more iron in their diet. Or when I tell people they need to eat less meat, they say, "well, what CAN I eat?" I answer all these questions the same way… We need better bean advertising!
Beans are an extremely beneficial component in all diets because they are high in complex carbohydrates, protein and dietary fiber, low in fat, calories and sodium, and completely cholesterol-free.
Beans are an excellent, non-fat source of protein. Just one cup of beans provides as much as 16 grams of protein.
Complex Carbohydrates
Beans are loaded with complex carbohydrates – this provides energy to the muscles and brain. Just one cup of beans can provide 15 percent of the carbohydrates needed daily. Plus, beans have the best type of carbohydrate for maximum energy – those considered to be low or moderate glycemic index carbohydrates. Beans and other carbohydrates with a low to moderate glycemic index have the unique ability to provide energy over a longer period of time by being slowly released into your bloodstream to provide sustained energy. Ounce for ounce, complex carbohydrates provide half the calories of fat. They are absorbed more slowly than simple carbohydrates, such as table sugar and candy, so beans easily satisfy hunger for longer periods of time.
Beans are one of the best sources of dietary fiber, containing both insoluble and soluble fiber. Insoluble fiber, generally thought of as "roughage" that moves quickly through the digestive system, is important in our diets because it helps promote a healthy digestive tract and can reduce the risk of some types of cancer. During digestion, soluble fiber forms a gel-like substance, which helps the body handle fats, cholesterol and carbohydrates. Soluble fiber plays a role in helping to lower blood cholesterol levels, one of the main risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease.
Studies link high fiber diets to reduced cholesterol levels and lowered cancer risks. Beans are an extremely beneficial component in the diabetes diet because they are high in dietary fiber and low in fat and sodium. A high-fiber diet helps control diabetes and maintain healthy blood glucose levels. In addition, beans are digested more slowly than simple carbohydrates – a good way to help control blood sugar levels. And, since fiber-rich foods like beans are filling, they are helpful in weight control.
Like any source of fiber, beans should be added gradually to the diet. The bugs that live in everyone's gut get used to what you have been feeding them. Any sudden changes in diet will have … consequences. Add beans to your diet gradually, a bite or two per day, with a goal of one-half cup beans per day. It is also important to drink plenty of liquids when adding more fiber to your diet, because fluids help reduce the natural side effects of digesting fiber-rich foods.
When it comes to getting calcium, every bit helps. Adding beans to your diet is a good way to reach your recommended intake. The recommended calcium intake for adults is 1,000-1200 mg per day. A half-cup of beans provides more calcium than some kinds of ice cream or frozen yogurt. Kids need calcium to build a strong skeleton, but the need doesn't stop there. Throughout adulthood, calcium is necessary to maintain bones and help prevent osteoporosis, a decrease in bone density that can lead to fractures and disability.
Beans contain an abundance of potassium, which may help reduce your risk of high blood pressure and stroke. According to a health claim recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, "diets containing foods that are good sources of potassium and low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke."
- Potassium: one-half cup of cooked dry beans contains as much as 480 mg of potassium.
- Beans are naturally low in sodium, with no more than 5 mg of sodium in a one-half cup serving.
- Folate: an important vitamin that protects your central nervous system dry beans are the best source of folate. Eating one cup of cooked dry beans provides, on average, 264 mcg of folate.
Studies show that those who eat plenty of beans have as much as a 60-point drop in cholesterol. So start adding more bean nutrition to your daily diet – today!
Check out my favorite Hummus recipe and Healthy Bean Information.
Send us your comments at firstname.lastname@example.com or join the conversation on Facebook.
Hudson Hospital & Clinic website and social media does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional disclaimer information.
Categories: General
Tags: recipe, healthy eating


text:
Optimized Gifts That Keep On Giving – From the Content Team
It's our job on the content team to make sure our clients are getting the best and user-friendliest copy around. In Q3, we added three major initiatives to our normal to-do list including: Site Map Makeovers; Holiday Page Promotions, and, last but not least, putting the final touches on our highly anticipated Destination Sites for San Francisco and Chicago!
Each one of these initiatives has critical components to help our clients get visible – and get results. To learn the juicy details of each one of these projects and to learn how they are helping hotels maximize and leverage their online exposure and SEO value, please take a minute or two and watch the video. Then, jump on the horn or the keyboard and get in touch with your account manager to see how we can put these features in play for you.
'Tis the season to get your online presence shiny and optimized!


text:
- $2.79 $3.99
- Published By: eXtasy Books
- Authors: Bonnie Rose Leigh, Tianna Xander
- Word Count: 19177
- Publication Date: November 15, 2012
- Series: Triad #3
- Heat Level:
- Available Formats: Adobe Acrobat, Epub, Hiebook, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket, Mobipocket (.mobi), Palm DOC/iSolo, Rocket, Sony PDF
- Categories: Erotic Romance , Menage, Paranormal, Romance , Science Fiction {soft}, Shapeshifter
Qty + -
The Banart Army has infiltrated the galaxy, spreading their hate, brutalizing their victims. It's up to the Mother Goddess to draw together an army of her own–an army of powerful Triads. Summoned by her Tigerian mates, Dax and Rage Gavaire, Minna Ailani completes the Mother Goddess' latest Triad. Only after the three are mated will they be strong enough to find the traitor in their midst, but can they discover the Banart hiding among them before someone close to them dies?
To read excerpts, you need to have an account with us. Please log in first.


text:
This is not an offer for credit and should be used for estimation purposes only based on the information you provided. You should not base your decision on this estimate alone. Title, registration, tax and other fees, and personal circumstances such as employment status and personal credit history, were not considered in the calculations.
From its light and agile feel to its low seat height and throwback style, the Scout Sixty is easy to ride and hard not to.
Specs and features listed are from 2019 models. 2020 Specs and features will be coming soon.
Front - Single / 298 mm rotor / 2 piston caliper
Rear - Single / 298 mm rotor / 1 piston caliper
Front - 130/90-16 72H
Rear - 150/80-16 71H
Empty tank - 525 lb. (238 kg)
Full tank - 542 lb. (246 kg)
GVWR - 988 lb. (449 kg)
Gear drive wet clutch
1st - 10.926:1
2nd - 7.427:1
3rd - 5.918:1
4th - 5.022:1
5th - 4.087:1
Cast aluminum
Lean angle - 31°
Front - Telescopic fork; 4.7 in. (120 mm) travel
Front fork tube - 41 mm diameter
Rear - Dual shocks; 3 in. (76 mm) travel
Category: Motorcycles
Indian® and Indian Motorcycle® are registered trademarks of Indian Motorcycle International LLC. Always wear a helmet, eye protection and protective clothing and obey the speed limit. Never ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol.


text:
ECU reassigns defensive coordinator after latest blowout
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) East Carolina's latest poor defensive performance has the Pirates changing coordinators.
Coach Scottie Montgomery says defensive coordinator Kenwick Thompson has been reassigned within the football program and will no longer coach and defensive line coach Robert Prunty has replaced him immediately.
Montgomery announced the changes Sunday, a day after a 56-20 loss at West Virginia in which the Pirates (0-2) fell behind 49-3 at halftime and allowed 619 total yards. East Carolina hosts No. 16 Virginia Tech this week.
East Carolina has the second-worst total defense in the FBS, allowing 616.5 yards per game. The Pirates gave up 614 yards in a season-opening, 20-point loss to reigning FCS champion James Madison .
Prunty spent three seasons as Cincinnati's co-defensive coordinator . Thompson came to ECU before last season from Vanderbilt.
More college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org/ and www.Twitter.com/APTop25


