text: The best way for you to know us and what we do is by looking at our work. You will be able to see the care and love we put into every wedding and how for the last ten years we've made a difference in the over 500 weddings we've photographed. We would now love to help you and create those same keepsakes for you and your fiancé! Take a look at all of the great stuff we have for you to preview including our Recent Weddings Blog, Advice Blog, and of course our beautiful Weddings Gallery.


text:
Obama calls for changes to mental health care
Mental health advocates hailed the president's sweeping agenda to improve mental health care, part of his larger response to the shooting last month in Newtown, Conn.
Mental health advocates hailed President Obama's sweeping agenda to improve mental health care, part of his larger plan to reduce gun violence in the USA following the shooting last month in Newtown, Conn.
After decades of disappointment, advocates for the mentally ill said they are cautiously optimistic that the nation may finally take meaningful action to repair a broken system.
"There are mental health professionals and educators cheering all over America," said Dewey Cornell, director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project, after reading Obama's plan. "No single action is going to solve the problem, but there are many actions here that will help."
STORY: Obama urges assault weapons ban
Obama's speech — and his emphasis that most people with mental illness are not violent — will go a long way toward removing the stigma of mental illness, said Michael Fitzpatrick, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He also welcomes a national dialogue on mental health, rather than simply another presidential commission. "These are things we've been asking for, for years," Fitzpatrick said.
FULL COVERAGE: Debate over guns in America
Some mental health advocates said they hope the country can sustain the momentum to complete Obama's ambitious agenda.
"The president has taken exceptionally important first steps to address the deficiencies in our national mental health system," said Ron Manderscheid, executive director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors. "However, we must recognize that these are only first steps in what must be a multi-year undertaking that will require transformation of how the mental health community provides services."
While Obama called on Congress to take a number of steps, he also listed a number of executive actions that he will take himself.
First, Obama will issue a presidential memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to "research the causes and prevention of gun violence."
Researchers have complained that they have been barred by Congress from using funds to "advocate or promote gun control." Some in Congress have said this means that CDC cannot study the causes of gun violence. But with 30,000 homicides and suicides a year, Obama's plan notes that, "Research on gun violence is not advocacy; it is critical public health research that gives all Americans information they need."
Obama also will ask Congress to provide $10 million for the CDC to further study the relationship between "video games, media images and violence."
Judith Palfrey, the former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, notes that gun-related injuries caused 6,570 deaths among children and young adults under 24 in 2010. In a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, she noted that gun injuries cause twice as many deaths in children as cancer and 15 times as many as infections.
Obama will also send a letter to health care providers, clarifying that federal law doesn't prevent them from reporting threats of violence to police. Many doctors are unsure what they can reveal about patients' mental health, due to strict federal patient privacy laws.
Richard Bonnie, a professor of medicine and law at the University of Virginia, said Obama's proposal to improve the reporting of involuntary commitments to the national gun background check system "is an important goal," but difficult to achieve.
"If it were easy, the states would have set up procedures for doing it already," Bonnie says. "The basic problem is that mental commitment proceedings are handled in very different ways from state to state and even from locality to locality within a state. Many states have no system for recording these cases in any centralized way. And many cases that would result in an involuntary judicial order in some states do not lead to such an order in other states because they are handled without judicial involvement."
But Bonnie said, "States should not impose reporting duties on doctors concerned about possibly suicidal patients, as New York just did, because doctors need flexibility to decide the best way of protecting patients. ... Imposing reporting duties could deter patients from seeking treatment."
Obama said he will also clarify that the Affordable Care Act doesn't prevent doctors from asking their patients about guns in their homes. The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages doctors to ask about guns in the home as a way to prevent injuries in children.
The pediatric group has clashed over the issue with Florida lawmakers, who in 2011 passed the Firearms Owners' Privacy Act, barring doctors from asking about guns in the home, "essentially gagging health care providers," Palfrey says in a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine. Last June, a judge issued a permanent injunction preventing Florida from enforcing the law. Florida Gov. Rick Scott, however, has appealed her ruling. Three other states are considering similar bills.
"We also need to free health care providers from legal constraints on their violence-prevention efforts," Cornell says. "I don't think many people know that in some states doctors cannot talk to their patients about violence and are impeded in their efforts to help persons who are at risk for violence."
Obama said he will also send a letter to state health officials clarifying which kind of mental health care Medicaid plans must cover. Medicaid, a federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled that is administered by states, is the largest funder of mental health services in the country, the plan notes. The Affordable Care Act will make another 17 million people eligible for coverage.
Obama said he will also clarify which mental health and substance-abuse treatment benefits are considered "essential" in the new Affordable Care Act health exchanges. These are state programs to provide coverage for the uninsured, which must cover at least a minimum number of health needs, such as certain preventive services. The law also requires these health plans to cover mental health.
Obama said he also will finalize regulations on equal coverage for mental health. This coverage was provided by a 2008 federal law, but there are still no final regulations about how already existing health plans must implement that law.
Lastly, Obama said he will "launch a national dialogue," on mental health led by the secretary of health and human services and the secretary of education.
"The sense of shame and secrecy associated with mental illness prevents too many people from seeking help," the plan says.
Obama also called on Congress for more funding. He proposed spending $50 million to train 5,000 mental health professionals to work with young people in communities and schools.
The president also proposed a new program, Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education), to reach 750,000 young people with mental illness and refer them to treatment. The plan notes that 75% of mental illness appears by age 24.
Project AWARE would include $15 million to train teachers and other adults to detect and respond to mental illness in children and adolescents, as well as another $40 million to help school districts and other community institutions make sure young people get help they need.
The president also proposed $25 million for state efforts to identify and treat adolescents and young adults, ages 16 to 25, who often fall through the cracks after school. That's crucial, says Fitzpatrick, because half of teens with serious emotional disturbances drop out of high school before graduating.
"As anyone who works in schools knows, we do not have enough counselors and psychologists to help all of the students who have serious mental-health needs," Cornell says. "Every high school has students with mental illness and substance-abuse problems, and others who are coping with traumatic and abusive experiences in their home or community."
Cornell also praised the "greater focus on prevention rather than crisis response. We should not focus simply on what to do after someone starts shooting without placing a primary emphasis on prevention of shootings, and this means addressing the mental-health concerns, bullying and other conflicts that often precede violence. Many mass shootings can be prevented if we start early enough and reach out to troubled persons rather than waiting until the shooting starts. ... If we can provide our schools and communities with a team of mental health and law enforcement professionals that can be called upon to help in threatening situations, we can prevent many shootings."
Keris Myrick says she would like to see improved access to care. Myrick was once turned away from a hospital when she tried to be admitted for psychiatric help. Although she had private insurance, "they told me I would have a better chance getting in if I had Medicaid."
Myrick, president of the board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, is being treated for schizo-affective disorder, which can cause hallucinations as well as mood disturbances, such as depression. "I was told I couldn't go back to school, that I couldn't work," Myrick says. But today, she has two graduate degrees and runs her own company, which peer support to people with mental health needs.
Myrick says she hopes the president's focus on mental health will reduce its stigma, and help show Americans that "there is a wide spectrum of people living with mental illness."
Liza Gold, a forensic psychiatrist at Georgetown University Medical Center, praised Obama for taking a comprehensive approach to protecting children.
But she says that mental health agencies are still impoverished, and that the mentally ill today lack essential services, such as employment assistance and structured residential housing, which can help them live on their own outside of institutions.
Palfrey praised Obama for putting together his initiative so quickly. "I hope all citizens will take it seriously and that our community will come together."
Doris Fuller, executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center in Virginia, commended Obama for trying to address the stigma of mental health. She notes that killings such as that in Newtown reinforce the image of the mentally ill as violent.
Although about half of rampage killings are committed by people with untreated, severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, Fuller says, only 1% of those with serious mental illness are violent.
Fuller's center has put forth its own action plan, which includes a pilot program on "outpatient commitment." Unlike an inpatient commitment, in which someone is institutionalized, outpatient commitment occurs when a judge orders a mentally ill person to undergo treatment in their community.
"There is a role for involuntary commitment in recovery," Fuller says. "We must be able to send people into treatment who won't seek treatment themselves."
"It's a terrible thing that it take terrible acts for everyone, from the public to the president, to look comprehensively at this situation," Fuller says. "But we can't think in silos, such as just looking at gun control. If we leave the mental illness treatment piece out of it, we will never get to a solution."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
: a power that may seem magical and that allows someone to be very effective, successful, etc.
|Origin: In the early 20th century mojo meant voodoo or magical power. More recently, this has been extended to mean power or influence of any kind.
MojoHost's Most Popular Products
15 years in business.
Thousands of satisfied clients and billions of happy surfers!
MojoHost owns and operates its own global network and IP Space, ASN 27589. We peer and exchange traffic directly with dozens of networks at various internet exchanges. As measured by the Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis, MojoHost is directly connected to the worlds largest network providers. With more than 250 Gigabit of global connectivity, we are the "real deal". Our cutting edge routing platforms ensure the FASTEST connection to surfers around the globe with proactive route monitoring and on-the-fly adjustments in response to an ever changing internet.
Name brand server hardware, top tier bandwidth and next generation routers are building blocks for reliable service. Trained data center technicians work on-site at each location while management and systems administration teams reside in our Michigan operations center (NOC) for seamless global operation.
Changing web hosts is scary and a lot of work. There is good news, though! If you choose a fully managed product from MojoHost, we are professional movers. We have moved thousands of customers and tens of thousands of web sites to MojoHost. Our sales team and support engineers are unbelievable client advocates. Let us design a solution that fits your budget and creates space for your dreams to become reality.
We staff our support center with highly trained, in-house experts all day and night. No out-sourced, low-level support! You'll rest easy knowing that we'll handle issues quickly, happily and without budget breaking costs. With more than 15 years in business and 16 *REAL* industry awards for hosting excellence, your decision to make MojoHost home could not be any safer.
We are a passionate group of talented system administrators. We work hard because we love what we do, and hard work is a core value at Mojohost. We take pride in 99.999% uptime and put in the work to make it possible. A self-funded company that's been profitable for more than fifteen years, we have the depth of experience and resources to support you through thick and thin. We'll happily sell you a new server, but we'll also work with you when you need to reduce your budget.
Whether we're working to recover from a major disaster or just adding an email account, every ticket deserves our utmost effort and attention. We encourage our customers to reach out to us regularly. We firmly believe that we only succeed when you succeed, and you will be our first priority. We invest heavily in new infrastructure and services for our existing customers, not just in acquiring new accounts. We have always put our money where our mouth is, and provide clients with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Our history proves we retain clients for the life of their business. Let us show you the Mojo!
More than Managed!
Lots of hosting companies offer support. Some even offer managed support. At MojoHost we offer a higher level of management. Our team of U.S. based hosting and software experts work around the clock to make sure that your servers and services remain online and available.
Our proactive support monitors the latest software vulnerabilities and exploits. We'll reach out to you when important patches are required and take care of applying updates at the best time for your business.
While some customers enjoy us for wholesale unmanaged infrastructure, many MojoHost customers use us as their entire operations department... even customers with dozens of servers. At any time, day or night, just pick up the phone to call us or open your browser to mojohost.com to obtain support online. After working with our team, you'll agree that we're more than managed. No matter what level of IT department you have at your disposal, we can meet you at your level of experience to get the job done right.
Please reach out to us, we'd love to have a conversation.
(Click here for abuse or DMCA complaints)
International: +1 248 233 2045
Toll Free: +1 888 345 6656 (MOJO)
Fax: +1 248 281 0323
30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 110
Bingham Farms, MI 48025


