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Militia Probe Included Undercover Agent
Group's Leader Described as Private Man Who Nurtured Mistrust of Government
By ALEX P. KELLOGG, LAUREN ETTER, KEITH JOHNSON and TIMOTHY W. MARTIN
The leader of a Michigan militia group charged this week with conspiring to kill law-enforcement officers was described Tuesday as a private, family-oriented man who nurtured a festering mistrust of governmental authority, according to people close to the family.
"On the inside of this man's brain, something evil lurks, and until you get to know him, you don't know it," said Andrea Harsh, who was engaged to David Brian Stone Sr. until the couple broke up last year.
She described Mr. Stone, a trim 45-year-old man who wears his whitish hair cropped short over spectacles and a bushy gray mustache, as having a "bubbly personality." But he become consumed by the Hutaree, she said, a southeastern Michigan militia group that described its members as "Christian warriors."
In an indictment Monday, federal authorities named Mr. Stone as leader of the Hutaree and accused him and eight members with plotting to spark an uprising against the U.S. government by killing police. Along with Mr. Stone, seven other men and one woman from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana are in being held without bond on weapons and sedition charges.
The indictment said Hutaree had practiced attacks and other military maneuvers for more than a year, and had planned to kill a law-enforcement officer, then use homemade bombs to attack officers who attended the funeral.
An undercover agent played a role in the investigation that led to Monday's indictments. Grand jury testimony by a law enforcement officer referred to an "undercover FBI agent" who worked on the case. The FBI declined to comment, but infiltration is a common tactic for law-enforcement officials targeting domestic militia groups.
Those charged in the case included Mr. Stone's current wife, Tina Mae Stone, 44; as well as two sons, David Brian Stone Jr., 19; and Joshua Matthew Stone 21. Attorneys for Ms. Stone, David Jr. and Joshua declined to comment Tuesday; the senior Mr. Stone had no attorney as of late Tuesday.
The Hutaree appears based at Mr. Stone's home, a pair of dilapidated house trailers near the intersection of dirt roads in rural Clayton, Michigan—population 303—about 85 miles southwest of Detroit. The yard this week held three cars, a dog house, debris and a gun leaning on an old washing machine.
Family members and acquaintances said Mr. Stone doesn't curse, smoke or drink alcohol and was a strict disciplinarian with his sons, whom he home-schooled from a young age. While he rarely attended church, he studied the Bible nightly, memorizing long passages, said Ms. Harsh, his ex-fiance. Several scripture passages appear on the Hutaree Web site.
On his page on the MySpace social-networking site, Mr. Stone, using the alias of "(RD) Merzonik," listed his interests as "GOD, Guns and Girls." He said he liked action and science-fiction movies and writes, "only dead people are true heroes ... so I guess I don't have any." He listed his hometown as, "Wasteland, America," and 73 MySpace friends include several state and county militias.
Mr. Stone is listed as a 1982 graduate of Sand Creek High School on an alumni Web site. Donna Stone, his ex-wife, said she met Mr. Stone in the mid-1990s when she worked at a deli counter and he was a customer. They enjoyed the movies, she said, and he was charming and funny.
But Mr. Stone increasingly displayed a stubborn streak, as well as an affinity for guns. Ms. Stone, 44, said she left him after about a decade together. "When he went from handguns to big guns, I said, 'Enough,' " she said.
Court documents reveal an undercover FBI agent was part of the investigation of a Michigan-based Christian militia group that allegedly plotted to spark an uprising against the government by killing police officers. Plus, in a major push against the health overhaul, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce plans to spend $50 million to sway election outcomes; and the News Hub discusses how a six-year high in the number of stocks hitting 52-week highs is not necessarily a bad sign for stocks.
Ms. Harsh, 40, said she began dating Mr. Stone in 2008 after meeting him at a plastics recycling factory where they worked. Mr. Stone showed her a Hutaree business card when they met, but otherwise said little about the group while they dated for several months.
After moving in together, Ms. Harsh said, he spent hours on the computer, building the group's Web site and searching online for weapons. "His life was pretty much consumed by the Hutaree," she said.
Mr. Stone despised authority, Ms. Harsh said, particularly "anyone with a badge." She said his temper finally drove her away last year. Mr. Stone remarried a few months later.
Ron Gaydosh, 62, said he had known Mr. Stone for more than 15 years, and frequently invited the Stones over for barbecues. He described Mr. Stone as a "good guy," with "all-around good kids," and said the family enjoyed hunting, fishing and trapping.
He said Mr. Stone was easily upset by talk of the government. "Some of the things that upset Dave also upset me," said Mr. Gaydosh, who belongs to another militia group with no ties to Hutaree. They frequently discussed survivalist techniques and poked fun at government officials, he said, but "there was never any violence planned."
Mr. Gaydosh said Mr. Stone didn't like law enforcement officials driving by and shining lights at Mr. Stone's house, adding that he always referred to police as "feds." Mr. Stone also didn't like neighbors complaining about his target shooting, Mr. Gaydosh said.
It's not clear whether Mr. Stone had money troubles. Ms. Harsh said he was working at Demlow Products, an auto-industry supplier in Clayton; a person who answered the phone at the company declined to comment. Mr. Stone and his ex-wife, Donna Stone, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 1999.
Over the past couple of years, Mr. Stone attracted more Hutaree members, Ms. Harsh said: "His goal was to have all of the states have at least one group of Hutaree."
But he scared off some potential recruits. Jon Killman said he visited Mr. Stone and his sons in December because he was interested in joining a militia to practice survival skills.
He said Mr. Stone was a gracious host and offered him coffee. But soon Mr. Killman "got a bad vibe" as the Stones started joking about police officers who'd been shot in a coffee shop in Washington state.
The family's dining room table was strewn with shotgun shells, Mr. Killman recalled. The elder Mr. Stone said the shells would be filled with gunpowder and tied to trip wires to simulate landmines.
At first "they just seemed like a down-to-earth hillbilly family," he said. "After 20 minutes into the meeting, I realized these guys are not dealing with a full deck."
Matt Savino, commander of the Lenawee Volunteer Michigan Militia near Mr. Stone's home, said in recent months Mr. Stone became "paranoid" and began asking other militia groups to join in military exercises.
Mr. Stone began talking more about how "the federal government was coming down on them" and the need to be on the offensive and retain the element of surprise, Mr. Savino said.
Ms. Harsh said Mr. Stone "always thought he could hide from the government. He thought he was invincible."

subset: commoncrawl


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The cheetaan universe is a large sci-fi setting I am planning since more than a decade. The central element would be the discovery of interstellar travel, our expansion, and along that, our encounters with various other intelligent races with different backgrounds, cultures and even biological constructions. Could we coexist with them or would we destroy? Could we understand their ways of life, their unique features? Would they even accept us? Would we be able to fill in a role in this new world, or be doomed to never settling conflicts? How we would even relate ourselves out there? For now I only post some art and fragments, planning to release larger related works later.
March 2018
April 2014
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New Rules re Training for 16-17 year olds working 20+hrs pw
If you employ a 16-17yo for more than 20 hours per week for 8 weeks or more, they must undertake either an apprenticeship or part-time accredited training alongside their work. They must attend at least 280 hours of training per year, which equates to around one day per week. I'm not sure how this will pan out if they are temping, but no doubt we'll find out soon.
Whilst training may seem a bit of a burden on employers, planned wisely it can bring added value to your organisation and improve engagement levels among your staff.
We'd be happy to talk with you about this. Please get in touch.