text:
Mongolia > India
Interviewee: Nadika Nadja
What is the relationship between politics and archaeology in India generally?
This is a complex question to unpack. On the one hand, archaeology is not a part of daily/public life till something drastic or remarkable happens to one of the few "recognized" archaeological sites. The central government had passed the Archaeological Sites and Ancient Monuments and Remains Act in 1958, which governs and protects a whole lot of archaeology in the country. The Archaeological Survey of India operates within the act, and does its best to conserve monuments, while also undertaking research, exploration, excavations, and public outreach. But it is limited by budget, and what is available has to be very carefully optimised for various projects.
There has been push from various political parties and various flavours of the government to use archaeology to feed a certain narrative, and that has become enhanced currently with a Right-Wing Hindutva party in power at the centre.
Accusations of influencing findings (to present a Hindu Brahmanical past, or a less diverse population…) have attached itself to various excavations in India over the years, and this will probably get worse.
The central government also proposed an amendment to the ASAMR act which would allow "development projects" near protected monuments, often within the "buffer" zone of highly vulnerable archaeological sites. And a large number of historians and archaeologists believe this will be used mainly for Islamic monuments in Delhi and North India.
The state government of Tamil Nadu – where I live – also has a TN State Department of Archaeology that works independent of the ASI, and is funded out of the state government's budget. The department also excavates, conserves, and manages the state and city museums, and on the whole, is less influenced by religious fundamentalism but that could be mainly due to its overall lowkey presence (meaning no big political aims to be achieved).
How does archaeological administration contribute to academic archaeology, and vice versa?
The ASI has a series of publications that are both prescribed texts and updates on current research and knowledge banks. Similarly, Museums – at least the Government Egmore Museum in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, has publications and journals on its collections which help in academic archaeological research, with the museums and the State Dept. of Archaeology in Tamil Nadu absorbing some studies/findings into their work.
However, I am not aware of a larger push from academia into public archaeology, or vice-versa. The Universities and colleges that do provide courses – Bachelors or Masters – in Archaeology will likely operate/be governed by some of the ASAMR/ASI rules and regulations that govern excavations in India, with graduates going on to be employed by ASI. However, this is something I am not fully conversant with, given that my interest in archaeology is outside of the mainstream.
What about gender and archaeology in India? Are there many women archaeologists in India?
Yes, there are women archaeologists in India, and in fact, the former Circle Head (Superintending Archaeologist) of the Chennai Circle of the ASI was a woman, who now has a charge of a larger south Indian region. Similarly with the TN State Dept. of Archaeology, which one time was headed by a woman. There are also a lot of independent women archaeologists and researchers – both who actively excavate/research, and those that teach at the universities.
One of the most important recent findings in south Indian/Tamil archaeology – that of the discovery of stone tools belonging to an Acheulian industry, and which pushed the date of human colonisations of the Peninsula/east coast of south India – was by a team of archaeologist led by a woman – Shanti Pappu.
( Pappu, Shanti, Yanni Gunnell,Kumar Akhilesh, Régis Braucher, Maurice Taieb, François Demory, Nicolas Thouveny, 2011, Early Pleistocene Presence of Acheulian Hominins in South India, Science, March 25th, 331(6024):1596-1599.)
But the larger question of Gender is – as always – slightly difficult to impact. On the whole, archaeology seems to be the story of men – kings, royalties, soldiers, etc. It is still (around the world) dominated by men, and the specific research is painting a very masculine story – at least in India.
And yes, the number of men archaeologists outnumber the women. There are also workplace issues and questions of gender-based discrimination, sexual harassment of women archaeologist that will need to be addressed.
How do local communities relate to archaeological sites and archaeological investigations conducted at their land and findings found from their land? Do they have any power or right to control archaeological investigation at their land and to own artefacts found from their land?
This is something I am not sure what happens, at all. For one, unlike say in the UK, there isn't an active exploration/survey of archaeology that happens consistently. Most excavations happen in "known" sites. Sometimes, accidentally people may find archaeology in their land, and depending on where this happens, the State Dept or ASI may be notified and then the government will probably attempt to acquire the land (if the findings are deemed important enough) or a preliminary research is done and then it's closed. Sometimes universities/colleges may be invited to help identify accidental discoveries by civilians.
Under the ASI rule and ASAMR, all archaeological discoveries, artefacts, will need to be "owned" by the ASI or the State Dept of Archaeology where applicable. So individual people may not own/display artefacts found in their property.
About Nadika:
I am Nadika, and I am a writer and researcher. I am currently part of a research that's looking at ideas and expressions of culture in religious sites across India, and one on caste, culture, and caste based discriminations, in temples of Tamil Nadu.
I also write about cinema, media, history (mainly urban history)
Twitter: @nadjanadika
Questions from Erdene Myagmar in Mongolia
Click the worldinterview tag for more interviews in this series.


text:
No Products in the Cart
"We, "us" and "our" refer to SEGVATOR®, LLC.
We provide a limited warranty to the original retail purchaser (referred to herein as "you" or "your") of the SegVator® and its related parts and accessories (the "Products") that the Products will be free from material defects in workmanship and materials under normal use and service for a period of six months (except for the electronic system and power inverter which warranty extends for a period of 90 days) from the date of your retail purchase (the "Warranty Period"). We shall assign to you any applicable manufacturer's warranties for the Products, to the extent permitted by such manufacturer. Any oral or written description of the Products is for the sole purpose of identifying the Products and shall not be construed as an express warranty. Prior to installing, using or permitting the installation and use of the Products, you shall determine the suitability of the Products for the intended use and will cause the Products to be installed correctly. You shall assume all risk and liability whatsoever in connection therewith. We provide NO WARRANTY for the Products in cases of damage in transit, negligence, abuse, abnormal usage, misuse, accidents, normal wear and tear, damage due to environmental or natural elements, failure to follow our instructions or improper installation, storage or maintenance.
Our sole and exclusive obligation under this warranty (and your sole and exclusive remedy) shall be, upon prompt written notice to us by you during the Warranty Period of any defect related to the Products, to either, at our option, repair or replace without charge, F.O.B. our facility, any of the defective Products or part thereof expressly warranted herein by us against defects and found by us in our sole discretion to be defective and covered by this warranty. This warranty covers only replacement or repair of defective Products or parts thereof at our main facility. To provide us notice of a warranty claim or request for warranty service, send us notice including proof of purchase at the following address: SegVator®, LLC, 11200 W. Silver Spring Rd., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 53225, email@example.com or contact us at 414-461-9100. The costs, expenses and all risks associated with shipping for returning the Products, as well as the costs and expenses of getting the Products from us are your responsibility.
FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS, ALL WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY LAW, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE DISCLAIMED AND SHALL NOT APPLY. FOR CONSUMER PRODUCTS, WARRANTIES IMPLIED BY LAW, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXPRESSLY LIMITED TO THE WARRANTY PERIOD AS DESCRIBED ABOVE. Some states do not allow limitations on how long an implied consumer warranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS SHALL BE LIMITED TO AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE PRICE YOU PAID FOR THE PRODUCTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL WE BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGE CAUSED TO A SEGWAY® RESULTING FROM THE PRODUCTS, OR FOR ANY OTHER INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, OR OTHER INDIRECT DAMAGES OR LOST PROFITS. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental and consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state.


text:
Henneberger Seeks Dream Analysis
Life has been undoubtedly rough lately with the folding of Politics Daily.
But just how rough?
Editor-in-Chief Melinda Henneberger takes to Facebook to ask friends to analyze the following dream. Now this is something we could get into. Washington journalists post dreams on Facebook and open themselves up to dream analysis: Just beautiful (and no, we're not messing around. This is no April Fool's joke.)
Henneberger: Dream analysis time: I am swimming in the pool in my hometown where I was a lifeguard in high school. It's not open yet so I have it all to myself, along with a couple of other people who work there, and it's incredibly, even magically pleasant except that 1) I have the guilty feeling that I haven't shown up to lifeguard in a while! and 2) every so often the guy who's cleaning the drains lobs a ball of gunk at me…
The best dream interpreter in the lengthy string of commenters is Manhattan-based Molly Gordy, who writes: 1. "I feel guilty that I'm not out there 'saving lives' by employing outstanding journalists and spreading the truth at Politics Daily. 2. Universe, please stop throwing gunk at me! I've ducked so far, but I'm tired."
Our brief analysis: It's a fairly straightforward stress dream with one catch — HuffPost/AOL Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington is that guy cleaning the pool drain lobbing gunk at her.
See our other picks for best interpreters… If any reader out there wants to send us their dreams for interpretation feel free. Send to firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com.
James Daubs: Clearly there's an element of guilt at abandoning Mt. Carmel–a heavily and continually repressed fondness and nostalgia for good times there. (You must have had some, unlike me.) The "haven't shown up for awhile" signals both that guilt and you're feeling that you have much unfinished business–no doubt related to the PD situation. You feel as though you should have been helping clean the drains, of course….
Wendy Fenci: Here goes, Ms. Missy! Floating or being in water generally refers to a re-birth or the start of something new. You haven't lifeguarded for a while, so you may be subconsciusly concerned about your ability to handle something, even if you have strong skills, and are wary of someone/ people taking unwarranted potshots at you… Am I close? I do alot of dream interpretation… don't forget I was a Psyche major 😉


text:
Sandhurst Christmas Sack
One of our newest designs, the "Sandhurst" Hessian Christmas sack is suitable for all ages and will give you and your children years of enjoyment.
Designed and printed by Harrow & Green in our studio in London, the sack is large enough to cater for even the most generous amount of Christmas presents as it measures a spacious 80cm x 50cm, and is finished with a high quality grosgrain ribbon and name label.
The name appears boxed in red capitals near the bottom of the design. Simply include the name in the space provided when you order (up to 30 characters). By default our designers will place the first name (and middle name if included) on the top line in small text, and the last name (surname) on the bottom line in large text. If you'd like the layout different to this then please raise an enquiry against the order after purchasing.
You also have the choice of adding a superb fabric trim to the top six inches of your Christmas sack. The choices of trim are:
- None: no trim added.
- Red Gingham: a high-quality cotton gingham produced by Susie Watson designs, the renowned fabric designer and manufacturer
- Ticking: a high-quality cotton red-striped ticking pattern produced by Susie Watson designs, the renowned fabric designer and manufacturer
- Tartan: a high-quality Scottish-woven tartan created by Lochcarron, the oldest tartan manufacturer in Scotland. This particular tartan is best known for its links to the Hamilton clan.
Simply select your choice of trim (or none at all) in the dropdown box below.


