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Something to consider: Financial mismanagement at the cost of survival
In the beautiful and revelatory situation we find ourselves in - People in the first world can almost guarantee themselves food/water/shelter, The internet allows instant communication to 3 billion people and access to MOST of our collective knowledge, Money is easier than ever to acquire - there exists still many disparaging examples of lackluster thinking.
One of these examples I would like to point to is the spending of Governments worldwide.
Now before we get too far, I want to say - I am not an expert. I have read a few articles and checked out plenty of interviews with the people who find or think of this stuff but as a Human being involved directly with most going ons in the world today, my voice actually matters. Our voices matter and our perspectives on the decisions made FOR the collective by representatives, MATTERS.
So getting on with it. Some startling numbers to consider:
- The US government expenses, compensating radiation victims of nuclear testing ($1.5 billion) could fully educate 13K American kids.
- One year of a soldier being deployed could feed 60 American families.
- One week of US defence spending could stop World Hunger, at the cost being around $30B per year.
The next numbers fact I would like to discuss is our own, the public miss spendings - Australian's spend $14.1B on Alcohol a year.
That's almost half the funds required to defeat World Hunger. Spent on booze. Now I'm a Smoker, I don't advocate but I want to be honest and I spend (well any amount is unnecessary) but about $30 a week - $30 x 52 = $1560 a year. Even $1560 a week is quite a bit for an individual on something that does nothing, really, but shorten your life. Booze, could be argued to have some benefit but how often would a normal person spend $100 a week on booze? I'd say most of us, most weeks. I'm not a big Drinker but when I do, I will spend that easy - in a night. Now straight up $100 seems marginal, but that's $5k a year - or $14.1B Australia-wide. Adds up quick don't it.
We generally consider expenditure from the perspective of 'I spend this much money' and rarely, even for a thought exercise, run through it again with 'Individually, we spend this much money'. The difference in conclusion is this. From the standard perspective - 'I spend this much money, my spendings are so irrelevant to the overall spendings that it doesn't actually matter if I spend $100 this week or $200 next week - my spendings won't change anything out there'. From the other perspective - 'Individually, we spend this much money collectively, making up the whole. My spendings are not irrelevant and do make a difference. The extra $5K in my pocket means little to my lifestyle, though my better decisions affect the people around me and with this money I could make a yearly donation to fight starvation - doing my part' Seeing yourself not as the center of your financial storm but rather tied into the global financial storm. Attempting to switch the direction of the whole storm all at once, is the Ant trying to move the mountain, however, being a passive-non participator doesn't work either.
The Monk in the mountains does nothing for the people below.
Think and Act more toward a better or lesser (depending on your perspective of the Storm analogy) storm and tell the people around you to be more concious of their actions.
Don't preach Veganism at Mcdonald's, not eating while your friends have to shame chow. Take a cut lunch and eat it next to them.
There are many social rules against doing such a thing but I say social rules be damned!
And look I don't want to get it twisted, I'm not implying eating a cut lunch at Mcdonald's is the same as occupying the Bus seat in the segregated south. I'm not even really saying to actually do it. Just attempt to take a different approach, mentally, to common situations. The Veganism at Mcdonald's was an analogy.
But basically you want to try to subtly imply the impact each of us carries, with voting through our wallet. More effective and less frustrating than waiting for Politicians to make change :)
I often find that I will close a discussion like this off - before it's finished.
It's not so much that we need to 'tell' our governments what we want - I think since they operate as the sole facilitators of many institutions and services, we need to 'show' them how we want them to operate.
Demonstration, Internet uproar, changes in spending trends, self health and education facilitation. Corner stones of the New era of existing as a Global Citizen. For the first time, each one of us is responsible and accountable to and for everybody.
I would suggest everybody check out the entrepreneur and business coach, Tai Lopez. Check his website and his youtube channel - his ideas, derived from the smartest/bravest/most impactful among us, will knock the dust off your mind and allow you to better navigate this fast paced and complex new world we find ourselves in.
I'll likely re-broach this subject again soon and on a consistent basis as my own understanding deepens.
Leave me a comment, What do you spend the bulk of your 'disposable' income on? Mine is Coffee and cheap goods off ebay - plus books, I spend alot on books but I spend more money on books than I do time reading them.
Don't be mediocre people, that's how sinister agendas are fulfilled.
May the Government never declare your ideas radical and extreme, much love.
- Ryan Dickinson


