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Vision Statement
We envision a safe community environment made possible by a strong, positive and trusting relationship between the community-at-large and the Gainesville Police Department. We recognize the effective delivery of public safety services requires the police partnering together with its citizens to ensure the safety of all its residents and those visiting our community.
Mission Statement
It is the purpose of the Police Advisory Council to act in an advisory capacity to the Police Department by bringing to their attention feed-back from the community concerning public safety issues and law enforcement needs and actions. To this end the Police Advisory Council is devoted to facilitating the flow of ideas relative to police services for the continued improvement of the quality of life of its citizens.
The Police Advisory Council is tasked with the following objectives:
To increase involvement by the citizens and police in community programs;
To Review and advise the Chief on personnel policy and procedures as requested by the Chief/and or City Manager.
Work to strengthen and ensure, throughout the community, the application of equal protection under law;
To acquaint citizens with the operation of the Gainesville Police Department and its varied activities;
Serve as a panel to discuss closed internal investigations for discussion purposes with regards to what processes may be considered in preventing the occurrence of future activities;
To assist in crime prevention through the distribution of material on crime deterrence;
To generate community interest and involvement in crime prevention, to include community oriented policing and other areas of community relations; and,
Review and make recommendations concerning such other and further matters may be referred to the PAC from time to time by the City Manager or Chief of Police.
If you have any questions, please email email@example.com. Note that the Police Advisory Council meets once a month. You can review meeting minutes below:
Download the PAC's 2014 report to the City Commission on Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED)
You can select more than one file at a time.
Or drag and drop on the blue area below


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- Home
- Your Government
- City Departments
- Community Development Department
- Economic Development
Economic Development
Economic Development Division
- Facilitate private investment by property owners, developers, and businesses, which will benefit the community through increased and diversified tax revenues, access to new local jobs, housing, and goods and services
- Provide customer-friendly, responsive, efficient, and accurate services to developers and businesses
- Use economic development tools to help attract, retain, and improve existing and new businesses, and fiscal conditions in El Cerrito
- Improve the aesthetics of the commercial areas
- Invest in public improvements to serve the community and encourage private investment
- Develop affordable housing programs and projects throughout the community to address the great need for such housing
vision for san pablo avenue
The Economic Development Committee is Recruiting!
The City's Economic Development Committee is looking for new members to help advise City Council on economic development matters, make recommendations on the annual economic development work plan, provide input to other city boards and commissions, review progress towards achieving long range economic development goals, encourage community involvement, and serve as a resource to residents, businesses and other community members.
The Economic Development Committee meets on the 3rd Monday of the month at 7:00p.m. in El Cerrito City Hall's Hillside (upstairs) Conference room. For more information, please visit the Economic Development Committee webpage.
To apply, please submit an application online.
Business Resources
Please visit the links below to find resources for businesses and other services in Contra Costa County:
- U.S. Small Business Administration
- Contra Costa Small Business Development Center
- Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center
- Food Service Technology Center
- East Bay Express Good Local Money Guide (2015)
- CalCAP/ADA – Private loans to small businesses to support Americans with Disabilities Act compliance
- CalCAP/EVCS – Private loans to small businesses to support installation and acquisition of electric vehicle infrastructure
- Market Analytics
- CA Department of Tax & Fee Administration has information about programs, how to register for permits/licenses, and how to file/report correctly.
- CalGold assist business owners in finding permit/contact information for various agencies that administer/issue permits.

subset: commoncrawl


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Developing a behavioural intervention package to identify and amend incorrect penicillin allergy records in UK general practice and subsequently change antibiotic use
Santillo M., Wanat M., Davoudianfar M., Bongard E., Savic S., Savic L., Porter C., Fielding J., Butler CC., Pavitt S., Sandoe J., Tonkin-Crine S.
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. OBJECTIVES: To develop a behavioural intervention package to support clinicians and patients to amend incorrect penicillin allergy records in general practice. The intervention aimed to: (1) support clinicians to refer patients for penicillin allergy testing (PAT), (2) support patients to attend for PAT and (3) support clinicians and patients to prescribe or consume penicillin, when indicated, following a negative PAT result. METHODS: Theory-based, evidence-based and person-based approaches were used in the intervention development. We used evidence from a rapid review, two qualitative studies, and expert consultations with the clinical research team to identify the intervention 'guiding principles' and develop an intervention plan. Barriers and facilitators to the target behaviours were mapped to behaviour change theory in order to describe the proposed mechanisms of change. In the final stage, think-aloud interviews were conducted to optimise intervention materials. RESULTS: The collated evidence showed that the key barriers to referral of patients by clinicians were limited experience of referral and limited knowledge of referral criteria and PAT. Barriers for patients attending PAT were lack of knowledge of the benefits of testing and lack of motivation to get tested. The key barriers to the prescription and consumption of first-line penicillin following a negative test result were patient and clinician beliefs about the accuracy of PAT and whether taking penicillin was safe. Intervention materials were designed and developed to address these barriers. CONCLUSIONS: We present a novel behavioural intervention package designed to address the multiple barriers to uptake of PAT in general practice by clinicians and patients. The intervention development details how behaviour change techniques have been incorporated to hypothesise how the intervention is likely to work to help amend incorrect penicillin allergy records. The intervention will go on to be tested in a feasibility trial and randomised controlled trial in England.


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April 2018 sees a number of significant changes being made to a variety of employment law rules.
Effective from 1st April
Minimum wage rates to be increased
The National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and over will increase from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour.
Other National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will also increase:
- for workers between 21 and 24, the rate will be £7.38
- for workers between 18 and 20, rate will be £5.90
- for those workers under 18 but are above compulsory school age and not Apprentices, the rate will be £4.20; and the rate for Apprentices will be £3.70.
"Family Friendly" Payments to be increased
The weekly amount rate for maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave pay will increase from £140.98 to £145.18.
Effective from 6th April
Increase to Statutory Sick Pay
SSP will to increase to £92.05 per week.
Increase to a week's Statutory Pay
This will increase to £508 per week (from £489 per week).
This figure is relevant for employers who intend to make redundancies on or after 6 April 2018.
Statutory redundancy pay is calculated on a week's statutory pay multiplied by an employee's length of service and is dependent on their age.
- Employees under 22 receive half a week's statutory pay for each year of service up to the age of 21
- Employees aged between 22 and 40 receive one full week's statutory pay for each year of service
- Employees aged 41 and over will receive 1.5 week's statutory pay for each complete year of service
The statutory pay figure is also relevant for employers who are defending a claim for unfair dismissal for dismissal on or after 6 April 2018 as this is the figure a Tribunal will use as a starting point in calculating an award where it agrees that a dismissal is unfair.
Taxation of termination payments
In order to protect themselves against any future claims for unfair dismissal or discrimination by employers when an employee is leaving their employment, employers will sometimes ask their employees to sign a settlement agreement. The effect of a settlement agreement is that in return for a payment being made to an employee, the employee will sign away their rights to pursue a claim against their employer in the employment tribunal.
These payments are called termination payments.
The termination payments usually comprise two elements. A payment in lieu of notice and a severance payment.
The current position is that tax is only payable on the payment in lieu of notice if an employer is contractually entitled to make that payment.
From 6 April, however, all payments which are made in lieu of notice, regardless of whether an employer has a contractual right to make the payment, will be classed as general earnings and will be subject to income tax and Class 1 NICs .
In relation to a severance payment, the current position remains unchanged and tax is only payable on the balance of a severance payment which is over £30,000.


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From October 1 to 6, the international student hockey tournament Student Hockey Challenge 2019 will be held in Barnaul, Russia.
Eight teams will take part in the tournament: UK PRAHA Charles University (Czech Republic, Prague), ACHA Team of the American University Hockey League (USA), UMB University Mateja Bela (Slovakia, Banska Bystrica), PGAFKSiT Volga State Academy of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism (Russia) , Kazan), Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky (Russia, Nizhny Novgorod), "Power" Tambov State University. G.R. Derzhavina (Russia, Tambov), "Polytechnic" South Ural State University (Russia, Chelyabinsk), "Dynamo-Altai-student" team of universities of the Altai Territory (Russia, Barnaul).
The Dynamo Altai-Student team is the winner of the first Student Hockey Challenge tournament, which was held in October 2018 in Krasnoyarsk and was a test event in preparation for the XXIX World Winter Universiade.
The tournament will be supported by the Russian Hockey Federation, the Student Hockey League, the Ministry of Sports of the Altai Territory, CJSC Reduction and Cooling Units, the Council of Rectors of the Altai Territory Universities.
Matches will be held on two ice platforms – "Karandin-Arena" and "Titov-Arena". The opening ceremony will take place on October 1 at 14-30 in the Titov Arena.
Broadcasts on the official channel of the SHL: youtube.com/shlru
Games Schedule


