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Ignoring reality, Fox & Friends continues its health rationing scare campaign
Once again, Fox & Friends advanced the falsehood that health care reform would create a system of rationing care, with Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel predicting that President Obama's proposals would result in the disappearance of medical procedures like dialysis for the elderly. But despite Fox & Friends' pattern of fearmongering, insurance companies already ration care and sometimes deny coverage of lifesaving treatments, and the Obama administration has said that its health care reform efforts seek to put doctors, rather than insurance companies, in charge of these decisions.
From the August 7 edition of Fox & Friends:
PETER JOHNSON JR. (guest co-host): And yesterday we told you about five procedures that could disappear under the president's health care proposal. Today we have five more to discuss with you.
GRETCHEN CARLSON (co-host): And joining us now, Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel.
Fearmongering on rationing is a GOP strategy
Luntz memo urged Republicans to emphasize the "consequences of rationing." In a memo to Republicans outlining rhetorical strategies for opposing Obama's health care reform initiative, Frank Luntz wrote: "Put simply, while Americans would oppose the concept (and reality) of healthcare rationing, it is the impact of rationing -- the long waits for tests, the denial of care, the thousands of people fleeing to America to get the care they can't get in their own countries -- this is what truly frightens the public more than the word rationing itself. ... The word " rationing" does induce the negative response you want, but what you really want audiences to focus on is the "consequences of rationing."
Scare tactics deny reality: Insurance companies already ration care
Sebelius saw rationing by "private insurers" on "a regular basis" while serving as Kansas insurance commissioner. During her confirmation hearings, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stated, "I, frankly, as insurance commissioner, where I served for eight years, saw [rationing] on a regular basis by private insurers, who often made decisions overruling suggestions that doctors would make for their patients, that they weren't going to be covered. And a lot of what we did in the office of the Kansas Insurance Department was go to bat on behalf of those patients to make sure that the benefits that they had actually paid for were, in fact, ones that were delivered." [Senate confirmation hearing, 3/31/09]
Sebelius: "Health care providers," not "private insurers" should make coverage decisions. In Sebelius' words:
It's private insurers who often are telling their clients that, "No, you can't get this recommended treatment that the doctor has made" ; "No, you can't get this drug" ; "No, you're not going to be able to stay in the hospital an extra day" ; "No, you're not going to get this because we're concerned about costs." So, people who say that, "Oh, this is a terrible idea; this could happen someday in the future," it's happening every day. But it's really private insurance plans that are making those decisions. What we're hoping to do is change that situation. Private insurance companies should no longer be able to decide who gets health coverage and who doesn't, what kinds of benefits are available. And we want to make sure that it's really health care providers that make those choices in the future. [Hardball, 6/15/09]
Health care reform designed to "end barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions." Discussing the administration's health-care reform goals, Sebelius stated that "we must end barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions." She continued: "In Kansas and across the country, I have heard painful stories from families who have been denied basic care or offered insurance at astronomical rates because of a pre-existing condition. Insurance companies should no longer have the right to pick and choose. We will not allow these companies to insure only the healthy and leave the sick to suffer." [House Ways & Means testimony, 5/6/09]
Insurance companies acknowledge that they already ration care. WellPoint chief medical officer Dr. Sam Nussbaum has stated that "where the private sector has been far more effective than government programs is in limiting clinical services to those that are best meeting the needs of patients." Nussbaum continued, "When we look at advanced imaging, and these -- this is MRI, CAT scan, PET scans -- we know that as much as 30 percent of those procedures are not necessary. And we've been able, over the last several years, to have growth in imaging procedures of between zero and 5 percent. The government, under CMS, has seen imaging grow 15 to 20 percent a year during the same time interval." [NPR Morning Edition, 7/15/09]
Insured individuals are currently subject to rescission of their coverage if they become ill. Insurance companies restrict or deny coverage by rescinding health insurance policies on the grounds that customers had undisclosed pre-existing conditions. On June 16, a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing exploring this practice, with the goal of examining "the practice of 'post-claims underwriting,' which occurs when insurance companies cancel individual health insurance policies after providers submit claims for medical services rendered." The committee also released a memorandum finding that three major American insurance companies rescinded 19,776 policies for over $300 million in savings over five years, and that even that number "significantly undercounts the total number of rescissions" by the companies.
Fox & Friends has engaged in repeated fearmongering on rationing and care of elderly
Fox News' Johnson and Siegel suggest health care reform will deny kidney dialysis to the elderly.
From the August 7 edition of Fox & Friends:
JOHNSON: Kidney disease -- what if I have kidney disease and I need dialysis? We just have about 30 seconds, doctor.
SIEGEL: You know, Peter, I was studying dialysis last night, and 350,000 people are on dialysis every year. You know what? Most of them are elderly. Dialysis can help you get five or 10 years of quality life.
JOHNSON: So the concern is if you're too old, maybe you get it, maybe you don't, right?
SIEGEL: I don't want it taken away. I don't want it taken away from our elderly.
JOHNSON: Thanks, Dr. Siegel.
Siegel on "rationed care" under health reform: "[I]n a way it's a form of eugenics." Discussing "rationed care" that he said would occur under health care reform, Siegel asserted, "There's going to be more people trying to get in. I'm going to have less and less time to take care of them. Reimbursements to doctors and hospitals are being cut. If I'm being paid less, I got to work faster. That means I send more and more people for expensive tests. He's going to try to cost cut, which means he's going to ration care. So he's going to tell me what I can order, what I can't." After co-host Steve Doocy suggested that "unfairly, the elderly are the ones who are going to get shortchanged," Siegel asserted, "That's so true. In a way it's a form of eugenics: 'Oh, you're not good enough to live.' " [Fox & Friends, 7/22/09]
Johnson: Health care reform is "a subtle form of euthanasia." Johnson said: "Some people are saying, well, this is a health care reform, other people say -- maybe me -- that this is a subtle form of euthanasia. And when you start looking at the proposals, you say, God, what's happening? One of the proposals, Section 1233, talks about advanced care planning consultations. And that's a fancy term where a doctor goes to you every five years once you're 65, or more if you're chronically ill, and explains to you the benefits of so-called palliative care, of not giving active treatment." Co-host Brian Kilmeade subsequently claimed, "Wow. Somebody you don't even know will decide if you're going to live." [Fox & Friends, 7/27/09]
Johnson: An "Aldous Huxley kind of world." Discussing health-care reform, Johnson asserted, "Advanced care planning consultation is kind of our 2009 Brave New World, Soylent Green, 1984, Aldous Huxley kind of world where you come in and see your doctor at age 65, and if you're chronically ill you come in every year, and your doctor -- who will be trained, and they will spend billions of dollars in training doctors to be counselors -- that, 'You have options. You don't have to go into a hospital.' " Doocy then asked, "Are you saying these are the people that are going to determine whether you live or die?" and Brian Kilmeade subsequently characterized the provision as the "ultimate exit strategy." [Fox & Friends, 7/28/09]
Doocy suggests that under health care reform, you'll be asked, "Isn't it just time?" During a segment on "rumors" about end-of-life care, Gretchen Carlson stated that "if you were looking for a way to cut costs, some people argue who don't agree with this health-care reform bill, they argue that, yeah, maybe they will decide to not give elderly people the care that many people believe they deserve to continue their life." Steve Doocy subsequently claimed, "Besides, you look at other countries that have nationalized health-care situations, frequently there's a board that sits there and they go, 'OK. You're 85. You know, this $75,000 surgery just doesn't make sense. So rather than you winding up with this new lifesaving thing that could extend your life, you know, isn't it just time?' " [Fox & Friends, 7/29/09]
Malkin on Fox & Friends: Health care reform "puts a discount on the lives of elderly people." Discussing AARP's support for health care reform, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin stated, "The AARP just held a tele-town hall supporting Obama on his health care takeover plans, and this is at odds, it seems to me, with the best interests of millions of AARP members, given that that health care plan puts a discount on the lives of elderly people and would result in the redistribution of health away from the elderly and the infirm to other special favored interests and patients." [Fox & Friends, 7/30/09]
Johnson tells viewers to ask Congress member if government will "decide whether I live or die." Urging viewers to protest health-care reform during Congress' August recess, Johnson said, "People have to be contacting their congresspeople" in order to ask, "If I need to get a hip replacement, am I going to get it? If I've got private insurance now and I'm happy with it, am I going to lose it? Is the government going to decide whether I live or die at some point in the future?" [Fox & Friends, 8/3/09]
Fearmongering about euthanasia echoes discredited right-wing smear
Claims of mandatory counseling for seniors to end their lives are false. Fox & Friends' suggestions that health care reform will lead to the elderly being encouraged to die echo the discredited right-wing myth that a provision in the House health care reform bill would require that seniors receive "mandatory" end-of-life counseling sessions that would, in Betsy McCaughey's words, "tell them how to end their life sooner." Contrary to these assertions, the bill does not make end-of-life counseling mandatory. The relevant section of the bill amends the Social Security Act to ensure that advance care planning will be covered if a patient requests it from a qualified care provider [America's Affordable Health Choices Act, Sec. 1233]. According to an analysis of the bill produced by the three relevant House committees, the section "[p]rovides coverage for consultation between enrollees and practitioners to discuss orders for life-sustaining treatment. Instructs CMS to modify 'Medicare & You' handbook to incorporate information on end-of-life planning resources and to incorporate measures on advance care planning into the physician's quality reporting initiative." [waysandmeans.house.gov, accessed 7/29/09]
PolitiFact: Claim that seniors would be told how to end lives sooner "is an outright distortion." Criticizing McCaughey's false claims, PolitiFact.com wrote that the "claim that the sessions would 'tell [seniors] how to end their life sooner' is an outright distortion. Rather, the sessions are an option for elderly patients who want to learn more about living wills, health care proxies and other forms of end-of-life planning. McCaughey isn't just wrong, she's spreading a ridiculous falsehood." [PolitiFact.com, 7/23/09]
From the August 7 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
JOHNSON: And yesterday we told you about five procedures that could disappear under the president's health care proposal. Today we have five more to discuss with you.
CARLSON: And joining us now, Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel. Good to see you, Dr. Siegel.
SIEGEL: Good morning, Gretchen.
CARLSON: All right, so the first you want to talk about is targeted treatments, specifically things like chemotherapy, right?
SIEGEL: I don't think people realize out there how well we're doing with cancer right now. We used to just poison the cancer, and then we would end up poisoning the body. Now we have targeted antibiotics that go right to the cancer, but they don't work in everyone.
So how is insurance, one size fit all, going to cover this when it only works for certain people and it's very expensive? We have that with Herceptin, which has an 80 percent response rate for extensive breast cancer. It's a miracle drug. Only works in about 20, 30 percent -- same with some other targeted therapies.
I think that these could become extinct, even though they are the latest and greatest treatments. I'm very worried about that possibility.
JOHNSON: Now there's certain cosmetic or reconstructive procedures that are, in fact, covered by insurance when they are medically necessary. What's your concern about that under a prospective Obama plan?
SIEGEL: Well, you know, Peter, it's the same problem. I mean, how are going to justify it? You say, well, I can't breathe, I need a rhinoplasty. That's a very important consideration.
JOHNSON: Which is a nose job.
SIEGEL: Right, which is a nose job. Who's going to decide if you can't breathe or not? Here's another one: burns. One to 2 million people a year are burned. Thirty percent burns -- you have to go into burn unit. Guess what? You need hospital re-admission for more and more plastics procedures. They're already talking about cutting down on re-admissions.
JOHNSON: Transplants -- tell us about transplants.
SIEGEL: Well, liver transplants, I think, are really in danger, because already we have 16,000 people waiting for them. Only 6,500 people get them. Well, what if you're a drinker? What if you have a problem with cirrhosis? Are they going to get approved? We may end up with a point where only Steve Jobs gets a liver transplant and nobody else.
CARLSON: The leader of Apple. OK, bariatric surgery -- this is a huge thing; so many people get this done to fight their obesity problem. That could go away?
SIEGEL: I'm very worried about that, too. Look, 200,000 cases were done in 2008. It's up from 140,000 cases. Let me explain about gastric bypass surgery. It actually -- I'm convinced now; I used to be against it. I now think it really works. It cuts down on diabetes. It cuts down on high blood pressure. It cuts down on heart disease. If you're three or 400 pounds, you need these procedures.
JOHNSON: Kidney disease -- what if I have kidney disease and I need dialysis? We just have about 30 seconds, doctor.
SIEGEL: You know, Peter, I was studying dialysis last night, and 350,000 people are on dialysis every year. You know what? Most of them are elderly. Dialysis can help you get five or 10 years of quality life.
JOHNSON: So the concern is if you're too old, maybe you get it, maybe you don't, right?
SIEGEL: I don't want it taken away. I don't want it taken away from our elderly.
JOHNSON: Thanks, Dr. Siegel.
SIEGEL: You bet.
CARLSON: Wow. You've been doing a lot of reading.
SIEGEL: You bet I have.
CARLSON: Thank you very much for parsing that down for us.


