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Tee It Up Preview-Honda Classic
Honda Classic This week we Tee It Up-Honda Classic. The PGA Tour heads to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for theRead more
Honda Classic This week we Tee It Up-Honda Classic. The PGA Tour heads to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida for theRead more
The Players Championship isn't officially a major, but you wouldn't know it by all of the coverage and hoopla.Read more
With the Players Championship already underway, golfin' enthusiasts are wonderin' – who should I be puttin' my money on? WellRead more
Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer started the 75th Masters this morning with opening drives. Together the pair have taken homeRead more
The 2011 Masters Tournament begins Thursday, April 7th. There are talks already of supposed rivalry between Phil Mickelson and TigerRead more
I don't think anybody had Luke Donald going the distance and winning the Match Play Championship this weekend, but thereRead more
Back in the Golden Age of golf, it was Jack, Arnie or Gary Player. A few decades later Tiger WoodsRead more
The 38th Ryder Cup is coming up here in just over a month, October 1st-3rd to be exact. It willRead more
This Weekend's PGA Championship came down to a playoff between Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson who both shot a -11,Read more


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10 More Films #BlackTwitter Needs To Get Made Pronto
Family, we could very well be in the middle of a new Golden Age of Black TV and Cinema.
In 2016, Moonlight — which boasted not just an all-black cast but also a mostly black crew — won Best Picture at the Academy Awards while the searing documentaries O.J.: Made in America, 13th and I Am Not Your Negro were nominated for Oscars (with O.J.: Made in America taking home the prize.)
2017 alone has blessed us with Everything, Everything, a coming-of-age drama starring Amandla Stenberg and directed by Stella Meghie; Rebel, a BET series about a black woman cop turned private investigator who seeks to avenge the death of her brother; The Breaks, a VH1 series about a young woman's climb through the ranks of a music label during the '90s era of hip-hop; the return of Queen Sugar and Insecure, and the debut of Snowfall, a series about the crack epidemic in the 1980s, produced by John Singleton.
Recently, news broke that Barry Jenkins is adapting James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk into a film. And in 2018, Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time and Ryan Coogler's Black Panther will hit the big screens. Not to mention, we'll soon be getting forthcoming movies from indie filmmakers Nijla Mu'min (Jinn) and Tchaiko Omawale (Solace), as well as Tracee Ellis Ross possibly adding fuel to calls of her playing Magic School Bus star, Miss Frizzle.
…now what's this I hear about some of you wanting me to play Ms. Frizzle on The Magic School Bus? Tell me more…
— Tracee Ellis Ross (@TraceeEllisRoss) July 14, 2017
Black filmmakers' stories are being given a platform at a pace that arguably hasn't been seen since the '90s; so I decided to dream up 10 more movies black folks needed like yesterday. It's our time. Let's do this.

subset: commoncrawl


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With innovation waning and saturation climbing, the ability of Apple and other smartphone makers to make a big market splash anymore could be limited.
So as rumors ran rampant about what the next big thing will be for the iPhone maker, the reality could be something far less sexy.
Citigroup sees "device exhaustion" in the smartphone market, a condition in which it's getting harder and harder both to find people who don't own smartphones and who are impressed with marginal improvements in new devices.


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Scientists used artificial intelligence and trained aerospace simulation software to develop a device that they hope bring new dialysis for patients. By using machine learning algorithm that simulates unsteady air pockets flow over a plane, scientists were successfully able to optimize blood flow in veins of patients experiencing dialysis.
When kidneys fail, dialysis keeps your body in balance by removing waste, salt and extra water to prevent them from building up in the body. It does this by diverting them into a machine.
Connecting the machine to patient require a special junction between an artery and a vein in the patient's wrist or upper arm. That special junction is also known as an arterio-venous fistula (AVF).
Because of because of unusual and exceptionally unstable blood flow, almost 50% AVFs block up and fail due to inflammation of artery wall. Thus, patients need to undergo another procedure and in some cases repeated procedures.
This newly developed device shows how blood flow could be optimised to potentially improve AVF procedures. The use of AI optimized the shape of an AVF, and thus reduces the unsteadiness in the blood flow.
Dr. Peter Vincent, co-author of the study said, "We routinely use computer simulations to study airflow over airplanes. These same techniques can now be used to optimise medical devices, including AVF."
Dr. Richard Corbett, co-author from Hammersmith Hospital said, "Haemodialysis is a life-sustaining treatment used by millions of patients worldwide who have kidney failure. These patients are dependent on arterio-venous fistula (AVF) procedures to clean their blood. However, dysfunction and failure in the AVF is a real problem for these patients, leading to a large number of hospital admissions and extra operations."
