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hahaha… obviously, I haven't been keeping up with things here, which I apologize for. Between social media and email, I do a LOT of writing, but I often neglect keeping up on my own web site(s). I'd rather be working on music – or getting sucked into dumb arguments on Facebook, it would seem – than dicking around with HTML, so let me do a brief summary of what's been going on since the IMDICF release.
My solo album In My Dreams I Can Fly sold nicely, but there are still a lot of people it didn't reach, which I suppose is to be expected these days with the loooong tail. It's not too late to purchase a copy! Or simply go listen to it since it's all online, free. The Berends Brothers Band was gigging steadily up through the end of 2013 when I decided 'this really isn't what I want to be doing' and called it a day. I didn't set out in life to play old cover tunes in bars, as much as I enjoyed a brief revisiting of the past and it was good to concentrate on just pure guitar playing for a while. It was nice to get out and play just to keep playing, but it felt like moving backwards which was making me crazy.
Originally, I wanted to take some time off and come back playing my own music, but as fate would have it, our bass player moved a ridiculous distance away and much like (exactly like) with Mastermind, I wasn't up to the frustrating search, yet again, for a bass player that would fit and had the musical chops to pull it off (my stuff), so I retreated to the studio to write and record. The first half of 2014 I was kind of moping around, bummed out at yet again being back at square one, but I started writing in earnest by the end of the year. Throughout 2015 I was doing a variety of studio work for various artists worldwide which I wrote about earlier in the News section of this web site, and working on shaping up my own new material.
For Mastermind fans…. 2017 will be the 30th Anniversary of the band and a part of me feels like it would be nice to pick that up again. At least do some reunion type shows, but they would have to be done right. I don't want to throw something together just to do it. I've tossed the idea around with (Mastermind drummer) Rich and a few other folks, but nothing firm has come of it. The other part of me feels like I am not so sure I want to revisit that stuff. Again, it feels like moving backwards and without a great bass player, keyboard person, and proper production, slugging through just to do it would be agonizing. But I certainly haven't ruled it out.
The Cassette Archives
Which brings us to the present. My musical tastes and interests have also been evolving over the years and given what I have to work with – just me, myself, and I at this point – I am moving back into electronic music which is where I was going before Mastermind became a thing. This brings me to what I really wanted to talk about now, which is both moving forward AND going way back at the same time.
Back in 1988 while we were struggling to get Mastermind off the ground I made another, now lost in the annals of time, cassette-release-only solo album entitled "Life Cycle" which some long-time fans may remember. It was kind of a heavy New Agey thing loaded with synths and a bit of guitar playing, similar in concept to what I'm workng on now. I thought it'd be nice to put that out there again before I put up anything new in the electronic-ish vein, if for no other reason than to show that this has been a part of my musical persona for a really long time. Not just blowing with the winds of change. All that took a back seat once Mastermind started gaining recognition because, you know, playing in a band is (mostly) a lot more enjoyable than staring at a computer screen all day by yourself.
The only problem was… I didn't have a copy of the album anywhere! Maybe on 10″ reel or DAT, but the tape would need to be baked now, I'm certain, even if the old two-track machine does fire up, and the DAT machine hasn't worked for years, so I started digging through the piles of old cassettes I've had in boxes for decades, looking for a copy. This has taken me in a completely different direction than I ever expected. Something that has now taken on a life of its own…. The Cassette Archives.
What I discovered when I started going through old tapes was a treasure trove of long lost, forgotten material, some as far back as 1975 and possibly even earlier. It suddenly felt urgent to get as much of this stuff as possible into digital format for preservation. As remarkably well as many of the cassettes have held up, I knew they wouldn't last forever. I also wanted to clear out the drawers and boxes that have been taking up space for so many years. There are, quite literally, hundreds of cassettes I am working my way through and I have to sit there and listen to them which, of course, means hundreds of hours of my time. Many of the tapes are unlabeled, some have one thing at the beginning then something else at the end and who-knows-what on the flip side. The levels are all over the place, so I can't just play them and go do something else. My full attention is required.
Once the stuff is in the computer it will also need to be restored and mastered into presentable shape. Also incredibly time consuming. One step at a time. This process naturally leads back to the boxes and boxes of old 7″ open reel tapes from 40+ years ago that are the source material, both in my possession and stuff my brothers have. Again, needing to be baked if they play at all. From the TANK days moving on into early Mastermind studio recordings, computer music in Win 98 software. Sadly, the Commodore 64 MIDI files are just lost forever beyond whatever audio recordings there are, which I have found a few of, up to the file cabinets full of more recent CD-R's. Also in there are quite a few tapes from piano brother David's post-Tank band "The Name" which I will also get to, as well as tons of stuff from studio clients over the years, but for the moment, Phase One is just getting all the personal cassette stuff reviewed and archived and this is turning out to be a gigantic task. Very much taking on a life of its own, as I said above.
The TANK Archives
Some of the things I've discovered are well worth the effort though, to me and hopefully others. There are the original three brothers Berends TANK demo recordings, which Mastermind fans in the know have been bugging me to release for years. Even more fascinating are the live rehearsal tapes including mind boggling cover renditions of ELP's "Pirates" and "Hoedown" which, especially considering our ages at the time, are simply incredible. I mean really. The shit is fucking AMAZING, there's no other way to put it. Oh, and I did find a decent copy of Life Cycle as well!
There are tapes from almost every era of my (and my brothers and associates) musical history, from the original TANK tapes to the next generation Tank stuff with Kip Leming (bass) and later with Rich Harter (vocals) and Bob Delgado (2nd guitar), even stuff with my old college days bassist Angelo Grandinetti when we briefly called the band "Fortress" and then the pre-Mastermind line up with Phil Antolino called "Voyager One". There are gigs and rehearsals with various bassists, MIDI demo sketches, out takes of Mastermind studio recordings, PLUS a ton of my own electronic 80's pop-ish songs and commercial TV and film music which is what started this whole ball of wax rolling in the first place. Not to mention the drawers and boxes of VIDEO tapes I hope to get transferred at some point. OMG.
I am doing this both for family and personal reasons – The Berends Digital Archives – but also because there is a lot of great stuff here that the world deserves to hear! On top of all this there are two to three hours of all NEW music I am working on in spurts, some of which is finished, some not. Some of it still being revised. It's a LOT of stuff. A daunting amount of stuff.
Basically I just wanted to explain that although I've been promising new music for a ridiculous length of time now, it will still be a while longer, so hang in there! It turns out taking time off from gigging turned into a good thing because I never had the inclination to go through this stuff before. My ears and brain can only handle so much and that was filled up with band noise. I do miss playing live though.
So… I am a curious and would love some feedback if anyone would be interested in CD versions of say, Tank, for example, or if downloads are the way to go these days. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below. I could see maybe a limited run of duplicated discs or something.
OK, I best stop writing and get back to work. I hope to keep things updated more frequently than every three years or so, but who knows!
Thanks for looking in and reading this far.