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CRM in Retail Industry
Gone are the days, when we walked into a regular brick and mortar store, looking for a thing and perhaps couldn't find what we're looking for. The journey of fashion is on it's way from "Need" to "Want" and now to "Aspire", as consumers are backed up by the ever growing and changing tech trends. And nowadays many retailers are struggling to achieve or maintain good communications with existing customers and prospective clients. However, retailer's relationship with their customer is the key for repeat visits, brand loyalty and ultimately more sales. How we can create a winning formula? CRM.
Customer Relationship Management ( CRM ) in Retail industry is not a new concept, but it's essential in maintaining one's business. A CRM would act as a central hub that helps you to organize your sales, marketing and customer service process in one place. Here comes, Joforce : An Open Source CRM, which helps you to deliver a personalized top-notch customer experience by aligning all your sales and marketing process in a single unified window.
Centralized dossier
Knowing the complete information about your customer's is the foundation of an expert customer service and it provides retailers with a clear competitive edge. Retailers must be more concerned in storing the informations like customer's contacts, various retailers contacts, stock and sales records and much more. With Joforce, you can maintain all these info in one place which pave the way to easy data access.
Get a holistic view
Get complete insight about sales funnel, planned activities, products, stock quantity, sales pipeline and much more – All in on unifies window. Joforce render an excellent feature of reflecting the information regarding retail industry, sales forecasting, customer lists and much more in a simple diagrammatical form. With an aggregate view, you can perform an accurate analysis and maintain the strategical approach to reach the goals of your organisations.
Free, easy to set up, no credit card required
Stay in touch with customers
Customer loyalty is strongly linked with repeated purchases and also their relative attitudes. Increase the retention of customers by serving them in a more focused and convenient way. To maintain a bond with your customers, Joforce renders feature to maintain each and every bit of details about a customer, hence it helps in reduced searching and correlating customers and to predict customer needs effectively and increase the profits of business.


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Spring is on its way and the busy season is right on its heels. Before you know it, there will be fewer opportunities to plan and schedule a deep spring cleaning.
We're sure you make a point to carefully clean every visible corner of your home when guests check out but we also suspect there are a few places that don't get the same kind of consistent attention.
Is your place ready for the season ramp-up? Here are 5 areas to clean in your vacation rental this spring before things get busy.
1. Inside kitchen and bathroom drawers.
Your bathroom drawers may be fairly easy to open and spot dust, especially because they're most likely to be empty. Kitchen drawers, however, are more likely to have gadgets and cooking tools taking up space and hiding crumbs.
Make a habit of removing all the items from the drawer once a year and using a damp cloth to trap and remove debris from the bottom and corners of drawers.
Don't stop with the kitchen and bathroom – check all the drawers throughout your rental.
2. Under large area rugs.
Your cleaning team makes a habit of vacuuming your large area rugs to remove dust but do they get under the rug to catch dust that's collected below?
If your rug hasn't been moved in a while, roll it up and give the bare floor a good run over with a vacuum or damp mop if your rug is covering a tiled or wood floor. It's not a bad idea to do this quarterly to avoid a significant buildup of allergens and dirt.
3. Behind large appliances.
When was the last time your oven, refrigerator, and washer and dryer were pulled away from the wall? If you're like most homeowners and vacation rental hosts, we're going to guess it's been a while.
It's common for bugs to take up residence and expire behind these fixtures. Though you may not have a "problem" with pests and though your guests don't see them, they're still not houseguests you want hanging around.
Ask your cleaning team to make a point to pull out your appliances and clean behind them. A quick sweep with a vacuum hose or duster should do the trick.
4. Inside the dryer vent.
If you offer your guests the ability to do their laundry, be sure to stay on top of this additional set of machines.
Even the most carefully maintained dryers can suffer from lint buildup, especially in the vent. This can not only cause your dryer to have issues but it can be a fire hazard.
If you're not willing to clean out your own dryer vent and hose on your own, hire a professional HVAC company to do it. Alternatively, dryer hoses are relatively inexpensive; you can simply replace the entire hose altogether.
5. Closet shelving.
When was the last time you wiped down the shelves in your linen closets or pantry? These areas may not get much attention due to their usually being bare, but that doesn't stop them from collecting dust.
Ask your cleaning team to quickly run a dusting wipe over them to trap loose dust that has settled over the course of the year. While you're at it, check your kitchen cabinet shelves, too. Leave no spot undusted!
Don't wait to get these things marked off your cleaning list. Though they're important, take solace in knowing that you won't need to revisit these anytime soon.
Feeling overwhelmed by adding these items to your cleaning list? Let MaidThis! handle your turnover cleanings for you! We'll get you set up and ready for your next check-in in no time.


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This post was originally published on this site
You know what's better than beer? Cheaper beer.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA BUD, +0.29% , the world's largest brewer, found a way to buy some beer brands it knows well — including the Kona Brewing Co. and Redhook Brewery — for less than it could have just a few months ago, according to a Monday announcement. The maker of Budweiser and a host of other beers said that it plans to buy the nearly 70% of Craft Brew Alliance Inc. that it doesn't already own for $16.50 a share.
While that price is more than double Craft Brew's BREW, +0.55% closing price of $7.33, it is lower than the going rate for shares as recently as July. Craft Brew shares dove hard in August and into September, after AB InBev decided not to buy the company for a previously agreed-upon higher price.
In 2016, AB InBev and Craft Brew struck a long-term partnership for distribution and other initiatives that included an option for AB InBev to buy Craft Brew for an increasing price — $22 a share within a year, $23.50 a share in year two and $24.50 a share in year three. At the end of three years, if AB InBev had not agreed to make the purchase, it agreed to pay Craft Brew $20 million.
Last summer, as the rise of White Claw clouded the value of beer assets, AB InBev chose the latter option, forking over $20 million and foregoing its option to buy the company. After trading roughly between $12 and $21 a share since the deal was struck, Craft Brew shares plunged to less than $8 in the two-plus months since the acquisition failed to take place.
That gave AB InBev — which has purchased a number of craft-beer brands in recent years as it seeks to capitalize on the popularity of such brews with discerning drinkers — a chance to buy at a discount, even though it may not seem that way judging solely by the stock's closing price and the acquisition price. AB InBev already owned 31.2% of Craft Brew Alliance, so it will pay roughly $221 million at a valuation of more than $320 million for the company, if the deal goes through; even with the $20 million payment, it is saving millions from what the 2016 deal would have required it to pay.
AB InBev expects to buy the shares with cash, as long as the deal is approved by the other Craft Brew shareholders. The companies said they expect the deal to close next year.
See also: World's largest brewer replaces paper labels with 'tattoos' on bottles
Craft Brew has focused on pushing Kona Brewing beers through the larger distribution and manufacturing footprint that its deal with AB InBev afforded, putting the Hawaiian brewer's Longboard Lager and other offerings in grocery stores throughout the U.S. Other brands belonging to the Portland, Ore., collective include Widmer Brothers, Redhook and Omission Brewing Co., which focuses on gluten-free beers.
"Kona is a scarce asset whose value is partially obscured by declines with Widmer and Red Hook brands," MKM Partners analyst Bill Kirk wrote in a September note that initiated the company at a buy rating with a $16 price target. "We estimate that Kona alone is worth ~$350mn to equity holders, or ~80% upside to the current share price. This unrealistically implies significant negative value for Widmer and Red Hook."
Craft Brew shares jumped more than 120% in after-hours trading Monday, following the announcement. AB InBev's U.S.-traded shares were quiet in the extended session.


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Welcome spring in by making some changes to your landscape! These trends are still in play and are worth the investment. What are they? Let's find out!
The Backyard Living Space
One super popular trend involves building up your backyard. Turn it into another living space as the temperatures warm up and you want to get some fresh air. It can be a great place to relax through the spring, summer, and fall, and you have at least the deck enclosed, then you can go outside to take in the view without feeling like you need to go outside! Don't forget about water features or fire features to help bring it up a notch!
A Diverse Garden
Another idea is to expand and diversify your garden. For example, you can start growing lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots or other types of food along with the flowers and trees you use to help boost the curb appeal of your front yard or to make your backyard more colorful than it used to be! Pot up some herbs or use hanging planters to take advantage of vertical growing techniques even when you have a small yard.
Using Focal Points
Yet another suggestion we have for you is to try to use focal points as anchors for your yard. Mix and match some hardscaping features like retaining walls, stone benches, other fire features for those chillier days, and planters installed on statement walls to help draw the eye of all your visitors at some point in early summer.
Going Low Maintenance
Finally, try going lower maintenance with all of your landscaping features. Put some perennial plants in your garden so that they will grow back every year without much input from you. Also, use an irrigation system so you don't have to walk around and water everything by hand, which can get exhausting.
All of Your Landscaping Needs from Atlantic Maintenance Group
Atlantic Maintenance Group is a full-service landscaping company, providing maintenance, design, and construction, as well as snow removal, and asphalt and concrete services. We are your source for complete landscape and facility maintenance for commercial and residential properties throughout Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. We are a self-performing landscaping company, meaning we don't hire subcontractors, and senior management is involved with every project. Our highly trained team of professionals receives constant, ongoing education on the latest industry trends, updates, and safety measures. This ensures we can deliver outstanding customer service and results to our clients, regardless of the size of your job.
To get your free quote today, give us a call at 410-768-4720 or contact us via our website today. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to see how we're growing!


