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Today's version of America needs an ice cold shower of facts and truth. In our 24/7 world of news, gossip and innuendoes, the question remains: if our modern sensitivities would allow for such a dose of knowing?
Truth has long since left our public square. In its place, after our Judeo-Christian foundations were splintered, there appeared the un-Constitutional Department of Education. Most self incriminating was that some how, free Americans began to embrace this absurd democracy scam. Given Woodrow Wilson democracy boast, how did this single utterance replace America's rightful and proud history of being a Constitutional Republic?
What has been absent for too long is the teachings of our Founding period. This knowledge is our Country's rudder, her stabilizer. If Russian schools find it beneficial to pound into their young soviet brains about Russian sacrifice when defeating Nazi Germany, why is it that American schools ignore our American brand of glory?
What seems to have become American education's driving force is the tenet that "if one doesn't believe in something, he or she will believe anything." Similarly, "if one doesn't know his or her rights, they will not have any rights!" Both concepts work in tandem for the same result; a more accepting and less questioning populace.
Trending: Saturday Night Live Dings Obama – "Ebola Probably One of My Greatest Accomplishments!"
Such guidelines hint of an intentional program to down grade American education and patriotism. Now, if we throw the educational victims of Geography, Civics, Basic Math and now the lost art of Cursive (penmanship) Writing into the mix, such a presentation provides an American jury with an easy verdict!
Another societal area will provide a more visual example of our lower standards. While hard to admit, hand-in-hand is the removal of religious teachings from not only the American classrooms but from weekly Sunday observances and from our family living rooms. This is an essential part of America's rudder, the "belief in something," in this case of a higher being; which having been dismissed, has introduced our believing of "anything."
It seems that a few objecting voices supposedly caused America's change from her religious foundations to that of a more secular venue. Yet, in today's marketplace of thought, grade schools include the study of Islam and in dozens of high schools, there are officially sanctioned after hours "satanic clubs."
This is quite a radical transition given that Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1798, "No power over the freedom of religion…(is) delegated to the United States by the Constitution." He also wrote that, "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the minds of man."
Well over two hundred years ago, Jefferson pinpointed today's on going educational ruse. When globalism and climate change erase American history, and most recently, penmanship, the word ruse may not be harsh enough. As Jefferson alluded to, there are many "forms of tyranny," and the education of young Americans may well be the most diabolical.
In closing, our mere reciting of the Pledge should spark our discarded curiosity as this "democracy" scam is the easiest to disprove. We don't say,"… and to the democracy for which it stands…" we say, "…and to the Republic for which it stands…" Above all, this short recall validates Jefferson's sworn dedication against "tyranny over the minds of man."
The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by EagleRising.com


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Shout Outs
What can we say? We have enthusiastic clients.
Clients like us.
We know this from their feedback, by their referrals, and because they work with us again and again.
Here's what they want to share with you.
Dayspring does wonders blending aesthetics with functionality. And they know how to work with young companies who are iterating business strategies at the same time they are building interfaces.
Bill Harris
Co-Founder & Chairman, MyVest
Former CEO, PayPal, Intuit
Since our first meeting with Dayspring and their staff, we have been continually impressed and happy with our relationship. The professional sports landscape is fast-paced and changes can come quickly. Dayspring has proven time and again that they are up to the challenge and can not only meet deadlines, but deliver a quality product as well.
Kyle Spencer
Executive Director, Marketing
Golden State Warriors
Over the last 10-15 years, we have contracted web design and development services to numerous companies and we are always highly impressed with the service and quality provided by Dayspring Technologies. Their thorough understanding of our project goals, attention to detail, constant communication and on time delivery is second to none.Phil Gibson
Founder and President
Digital Media Academy
Dayspring is a 'one-stop shop' for our web needs. From design to numbers tracking to strategic planning to implementation, they are with us every step of the way.
Vanessa Collins
Director, Operations & Communications
More than just executing brilliantly, the team at Dayspring had many great and innovative ideas for the project. I'm extremely happy with the results.
Steve Watkins
CTO, Metabolon
Throughout the development process, we have found Dayspring Technologies to be extremely efficient, professional, and proactive. We needed a Business Partner who could manage our projects from start to finish and could make sure that everything stayed on schedule and on budget. That's what Dayspring Technologies does for us.
Chris Johnson
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EF&A / Alliant Capital
I'd like to thank our fabulous friends at Dayspring Technologies for putting together this website in three weeks' time from first phone call. Really remarkable and amazing work! I am over the moon with the quality of their work and their incredibly responsive, highly-detail oriented, and collaborative approach.
Melinda Tuan
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Fund for Shared Insight
Those of us who worked closely with Dayspring's team were regularly in awe of their attention to detail and their vision of the whole; their commitment to excellence and their great good humor. Our organization's website—and thus our work—have been greatly enhanced by their considerable efforts on our behalf.
Debra Dean Murphy
Board Chair
Ekklesia Project
Dayspring Technologies brought a perfect balance of professionalism and personal engagement, technical expertise and design flair. Their discovery process gave them a deep understanding of who we are, as well as what we needed--the latter something we ourselves didn't fully understand. They designed and delivered a superb website, logically elegant, graphically beautiful, and easy to administer as well as navigate.Rev. Dr. Brent Laytham
Dean of the Ecunemical Institute of Theology
St. Mary's Seminary & University
The professionals at Dayspring were conscientious, professional, and adhered to our budget and timeline beautifully. Communication was consistent and timely, and trainings were done at a pace that helped myself and my colleagues grasp much of the capability of our newly designed database. We highly recommend Dayspring Technologies to other nonprofit institutions.
Andrew Callery
Assistant Director of Graduate Support
De Marillac Academy

subset: commoncrawl


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The Lee Family. Once upon a time Noel and Rena got married and had 2 kids - Doris and Donald. Then one day, Doris got married to Jeremy and had her own 2 kids - Vince and Edda. We all live far apart, and keep moving around. It's hard to keep tabs on each other. Welcome to our blog.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
First OB exam.
I think if youtube existed when I was in college, I would have managed to solve some differential equation problems. Lecture was all theory, problem sets were not and I didn't understand and didn't care about the theory. I just wanted someone to show me how to do the problems; I probably should have asked someone how to do the problems, but I was shyer than I am now, more embarrassed to admit I don't understand something. But I will say this now: I do not know differential equations. And I blame it all on those damn theory based lectures which I slept through. I'm sure the khan academy has a whole series of videos with people solving all kinds of differential equation questions.
I spent the day learning about fetal circulation. My clinical OB experience has been good, but it's left me melancholy. So many lectures about preterm labor, fetal screening, maternal blood screening which I thought I wouldn't be sad about, but I am. Why is an amino done at 16-18 weeks gestation? The reason given in class is because that's when there is enough amniotic fluid to pull out without damaging the fetus. Which is true, but why not at 21 weeks? Not a whisper about how one would be pressing up against the legal limit in many states for a late term abortion. We are traveling through all of OB class without talking about abortion which amazes me.
My hospital clinical rotation is essentially over. Labor and delivery is a very desirable placement for new nursing grads and I can see why. It's not only because babies are so cute and lovable which is why I initially thought so many people are drawn to it. It's because it's really easy to take care of women in the prime of their lives doing something that is suppose to happen pretty naturally. It's a world away from the floor below where I did my med-surg rotation where the patient load was higher and there were drug-seekers, people who needed 14 meds every 2-4 hours and one had to know all the drugs for cardiac, renal, respiratory, etc. and the patients were heavy, stinky and rude because they are scared.
First exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!
By Doris at October 11, 2015
1 comment:
- October 12, 2015 1:02 PM
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Dispute over 1973 Camaro lands Winsted man in court
BANTAM -- A 1973 Camaro was at the heart of a five-year dispute that stretched from Winsted to Cromwell, and -- as of Monday -- Bantam Superior Court.
Michael Bell, 36, was arraigned on charges of third-degree larceny after allegedly refusing to return his niece's car and selling it on Craigslist. Bell, a Winsted resident, was released on $3,000 surety bond, and his case was continued to May 25.
According to police documents, Bell first came into possession of the car after his niece allegedly loaned it to him for repairs. The niece inherited the car from her father, who willed her all of his possessions. The niece brought the case to the attention of Winsted police in March 2009, telling police officers that Bell refused to return the car.
"Bell told (the niece) she would have to pay for the work or he was not returning the car," the report states.
The niece also told police that she had put $5,000 of work into restoring the car, and had called Bell to return the car until he changed his phone number. The niece told police that she had called Waterbury Probate Court to sort out the issue, and as of February 2009, had the paperwork to indicate ownership of the car.
The case lay dormant for nearly three years, but the niece returned to Winsted's police in November 2011 to revive the matter. By this time, the niece said, she had registered the car in her name, using the proof of ownership from the Waterbury Probate Court, but could not locate Bell or the car.
Police eventually tracked Bell down to his new home -- the niece believed Bell lived in Lakeville, and Bell did not live at his old Winsted address, but still lived in town -- but the car was nowhere to be found. According to police, Bell said he believed the niece had picked up the car, but did not see her do so. Following the confrontation, police reported the car as stolen.
Three months later, on Feb. 9, the niece returned to Winsted's police, pulling up Bell's Facebook page. Bell allegedly posted on his page that he sold the Camaro and used the money to start his business, Laurel City Roadside Assistance. The Winsted police officer told the niece that since the car had been reported as stolen, the Department of Motor Vehicles would notify the police if anyone attempted to register the car.
That notification came one day later, as a Cromwell man called his local police department to report that he may have bought the stolen car. The man bought the Camaro from a Burlington man on Craigslist for $2,500, and told police that he recognized the car after Bell allegedly tried to sell it himself in 2009. However, the Cromwell man did not buy the car because he believed Bell was asking too much for the car -- Bell allegedly wanted $6,000 for the Camaro, and said it would not start.
The Cromwell man continued by telling police that he saw a 1973 Camaro on Craigslist for $2,500 in December 2011, buying it from a Burlington resident. The Burlington man claimed he bought the car from another man in Harwinton, who told police he had hired Bell at a previous job and traded him the Camaro for an unused Ford van. This man never attempted to register the car, but said Bell told him he received the Camaro from a relative who could not afford to repair the car.
Following the final transaction, the Cromwell man replaced several parts, putting an additional $1,000 into the car. According to police, none of the buyers in the previous chain knew the car may have been stolen. The car, which police valued at $6,000, was returned to Bell's niece in March, and the niece subsequently asked to have charges filed against Bell.
Jason Siedzik can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com, via Twitter at @RCjsiedzik, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RCjsiedzik or by phone at (860) 489-3121, ext. 321. Follow us online at www.registercitizen.com or on twitter.com/registercitizen.


