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You know it's bad when Mike Littwin of the Denver Post is giving the Democrats hell. On May 30, Littwin asked, "Was he [Andrew Romanoff], in fact, offered a job by the Obama administration to try to keep him out of a primary race with [U.S. Senator] Michael Bennet?" At the time, the Romanoff camp had no comment. (Romanoff is in fact running against Bennet.)
What a difference a little Associated Press story makes. In a June 2 story, the AP cited an anonymous source claiming that the Obama administration had indeed offered a potential job to Romanoff. Just a few hours later Romanoff issued his own statement on the matter (prompting the AP to update its story).
The Post links to the email from Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Messina that Romanoff released. (See also the story from 9News and the Coloradoan.)
Here is Romanoff's own statement, as released by Roy Teicher:
For immediate release:
Today, U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff issued the following statement:
I have received a large number of press inquiries concerning the role the White House is reported to have played in my decision to run for the U.S. Senate. I have declined comment because I did not want – and do not want – to politicize this matter.
A great deal of misinformation has filled the void in the meantime. That does not serve the public interest or any useful purpose.
Here are the facts:
In September 2009, shortly after the news media first reported my plans to run for the Senate, I received a call from Jim Messina, the President's deputy chief of staff. Mr. Messina informed me that the White House would support Sen. Bennet. I informed Mr. Messina that I had made my decision to run.
Mr. Messina also suggested three positions that might be available to me were I not pursuing the Senate race. He added that he could not guarantee my appointment to any of these positions. At no time was I promised a job, nor did I request Mr. Messina's assistance in obtaining one.
Later that day, I received an email from Mr. Messina containing descriptions of three positions (email attached). I left him a voicemail informing him that I would not change course.
I have not spoken with Mr. Messina, nor have I discussed this matter with anyone else in the White House, since then.
About Andrew Romanoff:
Elected to four terms in the Colorado legislature, Andrew Romanoff was Speaker of the House from 2005 to 2009. He led the Democrats to their first back-to-back majorities in more than 40 years. His leadership earned national recognition, including Governing magazine's top honor as Public Official of the Year.
Or, to put the matter more bluntly, the White House bribed Romanoff to drop out of the Senate race.
What is the political fallout from this? Though Romanoff is blameless in the matter — other than hiding the facts until he had been smoked out by the AP — I think this probably sinks his campaign. He is now hopelessly tainted by Obama's slimy politics. And now it seems like he was trying to hide the facts from the voters until he could no longer contain those facts.
And that is truly unfortunate for the Democratic Party, not only in Colorado but nationally. I simply do not know what Governor Bill Ritter was thinking, repeatedly shafting the most able and intelligent Democratic politician in the state. (It was Ritter who not only foolishly appointed Bennet to the Senate, but locked Romanoff out of the Secretary of State position in order to promote a no-account loser from Mesa County.) Democratic leaders all but destroyed Andrew Romanoff's political career — and in the process they probably also destroyed their chances to hold on to the Senate seat.
Obviously this affair further undermines the credibility of the Obama administration. Somehow, I don't think many Coloradans will appreciate the Obama administration offering up tax-subsidized positions to interfere with Colorado politics. It turns out that we don't need Obama's "help" to select a Senator to represent us in Congress. Last time I checked, Illinois already has two Senators of its own.
Perhaps the biggest loser in all of this, however, is Senator Bennet. Who can now argue that he is not thoroughly Obama's (shall we say for sake of politeness) man? This affair may take Romanoff out of the race, but I suspect it will also irreparably damage Bennet's chances. If I were either of the Republican candidates preparing to face Bennet, I'd be salivating over this story. I didn't think Bennet had a chance before this broke; now I think he's totally sunk. (It would be ironic if Democratic primary voters agreed with my assessment and for that reason went with Romanoff, after all.)
That is, the Democrats are sunk unless the Republican candidate runs such a disastrous campaign that even Bennet looks good by comparison. If the Republican candidates keep chaining anchors like Amendment 62 around their necks, they could sink themselves faster than Obama is sinking Bennet.
It remains an interesting political year. Many of us can only clench our jaws and wonder what's next.
June 3 Update: As the Denver Post reports, some Republicans are calling for a formal probe of the matter. I don't know the legalities of the issue well enough to know whether that conceivably could be warranted, but offhand it strikes me as Republican posturing.
There is another issue that strikes me as more interesting. The White House Press Secretary points out that "Romanoff applied for a position at USAID during the Presidential transition." While this detail does not change the essentials of the issue, it does make Romanoff look even worse, as he neglected to mention the fact in his own statement. The Post carries the full statement:
June 3, 2010
Andrew Romanoff applied for a position at USAID during the Presidential transition. He filed this application through the Transition on-line process. After the new administration took office, he followed up by phone with White House personnel.
Jim Messina called and emailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the US Senate. Months earlier, the President had endorsed Senator Michael Bennet for the Colorado seat, and Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters.
But Romanoff said that he was committed to the Senate race and no longer interested in working for the Administration, and that ended the discussion. As Mr. Romanoff has stated, there was no offer of a job.


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Nigerian rising gospel singer Samuel John Akor, popularly known as Sammy J has just released a lovely song you will love to add to your playlist title "It Is You".
"It Is You" is a worship song that talks about God and His wonderful act, a song gotten by the leading of the Holy Spirit to worship God in His magnificence, telling and expressing the power of God and the wonders attached to His name, it's a song produced to connect everyone to God via worship and blessing the soul of man via a true heart of worship.
Samuel John Akor, popularly known asSammy j, is a gospel artist whom according to him never believed would have anything to do with music until the call for it came. He began his musical career in the Philippines after which he came back to his mother land "Nigeria" in pursuit of his musical career, working very hard to make a positive impact to people and becoming a blessing to everyone via his music spreading God's very nature via his ministry. In process of his glorious pursuit, he came up with this awesome worship, touching song "It Is You" via the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

subset: commoncrawl


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Neaktuální pracovní nabídka
Graphics / Rendering Programmer pro 2K Czech
HPP | Praha | 6.2.2016
For our team we are looking for a talented and reliable colleague for a graphics/rendering programmer position to work with us on our AAA projects.
This position offers also a unique opportunity to cooperate with other programmers and creators and an opportunity to support their efforts to achieve super-realistic gaming experience at the very edge of possibilities of our target platforms (PC, Xbox, and PS).
- Design and write code that fulfills the functional, graphical and technical requirements of the project.
- Provide the Lead Programmer with feedback regarding the time allotted to assigned tasks.
- Assist the artists with the creation of cutting edge environments and effects within technical requirements.
- Work with proprietary existing software technology and build new technology in order to fulfill the project's technical requirements.
- Research coding techniques and algorithms in order to keep current on technological developments and advancements in the game industry.
- Identify technical and developmental risks/obstacles and generate solutions to overcome identified risks.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related discipline.
- 3+ years of programming experience on graphics programming.
- Experience developing for games; preferably: action, FPS or 3PS titles.
- Expert knowledge of real time rendering techniques in relation to lighting and visual effects.
- Experience with multi-processor programming.
- Experience developing for game consoles.
- Experience working on multi-platform software projects.
- Expertise in C/C++
- Thorough understanding of 3D math.
- Commitment to code quality, documentation and sound testing procedures.
- Ability to research, analyze and optimize code to meet performance requirements.
- Ability to learn and master new technologies and code.
- Ability to work independently and efficiently under reasonable deadlines.
Our Offer
- Attractive work on globally famous AAA games in a successful company for one of the biggest publishers
- Access to the most up-to-date SW/HW and technologies/p>
- Flexible working hours
- Games and consoles to borrow
- Employee benefits (meal vouchers, sick days, background)
- Company events for the employees
If you are interested in this job opportunity, send us please your CV in English, a short letter of motivation also in English with an explanation why you are interested in this particular job, and mainly do not forget to send examples of your work.
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Gallery: the birds of St James's Park
London is blessed with many parks and green spaces and every Londoner has a favourite. Mine is St James's Park. I love it for its views, its sense of history, its beautiful lake, and for its birdlife. The park was originally created by King James I who had the marshland here drained to create a park for his palace at Whitehall, where he kept a collection of exotic animals including camels, crocodiles and even an elephant
Gallery: a Grey Heron at Osterley Park (and friends)
The elegant Georgian house at Osterley Park was once home to the wealthy banking family, the Childs. Queen Elizabeth I visited the manor house that once stood on this site, and the present house, designed by Robert Adam, has seen many other wealthy and important visitors over the years. The view of the house from the far side of the large lake is particularly pretty, even on the November day when we last visited.
Bird weekly #52: birds with long tail feathers
Wow, so Lisa has entrusted me as guest host for this week's Bird Weekly Challenge! It's an honour, but also a somewhat daunting task. Unlike Lisa I'm no expert bird-watcher; I just like seeing them and trying to photograph them. And while I like to know the name of a species, the main interest for me is the challenge of trying to photograph something so elusive, so constantly mobile, as many birds are.
Gallery: owl portraits, striped and speckled
Owls are hunters, birds of prey. And like all birds of prey they pursue other animals for food, something that not everyone is comfortable with. But they are also very beautiful, with delicate markings on their feathers – spots and stripes that frame their faces, adorn their wings and bodies. They are among my favourite birds.
Gallery: playing with a selective colour technique
Lisa has set an unusual challenge, the selective colour editing of photos. It's one that really attracted me to have a go. I love fiddling with my photos, as regular readers will know (I call it editing but really it's quite often just fiddling!) So the idea of removing much of the colour in an image to leave just a splash appealed to me.
Gallery: meet Steven the Seagull and some friends
Not many gulls are as famous as Steven. Said to be Estonia's most photographed seagull, he lives in Tallinn and is often seen on the viewing platform overlooking the Lower Town. He has featured in hundreds of tourist photos and became so famous that in 2016 he got his own Instagram account.
Blue feet, red feet, any coloured feet …
There are several species indelibly linked in the mind with the Galápagos Islands, and one of these is certainly the blue-footed booby. The distinctive feet that give it its name, almost turquoise in colour, really are as bright and bizarre-looking as they seem in the photos!
Gallery: Bald Eagles, American Robins and more
We travel to see things we cannot see at home: different cultures, different landscapes, different wildlife. It's easy to think that because we share a common language, Britons visiting the US might find it too much like home. But I've never found it so.
Gallery: the flamingos of the Salar de Atacama
The only way to properly appreciate the vastness of Chile's Salar de Atacama would be to fly over it; but a visit at ground level offers a spectacular sight of the varied colours of this unworldly landscape. Before you visit the Atacama you will no doubt read or be told that it is the driest non-polar desert in the world, with no significant rainfall for 400 years. It is surprising then to arrive at the Laguna Chaxa and see so much water!
Gallery: discovering birdlife in Bushy Park
London's eight Royal Parks comprise areas of land that was originally owned by the monarchy and used by them for recreation, mostly hunting, of the royal family. Today the parks are all freely open to the public and are one of the delights of London. Bushy Park is one of them, less famous perhaps than its city centre cousins such as Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens, but with lots to offer those who visit.


