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2017 YellowTelescope Training Seminar Testimonials and Reviews
Annual Feedback Statistics – 2017 YellowTelescope Training Seminar:
- Hotel Experience – 9.6 out of 10
- Meeting Dining – 9.5 out of 10
- Advance Course for Returning Attendees – 9.6 out of 10
- Education Quality – 9.6 out of 10
- Speaker Quality – 9.8 out of 10
- Overall Experience – 9.68 out of 10
Watch testimonial videos from 2017 attendees and keep scrolling to see more written testimonials below:
Clearly the most poignant, intelligent, relevant, and revenue-generating seminar in the industry. Buy while there's still space.
I wish I had signed up sooner. The meeting was fantastic. Worth every penny.
Vitally important concepts. For you or your team, you have probably never learned this. But you must.
As a client of YT, the meeting not only refreshes our excitement about the process, also help sharpen our skills, and gets me thinking more about my office vibe, vision, and goals. Go!
I would be heartbroken if my doctor didn't bring me with her each year. When I first heard of YellowTelescope, I read '3 dates' and I was hooked. I wondered, after just that one article, how much more could they possibly teach me. I listened to their podcasts and read every article I could possibly find on them. My doctor asked me to attend their seminar and again I wondered 'how much more could they possibly teach me?' I was blown away. Then, we decided to hire them and again I wondered 'how much more could they possibly teach me?' I was once again blown away. I no longer question how much more they can teach me and just look forward to the ongoing knowledge I receive from them. I could talk all day about objections, but this year I found the social media aspect to be very helpful.
YT does the best seminars. I feel like I can slay the dragon after. [Future attendees who are unsure if they should attend] should definitely attend. It will improve business.
Hi Ed, has the prize been claimed yet? My PCC is in the process of booking our 8th surgery since returning home. And I wasn't even in the office yesterday!
Excellent seminar. Structure and breaks were perfectly timed and content was specific, to the point, and very helpful. Would you recommend this seminar to others? Already have.
The YT Seminar is a highlight of my year – always a good self-check to see what changes and improvements need to be made and what we are doing right. You will make your investment back almost immediately. Sign up – you will not regret it!
Excellent content. You won't regret attending as long as you are motivated to implement the methods.
My 3rd year of the YT Training Seminar was informative in several areas where I needed additional info and training. I loved seeing familiar faces and meeting new patient care coordinators, office managers, and doctors. The iScream Social Media section was impactful. Mae was wonderful! I learned so much about iScream from her presentation. Mae is an asset to the YT team! Smart young lady! The section on the 5 dysfunctions of a team was informative and impactful. Discussing in a small break out was so helpful. I needed additional training on the objection cycle and sales. I feel more motivated and I think I will increase my conversions even more now. This event is a must for plastic surgery offices! I've worked for my doctor for 10 years and have tried other consulting firms and various ways of bringing new patients into our practice. The YT Way works. I am thankful my doctor has invested so much in me, the other 2 coordinators, our office manager, and each team member! I thank him for my success with the YT philosophy. YellowTelescope's Jill is an asset to the team. Her detailed touches didn't go unnoticed! The food was spot on! I loved the vegan options! Ed and Jon are great speakers.
Very fun, grade-A seminar. Great to learn from high-achievers and be in an environment where people are excited about the potential for the future in their practices. The tools that YT provides are proven to improve the structure and efficiency within any plastics practice. Everyone from our staff is going home with takeaways to immediately implement into our daily work to increase our effectiveness and efficiency. Thanks again!!! Great job guys!
Absolutely incredible. Everything is 100% top service and teaching. Loved learning about social media from Mae – such an important topic! The breakout was so helpful. No suggestions for improvement. Everything was fantastic. Do not hesitate. 5 star treatment, teachings, and learning.
Enlightening experience with valuable information that can be utilized within the practice. It will develop you as a consultant, provide you with the fundamental skill set to grow and be successful in your role.
This experience impacted my doctor and me in different ways, but created a common ground and understanding. I am truly excited to implement new strategies and create success for our team. You'll wonder why you didn't go sooner. Even if you feel like a veteran – that's me – in this industry, you will learn. Just go.
Very informative, gained great information to take back to practice and implement.
I am very excited to use these methods moving forward. This was a great boost of motivation to sell in an exciting, new way. You should go! Even if you already think you are doing a good job! Because I was that same person.
I loved it all! Wonderful, wonderful event. Mae did an exceptional job presenting the social media portion. Very eye opening! Ed is phenomenal! Berry can sing! Hoffenberg is an excellent speaker! Jill is a Rockstar! For the doctor who has never used YellowTelescope before, I highly encourage this to grow your practice. The methods taught here will allow you to become more efficient and to see qualified candidates who are truly ready to book surgery. The return on your investment will be pretty quickly obtained. Your staff will be more confident and fully equipped to make your practice more successful and profitable.
Educational, great reiteration of certain subjects, outstanding speakers with great focus. Those providers who struggle with turnover, incentivizing, and recognizing their staff need this conference.
Very informative with valuable knowledge
It met and exceeded all expectations. Engaging speakers with many pieces of information I can apply immediately. I would highly recommend it. Again, you will learn valuable sales techniques that can be implemented immediately
Outstanding pearls of information.
Bring your entire front office staff.
Very informative and spot on. Will use these skills in the office and in the future. You should have not heard anything bad from offices that have been using YT over the years.
Extremely insightful – worth every penny. Appreciated how to deal with the 'maybe' patients.
Informative. Will be sharing and implementing to our practice. Huge learning for all new and current employees.
The YT seminar was a wonderful learning experience. Superb job. I loved the [talks about] sales in general, staffing, and web. Extremely worth it. Really breaks down the YT experience, and how to utilize it and increase revenue.
Everything was really well organized and executed. Do it! Worth it!
Speakers are engaging and knowledgeable. Valuable. Should attend at least one in their career life.
Extremely informative and engaging. Completely beneficial to setting up your practice administrator for success.
It was a really great first experience and I learned a lot about the process. It is a great learning experience
Pleasant surprise. Terrific presenters. Good material. Be open to these sales and follow them.
Very helpful to all physicians who are in private practice whether starting out new or already established. Book early.
Very knowledgeable and great experience overall. Lots of good people, good information, and motivation. Everything is perfect. Go. It will change your life. It is an amazing experience.
Very educational. All speakers are extremely knowledgeable. Funny, witty, and engaging. Would encourage attendance. Guaranteed to learn a lot!
Very informative. Given the key to success! Quite an experience! Need to attend! They must go!
Intense! Lots of good information. Attend!
Staff is wonderful, seminar was educational. I feel inspired and motivated to make great changes. Very educational, entertaining, and an overall unique experience. Look forward to this seminar in the coming years.
The YT Seminar has been very helpful. The information provided is thoughtful, applicable, and presented energetically. Very practical advice that is easy to implement upon return.
Great seminar. A lot of good information to apply to my practice. A must for all practices to grow their practice.
Give it a try – it's definitely worth it! You can't make money without spending money.
I enjoyed the training. It was nice to have an overview of the process as well as more advanced training. Don't miss it! If you are unsure of the whole YT process, come to the seminar and at least get to speak to other YellowTelescopers. You'll be sold by the time you leave.
The skills will help you with all parts of your life.
Great info, inspiring, and eye opening about how we can improve. It will change your practice and make you money.
Seminar provided me the trust I needed to implement the quality service that YellowTelescope boasts. Come drink the KoolAid. It solidifies trust.
Lots of applicable and useful information. Outside of all topics discussed, sharing info with other attendees is a valuable part of this meeting
Excellent overview of the YellowTelescope process, and the psychology and technique of making a sale. Practice management, organization, and planning are also good. A must-attend for all patient care coordinators, practice owners, and managers.
Learned a lot and we cannot wait to get back and use the many pearls we'll be taking back with us. Everyone will learn something.
Awesome experience. Exceeded expectations. All the speakers made it very interesting and easy to stay engaged. Very helpful and motivating. If you are interested in your business' growing, you should definitely attend.
Lots of good information. Do it! We weren't sure what to expect but it exceeded our expectations.
Insightful. The experience was unique in the sense that Jon and his team were very knowledgeable in a field that is fairly unknown. Suggestions for improvement? None! Looking forward to advanced training next year! If you're looking to grow both professionally and personally, and gain greater relationships with your team, attend.
Outstanding conference.
Very educational, fun and overall impactful. Come to educate yourselves and be more successful.
Great, very informative. Leaving with more knowledge for day-to-day. Go.
I learned a lot of valuable techniques and tips to implement successfully. Thank you! It is a must training session for all practices – especially new ones.
Great program. Plenty of info. I learned a lot about managing and sales. Helpful in all areas. Attendees will learn everything they need to know about sales, themselves, and managing.
Fun! It's a great way to learn and freshen up your skills, and meet like-minded people. If you are unsure about YT or the process, come to the event and let the YT team show you why their process is so great!
This was more than I anticipated, it was so educational for all of the staff, not just doctors and coordinators. It would greatly impact your way of thinking and would be incredibly beneficial for your practice.
Outstanding. Met all expectations. Suggestions for improvements? None. Invest. You won't be sorry!
Outstanding experience here at YellowTelescope. So happy we invested in this training. Looking forward to putting all of your new knowledge to practice. If you want to educate your staff about how to increase sales or how to communicate to patients, staff, web masters, etc. this is the place for your business!
Great experience with great people
Great meeting! A fun learning experience. Just go!
Fantastic information presented in a concise, organized way to give a great basis to overall quality practice growth and management. Absolutely go and learn as much as possible. There is always more to learn!
This was an opportunity to review some of the basics and learn some new ways to sharpen our saw. If you attend and use the information and techniques you learn, your business will absolutely improve.
Each year I come to the YT Seminar at a different point in my professional career and looking to gain new pearls of wisdom, and every year I leave refreshed, renewed, and ready to make the leap from good to great and elevate myself and my practice above the rest. Do you expect your team, your revenue, and your legacy to grow this year more than the last? If so how are you investing in your team and planning for growth? Continuing to perform in the same manner leads to complacency. Invest in your team and help them reach their potential. They will thank you and your return on investment will blossom.
I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. The hotel, food, and overall experience has been absolutely incredible. The experience and education is unforgettable. It is important to understand the value of high-quality service in order to provide it to your patients. YT really provides and emphasizes this.
It was very informative and helps me work out many items in our practice. Make sure you get to this event!
Very well done. Kept it moving. Great mix of social and business.
I'm surprised and truly appreciative of the new knowledge I learned from the training.
Well organized, comprehensive, fun. I really enjoyed the break outs. Well worth the investment for a team member who is willing to learn and grow.
I thought this seminar was wonderful, very informative. Best sales seminar I've attended. Absolutely 100% attend.
I felt the information given was extremely useful regarding consultations. I would tell future attendees that this is insightful and a great way to network and learn how other offices operate.
I had an excellent experience. I've learned a lot and am excited to bring back my knowledge to the office. It's great for new employees. Very motivational.
Very helpful! Great insight on many topics. I'm going home with a laundry list of things to implement. You don't yet know what you are not doing well until you come and listen.
There are foundational principals that our practice already has in place, but there never seems to be a shortage of information each year we attend. This is my first year, and I didn't know what to expect. It was incredibly comprehensive and thorough in research and training efficacy, endeavoring to improve every aspect of my practice. It was sincerely impressive. It's not only about looking to improve, but being willing to do so.
Excellent. Informative. Well-presented. Highly recommend. Suggest to them to have an open mind and be open to change what they have been doing.
Worthwhile. It was good to learn more about sales. Yes – attend.
Engaging. Lots of information to process. Why would you not want to grow?
Essential for any surgeon who runs her or his own clinic. Do it.
Excellent for a newbie like myself. Also loved the food. They won't leave without learning something new and valuable.
The overall experience was very pleasant with dynamic speakers. Excellent for floundering, stagnant practices. Dynamic speakers make for an entertaining weekend.
The YT seminar was very informative and well organized. Good way to step from practice and learn.
Very helpful, illustrated great need for more organized business approach. I would recommend everyone to come and see what changes need to be made to their business model.
I had a good time. Excellent information. Multiple ideas to implement. Attend!
The training has been extremely informative and will certainly make a positive impact on my future sales. It is especially significant for employees who are possibly new to the field of cosmetic surgery, such as myself.
Always a great experience! Love learning and sharing ideas with others.
Incredible. Insightful. Definitely send a staff member and the doctor to get the ball rolling.
The best seminar I've ever been to! Informative and fun! Just do it. It's awesome!
Since starting with YellowTelescope four years ago, my closing now averages 90-95%. I've grown so substantially as a patient care coordinator and continue to learn and grow each day! The food was amazing. I loved the tofu and vegan options. I loved hearing Mae's social media insight even though my focus is sales. I do think the doctor should attend with their patient care coordinators. This event is truly superb for practices who are ready to take their offices to the next level. Make their consult schedule more effective for higher closing, higher patient quality of care and education. Jill did a great job! Amazing event! Ed and Jon are always so inspirational. Jackson and Sebastian are rock stars!


