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The Postmistress ~ by Sarah Blake, 2010
Synopsis from the author's web site: What would happen if a postmistress chose not to deliver the mail?The Housekeeper and the Professor ~ by Yoko Ogawa, 2003
It is 1940. While the war is raging in Europe, President Roosevelt promises he won't send American boys over to fight.
Iris James is the postmistress of Franklin, Massachusetts a small town at the end of Cape Cod. She firmly believes her job is to deliver and keep people's secrets, to pass along the news of love and sorrow that letters carry. Faithfully she stamps and sends the letters between people such as the newlyweds Emma and Will Fitch, who has gone to London to help out during the Blitz. But one day she slips a letter into her pocket, and leaves it there.
Meanwhile, seemingly fearless radio gal, Frankie Bard is reporting the Blitz from London, her dispatches crinkling across the Atlantic, imploring listeners to pay attention. Then in the last desperate days of the summer of 1941, she rides the trains out of Germany, reporting on what is happening to the refugees there.
Alternating between an America on the eve of entering into World War II, still safe and snug in its inability to grasp the danger at hand, an a Europe being torn apart by war, the two stories collide in a letter, bringing the war finally home to Franklin.
Synopsis from the publisher's web site: He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem--ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him.Finding Nouf ~ by Zoe Ferraris, 2008
And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor's mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities--like the Housekeeper's shoe size--and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away.
The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.
Synopsis from the author's web site: When sixteen-year-old Nouf goes missing, her prominent family calls on Nayir Sharqi, a pious desert guide, to lead the search party. Ten days later, just as Nayir is about to give up in frustration, her body is discovered by anonymous desert travelers. When the coroner's office determines that Nouf died not of dehydration but from drowning, and her family seems suspiciously uninterested in getting at the truth, Nayir takes it upon himself to find out what really happened.American Wife ~ by Curtis Sittenfeld, 2008
He quickly realizes that if he wants to gain access to the hidden world of women, he will have to join forces with Katya Hijazi, a lab worker at the coroner's office who is bold enough to pursue the investigation on her own. Their partnership challenges Nayir, as he confronts his desire for female companionship and the limitations imposed by his beliefs. Fast-paced and utterly transporting, Finding Nouf is a riveting literary mystery that offers an unprecedented window into Saudi Arabia and the lives of men and women there.
Plot summary from the author's web site: On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband's presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House–and the repercussions of a life lived, as she puts it, "almost in opposition to itself."The Lacuna ~ by Barbara Kingsolver, 2009
A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice learned the virtues of politeness early on from her stolid parents and small Wisconsin hometown. But a tragic accident when she was seventeen shattered her identity and made her understand the fragility of life and the tenuousness of luck. So more than a decade later, when she met boisterous, charismatic Charlie Blackwell, she hardly gave him a second look: She was serious and thoughtful, and he would rather crack a joke than offer a real insight; he was the wealthy son of a bastion family of the Republican party, and she was a school librarian and registered Democrat. Comfortable in her quiet and unassuming life, she felt inured to his charms. And then, much to her surprise, Alice fell for Charlie.
As Alice learns to make her way amid the clannish energy and smug confidence of the Blackwell family, navigating the strange rituals of their country club and summer estate, she remains uneasy with her newfound good fortune. And when Charlie eventually becomes President, Alice is thrust into a position she did not seek–one of power and influence, privilege and responsibility. As Charlie's tumultuous and controversial second term in the White House wears on, Alice must face contradictions years in the making: How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do when her private beliefs run against her public persona?
In Alice Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is a gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and the exigencies of fate into a brilliant tapestry–a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.
Book description from the publisher's web site: In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.The Great Gatsby ~ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.
Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.
With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.
This novel was first published in 1925, but didn't do well until the 1950s, when it was republished. Set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922, it is a critique of the American Dream. It's the classic story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway is the cynical neighbor observing the decadence and excess.A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ~ by Betty Smith, 1943
This novel, first published in 1943, is the coming-of-age story of Francie Nolan during the first two decades of the 20th century. According to Wikipedia: "The main metaphor of the book is the hardy Tree of Heaven, of Asian origin, now considered invasive, and common in the vacant lots of New York City."
The Dark Is Rising ~ by Susan Cooper,1973
This is a five-book fantasy series for grade five and up, but the second in the series is also entitled The Dark Is Rising. The second volume is about 11-year-old Will, who discovers he's one of the Old Ones. My library's description of this children's book: "On the Midwinter Day that is his eleventh birthday, Will Stanton discovers a special gift -- that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals dedicated to keeping the world from domination by the forces of evil, the Dark. At once, he is plunged into a quest for the six magical Signs that will one day aid the Old Ones in the final battle between the Dark and the Light. And for the twelve days of Christmas, while the Dark is rising, life for Will is full of wonder, terror, and delight."


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Medicare Supplemental Insurance Guide
As you may know, Medicare insurance will cover up to 80% of certain types of medical treatments, doctors office visits, hospitalizations, medical equipment and more. The exact coverage will depend on if you have just Medicare Part A or if you also have the optional Medicare Part B Coverage.
Even with this coverage, many people are left to pay significant out-of-pocket costs to cover the remaining 20 percent of the price of their services which is also referred to as the co-payment amount. Many people simply cannot afford to pay the co-payment in cash so they make use of one of the many Medicare supplemental insurance policies available on the market. A policy may be managed by one of many companies, but all fall under the guidelines of Medicare.
There are 12 existing Medicare supplemental plans, also referred to as Medigap. Each one provides different types of coverage although all must cover basic specific Medicare benefits.
The various Medigap plans fall under a label from Medicare Supplemental Plan A through L (Plans M & N will be added in June 2010). Plans will differ by the monthly premium and the amount of out-of-pocket expenses required by the user.
There's also another option known as Medicare SELECT which is a Medicare supplement policy that is less expensive than other plans. The only downside to Medicare SELECT is that you are restricted to certain physicians and hospitals for your health care needs. You will want to contact the state insurance department to determine if the Medicare SELECT option is available and fits your individual needs.
Some people choose to use a Medicare Advantage Plan, which is an HMO for Medicare users. If you fall into this category you do not need a Medicare supplemental insurance policy.
A Quick Overview of Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans
Medicare Supplemental Insurance is designed to help cover some of the medical costs not covered by the Original Medicare Plan and is comprised of 12 standard Medicare supplemental insurance plans. Certain basic coverage is included in all Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans.
Plans are labeled "A" through "L" and offer different benefits, at varying prices, that fill particular "gaps" in regular Medicare coverage. Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans K and L are similar to Plans A through J but trade off lower monthly premiums for higher out of pocket costs.
As of 2009, some insurance carriers will offer Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plans F and J which feature a $2,000 deductible which is what you must pay out of pocket before the plan covers any costs.
This deductible could increase yearly. Though the higher deductible allows for lower monthly premiums, the total cost to you in the event of illness will be higher.
NOTE: Medicare SELECT is a Medicare Supplemental Insurance Plan that is offered in addition to the standard A-L policies and can have a lower cost. You will be limited to certain hospitals and Medicare approved doctors. Your state insurance department will be able to tell you if Medicare SELECT policies are offered in your state.
Those enrolled in a Medicare Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) or other Medicare Advantage Plans do not need a Medicare Supplemental Insurance policy.
Medicare Supplemental Insurance Standard Plans will differ for residents of Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Basic Medical Coverage for Plans A-J:
• Medicare Part A coinsurance plus coverage for 1 additional year after Medicare benefits terminate.
• Medicare Part B coinsurance (generally 20 percent of Medicare-approved expenses), or copayments for hospital outpatient services
• First three pints of blood each year
What is Covered by Plan K?
Medicare Part A coinsurance plus coverage for 1 additional year after Medicare benefits terminate.
• 50% of hospice cost-sharing
• 50% for the first three pints of blood each year
• 50% Medicare Part B coinsurance, except 100% coinsurance for Part B preventive services
What is Covered by Plan L?
Medicare Part A coinsurance plus coverage for 1 additional year after Medicare benefits end
• 75% of hospice cost-sharing
• 75% for the first three pints of blood each year
• 75% Medicare Part B coinsurance, except 100% coinsurance for Part B preventive services
Medicare Part A Hospital Deductible
This is covered by Medigap Plans B-J: $1,068 in 2009 for each benefit period for hospital services
What Else is Covered by Plan K?
50% of the $1,068 Part A hospital deductible
What More is Covered by Plan L?
75% of the $1,068 Part A hospital deductible
What about Skilled Nursing-Home Costs?
Skilled Nursing-Home are Covered by Plans C-J as follows:
Your cost ($133.50 in 2009) for days 21 through 100 in a skilled nursing facility.
Skilled Nursing-Home are Covered by Plan K as follows:
50% of $133.50 for days 21 through 100 in a skilled nursing facility.
Skilled Nursing-Home are Covered by Plan L as follows:
75% of $133.50 for days 21 through 100 in a skilled nursing facility.
What About Your Medicare Part B Deductible?
The Part B Deductible is Covered by Plans C, F, J:
Yearly deductible for doctor services ($135 in 2009)
What About Medicare Part B Excess Charges?
Medicare Part B Excess Charges are Covered by Plans F (100%), G (80%), I (100%), J (100%):
The difference between your doctor's charges and the Medicare-approved amount, if your doctor does not accept assignment.
What About Foreign Travel Emergency?
Foreign Travel Emergency is Covered by Plans C-J:
• 80% of the cost of emergency care outside the United States
• Maximum benefit of $50,000 in your lifetime
• Patient pays a yearly deductible of $250
What About At-Home Recovery?
At-Home Recovery is Covered by Plans D, G, I, J:
• Help for daily living activities, such as dressing and bathing, if already receiving skilled home care covered by Medicare
• Assistance for up to eight weeks after you no longer need skilled care
• Up to $40 per visit, seven visits per week, or a total of $1,600 per year
What About Non-Medicare-Covered Preventive Services?
Non-Medicare-Covered Preventive Services are Covered by Plans E, J:
Ma $120 per year for non-Medicare-covered preventive services as ordered by your physician.
Medicare News
- Medicare Introduces the Blue Button on MyMedicare.gov
- Accountable Care Organizations are New in 2012 for Medicare
- Medicare Part D Coverage Gap: What Counts?
- Medicare Part D Coverage and the Coverage Gap in 2012
- Have You Tried Medicare's Blue Button?
- New to Medicare in 2012: Accountable Care Organizations
- What Counts Towards the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap?
- The Medicare Part D Coverage Gap Continues
- Long-Term Hospital Care is Covered by Medicare
- Long-Term Care is NOT Covered by Medicare in All Situations

