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In Defense of Marriage: When Rights Trump Freedom
- S. Michael Craven President, Center for Christ & Culture
- Published Aug 22, 2008
Soviet communism attempted to construct a society under a new social and ethical system, which subverted the natural moral order. In doing so, people were compelled to live in contradiction to their conscience. Without the influence of the conscience, moral governance shifts from the self to the state. The lesson here is this: when the society demands conduct that is in contradiction to what mankind knows in his heart to be right and true, the state will coerce such conduct. This principle is summed up in "Colson's Law," which essentially states that the more a society is governed by conscience, the less it requires outside enforcement or police. The less conscience, or self-governance, the more police will be required (i.e. totalitarianism).
This same pattern accompanies activist efforts, which seek to legitimize homosexual acts through the imposition of same-sex marriage (SSM). Unable to rely on the democratic process to advance their agenda, gay-rights advocates have instead employed activist judges, propaganda campaigns, indoctrination of youth, and intimidation tactics to impose their moral vision.
The essence of the homosexual agenda and its demand for legal marriage is not about the expansion of civil rights. It is, instead, committed to the complete reordering of our society. Paula Ettlebrick, the former legal director of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, as much as confirmed this when she said:
Being queer is more than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so . . . Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process transforming the very fabric of society (quoted in William B. Rubenstein, Since When is Marriage a Path to Liberation? Lesbians, Gay Men, and the Law [NY: New York Press, 1993], 398, 400.).
In the minds of such, it is Christianity (and religion, in general) that stands in the way of this social transformation. Therefore, it is only natural that as SSM gains traction, there will follow a suppression of religion and persecution of the religious. Harvard professor of law Mary Ann Glendon acknowledged this real consequence of legalizing same-sex marriage. She writes:
Religious freedom, too, is at stake…. Every person and every religion that disagrees will be labeled as bigoted and openly discriminated against. The ax must fall most heavily on religious persons and groups that don't go along. Religious institutions will be hit with lawsuits if they refuse to compromise their principles (Mary Ann Glendon, "For Better or for Worse? The federal marriage amendment would strike a blow for freedom," opinion post to online editorial page, The Wall Street Journal, 25 February 2004).
Under unrelenting pressure from this despotic minority, Western nations have already begun to criminalize and suppress any public criticism of homosexuality, encroaching upon our most fundamental rights of conscience and free speech.
In British Columbia, Dr. Chris Kempling, a school counselor, was suspended without pay for three months in 2005 for writing a letter to the editor of the local newspaper criticizing the Liberal government's same-sex marriage legislation. In 2006, Canadian professor David Mullan was fined $2,100 by Cape Breton University, after he told a student homosexuality was "unnatural."
In January of last year, Christian Vanneste, a member of France's ruling party, was fined almost $4,000 under French hate speech law for comments opposing homosexuality. What was so egregious? Vanneste dared to suggest that homosexuality was "inferior" to heterosexuality and said the practice would be "dangerous for humanity if it was pushed to the limit."
Last year, the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, Transvestites, and Transsexuals (ABGLT) filed a criminal complaint against Christian activist Julio Severo and the National Vision for Christian Awareness for inciting "hatred" against homosexuals, and "homophobia." The complaint was made because Severo regularly denounces homosexual behavior as immoral on his Web site, and opposes the goals of the homosexual movement. Severo and his ministry were successfully prosecuted simply for denouncing homosexual behavior as sinful during a campaign to promote family values. As a result, the ministry was ordered to cancel its campaign and all related events.
In America—the land of the free—a Christian photographer who declined to photograph a same-sex "commitment ceremony" was hauled before the New Mexico Human Rights Division (NMHRD) in January of this year. Elane Photography turned down the job because their beliefs were in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony. The same-sex couple filed a complaint with the NMHRD, which is now trying Elane Photography under state antidiscrimination laws for sexual orientation discrimination.
Last year, June Sheldon, an adjunct professor teaching a human heredity course at San Jose City College, was fired for answering a student's in-class question about heredity and homosexual behavior. Apparently professor Sheldon did not offer the student the "right" answer. Marcia Walden, a licensed counselor at Computer Sciences Corporation in Atlanta, was fired after she chose to refer a person seeking counsel in a same-sex relationship to another colleague. The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights threatened to prosecute the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association of the United Methodist Church after it refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony at one of its worship facilities. Students in Boyd County, Kentucky, were threatened with "suspension" and the "possibility of court referral" if they publicly voiced moral objections to the school's diversity training, which normalized homosexual behavior. A Christian high school student in Michigan was suspended for refusing to remove an "I'm Straight" sticker from his t-shirt when other students were wearing duct tape over their mouths to show support for the pro-homosexual National Day of Silence.
And in a most ludicrous act, Christian publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson are facing a $60 million federal lawsuit for publishing "homophobic and prejudicial" translations of the Bible, from a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible.
These are just a minuscule sampling of the many actions emerging as the push for SSM gains momentum. This is nothing less than tyranny and injustice under the banner of tolerance and acceptance. With the advance of the SSM movement there has followed an increased tyranny of the state—a concept unthinkable in America—and yet this is one predictable consequence of imposing a moral value that is in contrast to moral truth and the human conscience.
© 2008 by S. Michael Craven
Comment on this article here
Subscribe to Michael's weekly commentary here
Subscribe to Michael's podcast here
S. Michael Craven is the founder and President of the Center for Christ & Culture. Michael is the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity, published by Navpress and scheduled for release January 2009. Michael's ministry is dedicated to renewal within the Church and works to equip Christians with an intelligent and thoroughly Christian approach to matters of culture in order to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity to all of life. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit: www.battlefortruth.org
Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife Carol and their three children.


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Canada Emergency Student Benefit: Students will be eligible for $1,250 a month from May through August
Canada Emergency Student Benefit – $1,250/month from May through August or $1,750/month for those taking care of someone else or have a disability
Great news for students worried about financially making ends meet. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the Canada Emergency Student Benefit which provides $1,250/month from May through August or $1,750/month for those taking care of someone else or have a disability.
"Right now you might be worried about how to make ends meet. You probably can't work your normal job and that might be a big problem for rent or for groceries. So we're bringing in the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) to help. With this benefit you'll get $1,250 a month from May to August and if you take care of someone else or have a disability that amount will go up to $1,750 each month" – PM Justin Trudeau
On eligibility, the Prime Minister added:
"This benefit is designed for you. If you're a post-secondary student right now. If you're going to college in September or if you graduated in December 2019. It's there for you even if you have a job but you're only making up to $1,000 a month. The period for the benefit will start on May 1st and your payments will be delivered through the Canada Revenue Agency."
Canada Student Service Grant – $1,000 to $5,000 to support students helping fight against COVID-19
For students looking to volunteer to help fight COVID-19, the Canada Student Service Grant provides $1,000 to $5,000:
"Of course the paying job isn't the only valuable way to spend your summer. Volunteering can be a fantastic way to build skills, make contacts or just give back. If you are volunteering instead of working we're going to make sure that you have support too. Students helping in the fight against COVID-19 this summer will soon be eligible for $1,000 to $5,000 depending on your hours through the new Canada Student Service Grant (CSSG). Your energy and your skills can do a lot of good right now" – PM Justin Trudeau
Details of these programs will be posted on the Government of Canada website. Keep checking their website for more details:

subset: commoncrawl


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How It Works
Each day, from October 2nd, a 10Q question will land in your inbox along with a link. When you click on the link, you will be taken to a private and personal space where you can answer the question. Your answer will be stored. The next day, you will receive another question and a link.
The process will continue for 10 days.
At the end of the 10 days, you have three days post-Yom Kippur to reflect on your answers. With each question you will decide whether you are happy to share your answers with the 10Q editorial staff and the wider audience, either anonymously or attributed.
You will then be invited to hit the magic button and send your answers to a locked online vault.
Next year, before Rosh Hashanah, your answers will magically appear in your inbox, full of revelations


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You will need this licence to operate a supported residential facility. A supported residential facility is a premises at which residential accommodation and personal care services are provided, such as:
A licence defines the need to obtain recognition / certification and registration to undertake a certain business activity.
Please consult the council for more information regarding eligibility requirements.
Annual - maximum two years
Fees Details for this service in table format.
Fee to lodge an application for a new licence. Fees for 2024-25
Inspection of premises. Fees for 2024-25
Fee upon being granted a licence. Fees for 2024-25
Renewal of licence fee. Fees for 2024-25
Fee to lodge an application to renew licence. Fees for 2024-25
Fee to lodge an application to transfer licence. Fees for 2024-25
Supported Residential Facilities Act 1992 South Australia (Opens in new window)
Supported Residential Facilities Regulations 2024 South Australia (Opens in new window)
A decision on approval of your application will be made within eight weeks of submitting your application.
Whyalla City Council
Contact Email, Phone and Address Details for this service in simple two column table format, header then data.


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German Ski Association: Second location – second Race NC
The German Ski Association (Deutscher Skiverband or DSV) has moved its Nordic skiing headquarters to Oberhof and invested in an additional Race NC stone grinding machine for racing skis. The original location in Bad Reichenhall remains in use – Kurt Jostl primarily prepares jumping skis there. In Oberhof, Christian Beetz concentrates on cross country skis under the guidance of Enrico Heisig, head of the technology center.
The grinding structures are developed as a team and in close collaboration with the technicians and athletes. After the joint development process, the grinds go through a special testing program that is quite complex and takes a whole year – only then are the results used for a serial grind.
In the most modern cross-country skiing tunnel in the world with 2 km a loop trail, testing and training can be done under ideal conditions and with constant snow quality all year round. In addition to the DSV teams, many other national teams also use this hall.