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AlphaZ system is now designed based on eclipse plug-in projects for better collaboration with CAIRN group in IRISA, France. We currently have two repositories hosting different parts of the system, based on where it was initially developed.
Individual directories (with prefix like fr.irisa.cairn or edu.csu.melange) are individual projects in Eclipse, and it is designed to be checked out from Eclipse as projects.
------trunk | |---mde // AlphaZ extensions based on MDE | | | |---edu.csu.melange.alphaz.mde // AlphaZ system with MDE | | | |---edu.csu.melange.alphaz.mde.tests // Test project for MDE part | | | |---edu.csu.melange.alphabets //Xtext parser for alphabets | |---edu.csu.melange.alphabets.ui //Xtext generated editor for alphabets | | | |---edu.csu.melange.alphabets.kermeta.visitor.gen // Project used for visitor code generation | | | |---edu.csu.melange.alphaz.commands // projects for scripting interface | |-.commands.edit // Tree editor for Command IF model for command description | |-.commands.editor | |-.commands.scripts.mde // Scripts that are generated completely automatically from commands project | | |----tools // Tools that are shared among projects | |----features // Eclipse features and update site projects for public release | | | |--- edu.csu.melange.alphabets.developer.feature // Group all the plugins needed for Development | |--- edu.csu.melange.alphabets.developer.updatesite // Used for updating the Dev Release Website | |--- edu.csu.melange.alphabets.users.feature // Group all the plugins needed for Public Release | |--- edu.csu.melange.alphabets.users.updatesite // Used for updating the Public Release Website
The gecos SVN has a large number of eclipse projects. The list below are for projects that are used by AlphaZ and PolyhedralIR, and is not exhaustive.
Consult MANIFEST.MF in edu.csu.melange.alphaz.mde
for complete list of required plug-ins.
The PolyhedralIR chain. Following plug-ins are
gecos/trunk | |---polytools-emf | | |---org.polymodel.scop // Project for representing/manipulation Static Control Loops (SCoPs) |---org.polymodel.scop.cgenerator // C code generation from Scop |---org.polymodel.scop.dtiler // D-Tiling algorithm implemented on Scop |---org.polymodel.algebra // Model for representing Integer (Linear) Algebra, used for library independent representation of polyhedra |---org.polymodel // Model for basic polyhedral objects (Domain/Function) and interface for external polyhedral libraries for manipulating them |---org.polymodel.isl // Implementation of polymodel using ISL | |---fr.irisa.cairn.jnimap.cloog // JNI binding for ClooG (cloog-isl) |---fr.irisa.cairn.jnimap.isl // JNI binding for ISL | // depends on plug-ins under cairn-public/tools/jnimapper for changing bindings to ISL (cairn-public is a separate SVN repository) |---org.polymodel.polyhedralIR // Common IR for Polyhedral programs. Closely follows AlphaZ AST |---org.polymodel.polyhedralIR.codegen // Code generation framework for PolyhedralIR and implemented code generators
The following plug-ins are the minimal plug-ins required from Gecos for using CS editor (the scripting interface). Modifying these plug-ins are necessary for extending the scripting interface, but modification must be done with great care.
gecos/trunk |---core | |---fr.irisa.r2d2.gecos.framework |---fr.irisa.r2d2.parser.runtime |---fr.irisa.r2d2.gecos.cseditor
Anoymous read only access is available through http. The repository is located at 'http://www.cs.colostate.edu/AlphaZsvn/Development'
For developers in CSU, the following location should be used with your CS login
Anonymous read only access is available for the gecos repository.
Follow instructions at
https://gforge.inria.fr/scm/?group_id=510 for Gecos SVN and
https://gforge.inria.fr/scm/?group_id=2888 for CAIRN-public
URLS are (for Anonymous and Developer access):
For developers that seek to develop within PolyhedralIR
, write access may be needed.
To acquire write access to the gforge repositories:
You may have some error connecting to the repository through eclipse
For current version of AlphaZ following features from external providers are required:


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Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix makro- meaning "large" and economics) is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole, rather than individual markets. This includes national, regional, and global economies.
[edit]- Quotes are arranged alphabetically by author.
[edit]- Macroeconomics is the branch of economics that deals with the whole economy and the big picture. The behavior of smaller units within the economy including households, firms, and consumers is covered within microeconomics.
- David Anderson, Cracking the AP Economics Macro and Micro Exams: 2004–2005 (2004), p. 225.
- Not only is it possible to devise complete models of the economy on hypotheses other than rationality, but in fact virtually every practical theory of macroeconomics is partly so based. The price- and wage- rigidity elements of Keynesian theory are hard to fit into a rational framework, though some valiant efforts have been made. … But if the Keynesian model is a natural target of criticism by the upholders of universal rationality, it must be added that monetarism is no better. I know of no serious derivation of the demand for money from a rational optimization. … The use of rationality in these arguments is ritualistic, not essential.
- Kenneth Arrow, "Rationality of Self and Others in an Economic System", 1986
- Kenneth Arrow, "Rationality of Self and Others in an Economic System", 1986
- The dictionary defines "economics" as "a social science concerned chiefly with description and analysis of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services." Here is another definition of economics which I think is more helpful in explaining how economics relates to software engineering.
Economics is the study of how people make decisions in resource-limited situations.
This definition of economics fits the major branches of classical economics very well.
Macroeconomics is the study of how people make decisions in resource-limited situations on a national or global scale. It deals with the effects of decisions that national leaders make on such issues as tax rates, interest rates, foreign and trade policy.
Microeconomics is the study of how people make decisions in resource-limited situations on a more personal scale. It deals with the decisions that individuals and organizations make on such issues such as how much insurance to buy, which word processor to buy, or what prices to charge for their products or services.
- Barry Boehm, "Software engineering economics," Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on 1 (1984), p. 4.
- Inflation is bad for growth—this has become one of the most widely accepted economic nostrums of our age. But see how you feel about it after digesting the following piece of information.
During the 1960s and the 1970s, Brazil's average inflation rate was 42% a year. Despite this, Brazil was one of the fastest growing economies in the world for those two decades—its per capita income grew at 4.5% a year during this period. In contrast, between 1996 and 2005, during which time Brazil embraced the neo-liberal orthodoxy, especially in relation to macroeconomic policy, its inflation rate averaged a much lower 7.1% a year. But during this period, per capita income in Brazil grew at only 1.3% a year.
If you are not entirely persuaded by the Brazilian case—understandable, given that hyperinflation went side by side with low growth in the 1980s and the early 1990s—how about this? During its 'miracle' years, when its economy was growing at 7% a year in per capita terms, Korea had inflation rates close to 20%-17.4% in the 1960s and 19.8% in the 1970s. These were rates higher than those found in several Latin American countries … Are you still convinced that inflation is incompatible with economic success?.
- Ha-Joon Chang, "Mission impossible?; Can financial prudence go too far?, There is inflation and there is inflation," ch. 7 of Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008), pp. 139–140.
- Gore Vidal, the American writer, once described the American economic system as 'free enterprise for the poor and socialism for the rich'. Macroeconomic policy on the global scale is a bit like that. It is Keynesianism for the rich countries and monetarism for the poor.
- Ha-Joon Chang, "Keynesianism for the rich, monetarism for the poor," ch. 7 of Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (2008), p. 142.
- Macro-economic policy had accelerated the "expulsion" of landless peasants from the countryside leading to the formation of a nomadic migrant labor force moving from one metropolitan area to another.
- Michel Chossudovsky, "IMF Shock Treatment in Peru," ch. 14 of The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order (2nd ed., 2003), p. 200.
- Macro-economic reform undermined the legal economy, reinforced illicit trade and contributed to the recycling of "dirty money" towards Peru's official and commercial creditors.
- Michel Chossudovsky, "IMF Shock Treatment in Peru," ch. 14 of The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order (2nd ed., 2003), p. 225.
- So-called macroeconomics has never been real economics but rather an endless series of engineering-type models purporting to guide politicians in centrally planning an economy. In the bizarro world of macroeconomics all capital is the same, and all workers are the same, as one big lump, expressed as 'K' and 'L' in the models. Relative prices and their role in allocating resources in a market economy are mostly ignored, while 'economic aggregates' are said to influence 'the' price level.
In macroeconomics it is taken as a given that markets are incapable of allocating resources in an acceptable way; that's why there is supposedly a need for macroeconomic central planning in the first place. No such 'failures' are assumed on the part of the macroeconomic central planners.
- Thomas J. DiLorenzo, in "Greenankeism (Or, Beware the New Yellow Peril)," (21 March 2009).
[edit]- While many of the conflicting claims can be reconciled in terms of the short-run and long-run orientation of Keynesians and monetarists, respectively, and in terms of their contrasting philosophical orientations, neither vision takes into account the workings or failings of the market mechanisms within the investment aggregate.
Austrian macroeconomics is set apart from both Keynesianism and monetarism by its attention to the differential effects of interest-rate changes within the investment sector, or—using the Austrian terminology—within the economy's structure of production.
- Roger W. Garrison, "Is Milton Friedman a Keynesian?," in Dissent on Keynes, ed. Mark Skousen (1992).
- Accounting for the artificial boom and the consequent bust is not part of Keynesian income-expenditure analysis, nor is it an integral part of monetarist analysis. The absence of any significant relationship between boom and bust is an inevitable result of dealing with the investment sector in aggregate terms. The analytical oversight derives from theoretical formulation in Keynesian analysis and from empirical observation in monetarist analysis. But from an Austrian perspective, the differences in method and substance are outweighed by the common implication of Keynesianism and monetarism, namely, that there is no boom-bust cycle of any macroeconomic significance.
- Roger W. Garrison, "Is Milton Friedman a Keynesian?," in Dissent on Keynes, ed. Mark Skousen (1992).
- To take what might seem an "objective", macro-economic approach to the origins of the world economy would be to treat the behavior of early European explorers, merchants, and conquerors as if they were simply rational responses to opportunities—as if this were just what anyone would have done in the same situation. This is what the use of equations so often does: make it seem perfectly natural to assume that, if the price of silver in China is twice what it is in Seville, and inhabitants of Seville are capable of getting their hands on large quantities of silver and transporting it to China, then clearly they will, even if doing so requires the destruction of entire civilizations. Or if there is a demand for sugar in England, and enslaving millions is the easiest way to acquire labor to produce it, then it is inevitable that some will enslave them.
- David Graeber, "Age of the Great Capitalist Empires," ch. 11 of Debt: The First 5,000 Years (2011), p. 314.
- The world probably would have been much better off had macroeconomics never been devised. Although I have in mind Keynesian macroeconomics above all, I include other types of macro models as well. I even include, somewhat reluctantly, the whole quantity theory approach descended from David Hume to the Friedmanites, now known as monetarism.
- Robert Higgs, "Is Macroeconomics Really Economics?," The Beacon (Independent Institute, 14 August 2014).
- Most macroeconomics of the past 30 years was spectacularly useless at best, and positively harmful at worst.
- Paul Krugman, Lionel Robbins Lecture at the London School of Economics (June 2009).
- It is likely that many modern economists would have no difficulty accepting Hayek's statement of the problem (of macroeconomics) as roughly equivalent to their own. Whether or not this is so, I wish … to argue that it should be so, or that the most rapid progress toward a coherent and useful aggregate economic theory will result from the acceptance of the problem statement as advanced by Hayek.
- Robert Lucas, Jr., "Understanding Business Cycles," in Studies in Business-Cycle Theory (1981), p. 216.
[edit]- If you were going to turn to only one economist to understand the problems facing the economy, there is little doubt that the economist would be John Maynard Keynes. Although Keynes died more than a half-century ago, his diagnosis of recessions and depressions remains the foundation of modern macroeconomics. His insights go a long way toward explaining the challenges we now confront.
- N. Gregory Mankiw, "What Would Keynes Have Done?" in New York Times (28 November 2008).
- The field of economics is traditionally divided into two broad subfields. Microeconomics is the study of how households and firms make decisions and how they interact in specific markets. Macroeconomics is the study of economy wide phenomena. A microeconomist might study the effects of rent control on housing in New York City, the impact of foreign competition on the U.S. auto industry, or the effects of compulsory school attendance on workers' earnings. A macroeconomist might study the effects of borrowing by the federal government, the changes over time in the economy's rate of unemployment, or alternative policies to promote growth in national living standards. Microeconomics and macroeconomics are closely intertwined. Because changes in the overall economy arise from the decisions of millions of individuals, it is impossible to understand macroeconomic developments without considering the associated microeconomic decisions.
- N. Gregory Mankiw, Principle of Economics (6th ed., 2012). p. 27.
- Professor Ohlin also made an important contribution to what now might be called the macro-economic aspects of a country's balance of payments. In 1929 in the Economic Journal he engaged in a famous controversy with Keynes on the problem of transferring payments from one country to another across the foreign exchanges. In this he laid stress upon the income-expenditure effects of the reduced spending power in the paying country and of the increased spending power in the recipient country. In doing so he made use of the usual distinction between a country's imports and exports; but in addition he emphasised the importance of the less usual distinction between a country's domestic non-tradeable goods and services and its tradeable, exportable and importable, goods. I made some use of this latter distinction in my Balance of Payments; but looking back I regret that I did not let it play a much more central role in that book
- James E. Meade, "The Meaning of 'Internal Balance'," Prize Lecture to the memory of Alfred Nobel (8 December 1977).
- During the relatively brief period in the late 1960s when economists were pondering the possible obsolescence of business cycles, the scholarly discipline of macroeconomics showed signs of becoming fragmented into speciality areas devoted to components of the then popular large-scale econometric models-for example, consumption, investment, money demand, and the Phillips curve. But more recently the revival of severe real world business cycles, together with the revolutions associated with Milton Friedman's monetarism and Lucas's classical equilibrium models, has brought about a revival of interest in economic analysis that focuses on a few broad aggregates summarizing activity in the economy as a whole-nominal and real income, the inflation rate, and the unemployment rate.
- Robert J. Gordon, ed. The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change, 1986. p. 2
[edit]- The basic economic principles involved in discussions of the national economy are not overly complicated but two crucial misconceptions need to be guarded against: (1) the fallacy of composition and (2) assessing economic activity as if it were a zero-sum game, in which what is gained by some is lost by others. There are also sometimes misconceptions of the nature of government, leading to unrealistic demands being made on it and then hasty denunciations of the "stupidity" or "irrationality" of government officials when those demands are not met.
- Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics, 4th ed. (2010), Ch. 18. Government Finance
- If we are to grasp the dynamics of this unforecasted storm, we have to move beyond the familiar cognitive frame of macroeconomics that we inherited from the early twentieth century. Forged in the wake of World War I and World War II, the macroeconomic perspective on international economics is organized around nation-states, national productive systems and the trade imbalances they generate. It is a view of the economy that will forever be identified with John Maynard Keynes. Predictably, the onset of the crisis in 2008 evoked memories of the 1930s and triggered calls for a return to "the master." And Keynesian economics is, indeed, indispensable for grasping the dynamics of collapsing consumption and investment, the surge in unemployment and the options for monetary and fiscal policy after 2009. But when it comes to analyzing the onset of financial crises in an age of deep globalization, the standard macroeconomic approach has its limits. In discussions of international trade it is now commonly accepted that it is no longer national economies that matter. What drives global trade are not the relationships between national economies but multinational corporations coordinating far-flung "value chains." The same is true for the global business of money. To understand the tensions within the global financial system that exploded in 2008 we have to move beyond Keynesian macroeconomics and its familiar apparatus of national economic statistics. As Hyun Song Shin, chief economist at the Bank for International Settlements and one of the foremost thinkers of the new breed of "macrofinance," has put it, we need to analyze the global economy not in terms of an "island model" of international economic interaction—national economy to national economy—but through the "interlocking matrix" of corporate balance sheets—bank to bank. As both the global financial crisis of 2007–2009 and the crisis in the eurozone after 2010 would demonstrate, government deficits and current account imbalances are poor predictors of the force and speed with which modern financial crises can strike. This can be grasped only if we focus on the shocking adjustments that can take place within this interlocking matrix of financial accounts. For all the pressure that classic "macroeconomic imbalances"—in budgets and trade—can exert, a modern global bank run moves far more money far more abruptly.
- Adam Tooze Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World (2018)
- A central concern of macroeconomics is the upswings and downswings in the level of real output called the business cycle. The business cycle consists of alternating periods of economic growth and contraction. Business cycles are inherent in market economies.
- Irvin Tucker, Macroeconomics for Today, (2008), p. 150.


