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It is possible that the main title of the report Fibromatosis, Congenital Generalized is not the name you expected. Please check the synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and disorder subdivision(s) covered by this report.
Congenital generalized fibromatosis (CGF) is a pediatric condition that is often now referred to as "infantile myofibromatosis" (IM). It is characterized by the formation of single or multiple noncancerous (benign) tumors that appear to be derived from cells forming certain supporting and binding tissues of the body and involuntary (smooth) muscle. These firm, nodular, potentially locally invasive tumors may involve the skin and underlying (subcutaneous) tissues, muscle tissue, bones, and/or certain internal organs (viscera).
In many cases, the tumors are present at birth (congenital), develop within the first few weeks of life, or may initially become apparent before the age of two years. Following initial growth and multiplication (proliferation) of tumor cells, the tumors usually eventually recede and disappear on their own (spontaneously). Those with solitary or multiple lesions without visceral involvement typically have a benign disease course. However, in infants with severe or widespread involvement of vital internal organs (i.e., multicentric, visceral involvement), potentially life-threatening complications may occur.
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This is an abstract of a report from the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc. ® (NORD). A copy of the complete report can be obtained for a small fee by visiting the NORD website. The complete report contains additional information including symptoms, causes, affected population, related disorders, standard and investigational treatments (if available), and references from medical literature. For a full-text version of this topic, see http://www.rarediseases.org/search/rdblist.html
The information provided in this report is not intended for diagnostic purposes. It is provided for informational purposes only. NORD recommends that affected individuals seek the advice or counsel of their own personal physicians.
It is possible that the title of this topic is not the name you selected. Please check the Synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and Disorder Subdivision(s) covered by this report
This disease entry is based upon medical information available through the date at the end of the topic. Since NORD's resources are limited, it is not possible to keep every entry in the Rare Disease Database completely current and accurate. Please check with the agencies listed in the Resources section for the most current information about this disorder.
For additional information and assistance about rare disorders, please contact the National Organization for Rare Disorders at P.O. Box 1968, Danbury, CT 06813-1968; phone (203) 744-0100; web site www.rarediseases.org or email email@example.com
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Vote, leave, repeat: Open season on NH elections
August 27. 2013 7:28PM
The AG's "investigation," if one can call it that, concluded that the four campaign workers "established a physical presence" at Fuller Clark's home, and her home "remained their domicile until they moved after the election." And that is that. No fraud.
And yet the statute governing domicile for voting purposes states clearly that domicile is "that one place where a person, more than any other place, has established a physical presence and manifests an intent to maintain a single, continuous presence for domestic, social, and civil purposes relevant to participating in democratic self-government." The AG's Office interprets "manifests an intent" so broadly as to render the phrase meaningless.
The ramifications of this lethargic law enforcement are obvious. Anyone can come to New Hampshire, vote, leave immediately, and face no criminal penalty. Journalists covering the New Hampshire primary may legally vote here as long as they stay in someone's home, not a hotel, and have their mail delivered here. Out-of-staters of any kind may pop in, vote and leave. The need to change the law is now glaringly obvious. Legislators should make it a top priority next year.

subset: commoncrawl


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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A private developer has received a lease from the state to build a 267-room luxury hotel at Kentucky Horse Park.
Governor Fletcher announced today that a deal has been struck with Lexington-based Bluegrass Equine & Tourism Foundation Incorporated. The foundation will lease land for the hotel and distribute all profits from the endeavor to the horse and tourism industries in the state.
It would be the first time a private developer has built a luxury hotel on public land in Kentucky.
An economic impact study done for the Kentucky Commerce Cabinet found that the proposed resort hotel could create 827 full-time jobs. Construction of the hotel and conference center should be completed in time for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, which will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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skiBonnet in velvet snowberries
Play in the snow!
Take a walk on frosty mornings!
Enjoy the crisp chill of winter with Baby and forget about about cold ears.
Leave sun & wind burns behind!
Just like their spring and summer counterparts, the skiBonnet uses hip, mod fabrics and sleek polished styling to protect your little one from the elements! The skiBonnet features a 100% cotton shell and a thick, soft, non-pill fleece lining. The skiBonnet will protect your special little one from wind, cold, rain, and snow…. In style!!!
About the ub2 skiBonnet:
* cool mod fabrics (plain fabrics also available)*
* seamed brim supports the hat without stiffness*
* contrasting, coordinated colors *
*colorful, soft, warm non-pill fleece lining *
* protects from sun, wind, cold & rain *
* adjustable chin strap with extra snaps *
* discrete breastfeeding (fold brim down) *
* wearable in front or rear facing baby carriers *
* snaps mean that the hat stays put! *
* designed by a MOM *
Often imitated but never duplicated in style, functionality, fabric design or craftsmanship, UB2 bonnets are cool, fun, funky, functional, super-cute and distinctly original! UB2 bonnets feature a seamed brim, which allows you to fold back as much or as little of the brim as you like—all without using fabric stiffeners. And, better yet, the UB2 brim won't flop down into your little one's eyes.
The bonnet has a100% cotton shell and a 100% polyester anti-pill fleece lining. It can be hand or machine-washed. We recommend that you reshape it after washing and line dry it. You can put it in the dryer, but the cotton may shrink a bit… help prevent climate change… line dry your hat!
how do i know what size to order?
our bonnets come in 6 sizes. our smallest size fits most newborns and our largest size fits most kids ages 4 and up-- and adults! although we have made rough estimates as far as age of the child they'll fit, there is a very large range of head sizes within each age range. this means that the best and most reliable way to size a bonnet for your darlin' guy or gal is to measure their head circumference.
how should i wash my bonnet?
although it's best to wash your bonnet by hand and line dry it (or dry it flat on top of your washer or dryer), you can toss it into the machine with your other wash and it'll do just fine. wash only using COLD WATER, and if you place the hat in the dryer, dry it on low. use a warm, cotton-setting, steam iron to press your bonnet if necessary. we like to dry out hats flat because it saves energy and they don't need to be pressed. they'll have a softened, worn look as opposed to a crisp press, but that's what we (personally) prefer. if you love the crisp press, just run a steam iron over the bonnet when it's slighlty damp or spritz it & press. usually pressing the back of the bonnet and the brim will polish it up nicely. make sure not to hit the little ribbon tag with your iron or it can melt.
once your package ships we'll send another email with a link so you can track your order & know exactly when it'll arrive on your doorstep. we normally ship orders within 1-3 business days for in-stock items. but, since we're a small company, sometimes we are a little slower. if you need your order **FAST** please email us and we'll do everything we can to accommodate your request. if you live in the US, you can expect your order to arrive within about 2 weeks, usually quite a bit sooner than that. if you're overseas, things are more complicated (and slower) because of both distance and customs.
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prices increase accordingly.
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you can get an exact quote by adding items to your cart and choosing "shipping quote" on the cart page.
we never expect that there will be a problem. but we're human and our items are handmade. everyone once in a while, a stinker of a snap or an off-kilter seam slips through.
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and so, our bonnets are totally guaranteed against manufacturing defects, for LIFE. shirinkage, wash fading, and color-bleeding when exposed to pool chemicals are not considered maufacturer defects. if you have a problem, email us and we'll work with you to make it right. take a moment, please, to read our returns & exchanges page as they're explained in more detail there.
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please note that because of variability of washing methods, washing machines, water temperatures, and detergents, we do not guarantee that your 100% cotton bonnet will not shrink or fade in the wash. but if it's something we didn't do quite right, we'll MAKE it right.
we're proud of our products and we stand behind them. 100%.


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Some classical guidelines to technical drawings.
By John Hutchinson
Pages: 74-79
From the April 2004 issue #140
Buy this issue now
Afew months after my "CAD for Woodworkers" article appeared in the June 2003 issue of Popular Woodworking, I noticed a recurring frustration in reader feedback. It was usually a variation on, "OK, I've installed some computer-assisted design software on my computer, and I'm beginning to get the hang of it. So now what?"
The dreaded all-dressed-up-and-nowhere-to-go syndrome usually could be attributed to the reader's unfamiliarity with the basics of drawing. As woodworkers, we're primarily interested in producing what's known as a technical drawing. In it, we attempt to explain (at least to ourselves) the size, shape and relationship of various components that can be developed into a parts list and, in the end, a successful project.