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H/t reader squodgy:
"Geoffrey Smith. How he has carried out his one man campaign against Monsatan's unsafe products is so admirable. He now has a growing army, of supporters, followers and qualifying scientists.
His organisation is called The Institute for Responsible Technology."
* * *
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Do you have an inordinate amount of dust and dander moving through your indoor air? Do you want to make certain that you're breathing clean air in the home? Are you frustrated by increased allergies when indoors? The modern home is built for energy efficiency rather than natural ventilation. While this vastly improves our energy bill, it can often leave something to be desired when it comes to indoor air quality. You may need to consider upgrading your furnace, central air unit or heat pump with a whole house air purifier. At D'Spain Sales and Service, we offer a number of different air purifiers for installation in your home, including the very best from leading manufacturers in the industry, such as the REME Halo. Learn more about the germ-killing power of the REME Halo air purifier here.
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For a MONTH!?
Oh, the shame. (I'd like to think that the sheer quantities of spam I had to slog through when I got back was sufficient penance, though.) We've been keeping busy, let me tell YOU…
With summer finally really here (aside from the perpetual rain, of course) we've been taking advantage and enjoying the great outdoors. I've rarely seen an 'outdoors' so beautiful as the landscape here – I feel like I've said that a thousand times, but it's true – and so we enjoy getting out in it.
Of course, that's not all I've done over the last few weeks; we'll see what I can dig up to show off over the next few days.


