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Political Headlines – Johnson latest and the cost of dementia
Today's political headlines includes Johnson plans early general election and it's reported he cost the taxpayer £1bn when London Mayor and the Mail calls on the Government to act on the cost of dementia.
Johnson plans early general election
The Times claims that senior allies of Boris Johnson have claimed that he wants to hold an early general election 'while Jeremy Corbyn is still around'. His team is concerned that the small Conservative majority will not be enough to pass legislation and are preparing either for a general election after a vote of no confidence or a snap election after delivering Brexit.
Johnson leaves taxpayers with £1bn bill after ignoring expert advice as Mayor
According to The Guardian, taxpayers face a bill of almost £1bn, which is still growing, as a result of Boris Johnson's time as Mayor of London. It accuses him of ignoring expert advice over a series of projects, including his new Routemaster buses, the purchase of secondhand water cannon and plans for an airport in the Thames estuary. Former Conservative mayoral candidate Steve Norris said Johnson was 'great on rhetoric but lousy on delivery'.
Mail calls on Government to act on the cost of dementia
The Daily Mail is calling on the Government to take action 'to end the disgraceful neglect of families living with the burden of dementia', following the revelation that families have spent £15bn in the last two years helping relatives with that illness. It is calling for a cross-party group to tackle the issue, an NHS 'dementia fund' and a Cabinet minister with sole responsibility for developing a plan.
101-year-old writes to Prime Minister over free TV licence cut
The Daily Mirror leads with a letter to the Prime Minister written by a 101-year-old pensioner, Elsie Hancock, opposing the decision to reduce pensioners' entitlement to free TV licences. She describes TV as a 'lifeline' for a 'lot' of elderly people who are 'already struggling financially', and asks 'what'll they take next, our bus passes'.
Government to review waste charges over fly-tipping fees
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Government has launched a review of the fees charged by local authorities to residents disposing of waste at rubbish tips. Keep Britain Tidy has warned that fees could lead to an increase in fly-tipping, while the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has described them as a 'backdoor' tax and is considering banning them.
Gove promises to back legal limits on particulates
The Times says that Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Michael Gove has pledged to support a 'legally binding commitment on particulate matter', so that nowhere in the country has levels exceeding those set by the World Health Organisation. A bill containing this pledge is being prepared, but Gove has admitted that the final decision on this will be down to the new Prime Minister.
Hancock to ban sale of energy drinks to children
The Sun says that Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock has written to Cabinet colleagues, telling them he has decided to ban selling energy drinks to children under 16. According to the paper this risks bringing him into conflict with Boris Johnson, whose leadership campaign he supports, as Johnson has promised to review all sin taxes and regulations. His letter warns that the Treasury may also oppose the plan.
Johnson considers plan to suspend Parliament prior to Brexit deadline
Sky News reports that Boris Johnson is considering scheduling a Queen's Speech in early November, which would mean proroguing Parliament for up to two weeks in advance, effectively preventing MPs from being able to block a no-deal Brexit in the immediate run-up to the 31 October Brexit deadline. His campaign claims a decision has yet to be made.
Stay up to date with Vuelio Political Services.


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If you like putz houses, you'll love learning how to decorate your own retro diner for your Christmas village with DecoArt dazzling metallics paint.
For me, there's nothing more nostalgic than Christmas villages made of putz or paper houses. I love their snowy sparkle and colorful rooftops. The neighborhoods scattered over a delicate landscape of cotton snow banks and glitter always make me think of Christmases past.
My sister and I would fight over who got to set up my grandma's alpine village. Every year she displayed a tiny Christmas village in her dining room. I remember the houses were fragile, even back then.
And I loved the glow when all of them were finally put together and lit with classic multi-colored C4 bulbs tucked in between layers of glitter cotton. It was our mini holiday town and we adored it.
I am part of the DecoArt core blogger team for 2018-2019. This post and paint is sponsored by DecoArt, but all opinions, ideas and creative inspo are from me.
I've collected a few vintage putz houses over the years, but thought it would be fun to paint and decorate my own this season. I found this pre-assembled retro diner on Etsy and new this would be the perfect addition to my little Christmas village. It had that 50s vibe I was looking for in my retro-styled kitchen.
Keep reading to see how I decorated and then styled this Christmas village retro diner.
Supplies Needed:
- DecoArt Dazzling Metallics (Peacock Pearl, Festive Red, White Pearl, Shimmering Silver)
- DecoArt Glamour Dust Glitter Paint (Ice Crystal)
- DecoArt Glamour Dust Iridescent Glitter (Crystal)
- Paint brush
- Kraft board diner (I found this one on Etsy – or you might want to paint some houses like these)
- Vellum paper for windows
- Tealights
How to DIY Christmas Village Retro Diner.
I decided that I wanted most of the diner to be this metallic aqua shade called Peacock Pearl from DecoArt's line of Dazzling Metallics. The metallic paint really helped transform the kraft board to look more like a steel building.
The kraft board is good at soaking up the paint and drying quickly. I painted three coats to really give it a nice sheen. I started with the blue, then painted the doors and railing silver, and finally painted the words "diner" in red.
Next, while your paint is still wet, sprinkle on DecoArt Glamour Dust Iridescent Glitter. A little goes a long way so sprinkle lightly! This gives your diner a snowy sparkle.
It's a super fine glitter that I absolutely love using in my craft projects. See how I used this glitter last season on these painted ceramic houses.
Then, take your bottle of DecoArt Glamour Dust Glitter Paint and create fresh drips of snow. This helps cover up some of the seams and also gives a wintery look to your diner. While the paint is still wet, add some more DecoArt Glamour Dust Iridescent Glitter to the drips you create.
Once the paint and snow is dry, it's time to add the windows. Cut out shapes from the paper vellum that overlap the size of your windows. Then add glue to the overlapping edges to attach them to the inside of the diner. This will give your diner a lovely glow from the tealights.
I added a tiny wreath made from a pipe cleaner to my diner doors. I love the pop of color it adds to my Christmas village.
Plus, that metallic sheen from the paint really gives it a realistic metal look that emulates the stainless steel exterior of 50s diners.
The combination of my pressed aluminum tray and the formica tabletop make the perfect setting for my little mid-century village. Fake snow and bottle brush trees add the holiday ambiance.
Don't forget to turn on the lights!
If you want that warm glow inside your little diner, don't forget to add some battery tea lights underneath. I think it's much easier to use these, than string lights.
I found this little truck at the flea market and decided to give it a new coat of metallic paint as well! Isn't just perfect for this scene?
This was such a fun Christmas craft project. I've decorated vintage trucks before, but this was super easy and just as enjoyable.
And, don't fret if you don't have the space available for an entire Christmas village. With this little vignette on a tray, I've created a holiday display that fits easily in a small area. It's also just as easy to move when I need to use our table. Grab a tray, an old crate, or even a vintage box of shiny brites to create a little vignette for your putz or paper house village.
I hope this inspires you to tackle more holiday crafts with DecoArt Dazzling Metallic paints like I have here. What kind of building will you add to your Christmas village? Maybe a church or a storefront? Get your creative juices flowing…
Happy Holidays!

subset: commoncrawl


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TV3's star news anchor, Nana Aba Anamoah has resigned from the station.
The action comes after the 'Diva' host was suspended following an alleged involvement in an "online information and photo theft".
In a statement released by the media house on Saturday, October 3, 2015, TV3 said: "After preliminary investigations internally, and in accordance with TV3's own commitment to the highest level of professionalism, Management has decided to take Nana Aba Anamoah off air until further notice.
"As a broadcast network that prides itself in upholding high ethical standards and delivering credible and trustworthy content to its viewers, TV3 would like to assure viewers and other key stakeholders that it shall continue to take all necessary steps to maintain such standards," the statement noted.
"We expect guardians of our brand particularly employees who we entrust to deliver content on air to our viewers, to ascribe to the company's values whatever they are."
Anamoah apologised for her actions stating it was a prank gone bad.
Weeks after the incident Anamoah posted pictures of herself at a Manchester vs Manchester City game.
Anamoah has, however, resigned effective today after consulting with her lawyer, starrFMonline.com can confirm.


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Home Camera Articles FOR SALE Orders I Buy / Wants Repairs Books Adapters
Leica M Eyeglasses Donuts
SOLD OUT, Not Sure If I will make more
(and other cameras with metal eyepieces too)
One of the few design problems with the Leica M3, M2, M4, M4-2, M4-P and M5 -- and most cameras made before the mid 1970's, is a metal eyepiece which will scratch the hell out of your glasses. These ingenious little vinyl donuts take care of the problem. Just remove the adhesive backing, stick the donut on your eyepiece, and live in scratchless security. Cost ? $15 for one, $20 for two, including 1st Class postage within the US. Add $1 for postage outside the US. If you wear glasses and have one of these earlier M's, you NEED these! In Stock.
Before I started importing these, I tried to make them myself, and soon learned it was not nearly as easy as it might look, at least not if you have eleven thumbs like I do.
Although made to fit the Leica M eyepiece, you can adapt them to many other cameras with metal eyepieces as well. Adjust the size by cutting the donut in half, and either removing small portions, or opening it up a bit before sticking it on the eyepiece.
After only 40 years or so, the M eyepiece may have residue oils which won't allow the eyeglass protector to stick. Clean the eyepiece off with a small amount of lens cleaning fluid before applying the eyepiece protector.
PAYMENT METHODS: Any payment method if ordered with other products. IF the donuts are ordered by themselves, US check or International Money Order only. For details of payment options CLICK HERE .
Home Camera Articles FOR SALE Orders I Buy / Wants Repairs Books Adapters
Revised: February 05, 2007 . Copyright � 1998-2006 Stephen Gandy. All rights reserved. This means you may NOT copy and re-use the text or the pictures in ANY other internet or printed publication of ANY kind. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.


