text:
Introducing Automated Testing to a Project
- Introducing Automated Testing to an Organization
- Test Process Analysis
- Process Review
- Safeguarding the Integrity of the Automated Test Process
- Considering the Use of a Test Tool on a Particular Project
Today's software managers and developers are being asked to turn around their products within ever-shrinking schedules and with minimal resources. This is due to a push from government and commercial industries toward streamlining the product acquisition lifecycle, as well as the survival necessity within the commercial software product industry of getting a product to market early. Most information resource management (IRM) organizations are struggling to handle this challenge within the constraints of existing information-management budgets, while simultaneously implementing other competing information-management initiatives.
In an attempt to do more with less, organizations want to test their software adequately, but as quickly as possible. Faced with this reality, software managers and developers have little choice but to introduce automated testing to their projects. But these software professionals may not know what's involved in introducing an automated test tool to a software project, and may not be familiar with the breadth of application that automated test tools have today.
Manual testing is labor-intensive and error-prone, and doesn't support the kind of quality checks that are possible through the use of an automated test tool. Humans make mistakes—especially when mundane, repetitive tasks are involved. Computers are especially effective in performing these mundane and repetitious tasks—without the mistakes. The introduction of automated test tools helps to replace archaic and mundane manual test processes with a more professional and repeatable automated test environment, one that promotes test-engineer retention and improves test-engineer morale.
Introducing Automated Testing to an Organization
New technology is often met with skepticism, and software test automation is no exception. How test teams introduce an automated software test tool on a new project is nearly as important as the selection of the most appropriate test tool for the project. A tool is only as good as the process being used to implement the tool.
Test teams have largely implemented automated test tools on projects without having a process or strategy in place describing in detail the steps involved in using the test tool productively. This approach commonly results in the development of test scripts that are not reusable, meaning that the test script serves a single test string but cannot be applied to a subsequent release of the software application. These test scripts need to be re-created repeatedly for incremental software builds and must be adjusted multiple times to accommodate minor software changes. This approach increases the testing effort and causes schedule delays and cost overruns.
Perhaps the most dreaded consequence of an unstructured test program is the need for extending the period of actual testing. Test efforts that drag out unexpectedly tend to receive a significant amount of criticism and unwanted management attention. Unplanned extensions to the test schedule may have several undesirable consequences to the organization, including loss of product market share or loss of customer or client confidence and satisfaction with the product.
The test team also may attempt to implement a test tool too late in the development lifecycle to adequately accommodate the test team's learning curve for the test tool. The test team may find that the time lost while learning to work with the test tool or ramping up on tool features and capabilities has put the test effort behind schedule. In such situations, the team may become frustrated with the use of the tool and even abandon it so as to achieve short-term gains in test progress. The test team may be able to make up some time and meet an initial test-execution date, but these gains are soon forfeited during regression testing and subsequent performance of the test.
In the preceding scenarios, the test team may have had the best intentions in mind, but unfortunately was simply unprepared to exercise the best course of action. The test engineer didn't have the requisite experience with the tool or hadn't defined a way of successfully introducing the test tool. What happens in these cases? The test tool itself usually absorbs most of the blame for the schedule slip or the poor test performance. In fact, the real underlying cause for the test failure pertained to the absence of a defined test process, or, where a test process was defined, failure to adhere to that process.
The fallout from a bad experience with a test tool on a project can have a ripple effect throughout an organization. The experience may tarnish the reputation of the test group. Confidence in the tool by product and project managers may have been shaken to the point where the test team may have difficulty obtaining approval for use of a test tool on future efforts. Likewise, when budget pressures materialize, planned expenditures for test tool licenses and related tool support may be scratched.
By developing and following a strategy for rolling out an automated test tool, the test team can avoid having to make major unplanned adjustments throughout the test process. Such adjustments often prove nerve-wracking for the entire test team. Likewise, projects that require test engineers to perform hundreds of mundane tests manually may experience significant turnover of test personnel.
It's worth the effort to invest adequate time in the analysis and definition of a suitable test tool introduction process. This process is essential to the long-term success of a automated test program. Test teams need to view the introduction of an automated test tool into a new project as a process, not an event. The test tool needs to complement the process and not the reverse. In other words, the tool is only as good as the process, meaning that a process has to be in place before a tool can be brought in.


text:
Many pet owners want to give as much love as possible to their animals, but not all of them are okay with their furry friends digging holes and taking patches out of their well-cared lawns. It's not only the sight of bare soil and uneven grass that can make pet owners wince, but also with the idea of cleaning up animal poop and urine from their lawn.
Thankfully, technological advancements in artificial grass have resolved these and many more problems posed by real grass. It's not exactly a secret why pet owners are seeing artificial turf as a new and less stressful way of taking care of their four-legged companions.
Freedom to Roam and Exercise
You love it when you see your pets frolicking around your lawn, though you hate seeing them too dirty and the natural grass in a state of perpetual mess. Instead of dealing with these problems, you can opt for artificial turf, which is made of safe synthetic materials. This means rain won't make it muddy, while sunny weather won't dry the soil enough to get your pet fur dirty. In other words, artificial grass gives your pets extra freedom to roam.
Why let pets run around so freely? Animals, particularly dogs, need frequent exercise. Dogs are trained to work for many centuries, as they once hunted and scavenged for food, played with fellow dogs, and rigorously defended their territory. In short, they are genetically disposed to lead active and social lives. Once domesticated, dogs tend to get less physical activity and play, which often lead to behavioral problems, including destructive chewing and digging, hyperactivity, play biting, and attention-seeking behaviors like whining and barking.
Exercise for dogs provides important health benefits. If they have lots of opportunity to run and have fun, or, in other words, exercise with recreation, they may eliminate problem behaviors of excessive barking and digging. Plus, regular exercise can decrease the risk of digestive problems, keep them agile and limber, and improve confidence and trust among timid dogs.
Great Place for Physical Activity Even During Rainy Days
Sometimes, pet owners dislike having their animals outside during rainy days because of the mess it can create in their lawn and beloved furry friends. However, artificial turf won't get muddy at all. You don't have to worry about pet paws and footprints damaging your grass, or your pets getting bedraggled by torn grass and mud.
Furthermore, it's hard to keep pets inside your house, especially when rainy days can last for weeks. If you have artificial turf in your lawn, your pets can still get out during a light rain shower and continue getting exercise throughout the rainy season.
Easy to Clean
Artificial turf is likewise easy to clean. Modern artificial grass drainage technology now enables the easy hosing away of pet waste and liquid spills. Cleanliness is next to good pet health because a dirty environment can result in various dog diseases such as skin infection, diarrhea, and leptospirosis, among others.
Trusted by Dog Experts and Pet Hospitals
Artificial grass has received the stamp of approval from dog experts and pet hospitals. In fact, dog behaviorist Cesar Millan had artificial grass installed in his 10,000-feet Dog Center in California. Millan discovered that an artificial turf not only ensures cleanliness, but it also seems to deter digging behaviors.
Pet hospitals are also getting artificial grass installed for their dog patients. Veterinarians find artificial grass safe, easy to clean, and great for dogs to roam around and get sufficient exercise and recreation.
An artificial turf offers important benefits for your pets: freedom to run and exercise including throughout the rainy season, cleanliness, and approval from dog experts and pet hospitals. Besides the convenience of a lawn that looks fresh and green all year round, artificial turf also makes the health of your pet its top priority. Seeing them active, sociable, and enjoying their lives playing on artificial turf would definitely make you a happy pet owner as well.
"Exercise for Dogs," Pets.WebMD.Com
"The Dog Whisperer gets behind EasyTurf artificial lawn," New MexicoLive.Com
"Waterford pet hospital boasts being first of its kind," TheOaklandPress.Com