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
apartment renter that didn't pay the rent
הרב Cohen Shlomo
30 Tishrei 5776
October 13, 2015
Case # 74095
Final Ruling
In the claim between
The plaintiffs – 1. Mr a
2 - Mrs. a
The defendant – Mrs. b
I. Introduction
On Thursday, 26 Tammuz 5774 (July 24, 2014), Beit Din held a hearing between the plaintiffs, and the defendant, regarding rental of the plaintiff's apartment.
Beit Din's interim decision was:
5. Beit Din does not see a legal or moral basis for continuing the present situation. Therefore, we rule that Mrs. B must vacate the apartment by August 31, 2014 (5 Elul 5774).
7. Beit Din will send instructions regarding the process of adjudication on the monetary element of the case.
In a second interim ruling on Tuesday, 21 Elul 5774, September 15, 2014, Beit Din ruled:
1. The defendant's counterclaim of 100,000 shekels compensation is rejected.
2. The plaintiffs should inform Beit Din when they want Beit Din to decide on the matter of the final amount of rental pay due by the defendant to the plaintiff.
Since that time, the defendant has written several letters criticizing the rejection of the counterclaim, and the plaintiff was waiting for the vacating of the rental apartment in order to make a final claim.
According to the notes of the secretary of the Beit Din, the defendant informed her on Jan. 14, 2015 that she vacated the apartment. However, the secretary told Beit Din that the defendant had admitted to not having removed all her possessions and that she did not initially want to inform the plaintiff that she had left.
On March 30, 2015, Beit Din received a final claim by the plaintiff, which takes into consideration the rent due to him until the defendant's vacating of the apartment, which, the plaintiff counts as having occurred on Feb. 2, 2105, when he says that the Beit Din office (not the defendant) informed him that she had left.
In the plaintiff's final claim request, he wrote as follows:
1. As a matter of good will, we are ready to renounce to reimbursement of the sewage expenses made before April 2014 without our previous agreement.
2. As a matter of goodwill we are ready to renounce to further compensation for late payment if every amount due will be paid at the due date as decided by the Beitdin.
3. We request Mrs B to pay the Electricity expenses due by January 31st 2015 to Electricity Company (Chevrat Hacheshmal): 690 NIS
4. As a matter of goodwill, we may understand the defendant's perceived claim about disagreement during the first renting year and may accept a symbolic discount of 300NIS per month during the first year. Altogether 3600 NIS discount.
5. Rental pay due by the defendant by 31 January 2015. The defendant announced to the Beitdin (and not to us directly) that she left on February 2nd.
April 2014: 4000 NIS
May 2014: 4000 NIS
June 2014: 4000 NIS
July 2014: 4000 NIS
August 2014: 4000 NIS
September 2014: 6000 NIS (30 dayX200NIS/day)
October 2014: 6200 NIS (31 days)
November 2014: 6000 NIS (30 days)
December 2014: 6200 NIS (31 days)
January 2015: 6200 NIS (31 days)
6. As a matter of goodwill, we do not request the additional costs such as cleaning, painting the apartment, replacing the broken tap, etc.
7. We request that the final ruling will end this case and request the Beitdin to rule that no more claim will be addressed for this litigation.
The total fee requested is 47,000 shekels, plus 690 shekels that the defendant should pay immediately and directly to the Electric Company.
Beit Din will, in this final ruling, do two things in relative brevity: 1. Respond to some of the defendant's stronger claims found in written communications after and against its interim rulings. 2. Determine the amount of money due to the plaintiff.
II. Complaints about interim rulings
The defendant had many complaints about the interim rulings, particularly the second one, which absolved the plaintiff of damage payments for allegedly providing the defendant with an apartment in poor repair and causing her pain by not being responsive. Most of the complaints are addressed in the original ruling, and Beit Din as a rule does not respond in writing to complaints about its rulings, as the recourse a litigant has is to formally appeal. However, because we are referring to an interim ruling, which is now followed by a final one, and because the defendant appears troubled by what she perceives as lack of justice, we will respond to some of her apparently stronger-felt claims.
1. One of the major arguments between the parties was whether the plaintiff had a right to a security deposit to be cashed in advance. The defendant pointed out that the language of a receipt written by Mrs. A implies that the money advanced was for the first two months' rent, whereas the plaintiff pointed out that on the back side of the contract, it is written that there is to be a deposit payment. The defendant claimed in Beit Din that the clause had been added afterward, which in effect is forging the document. The defendant made note of the fact that the Av Beit Din commented that this is a very serious claim. Yet, she pointed out that in pg. 2 of the second interim ruling, Beit Din wrote that "the plaintiffs' position is not morally problematic and even if they are not correct, their demand is reasonable" and is "not grounds for compensation for abusive behavior."
The answer to the apparent contradiction is as follows. One must distinguish between the practice and the alleged means of promoting it. The practice of taking an extra month's rent as a security deposit to be returned at the end of the rental is a very standard one. Thus, even if the original agreement had not called for one and the plaintiffs later demanded it, that change is not the type of abusive behavior that would require punitive damages against them, which is legally a highly uncommon outcome (bad treatment by a landlord rarely calls for more than a reduction in rent due). That which Beit Din claimed was a very severe accusation was to say that the plaintiff altered the contract after the fact. Indeed, if true, then the means of trying to secure an otherwise legitimate claim is a severe one. However, even if that was done, that alleged act of impropriety is not grounds for punitive payment, when it was not directly the cause of financial loss. (Beit Din does not have proof that there is a connection between the plaintiffs' behavior and the defendant's medical conditions, and it is certainly very difficult to prove a direct enough connection to require payment.)
2. Another claim that the defendant repeated was that the plaintiff forged other matters. One was that he altered check stubs. However, we must point out that check stubs are not a legal document of any sort, but a note that the owner of the checks writes to keep record of what the check was written for. Thus, even if the plaintiff wrote on the defendant's friend's stubs, it is perhaps (depending on the context) an act of bad manners or a sign of something suspicious, but it is not in and of itself, an act of forgery.
Similarly, the defendant cited her friend as saying that the writing that accompanied one of the documents in question was not her own, and based on that again said that there was forgery involved. Again, we must point out that this is not a claim of forgery. It is perfectly legitimate for one party to write that which is agreed upon and have the other side (or, in this case, her representative) sign it, which is something that the defendant's friend did not contradict in the report attributed to her. (The e-mail attributed to mrs s'. reads: "The Hebrew signature is mine, the rest of the writing is not." In later communications, the defendant writes that the signature was scanned off her checks and attached to the document later. This is certainly not what mrs s' has said.
3. Several times, both in the hearing before Beit Din and in writing, the defendant indicated that she stopped paying rent when she realized that she had a choice between medical treatment to save her remaining leg and between paying rent. While no documentation was provided to prove that this was the choice before the defendant, neither the plaintiffs nor Beit Din takes her predicament and the decision lightly. Indeed the halacha is that a person is not required to pay the debts in a manner that does not allow them to live life with the most basic necessities (see gemara Bava Metzia 113b; Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 97:23). Therefore, we do not criticize the defendant for choosing a major health concern over paying rent. On the other hand, the plaintiffs are not required to let the defendant stay in their apartment indefinitely.
There are two approaches among the halachic authorities as to whether a rental property remains in the full legal possession of the landlord with an agreement about the rental, in which case, if and when the tenant stops paying rent, the landlord can demand the end of the rental, or whether the property is acquired by the tenant for the time of the rental agreement, in which case, he can continue living there irrespective of whether he is behind in payment or not.
The Rama (Choshen Mishpat 334:1) seems to leave the matter as an unsolved question as to which opinion is accepted regarding whether fundamentally, the renter receives control of the property and cannot be expelled for lack of payment during the time of the agreement. It is likely the author of the Shulchan Aruch (see analysis in Mishpat Hasechirut, p. 407-417) rules that the renter has control. However, in the circumstances of this case, the defendant was required to vacate the apartment after proper warning, and this for a few reasons. Mishpat Hasechirut (ibid.) demonstrates that when the landlord is particular about being paid in the beginning of the month for the upcoming month that he has a right to void the ongoing rental agreement from the time of late payment (see also, Pitchei Choshen, Sechirut 6:(25)).
In any case, the defendant did not have a right to stay indefinitely. After the first year was completed on July 31, 2013, the lease was not renewed. There was discussion of doing so, but due to the fact that the defendant was not willing or able to provide checks in advance, there was no agreement. The plaintiffs agreed to let her stay on a temporary basis and during the course of the year there were various requests for her to move out. Even if one were to say that the contract of the first year continued into the second year, there is no question that the plaintiff's did not agree to a third year, as was confirmed very clearly in the hearing in Beit Din on July 24, 2014. Therefore, the defendant certainly had no right to continue in the apartment beyond the point set at and in the aftermath of the hearing for her vacating of the apartment – August 31, 2014, as this would be stealing the plaintiff's property. Even if she did not have money to pay for rent (which is a fact that Beit Din was not asked to determine) and there was a responsibility for her to be helped by outside sources, there is no reason that this obligation should fall on the shoulders of the plaintiffs.
4. Identity of the Owner of the Apartment
A point of contention between the sides has been whether or not the plaintiffs are the legal owners of the rental apartment in question. We should first point out that there is no direct legal ramification of this point regarding the litigation at hand. According to the defendant, the owner is the plaintiffs' sister/sister-in-law, respectively, and no one has questioned the fact that the plaintiffs have been authorized to rent out the apartment and receive the rent money. Thus, in regard to renting the apartment, the plaintiffs are the legal litigants.
However, Beit Din will not ignore the fact that in response to the first question that appears in the hearing transcript, whether the apartment is in the plaintiffs' name, the plaintiff's answer was that it was in both of their names. In later communications with the Beit Din office, the plaintiff reportedly repeated that he could prove his claim. After a long delay, the Land Registry papers do indicate that while the plaintiffs own an apartment in the building, the apartment in question is registered in the name of the plaintiff's sister. He provided a document that provides the plaintiff certain ownership rights to a percentage of the ownership for having helped finance the acquisition, but this agreement does not find expression in the Land Registry. Thus, the plaintiff answered Beit Din's question falsely. While there could have been slight room for misunderstanding, the plaintiff did not clarify when the matter was raised as an issue. The halachic consequences of this fact, though, are not major since a legal difference between whether or not he is the legally registered owner has not been presented. However, the matter does tarnish the reliability of the plaintiffs' other claims in a manner that can potentially be of consequence in rulings that are based on peshara hakerova ladin (compromise that is close to the normal ruling).
III. Analysis of final payment
1. Discount for flaws in the apartment
On many of the questions of the quality of the apartment and the service the plaintiffs provided, it is a question of the word of one versus the word of the other. In general, the landlord who has a contract for a certain amount of money has the advantage halachically, which means that the tenant must prove that what he or she received was less than what was promised (see Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 232:11 and Sema ad loc. 25).
It is arguable that the apartment had enough flaws to justify a small reduction in rent, although this was not proven. We conclude that the 3,600 shekel discount and the forgiving of compensation for certain legitimate requirements upon leaving the apartment that the plaintiffs inserted into their final claim certainly suffices to cover any settlement based on p'shara kerova ladin.
2. Increased payment for delay in leaving the apartment
The contract between the parties states that for every day the renter is late in vacating the apartment, she will pay 200 shekels, not including damage the delay will cause the landlords. Paragraph 6 of the first interim ruling, in which Beit Din instructed the defendant to move out of the apartment by August 31, 2014, referred to this provision of the contract, while stating that Beit Din was not formally ruling on that matter.
At this point, Beit Din will rule on the matter. An explicit obligation to pay in a signed rental contract is binding unless it can be demonstrated that the obligation falls under the category of asmachta. Asmachta is an apparent obligation but one that a person accepts upon himself with the belief that it will never come to fruition, and in many cases, such an obligation is not binding (see details in Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 207). The most relevant determinant factor in this case of whether or not this provision is an asmachta is the question of whether it is an exaggerated or a reasonable obligation in cases where the one who obligates himself has control over the situation (see Rama, Choshen Mishpat 207:13).
Additionally, the contract relates to the payment of 200 shekels not as a separate payment for the delay, but sets that as the rate of the rent during that period. 200 shekels a day translates into approximately 6,000 shekels per month, which is 1.5 times the cost of the normal rental of the apartment (according to the price some two years earlier and renewed one year earlier). Considering the difficulties caused by having a tenant who is supposed to leave, including the fact that it becomes difficult to find another tenant, due to the uncertainty, and many other factors, that amount is not unreasonable at all. This is a reasonable price for a short-term rental, and the continued use of an apartment after it was supposed to be vacated, when the landlord has no way of knowing when the tenant will leave, is certainly no better for the landlord than a short-term rental. We point out that according to the Law of Purchases of Apartments, Amendment to par. 5, when a seller is late in allowing entry of the buyer into the property, he has to pay the buyer 1.5 times the going rate for rental of a similar property. Therefore, Beit Din accepts the plaintiffs' calculation of increased rent from the beginning of Sept. 2015 until the vacating of the apartment.
3. Payment of August 2013 rent
The sides dispute whether August 2013 rent was paid in cash or whether the originally disputed deposit check was used in lieu of payment. This dispute in turn impacts upon whether the April 2014 rent, which all agreed was not paid in a direct form, is owed to the plaintiffs or whether the security deposit should be used to offset it.
The August 2013 payment was, no matter whose version we accept, an unusual one. Until then, all payments were made via checks that the defendant's friend had given to the plaintiffs. All subsequent payments were made by bank transfer, which we have been able to identify in the plaintiff's bank account and about which there is no dispute. Thus, this is the only payment about which there is no de facto proof of payment.
While this would seem to work against the defendant in regard to the reasonableness of her claim, this is not necessarily so. This is because this payment was made in the middle of different agreements of payment. The plaintiff had written to a friend of the defendant to try to arrange more checks for a second year of rental, and these were not forthcoming, apparently to the frustration of both sides. The defendant had expressed her plans to leave in the coming months, such that it was not clear that there was a need for a proper system of payment and thus one cannot dismiss the possibility that she did give cash this one time.
While one can ask why the defendant did not ask for a receipt, one can also ask why the plaintiff did not ask for a written acknowledgement that the security deposit had been used. One can also ask why the plaintiff was suddenly willing to forgo the security deposit. On the other hand, this is understandable considering that: payment had not been an issue at that point, the defendant was in a position where one would have reason to act with kindness towards her, and the issue of the propriety of the security deposit had also been one that had been argued.
On another level, in the Beit Din hearing, the defendant had not said that she remembered paying cash, just that it made sense that she did so. On the other hand, while many of the defendant's claims seemed exaggerated in Beit Din's eyes, as explained in the second interim ruling, the plaintiffs' aforementioned deceit of Beit Din took away from their credibility as well.
In such a case, it is logical to apply the regular rules about disagreements over whether payment occurred. The Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 317:1) says that if there is a dispute over whether the renter made a certain rental payment or not, the landlord is believed until the time the payment is due and the renter is believed after the time it was due (even if there is a written rental agreement), although he needs to perform a Rabbinic level oath that he indeed paid. Our case is one in which the dispute arose well after the payment was due, in which case the renter should be believed.
Therefore, based on peshara hakerova ladin, we obligate the plaintiff in 1,000 shekel (instead of 4,000 shekel) for the April 2014 rent.
4. Availability of response by the defendant
Upon receiving the plaintiffs' final claim for payment, Beit Din forwarded it to the plaintiff and contacted her several times with requests that she respond. After a period of contact with the Beit Din office in which she promised a written response, Beit Din has been unable to contact her during the late Summer 2015 months, and there is reason to believe that this is due to her medical situation. This, of course, makes it difficult to make rulings on matters in which previous claims and confirmed information are not helpful. Specifically, we do not have the defendant's response to the claim of 690 shekels she allegedly owes the electric company or when she claims that she enabled the plaintiffs to rent out the apartment to someone else.
The plaintiffs informed Beit Din that to expedite matters they are dropping the claim of 690 shekels and leave the matter to the discretion of Beit Din to obligate no more than what they know her to be obligated without any further response.
Beit Din thereby obligates the defendant for rent only until January 14, 2015 (see section I, where we refer to record of her admission to have left only then and furthermore still had her possessions there and had not informed the plaintiffs that she had left). Thus, the payment for January stands at 2800 shekels, instead of the 6,200 shekels originally requested.
We must rule out the possibility that Mrs. B did pay the rent in question at some point. Since she said several times (in the court hearing, in letters sent to Beit Din on 14/12/2014 and 15/2/2015) that she had decided to spend her pension money on treatment to save her leg instead of rent and by her lack of ever claiming to have resumed paying rent or there being any indication that the situation had changed we will treat the unopposed claim that rent payment was never resumed as agreed upon. (We point out that there were a number of oral communications between the defendant and the Beit Din secretary after the time that the defendant received the final claim, during which time no claim of payment arose.)
Therefore, the final award is for 40,600 New Israel Shekels, without additional obligations.
IV. Ruling (in English, followed by official Beit Din translation to Hebrew)
1. The defendant, Mrs B is obligated to pay the plaintiffs, mr A and Mrs. A, , a sum of 40,600 New Israeli Shekels.
2. Payment is to be made no later than 30 days from the rendering of this ruling.
3. The ruling is rendered on 30 Tishrei 5776, October 13, 2015.
____________________ _____________________ _________________
Rabbi Shlomo Cohen, Dayan Rabbi Daniel Mann, Av Beit Din Rabbi Ido Rechnitz, Dayan
הרב עדו רכניץ, דיין הרב דניאל מן, אב"ד הרב שלמה כהן, דיין


