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NORTON, Massachusetts – Two Massachusetts natives were among the more than 100 professional and amateur golfers who have earned exemption into the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open Championship – being contested at Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois this upcoming summer. The announcement was made by the USGA on Wednesday ahead of the online entry process that begins next month.
Two-time U.S. Women's Open Champion Meg Mallon, who was born in Natick and is the winner of 18 LPGA Tour events, joins Westford native Pat Bradley, the 1981 U.S. Women's Open champion and a six-time major champion, on the list of individuals who will not have to compete in sectional qualifying if either should desire to compete in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women's Open Championship, which will take place from July 12-15.
Mallon, who will turn 55 prior to the start of competition, is a 30-year veteran of the LPGA Tour and was most recently elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in Fall 2017. She edged Bradley in the 1991 U.S. Women's Open Championship at Colonial Country Club (Fort Worth, Texas) by two strokes. 13 years later, she edged Annika Sörenstam by the same margin at the 2004 U.S. Women's Open Championship, which was contested at South Hadley's The Orchards Golf Club. She announced her retirement in 2010.
Bradley, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1991 before retiring in 1995, will be 67 when the Championship heads to Illinois this July. Currently residing in Hyannis, Bradley has amassed 31 LPGA Tour wins over the course of her 21-year career and last won a major championship in 1986. She was part of the original class of 2002 inductees into the Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame, and served as keynote speaker at the 2014 Massachusetts Golf Hall of Fame Induction Gala.
A similar format to the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open and the U.S. Women's Open, the inaugural U.S. Senior Women's Open will be a walking only, 72-hole, stroke play competition over four consecutive days. A 36-hole will be intact with the top 50 competitors and ties advancing to play on the final two days.
The Championship, one of 14 national championships to be contested during the 2018 campaign, will be open to professional females, and amateur females with a Handicap Index® not exceeding 7.4, who have reached their 50th birthday by the first day of the championship. The 120-person field will consist of competitors who are either exempt or gain entry through an 18-hole sectional qualifier.
Currently, the USGA has confirmed 16 sites where sectional qualifiers will be held between June 4 and June 26 at clubs around the country. Locally, Ferncroft Country Club in Middleton will play host to the 2018 sectional qualifier on June 14. Registration will begin on March 7 at www.usga.org.
This will be the 12th USGA Championship to be held at Chicago Golf Club and the first since the 2005 Walker Cup.


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[qi:90] The great call blocking battle that broke out in the spring of 2007 seems to be finally over, with one of the key players in the drama dropping its lawsuit against Ma Bell.
A few months ago some incumbent phone companies started blocking free conference calling services such as FreeConference.com, that were using Iowa rural telecoms to terminate calls, squeezing out pennies from the large companies.
AT&T (T) claimed that the free calls might cost them $250 million. Qwest (Q), Sprint (FON) and Cingular all piled on bitterly complaining about the amount of money these free calling services were costing them.
Nonsense said, FreeConference.com, which filed an anti-trust lawsuit against AT&T. FreeConference.com CEO Alex Cory left us a message, saying that his company was dropping the lawsuit against Ma Bell.
Why, did he drop the law suit?, we asked Cory? He said FCC had intervened.
We dropped our suit once it was clear that call blocking was not going to be allowed and each carrier committed publicly to that position. It was a very expensive suit.
Related: Our previous coverage on free calling services scandal.

subset: commoncrawl


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I've used Picasa for over 10 years to manage my family's photo library. We have about 50,000 images in there with 22,000 tags, stars, album memberships, etc. Now that Picasa will no longer be supported by Google, I had to find a replacement. And it really hasn't been easy. I thought I'd share my strategy for anybody who might be in a similar situation.
First off, I should explain my workflow:
- save images in directories named with this convention:
YYYY/MMDD - eventname; typically, I dump images from my camera into a folder after a trip, or family gathering, etc.
- star the best photos immediately
- do some face tagging, but I haven't been 100% consistent about that — there are still thousands of photos with no face tagging
- put some photos into albums — for example, I have an album of "artistic" shots where I might add a few pictures each year
I'm really happy with this process, and I refuse to give up my directory organization. If I were to lose all metadata, at least I would have the file organization to help me find photos from that trip to Jamaica in June of 2016, for example. And speaking of metadata, I really don't want to lose all the work I've done in starring photos, face tagging, and filing photos in albums.
One of the problems with Picasa is that its metadata is stored in databases external to the photos. These are stored as PMP files, which presumably is a proprietary format used by the Picasa team. You may find advice online saying that you can get this information from EXIF/IPTC data in the files, but I believe that refers to previous versions of Picasa. I did find meta data in EXIF for some of my photos, but definitely not all. I believe the only place to get all the meta data is from the PMP database files.
My first thought was to try to use Amazon Photos or Google Photos because it would be so easy, and I could even get the storage for free (for Amazon, as a prime member — Google is also free, but only if you're willing to accept reduced resolution on your images).
Amazon Photos turned out to be very feature-incomplete. Not really good for much more than a backup of our photos.
Google Photos is richer, but still isn't a 1-for-1 replacement for Picasa. You can't control how your photo files are organized into folders (it's essentially one big bucket), and it doesn't support starring or tagging images, which is unfortunate. It does have cool searchability, though — you can search for photos of "flowers", and even if you never tagged or captioned any of your photos with the word "flower" or "flowers", it can find a lot of flower photos. Pretty incredible. But the direct photo management isn't good enough for my purposes.
Having given up on cloud-based solutions, I hoped to find a nice Web-based solution that I could host on our home Raspberry Pi, allowing anybody in the family to access and manage the photos, regardless of what laptop (or other platform) they happen to be using. The nicest web-based photo manager I could find was Lychee. It really is a nice piece of work. But its feature set doesn't really make it a good Picasa replacement:
- photos are all in one giant directory with unique hashed filenames; my photos were already in nice YYYY/MMDD directory structures, and I'm not willing to give that up
- a photo can only be in one album
- tagging and starring is nice, but it doesn't have the "filter" capability of Picasa, where, for example, you could view only starred images, but have them presented within their albums; if you view starred images in Lychee, you'll see one giant "album" of starred images, with no context as to which albums they might belong
Ultimately, I gave up on Lychee. I hope that the developer continues to expand its capabilities, and someday, it might be a viable Picasa replacement.
After looking at a variety of image management desktop applications, the one that seemed the most versatile is digikam. I haven't found any other tools with as much power to inspect embedded metadata, and its UI is fairly similar to Picasa's. It also doesn't care how you organize the files on disk; it even has nice support for accessing your images over a network share. And I don't think I'll have problems with metadata lock-in; it can write metadata to the image files if you want, and its databases are sqlite3 databases, which means I'll have no problems exporting data from them someday if need be.
Having settled on digikam, I needed to get the metadata out of the PMP files and into the EXIF/IPTC data. There were four key pieces of data I wanted:
- stars
- album membership
- tags
- face tagging
I figured the best way to get this information was to move all of it into tags inside of Picasa, and then find a way to read the tags and write them to embedded metadata int he images. Then digikam can read the embedded metadata when it scanned the directory tree for new images.
First step was to get all my Picasa metadata into tags. From within Picasa:
- Turn on the "show only starred images" filter. Select all images in your entire library, and add the tag "pstar" to them.
- For each of your albums, select all images, and add a tag based on the album title, e.g. "palbum-architecture" or "palbum-wildlife"
- Open each group of face-tagged images, select all, and add a tag like "ppeople-john-doe"
Admittedly, some of these steps can be quite tedious. And there actually are other ways to get things like face tagging, but I preferred to use one technique for all my metadata.
Once I got the metadata into Picasa tags, I needed to find a way to read the metadata from the Picasa database files. Luckily for me, Wayne Vosberg has built a library to read these PMP files: picasa3meta. I was able to leverage it to build a tool to traverse my entire photo directory structure and extract tags for each file. The tool can then call exiftool to write embedded metadata to the image files. My tool is here: picasa_tags_to_exif.py. My script is very rough, and is intended to serve more as an example than a finished product. I can explain a few things about it.
My environment was pretty unique. I was running Picasa on a Windows machine, but my photos lived on a Samba share on my Raspberry Pi. So on the Windows machine, the path to the photos was
P:\Photos, but on the Pi, the path is something like
/mnt/usb-primary/Photos. Picasa's databases, of course, referenced the files by their Windows paths. But I needed to substitute
/mnt/usb-primary/Photos for
P:\Photos in each file that is in the database. Also, I needed to convert the path delimiters from backslashes to forward slashes. This had to be handled inside of the picasa3meta code. At line 157 of
thumbindex.py, I inserted two lines:
if self.b == chr(0x5c):
self.b = '/'
I am not submitting a pull request to make this change, because it doesn't apply to all environments. It's fairly unique to my environment where the files are in a Linux filesystem, but were indexed by Picasa on an SMB share.
Once the code change was made to
thumbindex.py, I copied the Picasa database files from my Windows machine over to a directory,
/tmp/picasa3db, on my Linux box, and I was ready to invoke the script (make sure you have
exiftool installed and on your path):
python picasa_tags_to_exif.py /tmp/picasa3db /mnt/usb-primary/Photos 'P:\Photos' /mnt/usb-primary/Photos
This took many hours to run on 50,000 images. Be ready to let it run unattended. Use
screen to continue running it in the background in case you get disconnected from your Linux machine.
At the end of the process, all the tagging is available inside of the images themselves, making it available to Digikam. I am running Digikam on an Ubuntu workstation, so I mounted the SMB share on my Raspberry Pi as a cifs volume, and then I pointed Digikam at that path, letting it scan for images, which took several hours. Once it was done, though, I had all my photos available, and I could restore the metadata that I had in Picasa.
To restore stars, use the left toolbar to select the "Tags" view. Select the tag "pstar". You'll see all your starred photos across all the albums you filed them in. Select all, and then star one of the images (all will get starred). It's up to you how you want to translate a Picasa star into Digikam stars. You could give each Picasa-starred image a single star, which would give you flexibility to assign up to 4 additional stars to really good photos. Or maybe you'd prefer to give them all 3 stars, with levels above and below.
With my filing strategy, the directories I filed my photos in become Digikam "albums". These don't have quite the same meaning as an album in Picasa, where the photos may come from different directories on the filesystem, but belong together for some reason (subject, photo style, quality, etc.). If you opt for such a filing strategy, the Digikam albums won't be very meaningful, but you can still create the old concept of Picasa albums via tags. It's simple to view all the photos with a common tag by choosing the Tags view from the left toolbar and selecting the desired tag.
With this technique, the facial recognition from Picasa won't be directly translated into the Digikam "People" concept. You'll have tags for each person, so again, you would use the Tags view to filter your library for all the photos of your Great Aunt Matilda.
There might be a better way to get that face recognition data into Digikam. I have used exportpicasa to export all the recognition data into a nice XML file, complete with rectangles indicating where Picasa found each face. I just haven't tried to get it into Digikam.
I hope this helps somebody who was feeling as frustrated as I was when Picasa was end-of-lifed. I think we have to be smart about our media management, and be realistic — no software tool will exist forever. But the value of a media library is in the curation, which is extremely time consuming. We absolutely need the metadata to be stored in a portable way. Storing the data inside the images themselves is a good way to make sure that any good media software can access it. Not everybody likes to do that for a variety of reasons (safety of rewriting the image files and performance issues come to mind), but even if you opt to not write the data to the images, Digikam's data is stored in databases that use well-understood formats (sqlite3) and have public documentation of their schemas. I'm confident that this is a platform that will safely carry your media library into the next generation of media management.


