text:
Gamification is a hot topic. Missed it? On Google Trends it first appeared as a blip in late October 2010 and then took off in January so quickly that it appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition in March. Investors seem interested, and it already has a sold-out conference and a fast-growing list of agencies that will help you "do gamification." You can even join a quest to become a gamification expert.
As I dove into some reading, a framework emerged that helped me understand gamification generally, and also specifically how (or whether!) to think about it in relationship to projects I'm working on at the moment. This framework also helped to put all the examples and criticisms into a context I could get my head around.
Defining Gamification
Gamification, according to Wikipedia, is:
[T]he use of game play mechanics for non-game applications… particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications. It also strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviors in connection with the applications. Gamification works by making technology more engaging, and by encouraging desired behaviors, taking advantage of humans' psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.
In other words, make the stuff you're building engaging so people do what you want, or think about ways to make them want the same things you want. And this is the breakthrough bit: the stuff you're building doesn't have to be a game to be fun or engaging—anything can be fun or engaging!
A Framework for Understanding Degrees of Gamification
As the critics point out, some gamified products are just poorly executed. Just because you saw something in a game once doesn't mean it'll be fun in your product. But I think that most of the critics of gamification fail to take into account the wide range of execution that's possible. Gamification can be applied as a superficial afterthought, or as a useful or even fundamental integration. To tease out some differences and to think about how to implement gamification, we at DesignMap have started to put together a framework:
- Cosmetic: adding game-like visual elements or copy (usually visual design or copy driven)
- Accessory: wedging in easy-to-add-on game elements, such as badges or adjacent products (usually marketing driven)
- Integrated: more subtle, deeply integrated elements like % complete (usually interaction design driven)
- Basis: making the entire offering a game (usually product driven)
Cosmetic Game Elements
Examples that fall into the cosmetic category abound, especially in shopping, with the use of large photographs that are reminiscent of the immersive graphics available in popular video games such as the Call of Duty or Halo series. The purpose of this in games is to immerse the player into a believable experience. It's also usually reinforced by creating a story around that experience, and the two together create an immersive effect that invites the player to engage. In other applications, the result can fall short unless it's carefully thought through.
The Adventure at Altitude site uses a large photo background it looks like it could have come right out of Cursed Mountain or Uncharted2.
Uncharted 2
You could be choosing this Chrysler 300 from the armory of Halo Reach
The Halo Reach armory
Almost too right-on-the-nose, the Prada site includes comic strips
There are also more sites using fun or playful copy. With the recent release of Portal 2, it's hard not to think of the Portal AI's promise of cake.
iMeet is dusting your cube, suggests that you take this time to fix your hair, and is warming up the room.
Dropbox recommends a Snickers bar.
Easter eggs also fall into this category.
YouTube's snake Easter egg
Accessory Game Elements
Gamification in the accessory category is the most common, and draws the most criticism from the gaming community for having no value beyond pure marketing pull. Some of the gamification services provided by companies such as BigDoor and Bunchball fall into this space. Their services provide explicit rewards such as points, levels, and leader status. The fact that external companies can even provide "gamification solutions" to other businesses speaks to their fundamental add-on-able-ness.
Bunchball addresses a laundry list of gamification "mechanics" and needs
Other examples of accessory gamification include tacked-on game elements such as newsgames like Huffington Post's Predict the News. Poorly performing leaderboards are poorly performing specifically when they're treated as accessories, and are empty because users aren't actually motivated to the desired behavior (product reviews in particular seem to suffer from this). Leaderboards that perform well are integrated into the site (see the example in the next category).
Integrated Game Elements
Gamification in the integrated category is subtler, more thoughtfully integrated, and less explicit than the other examples we've examined so far. Examples include leveraging a sense of accomplishment and competition for Backcountry's leaderboard (which is deeply integrated an extension of the company's DNA of catering to hard-core enthusiasts who are passionate about these products), and Amazon's top reviewers.
backcountry.com's leaderboard