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Seeing Daredevil-Style
By Deane Barker on October 14, 2003
Blind 'see with sound': This may sound far-fetched, but after only one week, the test subject can recognize doors and walls and tell a CD from floppy. The whole set-up is only $2,500.
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text:
Top Ten Books About Travel/
Books and travel- pretty much what this site is about so I couldn't resist posting this when given the opportunity for a freebie.
I am a huge sucker for travel books. Send people to a foreign country and I am all over that. Unfortunately, it sometimes falls into the "white American girls goes to Europe" trope. If you have any suggestions for more diverse titles for this list throw them at me.
Just One Day
by Gayle Foreman
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: Just One Day #1
Published: August 20th, 2013
Rating: read it in one sitting
"Sometimes the best way to find out what you're supposed to do is by doing the thing you're not supposed to do."
This book makes me so happy. What I really like is that although it seems to be about a boy what it becomes is a search for self. I also like the idea of travel as a catalyst for personal change.
French Milk
by Lucy Knisley
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published: September 5th, 2007
Rating: delicious
I just read this a couple weeks ago. This is a graphic novel but also a travelogue. I like the slow pace. If I could draw this is what I would like my travel notebooks to look like. Some intropection and then more description of food. Which is as it should be.
Anna and the French Kiss
by Stephanie Perkins
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: Anna and the French Kiss #1
Published: December 2nd, 2010
Rating: sigh worthy
"The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you."
This is a book that deserves a much better title and cover. I know that it is incredible popular in the book community but in real life quite a few people I know and respect have avoided it due to thinking that it is going to be cheesy and light. Anna and the French Kiss deserves so much more. Paris! Emotional development! Cute boy! There was and continues to be a whole lot of hype around this book but that is because it is just that good. If you haven't read it do it now!
Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City
by Guy Delisle
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published: April 24th, 2012
Rating: expat fun
This is a graphic novel style travelogue (I am a fan) of a French-Canadian man living in Jerusalem with his family. It is interesting to see how light and amusing can flip on it's head to intense and philosophical. I think it has been criticized as pro- Palestine. It seems pretty balanced to me but something to be aware of.
North of Beautiful
by Justina Chen
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published: February 1st, 2009
Rating: Me in book form.
"Getting lost is just another way of saying 'going exploring."
Beautifully written. terra has a port wine stain on her face that dominates her life. Her disgraced cartographer father is abusive she has made elaborate plans to escape her own life.
Falling in Love with English Boys
by Melissa Jensen
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published:December 3rd, 2010
Rating: Light fun
"We only tell the secrets we secretly want not to be secret, right? And learn as much from what isn't told."
A little bit Pride and Prejudice and a little bit figuring out that having an idea of a place isn't the same thing as knowing a place.
by Kirsten Hubbard
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published: March 13th, 2012
Rating: wow!
"Envy is when you want what someone else has. Jealousy's when you also don't want them to have it."
Finally a novel about travel not set in Europe! And it was so good. I love it when a book validates your life philosophy.
by Jennifer Donnelly
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published: October 12th, 2010
Rating: I love this book so so much
"Together in our house, in the firelight, we are the world made small."
Andi's life is falling apart and her father forces her to Paris for the winter break to pull what she can together. She discovers a diary from the time of the French revolution and things begin to change. I also made the playlist for this book and it is the best.
Unbreak my Heart
By Melissa C. Walker
Goodreads | Amazon
Series: no
Published: May 22nd, 2012
Rating: sail on!
"You can't beat yourself up anymore,' he says. 'And you can't compare your thing to my thing or to anyone else's thing on the how-bad-should-I-feel? scale."
This is an examination of guilt, double standards, and family. Most of the action takes place on a sailboat which I enjoyed.