subset: commoncrawl


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The Marshall MS4 Mini Micro Full Stack Battery Amplifier stands 15cm tall and 11cm wide and 6cm deep meaning it is extremely compact and portable. Because these amps are so small they are 1 watt. These portable amplifiers have three main knobs –volume, tone and gain control which help you better find the sound that you want. This amp also has a headphone output if you are looking to rock out in private. The MS-4 is finished in traditional Marshall black, with white logo and gold panel.Marshall MS4 Mini Micro Full Stack Battery Amplifier
- Small/Compact/portable
- Can run off battery or mains
- Great in small rooms
- Looks great with the Marshall logo
- You can use effects pedals with it
- Has a headphone output
- The sound quality isn't the greatest but it is okay considering it's a small speaker
- The gain distorts the sound quite dramatically when it is turned up.
- The stand can be difficult to set up
Overall the MS-4 amplifier is very compact and portable meaning you can take it pretty much anywhere with you. I think that this amp would be perfect if you are intending to be busking on the street or you just want a small amplifier that you can put into your cupboard after you have finished jamming out. It is a great amp for people that have just started playing guitar because of its low price and capability. Because it is so light you can also easily take it into any room in your house or your friends. On the down side the sound quality isn't the greatest and this will sometimes not give justice to what you are playing through it. I have purchased one of these amplifiers and I'm impressed that a small speaker like this is actually pretty decent considering. Personally I have performed in front of around 30 people with this amp and they were able to hear what I was playing fine and it lived up to my expectations. The obvious tone and drive etc. are not the only way that you can change the sound of the Marshall MS4 Mini Micro Full Stack Battery Amplifier. You can easily attach effect petals to this amplifier, which could possibly create the sound that you have been searching for in an amplifier. Another great quality about this amp is that is has a headphone output so If the speaker sound isn't up to your expectations you can always just plug your headphone in and jam out through them instead of amps speakers.
The Marshall MS4 Mini Micro Amplifier is a great speaker with many functions and capabilities. I would recommend this amplifier to anyone that's starting out and is looking for an amp that sounds all right at an affordable price.Marshall MS4 Mini Micro Full Stack Battery Amplifier


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Mr.L's Tavern
Conservative, Common Sense Talk
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Mr.L: Did Vegas Shooting Have Saudi Connection?
What happened in Vegas continues to baffle me on a daily basis. There is still no motive for this massacre and the media have virtually dropped this story. Still many questions to be asked such as: Was this shooting the result of a botched assassination attempt of a Saudi Crown Prince who was believed to be occupying a suite in the Mandalay Bay's top five floors?
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Connectivity Technology
Our technology-neutral philosophy provides you the broadest range of network services and coverage options, while lowering total cost of network ownership.
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Managed Network Services
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Your network is our passion. Delivering the highest possible quality of customer service and support is our mission. For immediate SageNet support call 800.400.8999. For Spacenet Satellite Services support call 800.325.9202.
We've been discussing the increase in cybersecurity threats faced by the energy sector, particularly oil and gas companies using network-connected devices to monitor and control infrastructure and equipment. According to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute, this operational technology (OT) environment generally lacks adequate security measures, and thus poses a greater risk than the information technology (IT) environment.
In a recent post, we discussed the growing cybersecurity threat faced by oil and gas companies as they increase their use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. The "high-tech oilfield" relies on these tools to transmit data from pipelines and equipment to central operations centers, where analytics tools are used to detect potential problems and safety concerns. This convergence of operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) dramatically increases the risk of a security breach.
The Associated Press recently reported that oil and gas companies, including some of the largest in the industry that operate along the Gulf Coast near Houston, have become a popular target for hackers. Many companies are using decades-old technology and unprotected wireless signals to connect computer networks to equipment, leaving refineries, pipelines, and chemical plants vulnerable to attack. In fact, the Houston Chronicle reported 350 security incidents and uncovered nearly 900 security flaws at energy companies between 2011 and 2015.


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Oracle mixes extreme transaction processing with SOA
Extreme transaction processing (XTP) is being added to complex event processing (CEP) in service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementations for the financial services industry, explains David Chappell, vice president and chief technologist for SOA at Oracle Corp. Matching XTP technology is acquired from Tangosol Coherence in March 2007 with the Oracle SOA Suite, companies can sort through massive transaction data streams and flag exceptions that may indicate crimes such as credit card fraud. Alerts in the SOA application can go through business process engineering language (BPEL) processors to business activity monitoring (BAM) dashboards. Chappell, who has more than 20 years of experience in the software industry and has written and lectured on SOA, the enterprise service bus (ESB) and message oriented middleware (MOM), calls XTP the "future for financial services infrastructure."
Read part two.
|David Chappell
What SOA trends are you seeing in the financial services industry?
What we're seeing is that SOA coupled with a class of applications coined as extreme transaction processing or XTP is the future for financial services infrastructure. So IT continues to be seen as the enabler. We've seen some supporting data from Gartner/DataQuest that IT spending in financial services is going to reach $566 billion by 2010. Where SOA comes into the picture is that it enables IT to deliver new business services faster, while leveraging existing systems. At the same time the financial institutions are pushing limits that require more processing capability yet at the same time they don't want to see an exponential rise in their investment in hardware. So the extreme transaction processing class of applications has been most notably seen in areas such as fraud detection, risk computation and stock trade resolution. They're even pushing the mainframe to the limit. These types of applications require a new computing paradigm. What does XTP provide?
What XTP does is allow transactions to occur in memory and not against the backend systems directly due to the need for extremely fast response rates, but still including transactional integrity. So think of classes of applications that need to handle large volumes of data that need to be absorbed, correlated and acted upon. Typically that data processed by XTP applications comes in the form of large numbers of events and usually represents data that changes frequently. What is Oracle doing with the XTP paradigm?
We have some products in that area. We have Oracle Coherence, which is from an acquisition we made early last year of Tangosol Coherence and its products. That coupled with Oracle SOA Suite delivers the industry' first Grid-enabled SOA platform that enables extreme transaction processing applications. Where is XTP used?
There's some use cases around XTP. What we're seeing for instance in financial services have to do with collecting and correlating large volumes of events, which can tie into or overlap with complex event processing [CEP] applications. It's things like doing exception handling on large streams of events and looking for certain patterns that occur over spans of time. In financial services, for example, it might be that we're tracking ATM withdrawal activity across a span of time looking for specific events across a transaction network that aren't supposed to happen, doing fraud detection for example. There was something that happened to me recently where somebody had gotten hold of my credit card and was using it in a way that was automatically detected and identified, which I'm thankful for.
What does XTP add to CEP?
What XTP brings to the table is something that is really complementary to complex event processing engines. Usually, a complex event processing engine is something that can also capture, correlate and apply decision rules to look for specific patterns in events over time and look for exceptions. However, there are certain applications that operate on streams of event data that is so voluminous that typical backend solutions or storage solutions just can't handle it. There are some customers that we deal with that are saying there just aren't disks that spin fast enough to handle the volumes of data that we need to consume and process. So in that regard, a CEP engine by itself is not sufficient to handle those applications. XTP ties into CEP and SOA in the Oracle Coherence product, which is very adept at acting as a horizontally scaleable in-memory cache that can collect pieces of data that come in from events in a variety of high volume streams and basically act as a place to store the event data with high-speed in-memory access without necessarily requiring backend persistence storage to maintain high availability for that data. Where that ties in with CEP is when that data is collected it can be analyzed by a CEP engine, so patterns can be applied and looked for across that data. Then it also ties into SOA?
Where that ties into SOA is once the pattern matching engine, whether it's built directly into the XTP application itself or is identified by the complex event processing engine, is it identifies an event of significance such as ATM withdrawal fraud. Say for example your ATM card is used in different ATM machines or is used to make purchases in three or four states or even different countries within a matter of minutes, that's usually a flag that some kind of fraud is going on. Once that kind of a situation is detected then an SOA process in BPEL [Business Process Execution Language] can be kicked off to make the proper notification, send alerts to Business Activity Monitoring [BAM] dashboards.
In part two of this interview tomorrow, Chappell discusses the technology behind XTP and how it applies to industries beyond financial services.


