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Infectious disease is a term used to encompass a range of infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms. Viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites can all be responsible for a variety of diseases; including HIV, aspergillosis, tuberculosis and malaria respectively. Whilst many individuals believe that only certain species of microorganisms are pathogenic, there are in fact naturally-occurring, "friendly" organisms that can also cause harm. These traitors can alter themselves to become pathogenic in response to sensing a change in their host. So just to make everyone feel that bit more vulnerable; you're never entirely safe from the ambition of the tiny terrors that live inside you. However rest easy- if you're healthy and your immune system is competent, they're unlikely to cause any major problems.
So how do we acquire these infections? Transmission may occur through air, consumption of contaminated food, water, physical contact, by exchange of bodily fluids or by animal bites. The possibilities are sadly, almost endless. The Ebola virus requires direct contact to spread. In West Africa, hands on burial techniques and a motile population resulted in rapid spread of the virus; largely contributing to the 2014 epidemic. Evidence suggests human habits are largely influential to pathogen transmission. Despite education, we usually make the same mistakes twice (or more) and microorganisms take full advantage of this.
Why do these microorganisms make us sick? Pathogens aim to survive long enough to reproduce. Pathogens are therefore capable of generating a range of symptoms to enhance replication and transmission. The influenza virus upon infection damages the respiratory tract; causing symptoms such as coughing and sneezing. Sneezing expels viral particles from the host into the surrounding area; increasing the likelihood of transmission to a new host. In this case, simple hygiene practices may halt flu attacks.
A pathogenic army ready to take over the world.
Contrary to science-fiction beliefs, fatal pathogens are at a disadvantage and accordingly uncommon. Host mortality prevents pathogenic spread; consequently fatal strains are usually short-lived. Some scientists believe that overpopulation encourages transmission of potentially fatal pathogens. However, the most successful pathogens are typically less severe. Influenza remains infectious by annually altering its genetic material. Whilst changes are not largely dissimilar, they are enough to cause symptoms, allowing spread. Pathogenic success therefore depends not only on virulence, but also on transmission ability. Community intervention efforts may further inhibit pathogenic armies (humans, fight back!).
In summary, the pathogen-host relationship is a love-hate one. Although counter-productive for pathogens to kill their hosts, this does happen in some cases. The 2014 Ebola outbreak killed over 11,000 people; epidemics such as this highlight a need for increased research and education to advance the understanding of infectious diseases. Unfortunately, humans are ignorant of the fact that such diseases do not spread on their own. We play a crucial role within a pathogens life-cycle, therefore outbreaks are OUR responsibility to control. Current attitudes suggest a need for improved education; helping communities to minimize pathogenic transmission. Consequently, like it or not, infectious diseases should be everyone's concern.
Picture sources (left to right- 1, 2, 3, 4)


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Red Robin's Q1: A Positive Surprise For The First Time In Several Quarters
Commenting on Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. (NASDAQ: RRGB)'s nice positive surprise delivered for the first time in several quarters, BTIG said heavy investment in value is yielding results in the firm of same store momentum.
Q1 Review
Analysts Peter Saleh and Ben Parente noted that the company reported first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.89, notably ahead of his estimate of $0.52 and the consensus estimate of $0.57. The analysts attributed the upside to lower SG&A and a higher restaurant-level margin.
On same-store sales, the analysts indicated that the 1.2-percent comp decline was worse than the 1-percent drop they had estimated but better the consensus estimate, which called for a 2.6 percent decline. The upside relative to the consensus estimate, according to the analysts, was due to improved traffic and earlier menu pricing.
"Traffic declined (1.7 percent), an improvement of 120 bps from 4Q16 and an improvement of 170 bps on a two-year stacked basis," the analysts added.
Forward Outlook
While the company revised up its 2017 adjusted earnings per share guidance by $0.10 to $2.80–$3.10, BTIG lifted its estimate to $3.07 from $2.73, citing the first-quarter beat. The firm also raised its 2018 adjusted earnings per share estimate to $3.25 from $3.02, the firm noted.
The form commended the company for the improvement in traffic, which was helped by a change in advertising strategy and a reinforced value message. That said, the firm said it remains on the sidelines, as it thinks the upside came due to lowered expectations and some timing impact rather than organic growth.
"As investors look to the investor day next week, we expect the discussion to focus on building off-premise sales (delivery, curbside pick-up), technology initiatives, development and unit growth update as well as a long-term financial outlook focused on improving ROIC," the firm said.
BTIG has a Neutral rating on the shares of Red Robin.
At time of publication, Red Robin shares were rallying 20.09 percent at $69.65.
Related Links:
8 Stocks To Watch For May 17, 2017
Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Lower; Target Tops Q1 Expectations
Image Credit: By Cbraccialini (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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subset: commoncrawl


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CITRUS AND CANCER: Dietary flavonoids in tangerines, grapefruit juice and orange juice may help limit the growth of breast cancer cells, according to a group of scientists at the University of Western Ontario. The chemicals in tangerines even appear to increase the efficacy of tamoxifen, a leading breast cancer drug.
THE FUTURE LOOKS . . . FAT: Based on obesity-rate patterns over the years, one researcher predicts that by the year 2230, 100 percent of the population will be overweight. The second most preventable killer next to smoking, obesity is now considered a disease that can be managed but not cured.


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Release Year: 2010
VSP-Poker is a super sexy strip poker game designed for Windows PCs. What makes VSP-Poker unique from other video strip poker games is that it feels like you are playing strip poker directly with the models!
VSP-Poker III is definitely an adult product. It contains sexually explicit content. Upon winning, players are now treated to a "show" by the losing opponent. Depending on the opponent, shows may include masturbation and toys.
Genre: Striptease, Cards, Strip Poker
Publication Type: License
License: Freeware
File size: 567.4 MB


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How To Dispose Of Dead Elephants(2014)
A novel by Andrew Gretes
How to Dispose of Dead Elephants is an imaginative novel which explores themes of illness and identity through oracles and exorcisms, pranks and fables. The plot centers on Stubb Marakas, a young college dropout, who awakes one morning with the sudden urge to doodle Aesop fables. Aided by his best friend, Mark Connor (a swashbuckling Korean adoptee), the two set out to find the meaning behind this curious tick, embarking on a journey which will force the two friends to come to grips with not only Stubb's reemerging epilepsy and Mark's unknown origins, but also the failing health of their childhood guru, an old Greek trickster called "Papou." Gretes' debut novel is a hilarious coming-of-age tale which is equally moving and entertaining.
Used availability for Andrew Gretes's How To Dispose Of Dead Elephants
Paperback Editions
April 2014 : UK Paperback


text: My crevecoeur/ modern game hybrid cockeral had blood in his poop this morning. This is the first time i have noticed it. he doesn`t show any other sighns that he is sick. he is eating and drinking fine. We seperated him from the rest of the flock as soon as we noticed it. Does he have a diease? What could cause this? No other chickens i have have blood in their poop. Please help


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Report a fatal error. This method takes a message string and an additional object (to be used by specializations implemented in subclasses). Here in the base class a very simple implementation is provided which reports the error then throws an exception.
Definition at line 349 of file lr_parser.java.
References done_parsing(), and report_error().
Referenced by parse_lookahead(), and unrecovered_syntax_error().
{ /* stop parsing (not really necessary since we throw an exception, but) */ done_parsing(); /* use the normal error message reporting to put out the message */ report_error(message, info); /* throw an exception */ throw new Exception("Can't recover from previous error(s)"); }


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Your description is somewhat vague, but I'll try to help. Let's assume that the "box thing" is actually a modem/router. Steps to try:
1. Make sure that the client PC in question is actually communicating with the router. Enter 192.168.1.1 in your browser's address bar.
Do you get to the password entry for the config UI?
2. If that was successfull, open your client firewall. Look at its network permissions (the ones that you would have created - or it created for you - when the LAN was first established). Is your local LAN adapter listed? Does it have an IP range assigned to it? Is it described as "trusted" or similar?
I hope this information is not too technical for you to follow; networking is a technical subject unfortunately. Please post back promptly if you would like any further clarification/explanation.


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Justin Bieber recently reacted to Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik's latest spread for Vogue magazine.
On Thursday, colorful photos of Hadid and Malik posing for the iconic fashion magazine were shared and quickly and the couple of nearly two years caught the attention of Justin Bieber.
"Love this," Bieber commented on one of the photos, according to a report by Hollywood Life.
In the photo that Bieber loved, Hadid and Malik, who first went public with their relationship in November 2015, were posing alongside one another in matching track jackets.
As Hollywood Life explained to readers, Bieber's post is a bit surprising considering Hadid's close relationship with Taylor Swift. As fans may recall, Bieber and Swift have had issues with one another in the past and Swift has made it clear that she is no fan of the Where Are U Now? singer.
With that being said, Bieber has reportedly been a fan for Malik for some time.
"Justin has been really complimentary of Zayn's new music and there have been tentative discussions about them working on something together," an insider told The Sun in March. "They are in touch and chatting about all sorts and getting on like a house on fire – Justin even retweeted a link to Zayn's single on his Twitter which he doesn't just do for anyone. It would be a huge collaboration if it happened so watch this space."
This isn't the first time Hadid and Malik have done a pictorial for Vogue magazine. In fact, just last year the couple posed for their first spread and fans loved seeing them together.
To see behind-the-scenes footage from Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik's first spread for Vogue magazine, check out the clip below.