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Public can comment on proposed 26-home Perry Hill development
The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on a proposal for a 26-lot housing development at 88-94 Perry Hill Road, near Walnut Avenue, on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Developer Ben Perry's S&G of Shelton has submitted the proposal for Perry Hill Estates on 13.5 acres. A public hearing is an opportunity for neighbors and others to comment on an application.
The property now is zoned Residence-1 (one-acre minimum) and Residence-2 (half-acre minimum), which would allow for fewer homes than in the development proposal. The applicant is seeking to create a Planned Development District.
There would be two- and three-bedroom homes from about 2,100 square feet to 2,300 square feet in size. Access would be from a road off Perry Hill Road. A series of roads to be privately maintained would be built.
An association (common interest community) would be formed to create rules and oversee common areas, including the roads and detention ponds to handle water runoff.
Has Inland Wetlands approval
The Inlands Wetlands Commission has approved the plan. Three wetland areas totaling about 1.5 acres, including a watercourse, are located on the property.
The city engineer had opposed the project during the wetlands process, mostly because of drainage concerns.
Click below to read more about the project and the Inland Wetlands Commission approval:


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Bruce Willis on
Published July 27, 2010 in
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By Fred Topel | Image property of
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Bruce Willis came to Comic Con to show off his newest badass action heroics in
. Based on the comic book, the title stands for Retired, Extremely Dangerous. Willis plays a retired agent back in action. It turns out he's a big comic book fan.
Bruce Willis Talks Red
"I don't collect them but I've done a couple movies that are based on them," Willis said. "They all turn out to be really fun projects. Fun to do and there's just more character in it. There's just more stuff that's already there that you can go to. For the most part, people would expect actors to fill in blanks anyway, but the blanks are not blanks anymore. Things you're upset about, what is your beef, what is my beef in this film, it's always a lot easier."
exceeded even Willis's expectations when it attracted costars like Helen Merren and Morgan Freeman. "There was never any way I could ever have imagined the richness of what a film could be that has a huge cast of characters in it when all those characters are played by actors you already know and I was already a fan of for a long time. I was excited all the time. 'What? Who's? Oh…' Just excited. I think we're just starting to talk about it now. We're starting to talk about it and get a response but one thing that's going to be talked about a lot more is just the phenomenon of having this many actors and this many movie stars in a film being told a good story and telling an ambitious story that's fun and funny and has action in it. I think we all try to live up to the storyline and I would rather have you ask the guys that came up with the idea, did we live up to what that story was? Did we live up to taking that material and a piece of art in one genre, translating it to another?"
Willis proved he could still handle a gun and some one-liners in
Live Free or Die Hard
. He's been going strong ever since.
actually addresses the age issue head on. "The word is certainly used and used in the title of the film. Retired, extremely dangerous. It's commented on a couple times but when you see the film it's right now. It's hip. Karl Urban and I went at it in one of the toughest fights I've ever had in my life. It was deliberately crafted along the lines of mixed martial arts and how violent that is. We were throwing each other around, literally throwing each other around. The fact that you see anyone who is reported to be retired in the film, they're doing stuff that is sexy and hot and romantic and funny."
Action, comedy and romance are all things Willis has done before, but you get an all in one package with
. "This film was always ambitious right from the very start. It could have just been defined as an action movie or a comedy or a romantic comedy. The studio and the story was always about that and stayed there. It always felt ambitious. Depending on who you talk to, young guys will tell you it's an action movie. some people tell you it's a comedy or it's a romantic comedy but it weaves all these things together. It doesn't move you off of liking the action or liking the comedy or liking the romance. I have a romance in this film! And a romantic comedy. It seems great and I really am pleased with this choice."
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ACS on site Pet vaccinations sign.pdf
In need of low cost shots for your dog or cat? Partnering with local veterinarians, the regularly held clinics at Animal Care Services offer everything from vaccinations to microchips and flea/tick medications to heartworm prevention. Clinics are held the 2nd and 4th Monday and the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at the ACS shelter located at 4710 State Highway 151. Clinics run from 2pm to 4pm and services are available thanks to our partners at the Leon Vallet Animal Hospital and Petshotz.


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As has been pointed out elsewhere, ActiveRecord RC3 was compiled against NHibernate 1.2.
I can confirm from personal experience that it isn't a great idea to try and swap in NHibernate 1.2.1 and assume everything will continue to function.
While it is true that you can using binding redirects to get most of the way there, dont' forget that some tools like FxCop don't respect these.
<runtime> <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity name="NHibernate" publicKeyToken="aa95f207798dfdb4" culture="neutral" /> <bindingRedirect oldVersion="184.108.40.20600" newVersion="188.8.131.5200" /> </dependentAssembly> </assemblyBinding> </runtime>


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Abigail Curtis DVM and Karin Coyne are Level 2 TAGteachers, they have been practicing parkour for 2½ years. Parkour is a physical discipline whereby practitioners utilize physical training to master their own movements by climbing, running, jumping and balancing over the obstacles in their environments.
For a brief video introduction to parkour, see here: http://youtu.be/yvP_HfVa2Rs?t=32s
In this webinar Abigail and Karin will show to you not only how they have implemented TAGteach for the specifics of parkour, but also how these principles and techniques will transfer over into other sport training as well. Through the use of videos and discussion they will cover topics such as:
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Results for:
- "i2tic" as tag
2 references:
Çilan, Ç.A., Bolat, B.A. & Coşkun, E. (2008). "Analyzing digital divide within and between member and candidate countries of European Union". In Government Information Quarterly, 28 (1), 98-105. London: Elsevier.
Helbig, N., Gil-García, J.R. & Ferro, E. (2009). "Understanding the complexity of electronic government: Implications from the digital divide literature". In Government Information Quarterly, 26 (1), 89-97. London: Elsevier.


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Kevin was a killer. Forced into being an 8-year-old soldier, he fought and murdered during Liberia's long civil war.
The conflict ended in 2003 and many of the estimated 16,000 children who took part in the fighting still are dealing with the emotional scars of what they saw and experienced. Kevin, who went through a program run by his former warlord (now a self-proclaimed evangelist), has to live with the rejection of his family and fend for survival on his own.
He lives in an apartment by himself. Some of the former soldiers went through a U.N.-sponsored disarmament program that included counseling. Some ex-combatants say they couldn't participate in the program because their guns were stolen.
That's what happened to Kevin, but still years later he found a new path. Today he is a motorcycle taxi driver. He has some friends. He's not alone. He saves his money so he can go to night school. He hopes one day he can become a businessman.
Kevin, I love ur strength. Remember that only the great can go through what u are going through. Kevin u are great.
Kelvin indeed you are great. Keep focused and believe that you can achieve your desire in life, pray and be rest asured that GOD will se you through; Don't give up.
If there would be only one Kevin in every country then the world would be a better place to live. A salute to Kevin and his wisdom of understanding the importance of education.
Kevin you are great with a lot of strength.
Well, yes I was a war lord that recruted Kervin and many other young people and did a lot of bad things that could possibilly never be forgiven by many, but I am not an self proclaimed evengelist, Christ called me, and the evidence is there, in my Country and many other Countries the Lord led me to and what He did through me. Besides I was Baptized by Bishop Melvin Samuels, Ass Bishop and Overseer for Foreign Fields, Holy Temple Church Of The Lord Jesus Christ Int, and ordained as Evangelist and serving as the African Outreach Director. I AM NOT A SELF PROCLAIMED EVANGELIST. Good Article though. Evang: Joshua Milton Blahyi.
Dad,may the Lord strengthen you and overt shadow you with his glory and power for his work through out the whole wide world.I know the Lord can do greater and aboaundantly in your life than what man expert.Enjoy your blessings.
Yes Joshua, I met you on the camp and you told me your story. I didn't know who I was really talking too because of the obvious change that came to your life. I found out later who you were and it totally blew my mind how God had transformed your life!!
Thanks Joseph, their are lot of stories on the net for me, but I just launched Book on my life story, and I have giving 75% of the return to the project that help turn Kelvin and many other child ex-fighters life around. Well not the project but Jesus through the project have turn around the life of many and re-uniting them to their families and Communities, The project is call Journey Against Violence http://www.journeysagainstviolence.com, The Lord leads me to notorious criminal hide out with Christ message of Peace, Love and Christ Forgiving Grace. http://www.frontpageafrica.com/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=5680&print=yes contact me on facebook to get a copy and help many Kelvin By the grace of God.
Pls guide me to uploading my photis.
Surpeior thinking demonstrated above. Thanks!
D5y2Jr wkrbwrocpkoa