From the April 2004 issue #140
Buy this issue now


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Healthcare worker disinfects areas where cases of deaths from Ebola have been reported. Credit: WHO
Ebola outbreak puts communities at risk in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have received a total of US$1.75 million from humanitarian funds managed by OCHA and the UN Development Programme to help prevent and contain an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The deadly disease, which killed some 250 people in DRC in 1995, resurfaced in early August in the eastern Province Orientale. So far, there have been more than 70 cases and some 30 people have died, according to WHO. Since 1976, there have been eight Ebola outbreaks in DRC.
Healthcare experts are reporting that the current strain is less virulent but its symptoms do not necessarily include hemorrhaging, making it hard to diagnose and contain. Some five healthcare workers have died and more than 20 are infected.
"The Ebola outbreak is a big concern for the affected communities. The Government, UN agencies and humanitarian partners are doing everything they can to break the chain of transmission and to contain the situation," said Dr. Leodegal Bazira of the WHO, which has deployed epidemiologists and is supporting the Ministry of Health with coordination, surveillance and logistics. "The funding will provide life-saving care, prevention programmes and psycho-social support to the victims and their families."
The funding will allow the UN agencies to help boost the national authorities' capacity to respond to the crisis, including through prevention programmes and measures to help communities deal and cope with the effects of the epidemic. Nearly 700,000 people living in the northeastern town of Isiro, which is the epicenter, will benefit.
Of the $1.75 million, $750,000 comes from the UN Central Emergency Response Fundwhich supports live-saving work quickly during emergencies. The remainder comes from donors through the DRC Pooled Fund, also known as the Common Humanitarian Fund. This resource for humanitarian work in the DRC is jointly managed by OCHA and the UN Development Fund and has received more than $75 million. The Government has also allocated $250,000 to efforts to fight the disease.
Organizations including Medecins Sans Frontières, the Red Cross and the United States Center for Diseases Control are also working with the Government of DRC and UN agencies to respond to the Ebola crisis.
Reporting by OCHA DRC
More>> DRC Humanitarian Update (Source: Reliefweb) - UN CERF


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Those relocating their families to Durham will be pleased to know that "Bull City" has some excellent educational opportunities for its young citizens. Check out Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Carolinas' guide to some of Durham's best schools.
Pearsontown Elementary School of Durham earns acclaim from parents for its innovative teaching methods, advanced academics, and excellent, communicative teaching staff.Parents and students love Little River Elementary, which earns high marks for its commitment to academic excellence, relaxed learning environment, and caring, inspiring faculty.
At Voyager Academy, class sizes are kept small in order to give teachers more opportunities to give students individual attention. The lessons here are advanced but engaging, and the after-school programs are popular and well attended.The Durham School of the Arts offers a one-of-a-kind learning experience for young artists. Parents are impressed with the creative growth they see in their children, and students feel comfortable in the respectful atmosphere that the school fosters.
JD Clement Early College High School lives up to its name. The school's test scores speak for themselves, and graduating pupils frequently earn scholarships to some of the nation's top colleges.Kestrel Heights High School is known for offering a private school education without the hefty tuition bill. Parents laud the faculty for their commitment to helping each student reach their potential.The GreatSchools Rating is a simple tool that helps you compare schools based on test scores and other available data, including student academic growth and college readiness.Durham NC School Ratings from GreatSchools.org


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Conditions for Collective Impact Success
The toolkit development process involved research and key stakeholder consultation to collect and review existing promising practices from a variety of communities across Canada at various stages of youth plan development and implementation. The research also draws on U.S., U.K. and Australian best practices literature to complement the Canadian findings.
Communities of different sizes are highlighted to ensure the toolkit's relevance across Canada; provincial approaches are also included. Key stakeholders with experience developing and/or implementing youth plans provided input into the final toolkit, along with materials that can be used as resources. Note that one of these plans (Alberta) is provincial in scope; though the primary focus of this toolkit is on local community plans it has applicability to provincial/territorial plans as well.
Table 1: Youth Plans Across Canada and the U.S.
We must acknowledge the experience of Indigenous people in Canada if we are to truly end youth homelessness, particularly in light of their consistent overrepresentation in vulnerable populations. Indigenous homelessness is notably different; the structural and systemic determinants associated with colonialism, the Indian Act, treaty making, residential schools and the Sixties Scoop have resulted in considerable discriminatory impacts that are in fact intergenerational (Plan to End Aboriginal Homelessness in Calgary, p. 1).
It is further important to highlight that being homeless can be experienced from diverse perspectives: cultural, spiritual or emotional. It is more than a loss of housing. The impact of colonization, residential schooling, intergenerational trauma, ongoing discrimination and racism in Canadian society has contributed to the ongoing systematic marginalization of Indigenous people, including Indigenous youth (Calgary's Updated Plan to End Homelessness, p. 23).
Recognizing these critical issues, A Way Home is working to complement this toolkit with a more robust Indigenous module, which includes resources specific to Indigenous youth homelessness.
A Way Home is a national coalition dedicated to preventing, reducing and ending youth homelessness in Canada. Through a 'collective impact' framework we inspire and enable communities and all levels of government to organize, plan and implement strategies to address youth homelessness in a coordinated, measurable and impactful way. By strengthening families and building the assets and resilience of youth, we can help young people avoid homelessness and make a healthy transition to adulthood.
As a coalition, we draw on the strengths of leading national organizations such as Raising the Roof, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH), The Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, Egale Canada and the National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness. Each activity within the constellation allows for cross-sectoral partnership and the opportunity to get the 'unusual suspects' at the table. The work of A Way Home is achieved by building on existing strengths, community engagement and innovation. The coalition is dedicated to building a strong and emerging commitment, across the country, to end youth homelessness and encourage alignment of the strategies and resources of leading players seeking to address homelessness in Canada.
A Way Home offers communities across Canada a range of tools and strategies to support the national movement to end youth homelessness, including:
- Collective impact, 'theory of change,' implementation support and opportunities for implementation grants delivered in partnership with the McConnell Foundation's Youth Collective Impact Initiatives;
- Assistance to local communities and ongoing support for coordinators and backbone functions;
- Program model resources – toolkits and technical support for adapting and implementing effective program models; and
- Increased connection to government systems to support community-driven responses.
Coalition members collaborate to provide a range of resources and technical supports to assist communities to plan and implement strategies to prevent, reduce and end youth homelessness and to adapt effective program models and interventions to support these plans. Technical supports include tools, toolkits, webinars, example plans and implementation strategies.
For more information on A Way's Home's work and supports, see http://awayhome.ca/.
This toolkit is not intended to replace resources that already exist; rather, it is designed to provide an overview of the essentials involved in developing a plan to end youth homelessness. As a starting point, we will outline some basics on youth homelessness, along with approaches to address it. This will set the context for further guidance on developing a youth plan.
What is youth homelessness?
Considerable work has been done on defining youth homelessness consistently at a national level. The national definition of youth homelessness advanced by the COH is as follows:
We strongly urge communities to consider adopting the national definition of youth homelessness to ensure consistency across Canada.
How many youth experience homelessness?
Though no single definitive source on the prevalence of youth homelessness exists, the State of Homelessness in Canada 2013 report estimates that at least 35,000 young people experience homelessness annually – or 6,000 youth on any given night.
More reliable information on the prevalence and characteristics of homeless youth will emerge thanks to major research efforts underway, including:
- National Point-in-Time Homeless Counts – undertaken in 2016 across Canadian communities using standard methods and
- National Youth Homelessness Survey – results from across Canadian communities expected for release in 2016 outlining detailed analysis of characteristics and needs of youth experiencing homelessness.
Why is youth homelessness distinct?
Research has consistently shown that the causes and impacts of youth homelessness are distinct from adult homelessness, thus the plans and interventions we use must be correspondingly distinct and tailored to youth. Youth experience homelessness in distinct ways; they are often less visible on the street and more likely to 'couch surf.' This is particularly common in smaller, rural and remote communities, where homelessness is generally less visible. Youth are often reported to be homeless as a result of abuse in the home, which leads to notable movement and transience as they seek a safe place to live outside of their familial home.
Youth are extremely vulnerable because they are at an early life stage, still developing cognitively, physically, emotionally and socially. For many young people who experience homelessness, these challenges are often complicated by the fact that they are simultaneously dealing with life-altering events such as recent trauma and/or violence. Youth homelessness exists within a broad and complex spectrum of circumstances. Youth experiencing homelessness are precariously housed – couch surfing, staying in youth and adult shelters or sleeping rough and are often discharged into homelessness from public institutions and systems, including child intervention and foster care.