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Dear OHN Fam,
As the leader and founder of O Hell Nawl, I love being able to take credit for the successes of my team and be able to pass it along to them respectively so that they to can be assured that what they are doing is being well received by you, the readers. On the flip side, when our readership feels offended or they feel something is not as it should be, then as the HNIC of the crew it is my responsibility to take that criticism on behalf of my folks as well.
The first of which, being this last Saturday's radio show where one of our readers/listeners called in to express their opinion only to be personally insulted and or offended. While I have no apologies for the general content of OHN ( if you don't like it, don't read it), I do not condone personal attacks towards our readers. There is a difference between saying: All Southern rappers stank, and saying: Bully if you think southern rappers are any good, yousa dumb bytch. Both of which are not true. :daps Bully :: Hopefully you see the difference. So to the caller/reader from Saturday's show: you have my apologies…sincerely. Now get nekkid.
Another transgression that happened last week, was during the conversation regarding Soulja Boy's retort towards Ice-t. In this thread, I let my anger towards what i see as the destruction of an artform I once loved, blind my better judgement and my principles. In this post I expressed the following statement: "WHY hasn't that lil mufugga been hit by a stray bullet… why? Whhhhy?" As someone who preaches about the desire to see Black men legally successful and taking care of their families, to even joke about the death of a young brother was just childish, immature and reprehensible on my part. For that I sincerely apologize to the readers and to Soulja Boy. My disdain for his music and the state of Hip-hop today gave me no right to say such a thing and saying such subtracts from my credibility when speaking on the betterment of Black Males and others.
This is not an apology that is given for the sake of politics. This is not because anyone threatened to no longer read the products of OHN or because they came crying to me, because id kindly tell ya to sugg and spit. It is becauseI feel some things have not gone as they should as of late, and one should never let their pride get in the way of doing what is right.
Now that we are done with that, lets get back to enjoying what we all came here to enjoy….
Deez nutz. Putting Kiki and Kay Kay in the corner, molesting chocs booty, yellin @ fineazall, and masterbating to the way London types all Britishy, and shaking our head at Minista…
I'll let this ol Scurl sexy flexy ass dancing ass negro sum it up for me..


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A trainee classics teacher who was wrongly accused of sleeping with a pupil has called for a change in the law to help protect members of staff from similar allegations.
Hannah McIntyre, who taught at the #163;8,000-a-year independent Merchant Taylors boys school in Crosby, Merseyside, was cleared of sleeping with a 16-year-old boy after three of her pupils barged into her flat uninvited.
Miss McIntyre said teachers should be afforded anonymity unless convicted and called for pupils who make such accusations to face "consequences".
"Once the press are involved then you get the trial by media," the 25-year-old said. "I had to wait a year and a half before I could stand up in court and give my version of the story to anyone who was interested in it.
"They are basically undermining one of the basic principles of the British justice system that you are innocent until proven guilty."
Miss McIntyre said that it "cannot be fair" that while a teacher can be acquitted without a stain on their character but end up with no reputation and their career "ruined", the person who made the accusation is protected by the court.
She added that it was extremely frusrating that they didn't suffer any consequences of their actions.
"They didn't even stay for the verdict. They happily went back to their universities.
"Their anonymity protects them from any legal action. I can't even put forward a private prosecution."
The Scottish-born teacher was accused of sleeping with a pupil after the boy told his mother he had sex with her 11 months after the event was claimed to have taken place.
As soon as the allegation was made the "wheels were set in motion", said Miss McIntyre. She was eventually arrested and charged with unlawful sexual activity with a child.
"It was the shock of it," she said. "First with the initial allegation, then you get arrested: that's another shock. When you speak to your lawyers and they say this won't go to court, then six months later you get charged, that's another shock. It's just the length of the process and getting hit by things over and over again."
The day after being arrested, Miss McIntyre said newspapers ran headlines such as "Posh Miss in sex romp with pupils".
"I could laugh at it, but some people would be absolutely devastated," she said. "There comes a point where you are a sex offender until a year and half later you can be acquitted."
Teaching unions have also called for a change in the law for cases involving a child aged over 16. They also say that some accusations could be dealt with internally by the headteacher and the board of governors.
Miss McIntyre said children are aware of their rights but not of their responsibilities, and that they know they will not face any consequences if they make a false accusation.
She said the incident had stripped her of a job she loved.
"I was one of the very few fortunate people who looked forward to going into work every day," Miss McIntyre said.
"I was in love with teaching but now, realistically albeit not technically or legally, teaching is out for me.
"(And) in not very polite words, I'm fucking pissed off."
Ms McIntyre can never now become a teacher, and her dreams of a career teaching English have been shattered. She should sue the boy in a civil court. #163;35,000 x 40 years + #163;1,000,000 for hurt feelings and damage to her reputation should start the bidding.
Johan 14 - I guarantee had this been a male teacher we would have had a guilty verdict and nobody arguing over the veracity of the student who made the allegation. Bombalaya - She did make mistakes, but the boy should be made accountable for his lies. Letting him off will just mean any other kid can make similar accusations with impunity.
curly_bird - Someone stupid enough to allow things like that to happen should not be teaching anyway. She created her own downfall. The feckless boy will continue with his life and will not be made accountable for his actions.


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VASYLKIV: Emergency services stopped a fuel depot fire outside Kiev from spreading on Tuesday, officials said, but the fate of three firemen missing after the blaze triggered a powerful explosion was unknown.
The fire burned overnight and by morning had spread to at least 16 tanks, most of them storing petrol.
That sent a huge pall of black smoke over the area around the depot near Vasylkiv, 30 km from Kiev.
The depot's owners …read more
Source: The Gulf Today


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Lech Busts and Re-Enters
$365 Monster Stack Event #13 Day 1 70/136
Level 9: 400-800 / Ante 100
Just before the end of level nine, Michael Lech limp-shoved with Ad Kh and faced the call by an opponent with Kd Jc from two seats over. The board of 9h 8c 8d Js 6h provided the suckout on turn and Lech headed straight to the cashier and arrived back in time when the clock was about to move over.
Recent Posts


