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by Lou Mancinelli
More than 100,000 homeowners can benefit from an annual $30,000 homestead tax exemption now available from the city, but many have thus far overlooked or missed out on the opportunity.
City Council members gave preliminary approval for a bill to extend the deadline for a $30,000 annually renewable homestead exemption tax reduction available to all Philadelphia homeowners under the Actual Value Initiative (AVI) at their primary residence until Sept. 13.
City Finance Director Rob Dubow testified at a City Council hearing last week that Office of Property Assessment (OPA) officials think more than 100,000 homeowners have yet to apply for this benefit. The proposed extension, a second, would move the deadline from July 31 to Sept. 13. The original deadline was Nov. 15, 2012.
The benefit enables homeowners to receive a $30,000 deduction on their tax bill based on the value of their most recent home assessment, which was reassessed to reflect market value by OPA staff this year. To qualify, homeowners must apply from their primary residence.
Individuals who own more than one home can only apply the benefit to their primary household, according to Anna Adams, Dubow's chief of staff. Once applied, the benefit continues to affect the tax bill each year. A new homeowner, or one who misses the deadline this year, can apply next year.
Of the 340,000 households the City thinks are eligible for the exemption, 193,000, or 57 percent, had been approved for the benefit by April 22, according to Kathryn Dreher, project administrator for the OPA.
City Council members have criticized the Nutter administration's outreach efforts, Philly.com reported. When informational outreach brochures were mailed to homeowners last fall, at a cost of $414,000, according to Philly.com, they included only English versions with many translated versions available online.
Sixty percent of households in the neighborhoods in the northwest area of the city have applied for the benefit, according to Dreher. The neighborhood that has been the least responsive is located in Councilwoman Maria Sanchez's district, the 7th, an area known for its Hispanic population. According to 2010 census data, 21 percent of Philadelphia households speak a language other than English at home.
According to Dreher, the OPA plans to increase its outreach efforts by including inserts that include a Spanish translation with water bills this spring. For those who need additional help or need to apply in a language other than English, the best way to discuss options is to call 215-686-9200, according to Adams.
The recent tax assessments are the results of a recalibration and updating of the system used to determine a home's value, according to Adams. A long-outdated system prompted city officials to overhaul old numbers and reevaluate the value of each home in the city – some 579,000 – she said. This year's tax bill reflects the first changes under the new system.
While the commercial element of the assessment system had been updated over the years, according to Adams, the residential arm remained unchanged, updated in some neighborhoods, and not others. The new assessments are more reflective of the current market rate, according to Adams.
"The system has been broken for a long time," she said.
In order to offset a large spike in tax revenue caused by the new value in homes, where in some places a home's 2014 value has been assessed at twice its 2013 worth, and to mitigate the rise in costs for some homeowners, city officials drafted the homestead exemption benefit, according to Adams. OPA officials foresaw a shift in tax burden from commercial to residential properties as a result of the new system.
The exemption "allows that shift to come back," she said.
That outdated system is what caused some properties to experience a drastic change in worth. A Philly.com story reported on the owner of a two-story, brick row house on 3rd Street near Cambria in the city's Fairhill section of North Philadelphia, whose house was assessed at $10,400 in 2013. In 2014, the house was assessed at $160,000. That would cause the tax bill to rise from $325 to $2,000, according to the article. The exemption would mean $180 in savings.
In some cases, according to Adams, it is possible the OPA made mistakes in reassessment values. In other cases, it may be that is what the house is worth and it has been years since a correct value had been indicated at some properties. Those who think there has been a mistake in the reassessment of their home should contact the OPA.
In addition to the new home assessments, the overhaul of the assessment system meant a dramatic reduction of the tax rate. Before, to calculate the tax residents multiplied the assessed value of their home by 32 percent, then applied the 9.771 percent tax rate to that result. The new AVI system takes the assessed value of the home and multiples it by a 1.3204 percent tax rate to determine the bill. OPA staff claim it constitutes a more accurate system.*
In addition to the homestead exemption, the city offers various other tax relief programs. The Low-Income Senior Citizen Real Estate Tax Freeze enables eligible low-income senior citizens who apply by October to keep their real estate taxes and rates in the next year and all future years from increasing.
The Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program is for eligible individuals age 65 and older, widows and widowers age 50 and older, and people with disabilities age 18 and older. The income limit is $35,000 a year for homeowners and $15,000 annually for renters, and half of Social Security income is excluded. There is also a disabled veterans and economic hardship program.
For more information, visit www.phila.gov/opa/abatementsexemptions/pages/homestead.aspx, or call 215-686-9200.
*Editor's note: Curt Heintzelman at the Office of Property Assessment pointed out that the 1.3204 tax rate is not final. The final rate will eventually be determined when a bill is passed. Here is what he said:
"Under the new AVI system, the full assessed value of the home is multiplied by a much lower tax rate – Mayor Nutter has proposed 1.3204 percent – to determine the bill. While City Council and the Mayor will set the official tax rate later this month, OPA staff claim that AVI and the lower tax rate constitute a more accurate and easy to understand system."


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I need to know how a normal and healthy mind should be.
Dear Dr. Joe,
I do have determination to change bad habits and I can change, I just don't know how a normal and healthy mind should be, I've read The Power Of Self-coaching many times (I read it whenever I have time), but I can't really feel the concepts in the book, I can exactly read English, so language is not the problem, I've had many psychological problems since I was 11 or even younger or maybe at the very beginning, I think maybe it's because that I never know what a normal and healthy mind looks like, so I can't really understand and feel what the book says, take Self-confidence as an example, no matter how many times I read the explanation of Self-confidence, I still don't know how Self-confidence feels like, maybe I've felt it at some time in daily life, but I can't make sure whether it is the Self-confidence.
Thank you so much!
You raise an interesting question. Part of the problem in trying to define feelings is that everyone will give you a different interpretation of what happiness or self confidence feels like. It would be like ten people watching a sunset, each would describe it quite differently, but perhaps there would be a common thread of "appreciation" reflected in all the experiences. This is true when, for example, we try to describe a "normal" healthy mind, or self-confidence, etc. The thread that runs through these experiences, in my opinion, would be a relatively stress free, upbeat feeling of being able to handle life without unnecessary worry, apprehension, or anticipation. Essentially, self-confidence is a willingness to believe that we can handle what life throws at us. As for "normal-healthy," perhaps we can say that this might be described as a psychological resilience that simply trusts that we are able to handle life's challenges with confidence (i.e., willingness to believe) and optimism. Okay, all that said, let me now give you perhaps the most important point. As with all things psychological, if you over-think these experiences you might wind up congested with convoluted thoughts spinning through your head. As Justice Potter Steward once said of pornography, "You know it when you see it." Same goes for what's normal, healthy and confident, 'you know it when you feel it.' Try to relax and simply let life unfold—as they say at A.A., 'let go, let god.' To me, that's the surest way of finding solace and well-being.
Dr. Joe
Dear Dr. Joe,
Thanks for your reply.
After reading The Power Of Self-coaching, I can't understand most of the concepts in the book, including Insecurity, Self-confidence, Intuition, Living in the moment(you told me this in your reply) and Letting life unfold(you told me this in your reply), etc, there is nothing in my head when I read them and I don't know what exactly they refer to, but in general, when I read a concept such as Momentum, I can immediately know what exactly it refer to, what should I do? I've being tried to feel and understand the concepts in my daily life, it seems it works, but I can't make sure that what I've felt are what the concepts in the book refer to, and because I can't understand most of the concepts I can't really apply them into my problems.
Thank you again.
I'm not sure, but could this be a language issue? I believe you said you were from China? If so, perhaps it would be best to share the book with someone else to see if it is, in fact, a problem with translating, not only the language, but the concepts as well.
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TUESDAY, Aug. 16 (HealthDay News) — The amount of hidden fat that collects around the heart may be a stronger indicator of cardiac disease risk than a bulging waistline or flabby thighs, a new study reports.
Heart fat hidden behind the rib cage — known as pericardial fat — appears to promote irregular plaque build-up along coronary artery walls that causes atherosclerosis and can trigger heart attacks, the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the study.
"It turns out there are specific areas around the heart where hidden fat seems to be promoting coronary disease, even in people without symptoms," said senior study author Dr. David Bluemke, director of radiology and imaging sciences at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Care.
"This is chest fat you'd never see by looking at someone," he added.
Pericardial fat is linked to being overweight or obese, according to the study in the Aug. 16 online edition of the journal Radiology.
The findings are from the ongoing Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a study of 6,800 participants aged 45 to 84 from six communities around the country who had no heart disease at enrollment. In this study, researchers looked at a smaller slice of the volunteers: 89 women and 94 men with an average age of 61 who, although most were overweight, were representative of the general population.
To look for signs of heart disease, the research team used noninvasive MRI to screen for plaque on the walls of the coronary artery and compared it with CT scans of heart fat volume. The NIH-sponsored study highlighted three main findings:
- In people with no symptoms of coronary artery disease, the fat volume of the membrane around the heart is closely associated with the heart artery-clogging plaque found on the MRIs.
- This pericardial fat appears to be more strongly related to coronary artery plaque buildup than is body mass index (a measure of obesity) or waist circumference.
- Examining coronary artery walls through MRIs and CT heart fat scans may be useful in assessing the risk of heart disease.
High-risk patients with chest pain and known coronary risk factors such as obesity should have a traditional angiogram or advanced diagnostic procedures, said Bluemke. "However, low or intermediate risk patients may eventually benefit from understanding that fat deposits around the heart increase their risk of coronary disease," he said.
And while MRI was used as the "gold standard" for NIH research on fat distribution and the dangers of obesity, the expensive procedure isn't necessary in typical patient screening for cardiac risk, Bluemke added.
Bluemke said CT scans are one of the fastest growing medical procedures in the country and may increasingly be used to evaluate coronary artery disease. Scanning often provides data on calcium in the heart vessel, and can calculate a 'fat score' index for tissues around the heart as a best practice procedure that could save lives, he said.
"Two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese and at risk of coronary artery disease and plaque buildup," said Bluemke, noting that extra fat forms "preferentially" in vulnerable areas of the heart of typical overweight patients. "This research says we should be telling doctors about the amount of fat in a patient's chest that shows up on a CT scan, but cannot be seen from outside the body and was previously ignored."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared obesity a national epidemic and a major contributor to the leading causes of death in the United States, including heart disease. Slightly more than one adult in three is obese, and one child in six is obese, the CDC reports.
Dr. Gregg Fonarow, professor of cardiology at UCLA, agrees that CT scans may eventually help doctors determine who is most vulnerable to cardiovascular disease. However, he cautions patients not to rush out for expensive and unnecessary scans or MRI screenings just to find hidden heart fat that might be temporary or not pose a long-term problem.
"The research is really to generate new knowledge and information, not to be a risk predictor or screening tool for the general population," said Fonarow.
An interesting finding is the volume of fat around the heart being positively related to the plaque burden in asymptomatic men and women, most of whom need to shed a few pounds, Fonarow said: "This shows a new reason why overweight people have a higher rate of cardiovascular risk and gives the public another reason to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle."