In some communities, Indigenous, LGBTQ2S, immigrant and visible minority youth are overrepresented. With respect to Indigenous youth, the interrelated issues of poverty, domestic, violence, trauma and abuse and ongoing discrimination and lack of cultural connections further exacerbate the experience of housing stress.
Youth who identify as LGBTQ2S make up 25–40% of the youth homeless population, compared to only 5–10% of the general population. LGBTQ2S youth experience the additional layer of challenges faced by those with sexual orientations and gender identities that are different from the mainstream. LGBTQ2S youth are over-represented among the population experiencing homelessness as a result of homophobia and transphobia in the home and across the service and housing systems. This in turn impacts the development of responses and interventions.
As the Homeless Hub notes, youth often lack the experience and skills necessary to live independently, particularly those under the age of majority. Youth's physical, mental, social and emotional development impacts their needs and the type of interventions best suited to house and support them further. One cannot assume the needs of a 13 year old are equivalent to those of a 24 year old, for instance.
The causes of youth homelessness are distinct and primarily underlined by family conflict; many are fleeing abuse or leaving the care of child welfare services. Homelessness for youth goes beyond a loss of stable housing: it is the loss of a home in which they are embedded in relations of dependence. This creates an interruption and potential rupture in social relations with parents and caregivers, family members, friends, neighbours and community. A high percentage of homeless youth were also previously in the care of child protection services, making system responses a priority in any efforts to end youth homelessness.
In Coming of Age: Reimagining the Response to Youth Homelessness in Canada, Dr. Stephen Gaetz argues that ending youth homelessness is not simply assuming that youth will never need emergency services again, but rather that we develop strategies to resolve a broad social problem that traps young people in an ongoing state of homelessness. When young people come to depend on emergency services without access to permanent and age-appropriate housing and necessary supports, this leads to declining health and well-being and most certainly to an uncertain future. An alternative is to look at approaches that emphasize prevention and/or interventions that lead to appropriate housing options with supports (2014: 2).
It's important to highlight that the main shift advanced by a plan to end youth homelessness refocuses our efforts on prevention as opposed to emergency supports. This represents a new way of thinking about youth homelessness, which may challenge the prevailing norm in a community. Rather than 'managing' homelessness through emergency services, we are proposing a concerted focus on prevention.
A strong prevention approach requires a coordinated and strategic systems approach and as a consequence, must engage, include and mandate action from mainstream systems and departments of government as well as the homeless-serving sector. No solution to end homelessness can or should depend wholly on the efforts of those in the homeless-serving sector.
Preventing youth homelessness, then, means doing things differently.
What is youth homelessness prevention?
Primary prevention
Primary prevention means working upstream to prevent new instances of homelessness through identifying and reducing risks that may increase the likelihood that individuals and families become homeless. Primary prevention strategies can be aimed at individuals, families or whole communities. Primary homeless prevention includes the following:
- Broad, population-based approaches intended to address risk factors well before they have an impact. This includes poverty reduction, ensuring an adequate supply of affordable housing, addressing interpersonal violence and anti-discrimination work.
- Systems-based prevention to stem the flow of individuals and families leaving institutional care and falling into homelessness. This includes a policy framework and discharge planning and supports targeting individuals leaving institutional settings such as child protection, corrections and mental health inpatient facilities.
- Targeted interventions aimed at sub-populations that are at higher risk of homelessness. These strategies are intended to address risk factors such as income precariousness, family conflict and violence, mental health or addictions, criminal involvement or dropping out of school, for instance. Interventions are targeted to those broadly at risk (but not necessarily imminently at risk) and can include school-based early intervention programs, Family First supports, conflict mediation, etc. that are usually delivered in the community.
Secondary prevention
Secondary prevention means early intervention strategies when young people have recently become homeless or are at imminent risk. These early intervention strategies seek to keep young people 'in place' in their communities where they have natural supports, divert them from emergency shelters and mainstream homelessness services, help them stay in school and work with their families so that young people can safely remain/return home or move into their own accommodation in a safe and planned way.
Secondary prevention strategies typically require systems integration and coordination (coordinated intake, shared information management systems) as well as specific case management interventions designed to avoid the experience of homelessness and/or reduce the time spent homeless. In other words, the goal here is not to have young people avoid homelessness on their own ('bootstrap' their way up), but rather shore up their natural supports in the community to help them avoid entering and becoming entrenched in the homelessness 'system.' Emergency services and supports (shelters, day programs, soup kitchens, etc.) are important community resources and can be considered preventive (early intervention) if they proactively assist young people through case management to return home, address family conflict or move out of homelessness as quickly as possible.
Tertiary prevention
Tertiary prevention means ensuring that young people who have experienced homelessness exit that situation as quickly as possible and do not return to homelessness. Housing First for Youth strategies are designed to provide stability, reduce the risk of future homelessness and help ensure a safe and nurturing transition to adulthood and independence.
For more on prevention see http://homelesshub.ca/solutions/prevention.
Elements of youth plans
A quick internet search will reveal a number of plans to end youth homelessness, several of which are from Canadian communities. Though research on successful youth plans does not exist at this time, we do know the characteristics of solid community planning apply to youth plans as well. Look to the A Way Home website to see the various youth plans currently published.
An effective youth plan:
- Includes a statement of guiding principles and core values,
- Engages the necessary players from the community, all levels of government and the non-profit and private sectors to work toward real reductions in homelessness,
- Depends on collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders including funders, governments, service providers (mainstream as well as homeless-serving organizations) and those affected by homelessness,
- Articulates necessary actions at the service, local and government levels,
- Involves young people in planning, delivery and evaluation,
- Has clearly articulated goals and objectives, timelines, responsibilities, benchmarks and measurable targets,
- Outlines the resources needed for implementation, including projected budgets and cost-savings,
- Provides direction on implementation actions and governance options to move actions forward,
- Leads to real changes in young people's lives in implementation and
- Is a 'living plan' renewed on an ongoing basis to ensure relevance and progress is maintained.
What a plan can & cannot do
It bears emphasizing that a plan will NOT in and of itself end youth homelessness. A plan should serve three purposes:
- Validate the good work that is occurring in response to this issue,
- Set clear direction for the necessary system changes and shifts required and
- Grant permission to move forward, innovate and create.
Specifically, a plan can kick-start a systems response in your community that can transform how services are delivered and coordinated. A plan can be a vehicle for system reform as well, particularly given the role of child intervention, justice and health in the lives of youth.
It is also important to have the foresight to consider implementation from the start. Aligning the youth plan to other initiatives underway, such as general homelessness strategies, child intervention system reform efforts, poverty reduction strategies, etc. can ensure these opportunities are both leveraged and reinforced by the youth plan.
The plan can be a vehicle for action; as such, the planning process can be conceived as an intentional relationship and trust-building effort to support eventual implementation. Those leading the development of plans should keep an eye on how the process can align people and resources for implementation. This toolkit provides guidance on ensuring you are setting the right conditions to support plan implementation. Without a vigilant eye on implementation from the start, the best-laid plans remain just plans.
Those leading planning should manage expectations of stakeholders around what a plan can actually achieve. This means being very clear from the start on what the scope of the youth plan is and, importantly, is not. Ensuring that stakeholders are clear on the objectives of the planning process and can refer back to these throughout will be essential to staying on track.
Despite our best efforts however, barriers will emerge throughout this process. You are effectively competing for limited resources – and if youth win, it can be seen that other groups may have lost. How do we communicate and legitimize the focus on youth in a scarcity context?
In the process of developing a plan, you may:
- Fail to include an important stakeholder in your consultations,
- Misinterpret the research,
- Not have data necessary for critical analyses,
- Have inadequate resources to develop and/or implement the plan,
- Fail to effectively engage a key public system partner,
- Lack a visible champion in community,
- Secure minimal support from the broader community,
- Experience changes in political leadership or
- All of the above.
These experiences are not unusual; in fact, you should expect them. Building a supportive planning team and coordinating infrastructure, maintaining open lines of communication with stakeholders and having a strong foundation for the work based on a common vision and shared values will go a long way toward weathering such challenges.
Do you need to have a specific plan to end youth homelessness?
As noted, the needs of youth are distinct and there is evidence of improved impact when an explicit focus on age-appropriate housing and supports is in place. However, that does not always require a youth plan per se. Your community may already have measures underway to address youth homelessness as part of broader homelessness strategies. Arguably, those strategies are working well – or not.