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Genesis Gaming has just released four new games. The new games include Sugar Doggie, Journey of the Sun, Royal Roller and Disco Night Fright. Three of these games have been released under the Microgaming platform and the fourth, Sugar Doggy will be under the 888.com platform. These games have been released and will be added shortly to many of the casinos that use the appropriate software.
The slot Journey of the Sun offers 5 reels and 25 paylines. It is focused around an ancient game called Senet, which was played in Egypt. It includes multiple game features and a bonus game that can be triggered multiple times. Also released under the 25 payline slot series is Royal Roller. This is a Las Vegas styled game that features a bonus game that is played on a roulette table. Disco Night Friday surrounds all things Disco. This one offers up free spins and other game features to help see the big wins roll in. Finally Sugar Doggy is also based on 25 paylines and features a number of different bonus features like expanding wilds, scatters and multipliers.
These are some great games from Genesis Gaming and will be available soon.


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We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
One of my favorite ways to make a little extra money is through Swagbucks.com. Being a single mom, I'm always looking for ways to make an extra buck. You time is valuable, and this is why I really enjoy this program. You can earn points when you shop at your favorite retailers, watch entertaining videos, search the web, answer surveys, and find great deals. After you earn enough points you can redeem them for gift-cards. Swagbucks has already paid out over $314,435,808 in cash and free gift cards.
Although you won't get rich joining Swagbucks.com, your points will add up quickly with very little effort! My favorite way to rack up the points is by watching videos and playing games. I play the videos in the background while I'm checking my email. Super easy!
Click here to check it out!


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Good credit only. No pet. No smoker. No short term lease. In excellent condition. At a quiet community. Back to trees. Four bedrooms upstairs. Main level study/library. Fully finished walk out basement with one bedroom and full bath. Gleaming hardwood floor and ceramic tiles through out the main and upper level. Two car garages with expanded drive way for three cars. Large deck and patio.
Click on photo to see more photos!Find a Home in Anne Arundel County
Full Details
Click on photo to see more photos!


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Services We Offer
We offer comprehensive evaluation and analyzing the root cause of your problem and preparing rehabilitation goals tailored to fit your needs. We provide hands-on approach to recover your problems with one on one attention.
For those who find it difficult to make it to our office for therapy. Medicare and private pay are accepted for home visits.
Our Services
Orthopedic Services
- Pre/post surgical conditions
- Total hip, knee and shoulder replacement rehabilitation
- Sports injuries
- Muscle strains
- Shoulder, knee, elbow, hip pain and pathologies
- Ligament sprains
- Back pain/ Sciatica
- Neck pain, stiffness
- Cervical radiculopathy
- TMJ dysfunction
- Headache/ Migraine
- Herniated disc/ degenerative disc disease
- Sacroiliac joint problems
- Scoliosis
- Postural dysfunction
- Osteoporosis prevention and management
- Work related injury rehabilitation
- Auto accident injury rehabilitation
Neurological Services
- Parkinson's disease
- Stroke rehabilitation
- Multiple sclerosis
- Deconditioning
- Gait and balance disorders
- Fall prevention training
- Vertigo/ dizziness


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"I felt proud seeing our platform and technology really reach people. This year we could definitely see and feel the value our platform has."
This is how Euivin Park, chief technology officer at popular messaging platform Line, summed up how she felt about the role the company played in 2020, a year when the global coronavirus pandemic made connecting people online more important than ever before. But getting to this point required a lot of fast, decisive action, and coping with a vastly increased sense of responsibility.
Speaking online to Digital Trends on the first day of the annual Line DevDay 2020 developer conference, she gave a unique insight into how the coronavirus pandemic increased demand, pushed the team to work faster, and accelerated the development of key features. It transpired that speed was definitely of the essence in 2020.
Digital transformation
Line, for those who aren't familiar, is a social messaging platform similar to Facebook Messenger, WeChat, and WhatsApp. Although it doesn't have a big presence in the U.S., it is the top messenger app in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia with user numbers in the hundreds of millions. You probably know its famous cute characters from the Line Friends stores, like the one in Times Square, New York.
I attended Line's DevDay 2019 in person, but Developer Day 2020 is the first time it has taken place online. Obviously, given the global situation, this was a necessity, but it also fits neatly in with the fast, collective transition to an even more online life.
"The pandemic has pushed the digital transformation forward," Park explained. "This was going to happen, but the pandemic brought it in faster. Now everyone is exposed to this digitalized society, I don't think we will [return to a less digitized world] because everyone is becoming used to it. Line has to be in step with that."
But as we're all acutely aware, getting in step with 2020 has not been an easy task.
"For the past six or seven months, we worked really hard," she told me. "All needs really changed. The services, the priority, the schedule, and the time limits all switched. Accordingly, developers had to focus and prioritize better."
Developments tailored for 2020
During both our conversation and her keynote presentation for Developer Day 2020, Park discussed the many new features introduced by Line specifically tailored to the changing needs presented by the pandemic, along with skyrocketing demand for certain existing services. It all added up to showing just how much, and how quickly, the company adapted to demand.
"Video chat was most popular from February to May," Park highlighted during her keynote. "Video calls increased 235% and we saw 16x traffic at peak, which is the upper capacity limit of Line's Tokyo data center. To support this change we optimized load balancing, and utilized data centers from other regions dynamically."
Beyond this, Line saw a 140% increase in the amount of Line Official accounts between March and April. Line's team developed new features that would have been unheard of in 2019. Using the Line Mini app, where businesses can set up a dedicated home page inside the main app, a queue management service was introduced, which saw some of the most popular cafes and restaurants in Tokyo deal with virtual queues up to five hours long. This same method was extended to pharmacies, where prescriptions could be reserved without queuing.
Line Pay was implemented into more services so it was easier for people to pay online, Line Group Chat's capacity was increased to 500 people, and Line worked with the Japanese government to implement a national survey system, right down to including a health status check using the Line Chat bot.
Working with local governments was important, and partnering this way accelerated the introduction of Line Doctor, an online health platform where clinic visits could be booked and paid for, and virtual checkups could take place using a Line Video Calls. Line approached the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare about the concept at the beginning of the pandemic, and went on to work with 24 different local governments and provided the consultation service for free.
"Things that were done offline before, were all shifted online," Park said, highlighting the scale of the effort.
Speed was of the essence
Bringing the offline world online in a short space of time requires a solid platform, and adding specific features to it at a fast pace required fast decision making. Park was surprisingly candid about the challenges this presented for both herself and the development team.
"The platform technology needed isn't made overnight. you have to build it up ready for use. We expected this merger of online and offline, everyone predicted it would come, we just didn't know it would happen this fast. So we needed to work faster," she told me. "I had to make decisions quickly, as the faster I decided the faster developers could start working, I didn't want to be the bottleneck."
Because Line is widely used in several different countries, local requirements made this more complex.
"The things I had to decide on happened more often, and at the same time [compared to 2019], she continued. "There was a step-by-step process and it was very natural, but what was different this time was things had to be decided even faster, and simultaneously we had different requests coming from different countries. We had this overflow of requests."
Understanding the small, specific local differences, which those outside the country could simply not be aware of, made a big difference to a new feature's eventual usability. Park said context was essential, but the pandemic had made getting it more difficult due to the development team being unable to meet in person.
"Before, we would meet offline and sync up together, but because we couldn't meet, everything was done online. The tech that supported this had to be improved as quickly as possible. We had already worked remotely, but before, whenever new projects started, we had global team members come together in one place, then go back to their respective bases to start work. It was so difficult to do cross-country projects. We've tried really hard to solve that for the last six months."
To get past this, Park had to lean on one of her strengths to ensure the company kept up the pace.
"It's one of my strengths, I could make quick decisions so I could push developers to start quickly. But the minute I decide then that one little detail that was important for that country may have been missed. Listening to each country was really important for me to make my decisions. I think I was a little too focused on making quick decisions sometimes. I reminded myself to listen to team members a little more closely from now on," Park admitted.
Personal responsibility
Park's concern over making Line's platform even more robust, which she repeatedly touched upon in our conversation, forms the basis of what she wants to achieve going forward into 2021. The pandemic still continues, and the demand on Line's platform is unlikely to lessen. She said building up the platform and utilizing the data already inside it will help Line add to, and improve its services, even faster.
"What is most important is the platform. For developers to be more efficient, we need a very solid architecture at the very basis of the platform. This is not very visible but it's really important."
The shock of 2020, and the acceleration of offline services becoming online ones, is pushing Park and the company to a higher level of technological, and personal, preparedness. More than once she emphasized how she felt personally responsible for the speed with which Line reacted to events over the past months.
This same emotion came up once again as our conversation came to a close, when she summed up what life was like as the CTO of a messaging app in 2020:
"I felt nervous and pressured at the same time, and I was hectically busy, but I was always reminded of the responsibility that I have to carry on and give back to society."
Line is available for iOS and Android, and can be downloaded through Google Play and the Apple App Store.
Editors' Recommendations
- How Line's successful online-only DevDay paves the way for a hybrid event future
- Sticker obsessives will love the Line messaging app's new subscription package


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Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels
Spring practice starts: March 9
Spring game: April 17
3 Things to watch
- Quarterback Omar Clayton, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against TCU will be ready for spring ball. However Mike Clausen who filled in for the last month of the season did impress with completing 70-of-125 passes for 767 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions. There could be a quarterback battle, but it is safe to assume Clayton will be the starter and Clausen will be used to push Clayton.
- Defense, defense, and some more defense. Five of the front seven do return, but the 2008 defense was ranked104th in the nation.
- The Rebels loose a lot of offense in running back Frank Summers. Backup running back C.J. Cox had 16 carries for 191 yards and a touchdown, so running back will be a high priority.
If you like what you read be lazy and Subscribe to The Mountain West Conference Connection by Email or in your Feeder or follow us on Twitter.