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A Real Example of Fake News
"Huge Growth in Anti-Muslim Hate Groups During 2016: SPLC Report," wails NBC News. "Watchdog: Number of anti-Muslim hate groups tripled since 2015," FOX News bleats. ABC News vomits up this word salad. "Trump cited in report finding increase in US hate groups for 2nd year in a row."
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, anti-Muslim hate groups shot up from only 34 in 2015 to 101 in 2016.
What could possibly account for that growth?
The SPLC decided to count 45 chapters of Act for America as separate groups.
How do you get a sudden rise from 34 to 101 hate groups? It helps to suddenly add 45 chapters of one group. Act for America isn't a hate group. It's also just as obviously not 45 groups.
And it didn't come into existence last year.
Act for America was only listed as one group in the 2015 list. It shot up to 45 now.
The SPLC this year listed the Los Angeles chapter of Act for America as a separate group. But the chapter has been around for quite a few years.
Furthermore Act for America boasts not 45, but 1,000 chapters across the country. Why list just 45 of them? Look at it from the SPLC's perspective. Next year, it can add 200 chapters and claim that anti-Muslim hate groups once again tripled. And then it can do the same thing again the year after that.
That way the Southern Poverty Law Center can keep manufacturing an imaginary Islamophobia crisis.
The list has added Bosch Fawstin: an artist who was the target of the first ISIS terror attack in America during the assault on the Draw Mohammed cartoon contest. The SPLC announced that it was adding the Eisner nominated artist to its list of hate groups after he survived the attack.
Bosch Fawstin is a courageous activist. He's also an individual. As am I. And the SPLC also has me up as a hate group. Other individual bloggers on the list include Atlas Shrugs, Refugee Resettlement Watch, Bare Naked Islam and Citizen Warrior.
The above is excerpted from an excellent article by Daniel Greenfield. Read the whole thing here: How the Southern Poverty Law Center Faked an Islamophobia Crisis.
And share it with your friends.

subset: commoncrawl


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Norwegian Cruise Line has revealed an exciting lineup of summer itineraries for 2019, featuring some of the world's hottest summer destinations. With five ships sailing in Europe, three cruising to Alaska, two calling on Bermuda and itineraries that include the Bahamas & Florida, the Caribbean, Canada & New England and the Hawaiian islands, Norwegian's signature cruising experience will be available around the globe.
After a one year hiatus, Norwegian Getaway will once again return to the Baltic, sailing bucket list itineraries departing from Copenhagen. Norwegian Getaway will sail a variety of nine-day sailings with ports-of-call that include the German capital Berlin (via Warnemünde), Tallinn (Estonia), Helsinki (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), an overnight in St. Petersburg (Russia) and a day cruising past the Stockholm Archipelago.
The popular Norwegian Epic will return to Europe in summer 2019 to sail seven-day Western Mediterranean cruises. With embarkation available in either Barcelona and Rome (via Civitavecchia) guests will enjoy some of the most culturally rich and iconic destinations of Italy, France and Spain. Onboard they will enjoy 22 dining options, 20 bars and lounges and visit vibrant Broadway entertainment including Priscilla Queen of the Dessert: The Musical, Burn the Floor and Cirque Dreams and Dinner.
Following her recent renovation, Norwegian Jade will spend her summer 2019 season cruising the azure blue waters of the Greek Isles & Italy. Norwegian Jade's 10- and 11-day itineraries from Rome (Civitavecchia) will feature a look into some of the world's most ancient civilizations with calls in Santorini, Athens (Piraeus), Mykonos, and Crete (Chania) in Greece, Valletta in Malta, Messina in Sicily as well as Naples and Florence/Pisa (Livorno) in Italy.
Norwegian Star, which will undergo a refurbishment in spring 2018, will also sail the Greek Isles and Eastern Mediterranean. Sailing from Venice, Norwegian Star will call on some of Greece's most enchanting island destinations including Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Cephalonia, as well as the outstanding Adriatic destinations of Kotor (Montenegro) and Dubrovnik (Croatia) on the glimmering Dalmatian Coast.
Norwegian Spirit will home port in Southampton for the summer of 2019 and sail a selection of 10-day or longer once-in-a-lifetime itineraries journeying to the British Isles, Iceland, Norwegian Fjords, the Arctic Circle, and the Baltics.
Adventurous Alaska
After making her debut in summer 2018, Norwegian Bliss will return for her second Alaska season, sailing exciting new seven-day Glacier Bay voyages departing each Sunday from Seattle. Norwegian Bliss is the first cruise ship custom-built with features and amenities for the ultimate Alaska cruise experience, including extensive observation lounges and an expansive waterfront featuring dining and lounges.
Norwegian Pearl, which recently underwent an extensive renovation as part of the Norwegian Edge program, will sail seven-day Alaska cruises from Seattle departing on Saturdays.
Rounding out the Alaska fleet, Norwegian Jewel will return to Vancouver and Seward after a bow to stern enhancement in fall 2018 to sail a seven-day Glacier Bay northbound and Inside Passage southbound Alaska highlights voyages, offering guests the opportunity to combine back-to-back sailings for an immersive 14-day roundtrip cruise.
Bahamas & Florida
For the first time since 2010, Norwegian Dawn will return to her very first homeport of New York City. Departing from Manhattan, she will bring guests the best of beaches, theme parks and sunshine on seven-day cruises to the Bahamas & Florida.
In summer 2019, Norwegian will once again offer guests two convenient departure ports from which to set sail for the pink sand beaches and turquoise blue waters of Bermuda.
Guests sailing from Boston will enjoy exploring this exotic Atlantic island from a newer and larger ship, Norwegian Gem. Norwegian Escape, which moves to New York City for summer 2018, will continue her stay in the Big Apple through the summer 2019 season.
Both Norwegian Gem and Norwegian Escape will offer the perfect summer city getaway, with seven-day cruises to Bermuda featuring three full days in port and two overnight stays, so guests can experience the beautiful British territory at their leisure.
Canada & New England
Early summer is the best time to enjoy the beauty and stunning scenery of New England and coastal Canada. Norwegian Dawn will offer four, seven-day cruises to this spectacular coast line in May and June 2019, with calls in Halifax (Nova Scotia), Saint John, Bay of Fundy (New Brunswick), Bar Harbor and Portland (Maine) and Newport (Rhode Island).
After returning from her first winter season in New Orleans, Norwegian Breakaway will reposition from the Big Easy to the cruise capital of the world, PortMiami. As one of the largest ships in the fleet, the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Breakaway will homeport in Miami for her summer 2019 season and cruise a mix of Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. Norwegian Breakaway's seven-day Western Caribbean itineraries will visit Roatán, Bay Islands (Honduras) Cozumel and Costa Maya (Mexico) and the beautiful island destination of Harvest Caye (Belize). Norwegian Breakaway's seven-day Eastern Caribbean itinerary will feature some of the region's most popular ports-of-call including St. Thomas (USVI), Tortola (BVI), Nassau (Bahamas) and San Juan (Puerto Rico).