text:
The ACE Basin branch of the Quality Deer Management Association held a How To Trap Coyotes seminar in Walterboro on August 29 that was attended by members from several different local QDMA branches. Branch President Nicole Garris and QDMA founder Joe Hamilton introduced Todd Menke, the trapper from N.C. that came to share his experiences for those interested in trapping coyotes in the Lowcountry outdoors. The evening started with a fried fish dinner sponsored by Jonathan Barnes of AgSouth services, which also donated door prizes. The QDMA offered a raffle for their 2011 Fall Gun of the Year which is a Remington .308 rifle, which was won by a local man attending the seminar. Menke was a speaker at the recent QDMA National Convention and was kind enough to visit the ACE Basin branch and share what has worked for him over the last 18 years of trapping in North Carolina. Coyotes are of great interest to deer herd managers since studies have shown that 80-percent of fawn mortality can be attributed to predation by coyotes. Trap sizes, trapping techniques, trade secrets and how NOT to educate coyotes with poor traps were all part of the discussion.
To view past blog entries abut QDMA click here.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
From the truth is stranger than fiction files: a Dallas man has been reunited with his classic car and canine companion after he was reminded of where he actually parked.
Peter Watson Fitch reported his old English sheepdog, Bixby, was inside a car that was stolen when Fitch was visiting his sister at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Monday.
Bixby was waiting inside Fitch's classic 1976 red Cadillac Coupe de Ville that Fitch believed was parked at one garage at the hospital.
U.S. & World
Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world.
Fitch filed a police report, friends helped to search for Bixby on Facebook, and NBC 5 even broadcast a story about the purloined pooch thought to be inside the classic Caddy.
Do not fret, fair readers, as both the car and canine are safe and sound. Turns out, Fitch had just forgotten where he parked.
Both Bixby and the car were found parked at a different parking garage adjacent to the hospital -- not at the hospital's garage itself.
Someone who saw our NBC 5 story on Bixby had also seen the car and contacted one of Fitch's friends overnight Tuesday.
Fitch, Bixby, and the classic Cadillac have been reunited as of Wednesday morning. Fitch is now talking with Dallas police on how to cancel the stolen car and dog report.


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Viciedo not in the Charlotte lineup again tonight. Was told he took batting practice and is getting closer to a return
— Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) July 30, 2011
July 29, 2011
Dayan Viciedo is getting closer to returning
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The sense of forward momentum in the new C-Class is plain to see. A vision of design excellence on the road, the new exterior features, such as the modified front end, redesigned bumpers, gleaming chrome trim and stunning new LED headlamps, make the C-Class more exciting than ever before.
The interior of the C-Class is designed to perfection. The new luxurious features include premium materials used throughout the interiors, impeccable finishes and ambient lighting. The cabin's notably high-quality feel makes for a driving experience par excellence.
Express your individuality through the C-Class with the new AVANTGARDE exterior. The outcome of the interplay between various design elements is an extraordinary vehicle that effortlessly infuses sportiness, individuality and top-class quality.
The lowered suspension offers the ideal balance between dynamism, comfort and safety.
The interior transports you to another paradise from the moment you step in, pampering you with its premium finishes and topping it off with the expressive Interior Lighting package.
The expert and deliberate styling of the AMG line adds a sporty touch to the C-Class's already powerful design. The agile configuration of the suspension with Sports Direct-Steer makes the handling noticeably dynamic and makes it more fun at the wheel.
The AMG line's interior adds to the vehicle's sportiness with its energetic and exclusive finishing.