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The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project: Providing access to classic scientific papers and other scholarly materials, since 1993. More About: ESP | OUR CONTENT | THIS WEBSITE | WHAT'S NEW | WHAT'S HOT
Comparative Timelines
The ESP Timeline (one of the site's most popular features) has been completely updated to allow the user to select (using the timeline controls above each column) different topics for the left and right sides of the display.
New Left Column
New Left Column
New Right Column
New Right Column
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Johann Sebastian Bach presents "The Brandenburg Concertos", a collection of six instrumental works, to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
Virginia abolishes manumissions.
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Louisiana's Code Noir is enacted in New Orleans to regulate black slavery and to banish Jews from the colony
French Louisiana prohibits slaves from marrying without the permission of their owners.
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Jonathan Swift publishes "A Modest Proposal".
Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver's Travels.
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ESP Quick Facts
ESP Origins
In the early 1990's, Robert Robbins was a faculty member at Johns Hopkins, where he directed the informatics core of GDB — the human gene-mapping database of the international human genome project. To share papers with colleagues around the world, he set up a small paper-sharing section on his personal web page. This small project evolved into The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project.
ESP Support
In 1995, Robbins became the VP/IT of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA. Soon after arriving in Seattle, Robbins secured funding, through the ELSI component of the US Human Genome Project, to create the original ESP.ORG web site, with the formal goal of providing free, world-wide access to the literature of classical genetics.
ESP Rationale
Although the methods of molecular biology can seem almost magical to the uninitiated, the original techniques of classical genetics are readily appreciated by one and all: cross individuals that differ in some inherited trait, collect all of the progeny, score their attributes, and propose mechanisms to explain the patterns of inheritance observed.
ESP Goal
In reading the early works of classical genetics, one is drawn, almost inexorably, into ever more complex models, until molecular explanations begin to seem both necessary and natural. At that point, the tools for understanding genome research are at hand. Assisting readers reach this point was the original goal of The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project.
ESP Usage
Usage of the site grew rapidly and has remained high. Faculty began to use the site for their assigned readings. Other on-line publishers, ranging from The New York Times to Nature referenced ESP materials in their own publications. Nobel laureates (e.g., Joshua Lederberg) regularly used the site and even wrote to suggest changes and improvements.
ESP Content
When the site began, no journals were making their early content available in digital format. As a result, ESP was obliged to digitize classic literature before it could be made available. For many important papers — such as Mendel's original paper or the first genetic map — ESP had to produce entirely new typeset versions of the works, if they were to be available in a high-quality format.
ESP Help
Early support from the DOE component of the Human Genome Project was critically important for getting the ESP project on a firm foundation. Since that funding ended (nearly 20 years ago), the project has been operated as a purely volunteer effort. Anyone wishing to assist in these efforts should send an email to Robbins.
ESP Plans
With the development of methods for adding typeset side notes to PDF files, the ESP project now plans to add annotated versions of some classical papers to its holdings. We also plan to add new reference and pedagogical material. We have already started providing regularly updated, comprehensive bibliographies to the ESP.ORG site.
ESP Picks from Around the Web (updated 06 MAR 2017 )
Old Science
Weird Science
Treating Disease with Fecal Transplantation
Fossils of miniature humans (hobbits) discovered in Indonesia
Dinosaur tail, complete with feathers, found preserved in amber.
Mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) detected in the distant universe.


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ColorInc, my favorite digital lab, is offering CoffeeShop readers another amazing giveaway; a 12x12 or smaller Studio Mount for three lucky readers! Please read all about it below. Giveaway will close May 18th, 9PM central time.
Our solid wood 3/4'' ready to hang Studio Mounts
are a great way to creatively showcase any of your favorite family, wedding, newborn or senior portraits! Each Studio Mount is professionally finished with a smooth black laminate beveled edge and your choice of one of our 4 quality finishing options. Additionally, each piece will arrive with a pre-cut keyhole slot on the back, ready to hang straight out of the package!
* Print Finishing Options: Canvas/Satin/Matte/Velvet
* Your choice between black or white edging under the 'Options' tab in ROES.
* Studio Mounts have a 3-5 business day turnaround time.
* 4x6, 5x5, 5x7, 8x8 & 8x10 Studio Mounts come with an Acrylic Dowel Rod Easel Back for quick shelf display.
ColorInc. Offers four finishing options, Canvas/Satin/Matte/or Velvet!
The smaller studio mounts have the acrylic dowel rod easel back, making it simple to display your artwork.
Now on to the giveaway info! Three lucky CoffeeShop Readers are going to win their choice of one 12x12 or smaller Studio Mount with one of the four finishing options available.
All you need to do is leave one comment below with your email or some other contact information so I can notify you if you win. You can enter one additional time if you go visit and "Like" ColorInc.'s Facebook page. Please don't enter more than twice. :-) And good luck!
And thank you ColorInc. ♥ for offering my readers this chance to win, and also having great products and customer service.
As a side-note, check out these cool slim float mounts on sale this week. These would be perfect for my living room!


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Biological Sciences Division
Staff Awards & Honors
March 2014
PNNL Authors Earn Best Risk Assessment Paper Honors from Society of Toxicology
Congratulations to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists Dr. Susan Crowell and Dr. Justin Teeguarden for their contributions to two published papers named "Best Papers Published in 2013 Demonstrating Application of Risk Assessment" by the Risk Assessment Specialty Section (RASS) of the Society of Toxicology (SOT). Crowell and Teeguarden were the primary authors of their respective papers.
"Impact of Pregnancy on the Pharmacokinetics of Dibenzo[def,p]chrysene in Mice" was authored by Crowell along with senior author Dr. Rick Corley, Jolen Soelberg, Natalie Sadler, and Dr. Aaron Wright (all from PNNL); as well as colleagues at Penn State University and Oregon State University. The paper appeared in Toxicological Sciences.
"A Multi-route Model of Nicotine-cotinine Pharmacokinetics and Brain Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Binding in Humans," which appeared in Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, was authored by Teeguarden with senior author Dr. Chuck Timchalk, Dr. Jordan Smith, and colleagues from AEGIS Technologies and Pharsight Corporation.
All of the authors will be recognized at a reception during the SOT Annual Meeting March 24-27, 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. The RASS is the largest specialty section of the SOT, the major scientific society focusing on the acquisition and utilization of knowledge in toxicology to aid in protection of human health.
Crowell SR, A Sharma, S Amin, JJ Soelberg, NC Sadler, AT Wright, WM Baird, DE Williams, and RA Corley. 2013. "Impact of Pregnancy on the Pharmacokinetics of Dibenzo[def,p]chrysene in Mice." Toxicological Sciences 135(1):48-62. DOI: 10.1093/toxsci/kft124.
Teeguarden JG, CJ Housand, JN Smith, PM Hinderliter, R Gunawan, and CA Timchalk. 2013. "A Multi-route Model of Nicotine-cotinine Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics and Brain Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Binding in Humans." Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 65(1):12-28. DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2012.10.007.


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Locksmith Opa-Locka
How to find an honest and reliable locksmith in Opa-Locka?
Among the many locksmith company in Opa-Locka, most of them are honest and reliable professionals but some are less than ethical when it comes to changing a lock or installing a safe. The services provided by a locksmith are very important in the sense that it requires a good amount of trust between you and the locksmith that you hire. After all, the locksmith that you choose will have access to your keys and will know more about the level and type of security in your home or business than anybody else. We want to help you make an informed decision while you decide if you should hire and trust the locksmith who is at your door. If you are prepared and you know what to ask and what to look for, you'll be able to assess a locksmith honesty and professionalism and to decide if he/she is the right locksmith for the job and for your budget. SoFlo Locksmith is happy to help Opa-Locka residents in their research for a good locksmith and we hope that your next locksmith job in Opa-Locka will be handled in the most honest and professional way.
Inquire about your Locksmith's reputation
It is important to know that there is no licensing requirement for locksmiths in the state of Florida. Nonetheless, some counties like Miami-Dade county still have a locksmith ordinance by which individuals and companies providing locksmith services to the public must abide. The Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER) conducts a criminal background check of applicants before granting them a license. The Locksmith Ordinance applies to any person who installs, repairs, rebuilds, rekeys, repins, recodes, services, adjusts, opens or modifies locks, mechanical and electronic security locking devices and peripherals, safes, vaults, safe deposit boxes, and closed circuit television systems. Locksmiths and locksmith companies are required to have insurance, and to have proper identification from RER before performing any of these services. You should perform a search for your locksmith's name or company name at the BBB (Better Business Bureau) website. Check for any complaints and how they've been handled. It is more interesting to see how complains were handled rather than how many complains your locksmith has had in the past. It's one thing to have one or a few unhappy customers but trying to fix things and to make them happy is another and can go a long way. A serious locksmith in Opa-Locka should have no problem sharing this information with you.
Tips to select a good locksmith in Opa-Locka
Ask your Opa-Locka locksmith's labor cost
Another question to ask your locksmith is "Will you provide me with a detailed estimate?". You should receive a detailed estimate from your locksmith. His estimate should provide you be precise and include the scope of the repair or installation that will be performed, especially there are new pieces to install lke a new lock or a new safe. THe cost of labor should be clearly mentioned along with the price of the parts that will need to be changed or installed if any. Most locksmiths in Opa-Locka will charge you a global price for labor with no hourly fee. In most cases, a locksmith will charge you a service call fee. This service call fee should be waived if you accept the estimate from your locksmith and hire him to perform the job. It makes no sense for you to have to pay a locksmith for both a service call and for the job itself. As your Opa-Locka locksmith to waive the service call fee if you think that his estimate makes sense.
Ask your locksmith about the parts he uses
A very important factor is the type of parts that your locksmith is planning on using. Ask for OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) parts, especially for door locks, High Security locks, Bio-metric locks, Key-Less locks, Front Door locks, etc. Those are parts that are made by the original manufacturer of reputable brands that must be compatible with your door. It generally garanties you that those parts will fit and are made to be compatible with your current door, window, safe and locksmith installation. In addition you will have a warranty on these parts in case they should break within typically 1 year.
5 good reasons to call SoFlo Locksmith
- Quick Locksmith quote with Photos sent by Text Message or Email in Opa-Locka
- 1 Hour Locksmith in Opa-Locka and throughout South Florida
- Opa-Locka Locksmiths, Experts in Repair and Installation of all types of door locks, keys, safes, lock picking and more...
- SoFlo Locksmith helps you with your insurance claim
- Emergency Locksmith available Day and Night – 24/7 in Opa-Locka, FL.