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Accounting software group MYOB has acquired accounting software company Professional Tools (NZ) for an undisclosed sum.
Operating predominantly on North Island, New Zealand-based Professional Tools (NZ) provides software and services to about 120 accounting practices, but the merger is expecting to see 1000 New Zealand accounting practices serviced.
The clients of Professional Tools (NZ) will be provided with fully integrated MYOB software and support.
MYOB has also announced it will be moving headquarters in December 2000.
The company has entered into a 12-year lease for a new purpose built facility at Tally Ho Technology Park in East Burwood, Melbourne, where it will house MYOB international corporate headquarters and all Melbourne operations of the company.


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Anchorage, AK – Sarah Palin's son Track Palin, and his wife Britta, are headed to divorce court.
TMZ reports that Track Palin, the eldest of Sarah Palin's two sons and oldest of five children, has filed divorce documents jointly with his wife in an Alaskan court. In accordance with Alaskan law, filing together is their way of saying that they've already settled property and custody issues including child support.
Court records show that Track Palin and his wife, Britta Hanson, filed for divorce on December 1. The court system website does not list attorneys for either party, reports The Miami Herald.
The ex-couple are parents to a 1-year-old daughter, Kyla. Track and Britta watched a 48-minute video about the impact of divorce on a child, but apparently it wasn't enough to encourage them to work out their differences.
The couple married in May of 2011, clocking their failed marriage in at one year and seven months.
After the 9/11 attacks, Track Palin enlisted in the Army, where he is a reservist. He deployed for one year in Iraq. Back when mom Sarah was a GOP vice presidential candidate in 2008, she spoke at his deployment ceremony in Fairbanks, marking one of the few times she made it back to Alaska while she was on the campaign trail.
Track is a commercial fisherman and is planning on returning to college.
Sarah Palin has two sons, Track (b. 1989) and Trig (b. 2008). She has five children in total including Bristol (b. 1990), Willow (b. 1994), and Piper (b. 2001). She is also grandmother to 4-year-old Tripp (Bristol's son with ex Levi Johnston) in addition to Kyla.


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Our newest beautiful line of meaningful jewelry that helps us give back to Nationwide Children's Hospital. I can use your loved ones actual print or handwriting and transfer to a piece of jewelry to cherish for a lifetime!


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Friday, October 29, 1999 Published at 07:50 GMT 08:50 UK
Lone piper laments golf's lost son
The eerie early morning fog was broken only by the sound of the pipes
The lament of a lone bagpiper led golfers in tribute to American golfer Payne Stewart at the start of a tournament in which he was due to have played.
Stewart should have been among the 30 top money earners playing in the US PGA's $5m Tour Championships at the Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.
The 42-year-old was on his way to Texas when his private jet lost pressure, killing all five occupants and later crashing.
"Payne represented the best of golf," Finchem said. "He was a man of great faith, a devoted, compassionate and most energetic husband and father, and a man of tremendous generosity."
Fellow golfer Tom Lehman led the tributes to the two-time US Open winner.
"He loved to laugh and he was not ashamed to cry. I'm not going to be ashamed of my tears this morning, and neither should you," said Lehman, wiping away a tear. "When he died on Monday, a big part of us died, too."
Fitting then that the scene at the memorial service reflected golf's Scottish roots, a kilted bagpiper playing the Scots lament "Going Home" as he walked through the early-morning fog lifting from the first fairway.
A short time later, Bob Estes made his own gesture to Stewart, using his putter for his first shot of the tournament.
"That's for you, Payne," he said. Estes finished the hole with a double bogey.


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Results tagged ' Jim Tracy '
The Man Who Was Not Very Surprised
Virtually with each home run he hit this year, Jose Bautista surprised somebody.
The Ball Hit Utley
The "single" that extended the Phillies' ninth inning in Denver tonight and moved their lead run from second to third actually hit Chase Utley, in the knee, while he was still in the batter's box. The replay showed the ball's direction clearly altered as it hit Utley's uniform. Foul ball. Never mind the dubious call at first base, as Street might have thrown Utley out. He should've been sent back to the plate.


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When British Prime Minister Harold Wilson invoked "the white heat of technology" he was expressing 1960s optimism rather than outlining a detailed vision of the direction outdated industries had to take.
Forty years on, the digital revolution has focused thinking on how information technology can push boundaries back but the problem of applying radical ideas to the real world remains.
Stephane Garelli is a professor at Lausanne's IMD Business School and a former senior adviser to Hewlett-Packard. He is cautious about the whole concept of the "cutting edge" and thinks that most businesses share this attitude.
"A cutting edge can be a very dangerous process for a company. Being there does not always mean being successful. Despite what they say in public about embracing new technology, most corporates are risk averse," he says.
Prof Garelli cites himself as an example of how the constant pressure from suppliers to upgrade software has to be resisted on occasions: "I use an old version of PowerPoint to present with because the latest release cannot work with every computer at every conference."
Manufacturers have an obvious incentive to force the pace of change but recent history has proved that consumers will choose their own rate of adoption.
The meteoric acceptance of personal computing, followed by e-mail, the mobile phone and then the internet culminated in the dotcom fever of the late 1990s.
What the dotcom missionaries had failed to recognise was that the public were becoming weary of change.
A lukewarm reaction to the initial wave of internet retail services burst a stockmarket bubble and realigned IT growth with consumer appetites in the real world.
Internet telephony has been available for a decade but it required a level of dedication to technical tinkering that few customers could be bothered to embrace.
The global rise of broadband connections created a vehicle for mass adoption that Skype, the online calls provider, could exploit from its launch just three years ago.
Now Skype has been bought by eBay for $2.6bn. The secret of this astonishing success is not cutting-edge technology, but timing and a determination to configure a simple service for ordinary users.
Niklas Zennström, chief executive and co-founder of Skype, points out that while internet telephony existed long before his business, "mainstream consumers were turned off by poor sound quality and how difficult it was to set up".
Simplicity matters to a mass market. In this spirit, Siemens' latest mobile phones take a step backwards. The CC75 and CF110 do not feature cameras or web access.
They are aimed at a segment of customers Siemens has identified who just want to make voice calls and swap text messages.
IBM has the world's largest IT research operation. With a budget of $5bn and more than 3,000 scientists and engineers working in eight laboratories across six countries, it is associated with superfast computing projects and breakthroughs in the realm of nanotechnology.
But this effort has found a new direction: services science. The object is to apply engineering discipline to creating products or technologies that address business problems.
These products are then re-usable, and hence a potent weapon in the armoury of IBM's own $45bn services business.
Mari Sako, professor of management studies at Oxford University's Said Business School, works with IBM and believes that changes in the external marketplace have led it to reassess the very concept of technology research.
"What is really new is the way markets have been created in services such as outsourcing. So there is a lot of talk about innovation in delivering those services. But vendors must remember that what people want are functions that do not break down."
This perception was confirmed when technology services group LogicaCMG polled clients on their priorities and discovered that innovation was the very last criterion they applied when purchasing IT.
Quality and delivery on time and budget were their prime concerns. Yet many suppliers are reluctant to abandon an attachment to innovation for its own sake.
Clearly, some users are won over by the notion of a cutting-edge product. They should beware.
As Prof Garelli notes: "The IT industry is very good at marketing, and very good at brainwashing."
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It's the middle of November, and we're talking midpoints!
Today's Fat Orange Cat: get someone good and drunk.
Download the .mp3 here, or subscribe via RSS, find us on iTunes, YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook or Stitcher — or, of course, right here on StoryWonk.com!
Our theme music is by the fantastic Josh Woodward. StoryWonk NaNo is a StoryWonk production by Lani Diane Rich and Alastair Stephens, and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike license.
Thanks for listening!