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July 2013
Throughout human history there have been periods when what was considered mere whimsy, the fruit of a fantastic imagination, becomes real. These situations challenge and change our ideas of what is considered normal and moral. The emerging concept of xenotransplantation presents challenges, but also opportunities to potentially cure many diseases that otherwise have no treatments or limited treatments.
Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of an organ or tissue from one species to a different species, and here xenotransplantation refers to the transplantation from a non-human species into a human being. It is curious to consider that in the earliest tales of many cultures we can find the idea of bringing together different animal body parts into one; take for example the Chimera presented in Homer's The Odyssey. The Chimera is an animal consisting of the head of a lion fused to parts of a goat and a dragon. Currently, medical science is presenting the very real possibility that people could receive organs transplanted from pigs. In this way, we are witnessing the realization of the Chimera in the form of xenotransplantation.
Why xenotransplantation?
During the 20th century medical researchers began to develop the skills and techniques required to graft certain body tissues and, later, whole organs, into human recipients as a way to improve health and preserve life. Though the transplantation of cartilage became relatively successful in the early 20th century, the transplantation of organs presented the obstacle of immune rejection. Thus, it was not until the development of powerful immunosuppressive drugs in the 1970's and 1980's to curb this immune attack that transplantation of kidneys, hearts and other organs could become a realistic medical treatment. Today, most major hospitals around the world host transplant clinics with organ donation organized on a national scale. But in the 21st century, with the tremendous success of transplantation, we are faced with a new challenge: in the United States alone, more than 110,000 men, women and children are waiting for organ transplants, a demand that cannot be met with current organ donation rates. Obviously, without a life-saving organ transplant many people who would otherwise benefit from a transplant will die.
From this need comes the dream of having an unlimited supply of tissues and organs for transplantation. One proposed solution is to harvest tissues and organs from animals for transplantation into human patients - a process called "xenotransplantation."
The arrival of xenotransplantation technology ushers in new possibilities and new dilemmas. As with most human innovations, there will be no blanket answer, no moral cover-all, that will help us decide what is acceptable. Rather, we will have to wade through the details and decide on a case by case basis whether to more broadly introduce these innovations into modern society. As part of this process, this article will present a case for the use of xenotransplantation with specific reference to its potential to provide a cure for Type 1 diabetes, a disease for which there is currently no cure. For further information on the history of xenotransplantation, the reader is referred to an excellent review by Dr Jack–Yves Deschamps.1
What is Type 1 diabetes?
- Type 1 diabetes is a serious disease diagnosed mainly in children and young adults.
- Type 1 diabetes affects approximately 1.5 million people in the United States.
- The core issue of diabetes is an inability to control the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood.
- Blood glucose levels are normally controlled by the hormone insulin, but the cells that make insulin (pancreatic beta cells) are destroyed by the immune systems of people with diabetes.
- A lifetime of untreated diabetes can result in severe, debilitating consequences including kidney failure, adult blindness, nerve damage and blood vessel damage, the latter of which might lead to limb amputations, heart attack and stroke.
- As a result of these complications, diabetes sufferers have an average life expectancy 10 years less than non-diabetic people;
Transplantation of pancreatic islets
Currently, the only treatment option for the many diabetes sufferers is a daily injection of insulin. Unfortunately, this treatment is unable to prevent the occurrence of complications in the majority of diabetics. This sad reality has driven scientists to find alternate strategies that will cure diabetes.
Figure 1: Fluorescent micrograph showing the components of a human islet in the normal human pancreas. Colors indicate both the presence of the major islet hormones and the arrangement of principle cell types that express those hormones. Red, insulin hormone within beta cells; Blue, somatostatin hormone within delta cells; Green, glucagon hormone within alpha cells. Image by author.
One exciting development has been the idea of transplanting new insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells taken from deceased human donors into living patients with diabetes. This treatment was first successfully pioneered by a medical team in Edmonton, Canada in the late 1990s.2 The Edmonton team transplanted people with pancreatic islets, the tissue that contains the insulin-producing beta cells. Since then, many hospitals around the world have established the transplant treatment as part of their protocols for addressing diabetes.3 However, it did not take long before scientists realized that transplanting pancreatic beta cells from human organ donors would never be able to successfully treat every patient.
It quickly became apparent that, for a person to be cured of diabetes, it was necessary to provide each individual recipient with the equivalent of 'two or more persons' worth of pancreatic islets.3 This is in contrast to the fact that we can survive quite well with as little as a third of our own islets. The requirement for high numbers of islets is attributed to the rapid destruction and death of the islets following transplantation owing to the activation of an aggressive immune response against the newly transplanted tissue. Additionally, it is believed that transplanted islets are quite sensitive to their new environment, resulting in the death of many islets during the adjustment period.
Apart from the issues surrounding islet survival there is an additional problem; simply put, there are not enough islets available.
- There are 1.5 million Type 1 diabetics in the US.
- The number of suitable islet donors in the US is less than 5000 per year.
- If each diabetes patient requires islets from two donors, we could transplant 2,500 diabetics each year. This amounts to less than 1% percent of the number of people who could benefit from such a therapy!
Solving the problem of supply
Although, conceptually, it seems easy to cure diabetes by transplanting new islets, it has been far more difficult in practice. The primary hurdle is finding a large enough supply of human islets for transplantation into all diabetes patients who could potentially benefit from this treatment. The limited supply of suitable organs and tissues plagues all transplant therapies. Currently in the US, the average wait time for a kidney from a deceased human donor is more than four years. The supply of islets and other organs from deceased human donors will never be sufficient to supply this need.
- In the case of islet transplantation one alternative is to take islets from living donors; however, this procedure has the risk of causing diabetes in the donor.
- Another possibility is to use fetal tissue to grow new islets, but currently this is not possible because of technical limitations, as well as the ethical considerations pertaining to the use of human embryos.
- The issue of supply has led many researchers to discuss whether we could transplant islets from other animals into humans (xenotransplantation).
Figure 2: Piglets that have been made to express new genes to aid human transplantation look much like regular pigs - except now they express new features at the molecular level. Image courtesy of Professor Peter Cowan, Immunology Research Centre, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Australia.
Although many different animal sources have been proposed, porcine (pig) islets seem to be the most popular choice for two reasons:
- Physiological reasons: The blood levels of glucose in pigs and humans are similar and pig insulin works well in humans (pig insulin has been used for diabetes treatment).
- Practical reasons: Knowledge pertaining to the commercial rearing and breeding of pigs for food could be used to develop facilities for large-scale preparation of pig islets.
The development of islet xenotransplantation
At this time, the use of pig islets for human transplantation is neither routine nor broadly practiced; however, a number of scientific studies have been conducted to test the feasibility of this idea.4
- The first scientific attempt to transplant pig islets was conducted in 1994 by a team from the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.5 The team transplanted pig islets into ten human patients who had diabetes and, in the process, demonstrated that transplanted islets made c-peptide, a by-product indicating insulin production, for up to 400 days. Although this study did not cure the patients, it showed for the first time that pig islets can survive and function in the human body.
In 1996 a team from the University of Toronto, Canada, reported that they were able to cure diabetes in monkeys that were transplanted with pig islets microencapsulated in a special gel called alginate.6 The idea was that alginate would form a protective barrier around the islets, effectively protecting them from the immune system attack, which it did for up to 800 days in the study monkeys. This result was exciting as it showed that pig islets could cure diabetes without using immunosuppression.
In 2005 a team from Hospital Infantil de México, Mexico, placed pig islets in a specially designed protective metal device and transplanted this under the skin of young human patients with diabetes.7 This was controversial for many reasons and the reader is encouraged to read the editorial comment by Dr. Megan Sykes; however, the study did demonstrate, for the purposes of this discussion, that pig islets can be placed in the human body for potential medical benefit.8
In more recent years a scientific team from Auckland, New Zealand, has tested whether pig islets encapsulated in alginate (as in the 1996 study, above) could cure diabetes in people without requiring immunosuppression.4 So far no one has been cured, but studies are ongoing.
Xenotransplantation for Parkinson's disease
The idea of using pig organs and tissue in humans is not limited to curing Type 1 diabetes. Parkinson's disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system in which specialized brain cells—called dopamine-generating cells—die, resulting in a range of symptoms affecting movement and motor coordination. Transplantation of pig neurons into the human brain has been attempted as a possible therapy to treat Parkinson's disease. In a scientific trial in the 1990's, 12 human patients with Parkinson's disease were transplanted with pig neuronal cells.9 The study found that transplant recipients showed some improvement in their disease-related symptoms, indicating that transplanting pig neurons could be a novel cure. A more recent study in monkeys with a Parkinson-like disease showed that transplanted pig neuronal cells could significantly improve features of the disease for up to two years.10 These studies are still ongoing but demonstrate the potential to find new cures for human diseases using xenotransplantation strategies and technology.
Figure 3: Pancreatic beta cells (Red; Insulin hormone) are being invaded by immune cells (Green; T lymphocytes). Image from the pancreas of the non-obese-diabetic (NOD) mouse - an animal model used in medical research to study T1D. Image by author.
Genetic engineering: suppressing the need for immunosuppression
Pigs may provide an excellent source of organs and tissues for the treatment of diseases like Type 1 diabetes and Parkinson's. However, such approaches would still require addressing the problem of immune rejection of the organs and tissues following transplantation. The current strategy in most transplant situations is to suppress the recipient's immune system with powerful inhibitory drugs known as immunosuppressants. Unfortunately, these drugs are not totally effective in preventing the immune attack on transplanted pig islets in people with diabetes. More importantly, the use of immunosuppression can be considered ethically unacceptable in some cases because of the potential for toxic side effects, such as increased risk of infections and cancer. Further, long-term use of immunosuppressants may cause developmental problems in children. Given the fact that transplant recipients must take such drugs for the duration of their lives, and that most Type 1 diabetics are children and young adults, these are important considerations.
This dilemma has again led to a search for new answers. One option is to encapsulate the islets in protective gels or devices to protect them from immune system attack. Another potential solution is to genetically engineer the pig tissues to be resistant to immune attack by artificially adding a gene to the tissue so it expresses a new characteristic or feature. The technique to generate genetically engineered pigs is called "somatic cell nuclear transfer."
- As one example, a genetic engineering approach for diabetes might involve producing a "super" islet that cannot be destroyed. This idea is supported by research showing that normal cells in our bodies can protect themselves from dying, or being killed by the immune system, by making specialized protective proteins. It is suggested that if we genetically engineer islets to express these proteins, they might survive in the absence of any other treatment.11 In 2009 a group from Neustadt, Germany genetically engineered pigs so their cells all expressed one particular death-defying protein known as TNFAIP3.12 In experiments it was shown that cells from these engineered pigs were resistant to being killed by immune factors. With this technology, organs and tissues (like islets) could be taken from these pigs and be used for xenotransplantation.
There are still many important issues that need to be addressed before pig organs and tissues can be used in humans to treat diseases. One basic issue is to decide whether it is ethically acceptable to use animals as a source of "parts" for humans. The reader is directed to the xenotransplantation international consensus statement for further reading, which provides an ethical framework for clinical trials testing animal tissues in humans.13 If it is agreed that xenotransplantation is acceptable, the use of pigs may be more justifiable than non-human primates for the reason that pigs are currently utilized as a food source. Other issues are more technical but no less important. For instance, there has been a vigorous debate as to whether the use of pig tissues may expose the human population to dangerous new viruses. While extensive studies have found no evidence to support the existence of such viral transmission, this example illustrates the complexity of using new technologies to cure human diseases such as Type 1 diabetes.
© 2000, American Institute of Biological Sciences. Educators have permission to reprint articles for classroom use; other users, please contact firstname.lastname@example.com for reprint permission. See reprint policy.