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"I was given the third degree by may father for (insert broken household rule)." That's the way it usually goes. The only person to give me the third degree these days would be Becky, and she thinks I'm right more often than not. Besides, our greatest fight is over things like who'll pay for what. Our last one was when we were at a Wendy's, grabbing food for the sake of convenience, and we settled it by flipping a coin.
Last night, she came a bit closer, and even then it wasn't serious. Her demand was that I stop hurting myself. Like I plan to be a klutz throughout the day. And her "third degree" was inspired by the fact that I got the second degree. A superficial second degree burn on my left index finger, that is.
You see, there's a relatively simple meal I can prepare called matzoh brei (pronounced "bry"). I make it the way my Dad taught me. I like it because it's quick and easy. Why, I'll even give the recipe toward the end, should you want to give it a try yourself. Becky loves it, and I've joked that if she eats 100 of them, she'll become Jewish.
But none of this matters. What does it the fact that I was in the process of cooking it, went to clean part of the pan while literally in the middle of cooking the food, when my finger touched part of the heated metal pan. I've become accustomed to upscale, dull aches and the like, so a good burn was a reminder of what "real" pain is. And there's something distressing in seeing one's skin instantaneously becoming an angry red and glossy smooth. I'd managed to burn the first joint after the knuckle, and the pain extended to my fingertip. The language I used...Well, such words don't often fly from my mouth.
This was a reminder that there are just some things I should do, and if I can manage them, I shouldn't do them often. My coordination tends to be low, and my reflexes are literally not what they should be. (I have the nerve conduction study to prove it.)
Here's my issue, though. Becky goes to pre-nursing classes for several hours each day. Three or four days a week, she also works part time. While I may not be feeling up to keeping house all day long, I should be able to do a little every day. Cooking the occasional meal should be on that list. Alas, it may be wiser to rely on TV dinners and such every now and again. In this way, I won't require bandaging myself as often.
And now, THE BREI!
This really is an easy meal to prepare, but I'm somewhat wordy, and like to give warnings and such. It'll probably take loner to give the recipe than actually cook it. =P And understand that this is a bachelor's way of cooking, and not a cooking manual. Double =P !
You'll need:
3 boards of matzoh
2 Eggs (and a small bowl to scramble them)
Cooking oil (vegetable of canola works)
Kosher salt
Something to mix stuff with, like a giant spoon
A cooking pan
A plate that fits over said pan with a little room to spare
A mixing bowl
A colander
1: Soak the matzoh completely. Down it if you have to. You want none of it to remain crispy.
2: While that's happening, get your eggs scrambled and start warming up some oil in the pan. I usually go with a low-medium heat to get it going. Warming up the oil makes it easier to make it HOT when you need it.
3: Once the matzoh is completely soggy, use the colander to drain all the water from it. Being the thug that I am, I'll use my hand to press the excess water from it. It makes a mess, but then I don't know what this "neat" thing is. =P
4: Dump the matzoh into the mixing bowl with the eggs. Add pepper as you'd like. Then add...ummm...this much Kosher salt. Here, I'll show you. (*Shakes box of Kosher salt over the bowl, allowing an undetermined amount to land in the mix*) Did that help at all? I didn't think so. There's no telling you exactly how much to use, as I've never measured it. Becky has made it herself, and says a palm's worth wasn't quite enough. You'll have to experiment. Sorry.
5: While mixing all of that up, start getting that oil good and hot.
6: Once the oil is hot, dump to contents of the mixing bowl into the pan and spread it evenly to form a circular pie-shaped thing. You might want to GENTLY shake the pan back and forth to ensure none of the mixture is sticking. Then lower the heat immediately to low-medium again.
7: Cook at that temp for about five minutes. That should help it to cook through, as well as give it a golden brown color on the side that's against the pan. When five minutes are up, increase the heat to the same temp when you got the pan hot for about a minute.
8: Now for the "fun" part of flipping the matzoh brei. CAREFULLY place the plate over the pan, hold the plate firmly in place, and carry them to over the sink. (You don't want to accidentally drip hot oil onto the stove.) Now flip the pan/plate. What you should see on the plate is a "matzoh pie" that's golden brown in color. If not, place the pan over it, flip it back, and cook for a little longer. (Pay a visit to step 10, even if you need to cook it a bit more.) If it IS golden brown...
9: You have to get the uncooked side of the matzoh brie back into the pan. Being uncooked, however, it's not going to just side in there. I tend to shake the plate, vibrating the brei back into the pan. This tends to leave tiny bits of brei on the plate, but we'll address that in a moment.
10: Before you you return the pan to the stove, use a moist paper towel to wipe away and oil that's managed to drip to the understand. FOR THE LOVE OF G-D, BE CAREFUL! This is where I burned my finger. Still, oil that's been burnt to a pan is incredibly hard to get off, so if you care about your cookware, take this step, and then return the pan to the stove. Reduce the heat once more and cook for another five minutes.
11: While it's cooking, you might want to clean that late you used to flip it. My father may have been able to taste uncooked matzoh brei when I was a kid, but I'm not a fan of it. It's a quick wash, and be sure to dry the plate thoroughly. If you're lazy, just use another plate.
12: While your at it, and this has nothing to do with the actual cooking, but you might want to clean up a bit. I mean, you now have a small bowl you scrambled eggs in, a mixing bowl, a colander, and large spoon, all sitting in the sink waiting for someone to wash them. Do that now while your food cooks. =)
13: It's time to flip your matzoh brei again. It's the same process as before, but with less of chance for a mess. Again, the matzoh brei should be a golden brown. If not, cook for a bit longer.
14: This creation is now EXTREMELY hot. Give it a little time to cool off before eating any of it.
And there you have it. Some nice Jewish cooking, brought to you by a guy who isn't allowed to cook meatloaf, as per court order. (The last victim of my meatloaf is still lying in a coma.) I wish I could be more precise on the part with the salt, but it's ALWAYS been guesswork. Sometimes I'll put a lot in, and then wonder where it all went. At other times, I'll put too little, but then manage to take a bit that seems to be filled with ALL of the salt I added. And the pepper is really something you add to your own taste. I know people who put no pepper in it and sprinkle sugar on their matzoh brei once it's cooked. Different strokes for different folks, y'know?
This has been "Cooking with Bor." Remember our motto: "Never fry bacon when your naked!"
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Getting the second degree
Posted by Rob Meadows at 8:00 AM
Labels: Becky, Klutziness, Pain
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Nafessa Williams
IMDB : Nafessa Williams - IMDB(nm4049910)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Photo Gallery
|Movie Name
|Release Date
The Man in 3B
Daryl Graham (Lamman Rucker) has just moved into a Jamaica, Queens, apartment building and his neighbors, both male and female alike, can't stop talking about him. From his extreme attractiveness to his undeniable swag, Daryl is the man every woman wants and every man wants to be. Connie (Brely Evans), an unhappy wife, turns to Daryl for help losing weight, hoping to fix her marriage. But when Daryl starts making Connie feel beautiful again, she questions whether her marriage is worth saving. Benny (Robert Ri'chard), a spoiled teenager raised by a single father, looks up to Daryl. When an unexpected event occurs, Benny is left questioning everything he's ever known to be true. Krystal (Nafessa Williams), Daryl's first love, wants to make things work with her current boyfriend. Yet having Daryl back in her life sends her happy home spiraling out of control.
Burning Sands
Deep into Hell Week, a favored pledgee is torn between honoring his code of silence or standing up against the intensifying violence of underground hazing.
Seventeen-year-old Nicole Gordon begrudgingly moves to Philadelphia from the wealthy suburbs when her mother becomes the city's new Assistant DA. As Nicole explores the city's streets, new-found friends put her in the middle of an escalating drug war and in the crosshairs of her mother's own investigation.
Chronicles Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.
Brotherly Love
West Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.
True to the Game
Based on the Terri Woods best selling novel, True to the Game is the love story of Quadir Richards, a charismatic drug lord, and Gena Rollins, a young girl from the projects of Philly. Quadir was able to gain the trust and love of Gena and was on his way out of the game to start a new life with his future bride when tragedy strikes.


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Russ & Josh are hosting and their guest, Jeff Torello, is coming on the show! We'll be discussing the vPro Expert Training program & recently posted Activation training materials. Join us live!
When: April 7th @ 3:30 PM
Call-in Number: (347) 326-9831
Here's the scoop,again
, for those who haven't heard...
Hosted by Josh Hilliker & Russ Pam, this bi-weekly informal show will be covering a variety of topics and is a perfect avenue to get your questions answered. Listen in live, give your two cents, or just download the show after it has aired. Make sure not to miss out on this awesome opportunity to learn and engage with the vPro experts. Can't join us live? Have no fear, blogtalkradio let's you listen to the show whenever you have the time. Visit the Open Port Radio site (link is above) to hear previous shows and even catch a glimpse of what's to come!
Questions, comments, or concerns? Feel free to contact me.


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I stalked a flock of wild turkeys today. They began to fly down the hill I was on and I managed to catch many in flight. More of the photos can be seen in my Wild Turkeys Set on Flickr. They are not very graceful when they fly. But it was wonderful hearing them call to each other as they met under a grove of fir trees after their flight.
Technorati Tags: wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo


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Death Metal
Hope Mills, NC
Christian / Rock / Alternative
Melbourne, Australia
AUBURN Pro
Christian / Metalcore / Rock
Taunton, MA
Techno / Electronic
Ellington, CT
Rap / Hip Hop
Brooklyn, NJ
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Spent 2001-2006 implementing lint in Suffolk, NY. Practiced in the art of licensing Mr. Spent 2001-2007 selling toy planes with no outside help. Crossed the country donating Uno for farmers. Have some experience developing knowledge about simple totke to control husband in Ocean City, NJ. In 2009 I was analyzing banjos in West Palm Beach, FL.