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(125 g)The color of this refill bag can vary.
Delicious blend of maté and green tea flavored with lemon and lemongrass
Our iconic Detox blend is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2017! For the occasion, Kusmi Tea is rejuvenating its recipe to be even fresher and more intense. Discover (or rediscover) the pleasure of zesty lemon notes and a core of intense lemongrass on a light and fresh base of green tea and maté.
Brewing time
3-4 min
Brewing temperature
Perfect for iced tea
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Anonymous [ Ordered on 09/10/2019 ]5/5
on 21/10/2019
Karolina L. [ Ordered on 27/09/2019 ]5/5
I love this tea! Perfect green tea with some lemongrass gives such amazing taste. This is my daily tea. If you do not like the standard green tea, because it is too bitter, Detox Kusmi is different. Easy to drink, smooth taste and refreshing ( I drink about 6 Detox cups a day ) and fell great.
on 07/10/2019
Anonymous [ Ordered on 18/09/2019 ]5/5
Amazing surprise when you drink Kusmi Detox
on 30/09/2019
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Probably one of my greatest downfalls is how much I dislike looking at the past. Most of the time all I see is my mistakes, and goodness knows I don't want to relive those. This is especially true of my pre-teen years. Oh boy, if you ever want to make me feel absolutely uncomfortable, bring up years 6-8, and you'll have me blushing all over. I'm happy to say that my high school years were probably the best years of my life so far. I was so completely care-free, creative, and full of excitement for my life ahead. This isn't to say that my current season is one that I dislike. Goodness, no! But I am thankful that the Lord gave me such a full life when I was 15 & 16, and can look back at my small, though fun accomplishments and be thankful. In the past I would often feel inadequate when I would tell people that I ran a blog with my sisters as a business & past-time. Now, looking back, I am completely unashamed. We did our job. We inspired you all, and provided a spot of sunshine and beauty in the midst of a very troubled, negative web. So here's to that!
Now, you ready to wax nostalgic with me? Here's a round-up of my favorite posts. Surprisingly a good bulk of them come from the time that my teeth were covered in braces. I commanded that season with a smile, and was determined to feel utterly confident and grateful to even have the opportunity get my teeth straightened (a long-time dream of mine). I knew many people who hated their braces, and felt completely insecure in the them. I was convinced that I would not be one of them, and I think it shows pretty well in my posts 😉 Although they did put an immature stamp on my age, I refuse to get hung up on it. So, enjoyed a short-hair-don't-care, braces-smiley Charlotte 🙂
This is just a typical Classy on Sunday, but ohmygoodness, I remember just how much FUN Brigi and I had taking these photos! So, it had to land in my top faves 🙂 You an read the original post here.
I love my unashamed sense of style in my teens. I really wasn't afraid of bold tights and odd combos, was I? 😉 This post is one of my favorites, just because of the joy & carefree spirit that it exudes. I remember that time of my life being a very fun one, and I love how this post captures that.
Firstly, can I have those pants back PLEASE?? Secondly, I think that this was one of the first times that I really opened up on the blog, and shared my heart. The struggle that I was going through really takes me back to that season of life, and where my heart was at. Read the original post here.
Can I just say? Best.COS.Ever. Brigi and I had SO much fun with this one, and I will never get over my outfit. Ever. Like, #allthematchingturquoise #ohyeahbaby
This was a fun post to put together. And though I'm not so keen on slathering my lips in so much makeup nowadays, I still love the result that came out the work we put into this post 🙂 A labor of love, my friends!
I.e- my equivalent of a summary of some of the design principles that I was studying in school that year 😉 This post is still a goody, so if you're in need of some design tips, look no further!
Wow, the work & creativity that we put into this shoot still gets me going. Although it may not seem like much, I still can't help but love the result 😉 Check out my first knitted project here.
Oh boy, this has to be my favorite post of all time. I still remember the day I got my braces off with so much nostalgia and delight. That feeling of naked teeth for the first time in 2 years. My amazement at just how incredible STRAIGHT my teeth were, and just how TOOTHY I was/am! I don't think I have ever smiled as big as I did that day. My joy was absolutely unquenchable. Check it out here.
This outfit post was so much fun! We took the photos at one of my favorite places in Cinci, The Union Terminal. Go check out the full post here.
I remember just how chic and put-together I felt in this outfit. Although these to pieces no longer have a place in my wardrobe, I still loved them to pieces while I could. Nothing like a classic T & a chic skirt, friends 🙂
This is the one post that makes me long for my short hair again 😉 This sister flair was one of my absolute favorites with the sunny weather, carefree vintage style. Oh yeah, take me back!
This was such.a.fun.post. The colors & aesthetic still get to me! Check out our Jamberry Nail Wraps review here!
This Garlands of Grace feature that we did was the perfect combo of vintage & modern, in my book. Love the colors and aesthetic so much! Also, there seems to be a theme of Brigi & me here 😉 My heart aches a little when I think about her leaving the blog… But she is in such a happy season of life right now, so I am thankful for her 🙂
You might have noticed that all of these posts landed in the years 2014 & 2015. That's because 2016 was just plain hard. No matter how "happy" it may seem with a sister getting married at the end of it, it was harder than you will ever know. The transition that I went through during that year was the toughest that I have endured, and I came out of it a completely different person. I was very battle-worn, and desperately grasping onto some sort of identity. My style changed drastically from completely vintage to 100% modern & trendy, and I feel that that is a very accurate representation of what was going on inside my heart. I'm not going to gloss over it, 2016 was rough. The breakup Jessica went through threw us for a major, major loop; and Brigid's courtship & successive engagement on top of that was almost enough to make us all break in two (relationships aren't a walk in the park, friends!). But, praise God, we have all come out stronger and more Christ-like because of it… though I am afraid this space has taken quite the beating. No, our content isn't half as fun as it used to be; no, I'm not half as inspired to generate more content as I used to be. Have you wondered why we keep bring back old posts? 😉
That season of blogging is passed, that "hey-day" of creativity & productivity has moved behind us. A new season is budding before our very eyes, and I am so excited to see where it goes! I have high hopes for 2017 and the many big changes that we are anticipating ahead 🙂 Thanks for hearing me out, and for sticking with us during this time of transition. More than ever, you readers mean the world to us. Stay tuned… this is just the beginning!
Love from the other end of the screen,
-Charlotte B.


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Digital Kitchen Scale
Sold Out
Price Hidden
Product Description
A digital kitchen scale makes light work of weighing ingredients. Wherever the measuring bowl is placed on the scale, four individual measuring points ensure that it is easy to read the weight on the display. The weight is displayed for 30 seconds, after which the display automatically switches off. The on/off switch is controlled by a touch sensor, and the scale weighs in 1g intervals from 2g to 5 kg and can be set to all international units of measurement.
Product Details
- ColorsBlack
- Materials
- Measurements
6.89"L x 6.89"W x 1.18"H
- OriginDenmark
— Warranty: Manufacturer's 1 Year
— Measures In All International Units
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I haven't gotten tons of quilting, but I haven't totally neglected Dear Jane. I finished my second triangle, completing the entire first row, triangles and all.
My second triangle: right side, 1st from top. This one was SO much easier than my first triangle!
I then followed my plan and started on column 1. I already had completed A-1, so I started right in on B-1. I love the background fabric. I think I spent more time auditioning the background placement than I did appliqueing the circles.
Bachelor Buttons B-1
This easy bit of paper-piecing was a real breeze. Thank heavens Jane threw us a few soft balls like this one.
C-1 Trooper Green's Badge
Alison and I got along just fine too, though it was kind of a bear to iron nice and flat.
D-1 Alison's Guiding Light
I just finished Aunt Exie, though I see I still have some fabric removal to do on the backside. Oh well, I'll get to that later.
E-1 Aunt Exie's Phlox
I haven't even started F-1 yet. It's a mix of paper piecing and applique. I'm making it in my favorite bright green hand-dyed fabric (that I've used for everything *grins* ). It should really pop!


text: Shop Toss It On Knit Tank Toss It On Knit Tank $33 Style # G908LTOS-LLY Color: Lily Pink SU19 White Solid SU19 Lily Solid SU19 Black Solid SU19 Citrus Yellow Solid Size: XS S M L Add to Bag Add to wishlist Grab and go! The Toss It On Knit Tank is a loose fit tank made with eco-friendly fibers and front and back v-neckline. Details Fit Guide Help *50% Organic Cotton | 50% Hemp *Turn garment inside out before machine wash cold *Tumble dry low Measurements for Small: Bust: 25" Length: 24 1/2" Model is wearing a size S Model is 5'10" | Bust 32" | Waist 24" | Hips 35" Size Chart Need help with your purchase or have any product questions? Contact our customer service at email@example.com or call us at 1-800-571-4116


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Volunteers are integral to Edwards Center
Volunteers help Edwards Center to enhance the lives of individuals who experience Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities.
Would you like to learn more about the various, flexible volunteer opportunities and where you might fit in?
Edwards Center offers Volunteer Orientation Training four times a month. These training sessions are one hour and offered at 12:00 pm or 5:00 pm.
At the end of the class, you will be given opportunities to move forward through our process and/or to select a project for you or your team.
Please check out the CALENDAR below and REGISTER for the next class. Just click on the class title to be taken a registration screen.
Questions or need more information?
Please contact Georgia Lampros via email email@example.com or phone 503.466.2171 x102
We look forward to working with you in the very near future.