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Book an appointment with our Vancouver paint correction experts. We'll inspect your vehicle and provide an estimate.
Paint correction is a broad term used to describe the removal or dramatic reduction of many car paint imperfections, including: car scratches, swirl marks and so called "spider webbing" marks, acid etching, oxidation and fading. The majority of these imperfections are contained within the clear coat – the transparent top coat above your vehicle's paint layer. During paint correction, a technician removes these imperfections from the clear coat by cut-polishing and wet sanding, then finishes the process by applying a protective ceramic coating that hardens the clear coat and thickens the protective layer – safeguarding against future scratches, etching and fading. Gleamworks Detailing uses System X ceramic coating, which not only protects the car's finish, but also results in a dazzling, reflective, high-gloss finish.
The services most often requested by our Vancouver and Richmond paint correction clients are car scratch repair and paint touch ups. As described above, if car scratches are at a shallow to moderate depth within the clear coat (and most are), they can usually be completely removed by "compounding" (cut polishing) and wet sanding. If scratches are deep – penetrating the paint layer beneath the clear coat – cut polishing followed by a ceramic coating dramatically obscure scratches, making them difficult to detect and making costly repainting or paint touch-ups unnecessary.
Car polishing is part of Ceramic Coating packages and some detailing packages.
Gleamworks uses special solutions that dissolve tar and soils, oily road grime, old wax, soap scum and water spots. We then rinse your car using a special no-rinse car washing product, which leaves no soap scum or residue.
Your vehicle's clear coat is compounded (cut polished), removing thin layers of top coat and the imperfections they contain. In addition to cut polishing with a rotary polisher, hand wet sanding may be used in more difficult areas. 2 or more cuts of compounding may be necessary to remove the majority of scratches, swirl marks and oxidation marks. We always leave at least 20 microns of clear coat untouched, so your car's paint layer remains protected.
Finish polishing with a rotary polishing machine and microscopic abrasives suspended in liquid or paste removes micro-scratches and remaining imperfections, leaving a smooth, shiny surface that is ready for a protective coating.
Swirl marks can be removed with compounding and final polishing.
Scratches that are at a safe depth within the clear coat will be removed by cut-polishing with compounding. Cut polishing, polishing and coating dramatically reduce the appearance of deep scratches that are within the paint layer itself.
Yes we can. Acid etching from bird droppings (and other chemicals) is usually superficial damage in the clear coat and not in the paint layer. Compounding and/or wet sanding will remove the acid etching.
For paint correction pricing, view Gleamworks Opti-Coat packages and auto detailing packages. Paint correction is a vital part of these services.
Paint correction and car scratch repair can take anywhere from a half day to three days, depending on the amount of surface damage and the type of package you choose.
Gleamworks is located in an area that is convenient to both Vancouver and Richmond residents. Our clients come to us from all over the Lower Mainland, including Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey and Burnaby.
Gleamworks Detailing & Ceramic Coating
By appointment only.
5-8855 Laurel Street,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6P 3V9.
View a map and directions.


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Swap your face with celebrities, make funny memes and gifs with the Reface app!
🎭 Reface is the top-rated face swap app
Be a wizard or a pop star. Become a celebrity look alike by swapping your face with trending movie and TV clips, or have fun and replace your face with memes using our face editor and face morphing technology, as people all over the world enjoy Reface as a hilarious meme maker.
Let's cut to the chase—Reface app was chosen as one of the Best Apps for Fun of 2020 in Google Play - . Reface app is also advanced, fun and well-known worldwide. Combined with a daily-updated wealth of source videos, gifs and pictures, you can make ridiculously realistic face swap videos and gifs with just a single selfie. Reface will absolutely floor you as you morph your face, switch it with celebrities, and become a new person in popular TV and movie clips.
Wait, what is faceswap?
Faceswap technology is more than just face swapping. With Reface's faceswap, your selfie is mapped onto another face in an eerily realistic way, with convincing facial expressions and movements that truly look like you. Use our face changer to see what it's like to have your face in starring roles, famous videos, and more. How do we do it? If we told you, we'd have to kill you, but know that the results are absolutely astonishing.
"If you want to show your friends and family some sincerely cursed GIFs, consider giving this a try. We're not responsible if they dissociate from you."- Mashable
Faceswap yourself
Ruin reality. Freak out friends. Mess with mates. Paste your face onto your favorite superhero, TV star, celebrity, or meme gif, and share it on social media or with friends as a video, photo, or gif. Change your gender, morph faces, and perform advanced face swap face merges with our state of the art face changer, then share your creation with the world and blow their minds.
Here's what you can do with Reface:
- Swap your face to celebrities or movie characters with our amazing faceswap technology.
- Play with live face swaps, gender swaps.
- Be amazed by the face changer.
- Share your awesome face swapped clip or funny meme as a gif or video to messengers and social media.
- Try face swaps with new videos and gifs posted every day.
Top 5 app in over 100 countries
Reface is renowned in over 100 countries as the premiere face swap app.


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Zika Attacks Nerves, Muscles, Other TissuesMonkey study may help pinpoint where the virus does damage
Thursday, March 9, 2017
THURSDAY, March 9, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists have learned where the Zika virus attacks the body in monkeys.
In their study, researchers saw that the virus invades tissues in the nervous system, reproductive and urinary tracts, lymph nodes, muscles and joints.
Zika then persists in these tissues for at least 35 days, the researchers reported.
"This study helps us better understand how the virus manifests itself so that scientists can develop therapies and vaccines that could work in humans," said study author Daniel Streblow, from Oregon Health & Science University's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. He is an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology.
"What is different about this research is that we also were able to look at specific points in time to see where the virus grew in the tissues, not just the blood, so we can identify and target the reservoirs where the virus hides," Streblow explained in a university news release.
The new research significantly advances what's known about the growth of the virus during the early stages of infection through a month after the infection, Streblow added.
The research was done with seven rhesus macaque monkeys. Experts note that studies involving animals sometimes fail to produce the same results in humans.
The study was published March 9 in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
SOURCE: Oregon Health & Science University, news release, March 9, 2017
Copyright (c) 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
News stories are written and provided by HealthDay and do not reflect federal policy, the views of MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- More Health News on:
- Zika Virus