A youth plan is very useful in particular circumstances such as:
- There is interest in youth homelessness, but not necessarily knowledge of the specific actions needed to address it;
- Willingness to shift the homeless response from managing the crisis (through emergency services) to a prevention focus that includes moving young people out of homelessness rapidly;
- The community has the infrastructure and resources to take on the coordination and development of a youth-specific strategy;
- The community has a means of advancing implementation of a youth plan and monitoring progress;
- There is already significant movement on youth homelessness, which could benefit from strategic coordination to maximize impact;
- Political changes may be underway which could create a structural opening to advance system reform and funding asks to support an end to youth homelessness; and
- An infusion of resources (government, private, etc.) has been introduced that could be molded to advance ending youth homelessness goals if community leadership coalesced.
It is important to be mindful of your community's readiness and local context when selecting your course of action. A plan may even derail community efforts if undertaken without proper consultation and buy-in from critical stakeholders, if development is lacking a solid evidence base and/or there is no foresight to implementation.
In certain cases, you may find that the youth planning effort may be challenged by other initiatives underway – particularly those focused on ending chronic and episodic homelessness. These initiatives should not work at odds with one another. Communities and governments can have more than one priority in their efforts to address homelessness.
'Collective impact' is a useful framework to help you consider the key facets of building a movement to end youth homelessness. However, building a youth plan is only one step in a collective impact initiative; collective impact is a much more complex, long-term cross-sectoral mobilization effort to bring about social change. The goal of collective impact in this instance is to end youth homelessness. A youth plan can certainly contribute to such an effort, but it will not in and of itself bring about the desired social change.
Collective impact provides the key conditions for success you want to consider in the plan development process. In many ways, the ultimate success of a planning effort is not the plan itself, but the collective stakeholders' capacity to deliver on its articulated common goals, towards ending youth homelessness. This is an important consideration for communities embarking on this journey: your guidepost is NOT the plan itself, it is your ability to leverage the plan development – educating others and consolidating multiple policy levers and implementation processes to make a real impact on youth homelessness. If a plan is a hindrance to this ultimate objective, then it may not be the right means of engendering the desired change in your community.
Developing a 'theory of change' is useful at this stage and can be revisited throughout your planning process, to clarify the impact sought and how it will be achieved. The McConnell Foundation's Innoweave provides an excellent exercise to develop your theory of change. Work through the short exercise with the planning group and consider introducing it as part of your consultation process.
Table 2: Innoweave Theory of Change Exercise
Source: www.innoweave.ca
Figure 1: Five Conditions for Collective Impact
Successful collective impact initiatives typically have five conditions that together, produce true alignment and powerful results:
- Common agenda;
- Shared measurement systems;
- Mutually reinforcing activities;
- Continuous communication; and
- Backbone support organizations.
These conditions for success provide a useful roadmap for your plan development process. It is wise to build your approach in such a way that it creates the conditions for success of the movement to end youth homelessness, rather than strictly looking at the production of a plan as your only objective.
Table 3: Collective Impact Success Factors & Youth Plans
What does it take to end youth homelessness? The answer to this question should shape the main tenets of your plan and how you go about developing it. While there are a wide range of options, there are common elements that should be included in your plan, whether you're a small rural community or large urban centre; whether Indigenous youth or LGBTQ2S youth are overrepresented, etc.
If your community believes the answer is to develop more emergency services, such as shelters, or that the homeless-serving system can do it independently without changes to the operation of the wider public systems, your plan will be incomplete, which will lead to gaps in implementation and hinder your efforts to end youth homelessness.
The Reimagining our Response report contains a commonly used strategic framework for developing and implementing plans to end youth homelessness. Edmonton, Kamloops and St. John's specifically cite this report as grounding to their youth plans.
Gaetz proposes the following steps towards ending youth homelessness:
- Develop a plan;
- Create an integrated system response;
- Facilitate active, strategic and coordinated engagement by all levels of government and interdepartmental collaboration;
- Adopt a youth development orientation; and
- Incorporate research, data gathering and information sharing.
Gaetz's framework, a reorientation of the current response, involves three key approaches: a strong emphasis on prevention and strategies that move people quickly out of homelessness into appropriate accommodation with supports, reinforced by emergency services.
Figure 2: Prevention-focused Approach
To operationalize a prevention-focused approach, your youth plan must cover the four Youth Plan Priorities. These four elements are synthesized from the existing body of evidence and are commonly found in existing plans. While you should adapt these locally, according to your community's priorities and needs, the general approach should remain consistent across communities.
Figure 3: Youth Plan Priority Areas
Prevention can include measures that specifically target youth at risk of homelessness, through such programs as family mediation/reunification, working with the education system to identify those at risk earlier and developing policy options that can ensure youth are better supported in transitioning from foster care. The focus here is working upstream to identify those at risk of homelessness and putting in place interventions that effectively mitigate such risks.
System planning and integration refers to the type of reorganization actions you will need to introduce to ensure your local system serves youth effectively and efficiently. This includes introducing ways of managing the flow of clients better through coordinated entry, having consistent performance management and quality assurance standards in place, but also developing processes to link the youth-serving system to the public systems as well. Discharge protocols for youth coming out of treatment or finding ways to coordinate services between diverse systems can be included in this priority area.
Housing and supports refers to the network of services and accommodation options necessary to end homelessness for youth; diverse and appropriate housing and supports (case management, income assistance, education, health care, etc.) ensure that once rehoused, youth do not fall back into homelessness. To achieve this, you may need to expand particular program types or introduce new program models and housing stock. You may also need to rethink how services are delivered in practice. The way your emergency shelters and transitional housing program operate can also be re-envisioned to move youth into permanent housing quicker, for instance. The Housing First Framework for Youth provides guidance on housing options and supports designed to meet the needs of young people in a way that supports not only housing retention but also a supportive transition to adulthood.
Leadership, engagement and resources are needed to execute the vision set out in the plan. This includes funding, organizational infrastructure, champions to promote the solutions to diverse audiences and shared accountability among stakeholders for ending youth homelessness. Additionally, you may include public education measures to raise awareness about preventing and ending youth homelessness. You may also plan for a research agenda to enhance knowledge about the issue and advance a policy agenda to various levels of government.
Table 4: Priority Areas Resources
What does a system planning and integration approach to youth homelessness entail? Efforts to end homelessness using system planning have been documented generally, but less has been done on youth-specific system planning.
As per the definition, a system is the integrated whole comprised of defined components working towards a common end. System planning requires a way of thinking that recognizes the basic components of a particular system and understands how these relate to one another as well as their basic function as part of the whole. Processes that ensure alignment across the system are integral to ensure components work together for maximum impact.
Applying this concept to youth homelessness, a homeless-serving system comprises a diversity of local or regional service delivery components serving youth who are homeless or at imminent risk of homelessness.
Integration is about working together to improve results, which can take the form of a collaborative arrangement. System-level integration can entail centralized management and funding, while at the service level it can involve the coordinated delivery of services both within (vertical integration) and/or between (horizontal integration) sectors and agencies.[1]
A plan to end youth homelessness is a call to address service and policy coordination and integration differently; it entails the restructuring of an entire local system's approach to youth homelessness following a new vision, as well as the integration of that system with others targeting homeless and at-risk youth. System planning requires a reorganization of the service delivery landscape using these shared principles, tying together the activities of diverse stakeholders across diverse systems toward the shared goal of reducing and preventing youth homelessness.
Housing and Urban Development's evaluation of homeless-serving systems in the U.S. found that successful integration was achieved when specific strategies were applied between systems, such as common policies and protocols, shared information, coordinated service delivery and training. In addition, the following were also recommended:
- Having staff with the responsibility to promote systems/service integration;
- Creating a local interagency coordinating body;
- Having a centralized authority for the homeless assistance system;
- Co-locating mainstream services within homeless-specific agencies and programs; and
- Adopting and using an interagency information management system.
These integration strategies can be applied in a range of contexts to improve outcomes, for instance programs within the same agency, between different agencies and between sectors of agencies.
The scale at which integration efforts are implemented will determine which strategies are best suited to achieve intended outcomes; further, the types of services that require integration will further impact the tailored approach moving forward. Several U.S. studies suggest that service coordination closest to the client is more effective than broader top-down structural integration measures in terms of individual housing and health outcomes.[2] Ultimately we need to ensure client and structural strategies are aligned first and foremost with impacting client-level results[3].