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Wednesday, June 6, 2012
I Have an Agent!!!!
I've loved reading and writing for as long as I can remember, but a few years ago, I decided to get serious. So, I wrote a book (and it was awful). And then I wrote another. And another. I never queried any of these books because I didn't feel like they were good enough to send out into Agentland (trust me, they weren't, but my little sister still read all of them because she's amazing like that). But I was learning. I was getting better and better with each book. I could feel it.
When I finished my 4th book, after 8 months of writing and another 8 of revising – during which I received feedback from the bestest beta readers ever, I decided I was finally going to query. But just a small batch.
So, in August of 2011, I sent off those first 8 queries. I got some requests (squee!), but they ultimately ended in rejections (sigh). But it's okay. Because the rejections came with feedback. Awesome feedback. Agent feedback. I revised again with the help of a friend who picked apart the agent emails the way middle school girls pick apart texts from cute boys.
This spring I queried again with the new and improved version of my MS, which brings us to…a few weeks ago. An email offer! A call! Emails to other agents who had my MS! And that's when things got really crazy.
I got four more calls and four more offers from amazing, brilliant, passionate agents. Agents who had read my book and loved it! I took some time to think about it and FINALLY made a decision. And now I can officially announce that I am represented by the AMAZING Susan Hawk of The Bent Agency. I'm so excited and lucky and honored to have an agent who loves my book as much as she does, and I can't wait to see where things go from here!
I'm so grateful for all the help I've received from my writing buddies along the way: those of you who read my book (some more than once!), those of you who gave me that last little push to get my query on, those of you who gave me advice and support through this whole rollercoaster process. Love you guys. <3
18 comments:
YOU GO GIRL. KNOCK EM DEAD.ReplyDelete
AWWW. Thanks, Michelle!! We are going to do the knocking together :)ReplyDelete
Just saw your news on twitter. Congratulations! That is so exciting! :)ReplyDelete
I am so thrilled for you, Rachael! I can't wait to see where the next step of the journey takes you. Big, pink, girly SQUEEES just for you :).ReplyDelete
YAYAYAY!!! Congrats, chica! So, so happy for you!!ReplyDelete
What great news from a fellow writer. Nice to see you've made it another big step. I'm gearing up to start on my third novel. Susan Hawk was a great choice! Good pick.ReplyDelete
Thanks Dee and Erin and Mel and Shawn!!!ReplyDelete
Erin - How did you know that is my favorite type of squee?!
Yaaaaaaaaaaay :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJune 8, 2012 at 1:36 PM
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I can't wait to have your book(s) on my shelf (The LB shelf is going to need to be reinforced - woot!)ReplyDelete
Aw, thanks Dana and Hayley!!! Y'all are the best!!!ReplyDelete
Wooooooooooo! Lovely story. Lovely pairing. Can't wait for what comes next!ReplyDelete
RACHAEL!!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!!! I'm so insanely proud of you - how awesome!!! I want a signed copy when it's available, pretty please =)ReplyDelete
Congratulations! Susan is a gem... and I don't normally call people that because it's cheesy, but seriously she is fantastic! Followed you back on Twitter, btw!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much Alina and Nicole!!! I have such awesome friends :DReplyDelete
Thanks, Julie!! And thanks for the follow! Also, I completely agree ;)
ninest123 16.04ReplyDelete
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ninest123 16.04


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Episode 8 Click here for it
Talking with Mike Porter about Comic Books and Art at his Comic Book Store Little Fish Comics that is Closing 31 Dec 2017.
This podcast is the first released after my spinal surgery, my voice is a bit rough and we are actually doing the interview from Mike's Comic Book Shop Little Fish Comics in Fredericksburg.
Mike has been running this shop for 12 years and has decided that now is the best time to shut down and still come out ahead. We begin talking about his first comic book Uncanny X-Men #143. The story in this comic book really affected Mike and it is where he began his journey.
I do prod Mike about being an artist and a great conversation is had, we even disagree on the definition of artist and what it means to be an artist.
Mike goes into what he feels that Marvel and DC should be doing by reaching out to under served markets and we learn of his plans after the store shuts down, take a month off then write and finish off a novel or two. We discuss a specific project that he has with Alfred from the Batman Saga, he wants to explore the past of Alfred and why and how he ended up in service to the Waynes. Hopefully one day soon we can all purchase this book and be entertained.
We also get Mike's perspective on the community that has surrounded his store and as evidenced by the customers coming in and out while we were recording he is busy.
This was our first attempt at doing a remote interview on location, it is not an excuse, it is simply a statement that we try new things here at KDOI, sometimes it is beautiful, sometimes it falls flat, but we try and we want to encourage you to try.
Mike scored a 7.5 out of 8 questions, technically he didn't score perfect, however, we did change our questionaire from the Satanic Seven to the Solstice 7 and then the Naughty Nine. Technically Mike has scored more than a perfect score, but I am sure some purists will argue the point. We are sad to see this store go, it has been a great part of my life for the past 4 years since I moved here from Chicago. Mike got me back into comics, and I have done my best to support his store. We did anti adds in the previous Kimo's Den of Iniquity where we stated Little Fish Comics was not a sponsor, it was fun and we did our part to keep Mike going. I have had some truly enlightening conversations with him and we will continue thee conversations when he has going through is mourning. Folks, I can't say this enough, support your local artists however you can. Maybe its not financial, maybe its sharing their info with friends and people in your neighborhood. Support your local artists and businesses. Go out there and Create More Than You Consume. Thank you Mike and oh by the way listeners, its his birthday on release date. Send him some love.