text:
|Membership Options New Member Registration Member Login
|General Members Area Preferred Members Area
Member Login
Log in to view member-only content. If you're not a member of our website, find out about our membership benefits or register as a new user.
First time user? Click here to become a member.
Forgot your username and/or password? Click here.
|© 2003—2019 The J. Bolen Group, LLC |
P.O. Box 30199 | Knoxville, TN 37930-0199 | 865-560-1945
Statement of Legal Use Terms. Problems? Contact the Webmaster.


text:
There is something spellbinding about good music, that's undisputable. Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, James Brown, Nina Simone, they are all very different in their own right but the common denominator, aside from pure genius, is undeniable luminescence. Die-hard fans would give their first born to see musicians such as the ones aforementioned live. Today they'd just be considered "groupies." I have a hunch that's because to a certain degree most modern day music in general has been watered down, therefore fans and the people that follow the work of such artists tend to be diluted, or for lack of better words, not that smart. So often I feel as if I were born in the wrong era for music. There's just so much crap to decipher these days that we don't always have the opportunity to come face to face with that caliber of artistry. I do believe they exist and many times go without proper recognition. Then again, that sort of genius often comes with an innate desire to uphold anonymity. Where the hell is all the out of this world talent?
I decamped the proverbial fish bowl and stumbled upon some authentic shit the other day. A little Belgian belle by the name of Selah Sue came blaring through my speakers yesterday morning, stopped me dead in my tracks and made the hair on the back of my neck stand attention like a Queen's guard. Then for about 72hrs straight I proceeded to play all her tracks in succession, one after the other, concurrently driving my husband into oblivion. It's affirmative: Selah Sue is good music. 10-4, Roger that! She makes me want to rejoice. Damn, it's good. Sue performs these dreamy, acoustic, Reggae- Soul sets that make you wanna go home to your lover or make you wish you had a lover.


text:
Forget it: 50 first dates too many
Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore had enough chemistry in The Wedding Singer that a re-teaming was inevitable in an industry where anything that works well is worked to death.
It works again in 50 First Dates, but it's more of an uphill struggle because the movie around them isn't as good. Most of the comedy is crude and unfunny and, once the romance starts gathering steam, intrusive as well.
In case you haven't seen the trailers, which reveal the premise and most of the best jokes, Sandler plays Henry Roth, a veterinarian living in Hawaii who spends his nights romancing tourists, preferably on their last night on the island so there's no chance of it leading to anything.
One day he's attracted to a local woman, Lucy (Barrymore), and sets about wooing her. The next day she doesn't remember him, and he learns from people who are looking out for her that she was in an accident a year before and has been reliving the day of the accident ever since, her short-term memory being erased each night as she sleeps.
While his friend Ula (Rob Schneider seriously attacking the role of a comical stereotype, "the state idiot of Hawaii") insists she's perfect for Henry, since he doesn't have to worry about committing to a woman who won't remember him the next day. Henry, however, falls in love with Lucy while trying to make her fall in love with him day after day.
This section of the movie is pointless, since once Henry finds a formula that works, he can just repeat it like Hollywood does; but since this is the "funny" part of the picture, he alters his approach daily, sometimes meeting with success and sometimes not.
Lucy's primary caretakers are her father (Blake Clark) and brother (Sean Astin), who take great pains to recreate last October 13 at home every day. It's hard to believe she'd never flip on a TV or glance at a newspaper other than the edition they keep recycling, but you have to accept the premise: Henry's the first new element in Lucy's life since the accident.
OK, the whole thing's hard to swallow; but the charm of the stars makes it go down easy, as does some of the gentle comedy surrounding their romance or romances, if you will, each more brief than Britney Spears' marriage.
At the other end of the spectrum is a lot of Ula's boorishness and a walrus-puke gag that sets the wrong tone early on. The butt of that joke– and many more– is a character named Alexa (Lusia Strus), whose gender and orientation are called into question by Henry.
Too much scattershot comedy, too little of it funny, renders this fundamentally sweet romance forgettable. It should be gone from your short-term memory the morning after you see it.


text:
website developement
Budget $250-750 USD
I'm looking for webdeveloper
jquery w3c cording and wordpress
please estimate following site if you make
[url removed, login to view]
[url removed, login to view]
29 freelancers are bidding on average $462 for this job
Hi, we have long experience on jquery , lets start discussion and plz explain us details job description . Thanks
US Developer! If you want a quality site for a fair price contact me! WP Sites, Custom sites, all programming languages and database types.
Hello I had 4+ Years work Experience on Web-Design & Development work . I have the very good team for doing this job. We provide the best services to our client, We are expert in HTML/HTML5,CSS/CSS3,PSD TO HTML & C More
yes, let's clarify the requirement in details also if you want us to share our skill and previous work let us know.. hope to hear you soon.. Thanks & Regards AMRITA
Hi There, Team WebXcellence here. How are you doing? We are one of the fastest growing company in Central India having more than 6 years of experience serving customers in US, Mexico, London, India, New Zealand, More
Hi I have read your job description extremely carefully , so now don't need to worry we will give PROFESSIONAL work in MINIMUM PRICE and I am absolutely sure that our team can do the job very well but I have couple of More
Hi there, I'd like to be considered for your job position. I'm a Web Developer with a strong background developing with back end & front end. I can turn your requirement in a way that represents your brand and appe More
Hi you will find my services highly reliable and [login to view URL] Vision : High Quality, High Speed, High Satisfaction! i have 7 years business experience with certified and skilled . We are always looking to push More
Hey, I have read your job description and would like to apply for it. I find myself eligible for this job since I am having 7 years of extensive experience in Website Development and Designing. I am expert in th More
Nice you need woocommerce customization: check our customization skill at chat for reference.. Our hardcoded website: [login to view URL] [login to view URL] [login to view URL] and many more ... .................. More
Hello, Hope you are doing well. I am PHP and ROR developer with 4 year of experience in web development. I am expert in jquery, html5, css3, responsive design. I am expert in all Ruby on Rails and php framework lik More


