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Find the perfect plant for your space by browsing through this extensive selection that we typically carry every year.
This library is for information purposes only.
Girard's Hot Shot Azalea
Rhododendron 'Girard's Hot Shot'
Height: 30 inches
Spread: 30 inches
Hardiness Zone: 6a
Group/Class: Girard Hybrids
A stunning variety with bright crimson blooms that cover dense mounded branches in mid spring, and foliage that turns reddish-orange in fall; showy when in a border or as a garden accent; absolutely must have well-drained, highly acidic and organic soil
Ornamental Features
Girard's Hot Shot Azalea is covered in stunning clusters of lightly-scented crimson trumpet-shaped flowers at the ends of the branches in mid spring before the leaves. It has green deciduous foliage which emerges light green in spring. The glossy narrow leaves turn an outstanding orange in the fall.
Landscape Attributes
Girard's Hot Shot Azalea is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a mounded form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Girard's Hot Shot Azalea is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Mass Planting
- General Garden Use
- Container Planting
Planting & Growing
Girard's Hot Shot Azalea will grow to be about 30 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. It has a low canopy. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.
This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It requires an evenly moist well-drained soil for optimal growth, but will die in standing water. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid.
Girard's Hot Shot Azalea makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It can be used either as 'filler' or as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, depending on the height and form of the other plants used in the container planting. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.


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Call Us Today to Get Started. (765) 677-1000
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1629 S Joaquin Dr.
Marion, IN 46953
(765) 677-1000 Phone

subset: commoncrawl


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Resource Efficiency Theme to Anuga FoodTec
GERMANY - Resource efficiency is the central theme of the Anuga FoodTec exhibition that opened in Cologne, Germany this week.With more than 1500 exhibitors, a rise of 14 per cent on the last show in 2012, the food processing technology event has seen the launch and development of new methods and systems to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
According to measurement technology company Endress and Hauser a single medium sized company in the meat sector could have CO2 savings equivalent to a mid-sized car travelling around the world 177 times.
While energy costs account for just two per cent of the revenue in the food industry, sustainable solutions to reduce energy consumption are still essential for producers and processors if they want to survive in the market in the long term.
"Energy efficiency plays a key role in this regard," Prof Antonio Delgado from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg said.
He said that there is a particular conflict within the food sector because he believes that any measure to increase energy efficiency could be detrimental to either food quality or safety.
This means that systems that have been developed to see more efficient use of energy in other sectors might not be suitable for the food sector.
Prof Delgado said that one way to achieve greater energy efficiency is to use "energetic interactions between the production process and infrastructure".
He said that one of the major savings could be in the synergenic effects between heat generation and refrigeration.
Using waste heat from other installations to generate steam through heat recovery is another way to maximise energy efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.
The expo that is expected to attract more than 43,000 visitors is also offering advice on the sustainable use of water as well as showing the latest advances in automation and robotics that are increasing efficiency in the meat and food processing industry.
TheCattleSite News Desk


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All County Garage Doors - Commercial Garage Doors Los Angeles, CA - 323-686-2021
It has taken years of successfully meeting the needs of the local business people for All County Garage Doors technicians to be considered as the best garage door repair company in the Los Angeles. We take our knowledge of the industry, and together with a comprehension for business standards, develop an appreciation the diverse needs and requirements of our business clientele.
On the commercial front, we focus on commercial garage door installation, door maintenance and probable upgrade to a modern design. We use only the best materials and parts available in the market so that our client base is more than happy with the result. Our technicians have always been counted on when a client needs a job done. Our handling if garage door matters mean you or your work doesn't have to be inconvenienced.
Superior Products
The door options we offer commercial clients are all made from the best materials. The hardware, design and workmanship that go into each door all give a final product that can with stand daily activity. The doors are built to last, and the rate of decay or breakdown is very low. Unlike other doors, the doors we offer meet all your quality and durability criteria to provide safety and comfort. We are the leading resource for superior commercial door assistance in Los Angeles, CA and we are always willing to carve out helpful suggestions to your garage door situation.


