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In the first article of this series, I discussed the current interest in Business Architecture that has been brewing in the last little while and also discussed some of the frameworks that professionals have been looking at for inspiration. The first article was intended to provide an overview of the field and it introduced an overarching set of concepts that we in Process Renewal Group have been successfully using to classify and categorize issues of concern.
Figure 1
In the second article, I tackled the challenge of scoping your architecture and the usefulness of selecting what's in and out based on Value Chains rather than organization charts. The third dealt with the challenge of defining the expectations of the external stakeholders in terms of their core service needs and experiences. The fourth looked at the strategy of the organization from understanding external pressures and threats, looking at various possible futures, looking at the strategic intent (ends) and strategies and tactics (means) and the derivation of a 'North Star' for architectural guidance and decision making. The fifth delved into the development of the Business Process Architecture which I believe is a domain of the first order describing what work gets done operationally and not a derivative of anything else. All of these models are absolutely essential to establish a relevant architecture that makes business sense.
In this article I will tackle a topic that has both intrigued me and driven me crazy at times. There is a well-established Enterprise Architecture camp, often found within IT groups, and its need to understand the business requirements for technology planning, prioritization and implementation that sees 'capability' as the central concept of Business Architecture. There are other points of view especially from process advocates that see it a little differently. I will delve into some of these perspectives and try to make sense some of the thinking to ensure that no matter your point of view we keep our approach business oriented and not just about IT.
The capababilty aspect of business architecture is still emerging and at this point there are no indisputable standards in place although several groups are strong in their views and working on proposals for standardization. Several large consulting and technology firms are also pushing their own views with the apparent aim to differentiate themselves and land large implementation projects down the line.
Within the methodology discussed in this series the exchange of knowledge looks like the following:
Figure 2
The Open Group has postulated that capabilities are essential to both business architecture and to IT solutions. They are currently working on a new view, not yet public that places business architecture outside their classic models (Figure 3) as a precursor or umbrella to all other aspects of IT architecture. In the TOGAF perspective, capability is a key concept along with the value stream models.
Figure 3
The most comprehensive work available to define a number of business architecture views and a main promoter of capabilities is The Business Architecture Guild in its Business Architecture Body of Knowledge (BIZBOK). Although I do not agree with every perspective and classification taken in it, on the whole, I find it a very useful guide that is updated regularly as experiences are gained. This is a good reference since it has a strong value delivery orientation, consistent with our approach at Process Renewal Group. It includes a large section on capabilities and the value streams required to apply them.
What is a Business Capability?
In the common vernacular the term capability is typically is associated with the level of ability of something or someone to achieve some purpose. It is typically applied to some thing; some physical object such as a car or a toaster; some human resource such as the CEO or the call center agent; some piece of information technology. The list goes on. It can also be associated with something more abstract such as a company or group. The nature of the term in the English language is that it is structured as needing a context. Is it the capability of a person, an organization, a value chain, value stream, a process, a piece of software, a facility or piece of equipment that we are talking about? The term 'capable' as defined by Merriam-Webster's dictionary means 'having attributes (as physical or mental power) required for performance or accomplishment'. Therefore, for layman usage, it is essential to know the purpose of your organization, your business processes or your assets in order to know whether to assess it as a suitable capability or one that is lacking relative to what's needed. A hammer in the right hands is very capable of enabling you to put a nail into a piece of wood if that is your purpose but not so capable in any hands if sawing that piece of wood in half if that's what's needed. 'Capability' then needs both a business context as well as a set of criteria (purpose) for an assessment.
In many business architecture circles the term has evolved to become an architectural concept in its own right without regard to the actual level of its ability to perform. This is quite different than what many people are used to. It is simply used as a name for a concept without regard for its needed level of ability. As an example, in a capability map 'Credit worthiness assessment' does not imply how good you are at it or how good you have to be at it, only that you need that capability in your business at some level of ability to perform. The level will depend on your business and your strategy. In a similar sense process names are treated similarly in the process architecture. The process 'Resolve complaint' does not tell you how well it works or if it needs to be much better. It just says that conceptually there is a process for that that should be in the architecture somewhere so we can determine if there is a performance gap and if we should close it.
The Business Context
Capability in a business architecture sense has come to mean what is required to enable or contribute to the creation of value towards the intent of the organization or value chain stakeholders who receive our goods and services. As such, there is a strong alignment of 'capabilities' with value creating 'business processes' although many business architects and industry models have lost sight of that critical value connection and focus almost exclusively on functional capability maps to the exclusion of alignment to process architecture maps. It is important, however, to not build these maps into one another. The figure on the right shows a common misconception often heard in architecture groups as to how the two are interrelated. In my experience, it is simply not correct since good architectural principles, as re-iterated by John Zachman, simply state that you cannot decompose one concept (architectural domain – aka Zachman column) into another type. If you are going to have capabilities and processes you have to maintain the integrity of each domain individually and associate them with one another through a meaningful set of relationship meanings. In architecture we should be representing processes and capabilities in a many-to-many relationship as shown below in Figure 4. Both are needed.
We execute, measure, manage, and improve processes. We build capabilities to serve that purpose.
Figure 4
In a recent personal experience of renewing a passport from another country (I am Canadian) I experienced the difference. The passport office processed the application and handed it off to a courier to ship internationally back to me. A business architect I know from the courier company had told me earlier that international shipping was a key capability of the company but they did not view it as a process. When the envelope did not arrive as promised for several days my conclusion was that there may have been capabilities on the capability map but the process that used such capabilities failed me when I needed it for whatever underlying reason. We need to be capable but we also have to get the work done!
Some Principles
Key Traits of Robust Business Capabilities
A sound enterprise level view of all capabilities will exhibit some key traits as listed in the Business Architecture Guild's BIZBOK.
- Provide business centric views of an organization
- Are defined in business terms
- Define what a business does
- Are stable
- Are defined once for an enterprise (or component thereof)
- Decompose into more capabilities
- There is one capability map for a business (a business may have more than one enterprise or be a part of one)
- Map to other views of the business
- An automated capability is still a business capability not an IT one
- If the mapping team cannot define a capability it probably is not one
Key Principles of Robust Business Capabilities
All of the above principles are true for business processes as I outlined in an earlier article for a value creating process architecture and process definition. The main difference is that capabilities are expressed using nouns or gerunds not verbs and business processes (or value streams) are expressed as verb-noun constructs. Just like processes the capability map should be:
- Organizationally Agnostic
- Technologically Agnostic
- Share a consistent classification structure of Core, Guiding and Enabling
- Initially keep to a Limited Depth of Structure (typically 3 to 4 levels deep)
- Describe 'what we do' and not so much the variations in 'how we do it'
- Should be stable over time unless the business model itself is changed
- Their impact should be measurable
- Be traceable to higher level capabilities and aligned with others at the same level
Stable Capabilities Start from Business Objects
The BIZBOK defines a capability as "a particular ability or capacity that a business may possess or exchange to achieve a specific purpose or outcome". A capability map should contain "a concise, non-redundant, complete, business-centric view of the business".
The starting point for identifying capabilities is most simply served by taking a unique business object orientation. Business objects (or business concepts) provide a foundation. They are not capabilities themselves but allow us to ask what capabilities we need to make each one effective. These concepts can be discovered by identifying specific types of relationships with external stakeholders and also other with particular objects of interest (assets and other softer business concepts). The key question is what things have to be managed by the business. To find a comprehensive list of possible relevant business objects we can identify all relationships and all items that must be managed. In effect, we are striving to 'normalize' them. That means having one place for everything and no redundancies. For our consumer bank example we could find a number of relationships to be managed and place them into our three categories as we did for business processes in a prior article. Some of these could be:
- Bank Board
- Bank Regulators
- Consumers
- Bank Partners
- Suppliers
- Technology Partners
- Employees
- Facility Service Providers
Each of these can have several sub-types which can be shown as a decomposition. For example, a consumer may be sub divided into high wealth consumer versus and transactional consumer types. Each may have unique needs and value requirements but some needs will be shared. The commonality could even spread to other relationship. Are there attributes of a customer relationship that are similar to a partner one such as the signing of a contract? You will have to determine if they can be satisfied by a common set of capabilities or if each is truly unique. How much of the customer cycle is similar to the partner one and where are the differences if any?
Other business objects can be discovered by looking at the concept or information model of all information items that have to be managed by the business (if you have one). For each object to be managed different capabilities will be needed at different times.
For the consumer bank some potential high level business objects, in addition to relationships, may be:
- Business Strategy
- Budgets
- Policies
- Business Rules
- Regulations
- Risk
- Brand
- Intellectual Property
- Financial Products and Services
- Financial Resources
- Technology
- Facilities
- Business Processes
- Equipment
- Supplies
- Information
- Knowledge
- Agreements
Again some of these may have distinctions with sub types. You will have to determine how deep to go.
Let's look at some capabilities for our consumer banking example. The consumer set will be relevant to the management of the relationship with the consumer but will not include the capabilities of managing the financial products and services that they are sold and use. Those will have their own capabilities. The regulator set will deal with the management of the regulator relationship but will not deal with a regulation or the policy needed to mitigate it per se. The facility provider (supplier sub type) relationship will be the subject of a set of capabilities but the facility itself will be a different set. It is important not to mix these as capabilities otherwise the goal of capability normalization will be lost and change will be more complex than necessary. They will be connected through the vehicle of the value creating business processes that use them.
In Figure 5 at the top level of the capability for our consumer banking example expect to see something like:
Figure 5
By looking at this map it is easy to see why, at a high level, capability advocates and process advocates may not see the need for one another's perspective since both approaches are based on making relationships work well for end to end value delivery and on ensuring all the business objects are at their working as needed. Diving deeper, however, lets us see the how there can be higher level capabilities and component levels. Let's look at some decompositions of a few high level capabilities from the overall map by asking 'what are the things that have to be managed at a more detailed level?' I have picked several illustrations of capabilities to the second and third level in Figure 6. These are not exhaustive and possibly wrong but the pattern can be seen.
Figure 6
From this illustration it is obvious that there can easily be hundreds of level 3 and thousands of level 4 capabilities. Rather than going deeper it may be more appropriate to do a top level skeleton (capability map as shown in Figure 5) covering all the macro objects as we did with the process architecture and only drill into the ones that we deem priority. This prioritization of processes and capabilities will be dealt with in a later article.
Future Articles
The business capability perspective made available here is in its early days still and there is still much controversy between business process and capability camps. There are many ways to do business architecture and you will have to make your choice of course. Many organizations are still struggling to determine what to do. There is a lot of angst between business architects, enterprise architects, technology architects and business process professionals and of course operational managers regarding what is needed and how to tackle the capability and process perspectives. I will deal with how processes and capabilities interact in the next article.
That's the way I see it.
Roger Burlton


