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Designers: Ricardo Marcin, Erica Jung
Design date: 2013
Publisher: PintassilgoPrints
Marujo is a highly decorative typeface inspired by painted pieces of Arthur Bispo do Rosário, a striking Brazilian artist who lived for 50 years in a psychiatric institution.
Besides its spirited Regular and Light cuts, Marujo family brings nifty eye-catching variations adorned with dots and stripes. It also brings complementary fonts to spice things up even more: there are 2 shadow options and yet a picture font packed with doodles, mostly on nautical subjects (which are strongly present on Bispo do Rosário, a former seaman apprentice.)
Bispo do Rosário's works employs a multitude of materials and are often very intricate. Words are everywhere, painted or embroidered at most. He produced a vast amount of works, and is now – posthumously – widely recognized in Brazilian art scene. The psychiatric institution in which he lived is now a museum dedicated exclusively to his work.
Marujo draws inspiration not only from Bispo's works, but also from this man's potency, a persistent man who produced amazing art locked in such a tough environment for a life-long.
Marujo fonts are positively adventurous and will safely navigate through a sea of feelings, reaching free spirits everywhere. To navigate is precise…


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Thanks to agreements between the Department of the Interior and several states, a dozen popular national parks are open again, at least temporarily. The parks range from the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon; the states are paying to keep them open for up to 10 days.
State officials say it's particularly important to have the parks open during the Columbus Day holiday weekend. National Park Service employees began opening some facilities Friday; others will reopen today or Monday.
Here's the list of parks, along with the number of days they'll be open, and the dollar figure attached to each deal:
In addition, Utah officials reached a deal to reopen eight parks for 10 days from Oct. 11-20, thanks to a donation of $1,665,720.80:
Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Natural Bridges National Monument, and Zion National Park.
"This is a practical and temporary solution that will lessen the pain for some businesses and communities" in areas affected by the shutdown, said Secretary Sally Jewell of the Department of the Interior. She added that the agency wants to open all of the parks, calling on Congress to approve a funding deal.
The deal is "a godsend," Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said, according to NPR's Howard Berkes, who first reported on the developments earlier this week. Since then, other states have also agreed to terms.
"Utah's national parks are the backbone of many rural economies, and hardworking Utahans are paying a heavy price for this shutdown," Herbert said.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

subset: commoncrawl


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- Home
HCPCS Level II Coding Materials
HCPCS coding materials are available as books, software, data files, and E-Books.
CMS mantains Level II of the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) it is a standardized coding system that is used primarily to identify products, supplies, and services not included in the CPT codes, such as ambulance services and durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) when used outside a physician's office. Because Medicare and other insurers cover a variety of services, supplies, and equipment that are not identified by CPT codes, the level II HCPCS codes were established for submitting claims for these items. The development and use of level II of the HCPCS began in the 1980's. Level II codes are also referred to as alpha-numeric codes because they consist of a single alphabetical letter followed by 4 numeric digits, while CPT codes are identified using 5 numeric digits.
The HCPCS coding system updates every year on January 1st.


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In Zimbabwe, polling stations stayed opened late into the night yesterday to allow for the massive turnout of voters who've been waiting in long lines to cast ballots for a president and parliament. But today, the country's main opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, is claiming intimidation and poll rigging in the election.
PRIME MINISTER MORGAN TSVANGIRAI: Our conclusion is that this has been a huge farce. The credibility of this election has been marred by administrative and legal violations which affected the legitimacy of its outcome.
MONTAGNE: That's the opposition leader, but so far, it's been an election and a vote that's largely peaceful with no repeat of the violence in state intimidation that proved disastrous in the last election. Still, tensions are clearly present in Zimbabwe. For more, we go to NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton joining us from the capital, Harare. Good morning.
OFEIBEA QUIST-ARCTON, BYLINE: Greetings from Harare, a Harare that's a little tensed now after this rather tough announcement from Morgan Tsvangirai that he considers that the election has been a farce.
MONTAGNE: That's pretty strong language just a day after the voting. What more is the opposition saying?
QUIST-ARCTON: It's a catalogue of criticism, and it starts - the main problem have been these electoral lists, the voters registration. They say that thousands failed to register and were disenfranchised, and many more who did register were not allowed to vote yesterday. They're also saying manipulation of voters' choice that many voters were forced to plead illiteracy and resort to curiously what's called assistance. They had to be assisted at the polling stations when they didn't need assistance. So they're saying that they were perhaps forced to vote for someone they didn't want to vote for. And also the use of traditional leaders. Chief and headmen in the rural areas used to intimidate voters so that they had to vote for whoever the headman or the chief said. It's so many different reasons. Yesterday, the finance minister, who's also the secretary general of Morgan Tsvangirai's Opposition Movement for Democratic Change, says I know how many security forces we pay here. How come for the special votes, there were so many more security forces than are paid for by the Zimbabwe government. So they're saying that everything has been skewed against the opposition, and they feel that this is a sham election.