text:
Who knew that Starbucks regulates their kids' drinks to 120 degrees, 30 degrees lower than what the temperature is for adults…I'm so used to making my daughter wait at least 10 minutes before she can take a sip of an ordered hot chocolate…but yesterday when I did that at Starbucks—when I sipped it to check it—it was almost not hot enough! Such a good idea that hopefully other businesses will copy!
- Comments
- 2
- Tags
- Coffee, Hot Chocolate


text:
Nice day, Sunday. We cleaned house. Remember Lady Macbeth saying "Who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him," just after slicing the king up as he slept? That's how we felt yesterday when we cleaned out the cabinets where we store liquor. Who knew the Marottas could open a saloon? Most stunning was the realization that we had five entire bottles of Creme De Menthe.
My sister likes to have a stinger after dinner when she visits us from Florida every three or four years and stingers are made of brandy and this creme de cremey stuff and I guess she brings a bottle every time thinking 'Surely they've have finished that bottle from 2002.' But it seems we never finished that bottle or any bottle. To me the stuff is kind of eh. I mean, I'll just as soon have a shot of Scope.
It was Father's Day of course so I asked David to wear his Hop on Pop T-shirt in part so people could see I didn't make that story up about how he's too highly evolved to brag in his class reunion book and how he's so simple in his needs and hangs on to his clothes forever. That story I told last week and it's right here. And that piece, which was once a column that I only much later turned into a chapter in my second book? I wrote that piece in the summer of '96, almost 20 while years ago and still the T-shirt gets worn. He also so worked in the yard for many hours so here's a picture showing him taking a break, with our middle child Annie beside him and her giant dog's tiny dog toy in hand. (They weren't acting as extras from the prison scenes in a local production of Les Miserables. It was the sun painting those stripes on them from the deck beneath which they sit.)
Then later, the rest of our gene pool came over and there was Chinese takeout and a little FIFA watching and a long fun game of whiffleball out back. It was all very nice.
Later, after they all had left, I opened Facebook, and saw that everyone was putting up pictures of their fathers but I never knew mine, so posted nothing. And I guess I write this now by way of focusing on what I have instead of what I ever lacked.
Anyway here's the man now, taken when my sister Nan was a baby and he was still around.
One time, a minister I knew and respected told me he saw sorrowful-looking older man bending over me in his pastoral office where we sat talking. "Was there an older man in your life who might need your forgiveness?" my friend asked me. There was I supposed and it would have been our dad.
But who doesn't need forgiveness, even now, even decades after the harm they might have caused? I think most of us inwardly punish and hold ourselves responsible for the pain we have caused in this life. I think we all know the ways we have failed others, and I think we are all sorry.
Anyway here's to you Francis John "Hap" Sheehy of Wilmington Delaware. I hope that you're resting in peace, wherever you may lie buried. And I'm sorry that you never had a Hop on Pop T-shirt yourself, or knew the four children who would have called you Gramps.


text:
Free Worldwide Shipping!
It's a lovely winter's day. This cozy rug portrays a village surrounded by pines and fluffy snow. While being dynamic in design this piece is very harmonious and easy-going in colours. Small in size, it will go easily anywhere and brighten up the room.
All Miniknots rugs are hand-made on traditional looms using 100% wool in the Aegean region, Western Turkey.


text:
Getting Professional High School Science Homework Help
Are you on a mission to create a piece of high school science homework, but have no clue what can be done so that the top grade is secured? Then you have to make sure that you learn here to get the help that can take you to the top grade level. You'll see that it is not that hard to complete a project with a high grade if you know where to receive the appropriate help. Continue to read the rest of this article so that you can get the help for high school science homework:
Hire a freelancer
You can hire a freelancer at a number of places online such as forums, but the best place to locate them are the bidding site. You'll see that with so many of them out there, you'll have the trouble ending up with a pro that can be used to give you the kind of project that you desire.
When selecting such a professional you have to keep in mind the flowing things:
- Time: you have to consider the speed with which they can complete the work. If they cause you to miss deadline then that will not be a good thing for your grades.
- Quality: never pay less to sacrifice on the quality of the work. You have to find a person who is able to complete the work at a high level of quality.
- Price: select someone that charge competitive rates. With the high number of people out there you should be able to find someone that does not charge too much.
Personal tutor
A personal tutor can be hired that can give you help with your work. They might not complete it for you, but will equip you with the knowledge that is required to complete it. There are plenty of science tutors online that will be willing to work with you on a regular basis. You just need to take the time to hire one.
A tutor is also great for asking small questions and ensuring that you are well prepared for examinations. Therefore, take the time to find them and you'll be rewarded with much better grades for your science homework.


text:
i think is common, I know I have. specially in situations when dealing with deadlines and or pivot phases... such as product validation or growth... even pitching angles to VCs. best thing to do is reassure your leadership position, understand values and come to a mid point agreement that reflects the majority's vote... hopefully all in your team has value and that's why you have them, so listen to them eve if you disagree.
Conflict is healthy if concluded efficiently and respectfully.
Ongoing unresolved conflict can cause employee attrition and at worst, kill your company.
Healthy conflicts could be boiled down to different opinions as to which approach is better. In this case, everything should be tested and measured, so in many cases, both conflicting opinions should be tested. Most conflicts can be ended by simply agreeing to test both opinions and let the evidence speak to which is better.
Unhealthy conflicts are between personality types that just don't get along or where there really is a fundamental split on what it is that your company should be doing.
If there isn't alignment there, it's critical that you stop everything and get aligned because nothing good will happen until then.
I've helped startup CEOs work through conflict and create alignment. Happy to do a call to understand where you're at, what the conflict is and help you find a path to resolve it.
Conflicts are a natural part of forming and solidifying any team, and definitely so in a startup environment.
I experienced a number of conflicts, both as a CEO and as an employee. In all cases the conflict was a great opportunity because it was very telling about the team and about the business' direction and the way it is managed.
The important thing is to identify and distill the insights and make decisions quickly so that things do not continue to brew or escalate.
Glad to share more of my experience and insights on a call.
I often tell people if my manager and I think alike, one of us is unnecessary. And that means the potential for conflict.
Conflict is a term I associate with a negative connotation. But, differing ideas and opinions are extremely important in a business. How does one know if they have a strong idea, if no one challenges it.
Of course challenging a superior must be based on a relationship of trust, but building a team with strong leadership will establish that trust and enable team members to work together in a healthy and positive way. And also have systems in place to handle situations that could escalate if not handle correctly.
I have been in a position of conflict many times with a member or members of my team. Sometimes they were wrong, and many times I was wrong. Strong teams can handle the bumps in the road and will actually come out the other side stronger.
Based on research done by CBInsights - https://www.cbinsights.com/research/startup-failure-reasons-top/ - "not the right team" was mentioned as the #3 most popular reason for the failure of a startup.
So the answer is "yes". Most startups experience conflict within their team-members.
Forgive me, but I think the more important question is "how do you avoid this conflict, or work with/around it?" Briefly answered:
1. Discuss expectations from day 1 - openly!
2. Divided areas of management and authority.
3. Decide on how decisions will be made.
4. Agree on a neutral third party who will decide when there is a deadlock/tie or conflict that cannot be decided within the team.
5. sign a Founder's agreement.
I've worked with over 300 entrepreneurs and am happy to help.
Good luck


text:
Home > Posts > Toolkit > Getting Grassroots Voices Heard on Capitol Hill: Personalization is Paramount
Getting Grassroots Voices Heard on Capitol Hill: Personalization is Paramount
By Ami Neiberger-Miller on Tuesday, February 8, 2011
A new study called Communicating with Congress: Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy by the Congressional Management Foundation offers helpful insights for organizations and ordinary people who want to have their voices heard in the corridors of power on capitol hill.
The survey was conducted October-December 2010 and included 260 congressional hill staff members. Some of the key findings:
- Personal visits by constituents to member offices on capitol hill or in the district matter – a lot. 97% of the staffers said a visit to the Hill office (and 94% to the district office) by a constituent would have "some" or "a lot" of influence on a Member of Congress who was undecided about a particular issue.
- Grassroots voices at a local level through town hall meetings and letters to the editor are heard – When asked about strategies directed to their offices back home, staffers said questions at town hall meetings (87%) and letters to the editor (80%) have "some" or "a lot" of influence.
- Snail mail and email letters carry similar weight. Nearly identical percentages of staffers said postal mail (90%) and email (88%) would influence an undecided member of Congress.
- Encourage grassroots advocates participating in campaigns to personalize any provided form letters. More than half of the staffers surveyed (53%) felt that most advocacy campaigns using identical form messages are sent without constituents' knowledge or approval. While this perception is not true, in this age of online opt-in email campaigns fueled by online databases, this survey finding is a glaring reminder to communicators. Remind anyone using a form letter to contact Congress to add personalization before hitting send. It really does matter.
Tagged: PR tools, public policy, social media