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Ozzy Osbourne's Profile
Brief about Ozzy Osbourne: By info that we know Ozzy Osbourne was born at 1948-12-03. And also Ozzy Osbourne is English Musician.Ozzy Osbourne's quotation" section for more.
To be a liar, you've got to have a great memory, and I don't have a memory.Tags: Great, Liar, Memory
I got rabies shots for biting the head off a bat but that's OK - the bat had to get Ozzy shots.Tags: Head, Off, Ok
You gotta be really careful what you bite off. Don't bite off more than you can chew. It's a dangerous world.Tags: Careful, Dangerous, Off
All that stuff about heavy metal and hard rock, I don't subscribe to any of that. It's all just music. I mean, the heavy metal from the Seventies sounds nothing like the stuff from the Eighties, and that sounds nothing like the stuff from the Nineties. Who's to say what is and isn't a certain type of music?Tags: Hard, Music, Rock
I have a saying. 'Never judge a book by its cover'. I say that because I don't even know who Ozzy is. I wake up a new person every day.Tags: Book, Judge, Saying
I have a genuine love affair with my audience. When I'm on stage they're not privileged to see me. It's a privilege for me to see them.Tags: Audience, Love, Stage
I can't do anything in moderation.Tags: Moderation
What is the world coming to?Tags: Coming
I knew it was time to get off of reality TV when someone asked me if I sang as well as acted.Tags: Reality, Someone, Time
I'm about caring, I'm about people, and I'm about entertaining people. I'm a family man. A husband. A father. I've been a lot of other things over the years, which we don't really want to talk about.Tags: Family, Father, Husband
Somebody said to me this morning, 'To what do you attribute your longevity?' I don't know. I mean, I couldn't have planned my life out better. By all accounts I should be dead! The abuse I put my body through: the drugs, the alcohol, the lifestyle I've lived the last 30 years!Tags: Life, Mean, Morning
They say military have the so-called 'secret intelligence' - this amount of intelligence must be very secret, since I've never seen any intelligent military person, nor I have seen any sense in the bloody stupid wars.Tags: Secret, Sense, Stupid
I am a raging alcoholic and a raging addict and I didn't want to see my kids do the same thing.Tags: Addict, Alcoholic, Kids
Related topics
- William Osler
- Joel Osteen
- James Otis
- Jesse Owens
- Kamla Persad-Bissessar
- Miguel
- Enrique Pena Nieto
- Master P
- Jack Paar


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Statistical independence of escalatory ecological trends in Phanerozoic marine invertebrates
Madin, Joshua, Alroy, John, Aberhan, Martin, Fursich, Franz, Kiessling, Wolfgang, Kosnik, Mathew, and Wagner, Peter (2006) Statistical independence of escalatory ecological trends in Phanerozoic marine invertebrates. Science, 312 (5775). pp. 897-900.
PDF (Published version)
Restricted to Repository staff only
Ecological interactions, such as predation and bioturbation, are thought to be fundamental determinants of macroevolutionary trends. A data set containing global occurrences of Phanerozoic fossils of benthic marine invertebrates shows escalatory trends in the relative frequency of ecological groups, such as carnivores and noncarnivorous infaunal or mobile organisms. Associations between these trends are either statistically insignificant or interpretable as preservational effects. Thus, there is no evidence that escalation drives macroecological trends at global and million-year time scales. We also find that taxonomic richness and occurrence data are cross-correlated, which justifies the traditional use of one as a proxy of the other.
|Item ID:
|Item Type:
|Article (Research - C1)
|marine invertebrates; escalecological trends
|Date Deposited:
|27 Nov 2009 03:13
|SEO Codes:
|97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
|More Statistics


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Texas Food Handler + TABC Certification Package provides you with the necessary knowledge and techniques you will need to be a responsible seller-server of alcohol. Specifically, you will learn the laws regulating sale or service of alcoholic beverages to minors, intoxicated persons, and non-members of a private club; how to protect yourself and your establishment from liability; how alcohol affects your customers; how to recognize the effects of alcohol on your customers; how to prevent customers from becoming intoxicated; how to intervene when you need to refuse a sale to someone; how to accurately check IDs and recognize minors; how to prevent second-party sales; and how to refuse a sale.
Course Objectives
After completing the TABC Seller/Server course, the student will be able to:
- Define terms used in this course
- Describe the purpose, goals, and rules for seller-server training and certification
- Identify the seller-serverâs role in the enhancement of public safety
- Check IDs accurately, and recognize clues for when an individual is using a fake ID
- Use observations to detect that a minor is attempting to purchase alcohol.
- Recognize second-party sales
- Describe how seller-servers are responsible for the acts of their customers (Dram Shop Act).
- Recognize intoxicated individuals
- Define blood alcohol concentration and how it is calculated
- List factors that affect BAC in individuals
- Describe the effects of mixing alcohol with other drugs
- Refuse a sale to someone with little conflict
- Discuss the seller-serverâs responsibilities and obligations under the Texas law concerned with preventing alcohol sales to minors, intoxicated persons, and non-members of a private club
After completing the Texas Food Handler course, the student will be able to:
- Discuss food safety, its importance, and those who enforce it.
- Identify foodborne illness and its causes
- Identify biological, physical, and chemical contamination.
- Describe temperature control.
- Discuss the importance of proper personal hygiene in the workplace.
- Implement appropriate procedures to receive and store food.
- Discuss cleaning and sanitization.
The Following Courses Are Included In This Package:
|Course Name
|Course Delivery
|Learn2Serve: TABC Seller-Server Training
|Food and Beverage Programs
|Online Interactive
|Texas Food Handler Training Course
|Food and Beverage Programs
|Online Interactive
Topics Covered
This package will cover the following topics:
TABC Alcohol Server/Seller Certification
- Lesson 1: TABC Seller-Server Training Overview
- Lesson 2: Minors and Alcohol Sales
- Lesson 3: Intoxicated Persons and Alcohol Sales
- Lesson 4: Other Permits Texas Food Handler
Texas Food Handler Training Course Topics
- Lesson 1: Introduction to Food Safety
- Lesson 2: Biohazards, Foodborne Illness, and Food Spoilage
- Lesson 3: Contaminants Lesson 4: Temperature and Time Control
- Lesson 5: Employee Health, Hygiene, and Training
- Lesson 6: Purchasing, Receiving, and Storing Food
- Lesson 7: Cleaning and Sanitizing
End of Course Instructions
Upon completion of the courses, your certificates of completion will be available for download.
Quiz Information
Each quiz in each course must be passed with a 70 percent or higher.
The final exam in each course must be passed with a 70 percent or higher.
To begin enrollment, click HERE


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07 Nov Winter Time is here again – part two!
Following the theme of our last post, here is some news on what you can expect from Courchevel to tempt you to visit this coming winter.
Courchevel 1850 has Oxygen Bar featuring live music weekly, the Meribel Cable Car has moved location to finish at the top of La Saulire, making access from Meribel so much easier! A pleasing change for all 3 Valley skiers. Alternatively it also offers non skiers easy access to Meribel. La Bergerie restaurant, rumoured to have been sold to Russians has now been demolished, a sad day for fans of the infamous Bergerie vin chaud.?A new chairlift has been installed at the Plantrey; now a more comfortable, covered 8 man chair. This will hopefully speed up the movement up the mountain and help avoid the nasty windchill as it comes over the top of the Stade de Slalom.? Eric Tournier has bought (surprise surprise) the piste restaurant in 1650, La Casserole. Rumoured to be made into a new open fire placed restaurant / apres ski hotspot (a la Folie Douce…but not quite the Krazy Kanguruh!). As soon as it's renamed, we will let you know.
If you havent already thought about skiing this winter, then think about Kaluma and contact us today. We look forward to hearing from you.


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Could you handle being a flight attendant?
What makes a good flight attendant and what can you do as a passenger to make life easier on them?
Betty In The Sky stops by today to share flight attendant stories, advice on traveling, and so much more! She's a veteran flight attendant with over 20 years in the air. Check out her podcast- Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! for candid stories, an insider's view of life in the air, and all the behind the scenes stuff.
Fly Here To Learn:
- How to get a golden ticket to see the world
- How metal tongs helped save a tricky situation
- The most ridiculous thing ever witnessed on a plane
- How to improve the collective consciousness on the plane
- The most important life lesson learned (as a flight attendant)
- Funny celebrity stories
- Advice for layovers (bring your bathing suit to Singapore!)
- 3 very simple tips to keep flight attendants happy
- The best asset to help you stand out (when trying to become a flight attendant)
- What you should talk about during your flight attendant interview
- Super easy travel hack
- Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase! Podcast
- Betty in the Sky
- Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase- Book
- Travel Jobs- Wander Work Newsletter
- Location Indie
Looking for more Zero To Travel Podcasts? Head over to the archives now!
* Amazon references contain affiliate links – if you decide to purchase anything through those links I'll receive a small commission at no extra charge and you'll be supporting my work. Thanks!
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If your kids (4th grade to 8th grade) are interested in fun STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) activities, we cordially invite them to try out our Robotic and APP Design classes, build a LEGO robot, create an app on Read More …
Month: March 2016
USJ Library Event
On March 13, 2016, USJ Library held the donation event and launched its "Classics 100 Guide" project. To view more, please visit USJ's wechat public platform: USJ Library Event.
Claude Intl School Logo Released!
On March 10, 2016, USJ's affiliated school: Claude Intl School has released its official logo. To view more, please visit USJ's Wechat public platform: Claude Intl School Official Logo.