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SRX is a 6-volume Surgeon reissues label.
While searching through old DAT tapes I was shocked to find how clear and dynamic many of my early tracks sounded, not the way I remembered them from the vinyl releases. Those early tracks, recorded 20 years ago, were mastered and cut by people who had no understanding of electronic music. I actually remember cutting a dubplate back then and being asked if my track was "supposed to sound like that?" The engineer was so disgusted at my music that once the cut started he left the room until it was finished.
Although some of these releases have been repressed many times over the years, they have always been from the original plates from those early cuts; none have ever been re-mastered and recut in their original from. So I began carefully transferring everything from the original DAT tapes and working closely with Christoph Grote-Beverborg from Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin (who's been cutting my all my releases since 1996) to present this early material as it was originally intended.
Along with the early Downwards releases, I found high-quality unreleased tracks from that time as well as releases that had only been issued in limited pressings; those too are included in this project. For the packaging I commissioned Ken Meier and Yoonjai Choi from the New York design firm Common Name to create some sumptuous sleeve art.
SRX001 - Surgeon EP (2014 Remaster)
SRX002 - Pet 2000 (2014 Remaster)
SRX003 - Communications (2014 Remaster)
SRX004 - Dynamic Tension EP (2014 Remaster)
SRX005 - Rare tracks 95-96 (2014 Remaster)
SRX006 - Unreleased tracks 95-96


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From: Healthfinder
Parents driving with their children in the car are just as likely to use cellphones as other drivers, a new study finds.
Parents driving with their children in the car are just as likely to use cellphones as other drivers, a new study finds.
Researchers interviewed 570 parents of children aged 1 to 12 who were treated at two hospital emergency rooms in Michigan. About 90 percent of parent drivers admitted to distracted driving.
Two-thirds of the parents said they had used cellphones while driving with their child, and 15 percent said they had texted while driving with their child.
Many confessed to other types of distracted driving, and giving food to a child while driving was even more common than cellphone use, according to the study released online on April 30 in the journal Academic Pediatrics.
"This just highlights the need to consider multiple sources of driver distraction when kids are passengers. Giving food to a child or picking up a toy for a child not only requires a driver to take their hands off the wheel but also take their eyes off the road," study author Dr. Michelle Macy, an emergency medicine physician at the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, said in a university news release.
Distracted driving caused about one in six fatal traffic crashes in the United States in 2008, and that percentage has likely increased, according to Macy.
She and her colleagues also found that white parents and those with higher levels of education were more likely to admit to distracted driving due to the use of cellphones or navigation systems.
"If this finding is a result of greater access to technology among more highly educated and non-Hispanic white parents, we can expect the problem of technology-based distractions to expand because national rates of cellphone ownership in the U.S. have climbed above 90 percent," Macy said.
The researchers also found that parents with children ages 2 to 8 were more likely to report distracted driving when their children were in the car, compared with parents of children who were 1 year old.
The study findings also suggest that parents may be setting a poor example for their children, Macy said.
"Efforts to improve child passenger safety have often focused on increased and proper use of restraining seats. But this study shows that reducing distractions and discouraging unsafe behaviors could prevent crashes," she noted.
More information
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has more about distracted driving.