Table 5: Integration Strategies
The table below summarizes the essentials of system planning and integration through a youth lens.
Table 6: System Planning Elements
[1] Browne, Gina, Dawn Kingston, Valerie Grdisa, and Maureen Markle-Reid. 2007. "Conceptualization and measurement of integrated human service networks for evaluation." International Journal of Integrated Care no. Oct.-Dec.:e51.
[2] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research. 2002. Evaluation of Continuums of Care For Homeless People Final Report.
Hambrick, Ralph, and Debra Rog. 2000. "The Pursuit of Coordination: The Organizational Dimension in the Response to Homelessness." Policy Studies Journal no. 28 (2):353-364.
[3] Evans, T., Neale, K., Buultjens, J., & Davies, T. (2011). Service integration in a regional homelessness service system. Lismore, New South Wales, Australia: Northern Rivers Social Development Council. p. 30.
Effectively, the key elements of homeless-serving systems will have to be reformulated and conjoined with partner regions to develop a streamlined, integrated response to youth homelessness for rural areas. The key homeless system components will need to be extended across the target region in service delivery. This may mean a further reach from existing community providers into other rural areas, rural providers delivering locally or via urban-rural partnerships.
To interpret system of care components for youth in a regional context, a number of issues should be considered.
Table 7: Homeless-system & Regional Integration Elements
Regional Coordination: To fully implement a regional system planning approach, particularly in small rural communities, coordination infrastructure must be developed to enable system planning and integrated service delivery. Certain functions may be centralized to maximize impact, though each regional partner will maintain an autonomous role in the consortium. The backbone supports involved in implementing a regional plan to end youth homelessness will need to be responsive and representative of a broader collective of stakeholders across localities.
System Planning & Integration: A regional youth plan will have to address system coordination, research, best practices, HMIS/HIFIS, funding coordination and policy analysis to support an end to youth homelessness across localities. The plan will also have to focus strategies on integration within regions and across public systems relevant to youth.
Funding Coordination: You may also need to think about how the plan can advance processes related to program performance management and improvement that are regional in nature to ensure system planning occurs across communities.
Regional HMIS/HIFIS Operations: If implementing HIFIS or HMIS for a larger region, appropriate staffing and training support will be needed. Analysis of system data regionally will need to be undertaken to enable performance management and ongoing strategy development in support of the youth plan.
Research & Homeless Counts: You may want to engage regional partners to develop and implement a research agenda to provide a better understanding of youth homelessness across the region and its unique dynamics in each locality. This will include analysis of HMIS and homeless count data, but will be enhanced by additional population-specific research on key issues, such as LGBTQ2S homelessness, Indigenous youth homelessness, migration trends, etc.
Training & Capacity Building: In terms of training and capacity building, assigning common training and technical assistance needs to the broader regional consortium can ensure local needs are met without adding to the burden on a single agency.
Quality Assurance & Performance Management: Quality assurance pieces that are common to regional partners can also be strengthened by collective work on implementing the youth plan. Assessment and referral protocols, standards of service quality and indicators of success can be developed with a regional lens, even if locally key funders take on appropriate monitoring in the day-to-day work.
Regional Service Delivery: The key elements of homeless-serving systems will have to be reformulated and conjoined with partner regions to develop a streamlined, integrated response to youth homelessness for rural areas. The key homeless system components will need to be extended across the target region in service delivery. This may mean a further reach from existing community providers into other rural areas, rural providers delivering locally or via urban-rural partnerships.
To interpret system of care components for youth in a regional context, a number of issues should be considered:
- Is there sufficient demand for a service component in a particular site?
- Is it cost efficient to centralize or decentralize service?
- Can outreach services be provided across communities?
- Which services are best centralized in the urban centre?
- Are there sufficient capacity/resources to deliver services locally?
It's essential that you consider how the proposed direction of the youth plan aligns with the broader community's work on homelessness. If there is a plan to end homelessness, you will need to outline how the youth plan aligns with it. You will have to be sensitive to the politics involved vis-à-vis other groups who may be advancing solutions for other populations, like women or, Indigenous people. It is an unfortunate reality that such priorities are often pitted against each other in the competition for limited resources and visibility.
Your community likely has, at minimum, an HPS community plan in place. Given the focus on chronic and episodic homelessness, you will have to make a case that funds should be allocated to youth even in cases where they don't fit the federal definition of chronic and episodic. However, it is likely that your plan will include a funding ask for your provincial/territorial and local government as well, where the accountability for youth services, homeless supports, income assistance, etc., often lies.
If your community does not have a plan to end homelessness, you may be able to leverage the youth plan development process to highlight the need for this. You can make the case that by addressing youth homelessness first, your community can build an approach that can be revised and applied to other populations over time as well.
Since the youth plan is focused on addressing homelessness, it is important to also consider what general homelessness plans call for in terms of essential elements. In its document A Plan Not a Dream, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness provides guidance around four key elements of plans to end homelessness. The CAEH built its approach on the National Alliance to End Homelessness' Ten Essentials Toolkit for Ending Homelessness.
How do you know your community is ready to undertake a large-scale initiative to end youth homelessness? Given that ending youth homelessness is a collective impact endeavour, your group can benefit from a readiness assessment to identify deficits you may need to address before moving the planning process forward.
The FSG Collective Impact Readiness Assessment is an excellent tool to gauge whether your community currently has critical elements/processes in place. It can help you identify whether significant time and resources will be needed to either begin or complete critical processes. A similar tool from FSG also points readers to resources to complement their efforts. Another self-assessment was developed by Innoweave to help members of a collaborative reflect on their readiness to take on collective impact. These tools are useful to give you a sense of readiness and identify areas of strength or where additional efforts are needed as you take on the actual planning work from a collective impact lens.
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness has developed a Community Self-Assessment intended to stimulate thinking around key concepts critical to ending homelessness. This tool uses factors identified through the U.S. 100,000 Homes Campaign to be associated with higher housing placement rates for chronic and vulnerable homeless people and essential elements of system planning in a Housing First context. It aims to gauge a community's current status against the framework, but also acts as a means of beginning the long-term work to set up new ways of delivering service and coordinating local homelessness responses. The resource is set up as a workbook with pointed questions that are intended to prompt these strategic conversations to occur in your community.
The following characteristics of communities that are effective at ending homelessness can be useful to help you think through community capacity around ending youth homelessness, as opposed to taking on plan development. The list below is intended to help you think through elements of a youth plan based on CAEH's Community Self-Assessment. These can also help you think through community readiness locally to take on the youth plan work.
You may find the following self-assessment useful to gauge 'readiness' for collective impact by identifying which preconditions the group is well prepared for or will need further investment in.
- Current Situation Strong: These elements/processes are either fully in place or sufficient progress has been made in them so that they are operationally functional in the context of the initiative.
- Significant Investment Needed: The group does not currently have these elements/processes in place. There is an incomplete or unclear plan to accomplish this goal and/or significant time and resources will need to be allocated to either begin or complete this process.
- Some Investment Needed: While these elements/processes are not fully in place, significant thought and planning has gone into these elements. Time and resources have been allocated and clear progress is being made.
The first assessment highlights key elements supporting readiness to take on the plan development work, versus the second assessment focuses on implementing a plan to end youth homelessness. Together, these tools will give you a sense of the work ahead and may be useful to come back to as you continue this journey.
Table 8: Community Readiness for Collective Impact Work on Developing & Implementing a Plan to End Youth Homelessness
*Note that the COH is working to develop a national definition of "Functional Zero" that will help you think through the key elements needed and measures you may want to include in developing plan targets. Also look to examples of performance measures in the Developing Targets and Performance Indicators section.
So do you really need a plan?
After all that, how do you know that a youth plan is the right thing to do for your community? Alternatively, when does a plan NOT make sense?
Though there is no yes/no quiz to tell you a definitive answer, a Collective Impact Community Readiness Assessment (see Section 2) can inform your decision. The important point is that you are aiming to build a movement, not strictly a plan. You may also consider alternatives to a youth plan, as other communities have successfully done to move the agenda on ending youth homelessness forward.
- A plan for a plan. In St. John's, Newfoundland, Choices for Youth – a lead service delivery agency – worked with national experts to convene a roundtable on youth homelessness responses and developed a call to action to the provincial government asking for a strategy and resources aligned with best practices.