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Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) Registry Agreements
.pars Registry Agreement
U-Label pars
Operator Asia Green IT System Bilgisayar San. ve Tic. Ltd. Sti.
Agreement Date 4 September 2014
Agreement Type Base, Community (Spec 12), Non-Sponsored
Note: If multiple versions are provided above, the official document is the Word version. The HTML version is machine-generated and may not display correctly.


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There's something compelling about riding on a single wheel. It could be the simplicity of equipment, or the challenge, or that you can ride for years and always find something new.
A unicycle is a human-powered, single-track vehicle with one wheel. Unicycles resemble bicycles, but are less complex.
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicycle
Unicycling provides the cycling equivalent of minimalist running: a close connection to the environment you're riding. It turns the world into a playground waiting to be ridden, and these days there's a riding style to fit every age and ability. Keep reading to explore unicycle riding and find your next adventure ...
Unicycling is just as diverse as biking, covering everything from rides around town to remote backcountry trails. Here are the most common types of unicycle riding:
The most popular part of the sport and the way most people start, simply riding as a form of transportation.
Negotiating climbs and descents off-road over longer distances.
Riding style focusing on the descent, where the objective is to ride the most technically difficult terrain possible.
Crossover between freeride/downhill and cross-country, involving off-road climbs and descents of technically difficult trails over longer distances.
Riding over obstacles, either in natural terrain or in an urban environment, where the challenge relates purely to technical difficulty over short distances.
Combining urban trials with tricks. The objective is to use stairs, railings and other urban obstacles as props to set up tricks.
Doing tricks on flat ground (usually pavement). There are virtually an infinite number of ways to ride a unicycle and the challenge is purely related to the difficulty of moves.
Similar to flatland riding but with a performance aspect and its own style distinct from flatland. Freestyle is the oldest type of technical riding and is often done in a gymnasium.
This involves riding longer distances, typically on the road.
Other common riding styles include unicycle hockey, unicycle basketball and slopestyle.
Listen to Kris speak about unicycling at FEAT Canada 2013.
For many people, learning to unicycle gives a huge sense of accomplishment because it feels impossible at first, but with persistence becomes completely doable. Young or old, anyone can learn and it's easier than most people think. If you're new to the sport, here are a few tips to get started:
Find a good place to practice – ideally a smooth, level surface alongside a fence to hang onto, or a wall with a railing, with nothing nearby that would hurt if you fell on it. Avoid grass, gravel, carpets, or other uneven surfaces — you'll have plenty of time for that once you're riding off-road.
Stand so that your support is to one side. Put the unicycle between your legs and hold the front of the saddle with one hand. Decide which is your dominant foot, the foot you want to put on a pedal first. Often this corresponds to whether you are left or right handed, but not always.
Orient the pedals so that the pedal you will step onto is in the rear, slightly lower than horizontal. Put your dominant foot onto the pedal so that the pedal is centered just in front of the arch of your foot. Now grasp your support with one or both hands, and rock up onto the unicycle, sitting up straight with about 80% of your weight on the saddle. It will feel very unstable at first!
Rock back and forth, and get a feel for how your balance changes with different crank positions. You will have the most control when your cranks are horizontal and the least control when your cranks are vertical. Check your saddle height — you'll want your legs just slightly bent at the bottom of the crank rotation — and make sure your tire is pumped up hard enough to avoid undue resistance when you turn. Look at the ground a short distance ahead, lean slightly forward, and start pedaling. Maintain enough speed to propel yourself through the vertical crank position. Hold onto the support as little as possible, letting go for short periods as you get more comfortable.
When you're ready try riding away from the support. Look where you are going, not at your feet. Hold your arms outstretched, with good muscle tone but not tense. Don't try to catch the unicycle when you fall unless you're sure you can do it safely. Do this over and over until you are confident riding in a straight line. Above all, be patient! This step can take 10-20 hours of practice, or longer for some riders. For many, the initial steps of learning to ride are the hardest part to break through, but before long you will be wondering why it felt so difficult in the beginning.
Excerpt from The Essential Guide to Mountain & Trials Unicycling
By Kris Holm / PDF (227KB)


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This old townhouse has been restored a few years ago, maintaining its authentic style. Access to the house is directly from the main street, through a gate into a short private alley, remembering the old, narrow Arabic streets of Andalusia. The house is close to the Palacio de San Benito, the old Monastery of the order of Calatraba (XVI century), and Hospital for the pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago. Distance to the public swimming pool is only 300m and it is only 500m to the centre of town, monuments and walking tracks.
To match the house with its beautiful surroundings, we dedicated a lot of effort to the decoration, with antique doors from the XVII century, bedrooms in Isabellian style, marble columns, cloister chairs, hand-made baskets and pottery, barrels and carafes, sculptures, charcoal drawings of our times at the art school. All the rest of the inventory has been personally selected to fit in; the sun-blinds, Ronda style furniture, scarves from the Alpujarras, and books about Cazalla and the typical flora and fauna of the Sierra Morena, etc.
We managed to have everything is in a perfect state of maintenance, as besides being collectors, we are professional restaurateurs. Especially to be mentioned are the big round bath tub under the vault and the big arch that emerges from the floor in the living room, with the main bedroom behind it. Including the patio with all its plants and flowers, this is a true paradise, where you hear the frogs' ion from the nearby creek or the storks on the church tower at the corner of the street. A perfect place to be at ease and relax.
Our tourist accommodation is intended to provide PEACE and tranquility to our clients, as well as the use and enjoyment of nature. If these are not the purposes of your stay, our establishments are not suitable. Bachelor parties, parties with music, etc. are not allowed.


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This is called declared zero and happened to John Kennedy Junior and his sister Caroline. It was covered up to save their lives and Jacqueline Kennedy life as well too.
Dublin, Ireland | A British man who claimed to be the "real" Prince Harry and to have been forcibly replaced as a child by an impostor, was found dead this morning in his hotel room, in the seaside town of Dun Laoghaire, near the Irish Capital.
The Garda Síochána (Irish police) was called on the site early this morning, after some neighbors complained about the smell emanating from his room.
They found the body of 31-year old, James Francis Alexander, a young British nobleman mostly known for his claim to be a member of the Royal British family.
According to the spokesman of the Irish police, Lt. Seamus O'connor, the young man had multiple bullet wounds, and the police found some signs of struggle in his room, suggesting that he was victim of a violent crime.
"The victim clearly didn't commit suicide," Lt. O'connor told reporters. "He was attacked by more than one assailant, probably two or three individuals, carrying pistols. The poor man didn't stand a chance. He was hit by more than 20 bullets, probably fired by silenced weapons, since none of his neighbours heard anything. It's too early to confirm anything, but this is probably the work of professionals."
Mr Alexander had attracted a lot of attention from the British public and media in 2014, when he published his book entitled "The real Prince Harry: The truth behind the Royal lies".
In this book, he claimed to be the real son of Princess Diana, saying that he was replaced by a look-alike at Queen Elizabeth's demand when he was 8-years old, after he threatened to reveal that Prince Charles was not his biological father.
He says that he was awoken at night by his father's butler and driven to Lincolnshire, where he was exchanged with the son of Lord Edward James Alexander, who had his age and also the particularity of looking a lot like him.
His claims had received some intense coverage for a while from the British tabloids, but then had suddenly disappeared from the media after a few days, generating rumors of cover-up among conspiracy theorists.
Indeed, despite the fact that the first 50 000 copies of his book had sold in less then a week, his publisher had surprisingly decided not to have more copies printed and it rapidly disappeared from bookstores.
The young author had then accused the Royal family of pressuring his publisher and his editor, in order to have his book taken off the shelves.
Mr Alexander fled England in January 2015 and sought asylum in Ireland, saying that he was being followed and harassed by the MI5 and that he had received multiple death threats by extremist supporters of the British monarchy.
Some sources close to the young man, told The Daily Beast that he had recently had contacts with the British embassy concerning an eventual return to England, and that he even had dinner with an attaché of the embassy at the end of the month of March, probably less than 24 hours before he was killed.
Despite these shocking coincidences, the police refuses for the moment, to link the British embassy or secret services to Mr Alexander's death, saying that they are "following every possible lead" that could help them solve the case.


