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1. Appellate courts have only such appellate jurisdiction as provided by law.
2. In a proceeding under Chapter 59 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, an appeal may be taken from any of the orders, judgments, decrees, or decisions specifically listed in K.S.A. 59-2401, including any final order, decision, or judgment in any probate proceeding. An order for blood testing of a putative father which could result in the displacement of a legally presumed father is a final order, subject to appeal.
3. A court is not bound by a party's erroneous stipulation or admission regarding a question of law.
4. In the Kansas Parentage Act, K.S.A. 38-1114(a) sets forth circumstances where a man is presumed to be the father of a child, such as where the man has a duty to support the child under an order of support. However, in a proceeding to invalidate an adoption, the adoptive father is not legally presumed to be the adopted child's biological father.
5. Pursuant to the holding in In re Marriage of Ross, 245 Kan. 591, 783 P.2d 331 (1989), the district court must consider the best interests of the child, including the child's physical, mental, and emotional needs, prior to ordering a blood test to determine whether the presumed father is also the biological father. However, such a best-interests-of-the-child determination is not a condition precedent to the district court ordering a blood test for a man claiming to be a child's biological father where no legally presumed father exists, i.e., where there is no possibility of shifting paternity from a presumed father to a biological father.
Appeal from Sedgwick District Court; MICHAEL CORRIGAN, judge. Opinion filed December 22, 2006. Affirmed and remanded.
Rachael K. Pirner and Paula D. Langworthy, of Triplett, Woolf & Garretson, LLC, of Wichita, for appellants.
William A. Vickery, of Wichita, for appellee.
Before PIERRON, P.J., JOHNSON, J., and BUKATY, S.J.
JOHNSON, J.: This is an interim appeal in an action brought by M.P., the alleged natural father of A.A.T., to set aside A.A.T.'s adoption based on the denial of his right to notice and an opportunity to be heard in the adoption proceedings. The adoptive parents appeal the district court's ruling that a best interests of the child hearing, pursuant to the holding in In re Marriage of Ross, 245 Kan 591, 601, 783 P.2d 331 (1989), was not a prerequisite to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing to determine whether M.P. is, in fact, the biological father of A.A.T. We affirm the district court's order for DNA testing, sans further hearing, and remand for a resumption of the proceedings.
The unfortunate plight of the parties involved in this action resulted from the natural mother's having blatantly lied to virtually everyone connected with this proceeding. Unfortunately, the mother's prevarication and perjury were not discovered until 4 months after the challenged adoption decree was final.
Mother became pregnant while living in New York, at a time during which she claims to have been having sex exclusively with M.P. Mother informed M.P. in October 2003 that she was pregnant. She returned to Kansas just before Thanksgiving, ostensibly to see her family. M.P. was unaware that Mother had purchased a one-way ticket. Mother did not return to New York, albeit she continued to tell M.P. that she intended to return.
In January, Mother falsely told M.P. that she had aborted the pregnancy. She later justified her lie by saying that she had decided to place the baby for adoption and she did not think that M.P. would consent to an adoption.
A.A.T. was born June 24, 2004. The adoptive parents were given temporary custody and took A.A.T. from the hospital. Mother told her mother, family, and friends that her child had died shortly after birth.
The adoption petition was filed a week later. In conjunction with that proceeding, Mother executed an affidavit which contained a false name for the putative father and which alleged that the father had been unwilling to assist during the pregnancy and that Mother had no way to contact the father. Subsequently, telephone records would reveal that Mother and M.P. had numerous contacts between November 2003 and December 2004.
A guardian ad litem (GAL) was appointed to represent the putative father in the adoption proceedings. After interviewing the Mother, the GAL filed an affidavit with the court, relating Mother's falsehoods, including the putative father's incorrect surname and a false address in New York. The report also inaccurately alleged that Mother had not contacted the putative father since her second month of pregnancy, but that the father was aware of her intent to place the baby for adoption.
Notice was given by publication to the incorrectly named putative father in the incorrect county of residence. Not surprisingly, no biological father appeared in the adoption proceeding. The adoption was finalized on August 24, 2004.
However, Mother's involvement was not complete. In a telephone conversation on December 24, 2004, Mother told M.P. that she had lied about the abortion and that the child had been placed for adoption. M.P. asserts that this was his first knowledge of the child.
M.P. then contacted Kansas counsel, who filed a petition to set aside the adoption on February 2, 2005. The adoptive parents answered and moved to dismiss. At a March 23, 2005, hearing, the district court ordered the matter to proceed and suggested that testing should be done to determine whether M.P. was the biological father, i.e., had standing to challenge the adoption. The attorneys present agreed that the adoptive parents were entitled to a Ross hearing. A GAL was appointed for A.A.T.
Before a Ross hearing could be held, M.P. submitted a memorandum arguing that a Ross hearing was not applicable to the facts of this case. The district court heard argument on that issue on September 13, 2005, and allowed both parties and the GAL to file briefs and proposed findings. Ultimately the court found that the best interests of the child test set out in Ross was not applicable to this factual situation and ordered that DNA testing be done without a Ross hearing. The adoptive parents appealed that ruling.
Prior to appellate briefing, M.P. moved for dismissal on the basis that we lacked jurisdiction to hear the interlocutory appeal. Our motions panel ordered as follows:
"K.S.A. 59-2401(a) lists 24 different orders that may be appealed in proceedings under chapter 59, including a 'final order, decision or judgment in any probate proceeding.' The district court order of November 30, 2005, [ordering DNA testing] appears to be a 'final order' in a probate proceeding. It further appears that failing to allow an immediate appeal could prolong unnecessarily the determination of rights in a time-sensitive proceeding. The motion is denied on present showing, but the parties are directed to address the issue of appellate jurisdiction in their briefs to the panel that will consider and decide the appeal."
In his brief, M.P. contends that the denial of a Ross hearing is not a final order, as contemplated by K.S.A. 59-2401(a)(24). The adoptive parents contend that the district court's order was final with respect to the issue of whether a Ross hearing was required, which is all that is necessary to appeal under the probate code.
Appellate courts have only such appellate jurisdiction as is provided by law. Jurisdiction to entertain an appeal is conferred by statute pursuant to Article 3, § 3 of the Kansas Constitution, and it is the appellate court's duty to dismiss an appeal when the record discloses a lack of jurisdiction. State v. Verge, 272 Kan. 501, 521, 34 P.3d 449 (2001). Whether jurisdiction exists is a question of law over which this court's scope of review is unlimited. Mid-Continent Specialists, Inc. v. Capital Homes, 279 Kan. 178, 185, 106 P.3d 483 (2005).
In a Chapter 60 action, "the appellate jurisdiction of the court of appeals may be invoked by appeal as a matter of right from: . . . [a] final decision in any action." K.S.A. 60-2102(a)(4). In that context, a final decision is "'one which finally decides and disposes of the entire merits of the controversy and reserves no further questions or directions for the future or further action of the court.'" Plains Petroleum Co. v. First Nat'l Bank of Lamar, 274 Kan. 74, 82, 49 P.3d 432 (2002) (quoting State ex rel. Board of Healing Arts v. Beyrle, 262 Kan. 507, Syl. ¶ 2, 941 P.2d 371 [1997]).
In contrast, Chapter 59 provides more liberal appeal rights. K.S.A. 59-2401(a) contains 24 subsections, the first 23 of which describe specific appealable orders which would arguably be interlocutory under the Chapter 60 rule. For example, K.S.A. 59-2401(a)(3) specifically provides that an appeal may be taken from "[a]n order setting apart or refusing to set apart a homestead or other property, or making or refusing to make an allowance of exempt property to the spouse and minor children"; subsection (a)(13) allows an appeal from "[a]n order directing or refusing to direct an allowance for the expenses of administration"; and subsection (a)(16) allows an appeal from "[a]n order adjudging a person in contempt." The section concludes with subsection (a)(24) which provides for an appeal of a "final order, decision or judgment in any probate proceeding."
The adoptive parents urge us to find that the tenor of all of the subsections of K.S.A. 59-2401(a) suggest that subsection (a)(24) is intended to allow an appeal when the isolated issue before the district court is finally decided, even though there remain other issues to be decided before the entire merits of the probate proceeding are finally determined. That argument prompts the query as to why the legislature bothered to list 23 specific interlocutory issues which can be appealed, if subsection (a)(24) means that an appeal may be taken from any finally decided issue. One might find it more logical to construe the Chapter 59 provision's reference to "final order, decision or judgment" to mean the same as a Chapter 60 "final decision." Thus, in Chapter 59, one can appeal a case after it has been finally decided, just as with a Chapter 60 proceeding, but, in addition, one can bring an interim appeal from the 23 specifically designated orders.
However, we are reluctant to dismiss this appeal for a couple of reasons. First, this court has already ruled that the district court's order is appealable. That ruling came at a time when piecemeal appeals could have been avoided without undue delay. At this point, the rationale behind requiring finality does not exist. The motion panel's goal of not prolonging a time-sensitive proceeding would be defeated by a dismissal at this point.
Secondly, Ross suggested that the issue of paternity determination is to be treated differently. Ross involved a Chapter 60 proceeding with its stricter finality requirement. Nevertheless, the court observed that once a paternity test is conducted, the results cannot be undone, i.e., the bell cannot be unrung. The opinion certainly intimates that the Supreme Court would hear an interim appeal on that issue.
M.P. argues that such a rationale is inapplicable here because the facts of this case make Ross irrelevant. However, that is the very issue presented in this appeal, i.e., whether Ross does apply to these facts. Therefore, we will not overrule the previous ruling of this court and will retain jurisdiction to consider the merits.