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Baby Doe's mom arrested, boyfriend charged with murder
BOSTON (AP) - A mother has been arrested and her boyfriend is charged with murder in the death of a little girl whose body was found inside a trash bag on a Boston Harbor island this summer, a prosecutor said Friday, after a monthslong campaign to learn the child's identity.
Prosecutor Daniel Conley said he authorized a murder charge for Michael McCarthy, and the girl's mother, Rachelle Bond, is under arrest for accessory to murder after the fact.
"At just shy of three years old, Bella Bond was a true innocent," Conley said at a news conference announcing the charges.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said Bond and McCarthy are blaming each other for the girl's death.
"It appears as though it was a situation of the boyfriend who was involved and apparently, I think, mother and boyfriend sort of blaming each other in terms of who harmed the child."
DeLeo confirmed the identity of the child as Bella Bond. McCarthy, 35, was being treated at a Boston hospital for drug issues and could not be reached for comment.
The discovery of the girl's body sparked a massive social media campaign. Within two weeks, a composite image of the chubby-cheeked, brown-eyed girl had reached an estimated 47 million people on Facebook.
Police searched a Boston apartment Thursday after receiving a tip.
Officials from the state's child protection agency said they had contact with Bella twice, for four months in 2012 and three months in 2013. In both cases, officials described the involvement as "support for neglect," and the cases were later closed.
Between 2001 and 2006, the Department of Children and Families terminated parental rights for two of her mother's older children. One of the children was later adopted by her maternal grandmother; the other was adopted by someone outside the family, DCF officials said.
Rhonda Mann, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, said the agency has been working with law enforcement for several months in an effort to help police identify the girl.
"Now that we know her name, the story is no less tragic. DCF has not had an open case with this family for over two years, but did have brief involvement with Baby Bella as an infant," she said in a statement.
Because the case involving Bella had been closed, it was not among cases that DCF examined after the discovery of the remains on Deer Island, the agency said.
The girl's body was found June 25 inside a trash bag on Deer Island in Winthrop by a woman walking a dog.
Police immediately appealed to the public for help in identifying the girl. Using photos of her remains, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children created a composite image of what the girl might have looked like when she was alive.
Authorities set up an anonymous text line and put the image up on billboards. They were flooded with tips, which led authorities to check on the well-being of dozens of little girls but did not lead them to Baby Doe's family.
Despite the widespread publicity, investigators had been frustrated for months trying to figure out who she was and how she died. There were no obvious signs of trauma to her body. An autopsy performed by the state medical examiner's office did not immediately determine the manner or cause of her death.
Police chased down tips from around the world, but experts determined pollen on the girl's blanket and leggings and in her hair came from trees found in New England.
Residents of the apartment building that police searched told reporters that investigators asked about a woman who used to live there.
Neighbors said they had not seen a girl who looked like the composite photo released by police since March or April. They said they were told she had been taken into custody of child welfare.