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Illinois State Senator Chris Lauzen (pictured along with Illinois statehouse) made three simple suggestions to solving Illinois' $83 billion unfunded pension liabilities: end abuses of the present system, raise the retirement age to 62, and limit cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) to 2 percent a year. What he failed to mention is how to get these changes implemented.
Lauzen has served in the Illinois state legislature beginning in 1992 when he ran on a promise to "work hard, stay honest, and use common sense." Now that he is retiring he decided to spell out what was needed to bring order out of chaos in Illinois. He said that, if successful, his plan, "The Lauzen Plan," could be applied to other states facing similar daunting challenges. And if it works there, it might even, he says, apply to Europe's problems. First, Lauzen recognized the size of the problem. According to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) the total unfunded liabilities of all the states is at least $3 trillion, possibly more.
Many states, according to AEI, are in denial about that number, relying on old and outdated methods and assumptions used to calculate those liabilities. The interest rate assumptions and proper valuing of the assets held to provide the future benefits may be off, perhaps way off. As noted in an article in The New American, liabilities could be as much as $5 trillion or even more.
Be that as it may, Lauzen is optimistic that, with a little tweaking, Illinois can make it work. First, there are some participants in Illinois' plan who are "gaming" the system, taking advantage of using overtime in the last few years before retirement to enhance their benefits. This results, says Lauzen, in "a minority of government employees [retiring] at a preposterously young age with obscenely high pension benefits — sometimes well over $100,000 a year." This has to stop, he says, as it undermines confidence in the system by those honest folks who are playing by the rules.
The next step is to raise the retirement age to 62. Under Illinois' current plan this changes the liability characteristics of the plan significantly, requiring the state government to contribute much less. Lauzen is optimistic that the state won't run into the same trouble Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker had when government unions forced him to face a recall election. According to Forbes, many state employees Lauzen has approached on this haven't been thrilled with the idea but recognize it to be "an equitable calibration of unsustainable overpromises." Lauzen also recommends a transition period and a grandfather clause to put off the pain for those nearing retirement.
Thirdly, Lauzen thinks the automatic three percent COLA should be reduced to two percent, figuring that that would be enough to close the gap and bring the plan into a currently funded position.
Ralph Benko, writing for Forbes, has his doubts. He thinks more will be required — much more if the current assumptions underlying the $83 billion shortfall don't prove out. Illinois government workers might be persuaded to accept a defined contribution plan similar to the 401(k) plans used in the private sector. At present the state of Illinois guarantees a pension benefit based upon years of service and not on what's in the plan. If the plan comes up short, Illinois taxpayers are on the hook. And Lauzen offers no comments about asking those plan participants to pay more for their benefits. Most government workers pay between five and eight percent of their wages into the plan, far less than the actual cost, with the taxpayer picking up the difference.
In light of current reality, potential union pushback, and political unwillingness to face the music especially in an election year, Lauzen's plan is unrealistic. Those unfunded liabilities are going to have to get much worse before even modest changes such as these will even be seriously considered. It's wise that State Senator Lauzen is getting out while the getting is good.


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As you know I have recently decided to return to my homeland and I fear I will not be so happy about some things happening there. I consider the bank bailouts on the taxpayers' dime a travesty which will haunt middle class Americans for generations to come. Uncounted trillions of dollars literally evaporated overnight and it will take decades to recover.
It has affected me personally as I own real estate and have investments that have losses in the tens of thousands of dollars in value. The economic crisis was a huge "pump and dump" by the international bankers. I am pissed off as I did not get a government bailout because I am not "too big to fail" so I have to just take it in the shorts, I guess.
The international banks (Goldman Sachs, et al) made out like bandits with the cooperation of the US government and the Federal Reserve which is just another private bank. They all caused the problem which is reverberating worldwide, yet the whole situation remains opaque and the same players remain in power within the US government and Wall Street. They should be in prison as it seems the whole scheme was orchestrated years ago with the lobbying away of financial rules and safeguards that allowed certain toxic financial instruments to be created for the sole purpose of wealth transfer.
When this house of cards collapsed, the players were inexplicably rewarded with an unprecedented bounty of public funds from the federal government instead of well deserved sanctions. Common sense would dictate letting these private banking organizations rot on the vine from their irresponsible actions, instead they were given a "mulligan" at taxpayers' expense. This suggests a much too cozy of a relationship between the robber-barons of Wall Street and the US government that has the responsibility of regulating them.
Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and even France are facing financial meltdowns and the bankers are at the ready to step in and "help" these beleaguered economies by buying assets for pennies on the dollar. It seems to be all about the money. Trace the new leaders of Greece and Italy and you will find they have backgrounds with the same international banking organizations. As always, follow the money
I am not a tin foil hat wearing guy but I can put 2+2 together. You do not have to agree with me but the puzzle pieces are self-evident. Everyone should be a critical thinker and question authority.
Below are some thought provoking videos I found. The first 2 are from the prophetic movie Network (1976) and one from critical thinker, social analyst and part-time comedian, George Carlin.
Now maybe the lord/serf relationship was the natural order of things at one time, world history has many examples of this, but I am uncomfortable with the status quo and would think humanity would have matured and grown away from this unequal and unfair arrangement. I am an individual with unalienable rights and freedoms but recent events undermine my confidence and respect for my elected officials who I trusted to protect my best interests.
To me it seems my (and others') governing bodies dropped the ball and have allowed outside influences to steer public policy. The "get out of jail free" card was given to the international economic manipulators and many of these scoundrels hold high positions in the US government to this day. The Golden Rule is in effect, those that have the gold, rules.
What to do? There is no easy answer. The types of people that have a burning desire for elective government offices also have traits that tend toward weakness and selling-out their constituencies at the whiff of a greenback. Us regular folks are expected to look the other way and take the inevitable hit to the pocketbook or personal rights and freedoms.
We have an uphill battle to equalize things against the elite power brokers but there are some bright spots. The internet is the big player here as it offers the exchange of information at the grass roots level and bypasses the mainstream media who is also influenced by money and power and do not want to upset the handlers. The internet offers an alternative to the communal Kool-Aide.
Another victory was the exposure of "climate change" for the scam that it was. Most of the proponents were not actual scientists (Al Gore for one) but were knee-deep in the politics and finance of trying to scare the bejesus out of us regular people. As always, the endgame was more money and power for the elite. That was called Cap and Trade and Carbon Credits. Mr. Gore is actually a principle of the Chicago Climate Exchange
which is a clearinghouse and speculator of carbon credits when he is not trying to rape hotel maids. I have a funny feeling his involvement in the CCE is not entirely altruistic and he stood a lot to gain by promoting his junk science.Thankfully, the Chicken Little "sky is falling" climate change horse is in its last twitches.
Bottom line is that we have the ultimate advantage in numbers but we all should think critically, put the pieces of the puzzle together, connect the dots, hold our elected officials accountable, ask questions when things don't pass the "sniff test" and as always......follow the damn money!