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Diyabetik Periferal Nöropatinin eşlik ettiği Nöropatik Ağrının yönetimine yönelik olarak geliştirilen yavaş salınımlı oral tabletler FDA tarafından onaylandı. (İng)
FDA Approves Nucynta ER (Tapentadol) Extended-Release Oral Tablets for the Management of Neuropathic Pain Associated With Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
Clinical Trial Data Demonstrate Efficacy and Safety for First Opioid Indicated for Patients with Painful Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy
RARITAN, N.J., Aug. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for NUCYNTA® ER (tapentadol) extended-release tablets, an oral analgesic taken twice daily, for the management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in adults when a continuous, around-the-clock opioid analgesic is needed for an extended period of time.
To view the multimedia asset associated with this release, please visit: http://www.multivu.com/mnr/57705-nucynta-er-diabetic-peripheral-neuropathy-tapentadol
NUCYNTA® ER is the first and only opioid approved by the FDA for neuropathic pain associated with DPN. In addition to this new indication, NUCYNTA® ER is currently approved for the management of moderate to severe chronic pain in adults when a continuous, around-the-clock opioid analgesic is needed for an extended period of time.
Diabetes affects nearly 26 million people in the United States, and approximately 60 to 70 percent of people with diabetes have some form of neuropathy. The most common type of neuropathy is DPN, which causes pain or loss of feeling in the toes, feet, legs, hands and arms; it may also include a persistent burning, tingling or prickling sensation. It is estimated that DPN affects nearly eight million people in the United States. Because the complex pathophysiology of DPN involves both central and peripheral mechanisms, certain patients with DPN may require treatment with multiple agents.
"Pain from DPN can be difficult to manage, leaving some patients and healthcare professionals looking for alternative treatments," said Keith A. Candiotti, M.D., Professor of Anesthesiology and Internal Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine.* "NUCYNTA® ER is a different option than currently approved medications for the management of painful DPN and may be an important new choice for these patients."
NUCYNTA® ER is a centrally-acting synthetic analgesic. The exact mechanism of action is unknown. Although the clinical relevance is unclear, preclinical studies have shown that NUCYNTA® ER acts as both a mu-opioid receptor and a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor.
Data from two randomized-withdrawal, placebo-controlled Phase 3 trials showed, among patients who had at least a one-point reduction in pain intensity during three weeks of treatment with NUCYNTA® ER, those who continued on the same dose of NUCYNTA® ER that was titrated to balance individual tolerability and efficacy (100-250mg twice daily) for an additional 12 weeks experienced significantly better pain control compared to those who switched to placebo. The findings also demonstrated that NUCYNTA® ER was generally well tolerated. The most common (≥10% of NUCYNTA® ER treated patients) adverse reactions were nausea, constipation, vomiting, dizziness, headache and somnolence.
"The approval of NUCYNTA® ER for DPN pain represents the ongoing commitment of Janssen to bring new and innovative products to patients and physicians for the management of pain," said Paul Chang, Vice President, Medical Affairs, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "It is exciting that our in-depth experience in pain management allows us to continue to provide patients with effective options to treat their pain."
To support the appropriate and effective management of chronic pain, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. also believes it is essential to provide educational programs about the safe and responsible use of pain medicines and the prevention of misuse.
Since 2008, the company has supported educational programs that reach a range of audiences, including patients, physicians, caregivers, parents, teens and educators. These include: Prescribe Responsibly (www.PrescribeResponsibly.com) for physicians seeking information on the appropriate prescribing of opioid pain medications, and Smart Moves, Smart Choices (www.SmartMovesSmartChoices.org) to increase awareness among educators, parents and teens about the serious problem of teen prescription drug abuse in the United States.
About Tapentadol and NUCYNTA® ER
Tapentadol is a centrally-acting synthetic analgesic. The tapentadol molecule is classified as Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. NUCYNTA® ER was approved by the FDA in August 2011. It is an oral analgesic available by prescription only for the following indications: the management of moderate to severe chronic pain in adults and the management of neuropathic pain associated with DPN in adults, when a continuous, around-the-clock opioid analgesic is needed for an extended period of time. NUCYNTA® ER is taken twice daily and available in 50 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg and 250 mg strengths.
Outside the United States, tapentadol is marketed by Janssen Inc. in Canada. Grünenthal GmbH discovered tapentadol and markets immediate- and extended-release formulations of tapentadol (PALEXIA®) in several countries worldwide.
Janssen Research & Development, LLC and Janssen Pharmaceutical KK, Japan, are developing tapentadol in Japan. In addition, Janssen Pharmaceutical companies have rights to develop and market immediate- and extended-release formulations of tapentadol in select European countries and certain countries in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and the Middle East.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FOR NUCYNTA® ER (tapentadol) Extended-Release Oral Tablets
WARNING: ABUSE POTENTIAL, LIFE-THREATENING RESPIRATORY DEPRESSION, ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURE, and INTERACTION WITH ALCOHOL
Abuse Potential
NUCYNTA® ER contains tapentadol, an opioid agonist and Schedule II controlled substance with an abuse liability similar to other opioid agonists, legal or illicit. Assess each patient's risk for opioid abuse or addiction prior to prescribing NUCYNTA® ER. The risk for opioid abuse is increased in patients with a personal or family history of substance abuse (including drug or alcohol abuse or addiction) or mental illness (eg, major depressive disorder). Routinely monitor all patients receiving NUCYNTA® ER for signs of misuse, abuse, and addiction during treatment.
Life-threatening Respiratory Depression
Respiratory depression, including fatal cases, may occur with use of NUCYNTA® ER, even when the drug has been used as recommended and not misused or abused. Proper dosing and titration are essential, and NUCYNTA® ER should only be prescribed by healthcare professionals who are knowledgeable in the use of potent opioids for the management of chronic pain. Monitor for respiratory depression, especially during initiation of NUCYNTA® ER or following a dose increase. Instruct patients to swallow NUCYNTA® ER tablets whole. Crushing, dissolving, or chewing NUCYNTA® ER can cause rapid release and absorption of a potentially fatal dose of tapentadol.
Accidental Exposure
Accidental ingestion of NUCYNTA® ER, especially in children, can result in a fatal overdose of tapentadol.
Interaction With Alcohol
The co-ingestion of alcohol with NUCYNTA® ER may result in an increase of plasma levels and potentially fatal overdose of tapentadol. Instruct patients not to consume alcoholic beverages or use prescription or nonprescription products that contain alcohol while on NUCYNTA® ER.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients with significant respiratory depression.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients with acute or severe bronchial asthma or hypercarbia in an unmonitored setting or in the absence of resuscitative equipment.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients with known or suspected paralytic ileus.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity (eg, anaphylaxis, angioedema) to tapentadol or to any other ingredients of the product.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients who are receiving monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) or who have taken them within the last 14 days due to potential additive effects on norepinephrine levels which may result in adverse cardiovascular events.
WARNINGS and PRECAUTIONS
NUCYNTA® ER contains tapentadol, an opioid agonist and a Schedule II controlled substance. Tapentadol can be abused in a manner similar to other opioid agonists, legal or illicit. Opioid agonists are sought by drug abusers and people with addiction disorders and are subject to criminal diversion. Consider these risks when prescribing or dispensing NUCYNTA® ER in situations where there is concern about increased risks of misuse, abuse, or diversion. Concerns about abuse, addiction, and diversion should not, however, prevent the proper management of pain.
Assess each patient's risk for opioid abuse or addiction prior to prescribing NUCYNTA® ER. The risk for opioid abuse is increased in patients with a personal or family history of substance abuse (including drug or alcohol abuse or addiction) or mental illness (eg, major depression). Patients at increased risk may still be appropriately treated with modified-release opioid formulations; however, these patients will require intensive monitoring for signs of misuse, abuse, or addiction. Routinely monitor all patients receiving opioids for signs of misuse, abuse, and addiction because these drugs carry a risk for addiction even under appropriate medical use.
Misuse or abuse of NUCYNTA® ER by crushing, chewing, snorting, or injecting the dissolved product will result in the uncontrolled delivery of the opioid and pose a significant risk that could result in overdose and death.
Contact local state professional licensing board or state-controlled substances authority for information on how to prevent and detect abuse or diversion of this product.
Respiratory depression is the chief hazard of opioid agonists, including NUCYNTA® ER. Respiratory depression, if not immediately recognized and treated, may lead to respiratory arrest and death. Respiratory depression from opioids is manifested by a reduced urge to breathe and a decreased rate of respiration, often associated with a "sighing" pattern of breathing (deep breaths separated by abnormally long pauses). Carbon dioxide (CO2) retention from opioid-induced respiratory depression can exacerbate the sedating effects of opioids. Management of respiratory depression may include close observation, supportive measures, and use of opioid antagonists, depending on the patient's clinical status.
While serious, life-threatening or fatal respiratory depression can occur at any time during the use of NUCYNTA® ER, the risk is greatest during the initiation of therapy or following a dose increase. Closely monitor patients for respiratory depression when initiating therapy with NUCYNTA® ER and following dose increases. Instruct patients against use by individuals other than the patient for whom NUCYNTA® ER was prescribed and to keep NUCYNTA® ER out of the reach of children, as such inappropriate use may result in fatal respiratory depression.
To reduce the risk of respiratory depression, proper dosing and titration of NUCYNTA® ER are essential. Overestimating the NUCYNTA® ER dose when converting patients from another opioid product can result in a fatal overdose with the first dose. Respiratory depression has also been reported with use of modified-release opioids when used as recommended and not misused or abused.
To further reduce the risk of respiratory depression, consider the following:
Proper dosing and titration are essential and NUCYNTA® ER should only be prescribed by healthcare professionals who are knowledgeable in the use of potent opioids for the management of chronic pain.
Instruct patients to swallow NUCYNTA® ER tablets whole. The tablets are not to be cut, crushed, dissolved, or chewed. The resulting tapentadol dose may be fatal, particularly in opioid-naïve individuals.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients with respiratory depression and in patients with conditions that increase the risk of life-threatening respiratory depression.
Accidental ingestion of NUCYNTA® ER, especially in children, can result in a fatal overdose of tapentadol.
The co-ingestion of alcohol with NUCYNTA® ER can result in an increase of tapentadol plasma levels and potentially fatal overdose of tapentadol. Instruct patients not to consume alcoholic beverages or use prescription or nonprescription products containing alcohol while on NUCYNTA® ER therapy.
Respiratory depression is more likely to occur in elderly, cachectic, or debilitated patients as they may have altered pharmacokinetics or altered clearance compared to younger, healthier patients. Therefore, monitor such patients closely, particularly when initiating and titrating NUCYNTA® ER and when NUCYNTA® ER is given concomitantly with other drugs that depress respiration.
Monitor for respiratory depression those patients with significant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cor pulmonale and patients having a substantially decreased respiratory reserve, hypoxia, hypercarbia, or pre-existing respiratory depression, particularly when initiating therapy and titrating with NUCYNTA® ER, as in these patients even usual therapeutic doses of NUCYNTA® ER may decrease respiratory drive to the point of apnea. Consider the use of alternative nonopioid analgesics in these patients, if possible.
Hypotension and profound sedation, coma or respiratory depression may result if NUCYNTA® ER is used concomitantly with other CNS depressants (eg, sedatives, anxiolytics, hypnotics, neuroleptics, muscle relaxants, other opioids, and illicit drugs). When considering the use of NUCYNTA® ER in a patient taking a CNS depressant, assess the duration of use of the CNS depressant and the patient's response, including the degree of tolerance that has developed to CNS depression. Additionally, consider the patient's use, if any, of alcohol and/or illicit drugs that can cause CNS depression. If NUCYNTA® ER therapy is to be initiated in a patient taking a CNS depressant, start with a lower NUCYNTA® ER dose than usual and monitor patients for signs of sedation and respiratory depression and consider using a lower dose of the concomitant CNS depressant.
NUCYNTA® ER may cause severe hypotension. There is an increased risk in patients whose ability to maintain blood pressure has already been compromised by a reduced blood volume or concurrent administration of certain CNS depressant drugs (eg, phenothiazines or general anesthetics). Monitor these patients for signs of hypotension after initiating or titrating the dose of NUCYNTA® ER. In patients with circulatory shock, NUCYNTA® ER may cause vasodilation that can further reduce cardiac output and blood pressure. Avoid the use of NUCYNTA® ER in patients with circulatory shock.
Monitor patients taking NUCYNTA® ER who may be susceptible to the intracranial effects of CO2 retention (eg, those with evidence of increased intracranial pressure or brain tumors) for signs of sedation and respiratory depression, particularly when initiating therapy with NUCYNTA® ER. NUCYNTA® ER may reduce respiratory drive and the resultant CO2 retention can further increase intracranial pressure. Opioids may also obscure the clinical course in a patient with a head injury.
Avoid the use of NUCYNTA® ER in patients with impaired consciousness or coma.
NUCYNTA® ER has not been evaluated in patients with a predisposition to a seizure disorder, and such patients were excluded from clinical studies. The active ingredient tapentadol in NUCYNTA® ER may aggravate convulsions in patients with convulsive disorders and may induce or aggravate seizures in some clinical settings. Monitor patients with a history of seizure disorders for worsened seizure control during NUCYNTA® ER therapy.
Cases of life-threatening serotonin syndrome have been reported with the concurrent use of tapentadol and serotonergic drugs. Serotonergic drugs comprise selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), triptans, drugs that affect the serotonergic neurotransmitter system (eg, mirtazapine, trazodone, and tramadol), and drugs that impair metabolism of serotonin (including MAOIs). This may occur within the recommended dose. Serotonin syndrome may include mental-status changes (eg, agitation, hallucinations, coma), autonomic instability (eg, tachycardia, labile blood pressure, hyperthermia), neuromuscular aberrations (eg, hyperreflexia, incoordination), and/or gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms (eg, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), and can be fatal.
NUCYNTA® ER is contraindicated in patients with GI obstruction, including paralytic ileus. The tapentadol in NUCYNTA® ER may cause spasm of the sphincter of Oddi. Monitor patients with biliary tract disease, including acute pancreatitis, for worsening symptoms.
Avoid the use of mixed agonist/antagonist analgesics (ie, pentazocine, nalbuphine, and butorphanol) in patients who have received or are receiving a course of therapy with a full opioid agonist analgesic, including NUCYNTA® ER. In these patients, mixed agonists/antagonists analgesics may reduce the analgesic effect and/or may precipitate withdrawal symptoms.
When discontinuing NUCYNTA® ER, gradually taper the dose.
NUCYNTA® ER may impair the mental or physical abilities needed to perform potentially hazardous activities such as driving a car or operating machinery. Warn patients not to drive or operate dangerous machinery unless they are tolerant to the effects of NUCYNTA® ER and know how they will react to the medication.
A study with an immediate-release formulation of tapentadol in subjects with hepatic impairment showed higher serum concentrations of tapentadol than in those with normal hepatic function. Avoid use of NUCYNTA® ER in patients with severe hepatic impairment. Reduce the dose of NUCYNTA® ER in patients with moderate hepatic impairment. Closely monitor patients with moderate hepatic impairment for respiratory and CNS depression when initiating and titrating NUCYNTA® ER.
Use of NUCYNTA® ER in patients with severe renal impairment is not recommended due to accumulation of a metabolite formed by glucuronidation of tapentadol. The clinical relevance of the elevated metabolite is not known.
Management of moderate to severe chronic pain: The most common (greater than or equal to 10%) adverse reactions were nausea, constipation, dizziness, headache, and somnolence.
Management of neuropathic pain associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN): The most common (greater than or equal to 10%) adverse reactions were nausea, constipation, vomiting, dizziness, somnolence, and headache.
For full prescribing information for NUCYNTA® ER, including boxed warnings, please click here .
About Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Janssen Research & Development, LLC
At Janssen, we are dedicated to addressing and solving some of the most important unmet medical needs of our time in oncology, immunology, neuroscience, infectious diseases and vaccines, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Driven by our commitment to patients, we develop and bring innovative products, services and solutions to people throughout the world.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Janssen Research & Development, LLC are part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. provides medicines for an array of health concerns in several therapeutic areas. Innovative therapies Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. offers include ACIPHEX® (rabeprazole sodium), DORIBAX® (doripenem for injection), ELMIRON® (pentosan polysulfate sodium), NUCYNTA® (tapentadol), NUCYNTA® ER (tapentadol) extended-release tablets and XARELTO® (rivaroxaban) tablets. The full prescribing information for NUCYNTA® ER, including boxed warnings, is available here; the full prescribing information for XARELTO®, including boxed warnings, is available here.
For more information on Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., visit us at www.janssenpharmaceuticalsinc.com or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/JanssenUS .
* Dr. Candiotti has been a paid consultant to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. However, he was not compensated for his comments to media relating to the approval of NUCYNTA ® ER.
SOURCE Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.