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Remembering Wannsee
By DANNY BEN-MOSHE
Seventy years ago, a 90-minute conference sealed the fate of millions of Jews.
On January 20, 1942, the Nazi leadership gathered in a villa on the outskirts of Berlin and adopted the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." The Wannsee Conference, as this became known, from the suburb where the meeting was held, formalized the process that exterminated so much of European Jewry.
As we mark the 70th anniversary of that 90-minute meeting in which 15 people condemned millions to death, there are many crucial lessons to learn from the Holocaust. I wish to highlight two.
Firstly, the killing of a people begins not with violence, but through race-based hatred, progressing to institutionalized discrimination and only then culminating in murder. This is why anti-Semitism, racism and institutionalized discrimination must be addressed, for if left to fester the consequences can be tragic, severe and widespread.
Secondly, the Nazis may have come to power hating Jews, and by the time they launched World War II virulent anti-Semitism was a central policy, but they neither came to power nor launched World War II with the aim of exterminating European Jewry. Hitler wanted Europe "Judenrein" but it was only after plans to deport Jews to places such as Madagascar failed and no one else was willing to accept these Jewish refugees, and only after the mass killing by bullets failed to raise the ire of the local international community, that the Nazis felt they had the green light to take genocide to an unprecedented place.
Today, as Europe teeters on the edge of an economic abyss, as the movement of refugees and asylum seekers literally racing to cross borders soars on a daily basis, and as anti-Semitism evolves and shows no sign of abating, it is imperative that the evolution, nature and consequences of the Holocaust remain clear. But Holocaust memory is under unprecedented attack. Crass Holocaust deniers like David Irving have been discredited since he lost his libel trial in London in 2000, but new trends in denial are alive and well in new-accession member states of the European Union, particularly the three Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, with much support from rightwing political forces in Hungary, the Czech Republic and others.
Articulated in the 2008 Prague Declaration, and actively pursued by the leadership of a number of Eastern European Union states, the "Prague Process" (as the Prague Declaration is referred to by its proponents) has been active in the European Union, most notably securing passage of a 2009 resolution calling for all of Europe to enact a single day of commemoration for Nazi and Soviet crimes. Other dangerous proposals being pushed include the effort to "overhaul" textbooks throughout the European Union to ensure "equal treatment" of Nazi and Soviet crimes, and efforts to criminalize the opinion that the Nazi Holocaust was the only genocide in 20th-century Europe.
HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE has made Jews empathetic to the suffering of others, and indeed the East European countries suffered brutally under four decades of Soviet rule. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs, were deported, were forced into labor camps by Communist regimes whose cruelty was beyond doubt, and far too many perished or had their lives ruined. Soviet crimes were nothing less than horrible and should be remembered in their own distinct way. But there was no Soviet genocide. There was no Soviet Holocaust.
By blurring the definition of genocide, that earth-shattering term loses its meaning. If everything is genocide then nothing is genocide.
To mark the anniversary of Wannsee and to counter the dangerous trends in Europe today, I have released the Seventy Years Declaration on the Anniversary of the Final Solution at Wannsee, together with Professor Dovid Katz, author of the blog. The declaration has been signed by over 70 parliamentarians from 19 European Union countries, including three former Europe foreign ministers, two vice presidents of the European Parliament and a vice president of the Bundestag. In addition to remembering the Final Solution plan with "humility and sadness," the declaration explicitly rejects the notion of "double genocide."
Seventy years after the Wannsee Conference, the reconciliation process for the crimes of World War II is not yet complete, particularly in the Baltics. Accordingly, the declaration calls for EU member states to "continue efforts to acknowledge their own roles in the destruction of European Jewry" and the "need for ongoing genuine Holocaust education and memorialization across the European Union." The rise of anti-Semitism and other forms of racism and xenophobia in general, and the implementation of double genocide policies in Eastern Europe, makes this an urgent imperative.
Unfortunately most global Jewish organizations and the relevant branches of Israel's government have yet to invest their resources in countering the threat of double genocide, which is necessary in order to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.
The time has come for them to join the European parliamentarians and put their names to this task. The way the Holocaust is remembered, and the success or otherwise of the Prague Process, is central not only to Europe's past, but also its future.
The writer is an associate professor at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia and a documentary filmmaker whose latest film is 'Rewriting History' (www.rewriting-history. org). He can be reached at [email protected]. The 70th anniversary declaration can be viewed at www.defendinghistory.com.


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"Short-term energy restriction during late gestation of beef cows decreases postweaning calf humoral immune response to vaccination", Journal of Animal Science, vol. 94, no. 6, p. 2542, 2016.
, "Supplementation Levels and Monensin Effects on Performance of Early Weaned Calves Grazing Bahiagrass Pastures.", Journal of Animal Science, vol. 94, no. supplement1, p. 26, 2016.
, "Using Hair Cortisol Concentrations to Assess the Adrenocortical Stress Response in Beef Cattle Administered Corticotrophin-Release Hormone.", Journal of Animal Science, vol. 94, no. supplement5, p. 109, 2016.
, "Effects of concentrate type and chromium propionate on insulin sensitivity, productive and reproductive parameters of lactating dairy cows consuming excessive energy", animal, vol. 11, no. 03, pp. 436 - 444, 2017.
, "Effects of Temperament on Physiological, Productive, and Reproductive Responses in Beef Cows", Journal of Animal Science, vol. 95, no. 1, p. 1, 2017.


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Source: Ash Grove Cement Co., Overland Park, Kan.
The Ash Grove Cement Co.'s Montana City, Mont., plant was recognized for its outstanding safety record by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association as part of the Sentinels of Safety award program.
The Sentinels of Safety awards program is intended to stimulate greater interest in safety and to encourage development of more effective accident prevention programs among the nation's mineral extractive industries. The Montana City plant was honored in the program's large quarry group for the achievement of an outstanding safety record. "We are honored that our plant's record of 15,956 employee-hours worked in 2010 without a lost-workday injury has been recognized by the Mine Safety and Health Administration," said Plant Manager Dick Johnson. "This is the type of recognition of our team's efforts that demonstrates that safety is a cornerstone of how we operate every minute of every hour of every day."
According to Ash Grove's Corporate Director of Health and Safety, Steve Minshall, each of the company's eight cement plants actively participate in the company's health and safety management system, which includes injury prevention, compliance management, audits and training to ensure a safe work environment for employees. "Excellent safety performance does not just happen. It takes effort, teamwork, accountability and truly valuing the well-being of every person. This recognition is a validation of the Montana City employees' commitment to safety excellence," Minshall said.
Ash Grove's Montana City plant, which has operated since the 1960s and employs approximately 80, is one of two cement manufacturing plants in Montana. Ash Grove sells its products throughout the Montana as well as in surrounding states. The facility has the distinction of having the longest-running record without a lost-time accident among all eight Ash Grove plants, which currently exceeds 11 years. The plant also has earned safety awards from the Portland Cement Association and has earned the Ash Grove President's Gold Safety Award six times, as well as Silver Safety Awards twice.


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Training Point Factoring Bug
I call this a bug, because it would seem unintended, unless you intend all professions with AURA or DISCIPLINE as a prime stat to have a TP penalty, which has been fully taken into account in regards to game balance and mangler costs (I doubt it).
But, by all means, if this isn't an unintended bug, say that it is intended that some professions receive less TPs without having training expectations adjusted down by the same ratio.
This issue is very similar to the Sorcerer/hybrid CS issue that was finally, thankfully, fixed after many years of complaining by myself and others. It is a mathematical anomally. I'm hoping that it too can be fixed like the CS issue was. Though, this is arguably a bigger deal since it involves TPs. When I have brought this up in the past I've been told it wasn't a big deal, but you factor it over 100 levels and you're looking at significant TPs. Consequently I had also been told the CS issue wasn't a big deal, so I'm hoping maybe attitudes have changed. Anyways…
In GS3 all professions had the same TP formula, which double counted DISCIPLINE and AURA, thus making them important to all professions for TPs. With the change to GS4 professions were differentiated by using prime stats for each professions. However DISCIPLINE and AURA were still treated differently, namely counted twice and then halved.
On the surface, doubling something then halving it would seem to be a wash, which is probably why it passed review originally. However, this is not the case in practice as you will see.
So here is the formula today:
MTPs = 25 + ((LOG + INT + WIS + INF + ((AUR + DIS) 2) 20)
PTPs = 25 + ((STR + CON + DEX + AGI + ((AUR + DIS) 2) 20)
Note: A character's prime requisites are doubled for the above formulas.
For the sake of easy math I'm going to give every stat a 100, this will show the disparity at the most extreme point, but in actuality the value non-requisite stats matters little to the disparity, it grows as your prime stat approaches 100, which, because it is a prime stat, tends to happen at early levels, so we really are talking about 100 levels of this disparity.
Do you see the pattern? Pure has a max of 60 MTPS and 55 PTPS, square has opposite.
You would think wizards would have the same pattern? You would be wrong
MTPS = 25 +(((100*2)+100+100+100+(((100*2)+100) /2) / 20) = *57.5* truncated to 57
PTPS = 25 +((100+100+100+100+(((100*2)+100) /2) / 20) = *52.5* truncated to 52
The wizard has AURA as a prime stat, so it gets doubled, however, because it then is divided in half, the bonus is divided as well. As such, in the formula, if you have 100 in your prime stats, for a cleric, warrior, rogue, ranger, empath, paladin, the prime stat bonus is 100. If you're a wizard, bard, or sorcerer, the prime stat bonus is 50. So when you divide by 20 you end up with a difference both sides. So the wizard gains 2 PT, but loses 3 MTP. Considering what point is more useful, that is a net loss of 2 MTP. Over 100 levels that is 200 MTPS (202 if you count level 0). The equivalent of 4 full levels of training points. For a mathematical quirk!
Most people don't even realize this is going on.
This is especially, IMO, injurious to sorcerers who already have game-high training point expectations, and we have to do with 5% less than others, a factor which obviously was not accounted for in our TP costs.
Lets look at SEMIs
MTPs = 25 + ((100 + (100*2) + 100 + 100 + ((100 + 100) /2) /20) = 55
PTPs = 25 + ((100 + 100 + (100*2) + 100 + ((100 + 100) /2) /20) = 55
MTPs = 25 + ((100 + 100 + 100 + (100*2) + (((100*2) + 100) 2) 20) = 57.5 truncated to 57
PTPs = 25 + ((100 + 100 + 100 + 100 + (((100*2) + 100) 2) 20) = 52.5 truncated to 52
So, bards receive 2 MORE MTPs than rangers, but 3 less PTPs. Because Bards and rangers do not have obvious TP preferences (like pures do) this is harder to say that it is a penalty. I cannot necessarily say Bards are being penalized.
However, wizards and sorcerers definitely are when compared with the other pures (clerics/empaths) because for these professions MTPs are preferred and needed (I myself have almost 6000 PTPs converted)
In practical situations, the disparity will not reach 202 mtps unless you put your AURA to 100 at level 0. This isn't often done. However, because AURA is so very important (spirit, mana, etc) it isn't often tanked, 80s, 90s, are common, even for low levels. The disparity for your average typical training over 100 levels probably is somewhere around 180 mtps, still a big number.
I think it is a big deal, I think it should be fixed. Yes, it would mean giving wizards & sorcerers a TP boost after the fact, and that may seem egregious, but you're only giving us TPs we would have earned over the life of our characters had this mathematical quirk of a penalty not existed. It is only fair.
The fix, by the way, would be to remove the prime stat bonus, if it is AURA or Discipline, to AFTER the stats are averaged and divided by two.
If Profession = Wizard or Sorcerer:
MTPs = 25 + ((LOG + INT + WIS + INF + ((AUR + DIS) 2) + AUR 20) = 60 (with all 100s, just like a cleric or empath)
PTPs = 25 + ((STR + CON + DEX + AGI + ((AUR + DIS) 2) 20) = 50 (with all 100s, just like a cleric or empath)
Note: A character's prime requisites are NOT doubled for the above formulas.
If Any Other Profession:
MTPs = 25 + ((LOG + INT + WIS + INF + ((AUR + DIS) 2) 20)
PTPs = 25 + ((STR + CON + DEX + AGI + ((AUR + DIS) 2) 20)
Note: A character's prime requisites ARE doubled for the above formulas.