St. John's approach leveraged existing research in a relatively short timeframe (about one year) to create a sense of urgency, engage provincial stakeholders, propose an evidence-based direction and advance system reform. In this case, rather than developing a city-specific youth plan, Choices for Youth and its partners launched a document calling for a provincial plan, which laid out the essentials of what that provincial plan should also entail.
- A youth strategy within a plan to end homelessness. Another option is to develop a youth strategy within the context of a broader community plan to end homelessness. Edmonton's approach was to work with stakeholders to develop the broad directions of a youth-specific strategy that dovetailed the pre-existing plan to end homelessness, rather than create a parallel plan.
This approach allowed the community to focus on implementation fairly quickly, as it built on the infrastructure already developed by Homeward Trust on system planning and integration, information management and service design.
- Piloting while planning. Another option to consider is to begin implementation while developing the plan. In Alberta's case, when the 7 Cities began experimenting with Housing First, there were no formal plans to end homelessness in place. That did not stop communities from adapting innovative, evidence-based practices while working on the research and development of their longer-term strategies.
Of course, there is a risk involved as the new pilot initiative may not fit perfectly with the eventual plan priorities – yet the benefits of demonstrating success while developing a plan cannot be underestimated either. In many ways, Alberta's 7 Cities were successful in advancing the needs of enhanced provincial funding for Housing First because of the success of these early pilots and reinforced through the provincial commitment to end homelessness.
- A plan within a plan. Alberta has experienced success in addressing homelessness through the 10-Year Plan. Since its inception in 2009, more than 12,250 homeless Albertans have received housing and supports and approximately 73% remain successfully housed, but we can do more. The 10-Year Plan states that Albertans from specialized groups, including homeless youth, are dealing with particularly challenging issues and require targeted responses to be rehoused. Supporting Healthy and Successful Transitions to Adulthood: A Plan to Prevent and Reduce Youth Homelessness aligns and is integral to work being led through the 10-Year Plan. The Youth Plan represents the next step in the 10-Year Plan and is a targeted response to a specialized population.


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Post scriptum — that's Latin for P.S. You know, that handy set of initials you use to add something to a letter after you've already signed it. The words mean "written" (the scriptum part) and "after" (the post part), or something that is "written after." And no, don't even ask why the two words are in reverse order when translated from Latin to English!
Post scriptum — that's Latin for P.S. You know, that handy set of initials you use to add something to a letter after you've already signed it. The words mean "written" (the scriptum part) and "after" (the post part), or something that is "written after." And no, don't even ask why the two words are in reverse order when translated from Latin to English!
(A letter? Oh, it's an archaic form of communication. You put pen to paper and write a message in cursive. Then you put it in an envelope, address it, add a stamp and throw it into the abyss of the U.S. Postal Service, from which it emerges a few days later at the home of the intended recipient.)
You can use the P.S. for all sorts of reasons. Perhaps you forgot to include a thought, or events got updated before the letter was posted. Or sometimes you can use it to emphasize a tidbit you didn't want to get lost in body of the letter, such as, "P.S. — Did I tell you I won a two-week trip to Paris?"
Which brings me to why I even started with this. I've been thinking about what has happened since I wrote some of my past columns, and I decided now is a good time for some updates — via the P.S. format.
u Column: "It's time for all of us to get on with things," December 2012. My main point was to suggest moving on from the level of high emotion after the presidential election. I also mentioned that while I didn't vote for Mark Meadows, I would give him a chance, but it was my job to watch what he did.
P.S.: So, I've been watching. (1) He voted against the Violence Against Women Act, citing budgetary concerns. (Never mind that the funding was already there.) It seems he put a price tag on women being abused. (2) He voted against funding FEMA for relief for Hurricane Sandy victims. I guess we North Carolinians had better hope we don't get hit by some disaster. But should it happen, would he have the nerve to ask for federal aid? (3) He voted against increased funding for veterans' claims. Yes, those veterans of 10 years of war, some of whom served up to six or seven tours of duty. These are only a few of his votes that I think are against the best interests of his constituents and the country.
u Column: "Soul sisters ... separated by a century," March 2013.
I wrote about finding my "soul sister," Texana Hipp, who was born exactly 100 years to the day before me, and reflected on the different histories we experienced. At the end, I vowed to visit her grave on our mutual birthday and take flowers.
P.S.: I did indeed visit her grave with flowers, and I took pictures. I sent a photo to several folks who were kind enough to send me emails with nice words about the column.
u Column: "Folk wisdom and the NC Legislature," April 2013. I applied some simple universal truths, via common sayings and quotes, to the actions of the N.C. General Assembly — and I wasn't at all happy about what was going on in Raleigh.
P.S.: I'm still not happy. The legislature has continued its assault on the most vulnerable among us. In an example of "helping the rich get richer and the poor get poorer," it is revamping the tax code. There are proposals to cut individual and corporate tax rates while starting to tax food and some essential services.
This is about as regressive as it gets. The poor spend a much larger percentage of their income on food. This will hurt the poor big time, while the wealthiest will get tax cuts.
The proposed budget also cut millions from state public education. The result locally is a loss to Henderson County of 77 elementary school teachers' aides (TAs).
The bill's proponents said the schools could move money from other programs to fund the TA positions if they wanted, forcing school officials to "rob Peter to pay Paul."
In a reversal of the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," the legislature seems to be operating on, "If it don't need fixin', let's go ahead and break it."
There's a proposed bill to repeal laws banning smoking on publicly funded college campuses. These laws have been in place for years and are working as intended. Smokers can indulge in designated areas, and the rest of us don't have to put up with their secondhand smoke. Why the heck would lawmakers want to go backward?
u Column: "It's not your dad's Main Street anymore," June 2013.
I talked about how every version of Main Street is dear to the generation that grew up with it. Part of the discussion was about the seemingly endless construction and its impact on downtown.
P.S.: The very rainy weather means the completion date keeps moving, but we're promised it will be done by the Apple Festival. Keep your fingers crossed! Meanwhile, there is water in the new fountain, the hanging baskets are beautiful, and there is a whole new collection of bears to discover (my personal favorite is Mr. Spock). So come on down!
Final P.S. I want to thank all the folks who have written to me about my columns. Each message makes my day.


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Heart Awareness Month Brings Issue to the Latino Community
The month of February has become synonymous with the color red.
And while it has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, it has everything to do with issues of the heart.
Since 1963, the U.S. has dedicated February to raising awareness about heart disease.
"Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in men and women in the U.S." Dr. Kimberly Parks of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard School of Medicine told Fox News Latino. "In many cases, heart failure is the end result in all types of heart disease."
Since obesity and diabetes is prevalent among Latinos, the risk of heart disease becoming fatal among this group is higher than others, experts say.
And since Hispanic women, in particular, have one of the highest obesity rates of any group in the country, there is also a strong incentive to increase awareness about the disease among Latinas, experts say.
"Heart attacks kill five times more women than breast cancer," Dr. Juan Rivera, a cardiologist from Miami, told to Fox News Latino.
He said it's a particular problem among Latinas because "women don't tend to recognize their symptoms as being a heart attack."
To bring more attention to this issue, Rivera has teamed up with the American Heart Associations' Heart Truth campaign. He said what they are trying to do is encourage Latinos to share their experiences and encourage their loved ones to live a healthy lifestyle.
Rivera describes the lifestyle choices that can create a "time bomb" of risk factors for heart disease.
Having high cholesterol, along with the sedentary lifestyle common in the Latino community, is contributing to the disease's growing prominence.
Stressing the importance of a healthy lifestyle, Parks said the community must get involved in developing better habits.
"Any time support is given," Parks said, "it's a positive thing."


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College is supposed to help young people prepare for the future. But as headlines warn that automation and technology may change—or end—work as we know it, parents, students, and universities are grappling with a new question: How do you educate a new generation for a world we can't even imagine?
A recent Pew Research Center survey of 1,408 technology and education professionals suggested that the most valuable skills in the future will be those that machines can't yet easily replicate, like creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, adaptability and collaboration. In short, people need to learn how to learn , because the only hedge against a fast-changing world is the ability to think, adapt and collaborate well.
