text: Translation of Research into Healthcare Quality PracticePreventing Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections in the Intensive Care Unit: Application of High-Reliability PrinciplesMcCraw, Beth; Crutcher, Terri; Polancich, Shea; Jones, Pam Author Information For more information on this article, contact Beth McCraw at [email protected]. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Journal for Healthcare Quality: November/December 2018 - Volume 40 - Issue 6 - p 392-397 doi: 10.1097/JHQ.0000000000000164 Free Metrics Abstract This department column highlights translation of research into healthcare quality practice. Achieving the highest quality in healthcare requires organizations to understand care delivery and to proactively mitigate risks in care delivery processes. The purpose of this article is to describe a quality initiative that used principles of high reliability to develop a zero tolerance culture for central line–associated bloodstream infections in an intensive care unit at an independent, nonprofit acute care community hospital. Introduction According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are considered the deadliest healthcare-associated infection (HAI).1 Patients who require central venous line (CVL) access for treatments are often the sickest and most vulnerable to HAIs. Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are at an even greater risk of CLABSIs due to the emergent circumstances under which CVLs are often placed, the frequency they are accessed, and an extended number of device days.2 Vital statistics indicate that one in four patients who acquire a CLABSI will die, making this the most devastating consequence of hospital-acquired infections.1,3 Central line–associated bloodstream infections not only negatively impact patient safety, but they are also a tremendous financial burden for healthcare organizations. Central line–associated bloodstream infections per case costs are estimated at $49,201.4 This financial impact is even more significant to organizations because CLABSIs are included in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' value-based purchasing and hospital-acquired conditions pay-for-performance reimbursement programs.5 In addition, individual hospital CLABSI rates are compared with other organizations and are visible to the public through the Medicare.gov Hospital Compare web site with the potential to significantly impact the consumer perception of an organization.5 The financial and reputational impact of poor performance in this area has increased the nation's healthcare industries' attention on improvement efforts. To improve patient safety and positively impact the financial burden associated with CLABSIs, organizations should strive to achieve a culture of high reliability. The culture of high reliability is not an individual performance improvement project, but rather a continuous commitment toward ongoing patient safety and high-quality care.6 High-reliability organizations (HROs) consistently maintain a high level of organizational safety. A key aspect of HROs is their ability to eliminate safety deficiencies through robust process improvement that creates constant awareness and a collective mindfulness for high-quality care.6 Creating a HRO culture may be an effective method for preventing CLABSIs. The purpose of this article is to describe the process of using high-reliability methodology to maintain zero tolerance for CLABSIs in an acute care patient setting. Conceptual Framework of High Reliability The science of high reliability has been used successfully for many years in high-risk industrial organizations such as aviation and nuclear power plants; however, the use of high reliability in healthcare has only recently been considered and evaluated.6 The concept of high reliability is defined as consistently maintaining a high level of organizational safety. High-reliability organizations develop a collective mindfulness and maintain a culture that encourages every employee to continually look for unsafe conditions before a problem occurs. This proactive approach to high reliability often prevents major adverse events from ever happening. High-reliability organizations share five similar principles, which consist of (1) a preoccupation with failure, (2) a resistance to simplify observations or experiences, (3) a sensitivity to operations, (4) a commitment to resilience, and (5) a deference to expertise.6 Each of these principles will be described highlighting examples for translation (Figure 1).Figure 1.: High-reliability organization principles.The first HRO principle, a preoccupation with failure, is a mindfulness process in which an individual approaches each day with a purposeful watch for unsafe conditions within an organization, while never becoming complacent or satisfied with the current level of safety. Staff members of HROs are continually striving for improvement from the status quo. Performing a failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) helps staff identify potential process failures that have the greatest risk of failure. A FMEA is a proactive approach that not only identifies where a process may fail but also identifies the degree of impact the failed process will create.7,8 Staff are then able to proactively make process changes that improve safety and highlight opportunities for improvement by limiting practice variations. The second HRO principle involves resisting the urge to simplify observations or experiences. This resistance to simplify is an essential principle for process improvement in order for an organization to achieve and maintain a high level of consistent reliability and patient safety. A methodology using a process flow diagram to identify subtle practice variations helps staff identify isolated versus widespread knowledge deficits that involve clinical practice guidelines and standardized patient care bundles. This methodology results in an organization's continued focus on prevention and assessment emphasizing each step of a practice process, which creates a state of ever alertness for subtle threats that may compromise patient safety. The third HRO principle includes maintaining a sensitivity to operations, regardless of how small or insignificant it may seem. Assumptions are never made, and robust process improvement efforts are used to guide assessments. Developing a validation tool from a process flow diagram and FMEA outlines and delineates each step in a patient care process. Often, it is the smallest process failure that poses the greatest threat to an organization's safety. High-reliability organizations do not claim to be error-free, but instead they recognize errors can and will occur. Maintaining this heightened level of sensitivity identifies process variations that threaten an organization's safety. This ongoing sensitivity to operations prepares staff to be preemptively aware of unsafe conditions before they become impossible to manage. The fourth principle of HROs is a commitment to resilience. High-reliability organizations demonstrate resilience when front-line staff demonstrate early recognition of process variations. Leaders at HROs encourage and expect their front-line staff to speak up when they see a potential threat to patient safety. High-reliability organization leaders and staff are extremely aware of resilience and continually maintain a commitment to zero harm regardless of previous organizational success. Implementing a process that creates an environment where front-line staff can safely provide feedback is vital. Performing interprofessional bedside huddles that are led by organizational leadership for the purpose of reviewing patients' plan of care has demonstrated improved outcomes in the healthcare industry.9 Bedside huddles create a real-time learning laboratory, and when performed on a consistent basis, they create a level of trust between the front-line staff and their organizational leadership. This heightened sense of awareness means that both front-line staff and leadership rarely experience a false sense of security, which is essential in maintaining a level of safety that is expected at HROs. The fifth and final principle of HROs is a deference to front-line staff expertise. A consistent presence by organizational leadership through the utilization of bedside huddles provides an excellent opportunity for front-line staff to voice their concerns. Leaders must in turn provide closed-loop communication related to improvements that were created as a result of the information obtained from the frontline during these huddles. Leadership follow-through with real-time changes based on the recommendations of front-line staff builds a relationship of trust and respect, and fosters continuous improvement.6 This enhanced communication creates a process of continuous improvement reflective of a deference to front-line staff expertise. Whenever trust is broken, it becomes increasingly difficult to create a HRO. Deference to front-line staff expertise promotes transformational leadership placing the decision-making responsibility into the hands of those who are ideally positioned to proactively prevent an adverse event. Background Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites an overall 46% decrease in CLABSIs nationwide, there continues to be increasing national attention on the sustainability of CLABSI reduction.5 At the organization of study for this article, the CLABSI rates appeared to increase between 2012 and 2016 in contrast to the national trend. Sensing an opportunity, nursing leadership at the organization analyzed these data and found that overall HAI rates and specifically, CLABSI rates were on the rise. In 2015, the ICU CLABSI rate was 3.15 infections per 1,000 device days, with a 2.10 National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR). During the first 2 quarters of 2016, the rate continued to increase to 5.88 infections per 1,000 device days and a preliminary SIR of 3.9. Both rates were considerably higher than the national benchmark and posed a cause for concern. On further analysis, each CLABSI occurred approximately 10–12 days after the insertion date of the device demonstrating that the infection was not caused during the insertion process but rather during the daily maintenance. Nursing leadership analysis found an increase in nurse turnover ranging from 8.57% to 55.17% between 2012 and 2016, which coincided with the increase in CLABSI rates. This rise in nursing turnover created instability in the ICU contributing to a decrease in Registered Nurse (RN) experience and an increased knowledge deficit surrounding the key aspects of the CVL maintenance care bundle. Further analysis indicated the higher turnover rate created a deficient onboarding program for newly hired nurses, and a failure to ensure initial or continued CVL competence and maintenance education. Improvement Project Design The purpose of the improvement project discussed in this article was to establish the principles of high reliability in the ICU as a method for developing and maintaining a zero tolerance culture for CLABSIs. Using the model for improvement and plan-do-study-act cycle, the leadership team developed and implemented a bundled intervention approach based on the principles of high reliability. Starting in April 2017, the organization's improvement aim was to achieve a 50% decrease in the ICU CLABSI rate by July 1, 2017, and to maintain the reduction consistently over time. Objectives were measured to determine that an improvement had occurred and included an increase in RN awareness and reliable compliance of the components of an evidence-based CVL maintenance bundle and a decrease in CVL device utilization ratio. Following approval by an Institutional Review Board, the intervention bundle was developed and tested to align with high-reliability