subset: commoncrawl


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Lake Titicaca Study Sheds New Light On Global Climate Change
- Date:
- January 29, 2001
- Source:
- Stanford University
- Summary:
- Tropical South America has endured alternating periods of heavy rainfall and severe drought during the last 25,000 years, according a new study in the journal Science. The report - based on geological evidence from one of South America`s largest lakes - demonstrates how nature can produce sudden, unexpected climate changes that affect the entire planet.
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Tropical South America has endured alternating periods of heavy rainfall and severe drought during the last 25,000 years, according a new study in the journal Science.
The report - based on geological evidence from one of South America`s largest lakes - demonstrates how nature can produce sudden, unexpected climate changes that affect the entire planet.
The study, which appears in the Jan. 26 issue of Science, uses sediment samples taken from the bottom of Lake Titicaca - the world`s highest lake navigable to large vessels.
Straddling the border between Bolivia and Peru, Titicaca is 120 miles long, 50 miles wide and has average depth of 500 feet. The lake is located more than 2 miles above sea level on the Altiplano, or High Plateau, of the northern Andes Mountains.
``The Altiplano is like a giant cup, and Titicaca is the deepest point in the vast plateau, so most of the precipitation in the Altiplano drains into the lake,`` says Stanford geologist Robert B. Dunbar, one of the authors of the Science study.
Because very little water drains out of Titicaca, the lake serves as a reliable archive of rainfall patterns over many centuries - not just on the Altiplano, but in a large portion of tropical South America, according to Dunbar and his co-authors.
``Titicaca is the only large and deep freshwater lake in South America, and in deeper portions of the lake, sediment has accumulated continuously for at least the past 25,000 years,`` they add.
The authors point out that earlier studies of Titicaca relied on coring samples from the lake bottom taken at depths of 150 feet or less. To obtain an older and more complete climate record, a team of geologists led by Science co-author Paul A. Baker of Duke University collected three new samples at 270 feet, 450 feet and 690 feet below the surface.
Baker, Dunbar and their colleagues were able to reconstruct a history of precipitation in the Altiplano by determining how water levels in Lake Titicaca changed during the last 25,000 years. The researchers used a variety of techniques to analyze the salinity, chemistry and microfossil content of the ancient lakebed.
The most direct method involved counting fossilized diatoms - microscopic single-celled algae often found in lakes. Some diatom species live near the surface, while others inhabit the deep. By comparing the abundance of deep- versus shallow-water fossils in each core sample, researchers were able to determine whether the lake level was high or low in a particular season.
Dramatic changes
After analyzing all three core samples, the scientists concluded that the lake - and therefore the entire Altiplano - has undergone a series of dramatic changes since the Ice Age was at its peak between 26,000 and 15,000 years ago.
``Lake Titicaca was a deep, fresh and continuously overflowing lake during the last glacial stage,`` according to the Science study, ``signifying that the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru and much of the Amazon basin were wetter than today.``
Then, about 15,000 years ago, the Altiplano underwent a significant change. A dry era was launched, which continued for the next 2,000 years, causing Lake Titicaca to drop significantly.
Between 13,000 and 11,500 years ago, Titicaca began overflowing once again. This wet period was followed by 1,500 years of relative dryness, followed by another 2,500 years of heavy precipitation as the lake again rose to overflow levels.
Then, about 8,500 years ago, the lake level fell sharply as the Altiplano again became dry. But heavy precipitation would return for another 1,000 years, only to be followed by an extremely dry period between 6,000 and 5,000 years ago, during which Titicaca fell some 250 feet below its present-day level - its lowest level in 25,000 years.
Titicaca finally began rising again 4,500 years ago. Since then, the southern portion of the lake has overflowed its banks numerous times.
Millennial time-scale
What caused these thousand-year cycles of extreme wetness and aridity?
For an answer, the authors turned to geological climate studies of the Atlantic Ocean. It turns out that, since the last Ice Age, the North Atlantic has experienced periods of unusually cold surface temperature, often lasting 1,000 years or more and accompanied by centuries of intense precipitation.
According to the authors, these periods of plunging sea temperatures match the cycles of extreme wetness revealed in the Lake Titicaca core samples.
The fact that alternating periods of dryness and wetness occur on a millennial time-scale or longer may be influenced, in part, by the behavior of the Earth as it orbits the sun.
For example, the Earth`s rotational axis gradually changes direction every 26,000 years - a process called precession. As a result, parts of the Earth that are relatively close to the sun during summer today will be farther away during summer thousands of years from now.
So far, scientists do not have a complete explanation for the periodic climate changes in the Altiplano. For example, why did the water level of Lake Titicaca suddenly plunge to its lowest level 6,000 years ago?
``This drop occurred very suddenly in just two or three centuries,`` notes Dunbar, ``suggesting that there can be rapid changes that occur in nature that we don`t know much about. Natural variability can be enormous, so we`d better get a full understanding of how these systems work before we try to tease out the impact of humans on climate change.``
In addition to Dunbar and Baker, other co-authors of the Science study are Harold D. Rowe of Stanford; Geoffrey O. Seltzer of Syracuse University; Sherilyn C. Fritz and Pedro M. Tapia of the University of Nebraska; Matthew J. Grove of Duke University; and James P. Broda of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
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A pivot is a node that serves as a pivot point for its child nodes and enables to easily control transformation (mainly rotation) of this group of nodes. It has virtually zero influence on performance and shares all common options that other nodes have.
The pivot node should be used when you need to set a specific pivot point for a node or a group of nodes. For example, a pivot node can be used to add a pivot point for:
- Landing gears of an aircraft so that they are geared down and up relative to this point.
- Propeller blades of a helicopter so that they are rotated relative to this point.
The pivot node has the pivot and local transformation matrices. The pivot transformation matrix sets transformation of the basis of rotation (the pivot point) of child nodes. The local transformation matrix sets local transformation of child nodes relative to the pivot point. Both matrices can be edited via the Nodes panel of UnigineEditor.
See also
- A NodePivot class to edit pivots via UnigineScript
Adding a Pivot Node
To add a new pivot node via UnigineEditor, click Create -> Node -> Pivot on the Menu bar and then click somewhere in the scene to add the pivot node.
By default, the pivot and local transformation matrices of the added node are equal to identity matrices. You can change them on the Pivot tab of the Nodes panel.
Then you should add the child nodes to the pivot node: select the required nodes, hold Alt and drag the nodes inside the pivot node:
Editing a Pivot Node
Editing the pivot node implies changing its pivot and local transformation matrices on the Pivot tab of the Nodes panel.
You should distinguish between the concepts of the pivot node and the pivot point: changing transformation of the pivot point doesn't affect the pivot node and vice versa. By default, their transformations coincide.
Transformation of the pivot node is edited on the Node tab of the Nodes panel. To edit the pivot point transformation, you should select the pivot node and switch to the Pivot tab. As a result, 2 manipulators will appear: the smaller manipulator for the pivot point and the bigger one for the pivot node. To change the pivot point transformation press Edit pivot and change the required values on the Pivot tab or transform the manipulator.
Changing Position of the Pivot Point Manipulator
Pivot Node and Pivot Point with Different Transformations
Changing the local transformation of the child nodes doesn't require pressing Edit pivot: you can simply change the required values on the Pivot tab. You can also move, rotate or scale the pivot point manipulator by using the required transformation mode. For example:


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A residential property real estate transaction can seem to encompass thousands of details, and it is imperative that you educate yourself as much as possible to the aspects of these convoluted procedures. The issues pertaining to real estate law are specifically intricate and can range from fairly common sense topics all the way to minute details that if handled improperly could explode into enormous problems.
Since the process is so complex, there is no expectation that you will be able to navigate these choppy legal waters without proper, experienced and reputable legal counsel. However, even the best lawyers are still human, and even with the best intentions, legal mistakes can occur. Although stricter regulation of the profession has considerably lowered the instances of legal mistakes crippling a real estate transaction, the point is that mistakes still do happen, and when they do they can be very difficult to deal with.
Mistakes Can Be Minor Or DevastatingLegal mistakes can be relatively minor, such as the improper wording of a phrase, orbe major such as negligence to protect you from fraud, embezzlement or other forms of damaging behaviour on the part of the buyer.
One of the primary causes of legal errors can be the home inspection clause and the survey clause. If the wording of these clauses is not specified very clearly, a buyer who has changed their mind can back out of an otherwise satisfactory offer. In the case of the home inspection clause, the findings of the inspection which may indicate only a minor flaw that can be remedied with a few hundred dollars can be cause for walking away; and in the case of the survey clause the buyer can demand that the seller spend a thousand dollars or more on completing a totally new survey of the property.
Educate Yourself & Research Your LawyerThe best way to protect yourself against legal mistakes is to be educated as to what it is the lawyer is actually doing, and to carefully read and understand every word of every document prior to placing your signature on it. Some sellers have found that lawyers practicing with larger, more established, reputable law firms tend to commit fewer mistakes and the ones that do occur are more easily remedied as the lawyer has a greater level of resources to call upon to assist.
There is no substitute to the proper vetting and reference checking of any lawyer prior to establishing a business relationship. If your lawyer has arrived with sterling references vouching to their impeccable legal skills, you can rest assured that your chances of suffering through legal mistakes may not have entirely disappeared, but are considerably diminished.


text: Many important physical phenomena, such as temperature distribution, air flow, and acoustic waves, are described as continuous, distributed parameter fields. Controlling and optimizing these physical processes and systems are common design tasks in many scientific and engineering domains. However, the challenges are multifold: distributed fields are conceptually harder to reason about than lumped parameter models; computational methods are prohibitively expensive for complex spatial domains; the underlying physics imposes severe constraints on observability and controllability. This paper develops an ontological abstraction and an aggregation-disaggregation mechanism, in a framework collectively known as spatial aggregation (SA), for reasoning about and synthesizing distributed control schemes for physical fields. The ontological abstraction models physical fields as networks of spatial objects. The aggregation-disaggregation mechanism employs a set of data types and generic operators to find a feasible control structure, specifying control placement and associated actions that satisfy given constraints. SA abstracts common computational patterns of control design and optimization in a small number of operators to support modular programming; it builds concise and articulable structural descriptions for physical fields. We illustrate the use of the SA ontological abstraction and operators in an example of regulating a thermal field in industrial heat treatment.