text: If you read Part 1 and Part 2 of All About Dieting, you might be feeling hesitant to go on a diet again. But if you have weight to lose, does that mean you're just stuck with it? Definitely not. Some things do work, and you deserve to know what they are. If you're getting […]Continue reading


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Our whole way of life and ways of relating are being challenged. Human Trafficking is around us and in us…that insistent silent scream….the voices of persons not able to defend themselves. Can we hear this cry this evening here in the Gesù? Where Cardinal Lavigerie spoke 125 years ago. Can we bear to hear and feel this pain...Remember that during the 80's alone, more women and children were enslaved by trafficking from Asia that all the people sold into slavery from Africa in 400 years of the Slave trade. We, as a Church need to be involved … where and when it happens. In Europe much is being done but Africa needs help and justice in order to be able to provide a stable economy where all can benefit (...)
Human trafficking has become a never ending task and we need Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Policies to put in place a holistic approach without there will be no progress in this process.
Maggi Kennedy, MSOLA


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12 or 24 hour format. Date format dd:mm:yy or mm:dd:yy (user selection). Stabilized high voltage for bulbs, high efficiency power supply, low heat and long life.
Precision better than 1 second per week. Direct brightness control by rotating the encoder. Settings are based on a single button, simple and intuitive, located in the back of the unit.Rotate to adjust, push to select. Power supply adapter included 100-230V input, 12V stabilized output. For some countries socket adapter for outlet (not included) may be required.
For US - travel adapter plug supplied. The item "Walnut case Nixie Uhr clock IN16 tubes by Monjibox" is in sale since Thursday, April 22, 2021. This item is in the category "Sammeln & Seltenes\Technik & Geräte\Elektronenröhren\Spezialröhren\Ziffernanzeigen & Nixies".The seller is "monjibox" and is located in Bucharest, Romania. This item can be shipped worldwide.


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Child's Play: Ranking Chucky's Best and Worst Movies Over 30 Years
The Child's Play franchise may be the most interesting of the major horror franchises. Created by Don Mancini, the Child's Play movies have never achieved the same level of love or reverence as the Halloween or Elm Street series. Poor Chucky has always been tucked firmly somewhere in between smaller horror series, like the Hellraiser […]Read More


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Back in January, I wrote about using PC backgrounds as a campaign roadmap, and I've been putting a version of that concept into practice in my current Star Trek game. It's been fun and it's saved me time, so I thought it might be useful to you.
Specifically, I used a version of the Three Things approach created by the Stew's own Don Mappin: I asked my players for three things they want to see or do in the game, plus three NPCs I can use. I also asked them which alien race they'd like to face as the season's signature foe. What I got ranged from a sentence or so to a couple of paragraphs, and worked just as well either way.
With three players, this immediately gave me:
- Nine game/story elements to use.
- Nine NPCs to feature.
- A race around which to theme the first season of the game, the Romulans.
…and, better still, many of those elements tied into each other — something I didn't think to ask for, but which worked out well. For example, one of my players included a Romulan NPC in his list, giving me a ready-to-run villain.
This is solid gold — nay, solid platinum.
Why? Because so many groups have angst about PC backgrounds, like:
- "My players never give me backgrounds!"
- "I hate writing a huge background the GM never uses!"
- "Dammit, these backgrounds don't have any hooks in them!"
- "I don't want to define my character down to the last detail right away!"
This method (Three Things) avoids all of that and slides right into an approach I've been honing for the past several years. (I wrote about it back in 2007: PC Backgrounds: Pressure Doesn't Make Diamonds.) It gives me, the GM, a huge amount of stuff I can immediately work with, and — unless they're being very secretive about hating it — my players don't mind doing it.
While I don't want to speak for them, I believe they also enjoy seeing their backgrounds and Three Things requests come up prominently in the game. As a player, that's one of my absolute favorite things about gaming — a thing that no other hobby provides in such a satisfying way.
As a GM, when I'm strapped for an idea — for example, an NPC whose role I know but whose identity I haven't yet determined, or the concept for an adventure I haven't had time to prep for — I love having a place to go for good ideas. The list of things my players provided for this game have been and continue to be my go-to source of good ideas.
When I need something, I start with their list. I get a free idea that comes with built-in player buy-in (something no amount of money can buy), and my players get to collaborate in creating the people, places, events, and stories in our game in a cool way.
This article isn't (or at least isn't supposed to be) "Whoo, look at me! I'm so awesome!" It's "Holy shit, this idea my friend had rocked, and it can rock for you, too!" This approach is fun, simple, and it works for me. I hope it, or some version of it, works just as well for you!


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Mace Swinging Benefits and PurposesMonday, June 2nd, 2014
Today's question comes from Norm, and it is about Mace Swinging.
- "Hi Jedd
I picked up your Home Made Strength Online DVD. I'm very happy with the product. My only question is whether the exercise where you swing the mace around your head should be used as a warmup, main strength move, or finisher? -Norm-"
Thanks for the note, Norm. Mace Swinging is a lot of fun, plus is is very versatile, so I put together a quick article for you.
In addition, I just talked with Ryan Pitts, and he just set up a special discount code just for my subscribers.
From Ryan Pitts at Stronger Grip Enterprises:
- "I have been making the handles on some of the maces loadable at request of customer. I will give this upgrade to anyone who uses your diesel5 code. They get 5% off and a bonus $25 value of loadable handle, giving the mace an extra 10-16 lb capacity depending on what kind of media and length of mace they order. -Ryan Pitts-"
To get your own Mace with the custom adjustable-weight handle, use this link:
Special Diesel Crew Link for Custom Handle Maces
Be sure to use the code => diesel5 <= when you check out to get 5% off and get a cool adjustable handle.
The Benefits of Mace Swinging
Maces: Multi-Purpose Tools, Perfect for Warm-up, Strength Work, or Finishers
Is the Mace best used as a Warm-up device, a Strength Movement, or as a Finisher?
The Mace can actually be used for all three of these purposes. Allow me to detail each one…
Mace Training as a Warm-up
When done with a light weight, Mace Training can be a great warm-up for the upper body.
The shoulders, biceps, triceps, and the lower arms get used under light loads very fluidly with Mace Swinging, and this promotes blood flow to the area, lubricating the joints, making them feel good, especially after a long day where you are stuck in a chair or something like that.
In addition, the over the shoulder and behind the head movements of Mace Swinging open up the thoracic region of the torso, which can help you lift heavier later on in the workout.
Maces as a Strength Movement
You can also test your strength and coordination with heavy mace swinging.
I had a giant mace / club made several years ago that I call the Demolition Club.
Here's a post on the Demolition Club.
It's literally a giant artillery shell with a handle and it weighs 89lbs. The handle is super thick and there is no ball at the end of the handle, you not only must get your core, torso, and shoulders ready to go in order to swing this thing, but you grip must be ON too.
So, you can load a mace up heavy, especially shot-loadable ones like Ryan Pitts makes here, and keep the repetitions lower for a very challenging strength movement.
Maces as a Finisher
I, generally, use my mace training as a "finisher" of sorts the majority of the time.
During periods where I have no contests to train for, or if I am looking to burn some extra calories, I use Mace Swinging as "Upper Body Cardio," at the end of the workout, doing a handful of sets for maximum repetitions.
Generally, I will wear some kind of gloves with these, in order to prevent blisters. Plus, my hands have to work a bit harder, so I get a good Grip Strength Challenge out of it.
I even like to do some "Sprint-Style" Mace Swinging, where I try to rip off 20 repetitions as fast as possible for 4 to 6 sets.
So, really, depending on what you want to go for, Mace Swinging can be a great multi-purpose form of training.
I like the shot-loadable Mace that I have, and you can also buy plate loadable ones too.
Good luck with your Mace Training, Norm.
P.S. Don't have a Mace? I gotcha covered:
You can buy a sweet shot-loadable mace here.<= Use code Diesel5 to get 5% off


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El Buen Amigo
Scranton, PA
Places to Eat & Drink: Dining
Why wait until Taco Tuesday?
El Buen Amigo serves irresistible Mexican dishes in Scranton. Dig in to all your favorites like tacos, tamales, fajitas, enchiladas, and burritos.
Freshness is the key at this eatery. Each day, they make their own tortillas, salsas, cactus salad, guacamole, and so much more.
The authentic Mexican cuisine is just the beginning. They also have a large selection of homemade pasta and other Italian classics.
Menu Highlights
You can't go wrong with the traditional Mexican dishes. Order the soft tacos topped with fresh cilantro and onion or go for a classic quesadilla. The chilaquiles are homemade tortilla chips covered in tomatillo sauce, lettuce, onion, sour cream, avocado, and your choice of meat or egg. If the tamales are on special, you definitely don't want to miss out.
Be sure to order a side of elote, a popular Mexican street food. It's corn on the cob slathered with mayo, cheese, and spices.
Photography by: Courtney Snyder
Videography by: Ryan Wood


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Burst is conceived of as 'bursting' stellar bodies closely packed within irregular shapes. On close inspection, the tiles feature bold patterning which settles into a rich, subtly textured surface as one step back from the wall. The dynamic design of Burst rewards careful attention to lighting: a wash of light across the surface of a matte finish tile will heighten the legibility of its pattern; a glossy finish will bounce point lights or daylight into the tile's radial grooves, producing dazzling reflections and highlights. Burst consists of two hexagonal tiles that can be installed either in repeated patterns or irregularly to produce a more visually active, ever-changing array.
Material: cement
Sizes: 30x34.5cm
Finishes: matt or polished