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Charlie Brown, a two-year-old spaniel, loses focus under pressure in an experiment at the Duke Canine Cognition Center. A new study by Duke researchers finds that extra stress and stimulation can make hyper dogs like Charlie choke but gives mellow dogs an edge. Credit: Video by Emily Bray, Duke Canine Cognition Center
People aren't the only ones who perform better on tests or athletic events when they are just a little bit nervous -- dogs do too. But in dogs as in people, the right amount of stress depends on disposition.A new study by researchers at Duke University finds that a little extra stress and stimulation makes hyper dogs crack under pressure but gives mellow dogs an edge.The findings appear online in the journal Animal Cognition.According to an idea in psychology called the Yerkes-Dodson law, a little stress can be a good thing, but only up to a point. A task that isn't demanding or challenging enough can make it hard to stay engaged and perform at one's peak. But when the pressure becomes too much to handle, performance is likely to suffer again.The idea is the relationship between stress and performance follows a Goldilocks model: Both people and animals function best when the level of stress is not too much, nor too little, but just right."When you're taking a test, for example, it helps to be a little bit anxious so you don't just blow it off," said study co-author Emily Bray, who was an undergraduate at Duke at the time of the study. "But if you're too nervous, even if you study and you really know the material, you aren't going to perform at your best." Researchers first observed this pattern more than a hundred years ago in lab rats, but it has since been demonstrated in chickens, cats and humans. In a new study, a Duke team consisting of Bray and evolutionary anthropologists Evan MacLean and Brian Hare of Duke's Canine Cognition Center wanted to find out if the conditions that enable certain animals to do their best also depend on the animal's underlying temperament.In a series of experiments, the researchers challenged dogs to retrieve a meat jerky treat from a person standing behind a clear plastic barrier that was six feet wide and three feet tall. To get it right, the dogs had to resist the impulse to try to take the shortest path to reach the treat -- which would only cause them to whack into the barrier and bump their heads against the plastic -- and instead walk around the barrier to one of the open sides.In one set of trials, an experimenter stood behind the barrier holding a treat and called the dog's name in a calm, flat voice. In another set of trials, the experimenter enthusiastically waved the treat in the air and used an urgent, excited voice. (See YouTube video at https://youtu.be/j6bfo5IlCEY)The researchers tested 30 pet dogs, ranging in age from an eight-month-old Jack Russell terrier named Enzo to an 11-year-old Vizsla named Sienna. They also tested 76 assistance dogs at Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, California, a non-profit organization that breeds and trains assistance dogs for people with disabilities. The researchers studied video recordings of each dog and estimated their baseline temperament in terms of tail wags per minute. "The service dogs were generally more cool in the face of stress or distraction, whereas the pet dogs tended to be more excitable and high-strung," Bray said.Both groups of dogs were able to solve the puzzle. But the optimal amount of stress and stimulation depended on each dog's disposition.For the dogs that were naturally calm and laid-back -- measured by how quickly they tended to wag their tails -- increasing the level of excitement and urgency boosted their ability to stay on task and get the treat. But for excitable dogs the pattern was reversed. Increasing the level of stimulation only made them take longer. In one high-arousal trial, a two-year-old spaniel named Charlie Brown lost it and shut down, barking and zipping around crazily until she almost ran out of time."In the first five trials she did fine and solved the puzzle quickly with no problems," Bray said. "Then when the high-arousal trials started she choked. She just couldn't figure it out." "Adding more excitement pushed the pet dogs over the edge and impaired their ability to perform at their peak," Bray said.The results will help researchers develop better tests to determine which dogs are likely to graduate from service dog training programs, for example.This study was funded by the AKC Canine Health Foundation, the National Science Foundation (DGE-1321851), the Office of Naval Research (NOOO14-12-1-0095) and the National Institute of Health (5 R03 HD070649-02).


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Somehow I missed this notice when it came out in May. I grew up in one of those households that had stacks of hardcover issues of American Heritage all over the place, on bookshelves here and there, in the basement, the garage, on the top shelf of the hall closet. I don't remember how old I was before I took an interest in them, but eventually I began to flip through the issues at random. Later, on trips home from college, I flipped through them again, this time looking for articles of interest on certain subjects. At some point I purchased the big, hardcover index, but it was of little use in the chaotic shuffling of serial publications in a home overrun by reading material. But the randomness, of course, was part of the appeal -- just grab a couple issues on your way to the bed, and there was bound to be one article, one essay, one "brush with history" that would be worth staying up for.
I tried to salvage a lot of those old casebound volumes, but they were just so damn heavy, and not conducive to apartment living and multiple moves. Invariably, they would end up in some dank, moist place, and have to be tossed in the dumpster on the next move.
I subscribed, on and off, to the modern glossy magazine, but that tailed off. Sometimes, I picked it up off the newstand. Editorially, it had its ups and downs, but I don't mind saying it was always among my favorite magazines. As I typed this blog entry, it occurred to me why AH is suspending print publication. Even loyal readers who were weaned on it have stopped buying it. That's a little sad, but "so it goes," if I may quote another American icon we lost this year.
AH, at least, will continue online with a top-flight website [image at top: cover, October 1959, vol. 10, no. 6].
American Heritage Suspends Print Edition
By Frederick E. Allen
American Heritage, the nation's preeminent magazine of history . . . has stopped publication, at least temporarily, with the April/May 2007 issue, now on newsstands. The website will continue to publish.
American Heritage, a bimonthly, was founded in 1954. It was bought by Forbes Inc. in 1986 and has suffered financially in recent years amid hard times for magazines in general. Forbes put it up for sale earlier this year and has not yet found a buyer.


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Probe is a dance theatre company based in Brighton, founded in 2004 by Antonia Grove and Theo Clinkard. Since 2008 Antonia has continued to develop projects for Probe as sole Artistic Director.
"The focus of the work I produce for Probe has become about finding new and interesting ways to integrate dance, text and song to communicate and tell a story. I aim to put the collaborators at the forefront of the work, carefully tailoring an artistic team specific to each individual project. The company is about combining different art forms whilst remaining rooted in physicality – discovering how these elements can exist together effectively in harmony and discord, generating fresh ideas and moving in new directions.
I continue to be driven to create work that deals in both fantasy and reality, with characters that have all the difficulties of real people and tell stories about the complexity of human relationships. From a broader viewpoint I'm interested in how these impact the wider world and finding ways to unite stories of an intimate and epic nature so that they communicate in a way that is both personal and universal. "
Antonia Grove