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2014 has come and gone, taking with it the creation of seven new featured game modes for League of Legends! Looking back, we had fun making each and every mode, tackling the unique challenges each one presented, and hope you guys had just as much fun playing them. This feels like a good time to look back at 2014's Featured Game Modes, what we learned from some of them, and how we arrived at a variety of design decisions along the way. But first...
This is something we're continuously defining for ourselves as Featured Gameplay Modes evolve. We want to learn from previous modes to help us make even cooler new things, but it's not as simple as just which mode was played the most. What does "the most" even mean? Is it the highest single spike of concurrent players? The game you played for the longest? Modes also need to be unique in some way and not just replace or overwrite themselves and other permanent modes. As we've mentioned before, we have a few design pillars that help guide the creation of each mode, but we'd like you to discover new or interesting ways to engage with your favourite champions in League of Legends. We undoubtedly also want you to have FUN! :D
Then there are modes which produce amazingly cool stuff from you guys in the community that we can't even measure with numbers. How do you measure fun? Or cool streams, videos, comics, fanart (the list goes on)? Sometimes it's even nice for the mode to help you train in skills (team fights, skill shots) that are transferrable over to SR, but should that be a core pillar? We've said before how we like that each Featured Gameplay Mode feels like a wild west of meta for their duration. Anything goes initially and you guys theorycraft cool ideas about the most OP comps and champions for each mode, and surprise us every time. There's always a few sleeper champions that appear who we could NEVER forecast. So healthy champion pick diversity is also good, but is it something we should weigh the success of a mode on? These are all just some of the things we consider when both designing and then weighing an individual mode's success.
Featured Game Modes are designed from the ground up to be short-term engagement experiences. This transience is what gives us the creative space try new things and see what works, listen to your feedback, then improve a mode before re-releasing it. Trying to build a long-term sustainable game mode would actually constrain us from doing things like Doom Bots, URF, Legend of the Poro King, Ascension, etc.
The main design concern (which is personally the most important as it = less fun) is that Featured Gameplay Modes are not designed to be long term engagement experiences. They're designed to make a big splash, with the knowledge they will be removed shortly thereafter. Adding permanency would constrain the design wiggle room we have to make each mode as unique as possible. As we've since learned, it would also add additional balance and maintenance costs that we'll share some examples of later in this retro. For now though, let's get into the modes!
2014 started with a Featured Game Mode meta changeup. With the original Hexakill, we wanted to try exploring a new space that modes hadn't really touched yet at that point. The end result was the closest we'd ever brushed up against the 'regular Summoner's Rift meta', but with the twist of an extra player. Our goal was to still preserve the feel of Summoner's Rift, but change up how you interacted with your champion and played within the map's meta.
Originally planned as an April Fool's Day joke intended only to last one day, we were blown away by the response Ultra Rapid Fire received. Based on the response from players around the world in multiple regions and languages, we extended the length of the mode (twice). Who doesn't like making more plays?! URF also taught us a fantastic lesson about the novelty of game modes over time and the cost of ongoing maintenance.
Featured Gameplay Modes have been shown to taper off in popularity sharply after a short period of time. People often forget that URF actually broke our golden rule of not touching Featured Gameplay Modes post-launch, but to try and keep it from becoming stale in the face of wildly toxic champion play patterns, we did anyway. And yet, despite our consecutive on the run tweaks to keep URF treading water balance-wise, we still saw the same declining engagement and burnout that we see with other modes. That doesn't mean players don't have a blast with each mode like this before they fade away. However, being designed as a can of whoopass in the first place ultimately means that the flame burns twice as bright and half as long. And that's okay!
The original One For All was one of more heavily played modes we made in 2013. Before it was even released though, some enterprising players hacked their clients and were hosting ad-hoc games of One For All on Howling Abyss. After the mode's first outing on Summoner's Rift, many players heavily requested that we bring the mode back on Howling Abyss to replicate their ad-hoc games, so we got to work on the resurrection. In the end, One For All: Mirror Mode may have lost a lot of the strategic choice of Summoner's Rift (naturally absent on Howling Abyss where your only option is to "push"). By homogenising both teams into the same champion, we also lost the nuance in gameplay between two champion's kits. Engagement with the mode proved out that this maybe wasn't the best experiment, but that's what learning is for!
We also learned a lesson about the cost of resurrecting a mode. Each time we bring a mode back, along with any improvements or additions we might want to make, time has to be spent QA'ing it against the latest patch release (one of the costs of having a game that evolves constantly). For example: The original One For All required about 80 champions to be hand edited to work with the mode's mechanics. When we wanted to bring it back as One For All: Mirror Mode, about 35 champions had changed since the last time (yay champ updates and improvements!) which required another whole round of editing, plus entirely new champions had been released. If we ever made a mode permanent, we'd need to weigh the impact this would have on the ability to create new modes VS maintaining existing modes.
The map change isn't always necessary though. Sometimes smoothing over the experience and some bug fixes could generate the original experience we were looking for. URF would be nice simply to not have 9 champions disabled. It always depends on the mode.
The idea of building some 'absurdly challenging' AI bots had come up before, so when the AI team was updating what are now the intermediate bots, we saw a chance to do a cool collaboration with them. The Doom Bots of Doom became the first PvE mode we'd ever done, and it they were pretty fun to make. Unlike other modes though, the Doom Bots were extremely content heavy, as we hand-crafted 15 alternate kits (not mentioning the ones that got thrown out). It ended up being super rewarding though, watching player's reactions the first time they see Doom Lux ult or try and 1v1 a Doom Galio or Doom Malzahar. As a bit of trivia, the Doom Bot with the highest winrate on 5 bombs actually turned out to be Doom Amumu. Too many tears.
The goal of Ascension was to highlight the Shurima event and bring gameplay to some of the reigning lore themes like "power corrupts". We wanted a scrappy, team deathmatch kind of feel right from the start, and it took some crazy prototypes before we landed on the right mix. In response to players asking for more ways to express their skill level visually, we also experimented with the Perfect Ascension icon; a true challenge mode icon rewarding exceptional play. For those of you who did earn it, it's one of the rarest summoner icon's in all of league.
The making of Ascension has been discussed before in quite a bit of detail with a dev blog, which can be found here.
After the first outing of Hexakill and the warm reception it received, we felt like it was a good candidate to bring back. As with One For All: Mirror Mode though, we don't want to just resurrect the exact same mode from last time. We wanted to turn up the volume on the design goals of the original Hexakill (being to shake up how you think about and execute on established meta on a given map). That led us to port the mode over to the Twisted Treeline. This is a good example of how we want to improve modes each time before we re-release them.
It depends on the mode, but it's always heavily informed by player feedback. In the case of Hexakill, we wanted that exaggeration of the original design intention. Hexakill on SR just wasn't different enough; going from 5 to only 6 players didn't really make you change the way you played that much. Twisted Treeline felt much higher impact because we were essentially doubling the player count on the map.
Don't worry, he lives on... inside of YOU! *little tear* Legend of the Poro King was seeking to change the way players thought about combat on the Howling Abyss. That we were able to introduce everyone to the grandest most splendiferous King of all the Poro's himself was just an added bonus.
I want to call out the Poro Toss summoner spell here as well, which gave an across-the-board bump in viability to some historically unpopular picks. Even with picking your champs, engage from the Poro Toss summoner spell was able to wing clip the power of some notoriously strong Howling Abyss champs. It was an overall healthier experience, seeing good champion diversity and lots of big plays.