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Blackheads are a very common skin condition that mostly affects your face, neck, back and chest. There are a variety of causes, including too much oil on your skin and hair follicle irritation. Blackheads commonly affect adolescents, but they can occur at any age.
Blackheads typically affect teenagers and young adults undergoing hormonal changes. However, many adults continue to have acne into their 20s, 30s and beyond. Some even develop blackheads for the first time as adults.
How common is this condition?
Blackheads are very common. Some researchers suggest that blackheads affect nearly everyone during their lives. They're most common among adolescents, but up to 10% to 20% of adults have blackheads too.
How do blackheads affect my body?
Your face (especially your nose and chin, sometimes your cheeks), neck, back and chest are most likely to develop blackheads. However, oil (sebaceous) glands are all over your body.
They release an oily lubricant called sebum that helps keep your skin and hair hydrated and shiny. As a result, though it isn't common, blackheads sometimes appear on your butt, thighs, ears and armpits.
Blackheads don't seriously affect your physical health, but they can affect you psychosocially (how society and social groups affect your mind) and psychologically (your self-perception and behavior). Blackheads can cause anxiety, depression, mood disorders and suicidal thoughts.
Blackheads are small, dark lesions that appear on the skin, often on the face and neck. They are a feature of mild acne, but they can appear without other signs of acne being present.
our testers using them for weeks at a time and rating how well they worked to decongest and clarify their skin. Our team then combined these recommendations and results with our own research to compile our list.
This product does a double job: salicylic acid penetrates the pores, and charcoal absorbs excess sebum (i.e., those fatty bumps that may appear on the skin's surface). It also has a grainy texture that can be used as a mild physical exfoliation, as well as jojoba oil for moisturizing.
This daily acne scrub fights rashes by removing oil from the skin and gently exfoliating, heals acne and soothes the skin. This facial scrub cleanses and exfoliates skin,
Fast facts about blackheads
- Blackheads are made of oxidized melanin and not trapped dirt.
- Squeezing or scrubbing at blackheads can make them worse.
- To reduce blackheads, avoid oil-based skin care products, humid environments, tight clothes, and skin products that contain alcohol.
- They tend to appear when hormones lead to the increased production of sebum, an oily substance, by the glands under the skin.
When these pores are plugged, the dead skin cells in the open pore react with oxygen in the air and turn black, forming a blackhead.
This is often confused with trapped dirt, but the development of blackheads is not related to the cleanliness of the skin.


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Whenever I hear someone called a "cult writer," my hackles jump toward the ceiling. It's not only that the phrase calls up images of self-congratulatory hipsters, but that writers who become cultish tend to do so because their work is steeped in bizarro sex, graphic violence, trippy weirdness or half-baked philosophy.
The grand exception is my favorite American writer, 78-year-old Charles Portis, who could hardly be less hip. This ex-Marine loves cars, knows guns, can't stand hippies and lives off the media radar in Little Rock, Ark., without being famous for trying not to be famous. If his name rings a bell, it's because he wrote True Grit, a sneaky-dark Western that inspired two movies and was the closest he ever came to trying to write the Great American Novel. Yet among Portis' followers — and yes, we're a cult — that book doesn't display what makes him special. For us, thinking that True Grit is the best of his five novels is like saying "Hey Jude" is the Beatles at their finest.
He hasn't published a book since 1991, so my heart soared when I learned about Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany. It brings together pieces that we cultists have been passing around like samizdat literature. The book's editor, Jay Jennings, has collected lots of good stuff, including Portis' '60s articles about the civil rights movement, assorted short stories, a new play and the longest interview he ever gave.
What I like most here are his travel pieces — a terrific portrait of Nashville music, a sharply drawn auto trip down Baja California, and an affectionately droll memoir of three cheap hotels, the kind of places where you would find, he writes, "British journalists named Clive, Colin, or Fiona, scribbling notes and getting things wrong for their journey books about the real America, that old and elusive theme."
Of course, Portis himself works that same old and elusive theme, even if he proceeds elusively. He doesn't tackle the CIA head-on like Don DeLillo or big-city racial politics like Tom Wolfe. He'd never call a novel Freedom.Instead, he tells cockeyed stories filled with digressions and a Gogolian profusion of garrulous oddballs — con men like Grady Fring the Kredit King, and warped visionaries like Dr. Reo Symes — who turn up and regale us with stories of other oddball characters whom they've met but we never will. And in this very looseness, Portis captures key features of our national psyche.
For starters, he writes about — and shares — our national obsession with being on the move. His plots are quests, whether it's the ex-Marine hero of Norwood going from small-town Texas to New York City to collect some money or the mild-mannered hero of The Dog of the South chasing his runaway wife from Arkansas to British Honduras by following the route marked out by her credit card bills. Portis clearly loves the road as much as Jack Kerouac, but he doesn't mythologize it. He knows that restless motion is part of our national DNA.
What makes his work magical is the deadpan brilliance of his language, which is at once extraordinarily observant — he notices the iridescent rainbow sheen on a slice of roast beef — and yet comically askew, so that we see the world in a way we've not quite seen it before.
So is the obsessive quest for some sort of hidden truth behind daily life. His books are crawling with gurus, self-help specialists, secret organizations and devotees of cosmic conspiracies, like the hippies in search of Mayan wisdom in the novel Gringos or the members of the Gnomon Society in Masters of Atlantis, who wear funny hats and think they have The Answer. In Portis' America, everybody is always looking for that special piece of knowledge that will let ordinary people feel less, well, ordinary.
I suspect Portis would be chagrined to have me state all this so baldly. You see, what makes his work magical is the deadpan brilliance of his language, which is at once extraordinarily observant — he notices the iridescent rainbow sheen on a slice of roast beef — and yet comically askew, so that we see the world in a way we've not quite seen it before. He's our funniest living writer with a sense of humor so sly that you can read his best book, The Dog of the South, five or 10 times and still find jokes you've never noticed before.
So if you've never read Portis, here's what I'd recommend: Pick up his first novel, Norwood, and don't stop reading until you reach the scene with the sideshow chicken, Joann the Wonder Hen, who's probably the wisest character in all his work. If you do this, I feel confident the Portis cult will have enlisted another member.
Copyright 2020 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.


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Get the attention of potential new personal trainer clients when you wear your red pom pom knit cap. The word "TRAINER" is embroidered in red 3D puff thread which make the service you offer boldly stand out.
This cap is warm and soft, and the pom-pom gives it a playful touch.
• 100% acrylic
• 12" in length
• Pom-pom on top


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To submit the revision request, you just have to log into the account, click on "VIEW" on the required order and you will find a big button "SUBMIT FOR REVISION". There you have to provide all the requirements for the writer.
Every client is eligible for a revision if the revision request adheres to the following requirements:


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The Trump administration is rescinding protections for transgender students in public schools.
The move by the Justice and Education departments reverses guidance the Obama administration publicized in May 2016, which said a federal law known as Title IX protects the right of transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities.
But on Wednesday, the two federal departments said the Obama documents do not "contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process. This interpretation has given rise to significant litigation regarding school restrooms and locker rooms."
A letter issued by the departments also says there "must be due regard for the primary role of states and local school districts in establishing educational policy."
"The president has made it clear throughout the campaign that he's a firm believer in states' rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
About 150,000 young people ages 13 to 17 identify as transgender, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Civil rights groups say they worry that the reversal could lead to bullying and violence against vulnerable transgender kids. Some protested outside the White House on Wednesday evening.
When then-President Barack Obama issued the guidelines last year, the White House directed schools to allow students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identities, citing a federal law that protects students from gender discrimination.
As NPR's Scott Horsley reported, the Obama administration "warned that schools that defied the recommendation could be at risk of losing federal funds. Thirteen states challenged the Obama guidelines, and a Texas judge put them on hold."
That administration said the directive was meant to help school districts avoid running afoul of civil rights laws, as we reported.
Under Obama, the Department of Justice sued the state of North Carolina over its so-called bathroom law, which prohibits municipal governments in the state from passing laws protecting the rights of transgender people. It also requires trans people in government facilities to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate.
North Carolina has lost business over the law, including NCAA championship events that were scheduled to be held in the state.
State legislatures in New Hampshire, Colorado and Texas, among other states, have also considered bills that would restrict access to restrooms for transgender people.
On March 28, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit filed by a high school student in Virginia. As NPR's Nina Totenberg has reported:
"Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old senior in Gloucester County, [Va.] ... came out as transgender when he was a freshman in high school. The school principal allowed him to use the boys' bathroom, until some parents complained, and the school board adopted a policy that required students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, or a separate single-stall restroom office."
Grimm sued the school board. His lawsuit argues the bathroom policy is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment and violates Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination by schools.
In April, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the case to proceed. In August, the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the school board did not have to allow Grimm to use the restroom of his choice in the interim.
Justice Stephen Breyer said he voted to stay the lower court order as a "courtesy" to maintain the status quo while the court considered whether to hear the lawsuit, as The Two-Way reported.
Wednesday's documents say the Trump administration will "more completely consider the legal issues involved" in the Obama rules and in litigation "will not rely on the views expressed within them."
The American Civil Liberties Union's James Esseks says in a statement:
"While it's disappointing to see the Trump administration revoke the guidance, the administration cannot change what Title IX means. When it decided to hear Gavin Grimm's case, the Supreme Court said it would decide which interpretation of Title IX is correct, without taking any administration's guidance into consideration. We're confident that that the law is on Gavin's side and he will prevail just as he did in the Fourth Circuit."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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But does the Bible teach that God is behind the natural disasters we see today? Not at all! God is not causing the earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and volcanic eruptions that are so often in today's news. He is not using these to bring punishment on certain peoples. To a large extent, these are caused by natural forces that have been operating since the earth's creation. God's judgments as described in the Bible are quite different from natural disasters. For one thing, God is selective; he reads the hearts of individuals and destroys only those he deems wicked. (Genesis 18:23-32) Furthermore, God sends warnings first, thereby giving the righteous opportunity to escape.
Not only does the Bible shed light on whether God sends natural disasters to punish mankind today, but it also sheds light on what is behind the suffering that so many experience.
The Scriptures Provide a Pattern
The Bible reveals two fundamental truths about God, whose name is Jehovah. First, He is the Creator and as such has the power and authority to control earth's natural forces. (Revelation 4:11) Second, his actions are always in harmony with His personality, qualities, and principles. He states at Malachi 3:6: "I am Jehovah; I have not changed." With these points in mind, consider two events in the past, one involving a flood and another involving a drought. You will see that in Bible history when God used natural forces to execute his judgments, he always provided (1) a warning, (2) a reason, and (3) protection for obedient worshippers.
Warning. Decades before the Flood, Jehovah told Noah: "As for me, here I am bringing the deluge of waters upon the earth to bring to ruin all flesh." (Genesis 6:17) Noah, "a preacher of righteousness," warned the people, but they "took no note."—2 Peter 2:5; Matthew 24:39.
Reason. Jehovah announced: "The end of all flesh has come before me, because the earth is full of violence as a result of them."—Genesis 6:13.
Protection for obedient worshippers. Jehovah gave Noah detailed instructions regarding the making of an ark for survival of the Flood. "Noah and those who were with him in the ark kept on surviving."—Genesis 7:23.
Warning. Before Jehovah God brought a severe drought on Israel, his prophet Elijah announced: "There will occur during these years neither dew nor rain, except at the order of [God's] word!"—1 Kings 17:1.
Reason. Israel's worship of the false god Baal prompted Jehovah's action. In explanation, Elijah stated: "You men have left the commandments of Jehovah, and you went following the Baals."—1 Kings 18:18.
Protection for obedient worshippers. Jehovah provided food for obedient worshippers during the drought.—1 Kings 17:6, 14; 18:4; 19:18.
What the Pattern Reveals
Today there is no evidence that natural disasters are part of a master plan to punish mankind. As a God of justice, Jehovah has never 'swept away the righteous with the wicked.' (Genesis 18:23, 25) He made provision for those who were obedient to him. Today natural disasters afflict men, women, and children indiscriminately.
Clearly, current natural disasters do not fit the pattern of divine intervention found in the Scriptures. What is more, these random events are out of harmony with God's personality. James 1:13 states that God does not try people with evil things, and 1 John 4:8 sums up God's character in these words: "God is love." He could never be responsible for the misery inflicted on innocent people by random storms, earthquakes, and similar tragedies. Will such disasters ever end?
The Suffering Will End
Jehovah God never intended for humankind to be plagued by natural disasters. His will is for humans to live forever in peaceful conditions on earth. As he did in Noah's day, he will intervene in earth's affairs to remove badness. True to form, Jehovah God is providing advance notice by having a message of warning declared worldwide, thus allowing people to put themselves in line for survival.—Psalm 37:9, 11, 29; Matthew 24:14.
Also see:
Do Jehovah's Witnesses Assist With Disaster Relief? (jw.org)
Partial list of the help Jehovah's Witnesses have given World-wide over a 12-month period ending in mid-2012. (jw.org)
VIDEO: Do Jehovah's Witnesses Assist With Disaster Relief? (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)
Sources For This Article:
The Bible's Viewpoint - Does God Use Natural Disasters to Punish Mankind Today? (g 12/12 pp. 10-11; Watchtower Online Library)
Are Natural Disasters Punishment From God? (w08 5/1 p. 30; Watchtower Online Library; AUDIO/VIDEO at right.)
Is God Responsible? (g 9/07 pp. 4-7; Watchtower Online Library)
Acts of God? (g 11/06 pp. 3-4; Watchtower Online Library)
Is God Punishing Us? - Natural Disasters—Why So Many? (w11 12/1 pp. 4-5; Watchtower Online Library)
Why does God permit "natural disasters," which cause extensive damage to property and life? (rs p. 393-p. 400; Watchtower Online Library)


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Article and audio introduction by Samantha Kennedy, Family and Consumer Sciences
It's Hurricane Season!
Hurricane season is in full swing and will last through November 30. If you have not prepared your emergency supply kit, and especially your emergency water supply, now is the time, BEFORE a hurricane is imminent.
The most important item in your emergency supply kit is clean drinking water. Clean water is essential for drinking, cooking, and basic personal hygiene during and after an emergency event.
You may stock up on clean water in one of two ways: by purchasing commercially bottled water from the supermarket, or by bottling it yourself.
Ensuring the Safety of Bottled Water
If you purchase commercially bottled water, take heed of the use by date. While water does not spoil, per se, the quality of the water can diminish over time. The bottles may also start to break down as well, causing leakage or contamination. It is recommended to replace your emergency drinking water supply each year to maintain optimal safety and freshness.
Bottling your own water takes a little more effort, but can be just as safe as and will cost less than buying it commercially. Choose the proper containers. Glass may be sturdy, but it is heavy and can break, so use it sparingly. Plastic two-liter soda bottles and gallon-sized water jugs are ideal for storing water. Only use food-grade plastic containers and not containers previously used for chemicals such as bleach.
Sanitize the containers with a solution of 1 teaspoon of bleach per quart of water. Rinse the containers with clean water after sanitizing. Once the containers are filled with clean water, seal them with tight-fitting caps, label them as drinking water along with the bottling date, and store bottles in a cool, dry place.
Be sure to follow all boil water notices, especially if your water comes from a municipal source. If you get your water from a private well and are uncertain whether it is contaminated, it is better to err on the side of caution and boil water vigorously for 3 to 4 minutes before using it.
Boiling water is the most effective way to kill harmful bacteria that may be present. However, another effective means of purifying water is by adding bleach to the water. The type of bleach is important. Only use 5.25% household bleach free of perfumes, dyes, and color-safe or other additives. Eight (8) drops of bleach per gallon for clear water or 16 drops per gallon for cloudy water are the recommended amounts for effective purification.
How Much Water Do You Need?
How much water should you store in your emergency supply kit? At a minimum, one (1) gallon per person (including pets) per day for at least seven days is the recommended amount. This should be enough for drinking, food preparation, and basic personal hygiene. You may want to store more water as a precaution, if necessary.
For more information about preparing an emergency water supply, please refer to the UF/IFAS publication, "Preparing and Storing an Emergency Safe Drinking Water Supply."
For information on preparing your landscape for hurricane season, please refer to our blog article, "Getting Your Landscape Ready for Hurricane Season."