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After the purchase you want to use the Cobot quickly and benefit from it?
That is no problem. Universal Robots' Cobots do not require months of programming and workstations do not need to be replanned. In most cases, the production layout does not have to be changed either.
This again has several benefits. The costs of the setup are kept within limits and the Cobot is quickly ready for use and can immediately contribute to the success of the company.
How long does the first setup take?
From delivery, unpacking to carrying out the first task, usually only one hour passes. Within an hour you unpack the Cobot and can already program a small task.
This quick setup is mainly possible due to the intuitive interface. In addition, Universal Robots' Cobots are powered by normal electricity, which makes it easier to integrate the robots into working environments where there is no power supply.
In this video you can see how fast the first setup can be done:
Does this also work with the end effectors?
A Cobot without an end effector is like an arm without a hand. End effectors are therefore necessary to be able to perform certain tasks. Universal Robots also takes this aspect into account. With the UR+ solutions Universal Robots follows the "Plug and Produce" approach.
This approach becomes clear very quickly, because you do not need an additional control unit for the end effector. You set everything up with the Universal Robots interface. This setup is also as easy and fast as setting up the Cobot.
UR+ products are Universal Robots certified products from other manufacturers that can be used with a Universal Robots Cobot.
Would you like to know more about this benefit? We will be happy to visit you and you can see for yourself that a Cobot from Universal Robots can be set up really quickly and that you can save further costs.
All about the other advantages of Universal Robots' collaborating robots:


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Not-So-Speedy Dressage
From Endurance to Dressage
Thanks a Lot, UPS
I am saying that with an eye roll and a harrumph. The end result was fine, but driver of the big brown truck, you sure made it a challenge!
I was working in the arena the other day when the UPS truck came roaring by. It's one thing when it zooms down the "main" road, which is a single lane of black top through our quiet little neighborhood of farm and ranch properties, but it's totally different when it zips down the neighbor's access road which lies at the end our arena. That little drive is barely a car width, and it's covered with a canopy of trees.
I ride down that road; little kids bicycle down that road; the dogs play on that road. There is no shoulder to speak of and the visibility is quite poor given how narrow and shaded it is. And really, it's just a long driveway.
Of course, I was riding at that end of the arena as the truck shot past. Speedy tucked his butt and tried to bolt. I hollered out to the UPS guy to SLOW DOWN, but he must not have heard me as five minutes later he was zooming back by. I yelled AGAIN as he continued out onto the neighborhood road. Jerk.
The good news is that the excitement of a noisy brown truck got Speedy in front of my leg. We had an awesome ride. Even though I use spurs, he's pretty hard to get moving really forward. I might think about carrying a whip now and again.
Anyway ... Speedy did two exercises better than he's ever done them: the zig zag leg yield and the counter canter into a volte.
For the first zig zag attempt, every time I changed the bend and put my leg on to scoot him over, he shot forward. After doing that through two changes of bend, I hauled back on that outside rein and dug my spur in until he stopped rushing forward and took a good sideways step. I gave him a huge pat on the neck and picked up the trot again going down the long side.
As we approached the corner, I gave him a little half halt, added some bend, and leg yielded him into the corner. As we came out of the corner to head down centerline, I made sure we had a little bend, weighted my inside seat bone, turned my shoulders to the inside, and bumped him left for a few strides. I changed the bend and my shoulders and bumped him to the right for a few strides.
All I can say is HOLY SMOKES that was fun! For the first time, we both got it exactly right. He was so light in the front end that he felt like he was fairly skipping across that centerline back and forth, back and forth. You should have heard me squeal with laughter when we got back to A. I gave Speedy a great big hug and praised him over and over.
I wanted to hop off of him right there, but we hadn't been working for that long, less than 15 minutes, and we really needed to work on the canter. "Fortunately", that's just about the time that dang UPS truck came roaring by so Speedy caught a second wind.
Since he was so hot to trot, I shortened my reins, and stepped into my left stirrup. He was so nicely in front of my leg that his canter departure was excellent. And since he was already on his hind end, the canter was soft and light. We did one 20-meter circle, and then I did a counter canter circle at E/B. Oh my gosh it was so light and balanced. Gone was the rush onto the forehand.
The last time I rode with Christian, he told me to close my eyes and just remember that I was riding a left lead canter even when we track right. So now, when I am working on the counter canter, I focus on keeping my left hip forward (on the left lead), and I chant, LEFT ... LEFT ... LEFT as I track right. I do the same thing, only in reverse, when we are on the right lead cantering left.
It may look and sound silly, but it helps to keep my body in the correct position without losing the lead. As we get better and better at the counter canter, maybe I won't have to say it out loud.
We did the counter canter both directions and included a few Mickey Mouse ears on each circle. As of right now, we can only do one ear at the top of the circle and one at the bottom. We aren't strong enough to do two ears on each side. As it is, our voltes are more like 12-meters which doesn't leave room for two ears anyway.
I don't care that we can't do all of the exercises "right." I am having fun, and more importantly, it seems as though Speedy is having fun. He loves challenges, and I know he is so thankful to be done with those boring 20-meter trot circles from Training Level. Now that we have so many different exercises to work on, I can keep things interesting for him.
12/26/2014 05:51:26 am
Lol, I'm currently on the UPS live chat trying to have a package's delivery address changed... different problem, but oh, the UPS headaches! At least you were able to channel your UPS problems for good! :)
12/27/2014 02:24:56 am
Shipping can be such a pain!!!!! But yes, at least my headache was "useful." :0)
Comments are closed.
About the Writer and Rider
I am a lifelong rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010.
Welcome to my dressage journey.
About Speedy G
Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. After helping me earn a USDF Bronze medal in the summer of 2020, he is now semi-retired. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.
About Izzy
Izzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are showing at the lower levels. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.
National Rider Awards
State Rider Awards
State Horse Awards
Working Towards:
CDS Sapphire Rider Award
Third Level: 63.514%
Third Level: 62.105%
Fourth Level:
Fourth Level:
2023 Show Season
Show Rating
(s) Schooling
(c) Clinic
(r) Ride-a-Test Clinic
2023 Show Schedule
2023 Completed …
2023 Qualifying Scores
Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC)
Qualifying Training Level
3 Scores/2 Judges/60%:
Score 1:
Score 2:
Score 3:


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Let me start by saying Happy International Women's Day!
It is a complete honor to have so many strong, fierce, courageous women in my life. Thank you to all of you who build me up, dare me to be my best, come alongside of me to tackle life as part of my tribe and love me despite my flaws. My life has been enriched, challenged and spurred on by each and every one of you - and I am forever grateful!
With that said, I wanted to speak to the women (maybe this'll speak to men too, but I think it's directed more towards lady hearts). Hopefully you can follow along, but a word of warning - this post may jump all over the place. I feel like I've had a few things running through my brain that I need to get out (and maybe one or two of you might need to hear it).
In our small group, we are going through the book "The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman. All of the couples have found great nuggets of wisdom (whether it is learning about ourselves or our spouses) and are finding it overall beneficial. Towards the end of group we split into guys and girls (the thought is we are more likely to bear our soul to our ladies than in front of the entire group). Last night we started talking about what we thought of the study thus far.
I went first and mentioned that although this book has been eye opening and has given Ryan and I a few tips and tricks on how to love each other better, it has also added a lot of extra pressure. It's like, now that I know how he "hears" love, I
It got me thinking about other areas of our lives that we put undo pressure on ourselves (maybe this is just me or women in general, but a few of the wives felt this way when I mentioned it so I thought it at least important to mention).
I feel as though women put so much pressure on themselves to be perfect... and social media does NOT help this. It's like the standards of what a "good" woman or wife should look like are so much higher than they were a few years ago. We see pictures of moms with all of their happy kids getting along and we get down on ourselves because our families are far from "perfect". We read a post about how a friend juggles a full time career, family and triathlon training all while having her make-up perfect and we wonder why it is difficult for us to get the laundry done. We take a minute (or twenty) to open Facebook or Pinterest and walk away feeling defeated, as if we aren't doing enough.
Call it Satan whispering lies into our ears, consumerism and marketing ploys telling us that we need the next best thing to make us happy, or popular culture driving in the idea of what "success" or the American dream should be, but whatever it is WE DON'T NEED TO LISTEN! Believe me, I am not saying that it is going to be easy or that it isn't going to take work, but we can be proud of ourselves (while still working towards other goals), we can celebrate our accomplishments (even if they aren't the same as someone else's), and we can love ourselves (flaws and all).
Let's lift off the burdens that are burying us, strip off the pressures that we are adding on our shoulders and let go of the loads that are weighing us down. I think we will find that once we can release some of the weight that we will be able to breath easier. And with a calmer and happier self we can go out and tackle the world (not because we need to be perfect but because the world deserves us to be the our best versions of ourselves)!
What pressures do you put on yourself?