text:
Freedom in the World
You are here
2013 Scores
Freedom Rating (1 = best, 7 = worst)
Civil Liberties (1 = best, 7 = worst)
Political Rights (1 = best, 7 = worst)
President Sebastián Piñera of the center-right Coalition for Change continued in 2012 to struggle with student demonstrations that brought much of the country to a halt the previous summer. Student demands for universal free higher education were not placated by the administration's moderate policy response. Tensions between Chile's Mapuche Indians and the government escalated in response to a series of devastating forest fires in January. In May, Congress passed a landmark antidiscrimination law.
The Republic of Chile was founded after independence from Spain in 1818. Democratic rule predominated in the 20th century until 1973, when General Augusto Pinochet led a military coup against President Salvador Allende. An estimated 3,000 people were killed or "disappeared" under Pinochet's regime. The 1980 constitution provided for a plebiscite in which voters could bar another presidential term for the general. When the poll was held in 1988, some 55 percent of voters rejected eight more years of military rule, and competitive presidential and legislative elections were scheduled for the following year. Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin of the center-left bloc Concertación (Coalition of Parties for Democracy) won the presidential vote, ushering in an era of regular democratic power transfers as well as two decades of Concertación rule.
In the first step in what would become a years-long effort to hold Pinochet responsible for his regime's human rights atrocities, the former leader was detained in London in 1998 under an extradition order from Spain. After being released for health reasons in 2000, he returned to Chile, where he was eventually indicted in 2004 for tax evasion and two outstanding human rights cases. A September 2006 Supreme Court decision cleared the way for his trial, but Pinochet died in December of that year.
Michelle Bachelet, who served as health and defense minister under the outgoing Concertación president, won the 2006 presidential election. Bachelet presided over popular spending projects, including the construction of new hospitals, homes, and nursery schools.
Sebastián Piñera of the center-right Coalition for Change was elected president in January 2010. The new administration was challenged by a massive earthquake that struck Chile in late February, but Piñera was able to carry out effective reconstruction due to the nation's sound public finances. The government also assumed full control over the rescue of 33 miners who were trapped by accident in a gold and copper mine in northern Chile in August. Their successful rescue 69 days later boosted Piñera's popularity as well as Chile's international image. In response to the incident, Chile ratified an International Labour Organization convention in April 2011 on occupational safety and health.
Piñera's popularity was short-lived; massive student protests and strikes began in April 2011, developing into one of Chile's most intractable political problems in decades, with hundreds of thousands of students taking to the streets. The students demanded a major overhaul of the country's largely privatized education system, including free public college education. Although the Piñera administration responded by replacing the education minister in 2011 and promising increased spending on education, demonstrations continued into 2012. Tax reforms adopted in September 2012 raised corporate tax levels and closed loopholes in order to finance increased education funding; education spending will increase to $12.8 billion in 2013, up from $7.9 billion in 2009. The plan will also finance increased scholarships for higher education and reduce the annual interest rate on all student loans from 6 percent to 2 percent. Meanwhile, the government was criticized for its handling of the protests, including claims of illegal detention and torture of student protestors and journalists, and Piñera's approval rating hovered between 25 percent and 30 percent for much of the year.
Chile is an electoral democracy. The president is elected for a single four-year term. The Senate's 38 members serve eight-year terms, with half up for election every four years, and the 120-member Chamber of Deputies is elected for four years. In 2005, the Senate passed reforms that repealed some of the last vestiges of military rule, ending authoritarian curbs on the legislative branch and restoring the president's right to remove top military commanders. Municipal elections held in October 2012 were considered free and fair.
The major political groupings in Chile include the center-left Concertación, composed of the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, the Party for Democracy, and the Social Democratic Radical Party; the center-right Alliance coalition, consisting of the Independent Democratic Union and the National Renewal party; and the Communist Party. The Coalition for Change, encompassing the Alliance coalition, independents, and some Concertación defectors, was formed in 2009.
Congress passed significant transparency and campaign-finance laws in 2003 that contributed to Chile's reputation for good governance. A 2007 law further improved transparency by offering protections for public employees who expose corruption. Chile was ranked 20 out of 176 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Guarantees of free speech are generally respected, though some laws barring defamation of state institutions remain on the books. The print media are dominated by two right-leaning companies, but the television market is considered highly diverse. A freedom of information law enacted in 2008 was praised by civil society groups. However, in 2012, many members of the press were detained and harassed by the police while covering student protests. There are no government restrictions on the internet.
The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally upholds this right in practice. The government does not restrict academic freedom.
The rights to form nongovernmental organizations and to assemble peacefully are largely respected. Although the government regularly granted permits for the student demonstrations beginning in 2011, police allegedly used excessive force against protesters. Despite laws protecting worker and union rights, antiunion practices by private employers are reportedly common.
The constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and the courts are generally free from political interference. The right to legal counsel is constitutionally guaranteed, but indigent defendants have not always received effective representation. Over 75 percent of the some 3,000 documented "disappearances" under military rule have been heard by courts or were under court jurisdiction by the end of 2012. Further, Chilean courts have convicted hundreds of military officers of committing heinous crimes during military rule, though sentences have tended to be lenient.
The government has developed effective mechanisms to investigate and punish police abuse and corruption. However, excessive force and human rights abuses committed by the Carabineros—a national police element of the armed forces—still occur. In August 2012, the Carabineros allegedly used excessive force against members of the Mapuche indigenous community when breaking up a land occupation. Chile's prisons are overcrowded and increasingly violent. Inmates suffer from physical abuse as well as substandard medical and food services.
A bill that would remove a relic of the former regime—the Copper Reserve Law—which obliged the state-owned copper producer Codelco to transfer 10 percent of its earnings to the military was introduced in early 2010. Public support for stopping the automatic military transfer increased after the massive reconstruction costs resulting from the February 2010 earthquake. The Lower House unanimously voted to end the copper law in July 2012; it awaited Senate approval at year's end.
Approximately 1 million Chileans identify themselves with indigenous ethnic groups. While they still experience societal discrimination, their poverty levels are declining, aided by government scholarships, land transfers, and social spending. A 1993 law officially recognized the Mapuche and paved the way for the return of their land, but rather than appeasing the Mapuche, it prompted additional land claims, land seizures, and violence. Over 30 Mapuche accused of such attacks participated in an extended hunger strike in 2010, which prompted a change to Chile's antiterrorism law. The law, which dated to the Augusto Pinochet era, had allowed for secret witnesses, pretrial detention, and the use of military courts in trying Mapuches accused of employing arson and other violent means to reclaim ancestral lands. As amended by Congress in September 2010, the new law presumes innocence and carries a reduced sentence for arson. However, in a worrisome development, President Sebastián Piñera invoked the old antiterrorism laws to pursue the perpetrator of a spate of forest fires allegedly started by Mapuche activists in January 2012. The "Plan Araucanía"—a development plan for the southern Araucanía area, one of Chile's poorest regions and the homeland of the Mapuche—was implemented in August 2012. The plan financed construction of new schools and hospitals, funded the building of new roads, and provided financial support to victims of violence.
President Michelle Bachelet made great strides to reduce gender discrimination, including appointing women to half of the positions in her cabinet. She also enacted new laws to increase women's labor rights and to eliminate the gender pay gap. However, violence against women and children remains a problem. The Piñera administration passed landmark legislation in 2011 banning all types of human trafficking for the purpose of labor or sexual exploitation. Congress passed an antidiscrimination law in May 2012 that had been stalled in the legislature for seven years; its swift approval was prompted by the brutal beating and subsequent death of a gay man in Santiago in March 2012. The new law allows people to file antidiscrimination lawsuits, and includes hate-crime sentences for violent crimes.


text:
rainfall shower head with handheld
The shower is an absolutely special area. It's the location we go to stimulate our senses as well as get our physical bodies prepared for the day. It's the place where we go to rejuvenate after our day ends. For many of us, it is the place that we sometimes run away to during the day when we just have to avoid everything.
It is the act of water striking and also covering our bodies that makes this all feasible. In order to make our showering experiences as special as feasible, even if they could end up being regular like, we should harness the power of water with a great shower head.
One of my preferred shower heads is the rainfall shower head. Rainfall autumn shower heads, as the name implies, are developed to imitate rainfall. These shower heads put up high, straight over and factor directly down.
Many of these shower heads are flexible, permitting the individual to manage water patterns and also pressure. You can do things such as make the water move out in streams, or in a drip-like fashion. You could make it into a calming rains for tranquil and leisure. Or, you can make it into a broadband, very pressurized rain storm to massage and also invigorate you.
The majority of rainfall shower heads extend from the wall. To create more headspace, you may have to get an extension that goes straight up versus the wall surface, after that out over your head.
However, some are installed on the ceiling. The ones that you need to mount in the ceiling are harder to mount, however they make for a really neat look. The ceiling mounted ones could extend below a pipeline, or if you desire a really smooth look, you can set up panels in the ceiling so there is no noticeable water pipes.
They available in differing sizes, however get the most significant one that will certainly suit inside your shower delay. Some really fancy ones had a number of visit cover an also larger location. These are exceptionally enjoyable and amusing, like your shedding on your own in a rainfall storm.
One of my favored shower heads is the rainfall shower head. Rainfall autumn shower heads, as the business suggests, are made to simulate rainfall. These shower heads hang high, directly over as well as factor straight down. Numerous of these shower heads are modifiable, enabling the individual to regulate water patterns and pressure. The majority of rainfall shower heads extend from the wall.


text:
Alabama's Department of Homeland Security have produced a video that is designed to show civilians how to react in the event that they are involved in a mass shooting.
While originally produced before the event, according to the AP the video was re-released by the Alabama Homeland Security after a request from Governor Robert Bentley following the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in December.
The video, originally produced for the Houston Police Department and re-edited for Alabama audiences, shows a shooting inside an office building. It is titled "RUN HIDE FIGHT", after the order in which citizens are advised to react.
The video was uploaded to YouTube in November and has seen a flurry of discussion over the tactics in YouTube's comments in recent days.