text:
About this Research Topic
Individual health status is substantially affected by progressive movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and several other parkinsonian syndromes. Reduced quality of life in patients suffering from a movement disorder is often due to disturbed fine motor skills, which frequently go along with disease progression. This impairment leads to a reduced performance of activities of daily living such as buttoning a shirt, grooming and hand-writing. Despite increasing pharmacological and surgical achievements for the treatment of motor and non-motor symptoms, the exact patho-physiological and cognitive mechanisms as well as specific treatment interventions for dexterous difficulties in movement disorders are still under-investigated.
There is converging evidence that the disorder may be explained by a higher order praxis dysfunction. Abnormal sensori-motor integration may also be involved. The contribution of other cognitive functions, such as memory, attentional and visuo-spatial abilities in performing fine skilled movements still has to be elucidated. Neuro-imaging studies suggest that dys-regulated pre-motor cortical areas may play a crucial role when dexterous difficulties appear, but imaging studies specifically targeting impaired dexterity in movement disorders are scarce in number.
Only limited data exist on therapeutic interventions of dexterous problems in movement disorders. In contrast to the clearly positive effects of dopaminergic medication for bradykinesia and tremor, impaired dexterity seems to be less responsive. Therefore, other treatment options such as deep brain or trans-cranial stimulation may be the better option. Furthermore, studies supporting the efficacy of occupational therapy in dexterity problems should be encouraged.
Eventually, the aim of the forthcoming Research Topic is to collocate researchers with a specific expertise in fine motor skills and movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease cortico-basal degeneration (CBD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). We encourage clinical neurologists, neuroscientists, neuropsychologists and occupational research therapists to submit original work on this research topic. The common aim of individual papers is to contribute to a better understanding of dexterous difficulties in movement disorders and their treatment. Both experimental and review papers dealing with the patho-physiological and neuro-cognitive mechanisms underlying the disorder and possible treatment interventions (pharmacological and non-pharmacological, surgical) will be processed, revised and considered to be published.
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.


text:
The 16th Annual Pharmacogenetics in Psychiatry Meeting
Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, Orlando, Florida
October 12, 2017
The 16th Annual Pharmacogenetics in Psychiatry Meeting was held in conjunction with the XXVth World Congress of Psychiatric Genetics on October 12th.
The annual Pharmacogenetics in Psychiatry meeting provided a forum for the presentation and discussion of new developments in the rapidly developing field of psychiatric pharmacogenetics. Previous meetings have been highlighted by discussion of topics including: prediction of clinical response to antipsychotic drugs, genes associated with the development of adverse side effects, candidate gene and genome-wide association (GWAS) studies of antidepressant response, the identification of new polymorphisms influencing gene product function, and novel statistical approaches to dissect the heterogeneity of drug response. Moreover, we have brought together investigators working in diverse areas of psychiatric research, from molecular geneticists to clinical trial investigators, from academia and industry, in order to engender true interdisciplinary approaches to the problem of variation in clinical response to psychotropic drugs.


text:
- ASORN Committees
- Volunteer with ASORN
- Board of Directors
- Management Staff
- Bylaws
Insight Continuing Nursing Education Committee
The purpose of the Insight Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) Committee is to review Insight CNE articles and to pilot the post-test prior to publication, to document time for awarding of nursing contact hours and other types of continuing education credits, and to ensure appropriateness for CNE.
Under the direction of the Provider Unit Director, committee members will review Insight Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) articles for appropriateness for CNE and for other continuing education credits (JCAHPO, OPS, COE, CST, etc), take post-tests to ensure answers can be located in article and are accurate prior to publication, document the time it takes to complete the activity, advise of any discrepancies between written material and test questions and answers, serve on ASORN Education Leaders Committee and participate in occasional conference calls.
Committee Member Benefit
Committee members may earn complimentary continuing education credits for completing assignments within established guidelines and timelines.


text:
Date 13/09/2010
New piGRIP® offers energy and cost savings
Piab, a leading supplier of industrial vacuum technology, launches its new piGRIP® suction cup, the first configurable suction cup on the market. The new piGRIP® allows companies to choose the ideal combination of lip and bellow so packaging lines can handle products at previously unprecedented speeds while realizing energy savings.
Available with a range of independent lips, bellows and fittings in sizes from 25-77 mm, the new piGRIP® suction cup can be customized for thousands of applications for full operational flexibility. Whereas traditional grippers can only be used for selected applications, the piGRIP® can be tailored to individual gripping, lifting and height requirements to handle a variety of products and fit with a number of packaging machines, including robotic arms, rotary cartoners, labelling machines and carton erectors. The piGRIP® can be used with new machines as well as for retrofitting existing systems.
Overall line efficiency is enhanced with the piGRIP®'s superior suction grip, which allows for higher machine speeds. This powerful grip is made possible through the variety of lip options available with the piGRIP®, allowing manufacturers to choose the desired hardness or softness for optimum sealing. For example, flexible lips provide extra sealing capability for the handling of surface-leaking and porous materials, such as corrugated cardboard, while foam lips are ideal for difficult to handle products such as rigid food packages or lids with heavily textured surfaces.
With the piGRIP®, the ideal lip and bellow combination can be selected so manufacturers are no longer forced to compromise on either grip or machine handling speed, which is often the case with one-size-fits-all suction cup units. All of Piab's bellows have a proprietary thin wall design which ensures that faster compressions and returns can be achieved, allowing extra high lifting force compared to traditional cups in the same size. With this capability to handle faster accelerations and more high speed lifts, machines can run at faster speeds leading to shorter production cycles, and increasing overall productivity.
The piGRIP® is also available in FDA approved materials. Certificates are available for the food industry, making the unique suction cup suitable for applications where direct food contact is necessary.
The new configurable suction cup also contributes to sustainability benefits. The piGRIP® offers 20-50% more lifting force than similar sized cups to reduce energy consumption and save costs. The piGRIP® also features 100% recyclable and separable materials, which, once the suction cup is recycled, can be reused for the same or a number of other purposes. By reducing scrap this contributes to an environmentally friendly waste management program.
"With a growing awareness of environmental issues, packaging manufacturers are seeking solutions that offer both optimum performance and energy efficiency," said Ed McGovern, Vice President, Sales and Business Development North America, Piab. "The new revolutionary piGRIP® brings a step change in vacuum technology by being the first configurable modular suction cup concept on the market. This exciting development allows us to help manufacturers optimize their packaging lines while also contributing to a sustainable world."
Established in 1951, Piab designs innovative vacuum solutions that improve the energy-efficiency, productivity, and working environments of vacuum users around the world. As a reliable partner to many of the world's largest manufacturers, Piab develops and manufactures a complete line of vacuum pumps, vacuum accessories, vacuum conveyors and suction cups for a variety of automated material handling and factory automation processes. Piab utilizes COAX®, a completely new dimension in vacuum technology, in many of its original products and solutions. COAX® cartridges are smaller, more energy efficient and more reliable than conventional ejectors, and can be integrated directly into machinery. This allows for the design of a flexible, modular vacuum system. Piab is a worldwide organization with subsidiaries and distributors in more than 50 countries. Its headquarters are in Sweden.
For more information, contact:
Josef Karbassi, Vice President Marketing and Communication
Tel: +46 (0)8 630 25 98
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Surgical Procedures
At Crysler Animal Hospital, we understand that surgery can be a stressful process for you and your pet. That's why we have invested in top-of-the-line surgical technology and do everything we can to make the surgical process as safe and painfree as possible for your pet. Our veterinarians diligently monitor your pet's vitals throughout surgery. Following any procedure, we provide a comprehensive pain-management plan to make your pet's recovery as comfortable as possible. Our veterinarians will tailor your pet's postoperative plan to the source and severity of pain, as well as how your pet responds to medication.
Laser Surgery
Laser surgery uses a highly focused infrared beam to remove tissue while simultaneously sealing capillaries, lymphatics, and nerve endings. Our veterinarians prefer laser surgery to traditional scalpel surgery because it minimizes blood loss, risk of infection, and even post-operative pain. Almost any soft-tissue surgery can be performed with laser.
Procedures Offered
Our veterinarians are experienced in an array of basic and specialized surgeries, including:
- Ovariohysterectomy (Spay)
- Orchiectomy (Neuter)
- Declaw
- Orthopedics
- Fracture Repair
- Cruciate Ligament Repair
- Cast/Splint Application
- Soft Tissue Surgery
- Exploratory
- Foreign Body Removal
- Organ Biopsy
- Tumor Removal/Histopathology
- Video Otoscopy


text:
Categories: Show Results, Shows
Hello again.
This will be my final post for convention show winners.
These are the mini winners. It looks like I missed the 6 by hybridizer. Apologies.
I have yet to edit and post the Indiana and Cincinnati show winners, then this coming weekend in Niles Michigan for the show that certainly features Dr John Reeds flowers, then the following weekend moving on to the Washington Pennsylvania Daffodil Growers South show at Joe Hamms Barn which will be a tribute to Helen Trueblood.
Happy Springtime (or at least for today, snowflakes predicted for tomorrow yet again)


text:
Subscribe to our mailing list
* indicates required
Discover exciting stay, dining or event packages for your upcoming holiday or celebratory milestone.
Tickle your epicurean senses with modern European flavours from Porta and sumptuous local, international and BBQ fares at Cocobolo Poolside Bar + Grill.
Create ever-lasting memories with those who matter most to you with Park Hotel Clarke Quay.
Reward yourself with complimentary unlimited Wi-Fi access for multiple devices, plus a host of exclusive benefits when you complete your booking here.