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Age of Defense 2
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Earlier version(s) of Age of Defense 2 strategy game:
Age of Defense
Witness an epic story of a brave warrior. Follow his lead and use a range of weapons to kill your enemies. Make sure that you can shove the enemies away from your base station.
Age of Defense 3
Start a battle that will determine your fate as a young warrior. You have your own troop of cavemen and dinosaurs. Thus, you can easily make a plot that will devastate your foes.
Age of Defense 4
Do everything that you can to defeat your enemies. They will come in troops and they will surely attack your home base. Be sure that you are prepared to battle.
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"Some of the tensions around DIY biology, it's exactly the same as the tensions around computing. It reminds me of the 1982 movie War Games about a kid in his bedroom that manages to hack his way into a government computer and almost starts World War 3. You can see the parallels. Whereas in the previous generation it was computers falling into the wrong hands, now it's synbio and DIY bio.
"I can think of a dozen ways a computer can kill you and make your life miserable in an afternoon, it's not the hard. The entire world runs on computers now. There are privacy concerns or the fact that your bank account could be completely erased, and it's not hard to destroy someone's life by getting them on the no-fly list or planting [inappropriate material] on their computer, there's so many ways to abuse systems. What generally surprises me is how we manage to function so well with the poor security that exists.
"Living things already solved a lot of the security problems along the way. Right now we're playing clean-up with a lot of electronic systems and fixing things after the fact, but biology has layers & layers of security. If you look at your own body, it starts with your skin, physically defending against intruders, you have enzymes in your saliva, antibodies and a whole immune system that's constantly looking for foreign invaders and attacking them, internal checkpoints in cells always looking for damage and corruption, and so on. 25 years ago before there were things like antivirus software, people were starting to say we need to build an electronic immune system. They could already see the parallels.
"Can you imagine being back, in the mid-1970s and deciding no we can't let this technology fall into the hands of individuals, think of the damage that can be done. I think in general standing opposed to an exponential technology, particularly one as ubiquitous as living things, is just fool hardy. It's perfectly natural to be afraid of things that are unfamiliar, and to think of the worst case scenario. You can be afraid of them at the back of the pack, or you can be afraid of them at the very front of the pack, leading the technology, so you have a very complete understanding of the technology, who the leaders are, gaining all the intellectual benefits of being a leader. Don't close doors, open them."
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Transcriptic, Rewriting the traditional wet-lab workflow
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A HUGE fire has broken out at Ferrybridge Power Station, causing the partial collapse of a tower at the site.
Fifteen fire engines and two aerial ladder platforms are were in attendance at the blaze at the power station next to the A1, this afternoon. At about 7.30pm tonight, the fire was said to be under control.
Inspector Helen Brear of West Yorkshire Police said both the M62 and the A1 remain open despite the fire and heavy smoke, but Strangland Lane in Knottingley has been closed by police.
Insp Brear said: "Motorists are, however, advised to exercise caution on these roads and we will be continually monitoring the situation to see if any other roads need to be shut."
A plume of smoke can be seen in the surrounding area, prompting numerous phone calls to the fire service, with the fire first reported at about 2pm.
(picture courtesy @ZxPhotography via Twitter)
West Yorkshire Fire Service said the third floor of a four storey building is ablaze at the power station, and teams from five local stations, including an aerial unit, have been sent to assist.
The fire service has confirmed that all staff at the plant had been accounted for, and nobody has been reported injured in the fire.
(Picture courtesy @seba5sternik via Twitter)
(Picture courtesy of @wintertrua via Twitter)
In a statement, the power station said: "At around 2.00pm today a serious fire impacted Units 3 and 4 of SSE's Ferrybridge C power station in West Yorkshire.
"All persons on site have been accounted for and there are no reported injuries.
"The company's practised emergency response procedures were immediately activated and we are currently in the process of ensuring the site is made secure and safe.
"The affected area in the site vicinity has been isolated by police and the West Yorkshire Ambulance Service hazardous area response team are also present. West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service remains in attendance and is dealing with the incident with support from SSE engineers.
"West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has indicated the fire is now being brought under control. Due to planned maintenance neither of the affected units had been operational over the summer and therefore had not been supplying power to the National Grid at the time of today's incident.
"SSE will be undertaking an investigation to establish the full extent of damage in due course. Early indications show the fire itself started in unit 4 but also had some impact on Unit 3. Currently we do not expect Unit 4 to return to service in this financial year. Unit 3 is not expected to return to service before 1 November. Our immediate priority is to manage the incident and to ensure the safety of staff, contractors and the general public."


text:
Leonardo DiCaprio and his Danish supermodel girlfriend weren't hurt when their vehicle was involved in a minor accident in the Hamptons over the weekend, authorities say.
Police in the village of East Hampton say the 41-year-old Oscar-winning actor and 24-year-old Nina Agdal were traveling together on Montauk Highway at the time of the 4:30 p.m. accident Saturday.
A department spokeswoman tells Newsday the accident, first reported by the New York Post, was "just minor" and no one was taken to a hospital. Officials had not released any other information Monday morning.
U.S. & World
DiCaprio is a frequent visitor to the Hamptons, where he has rented homes and frequents hotspots. The couple was spotted at a popular restaurant in Montauk in June.
Copyright AP - Associated Press


text:
Padres new logos
In addition to the uniform updates, the Padres also unveiled three new logos for use in 2012. The "SD" logo has been updated to a circular mark featuring the text "San Diego Padres Baseball Club" and is to be used as the team's primary mark.
The Padres' new secondary logo features the Padres script under skyline imagery of PETCO Park. The new secondary mark also includes the classic "SD" along with "Est. 1969" and will be featured in a patch on the sleeve of the club's blue and gray jerseys.
In addition, the Padres have wheeled out a revamped Swinging Friar logo for 2012. The mark makes use of the original classic Swinging Friar from the early days of Padres history, with updated colors to match the blue and white currently worn by the club. It will be featured in a patch on the sleeve of the Padres' white jerseys.
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(sorry my inglish is too short..so) …………… i like the second, the padres whit petco back, i love it "LOS PADRES" i send hi from mexicali, mexico
Very cool! I'm glad the vintage Friar is back!
Im really digging the "Padres script under skyline imagery". The new swinging friar not so much it reminds me of an early Simpsons episode. Im much more of a fan of the newer modern friar, with 2012 being a much expected year i would think the designs would progress not turn back in time. All in all i am baseball fan, not a Logo fan lol so i cannot wait for spring training and the start of the 2012 season. Go Pads!
Yeah for the Friar! Glad to have you back, buddy! (Even though you never wore blue.)
Alright, so the Est. 1969 and SD logo are awesome. But the Swinging Friar looks horrible. The friar needed no revamping, and now looks like a 1950's cartoon.
not a fan. bring back the Brown and bring back originality for once..


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TxPROS Information and Tutorials
The Texas Permitting & Routing Optimization System (TxPROS) is an online permitting and GIS-based mapping system that allows customers to apply for and self issue many permits. It modernizes the routing and permitting of oversize and overweight loads and provides real-time restriction management.
TxPROS allows you to manage your company's account information. You are encouraged to "clean-up" your account in TxPROS when you first access the new system. Please add missing information and update addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. Adding an email address to your account will allow TxDMV to send you important information related to oversize/overweight permits and the motor carrier industry.
Using TxPROS
A username and password is required to log in to TxPROS. Our former Central Permit System (CPS) is retired but you can access TxPROS using your CPS login and password. If you don't have an account set-up, simply click Create a New Company Account on the TxPROS home page.
Need Help with TxPROS?
Routes in TxPROS
Using Via Points to Generate a Route
Selecting an Origin and Destination
Continue Loaded Route After Non-Permitted Travel Feature
Selecting an Origin or Destination When Starting or Stopping on a Non-State Maintained Road
Applying for a Permit in TxPROS
Navigating Through the Permits Panel
How to Add a Note to Your Permit Application
How to Add a Document to Your Application
Using the Copy Feature to Issue Permits
Issuing Multiple Permits in a Single General Permit Application
Paying Weight Fees with a Valid Annual Envelope Permit
Navigating Vehicle and Load Info Page in TxPROS
Empty to Load and Empty Return Routing
Ordering an Annual Timber Permit
Ordering an Intermodal Shipping Container Port Permit
Ordering a North Texas Intermodal Permit
Ordering a Fluid Milk Transport Permit
Additional Steps When Weight Exceeds 200,000 lbs.
Additional Steps When Ordering Annual Mail-Out Permit
Duplicate Permits Detected Screen
Viewing Customer Information in TxPROS
Viewing the Permit Details Page
Viewing Messages and Stats Panels
More Information
TxPROS delivers several benefits to oversize and overweight load permit customers, including the following:
- Increased route safety
- Faster permit issuance
- Self-issue capabilities
- Turn-by-turn directions
Designed in cooperation between TxDMV and the motor carrier industry, TxPROS comes with the following features:
- Permit Wizard - An optional tool to help customers understand which permit may be best for their move. It will make permit recommendations based on answers to a series of questions regarding load type, size and weight.
- Customer Dashboard - This tool will include current permit application status, messages from TxDMV, customer statistics and links to various functions. Functions will include company data, yards, account user set up, vehicle inventory, escrow and report generation.


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I'm currently in the process of moving house (rental) and I'm looking for a broadband/homeline provider. Now as many of you probably know, most ISPs charge a connection fee for phone and another one for broadband. Vodafone website says that it will waive the broadband connection if you sign up for 12 months (which I can cope with, even though I generally don't like fixed contracts - especially since I only have a 6 month lease). But I had a look around and most ISPs do charge a phone connection fee (vodafone charges $52.10, orcon $99) if there is no active phone line at the new address.
What got me excited about vodafone, was I found a page on their website that offered a "movers deal" where they would waive both the broadband AND phone connection fees...for existing customers. So I thought, "hey, surely they would want new customers too". So I gave them a call. http://www.vodafone.co.nz/broadband/moving-home/
Now I've heard some great things about vodafone from family and friends, so I was kind of disappointed when the call center guy told me if that's what it said on the website, than there was nothing he could more he could do for me. I asked if there was any other person that would be able to make that decision and he just gave me a straight no.
When I moved a few years ago, ISPs seemed to be much more flexible to get you to sign you up. And why existing customers are more important than new customers is a bit beyond me.
Have any of you had any luck recently in getting more flexibility with your ISP?


text: Hello there dear visitor, I am, Caroline Milam. For over 25 years I have worked as a portrait and event photographer. Now, however, I shoot images for the sheer joy of photography. Thus the topics of my images are quiet varied. I sincerely hope that you like the images that you find here. Many of them are international award winners. In my humble opinion though, an image is only a true winner if the person that views it loves it. My motto it this "Photography is the art that allows us to capture time and even cheat death"Regards,Caroline Milam


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Haven't found anything yet?
The wallpaper 022318 will highlight your room in an atmospheric way. The wallpapers wooden design with shabby-chic style embodies a natural charm. Because of that, a vivid living ambiance is guaranteed. The products colouration of cream, blue and beige distributes an authentic touch to the wallpaper design. Therefore, the wallpaper gets a realistic plasticity.