The adoptive parents complain that the district court ignored a stipulation by the parties that the facts and circumstances of this case required a Ross hearing to be held prior to testing. The parties agree that we have unlimited review on this issue. See Babe Houser Motor Co. v. Tetreault, 270 Kan. 502, 506, 14 P.3d 1149 (2000) (review of conclusions of law is unlimited).
Appellants' first impediment is that the stipulation issue was not preserved on the record. See Board of Lincoln County Comm'rs v. Nielander, 275 Kan. 257, 268, 62 P.3d 247 (2003) (issues not presented to district court cannot be raised on appeal). Granted, there are exceptions to this rule. However, appellants do not argue the applicability of a recognized exception. See Smith v. Yell Bell Taxi, Inc., 276 Kan. 305, 311, 75 P.3d 1222 (2003) (delineating the three recognized exceptions). Instead, current counsel for the adoptive parents describes how circumstances led her to be unsure of the existence of the stipulation made by prior counsel until the appellate transcript was prepared. Such an argument is unavailing. If an attorney enters a case midstream, he or she has the responsibility to ascertain what has previously transpired and to preserve any issue which may have been previously established.
Nevertheless, the issue is totally devoid of merit. A court is not bound by erroneous stipulations or admissions regarding questions of law. Bright v. LSI Corp., 254 Kan. 853, 859, 869 P.2d 686 (1994). Whether a Ross hearing was required in this case is obviously a question of law. Quite simply, M.P.'s counsel could not stipulate to the applicability of Ross, any more than a prosecutor could stipulate that Miranda applied to a voluntary encounter between police and a citizen.
In their reply brief, the adoptive parents attempt to create a distinction without a difference. Specifically, they argue: "The parties stipulated and agreed upon questioning by the Trial Court 'that the facts and circumstances of this case demand a Ross hearing' [citation omitted], not that a Ross hearing was applicable to the facts and circumstances of this case. Therein lies the difference." Moreover, to the extent the adoptive parents contend that the parties stipulated to the presence of whatever facts and circumstances were necessary to invoke Ross, such a contention is negated by the district court's findings of undisputed facts. In short, appellants cannot transform a purported stipulation on a question of law into a factual stipulation.
The heart of this dispute is whether the district court was required to conduct a hearing at which it would decide whether it was in the best interests of A.A.T. for DNA testing to be conducted for the purpose of determining whether M.P. was the biological father of A.A.T. The issue involves the interpretation of statutory provisions and the holding in Ross, i.e., legal questions subject to unlimited review. See Smith v. Printup, 262 Kan. 587, 604, 938 P.2d 1261 (1997) (appellate court free to substitute its judgment for that of the district court and can draw its own conclusion on legal questions presented).
Statutorily, we start with the legislative directive that "[w]hen a father or alleged father appears and asserts parental rights [in an adoption proceeding], the court shall determine parentage, if necessary pursuant to the Kansas parentage act." (Emphasis added.) K.S.A. 59-2136(h). The Kansas Parentage Act is contained in K.S.A. 38-1110 through 38-1132. K.S.A. 38-1114(a) sets forth circumstances where a man is presumed to be the father of a child. Those circumstances include the birth or conception of the child while the man is married to the child's mother and also the situation where "[t]he man has a duty to support the child under an order of support regardless of whether the man has ever been married to the child's mother." K.S.A. 38-1114(a)(1) and (6). K.S.A. 38-1118 provides for the ordering of blood tests whenever the paternity of a child is in issue.
The application of those statutes, at least in the situation involving the K.S.A. 38-1114(a)(1) presumption, has been impacted by the Ross decision. Therefore, we pause to review the facts of that case.
Sylvia Ross gave birth to a child, R.A.R., while married to Robert. Subsequently, Sylvia sued Robert for divorce, alleging that he was R.A.R.'s father. The divorce was granted and eventually Sylvia and Robert were awarded joint custody of R.A.R. Three years later, Sylvia filed a petition alleging that a man named Charles was actually R.A.R.'s biological father. A GAL was appointed, who then petitioned the court to allow blood testing to determine whether Robert or Charles was R.A.R.'s biological father. Charles filed a motion to dismiss the paternity action for failure of the court to determine the best interests of the child. Charles' motion to dismiss was denied, and the GAL's motion for blood testing was granted. The district court determined that it was in the best interests of the child to know the identity of his biological father. The tests revealed that Charles was the biological father. Over the objection of both Robert and Charles, the blood test results were admitted into evidence.
The Kansas Supreme Court found that the district court had abused its discretion, opining that "[t]he mere filing of a paternity action does not automatically imply that the action is in the child's best interests," but rather "[a] court must reach this conclusion independently based on the facts in the record." Ross, 245 Kan. at 602. En route to its decision, our Supreme Court held:
"When a marital relationship has been terminated, children of the marriage need for the court to provide stability in there lives, to acknowledge that their perception of time is different from that of an adult, and to take into consideration their past relationship with their parents. Prior to ordering a blood test to determine whether the presumed parent is the biological parent, the district court must consider the best interests of the child, including physical, mental, and emotional needs. The shifting of paternity from the presumed father to the biological father could easily be detrimental to the emotional and physical well-being of any child. Although someone may suffer, it should never be the child, who is totally innocent and who has no control over or conception of the environment into which he or she has been placed. [Citation omitted.]" (Emphasis added.) Ross, 245 Kan. at 602.
Ross altered the statutory scheme for ordering paternity blood testing where a married couple has a baby, but one of the presumed parents later contests the child's parentage. In that scenario, the district court must first conduct a Ross hearing on the best interests of the child. See, e.g., In re Marriage of Phillips, 274 Kan 1049, 1057-58, 58 P.3d 680 (2002); Jensen v. Runft, 252 Kan. 76, 78, 843 P.2d 191 (1992); In re D.B.S., 20 Kan. App. 2d 438, 888 P.2d 875, aff'd 258 Kan. 396, 903 P.2d 1345 (1995).
Obviously, this case is factually distinguishable from Ross. We are not dealing with a terminated marriage, but rather with an adoption action in which the adoptive father has never claimed or been statutorily presumed to be the biological father of A.A.T. The blood tests were ordered to determine whether M.P. has standing to challenge the adoption, not for the purpose of shifting paternity from a presumed father to a biological father. An overarching theme in Ross was "our longstanding public policy that a child born during a marriage should not be bastardized." Ross, 245 Kan. at 601. That public policy has no bearing on our current scenario.
The adoptive parents argue for an expanded interpretation of Ross. They attempt to fit within the statutory framework by claiming that the adoptive father is a presumed father under K.S.A. 38-1114(a)(6). That subsection provides that a man is presumed to be the father of a child if he "has a duty to support the child under an order of support regardless of whether the man has ever been married to the child's mother." The adoptive parents point to K.S.A. 59-2118(b), which provides that "[t]he adoptive parent shall be entitled to exercise all the rights of a birth parent and be subject to the liabilities of that relationship." A birth parent has a legal duty to support his or her children. Therefore, the appellants argue, the adoption decree is a court order which established a duty to support A.A.T. They claim that the adoption decree remains valid at this time, which makes the adoptive father a presumed father of A.A.T., who cannot be displaced by the biological father via blood testing without a determination that it is in the child's best interests. While creative, the argument is flawed and circuitous.
First, the adoptive parents would have us disregard the explicit language of 38-1114(a)(6) that refers to the duty of support being "under an order of support." That language connotes something more than a general duty of support. Otherwise, the words are superfluous and the provision could have simply read, "has a duty to support the child." The provision comports with the overarching purpose of the entire presumption provision if we read the language to mean that a presumption arises when a court has entered a child support order against a man, regardless of whether the man was ever married to the child's mother. By necessity, a man subject to a child support order has already been judicially determined to be the child's father. In that vein, we believe the legislative intent of K.S.A. 38-1114(a) is to create a list of circumstances where a man will be presumed to be a child's biological father. As such, the provision is unavailing to the adoptive father simply by virtue of a general duty to support arising from the adoption decree.
Next, the appellants must rely on the validity of the adoption decree to give the adoptive father his claimed presumption. They contend that the adoption remains valid at this time. However, M.P.'s claim is that the adoption is void as to him. If that action is successful, the adoption will be deemed a nullity and invalid ab initio. See, e.g., Sramek v. Sramek, 17 Kan. App. 2d 573, Syl. ¶ 2, 840 P.2d 553 (1992), rev. denied 252 Kan. 1093 (1993) ("void judgment is an absolute nullity"). Claiming that M.P. should not be able to obtain blood testing to establish his right to challenge the validity of the adoption because the potentially void adoption decree invests the adoptive father with a presumption of fatherhood is circuitous and illogical.
Finally, the adoptive parents' contention that "there is no reason to believe that the Ross court was limiting its application of the best interest analysis to only protect children born while parents were married," is contradicted by the language of that opinion. As indicated in the italicized portions of the Ross opinion quoted before, the Ross opinion was contemplating the termination of marriage scenario and the potential displacement of a man who was legally presumed to be the child's biological father. Certainly, one cannot stretch the Ross holdings to apply to a case where the man who faces displacement is an adoptive father who has no claim to being the child's biological father.
In conclusion, we find that the district court correctly determined that a Ross hearing was not required prior to ordering blood testing to determine whether M.P. has standing to challenge the adoption decree as the biological father of A.A.T.
Affirmed and remanded.
1REPORTER'S NOTE: Previously filed as an unpublished opinion, the Supreme Court granted a motion to publish pursuant to Rule 7.04 (2008 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 53). The published version was filed with the Clerk of the Appellate Courts on June 12, 2009.