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Employers can blame hay fever for the loss of millions of hours of work productivity this spring. A new study of nearly 600 people with hay fever symptoms, including sneezing, watery eyes and runny and itchy noses, found that workers missed an hour of work per week during peak hay fever season.
While missing an hour of work a week may seem small, consider that 20 to 50 million Americans suffer from at least some symptoms related to hay fever, or allergic rhinitis, said Sheryl Szeinbach, the study's lead author and a professor of pharmacy practice and administration at Ohio State University.
?That means the potential loss of millions of hours of work productivity, not to mention the associated economic costs,? she said. Some estimates suggest that nearly 4 million days of missed work each year due to allergy symptoms.
Hay fever symptoms can disrupt all areas of life, and study participants cited a lack of sleep and a negative impact on their overall health as the two main reasons for missing work.
Szeinbach suggests that people who suspect they have hay fever get an allergy test, either from a family doctor or an allergist. In previous work, she found that some people with allergy-like symptoms don't actually have allergies. Almost anything can cause allergy-type symptoms – perfumes, sinus infections, exercise, dust, cold air ? even if a person doesn't have an allergy.
?Diagnostic testing followed by the right kind of treatment may mean less time out of work,? she said.
The study currently appears on the website for the Primary Care Respiratory Journal.
Szeinbach and her colleagues collected questionnaires from 577 people whose medical and prescription records showed a diagnosis of allergic rhinitis. Participants were asked about the severity and type of allergy symptoms they had, and whether or not they had seen a physician for treatment.
The researchers placed participant responses into one of three groups: 240 patients received care from a family physician; 172 patients saw an allergist for treatment; and 165 chose to self-manage their symptoms (most of the patients in this latter group had been formally tested for allergies by a physician.)
Work time missed due to allergy symptoms ranged from zero to 32 hours a week. Although collectively the participants missed an average of one hour of work per week during the year-long study, most hours were missed during peak hay fever seasons ? namely spring and fall. In reality, this may result in missing a couple to several days of work a week during allergy season.
People under the care of a family physician reported a greater severity of symptoms than did patients treated by an allergist as well as those who self-managed their allergy symptoms.
?Family physicians tend to be the gatekeepers to allergists, and as such are more likely to have initial contact with allergy patients,? Szeinbach said. ?So it makes sense that family physicians would see patients with a broad spectrum of allergy symptoms.
?Both kinds of physicians have access to thorough diagnostic tests, and can also prescribe heavy-duty allergy drugs, such as steroids that help block the body's natural reaction to allergens,? she continued. Participants who self-managed their allergies relied on over-the-counter products to control their milder symptoms.
A lack of sleep and a decrease in quality of life had the greatest impact on a person's ability to work, regardless of the treatment group they were in. Participants also cited watery eyes and sneezing as having a moderately negative effect on their productivity at work.
While hay fever may remain a fact of life for millions of people, Szeinbach points out the importance of a proper diagnosis. The majority of study participants (405) had a traditional skin-prick test, in which a drop of allergen is placed on a patient's arm or back. The physician then pricks the skin through the drop, which lets the allergen enter the body. The doctor and patient then wait for a reaction, which could indicate an allergy.
About one out of five participants in the study underwent a blood test that evaluates the reaction of immunoglobulin E (IgE) to specific allergens, such as pollen from grass and trees. IgE is an antibody that triggers allergic reactions. In a previous study, Szeinbach found that the ImmunoCAP IgE blood test was more accurate in diagnosing allergies when compared to other specific IgE blood tests.
While IgE testing is traditionally the realm of allergists, more and more family physicians are starting to use it, she said. But patients who think they may have allergies need to ask if their family doctor has access to this test.
?Managed care protocols still need to be changed to allow for the increased use of this test,? Szeinbach said. ?The change in practice could result in far fewer missed workdays.?


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- Group Payments into Categories. Organize your utilities, cable and phone into a folder named household.
- Receive eBills. Green, more convenient, more secure and easier to manage.
- Reminders. Receive updates through email when you receive a bill, or when it's due.
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Key Information
Reference code
- 1870-2000 (Creation)
Level of description
3.6 linear metres plus 1 box of uncatalogued material.
Content and Structure
Scope and content
Some of this material is currently uncatalogued and therefore not accessible for researchers. Includes: General ledgers 1883-1979, and general cash books 1870-1993. Uncatalogued material includes papers for the finance committee, and annual budgets. Committee papers held within this department include the Finance Committee.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
This material has been appraised in line with Glasgow School of Art Archives and Collections standard procedures.
System of arrangement
Some records have been arranged in series as outlined in the description above. Additional records are awaiting arrangement.
General Information
Name of creator
Administrative history
The Glasgow School of Art has its origins in the Glasgow Government School of Design, which was established on 6 January 1845. The Glasgow Government School of Design was one of twenty similar institutions established in the United Kingdom's manufacturing centres between 1837 and 1851. Set up as a consequence of the evidence given to the House of Commons Select Committee on Arts and their connection with Manufactures of 1835-1836, the Government Schools hoped to improve the quality of the country's product design through a system of education that provided training in design for industry. Somerset House was the first of such schools to be established, opening in 1837, and others followed throughout the provinces.
In 1853 the Glasgow Government School of Design changed its name to the Glasgow School of Art. Following the receipt of some funding from the Haldane Academy Trust, (a trust set up by James Haldane, a Glasgow engraver, in 1833), The Glasgow School of Art was required to incorporate the name of the trust into its title. Consequently, it became the Glasgow School of Art and Haldane Academy, although by 1891 the "Haldane Academy" was dropped from the title. Glasgow School of Art was incorporated in 1892. In 1901 the Glasgow School of Art was designated a Central Institution for Higher Art Education in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
Initially the School was located at 12 Ingram Street, Glasgow, but in 1869, it moved to the Corporation Buildings on Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. In 1897 work started on a new building to house the School of Art on Renfrew Street, Glasgow. The building was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, former pupil of The Glasgow School of Art. The first half of the building was completed in 1899 and the second in 1909.
The Government Schools ran courses in elementary drawing, shading from the flat, shading from casts, chiaroscuro painting, colouring, figure drawing from the flat, figure drawing from the round, painting the figure, geometrical drawing, perspective, modelling and design. All these courses were introduced from the start at the Glasgow School apart from that of design. The course in design was the "summit of the system" where students came up with original designs for actual manufactures or decorative purposes and it was not until 1849, when Charles Heath Wilson became headmaster, that classes in design began to be taught. Also in this year Bruce Bell was engaged to teach mechanical and architectural drawing.
After 1853 the above pattern of courses was extended to 26 stages which formed the national curriculum for art schools. This system was known as the South Kensington system. An Art Masters could be awarded by gaining certificates in the available subjects. There was no restriction on entry and students could take as long as they wished to accumulate their passes before being awarded their Art Masters.
In 1901 the Glasgow School of Art was given the power to award its own diplomas. In the same year Art 91D classes for day school teachers commenced which were later known as the Art 55 classes. From 1901 to 1979 the School of Art awarded its own diplomas and thereafter it awarded degrees of the Council for National Academic Awards. In the 1970s the School of Fine Art and the School of Design were established. With the demise of the Council for National Academic Awards, from 1993 Glasgow University awarded the School's degrees in fine art and design.
In 1885 the Glasgow School of Art taught architecture and building construction conforming to the South Kensington system. Following on from the designation of the School as a Central Institution and the empowerment of the School to award its own diplomas, the School and the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College worked together to produce a curriculum for a new course leading to a joint diploma.
In 1903 the joint Glasgow School of Architecture was established within the Glasgow School of Art in conjunction with the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. For the new diploma design classes were to be taught at the School of Art and the construction classes at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. The first diplomas in architecture were awarded in 1910.
In 1924 the Glasgow School of Art became a university teaching institution when the University of Glasgow set up a BSc in Architecture which was to be taught at the School of Architecture. In 1964 the Royal College of Science and Technology (formerly the Royal Technical College, formerly the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College) merged with the Scottish College of Commerce to form the new University of Strathclyde. Following the merger the Glasgow School of Architecture came to an end, the last students transferring to Strathclyde degrees and graduating in 1968.
In 1970 the Mackintosh School of Architecture was established. It is housed within the Glasgow School of Art and forms that school's Department of Architecture. Its degrees are accredited by the University of Glasgow and its Head is the University's Professor of Architecture.
The Glasgow Government School of Design was originally managed, as were the other Government Schools, by the Board of Trade and a Committee of Management representing local subscribers. Then, in 1852, the Government Schools of Design were taken over by the Department of Practical Art. This Department was renamed the Department of Science and Art in 1853 and was located in South Kensington, London. The Committee of Management was replaced in 1892 by the Board of Governors. In 1898, control of the School was transferred again, this time to the Scotch Education Department (renamed the Scottish Education Department in 1918).
The School became academically independent in 1901 when it was free to develop its own curriculum and its own diplomas, subject to the approval of the Scottish Education Department. The chief executive of the School was the Headmaster, renamed Director in 1901, and a Secretary and Treasurer was responsible for all aspects of the administration of the School. As the School grew, other administrative posts were added.
Archival history
The post of Assistant Secretary (Finance) was created in 1975 in order to relieve the Secretary and Treasurer of all duties relating to financial matters. In 1995 the post was retitled Finance Officer. The Finance Officer is currently responsible for the regulation of the income and expenditure of the Glasgow School of Art and reports to the Director of Finances and Resources.
Custodial history
Physical Description and Conditions of Use
Conditions governing access
Most records which are over 30 years old are available for public consultation. Records which are less than 30 years old can be accessed with the permission of the head of the relevant department of the school.