Unlike cosmetic and accessory game elements, integral elements speak directly several types of natural motivations. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Nike use progress meters to entice users onward; the company wants the user to finish, and the progress meters provide a clear visualization of how near they are to a sense of having achieved completion. Sites such as Gilt Group and Daily Candy's Swirl, or one-deal-at-a-time sites like Woot, use scarcity and competition to drive behavior.
Nike wants you to want to finish designing your shoes
Woot provides detailed information on other purchases
Basis Gamification
In the basis category, activities that weren't games before have become games. The pleasure people get from playing games is layered onto everyday activities.
Badge sites fall into this category because the whole premise of simply being somewhere is suddenly a game. Badges from sites such as Foursquare, Gravity, Zaang, and Gowalla are all echoes of the rewards provided in video games. Xbox has "achievements," and the Playstation Network has "trophies." Wii Sports has a stamp system, although the famous Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto says:
I'm not a big fan of using the carrots to motivate people to play. I want people to play because they enjoy playing and they want to play more.
Many of the products in the basis category address something that might otherwise be less-than-fun, such as exercising, saving energy, or donating money. Gamification resonates especially with these examples, as these solutions try to make things more-than-less-than-fun. Anyone with kids will recognize this activity, as we wrack our brains for ways to make brushing teeth or cleaning house the most exciting thing anyone could ever aspire to do. Giving to charities becomes more interesting and engaging with products such as Free Rice and Spent. BBC Pinball has some interesting idea management games.
Spent supports the development of empathy and requests donations when the game is over
BBC Online provides games to help come up with, sort, and prioritize ideas
Competition shows up in this category too, with sites that help improve personal habits such as stickK, Skinnyo, Healthmonth, and Welectricity.
Welectricity lets users compete against one another and their own goals to reduce energy use
People can save money by punching the pig or chasing Mint's goals, or cross things off to-do lists with Rough Underbelly, or get chores done with Chore Wars.
Mint helps people set up and keep "score" against a goal
Jane McGonigal is working on saving the world (literally) with her games. A believer in the power of games to motivate, she predicts that UX designers will become "happiness engineers."
Other Frameworks
As you're considering how to build gamification (delight, enticement, and interest) into your product, there are some other guidelines or frameworks to consider:
- Gabe Zicherman, chairman of at the Gamification Summit, talks about "SAPS": status, access, power, and stuff. Gabe's model may be a game-centric take on Maslow's broader model.
- In a Mercury News article, Badgeville founder Kris Duggan identified three large categories of behavior that can be influenced through gamification: personal achievement, group motivation, and contextual communications.
- One definition of "game" by Roger Caillois states that games must have all of these attributes: fun, separate, uncertain, non-productive, governed by rules, and fictitious. (It's interesting to note that most of the examples of gamification I've called out meet some five of the six attributes listed here.)
- Richard A. Bartle proposed four types of game players for MUDs: achiever, explorer, socialiser and imposer (if you're making personas and thinking of focusing on gamification, it might make sense to include their "Bartle type").
- Nicole Lazzaro and Marc LeBlanc have different but very interesting models on types of games and players.
- When thinking about building game elements into a product, it becomes important to consider a progression of user experience, as opposed to just beginners and experts. See Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's work and this diagram of his concept of "flow."
- Of course Jesse James Garrett's framework is useful to re-consider in this context.
Hope for Interaction Designers
Before we pack up and leave the field for the game designers, it's worth considering what's really going on in the last two levels of our model, integrated and basis: the enticement of people into an action to support their own goals within a product. This is the space where interaction design plays nicely, remembering all that we've learned from our years of persona development and that no one wakes up in the morning hoping to fill out a form that day. Instead, we empathize with people, and remember that they have higher goals. We use our skills to create delightful interactions that entice people to move forward within our sites. This is the stuff we've been doing forever. As Vitruvius said (loosely translated), "Good design has three things: stability, usefulness, and delight." Interaction designers are perfectly positioned to start delivering this kind of delight.
More Reading
"Gamification" returns 847,000 results on Google, but we found some particularly clear, helpful, and super-smart thinkers if you want to learn a little more:
- Stephen Anderson, The Art & Science of Seductive Interactions
- Sebastian Deterding, Just Add Points?
- Dan Saffer, Gaming the Web
- Amy Jo Kim, Beyond Gamification
- An interesting example of using a game to facilitate sharing information about road changes