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July 27, 2000
Paul E. Levenson
The Rufus Choate House
14 Lynde Street
Salem, MA 01970-3404
Dear Mr. Levenson:
This letter responds to your March 27, 2000 request for an advisory opinion concerning Northeast Pharmacy Service Corporation's proposal to establish a network of independent pharmacies in Massachusetts and Connecticut that will contract to provide certain pharmaceutical-related services to health plans and other third-party payers. Northeast believes that the participating pharmacists, by working with certain classes of patients to help them understand and comply more fully with their medication treatment plans, can improve the quality of care that those patients receive while at the same time reducing the overall costs of medical services provided to them. Based on our understanding of the facts you have presented, as described below, Commission staff have no present intention to recommend that the Commission bring an enforcement action challenging implementation of Northeast's proposal.
The Proposed Network
Northeast currently acts as a pharmacy services administrator on behalf of 368 independent pharmacies(1) in Massachusetts and Connecticut.(2) The network that is the subject of this opinion will be distinct from the larger network: it will be composed of only a subset of Northeast member pharmacies, and will provide only the patient care and other services described below. The new network will not contract with payers for pharmaceutical dispensing services, even with respect to payers with whom it enters into contracts for patient care services. Contracting for dispensing services will continue to be done as it is at present, outside the framework of the new network.
Northeast believes that independent pharmacists can play a more integral role in the medical management of patients with chronic or long-term illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, emotional disorders, or congestive heart failure. It believes that pharmacists' individualized monitoring of these patients' medication programs, in consultation with their physicians, can reduce prescription error and increase patients' compliance with their prescribed treatment programs, thus improving the patients' health status. In addition, Northeast believes that implementation of the program it has proposed will decrease the overall cost of treating these patients by assuring use of the lowest-priced effective medication and by reducing patients' use of physician office visits, emergency room treatments, and hospital inpatient stays.
In furtherance of these goals, Northeast intends to market a package of medication-related patient care services provided by participating pharmacies to physician groups, self-insured employers, and managed care organizations. These patient care services will include coordinating patients' use of medications with patient monitoring and education in disease state management, avoiding adverse drug interactions and other adverse events, assessing individual patients' conditions on an ongoing basis, measuring patients' compliance with their prescribed drug regimens, making recommendations to prescribing physicians about appropriate adjustments to those drug regimens, and suggesting generic substitutes for prescribed drugs when medically appropriate.(3) In order to provide this package of services, Northeast intends to develop standardized disease management programs, establish protocols for monitoring individual patients' adherence to their medication plans, implement methods to improve access to counseling and medication supplies by patients confined to their homes or to residential facilities, design in-store patient education and counseling programs, implement screening programs, and develop drug therapy management programs specifically aimed at seniors.
Northeast anticipates that the network initially will include about thirty independent pharmacies throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut; the number is expected to grow to no more than 100 in three years. Pharmacies participating in the network must maintain an approved claims processing system, that you estimate will cost at least $10,000. This system will be used to standardize patient care policies and procedures throughout the network, and to gather operations data necessary for Northeast to manage the performance of the network pharmacies. In addition, each participating pharmacy will establish a dedicated fax line, provide a semi-private in-store counseling area, and maintain a library of patient education video tapes approved by Northeast. Each pharmacist will develop in-depth knowledge of one or more disease states with respect to which the network will provide services, and will maintain the ability to conduct patient health screenings for conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and depression. An initial $5000 capital investment in the network also will be required.
Northeast will establish a Management Committee that will formulate and oversee procedures, standards, and operating principles for the network. The committee will be composed of network pharmacies and other health care professional and management consultants as needed.
According to your submission, the network needs to be able to deliver standardized services and to adhere to common principles relating to shared financial risk and to patient care protocols in order to accomplish its objectives. In particular, you note that uniform standards of patient care are necessary for accurate measurement of the impact of the network's activities on patient outcomes and on overall health care costs incurred by the patients. Accordingly, network pharmacies would contract jointly through Northeast to provide services, and would submit bills through the network for services rendered pursuant to those contracts.
Northeast proposes a two-pronged system of payment for these patient care services that combines fee-for-service and risk-based payments. Northeast anticipates that performance goals will be adopted for each payer's benefit plan. These goals could include, for example, rates of use of generic drugs; reductions in office visits, emergency room visits, and hospital admissions; the overall level of pharmacy costs; patients' health status; and the amount of patient monitoring and education performed over a particular time period. Each time a service is rendered, the patient's insurer would be billed, and it would pay to Northeast a contracted hourly rate for each service. Northeast would distribute 50% of each payment to the individual pharmacist who performed the service. The other 50% would be retained by Northeast, to be distributed to network pharmacies if the network as a whole (or that subset of network pharmacies serving the enrollees of a particular health benefit plan) attained its preestablished performance objectives for that health plan. Distributions to the individual network pharmacies would be made in accordance with each pharmacy's performance relating to pharmacy performance criteria including, for example, the number of patients seen, medication errors prevented, numbers of calls made to remind patients to obtain refills, and generic and therapeutic substitution of prescription drugs. If the overall performance goals were not met, the withheld funds would either be kept in the risk pool for future distribution or used to defray operating expenses of the network.
In addition to distributions from the withhold discussed above, network participants would be eligible to receive distribution of a portion of overall cost savings that resulted from the patient care management services. Northeast proposes that these savings be divided equally between the payer and the network. Savings for the patient group in question would be measured against some standard of past expenses for the same or a comparable group.
Northeast expects that payer contracts will run for at least two years. It anticipates that that period of time will be required for payers to evaluate the patient care improvements that result, and the impact of the network's activities on overall costs. Northeast expects that at the end of that period, some payers may prefer to continue their contacts with the network solely on a fee for service basis, so that they can determine more exactly the cost of the service in advance. However, Northeast expects that the vast majority of the network's services will continue to be provided on a risk basis.
Northeast will be the exclusive contacting agent for participating pharmacies for the patient care services described in this letter. Participating pharmacies will not be permitted to offer those services through another network. The network will not contract on behalf of its member pharmacies with respect to dispensing of pharmaceuticals, and the members will remain free to contract individually with prescription benefit plans.
The general antitrust analysis applicable to pharmacy network joint ventures is described in Statement 9 of the Department of Justice/Federal Trade Commission 1996 Statements of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care ("Health Care Statements").(4) As discussed in the Statements, "naked" agreements among competitors that fix prices are per se illegal under the antitrust laws. However, the rule of reason applies to price-related agreements that are reasonably necessary to achieve the procompetitive benefits of a joint venture involving significant economic integration among competitors.
Economic integration warranting rule of reason analysis of necessary price-related agreements can be evidenced by an agreement among network participants to share substantial financial risk for services provided through the network, as well as by other types of integration that are likely to produce efficiencies. Under a rule of reason analysis, any potential anticompetitive effects of the proposed venture are weighed against the procompetitive efficiencies that are likely to be produced by the venture. The rule of reason analysis takes into account characteristics of the particular network and the competitive environment in which it operates, to determine the network's likely effect on competition.
Operation of the new network envisioned by Northeast involves direct agreement among the participating pharmacies, some of which compete with one another, concerning the prices to be charged for disease management services.(5) Accordingly, the threshold question is whether that agreement is reasonably necessary to achieve significant efficiencies that are likely to flow from integration among the network participants.
The Health Care Statements discuss a number of examples of arrangements that can involve sharing of substantial financial risk, including use of "significant financial incentives for its provider participants, as a group, to achieve specified cost-containment goals." Such incentives might take the form of "withholding from all provider participants a substantial amount of the compensation due to them, with distribution of that amount based on group performance in meeting the cost-containment goals of the network as a whole," or "establishing overall cost or utilization targets for the network as a whole, with the provider participants subject to subsequent substantial rewards or penalties based on group performance in meeting the targets."(6)
As the Health Care Statements make clear, the types of arrangements specifically described in the Statements are not the only possible types of arrangements that could involve the sharing of substantial financial risk or other substantial integration. Indeed, one of the purposes of the 1996 revision of the Statements was to encourage development of innovative risk-sharing and other arrangements that have the potential to improve quality and cost effectiveness of services or otherwise provide significant benefits to consumers.
The network that Northeast has proposed involves joint provision, and joint negotiation of contracts for, only for the types of patient care services discussed above. No collective negotiation of contracts for dispensing of pharmaceuticals is contemplated. Members of the network will be combining their resources in order to develop the standards, procedures, and protocols necessary to provide a set of patient care services that, for the most part, the individual pharmacies are not now in a position to offer. The network will use a combination of financial incentives to promote efforts by each individual participating pharmacy to meet the goals established by the network as a whole: an internally managed withhold on payments for services rendered, and significant potential rewards in the form of sharing in the savings in overall health care costs flowing from operation of the network.(7)
The proposed network appears, therefore, to involve financial and service integration among network participants to provide a package of services that has the potential to provide significant benefits to consumers, and the price agreement among network members appears to be reasonably related to the network's achievement of those benefits. Consequently, we have analyzed the formation and operation of the network under the rule of reason.(8)
It appears unlikely that Northeast's operation of the proposed network would significantly restrain competition among pharmacies in any market.(9) The initial members of the proposed network are dispersed throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, and in most instances do not appear to be significant competitors of one another. The group collectively constitutes fewer than 10% of independent pharmacies, and fewer than 2% of all pharmacies, in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Even if the network expands to as many as 100 pharmacies, it likely will include no more than about 5% of all pharmacies in each of the two states. Northeast notes that many other types of businesses could provide patient care services similar to those that its network proposes to provide, including pharmacy chains, supermarket pharmacy departments, and other independent pharmacy organizations. Based on the information you have provided, along with other information available to us, it appears that sufficient competitive alternatives exist to defeat any effort by Northeast and its members to raise prices or otherwise impair market competition.(10)
In sum, based on the forgoing, we would not recommend a challenge to Northeast's operation of a network of independent pharmacies having the features described above. This letter sets out the views of the staff of the Bureau of Competition, as authorized by the Commission's Rules of Practice. Under Commission Rule § 1.3(c), 16 C.F.R. § 1.3(c), the Commission is not bound by this staff opinion and reserves the right to rescind it at a later time. In addition, this office retains the right to reconsider the questions involved and, with notice to the requesting party, to rescind or revoke the opinion if implementation of the proposed program results in substantial anticompetitive effects, if the program is used for improper purposes, if facts change significantly, or if it would be in the public interest to do so.
Sincerely yours,
Richard A. Feinstein
Assistant Director
1. Northeast understands an independent pharmacy to be one that is privately owned and has no more than 9 stores under common ownership.
2. Northeast currently administers 30 prescription benefit plans on behalf of its members' pharmacies, who comprise about 17% of the pharmacies in Massachusetts and 30% of those in Connecticut. These pharmacies together fill about 11% of all prescription in Massachusetts and 19% of those in Connecticut.
3. In addition to engaging in generic substitution of chemically identical products, network pharmacies will seek physician authorization to substitute a generic version of a branded drug for another branded drug in the same therapeutic class where doing so is medically appropriate.
4. Reprinted in 4 Trade Reg. Rep. (CCH) ¶ 13,153.
5. It is not clear to what extent the network pharmacies, many of which are fairly thinly distributed across Massachusetts and Connecticut, are actual competitors of one another. At least some, however, do appear to be in competition with one another, and for purposes of this opinion we treat the agreements relating to operation of the network as horizontal.
6. Health Care Statements at 109.
7. We have not determined that the withhold system that Northeast has proposed would, by itself, be considered an arrangement under which participating pharmacies share substantial financial risk. Indeed, it appears unlikely, without more, that a withhold that is retained by the network, and thus is used to benefit the participants either directly, through ultimate distribution to them, or indirectly, by supporting operations of the network that otherwise would have to be paid for by the participants, creates a significant financial incentive for the participants, as a group, to achieve the specified goals of the network. In such cases, the strength of the financial incentive embodied in the withhold is significantly reduced, because network members ultimately recover the full amount of the withhold even if the performance goals are not met. In this instance, however, the withhold is coupled with, and supports, a risk-sharing arrangement in the form of sharing between the payer and the network of cost savings attributable to the efforts of the network participants to maximize the effectiveness of treatment programs prescribed for the patients they serve. The arrangement as a whole, therefore, appears to establish the sharing of substantial financial risk among the network participants.
8. Northeast has stated that some payers, after an initial trial of the concept, may prefer to contract with the network purely on a fee-for-service basis, retaining for themselves all the savings, above those payments, that are generated by the network's activities. In the event that the network enters into some purely fee-for-service contracts with such payers in the future, we would analyze the activities of the network as a whole to determine whether the pricing aspects of those contracts would be appropriately analyzed under the rule of reason. See Policy Statements at 67 n.27 (discussing physician networks). While, as the Policy Statements caution, "the mere presence of some risk-sharing arrangements . . . will not necessarily result in rule of reason analysis of the non-risk sharing aspects of the venture," the presence of some non-risk-sharing activities by a network that otherwise in engaged in integrated provision of services will not necessarily subject those activities to per se analysis.
9. Northeast has not provided information that would permit us to define local geographic markets for the patient care services that the network proposes to offer. There is no need in this instance to define those markets, for there appears to be no area in which the participating pharmacies are likely to have to power to raise prices or otherwise limit competition significantly.
10. Of course, significant antitrust issues would be raised if Northeast members used the network as a vehicle for coordinating their pricing for services delivered outside the network, or otherwise limiting competition in ways that did not contribute significantly to the legitimate purposes of the network.