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Handhelds, palmtops, cellphones, PDAs, pocket organizers, and all those other devices that make computing part of your lifestyle.
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.
Forum Rules


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Browse Subversion repository
Prior to checking files out, you can browse the contents of a Subversion repository. The Subversion Repository browser enables you to add or discard repository locations, view the history of files and folders, check out files and folders, navigate to the source code, browse changes, create branches or tags, and so on.
Browsing the contents of a Subversion repository is always available, even when Subversion is not enabled in your project. All you need is a valid user account.
Choose VCS | Browse VCS Repository | Browse Subversion Repository from the main menu.
The SVN Repositories tool window will open.
If no repositories have been specified so far, click in the toolbar and specify the repository URL in the New Repository Location dialog that opens.
Browse the repository. If authentication is required, enter your credentials in the Authentication Required dialog that opens when you first try to expand the top node.


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I still have the Washington Senate race as one of the four closest, despite Republican Dino Rossi taking a decent lead over Democrat Patty Murray in recent polling. This is why: both candidates have been capable of rattling off good polls, and one new result at any time can come out in favor of either candidate.
Rossi had run off three polls in a row if we discount the Elway Poll which has been grotesquely biased toward Patty Murray all year long. Before that Murray had four, again ignoring Elway. I mean seriously, how bad is Elway? At one point it showed Murray +17 when the polls around it showed Rossi +10, Murray +2, and Murray +4.
So some back and forth is to be expected, much as we've seen in the Nevada race, the Illinois race, and as we're starting to see in the West Virginia race. CNN/Time's new result of Murray 51-Rossi 43 (MoE 3.5) is huge for her, without a doubt, but so was that poll a little while back with Rossi up 6.
That 88% victory chance for Murray will certainly weigh in my next projection, no doubt about it. But unless it's followed up with a string of similar polls, and not a continued mix of Rossi leads with Murray leads, it in itself is not predictive of a new shift in the race. It takes a trend to do that.


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President Barack Obama is taking his vacation not a moment too soon. As his painfully poor performance in the health-care debate shows, he is way off his game. He clearly needs some time to recharge his batteries.
While Martha's Vineyard is indeed a little piece of heaven plunked down in the Atlantic (enjoy yourself, Barack!), the symbolism of unwinding on a posh island identified by many as a Clinton family hangout, at a time when his health-care dreams are turning into a Clinton-era nightmare, might prove to be, well, less than restful.
The public, too, needs a vacation from this circus. The lack of articulation from the Obama White House, coupled with Republican lies and hypocrisy, has engendered a sort of brain freeze among those — like this newspaper — who have strong reservations about Obama's plan, but nevertheless realize health care is heading for a meltdown.
If you are one of the 45.7 million without health care —15.7 percent of the nation and growing — the immediacy of this crisis is well-known. But if you are among the 253.4 million who have coverage, no matter how expensive or inadequate, the problem is more abstract. The challenge for Obama is to turn abstract worries about the future into a concrete understanding of what needs to be fixed now, and why.
That "now" and "why" translates into two essential (and admittedly complicated) issues: portability and controlling spiraling costs.
Portability of health care means the ability of workers to retain coverage as they move from employer to employer or set up businesses for themselves or move into the freelance realm, drawing a paycheck from one or more sources. This is the reality of the 21st-century workplace.
It is hard to imagine portability without government involvement. And as for the Sarah Palins of the world who cry that the ability to carry your insurance with you would usher in the "S" word — socialism — it's time to shut them up by vigorously pointing out that Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans' health care are "single payer" programs and only possible because of the US government.
If you want to convene an immediate "Death Panel" for granny, unplug Medicare. If you want to abandon disabled veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, and the great-granddads still alive who served in World War II, then liquidate Veterans Affairs.
The way to counter the Palin factor is to put granny and grandpa and their amputee grandson on the stage, because they are among the beneficiaries of this nation's already "socialized" insurance setup.
If portability is tough, curbing growing costs will be even tougher. And while health-care cooperatives may be part of a larger solution, they are not a definitive answer.
The Republican shills for the insurance industry want it both ways. They say government intervention will hurt the insurance industry. But, on the other hand, they say private competition will bring down costs. Private competition has not worked. You have only to ask any employer or employee how much their health-care premiums have increased in the last five years to know this. Only a big player like the government can provide the sort of counterbalance to curb the runaway private sector.
See all articles by: EDITORIAL
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text: Your Name Your Email Type General Lawn Groundcare Subject Machine Reference I'm interested in hiring this machine I'm interested in a Part-Exchange Part-Exchange Machine Images Please upload any images you have of your machine here.Maximum 10 files.16 MB limit.Allowed types: gif, jpg, png. Part-Exchange Notes Include any notes about the machine you're looking to exhange. Vacancy Reference Telephone Message Keep me updated on news & offers We will not share your information with any third parties CAPTCHA This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions. Burnley Depot Balmers GM Ltd Manchester Road Dunnockshaw Burnley Lancashire BB11 5PF email@example.com 01282 453900 Meet the Burnley Team Wakefield Depot Balmers GM Units 13-14 Monckton Road Ind Est Monckton Road, Wakefield West Yorkshire WF2 7AL firstname.lastname@example.com 01924 679400 Meet the Wakefield Team Signup for our newsletter You can also follow us on social media to make sure you don't miss a thing Follow Balmers GM Ltd on Facebook Follow Balmers GM Ltd on Instagram Follow Balmers GM Ltd on Twitter


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Neighborhood Bill Of Rights
Show Panelist Dr. Laureen Husband and Dr. Cheryl Holder
Jacksonville Neighborhood Bill of Rights
/ 8 July 2022 / 0 Comments
Neighborhood Bill of Rights
Citizen Participation
Participation of citizens in their government is a hallmark of the American experience. The opportunity for citizens to participate is much greater at the Local level than at the State or Federal level however, there has been an increasing tendency for citizens to avoid participation for a variety reasons.
The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners recognizes the value of having our citizens involved in their government. Out of a sincere desire to encourage citizens to participate more in government the Board of County Commissioners passed Ordinance 2007-1 entitled the Neighborhood Bill of Rights.
View Neighborhood Bill of Rights Notifications through our searchable Online Application
What is the Neighborhood Bill of Rights?
The Neighborhood Bill of Rights is an ordinance which gives neighborhood or homeowner associations increased notification, the ability to acquire more information, and the right to increase participation in matters of concern to their communities.
The idea for this Ordinance originated in a meeting of the St. Johns County Civic Association Roundtable in 2005 where Suzanne Jenkins, a Commissioner from Duval County presented a program on Duval's Neighborhood Bill of Rights. For the next two years the idea gained momentum as it was presented to large numbers of homeowner associations and civic groups around the County.
At the end of 2006 the Board of County Commissioners had a draft ordinance prepared and allowed those concerned citizens to review and modify it before its presentation. The Neighborhood Bill of Rights was adopted in January 2007 and implemented on April 2, 2007.
How to Register
In order to register, homeowner associations must complete an application available either online or in the County Administrator's Office. Homeowner associations must be able to provide the physical boundaries which their group encompasses before registration is complete.
- Fill Out and Submit Your Application Online
- Downloadable Application
( Adobe Acrobat PDF) Form may be filled out and saved on your computer.
Please either fax completed applications to (904) 209-0580, or submit by mail:
Cheri Ng
St. Johns County Administration
4040 Lewis Speedway
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Need More Information?
Anyone having questions about the St. Johns County Neighborhood Bill of Rights should contact Cheri Ng at email@example.com or (904) 209-0579.