principles. The project took place in an 18 bed ICU of a 191 bed acute care community hospital located in the southeastern United States. The bundled intervention consisted of the implementation of interprofessional daily device rounds, development of an evidence-based CVL maintenance bundle, implementation of a daily device rounding checklist validation tool, and the development of a real-time learning laboratory. An evaluation plan was developed to measure the bundled interventions. The CLABSI rate metric (infections per 1,000 device days) was used as an internal benchmark for performance comparison preintervention and postintervention. The ICU CVL device utilization ratio was calculated using the number of catheter days divided by the total number of patient days. The overall target was determined to be at or below the NHSN benchmark of 0.34. A comparative analysis of the RN CVL bundle knowledge and utilization was performed on a weekly basis. A tool was created and used by the interprofessional team during daily device rounds. This tool was implemented as a validation checklist to determine the level of RN knowledge and reliable CVL maintenance bundle utilization. The front-line RN must either have demonstrated knowledge of the bundle or have used each step of the bundle indicated on the tool. When the RN did not complete or demonstrate knowledge of one or more aspects of the bundle, the RN was considered to have not completed the bundle and was given no partial credit on the validation tool. The ICU nurse manager completed this validation process during each interprofessional daily device round. These rounds were performed Monday through Friday for a total of eight consistent weeks. At minimum, two of the daily rounds each week were performed during the nightshift with a primary focus on the newly hired RNs and new graduate nurses. Findings A data comparison of preintervention and postintervention analysis included the number of CVL infections from the second quarter of 2017 (April, May, and June) compared with the second quarter of 2016 (April, May, and June). The CLABSI rate for the second quarter of 2017 was 0.0 infections per 1,000 device days compared with 5.85 infections per 1,000 device days in 2016. The yearly ICU CLABSI rate decreased from 3.95 infections per 1,000 device days in 2016 to 2.83 infections per 1,000 device days in 2017. The CVL intervention resulted in an overall improvement of the facility-wide CLABSI rate from 2.93 infections per 1,000 device days in 2016 to 1.04 infections per 1,000 device days in 2017. The improvement aim of a 50% reduction in the ICU CLABSI rates was met by the second quarter of 2017. However, CLABSI reduction remains a focus of the leadership team to ensure sustainability. Baseline RN knowledge and reliable CVL bundle utilization improved from 75% at Week 1 to 100% at Week 8. Weeks 3 and 6 demonstrated lower rates than the initial baseline result at 33% and 69%, respectively. Ninety-one percent of the fulltime RN staff were evaluated, whereas 100% of the newly hired new graduates were included in this evaluation process. Analysis of preintervention and postintervention data indicated a decrease in the ICU's device utilization ratio from 0.34 in the baseline period of 2016 to 0.27 in 2017. The month of June 2017 (0.22) demonstrated the greatest improvement from the baseline period in 2016 (Figure 2).Figure 2.: CVL device utilization. CVL = central venous line; NHSN = National Healthcare Safety Network.Discussion During this project, front-line nursing staff in the ICU demonstrated a strong desire to prevent patient harm. This focus on harm prevention was identified early on during the daily device rounds, which were led by nursing leadership (the ICU Nurse Manager, Director of Quality and Infection Prevention, and the Chief Nurse Executive). At the conclusion of this project, several nursing practice changes were identified. These process changes included an improved communication mechanism, proactive removal of unnecessary CVLs, and a sense of urgency to remove CVLs placed in the femoral area. The front-line staff independently began incorporating additional preventative measures to improve patient outcomes within their unit, such as catheter-associated urinary tract infection, pressure ulcer injury, and early recognition of severe sepsis. The nursing staff developed and implemented a mechanism for improving communication around the CVL maintenance bundle, focusing specifically on reliable utilization of the maintenance process. The communication process included the use of communication boards located in each patient room as a mechanism for improving patient communication and for holding staff accountable for completing the daily CVL maintenance bundle. Completion of the communication boards is now being reliably performed on a daily basis. This communication technique has been further refined to not only include CVL maintenance bundle interventions but also other various patient devices that require specific care interventions to improve patient outcomes (i.e., Foley catheters, ventilator intubations, arterial lines, and feeding tubes). Evaluating CVL necessity has also become part of the nurses' daily assessment. The front-line nurses work collaboratively with the interprofessional patient care team to remove any unnecessary CVLs. During this project, it was found that unnecessary CVL removal was expedited when the ICU nurse had taken the initiative and started a peripheral Intravenous (IV) access proactively before requesting a CVL access removal. This practice change solidified the notion that RNs are aware of circumstances that make having a CVL access no longer necessary. Most attending providers have worked collaboratively with the ICU nurses and support prompt CVL removal when CVL access is no longer necessary. Since the completion of this project, the medical staff members have initiated a hospital-wide policy that any CVL placed outside of the facility, placed under emergent circumstances, or placed in the femoral area shall be removed within 48 hours of insertion. When the patient continues to require CVL access, the attending provider assures that the femoral line is removed and is then placed in a more acceptable insertion site to prevent infection. Intensive care unit nurses work collaboratively within the interprofessional patient care team to make certain that line assessment is completed in a timely manner. When there is push back from an attending provider, the front-line RN will approach nursing leadership to assist in these conversations. Since the completion of this project, the interprofessional device rounds have continued and are now being led independently with the ICU Nurse Manager taking charge and having consistent project ownership. The Director of Quality and Infection Prevention and Chief Nursing Executive continue to participate in the device rounds two to three times weekly. In addition, this leadership device rounding methodology has been implemented in various patient care units within the organization. Since the beginning of this improvement project (April 2017), to date, this facility has experienced only one facility-wide CLABSI (August 2017). Conclusion The principles of high reliability may be used to improve quality and patient safety in healthcare. This improvement project demonstrates how each of the high-reliability principles discussed may be used to develop sustainable improvements in a clinical problem within the hospital setting such as CLABSIs. Table 1 provides measures addressing high-reliability principles to establish interventions used in this project. The outcomes and results are provided for each of the bundled interventions.Table 1.: Findings of HRO Improvement InterventionReferences 1. CDC Vital Signs. Making health care safer: Reducing bloodstream infections. 2011. https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/pdf/2011-03-vitalsigns.pdf. Accessed October 4, 2018. Cited Here 2. Marschall J, Mermel LA, Fakih M. Strategies to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections in acute care hospitals: 2014 update. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2014;35(7):753-771. Cited Here | View Full Text | PubMed | CrossRef 3. Ziegler MJ, Pellegrini DC, Safdar N. Attributable mortality of central line associated bloodstream infection: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Infection. 2014;43(1):29-36. Cited Here | PubMed | CrossRef 4. Schmier JK, Hulme-Lowe CK, Semenova S, et al. Estimated hospital costs associated with preventable health care-associated infections if health care antiseptic products were unavailable. ClinicoEconomics Outcomes Res. 2016;20(6-8):97-205. Cited Here 5. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare.gov hospital compare. 2016. https://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/search.html. Accessed October 4, 2018. Cited Here 6. Chassin MR, Loeb JM. High-reliability health care: Getting there from here. Milbank Q. 2013;91(3):459-490. Cited Here | View Full Text | PubMed | CrossRef 7. Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (2018). Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA). http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/FailureModesandEffectsAnalysisTool.aspx. Accessed October 4, 2018. Cited Here 8. Polancich S, Rue L, Poe T. Proactive risk mitigation: Using the failure modes effects analysis for evaluating vascular access. J Healthc Qual. 2018;40(1):58-65. Cited Here | View Full Text | PubMed | CrossRef 9. Provost SM, Lanham HJ, Leykum LK, McDaniel RR, Pugh J. Health care huddles: Managing complexity to achieve high reliability. Health Care Manage Rev. 2015;40(1):2-12. Cited Here | View Full Text | PubMed | CrossRef Authors' Biographies Beth McCraw, DNP, APRN, is the Vice President of Nursing and Clinical Services at Jennie Stuart Medical Center, Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and is also an Adjunct Instructor in Nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Before her current executive role, which she has held for over 7 years, she served as the Adult Health Clinical Nurse Specialist at Jennie Stuart Medical Center with a focus on process improvement, evidence-based practice, and change. Terri Crutcher, DNP, RN, is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean for Clinical and Community Partnerships at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is currently the interim director of the Nursing and Health Care Leadership master's degree program at Vanderbilt. Shea Polancich, PhD, RN, is a column editor for the Journal of Healthcare Quality Department titled: Translation of Research into Healthcare Quality Practice. Dr. Polancich has been practicing in quality and patient safety for over a decade. She is currently an Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Nursing with a primary practice at the UAB Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama, as a director specializing in nursing improvement, innovation, and analytics. Formerly, her roles included the Director for Quality and Patient Safety at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Director of Data Analysis and Measurement at Texas Health Resources, NIH/NINR research intern, and health policy fellow at George Mason University. She served on an NQF advisory group specific to patient safety and adverse events. Pam Jones, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, is the Senior Associate Dean for Clinical and Community Partnerships at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Before her appointment at the School, she served as the Chief Nursing Officer for the Vanderbilt University Hospital.Keywords:high-reliability; central line–associated bloodstream infections; daily rounding; quality © 2018 National Association for Healthcare QualityView full article text