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Tax Free Benefits for Employees and DirectorsFebruary 11th, 2019 Posted by Claire Yeats Archive 0 thoughts on "Tax Free Benefits for Employees and Directors"
- Interest free or low interest loans to the value of no more than £10,000 in the tax year
- Relocation payments and expenses to the value of £8,000
- Vouchers and gifts to the value of £50 (capped at £300 per annum for a director)
- Staff entertaining, ie Christmas or summary party – up to £150 inc VAT a head
- Up to £500 of independent pension advice
- Employer's contributions to an employee's pension scheme
- One health screening check-up and one health medical assessment
- £4 a week for employees who regularly work from home
- Long service awards for 20 years' service of up £50 a year
- Award schemes (ie staff suggestion scheme) generally exempt to a maximum of £5000
- Provision of one mobile phone
- Work related training
- Onsite sports facilities/gym
- Onsite parking facilities
- Season ticket for a nearby public car park
- Cycling safety equipment and storage (as long as the employee cycles to work)
- Onsite childcare/nursery
The above list is not exhaustive, however these are the most common occurring items. Often with the tax free benefits there are caveats attached to enable the benefit to be tax-free. If you are unsure as to whether something is a taxable benefit or not, please get in touch and we can help guide you.

subset: commoncrawl


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The National Family Preservation Network (NFPN) has always provided an electronic database system for the NCFAS assessment tools. The current electronic database was built on a Microsoft Access platform, runs on Windows only, and replicates the hard copy of the rating forms. It's designed for installation on individual computers with aggregate data exported to Excel. It is included with purchase of a NCFAS tool/training package and is accessed through digital download. While customers may continue to use the Access database for as long as they wish, technical assistance is no longer available.
NFPN is now offering a web database that is faster, more user-friendly, and has many more features than the current database. The web database developer, Integrated Imaging, worked with NFPN to design the database specifically for use with the NCFAS assessment tools (NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R, Trauma/Post Trauma Well-Being). The database includes the following features to meet the needs of workers:
- Accessible through the internet
- Unique identifier in order to easily track families
- Demographics on caregivers and children (age, gender, race, ethnicity, living situation at case opening/closure, reasons for referral, etc.)
- Quick access to definitions to assist in completing ratings
- Indicators/graphs to inform workers of status of completion of ratings on assigned families
- Case plan form that guides the worker in developing goals and services
- Immediate access to reports on progress of any family or all families
- Ability to print/save data and reports or export to Excel
The following features meet the needs of supervisors and administrators
- Unique family code to ensure confidentiality
- Ability to track each worker's progress with families
- Requirement for 100% entry of opening/closing ratings (no missing ratings)
- Reporting features on completed cases that show the number and the percent of families at each domain, percent of families that are at baseline/above, percent of families with problem ratings (mild, moderate, serious)
- Immediate access to reports and status of completion of ratings on families
- Conversion of reports to graphs for visuals
- Customizable to meet additional needs of an agency
The web database is available with past purchase or current purchase of the NCFAS-G, NCFAS-G+R, and Trauma tools. If your agency currently uses either the NCFAS or NCFAS-R tools, you can upgrade at a discounted price. The annual fee, paid to the vendor, will include technical assistance and other support for use. The activation fee will be waived this year so sign up early for the most savings!
Free demonstrations of the new database are scheduled for (choose one):
Thurs, Feb 23, 11:00 a.m. ET
Wed, March 1, 4:00 p.m. ET
To register for the demonstration, and to obtain additional information and fees contact Priscilla Martens, Executive Director, email@example.com, 888-498-9047.
Posted by Priscilla Martens
Executive Director