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Along with new smiling faces, a new school year brings special education teachers new IEPs, new co-teaching arrangements, new assessments to give, and more. In order to help you be as effective as you can with your new students, we've put together our top 10 list of back-to-school tips that we hope will make managing your special education program a little easier.
Download this article as a PDF document .
1. Organize all that paperwork
Special educators handle lots of paperwork and documentation throughout the year. Try to set up two separate folders or binders for each child on your case load: one for keeping track of student work and assessment data and the other for keeping track of all other special education documentation.
2. Start a communication log
Keeping track of all phone calls, e-mails, notes home, meetings, and conferences is important. Create a "communication log" for yourself in a notebook that is easily accessible. Be sure to note the dates, times, and nature of the communications you have.
3. Review your students' IEPs
The IEP is the cornerstone of every child's educational program, so it's important that you have a clear understanding of each IEP you're responsible for. Make sure all IEPs are in compliance (e.g., all signatures are there and dates are aligned). Note any upcoming IEP meetings, reevaluations, or other key dates, and mark your calendar now. Most importantly, get a feel for where your students are and what they need by carefully reviewing the present levels of performance, services, and modifications in the IEP.
4. Establish a daily schedule for you and your students
Whether you're a resource teacher or self-contained teacher, it's important to establish your daily schedule. Be sure to consider the service hours required for each of your students, any related services, and co-teaching. Check your schedule against the IEPs to make sure that all services are met. And keep in mind that this schedule will most likely change during the year!
5. Call your students' families
Take the time to introduce yourself with a brief phone call before school starts. You'll be working with these students and their families for at least the next school year, and a simple "hello" from their future teacher can ease some of the back-to-school jitters!
6. Touch base with related service providers
It's important to contact the related service providers — occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech/language therapists, or counselors — in your school as soon as possible to establish a schedule of times for your students who need these services. The earlier you touch base, the more likely you'll be able to find times that work for everyone.
7. Meet with your general education co-teachers
Communicating with your general education co-teachers will be important throughout the year, so get a head start on establishing this important relationship now! Share all of the information you can about schedules, students, and IEP services so that you're ready to start the year.
8. Keep everyone informed
All additional school staff such as assistants and specialists who will be working with your students need to be aware of their needs and their IEPs before school starts. Organize a way to keep track of who has read through the IEPs, and be sure to update your colleagues if the IEPs change during the school year.
9. Plan your B.O.Y. assessments
As soon as school starts, teachers start conducting their beginning of the year (B.O.Y.) assessments. Assessment data is used to update IEPs — and to shape your instruction — so it's important to keep track of which students need which assessments. Get started by making a checklist of student names, required assessments, and a space for scores. This will help you stay organized and keep track of data once testing begins.
10. Start and stay positive
As a special educator, you'll have lots of responsibilities this year, and it may seem overwhelming at times. If your focus is on the needs of your students and their success, you'll stay motivated and find ways to make everything happen. Being positive, flexible, and organized from the start will help you and your students have a successful year.
For more information about starting the year off right, please visit LD OnLine's back to school section.


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Small Willow Heart
Cute, cute, cute!
These rustic willow hearts can lean against a wall like shown in the photo, or tie a bit of string on the back to wall hang.
These are made from rustic willow and have a dark grey wash over them.
Due to their rustic nature there may be broken twigs and exposed nails. This is all part of their rustic charm and make wonderful gifts.
Measurements- H34cm x W25cm x D5cm
Shipping (Small Items)
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We aim to pack and dispatch your items within 2 working days of receiving your order, subject to stock availability. If your order contains a bespoke item then this may take longer, however, we will be in contact with you to discuss the turnaround time.
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Community Health & Education - Costs & Funding
Seattle Central College makes it easy to complete your education. With comparatively low tuition costs and plenty of financial aid resources, your degree is right at your fingertips.
Tuition & Fees
The estimated costs for the BAS in Allied Health – Community Health and Education track include:
- Tuition
- Photo ID Card (one–time fee)
- Student Activity Fee (per quarter)
- Transportation Management Fee (per quarter)
- Computer Lab Fee (per quarter)
- Universal Technology Fee (per quarter)
- Textbooks/Supplies $500
- Upper Division Instructional Resources Fee - $7/per credit for all 300 level and above.
A great value just got better for non-resident students! Seattle Central now offers an Out-of-State Tuition Waiver that significantly cuts tuition costs for qualifying students.
The Washington State Legislature sets tuition, which is subject to change. The Seattle Colleges District reserves the right to change any of its fees or charges without notice.
Financial Aid
Students at Seattle Central College qualify for a number of federal grants and loans. Complete your Free Application for Federal Student Loan (FAFSA) today to learn more about what opportunities may be available to you. Learn more and apply for aid.
Workforce Services
Workforce Services can provide additional funding for tuition, books, transportation and other fees to qualifying students enrolled in a career-focused program. Emergency financial assistance is also available. Find out more about Workforce Services.
Other Resources
Want to explore other funding options including using Veterans' Benefits, scholarship opportunities and more? Learn more about ways to pay for college.


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Photograph: Sasa Huzjak |
"But what I really wanted to do was play jazz" is a clichéd sentiment among successful rock musicians, particularly drummers. In his excellent autobiography, Bill Bruford writes about this desire, and how he fulfilled it for decades, with Earthworks and other projects. Neil Peart has made briefer and (in my opinion) less successful forays into jazz—the Burning for Buddy (Rich) tributes, as well as the hammy big-band homages that inevitably crop up in his solos.
Ginger Baker, a giant from a generation earlier, may have been the originator of this sentiment, as well as its most extreme exponent. As he crabbily explains in the fascinating recent doc Beware of Mr. Baker, despite his success with Cream, he doesn't consider himself a rock drummer; nor does he seem to respect any of the acknowledged masters in Cream's general (early, blues-based U.K. rock and roll) vicinity, your Bonhams and Moons. (For the record, I find his denigration of these two, and the general devaluation of rock mastery as a lesser skill than jazz virtuosity, to be pretty despicable; why do we need to dismiss one style to give another its due?) Baker's heroes are Blakey, Elvin and Phil Seamen, a player I don't know much about but take to be more or less the British Buddy Rich or Gene Krupa, without the worldwide fame.
Bruford and especially Peart have approached jazz with a certain humility, bowing as they've walked through the door. Baker has approached it with respect, but also (as he seems to approach everything) with cockiness and bravado. (See the famed drum battles with Blakey and others.) Lately, I've been listening to a fair amount of Ginger Baker playing jazz: on records such as 1999's Coward of the County (I also love Going Back Home with Bill Frisell and Charlie Haden but haven't revisited it in a while) and the brand-new Why?, and, last night, live at B.B. King's in Times Square. I'm of two minds about Baker's so-called jazz drumming: On one hand I'm pretty sure I wouldn't classify it as great jazz drumming, but on the other, I'm pretty sure that I love the way it sounds, which, to me, is far more important than whether or not it fulfills arbitrary, box-checking genre criteria. Unlike when, say, Neil Peart (please understand: one of my very favorite drummers when he's in his element) imitates Buddy Rich in earnest but clunky, almost caricatured fashion, Baker actually—as one might expect of such an ego-driven character—imposes himself on the style, so much so that what results isn't really classifiable as anything other than Ginger Baker Music.
His sonic fingerprints are all over Jazz Confusion, and in the end, that's the quartet's entire appeal. As you can hear on Why?, the group's M.O. is pretty straightforward, often flirting with blandness: ambling, midtempo versions of hoary standards such as "Footprints" or "Well You Needn't," or simple blues or African tunes from the Baker songbook (some his own, some written by sidemen, some traditional), performed in a sort of stubbornly laid-back style, with saxist Pee Wee Ellis as the likable but uncommanding lead soloist.
What saves the Confusion's music from slightness, though, is how completely it embodies Baker's affinities as a rhythmist. The music is his feel behind a set of drums, and the presence of an auxiliary percussionist, Ghanaian drummer Abass Dodoo—who's fully on Baker's wavelength—only drives home this point.
Baker's drumming is all about the sensation of drag—a feel of looseness that could be almost be described as willful lethargy—coupled with a fondness for stark, sing-songy gestures. A low terminal velocity; lot of simultaneous or flammed strikes on two wonderfully resonant toms, or a snare and a tom; a tendency to set up almost hokey, "shave-and-a-haircut"–style conversations between phrases, in a way that sometimes reminds me of the great Ed Blackwell; an obsession with the triplet feel (you hear a lot of shunk-dunk shunk shunka-da-dunka-da 6/8), and with the mindbending lattice that blooms before your ears when two percussionists (or two limbs of the same one) favor opposing accents.
But in a more general way, what you hear is this sort of stick-in-the-mud notion of how "jazz," or, really, music, ought to sound. Check out the concluding title track of Why? below. The head arrangement is so methodical, so stubbornly plodding, but listen to what happens around 1:10, when Baker switches to the ride and the groove opens up.
The man is swinging so hard he's practically stumbling through the streets. He sounds simultaneously stiff and liberated, and he knows exactly what he's doing. His playing moves and grooves, but it also just sort of squats at the center of the music, daring the other players to make way for him, to set their internal clocks by his own. "Twelve and More Blues" is another piece with this sort of exaggerated, taffylike bounce, a kind of buoyant ooze. The interaction of Baker and Dodoo draws the ear down to the music's murky bottom, its gluey drumminess. Ellis and bassist Alec Dankworth play their roles dutifully, but, and this is the key to the music, those roles are merely to help facilitate the rhythmic vibe, to put some meat on the bones, which are themselves the essence of the music.
I could listen to "Cyril Davis" all day, focusing on that glorious turnaround moment (it happens for the first time at :43) when Baker switches from the toms to the ride cymbal, shifting from one gloriously gummy pulse to another. There is a kind of heaven in this rhythmic laze, a decadence in stumbling from beat to beat, a control freak's approach to vegging out. If, in a certain sense, not a lot "happens" in the music of the Jazz Confusion, this principle—that of imparting at all times one's specific rhythmic signature—manifests in the music constantly. It's all this music is.
Jazz is an individual voice conversing with other individual voices. Maybe the reason why the music of the Confusion isn't, to my ears, great jazz, is that it's not so much about conversation as it is about subordination—everyone get on board with Baker's feel, in other words. But on its own terms, removed from the tedious discussion of jazz and rock—which is too often framed as a competition or rivalry—or of genre in general, I think the Jazz Confusion (both as a live band and on Why?) is a major success. Ginger Baker–ness seeps from the music's every pore, and that approach—personality into sound—is one avenue to worthwhile music. Jazz? Rock? African? Who cares. The band is him, period—this music couldn't come from anywhere else.
P.S. Props to the Baker Gurvitz Army. Just getting to know this project, but live clips such as this have me seriously intrigued, more so than by what I know of Baker's Air Force. Props also to Cream's Royal Albert Hall reunion gig, during which Baker's rhythmic stubbornness is on full display, alongside his ability to participate in a band of equals.