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#364 - the apology
I tried to comment to Rupert George's post, but it is too bloody difficult to get in - so I gave up.
First time here. Hope you enjoy my posting!
Done - for all those henpecked husbands out there :D
Belated Apology
By Madeleine Begun Kane
"Your apology's rather belated,"
Said the gal to a fellow she hated.
"Your delay makes me fear
That it isn't sincere—
You still had your hair when we dated!"
Madeleine Begun Kane
My first time. I was playing around with wording. I will try to get back soon to read other's post! Thank you.
something which comes straight from my heart today, thanks for helping me vent
First time. This was fun ^_^
Thank you for the invitation to play . . .
Way behind, but here!!! :-)
An apology to myself or to someone else, maybe both.

subset: commoncrawl


text: At 10:33 AM +0200 7/21/99, firstname.lastname@example.com wrote: >hmm ... let me follow up. >I like your 'rule of thumb', but it needs some refinement, IMHO. I agree, but I think the idea is sound. For instance, with .forward. The fact that it can execute a program to list my whereabouts is a feature that I may use (and in fact, have used). The fact that the feature is not necessarily known to system admins, and would violate *some* policies is not reason to be listed in the CVE. If we start doing that, then we need to document every misunderstanding and unclear concept out there -- and Unix or NT alone would generate a few thousand! --spaf


text:
|Airport Levee Trail
Trail: Airport Levee Trail
From the parking lot the trail begins on top of the levee. It continues for 2 miles along Airport Road past Riverside golf course, with a view of farm land on one side and the airport on the other. As it heads towards the freeway it drops off the levee and rises up again to Louisana Ave behind Uhlmann Motors. For the next 1.5 miles the trail is along the sidewalk and roadway of retail businesses - Home Depot, Walmart, K-mart ... back to the parking area on Louisiana Ave.
The levee, protecting the airport from flooding, is an important link in the TransAltaTrail that will eventually connnect Centralia and Chehalis with a traffic-free walking/biking route.
The trail is a result of cooperation between the Corp of Engineers, the Chehalis/Centralia Airport and Lewis County Community Trails. The Corp has repaired the damage from the 2007 flood and the Airport board and LCCT have matched funds to complete the widening and gravelling of the levee surface completing the loop trail.


text:
We don't have this item available for sale at the moment.
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Look for
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IN THE NEWS: Almost 12.5 million children in the United States between 2 and 19 are obese. These rates of have almost tripled from just one generation ago. Dr. Dan Cooper, chairman of the UC Irvine's pediatrics department, says the focus should be on providing kids in school with healthy foods and information about improving their lifestyles.
"Solving this problem is not going to be easy," he says.
Watch video › (We're sorry, the Ebru-TV video is no longer available)


text:
How to Write Metas That Boost Your Serp in 2 Minutes
Word Count
Writing Time
Hourly Rate
Wordapp writer
Wordapper since
Special Powers
Latest Content From the Crowd
How to Write metas that boost your Serp in 2 minutes
What is a Meta Title?
Before we can understand what a Meta Title is we must first understand how search engines find your website and rank it according to the popularity and prevalence of a search. A Meta Tag is a keyword or phrase that search engines can see and rank. A Meta Title is the HTML component of a heading or title that has been created for a web page using the Meta Tag. The Meta Title is what web browsers will display in list form when a search has been conducted. If you have been tasked with writing Meta Titles for Wordapp, you may be thinking that you have a pretty easy job on your hands. However, these little texts need to be masterfully created and engineered to ensure a website's success.
What is a Meta Description?
A Meta Description is exactly what it sounds like – a short description of the information that can be found on a web page. Usually consisting of 150-160 characters these Meta Descriptions will appear directly under the blue link on a search engine list page. They are important for search engine purposes and your click through rate of enticing customers to your website. You should think of the Meta Description as a short advertisement of what is on your site, using it to bring more visitors or sales.
Although Google stated in 2009 that Meta Descriptions do not factor into search engines ranking when human beings use the advanced search options of a website they can set specific HTML meta options. Google will check on the click through rate of a website and the more visitors it has had, the more likely it is that the site is what a searcher is looking for.
What is CTR (click through rate)?
So now it seems important to understand the concept of a Click Through Rate (CTR). Simply put the CTR is the ratio of users who have selected a particular link to the total number of users who view a page or advertisement. Used to measure the success of a web page, your CTR is directly influenced by the quality of your Meta Description.
How to write a good Meta Title
There are a few things that you need to consider when you are creating a Meta Title. The first one is that they should only be 50-60 characters long. But Wordapp will take care of that aspect for you as part of the rules they provide writers with when writing a text.
Step 1: Focus keyword is always first as a rule
You must consider the Keyword placement. You will be provided with the keyword that is most relevant to the particular page you are creating Meta Titles for, but it is your job to include that keyword in the right place. The primary keyword should appear at the very beginning of your title with the less important ones placed further into the character count. Wordapp handles that for you as well, as the rule is set to first for the keyword.
Step 2: Brand and company names
The inclusion of the brand name in the Meta Title is something that can always be considered. Although not a necessary keyword to include, this addition will leave the searcher with a lasting memory of the business or brand you are writing for. Be careful not to overuse any word in a Meta Title or Description for that matter as it will lost it's power and become a blur to the reader if it appears too many times.
Step 3: The purpose is to make the user click on the title to read more
Make it relevant. A Meta Title should reflect the actual content that a user will see when they click on your pages link. For this reason, it is also important not to duplicate titles in any way.
Step 4: It is the Quality of your keywords rather than the Quantity
Do not try to add too many keywords into your Meta Title. Include the most important at the beginning (or as early as you possibly can in the title) and then use this keyword and any other available keywords to create a relevant and descriptive title.
Step 5: Find inspiration by searching for other good meta titles
Before you have settled on a specific Meta Title, search for the keywords that you have been asked to use. This way you can see what is generated in Google search results already and get an idea of what is ranking well for the industry that you are writing for.
If we take the following Meta Title as an example:
- Live Baccarat – Win Big With The Best Live Dealers At redbet
- You can see that the main keyword for this title was the name of the game – Live Baccarat
- There is also a clear description of what you are going to get if you click on the link – A chance to win big, and The best live dealers.
- The brand has been wisely added at the end of the title to allow visitors to remember the site that they are going to be visiting.
Meta titles should be clear and concise and use snappy attention grabbing words to pull or entice a visitor to click on the little blue link that appears on their screen.
How to write a good Meta Description
A Meta Description should be thought of like the last opportunity to create a sales pitch that will entice a searcher to a site. The focus should be on persuading people to click on a page, without sounding too salesy. But it also needs to be accurate and descriptive of the content that is on a page.
Step 1: Call to action
Include a call to action with action orientated language. Learn More, Read, Be Part Of, are all words that inspire people to do something, or be part of something. It draws the reader into the description and invites them to click on the link above and 'get something' out of it.
Step 2: Include a question
Another good way to draw a reader into a description is by asking a question that they may have also been asking. For example 'Looking to bet on your favorite sports team?' This description beginning asks a question, but it is also alluding to the fact that this is a site where you can do such a thing. It is a clever way of inviting the searcher to come to your site and get this done. You are providing a solution or benefit to the actual human being reading your description.
Step 3
Again the character count in Meta Descriptions is important. This is an important factor for you to understand, and not blindly follow the rules that Wordapp has set for you. Meta descriptions should be max 145 characters long because Google will cut off your description within a certain amount of pixels and 120 – 145 characters generally fit into this range.
Note. Wordapp supports minimum and maximum pixel count but not all clients want it.
Step 4: Be honest
A Meta Description must be an honest reflection of what a person is actually going to find on your page. You can package it cleverly and appealingly, but you must not be deceiving in any way. You will be penalized for any such behavior in more ways than one.
Step 5: Be relevant
Be specific and relevant in your creation of a Meta Description by using descriptive language that is appealing to a reader. I am not suggesting that you pack a description with fluff words, but as you only have 145 characters to get your point across learning how to write in a concise, descriptive way is essential to Meta Description creation.
Step 6: Search for inspiration
Again my last tip is to search yourself for the keywords that are going to be used in the Meta Description. Once you see what types of descriptions are out there in relation to the industry that you are writing for, you will be able more clearly see what appeals to your intended audience.
If we take the following Meta Description as an example:
Feel the rush: Experience real money, real dealers, real action; with Live Baccarat at redbet online casino
- Looking at this Meta Description you can see:
There is an invitation for the searcher to click on the link and receive a benefit from doing so – If you click on this link you too can "feel the rush" that is associated with this casino
- The above statement also uses action orientated language by inviting visitors to come to the site and enjoy everything it has to offer.
- There is also an accurate and concise description of what you will find on the site – "real money, real dealers, and real action".
- This description uses the correct amount of keywords to ensure a good ranking while not over stuffing the sentences with too many keywords. Live Baccarat, redbet and Online Casino will all rank highly in a Google Search yet they are worked into the sentence in a seamless way.
redbet Meta Titles and Descriptions:
For this project there are 6 different Meta types that you are going to create:
Utility pages, Specific Pages, Promotions, Homepage, Game pages, and category pages.
Although each one of the Meta Titles and Descriptions are going to be created using the above information and guidelines, it is important that you understand the subtle differences that each one of these pages contains.
The best way to understand the perfect way to create these Meta Titles and Descriptions is to look at the Source URL and google the Keywords that are going be used in the text. Once you understand the content on the page and have researched what is ranking well in Google, it is time to let creativity take over and use your newfound knowledge to create a meta that is inviting, appealing and worthy of a sales copy.
Read the following examples to see how a Meta Title and Meta Description has been created for each page category that you are going to be faced with.
A few notes that are important:
- If you are writing about a game, the name of the game is the most important Keyword and should be used as early as possible in the text
- If you are writing a Meta for a category page, it is important that the specific category you are writing for is mentioned in the meta, for example, /live-casino, or /table-games it is important that this point is conveyed.
- When you are writing for a specific page like Terms and Conditions or FAQ, these words need to be used to describe what is on the page.
- If it is a utility page for redbet, then the brand name must be included when writing about the page
- When you are referring to Live games on the site ensure that you write Live Baccarat or Live Blackjack and not just Baccarat and Blackjack.
- And of course, the brand name is redbet and should be included where possible in a seamless way that fits with the rest of the writing. Also, ensure that you spell redbet without a capital letter as this is the brand you are writing for and should always be spelt correctly.