text:
Legal Advice
Terms and conditions of the service
By using the GlobePlaces.com website you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and by other terms in the website which relate to a particular subject matter. Such terms together with these Terms of Use will apply to the use of the GlobePlaces.com website. This terms and conditions can be modified at any time. Therefore, when you use or access to this site, please continue checking these general terms. If, at any time, you do not wish to accept these general terms of rendering of service, you should stop using this site.
All rights, including copyright in material and database rights in databases, in the content of GlobePlaces.com web pages are owned or controlled for these purposes by GlobePlaces.com. Users may only view and print hard copies of this website for their own personal use. Users may not print, copy, reproduce, download, republish, broadcast, transmit, display, modify or re-use the materials from the GlobePlaces.com website for any other purpose, including in particular any purpose which publicly re-sells or re-uses the materials.
Use restrictions. You can not use the service for unlawful or contradictory purposes with the general terms of rendering of service. You can not copy, reproduce, recompile or decompile, dismantle, do activities of inverse engineering, distribute, publish, display, execute, modify, empty out, do derived works, transfer or exploit parts of the service, excluding the empty out of the service´s material and/or do a copy for personal use, provided that you admit all copyrights.
Exclusion of GlobePlaces.com's liability
The information contained in the material in this web site is only for information purposes. The material on this web site does not constitute advice and you should not rely on any material in this web site to make (or refuse from making) any decision or take (or refuse from taking) any action.
GlobePlaces.com does not make any warranty or representation as to the accuracy or fitness for purpose of any material on this web site or the reliability of the access to this web site.
In no event do we accept liability of any description, including liability for negligence (except for personal injury or death), for any damages or losses (including, without limitation, loss of business, revenue, profits, or consequential loss) whatsoever resulting from use of or inability to use this web site.
GlobePlaces.com makes no warranty that this web site (or web sites which are linked to this web site) is free from computer viruses or any other malicious or impairing computer program.
The pages contained in this web site may contain technical inaccuracies and typographical errors.
The information in these pages may be updated from time to time and may at times be out of date.
We accept no responsibility for keeping the information in these pages up to date or liability for any failure to do so.
GlobePlaces, its management and employees, general partners, branches, subsidiaries, and its agents will not be responsible, in a direct or indirect way and in no case, for you or any other person because of: (i) errors and omissions of the service; (ii) delays, errors or interruptions in the transmission or delivery of the service; or (iii) loss or caused damages or because of any other reason of non-fulfillment.
Third party material and advertisements
This web site contains material submitted and created by third parties. GlobePlaces.com excludes all liability for any illegality arising from or error, omission or inaccuracy in such material and GlobePlaces.com takes no responsibility for such material.
In the event that you purchase or obtain any goods or services from a third party then your acquisition of such goods or services will be in accordance with the third party's terms and conditions and GlobePlaces.com will have no liability to you in respect of the same.
This web site also contains links to other web sites which are not under the control of and are not maintained by GlobePlaces.com.
GlobePlaces.com is not responsible for the content of those sites. GlobePlaces.com provides these links for your convenience only but does not necessarily endorse the material on these sites.
Material submitted by you
By submitting any material to GlobePlaces.com, you automatically grant GlobePlaces.com the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, edit, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such material (in whole or part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content.
You acknowledge that GlobePlaces.com is not obliged to publish any material submitted by you.
Framing restrictions
If you wish to framing this web site or any of its contents shall ask for permission writing to GlobePlaces. Including; a) your name, electronic mail address and phone number, (b) name of the company, (c) address(es) of the web site where the proposed framing will appear and (d) specific contemplated details framing , including content or web pages of the web site that it is wished to framing
If any term, condition, or provision of these terms and conditions is determined to be unlawful, invalid, void, or for any reason unenforceable, the validity and enforceability of the remaining terms, conditions and provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired thereby.
Law governing the Terms
Use of this Website and these Terms shall be subject only to the laws of Spain which shall exclusively govern the interpretation, application and effect of all the above permissions, exclusions, licences and conditions of use.
The Courts of Spain shall have exclusive jurisdiction over all claims or disputes arising in relation to, out of or in connection with this Website and its use and these Terms.
If you have any questions or queries regarding any of the services or products featured please send an email.
Company Information
Globe Places is part of Hipermedia Web y Publicidad, S.L. a company incorporated in Spain and has a Registered Office at Granada: T.1327, f. 52, h. Gr-35481.
Privacy policy
By browsing and using our website you agree to this policy governing your use of the website. If you do not accept this policy, you must not use our website.
This policy applies only to this website and not to other websites to which we provide links. We also enter into agreements with commercial partners whose websites may be co-branded or framed by us and which you may visit directly through our website. These websites are not subject to our privacy policy. You are advised to read the privacy policy of such other websites.
We may change our privacy policy from time to time without notification and you should regularly review this policy when you visit our site.
Collection of personal information
We will only collect personal information from you (such as name, address, telephone number, email address etc) which you have provided voluntarily to us either by completing registration or enquiry forms or sending emails to us. Please do not submit your personal data to us if you do not wish us to collect it.
Collection of other information
In addition to asking you to submit personal information, we may collect information about you automatically when you visit the site. The collection of information may involve the use of cookies and web beacons.
Use of your information
You agree that we may obtain, hold, correlate, merge and use your information (including personal information) for the purpose of providing you with our services and ancillary services and for our internal business purposes. These include (without limitation):
Safeguards and Security
No data transmission over the internet can be entirely secure, and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information and/or use of our sites. However we use our reasonable endeavours to protect the security of your personal information from unauthorised access or use.
Changing or accessing your information
Should your personal information change (e.g. your postcode), or if you no longer wish to receive newsletters or services you have signed up for, or if you wish to review or receive copies of the personal information we hold about you, or have any other queries please email us including full details of your request.
You may at anytime request access to all personal information we hold on you.