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An excellent addition to the outdoor wardrobe of any outdoor enthusiast, the Qikpac adults' unisex waterproof packaway jacket is lightweight and protective. Designed with our Tres-Tex fabric giving it up to 5,000mm of waterproof protection, it has taped seams so water can't get through between the panels. In addition it has a breath-ability of 5,000mvp that helps air move between the layers so you stay fresh inside, even while you work up a sweat.
The jacket is windproof too, so even on dark, damp, stormy days, this jacket will hold strong. One of the major features of this jacket is that it can be rolled up and packed into a small pouch, so you can keep in in your pack or car, so it's ready to go if the rain starts.
The hood and hem are adjustable with simple draw cords and toggles, while the cuffs are fully elasticated for a flush fit that water can't get under. A ventilated back yoke allows air to circulate so you'll stay cool on warmer days and with two pockets you'll get some storage for a snack on a long hike or simply your keys and change.
The low profile zip gives a simple contrast to the jacket that comes in a whole range of colours. With this jacket in your kit, you'll be ready to head out for a hike, knowing that if the rain starts suddenly, you'll have a protective waterproof layer on in seconds.
THE JACKET IS A UNISEX STYLE AND IS BASED ON MEN'S REGULAR SIZES, MEANING WOMeN SHOULD ORDER THE SIZE BELOW, E.G. UNISEX MEDIUM EQUATES TO WOMEN'S SIZE LARGE.
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Brad Paisley Reveals Childhood Performance That Changed His Entire Life
Brad Paisley has been giving the gift of music to his fans around the world for 20 years. But there's a treasured memory from his childhood that helped set him on his path to music.
Paisley recalls a life-changing moment when he was eight years old visiting a local hospital in his hometown of Glen Dale, W.V. One of the patients was an elderly woman with limited speech who would only ever say "O.K." in response to anything that was said to her.
When Paisley started playing her favorite song, "You Are My Sunshine," something of a miracle occurred and she started to sing all of the lyrics along with him.
"She sings with me, every word — 'You make me happy when skies are gray' — sort of on pitch. And then she goes back to O.K. And that was it," Paisley tells the Tennessean about the experience. "Music became something that felt like it had the power to heal people. It had the power to brighten someone's day...It became completely clear to me in that moment."
Performing at hospitals and nursing homes became a regular activity for Paisley growing up, using music as his sense of purpose to give back. He still harbors this desire to help others, as evidenced by he and wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley's initiative in opening a free grocery store for families in need in Nashville.
"You want to find other opportunities to make someone's day. That was the moment that made me realize what I do can be very good for people if I use it the right way," the singer continues. "Music is the closest thing we have to real magic."
Country Music's All-Time Best Guitarists:


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Copyright © 2024 Geographicus Rare Antique Maps
1799 Clement Cruttwell Map of Belgium or the Netherlands
Belgium-cruttwell-1799Clement Cruttwell (1743 - August 5, 1808) was an English book and map publisher active in Bath and London in the late 18th and early 19th century. Cruttwell was born the son of William Cruttwell, a gentleman of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. As a young man Cruttwell was educated to be an Anglican Reverend and consequently maintained a lifelong interest in religious matters. Throughout his life, he published a number of religious works and geographical gazetteers including several focused on the British Isles and one dedicated to France. Though little is known of Cruttwell today, he was highly regarded in his own time. In his obituary, a period publication, The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure describes Cruttwell as
a gentleman whose various literary performances, for labour, extent, and utility, have rarely been equaled, and, when regarded as the productions of an unassisted valetudinarian, have perhaps never been surpassed.Cruttwell was also a known correspondent of George Washington to whom he sent his own translation of the Holy Bible, which Washington kept in his personal library until his death. More by this mapmaker...
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Our Multilingual Approach
CCHE's focus communities of color demands that we take a multilingual approach that is not only about translation, but about the way we value inclusion and access. Though our initial focus is on Spanish translation, we recognize the need to honor and respond to the tremendous diversity of all of our communities and constituencies. From the very beginning, when our team sat down to address the challenge of speaking to those whose first language is not English, our discussions included such questions as:
- What are the multilingual implications for this initiative and for the languages we're translating?
- Whom can we work with to help us answer these questions?
- What tools do we need to be multilingual at the different levels of our work?
As we move forward, our actions reflect our serious commitment to a multilingual process that values the right of people to speak and think and be in their native languages, which is really what community is all about. Click here for a snapshot of CCHE's commitment to multilingual work. For an example of the rationale behind many of the CCHE translation choices and translation into Spanish, we have created a Glossary of terminology.
For a more detailed view of our multilingual strategy, please download the following document found below: Multilingual Strategies in the Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE) Initiative.