MONTAGNE: And, Ofeibea, you said it was tense, but what is the reaction to the opposition coming out basically saying the vote, you know, is a sham?
QUIST-ARCTON: You know, Zimbabweans were out in their thousands, and there was an almost festive mood as people lined up to vote. There were all long lines snaking - they, you know, they're fed up. They've had five years of huge difficulty, of turbulence of this power-sharing government. What they want is their country to move forward. They don't want to hear news about a disputed - another disputed election after the violence and the intimidation in 2008.
MONTAGNE: So when will the results be in and let everyone know exactly who won, who lost, supposedly?
QUIST-ARCTON: Zimbabwe's electoral commission has said and the Constitution says that it should deliver the results of this first round within five days of voting. Now, of course, this is the first round and if no one candidate and it's really a two-horse race between veteran President Robert Mugabe and his prime minister in this power sharing agreement, Morgan Tsvangirai, if no one candidate wins an outright majority in the first round, there's meant to be a runoff in September.
MONTAGNE: Ofeibea, thanks very much. That's NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton speaking to us from the capital, Harare, Zimbabwe.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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But most of the warnings and a requirement in a 1978 law to create a regularly updated plan for the restoration of "vital services" after a storm went mostly unheeded, either because of tight budgets or the lack of political will to prepare for a hypothetical storm that may never hit.
Some of the thorniest problems after Sandy, including a gasoline shortage, the lack of temporary housing and the flooding of commuter tunnels, ended up being dealt with largely on the fly.
"I don't know that anyone believed," acknowledged Gov. Andrew Cuomo this past week. "We had never seen a storm like this. So it is very hard to anticipate something that you have never experienced."
Asked how well prepared state officials were for Sandy, Cuomo said, "not well enough."
It wasn't as if the legislative actions over the years were subtle. They all had a common, emphatic theme: Act immediately before it's too late.
The 1978 executive law required a standing state Disaster Preparedness Commission to meet at least twice a year to create and update disaster plans. It mandated the state to address temporary housing needs after a disaster, create a detailed plan to restore services, maintain sewage treatment, prevent fires, assure generators "sufficient to supply" nursing homes and other health facilities, and "protect and assure uninterrupted delivery of services, medicines, water, food, energy and fuel."
Reports in 2005, 2006 and 2010 added urgency. "It's not a question of whether a strong hurricane will hit New York City," the 2006 Assembly report warned. "It's just a question of when."
A 2010 task force report to the Legislature concluded: "The combination of rising sea level, continuing climate change, and more development in high-risk areas has raised the level of New York's vulnerability to coast storms. ... The challenge is real, and sea level rise will progress regardless of New York's response."
The Disaster Preparedness Commission met biannually some years, but there are gaps in which there is no record of a meeting. However, some administrations, including Cuomo's, convened many of the same agency heads to discuss emergency management. But even under Cuomo, who has taken a much greater interest in emergency management after three violent storms in his first two years in office, there are still three vacancies on the commission.
Richard Brodsky, a former New York Democratic assemblyman who was chairman of the committee that created the 2006 report, credits administrations with making some improvements to the plan in recent years, such as requiring a specific plan to protect and evacuate the infirmed and to save pets.
"But on two issues related to Sandy - prevention and recovery - they did almost nothing," Brodsky said. "If Goldman Sachs was smart enough to sandbag its building, why wasn't the MTA smart enough to sandbag the Battery Tunnel?"
Sandy flooded both tubes of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, now called the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, which was one of the major and longest transportation disruptions of the storm. It also ravaged the Rockaways in Queens, particularly the waterfront community of Breezy Point, where roughly 100 homes burned to the ground in a massive wind-swept fire.
Among the other crises Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg faced on a daily basis during Sandy were the shortage of temporary housing, which continues, the long disruption of electricity and gasoline, generators in health care facilities swamped by floodwaters, restoring power from swamped electrical infrastructure and repairing commuter rail lines.
The warnings touched on many of these areas, but mostly in a broad way with few specific directions for action. Some areas, such as a shortage of shelters in New York City and repairing commuter rail lines quickly, have improved in recent years to some degree, but other areas such as making sure health facility generators are on upper floors are newly realized problems forced by Sandy, according to the former legislators.
"What you've got here is a great number of consequences that were foreseeable, but unforeseen," Brodsky said. "Prevention is politically less sexy than disaster response."