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Three Ecologies and Economies: Kharkov, Gulin, Accra
The subject of this studio is a dialogue between Kharkiv, Ukraine, Gulin, China, and Accra, Ghana. It contrasts three urban centers within the contexts Europe, Asia, demonstrating that these old cultural centers are entering new phases of redevelopment related in part to that cultural heritage. While all are entering significant periods of economic development, they feature sharply contrasting circumstances. In each city, the study focuses on carefully chosen elements within the overall redevelopment contexts.
Urban Design Studio III Spring 2011
Critics: Richard Plunz (Director), Michael Conard, Alberto Foyo, Petra Kempf, Geeta Mehta, Shue Tshen
More about this Studio at MSAUD 2011
Accra Research Project & Accra Publication
Gulin Research Project & Gulin Publication


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ClassID # : in progressWelcome, visitor!
Bishop E. Bernard Jordan
Bishop E. Bernard Jordan
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Our sixteenth principle is disorient your adversary. Your strategy is to compel your adversary to redirect until you cause him to make an exploitable mistake. Why: an adversary who cannot cope with your maneuvers yields the initiative to you. This lesson teaches you the benefit of using misdirection as a way to gain the advantage over your adversary. A disoriented adversary is confused and off-balance, giving you an opening to deliver that knock-out punch. Imagine two prize fighters in the ring: if one of them can disorient his opponent, get him on the ropes or confuse him so he doesn't know where the next punch is going to land, he has the winning edge. Sun Tzu said, "Appear at points where the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where he does not expect you" (VI.5)


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Associate for Congregations Report
The Rev. Dr. Timothy Coombs
Silver Bay Presbytery Meeting, June 4, 2016
Congregational Coaching
Many of you know that during the Advent season I tell Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol from heart. Yes, I don the Victorian garb and use lots of voices and it's all great fun. I'm sure that you know that the main character is one Ebenezer Scrooge, who Dickens' describes as a "…a tight fisted, hand to the grindstone, Scrooge! A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, secret, and self-contained, an as solitary as an oyster." Or perhaps you prefer Mrs. Crachit's assessment played by the infamous Miss Piggy in the Muppet Christmas Carol, "I know that on the blessed day of Christmas we should drink a toast to Mr. Scrooge, even thought he is odious, stingy, wicked, and unfeeling, and badly dressed…"
One of the important points of the story from Dickens' perspective is that even someone like Ebenezer Scrooge is capable of repentance and change. More than simply than the schmaltzy story of Christmas, which we have made it, A Christmas Carol is saying that even the most hardened among us can be motivated to change if we can get outside ourselves and get a balcony view of our life. It is this perspective that leads Scrooge to decide to make a change in the way he conducts his life.
So why am I telling you about a story of Christmas when we are about to embark on summer? The reason has to do with the ghosts who visit Scrooge in the story. What the ghosts do is essentially serve as Scrooge's life coach. The ghosts don't lecture Scrooge. They don't advise him, or even tell him what to do. They are simply companions along his visions. The ghosts help clarify significant moments of his life, so that Scrooge can make his own decision about what to do about his life. This is what coaching is all about. The coach seeks to walk with and guide individuals or churches as they seek to discover first whether need to change, and second how to go about it.
According to the book Co-Active Coaching1, which is becoming one the "Bibles" of the movement, one of the basic premises of the coaching relationship is that people are "naturally creative, resourceful and whole."2 People are "capable of finding answers, capable of choosing, capable of taking action, capable of recovering when things don't go was planned, and, especially, capable of learning."
To me, the keyword in the premise is "naturally." We have in us the innate ability to transform ourselves. You may ask, "We do?" Yes, we do. Consider children. They are "naturally creative, resourceful and whole." Unfortunately, something happens to us as we become adults to squelch this innate ability. But I am here to tell you in the words of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, "it's not death yet. (It's) only resting." Dormant, if you will. We allowed it to get beat down by the forces of the world who taught us to say "can't." Well, coaches help to find and revive this trait in us.
Coaching seeks to enable our motivation by moving us forward. The coach is not satisfied with responses like, "I couldn't do that" or "That's too hard." To those statements, a coach will ask, "How do you know?" "is there another way?" or "What's the alternative?"
Coaching is not interested in dredging up the client's past as a therapist might. Instead, a coach will help a person discover his or her potential by moving forward into success experience.
Coaches are not consultants either. Consultants are "experts" in some field who study the situation and context, devise a plan on how the client should move forward, then leave to engage their next client. A coach does not claim to be an expert at anything, except for perhaps "coaching. The coach realizes and assumes that no one knows more about yourself or your situation than, deep down inside, you do, and therefore seeks to help you discover what you don't know what know about self and where God is calling you. The coach is there to help you identify where you want to go; help clarify a plan to follow; and to walk with you as a way of building in accountability.
My orientation is not so much with individuals but with congregations. So I ask, "our congregations 'naturally creative, resourceful and whole?'" Well, if they consist of people who are, then that potential is there. Of course, no congregation is perfect. Consider for a moment which of the following descriptors, "creative, resourceful, or whole," you believe to be your congregation's strength. Which is your greatest area of needed growth?
Congregational coaching seeks to bring a group of representative leaders together to discover and plan for a new path forward for the church. It does take a little more time than working with a single individual as people in group come with different understandings, motivations, biases, and differing levels of creativity, resourcefulness, and wholeness. Even so, it can be done.
The coaching process with a group usually takes three to four sessions. Typically, the first session is the feeling out and discovery meeting. In this session people are being oriented to what coaching is all about. The second session I like to describe the "pulling teeth" experience, as the group wants to identify something concrete, but getting a group on the same page is often like… You guessed it. The third session is typically the time when the group has that "A-ha" moment, when the vision they've been struggling to describe becomes clear. The fourth session is the time to develop a plan of action.
Congregational coaching seeks to hold up a mirror before the group and help them recognize who you they are now, and then ask what is God calling you to be. The coach and the group then devise a way forward. And this is important: The coach continues to talk with the team to ask "how is it going?", "are you ready for the next step?", "what adjustments are needed?", etc.
Can a congregation do all this without a coach? Perhaps, but why would you want to do so. It is much easier with a coach. A congregation is less likely to get off track than without one. Consider this graphic from Healthy Congregations3:
The graph show six needed ingredients for a successful campaign. Reading across the top row; if a congregation or team has trust among the members, a vision of what is to be done, the necessary skills to accomplish the task, the resources needed, and the incentive to do it, plus an action plan; the group will most likely be successful. If, however, anyone of these six components is missing or lacking, (marked by an "X"), a likely result will be sabotage if Trust is missing, confusion if vision is missing, and so on.
A congregational coach can help the team develop strategies and plans to help remedy or compensate for these shortfalls that often lead to not just a failure experience, but in long run, demotivate the congregation.
This fall Albany Presbytery will be inviting six or more congregations into the Pneumatrix process. Pneumatrix is a pilot program in the PCUSA which seeks to do a thorough assessment of your church and its surrounding community. The assessment tool will examine finances, culture, building and usage, program, and mission. Once this is done the congregation will interpret the results with a coach, who will strategize a new way forward for the congregation.
We are very excited about this opportunity and over the summer we will be seeking out churches who wish to engage the Pneumatrix process and coaches who will be trained to work with and guide the congregations for a year. Please consider whether your church is being called into this process and/or whether you may be called to become a coach to one of our presbytery's churches.
1 Co-Active Coaching: Changing Business, 3rd edition,Transforming Lives, Kimsey-House, Henry, Kimsey-House, Karen, Sandahl, Phillip, and Whitworth, Laura, (Nicholas Brealey Publishing: Boston), 2011.
2 ibid, p. 3
3 From the Healthy Congregations Slideshow: Managing Transitions.


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Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
Ready Your Wands!
The highly anticipated augmented reality (AR) real-world mobile game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is now available in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand!
Co-developed by Niantic, Inc. and WB Games under the Portkey Games label, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will launch in additional countries around the world in the days ahead. Players in the launch regions can download the game for free starting today on the App Store for iPhone, Google Play for Android devices and the Samsung Galaxy Apps Store for Samsung devices. Download today and help save the wizarding world!
To stay up to date on Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, visit www.harrypotterwizardsunite.com to receive the latest information about the game, and follow the game on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.


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CLEVELAND, OH (The Spread) - The Rangers have had plenty of issues versus the Indians of late but they'll try to scratch out a win early this afternoon.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetDSI, the Indians are +107 money line home underdogs versus the visiting Rangers, who are -116 money line favorites. The total for this 1:05PM ET start time is currently sitting at 7 runs.
The Rangers will send ace Yu Darvish to the mound today. He's 10-6 on the year with a 2.90 ERA and has improved to 1-2 in his career versus the Indians after allowing four runs in seven innings on June 6. The Indians, meanwhile, will counter with Trevor Bauer, who is 4-6 with a 4.25 ERA and is 3-2 at home this year with a 3.49 ERA in eight starts.
As previously mentioned, the Rangers are having all kinds of issues with the Indians of late. They're just 1-10 in their last 11 games versus the Tribe and 0-5 in their last five games in Cleveland. To make matters worse, they're 2-9 in their last 11 games versus AL Central opponents, 0-8 in their last eight on Sunday, and 3--13 in their last 16 road games versus a right-handed starter.
On the other side the Indians are 7-1 in their last eight games as a home underdog, 17-8 in their last 25 home games with the total set between 7 and 8.5, and 4-0 in Bauer's last four starts as a home underdog.
Want More From TheSpread.com? Follow us on Twitter and Facebook or Subscribe to Our News Feeds!


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SEYMOUR, Ind. (AP) -- Cummins Inc. has revealed what it calls the world's most powerful high-speed diesel engine that will be built at one of its southern Indiana factories.
Cummins executives showed off the 16-cylinder, 4,000-horsepower QSK95 engine during a ceremony Tuesday at the company's Seymour Engine Plant. The engine is about 8 feet high and 14 feet long, with uses in passenger and freight locomotives, boats, mining trucks and offshore oil and gas platforms.
The Seymour Tribune reports Cummins President Tom Linebarger says production work is expected to start next year and build to full production in 2015. About 200 engineering and production jobs are expected to be added over that time.
The Indianapolis Star reports the new engines are expected to sell for about $500,000.