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One thing Prestige Yachts knows how to do is combine luxury with affordability. A perfect example of that is this 500S. Here is a boat with a luxurious layout, boat garage, and three private staterooms including a full beam owner's suite. As for the price, we think this is one of the more positive stories about getting value for your hard-earned money.
The Mission
The Prestige line of boats has a distinct mission in the Jeanneau family of yachts: to provide superior performance in a coastal cruising powerboat that has an enduring nautical style, maximum living spaces, and incorporating virtually all of the amenities available in class that a real cruising couple or family could want. Prestige Yachts' mission is to do all of the above, and much more, at a price point significantly below its primary competition. The result is that the Prestige 500S is a boat that can be appreciated by veteran yachtsmen who know a price-worthy boat when they see one.PerformanceOur test boat was powered by twin 435-hp Volvo Penta IPS600 propulsion systems. The 500S's maximum speed on test day was 34.3 mph (29.8 knots). At this speed she was burning 42.5 gph and has a range of 217 nautical miles.Best cruise was found at 2250 rpm where the boat was just over the hump on plane going 16.8 mph (14.6 knots), burning 14.5 gph, getting exactly 1.0 nmpg for a range of 311 nautical miles. I suspect most boaters will want to cruise her a bit faster, say, at 2750 where we found her going 20.0 knots and getting .89 nmpg. Give us a call to spec out your new Prestige today! All new Prestige Yachts carry a comprehensive 2-year bow to stern warranty. Call us to inquire about special builder finance offers!


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Behavioral Health/Chemical Dependency
Behavioral Health/Chemical Dependency
Silver Cross Hospital provides behavioral health and chemical dependency services for adults 18 years and older, utilizing a holistic approach. Our interdisciplinary team is comprised of licensed and certified behavioral health and chemical dependency professionals, offering a variety of services, including:
- Inpatient Behavioral Health Program
- Intensive Outpatient Mental Health Program
- Intensive Outpatient Co-Occuring Program
Admission and referral information may be obtained 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling our dedicated intake phone line at (815) 300-7528. Callers can reach a trained behavioral health clinician to determine the best possible treatment for each caller or answer any questions concerning behavioral health or substance abuse.
Referrals are welcome from other hospitals, family physicians, social service agencies, the clergy, mental health professionals, employers, family members and friends.
At Silver Cross Hospital, services are covered by most major health insurance policies. Our staff will assist callers in determining benefits and other sources of coverage.


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Built in the worlds most stunning locations, the incredible designs of One&Only Resorts aims to reflect the style and influences of local surroundings. Each one reflects local traditions and has its own unique character and energy. Guests enjoy perfect hospitality full of local warmth and sincerity and receive a unparalleled service. Discover the incomprable experience offered at these outstanding resorts in the Bahamas, Mexico, Mauritius, Maldives, South Africa, and Dubai.
For more detailed information please visit the One&Only website.


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Take a look at this page.
Have you had calculus yet?
A capacitor discharging through a resistor is an exponential function. (Since the current is not constant, you cannot use C = I x t except for "one instance" in-time.)
The circuit schematic is too far away, but let me guess :The capacitor is in parallel with the LED.The switch is in parallel with the LED.The resistor is not used.
See the attached schematic.
QuoteSee the attached schematic.You short the supply into the capacitor - add a small value resistor in series with the switch if you want to avoid welding it shut and resetting the Arduino!


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Retire Here, Not There: Florida
A housing rebound restores some of the state's appeal
By Catey Hill
Retiring to Florida: It's a move that's been so common, for so long, that even the jokes about it feel like clichés. Still, the state's warm weather, great beaches, and lack of an income tax have allowed Florida to keep living up to its reputation as a retirement Mecca. And for newcomers, the state's large number of retirees is a plus, since it allows for lots of opportunities to interact with others going through the same life phase, says Kathleen Campbell, founder of Fort Myers-based Campbell Financial Partners.
Florida isn't all sunshine and sand, of course. The recent housing crash and recession hit the state particularly hard.
Editha/Shutterstock.comENLARGE IMAGE
Florida's unemployment rate of 8.1% is still higher than the 7.8% rate for the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—which means retirees who want to work full-time may not have as many job opportunities.
For much of the year, "warm" can mean really hot, with temperatures in many towns staying in the 90s throughout the summer. Plus, residents must contend with hurricane exposure and expensive property insurance, says Tom Roberts, a financial planner at Sarasota-based A New Approach to Financial Planning.
Things do seem to be looking up where real estate's concerned, with prices recovering in many communities. Indeed, some cities' housing markets can strain a retiree's budget. In Naples, which has Gulf Coast beaches, a number of championship golf courses and a fair amount of quality shopping for a town of just about 20,000, the median home goes for more than $500,000, and the cost of living is 61% higher than the national average, according to Sperling's Best Places.


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Watch Your Home TV Set On Your iPhone From Any Wireless Network Connection
Many people may not be aware of a company called Sling Media that makes devices that connect to your DirecTV, cable, or other satellite providers receiver so you can watch your own television from any Internet connection. The product that makes this possible is Sling Box and it connects in between the output of your cable or satellite receivers output and your televisions input. Then it connects to the network at your house via a switch, wireless router, or the like and provides instructions on how to view remotely from any computer and many mobile devices. There is an application available from the iTunes store that will allow you to connect to the Sling Box at your home via your iPhone so you can watch your home television from your iPhone. This includes watching shows that have been recorded on your DVR, etc.


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Benvenuti a Bacco's Ristorante.
Located in the center of Rochester's Park Avenue historical district, Bacco's serves up one of Rochester's finest Italian fare with exciting and authentic dishes in a cozy and unique ambiance.
At Bacco's Ristorante, every dish is created using the finest ingredients. We serve only the choicest meats and seafood, the freshest vegetables, as well as homemade bread and pasta. We strive to create a truly enjoyable dining experience with our exquisite menu selections, including daily specials, and our staffs attention to every detail. Our diverse and extensive wine list is sure to please you and compliment your dinner choices. We will try our best to meet your expectations and special requests whenever possible.
Come and experience the difference at
Bacco's Ristorante.
Your Host Giovanni La Gamba
Open Tuesday - Saturday from 5:00 to 10:00
Bacco's Ristorante
263 Park Avenue
Rochester, NY 14607
Reservations Highly Recommended (585) 442-5090


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Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head, America's favorite culture critics, are back. They now have more than just music videos to make fun of - reality TV, the internet, and Ultimate Fighting will all be crossing their TV screen! Brought back by creator Mike Judge Beavis and Butt-Head are dumber than ever!


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Tell MassDOT and the FMCB: NO MORE BROKEN PROMISES, NO MORE MISSED OPPORTUNITIES!
Add your name to this e-petition to tell MassDOT and the MBTA to build the "Red to Blue Connector" as a subway extension and not as a pedestrian walkway. Additionally, please show up to the MassDOT & MBTA Board Meeting on Monday, February 4 at noon to comment in person even if you have already signed the petition!
We, the undersigned, wish to voice our displeasure at the treatment of the "Red to Blue Connector" or the extension of the Blue Line to Charles/MGH in the draft Focus 2040 visioning plan. This has been a missing link in the MBTA's subway for far too long. It will most importantly serve the mobility needs of the environmental justice communities of East Boston, Winthrop, and Revere along the Blue Line, as well as communities along the Red Line from Cambridge & Somerville to Boston, Quincy & Braintree. The Blue Line extension would also be a game changer for mobility in the region, providing a strong new link to Logan Airport (now handling 38 million passengers annually) and an important new link to Mass General Hospital. A pedestrian connection means little to a person with limited mobility, parents with young children, or a weary traveler. The Commonwealth shirked its responsibility once before, we should not miss this opportunity to right that wrong and build the Red to Blue Connector as intended. We hope that you will replace the reference to a pedestrian walkway with a commitment to extend the Blue Line to Charles/MGH. Thank you for your time & consideration.