"This technology offers great promise for these patients. By improving outcomes from AVF surgery, it could potentially reduce the need for repeated operations, which could and lead to better quality dialysis."
The prototype device has so far undergone preliminary tests in pigs, which have been successful. Scientists now are planning to continue tests on pigs for several months to test its effectiveness. Even if these trials are a success they will be several years away from carrying out clinical trials with patients.


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CALIBRE Systems, Inc. announced that it has acquired the Health & Life Science and Defense & Public Sector groups of Information Management Consultants (IMC). The acquired business will become the new CALIBRE Information Management Consulting Division, one of CALIBRE's five operating divisions, and will be led by Ms. Dorisa Harris. KippsDeSanto & Co. represented IMC in the transaction. Deal terms were not disclosed.
Accenture announced that it has acquired FusionX, a DC-based cybersecurity firm focused on providing cyber attack simulation, threat modeling, cyber investigations, and security risk advisory services. The company was founded in 2010 and serves Fortune 100 companies in financial services, critical infrastructure, technology, government, and manufacturing. According to Accenture's press release, the acquisition " further strengthen Accenture's Security practice and help clients accurately assess their ability to protect against, detect and, where necessary, respond to sophisticated and sustained cyber attacks."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
NICE Systems announced that it has agreed to sell its Physical Security business unit to investment firm Battery Ventures. The business unit provides video surveillance technologies and capabilities to various organizations. According to the company's press release, "This divestiture will allow NICE to focus on its key markets and enterprise software business as part of the execution of its long-term strategic plan."
The total deal consideration is $100 million comprised of $85 million in cash and up to an additional $15 million based on future performance. Based on the company's change in fiscal year 2015 guidance, the business unit is estimated to generate 2015 revenues of $71 million. The implied revenue multiple is 1.2x based on the up-front cash consideration and up to 1.4x based on the total consideration including the earnout.
The transaction is scheduled to close during the third quarter of 2015.
July 2017
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Tony Prower, better known on ePHOTOzine as the Happy Ostrich, explains how you to take photos of the Northern Lights.| Landscape and Travel
Intense Solar Activity
The first time I saw the Northern Lights was at home in a Northern borough of Reykjavik. A friend, who was driving from Keflavik, phoned to say that they were in the sky. We (the family) all stood in the front garden to gaze up at a luminous green streak which stretched across the late September sky. Some of my friends in England have always wanted to see the lights and in response to my gloating about this one, which I found to be only mildly impressive, a friend asked if I could take a photo of the famous Aurora Borealis.
My girlfriend has a 35mm SLR (single lens reflector) camera, but she joked "the best way to get a picture of the Northern Lights is to buy a postcard". I used to take photographs in my younger days so I thought I should at least shake the dust from her old Olympus OM10 and see if I had some of the magic left in my eyes. I had developed an unrequited love for the Reykjavik mountains and the way they catch the autumn sun at that time of year, but as soon as I loaded the camera and ventured to the bay in North Reykjavik, all I seemed to catch was rain then clouds, and then it got dark. The seals in the winter bay became my next pursuit and the occasional bright afternoon blessed me with some rewarding pictures of both the seals and the mountains.
I took my camera, which had become a new appendage, up to a farm in the North of Iceland just after the first great snow storms of this winter. There was a whole weekend with no clouds and snow covered landscapes at my disposal, and whatsmore, every evening the Aurora Borealis put on a fantastic light show. Yes, this time I was impressed and highly excited as I set up the camera and tripod for about 60 pictures. I was opening the shutter for about 5-15 seconds (which was just a guess), but my aperture was set to f/22 (the smallest hole for the light to get in). My ignorance just lead to my frustration because when I went to collect my processed pictures.. not a single exposure was successful. Of course this meant that my insane running around with a tripod in the snow and freezing my fingers at 12:30 a.m. and –22°C was just so that I could inspect a set of empty negatives. I was frustrated to the point of delusion. I thought that if I looked at them enough times, a red streak would appear. I even thought about painting one with the computer photo-shop or... or... buying a postcard.
Weeks went by and I wondered if I would ever get that perfect chance again. I filled those weeks and the gaps in my knowledge by studying night photography techniques and putting them into practice. I discovered what a mistake it had been to have such a small aperture – the Northern Lights are not as bright as they seem – our brains make them appear as bright as stars, but they are in fact nowhere near as bright and so they need every bit of help to get into one´s camera lens. I spent many nights photographing the mountains in the dark and practicing with long exposures from 40 seconds to 8 minutes. I invested in a new lens which is fixed at 28mm (fairly wide angle) and an aperture which opens to f/2.8 (quite a big hole) for around 50 quid. I also bought a cable release with a locking mechanism so that I am able to hold the shutter open for long periods without jogging the camera. I had also made up a small book with suggested shutter speeds for capturing the lights and the moon and the stars and snow covered landscapes in the dark... etc. etc.