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After a hellish month of searching, Immortal warrior Jax and his brethren, the Guardians of the Realms, are nowhere near finding the sleeping God who was stolen by their enemy. As if that isn't problem enough, after millennia, other Guardians are dropping like flies to the mating frenzy. Jax never dreamed he could be next. After all, he's too flawed, his sexual appetite too insatiable to ever be completely fulfilled by one being. Could a lone female even handle his needs let alone quench his never ending desire?Ileana lives a solitary life in the shadows, a ghost thirsting for vengeance. A warrior Ailouros, half cat, whose sheer existence has been kept secret by a special ability no one can know exists, she is closed off and trusts no one. After thousands of years spent in near isolation while hunting her prey, she has finally found a clue leading to the location of her enemy. Revenge is at hand.
When a fantastically hot Guardian unknowingly puts himself in the middle of a deadly intrigue, nearly ruining her careful plans, Ileana is forced to make a choice. Her one chance at finding vengeance will hinge on hurling them both into piercing ecstasy.
Warning: This book is intended for an adult audience. There are dirty talking Guardians with bad language, some violence, and explicit scenes hot enough to give you cat scratch fever.
The sad truth is that I'm not nearly as entertaining as fiction. *Wink* I am a thirty-seven year old stay at home writer, thanks to my incredibly supportive husband. We've been together for thirteen years and I still love waking up next to that sexy man. We lost our furry child recently, so we are childless at the moment. Our whole world revolved around her. Needless to say, I love animals, especially dogs. Okay, maybe not all animals, I'm not a super big fan of monkeys. Any animal that throws their feces kind of eeks me out. I may, or may not, have a problem with candy. I love any research that leads to Neiman Marcus' online shoe department. Spreadsheets give me way more happiness than they should. I love to read, the dirtier the better. It all started with the naughty historical romances by Judith McNaught that I devoured as a teenager. I love reading about hot, sexy alpha males and heroines that are smart enough to live.


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Unhealthy substance use a risk factor for not receiving some preventive health services, study finds
- Date:
- May 13, 2011
- Source:
- Boston University Medical Center
- Summary:
- Researchers have identified unhealthy substance use as a risk factor for not receiving all appropriate preventive health services.
- Share:
Researchers from Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have identified unhealthy substance use as a risk factor for not receiving all appropriate preventive health services. The findings, which currently appear in BMJ Open, identify unhealthy substance use as a barrier to completion of mammography screening and influenza vaccination.
Cancer and influenza are among the leading causes of mortality in the United States. Influenza is preventable, in part, through vaccination, and mortality from cervical, breast and colorectal cancer can be reduced through routine screening. Nevertheless, many eligible U.S. adults do not receive these recommended preventive services, in particular, low-income persons, racial and ethnic minorities, the uninsured and the foreign-born.
Despite this knowledge, and the implementation of interventions targeting these groups, preventive services are still underused, which has led some to believe that high-risk "pockets" of the population may account for gaps in service receipt.
"Persons with unhealthy substance use (for alcohol, the spectrum that ranges from risky use to dependence; for drugs, the spectrum from any illicit drug use, including prescription drugs to dependence), represent one such "pocket," said lead author Karen Lasser, MD, MPH, a primary care physician at BMC as well as an associate professor of medicine at BUSM.
The researchers analyzed data from 4,804 women eligible for mammograms, 4,414 eligible for Papanicolou (Pap) smears, 7,008 persons eligible for colorectal cancer (CRC) screenings, and 7,017 persons eligible for influenza vaccination. All patients were screened for unhealthy substance use.
Among the nearly 10,000 patients eligible for one or more of the preventive services of interest, 10 percent screened positive for unhealthy substance use. Compared to women without unhealthy substance use, women with unhealthy substance use received mammograms less frequently (75.4 percent vs. 83.8 percent), but Pap smears no less frequently (77.9 percent vs. 78.1 percent). Persons with unhealthy substance use received CRC screenings no less frequently (61.7 percent vs. 63.4 percent), yet received influenza vaccination less frequently (44.7 percent vs. 50.4 percent). "We speculate that persons with unhealthy substance use who are not engaged in primary care at the high thresholds used in these analyses may have substantially lower receipt of preventive services," said Lasser.
According to the researchers future interventions to promote mammography screening might target women with unhealthy substance use, and those to promote influenza vaccination might target both men and women with unhealthy substance use. "Clinical interventions could embed mammography screening and influenza vaccination in other services delivered to individuals with substance use problems. In addition, training interventions could enhance skills and systems for health care personnel who screen for substance use disorders to include referrals for preventive health services," she added.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Boston University Medical Center. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- K. E. Lasser, T. W. Kim, D. P. Alford, H. Cabral, R. Saitz, J. H. Samet. Is unhealthy substance use associated with failure to receive cancer screening and flu vaccination? A retrospective cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 2011; DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2010-000046
Cite This Page:


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This website highlights the collaborative research of
Eugenio (Gino) Nearns
on the systematics of cerambycid beetles. Gino is a National Taxonomist (Coleoptera) with APHIS/PPQ's National Identification Services (NIS).
The longhorned wood boring beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) are a diverse and economically important group of insects. With an estimated 4,000 genera and 35,000 described species, the Cerambycidae comprise one of the largest beetle families (Lawrence 1991). Cerambycid beetles are found on all continents except Antarctica, from sea level to montane sites as high as 4000 m (Monné & Bezark 2011). Nearly all are phytophagous or xylophagous as larvae, feeding within living, moribund, or decaying wood. Cerambycids are among the most serious wood boring pest species globally, affecting many agricultural crops, ornamental trees, and lumber products, and causing millions of dollars in damage each year (Solomon 1995).
One of the most notorious cerambycids is the Asian Longhorned Beetle (
Anoplophora glabripennis
, or ALB). In 1996, this invasive species was discovered in New York City and later in Chicago. Native to China and the Korean peninsula, ALB was accidentally imported into the U.S. via wooden shipping materials (Lingafelter & Hoebeke 2002). By 1998, ALB infestations resulted in the destruction of nearly 7,000 trees. Recently, the USDA estimated that, if left uncontrolled, ALB and other Chinese wood boring beetles could cause more than $100 billion in damage to the US economy (Meyer 2010). Accidental introductions continue, and as recently as 2011 a population of ALB was detected in southwest Ohio (USDA-APHIS 2011).
The family Cerambycidae is a charismatic group that has been popular with insect collectors for centuries. Cerambycid beetles exhibit a remarkable diversity of biology and morphology, and range in size from a few mm to over 17 cm. Many species are nocturnal and cryptically colored; others are diurnal and exhibit spectacular mimicry of hymenopteran forms (e.g., bees, wasps, and ants) and behavior. Cerambycid beetles have been associated with a wide variety of plant hosts, including grasses, bamboo, conifers, hardwoods, and cacti. In addition, cerambycid beetle larvae are known to utilize nearly all parts of a host tree, including the roots, trunk, branches, leaves, and seeds. Despite their economic importance and biological diversity, relatively little is known of cerambycid beetle ecology, behavior, or phylogenetic relationships. A better understanding of all of these factors would greatly contribute to conservation of endangered species, and in managing invasive species that could become pests in their new countries and habitats.
Eugenio (Gino) Nearns
| cerambycids.com