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Technically I meant to title this as "Amber is the Color of my Sex" to be scientifically accurate but I figured it might attract the wrong kind of attention. Yesterday on Twitter, I was reading a really interesting discussion on the nature of Klaxxi gender. The reason for the speculation was because, despite Blizzard's past laziness with regards to gendering their non-player races, it could easily be left open to interpretation with a bug race like the Klaxxi.
World of Male-craft
Unfortunately my skepticism that Blizzard made a race that wasn't populated with dudes unless otherwise specified (Grand Empress Shek'zeer) is high. While Blizzard is exceptionally clever and the Mantids have been left open to interpretation, I don't think it was done on purpose. Warcraft constantly defaults to "maleness" as the norm when it comes to NPCs unless there's a reason to duplicate women elsewhere (in the case of some NPCs that have player races.) This isn't surprising at all given that it is way cheaper on both resources and development time to only create men. Why?
Their logic seemingly is that in a world of war and aggression, wouldn't most women die or be hidden away so you can perpetuate your tiny little race infinitely after adventurers slaughter billions of your kind every day? On top of that, they seem to not quite "grok" how to gender models as women without extensive time put into it if a model doesn't have tits or a pink bow on it's head. Those two facts make representation in the game world a fairly open-and-shut-case. There are notable exceptions to this: Centaur, Naga (who have explicit male/female models), Dragonkin (at some levels), and Harpies/Dryads (who are exclusively female.) The rest are seemingly neutrally gendered or typed male, even in the face of actual logic. That's just how gameplay will always clash with lore.
This is the largest point in the idea that Blizzard may have made the Mantid at large a mixed gender race. However, this doesn't stop us from using their lack of detail to our advantage to speculate otherwise.
I'm not an entomologist but insect societies, which the Mantid and such seem to based on, wouldn't necessarily conform to Blizzard's "all men all the time" rule when it comes to NPC races. By setting up a female Grand Empress with an unclear line of succession (there's combat and corpse eating but it doesn't say if it is matrilineal or what) as well as offspring being sired by her (presumably), they seem to leave the door open for contradicting themselves with their own male bias. Insect societies that behave with a "queen" being the mother figure (see: Grand Empress Zek'hara) like ants and bees do not have an overwhelming majority of their society as male. Most of the workers tend to be female drones, with some breeding males groomed for the queen. It would stand to reason that if the Mantid were similar to these species in terms of being colony insects, that most of them (including the Klaxxi) would be women. However, a couple of facts about the Mantid move them away from being simple colony insects.
1.) They are fearsome in the singular, more-so if fighting in a swarm.
Insects that are typically colony-based do not have individual characteristics such as these, whereas Mantid seem to be capable of doing great damage all on their own, moreso if any group of them stick together. A single Mantid is able of making personal decisions as well as defending themselves, and could live away from the group.
2.) They do not communicate via collective.
Unlike the typical sci-fi/spec-fi convention, Mantid and Klaxxi talk to eachother using technology via sound frequencies boosted over large areas and developed language, rather than things like scent markers, swarm intelligence or the ubiquitous "hive mind" where all members in the society are linked telepathically to the central power and do not think independently.
These two indicators mean that it is very possible that Mantids are not specifically majority female and may perhaps be a mixed-gender population (which is still not majority male.)
Not So Much Man-Tids: Meritocracy Within an Aristocracy
My strongest case for there being mixed gender despite Blizzard's plans to leave a fairly non-dimorphic insect species mostly male is the cycle of the Mantid Swarm.
Mantid assaults on the Serpent's Spine are a terrible thing to experience, both as a defender, and as a mantid. Only the smartest, strongest, or most agile of the mantid survive this encounter, and pandaren defenders are slaughtered outright in terrible numbers.
Mantid survivors make their way back to the great trees, often bearing trophies of their conquests. There, they are welcomed back into the mantid society, and take their place among their civilization according to the level of their deeds. The purpose of this rite of passage is unclear. but those who travel beyond the wall are forewarned: any mantid you encounter beyond the wall is a hardened veteran, to be feared and respected.
— Mantid Swarm lore scroll in-game
In short, the Mantids and by virtue the Klaxxi, are a merit-based insect society. Those that we see in-game that are not throwing themselves against the wall as cannon fodder are the highest achieved in Mantid culture. At no point are these best and brightest codified as male, even those who are pegged as the most strong. Blade dancers, manipulators and bladeguards alike are, despite the game's norm, potentially female. Due to WoW having no dimorphism in body types among the Mantids (save for the Empress) means that we have a potential for yet another mixed-gender NPC race. Granted, I still believe that this is by accident, but the idea of the Mantid society defining themselves by accomplishment seems more a true reflection of the Warcraft gender politics than even us as player characters are. In this vein, it's very possible that the Empress ascends to the throne by virtue of being the most accomplished female within the group, rather than strict familial succession. We could conjecture even further and say that gender is fairly irrelevant as how Mantids define themselves in all aspects other than the singular Empress hierarchy. Gender as a societal construct seems fairly irrelevant to them and solely a biological indicator of sex. What a Mantid does during and after the Swarm cycle is far, far more important and is the pinnacle in individualism.
In this respect, despite Dread Wastes giving me the major wiggins, I find the Klaxxi/Mantids very exciting and hope that we see more lore about them in the future. As someone who uses the game to escape the ridiculous gender politics of reality, seeing a society work solely on individual merit makes me gleeful.


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I don't know how many of you ever raised chickens but the old joke went something like this. Question: "Hey, do you know what that white stuff is on the top of the chicken shit?" Answer: "Nope." Reply: "That's chicken shit too!"
Well, as it turns out, it's really uric acid (the white part of the poop). The dark part is undigested feces.
So how do nesting birds deal with the excrement of all those nestlings until they fledge? Here's a photo of a House Finch nest before the eggs hatch and the hatchlings start producing fecal sacs.
The fecal sac is a translucent gelatinous membrane containing the excrement of nestling birds. In the case of the House Finch, both the male and female eat the fecal sacs of young as they are voided until about the fifth day after hatching. At this point the chicks begin depositing the fecal sacs on the rim of the nest.
Fecal sac removal then stops and fecal sacs accumulate around the rim of the nest, creating a characteristic appearance1 as you can see in this photo of the chicks nearing fledging age.
This system would never due for cavity nesting birds. The nest would be heavily soiled inside the cavity long before the birds were ready to fledge.
You see, nestlings defecate immediately after being fed. Cavity nesting birds bring food into the nest, then wait a moment and grab the fecal sac as it emerges from the nestling. They carry the enclosed excrement out from the nest and discard it some distance away.
This is what they look like, demonstrated nicely by this male Western Bluebird.
Other nesting birds, most notably raptors, herons and some sea birds, defecate by backing up to the edge of the nest and producing a projectile poop squirt like this Red-tailed Hawk nestling.
This adult Bald Eagle politely moves away from the nest to defecate (watch out).
But the eaglet is just beginning to branch. Besides, it has just been fed. So I will leave you with the classic way to tell if a nesting bird is getting ready to poop. They will back up to the edge of the nest and let 'er rip!
References: 1 Birds of North America Online
Poop Week is a week of themed posts on 10,000 Birds that cover the intersection of poop and birding, a fertile precinct if there ever was one. Rather than just discuss the horror of a pigeon dropping droppings on someone's head we decided to really get down the nitty-gritty details of poop, to the point where it is squishing up between our toes. Not only is Poop Week a fascinating way to spend seven days in June it is also a serious attempt to elevate the level of discourse in the bird blogosphere, which, as we all have no choice but to admit, is far too low. Enjoy, and make sure to wipe up afterwards, would you?
WOW! What a shot! 🙂
@Mike funny you should ask 😉 A birding friend of mine told me a few years ago he knew a lister that kept a defecation list. Now that's what I call a hard core lister! To tell you the truth, I didn't know if I would ever post these photos but here I am! Thanks for the opportunity!
@Clare and Grant thanks!
Yes, you posted some very nice nesting manners. I have not been hit yet, but now I know some day the splatter will hit me!
FWIW, chickens who are brooding on a nest (hatching eggs) only defecate once or rarely twice a day. They "hold it all in" while setting, and then will leap up, take a massive, stinky "broody poop", eat and drink really fast, and then dash back to the nest to resume setting. I presume other avian species are the same. You can see our heritage breed chickens on our website above.
Thank you, Larry, for the article and the photos. We have a finch nest on top of our patio lamp and it's covered in poop. I didn't know what it was so I had to look it up, and I found your article. Many thanks.
SAME HERE! Only the Finch is nesting in a wreath that is hanging on my front door! I was becoming very worried for the birds being around all that poop! it is a LOT and they are no where near ready to leave the nest it seems. GROSS! so once they leave the nest.. I suppose I will be the one to clean it up!?
I have the same problem on my screened in porch the wreath is filled with 3 little birds and
Lots of poop!
Larry, should I remove the chicks from the box (nest) then clean it up and out them back? Mum and dad are still taking care of them but not all the time
I hated to do it, but I think it was a robin that built a wonderful nest under my deck over my patio. Only took him a couple of days, but I was afraid if I left it there, that my patio would be inundated with bird poop. I had already had to shoo them away from my deck railing as they were pooping all over that, as well as the patio below. I will keep rechecking so that another nest doesn't get built, if in fact the expectation will be lots more bird poop near the nest. Is this the case? Or should I leave the nest alone? I don't mind them building the nest, I just don't want bird poop as a result….
Also, if I were to put it back I have heard the mother robin can sense it has been touched by human hands, and therefore she will not return to the nest. Is this correct? Also, the mud that was "holding" it to the wood I loosened, so not sure it will be "anchored" very well once put back.
I should post a picture of my blacktop driveway. The robins use it consistently to drop the poop sacs. They do so, even though there is a perfectly good strip of grass and a field right next to the driveway. People who see the mess comment that it is weird because there aren't any trees right there, so I have to explain how the poop gets there. At times, it almost looks like there is a pattern – robin art!
Am I the only one who has seen the parent robins eat their babies' poop? As soon as they are fed, the parent nudges their rear-end until a big poop come out. the parent gets it as it exits the baby, then immediately swallows the poop! (NOT carries it elsewhere to drop!) At first, I thought I was seeing things, so I videoed it, and sure enough, they actually swallow the stuff! Any one else out there seen the same thing?
© 2013 10,000 Birds. All words, images, and opinions are the property of their respective authors unless stated otherwise.


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Focusing on all-round musicianship
ABRSM exams are music exams rather than instrumental or singing exams. Examiners assess the quality of the music-making, not how it's achieved. For this reason, we don't restrict examiners to assessing only their own instrument but require them to examine all instruments.
We've designed our graded music exams to motivate instrumental and singing students of all ages and a wide range of abilities. They're available at eight levels – Grades 1 to 8 – and provide:
- Progressive goals to aim for
- Recognition for achievement
- Carefully structured syllabus requirements
- One-to-one assessment by an expert professional
- An objective guide to a candidate's skills and progress.
There are no age restrictions and students can start with any grade or skip grades if they want to.
What's included in the exam?
To succeed in our exams, candidates need a combination of skills and understanding. Broadly, we assess:
- Performance skills through pieces or songs
- Technical skills through scales and arpeggios
- Notation skills through a sight-reading test
- Listening skills and musical perception through aural tests
How many marks are available?
Total marks in all individual Practical exams are 150.
- 100 marks are required to pass
- 120 marks are required to pass with merit
- 130 marks are required to pass with distinction
Find out more about each part of the exam
Three pieces
(each marked out of 30)
Experiencing a selection of good music is an essential part of musical learning.
(marked out of 21)
Being able to sight-read enables students to explore new pieces with increased confidence.
Scales & arpeggios
(marked out of 21)
Students can develop many aspects of technique through scale practice, including familiarity with the physicality of their instrument or voice, articulation, tone and intonation.
Aural tests
(marked out of 18)
Listening is the basis of all good music making. ABRSM aural tests are designed to strengthen the vital connection between listening and performing.
Other key exam information
Our examiners
Our examining panels consist of over 700 musicians, all highly qualified and skilled in their own field.
Our exam syllabuses
We offer graded instrumental and singing exams for over 35 subjects


text: Founded in 1998, Falconhead Capital, LLC is a leading investment firm focused on operationally-intensive control investments in small to lower middle-market companies. Falconhead takes a proactive operating approach to value creation by targeting transactions in niche growth verticals where we can leverage our substantial financial, operational, and strategic resources to help businesses pursue growth opportunities and other value building strategies. With over $500 million of aggregate capital commitments, Falconhead's Funds are managed by an investment team that collectively has extensive experience in both operations and finance. Our limited partners include a number of leading public and private pension funds, banks, foundations, and endowments.