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March 5, 2013
The many (impossible?) challenges of federal child pornography sentencingThe title of this post is inspired in part by the US Sentencing Commission's recent report, which highlights many of the flaws with the current child porn sentencing guidelines and set forth a number of ideas and needs for effective reform (basics here and here). But what is really driving it is this new local article reporting on a federal sentencing in Maine, headlined "'There will be no more victims,' judge tells man at child pornography sentencing." First, here are the basics of the sentencing story:
"There will be no more victims of Walter Mosher," a federal judge told the 65-year-old convicted sex offender Monday in sentencing him to more than a dozen years in prison for possessing child pornography.
U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Walter A. Mosher Jr. of Hampden to 12 years and seven months behind bars. The judge also ordered him to remain on supervised release for life when he is released.
Mosher is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday at the Penobscot Judicial Center on one count of gross sexual assault. Mosher reported to police through his attorney that he molested a boy under the age of 14 between Feb. 1, 2011 and March 1, 2012, according to the sentencing memorandum filed in federal court by his attorney, Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor. Mosher pleaded guilty to the Class A crime Nov. 21 at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
Under the federal sentencing guidelines, Woodcock was allowed to consider Mosher's recent guilty plea as "relevant conduct" in connection with the possession of child pornography charge, even though the victim was not depicted in the images found on Mosher's computer. The federal judge focused on the sexual abuse of the child as he directed his comments at Mosher.
"There are some cases in this court that cry out for justice and yours is one of them," Woodcock told Mosher shortly before sentencing him. "This was an inexplicable and hideous violation of trust. What we've seen today is just the tip of the iceberg of pain you have caused." A parent of the victim told the judge that Mosher needed "to go away, and go away for a very long time."
Mosher was required to register as a sex offender because he was convicted in 1986 in Aroostook County Superior Court in Houlton in connection with the molestation or abuse of 15 minors, according to the sentencing memorandum. Since serving 11 years on the 1986 charges, Mosher was not charged with another crime until he was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 15, 2012, according to court documents.
In an emotional statement, Mosher described in graphic detail how he was sexually abused as a child by a female relative. He said that when he committed his earlier crimes, he was going through a divorce and drinking heavily. "I am deeply ashamed and sorry for what I have done," he told Woodcock. "I don't know why I have done these things. I have no idea how I got to a place to do these horrible things."
Mosher has been held without bail since his arrest the day after he was indicted. Mosher pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in June in federal court. According to court documents, Mosher's computer contained images of child pornography, specifically digital images and videos that were produced using minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct....
Because of his 1986 convictions, Mosher faced a minimum of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000. On the gross sexual assault charge, Mosher faces up to 30 years in state prison and a fine of up to $50,000.
Even without knowing any more that these most basic details about the defendant in this case or the particulars of his crime, it is easy to see all the tough questions facing Chief Judge Woodcock: e.g., should the defendant's federal child porn sentence here be longer (or shorter) given that he is surely soon to get a lengthy state sentence for gross sexual assault? should the defendant's recidivism at such an advanced age mean that a federal sentence now should try to ensure Mosher dies in prison, or should the sentence at least offer the defendant a glimmer of hope that he might be able to be free again in his 80s? With the facts of the criminal and the defendants criminal history so troublesome, should the defendant get much (if any) credit for pleading guilty and accepting responsibility?
I could go on and on highlighting all these challenges in this one case, but what really caught my attention when reviewing this article was these notably disparate headlines below the piece noting "similar articles":
- "New Gloucester man sentenced to 25 years on child porn charges"
- "Old Orchard Beach man gets 1 year and 1 day for possessing child porn"
In turn, a quick search for headlines from the same local Maine paper (the Bangor Daily News) revealed these additional sentencing headlines concerning the disposition of child porn charges over just the last 24 months:
- "Berwick man gets 7 years for possessing child pornography"
- "Bangor lawyer suspended from practicing gets six months for child pornography"
- "Former Newport man sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for having child pornography"
- "Fort Fairfield man sentenced to five years in federal prison for possessing child porn"
- "Sanford man gets nearly 30-year sentence on child porn charges"
- "Ex-kindergarten teacher gets 16 years on child porn charge"
- "Ex-state prosecutor sentenced to 16 years for child porn offenses"
A quick click through to a number of these article reveals that there are a number of striking parallels as well as a number of striking differences in the offenses and offenders in these cases. Nevertheless, I still find notable and telling that even in a small and seemingly homogeous federal district like Maine, here is an accounting of the number of months in prison given to 10 child pornography offenders (going from lowest to highest sentence):
6 months; 12 months; 60 months; 84 months; 151 months; 192 months; 192 months; 240 months; 300 months; 340 months
The point of my post here is not to assert or even suggest that any of these referenced sentences is right or wrong or should be higher or lower. Without spending a lot more time looking through the facts of all these cases, I think it is extremely hard to reach even a tentative conclusion about this pattern of sentencing result. But that is my main broader point: there is, of course, a pressing interest and enduring goal for everyone involved to try to determine the "right" sentence in federal child pornography cases not only in each individual case, but also across a range of cases. But, these cases all necessarily raise so many important and challenging issues, I wonder and worry if the goal to get federal child pornography sentencing "just right" is a kind of "fool's gold" that many will pursue at a great cost but ultimately with little of value to show from the pusuit.
Recent related posts:
- US Sentencing Commission releases big new report on federal child porn sentencing
- Doesn't the new USSC report necessarily rebut any appellate "presumption of reasonableness" for within-guideline child porn sentences?
March 5, 2013 at 11:41 AM | Permalink
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The fundamental problem is that there is no underlying coherency to the so-called crimes that these people have committed. We see this not only in the random nature of sentencing but also in the imbroglio dealing with the issue of restitution for child porn victims. So I interpret your point Doug as "it is a waste of time to try and make sense out of the nonsensical". I agree. The better solution, however, is to get rid of the nonsense that are child porn laws to begin with.
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 5, 2013 12:14:39 PM
This will continue to be a problem until the law recognizes that accountability and risk are separate issues. Age is not a factor when holding offenders accountable, but it is a consideration with respect to risk. Risk decreases with age. Deprivations are used as to each. That deprivation that is most restrictive should control at any given point in time.
The current system is a historical relic.
Posted by: Tom McGee | Mar 5, 2013 12:58:05 PM
Risk is probability times loss. So one necessary step in any risk calculation is defining the loss. If there is no loss there is no risk because any number times zero is zero.
In child pron there is no agreement as to whether there is in fact a loss and if so what type it is. Is the loss to the defendant whose mind becomes corrupted? Is the loss to society? Is there a loss to the victim? This is the core of problem with restitution and the debate about proximate cause. If harm (loss) cannot be quantified then risk cannot be quantified and if risk can not be quantified then it is gobbledegook to keep using the word.
So what is the loss in the child porn context? It cannot be defined rationally let alone quantitatively. So risk is not an apposite concept in this context.
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 5, 2013 1:47:12 PM
Sometimes we just have to see what's in front of our face. Mosher is a serial child molestor, and at 65, we all know perfectly well that he isn't going to stop. He still uses as an excuse alleged abuse that happened (if it happened at all) 50 or 60 years ago. And he lies about it as well. He says, to quote the article, "I don't know why I have done these things."
What a crock. He knows perfectly well why he does them. Because he gets off on it.
There is simply no use in poking through this guideline or that. Under the law (Booker/Gall/Kimbrough) the guidelines are advisory only. Usually that means that the judge is free to give, and typically (when a departure is granted) does give, a below-guideline sentence. What it means this time is that he's free to give an above guideline sentence. SCOTUS didn't say that the judges' expanded discretion had to be used in only one direction (much as the NACDL would like to think otherwise).
As I said, what we're dealing with here is a serial child molestor who had a chance to stop. But he didn't, and he's not going to.
The court got this one just right. Bye, bye, Mr. Mosher.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 5, 2013 2:23:30 PM
By risk, I am referring to the risk that an offender will commit another crime. No one can predict with complete accuracy that a person will commit another crime of the same or a different kind. The best that can be done is to predict that risk within a probability range; e.g., X chances out of 100. The State must decide what level of risk is acceptable. If this cannot be done for political or other reasons, then risk should be taken off the table. Of course, the public will suffer the consequences.
Intuitive, rather than statistical risk determinations are really bad, as confirmed by research.
As it is now, we hide the risk question inside of some other poorly articulated sentencing objective, which is a form of sentencing double-talk. Then we complain about disparity.
Posted by: Tom McGee | Mar 5, 2013 2:26:54 PM
Every prosecution is another opportunity to destroy the life of a lawyer traitor. The federal government is the biggest downloader of child porn. Without their massive subscription amounts, child porn producers would go out of business. The illegality of child porn also raises the costs and profits for organized crime syndicates severely abusing innocent children. The illegality also promotes the abuse of real children in the vicinity of the pedophiles, family members, children entrusted to them, or strangers. Most prosecutors today are feminists or their male running dogs, seeking te assets of productive males for jealousy, hatred, and profits to the criminal cult enterprise that is the lawyer profession. Thus, there should be no quarter in the war against the lawyer war machine.
The opening salvo pushing back should be to demand total e-discovery of all prosecutor personal and work computers to look for an improper motive. If the judge refuses this reasonable request, make the same discovery request of the judge. Refer all child porn found to the FBI. The discovery should include recovery of all erased files.
Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Mar 5, 2013 11:42:38 PM
sorry I am with bill here. 11 in 86 then 2011 another child and now in 2012 child porn? Good bye. LWOP would work just fine!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 6, 2013 12:57:08 AM
my big question is why was this not done in 2011 when the new child's charge?
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 6, 2013 12:58:23 AM
From where I sit you seem to be making the assumption that because society has defined something as a crime by definition there must be a loss because if there wasn't a loss there would be no crime. Nonsense. One cannot solve the intuitive problem with circular reasoning. It is error to assert that risk of re-offending= probability of committing crime times(x) crime. All that does is collapse the risk into probability. Risk!=probability; Risk=probability X loss.
The accuracy of society's ability to predict is not at issue; it is a irrelevant concern because probability is only one half of the risk equation. Loss is the other half. And by definition loss must be something other than the commission of a crime. To state it mathematically, if Risk(Z)=Probability (K) x Loss (L) then "crime" or "offense" cannot simultaneously be the criterion for Z, and K, and L.
Posted by: Daniel | Mar 6, 2013 12:42:50 PM
I am not sure I understand your comment. Please let me explain. The Target Problem is Antisocial Behavior, which is a very complex social problem. People have great difficulty with complex problems so they simplify, by responding to easier, included Heuristic Problems. Heuristics are devices that are used to simplify, in this case the Representativeness Heuristic. Crimes are Heuristic Problems. They are representations of the Target Problem (Antisocial Behavior).
Decision-makers respond to these Heuristic Problems. Not only crimes, but criminal offenses and the offenders risk of committing another crime are Heuristic Problems. All three are representations of the Target Problem. Decision-makers must respond to all three of these representations of the Target Problem in order to correct the core problem. This means that the state must have a way of combining the state's responses to each. Each response includes an objective, strategy and set of tactics; i.e., restraints, requirement and takings, all of which are deprivations.
This description of the task is based on the work of Daniel Kahenman, who received the Nobel Prize in 2002. It is summarized in his recent book, Thinking Fast and Slow.
Posted by: Tom McGee | Mar 6, 2013 4:02:58 PM
Skimming quickly through those articles, it doesn't necessarily look like this is an arbitrary distribution of punishment. For one thing, although the non-lawyer reporters (writing for a non-legal audience) lump all of these cases under the umbrella of "child porn," in fact it seems that there were likely different crimes committed.
For example, the year-and-a-day case says that the man simply had some images on his computer (possession, possibly receipt), and it implies that the government endorsed, to some extent, his explanation that he had downloaded them out of curiosity (that sounds like something that wouldn't usually be very plausible, but maybe it really was just a handful of images and dates, which is unusual for an often-compulsive behavior). On the other hand, the man who received 25 years was *producing* pornography involving himself and a 4-year-old, and *distributing* it on the internet. Similarly, the man who got 30 years was also directly producing new images and distributing them (rather than simply viewing pre-existing images). It seems to me that is sort of an apples-and-oranges situation.
Another factor that seems relevant is that there seem to be some obvious aggravating and/or mitigating circumstances in many of the cases. For example, the two 16-year sentences involved defendants who had been in positions of trust -- a prosecutor, a kindergarten teacher. The 20-year sentence involved a man who had a history of actual sexual assaults on minors (as opposed to more passive internet viewing of photos).
In the low/middle end of the range, the 7-year sentence was for only possession, but it was possession of thousands and thousands of images. The 5-year sentence was also only possession, but the defendant had been employed at an after-school program for children. (As for the sixth-month case, it pleaded because of proof problems, and more importantly it was in *state* court so really isn't a relevant comparator.)
I'm not saying there aren't problems with child porn sentencing. But I don't know that this set of examples is the best way to illustrate those problems. You can always second-guess a discretionary sentence, but I actually don't think this range of facts and outcomes seem particularly arbitrary or nonsensible. On the contrary, it seems pretty easy to identify rational factors that would explain the variation (mere possession is less serious than production/distribution; a few images is less serious than many; abuse of a position of power or trust makes a crime against children especially serious; evidence that the defendant has acted on sexual feelings for children in the past, rather than simply indulging in fantasy on the internet, makes the danger of recidivism/risk of future harm/need to protect society much more serious).
Posted by: anon | Mar 6, 2013 4:16:21 PM
The disparity in sentencing is probably dependent on whether the defendant has any previous convictions or allegations of child molestation in his PSR. Then the whole punishment is focused on the charges of molestation and the defendant is toast. I have no problem with defendants being severely punished for molesting kids, but I do have a problem with such charges being boot-strapped with the child porn charges. The defendant is ordered to admit all his prior molesting in the PSR, but receives a worse sentence for doing so. Is this a 5th or 6th Amendment violation? Or else prior molesting may merely be alleged in the PSR without being proved in trial.
Posted by: Alan Winograd | Mar 6, 2013 6:43:50 PM
Alan Winogard --
The whole point of the Booker remedy -- making the guidelines advisory, which the defense bar loves -- was to avoid the other remedy, i.e., to require proof BRD of sentencing facts. The Court explicitly rejected the latter, leaving the preponderance standard and the real offense system intact.
Not that it makes a difference here. The defendant admits he's a serial molestor, so putting him away for a hefty amount of time is, as you note, really not a problem.
He's 65 and not going to change. At this point, the whole purpose of sentencing has to be just to protect future victims.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 6, 2013 8:12:10 PM
You hit it right on the head there Bill!
I'm all for giving a first time offender a change with successful treatment program and supervision while the treatment is being done.
But this guy is at a minimum a 3 time loser if we just count the 3 diff set's of charges.
If we count vic's then the number jumps to 12 minimum!
Like I said LWOP works just fine. In his case the only question is does he serve it in a regular prison or go right to a specialty geriactic one!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 6, 2013 9:54:54 PM
Bill Otis:
The point is that this sentence was a coarse-grained approximation that was based on the judge's intuition. It does not differentiate between the several different ways to represent the target problem: e.g., crime, criminal offense and risk of recidivism. It controls the duration of restraint, but only roughly controls its level. One's intuition may differ substantially from public policy.
It should have been a fine-grained determination based on reason and public policy.
Most judges are pretty good at intuitive decision-making. Reasoned-decision making is another matter, especially when the problem is highly complex as here. It calls for training and collaboration with other decision-makers in the process. Judges can't fix the target problem all by themselves.
Posted by: Tom McGee | Mar 7, 2013 5:34:29 PM
What complex problem tom?
In this case we have an individual who has had three diff chances to get treatment to fix his impulse control and learn to behave in normal society!
He's failed all 3 times. BYE-BYE!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 7, 2013 10:42:09 PM
Sorry Two diff chances! this is strike 3!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 7, 2013 10:43:17 PM
Antisocial behavior is the Target Problem, which is a very complex social problem. Crimes are representations of the Target Problem, or what cognitive scientists call Heuristic Problems. Of course, there are other ways to represent the problem; i.e., criminal offenses and the offenders risk of recidivism. The criminal law oversimplifies, thereby missing the point.
Posted by: Tom McGee | Mar 8, 2013 1:22:56 AM
Tom McGee --
"The criminal law oversimplifies, thereby missing the point."
With all respect, Mr. McGee, you overcomplexify, thereby missing the point.
This guy is a serial child molestor who, at 65, isn't going to stop. The only serious "point" of the sentencing should be to put him out of business by incarceration, since he has spent years showing that nothing else works. During those years, child victims have paid the price for all this needless complexity you would inject into the sentencing process.
Some sentencings are complex, true. This one isn't. Rodsmith is right on the money.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 8, 2013 8:47:26 AM
Bill Otis--
With all due respect, I think it is better to be smart about this problem then ham-handed. Please let me go at this again, but in a more complete way.
The target problem is antisocial behavior, which is a very complex and difficult problem. Decision-makers cannot process complex problems of this kind without simplifying them, thereby approaching them in several different ways. Heuristics are the means we use for this purpose. There is a large literature on this subject if you care to check it out. So we have the target problem, which is represented by several heuristic problems. Crimes, criminal offenses and the risk that a person will commit another crime are heuristic problems.
We penalize people for committing crimes. Penalties are fixed before the fact at a time when the problem is not fully knowable. Punishments are fixed after the fact at a time when the problem has become fully knowable. Crimes and offenses do not change once thy are established. People who commit criminal offenses are known to have a risk of committing another crime. But this risk is changeable. So here we have an argument for taking action. It has a priming premise, base premise and conclusion. This argument puts the offender in jeopardy.
Penalties, punishment and risk management are the three core approaches that are used to correct the target problem; namely, antisocial behavior. All three are needed in most cases. That approach that imposes the greatest restraint should control at any given point in time. Deprivations are recursive; i.e., less restrictive deprivations fit within more restrictive deprivations.
Your approach to sentencing is coarse-grained; I am proposing a more fine-grained approach. In this case we would both arrive at about the same place, but a fine-grained approach would be far more sensitive to the nuances in public policy. The restraints imposed could be graduated. In short, it is manageable.
Posted by: Tom McGee | Mar 8, 2013 1:48:36 PM
I will give you this tom!
"The target problem is antisocial behavior, which is a very complex and difficult problem."
LOL always a but!
He's had two diff chances to get treatment to fix or at least learn to control his behavior. Sorry but now it's BYE-BYE time. I know sex offender stats big time. The illegal sex offender registration program is a real biggie with me.
I know that 90% of all sex crimes are First time offenders no registry in the universe will stop!
but I also know that 10-15% are the worse of the worst that nothing but prison will fix!
This guy is def part of that 15%
The fact that 80-95% Never reoffend tell me it's not that fucking hard to stop!'
So this guy is either beyond help or just doesn't give a shit if he get's caught!
Either way he's OUT!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 8, 2013 8:13:36 PM
You know we've now killed Erika bill! If she's reading this the shock has killed her!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 8, 2013 8:17:28 PM
rodsmith --
I never quite know what to make of Erika. She's one of the smarter, and crazier, and more left-wing commenters in these parts. In some ways she reminds me of SC -- a lot of potential, almost all of it undone by a somewhere-outside-of-earth perspective.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Mar 10, 2013 11:47:44 AM
oh i agree bill. But i think she's a little farther off the path than SC. At least he is aiming at a real target!
Posted by: rodsmith | Mar 10, 2013 11:55:43 PM
Is looking at a picture the same as molesting a child? OF COURSE NOT, but in the eyes of the law it is. Someone who looks at CP needs mental help, they are people cursed with terrible genes / childhood and made a mistake of caving into their demons. USA should take the stance of other countries and provide help for these individuals.
Should molestation / rape of children go unpunished? Of course not! But its not the same as looking at a photo
Posted by: Shane | Jan 3, 2014 10:08:44 AM
If the simple act of viewing a Child pornography image is harmful perhaps an appropriate punishment would be to simply take a image of the perpetrator in jail, then set them free, but have some look at the image that was taken while they they were in jail; same LOGIC. The government erroneously believes people under 18 have no sexuality so they must wait until they are magically transformed into sexual beings on their 18th birthday even though in some states a child can legally at 15 drive a three ton bullet while kids younger than 8 are on firing ranges shooting guns. It seems as though children are given adult responsibility rather early compared to sexual responsibility.
We are a nation of VICTIMS brought to you by our GOVERNMENT legislators who are unable to do anything productive in Congress but find bipartisanship in child bills. Those who profit from child abuse is the multi BILLION dollar Child Abuse Industry that consists of THOUSANDS of ORGANIZATIONS with high paid CEO's and staff which is full of nefarious individuals that must convince both us and their victims that everything is abuse. News media, therapists, prosecutors, judges, lawyers and sex police. Thousands of jobs depend on maximizing claims of abuse.
Even the entertainment industry jumped on board where, Johan Schlüter head of the Danish Anti-Piracy Group remarked, "Child pornography is great," and he said enthusiastically. "Politicians do not understand file sharing, but they understand child pornography, and they want to filter that to score points with the public. Once we get them to filter child pornography, we can get them to extend the block to file sharing. We must filter the Internet to win over online file sharing. But politicians don't understand that file sharing is bad, and this is a problem for us. Therefore, we must associate file sharing with child pornography. Because that's something the politicians understand, and something they want to filter off the Internet. Child pornography is an issue they understand." Schlüter grinned broadly. " FOLLOW THE MONEY
Former CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Ernie Allen, to command a salary among the highest in the nonprofit world. In 2008, the latest year for which NCMEC records are available, Allen made $511,069 as head of the center and its international affiliate. He also received $787,126 in deferred compensation and underfunded retirement benefits, as well as $46,382 in nontaxable benefits for a total of $1,344,567. Allen's base salary was higher than that of the top executives of two other nonprofits, the American Red Cross and the Smithsonian Institution, that also get substantial funding from the U.S. government. Both have budgets many times greater than that of NCMEC who see children in a way you can't,and never want to; they see children as perverted dollar signs and a way to exploit their sick thinking and the public at large in there public, private corporate endeavor. NCMEC is deceptive where Journalists and pseudo- scientific researchers use patently false criminal accusations that have become an accepted weapon to advance a their political agenda. Instead we have a private sector driven by child charities that sells the government into going after a declining incest problem.
Also all the research that law enforcement uses to put people in jail is coming under fire from those very researchers and a hand full of judges who did their own research instead of relying on, "What everybody knows". A group of academics convinced Law Enforcement of the harms associated with children using pre internet research on a post internet society. Thousands are in prison based on those opinions which they now say is wrong and faulty; tell that to the people behind bars and the family's that were ruined kids left parent-less, mortgages left unpaid along with their debit. Thousands of peoples lives have been destroyed via this witch hunt where a person that observes a digital image that has no form or life is sent to prison when the law gives those images or objects a force a power to indwell within is in essence practicing voo-doo. To make things easy images unseen in a computer file that have nor hold no power to communicate are brought into the courtroom nevertheless. Before long, the people are ensnared by the compulsion to give power to a thing of their own definition.. Amy Adler, Associate Professor at the New York University School of Law states, "Everything becomes Child Pornography in the eyes of the law, clothed children, coy children, children in settings where children are found, perhaps children themselves become pornographic". IN FACT In REALITY The majority of pedophiles get more sexual gratification from a Sears Catalog than pornography. It is RARE someone records their crime.
When someone searches on a Peer to Peer (P2P) filesharing software it typically works as follows: initially, the user downloads a software program onto his own computer or Internet-enabled device that permits the individual to share and download files from the P2P network. Upon installation, the software typically creates two folders on the user's computer by default: an "incomplete" folder, which contains pending downloads, and a "shared" folder, which contains fully downloaded files which are not readily available to the user unless they know how to search for them; until then the file remains hidden to the user in the, "AppData file". Any files downloaded to, or other files placed in, the shared folder are immediately made available for sharing with all other users on the P2P network. When someone searches for lets say the word "teen" they are flooded with images to download: however they don't know if the images are what they asked for and they don't know until they open the file and by then its too late law enforcement software has already pick up the Ip address of the downloader. Then law enforcement goes to a secret FISA court to obtain a search warrant for the IP address.
Posted by: Frank Gillice BSc | May 1, 2015 12:01:53 PM