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"One of the big ironies of the health care debate was that supporters of the new law were arguing that government intervention was necessary to deal with the problem of consolidation in the insurance industry. ObamaCare was supposed to change all of that by fostering competition. But now we're starting to get confirmation of one of the arguments that critics of the legislation were making — that ObamaCare's onerous regulations would drive smaller insurers out of business, thus leading to further consolidation in the industry."
"Principal said its exit in part is because smaller insurers will have a hard time competing with bigger players under the overhaul. Expenses such as for sales forces are a bigger proportion of costs for smaller insurers, said Mr. Houston, making it harder to meet the new threshold on how much they pay out for care, known as the medical-loss ratio. 'In the past, scale hasn't mattered,' said Mr. Houston. 'But with administrative costs getting the focus,' the company would have to grow significantly to stay in the business."
"The Principal Financial Group announced on Thursday that it planned to stop selling health insurance, another sign of upheaval emerging among insurers as the new federal health law starts to take effect… Principal's decision closely tracks moves by other insurers that have indicated in recent weeks that they plan to drop out of certain segments of the market, like the business of selling child-only policies. State regulators say some insurance companies are already threatening to leave particular markets because of the new law."
ObamaCare's mandates will cost many low-income workers their employer-based insurance coverage. The Administration promises to waive the regulations, but that merely further politicizes health care decisions and centralizes more power in Washington. "Any such criticism now triggers an autonomic reflex among administration spokesmen where they regurgitate the lines, 'Americans have seen what happens when insurance companies have free rein. The Affordable Care Act ends insurance companies' worst abuses.' As if giving bureaucrats free rein to engage in abusive government practices is an improvement."
"McDonald's Corp. has warned federal regulators that it could drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of the U.S. health overhaul. The move is one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers' health plans as the law ripples through the real world."
Businesses are unable to plan for ObamaCare's new mandates and taxes, because of the regulatory complexity. "But at this point, the answer is just not knowable, since regulators still have to write so many regulations, including what health services employers will be required to cover under mandatory insurance."
When the Congressional Budget Office develops budget estimates, they use a static analysis that only measures direct revenues and expenditures. A dynamic analysis looks at the amount of lost productivity from ObamaCare's huge tax increases to determine that the economy will produce $706 billion less than it would otherwise. This lost value means the actual debt will be $753 billion higher after 10 years because of ObamaCare.
In the teeth of a severe recession, ObamaCare supporters pushed a government take-over of the health care system filled with job-killing taxes and mandates instead of any activity to promote economic growth. This fact is only now dawning on many progressives. "Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the president of this Congress's first-term Democrats, said that his party's months-long battle to pass healthcare reform might have come off as a distraction considering the tough economic climate in the U.S."
With new medical-loss ratio regulations and an expansion of government involvement in the insurance purchasing process, insurance brokers are likely to cease to exist as an industry. "Insurance agents and brokers and small insurance companies are among those who may have to scramble to stay afloat over the next few years. This is partly by design and partly an unintended consequence of a new law that is so sweeping, it will affect nearly every corner of an industry that accounts for one-sixth of the U.S. economy."
Insurance agents are looking at the government's plans to create insurance exchanges and are worried that they'll be made obsolete and driven out of business. They are assuming that the fee insurance companies pay to brokers will be considered an administrative cost by new "medical-loss ratio" regulations and that insurance companies will be forced to lower those costs to comply with ObamaCare.


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Emirates Aviation activities range from the supply of aircraft parts, components and entire system to military and civilian users as well to the technical servicing, maintenance and consulting studies.
About Us
Emirates Aviation is a United Arab Emirates (UAE) based company.
In 1993, Emirates Aviation started its commitment to the aviation users locally with the supply of spare parts for various aircraft types ranging from military to civilian aircrafts.
24/7 our customers can call a qualified engineer with AOG enquiries. This demonstrates our commitment to our customers and ensures good long-term relationships.


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NANDC's Influence On Apartment Building ProjectPosted on 12/17/18
The 1190 West 29th Street development in the NANDC district is a fine example of a design review process that insures new development is compatible with the character of the neighborhood.Read More
We had an incredibly succesful cleanup this past weekend. Thanks to everyone who volunteered their time to help clean up an entire one-mile stretch of Jefferson Blvd. - all the way from from Western to Vermont.Read More
NANDC Board members were invited to visit Sanctuary of HOPE's soon-to-be opening Bridge Housing site in Area 2 that will serve homeless, foster care, or at-risk youth.Read More
Our next cleanup event will take place along Jefferson Blvd on Saturday, October 6, 2018 from 9am-12pm.Read More
Construction on the four-story affordable housing project called Metro @ Western is well underway.Read More
We currently have two vacant roles: Area 1 Represenative and At-Large-Representative. NANDC Stakeholders are encouraged to apply!Read More
It's summertime, and you know what that means: movies in the park! Come to a free screening of COCO July 27 at The Denker Recreation Center!Read More
Thank you to everyone who attended SunFest 2018 and helped make our big summer event a major success! NANDC and the office of Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson partnered for this free event in South LA that featured live music, a ferris wheel, games, entertainment, free food, giveaways and more.Read More
NANDC and the office of Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson will partner for SunFest 2018, a free event in South LA that will bring together the community to kick off the start of summer. The event will feature live music, rides, games, entertainment, free food, giveaways and more.Read More
Please note that the June NANDC board meeting has been canceled. The next board meeting will take place Thursday, July 5 at at 6:30pm at the USC Village Community Room.Read More
We're excited to announce NANDC's inaugural SunFest, happening at Loren Miller Park from 12pm-5pm on Saturday, June 30!Read More
On April 22, 2018, our neighborhood saw the opening of the Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park, after a total of 17 months of construction.Read More
Our community continues to make a difference! This past weekend, our neighbors got together to help clean up our streets.Read More
Have you seen our brand new bus bench ads around the neighborhood?Read More
NANDC is opposed to the I-110 HOV/HOT Flyover Connector Project due to its severe and irreparable impacts to not only the historic St. John's Cathedral but to the University Park neighborhood.Read More
Beginning Thursday, April 5, 2018, our monthly general board meetings will be held at USC Village Community Room.Read More
In March, NANDC board members joined 300 other local leaders at LA City Hall for the 2018 EmpowerLA Awards, celebrating Neighborhood Councils across Los Angeles, and where NANDC was honored to win an EmpowerLA Award.Read More
NANDC's next neighborhood clean-up will take place on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 9:00 am! Meet on the corner of Normandie Ave and Exposition Blvd. Take pride in your community and make a difference - see you there!Read More
Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Co will hold an informational session in May on how residents can take part in the construction of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park.Read More
The paid 6-week internship for the Summer Introduction to Engineering & Science Program is now accepting applications. High school juniors or seniors can earn $12.00 per hour, maximum of 20 hours per week during the internship.Read More
NANDC reviewed the proposed SB-827 bill and voted to oppose it and provide written objection to adopting a plan which removes land use and planning authority within one half mile of high quality transit from jurisdictions and charter cities.Read More
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art officially broke ground in Exposition Park on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.Read More
Join LA City Attorney Mike Feuer for a Town Hall with local communities, including those in the NANDC area.Read More
We currently have an opening for two positions on the NANDC board:
In order to be eligible for the board you must be a stakeholder within the NANDC service area.
UPDATE: Both seats have now been filled: Please welcome new At-Large Rep Lucas Dickey and Area 2 Rep Jasmin MartinezRead More
NANDC recently issued a survey to our stakeholders - with the intent to get to know all of the great people who make up our proud community. The survey was taken online and in-person at several of our monthly meetings, door-to-door appeals and at NANDC events.Read More
With a oil drill site located right on Jefferson Blvd in the heart of the NANDC district, we believe our community might be interested in attending an event sponsored by STAND-LA. The event, "Stand for Justice," will take place on February 3, 2018.Read More
This year, the North Area Neighborhood Development Council completed community beautification projects, supported a number of great community events, such as family movie screenings, to reach our stakeholders, voiced our support for projects in our area that would bring more opportunities to our community – and more...Read More
Join us for our Holiday Party December 7...Read More
Quite often we do not receive follow up after approving and distributing Neighborhood Purpose Grants. This year, we gave a grant to United Voices of Literacy (UVOL) for their USC ReadersPlus...Read More
The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is excited to announce IgniteLA, a program for young women that builds civic knowledge and leadership skills to bolster civic engagement...Read More
Saturday, November 4, NANDC partnered with KYCC and Make Jefferson Beautiful to plant 19 trees and clean and weed on Jefferson Blvd...Read More
NANDC wants to get to know all of the great people who make up our proud community – that includes you! Please take a moment to fill out and submit our short anonymous survey (it takes only two minutes of your time). Your answers will help us get to know you better and what issuesRead More
September is Civic Engagement Month in honor of the work of the Neighborhood Councils and of all the City's public engagement efforts! Civic Engagement is about getting involved in your community. You are never too young or too old to get involved. Find out how!Read More
© North Area Neighborhood Development Council. All rights reserved.
PO Box 18769
Los Angeles, CA 90018
Privacy Policy
© North Area Neighborhood Development Council.
All rights reserved.
PO Box 18769
Los Angeles, CA 90018
Privacy Policy