There was another obstacle to enacting calls for more preparation: funding. The state and city were each facing $1 billion deficits from a slow economic recovery before Sandy hit.
"As your budget shrinks, the first thing that goes out the door is emergency management, the first thing," said Michael Balboni, New York's disaster preparedness point man in the Republican-led Senate and in the Democratic Spitzer and Paterson administrations from 2001 to 2009.
"To take the 1978 law and really enable it, you need to put a ton of money behind it and there was no political will to do it," said Balboni, who now heads an emergency management firm in Manhattan.
Cuomo is now asking the federal government for more than $32 billion to cover the immediate costs triggered by Sandy, and an additional $9 billion for preventive measures to better protect the area for the next big storm.
The Cuomo administration insists that it has had robust emergency planning and clearly made important changes after tropical storms Irene and Lee slammed much of upstate and threw a scare into New York City in 2011. The administration created three regional disaster logistics centers and conducted training and exercises and, before Sandy, took extensive preparatory steps learned from Irene to "preposition" equipment and top staff and National Guard troops around the state.
"These initiatives were intended to strengthen the existing emergency response infrastructure which had not previously been a priority for the state before Gov. Cuomo took office," the administration told the AP in a statement.
Spokesmen for previous administrations and for Bloomberg didn't respond to requests for comment.
Like the state, the city has talked up storm preparedness in a series of hurricane and climate change plans since 2000. And it has taken some concrete steps, such as requiring some new developments in flood zones to be elevated, eliminating roadblocks to putting boilers and electrical equipment above the ground and restoring wetlands as natural storm-surge barriers.
Still, the city wasn't expecting Sandy, Bloomberg said in a speech this past week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had figured there was only a 1 percent chance that the Battery in lower Manhattan would see the 14 feet of water Sandy sent in, he said; the previous record, set in 1960, was 11 feet.
Bloomberg said the city would reassess building codes and evacuation zone borders, look at ways to flood-proof power and transportation networks, make sure hospitals are better prepared and do an engineering analysis of whether to build levees, dunes or other structures to protect the coast.


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Champagne Round Neck Tulle Sequin Long Prom Dress Tulle Formal Dress
- Regular
- $192.00
- Sale
- $192.00
- Regular
- Unit Price
- per
Delivery times:
Total delivery time = processing time + shipping time
Processing time: 15-18 days
Shipping Time: 5-8 days
If you need rush order service, please click on: Rush My Order
All the dresses are not in stock, no matter choosing a standard size or a custom size dress, all of our dresses are personally tailored for you from the beginning. The total time to receive your order is around 20-25 days. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions, thank you!
Item Descriptions:
- Material: sequin, tulle
Built-In Bra: Yes
Silhouette: A-Line
For color customization, pls kindly click here to check the color card.
Any questions about the item, feel free to Contact Us. E-mail: email@example.com
For Custom Size, Please leave following measurement, You can find a message box in the shopping cart, leave your custom size, Thank You.
Bust:______ cm/inch
Shoulder to Shoulder :_______ cm/inch
Shoulder to knee( for knee length dress only):________ cm/inch
Hollow to floor___cm/inch
It is our hope that you will enjoy the item you ordered! However, in case of dissatisfaction, please refer to our return policy, and make sure all the criteria are met before sending any item back to us.
Note: Requests for after-sales issues can only be made within 7 days from the date the item arrives to you.


text:
The "Light Controllers Market" globally is a standout amongst the most emergent and astoundingly approved sectors. This worldwide market has been developing at a higher pace with the development of imaginative frameworks and a developing end-client tendency.
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Request Sample Report @ https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2559424&source=atm
The worldwide Light Controllers market is an enlarging field for top market players,
The following manufacturers are covered:
Leviton Manufacturing
Lutron Electronics
Hubbell Lighting
Cooper Industries
Koninklijke Philips
Acuity Brands Lighting
Honeywell International
Schneider Electric
Daintree Networks
Universal Remote Control
Segment by Regions
North America
Southeast Asia
Segment by Type
Segment by Application
Commercial Building
Make An Enquiry About This Report @ https://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=2559424&source=atm
This Light Controllers report begins with a basic overview of the market. The analysis highlights the opportunity and Light Controllers industry trends that are impacted the market that is global. Players around various regions and analysis of each industry dimensions are covered under this report. The analysis also contains a crucial Light Controllers insight regarding the things which are driving and affecting the earnings of the market. The Light Controllers report comprises sections together side landscape which clarifies actions such as venture and acquisitions and mergers.