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here i find myself seeking online help, something completely out the norm. I love my husband, we have been married for about 5 years now and we have a daughter that is 2 1/2. I have issues that were never really resolved before we got married like the fact that he used to cheat on me, since being married i dont think that he has cheated but he has also not been givin the oppertunity until recently. (he is in the military just recently deployed). He has never really stood up for me when it really counted like when his mom ignores what i say when it comes to OUR daughter; that's just one example there are so many more. I have been begging him to go to marriage counseling for years, he always says no that he is happy. well... IM NOT! I havent been for years yet he doesnt seem to care. I have done everything for this man and i feel like if we did not have a child together i would have left years ago.
I recently found a very recent picture that was taken of him feeding another woman his food while at work. This truly tore me up yet at the same time I felt like I should have known better and I should have expected this kind of act from him. Needless to say trust is an issue now if it wasnt before. He said it was just a picture and nothing ever happened but how do i know? I guess I never truly can.
Now, my vows mean everything to me... at least they did and I am ALWAYS against leaving a person while they are deployed. I just feel like I should be missing him and I dont. I feel like his unwillingness to work on us for so long has truly taken its toll on me.
he says he will do anything to make me happy(now that I told him im not sure where we will be when he returns) but how do i know he is serious when he is so far away and cant actually do what i want now (counseling) how do I know that when he gets back he will still do anything? I guess i sit and wait? I just don't know what to do. I feel like it is already over, I feel like i'm just afraid my daughter wont know her dad if we divorce and I think i am just scared that since I have been a stay at home mom for so long that he will take my daughter from me because I cannot support her finacially. That would crush my world. She is EVERYTHING to me. Now I have recently done something so out of character for me and I dont feel bad about it.( I am sure you can figure out what it was that i did.) isnt that a sign that it is over? I mean i feel bad that it happened with him deployed but i am pretty sure it would have happened even if he wasnt. thas was truly a one time thing and its not like I have moved on to be emotionally involved with anyone. that is not even something i want or need right now.
I realize I may get some harsh responses here after stating he is military and what I did, but I am hoping for help. i am so lost and confused. I dont know if divorce is right or if i should wait and see if he is serious about counseling and we try that first. I just kind of feel like its too late.
so online forum users, What is your advice?
Asked by Anonymous at 12:37 AM on Jan. 23, 2011 in Relationships
You need to get a divorce. You are looking for other options outside of your marriage. You should just walk away. As for your child find a job and show that you can support her. I doubt you would lose custody of her. You will probably have to share custody with him. Ask yourself this do you honestly think that you can make amends with your marriage? Your vows have been broke. Can your marriage be fixed? Well that is all up to you and our husbands. He needs to know the truth. Don't let years pass between the two of you that will cause you to resentment him even more. Ultimately you have to be the one that makes the decision for your own self. Best of luck.
Answer by sheer_heart at 12:48 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by beyondhopes at 12:54 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by Raine2001 at 12:56 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by harris4 at 1:05 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by harris4 at 1:06 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by Michigan-Mom74 at 3:15 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by heartsicksiren at 3:27 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by Scuba at 9:15 AM on Jan. 23, 2011
Answer by sarchasmicangel at 1:48 PM on Jan. 23, 2011
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text: And probably more so...... depending on how you conceal the gun, .....know a fellow who carry's a small 5 shot 22. mag in his pocket, we target shoot together, now and then, anyhow, we decided to see how much slower he was at getting a first shot off(I carry an XDs openly on my right side), well I took the liberty of taking as many shots as I could before he fired his first shot.....I ended up with 4 shots taken, taking a 5th shot about the same time he took his first, hitting my target all 5 times(targets were only 20' away)......anyway, he knows now just how slow he is at getting his gun OUT of his pocket compared to carrying a firearm openly with nothing in your way. I don't think this (entertaining) exersize will change his mind about how he carry's but at least he's aware of the issues he has with concealing his gun the way he does. Just another reason to carry openly, I'd say!


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Description: This is a varied form of the amino acid acetylcysteine. It is commonly used to increase the levels of glutathione in the body, for detoxification, and as a mucus thinner.
Precautions: Long-term use may deplete zinc and copper levels. Nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, and abdominal pain have been reported with supplementation. People with liver or kidney disease should not supplement amino acids unless under the direction of a health-care professional.
Dosage: Take 500 to 1,500 mg daily.
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Greetings to all:
Looking forward to being active member, but right now all the online companies that I buy my software from have GPO on back order and one is not offering the product.
Guitarist with piano back-ground; guitar for 46 years.
Gear consists of:
GEAR: pcAudioLab with Quiet Operation 450; Lian-Li PC7 - plus Case
ASUS A8V MB w/AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 Dual Core, 2.2 GHz
ATI Radeon 9250 128MB Dual VGA (will have dual LCD 19s in December)
OS-Windows XP Pro w/ 2GB DDR400
Drives: Dual Plextor 16x Dual Layer DVD /-RW 2MB
80GB EIDE OS and Programs
2 - 250GB SATA II - (Audio Drive & VSTi / Sample Drive)
Audio Interface: EMU 1820M
Sequencer: Cubase SL3
Soft-Synth: Absynth 3 , HGFortune's Amnient synths
Pair of AKG C-1000S, AKG C-414
Monitors : - Behringer B2031A Truth
Guitar Synth: - Roland GR-33
Keyboard: - Casio CPS-101 w/MIDI I/O ( Having difficult time deciding what to replace this keyboard with)
Guitars: - Godin Multiac Steel String, Martin HD-28 SE, Taylor 512-C, Gallagher 1979 71-Special,
Have been impressed with the talent out here using the products.
Have a blessed Holiday season,


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Does the depression cause physical state conducive to heart disease, or does heart disease have a hand in causing depression. It is difficult for me to make a good guess, because in spite of my intermittent periods of severe depression since my late 30's, I have no indicators of cardiovascular disease- at least none as of now, 20 years later.
"God is the name by which I designate all things which cross my path violently and recklessly, all things which alter my plans and intentions, and change the course of my life, for better or for worse."
-C G Jung
I fight against the ignorant, irresponsible, and/or closed-minded.
This group is the worst enemy of America and its freedoms. It includes, but is not limited to, all Trump supporters.
Wow. Just saw the RW was in the early stages of Parkinsons...
www.cnn.comRobin Williams was struggling with early stages of Parkinson's disease when he died, his wife said. His "sobriety was intact," she said
This is a fascinating 'give me the boy til he's 7 and I'll give you the man' series which suggests that the direction of our lives are largely determined at a very early age. What "56 Up" Reveals - The New Yorker
Einstein, "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."


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Asia Bizz: Verizon, US based wireless communication giant, shockingly has not mentioned anything about the Apple iPhone 4G. There were loads of rumours, which even turned into news, that Verizon will be coming up with the Apple iPhone 4G in the US very soon. On the other Apple iPad is going to have a tough time, as there are many competitors who have unveiled several tablet PC's of their own.
Ivan Seidenberg, the CEO of Verizon failed to mention any mention about the iPhone, as there were loads of speculations into this news. Rather he spoke about the company's LTE technology and also the FiOS, and in addition to that the concept of 'TV Everywhere', which will allow the user to stream into video anywhere in the US.
Even though the Verizon CEO has not mentioned anything about the iPhone, experts still say that they are expecting the phone to be launched in the coming few weeks. Apple on the other hand has not quoted on this, nor has Verizon confirmed it.
Source: macrumours


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May 5th, 2014
The debate regarding whether it costs less to own or rent a home is ongoing, but consensus tends to be that ownership is more affordable. Previous research from Zillow has supported this assertion, and recent data from the online real estate marketplace has shown that buying a home trumps renting in half of U.S. metros after only two years.
The Zillow breakeven horizon calculates how many years it would take before buying becomes more affordable than renting the same property. In some metros, the span is much wider than others. For example, Washington, D.C., had the longest breakeven horizon during the first quarter of 2014, as it is estimated to take 4.2 years for the transition to occur. In Riverside, California, however, the change can happen in as little as 0.9 years.
"Rising rents and low mortgage rates have helped skew the rent vs. buy decision toward buying for those who can afford it, leaving renters wondering why bother renewing a lease when they may be able to break even on a home purchase in less time," Zillow said.


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Newbie looking to get geared up
View Single Post
September 9th, 2013, 17:32
Trader rating
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Mississauga, On
Newbie looking to get geared up
Hello everyone. I am new to airsoft and looking for advice on gear. I'm 37 yrs old and employed so please don't mistakenly think your talking to a child. (I intend to be age verified ASAP). Regarding budget, as many of my friends would say....I have more money than sense....by this I mean that I am willing to spend some money for quality stuff. I don't need, nor can I afford all top of the line but I don't want the cheapest either. All I have so far is my primary, a G&G TR16 R4 Commando with Li-po battery and charger. I am looking at the G&G extreme 45 as a secondary but would be willing to spend a little more if anyone has a recommendation. I am aware of the basics that I need, being proper eye and face protection, and good pair of boots. I am also aware that my setup would be different for a skirmish as opposed to a 24hr or more game. What I am really more interested in is opinions on a chest rig or vest, what pouches, hydration techniques and that sort of thing I would want to include. I have been asking questions of anyone willing to answer and I usually get the response that its all your preference which I understand completely and I am sure I will make my own adjustments as time goes on, but if anyone out there could let me know what they use and why, where they locate things on their rig and why it would be greatly appreciated. The mag for my primary has a 450 round capacity, therefore would I really need 4 or 5 or 6 extra mag pouches? Answers to questions like that and any other advice or opinions you could provide would be greatly appreciated. And thank you for taking the time to read this long winded post.
I Should also mention that Army Issue in Port Credit (Mississauga) has become my new most favoritest store in the world so anything available there would be preferred. Everyone there has patiently answered all of my questions and treated me very well.
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We bring the Minecraft sheep to life with LEGO bricks! Yielding coloured wool when dyed, spawning in grass filled pastures, here is the mob's blocky real life replica!
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This book is about a Minecraft super sheep. He is different than other ones, and his name is Matt. He has the ability to fly and to rescue other sheep in danger. But after saving the lives of his fellow sheep one by one, he faces an unexpected threat, a possible calamity which requires his mind to come up with creative solutions and super strength. Find out more about Matt, a Minecraft super sheep with great courage and determination.


text: This is the entry hall to Colonial Williamsburg's Visitor's Center. It is the beginning of an unusual experience in the world's largest living history museum; Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. Williamsburg was the capitol of Virginia before and during the Revolutionary War. It played host to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry while they were members of the colonial legislature. The town was restored to its colonial splendor beginning in the 1930's through the persistence of the rector of Bruton Parish church and the generosity of John D. Rockefeller.