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Poverty, Risk Perception and Childbearing
Sajeda Amin, Population Council
John B. Casterline, Pennsylvania State University
This paper explores how perceptions of risk and vulnerability affect fertility, and in particular how they affect the propensity for fertility. The paper draws on two established strains in the existing literature that have not been effectively incorporated in research on poverty and population processes. The first is the theory of risk and fertility put forward by Mead Cain (1983). The paper expands the scope and applicability of Cain's work by drawing on more recent theory about social influence and social interaction. In particular, we explore how social networks provide social resources to households that reduce risk and perceptions of vulnerability, and how social networks facilitate the adoption of innovative behaviors, in so doing conditioning the effects of poverty on decisions about childbearing. Although this paper examines fertility, the argument advanced applies to other demographic outcomes. The argument is illustrated with data from Bangladesh and Egypt.
See paper
Presented in Session 100: Population and Poverty


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night night
As of 4/1/16, I am still alive! If you are reading this, so are you. Let's do something to remain that way.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Got myself a little video camera and have been taking videos non stop of me and the girls doing nothing in particular. They already love watching them. What little gifts they are. I showed charly a picture of a one booby woman and she was totally fine with the concept of it. She did however ask me to wear a 2 booby bra so I'd look like the other mommies when I drop her off at school. Got to love kids:). It's been really nice having all my family and friends around, I feel very loved. Off to watch some cheesey TV and snuggle with my man.
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I'm taking five new commissions for April, details to follow...
Ever want to have your favorite MMO or tabletop character illustrated? Well now is your chance. Tell me about your character, I'm all ears.
Head & shoulders portrait with abstract background: $35 (5"x7"@300dpi)
Head & shoulders portrait with full background: $50 (5"x7"@300dpi)
Full body portrait with abstract background: $75 (8.5"x11"@300dpi)
Full body portrait with full background: $125 (8.5"x11"@300dpi)
Multiple characters with full background: negotiable based on complexity.
For more samples of my artwork, check my portfolio.
You can reach me at aaronace [at] gmail [dot] com with questions or commission requests. I prefer paypal for all payments.
Feel free to x-post this if you know folks that may be interested. Thanks!
EDIT: 3 spots remaining. Also, the video card on my backup PC is acting very strange, if someone wants to trade a commission or two for a spare video card, that could be arranged as well.
( 5 comments — Leave a comment )
The bullet-resisting superhero is a great pic -- reminiscent of Blake, in the combination of supernatural halo-like stuff in the background, "superpower" pose, and attention to detail on the musculature.
Sweet Christmas! It's a fan piece I did for my portfolio... I was reading New Avengers at the time.
I was struck by it, anyway! And Blake is one of my favourite artists, so the comparison was almost inevitable. I was thinking particularly of the image of Urizen with his compasses, dividing the Universe:
Thank you, kindly. Love that image. You made my day.
You're welcome. :) Glad to hear it!


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"I think it's really important for any photographer to know why they are shooting."
Tanja Melone has a why and it's beautiful. Do you know yours?
"I wanted to bring the "why" of it into my marketing."
1:01 Introduction
1:45 Current State of Affairs
2:19 The Topic
5:41 Providing Affirmation in Marketing
7:24 Flipside to Seniors
8:37 The Gift
11:11 The Mission
14:58 Before and After
17:10 Experiencing Yourself in Others
19:30 Courage is a Choice
22:27 A Matter of Perspective
"We're such an image driven society."
Tanja leapt headfirst into a dream and into the photography industry 16 years ago when she left her very corporate job as an environmental scientist by the wayside. She then proceeded to make every mistake known to new business owners (twice in most cases) before finding her groove. Rather than giving up, which would have been the easy choice, she busted her hiney learning, growing, regrouping, rebranding and redefining her idea of a successful business along the way. Today she owns a studio in downtown Denver, CO where she photographs bold, brave high school seniors, newborns of imperfect courageous moms who sometimes forget to breath, and commercial and editorial assignments that challenge her. Tanja is also a business coach with a flair for digging deep into the 'why' behind running a business and navigating entrepreneurship with purpose. Tanja believes that happiness is a choice, that success is defined by much more than a bank account, that life shouldn't be sugar coated and that you should dare to be unapologetically you…always.


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I sit down in my chair, an exact replica of the black chairs used by the New York Philharmonic, plastered to the stage. The stage, constructed in the style of the main stage at Carnegie Hall, is encased by an *almost* perfectly transparent glass box that is designed to let 98% of sound through to the audience at its *almost* truest quality. This box protects the stage from damage and remains in tact throughout the performance. I look out at the empty hall–dark and silent. The audience seats are constructed like the Metropolitan Opera's, with several levels of blood red velvet seats to the very top, about one hundred feet high. I'm the first on stage because I have a severe case of nostalgia this morning.
We play different programs every week, just as the orchestras did back in the old days–Brahms, Beethoven, Mahler, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Debussy, Sibelius, Dvorak, Adams, Glass, Bernstein…the list goes on. Today we're premiering a violin concerto by the Smithsonian Composer in Residence, one of the few left composing orchestral music. When the orchestra went out of fashion around the middle of the century, when listeners moved on, so did composers. They hopped on with the mixed chamber groups and crossover/cross-discipline ensembles (including a few orchestras, actually) who embraced the developing digital technology, namely virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR). We'll play this program twice today, once at 11:30 AM and once at 4:30 PM. Nicer hours for orchestral musicians nowadays, that's for sure.
Today is Monday, February 25, 2086. I am a clarinetist in the Smithsonian Symphony Orchestra, America's only surviving symphony orchestra. I am seventy years old and in the final weeks of my career. I'm writing this today with a few tears in my eyes, looking back and thinking...what happened?
Nobody trains to play in orchestra anymore. When VR/AR and incredible sound equipment allowed people to hear every orchestra concert of the last several decades even better than they could've heard it in the hall, tickets stopped selling. My class was the third to last orchestral music class to graduate from Juilliard (now the Juilliard Institute for Integrative Arts Technology)…and well, here I am.
I look up to my favorite seat in the Dress Circle, front row just to right of center with hopes of seeing the clarinet section better. The exact seat for which I saved hundreds of dollars to see the final performance of Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Met, absolutely sobbing in the final trio, the end of two fantasies: (1) the painful moment when the Marschallin finally releases Octavian to embrace his true love for Sophie and (2) the final run of an incredible, longstanding tradition. An institution that crumbled in the face of the insurmountable wall of traditionalism, although it had held the power to knock it down.
If I could go back fifty, sixty, seventy years even, to a critical time in the identity crisis of the American orchestra, I would pose one question: to what end are you willing to go to preserve tradition? And I'd say…because this is what it looks like…and then I'd hand them a brochure for the Smithsonian Museum of Arts and Culture in Washington, D.C.
The problem is…musicians didn't know just how vital a purpose they served in helping people reflect on the emotional landscape of the human experience. Technology has not yet been able to accurately recreate this experience, so young people aren't really concerned with humanity because they've had no opportunity to encounter it.
Music is now a relic, and I would venture to say, so is the human experience. Why couldn't we understand that tradition isn't why people love music, it's because of how human it makes them feel? When they sit in front of seventy musicians in one room participating in a higher purpose, the purpose of emotion and adventure and narrative and philosophy, and people literally feel the overwhelming sensory experience of a glorious climax, why couldn't we see that this changes people? And that changing people is why orchestral music is so important–not because of concert halls or formalities or rules or traditions. Why couldn't we have held onto this essence and innovated around it more quickly? But it's too late.
So I'll go on today, just as I have for the last many years in this job, fighting to hold back tears as the most incredibly miraculous music is reduced to a lifeless artifact recreated for keen observation.


text: Cade and Gaberial can't seem to catch a break when it comes to satisfying their "public needs". After being caught twice, they find a little corner to finally get it on. The two waste no time going down on each other's big dicks before Cade decides to plunge his massive cock deep inside Gaberial's tight ass. The rest will definitely leave you wanting more.