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Local Community Resources
By Topic Area or by Cultural Affiliation
Click on a topic area to scroll down to a list of resources:
- Activism
- Alcohol/Substance Use
- Childcare
- Counseling
- Credit/Financial Management
- Crisis Support
- Culturally Oriented Community Resources
- Dental Care
- Disability Related
- Disaster and Traumatic Events
- Eating Disorders
- Financial Assistance
- Food Resources
- Foster Youth
- Grief & Life-Threatening Illness
- Health Insurance
- Health Care
- HIV/AIDS Resources
- Homelessness & Low Income Housing
- Immigration and AB540 Student Resources
- Intimate Partner Violence
- Legal Resources
- Sexual Assault Survivors
- Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Veterans & Active Duty Resources
- Vision Care
Culturally Oriented Community Resources
- African American Community Resources
- Latino/a & Chicano/a Community Resources
- Asian American and Pacific Islander Community Resources
- Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Resources
Alcohol/Substance Use
- Santa Clara County Gateway Referral Hotline (8am-5pm M-F): 1-800-488-9919
- Alcoholics Anonymous of Santa Clara County
- Marijuana Anonymous
- Narcotics Anonymous of Santa Clara County
- The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in the Bay Area
- Voices United- Information and Community Resource Center on Addiction
Childcare Resources
- Choices for Children -Santa Clara County
- Community Childcare Council of Santa Clara County
- SJSU Associated Students Child Development Center- Children 6 mos-6 yrs old
- Third Street Community Center - After School Program
- First 5 Family Resource Centers Santa Clara County- Children ages 1-5
- Fresh Lifelines for Youth- Youth Mentoring
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area- Youth Mentoring
- Our Family Coalition - GLBT Family Support
Counseling Resources- Sliding Scale and Low Fee
- Almaden Valley Counseling Services
- Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County
- Family and Children's Services
- LGBTQ Youth Space - 13-25 year olds
- YWCA Counseling Services
- Alum Rock Counseling - Youth 0-21 years old
- Bill Wilson Center - Santa Clara- Youth up to age 24
- Gronoski Center at Palo Alto University - Los Altos
- Community Center for Health and Wellness - Palo Alto
- Sunnyvale Counseling Center at JFK University
- Mental Health Information for College Students
Credit/Financial Management Resources
- United Way Credit Coaching Program
- Sacred Heart Community Services Asset Building for Independence Program
- Catholic Charities Financial Education Program
Dental Care Resources
- Dental Referral Service: 1-800-498-6752
- UCSF Dental School
- University of the Pacific Dental Services
- Gardner Family Health Center
- Indian Health Center
- Santa Clara County Low Cost Dental Care List
Disability Related Resources
- ACT for Mental Health, Inc. - provides affordable mental health services in the Downtown Counseling Center to help people deal with emotional distress, court orders for assessment or therapy.
- Silicon Valley Independent Living Center, Vocational Services - Provides services for people with disabilities including peer support, independent living skills training, housing search assistance and an assistive technology and device lending library.
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Santa Clara County
- Raising Early Awareness and Creating Hope (REACH)- Early intervention program for signs of acute mental illness, ages 10-25 years
- Department of Rehabilitation
- TransAccess, Inc. - provides persons with disabilities access to adaptive technology and career transition services.
Disasters and Traumatic Events
- American Psychological Association: Tips for recovering from disasters and other traumatic events
- American Psychological Association: Managing your distress in the aftermath of a shooting
- American Psychological Association: Helping your children manage distress in the aftermath of school shootings
Eating Disorders
- Eating Disorders Resource Center
- Cielo House
- La Ventana
- Association of Professionals Treating Eating Disorders
- Center for Discovery- Menlo Park
- New Dawn Treatment Centers - San Francisco
- The Lotus Collaborative - Santa Cruz
Financial Assistance
- Social Security Administration - Provides information on disability, retirement, and survivor protection, and local offices. You may arrange to bring an interpreter for appointments to the location.
- Santa Clara County financial assistance programs - click on "Financial Assistance" in the left navigation column (includes programs for refugees and immigrants)
Food Resources
- Food Connection Hotline: 1-800-984-3663
- Second Harvest Food Bank
- Santa Clara County - Food Stamp Information
- Public Benefits Eligibility & Application Website
- Year Round Hot Meal Sites- Santa Clara County
- Emergency Assistance Network Santa Clara County- Food, PG&E and Rental Assistance Programs
Foster Youth Resources
- The Hub- Community Resource center for foster youth
- Silicon Valley Children's Fund- Funds many programs for foster youth
Grief & Life-Threatening Illness
Health Insurance Resources
- Coverage For All- Website with information about coverage options for everyone
- Covered California- Affordable Care Act Information Website for CA
- Medi-Cal - Contact Information By County
- Santa Clara County Family Health Plans
- Valley Medical Center Financial Assistance Programs
- O'Connor Hospital Health Insurance Assistance Program
Healthcare Related Resources
- Gardner Family Health Network
- Foothill Community Health Center
- Indian Health Center
- Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
- Asian Americans for Community Involvement
- North East Medical Services
- Arbor Free Clinic- Weekly at Stanford in Palo Alto
HIV/AIDS Resources
Homelessness & Low Income Housing Resources
- EHC Life Builders
- InnVision Community Services
- Shelter Network
- Bill Wilson Center - Youth Shelter, ages 11-17
- Santa Clara County Emergency Shelter List
- Santa Clara County Affordable Housing Search- Low income housing search website
- Foreclosure Help Information Santa Clara County
- Emergency Assistance Network Santa Clara County- Food, PG&E and Rental Assistance Programs
Immigration and AB540 Student Resources
- Immigration Relations and Integration Services (IRIS)- citizenship info, bimonthly forums highlighting immigrants, community education, etc.
- SIREN (Services, Immigrant Rights, and Educational Network) - immigrant services including citizenship application assistance.
- Educators for Fair Consideration- Resource center for undocumented students pursuing college, career and citizenship
Intimate Partner Violence Resources
- Next Door Solutions - Support services for all victims of intimate partner violence
- YWCA Support Network for Battered Women
- Maitri- Helps South Asian families facing domestic violence
- Asian Women's Home- Serving primarily Asian-American women and children
Legal Resources
- Bay Area Legal Aide - Santa Clara
- Asian Law Alliance
- Santa Clara County Legal Aid Society
- Health Legal Services
- Mental Health Advocacy Project
- Alexander Law Center - Santa Clara University
- Fair Housing Law Project
- Legal Advocates for Children and Youth
- Senior Adults Legal Assistance
- Pro Bono Project
- Santa Clara County Self-Help Website
Sexual Assault Resources
- YWCA Rape Crisis Center
- Bay Area Women Against Rape
- Rape Trauma Services
- 1 in 6- Resource for male victims
Suicide Prevention and Response Resources
Crisis Hotline Phone#: 1-855-278-4204 (Toll-free - All Santa Clara County)
Phone: (650) 494-8420 (North County - Toll Free)
Phone: (408) 683-2482 (South County - Toll Free)
- After-Hours Advice Nurse for Campus: 1-866-935-6347
- Santa Clara County Suicide Prevention Resources
- Trans Lifeline (877)-565-8860
- The Trevor Project - Crisis Intervention for LGBT Youth
- Santa Clara County Mental Health Department
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Bill Wilson Center - Centre for Living with Dying Support Groups
- Suicide is Preventable- Know the Signs
Traumatic Brain Injury
- Services for Brain Injury
- Traumatic Brain Injury Services of California
- Santa Clara Valley Rehabilitation Research Center for Outcome Measurrment in Brain Injury
Veterans Resources
- Santa Clara County Office of Veteran's Services
- Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership (VITAL) Program at SJSU
- San Jose Vet Center
- SJSU Veteran's Service Organization (VSO)
- California Department of Veteran's Affairs
- VA Palo Alto Healthcare Center
- Make the Connection - Shared experiences and support for veterans
- About Face - National Center for PTSD
- After Deployment - Post Deployment Wellness Resources
- Veterans Moving Forward - Provider of Service Animals
- Swords to Plowshares
Vision Care Resources
- Gardner Family Health Network
- California Vision Foundation
- Sight For Students- Children up to age 18
- Eye Care America
Culturally Oriented Community Resources
African American Community Information
Asian American, Pacific Islander Community Information
Latino/a/Chicano/a Community Information
Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Community Information
- LGBTQ Youth Space- Serving 13-25 year olds
- Gay Library - including welcoming churches in the area
- Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
- Billy DeFrank GLBT Community Center
- Our Family Coalition - GLBT Family Support Resources
- LGBTQ Friendly Colleges & Student Resources
Hotline Phone #: 1-855-278-4204 (Toll-free) (All Santa Clara County)
Phone: (650) 494-8420 ( North County - Toll Free)
Phone: (408) 683-2482 ( South County - Toll Free)
After-Hours Advice Nurse