text:
Rated Ofsted Outstanding (2016), Truro and Penwith College provides a range of quality degree courses with employer needs in mind. All students benefit from an excellent support network that helps to put them on the best footing for a successful future after graduating. Finding themselves at home in purpose-built buildings with expert lecturers and access to industry-standard equipment, students can study a quality university course right here in Cornwall.
A variety of people enter higher education with an assortment of experiences and commitments, but with the flexibility at the heart of our programmes, the College offers a compressed timetable and small class sizes to allow students to study in a relaxed and supportive environment. Whatever your background, studying University courses at Truro and Penwith College means an opportunity to study locally, the chance to fit home or part-time work around your lectures and the one thing all our students have in common – the shared experiences of a quality education right here in Cornwall.
For more information visit the Truro and Penwith College website.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Woburn Door Repair & Replacement
Fast door repair when you need it most! Providing 24/7 Woburn door repair and replacement services, we are there to help you protect your home and business.
When you need door repair, you need it now.
Often, door damage is the result of a malfunction, break-in, or even just wear over time resulting in damaged door jambs, broken locks and hinges, roller issues, squeaking, or warping that can effect door operation.
Regardless of the reason, when your doors aren't functioning properly, you are leaving yourself and your home with a limited level of protection.
Our Woburn, ON door repair company repairs and replaces (as needed) damaged or faulty garage doors, sliding glass doors, front entry doors, commercial roll-up doors, and more. We provide fast, efficient service any time, day or night, so you can keep your family, home, or business protected without interrupting your schedule.
Call Toronto Door Repair at (647) 694-7721 for a Fast, Free Quote!
24/7 Emergency Door Repair Services
There are many reasons why you may need emergency door repair outside of standard business hours. We are there for you anytime, day or night, whether your garage door won't close, your front door won't open, your sliders won't slide, or your commercial overhead door is stuck.
Warping, weathering, age, and degradation of materials can cause doors to not work as smoothly as when originally installed, sometimes ceasing to function altogether. When improper door functioning is making your life more difficult, don't just deal with it. Let us fix it for you!
Our Woburn door repair experts are skilled and experienced and can get your door functioning again right away. If your existing door is beyond repair, we will provide emergency door services including door replacement, door board-ups, damaged hinges repair, kicked door frame repair, lock replacement, or even new door installation, if possible.
Our professional door repair services include:
- Garage Door Repair
- Sliding Glass Door Repair
- Break-in Repair
- Commercial Door Repair
- Roll-Up Door Repair
Whether your door damage is due to human-related or natural causes, we get you back to functioning so you can get back to your life. For a fast, Fast, Free Quote or emergency door repair service, reach out to the experts at Toronto Door Repair today.
Professional Door Replacement
Door repairs are only as good as the door itself. If your door or frame is rotting, rusted, or otherwise damaged or aged beyond usable means, we can provide door replacement services to keep everything safe and secure.
Toronto Door Repair provides complete professional door replacement services for both residential and commercial locations. Many businesses experience the need for door repair, overhead door repair, or commercial door replacement at some point during their operations. This could be due to vandalism or burglary, or as a result of lack of maintenance over time, resulting in natural wear and erosion.
Our Woburn commercial door replacement company is dedicated to ensuring you have properly functioning doors at all times, so you can be confident that your business is protected and that operations keep running smoothly.
We also provide residential door replacement services for front entry doors, garage doors, and sliding glass doors. If your door is no longer working properly, or if you want to update to a different aesthetic to better suit your needs and the style of your home, we can help.
From door frame replacement to full new door installation, Toronto Door Repair provides fast, efficient home door replacement services to help keep your family, home, and possessions safe.
Full-Service Door Repair Company
When you need affordable door repair or replacement done right and done now, Toronto Door Repair is the Woburn Door repair company you can trust.
With 2 decades of experience assisting Woburn residents and businesses with their door repair services, our repair specialists have everything on hand that they need to make your needed repairs immediately! We know that sometimes you don't have the luxury of time. Door malfunctions can interrupt your life or business, causing delays and other hardships.
Our experts are here for you, providing emergency door repairs when you don't have time to wait, or working with you to schedule door maintenance, door repairs, or door replacement at a time that works for you. Regardless of your door type or unique situation, our door experts are experienced, dedicated, and expertly trained, allowing them to effectively handle all of your needs.
We pride ourselves on a job well done. If you are looking for a highly-referred, 5-star door repair company that many other Woburn residents and businesses trust to provide them with fast, efficient, and effective door repair and replacement services, Toronto Door Repair is the partner your neighbors would recommend.
Let's Talk Now- Fast, Free Quote
We are dedicated to service, speed, and crafstmanship. When you need high-quality door repairs done fast, Toronto Door Repair are the experts you can trust. For commercial door repair, residential door repair, door replacement, sliding glass door service, garage door maintenance, new door installation, break-in repair, frame damage repair, or any other door issue, we are on-call and waiting to support you.
Your Woburn door repair company, our experts are available 24/7 to make sure your home, business, family, and possessions are safely secured behind lock and key. If you have functionality issues, weathering, rot, or other damage that keeps your doors from functioning as they should, don't delay! Call Toronto Door Repair today!
Call Toronto Door Repair today at (647) 694-7721 for your Fast, Free Quote!