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(Image credit: Mariana Ruiz)
In a new study researchers from Butler Hospital identify an association between biological changes on the cellular level and both childhood adversity and psychiatric disorders. These changes in the form of telomere shortening and alterations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), are important in the aging process, and this new research provides evidence that psychosocial factors--specifically childhood adversity and psychiatric disorders-- may also influence these cellular changes and could lead to accelerated aging.
Mitochondria convert molecules from food into energy that can be used by cells and also play a key role in cellular growth, signaling, and death. Telomere shortening is also a measure of advanced cellular aging. Recent studies have examined the possible connection between mitochondria and psychiatric disorders, but the research is very limited, and no prior work has examined the relationship of mitochondrial DNA to psychosocial stress. "We are interested in these relationships because there is now clear evidence that stress exposure and psychiatric conditions are associated with inflammation and health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Identifying the changes that occur at a cellular level due to these psychosocial factors allows us to understand the causes of these poor health conditions and possibly the overall aging process." said Audrey Tyrka, MD, PhD, Director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Translational Neuroscience at Butler Hospital and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University.
Tyrka and fellow researchers recruited 299 healthy adults from the community for the study. Participants completed diagnostic interviews to assess psychiatric disorder diagnosis, and assess childhood adversities, including parental loss, and childhood abuse and neglect. Participants were categorized into four groups based upon the presence or absence of childhood adversity and the presence or absence of lifetime depressive, anxiety, or substance use disorders. Using standard techniques, researchers extracted DNA from whole blood samples for each participant and quantified telomere length and mtDNA copy number, a measure of mitochondrial DNA content.
Results of the study show childhood adversity and lifetime psychopathology were each associated with shorter telomeres and higher mtDNA content. These effects were seen in individuals with major depression, depressive disorders, and anxiety disorders, as well as those with parental loss and childhood maltreatment. A history of substance disorders was also associated with significantly higher mtDNA copy numbers.
These findings indicate that childhood stress and some psychiatric disorders are linked to important cellular changes that may represent advanced cellular aging. "Understanding this biology is necessary to move toward better treatment and prevention options for stress-related psychiatric and medical conditions, and may shed light on the aging process itself." said Dr. Tyrka, also the director of Research for Butler Hospital.
Study Reference:
Published online in Biological Psychiatry
This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ConductDisorders or its staff.


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Earlier this year in the class on Luke, we collectively learned that death is a form of healing. This being the case, our friend Jerry Mitchell was healed on January 28th, 2015. In terms dear to us as Samaritans, it may be said that Jerry graduated to heaven on that day.
Jerry Mitchell, or Papa Jerry, as we knew him, taught in the Beaverton School District until his retirement. He was already retired when we met him. We came to know Jerry as the cornerstone of Good Samaritan Ministries (GSM), a ministry with a call to "teach nothing but the Kingdom of God," a call which continues to this day at GSM in Beaverton.
While Jerry's wife, Bettie Mitchell, is recognized as the founder of the Ministry, she is always quick to recognize that Jerry, by giving permission for Bettie to leave her teaching job to pursue the Ministry full time, was the one who released the calling into action. It was he who supported and accompanied her through the years as the Ministry grew to touch lives not only in Beaverton but also in some 32 countries throughout the world.
Jerry was a veteran of World War II and a member of what Tom Brokaw famously referred to as "The Greatest Generation." Jerry was a great fan of the Portland Trailblazers and was always quick with a smile and a joke. He was honest and approachable and loved children. It may truly be said that he never lost touch with the child within himself.
His positive impact as a soldier, teacher, and Samaritan can be seen today on four continents, and we count ourselves blessed to have had our hearts warmed by knowing Papa Jerry towards the twilight of his wonderful life. The world is a better place because Papa Jerry lived.
Rest in peace Papa Jerry, and thank you for your many sacrifices this side of heaven. We look forward to the time when we will meet again on the other side.


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You searched for "autoimmune diseases"
2 results found
Professor, Medicine (Rheumatology), Einstein
Professor, Microbiology & Immunology, Einstein
Chief, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Einstein and Montefiore Health System
ArthritisLupusAutoimmune diseases
Rheumatoid arthritis
Dr. Putterman is a clinical rheumatologist who treats arthritis and related musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Putterman specializes in lupus, an incurable autoimmune disease affecting 1.5 million Americans that causes inflammation, pain and damage to various parts of the body. read more...
Professor, Biochemistry
Ruth Merns Chair in Biochemistry
BiochemistryEnzymesTranslational medicine
RicinAutoimmune diseases
Dr. Schramm is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and associate editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. His pioneering work in biochemistry has resulted in powerful new strategies for treating cancer, antibiotic resistance and autoimmune diseases. read more...