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The digital version of Europe's longest running political newspaper.
NOTE: This listing is for an electronic copy only of the monthly printed newspaper and is in PDF format, which can be read using a variety of free PDF readers such as Adobe Reader or Foxit reader.
After your purchase has been completed, you will be able to download the file by going to Downloads under My Account.


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1 Timothy i. 1, 2.-"Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord." [The R. V. omits kuri/ou and translates: Christ Jesus our hope, th=j e9lpi/doj h9mw=n.]
I. Great and admirable is the dignity of an Apostle, and we find Paul constantly setting forth the causes of it, not as if he took the honor to himself, but as intrusted with it, and being under the necessity of so doing. For when he speaks of himself as "called," and that "by the will of God," and again elsewhere, "a necessity is laid upon me" (1 Cor. ix. 16.), and when he says, "for this I was separated," by these expressions all idea of arrogance and ambition is removed. For as he deserves the severest blame, who intrudes into an office which is not given him of God, so he who refuses, and shrinks from it when offered to him, incurs blame of another kind, that of rebellion and disobedience. Therefore Paul, in the beginning of this Epistle, thus expresses himself, "Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God." He does not say here, "Paul called," but "by commandment." He begins in this manner, that Timothy may not feel any human infirmity from supposing that Paul addresses him on the same terms as his disciples. But where is this commandment given? We read in the Acts of the Apostles: "The Spirit said, Separate me Paul and Barnabas." (Acts xiii. 2.) And everywhere in his writings Paul adds the name of Apostle, to instruct his hearers not to consider the doctrines he delivered as proceeding from man. For an Apostle can say nothing of his own, and by calling himself an Apostle, he at once refers his hearers to Him that sent him. In all his Epistles therefore he begins by assuming this title, thus giving authority to his words, as here he says, "Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Saviour." Now it does not appear that the Father anywhere commanded him. It is everywhere Christ who addresses him. Thus, "He said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles" (Acts xxii. 21); and again, "Thou must be brought before Caesar." (Acts xxvii. 24.) But whatever the Son commands, this he considers to be the commandment of the Father, as those of the Spirit are the commandments of the Son. For he was sent by the Spirit, he was separated by the Spirit, and this he says was the commandment of God. What then? does it derogate from the power of the Son, that His Apostle was sent forth by the commandment of the Father? By no means. For observe, how he represents the power as common to both. For having said, "according to the commandment of God our Saviour"; he adds, "and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope." And observe, with what propriety he applies the titles. And indeed, the Psalmist applies this to the Father, saying, "The hope of all the ends of the earth." (Ps. lxiv. 5.) And again, the blessed Paul in another place writes, "For therefore we both labor, and suffer reproach, because we have hope in the living God." The teacher must suffer dangers even more than the disciple. "For I will smite the shepherd, (he says,) "and the sheep shall be scattered abroad." (Zech. xiii. 7.) Therefore the devil rages with greater violence against teachers, because by their destruction the flock also is scattered. For by slaying the sheep, he has lessened the flock, but when he has made away with the shepherd, he has ruined the whole flock, so that he the rather assaults him, as working greater mischief by a less effort; and in one soul effecting the ruin of all. For this reason Paul, at the beginning, elevates and encourages the soul of Timothy, by saying, We have God for our Saviour and Christ for our hope. We suffer much, but our hopes are great; we are exposed to snares and perils, but to save us we have not man but God. Our Saviour is not weak, for He is God, and whatever be our dangers they will not overcome us; nor is our hope made ashamed, for it is Christ. For in two ways we are enabled to bear up against dangers, when we are either speedily delivered from them, or supposed by good hopes under them.
But Paul never calls himself the Apostle of the Father, but always of Christ. Because he makes everything common to both. The Gospel itself he calls "the Gospel of God." And ent are as nothing.
"Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith."
This too is encouraging. For if he evinced such faith as to be called peculiarly Paul's "own" son, he might be confident also with respect to the future. For it is the part of faith not to be cast down or disturbed, though circumstances occur that seem contrary to the promises. But observe he says, "my son," and even "mine own son," and yet he is not of the same substance. But what? was he of irrational kind? "Well," says one, "he was not of Paul, so this does not imply 'being of' another." What then? was he of another substance neither was it so, for after saying "mine own son," he adds, "in the faith," to show that he was really "his own son," and truly from him. There was no difference. The likeness he bore to him was in respect to his faith, as in human births there is a likeness in respect of substance The son is like the father in human beings, but with respect to God the proximity is greater. For here a father and a son, though of the same substance, differ in many particulars, as in color, figure, understanding, age, bent of mind, endowments of soul and body, and in many other things they may be like or unlike, but there is no such dissimilarity in the divine Essence. "By commandment." This is a stronger expression than "called", as we learn from other passages. As he here calls Timothy "mine own son," in like manner he says to the Corinthians, "in Christ Jesus I have begotten you," i.e. in faith; but he adds the word "own," to show his particular likeness to himself, as well as his own love and great affection for him. Notice again the "in" applied to the faith. "My own son," he says, "in the faith." See what an honorable distinction, in that he calls him not only his "son," but his "own" son.
Ver. 2. "Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord."
Why is mercy mentioned here, and not in the other Epistles? This is a further mark of his affection. Upon his son he invokes greater blessings, with the anxious apprehension of a parent. For such was his anxiety, that he gives directions to Timothy, which he has done in no other case, to attend to his bodily health; where he says, "Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities" (1 Tim. v. 23.) Teachers indeed stand more in need of mercy.
"From God our Father," he says, "and Jesus Christ our Lord."
Here too is consolation. For if God is our Father, He cares for us as sons, as Christ says, "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?" (Matt. vii. 9.)
Ver. 3. "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia."
Observe the gentleness of the expression, more like that of a servant than of a master. For he does not say "I commanded," or "bade" or even "exhorted," but "I besought thee." But this tone is not for all: only meek and virtuous disciples are to be treated thus. The corrupt and insincere are to be dealt with in a different manner, as Paul himself elsewhere directs, "Rebuke them with all authority" (Tit. ii. 15); and here he says "charge," not "beseech," but "charge some that they teach no other doctrine" What means this? That Paul's Epistle which he sent them was not sufficient? Nay, it was sufficient; but men are apt sometimes to slight Epistles, or perhaps this may have been before the Epistles were written. He had himself passed some time in that city. There was the temple of Diana, and there he had been exposed to those great sufferings. For after the assembly in the Theater had been dissolved, and he had called to him and exhorted the disciples, he found it necessary to sail away, though afterwards he returned to them. It were worth enquiry, whether he stationed Timothy there at that time. For he says, that "thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine": he does not mention the persons by name, that he might not, by the openness of his rebuke, render them more shameless. There were in that city certain false Apostles of the Jews, who wished to oblige the faithful to observe the Jewish law, a fault he is everywhere position to him. This is meant by "teaching another doctrine."
Ver. 4. "Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies."