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Updated at 3:46 p.m. ET
The Trump administration is asking Congress for roughly $1 trillion in new economic relief as lawmakers begin work on the next phase of coronavirus relief efforts.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that he worked with the president on the economic package. Their discussions included payments to small businesses, loan guarantees for industries like airlines and hotels, and a stimulus package for workers.
"We are looking at sending checks to Americans immediately," Mnuchin said at a press conference at the White House on Tuesday. "Americans need cash now, and the president wants to get cash now. And I mean now, in the next two weeks."
Mnuchin briefed Senate Republicans on the proposal Tuesday afternoon and has already spoken with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"This is a very unique situation in this economy. We've put a proposal on the table that would inject $1 trillion into the economy, that is on top of the $300 billion from the IRS deferrals. Now let me just say: This is a combination of loans, this is a combination of direct checks to individuals, this is a combination of creating liquidity for small businesses."
The request comes as a number of lawmakers call for a quick solution for some of the country's increasingly dire economic concerns. There is growing bipartisan agreement around the need to speed direct cash aid to individuals and families.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is calling for any new aid package to meet three criteria: assist individuals and families with financial challenges, secure the country's economy and economic foundation, and ready the health care system and support medical professionals.
"We're going to work here in warp speed for the Senate, which almost never does anything quickly," McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. "These are not ordinary times, this is not an ordinary situation, so it requires extraordinary measures."
McConnell said he plans to work with the White House to reach consensus among Republicans before turning to Democrats to ink a final deal.
The talks are expected to move swiftly. Mnuchin told reporters after a meeting with Senate Republicans that the first concern must be about speeding relief to individuals, families and businesses, and not about the deficit or other long-term issues.
"Congress right now should be concerned about the American workers," Mnuchin said. "In different times, we'll fix the deficit. This is not the time to worry about it."
Republican senators expressed widespread support for the concept of cash payments following the lunch with Mnuchin, but many critical details of how the money will be allocated and to whom still need to be addressed.
The Senate is preparing to vote first on a smaller relief bill that has already been approved in the House. That legislation includes paid sick and family leave for some workers, extended unemployment benefits, and emergency funds for food security programs.
There had been some discussion about holding up the House measure to wait until the broader economic stimulus plan was crafted, but McConnell said that won't be the case. He suggested that despite some unease among members of his party to approve the measure, it should be approved.
"Gag and vote for it anyways, even if you think there's some shortcomings," he said of his advice for those GOP members.
The top Senate Republican also committed to the Senate remaining in session to pass broader relief.
"It is my intention that the Senate will not adjourn until we have passed significant and bold new steps, above and beyond what the House passed, to help our strong nation and our strong underlying economy weather this storm," McConnell said.
House leaders were forced to approve a lengthy technical correction to its legislation Monday. McConnell has predicted bipartisan support to pass that bill in the Senate but noted on Tuesday the need for "a broader package that includes more and broader small business relief."
McConnell has already said that he is in touch with the chairmen of eight committees about additional legislation that will be required and that bipartisanship will be key. The next steps entail providing financial aid to individuals, shoring up small businesses and protecting the health care system.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., jump-started specifics for a comprehensive new plan, proposing a $750 billion to raise funding for unemployment insurance, coronavirus treatment and emergency child care assistance. The plan also includes student loan and housing payment assistance, aid to small businesses and expansion of hospital and treatment capacity.
The price tag eclipses the first emergency coronavirus aid bill of roughly $8 billion approved earlier this month to address response efforts. Late Monday, the House sent a second bill to address paid sick leave and testing to the Senate.
"We need big, bold, immediate federal action to deal with the crisis. The kinds of targeted measures we are putting together will mainline money into the economy and directly into the hands of families that need it most," Schumer said on the Senate floor in outlining the plans. "Importantly, this proposal will ensure that our medical professionals have the resources — including physical space and equipment — they need to provide treatment and keep Americans safe."
The talks came on the same day the stock market shed nearly 3,000 points in its biggest daily decline in more than 30 years and President Trump's administration announced stringent guidelines to tighten public gatherings to 10 people or less. After news of the latest proposals emerged the markets did rebound some.
Several senators had already released proposals for direct cash payments before the White House announcement. For example, Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney says the government should immediately issue $1,000 to every American so families can manage short-term obligations. He's also proposing small business grants, aid for higher education students and deferring student loan payments for new graduates.
Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton released a separate plan Tuesday modeled on economic relief that was approved in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and the 2008 financial crisis.
His broader proposal includes a tax-rebate check of $1,000 for every adult tax filer making less than $100,000 per year and $500 for each dependent. Married couples making less than $200,000 per year would be eligible for a $2,000 rebate.
The House, meanwhile, remains on a planned recess this week, which could be extended. Pelosi, who returned to her home state of California on Saturday, urged members to allow as many staff as possible to telecommute in the interim.
The furious pace of proposals comes as the spreading virus continues to pose a direct threat to Capitol building operations, as several lawmakers' offices remain closed as a result of at least two coronavirus cases among current D.C-based Hill staffers.
So far, no elected member of Congress has disclosed testing positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by novel coronavirus. However, at least two Republican senators — Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida — remain under self-quarantine after exposure to individuals who tested positive. And over recent days, at least four lawmaker offices have disclosed coronavirus exposure.
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe contributed to this report
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
The Costs Of Fulltime RVing (Part I) – Budgeting & Planning Your Spend
Pre-Post NOTE/ THANK YOU for all the awesome comments on my last post regarding our NE trip this summer!! We've spent lots of time digesting them and will definitely make use of your many tips during our trip. Looking forward to it!
This is a set of posts that have been on my back-burner for a loooong time. My one and only post on fulltime RV costs was done way back in early 2011 and I've been wanting to write an update ever since. But I've also been very reluctant to do so at the same time.
On the one hand, these are supremely useful posts. Costs are a huge question for anyone who is considering getting on the road and one of the most searched-for items for newbie fulltimers. I remember it was one of the top things we fretted about before we went fulltiming and we had such a hard time figuring it out. Could we afford it? For how long? What kind of budget would we need? We found several blog posts, but no-one seemed to be able to give us an exact number. How are you supposed to work with that??
On the other hand, it's a VERY individual thing. After 7 years on the road I can honestly tell you there's a very good reason why no-one ever gives you an exact number. That's because many of the big fulltime RV expenses are totally flexible! What kind of rig you buy, where you decide to camp, how much you drive, whether you decide workamp, whether you eat out (or in) etc. -> ALL these are flexible costs that can vastly alter your spend numbers. There are ranges (and I'll go through them below), but there is quite simply no one single number for everyone.
And finally there's just the whole money thing. Money is a "hot" topic and these kinds of posts almost always generate heated debate about how much it really costs. What one person might consider "a pretty good deal" could be construed as "ridiculously expensive" to some one else ("you spend that much on xxx??" is a common response). So I'm going to say this up front. Don't take ANY of these numbers as fixed. Rather use these posts as a guide together with other folks who publish their data (which I'll link to) to create your own, individual financial plan.
With that said, this is a BIG topic so I think it best to split it out into 2 posts. My first post will simply cover general cost & budget considerations for folks looking to get on the road. My second post will go into more detail about our specific spend as well as providing links to other folks & resources on RV budget. Here we go….
Start By Tracking Your Current Spend
Anyone who wants to plan a budget for the future should start by understanding what $$ they are using now. I think this is a critical part of any healthy financial plan, and there's really no excuse for not doing it.
These days everything is available online and if you're putting most of your spend on credit or debit cards* it's super easy to import it into programs (e.g Quicken or Mint) that will summarize and keep track of exactly where your money is going. Not only will this give you a solid idea of your starting point, but it will be key to pointing out places you can possibly save once you change your lifestyle and get on the road.
*If you have any cash spend you'll obviously need to keep receipts of that in order to record & break down that spend
How do we do it? We do 99% of our spend through credit cards (where we actively collect points too**) and I'm old-fashioned so I import all my bank & card data into an Excel spreadsheet. I do this every month, allocate each line to a category (e.g. entertainment, RV parks, insurance, groceries etc.) and then churn out a pretty pivot table to display it in one place. I've been tracking our spend this way for over 13 years and before that I used paper, so I literally have detailed spend numbers going back to when I was around 17 years old (crazy, I know).
**We haven't paid for air travel to see family in years thanks to our various card points 🙂
Now Tell Me What It Really Costs? Answer: It Varies…!
As I said in the intro there is really no one single number here, but I can give you a general range.
From a baseline perspective, we know RVers who spend anywhere between ~$1500/mo (on the low end) to ~$5000-$7500/mo (on the very upper end) on their lifestyle, with the majority ending up somewhere in the low-middle (~$2500-$3500/mo). These numbers are for two people.
Anything below $1500/mo is tough IMO especially if there's two of you and you throw health care, insurance and other fixed costs into the mix. The folks on this end of the spectrum are super-budget and generally travel in vans or smaller rigs (= lower maintenance & insurance/registration costs), boondock or workamp most of the time (= ultra-low camping fees), limit their travel (= less gas costs) and cook at home most of the time (= low entertainment costs). It requires some frugal dedication, but it's do-able. We know several folks traveling this way who absolutely love the freedom of their super-budget lifestyle.
Anything above $5000/mo means you can start to splurge and of course if you have more to spend, you'll have more opportunities to splurge. The folks at this end of the scale generally travel in larger rigs (= more expensive maintenance/registration/insurance fees), stay in private RV parks most of the time (= higher camping costs), drive more miles and like to eat out. These folks also love their lifestyle.
Around $2500-$3500/mo is a do-able mix of the two extremes IMO. At this level you'll still have to watch your budget and look for frugal camping options, but you'll have the flexibility for some looser spending too (e.g. occasionally staying at pricier RV parks, eating out etc.).
Fixed Versus Flexible Costs
When looking at fulltime RV costs I like to separate the budget into fixed and flexible costs and I think it's helpful to plan your own RV budget in this format too.
Fixed costs are standard items that you pay each month and which you have (somewhat) limited control over. Examples are RV registration & insurance, health insurance, mail service, storage (if you have that), internet/phone and maintenance costs.
Obviously these are not the same fixed costs for everyone. What kind of rig you buy, where you insure it, how much maintenance you do (incl. paid versus self-maintenance), whether you keep a storage unit and what kind of internet plan you get are all individual choice. But once you've made those decisions they'll become fixed, recurring expenses that you should expect to pay each month.
Flexible costs are costs that are entirely within your control and this is where RV budget gets exciting 🙂
By far the largest two contributors here are camping costs (what kind of places you decide to stay) and driving costs (how far you chose to drive each year). These can easily contribute 30% of the fulltime RV budget, which means a huge part of your monthly budget is completely controllable!
In our case there are months we pay almost ZERO here (e.g. when we are sitting still in one place and either volunteering or boondocking) and there are months we chose to splurge. Either way we are able to completely manage how much we want to spend and can ramp it down (or up) as needed to match our income. Honestly if we'd fully understood the power of this flexibility we probably wouldn't have fretted quite so much over costs before we got on the road. This is a BIG DEAL!
There are other flexible costs which are smaller than these two, but can also be managed to match your individual needs. This includes things such as groceries, entertainment, electronics, gifts and clothing. In our case we spend about the same on groceries as we did before we hit the road (we love our food), somewhat less on entertainment and electronics, and way, way less on clothing (we don't need much of a wardrobe on the road!).
The Influence Of Domicile
Many folks who go fulltime RVing switch their domicile (= legal residence) to a low-cost state.
Now there are a lot of factors that go into domicile choice and there's not one, single right choice for everyone. But for the purposes of this post what's important for you to understand is that that domicile DOES have a significant impact on your RV budget. Not only does it affect your take-home $$ (due to state taxes), but it also affects your health insurance costs, RV/car insurance costs, RV/car registration costs and business costs (if you have any). And the difference in these $$ between different states can be significant!
As an example, before we started our RVing journey we lived CA which is a very high cost state both for income taxes, RV/car registration and insurance. When we went fulltime we severed our ties with CA and switched our domicile to SD which reduced those expenses significantly. Our state income tax went from one of the highest in the nation to ZERO while our RV/car registration dropped by around a factor of 5! Talk about instant savings!
Fast forward 7 years and SD is still one of the least expensive states for fulltime RVers to domicile, but some things have also changed in that time frame. For example registration/insurance costs have risen (this was a state-wide thing that happened in SD a few years ago) and health insurance options for our age-group have deteriorated to the point of being abysmal. If we were choosing domicile today, we'd probably chose a different state.
The Impact Of Unexpected Expenses
A critical part of any RV budget plan is unexpected expenses. No matter how confident you feel with your budget you should always keep an emergency fund for unexpected expenses because these WILL happen.
For healthcare we keep $8,000 in our HSA account (tax-free health savings account). This not only covers our regular yearly self-pay checks, but also covers the individual deductible on our health care plan in case we should ever need it. We keep an additional 4-6 months of savings in ready cash (e.g. cash, money market, savings) for unplanned RV, pet & other expenses and regularly add to these savings through our monthly budget.
There are many years we've not used any of our emergency fund, but last year we really needed it. First Polly had her TPLO leg operation, then Taggart had her I-131 treatment and finally we got hit with our RV accident. All three were unexpected expenses that went beyond our normal budget.
Stuff Beyond The Regular Budget
There are certain things I won't be covering in these budget posts, but which you will want to include in your own plan if you're looking to get one the road. This includes one-time expenses such as the cost of whatever RV you're going to buy as well as $$ for initial fixes, necessary equipment and upgrades along the way.
For example if you're buying an older RV, you'll want to plan for some initial $$ to fix the things that will undoubtedly need to be fixed before you can get on the road (e.g. new tires? oil changes? new hoses? new suspension? broken appliances?). Also you'll want to buy some basic stuff (e.g. sewer hose, camping chairs, surge protector, TPMS) to set yourself up for starting on the road. Lastly, if you plan to do some upgrades (e.g. buy a cellular booster, install a solar system) you'll want to plan for those too. These one-time expenses can easily cost $5,000-$20,000 depending on what the condition of your rig is and what you're planning to do. Some of of them (e.g. upgrades) will likely spread across multiple years too, so include some extra $$ for these in your yearly plan as well.
And Don't Forget About Income!
One very last thing to think about before you decide whether you can afford to fulltime RV is income. Whether or not you currently have an income, creating some $$ on the road can greatly ease the constraints of a tight budget and radically change your available budget. If you are pre-retirement and have an online job that you can take on the road, then absolutely do that. Otherwise there are lots of opportunities to create some income on the road. We've met folks who workamp, edit, write, invest, compose music, create art, make jewelry, tattoo, run online businesses, take on temporary jobs (Amazon, Beet Harvest, Christmas Tree sales etc.) or do a slew of other creative things on the road for money. Some make only a little money while others make pretty significant $$. And these opportunities are not just for young folks, either! We've seen all ages making money on the road.
That wraps up the intro post! This is just an overall budgeting post, so please keep any specific $$ questions until my next post. If you have any general questions related to these subjects however, feel free to ask below!
Coming Next -> we delve into some specific spend numbers and link to others who've done the same. Click HERE to read part II.
Related Posts:


text:
Commonly used in air conditioning applications, such as residential split systems, rooftop units and window air conditioners.
Oxygen is one of our most commonly selling and major gases, used in industries as well as for medical purposes
Carbon dioxide is a colorless gas. It is slightly acidic taste. Carbon dioxide is shipped in its vapor pressure of 830 psig.
Nitrogen is colorless, odorless, tasteless, nontoxic, inert and represents 78.08 percent of the atmosphere. Nitrogen is nonflammable and does not support combustion.
Argon is a highly inert nonflammable gas of the atmosphere, forms no chemical compounds and dissolves slightly when mixed with water. It is colorless, odorless, tasteless and nontoxic.
Helium is the lightest element after hydrogen, and represents only 5 ppm of the atmosphere. It is a nonflammable and nontoxic gas. Helium is inert to chemical reactions and radiations.
Acetylene is a compound of carbon and hydrogen. It is a colorless, highly flammable gas and slightly lighter than air. Acetylene of 100 percent purity is odorless, but the commercial purity generated from calcium carbide has a distinctive, garlic like odor.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas, is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases used as a fuel in heating appliances and vehicles and increasingly replacing chlorofluorocarbons as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant to reduce damage to the ozone layer.
Air is the natural atmosphere of the earth, a nonflammable, colorless, odorless gas that consists of a mixture of gaseous elements (with argon, water vapor, a small amount of carbon dioxide, and traces of many other constitutes).
Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, flammable and nontoxic gas. It is the lightest element and can be found in the atmosphere with the concentration of about 0.5 ppm. The gas burns in air with an almost invisible light blue color.