text:
The Shoe
El Zapato de Lona. The Ecuadorian street shoe.
Like the flip-flop is to Rio, this simple canvas lace-up is to cities like Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Worn by the working class, day in, day out, they're an iconic part of the landscape - part functional necessity, part social signifier.
Juntos embraces this heritage and brings it to you, refining and repurposing the design while preserving everything that makes the shoe, the shoe.
That's why you'll find a map of Ecuador on the inside of every pair, so you never forget where they came from.
It's also why for every pair sold, we donate an education pack filled with crucial school supplies to a local child – a small way of giving back to the places where we find our inspiration.
To us, that's the real meaning of an ethical footprint.
The Purpose
Like the shoe, the purpose is perfectly simple.
For every Juntos pair sold, an education pack is given to an at-risk child in the source region.
So, because we discovered an amazing canvas street shoe in Guayaquil, Ecuador, a child in that city gets a backpack.
Filled with a year's supply of pens, pencils, notepads and other basic but crucial educational tools so often taken for granted, this resource allows a child to participate more fully and effectively in school.


text:
Home » GameResort LLC
Castle Warriors Review
With a variety of strategy games available for the iPhone, new and fresh gameplay is always welcomed; and Castle Warriors offers such gameplay. In Castle Warriors, players must raid a number of different castles on the battlefield in order to take control of an area. Players must split their units into separate raid parties to both attack enemy castles and defend your own castles. Players can choose to split their army by sending some, most or all of their units from one castle to ano…Watch The Video Review


text:
- As the UK prepares to leave the European Union in 2019, the government must create a new policy for immigrants from EU-member nations. It should also rethink its policies regarding non-EU immigrants as well.
- In recent years, UK immigration policy toward non-EU migrants has prioritised highly skilled workers. Free-movement migrants from within the EU have generally held low- or semi-skilled jobs and had strong labour force attachment.
- UK immigrants have higher education levels than natives, on average, and while the largest economic gains typically come from highly skilled immigrants, less-skilled immigrant workers make economic contributions as well.
- The empirical evidence indicates that immigration has had a negligible overall effect on natives' employment, unemployment, and wages in the UK. However, a few studies conclude that the labour market prospects of less-skilled native-born workers have been harmed by immigration.
- Reducing immigrant inflows, particularly of highly skilled immigrants, would create considerable economic costs in the short and long run. Admitting more highly skilled immigrants, from inside or outside the EU, is particularly vital to long-run economic growth.
- Auctioning employer permits to hire foreign workers would maximise the economic benefits of immigration and increase government revenue.
Monetary Policy After The Crash: Lessons Learned
- Conventional monetary policy has serious flaws and contributed to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Since then, emergency monetary policy has been relatively successful but lacks clarity. We should take the opportunity to reform policy such that the same rules apply in good times and bad.
- The Bank of England's Open Market Operations (OMO) should be reformed to reduce discretion and provide financial markets with greater certainty.
- We should replace the Bank of England's 2% CPI Inflation target with a nominal income (NGDP) target. Under current policy, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) must distinguish between demand shocks and supply shocks. Moving to an NGDP target resolves this problem as nominal income is aggregate demand, reducing the epistemic burden on the MPC.
- Central bank intervention should be restricted purely to managing the money supply.
- Open Market Operations should be as neutral as possible, focusing primarily on gilts. Financial markets should know in advance which margins the Bank of England intends to exploit. For example, if the Bank of England owns more than a certain percentage of gilts of a specified maturity, they then extend asset purchases to a pre-announced basket of investment-grade bonds.
- Monetary policy can buy policymakers time, but it is unable to solve underlying problems of low productivity. The Bank of England cannot raise the Natural Rate of Interest in the long-term, but free market supply-side reforms should be a priority for government.
- Stress tests, designed to measure the ability of banks to withstand market shocks, are complex. This makes them vulnerable to being gamed and it leads to risks that can be felt across the financial system. Prediction markets provide the best chance we have of avoiding future bailouts by boosting market competition and punishing excessive risk taking.
Basic Income around the World: The Unexpected Benefits of Unconditional Cash Transfers
- Replacing existing welfare systems with a universal basic income has the potential to streamline bureaucracy, eliminate welfare traps, and reduce poverty.
- The idea is being trialled by governments across the world including Scotland, United States, Canada, and Finland. These studies contribute to a growing body of evidence on the effects of basic income on employment and poverty.
- While recently advocated by Labour's John McDonnell, basic income has a rich intellectual heritage on the free market right. Nobel Prize winning economists such as Milton Friedman, F.A. Hayek and George Stigler have advocated replacing existing welfare systems with a negative income tax (a form of basic income).
- Automation and globalisation will deliver massive benefits for ordinary people, but they also run the risk of creating short-term mass unemployment. Existing welfare systems are ill-suited to handle the transition and mass retraining programmes rarely deliver their promise.
- There is strong evidence that unconditional cash transfers are incredibly successful at alleviating poverty in the developing world. With studies in Kenya, Namibia, India and Uganda supporting the view that simply giving cash is one of the most effective forms of development aid.
Back in the USSR: What life was like in the Soviet Union
A hundred years ago, the October Revolution brought about the biggest social experiment ever: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Since its demise two decades ago, much has been written about its origin, and its politics, economics, and history more broadly. The field of Sovietology, once highly relevant to interpreting the USSR from the West, is now slowly dying, as its great scholars retire.
Almost everything that can be said about the USSR has already been said. Since the opening of the Soviet archives and the enactment of Glasnost, it has been known that the statistics now available to the world were the same statistics used by the Soviet leadership themselves to plan their economy. Long gone are the days of statistical trickery, common in Stalin's times.
But there remain some historical questions that are of great interest to a curious reader. This book attempts to highlight some key aspects of the USSR to answer those questions. Some of those questions are probably familiar: How good was life there? Were there queues to buy food? How good were Soviet appliances? How advanced and powerful was their military? How did the USSR industrialise so fast? Was there poverty, unemployment, or inequality?
As mentioned, this book is explicitly not a general survey of the state of the art of Soviet history. While the content itself is state of the art, it is deliberately not general in scope. Each chapter addresses one question and one question only, drawing on every source available to answer it.
This book is accessible without prior knowledge, but it will be better enjoyed if the reader has previously read some introductory material. I recommend Red Plenty by Francis Spufford. While not academic, it does a good job in conveying the bigger picture. Broader in its scope, and extremely detailed, I recommend The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism, by János Kornai to understand how a socialist regime, in generic terms, has worked historically.
For textbooks about the history of the Soviet Union in general, I suggest The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy (Hanson), and Economic History of the USSR (Nove).
This book is divided into two sections. Section One is dedicated to the (in Marxist parlance) "base" of the USSR: its productive apparatus. Section Two explores some topics about its "superstructure", such as food consumption or healthcare.
Due to the breadth of the topics covered, it is only possible to provide a relatively brief overview of them, and so some chapters may feel too dense for some readers. At the end of the book is a bibliography, so the interested reader can expand upon the themes explored in the book, and find some claims in their proper context.
The paper also reveals that...
- In 1976 only two thirds of Soviet families had a refrigerator—the USA hit two thirds in the early 1930s. Soviet families had to wait years to get one, and when they finally got a postcard giving notice they could buy one, they had a fixed one hour slot during which they could pick it up. They lost their chance if they did not arrive in time.
- In the same period, the USA had nearly 100m passenger cars. The USSR? Five million. People typically had to wait four to six years, and often as long as ten, to get one.
- There was 30x as much typhoid, 20x as much measles, and cancer detection rates were half as good as in the United States.
- Life expectancy actually fell in the Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s.
- The USSR had the highest physician-patient ratio in the world, triple the UK rate, but many medical school graduates could not perform basic tasks like reading an electrocardiogram.
- 15% of the population lived in areas with pollution 10x normal levels.
- By the US poverty measure, well over half of the Soviet population were poor.
- Around a quarter could not afford a winter hat or coat, which cost an entire month's wages on average (the equivalent of £1700 in UK terms).
Read the book here.
Beyond the Call of Duty
- There is about £7.5 trillion worth of property in the UK, but we tax it in strange and inconsistent ways: residential council tax is regressive and its valuation system hasn't been updated since 1993; businesses pay at high rates; and homeowners pay rapidly escalating transactions taxes (stamp duty land tax), but private residences are part-exempted from inheritance tax and exempted from capital gains tax.
- Transactions taxes are widely seen as especially damaging levies by economists: a representative Australian government review found their stamp duty destroyed 75p of wealth per £1 raised.
- This makes stamp duty land tax around 4x more harmful per pound than income tax and 8x more harmful than VAT; some alternative taxes, like a carbon tax, would have small economic benefits rather than harming efficiency.
- Taxing housing transactions keeps people in houses that are either too small, too big, or too far away from jobs, which are especially harmful when the housing supply is so tight, as it is in the UK today.
- In the short term the Treasury should abolish SDLT and replace the lost revenues by reforming council tax – fixing the regressive top end of the system with a more proportional, or even progressive, tax on rental and imputed rental values would bring in the needed revenues easily, with far smaller economic costs.
- Eventually the UK should rationalise its property taxation system by abolishing SDLT altogether, and then rolling council tax, and business rates into one system, with everyone paying the same rate, set at roughly 20% of imputed rental income, comparable to extending VAT to property services. This would be roughly fiscally neutral on a static analysis, but may lead to large increases in revenue over time, which should be used to reduce other taxes.
- The UK should consider decentralising property taxation, but this is a separate step which does not need to be considered simultaneously. Abolishing SDLT is attractive whether or not the overall local taxation and governance system is reformed.
Read the whole paper.
Making Sense of the NHS
Exactly how much the Treasury should provide the NHS is a political decision, based on the state of the UK economy, international comparatives, the coherence of NHS strategy and the competing demands for support. But there is wide agreement that exactly how those funds should be allocated should not be a political decision.
The cross-party convention proposed by Norman Lamb, or the Royal Commission proposed by Lord Saatchi, could help create this division of responsibilities. They should consider five major NHS structural changes to realise its potential:
NHS England is too big to manage. It needs to be split into six autonomous NHS Regions—run as independent public corporations like the Bank of England or BBC, not by a vast central Whitehall staff.
The limits of NHS provision—at present open-ended—must be identified. Only then can resources be focused on their most urgent uses.
Patient co-payments, common in almost every other healthcare system (and already current in NHS dentistry and prescriptions), needs to be extended, with care, to reduce marginal and unnecessary demand on NHS services.
Our ageing population means that the number of GPs and geriatricians must be increased, particularly geriatricians, whose numbers are outstripped by demand.
The 12% of the UK population with mental health issues need greater prioritisation and specialist resource.
The benefits of this clearer, more manageable strategy include:
Improved morale, recruitment and retention of a workforce that feels more valued and able to achieve identified aims, rather than having to deal with continual crisis.
Localised autonomy to innovate, reduce waste and learn from others.
Better balance of NHS resources with demand, which is outstripping supply because (a) they are free, (b) an older population needs more geriatrician care, (c) mental health needs more specialists and (d) a wealthier population demands more healthcare in general.
Improving the quality of healthcare and balancing the books by focusing money, personnel and equipment on their most cost-effective uses. More skills need to be pushed down the line: consultants to primary care, GPs to nurses and pharmacists.
Read the full paper here.
No Stress III: The flaws in the bank of England's 2016 stress tests
The Bank of England uses its stress tests to reassure the public that the UK banking system is safe. However, the Bank's reassurances lack credibility and are contradicted by the evidence.
Rightly interpreted, the stress tests demonstrate the opposite of what the Bank claims they do: they demonstrate that UK banks are still financially weak and far from resilient. The UK banking system is an accident waiting to happen.
The conclusion that UK banks are weak is confirmed by an analysis of their capital positions and is further confirmed by banks' market values being less than their book values. Low market values indicate problems with the banks that the stress tests did not pick up.
The Bank made a number of mistakes in its stress tests. Among these: it relied on book values instead of market values, relied on unreliable metrics such as risk-weighted assets and Tier 1 capital, relief on a single stress scenario and used insufficiently demanding pass standards. The Bank's stress model also produced implausibly low projected losses and so failed a basic reality check.
More generally, the stress tests are based on a series of imprudent judgments that led the Bank to miss obvious problems with UK banks.
Regulatory stress testing is a highly imperfect tool with a track record of repeated failure in other countries, is compromised by conflicting objectives and by the Bank's poor forecasting record. It is also compromised by basic Public Choice economics, i.e., that public agencies act in accordance with their own interest.
It also creates invisible systemic risks by pressuring banks to standardise their risk management practices to conform to the Bank's view of the risks they face.
Far from providing a credible assurance that the banking system is safe, the stress tests are worse than useless because they provide false comfort, suggesting that the UK banking system is safe when it is clearly not. In this sense, the stress tests are like a ship's radar system that cannot detect an iceberg in plain view.
The stress test programme is therefore dangerous and should be scrapped.
Read the full paper here.
The Millennial Manifesto
Several analysts have pointed to what they perceive as unfair treatment of young people in the UK relative to how the population in general is treated. The feeling that insufficient attention is paid to the problems and difficulties they face is reportedly widespread among young people themselves. Some opinion polls have suggested that dissatisfaction among young voters was one of the reasons why the government lost ground in the 2017 General Election, instead of improving their position as they had been widely predicted to do.
Commentators point to the triple lock that state pensioners enjoy, with the promise that their pensions will rise with inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index, or with the growth in average wages, or at 2.5 percent, whichever of these three values is the greatest. They contrast this with the sluggish growth since the Financial Crisis is the wages that non-pensioners have to live on. Indeed, some groups of workers have seen their spending power decline as wage increases have been outstripped by inflation's price increases.
It has been regarded as a truism by politicians that the older age groups are more likely to vote than their younger counterparts, and that there are also more of them. This has given older people more political clout than that exercised by young people, and is reckoned by some to have caused politicians to pay more attention to the problems and needs of the old than to those of the young.
It is a common complain that 'the young are being heavily taxed to provide benefits for the old.' And it is true that tax-supported services are in general used more by the old than by the young. Pensioners receive free travel passes and a winter fuel allowance; the young do not. While young people under 25 can buy a railcard to cut their train costs by a third, senior citizens can enjoy the same privilege, often for a longer period. Institutions that offer discounts to young patrons usually offer similar discounts to senior citizens.
It really does seem to young people that any perks and privileges available to them pale into insignificance compared to those on offer to the elderly. Many of those who say they speak for the young claim that society is tilted against them.
YIMBY: How To End The Housing Crisis, Boost The Economy And Win More Votes
- It has become widely accepted, including by the government, that the UK is in the midst of a "housing crisis", where prices and rents have rocketed in key locations.
- There are a range of policies that would solve this, and many of them are well known. But none have been implemented because they have not been able to generate support from existing homeowners and the residents of areas that would see increased building.
- We propose three policies that would hand power back to residents; ways of solving the housing crisis that will also win political parties votes. Each would make a huge difference alone; together they could have a transformative effect on the housing situation in Britain:
- Allowing individual streets to vote on giving themselves permitted development rights, to build upwards to a maximum of six storeys and take up more of their plots.
- Allowing local parishes to 'green' their green belts, by developing ugly or low amenity sections of green belt, and getting other benefits for the community in turn.
- Devolving some planning laws to the new city-region mayors including the Mayor of London. Cities could then decide for themselves if they want to expand and grow and permit extra housing, or maintain their current size and character.
- Not only do young tenants and aspirant homeowners stand to benefit from a building boom that delivers more housing, but the economy could get a major jolt at a time of slow growth and difficult productivity.
- Evidence suggests that GDP per capita would be 30% higher—we would produce and earn nearly a third more every year—in just 15 years if we built enough homes in the right places. That's £10,000 extra on the average household income.
- Politicians can solve the problem if they are willing to think big and propose policies that make reform work for everyone. Reforms that make most voters worse off have little chance of happening.
Discussion paper: Updating student finance
The current system under which university education in England is financed via student loans has been accompanied by controversy since its inception. The 1998 Teaching and Higher Education Act was introduced by the recently elected Labour government under Tony Blair. It brought in tuition fees, with loans available for students to pay towards their fees, and also replaced maintenance grants by loans for most students.
Tuition fees were raised to £3000 per year in 2004, and in subsequent years to £9250. The increases were marked by student protest and street demonstrations, amid claims that this would discriminate in favour of middle class students and those from well-to-do backgrounds. The Labour manifesto pledge to scrap tuition fees altogether was reckoned by many analysts to have contributed to a large proLabour vote among young people.
Many claimed that tuition fees financed by student loans represented a shift from finance of university education by older taxpayers to finance of it by a cash-strapped younger generation which enjoyed few of the state benefits available to its older counterparts.
The replacement of maintenance grants by maintenance loans was seen by some as part of the same process, with these rising for the year 2016/17 to a maximum of £8,200 for students living away from home outside London, and more for those studying in the capital. For a typical 3-year course leading to a degree, this has meant that students upon graduating could face a debt burden in excess of £50,000 (according to the Sutton Trust, the average student debt at graduation was £44,000 in 2016). It causes disquiet among many students that they are starting their working life with such a huge overhang of debt.
The calculations of repayment liability and of interest charged are dauntingly complex and impenetrable, and the system has been charged several times with failure to process information rapidly, or to correct overpayment collected. The current basis for most is that interest will be charged at the Retail Price Index for salaries up to £21,000 and at RPI + 3% for salaries of £41,000 and over. Debts are written off after 30 years, no matter how much or little graduates pay back, and once you have paid off your debt you no longer make repayments. Graduates who go abroad for 3 months or more have to complete an Overseas Income Assessment Form so that repayments can continue to be made, although there are obvious difficulties in some cases of enforcing collection
Read the full discussion paper here.