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Planar has again brought digital media technology and architecture together in a public space with the installation of its Planar® Helium™ and Planar® Simplicity™ Series displays in the Center for Architecture in New York City. The displays currently provide interfaces to an exhibit called Considering the Quake: Seismic Design on the Edge. The displays will be incorporated into the design of future exhibits providing the means for delivering an immersive digital experience.
Digital display technology that is integral to the exhibit space
Considering the Quake was curated by Dr. Effie Bouras and Professor Ghyslaine McClure, P.Eng in association with McGill University. The exhibit, designed by Softlab, a New York City-based design studio, features the integration of three Planar displays in the 1300 sf space. SOFTlab's founder and president, Michael Szivos says the Planar displays – a pair of 32-inch Planar Simplicity (SL3250) models and a 24-inch Planar Helium(PCT2485) model– were appealing for a number of reasons, notably their aesthetics. "We wanted the latest in digital technology, but also products that felt original to and integral with the exhibit space." Both Planar Helium and Planar Simplicity address this requirement with their sleek profiles and elegant slim designs. "Also, unlike other products such as large-screen televisions, their ability to blend seamlessly with the architecture focuses your attention on the content rather than the screen, and that greatly helps support the communication, education and entertainment goals of the exhibit," Szivos adds.
Installed in early 2014, Planar Helium and Planar Simplicity Series were selected as platforms to help architects, designers and engineers understand how certain structures and building materials will behave under differing earthquake circumstances. Each of the 32-inch Planar Simplicity shows videos and renderings of building construction as well as building materials undergoing earthquake testing. The 24-inch Planar Helium is an interactive platform with up to 10 touchpoints that, when touched, cause a displayed image to shake and sway as a building might do in an actual earthquake. "This interactivity is particularly important because it allows you to see how your design of a building, or the choice of materials you make, react and change as you use the touchscreen to change the severity of an earthquake. That makes it a particularly valuable learning tool," Szivos continues.
Display features meet durability and performance requirements
The center's Hoff echoes the importance of digital media and interactivity. "In a city like New York, there are many iconic museums and learning centers such as we have here. When word gets around that the Center for Architecture is employing both digital media and interactivity in a particularly interesting way, that draws people in– which increases our awareness and visibility and helps grow our base of support."
In addition to these capabilities, Planar Helium and Planar Simplicity Series provide features that make them especially suited to applications in public spaces. Both were specifically designed to operate in demanding environments with high durability and performance requirements. They incorporate commercial-grade LED and LCD panels that can perform without fail for tens of thousands of hours. Both products can display content from a very large digital library, allowing the center to present a significant amount of information in a limited amount of space, and change it often and easily- on Planar Simplicity, for example, this is done through a USB playback feature (as well as over a network, via a wireless device such as a smart phone or tablet) that includes dynamic scheduling. "It would be impossible to show as much information on conventional exhibit media, and changing it would require far more time, effort and cost," Hoff says.
Other features are important to note. On Planar Simplicity Series there is the edge-lit LED LCD panel, and on Helium, the multi-touch capability that Planar has optimized for the industry's newest software including Microsoft Windows 7 and 8, and it offers highly accurate and responsive swiping and gesturing.


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I'm traveling for work this week, hoping to work in part 3 of the Idaho vacation series, but having trouble carving out time. I've been traveling a lot lately, back down in the Acid Swamp last week, San Diego this week, and Boston next week, but hopefully I can wrap it up later this week or over the weekend.
In a comment to Part 2, KB was kind enough to alert me to a mis-ID*: my "pinedrop" was actually Spotted Coralroot, Corrallothiza maculata. There are 3 upsides** to this error. First, Pinedrop is way cool and totally worth blogging about; I'm glad I did so. Second, the Coralroot story is remarkably similar. It's also a non-chloropyllous myco-heretroph. It's associated with a single family of fungi, in this case, Russulaceae, which, like Rhizopogon, is mycorrhizal. So far so good.
*As I've mentioned previously, I welcome corrections. I make mistakes all the time. I'm not a botanist, zoologist, entomologist, zoologist, ornithologist, geologist, hydrologist, astronomer, or any kind of an expert on anything*** covered in this blog, and over 90% of the stuff I blog about is stuff I learned about the thing in question over the previous week. Though I do my best to get the facts straight, I don't sweat it when I don't. I have a day job. In fact I have several posts (particularly from year 1) where I have pretty major errors that I have it in my mind to go back and clean up sometime, but don't know when I'll get around to it.
**I am so glass-half-full it almost hurts…
***And really, I've never been an expert in anything- not my trade or hobbies or anything else. Yet my life has worked out just fine. If I were to start this project all over again from scratch, perhaps a better name for the blog would be "Perpetual Amateur."****
****Blogspot url is already taken. Just snagged it over on Wordpress. You know, just in case…
Extra Detail: Something interesting about Russulaceae is its mushrooms, in which the stalk is comprised of spherical cells, unlike the stalks of most mushrooms, which are comprised of long fibers (hyphae). Because of this the stalks snap cleanly, and often with a crack, like a carrot.
Third, the error provides yet another- and this case absolutely fascinating- example of one of my pet loves in this project- convergent evolution. Pinedrop, as I mentioned in the last post, is a member of the Heath Family, Ericaceae, which in turn is a dicot (eudicot) family.
Coralroots (and there are over a dozen species, mostly native to the New World) belong to the Orchid family, Orchidaceae, which is a monocot family. In other words, these 2, remarkably similar-looking plants, which occur in like habitats, evolved non-chlorophyllous myco-hetermorphism completely independently. Pinedrop is more closely related to Oak or Cactus, and Coralroot more closely-related to Crabgrass or Joshua Trees, than either is related to each other. The two haven't shared a common ancestor since probably the early Cretaceous. And yet, ~100 million years later, here are their descendants, pulling off practically the exact same schtick! Isn't that incredible?
On the downside, I missed a great chance to blog about Orchids, something I've had in the back of my mind to do for over a year now. The 2 most diverse families of flowering plants are the Sunflowers (Asteraceae) and the Orchids (Orchidaceae), both of which have well over 20,000 generally accepted species. The success of, and diversity within these 2 families is stunning. I've said before that angiosperms long ago conquered the world, but one could almost say that Sunflowers and Orchids have conquered the world, with the rest of us just along for the ride.
Sunflowers I've done a half-decent job with, covering many examples and the family in general. But Orchids I just haven't gotten to yet*, somewhat to my chagrin, because Orchids are fascinating, beautiful and wondrous, with thousands of amazing stories. I'm also charmed by the wonderful symmetry of the successes of the 2 families- one monocot, one dicot- and their clear testament to the fabulous success of two fundamentally different ways of being a plant. Clearly, orchids need to be blogged about.
*I considered tackling them a year ago in Costa Rica, but felt that the trip was too quick and my sightings too spotty to a good job of it. More recently I've intended to blog about White Bog Orchid, Habenaria dilatata, which I believe I've spotted in passing a few times…
But not this week. Not in a sleep-deprived-hotel-room-cranked-out-filler-post. So I'll wait for another day. But I can't resist touching on just one very relevant aspect of orchids, which is that if anything, they would seem to be perhaps even better suited for, or at least more inclined toward, myco-heterotrophism, in that all orchids begin life as myco-heterotrophs.
Orchid seeds contain no endosperm*. In order to germinate, they must obtain nutrients from fungi, and so an orchid seed cannot start growing unless it lands where a suitable fungus lives. After successful germination, the orchids get along photosynthesizing and such like most other plants, which exceptions like the Coralroots.
*I explained endosperm in this post. (The post may contain a minor error, highlighted by Enel in the comments, which I haven't yet had opportunity to recheck. The post should otherwise be pretty solid.) Interestingly, horticulturalists are able stimulate orchid seed-germination without fungi, using nutrient-rich gels. Most orchids, BTW are epiphytes; I assume they get their start from fungi growing on trees.
So Coralroots, and other adult-myco-heterotrophic orchids, can be considered almost neotenous in the sense that they retain the seedling lifestyle into adulthood.
Anyway, cool plant. I learned something from the error.
I mentioned earlier that I'm in San Diego this week, here for my company's annual user conference. I've been doing this conference for 9 years now, and I've done blog posts the last two years related to various tree-hunting adventures I've worked in on the side. This year's conference, for reasons I can't get into here, will most certainly be my last. I didn't make it up to the mountains this time, but I made it to the beach.
Last Wednesday I spent the day in my company's Ft. Myers, Florida office, my 3rd trip there in as many months. On neither previous trip did I ever see the ocean; it was too far, not enough time, etc. But recent events got me thinking that I'd never been to a US beach on the Gulf of Mexico, and that if I didn't go soon, it might be the case that such a visit may not be possible again in my lifetime*. So at 6:30, when I finally wrapped things up at the office, I jumped in the rental car and headed West.
*I'm talking of course about the BP spill. Though it looks like it might be resolved, there were a few weeks where I wondered if might be uncapped for years…
It was 7:30PM when I arrived at Ft. Myers beach, still warm and humid, but the sun low enough that I could walk comfortably across the beach parking lot barefoot. When I reached the sand, it was the softest I'd ever felt beneath my toes. Fine, white, almost talc-like. About 20 feet from the water the sand turned slightly damp, and hard, like pavement. I could see a couple of tracks where bicyclists had passed easily. It was unlike any sand I'd ever walked on.
When I touched the water I almost laughed. Warm, almost bath-like, if it had been any hotter out it would've been unpleasant. I waded in and was pleased to find that the baby-soft sand continued out underwater. I waded out probably 50 feet to waist-deep, then dove in. I floated around on my back for 15 or so minutes, watching the sun grow fat, low and orange. I mused that 2 rather crappy things- an oil spill and work travel to South Florida in July- had somehow led to me experiencing this totally cool beach, which I'd otherwise likely never have sought out.
Monday I was in San Diego with a few hours to kill. Again in a rental car, I pulled off I-5 on La Jolla Blvd. As I've mentioned previously, I was born in La Jolla (though have no memory of it) and over the years have stopped by there from time to time. I ate a sandwich overlooking the cove and the underwater park, thinking wistfully that I should've brought along a swimsuit, or figured out where to get some snorkel gear, or maybe even do a dive. I gawked at the Sea Lions for a bit*.
*Also worth a future post. I'm absolutely fascinated by the evolutionary paths of marine creatures with terrestrial ancestors, and especially by the apparent "in-between-ness" of pinnipeds.
Then I sat and stared for a bit, thinking about changes over the past year, and of those coming in the year ahead, while watching the passing flocks of pelicans*. Their flight seemed to hint at patterns I couldn't quite catch, like whispers in the rustling of aspen leaves.
*Which I've mentioned in Utah, Mexico and now California. Need to do a post on them too.
I took the slow route back down to the city, hugging the beach. In the honky-tonk sprawl along Mission Beach, I passed a shop advertising cheap swimsuits. 10 minutes later I was walking barefoot on sand, this time beige and coarse-grained. The water was cold, probably 65F, and not especially inviting, but it may be a while before I'm on a Southern California beach again. I tucked my head and dove into my second ocean in 5 days.