text:
The birth of a baby is one of life's most wondrous moments. Few experiences compare to this event. Newborn babies have amazing abilities. Yet they depend on others for feeding, warmth, and comfort.
Amazing physical changes occur with birth. When the baby is delivered, the umbilical cord is clamped and cut near the navel. This ends the baby's dependence on the placenta for oxygen and nutrition. As the baby takes their first breath, air moves into the lungs. Before birth, the lungs aren't used to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. They need less blood supply. The fetal circulation sends most of the blood supply away from the lungs through special connections in the heart and the large blood vessels. When a baby starts to breathe air at birth, the change in pressure in the lungs helps close the fetal connections and redirect the blood flow. Now blood is pumped to the lungs to help with the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Some babies have too much fluid in their lungs. Stimulating the baby to cry by massage and stroking the skin can help. This brings the fluid up where it can be suctioned from the nose and mouth.
A newborn baby is wet from the amniotic fluid and can easily become cold. Drying the baby and using warm blankets and heat lamps can help prevent heat loss. Often a knitted hat is placed on the baby's head. Placing a baby skin-to-skin on your chest or belly (abdomen) also helps to keep the baby warm. This early skin-to-skin contact also reduces crying, improves your interaction with your baby, and helps you to breastfeed successfully.
Health assessments of the new baby start right away. One of the first checks is the Apgar test. The Apgar test is a scoring system to evaluate the condition of the newborn at 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth. The healthcare provider or midwife and nurses will evaluate these signs and give a point value:
Activity (muscle tone)
Pulse rate
Grimace (reflex irritability)
Appearance (skin color)
A score of 7 to 10 is considered normal. A score of 4 to 6 may mean that the baby needs some rescue breathing measures (oxygen) and careful watching. A score of 3 or below means that the baby needs rescue breathing and lifesaving methods.
A brief physical exam is done to check for obvious signs that the baby is healthy. Other procedures will be done over the next few minutes and hours. These may be done in the delivery room, in the nursery, or in your room. The location will depend on the hospital policy and your baby's condition. Here are some things that will be checked or done for your baby:
Temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate
Weight, length, and head circumference. These measurements help find out if a baby's weight and measurements are normal for the number of weeks of pregnancy. Small or underweight babies and very large babies may need special attention and care.
Cord care. The baby's umbilical cord stump will have a clamp. It needs to be kept clean and dry.
Bath. Once a baby's temperature has stabilized, the first bath can be given.
Eye care. Bacteria in the birth canal can infect a baby's eyes. Your baby will be given antibiotic or antiseptic eye drops or ointment either right after delivery or later in the nursery to prevent eye infection.
Vitamin K shot. In the first few days of life newborns can't make adequate amounts of vitamin K. This vitamin is needed to help your baby's blood clot. Without this, your baby is at risk for a serious disease called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn.
Footprints. These are often taken and recorded in the medical record.
Before a baby leaves the delivery area, ID bracelets with matching numbers are placed on the baby and on you. Babies often have 2, on the wrist and ankle. These should be checked each time the baby comes or goes from your room.
Healthy babies born in a vaginal delivery are often able to stay with the birth parent. In many hospitals, immediate newborn assessments include weight, length, and medicines. Even the first bath is done right in your room. As quickly as possible, a new baby is placed in your arms. Often, the baby is placed skin-to-skin on your chest right after birth. Some babies will breastfeed right away.
In the first hour or 2 after birth, most babies are in an alert, wide-awake phase. This offers a chance for you and your partner to get to know your new baby. A baby will often turn to the familiar sound of the birth parent's voice. A baby's focus of vision is best at about 8 to 12 inches—just the distance from the baby cradled in your arms to your face.
This first hour or 2 after birth is also the best time to start breastfeeding. Babies have an innate ability to start nursing right away after they are born. Some medicines and anesthesia given to you during labor and delivery may affect the baby's sucking ability. But most healthy babies are able to breastfeed in these first few hours. This first feeding helps stimulate breastmilk production. It also causes your uterus to contract. This can help prevent too much bleeding.
If your baby is born by a cesarean section, chances are good that you can be awake for the surgery. Only in rare cases will you need general anesthesia for delivery. This means you aren't awake for the birth. Most C-sections today are done with a regional anesthesia, such as an epidural or spinal. With this type of anesthesia, only part of the body is numbed for surgery. You are awake and able to hear and see your baby as soon as they are born.
Babies born by C-section are often checked by a nursery nurse or healthcare provider right after delivery. This is often done right near you in the operating room. Because babies born by C-section may have trouble clearing some of the lung fluid and mucus, they often need extra suctioning of the nose, mouth, and throat. In some cases, they may need deeper suctioning in the windpipe.
Once a baby is checked over, a nurse will wrap the baby warmly and bring the baby to you to see and touch. Many hospitals require babies born by C-section to be watched in the nursery for a short time. All the normal procedures, such as weighing and medicines, are done there. Often, your baby can be brought to you while you are in the recovery area after surgery.
Many birth parents think that they won't be able to breastfeed after a C-section. This isn't true. Breastfeeding can start in the first hours right in the recovery room, just as with a vaginal delivery.
Plan to have someone stay with you during your hospital stay after a C-section. You will have quite a bit of pain in the first few days and will need help with the baby.
All the baby's body systems must work together in a new way after birth. Sometimes a baby has trouble making the transition. Health assessments, such as the Apgar test, done right after birth can help find out if a baby is doing well or having problems.
If there are signs the baby isn't doing well, treatment can be given right in the delivery room. The healthcare provider or midwife and other members of the healthcare team work together to help the baby clear excess fluid and start breathing.
Babies who may have trouble at birth include those born prematurely, those born with a difficult delivery, or those born with a birth defect. Fortunately, special care is available for these babies. Newborn babies who need intensive medical care are often admitted into a special area of the hospital called the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The NICU combines advanced technology and trained health staff to give special care to the tiniest patients. NICUs may also have intermediate or continuing care areas for babies who are not as sick, but need special nursing care. Some hospitals don't have a NICU. Babies may need to be transferred to another hospital.
Having a sick baby can be stressful. Few parents expect pregnancy complications or their baby to be sick or premature. Parents will have many different emotions as they try to cope with the difficulties of a sick baby. But it's reassuring that today's advanced technology is helping sick babies get better and go home sooner than ever before. It also helps to know that while being apart from your baby is painful, it doesn't harm the relationship between you and your baby.


text:
The 'Harriet' bracelet is from the 'Classic Beauty' collection - 'Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself' - Coco Chanel.
This bracelet is designed with an embossed heart charm on a beaded design along with a Lucy Bradshaw logo charm to give authenticity to our bespoke jewellery, which adds to the uniqueness of this bracelet.
All our bracelets are made with a stretch string, securely fastened with minimal visibility.
Each purchase comes wrapped in a beautiful embellished tin, ideal for gifts or to keep your Lucy Bradshaw Jewellery in.
All Lucy Bradshaw Jewellery is handmade in the UK to a seamless quality which is perfect for any occasion, gifts or simply treat yourself....
With Love Lucy Bradshaw
Harriet Heart Bracelet
In order to prolong the beauty and quality, we recommend that your Lucy Bradshaw jewellery should avoid contact with perfume, false tan, lotions, chlorine, bleach, saltwater, excessive sun exposure, acidic skin, and any other products or environments that could cause damage.
All sterling silver will tarnish over time but it will happen much faster when it comes into contact with the above exposures. The amount of tarnishing that occurs depends on the skin type and care taken. Tarnishing is therefore not a manufacturing fault.
When removing & wearing your Lucy Bradshaw jewellery, treat it with care. To avoid damage to your jewellery, please keep them away from contact with hard, sharp surfaces, subject to any pressure or force.
Your jewellery should be stored away from natural sunlight and heat. We recommend that you store your jewellery in a tarnish-resistant pouch or lined jewellery box.
Please handle with care and if required gently clean the silver with a polishing cloth or in lukewarm, soapy water. Pearls should be washed in a mild, soapy water and gently dried with a soft cloth.
Take care of your Lucy Bradshaw Jewellery and it will love you back for years to come!


text:
The Worlds Longest Lasting Hot Tub Cover. To top it all off, we offer an optional upgraded cover that is unlike any other in the industry. The Mylovac® cover starts with foam twice as dense as the industry average.
Vacseal Cover
The VacSeal upgrade can add years to the life of your cover, and is particularly useful if you have severe winters or heavy snowfall.


text:
One Year Indie-versary and Giveaway!!!
year ago today, I pushed publish on Avoiding Commitment. It's been a
pretty spectacular year since then. I've released four books this year,
gone to four book signings in Seattle, Boston, Orlando, and New York City, met a ton of authors and readers, and had an
amazing time all around.
how did I get here?
get asked the question a lot. How did you decided to publish? What
made you start writing? Well, I have to back up a lot longer to answer
this question.
most obvious answer is…I've always written. I wrote two YA books with
my friend Megan in high school. I would pass her my notebook in between
classes and she would read and edit and add during her class and then hand it
back. Those books probably aren't going to see the light of day for a long long
time. lol
that, I had tons of ideas for books, but nothing that I thought worthwhile
enough to write a full book. I probably picked up and put down twenty
different projects before the idea for Avoiding Commitment hit me. I
started writing that book in fall of 2009, and posted the book chapter by
chapter for free on FictionPress.com. It was hardly an instant
success. I think I had like five people read it regularly, but I didn't
stop writing.
forward just a little bit and I stumbled across this really really unknown book
that didn't even have 100 reviews on FictionPress (which basically means it's
nonexistent) and that book was called Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens. I
decided to give it a try and reviewed every single chapter. I was the 100th
review! We started talking, she started reading AC, and we became friends.
2011, she decided to publish Thoughtless, and told me that I should publish
AC. Unfortunately, I was in grad school at this point, still trying to
finish Avoiding Responsibility, running a dance team…life was too
hectic. I said no thanks, that's not for me. I didn't think I could
put them out there like that.
forward a little bit more in time, and my books have picked up in
popularity. I won a SKOW (Some Kind of Wonderful) Award for Best Villain
(Bekah), and the books are getting more readers, which is all I ever
wanted. Then a certain book blog, Maryse.net (hi Maryse *waves*), picks it up and starts
reading it and it goes from like a hundred readers a week to like
thousands and thousands of readers a week. I was really really confused
as to what happened, but still I had a life and was about to start my first job
post graduation. I didn't have time to edit and what about a cover and
how do you even publish in the first place?!?!
couple weeks later, I get an email from this woman, Colleen Hoover. She
tells me that her readers have told her to read my books, and that I should NOT
be giving them away for free. She tells me to publish and offers to help
me if I need it. My first thought was WHO THE HELL IS COLLEEN
HOOVER? Well, so I look her up and I'm like oh yeah, just a New York Times
Best Selling author…no big deal.
then I frantically edit the book for the next month while working on the
campaign 100 hours a week. S.C. Stephens and Colleen help me along the
way. Then it comes down to a cover. I'm going to use S.C. Stephens designer, but
literally two weeks before I have to have the cover, the designer goes on
vacation. I'm freaking out, because well…what the hell am I supposed to
message my friend Sarah Hansen. She had read the Avoiding Series and made
me a facebook banner. And I said, Sarah! Do you know how to design
covers? And she was like, I could try. So, she designed Avoiding
Commitment and thus, came the birth of Okay Creations.
Thank you: S.C. Stephens, Sarah Hansen, Colleen Hoover, Maryse, Taryn Cellucci, Jessica Carnes, Bridget Peoples, Alyssa West, Trish Brinkley, Jenny Aspinall, Becky Kimmerling, Lori Francis, Mollie Harper, Autumn Review, Jovana Shirley, Christina Collie (Gretchen), Leanne Lewy, Chrystle Woods, Jenn Sterling, Tara Sivec, Karina Halle, Claribel Contreras, Madeline Sheehan, Rebecca Donovan, Dina Silver, Tarryn Fisher, AL Jackson, Kristen Proby, Kim Karr, K. Anne Raines, Angela Mize, Jenn Laughlin, Julie Titus, Nicola Farrell, Denise Tung, BHC Bitches, America, Richelle, Dianna, Candace, Courtney, Katie, Rosalind, Angie, Jennifer, Stephanie, Crystal, Mandy, Nicoleta, Pamela, Laura, Sandra, Alicia, Kim, Kristina, Amy, Jesey..and many, many more!
the fun part!
a thank you to all of my readers, I've included a giveaway that incorporates
all of those people along my path for the past year (or more) who had helped me
and inspired me.
Avoiding Commitment, Avoiding Responsibility, Avoiding Intimacy,
Following Me by K.A.
Thoughtless, Effortless, Reckless by S.C. Stephens
Reason to Breathe by Rebecca
Slammed and Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
Special Edition of Chocolate Lovers Series by Tara Sivec
The Perfect Game or The Game Changer by J. Sterling
There Is No Light in Darkness and Darkness Before Dawn by Claire Contreras
Sweet Thing by Renee Carlino
Finding Bliss by Dina Silver
Book of Choice + swag by J.B. McGee
Shattered Grace + swag by K. Anne Raines
2 copies of In the Air by Crystal Serowka
Undeniable, Unbeautifully, The Soul Mate, and My Soul to Take by Madeline
The Perfect Game or The Game Changer by J. Sterling
Enter below! Good luck!