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Digital Health – from Hope, Hype, and Halt to Hope, Heal and Health
Tech revolution: First, the world was changed by the invention of wheel. The second invention that matched the magnitude of impact of wheel is the electricity. The concept of electricity has existed for over 2,000 years, but its commercial supply for civilian use began in late nineteenth century. The adoption of electricity has been very steady since then and before the World War II, whole North America and Europe had access to electricity. The third invention in the league of wheel is the internet connectivity. Post World-War II, the world realized the need of effective flow of information.
Internet has revolutionised the human civilization beyond the expectations of subject matter experts. The most significant contribution of internet is making the world flat. Internet has uncovered the change that is possible through the power of human interaction. Many industries have reaped the benefits of connected global markets through blockbuster products and borderless territories. The wheel, electricity, and internet form the backbone of the present-day infrastructure. The technology means productive man-hours, higher revenues, and targeted customer acquisition and convergence across sectors.
Henry Ford used a combination of wheels and electricity to develop the assembly line concept. These assembly lines made cars so affordable, that it changed the way we commute today. Banks use cash counting machines, which are again a precise combination of wheels and electricity. These machines have saved millions of hours of human effort by making our cashiers more productive. Interestingly, internet and global market places are making cash redundant, another seismic shift. Cellular phones have made inter-human connectivity a fundamental service. Human behaviour has evolved significantly by the fact that we are connected to everyone, every time, everywhere. The role of technology is so ingrained in our lives, that any deviation from it is unimaginable. Every industry and sector has been revolutionized by the technology. The dependency of organizations on technology has reached to a point where the survival and competitive advantage of organizations depends upon technology.
In 1950s, when the world was recovering from world wars, the digital technology was endeavouring to jump out of innovation labs into the real business world. Automation of simple and repetitive human jobs was the lowest hanging fruit plucked by digital technologies in 1950s and 60s. The governments, financial institutions, corporate organizations, and manufacturing industry were tempting to experiment with the idea that data generated can be used to break down the problems and substitute human efforts with mechanical or electronic interventions. As we see the history, military and financial institutions took a lead to transform the lab experiments into opportunities. NASA, for example, leveraged an IBM computer to put a man on moon. Banking industry created a business case for automated teller machines to reduce the dependency on human cashiers. This introduction marked the dawn of digital era in commercial world.
The examples of uptake of digital technologies include self-service gas stations, supermarket billings, online shopping, real-time email communications, automated ticket dispensers, candy machines, traffic signals, and cyber warfare. All these examples were advanced features of their time, as well as, saved a lot of money for the public. The proliferation of these innovations was organic in nature. Healthcare, however, has always been a shy cousin of these industries and fails to provide some strong examples of digitalization in that era. Healthcare has spent billions of dollars on committees and conferences to market the idea of digital health yet failing to find any mass adopters. For the purposes of this paper, digital health is defined as electronically connecting up the points of care so that health information can be shared securely.
There is no denying in the fact that digital health has failed to deliver. Digital health is struggling to survive, and signs have begun to emerge that the era of legacy technologies will soon be gone. In 2012, the moratorium on all E-health and mobile health initiatives in Uganda was the signal that all is not well with digital health adoption and scaling up. Since then, the number of healthcare conferences on digital health have drastically reduced. More healthcare IT companies have gone bankrupt in past five years, than in two decades before that.
The National Health Services (NHS) in England and, to some extent, Kaiser Permanent are trying to implement digital health on mass scale through the effective telemedicine and digital health records projects.For the rest of the world, there is no example of digital health being implemented at national level. The industry is still struggling with rudimentary issues of interoperability, data privacy, legal frameworks, systemic acceptability, and project financing. On top of that, the changing the goal posts and direction towards robotics have created opaque lens to look through the past and future of digital health.
Hope: Health Digitization is a Magic Wand
Back in 1950s, there existed one example of digital health in the form of telemedicine. The wealthy folks of that time could use their landline telephones to speak to a physician, describe their condition, book an appointment, or even request a home visit. In fact, in 1959, Mudaliar Committee referred to the use of police wireless communication for primary health centre staff. Disappointing it is, that by 1980s, it became almost impossible to get a physician on the phone and ridiculously expensive to request a physician home visit.
However, technologies like internet and sensors provided a hope that healthcare would be accessible anywhere and anytime. There was a hope that some digital solution would move the epicenter of healthcare from hospital to patient. Medical staff hoped that they would have patients' data available on fingertips. Hospitals hoped for an instant payment from the insurance companies using secure technology. Insurance providers hoped to use data and analytics in reducing frauds and save operational costs. Above all, patients hoped to get a better care they deserve.
The IT infrastructure in the hospitals did not move beyond billing and administration!!! And the companies that still hold on to the digital health portfolio are cross-subsidizing the losses with their income from BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) verticals.
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) were looked upon as the holy grail of digital health. Once all the patient data gets digitalized, infinite possibilities would open. Overtime, EMRs found it difficult to break into a physician's office. For a considerable time, the myth prevailed that physicians are afraid of technology or physicians see technological advancements as their enemy. This myth loses its rationale when a physician's office is loaded with technologies like digital stethoscopes, portable glucometers, latest Computed Tomography (CT) scan machines, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines etc. Medical devices industry has exploded in past three decades.CT and MRI machines were made commercially available in 1970s. Within 20 years, there were at least 1 MRI and 2 CT machines per million population in the developed world. At present, there are more than 10 MRIs and 20 CT machines per million population. These statistics are a proxy for physician's acceptance to the new clinically proven technologies if they add to his knowledge of diagnosis/treatment, add to his income, and saves time for 'doing more' in his practice. Knowledge, money, and time are the underlying benefits when it comes to DoI (Decision on investment) for digital health.
Money chasing digital health:USA is paying around $50,000 to each physician for adopting EHRs. In 2009, the US Federal Government set aside $27 billion of the American tax payers' funds to boost the adoption of EHR.Billions of dollars were budgeted for training health information technology workers under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.
"For physicians willing to adopt EHRs, the financial incentives offered by the federal government were substantial. The average physician with at least 30 percent of his or her patients covered by Medicare is eligible for up to $44,000 in total incentives. A physician with at least 30 percent of his or her patients covered by Medicaid is eligible for even more, up to $63,750. As of May 19th,2011 320 health care providers (including 283 physicians and 37 hospitals) had received a total of $75 million in Medicare incentive payments for demonstrating meaningful use of electronic health records. The relatively slow start was perhaps to be expected" as quoted in an article from the Commonwealth Fund.
Despite this huge budgetary allocation, the digital adoption in American clinics and hospitals is far from ideal. Less surprisingly, fax machines have taken a refuge in American health system. We need a deeper study as to how and why 95% of physician practices and hospitals in South Korea have transitioned to a fully digital state using EHRs without monetary support from the government. Almost all these EHRs provide some smart functionality like identifying drug interactions and patient communications, in addition to medical data storage.
The USA policy is a classic case of dollars chasing EHRs, and not EHRs chasing dollars. If EHRs are beneficial in principle, the physician practices should be adopting it for their own profit. But the true value of EHRs has not been captured as of today. Additionally, this example sums up the success day of lobbyists in the Capitol Hill. The bottom line is, digital health, when looked holistically in terms of deployment and use, hasnot been resounding success.
The positive side is, hope never dies. The narrative has shifted from e-health/telemedicine to fitness devices, machine learning, artificial intelligence, block-chain,and automation. The hope is that these technologies would bridge the gap in access to right care. Google, Apple, and Amazon are driving their success in healthcare through patient centered approach. The hope remains that automation would reduce errors in healthcare, as it did in manufacturing industry. The hope is patient data could travel instantly like money travels in financial sector. The hope is that every patient and disease condition is accounted for like items are tracked in Walmart. Patients have expressed consent to share their health data, if their hopes are rightfully met.
Hype: Digital Revolution is Knocking the Doors
Back in 1970s, when automation, mechanization, and digitalization were sprouting up, another paradigm shift was being orchestrated by Walmart. Being a retailer, Walmart was very close to consumers. It understood their needs, communicated these needs to manufacturers, and delivered products which were consumer centric. Walmart made consumer the king.
Healthcare conferences are a major source of useful information and unnecessary hype in this sector. In the digital health conferences, experts would talk about patient data privacy, data analysis, data portability, etc. Not many digital health providers discussed about patient itself. Top-down approach adopted by digital initiatives has landed on its face. Healthcare needs a bottom-up approach, where patients dictate their needs and providers improvise themselves to cater to these needs. Companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon, who have deep access to consumers and their data, are positioned very well to make digital health a success. What happened to Nokia and Blackberry in the cellular industry, might happen to most of the digital health providers in near future.
Dotcom moment: During the hype phase of digital health, every corporation invested in building a healthcare division. Software veterans like Microsoft, Qualcomm, Siemens,Intel,Oracle, Cisco,BlackBerry,Nokia etc. invested billions of dollars in developing healthcare solutions. Manufacturing conglomerates invested in health tech to hedge their risks. Venture capitalist funding flow in healthcare increased exponentially. Healthcare organizations like Mayo Clinic and MD Anderson invested a significantly in digital health offerings. IT companies spent millions of dollars on healthcare conferences to get a tap on hype or build their client pipeline by getting leads. How long did this hype survive? Microsoft dropped down its HealthVault app. Google declared that "Google Health" has failed. Mayo clinic & Noaber Foundations Joint venture spins out their digital arm Vital Health and then sold it to Philips. MD Anderson ended contract with IBM Watson health, after losing over $62 million in digital health experiments.
Even the 'Digital Health conference' industry is shrinking, losing momentum, and consolidating. mHealth summit was acquired by HIMSS. It is important to note that mHealth summit a leading conference on health and mobile based technologies was backed by National Institute of Health (NIH) and Fogarty International Center. The Connected Health Symposium organized by Partners HealthCare, merged with the Personal Connected Health Alliance's (PCHA) 'Connected Health Conference' to stage a single conference since 2017. Health 2.0 got acquired by HIMSS.The consolidation in the event organization space is an indicator to dwindling confidence in digital health events. The WHO trimmed their team in eHealth department drastically. In 2004, there were 22+ support staff at the WHO's eHealth health unit. By 2008, it was reduced to about 14 and in Jan 2017, 3 people with no dedicated support staff, and in Dec 2017, the eHealth unit was left with just one staff.
98% of the digital health start-ups have failed to survive. No single healthcare start-up attains unicorn status (more than $1 billion valuation). There is not a single example, except National Health Services (NHS) and to some extent, Kaiser Permanente of a large-scale implementation of digital health solution. Smaller countries like South Korea and Estonia have made remarkable implementation of digital health solutions but the percentage of global population impacted by them is akin to a rounding error of numbers. These examples point in a direction that all the hype about digital health was based on speculation instead of facts. The result is, people lost time, corporations lost money, and health system have sustained inertia.Someone, somewhere has got something wrong in digitizing healthcare.
Halt: The Non-starter
In 1990s, when digital technologies and platforms were going viral with software and websites, the protectors of healthcare invested their energies in building a strong wall to keep status quo intact. In a time when people could do banking from home, book tickets from anywhere, and get groceries delivered at home, hospitals are enjoying a romantic relationship with paper and fax. Less surprisingly, healthcare industry missed the digital wave. What is the reason behind digital phobia of healthcare industry? Despite all the hype created around digital health, there is a reason why the experts failed to declare digital health dead? Despite examples and comparisons with other industries, healthcare has not adopted technology to the level it should have.
The need for Digital Health is far more than ever before; holding back the ubiquitous implementation of digital health is estimated to cost over a trillion dollars annually to the global population.
A technology like digital health records would help physicians to better manage their operations, increase health access to the patients, and lower the long-term healthcare cost for the payer. Yet, EMRs failed to establish a rapport with physicians because the physicians cannot find the value-add worth their time and money investment. The biggest reason for the failure of digital health is that more energies have been spent in developing policy manuals and organizing conferences, than developing a product, financial models and solve the interoperability issues that can demonstrate value to the user and demonstrate clinical evidence for better healthcare delivery.The hope that patients will get better healthcare with the help of technology is fading away. EMRs solved the issue of billing and data storage, not access and care. The EMRs failed because they were designed around hospitals and not for patients. The need is to design patient centered solutions.
The digital health has not paid off to the investors, users, and the patients. This technology has not earned the value it promised for the governments,healthcare providers and the patient communities. A bigger focus was laid on the development of the business case. Digital health industry should have shifted focus from tuning business model towards fixing the service model. With most of the software being sold as a service, digital health should be viewed as a service to the key stakeholders of the healthcare industry. Going forward, the hype and promises should be driven by the magnitude of impact created, and not by the speculation of company valuations. It must be a game of 'clinical value creation' and not just 'financial valuations for investors'.
Moment of Truth: A Call to Action
The industry and the governments have begun to get the sense of the failing digital health initiatives. We can either declare the digital health as dead or initiate are suscitation phase. Another truth is, the rules of the game have changed. Doctor is no longer the king of healthcare, patient is. Digital health is transforming from a standalone product to becoming a service to support clinical outcomes. As the businesses are driven by the profit motives, follow the money. Money in healthcare can be backtracked to insurance companies (payers) and patients. Health insurance providers would have larger role to play in digitizing health sector to save costs and gain competitive edge.
The digital health is in a state of atrophy as suggested by the history its evolution.The nomenclature and the goal posts have kept changing over the past two decades, helping to rebrand the idea of IT in healthcare.
We are back from "Hope, Hype to Halt"to hope again and it looks tough to take off. We need to galvanize the global efforts for deciding a roadmap as to what are the building blocks. We must take start at hurdle race once again, but the path and goals must be clearly articulated with evidence of impact documented as we go along.
The role of the Government must evolve. Governments need to go beyond its current role of acting as a catalyst to derive consensus amongst stakeholders.Providing funding and operational support at national or global level is the need. For example, the Government of India is funding telemedicine as an integral service at Health & Wellness Centers and collaborating with private players to operate these centers. Three major developments in 2018-2019 could well give the much-needed boost as one last chance to lift the adoption of Digital Health.
First major development is the mHealth resolution at the World Health Assembly proposed by the Indian Government and this resolution received global support. This resolution signals an increased focus on mHealth, but the rest is a grounds-up movement.The second major development was the launch of the Global Digital Health Index, which may play a role of a barometer for adoption and maturity of digital health.
The index was launched alongside the World Health Assembly in May, 2018. Third major development is the guidelines on digital interventions for health system strengthening launched on 17th April, 2019. These guidelines would help the governments of the WHO member states to take decisions on deploying digital health solutions across the continuum of care. Governments must not miss this opportunity to take a stewardship role for digital health and all stakeholders must get together to ensure that it happens.
The healthcare systems across the world are becoming unsustainable. Technology can help the health systems, but we must start with human interoperability before technical interoperability, human-ware before software or hardware. Challenges in healthcare are opportunities for digital health. Digital initiatives in other industries have worked the best when the implementation was orchestrated by the whole industry as a uniform effort.
Aftermath 9/11, the initiative of developing a process to deposit cheques electronically was develop by big banks in a unison. Perhaps, this offers a cue to what is needed.
The government(s) takes the lead in catalysing integration of digital tools in delivery of care and the UN, WHO & ITU work in unison to provide an umbrella cover for guidelines, standards and legal frame-works, best practises and shared common goal to ensure success leveraging the latest developments.
Time to re-start is now and convert Digital Health's Hope, Hype and Halt to Hope , Heal and Health !
Article source – Hospital & Healthcare Management