text:
sell your USCC branded phones here!
For Sale: FS: LG Geneis - $50 shipped
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.


text:
LinuxVillage welcome > Technical discussions
$5,000 will buy you access to another, new critical Java vulnerability (Updated)
An exploit for yet another critical Java software vulnerability began circulating online amid reports that the patch Oracle issued two days ago is incomplete.
In an article published Wednesday morning on KrebsOnSecurity, reporter Brian Krebs said a fully "weaponized" executable that exploits the bug was being advertised for $5,000 in an underground Internet forum. The price also included source-code for the exploit so that it could be folded into other types of attacks. The advertisement came one day after Oracle rushed out a fix for an earlier critical vulnerability that was being "massively" exploited online. Researchers classified that vulnerability as CVE-2013-0422.
Krebs said the latest attack exploited "a different and apparently still-unpatched zero-day vulnerability in Java." His article came around the same time researchers from antivirus provider Trend Micro warned that the Oracle patch may not be effective at blocking some attacks.
"Based on our analysis, we have confirmed that the fix for CVE-2013-0422 is incomplete," Trend Vulnerability Research Manager Pawan Kinger wrote in a blog post. Kinger went on to explain that the vulnerability stemmed from flaws in two parts of the Java code base: one involving the findclass method and the other involving the invokeWithArguments() method. While Sunday's patch fixed the latter issue, the findclass method can still be used to get references to restricted classes, leaving a hole that attackers can exploit.
Kinger continued:
--- Citer ---With this incident, the biggest question on everyone's mind is "Are users safe after installing the patch?" or "Does the patch protect from recent attacks using CVE-2013-0422?" Yes, but only until someone finds another bug to couple with the first issue. findclass method still remains an open issue, but cannot be exploited on its own. However, the message is clear: Java remains a big risk.
--- Fin de citation ---
Researchers from security firm Immunity also reported the patch fixed only one of two bugs.
Update: Asked for comment on the reports, Oracle spokeswoman Letty Ledbetter referred Ars to this post, which was published three days earlier. When Ars pointed out that the statement didn't address the claims contained in the reports, she said Oracle had no additional comment.
The Trend and Immunity reports aren't the first to claim Oracle rushed out an incomplete patch. Late last week, researcher Adam Gowdiak of Poland-based Security Explorations said the then-unpatched vulnerability that was being exploited was the result of an incomplete patch Oracle developers issued last year to fix an earlier security bug.
In light of Oracle's repeated failures to adequately repel in-the-wild attacks, it's not surprising that more and more researchers are urging administrators and end users to remove Java from Web browsers and even from desktop computers altogether. Among the growing chorus is the US CERT, which is affiliated with the US Department of Homeland Security. Even after Oracle issued Sunday's so-called 7u11 patch CERT officials wrote: "Unless it is absolutely necessary to run Java in web browsers, disable it as described below, even after updating to 7u11. This will help mitigate other Java vulnerabilities that may be discovered in the future."
In addition to at least partially fixing the vulnerability under attack, 7u11 also changed the security level for Web-based Java applets. As a result, end users must click an OK button before such applets are executed. This has been a largely overlooked change that Oracle should be applauded for introducing. But given the prevalence and success of social engineering attacks that trick people into taking actions that harm their security, the change is by no means a substitute for fixing critical bugs in the Java code base. Oracle developers need to begin a thorough audit and rewrite of Java now.
Utiliser la version classique


text:
Antiques are collectibles which are more than 100 years old. They are rare and unique than other objects. The antiques stand out from the rest due to attractive workmanship and beauty. Many people in Sidney have keen interest to buy antiques because of their design value and rarity. The antiques are precious in terms of both availability and their price. Age old wooden furniture with excellent design work, collection of art works, works done in pottery, terracotta, porcelain, bronze, etc, can all be termed as 'antiques'.
Museums in Sidney are often the best place where a grand collection of antiques can be seen in one place. Objects having historical significance and fulfilling other conditions of antiques are generally kept in museums in Sidney. Those which are available for sale can be obtained in antique shops.
Sometimes auctions in Sidney are held from where people interested in buying antiques can participate and take them home with the highest bid. Online auctions are also held nowadays from where people can purchase antiques online. There are certain online websites where not only purchase can be made but also people can sell their antique pieces. Antique dealers are another source from where valuable antiques can be purchased.
Antiquing, which is the process of identifying and shopping antiques, requires a lot of skill and knowledge about them. Identifying antiques is the most essential thing as it is often easy to get deceived and pick up pieces which are not antiques in reality.


text:
George Strait breaks Rolling Stones' concert record
Country music king George Strait capped off the last tour of his career with an epic, star-studded final performance at the billion-dollar stadium where the Dallas Cowboys play, dazzling an audience of nearly 105,000 people with duet after duet with some of the biggest names in country music.
The attendance shattered the previous record set by The Rolling Stones at The Louisiana Superdome in 1981. More than 10,000 fans alone took in the three-hour show from the stadium floor.
"Oh, man. I tell you what. This is too much fun," he said.
Known for his honky-tonk style, classic interpretation of Western swing and Texas cowboy get-up, Strait is the undisputed patriarch of a generation of country music stars, none of whom left the stage Saturday without paying homage to or receiving a hug from the country music legend.
"In the early '80s when I was a young man in Georgia, I was a big fan of `Unwound,'" Alan Jackson said of the 1981 hit that propelled Strait to stardom. "You're the reason I came to Nashville, Tennessee. God bless you."
Jason Aldean credited Strait as "not only a huge influence for me but everyone else in Nashville."
After Martina McBride joined Strait to sing "Jackson," the country classic made famous by the Johnny Cash-June Carter rendition, she remarked on the fun the two had on tour together in 2011 and 2012.
Kenny Chesney called the two years he spent on the road with Strait early in his career "the most educational" in his touring life.
Strait's son, Bubba, a pro team roper on the rodeo circuit, even joined his dad on stage to perform his songwriting debut, "Arkansas Dave."
The unusually chatty Strait appeared to bask in the enormous crowd of fans, standing at their seats, swaying and singing along, regularly raising his arms like a band conductor to raise the volume.
"That's what I'm going to miss the most right there, I tell you what. Thank you so much," he said.
Strait, 62, is also beloved by his legions of fans for his gracious, everyman demeanor, which was in ample display Saturday.
During the second half of the show, he played the 2011 hit "I'll Always Remember You," which he said was inspired by his fans.
"When I take the stage for the last time, you won't be far away," he said, inspiring some enthusiastic female fans to tear up.
"Damn, I'm so lucky," Strait said so many times, it became almost a refrain.
All of Strait's guest stars returned to the stage for an encore.
The show brought an end to Strait's nearly 40 years on the road, starting in 1975 with the Ace in the Hole Band. Many of the 11-piece band's original members played back up Saturday, "the best band anybody could have out here on the road," Strait said.
Born in Poteet and raised in Pearsall, about 60 miles southwest of San Antonio, Strait has more gold and platinum albums than any other music act except The Beatles and Elvis Presley.
And while he's quitting the road, Strait may yet add to his chart-topping total after renewing his deal with MCA Records last year to produce five more albums. He has said he will continue to play the occasional gig.
Strait began this last tour, "The Cowboy Rides Away," last year. Each of the 45 stadiums and arenas he's played in 31 states has sold out. He's performed for an estimated 1 million fans.
As he sang the tour's eponymous song at the end of the set, fans waved, cheered and did the two-step. And the cowboy rode away.