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Welcome to Our Parish!
Saint Nicholas Church
Founded by the Romanians of New York
"..in the Holy Scripture, prophet David says: "If God the Lord builds not the house,The builders do their work in vain. If over the city God watch not, The watcher vigil keeps in vain. (Psalm 126)."
Indeed, in the life of people nothing is done without God's help. He gives us the health and ability in every little thing we do. This is why the Romanians, whenever they embark on an endeavour in life, they say "Doamne-ajuta!" ("God, help us!"). With this thought we started as well, priest and believers, when we planned to have a church in Woodside, Queens, in 1984. Nobody could say that they gave everything. We all gave everything, all together! I cannot forget the gift made by an old widow Valentina, who every Sunday gave 20 dollars. It was the gift of the widow, which our Savior Himself appreciated:
"When he looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."
(Luke, 21, 1-4)
Saint Nicholas Church from Woodside is the achievement of the whole Romanian community from this region of New York City.
( from "Spiritual Revivals" by Fr. Dr. Vasile Vasilachi)
Archbishop Victorin approved, during the meeting of April
10, 1974, the request to build an orthodox parish in New York, who would
be under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Archiepiscopate of America
and Canada. After the approval, father Nicolae Barsan was transferred
from Philadelphia to New York. On January 19, 1976, we obtained the
Certificate of Incorporation from Albany, New York, of the St. Nicholas
Romanian Orthodox Church New York. In the beginning, the Divine Liturgy
was held in a chapel rented from a Presbyterian church, in Manhattan.
In 1984, Archbishop Victorin appoints Dr. Vasile Vasilachi as priest to St. Nicholas Church. Once he arrived in New York, and with the help of the parishioners, a building was bought in Woodside, at 45-03, 48th avenue. The Church was consecrated on December 9th, 1984 by Archbishop Victorin.
Fr. Vasile Vasilachi (left) and Archbishop Victorin in our church.
The present, between past and future...
...and on this foundation, here we are, the parishioners of St. Nicholas
Orthodox Church,
serving God for the good of the Romanian believers of yesterday, of
today, and of always.


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PAL SCBWI members – visit the Success Stories link to find out about being displayed at our booth in 2016.
Once the 2016 edition of the SCBWI Success Stories has been compiled this is where they will be displayed. In the meantime …
We continue to shout out and celebrate the success of our SCBWI PAL members at the 2014 Bologna Book Fair. Members were invited to send a single slide image of their current success stories. So sit back, relax, and celebrate the successes from some of our members:
or through this link:


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Marginalised groups and risk behaviour
There are great personal costs associated with marginalisation, including a low standard of living and a poor quality of life. In addition, the marginalisation of large sections of society undermines the sustainability of the welfare state. Marginalisation is linked to problems of social coherence and of the financing of the welfare state.
The financial problems arise because marginalised groups are often affected by unemployment, which leads to both heavy costs to society (in the form of benefit payments) and lower income to society (as a result of a reduction in the size of the tax base).
In addition, marginalised individuals are more likely to engage in risk behaviour, including alcohol and substance abuse and generally unhealthy lifestyles. Such problems can further increase the marginalisation experienced by individuals, and may also be symptomatic of other, quite different problems. Research into marginalised groups is therefore important because of the consequences of risk behaviour and marginalisation for both the individuals concerned and the nation as a whole.


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Big Brother Naija housemate, Esther has opened up on Frodd's attempt to touch her against her will on Saturday night.
It was reported that Frodd after the Saturday night party forcefully tried to sleep with Esther.
This attracted Biggie's attention as he called Frodd to an emergency diary session. After the diary session, Frodd, who was earlier on Esther's bed suddenly returned to his bed.
It is not sure what Biggie told Frodd at the diary session as it was not aired to the BBNaija fans, but there is the possibility that Frodd may be issued a strike or be disqualified for harassment.
Also Read: #BBNaija 2019: Frodd Takes Off His Pant In An Attempt To Forcefully Have Sex With Esther (Video)
But speaking to Frodd on Sunday, Esther, while apologising to him, said that he did nothing wrong.
According to her, she was not in the mood to play; that was why she acted that way.
She said, " Did biggy say you should come to your bed? You didn't do anything wrong. I was just pissed yesterday, and you weren't listening."
Frodd, however, added that he didn't sleep after the incident.