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20th Annual Connecticut Star Party
September 10, 2010 @ 12:00 am - September 12, 2010 @ 12:00 am EDT
2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the Connecticut Star Party. And ASNH is planning quite a bash for our annual September event. We have already confirmed 2 big name speakers: famed astronomers and comet hunting duo David Levy & Carolyn Shoemaker. CSP 20 is set for September 10-12, 2010, and will once again be at our dark sky site at the J. Norcross Webster Scout Camp in Ashford, Connecticut. Look for more information about this years CSP 20th Anniversary event at www.asnh.org.


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Market Services
& Solutions
Through our international network in the world's financial centres, we provide our clients with 24-hour market coverage and a comprehensive range of financial instruments and solutions.
Our Market Services & Solutions teams in Singapore operate from the dealing room of CIC Singapore with a strength of 40 experienced staff. Our teams are dedicated to offering customised and innovative solutions to our clients and providing a comprehensive range of market solutions in the primary and secondary markets. Our Singapore dealing room complements a worldwide network with other CIC dealing rooms in New York, London and Paris, offering clients 24-hour coverage across a wide range of markets and financial instruments. Our dealing room in Paris supports the entire international network and provides financial engineering capabilities to enhance local expertise in Singapore.
What we can do for you
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Quotations for spot transactions and forward contracts, currency options, cross currency and interest rate swaps, caps and floors, money market instruments.
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Structured products as part of our ongoing efforts to better serve the needs of our clients. This includes products that can be linked to interest rates, exchange rates, equity indices or a basket of stocks or indices with varying degrees of capital protection. CIC has a strong Structured Products team in Paris, which works closely together with the Singapore team.
Risk Management
Risk management Advisory services for investment or borrowing strategies.
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Yield enhancement on surplus cash using financial structures or taking advantage of interest rate differentials between currencies. Yield enhancement products, with full capital protection, are available.
Analysis and Hedging
Analysis and hedging of currency and/or interest rate exposures through the use of forwards, options, NDF, interest rate swaps, caps, floors, amongst others.
Market Information Analysis
Timely and in-depth market information and analysis.
Investment Products
Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale Investment products.
Our Financial Institutions and Corporate Sales team offers our clients a full range of investment solutions developed by the Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale in France. Below is a non-exhaustive list of investment solutions providers of our group:
Banque de Luxembourg Investments
Banque de Luxembourg Investments manages over EUR 10 billion of traditional assets and offers tailor-made asset management to institutional clients.
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Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale Private Debt offers mezzanine and private debt funds to both institutional clients and high net worth individuals. The investment philosophy leverages on Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale's excellent expertise of the domestic (French) economy and focuses on SMEs.
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CIC Asia Asset Management is the largest asset management company of Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, with EUR 62 billion of Assets Under Management and 200 dedicated professionals.
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Interested to find out more about the market services and solutions we offer?
Our team will provide comprehensive investment solutions to meet your needs, please use the contact form to get in touch with us to find out more about our services.


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But we know this sort of thing! We're good, educated, literatured citizens, some of us positive bibliophibians. We're trained to sniff out the good from the bad. I was happy to leave Katie's post and trundle on, whistling a happy tune, content that a fellow writer had struck a blow in favour of decent reading and writing.
And then I tripped on it. Walking across the blogosphere, I went and put my foot in it, and nearly my face, and after a brief and horrified stare at what I saw I felt the resolve harden in me. Something had to be done. No one had said anything yet. Something had to be done. I sailed into the living room, yardstick in hand doubling as a walking-stick that was very elegant in my own mind, arrested my poor unsuspecting husband, and told him in no uncertain terms (save that the fury in my head was tangling my tongue up) that some thing had to be done! My poor husband, taking me in stride as always, absolutely the best ever, laughed at me in a way that I took to be encouraging and my mind was made up. For better or for worse, for axe and for block, for liberty and the right to name characters, I was going to speak up.
Have you noticed? Have you seen it? It's a cad, it really is, sneaking into one's fantasy, worming its way into the names of your characters, displacing otherwise law-abiding i's, all the while assuring you that it is making your character's name look "foreign" and "elegant" and "fantastic." That Y could sell washing machines to the devil. In the blink of an eye it becomes the defining, the tell-tale, the betraying mark of amateur fantasy. Oh, don't think I'm exempt. I keep a list of names I have invented over the years, most of them from my very early years. I don't use the list anymore because the names are so outlandish and painful, but it's a good example of what I am talking about. Take a look.
I'll cease abusing your eyes. As you can see, these names are ridiculous, some of them positively unpronounceable, but all of them somehow distinctly belonging to a fantasy story. The fantastic, the otherworldly, hangs, not upon the character's personality or upbringing or nationality or customs, but upon the weirdness of his name. That's a slender and amateur thread on which to hang the fantasy of your story.
In favour of the Y I will say that its use is not a universal cop-out. Koby and Brandewyn, which are also in my list, manage to get away with it because Koby is a name you might find anywhere and Brandewyn is that sort of pretty faux-princess name a couple might give a daughter even now. And the Welsh are completely exempt from this principle because long ago they decided the alphabet didn't have enough vowels and they needed to make more. However, if you are not careful you are liable to have your story pegged as a fantasy (even if it is a fantasy) merely on your use of the Y. I find it to be either Welsh or amateur, and while I don't mind the one I'm not hankering to be pigeon-holed into the other, how about you?
My neck may or may not still be intact at this juncture. Like Katie, I like a good, solid fantasy and I don't like to waste my time on anything less than that. I don't think I read as much as she does, my natural taste tends more toward historical fiction, but I do have an array of fantasy in my library. So what about them? What are the names of their characters? What are the names used by authors who have "made it"?
Brandoch Daha
None of these make use of the over-fantasized Y, but all of them belong to fantasies. They all manage to be in their own way unique, decent, even strong. It is absolutely possible, and recommended, to find names for your characters that don't make use of the Y. Fight! Win! There are excellent names out there just waiting to be used. There is a wealth of imagination in your own brain just waiting to be tapped. Don't settle for the mediocre Y.