text:
A Right to Vote
Of everything we learned about American politics from the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore last December, nothing was more important than the Court's insistence that the people still have "no federal constitutional right to vote." We (the people) have only the voting privileges our states choose to grant us. If the Florida legislature wishes to select presidential electors without public input, the people shall not stand in the way.
More than presidential elections are at stake here. Several weeks before Bush v. Gore, for example, the Supreme Court upheld a 2-1 federal-district-court decision that rejected an equal-protection attack on the denial of voting rights and congressional representation to the more than half a million U.S. citizens who live in the District of Columbia. "The Equal Protection Clause does not protect the right of all citizens to vote," the lower-court ruling stated, "but rather the right 'of all qualified citizens to vote.'" Thus two Clinton-appointed federal judges overruled the senior judge on the panel--Louis Oberdorfer, a Jimmy Carter appointee--and found that however "inequitable" the condition of D.C.'s residents may be, simply being subject to federal taxation and military conscription does not confer on Washingtonians a right to vote and to be represented in the Senate and the House or other governing institutions.
This may be a conservative reading of the Constitution, but it is black-letter law. True, the Constitution contains specific, hard-won language in the 15th and 19th Amendments that forbids discrimination in voting on the basis of race or sex. But these prohibitions don't establish a universal right to vote. Thus, Congress cannot selectively disenfranchise women in the District of Columbia but can, and does, render all of its residents voiceless in Congress by denying them representation in the House and Senate. The Florida legislature may not (theoretically, anyway) dismiss only the votes of African Americans; but as the Supreme Court kindly reminded us in Bush v. Gore, it can dismiss everyone's votes. Likewise, Florida cannot selectively deny African-American ex-convicts the right to vote in state and federal elections, but it disenfranchises all ex-offenders--some 400,000 of them.
The nation's tolerance for disenfranchisement in the twenty-first century is quite exceptional. The constitutions of at least 135 nations--including our fellow North American countries, Canada and Mexico--explicitly guarantee citizens the right to vote and to be represented at all levels of government. In fact, every new constitution adopted over the past decade makes the right to vote the very foundation of government. Constitutional silence on a basic right to vote leaves the United States in miserable, backward company. By my count, only Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Pakistan, Singapore, and, of course, the United Kingdom (whose phony doctrine of "virtual representation" the colonists rebelled against centuries ago) still leave voting rights out of their constitutions and therefore to the whims of state officials. This sin of omission violates--to the extent that anyone cares--the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and numerous other international conventions inspired by the democratic triumph over totalitarianism in World War II.
It is time for American progressives to engage in serious constitutional politics on behalf of the right to vote. This is the only way to redeem the chaos of the 2000 presidential election and to begin to ensure that such an assault on democracy will never be repeated. Consider this proposal for a 28th Amendment:
Section 1. Citizens of the United States have the right to vote in primary and general elections for President and Vice President, for electors for President and Vice President, for their state's Representatives and Senators in the Congress, and for executive and legislative officers of their state, district, and local legislatures, and such right shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State.
Section 2. The right of citizens of the United States to vote and to participate in elections on an equal basis shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of political-party affiliation, wealth or prior condition of incarceration.
Section 3. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall elect Senators and Representatives in the Congress in such number and such manner as it would be entitled if it were a State.
Section 4. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Nothing in this Article shall be construed to deny the power of States to expand further the electorate.
A campaign for such an amendment would give coherence and energy to the scattered efforts across the country to reform the anachronistic, malleable electoral structures that exist in literally thousands of self-regulated jurisdictions. The movement behind the amendment would help sweep away not only disenfranchisement but reactionary partisan and sectional opposition to a number of democratic reforms: the push to upgrade and equalize voting technology and machinery, the effort to require equal and adequate funding of voting systems, and unsung efforts by third parties and independents to end discriminatory practices against candidates and voters based on party identification. (In many states, "major party" candidates automatically appear on the ballot while "minor party" candidates must collect tens of thousands of signatures to secure the right to compete. Along similar lines, the Supreme Court in 1998 upheld the partisan gerrymandering of government-run candidate debates.)
Instead of treating these seemingly disparate causes as a patchwork of local grievances, a right-to-vote amendment would elevate the agenda of electoral reform to a matter of national self-definition and fundamental constitutional values. The reason that the Bush v. Gore decision--that unthinkably radical statement about the urgent need for absolute equality of voting procedures and standards across county lines--won't work in these other cases can be found in the disclaimer appended by the Supreme Court's conservative majority: "Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection in election processes generally presents many complexities." Like Cinderella's dress, the conservatives' gallant defense of voting rights after last year's presidential election turned to rags at midnight.
In Yale Law School professor Bruce Ackerman's phrase, "constitutional moments" don't come around all that often, so it is crucial to seize the political opportunity created by the continuing scandal of the 2000 election. But even when the time is right for change, reformers face hard choices.
In this case, the biggest headache is the electoral college. A deliberately undemocratic institution that made the popular-vote loser (George W. Bush, by more than half a million votes) the president of the United States, the electoral college is an international embarrassment. Since the nation's founding, it has entrenched the power of the slave states (four of the first five presidents were slave masters), white supremacy (throughout the twentieth century, southern states ran regional candidates and manipulated the electoral college to thwart the civil rights movement), and now the Republican electoral-college coalition, which represents a minority of voters nationally and a much smaller minority of the people. George W. Bush took every single electoral-college vote in the South and found a majority of his electoral-college votes there. Meanwhile, the majority of African Americans, more than 20 million, live in the South and gave Al Gore better than 90 percent of their vote. Yet because of the winner-take-all method of distributing electoral-college votes, black votes in the South--even when counted--had zero impact on the election.
In a more rational world, abolition of the electoral college would be a key part of a 28th Amendment. But too many states and senators buy in to the myth that the electoral college helps them. It is extremely unlikely that even a simple majority of states would ratify an amendment abolishing the electoral college, much less the 38 required constitutionally. Only a handful of senators, including New York Democrat Hillary Clinton, have voiced support for the idea; and the Senate, where small states hold great power, will be a long time coming around on the issue. As outrageous as the situation is, it does not make sense to load down a right-to-vote amendment with this kind of baggage. Few things would stop this amendment, but the electoral college is one of them. That issue's time will come.
Some may wonder about the wisdom of tackling the disenfranchisement of Washingtonians and ex-convicts. But these battles of basic principle are eminently winnable. Public-opinion polls show that commanding majorities of the people favor giving residents of Washington, D.C., equal voting rights in Congress, and the rallying cry of "No taxation without representation" has persistent and broad cross-partisan appeal.
The amendment would not restore rights to incarcerated citizens--only to those who have already served their time and been released. Disenfranchisement of 1.4 million citizens, disproportionate numbers of whom are people of color, makes no sense. It drives ex-offenders away from political participation and civic belonging precisely at the moment they need to be encouraged and invited back into mainstream society. Most states already extend voting rights to this group and have crime rates no higher than the 13 states that turn a period of former incarceration into a permanent civic disability. Americans are fair-minded people and most would be shocked to learn that one in three African-American men has permanently lost the vote in Florida because of a prior felony conviction. A provision protecting former inmates' voting rights would have a good chance to make it through Congress and be adopted by the states.
It now falls to the people to bring the U.S. Constitution into line with the fundamental tenets of American political thought that emerged in the aftermath of the modern civil rights movement. As Robert P. Moses and Charles Cobb tell us in their important new book Radical Equations, the concept of "one person, one vote" in the early 1960s gave "Mississippi sharecroppers and their allies" a principle of "common conceptual cohesion" that was taken up by the Justice Department and then embraced by the Warren Court in the redistricting cases. As Justice Hugo Black put it in 1964, "Our Constitution leaves no room for classification of people in a way that unnecessarily abridges [the right to vote]."
But universal suffrage, a radical axiom established by the blood and sweat of civil rights activists in the South, has steadily eroded on the conservative Rehnquist Court's watch. Over the past decade, the Supreme Court has dismantled congressional districts composed mostly of African Americans or Hispanics--districts brought into being by the Voting Rights Act of 1965--and in the course of doing so has inscribed into law a presumption that whites shall be in the majority. It has allowed states to deny voters the right to "write in" the candidates of their choice. And it has upheld state laws that ban "fusion" and thus deny new political parties the capacity to build by "cross-nominating" candidates and creating multiparty political coalitions.
The principles of universal suffrage and democracy now lie in tatters. Yet the American movement for "one person, one vote" has traveled around the world, from Poland to South Africa. The United States must now catch up with its own legacy. We must disprove the French observation, much deployed after the 2000 election, that the Americans have no antiques--except, of course, for the Constitution.
The political question is whether progressives, accustomed to fighting off countless proposed amendments by the right on issues like school prayer and flag desecration, can overcome their knee-jerk suspicion of all constitutional changes. Many liberals treat the Constitution like an untouchable religious text and the republic's founders as omniscient. This is ironic, for we have traditionally understood that the original Constitution was deeply compromised by white supremacy and fear of popular democracy. Many of the amendments enacted since the founding are suffrage amendments championed by progressives--most recently, the 23d Amendment (adopted in 1961), which gave residents of Washington, D.C., votes in the presidential electoral college; the 24th Amendment (1964), which banned poll taxes; and the 26th Amendment (1971), which extended the vote to 18-year-olds. Meaningful democratic politics requires an aggressive constitutional politics. Let them come at us with proposals about the flag, school prayer, and the Ten Commandments. We can return fire with the constitutional right to vote, which in a democracy must take moral precedence and logical priority over everything else.
Under Article V of the Constitution, an amendment requires either a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states or passage in a constitutional convention called upon the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states followed by ratification by three-fourths of the states. Starting with the League of Women Voters, the secretaries of state, the NAACP, journals of opinion, the labor movement, political parties that are willing to place democratic principle above factional designs, and the state legislatures, we should reach out to our fellow citizens and take the irresistible case for a voting-rights amendment to the people. Certain progressive members of Congress already see the logic of such an effort. Democratic Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., of Illinois has been arguing eloquently for a whole series of new constitutional rights, including health care and housing. His broader agenda is more complicated, but his spirit is perfect for the new century: We have to stop treating the Constitution like a fragile heirloom hidden away in the attic. And we must begin by providing what was missing when the Constitution was first drafted--the right of the people to vote and, therefore, to govern.