Then, one night (I hadn´t been out for several days because it just rained) I went out because I saw a gap in the clouds. I went to the bay with the camera and set up my tripod for a night of long exposures. Then, to my surprise, a flash came across the skies from nowhere (actually it was from the west) and suddenly the clouds were breaking up and the Aurora dominated the moonless night. I quickly changed to my large aperture lens and started making exposures of 50-100 seconds whilst scanning the sky for the next strong point of the light display. It was a fantastic light show, but the best part, to my luck, was a brilliant tri-colour display of green, purple and pink right above my head just as I was changing film. But, I cannot complain – how many people have their camera mounted on a tripod when a Northern Light show begins?
Since then I have started experimenting with slightly more expensive slide film. Fuji's Provia 400F is famous for having no reciprocity failure up to four minute exposures and so this makes it an ideal film for the northern lights. The grain of this film is also very good for am ISO400. I have also bought an older camera – Olympus OM1. This is a classic camera and probably one of the best for night photography because is has a mirror lock-up and an open shutter doesn't use any battery power, because it is a clockwork camera.
I have found that by using fast slide film, I am able to have a shorter exposure and therefore capture a truer representation of the shape of the aurora. However, a longer exposure will capture more of the colours that are not normally visible to the human eye.
The picture "straight-up" was taken with a 50mm lens with an f/1.8 aperture. I just pointed the camera at the height of the activity and although I could not see the red, I knew that the camera would capture it with a 25second exposure time where a 15 second exposure would have happily recorded what I saw. Longer exposure times are good for capturing some of the foreground detail. This is good for demonstrating the huge scale of an aurora display.
Essential tools for capturing the Northern Lights
- Camera – with a 'B' or 'T' setting so the shutter can be opened for 30-150 seconds. Some automatic cameras have a programmable shutter speed.
- Lens – wide angle is great, the shorter the better! Most of my pictures were taken with a 28mm standard. Maybe tape the focus to infinity (symbol like an '8' on its side). f-stops – a lower 'f' number allows more light into the camera and therefore reduces the exposure time.
- Filters – don't use any. They can cause strange reflections due to the strange frequency of the aurora.
- Tripod – keep it sturdy on a windy night by a) taking the strap off the camera and b) weighing it down with a bag of rocks or beans or anything.
- Cable release – you can buy one from most good camera shops with a locking mechanism to leave your hands free for soup or cigarettes.
- Film – ISO200-400 is best anything faster is too grainy and anything slower means that the aurora will probably change before the picture is taken.
A wise person will take
- Plenty of film – there is nothing worse than seeing the best part of the light show when you have wasted all your film on the warm-up!
- A hot drink – a flask of hot-chocolate – take it and you will see.
- A torch/ flashlight – to see what you are doing when changing film, checking the aperture, checking the focus etc. You can also illuminate some of the foreground during the exposure.
- The first frame of a new film of an over-exposed bright light – yes, this will let the developer know where your frames are and stop them cutting your dark negatives in the wrong place.
- Warm clothes – many layers. Standing in the same spot in the icelandic winter nights shouldn't be under-estimated.
- Stop-watch – to time your exposures. I just counted in my head (beware this can lead to madness just as much as becoming the Aurora's special friend).
|F stop
|18-25 sec
|5-17 sec
|22-30 sec
|10-18 sec
|40-60 sec
|22-30 sec
|80-120 sec
|40-60 sec
Many people travel to Iceland just to see the Northern lights and many people want to take photographs. If you can get away from the city lights on a cold clear night and you are prepared and patient enough to wait for several hours, there is a good chance that you will capture them. Once you have captured them, they will have captured you. They can re-emerge a couple of times in the same night, they can remain for hours or they can disappear in a few seconds. Don't bring your camera into a warm house without putting it into a plastic bag to keep the condensation off it. Lastly, if anybody offers to sell you the Northern Lights don't give them any money. If all this fails – buy a postcard.
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Had a very nice weekend after my exhausting 2 day work week. Wow, this week is gonna be long. Did some shopping, did some cleaning, did some organizing... and confirmed the rumor that OH YES, PARASOL'S IS BEING SOLD.
Now, I would never spread rumors, so as soon as I heard this one I scurried right over to the corner of Third and Constance to figure out what was going on. This was about maybe 5pm on a Saturday- after lunch but before serious drinking time. We sat at the bar, ordered beers, and I tried to figure out how to best bring up the subject. Then I noticed the bartender and several patrons carefully peeling off the stickers on the beer cooler and scrapbooking them. I figured something was up, and it wasn't a secret (I was just late to know.)