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What about Size and Volume Restrictions?
When you relocate overseas you may need to ship large items like cars, pianos, boats, recreational vehicles or other things. Make sure your relocation company can handle everything you need and in the volume you require. It can be extremely frustrating to find out there are restrictions after you sign up for service (and the moving process is underway). You will not have to worry about these issues with Fastway Express international moving service. We can handle all size loads and volumes.
Hidden Charges
With some moving companies you may get hit with unexpected "hidden charges". For example, they might not add up fuel charges until the job is over (and this may not show up on the original estimate). Some companies may charge extra for materials like padding and there could be a number of charges and surcharges which can be a most unpleasant surprise after you see the final bill. You won't have to be concerned about this matter. With Fastway Express there are no hidden charges.
Quality Services
Quality is perhaps the most important issue to consider when you hire services. So how can you be sure you are getting high quality? Choose an international moving service with ISO 9001:2008 certification.
What is ISO?
ISO stands for International Organization of Standardization. In order to facilitate international trade, ISO is a worldwide organization setting standards on product and service quality for businesses.
For nearly 70 years, ISO has set standards for thousands of businesses and technologies including food safety, healthcare, agriculture and computers. When you choose an ISO certified international moving service you are assured of the highest quality, safety and reliability.
In order to qualify for an ISO certification a company must meet strict standards of quality, efficiency and waste reduction. An ISO certified company must meet many qualifications, such as:
- Focus on customers
- Leadership
- Quality as a process
- Involve everyone in the organization
- Strive for continued improvement
By focusing on quality we can offer total customer satisfaction. You receive a wide range of services and options and also enjoy guaranteed delivery. To check out the many services we have to offer, go to our home on the Web now at http://fastwayindia.com/.


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So putting on my Afribiz hat, I would like to invite you all to register and participate in our upcoming Venture Development and Project Development workshops as highlighted below.
All of us involved in projects and business development know just how hard it is to access funding. In discussions with major role players we are told that they are desperate to receive proposals for funding that are viable. Come and join us and find out for yourselves. If there are financing houses or companies that are funding enterprise development with no real traction, contact me so that I can send you an invitation for our stakeholder session which will be held on the 18th November 2015
The Innovation Hub and The Afribiz Foundation, under a new partnership, announce the seminar, Project Preparation: Essentials for Project Development scheduled for Monday, November 16, 2015 from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. This seminar is offered for FREE in celebration of the new partnership and Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The Project Preparation seminar is an introduction to the project development process, walking participants through the key elements, activities, and processes so they learn how to unlock resources, partnerships, and funding for their projects. Participants also receive some tools to get them started.
The seminar is particularly helpful for projects that are just an idea or in the early stages and is focused on projects that typically have long-term finance structures like energy, infrastructure, industrial, and public services (health and education). Local experts will also share about available technical support and funding options.
You will find a flyer with a description of the seminar topics covered attached. To register, click the button below.
Brought to you by:
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Advice on how best to integrate a JavaScript spot the ball style competition with eCart
When the user gets to the page (see link below) they will have already selected which product they are playing for, in this case a car. Each car will have a ticket price which entitles the user to one co-ordinates selection. When that selection is made, the details of the co-ordinates should be added to cart along with the ticket price.
It would need to check that the particular co-ordinates were not already in the cart.
What is the best way to approach this as it occurs to me that selecting the co-ordinates should be the 'add to cart' function? I'm not sure how to convert the selection on my sample page to work in this way.
Would appreciate any advice you could offer.
Thank you.


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For you modern styled and environmentally-conscious parents, check out the collection of tasteful, organic cotton apparel and accessories for baby and child at Vonbon. Handmade in small batches in Vancouver, these certified organic items use only water-based inks. Vonbon was founded by sisters Jennifer and Kristin, who couldn't find the style and quality in gifts that they wanted to give to their own friends so they decided to make their own.
The collection at Vonbon is designed around quality fabrics, modern patterns, and neutral palettes that work well for either gender. Baby items are most prominent, with an array of stylish blankets, bibs, headbands, hats, and leggings featuring chic patterns.
Take a look at Vonbon's full collection here. They're based in Vancouver and ship worldwide.


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Created in 1672, Worcester was officially established in 1722. Currently, the city has a population of 181,045 individuals, and its metro area contains more than 923,000 residents. Located approximately 40 miles from the borders of Boston, Worcester is the second biggest city in the state.
The City's Optimal Location
The town is situated within 35 miles of Boston's city center, and Worcester's residents can easily drive to Providence and to Springfield. The city is also surrounded by towns that have especially valuable real estate, and some of these include Northborough, Rutland and Holden.
The average value of houses in Worcester is $229,297, and between 2000 and 2014, this figure almost doubled. The median price for a residence in 2000 was approximately $118,000. In the last year, the values of homes have been boosted by 1.6 percent, and a recent analysis suggested that the median price of houses will rise by 1.3 percent during 2015.
In the city, the market value of detached houses is slightly more than $241,000, yet the average price for townhouses is $198,000. Residential buildings with two full units have an average cost of $217,100. Many houses in Worcester were constructed before 1910, and these historical homes have a higher market value than most newer residences on average.
A study showed that many of the relatively inexpensive homes are situated in the southwestern section of the city. In general, the most valuable real estate is positioned in the northern section of Worcester.
The Residents
During the last 15 years, the population of Worcester has increased by 5.8 percent. Moreover, the number of people who live in Worcester County was augmented by 6.3 percent between 2000 and 2010. According to one analysis, the increase in population has boosted the average price of properties in the region.
Rentals in Worcester
On average, the monthly price for leasing a residence was $900 in 2012, and currently, the cost of renting a home is more than $1,090. This change in price indicates the elevated values of the city's houses. Furthermore, some experts have speculated that the increase in population has directly caused the augmentation of the average rent.
In general, the median rent is slightly lower in the southern part of Worcester than the price of leasing a residence in the northern section. The cost of leasing a house in the city's eastern sector is rising more rapidly than the median rent in the western districts of Worcester.
The Number of Sales
Between December 2013 and November 2014, the amount of housing units that were sold increased by approximately 18 percent, but during the last month, the number of sales dropped significantly. Currently, there are 1,523 homes on the market in Worcester, and the amount of available houses is steadily decreasing.
Analyzing the Demand for Homes
In the city, houses are on the market for 155 days on average. In March 2013, homes generally remained available for 230 days, and in January 2014, residences were on the market for 165 days. This drop in the amount of time that is required to sell a house in Worcester is indicative of a steady rise in demand.
New Apartments
Worcester contains numerous apartment complexes that have received excellent ratings. Some of these include the Wexford Village Apartment Homes, Princeton Place Apartments, Sutton Apartments, Whittier Terrace, Hadley Apartments, Plumley Village East and the Fairways.
The Earnings of Residents
The per capita income in the city is $24,255, and on average, households generated $45,846. In general, the median income in Worcester is lower than that of most cities in Massachusetts, yet the average earnings have been augmented by 2.1 percent in the last year.
Worcester contains numerous universities, such as Assumption College, Clark University, Worcester State University, Becker College and Rob Roy Academy. According to one analysis, the influx of college students raises the values of homes, condominiums and apartments. Every year, thousands of young adults from other schools visit the city in order to attend sporting events, conferences and tours of the universities.
The city has 33 elementary schools, four middle schools and five secondary schools. At the high schools, each class contains less than 17 students on average. Located on Highland Stand, Doherty Memorial High School has the highest ratings in the city.
Medical Centers
Saint Vincent Hospital is situated near the city center. The facility has an especially large emergency room, and every year, more than 65,000 patients visit the hospital. Furthermore, many residents are treated at the UMass Memorial Medical Center. This hospital receives approximately 135,000 patients every year.
If a senior citizen is injured, the resident usually stays at the Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital. This facility has been given numerous accreditations from the Department of Public Health, and the Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital provides physical therapy and manages numerous support groups.
Several major highways pass through Worcester, and Interstate 90 is utilized by more inhabitants of the city than any other freeways in the region. When traveling southward, residents usually use Interstate 290, which is linked to Interstate 395. Drivers who are going northward commonly travel on Interstate 190, and this highway provides easy access to Route 2. When driving to New Hampshire and to Maine, residents generally utilize Interstate 495 and Interstate 95.
Other Types of Transportation
Positioned to the west of the city center, the Worcester Regional Airport welcomes more than 100,000 passengers annually, and 65 aircraft are based at the facility. The airport is preparing to expand its runways, its accommodations and its terminals during the next 10 years. By 2027, Worcester Regional Airport should be able to handle 500,000 passengers per year.
The city has several rails, and the main hubs of the Worcester Regional Transit Authority are situated on Front Street. Moreover, Greyhound's bus stations are positioned in close proximity to the railway's major stops.
Finding a House or a Condo
The experts at Boston City Properties can provide an extensive list of available residences in Worcester. The company offers 24/7 services, and the business is able to provide detailed information about the real estate market in Worcester. To schedule a free consultation, you can complete the form on the company's site. Additionally, you may check out some of the enterprise's outstanding reviews by visiting the company's page on Facebook.
Worcester is now experiencing an exciting real estate boom. In many cases, the people who are putting their homes on the market are being inundated with offers. Bids are frequently exceeding ― sometimes far exceeding ― the initial asking prices, and open houses are bustling events.
The Great Turnaround
It's been years since this city's housing market has performed at these levels. From 2005 to 2011, the median home price fell about 37 percent, and the overall number of home sales went down approximately 44 percent.
What accounts for this success? For one thing, mortgage rates have generally been falling while rents have been going up in many places. Thus, buying homes in the region has become more attractive than renting for many people.
Local real estate suffered through especially hard times due to the recession that began in 2007 and its financial aftermath. In recent months, though, the unemployment rate has been falling, and other leading economic indicators are looking brighter, which has been giving many consumers the confidence to start purchasing properties once again.
In this region, home prices and the total number of home sales began to go up in 2011. However, unlike what ultimately happened with the housing bubble of the 2000s, this growth shouldn't come crashing down in the near future. That's because lending institutions are screening their borrowers more effectively these days, which means that people who secure home loans are much more likely to pay them back in full.
Therefore, foreclosures should be kept to a minimum in the years to come. That's terrific news. After all, even years after the housing crisis of the late 2000s took place, hundreds of area homes are still going through the foreclosure process.
Be aware that if you'd like to buy a home in this city, you'll probably face some competition. Demand is high, and relatively few houses are under construction right now. Thus, if you find a seller who's interested in your bid, you might have to act fast. However, when you obtain the help of an expert in realty, you'll have an easier time. Not to mention, the process of house hunting can be lots of fun.
Types of Housing
What's it like to live in this metropolis? The city features various kinds of housing, including townhomes, condominiums, apartments, single-family houses, multi-family houses, and lofts. It offers plenty of affordable options as well.
There are lovely neighborhoods with quiet avenues and leafy trees. Living in one of those places feels like living in a small, cozy suburb. At the same time, their residents are close to all of the attractions of a large city.
In addition, there are busier city streets with apartments and condos, some of which are located inside former factories. Those residences frequently sport beautiful wood flooring and stately brick walls. Many of the community's older mill buildings are elaborate in their design; they're breathtaking examples of Victorian architecture
In short, in this city, you should be able to locate just about any sort of housing that you have in mind.
A City on the Move
Worcester, which was incorporated in 1848, is a dynamic and ever-evolving midsize city. It has more than 181,000 residents, and it's New England's second largest city. So far, it has won the All-America City Award, which the National Civic League presents each year, five times.
The community, which is about 38 square miles in area, is famous for its seven rolling hills, which provide stunning views of their surroundings. The two major bodies of water there are Lake Quinsigamond in the eastern part of town and the graceful Blackstone River. The waterfront homes are particularly scenic and attractive.
The city is home to nine colleges and universities, and more institutions of higher learning are located nearby. It's an unusually large number of schools for a community of this size. Those colleges include a public medical school, a veterinary school, and an institute of technology. Therefore, whenever residents want to catch a college ball game, a theatrical production, or an academic lecture, they have plenty of options.
All over town, you'll find fine restaurants, both casual and upscale, as well as outstanding performing arts centers. You can always stroll around and visit a library, an art gallery, or a concert venue. There are many unusual, eclectic, and charming independent shops in and around the city, and vibrant music and cultural festivals for the entire family are fairly common events.
The museums in town are especially noteworthy. The Higgins Armory Museum, to name one, will transport you back to the medieval days of knights on steeds. For its part, the city's main art museum, which debuted in 1898, is full of grand treasures. You can explore a Renaissance-era courtyard, a room from a French monastery that dates back to the 1100s, and a wide range of masterpieces from various nations and centuries.
About 6 million people live within 50 miles of this city. Therefore, if you plan to open a business there, you'll have a large base of potential customers. Indeed, companies of all sizes are able to thrive in this metropolis. The city is especially known for its medical research facilities, and the healthcare industry employs many of its residents. Further, it's still one of the top manufacturing centers in the U.S., a distinction that it's held for a couple of centuries. On top of that, information technology has become a major economic force in the region.
The city offers an extensive system of public transportation. Its commuter rail is undergoing expansion and improvement, and construction crews are rebuilding some of the roads in the region. Note that it takes about an hour to drive to Boston and even less time to make it to Providence.
Finally, it's easy for your friends and family members to visit you when you live in Worcester. The metropolitan area boasts an airport and about 1,000 hotel rooms, which suit a wide range of tastes and budgets.