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Geographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, covering North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India
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Content retrieved from: https://prnewsportal.com/uncategorized/14513/light-controllers-market-foraying-into-emerging-economies-2019-2025/.


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This blog discusses health and life issues important to women. Content includes info about adventure travel, nutrition, aging, menopause and much more
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Yoga moves that build bones
There are many menopausal issues that occur in women in addition to sleep disturbances, hot flashes and night sweats. One of the most common issues is osteoporosis -- bone mass so low it puts you at high risk of breaks and fractures -- affects 8 million women in the United States. Although the disease is most often diagnosed after menopause, women can start losing bone density as early as their 30s, says Lori Rubenstein, founder of Mosaic Physical Therapy in Los Angeles.
Fortunately, yoga poses that strengthen the areas most likely to suffer -- the hips, spine, and wrists -- can help maintain bone density, she says. Poses that focus on the spine can also help improve posture, preventing the hunched back that is typical in older osteoporosis sufferers. Women who have a small frame or a family history of osteoporosis are more prone to the disease -- so if your mother or grandmother has been diagnosed, be doubly sure to add these poses from Rubenstein to your repertoire.
Chair Pose
This pose strengthens the muscles around the hip, one of the most common sites for osteoporosis. It also improves your balance, which will help decrease your chances of falling and fracturing a bone when you get older and your bones are weaker.
1. Begin standing up tall with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Exhale as you bend your knees and lower your hips back as if you were going to sit on a chair; sweep your arms overhead.
3. Keep your feet flat on the floor with your knees aligned over your ankles.
4. Turn your palms to face each other with your arms straight and shoulders dropping away from your ears.
5. As you hold this pose, reach your tailbone toward the floor and the crown of your head toward the ceiling. Hold for as many breaths as feels comfortable.
6. Inhale as you stand up straight again. Repeat six times.
Cobra Pose
Osteoporosis patients often suffer thoracic spine compression fractures, which happen when the front part of the vertebrae compresses down, causing a person's posture to look bent forward. This pose strengthens the upper back muscles and the spine, which help maintain proper posture and may help prevent a compression fracture from occurring. Cobra is also a perfect pose to combat computer hunch.
1. Begin lying facedown with your legs slightly wider apart than your hips.
2. Place your palms on the mat next to your shoulders, fingers pointing forward.
3. Hug your elbows in close to your rib cage as you draw your shoulder blades down your back, toward your waist. You should feel an opening in your chest.
4. Inhale and use your back muscles (not your arms) to lift your head and chest off the floor. Breathe smoothly and deeply.
5. For an additional challenge, lift your hands off the mat, holding yourself with your back strength alone.
6. Keep your neck long and in line with your spine, looking at the floor a few feet in front of you.
7. Exhale as you return to the starting position. Hold for one breath; repeat 10 times.
Side Plank Pose
Some of the most common osteoporosis-related fractures are in the hip, ribs, spine and wrist. The weight-bearing Side Plank Pose strengthens the muscles of the outer hip, side of the trunk, and arm.
1. Lie face down on the floor with your upper body propped on your forearms with your elbows directly beneath your shoulders.
2. Roll your body over to the right side, supporting your torso on your right forearm and raising your hips and stacking your feet so your body forms a straight plank. (For more of a challenge, you can push up so that you're supported by your right palm instead of your forearm. Don't take it to this level if you have wrist trouble.)
3. Raise your left hand and extend it skyward so you have one long, straight line from middle finger to shoulders to right wrist. The only body parts touching the floor are your right forearm and the outside edge of the right foot.
4. Breathe and lengthen your torso as much as you can. Hold for three to five full breaths.
5. On your last exhale, return to the starting position and repeat on the other side. Repeat the sequence 10 times.
Tabletop Pose
This pose strengthens the muscles of the arms, back, hips, and legs. It also stretches the front of the body to counteract slumped posture. In addition, it helps improve bone strength of the wrists, spine, and hips. If you have neck problems, you may want to skip this move, though.
1. Sit with knees bent and feet flat on the floor, aligned with your hips.
2. Place your hands behind you with the fingers pointing toward your hips.
3. Squeeze your shoulder blades together on an inhale to open the chest and draw the shoulders backward toward each other.
4. Maintain this position as you contract your buttock muscles and lift your hips up.
5. If it's comfortable, tilt your head back slightly.
6. Maintain straight alignment of the body by contracting your buttock muscles and squeezing your shoulders to press the chest open. Hold for about 20 seconds.
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Strep Test: Throat Culture
Article Translations: (Spanish)
What It Is
A throat culture or strep test is performed by using a throat swab to detect the presence of group A streptococcus bacteria, the most common cause of strep throat. These bacteria also can cause other infections, including scarlet fever, abscesses, and pneumonia.