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Military Parade targeted in Iran's deadliest attack in years
AHVAZ, Iran - In one of the deadliest attacks in the country in years, Iran suffered a bloody assault on Saturday, after a group of gunmen opened fire on a military parade in Ahvaz city.
The attack left 24 people dead, including 12 civilians and 12 members of Iran's powerful security establishment - the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp.
According to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency, gunmen attacked the annual military parade that was being held in Ahvaz city, in the country's oil-rich southwest region.
Iran's State television said that gunmen targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered to watch the annual event, which marks the start of the Islamic Republic's 1980-88 war with Iraq.
Apart from the 24 people killed, state media confirmed that over 60 others were injured in the attack.
In a statement issued on state television, Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesman for Iran's armed forces said, "Three of the terrorists were killed on the spot and a fourth one who was injured died in hospital."
Further, the report in IRNA quoted another senior official as pointing out, "There are a number of non-military victims, including women and children who had come to watch the parade."
The Iranian media broadcast a video that had been distributed by officials, which showed soldiers ducking and crawling on the ground as the gunmen opened fire.
In a report, state television also claimed that Sunni "takfiri terrorists" had carried out the assault.
Further, a spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps initially blamed minority Arab separatists for the bloodshed.
In a statement, the spokesman for the elite forces, Ramezan Sharif accused Iran's regional rival - Saudi Arabia, of funding the militant group that was being blamed for the attack.
Meanwhile, in a statement on Twitter, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif vowed to "respond swiftly and decisively in defense of Iranian lives."
Zarif wrote, "Terrorists recruited, trained, armed & paid by a foreign regime have attacked Ahvaz. Children and journos among casualties. Iran holds regional terror sponsors and their US masters accountable for such attacks."
Subsequently, the Ahwaz-based separatist group called the Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to IRNA, the group is supported by "foreign antagonists," including Saudi Arabia.
The report quoted Gholam-Reza Shariati, the Governor of Khuzestan as saying, "The terrorists disguised as Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and Basiji (volunteer) forces opened fire to the authority and people from behind the stand during the parade."
Further, Deputy Governor of Khuzestan province, Ali Hosein Hoseinzadeh was quoted as saying that the death toll was expected to rise.
Ahvaz, which is right at the centre of the Khuzestan province, has witnessed sporadic protests by the Arab minority in recent months.
However, Saturday's attack were said to be the most high-profile attack in years and a rare one that targetted the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp that have been the sword and shield of Shi'ite clerical rule since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.


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A Naked Painting Party at Hidden Beach Resort in August of 2013 – this would be a new experience for us. The facility, located in the Riviera Maya area of Mexico, is a 42 room Luxury Boutique resort. It caters to couples or singles who appreciate an au naturel option. As the website says, "Hidden Beach Resort is for guests who have nothing to hide. It's designed specifically for nudists, with an intimate size, a secluded location, fun spots for sunning, and a host of nude recreational opportunities."
We had been to Hidden Beach before, but this new special event sounded intriguing. The vast majority of guests at this Luxury Boutique resort prefer to go au naturel - naked. But this does not mean there is any sexual activity around the pool. In fact, any touchy-feely among guests in public is absolutely against the rules.
So what would this Naked Painting Party be all about? I spoke to Sally Golan, Founder and Executive Producer of the avant garde events company Social Exposure prior to the trip. Since Sally was producing the event, she was the go-to person. She has held events like this before, but she explained, they were not with a clientele that usually took it all off. This would be the first at an au naturel resort.
I asked why she selected Hidden Beach as the launch location for her first International Naked Painting Party. "Hidden Beach was brought to my attention via friends who have attended past Naked Painting Parties and since Hidden Beach has such an established name in the au naturel world, I thought it would be cool to bring them some edge and spice up their nightlife programs and make people talk!"
The event was scheduled for a Saturday evening in August. Our arrival on Tuesday gave us ample time to get to know some of the other guests in the informal vacation environment that we were all there to enjoy.
We would be painting each other! You could paint yourself, your partner, or anyone else willing to stand at the other end of your paint brush. It was clear that permission was required.
On Saturday evening, my husband and I arrived at the resort's Moonlight Lounge, a huge open air room which is the center of most evening activities. Many of the guests were already there.
Most of the hotel guests were au naturel except for the paint already applied to their bodies.
Oh, and the most important thing, they all had smiles as in - this is fun. Couples were painting each other. In addition, having become more than anonymous acquaintances during the week, we all make sure that the singles there were being painted or had someone(s) to paint as well.
A professional body painter was there to give some of us a more finished piece of body art, but for the most part it was amateur night. One woman painted shorts on her husband - with the fly down. You'd have to see it to appreciate the artistic merits, but sorry, no photo.
We painted, we admired each other's artwork, and we took a few photos from those willing to have their pictures taken. There is in fact a strict no photos policy at the resort, but people just couldn't help it. They needed proof of their artistic adventures.
There were a few guests who opted not to participate. They had concerns, but after the party they told me they thoroughly enjoyed watching the fun.
Later, I asked Sally for her reaction to how the evening turned out. Her answer was enthusiastic. "Successfully. Every single resort guest came out. That alone says a lot."
I wondered if she thought having it at an au naturel resort made a difference. Sally said that, "It was a lot easier for people to get naked, obviously they are already super comfortable so it felt like any other party. In New York, the events are for the general public and people who come out are certainly not nudists so for them, it's a life changing experience."
I agreed, but asked if there were any surprises for this confident New Yorker. More than anything else, she said, she was pleased that everyone turned out for the party. And the feedback she got from guests, many of who are repeaters, was that this event was one of the best nights they ever had at the resort.
Also on hand for the event was Alejandro P Alegϋe, the Sales Manager for Niche Markets which includes Hidden Beach, one of the Karisma Hotels and Resorts.It was fun to see this young man "get into it". No, he didn't take it all off, but he did tell me that he, "had a great time getting painted and painting fellow guests."
He echoed Sally's feeling that "It went great, everyone had a great time, there was a good synergy in the entire event always accompanied with great vibes and respect to each other." The two agreed that they'd like to repeat the Naked Painting Party at Hidden Beach and are considering the spring and summer of 2014.
Oh, and about those few who chose not to participate. I spoke to them after the event and they told me that while it was fun to watch, they would definitely participate the next time it is done. Who knows, maybe we'll be back there with them.
In addition to the Naked Painting Party, guests enjoy gourmet meals at Hidden Beach and unlimited access to fine dining next door at El Dorado Seaside Resorts. Daily activities include cooking lessons, volleyball games, entertainment in the evenings, and various other programs. Guests may also enjoy activities and entertainment at El Dorado Seaside Suites.
Hidden Beach is also the perfect spot for those who simply want to lounge around the pool, on the beach, in the hammocks, or outside some of the fabulous swim up rooms.
For Sally's photos from the event, visit Social Exposure Media. More information about Hidden Beach can be found at Hidden Beach Resort.


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Category : Essay.
Topic : Buddhism essay. Author : .
Posted : Tue, Jul 28th 2020 14:33 PM.
Format : jpg/jpeg.
Check the punctuation: commas, full stops, question marks etc. Verify if you have made all the necessary paragraphs of your essay. Avoid repetition, try to use synonyms to denote the same words, expressions, phrases etc. It is better if you scan your ready-made essay two or three times before having a final go.