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Dazzling young guns make Gavin's arsenal even more frightening
When a football team scores 13 points without reply, you really have to wonder what is going on.
On Saturday in Tullamore, we got a perfect example of what happens when two teams with opposite styles of play go head-to-head and one is totally unable to grasp what is happening.
Roscommon were mesmerised from the start of the game and Dublin simply took near total possession of the game, imposing their style of play to such an extent that their opponents were merely playing bit parts.
Dublin went out to play an expansive game that has been allowed to flourish following the arrival of the black card. They moved the ball with incredible pace and precision, and that left any semblance of man-to-man marking by Roscommon in disarray.
As a team, and as individuals, Roscommon did not know what had hit them. Waves of blue jerseys came at them non-stop and, without having the facility to pull them down outside scoring range, they could only take it all on the chin.
The difference between this game and the Dubs' hard-earned semi-final win over Cavan was that the Breffni County played a largely defensive game, with extra players dropping back as soon as Dublin looked like moving the ball into their half of the field.
Cavan have perfected this style of play in recent years and they certainly put the shackles on Dublin in that semi-final. Indeed, but for a couple of very dubious decisions near the end, it is debatable if the Dubs would have survived.
The Cavan senior team had the lowest 'scores against' tally in the entire National League this year, but in the end it always comes back to who scores the most.
In the U-21 semi-final, Cavan did not score enough and at the heel of the hunt that cancelled out their excellent defensive system.
Some people will ask why Roscommon did not have a Plan B – a packed defence – to implement once they saw how Dublin were playing.
The problem was that, unless it had been well rehearsed, it would have been impossible to make such a fundamental change of style during the course of the first half when the Dublin bandwagon was in full steam and some Roscommon players seemed shell-shocked.
And it must be said that in the opening period of this game, at a time when Roscommon did get a bit of possession, they were laborious in moving the ball from defence to attack with a series of short passing that was absolutely the worst thing you can do when facing a team like this Dublin side, or indeed their senior counterparts, in full flight.
Moving the ball quickly down the field with good foot-passing or running with the ball are critical in taking on the Dublin style of play and sadly, Roscommon did not seem to favour that approach and paid a high price for it.
Of course Roscommon as a team, and the individual players within it, are nowhere as poor as they looked on Saturday – they played brilliant football earlier in this campaign.
They were simply hit with a tsunami of scores in the first half from a fabulously talented full-forward line of Paul Mannion, Cormac Costello and Conor McHugh, who between them bagged 1-18, with 1-10 coming from play. A truly amazing statistic.
Many of these Roscommon players are already on their county senior panel – or even the starting team – and no doubt will prove their worth in Division 2 football next year.
They are all entitled to be sad, but certainly should not be sorry.
The scoring power now available to the Dublin senior team is truly awesome based on what we saw on Saturday.
But there is no need for despair from all the other counties either – after all, the same U-21 forward line was well held in the semi-final, and last year much the same team were actually beaten by Longford at Parnell Park in the championship. And Dublin seniors can still only play 15 players.
Of course, another senior star, Ciaran Kilkenny, missed out on this championship campaign through injury.
* I see where Kerry recently made a proposal to do away with the U-21 grade and replace it with U-19, where it would amalgamate with the minor grade, now U-18.
This makes a lot of sense and the idea seems to be growing in interest around the country. Certainly established senior county players, of which there were about half a dozen playing on Saturday, should not be playing county U-21 as that was never what was intended when the competition was set up back in 1965.
And the U-19 proposal would do wonders for club fixture-making in every county if the idea was to include club competitions.
Who is your sportstar of the year?
Vote in the Irish Independent Sport Star Awards and you could win the ultimate sports prize.
Prizes include, tickets to Ireland's against Scotland in the Six Nations, All Ireland football and hurling final tickets and much more.
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It's incredible what a 3,000-foot change in elevation brings in May in the West. The heavens were puking snow when we left our house. Two hours later, the scene had turned from gray and angry to green and inviting. Bounding down a trail that slithers through an aspen forest is enough to make a man happy and satisfied.
Photo by Devon O'Neil


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According to Glamour magazine, young women should test their posture. "Stand as you normally do and have a friend snap a digital photo of you from the side. 'Your head should be in line with your shoulders, not leaning forward or back, and your shoulders should be in line with your ears, not slumped or rolled forward.' Also, your lower back should have a slight curve, but not so much that it looks like you're sticking your butt out. 'Bad posture could cause hip and back problems, whereas good posture not only makes you look better, it also expands the chest, helping you to breathe more easily and giving you more energy."
February 15, 2009


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In the area of alcoholism and death, liver disease is one of the most common ways people succumb. While it is true that this is not the only fatal cause associated with excessive drinking, it is one of the more prevalent, especially for those who have been drinking for a long time. Alcoholism effects on body organs can be pervasive, but the liver, especially, is subject to major damage.
There are three types of liver disease that are related to excessive alcohol consumption. These processes often move from one to the next and are a main cause of alcoholism and death:
Speak with an Addiction Specialist
Call 877-322-2694
24/7 Helpline
There are many tests available but, in general, blood tests and imaging tests (CT scan, MRI, or ultrasound) are most often performed in order to make a diagnosis. A liver biopsy may also be called for as this is the best means of establishing a solid diagnosis.
Because of the severe link between alcoholism and death, the person must stop drinking before treatments will be of any use. For some patients, changes in diet as well as vitamin supplements will be very useful in treating the alcoholism effects on body organs. Diet and vitamin supplements can go a long way in helping the liver recover. Certain medications may be needed in order to better manage any complications that may have been caused by liver damage. For some, the only treatment option may be a liver transplant.
Another treatment option that is very important is participating in either a group support system, an alcohol recovery program or a treatment center. The importance of these treatment options cannot be discounted as staying sober is crucial to the liver's recovery.
For anyone with advanced liver disease, the link between his or her continued alcoholism and death must be assessed. There is no easy to say it, continued drinking can kill you. Once the alcoholism effects on body organs begins to progress, treatment becomes much more difficult and the prognosis becomes less satisfactory. The first step is to stop drinking immediately as this is vital to any hope of extending your life span. Those who continue to drink after developing liver disease are more likely to suffer a variety of life-threatening health issues.
More than alcoholism and death on our alcoholism stages page


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Imagine a solar paneled road that you can walk or drive on. The solar panels would harness sun's energy and convert it into electricity and heat. The roads would be clear of snow and ice, they would be illuminated at night with LEDs and electric vehicles could be recharged anywhere along the road. Think how much it would save on electricity or gasoline and how much pollution it would reduce.
Sounds crazy? Well, this is the brainchild of Scott and Julie Bursaw who have taken up this ambitious Solar Roadways project to make it possible. Their basic idea is to replace asphalt roads with solar panels made from recycled tough materials having photovoltaic cells embedded in them. These cells would collect power from the sun and produce clean renewable energy. These solar panels would withstand heavy weight of vehicles and would be used to pave roads, sidewalks, driveways and parking lots.
Electricity so generated would pay for the cost of the solar panels. The electricity could be used by homes and businesses and excess could be stored. Roads could be heated up by adding a heating element on the road surface to melt the snow and ice on them. LEDs could be used as road lights to light up the road during nights. Electric vehicles could be charged at roadside charging stations or in parking lots. The possibilities are numerous.
Solar Roadways Inc. was founded in 2006 by Scott and Julie Bursaw. In 2009, they received a contract to build the first protype of the solar road panel from the Federal Highway Administration. They got a grant of $100,000 from Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) for Phase I which was followed by another grant of $750,000 for phase II to build a solar parking lot. Solar Roadways started a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo on 21 April 2014 to raise money to go into production. The company managed to raise $2.2 million from the campaign far exceeding the targeted amount of $1 million.
If this Solar Roadways project takes off, it would reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, the stocks of which are depleting rapidly. They would cut down the greenhouse gases and generate huge amounts of clean energy that will go a long way in saving our world's environment.


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After the markets got hit by a slew of negative data, Cramer is puzzled as to why the markets aren't down big. Take a look at it, he says, highlighting that the service industry grows less than forecast, a new report from an unemployment service showed that jobs aren't yet coming back, the Fed's minutes said that in 2010 the economy will be subdued and the market isn't as excited by the Google phone as speculated.
Not to mention, says Cramer, that the market is overbought - there is too much buying and not enough selling, which drives stocks up faster than they should be - making the stock market vulnerable to this kind downtrodden national news. With all this negative news, the market should have been down today, says Cramer, but instead it had a flat day, so what happened?


text: August 19, 2014 at 7:01 AM Grain exports: Workers were locked out, not on strike Posted by Letters Coordinator The Seattle Times' negative editorial regarding Gov. Jay Inslee's intervention on the side of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's labor dispute with United Grain is incredibly slanted and biased ["Close call on grain exports offers a lesson," Opinion, Aug. 13]. The editorial's glib pass over of the fact workers were locked out, not… More Comments | More in Exports | Topics: Gov. Jay Inslee, Grain exports, International Longshore and Warehouse Union


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LSDCAS is a research tool located in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
LSDCAS was developed by Dr. Michael Mackey and Dr. Fiorenza Ianzini from 1995 to 2013 as a core technology for scientific discovery in cellular biophysics. LSDCAS has been used in projects in cancer research and pharmacology, and the technology developed for LSDCAS has been used to develop models of cell motion, novel techniques for cell segmentation, and have also been contributed to open-source microscopy analysis toolkits.
The analytical capabilities of LSDCAS include automatic cell motility analysis, and the detection and analysis of cell events such as normal and abnormal cell division and cell death. LSDCAS also provides automatic assays for cell proliferation and wound healing.
LSDCAS Microtechnology: We're bigger than nanotechnology!