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Rainy days don't have to be boring in the summertime. Go outside and play!
We made a dam in the gutter out of twigs, sandy dirt, and leaves.
Then we made a boat out of two layers of printer paper folded in half together. It gets soggy after a while, but it is fun to play with until then. It is also a nice homemade bath toy.
We learned how to make a paper boat from "Curious George rides a bike," by Margret and H.A. Rey. The newspaper boy asks George to deliver his papers one day. And what does George do with the newspapers? After delivering a few of them, he makes the rest into boats.
This is how he did it. "First, he folded down the corners like this:
then he folded both edges up,
brought the ends together
and flattened it sidewise.
Then he turned one corner up,
then the other one,
again brought the ends together
and flattened it sidewise,
Then, gently, he pulled the ends open-
and there was his BOAT!"
Here is our boat floating on the little gutter puddle we made with the dam.
What do you like to do on a rainy day? If you need any more ideas, read this wonderful book about playing outside on a rainy day. It's called "Rain," by Peter Spier. You'll never want to miss the fun of a rainy day outside again.


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Inflatable Amnesty Unboxing on YouTube
As those of you who follow us on Instagram may know, when we receive broken inflatables through the post as part of our Inflatable Amnesty®, we unbox them in our workshop and broadcast it live in our Insta stories... before turning them into bags
Well, lots of you have asked if we can make them visible for longer than the original clips on our page, SO, we have started uploading them to our YouTube channel... [as you can see, by our teeny tiny amount of subscribers...] We don't tend to use our channel much, so hopefully we will now start uploading more content to share with you!
Heres the first video...[eeek!] Apparently, if you subscribe, thats good too?!
We also have a dedicated Facebook group for our Inflatable Amnesty, which you can join here...
Have a GREAT Wednesday!
G&S x


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Apple's New Subscription Rules Go Into Effect for Developers
Apple's new subscription service rules have gone live, which means developers will receive more money if they are able to maintain long-term subscribers. In a microsite dedicated to the new rules, besides detailing the new rules, Apple offers some good advice for developers to enable the subscription service (via The Verge).
With an auto-renewable subscriptions app, developers can give user access to content or services from within their apps on an ongoing basis, and Apple says this is a good way to offer free trials to users. For example, when a user signs up for a subscription (as Apple did with its music streaming service), the subscription begins immediately but won't be billed until the trial period is over. How long this trial period is depends on the developer, but one thing is certain: a one-month subscription cannot offer a free trial longer than one month.
As mentioned in the June announcement, Apple will reduce its cut to half after a year. So far, Apple's cut has been 30%, with the developer getting 70%. Now, this changes to 15% if the subscriber accumulates a year of paid service (the developer getting 85%).
The catch is, if the user cancels the subscription after a year and a half and then resubscribes, Apple's cut will return to 30% for the next 12 months for that specific user.
Also, app makers cannot offer a three-month subscription at a (let's say) $2.99 introductory price and then raise the price to $3.99, because it would raise the price for all users at $2.99, regardless of how long they have been billed at this price.
You can read all the details of the new subscription rules by visiting Apple's dedicated microsite.


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Do you remember the coolest party ever that we did with our dear friends of Individual Medley in The Salon? So, so good. Well, Monica and Justin are hosting a celebration of this blog launch at their cool store tomorrow! Please come join us, if not, check out their website or try to make it to their store. They have the best curated items ever. It is my go to for all gifts (admittedly, many for myself). I love this store!
Photo: Jennifer Emerling


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Me | Kileen
Lately, I have been drawn to wanting to fill my closet with my neutrals and basics like this bohemian style little black dress. Just the other day I donated 19 bags of clothes, yes 19, and well my parents helped me organize and bag them up and do it. Seriously, they are the BEST ever! However, my clothes still embarrassingly take up 3 closets. But more and more I am drawn to pieces that are neutral, classic, but still fit my style. Because of the little crochet lace detail at the top of this dress… it was totally calling my name. I just love how flowy it is too and I wanted to style it with a felt hat and booties as fall is finally here, even though it is like still 80-90 degrees out, in Utah (so weird)!
Outfit Details:
Dress: Filly Flair (similar here and here)
Boots: Riffraff
Bag: Madewell
Necklace: Olive + Piper
Bracelet: Pink Peonies
Photography by Haley Nord
And last week's most click link for that On Trend Tuesday's linkup post is Erin of Happily Howards! Girl, I am totally obsessed with your sleeveless trench and think I need one for myself!
Feel free to link up your fashion post below! Please make sure to add the button or link back to myself and Cute & Little in your post and go and comment on at least 5 other blogs, please please!!! 🙂 We want this to be a community of fashionistas to keep you inspired and supporting each other is what we are all about! 🙂