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Early Warnings
Some saw in his Chicago press conference the audacity of pandering to wealthy political backers in the powerful financial industry.
When a reporter asked point blank whether Obama plans to raise taxes on the rich in 2009, the president elect danced away from the question (see below). Suddenly, with his economic brain trust arrayed behind him, his campaign stance of taxing the nation's wealthy was verboten.
Many of the back-up advisers on prominent display were CEOs from the same financial industry that created the current crisis, lobbied for a massive taxpayer bailout and is now reaping the resulting federal windfall.
As Kevin Phillips pointed tonight on Bill Moyers' Journal, an influential amount of Obama's campaign support came from Wall Street. Phillips also noted that there was not a single representative of labor unions among Obama's financial advisers.
Could it be, as Phillips suggested, that Obama is already captive of the non-productive, greed-driven industry of finance?
Has he divorced himself from the very industries that actually produce manufactured goods and employ much of the American work force?
Three days into the presidential transition, has Obama set out on the wrong trail with a posse of self-serving sidekicks?
Stay tuned.
Here is the tax increase question and Obama's answer:
"My tax plan represented a net tax cut. It provided for substantial middle class tax cuts, 95 percent of working Americans would receive them. It also provided for cuts in capital gains for small business, additional tax credits, all of it is designed for job growth. My priority is going to be how do we grow the economy, how do we create more jobs. I think that the plan that we've put forward is the right one, but obviously over the next several weeks and months we're gong to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what's taking place in the economy as a whole. But understand the goal of my plan is to provide tax relief to families that are struggling but also to boost the capacity of the economy to grow from the bottom up. All right. Thank you very much you guys."
Labels: Barack Obama, Bill Moyers, Chicago press conference, Kevin Phillips


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Adan Salazar
November 7, 2012
The world's largest "Frankenfood" companies saw their concerted efforts to deliberately confuse the people of California into voting against their own best interests pay off early Wednesday morning.
Prop 37, California's GMO food labeling state ballot measure was shot down. The measure simply sought to have manufacturers and retailers label foods derived from laboratory manipulated-DNA.
Unabashedly, companies like Monsanto, Bayer, ConAgra, Dupont, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and General Mills flagrantly funded a deluge of radio, TV and web advertisement propaganda intended to befuddle voters. Through tried and true methods of societal manipulation, the "No on Prop. 37" camp successfully infiltrated minds through the media's power of persuasion.
Edward Bernays, the infamous sociologist/public relations guru and arguably the father of modern propaganda, outlined steps for creating a persuasive media campaign in his essay "The Engineering of Consent." He said those seeking to persuade or influence the attitudes and actions of their fellow man must do so by mastering the techniques of communication.
"Freedom of speech and its democratic corollary, a free press, have tacitly expanded our Bill of Rights to include the right of persuasion. This development was an inevitable result of the expansion of the media of free speech and persuasion," Bernays wrote. "All these media provide open doors to the public mind. Any one of us through these media may influence the attitudes and actions of our fellow citizens."
In the 20s, Bernays' conducted his most famous campaign which successfully convinced many women to pick up smoking, a taboo subscribed to during that period of time.
Through a carefully planned, heavily-publicized Easter Sunday Parade in 1929 featuring models smoking Lucky Strike cigarettes, cleverly tagged "torches of freedom," Bernays was able to persuade women that smoking was glamorous and sexy, sending almost an entire demographic to the already-thriving tobacco industry.
In his book Propaganda, Bernays explained how influencing the minds of people through manipulation is an essential part of controlling society. Here's an excerpt from that book:
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."
Prop 37's heavily-funded opposition employed Bernays' deceptive tactics of influence to foment doubt.
They also violated federal law by altering information on an FDA label to garner further support against labeling, a crime, Anthony Gucciardi explains, that would get normal citizens thrown in jail or fined for government impersonation.
Also, it was revealed yesterday that days before the vote was scheduled to take place, fake front groups posing as cops began placing mailers denouncing Proposition 37. Mel Fabrikant, of the Paramus Post, investigated the mailer's origin: "The Cops Voting Guide opposes Prop 37 with a slick mailer that features photos of badges and sirens, but the group has nothing to do with police officers. According to their website, the director of Cops Voting Guide is Kelley Moran, who has "over 20 years of experience working with public safety." His actual profession is political consultant."
These companies' motives are highly questionable, especially given that a recent French study found that mice fed Monsanto's GM corn (grown using their patented herbicide Round-up) began growing tumors, died at an earlier age and developed organ failure and other health problems.
The "No on Prop 37" campaign was funded by the usual biotech giants – in other words, companies whose products are laden with GMO – who shelled out $45 million to the campaign. The "Yes on 37" camp raised only $6.7 million.
All things considered, the vote was kind of close (4,277,985 to 4,835,045) which can be interpreted as a win for the cause of waking people up to the dangers of GMOs.
As Mike Adams, editor of Natural News, wrote, the loss at the ballot box could spur other changes further down the pike and can be seen as a major victory for GMO awareness.
"In many ways, the YES on 37 campaign was a huge victory for awareness. The campaign organized over 10,000 volunteers in California alone and succeeded in achieving a massive social media presence. The YES on 37 campaign also forced Monsanto and the biotech giants to spend $45 million to defeat the measure. That's a record expenditure by the world's largest toxic pesticide companies to try to prevent consumers from knowing what they're buying," wrote Adams.
Darrin McBreen did an expose on Edward Bernays' techniques of media manipulation back in April:
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Kevin Aymeric works at Japanese anime powerhouse Production IG, but prior to that he helped out on Ubisoft's gorgeous Rayman Legends. He got the OK from the publisher to release his artwork from the game earlier in the week, and wondered if we'd like to share it. Um. Yes.
Kevin is just one of the masses of talented folks to have emerged from France's Gobelins art school, some of whose clips we featured on Kotaku only a few weeks ago.
Below is a selection of Kevin's works from not just Rayman, but some other stuff as well. You can see more at his personal site.
To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they're big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the "expand" button in the bottom-right corner.
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!


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A judge again has dismissed a lawsuit against former officials at Twin City Hospital in Dennison that sought at least $15 million in connection with the financial failure of the hospital.
A judge again has dismissed a lawsuit against former officials at Twin City Hospital in Dennison that sought at least $15 million in connection with the financial failure of the hospital.
For the second time, Judge H.F. Inderlied Jr. dismissed the case via summary judgment, without a trial. The retired Geauga County judge was assigned to the case after Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court judges recused themselves because of potential conflicts.
In September, the 5th District Court of Appeals reversed an October 2012 decision by Inderlied and remanded it to him to reconsider if a trial should go forward, based on the definition of "reckless" by an Ohio Supreme Court ruling in a different case soon after Inderlied's decision.
That ruling characterized reckless conduct as "the conscious disregard of or indifference to a known or obvious risk of harm to another that is unreasonable under the circumstances." That conduct also is "substantially greater than negligent conduct."
Determining if the officials were reckless is the key to the case. If they were, they could be found personally financially responsible for some of the outstanding debt to creditors. The officials were bonded by an insurance company, but there is a limit to what the company would pay, including the mounting legal fees.
Attorney David Dingwell, one of four representing the officials, said that Inderlied's latest "ruling reaffirms the protections granted by law to volunteer board members of nonprofit organizations, such as these individuals. They donated tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to help this project because they believed in it. They invested time and money to try to enrich and improve a community institution. To be second guessed as a result of the effects of the Great Recession was frustrating for all of them. However, this decision vindicates all of their hard work, dedication and efforts to save a community resource like Twin City Hospital."
In the lawsuit filed May 22, 2012, attorneys claimed that the former hospital officials failed to conduct a financial feasibility study prior to approving an expansion project. Defense attorneys dispute that claim.
The former officials — board members and hospital executives — filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit without a trial, claiming that there was no evidence that they violated their statutory obligations.
The suit claimed that they approved a 30-year bond transaction for the expansion project without conducting the financial study. The hospital later filed for bankruptcy, with about $23 million in outstanding creditor claims, and was sold in 2011. It now is operating as Trinity Hospital Twin City. The bankruptcy trustee's lawsuit sought money to pay creditors.
Earlier this month, Inderlied ruled that if the case went to trial, the bankruptcy trustee "would have to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, that (the hospital officials) acted against the best interests of Twin City with a conscious disregard of, or indifference to, a known or obvious risk of harm" to the hospital.
He concluded "that it appears from the evidence that reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion when viewing the evidence most strongly in favor of (the trustee), and that conclusion is adverse to" the trustee's allegations.
Attorney Jonathan Yarger filed the lawsuit on behalf of bankruptcy Trustee Mark D. Kozel.
"I appreciate that Judge Inderlied obviously spent a lot of time and effort reviewing the evidence and all the materials that we submitted," Yarger said Wednesday. "I have a huge amount of respect for the judge, but we simply disagree with him about whether or not a jury should decide whether the conduct was reckless, or whether the case can be thrown out at this early stage. We feel pretty strongly that this case should be decided by a jury."
Yarger said he will recommend appealing the ruling.
Edmond J. Mack, another attorney representing the former hospital officials, said, "These board members approved the hospital expansion only after serious, deliberate consideration. They had input and advice from several financial and hospital project experts. They also received overwhelming community support for the project."
Mack said, "The case centers on whether the bankruptcy trustee had sufficient evidence to overcome the protections granted by law to the board members of non-profit organizations. Judge Inderlied authored a well-reasoned, 18-page decision that fully analyzed the issues.
"After taking into consideration the changes in the law, the judge ruled that if the case were to go to trial then the trustee would have to prove that the former board members acted against the best interests of the hospital with a disregard to an obvious risk of harm to the hospital. He ruled that reasonable minds can come but to one conclusion – that the bankruptcy trustee would not be able to prevail at trial."
Mack also contends that if the case is appealed, "we fully expect that Judge Inderlied's decision will be affirmed."
Previously, Inderlied had granted the officials' request for summary judgment to dismiss the case citing there wasn't any clear and convincing evidence "that any defendant was conscious that board approval of the bond transaction would, in all probability, result in the failure of Twin City Hospital."
The lawsuit alleged breach of duty, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, reckless conduct and misrepresentation when in August 2007 the board approved authorizing issuing about $17.3 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds for the hospital's expansion project.
Initially filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Canton, the lawsuit was refiled in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court in New Philadelphia after the bankruptcy judge declined jurisdiction.
The former board members or hospital executives named in the lawsuit are Gregg Andrews, Fred Bollon, Greg DiDonato, Carol Hoffman, Marge Jentes, Dr. Tim McKnight, Darrell Pancher, Rod Rafael, Doug Ross, John Rypien, Bill Surber and Jim Weaver.
Jentes is the former chief executive officer of the hospital, and McKnight was head of its physicians group. Rafael was president of the board of trustees, and Bollon served as its secretary and treasurer.
Defending the former hospital officials are attorneys Dingwell, Mack, Joshua E. O'Farrell and Lee E. Plakas of the Canton firm of Tzangas, Plakas, Mannos Ltd.
Yarger and two other attorneys representing the bankruptcy trustee are with the firm of Yarger Radel & Pentz LLC in Cleveland.