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Curry leads Warriors past Spurs to tie series
Mon., May 13, 2013
OAKLAND, Calif. – His spirits down, his left ankle limp and his team's season hanging in the balance, Stephen Curry wondered whether he could recover for the biggest game of his career until a text message popped up on his phone about 2 a.m. Saturday.
Curry called back his mother, Sonya, and vented his frustrations about his latest – and most inopportune – injury setback. Finally, she spoke up to calm his concerns.
"She just reminded me and battle tested me to rely on my teammates and support," Curry said.
What followed was a Mother's Day masterpiece.
Curry scored 22 points to go with six rebounds and four assists on a bum ankle, rallying the Golden State Warriors past the San Antonio Spurs 97-87 in overtime Sunday to even the Western Conference semifinal at two games apiece.
"It seems like every time you get on a roll and feel somewhat healthy there's a setback," said Curry, who shot 7 of 15 from the floor, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. "And it just tests you. It changes your routine. It changes your outlook on the game, your preparation. You've got to deal with the injury and the adjustments your making as a team."
Game 5 is Tuesday in San Antonio.
Curry and the Warriors overcame the obstacles with contributions from all over.
Harrison Barnes had 26 points and 10 rebounds, Jarrett Jack added 24 points in reserve and Andrew Bogut grabbed 18 rebounds to help Golden State erase an eight-point deficit in the final five minutes of regulation. The Warriors scored the first nine points of overtime to whip the yellow shirt-wearing crowd of 19,596 into frenzy and give this series yet another twist.
Even Warriors coach Mark Jackson doubted whether Curry could play, especially after his star point guard took an anti-inflammatory injection in the morning to ease the soreness in his sprained ankle and still had trouble getting loose. Jackson cornered Curry outside the chapel service at the arena to see how he felt.
"He said, 'I'm going to give you what I got, Coach,' That's not the language he speaks. I knew right away that he was not 100 percent," said Jackson, who conferred with general manager Bob Myers before letting Curry play.
Even for all of theater Curry provided, the Spurs seized control of a sloppy slugfest at the start – then went cold shooting when it mattered most.
Tony Parker, wearing a black sleeve around his bruised left calf, poured in 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting but never broke free the way he did in scoring 32 points the previous contest, saying the injury limited his ability to elevate. Manu Ginobili had 21 points and Tim Duncan added 19 points and 15 rebounds as the Spurs ran out of steam in the end.
"We put ourselves in a position to win the game and it's frustrating because we feel like we gave it away," Duncan said.
Golden State outshot San Antonio 38 to 35.5 to percent. The Warriors also outrebounded the Spurs 65-51.
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In mid-February, a little more than a month after police had arrested two men who had broken into lockers and stolen credit cards and other belongings from members of the Glens Falls Area (NY) YMCA, Glen Falls police began searching for a third man. Security cameras, which the Y installed last fall after a string of break-ins began last April, captured an image of a man that police say may be involved in more thefts at the Y. Glens Falls Police Chief Joe Bethel told Capital 9 News that police want to know if the man in the photograph is the man who broke into lockers, stole credit cards and, within minutes, started using them. The image has been broadcast on local media outlets. The recent thefts are similar in nature to the thefts from January, police told the TV station. They say that whomever is responsible is using a tool to cut through locks in the locker room.
The recently completed first phase of a multimillion dollar upgrade and expansion at Midtown Athletic Club, Weston, FL, includes two new locker room areas, a new day spa, and a build out for the facility's mind and body studios. The new locker room areas boast rich teak millwork throughout with imported ceramic tile bathing areas and rare Brazilian white onyx countertops. Amenities include lockers with digital security technology and flat-screen plasma televisions. The newly constructed mind and body studios will host a full line of yoga classes and mat Pilates classes. In addition, the club features a new Pilates reformer studio. The next phase of the expansion will add a restaurant, lounge, meeting space, and expanded fitness and children's areas.
Healthworks Fitness Centers, Boston, is searching for two runners to compete in the Boston Marathon on April 21 and reach a combined fundraising goal of $10,000 to help build a second nonprofit fitness center for women and children. The company's first nonprofit fitness center, a 3,500-square-foot facility that opened in 2002 at the St. Mary's Women & Infant Center in Dorchester, MA, focuses mainly on women. The second facility will have 9,000 square feet and will focus primarily on the fitness needs of children. The company still must raise $175,000 of the $575,000 needed to build the new facility.
The Indian Wells (CA) Tennis Garden will play host to an NBA preseason basketball game on Oct. 11 between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets, the Suns recently announced. The 16,000-seat outdoor stadium at Indian Wells is like an NBA-style arena, complete with loge seating and 44 suites, and plays host to the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament, which will be held March 10-23. This will be the first outdoor NBA preseason game in 36 years.
Greg Lappin, the general manager of the Rochester (MN) Athletic Club, is hosting a live fitness show called "Fitness Connections" every Wednesday for 12 weeks. The show, which airs on Austin, MN-based PBS station KSMQ, will feature topics including barriers to exercising and developing personalized exercise programs. The first show aired Feb. 6.
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) and Aon's Affinity Insurance Services Inc. have joined forces to enhance and expand insurance program offerings for IHRSA club members. As part of the new relationship, Affinity Insurance Services will function as the official group-purchasing provider and administrator for the new IHRSA-endorsed workers' compensation insurance program along with property and casualty programs.
Washington State University researchers plan to create the National Aquatics and Sports Medicine Institute after receiving a $1 million grant from the National Swimming Pool Foundation. The institute will help researchers learn more about the effects of aquatic exercise not only on general health and well-being but also on specific medical conditions such as asthma, hypertension, osteoporosis and obesity.
The wife of a man who died last year after being found unconscious in the men's sauna at the Lafayette Family YMCA in Lafayette, IN, is suing the organization, according to the Journal and Courier. The civil complaint was filed last month and alleges that the Y failed to properly supervise the sauna and that employees may have removed or modified the sauna's timers. Don Franklin, the chief executive officer of the Y, told the newspaper that he could not comment on the lawsuit because insurance companies and attorneys were handling the issue.
In BRIEF
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What's U.P. at The Zoo
Upper Peninsula's Favorite Zoo
Has Something New For You!
The DeYoung Family Zoo is nestled in the wilderness of the beautiful Upper Peninsula. This is NOT a big city zoo, step out of the box, away from the concrete jungle and come along on a new journey. You will love the natural setting filled with amazing animals from around the world. Large natural habitats, education through hands-on experiences, as well as up close and personal family fun! It's all waiting for you at the DeYoung Family Zoo!
on May 11th from 10AM - 5PM CST.
Summer programs will start Memorial Day Weekend.
Come out and see all your favorite critters.
N5406 County Road 577 Wallace, MI 49893 - Phone: 906-788-4093
CopyRight 2008 DeYoung's Family Zoo - Website created by Carrie Cramer


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A Day in The Life of...Albertus Tjiu
Posted on 22 July 2011
Albertus Tjiu, EmailAlbertus Tjiu, Email
Orangutan researcher and project leader for Kapuas Hulu in WWF-Indonesia in West Kalimantan
Orangutan researcher and project leader for Kapuas Hulu in WWF-Indonesia in West Kalimantan
Orangutan researcher and project leader for Kapuas Hulu in WWF-Indonesia in West Kalimantan
For those of you who have heard the touching story about the baby orangutan Baim who was led back into the lush Heart of Borneo he now calls home, this story is about what goes on behind the scenes.
Meet Albertus Tjiu.
Albertus, aged 39, is a man who has been dedicated to Orang-utan conservation since he joined WWF in 1996. After 15 years, his passion as an environmental activist continues.
When Albertus first joined WWF, he was based in the field in Kapuas Hulu, a place around 700km from Pontianak, the capital city of West Kalimantan. He lived deep in the forest while helping a botanist and ecologist from LIPI (The Indonesian Institute of Sciences) to collect data from within Betung Kerihun National Park.
According to Albertus, it was during his three years there that he fully grasped the importance of conservation as he was exposed to intact and dense forests and the incredible array of wildlife secure in their thriving habitat. He also got to know more about local communities who practice wise protection of the forest and all the forms of life within it.
Albertus admits that in the beginning, he engaged in environmental activities as a hobby. He loved to spend time in the wild. Other than that, the work fit his academic background, which is in forest management with a focus on botanical science. As time passed, however, he realised that his work had become more than a mere job for him - the most rewarding part of his job was seeing how communities benefited from conservation work.
Despite the bumpy roads and hours of travel on both land and river, Albertus claims the most difficult part of his job is not reaching his destinations, but ensuring the work being done benefits the people. This, he said, is really difficult, especially when dealing with stakeholders with different expectations. Rejection is part of the job, an inherent part of carrying out each task, especially since WWF's presence is often perceived to limit them.
But, according to Albertus, the benefits outweigh the costs. One recent activity involved assisting a community to set up a microhydro power station in the Lung River area. Having a source of power dramatically improved the lives of community members. Before that, they were dependent on fossil-based fuel which, due to its high costs, was unaffordable for many. By gaining access to power, the Dayak Iban people living in longhouses near the Lung River have been able to do more, which has helped increase their income.
As an example, the women used to weave only during the day. They could not do this everyday, since their main activity is paddy farming. However, since electricity was made available in the evening, the women could continue to work on weaving after returning from the paddy fields, resulting in the creation of more handicrafts to sell. The villagers realized that they needed to protect the forest in the upper stream area which provides a source for the microhydro power. This is a concrete contribution to the conservation effort. The use of fire wood decreased significantly as electricity replaced this traditional energy source for domestic use, such as cooking rice and boiling water.
There was a period when the project had to stop for a while due to a lack of funding. Albertus recalls that this was indeed a challenging time, as commitments to work for WWF were tested. Instead of leaving, he took on a side job in multilevel marketing and achieved fairly good success. This created a dilemma when, in 2002, the second phase of the WWF project was approved. Albertus had to decide whether to choose his business, which would allow him to stay in the city near his family, or continue with WWF and stay hundreds of kilometres away in Putussibau. He chose WWF.
Time passed by. The project Albertus worked on shifted its focus to Orang-utans. In January 2011, Albertus was promoted to a new position as Project Leader in Putussibau. This new position was challenging; it meant a shift from working on technical issues to engaging in meetings and policy work. In this position, he hopes to have a greater chance to influence policy and demonstrate that conservation work is part of civil society's responsibility.
Albertus speaks strongly of trust. He says that it is one of the essential elements of his work with the community. It is not easy to convince the community without any evidence of success. Knowing this, he worked hard at building trust, providing examples and working on tasks until communities were able to see success themselves and feel the benefits on the palm of their hands.
Working in conservation and getting close to nature is something that Albertus desires. When he does not go to the field for a month, he feels a bit lost. He has a strong belief that the work he does with WWF creates change for the better, and this is what drives him. He is a true WWF fighter.