text:
Its fine to delete the kdesvn-build page. I will merge my content into the existing page. Also, I will also modify the link from the Getting Started page to point to the existing kdesvn-build page. Kunalthakar 19:51, 7 November 2007 (CET)
User:38 buy tribulus and make me an administrator, thanks! --Tstaerk 11:52, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
Hi guy !!! I would like to know if menu bar translation is possible... If true, how could I do this? Thank you...
Hi, Dhaumann, can you read and write Chinese? Cool! --Liangqi 23:00, 18 June 2007 (CEST)
Why did you manually move (to sort) the stuff in the feature list? It totally breaks the history... :(
IMHO it should had been some kind of automatic sorting... or this sadly proves once again the old system was quite better..
--pino 11:32, 17 March 2008 (CET)
Could you somehow take care of Development/Tutorials/Phonon/Introduction? It's in no usable state and I would recommend deleting it, and rather directly point a link to the API. I'm asking here, cause you once moved the page. --18.104.22.168 00:44, 3 June 2008 (CEST)
The example here is not valid anymore (or at least there's nothing like that "on the very top of the page"). What's better to do with it? Thanks.
|This article was added on 2009-06-28 to the list of excellent articles.
I'm wanting to move pages out of sub pages because It is very difficult to write wiki links and remember where everything is, also I would set up categories before moving the pages, I'm telling / asking you because I think I saw a note asking people to use sub pages, and I do think there are times for them, I just note that categorizing wiki pages by sub page defeats some of the usefulness of wiki's... subpages are most appropriate for version specific content, would like to discuss, contact info is on my user page --AaronPeterson 09:31, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Hi, I could not really determine where I could submit my new page for review: http://techbase.kde.org/User:Karel/EasyStartDevelopmentOnDebian So I decided to submit it here :) Is this article good enough to be move to the tutorials section somewhere? Thanks for the review!