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Having described the "quiet life" as a Christian virtue, Paul now discusses two potential disruptions of that quiet life.
First, men are command to pray without anger or quarreling (v. 8). It seems odd that people would pray in the church "in anger," perhaps continuing arguments they were having in the act of prayer. The noun Paul chooses here (διαλογισμός) does in fact focus on differences of opinion which can develop into an argument. In Luke 9:46 it is used for the disciples arguing among themselves over who was the greatest, in Phil 2:14 Paul uses it in conjunction with grumbling.
It is possible some people were using public prayers to condemn their opponents, continuing their dispute in prayer, when the opponent cannot respond immediately. Something like "Lord, open the eyes of my rather dull brother in Christ so that the Holy Spirit will teach him that clearly I am right and that he is wrong, may he repent soon of the sin of his stupidity in disagreeing with me over this minor point of theology." It is possible some men in the church thought a public prayer was an opportunity to be a Roman Orator. Imagine someone imitating Cicero or a sophist in their public prayers!
Second, women are warned to dress modestly (v. 9-10). While this might seem to be a different topic, Paul is still talking about things which potentially cause disorder and chaos in during prayer. Paul makes a contrast between external adornments (jewelry, clothing hair styles) and godly, good works.
Paul does not forbid people from looking good in public, nor is Paul commanding woman not fix their hair, use makeup or wear jewelry. What he is concerned about is an over-emphasis on external beauty. The hair style Paul mentions is preferred by the fashionable, wealthy women, even though it is the exact opposite of the hairstyles found in public statues of Imperial women. He describes the jewelry as "costly," one of the stronger terms he could have used in this case. Paul is not saying that women should not wear any jewelry, but that it should not be overly expensive.
Bruce Winter points out that "jewelry epitomized sumptuousness" and was often associated with a shameful woman. He quotes Juvenal: "There is nothing that a woman will not permit herself to do, nothing that she deems shameful, when she encircles her neck with green emeralds and fastens huge pearls to her elongated ears" (Satires, 6.458-59, cited by Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, 208). These clothes are adorned with gold and pearl, two very valuable items in the ancient world. The great whore of Babylon is adorned with "gold and pearls" (Rev 17:4). Jesus used a "pearl of great price" as an analogy for the value of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 13:45).
If someone is wearing expensive clothing, real gold and pearls, they would be dressed like royalty! In Paul's churches there are supposed to be no difference between rich and poor. A woman dressed like this is flaunting her wealth or her family's wealth.
Remarkably, this advice does not vary much from that found in Plutarch, in his "Advice to a Bride and Groom." Like Paul, Plutarch points out that external adornments are nothing compared to a virtuous woman:
For, as Crates used to say, 'adornment is that which adorns,' and that adorns or decorates a woman which makes her more decorous. It is not gold or precious stones or scarlet that makes her such, but whatever invests her with that something which betokens dignity (σεμνότης, 1 Tim 2:2), good behaviour (εὐταξία), and modesty (αἰδώς, 12 Tim 2:9). Plutarch, Praecepta Coniugialia 26 (Moralia II, 141e).
The real problem with this verse is defining "modest dress." It is possible one person's modesty will offend someone. The same thing is true for wearing expensive clothing: is this a question of Walmart vs. Kohls vs. Target vs. the trendy shops at the mall? I imagine Amish women get accused of immodesty for wearing the wrong color snood. Think about the difference between what a teenage girl wants to wear and what her father wants her to wear! What I personally think is too fancy and expensive is going to differ dramatically from another person's view.
It is also important to read this text as applying to both men and women. If a man spends an inordinate amount of attention on his clothing, hair, and makeup, or if he is focusing on his external appearance and not putting on godly, good works, then he is just as much of a distraction as a woman. Men dressing immodestly is not the problem in Ephesus (men have other problems), but the application seems to be clear. Both men and women can dress in a way that distracts others and is not worthy of respect from outsiders.
Paul does not give all people permission to point out what they think is an immodest display, or a person wearing expensive clothing. He is urging people to think about the effect that their clothing might have on other people when they wear it in a worship service. There is no permission given here for you to be a jerk about what other people wear.
The controlling idea is living a quiet, dignified life, whether women or men are in view. In both cases Paul wants his congregations to worship in peace, without distracting from the proper focus of worship, the One God who wants to draw all people to himself.
Like other elements of this chapter, it seems easy to draw application to contemporary practice ("dress modestly"), but that simple application is taken as a judgmental attack by snooty old people on whatever new and trendy fashion younger Christians are wearing to church. Is this simply talking about wearing skinny jeans or yoga pants to church? An additional problem is that what counts as modest is quite different in other cultures. How is this command to dress modestly part of living the quiet life? How can it earn the respect of outsiders?


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Here we are about 36 hours before school starts. In just a mere day and a half, my house will be completely quiet. I hear all of these other parents on Facebook and around town overjoyed about the kids going back to school. I sit here and type this almost in tears. I absolutely adore my children. If you would have told me back when I was an overachieving academic that I would throw three degrees in the back seat and devote a large portion of my adult life to raising my two amazing children, I would have told you that you were INSANE. But, once I saw that little boy that graced my life almost thirteen years ago, there was no going back. And here I am now, lamenting another summer gone by and another school year about to start.
There are some things I am looking forward to for this school year. Its my daughter's last year of Elementary school. She will have a locker this year, get to be a safety patrol, go on a fifth grade retreat. My son will be halfway though middle school and he will be a teenager in a few months. I don't like the fact that these nine months carry with it so much "stuff" that I don't get to spend much quality time with them. From the time I pick them up from school, its homework, reading, studying. They have to go to this practice, that practice, this club, that thing.
One thing we have started doing is focusing on travel. Since our son will be thirteen this year, we came to the horrifying realization that we only have five years left before he will be starting out on his own. Five years!! Five years goes by in a blink. I know most of you sewing folks are still playing with toddlers and nursing babies, don't blink - time does fly! I know people used to tell me that when the kids were younger, enjoy that time now or you'll turn around and they will be adults! So this summer we had the privilege of travelling for a month to Europe. We did two transatlantic crossings and spent two weeks in Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Denmark and then spent some time in England (London, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Southampton). It was amazing. I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world to have such a close relationship with my kids. I know the terrible teens are upon us, but I pray that we can continue to have this bond.
Here are some pics from our trip:
*sniff sniff* until next time,


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Derby Paddle Board and Wood Handle Knife Set
Regular price $70.00
Unit price
Headed out to a party, but can't find the perfect gift? Whether you need a hostess gift, wedding gift, birthday, gift, mother or father's day gift, or gift for ANY occasion, the paddle serving board and wood handle knife gift sets are the way to go. Anyone who's a fan of eating and entertaining will fall in love with this oh-so-versatile gift combo. Available in 5 styles, you're sure to find one that suits every taste and they're already bundled, tagged, tied with a bow, and ready to go! Grab the Derby board for your favorite horse lover! Size : 13 1/4" L x 7 1/4" W.
The Derby Paddle Board and Wood Handle Knife Set is a sensational customer favorite, and we hope you like it just as much.
Inventory Last Updated: Dec 07, 2023
Inventory Last Updated: Dec 07, 2023


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Linda is a lifelong resident of Burlington County. She received her Associate's Degree from Burlington County College in Criminal Justice and then went on to receive her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Rutgers University in Camden. She attended Widener Law School in Delaware where she earned her Juris Doctorate. Linda has been practicing law for twenty (20) years and has focused her career on advocating for women and children in the Burlington County Court system. She is a partner at Domers, Bonamassa and Hynes located in Marlton. Linda also had the distinct honor of being appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to the Ethics Committee in Burlington County where she investigated and prosecuted allegations of attorney misconduct for eight (8) years.
Linda has a passion for public service serving five (5) years on the Board of Education in her hometown of Westampton. She was next elected to the Westampton Township Committee in 2017 and served two (2) years as Deputy Mayor. Most recently, Linda was elected as Burlington County Freeholder in November 2019 and is anxious to serve the community on an even grander scale.
Linda has been married to her husband, Alan, for nineteen (19) years and they have two (2) children: Madeline, age 18 and Michael, age 11. In her free time, she is an avid runner having completed three (3) full marathons.


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Country Evaluation Brief: Somalia
Research report
Permanent lenkehttp://hdl.handle.net/11250/2475382
MetadataVis full innførsel
- Publications [1436]
OriginalversjonOslo: Norad (Norad Country Evaluation Briefs no. 3/2017) 36 p.
Somalia is one of the world's poorest countries having suffered from decades of acute political fragility, instability, violent conflict and lack of development. It is also ranked as the most corrupt country by Transparency International. Progress on the political and security fronts since 2012 has led to substantial increases in development aid, exemplified by the adoption of the Somali Compact in 2013. Total aid flows are ten times the level of government's own resources, three times higher than any other country. Yet Somalia still receives less development aid per person than many other post-conflict countries. General lessons for donors from this review include: -The constraints imposed by continued insecurity -The value of consultation and local participation -The need to continually adapt approaches to the evolving context -The case for greater investment in monitoring and evaluation -The challenge of tackling corruption -The case for additional– and better prioritised - funding -The urgency of tackling standard aid effectiveness challenges -The success of some mechanisms developed for post-conflict situations This report reviews findings from evaluations of development interventions in Somalia. The material selected for review covers donor specific and sector specific evaluations as well as research reports and reviews.


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Full Colour Tiles
Out now on:
Design and development: Ben Byford
Sound design: Jack Fletcher
QA: Karl Aldred
Bus, train and toilet friendly puzzle game created to test your power of logic.
Complete each level by turning all the tiles to a single colour. All levels can be completed in 4 moves or less if you are skilled enough.
Good luck!!!
- 60 challenges to start, with more coming soon.
- Complete each level casually for a bronze or silver medal, or try and beat the game with all golds!
- Minimalistic visual and audio style.
- We will never add adverts to get in the way of your Zen puzzling.
- Appropriate for all ages.


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Bull #1: Did I hear a challenge?…
I better go and investigate. But first, I little drink.
So, you heard it too…
Bull #2: Not a challenge, a warning. Don't think about getting any closer.
You heard me, right? It was a warning.
These are mine.
He's getting closer, so I better sharpen these things up a bit.
Bull #2 was eventually chased away by Bull #2. All the while, Bull #3 was a little higher up the hill, listening to it all and munching away on some breakfast.
Bull #3: QUIET, can't I eat my breakfast in peace.
Now, I could be wrong in my interpretations, but it was sure exhilarating to witness the sights and sounds of the season.


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Academy: Who We Are
We are young professionals from all backgrounds and industries who want to learn from each other, connect with each other, and collaborate for a better Omaha to live, work, and play.
The Academy of Young Professionals in Omaha was formed in late 2017, to bring together young professionals throughout Omaha in one group.
Organizationally speaking, the Academy is an independent young professionals group. The Academy is considered a "Company" within the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce's "Council of Companies" for young professionals. However, unlike all the other Companies, the Academy is not industry specific or business specific. Consider us the "catch-all" group that is open and welcoming to all young professionals; you have a home in the Academy!
It's Both Who You Know AND What You Know
The Academy is organized to balance (1) connecting our members with each other and the community and its leaders, and (2) fostering a learning and collaborative atmosphere that promotes the sharing of best practices and a better future for Omaha for its young professionals.