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Northwest Persian Antique Carpet
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SERAPI, Northwest Persian
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(Featured in catalog Vol. 28, No. 1, p.10) Among the perennial favorites of our clients are 19th century Serapis, and we offer a range of deeply artful pieces in sizes from 4x5 to 15x26. This over 140-year-old treasure is a particularly innovative example with its unusually spacious design of continually reinvented motifs and its brilliantly layered, wonderfully saturated colors. A rustic, idiosyncratic carpet of continually evolving abstracted leaf and plant forms drawn with great asymmetry and humor, it satisfies the aesthetic beloved by tribal rug lovers in a room-size format.
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The Correlation
The correlation between substance use disorders and mental health disorders is significant and undeniable. It is estimated that up to 50% of those struggling with substance abuse have a mental illness. Illnesses such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, and bipolar disorder left untreated can be emotionally devastating and leave people wondering where to turn. The emotional toll of the illness often leads those who are afflicted to find relief in any way they can. Very frequently, these sufferers will turn to addictive substances as a way of self-medicating, thus increasing their dependency on those substances. This is especially true in those who have an undiagnosed mental illness. With no medical treatment available, addictive substances become the only way of dealing with the pain. The pain of these diseases then begins to feed into one another in a vicious cycle, leading sufferers down the dangerous path to full-blown addiction and very little control of their mental illness. Although this path may seem to lead to an inevitable destination, there is hope for those who struggle with both mental illness and addiction. When properly treated, sufferers can drastically improve the quality of their lives and regain a sense of peace.
Do you or someone you love need help?
Give us a call for a free consultation.
It is estimated that up to 50% of those struggling with substance abuse have a mental illness.
What Came First?
In many cases, self-medicating for a mental illness leads to severe addiction. The pain of an undiagnosed mental illness can influence every part of an individual's life. Everything from their family, career, and personal lives can be affected. This leads many to believe that mental illness is responsible for most addictions.
However, it is possible that the ups and downs of drug addiction can mimic diseases such as bipolar disorder and depression coupled with anxiety. Most of the time, the two coexist together and cause a cycle that is incredibly difficult to break with no help.
When an individual goes without getting the help they need, the individual begins to socially isolate themselves. Much like mental illness, isolation, and addiction go hand in hand.
If someone struggling with addiction begins to isolate, it becomes a much more dangerous situation. These individuals must seek care immediately. To get help with a drug addiction after this cycle is in full motion is the only way to break it.
Therefore, getting help is vital for anyone trapped in the snare of addiction. Although the journey of healing is marked by many trials, those who do get help can find more happiness in their life.
Depression & Addiction
Depression and addiction can coexist and feed into each other alarmingly well. Most individuals with depression have a biological predisposition that resists the effect of serotonin in their brains.
Serotonin is the chemical in our brains that helps us feel happy, content, and joyful.
When our brain receptors are predisposed to resist these chemicals, it can leave us feeling void of hope and cause us to spiral into depression.
When someone is in a severely depressed state, they will sometimes seek substances such as alcohol or drugs to numb the emotional pain they are experiencing.
Alcohol depresses the central nervous system, thus providing an unhealthy escape to their suffering.
Some drugs, such as amphetamines, cocaine, and other uppers will boost dopamine in the brain, causing the individual to feel excited and even giddy. In other words, these substances are used as tools for self-medicating.
Depression and self-medicating are common in those suffering from the disease and prove to be a big obstacle in the recovery process.
However, no mountain is too high or valley too low for someone seeking to get help for addiction and depression.
If you have the help you need, you will find it much a much easier road than if you were on your own.
Treating Co-Occurring Disorders
- Its Never Too Late to Ask For Help.
Never allow yourself to carry pain over long periods of time. Help is just a phone call away.
- A Critical Step in Depression Recovery
There are certain perspectives help someone recover from depression. This one is often forgotten.
- Substance Abuse and Depression.
Why are people inflicted with drug addiction susceptible to depression? The correlation is very common.
The Cycle of Addiction
Anxiety and Addiction
Anxiety and addiction often come as a two-part package as well. Unfortunately, they tend to go together and feed off each other to cause those afflicted even more pain and emotional stress.
Due to this extreme discomfort, self-medicating for anxiety is very common. They tend to feel as though they are constantly running in a race they cannot win and constantly worry about things they cannot control.
Individuals who fall into this trap tend to abuse drugs like marijuana, Xanax, or Valium. Even though all of those mentioned can be medically prescribed by a doctor, the possibility of abusing them is still very present.
Those who need to get help for anxiety should first try talking to licensed psychotherapist before seeking to get a prescription for benzodiazepines.
Psychotherapy is the only known long term treatment for anxiety that is considered very effective. While receiving this treatment, individuals can expect to learn how to develop and use the tools necessary to cope with their anxiety.
Therapy is also a good option for those needing to get help for anxiety and addiction that may fuel each other. When sufferers of mental illness and addiction seek the help they need, there is always a way for them to remedy their pain.
PTSD & Addiction
Addiction and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, can coexist with addiction just as well as anxiety and depression but with a different perspective. PTSD is usually caused by an emotionally traumatizing event that may occur in someone's life.
This scarring event can be experiencing anything from physical or emotional abuse to extreme violence or neglect.
After the moment of trauma has passed, sufferers of PTSD will sometimes get flashback memories of the event, which can trigger depressive episodes, panic attacks, and even suicidal urges.
To remedy their troubled minds, these individuals will abuse alcohol and drugs like Heroin, marijuana, or benzodiazepines. Drugs that will depress their brain and keep them from feeling anything at all.
The reason the perspective is different for PTSD is the existence of the event before the addiction begins. Most of the time, the event is ultimately what causes the addiction, rather than a mental illness.
Either way, if an individual is struggling with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and addiction, they should seek help immediately. There is no reason to wait for the help you need now. There are resources and people available that can help you.
Treatment at ABTRS
- Why Do People Start to Abuse Drugs?
Often the hardest question to get answered but the one that provides the most closure.
- Effectiveness of ABTRS's Approach to Treatment Study
ABTRS's study on the effectiveness of our individualized treatment plans; check out the data today.
- What is Co-occurring Disorders & Dual Diagnosis?
What sets ABTRS apart from other companies is we treat co-occurring disorders &substance abuse disorder together.
- Effectiveness of ABTRS's Approach to Treatment Study
Learn about Bi-Polar disorder and other subtopics such as self-medicating, bi-polar treatment,
and more. .
More Information on ADHD and Addiction
- How Should I Handle My Teenagers Adderall Addiction?
Addiction in teens is more common than you might think. This is what you need to know.
- ADHD and Addiction. Is There a Correlation?
What leads those suffering from ADHD to abuse substances? Information on ADHD and Addiction.
- Are Certain People Drawn to Certain Substances?
Depending on a persons age, they could be more likely to abuse specific substances.
ADHD & Addiction
ADHD and addiction also commonly coexist together, and for a specific reason. ADHD stands for Attention Deficient Hyperactive Disorder, a disease that is more frequently diagnosed in children and teenagers.
This disorder is characterized by a patient's lack of attention span and increased need to move around. Other characteristics include questionable judgment, "bad behavior", and a resistance to changing tasks.
Studies show that those suffering from ADHD often abuse drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and Speed. This is due to the ease of focus and concentration that these substances provide.
In fact, Adderall is amphetamine tailored to be medically beneficial to those with ADHD. However, when it is abused, it can be highly addictive. An Adderall addiction is a very serious consequence of prolonged Adderall abuse.
Those who have ADHD and are undiagnosed may self -medicate by using crack or crystal meth, meaning there could be a biological factor in why someone would consistently use.
For those suffering and need to get help with ADHD and addiction, there is always help in the form of a monitored detox center, medication, and therapy. Individuals struggling should seek aid immediately, as the physical toll of prolonged amphetamine abuse is very serious.
Bi-Polar & Addiction
Bipolar disorder and addiction not only go hand in hand but have very concerning similarities in symptoms. Each disease is characterized by high periods and low periods in mood. They may feel happy and energetic one moment and be unable to control their sorrow the next moment.
This is very similar to when addicts are using compared to when they are not using, making it very hard to distinguish the two. However, many times bipolar disorder and addiction are comorbid.
In fact, an individual self- medicating for bipolar may do so to straighten out their unstable mood.
They may be using substances like cocaine or meth in the morning while drinking themselves to sleep at night. To get help for bipolar disorder, seek out a licensed clinical psychologist that can diagnose you and a psychiatrist that can prescribe you needed medication.
Although both illnesses individually are very painful, let alone having both at the same time, there is help and benefits to seeking recovery. Thanks to enhanced modern medicine, medication for bipolar disorder is very effective in calming mood swings.
By switching from self-medication to correctly administered medication, individuals struggling with both bipolar and addiction will find relief.
Helpful Resources
- Bipolar or Addiction?
Sometimes these can appear very similar. Sometimes they feed into each other.
- Meth in the Morning, Heroin at Night.
This dangerous combination is a severe form of self- medicating for undiagnosed Bipolar disorder.
- What is Co-occurring Disorders & Dual Diagnosis?
What sets ABTRS apart from other companies is we treat co-occurring disorders & substance abuse disorder together.
More on Mental Illness and Addiction
Treatment for Addiction and Substance Use
Finding treatments that truly help in the recovery process can be a long and frustrating road, let alone looking for these treatments require an immense amount of courage.
For those struggling with any mental illness, talking to someone is the first place to start. Make an appointment with a licensed mental health social worker, psychotherapist, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist.
They should help you or point you in the right direction of someone who can help you. Most frequently, those struggling with any of these illnesses typically benefit from psychotherapy, group therapy, and medication.
A popular type of therapy that is effective is cognitive-behavioral therapy. This type involves delving into your thoughts and learning to control your behaviors by guiding your thoughts in the right direction.
When in this therapy, individuals tend to learn a lot about themselves.
Concepts such as self-esteem and lack of communication skills are discussed in depth to help the patient develop coping skills for what they may be struggling with.
Studies show that individuals who are in a therapy program who stick with it tend to recover more quickly and experience more success throughout the process compared to individuals not attending. There is always hope in recovery.
If you or a loved one are experiencing the trial of mental illness and drug addiction, do not hesitate to reach out for a helping hand. Call now for a free consultation from our admissions specialists.
They can help you to find the correct treatment that is right for you. Don't wait to find yourself again, call now.
Find A Better Way With
A Better Today Recovery Services
- Confidential
- 24/7
- Financing Available
- Most Insurance Accepted
A Better Today Recovery Services is an Arizona drug and alcohol treatment center that has been saving lives and healing families from addiction for over a decade. We pride ourselves on presenting factual, educational, and informational content to those who visit our site.
We hope that armed with this information you can make the best decisions for yourself or someone you love. If you are looking for treatment options, you can trust us to help you. Mental illness and addiction are high-risk situations that need swift and immediate intervention. Call us today.
[1] https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/common-comorbidities-substance-use-disorders/part-1-connection-between-substance-use-disorders-mental-illnesson
[2] https://archives.drugabuse.gov/news-events/news-releases/2014/01/severe-mental-illness-tied-to-higher-rates-substance-use
[3] https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/substance-use-and-mental-health/index.shtml


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Janel Hesson has been showing and training since she was 11 years old with her 3 year old Morgan mare Sun Doll, who she took to victory in English Pleasure Junior Horse.
The next year, at age 12,, Janel showed a 4 year old Morgan stallion named Aristo Camelot. Janel started and finished the horse by herself and went on to win the Morgan English Pleasure Junior Horse class against the trainers!
She won her first National title at age 15 on a Morgan gelding that she had also trained. Again, in the English Pleasure division.
Janel started showing Arabians in 1990 and established Janel's training center in 1992. She has gone on to win many National and Reserve National Championships in English Pleasure and Pleasure driving. She also has multiple National Top Ten honors in English, Western and Western Side-Saddle.
Janel offers personalized, caring attention to each horse she trains. Her goal is to help owners and students realize their dreams by becoming partners with their horses. This is done in a fun, friendly atmosphere for all ages.
Our facility offers easy access from I-80 as well as many amenities including:
- Heated Stall Area
- Automatic Fly Sprayers
- Automatic Waterers
- Onsite Management
- Heated Lounge with Washroom
We welcome visitors! Please give us a call at 402-797-2626 to arrange a time to come by!