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10' x 8' Combination Single Door Garden Workshop (3.02m x 2.44m)
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The Ultimate combo workshop 10x8 has an innovative design that not only provides secure storage, but offers premium workspace also.
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Working on Eagle Scout Merits
Devin Condon has completed a project for the Tri-County Rail Trail Association. Devin is a Boy Scout from Troop 93 working on his Eagle Scout Merits. He has completed one of his merit requirements as he organized a group of boys to clean up the entrance of the Clarion-Little Toby Rails to Trails entrance in Ridgway.


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Welcome to the forum, Quadrilinguist.
I have a simple rule. All phones are switched off for the duration of the lesson.
Interested in Language
I'm a multilingual translator and transcriptionist who is new to teaching languages. I am teaching myself to teach private classes (and tutor) in ESL at the moment and I'm wondering what role smartphones play nowadays in the language teacher-student relationship.
While I do love my laptop, I'm really not in a hurry to purchase a smartphone as they seem to take up so much resources in time and money and affect human relationships in ways that do not appeal to me. But I realize that this is where the modern world is heading, and with maybe 75% of us owning smartphones now, I expect my students to be avid users of these devices as well. The thing is that learning (whether it's a language or anything else) requires attention and concentration, and smartphones, with all the distractions they offer, tend to get in the way of that. So I'm wondering if it's common for ESL teachers to ask their students to turn off their devices and keep them in their backpacks during class or if it's something that you just learn to "work" with. Do you make sure that your lessons are so entertaining and engaging that the students actually forget to check their phones or do you take that opportunity to check your phone as well if you have one?
Welcome to the forum, Quadrilinguist.
I have a simple rule. All phones are switched off for the duration of the lesson.
I have only ever taught one-on-one but I always switch off my phone and ask my students to do the same, whatever their age. My only exceptions to this were the high-ranking civil servants and government officials I taught in Madrid who would probably have been fired if they failed to answer their mobile. My classes were most definitely low priority for them and their bosses!
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
It's an issue that isn't going to go away. Some people really do need to have their phones on all the time, but these are the professionals- most learners simply don't have communication so urgent that they need them on and they're just a distraction. I'd generally use 5jj's rule, but if I were teaching, say, a group of brokers, I would respect their need to have them on, as long as they respected the environment of the classroom.


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" How do I sanitize the breast pump kit? "
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· Do NOT store wet or damp parts.
Or you may sanitize your kit parts by following the instructions on Medela's Quick Clean™ Micro-Steam™ bag.
Watch the Assembly & Cleaning video.


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MSN Presents the Ultimate in Online Rock ′n′ Roll: ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA Premieres July 5 Only on MSN
Exclusive online programming and special live events mark the return of the hit CBS series.
MSN today announced the premiere of online programming for ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA, the new season of the hit reality series returning to CBS in a special 90-minute broadcast on Wednesday, July 5 at 8 p.m. EDT/PDT. Before its broadcast premiere, ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA -- produced by Mark Burnett Productions and seen last season by more than 6 million TV viewers each week -- will premiere only on MSN(R) the morning of July 3, available on demand at the official series Web site (http://rockstar.msn.com/).
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The second season of ROCK STAR features an all-star lineup of rock musicians who have joined forces to form a new supergroup called Supernova. Drummer Tommy Lee of Motley Crue, former Metallica guitarist Jason Newsted and former Guns N′ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke will be casting for a lead singer from a pool of 15 contestants selected in auditions across the U.S.
MSN content, which greatly increased the reach of the show last season by streaming more than 20 million videos and receiving millions of votes for contestants in the competition, will again offer visitors a close-up and personal experience of life in the rock ′n′ roll fast lane. Programming will include original behind-the-scenes video footage, replays of contestant performances, music downloads, contestant profiles, photo galleries, stories about Supernova, and contestants′ blogs on MSN Spaces. Online viewing of the TV show and online voting for contestants will be available only on MSN Video.
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ROCK STAR on the Road
Also new this year are MSN "Live Like a Rockstar" events, which will be kicked off at the legendary Roxy Theater in Los Angeles on July 13 with live performances by The Panic Channel, a new band featuring former members of Jane′s Addiction, and an opening act. Exclusive scenes of the new season of ROCK STAR will be screened at the show, and radio station Star 98.7 will feature live remote broadcasts from the event to promote MSN entertainment content and build traffic to the ROCK STAR Web site. This major event will also be presented in Chicago, Boston and New York on dates to be announced. Tickets are available only via promotional offerings to ROCK STAR fans, who may also participate in a variety of contests on the MSN ROCK STAR site.
"MSN is really turning up the volume and creating a lot of excitement for the return of ROCK STAR," said Mark Burnett, creator and executive producer of ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA. "The show′s popularity last season had a lot to do with the fantastic online experience MSN provided visitors to the site. This is what entertainment today is all about: synergy across multiple platforms. MSN is playing a huge role in bringing interactive entertainment and a wide range of rich content to broadband. We′re thrilled to collaborating with MSN on this breakthrough series."
The Dream of Being a Star Rocker Comes True
Last season on ROCK STAR, the rock sensation INXS auditioned for a new lead singer. Canadian heartthrob JD Fortune was selected to front the band, which has since recorded and released a new CD, "Switch," that debuted in the Billboard Top 20 and is currently going gold and platinum in countries around the world. INXS′ hit single, "Pretty Vegas," has helped the band sell out every concert on its North American tour.
Dave Navarro and Brooke Burke return to host ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA. In one of several changes being made for the second season of the series, a music celebrity or rock legend will appear as a guest on the show each week. The winner of the competition will record an original CD with Supernova, to be co- written and produced by Butch Walker, Rolling Stone Magazine′s 2005 "Hot Producer of the Year." The CD will be released in the fall and will be supported by a worldwide tour in early 2007.
ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA will air on CBS Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EDT/PDT and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EDT/PDT. Exclusive episodes on MSN will be available every Monday on demand at http://rockstar.msn.com/.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
ROCK STAR: SUPERNOVA Teams Up With MSN Again For Exclusive Content And Videos
Posted by realitytvwebsite at 3:49 PM


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I am sat in a bothy on top of a Scottish mountain, sharing a dram of whisky with a Scotsman called Donald. Donald is wearing a kilt and has a dagger sticking out of his sock. Outside, perched forlornly on the cliffside as wind and rain charge headlong against it, sits the UK's first Evoque, mud and grass and something that looks suspiciously like a mountain hare adorning its flanks. I am a little uncomfortable.
Not because of the weather, or Donald and his kilt, or because until 10 minutes ago I believed a bothy to be a thick meaty stew. The reason I'm uncomfortable is that, having wrung the Evoque down a Scottish B-road and then straight up the side of this muddy, waterlogged mountain, I have that insidious feeling I've got things wrong.
Words: Sam Philip
Photos: Paul Barshon
This feature was originally published in the August 2011 issue of Top Gear magazine