A sample swabbed from the back of the throat is put on a special plate (culture) that enables bacteria to grow in the lab. The specific type of infection is determined using chemical tests. If bacteria don't grow, the culture is negative and the person doesn't have a strep throat infection.
Strep throat is a bacterial infection that affects the back of the throat and the tonsils, which become irritated and swell, causing a sore throat that's especially painful when swallowing. White or yellow spots or a coating on the throat and tonsils also might be present, and the lymph nodes along the sides of the neck may swell.
Strep throat is most common among school-age children. The infection may cause headaches, stomachaches, nausea, vomiting, and listlessness. Strep throat infections don't usually include cold symptoms (such as sneezing, coughing, or a runny or stuffy nose).
While symptoms of strep throat can go away within a few days without direct treatment, doctors will prescribe antibiotics to help prevent related complications that can be serious, such as rheumatic fever. Taking antibiotics reduces the length of time a person is contagious.
Why It's Done
The throat culture test can help find the cause of a sore throat. Often, a sore throat is caused by a virus, but a throat culture will see if it's definitely caused by strep bacteria, helping doctors decide on the proper treatment.
Encourage your child to stay still during the procedure. Be sure to tell the doctor if your child has taken any antibiotics recently, and try to have your child avoid antiseptic mouthwash before the test as this could affect test results.
The Procedure
A health professional will ask your child to tilt his or her head back and open his or her mouth as wide as possible. If the back of the throat cannot be seen clearly, the tongue will be pressed down with a flat stick (tongue depressor) to provide a better view. A clean, soft cotton swab will be lightly brushed over the back of the throat, over the tonsils, and over any red or sore areas to collect a sample.
You may wish to hold your child on your lap during the procedure to prevent movement that could make it difficult for the health professional to obtain an adequate sample.
What to Expect
Your child may have some gagging when the swab touches the back of the throat. If your child's throat is sore, the swabbing may cause brief discomfort.
Getting the Results
Throat culture test results are generally ready in 2 days.
Throat swabbing can be uncomfortable, but no risks are associated with a throat culture test.
Helping Your Child
Explaining the test in terms your child can understand might help ease any fear. During the test, encourage your child to relax and stay still so the health professional can adequately swab the throat and tonsils.
If You Have Questions
If you have questions about the throat culture strep test, speak with your doctor.
Note: All information is for educational purposes only. For specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment, consult your doctor.
© 1995-2024 KidsHealth ® All rights reserved. Images provided by iStock, Getty Images, Corbis, Veer, Science Photo Library, Science Source Images, Shutterstock, and Clipart.com


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Door-to-Door Meat Sales
In today's rapid pace world, shopping at home can be both convenient and timesaving. And for many older adults, stay-at-home parents or shut-ins, it may be the only convenient way to shop. Many of these shoppers buy their groceries over the internet. However, some consumers purchase meat and poultry from dealers who knock on their door.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) receives many complaints from consumers after purchase because the quality of the meat or poultry is not what they expected it to be. These are often not the delicious cuts of meat touted by the salesman. Unfortunately, many unhappy customers have little or no information about the door-to-door sales company, so redress is difficult or impossible.
However, if they've done their homework, consumers can be pleased with door-to-door meat and poultry sales. Before making a decision they might later regret, consumers need to find out important information about the dealer and the company.
The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline can help potential buyers do their homework by giving them tips to look for when buying meat and poultry from door-to-door salesmen. And in some instances, if the consumer has information about the company, help can be obtained after the sale as well.
Inspection and Grading of Meat and Poultry
The Food Safety and Inspection Service carries out USDA's responsibilities under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act. These laws protect consumers by requiring the mandatory inspection of meat and poultry products to ensure they are wholesome, unadulterated, and properly marked labeled and packaged. The box or package of meat must bear the plant's inspection number.
State inspection is mandatory for meat and poultry being transported and sold within a state. The state inspection programs must enforce requirements at least equal to those of federal inspection laws.
Quality grading of these products is voluntary. A processing plant may request to have its meat graded for quality based on traits such as tenderness. USDA grades are based on nationally uniform federal standards of quality and are assigned by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.
For example, the highest beef grades are Prime, Choice, and Select. Lower grades — Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter, and Canner — are ground or used in processed meat products. The top grades for lamb and veal are Prime, Choice, and Good. Pork is not graded. Grade A is the top poultry grade.
Recommendations From the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
Before buying meat and poultry from a door-to-door dealer, become an informed consumer by finding out important information about the company and dealer. The Hotline recommends these tips to keep in mind.