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THE day started badly with Sampdoria's match with Bologna postponed due to stormy weather and it progressed with some near misses.
I changed the Super Single from damp Samp to Harry Kane to score and that proved a bit of a damp squib as they Spurs striker failed to net with a couple of chances ay Sunderland.
It was two out of three on the over 2.5 goals treble and two out of three on the Top Treble. Fine if you do singles but not for the accumulators.
The Top Treble was the sorest one with Celta Vigo twice losing two-goal leads to 10-man visitors Celta Vigo.
Greg Browning was spot on again with his nap thanks to loads of goals at Lucerne and there were good tips from loads of sources. There was also a bit of spat between Jordan and Ryan and that's disappointing to see as we're all trying to beat the bookies and should be supporting each other.
The Sampdoria game has been rescheduled for tonight so bets with most bookies will stand and I see no reason not to take them as the Super Single having been confident to do so on Sunday.
Samp have started the season well scoring plenty of goals while Bologna have struggled have suffered defeats to Sassuolo and Lazio and a cup loss to lower-league Pavia. I quoted the home win at 17-20 on Sunday but good news is today it's slightly better at 20-21 with McBookie and BetVictor I've just taken that.
The Premier League match sees West Ham entertain Newcastle and lots of people will be supporting the Geordies just to see Chelsea drop into the relegation zone.
I not sure how to call it as it's been a strange start for the Hammers who have won at Arsenal and Liverpool but been beaten at home by Bournemouth and Leicester.
Newcastle started by drawing 2-2 with Southampton but haven't scored since in defeats to Swansea and Arsenal and a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. So to summarise the Hammers are struggling at home and Newcastle have failed to score in seven of their last eight trips. It's a no bet for me but I'd be tempted by unders.
Another game that cries out unders is Rayo v Deportivo in La Liga tonight. Six of Rayo's last seven games in La Liga have gone under 2.5 goals as have five of Depor's previous six. On top of that the visitors have drawn five of their last six away and this could be a 0-0 or 1-1.
I'm not a massive fan of unders because an early goal can change the whole complexion but McBookie and BetVictor are offering 20-23 which seems fair.
Double this with St Pauli to score over 1.5 goals at home to Duisburg. It's been some time since I visited Bundesliga 2 but a glance at the table shows promoted Duisburg sitting bottom with two points from five games and 12 goals conceded – in fact they've let in at least two a game as the draws were both 2-2.
St Pauli on the other hand have started well with three wins and a draw in their last four and should notch another here. The win is a best 8-11 at boylesports but over 1.5 home goals is a better price at 20-23.
In the international break they played two friendlies – losing just 2-1 to Dortmund and horsing Horst 15-0 so they should be ready. I noticed Horst have conceded 41 goals in recent friendlies to St Pauli, Hamburg and Feyenoord so they really are whipping boys and ones to watch for potential goals betting in future match-ups with the big boys.
In today's Daily Record my colleague Craig Swan flags up Ajax to beat Celtic in their first-leg tie on Thursday and I couldn't agree more.
Celtic are in a bit of disarray at the moment with their Champions League exit followed by a defeat at Aberdeen and boss Ronny Deila is under increasing pressure to produce results.
An Ajax side packed with quality should win in Amsterdam against an outfit who have been conceding too many goals and I'm putting them up now in expectation of a price drop. Ajax are just under evens with McBookie and BetVictor.
Hitmen Anwar El-Ghazi and Arkadiusz Milik will be eyeing up a shot at the Scots defence which has Dedryck Boyata struggling and Tyler Blackett and Jozo Simunociv settling in and both Dutch stars are 7-4 with Skybet to score. Over 1.5 Ajax goals also tempts at 10-11 with Ladbrokes.
I've written my Aberdeen v Hamilton preview for tomorrow's Record and it's difficult to see past the leaders at 4-9 on Tuesday. I'll have a full preview on this game tonight.
And talking of Scottish football – we made plenty of money on Rangers -2 at the weekend although one more goal would have been beautiful.
The Ibrox men go to Dumbarton looking for 11 wins in a row and while it's a tougher match they should still win with something to spare. Interestingly the Gers players were full of criticism of their own display and that's good to hear after a 3-0 win – it suggests they'll want to do better at the CID Stadium and let's hope Dumbarton cop a doing.
Early prices show Ladbrokes offering 5-6 on over 2.5 Rangers goals and I'd expect that to come in. Also tempting is Rangers to be leading at half-time at 4-7 with Ladbrokes.
3pts Super Single
Sampdoria (7.45pm)
(20-21, BetVictor)
2pts Daily Double
St Pauli over 1.5 goals (7.15pm)
Rayo-Deportivo under 2.5 goals (7.30pm)
(5-2, boylesports)
3pts Super Single
Ajax (6pm, Thursday)
(9-10, McBookie, BetVictor)
September Super Single record
16 bets (5 winners, 13 losers)
Loss: 8.15pts
Advised Accas
21 bets (2 winners, 19 losers)
Loss: 10.5pts
Remember to check out our friends at WeLoveBetting for their latest tips and previews.
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text:
41st Annual St. George Greek Festival
St. George Greek Orthodox Church presents its annual three-day festival featuring delicious homemade Greek food and pastries, live Greek music by Prometheus, folk dance performances by the St. George Youth Dancers, arts and crafts, Agora Marketplace, raffles and church tours. Fri 9/9 & Sat 9/10 11:00 am to 11:00 pm; Sun 9/11 12 noon to 5:00 pm. All the fun takes place in downtown Schenectady in the Hellenic Center, 510 Liberty St. Free admission. Rain or shine. This is one festival you don't want to miss! Info call 518-393-0742 or visit www.saintgeorgegoc.com
Hellenic Center, 510 Liberty Street, Schenectady, NY 12305
107 Clinton St Ext, Schenectady, NY 12305, United States
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Now stop complaining I never get you a present.
Stella is sorry you didn't get everything you wanted, as she did not wake up under anyone's tree with a bow on her head. Maybe next year...
Labels: happy holidays., pin-up, sex, underpinnings
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Th 037 Spice Bush is a $50,000 home on a 0.23 acre lot located in Hazel Township, PA.
Eagle Rock Resort- Build Your Dream Home on this Beautiful Wooded Lot!! Live Like your on Vacation Year Round in this Beautiful Location. Enjoy Mountain and Valley Views. Enjoy the many amenities that this resort offers. Skiing, Spa, Fitness Center, Lake with Beach Area, restaurants, along with New Indoor Aquatic Center.
|Interior Features
Room List - Master Bedroom
|Parking Types
Parking Type - None
|Exterior Features
Association Rules - HOA - Yes
|Land Type
Sale Includes - Land Only
|Water Source
Private/Community Water
Private/Community Septic Tank
|Property Type
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hazleton area
Eagle Rock
The data relating to real estate for sale on this website appears in part through the BRIGHT Internet Data Exchange program, a voluntary cooperative exchange of property listing data between licensed real estate brokerage firms in which participates, and is provided by BRIGHT through a licensing agreement. Copyright BRIGHT, All Rights Reserved. Data last updated 05/21/2018 at 10:21pm MDT. The information provided by this website is for the personal, non-commercial use of consumers and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Some properties which appear for sale on this website may no longer be available because they are under contract, have Closed or are no longer being offered for sale. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Some real estate firms do not participate in IDX and their listings do not appear on this website. Some properties listed with participating firms do not appear on this website at the request of the seller.