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Click to subscribe to the CysterWigs blog in your favorite reader app
A Silk Top wig is one that is made of hand-tied monofilament, and then has an additional protective layer of material added to the wig. In the case of Shyla by Envy (HERE), this is a French Silk Chiffon. It makes Shyla very smooth on the inside, but also limits the stretch of the wig, making it unsuitable for extended sizes.
These are premium products and tend to carry very high-end prices as a result.
These are best suited for people who:
– can afford them (naturally)
– have a lot of scalp irritation
– have profound hair loss and do not want or need to wear wig caps under their wigs
– fit the cap size indicated (in the case of Shyla, that size is average or petite-average)
– seek comfort as a primary goal, and no other cap constructions have brought them relief, making this kind of expense worth the price tag
This is an excerpt from our CysterWigs Knowledge Base. Check it out on our private site to see over 500 articles all about our store, wigs, and how to wear the hair!
Product Listing:
Shyla by Envy
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I finished Maya Angelou's book "The Heart of a Woman" yesterday. I picked up the book at a used book store in Big Bear. I've been on a mission to better understand "black culture" this year and this is the second book I've read. I'm focusing on autobiographies instead of histories. This one was totally different than Martin Luther King Jr's. It's the same time frame, the middle of the civil rights movement, but from a different perspective. I can't put my finger on it without sounding racist, which from what I've read from her point of view, I cannot avoid. I guess that's what was eye-opening to me. There were so many parts of her story that I was completely shocked by. Not in the way that they happened but in her reaction to them and the reaction of the people around her. These instances were ones that made me realize that there is a huge divide between her version of black culture and some people's version of white culture. And there isn't just one of each, probably several. I think that's a huge take-a-way. There isn't one "white" culture and one "black" culture. There are so many and to lump them all together is missing the complexity of the world we live in.
MLK's background seemed more like mine, but with the added oppression of southern racism, the kind that separates a people physically and socially, backed by law and tradition. That in itself makes it hard for me to understand since I've never experienced anything like it. But I have experienced a middle class, Christian upbringing, so I can relate on that level. And I believe in the non-violent resistance and change, as he tried to use against the southern white people, like Gandhi did against the British in India.
Here's what I wrote in my notes immediately after I finished the book.
A whirlwind of a last chapter. Fascinating woman. A different version of black America and Africa than I've read before. I'm not sure I really like her but I respect her point of view and her journey. She had an interesting start in life. When I picked up this book I only knew that she was black, people quoted her, she was famous, but I didn't know why.
So different than King. She just seems ignorant of academics, lacking in a broader view of the world, angry and a bit violent. Reading her version of being black makes me see why our cultures haven't gotten along. We are very different. And seeing it related to African culture, I can see it has more to do with that as well as the results of slavery. I'm fascinated by the whole subject. I think I'd like to read more about African history and culture.
On another note, she wrote this book in 1981. The book is mostly about how she came into her own as a member of the Civil Rights Movement. I'd say it covered about ten years of her life, from raising her son alone to starting a new life after he was on his own as an adult. It was fascinating because it is about the same stage of life I am at now, but very different circumstances. My sons are transitioning to adulthood in the next few years and I'm looking at beginning a new chapter in my own life. Outside of the specifics of her life, we are in a similar stage of life. I'm encouraged by her path and enlightened by her totally different point of view. I'm glad I came across it!


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Why Is This Important?
Because Alec does Donald better than the Donald.
Long Story Short
30 Rock star Alec Baldwin returned to Saturday Night Live for the first show since the presidential debate and the season premiere. Baldwin did a spot-on imitation of Donald Trump, with many of the Trump-isms you'd expect as well as a shout-out to some of the post-debate internet memes. He was joined by SNL's regular Hillary Clinton, Kate McKinnon, and Larry David came back for another awesome Bernie Sanders impression.
Long Story
Donald Trump has so many hilarious mannerisms and expressions it was only a matter of time before someone nailed an impression on Saturday Night Live -- and that man is Alec Baldwin.
The actor (who you might know as Arec Balwin if you've seen Team America World Police) appeared in a debate on the season premiere and came out firing. He had Trump's way of saying China (Jhhina) right. He had Trump's lips right. He even had Trump's criticisms of Clinton bang on -- oh wait...
"She's the one with the bad temperament. She's always screaming. She's constantly lying. Her hair is crazy. Her face is completely orange. Except around the eyes where it's white," Baldwin said, as quoted by The New York Times. "And when she stops talking, her mouth looks like a tiny little butthole."
He even added in some of the storylines that popped up following the debate, including Trump's complaining about the shoddy microphone as well as his sniffling, which was dutifully shared as a video.
Want 30 secs of amusement - watch this short clip of every #Trump sniffle in first presidential debate https://t.co/cg69bExdPj #SniffleGate— Bethan Cansfield (@BethanCansfield) October 1, 2016
Opposite Trump was SNL's regular Clinton impersonater, Emmy award-winning comedian Kate McKinnon.
"Here's a tip," McKinnon said. "If you never want to see my face again, elect me president and I swear to God I will lock myself in the Oval Office and not come out for four years. But if you don't elect me, I will continue to run for president until the day I die."
Also joining in on the political satire, a sketch similar to Family Feud pitted Team Trump vs Team Clinton, which included Larry David as Bernie Sanders for another show-stealing performance.
Damn, can Larry just be on every SNL episode?
Own The Conversation
Ask The Big Question
What took SNL so long to find a good Trump?
Disrupt Your Feed
The internet makes the jokes -- SNL copies it and it's funny. Humor for 2016?
Drop This Fact
Alec Baldwin has been brought back as a nearly full-time cast member to play the Donald.


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Here are some more renders for the Galaxy Note 5 and this time from a case maker
A day ago, a set of renders for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 surfaced across the web. Just today, yet another case maker revealed the pictures of another set of renders, which confirms the authenticity and genuineness of those which were published yesterday.
The pictures are kind of more artistic and colorful sketches than of the pictures of the same cell phone published prior. The sensor arrangement shown on the front of the gadget is by all accounts turned around and reminiscent of that on the Note 4 and Note 3, though every past render of the Note 5 recount an alternate story. The pictures and the case maker did not reveal much about the cell phone, but it clearly states that the Obliq bumper covers will comes in a total of five color options - white/silver, black/titanium, black/metallic gold, black/champagne gold and white/champagne gold.
They will cost around 34.99€. Of course, the audience is interested more in the specs and details regarding the components of the cell phone than anything else. The case maker have also clearly stated that the first batch of the Obliq Slim Meta cases for the Note 5 will arrive within a week or two which also points toward the fact that the rumors regarding the release of Samsung in August, most probably August 12 can be true.
Let us wait as soon as the official announcement from the company takes place, finally then will we be able to confirm our suspicions.