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Fall is a glorious time to visit the Garden! Not only are the annuals, perennials, vines, trees, and shrubs at the peak of their growth, but each individual garden has been planted with extra horticultural "wows," enhancing plants that are still in bloom. Don't miss this cool-season tribute to fall color!
Welcoming beds at the Lake Cook Entrance and Gatehouse feature asters highlighted by bronze daisy mums. The overhead hayrack on the Greene Bridge, a fall Garden tradition, will be filled in October with Vernal Falls, a cascading bronze mum. Stone walls on Malott Japanese Garden feature cascading white Snowfall mums and yellow Megumi mums, both anemone types.
Heritage Garden contains 27 large mum ball containers featuring Atomic Orange and Babylon Bronze, accented with trailing silver licorice plants. Framing the Esplanade waterfront are 34 mum ball containers with Castor Yellow, Flamingo Pineapple, Harvest Bronze, Stellar Red, and Maia Coral mums. More than 2,300 cuttings were used to create this display.
Under the elm trees sit 48 mum ball containers created with 2,500 plants of Emberglow Orange. "The mum balls are always a spectacular show," said Tim Pollak, outdoor floriculturist for the Garden. "It is a treat to see the large containers of autumn colors, especially when the leaves of the Elm trees turn yellow."
The Circle Garden has been enhanced with mums, asters, cabbage, and kale, while the Crescent shines with 1,380 red, yellow, and orange mums. The randomly planted varieties include Tabitha, Bedazzled Bronze, and Olga Yellow mums.
In the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden, 1,300 colorful Swiss chard plants include Flamingo Pink, Northern Lights, Orange Fantasia, Argentata, Five Color Silverbeet, and Rhubarb Red. Also, look for Redbor kale, Bronze Giant chrysanthemum, and Red Giant mustard. The entry beds herald the cool-season with Megaton cabbage under-planted with 1,300 plants of fragrant, Clear Crystal White sweet alyssum. Hanging baskets have been refreshed with pansies and kale.
The Bulb Garden holds surprises for all. New plantings feature red Minngopher chrysanthemums and Orange Duet violas tinged with purple and orange.
Evening Island's sweeping strokes of tone and texture can be admired from across the Great Basin or by walking right through the plants themselves. Grasses, roses, fall-blooming perennials with flowers, cones, seed heads, plants with giant foliage, blue asters, and bluebeards form rivers of color in constant motion when autumn winds blow.
There is no garden or natural area more at its peak in October than the Dixon Prairie. Save time for a special autumn walk through time and history in this natural landscape.
Experience thousands of golden moments this season!


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Mining Fresh Water for Aquaculture
by Carl Hoffman
It is a remarkable journey by any measure: The five-millimeter-long fish wiggling in a West Virginia hatchery came from eggs spawned in the icy clear waters of Canada's Yukon Territory. The waters they hatched into were also cool and clear—and they came from a Mingo County coal mine. Cool, clear waters from a coal mine? "We aerate the water," says Tina Savage, manager of the Mingo County Fish Hatchery. "It flows from the coal mine by gravity to the incubator and the tanks. We hardly even use any electricity."
Opened in June 2000, and owned by the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, the hatchery mates an abundant yet underused West Virginia resource—coal-mine water discharge—with one of the fastest-growing segments of the world economy: the aquaculture industry. "The United States is the number-two seafood market in the world, and only number ten in aquaculture [production]," says Joseph Hankins, program director of the Shepherdstown, West Virginia–based Freshwater Institute. "Our seafood trade deficit is $6.5 billion, second only to petroleum in terms of natural goods. We're looking at one of the greatest marketing opportunities ever."
It's a marketing opportunity Appalachia, abetted by the Freshwater Institute and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), hopes to cash in on. "We've been totally dependent on coal," says Mike Whitt, executive director of the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority, "and we've got to find new jobs and a new tax base if we're going to continue to live here."
Dedicated to the conservation and efficient use of water resources, the nonprofit Freshwater Institute, launched by the Conservation Fund, conducts research and develops programs in such areas as the cleaning of mine water discharge, rural wastewater treatment, and energy-and water-efficient commercial-scale aquaculture, all from its 100-acre farm and research facility in Shepherdstown. Other programs include aquaculture outreach and training for businesses, researchers, and communities; a high school aquaculture education program with learning labs in West Virginia and Alabama; and an investment fund to help fuel sustainable natural-resource-based enterprises in West Virginia's economically distressed counties.
But it is the research and development—and then transfer into the business community—of efficient aquaculture systems ideally suited to West Virginia and its Appalachian neighbors for which the institute is best known. "On our staff of about 35 we've got everything from engineers to veterinarians to microbiologists to specialty fabricators, and most of what they do is related to aquaculture," Hankins says.
Cutting-Edge Research
Indeed, though fish farming may be a potential marketing bonanza, there is nothing simple about doing it consistently on a commercial scale. Thousands of fish in a small area require vast amounts of fresh water and energy, can pollute equally vast amounts of water, and are susceptible to disease. And growing the meatiest fish in the least amount of time is a complex genetic and biological puzzle.
In the simplest traditional aquaculture systems, like those used on giant catfish farms in Alabama and Mississippi, thousands of fish swim in open, warm-water ponds. Lots of water goes into the ponds, and lots of waste comes out, a process that is neither particularly efficient nor evironmentally friendly. Trout, commonly farmed cold-water fish, are often farmed in raceways built adjacent to fast-running streams. But not only can the water flow of natural streams vary considerably, there is also the problem of waste discharge into an otherwise pristine stream.
But in the Freshwater Institute's biologically secure indoor research laboratory, about 48,000 arctic char swim in three fiberglass tanks, each 12 feet in diameter. A tangle of pipes snake around and under the tanks, and the sound of running water is omnipresent as engineers and scientists work. The facility being tested uses cutting-edge technology, and it's perfect for places like West Virginia, which is close to the huge East Coast seafood market but lacks the warm water and large open spaces typical of southern fish farms.
The arctic char being researched live in relatively small indoor tanks in an environment free from outside pathogens and predators. Only a small amount of new water flows into the system; most is recirculated after being separated from fish excrement and excess food. The process cuts down on the amount of water used even as it reduces the treatment costs and quantity of effluent being released. Ultrasound transponders measure the amount of uneaten food in the water, precisely regulating the amount of food fed to the fish, reducing waste in the water, and growing the fish more efficiently. And the whole research facility is on a commercial scale.
"The Freshwater Institute is one of few places," says Michael Timmons, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Cornell University, "that does indoor water-recirculating research on a commercial scale."
Most important of all, though, to farm fish, you need plenty of water. West Virginia and most of Appalachia have water in abundance, from an unusual source: coal mines. In 1994, with a grant from ARC, the institute undertook a study to examine the possibility of using mine water discharge for aquaculture.
Every time a coal mine is drilled, water floods in. While some of that water discharge is highly acidic, especially in the northern part of West Virginia, billions of gallons, largely in the southern part of the state, are clear, drinkable, free of pathogens, and perfectly chilled to suit the needs of high-value cold-water fish. And because of Environmental Protection Agency reporting requirements, each mine already has a long and detailed water history. The institute's 1994 study estimated that using 60 percent of suitable mine water discharge for aquaculture could generate 569 jobs and $32 million over ten years, with the majority of jobs being created in the communities hardest hit by the decline of the coal industry.
Half a Million Fish a Year
The Mingo County Fish Hatchery, one of the institute's biggest projects yet, was undertaken as a result of that study and ongoing research into efficient aquaculture systems. Using water from an abandoned section of an active coal mine, a water system designed by the Freshwater Institute, and a hatchery manager trained by the institute (with the help of an ARC grant), the Mingo County Redevelopment Authority built an arctic char hatchery designed to hatch over half a million fish a year. After growing five to seven inches long, the char will be transferred to grow-out farms (again, designed by the institute) owned and operated by West Virginia Aqua, a private consortium of local mining and land companies hoping to hit it big in fish farming.
"We're always looking for ways to diversify away from traditional mining," says Greg Wooten, vice president and chief engineer of Dingess-Rum Properties, a landholding company and one of the two main partners of West Virginia Aqua, "and we believe the potential is unlimited. We've studied the aquaculture industry and think we can make money. We see several grow-out facilities supplied from the hatchery and using the extensive sources of excellent mine water throughout southwest West Virginia. If we're successful this will be an important part of the economy in the state, especially because we're positioned close to such a large population. We've invested well in excess of $1 million, and the institute has helped us every step of the way."
Says Mingo County's Mike Whitt: "Ultimately we'd like to see grow-out farms throughout the neighboring counties, employing 100 people or so."
The Freshwater Institute isn't just concerned with cold-water arctic char or big operations like Mingo County's, however. Its demonstration projects, technologies, and expertise are fueling commercial fish farms throughout the Appalachian Region. In New York, the institute helped Cornell Professor Michael Timmons design a filtration system for Fingerlakes Aquaculture, a tilapia farm he founded in 1996. Fingerlakes now has the capacity to produce one million pounds of tilapia a year and employs about ten people.
In Pocahontas County, West Virginia, the institute is helping entrepreneur Michael Williams create a small yellow-perch hatchery. "There's a 100-million-pound demand for yellow perch and just a 17-million-pound harvest, so there's an incredible market," says Williams, a retired gemologist who is planning to export fish he raises in a high-tech recirculating system designed by the institute. The trouble, as Williams readily admits, is that "raising fish isn't easy, and there are all sorts of complicated issues. But I feel like I have a big brother up there in Shepherdstown. I've been up there, they've been down here, and any time I have a problem they tell me what I can do to fix it."
And on a farm in Tallmansville, West Virginia, the institute helped Donnie Tenney create the ultimate in aquaculture efficiency. The warm water in which Tenney's tilapia swim and grow is pumped from the fish tanks to beds nurturing basil, rosemary, and cucumber, then drained, filtered, and recirculated to the tilapia. The hybrid aquaculture-hydroponics system, dubbed aquaponics, uses pumps, aerators, greenhouse lights, and fans all powered by natural gas from an abandoned gas well. "Having such a low-cost energy source makes Tenney much more profitable and competitive," says the Freshwater Institute's Hankins. He pauses, surveying the thousands of arctic char swimming far from their natural home in the institute's laboratory. "Technology transfer," he says, "that's our goal."
Carl Hoffman is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.