text:
Law & Finance (Advanced Master Programme)
The Master of Laws: Advanced Studies in Law & Finance is an intensive one-year programme that focusses on the financial sector combining perspectives from both the legal and economic disciplines with special attention to ethics. The programme is open to legal professionals who wish to specialise in financial law as well as non-lawyers (financial experts) who wish to increase their understanding of financial law by pursuing an advanced studies at a postgraduate level.
The programme provides students with profound knowledge of and insight into specific areas of law relating to finance, such as banking law, capital markets legislation, (corporate) governance legislation, contract law, property law and private international law. The programme has a strong practical dimension and provides students with the tools to understand and work at the intersection of law and finance.
For more information on the programme, please visit the following website: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/education/study-programmes/master/law-and-finance


text:
Sunday, August 17. 2008Current state of grml-live with squashfs-tools and kernelI was busy working on getting grml-live in a good shape together with squashfs-tools, live-initramfs and the new kernel version 2.6.26-grml. A new squashfs-tools package is available as well as an updated live-initramfs package. It does not support LZMA compression (yet) but it's working fine with ZLIB compression so far. Right now I'm building an updated 2.6.26-grml kernel, 2.6.26-grml64 will follow. As soon as the new kernels are ready-to-go I will upload them together with grml-live 0.9 to the grml-testing repository. Updating our daily.grml.org buildhost will provide daily ISOs featuring 2.6.26-grml . New development versions of grml will follow so we can provide a new stable release in the near future. See the "Current state of grml-live with squashfs-tools and kernel" section if you are interested in further details. |
Quicksearch |


text:
For each medium cake slice:
1 piece felt 8.5" x 3.5"
1 piece felt 4.75" x 3.5"
9" of 1/2" ribbon
- An electric knife is really nice for cutting foam, provided you don't also use the same knife to carve the Thanksgiving turkey.
- If you don't have an electric knife, a box cutter/X-acto knife works well if you position the blade vertically, not slanted, and saw up and down.
- It doesn't matter if the edges of the foam are slightly uneven or bumpy because the felt case smooths these out.
- I used a little over a yard of the white wool-blend felt for the entire project.
- Resist the temptation to make the felt case either too snug (the final product will be bulgy) or give too much allowance to make it roomy. The cake slices will fit together best if the felt cases fit the foam inserts just so.
- I did not consider stuffing the felt cases with polyfill rather than a foam insert because I wanted the flat sides to facilitate smooth and tight packing and stacking.
- When making the circular cover for the whole cake (see 4th picture), I found it helpful to complete all the slices, then pack them together and measure the final diameter of the circle they made. Mine measured 10.5" and 8.5" in the end.
- The small cake with the velcro was made simply with two 6.5" circles and a rectangular piece 3.5" x 19.5" (quarter inch seam allowance included in all dimensions).
- The felt strawberries and the felt peg doll actually belong to another incomplete project, so you'll see them again in a later post. The felt daisy and tulip cake toppers were unicorn food from this post.


text:
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts offers medical, dental and pharmacy health plans designed to meet all of our members' needs. Use the left navigation to review all of the health plans that we offer.
For access to summaries of benefits, see our plan comparison tool.
We issue each member their own ID card. The cards contain information that you need to better understand the member's plan, like their network and whether they have pharmacy benefits with us. Our Member ID Card Quick Tip* provides a snapshot of what to look for on the card. Each time a member visits, we recommend that you perform an eligibility check to ensure the ID number is active. It is also important to:


text:
Sean "Boyardee" Boley does his last review for ILoveItSpicy
In a few days, Sean will be moving out of the Buddah castle and to permanently be with his new blushing bride, Anna. The two look perfect for each other, and while I will miss having Sean's presence around the house I wish him and Anna all the best for their future. Sean has gone from roomie to cartoonist to guinea pig to lawn-mowing Albino Nipple Boy to more than a friend to me. He will sorely be missed around the house. With that said, I thought Sean and I could do one last video review and there is no better product review that we could do than this one. As you will soon see and hear for yourselves why Chef Boyardee Spicy and Extra Spicy Beef Ravioli is like ambrosia of the Gods to this man. So please give the best of luck to Sean as he leaves ILoveItSpicy for bigger and better things including playing music as DJ Bobo!
Read more


text:
Life Insurance: Purposeful Protection
Life Insurance: Purposeful Protection
An unknown author once quipped "you don't buy life insurance because you are going to die, but because those you love are going to live." Nothing could be said that would ring truer.
Life insurance is arguably one of the most powerful financial instruments ever created. For an incredibly feeble amount of money, an individual can purchase a substantial amount of security for his or her family, business or estate. Approximately 60% of adult Americans have life insurance with 1 out of 5 saying they do not have enough, [1] 44% of younger Americans believe life insurance costs 5 times as much than a typical policy.
Regardless of why someone has yet to purchase a life insurance policy, the purpose of purchasing coverage will always remain the same. In broad terms, purchasing a life insurance policy is to fulfill one of four primary financial objectives.
For the Family
If one depends on you and your paycheck, you need to purchase a life insurance policy. Picture your monthly budget. Now imagine your partner trying to pay the monthly expenses without your financial contribution. From covering funeral expenses to eliminating debt, the financial well-being of those you leave behind is reliant on replacing your income as fast as possible.
Life insurance also provides a vehicle to fulfill the dreams and promises for your children. College tuition can be fully funded along with your daughter's wedding wises or down payment on her first starter home. And for parents with special needs children, their lifelong medical needs can be secured.
Back a Business
Most businesses rely on key personnel to maintain their high level of success. Should one of those individuals unexpectedly pass away, an organization may be unable to recover. Life insurance plays a critical role in the financial soundness of closely-held businesses.
Life insurance policies are commonly used to fund cross-sell purchase agreements. The coverage readily provides the funds necessary for a business to purchase the interests held by the spouse of the deceased partner or shareholder. Effectively, life insurance can prevent becoming partners with someone never intended
Many businesses' success is often attributed to the efforts or knowledge of select individuals whose loss could sink an entire organization. Key-man life insurance can provide an influx of cash to buoy sales from the death of a top salesperson or hire consultants after the loss of your best engineer. For businesses, life insurance can actually buy the time needed to stabilize and continue profitable operation.
Leave a Legacy
From small communities to big causes, charities to churches, Americans are an incredibly philanthropic people. If fact, together we contribute over $1B every day to charitable causes. [2] Unfortunately, when we pass away, so too do our charitable contributions. That is, unless there is a life insurance policy in place naming a charitable organization as the beneficiary.
Life insurance is a wonderful way to support your favorite cause. With its relatively low cost, the proceeds can fund a myriad of organizations for lengthy periods of time, provide financing for the construction of new buildings, or furnish much needed supplies to a charity whose cause is in need. The opportunities are endless and will leave an indelible mark on those you help.
Estate Planning
Estate taxes, also known as the death tax, remain a part of the tax code. While wealthy individuals certainly need to plan how their heirs will pay for the potential 40% tax rate on inherited property, the estate tax can also sneak up on everyday Americans. Small business owners, farmers, and property owners may find themselves with assets worth more than the $11.58M estate tax threshold. [3]
Without proper planning, the IRS will look to liquidate assets to pay the estate tax as soon as nine months after ones passing. This can lead to the unwanted sale of a business, property, or farmland. Fortunately, life insurance can provide the financial means necessary to avoid selling any property. And while $11.58M is indeed a significant sum, the current tax law is set to sunset to the pre-2018 $5M level by 2025.
[1] https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-life-insurance
[2] https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm
[3] https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estate-tax