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Genre: Shoot 'em up
Release Year: 2001
Developer: Sims
Publisher: Xicat Interactive
Age Rating: 12+
Playability Status: Excellent
Tested On: ,
Availability: ,
Enjoyable but ultimately short-lived arcade style shoot 'em up. Charge 'N' Blast mixes up the traditional shooting formula by requiring you to charge your weapon before you fire it. With this restriction, you will need to make every shot count.
Emulators tested
Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 10) – Game runs very well with no noticeable glitches.
Demul 0.5.8.2 (DirectX 11) – Not tested.
Makaron T12.7 – Not tested.
Special configuration options
None required.
Percentage of game played
Opening few waves only.
Videos and screenshots
Coming soon.
Coming soon.
Other versions
The game appeared in the arcades, but the Dreamcast version is the only version released for home systems.
Did we get anything wrong?
Let us know in the comments if we missed anything or got anything wrong when testing this game.


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For the first week of September, we are featuring Danielle Najarro from the Philippines! We sent over some questions to and wanted to know a bit about what he loves most about PlayStation gaming,
How old are you, and where are you located?Hi, my name is Danielle I'm 21 years old, I'm from Cebu, Philippines. I created this account using one of your recommended VPNs, so I can use your service from my country.
What is your PlayStation Gamer tag?My Gamertag is deenajarro
What was your first video game? Tell us your favorite story about it.My first video game in PlayStation was Resident Evil owned by the Japanese video game company Capcom. Resident Evil may not always be great, but they've always been fascinating and curious objects. And it's because of that wild experimentation that Resident Evil still has a firm grip on us, it redefines the genre and forcing the entirety of the game. I'm into survival horror and third-person shooting games especially if the story follows outbreaks of zombies and other monsters. I can't wait to see where Capcom goes next with it!
What games are you currently playing?I binge play Uncharted 4, Call of Duty WWII and God of War (which I recently finished within 4 days only)
How much time do you currently spend gaming?I spend most of my vacant times on gaming especially when I'm done with work and during my day offs.
How long have you been gaming?I've been a gamer since I gained consciousness and knowledge.
Have you entered any gaming competitions?I'm a Solo RPG Gamer so I haven't entered any gaming competitions. I might give it a try soon!
What in your opinion makes for a good video game?Good storyline, engaging themes and let's not forget about the graphics too!
What are your thoughts on console Gaming vs. PC gaming vs. Mobile gaming? Do you have a favorite?My personal preference is Console gaming. Consoles are the most comfortable and casual way to use it because you can play games while you're sitting on the couch or even your bed. It's the same as Mobile gaming but I can't stand playing on a touchscreen phone. Unless it's a Nokia N-Gage (which I do have before) is an interesting hybrid between a phone and portable game device. I'm not much of a PC gamer but yeah comfort can change a lot of opinions J
What feature would you like to see added to the PlayStation or PlayStation Network?The only feature I would like to see added to the PlayStation or PlayStation Network is that hopefully, US gamers could change the PSN Gamer Tag. In my case, I used "deenajarro" so that my friends could find me easily because that's almost my username to every social media account that I have. I hate the thought that us gamers have to delete our accounts and make a new one if you want different PSN Gamer tag and we'd lose all our achievements on our last account.
Why do you use MyGiftCardSupply to purchase your PSN gift cards?Simply because my PlayStation account is US and I can't purchase PSN gift cards here in my country which is the Philippines. And when it comes to purchasing PSN gift cards, I choose MyGiftCardSupply for they have excellent service and quick to respond. Two thumbs up!
What other things interest you, besides gaming?I do cosplay where I could bring a fictional character to life. I also do modeling. I love to read novels/self-help books and travel as much as I can whenever I'm free from work or gaming.
If you want to know more about Danielle, you can follow him on his social media networks:
Twitter -https://twitter.com/DanielleNajarro
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/deenajarro
Thank you Danielle for participating in MyGiftCardSupply's PlayStation Gamer of the Week!


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The Bollywood movie, 'Dear Zindagi' of the Bollywood king, Shah Rukh Khan has become popular on the Google Play. In this movie, Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt performed the main roles and this movie got hit in India.
Google India has released the list of the most popular movies on the Google Play and the movie, 'Dear Zindagi' of Shah Rukh Khan and Alia Bhatt remained at the top position. There are two other movies, 'Moana' and 'Wonder Woman' remained at the second position. The game, Bahu Bali is at the top games on the Google Play and it crossed the movies, WWE Champions, Super Mario and Pokey Moon Devil.
Gori Shinday is the director of the movie, 'Dear Zindagi' of king khan and Alia Bhatt and this movie was released last year during November in which Shah Rukh Khan, Alia Bhatt and Pakistani artist, Ali Zafar performed the leading roles.


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The first FO is a hat for Justin. Every morning during his internship, he had to check the eight-foot tall fence surrounding 140 acres of the ranch. He did this on an ATV in all types of weather. Neither snow nor rain nor sleet nor temperatures below zero kept this young man from the swift completion of his appointed round, but even with a hat on, he still got very cold. If one hat didn't work, maybe two would do the trick, so Run the Fence to the rescue.
His double-layer, reversible hat did keep him warm. I really wish these colors were available in nice wool instead of this icky acrylic, but it is washable and much better suited to a 22-year-old male than something requiring hand-washing.
The second FO was intended as a Christmas gift, but I didn't finish it until more than a week afterwards. When I knit Nostalgia for Ryan's birthday, he said that he wouldn't mind having a pair of fingerless mitts with just black and grey stripes. I found the exact yarn he wanted, so Your Wish is Granted. The photos aren't great because there wasn't much light when I finished them at 1:00 am, just five hours before taking him to the airport to head home to Colorado. But I did finish them, and they are proving useful in the 3° temps he's had.


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Berner's Antique Auction Gallery, is Miami Valley's premier auction house located at the Heart of Ohio Antique Center.
Auctioneer James Berner has been involved in the auction business since 1970 and his son Jacob became involved in the auction business at the age of 12. Apprenticing under his father, Jacob is a third generation auctioneer with valuable experience and youthful enthusiasm.
Berner's has a friendly, professional staff providing over 20 catalogued auctions plus 3 Premier auctions annually. Berner's go the extra mile to insure the best possible results. Experienced professionals handle all of the merchandise as if it were their own property.
The house's services include pick-up and delivery by qualified personnel that are well trained and insured. Berner's also offers shipping to all 50 states; international locations as well as absentee bids and live telephone bids during their auction for those unable to attend.
The auction house has room for over 300 pieces of quality antique furniture.
Over twenty-five locked showcases with lighting to draw attention to your antiques and collectibles.
Protection from the elements for your merchandise and a comfortable atmosphere for customers.


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Ashley Elizabeth Prasil, 28, a North Carolina resident, formerly of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was sentenced in federal court for her role in a scheme that defrauded mortgage lenders out of approximately $8.9 million.
United States District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson sentenced Prasil to three years of probation and ordered her to perform 150 hours of community service on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prasil was also ordered to pay more than $2.2 million in restitution to the lenders victimized through the scheme. Prasil was charged via Information on April 21, 2011, and pleaded guilty on May 19, 2011.
Prasil admitted that from December 18, 2006, through December of 2007, she conspired with others to defraud mortgage lenders who provided mortgages at the Cloud 9 Sky Flats, Minnetonka, Minnesota, a condominium development. The scheme involved finding buyers to apply for mortgage loans to purchase units in the development, with each buyer receiving a kickback of approximately 30 percent of the reported purchase price. The loan applications and forms submitted to the lenders did not disclose these kickbacks, resulting in buyers and others secretly getting a portion of the loan amounts back after closing. The kickbacks were returned to the buyers through an account controlled by Prasil's co-defendant Sheri Delich, after a portion had been skimmed off for co-conspirators.
On February 15, 2013, Delich, 47, Apple Valley, Minnesota, was ordered to serve five years of probation and six months of home confinement on one count of conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and one count of money laundering. Judge Nelson also sentenced former real estate agent, My Dinh Lam, 32, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to three years of probation on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in finding buyers for the program.
More than 40 Cloud 9 units were sold through the scheme, and more than 80 percent of the loans have since defaulted.
Under the sentencing guidelines, Prasil could have been sentenced to more than two years in prison. The Court noted, however, that Prasil had provided assistance to the government and that her sentence was being reduced because of her cooperation in the investigation.
This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Lewis.