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President Obama will travel to Tampa on Tuesday to deliver his last major national security speech as Commander-in-Chief. Obama will spend the bulk of the speech defending his military record and approach to counterterrorism over the past eight years, according to White House officials.
The president will speak from MacDill Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command teams.
The Obama administration prides itself on how the White House has handled conflicts abroad. When Obama took office, there were 180,000 troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, there are 15,000, and leaders of major terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda have been killed by U.S. forces. Yet threats remain in the form of terrorist networks like ISIS, which took credit for an attack on Ohio State University's campus last week and attacks on cyber networks.
Republicans have been critical of the Obama administration strategy given the ongoing conflict in Syria and the troubling state Iraq is in today. On Tuesday, White House aides say Obama will review the administration's efforts to defeat ISIS, an approach National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes says "represents a break from" the approach that was taken in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the fact that there has been no large deployment of troops though there are military forces throughout the region leading the fight.
White House aides say the speech had been planned since October, before Donald Trump was voted to succeed the president. And yet given Trump's lack of experience in government positions of power, the speech will be President Obama's last major opportunity to make public a case for the approach he'd hope his successor would follow. The White House argument is that utilizing partners on the ground in various region "less resources spent, less casualties," in their view that has strengthened the U.S.'s standing across the globe. Stepping away from "enhanced interrogation techniques," or torture, in favor of utilizing the justice system, has strengthened us, not harmed us, Rhodes said Monday. "Our greatest strength against terrorism is who we are as a country," he said.
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- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time


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Alberta radiologists 'bewildered and demoralized' as province cancels contracts amid COVID-19 pandemic
'It just feels like more bad-faith bargaining from government. We're really not sure why they've done this.'
Radiologists are "bewildered and demoralized" after the Alberta government gave notice on Friday, amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, that it would be terminating contracts signed months earlier with three of the largest diagnostic-imaging providers in the province, says the head of their professional association.
Dr. Robert Davies, president of the Alberta Society of Radiologists, which represents more than 90 per cent of radiologists in the province, said the notice of termination came as a shock to members.
"The radiology groups that provide the majority of service in Edmonton and Calgary, including the major hospitals, just signed a contract in November that included a 12-per-cent average rollback in their fees, based on a recent arbitrator's decision," Davies said.
"It was also retroactive back to April 1 of 2018. So it actually involved, when the contract was signed, the groups cutting cheques back to AHS."
"It really it seems like as soon as AHS had the cheques in hand, they've now issued a notice to terminate the contracts," Davies added. "It really feels like more bad-faith bargaining from the government. We're really not sure why they've done this."
Alberta Health Services confirmed in a tweet that it gave the notice "last week" to radiology providers in Calgary and Edmonton, saying it was acting "at the direction of the minister of health."
Province aims to save money
The one-year-notice clause in the existing contracts mean they will be terminated in March 2021. The contracts will be tendered within the year, according to AHS, which expects the move will save money.
"Savings will go to provide additional scans for patients," it said in a tweet Monday afternoon.
In an email Monday evening, Health Minister Tyler Shandro's press secretary Steve Buick said the termination notice was given "in order to bring fees in line with comparable provinces and reinvest the savings to increase the number of scans performed."
He said AHS pays radiologists at "far higher rates" than what health authorities pay for comparable work done in British Columbia and Ontario.
"Alberta radiologists bill Alberta taxpayers approximately $1.1 million per year on average," Buick said. "This is in addition to private billings they might have."
'This is not the right time'
Dr. Ernst Schuster, president of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association, described the province's move as "yet another measure at the most inopportune time" in the Alberta government's interaction with doctors.
Last week, hundreds of Alberta doctors signed onto a letter urging the provincial government to pause or rescind its plans to make sweeping changes to doctors' compensation, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is not the time when you should start cancelling contracts with the medical profession," Schuster said in an interview Monday. "This is not the right time to do it."
On Monday, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians said "Canada sits on the precipice of a potential public health disaster," as cases of COVID-19 continue to spread.
Schuster said physicians of all types are already on the front lines of the pandemic response and cancelling contracts at this point only adds more tension at a moment that's already extraordinarily tense.
"We are sticking our neck out. We are endangering ourselves and our families and we really need to be acknowledged as a valuable resource," he said.
"I would endorse fair bargaining, as we have always done in the past," he added. "But don't just cancel contracts on us in the midst of a pandemic. That just doesn't seem right."
'It really doesn't make any sense'
Davies said roughly half the radiologists in the province work through the three groups whose contracts are being terminated: Medical Imaging Consultants, Mayfair and EFW. That represents about 200 physicians.
All those people are now uncertain if they will have a job in a year's time, he said.
"They are bewildered and demoralized that, in the middle of a global pandemic, that this was actually somebody's priority to do this," Davies said. "We're front-line providers, highly relevant to the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, and especially of the sickest patients in the hospitals."
He said a "significant subset" of the affected radiologists "will absolutely be at risk as they do procedures on the sickest patients with COVID-19."
"How people at [Alberta] Health thought that this would be helping anyone, under our current circumstances, is really beyond me and the doctors that I try to speak for," he said.
"I'm hoping for a phone call from the minister of health or someone at [Alberta] Health to explain why this was necessary at this time. It really doesn't make any sense, from a policy standpoint, with what we're dealing with."


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Exhilaration and frustration amid the mayhem, is how I would describe the roller coaster of emotions that encompassed the last hour of what proved to be a very eventful outing off Greystones. Although tope were the prime target, Gary and I also included four score of lugworm with a view to test fishing recognised marks on the Moulditch ridge and Kilcoole bank for codling, pollack, coalfish, plaice, and dab.
Leaving the slip underneath a cloudless steel blue sky, mill pond conditions lay before us as we rounded the pier head and pointed Jean Anne south towards the Moulditch buoy. With high water at 10.00am our plan was to fish a number of marks inside the ridge and on the Kilcoole bank down to low water slack, before heading out to the deep channel and gearing up for tope. Anchoring first on the inside of the ridge, our lugworm baited hooks dropped to the kelp covered rocks below, the light southerly run a resultant of the current set of neaps making fishing easy.
The next few hours hammered home the truth, the once prolific cod shoals of the Moulditch have been replaced by dogfish. Not even a coalfish or small pollack found our baits, with the same result repeated on two locations over the Kilcoole bank. The once great fishing grounds "are devoid", and that is official, of cod, plaice, and a host of demersal white fish species, reflecting the damaged ecosystem which is the Irish Sea. What we did find when fishing lug baits in the deep channel were small dab and lots of gurnard, not big, but fun to catch on a light rod with their rattling darting bites. Sadly though, the heady days of quality mixed species catches are for the present a distant memory.
Having anchored up east of the red buoy shortly after 14.00pm, to catch the start of the north run, Gary and I fished two rods each, one for tope and the other with worm baits. What transpired is the reason people go fishing, when it all clicks and nature combines with sport to generate vivid memories which will last a lifetime. The experience also drove home the short sighted policies which have decimated Ireland's inshore waters, and equally highlighted what could be if the fishing grounds were restored, with recreational angling on an equal footing to commercial interests.
A more expanded piece will give the full story, however as the north run eased yesterday evening tope filled the channel east of the Moulditch hitting baits with abandon, in particular those fished by Dermot and Gerry Mitchell, who arrived out shortly after lunch and anchored uptide of ourselves. I got hit by two fish, one on lugworm which initially I thought was the mother of all smooth hounds until after about four minutes the line was bitten through. Then another followed my whole mackerel sixty foot to the surface only to take the bait in full view 10 foot short of the stern. This tope in the thirty pound bracket took off like a scalded cat only to find a weakness in my trace and also was lost after a short fight.
The Mitchell's on the other hand couldn't put a foot wrong and ended up boating 10 tope, experiencing numerous dropped runs, and like myself witnessed two tope follow a bait to the surface before one decided "this is mine". A red letter day which no one who was there will ever forget, topped by a tope that Gerry caught on free lined whole mackerel which was estimated at well over 60.lb. At six foot long and as fat as a pig, it could have been more. All released to fight another day, these occasions are what sport fishing is all about, sharing a great day with good friends, generating timeless memories.