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Andrade, António Ramos and Stow, Julian (2017) Assessing the efficiency of maintenance operators: a case study of turning railway wheelsets on an under-floor wheel lathe. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part O: Journal of Risk and Reliability, 231 (2). pp. 155-163. ISSN 1748-006X
- Accepted Version
Download (783kB) | Preview
The present paper assesses the technical efficiency of different operators turning railway wheelsets on a under-floor wheel lathe. This type of lathe is a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine used to turn wheelsets in-situ on the train. As railway wheels are turned, a certain amount of the wheel diameter is lost to restore the tread profile and full flange thickness of the wheel. The technical efficiencies of the different wheel lathe operators are assessed using a Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA), whilst controlling for other explaining variables such as the flange thickness and the occurrence of rolling contact fatigue (RCF) defects, wheel flats and cavities. Different model specifications for the SFA are compared with Linear Mixed Model (LMM) specifications, showing that the SFA model exhibits a better Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).
|Item Type:
|Additional Information:
|Copyright © 2017 IMechE. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.
|Uncontrolled Keywords:
|railway engineering, railway wheelsets, Technical Efficiency; Railway maintenance; Stochastic Frontier Analysis; Linear Mixed Models; Performance modelling
|T Technology > T Technology (General)
T Technology > TF Railroad engineering and operation
T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
|School of Computing and Engineering
School of Computing and Engineering > Institute of Railway Research
|Related URLs:
|Depositing User:
|Julian Stow
|Date Deposited:
|03 Jul 2017 09:27
|Last Modified:
|28 Aug 2021 15:52
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Tonga, April 23, 2017 - Family is central to life in Tonga. And celebrating family, and time spent together is the focus of a new World Bank-supported campaign encouraging Tongan parents and family members to dedicate 10 minutes each day to reading with their child.
The campaign, Laukonga Mo e Fanau (Read with your child in Tongan) aims to tackle an issue identified in a recent World Bank-led study as one of the key barriers to children's development and success at school: that many children have not had enough nurturing, early childhood experiences — such as reading together with their loved ones—and as a result, arrive at school unprepared to take on the challenges of a new environment.
"Our study showed that a large number of children between three and five didn't know how to hold a book," said Siosi Tapueluelu, the World Bank's Senior Operations Officer in Tonga. "Many couldn't draw a recognizable figure or shape, and the majority lacked perseverance; the push to finish what they started. These skills are critical for early childhood development, and being ready for school on Day 1."
The research further delved into the potential causes:
- 35% of children aged 3, 4 and 5 had not been read to in the three days before the study;
- Many had not participated in any activities at home that would develop their social skills and cognitive development;
- Around 70% of Tongan families have nothing to read at home to; among those who do, the materials may not be age appropriate or written in a language the child is most familiar with.
"Children who have a family member read with them are able to achieve better reading and comprehension in both Grades 1 and 2," added Tapueluelu. "By reading regularly with your child, not only are you strengthening your relationship, but also helping to build the foundations that will help your child become a better reader."
The benefits of this time spent reading together are exactly what the Laukonga Mo e Fanau campaign, which has been supported by the World Bank with funding from the Global Partnership for Education, aims to emphasize. The campaign, now underway across Tonga, aims to increase the number of children being read to regularly from 65% to 80% by the end of 2017.
Yet for Laukonga Mo e Fanau to be a success, it would need to tackle the issue in a distinctly Tongan way, argued Lena Moimoi, from Brand X, the Tongan marketing agency supporting the campaign.
"It was crucial for us that the campaign was aligned with the values most important to Tongans; the values of family, of community and faith, and how reading together will strengthen family bonds," said Ms Moimoi.
"That's why the campaign focuses on the idea of 'shared reading' – where parents ask questions of children as they read, and engage children about what is happening in the book. It gives suggestions to parents, grandparents and other family members on how to read with children; such as devoting regular time and the types of questions to ask your child before, during and after reading together," she said.


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A card game of trumps will see you pitting CPU against CPU in, perhaps, the geekiest battle we've ever seen.
Around 28,693 Kickstarter projects have been successfully funded since the site's beginnings, but here's one that has actually shipped.
CPU Wars is elementary, really: each of 30 cards detail the specs of a CPU chip. The deck is split evenly between the players; as your turn comes around, you lay out your mightiest card, in the style of Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering, in order to try and get all of the cards.
Instead of spells or moves, the specs are clock speed, bus speed, the year the chip was launched, transistor count, data width, manufacturing process, die size and max TDP. If you don't know what these things are, you'll probably learn pretty quickly — each card has a brief description of the CPU, so there's a lot of potential for education here.
The concept came from engineer Harry Mylonadis, who wanted something quick and fun to do in his work breaks to let his mind relax. He spent six months researching CPU specs, actually collecting the chips and creating the game before launching to Kickstarter. He made a whopping US$17,752 of his US$3500 goal, and now he has opened up a website where everyone can purchase the game.
A single deck comes in at £7.99 (around AU$12.20), two decks at £13.99 (AU$21.35) and five decks at £28.99 (AU$44.23) — for all your super-nerdy party needs.
Head on over to the CPU Wars website to snare the game for yourself.


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Tag Archives: pamela anderson and kid rock
The Budweiser Test For Higher Office. Should Kid Rock Be Vice-President?
I'm getting an eerie deja vu experience as we move towards the election. I remember one of the big reasons many people cited for voting for Bush was that "he seemed like he would be a good guy to have a beer with". Now I am hearing the same chatter for Sarah Palin. Continue reading
Posted in Politics


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Makeover Games for Girls
Game Description
This nerdy girl is very intelligent but she is not good at all on beauty and fashion stuff. She could be very cute with a little help from a girl with styling skills. What do you think? Can you make her look chic and fashionable? Go and get her from the library and take her into your beauty salon! Give her a skin treatment, pluck her eyebrows, then do her hair, make her up and find something fashionable to dress her up! In the end she will be a new person. Enjoy!
Game Instruction / Controls
Use the mouse to click the makeover items to change the girl's look.
Rated 3.72/5 (5459 Votes)
Source: www.girlgames4u.com
Back to School - Makeover Games
Mobile Application (Bweb media)
You might also like:
We had a camping party at that age
And had a great blast with it. My only concern would be how cold it may get at night there? If it gets too cold, it could ruin camping out since you'd be sitting there shivering.
But really, she's 8. Just invite some friends over, play some silly little games, let them sit around and talk big girl talk, maybe do a makeover or something for the girls and she'll love it. They're still pretty easy to please at that age
Nail Makeover - Girls Games
Mobile Application (6677g ltd)
Related posts:


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#381) Climate Boredom: Muller vs. Mozart
February 2nd, 2015
After my panel last week with Derek Muller at the North American Carbon Program meeting in DC a few people noted how Derek and his video on climate boredom point to the subject of climate as inherently boring whereas I point to the communicators themselves as doing an inadequate job. Let's take a closer look at this divide.
IS CLIMATE INHERENTLY BORING? I have a feeling this delegate from Iran to the recent climate change conference in Peru would say so.
Derek Muller produces awesome videos on his Youtube Channel Veritasium. In our panel he showed his video, "Climate Change is Boring." Towards the end of the video he says, "The real reason I find climate change boring is because we know what the problem is — the science is well established and the solutions are fairly obvious, and yet action is not being taken."
I love the video, but I don't agree with his premise that climate is somehow intrinsically boring and thus a hopelessly difficult subject to communicate. I think there's plenty of reason for hope that some day someone will produce a film about global warming that involves such excellent storytelling that generations will want to watch and rewatch it as much as "The Wizard of Oz." Here's how that could happen.
I love innovation and creativity. I pretty much live for it. And I know it requires less literal thinking.
A great case study of the power of innovation and creativity is what happened with the life story of Mozart in the movies. It's a good parable for this climate boredom problem.
Similar to the subject of climate, for decades in Hollywood the subject of Mozart was seen as too boring to be the focus of an entire movie — there just wasn't a good story. People figured he was such a genius, there must be a good story. But there wasn't. There was only the "and, and, and" elements of a good resume: Mozart was a child prodigy AND he was a teen prodigy AND in his twenties he continued to be a genius AND by the time of his death at just 35 he was … still pretty much of a genius.
You could make a movie of all that, and the Mozart fans would probably love it as they got to hear their favorite music and coo over how amazing he was. But that's not great storytelling. That's a journey from Point A to Point A. And as a result, no one was able to make a memorable movie about Mozart. All the way up until 1984.
Finally a brilliant playwright named Peter Shaffer cracked the nut. Instead of telling the one dimensional story of Mozart the genius, he took a less literal, more creative approach to the material. He discovered this other character — Salieri — a man whose life story was indeed an interesting journey. Salieri began life thinking he was a peer to Mozart, but by the end of his life was forced to accept that he was a mere mortal, not made of the same stock as Mozart the genius, and thus ended his life a bitter and jealous man, filled with the sort of human frailties that interest audiences.
The play was turned into the movie "Amadeus," which is #53 on the AFI List of 100 Greatest Movies. It's one of my all-time favorite movies. And it should be an inspiration to people wanting to communicate about climate in a way that will stick with people many years later.
The fact is, it would have been easy in 1980 to say, "Face it, Mozart is boring, you'll never manage to interest people in him." But after the movie came out no one would have called Mozart boring.
THE SCIENCE COMMUNICATION HIPPOCRATIC OATH: "First, Do No Boredom"
I have said before, science communicators should almost take a sort of Hippocratic Oath swearing that there is no such thing as a boring subject, only inadequate communicators.
It's the truth. Just watch HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. They manage to take the most trivial and unknown of sports events and tell fascinating stories set in those worlds because they have the ability to spot an interesting story when it comes along.
Perhaps some day the climate communication people, with all their good intentions, will develop this ability. But for now all they seem capable of is telling endless preachy "and, and, and" pieces that simply make things worse. And make it easy to feel like the subject of climate is inherently boring.
Some day someone will crack the climate communication nut as well as Peter Shaffer did for Mozart. And it will be great. And transformative as overnight people suddenly think climate is interesting. I will happen eventually, I'm sure of it. But until then, all I see is a dire shortage of creativity.
And if you want to see the consequences of the one dimensional, "and, and, and" approach all you have to do is watch the recent movie, "Unbroken." The book was tremendous, but what Angelina Jolie did was sad and inept. She made a movie that was exactly the sort of one dimensional "and, and, and" piece that I'm bemoaning here. Her movie ended up being a series of episodes of Louis Zamperini overcoming one challenge after another. No arc, no complexity, no inner journey. Just a resume of accomplishments.
The Motion Picture Academy actually regained some of my respect by announcing only 8 nominations for the potential 10 Best Picture slots this year. Universal Studios spent all last year saying "Unbroken" would be a guaranteed nominee. Not only did it not get a nod, it's doubly painful because it wasn't like there too many nominees this year. There weren't. The Academy basically said, "We've got space for your movie, but it's just not very good."
"Unbroken" ended up with around 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, but even most of the favorable reviews really weren't that favorable. Angelina has learned the hard way there is more to storytelling than just listing facts. Telling good stories is hard, but absolutely essential to break out of the core demographic of followers.