text:
Hello to all!
First of all, I apologize for my English, I use a translator.
Secondly, I want to thank the whole team Pixologic for their fantastic ZBrush and all enthusiasts Central for the wonderful lessons and help beginners like me.
His love for the ancient reptiles, I decided to implement a series of souvenirs. In this particular case it is a sketch of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In the end this will be a series of bronze models of the most famous and colorful reptiles. Maybe someone will be interested in how this is done. Part 1.(Silversaurus)


text:
Because they do extraordinarily strange things, the characters in this thriller, I can't help but assume, must have very complex psychologies. But the movie remains focused on the strange things they do, rather than the complex reasons they do them. So instead of coming away with a sense of having plumbed the depths of an interesting psyche, I come away thinking something along the lines of, well, that was weird. I can't really even get too heated up about the movie's misogyny, since its objects seem more cartoons than actual women, its perpetrators more cardboard than actual men.
In fairness, the idea that extreme behavior and situations—rough sex, murder, obsession, Missouri—are regularly figured in our culture as sensations to be rubbernecked at while we flick through the channels (the movie's absolute best moment is a winking tracking shot near the very end which focuses briefly on the satellite dish atop the antagonists' soulless suburban home), rather than human phenomena worthy of thoughtful analysis, is part of the movie's raison d'être. Or at least I'm guessing that's what David Fincher is telling himself.
But while the critique of Nancy Grace's style of serial sensationalist indignation is present, it's not the main event here. The main event is the psychotic, beautiful, brilliant bitch everyone still loves to hate, these thirty-odd years since Glenn Close killed and boiled that rabbit, these three-thousand-odd since Helen launched those ships.
Movies to watch instead of this one:
Fury, Fritz Lang (1936). Spencer Tracy > Ben Affleck.
To Die For, Gus Van Sant (1995). Still my favorite movie about TV, I think.
Caché, Michael Haneke (2005). About the same amount of blood, but a good deal more significance.


text:
Weird thunderstorm effect is life-threatening, and it isn't lightning
Thunderstorm asthma kills people in multiple countries, could be worsening
Thunderstorm asthma kills people in multiple countries, could be worsening
A phenomenon caused by thunderstorms has killed people in several countries, and it has nothing to do with lightning.
Thunderstorm asthma is caused by dynamic airflow during strong storms, experts say. Violent winds sweep up allergens, such as pollen, creating tinier particles. While larger pollen grains are usually filtered by hairs in the nose, the smaller pollen fragments can pass through and enter the lungs, triggering asthma attacks, sometimes in people who have never suffered from asthma before.
Thunderstorm asthma typically happens when a storm hits while pollen levels are excessively high, experts say.
Some thunderstorm asthma events have left city emergency services overwhelmed. Hundreds of people were rushed to hospitals in Victoria, Australia in November 2016 for treatment of thunderstorm asthma.
During a four-hour period, more than 1,900 calls for emergency medical services and ambulance transport were made -- one call every four to five seconds. An extra 60 ambulances were deployed, as well as police and firefighters. At least nine people died from the storm-related asthma.
Some health experts fear thunderstorm asthma could become a bigger problem with more air pollution and global warming, which some scientists say is extending allergy seasons.
Outbreaks of thunderstorm asthma have been reported in England, Italy, Australia, Iran and the United States. A study by Emory University and University of Georgia researchers in 2010 found that emergency department visits for asthma attacks increased by 3 percent during the 24 hours following thunderstorms.
Anyone with a history of asthma or labored breathing should avoid going outside during and after a thunderstorm, experts warn. The small pollen particles created by the storm can linger for up to 24 hours. Anyone who thinks they are experiencing asthma should seek medical treatment, since it is a potentially life-threatening condition.


text:
ROCHESTER — Tuesday morning, members of the American Legion Post 7 presented the Rochester school district with a book they consider very special, in honor of the fallen in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
A few members of the local veterans groups presented the district with 24 copies of the book, "American Heart: A Remembrance," a collection of 70 moving photographs by Douglas Potoksky, taken in the days after the 9-11 attacks in New York City.
They met with Assistant Superintendent Mary Moriarty at her office, saying they hoped two of each will be kept in each of the Rochester schools' libraries and also donated two books to be presented to the private school, St. Elizabeth Seton.
Post 7 Commander of the Sons of the American Legion Robert Hoitt said "American Heart" struck a chord with him after it was brought to his attention by some in York, Maine.
"Kids will see it and remember this is why. We have problems over in the Middle East and this is just part of the reason," Hoitt said. "I'm hoping these will stay in the school system for a really, really long time so future kids will know, … this is what it's all about."
Vietnam veteran Alfred Healey, of the Rochester Legion Riders, along with his wife, Lynda Glenn-Healey, said the four local veterans' groups came together to donate the books. The Ladies Auxiliary along with the American Legion, the Legions Riders and the Sons, all worked together in what they call "the Legion family."
"The kids that are in school now, some of them don't understand what 9-11 was. They're too young to remember," Healey said. "We all split it four ways to cover the cost for the children of the school system because it gives them a chance to see how we reacted, as people. It does make a difference."
Veteran Robert Talbot, along with Roxanne Talbot, said the donation was about bringing awareness to the community, especially those of the younger generation.
"This is to raise awareness, or to keep awareness, so we don't forget," he said. "We do celebrate and honor our veterans and our fallen … and we should never forget that. And hopefully it will never happen again on American soil."
Moriarty thanked the veterans for their time, saying it was an "amazing" and "generous" gift.
It was a very difficult time in our history, but a very important one," she said. "Thank you for your service to our country, as well as helping our children."
On Veterans Day, Sunday, Nov. 11, the community is invited to a service at 11 a.m. on Rochester Common, with a luncheon free to veterans. At 7 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church, another ceremony will be held to commemorate the day.
Rochester American Legion 'family' presents 9-11 books to schools
ROCHESTER — Tuesday morning, members of the American Legion Post 7 presented the Rochester school district with a book they consider very special, in honor of the fallen in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.


text:
Invention of the Coolgardie Safe is credited to Arthur Patrick McCormick, a contractor in Coolgardie, and later Mayor of Narrogin. Coolgardie is in the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia. Gold was first discovered there in 1892, the townsite became a municipality in 1894, and by 1898 its population of 15,000 made it the third largest town in WA after Perth and Fremantle. In the last decade of the 19th century, Coolgardie was the capital of the West Australian goldfields. Being 180 kilometres from the nearest civilisation, food supplies were initially scarce and expensive. As fresh food was a valuable commodity, there was incentive to preserve it and keep it out of reach of scavengers. It was in an effort to do this that McCormick came up with his design for the Coolgardie Safe.
McCormick noticed that a wet bag placed over a bottle cooled its contents. He further noted that if this bottle was placed in a draught, the bag would dry out more quickly, but the bottle would get colder. What McCormick had discovered was the principle of evaporation: 'to change any liquid into a gaseous state requires energy. This energy is taken in the form of heat from its surroundings.' (Ingpen 1982, p.18) Employing this principle, McCormick made a box for his provisions which he covered with a wet Hessian bag. He then placed a tray on top, into which he poured water twice daily. He hung strips of flannel from the tray so that water would drip down onto the Hessian bag, keeping it damp.
The success of McCormick's invention would not have worked without a steady supply of water. Fresh water was scarce in the eastern goldfields at this time but the demand for water from a steadily growing population encouraged innovation. The solution was to condense salt water. Heating salt water in tanks produced steam that was condensed in tall cylinders, cooled and then collected in catchment trays. By 1898 there were six companies supplying condensed water to the goldfields, the largest company producing 100,000 gallons of water a day. (1992, p. 11)
McCormick's safe was handmade using materials to hand. Many other prospectors in the Coolgardie region copied the design. In the early 20th century, Coolgardie Safes were manufactured commercially across Australia, and found their way into homes in both rural and urban areas. These safes incorporated shelving and a door, had metal or wooden frames and Hessian bodies. The feet of the safe were usually placed in a tray of water to keep ants away.
Museum Victoria has an excellent example of a commercially produced Coolgardie Safe, the Trafalgar, which was manufactured in Adelaide by W. J. Rawling, c.1915.
(1992). Worth its weight: a celebration of Coolgardie's centenary, 1892-1992, LISWA, Perth
Bonney, W.H. (1895). The History of Coolgardie, Hann, Enright & Co., Perth
Ingpen, Robert (1982). Australian Inventions and Innovations, Rigby, Australia
More Information
Article types


text:
from my in-box:
Kandahar AfghanistanYow. Suffice it to say with a new baby in the house I am not heading overseas any times soon. I'm not endorsing or promoting this offer, by the way. Just, yow.
ED docs, or non-ED docs with significant ED experience, wanted for Medical Crash Crew service in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Rotations 10 weeks on/ 5 weeks off. Medical evac insurance, travel, accommodation and life support provided. Safe base, no work outside the base, and team is part of NATO support staff.
Pay is in Euro, tax free, with bonuses and superannuation ( pension plan) payment of 9% extra. Locum enquiries welcomed. We have an urgent need for a physician to deploy and be in location for 10 weeks from 3 May 2008. ( As the applicant pulled out-his wife, who wears the pants, was watching CNN too much and had a very active imagination) Lesser locum periods are possible but will definitely need to be negotiated.
Salary expectation is: EUR 48,000 for 10 weeks tax free. This is approximately USD$74,000 for 10 weeks at present exchange rates.