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Its two main steeples reach majestically into the sun-filled Buffalo sky. Well, actually that's not entirely true, seeing as its two main steeples are no longer there. And haven't been for quite sometime – lost somewhere along the way from some previous snow-filled Buffalo sky, i've been told. So the final effect is that somewhat of a decapitated house of worship, one that begrudgingly admits its shortcoming, but still refuses to fall.
The steeples haven't been replaced simply because this particular church happens to reside in inner Buffalo, a down-trodden area that hasn't seen anything even remotely resembling wealth in many a year now. And while the Roman Catholic Church talks a pretty good game about feeding its flock, apparently it walks a much better game in neighborhoods where the flock is pretty well-fed already. Which is sad, considering the diet of this particular flock – but more on that later.
Upon entering the church, you see a past glory, slowly crumbling under the grip of time and weather. While most of the ceiling remains intact – in glorious hues of blue, gold and salmon – in other areas massive bubbles are visible through the paint where previously, rain water on the exterior side lead a recon mission through cracks in the building's defenses towards the inside. In other areas, the rain was wholly successful in its mission and whatever section of ceiling used to be there is now totally absent, save the wooden skeleton of the roof proper. The myriad of statues throughout the building are mostly looking skyward, but whereas i'm sure the original intent was to show these saints as being "heaven-bound", in its current condition, they look much more like worried home owners waiting for the roof to cave in. As to the accoutrements, easily half a forest was lost in the construction of the various wooden latticework, railings, doorways, crucifixes and pulpit – never mind the ornate and almost inhabitable central sanctuary at the back of the altar. All carved with intricate expertise, and for now, all safe from the weather. And while children may be prone to scratch their names into pews elsewhere, in this building every one of them seem to be safe from such juvenile branding activities. The floor is a combination of hard wood and ratty carpet – the orange variety that everyone in the seventies felt was all the rage. Fortunately, the carpet is so worn down as to now look far more "historical" than "dated". Unfortunately, the carpet is so worn down as to look like it belongs to a long-dead building, instead of a living one.
So all said, a church that used to be mighty, glorious – and possibly even a bit arrogant – now sits humbled by time, neglect, suburban sprawl, and a religious hierarchy that sometimes finds it hard to practice exactly what it preaches so loudly to others. But just before you call the wrecking ball and start digging a grave for this once impressive monolith, let's take another look, seeing as mass has now started…
The choir is small, unorganized and not very well trained. Many of them seem to have never used a microphone before and others simply ignore its existence altogether. They are a mixture of race, age and sex, all led by a doddering old man at a tiny electric keyboard, and when all is said and done – they sing like angels. With sincerity, with faith, and with communion. The congregation is likewise small, especially when considering how large the building is, and much like the choir, a blend of age, sex and race. In fact, to look at them objectively, you wouldn't see too much that these people would have in common with each other in their daily lives – and maybe they don't. But when they come together here, they become "One" – again – with sincerity and faith. During the Lord's Prayer, the entire group becomes part of one long web, strewn throughout the church, with only the very first upheld hand in the line and the very last not being grasped by another. And at the "sign of peace", it would almost appear to be much more a game of musical chairs than it would a simple gesture of good will. The entire process can take up to five minutes (quite a long time by Roman Catholic standards) and no person is left unnoticed, no extended hand left untouched. It's the type of environment that would drive someone who suffers from mysophobia simply mad. It would also put a kink in the armor of anyone who happens to be racist or judges others based solely on their appearance as well. In this place, however, faith overrides all of that. And it's not something that is sleeve-worn or in your face. Nor is it something that you must accept upon entering, or take with you when you leave. It's not even something that is spoken. It just IS. It's visible, tangible, breathable even. This small group of individuals create a force so strong that it can not only be felt, but it actually invades your own senses as well.
Now, lest someone think that this will become a slippery slope as to my trying to prove one faith superior to another, let me be clear that this is not the intent of this post. And it's not the intent of the congregation either, i don't believe. And maybe that is why they can create a force so strong that it almost hugs you upon entering into it. They seem to be focused only on their faith and on each other. It would appear that they have no real desire to shove their beliefs down the throats of others, but you're more than welcome to join in if you'd like (to clarify an earlier statement, they are very cognizant of possible mysophobia sufferers and don't grab for hands unextended). It is also clear that instead of focusing on any misperceived superiority towards the faith – or lack thereof – of others, they are focusing only on theirs alone. And when "Mother Church" held back its wallet, these parishioners – many of whom can ill-afford it – started to self-fund the church just so that they could keep it's steeple-less doors open.
In short, they're good people, who are quietly living their own faith – for themselves and their God alone. They have found their community, their purpose and their home, resulting in their spirits being well-fed and contented. Not because of some outside benevolence, but as a result of their own hard work. They have a living Strength within a dying building. One that is refreshing to see, and i just thought you might like to know that pockets of humanity like this still exist. i also think it would be very nice indeed if a whole lot more of us could live the same.


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Upload Filters Will Always Be A Bad Idea, But Germany's New Implementation Of Article 17 Is An Attempt To Provide Some Protection For Users, Which Others May Follow
from the but-what-will-the-CJEU-say? dept
The EU's Copyright Directive was passed back in 2019, and the two-year period for implementing the law in national legislation is almost up. The text's contradictory requirements to stop infringing material from being posted online without imposing a general requirement to monitor users, which is not permitted under EU law, has proved difficult for governments to deal with. France aims to solve this by ignoring even the limited user protections laid down by the Directive. Germany has been having a rather fraught debate about how exactly Article 17, which implicitly requires upload filters, should be implemented. One good idea to allow users to "pre-flag" as legal the material they upload was jettisoned. That led to fears that the country's implementation of Article 17 would be as bad as France's. But the final version of the law does attempt to ensure that automated filters — now admitted as indispensable, despite earlier assurances they were optional — do not block user uploads that are not infringing on copyright. Communia explains:
the German implementation relies on the concept of "uses presumably authorised by law", which must not be blocked automatically. For an upload to qualify as "presumably authorised by law", it needs to fulfil the following cumulative criteria:
The use must consist of less than 50% of the original protected work,
The use must combine the parts of the work with other content, and
The use must be minor (a non-commercial use of less than 15 seconds of audio or video, 160 characters of text or 125 kB of graphics) or, if it generates significant revenues or exceeds these thresholds, the user must flag it as being covered by an exception.
Although it's good that this "presumably authorised by law" use is enshrined in law, the actual limits are absurd. For example, the name alone of the EU Copyright Directive in German is longer than 160 characters. Copyright holders can still challenge the legality of material, but platforms have to keep the uploads online until the complaints have been reviewed by a human. As former Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda writes on the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (Society for Civil Liberties) site, there's another feature of the new German law that might help keep upload filters in check, at least a little (original in German, translation via DeepL):
In order to enforce freedom of expression and artistic freedom against upload filters gone wild, the draft law provides for a right of association action for non-commercial associations dedicated to protecting the interests of users. These associations can take legal action against platforms that repeatedly block legal content. In addition, users will be able to claim damages against false copyright claims. The Society for Civil Liberties will use these possibilities if it becomes necessary.
Those are important new options for getting material back online, and discouraging over-blocking. Reda notes that there is also good news for popular online activities such as caricature, parody and pastiche, which will be permitted without restrictions:
This copyright exception includes memes, remixes, mashups, fan fiction and fan art. The German government's draft proposal was to restrict this right to remix in the German copyright reform, although it was adopted as mandatory at the EU level as part of Article 17. The German government's proposal that these uses should only be allowed "provided that the extent of the use is justified by the specific purpose" generated an outcry in the fan fiction community. This has apparently had an effect, because the [German parliament's] legal committee has removed this restriction. Fans in Germany can now look forward to a solid legal basis for fan art and remix culture.
The new German copyright law also brings in copyright exceptions for online teaching, and text and data mining. Cultural institutions such as libraries or archives will be permitted to make their collections available online if these works are no longer commercially available. Those are all welcome, but it is the implementation of Article 17 that is likely to have the most impact. As the Communia blog post notes:
the German implementation law sets a new standard for the implementation of the [Digital Single Market] directive. This is especially true for the implementation of Article 17. With the Commission having missed the chance to issue guidance for the member states in a timely manner [discussed previously on Techdirt], other member states who seek to implement Article 17 in a fundamental rights-compliant way should look at the German law for guidance.
Since the new Germany copyright law could become the model for other EU nations as they implement Article 17 — except for France, of course — it's good news that it has a number of positive elements. Those are likely to prove crucial if — or rather when — the EU Copyright Directive faces another legal challenge at the CJEU, the Court of Justice of the European Union (Poland has already lodged one). The complaint is likely to be that Article 17 cannot be implemented without violating the fundamental rights of users. In that case, the CJEU will have to decide whether Germany's innovative approach goes far enough in preserving them.
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter, Diaspora, or Mastodon.
Filed Under: article 17, censorship, copyright, eu, eu copyright directive, fair dealing, fair use, germany, presumably authorized by law, snippets, upload filters