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June 2011, Volume 3, Issue 6
Check Your Calendars!!
ALA Annual Conference
June 23-28
Indian Education Summit
Sept. 25-27
SDLA Annual Conference
Oct. 5-7
SD Festival of Books
Oct. 7-9
AASL National Conference
Oct. 27-30
Featured e-Resources of the Month
Learning Express Library helps summer job seekers
Welcome to the Cornerstone Archives. Find the current newsletter at sdslcornertsone.blogspot.com.
In this month's issue
Library Headlines
Next South Dakota Titles to Go sign-up deadline is June 30
Is your library interested? Act now!
AASL Vision Tour stops at Washington High School in Sioux Falls
It was all about the library at Washington High School on April 26!
One Book SD mini-grants recipients announced
The State Library, in collaboration with the South Dakota Humanities Council, announces 15 mini-grants to public libraries.
June Continuing Education Opportunities
escWorks is retiring, save your CE data
On July 1, 2011 the Department of Education will no longer be using escWorks for CE registration.
Continue on to these and more CE Listings
Children's and YA Services
2011 Teen Read Week™ is coming!
Registration for Teen Read Week is now open!
WrestleMania Reading Challenge is back
Need more ideas to help reluctant readers tackle reading?
Happy Summer Reading!
Here are a few things to remember as you go through your summer reading program!
Featured e-Resources of the Month
Learning Express Library helps summer job seekers
Library Development
Dakota Collections Care Initiative is funded by IMLS
The Institute for Museum and Library Services has awarded a grant to the South Dakota Historical Society, South Dakota State Library and the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Reference to the Rescue highlights resources
If you missed this webinar, it has been archived on our website for your benefit.
Board Talk: The Public Library Survey – What is it? Why is it so important?
South Dakota is growing, but we still have fewer than one million residents.
Explore! NASA Space Science Workshop trains librarians and educators
Several South Dakota librarians and educators recently attended a NASA Workshop held April 13-14 in Bismarck, ND.
School Libraries
School Library event planned in conjunction with Indian Education Summit
The South Dakota State Library is pleased to announce our first annual School Library Pre-Conference in conjunction with the Indian Education Summit this fall.
Hot Springs librarian receives district honors
Meet Hot Springs School District Teacher of the Year, Marilyn Kaiser.
Lee Crary: teacher, librarian, coordinator, and new retiree!
Lee Crary, the State Library's school library coordinator for the west river area, is retiring in early June.
What are we reading?
The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times
Book review by Jane Healy
Plus, more resources in the news
Why Didn't I Think of That?
Edgemont uses Internet to find lost books
You know the end-of-the-year school library drill: hurried, last-minute, even (sometimes) desperate efforts to pull those last few "lost" books from their hiding places.
Stewart Stars stick with reading
The students of Yankton's Stewart Elementary School were challenged by their librarian, Kathleen Bergeson, to "stick with reading".
Chamberlain finds new purpose for laptop carts
Chamberlain Elementary School librarian, Peggy Hanzlik, found herself with 20 new ereaders that needed space in the library this year.
next: Library Headlines
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The Cornerstone monthly e-newsletter is created by the South Dakota State Library. For more information on how to be a part of this newsletter, please contact us via e-mail with your questions and ideas.


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B Lab is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.©Copyright 2011 B Lab. All rights reserved
PLEASE READ: The last date to certify on this version of the B Impact Assessment is September 30, 2011.
We are continually working to improve the B Impact Ratings System, and we welcome your feedback. Every 2 years, B Lab releases a new version of the B Impact Assessment.
In order to be certified by September 30th, please complete the assessment and schedule a phone review with B Lab staff as soon as possible. You can reach B Lab at email@example.com or 610-296-8283..
If you have not already created a registration on Version 2 of the assessment, please go directly to Version 3.0 to register.


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Obamacare 2.0: Shaky like 1.0
Obamacare fires are flaring up all over — in Hill hearings, in scary headlines about big rate hikes and in closed-door meetings of nervous Democrats.
The White House response: We'll get to that.
Story Continued Below
President Barack Obama's messaging gurus and their allies say they will step on the gas before enrollment begins this fall, but the effort, they concede, is not in full swing.
Obama's allies know the health care law needs a massive outreach effort, but Obamacare Round 2 is already starting to look a lot like Round 1, when Democrats roundly accused the White House of botching its appeal to the public, giving Republicans the upper hand on defining the law.
It's a clear contrast with the immigration reform effort, where the rollout has been filled with business and advocacy groups praising the Gang of Eight bill and quickly knocking down any attacks. This week, there has been plenty of fodder for GOP critics of the health care law but mostly silence from the administration.
Part of that is because the White House team is in flux. Tara McGuinness, who just joined the White House to run the messaging of the law, told POLITICO that her shop is "ramping up on the health care communications and outreach."
She pointed out that Democratic senators met with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough on Thursday, the first in a series of Hill meetings.
Meanwhile, the groups that will be responsible for on-the-ground work say they're waiting.
Obama is leaning heavily on outside allies, and on Friday he asked Planned Parenthood to help sell the law with a pitch heavy on benefits to women, like contraceptive coverage and preventive care — the same targeted themes he stressed during his reelection campaign.
( Also on POLITICO: Obama urges Planned Parenthood to help inform on Obamacare)
But Enroll America, the coalition of health care advocates, industry groups, and labor and civil rights organizations that's planning a massive outreach effort, says it's still planning to kick into full gear its "Get Covered America" campaign this summer — it's not speeding up the timetable. Headed by Anne Filipic, the former deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, the coalition is planning a campaign of online organizing, grass-roots outreach and paid advertising.
Organizing for Action has been planning its own outreach campaign for the summer, too, which is shaping up as a big test of the strength of its armies of volunteers. OFA officials didn't respond to questions about whether they'll speed up their plans.
Why wait? The answer, the law's supporters say, is that if they do the outreach too early — and people are told they can sign up for Obamacare coverage with generous subsidies but there's nowhere to go right now — they'll just tune out.
But Democrats are worried now — about the messaging and the mechanics of the rollout.
"I'm concerned — because we did take substantial criticism for putting this plan in place — that it achieve its true purpose," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas. "There's so much work to do in such a short period of time."
( Also on POLITICO: Obamacare exemption talk lights up Capitol Hill)
Other Democrats say the public is still confused about the law and they want to see more outreach and public education. Sen. Max Baucus, an author of the law, raised that concern in a recent hearing, arguing that if the administration doesn't act, they'll face a "huge train wreck coming down" — a comment that got serious attention from Republicans this week.


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VIDEO: Watch the Rock Sing "Shake It Off" In the Trailer for Spike TV's Lip Sync Battle
Mar 18, 2015 6:41 PM EDT
Well of course you want to see muscle-bound Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock, sing Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off." The rest of the celebs lip-synching pop hits in the trailer for Spike TV's upcoming Lip Sync Battle are just bonuses. Dancing with the S… Read more


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Simplistic in its décor, the Downtown PourHouse is far from that in what it offers patrons — which is a little bit of everything.
Billing itself as a restaurant and bar, the downtown establishment is located in the former Earthstone Grill spot at 20 S. Orange Ave. Don't confuse it with The Pour House in MetroWest; they are two different businesses.
The layout is obviously different from Earthstone. A beautiful wood bar now takes up much of the space previously occupied by seating and wraps its way back to where the cashier used to be. The colors are muted with light blue paint on the walls and dark browns and wood tones in much of the furniture and wall fixtures. It's a subtle feel that works, very much like Finnhenry's approach across the street.
Even though this isn't a large space, the owners have worked quite nicely with what they have. There's ample indoor seating (including some outdoor tables for the smokers in the crowd), a large bar, a space for live music and a DJ at night, and even an arcade game in the back. Five 50-inch HDTVs are spread around the bar tuned into news and sports.
A business crowd tends to occupy the PourHouse during the day for its lunch menu. Later DJs and musicians bring in a late-night crowd that pays no cover at the door. In between, happy hour specials run 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. daily and include $2 domestic drafts, $3 wells and $4 calls. The menu is offered all of the time, and you should really try the PourHouse's version of a French Dip (although they're thinking of another name for it). Made on ciabatta bread delivered daily from a local baker, with homemade au jus on the side, this was one of the best sandwiches I've had in a while. It's not on the menu yet — it just debuted on Super Bowl Sunday — but ask for it, and they'll certainly serve it up for you.
One problem the PourHouse may suffer from is that simplistic look on the outside. I missed the place a couple of times trying to spot it along Orange Avenue. It's directly across the street from Ichiban and Senso Supperclub, between Central Boulevard and Pine Street, if that helps.
A more risqué V-Day
Dinner is nice on Valentine's Day, but some folks enjoy the naughty thrown in there as well. And of course, I have a couple of parties that can fill that need.
Leave it to Dragon Room to host a Valentine's Day Lingerie Party, even if it is a day earlier on Saturday. The party starts at 10 p.m. and the first 10 couples through the door receive a complimentary glass of champagne. Ladies get in free before 11:30 p.m. and men who sign up on the guest list at dragonroomorlando.com pay no cover. Otherwise, it's $5 for ladies, and $10 for men. First 50 ladies through the door receive a rose, three of which will include a prize. Specials include $5 Ketel One drinks and two-for-one drinks until midnight. Dragon Room is at 25 W. Church Street in downtown Orlando, call 407-843-8600.
All the single ladies out there, head over to Blue Martini on Saturday and Sunday after 8 p.m. When you arrive at the lounge you will receive a complimentary bottle of champagne with strawberries. The "Red Hot Sunday At Blue" event is being extended for the whole weekend, and also will include a complimentary chocolate martini each for couples that arrive between 8 and 11 p.m. Half-priced desserts will be offered too. Blue Martini is at 4200 Conroy Road, Suite H-246 in Orlando; call 407-447-BLUE.
See for yourself
Downtown PourHouse
Where: 20 S. Orange Ave., downtown Orlando
When: 11 a.m.-2 a.m. daily
Call: 407-425-POUR


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Oct. 9, 2007
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons were picked to finish sixth in the Atlantic Sun Conference this season in a poll of the conference women's basketball coaches.
In the preseason poll selected by the media the Lady Bisons were picked to finish seventh.
Lady Bisons coach Frank Bennett doesn't get too excited about preseason polls, but he is interested in that No. 6 spot. It brings back fond memories of the 2003-2004 season.
"That was where were picked to finish the year we won the conference tournament and went to the NCAA Tournament," Bennett said.
The Lady Bisons will officially begin practice Sunday.
Returning are seven players who played 10 minutes a game or more last season including senior point guard Catie Woods and senior guard Dana Carrigan.
Also returning are center Kaleigh Gossman, center Miriam McAlister and wing Tiffany Arnold, three players who were sidelined for all or most of last season.
There are four new freshmen members of the team: guard Jenna Bartsokas, guard Miaca Bowman, center Cree Nix and wing Valerie Bronson.
"This freshman class is our most athletic class in terms of speed and jumping," Bennett said. "They are going to give us a boost."
To see the complete poll click below:
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader


text: It's hard to be the law in a dystopian/apocalyptic future, but if anybody is up to it, it would be David "Kung Fu" Carradine. Even he needs a little help in the dark action epic Future Force, so it's a good thing he's got his cyber-glove. Earlier in the movie, Carradine gets into a pre-gunfight stance with another guy, and they're both reaching for their guns and staring each other down. And the other guy sees David Carradine's cyber-glove and backs the fuck off. But the real usefulness of the cyber-glove comes up in this scene, where the ugly bald guy gets the drop on David (who's already kicked baldie in the crotch a few dozen times) and is about to slice him up. Helpful tip: Never ask David Carradine what he's going to do with his remote control.