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Verdicts and Settlements Obtained on Behalf of Our Clients
Recent Verdicts
Timothy Karlsen v. Competitive Concrete Pumping, Inc. et al
- Case No. 19-CA-3132 Collier County
- Traffic accident with a Verdict awarded of $4 million. December 2021
Rhon West v. Edna Limage
- Case No. 19-16622 Broward County
- Motorcycle accident. Jury awarded $1 million. February 2022
Meghan Smith v Central Dynamics Corp d/b/a Cendyn
- A complex employment case in which the plaintiff was awarded $700,000. September 2022
Below we share a sampling of some of our cases and verdicts and settlements we have achieved on behalf of our clients. There are many more, but these are provided to give you a feel for our case experience and abilities. Every case and situation is different, and your case results could vary. However, we always apply our full effort and resources to achieving the best results for our clients. Many cases are settled with confidentiality agreements at our client's request to protect our clients from public disclosure of sums they have received in litigation.
$9,500,000.00 – Settlement – Automobile crash
$7,700,000 Verdict – Wrongful Death arising from automobile crash. Case settled under a confidentiality agreement after appeal.
$3,200,000 Verdict- Wrongful Death arising from an automobile crash.
$2,500,000 Settlement – Motorcycle crash.
$2,000,000 Settlement – Wrongful Death arising from automobile crash.
$1,850,000 Verdict – Automobile crash – defendant offered only $50,000.00 prior to trial
$1,350,000 Settlement – Automobile crash.
$1,100,000 Settlement – Automobile crash.
$800,000 Settlement – Pedestrian Automobile crash & Insurance Bad Faith.
$700,000 Settlement – Automobile crash.
$550,000 Verdict – Automobile crash.
$259,000 Verdict – Automobile crash – defendant offered only $35,000 pretrial.
December 2021 – $4,015,000 verdict in Auto Accident case
February 2022 – $803,000 verdict in Auto Accident case
$540,000 Verdict – Florida Statute §1983 Violation – defendant offer prior to trial was $0.
Stopped motorist was shot and killed by deputy sheriff during an altercation.
$150,000 Settlement – Florida Statute §1983 Violation.
Our client was falsely arrested.
$74,500 Verdict – Excessive Force – defendant offer prior to trial was $0.
Sheriff's deputies attacked an off duty corrections officer.
Mattel Lead Paint Class Action Valued at Over $58 Million.
General Mills Case of $35 Million.
$1,027,000 Verdict – Medical Malpractice for Failure to Diagnose
A Florida teenager was rushed to the hospital for groin pain and was misdiagnosed by the emergency room physician as having a testicular infection. The doctor misdiagnosed the true injury which was a testicular torsion and he only had hours to appropriately diagnose and treat the torsion. Due to the misdiagnosis, the boy was sent home and ultimately lost one testicle. The jury awarded the plaintiff $900,000 in pain and suffering. The balance of the verdict was for medical expenses and court costs. This was considered to be one of the largest verdicts in the country for a testicular torsion with no residual affects to the reproductive capacity of the child.
$250,000 Settlement – Insurance Coverage Dispute
Insurer refused to defend its insured based on a policy provision we successfully argued was void as against public policy. Insurance company paid $250,000 and changes the provision.
$800,000 Settlement – Pedestrian Automobile crash & Insurance Bad Faith
The plaintiff was walking through a parking lot when the defendant pulled out of a parking space, striking other cars in the parking lot and causing the plaintiff to be caught between two cars. The plaintiff suffered multiple fractures and underwent surgery. Even though there was only $350,000 worth of insurance coverage, due to bad faith handling of the claim by the defendants' insurance carrier, that insurance carrier paid an additional $450,000 over the policy limits to settle the claim.
$1,000,000 Verdict – Negligent Security and Assault
This case involves a 21 year-old man who had just moved down to South Florida from Syracuse, New York. He was living with some friends in Boca Raton. They went out to a bar when a disagreement broke out between our client's friends and some other people. The bouncers came over and decided to throw Collin out of the bar. When Collin was being physically shoved out by the bouncer, he turned to ask what he did and was met with a fist to his face. This bouncer knocked three of Collin's teeth out. The oral surgeon testified that he would need a bone grafted from his hip to repair his jaw where it was permanently damaged.
$750,000 Settlement – Slip and Fall
The plaintiff was walking through a cafeteria with a friend for lunch when she slipped on a small puddle of grease. As a result of the accident she underwent major cervical surgery.
$300,000.00 Settlement – Negligent Security
$275,000 Settlement – Pool Accident
A private school/day camp encouraged and allowed a 4½ year old girl to go onto a 10- foot diving board. She fell off the side onto the concrete below. Her arm broke the fall and she sustained a broken arm and lost some teeth. She recovered with no residual effects and her permanent teeth replaced the baby teeth she lost. Her lower lip/chin area will have a permanent scar as a result of the incident. It is inexplicable to everyone why these camp counselors allowed a child that age to go onto a diving board. This case settled on the eve of trial.
$185,000 Settlement- Premises Liability/ Negligent Security
Our client suffered injuries when she was attacked in the parking lot of a drug store in West Palm Beach, Florida.
$180,500 Verdict – Premises Liability
$3,900,000 Combined Settlements – Victims of Child Abuse
Preschool teachers at the Early Child Center of a prestigious church in the Sarasota area were physically abusing children over a long period of time. Abuse included slamming children to the ground, force-feeding them, and embarrassing them. A school administrator who was told of the abuse by a teacher's aide declined to act. It was uncovered that the administrator told the aide to keep quiet.
$225,000.00 Settlement-Abuse at a Day Care Center in Pensacola
A three-year old preschool student was physically abused by her teacher, causing a brain injury. The accused teacher had a history of violent behavior, as the school knew of the abuse but failed to remove the teacher from the classroom. The child's teacher was arrested and pled guilty.
$200,000 Settlement – Abuse of Special Needs Student
The personal injury and abuse law firm of Balkan & Patterson successfully secured a settlement of $200,000 for a family whose child was physically abused by his kindergarten teacher at Lee County, FL. The child, whose name and age are withheld to maintain privacy, is a low functioning, non-verbal special needs student with very limited abilities to communicate. His teacher subjected him to physical violence and abuse, and our investigation uncovered the teacher's checkered history, which showed she was unfit to teach these children.
$3,755,000 – Settlement – Wrongful Death – The facts of this case are confidential pursuant to a successful resolution of the case.
ESTATE and PROBATE LITIGATION
$1,200,000.00 – Settlement – Balkan & Patterson was retained to fight for the rights of a natural son against a stepmother.
Confidential Settlement – Balkan & Patterson was retained to fight the Probating of a newly drafted will giving all of the decendent's assets to home aide. The case settled confidentially.
Call our firm now for a Free Consultation about the potential of your case. 561-750-9191