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Pelkmans, Mathijs (2006) Asymmetries on the 'religious market' in Kyrgyzstan. In: Hann, Chris, (ed.) The Postsocialist Religious Question: Faith and Power in Central Asia and East-Central Europe. LIT Verlag, Berlin, pp. 29-46. ISBN 3825899047Full text not available from this repository.
Assumptions of increasing secularization have been called into question across the globe but under the socialist variants of modernity traditional forms of religious belief and practice were subject to quite specific forms of repression in favour of `scientific atheism'. What is the legacy of this socialist experience for the postsocialist era? How is religion mobilized in the public sphere to support assertions of ethnic identity and the building of nations and states? In the private sphere, how does religion help persons to cope with uncertainty and dislocation? What has been the impact of external influences, including pressures to implement religious human rights as well as the missionising efforts of modernist, `universalizing' faiths, both Christian and Muslim? The authors explore new configurations of local, national and global religious communities through ethnographic studies from two regions, Central Asia and East- Central Europe. The main focus is on the consequences of changes in the sphere of religion for generalized civility, which is understood minimally as the acceptance of diverse beliefs and practices in everyday social life.
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|B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
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|06 Oct 2008 12:43
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The Society for Testing English Proficiency
British Council
STEP and BRITISH COUNCIL
Agreement on joint operation of the IELTS English language proficiency test
-Raising the level of English language proficiency nationwide-
The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP), and British Council, the United Kingdom's official organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations, have signed an alliance agreement to operate jointly the Japan delivery of IELTS, the world's most recognized English language proficiency test. STEP and British Council believe that by combining STEP's nearly 50 years of experience in administering tests in Japan with IELTS, the global leader among English proficiency tests, that Japan's English language testing environment will be considerably improved.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is used to evaluate English proficiency for overseas study or relocation and has the world's highest number of test takers. Since its launch 20 years ago, IELTS has focused on evaluating interactive communication skills by testing each of the four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. IELTS is employed in more than 120 countries including the UK, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand because of its reliability as an accurate measure of English proficiency. Having exceeded 1.4 million test-takers annually, IELTS is the global leader both in quality and popularity.
Under the terms of the alliance, STEP will assume promotional activities, receipt of applications and administration of the IELTS test while British Council will jointly manage the test and contribute its expertise. Through this alliance, STEP will utilize its experience and domestic network to improve convenience significantly for test takers. The alliance means improved availability and an increased number of test centres, acceptance of a wider variety of payment methods, and enhanced provision of IELTS information. The alliance will go into effect in April 2010. However, registrations will be accepted prior to this in January 2010.
Regarding the alliance, Jason James, Japan Representative for British Council, said "STEP's experience and network are unrivalled in Japan. Through our alliance with STEP, an organization whose mission is to raise the level of practical English proficiency, we will have the opportunity to further deepen awareness of IELTS in Japan and to improve convenience dramatically for test takers by increasing the availability of the test in each region, and by diversifying payment options. We hope that IELTS will be the basis of success for Japanese people in a world that demands English skills, and we aim to raise test-takers confidence in their English ability through our strong support and superior evaluations of English proficiency.
STEP Senior Executive Director Fumio Domyo said that "STEP, a long-term contributor to raising the English language proficiency of Japanese people, is pleased to form an alliance to jointly provide IELTS, an internationally accepted test recognized as being highly practical due to its one-on-one speaking and other components. By providing this test to even more Japanese people, we hope to increase overseas study opportunities and add to the number of Japanese people who can use English with confidence in an international environment.
About IELTS
IELTS is the International English Language Testing System, an English language test designed to evaluate ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and professional accreditation.
About 6,000 educational organisations in 120 countries including the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand recognise IELTS as a reliable indicator of true-to-life ability to communicate in English. IELTS is the world's leading English language test with the largest number of test-takers. In 2009 the number of candidates exceeded 1.4 million. IELTS is jointly managed by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge ESOL) in more than 125 countries.
About The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP)
The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP) was established in April 1963 for the purpose of popularizing and advancing practical English language ability in Japan. STEP produces and administers the EIKEN Test in Practical English Proficiency, Japan's most widely administered English assessment, with over 80 million examinees since 1963. STEP also offers Junior STEP, a series of listening activities designed to encourage English learning among children, and the jointly-branded STEP BULATS, a test of English for the workplace.
Homepage: www.eiken.or.jp


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Interview: CCP UnifexXander Phoena
After almost being thrown out of the Islenski bar in Iceland on the first night of Fanfest with CCP Unifex because of a (heated) discussion on everything Eve, I made him promise that he would come on the show so we could discuss his tenure as Executive Producer. Now that he has almost finished that job to move to CCP's new mobile division and we are suitable recovered from the Icelandic deathflu(TM), Unifex joins me here on Crossing Zebras.
Interview_ CCP Unifex.mp3
We ended up squeezing a great deal of stuff into 45 minutes including whether he was hesitant to take on the Executive Producer position in the first place, what he hopes to achieve with the Eve universe in the new mobile edition, how CSM7 worked from his perspective and that amazing Eve keynote at Fanfest.
I want to thank Unifex not only for coming on the podcast but also for being so open and frank with his answers to my questions. It's a pretty illuminating interview.
Fly safe,


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Due to limitations on in-person gatherings, the Association of State Floodplain Managers has provided some alternate ways to gain your required continuing education credits (CECs). Please check out the Training Tab on ASFPM's website if you are in need of CECs prior to your renewal date.
Additionally, ASFPM maintains a calendar of events that includes events by other ASFPM Chapters and organizations that may be useful to you.
We will continue to forward other opportunities to you as we become aware of them.


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Motown Gospel is celebrating the gold certification of "Break Every Chain," the ground-breaking single by world-renowned worship artist Tasha Cobbs. The award was granted by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to commemorate sales of more than 500,000 units. Cobbs received a gold plaque Saturday in Las Vegas during a surprise presentation by Ken Pennell, President of Gospel Music for Capitol Christian Music Group.
Pictured: Ken Pennell, President of Gospel Music for Capitol Christian Music Group; Tasha Cobbs, Monica Coates,Vice President of A&R for Motown Gospel; EJ Gaines, Vice President of Marketing for Motown Gospel
"With the changing climate of the music industry it's rare that we have the opportunity for moments like this in gospel," Pennell said. Speaking before a crowd of artists, songwriters, and industry executives at the Motown Gospel-ASCAP Morning Glory Breakfast, Pennell elaborated, "While many in our marketplace are still hesitant to embrace streaming, Tasha's growing streaming presence enabled us to carry her music to audiences around the world and to cross this important threshold."
Named by Billboard Magazine as the Most Streamed Gospel Artist and Top Female Gospel Artist of 2016, Cobbs is currently at work on new music for her upcoming project Heart. Passion. Pursuit. The highly anticipated follow-up to her chart-topping 2015 release One Place Live features songs of praise and worship written by Cobbs and in collaboration with other celebrated worship artists, including Matt Redman, Jonas Myrin, and Brenton Brown. The project is slated for release by Motown Gospel later this year.


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Last summer, four Laborers and one carpenter developed serious illness while renovating a bridge in Watseka, Illinois. One of the Laborers was hospitalized for six days. The symptoms included high fever, chills, cold sweats, achy bones and joints, fatigue, a non-productive cough and pain and heaviness in the chest.
Responding to the Illinois Histoplasmosis Outbreak
When his members became ill, Laborers' Local #751 Business Manager Mike Smith called the Midwest Region Laborers Health and Safety Fund (MRLHSF). Literature regarding Histoplasmosis was immediately sent to the local and the contractor.
Smith also involved the local and state health departments which, in turn, contacted the Centers for Disease Control. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) got involved and made work practice recommendations to the jobsite supervisors.
John Condis, Safety Officer for the MRLHSF, visited the jobsite and discussed safety and health concerns with the company and the resident engineer from Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). The incident was discussed at the quarterly IDOT work zone safety committee meeting, and MRLHSF provided appropriate IDOT officials with the Histoplasmosis booklet and the LHSFNA bird droppings health alert.
What was it? A potent flu bug? No, it was a potentially serious infectious disease called Histoplasmosis.
Histoplasmosis is an infection caused by inhaling a fungus, Histoplasma capsulatum. The fungus is common in soil, especially in soil contaminated by pigeon or bat droppings. In the United States, the fungus is found most often along the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys but also is present in other central, southeastern and mid-Atlantic states. The disease is transmitted to humans by airborne fungus spores rising from the soil. Although primarily associated with soil, the fungus has been found in droppings (particularly from bats) alone.
According to the National Center for Infectious Disease (NCID), how ill a person becomes after an exposure varies greatly and most likely depends on the number of spores inhaled, a person's age and individual's susceptibility to the disease. Often the disease is asymptomatic, yet it can develop into chronic disease, especially in immune compromised individuals. A person can learn from a Histoplasmosis skin test whether he or she has been previously infected by the fungus.
Mild cases of Histoplasmosis are usually resolved without treatment. For severe cases, special antifungal medications are needed to arrest the disease. One of the Illinois Laborers was treated with Sporanox, an anti-fungal drug, which costs $1,023.00 per month. His doctors expected him to take the medication for several months.
To prevent similar illness elsewhere, Laborers must develop an awareness of the risk factors and prevention measures associated with exposure to bird and bat droppings. These are summarized in the LHNSFNA health alert, "Bird and Bat Droppings," available in English and Spanish (developed originally by the New England Laborers Training Academy). A NIOSH publication, Histoplasmosis: Protecting Workers at Risk, is available at 1-800-35-NIOSH. This comprehensive, 26-page booklet includes information regarding causes, diagnosis, risk communication, personal protective equipment and waste disposal as related to Histoplasmosis. A summary sheet for workers in both English and Spanish is included in the document.
[Angie King is the Director of the Midwest Laborers' Health and Safety Fund.]


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The English Premier League is the most exciting and also the most competitive league in the world and that is why we see a huge influx stars from all around the globe before the season starts. The top teams have to recruit heavily for grueling ten months of football in four different competitions in the domestic and European level. All the clubs like to recruit early so that the player can set in easily and we have already seen a couple of transfers. For complete news visit, link 188bet.
Pep Guardiola is under the radar of many critics around the world after his satisfactory spell with Bayern Munich, followed by a disappointing first season with Manchester City. He has already signed Ederson to fill the goalkeeper void and Bernardo Silva as an attacking player. Those were the two positions that City were lacking last season and all they need to do right now is sign a quality centre back and they will be ready for a title challenge next season.
Liverpool have ended up signing one of the best attacking players in the Serie A last season in the form of Salah from Roma, who will just boost Liverpool's attacking style of play. Salah, Coutinho and Sane with their speed and flair can become an unstoppable attack under Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool is also close to agreeing deals with Naby Keita and Van Djik and these transfers would complete their squads.
Chelsea have had a pretty slow transfer window till now, only signing Rudiger as a replacement for John Terry. Chelsea are reportedly also getting rid of Diego Costa due to his attitude but were disappointed when Lukaka, their prime target was snatched from right under their noses.Chelsea are also close to the signing of Bakayako as Matic also seems to be on the move and are also looking for other striking options and maybe also a move for Real Madrid right back, Danilo.