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Help for First-Time Caregivers
I need help with...
Caring for a family member or close friend is one of the most important—and complicated—roles you'll play. It can happen suddenly, with an accident or illness, or it may start with driving your loved one to get groceries or going to the doctor. Later, you may find yourself taking more time off from work, preparing meals or handling their finances.
Whether you're just beginning to anticipate a need or taking care of a family member full-time, this guide serves as a practical tool to make the process easier for both you and your loved one. It includes advice, resources and checklists to help you get organized and find support on your caregiving journey. Remember: Just take it one step at a time.
The right time to talk about the future is now—even if it's uncomfortable. Ask your loved one about their wishes, values and preferences on things that matter, from health to finances. If you wait until a fall, accident or serious diagnosis, your choices may be more limited and more difficult to evaluate when everyone's stress levels are sky-high.
Quick Tips:
Don't go it alone. Trying to handle the responsibilities of caregiving yourself can lead to burnout and stress-related health problems. It's important to reach out to form a larger network of friends, family and community resources that can help you. Remember to consider your loved one part of the team.
Quick Tips:
Now it's time to work with your team to develop a plan, thinking both short term—such as determining who will be responsible for each caregiving task—and long term. You can't anticipate every detail or scenario, but being forward-thinking now will help you respond more quickly and effectively in an emergency. It also helps assure that everyone keeps the focus on what's best for your loved one.
Quick Tips:
This step encompasses the others, of course, and every caregiver's situation is different. But there are a wide range resources and tools that can make your job easier, whether you're caring for a parent from another state, a spouse with a long-term illness or a family member with dementia. In any caregiving situation, it's important to know where to get information and assistance.
Quick Tips:
As a family caregiver, it's easy to forget about your own needs—which is why caregivers are more likely to report high stress levels and suffer from depression, and other health problems. Don't neglect exercise, sleep and healthy eating, and take time for activities you enjoy. You'll need to keep up your energy and stay well to care for others.
Quick Tips:


text:
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Home > Classes & Events > Event Search Results
Free tobacco cessation classes at the Stay Healthy Center located in the Oakdale Mall, Johnson City. Stop smoking now!
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© 2019 United Health Services. All rights reserved. United Health Services, Inc. and the members of the UHS System neither are affiliated with, sponsored, endorsed nor approved by, nor otherwise associated with, Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE: UHS), UHS of Delaware, Inc. nor their affiliates, which can be found at www.uhsinc.com.


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Here is the list of Healthy and Nutritious Indian vegetarian recipes for breakfast. Why only vegetarian? Because India is ranked top in the world with 38% of the total population being vegetarians. A vegetarian eating pattern can be a healthy option. The key is to consume a variety of foods and the right amount of foods to meet your calorie and nutrient needs.
Carrot Uttapam
Evidence suggests that eating more antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, can help reduce the risks of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Carrots are also rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Carrots are specifically high in fibre and are very good for your eyes. Plus, they have that added bonus of being a very pretty orange color and have a sweet taste. So it is one of the best Indian vegetarian recipes for breakfast.
- 2 finely chopped onions
- 3 grated carrots
- A few finely chopped coriander leaves
- Oil
- Salt to taste
- Dosa Batter.
- Firstly, except for the dosa batter, mix all the ingredients together and keep overnight to save time in the morning.
- Heat up a non-stick pan and once it is hot enough, reduce the flame to medium heat.
- Pour in the dosa batter and spread it around, but not too much as it needs to be spongy.
- Once holes start appearing on top, sprinkle the vegetable mixture on top. Cover and cook for a few minutes.
- Once the corners start to come loose, flip the uttapam over, sprinkling oil around it.
- Remove from pan once cooked and serve with chutney or sambhar.
Palak Puri
Spinach is a super food. It is loaded with tons of nutrients in a low-calorie package. Dark, leafy greens like spinach are important for skin, hair, and bone health. They also provide protein, iron, vitamins, and minerals. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a 100-gram serving of spinach contains 28.1 mg of vitamin C, 34 percent of the daily recommendation. So it is surely one of the best Indian vegetarian recipes for breakfast.
- 2 cups wheat flour
- 500 grams washed spinach
- 2-3 teaspoons clarified ghee/olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon green chilli paste
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- Oil
- Salt to taste
- Water.
- Chop the spinach and blanch it in hot water. Drain the water and blend the leaves into a paste
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, spinach paste, ginger paste, salt and green chilli paste. Add water and mix well.
- Add the olive oil or ghee and knead thoroughly. Cover and set the dough and aside for ten minutes.
- After ten minutes, knead the dough and make small balls out of it
- On a floured surface, roll out the balls into small disks
- In a deep pan, fry the puris and serve with chutney.
Poha is gluten-free, which means it can be consumed by people who are allergic to wheat products. It is a good source of eleven vital minerals and vitamins, including iron. It has vitamin B1, and hence, aids in stabilising blood sugar. Studies have shown that vitamin B1 can help to support individuals with diabetes. Since poha is rice-based, it is a good source of energy and can help staff off hunger pangs. It is lactose-free and heart healthy. So it can be a very good Indian vegetarian recipes for breakfast.
- 1.5 cups poha (flattened rice)
- One finely chopped onion
- Single diced potato
- 1 finely chopped carrot
- 1 green chilli
- 8-10 curry leaves
- A handful of peanuts
- ½ teaspoon chana daal, ½ teaspoon urad daal, ½ teaspoon mustard seeds, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds, ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- After washing the poha, let it sit for some time as this helps it to become soft.
- Heat oil and add some peanuts. Once they are slightly fried, add the chana daal, urad daal, mustard seeds and cumin seeds.
- Once they start to pop, add the green chillies and fry it a bit and then add the onions and curry leaves and cook until onions start to sweat.
- Add the vegetables, salt and turmeric and sauté well for a minute
- Cover and let it cook for eight to ten minutes
- Once the veggies are soft, add the drained poha to it and mix well. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Add the lime juice and mix. Serve hot.