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Testimony Before House Ways and Means Committee Regarding Social Security
Witness: Lawrence A. Hunter
Testimony Date 05/31/2005
Body of Congress: U.S. House of Representatives
Committee: Committee on Ways and Means
At the Request of:
Testimony Subject:
Alternatives to Strengthen Social Security
Presented before
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on Ways and Means
Alternatives to Strengthen Social Security
Dr. Lawrence A. Hunter
Vice President and Chief Economist of the Free Enterprise Fund and
Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Policy Innovation
May 12, 2005
Thank you, Mr. Chairman for allowing me to express the views of the Free Enterprise Fund on ways to strengthen Social Security through personal retirement accounts.
The basic structure of Social Security has changed very little over the years but two things about the program have changed dramatically, both of them as a consequence of attempting to maintain the pay-as-you-go system in the face of a steeply declining worker-to-beneficiary ratio. First, contribution rates (FICA tax rates) now comprise a greater share of workers' income than financial analysts say is necessary to pre-fund an adequate retirement income if funds are invested in real assets. Second, the rate of return workers enjoy on the FICA taxes they and their employers pay has gone from hugely positive to barely greater than zero.
A seeming paradox arises. Everyone is coming to realize that Social Security is a very bad deal for today's workers at the same time many politicians who must confront Social Security's looming insolvency insist Social Security benefits are extravagant because they soon will exceed the revenue the system generates. It is disconcerting that politicians from both sides of the partisan divide propose making a bad deal worse for workers by cutting promised future benefits as a means of making Social Security "solvent," which is to say they are proposing what works for Washington rather than what works for workers.
When politicians are forced to reconcile their claim that Social Security currently makes extravagant promises with the painfully obvious reality that workers realize pitiful rates of return on their FICA contributions, they usually resort to a non sequitur. They point out that under the current benefits formula, which indexes future initial Social Security benefits to the rate of real wage growth in the economy, the level of initial Social Security benefits increases faster than inflation, as if that result somehow is unreasonable. Zero real growth in retirement benefits is a curious benchmark to set for a new pre-funded, market-based retirement system and an especially odd position for advocates of personal retirement accounts to take given that one would expect private investment income to increase over time at least as fast as private-sector wages. Moreover, this explanation fails to reconcile how benefits can be at the same time both a bad deal and extravagant.
I urge the Committee to critically examine the logic behind the argument that the initial level of retirement benefits should not increase faster than the rate of inflation. If you do, I believe you will discover that underlying this belief is an unwarranted presumption that workers should not expect a positive real rate of return of any magnitude on the FICA contributions they make throughout their working careers. To appreciate how odd this sounds to workers being urged to support market-based personal accounts, consider the reaction one would get if he made a similar argument to investors in the private sector that they should not expect a rate of return on their investments greater than inflation. Such a suggestion would be met with incredulity. After all, dividends and capital gains are not welfare. Here, I suspect, is the crux of the matter. The only logical basis for concluding that Social Security retirement benefits should not increase faster than the rate of inflation is the premise that Social Security benefits are a form of welfare.
While characterizing Social Security as welfare may have been valid in earlier days, when benefits far outstripped what workers paid into the system, it no longer applies. Moreover, low- and many middle-income workers today pay so much of their income in FICA contributions that they find it difficult or impossible to save much more for their retirement outside Social Security.
American workers have a very keen sense of inconsistency on the part of politicians. They will become confused and then suspicious and eventually rebellious when they hear politicians on the one hand confirm their own sense that Social Security is a bad deal but then turn around and lecture them on the need to cut promised future benefits even more. In my opinion, a majority of the American people never will support a Social Security reform plan that is built on these contradictory notions.
Current Social Security Contribution Rate Is Higher than Necessary to Fund Full Blown Retirement Plan
We still think of Social Security as a supplemental, back-up retirement program—and the benefits it promises certainly are less than adequate as the sole source of retirement income. The reality is, however, the FICA tax burden the program imposes on workers substantially exceeds the contribution rate a full-blown retirement plan would require to generate higher retirement benefits. While many people continue to think of Social Security as "social insurance," it has, in fact, evolved into a very poorly designed, inadequate government-operated defined benefits plan built on a mountain of government debt and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Protestations of scholars and politicians to the contrary, that is how the vast majority of American workers perceive Social Security today.
Workers have good reason to view Social Security this way. If the 12.4 percent of their income workers and their employers currently contribute to Social Security were invested through personal retirement accounts in real, productive assets, the investment income from the accounts would be more than adequate to provide workers a secure and prosperous retirement at a level substantially above what Social Security currently promises but can't pay. So much so, in fact, that a portion of that 12.4 percent could be reserved by the government as true "social insurance" against disability and other calamities that might make it impossible for a relatively small number of workers to accumulate sufficient assets by the end of their working careers to enjoy retirement benefits at least as generous as Social Security currently promises.
The personal retirement accounts plan introduced by Congressman Paul Ryan (H.R. 1776) and its Senate companion introduced by Senator John Sununu (S. 857) demonstrate this point conclusively. By allowing workers to invest between five and ten percent of their wages through personal retirement accounts—lower-wage workers would be able to save a larger share of their income—it is possible to generate sufficient investment income from the accounts to raise retirement benefits substantially above what Social Security currently promises but cannot pay. The Ryan/Sununu plan leaves in place more than enough of the current 12.4 percent FICA contributions (about four percentage points) to finance the disability program and a secure government safety net equal to the level of Social Security benefits currently promised while also reducing payroll taxes eventually about two percentage points.
The large personal accounts created under the Ryan/Sununu plan would be so powerful they would eliminate Social Security's long-term financial crisis and eliminate Social Security deficits completely over time without the benefit cuts or tax increases or hikes in the retirement age. That is because so much of Social Security's benefit obligations, ultimately 95 percent, are shifted to the accounts, thus reducing the federal government's need to pay Social Security benefits. As the Chief Actuary stated in his analysis of the Ryan/Sununu plan, "the Social Security program would be expected to be solvent and to meet its benefit obligations throughout the long-range period 2003 through 2077 and beyond."
Social Security Is A Bad Deal for Today's Workers
For most workers in the work force today middle aged and younger, the real rate of return Social Security promises to pay them on the taxes they and their employers pay into the system would be one percent to 1.5 percent, or less. For many workers, it would be zero or negative.
Allowing workers to invest a substantial portion of their FICA contributions in real assets through personal retirement accounts is the only way to avoid forcing workers to labor their whole life for a pittance of a handout from the government in retirement. Attempting to overcome the declining worker-to-beneficiary ratio by raising the cap on the payroll tax would reduce the currently pitiful rate of return from Social Security even more for higher income workers. Cutting future benefits through so-called "progressive price indexing" would reduce that rate of return for all but the lowest income workers. Even for the low-income workers it supposedly "protects," "progressive price indexing" would do nothing to improve their return. Raising the retirement age is just another way to reduce everyone's rate of return by making them work longer to receive the same level of benefits.
All three conventional attempts to outpace the declining worker-to-beneficiary ratio, i.e., to make Social Security as we know it "solvent" without introducing personal retirement accounts, simply make a bad deal worse for workers by asking them to pay more, work longer and get less. This is precisely what the Congress did in 1977 and again in 1983. It didn't work then, and it won't work now.
President Bill Clinton recognized this reality back in 1998 when he said, "We all know that there are basically only three options: We can raise taxes again, which no one wants to do. . .We can cut benefits. . .Or we can work together to try to find some way to increase the rate of return. . . Even after you take account of the stock market going down and maybe staying down for a few years,shouldn't we consider investing some of this money, because, otherwise, we'll have to either cut benefits or raise taxes to cover them, if we can't raise the rate of return."
Small add-on accounts won't solve the problem either. Supplemental add-on accounts that attempt to fill in for cuts in guaranteed Social Security benefits (such as progressive price indexing) may succeed in maintaining the overall level of a worker's retirement income but will do so by raising workers' combined contribution rate and lowering the overall rate of return. With add-on accounts, workers would end up contributing even more than the already excessive 12.4 percent or not using the accounts and exposing themselves to the benefit cuts under price indexing. If small add-on accounts are accompanied by tax increases as well, the contribution burden increases yet again, and the rate of return falls commensurately. Add-on accounts, therefore, are just another way to force workers to pay more for the same level of benefits with an added element of risk.
Another idea under consideration, I know, is to give workers greater incentives to save more for their retirement by reforming the tax code, expanding IRAs, 401(k)s and so forth. These are all good ideas but should not, in my opinion, be enacted as a substitute for fixing Social Security the right way, namely allowing workers to save a portion of the payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts. Eliminating the tax bias against saving and investing should be undertaken independently of Social Security, on efficiency grounds to make the tax code as neutral as possible between saving and consumption. In my opinion though, this tax reform should not be conceived as a means of offsetting cuts to promised future Social Security benefits. As I observed above, too many workers already find it difficult to impossible to save much beyond the 12.4 percent they are forced to pay into Social Security.
Two Persistent Myths about Social Security
Just as the outdated image of Social Security as "social insurance" lingers on, so does the image of Social Security as some kind of welfare program. This image, contrary to current economic reality, has been reinforced by the legal status of the program over the years. Clearly, in the early days of the program, when workers received rates of return in excess of 15 percent, 25 percent and even 35 percent for the earliest cohort of beneficiaries born before the turn of the century, Social Security could be considered a "welfare" program, i.e., people were getting from government far more than they contributed to it.
Today, I believe the willingness, indeed the enthusiasm of some folks to cut promised future Social Security benefits arises from failing to take into account the reality that Social Security has evolved from "social insurance" (i.e., "welfare") into a very poorly designed, inadequate government-operated defined benefits plan perched on a mountain of debt and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. If Social Security is viewed as welfare, workers' payroll taxes are not considered retirement contributions but rather as coerced tax payments that are used to pay welfare benefits to people who did not earn them. Thus, the welfare recipient (i.e., the Social Security beneficiary) should have no contractual right to the benefits. Neither should there be a moral, legal or political right for current workers to expect future workers to pay them welfare payments (i.e., Social Security benefits) when they retire even though they spent their entire working careers paying taxes to finance welfare (i.e., Social Security) benefits to their parents' and grandparents' generations.
By definition, then, if Social Security is viewed as welfare, benefits promised in the future that cannot be financed by payroll taxes are ipso facto "extravagant," "unsustainable," and, therefore, legitimately can be reduced since workers have no moral, legal or political claim to them.
Failing to recognize the changed reality of the situation—Social Security has evolved into a very poorly designed, inadequate government-operated defined benefit's plan built on a mountain of government debt obligations to future retirees—also leads to confusion about what actually transpires if and when the government attempts to stop the bleeding by transforming the system into a financially sound pre-funded retirement system.
There is a widespread misconception that every dollar of payroll tax revenue "re-directed" or "diverted" into personal retirement accounts to begin pre-funding retirement benefits generates a new "transition" cost because it "siphons away" a dollar from Social Security that otherwise would be available to pay current retirement benefits. If personal accounts are created, that revenue must be generated from some other source (higher taxes, existing revenue reallocated away from other spending, borrowing). This formulation of the so-called "transition problem" fails to recognize that every payroll-tax dollar directed into personal retirement accounts is actually a dollar less indebtedness incurred by the federal government. Every payroll-tax dollar not "diverted" into paying current retirement benefits (the real "diversion" is the current diversion of FICA contributions to pay current benefits) is actually a dollar that can be devoted to pre-funding future benefits, which in turn reduces a future liability of the federal government.
There are no transition costs; there are only changes in cash flow, and compared to the size of the overall economy, those cash-flow changes are small.
Allowing workers to place a share of their payroll taxes into personal accounts sufficiently large enough to pre-fund currently promised benefits actually reduces federal indebtedness. The temporary cash-flow crunch that results—the short-fall in available funds to pay all currently promised Social Security benefits—arises because the government would be borrowing less. Therefore, if the Congress turns around and decides to borrow funds to cover the cash-flow shortage, it would be simply substituting one form of debt with another. The net level of borrowing is unchanged. However, the federal government's long-run, off-balance-sheet liability that must be paid out of the federal treasury to pay future retirement benefits is dramatically reduced. Devoting current payroll tax revenue to pre-funding future retirement benefits will produce greater investment income in the personal retirement accounts than the government could count on in future payroll tax revenues at current tax rates. This gain will relieve government of the obligation to spend so much on retirement benefits in the future, eventually covering virtually all future retirement benefits out of the personal accounts and eliminating the federal unfunded liability altogether.
In other words, contrary to conventional wisdom, sufficiently large personal retirement accounts do indeed solve the problem. It is only insufficiently large accounts—i.e., accounts not large enough to generate enough investment income to cover all promised Social Security benefits—that fail to solve the problem. Indeed, insufficiently large accounts leave a residual problem, which can only be covered by higher taxes, lower benefits or truly new borrowing.
The irony is that an aversion to borrowing (which results from a misunderstanding of the role borrowing plays in the current program and the role it reasonably could play in creating personal accounts) has led many proponents of personal accounts in the name of "fiscal prudence" to reject large accounts and embrace small accounts, which only exacerbate rather than solving the solvency problem.
This welter of confusion and disorientation has produced a fallacious chain of reasoning by even some proponents of personal retirement accounts:
False Premise: Social Security is a welfare program so promised benefits legitimately can be cut without breaching any moral, legal or political obligation;
False Premise: Allowing workers to place a substantial portion of their payroll tax contributions into personal retirement accounts creates a net new cost that cannot be financed by borrowing without adding to national indebtedness;
False Conclusion: Personal Accounts, therefore, do nothing to solve Social Security's financing problem;
False Corollary: Consequently, large cuts in promised future benefits, tax increases and/or new borrowing are required to restore solvency to the system;
A real solution can be outlined as follows:
· Create sufficiently large accounts, which will solve the solvency problem;
· Address the cash-flow crunch created when workers are allowed to invest a sufficient amount of their payroll tax contributions through large accounts by:
o Restraining spending growth in the rest of the budget and reallocating the savings to help pay all promised Social Security benefits in full and on time;
o Enacting tax reforms to raise the after-tax returns to work, saving and investing, which will generate a dynamic revenue feedback effect to help pay all promised Social security benefits in full and on time;
o Refinance part of the outstanding Social Security liability by borrowing whatever is required after tax reforms and spending restraint are enacted to alleviate any remaining cash-flow crunch:
§ Borrowing first from the funds workers save in their personal retirement accounts (i.e., issuing to the accounts new inflation-protected federal bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government with no restrictions on resale in the secondary bond market), and
§ Borrowing outside the accounts in financial markets only as necessary to complete the refinancing.
Make A Down Payment on Solvency: Stop the Raid and Start the Accounts
Let me conclude by moving from the theoretically desirable to the politically practical given the current political environment. In my opinion, the time is not yet ripe to enact a comprehensive reform. Instead, I encourage you to tackle the one issue on which there is near unanimous agreement on both sides of the partisan divide, ceasing to squander the Social Security surpluses, and instead allowing workers to save the excess payroll tax revenues in personal retirement accounts.
For decades now, the Federal government has been raiding the Social Security trust fund to finance other government spending. The Federal government takes the Social Security surplus each year and uses that money to help finance all of its other programs, from foreign aid to welfare. The time has come to stop this inexcusable raid and return the surplus instead to workers to start their own, individual, personal accounts.
Indeed, the new version of the Ryan/Sununu bill introduced a couple of weeks ago phases in the accounts so that over the first 10 years the account option is half of it's full size. The Ryan/Sununu phase-in allows workers on average to shift about 3.2 percentage points of the full 12.4 percent payroll tax to the accounts. The total annual Social Security surpluses projected over the next 10 years, counting tax revenues and interest on the trust fund bonds, is more than sufficient to finance this Ryan/Sununu option during that period. (See Appendix)
Congress should stop the raid on the Social Security trust funds and use that money to finance the first 10 years of Ryan/Sununu. The surplus money would then go to finance the future retirement benefits of today's workers, rather than for other government spending. As Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has observed, personal accounts are the only way to enact a true lockbox where the government can't get its hands on the money to fuel further runaway spending on other programs.
To free up the surpluses for the accounts, Congress must reduce its spending by an amount equal to at least the surplus of Social Security taxes over expenditures each year. That money belongs to the future retirement of working people, and Congress should never have been spending it in the first place.
The government currently pays the interest on the Social Security trust fund bonds by issuing new bonds to the trust funds each year. To the extent needed to finance the Ryan/Sununu accounts for the next 10 years, those bonds would be issued instead to the accounts of each worker across the country. Those bonds would be backed by the full faith and credit of the United States and be marketable. Workers, consequently, would be free to choose to sell those bonds on secondary markets and invest the proceeds in broader mutual funds if they desire. These bonds, of course, would not represent new debt, but, rather money the government already would owe to the trust fund under the current system.
It also would be highly desirable to phase in the Ryan/Sununu budget process reforms over the next 10 years, including the spending limitation, which would reduce the rate of growth of Federal spending by one percentage point a year for eight years. This would produce net surpluses from the reform during the first 10 years and provide the foundation for expanding to the full Ryan/Sununu accounts subsequently.
This reform would provide better benefits for working people from day one as the market returns earned by the accounts would be so much more than Social Security has even promised, let alone what it can pay. It would provide personal ownership and control for workers over their retirement funds, stopping the longstanding raid of the trust funds under the current system.
It would empower low and moderate income workers to accumulate substantial personal savings and wealth for the first time, which they can leave in whole or in part to their families through inheritance. It would greatly boost the economy through lower effective tax rates and higher saving and investment.
Finally, even the smaller accounts adopted for the first 10 years would make a substantial down payment on solvency by reducing the long-term deficits of Social Security as the benefit obligations borne by the old Social Security framework would be substantially reduced and taken up by the personal accounts instead. If the accounts were expanded after 10 years to the full Ryan/Sununu level of 6.4 percentage points on average, the long-term deficits would be eliminated entirely through this effect, achieving permanent solvency for Social Security. The Chief Actuary of Social Security has scored the Ryan/Sununu bill as achieving exactly this result.
This result, moreover, is achieved without cuts in future promised benefits or the tax increases that inevitably would accompany them. Since better benefits are going to be provided in the future by the accounts in place of benefits financed through the old Social Security framework, there no longer is any need to think about eliminating that old system's deficits through tax increases and benefit cuts.
It's time for Congress to focus on what Social Security reform should be about, providing a better deal for working people. It's time for Congress to stop the raid on Social Security and use the surpluses to start personal retirement accounts.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Financing the First 10 Years of Ryan/Sununu
With the Social Security Surpluses
(All figures in billions of constant 2005 dollars)
Social Security Total Social Security Annual Transition
Cash Flow Surplus Surplus (Includes Financing Needed
Year (Taxes Minus Interest Income on For Ryan/Sununu
Expenditures) Trust Funds)
Source: 2005 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, March 23, 2005, Table VI.F.7; Office of the Actuary, Social Security Administration, Estimated Financial Effects of the "Social Security Personal Savings Guarantee and Prosperity Act of 2005," April 20, 2005, Table 1b.c