text:
One of my all time favourite bloggers, Oxford Neuroscientist Prof. Dorothy Bishop, or DeevyBee as she is known on Twitter has performed an amazing open access lecture focusing largely on the misunderstanding of neuroscience (click down to the "Emanuel Miller Lecture" to play the video). The talk is incredibly informative and digestible, even those with no understanding of neuroscience or psychology whatsoever will take a great deal away. The problem of the poor understanding of neuroscience is one of the main reasons why I started this blog, so if you like this blog then you'll love this lecture.
Click here to download the slides.
The talk begins with a reasoned explanation of how and when we should be sceptical of neuroscience research, Bishop goes on to cite 4 key reasons why certain kinds of scientific research will inevitbaly result in false-positives:
"The four horseman of the apocalypse"
1. Maturation – People develop naturally over time.
"There seems to be an implicit assumption that the brain, because it is a physical organ is somehow not going to change unless you give it some intervention – that it is there as a static thing. This is completely untrue… as evidenced by this series of images."
2. Practice effects – when people keep doing the same test again and again, they get better at it.
"…purely to do with the fact that you have got better at doing the test and nothing to do with your abilities… People forget that this can apply to language tests and thing like that. It also applies to some extent to the brain, often we don't know how important this is because brain imaging is so new.. clearly if you get brain responses to novelty, that means if you do something twice – the first time round you will get different responses to the second time round when it is no longer novel".
3. Regression to the mean – a statistical artefact of longitudinal studies that is exacerbated if you select participants on the basis of a low score on a test (for example participants with developmental difficulties). Bishop does an outstanding job of explaining the problem at about 18 minutes in to the talk.
"Regression to the mean is as inevitable as death and taxes"
Campbell and Kenny (1999) A primer on regression artefacts
4. The placebo effect. This is the obvious consideration that continues to impact poorly designed research but according to Bishop, the three issues listed above could actually be having an even greater impact than the placebo effect.
The Solution?
Bishop explains that a control group is vital in order to achieve valid findings, but a control group alone is not enough, we should also be asking questions such as:
- Are the groups randomly assigned – or is there some other factor at play?
- Is the control group given an alternative treatment? If not, why not?
- What causes drop out? People don't tend to drop out at random and this can have a very big effect on results.
Weisberg, Deena Skolnick. (2008). The Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18 (3), 229-477 DOI: 10.1162/jocn.2008.20040
Campbell and Kenny (1999) A primer on regression artefactsFollow Simon on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, RSS, or join the mailing list.
Is this paper reliable? A question that every academic will have asked themselves. We have all stumbled across a paper in a journal that on closer inspection isn't really a journal at all.
This year 134 suspect new journals have appeared from the abyss, all published by the same clandestine company "Scientific & Academic Publishing, USA". Scientists have been quick to raise the alarm and ruthless in their response (1)(2).
The publisher seems keen to announce all of these new journals at once and accept papers yet most of the positions on the journals ranging from "editor in chief" or "editorial board member" to "reviewer" seem to be vacant. Not to worry, just send in "a brief resume (and) SAP will revert (sic) back within two working days". I am trying to be very careful not to pass judgement on this new group, the internet will do that itself. The chatter in the blogosphere is not promising however and the discussion on their Facebook page is even less supportive.
Peer review serves a vital purpose, it is still the foundation of how scientists operate but the system is far from fool proof. Only last week I blogged about an oncology paper published in the "Breast Journal" that has "15 references, but they're all about sex, not cancer". The rapid and durable reaction of the science blogosphere helps immunise us against the pernicious effect of Bad Science that Ben Goldacre documents on a weekly basis.
We shouldn't be too swift to disregard attempts to sidestep traditional methods of publishing however. Heather Morrison is one researcher stepping outside the box. She is publishing her thesis as she writes it and is inviting comment along the way. You don't even have to wait for her to publish her work if you wish to use it, even her draft is published under "the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5" licence. Her work in progress Scholarly Communication in Crisis draws eye watering conclusions regarding the profits of the four largest publishers who own the majority of the academic publishing market:
All are in the for-profit sector, and the profits are enormous. As reported in the Economist (2011): " Elsevier, the biggest publisher of journals with almost 2,000 titles, cruised through the recession. Last year it made £724m ($1.1 billion) on revenues of £2 billion—an operating-profit margin of 36%". Springer's Science + Business Media (2010) reported a return on sales (operating profit) of 33.9% or € 294 million on revenue of € 866 million, an increase of 4% over the profit of the previous year. In the first quarter of 2012, John Wiley & Sons (2011) reported profit of $106 million for their scientific, medical, technical and scholarly division on revenue of $253 million, a profit rate of 42%. This represents an increase in the profit rate of 13% over the previous year. The operating profit rate for the academic division of Informa.plc (2011, p. 4) for the first half of 2011 was 32.4%, or £47 million on revenue of £145 million, an increase of 3.3% over the profit of the previous year.
Scholarly Communication in Crisis by Heather Morrison (Open access)
These huge profit margins are not only increasing far above the rate of inflation but publishers are now actively forcing third world countries out of academia
To our dismay and anger, a few international STM publishers, using their monopolistic position, recently demand to raise the subscription prices for their full-text database at a yearly rate of more than 14% for the next 3 years and by 2020, to raise the prices for developing countries to the level of those of the developed countries.
National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010) cited in Scholarly Communication in Crisis by Heather Morrison (Open access)
We expect our institutions to spend millions on journal subscriptions, this is deemed essential so the fruits of knowledge help fund the research of the future. The system fails when over a third of the cash-flow is creamed off the scientific process during the publishing stage. Moreover, all those outside leading western universities are left without access to journals (assuming they do not have $799 dollars plus to spare for a subscription or $25 for one-time access, for one day, at one computer (Sage, 2011). Ironically much research is therefore unavailable to the very people it is designed to help. This problem is something all scientists should be aware of, perhaps not only the Medline ranking but also the profit margins of publishers should be a key consideration of what journal to publish with. (Edit 16/01/2012: On the topic of impact factors, it has been revealed that some publishers are now requiring researchers to cite recent research from their own journal in a bid to artificially boost their journal's rankings, a very dodgy practice indeed.)
The cruel irony is that for research to be placed under lock and key in a for-profit journal, the researcher will have paid for education and time spent researching; then the researcher's institution must spend hundreds on hotel fees and flights as well as many hundreds of pounds for a conference ticket, plus an insertion fee, often based on the number of pages in the publication (as is the procedure in the world's largest engineering journal). Even open access publishers charge hefty fees, BioMedCentral's fee of $1,640 is described as average, even PLoS charge $1,300 to $2,900 to publish. Surely a happy medium can be found, unfortunately for "Scientific & Academic Publishing, USA" the blunderbuss approach is unlikely to be the way to the hearts and minds of the academic community but we shall have to wait and see.
Upon discovering that research isn't published in a reputable journal, perhaps the real question on our lips should not be is this journal for real? But rather, has this researcher proven that they have applied appropriate rigorous controls and is there a free and fair forum for the researcher's conclusions to be questioned?
Morrison, Heather. (2012). Scholarly Communication in Crisis. Freedom for scholarship in the internet age. Simon Fraser University School of Communication. Doctoral dissertation (in process)
Update 16/01/2012: Further reading from today's Guardian: Academic publishers have become the enemies of scienceFollow Simon on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, RSS, or join the mailing list.
Do you ever feel like you are living in a rabbit hole? The same recycled news, phone tapping, phone tapping, phone tapping. The internet is making you stupid. Blah. Blah. Blah?
Once again a controversial academic paper is claiming that the internet is damaging our ability to recall, or at least changing the way we think. This time it has appeared in the journal Science titled "Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips" (£). We've discussed previously the vast ammounts of unfounded conjecture surrounding this topic but until now there has been little (if any) published research that comes close to shedding any light on the issue. Somewhat unsurprisingly the paper is being taken very seriously, however on closer inspection it presents a far from watertight case. As Buldric might say, this case is in fact so leaky a marauding lascivious nun wouldn't use it to surreptitiously store her illicit liquor stash. Darling.
The paper uses an interesting (ahem) technique of measuring how much participants are thinking of computers when asked to recall information. The method called the "stroop test" is traditionally used as a texbook measure of attention.
In the experiment 106 Harvard graduates were given trivia questions. After this happened, coloured words either relating to computers or not relating to computers popped up and participants would have to say the colour of the word. This is the crucial bit. The logic that the "findings" that "Google effects memory" depend on, is based on the presumption that if the Harvard grads were already thinking of googling the answer then this would delay their response upon seeing the word "Google" (or "Yahoo") in a stroop test. Now, as always, I hate to throw a spanner in the works of a watertight hypothesis but there does seem to be a slight confounding variable in the fact that the Google logo is erm, multi-*******-coloured.
I'm always struck by the leap of faith that goes in to reaching conclusions in studies such as this but this time it just seems plain ridiculous. The researchers claim that:
"People who have been disposed to think about a certain topic [i.e. internet search providers] typically show slowed reaction times (RTs) for naming the color of the word when the word itself is of interest and is more accessible, because the word captures attention and interferes with the fastest possible color naming."
One of the things I tend to find a bit odd is that such tiny results can be used to reach such sweeping conclusions, in this study the difference in reaction time between the "computer terms" and the "general terms" was a fraction of a second…