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The service side of the beauty industry is commonly seen as a luxury and tends to suffer during economic downturns. Clients may receive treatments less frequently or cut them out of their budgets altogether. As beauty professionals and business people, it is important to consider smart solutions to adjust how money is spent while keeping services top-notch. A close examination of some of the basic necessities can reveal avenues for savings and an appropriate redistribution of funds.
It can be easier to sell products if there are only one or two items on the shelf, as opposed to it being fully stocked. When clients see fully stocked shelves, some might think that they can come back any time, and the product will be ready and waiting for them. One way to create urgency is to keep only a limited quantity of the best-selling products on the shelf, thereby encouraging clients to purchase immediately since it appears as if it may be not be available tomorrow.
Perhaps the best strategy is to offer outstanding customer service by the way of custom orders. Customized ordering makes great economic sense and provides the opportunity to stretch your customer service muscles. Through customized ordering, you do not need to keep your shelves stocked because orders are placed as clients need to replenish their products. That is not to say that you should place orders on a daily basis, just that your ordering schedule may increase to accommodate clients' needs. Set a schedule, and let clients know when the next order will be placed, taking payment up front for the product and calling clients when it is delivered.
In this economy, many suppliers are willing to work with spas by either waiving their minimum order requirements, or dropping them altogether, making customized ordering possible. If a supplier still requires that its minimums be met, negotiation is a must. Often, simply asking the vendor if the minimum can be waived is all that is needed. Many people don't even ask because they believe a requirement is a requirement, but rules are made to be broken, and if the question isn't asked, than the answer can't be given. Keeping your accounts current and in good standing will give you a lot more haggling room when negotiating with suppliers.
Additionally, with customized ordering, you can schedule seasonal consultations for clients to adjust their home care on a regular basis, giving them optimal results. And because most products last about three months, this keeps them on track to restock on a regular basis. As an added bonus, the extra attention and care this brings to clients will go a long way in building a lasting and trusting relationship, while allowing you to spend wisely and when needed, rather than in anticipation of a yet-to-be-defined need.
Most product manufacturers offer professional-sized products for backbar use, and they are a necessary part of performing services in the treatment room, but do you need the largest sizes available? Consider swapping your larger professional backbar sizes for the more economical retail sizes to save a little money while still providing the product that you and your clients have come to love. As business owners, you need to be able to assess your own individual needs and spend your money accordingly.
Blankets and linens
A huge part of the relaxation experience for clients revolves around the comfort of the treatment tables. One great item that all estheticians should have on their table is a heated blanket or heated pad of some sort that will keep clients warm and toasty from neck to toes. These blankets are available through professional vendors, and other versions can be purchased in mass market venues, as well.
Whether you use specialty sheets, a laundry service or something in between, there are ways of maximizing your linen usage to minimize cost while maintaining sanitation guidelines. When setting a bed for a facial service, it's common to use two sheets, allowing clients to slip in between them for comfort and warmth. The same end result can be accomplished by using just one sheet and enlisting the mummy or cocoon technique.
- With the client lying on top of the sheet, pull one side of the sheet up and around the client's torso and legs.
- Repeat on the other side to gently cocoon the client in comfort.
- At this point, you may add a bolster under the client's knees to lessen the pressure on the lower back, further lulling her into relaxation.
- To top it off, add a nice fleece throw. They are snuggly and soft and are available in a variety of colors to go with each season.
A little more effort
Although these changes may seem small and loaded with common sense, they can be easily included without adversely affecting the end result for clients. It may take a little more effort on your part, but the money that is saved can be used toward those necessities that are truly important to keeping your business alive. Although penny-pinching may be seen as a negative quality, she who pinches pennies always has a penny to pinch.