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This fast-absorbing aloe vera gel delivers long-lasting moisturization that calms irritated skin and provides a refreshing feeling to the skin. It's a great product that can be used by anyone wanting to keep their skin healthy. It's ideal for replenishing lost moisture and restoring your skin's soft silky feel without the use of harmful chemicals or complicated skincare routines. This gel is excellent for use on the face, hands, and body. The natural formula counteracts the effects of pollution from the environment and with its travel-ready packaging makes it easy for you to take the gel anytime you travel. With continued use, the skin will feel calm, balanced, and nurtured back to feel it's healthy-best. It's paraben-free and made with natural aloe extract without any artificial powder substitutes.
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Our ingredients: Water / Aqua / Eua, Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Carbomer, Triethanolamine, Calendula Officinalis, Althaea Officinalis, Cucumis Sativus, Tilia Cordata, Verbascum Thapsus, Propylene Glycol, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Disodium EDTA, Blue 1 (CI 42090), Yellow 5 (CI 19140)
How to use: Apply directly to the skin and let it air dry for best results. Use it for healthier face and body skin. Regular use soothes the skin leaving it soft and supple with a healthy glow.
Net weight of 8 US oz / 250ml


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Riviera Rambling - Walking and Hiking on the French Riviera
Riviera Rambling is a site dedicated to walkers, hikers and ramblers who would like to discover or get to know better the beautiful landscape of the French Riviera. There are many published guides in French and in English describing paths of differing degrees of difficulty and length - e.g. the excellent Les Guides Randoxygene available from Tourist Informtion Offices. The other essential tools are the IGN maps 1:25,000 which you can buy separately or as part of a DVD which contains maps of the whole region.
With all these resources at hand why do we need a website? Well the idea of the site is to help promote the region, and its country side and highlight routes that may not be in the published journals. It 's also a means for individuals to share their favourite walks, by logging into the site and posting details, to make it easier for others to follow.
Walking and Hiking directions, details and difficulty
In the map below you will see where the walks are relative to the major towns on the Riviera. Click on an icon and a summary of the walk is shown. If you like the look of it, click on the link to the full web page, with directions to the walk, pictures etc. Or download the Google Earth file and load it in Google Earth and make a 3D tour by pressing the play button.


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Neither rain nor sleet nor snow may have stopped the Pony Express, but the nation's oldest and second largest employer is now under attack. Claiming the Postal Service is bankrupt, critics are pushing legislation that would defuse the postal crisis by breaking the backs of the postal workers' unions and mandating widespread layoffs. But the "crisis" is an artificial one, created by Congress itself.
In 2006, Congress passed the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act (PAEA), which forced the USPS to put aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees, many of whom hadn't even been hired yet. Over a mere 10 year period, the USPS was required to prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years, something no other government or private corporation is required to do. As consumer advocate Ralph Nader observed, if PAEA had never been enacted, USPS would now be facing a $1.5 billion surplus.
The USPS is a profitable, self-funded venture that is not supported by the taxpayers. It is funded with postage stamps—one of the last vestiges of government-issued money. Stamps are fungible and can be traded at par; and they are backed, not by mere government "fiat," but by labor. One stamp will buy the labor to transport your letter 3000 miles.
The USPS is one of the few businesses the government is allowed to operate in competition with private companies; it is the only U.S. agency that services all its citizens six days per week; and it is perhaps the last form of communication that protects privacy, since tampering with it is against federal law. In 1999, it employed nearly a million people; and today, it employs over 600,000. Where are those workers to go, when the post office is no more?
To Downsize or Diversify?
Whatever caused the financial woes of the USPS, there is another way to mitigate the crisis than slashing employee benefits and customer services. In a December 21 article in Reader Supported News, Tim Fernholz suggested that instead of focusing on cuts, the post office should approach the problem from a business perspective and find a new way to make money. One way to keep the USPS alive, he says, is for it to include basic banking services in its product line, providing a "public option" in banking:
[R]oughly 9 million Americans don't have a bank account and 21 million rely largely on fringe financial services like usurious check cashers rather than traditional financial institutions. Giving low-income people access to a safe banking system will firm up their economic futures.
The Proud, Forgotten History of Postal Banking
Banking in post offices is not new. Many countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand, have a long and successful history of it; and so does the United States.
From 1911 to 1967, the U.S. Postal Savings System provided a safe and efficient place for customers to save and transfer funds. It issued U.S. Postal Savings Bonds in various denominations that paid annual interest, as well as Postal Savings Certificates and domestic money orders. The U.S. Postal Savings System was set up early in the 20th century to attract the savings of immigrants accustomed to saving at post offices in their native countries, provide safe depositories for people who had lost confidence in private banks, and furnish more convenient depositories for working people than were provided by private banks. (Post offices were then open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week, substantially longer than bankers' hours.) The postal system paid two percent interest on deposits annually. The minimum deposit was $1 and the maximum was $2,500. Savings in the system spurted to $1.2 billion during the 1930s and jumped again during World War II, peaking in 1947 at almost $3.4 billion.
The U.S. Postal Savings System was shut down in 1967, not because it was inefficient but because it was considered unnecessary after private banks raised their interest rates and offered the same governmental guarantees that the postal savings system had.
The Kiwibank Model: Postal Banks to Serve Local Communities
Postal banks are now thriving in New Zealand, not as a historical artifact but as a popular new innovation. When they were instituted in 2002, it was not to save the post office but to save New Zealand families and small businesses from big-bank predators. By 2001, Australian mega-banks controlled some 80% of New Zealand's retail banking. Profits went abroad and were maximized by closing less profitable branches, especially in rural areas. The result was to place hardships on many New Zealand families and small businesses.
The New Zealand government decided to launch a state-owned bank that would compete with the Aussies. They called their new bank Kiwibank after their national symbol, the kiwi bird. But the government team planning the new bank faced major challenges. How could they keep costs low while still providing services in communities throughout New Zealand?
Their solution was to open bank branches in post offices. Kiwibank was established as a subsidiary of the government-owned New Zealand Post. The Kiwibank website states:
Back in 2002, we launched with a thought: New Zealand needs a better banking alternative—a bank that provides real value for money, that has Kiwi values at heart, and that keeps Kiwi money where it belongs—right here, in New Zealand.
So we set up shop in PostShops throughout the country, putting us in more locations than any other bank in New Zealand literally overnight (without wasting millions on new premises!).
Suddenly, New Zealanders had a choice in banking. In an early "move your money" campaign, they voted with their feet. In an island nation of only 4 million people, in its first five years Kiwibank attracted 500,000 customers away from the big banks. It consistently earns the nation's highest customer satisfaction ratings, forcing the Australia-owned banks to improve their service in order to compete.
Postal Banking Japan-style: Funding the Government's Debt with Its Own Bank
Another interesting model is Japan Post Bank, now the largest publicly-owned bank in the world. Japan Post is also the largest holder of personal savings, making it the world's largest credit engine. Most money today originates as bank loans, and deposits are the magic pool from which this credit-money is generated. Japan Post uses its excess credit power to buy government bonds. By 2007, it was the holder of one-fifth of the nation's debt. As noted by Joe Weisenthal, writing in Business Insider in February 2010:
Because Japan's enormous public debt is largely held by its own citizens, the country doesn't have to worry about foreign investors losing confidence.
If the U.S. Postal Service were to add commercial banking to its product line, it too could use its own bank-generated credit to help relieve its debt problems. The USPS is being forced to fund the health care costs of its employees for 75 years into the future, and a large portion of this unreasonable burden is composed of interest charges. According to German researcher Margrit Kennedy, interest composes on average about 40% of the cost of all goods and services. That suggests that eliminating interest could reduce the USPS debt by about 40%. If the USPS became a bank, it could use the credit generated from customer deposits either to service its own debt directly—something that would effectively be interest-free, since it would own the bank and would get the profits back—or by buying interest-bearing government bonds. The interest earned on the bonds could then be used to pay the interest on the USPS debt.
Other government agencies and local governments could improve their balance sheets in the same way. Public institutions with sizeable capital and revenues can cut their infrastructure costs by about 40% by establishing their own banks, allowing them to avoid a massive toll in interest to private banker middlemen.
The Post Office Deserves to Be Preserved
The U.S. Postal Service is a venerable institution that is older than the Constitution. It should be saved, and it can be saved. One way is to support HR 1351, a bill introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts to repeal the Postal Accountability Enhancement Act.
Another way is for the post office to combine mail services with teller services, restoring the Postal Savings System of an earlier era. The result could be not only to save the Post Office but to establish a competitive alternative to a runaway Wall Street banking monopoly that even Congress seems unable to control.