text:
It is far from irrelevant as long as there are legal definitions for the Green Party in the State of California. It is not irrelevant as long as there is a legal relationship with the Green Party of the United States. If it has become completely irrelevant, then that would mean that the GPCA has become irrelevant and I will not accept that judgement.
However, the CC may not have much of a say as to what happens with the Green Party if effective leadership asserts itself at some other levels. There is a wide range of entities within GPCA that do not need any official sanction from the CC in order to operate.
County Councils operate on their own to reflect Green Values at a level just above the community. As such, they should be developing their own programs, finding their own candidates and establishing their own governance.
The Working Groups of GPCA need only to justify and receive a budget from the CC. They have their own set of concerns and can deal with them as time and energy permit.
- Green Issues Working Group can, and has in the past, worked effectively independly of any CC involvement until GIWG comes forward to the General Assembley for approval of a resolution. Their only current problem is an overall lack of involvement in some of the current major issues in California.
- GrassRoots Organizing Working Group is tasked"to provide resources for collaboration, skill sharing, and training in order to promote the strategic growth and diversity of the Green Party of California." This makes their role somewhat passive. What we need is for GROW to become more aggressive in identifying opportunities for GROWth and making getting the resources in place to make that happen.
- Campaigns and Candidate Working Group - Now that 2006 election cycle is over, we need to start laying plans for 2008.
- Electoral Reform Working Group - These activists are working for a political process that protects the rights of voting Californians. It is convenient that this also gives Greens a greater voice.