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April 17, 2018
Remarks delivered by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft
at the Conseil des relations internationales de Montréal (CORIM)
As Prepared for Delivery
Who will shape the future of our planet?
That's a pretty heady question, I know.
The glass-half-full view of the world has lots to celebrate: millions moving out of poverty, breathtaking technological innovation, rising literacy rates, the eradication of deadly diseases.
But it is the half empty part of the glass that gets most of the media coverage and the focus of the efforts of governments and NGOs around the world.
To be sure, every country faces major challenges. While technology has connected nations all over the globe, even countries that enjoy many strong alliances primarily think of their own constituencies first, before trying to find solutions to Earth's biggest problems in a multilateral way.
If there's an exception to that, it would be the United States and Canada. We have our differences, but when it comes down to it, we are as tight as a medium T-shirt on Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The economic, diplomatic, security, and cultural ties between our two countries have only grown over the last several decades, and our shared sensibilities and true friendship have been in place longer still.
In 1947, President Harry S Truman said that "Canada and the United States have reached the point where we can no longer think of each other as 'foreign' countries."
Fourteen years later, President John F. Kennedy told Parliament that "Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder."
Our united partnership and the example we set will shape our children's future, and our grandchildren's future, as much as anything else. And I believe it will be our deep-felt, durable relationship and the joint efforts we make around the world that will lead to important solutions for every soul, on a global scale.
So today I want to talk to you about the five key areas I see that will define the U.S.-Canadian relationship going forward and, not coincidentally, will tell the story of how effectively the whole world can meet its challenges.
And when it comes to glass-half-full optimism, history suggests we will never be able to fill that glass all the way to the top. But I am confident we can make progress in the following areas:
— finding the proper role for government to ensure that good, secure jobs exist for working families
— giving children and adults the education and training they need to fill those jobs
— making sure that technology is improving the lives of our people and energizing them, not undermining the right to privacy, creating alienation, or threatening our security
— empowering women and girls to give them the exact same opportunities that men and boys have in all spheres
— redefining the international order based on shared principles with the knowledge that non-state actors, rogue nations, refugee crises, and civil wars are grave threats to us all
Let me talk about each of those five areas, as they relate to the future of our bilateral relationship and the future of the world.
First, jobs. At its heart, the ongoing NAFTA negotiations are about jobs for families. For several decades now under NAFTA, Canada, the U.S., and Mexico have seen aspects of their economies thrive. Automobiles are probably the best example, but the myriad benefits of investment, innovation, partnerships, parts, and products crossing back and forth across the borders are clear and tangible.
But, despite the benefits of that cooperation, some Americans have been dissatisfied with NAFTA, blaming it for a further decline in manufacturing jobs. That's part of the reason that President Trump is insistent that the agreement be updated to reflect the current realities on the ground in all three nations.
A renovation of NAFTA can provide an example for other developed, industrial countries that struggle with anxiety over job quality and job growth. NAFTA shows that a strong, customized trade deal can fit the needs of the countries involved. It can be bilateral, trilateral, multilateral, whatever makes sense. And then be revised when technological and other advancements warrant a new course. The original NAFTA brought our two countries even closer together. I'm confident the current talks will result in an agreement that will spur even more innovation and job growth, and serve as a model for the world.
But it is about more than trade deals, tariffs, fees, and taxes. Governments, through research, infrastructure, sensible regulations, and social policy can ensure that jobs will be generated by the private sector. Both our countries now have leaders who are laser-focused on making sure we are putting such policies in place.
Second, creating solid jobs – with living wages and generous benefits – does us no good without an education system and a worker training plan that can prepare people for those jobs—people who are just starting out in the work force and people in the midst of career changes. Back home in Kentucky, I have been involved in education reform for many years. Whether it's learning a skill or getting a PhD, there is nothing more important for building human capital than making sure we have world-class education that lasts a lifetime.
Many Canadians attend school in the United States and vice versa. Canadian and American universities are the envy of all the world. But I must admit with some frustration that below the college level, we have work to do in the U.S. to improve our schools. This requires adequate funding, but at least as important is making sure the money is well spent. And that requires education reform. All countries need to be fearless and steadfast when it comes to enacting sweeping changes in how we teach our children and young adults.
Being able to match workers with jobs also requires coordination between schools and employers at the national, regional, and local levels. In both Canada and the U.S., we have increased efforts in this area, giving workers more confidence that they will be able to find a job and employers more confidence that they can tap into a qualified workforce. Recently, the U.S. Chamber Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation selected the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan to host statewide Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Academies – a U.S. Chamber Foundation initiative in which participating employers, employer-led associations, and educators will receive training and build partnerships using a demand-driven concept to connect employees and employers. This statewide strategy to close the skills gap equips business leaders with the tools that they need to hire and develop stronger workforces. If this type of initiative can work in individual states, it can work across borders as well.
With so much technological change, our countries need to learn from each other how to keep improving in this area.
That technological change is the third area I want to talk about. So much of the latest improvements around the world have been driven by the power of innovation in the digital age. Again, the U.S. and Canada have been leaders in generating new technologies. Many Americans still sigh wistfully, remembering their first true love—their very first BlackBerry– a Canadian brand, I might add. And how many Canadians are madly in love with their iPhones… Talk about bilateral links. Personally, I use both devices.
There are, of course, many other revolutionary changes we have seen in our lifetimes: the cloud, online banking, laser surgery, and driverless cars, just to name a few. Turning these technologies into devices and services that save lives and increase productivity can and has changed the very nature of how a multitude of businesses get their work done.
But as the fruits of the digital age have become omnipresent in our lives, we have seen the dangers that derive from these wonders of modernity. We all love to message, email, chat, post, share, like, tweet, favorite, forward, and video conference. But all that mediated contact can be alienating, too often a substitute for face-to-face, heart-to-heart human contact. The brick and mortar town square is a more vibrant and important place to gather than the virtual one. And the extreme negativity that people feel free to express on social media continues to boggle my mind.
Those of you who are parents can see the alienation and isolation this technology is causing in our children. But if we are being honest with ourselves, it can be pretty isolating for adults too. I think the whole world should act fast to keep this trend in check, and our two countries should lead the way.
The same with privacy. Anybody with Google can learn WAY too much about other people. And those with more advanced access to information can learn a lot more than that, and in some cases that can get into hazardous and hostile territory. Both our nations cherish the right to privacy, the right to keep some things about ourselves TO ourselves. That is getting harder and harder to do and we need to install some foolproof boundaries.
And more broadly, cyber security. If you work in government or run a business, you know that more and more of your resources are going toward protecting your digital systems, both for the data they contain and the role they play in controlling and securing your physical plants. Again, we've both been on the cutting edge of what is now one of the most important emerging fields, and we, and the rest of the world, need to be able to keep our information and property safe and under our control.
Cyber security may be a NEW problem, but we also need to address one of the oldest problems in the world. I think it is fair to say that Eve did not have the same opportunities as Adam. We know today, even in our two highly advanced countries, for all the gains women have made across the board, that we haven't done enough. Not nearly enough. There still isn't equality of opportunity, of advancement, of pay, of treatment, of respect in our popular culture. President Trump, whom I'm privileged to represent, and Prime Minister Trudeau highlighted this glaring gap in their first meeting by creating the Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders. They recognized that in order for our two countries to be successful, we need more women leaders in business and government, more women in STEM careers, and more female entrepreneurs. I'm proud to be the first female ambassador from the U.S. to Canada. And it sure would be great if you all returned the favor at some point. There are many examples of U.S. and Canadian women working together to empower females in both countries. I think of Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, who has prioritized women in leadership positions as an important part of GM's corporate identity, not because she has to, but because it just makes sense. I think this is just fantastic. We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.
Finally, the NEW new world order. As the Cold War ended, the first President Bush recognized that with that good news came some bad. The end of the Soviet empire brought with it uncertainty. What would replace the old balance of power? Frankly, we still don't know. What we see around us now is a lot of instability. Violent groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS, who have significant resources and wild plans but do not have the accountability of a country. Outlaw nations like North Korea, Syria, and Iran, led by dictators who show no regard for the safety and happiness of their own people, but who nurture dangerous and expansionary ambitions. We see the heartbreaking sight of refugees and immigrants across the world, often children, who daily live with hunger, fear, and the threat of death. And the outbreak of civil wars that the United Nations and other international organizations are unable to prevent, mediate, or end.
I don't think even the brightest Canadian or American scholars have figured out what all those threats add up to. As we meet here today, there's no denying that whatever this new new order turns out to be, true peace and prosperity is not going to be possible until we find better ways to deal with this chaos.
You know that expression, fences make good neighbors? You look around the world at countries that share a border and often they are the most violent of enemies. Iran and Iraq for so many years. The Israelis and the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia and Yemen today.
Well, happily, that is not the case with Canada and the United States. Now it is true that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was famously quoted saying that being America's neighbor "is like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered the beast…one is affected by every twitch and grunt."
I'm quite certain the PM meant that affectionately.
My point is that from NORAD to cyber security to peace-keeping to international refugee and medical relief, our two neighboring countries, rather than being enemies, have been the closest of allies. We respect each other. We protect each other. And we recognize that a shared border is a cause for grace and esteem, not distrust and resentment. It's the most obvious, and maybe the most important, thing I will say in my remarks: if neighboring countries around the world started to get along as well as the United States and Canada, the new new NEW world order would be pretty wonderful indeed.
Just seven months ago, I arrived in Canada and presented credentials to Governor General Julie Payette. Her strength and poise struck me as a perfect welcome to Canada. Let me close today by quoting her…
"The young people who are here, in the Senate of Canada, the highest place of governance in our country, are showing us that Canada is in good hands.
My friends, aim high, dare to dream, the sky has no limit to a life that unites us. "
From what I have learned and from what I have experienced since starting my assignment as ambassador, I can say that the dreams of BOTH our beautiful countries will never die, for us and for the world.
Thank you very much.