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We can guarantee that your leaflets will actually reach letterboxes because we have been providing this service since 2004 on a daily basis.
Good rates are offered with discounts for larger quantities. Our experience and guarantee means that our leaflet distribution company is the best in Gospel Oak.Potential delivery people are screened before even being considered for an interview. The induction process is structured, based on years of knowing what to do and what not to do!
Important points to beware of in deciding which leaflet distributor to use in Gospel Oak include that if they are quoting rock bottom rates as their supposed selling point, how can they attract and retain any competent staff? People are not going to work for virtually nothing and as the saying goes, if you pay peanuts you get monkeys! If it takes a leafleter around 6 hours to do 1,000 flyers, they would need to be paid about £50 to earn fractionally over the minimum wage. Some companies I know of pay their delivery staff £25/1,000. What do you think they do with most of the leaflets they are given?! Also, having your leaflets put in local newspapers unfortunately brings a very poor rate of return, as they accept too many leaflets and someone needs to go to the exact page where they are. National leaflet distribution companies have a bad reputation and I have never spoken to anyone who was pleased with their work! I have undertaken subcontracted deliveries for them in Gospel Oak and their checks are minimal at best!
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New York, July 25, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that numerous Turkish journalists, including the leading columnist Yavuz Baydar, have been fired or forced to resign from news outlets in apparent retaliation for their independent coverage of anti-government demonstrations that swept the country.
"Media owners are dismissing their sharpest, most popular journalists to appease government leaders at the expense of their own readers," Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "This toxic cycle of government pressure leading to media dismissals is depriving the Turkish public of the intellectual diversity and richness it deserves."
The Turkish Union of Journalists said on Monday that it had documented at least 22 cases of journalists being fired and another 37 who had been forced to quit their jobs. The union said the dismissals were in connection with the journalists' coverage of the June protests at Gezi Park. The demonstrations were violently quashed by police, who used tear gas and water cannons to quell protesters and journalists covering the events. The union did not say on whose order the journalists had been fired or forced to resign. It was also not clear what press coverage was deemed offensive enough to result in the dismissals.
But CPJ research shows that media owners or editors in Turkey fire critical journalists after being pressured by the government. Sometimes, the dismissals are pre-emptive, in which the editors or media owners dismiss journalists who could be seen as antagonizing the government. The dismissals usually follow a public statement by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, or another government official, that calls out journalists for being irresponsible and damaging Turkey's interests.
Baydar, who often contributes analysis and opinion on Turkish press freedom for international media, was fired this week from his long-time position as ombudsman at the daily newspaper Sabah, according to news reports. The dismissal came after Baydar had written an article reportedly saying that an ombudsman should be able to operate independent of the publication's editor-in-chief.
Baydar was chastised in a public letter by Sabah editors in late June after writing a column that criticized the government's reaction to the Gezi Park protests, according to news reports. The editors did not publish the column. Baydar took a temporary leave of absence from the paper.
He had also written a piece in The New York Times on July 19 that criticized Turkey's media owners for, in his words, being cowed into "exercising editorial caution" and "subverting press freedom."
- For more on Turkey, visit CPJ's Turkey page here.


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Douglas Blackmon of the Wall Street Journal has written a newsman's history book with staggering implications about racial reality in America today.
Douglas Blackmon: truth about Jim Crow
The heart of the story is that slavery in the American South ended not with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the end of the Civil War, but at the onset of World War 2. That is: state-sanctioned brutal and abusive bondage ended less than 70 years ago, well within the living memory of millions of Americans, black and white. The gap between "slave time" and now is not five or six generations, but one or two at most.
The sidewalks of Atlanta today were paved in the 20th Century with millions of bricks made by "slaves by another name" — by black men the city had seized and leased over to the ex-Mayor James English's Chattahoochee Brick Company. Some of Atlanta's finest families were in on neo-slavery, in Blackmon's telling — men like Joel Hurt of Atlanta's Trust Company. No guard could ever "do enough whipping for Mr. Hurt," it was said. "He wanted men whipped for singing and laughing."
Slavery by Another Name is Doug Blackmon's complete revision of the Jim Crow story, with an astonishing breadth and depth of documentation and none of the old sugar-coating or vagueness around phrases like peonage and sharecropping. "Neo-slavery" was the hard-core of a public-private system that undid the freedoms that came with Reconstruction for most of thirty years after the Civil War, and then enforced a new reign of terror over all African-Americans in the South.
What began to happen at the end of the 19th Century was the crushing new phenomenon in which whites in the North gave up on the process and made the decision that whites in the South were going to be allowed to do whatever they wished. The Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision that sanctified segregation in 1896 gave a legal basis for all this. And by 1900 all of the Southern states had passed an array of laws designed to make it impossible for a black man to avoid being in violation of some ridiculous statute at all times.
Being black became the crime, and so any black man who could not prove that he had a job at a given time, any black man who sought to change employers, any black man who chose to sell the produce of his farm after dark, rather than selling to the white man nearest him… An endless number of statutes were passed which made it nearly impossible to avoid prosecution. These laws were designed to finish off the process of disenfranchising all black Americans in the South; and they effectively did it by creating this legal jeopardy that all African Americans had to live with.
The hammer that hung over their heads was the idea that if you get convicted of any of these meaningless crimes, you'll end up in the horrifying circumstances of a slave mine or some other forced labor camp… There were endless beatings. In a relatively small work camp where you had 75 or 80 forced laborers, there might well be three to four hundred floggings in a given month. The men in the mines were beaten in the mornings if they failed to remove eight tons of coal the day before; and they were beaten at the end of the day if they failed to remove eight tons of coal that day. They were starved, and they were deprived of health care. The general attitude of the people who controlled these laborers was: as long as I'm able to keep them for a year or two years, I'll get back my investment in the cost of acquiring them. If they die I can cheaply find another…
Douglas Blackmon in conversation with Chris Lydon about Slavery by Another Name, April 21, 2008
Slavery by Another Name is hard reading that ought to be required. At a moment of reckoning around race in our country, Doug Blackmon, a studious child of the Mississippi Delta, has offered a monumental contribution to an agonizing re-learning of who we all are.


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Title: Kiss me (Keatyn Chronicles, #2)
Genre and Age Group: Mature YA romance
Author: Jillian Dodd
Expected release date: December 14, 2012
Cover Designer and website: Okay Creations Okay Creations
Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours
Book Description
I've always written scripts for my perfect life.
But no way could I have ever scripted this.
My life is so far from perfect, it's not even funny.
All because of a stalker.
I'm at a boarding school where I have to lie about who I am.
I can't see my family.
I'm tutoring a hottie god that tortures me with his smile.
The most popular girl already hates me.
But there's this boy.
This hot, sweet, sexy boy.
So I'm going to stop trying to script my life and just live it.
Because who knows how long I have left.
Author Bio
Jillian Dodd grew up on a farm in Nebraska, where she developed a love for Midwestern boys and Nebraska football. She has drank from a keg in a cornfield, attended the University of Nebraska, got to pass her candle, and did have a boy ask her to marry him in a bar. She met her own prince in college, and they have two amazing children, a Maltese named Sugar Bear, and two Labrador puppies named Camber Lacy and Cali Lucy.
She is the author of the That Boy Trilogy and The Keatyn Chronicles Series.