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Snooki's "Dancing" days are over.
The "Jersey Shore" star was eliminated from "Dancing with the Stars" last night -- and had a breakdown on stage after her name was read as the one voted off.
"I can't even talk right now," the inconsolable star said after learning the results. "I love everybody here, so it sucks."
It was clear the feelings were mutual, as her costars were all wiping away tears from their own eyes after her elimination.
Making matters worse, she didn't even look good when she got the boot!
"Why am I leaving a zombie?!" Snooki exclaimed, addressing her makeup for a ghoulish group number.
After the show, Snooki took to Twitter to thank fans for support and let them know she still plans to dance in the future.
Damn this sucks!! I had the best time on DWTS and I truly love EVERYONE on the show. You are all in my heart forever and I'm so proud of u❤— Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) October 29, 2013
I'm still gonna dance! 💃"@sophiebali: Upset @snooki went home! She was a good dancer and getting better every week!"— Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) October 29, 2013
Thank you to the fans. Your support for Sasha and I are amazing , love you❤ http://t.co/YvZUcykJuG— Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) October 29, 2013


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Difference between revisions of "Dhcpd"
m (→Listening on only one interface: use Accuracy template)
m (→Configuration: link to more general article)
|Line 11:
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# ip addr add 126.96.36.199/24 dev eth0 # arbitrary address
# ip addr add 188.8.131.52/24 dev eth0 # arbitrary address
To have your static ip assigned at boot,
To have your static ip assigned at boot, [[]].
The default {{ic|dhcpd.conf}} contains many uncommented examples, so relocate it
The default {{ic|dhcpd.conf}} contains many uncommented examples, so relocate it
Revision as of 08:58, 5 August 2013
dhcpd is the Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server. It is useful for instance on a machine acting as a router on a LAN.
Install the dhcp package, available in the official repositories.
Assign an static IPv4 address to the interface you want to use (usually
eth0). The first 3 bytes of this address cannot be exactly the same as those of another interface.
# ip link set up dev eth0 # ip addr add 188.8.131.52/24 dev eth0 # arbitrary address
To have your static ip assigned at boot, see Network Configuration#Static IP address.
The default
dhcpd.conf contains many uncommented examples, so relocate it
# mv /etc/dhcpd.conf /etc/dhcpd.conf.example
Edit the configuration file to contain:
# Using the google's dns in the example. # Change it to 188.8.131.52 if you have a dns server installed option domain-name-servers 18.104.22.168; option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0; option routers 22.214.171.124; subnet 220.127.116.11 netmask 255.255.255.0 { range 18.104.22.168 22.214.171.124; }
Start, and optionally, enable for autostart on boot, the
dhcpd4.service daemon.
Read Daemons for more information.
Now, any computer you connect over ethernet will be assigned an IPv4 address (from
18.104.22.168 to
184.108.40.206 in this example).
Tips and Tricks
Listening on only one interface
If your computer is already part of one or several networks, it could be a problem if your computer starts giving ip addresses to machines from the other networks.
In order to force the DHCP server to listen only on one of the network interfaces, you need to specify it in the dhcpd command line.
This is done by editing the configuration file:
# Assuming the device of your lan is eth1 DHCP4_ARGS="-q eth1"
Another step is to tell the routing table on which interface to listen to for the 255.255.255.255 broadcasts:
# ip route add 255.255.255.255 dev eth1
Now, the clients on
eth1 will be managed by your DHCP server without having any impact on any client / server on any other ntework interface.
You will see configuration files, etc. related to
dhcpcd. That one is the DHCP client executable and has nothing to do with


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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Tablet Computers to Begin Displacing Laptops
Market Definitions BlurringThe market for tablet and tablet-like devices is developing quickly, but there is still quite a bit of confusion. For example, in Intel's most recent quarterly conference call, CEO Paul Otellini wondered out loud about the definitions of the various types of new tablet-like computers coming on to the market. He said,
When you start seeing an ultra book with a detachable touch screen, is it a tablet? And [if] it's based on [Intel's next generation processor] Haswell, is it a tablet, an ultra book or a convertible? I don't know. We'll have to invent some names for these things as we go along but what I can tell you is the level of innovation there is unbounded.Later in the call, he answered a question the potential for tablets to cannibalize sales of personal computers and laptops.
Pressed by one analyst on how much of the slowdown in consumer PCs was related to timing of Windows 8, versus how much was related to cannibalization by tablets and phones, Otellini said that "I think it's a bit of each." Otellini said that once Windows 8 ships, and consumers begin to try it out, "and we have all of the touch-based ultrabooks out there, we'll know a lot more so we'll try to quantify that a bit more for you in 90 days."
In other words, the line between laptop computers and tablets is blurring. Moreover, tablets themselves are evolving in their form factors and capabilities, enabling them to begin to encroach on sales of laptops.
Corporate Penetration of Tablets Low But GrowingWhen considering the issue of cannibalization, Intel and other suppliers are considering both consumer sales and business sales. But the evidence so far shows adoption of tablet computers is much stronger on the consumer side than the business side.
As shown in the figure nearby, our research at Computer Economics indicates that about one-third of business organizations are supporting tablet computers to some extent among their user populations. However, the percentage of corporate employees actually using tablets is quite low. At the median, less than 5% of business users carry company-supported tablet computers today. These statistics vary, of course, by industry and size of organization.
Although tablet penetration into the corporate workforce is quite low, there are signs that the usage rate will increase sharply in the coming years, based on the percentage of organizations considering these devices or planning additional investments.
Tablet Capabilities to Mature RapidlyTo this point, corporate PC makers have not had much to worry about in terms of tablets taking market share away from personal computers. Today, most tablet computers, specifically the market-leading iPad, do not have the capabilities of laptop computers. For example, cutting and pasting text on an iPad is cumbersome.
iPads today, therefore, supplement laptops and desktop computers rather than replace them. As the market leader, Apple can afford to deliberately limit the functionality of the iPad so as to not cannibalize sales of its own MacBook laptop computers. However, as other tablet manufacturers catch up and even surpass the functionality of the iPad, Apple is likely to expand the capability of its tablet computer line.
The maturation of tablet computer capabilities will come sooner rather than later. Microsoft's introduction of Windows 8, a touch-enabled operating system that will run on PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphone and other handheld devices, is a full-featured platform. It will be able to run Microsoft Office, the core desktop application suite for most business organizations, as well as single-purpose mobile applications that are so popular on today's tablets. Tablet manufacturers will leverage these capabilities to introduce devices that are much more capable of replacing laptops than the iPad is capable of today. This will force Apple to follow suit if it wants to continue to make inroads in corporate settings. Makers of Android-based tablets will no doubt do the same, as has been rumored.
Tablets Will Begin to Displace Laptops in Corporate ITCorporate IT organizations are not the ones taking the lead today to push tablets, or tablet-like devices, into the workforce. In most cases, it is individual business units that are forcing the IT organization to support these devices. The pressure generally is coming from sales organizations, field service, or top executives directly, who want these devices to perform simple tasks while traveling, such as checking email, scheduling appointments, entering expenses, and performing workflow approvals.
Tablets are just the latest example of the "consumerization of IT." In this regard, adoption of tablet computers in business will likely take a similar path to the adoption of personal computers over 30 years ago. When personal computers first made their appearance in business organizations, IT organizations were quite happy with having employees use IBM 3270 green screen terminals. It was business leaders that bought those first PCs and then turned to the IT organization to support them. Ultimately, IT organizations took over the procurement and management of desktop computers and addressed issues of connectivity with the corporate networks.
Likewise, today, it is business leaders who are buying tablet computers and pushing their IT organizations to support them. As these devices mature, they will become a standard part of the IT portfolio of most business organizations. At that point, we will see tablets and tablet-like devices take a serious bite out of laptop and desktop sales.
That day may come faster than IT leaders imagine.
Related PostsLaptops Displacing Desktops: Impact on Support Costs (Computer Economics)
ERP in the Lead, But Mobile Apps Gaining Ground (Computer Economics)
Labels: CoIT, laptops, mobile, mobility, PC, tablet, tablet computersby Frank Scavo, 10/17/2012 11:50:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Sunday, October 14, 2012
How to Optimize Your ERP System
video of my complete keynote.
Not Enough Just to Select and Implement the Right SystemWhen it comes to ERP, most business leaders realize that it is critical to select the right system and implement it successfully. Likewise, when it comes to advice about ERP, most analysts and consultants focus on their attention on best practices for ERP vendor selection and implementation.
But very few analysts pay attention to what happens after the implementation. An organization will spend many more months using an ERP system than it will selecting and implementing it. A company might take three to six months to select a new ERP system and another year or two to implement it: but it will be using that system to support its business operations for seven years, 10 years, or hopefully even longer.
How ERP Systems Become Sub-Optimized and What to Do About ItThere are many opportunities for ERP system to no longer fully serve the needs of the business--even ERP systems that have been correctly selected and implemented. Business requirements may change, due to organic growth, mergers and acquisitions, introduction of new products and services, changes in business models, new demands from customers, or any number of other factors. As a result, organizations frequently become dissatisfied with their ERP systems.
Business leaders, therefore, need to periodically optimize their ERP systems, both on the benefits side and the cost side. This ERP optimization effort encompasses four main tasks:
You can watch my full presentation on optimizing ERP by clicking on the image at the top of this post.
- Analyze Root Problems. Trace each ERP problem according to a four-way framework, that is, problems related to (1) the software itself, (2) how the software was installed, (3) the business not using the system, and (4) the business not using the system effectively.
- Identify Corrective Actions. By understanding the root causes, the corrective action often becomes clear, and it often does not mean an expensive and disruptive exercise in selecting and implementing a new system. Rather, the existing system can be optimized.
- Identify Potential Cost Savings. After three years, the majority of ERP total cost of ownership is not in the up-front implementation costs: it is in ongoing support. Therefore, it is essential to optimize the ongoing support costs for ERP, considering a number of practical recommendations.
- Execute the ERP Optimization Roadmap. Finally, the recommended actions need to be prioritized, planned, and carried out with just as much discipline as the original implementation demanded. If done correctly, optimizing ERP can effectively extend the life of a current system to better serve the business for years to come.
If you'd like a full copy of the presentation slides, just email me. My email address is in the right hand column.
Related PostsFactors that Affect ERP Implementation Cost
Twenty Years of ERP Lessons Learned
Optimizing ERP Support Staffing in Smaller Organization
Labels: ERPby Frank Scavo, 10/14/2012 01:22:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Course Information may be found on the Online Learning Wikispaces site and is available for fully online courses only. To access it, click on the Course Info button located on the left hand side in the navigation area of this website.
Before or as soon as you register, please review the instructor's Online Course Information closely for information on prerequisites, required meetings, and how to access the course. Click on the course ID link for your course from the list.
Make sure to browse this information BEFORE the term starts to find out how your course is set up and what your instructor expects.
In the Online Course Information, you will find some or all of the following information:


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Ladies Poisoned T Shirt by Akumu Ink- Quality ladies fitted tee - Full length graphic print - Akumu Ink logo print on back neck - Machine wash cold - 100% cotton Taking a sip of sweet, sweet death! Black round neck t-shirt with short sleeves, featuring unique artwork by the talented artists at Akumu Ink. Cool full length graphic print in white and a striking pink colour. The name Akumu is Japanese for Nightmare which is the running theme for the entire brand. The collection is heavily inspired by all things Japanese, from the scary horror movies to the cute pop icons. Wear it to death! Dimensions: S: Chest = 16.25", Length = 25.25" M: Chest = 17.25", Length = 26" L: Chest = 18.25", Length = 26.5" XL: Chest = 19.75", Length = 27.25"
- Royal Mail First Class (1-3 working days from dispatch): £2.95 (FREE on orders over £35)
- Royal Mail First Class Recorded (1-3 working days from dispatch): £4.25 (free on orders over £100)
- Next Day Delivery: £6.99 (free on orders over £150)
- Airmail (approx 4-8 working days): £3.50
- International Signed-For: £9.90
- DPD (approx 2-3 days): From £9.40 (see available countries and price list here)
- USPS First Class (approx 4-8 working days): Cost subject to weight (from £4.50) Includes Tracking
Rest of World (including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and any other non-european country)
- Airmail (approx 5-15 working days): Cost subject to weight*
- International Signed-For: An additional £6.40 on top of standard airmail rate.
* Starting from £4.50 for 2-3 t-shirts - Maximum charge is £10.50
Order before 3pm for same day dispatch.
See our Delivery page for further information.
We make every effort to ensure that you are delighted with your purchase.
However, if you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, simply return the item or items to us in their original condition within 30 days of receipt. We will issue a refund on receipt, or exchange the item for a different size / colour if preferred. Please note: we don't refund postage and packing costs unless we have made a mistake.
Exchanges are sent out free of any shipping charges, however the cost of sending your return back to us is your responsibility.
See our Returns page for further information.
Shopping online with Honcho-SFX is secure
All debit and credit card transactions are securely processed by SSL encrypted sessions by SagePay - the leading payment processing provider. When you shop online at Honcho-SFX we never see your credit card details. We do not store any credit or debit card details, as the payment processing is conducted off-site on SagePay's secure SSL pages. Once you have entered your order details during the checkout process you will be automatically redirected to the SagePay website where the credit card information you enter is encrypted to the highest industry standards.


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Sheila McKenna talks with Christopher Durang in the George Rowland White Performance Studio.
As part of the Dramatists Guild of America's Mentoring Artists Tour, Conservatory of Performing Arts students had the unique opportunity to attend a conversation and reception with Tony award-winning playwright Christopher Durang, held during the fall 2013 semester.
"I find these types of opportunities at Point Park to be very beneficial because it encourages young artists to be open-minded, and we can apply what we learned in our classes," said Matt Augustyniak, a junior musical theatre major.
During the conversation, led by Sheila McKenna, chair and associate professor in the theatre department, Durang spoke about his educational background, his mentors, issues facing young writers and his career experience as a playwright.
"There's a trend that young writers are facing today that I feel my generation didn't," explained Durang. "A lot of our playwrights will submit a play to a theatre, and end up having readings at several theaters, getting different dramaturgs to share their opinions, and that's good. But in the process, I've seen a few of my students lose their play because they are so anxious to get a production."
Durang also welcomed questions from Point Park, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University students.
Sophomore acting major Sara Williams asked Durang about the role of actors from a playwright's perspective.
"I learned the importance of not losing my voice as an artist," said Williams. "As an actor in a play, my job is to fulfill the playwright's intention when telling a story. It was really great to hear how I can ensure not to let concepts interfere with my ultimate intention on stage."
McKenna said it's always inspiring for young artists to listen and learn from master teachers and major artists like Durang.
"His words, philosophies, demeanor and humor made a strong and lasting impression on everyone in attendance," she said. "We seek every opportunity to provide such experiences to our students. It's important that they learn whose shoulders they are standing on today, and who is shining a beacon on the road ahead."
While in Pittsburgh, Durang attended the City Theatre Company's production of his award-winning play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which featured McKenna as Sonia.
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Hearing Meryl Streep
After my post on An Evening With Meryl Streep at the ROM many of you asked if there was video. This was the interview with Johanna Schneller during which Streep offered many, many memorable insights including the one about being "capable". Her mother told her she was CAPABLE. Not special, but capable.
Good news. The audio from the event has just been released. Click here to listen. She is very breathy. I love it.
Here's Ms Meryl last week with Kevin Kline at a cocktail party to celebrate their performance in Shakespeare's The Lover and the Poet for the Acting Company in New York.
She also recently covered Entertainment Weekly with Alec Baldwin to promote It's Complicated due out on Christmas Day. They have great chemistry. Can't wait. I will see anything with Meryl Streep. Meryl + Alec? Please. Immediately.