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2025: The Legendary Danube with 2 Nights in Prague (WNBQ) - Tranquility II
10 Day River Cruise Prague to Budapest
From Prague to vibrant Budapest, this Danube River cruise vacation takes you to four countries-each with its own beauty, history, and cultural treasures. Enjoy two nights in the 'golden city' of Prague, one of Europe's most beautiful cities. Stand in front of Old Town's medieval Astronomical Clock, which amazes as an intricate timepiece and piece of art piece unlike anything else in the world. Travel to Nuremberg, Germany, to board your Avalon Suite Ship on the Main Danube Canal and visit the 1000-year-old city with a Local Guide. Next, reach Regensburg, the only German city not bombed during WWII. Lovers of architecture will enjoy the many listed buildings of historic interest, and Porta Pretoria, gates to an ancient Roman fort built in 179 AD. Passau, known for its narrow, winding streets, offers the magnificent Italian baroque St. Stephen's Cathedral. In Melk, you will visit Austria's majestic Benedictine Abbey, one of Europe's largest monasteries, which sits high on a bluff. Take in the breathtaking views before continuing through the picturesque Wachau Valley to the romantic sounds of Vienna, the 'City of Music.' Your European river cruise vacation ends in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, with guided sightseeing and free time to explore this vibrant city on your own.
Call 1 -866-934-6292 for more information or to book today! Mention code 17492735
- Cruise Line
- Avalon Waterways
- Offer
- Offer valid through 12/31/2023
- Duration
- 10 Days
- Cruise Ship
- Tranquility II
Click for more information on this ship.
|Day 1
|Day 2
|Day 3
|Day 4
|Day 5
|Day 6
|Day 7
|Wachau Valley
|Day 8
|Day 9
|Day 10
- Dates/Pricing
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- US$ Price Details
Port charges:$210Avalon offers the opportunity for solo travelers to sail with no single supplement (subject to availability).Please call for single accommodation price. Triples not available.Travel Terms & Conditions
The purchase of any travel services offered by Avalon Waterways, constitutes a contractual arrangement between you (the Traveler) and Avalon Waterways, and represents your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions. Please ensure that you read carefully and understand the Terms & Conditions prior to booking. These Terms & Conditions cover Deposit & Final Payment information, Air-Inclusive Deposits & Final Payment, Revisions & Revision Fees, Air Arrangements, Participation, Travelers Who Need Special Assistance, Young Travelers, Smoking, Price Policy, Visas and Passports, Hotels & Accommodations, Baggage Allowance, Travel Documents, Not Included in the Land Price, Refunds, Service Inquires After the Vacation, Holidays, Safety, Photos & Pictures, Optional Excursions, and Responsibility.
Important Notes
- Vacation departures, itineraries and prices are subject to change.
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- The following charges are not included in the land/cruise vacation price unless otherwise noted: airfare to and from the start of your vacation; intra-vacation air, unless specified in the itinerary; airline baggage fees including checked and/or excess baggage fees; Federal inspection fees for the Federal U.S. Customs and Immigrations; International Air Transportation tax; agricultural tax; other per person taxes imposed by government entities; airport taxes and fees, including the September 11th Security fee up to $11.20 per person, passenger facility charges up to $18 per person, Federal domestic flight segment fees up to $4.10 per segment, and U.S. and international arrival and departure and other government-imposed added by the airline and applicable at time of booking; port taxes; passports; visas and vaccinations; tips to your Cruise Director, Local Host, driver, Local Guides, and/or ship's crew; gratuities on ferries, trains, and cruise ships; laundry; telephone; minibar; alcohol, beverages, and food outside of the contracted Avalon menu as presented at a hotel or restaurant or onboard your vessel (these extra items will be billed to you before leaving the hotel, ship, or restaurant); airport transfers on non-qualifying flights; optional excursions; additional activities and excursions purchased online; porterage at airports and train stations; Travel Protection; and all other items of a personal nature.
- Additional airline-imposed fees for seat assignments may apply and are not included in your total package cost. Please refer to carrier websites for seat assignment policies and applicable pricing.
Booking your Vacation with Air
Our volume buying power saves you money. We may be able to provide you with flight arrangements from your gateway city. Avalon Waterways offers 2 air options: Flex Air and Instant Purchase Air. Early Airfare Price Guarantee locks in a price that is guaranteed not to increase. Air pricing and schedules are available approximately 330 days prior to last travel date in the itinerary. At that time the best air price will be utilized and a new invoice with the air cost and confirmed schedule will be sent. The identity of the carrier, which may include the carrier's codeshare partner, will be assigned and disclosed at this time. If the guaranteed price is the lowest, the schedule with the lowest fare per contracted classes of service will be booked. Any voluntary change to the confirmed flights negates the guaranteed price and is subject to air pricing at the time of the change.
Guaranteed air-inclusive prices - air is only available to passengers traveling from the United States and only available when booked in conjunction with a land vacation. An additional non-refundable air deposit of $300 per person is required for Flex Air booked in conjunction with any land vacation (i.e. air-inclusive vacation). Air can only be booked by Avalon in conjunction with a vacation package. Instant Purchase Air requires air payment in full at time of booking (i.e. air-inclusive vacation) plus a non-refundable per person service fee of $30 (North/Central America), $50 (Europe/Middle East) or $80 (all other international destinations). Once booked, Instant Purchase Air is non-refundable, and non-changeable. Some vacations may only offer one Air type option. However, once your airfare is confirmed and Avalon has received your full air and land deposit, your air-inclusive vacation price is guaranteed.
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Air-inclusive vacations include government-imposed taxes and fees applicable at the time of booking and will be shown as a Total Amount. Additional airline fees for baggage may apply. At the time of booking your air-inclusive vacation online, carrier Websites will be provided to check baggage fees, or you can visit www.iflybags.com for up-to-date baggage pricing/restrictions. For return travel from some countries, international travelers are required to pay entry and/or exit fees at the airport. These fees will be collected by the local government and are payable by the traveler at time of travel. Your confirmation booking information will contain information about these fees.
'Starting at' Disclaimer
The 'Starting at' or 'From' listed price is based on the lowest price available to book. Price is per person based on double occupancy and any applicable non-commissionable taxes and fees and intra-vacation flight are included in the price shown. Any included overnight stay in Canada, applicable GST/HST is also included in the price shown. International airfare, however, is not included. If price is crossed out, the new price shown includes limited-time promotional offer(s). Please review current promotions or deals for additional information.


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Orchid Marcasite Enamel Brooch Rhodium Plate Silver Large Vtg Art Deco Antique. We are currently accepting offers for this rare extra large lovely Art Deco rhodium plate, marcasite and enamel orchid brooch. The enamel work is outstanding. The brooch is in excellent condition. It makes a dramatic statement with an elegant blend of enamel, silver and marcasites. The brooch is not marked or signed. The color of this brooch appears differently depending upon the lighting and back ground. Photos have been taken under direct and low light so buyers can see it's range. This brooch measures 3.25 by 2.5 inches, which is the larger than the other orchid brooches in our collection, pictured. It comes in its original box from Wm Bruford & Sons, Ltd. It is unmarked and unsigned. This listing is solely for this one orchid brooch. We are currently having a sale and are accepting offers for all items in inventory. See our other listings for antique & vintage jewelry & estate treasures. All reasonable & serious offers considered. Thank you for looking! All serious & reasonable and serious will be considered. Listing and template services provided by inkFrog. The item "Orchid Marcasite Enamel Brooch Rhodium Plate Silver Large Vtg Art Deco Antique" is in sale since Sunday, March 31, 2019. This item is in the category "Jewelry & Watches\Vintage & Antique Jewelry\Fine\Retro, Vintage 1930s-1980s\Pins, Brooches". The seller is "clburgess1″ and is located in Vallejo, California. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Brand: Unbranded
- Metal: Rhodium Plated
- Main Stone: Marcasites
- Material: Enamel
- Comes w/ its Original Box Jewelers from: Wm Bruford & Sons Ltd; Jewelers


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Find out more about how The Lecture List works.
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On the eve of the Anarchist Bookfair, Richard Parry discusses the Bonnot Gang: the most notorious French anarchists ever, whose taste for illegality developed into illegalismâ"the theory that theft is liberating in itself.
This is the story of the infamous Bonnot Gang: the most notorious French anarchists ever, and as bank expropriators the inventors of the motorized âgetaway.â It is the story of how the anarchist taste for illegality developed into illegalismâ"the theory that theft is liberating in itself. And how a number of young anarchists met in Paris in the years before the First World War, determined to live their lives to the full, regardless of the consequences.
Paris in 1911 was a city of riots, strikes, and savage repression of the working class. A stronghold of foreign exiles and homegrown revolutionaries, it was also the base of lâanarchie, the outspoken individualist weekly. Lâanarchie drew together people for whom crime and revolution went hand in hand. There was Victor Kibalchich (later known as Victor Serge), whose inflammatory articles would put him on trial with the rest.
Then there was the gang itself: Victorâs childhood friend Raymond-La-Science, the tuberculous André Soudy, the serious-minded René Valet, Simentoff the southerner, and lastly the prime motivators of the groupâ"the remorseless Octave Garnier and the experienced Jules Bonnot. Their robberies, daring and violent, would give them a lasting notoriety in France. Their deaths, as spectacular as their lives, would make them a legend among revolutionaries the world over.
Extensively researched and fully illustrated with rare period photos, drawings, and maps, this updated edition is the best account of the Bonnot Gang to appear in any language.
Richard Parry | talks
Date and Time:
28 October 2016 at 7:00 pm
1 hour
Housmans Bookshop
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Monday, August 8, 2011
Dating Ducks
18 comments:
Hi ChubskulitReplyDelete
I wanna invite you and ur family bloggers to my newest blog Contest...Blog Idol is now on it's 4th year and I'm looking for 12 lucky participants to join this contest... you can win up to 40$ and a one year web hosting package
hope you can join us.
here's the link my friend
Hope you can join us
wow, your eyes are wonderful to see and appreciate a beautiful piece like this that most of us never even realize how beautiful our world is.ReplyDelete
Disney World has its own share of nature wonders. It is a complete world replete with scenes from Disney movies. The lake is so tranquil, a perfect venue for two dating ducks, hehehe. Probably they are Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, hehehe. Thanks for the post. God bless you all always.ReplyDelete
sweet naman ng ducks!LOL!ReplyDelete
visiting from Orange Tuesday..
wow, ang ganda naman ng place, so relaxing...ReplyDelete
here for the hop!
happy OT!
hope you can stop by too, thanks!
the dating ducks are so cute. Kawaii!ReplyDelete
visiting from orange Tuesday
Nice place I'm going to visit that place in my dream.. heheheReplyDelete
Visiting from OT here's mine BBW Hand Sanitizer and Shape Sorter
Disney, donald and ducks :) quite dreamy.ReplyDelete
so great that you found this small interlude amongst all the restReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 9, 2011 at 4:31 PM
someday i'd like to see disney world :) and take tons of photos.ReplyDelete
Love those "dating ducks." What a great title for the series. Your first picture is stunning...typical Disney. They really do it up fine. Nice post. GenieReplyDelete
Lovely watery views...ReplyDelete
The dating ducks look so cute :)
I always enjoy seeing ducks, dating or otherwise:-)ReplyDelete
ganda naman nang mga kuha.ReplyDelete
buti pa mga ducks nakakapag-date, hehehe. nice capture sisReplyDelete
enjoy the rest of the week, he're my OT entry for this week
Oh, the ducks are dating EACH OTHER! Thank goodness.ReplyDelete
ROG, ABC Wednesday team
thaks for joining OT MOmmy Rose..ReplyDelete
tagal ko ng hindi nakakita ng duck..hehehe
Sugarcreek Roadtrips
It's been a while since we last visited Sugarcreek. We used to go there almost every weekend just so we can drive around and see other ...