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Government of Haryana Department of Higher Education
Academic Journals is a publisher of peer-reviewed open access journals. Academic Journals currently publishes over 100 open access journals covering art and humanities, engineering, medical science, social sciences, biological sciences, physical sciences and agricultural sciences. Our mission is to accelerate the dissemination of knowledge through the publication of high quality research articles using the open access model.


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In the northeastern hills outside Kyoto, Japan there is a mountain known as Mount Hiei. That mountain is littered with unmarked graves.
Those graves mark the final resting place of the Tendai Buddhist Monks who have failed to complete a quest known as the Kaihogyo.
What is this quest that kills so many of the monks? And what can you and I learn from it?
Keep reading and I'll tell you.
The Marathon Monks
The Tendai monks believe that enlightenment can be achieved during your current life, but only through extreme self–denial.
For the Tendai, the ultimate act of self–denial — and the route to enlightenment — is a physical challenge known as the Kaihogyo. Because of this challenge, the Tendai are often called the "Marathon Monks." But the Kaihogyo is much more than a marathon.
The Kaihogyo
The Kaihogyo is a 1,000 day challenge that takes place over seven years. If a monk chooses to undertake this challenge, this is what awaits him…
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- During Year 1, the monk must run 30 km per day (about 18 miles) for 100 straight days.
- During Year 2, the monk must again run 30 km per day for 100 straight days.
- During Year 3, the monk must once more run 30 km per day for 100 straight days.
- During Year 4, the monk must run 30 km per day. This time for 200 straight days.
- During Year 5, the monk must again run 30 km per day for 200 straight days. After completing the fifth year of running, the monk must go 9 consecutive days without food, water, or rest. Two monks stand beside him at all times to ensure that he does not fall asleep.
- During Year 6, the monk must run 60 km (about 37 miles) per day for 100 straight days.
- During Year 7, the monk must run 84 km (about 52 miles) per day for 100 straight days. (52 miles per day!) And then, he must run 30 km per day for the final 100 days.
The sheer volume of running is incredible, of course, but there is one final challenge that makes The Kaihogyo unlike any other feat…
Day 101
During the first 100 days of running, the monk is allowed to withdraw from the Kaihogyo.
However, from Day 101 onwards, there is no withdrawal. The monk must either complete the Kaihogyo … or take his own life.
Because of this, the monks carry a length of rope and a short sword at all times on their journey. In the last 400+ years, only 46 men have completed the challenge. Many others can be found by their unmarked graves on the hills of Mount Hiei.
3 Lessons on Mental Toughness and Commitment
The mental toughness of the Marathon Monks is incredible and their feats are unlike most challenges that you and I will face. But, there are still many lessons we can learn from them.
1. "Complete or Kill."
The Marathon Monks are an extreme version of the "complete or kill" mentality. But you can take the same approach to your goals, projects, and work.
If something is important to you, complete it. If not, kill it.
If you're anything like me, ten you probably have a bunch of half–finished, half–completed projects and ideas. You don't need all of those loose ends.
Either something is important enough to you to complete, or it's time to kill it. Fill your life with goals that are worth finishing and eliminate the rest.
2. If you commit to nothing, you're distracted by everything.
Most of us never face a challenge with the true possibility of death, but we can learn a lot from the monk's sense of commitment and conviction. They have clarified exactly what they are working toward and for seven years they organize their life around the goal of completing the Kaihogyo. Every possible distraction is rendered unimportant.
Do you think the monks get distracted by TV, movies, the internet, celebrity gossip, or any of the other things that we so often waste time on? Of course not.
Trending: 5 Reasons Life Gets Better After Your 40s
If you choose, you can make a similar decision in your life. Sure, your daily goals may not carry the same sense of urgency as the Kaihogyo, but that doesn't mean you can't approach them with the same sense of conviction.
We all have things that we say are important to us. You might say that you want to lose weight or be a better parent or create work that matters or build a successful business or write a book — but do you make time for these goals above all else? Do your organize your day around accomplishing them? If you commit to nothing, then you'll find that it's easy to be distracted by everything.
3. It doesn't matter how long your goal will take, just get started.
On Day 101, the Tendai monks are thousands of miles and 900 days from their goal. They are setting out on a journey that is so long and so arduous that it's almost impossible for you and I to imagine. And yet, they still accept the full challenge. Day after day, year after year, they work.
And seven years later, they finish. Don't let the length of your goals prevent you from starting on them.
Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.
—H. Jackson Brown
What Makes You Different From the Marathon Monks
There is one very fortunate difference between you and the Tendai monks. You won't die if you don't reach your goal!
In the words of Seth Godin, you literally have the "privilege of being wrong." You won't die if you fail, you'll only learn.
Furthermore, you can always change your mind. If you commit to a goal, work on it for a year, and decide that this isn't actually what you wanted … guess what? You're free to choose something else.
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This should take a burden off of your shoulders! You don't have to worry about committing to the right thing. If you're debating between choices, just choose one. You can always adjust later on.
You have the opportunity to choose a goal that is important to you and the privilege of failing with very little consequence. Don't waste that privilege.
Where to Go From Here
The biggest lesson that the Tendai monks offer for everyday people like you and me is the lesson of commitment and conviction.
Imagine the sense of commitment that the monk feels on Day 101. Imagine what it feels like to embrace the final 900 days of that challenge. Imagine what it feels like to accept a goal that is so important to you that you tell yourself, "I'm going to finish this or I will die trying."
If you have something that is important to you, then eliminate the unrelated and unimportant tasks, get started no matter how big the challenge, and commit to your goal.
Every big challenge has a turning point. Today could be your Day 101. Today could be your Day of Commitment.
A version of this article originally appeared on James Clear's website.


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Seattle City Light's Powerful Neighborhoods program to install free compact fluorescent light bulbs is back at work in the southern part of the utility's service territory.
"Since we launched this program in 2010, we have served more than 30,000 households and installed more than 446,000 compact florescent light bulbs," City Light Conservation Resources Director Glenn Atwood said. "This will reduce energy consumption by about 13 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year for the next five years and save each customer served $50 to $60 a year on their electricity bills."
The area of focus until the end of 2012 will be Seattle City Light residential customers in Southpark, Highland Park, South Delridge, White Center, and adjacent areas of unincorporated King County to the west of I-5 and south of the Seattle city limits.
Powerful Neighborhoods started in South Seattle in 2010 as a pilot program and expanded to Seattle's southern suburbs, part of the Central District, Shoreline and North Seattle. It is designed to reach out door-to-door to seniors, non-English speaking households, low-income residents and other customers who might not have participated in energy conservation programs.
"We are pleased to offer these services to our customers because saving energy is the most cost-effective way to meet the City's future electricity needs," Atwood said.
Seattle City Light has worked with Ecova Inc. and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle (ECOSS), to hire and train installers, schedule home visits, and deliver and install the products.
All installers undergo background checks and drug-screening. Installers fluent in more than a dozen languages, including Spanish, Amharic, Somali, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese, are available to visit homes where English is not the primary language. All staff carry Seattle City Light identification. Short profiles and photos of all installers can be seen at http://www.seattle.gov/light/install/installers.asp.
Installers will canvass neighborhoods door-to-door. If an interested resident is home, staff will install the energy efficient light bulbs and provide low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators or schedule a more convenient time to visit. If the resident is not home, installers leave a notice regarding how to contact the program to arrange a visit.
To qualify, a resident must live in a single-family home, a townhome, or 2- to 4-unit apartment or condo. To make an appointment, call 877-311-8752 or send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com.
Response from customers has been overwhelmingly positive with more than 96 percent of those who completed a satisfaction survey saying that they would definitely recommend the program to their neighbors and friends.
Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States. It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents. City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.