text:
Borderless Networks, Video and Medianet: It is not a matter of IF, but WHEN
The announcement earlier this week focused on the Borderless Networks services with new capabilities for Centralized Policy, Unified Management and Automated Video and Voice. For more information on the announcement, see Marie Hattar's blog.
Automated Video and Voice highlights the unique capabilities in the network infrastructure to simplify the deployment and optimize the network for video.
Why video?
Because it is not a question of IF it is coming to Enterprise networks, but WHEN. As you can see from the chart from Forrester Research (Jan. 2011) the adoption for video applications and technologies is on the significant growth path because they are adding value for businesses.
Video for businesses provides an effective way to communicate, collaborate, educate and protect
The requests for Telepresence and company-wide broadcasts are coming from the executive suites as they seek better ways to communicate with their top customers and their top teams. Employees and managers are turning on video conferencing features in their WebEx and Microsoft OCS because they expect to communicate with their colleagues the same way they communicate with Skype at home. In fact, in the Cisco Connected World Report from October 2010 found that 39% of end users expect video to become primary mode of communication. Finally, Facilities departments are using video as their way to protect with IP Video Surveillance and to communicate with Digital signage.
Medianet and Video Conferencing capabilities using the network as a platform
The same Cisco Connected World report also summarized that 7 out of 10 IT Decision Makers expect the use of video to increase in their organizations, which is why Cisco has designed their infrastructure with optimizing video in mind.
The announcements for Medianet, delivered on Cisco Catalyst Switches and Cisco routers, provide capabilities that will help reduce the cost and complexity of deploying video, as well as assist in planning, visibility, troubleshooting and monitoring. If you have watched posts about Medianet in the past, you may have seen discussions on some of these capabilities already:
- Media Monitoring which includes performance monitor, mediatrace and IPSLA Video Operation
- Autoconfiguration
- Medianet Readiness Assessment Service
Medianet provides a unique combination of network intelligence into the video endpoints and Media and endpoint intelligence for a smarter, media-aware network . Medianet delivers real-time visibility into network conditions, auto discovery and configuration with video endpoints, and tools to allocate network resources to enable predictable application experiences. Medianet gives you the ability to assess the impact of each application (video, voice and data) in your network, so you can assure your business critical applications have the right network resources and configuration.
While Medianet optimizes the network for video, the Cisco ISR G2 also places a special focus on ad hoc video conferencing in branch offices. Ad Hoc video conferencing is particularly taxing on networks from a planning and utilization standpoint, so the video conferencing bridging capabilities both optimize calls within the branch and avoid WAN backhaul traffic to the MCU.
WHEN is your Video deployment?
If your network architecture has been piecemeal to date, you'll want to get in front of this video trend because a best-effort architecture doesn't effectively scale for video. Also, Medianet can be deployed in phases throughout the network to benefit the most needy areas, such as remote branches or high video traffic areas to get the benefits now while the entire roll out is underway.
For more information on Medianet, visit: www.cisco.com/go/medianet.
In an effort to keep conversations fresh, Cisco Blogs closes comments after 60 days. Please visit the Cisco Blogs hub page for the latest content.


text:
- Home
- Editor's Desk
- Features
- Columns
- Arts & Culture
- Special Editions
- Advertising
Saturday July 20, 2019; 06:21 pm EDT
And one bright, streaking light
As the sky grows dark, the first light you're likely to spot is Jupiter high in the west, slipping toward the horizon and setting around midnight. Above it are Pollux and Castor, the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini. Orange-hued Pollux is the 17th brightest star, and white-hot Castor is the 23rd brightest. But at magnitude –2, Old Jove is exponentially brighter.
Mars is another easy target, appearing high in the south at dark and setting in the west around 3:30am. While it is no brighter than a strong star, its steady red glow stands out among the stars.
You'll have to hunt for Mercury amid the ashen light of sunset, when the innermost planet hovers within 10 degrees of the west-northwest horizon. Mercury reaches its farthest point from the sun on the 25th, when it appears 15 degrees above our horizon at sunset and remains visible for almost two hours. These next couple weeks are the best chance all year to see this elusive planet at night. On Tuesday and Wednesday nights look for Mercury between the two stars that mark the horns of Taurus the bull.
As Mercury sinks toward the northwest horizon, Saturn rises in the southeast. The ringed planet is also making its best nighttime appearance of the year and shines overhead from dusk until dawn. Below it snakes the form of Scorpius punctuated by red-glowing Antares.
Venus is brilliant as the Morning Star low in the east at dawn. It rises around 5am, and as daybreak nears it blazes from its perch 15 degrees above the horizon. Keep an eye on its leisurely climb and you can spot it shining through the glare of early morning.
Another bright light pierces the darkness this week, as the International Space Station makes several good appearances. At its dimmest, the ISS rivals any star; at its peak, it can rival Venus. But while the stars and planets give you time to pause, the space station streaks by in a matter of minutes. Traveling 17,000 miles an hour, it orbits the earth every 90 minutes. Unlike the lights from a passing airplane, you aren't seeing the lights aboard the ISS. Instead, hovering 250 miles over the planet, the station receives plenty of sunlight, which is reflected back to our eyes.
Friday morning the ISS appears in the southwest at 5:16am, climbing toward the celestia zenith, then disappearing in the northeast at 5:20. Saturday it appears almost 30 degrees above the south-southwest horizon at 4:30am, climbs another 30 degrees, then vanishes three minutes later in the east-northeast. Tuesday the station appears almost directly overhead at 3:42am and shoots to the north before disappearing two minutes later. For more detailed sighting opportunities, visit http://spotthestation.nasa.gov.


text:
It's Product Review Friday! And this week we feature another innovative product from the creative folks at Perfect Fit Brand. As you all probably know the Perfect Fit Brand is responsible for one of the best products of 2012 — the Best Product or Toy for Men — Fat Boy Cock Extender.
We've come to expect great things from this fine, young company. In fact, this is our 5th Perfect Fit Brand review and each and every product has been a winner. To keep track of all our PFB reviews use the search function in the header of DrDickSexToyReviews.com, type in Perfect Fit Brand, and PRESTO!
Dr Dick Review Crew member, Greg is here to tell us about his new find.
My friend Trevor invited me to visit him in Palm Springs a few weeks ago. He promised lots of pool parties and sex. As it turned out, the weather was perfect. Upper 70's and low 80's, basically sizzlin' for this pasty Seattleite. Not that extreme hot, like it is in the summer. I had a ball!
Here's the thing, I sometimes get a little self-conscious about the size of my package when wearing Speedos. I mean, I'm a grower not a shower. Does that sound shallow? Ok, so maybe I am.
Just before I left, Dr Dick turned me on to a new product from Perfect Fit Brand. It's called ARMOUR UP. I've been hoping to score one of their products since I read the review of their now infamous Fat Boy. They are also the maker of the Cruiser Cockring, which we've also reviewed. And I mention that because ARMOUR UP is a cockring too, but it's like no other cockring I've ever used or worn.
ARMOUR UP is a teardrop shaped design. While the shape is nothing new; I have this kick ass stainless steel one that is beautiful, but a bitch to put on and take off. And despite the fact that it look great on my junk, all shiny and shit, its uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. In fact, I thought the ARMOUR UP one was gonna be the same way. I was so wrong!
ARMOUR UP is made of an ultra-stretchy and resilient material called PF Blend, which is a combination of silicone and TPR (a thermoplastic elastomer). It is easy-on and easy-off and it is so fuckin' comfortable, I can wear it for hours at a time. And you know I did under my Speedos.
The teardrop design is unique because not only does it do what every good cockring should do, slightly constrict your cock (and balls) so that blood flows into your dick, but doesn't flow out as easily, thus making a nice sturdy erection. It also has this tab on the base, with a bump on it, which slings back behind your nuts and lands on your "taint." That's your perineum, that patch of skin, full of nerve endings, between your asshole and your balls. So there's all this extra stimulation goin' on by just wearing the thing.
While the ARMOUR UP teardrop shape is not new, it takes the design to a completely new level. It's revolutionary anatomical shape is so unique! Once you have this thing on it actually makes your cock and balls protrude away from your crotch. And its slim design feels so good.
I put on the clear ARMOUR UP ring (it comes in two colors, clear and black) and then slipped into a pair of electric blue Speedos and stood in front of the mirror to check it out. DAMN, I was rockin' this shit out. The silky feel of the material of the Speedos on my prominent dick head was giving me a nice little stiffy. I fuckin' loved it. Now I looked like a shower, not just a grower.
I waltzed into kitchen where Trevor was putting some beers into a cooler and he took one look at me and dropped his jaw. "Hun, what you got goin' on down there?" I just winked and said: "It's my little secret. Besides, you're such a size queen!" And he said; "Well at least I'm honest. You know what they say; there are only two kinds of men—size queens and liars."
I just want you to know that I gave Trevor the black ARMOUR UP as a thank you gift for hosting me for the weekend. You should see what it does for his big black dick. It was kinda obscene!
Besides the two colors that I already mentioned the ARMOUR UP comes in three sizes too, Standard (1.7"/38mm), Large (1.9"/43mm), and Sport (1.5"/34mm). Now you can find the perfect fit and the right color for every occasion. The cool thing about the clear one is, even stripped down, you can't really tell I'm wearing a cockring.
Don't be afraid to get lube on this thing; warm soapy water will clean it right up. it's sturdy and will last and last. It might be the last cockring you'll ever buy.
Full Review HERE!