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The Full Bridge is a strength-flexibility powerhouse. It requires flexibility in:
This total body exercise has many names from Upward Bow to Wheel Pose to Full Bridge. In yoga it's known to give energy, help with osteoporosis, and stimulate a variety of glands and organs. Outside of yoga this exercise is very useful in gymnastics, acrobatics, various martial arts styles, wrestling, dance, etc.
A standard way of mastering this exercise is attempt it from scratch with coach or partner lifting the athlete by the hip or worst by the lower back. This often work for young children, who have the flexibility and need just a little adjustment.
Teens and up need a good preparatory work on each body section separately. We recommend taking a look at back extension flexibility, wrist flexibility and overhead shoulder flexibility first. If all of those are already up to par or better, than you can start on Bridge Program.
This program take apart each joint and then each muscle articulating in each joint. Than each tissue is worked individually with Zaichik stretching techniques to avoid the painful stretch reflex, while quickly lengthening the muscles, culminating in a beautiful Back Bridge.
Today in the morning I did again one round of Zaichik Stretching for the Back Bridge/Wheel.
I have taken some pictures and send one with this email.
As review I would write:
" When I first had the plan to study sports and sports sciences at the age of 17 I began to train in my weakest field, gymnastics. I could progress quite quickly, but came to some limits due to the lack of flexibility especially in the thoracic spine and shoulder area. I could master the front and back handspring, but it was more due to my quickness and explosive strength rather than flexibility. I did not get far with the back bridge.
For some years I have not trained the back bridge at all following what I have read from some experts calling this exercise dangerous for the spine.
Since some time I have also put some of my focus on training with bodyweight exercises, among them the back bridge, which has tremendous benefits for the spine and related muscles as I know in the meantime. I designed a progression with exercises from different programs and followed the progression. For a while I got stuck with half bridges and the problem was an old one: lack of flexibility in the thoracic spine and shoulders. I was a bit frustrated, and it was just last week that I tried the Zaichik Stretching routine for the Back Bridge or Wheel. Due to time pressure I could only do one round, but I was blown away by the new feeling at the end of the routine going into a full bridge. Being able to lift the head just a few inches above the mat before, now I was able to stay comfortably and stable in the Full Bridge and the elbows quite extended. Since last week I have repeated one round of the Zaichik Stretching routine twice and today took some pictures. My bridge is not yet perfect, but the improvement in the very short time compared to what my bridge looked like one-and-a-half weeks ago is amazing. And that at my age of almost 55. It proves that Zaichik Stretching works. I would have been glad to know about this system in my younger years, but still now I can improve a lot.
Maximilian Schmid, Bangkok, E-Mail: firstname.lastname@example.com."


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How Eric Prydz successfully manages four separate monikers and his wildly innovative EPIC and HOLO tours is truly a wonder. Only a week after the release of his Elements EP under his Pryda banner, the Swedish electronic mastermind has announced the project is next in his queue: an impending Cirez D EP.
Commonly pinned as Prydz's darker, cerebral alias, the project's instantly recognizable Mouseville graphic cropped up in a recent post from Prydz on social media, captioned with no room for speculation, setting fans into a frenzy. Speculation surrounding the new release already points to unidentified new sonics weaved into Prydz's Ultra 2018 performance, though an official track list has yet to surface. Release details are sparse at this time, though considering momentum is still high from the recent delivery of Elements, new Cirez D is imminent.


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Great Britain: Not Just Known for Fish and Chips
Harsh accents, yellow teeth, and fish and chips is what comes to most people's minds first when they think of Great Britain. How important can a nation be when the citizens drive on the wrong side of the street, the law enforcement officers carry sticks instead of guns, and their monarchs are just there for looks? The little island can be very important. In fact, no country has been more influential throughout history than Great Britain. Through its religion, culture, and politics, "the mother of the world" has reached all countries around the world in one way or another.
One of the most influential acts of the British was the development of the Protestant faith. Henry VIII wanted his wife, Catherine of Aragon, to give birth to a son to keep the Tudor name in control of England. She gave birth to 6 kids; however, five of them died at birth and the only survivor was a female.
By 1530 Catherine was too old to bare anymore children, so Henry VIII wanted to marry a younger wife, Anne Boleyn. To do this, Henry need permission from the Pope. Henry told the Pope that his marriage to Catherine was invalid since she had married his brother, Arthur, before him. The Pope didn't buy Henry's claim and declared his marriage to Anne invalid. Henry's reactions was to declare that the Pope no longer had any power in England. The English parliament passed an act declaring Henry VIII as the Head of the Church of England. Slowly, Henry began to transition the faith of the English from Catholic to Protestant ("Encyclopedia of British History: 1500-1950"). Now that England, one of the most powerful countries of the time, was practicing the Protestant religion, other countries...


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Balboa Touch Panels
Why choose Balboa? Simply put they are the best! Simple to use, easily replaced if faulty and easily the biggest control system company in the hot tub industry.
The following is a selection of panel to be used for repairs and upgrades broken into sections for ease of use. To get the correct panel its possible to go from the panels visual looks, but to be acurate look for the code on the under side and then compare the buttons on the top. The graphics on the top have changed slightly over the years and its also good to remember that many companies use Balboa components and change the graphics on the overlay (Re-Branding) the electrics behind will be the same if the code is the same. The codes usually look like this '54542' (or similar) and its also possible to match a panel from its name, for example 'VL701s'.
Balboa Aux Panels
Balboa Basic VL panels
Balboa Duplex VL Panels
Balboa Mid and Deluxe VL Panels
Balboa TP Panels
Balboa ML Panels
Still can't find the correct panel? Why no send us a picture of your panel to through the contact form on our contact page.
Please note all Hot tub Parts sold are UK Spec, which means designed for 230 V at 50Hz
If you need a part to help you repair your hot tub or spa then you have come to the right place. Our specialised knowledge can help you quickly get the right part first time to your hot tub fixed and up and running quickly.
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"Why are we here?"
asked the bright little girl,
"what is the meaning of life?"
The man thought for a moment,
and raised an eyebrow,
then turned, and looked at his wife.
"You're here thanks to love",
said the lady to her,
"and your life will be what you will make".
"But WHY am I here",
insisted the girl,
"what's my PURPOSE for goodness sake?"
"There is not a point,
not a reason as such,
you take life and use it your way.
You will decide,
how you want to abide,
and how you will live every day".
"If you want our advice",
she said, being nice,
"I suggest that you live through your heart.
Be clever, be kind,
Make the most of your mind,
That sounds like a great place to start".