text:
Designer names and price tags are not prerequisites for strong brand equity among cosmetics. In fact, the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study indicates that prestige cosmetics brands, even with all the thrills of beauty counters and makeup artists, are not necessarily earning the highest brand equity scores. On the contrary, data show that lower-priced, mass-market cosmetics are generally performing comparatively well on key equity measures included in this study.
"When we compare all the cosmetics brands irrespective of category, mass market brands perform very well when compared to their prestige counterparts, particularly traditional department store brands like Estée Lauder and Elizabeth Arden," says Joan Sinopoli, a senior vice president and senior consultant with Harris Interactive's Custom Solutions Group. This finding is borne out in the dynamic between Origins, the Harris Interactive's Prestige Cosmetics Brand of the Year, and Physicians Formula, Harris Interactive's Mass-Market Cosmetics Brand of the Year, recently acquired by Markwins International. In addition to being the top-ranked brand in its category, Physicians Formula's equity score outpaces that of the more high-end Origins.
Physicians Formula is a brand to watch; not only is it a clear equity leader in the mass-market arena, but it maintains that leadership across most measures of consumer connection and brand momentum.
The dynamic among prestige cosmetics is quite different. Origins emerges as one of three similarly rated brands, but looking across three key metrics—equity, consumer connection and brand momentum—no one brand can claim preemptive leadership. "The variability in the prestige market does add to the impression that it is more niche; each brand has certain strengths regardless of how much or how little traditional marketing it does," continues Sinopoli. "Physicians Formula may be a case for how clear differentiation and social media marketing can help boost a brand to a leadership position in the mass-market."
Within the tightly contested prestige cosmetics category, Origins emerges as the 2012 Prestige Cosmetics Brand of the Year. In its Harris Poll EquiTrend debut, the brand outranks study veterans such as Shiseido and Sephora brand cosmetics, along with fellow newcomers MAC and Bare Escentuals.
Sinopoli shares, "Among classic department store brands, only Shiseido is in the top five in overall equity. Perhaps it's the lingering recession; perhaps it's the continuing outflow of these brands through discount beauty and health channels. Regardless of the reason, the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend study indicates that just being present at a department store counter is not enough to maintain allure with the general population, particularly a younger generation raised on specialty retail."
Meanwhile, a generation of premium-plus brands that more tightly control their distribution channels has stolen the spotlight. Using brand positioning that aligns with the prevailing industry trend of "nature-meets-science" and "skin care versus color cosmetics," Origins shines with the top score due to a very good showing across two major elements of brand equity: quality and purchase consideration. However the brand posts a mediocre familiarity score. Origins' powerful performance in two former aspects implies that consumers considering prestige cosmetics are more interested in a high-quality product than a brand they immediately recognize.
Regarding Physicians Formula, Sinopoli comments, "The brand's cosmeceutical or quasi-clinical positioning helps it appeal to a sophisticated cosmetics buyer, and they are in the right segments, with anti-aging and mineral wear. They even have some fun with a mood-boosting product line. Perhaps most importantly, Physicians Formula is building intimate relationships with their consumers, as their tagline—'Your beauty. Our passion. We promise.'—suggests. This tagline could be an example of the fit metric in action."
Three factors appear to be driving Physicians Formula's Brand of the Year ranking. First is the element of trust. "That 'physician' association may very well be helping to drive both trust and high quality ratings," offers Sinopoli. Then, and very noteworthy, is fit; 41% of respondents consider Physicians Formula a "good" or "perfect" fit with their self-image. Finally, Physicians Formula posted a category high score in the social engagement metric. "Harris Poll EquiTrend's methodology shows us that 18% of those consumers rating the brand have interacted with it in the social media sphere. This may well be their secret sauce," says Sinopoli.
Physicians Formula holds a comfortable advantage over the second-ranked brand, Rimmel. Olay, Neutrogena and Maybelline also outpace the remaining mass-market cosmetic brands by earning equity scores above the category average.
In addition to cosmetics brands used to color, soften and cover up skin, the Harris Poll EquiTrend study also measures the brand equity of select sun care products. The top four sun care brands with the strongest equity are an odd mix of traditional, no-frills, and mass class brands.
Neutrogena, this year's Harris Poll EquiTrend Sun Screen Brand of the Year, emerges from the mass class group. Sinopoli notes, "Neutrogena has always been known for gentle skin care, and we already observed in the cosmetics categories how brands with a skin care heritage, including Neutrogena, fare well. So it's no surprise that Neutrogena would become the Sun Screen Brand of the Year."
Neutrogena's Brand of the Year status is attributable to high scores in equity metrics such as quality and trust. Also, consumers display a stronger willingness to recommend Neutrogena than any other brand in the category. However, with sunscreen being increasingly expensive, it is not surprising to see the more affordable No-Ad brand taking second place in the rankings. Other brands rounding out the sunscreen category above the category average are Coppertone and Banana Boat.