Never mind the monster of a confounding variable that the Google logo is famously multi-[deep breaths now]-coloured but surely there are positively dozens of other factors at work such as that the terms "Google" and "Yahoo" are likely to ellicit far more complex ideas and memories than the control words "Nike" and "Target". I mean come on, the mere words "Nike" and "Target" are unlikely to excite even the most hard core sportswear fans let alone a bunch of Harvard graduates.
Come to think of it I'm pretty sure there are plently of Harvard graduates that would have loved nothing more than to have been the ones to come up with the code underlying Google (Yahoo, not so much).
I rest my.. case.
Sparrow, B. Liu, J. & Wegner , D. (2011) Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips. ScienceFollow Simon on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, RSS, or join the mailing list.
I'd like to dedicate this post to Dr. Ben Goldacre who inspired me to begin this blog with his absolutely outstanding Bad Science Blog.
Ecstasy? I'm sorry, I thought it was Crystal Meth!
Drug "education" pamphlets routinely state ecstasy causes "brain damage" and "Parkinson's disease". There is no valid evidence for the former in humans and the little evidence that exists regarding the latter actually suggests the precise opposite. The Parkinson's claim is based on a study published by researchers at Johns Hopkins University which has been retracted. The reason for the retraction was that the monkeys who the study were based on were "accidentally" injected (yes, injected) with crystal meth instead of ecstasy. These were not the only things wrong with this study…
Due to our insane drug laws crystal meth and ecstasy could feasibly "get mixed up" on the street by an insane or idiotic drug dealer. In a lab however you'd have to be criminally incompetent to allow this mistake to happen, scientists don't just have stacks of crystal meth and ecstacy lying around. Despite ecstasy being taken by millions every weekend the law makes it practically impossible for scientists to get their hands on it for research especially with humans. In this respect the use of non-humans is not unusual. No well controlled trials (let alone randomized controlled trials) have ever been done with humans on most illegal drugs.
Another odd thing about the Johns Hopkins study was that the monkeys were injected three times with intervals of three hours. Ricuarte, the author of the study himself conducted a study in 1988 that demonstrated that injecting doubles the toxicity of MDMA however this was not discussed in this study and the title of the study actually states "a common recreational dose". It was also a strange conclusion for the scientists to suggest that ecstacy causes Parkinson's without addressing their staggering finding that two of their ten monkeys dropped dead before they could be given their third dose. It's as if they think that at raves its perfectly normal for one in five ecstasy users to inject themselves with ecstasy and then promptly drop dead.
The dosage in the study though high compared to recreational doses, isn't however particularly out of the ordinary for animal MDMA research. The study cites a key study by the US National Institute for Drug Addiction (NIDA) that injected monkeys with twice the dose they used, noon and night for 4 consecutive days (based on their calculation of mg per kilo, the equivalent for a 75kg human would be six grams of pure MDMA over four days, taken at breakfast and bed time. Most MDMA users probably wouldn't see that much MDMA in their lifetimes). This dosage and timespan is so nuts that the fact that all of the monkeys in the study didn't drop dead immediately should suggest ecstasy is a pretty safe drug. Instead the NIDA study is one of the assortment of studies used to support the claim that ecstasy causes brain damage. Of course ecstasy causes damage to animals if you inject hideous amounts of it on a twice daily basis for days on end. Neither studies bother explaining why they are injecting the monkeys rather than using the normal method of oral administration.
These papers echo researchers in the US who famously blasted cannabis smoke at monkeys through gas masks every day for 90 days with so much smoke that many died from carbon monoxide poisoning or suffocation.
You may wonder why these scientists behaved so appallingly. When the World Health Organisation (WHO) was commissioned to conduct the largest ever study of cocaine use it concluded that cocaine was safer than alcohol and tobacco and generally very useful. The US representative to WHO threatened to withdraw US funding for all their research projects and interventions unless the organisation "dissociated itself from the conclusions of the study" and cancelled the publication (leaked WHO report here). Professor Nutt, the UK head of the Government's advisory council on drugs (ACMD) was sacked for saying the exact same thing about Ecstasy.
When practically the entire ACMD resigned in outrage last year and the leaders of the medical and legal establishment came out in full support of the scientists, the Government's reaction was to propose a bill that will remove from law any remaining remnants of their influence. The bill is currently in the final stages of becoming law. Professor Nutt's replacement, war-on-drugs puppet Dr. Raabe was such a fruitcake that the Government had to remove him before his first day at work after after it emerged he was also at war with homosexuals, abortion, contraception and well basically everything.
Only one randomised controlled trial of ecstasy has ever been conducted. Last year 15 PTSD patients who were extremely resistant to psychotherapy and existing medications were treated with MDMA. The study concluded that ecstasy was not only safe but extremely effective for this purpose. There has been one vaguely controlled study of ecstacy users. It was completed a month ago, independently with a $1.8m NIDA grant. It demonstrated absolutely no cognitive impairment even in heavy ecstasy users. It is still completely free and open access so get it while it's hot. It's important to remember however that the sample sizes in these studies are tiny, until a controlled study is conducted with a decent sample size it will be impossible to say definitively how safe ecstasy is.
Fun fact: No scientist in recorded history has EVER suggested ecstasy drains spinal fluid. A number of ecstasy studies involved draining spinal fluid of users in search of evidence of harm. Leaking spinal fluids isn't caused by ecstasy, it's caused by spinal taps. So will the anti-drug organisations please recall their bullshit pamphlets. This pamphlet by the Australian Federal Police for example reads like a comedy of errors written by a chimp. Ecstasy probably doesn't kill if pure and used properly. Misinformation definitely kills. Good day.
Edit: If you think the botched Johns Hopkins paper is no longer relevant, I'd like to point out that the authors of this study are the only scientists cited to support the claim that ecstasy causes brain damage on the US Government (2010) Ecstasy "fact sheet". The paper is an incredibly biased and uncritical review of what is mostly their own research (they cite 10 of their own papers), the review was published the year before the botched study.
Click here to read last week's article on why a multi-billion dollar industry is paying advertising agencies to spread misinformation about drugs.
Key References
Ricaurte, G. (2002). Severe Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity in Primates After a Common Recreational Dose Regimen of MDMA ("Ecstasy") Science, 297 (5590), 2260-2263 DOI: 10.1126/science.1074501
Mithoefer MC, Wagner MT, Mithoefer AT, Jerome I, & Doblin R (2010). The safety and efficacy of {+/-}3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress disorder: the first randomized controlled pilot study. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) PMID: 20643699
Halpern JH, Sherwood AR, Hudson JI, Gruber S, Kozin D, & Pope HG Jr (2011). Residual neurocognitive features of long-term ecstasy users with minimal exposure to other drugs. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 106 (4), 777-86 PMID: 21205042
Insel TR, Battaglia G, Johannessen JN, Marra S, & De Souza EB (1989). 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine ("ecstasy") selectively destroys brain serotonin terminals in rhesus monkeys. The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 249 (3), 713-20 PMID: 2471824
Continue reading »Follow Simon on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, RSS, or join the mailing list.
So before we continue our theme this week of lampooning fleet street's utter failure to understand the basic principles of Science I'll give you a break with this little gem of neanderthal level fire and brimstone I came across in the Washington Times this week. According to the article 1 in 6 women are addicted to porn. The headline should set off alarm bells right away. Who decided they were addicted? Women in general? American women? Or just women who read a particular crackpot website perhaps?
NB: in many crackpot reports the working definition of "addiction" is just "use of X". Thich explains in one sentence a lot of strange stats you may have seen refering to every type of addiction. (The case for this haphazard use of the word is supposedly that when you just go up and ask someone who uses "x" whether they are addicted to porn, alcohol cannabis or whatever, the standard response is "f*** off".) The academically accepted definition however, requires distress of the individual sooner or later.
So after a brief look in to the referencing of this study we can see that this earth shattering finding was found by… no, not a study but a survey by "Today's Christian Woman" presumably of Christian women (we are left to guess however because none of these crucial facts are included in this three page long abomination, oh and it was conducted erm 7 years ago (What the hell, thats not even news!) Not only that but outside of this news paper article I can't find any evidence anywhere on the internet that this study ever existed. It certainly doesn't seem to have been cited by any other reputable media in the erm 7 years since it was published. There are a couple of mags and blogs with similar titles but they don't seem to have any evidence of this survey. Which is a real pity because I was really looking forward to hypothesising why responders to a survery on a website for Christian mothers had such a massively higher level of pent up sexual angst than the average woman. (Put the pitch forks away that's called a joke, if you didn't get that you might as well sod off right now).
OK, well I could go on all day about the methodological and statistical catastrophes in this article but that would be missing the wood for the trees. (Why don't you try it for yourself, this ones a text book case. TIP: Find who conducted the other study in this article and check what they actually found?)
The article goes on to cite a Mary-Anne-Laydon, a professor (please god no) of women's studies at Wheelock College in Boston as saying (as if it were definitive fact):
"The more pornography women use, the more likely they are to be victims of non-consensual sex"
The article then continues on to chat about some other random bullshit without even attempting to address this second earth shattering statement in this story. Seriously, did she just say that? Yes. This illustrates superbly an extraordinarily basic principle that newspapers in general don't seem to get….
Correlation ≠ Causation
Obviously to any rational being there are most probably dozens of uncontrolled factors at work. Without some earth shattering evidence to the contrary, the fact that one bullshit study from a source too obscure to bother citing in a three page text that found that some women who were raped watched porn and some other women who said they didn't watch porn didn't get raped tells you absolutely, categorically, sweet, f*** all. It's absolutely irrelevant to anything and everything ever.
Good day to you.Follow Simon on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, RSS, or join the mailing list.
Cookie ComplianceThis site contains cookies. If you have ever used the internet before then you probably knew that already and ate them long before you arrived here. If you are allergic to cookies please leave now.