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As you survey the bounty of your Thanksgiving Day dinner this year, send up a word of thanks to the honeybee. From your Aunt Delia's pecan pie to Nana's cranberry-orange relish and that heavenly sweet potato casserole, all those fruits and nuts and vegetables are made possible as the result of pollination from bees. You may not realize it, but honeybees — European honeybees to be precise — pollinate about 80 percent of the foods we eat.
In fact, bees are so important that Mike Studer, the state apiarist who inspects registered hives in Tennessee for disease and pests, routinely fields phone calls from farmers requesting bee colonies to help with their crops. A rancher in Middle Tennessee told Studer his cattle weren't fattening up properly because his alfalfa and clover hay hadn't been pollinated, leaving the feed lacking in important proteins. That connection "is something you just don't think about," Studer says. "That's when it hit home to me just how important bees are to our food supply."
Bees fly within about a two-mile radius from the apiary (the box which houses the hive), gathering nectar from flowering plants a drop at a time, visiting 50 to 100 flowers before reaching their nectar-storing capacity. The bee then returns to the hive, where it spreads the nectar throughout the comb and fans it with its wings to thicken it. The resulting honey — a healthy hive of 50,000 bees will produce 100 pounds of honey over the course of a year — produces food for the colony. Beekeepers gather a percentage of that for human consumption.
Commercial growers truck colonies of bees across state lines to pollinate everything from almond trees in California and citrus groves in Florida to apple orchards in Washington and blueberry bushes in Maine, making it "the largest agricultural migration in the world," according to Richard Underhill, president of the Arkansas Beekeepers Association. Honey production, while better known to consumers, is actually a much smaller segment of the beekeeping industry.
Bees play a vital role in U.S. food production, but since 2007 honeybees have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Scientists call it Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a phenomenon in which worker bees abruptly disappear from the hive, leaving the queen and honey behind. Why it occurs remains a mystery.
Beekeeper Bill Hughes of Brighton, Tennessee, has observed losses firsthand. Since 2008, his colonies have declined from 400 to 60. Hughes, who has been keeping bees for 20 years, has checked many of his apiaries only to find them empty, the bees not dead but simply vanished. Studer and his colleagues report that feral bees, too, are all but gone. "I used to catch wild swarms," Hughes says, "but if they've been poisoned by insecticide, the bees won't breed," further reducing their numbers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that 33 percent of bee colonies have collapsed nationally due to CCD (and in some regions, that number is closer to 50 percent). While colony losses are not unexpected, losses of this magnitude set off alarm bells. Underhill calls it "the largest historical die-off in the history of beekeeping."
It turns out that honeybees have many foes: fungal parasites, Varroa and tracheal mites, diseases like chalkbrood, and a lack of nutritional diversity. Even the use of altered seeds to grow crops like soybeans may play a role. But among its biggest foes is the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, which have become more prevalent in the last decade.
"Bees have been described as the canary in the coal mine, since conditions in the environment tell us we've altered the environment — from the amount of chemicals we use to the effects of global warming," Underhill says. The bee decline has scientists scrambling to better understand these complex creatures and what can be done to stop CCD before it becomes an agricultural crisis. Studer says the USDA is working in concert with a host of universities, conducting multiple studies to better understand the factors that impact the health of bees. But the answers may be five years away. "It's extremely difficult with so many different variables both inside and outside the colony," Studer says.
So as you spoon that dollop of honey onto your biscuit at Thanksgiving, don't take that sweet treat for granted. Honeybees need our help.
Jane Schneider is editor of Memphis Parent.


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The Italian government has moved to approve a new stimulus package to support its economic rebound from the COVID-19-induced recession, it said on Sunday.
Among other measures, the package is to include a €4bn ($4.7bn, £3.6bn) fund to help companies worst hit by lockdowns throughout the country.
After late-night cabinet deliberations on Saturday, the ruling coalition agreed a preliminary deal for its 2021 budget, a source told Reuters, with finer details of the deal to be confirmed at a later date.
The deal will offer tax breaks to help employment in the poor south of the country, and extend temporary lay-off schemes for companies with furloughed workers.
The Italian government is among others in Europe struggling to contain the economic fallout from the pandemic. The UK also recently moved to extend job support schemes in order to mitigate against a cliff-edge when help runs out at the end of October.
The Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte is on Sunday also expected to announce new measures to curb a second wave of the virus. Like other countries, Italy's caseload has spiked in recent weeks.
Italy was one of the first European countries to go into lockdown, as it faced a devastating spike in cases early on. It has forecast a 9% economic contraction in 2020. In 2021, it expects its economy to grow by 6%.
Italy's budget deficit currently equates to 10.8% of gross domestic product (GDP).
The most recent round of support follows a €55bn package approved in May.
The package was long-delayed, as Conte had promised to introduce the measures in April, but repeated rows within his increasingly shaky coalition over various aspects of the decree, which ran to almost 500 pages, led to repeated holdups.
WATCH: What is a recession?


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April 2015
In 1913, Claude Debussy proclaimed that Igor Stravinsky had "enlarged the boundaries of the permissible" in music. We all know the famous story about the premiere of the ballet The Rite of Spring in Paris that same year, when people yelled during the performance in protest of Nijinsky's angular choreography and Stravinsky's daring composition. Since then, however, audience reactions to Stravinsky's music have changed: in 1953, Lincoln Kirstein, then-director of the New York City Ballet, acknowledged the gradual acceptance of the composer, writing that "sounds [Stravinsky] has found or invented, however strange or forbidding at the outset, have become domesticated in our ears." Stravinsky's appearances as guest conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, as well as performances of his iconic ballet Pétroushka in Cleveland, provide but one example of how the great composer transitioned from "anarchistic radical" to concert-hall favorite in the eyes of his audiences.
Stravinsky's Pétroushka was first performed in Cleveland by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes in 1916, the same company that had premiered The Rite of Spring in Paris three years earlier. As The Cleveland Orchestra was not yet in existence, Diaghilev brought his own seventy-eight member orchestra with him to accompany performances, assembled of players from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, London Symphony, and Paris Opera, among other organizations. Cleveland audiences turned out in large numbers to see the famous ballet company, though they did not quite know what to think about Stravinsky's music at the time. Wilson G. Smith of the Cleveland Press referred to Stravinsky as an "anarchistic radical," stating that his music was "a compendium of atrocious dissonances and unrelated thematic material," a "galaxy of cacophony." Alice Bradley of the Town Topics agreed with this opinion; when she closed her eyes to try listening to Pétroushka without seeing the action on stage, she found that "its eccentricities [were] almost unbearable." James H. Rogers also felt that the score of Pétroushka was "hardly thinkable apart from its pantomimic environment," though he ended his review on an open-minded note, with the suggestion that "we may hear our symphony orchestras playing it yet. Stranger things have happened perhaps."
Igor Stravinsky in the 1920s
Stravinsky first visited Cleveland in February of 1925, almost ten years after Pétroushka was first performed here by the Ballet Russes. The young composer's eccentric appearance and mannerisms struck audiences much as his music had nine years earlier. As one Cleveland critic from the Times states, "Maybe he's a freak, but maybe he's earned the right to be if he likes it."
Even though critics and audience members may have been shocked by Stravinsky's strange personality, they were well-prepared for his music this time. Composer Roger Sessions gave a lecture about Stravinsky's compositional procedures on the night before the concert, to help audiences better understand the pieces they were to hear the next day. Nadia Boulanger also gave her own lecture, titled "The Evolution of Modern Music," in the days leading up to Stravinsky's performances in Cleveland. Stravinsky conducted three of his own orchestral works in his concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra, and these performances were well-received by critics and audience members alike. Eleanor Clarage wrote in the Times about her own reactions to Stravinsky's appearance and conducting after observing him in rehearsal with The Cleveland Orchestra:
"I saw Monsieur Stravinsky conduct a rehearsal at Masonic Hall Tuesday afternoon. He was there in the famous orange sweater, immaculately groomed, looking very much the suave, polished frequenter of continental drawing rooms, and exhibiting little of the artistic temperament generally expected of such a figure. He has a novel way of presiding over a rehearsal. Swift, concise strokes mark the beat, while he rises on his toes to accentuate a rhythm, pirouetting on one foot oftentimes, like a ballet dancer. Occasionally, in a fortissimo passage, he jumps into the air, landing on both feet with a heavy thud, humming meanwhile in a loud voice."
Illustration of Stravinsky by Jim Herron of The Cleveland Press, 1937 (notice Stravinsky's 1921 piano arrangement of dances from Pétroushka in the background)
Stravinsky visited Cleveland again twelve years later, in 1937. During this visit, he conducted his Pétroushka suite, his Violin Concerto (performed by soloist Samuel Dushkin), and the divertimento from his ballet The Fairy's Kiss (Le Baiser de la Fée). Reviewers continued to be simultaneously impressed and shocked by Stravinsky's music and conducting, but were generally enthusiastic about the composer's work. As David Eugene Clayman of the Jewish Review wrote, "When Stravinsky conducts, every dissonance, every brassy shriek, every percussive tremor – has a reason for being. It is not as if he merely shook ink from his pen on his music paper."
Stravinsky perusing a score with violinist Samuel Dushkin, 1937
Stravinsky returned to Cleveland to conduct a revised version of the first scene from Pétroushka in 1947, the same year he finished reorchestrating the entire ballet. Elmore Bacon of the Cleveland News writes that this new version the scene was "smoothed out for concert performance," and that "this beautiful music makes us wonder why Cleveland has had to wait years and years to get a performance of this most enjoyable of Russian ballets. Stravinsky put vigor and thrill into this music." Bacon's reaction to Pétroushka differs greatly from that shared amongst critics thirty years earlier when the Ballet Russes performed the work: no longer referred to as "a galaxy of cacophony," Pétroushka now qualified as "beautiful music." Reactions to Stravinsky's new music presented alongside the revised Pétroushka scene, however, were largely negative. Some critics cited the music as too mathematical and not understandable without a score. Arthur Loesser even stated that some of Stravinsky's compositions sounded "a little as if the dregs of the old Pétroushka grapes had been given a couple more squeezes," suggesting that Stravinsky's Pétroushka ballet had at this point become so familiar and comfortable to audiences that it was the least shocking piece on the program.
Stravinsky conducting, 1940s
After the success of the Pétroushka scene in Cleveland, Stravinsky returned at the invitation of The Cleveland Orchestra to conduct the full score of Pétroushka eight years later, in 1955. He was adamant about using the revised 1947 version of the score rather than the original: when the Associate General Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra proposed using the 1911 version of the ballet for the Cleveland performances of the work, Stravinsky replied, "Since I revised and reorchestrated Pétroushka entirely, I do not use any more the old original version."
Telegram from George H.L. Smith, Associate General Manager of The Cleveland Orchestra, to Stravinsky, 1955 Stravinsky's reply, stating that he would prefer to use the revised 1947 version of Pétroushka, 1955
Stravinsky had a wonderful time during his 1955 visit to Cleveland, when he led The Cleveland Orchestra in concert performances of two of his complete ballets, Pétroushka and The Fairy's Kiss (Le Baiser de la Fée). He said afterwards in an interview, "I have found The Cleveland Orchestra a wonderful musical organization. I am delighted with it and the rehearsals have spoiled me. I am really a happy man batoning this fine group." The players of the Orchestra were also excited to work with the great composer, and Laszlo Krausz, a violist in the Orchestra who was well-known for his drawings of guest artists, drew two portraits of Stravinsky during the composer's visits to Cleveland.
Illustration of Stravinsky by Laszlo Krausz, a violist in The Cleveland Orchestra from 1947-1969
Nearly forty years after being deemed a "freak" by Cleveland newspapers, Igor Stravinsky had earned a special place in the city's classical music community. One reviewer of the 1955 concert describes the memorable evening in detail: "Cheers and many curtain calls followed the stunning performance of Pétroushka… Stravinsky directs with a decisive beat. Not quite so tall, he resembles Rachmaninoff somewhat. But he can smile. He has won our orchestra and it has won him. So it was another evening of music long to remember."
—Kate Rogers
Kate Rogers is an intern this season with The Cleveland Orchestra Archives. She is a PhD student in musicology at Case Western Reserve University.
Looking for more? The Cleveland Orchestra will be performing Stravinsky's Pétroushka on April 23 and 25 with guest conductor Susanna Mälkki. Also on the program are Bartók's Third Piano Concerto played by soloist Jeremy Denk, and Sibelius's The Oceanides. Click here for details.
To learn more about the plot of Stravinsky's Pétroushka, click here. This website, put together by the Klavier-Festival Ruhr (Ruhr Piano Festival), includes Benois's illustrations of costumes and set designs for the ballet as well as short examples of Stravinsky's music. Whether Pétroushka is one of your old favorites or you are hearing it for the first time this April, this website is a fun and engaging resource for learning more about the ballet.
To read a short biography of Laszlo Krausz, the artist and musician who drew pictures of Stravinsky while he was in Cleveland, click here.
Your gift today will help us weather the COVID-19 crisis and keep music alive in our community!