By "fables" he does not mean the law; far from it; but inventions and forgeries and counterfeit doctrines. For, it seems, the Jews wasted their whole discourse on these unprofitable points. knowledge and research. "That thou mightest charge some," he says, "that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies." Why does he call them "endless"? It is because they had no end, or none of any use, or none easy for us to apprehend. Mark how he disapproves of questioning. For where faith exists, there is no need of question. Where there is no room for curiosity, questions are superfluous. Questioning is the subversion of faith. For he that seeks has not yet found. He who questions cannot believe. Therefore it is his advice that we should not be occupied with questions, since if we question, it is not faith; for faith sets reasoning at rest. But why then does Christ say, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. vii. 7); and, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life"? (John v. 39.) The seeking there is meant of prayer and vehement desire, and He bids "search the Scriptures," not to introduce the labors of questioning, but to end them, that we may ascertain and settle their true meaning, not that we may be ever questioning, but that we may have done with it. And he justly said, "Charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables, and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than the dispensation of God in faith." Justly has he which is the best medicine of our souls. This questioning therefore is opposed to the dispensation of God. For what is dispensed by faith? To recede His mercies and become better men; to doubt and dispute of nothing; but to repose in confidence. For what "ministers questions" displaces faith and that which faith hath wrought and builded. Christ has said that we must be saved by faith; this these teachers questioned and even denied. For since the announcement was present, but the issue of it future, faith was required. But they bring preoccupied by legal observances threw impediments in the way of faith. He seems also here to glance at the Greeks, where he speaks of "fables and genealogies," for they enumerated their Gods.
Moral. Let us not then give heed to questions. For we were called Faithful, that wemight unhesitatingly believe what is delivered to us, and entertain no doubt. For if the things asserted were human, we ought to examine them; but since they are of God, they are only to be revered and believed. If we believe not, how shall we be persuaded of the existence of a God? For how knowest thou that there is a God, when thou callest Him to account? The Him without proofs and demonstrations. Even the Greeks know this; for they believed their Gods telling them, saith one, even without proof; and what?-That they were the offspring of the Gods. But why do I speak of the Gods? In the case of the man, a deceiver and sorcerer, (I speak of Pythagoras,) they acted in like manner, for of him it was said, He said it. And over their temples was an image of Silence, and her finger on her mouth, compressing her lips, and significantly exhorting all that passed by to be silent. And were their doctrines so sacred, and are ours less so? and even to be ridiculed? What extreme madness is this! The tenets of the Greeks indeed are rightly questioned. For they were of that nature, being but disputes, conflicts of reasonings, and doubts, and conclusions. But ours are far from all these. For human wisdom invented theirs, but ours were taught by the grace of the Spirit. Their doctrines are madness and folly, ours are true wisdom. In their case there is neither teacher nor scholar; but all alike are disputants. Here whether teacher or scholar, each is to learn of him from whom he ought to learn, and not to doubt, but obey; not to dispute, but believe.
For all the ancients obtained a good report through faith, and without this everything is subverted. And why do I speak of it in heavenly things? We shall find upon examination that earthly things depend upon it no less. For without this there would be no trade nor contracts, nor anything of the sort. And if it be so necessary here in things that are false, how much more in those. doctrines, such, for instance, as relate to nativity and fate. If you believe that there is a resurrection and a judgment, you will be able to expel from your mind all those false opinions. Believe that there is a just God, and you will not believe that there can be an unjust nativity. Believe that there is a God, and a Providence, and you will not believe that there can be a nativity, that holds alI things together. Believe that there is a place of punishment, and a Kingdom, and you will not brave in a nativity that takes away our free agency, and subjects us to necessity and force. Neither sow, nor plant, nor according to the course of nativity! What need have we more of Prayer? And why should you deserve to be a Christian, if there be this nativity? for you will not then be responsible. And whence proceed the arts of life? are these too from nativity? Yes, you say, and it is fated to one to become wise with labor. But can you show me one who has learnt an art without labor? You cannot. It is not then from nativity but from labor that he derives his skill.
But why does a man who is corrupt and wicked become rich, without inheriting it from raise, always arguing upon wealth and poverty, and never taking the case of vice and virtue. Now in this question talk not of that, but show me a man who has become bad, whilst he was striving to be good; or one that, without striving, has become good. For if Fate has any power, its power should be shown in the most important things; in vice and virtue, not in poverty and riches. Again you ask, why is one man sickly and another healthy? why is one honored, another disgraced? Why does ever thing succeed well with this man, whilst another meets with nothing but failure and impediments? Lay aside the notion of nativity, and you will know. Believe firmly that there is a God and a Providence, and all these things will be cleared up. "But I cannot," you say, "conceive that honest man, and not to the virtuous? How can I believe this? for there must be facts to ground belief." Well then, do these cases proceed from a nativity that was just, or unjust? "Unjust," you say. Who then made it? "Not God," you say, "it was unbegotten." But how can the unbegotten produce these things? for they are contradictions. "These things are not then in any wise the works of God." Shall we then enquire who made the earth, the sea, the heavens, the seasons? "Nativity," you answer. Didnativity then produce in things inanimate such order and harmony, but in us, for whom these things were made, so much disorder? As if one, in building a house, should be careful to make it magnificent, but bestow not a thought upon his household. But who preserves the succession of the seasons? Who established the regular laws of nature? Who appointed the courses of day and night? These things are superior to any such nativity. "But these," you say, "came to be of themselves." And yet how can such a well-ordered system spring up of itself?
"But whence" you say "come the rich, the healthy, the renowned, and how are some made rich by covetousness, some by inheritance, some by violence? and why does God suffer the wicked to be prosperous?" We answer, Because the retribution, according to the desert of each, does not take place here, but is reserved for hereafter. Show me any such thing taking place Then! "Well," say you, "give me here, and I do not look for hereafter." But it is because you seek here, that you receive not. For if when earthly enjoyment is not within your reach, you seek present things so eagerly as to prefer them to future, what would you do if you were in possession of unmixed pleasure? God therefore shows you that these things are nothing, and indifferent; for if they were not indifferent, He would not below them on such men. You will own that it is a matter of indifference whether one be tall or short, black or white; so is it whether one be rich or poor. For, tell me, are not things necessary bestowed on all equally, as the capacity for virtue, the distribution of spiritual gifts? If you understood aright the mercies of God, you would not complain of wanting worldly things, whilst you enjoyed these best gifts equally with others; and knowing that equal distribution you would not desire superiority in the rest. As if a servant enjoying from his master's bounty food, clothing, and lodging, and all other necessaries equally with his fellow- this reason it is, that God withdraws those things fore us, to extinguish this madness, and transfer our affections from them to heaven. But nevertheless we do not learn wisdom. As if a child possessing a toy, should prefer it to things necessary, and his father, to lead him against his will to what was better for him, should deprive him of his toy; so God takes these things from us, that He may lead us to heaven. If you ask then why He permits the wicked to be rich, it is because they are not high in His esteem. And if the righteous too are rich, it is rather that He allows it to be, than that He makes them so. they might gain wealth, do not seek wealth; when they might enjoy health, mortify their bodies; when they might rise to glory, make it their aim to be despised. But there is no good man, who ever studied to be bad. Let us therefore desist from seeking things below, and let us seek heavenly things; for so we shall be able to attain them, and we shall enjoy eternal delights, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory, power, and honor, now, and ever, and world without end. Amen.