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114th CONGRESS
1st Session
January 28, 2015
Mr. Portman (for himself, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Johnson, Mr. King, Mr. Manchin, and Mr. Paul) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
To improve the efficiency, management, and interagency coordination of the Federal permitting process through reforms overseen by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and for other purposes.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Federal Permitting Improvement Act of 2015.
In this Act:
The term agency has the meaning given the term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
Agency CPO
The term agency CPO means the chief permitting officer of an agency designated by the head of the agency under section 3(b)(2)(A)(i).
The term authorization means—
any license, permit, approval, or other administrative decision required or authorized to be issued by an agency with respect to the siting, construction, reconstruction, or commencement of operations of a covered project under Federal law, whether administered by a Federal or State agency; or
any determination or finding required to be issued by an agency—
as a precondition to an authorization described under paragraph (A); or
before an applicant may take a particular action with respect to the siting, construction, reconstruction, or commencement of operations of a covered project under Federal law, whether administered by a Federal or State agency.
The term Council means the Federal Infrastructure Permitting Improvement Council established by section 3(a).
Covered project
In general
The term covered project means any construction activity in the United States that requires authorization or review by a Federal agency—
involving renewable or conventional energy production, electricity transmission, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource projects, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing, or any other sector as determined by the Federal CPO; and
that is likely to require an initial investment of more than $25,000,000, as determined by the Federal CPO.
The term covered project does not include any project subject to section 101(b)(4) of title 23, United States Code.
The term Dashboard means the Permitting Dashboard required by section 4(b).
Environmental assessment
The term environmental assessment means a concise public document for which a Federal agency is responsible that serves—
to briefly provide sufficient evidence and analysis for determining whether to prepare an environmental impact statement or a finding of no significant impact;
to aid in the compliance of the agency with NEPA if an environmental impact statement is not necessary; and
to facilitate preparation of an environmental impact statement, if an environmental impact statement is necessary.
Environmental document
The term environmental document means an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement.
Environmental impact statement
The term environmental impact statement means the detailed statement of significant environmental impacts required to be prepared under NEPA.
Environmental review
The term environmental review means the agency procedures for preparing an environmental impact statement, environmental assessment, categorical exclusion, or other document required under NEPA.
Federal CPO
The term Federal CPO means the Federal Chief Permitting Officer appointed by the President under section 3(b)(1).
The term inventory means the inventory of covered projects established by the Federal CPO under section 3(c)(1)(A).
Lead agency
The term lead agency means the agency with principal responsibility for review and authorization of a covered project, as determined under section 3(c)(1)(B).
The term NEPA means the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Participating agency
The term participating agency means any agency participating in reviews or authorizations for a particular covered project in accordance with section 4.
Project sponsor
The term project sponsor means the entity, including any private, public, or public-private entity, that seeks approval for a project.
Federal Permitting Improvement Council
There is established the Federal Permitting Improvement Council.
The President shall appoint an officer of the Office of Management and Budget as the Federal Chief Permitting Officer to serve as Chair of the Council, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Chief Permitting Officers
In general
Designation by head of agency
Each individual listed in subparagraph (B) shall designate a member of the agency in which the individual serves to serve as the agency CPO.
The agency CPO described in clause (i) shall hold a position in the agency of the equivalent of a deputy secretary or higher.
Each agency CPO described in clause (i) shall serve on the Council.
Heads of agencies
The individuals that shall each designate an agency CPO under this subparagraph are as follows:
The Secretary of Agriculture.
The Secretary of Commerce.
The Secretary of the Interior.
The Secretary of Energy.
The Secretary of Transportation.
The Secretary of Defense.
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
Any other head of a Federal agency that the Federal CPO may invite to participate as a member of the Council.
Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality
In addition to the members listed in paragraphs (1) and (2), the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality shall also be a member of the Council.
Federal CPO
Inventory development
The Federal CPO, in consultation with the members of the Council, shall—
not later than 3 months after the date of enactment of this Act, establish an inventory of covered projects that are pending the review or authorization of the head of any Federal agency;
categorize the projects in the inventory as appropriate based on the project type; and
for each category, identify the types of reviews and authorizations most commonly involved; and
add covered projects to the inventory after the Federal CPO receives a notice described in section 4(a)(1).
Lead agency designation
The Federal CPO, in consultation with the Council, shall—
designate a lead agency for each category of covered projects described in subparagraph (A)(ii); and
publish on an Internet website the designations and categories in an easily accessible format.
Performance schedules
In general
The Federal CPO, in consultation with the Council, shall develop nonbinding performance schedules, including intermediate and final deadlines, for reviews and authorizations for each category of covered projects described in subparagraph (A)(ii).
In general
The performance schedules shall reflect employment of the use of the most efficient applicable processes.
The final deadline for completion of any review or authorization contained in the performance schedules shall not be later than 180 days after the date on which the completed application or request is filed.
Review and revision
Not later than 2 years after the date on which the performance schedules are established under this subparagraph, and not less frequently than once every 2 years thereafter, the Federal CPO, in consultation with the Council, shall review and revise the performance schedules.
The Federal CPO may issue circulars, bulletins, guidelines, and other similar directives as necessary to carry out responsibilities under this Act and to effectuate the adoption by agencies of the best practices and recommendations of the Council described in paragraph (2).
In general
The Council shall make recommendations to the Federal CPO with respect to the designations under paragraph (1)(B) and the performance schedules under paragraph (1)(C).
The Council may update the recommendations described in clause (i).
Best practices
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and not less than annually thereafter, the Council shall issue recommendations on the best practices for—
early stakeholder engagement, including fully considering and, as appropriate, incorporating recommendations provided in public comments on any proposed covered project;
assuring timeliness of permitting and review decisions;
coordination between Federal and non-Federal governmental entities;
reduction of information collection requirements and other administrative burdens on agencies, project sponsors, and other interested parties;
evaluating lead agencies and participating agencies under this Act; and
other aspects of infrastructure permitting, as determined by the Council.
Permitting process improvement
Project initiation and designation of participating agencies
In general
A project sponsor shall provide the Federal CPO and the lead agency notice of the initiation of a proposed covered project.
Each notice described in subparagraph (A) shall include—
a description, including the general location, of the proposed project;
a statement of any Federal authorization or review anticipated to be required for the proposed project; and
an assessment of the reasons why the proposed project meets the definition of a covered project in section 2.
In general
Not later than 45 days after the date on which a lead agency receives the notice under paragraph (1), the lead agency shall—
identify another agency that may have an interest in the proposed project; and
invite the agency to become a participating agency in the permitting management process and in the environmental review process described in section 6.
Each invitation made under subparagraph (A) shall include a deadline for a response to be submitted to the lead agency.
Participating agencies
An agency invited under paragraph (2) shall be designated as a participating agency for a covered project, unless the agency informs the lead agency in writing before the deadline described in paragraph (2)(B) that the agency—
has no jurisdiction or authority with respect to the proposed project; or
does not intend to exercise authority related to, or submit comments on, the proposed project.
Effect of designation
The designation described in paragraph (3) shall not give the participating agency jurisdiction over the proposed project.
Change of lead agency
In general
On the request of a lead agency, participating agency, or project sponsor, the Federal CPO may designate a different agency as the lead agency for a covered project if the Federal CPO receives new information regarding the scope or nature of a covered project that indicates that the project should be placed in a different category under section 3(c)(1)(B).
Resolution of dispute
Any dispute over designation of a lead agency for a particular covered project shall be resolved by the Federal CPO.
Permitting Dashboard
Requirement to maintain
In general
The Federal CPO, in coordination with the Administrator of General Services, shall maintain an online database to be known as the
Permitting Dashboard to track the status of Federal reviews and authorizations for any covered project in the inventory.
Specific and searchable entry
The Dashboard shall include a specific and searchable entry for each project.
Not later than 7 days after the date on which the Federal CPO receives a notice under subsection (a)(1), the Federal CPO shall create a specific entry on the Dashboard for the project, unless the Federal CPO or lead agency determines that the project is not a covered project.
Submissions by agencies
The lead agency and each participating agency shall submit to the Federal CPO for posting on the Dashboard for each covered project—
any application and any supporting document submitted by a project sponsor for any required Federal review or authorization for the project;
not later than 2 business days after the date on which any agency action or decision that materially affects the status of the project is made, a description, including significant supporting documents, of the agency action or decision; and
the status of any litigation to which the agency is a party that is directly related to the project, including, if practicable, any judicial document made available on an electronic docket maintained by a Federal, State, or local court.
Postings by the Federal CPO
The Federal CPO shall post on the Dashboard an entry for each covered project that includes—
the information submitted under paragraph (3)(A) not later than 2 days after the date on which the Federal CPO receives the information;
a permitting timetable approved by the Federal CPO under subsection (c)(2)(C);
the status of the compliance of each participating agency with the permitting timetable;
any modifications of the permitting timetable; and
an explanation of each modification described in subparagraph (D).
Coordination and timetables
Coordination plan
In general
Not later than 60 days after the date on which the lead agency receives a notice under subsection (a)(1), the lead agency, in consultation with each participating agency, shall establish a concise plan for coordinating public and agency participation in, and completion of, any required Federal review and authorization for the project.
Memorandum of understanding
The lead agency may incorporate the coordination plan described in subparagraph (A) into a memorandum of understanding.
Permitting timetable
As part of the coordination plan required by paragraph (1), the lead agency, in consultation with each participating agency, the project sponsor, and the State in which the project is located, shall establish a permitting timetable that includes intermediate and final deadlines for action by each participating agency on any Federal review or authorization required for the project.
Factors for consideration
In establishing the permitting timetable under subparagraph (A), the lead agency shall follow the performance schedules established under section 3(c)(1)(C), but may vary the timetable based on relevant factors, including—
the size and complexity of the covered project;
the resources available to each participating agency;
the regional or national economic significance of the project;
the sensitivity of the natural or historic resources that may be affected by the project; and
the extent to which similar projects in geographic proximity to the project were recently subject to environmental review or similar procedures under State law.
Approval by the Federal CPO
Requirement to submit
The lead agency shall promptly submit to the Federal CPO a permitting timetable established under subparagraph (A) for review.
Revision and approval
In general
The Federal CPO, after consultation with the lead agency, may revise the permitting timetable if the Federal CPO determines that the timetable deviates without reasonable justification from the performance schedule established under section 3(c)(1)(C).
No revision by Federal CPO within 7 days