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Exactly what is carelessness?
Carelessness is the legal term for any negligent habits that triggers, or adds to, a mishap. An individual is irresponsible if he disregarded to stop at a stop indication and, as an outcome, strike your automobile as you were coming through the crossway.
An individual can be thought about irresponsible whenever she or he had a task to act thoroughly and cannot do so. (Usually, all of us have a responsibility to show regular and sensible care in any provided circumstance– that is, in a way that will not foreseeable injure those around us.) An individual who owned at night using sunglasses would be irresponsible because any affordable motorist would understand that doing so would increase the possibilities of triggering a traffic mishap. For many kinds of mishaps, an individual should be discovered irresponsible to be held lawfully responsible for another individual injury. If an individual acts negligently which habits triggers your damage, you can probably recuperate settlement for your injuries.
How do I lawfully show who was at fault for a mishap?
You will most likely be making your case to an insurer, not a law court, so you do not require lawfully ideal evidence of anything. You will be working out informally with the insurer through letters and call with an insurance coverage adjuster. You simply should make a sensible argument– in plain language– that another individual or business was careless (irresponsible), even if there are likewise possible arguments on the other side.
In a vehicle mishap case, you do not require to present measurements of tire marks or accurate angles of theaccident. Simply explain that the other chauffeur hit you from the rear or kipped down thefront of you. Common knowledge of owning guidelines informs both you and the insurance provider who was at fault. If you make a great argument why the another individual was at fault, the adjuster will recognize that if the matter ended up in court, there is a sporting chance that it's guaranteed individual would be discovered lawfully accountable. Business generally chooses to pay an affordable claim settlement faster, instead of running the risk of needing to later pay not just for your injuries, however likewise court expenses and lawyer costs.
Can I get asettlement for my injuries if the mishap might have been partially my fault?
Even if you may have partially triggered a mishap yourself, you can still get asettlement from anybody else who partially triggered the mishap through negligence (or recklessness). The quantity of another individual obligation is identified by comparing his/her negligence with your very own. If you were 25% at fault and the another individual was 75% at fault, the other individual (or that individual insurance coverage business) should pay 75% of the reasonable payment for your injuries. This guideline is called relative carelessness.
A couple of states disallow you from payment if your very own negligence considerably added to the mishap. (This is called contributing neglect.) In practice, the concern of whether and how much your negligence really contributed to the mishap is a point to work out with the insurance coverage adjuster. There is no formula for appointing a portion to your negligence, or that of the other individual. Throughout claim settlements, you will develop one portion; the adjuster might develop another portion and describe why you bear higher obligation for the mishap. The various portions of which you each show up then enter into the working out hopper with all the other elements that identify just how much your claim deserves.
Can I get payment for my injuries if my physical constraints made the mishap most likely or made my injuries even worse?
State you have a bad knee, that makes one leg a bit unstable. Or your vision, even with glasses, is not strong. If you fall on a damaged stair, are you still entitled to payment even though somebody with more powerful legs or much better vision might not have fallen? Definitely. All individuals, despite physical capability, have a legal right to make their way through the world without unneeded risk. Owners and residents of residential or commercial property need to not put in unneeded risk anybody who may fairly be anticipated to be in the home. The very same chooses chauffeurs and everybody else– nobody might produce unneeded threat for anybody whose course they may cross.


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Dairy Free Caesar Dressing
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds
- 4 peeled garlic cloves, crushed
- 3/4 cup silken tofu (or hummus if that's more your thing)
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1-1/2 tablespoon capers
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
- sea salt to taste
- 2 pieces brown rice bread, cubed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 peeled garlic cloves
- 3 bushels of kale, washed and chopped
- fresh ground black pepper to taste
- Pulse the almonds in a food processor until crumbly, then set aside.
- Combine remaining dressing ingredients in food processor until smooth and creamy. Blend in with the crumbled almonds, and refrigerate dressing in a covered container for minimum 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Finely dice the 3 garlic cloves, and sprinkle atop the bread cubes, along with olive oil, on an oven-proof baking sheet. Allow to bake for 15 minutes.
- To prepare insalata gran finale, place kale in a large salad bowl along with the chilled dressing, (amount will vary depending upon your taste preferences.) Toss with tongs, and top with croutons and fresh ground pepper. Magnifico!