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Why the Spanish aren't entrepreneurs
Barcelona -- Generation Y in Spain isn't asking why, they're just floundering about. Sixty percent of the country's over-educated lost generation of university and master's graduates aged 30 and under aren't getting hired. With around 26 percent unemployment nationwide, these young adults are left to fight over unpaid internships and jobs beneath their experience levels, just to get something to put on their resume. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD,) 44 percent of the Spanish aged 25 to 29 that actually have jobs are working in ones that require lesser skills than they have. So with no families, no mortgages and little else to lose, why aren't more of them creating jobs for themselves?
Many say the Spanish are just lazy, but that's not it. There's something else, intangible, that's developed in the culture and history. The children of Spain aren't raised to follow their dreams. School has become, for the most part, just a place for passing exams, never for debate, discussion or critical thinking. Your curro, or job, is to endure from nine to nine, pushing buttons until the next break. A history of civil war and a 39-year dictatorship, followed by a construction boom and crash, to now, where it's taken for granted that politicians will be corrupt, has led to a nation that's devoutly proud of being Spanish, but that can't define what that even means.
Beyond the absurdly challenging bureaucracy and the fact that banks are hardly offering loans at all anymore, there's something stagnant about the government-controlled education system and the culture in general that is keeping the nation's most book-learned generation in history from reaching its potential. SmartPlanet sets out to re-open the discussion of why technically adept young adults are not looking to start their own businesses and why this resistance to altering the status quo has led Spain to be predicted as one of the slowest kids in the PIIGS (referring to Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, those most hit by Eurozone crisis,) who will take the longest to climb out of its own economic free fall.
"Upon graduation, 70 percent of Spanish people want to work in large companies, while 70 percent of American graduates want to be their own bosses," writes Juan Angel Hernandez, in a recent op-ed for a Spanish financial magazine, advocating on behalf of start-ups, as a solution to the crisis. He writes about how the goals of recent grads are either to work for the government or one of Spain's top ten companies.
So instead of between 50 and 80 percent of recent grads studying for absurdly competitive government jobs, why aren't they creating their own opportunities? One of the EU's top MBA programs ESADE set outto explore that in their White Paper on Entrepreneurship in Spain. Since entrepreneurship still isn't commonly talked about in Spanish higher education, this paper from 2010 has the most current, in-depth findings. The researchers concluded that start-up values can best be instilled at a young age and the education system is not up to the task. It states that: "Entrepreneurship can be learnt at school and should be actively promoted so that young Spaniards can develop skills such as independence, self-confidence and decision-making in situations of risk." The researchers came to the conclusion that, "Young Spanish people don't feel they have been taught how to be entrepreneurs, which is why teachers need to have the relevant tools and materials to teach business acumen and initiative, whilst also fostering their students' interaction with local entrepreneurs."
Blaming the education system -- which only maybe changes when a new political party takes power every eight years -- isn't a new theme. This isn't a nation where kids are asked what they want to be when they grow up. "In high school and university, no one has ever asked them what their motivation is -- the most important part" of starting your own business, says Eva Snijders, entrepreneur and founder of Barcelona-based start-up Quimica Visual Storytelling, which helps companies internally innovate in times of crisis and transition.She says, "People here concentrate on whether it's difficult to build a business and why it takes time and money."
Rosaura Alastruey, founder of ProyectosTIC, hosts motivational workshops for both the employed and unemployed. She says, "Un emprendedor es un bicho raro," which translates to "an entrepreneur is a rare bug," or a freak or oddball. In Spain, "Jobs are to subsist," she told SP recently. There's no need to like what you do, you just need to have a job.
It seems that you only look to start a company when it's the last thing left to try. Alastruey says, "I have students: 'After a year or two years unemployed, now I want to open a business.' It's the last option." The ESADE white paper states that four out of ten Spanish entrepreneurs act out of necessity, which isn't exactly the sort of drive most VCs and business angels are looking for.
When asked where the youth of Spain is being directed away from entrepreneurship, Alastruey quickly repeats the mantra: "The schools."
Folks in their twenties and thirties make up the first generation after the dictatorship of General Franco. "This is the generation where the parents didn't have anything, so their kids have everything, not learning that everything has a cost." The sons and daughters of the post-Franco world aren't living to make ends meet, but are simply waiting for their ideal job or are opositando, the truly Spanish phenomenon of studying for the highly competitive civil service exams. Many, on their parents' dime, study nine hours a day, six days a week for these exams, for one to five years at a time, while some of these jobs-for-life can see 1,000 applicants for only three spots.
As one entrepreneur at a networking event recently said, "You're 23 years old with your whole life ahead of you and all you can dream of is to be a public servant?"
Last year, SP interviewed Complutense University's tiny MBA in Entrepreneurship, which was developed after realizing that the university was actually uninspiring their students. "We realized that the students' entrepreneurial behavior was much higher when they started [their bachelor's] than when they finished," said one of the program heads, during the SP interview. The students were "more likely to start a company when they started university. What we discovered was that the university was deterring them from starting their own business." Moreover, more than half of Complutense's graduates intended to study for the civil service exams.
The don't-take-risks mentality comes down from their parents, who, more often than not, hate their jobs, but continue to cling to them. Someone who has been working for the same company for 15 years will, if they lose their jobs, receive a tax-free lump-sum check for two years' pay. However, since last year's new labor reform act, the next generation of workers may not have the same access to these severance payouts. Plus, many companies are in the practice of paying part of the salary under the table, which means that is discounted from the total paid if the job is lost. In 2010, 19 percent more Spanish companies closed than were opened, giving everyone reason to be more nervous about their job stability.
Of course, even in times of economic boom, the Spanish, in particular, fear failure. Like Hawthorne's scarlet letter, in Spain, you get branded with an "X" if you fail, and you never try again. There is no culture of "if you fail, try, try again" or of learning from your mistakes. As Enrique Samper, founder of NIMGenetics, told SP last year, "There's something in Spain that's risk adverse," Samper says. "We are not used to debating, having open discussions in general. This is all flipped in the entrepreneurial community."
In this country, a common cliche is "En el pais de los ciegos, el tuerto es el rey," which translates to "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." It may be a socialist society, but that hasn't fostered the idea of the united cause here. When politicians are corrupt, most of the people aren't up in arms, but tolerant, saying they'd do the same thing if they were in that situation. It's not about keeping up with the Joneses here, it's about getting more out of the government or any other situation than anyone else does.
Spanish history and culture don'tteach the philosophy of success by hard work and risk-taking, but to have respect for those that have gained success through acting craftily and cunningly. Spain's most beloved book The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes and his Fortunes and Adversaries tells the story of an extremely poor child Lazaro who is hired as the servant of a cruel blind man. For the sake of survival, innocent Lazaro grows into a cunning young man who learns to cheat the cheaters.
In one tale, this Spanish literary hero is eating grapes with the blind man. They decide to share, each eating one at a time. Soon, the old man starts taking two. Lazaro then begins to eat them three at a time. When the grapes are finished, the old man calls him on being a cheater, to which Lazaro asks him why. The old man essentially says, "If I cheat and you don't say anything, I assume you're cheating too. We all try to fool each other."
Almost five hundred years later, Lazaro's tale still paints a perfect picture of Spanish society. On January 31, Spanish newspaper El Pais raised allegations of corruption against the top members of the ruling Popular Party, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, for allegedly not declaring hundreds of thousands of euros in income. PP has yet to fully address the issue and there is no real talk of the party leaders stepping down any time soon. This drives home the point that Spain remains a pessimistic country that doesn't believe in opportunities, but accepts or even praises corruption and underhandedness.
The unemployed in Spain, with impossible-to-replace jobs like architects, aren't taking advantage of their opportunities either. Here, if you are receiving paro -- unemployment benefits -- you have the option of capitalizacion, which allows you to write a detailed business plan and, if approved, you may receive around 80 percent of your two years of benefits upfront to invest into your own small business. This is one of the few situations where the government is actually betting on start-ups, but the folks aren't buying.
Recently, SP attended a free class on how to start your own business, offered by the Community of Madrid, the province that is mostly made up of the capital. It was a full classroom of about 40 individuals, no one under 40, all looking to create clothing shops, convenience stores, or locutorios. Not a single person spoke of e-commerce, technology, or something unique. The only ideas that came up of financing those small businesses were the banks -- virtually impossible in Spain right now -- and family and inheritance. Up until the crisis, this country's real estate boom was based on parents co-signing their kids' zero-percent-down mortgages. Now, the banks are foreclosing on that kid's house, that parent's house, and still expecting the bothto pay. No fiscal lessons are being learned from the crisis and certainly no one seems to be getting more creative because of it.
ESADE's white paper also includes the fact that, while five percent of the Spanish population are small business owners, less than half of these "independent companies" has two or more employees. Only a mere ten percent, or five out of every thousand small businesses, has ten or more employees. This goes to show how many of the Spanish do share a desire with most cultures to be their own bosses, but that it stops there. There are, of course, freelancers, particularly in the architecture industry and others impossibly hit by the crisis, who, following their two years of government-funded unemployment, try to outsource themselves to any job they can get. And there are the shopkeepers. But the majority of these people aren't Zara's Amancio Ortega, who went from owning one clothing shop 40 years ago to being one of the five richest men in the world,but rather they usually only open just one shop or bar, as part of creating a legacy to pass down to their children. They rarely think of opening an online store, which is a much lower-risk investment, and they don't consider whether that's what their children would like to do anyway.
In fact, according to the 2012 report by European Commission's Eurostat, Spanish SMBs score average or below average against other EU member states on their ten points of evaluating small businesses, with the exception of Spain doing above average on "Thinking small first." Spain scores well below the EU average on entrepreneurship, access to finance, state aid and public procurement, and internationalization. It just goes to show that Spain's small businesses may be good at thinking independently, but only if small and local.
To compound the country's economic problems even more, with fewer job prospects at lower salaries at home, Spanish university grads are looking off the peninsula, causing a brain drain that could be irreparable if and when their home economy bounces back. The Spanish National Statistics Institute revealed last year that twice as many of Spain's youth are currently emigrating than were in 2010. This creates a huge risk for the nation's future.
Castellanos are fond of saying poco a poco or little by little. In the meantime, SmartPlanet is happy to continue to highlight the technology and innovation of the few and the proud here in Spain, those still willing to fall on their asses as they go against the grain to start their own businesses.
Photos: La Colmena/ "Lazarillo de Tormes" by Goya, Wikipedia
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com


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Palestinian amora of the fourth century; a pupil of Eleazar, whose halakic maxims he transmitted (Soṭah 4b; Zeb. 93b; Men. 7b, 86b), and of Ammi (see Ḥul. 46a). He was a colleague of Abba, with whom he decided the controversy of Judah I. and Nathan on the problem whether the night should be divided into three or four watches (Yer. Ber. 2d), and by whom he was informed of a correction in a halakic tradition given by Ammi (B. B. 130b). He was also acquainted with Ze'era (Yer. Beẓah 60c), and especially with Jeremiah (Men. 88b; Suk. 37b). In Babylonia it was said that he had called Safra's attention to the difference between the modesty of "pious Palestine" and the audacity of "bold Babylonia" on the occasion of the prayer for rain (Ta'an. 23b). No haggadic maxims of Zerika's have been preserved, the only saying ascribed to him being one belonging really to Ḥidka, whose name was incorrectly transliterated "Zerika" (comp. Ḥag. 16a, where the correct name, "Ḥidka," is given).
- Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. iii. 754-755.