Check the dealer. Ask for literature and take plenty of time to read it. If you lack the time to check into the distribution practices of the company, consider not purchasing from them.
Ask for a brochure. Reputable companies will have a local sales office with a published price list that includes the address and phone number of the company. Along with the price list, they may offer recipes and nutrition information about their products.
Read the label on the package or carton before you buy. Insist on having the establishment number where the meat or poultry was inspected. USDA- and state-inspected products are required to give information about the product on the label. On raw products, species, cut, net weight, ingredients statement and safe handling statement are required. No ingredient may be added to fresh meat or poultry unless the ingredient is listed on the label. Some companies may offer less tender cuts or lower grades of meat or poultry for lower prices because the product has been tenderized with a marinade or flavoring agent. Beware of any dealer who wants you to purchase bulk quantities of meat and poultry that are not properly labeled. Always ask the dealer to leave the box or labeling information if individual products are not labeled.
Check for grading information on the product. Companies can choose to have the meat and poultry that they sell graded by USDA. This is the only mark of identity you have for knowing the quality familiar to you. If a meat or poultry product is graded by USDA, there must be a USDA grade shield or mark on the carcass, package or product label. Only the official USDA grade can be used as a guide to the quality of the meat.
Meat and poultry companies may label products with a company's private quality label. If a product is labeled with a term such as "restaurant quality," ask the company which USDA grade is comparable.
Understand the cuts. Know which cut of meat or poultry you are buying when making a meat or poultry purchase decision. Check the label for proper identification of the cut of meat or poultry you are purchasing. For example, you don't want to pay top dollar for tenderloin and receive a cheaper cut such as a shoulder roast.
Ask to see a retail permit. Remember, in most states, salespersons are required to have a state license or permit to sell products door-to-door. Ask to see the salesperson's license to sell.
Always check to be sure the product has been transported in a refrigerated vehicle. Never buy meat or poultry products that are carried in an unrefrigerated truck or car trunk. The product may be unsafe because bacteria that cause illness multiply rapidly above 40°F.
You have 3 days to cancel your sale. The Federal Trade Commission Cooling-Off Rule gives you 3 days to cancel purchases that are made in your home or at a location that is not the permanent place of business or local address of the seller. The Cooling-Off Rule does not cover sales of $25 or under. Under the rule, the salesperson must orally inform you of your cancellation rights at the time of sale. You also must be given two copies of a cancellation form and a copy of your contract or receipt. The contract or receipt should be dated, show the name and address of the seller, and explain your right to cancel. The contract or receipt must be in the same language used in the sales presentation.
Canceling the sale. Remember that using a charge card does not guarantee a refund. To cancel a sale, sign and date one copy of the cancellation form. Make sure the envelope is postmarked before midnight of the third business day after the contract date. Saturday is considered a business day, but Sunday and federal holidays are not. Because proof of the mailing date and receipt are important, consider sending the cancellation form by certified mail. Keep the other copy of the cancellation form for your records.
If you have a complaint about the company. Try to resolve your dispute with the seller first. Make sure you act quickly. Send a letter of complaint. A letter is important because it puts your complaint on record and lets the company know you are serious about pursuing the dispute. Be sure you keep a copy for your records.
In general, beware of claims that are too good to be true. They usually are.
For Additional Help:
- Check with your State Department of Agriculture to see if the company is licensed.
- If you encounter "bait and switch" practices, contact your local or State Consumer Protection Office.
- Call your local Better Business Bureau to help you establish if you are doing business with a reputable firm or if complaints have been filed against the firm or individual.
- Obtain food safety information 24/7 in English and Spanish from our virtual representative at Ask USDA. You can chat live with a food safety expert from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time year-round.
- Call USDA's Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854). It is staffed by English- and Spanish-speaking home economists, registered dietitians and food technologists from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time year-round. An extensive selection of food safety recordings can be heard 24 hours a day using a touch-tone phone.
- Go to our website at www.fsis.usda.gov.


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POLICE RELEASED VIDEO Friday night that shows officers finding Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher asleep in his car just hours before he killed his girlfriend and later shot himself.
The recording was among two dashboard videos made available by police nearly a week after the murder-suicide. The second video shows an officer responding to Arrowhead Stadium, where Belcher shot himself in front of team officials shortly after killing Kasandra Perkins at their home on 1 December.
The first video shows officers finding Belcher asleep in his parked car around 3 am that day outside an apartment complex. Officers talk to him, and he identifies himself as a Chiefs player.
Police said he was cooperative and told officers he was there to visit a woman he described as his girlfriend but that she wasn't home. The video shows Belcher later stepping out of his car and thanking officers, saying he's going to go upstairs.