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Gafas de sol MARC JACOBS SEÑORA MARC321S 09Q HA
Color: BROWN
Tamaño: 57
Tamaño Puente: 15
Polarizada: N
Descripción de la lente: BRWN SF
Hombre / Mujer: SEÑORA
Material: OPTYL
Descripción de la forma: REDONDO / OVALADO
Gafas de sol CARRERA UNISEX CARRERA1004S 2M2 W6
Gafas de sol CARRERA CABALLERO CAFLAGTOPII 003 2K
Gafas de sol CARRERA UNISEX CARRERA1004S 2IK HA
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Welcome to our third Facebook Friday extravaganza! We We We So Excited, it's Friday!
Hopefully you heard that Legit Reviews has started a new promotion called Facebook Friday here on the Legit Reviews fan page. What is it? Well, every Friday we are going to announce a product that we will be giving away on Monday morning. We try to keep the weekends light around here, so this will give our fans something to talk about over the weekend. Legit Reviews has always striven to be a simple site and we are going to keep this contest simple also. To enter just share this note and comment on it. Since this is a holiday weekend we will be holding the drawing on Tuesday morning, where we will pick a name at random and announce the winner. Yes, it is just that simple. Remember, if you don't share the note you won't be able to win. If your wall is private we'll add you as a friend and if you didn't share the post then we'll have to pick a new name.
This week the sponsor for our weekly promotion is Cooler Master and they have donated a very nice enthusiast PC Case as a prize that goes by the model name Storm Enforcer! This is a super nice $89.99 case that you can find out more about here - http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product ... ct_id=3038. Be sure to give them some love on Facebook too if you'd like - http://www.facebook.com/coolermaster
Cooler Master will ship the Enforcer case to the winner and will ship the board to any address in North America. If you live in a country outside the North America maybe you can ship the board to a friend or family member located in North America and then have them ship it to your country. As always you will be responsible for any customs fees, taxes or any other charge associated with your local rules and regulations. This contest is also void and null in locations that do not allow such things to take place. We always get people upset that it's not open to other countries, but please remember we are located in the US and are working with US companies to get the prizes.
Be sure to let us know what you think of this new promotion when you comment to enter the contest. Also be sure to check out the CM site by following the link given above to give them some love for donating a gaming case for our followers!
Facebook Friday - Cooler Master Storm Enforcer PC Case
A place for us to say thank you to our community by offering hardware contests! This is the place to be to check out and sign up for contests that Legit Reviews holds. If you don't like the prizes or how the contests are being run just don't enter and wait till the next contest!
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The Internet Watch Foundation's (IWF) Annual Report reveals an apparent fall of nearly 10 per cent in the number of international websites hosting child sexual abuse content.
The report is slightly less forthcoming about the IWF's own little local difficulties with Wikipedia back in December, and the recipe it puts forward for best practice in this area may not receive universal acclaim. Overall, though, they are justifiably pleased with the results of their work over the last year.
The IWF was set up by the Internet Service Providers Association to monitor and take action in respect of certain types of criminal content available on the web. Its primary focus – and the area in which most of its work is done - is in child abuse imagery. However, it also keeps a watch on material deemed to be criminally obscene or racially abusive.
It runs a hotline that records complaints from the public. Where material falling into any of the above categories is found to be hosted in the UK, the matter is referred to the police for further investigation and possible action. Thus, a complaint to the IWF about a gruesome story featuring the pop group Girls Aloud will later this year give the UK its first prosecution for obscenity in respect of purely written material in over a decade.
Where material is hosted abroad, the IWF acts only in respect of child porn, assessing the seriousness of the image, and where it deems it necessary, adding the URL for the page containing the image to its blocklist. Use of this blocklist is currently voluntary, with close to 97 per cent of UK ISPs taking it. The Government is looking at whether it needs to legislate to make it compulsory for UK-based ISPs.
According to the IWF, in 2008:
• It issued 59 notices, in partnership with UK police forces, to UK internet service providers or host companies to take down potentially illegal content hosted on UK networks
• It provided specific data and intelligence to 22 police forces and agencies throughout the UK in support of potential prosecutions
• There was a three per cent decrease in reports processed by IWF Hotline, to approximately 34,000
• There was a nine per cent decrease since 2007 and a 21 per cent decrease since 2006, in the number of domains confirmed to contain indecent images of children (1,536).
The report also highlights the fact that 74 per cent of child sexual abuse domains traced by IWF are commercial operations selling indecent images of children, and 75 per cent of these (some 850 unique domains) are registered with just 10 domain name registries.
Some critics have argued that one effect of the focus on websites is simply to push illicit activity on to private networks and P2P. A spokeswoman for the IWF explained that such matters were beyond the IWF's remit.
"In such cases, there is an offender on either end of the connection and therefore this is wholly a matter for the police," she said. "Our primary concern alongside reducing the availability of indecent material, is to reduce the likelihood of individuals stumbling across it by accident. In this we are succeeding."
On its run-in with Wikipedia, the IWF report is broadly open in its description of what happened, classifying the outcome as a learning experience. Whilst there is no mention of the furore that followed, there are some hints that the IWF has taken the lesson on board, with a commitment to addressing the issues raised in the year ahead.
Last but by no means least is the IWF's suggested best practice model in this area. No surprises to find that their recommendations include "Public/private partnership involving service providers working through a system of self-regulation".
What this suggestion neatly ducks is a debate going on in a number of EU states right now about the proper legal footing for the sort of approach taken by the IWF. In Germany, for instance, while all are agreed on the need to restrict the flow of indecent imagery of children, there appears to be a wide gap between those who see speed as being of the essence, and those who feel that some degree of judicial oversight – possibly after the event – needs to be inserted into the process. ®


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La-Tee-Da! White Satin Fragrance Effusion Lamp
Effusion lamps are beautiful works of art! This lamp style is uniquely handcrafted by glass artisans, each vessel is individually mouth blown and no two are alike. Small bubbles and abnormalities add uniqueness to each piece.
The lamp, when lit, operates without an open flame. It destroys malodors from cooking, pets, or smoking and releases wonderful fragrance into the air. It can travel around an average size home in no time at all. Try putting a lamp in your car after a long trip to eliminate travelling smells such as fast food, teenagers, and dogs!
This lamp is packaged in a gift box and includes a wick & burner assembly, funnel, decorative crown, solid snuffer cap, and printed instructions.
Fragrances can easily be changed to fit your mood or the season. Fragrance is not included, but can be purchased here on our online store!


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About Us
Vacations To Go is a bonded and fully accredited travel agency, and a member in good standing of the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), the International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) and the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA).
Vacations To Go is America's clearinghouse for deeply discounted cruises. Since our founding in 1984, we have provided more than four million savvy shoppers with a dream vacation at a fraction of the regular price.
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