So I asked the bartender, and she confirmed: Yep, the owner of Parasol's sold the bar and the name to a buyer in Florida. The last day under the current management would be August 31. After that, it seems that the current Parasol's crew will be moving up a block to the building on Magazine and Third and reopening under a different name. (Right now it's called The Irish Garden and does not seem to be a very busy place.) The way the bartender was talking, it should be a pretty quick turnaround. I was unable to ascertain how rapid. Also, what the plans were for the Parasol's building/business/name/brand. Apparently the new owners have been coming in taking pictures of every square inch.
I'm sorry I didn't come by the bar more often when I could- I had no idea its time would be so short. I'm sad that I'll never experience the traditional St. Patrick's Day with Parasol's at its epicenter. I'm just hoping that this is a good move for the current owners and for the neighborhood. Sigh. Who knows.
I did enjoy my roast beef po'boy, and hope to get in there a couple more times before the end of the month.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Weekend, Parasol's, etc.
Labels: bar, irish channel, nola, parasol's
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Uppsala University Housing Office handles accommodation for Formal Exchange Students, Fee Paying Master Students (Non EU/EES), Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Holders, Guest Researchers and PhD students at Uppsala University. The application process differs depending on which category you belong to and Fee Paying Master Students is the only category that is guaranteed a housing offer.
Who can apply?
- Formal Exchange Students coming from a home university that Uppsala University has an exchange agreement with. Formal Exchange Students are admitted from the nominations submitted by the home university.
- Non EU/EES Fee Paying Master Students and Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Holders at Uppsala University.
- Guest Researchers at Uppsala University, including PhD students.
How do you apply?
For more information on how to apply please check the different categories below.
How long can you stay?
The maximum length of your stay is depending on what category you belong to.
- If you are a Formal Exchange Student your contract period is based on the duration of your exchange. Maximum contract period is 1 year.
- If you are a Fee Paying Master Student your maximum contract period is 22 months.
- If you are an International Guest Researcher or a PhD with an assignment at Uppsala University your maximum contract period is 2 years.
It is the total occupation time that counts.
Please note that accommodation is not guaranteed for guest researchers and only offered if an apartment is available.
Please note that sometimes accommodation is only offered for shorter periods due to limited availability. Short period rental agreements (last minute, short term offers during ongoing semester etc) cannot be extended.
Exchange students
We offer accommodation to Formal Exchange Students at Uppsala University.
Master students
We offer accommodation to all Fee Paying Master Students at Uppsala University from non EU/EES-countries, who must pay tuition fee for their studies at Universities in Sweden.
Guest researchers
We offer apartments to Guest Researchers, Staff, PhD and other international guests with an assignment at Uppsala University.


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The Legacy—or Lack Thereof—of Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly was arguably the nation's staunchest anti-feminist, but her diatribes against women in the workforce showed how far out of step she was with U.S. women's lives and needs.
The recent death of Phyllis Schlafly has brought forth expected responses: Conservatives have praised her, while progressives have decried her political positions and invariably pointed out the hypocrisy of someone who glorified housewives and stay-at-home mothers while leading a life—as the mother of six—that constantly took her on the road. All agree, however, that Schlafly was a major figure in U.S. politics. Schlafly's most infamous achievement, of course, was the successful fight she led against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 1980s.
But beyond the ERA, what else might be said of her legacy? In trying to understand this better, I went back to my battered copy of her 1977 book, Power of the Positive Woman, arguably one of her best-known works. The book is a diatribe against the feminism of the 1970s, harshly criticizing the feminist priorities of that era: equal pay, out-of-home child care, and, of course, abortion. And she spoke in vitriolic terms about her opponents. The feminists who were demanding equality were, according to Schlafly, bitter creatures doomed to lives of loneliness and unhappiness. By contrast, the Positive Woman, by accepting the innate differences between men and women, could achieve a deeply fulfilling life. One sentence, near the end of the book, particularly struck me: "It is the task of the Positive Woman to keep America good."
Given Schlafly's hatred of the feminism of her era, this sentence oddly enough reminded me of first-wave feminist ideology in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries: Once women gained suffrage, the movement's main goal, feminists hoped the newly enfranchised would be able to engage in "social housekeeping." In other words, women would be tasked with cleaning up the "dirty politics" put in place by men, and voting for policies that would improve the lot of those they saw as the most vulnerable: poor people, children, and immigrants. As the great reformer Jane Addams said, "Politics is housekeeping on a grand scale."