Police have said a woman allowed Belcher into the building, though she wasn't identified.
The second video begins around 8am from the dashboard of a patrol car speeding to the stadium. Officers can be heard over the police radio confirming there had been a shooting connected to Belcher, and later that there was an armed suspect at the stadium.
The video shows the police vehicle arriving at a stadium parking lot and the officer stepping out, asking over his radio that other responding officers cut off their sirens, which can be heard in the distance."I've got a sighting from afar, it looks like they're in a negotiation … I need a rifle asap," the officer says as he walks toward the parking lot. "I'm at the south side. I'm at the main entrance, trying to sneak up on foot."
The video cuts off seconds later.
Police have said officers were called to Belcher's home around 7:50 am, after he fatally shot Perkins, whose body was found on the floor of the master bathroom with multiple gunshot wounds. Belcher and Perkins had a three-month-old daughter, Zoey.
Belcher then drove about five miles to the stadium, where he was met by general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel, whom Belcher thanked for all they had done for him. When police arrived at the stadium, Belcher moved behind a vehicle, out of clear view of officers, knelt down and shot himself once in the head, according to police spokesman Darin Snapp.


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Speaking of pictures ripped out of Teen People that you glued on your 5th grade Trapper Keeper (weren't we? we totally were), Britney Spurrz has gotten the jump on her boss Simon Cowell. She's quitting The X-Factor before Cowell and the other assorted Powers that Be can fire her, tired of paying her $15 million to say "amazing" with dead eyes to every contestant as they watch their ratings slowly deflate like an erection in Grandma's house. She apparently wants to focus on cutting another album. "Britney loves Simon, she likes Demi Lovato but her thing is music," says a source.
To be honest, 'Till The World Ends was straight-up loud enough to have held me over for at least another decade because it was officially the first Britney Spears song that made me feel old, so the next one will probably just be one loud, high-pitched beep that only your 15-year-old niece can hear. Whatever grinds your gears, Brit-Brit. [TMZ]
Newly single lil' organic chicken nuggets Justin Bieber and Harry Styles are going to Vegas together after splitting from Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift respectively. Put away that Algebra II homework, fanfiction writers, you have a crossover to do.
The lads talked about a boys' trip when they were going out with the girls, but it was never on the cards. Now they're footloose and fancy-free, they want to make it happen. They might not be old enough to legally drink but that won't stop them.
Of course they're friends, because if the Revolutionary War hadn't happened they'd be THE SAME PERSON. [The Sun]
Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus joke-tweeted a picture of herself and little sister Noah in bed with a cardboard cutout of Harry Styles and immediately had to defend herself from legions of Twitter crazies: "I don't want Harry." [Twitter]
After a six-year hiatus from music, this cryptic Tweet from Justin Timberlake has people speculating that he'll be dropping his first new single today: a source says that he's been "quietly and methodically preparing to release an album with almost no warning."
Additionally, a Florida radio station said that the better half of Bielberlake is working with Jay-Z (which he's wanted to do since FutureSex/LoveSounds) and possibly even Beyonce. Might I suggest the album title SoExcited/AhhhI'mPoopingI'MPOOPING? [NME, MTV News]
Actual quote, according to Lawrence Wright's book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief.
"If fucking Arnold can be governor, I could be president."
"Well, absolutely, Tom."
You know what, though? We've all kind of said that. [Us Weekly]
- Charlie Sheen's putting $12,000 towards the funeral of Chris Guerra, the paparazzo killed chasing Justin Bieber's Ferrari. [TMZ]
- Jon Gosselin owes the government moooooneyz. [TMZ]
- John Travolta sang a duet with Keith Urban, just so you guys know. [News.com.au]
- Azealia Banks's record sales have increased after her Twitter beefs (one of which involved her use of "f*ggot.") [Billboard]
- Nobody puts Amanda Seyfried in a corner. About dresses. [Us Weekly]
- Lily Allen gave birth to her second child, Marnie Rose. [Marie Claire UK]
- And Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish had their second kid too, with the same surrogate who had Zachary. [Page Six]
- Olivia Munn pulled a Kanye West on poor Taylor Swift at the People's Choice Awards. [Daily Mail]
- Can I borrow your dress for an event, Emma Watson? (OK, by "event" I mean "wash my dishes." 😐 ) [Daily Mail]
- Sean Connery, and not the Darrell Hammond with fake facial hair one, might appear at the Oscars for the special James Bond tribute. Nevertheless, I'll take Jap-Anus relations for 400. [TV3.ie]
- High-rolling baby Blue Ivy spent her first birthday in the Caribbean and there are pictures. [Rolling Out]
- Eddie Cibrian may have cheated on both Brandi Glanville and Leann Rimes with the same waitress because love is so magical. [Radar Online]
- Kate Middleton is celebrating her 31st birthday with MDMA, a penis-shaped cake and a midnight screening of Pink Flamingos.. JUST KIDDING, at home with Prince William and her family. [Us Weekly]
- Reality star La La Anthony is trying to make it work with her NBA husband Carmelo Anthony.. [NYDN]
- Naomi Campbell on the much-lambasted 2007 incident that involved throwing her phone at her personal assistant: "I'm never gonna get away from it. It's part of my history. I was remorseful and regretful. I've served. I did that time. And I never want to be in that position again." Guessing the assistant doesn't, either. [NYDN]
- They're billing this as a "deleted sex scene" from Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part The Deux: How Renesmee Got Her Groove Back but it's really just some allusions to Doing It and some kissing so I wouldn't even bother. [Hollywood Life]
- Katy Perry sans makeup. [NYDN]


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It's too early to tell whether North Korea's offer on Thursday of talks with the South — potentially the first such dialogue in years — is more than just another negotiating tactic.