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The Congressional Budget Office's new budget and economic outlook is out, and as usual, it really doesn't seem all that bad when you look at their "baseline" numbers. (Deficits as a share of GDP over the next ten years are still at economically sustainable–less than the growth rate of the economy–levels.) Oh, except that the CBO baseline is (by law) a projection of current-law policies, which assume a lot of very optimistic (some might say "delusional") things about Congress's proclivity toward fiscally responsible behavior.
You see, in current law there are lots of costly policies that expire after a year or two…or nine, or two–as in the 2001 Bush tax cuts which were first scheduled to expire at the end of 2010 and now again are scheduled to expire at the end of 2012. Expiring tax cuts have been the most fashionable way to deficit spend in this town ever since.
In their budget outlook, CBO assumes any tax cuts scheduled to expire actually expire. That could mean CBO's assuming they will actually expire, or it could mean (more realistically but still very optimistically) that if Congress and the president extend the tax cuts in the future, that they will fully offset their cost, by cutting spending or raising other taxes–a novel concept known as "pay as you go." Once upon a time, Congress followed strict pay as you go rules–on both tax cuts and mandatory spending–and they complied with discretionary spending caps, too. By the way, that was the last time we were actually running budget surpluses, at the end of the Clinton Administration.
Now Congress prefers to make policies look less costly by making them "temporary," with official expiration dates that CBO has to officially score as being less costly because they (are supposed to) expire. But a more realistic "business as usual" projection would assume that these previously-always-extended-and-deficit-financed tax cuts will continue to be extended and deficit financed.
Enter the Concord Coalition's "plausible baseline" (illustrated above), which we've been calculating for many years now, and which has told (really) the same old story for many years now, just the numbers keep getting worse because the fraction of the tax cuts that are on unofficial time (past expiration dates) vs. official time keeps growing. Every year it seems that the multiple of the deficits under Concord's plausible baseline relative to those under the CBO official baseline keeps swelling. Last year I remember saying that the plausible baseline's deficits were triple the CBO deficits. This year it's closer to quadruple.
Most of the $8.7 trillion ten-year difference, $6.5 trillion, is due to tax policy. The (expiring) Bush tax cuts and associated Alternative Minimum Tax relief alone account for over $4.5 trillion of the difference, even without associated interest costs. (With interest, the deficit-financed extension of the Bush tax cuts and AMT relief would add almost $5.4 trillion to the ten-year deficit numbers.)
Some of you might remember what the so-called "super committee" was trying to do: they were trying to "go big" and find, hmmm, maybe $4 trillion worth of deficit reduction relative to the "business as usual" or "policy-extended" baseline. The "go big" solution is that which most economists feel is necessary to get deficits back down to economically-sustainable levels… like those very ones that are shown in this new CBO report. So that would have been a piece of cake for the super committee–or anyone else in Congress who might want to be a fiscal superhero–if they just looked at the CBO baseline and figured out how to stick to it. (Hint: PAYGO.)
So there's not much new here. The CBO report still provides us with a fiscal roadmap with one very clear route highlighted as the fastest one to the land of sustainability. All the road signs point clearly to that one route, but all the policymakers keep missing that turnoff ramp, over and over again. And none of them really want to talk about it.


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Yellow Jeep Incentive - #DFR15 - markgdixon
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Photos of beautiful scenery we saw at the Dixon Family Reunion 2015 (#DFR15). I need to lose weight, earn my Yellow Jeep, and travel through this beautiful country.
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Danielle Rose Russell
IMDb: 5.4
1h 45min
A celebrated military contractor returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs - the US Space program in Honolulu, Hawaii - and reconnects with ...
Actors: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Danny McBride, Alec Baldwin, Bill Camp, Jaeden Lieberher, Danielle Rose Russell, Michael Chernus, Edi Gathegi, Dennis Bumpy Kanahele, Elizabeth Marvel, Ivana Milicevic
IMDb: 4.8
1h 31min
Pandemic is set in the near future, where a virus of epic proportions has overtaken the planet. There are more infected than uninfected, and humanity ...
Actors: Rachel Nichols, Alfie Allen, Missi Pyle, Mekhi Phifer, Paul Guilfoyle, Danielle Rose Russell, Pat Healy, Robert Lewis Stephenson, Amanda Baker, Sara Tomko, Dominic Bogart, Alexander Ward, Jeff Atik, Kim Estes, Jaime Gallagher
The Last Tycoon - S01Eps9
IMDb: 7.9
61 min
Centers on Hollywood's first wunderkind studio executive in the 1930s, Monroe Stahr, and the power struggle between him and his mentor and current head of ...
Genres: Drama
Actors: Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer, Lily Collins, Dominique McElligott, Enzo Cilenti, Koen De Bouw, Mark O'Brien, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bailey Noble, Whitney Rice, Kerry O'Malley, Saul Rubinek, Danielle Rose Russell, Jennifer Marsala, Iddo Goldberg, Annika Marks, John Hartmann, Jack Michael Doke, Melia Kreiling, Don Harvey, Chloe Guidry, Laura Dickinson, Jennifer Beals, Eion Bailey, Michael Siberry, Elise Eberle, Dan Donohue, Taylor Nichols, Michael Bunin, Nicole DuPort, Albie Selznick, Lou George, Sharon Lawrence, Eric Bradley, Reid Bruton, Sally Dworsky, William Kenneth Goldman, Levi Gunn, Kelci Hahn, Ramone Hamilton, Sarah Lynch, Derek Manson, Hadley Belle Miller, Bobbi Page, Jasper Randall, Jenna Lea Rosen, Fletcher Sheridan, Sally Stevens, Jacquez Swanigan, Claira Nicole Titman, Greg Whipple, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Jessica De Gouw, Bruce Davison, Brian Howe, L. Scott Caldwell, Enuka Okuma, Vince Nappo, Charlie Bodin, Kristin Slaysman, Saundra McClain, Daniel Robbins, Dale Richard Howard, Ericka Kreutz, Ross Marquand, Brad Hunt, Patti Troisi, Jenna Davis
Legacies - S01Eps16
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Legacies is a TV series starring Danielle Rose Russell, Archie Foltynowicz, and Matthew Davis. Hope Mikaelson, a tribrid daughter of a Vampire/Werewolf hybrid, makes her ...