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The SoCG PC meeting was held this year at the Bellairs Research Institute in Barbados, in conjunction with a joint McGill-INRIA workshop on limited visibility, organized by Hazel Everett, Sylvain Lazard, and Sue Whitesides. It was my first time in Barbados; people have been coming to such workshops every year for many years now, and there's a nice core group of people who know how the system works and where all the good eating and drinking joints are.
Bellairs is a fairly minimally equipped research facility, smack bang on the beach on the Caribbean (i.e nicer) side of Barbados - shared dorm rooms, common bath areas, common kitchen, and the like. The facilities are much more basic than say, Dagstuhl, but this is more than made up for by the beauty of the surroundings (Did I mention that it was smack bang on the beach?). In fact, if you walk a few steps from the gate of the Institute, you end up on the beachfront of a swanky nearby hotel, which is rumored to have rooms that cost $700/night, with a 14 night stay guaranteed.
The communal aspect of the facilities (everyone cooks, we all make breakfast together, people share in the costs for food, beer, rum, rum, rum, and more rum) makes the workshop a rather friendly place. I was only there a few days alas, but the mere notion of a schedule where you work in the morning, take the afternoon off, and reconvene after dinner seems so natural, that I was wondering whether we could actually do this at SoCG or other conferences.
The workshop starts off with people proposing all kinds of problems loosely organized around the theme of limited visibility, and then people go off into self-organized groups to work on whatever seems interesting. Every now and then, there's a public review session to discuss progress. This model works surprisingly well, and all kinds of nice puzzles pop out of the discussions.
It's a great environment to do relaxed research in; not having the internet for a few days made looking up results a little tricky, but it was manageable. My main regret in leaving early: I didn't get a chance to go to the (in)famous Rocky's Bar.


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Superman Movies Ranked Worst to Best
Superman's screen legacy dates all the way back to 1941, when Fleischer Studios produced a number of acclaimed animated shorts that arrived just three years after the character first appeared in the historic inaugural issue of Action Comics.
Over the next few decades, Superman appeared in movie serials (starting in the late '40s), TV shows (the first arrived in 1952) and cartoons (The New Adventures of Superman premiered in 1966). There was even a 1951 film called Superman and the Mole Men that wasn't even an hour long. But it wasn't until 1978 that the Man of Steel starred in his first big-screen, feature-length movie.
Directed by Richard Donner and featuring Christopher Reeve as the Krypton-born Superman, and his more human alias Clark Kent, Superman was a massive hit in an era dotted with blockbusters like Jaws and Star Wars. Reeve made three more films as Superman over the next decade, before the character was shuttled back to the small screen for a series of adventures.
The character was given his first movie reboot in 2006 with the underrated Superman Returns; lackluster box-office returns cooled follow-ups until 2013, when Man of Steel launched the DC Extended Universe with a new commitment to action and to cramming as many superheroes that could possibly fit into two and a half hours.
So which of these Superman movies are truly super? And which are slightly less powerful than a locomotive from the 1800s? Find out below as we rank Supe's big-screen starring features over the years.


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Sorting Lines
Brødbæk & Co. offers a wide range of sorting systems for various applications. From simple sorting by width, length and thickness to a complete 3D scanning by length, width, thickness and quality sorting.
The sorting systems can be fed by the main saw line, profiling line, edging line or destacking line.
Tray sorting is primarily used when the raw material is sorted logs.
Box sorting is primarily used when the raw material is unsorted logs, thus a larger number of sorting allocations is required.
Tray sorting line |
Box sorting line |
Sawn timber Handling
Sawn timber Handling


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Local: 320-252-0910
Sheaf - Modern Funeral Sheaf of White Lilies
13035"Sheaf - Modern Funeral Sheaf of white lilies. Approx. Size may vary. Your purchase includes a complimentary personalized gift message."
All items featured on this site represent the types of arrangements we offer and may vary depending upon availability in certain regions. Substitution Policy


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It's 1980s Los Angeles. Nighttime. Stephen Prina and fellow artist Christopher Williams walk along La Brea Avenue—yes, people do walk in Los Angeles—and a pink shape in a glowing storefront display catches their attention. Unable to identify the object, they approach the store and discover the puzzling unit is a desk designed by Austrian architect R.M. Schindler. Something feels odd about the desk, and the artists soon learn it was once built-in to a Schindler house; but, having been removed from its original architectural context, the desk has been painted pink and is now presented, awkwardly, as a freestanding object.
Looking back on that noteworthy discovery nearly three decades later, Prina says of the desk, "it appeared to us as an amputated limb." Thus the seed was planted for Prina's installation As He Remembered It, opening as part of his solo exhibition in BCAM and in the Pavilion for Japanese Art. The exhibition is open to members starting today, and opens to the general public this Sunday, April 7.
In preparation to make the installation, Prina selected the Schindler-designed residences of Mrs. George (Rose) Harris and Hilaire Hiler, constructed in Los Angeles in the 1940s. Both homes have since been demolished. Using surviving plans and photographs, the artist produced replicas of the built-in furniture, which were placed according to the lines of the room. The resulting installation consists of twenty-eight objects that the artist first stained and then painted pink, more specifically Pantone Honeysuckle 2011 Color of the Year—a self-touted "brave new color, for a brave new world."
The effect of As He Remembered It is ghostly. Closets, sinks, vanities, couches, a piano, and a stairway to nowhere occupy the space; they are arranged neatly in a grid pattern, but their incongruous shapes and symptoms of wear and tear, what Prina refers to as "patina," betray their tidy presentation. The slipshod application of paint drips and thickly pools on some surfaces yet remains scarce on others, revealing hints of color that suggest the objects' previous existence.
If, as Prina says, the objects can be likened to amputated limbs, it's easy if not natural to feel the phantom sensation of architectural absence. Although the furniture is firmly rooted to the ground, each piece somehow feels suspended in space, in time, or perhaps in the artist's memory. Yet, we must remind ourselves that as replicas, these objects were never built-ins and that phantom sensation likely represents our own projections of the objects as furniture rather than the objects as objects. Ceci n'est pas un placard.
As He Remembered It was originally exhibited at the Secession in Vienna, the hometown of Schindler who later emigrated to the United States and ultimately settled in Los Angeles. LACMA's exhibition celebrates a homecoming of sorts for both Prina—based between Los Angeles and Cambridge, where he teaches at Harvard— and this major installation, inspired by Schindler's Los Angeles-based designs.
This exhibition is part of Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in Los Angeles, an initiative of the Getty and an offshoot of Pacific Standard Time (2011-2012), which united sixty organizations in celebrating the birth of LA's art and design scene. More modest in its scope, Pacific Standard Time Presents pays homage to the influential role Southern California played in shaping modernist architecture. Later this month, Prina will be at LACMA for a conversation with Michael Govan as part of the free Director's Series.
Stephanie Sykes