To put it mildly, there are vast differences between first-wave feminists' vision of a good society and that of Schlafly. The latter is hardly remembered for her concern about the well-being of the poor, for example; as Power of the Positive Woman makes clear, she greatly opposed welfare and other forms of government provision. But first-wave feminists and Schlafly were alike in their acceptance of a fundamental difference between the genders—something that later feminists would come to deeply challenge.
It is precisely because Phyllis Schlafly was unable to make the transition to accepting a world of gender equality that her legacy—while hugely symbolic as the leading face of anti-feminism—is actually quite limited, beyond her ability to stop the ERA. Her inability to accept the contemporary economic and social reality, that the days of a husband in the paid labor force and a wife staying at home with children largely are over except for the wealthy, means that much of what she fought for has not, and will not, come to pass. Moreover, policies relating to domestic violence prevention, anti-sexual harassment initiatives, and marriage equality—all issues she opposed and often ridiculed—may be imperfectly realized, but they all have mainstream acceptance. (It is telling that we live now in a world in which Donald Trump, whom Schlafly fervently supported, apparently cannot openly condemn these issues as she once did.)
The feminist revolution of the 1970s, which Phyllis Schlafly devoted her life to opposing, may indeed be a stalled one, in Arlie Hochschild's term, especially for poorer women. As I wrote in a 2014 piece for Rewire, however, it has not suffered the defeat Schlafly wished for. (The piece, reprinted below, has been lightly edited and updated since its original publication for clarity.)
"The best way to improve economic prospects for women is to improve job prospects for the men in their lives, even if that means increasing the so-called pay gap."
The above quote is from a column by Phyllis Schlafly, arguably the nation's, if not the world's, most famous hater of the feminist movement. I had not seen mention of her in the media for some time, and that column caused me to reflect both on her long career and her relevance. It also sparked thoughts about the larger problem that U.S. conservatism has had in finding credible spokeswomen.
I confess to some grudging admiration for Schlafly, given that at age 92 she was still active politically—but that is the only thing about her I can admire. Ever since the 1970s, Schlafly devoted her considerable energies to vilifying the women's movement and those who identify with it. Here are some of her positions on various items of the feminist policy agenda:
On marital rape: "By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don't think you can call it rape."
On sexual harassment: "Noncriminal sexual harassment on the job is not a problem for the virtuous woman except in the rarest of cases."
On domestic violence: "When marriages are broken by false allegations of domestic violence, U.S. taxpayers fork up an estimated $20 billion a year to support the resulting single-parent, welfare-dependent families."
To be sure, Schlafly was hardly unique as an opponent of feminist policy initiatives. What is particularly off-putting, however, in both her writing and her personal appearances, was the vitriol with which she attacked her enemies. Schlafly, with her frequent cattiness, may in fact have been the original "mean girl." When I saw her address a conservative student organization at UC Berkeley a few years ago, she took pains to tell the audience that after feminists pressured the airlines to modify appearance guidelines for female flight attendants, "they all looked fat." As a press account of her speech four years ago at The Citadel, a military college, reported, "She told the all-male group that 'feminist' is a bad word and everything they stand for is bad."
"Find out if your girlfriend is a feminist before you get too far into it," she said. "Some of them are pretty. They don't all look like Bella Abzug." At the same event, she said, "Feminists are having a hard time being elected because they essentially are unlikable."
Though Schlafly's influence peaked, as had, apparently, her political savvy—what portion of contemporary Citadel cadets know who the late Bella Abzug was?—at one time, she did wield significant political power. Her most successful political venture was the Stop the Equal Rights Amendment campaign, which she led throughout the 1970s, when the measure was close to ratification by the requisite number of states. She also in the early '70s established the Eagle Forum, a national "pro-family" organization with numerous state chapters. In addition to the issues mentioned above, the organization has taken strong stands against abortion, gay rights (despite Schlafly's having a gay son), and attempts at gender equality in public schools.
But, as her statement calling for a widening gender gap in wages suggests, not only had Schlafly's moment passed as a credible leader—she and other younger conservative women leaders, trapped as they are by the Republican Party's free-market ideology, simply have been unable to address the economic realities facing women today. When Schlafly emerged as a political activist in the '70s, there still existed the possibility for many American families to function on one man's salary. Furthermore, a key message of the emergent women's movement of that period—which urged women to pursue careers—was met defensively by those who were "just housewives," to use a phrase of that period. So Schlafly's messages, which glorified women who stay home, raise children, and support their husbands' endeavors, deeply resonated with many.
But, to put it mildly, today's world is very different, in both economic terms and cultural ones, from that of the 1970s. The stagnation in wages for most American workers means that most families need two paychecks, where once one would have sufficed. And, of course, there has been a continual rise in single-parent households, the vast majority of which are headed by women. There now exist many more households, compared to the 1970s, of same-sex couples, many of which are composed of two women—not to mention single women, without children, who also could hardly be expected to endorse the idea of a widening gap between male and female pay.