text: As announced by Autodesk last month, AutoCAD WS now supports viewing, editing and sharing of 2D Autodesk Inventor DWG files. Inventor users who publish their models to DWG files can now upload them to AutoCAD WS to easily share assembly drawings and schematics diagrams for production, presentation or review. Usability updates to the mobile app include support for DWG layouts, a new copy/paste tool and improved markup capabilities. The new updates also include multi-language support, with the addition of eight new languages – Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian.


text:
How To Choose A Back Brace for Lower Back Pain
The lower spine is critically important to the health of your whole upper body as it supports the spine and the great number of structures attached to it. Regrettably, eight out of ten people will suffer lower back pain at least one time in their lives. Since every movement and activity employs the muscles, ligaments and bones of the back, this area is very vulnerable to injury. There are a variety of factors which can cause lower back pain. These include heavy lifting on the job or in the gym, the perennial twisting involved with sports such as golfing, bad posture and even pregnancy. An orthopaedic back brace for lower back pain can offer essential support for your lower spine. It will stop strain or pressure to your spine, keep your spine in the proper position and provide compression.
Lifting heavy objects is a common cause of lower back injuries
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text:
Santa Dachshund Tree Ornament
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Dachshund ornament also looks great on a doorknob. Portrait of Dachshund wearing a Santa cap is hand-printed on cotton fabric in Bucks County Pennsylvania. From Christopher & Eric. Great little gift for the Dachshund lover and a nice dog themed holiday accent for the home.
- Approx. 5.5" wide x 4" tall
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text:
Ice, Ice Baby
Lately, if you've been to a craft bar, you've had a drink with a giant cube or a large sphere of ice in it. Some places have even started using spears of ice for the tall Collins glass. What's the deal with these large cubes, gigantic spheres, and tall cylinders? Why do we care whether it's crushed into a fine powder, cracked into the familiar small cubes, or just one cube big enough to fill up the glass? Does the shape even matter? Just what the heck is going on with our ice in cocktails?
Given this issue of Food & Spirits Magazine celebrates five years of FSM, let's first get a little perspective. The Omaha of five years ago was certainly no stranger to the cocktail, but we didn't have any bartenders who had places to practice the craft of bartending professionally. Sure, we had our places to go drink, and we wouldn't hesitate to order a Manhattan, or a Negroni, or an Old Fashioned; we were content with what we had. New York, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago were the places where bartenders were becoming as chefs behind the stick, but it hadn't yet reached Omaha.
Four years ago we saw the craft of bartending starting to catch on in our fair city, started hearing about this word mixology. It's about a balanced cocktail, about serving a quality drink, and about bartending becoming a craft once again. Now there's a lot of talk going around about ice. We're seeing ice presses which make spheres, tall spears for our Collins' glasses, and words such as Kold-Draft are starting to be whispered and talked about. This is an exciting time for Omaha. It's a time to go out and get a real mixed drink.
Water in cocktails is about bringing balance to the drink. When you think that just about every mixed drink, other than the shot or pousse café, has about 40-60% of its volume as water, you can begin to appreciate that it plays as vital a role as the spirits and other ingredients that go into the concoction. Water will bring flavors out, push flavors back, and do fun stuff to a drink. Add too much and the drink falls flat, add too little and it's going to have harsh notes and burn a little. What does this have to do with ice? In the cocktail universe, ice is how we deliver water into a cocktail.
There are three reasons why we shake and stir drinks. (1) Mix the ingredients together, (2) chill the drink to palatable levels, and (3) introduce water to dilute the drink. Ice plays a key role in each of these processes, and plays a critical role once the drink gets served.
When we use ice to make drinks, the type of ice we use is important. For drinks like frappes, blended drinks, and juleps, we want to use crushed ice or powder. This ice melts very quickly, distributing water into the drink at a rapid rate and thus cooling the drink quickly. Usually these drinks get swizzled (the most violent form or stirring) to integrate everything. These will be the coldest beverages you get, the ones that can be the most desirable on a hot day.
For other drinks we use cracked ice. Here, think of the ice we're used to, the standard ice from the bar and the ice in our home freezer. It comes in varying sizes, but generally speaking we get several cubes into the glass. The type of glass best suited to using these cubes is your highball, tumbler or Collins glass. It's ideal for drinks like the Tom Collins, the Americano Highball, the Moscow Mule, or the Dark and Stormy. This ice, in my opinion, is also the best ice to use in your shaking tin or mixing glass when making a drink. You can work pretty quickly with it and still have good control over your dilution and temperature.
Then we have the lump ice. These are the big blocks, the ones that we use in our old fashioned glasses. These melt slowly, have a more constant temperature, and we use them to maintain a drink.
Then there are the spears, which are a relatively new ice shape in the glasses. These are used in the Collins and the Highball glasses, and they serve the exact same purpose as the lump ice.
For those of us who practice the craft, we don't just use these different types of ice because it looks cooler, although, let's be honest, it does. While we still look to their notes for guidance, I would argue that with our understanding we've surpassed the likes of Jerry Thomas, Kappeler, McElhone, and Craddock, who probably used these different types of ice because it was easier than to try to create all these uniform pieces of cracked or lump ice. We use these different types of ice because it makes a better, more balanced drink for our customers.
Binoy Fernandez
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QUICK TIP: Sibling Rivalry
No one likes to be compared to someone else. We are all individuals- with different strengths, interests, and abilities. Unfortunately siblings are often compared to one another (purposely or inadvertently). This can create an environment of competition between siblings and sometimes escalates into resentment and fighting. Many parents think the answer to this dilemma is absolute fairness- equal time spent, equal goodies given, etc. But this can be exhausting to calculate and almost impossible to execute.
Treat each of your children as the individuals they are. Show each of your children your unique love for them. Provide encouragement and acknowledge their efforts, feelings, needs, and wishes.
Questions or Thoughts? Let me know!