text:
Class Central Tips
A philanthropist is anyone who gives anything — time, money, experience, skills, and networks — in any amount, to create a better world. This course will empower you to practice philanthropy more effectively and make your giving more meaningful to both you and those you strive to help.
Giving 2.0: The MOOC, is a Stanford University-sponsored online course intended to teach givers of all ages, backgrounds, incomes and experiences to give more effectively. Taught by social entrepreneur, philanthropist and bestselling author Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Giving 2.0: The MOOC will teach you how to assess nonprofits, create a high-impact philanthropic strategy, volunteer more effectively, use existing, free technology for good and more.
Giving 2.0: The MOOC is a six-module course. Each module has a particular theme and 5-10 content-packed and activity-rich, videos exploring that theme. Videos will include lectures from Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen as well as interviews, discussions and lectures given by guest speakers. Guest speakers are renowned leaders in multiple industries including philanthropy, technology and business, who will provide unique insights into course topics. Course participants will have the opportunity to join Talkabouts – small virtual meeting groups created to discuss class-related topics. By the course's conclusion, course participants will have created an Individual Giving Action Plan to guide their future giving in a highly effective and meaningful way. Course participants will also complete a formal nonprofit assessment and be provided with ongoing, post-MOOC philanthropy education content that will support continued development and execution of their philanthropic goals.


text:
From Boston.com article by Kelli Kennedy – December 3, 2013
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Counselors helping people use the federal government's online health exchange are giving mixed reviews to the updated site, with some zipping through the application process while others are facing the same old sputters and even crashes.
The Obama administration had promised a vastly improved shopping experience on healthcare.gov by the end of November, and Monday was the first business day since the date passed.
Brokers and online assisters in Utah say three of every four people successfully signed up for health coverage on the online within an hour of logging in. A state official overseeing North Dakota's navigators said he had noticed improvements in the site, as did organizations helping people sign up in parts of Alabama and Wisconsin.
But staffers at an organization in South Florida and a hospital group with locations in Iowa and Illinois said they have seen no major improvements from the federal website, which 36 states are relying on.
Amanda Crowell, director of revenue cycle for UnityPoint Health-Trinity, which has four hospitals in Iowa and Illinois, said the organization's 15 enrollment counselors did not see a marked improvement on the site.
''We had very high hopes for today, but those hopes were very much quashed,'' said Crowell. She said out of a dozen attempts online only one person was able to get to the point of plan selection, though the person decided to wait.
The site appeared to generally run smoothly early Monday morning before glitches began slowing people down. By 10 a.m., federal health officials deployed a new queue system that stalls new visitors on a waiting page so that those further along in the process can finish their application with fewer problems.
About 750,000 had visited the site by Monday night — about double the traffic for a typical Monday, according to figures from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Roberta Vann, a certified application counselor at the Hamilton Health Center, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said the site worked well for her Monday morning but she became frustrated later when the site went down.
''You can get to a point, but it does not allow you to select any plans, you can't get eligibility (information). It stops there,'' she said. ''The thought of it working as well as it was didn't last long.''
In South Florida, John Foley and his team of navigators were only able to successfully enroll one of a handful of return applicants who came to their office before glitches started, including wonky estimates for subsidy eligibility. He worried about how they would fare with the roughly 50 other appointments scheduled later in the week.
Although frustrated, most were not deterred, he said.
''These are people that have policies going away, who have health problems. These are people that are going to be very persistent,'' said Foley, an attorney and certified counselor for Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County.
Despite the Obama administration's team of technicians working around the clock, it's not clear if the site will be able to handle the surge of applicants expected by the Dec. 23 deadline to enroll for coverage starting at the beginning of the year. Many navigators also say they're concerned the bad publicity plaguing the troubled website will prevent people from giving the system another try.
''There's a trust level that we feel like we broke with them. We told them we were here to help them and we can't help them,'' said Valerie Spencer, an enrollment counselor at Sarah Bush Lincoln Center, a small regional hospital in the central Illinois city of Mattoon.
Federal health officials acknowledged the website is still a work in progress. They've also acknowledged the importance of fixing back-end problems as insurers struggle to process applications because of incomplete or inaccurate data. Even when consumers think they've gone through the whole process, their information may not get to the insurer without problems.
''We do know that things are not perfect with the site. We will continue to make improvements and upgrades,'' said Julie Bataille, communications director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In less than an hour Monday, Starla Redmon, 58, of Paris, Ill., was able to successfully get into a health plan with help from an enrollment counselor. Redmon, who juggles two part-time jobs and has been uninsured for four years, said she was surprised the website worked so well after hearing reports about its problems.
''Everything she typed in, it went through,'' said Redmon, who chose a bronze plan and will pay about $75 a month after a tax credit. ''It was the cheapest plan I could go with.''