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After many many tests the allergists told me he wasn't allergic to anything. One even said "In this country, medicine uses a death anddisease model." So, if you you have a fast reaction to a food and could potentially die from it, they can easily test for this type of IgE allergy. But
more subtle intolerances are often overlooked because they are slower reactions and are IgG mediated or delayed reaction to foods. They won't kill you, but you will have chronic problems and many symptoms.
It turns out my son had multiple food intolerances which were diagnosed through an internist who practices integrative medicine and uses the ALCAT intolerance test which looked at the cells reaction to 150 different foods. Although mainstream doctors won't do these tests, they were critical to my son and daughter getting better. The GIspecialist, knowing that kids under three often test negative for celiac, an autoimmune disease caused by gluten, did a Prometheus gene test for celiac and discovered two genes for celiac in both my kids. A neurologist also told me the molecule for gluten(wheat), casein (dairy) and soy were very similar, so it would be best to remove all three in order to get better. In our case, the pediatrician never got to the bottom of any of my children's symptoms, although they were very good at prescribing antibiotics which destroyed my sons good gut flora. It was specialists who were able to finally give me a explanation for why my son was getting sicker and sicker. And it was specialists who were thinking about his symptoms and thinking beyond the tests.
FOOD IS MEDICINE and FOOD IS POISON
The treatment for celiac is a gluten (wheat) free diet. When we began the gluten free/casein free diet the first thing I noticed was that my 18 month old son, who had never slept through the night and had never taken a nap for longer than 45 minutes, suddenly started to sleep
through the night and take a 2 sometimes 3 hour nap. Then he got better–his diaper rash magically went away and his diapers became less foul. His constant runny nose and perpetual sickness went away. Most interesting, was that my picky eater started eating a variety of foods.
When my son did the ALCAT testing for other food intolerances I found out he was intolerant to oranges, broccoli, avocado, oats and black pepper. This is when his red cheeks started to get normal and I noticed all his "allergic" symptoms disappeared.
If your child is constantly sick with one illness and has symptoms of allergies, I would look into nutritional intervention. But if your child has a verbal or physical delay, this is of critical importance and a trial of a GFCF diet of 3-4 months should be done. I would also suggest doing celiac testing in advance or getting a gene test before you put them on a GFCF diet, as Celiac Disease is 1 in 133 now and is very underdiagnosed and requires a lifelong gluten free diet.
When they did my son's hearing test, I noticed there was an allergist at the Ear Nose and Throat practice. They said that in many cases there is a connection between ear infections and food sensitivities. My son had a runny nose when he was eating food he was intolerant to, but some of the mucous pooled in his ears and caused ear infections. He has not had an ear infection since we changed his diet, although he had three in the six months he was on a regular diet.
Classic symptoms of food allergies are bags under the eyes, dark circles under the eyes, runny nose, diaper rash that won't go away, constant ear infections and cough. Also, my son had a "verbal processing delay" and my daughter had low muscle tone ("benign congenital hypotonia") which both cleared up with a change in diet.


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For those of us fortunate enough to live here in an area we feel is one of California's best kept secrets, life is good. Away from the hustle and bustle of city life Mariposa offers a lifestyle all its own. "It's a lifestyle that you can't unless you live it", is what someone recently said.
Established in 1979, Daily & Company has been providing expert real estate service in Mariposa, Midpines, Catheys Valley, CA and surrounding areas for over 30 years. We must be doing something right as we start our 40th year in business.
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Millions of low-income Americans on Medicaid could lose their health coverage if President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress follow through on GOP proposals to cut spending in the state-federal insurance program.
The biggest risk for Medicaid beneficiaries comes from pledges by Trump and other Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which provided federal funding to states to expand Medicaid eligibility starting in 2014. Thirty-one states and Washington, D.C. did so, adding 15.7 million people to the program, according to the government. About 73 million are now enrolled in Medicaid—about half are children.
Reducing the number of people in Medicaid while ensuring that only the most needy remain eligible will be a goal for Trump and the new Congress, said Brian Blase, senior research fellow at the conservative Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia.
"If we do not have fewer people in Medicaid in four years, then we have not reformed health policy in a good direction," he says.
But there are obstacles to the Republicans' plans. Medicaid, created in 1965, is the nation's main health insurance program for low-income people.
Overhauling it is politically difficult because of the potential harm to recipients as well as the financial consequences to states, hospitals, doctors and other health providers, who might not get paid for their services if patients don't have coverage. Total Medicaid spending was $532 billion in fiscal 2015, with about 62 percent funded by the federal government.
One major change endorsed by both Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would transform Medicaid from an entitlement program into a block grant program.
Here's the difference between the two: In an entitlement program, coverage is guaranteed for everyone who's eligible. The federal government's commitment to help states cover costs is open-ended. The states' obligation is to cover certain groups of people and to provide specific benefits. Children and pregnant women who meet specific income criteria must be covered, for example.
That formula would change if federal funds flow to states through block grants. States would have more flexibility to run their Medicaid programs as they wish, including cutting benefits and eligibility. And proponents say it would allow the federal government to spend less on Medicaid and make states responsible for covering costs beyond their federal allotments.
Turning Medicaid into a block grant program has been discussed for more than 25 years, but the idea has always met resistance from some states, health providers, health care advocates and Democrats. Even with a Republican majority in Congress and Trump in the White House, the plan would still face an uphill legislative battle.
The federal government rarely shifts power to the states and not all states want to be at increased financial risk for the program.
"Medicaid block grants face a very uncertain future," said Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Another option to redefine Medicaid funding, similar to a block grant, is known as a per capita cap. States would be given a set amount of money per enrollee, which would increase each year but critics fear likely not keep up with rising health expenses. That method would help states better deal with growing enrollment because funding would rise, too.
Even without help from Congress, Trump's administration could change Medicaid using the executive branch's power to approve states' requests for waivers from federal rules. That could allow Trump to approve changes proposed by Republican governors that the Obama administration has rejected, including work requirements for Medicaid enrollees and monthly premiums and other cost-sharing.
Trump could also end some waivers that expanded Medicaid and sent billions in new federal funding to some states that transformed care.
Any congressional changes to Medicaid next year would likely include negotiations about the Children's Health Insurance Program, another federal-state program that provides coverage to youngsters whose families are slightly over the Medicaid eligibility. The program expires if not reauthorized by Sept. 30, 2017. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about 8 million children get coverage through CHIP, which has had Republican and Democratic support.
After Trump is in office, he may find it's harder than he realized to repeal Obamacare and tinker with Medicaid because cutting off coverage for millions of people could bring plenty of political fallout, said Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky took a similar tack last year, she observed, running against Obamacare and vowing in his campaign to eliminate the expansion. He has since proposed major changes to Medicaid, but he has not yet moved to kill the expansion.
Still, Alker said Trump's win puts the block grant idea front and center in January. And an agreement to do it could give states flexibility to make cuts in federally required benefits, such as health screenings for infants and children.
This article originally appeared on KaiserHealthNews.org
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'Nashville' Star Hayden Panettiere Might Be Engaged to Boxer Wladimir Klitschko
Actress Hayden Panettiere, 23, is reportedly ready to walk down the aisle with her off-and-on boyfriend, 37-year-old Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. The duo split a while back, but reconciled back in January because they thought it would be worth a second go.
Now, according to a source for Us Weekly, they are in the midst of planning a wedding that'll take place this summer.
"Very few people know, and she isn't wearing her ring publicly yet," said a close friend of the couple, who first broke up in May of 2011 after a two-year courtship.
Regardless, the petite actress refuses to confirm that they're even back together, despite the fact that the pair was spotted smooching at a Miami Heat game on March 24.
She claims they're "just good buddies" -- but if that's how Hayden treats all her male pals, her dance card must stay pretty full.