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Heads up folks, the dates for the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo have shifted to September 15 - 16. No change on my end, I'll still be attending.
A blog. It has thoughts and blogs.
Convention Calendar Updated
What is up folks and folkettes, my convention calendar for 2018 has been updated to its most current state. Five confirmed shows and several tentative and pending (will be listed soon ish). Probably not going to beat last year's dirty dozen run, but maybe... maybe...Read More
I Know I'm Human...
A new poster for the gallery! John Carpenter's sciifi horror classic The Thing, a yearly Halloween staple and one of the best horror movies of its kind. There are movies with atmosphere, and there are movies with amazing gore and special effects, and there are movies with amazing acting. But this one crammed them all together in a claustrophobic, paranoia infested Antarctic hell. It's a film that stands the test of time, and will undoubtedly continue to do so for decades to come.Read More
Some Things Are Worth The Risk
The finale of the Tron disc trio. The dude abides, the white ring just ties the room together, man.Read More
Out There Is Our Destiny
Round two of Tron discs! Not big on blue? Feeling more like the sort to fight against the User? Then here you go.Read More
I Fight For the User
New trilogy for you, something a little retro-esque but also new-esque. Trooooooon! How amazing is Tron? So amazing. How amazing is Tron: Legacy? SO AMAZING. So enjoy the first of three discs, User.Read More
Changes! Just In Time For 2018
2017 is coming to a close, and I'm taking a much needed break. No more posts (they're all scheduled), no more shows (they're all done), no more work for the last few weeks of the year. I broke 10,000 kilometres (10,700 in total) in the course of hitting a dozen shows across BC, Alberta, Saskatoon, and Manitoba. Slept in half a dozen hotels and hostels, and three gas station parking lots. Crossed four provinces. I sleep now.
It also means that with 2018 right around the corner, there are some changes coming down the internet tubes. Namely a shift in focus. While the ol' blog here has been serving me well for the past few years, it's time for an update. Starting in January the blog will be going away (kind of), and the focus will be shifting to social media. Content will still hit the site of course, but it will be a more structured, or if you prefer "curated," approach.
Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter will be the new wild west. Everything will hit there, then if I like it enough it will bounce to the website. And as always, conventions get first look at anything new. The blog will be replaced with a social hub, where content posted to Instagram will appear as it is posted. So pretty much the same as things are now. Really the only major thing affected will be Picture of the Week. Which will be affected A LOT.
How "a lot" you ask? Well, think of it as a sort of reboot. It's been over two and a half years since POW#0001 hit the site. In that time I've tweaked pretty much all of them, completely redone some of them, and utterly replaced a few of them. Some of them I haven't actually really looked at in ages, and most of them have descriptions and spiels that probably haven't actually been seen. Like ever.
So, I'm starting at POW#0001 and unleashing them on the world! Again! The last few of 2017 will go live, hitting a satisfying #250. At which point they'll take a break for a week or so, then they'll be moving from Wed/Sat to Mon/Wed/Sat (with digital stuff falling pretty much whenever I happen to put something together) and starting from scratch. I'm looking forward to revisiting the POW archives and unleashing them on a whole new audience. It will also allow me to shift my focus onto some other major projects I want to tackle.
What other projects, you ask? Well, a few months down the road I will be doing what I like to call "I Don't Have A Name For It Yet" where every month I'll be featuring a different gallery subject in greater detail. At present the galleries are snapshots of subjects that interest me, featuring a small selection of photos. With IDHANFIT the gallery will feature all sorts of stuff. Photos I think are my best, photos that aren't but that interest me, alternate angles and takes, and shots I wouldn't otherwise post, mixed in with assorted thoughts and musings. Fun fact: Did you know I have about 7000 photos of jousts, knights, and medieval fights and faires? Yeah, there's some cool stuff in there to show off.
So every month you can swing by, load up the featured gallery, and check out an array of old, new, and interesting shots. No matter where you follow me, there'll be something new for you to see. 2018 is all about FILLING YOUR EYEBALLS WITH PICTURES AND IMAGES and so long as there's internet there's no stopping me!
Also check out my finally functioning store! You can buy things even when I'm not strung out on caffeine! Wait... you can buy things whenever you want now even when I'm not in a booth!
In the mean time, enjoy your assorted Holidays!
I SLEEP NOWRead More
Happy Halloween!
AAAAAAH IT'S HALLOWEEN THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR! Enjoy a little video, I'm going to watch horror movies and eat candy until my body violently revolts.Read More
A Halloween Chain Saw Massacre
It's Halloween! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Christmas for freaks! And nothing says "Happy Halloween" like a dude that cuts you up with a chain saw and wears your face as his face while he cuts up other people with chain saws. It's a vicious cycle.
Happy Halloween everyone!
I'm gonna go eat candy until I puke rainbows.Read More
You know you want to.Read More
EDM2017: Dawn of the Final Day
Sleep is weakness. Tired is life. Come down to my booth #F04 and buy some stuff. Decorate your home, office, or cardboard box with an array of goods to be exchanged for monetary units. The homestretch is in sight!
Bring me waffles.
I demand waffles.Read More
EDM2017: Dawn of the Second Day
Sleep is for the weak! Con is life! Con is strength! Con is going to kill me softly WITH HIS SAWRead More
EDM2017: Dawn of the First Day
Wooh! Weekend number two, day number one of the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo! Can't wait to get it ON! Come on down, Booth #F04 in Hall E. I've got all my goodies hauled straight from Saskatoon (I mean not really, but pretty close, no way in hell was I unloading them on a Tuesday and loading them on a Thursday) plus a refresh with some new stuff, and the usual bit of stuff you'll only get at this con.
So come on down! Bring your coin, Khajit has wares!Read More
ECEE2017: Where Am I?!
Show starts Friday at 3 pm.Read More
Got a lot of good things on sale, strayngeh. What ar' ye; boiyin?Read More
SASK2017: Dawn of the Final Day
Day one is down, day two begins! And you know what that means: come buy my things! I'll maybe have some deals going today so that I can have a bit less to pack at the end of the day. Also, I need gas money to get back home. And then straight to Edmonton. And also I like to eat.
So come on down, Booth #1221! I've got lots of cool stuff waiting for a cool person to take it home and make their home a bit cooler.Read More
If you have coin, Khajiit has wares. What do you need
Take a look.Read More
SASK2017: Dawn of the First Day
Saskatoon Comic & Entertainment Expo begins! Year four, locked, loaded, and ready to SELL PRINTS! So if you're in Saskatoon come on down to Booth #1221 and BUY MAH THEENGS! And if you're NOT in Saskatoon... why not? It's Expo weekend, it's not that long a drive from *insert your location here*! Many good things on display for the discerning purchaser! Prints! Postcards! Frames! Bookmarks! Attitude!
Maybe even... RADitude?
No... no just attitude. This isn't the 90s.
...or is it?
...no.Read More
SASK2017: Come on down and BUY THEENGS!
Come on down, booth #1221! Tomorrow and Sunday!Read More
MEDHAT2017: Dawn of the First Day
Day one (also day only) of the Medicine Hat Fan Expo! My first year attending this one, should be interesting to see how it goes. I've got all my usual goodies, plus some new stuff. We're talking literally dozens of frames, all the post cards, all the prints, and some new 35 mm film bookmarks, for people that like novelisations of movies. Or vice versa. Or books based on movies based on books.
So come on down, check out my stuff. Give me some money. I need gas money to get back to town when all is said and done.Read More


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Welcome to Zombieland!
In the summer of 2013 I was diagnosed with Conn's Syndrome (or hyperaldosteronism/primary aldosteronism, and hypertension). Basically, that means I was finally able to see an insidious and draining little monster in my life for what it was. Hello, Tumor! No wonder I feel like a zombie sometimes.
Discover more about various "Zombification" and "Rehumanization" stages that this journey holds for my family and myself.
My Goal is to encourage anyone who is facing or has faced similar life-altering illnesses. Browse the links to the left for some fun, hopeful, helpful material. May you leave here a little less Zombie, a little more Human…
Fire two taps in the air to let me know you made it out safely (or just say hi in the comments below)!


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Funny Status Message #137319
X says Name two things that will disappear if you ignore them long enough- Snow and Adolescence!
Save as Image
- Related Status Messages:
- # 116420 Some things get in the way of my happiness so I ignore them.
- # 53405 Telling your kids you remember when gas was $.99 is like your Grandparents telling you they remember walking to school in the snow barefooted... Both were a long long time ago & will never happen again...
- # 154856 How long are Winnie the Pooh and Tigger going to ignore the fact there's something seriously wrong with Eeyore
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Funny Facebook Statuses


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DigiFab is a small, family owned Perth based business. We are currently offering a range of home decor and personalised gifts as well as Essential Oil Storage products. We are currently working hard to increase our product range
Please take some time to look over some of our previous work in the gallery. Visit the contact us page to get in touch for a quote.


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While on the Internet, I came across a new device that capitalizes off public fear. It seems that we can't have a tragedy in this country without an immediate "solution", yet people keep wondering why they still happen. This is particularly true with police brutality. The new device is known as the "clown gun".
There is, of course, two sides to the argument that have created a false dichotomy. To the police, "just follow the law and you'll be ok!" To the citizen, "stop arresting and assaulting me!"
It seems both sacrifice reason and logic for emotion and conviction. As a result, we get feel-good "solutions" such as body cameras and the clown gun.
This new device is a handgun attachment. Once fired, the projectile immediately contacts a non-lethal ball and it safely incapacitates the target. The next shot, however, will not be so safe. Of course, it must be manually attached.
To an avid gun owner, I see two major flaws. First, human error could result in a misfiring while attaching the device – assuming you attach it in time. Secondly, firearm instructors basically agree that in a self-defense situation, don't stop shooting until the threat is neutralized. As we've seen in videos of police shootings, they have trained this way. I doubt that's going to change.
Body cameras have become a popular new trend. They have been useful, but I personally think it's a waste of money. After all, they have a power button. Even when they are functioning, I can't help but think that officers may not react as necessary in certain situations. If confronted by a threat, even a slightly delayed reaction can mean life or death. Moreover, it's not a burden that should be put on respectable police officers.
Police brutality does not exist because police wake up thinking "how many citizens can I assault today". There are obviously "good" and "bad" cops just like there are "good" and "bad" accountants.
We see conflicts with police simply because we have too many laws. Drug prohibition has been a complete failure. Police are asked the round up every addict, recreational user, and dealer around. Since drugs are illegal, drug dealers have to use violence to maintain market share. This, in turn, poses a threat to police who understandably begin to associate drugs with violence.
Drug use is victimless. Criminalization has only increased the interactions with police, especially in poor black communities. The inevitable result of aggression is more violence and it will always escalate. Instead of addressing the problem, we ask police officers to use devices that risks their lives. The political class are too corrupt and arrogant to admit their policies are a failure and a harm to everyone.
Police have no reasonable chance of successfully enforcing drug prohibition. If drugs are a criminal justice issue, as opposed to public health, then it will be violently enforced at the tax payer's expense. Philadelphia had to decriminalize marijuana because they couldn't afford to do the paperwork! Now taxpayers are going to pay for clown guns and body cameras, but the problem will not stop.
I firmly believe that legalizing drugs will solve a lot of our fiscal and social problems. We should treat users like alcoholics and not lock them in cages with threats of violence. Like anything, it does not come without risks and costs, but the benefits would far outweigh them. Tax revenue, regulated production and distribution, respected property rights, less violence, and fewer violent police encounters.
Instead of counter-intuitive solutions, we attempt to manage symptoms created by well-intended policies gone awry. Drug prohibition is another example and these devices are just a manifestation of the bigger problem.