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Last year, the wife and I took some of our tax-return money and decided to buy a new television. Our old one was on the fritz, and it was time to upgrade.
We had visions of being able to watch our favorite shows in high-def. She would be able to watch the Lakers play with so much detail, she could count the droplets of sweat on Kobe's brow. I imagined counting the blades of grass during football games and seeing the shower of ice shavings during a Kings game.
After consulting with several friends and comparing prices, we wound up with a majestic 55-inch LCD HDTV from Vizio.
When we finally got it home and installed it, I could have sworn I heard angels sing. Its 1080P high-definition resolution uses more than 2 million pixels, which makes the picture crystal clear. That kind of power doesn't just affect the colors, it actually makes the blacks blacker and the whites whiter. The color depth, if you believe the manual, was up to 1.06 billion colors.
1.06 billion?!?
If that weren't amazing enough, it uses sensors to auto-correct the brightness of the TV, so it projects the perfect picture regardless of the time of day or ambient light.
Not only is the screen high-def, but so is the surround sound. And it's smart enough to adjust the volume automatically when the commercials come on, which was always a pet peeve of mine.
The box claimed that it exceeded some sort of energy rating guideline, but that really wasn't a factor. I would've bought a small generator just to run this marvelous gem of technology. Did I mention it was 55 inches?!?
But as I quickly found out, all that technology is wasted when all you watch is kids programming. You don't need HD when all the shows are in 2-D.
You don't need 1.06 billion colors to render "SpongeBob Squarepants." You don't need crystal-clear audio when broadcasting Justin Bieber or his army of faceless pre-teen pop stars. And to a toddler, a green Muppet on a 55-inch screen might as well be Godzilla.
Amazing — having all this remarkable technology doesn't make the kids' shows any more interesting. If anything, it amplifies just how bad they are, because now I am subjected to a constant barrage of images and noise that I have no interest in watching.
There have been times when I have unleashed the power of this fully armed and operational entertainment system. But alas, those times are few and far between. After all, I can't watch Jason Statham open a can of whoop-ass on bad guys or Vin Diesel racing furiously in a GTO when I have an impressionable 3-year-old in the house.
At least, not yet. He'll have to wait until he turns 5 before he gets to watch those movies with me.
So this weekend poses a quandary for me. The Super Bowl is an event made for watching on a big screen. And even though I don't have any rooting interest in the game, I still want to witness the blades of grass flying in the air, the multiple angles of the play, the slo-mo and slo-slo-mo replays and the commercials. So I have decided I will not be denied.
I'm going to a friend's house. After all, they have a 60-inch screen.
MATTHEW MURRAY is a designer-copy editor at the Daily Pilot, as well as an established blogger-videographer-podcaster. Pile on him at email@example.com.


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So I've been leafing through a new report released this week dubbed Tomorrow's Trucks: Leaving the Era of Oil Behind, compiled by national non-profit firm Energy Vision that purports to a show the much-talked-about shift by the U.S. trucking industry from diesel fuel to natural gas may be gaining steam.
"Natural gas is ripe today for use in the close to 10,000 trucks and buses in the New York City, Long Island and New Jersey region and the 10 million of these workhorse vehicles nationwide," noted Joanna Underwood, Energy Vision's president, in the report.
"Shifting these fleets – just 4% of all vehicles in the U.S. – away from diesel would have a dramatic impact; eliminating almost a quarter of all petroleum-based highway fuel consumed a year," she added.
Underwood also noted that the use of natural gas-powered garbage trucks increased ten-fold over the last five years – a shift that's eliminated the need for 4.52 million gallons of diesel fuel, producing significant fuel cost savings of from $4.5 to $6 million a year.
Yet Underwood and report co-author Matt Tomich argue that there are other factors at work that could ramp up this shift to natural gas. One is that natural gas engines now offer more power and torque compared to previous models – indeed, in many cases almost diesel-equivalent power and torque.
[The overview of the new natural gas fired Cummins 12 liter ISX G engine offers a case in point. Important editor's note: the natural gas is NOT injected into the engine as the video states; rather it 'flows' into the engine.]
And when diesel engine emission control technology required by strict Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates are factored in, the significantly higher $50,000 to $70,000 premium for natural-gas fired heavy trucks is in many cases being cut in half, the report's authors argue.
Yet the report also touches on another issue critical issue in the diesel vs. natural gas debate: hydro-fracking, the process by which water and sand is injected into the earth to loosen and recover natural gas deposits.
"Only with the EPA and Department of Interior playing a stronger leadership role in clarifying the impacts of the fracking industry, with regard to materials and water use, waste handling and processing, and in setting standards based on state-of-the-art practices," Underwood and Tomich said. And only with such measures in place "will public confidence grow" in using natural gas more widely as a vehicular fuel, they argued.
Yet there's another potential source of natural gas to tap as well, they pointed out: the renewable form produced made from organic wastes and landfill decomposition, which requires no drilling, generates virtually no particulate emissions and is close to carbon neutral.
And if gaseous vehicle fuel can be produced in significant quantity from landfill waste … that right there could change the truck fuel debate for good.


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This is the official announcement that we are officially scheduled for holding a SQL Saturday in Columbia, SC, on October 2, 2010. We have a bit of information to track down with regards to sponsorship, recommended hotel, and the like and then we'll be ready to turn on the SQL Saturday site and announce call for speakers. We're really excited as we'll be looking at a brand new set of facilities thanks to the Consortium for Enterprise Systems Management.
The core group was part of the Columbia Code Camp back in January and we're definitely looking to apply the lessons from that experience to SQL Saturday. Good coffee, decent food (ColaCC provided lunches for free and we're looking to get sponsorship to do the same) and great speakers/talks were things we heard accolades for. Better signage, better environmentals (one room was too hot, another a bit chilly), and lack of wireless connectivity were some of the things we heard we could do better on. So we're looking to keep the positives and improve on the negatives to make SQL Saturday - Columbia a great event for training and networking. Stay tuned for more information soon!