But many American college students may not be learning them at all. In the 2011 book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses , Richard Arum and Jarip Roksa chronicled how few American students really improved cognitively–and learned to learn–during their undergraduate education. Few bachelor's programs require sufficient amounts of the reading, writing, and discourse needed to develop critical thinking skills. In fact, forty percent of American undergraduates now major in business and management-related subjects, reading mainly textbooks and short articles, and rarely writing a paper longer than three pages. Further, the social bonds and skills formed in college today often center on extracurriculars that have little connection to cognitive development and collaborative problem-solving.
But perhaps instead of reinventing higher education, we can give students what they need for the future by returning to the roots of liberal arts. Consider
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, America's third-oldest institution of higher education, founded in 1696. With fewer than 700 students between two campuses in Annapolis and Santa Fe, St. John's is a bit under the radar. But it's emerged as one of the most distinctive colleges in the country by maintaining a strict focus on the classics of the Western canon.
Many fine schools in the US organize classes and curriculum around Western classics, and St. John's two campuses look much like hundreds of small colleges across America. So what makes St. John's unique? First, as David Brooks of the
New York Times
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, the college has the "courage to be distinct" amid a marketplace of more than 5,000 colleges and universities in the US. A big part of that distinction is due to a strict adherence to its own curated curriculum and teaching methods, know simply as "the Program" implemented back in 1937.
He had just begun exploring this rich vein of character-driven songwriting when the band's fifth official LP Something Else came out in 1967. The liner notes of the U.S.-only Kinkdom (1965) imagined the Kinks as "national heroes" of a land of mods, where there are no "waltzes, acne, grinds, anemia, eggplant, curfews, alarm clocks, violins, loneliness, diets, make-up exams, squares, callouses, [or] losers," but within a year, Ray had begun building a lyrical world that encompassed all those things. The band's previous album, 1966's Face to Face, was the turning point, when Ray decided to make music entirely in his own image rather than for an imagined audience of mods.
The story is that Ray began writing the songs when he was coming out from under a nervous breakdown, presumably brought on by too much high life. On Face to Face , they include songs in the voice of a toff ("Dandy"), and more significantly, a ruined toff (the trio of "House in the Country," "Most Exclusive Residence for Sale," and "Sunny Afternoon"). The theme of failure shades the record, from the downmarket protests "Party Line" to the oceanically sad "Too Much on My Mind" to the elegiac "I'll Remember." Musically, Face to Face still hews very much to rock'n'roll, although the old sounds of music hall are beginning to creep in. Something Else , by contrast, is deeply and thoroughly colored by the musical past.
In 1960s Britain,
music hall
was the sound of the grandparents' generation, but it was still a living thing. Your mods would have seen relics of the scene sharing stages with the forebears of beat music Cliff Richard and the Shadows. Music hall is not a style or a genre as much as it is an enormous circus tent, which takes in the demonically earworming sing-songs of the 1890s, the ragtime that started coming in around 1910, the various jazz forms that arrived after the Great War, children's songs, saloon-bar ballads, patriotic anthems, and the often dark and even noir lounge-crooner styles that prevailed during the 1930s. Most significant beat combos had their stab at the form at some point, including
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, and much, much more). Music hall was not only redolent of grandparents, and memories of stacked bills seen at the Kursaal in the late '40s; it also suited the thrift-shop look that mods started sporting when they remade themselves as hippies, from top hats to ballgowns to Color Block Air Cushion Casual Shoes Black Blue 42 cheap sale deals buy cheap factory outlet fast delivery cheap price Crfnuks
Although Something Else is colored by music hall and its historical coevals, its explicit musical references are few: the galloping, Cossack-dance "David Watts"; the closing-time singalong "Harry Rag"; the oleaginous "End of the Season," on which Ray sometimes sounds as if he's singing through a megaphone. Nothing on the record is as proudly and emphatically nostalgic as the next single the band produced, "Autumn Almanac," let alone the next album, The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society . And even though this was a time when the musical vocabulary was expanding dramatically and rock'n'roll had receded to become merely one of a vast selection of stylistic possibilities, the word that popped up in almost every contemporaneous review of Something Else was "nostalgia."
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One of the first imaging tests you may have to diagnose your condition is an X-ray. This can image dense tissues in the body and is a way to rule out pneumonia as a possible diagnosis. Your doctor or radiologist can see if you have fluid in the lungs that may be a result of this infection. Other types of imaging techniques that an oncologist may use to see if you have cancerous tumors characteristic of mesothelioma include CT and PET scans and MRIs.
A CT scan images the inside of the body using electromagnetic energy. A doctor can see most tumors using this type of scan. A similar type of image can be produced with an MRI, or a magnetic resonance image. This uses magnets and electromagnetic energy to create a picture of your internal structures. A PET scan is an imaging technique that detects areas of the body with high metabolic activity, often characteristic of cancerous cells. A combination of two or more imaging tests are often used to be sure of tumor locations.
For most patients the last diagnostic step is a biopsy. The imaging techniques show an oncologist where the cancerous tissues, cancer cells, and tumors are. Those areas can then be sampled so that the tissue or fluid from a tumor can be tested to confirm that it is in fact cancerous, or malignant as opposed to benign. There are several ways in which a biopsy can be done:
Currently, a combination of imaging and biopsies is the best and most accurate way to diagnose mesothelioma. Blood tests can be done as well, but these are not considered conclusive. For example, someone with mesothelioma is likely to have higher levels of certain proteins in the blood called osteopontin and soluble mesothelin-related peptides. However, there could be other explanations for elevated levels.
The latest research into diagnosing mesothelioma has focused on blood tests that could give a patient a better, earlier diagnosis. One such test, called the SOMAmer test, can detect over 1,000 different proteins in the blood. In trials with this test doctors were able to diagnose 90 percent of patients known to have mesothelioma and could rule the disease out in 95 percent of people known not to have it. In other words, this test has big potential to diagnose patients accurately and earlier than ever before.
Once you have a diagnosis of mesothelioma your doctor will want to
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when I get another playstation, it'll be the PS4
Same here, might be awhile since they are releasing another even slimmer ps3
Jump to content
Posted July 07, 2012 - 06:57 AM
when I get another playstation, it'll be the PS4
Posted July 07, 2012 - 09:00 AM
Same here, might be awhile since they are releasing another even slimmer ps3
Posted July 08, 2012 - 01:07 PM
I'd get a new PS3 pretty much just to have a 2nd blu-ray player , and to play on of course, but mostly for movies though. Depending on pricing and the way it look i might get this slimmer one though.
I heard late 2013 is when both Microsoft and Sony plan on launching their next consoles.
Posted July 08, 2012 - 05:16 PM
games are getting bigger and bigger in file size, so it would be stupid of microsoft to not switch formats
That's what I heard to which makes it weird that another super slim PS3 just passed through FCC filing unless the PS4 is going to be delayed one more year and drop 2014. Heard the new xbox will finally have bluray as well though
Posted July 08, 2012 - 05:42 PM
games are getting bigger and bigger in file size, so it would be stupid of microsoft to not switch formats
but i wouldnt be surprised if the new system comes out around 2014, when the ps3 first came out, they wanted it to last around 10 years before they released the next one
Posted July 08, 2012 - 05:51 PM
Yea even too big for dual layer DVD that Xbox uses. They were talking about going with download content only but not everyone would go for that
Posted July 08, 2012 - 08:55 PM
Posted July 12, 2012 - 02:07 PM
Pau Gasol is GONE
Posted July 14, 2012 - 07:15 AM
Pau Gasol is GONE
Posted July 14, 2012 - 11:20 AM
Posted July 14, 2012 - 11:42 AM
Posted July 14, 2012 - 12:01 PM
It's probably just due to the heat. You have an AC? If not that might be it. It has been [expletive]ing hot these past couple days.
Posted July 14, 2012 - 12:45 PM
Yes its due to the heat
That's what I was thinking too. Because it virtually started doing it at the start of this mini heat wave.
I don't have an AC tho. Might get one of those PS3 fans off amazon today and see if that helps.
Another quick one. Lets say my PS3 just stops working. Like you get the YLOD or whatever. All the stuff on the hardrive could just be transfered over to a new PS3 right?