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FACULTY of ARTS and SOCIAL SCIENCES (FASS)
The following programs leading to MA and PhD degrees are accepting applications for 2013-2014 academic year Fall semester. Contact names for each program have been provided for academic inquiries only. For administrative or procedure related questions, please contact Student Resources Office.
Conflict Analysis and Resolution (MA) www
Contact: Betül Çelik, (216) 483 92 98, email@example.com
Cultural Studies (MA) www
Contact: Ayşe Parla, (216) 483 92 63, email@example.com
Economics (MA/PhD) www
Contact: Mehmet Barlo, (216) 483 92 84, firstname.lastname@example.com
European Studies (MA) www
Contact(s): Meltem Müftüler Baç, (216) 483 92 47, email@example.com
History (MA/PhD) www
Contact: Akşin Somel, (216) 483 92 78, email@example.com
Political Science (MA/PhD) www
Contact: Ersin Kalaycıoğlu, (216) 483 93 45, email@example.com
Public Policy (MA) www
Contact: İzak Atiyas, (216) 483 92 41, email@example.com
Turkish Studies (MA) www
Contact: Halil Berktay, (216) 483 92 37, firstname.lastname@example.com
Visual Arts & Visual Communication Design (MA) www
Contact: Selçuk Artut , (216) 483 93 19, email@example.com
Applicants must have completed their previous degree programs by September 1, 2013, at latest.
Admission Requirements
Admission Requirements for Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Financial Support
A limited number of scholarships based on academic achievement are available in the form of partial or full tuition waivers and/or stipends.
Click for SU Graduate Scholarships.
Click for Graduate Funding, Other Opportunities and Awards
Please note that those candidates who fail to submit a sufficient English proficiency exam score and thus attend the course of English Language Preparation will receive no scholarship until they successfully complete the course.
May 31st, 2013 is the deadline for the applications. For History, Political Science, Visual Arts and Visual Communication Design Programs, all applicants should attend and take the written exam, afterwards eligible candidates are invited for an interview via e-mail. For other programs, after an initial screening, eligible candidates are invited for an interview via e-mail.
Please note that applications from abroad will not be required to take the written exam; they will be interviewed via phone or net meeting (Skype, etc.) if they're found eligible after the initial screening.
The Graduate Admissions Calendar
Economics (MA/PhD)
Interview** : 13-14 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS 2054
European Studies (MA)
Interview** : 10 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS 2056
Cultural Studies (MA)
Interview** : 11 - 12 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS 2056
Conflict Analysis and Resolution (MA)
Interview**: 10 June 2013 – 10:30, Room: FASS 2054
History (MA/PhD)
Written Exam* : 10 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS 2023
Interview** : 13 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS 2034
Political Science (MA/PhD)
MA Written Exam / PhD Gateway Exam * : 10 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS G049 and G052
Interview** : 13- 14 June 2013 – 10:00 , Room: FASS 2056
Public Policy (MA)
Interview**: 13 June 2013 – 10:00, Room: FASS 2080
Turkish Studies (MA)
Interview** : 12 - 13 June 2013 – 10:00, Room 2054
Visual Arts & Visual Communication and Design (MA)
Written Exam*: 12 June 2013 – 10:30, Room: FASS G022
Interview** : 13 June 2013 – 13:00, FASS G043
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NFL Quick-Hits: 10 Observations from Week 4
1. Newton isn't a closer, but thankfully for the Falcons Ryan is.
Following his dreadful performance last Thursday against the Giants, Cam Newton bounced back nicely against the Falcons on Sunday while throwing for 215 yards, rushing for 86 yards, and reaching the end zone three times (twice through the air and once rushing). But for all of his heroics, Newton remains a quarterback unable to close out games. Faced with a crucial third-and-one with less than two minutes remaining in the contest, Newton had picked up a first down on a designed run, but he fumbled the ball while pin-balling off bodies. Had he squeezed the ball tightly, the Panthers could have run out the clock and earned a huge road victory against an undefeated division rival. Instead, the ball bounced backwards and while one of his teammates jumped on it, the Falcons still had life. Then, despite gashing Atlanta for nearly 200 yards on the ground, coach Ron Rivera decided that his team couldn't pick up one more yard to put the game away. He punted on fourth-and-1 and despite pinning the Falcons on their own 1-yard line, defensive back Haruki Nakamura inexplicably allowed a 59-yard pass completion to Roddy White, which put the Falcons in range of a game-winning field goal. The rest was history, as Matt Ryan, a true closer, marched Atlanta down to the Carolina 22-yard-line to set up Matt Bryant's game-winning 40-yard field goal. The outcome was yet another reminder of the one thing that Newton has still yet to learn: How to finish. Like so many times before, Ryan was handed an opportunity to put his team on his shoulders and win the game, which he did. Granted, a lot of luck was involved and Newton had plenty of help giving that game away. But at the end of the day, one quarterback closed and the other didn't.
2. The Patriots remain the team to beat the AFC East.
Heading into Week 4, people wanted to believe the Patriots' reign of terror in the AFC East was over. They bought into the notion that the Bills were ready to unseat New England, which had lost in Buffalo last year and was coming off back-to-back losses the past two weeks. But despite the offseason additions of Mario Williams (who has been a ghost since signing that huge deal back in March), Stephon Gilmore and Mark Anderson, Buffalo's defense remains a major work in progress. The Bills thought they had fixed their issues on that side of the ball and yet, their defensive line applied very little pressure to Tom Brady and allowed 247 yards rushing. The Patriots reminded us that they can still turn it on when they need to, as 45 of their 52 points came in the second half. Where as Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to struggle with the deep ball and throwing outside the numbers, Brady used his legs to buy himself more time and even rushed for a score in the third quarter. Stevan Ridley added 106 yards on the ground but was overshadowed by undrafted free agent Brandon Bolden, who seemingly came out of nowhere to rush for 137 yards on 16 carries. Despite Buffalo being at full strength with C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson (both were active despite being questionable throughout the week), the Patriots sent a message that they're still one of the most dangerous teams in the AFC when they're firing on all cylinders.
3. The Saints played their best game of the season…and still lost.
There were plenty of moments in Green Bay on Sunday where you were reminded of the Saints of the last couple of years, at least offensively. Drew Brees completed 35-of-54 passes for 446 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions, while Marques Colston emerged from his slumber to catch nine passes for 153 yards and one score. This is still a team that will scare opponents week in and week out, although it's telling that this was New Orleans' best game of the season and it still walked away with a 28-27 loss. The defense created little to no pressure on Aaron Rodgers, who wasn't sacked after being dropped eight times by Seattle just six days prior. The Saints also don't have a running game and clearly miss Carl Nicks. (The offensive line hasn't been the same without him.) It'll also be interesting to see if the Saints can remained focused throughout the year. It's still relatively early but no team shakes off a 0-4 start. Keep in mind that the players on this roster aren't used to losing and most are holdovers from the Super Bowl squad. This is a team that has fought for division titles and Super Bowl berths the past few seasons. How will they respond when faced with immense adversity?
4. Let's give credit where credit is due: Kolb has lifted his play.
The Dolphins sacked Kevin Kolb eight times on Sunday, held the Cardinals to just 28 yards rushing, forced two turnovers and built leads of 13-0 and 21-14 before Arizona finally came back and won 24-21 in overtime. Kolb completed 29-of-48 passes for 324 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. It wasn't a brilliant performance but few are when we speak of Kolb. The key is that he raised the level of his play, which is something he has failed to do on a consistent basis over the past two years. Too many times we've seen Kolb take jab after jab while cashing out long before the fight is over. This time, he hung in there and made one of the best throws of his career while finding Andre Roberts on a perfect sideline pass on a 4th-and-10 with less than a minute in regulation. Had his pass fell to the ground, we wouldn't have been surprised. 'It's Kevin Kolb,' we would have said while shrugging. But let's give credit where credit is due: Kolb was a huge factory in Sunday's victory. And if Ray Horton's defense continues to play as well as it has, maybe a confident Kolb will allow the Cardinals to stay in the mix all season.
5. Less is more when it comes to Vick.
Michael Vick didn't put on a passing clinic on Sunday night against the Giants. He didn't have a series of highlight runs and he didn't leap head first into the end zone while trying to score. He also didn't turn the ball over and the Eagles picked up a huge 19-17 victory against a division rival. Vick is a better quarterback when he plays within himself, understands his limitations, and doesn't try to win the game on his own. He didn't routinely force throws into coverage or wildly run around when the pocket broke down. He simply took what the defense gave him and led his team on four second-half scoring drives despite only mustering seven points in the first half. Vick has a lot of schoolyard to his game and that shouldn't change. But if the Eagles' talented roster is ever going to reach its full potential, he has to understand that his reckless play is hurting his team, himself, and his coach. Hopefully last night was a step in the right direction for the veteran quarterback.
6. Opponents have figured out the Lions, who refuse to adjust under Schwartz.
Jim Schwartz deserved the contract extension he received before the season. But his inability to make adjustments throughout the week and on game days has to be maddening for Detroit fans. Last season the Lions played to their strength, which was their passing game. Opponents knew what was coming and they still couldn't slow down Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. But this year teams are playing two safeties deep in order to keep Detroit's vertical game in check, and the Lions have refused to adjust. Stafford threw for over 300 yards in Sunday's loss against Minnesota, but he leads an offense that continues to be out of sync. It's not Stafford's fault that Johnson had a touchdown knocked out of his hands on one play and Brandon Pettigrew dropped a pass in the end zone the next, but for whatever reason Detroit's offense has been disjointed all season. They also can't run the football and the defense is still plagued by the same issues it had last year because GM Martin Mayhew didn't have the cap space in order to fix the team's problems. Furthermore, the Lions remain one of the most undisciplined teams in football and clearly there hasn't been an emphasis on special teams during the week because this is now back-to-back weeks that Detroit has given up two touchdowns on kickoffs and punts. The defense actually played well on Sunday but their performance was overshadowed by the fact that the special teams units were once again atrocious. If Schwartz doesn't start making wholesale changes then the Lions could be back to square one very soon here.
7. The Jets' problems have grown.
It used to be that the Jets could mask Mark Sanchez's issues with Rex Ryan's defense and a strong running game. But they lost the ability to run the ball last year and now thanks to the season-ending injury to Darrelle Revis, this is a team ready to unravel. Sanchez doesn't look like he's learned anything in four years. He's generated just one touchdown in his last 34 possessions and has completed a dreadful 43.6 percent of his passes the past three weeks. While Ryan gave him a vote of confidence following Sunday's 34-0 loss to the 49ers, it won't be long before Tim Tebow is inserted as the starter. Tebow, of course, isn't a better option under center. But he at least has shown the ability to make things happen and he's a stronger leader than the unconfident Sanchez. This isn't a playoff caliber team without Revis, and if the Jets finally come to terms with the fact that Sanchez isn't the answer, then Tebow needs to play. But either way, Ryan and the Jets have issues they can no longer mask.
8. The Fisher hire has already paid off for St. Louis.
Because they played in two Super Bowls within the last 15 years, people seem to forget how bad the Rams have been over the last decade. This is a team that hasn't had a winning record since 2003 and hasn't gone to the playoffs since qualifying for the 2004 postseason with an 8-8 record. But the hiring of Jeff Fisher has brought stability to a franchise that has yearned for that very thing the past 10 years. Despite having the youngest roster in the NFL, a polarizing figure at quarterback, one of the worst offensive lines in the league and an ineffective Steven Jackson, the Rams are 2-2. They're playing meaningful football again in the fourth quarter and arguably should have beaten the Lions in Week 1. Make no mistake: Fisher is putting his print on this team, which is no longer just the "Same old Rams." They also have a true weapon in rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein, who converted on attempts of 58, 48, 60, and 24 yards out in Sunday's 19-13 win over the Seahawks. Just wait until Fisher and GM Les Snead start filling the roster with talent. The Rams are going to be a competitor very soon.
9. Peyton Manning and the Broncos: The ultimate wild card.
The Raiders' pass coverage isn't very good. Safety Tyvon Branch is a solid player but Michael Huff continues to be inconsistent and the rest of Oakland's secondary hasn't made anyone forget about Nnamdi Asomuagha. That said, it was nice to see some vintage Peyton Manning on Sunday. He torched the Raiders for 338 yards and three touchdowns while misfiring on just eight of his 38 pass attempts. Granted, he was aided by a running game that produced 165 yards and he rarely challenged downfield. His receivers did a nice job racking up yards after the catch too, but as a football fan it was nice to see Manning be effective. Denver remains a true mystery. Thanks to their defense and rushing attack, the Broncos will continue to battle the Chargers for first place in the AFC West. But Manning is the wild card. If he can do what he did on Sunday and in Week 1 versus the Steelers, the Broncos are a threat in the AFC. But we've seen the past two weeks how Manning can derail things as well. It's going to be an interesting ride all season.
10. The rest of the Redskins deserved one made field goal.
There's little doubt that an 0-for-4 day would have cost kicker Billy Cundiff his job. Thankfully he didn't send himself on an extended vacation by converting a 41-yard field goal to give the Redskins a 24-22 win over the Bucs on Sunday.. On a day when Cam Newton couldn't hold onto the ball on a crucial third-and-one in Atlanta, Robert Griffin III was 4-for-5 for 46 yards and added a 15-yard scramble on Washington's final drive. He moved his team into field goal range and had Cundiff missed wide right, it wouldn't have been RGIII's fault that the Skins lost. But he and his teammates deserved that win. Alfred Morris deserved that win. Despite being beaten by Josh Freeman on a couple of nice second-half throws, Washington's defense deserved that win. Cundiff saved his job for the moment, but more importantly he allowed his teammates to celebrate something that was deservedly theirs.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.
Comments Off on NFL Quick-Hits: 10 Observations from Week 4
Posted in: NFL
Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Alfred Morris, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Billy Cundiff, Brandon Bolden, Buffalo Bills, C.J. Spiller, Calvin Johnson, Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, Drew Brees, Fred Jackson, Green Bay Packers, Jeff Fisher, Jim Schwartz, Kevin Kolb, Mario Williams, Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, Peyton Manning, Philadelphia Eagles, Rex Ryan, Robert Griffin III, Roddy White, Ryan Fitzpatrick, St. Louis Rams, Stevan Ridley, Tim Tebow, Tom Brady