text:
I'm trying to connect to a MySQL server running on my Raspberry Pi 3 remotely (though on the same LAN).
Attempting to do so through HeidiSQL returns an error coded 10061. A bit of research suggests I have to edit the config to allow remote connections.
The config, however, does not contain a bind-adress x.x.x.x line (/etc/mysql/my.cnf) for my to comment out. Added it myself breaks the service, causing errors when trying to restart it. Checking other possible config file locations resulted in only empty files. kodi Additionally, comparing to the "default" config file, mine is a lot shorter, and has no actual statements, other than a few includes for other config files (it seems). These included files are all empty as well.
I'm now lost, and cannot figure out how to allow remote connections to my server. Any help is much appreciated


text:
Invisible Children
90% of the children in the U.S. Juvenile Justice system have come from the Child Protection system. Over 90% of the adults in Criminal Justice have come out of Juvenile Justice. Legislators predict the need for new prisons by extrapolating from the number of children in their Child Protection System. America is the only nation in the world to build prisons based on the number of children in Child Protection.
America has created a prison feeder system for poor and abused children. Abused children are 66 times more likely to enter Juvenile Justice than children who are not abused. Most of the children in the Child Protection and Juvenile Justice Systems are people of color and poor. Income and color seem to be great un-equalizers.
For many years America has suffered about 40,000 murders per year (plus millions of assaults and robberies) and for twenty of the last twenty-five years between one out of four and one out of five Americans has been a victim of a crime every year.
For a long time the United States has had the highest per-capita rate of incarceration (imprisonment) of all the industrialized countries (except for Russia).
Today, there are 600,000 felons in Florida (without counting the current prison population in Florida). About 600,000 felons are released each year in America, with little chance of employment, or fitting back into to the community. We the People have decided that prisons are for punishment, not rehabilitation.
For many years, the U.S. rate of recidivism (returning to prison) has been greater than 66%.
America executes more people who were prosecuted while juveniles than any other country in the world. We are the only nation at the UN to refuse to sign the Child Rights Treaty (190 other nations have signed it), simply because we refuse to stop executing juveniles.
Consider these truths the next time your DA charges a 16 year old who randomly shoots someone outside a convenience store, as an adult (or, the 12 year old girl who left her baby in a shoe box under her bed). Both children were terribly abused by their parents (national and local cases this year).
Children sent into the adult Criminal Justice System are 8 times more likely to commit suicide and five times more likely to be raped than if they were in the Juvenile Justice system.
The prison industry is a good business in America and it makes big money. Prison related industry has a much larger PAC (money raising political action committee) than do the abused and neglected children of our nation (there is no money raising PAC for children's issues).
Nationally, a disproportionate number of the children in abusive homes, Child Protection, and the Juvenile Justice system are children of color and poor. They are invisible, and they have no voice in their own affairs. We don't see them until they have done something terrible. Then we punish them.
As a nation, we don't spend much money helping children in need of protection, or the ex-convicts they become, to fit back into our society. We do spend a fortune on prisons, parole, and the court systems that send them to jail.
Child Protection Systems vary widely from state to state. When a county gets bad press (a child dies forgotten, or lost in the system) county child workers get the blame. The media doesn't bring attention to the huge caseloads of the social workers, or the lack of services that are available within the system to help the worker to get results.
The community may be outraged, but it continues to provide minimal funding to run these systems.
Fifty years ago, senior citizens were ignored by their community & discovered by the media to be eating dog food out of cans and sleeping under bridges. The media brought attention to the communities neglect of seniors and the community got involved, people called their senators and legislation was changed to make the lives of seniors better.
Seniors are much better represented today because of Social Security, AARP, & the active awareness of the groups Seniors have formed. Abused children don't have the knowledge, or the capacity to call their senators, protect themselves, or even to bring attention to their circumstances.
Abused children can't form groups, or lobby to have laws changed. It takes an involved and aware community to deal with the problems of child abuse, or nothing changes.
The social workers and service providers that I have met have all been committed hard working people who work in this field because they want to make a difference and they care about people. Most caseworkers are overburdened and working without the resources needed to complete the job they were hired to do. Their community needs to stand behind them and provide them the necessary tools to help the children they work with succeed. Caseworker moral is often low, turnover high, and this results in inconsistent service to children.
I know of several children in my experience who have had between thirty and forty different caseworkers. These are children who are removed from their family and have little or no other consistent contact with any care provider, or family member. One young man had 27 foster placements over an 8 year period.
American children need more help than they are getting. I work in a Child Protection System in a county that is better funded and better respected than many others and it is only marginally addressing the problems of the children in its system.
Funding the future well being of abused and neglected children is the right thing to do and it will save us money. Funding prevention and early intervention programs is a practical investment and it will return big dividends.
Our Child Protection and prison policies are costing us much more than the just the cash to build and maintain prisons. Children in Child Protection who are too old, or too troubled to be adopted, can be part of the Child Protection System for ten years or more.
These children are 66 times more likely to experience both the Juvenile Justice System and the Criminal Justice System. The cost of institutionalizing millions of American citizens for ten to thirty year periods runs into many millions of dollars per child/inmate (and it is common).
By not removing children from abusive homes in a timely manner (as the rest of the industrialized world does) we incur huge ongoing costs related to crime, mental health services, educational failure, and the livability of our communities.
Between 50 and 75% of the children admitted into the Juvenile Justice system have diagnosable mental health issues. It costs great sums to treat these illnesses, especially if the child has been abused for some years (the average length of sex abuse is four years). It costs a great deal more to 'not' treat these illnesses.
The cost of crime in America is estimated at between 500 billion and 1.6 trillion annually. These numbers are arrived at by valuing the rapes and murders of our family members at what most of us would consider unacceptably low numbers ($20,000 per rape of your child, or your spouse, $5000 per assault, etc..)
There are also the misunderstood costs of abused and neglected children in our public school system. Many of these children have severe mental health problems and they can be uncontrollable and dangerous in our classrooms. The national statistical data of pregnancies, assaults, and students carrying guns on school property is in the range of 8% to 12% of the student body (for each category).
Private schools don't have to deal with these problems and that's why their cost per pupil is lower. The next time you are asked to consider vouchers, remember this. Public school teachers are under much greater stress in their classrooms than are private school teachers
That's at least partially the reason that some of them take the reduced salaries to teach in private schools.
Abused and neglected children are being placed in the public school system without making the necessary investment in training and support to accommodate them (12 to 14 thousand abused and neglected children are in the Minnesota Child Protection System this year). Many of those children are not receiving the mental health services that they need. The state of New Jersey has recently completely dropped it's mental health services within their school system. Their abused and neglected unmanageable children are all going to directly to detention centers and jail.
The issue of abused and neglected children in our schools is largely underreported and results in a repeated and undeserved bad press for our educators. I challenge those of you who doubt this to spend time in the inner city public schools.
It's not the teachers in these schools who are costing us money, it is quite simply the 900,000 American children who were reported as abused, or neglected last year for whom our teachers have to provide safety, discipline, and an education.
That's why our national high school dropout rates are not the 2% and 3% that have been reported over the last few years, but in fact they are between 20% & 40%. It's why 25% of high school graduates are functionally illiterate, and why three years ago on a national test of high school seniors, one out of three of them could not find Florida on a map.
If you compare the difference between how the rest of the developed world handles these same problems, you would find that our current treatment of abused and neglected children is expensive, counter productive, and cruel.
What's a concerned citizen to do? Bring your attention to the issues and become aware and active in the discourse of what's really happening, what's at stake, and how to make things better. Try to understand the underlying issues, make them part of your current public discourse & bring it to the attention of others. Call, write, & visit your political representatives.
Get involved, volunteer, send money to organizations that are dealing with the issues. In Minnesota; St. Joseph's Home for Children, www.friendsofchildren.com, Prevent Child Abuse MN; www.pcamn.org, or nationally; www.friendsofthechildren.com become a mentor, Big Brother/Sister, guardian ad-Litem, or call the United Way and ask for ideas. Every community has the problem. Each one of us can make a difference. Personal involvement at some level is the only way change ever occurs.
Abused and Neglected children need the attention of the larger community (that's us). Nothing will change until 'we the people' make the changes. Unlike American senior citizens of fifty years ago, abused and neglected children cannot alert their senators, or even bring attention to their plight, they are INVISIBLE and they have no voice.
If 'we the people' remain silent and neglect to bring attention to the problems of abused and neglected children, these painful conditions in our schools, in our cities, in our prisons, will remain for all of us to suffer as the cycle continues.
The words of the current governor of the state of Minnesota, "children who are the victims of failed personal responsibility are not my problem, nor are they the problem of the state of Minnesota," (spoken to David Strand and Andy Dawkins in September 2001) clearly define an attitude and public policy that will keep our prisons full and our police busy.
Today, due to our personal lack of attention and awareness to the weakest and most vulnerable among us, and the politicizing of complicated social issues, 'we the people' will be seeing more new prisons, increasing crime & more unnecessary suffering.
Mike Tikkanen is a Minneapolis MN business broker and Hennepin County volunteer guardian ad-Litem who writes, speaks, and gives workshops on what it REALLY costs us (personally, communally and nationally) to continue abusing and neglecting our children. He can be reached at: email@example.com.
Sources: Children's Defense Fund, STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN, Youth with Mental Health Disorders: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Handle with Care: Serving the Mental Health Needs of Young Offenders (Coalition for Juvenile Justice), Getting It Together, the Health and Well-Being of MN Youth, National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality, U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the U.S., U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FBI; Crime In the United States, (Uniform Crime Reports), U.S. Dept of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, New York Times, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Minneapolis Spokesman Recorder, Harvard School Of Public Health, David Strand, NATION OUT OF STEP.