But the most visible women in the contemporary Republican Party are as unwilling as Schlafly to acknowledge these realities. Both Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House, and "rising star" Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee have opposed raises in the minimum wage—though, much to observers' amusement, the latter inadvertently made the case for a raise, failing to realize that her teenage years' wage of $2.15 an hour, which she idealized in a speech opposing such a measure, in today's dollars would be worth somewhere between $12.72 and $14.18.
In the lived reality of American women, reproductive issues and economic ones are deeply entwined. Women need access to reproductive services, among other reasons, to be able to participate in the paid labor force. And women, like their male counterparts, need jobs that pay a living wage. Phyllis Schlafly and the conservative spokeswomen who have followed her are woefully out of touch on both counts.


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Boston Fox affiliate debuts new weather center
WFXT-TV, the Fox affiliate in Boston, has debuted a new weather center.
The center, designed by FX Design Group, features a rectangular presentation desk in front of a video array. A backlit wall and dark textured columns stretch behind the desk as well as into a secondary presentation area with a large, single panel video panel mounted on thick internally lit columns.
The main desk, meanwhile, includes a dimensional version of the station's new logo, which debuted in October and received some high profile criticism from a Chicago anchor.
Broadcast Design, Featured, Local News, Set Design, TV News Set Design, Weather


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© 2022 MJH Life Sciences™ and Infection Control Today. All rights reserved.
The first global survey of rabies reporting systems, published this week, has uncovered a shocking lack of preparedness against this deadly disease across Africa and Asia. Accurate reporting of rabies cases to authorities is a critical first step in controlling rabies and preventing further outbreaks.
Across the 91 countries surveyed by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, effective reporting systems were found almost exclusively where rabies control measures are well implemented. Across Africa and Asia, where rabies kills the most people, most reporting systems were judged to be ineffective. Overall, 41 percent of the population covered by this survey -- around 2.5 billion people -- live in countries where there is no system, or an ineffective rabies reporting system.
"Because most rabies endemic countries don't collect accurate data on the number of people dying from the virus, they fail to adequately invest in its control. An appreciation of the scale of the problem can help countries prioritize control of this disease." says lead author of the paper, Dr. Louise Taylor, a biologist with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control.
The lack of accurate reporting means we only have estimates of the global human and animal toll of rabies. The virus is estimated to kill around 70,000 people every year, almost all of whom die through a lack of access to lifesaving medical treatment. These estimates suggest at least 95 percent are infected as a result of a bite from a rabid dog.
Humans are not the only victims. Animals, dogs in particular, are also victims of the horrific clinical symptoms, but perhaps the most disturbing consequence is the estimated tens of millions of dogs culled, often inhumanely, in misguided attempts to control the disease.
All of these deaths can be prevented with effective rabies vaccination programs . Reporting systems are fundamental to these programs, to monitor and assess the success of prevention efforts.
The survey found that while the reporting of human rabies cases is a legal requirement in many countries, the systems to do this vary enormously and are often poorly enforced. Accurate data is just not being produced for most countries where rabies is common.
The survey also identifies a number of reasons for this, including rabies not being a health priority, poor training of medical staff, a lack of resources to implement reporting, and the problem that many poor victims die without ever accessing the health system.
International commitment to the elimination of human rabies transmitted from dogs is increasing. A first step to turning this commitment into sustainable programs is the urgent need for regional databases for rabies reporting, especially in Asia and Africa.
The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) is working with international agencies and governments to assist in improving rabies reporting, along with providing tools and support to help countries to eliminate deaths from rabies, particularly through the creation of regional platforms. The first meeting of the regional Pan African Rabies Control Network (PARaCoN) will be held in South Africa in June 2015, where the main topics for discussion will be data sharing and dissemination, improving governmental support, optimal rabies control strategies and their roll-out.
Source: Global Alliance for Rabies Control


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AGRI-TRACTOR is offered with 10 Years Service Parts availability warranty and commitment. Our Spare Parts Department is capable of deliveries quicker shipments on short noticed ordering to facilitate the consumer well on time.
Optional Accessories, subject to ordering.
Air System Parts
Body Parts
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Cooling System Parts
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Front/Rear Axle Parts
Fuel System Parts
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Three Point Linkage Parts
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After a key Supreme Court decision this summer, courts are shredding software patents and trolls
Most people would find it absurd to grant 20-year patent monopolies on ideas like "up-selling" a customer or using a guarantor in a sales transaction. Now, the courts finally think so too.