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Scalpel had an interesting post today about treating a patient who was psychotic by any reasonable definition: hallucinating and with strong signs of potential violence, but at least partially cooperative with treatment. Scalpel and his nursing staff had to wrestle with the dilemma of whether they could administer anti-psychotic medications without his consent.
I always find this sort of thing interesting. In most cases, as long as you can document your clinical judgment that you believe that the patient was either unable to make an informed refusal of care, or presented an imminent danger to self or others, you're pretty safe doing whatever you need to in order to care for the patient. For ER docs, that often involves four-point leather restraints, sedation, occasionally medical procedures (i.e. gastric lavage, also known as pumping the stomach, or life-support such as endotracheal intubation), and often involuntarily detaining the person pending psychiatric hospitalization.
In our state, there is an interesting twist, though. To my knowledge, Washington is unique in that physicians do not have the authority to place patients on any sort of "72 hour hold." Not even psychiatrists. Instead, state law delegates this authority to trained officers of the court called "County Designated Mental Health Professionals," or CDMHPs.
It's an interesting system, and in my mind works well, though a bit kludge-y. I can basically do whatever I want to someone in my ER, provided that it is grounded in good medical reasoning. But if I think someone is or might be a threat, then I call in the CDMHP. They take over from there, and evaluate the patient and determine whether they meet the statutory definition of either an "imminent threat to self or others" or "gravely disabled." If so, they are detained, and the CDMHP finds a bed for them somewhere. If not, they are released, and both the CDMHP and I have immunity from liability should the patient go home and harm self or others.
But I get caught in the middle, in some cases, with a bit of a catch-22. I do not have the legal authority to detain them, so my clinical opinion is meaningless regarding whether the patient goes to the rubber room in the end. I must, however, do a medical evaluation and determine that there is no medical emergency or other non-psychiatric cause of the patient's behavior before I can call in the CDMHP. This usually involves some lab tests (a tox screen, for example) and maybe a CT scan of the brain, and the patient must be sober before the CDMHP can evaluate them. And they are busy. So there is always a lag time, sometimes significant, before the CDMHP evaluates the patient, and I need to control the patient during that time.
The best way to control an agitated, uncooperative, hallucinating patient is to administer an anti-psychotic med like Haldol, as Scalpel did. It's very effective, and much more pleasant than having them in leather four-points screaming and thrashing for hours on end. (Not to mention that physical restraints in such situations can be quite dangerous to the patient.)
Then, hours later, the CDMHP shows up and finds the patient polite and cooperative and not at all dangerous or disabled. The voices are gone and the patient no longer has the urge to kill. The CDMHPs ruefully shake their heads, agree that it sounded like he was pretty nutty when he first arrived, but, "Sorry, he just doesn't meet the criteria to be detained. Send him home."
So I have the choice of leaving the psych patients untreated for hours, possibly endangering patients and staff, or treating them early and precluding any more definitive treatment... argh. We do our best to work around it with short-acting sedatives and locked doors with heavy security presence. But when you have an irritating, obnoxious bipolar in the manic phase screaming sexual obscenities for hours on end, and your hands are tied, it's extremely frustrating.
It is, however, the happiest moment of my day when the CDMHP shows up, stands in the doorway for thirty seconds, then seeks me out and says, "Would you PLEASE get that guy some Haldol?"
27 December 2007
Scalpel had an interesting post today about treating a patient who was psychotic by any reasonable definition: hallucinating and with strong signs of potential violence, but at least partially cooperative with treatment. Scalpel and his nursing staff had to wrestle with the dilemma of whether they could administer anti-psychotic medications without his consent.
Posted by shadowfax at 12:02 AM
10 comments:
- Anonymous12/27/2007 4:49 AM
Have a video made prior to administration of medication.ReplyDelete
Wow. That system sounds like a pain in the butt.ReplyDelete
CDMHP is a really lousy system for families of loved ones who tend to go off their gourd, too.ReplyDelete
It creates an artificial division between conditions with a recognized biological cause (say, cognitive changes due to low blood glucose) and those where the biology has become secondary to the protected class of "mental health" subject to the CDMHP. So, when your father with the Lewy Body Dementia history and the florid psychosis is going apeshit because of an occult UTI, you get skittish doctors not wanting to admit them to the medical service until the CDMHP decides that they're not a candidate for a three-day psych hold. Or, said loved one manages to pull it together enough to sound oriented, meets with the CDMHP, gets cleared to go home, and then ratchets back to crazy again.
My biggest objection to this is that a Masters-level professional can override even fellowship-trained attending physicians, including psychiatrists, and that doesn't feel right to me. There's also no effective mechanism to provide feedback about a CDMHP - if one is known to have a particularly high bar to declaring someone eligible for a hold, you'd better hope they're not the one that shows up, because the odds of being able to get the issue revisited in the next several days are incredibly low, especially in more rural counties - the system works very differently in King County than it does even in the close-in Boonies.
- retired AOC12/28/2007 11:35 AM
Washington State Nursing Practice Guide, p. 24 (pdf) shows a decision tree for determining appropriate action in situations with grey areas around nursing action/ patient advocacy.ReplyDelete
Don't know in which state Scalpel practices, but his attitude toward nurses to do whatever a physician orders is ludicrous. Nurses have full legal responsibility to do due diligence and to determine that every physician order falls within acceptable standards of care and practice, and that it also meets applicable regulatory requirements, not to mention employer-based approved policy and procedure.
In the case of the patient situation described, it is not at all clear-cut that the patient was unable and incompetent to make decisions about accepting and comploying with medical care. Perhaps the actual circumstances were different than as described. This may be an artifact of the blogger's inclusion or lack thereof of patient assessment detail. There is also no mention of the nurse's rationale for declining to carry out the medication administration as originally ordered.
That said, if the patient was deemed by the physician to be incompetent to make medical care decisions, and there was no available patient guardian or fmaily member to make proxy decisions, the nurse's refusal should have triggered the chain of decision making policy, which is required to exist and to be used by every accredited facility. (Refer to the leadership standard in the JCAHO regs.) Most likely, that would be the charge nurse, the nursing unit director or house supervisor, or a chief of emergency medicine physician - the idea being that at least one of those is always immediately available in house.
If that still resulted in a decision which the treating physician believed was not acceptable, then the policy holds for yet another clinician in an authority position to be accessed in a timely manner - e.g. the chief of the medical staff and the chief nursing officer, or the administrator on call (AOC).
When those charged via licensure fail to question prescriptions which do not appear to be congruent with evidence-based standards of care and practice and regulatory compliance, patient safety and outcomes are at risk.
Just some food for thought to consider at a time when you aren't having to make fast decisions in the miasma of the time and resource-pressured ED.
Interesting post.
- retired AOC12/28/2007 11:42 AM
To anonymous: Patient privacy precludes videotaping patients, staff and physicians without their consent. There may be facilities which videotape, but I don't know of any that use videotape in direct patient care areas. Hallways, yes, but patient wards, rooms and cubbies, no. HIPAA, my friend. The areas which use video monitoring in patient rooms (intensive care units), to the best of my knowledge, do not capture any images for historical purposes. If I'm wrong, I'd like to have a link or two to learn otherwise.ReplyDelete
As the former CCF chief surgical resident learned, it's not kosher to snap cell phone pics of patients, either! Hot rod!
AOC --ReplyDelete
While most of what you write is completely correct, I find that I cannot agree with you on the whole.
First, far be it from me to defend Scalpel, but I think he made it clear that he views nurses as part of the team and preferred to talk it through. Some of his commenters were less charitable.
Second, certainly it's impossible to accurately evaluate Scalpel's actions given the limited info, but the gestalt I got was that this guy was SCARY, which means, to me, that there was a reasonable potential for violence. That, IMO, goes a long way towards justifying over-riding the requirement for consent. This case is gray, which is what makes it interesting, but it also indicates that there may have been multiple acceptable ways to handle it. Especially in exigent circumstances, latitude should be given to the practitioner on the scene.
Finally, while procedures do exist, as you admirably describe, to run things up the chain of command, there's also a spectrum of disagreement that determines whether to activate it. Different cases might be:
1. "You want me to do that? Interesting."
2. "I don't feel comfortable doing that. You do it."
3. "I really don't feel comfortable doing that and we should get approval before proceeding."
4. "I think what you are doing is wrong and you need to be stopped."
I would contend that the procedures you describe are more appropriate for #3 and 4, but the case described was in #2 or even #1 and generally should not trigger that sort of review. Bear in mind that while these policies are ostensibly neutral reviews, for one clinician to invoke them on another is pretty confrontational, and most people are reluctant to do so in absence of very serious reservations regarding the proposed care. For less-serious concerns, retrospective review is reasonable, and even that bears a stigma of "being reported" which will reliably cause intra-staff friction.
As I said in Scalpel's comments, I think it's reasonable and appropriate for nurses to speak out, and to say "no" when needful. It's an important safety check. You and I agree there. In this case, I do not think that escalation to the next level of review would be necessary.
Thanks for your thoughtful response.
The variability in the threshold to commit is frustrating. We see it too. I am surprised at the case you post, though. In my experience, those usually go to a gero-psych facility, even with a UTI, absent sepsis. Maybe you just don't have one out where you are?
- retired AOC12/28/2007 7:19 PM
@ Shadowfax:ReplyDelete
Interesting point of view. I read into your response that you perceive the clinical decision tree as being a chain of command. I view it as a depth of clinical resources upon which to draw and to get real time resolution of clinical questions.
There are so many situational variables which weren't addressed in the original post, such as the nurse's experience and psychiatric nursing expertise, whether the nurse being requested to administer the meds was the patient's primary nurse or simply a covering nurse (that can make a significant difference in the willingness of nurses to administer certain meds), whether there had been an overt disagreement about the patient's competency assessment, his degree of volatility, the presence of family, the available security mechanisms, whether he was made a one to one (I am guessing yes, but have no idea who serves in that capacity at that particular facility - can be anyone from an unskilled patient observer to a security officer and lots of variability in between those two), and so on.
But what I got out of the clinical scenario was that Scalpel felt that staffing was short - he specifically noted that no security staff was present, the patient had potential for acting out, but at no time did act out, and that he was medicating to prevent eescalation and not to de-escalate. That's tough, and given the understaffing situation, I would have (wearing my AOC hat and being a fly on the virtual wall) wanted someone in that department to alert the administrator to an actual unsafe patient situation. That should have been documented and addressed in real time. Was the nursing supervisor called to provide constant observation staff? Was the situation documented in either real time or retrospectively? Is this a chronic problem, and was the patient endangered by the staffing situation?
I also wonder if there was some concern about adhering to established policy or procedure, and this also was not addressed in the scenario. In that light, I crafted a response which spoke to the available resources to address the more generic question of administering medications to a patient without full disclosure.
Finally, Scalpel titles the post "nursing ethics", but this is a legal issue about the nurse's legal duty to the patient relative to informing him about the medications he is being given. What if, (in a true Murphy's Law scenario) the patient had a significant adverse reaction to the Haldol and hadn't consented to it? Haldol, in my experience, is considered a behavioral restraint and is subject to restraint use policy. Is that true everywhere?
Any ED physician who prescribes and has a nurse refuse is within rights to access the charge nurse/unit director/house supervisor in order to get timely resolution or to determine that there is still an outstanding issues. That's not confrontational, and the reason those decision hierarchy tools and mechanisms are in place is to facilitate just these types of situations.
Perhaps your experience about the use of this mechanism is different, and if so, it might be worth a call to your quality improvement people to see about getting that changed to make it more informal, uncoupled from any disciplinary repercussions and not tethered to peer review sanctions. It might be more helpful to view it as a sideways version of a rapid response team, but in this case for the physician or nurse to get resolution for a prescription. It might prevent some root cause analyses down the road.
This might also be a terrific topic for physician and nurse joint CME/CE which is facility specific. It could go a long way to holding everyone accountable, and for making everyone aware of how to resolve problematic clinical conundrums without engendering interdisciplinary hostility and power plays. FWIW.
No geropsych options in-county, which leads to issues - in one case, someone was voluntary and transported by BLS to Highline's facility, then got violent. Highline opted to call in the CDMHP after the person in question threw a styrofoam cup of water at the charge nurse.
The CDMHP opted not to do a three-day hold and transfer to Northwest (after making a snarky (and hilarious) comment about how the only person harmed by a cup of water would be the wicked witch of the west) , but Highline wouldn't keep the patient either.
It turns out, had the patient left Highline and the CDMHP *had* decided to hold him, her actions in King County mental health court wouldn't hold water across the county line.
The CDMHPs in our county are *loathe* to use the out-of-county geropsych resources, limited though they are, as a result.
Again, though, I prefer the judgment of a geropsychiatrist over even the most knowledgable of psych RNs or LCSWs, which fill the role of CDMHP over here. What I find *MOST* obnoxious is that I can consent, as healthcare proxy, to having the poor guy shocked, poked, compressed, cut, sewn and folded in the name of healthcare without so much as a blink, but I can't say "Yes, it's OK for you to get his meds balanced".
Without getting off on a rant, this is largely the work of "advocacy" organizations like NAMI. It's perpetuating the "special" class of disease that is mental illness, contrary to the rest of the culture's move towards medicalization.
- jz-md12/31/2007 9:51 AM
The case was mildly interesting, but similar episodes happen with this pattern:ReplyDelete
-doc orders med
-nurse uncomfortable and declines
-doc administers it
-both gain experience from outcome
-next time nurse administers it.
Agree that "running up chain of command" is confrontational and wastes time.