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Why Going to Blog Conferences is a Great Idea
Today I have a guest post from Anca of ancaslifestyle, she has put together a post on why going to a blog conference is a great idea and how it could help take your blog to the next step! Enjoy.
My name is Anca and I'm a lifestyle blogger from Liverpool. I want to thank Sarah for allowing me to share my thoughts with you.
I've been blogging at ancaslifestyle for almost 6 years and it was an amazing journey so far. During this process, I discovered many things, including a few things about me.
Today I want to talk about blog conferences. I've been to many amazing blog events, but blogging conferences have their own charm. I've attended the BlogOn Conference in Manchester four times so far and is very likely I will continue to attend them in the future. I made a short list of 5 aspects to take into consideration if you want to see if a blog conference is for you.
- Learning new skills
All conferences have a seminar schedule with talks by bloggers, influencers and experts in their fields. I felt I've learned things from all the seminars I've been to. Sometimes I learned that a specific social media channel is not suitable for me at this time. Other times I learned how to up my game when it comes to taking photos. It really changed the way I'm taking pictures. Before I was relying a lot on backgrounds, but not so much on props. Now I know that both are just as important.
- Talking with like-minded people
Is refreshing to talk with people that understand what your hobby is about. If you plan to make it into a career, then is even more important to talk with like-minded people that understand you and that can also help you along the way.
For me, blogging is a fun hobby. Even so, I enjoy chatting about all the things that we care about, which most people outside the blogging world aren't interested in. For example, we can talk about DA and props and follow-unfollow and PRs and other events.
- Getting the chance to talk directly to brands
At every blog conference, I've been to, brands had stands there. Getting to chat directly with them is lovely, you can have a look at their new products, talk about projects you've collaborated for in the past.
- For fun
We are having fun at every conference. We have cake and wine and funny keynote speeches. Last time the speaker made a funny presentation of the social media channels and the problems we bloggers face with. Last year the conference ended with a song by a few bloggers and it was lovely.
- Try new things from the Goodie Bags
You might get samples from the stand and in the goodie bag. At BlogOn, the goodie bags are huge, I always get a luggage with me. I was so happy with some of the things from the goodie bag that I ended up buying more. That is great, because maybe I wouldn't have bought those items in the first place.
I hope I've inspired you to try to go to a blog conference, it really is a fantastic way to meet new people, try new things and have fun at the same time.
Find Anca online:
Fancy checking out another post? Just click here!
This article has 23 comments
Stephanie Pass
The swag bag is always fun! But, my favorite thing is that it really kinda gives you a fresh motivation to really get into your blog again.
I would love to do but not had the time – It is ideal to connect and mix with other bloggers x
I've been to BlogOn three tones now and I'm booked for May. I love meeting other bloggers that actually understand how much hard work goes into it and gets the challenges too. My normal friends don't see all the work that goes on behind it and wouldn't have a clue what I was talking about if I said SEO or follow link haha
Aduke Schulist
There is an annual one near me I have been longing to go to, but it never seems to work out scheduling wise. Maybe this year will be the year
Jenn @ EngineerMommy
I have never been to a blogging conference but it's definitely on my list of things to do. I would love to network and maybe see the faces of the people whose blogs I have been reading.
Cyn Gagen
You are so right. I've been to several blog conferences and have always found value in each. I think I come back a better blogger every time.
Mamas Travel Tribe
I've been to a few and always found them useful, plus I find them so invigorating too
Blogging conferences can be fantastic. You can learn so much and meet some amazing people. Sadly there is another side, of cattiness. I have spoken at a bloggers conference and some of the bloggers were incredibly mean, and practically heckled me. They can be very clicky. But if you look for all the good things, they can be a great experience.