In a fit of common sense, federal court are using a landmark Supreme Court decision from this summer to invalidate a host of silly patents that involve no more than old ideas performed on a computer.
In the the short term, the recent court decisions amount to victories for companies like [company]Google[/company]and [company]Amazon[/company] that have been plagued by so-called patent trolls. In the long term, they may help restore some credibility to America's troubled patent system.
Update: Tim Lee at Vox has excellent case-by-case breakdown of the dozen or so decision invalidating patents under the new Supreme Court ruling.
Go ask Alice
In a major decision known as Alice, the Supreme Court finally offered some clarity in June about when software can be patented. The court did not, as many hoped, ban software patents altogether, but it did impose a strict test to limit them.
The Alice case itself involved a patent that described the ancient concept of escrow implemented on a computer. The Supreme Court affirmed a long-standing rule that abstract ideas can't be patented and, importantly, added that simply using a computer processor to carry out the idea didn't change that fact. The escrow patent was no more.
Now, other patents are meeting the same fate. Earlier this month, the country's patent appeals court sided with Google in a dispute over whether the idea of using a computer to introduce a guarantor to a sales transaction should count as "patent eligible subject matter."
The appeals court emphatically declared it should not, stating that the "claims in this case do not push or even test the boundaries" of an eligible patent, and added that the idea of a guarantor is "beyond question of ancient lineage."
[pullquote person="Brian Love" attribution="Brian Love, Santa Clara University"]"It now seems pretty clear that Alice raised the bar for software patentability and did so considerably."[/pullquote]
Amazon, meanwhile, enjoyed a similar victory this month in a dispute with a patent troll named Tuxus Technologies LLC that claimed to own the idea of using a computer to ask customers to make another purchase once they had chosen to make a first one.
A federal court in Delaware, pointing to the Alice decision, chose to shred the troll's patent:
"It claims the fundamental concept of upselling — a marketing technique as old as the field itself. While the additional limitations of the claim do narrow its scope, they are insufficient to save it from invalidity," wrote the judge.
These are hardly the only patents that tech companies have attacked using Alice. In recent weeks, Google has killed a patent for the idea of employee match-making, while [company]Microsoft[/company] has invoked Alice in order to ask a court to find that a software patent was invalid.
Other industries are doing the same. [company]American Airlines[/company] defeated a patent that described using a computer to convert airline points, while [company]Wells Fargo[/company] invoked Alice to wipe out a patent related to bank transfers.
A rare bright spot for patent reform
The spate of Alice-related rulings is good news for companies plagued by nuisance patent cases. But it also comes as a consolation prize of sorts for patent reform advocates who are still feeling stung by a decision by Senate Democrats to pull the plug on a bipartisan bill that would have undercut the power of patent trolls like Intellectual Ventures.
That bill would have helped change the economic calculations that drive patent trolling but, in its absence, Alice is at least cutting down on the broad, flimsy patents that trolls favor in the first place.
"It now seems pretty clear that Alice raised the bar for software patentability and did so considerably," according to Brian Love, a patent law authority at Santa Clara University.
In an email exchange, Love added that Alice has jolted the perspective of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, the appeals court that many blame for permitting so many low quality patents in the first place.
"For now at least, Federal Circuit analysis of software patentability has focused where it should — on identifying whether claims actually describe something meaningfully more than well-known algorithms — and not, as it often has in the past, on whether claims include magic words like 'computer' and 'network'," noted Love.
It's not all good news, however. While Alice is providing a way for big companies to destroy some of the most egregious patents, there are many more where those came from. As a result, the trolls may simply shift tactics and target smaller companies that can't afford to bring Alice-style challenges — which can easily cost a million dollars or more — in federal court.
The recent Alice cases do, however, shine more light on the broken state of the patent system which, critics charge, favors patent lawyers and clever drafting rather than innovation — which is supposed to be the point of patents in the first place. The recent Google and Amazon decisions are below; you can decide for yourself if the ideas they describe deserve a 20-year monopoly.
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My house isn't a home without a place to work in the garage. In the last 20+ years of home ownership and renter-ship, I've always had a workbench. Whether it was a small work table I built out of 2x4s and plywood, or a large, complex bench built with 2x6s and bolted to the wall, I've always had "my place" in the house.
Moving to Orlando from Indianapolis meant leaving my old workbench behind. This one was the best I had ever built — 17 linear feet, L-shaped, and was so solid, I could stand on it. I built it with 2x6s, 2x8s, and 2x12s for the top. The top was lauan plywood, which had three coats of polyurethane on it for durability, and I wrapped the whole top in 1×3 pine. This is where I worked on my projects, stored my woodworking tools, and even kept my books.