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At some Bronx grocery stores, drinks like Coca-Cola Classic, Fanta Orange, Nestea and Seagram's Ginger Ale are cheaper than water. A recent weekly special at C-Town Supermarket in the Belmont neighborhood offered five 1.5-liter bottles of Coca-Cola for $5, while advertising the same-sized bottles of Poland Spring water for $7.45.
The incentive to buy drinks that promote obesity and diabetes can be seen and heard loud and clear on the supermarket shelves in the Bronx.
Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson want to discourage people — that is, poor people — from consuming too much sugar, by banning food stamp recipients from using their benefits to buy certain sugary drinks.
Many Bronx residents believe this effort unfairly targets the poor, and worry about what's next on the mayor's hit list.
"If you drink too much of anything it's not a good thing," said Irving Scott, a Bronx carpenter, who receives food stamps and believes he's responsible enough to moderate his own behavior. "Let people have the freedom to buy what they want."
Outside a Fine Fare Supermarket in Hunts Point, another construction worker said the proposal felt like discrimination. "I think we should be able to have the same benefits as everyone else," said Richard Cruz, who also relies on food stamps. "We aren't even able to get hot sandwiches right now; they have to be cold."
On Arthur Avenue, Virginia Martinez, who uses her food stamps to buy soda, found the proposal invasive. "Bloomberg is over-doing it," she said.
"This time it's soda – what's next?"
Under the two-year plan, food stamp recipients would not be able use their electronic benefit transfer cards – the card recipients use to buy subsidized food – to buy drinks that contain more than the equivalent of one packet of table sugar in a 12-ounce serving. The only exceptions would be milk products, milk substitutes and fruit juices without any added sugar.
"The [food stamp] program has always excluded certain categories of products without nutritional value – like cigarettes and alcohol – and we believe that a strong case can be made for adding sugary drinks to that list," Bloomberg said.
Many New York City residents are asking how far is too far, but particularly in the Bronx, where according to the U.S. Census, nearly one-quarter of Bronx residents received food stamps in 2007.
If approved by the United States Department of Agriculture, food stamp recipients in New York City could not use their benefits to buy sugary drinks. Other items already excluded from the food stamp program, also called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, include tobacco, liquor, vitamins, medicine, pet food, paper products, hot food and household supplies.
This proposal is not the first time elected officials have tried to block access to sugary drinks. In 2004, the Minnesota Department of Human Services asked the United States Department of Agriculture to ban sugary drinks and candy from food stamp purchases. The federal agency rejected the proposal, claiming it would cause customer stigma at supermarket cash registers and the belief that low-income people do not buy nutritious foods.
According to the department of agriculture, research showed that food stamp recipients are wise shoppers and their nutrient intakes are similar to those of higher income consumers.
In a related attempt earlier this year in New York, Gov. Paterson pushed for a penny-an-ounce tax on sugary drinks to help narrow the state's $9.2 billion budget gap, but lawmakers eventually slashed the proposal from the revenue bill after the New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes released series of unrelenting anti-tax ads. One of the ads featured a woman saying, "Tell Albany to trim their budget fat, and leave our grocery budgets alone."
Now Bloomberg and Paterson are preparing for round two – this time with a proposal that applies to only food stamp recipients in New York City.
"There's no denying that childhood obesity is an epidemic, and there's no denying that it's hurting our children in low-income communities the most," said Bloomberg. "Eliminating these beverages from allowable food stamp purchases would give New York families millions of more dollars to spend on food and drinks that provide real nourishment to them and their children."
Unlike the Minnesota plan, the current proposal focuses only on sugary drinks, not both candy and sugary drinks. But health officials say it is enough to put a dent in sugary drink sales, especially those coming from food stamp users.
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, $75 million to $135 million in nutrition assistance benefits were spent on sugary drinks in New York City last year.
Many store owners and managers, some of whom are just starting to rebound from the recession, are concerned their sales will drop if the ban goes into effect.
Wally Hassen, the manager at Day & Night Deli Grocery in Little Italy, said his store makes about $700 a week from sugary drinks, and most of his customers use food stamps.
"It's going to affect the small businesses," Hassen said. "They [the government] are not fixing the economy like that."
Spokespeople for the department of health and mental hygiene would not comment on whether a plan is in place to reimburse small businesses for sales lost because of the ban.
A statement issued by the American Beverage Association, the trade association representing companies that manufacture and distribute non-alcoholic drinks, criticized the proposal saying it is just another attempt by government to tell New Yorkers what they should eat and drink, and will only have an unfair impact on those who can least afford it.
Carl Smith, a food stamp user who was recently shopping with his wife at a Key Food Supermarket on Westchester Avenue, said the ban would affect what drinks he buys.
"I won't be able to buy it [soda] because I have no money," Smith said. "I think it's stupid. We should be allowed to buy food."
Carl's wife, Lori, said she buys four cases of soda a month, and Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Sprite are among her favorites. She, too, thinks the ban goes too far.
"What's next? Coffee?" she asked.
Although the proposal has many Bronxites fired-up, it is part of a larger citywide effort to fight obesity and Type 2 diabetes, two conditions exacerbated by eating or drinking too much sugar.
A 2007 neighborhood report from the Bronx District Public Health Office found that obesity is more common in the Bronx than in New York City overall.
The long-term care required to treat these conditions puts stress on the health care system, causing local and national health expenditures to skyrocket. The New York State Department of Health estimates that treatment for obesity-related diseases – like Type 2 diabetes – costs the State more than $7.6 billion every year and the U.S. $150 billion.
In 1998, Medicare and Medicaid financed approximately half of the costs of obesity-related diseases in the U.S., according to a study published in the Health Affairs journal by Eric Finkelstein and his colleagues.
Obesity-related diseases affect more than just the patients; these diseases also affect current and future generations of taxpayers.
"We feel strongly that the government should not be subsidizing or promoting a product that we know makes people sick, especially in the name of nutrition," said Dr. Thomas Farley, the New York City Health Commissioner.
Farley said the proposal targets drinks that are essentially nothing more than sugar water.
A 12-ounce serving of water contains no sugar, but original lemon-lime Gatorade has the equivalent of about five packets of table sugar and Coca-Cola Classic has nearly 10. Under the ban, most drinks with more than one packet of sugar would be excluded from allowable food stamp purchases.
Sugary drinks contain empty calories, which pump extra energy into a person's diet without providing nourishment, just like a roommate who takes up space in an apartment but does not help with chores.
Most sugary drinks run up calorie intake without giving the body a satisfied appetite in return, causing people to consume even more calories than they would by drinking water alone. These extra calories promote excess weight gain, a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body does not produce enough of the hormone insulin – the ticket sugar uses to gain admission into cells – or when the body ignores it. When sugar cannot move into cells, it backs up in the blood, sometimes with insulin, acting like a line of people waiting to get inside a movie theatre.
Over time, high levels of blood sugar can damage the kidneys, eyes, heart and blood vessels.
There is a clear, independent link between sugar consumption and risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to Dr. Frank Hu, a professor at Harvard Medical School, who studies the effect of diet on Type 2 diabetes.
"The increase in consumption of sugar has paralleled with the epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in the U.S.," Hu said. "Sugar-sweetened beverages have not been on the radar screen for most health professionals until recently. In the past, so much emphasis was put on fat, but now we recognize that sugary drinks are more deleterious."
Hu said the evidence against sugary drinks is now strong enough to start making public health recommendations.
But is the best way for a city government to combat obesity and diabetes through restricting soda for the poor?
Another solution to tax all soda drinkers crumbled earlier this year after Paterson's penny-an-ounce tax faced opposition from the New Yorkers Against Unfair Taxes.
Reducing the size of cans and bottles in vending machines is also an alternative, according to Dr. Robert Kushner, a professor at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
"It makes intuitive sense that the key is to reduce access," Kushner said.
One of the challenges of reducing access, though, is identifying the many different sources of sugar available to consumers. According to Kushner, sugar is not like cigarette smoke, which comes from a single source.
Other experts, and some food stamp users, argue that restricting access alone is not enough because it does not teach people how to adopt healthier behaviors.
"There needs to be education to complement the SNAP program," said Amy Lesh, the clinical nutrition manager at St. Barnabas Hospital. "Nothing is going to work without education."
Food stamp recipient, Richard Cruz, a 34-year resident of Hunts Point, said he understands what the mayor is trying to do, but he does not think Bloomberg is going about it the right way.
"If he would have a class on things that make you fat, then may be people would relate to that better," Cruz said. "I would attend one even though I'm not overweight – it's for my health."
Bloomberg admitted in early October that banning soda from food stamp purchases is not a perfect solution, but after a failed tax proposal, he said it is another way of going about the problem.
Dr. Peter Selwyn, a professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, said political officials should speak with different stakeholders in the affected population before making policies.
"This should inform the decision making," said Selwyn. "I'm not aware this was part of the process or not."
The proposal is currently in Washington, D.C., where it is undergoing thoughtful and careful review, according to Hans Billger, a public affairs specialist at the United States Department of Agriculture.
Some Bronxites said even if the federal agency does approve the proposal, they are not convinced it will actually stop people from buying sugary drinks.
"If they don't buy it with food stamps, they're going to buy it with cash," said Ivette Lee, a food stamp user who buys ginger ale at C-Town. "Are they going to stop making cash, too?"


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Lazy Ad Students Crowdsource Their Books
Seriously? You go to ad school. You drop out (lazy? flunked? too expensive?) to finish your books on your own. When you can't, you ask the ad industry to crowdsource it for you. What happened to good old fashioned hard work? Oh right, laziness reigns supreme these days. Can't cut it on your own? Open it up to the internets and surely someone else will cover your ass by doing your work for you.
Why are Eric Stiles and Nick Larson doing this? To challenge the current portfolio school system, they claim. Granted, the schools aren't perfect but if you two want to succeed in this business, you might just want to do some of your own work. Oh wait, we're all a bunch of lazy-ass delegators in this business so you'll both fit in perfectly.