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Wednesday 13 January 2010
Fresh Mangos
The orange top and white bottom Mango in the middle is the lightest yet produced. It weighs just 30.5 kg including everything (lights and battery etc.). That's light for a velomobile. The owner asked for a minimal setup and lightweight equipment because he wants to race it and I look forward to the result. We've been working on weight reduction for a product that I can't tell you about yet, so this was good practice for us.
The second photo, taken by Harry in Germany, is of the customer of the yellow Mango taking his first test ride through the snow.
I'll be setting off for work in a few minutes myself, riding my yellow Mango through the snow to Groningen. It's -6 C this morning, 5 C warmer than it was when I set off last Friday morning, but still cold. A warming cup of coffee will be very welcome when I arrive, and having found the banana I carried on Friday to be complete solid on the way home when I tried to eat it, I've got a muesli bar today instead.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.
8 comments:
You'll have to forgive me if I inadvertently dribble...
I do like the look of those velomobiles, and can see how they could be a very practical human powered transport system: but don't you get very hot inside in non-winter conditions - I'm dripping after half an hour on my Trice QNT on the turbo trainer. And how do you secure them when you get to your destination? Sadly one advantage the car has over hpvs is that it is a giant locked box on wheels that's too heavy to pick up and walk away with (or chuck into a convenient white van). - 13 January 2010 at 22:08
- James D. Schwartz said...
David, it looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to add a windshield/cover on the Mango. Have you guys tried implementing something like this?
- 14 January 2010 at 02:30
- David Hembrow said...
hercule: Riding indoors on a trainer is perhaps the most effective way of building up a sweat on a bicycle.
Before getting my own Mango I rode a borrowed one through much of the summer, using it for the commute and for racing. Without the foam cover in place it's really not that bad in the summer. With it, and with too many clothes on, you can overheat even in the current conditions. I wear just two layers while riding the Mango at the moment.
As for locking, it's possible to put a D lock through a wheel quite easily and lock it to something.
Cars do have many conveniences, and of course that is why they're so popular.
James: Some people have made windscreens. I quite like the refreshing wind in my face.
An option is the hood made for the Flevobike Versatile velomobile. That also fits the Mango. A german dealer has some photos
Or there are racing hoods which further improve the aerodynamics as seen here. - 14 January 2010 at 06:37
About the locking: Somebody in Germany who rides a Mango velomobile himself has made a lockable lid for the opening of Mango velomobiles. Here is a link to his website (in German): mango-lid.
Here is a link to the discussion in the German velomobilforum.
I have one of these lids in use myself, and I really like that I can leave stuff in the velomobile, and people cannot easily access the inside. If you also set the parking brake, this makes it difficult to move the vehicle. If you lock a wheel to something stationary, this makes the parked vehicle quite secure. - 14 January 2010 at 21:34
Oh, I forgot to say: you can stow the lid below the "hood" of the Mango velomobile, and easily take it along when you ride.
- 14 January 2010 at 21:35
Just ride in speedos and you wont feel so hot.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=speedos&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g10 - 15 January 2010 at 10:34
- James D. Schwartz said...
David, I was thinking more for protection from heavy rain/snowstorms. If these were ever to go mainstream as an alternative to the automobile, I would think weather protection would be essential.
Agreed that on a regular day you would want to have the wind in your face, however. - 16 January 2010 at 18:00
- David Hembrow said...
James, actually the foam cover works very well for what you want. I always leave my Mango outside at work, and while I've watched rain pour down while I work, and have had to scrape snow off it before riding home, I've never found a wet seat waiting for me. There are two parts to the foam cover. The smaller one goes where your head usually is as can be seen in this photo. Both parts store easily inside the Mango.
Some people keep their Mangos outdoors all the time. - 16 January 2010 at 19:12


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by Elizabeth Beaulac, Outreach Intern, National Women's Law Center
August brought with it a victory for women's health. It was announced that all new health insurance plans would be required to coverage preventive services such as contraceptive coverage. However, in not so great news, the mandate included language that would allow religious employers to deny such coverage on the basis of religious or moral beliefs; also known as a "refusal clause." Today, many religious institutions are pushing to expand the language, creating the opportunity to deny more woman necessary preventive services.
Needless to say I'm having a difficult time grasping what this so-called, "conscience clause" actually means. Call me silly, but it actually seems immoral to deprive a woman of contraception if those pills are necessary for her to maintain her health. It seems quite immoral to make a woman choose between receiving adequate health care coverage and her job. Do we honestly think it's fair to deny contraceptive coverage to a teacher at a Catholic school or university even though she may not be Catholic herself?
I have the same argument for abortion; if you don't believe in its methods or purpose, don't use it yourself, but please don't deny access for other women who choose to have the procedure. So when the question of whether or not contraception should be covered by health insurance, I say, "yes." If the consumer chooses not to use it, fine. However, depriving women the ability to access it in general is putting their health at risk.
About 5 years ago I was first prescribed birth control pills. I was diagnosed with endometriosis. Because of the medicine my doctor put me on; my quality of life has improved 10 fold (no exaggeration). And because of being provided safe and easy access to this medicine, surgery is no longer necessary. I'd truly hate to think that if I had been employed at that time by an institution that sees this sort of life saving medicine as immoral, I may still be living in pain and perhaps be facing even more serious complications.
In the simplest of words, if one doesn't want to take birth control or use other contraceptive measures, they shouldn't be forced to. However, if an employer is responsible for providing health care coverage to its employees, those employees should have the access and option to receive necessary health care, including birth control.
Cross-posted with the National Women's Law Center
Part of the #HERvotes blog carnival.
Check out the action petitions:
Planned Parenthood Federation of America


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Ivana White & Black TV Stand
Save 23%
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ACME Ivana TV Stand, White & Black (1Set/2Ctn), 63" x 16" x 20"H, 107lbs.
The Ivana TV Stand impresses with stunning, modern looks, it will be an impressive focal point in your living room. Features black and white finish, with clear tempered glass shelves complementing the set. Its open storage shelving offers plenty of space to keep your entertainment components. Stylish sleek design and practicality go hand-in-hand with this TV stand.
- Rectangular TV Stand - 1 Drawer - Open Storage: 2 Shelves - Max. Recommended TV Size: 60" Flat Panel
Wood, Glass, Metal, Veneer, Composite Wood


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Military Baby Sweaters Crochet Patterns Ebook - Instant PDF Download
These sweaters make great shower gifts for military family, photography prop or baby's first Halloween costume. Five sweater patterns; each includes a corresponding baby rattle pattern.
Instructions include sizes Newborn-3 months, 6-9 months, and 9-12 months.
**** This listing is for a CROCHET PATTERN in PDF format. ****
Skill level: Intermediate
Materials you will need:
Sport weight/baby weight yarn
Size F and G crochet hooks
Buttons, zipper, Velcro
Yarn needle
Rattle insert
****************** Pattern is available for instant download. *****************
Once payment is confirmed, you will receive a link to download the pattern immediately. Make certain your email is up to date and accurate before purchasing. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
No pattern or photograph may be reproduced or distributed - mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying, without written permission of My Fingers Fly. If purchasing this pattern to offer finished products for commercial sale, it would be greatly appreciated if you credit the design to My Fingers Fly (www.myfingersfly.com) in your listing.