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Beyond the fact that I still, like DougJ, can't figure out why conservatives are so damned caught up in trying to analyze culture through their own myopic lens, but this Ross Douthat piece matches a trend I've noticed lately, the push to provide legal protections for the unborn. I've been picking up rumblings about this for a couple weeks, and I'm not sure what is going on. My best guess is with the tea party wingnuts in the GOP sucking all the air out of the room with their new fiscal austerity, and the social cons stinging from their defeat on DADT, they have decided to ramp up the abortion issue to remind the GOP that the godbotherers are still relevant in the party. My favorite portion of the piece:
In every era, there's been a tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the burden of infertility. But this gap used to be bridged by adoption far more frequently than it is today.
What exactly is he suggesting? Who knows, but every time the anti-abortion crowd starts trying for new restrictions on abortion, they always use the language of compromise. Yet time and time again, they fail to realize we already have compromised on this issue- if Ross and his wife don't want an abortion, we won't force them to have one. Likewise, he can pipe down about what other couples do when they get pregnant. That, folks, is a compromise. How many kids has Ross adopted?
And btw, it is worth pointing out that aside from Douthat's usual drivel, he still has not managed to figure out that those unborn babies he so cherishes all reside in, you know, actual people who might just have a say in what Ross wants to do to their bodies.


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29th December 2017 – In the morning I finished some t&g one one side. I made a mistake yesterday evening and I had to solve it before I could do something else. It bothered me to much.
In the afternoon, I unloaded my van. It was the only dry period that day. I finished with building some more frames for the insulation in the sides.


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[continued from previous post]
Following a brief drum improv, which during the course of the long concert served to act a palate cleansers between movements of the concert at large, we next heard a song from the one King Crimson studio album I do not own. I had bought a copy of "Islands" around 18 years ago only to come to the conclusion that it was not speaking to me at all. The only of their studio albums that I could say that about. Since this was a track that I did not recognize, ergo, it had to be from "Islands." The song was a delicate pastoral ballad of tremolos and the clear, earnest vocals of Mr. Jakszyk. For the first 90 seconds at least, then the band erupted into life for several bars until Mel Collins took a lengthy solo on his baritone sax, which traveled down the jazz road, gradually becoming more and more distraught until Fripp's shimmering peals of guitar edged Collins into full skronk territory. The song was "The Letters" and I certainly did not remember anything remotely like this.
At the song's midpoint, the drumline had by that time joined Collins in free jazz territory. It was at this point that the thought had occurred to me that I maybe needed to give the "Islands" album another chance. If only to see how far they took it down a completely different path with the song dramatically expanded with Collins' solo to almost twice its album length. After three minutes of frantic riffing from Collins, his tone began to subdue until the song rested in a moment of silence at the 6:30 point, prompting a round of applause before Jakszyk broke the spell with his melodramatic pronouncement of "…impaled on nails of ice!" to the full force of the entire band taking this unsettling version of "The Letters" to its conclusion. Collins then switched to flute to underscore the fact that the band had quickly dropped out, leaving Jakszyk alone in the spotlight to conclude the song as if it had been a suicide note all along.
In a fit of synchronicity, King Crimson [via DGMlive.com] have now made this Raleigh performance of"The Letters" available as a free download for one and all. Click Here and opt to "purchase show" and then the option to download the MP3 of it will manifest.
The next song could not have been more surprising, if only because it was not actually a King Crimson song. The next song was a deep cut from Robert Fripp's debut solo album. "Breathless" from "Exposure!" This was a real treat for the inveterate Fripp fan who had never heard anything from this album live before. Any solo touring that Fripp had done from 1979-1981 featured only Frippertronic improvs or the League Of Gentlemen material. Incendiary material like "Breathless" had never been played live before…until now. The interlock between Fripp and Levin, who had reprised his session appearance on the song was as nerve-wrackiing and accomplished as the album version had been 38 years earlier.
Following that frenzied peak of "Breathless" another track from "Islands" got an airing. This time it was the delicate yet epic title ballad that featured a rare turn of Collins soothing our collective brows with a sweet and tender tenor sax solo that played delightful counterpoint to the plaintive vocals of Jakszyk that carried this soothing number. The exercise in contrasts that this band was capable of was never more concisely delineated than in the juxtaposition of the preceding "Breathless" and this lilting number. Again, I found myself wondering if I had actually heard the "Islands" album all those years earlier. I would definitely need to revisit a copy soon.
Finally, the first half of the set would see them playing a number that I was lucky enough to have heard only the first time I saw King Crimson in 1995. The screaming seagull sounds heralded my first serious goosebump moment of the concert this evening as the band began playing "Larks Tongues In Aspic Part II." This was quite a number. It had been seared into my brain most powerfully on the video of King Crimson live in Japan from the 1984 tour, which I have on laserdisc. From that point on it was one of my go-to Crimson tracks. In the week before the concert I was listening to lots of King Crimson, but this track more than any other, was simply lodged in my cranium for days at a time. The ascending riff forms a perfect Mobius loop of sound spiraling ever upward towards the point of orgasmic release, which the song ultimately delivers.
This night the version played was significantly altered by the trio of drummers and the presence of Mel Collins. The early, brutish stages of the song featured pummeling drums that were magnified considerably by the sheer number of players involved as the guitar riffs were played. Then, the added sax of Mel Collins served to create extra pressure as he picked up what was David Cross' violin solo on the original album version. Through it all, Fripp's ascending guitar riff kept returning to circle upward until the song's peak where the three drummers managed to coalesce into a accelerating, rolling percussive sound not unlike a hard rubber ball bouncing faster and faster on a hard surface as it loses its inertia before Fripp's and Jakszyk's final climactic blast of notes were joined by Collin's trilling sax for an ending you'd never forget. Insert standing ovation.
Next: …The Second Act