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Water Softener and Water Heater Services In Chandler, Arizona
American Home Water and Air has been providing plumbing services to homeowners in Chandler for more than 35 years. During our years of service, we've built a reputation of excellence in the community.
When American Home Water and Air plumbers arrive at your house in Chandler, you can expect a professional technician that is insured and licensed. We strive to only work with plumbing technicians that are committed to delivering their best services to you.
Water Softener Installation and Repair in Chandler, AZ
Plumbers at American Home Water and Air have repaired and installed thousands of water softeners throughout the 35 years of service. If you are in need of a water softener or think that there is something wrong with your current one, don't hesitate to call us – we would be happy to help. Trust the 2,000 – 5 star reviews that we've received over the years – we are proud to deliver only the best quality water softening equipment and service to residents in Chandler, AZ.
Water Heater Repair and Installation in Chandler, AZ
American Home Water and Air plumbers are considered the best when it comes to repairing and installing water heaters in Chandler, AZ. Aside from the expert water heater repair at affordable prices, we also offer high-quality water heater maintenance. If you find yourself without hot water in Chandler, please call American Home Water and Air and we will take care of you.
At American Home Water & Air, we want to make sure that you are feeling like you are part of our family. Our plumbers in Chandler care about your problems and always treat your house like their own. If you need emergency plumbing service or would like to schedule a water heater, water softener, or reverse osmosis service right now, don't think twice before calling us at +1 602-993-0083.
Our top-rated and reliable services are also available in multiple locations across Arizona. You can check out our service areas page for more information.
We offer quality services
Don't let "small" problems turn into big ones. Trust your local Chandler water softener and water heater technicians at American Home Water and Air.


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Usually, fans do not need a braking resistor and chopper. However, when operating in a closed system, fans are at risk of over-speeding, causing the DC voltage on their motor drives to rise. John Mitchell reports
Fans don't normally need a braking resistor and chopper but when they are operating in a closed system, a situation may arise where one fan will over-speed the next and the DC bus voltage on their motor drives will then rise.
External dynamic braking choppers are useful to drive manufacturers, panel builders and end users alike. A seventh IGBT (Isolated-Gate Bipolar Transistor) for the chopper in a six-pulse drive is one way drive manufacturers can reduce the cost of the product by rating the IGBT to a given torque and duty level. Some six-pulse off-the-shelf AC drives manufactured today have a seventh IGBT built in as standard.
The calculation for sizing the internal brake chopper is not a difficult one, but getting accurate data in the first place can be. Some brake choppers on board a drive range from 25% to 100% ratings. And let's not forget the fact that not all drive manufacturers fit a seventh IGBT above ratings of 22kW.
To this end, where it is too expensive to change the installed drive or where regenerative energy has been overlooked, CP Automation offers a range of external brake choppers that covers 99% of application needs up to 360kW peak, 100kW continuous.
Available in nine models across three frame sizes, there are several options to set the threshold to the desired switching level, along with fault output and master-slave options to chop higher power levels.
External brake chopper units should allow for a fit and forget procedure. During emergency stops the unit will still function – because it is powered by the DC bus and not by an external supply. These were key features for a fan application at GA Pet Food Partners.
GA Pet Food Partners, Leyland, Lamcashire, UK, works with some of the biggest pet food businesses in the world. However, it doesn't manufacture an own label product because it doesn't believe in having an own brand. It sees itself as a partner, not a competitor, to its customers.
From concept to launch and storage to dispatch, the company claims it partners with more private label pet food brands than any other pet food manufacturer, making it easy and profitable for pet food brands to launch and grow their business.
GA Pet Food Partners operates an environmental extraction system comprised of three parallel 185kW ABB Motors spinning the Halifax fans cascading into smaller fans, and was encountering difficulty in decelerating the biggest of these units. The effect of over-speeding becomes cumulative the more fans there are in close proximity on a factory floor.
The three large fans are controlled by Allen Bradley Powerflex 753 variable speed drives (VSDs) from Rockwell Automation, which count among their features predictive diagnostics to extend the life of cooling fans.
"In an environmental extraction system, if a fan runs too fast, it either pressurises air too much at one end or creates suction at the other," explained Jayne Whittaker, engineering director at GA Pet Food Partners.
"Some machines on the shop floor have exhaust fans, which need to run at the appropriate speed. CP Automation supplied external brake resistors and retrofitted brake choppers within the existing panels that house the Allen Bradley drives."
Advanced extrusion
The new GA Pet Food Partners factory is home to the most technically advanced extrusion plant in the world, making some of the finest super premium dry pet foods. GA Pet Food Partners has invested in the world's first thermal twin extruder, which allows it to include very high levels of fresh meat in premium dry pet foods without the use of dry meat meals.
With four extruders, the company has a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes of super premium pet food and can make batches from 3-200 tonnes to suit small or large brands, delivering the same quality and consistency whatever the batch size.
A reliable electrical equipment provider should have a clear understanding of the application as a whole, the machine itself and the components. This way, CP Automation is able help make the manufacturing process more efficient, more cost effective and more sustainable in every sense.
John Mitchell is business development manager of CP Automation.


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More random links
- These Personality Types Have The Happiest Marriages
- "men who are introverted gain the least in the long-term from being married, with extraverted men gaining the most from marriage. Introverted men were actually less happy, on average, after getting married than men who had never married."
- Ethnic favouritism: Not just an African phenomenon
- "Ethnic favouritism is widely regarded as an African phenomenon, or at most a problem of poor and weakly institutionalised countries. This column uses data on night-time light intensity to challenge these preconceptions. Ethnic favouritism is found to be as prevalent outside of Africa as it is within, and not restricted to poor or autocratic nations either. Rather, re-election concerns appear to be an important driver of the practice."
- Preference for boys persists among 2nd generation South Asian parents, study finds
- An update on an update. The difference in behaviour amongst immigrant populations that I noted there still exists. Interestingly this found that the different was largely amongst second-generation South Asian immigrants than first generation. As before I'm guessing that this'll attract a lot more attention than the opposite trend seeming to exist in the overall population.
- The Great Facebook Crash
- "The very largest news publishers appear to be faring somewhat better on Facebook in terms of engagement, with Fox News especially flourishing since the company began trying to prioritize 'trusted sources.'"