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56.1 Million Hay Acres Offers Livestock Producers Hope for Lower Feed Costs
Feed prices could be looking better next year for livestock producers. According to USDA's Acreage report numbers released Thursday, hay growers intend to harvest 56.1 million acres of hay in 2016, which is a 3% increase from the prior year. In addition, growers plan to harvest 2% more alfalfa than in 2015 at 18.1 million acres.
According to the report, harvested hay acres are expected to hold steady or increase in most Southern and Western states, which is good news for dairy farmers.
In the West, water is always the biggest factor for alfalfa farmers. This year James Johanson, hay statistician with USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service, says water conservation over the years and significant moisture over the winter resulted in full storage reservoirs and spurred an increase in acres.
There are some caveats to Thursday's numbers.
Western hay analyst Seth Hoyt of the Hoyt Report, says many growers in the West are only harvesting one cutting of hay on the acres included in USDA's numbers, which leads him to caution that the report won't necessarily be an accurate picture of yield volume for the year. Johanson says if a field is cut once for hay or five times for hay, it's included. "It's entirely possible that they cut it once and plant it to something else,and it would still count as harvested acres," he says.
That scenario should be reflected in USDA's August 12 hay production report. "If they only harvest one cutting, it will be reflected in their total production," says Johanson, who also says that report will provide a clearer picture of what prices will look like for the rest of the year.
The Acreage report indicates the most significant hay acreage declines are expected to be in the Northern Plains States. University of Wisconsin Madison forage specialist Dan Undersander says this is because many growers in those areas had a hard time getting new seedings to grow. One outlier in the Northern Plains is Wisconsin, which USDA projects will have 100,000 more acres of alfalfa alone.
According to the report, Illinois, Iowa, New York, and Rhode Island are expected to see record lows for all hay harvested in 2016.
Could Prices Stay Low?
The price gap between milk cow quality hay and lower quality hay will remain wide.
"Right now we're at about $45 per ton difference between good and poor," Undersander says. "I think we'll see prices stay in about the same range that they are in, unless there is severe drought somewhere."
Despite the report, Hoyt says reduced alfalfa production is likely in the West, which will delay a price recovery for alfalfa.
"The lower production will have more of an impact on higher quality alfalfa hay prices which are in tight supply," he says. "The lower quality alfalfa hay market will take time to recover because of large supplies."
For complete coverage of Thursday's USDA Acreage report visit www.agweb.com.


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A glorious summer morning – the sun is peeping around the corner, birdsong is in the air and the scent of lawn and flowers mingles with a fresh cof fee aroma. The perfect spot for a family breakfast in the pleasant shade of the awning. Crumbs and mess permitted!
Our FAMILY CLASSIC awning exudes proven Lewens quality, optimum user-friendliness and a summery appearance with its characteristic valance.
The delivery time for awnings in standard colours is extended if the colour chosen is not one of the stock colours outlined with a yellow border.
Apart from our wide range of standard colours, you have the opportunity to choose an additional colour from a further 125 RAL colours for an extra charge.
Other special colours are available on request.
Click here for an overview of all fabrics.
The following options are offered for even greater convenience and comfort:
The Vario Valance offers variable shade from the sun and privacy while retaining the headroom below the awning.
An additional gear mechanism enables the awning pitch to be adjusted smoothly from 5° to 52 ° to adapt it to the position of the sun.
Just the right lighting to create a pleasant ambience on the patio or balcony.
The sun and wind sensor gauges the sun and wind – and the awning is extended and retracted automatically!.
With the radio remote control, all radiocontrolled electrical components can be conveniently operated using a single controller, eliminating annoying control cabling on the wall.
Provides cosy warmth under the awning, even on chilly days.
The awning can be optionally fitted with support legs for greater stability and wind resistance.
Centimetre-accurate manufacture in all intermediate widths!
– max. 650 cm (up to max. 400 cm arm length, with 2 arms)
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– Supplied as standard with valance
– Standard height 20 cm
On the basic FAMILY CLASSIC type, the awning fabric roller is exposed or "open".
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Equipped with a protective cover and back plate, the ENCASED model of the FAMILY CLASSIC provides secure allround protection for the fabric roller.
The side caps are of the same design as for the RAIN COVER type.


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College of Arts and Sciences
English Department Minors
The Department of English offers minors in:
- English (as a minor)
- Creative Writing Minor
- Professional Writing Minor
- Interdisciplinary Minor in Film
- Interdisciplinary Minor in Queer Studies
The undergraduate catalog provides more detail, including a full list of courses offered by the department.
Have a question or want to schedule a visit? Contact us today.


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Liberator Hipster
A pleasurably-shaped pedestal with low and high curves
Hipster is a multi-purpose platform conceived by Liberator. Enhanced by low and high curves, this pedestal provides you with optimal lift, allowing you to indulge in any position your heart desires. Indeed, this pedestal can even be used to enhance oral sex since it protects your neck from strains and soreness. Best of all, it can even be used to watch TV in bed or simply to read a book. Made from non-toxic materials, Liberator Hipster comes with a removable, machine-washable cover for simple cleaning.
- Phthalate Free:
- Yes
- Power:
- Not Powered


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This page is being currently overhauled. It's going to become the section for a new CORPSE ON PUMPKIN imprint for publishing fiction, called Patient, Folded Hands Publishing. The first release is my second book, out now, titled I Grew Up In Amaltherey Hill:
OUT NOW! I Grew Up In Amaltherey Hill


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Green plums are a treat and a delicacy in other cultures. Their sour, bitter flavor can be unappealing and may cause an upset stomach if you are sensitive to sour foods. These fruits are also rich in fiber, which is beneficial for normal digestion. If you do not normally consume enough fiber, eating several green plums may give you a temporary belly ache.
Green Plums
Green plums are unripe fruits about the size of a cherry. They originate from western Asia and have been enjoyed by Asian cultures for centuries. Green plums have a tougher texture and more sour flavor than ripe purple plums. Sprinkling salt or sugar on your green plums helps cut out some of the bitter flavor if it is undesirable for you.
Washing Fruit
Wash your green plums thoroughly to avoid consuming pesticides, dirt or other contaminants. Each of these may irritate your stomach, causing you to feel some discomfort. Use plain water to clean your fresh fruit. Washing your green plums with soap may leave a residue on the skin of the fruit. Ingesting soapy residue may also aggravate your belly, giving you a stomach ache.
Gastrointestinal Issues
Eating too many green plums increases your fiber intake for the day. Most high-fiber foods provide both soluble and insoluble fiber, although they typically have higher amounts of one over the other. Fresh fruits, like green plums, tend to have higher amounts of soluble fiber. This type of fiber attracts water in your gut and ferments, forming a slow-moving gel. During the fermentation that occurs in your colon, gas is naturally produced, explains Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute. Excessive gas in your gut may cause you to feel some discomfort until you pass it. Additionally, too much of either type of fiber may cause constipation or diarrhea. If your diet is normally low in fresh fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods, slowly increase your intake by a few servings a day as tolerated. Once your body gets used to the fiber boost, you can continue to add more green plums to your diet.
Other Considerations
Green plums should not bother your stomach if you are generally healthy. Having a sour stomach after eating a green plum may be a sign of a more serious underlying cause, such as an allergy. Talk with your physician if you notice frequent stomach aches associated with green plums, to rule out any other issues.REFERENCES & RESOURCES Los Angeles Times: Market Watch: Small Green Plums are Armenian Treat Linus Pauling Insitute: Fiber California Department of Pesticide Regulation: Pesticides and Food: How We Test for Safety