text:
First Lady Michelle Obama addresses young African leaders
The Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.
MRS. OBAMA: Oh, my goodness. Look at you all! (Applause.) Oh, please sit, sit. Rest. (Laughter.) How has everything been? Exciting? So you've talked to a lot of important people — my husband, he was here. (Applause.) That's good. And a few other people? You've been traveling around the country doing great things. It is such a pleasure, and such an honor and a joy to join you here today for this wonderful summit.
Let me start by thanking John for that beautiful introduction, but more importantly, for his outstanding leadership for young people — in particular, young girls — in Uganda. And I want to take a moment to thank all of you for being part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. Yes. (Applause.) We have been so excited about your presence here in this country. We have been so excited.
Now, I've had the opportunity to read through your bios, and I have to tell you that I am truly in awe of what you all have achieved. Many of you are barely half my age, yet you already have founded businesses and NGOs, you've served as leaders in your government, you've earned countless degrees, you know dozens of languages. So you all truly represent the talent, the energy and the diversity that is Africa's lifeblood, and it is an honor to host you here in the United States. (Applause.) We're so proud.
Now, from what I've heard, you all have been making good use of this time here. You've been learning new skills, questioning old assumptions, and having some frank conversations with experts and with each other about the challenges and opportunities in your countries. And I want to use our time together today to continue that dialogue. Today, I want us to talk -– and I mean really talk. I want to speak as openly and honestly as possible about the issues we care about and what it means to be a leader not just in Africa but in the world today.
Now, one of the issues that I care deeply about is, as John alluded to, girls' education. And across the globe, the statistic on this issue are heartbreaking. Right now, 62 million girls worldwide are not in school, including nearly 30 million girls in Sub-Saharan Africa. And as we saw in Pakistan, where Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen, and in Nigeria where more than 200 girls were kidnapped from their school dormitory by Boko Haram terrorists, even when girls do attend school, they often do so at great risk.
And as my husband said earlier this week, we know that when girls aren't educated, that doesn't just limit their prospects, leaving them more vulnerable to poverty, violence and disease, it limits the prospects of their families and their countries as well.
Now, in recent years, there's been a lot of talk about how to address this issue, and how we need more schools and teachers, more money for toilets and uniforms, transportation, school fees. And of course, all of these issues are critically important, and I could give a perfectly fine speech today about increasing investments in girls' education around the world.
But I said I wanted to be honest. And if I do that, we all know that the problem here isn't only about resources, it's also about attitudes and beliefs. It's about whether fathers and mothers think their daughters are as worthy of an education as their sons. It's about whether societies cling to outdated laws and traditions that oppress and exclude women, or whether they view women as full citizens entitled to fundamental rights.
So the truth is, I don't think it's really productive to talk about issues like girls' education unless we're willing to have a much bigger, bolder conversation about how women are viewed and treated in the world today. (Applause.) And we need to be having this conversation on every continent and in every country on this planet. And that's what I want to do today with all of you, because so many of you are already leading the charge for progress in Africa.
Now, as an African American woman, this conversation is deeply personal to me. The roots of my family tree are in Africa. As you know, my husband's father was born and raised in Kenya — (applause) — and members of our extended family still live there. I have had the pleasure of traveling to Africa a number of times over the years, including four trips as First Lady, and I have brought my mother and my daughters along with me whenever I can. So believe me, the blood of Africa runs through my veins, and I care deeply about Africa's future. (Applause.)
Now, the status of women in Africa is also personal to me as a woman. See, what I want you all to understand is that I am who I am today because of the people in my family -– particularly the men in my family -– who valued me and invested in me from the day I was born. I had a father, a brother, uncles, grandfathers who encouraged me and challenged me, protected me, and told me that I was smart and strong and beautiful. (Applause.)
And as I grew up, the men who raised me set a high bar for the type of men I'd allow into my life — (applause) — which is why I went on to marry a man who had the good sense to fall in love with a woman who was his equal — (applause) — and to treat me as such; a man who supports and reveres me, and who supports and reveres our daughters, as well. (Applause.)
And throughout my life — understand this — every opportunity I've had, every achievement I'm proud of has stemmed from this solid foundation of love and respect. So given these experiences, it saddens and confuses me to see that too often, women in some parts of Africa are still denied the rights and opportunities they deserve to realize their potential.
Now, let's be very clear: In many countries in Africa, women have made tremendous strides. More girls are attending school. More women are starting businesses. Maternal mortality has plummeted. And more women are serving in parliaments than ever before. In fact, in some countries, more than 30 percent of legislators are women. In Rwanda, it's over 50 percent — which, by the way, is more than double the percentage of women in the U.S. Congress. Yes. (Applause.)
Now, these achievements represent remarkable progress. But at the same time, when girls in some places are still being married off as children, sometimes before they even reach puberty; when female genital mutilation still continues in some countries; when human trafficking, rape and domestic abuse are still too common, and perpetrators are often facing no consequences for their crimes — then we still have some serious work to do in Africa and across the globe.
And while I have great respect for cultural differences, I think we can all agree that practices like genital cutting, forced child marriage, domestic violence are not legitimate cultural practices, they are serious human rights violations and have no place in any country on this Earth. (Applause.) These practices have no place in our shared future, because we all know that our future lies in our people -– in their talent, their ambition, their drive. And no country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.
And I know this firsthand from the history of my own country. A century ago, women in America weren't allowed to vote. Decades ago, it was perfectly legal for employers to refuse to hire women. Domestic violence was viewed not as a crime, but as a private family matter between a man and his wife.
But in each generation, people of conscience stood up and rejected these unjust practices. They chained themselves to the White House gates, waged hunger strikes in prison to win the right to vote. They took their bosses to court. They spoke out about rape and fought to prosecute rapists, despite the stigma and shame. They left their abusive husbands, even when that meant winding up on the streets with their children. (Applause.)
And today in America, we see the results of those hard-fought battles: 60 percent of college students today are women. Women are now more than half the workforce. And in recent decades, women's employment has added nearly $2 trillion to the U.S. economy -– yes, trillion. (Applause.)
Now, are we anywhere near full economic, political, and domestic equality in the United States? Absolutely not. We still struggle every day with serious issues like violence against women, unequal pay. Women are still woefully underrepresented in our government and in the senior ranks of our corporations.
But slowly, generation after generation, we've been moving in the right direction because of brave individuals who were willing to risk their jobs, their reputations, and even their lives to achieve equality. And it wasn't just brave women who made these sacrifices. It was also brave men, too — (applause) — men who hired women, men who passed laws to empower women, men who prosecuted other men who abused women.
So to all the men, my brothers here today, I have a simple message: We need you to shake things up. (Applause.) Too often, women are fighting these battles alone, but men like you, progressive men who are already ahead of the curve on women's issues, you all are critically important to solving this problem.
And that starts by doing a little introspection. And I say this not just to the 250 of you who are in the room today, but to men around the world. Men in every country need to look into their hearts and souls and ask themselves whether they truly view and treat women as their equals. (Applause.) And then when you all encounter men in your lives who answer no to that question, then you need to take them to task. You need to tell them that any man who uses his strength to oppress women is a coward, and he is holding back the progress of his family and his country. (Applause.)
Tell them that a truly strong, powerful man isn't threatened by a strong, powerful woman. (Applause.) Instead, he is challenged by her, he is inspired by her, he is pleased to relate to her as an equal. And I want you to keep modeling that behavior yourselves by promoting women in your companies, passing laws to empower women in your countries, and holding the same ambitious dreams for your daughters as you do for your sons.
And to the women here, my sisters —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
MRS. OBAMA: And I love you. I do. (Applause.) Which is why I want us as women to understand that oppression is not a one-way street.
See, too often, without even realizing it, we as women internalize the oppression we face in our societies by believing harmful messages about how we should look and act, particularly as women of color –- messages that tell us that we're ugly or irrelevant, that we don't deserve full control over our bodies, that we should keep our mouths shut and just do as we're told. And then, too often, we turn around and impose those same beliefs on other women and girls in our lives, including our own daughters.
For example, in countries across the globe, there are women who still support and carry out the practice of genital cutting. There are women who are still insisting on marrying off their young daughters or keeping them home from school to help with the housework.
And then there are the more subtle harms that we afflict — inflict on each other — the harm of spurning our sisters who don't conform to traditions because we're jealous or suspicious of their courage and their freedom; the harm of turning a blind eye when a woman in our community is being abused because we don't want to cause conflict with our neighbors by speaking up.
And I imagine that for some of you here today, getting your degree might have meant disobeying or disappointing your families. Maybe while you've been acing your studies and thriving in your career, you have a grandmother who has been wringing her hands because you're not yet married. (Laughter and applause.) But, my sisters, you all are here today because you have found a way to overcome these challenges, and you have blossomed into powerful, accomplished women. And we need you all to help others do the same.
All of us, men and women on every continent, we all need to identify these problems in ourselves and in our communities, and then commit to solving them. And I say this to you not just as lawyers and activists and business leaders, but as current and future parents. Because as a mother myself, I can tell you that this is where change truly happens. With the behavior we model, with our actions and inactions, every day, we as parents shape the values of the next generation.
For example, my parents never had the chance to attend university, but they had the courage and foresight to push me to get the best education I could. And they weren't threatened by the prospect of me having more opportunities than they had — just the opposite. They were thrilled.
And that's what should drive us all: The hope of raising the next generation to be stronger, smarter and bolder than our generation. (Applause.) And that is exactly the kind of work that so many of you are already doing in your families and your communities, which is why I'm so proud of you.
I could name all of you, but there are a few of you that I will remark on. Mahamadou Camara from Mali. (Applause.) He is working to educate women about micro-credit and accounting so that they can run their own businesses and build better lives for their children. In Liberia, Patrice Juah. (Applause.) She founded Miss Education Awareness Pageant to inspire girls to pursue higher education and have opportunities their parents never dreamed of. And in Burundi, Fikiri Nzoyisenga. (Applause.) He created a youth coalition to fight violence against women because he doesn't want anything to hold them back from pursuing their dreams.
This is where Africa's future lies –- with those women-run businesses, with those girls attending university, and with leaders like you who are making those dreams possible. And the question today is how all of you and young people like you will steer Africa's course to embrace that future. Because ultimately, that's what leadership is really about. It's not just about holding degrees or holding elected office. And it's not about preserving our own power or continuing traditions that oppress and exclude.
Leadership is about creating new traditions that honor the dignity and humanity of every individual. Leadership is about empowering all of our people –- men, women, boys and girls –- to fulfill every last bit of their God-given potential. And when we commit to that kind of leadership across the globe, that is when we truly start making progress on girls' education. Because that's when families in small villages around the world will demand equal opportunities for their daughters. They won't wait. That's when countries will willingly and generously invest in sending their girls to school, because they'll know how important it is.
And we all know the ripple effects we can have when we give our girls a chance to learn. We all know that girls who are educated earn higher wages. They're more likely to stand up to discrimination and abuse. They have healthier children who are more likely to attend school themselves.
So no matter where you all work, no matter what issue you focus on — whether it's health or microfinance, human rights or clean energy — women's equality must be a central part of your work. It must. (Applause.) Because make no mistake about it, the work of transforming attitudes about women, it now falls on your shoulders. And it's up to you all to embrace the future, and then drag your parents and grandparents along with you. (Laughter.)
And I know this won't be easy. I know that you will face all kinds of obstacles and resistance — you already have. But when you get tired or frustrated, when things seem hopeless and you start thinking about giving up, I want you to remember the words of the man whom your fellowship is now named — and I know these words have been spoken many times. As Madiba once said, "It always seems impossible until it is done." And I, oh, I know the truth of those words from my own history and from the history of my country.
My ancestors came here in chains. My parents and grandparents knew the sting of segregation and discrimination. Yet I attended some of the best universities in this country. I had career opportunities beyond my wildest dreams. And today, I live in the White House, a building — (applause) — but we must remember, we live in a home that was constructed by slaves.
Today, I watch my daughters –- two beautiful African American girls -– walking our dogs in the shadow of the Oval Office. And today, I have the privilege of serving and representing the United States of America across the globe.
So my story and the story of my country is the story of the impossible getting done. And I know that can be your story and that can be Africa's story too. (Applause.) But it will take new energy, it will take new ideas, new leadership from young people like you. That is why we brought you here today.
We've done this because we believe in Africa, and we believe in all of you. And understand we are filled with so much hope and so many expectations for what you will achieve. You hold the future of your continent in your hands, and I cannot wait to see everything you will continue to accomplish in the years ahead.
Thank you. God bless.