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insigne.org |
Insigne | |
insigne /in'signi/ noun, singular. A badge, an ensign, an emblem.This is a site for collectors of militaria insignia. It is a free site: you will not be asked to join an organization; you will not encounter material that is available to "members only"; you will not be confronted with annoying pop-up ads. The goal here is simply to provide information that will enhance one's collecting experience. Initially, this site will represent the work and views primarily of a single individual. As time passes, I hope to enlist the involvement of others willing to share their expertise. I have collected military insignia for 25 years. The first few years were spent building my collection and my knowledge of insignia by interacting with dealers of insignia and with other collectors. I soon grew disenchanted with this of method collecting, and I set out to locate veterans of the military units in which I had an interest. It was an approach to collecting that required the investment of a great deal of time and effort, and it required that I narrow the focus of my interests. Acquiring insignia from the men who wore them and hearing of their wartime experiences transformed the hobby from one of collecting insignia to collecting pieces of history. I began casting what I had learned into magazine articles, an activity that added to my enjoyment of the hobby. What you will find on this site are several of those articles, which present some of the insignia and information I gleaned during years of contacts with veterans of World War II. You will also find material that deals with the hobby of insignia collecting in general and, especially, with the problem of reproduction and fake insignia, a subject that many fear to deal with publicly except in generalities. If you find something in this site that instructs or entertains, it will have served its purpose. Les Hughes Contact me at email@example.com |


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A former U.S. Olympic gymnastics coach who had ties to Larry Nassar is dead after being charged with human trafficking, sexual assault and other felony charges by the Michigan Attorney General's Office.
John Geddert was charged with 14 counts of human trafficking, six counts of human trafficking of a minor, one count of first-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual assault, racketeering, and lying to a peace officer.
Geddert died by suicide Thursday afternoon, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel.
"My office has been notified that the body of John Geddert was found late this afternoon after taking his own life. This is a tragic end to a tragic story for everyone involved," wrote Nessel in a statement.
No other details have been released regarding his death.
Note: If you are in crisis, or know someone who needs help, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
According to the charging documents, Geddert injured young athletes through forced labor and recruited them for forced labor.
Geddert was the head coach of the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team, for which Nassar was the team doctor. Nassar also worked at Geddert's gym in Lansing, Twistars, where many victims were abused.
The investigation started back in 2018 when the Eaton County Sheriff's Office said complaints were filed against Geddert in the wake of the Nassar cases. According to the sheriff's office, people in 2018 came forward with complaints against Geddert. In January 2020, the AG's office executed a search warrant at Geddert's home.
During the sentencing for Nassar, some of the young athletes said that Geddert was abusive, and one alleged that Geddert was aware of Nassar's "inappropriate procedure" in the late 1990s when she was 16.
Geddert has said he had "zero-knowledge" of Nassar's crimes.
Watch AG announce Geddert's charges
Breakdown of the charges
According to the felony complaint, Geddert "did knowingly subject or attempt to subject another person to forced labor or services by causing or threatening to cause physical harm to another person and it caused another person injury."
The complaint said that Geddert did that involving 15 different victims during various times between 2008 and 2018.
Under the six counts of human trafficking of a minor, the complaint said Geddert "did knowingly recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain a minor for forced labor or services."
It alleges that Geddert did that to six different victims ranging from 2015-2018.
The complaint also alleges that Geddert, in January 2012, sexually assaulted and penetrated a victim between the ages of 13 and 16, and coerced the victim to submit to his authority, which is first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
That same victim is listed under the second-degree criminal sexual conduct charge in January 2013, allegedly engaging in sexual contact with the victim.
The state also alleges that in 2016, Geddert lied to a Michigan State Police Officer about the Nassar investigation, saying that Nassar had a limited role at Twistars and that he had never heard of anyone complain about Nassar's treatments.
This story was originally published by staff at WXYZ.


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Based on the hybrid train's specifications and the profile of the planned routes, mtu can simulate the lifecycle costs of specific projects. This means that we can design the perfect drive solution fitting your economical requirements. Together with you, we then determine an optimal concept based on your needs.


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CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–January 10, 2011. Governor Pat Quinn and the bi-partisan Serve Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service today announced nominations are now being accepted for the Second Annual Governor's Volunteer Service Awards. These awards recognize individual volunteers through a statewide award program to highlight the importance of volunteerism and community service in the State of Illinois.
"Illinois is fortunate to have thousands of volunteers who donate their time and talents to help others and to build stronger communities," said Governor Quinn. "With these awards, we recognize those whose initiative, creativity and energy have made a positive change and has set an example for others."
Individual awards will be presented to one Youth (18 and under), one Adult (19-54 years old) and one Retiree/Senior (55 years of age and older) in each of the Commission's five service regions across the state (Northeast, Northwest, East Central, West Central and Southern Illinois). National Service Awards will be presented to one Learn and Serve, one AmeriCorps, and one Senior Corps member in each of the five regions. Successful nominees will have volunteered in one of the following focus areas: Economic Opportunity, Education, Environmental Conservation, Disaster Preparedness/Response, Health, and Veterans Affairs.
Nominations are now being taken for the 2011 awards. Nominations are due to Serve Illinois by January 28, 2011. Please visit www.serve.illinois.gov for the nomination forms and more information. Recipients will be selected, and notified, by March 6, 2011. The Serve Illinois Commission will host a luncheon to honor recipients on April 6 at the Executive Mansion in Springfield.
The Serve Illinois Commission is a 25-member, bi-partisan board appointed by the Governor and administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS). Its mission is to improve Illinois communities by enhancing traditional volunteer activities and supporting national service programs, including the Illinois AmeriCorps program.
"All citizens have an opportunity to recognize their ability and help strengthen their communities through voluntary service," said IDHS Secretary Michelle R. B. Saddler. "Through Serve Illinois, we hope to expand volunteerism throughout rural, suburban and urban Illinois, and involve people of all backgrounds, cultures and ages."
Source: illinois.gov


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