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Lee County 4-H Agriculture/Horticulture Programs
en Español
El inglés es el idioma de control de esta página. En la medida en que haya algún conflicto entre la traducción al inglés y la traducción, el inglés prevalece.
Al hacer clic en el enlace de traducción se activa un servicio de traducción gratuito para convertir la página al español. Al igual que con cualquier traducción por Internet, la conversión no es sensible al contexto y puede que no traduzca el texto en su significado original. NC State Extension no garantiza la exactitud del texto traducido. Por favor, tenga en cuenta que algunas aplicaciones y/o servicios pueden no funcionar como se espera cuando se traducen.
English is the controlling language of this page. To the extent there is any conflict between the English text and the translation, English controls.
Clicking on the translation link activates a free translation service to convert the page to Spanish. As with any Internet translation, the conversion is not context-sensitive and may not translate the text to its original meaning. NC State Extension does not guarantee the accuracy of the translated text. Please note that some applications and/or services may not function as expected when translated.Collapse ▲
According to the Sanford Area Growth Alliance website
- Agriculture & Agribusiness provides 13% of employment in Lee County
- 10% of North Carolina's Agriculture is done here in Lee, Moore, and Richmond Counties
- Agriculture is the #1 industry in North Carolina
- Agriculture & Agribusiness contributed over $30 million in economic impact to Lee, Moore, and Richmond Counties in 2012
Whether farming, nursery, or agro-tourism this is a place for our youth in the future and this is not your grandfather's farm. Below you will find a sampling of how we can join forces in this new virtual world. Some of these were developed for in-person programming and some are virtual. With combined creativity, we can support your classroom as restrictions are ever-changing.
4-H Germination Project: Clean out your Seed Shed
High School Soil to Seed – From the food, we eat to the water we drink to the places where we live and play, soil erosion and sedimentation profoundly affect our everyday lives. The loss of soil from our landscapes and its deposition into our waterways, reduce the ability of the land to be productive in supporting plant growth and the capacity of the water to nurture aquatic habitats, host recreation, and have municipal usefulness. Erosion is a natural occurrence, shaping sand dunes, creating river deltas, or carving out enormous rock features like the Grand Canyon.
This curriculum focuses on the accelerated processes of erosion and sedimentation that transpire as a direct result of agricultural and construction development activities. It is through abuse that our waters and soils are becoming increasingly compromised. With careful management of the soil, however, we can preserve water quality and keep our soil in place for future generations. Soil to Seed is designed to cultivate high school aged-youth in understanding the principles of erosion and sediment control. Using the 4-H Experiential Learning Model, youth delve into hands-on lessons, working together to solve problems and share reflections on what they learned. The curriculum begins with the fundamental mechanics behind erosion and sedimentation, then teaches students how to assess physical spaces for evidence of these processes, and eventually builds their knowledge base on how to manage and control soil loss and deposition. Students strengthen their connections to these concepts through the process of doing, reflecting, and then applying what they know to other situations in their life. Each lesson is crafted to build in life skills that can be used in any context, fostering critical thinking, teamwork, record-keeping, collaboration, and communication.
This curriculum is a collaborative project that drew directly from the research of NC State University's Soil Erosion, Sediment and Turbidity Control program within the Department of Soil Science in partnership with North Carolina Cooperative Extension's 4-H Youth Development Program. Throughout the country, each state has a Cooperative Extension organization that brims with knowledgeable people that can provide educators with content support and resources. Soil to Seed will take educators and students on a journey to explore a world that is just a step beyond the boundaries of a building. By understanding erosion and its impact on water quality, we can grow another generation that is engaged in important environmental challenges and deeply motivated to practice strategies that steward our soil and water.
Moo-ving Milk from Farm to Fridge – K-2 grade
Plants: Helping Me Helping You with Sprouting Leaders – We work with a key group of youth who will then deliver the classes to their peers. There will be 3 or 4 youth leader training classes: Class 1: Presentation about Green Mindfulness. Actual plant care of baby Mother Of Millions plants to be shared with participants, program expectations, the technology used/available, etc… Classes 2 & 3: Benefits of plants in the home & classroom houseplant selection – site & care requirements, poisonous plants vs non-poisonous plant choices. Woven all through these classes will be the 4-H hands-on instruction on public speaking, how to create and deliver presentations and other leadership development aspects Community Service Learning objectives The final mature plant(s) will belong to each student to give away (or keep) as a "pay it forward" to share the benefits of the plant itself as well as what they learned.
3rd Grade Soil Solutions – Soil Solutions brims with hands-on science lessons that utilize the local school landscape to connect students to the world of soils and plants in an inviting and relevant way. Students will discover the soil beneath their
feet, watch as a basil seed germinates before their eyes, and nibble on nutritious and delicious salad greens they have grown themselves. Activities are structured to foster wonder and curiosity and encourage ways to turn student questions into investigations. The teacher's role becomes one of a collaborator and a partner in inquiry with their students.
Aligned to meet North Carolina's third-grade science standard course of study in plant and soils, the curriculum draws from current research and knowledge in crops, horticulture, and soil sciences. Each lesson includes background information for teachers, questions to focus student thinking, and activities that emphasize observation and problem-solving. Using the 4-H Experiential Learning Model as a framework, the curriculum seeks to further life skills like communication, teamwork, critical thinking, and more, by engaging students to learn by doing, sharing their experience with each other, reflecting on their results and generalizing and applying what they know to new situations. The goal of Soil Solutions is to offer a contextual framework that enables students and teachers to dig deep and uncover the stories of soils and plants. Students will begin to hold a greater appreciation and respect for the natural world, gain confidence in their abilities to solve problems, and above all have a lifelong interest and enthusiasm for exploring and learning.
Citizen Science – Citizen Science is a form of participatory Scientific research that uses volunteers of all ages, professions, backgrounds, and skills to engage non-scientists in a variety of tasks, but most commonly data collection. Examples of data collected by citizen science programs include water quality parameters, sightings of birds or invasive species, and reports of phenological events including first observed flower blooms and the arrival of migrating species. The Lee County Library has three citizen science kits your classroom can check out and use.
Participants/volunteers will increase their knowledge of the scientific process; gain a deeper understanding of natural phenomena and issues of local importance; strengthen their attitude toward the natural environment, and participate (through their data collection) in making science-based recommendations. The data collected in this Citizen Science Project will be the amount and type of pollinator visits to three distinct landscape styles. The pollinators focused on in this survey will be divided into three categories. 1. Bees and Wasps 2. Butterflies and Moths 3. Birds. The data will be used to determine how the designated areas affect pollinator type and density. This is important because pollinators and the job they perform are vital to our continued existence. From the food we consume to the flowers we enjoy, pollinators play an essential role. In North Carolina, bee pollination accounts for about $120 million in commercial fruit and vegetable yields annually. It is important to know how changing landscapes affect the livelihood and survival of pollinators, and in turn, our own survival.
Soil & Water Conservation
Pollinator Garden Tours
Project Learning Tree – Project Learning Tree uses trees and forests as windows on the world to increase students' understanding of the environment and actions they can take to conserve it. Since 1976, PLT has reached 138 million students and trained 765,000 educators to help students learn how to think, not what to think about complex environmental issues. Project Learning Tree helps develop students' awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of the environment builds their skills and ability to make informed decisions, and encourages them to take personal responsibility for sustaining the environment and the quality of life that depends on it. From its beginnings in 1976, PLT has exemplified high-quality environmental education. Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is an initiative of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
Down on the Farm – A virtual, self-paced curriculum developed specifically for at-home programming when in-person summer camps became impossible. A fun learning experience to allow youth to learn about animals even if they aren't raised on a farm. Youths will learn about where their food and byproducts come from. Youths will learn also about the companion animals that you can find in houses that aren't on the farm.
Virtual Farm Tours – Invite Amanda Wilkins, our Horticulture agent, to host virtual tours of area farms. If you or your class benefit from these tours please take a moment to provide us with valuable feedback.
October/November 2020 Pumpkin Farm Tour
December 2020 Christmas Tree Farm Tour
NC State Christmas Tree Farm TOURS Including an interesting video about how to keep Christmas Trees from growing cones.
NC Farm to Fork Camp Tours
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, & Day 4 Cooking Portion
Plant Geeks Unite – A virtual North Carolina 4-H Plant Science Adventure is a self-paced curriculum developed specifically for at-home programming when in-person summer camps became impossible. In this self-guided exploration for 8-12 year-olds, we will dig into soils, marvel at and grow plants with wild abandon and say hello to creeping, crawling, diving, flying friends and so much more.
Explore Outdoors – A virtual self-paced curriculum developed specifically for at-home programming when in-person summer camps became impossible. Explore Outdoors is a fun way to learn about the environment right in your own nature patch – farm, suburbs, or city – it all counts! You can meet scientists and add your discoveries to a real environmental science database!
No soil, Just Water – 4-H Curriculum was developed by the Cooperative Extension Service at N.C. A&T State University as a pilot program associated with an Agri-Science initiative across the state. Lee County 4-H may be able to provide materials depending on demand. Graphing and observation opportunities post-lesson. This lesson is approximately 1 hour and by the end, the youth will have a completed, seeded planter and instructions for aftercare. Read More>>
All 4-H Curriculum employs the experiential learning model, encouraging self-discovery, reflection, and application to other areas in life. Evaluations are important for impact reporting and most 4-H curricula have brief but required pre and post-tests to measure results.
These curricula have varied training requirements.
See each individual curriculum descriptions or request more details regarding standards if you are interested.


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Chalkboard Christmas Gift Tags
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving….Here's a funny story, it was only going to be hubby and myself this year for dinner so we decided to just go out for Chinese. I got up that morning and tore apart my office/crap room (craft room). Bagged up many things for the hospice store, washed windows, washed curtains, waxed the floors, and gave it all a good cleaning. By 2 o'clock I was starving, so I hopped in the shower and we headed out for dinner.
Well we got a surprise, nothing was open to eat at so we had dinner at Denny's and then went to the movies, (watched the 3rd movie in the Hunger Game Series). Then I had the brilliant idea to pop into Walmart for a couple of quick items. Well what a nightmare that place was everyone shopping in the pj's, many of them smelled really bad and not a spot in the parking lot to be found. I'm not a Walmart shopper anyway, and today reminded me why I'm not.
Well enough about that….
To kick off your Black Friday Christmas shopping I designed 4 chalkboard gift tags to download and print. Just click on the titles below and print as many as you need.
Click Here to Download The Merry Christmas Gift Tag
Click Here to Download The Rudolph Christmas Gift Tag
Click Here to Download The Joy Christmas Gift Tag
Click Here to Download The Peace Dove Christmas Gift Tag


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So, You're Not a Racist?
1 Jun
"Covid 1770 – What Happened When Cook Sneezed" – acrylic on canvas, 2020, Glenn Loughrey Today is the end of National Reconciliation Week. Perhaps it is pertinent at this time to ask the question, what is reconciliation and why do … Read More »