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NextAxiom, a company founded over a decade ago, is pushing hard to create what it calls a silo-free enterprise. It's take on this hallowed territory is that by enabling intelligent information flow between discrete information silos, organizations will be able to integrate existing applications and develop new ones that leverage the "building blocks" of core data streams and services. It's a very valuable proposition and one that companies like Boomi, CastIron, SnapLogic and others have tried to come to terms with. It's probably fair to say that no one has yet cracked it, but people are still trying.
In the case of NextAxiom – they come to the problem with the notion of being flow-centred. So what does this mean, and how does it work? NextAxiom has created what it calls hyperServices, or in their parlance, "flow-centric programming building blocks".
hyperServices either virtualize or reuse existing application functionality or combine pieces of functionality to create modules that can be connected together and augmented with extra business logic. It's a similar approach to that taken by SnapLogic, with the addition of an overlay of business logic into the fold. So what characteristics has NextAxiom built into its platform in order to unlock the flow of data across formerly siloed applications? NextAxiom believes that the key to success lies in some specific traits, their building blocks should be;
- Universal: a universal building block that can represent any application or system function, regardless of the underlying architecture
- Location-transparent: transparently distributed across cores, servers and datacenters whether on-premise or in the cloud
- Automatic SOA: should be able to be consumed as a standards-based Web Service operation by external applications
- Metadata-driven: described as XML metadata at design-time and are interpreted by the Virtual Machine at runtime
- Automatically Multi-tasked Across Multi-cores
- Fully Managed: automatically secured, traced, logged, monitored, metered, provisioned and governed
- Semantic and Visual: developed in a visual and graphical environment with semantic programming constructs
If I think about where previous mass integration plays have failed, it has been because of an over the top focus on the integration piece of the play, and a lack of focus on the requirement for enterprises to build business logic in to those integrations. The NextAxiom notion of hyperServices, atomic level blocks of application functionality that can be combined with other blocks and in doing so create new functional offerings, resonates with me. The fact that business logic can be built on top of that resonates even more. Application integration is a massive opportunity that has yet to be really unlocked – NextAxion


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May '13 - Feb '16
When I came here, I tried to be optimistic and open minded, but Mexico City reminded me a lot of pre-olympics Beijing. I thought it was a dirty, gritty, city. You glance around where you're walking along the streets and it's easy to say, yeah, Mexico City is pretty dirty.
However, like most things in Mexico City, the truth seems to be more complicated once you start to really stop and look. It's just like the usage of "sketchy" in reference to neighborhoods- what is it, really, that you're pointing to? So what is it about the city that makes me think it's dirty? Is it really?
Actually, the Capitalanos take great care in cleaning the city. Everywhere I go, people are sweeping sidewalks, washing things, picking up trash. There is such a vast population of low income workers and labor is so cheap that it is possible to have an army of garbage collectors, sweepers, recycling sorters, subway moppers etc.
The walls and floors of the metro stations here are usually spotless as far as grime and dirt are concerned. The most rickety combi you climb into smells vaguely of antiseptic lemon cleaner, which I smell in the background of most places I go. Actually, I wonder if everyone in the city uses the same brand or knockoffs of the same.
Sometimes I find trash in the gutter. I will find trash in the medians and planters, but not nearly on the same scale as Beijing. There is a grit in the air though, a mix of the native dust (there's no grass lawns in Mexico City that I've seen) and the particulates of the car exhaust, all of it carefully swept back into planters.
There is a lot of pollution and garbage in the canals (if you can find them) and the air quality here is some of the worst in the world. So there is some truth to that kind of dirtiness.
My impression is that I am visually substituting dirty for in disrepair. The things here, the streets, the sidewalks, the buildings, people's clothes, are all clean, but are in generally poor condition, broken, torn or worn.
Clean shirts with holes and tears that would not take much to mend. Well swept sidewalks in desperate need of patching and re-leveling. Aging infrastructure and public transit systems in need of upgrades rather than a daily thorough scrub.
In other words, the city and the population appear to be either too poor to repair and upgrade, or it's just not a priority in a city with bigger problems. Mexico City is a patent leather oxford, kept shined to a high glossy black even as the laces fray apart and the sole detaches.
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Urban and architectural explorations from Mexico City to Stuttgart Germany through the eyes of a iterant architectural designer


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UNWTO Calls for a More Equal and Sustainable Future for Tourism
Berlin, Germany, March 16, 2021 / TRAVELINDEX / The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has returned to ITB Berlin to lead the conversation on the current challenges facing the sector, and the opportunities to be seized in the future.
• Read all the latest UNWTO News and Announcements here.
As the United Nations specialized agency leads the restart of global tourism following the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, three virtual events brought together voices from across the sector at the leading trade fair. Against a backdrop of ongoing uncertainty, UNWTO outlined a positive narrative for tourism, stressing its historic ability to lead from the front and adapt to new challenges.
Less Waste, More Opportunity
On the opening day of ITB Berlin Now, UNWTO ensured sustainability was high on the agenda, leading efforts to ensure the sector lives up to its responsibilities for planet as well as people. "Eliminate. Innovate. Circulate: Strategies from the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative", hosted jointly by UNWTO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, featured key insights from both public and private sectors. The event showcased how addressing plastic waste and pollution within tourism can support the sustainable recovery of the sector in the aftermath of the pandemic, noting both the progress that has been made and the challenges still to face.
Alongside UNWTO's commitment to greater sustainability, a commitment to gender equality is a key priority. On the second day of ITB Berlin, and against the backdrop of Women's History Month, UNWTO hosted a special panel on "Gamechangers" and female entrepreneurs within tourism. The event featured presentations by the five female winners of the UNWTO SDGs Startup Competition, outlining how their enterprises can contribute to addressing key issues such as gender equality, poverty alleviation and providing decent work for all.
Communications for Tourism's Recovery
Also at ITB Berlin, UNWTO looked ahead to tourism's restart, bringing together leading voices from across the media to explore the need for a new narrative to fit the rethink and restart of tourism with sustainability as the driving goal. The "Communications for Recovery" event featured expert participants from Google Arts & Culture, the BBC, Euronews and Voyages Afrique, alongside high-level private sector participants from Expedia and Stark Communications. The panel identified how the pandemic has changed the way the media present tourism and promote destinations, with members universally expressing their optimism in tourism not only returning to growth but also both tourists themselves as well as stakeholders across the sector taking a greater interest in the impact of tourism on communities and people and planet.
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Alongside hosting events, UNWTO also contributed expert insights to a discussion on Tourism for Sustainable Development. The event was organized by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Corporation for International Development (GIZ).