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Blog Archives
The national wealth service: Problem gambling is a health issue
Posted by drmarkgriffiths
Over the last decade, the United Kingdom has undergone major changes of gambling legislation (most notably, the 2005 Gambling Act that came into force on September 1, 2007). The Gambling Act has provided the British public with increased opportunities and access to gambling like they have never seen before. Gambling legislation was revolutionized and many of the tight restrictions on gambling dating back to the 1968 Gaming Act were relaxed (particularly in relation to the advertising of gambling). The deregulation of gambling has also been coupled with the many new media in which people can gamble (internet gambling, mobile phone gambling, interactive television gambling, gambling via social networking sites). Given the expected explosion in gambling opportunities, is this something that the health and medical professions should be concerned about?
Gambling has not been traditionally viewed as a public health matter although research into the health, social and economic impacts of gambling has grown considerably since the 1990s. In August 1995, the British Medical Journal published an editorial called 'Gambling with the nation's health?' which argued that gambling was a health issue because it widened the inequalities of income and that there was an association between inequality of income in industrialized countries and lower life expectancy. However, there are many other more specific reasons why gambling should be viewed as an issue for the medical profession.
According to the last British Gambling Prevalence Survey (BGPS) published in 2011, just under 1% of the British population have a severe gambling problem although the rate is approximately twice as high in adolescents, particularly as a result of problematic slot machine gambling. Disordered gambling is characterized by unrealistic optimism on the gambler's part. All bets are made in an effort to recoup their losses. The result is that instead of "cutting their losses", gamblers get deeper into debt pre-occupying themselves with gambling, determined that a big win will repay their loans and solve all their problems.
It is clear that the social and health costs of problem gambling can be large on both an individual and societal level. Personal costs can include irritability, extreme moodiness, problems with personal relationships (including divorce), absenteeism from work, family neglect, and bankruptcy. I have also reported in a number of my papers (including a 2007 report I wrote for the British Medical Association) that there can also be adverse health consequences for both the gambler and their partner including depression, insomnia, intestinal disorders, migraines, and other stress-related disorders. In the UK, preliminary analysis of the calls to the national gambling helpline also indicated that a significant minority of the callers reported health-related consequences as a result of their problem gambling. These include depression, anxiety, stomach problems, other stress-related disorders and suicidal ideation.
There are also other issues relating to problem gambling that may have medical consequences. One US study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine by Dr. Robert Muellman and his colleagues found that intimate partner violence (IPV) was predicted by pathological gambling in the perpetrator. In a sample of 286 women admitted to the emergency department at a University Hospital in Nebraska, findings revealed that a woman whose partner was a problem gambler was 10.5 times more likely to be a victim of IPV than partners of a non-problem gambler.
Health-related problems due to problem gambling can also result from withdrawal effects. In a study published in the American Journal of the Addictions, Dr. Richard Rosenthal and Dr. Henry Lesieur found that at least 65% of pathological gamblers reported at least one physical side-effect during withdrawal including insomnia, headaches, upset stomach, loss of appetite, physical weakness, heart racing, muscle aches, breathing difficulty and/or chills. Their results were also compared to the withdrawal effects from a substance-dependent control group. They concluded that pathological gamblers experienced more physical withdrawal effects when attempting to stop than the substance-dependent group. I also found similar things in a small study that I published in the Social Psychological Review (with Michael Smeaton).
Pathological gambling is very much the 'hidden' addiction. Unlike (say) alcoholism, there is no slurred speech and no stumbling into work. Furthermore, overt signs of problems often don't occur until late in the pathological gambler's career. If problem gambling is an addiction that can destroy families and have medical consequences, it becomes clear that medical professionals should be aware of the effects of gambling in just the same way that they are with other potentially addictive activities like drinking (alcohol) and smoking (nicotine).
However, gambling addiction is an activity that is not (at present) being treated via the British National Health Service (NHS). This was shown in a paper that I published with Dr. Jane Rigbye in a paper we published in a 2011 issue of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. We sent a total of 327 letters were sent to all Primary Care Trusts, Foundation Trusts and Mental Health Trusts in the UK requesting information about problem gambling service provision and past year treatment of gambling problems within their Trust under the Freedom of Information Act. Our findings showed that 97% of the NHS Trusts did not provide any service (specialist or otherwise) for treating those with gambling problems (i.e., only nine Trusts provided evidence of how they deal with problem gambling). Only one Trust offered dedicated specialist help for problem gambling. Our study showed there was some evidence that problem gamblers may get treatment via the NHS if that person has other co-morbid disorders as the primary referral problem.
Problem gambling is very much a health issue that needs to be taken seriously by all within the health and medical professions. General practitioners routinely ask patients about smoking and drinking but gambling is something that is not generally discussed. Problem gambling may be perceived as a somewhat 'grey area' in the field of health and it is therefore very easy to deny that those in the medical profession should be playing a role. If the main aim of practitioners is to ensure the health of their patients, then it is quite clear that an awareness of gambling and the issues surrounding it should be an important part of basic knowledge.
As briefly outlined above, opportunities to gamble and access to gambling have increased because of deregulation and technology. What has been demonstrated from research evidence in other countries is that – in general – where accessibility of gambling is increased there is an increase not only in the number of regular gamblers but also an increase in the number of problem gamblers – although this may not be proportional. This obviously means that not everyone is susceptible to developing gambling addictions but it does mean that at a societal (rather than individual) level, in general, the more gambling opportunities, the more problems. Other countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand have seen increases in problem gambling as a result of gambling liberalization. In the UK, the last BGPS showed that problem gambling in Great Britain had increased by 50% compared to the previous BGPS published in 2007. (However, the latest data from the combined Health Survey for England and the Scottish Health Survey in 2014 reported that problem gambling had fallen to about 0.5%).
Gambling is without doubt a health and issue and there is an urgent need to enhance awareness within the medical and health professions about gambling-related problems and to develop effective strategies to prevent and treat problem gambling. The rapid expansion of gambling represents a significant public health concern and health/medical practitioners also need to research into the impact of gambling on vulnerable, at-risk, and special populations. It is inevitable that a small minority of people will become casualties of gambling in the UK, and therefore help should be provided for the problem gamblers. Since gambling is here to stay and is effectively state-sponsored, the Government should consider giving priority funding (out of taxes raised from gambling revenue) to organizations and practitioners who provide advice, counselling and treatment for people with severe gambling problems.
Dr. Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
Further reading
Griffiths, M.D. (2004). Betting your life on it: Problem gambling has clear health related consequences. British Medical Journal, 329, 1055-1056.
Griffiths, M.D. (2007). Gambling Addiction and its Treatment Within the NHS. London: British Medical Association.
Griffiths, M.D. (2011). Adolescent gambling. In B. Bradford Brown & Mitch Prinstein (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (Volume 3) (pp.11-20). San Diego: Academic Press.
Griffiths, M.D., Scarfe, A. & Bellringer, P. (1999). The UK National telephone Helpline – Results on the first year of operation. Journal of Gambling Studies, 15, 83-90.
McKee, M. & Sassi, F. (1995). Gambling with the nation's health. British Medical Journal, 311, 521-522.
Muelleman, R. L., DenOtter, T., Wadman, M. C., Tran, T. P., & Anderson, J. (2002). Problem gambling in the partner of the emergency department patient as a risk factor for intimate partner violence. Journal of Emergency Medicine, 23, 307-312.
Rigbye, J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2011). Problem gambling treatment within the British National Health Service. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 9, 276-281.
Rosenthal, R. & Lesieur, H (1992). Self-reported withdrawal symptoms and pathological gambling. American Journal of the Addictions, 1, 150-154.
Setness, P.A. (1997). Pathological gambling: When do social issues become medical issues? Postgraduate Medicine, 102, 13-18.
Wardle, H., Moody. A., Spence, S., Orford, J., Volberg, R., Jotangia, D., Griffiths, M.D., Hussey, D. & Dobbie, F. (2011). British Gambling Prevalence Survey 2010. London: The Stationery Office.
Wardle, H., Seabury, C., Ahmed, H., Payne, C., Byron, C., Corbett, J. & Sutton, R. (2014). Gambling behaviour in England and Scotland: Findings from the Health Survey for England 2012 and Scottish Health Survey 2012. London: NatCen.
Posted in Addiction, Adolescence, Gambling, Gambling addiction, Internet gambling, Lottery, Obsession, Online gambling, Problem gamblng, Psychiatry, Psychological disorders, Psychology, Social responsibility
Tags: Gambling, Gambling addiction, Gambling education, Gambling health, Gambling prevention, Gambling treatment, Internet gambling, National Health Service, Online gambling, Problem gambling, Public health


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Summer is here.
The proverbial light at the end of the 36-week-long tunnel.
Sticking with tradition, I left my last office day for the school year and headed out for two things -- a Mango Kale from Smoothie King and a random drink or two from Friar Tuck. The Mango Kale was amazing as always, but my trip to Friar Tuck still had a few questions unanswered heading into the glorious supermarket of libations. What would be this year's special treat?
Last year it was strictly a Mango Kale as I wasn't drinking at the time.
Before that it was a bottle of Phuket and a solid sip from Yeastie Boys the year before that.
This year, I turned to an option my old pal Brian had let me know about a few weeks ago. Brian was part of my core group of high school friends -- a group we referred to as the JLS. The JLS -- the Justice League of Salem, for those interested -- was not far removed from the JTP as seen on The Goldbergs. We were nothing more than a group of knuckleheads out to test the boundaries of social norms while having a good time along the way.
When we were seniors in high school, among our many other antics, we channeled our inner Judge Reinhold and made our own shirts in honor of the one he wore in Stripes.
I can't honestly say we hated disco music. We just thought it was a funny idea and ran with it. Here's a look at a few shots from my senior yearbook back in '94 -- me and my pal Adam donning our homespun DBD shirts.
Well, much to my delight, Brian tuned me on to a porter from Left Hand Brewing a few weeks ago called....yep....you guessed it....Death Before Disco. No doubt I was going to find some and I was quite happy to find that Frair Tuck would not leave me disappointed.
Yeah, I grabbed a local Bulldog Brown from JT's while I was at it.
. . .
One of my goals for the summer is to try some new foods. Now, please understand that this is coming from a super-picky eater who grew up on peanut butter and cereal. I'm proud to say that over this holiday weekend, I dropped a few tomatoes and a mushrooms on my salad.
Sure, those were drowned out by the dressing and peppers which I actually enjoy....but we're making progress here. By the end of the summer, I expect to be eating from the garden I'm growing.
. . .
Speaking of food, it's been a while since Amy and I have gone through a round of Whole 30 eating. Doing so always proves beneficial in so many ways ... but it's easier said than done. We've both agreed that we'll take the 30 days of June this summer to go another round which means that my typical summer consumption habits will be put on hold until July.
Whole 30 means no dairy, no grains, no legumes, no sugar, no alcohol.
Yeah, I said it. Let's take it to the stage.
Wish me luck, people.
. . .
Mason found a tomato shaped like a snowman.
Or a perfume bottle.
Or whatever.
So there's that.
. . .
We had a great end to the first official evening of summer vacation with a dip in the pool...
...and a cave under Mason's new loft bed.
Here we go, folks. The Summer of Tim is upon us!


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First tests of new bunker fuels that will comply with the International Maritime Organization's 2020 sulphur cap regulations revealed no problems in operation, Japan's Ministry of Transport said in a release on July 8.
The trials took place in late June and saw the ministry test fuel with less than 0.5% of sulphur content on coastal vessels that had previously run on high-sulphur fuel oil.
The tests revealed that the vessels, which included steel material and cement carriers, could switch from high- to low-sulphur fuel oil without problems.
Japan is carrying out the tests to ensure a smooth transition to IMO-compliant fuels for owners and operators who chose not to install scrubbers as a way of meeting the new regulations coming into force on January 1, 2020.
The ministry added it would conduct further tests by the end of July before full scale supply of low-sulphur fuel oil kicks off in late autumn.
In addition to refiners, ship owners are also preparing for the switch. Shipping major Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) worked with shipping and marine supplier Nippon Yuka Kogyo to develop a new fuel oil additive for low-sulfur compliant fuel-oil that meets SOx emission requirements. The additive is said to improve safety by helping to avoid troubles that may be caused by certain contents of VLSFO, according to NYK.