I'm just preparing for the worst here
Posted July 14, 2012 - 01:13 PM
Yes its due to the heat
make sure its in a ventilated area, or the heat may cause the system to get YLOD
also, dust is another killer because it clogs the air vents making ventilation throughout the system hard aswell
whenever the system starts getting louder than normal, move it from its current position to where it can breathe better, because if you play with it overheated too long, eventually it will YLOD, or the system simply will stop working
ive had two ps3's die, im currently on my 3rd one.
i bough my first one dec 2006, and it died from YLOD in 2008..so i sent that one in to sony, and got a replacement one, which lasted until this year..that one didnt die from YLOD tho, that one just froze alot making gameplay impossible
since you have a japanese ps3 though, if your ps3 does fail, idk if sony will accept that ps3 since its not an american unit, so you would have to make sure to ask them if/when your ps3 dies and you want to get it "repaired" because when you send your ps3 in for "repairs," they dont repair your specific unit, and give it back, they simply just ship you a refurb unit, so since you have a white ps3 from japan, i imagine they wouldnt be able to do that type of swap since american ps3's arent white (its a stupid policy) so make sure to check if your ps3 does die
so if i were you, i would get a can of pressurized air, and spray that thing to get the dust out, because there definitely is dust in there (i took apart my previous ps3 before i shipped it to sony, and it was dusty as hell on the inside) so you want to do that to prevent it from breaking
also, dont even play another game until you get a flash drive and backup all your game saves, because once you get YLOD, you cant even startup the ps3 on to do any transfers, its just dead..luckily for me, the last time my ps3 died, it wasnt because of YLOD, so it still was able to turn on, so i could back my saves up, so you should do that before anything bad happens
also, dont get those external cooling fans tho, because they cause more harm than good
Posted July 14, 2012 - 01:37 PM
Posted July 14, 2012 - 08:01 PM
there is an option to do a full back up under the "settings" category, but ive never done that
Thanks. Very informative post. I'm getting me a flash drive and a can of pressurized air today and taking care of it. Gonna also move it where it can be more ventilated.
When you back everything up on an external source, does EVERYTHING get backed up? I mean stuff besides saves and trophies, like DLC and online stuff?
Also i'm assuming you need to take it apart to get it cleaned out right?
Posted July 14, 2012 - 11:13 PM
Edited by ace™, July 14, 2012 - 11:19 PM.
Posted July 15, 2012 - 12:26 AM
Edited by pkflyers, July 15, 2012 - 12:33 AM.
Posted July 15, 2012 - 01:40 AM
Posted July 15, 2012 - 05:08 AM
Edited by Windu, July 15, 2012 - 05:09 AM.
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My LO is now 13 weeks old and throughout BF (pumping and bottle feeding), I've had an over abundance of milk... up until about 1 month ago. During that time, I was producing 7-8 oz each session. I felt like it started to dwindle after I took some Advil for a migraine. From that day on, I've been struggling to produce 2-3 oz!
The one thing I did change, was to stop pumping at night (so I pump before going to bed and once I wake up). This was to train for when I go back to work and can get some sleep! I still pump every 3-4 hours for 15 mins each during the day, but it's very disheartening to see 2 oz from these sessions!
My diet hasn't changed and I continue to drink tons of water... what's going on?!? My period has also come back which is a real bummer. It also started last month and came twice . Sadly, Aunt Flow is here AGAIN as of yesterday.
I would like to know if this has happened to anyone when your started menstruating and what can I do to up my milk supply again? Will my milk production go back up once my body figures out what it wants to do?
THANK YOU in advance!


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Weeks of Downtime
Deep-water oil exploration involves extending steel tubes from floating rigs more than a mile to the seafloor and inserting a drill bit through the tube to carve a hole in the Earth. Five-story stacks of valves and pressure-control gear known as blowout preventers, or BOPs, are planted atop the well to snuff out unpredictable surges of gas and crude that pose a danger to rig crews on the surface.
It was just such a surge that exploded onto the deck of Transocean's Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010, killing 11 workers, injuring 17 and triggering an 87-day oil spill that fouled thousands of square miles and shut much of the Gulf to fishing and exploration for months. The $365 million rig that sank during the disaster still rests on the seafloor.
"We expect rig downtime to be 2-3 weeks" including time to bring equipment up, replace the bolts and return to the seafloor, Gregory Lewis, a New York-based analyst for Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients yesterday. While the government order affects only drilling in the U.S. Gulf, "discussions with one driller lead us to believe it will be up to each operator whether to pull the BOP and replace the bolt outside the U.S. Gulf," he wrote.
Everyone 'Aware'
Oil production from wells in federal waters of the Gulf accounted for 20 percent of total U.S. crude output as of the end of November, according to the Energy Information Administration. The region produced about 7 percent of the nation's gas.
The defective bolts are part of a GE product known as an H-4 Connector, an 18.75-inch (47.62 centimeters) clamp that attaches blowout preventers to the well below it and to the pipes that lead to the rig on the surface.
GE rose 0.2 percent to $22.48 at the close in New York. Transocean Ltd., the world's largest offshore rig operator, fell 0.5 percent to $56.23. Transocean said it doesn't expect the issue to have "significant impact" on its business.
Transocean has the greatest exposure, with 55 of its rigs around the world outfitted with GE's connectors, including a dozen in the Gulf of Mexico, Luke Lemoine and Joseph Gibney, analysts at Capital One Southcoast in New Orleans, wrote today in a note to investors.
400 Tons
The Deepwater Horizon catastrophe prompted U.S. regulators to increase scrutiny and testing of subsea equipment and call for upgrades. BOPs cost about $45 million and weigh as much as 400 tons. Some rig operators have begun using multiple BOPs at a drilling site to speed the inspection process and bolster safety.
Statoil ASA delayed the plugging and abandonment of its Krakatoa well in the Gulf by one week to allow new bolts to be installed, Ola Morten Aanestad, a company spokesman, said in a phone interview yesterday. Transocean owned the rig in use at the site.
Aanestad declined to say if there was any added cost to Statoil due to the delay. In general, downtime because of an issue that's a rig owner's responsibility, such as one related to a blowout preventer, would mean that an operator isn't required to pay the day rate, he said.
Shell is assessing whether the bolt corrosion matter is applicable to two of its rigs in the Gulf and found it doesn't apply to a third rig, Kelly Op De Weegh, a spokeswoman for The Hague-based company, said yesterday in an e-mail.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


text:
'Shirley Valentine' review: Linda May shines
'Marriage is like the Middle East," Shirley Bradshaw says. "There's no solution." Shirley is speaking to Wall -- her kitchen wall, which she addresses by name, as there is no one else to listen. Certainly not her husband, Joe, even when he's home. Fortunately for us, Wall is that invisible theater space between audience and performer. During some shows, I've fervently wished the wall was opaque.
This is not one of those shows.
Broad Hollow's production of "Shirley Valentine" at BayWay Arts Center is remarkable in several respects. First, Willy Russell wrote beautiful, believable lines like the one quoted above. They're sprinkled throughout the monologue that has endeared Shirley to audiences since 1986 and inspired the 1989 film of the same name.
Second, Linda May in the title role -- the only role -- surpasses her own high standards. I've long admired May's onstage craftsmanship and praised her performances. I know she's acting as she delivers the lines she has impressively memorized and internalized, but at the same time, she makes us forget she's an actress. She becomes Shirley Valentine.
Third, this is the final show directed for BroadHollow by Patricia Zaback, who founded the company 40 years ago and who announced her retirement last week. May has rehearsed with her since October, mostly at the Zabacks' Hauppauge home, where husband Jerry often cooked dinner. There's a touch of home in this "Shirley Valentine" that goes beyond the actual "cooker" -- the stove on which Shirley prepares "chips and eggs." There's a home of the heart that Shirley carries with her, even as she flees her unfulfilled housewife life in Liverpool for a fortnight holiday in Greece.
For those unfamiliar with Shirley's story, Valentine is her maiden name. She wonders what ever became of that person, now subsumed by Shirley Bradshaw, wife and mother of two grown children.
Bob Butterley's dual set captures her kitchen-prison and, with a postcard backdrop, suggests her exotic escape, accented by Erick Creegan's cheerful lighting. (Despite her regrets, Shirley is never pessimistic.) Jason Allyn's costume designs adhere to middlebrow, middle-age tastes, while dialect coach Lesley Wade directs May in an accessibly generic Brit direction.
Friends of Shirley, whom we only hear about, describe her as brave, which also applies to this moving portrait. In the program, May pays tribute to her mother, who died during rehearsals.
Her name was Shirley.
WHEN | WHERE Friday and Saturday nights at 8, Sunday at 2:30 p.m., through Jan. 20, BroadHollow's BayWay Arts Center, 265 E. Main St., East Islip
INFO $25 (discounts for advance purchases), broadhollow.org, 631-581-2700