But Seoul readily accepted the offer, and though Pyongyang said the agenda should be discussing the reopening of the jointly run Kaesong factory complex inside North Korea, it left the door open for the possibility of broader negotiations.
"We call for meeting between authorities to normalize Kaesong Industrial Complex and reopening of Mount Kumgang Tourist Region," Pyongyang's official KCNA news service reported. "If necessary, we could negotiate humanitarian issues such as bringing together separated families."
As The Associated Press writes:
"The envisioned talks could help rebuild avenues of inter-Korean cooperation that were obliterated in recent years amid hard-line stances by both countries, though the key issue isolating the North from the world community — its nuclear program — is not up for debate."
North Korea left the time and place for the talks up to the South. South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae on Thursday proposed a Cabinet-level meeting in Seoul next Wednesday.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye had offered the talks in April, and she called what she said was the North's belated acceptance "fortunate."
North Korea has been saber rattling for months: issuing almost daily threats to South Korea and the United States, putting its long-range missiles on standby and conducting provocative tests of its shorter-range rockets. Tensions were at their highest in April during joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea, and that's when Pyongyang closed down the Kaesong complex.
But in recent weeks, the threat level seems to have decreased, with a reported reshuffling at the top of Pyongyang's military structure and China appearing to become increasingly frustrated with its North Korean ally.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens.
The long-overdue regulations are aimed at reducing the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. Just since last summer, outbreaks of listeria in cheese and salmonella in peanut butter, mangoes and cantaloupe have been linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The actual number of those sickened is likely much higher.
The FDA's proposed rules would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are washed, irrigation water is clean, and that animals stay out of fields. Food manufacturers will have to submit food safety plans to the government to show they are keeping their operations clean.
Many responsible food companies and farmers are already following the steps that the FDA would now require them to take. But officials say the requirements could have saved lives and prevented illnesses in some of the large-scale outbreaks that have hit the country in recent years.
In a 2011 outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe that claimed 33 lives, for example, FDA inspectors found pools of dirty water on the floor and old, dirty processing equipment at the Colorado farm where the cantaloupes were grown. In a peanut butter outbreak this year linked to 42 salmonella illnesses, inspectors found samples of salmonella throughout a New Mexico peanut processing plant and multiple obvious safety problems, such as birds flying over uncovered trailers of peanuts and employees not washing their hands.
Under the new rules, companies would have to lay out plans for preventing those sorts of problems and how they would correct them.
"The rules go very directly to preventing the types of outbreaks we have seen," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods.
The new rules come exactly two years to the day President Barack Obama's signed food safety legislation passed by Congress. The 2011 law required the agency to propose a first installment of the rules a year ago, but the Obama administration held them until after the election. Food safety advocates sued the administration to win their release.
In an effort to stave off protests from farmers, the farm rules are tailored to apply only to certain fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risk, like berries, melons, leafy greens and other foods that are often eaten raw. A farm that produces green beans that will be canned and cooked, for example, would not be regulated.
None of the proposed regulations would take effect until after a 120-day comment period. The FDA also is giving the farmers ample time beyond that to comply. Larger farms wouldn't be regulated for more than two years; smaller farms would have even more time.
The farm and manufacturing rules are only one part of the food safety law. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods. The agency said it will soon propose other overdue rules to ensure that importers verify overseas food is safe and to improve food safety audits overseas.
Food safety advocates frustrated over the last year as the rules stalled praised the proposed action.
"The new law should transform the FDA from an agency that tracks down outbreaks after the fact, to an agency focused on preventing food contamination in the first place," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.