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Implementing a Whole Health Model in a Community Mental Health Center: Impact on Service Utilization and Expenditures
Publisher: Psychiatric Services, vol. 69, issue 10
Oct 01, 2018
This study examined whether implementing a whole health care model in a community mental health center reduced the use of acute care services and total Medicare expenditures. The whole health care model embedded monitoring of overall health and wellness education within the center's outpatient mental and substance use disorder treatment services, and it improved care coordination with primary care providers. This study used fee-for-service Medicare administrative claims and enrollment data for June 2009 through July 2015 for the intervention (N=846) and matched comparison group (N=2,643) to estimate a difference-in-differences model. For the first two-and-a-half years of the program, Medicare expenditures decreased by $266 per month on average for each enrolled beneficiary in the intervention group relative to the comparison group (p<.01). Intervention clients had .02 fewer hospitalizations, .03 fewer emergency department (ED) visits, and .13 fewer office visits per month relative to the comparison group (p<.05 for all estimates). Overall, the whole health model reduced Medicare expenditures, ED visits, and hospitalization rates. These results may be due in part to the availability of more comprehensive medical data and staff's improved awareness of client's overall health needs. There was a lag between initial program implementation and the program's substantial impact on health expenditures. This lag may be attributed to the substantial transformation and time needed for staff to adapt to the program.
HCIA Evaluations: Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation
Time Frame
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- Evaluating the HCIA - Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse Awards: Addendum to the Third Annual Report
- Evaluating the HCIA - Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse Awards: Third Annual Report
- Evaluating the HCIA – Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse Awards: Second Annual Report
- Evaluating the HCIA - Behavioral Health/Substance Abuse Awards: First Annual Report


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It is still the case that the majority of casualties in war are civilians. The 5% formula would deliver an estimated $300 billion for international development in the first decade – that is $30 billion a year on average.
The WHO's current biennium 2012-2013 budget is $3.9 billion (roughly $2 billion per year). It is proposed that from this redirected $30 billion, $1 billion – $2 billion of this could fund the WHO and enable it to remove its reliance on private interests and others74. This 'new' sustainable stream of public funding for WHO could ensure that it can again focus on its core missions and managing global health projects with the full involvement of the countries concerned both in both formulation and implementation level levels.
The WHO: An Underfunded Global Health System
In 2011 Sonia Shah wrote this telling piece for Foreign Affairs:
In 1950, the WHO's budget derived from assessed dues on member nations. Over the past few decades, that financing stream has run dry. In reaction to the perceived politicization of UN organizations such as UNESCO and the WHO, major UN donors introduced a policy of zero real growth to the UN system's budgets in 1980 and of zero nominal growth in 1993. Starved of public financing, the WHO has had to rely upon voluntary contributions from donor countries, private philanthropists, companies, and NGOs. By 2008, voluntary contributions from private interests and others[1] now bankroll four out of every five dollars (80%) of the WHO's budget. Thus it is now the private donors, not the WHO, who can call the shots in Geneva, and thereby shape the global health agenda. Unlike funds from assessed dues, individual donors can earmark "extra-budgetary" monies for whatever specific purpose they like, thus circumventing WHO control.
Companies most active in global health projects today hail from a narrow range of industries[2], many of which are under fire for their negative impact on public health. These private firms are playing a double game: disrupting local communities with one hand and writing big cheques to ostensibly help them with the other. Often, their core financial interests are directly at odds with the business of improving the health of the poor, in ways that are distorting the global health agenda.
The private donors' influence is clear. The WHO allocates its regular budget to the diseases that account for the most mortality around the world. Extra-budgetary funds, in contrast, support different interests. According to an analysis of the agency's 2004-05 budget, 91 percent of the WHO's extra-budgetary funds were earmarked for diseases that account for just 8 percent of global mortality. Given the dominance of extra-budgetary funds in the WHO's overall expenditures, the WHO ended up spending 60 percent of its funds on illnesses that account for just 11 percent of global mortality. A substantial portion went toward developing vaccines for infectious diseases, which – many will argue – are in line with private industry's general preference for expensive, high-tech research over cheap, low-tech prevention. It's hard to see how such a misalignment between the needs of the world's sick and the distribution of WHO's funds helps the agency meet its core mission.
MEDACT : After Ebola – How To Save The World Health Organisation
We must hope that the international response works effectively and efficiently. Though many individuals and organisations are performing heroically, the international response has generally been slow and characterised by self-interest and bickering. The militarised nature of assistance provided by the US in particular may help build hospitals and establish command-and-control systems to help break disease transmission chains, but could also hinder the building of trust. The more developmental and social approach to disease control offered by the Cubans, which has received little attention in the mainstream media, possibly offers more hope. …
The Ebola crisis must also make it imperative for the global health community to find long-term and effective solutions to the problems of the World Health Organisation (WHO). We don't need more fingers pointed at the financial, technical and management problems of WHO, particularly its regional office in Africa. These problems have been known for many years. What we need is a frank and independent enquiry that will highlight the role of specific actors in undermining the public health mandate and functions of WHO. There is culpability and there must be accountability. …
The global health community has tended to ignore such pathologies, but Ebola is both a call and an opportunity to change this. We can confront finance capitalists and multinational corporations as vectors of disease that bribe governments and extract wealth in ways that are unjust and ecologically destructive. We must describe bankers, lawyers and accountants who enable illicit trade, tax avoidance, theft and corruption as agents of poverty and illness. And we should view the arms trade as a pathogen that fuels violence and enables repression.
Global Health Spending trends
Laurie Garrett at the Council on Foreign Relations observes:
Global health programs now teeter on the edge of disaster. The world economic crisis and the politics of debt reduction are threatening everything from malaria control and AIDS treatment to well-baby programs and health-care worker training efforts. And even if the existing global public health architecture survives this time of parsimony and austerity, it will have been remodeled along the way.
In 1999, for example, total health spending in developing countries was about $5.6 billion, with the United States government providing roughly a third of that and U.S. private donors another tenth. In the spring of 2000, the Clinton administration officially defined HIV and emerging diseases as national security threats, which expanded U.S. grounds for engagement in global health. The call resonated with antipoverty activists, health advocacy groups such as Médecins Sans Frontiers, Partners in Health, and ACT UP; and institutions such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the United Nations AIDS Program. Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, stepped up their philanthropic efforts in global health through their Gates Foundation.
With the surge in public support for global health came increased attention from private individuals, corporations, and foundations, leading some to call the decade "the age of generosity." By 2008, global health enjoyed an estimated $16 billion pot of public-funding gold — and with private funding and poor countries' own increased health spending included, the total spent on public health for the world's poor reached about $27 billion.
But then the global financial crisis hit and as Europe's economic situation worsened, the region reduced its overseas commitment-to-disbursements ratio. Italy, which donated nearly $1 billion annually from 2001 to 2008, gave nothing in 2009 and has given almost nothing since. Greece provided more than $50 million in global health assistance in 2007 and now gives nothing. Iceland stopped making commitments and contributions in 2008, Portugal in 2009, and Spain in 2010. In 2009, 94 percent of all global health promises made by the European Union and its member countries were actually disbursed, but by the end of 2010 only 78 percent were, and the gap appears to have widened further in 2011.
Total estimated expenditures worldwide on health care in 2010, meanwhile, hit $5.3 trillion, with U.S. domestic spending accounting for nearly half of that. Even at its recent peak, the amount of money spent on the health of the world's poorest people, who suffer most of humanity's infectious and preventable diseases, represented merely .0005 percent of worldwide health spending.
Militarizing public health
High military spending becomes 'normalised ' in part through the ever greater effort to 'recruit the nation' (Ben Griffin Veterans for Peace UK). Especially for countries with a professional army (ie small percentage of the population).
This is done through the armed forces ever-growing presence in schools (funding events through to recruitment) and through Public Relations (eg UK Armed Forces Day and revamped Poppy Day).This in turn enables acceptance of a 'perpetual war machine' – convenient for a seemingly never-ending 'war on terror'.
Other aspects of civilian life in Western countries have been gradually militarised such as mass surveillance in the UK or militarized policing in the USA, where routine police operations are carried out by SWAT teams armed as military special forces.
This ever-present 'militarisation' of public life is now being turned to health and emergency disaster responses. The army is now often flagged as the first responder rather than the medics. In anticipation of disasters unfolding with the deepening of the climate change crisis, this will become more and more the norm as no opportunity will be wasted to militarise the response to a public health or natural disaster emergency.
This is worryingly authoritarian, bad for public health, and strategically counterproductive. Despite its impressive logistics, the army makes only a marginal contribution to international disaster relief—and often makes things worse. Nor do soldiers "fight" pathogens—and the language of warfare risks turning infected people and their caretakers into objects of fear and stigma. But, because of America's politics of public finance, the army is the only tool we have. If civilian health programs were properly funded, they could have prevented the disaster. …
But this expert consensus is not reflected in federal spending priorities. Global public health is small change: $7.4 billion last year, down from $8.3 billion in 2011, with global health research and surveillance budgets at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health of just $464 million and $527 million, respectively. By contrast, as the size and power of the Department of Defense have grown, so too has its involvement in global public health. According to a thorough review of its labyrinthine $650 billion budget, the "DoD dedicated no less than $579.7 million in identifiable funding to global health-related activities" in 2012, plus considerable other monies in other accounts. …
The only rationale for sending the troops is that they and their equipment are available and already paid for, and would be doing nothing of significance otherwise. And, as a supplementary justification, that the U.S. Congress and taxpayers are ready to spend vast amounts of money on the military over modest amounts on global health.
This argument has a dreadful circularity; we are in this trap because we have paid for a bloated military and a threadbare global health system. It would be sickeningly wrong for the army's role in responding to Ebola—inefficient, largely ineffective, but nonetheless better than nothing—to become a justification for why the Pentagon should continue to consume limitless resources. Soldiers can perform some useful tasks in West Africa. But their role should be brief, limited, barely visible, and subordinate to civilian control.
Militarizing public health is a strategic error. Security and public health experts know this and have tried to steer global health and security policies in a direction that is informed by the best evidence and analysis. But somehow, the beguiling metaphor of sending soldiers to fight pathogens still wins out, fueled by our deepest fears of disease, and by our uncritical acclaim for soldiery. It is time to discard misleading military metaphors and spend real money on real global public health.
Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation,
HOW BRITISH AEROSPACE drained money from South African development
To see how BAE impacted on development in South Africa under Thabo Mbeki, watch Andrew Feinstein's talk (9mins)
Andrew Feinstein is the author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade . He served as an African National Congress (ANC) Member of Parliament in South Africa for over seven years and resigned in 2001 in protest at the ANC's refusal to allow an independent and comprehensive inquiry into a multi-billion dollar arms deal which was tainted by allegations of high level corruption.