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By GhanaGist.Com
Nigerian musician based in Ghana, Jonathan Nwadinobi popularly known as Eze has debunked rumours that he was dating Ghanaian musician, Abrewa Nana.
"Well, I have known Abrewa Nana as much as I have been in Ghana to be frank with you that was back in those days in 1999. I think I really got close to her in 2000 and that was when she came … she was also on my show [Loud In Accra] couple of times. We've been very close as a matter of fact" he said.
According to the artiste, it is very ridiculous and embarrassing for the media to even think that there is any romantic relationship between himself and the "Odo Filla" composer.
"When the media ask if I'm dating her, it sounds a bit embarrassing … because I feel I'm married and I live with my family… Abrewa Nana, she comes here all the time, she performs with my band" he noted.
Continuing that, "We have purely business relationship when it comes to our relationship. Recently I featured her on one of my news songs, No. 1. She did incredibly well because you know how she does her own thing.
He said that according to him, Abrewa Nana was the foundation of Ragga in Ghana. He said lack of support from music association to the old musicians should be blamed for her missing in the industry.


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Remember this freebie? Probably not, since it's from August 2015, but it has returned as the prophecy foretold!
I couldn't help myself in the title. 🙂 Workout buffs can get a free Premier Protein bar or shake today! Well, they can request it today. They'll have to wait 4 to 6 weeks like the rest of us unless they're John Titor.
You can skip over the social media share page and should get a confirmation on the next screen.


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Now that was a fun evening. I never realized how fun pizza-making can be (of course, we were just spectators). But it looked so easy, as long as one has those wide wooden pans in the oven, and in a few minutes, the pizza will be done. It was nothing like Domino's or Pizza Hut, the crust was thin, the flavor was original, and the taste was great. It now makes me tempted to try making them myself.
I also got acquainted with a few aperitifs and digestives, such as pastis (similar to absinthe) and limoncello. Pastis is a French aperitif that one dilutes in ice cold water. One part pastis and four parts ice water should be the ideal. It is anise-flavored, just like absinthe, and the liqueur exhibits the ouzo effect, which refers to the cloudy phenomenon once one adds water to the liquid. Playing with my friend's one-year old kid was fun while enjoying pastis.
Then we made six different pizza types, and consumed it with some riesling from Germany. We also watched ski movies shot in various locations around the world, such as Tanzania and Iran (I suppose not a lot of people would think that one can ski in those two countries, eh?).
Finally, we played scrabble, but without taking scores. I guess it's more fun that way. I had a taste of limoncello, which is this Italian liqueur that has the flavor of lemon zest, but it isn't sour at all, because there isn't any lemon juice in it. Some people think it tastes like dish detergent, but I didn't think it was the case.
Anyway, all in all, the night was fun. For a few hours, we were able to escape to Lugano, and forget about the worries that awaited us outside of the door.


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It is Fast Friday again and time for another fast and fabulous dinner suggestion. If you are anything like me, by the time Friday rolls around the last thing you want to do to cook a big meal yet we all still have to eat. The dishes featured in this series aren't necessarily fancy but they bring together simple ingredients most people already have in their pantries or have easy access to and allow you to put a real meal on the table in between 30 and 45 minutes. Enjoy and if you have your own fast recipes you want to share, please send them my way and I will in turn share them with all of my readers.
Squash and sage are a perfect flavor combination. When cut into small pieces, the squash cooks quickly and you can even reduce the preparation time if you buy pre-cut squash from your grocer's fresh food case. If you can't find butternut squash you can easily substitute any firm fleshed winter squash or even pumpkin.
1 cup butternut squash cut into 1/2 inch dice
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
1 ½ cups risotto rice
½ cup grated Asiago cheese
2 tablespoons fresh sage, minced
- Place the squash in a small saucepan adding enough water to just barely cover the squash. Bring to a boil and steam until the squash is tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth and white wine in a medium-sized saucepan set over medium-high heat. Adjust the heat to keep the broth mixture at a low simmer.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté until soft and translucent, approximately 5-6 minutes.
- Add the rice to the onions and stir to combine. Add one ladle of the broth to the pot and stir well. Stirring occasionally, continue cooking the rice until most of the liquid is absorbed before adding additional broth.
- Repeat this process until the rice is al dente. You may not need to use all of the broth.
- Add the reserved squash and gently fold to incorporate.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the grated Asiago cheese and minced sage. Serve immediately.
Serves: 4 as an entree or 6 as a side dish


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Ignite Talks, Session 2
This second set of Ignite Talks includes the list below. Click on the titles to see the detailed descriptions.
Ignite Talks are limited to five minutes in length, with no more than 20 slides.
This second set of Ignite Talks includes the list below. Click on the titles to see the detailed descriptions.
Ignite Talks are limited to five minutes in length, with no more than 20 slides.
This first set of Ignite Talks includes the list below. Click on the titles to see the detailed descriptions.
Ignite Talks are limited to five minutes in length, with no more than 20 slides.
Financial markets run on complex algorithms. The industry uses several protocols to describe how their systems are expected to communicate with others - effectively, describing their APIs. One such protocol is FIX (Financial Information eXchange) - widely used for quite some time. Financial services firms (e.g. exchanges, hedge funds and investment banks) share such specifications with their counterparts to allow them to connect to their systems. The protocol specification is relatively vague and informal - at AI, we're changing this.
The talk gives a vision of an open end-to-end architecture providing standard APIs on a cloud platform and a home gateway to host any application and connect any device. Among the standard organizations and industrial alliances, oneM2M standard specifications are being adopted as a reference architecture by the IoT industry. The implementation of oneM2M standard features in eclipse OM2M will be detailed, especially the use of an abstraction layer using oneM2M Smart Device Template and the end-to-end access right management discriminating both applications and users when accessing devices.
We will introduce a Big Data configuration that uses Avro & Parquet for data formats, Hadoop for storage, and Spark / Hive for running queries. All of these projects are from the Apache Software Foundation and are widely used in the Data Science field. We will show how Eclipse provides an excellent foundation for IDE support and tooling to make it easier to develop solutions based on this technology stack.
We recently faced a big challenge by migrating one of our biggest application from Client-Server to a Web architecture. We developed this app by adopting some EMF technologies (such as EMF Edit, Parsley, CDO, etc..) and some good practices like Inversion of Control (with Google Guice) and MVP pattern. And we were really surprised how easily we realized this porting, since we replaced both UI and persistence layers in a matter of a few days.
GEF4 is the fourth generation and brand new API of the Graphical Editing Framework.
As an early adopter, we will show you how GEF4 has been used in Airbus to create a new Eclipse RCP application to define full unconventional fuselage geometry and cabin layout configurations.
You will see:
In this session, MicroEJ discusses how the Eclipse IoT technologies are involved in the creation of the software stacks used in Smart Home products.
Products like connected weather stations, heating systems, alarm systems, light management consoles,etc, typically use micro controllers that qualifies them as "constrained" devices as per the classification introduced in the Eclipse IoT whitepaper "The Three Software Stacks Required for IoT Architectures".
These days implementing code generators has become quite easy.
However, building professional tools supporting you in
is a much more challenging task, but also an interesting one.
For Oxygen, one of the goals of the Platform contributors was to make it easier for adopters to add support for new textual languages in the Eclipse IDE.
After a review of the current state, a new approach of contributing textual support was introduced in the name of a "Generic and Extensible Text Editor". This new framework allows to contribute specific behaviour to an existing "generic" editor as usual extensions in plugin.xml without having to fully re-implement an editor.
Back to the top