text:
In this Sept. 21, 2012 photo, Pittsburgh Chief of Police Nate Harper speaks during a news conference at Pittsburgh Police headquarters as he describes the events surrounding a hostage incident at Three Gateway Center in Pittsburgh. Harper has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of conspiracy and willful failure to file income tax returns, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, FILE)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Former city police Chief Nate Harper will plead guilty to charges that he conspired to steal city police funds deposited into unauthorized police credit union accounts and failed to file federal tax returns from 2008 to 2011, his attorneys said Friday.
Harper's lawyers made the announcement at a news conference on a day of fast-moving developments in the federal investigation after prosecutors announced the grand jury indictment, Harper pleaded not guilty to the charges at an arraignment, and the judge said the former chief could remain free.
U.S. Attorney David Hickton called Harper's actions "the worst kind of public corruption," and said it was "a sad day" for authorities who had worked closely with the soft-spoken, generally well-liked and seemingly humble man on issues ranging from gang violence and security for the G-20 economic summit in 2009.
"This is puzzling and baffling behavior," Hickton said.
Later, Harper begged off appearing at the news conference at the last minute because he was "embarrassed and distraught," defense attorney Robert DelGreco said. The 36-year police veteran has lost 20 pounds since Mayor Luke Ravenstahl demanded his resignation Feb. 20 after meeting with the FBI about the investigation, Harper's attorneys said.
But the former chief, who came up through the ranks of Pittsburgh's roughly 800-officer force and was chief since 2006, takes "full responsibility" for his actions, said Robert Leight, another Harper attorney.
"I think we're prepared to plead to that indictment without modification," DelGreco said.
The indictment alleges the 60-year-old Harper conspired with unnamed others to divert more than $70,000 from a city account into two unauthorized credit union accounts, then spent more than $32,000 of that himself. It includes a single charge of conspiracy and four counts of willfully failing to file income tax returns.
Although the federal crimes carry a maximum combined penalty of nine years in prison, Harper's attorneys said guidelines dictate a likely sentence of 10 to 16 months — low enough for them to argue for probation or alternative incarceration, like house arrest.
Hickton wouldn't comment Friday on a likely sentence. He said the investigation is continuing, although he wouldn't say whether the mayor or other city personnel are targeted.
Ravenstahl denies any wrongdoing or being a target of the probe, although he's acknowledged two bodyguards, also city officers, used debit cards from the same credit union accounts. The 33-year-old mayor has decided not to run for re-election, citing the toll on his family from the scandal.
In statements Friday, Ravenstahl and interim police Chief Regina McDonald said the indictment against Harper was "sad." They said they are working to bolster confidence in the police bureau.
The investigation centers on a $3.85 hourly fee that bars, restaurants and other businesses pay the city when they hire off-duty officers to work security details. The money is collected on top of whatever hourly wage the officers are paid and, by law, must be kept in city-controlled accounts and spent only on certain types of police business.
Instead, Harper helped open the credit union accounts from which he spent $31,987 — mostly at restaurants, bars and department stores — using two Visa debit cards to make automatic teller machine withdrawals and purchases, Hickton said.
Harper's attorneys said the former chief was somewhat "naive" and may have believed at first that it was OK to open the unauthorized accounts because the money was still being spent on police-related business, including a massive Gatorade purchase to quench the thirst of officers brought in to handle the G-20 protests, for example.
At some point, however, Harper began spending the money on himself, which DelGreco said Harper understands was "unambiguously and indefensibly" wrong.
The attorneys hinted that Harper, who has three daughters and five grandchildren, exhausted his wages on his family and became tempted by the credit union funds.
"I think the lure of the unmonitored accessibility of that account proved to be an irresistible temptation," DelGreco said.
The attorneys said Harper didn't fail to file his tax returns to hide the money, but simply because of "procrastination" and "personal issues" that took precedence. Among other things, three city police officers were fatally gunned down in April 2009 — when the first of Harper's delinquent tax returns would have been due — and Harper never got back on track in handling his personal affairs, the attorneys said.
The indictment grew out of another federal investigation in which a former city employee has already pleaded guilty to taking $6,000 in bribes to help a business owned by a man Harper has described as a former friend land a $327,000 contract to install computers and radios in squad cars in 2007.
Harper continues to deny taking bribes or making money from that contract, Leight said. But as investigators poked into Harper's finances to see if he had any unexplained income from that scheme, Harper told investigators about money he stole from the police fees fund, Leight said.