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Social Question
What are some other bands like the High Kings?
Asked by Unclepepsi (900) August 17th, 2011
I discovered the high kings in an out of the way bookstore a few weeks ago, I bought the rest of their stuff online. I love traditional Irish music, can you recommend something similar.
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First Presbyterian Church actively encourages participation in weekly Bible Studies. Our goal is to have the congregation grow in faith and understanding of God's word and to use it daily.
Bible Studies begin again in September! See below for several options. We hope you will find one that works for you!
Sunday Night
6:30PM Library
Contact: Bill Jourdan at firstname.lastname@example.com
Current topic: Finishing the Book of Ezekiel; Next study: the Book of Romans
Ours is a different kind of study that perhaps many may find interesting. We read each scripture verse, then go back to find other scripture related to the particular verse just read. As we proceed and digest each verse, much discussion is generated. A lot of enjoyable time is spent doing this. We all learn as we grow.
Monday Afternoon beginning September 10
3PM Library or south end basement classroom
Studying the book: "Faith and Creeds" by Alister McGrath
Leaders: David Layman, Fred Powell
Wednesday Evening (ongoing)
7:00PM -8:15 PM in the first basement classroom (south end).
Leader: Ed Adams email@example.com
Transform Belief to Behavior by Dr. Jim Kok
We encourage input from all attendees about the current topic. We also have a time for prayer requests and usually have snacks and coffee brought by different individuals. All are invited to attend.
Thursday Evening (Beginning September 6):
6PM-7PM in the first basement classroom (south end)
Leader: Michael Davis
Studying the Book of Acts
Thursday Evening
7PM in the first basement classroom (south end)
Leader: Brian Wuerch
Westminster Circle (ages 60+)
Westminster Circle has a long tradition at FPC. It is a under the umbrella of Presbyterian Women. The monthly meetings (third Tuesday at the month at 1pm) focus on fellowship, devotion, and Bible study using the Presbyterian Women's magazine Horizon. Meetings start with dessert, a short business meeting and then devotion and Bible study.


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Social Security Surpluses Are Near Their End; Bloomberg's Hassett Notes After Two-Week Media Slumber
Yesterday, in the process of passing on news that bloggers such as Ed Morrissey at Hot Air and outfits like the Heritage Foundation were onto earlier, Bloomberg's Kevin Hassett delivered a stinging indictment of the establishment media for being asleep at the switch (the sole exception appears to be a video report at PBS). But while he does a good job identifying the problem and indicting journalists for ignoring the news, his prescription for a solution is badly wanting.
The news? The days of Social Security surpluses are over, six to possibly eight years earlier than was thought to be the case just a year ago.
Here are excerpts from Hassett's commentary ("Recession Bites Into Social Security's Surplus"). His first word reveals what he thinks of the nation's political elites, and of the media that are supposed to be watching them:
Criminals know that people who are distracted might forget to keep an eye on their valuables. It's just happened to us as a nation.
We have all been so busy whining about bonuses at American International Group Inc. and arguing about the so-called card-check legislation that we forgot to watch the Social Security surplus. While we were looking away, that surplus disappeared, eight years ahead of schedule.
Something extraordinarily important was revealed in mid-March and received almost no news coverage. If you typed in the words "Social Security" on Google's news service last Friday, the top hit was a New York story about a man who kept his dead mother in a freezer ever since she died back in 2007, just so he could continue to collect her benefit checks.
Almost as gruesome is the news about Social Security's finances. Social Security has for years been the near-term bright spot in the federal budget. Each year the program has raised $50 billion to $100 billion more in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits (in some years, the surplus was closer to $200 billion; in fiscal 2008 just ended, it was $180 billion — Ed.). Sure, deficits were expected far off in the future, but the current program was on sound financial footing.
Those days are, for the moment at least, behind us. According to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimate, the Social Security surplus will be only $3 billion in 2010. That number is almost surely too rosy, and the actual realization next year will be a big deficit.
….. Opponents of Social Security reform have tried for years to underplay the problem by stating that the program's finances are fine. Social Security was, in the most recent report by its trustees, expected to run surpluses all the way to 2017. Why bother to reform something now if the crisis is so far off?
….. (in 2007) Hudson Institute scholar Chuck Blahous, who was leading President George W. Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security, made the compelling case that those predicting a Social Security financing crisis were basing that on sensible assumptions. Blahous was pilloried by the left, but we now know he was far more right than even he could have dreamed.
Hassett goes on to say that those who think Social Security will return to a surplus situation if or when the economy recovers are probably dreaming. I believe he's correct, because that recovery, even if fairly robust, will be starting from an ever-shrinking base.
The Bloomberg columnist, who is also director of economic-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, accurately notes that many Americans who are choosing retirement in the current rough economy and beginning to collect Social Security benefits now are not likely to return to the workforce when recovery begins. Hassett didn't mention that there's a reason beyond human motivation why that outcome is likely. Unbeknownst to most Americans, who thought the problem was legislated away during the 1990s, the odious Social Security penalty that reduces benefits by up to 50 cents for every dollar earned from work above relatively small amounts is still in place from Age 62 through Full Retirement Age (currently 66 for today's seniors). Legislation passed in the 1990s only removed the penalty for earnings from work after Full Retirement Age until Age 70.
Hassett's "solution" is really pathetic:
The only responsible course is to do what reformers have been advocating for at least a decade, a step that worked in 1983: Establish a bipartisan commission to recommend fixes to Social Security, and implement them now. The myth that we can postpone reform because everything is just fine has been exposed as such. The time to act is now.
Hassett should know better. The Greenspan Commission didn't "work" in 1983. All it did was give political cover to those who wanted to ratchet up the payroll tax rate and its reach into ever-higher incomes, while at the same holding back economic growth from what it could have been. The Greenspan Commission copped out on what would have worked marvelously and would have prevented the sad arrival of huge annual deficits from happening: private accounts. It may very well be that the Left has succeeded in closing the window for full or even partial privatization, but another "bipartisan" commission would be yet another excuse for giant tax increases — as if we aren't facing enough of them already.
Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.


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Friendship - Trust - Respect: Learn to think like a horse.
Visit us at Ziegelhof, our oasis for horses and human - an unique natural paradise at Finstersee!
Horses living in welfare friendly attitude, are providing us new dimensions and show us the way to freedom, harmony and self protecting.
Riding like an American Native, with a friend of four legs trough the forests without a saddle, these are real happy feelings! My goal is to teach you and let you feel the same experiences. Special thanks to all my horses having teached me a lot and I'm looking forward to have a lot of exiting lessons and adventures with you.
Yours sincerely,
Luci with Team and all Hü's


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Noble's Conquest is one of the craftable sets providing special bonuses to armor and weapons. It is available for crafting to players pursuing blacksmithing, clothing and/or woodworking professions. The special crafting site dedicated to creation of this set is available in the Imperial City.
To make an item for this set, a crafter must first complete research on 5 traits for this particular item at a corresponding crafting station.
2 items: Adds 28-1206 Maximum Health
3 items: Adds 25-1096 Maximum Stamina
4 items: Adds 4% Healing Taken
5 items: When you interrupt a casting enemy, you heal for 106-4560 Health and apply Minor Vulnerability to the enemy for 10 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 8%.
Crafting SiteEdit
Nobles Armory — A workshop in the Nobles District of the Imperial City. (map)


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Garment Type: 5 Accessory
# VAQ #1 - Tucson
Base is an alligator texture with shades of tan, sand, taupe and black on a taupe underlay. Cutouts expose the basic chap color. Lacing is sewn on. 16 pyramid studs create design accents.
Price is in addition to the basic price of chaps which are $529.00