text:
By WARREN SCOTT
WELLSBURG, W.Va. - The leader of the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle provided an update on developments at the Three Springs Business Park and former Wheeling Corrugating Plant at Wednesday's meeting of the Brooke County Economic Development Authority.
BDC Executive Director Pat Ford said Sheehan Pipeline is expected to be in full operation at the corrugating plant next month and will employ about 600, including about 300 local union employees.
The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company will be building a 40-mile pipeline from an area north of Washington, Pa., through the Northern Panhandle and into Ohio.
Ford added Pietro Fiorentini, the Italian company that will operate out of the plant while building a permanent facility at the Three Springs Business Park, will be hiring welders and taking them to Milan for training.
The company is expected to employ 41 initially, with a potential for up to 150 later, he said.
Ford said plans call for the company to occupy about 15,000 square feet at the former Wheeling Corrugating Plant in Beech Bottom over the next three years while it moves forward with plans to build a permanent plant in Weirton.
It will be the first American production facility for the company, which produces pressure regulators, valves and pressure reducing and metering systems for the natural gas industry and has a sales office in Atlanta.
Ford said Weirton was chosen following a nationwide search by Fiorentini. He said among the many who helped to attract the company were the BDC, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority, which offered a financing package for the construction, and Weirton Council, which approved almost $800,000 for the extension of an access road to the plant's future site.
Weirton Mayor George Kondik, who is vice chairman of the economic development authority, said the access road is being funded through tax increment financing.
The measure allows tax for property improvements at the Three Springs Business Park to be waived temporarily in anticipation of additional revenue to be generated from the upgrades.
Ford said factors in Fiorentini's decision to open in Weirton were the city's quality of life and the welcome it received from local officials.
"They really like to live and go to school and church in the community where they work," he said of Fiorentini's employees.
Ford said a March 19 auction for thousands of pieces of equipment at the corrugating plant was successful, with everything on the auction block sold, but not everything was put up for bid.
He said the BDC has been approached by individuals interested in reopening the plant's paint lines, so equipment there wasn't included.
Also not included were many pieces of office furniture and assorted office supplies, which will be donated to the Weirton United Way and Beech Bottom's Neighborhood Watch program, respectively, for distribution to local nonprofit groups.
Ruby Greathouse, curator of the Brooke County Museum, also has been invited to visit the plant to select photos and other items that may be displayed there.
Ford said the donations are through the generosity of Hackman Capital, which purchased the equipment and has been working with the BDC to market the 650-acre site and 480,000-square-foot facility to new tenants.


text:
Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength
Diagnosed with severe Crohn's colitis in May 2005--spread to ileum and small intestine as of April 2008. Have taken Imuran, Remicade, TPN, Colozal, Entocort, Flagyl, PamineForte, Cipro, Dicyclomine, Prednisone, Asacol, Prevacid, and the list goes on. Currently on Remicade every 8wks, 40mg Pred, Pentasa.


text:
HotelTonight CEO Sends Woman Tech Reporter Super Creepy Package
If you're the CEO of a startup that specializes in finding cheap, last-minute hotel rooms from your smartphone, don't send a young tech writer an unsolicited, bizarre signed photo of yourself and a bottle of wine.
Business Insider's Alyson Shontell found herself the target of this strange PR maneuver yesterday, after the above gift from HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank wound up on her desk. The laid back pose says, I'm an exec who still likes to have a good time. The white wine says, Care for a glass of white wine? Roooom service! The smiley face in the autograph says I'm eleven.
Well, this is definitely the strangest thing I've received from a startup yet. Um, @samshank??? pic.twitter.com/kSiIpNzur6
— Alyson Shontell (@ajs) February 6, 2014
Oh, no.
@ajs Strangest, or most incredibly awesome?
— Sam Shank (@samshank) February 6, 2014
Oh no.
@ajs or maybe it's just your lucky day
— Sam Shank (@samshank) February 6, 2014
Oh. Nooooooooo.


text:
HOLIDAY Snow Deer
Enjoy an enormous selection of affordable with trendy pattern socks ! Combed cotton guarantees a good fit cozy with good sweat absorption, close-fitting feel unlike any other, and because they're so stylish, everyone will want to wear them. Available in convenient free size, recommended for adult from 230~250mm in size. Made in Korea.
CLICK HERE for Preorder Dates & Details
Our pre-order program allows you early access/reservation to new upcoming Items. By pre-order an item, you're essentially buying it in advance of it being in stock. You'll need to place the payment in advance and you just have to wait for it to arrive. We will ship it right to you the moment it does!
If your orders contain a combination of ready stock items with preo-rder items and you select express shipping, we will only apply the expedited shipping to the ready stock items. No additional postage fees needed for second delivery and this procedure is applicable to local orders only.
There are no reviews yet, would you like to submit yours?


text:
Naomi King
Interlibrary Loan Specialist
I prepared for my career in Interlibrary Loan by majoring in horticulture at UVM. During the summer I run a small perennial farm with my husband Hobie at our home in South Hero. I'm very involved with the Champlain Islands Farmer's Market where I sell tie dye, felted bags, hats and mittens, and of course plants.
I like to read mysteries and historical fiction and I'm a fan of Old Hippy Music and Bluegrass.
My biggest influences were Monty Python and the Grateful Dead.


text:
Lithia Springs Resort
Think of all the great movies in which wine stole a scene:
Ingrid Bergman's Ilsa sipping sparkling wine with Humphrey Bogart in Rick's apartment in "Casablanca." Groucho Marx insulting women over bottles of chianti in "A Night at the Opera" and, of course, Bilbo Baggins in "The Lord of the Rings" offering bottles from the old vineyard, harvested in 1296."A very good year. Almost as old as I am," Baggins says. "It was laid down by my father. What say we open one?"
Supporters of the Ashland Independent Film Festival can toast films and the nonprofit film festival with local wines from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29. Tickets for Reel to Rogue, a fundraiser dinner at Lithia Springs Resort, are $75 and include an international menu prepared by Larks restaurant, Champagne cocktail, a glass of Rogue Valley wine and a raffle ticket that might be the lucky one to redeem for a pass to next year's festival, scheduled for April 4-8.
Wines being poured at Saturday's event include South Stage Cellars 2009 Viognier ($22) and 2008 Vintner's Select ($24), Cliff Creek Cellars 2006 Claret ($25) and 2010 William Augustus Viognier Marsanne ($16).
Ashland wine producer Gus Janeway won a gold medal for his 2010 William Augustus Viognier Marsanne in the 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
Event guests also will be introduced to a new label: Ashland Independent Film Festival Special Reserve Vintner's Select Sauvignon Blanc. The white wine was made from grapes donated by South Stage Cellars and blended by winemaker Linda Donovan of Pallet Wine Co. in Medford.
AIFF board member Michael Moore and his family own Quail Run Vineyard, which grows grapes on 300 acres across the valley, and South Stage Cellars tasting room in Jacksonville. Moore has been leading the effort to debut a special wine label as a new fundraising initiative for the festival.
The wine, bottled earlier this month, is too young to be poured at the Reel to Rogue event. But the price and release date will be revealed that night.
The fundraiser dinner coincides with AIFF's collaboration with Coming Attractions Theatres for the first time to produce Varsity World Film Week Sept. 28 through Oct. 4. at the Varsity Theatre, 166 E. Main St., Ashland.
Russian-born filmmaker Marina Goldovskaya will speak after screenings of her film, "A Bitter Taste of Freedom," which is about the assassination of Russian journalist, author and human-rights activist Anna Politkovskaya. Filmmaker Mark Kendall also will be in Ashland, talking about his film, "La Camioneta," which focuses on the transformation of decommissioned school buses into Guatemala's primary public transportation.
Goldovskaya and Kendall also plan to attend Reel to Rogue at Lithia Springs Resort, 2165 W. Jackson Road, Ashland.
For more information, call Ashland Independent Film Festival at 541-488-3823 or see www.ashlandfilm.org.
Read more about Southern Oregon wine in the Ashland Daily Tidings' Revels section: www.dailytidings.com


text:
Message Board
T.M. Simmons Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Simmons has written!
Author Simmons's Book Reviews
Dead Man Talking
Dead Man Talking Five Star, Dec 2004, 25.95, 360 pp. ISBN: 1594142572 In Six Gun, Texas, author Alice Carpenter has worked out the rules of sharing her home with ghosts. However, her cousin Katy Gueydon is not doing quite as well and begs Alice to help her with Sir Gary Gavin and a corpse she finds in her swimming pool at Esprit d'Chene estate. Alice calls her former spouse Detective Jack Carpenter, who works near her cousin's home, while she dr...