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Edited by Dalin Tang and Zhi-Yong Li.
Volume 15 Supplement 2
Computational and Experimental Methods for Biological Research: Cardiovascular Diseases and Beyond
Publication of this supplement has not been supported by sponsorship. Information about the source of funding for publication charges can be found in the individual articles. The peer review process was overseen by the Supplement Editors in accordance with BioMed Central's peer review guidelines for supplements. The Supplement Editors declare that they were not involved in the peer review for articles on which they are authors. They declare no other competing interests.
- ISSN: 1475-925X (electronic)


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Explore more great food for less at The Old Colliery-a family-friendly pub and a great place to eat out in Edinburgh. Our generously-sized menu of pub classics, our specials, and our freshly-prepared pizzas are all served two for one, seven days a week. And on Sundays, you can add roasts with a modern twist to the mix.
Fancy something fresh? Our pizza kitchen serves delicious hand-finished pizzas, stone-baked to perfection. And there's just as much choice on the pizza front as there is from the main menu. Go traditional or try something epic. If you're up for more world food, head to our specials board. Every day, our chefs pick a massive selection of extra dishes including some seriously tasty global options. Take your taste buds on holiday without leaving the pub!
If you've got room, our dessert menu is heaving with classics. And if you haven't, we'll box your sweet up to go.
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Preventing Osteoporosis
- Posted on
- By Michael Lam, MD, MPH
Magnesium acts to balance calcium in our body, much like progesterone balance the effect of estrogen, and omega-3 balances omega-6 fatty acids.
The Connection between Magnesium and Reversing Osteoporosis
Magnesium acts to balance calcium in our body, much like progesterone balance the effect of estrogen, and omega-3 balances omega-6 fatty acids.
Magnesium has been shown to prevent the formation of calcium oxalate crystals, the most common cause of kidney stones. Studies have shown that 500 mg a day of magnesium reduce the recurrence rate of kidney stones by as much as 90%. Magnesium is also nature's "calcium channel blocker", preventing the entry of excessive calcium in to the cell that causes contractions, contributing to chest pain, hypertension, and arrhythmias. Magnesium deficiency can cause various abnormalities of calcium metabolism, resulting in the formation of calcium deposits in arteries. Osteoporotic women who were deficient in magnesium had abnormal calcium crystals in their bones, whereas osteoporotic women with normal magnesium status had normal calcium crystals in bone.
Magnesium balances the body's calcium supply and keeping it from being excreted. Without enough magnesium and other trace minerals, calcium ingested, especially if excessive, will be deposited not in the bone but perhaps in the wall of our arteries.
It is interesting to note that human autopsy studies have shown a close correlation between osteoporosis and abdominal aortic calcification. Since magnesium deficiency can promote osteoporosis and calcium deposit in aorta, logic follows that magnesium is likely to be the primary factor and that calcium is secondary when it comes to prevention of bone loss, which is key when looking at reversing osteoporosis.
Calcium Supplementation
The use of calcium supplementation for the management of Primary Postmenopausal Osteoporosis (PPMO) has increased significantly since 1987, the year when the National Institute of Health increased their recommended daily intake of calcium to 1,500 mg for prevention of PPMO. This was done because of a study that showed that such a large dose is necessary for elderly women to maintain calcium balance.
Magnesium Supplementation
Magnesium has been under appreciated in its role in preventing and reversing osteoporosis. The tradition model of giving calcium to magnesium in the ratio of 2:1 is outdated. Adequate magnesium is necessary for proper calcium absorption. In the early postmenopausal period, untreated women typically lose 3 to 8% of their bone mass per year. Maintaining a supplement regiment of magnesium to calcium in a one to one ratio is the most prudent approach.
For most, this means increasing magnesium intake and reducing calcium supplement intake, since most people have an over consumption of calcium and deficient in magnesium consumption. This works out to about 500 mg to 1000mg of magnesium and the same amount of calcium, depending on your diet. If you are on a high vegetable diet characteristic of Asians, chances are you are consuming about 500 mg of magnesium a day already. Therefore only 500 mg of magnesium intake in the form of supplement is needed balanced with 500 mg of calcium a day. Most American diet consumes only about 250 mg of magnesium a day (substantially less than the RDA of 350 mg), so extra supplementation is needed.
Credits: https://www.drlam.com/blog/reversing-osteoporosis/364/


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New Year's Nails Design
The design of nails is a matter of taste! Most of the fair sex give preference to gentle tones, discreet drawings, that is, classical options that are always relevant. But how do you like to experiment a little? New Year's on the doorstep! Share with you various options Holiday decoration of nails. From the number of ideas just your eyes scatter!
It is believed that a fiery monkey -Patroness of 2016 - crazy about red, orange, yellow, black and white flowers. And she appreciates the creative approach to everything. Boldly choose what is best suited to yours Along with. From severity to rebellion: so what image do you have for the new year?
Ideas for New Year's Nail Design
- What a winter holiday without snowflakes?
- It happens that the winter does not share snow ... so give it to your nails!
- There is snow, but where is the spruce?
- By the way, the herringbone can be done and so.
<Img alt = "New Year's nail design" src = "/images/https://takprosto.cc/wp-content/uploads/n/novogodniy-dizayn-nogtey/8.jpg" li = ""
- Most of all the fiery monkey likes shades of red. It will be appropriate to add a little gold!
- Extravaganza of gold on a white background.
- Or on black.
- But how do you like these ideas?
- Second of humor. why not?
- Maybe your little daughter also wants beautiful drawings on her nails ...
- New Year's masterpieces.
- Beautiful nail design is the best gift for your fingers!
Hopefully, you've looked after yourself the option that best fits your garment. Now, having decided on New Year's manicure, You will find more time to prepare for the holiday!
And even share ideas with your girlfriends if they are still puzzling over how Decorate your marigolds.