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Black Crowes Were Forced to Record Debut Album Clean and Sober
Chris Robinson said the Black Crowes recorded their debut album Shake Your Money Maker without access to drink and drugs – because they couldn't afford any.
Sessions began in their hometown of Atlanta with producer George Drakoulias in 1989; the record was released the following year. It went on to sell more than 5 million copies, spawning the hits "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels."
"Looking back, the funniest thing is it's a very sober record," singer Robinson told Rolling Stone in a recent interview. "We didn't have any money even for a 12-pack. We ate off of George's leftovers. We didn't have a food budget. We didn't have money for weed or anything, you know? So it's all going into the work."
He also recalled the band's lack of experience in the studio, noting that he'd never worked in one before, drummer Steve Gorman had never played to a click track and guitarists Rich Robinson and Jeff Cease had to share an amplifier. "George had to curtail some of our indie-punk vibes," the singer said. "'Can we try it with a click track?' 'Like, what? Joe Strummer never used a click track!' ... 'Twice as Hard,' we probably played that song 40 times to get it right."
The singer said he also struggled with the sense of expression that Drakoulias wanted from him. "I wasn't really feeling that," he said. "But he sat down in my apartment and played me [Faces'] 'Miss Judy's Farm,' and I can remember my mind blowing out of my skull. It all starts to come together. … As long as it's soulful and as long as it's sincere, that was really the electricity and the inspiration of that kind of music."
Robinson recalled being at home, "seeing old friends," when they were told they'd sold their first million copies. "We were hardly the most popular band in Atlanta, so for us to start to achieve that kind of commercial success, it alienated us from the other bands," he said. "For us to kind of supercharge it up like that, it was just super-magical. Youth, man, it was all about youth."


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Thanks for visiting Mascus
Ritchie Bros. has a new solution to better serve customers in North America: Ritchie List, our self-serve equipment listing service - an easy, secure way to buy & sell privately.
Mascus, the fastest-growing online marketplace in the world for the sale of transportation vehicles, construction machinery, agricultural, material-handling equipment and forestry, is now making it even easier for all its users to access the website, with the launch of the new fully responsive version of the marketplace.
The new responsive website enables Mascus users to browse through ads listings on their traditional desktop computer, smartphones or tablets without changing environment and losing some of the features of the main desktop version. Sellers will also be able to manage their content directly from their mobile devices. The new design has been developed to make Mascus accessible whether you are at your desk and using your traditional computer or on the go using a mobile phone or a tablet.
"We know that more and more users are accessing online content via their mobile devices and this is no exception with the heavy machinery industry." explains Mascus COO Rickard Krøtø. "Our users and customers are often away from their desk and computer, but they are always connected and have their smartphone or tablet with them. The responsive website offers them the opportunity to check Mascus with any type of mobile device without losing the features that the full desktop version is offering. Besides the improved user experience, buyers will be able to access Mascus while on the go and contact sellers at the touch of a finger while sellers will have the chance to be more reactive to the demand and manage their stock from their mobile phone or tablet." adds Mascus Marketing Manager Gauthier Dominicy.
Users can access the full responsive website to browse listings that are organized into "easy to navigate" categories. When customers click on a listing, they will see the seller's product photos, product details, pricing and location information. Customers can then call the seller's number right from the listing to make their inquiry.
The new website is part of Mascus' continual improvement plans to deliver a better experience and easy to use platform to all their users. "The new responsive website takes Mascus to a new level by making it a more flexible for everyone to use," explains Tim Scholte, Mascus CEO. "We recognized the importance of producing a system that is user-friendly, no matter what environment it is accessed in, and that includes via mobile phones and tablets. Mobile devices are already passing over traditional computers and laptops to browse internet, so having a website that makes the Mascus marketplace accessible anywhere anytime and with any device was a necessary step for us. It also reinforces our commitment to customer-oriented improvements," he adds.
"The mobile websites that we have built for our customers for the last 2 years has proven to be successful so it was only logic for us to apply this trend to the public marketplace. As smartphones and tablets become the norm as well as mobile broadband connectivity, we believe that the new responsive website will prove to be extremely popular with Mascus users across the world and in delivering a better browsing experience and quality service to our customers" concludes Tim Scholte.
Contacts:Tim Scholte, CEO, +31 65 182 3389, Rickard Krøtø, COO, +46 70 660 2780,
About Mascus:Mascus - is an online marketplace for farm machinery, forestry, material handling and groundscare equipment, construction and transportation vehicles. Product ranges include tractors for sale, trailers for sale, used trucks for sale, diggers, box trailers, mini diggers and excavators. Mascus makes trading in used machinery and equipment quicker and more efficient by collecting in one place information about the supply and the demand. All dealers, producers, and end users are welcome to offer their used machines and equipment for sale via the marketplace.
Notes for Editors:Press materials and pictures:English www.mascus.com/press


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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The U.S. Olympic men's basketball team is still a little better than Spain.
One more win and the Americans are again the best in the world.
The U.S. advanced to its third straight gold-medal game, beating Spain 82-76 on Friday in another tight matchup between the teams that met in the last two championship games.
Klay Thompson scored 22 points for the Americans, who will play Australia or Serbia on Sunday for their third consecutive Olympic title.
The U.S. was just good enough again against Spain, winning a much different game than the all-offense matchups that decided the last two gold-medal games. This one featured several technical fouls and neither team got into an offensive flow.
It was the lowest-scoring game for the Americans in the Olympics since the 2004 semifinals, when they managed 81 in a loss to Argentina.
But DeAndre Jordan made his presence felt in the middle with 16 rebounds and four blocked shots to go with his nine points.
"DeAndre was all over the place," U.S. assistant coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Kevin Durant added 14 points on the day he moved past LeBron James into second place on the U.S. Olympic career scoring list. Kyrie Irving had 13 for the U.S.
Pau Gasol scored 23 points for Spain, which made it tough on the Americans for the third straight Olympics, but again had to settle for coming close against the world's No. 1 team.
Gasol said after he believed Spain missed its best chance to beat the U.S.
"They are not playing as well as other times they've played, but they are still a very talented team individually," Gasol said. "I just (feel) like if we had been a little sharper with our shots, if we would have moved the ball a little better, if we would have boxed out more, and make it a two- or three-possession game, then you're talking about a whole different story."
The Americans pulled away to win 118-107 in 2008 and held on for a 107-100 victory in London. Those were all-action contests, but the defenses made their mark in this one. Spain shot just 39 percent and couldn't get any consistent option other than Gasol, who played with a wrap covering his sore right calf.
It was the kind of defense the Americans thought they could play but hadn't much in the tournament. Serbia and France both surpassed 90 points against them and Australia scored 88, as the team with 10 Olympic newcomers took longer than hoped in grasping international offenses.
This time they contained a team that was as explosive as themselves over the last four games, as Spain had averaged 97.3 points and won by more than 25 per game after dropping its first two in Brazil.
The Americans finally built a comfortable lead when they opened the fourth quarter with six straight points to go ahead 72-57. But Spain was able to keep the gap from getting any bigger and chipped away at it in the final minutes, the margin ending up smaller than in the previous matchups.
Thompson scored 17 in the first half, including a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left that made it 45-39 at the break.
Both teams were called for multiple technical fouls in the tense first half. One of them, on Durant, gave him a third foul, as technicals also count as personal fouls in international play. Nikola Mirotic then picked up a personal and technical on the same play later in the period, sending him to the bench with four after he led Spain with 23 points in its quarterfinal rout of France.
The Americans were far off their usual offensive play, shooting only 42 percent for the game and complaining about a wet ball in the first half. But they grabbed 21 offensive rebounds in their 24 straight victory in the Olympics.