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|< Spin State
|Russ Allbery > Reviews
|High Couch of Silistra >
|Spin #2
|July 2006
|July 2007
|Mass market
Spin Control is a sequel to Spin State. It jumps a bit into the future and shifts character focus, making it somewhat readable without reading the previous book. Even with having read Spin State, however, I had to refresh my memory for references and characters. Having the background helps.
Spin Control opens from the perspective of one of the Syndicate, the tightly-controlled and cloned, genetically engineered species that spun off from humanity and played an ancillary role in Spin State. Arkady isn't an inspiring protagonist. He's a wide-eyed innocent, rarely in control of anything that happens to him, constantly baffled by humans, and occasionally whining. With that and a slow start, I was a bit worried. Unnecessarily.
After tackling coal mining in the first book of the series, Moriarty turns the audacity up a notch and tackles the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from several hundred years in the future. The war is much the same with some new high-tech twists. It serves as the backdrop of a twisty spy plot that mixes seamlessly with an SF alien virus problem and a relationship story between a human and an AI. Spin Control is as long as Spin State, but this time Moriarty moves somewhat away from the technobabble and fills the book with people and plot.
Putting Israel into a novel like this is a huge risk, even with the mostly uncontroversial "why can't we all get along" message that Moriarty does have. It's hard to drop in something so charged and seem fair. Spin Control's focus is less on the politics (and almost entirely not on the Palestinians) and instead on the human cost of war to the people fighting it and on the bizarre world of Earth politics after technological development and ecological crash leaves Earth as a poor backwater offering water to the rich inhabitants of the orbitals. Arkady has defected to Israel with information about a virus that can be used as a weapon, and Israel is offering him to the highest bidder. Cohen, the AI who features so prominently in Spin State, has his own ties with Israel through his creator and his own past involvement with the Israeli Mossad. The Palestinians are interested, of course, as is the UN and the Americans.
The first part of this book sets the background of Earth through the eyes of Arkady, the innocent, and Cohen and Li, the veterans. Once Moriarty gets warmed up, there are some brilliant bits of description.
"She asked him to close the window. He refused."
The young woman was now actually pulling up her shirt and pointing to her stomach while the ultraorthodox averted his eyes in horror. And the scars weren't cosmetic at all, it turned out; they were old shrapnel wounds.
"Then," Cohen translated on the fly, "he told her to cover up her arms if she was cold. So she told him to fuck off. So he told her to get on the next Ring-bound shuttle if she didn't want to be a real Jew. And now she's shouting about how she spent two years on the Line and she doesn't have to take this shit from some schmuck ultraorthodox draft dodger and how would he like to see her scars. All of them." He grinned, caught between pride and embarassment. "Welcome to Israel."
There's more like this. The battlefield and its effects on the people living near it felt amazingly real.
Israel and Palestine, after centuries of unexpected peace after a bombing of the Temple Mount, have fallen back into an AI-controlled war across a no-man's-land created by the bombing (which, when named, had me laughing too hard to read) and a cold war of intelligence and double-agents. An old friend of Cohen may be one of those agents. Another old friend is the head of Mossad. And Arkady is bumbling about in the middle, trying desperately to understand which side will help him save his lover.
Arkady grew on me as the story continued, particularly once his story (told in flashback) of a Syndicate colonization mission gone wrong picks up steam. The Syndicate is a collective utopia with a huge emphasis on non-hierarchical group dynamics. When materialized as a spaceship crew and analyzed after the fact by Arkady, those group dynamics were surprisingly fascinating. The Syndicate is almost like humans as we know them, but their value structures are just different enough to provide an alienating lens for human interactions that are so familiar we don't pay much attention to them. I wish my college small group dynamics class had been this interesting.
Cohen and Li, though, are the highlights. I was a bit disappointed with the banality of some of their problems, or at least Cohen's reactions to them, but I still love watching them together. Moriarty does an excellent job portraying a relationship that takes place mostly in shared space separate from physical reality, spending time on tricky questions of privacy and identity and adding bits of humor in Li's relationship with some of Cohen's components and associates. The payoff from the climax of of Spin State was much appreciated, and Moriarty has a gift for AI characterization.
Spin Control did bog down a touch towards the end, and I'm not sure that the climax quite measured up to the build-up. Some parts of it were a touch too easy. But Spin Control is even stronger than Spin State, with less pointless technobabble, more humor in what technobabble remained (router/decomposer is a wonderful character), more of the good AI bits from Spin State, and generally more authorial control over the plot. I tend to shy away from complex spy novels because I have to juggle too many names and motives in my head to keep from getting lost, but Moriarty does a great job helping the reader through the plot. And I (as someone who admittedly has never been there and has no direct involvement in it) thought the Israeli and Palestinian setting and background were exceptional.
Highly recommended. I'm curious what genre Moriarty will alloy with, now that we've had a detective story and a spy story, and if the next book can possibly be even better.
Followed by Ghost Spin.
Reviewed: 2007-09-19
|< Spin State
|Russ Allbery > Reviews
|High Couch of Silistra >


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In an effort to meet the No Child Left Behind Act requirements set forth by the U.S. Department of Education, the state of Florida has set forth guidelines for all paraprofessionals. To become and remain a paraprofessional, many requirements have to be met, including testing and continual evaluations. Paraprofessionals can work in a variety of education settings and at various levels depending on a county's needs.
Definition of Paraprofessional
According to the No Child Left Behind Act, a paraprofessional is one who provides assistance and instructional support in a Title I school. A Title I school is defined as a school that receives funding to help reduce the gap between the different levels of family incomes.
A paraprofessional can only work under direct supervision of a certified teacher who plans out her daily duties, who is continually evaluating her performance and is working in close proximity to the teacher.
Roles of a Paraprofessional
Teaching paraprofessionals assist in the instruction of math, reading and writing. Through guidance and supervision of the certified teacher, the paraprofessional can focus on helping students who need a little more attention and help in these areas than the rest of the class.
A non-instructional paraprofessional's role may include personal care services, parental involvement activities, food service, playground and cafeteria supervision, clerical duties, non-instructional computer assistance, non-instructional media center, and library supervision and translation.
Paraprofessionals need to meet three different requirements to receive certification. These requirements are for every paraprofessional working in a Title I school, regardless of hire date.
The requirements are: receipt of an associate degree (discipline doesn't matter); two years of college attendance; or demonstration, through a local academic assessment, of the ability to assist in the instruction of reading, writing and math.
Florida Accepted Assessments
There are only a few assessments accepted to become a certified paraprofessional in the state of Florida. Certification can be earned with a passing grade on the Educational Testing Service Praxis Parapro Assessment or the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST).
The Florida Teacher Certification Examination, General Knowledge Test qualifies if the exam was passed after July 1, 2002. The Educational Testing Service Praxis I: Academic Skills with passing scores prior to July 1, 2002, is also accepted.
The Paraprofessional Exam
The paraprofessional exam consists of 90 questions, with two-thirds of the questions based on basic knowledge and skills and one-third of the questions focusing on classroom techniques.
The test is generally administered online, but a paper version is still available through the Educational Testing Service, as of 2010.
Paraprofessional preparation courses are available through local colleges and universities.
Educational Testing Service ETS – The Praxis Service P.O. Box 6051 Princeton, NJ 08541-6051 800-772-9476 ETS.org/parapro
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Writer Bio
Heather Leigh Landon has been a writer since 1988 when she started her career as a stringer for "The McHenry Star News." Since then she has worked for newspapers such as "The Woodstock Independent," "The Northwest Herald" and "Press Journal." Landon graduated from William Rainey Harper College with an Associate of Applied Science in journalism.


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An event every month that begins at 1:30 pm on day Fourth of the month, repeating indefinitely
This is the fourth Sunday jam. (In December, it is usually held on the second Sunday.) The church's kitchen is still closed; however, we can share bottled or canned drinks and snacks such as cookies and crackers. Music at the jam typically includes bluegrass, old-time, Western swing, country, and sometimes more. The location is United Methodist Church, 19806 Wisteria Street, Castro Valley. The jam is free the first time. $4 for members and $6 for nonmembers, after the first time.