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San Francisco Giants
Out of stretch, Vogelsong out of sync in Giants' 4-2 loss
Giants right-hander Ryan Vogelsong recorded the first two outs of the first inning Saturday quickly on six pitches. But Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt then singled up the middle to put Vogelsong in the stretch for the first time – and that's when the trouble started.
Goldschmidt was the first of six consecutive Diamondbacks to reach base in the inning, including four on walks. Two of those walks came with the bases loaded, forcing in runs, and when Vogelsong finally ended the inning by getting opposing starter Allen Webster to line out on his 39th pitch, Arizona had scored three times en route to a 4-2 win at AT&T Park.
"He just got out of sync," manager Bruce Bochy said of Vogelsong. "He was yanking pitches and missing his spots."
Many of Vogelsong's misses were to his glove side of home plate – the outside corner to right-handed hitters – and not close. He walked Aaron Hill and Jarrod Saltalamacchia on five pitches each, then got ahead of Nick Ahmed 1-2 before losing him as well to force in the third run.
Vogelsong said he "just was off out of the stretch. I was trying to make adjustments and just couldn't put it together." He said he had felt "right where I wanted to be" warming up in the bullpen, but that, "Somewhere between there and that first inning out of the stretch, things weren't right."
Vogelsong appeared to settle down some after the first inning – he didn't allow a run in the second or third, facing four batters out of the stretch and retiring all four. Still, he said he "just never really got in sync." He was trying to make adjustments but said he had trouble locating the source of the problem.
"Sometimes diagnosing the issue is the hardest thing," he said. "I was trying to fix stuff and I just wasn't hitting what was wrong."
The Diamondbacks got to Vogelsong again in the fourth, with Goldschmidt's two-out RBI single knocking him out after 81 pitches. Just 42 of those pitches were strikes, as Vogelsong failed to complete at least five innings for just the second time since he re-joined the rotation in late April.
"I think the pitches caught up with him," Bochy said. "He regrouped and was throwing the ball well, but it caught up with him later. The first inning really killed us there."
After going 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA in May, Vogelsong has made three starts in June and lost all three while allowing 12 earned runs in 161/3 innings – a 6.61 ERA. Bochy said he isn't noticing any major changes in Vogelsong's delivery to explain the change and that Vogelsong's stuff Saturday was "good."
"That first inning sometimes, it's the case with a lot of starters – you're trying to get settled in and he looked like he was trying to be a little careful with runners in scoring position and just missed some spots," Bochy said. "But the stuff is fine; he's healthy. He'll bounce back."
▪ The three-run first was enough as for the second consecutive day, as the Giants' offense looked lost for the first half of the game against an unfamiliar Arizona right-hander. This time it was Webster, just called up from Triple A. He held the Giants hitless until the sixth – a day after Chase Anderson carried a no-hit bid into the seventh. It was the first time the Giants gave gone hitless for the first five innings of consecutive games since Sept. 24-25, 1986, against the Houston Astros.
Joe Panik broke it up Saturday with a one-out double off Webster that gave the Giants runners on second and third, and this time they capitalized on the scoring chance. Angel Pagan drove in Nori Aoki with a sacrifice fly, and Panik scored when Buster Posey doubled down the left-field line.
Brandon Belt grounded out to end the inning, though, and the Giants put men in scoring position in the eighth and ninth but failed to drive them in as they lost their seventh in a row at home.
"The offense right now, we're out of sync," Bochy said. "We've been swinging the bat so well, and (this was) a similar game to (Friday) night: the first five innings, guys looked dead."
Bochy floated the idea that the Giants are still feeling the aftereffects of an all-night flight home from New York. "It might have taken a little life out of them," he said. "But it's a part of the game. We need to bounce back and be ready to go (Sunday)."
Belt was also asked if the travel situation is still affecting the team and said: "I wouldn't say it helped. I don't know that it hurt any. But that's just part of the game. We have to overcome stuff like that. We haven't done a good job of that the past couple days."
As for the unfamiliarity factor with Anderson -- who was facing the Giants for the first time -- and Webster, Belt said that "could play a part in it." But he also pointed out that Belt himself had faced Anderson in college and the minors. "So that's not an excuse on my part," he said.
"We're definitely underachieving the past couple of days," Belt said. "You've got to give some credit to them, making good pitches, keeping us off-balance. But I think it's something we don't expect to continue."
▪ Vogelsong's quick exit left the bullpen with a lot of work, and that included the major-league debut of right-hander Michael Broadway, who pitched a scoreless seventh.
Broadway struck out the first batter he faced, Jake Lamb, on three pitches, and got Goldschmidt to fly out. Yasmany Tomas singled but was thrown out by Posey trying to steal second, which elicited an emphatic reaction from Broadway as he left the mound.
"He looked comfortable," Bochy said. "He didn't look nervous at all. He threw strikes, had good stuff, throwing 96, he's got a good slider. And for his first time out, he showed a lot of poise."
Broadway went down to the bullpen twice to warm up, and said the first time he was nervous, but the second time "wasn't as bad. When I got into the game, it was gone."
What caught Belt's eye immediately were the readings on the radar guy. Broadway's first pitch was a 96-mph fastball for strike, and he sat between 95 and 97 mph while hitting 98 once. He also threw a slider at 86 to 89 mph, which Posey called for six out of 14 pitches.
As Bochy touched on Saturday, the addition of Broadway alongside Hunter Strickland gives the Giants' bullpen a velocity aspect of which it hasn't had much in recent years. Entering Saturday, FanGraphs had the Giants 28th in the majors this season in relievers' average fastball velocity (90.5 mph). With the addition of Broadway, that will go up.
"I had no expectations. I'd never seen him pitch before," Belt said. "He came in pumping 96, 98. That was pretty cool."
Broadway was all smiles after the game and showed reporters the keepsakes he received from his debut: the ball from his first strikeout, and Bochy's lineup card for the game. He said he felt "more comfortable than I thought I would," and credited Posey with making the transition to a big-league mound relatively easy.
"It helps a lot when you're with a competitive team," Broadway said. "When you're on a team like that … it takes your mind off of whatever else is going on."
▪ Bochy said he will have to rest a couple of regulars in Sunday's series finale, including Pagan and Posey. That likely means Andrew Susac behind the plate to catch Chris Heston – making his first start since his no-hitter – and another start for Jarrett Parker, who made his big-league debut in right field Saturday and went 0 for 3. Keep an eye out for Justin Maxwell possibly in center field.
The pitching matchup will be Heston (6-4, 3.77) and Diamondbacks right-hander Rubby De La Rosa (4-3, 5.84). First pitch at 1:05 p.m.
Matt Kawahara: (916) 321-1015, @matthewkawahara


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Board Members Want LAUSD To Revamp Process For Sharing Space With Charters/
Board Vice President Nick Melvoin (BD4) and Board President Monica Garcia (BD2) want LAUSD to reexamine the annual process for assigning charter schools space under the Prop 39 law requiring public school facilities to be shared fairly among all public school kids.
LAUSD currently requires charters to reapply for space every year, but Melvoin and Garcia asked the district on Tuesday to consider longer-term leases to bring more stability. "Let's figure out how to reduce the amount people who have to go year to year," Garcia said at the monthly charter-focused Board meeting.
"I think the annual prop 39 process is flawed," said Melvoin, who asked for a task force of district principals and charter leaders to tackle issues arising from charters co-locating on LAUSD campuses. "I think the District spends too much time and resources on it."
While fewer than 10 percent of schools have co-locations, "it takes more time and causes more conflict than anything else," Melvoin added. "It's a burden on both our charter and district staff here at Beaudry, but also principals and teachers and school-site staff…Charter schools don't know what campuses they're going to be on. At district schools there's apprehension about 'are we going to lose our computer lab? What's going to happen?' It makes planning and trust really difficult to build."
Melvoin told Speak UP that he's working on organizing a pilot retreat this summer for co-located school leaders to help bring more "sanity and collaboration" to a process that provokes "anxiety" on all sides. He also hopes that more transparency about district space and longer-term leases will dial back tensions and help schools peacefully co-exist so everyone can focus more on the kids.
The discussion about Prop 39 was prompted by Board Member George McKenna (BD1), who raised concerns over who would be part of a Charter Schools Collaborative to work on charter policies. The Collaborative, which was created in 2010 but has since gone defunct, could be revived by a resolution from Board Members Ref Rodriguez (BD5) and Richard Vladovic (BD1) that will be brought for a vote April 10. McKenna asked that district principals be included if the Collaborative plans to work on issues related to co-location.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, district and charter leaders traded Kumbaya kudos over efforts to work together to pass a list of policies that all charters must agree to follow when they petition to open or renew a schools.
"After months of thoughtful, collaborative dialogue with our charter school partners, we've moved much closer to a place of common understanding about the policies," said Acting Superintendent Vivian Ekchian, who helped negotiate an end to a stalemate between the district and charters last fall.
That compromise included having the district and charters bring a list of policies before the Board for a vote rather than having policy set unilaterally by district staff. No changes were actually made to the list of policies that charters must follow, although the Rodriguez-Vladovic resolution could lead to some changes.
"We want to keep momentum going, and we want to meet regularly to discuss charter policy," said Tom Scotti, principal of Port of Los Angeles High School, who was part of a working group that helped endorse the list of policies the Board passed Tuesday.
McKenna, however, did not join the chorus of praise for the new spirit of collaboration that district and charter leaders said they hope will continue to shape policy in the future. "The district is the evaluator not the evaluatee," McKenna said. "Do you have to be given approval for process and procedure by the people who you're going to evaluate? Is that their intent to establish how they will be evaluated?"
District staff assured McKenna that the group's role was advisory, and Ekchian said that meetings between a working group of district staff and charter leaders have been about building trust, which had been lacking.
"When I hear the term lack of trust, who is not trusting whom?" McKenna asked. "If I am the evaluator…what is my responsibility to gain trust? If I'm not trusted, am I supposed to amend my oversight in order to be more trustworthy?"
Valerie Braimah, executive director of City Charter Schools, addressed McKenna's question head on. "Our schools really believe in trusting relationships between the supervised and the supervisor," she said. "What we have found in our schools, oversight built on trust yields better performance. So we believe this process of building trust and collaboration between charters and the district that authorizes them will yield better performance."


text: One of America's most famous native monuments is Nevada's Pyramid Lake. The lake is within a couple of hours of Reno, which could be described as America's second most famous gambling town. Before the first casinos sprang up in this town, natives used Pyramid Lake as a fishing source. Today, the lake is nationally honored as a beautiful natural gem and also as an important cultural landmark. Most visitors are not allowed to trespass on the man-made pyramid in the middle of the lake since it is considered sacred land. However, all tourists can still enjoy bird-watching, hiking and fishing at the lake.