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SeMi TrUcK ASPHALT AniMaL Vintage 70s t-shirt iron-on transfer authentic NOS retro american fashion Hot Rods Muscle Trucker by Roach
Very vintage 70s trucker , iron-on, USA by Roach
Get one today. Old school 18 wheeler, semi truck trucker tee shirt transfer, authentic and not a remake. Vivid color, awesome tee shirt iron on.
ORIGINAL 1970s VINTAGE IRON-ON T-Shirt TRANSFER New Old Stock, Deadstock, un-used. Brought to you by Irononstation.com
Muscle cars, hot rods, street rods, race cars 70s t-shirt iron on
Vintage Iron On tee shirt Authentic NOS
retro mopar tshirt ironon
*We will be listing more items daily and weekly. (1200+ titles online!)
*More boxes unopened since the 1970s and 80s full of surprises to be sure.
*Wholesale lots of 50-1000+ units are available (see our listings)
* Limited quantities, when gone, they are gone!
*We use a home iron for ours but recommend kids not try that at home, please use a professional. ;)
Imagine going back in a TIME MACHINE to 1973 and being able to get ANY ROCK BAND, ANY TV SHOW, ANY HIT MOVIE, put onto a T-shirt for you, right on the spot.
All over America in the 1970s there were small shops who would offer a full selection of IRON ON TRANSFERS. You could go in, pick which picture you wanted on your shirt, pick your shirt size and color, and in 5 minutes you would have a ONE OF A KIND unique 1970s T shirt!!
The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, KISS, James Dean, ET, Rocky......and on and on and on....even ELVIS, the KING!
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Still in original unused MINT condition!!
It's not just ROCK, but TV SHOWS, MOVIE STARS, FAST CARS, MOTORCYCLES, ALCOHOL and BEER THEMES, DRUG THEMES, EVEN SEXY FUNNY ONES... after all the 1970s was about SEX, DRUGS, & ROCK AND ROLL!!
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Now YOU TOO can share in this story of luck and good fortune …
Please share with your friends.
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Deep In The Hole
(photo courtesy of Beatrice Yaxley Photography)
Our new 6 week programming cycle starts today. You can view the template here
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You may have noticed a little difference in how our WODs are being posted to the website each day. That's because we've begun using a new WOD Tracking application called WODTogether. At the top of the WOD posting below, you'll see a small "whiteboard" icon. If you click there, you will be taken to our new online whiteboard to enter your WOD results. We'll be posting more info in the coming days about WODTogether, but in the meantime, click the whiteboard link, create an account, download the app for your iPhone or Android device, and start posting results! We've also integrated the app to our FB page (https://www.facebook.com/Strength & ConditioningDurham/app_160992527297120).
ENDURANCE WORKOUT tonight at 6pm!


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A beach day at Kosi bay!
Stephanie was more than a little happy at this prospect, although in truth we all were. It was hot, and the mere thought of swimming was making us all eager to get to the beach.
Even Tommy was eager to get to the water!
The visit to the fishtraps is first. this sustainable fishing method is as much a part of conserving the area as preserving the traditional Tsonga culture.
Elmon explained how the fish trap worked to us and gave us spear fishing lessons to show us how hard it is, then it was time to walk/splash out to the fishtraps to take a look for ourselves.
We were in luck, one of Elmons fishtraps had bream, grunter, mullet and even kingfish! So we got to test our wits against that of the fish and try our hand at spearing dinner.
Stephanie speared her fish on the first try… Sleep with one eye open Adrian…!
We all emerged from the handmade cage triumphant. We would have a feast tonight!
But no time for smugly posing with our catches…
…oh, ok then just a little…


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Kokopelli Outlet & Switch Cover
Lead Time: Stock Item | Ships in 1-2 Business Days
Wrought Iron Kokopelli Outlet & Switch Cover
Add the unique look of our Kokopelli Outlet & Switch covers to your home and have not only a decorative switch cover but also a unique conversation piece for family and friends.The outlet & switch cover features a black baked on powder coat finish for great looks and unsurpassed durability.The Kokopelli Outlet & Switch Cover is approximately 4-5/8"W x 8"H.
- Dimensions: Approx. 4-5/8" W x 8" H
- Iron Finish / Color: Powder coated matte black finish
- Material: Metal / Iron
- Indoor / Outdoor Recommendation: Indoor
- Helpful Info: All silhouettes are centered on switch plate and outlet covers.
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Claudia here to invite you to our third Sponsor Spotlight for August! Today it is my turn and huge pleasure to introduce to you a lovely stamp set by this month's prize sponsor
I immediately fell in love with their gorgeous stamp set CI-207 "Ferns and Grasses":
and created this wall hanging for your inspiration:
First I started with stamping the single ferns and grasses with black archival stamping ink onto heavy white printer paper. I left enough space so each would fit with a separate rectangle (which I drew with a pencil and ruler).
Then I cut them all out. I didn't see to same sizes, so you don't have to measure exactly. It's the right angles for the panels we are looking for.
Next I applied three puddles of various Distress stains (Tea Dye, Weathered Wood and Tumbled Glass) on my non stick craft sheet.
Then I took the first of my stamped grass/fern panels and sprayed it with water from the bottle. Once my panel was slightly wet I randomly swiped its edges through the puddles...
...to create something like this:
I did so with all my cut out panels and set them aside to dry. Once they were dry they looked like this:
I love how the watercolour effect creates this "glow" in the centers of the panels!
Then I blended the edges of my panels with DI "Gathered Twigs" (using the ink blending tool).
After that I sprinkled on various colours from my colour spray collection to achieve a weathered and aged look:
For my background I used a square sheet of brown craft paper which I misted with water from the spray bottle and crumpled into a ball to create a highly textural surface to put my panels on.
Once this paper had dried I sprinkled on some paints too and made the creases more visible by applying DI "Gathered Twigs" to them.
I cut another square of the same size from some thick corrugated card (from left over packaging material) to mount my background to (using DecoArt matte Decou-Page).
Then I arranged my stamped grasses and ferns on the panel and glued them in place too. I also added some brads (from Red Lead) for more detail.
I still had one of those fab wood cut beetles (from Um Wow Studio), which I coloured with Distress paints (Wild Honey, Antiqued Bronze) and let dry.
Once it had dried I used my fingertips to apply some DecoArt Traditions "Raw Umber" to the edges and wipe it around. Before that colour dried completely I took some of it off with a soft cloth.
The beetle was glued in place with matte Decou-Page. As I had green and blue colour tones with my grass and fern panels I went for a contrasting colour with the beetle. This makes the greens and blues pop even more.
The quote (from Hal Borland) was printed out on my computer, the words were cut out and the edges blended with DI "Gathered Twigs" before I glued them in place too.
It says "Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence."
For a finish I added a piece of lace ribbon to the bottom of the wall hanging and a string of rough cord on top.
I hope you like my wall hanging! I leave you with some more close-ups and I also want to remind you of our actual challenge "Summertime", which is still open until 11:55 pm on August 28th!