If the Federal CPO does not revise the permitting timetable earlier than the date that is 7 days after the date on which the lead agency submits to the Federal CPO the permitting timetable, the permitting timetable shall be approved by the Federal CPO.
Modification after approval
The lead agency may modify a permitting timetable established under subparagraph (A) for good cause only if—
the lead agency and the affected participating agency agree to a different deadline;
the lead agency or the affected participating agency provides a written explanation of the justification for the modification; and
the lead agency submits to the Federal CPO a modification, which the Federal CPO may revise or disapprove.
Consistency with other time periods
A permitting timetable established under subparagraph (A) shall be consistent with any other relevant time periods established under Federal law.
In general
Each Federal participating agency shall comply with the deadlines set forth in the permitting timetable approved under subparagraph (C), or with any deadline modified under subparagraph (D).
Failure to comply
If a Federal participating agency fails to comply with a deadline for agency action on a covered project, the head of the participating agency shall—
promptly report to the Federal CPO for posting on the Dashboard an explanation of any specific reason for failing to meet the deadline and a proposal for an alternative deadline; and
report to the Federal CPO for posting on the Dashboard a monthly status report describing any agency activity related to the project until the agency has taken final action on the delayed authorization or review.
Cooperating State, local, or tribal governments
In general
To the maximum extent practicable under applicable Federal law, the lead agency shall coordinate the Federal review and authorization process under this subsection with any State, local, or tribal agency responsible for conducting any separate review or authorization of the covered project to ensure timely and efficient review and permitting decisions.
Memorandum of understanding
In general
Any coordination plan between the lead agency and any State, local, or tribal agency shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be included in a memorandum of understanding.
Submission to Federal CPO
A lead agency shall submit to the Federal CPO each memorandum of understanding described in clause (i).
Post to Dashboard
The Federal CPO shall post to the Dashboard each memorandum of understanding submitted under clause (ii).
Early consultation
The lead agency shall provide an expeditious process for project sponsors to confer with each participating agency involved and to have each participating agency determine and communicate to the project sponsor, not later than 60 days after the date on which the project sponsor submits a request, information concerning—
the likelihood of approval for a potential covered project; and
key issues of concern to each participating agency and to the public.
Cooperating agency
In general
A lead agency may designate a participating agency as a cooperating agency in accordance with part 1501 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations).
Effect on other designation
The designation described in paragraph (1) shall not affect any designation under subsection (a)(3).
Limitation on designation
Any agency not designated as a participating agency under subsection (a)(3) shall not be designated as a cooperating agency under paragraph (1).
Interstate compacts
The consent of Congress is given for 3 or more contiguous States to enter into an interstate compact establishing regional infrastructure development agencies to facilitate authorization and review of covered projects, under State law or in the exercise of delegated permitting authority described under section 7, that will advance infrastructure development, production, and generation within the States that are parties to the compact.
Coordination of required reviews
Concurrent reviews
Each agency shall, to the greatest extent permitted by law—
carry out the obligations of the agency under other applicable law concurrently, and in conjunction with other reviews being conducted by other participating agencies, including environmental reviews required under NEPA, unless doing so would impair the ability of the agency to carry out statutory obligations; and
formulate and implement administrative, policy, and procedural mechanisms to enable the agency to ensure completion of the environmental review process in a timely, coordinated, and environmentally responsible manner.
Adoption and use of documents
State environmental documents; supplemental documents
Use of existing documents
On the request of a project sponsor, a lead agency shall consider and, as appropriate, adopt or incorporate, a document that has been prepared for a project under State laws and procedures as the environmental impact statement or environmental assessment for the project if the State laws and procedures under which the document was prepared provide, as determined by the lead agency in consultation with the Council on Environmental Quality, environmental protection and opportunities for public participation that are substantially equivalent to NEPA.
NEPA obligations
An environmental document adopted under subparagraph (A) may serve as, or supplement, an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment required to be prepared by a lead agency under NEPA.
Supplemental document
In the case of an environmental document described in subparagraph (A), during the period after preparation of the document and prior to the adoption of the document by the lead agency, the lead agency shall prepare and publish a supplemental document to the document if the lead agency determines that—
a significant change has been made to the project that is relevant for purposes of environmental review of the project; or
there have been significant changes in circumstances or availability of information relevant to the environmental review for the project.
If a lead agency prepares and publishes a supplemental document under subparagraph (C), the lead agency may solicit comments from other agencies and the public on the supplemental document for a period of not more than 30 days beginning on the date on which the supplemental document is published.
Record of decision
A lead agency shall issue a record of decision or finding of no significant impact, as appropriate, based on the document adopted under subparagraph (A) and any supplemental document prepared under subparagraph (C).
Alternatives analysis
As early as practicable during the environmental review, but not later than the commencement of scoping for a project requiring the preparation of an environmental impact statement, the lead agency shall provide an opportunity for the involvement of cooperating agencies in determining the range of alternatives to be considered for a project.
Range of alternatives
Following participation under paragraph (1), the lead agency shall determine the range of alternatives for consideration in any document that the lead agency is responsible for preparing for the project.
The lead agency shall determine, in collaboration with each cooperating agency at appropriate times during the environmental review, the methodologies to be used and the level of detail required in the analysis of each alternative for a project.
Preferred alternative
At the discretion of the lead agency, the preferred alternative for a project, after being identified, may be developed to a higher level of detail than other alternatives to facilitate the development of mitigation measures or concurrent compliance with other applicable laws if the lead agency determines that the development of the higher level of detail will not prevent—
the lead agency from making an impartial decision as to whether to accept another alternative that is being considered in the environmental review; and
the public from commenting on the preferred and other alternatives.
Environmental review comments
Comments on draft environmental impact statement
For comments by an agency or the public on a draft environmental impact statement, the lead agency shall establish a comment period of not more than 60 days after the date on which a notice announcing availability of the environmental impact statement is published in the Federal Register, unless—
the lead agency, the project sponsor, and each participating agency agree to a different deadline; or
the deadline is extended by the lead agency for good cause.
Other comments
For all other comment periods for agency or public comments in the environmental review process, the lead agency shall establish a comment period of not later than 30 days after the date on which the materials on which comment is requested are made available, unless—
the lead agency, the project sponsor, and each participating agency agree to a different deadline; or
the lead agency modifies the deadline for good cause.
Issue identification and resolution
The lead agency and each participating agency shall work cooperatively in accordance with this section to identify and resolve issues that could delay completion of the environmental review or could result in denial of any approval required for the project under applicable laws.
Lead agency responsibilities
In general
The lead agency shall make information available to each participating agency as early as practicable in the environmental review regarding the environmental, historic, and socioeconomic resources located within the project area and the general locations of the alternatives under consideration.
Sources of information
The information described in subparagraph (A) may be based on existing data sources, including geographic information systems mapping.
Participating agency responsibilities
Based on information received from the lead agency under paragraph (2), each participating agency shall identify, as early as practicable, any issues of concern, including any issues that could substantially delay or prevent an agency from granting a permit or other approval needed for the project, regarding any potential environmental, historic, or socioeconomic impacts of the project.
Categories of projects
The authorities granted under this section may be exercised for an individual project or a category of projects.
Delegated State permitting programs
If a Federal statute permits a State to be delegated or otherwise authorized by a Federal agency to issue or otherwise administer a permit program in lieu of the Federal agency, each member of the Council shall—
on publication by the Council of best practices under section 3(c)(2)(B), initiate a process, with public participation, to determine whether and the extent to which any of the best practices are applicable to permitting under the statute; and
not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, make recommendations for State modifications of the permit program to reflect the best practices described in section 3(c)(2)(B), as appropriate.
Litigation, judicial review, and savings provision
Limitations on claims
In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a claim arising under Federal law seeking judicial review of any authorization issued by a Federal agency for a covered project shall be barred unless—
the action is filed not later than 150 days after the date on which a notice is published in the Federal Register that the authorization is final pursuant to the law under which the agency action is taken, unless a shorter time is specified in the Federal law under which judicial review is allowed; and
in the case of an action pertaining to an environmental review conducted under NEPA—
the action is filed by a party that submitted a comment during the environmental review on the issue on which the party seeks judicial review; and
the comment was sufficiently detailed to put the lead agency on notice of the issue on which the party seeks judicial review.
New information
In general
The head of a lead agency or participating agency shall consider new information received after the close of a comment period if the information satisfies the requirements under regulations implementing NEPA.
Supplemental environmental impact statement
If the preparation of a supplemental environmental impact statement is required, the preparation of the supplemental environmental impact statement shall be considered a separate final agency action and the deadline for filing a claim for judicial review of the agency action shall be 150 days after the date on which a notice announcing the agency action is published in the Federal Register.
Rule of construction
Nothing in this subsection creates a right to judicial review or places any limit on filing a claim that a person has violated the terms of an authorization.
Preliminary injunctive relief
In addition to considering any other applicable equitable factors, including the effects on public health, safety, and the environment, in any action seeking a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction against an agency or a project sponsor in connection with review or authorization of a covered project, the court shall—
consider the potential for significant job losses or other economic harm resulting from an order or injunction; and
not presume that the harms described in paragraph (1) are reparable.
Judicial review
Except as provided in subsection (a), nothing in this Act affects the reviewability of any final Federal agency action in a court of the United States or in the court of any State.
Savings clause
Nothing in this Act—
supersedes, amends, or modifies NEPA or any other Federal environmental statute or affects the responsibility of any Federal officer to comply with or enforce any statute; or
creates a presumption that a covered project will be approved or favorably reviewed by any agency.
Nothing in this section preempts, limits, or interferes with—
any practice of seeking, considering, or responding to public comment; or
any power, jurisdiction, responsibility, or authority that a Federal, State, or local governmental agency, metropolitan planning organization, Indian tribe, or project sponsor has with respect to carrying out a project or any other provisions of law applicable to any project, plan, or program.
Report to Congress
In general
Not later than April 15 of each year, the Federal CPO shall submit to Congress a report detailing the progress accomplished under this Act during the previous fiscal year.
The report described in subsection (a) shall assess the performance of each participating agency and lead agency based on the best practices described in section 3(c)(2)(B).
Opportunity To include comments
Each agency CPO shall have the opportunity to include comments concerning the performance of the agency in the report described in subsection (a).
This Act applies to any covered project for which an application or request for a Federal authorization is pending before a Federal agency 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act.