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< Back to trip
Trip overview
These treks are within the abilities of most reasonably fit people, but you must be prepared.
On the Inca Trail you will hike up to 45 kilometres often on steep terrain. The maximum altitude reached is 4,200 metres above sea level and each day's journey generally consists of seven hours of walking (uphill and downhill), with stops for snacks and lunch.
The Inca Trail has a limited amount of permits available each day so booking early is a must if we wish to opt for this option. If permits are unavailable, you can also chose to hike the less crowded Quarry trail.
The Quarry trail is less established than the Inca Trail yet it offers the same magical scenery, visits three small archaeological sites and is overall less touristy. Overall the distance hiked on this trek is 26km, the maximum altitude reached is 4,450 metres above sea level. Since permits are not required for this trek, there are no restrictions as when you book your trip.
Accommodation during both treks is camping in two-people tents (twin-share). Comfortable foam camping mats and sleeping bags are provided.
Both trek options are subject to permit availability.
Classic Inca Trail
Today travel by minivan to the 82 kilometre marker and meet your crew of local porters, cook and guide. The first day includes uphill trekking to the campsite, which is at 3,100 metres above sea level. On the way you'll see the ruins of Llactapata, which was burnt to the ground by the last Inca emperor to discourage Spanish pursuit down the trail. In the evening, set up camp while the cook makes dinner.
Notes: The Inca Trail is within the abilities of most reasonably fit people, but please come prepared, as the trail is 45 kilometres long and often steep. Each day's journey generally consists of seven hours of walking (uphill and downhill), with stops for snacks and lunch. Trekking usually begins at 7 am (except on the fourth morning) and you reach the campsite around 5 pm. Accommodation on the trek is camping (three nights). Double tents (twin-share) and foam camping mats will be provided. The porters will set up the tents while the cook prepares meals.
Quarry Trail
Make an early start today and drive to Choquequilla, a small ceremonial place where Incas worshipped the moon. Drive to the starting point of the trek, Rafq'a, and meet the horsemen who join us on the hike. After an hour's walk, reach the small community of Socma. Carry on to the Perolniyoc cascade lookout, an opportunity to stop for photos and a food break. Continue to the campsite, which is 3,700 meters above sea level. You should reach the campsite around lunchtime. After lunch, set off to explore the Q'orimarca archaeological site, which once served as a checkpoint to the Incas.
Notes: The Quarry Trail is within the abilities of most reasonably fit people. The hike is 26 kilometres long in total and its highest pass is at 4,450 meters above sea level. Throughout the trek, horses will carry your gear and camping equipment. The first two nights are spent camping and the third night you will stay at a simple hotel. Double tents (twin-share) and foam camping mats will be provided. The porters will set up the tents while the cook prepares meals.
Classic Inca Trail
This is the most challenging day of the trek, as we ascend a long steep path (approximately five hours) to reach the highest point of the trail. Colloquially known as 'Dead Woman's Pass', Warmiwanusca sits at a height of 4,200 meters above sea level, providing amazing views of the valley below. The group will then descend to the campsite in the Pacaymayo Valley at 3,650 metres.
Quarry Trail
This is the most challenging and rewarding day of the hike. A three-hour walk takes us to the top of the first pass of Puccaqasa (approximately 4,370 meters high). After enjoying picturesque views of the valley, it's a short walk before stopping for lunch. Afterwards, make the two-hour hike to Kuychicassa, the highest pass of the trek at 4,450 meters. From here, descend to the sacred site the Incas called Intipunku (Sun Gate), with views of the Nevado Veronica mountain. Head to the campsite, which is only a stone's throw away at Choquetacarpo.
Classic Inca Trail
Start the day with a climb through the Pacaymayo Valley to Runkuracay pass (3,980 metres). Enjoy views of the snow-capped mountain of Cordillera Vilcabamba before descending for around two to three hours to the ruins of Sayacmarca. Continue over the trail's third pass to the ruins of Phuyupatamarca (3,850 metres), also known as 'Town Above the Clouds'. Start the two-hour descent down the Inca steps, which takes you to the final night's campsite by the Winay Wayna archaeological site.
Quarry Trail
Today's hike will all be downhill. The first stop is the incomplete Kachiqata quarry, where the Incas were intercepted by the Spanish. Around midday, come to the end of the trek. Explore the cobbled streets of Ollantaytambo before taking the short train journey to Aguas Calientes. This is where you'll meet up with the travellers in your group who didn't hike. Visiting the natural hot springs in town is a soothing way to spend the late afternoon. Spend the night in a comfortable hotel before tomorrow's visit to Machu Picchu.
Classic Inca Trail
The day starts before dawn with breakfast at 4.30 am. Say farewell to the porters as they descend to the train station and begin hiking by 5.30 am. The walk to Intipunku (the Sun Gate) takes around two-and-a-half hours. Weather permitting, enjoy unforgettable views over the 'Lost City of the Incas' as the sun rises (and before it's crawling with tourists).
Quarry Trail
Depending on weather conditions, take a bus at 5:30 am this morning along the winding road to Machu Picchu. The journey takes around 30 minutes. At Machu Picchu, join up with the travellers in your group who hiked the Classic Inca Trail. If skies are clear, enjoy a spectacular sunrise over the ancient city from the Sun Gate, before going on a guided walk around the ruins.
Peru trek Packing List
In addition to the general packing list on your trip notes, please ensure you bring these items if you are trekking in Peru.
You MUST take your passport, a photocopy is not sufficient. It's important the passport matches the details your proivided us when booking this trip (Keep it in a plastic bag in case of rain)
Trek Poles:
Trek poles are not requires, it's a personal preference. We recommend hiring these at the pre-trek briefing for approximately US$10 as it will save you carting them around for the remainder of your travels.
Day Pack:
A day bag that has easy access to water bottles (external side pockets) or a day pack with a built in hydration bladder. This bag only needs to be large enough to hold the few things you need during the day (hat, water, camera, snacks, rain jacket etc)
Water bottle:
You should be carrying at least 2 litres of water daily, while trekking. Depending on whether you have a hyrdration bladder in your bag or not we recommend bringing two (1 litre) bottles that can be refilled on the trail with boiled water, which will be supplied daily.
Waterproof, well worn-in walking boots:
Good quality, comfortable footwear is essential. Whatever you wear on your feet the most important thing is comfort. It is vital to ensure your boots are well worn in and lightweight. Ankle support and waterproofing is recommended but if you already have something comfortable with good grip on rocks then don't go rushing out to buy new boots – you are better off with your well-worn in pair!
Walking clothing in layers:
(e.g. zip off trousers, fleece, T-shirts). It's a personal choice as to how many items you bring however please remember there's a 5kg limit. We recommend the following;
- 2 Pairs of long Walking Trousers (Zip off are a very hand choice but not a necessity)
- 2 T-shirts
- 1 Pair of shorts
- Rain Jacket or Poncho (Poncho can be purchased locally for a $2-3)
- 4-5 Pairs of Thick socks
Warm clothing for night time:
Fleece, long pants, woollen hat, gloves.
Thermal underwear:
Thermal wear is highly recommended, being light, warm and will keep you warm at night.
Sunscreen, sunglasses and sunhat
Personal medication and basic first aid kit:
Band-Aids, Imodium, Panadol, rehydration sachets.
Camera and spare batteries, memory cards or film:
Please note: there are no electrical outlets on the trek so make sure you fully charge and or have spare batteries.
Chocolates, chips, biscuits, energy bars. Snacks are provided during the trek but you may like to bring one or two extras just in case. If you have a dietary requirement then be recommend bringing some suitable snacks from home. We will accommodate you for Breakfast, lunch and dinner however for snacks it's recommended to bring some just to be safe.
Head torch or Standard Torch (flash-light)
(Very Important) and spare batteries.
Tropical strength insect repellent.
Antiseptic hand gel.
Flip-flops / thongs / jandals:
If you wish to have a shower on the third night and to wear around camp after a long day of trekking.
Ear Plugs:
In case your tent 'roomie' is a snorer.
Plastic bags:
To keep your belongings and clothes dry (wrap everything in plastic bags).
Toilet paper:
Most important! Also small plastic bags or zip lock bags for rubbish which can then be thrown in the main rubbish bag provided by the porters. Please don't dispose of your toilet paper on the ground!
Wet wipes and or Face wipes:
These are an essential and will come in handy after a long day of trekking and no showers.
Small towel and basic personal toiletries:
On the third night of both the Inca Trail and the Quarry there is an opportunity to have a shower so bring travel size shampoo and shower gel if you would like.
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Austin Dixon
From UA Libraries Digital Services Planning and Documentation
Austin Dixon is our Digitization Technologist. He has an Associates degree in Computer Programming and Networking from Shelton State, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at UA. Previously, he was employed as a Network Administrator for a small retail chain. He aspires to become an independent Software Developer.
In his spare time, Austin is often in his home electronics workshop building things like robots, musical instruments, human interface devices, and electronic art. He also trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, plays Native American Flute and Irish Pennywhistle, teaches a Sunday morning bible class for fifth graders, and is married to the love-of-his-life Janiece.
Contact Info
- Email: email@example.com
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/austindixon01
- Blog: www.PhotonPunk.com
- B.S. Computer Science, University of Alabama (In progress)
- A.A.S. Management and Supervision, Programming and Networking, Shelton State College, 2010
Technical Skills
- Languages: C, HTML, SQL
- Platforms: Windows, Linux
- Misc.: Excel, Photoshop, Microsoft Dynamics AX


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Last Thursday, 17 March 2011, the weather was fine, our ESL class went on an excursion. We were six people and 2 babies. It was really good to be together, and as Pam said we were like a family going on an outing.
We met "under the clocks" at Flinders station at 9.30 am. We waited for some minutes for everyone to be there. We wandered on the Southbank. Pam brought some article describing the buildings and she explained to us some sculptures and designs. Then we went to the jetty to buy our tickets for the Yarra River Cruise which was scheduled at 10.30 am. As it was a bit early to board the ship, we had a coffee together, and this helped us to know each other a bit more.
We boarded the boat at exactly 10.30 am. The cruise was very interesting, the captain commented on the surroundings giving details including the costs of some of the houses and the Bolte bridge etc…I admit that I did not understand everything that he was saying, he was speaking too quickly. I appreciated the views of the docklands with all the tall buildings and new houses along the river.
We passed the Bolte Bridge and the West Gate Bridge. We saw the big container ships loading and unloading their cargo. The captain also attracted our attention to the big square ships which carry lots of different kinds of vehicles.
We arrived at Williamstown in the midst of many yachts. Many passengers disembarked there for lunch. We remained on the boat to return to Southbank. On our way back, our boat had to stop to help another one which had broken down. Some of the passengers from the other boat embarked on ours to go back to Southbank.
On our return to Southbank, we had a fantastic lunch together, we had sandwiches, sushi and Chinese foods. It was very nice to share this day together. I returned home happy with lots of memories.
From Gilliane / ESL Advanced Level


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Are your legs in peak form for skiing and snowboarding? The following three exercises mimic the motions you may encounter on the slopes, so that you can build strength before you get back out there.
More: Get Fit for Ski Season: 7-Day Workout Plan
These moves challenge your fast-twitch muscle fibers and your lower-body stabilizers. These exercises help strengthen your core, increase your muscular endurance, and build up your lactic acid threshold.
What You'll Need
- Bosu Ball
- Mini Hurdle
Note: If you don't have the equipment, create a square on the ground with tape.
More: 5 Tips for Newbie Snowboarders
Bosu Balancer Single-Leg Squat
If you're new to working out, don't use the Bosu ball. Stand on one leg and squat. Hold onto a pole or a sturdy object to help you keep your balance. As you gain strength, try the exercise without holding onto something.
Once you're comfortable with the exercise, then move onto the Bosu ball.
If you use the Bosu ball, stand on the flat side. Stand on one leg and squat. Utilize your core to maintain your balance. Make sure your knee doesn't go past a 90-degree angle as you squat.
Do three sets of 30 repetitions per leg. On the thirtieth rep, hold your squat for 20 seconds. After the third set, rest for 60 seconds. Stretch out your quadriceps and hamstrings.
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