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You know, ever since the Pope's encyclical calling for protection of the environment came out, freaking out a lot of right-leaning commentators who have said some pretty nasty things about the Holy Father, I've been thinking of a story about Flannery O'Connor, the Catholic novelist from the American South.
She tells of how once, while dining with the writer Mary McCarthy (who had her own hang-ups with the Catholic Church,) McCarthy made the remark that she thought the Eucharist was a beautiful symbol, even if the bread and wine didn't really become the Body and Blood of Christ. This remark was so offensive to O'Connor that she unthinkingly blurted out: "Well, if it's just a symbol, then to Hell with it!" - the sort of remark that either exhilarates a conversation or ends it.
Keep that in the back of your mind, gentle reader. Because this whole article is going to be a similar outburst, and it will be directed at the right-wing. In fact, I'm going to have some harsh words for our own Ezra Levant, but, being the free-speech absolutist he is, I'm sure he'll be proud to run this column on his website anyways.
Let me start by saying to my fellow conservatives: If you're going to complain and grumble that the Pope shouldn't get involved in politics, be aware that you are endorsing the exact attitude that gave rise to statism. In medieval Europe, the secular rulers and the bishops were constantly at odds with each other, each trying to usurp power from the other and thus keeping the other in check. In fact, during the Middle Ages, the Church performed the social functions (marriages, caring for the poor, even civic documentation in the form of baptismal records) and thus kept the civil powers to the relatively limited role of keeping the peace.
But as Hilaire Belloc identified, the Reformation - however theological and ideological its roots may have been - was largely driven by princes and kings who didn't want to be under the thumb of the Roman Pontiff, and, once they had jettisoned the Catholic system (often in favour of state churches that validated their own authority,) they were allowed to grow into the modern, bureaucratic state.
Without the Church to fulfill those social functions, the government expanded and mutated into monstrous proportions to fill the role that religion had once played. So, in other words, without the Church being there as an independent and significant power, government usually grows into a Leviathan.
Keep that in mind next time you want to complain that the Pope should really mind his own business and keep out of civic affairs.
Yes, Laudato Si does, in fact, think that climate change is probably caused by human activity. It is pretty guarded about it, all things considered; it acknowledges that there are "other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the earth's orbit and axis, the solar cycle)" that affect climate change, and concedes that "a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon" of the weather.
That being said, it goes on to acknowledge that "a number of scientific studies" indicate that global warming is caused by human CO2 emissions. We should remember that St. Thomas Aquinas was clear that the Magisterium can be mistaken on particular matters of fact "on account of false testimony" or bad information (propter falsos testes,) a fact that conservative icon would William F. Buckley Jr. often remind his readers of when a Papal encyclical would make some tendentious economic argument.
But don't assume the Pope favours nationalizing, or shutting down, the oilsands. He does call for a move to green, renewable energy sources - though, as we shall see, this is not his point - but he is clear that "[u]ntil greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the lesser of two evils or to find short-term solutions" (165.)
Laudato Si is aware of the need for a new form of energy (and, really, even the most rock-ribbed right-winger knows that someday we will run out of oil, and we'd better have an alternative by then), but is well aware of and fully open to the realities of our world. This should not surprise us; one of Pope Francis' advisors is John F. Kyle, former vice president and treasurer of ExxonMobil. (This fact is curiously under-reported by both left- and right-wing media.)
Frankly, the point of Laudato Si is not that global warming is caused by human activity. The question of climate change takes up four paragraphs of a 246 paragraph document. Pollution in general takes up much more space. We should not sneer with Mr. Levant at the language of "Mother Earth;" this kind of idiom is found in the poetry of St. Francis of Assisi, whose theology permeates the encyclical like incense flooding a church.
The fact is that if God took human flesh - flesh which, may I remind you, is made out of dirt - then by extension the whole universe is, in some sense, joined to its Maker in a semi-sacramental way. The transubstantial reality of the Eucharist, about which O'Connor argued with McCarthy, forces us to see the dignity of creation in this way, and, so far from being pagan, the Franciscan view of the world was actually what defeated paganism in medieval Europe, as G.K. Chesterton proved in his book on our Pontiff's namesake.
Mr. Levant is offended that the Holy Father says the Earth resembles a trash heap. "I see a beautiful world!" he declares. So does the Pontiff, but that earth is threatened by the Brobdingnagian amounts of garbage we throw away so casually. Out of (our) sight, out of (our) mind, it goes; but so often it ends up in the oceans (where 5.25 trillion pieces of discarded plastic are maliciously adrift,) or in the Third World, where refuse is so plentiful that it can be used to build shantytowns - both a ways removed from the gorgeous Canadian landscape Mr. Levant is lucky enough to be surrounded by.
But even pollution is not what the encyclical is "about." What Pope Francis is bringing attention to is the ways in which technology shapes us for the worse. Obviously, machines and industrialization have been an amazing tool in improving the lot of the human race; paragraphs 102-3 celebrate the legitimate human advancement that technology has brought. "Who can deny the beauty of an aircraft or a skyscraper?" - how's that for "a beautiful world"?
But it also draws the reader into an understanding that technology, in and of itself, can shape our thinking in a negative way. The "technocratic paradigm" can cause us to treat the earth, and, worse still, fellow human beings, as mere commodities or tools for our own use rather than as creatures possessed of dignity in themselves.
And here's the part Canadian conservatives should pay special attention to.
George Parkin Grant, often known as the father of Canadian nationalism, argued that Canada was founded as to preserve a conservative society against the liberalizing tendencies coming from the South, and saw Canada's conservative identity threatened primarily by technology. Why? Because conservatism was about loyalty to your own, to your family, to your religion, to your nation (as John Henry Newman put it, "Toryism is loyalty to persons,") whereas liberalism was all about freedom, as its very etymology bears witness to: Your uninhibited liberty to do whatever you want, without any boundaries, "as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else", and how else do people argue for marijuana, same-sex marriage, and abortion...?
Technology was almost inherently liberalizing and atomizing, Grant argued, because it is about technique, about accomplishing one's will; technology exists to make it easier to satisfy your personal (and often selfish) desires. Any boundaries that inhibited your desires, be they moral, national, religious, or sexual (think about how transsexuals are celebrated by society) would be transcended through technology.
Grant is hardly the only conservative to notice this connection between technology and liberalism: Russell Kirk, a conservative pioneer and mentor of Buckley's, called the automobile "the mechanical Jacobin" because of how it fragmented and liberalized society, and famously hated television, once throwing one out the window when he found his daughters watching it.
If you doubt this, think about what a technology like contraception has done to society: Because it separates sex from procreation, it also weakens the social importance of marriage. Nowadays, sex is less tied to the commitment of marriage and is more of a glorified form of masturbation: You find someone to stroke your body and your ego and move on when you're done - the "hookup" culture, tied closely to so-called "rape culture" and the less-discussed "divorce culture".
This is to use another human being; and, moreover, it means that any children that do happen to result are an accident, and it isn't assumed any longer than the man has any loyalty compelling him to stick around and raise them (fidelity rather than promiscuity used to be the hallmark of masculinity). Thus you have more single-parent households; thus more crime; thus the welfare state to replace the family unit. (And notice that, when those same children grow up, they will be more inclined to stuff their parents in nursing homes or, worse still, euthanize them.)
This is the contraceptive mentality, which treats people as objects for my satisfaction rather than image-bearers of God, and it extends to our relationship with our communities, our businesses, and our world - it is, in other words, the mentality of the throwaway culture, which thoughtlessly throws out food while the global poor are starving.
And green energy will not solve that problem: We can be just as selfish and thoughtless, regardless of what fuels our cars; carbon credits also are not going to solve the root problem of selfishness and egotism. It is that deep-rooted selfishness the Pope calls on us to abandon, which is why Laudato Si never condemns the oil sands, but does condemn abortion (120,) embryonic stem cell research (136,) and, implicitly, transgenderism and feminism (155.)
In calling for us to reject the throwaway culture, Pope Francis is hardly recommending socialism (contra Levant, he has explicitly denied being a Marxist,) but is calling us to move beyond the "instrumental way of reasoning, which provides a purely static analysis of realities in the service of present needs, [and] is at work whether resources are allocated by the market or by state central planning" (195.) Instead, he calls for a technology that serves humanity and the "human ecology" rather than enslaves it.
Rather than recommending nationalization, he points to the example of cooperatives (112) - like the very successful Mondragon Corporation, the tenth largest company in Spain and a cooperative founded by a Catholic priest - and small-scale farmers (134-5) who, yes, are to be protected from land grabbing corporations; seed sovereignty is surely an issue of property rights, no?
In doing so, he follows the lead of E.F. Schumacher, who advocated for "appropriate technology" and "economics as if humans mattered" in his famous book, Small is Beautiful, and, far from being a socialist, it was he who helped de-nationalize German industries and generate its "economic miracle;" far from being anti-energy, he served as Chief Economic Advisor to the UK Coal Board from 1950-1970.
Not only is this not socialism; it may be the only way to avoid socialism, which generally attracts people who feel disempowered and exploited. Chesterton, Belloc, Dorothy Day, and many other Catholic converts from Fabian socialism and communism advocated the "Distributist" back-to-the-land model wherein everyone received "three acres and a cow" precisely because they thought this was the only way to save capitalism from evolving into socialism: By promoting property rights among more people; this was the best way to save the environment, and, while we're at it, civilization.
You can disagree with some of what the Pope says. Edmund Campion was a loyal son of the Church in England who nevertheless affirmed that Elizabeth I was the true queen, despite Pope Pius V declaring her to be a false ruler and excommunicating all those who continued to obey her. Today, both Pius and Campion are canonized saints.
But he is still an important religious voice, even if you aren't Catholic; he speaks with the collected wisdom of 2,000 years of experience behind him. And conservatives generally pride themselves on valuing the role of traditional religion in society more than liberals do. But what about when our faith calls on us to try to make our economy more human? If so-called "conservatism" means that we don't actually have to really take classical religious tenets seriously, then, frankly, its alliance with Christianity is entirely symbolic.
And, if it's just a symbol, then to hell with it.
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Fashion Fanatixx is a collaborative group of individuals whose sole purpose is to publicize events, designers, models, and entertainment on an international level. Our mission is to create a greater degree of understanding and appreciation of the Fashion Arts through public displays, model reviews, and exhibitions. We promote the dreams of individuals who do not have the social platform to showcase their work at larger venues. We consider ourselves visionaries in this industry, that are here to help illustrate the works of innovative fresh young talents without prejudice or preference. In a nutshell, Fashion Fanatixx is a diversified company that was constructed to break down barriers and overcome obstacles in the fashion industry as we know it. WE ARE FANATIXX!!!