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Compiled by BioNativus
Support and improve your health with trace minerals!
Balance the body's pH, improve energy, immunity and more
Increase the delivery of nutrients into, and removal of wastes from every cell, tissue, fluid, gland and organ to protect against aging and disease
See All BioNativus Liquid Mineral Products in Our Store
See Our Entire Mineral Products Category
The Importance of Concentrated Trace Minerals for Mood Swings, Anxiety, Panic & Depression Never has the admonition to take your minerals been as important as when feeling the effects of mood swings. Cells depend on minerals to create certain chemical reactions necessary to produce vital hormones and other chemicals, such as serotonin. Magnesium, zinc, and iron are crucial in the treatment of mood swings because they help the muscles relax, reducing cramping and pain that lower serotonin levels. Due to the fact that minerals are water-soluble, they are easily forced out of the body by internal and external stresses including exercise, emotions, menstruation, diarrhea and, of course, many prescription medications.
Magnesium is the first mineral to be depleted when the body is under internal or external stress; it is also the first mineral to help recovery from mineral imbalances, stress, anxiety and panic disorders.
Additionally, our body loses its ability to completely replenish nutrient levels as we age.
Minerals are extremely important to both avoid damage and the repair of cellular integrity caused by nutritional deficiencies, especially when withdrawing from prescription medications, street drugs or alcohol, and during and after detoxification techniques or protocols.
Because minerals are part of every cell and body fluid, they are the neurotransmitters that signal every action within the body, literally the body's electrical system.
Minerals are vital to the overall digestive process and play a major role in maintaining alkalinity within the body – enabling the blood to carry the correct amount of oxygen to all the cells while stimulating and regulating the heart muscle and enabling nerve tissue and glands to properly function.
Many cases of anxiety are a matter of mineral deficiencies that create an imbalanced internal environment, causing a chain reaction that manifests as anxiety, panic or even depression as the body attempts to maintain balance but doesn't have the tools (minerals/electrolytes) necessary.
Mineral/Electrolyte Deficiency: The Anxiety/Panic Connection
Deficiencies in certain minerals can cause depression. Deficiencies in minerals such as potassium, sodium, iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and manganese have been known to produce depression.
• Magnesium: Deficiency can result in depressive symptoms, along with confusion, agitation, anxiety, and hallucinations, as well as a variety of physical problems. Most diets do not include enough magnesium, and stress also contributes to magnesium depletion
• Calcium: Depletion affects the central nervous system. Low levels of calcium cause nervousness, apprehension, irritability, and numbness.
• Zinc: Inadequacies result in apathy, lack of appetite, and lethargy. When zinc is low, copper in the body can increase to toxic levels, resulting in paranoia and fearfulness.
• Iron: Depression is often a symptom of chronic iron deficiency. Other symptoms include general weakness, listlessness, exhaustion, lack of appetite, and headaches.
• Manganese: This metal is needed for proper use of the B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. Since it also plays a role in amino-acid formation, a deficiency may contribute to depression stemming from low levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. Manganese also helps stabilize blood sugar and prevent hypoglycemic mood swings.
• Potassium: Depletion is frequently associated with depression, tearfulness, weakness, and fatigue.
by Gloria Gilbère, N.D., D.A.Hom., PhD.
From the book Healthy Healing by Linda Page, ND, Ph.D, she states, " Minerals and Trace Minerals are the building blocks of life, the bonding agent between you and food. They keep your body pH balanced, are essential to bone formation, regulate the movement of cellular fluids, nerve electrical activity and metabolic function. Trace minerals are only .01% of body weight, but even deficiencies in these micro-nutrients can cause severe depression, PMS, hyperactivity in children, blood sugar disorders, nervous stress, high blood pressure, premature aging, memory loss and poor healing." " Many minerals are no longer even sufficiently present in our fruits and vegetables, leached from the soil by chemicals and pesticide sprays used in commercial farming."
Mineral Deficiencies: The Mineral Depletion of The Earth's Soil and Ocean of June 1992 reported the following decline of nutritional minerals in farm and range soils by continent over the last hundred years:
The Earth Summit Report
Continent.... % Depleted Over Past 100 Years
North America .............85%
South America .............76%
Asia .............76%
Africa .............74%
Europe .............72%
Australia .............55%
Here are some recommendations:
Calcium, Magnesium & D3 are essential to the central nervous system and bone regeneration. They work best when taken together.
Dosage: Take a Calcium, Magnesium and D3 combination formula that supplies 500 - 600 milligrams of Calcium , 250 to 600 milligrams of Magnesium and 400 IU of D3 twice daily.
Chromium helps keep blood-sugar levels in balance.
Dosage: Take 200 micrograms twice a day for one month, then reduce to 200 micrograms daily.
Selenium is an antioxidant. It has a mood-elevating effect when taken in regions where food supply is deficient in selenium.
Dosage: Take 100 mcg daily
Iron produces hemoglobin to carry oxygen throughout the body. Anemia is a condition in which your red blood cells don't contain enough hemoglobin. Anemia resulting in lack of energy and depression is often caused by illness or blood loss.
Take a low dosage of iron daily for depression caused by anemia.
Zinc protects against free radical damage, and is essential to the formation of insulin, immune strength, gland and reproductive health.
Dosage: Take 30-60 mg daily
All doses recommended here are general statements. Some individuals may need much more, or less. It is best to work with a qualified practitioner, who also utilizes proper testing methods.


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Wikipedia Appears on First Page of Google Less than Half the Time
Most site owners and bloggers are eternally envious of Wikipedia, if for no other reason than the online encyclopedia's apparent knack for showing up at or near the top of search results so frequently.
However, a new study performed by Conductor indicates that Wikipedia only ranks on the first page for 46% of keyword searches. The study was conducted using 2,000 different keywords. Conductor performed its study as a response to an Intelligent Positioning study which found that Wikipedia ranks on page 1 for 99% of searches, at least in the United Kingdom.
Noticing skepticism from other blogs such as Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Land, Conductor decided to re-do the study using its own methodology.
Informational Vs. Transactional Keywords
The 46% figure represented an average for all keyword searches performed on Google. However, Conductor was interested in finding out how Wikipedia's ranking differed depending on the query type. Conductor divided queries into two separate types: informational queries (such as "Nile river" or "Empire State building") and transactional queries (such as "plane tickets" and "buy Playstation 3").
As expected, Wikipedia ranks on the first page of Google much more frequently when the search query is informational – 60% of the time, to be exact. By comparison, Wikipedia only manages to show up on the first page of search results for transactional queries 34% of the time.
Perhaps the most surprising find was that Wikipedia doesn't rank at all for 29% of all keyword searches, including 19% of informational queries and 38% of transactional queries.
At the same time, the study revealed that when Wikipedia does rank, it tends to rank very highly. Specifically, when a Wikipedia page lands on the first page of search results, there's a 65% chance of it landing in the top three.
What Does This Mean for Your Site or Blog?
If you own a site or blog, you should take the study as an indication that while Wikipedia is indeed an SEO powerhouse, there's still room on the market for sites specializing purely in informational content, and especially sites focused more on transactional queries.
Hopefully, the study will inspire a follow-up study looking at how Wikipedia's ranking power varies from one search engine to the next, especially in light of the fact that Bing and Yahoo combined account for about 30% of overall search traffic.


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Maryland Teens Win Marble Championship
The 2014 National Marbles Championships were held in Wildwood, New Jersey and two Maryland teens came out on top. Marilyn Fisher and Dominic Rudakevyck won the 91st championship among 42 boys and girls in the competition.
Fisher's brother was the boy champ last year and she took all the marbles this year. Contestants shoot 13 target marble out of the circle while trying to keep their 'shooter marble' in the circle. The two 13 year olds receive $2,000 scholarship money plus watches, trophies and crowns.


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Kiara Sky Dip Powder Egyptian Goddess 28g
Benefits & Features
Introducing the newest addition to the Kiara Skyproduct line, Kiara Skyu00aeDip Powder. Get stronger, lightweight and natural long-lasting nails with our easy-to-use dip powders and dip essentials that dont damage the nail bed. Formulated without harsh chemicals and with added vitamins and calcium to strengthen natural nails. Our Kiara Skyu00aeDip Powdercontains complex bonds that keep it from chipping, discolouring and lifting. Available in 130 colours that matches with Kiara Skyu00aegel and nail lacquer. See why Kiara Sky Dip Powderis the healthier and exciting alternative in Nail Enhancements.
Note: Bond, Base, Seal Protect & Topare required for application process.
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Decorate Easter Eggs with Colorful Washi Paper
Skip the messy dyes and decorate eggs with cheerful washi paper to create a cheerful Easter centerpiece.
Do something different for Easter this year and wrap empty eggs with washi paper to create a bright and cheery effect for this beloved spring holiday. These work great as an Easter dinner table centerpiece. (And if you love this craft, check out our sister publication Country Woman Magazine, where it originally appeared!)
Blowing Out Eggs
Before you grab your favorite washi paper pattern, review these quick, simple instructions for emptying the eggs out.
- Eggs and carton
- Large bowl
- Straw cut to 4 inches
- Thumbtack
- Wood skewer
- Kitchen or tea towel
- With egg in carton, press thumbtack firmly into the top and bottom of egg to puncture shell.
- At the bottom of the egg, insert the sharp end of a skewer and rotate it to break up the yolk. Wrap the egg in a towel and shake it several times to further break up the contents.
- Place a straw over the hole at the top of the egg and blow out contents into a bowl. If yolk does not flow easily out of the egg, repeat steps 2 and 3 as needed until egg is empty. Reserve for another use, like an Easter quiche!
- Wash egg in warm soapy water; dry. Blow through egg one final time to ensure that the inside of the shell is completely clear.
BONUS TIP! Don't have time to decoupage? Instead of using washi paper, layer strips of washi tape onto your eggs. It works just as well!
- Blown eggs (see above for directions)
- Washi or origami paper in various colors (available for purchase at most craft stores and online)
- Measuring tape
- Ruler
- Cutting mat
- Decoupage glue
- Craft knife
- Paintbrush
Step-By-Step Instructions:
Step 1
Start with an empty egg shell. Cut washi paper 1/8-in. bigger than the circumference and height of the egg.
Step 2
Fold paper in half lengthwise, then again crosswise. Cut 1/4-in. strips along the long side of the paper, stopping 1/4-in. before the center fold.
Step 3
Trim the ends of each 1/4-in. strip to a point. Unfold paper and place wrong side up on a piece of parchment paper. Use a brush to spread on a thin layer of glue.
Step 4
Lay egg against a short side and wrap the paper around the egg. Press each strip toward the tip of the egg, one piece at a time. Each strip should slightly overlap the previous one. Work your way slowly around the egg, smoothing out the paper strips with your fingers. Brush glue over the top of each strip of paper as you go. Repeat on bottom half of the egg.
Step 5
Apply a layer of glue over the entire egg and set on parchment paper to dry. Once your eggs are completely dry, arrange them in a cute bowl. We used a pretty colander!