text:
7125 Grand Montecito Pkwy. #110 Las Vegas, NV. 89149 702-838-8558 |
Our team of specialists and staff believe that informed patients are better equipped to make decisions regarding their health and well being. For your personal use, we have created an extensive patient library covering an array of educational topics. Browse through these diagnoses and treatments to learn more about topics of interest to you. Or, for a more comprehensive search of our entire Web site, enter your term(s) in the search bar provided.
As always, you can contact our office to answer any questions or concerns.
As always, you can contact our office to answer any questions or concerns.
Subungal exostosis is more commonly referred to as a bone spur under the toenail. This condition is generally caused by toe trauma, which results in the formation of a bony irregularity or prominence. The normal treatment for subungal exostosis is surgical removal. Other small tumors, called osteochondromas and enchondromas, can also form in the bone beneath the toenail.


text:
There are fewer and fewer veterans of the DDay Landing Beaches to tell their stories, but Canada's Juno Beach Centre introduced us to Jim Parks, who shared his memories of landing on DDay as a young soldier, and why he believes all of us should travel there today.
DDay remains the iconic symbol of Allied unity and sacrifice to end World War 2. Thousands of soldiers from the US, Britain, Canada and other Allied nations landed on the beaches of France to free Europe. Today, you can visit the DDay Landing Beaches in Normandy, walk in the footsteps of those Allied soldiers, and learn about the history of DDay on the very beaches where those history-changing events took place.
These are some of Jim's memories, insights, and his thoughts on visiting the DDay memorials like the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy.
Honor Jim's service and the sacrifices of all veterans of DDay and WW2 by paying a visit to Normandy's Landing Beaches and Canada's Juno Beach.


text:
Here's a twist. You know how you keep hearing that the Affordable Care Act is doing little more than raising health care costs?
Well, the Obama administration says a new rule it's issuing under the law could result in a savings of as much as $4.5 billion over the next decade.
The proposed rule sets uniform standards for how health insurance companies are to pay electronic claims for health care services, and encourages the use of electronic, rather than paper, claims.
While the administration estimates the rules could cost insurance companies as much as $28 million to implement, it says those costs will be more than made up by savings estimated at as much as $40 million over 10 years.
But the biggest winners are expected to be doctors and hospitals, the recipients of those electronic payments. They stand to reap between $3 billion and $4.5 billion in lower administrative costs once the new rules are fully in effect starting Jan. 1, 2014.
Another winner, says the administration, is the environment. Transitioning to more electronic payment will save an estimated 800,000 pounds of paper and avoid the release of 2.2 million pounds of greenhouse gas over the next decade.
"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, health care professionals will spend less time filling out paperwork and more time focusing on delivering the best care for patients," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Individual Partnership Action Plans
Individual Partnership Action Plans (IPAPs) are open to countries that have the political will and ability to deepen their relationship with NATO. They are designed to bring together all the various cooperation mechanisms through which a partner country interacts with the Alliance, sharpening the focus of activities to better support their domestic reform efforts.
An IPAP should clearly set out the cooperation objectives and priorities of the individual partner country, and ensure that the various mechanisms in use correspond directly to these priorities. It is a partnership tool that allows NATO to provide focused country-specific advice on defence and security-related domestic reform and, when appropriate, on larger policy and institutional reform. Partners can also support or contribute to another partner's IPAP.
Intensified political dialogue on relevant issues may be an integral part of an IPAP process.
Furthermore, IPAPs also make it easier to coordinate bilateral assistance provided by individual Allies and partner countries, as well as coordinate efforts with other relevant international institutions.
Objectives covered fall into the general categories of political and security issues; defence, security and military issues; public information; science and environment; civil emergency planning; and administrative, protective security and resource issues.
IPAPs were launched at the Prague Summit in November 2002. On 29 October 2004, Georgia became the first country to agree an IPAP with NATO. Azerbaijan agreed its first IPAP on 27 May 2005 and Armenia on 16 December 2005. On 31 January 2006, Kazakhstan also agreed an IPAP with NATO, Moldova on 19 May 2006 and two Balkan countries in 2008: Montenegro in June and Bosnia and Herzegovina in September.
Partners periodically review their IPAPs with NATO. However, Georgia and Montenegro later moved from this mechanism as they pursued their membership aspirations through development of Annual National Programmes. (Montenegro eventually became a member of NATO in June 2017.)