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Banquet Ideas
It is very easy to plan a banquet that turns out to be "the same old thing". If you have gone to a lot of banquets, you know the drill. You get seated around a big table probably with some strangers who you have to make small talk with for an hour or so. Then the servers begin bringing the food which you are glad to see because you are out of small talk. Everybody eats and then the speaker or entertainment gets underway. The format is pretty humdrum but it gets the job done.
So if you go take on the assignment of planning a banquet and you determine your banquet will be fun, interesting and exciting, you are already one step ahead of the pack and on your way to planning a banquet that will be truly memorable. Of course, the extent you can let your creativity have a free hand depends on the event. It is very different to plan a high school prom banquet to planning the 75th wedding anniversary for your in-laws.
The old saying goes that there is a child in all of us and that is true because everyone from 8 to 80 loves a fun atmosphere. Even people married 75 years would love to have some spark and life in their party. So think about putting some pizzazz and surprises into your banquet plans. In most cases your guests will very much appreciate it.
For a banquet that is to celebrate an event in the lives of children or youth, you can go as crazy as you want and as crazy as your budget will allow and never be in danger of making the banquet too fun for them. Three words should dominate your planning for a banquet for young people and they are, fun activity and laughter.
Kids want to come away from a banquet that is nonstop entertainment. A carnival theme is perfect. If you can create booths with games and activities that all of the kids can be a part of, that will be a huge hit. And don't fret about having the manpower to staff those booths. For any children or youth banquet you have a built in army of free labor. They are called parents.
Care should be taken about the use of an after dinner speaker or what kind of performance oriented entertainment to include in the agenda for the evening of the banquet. Many banquet planners just eliminate the speaker phase of the evening entirely. Kids and teenagers have little use for formalities and if they have to eat politely at a formal table and then sit politely and listen to a "talk" for a half hour, that isn't a party to them, it's a jail sentence.
But don't limit your creative planning to just banquets for the young. By making any banquet a lively and fun event, that is the stuff of banquet legend and it will make your event the talk of the town the day after the banquet and for weeks and months to come.
For adults, you do want a banquet to have some level of formal celebration. But even then think about happy and cheerful decorations and keeping fun and laughter in on everything you plan. And if those element dominate an evening of celebration, everybody goes home happy, especially you because you planned and pulled off a very successful event.


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Gardening Archive
TheVillage Gardening
Welcome to Wonderland
Posted on May 27 2014 at 2:29:17 0 comments
Dave Morgan describes some of the treats in store for children and adults in our local Open Gardens.
For children, gardens can be a wonderland of exciting new things to discover and new experiences to be enjoyed – and the same can apply to adults, especially when visiting other people's gardens.
And that is one of the joys of the National Gardens Scheme (the NGS), which encourages gardeners of all abilities and with gardens of all shapes and sizes to open up for visitors to enjoy, whilst at the same time raising money for worthwhile nursing-related and other charities.
But when a garden opens for the NGS and offers something interesting for both children and adults, then it really is something special – and such a garden is opening for the first time for the scheme this year, in Webheath near Redditch.
The garden at The Cottage, 3 Crumpfields Lane (pictured above), is a newly-established landscaped garden on four levels and created into "rooms". There are two water features (one in a cave) and stunning views over the Vale of Evesham and the Cotswolds from an elevated sitting area.
Owner Victor Johnson has been busy planting over 2,000 new plants to supplement his existing planting scheme, which includes a wild flower area – and although the garden is quite steep in places, many of the paths are wheelchair accessible.
So plenty for adults – but what about children? Well, Victor is creating "Wonderland" at the bottom of his garden – no, not fairies, but Alice and many of Lewis Carroll's other creations will be there in statue form for younger visitors to see and enjoy (and older ones too, I'm sure!) The Cottage garden will be open on Sunday June 15 from 10am until 5pm.
But many garden owners can claim that their own gardens are a kind of wonderland, especially when a visitor says so – as one did after visiting Pump Cottage in Weatheroak (which will be open over the weekend of June 20 to 22).
That particular visitor called Pump Cottage garden "a secret wonderland with surprises at every turn" – as indeed it is.
This is an enchanting, romantic one-acre "plantaholics" garden with colourful borders, roses, rockery, fernery, water features including a lake and various artefacts and other items of interest.
There is also a Victorian-styled greenhouse, plants for sale and some of the best cakes in the county – for those who enjoy refreshments when visiting gardens!
And if you want more wonderland, try visiting Alvechurch on June 21 or 22 when there will be 10 gardens open, ranging from a cottage garden with lots of pots to a professionally landscaped terrace garden, and from fruit and vegetable gardens to gardens with rockeries and sculptures.
For a combined entrance fee of only £5 this represents fantastic value at 50p a garden, and gives visitors the chance to see behind many of the old houses in the village.
Which all raises the question: do you have a bit of a "wonderland" behind your home? The NGS is always on the lookout for new gardens to open, and now is the time to contact the them if you would like your garden considered for opening in 2015.
As County Organiser I am always interested in hearing from people who would like to consider this – my contact details are in the yellow Worcestershire leaflet which is available from most libraries, tourist information centres and good garden centres, as are details of all the gardens open in Worcestershire.
Alternatively visit http://www.ngs.org.uk
You don't need a huge garden or a degree in horticulture to create a wonderland in your own little bit of Worcestershire – just a mixture of interest and enthusiasm with a bit of hard work thrown in for good measure!
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← Rimando in the way of Sounders' advance
Seattle goalkeeper Michael Gspurning (yellow shirt) recorded another shutout against Real Salt Lake last Friday. The Sounders play at RSL Thursday night in the second-game of the Western Conference semifinals.
2012 11 02, Seattle Sounders FC, Salt Lake City Real, MLS, Playoffs, CenturylinkBookmark the permalink.