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Home » Government » Technology to Water the World
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Learn how the CDC uses our secure end-to-end big data analytics solution to reveal previously undetected information and possible outbreak factors for a community in Indiana.
Innovating in an age of change: A Q&A with Angela Heise
As president of our Civil group, Heise leads a team that is helping shape the infrastructure of the future for public and private sector organizations serving important missions.
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Borders of the future: How technology will change immigration and security systems
John Mears, a Leidos VP and Tech Follow, and Sharen Madge, Head of Capture for Leidos UK, participated in a recent roundtable on technologies for border security in the United Kingdom.
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Securing Government against tomorrow's threats: an interview with Leidos CIO, Steve Hull
Steve speaks with Federal News Radio on how Leidos does its cybersecurity and then derives lessons that can be applied to the federal government.
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Who was your man of the match? Basel (A)
Manchester City produced another brilliant performance as they beat Basel 4-0 in the first leg of their last 16 tie.
A brace from Ilkay Gundogon, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero gave City a big lead to take back to Manchester ahead of the return leg.
Basel barely troubled the City defence as they eased to another victory in this impressive season from the Blue half of Manchester.
It's now time to ask who your City man of the match was from the win.
Simply select which of the two players below had the better game and we'll go 'winner-stays-on' style until the end.


text: Here's the problem; While trying to chip my xbox (with the Xenium ICE mod chip; Solderless; BAD IDEA) I wreaked the power feed to the motherboard somehow. Now when I turn it on it comes on for a second then turn off, on, then off, then on but at a black screen with the open button blinking red. I've been able to play my xbox a little by pluging the motherboard power cable cable in at an angle but now even that doesn't work! The chip is well installed (I ended up soldering it in) cause at first this on-off thing happend every once in a great while! now it's constant! I'm not affraid of soldering anymore ; Has anyone experinced this before and if so, is there a way to fix it or should I just get a new MOBO?


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I had the best dream last night! It was simple and plain; just the sort of dream I like the best. I dreamed I was leading a horse. The horse was brown and had some sort of white blaze on its face. There was nothing fancy or identifiable about the animal other than it had a beautiful curved neck, like a noble equestrian statue.
And we weren't doing anything fancy either; it was just like the end of a regular lesson, the time when I walk the horse back to his stall after grooming him in the cross-ties. And it was so real! The horse was trying to get ahead of me, I was reminding him to stay back, either by making him stay or by putting my elbow in his shoulder. We walked on together, the lesson over the for day. I was perfectly engaged in the moment but I can't speak for the horse.
It was the kind of work I enjoy — the simple, step-one basics that are about everything even though, on the surface, they have nothing to do with jumping on a horse and cantering into the the sunset. I love the basics. I love learning how to stand, how to hold the rope, how to walk with the horse, how to breathe, how to think.
And I feel victorious when I get up in the morning and realize that my subconscious is truly engaged in these building-block matters.
(Today's picture, Dreaming Horses, is by Franz Marc)


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The all-new Google Assistant Home Mini can perfectly tell you the weather report for any area. Google's latest smart speaker is a small pebble of a thing. Google's Mini is so small, so cheap, and so simply designed that you can use it easily.
You may place Google imagines one in every home to ensure that there is always a mic close by to let you know about the weather or set timers or control your smart home. Mini plays music but it doesn't sound good. You can say it to be the replica of Amazon's Echo Dot.
Mini is a complementary device. If you are a good speaker then you can control Spotify with your voice. You can also demand the internet to find a good movie to watch for you. By using Home Max you can extend the range of use of your Google Assistant. While you are alone, Mini is adorable and compromised.
At just $49, Mini can be the best holiday's gift for anyone. If you check out the Mini's design you will see that Google has successfully pulled off exactly the right design. It really looks like a futuristic metal donut. Indeed it's much more attractive than Amazon's Echo Dot. In only two minutes, it gets up and starts running. The recent updates from Google Home App have made the setup even easier.
The best part is, like any other home, Mini does all the Google Assistant things just as well as the original Home. You can hear it easily from across the room and its controls are very handy. You can tap on either side of Mini to turn the volume up or down and tap in the middle to pause or play. At the end, it is a solid accessory, but it is not the centerpiece of your smarter home.


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As a part of the new version I made this little tutorial explaining how Piictu works. You can just easily swipe through... No big deal.
Thoughts on the language we used?
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Barbara Mandrell: I Was Country (When Country Wasn't Cool)
She's a Country Music Hall Of Fame member and one of the finest musician's in the history of the genre. And what a voice!
As she says in the song here, Barbara Mandrell was Country when Country wasn't cool...and in the process made it cool for everybody!