text:
Atlanta's school scandal
Published 12:00 am Friday, April 5, 2013
My first question after reading about seven teachers in an Atlanta, Ga., public school accused of altering standardized test scores to make it appear students performed better than they actually did was: How could they!?
The seven were nicknamed "the chosen" and, according to Georgia state investigator Richard Hyde, the less than magnificent seven sat in a locked room without windows, erasing wrong answers and inserting correct ones. It's one thing for a child to cheat on a test; it's quite another for teachers to do it.
Compounding the cheating scandal is that the children in this elementary school are mostly poor and African-American. How are they helped to develop a moral sense, not to mention an academic foundation that will lift them out of poverty, if they get the message that cheating is better than achieving?
According to The New York Times, the scandal goes beyond cheating. Retired district superintendent Beverly L. Hall is among 35 Atlanta educators indicted by a Fulton County grand jury. Hall was charged with "racketeering, theft, influencing witnesses, conspiracy and making false statements." Hall reportedly earned more than $500,000 in performance bonuses. She faces up to 45 years in prison.
Hall has received considerable recognition for her achievements, which later turned out to be counterfeit. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan invited her to the White House. In 2009, The American Association of School Administrators named her superintendent of the year. It was a case of something being too good to check. Who doesn't want to see poor and minority children succeed in school?
The problem is that a monopoly always protects itself. The teachers' unions and many Democratic politicians, who receive their campaign contributions, oppose school choice, which would improve not only public schools, but also the chances of poor and minority children to have a better life. The current approach appears to be to keep disadvantaged children in underperforming schools so that underperforming teachers keep their jobs and the politicians they support keep theirs. As long as the monopoly survives, we can expect more cheating and corner-cutting and less real achievement for children who ought to be everyone's first concern.
Instead, as Atlanta would suggest, public school children are subject to all manner of manipulation and disservice by people charged with educating them. Perhaps if parents had the freedom to send their children to a school they believed would offer them a better shot at true success they would fare better. Could school choice be the answer?
Indiana thinks so. Last week, the state's Supreme Court upheld a voucher program that gives poor and middle-class families access to tax dollars to help them pay private school tuition. Parents should decide where their children go to school.
It's not the children who cannot achieve. It's the system that fails them.
Authorities should pursue investigations of alleged cheating. Meanwhile, for this and many other reasons, the school choice movement is gaining strength. It is seen by increasing numbers of Americans as the best way to prevent cheating children out of the decent education they deserve.
Email: email@example.com.


text:
I have been having a little back-and-forth with Rev. Dosho Port about some statements made on his blog, in a post aptly titled "Who Gets to Say Anyway?" ...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildfoxzen ... nyway.html
There are many Paths up and down the no-mountain mountain, each suited to sentient beings with differing needs. I believe that there are students who may benefit from Koan introspection alone, and those who will not. There are student who will benefit from Shikantaza alone, and those who will not. And there are students who may benefit from some combination, and those who will not. All beautiful paths, suited (or not) to different people.
So I was rather saddened and surprised to see Dosho express a seemingly narrow view of Koan teaching, stating ...
Soto priests without koan training comment on koans regularly (including myself in my nefarious past). ... Now that I've done some koan training, I confess to this hubris in my own past and from my current perspective would like to encourage my Soto non-koan trained friends to consider the possibility that there might well be something in a koan that they have not seen from their shikantaza perspective.
I wrote him back to say I agree with his comment that Shikantaza practitioners might not see or teach Koans as Dosho's school or sect teaches, but that, in turn, those other folks "should consider that there may be something in Koans that they have not tasted in their dreams without piercing the purity of Shikantaza". When I informed Dosho that our Treeleaf Community would soon begin dancing with the Book of Equanimity (the Sh?y?roku), a collection of Koans much cherished in the Soto world for nearly 1000 years, Dosho wrote:
Seriously, I suggest that you don't. From what I've read of your views on koan and shikantaza, I wonder if you might be misleading your community by working through koan with them – koan that you yourself have not worked through with anybody. Perhaps qualifying what your doing by saying that this is just your view….
Hmmm. Respectfully, that seems a very narrow vision of the Gateless Gate to Buddhist Truth! Dosho did not wish to continue the discussion on his own blog. So, I thought to respond here and invite Rev. Dosho or anyone to offer views (provided one doesn't omit the non-views too!)
So, WHO OWNS THE KOANS?
Today's Sit-A-Long video follows at this link. Remember: recording ends soon after the beginning bells; a sitting time of 15 to 35 minutes is recommended
[youtube] [/youtube]


text: General contractors in Etlan are professionals responsible for the day-to-day oversight of the construction site, and management of vendors and trades. The general contractors in Etlan provide all of the material, labor, equipment and services necessary for a construction project. Filing for building permits, securing the property, providing temporary utilities on site, managing personnel on site, providing site surveying and engineering, disposing/recycling of construction waste, monitoring schedules and cash flows, maintaining accurate records along the progress of the project, etc, are some of the major functions that a general contractor has to perform.


text:
In many ways this machine is very similar to my Janome; the way it is threaded, the location of the buttons and the bobbin winder all function very similarly. It certainly does not feel like a complete stranger to me.
My first project on this machine was always going to be something small. I am still waiting for the custom made plastic insert that will surround the machine so that it can be lowered into my Horn Sewing Cabinet, thereby giving me a large flat workspace.
This little quilt, inspired by this image, was made yesterday. The top was pieced in the morning, and subsequently basted and quilted. It was pieced with the new machine, and after some initial bobbin hiccups it quilted like a dream! Truly, it made a huge difference to the ease of quilting, and the correct stitch definition and length was so much easier to maintain.
This picture was taken with the early morning sun shining across the top of the quilt and shows the quilting design quite clearly. I quilted it with a squared off spiral starting in the center of the quilt, but deviating from the spiral just around two of the confetti blocks. I used a walking foot and just normal cotton thread that matches the top of the quilt.
The Confetti Baby Quilt/Stroller Blanket has been added to my Etsy Store together with the Jaffa quilt which I finished earlier this week.
It seems the Bernina and I are going to get along famously.