I wasn't too happy when I had to leave my bench behind.
Continue reading "In Which I Make My Workbench"


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Full Theatrical Trailer for Disney's 'The Princess and the Frog' Movie
by Alex Billington
September 8, 2009
Source: Yahoo
Disney has just debuted the second full-length theatrical trailer for The Princess and the Frog, their return to both hand-drawn animation and classic princess fairy tales. Disney Animation has a few great releases this fall, starting with Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D on October 2nd, and continuing with The Princess and the Frog in December. After seeing the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty a few days ago, I'm even more excited for this, because I got a glimpse of the old hand-drawn animation world and I'm so happy to see them going back to using that style once again. It really just looks charming and wonderful, I can't wait!
Watch the second trailer for Disney's The Princess and the Frog from YouTube:
You can also watch The Princess and the Frog trailer in High Definition on Yahoo
A fairy tale about a girl named Princess Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose), who lives in New Orleans' French Quarter during the Jazz Age, and a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again.
The Princess and the Frog is co-directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, whom previously brought us the Disney classics Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and Treasure Planet. The script for the film was also written by Clements and Musker, as well as a handful of other Disney regulars. Princess and the Frog will debut in New York and Los Angeles first on November 25th before opening wide on December 11th.
35 Comments
I love Disney.
Nasser on Sep 8, 2009
was there black royalty in new orleans back then??
me on Sep 8, 2009
#2, Tiana is not actually a princess. From what I've gathered after watching some of the promotional stuff Disney has released, she's a waitress aspiring to open her own restaurant. She's in that gown because she is at a party.
James on Sep 8, 2009
does it really matter if there's black royalty back then? Goodness! it's a fairy tale movie... what's next? was there a talking frog back then?
d'Oh on Sep 8, 2009
Yeah, I don't think there was anthropomorphism back then either. But I'm not that hot on history so who knows.
Collin on Sep 8, 2009
Lol at #4, you tell that person! Looks good this movie, not seen a good hand drawn movie in a while. Looking foward to it.
Cooldu on Sep 8, 2009
DoomCanoe on Sep 8, 2009
the end of the trailer is priceless.
dave13 on Sep 8, 2009
haha yeah the end is hilarious. 😛 Still kinda pissed at Disney for buying Marvel though.
Jordan on Sep 8, 2009
The Princess will get on the frog's Dick!
cdawg on Sep 8, 2009
This trailer makes me think that Disney has found their spark again. PS Anyone notice that the scene where the snakes are holding on to the guy is a lot like the scene where the eels trap Eric(or Ariel...can't really remember which) in The Little Mermaid??
Seductive Flamingo on Sep 8, 2009
Reminds me a bit of "The Rescuers". Just wait for some parents to start complaining this is promoting bestiality.
bracomadar on Sep 8, 2009
And #8 has it, lol! That frog is hilarious. I really want to see this one especialy because it returns to hand-drawn animation. #2 me It seems that we have the same "stage name" (me) so it's better if you change yours because if you continue to use it (I will) we will be like 2 in 1 person and even if we have the same name our ideas aren't the same. Please, do us a favour and change it because this one is TM, lol. Thanks.
me on Sep 9, 2009
Glad to see an animated movie that is NOT CGI. God, I'm so sick of CGI animated movies.
PG on Sep 9, 2009
Looks good - BUT it looks like it borrows a small something from every disney movie to date! I think its great we have some new 2D films to look forward to alongside the 3D stuff 🙂
dom on Sep 9, 2009
#11 i think you are right.... she gonna be ALL OVER IT... lol.
MoneyShot on Sep 9, 2009
#11 and #17..than for showing the world how dumb some people can be......now to this movie it looks great...i recall when it was first announced alot of people were having problems with it.....well i must say it looks like a great story and looks greats...yes i also agree with #6...Disney is king of hand drawn movies.....CGI is good but nothing beats a good old hand drawing.....
Tico_81 on Sep 9, 2009
Blinded by Disney. It looks okay, barely.
Crapola on Sep 9, 2009
That looks really good. Doesn't look like a toy commercial. Back to old school Disney.
Dale on Sep 9, 2009
Looks good, but sometimes I just can't help feeling like they REALLY want this to be like their classics. Feels like recycled stuff with a sparkly new exterior.
Alfredo on Sep 9, 2009
IT'S ABOUT TIME!! This has nastalgia written all over it. I'm excited!
Antioch on Sep 9, 2009
Looks good, and I'm glad Disney's returning to 2D, but at the same time, I feel like it's all been done before. It looks just like another Disney movie with the same redundant and clichéd morals. Don't get me wring, I love my classics as much as the next guy/gal. Maybe it's because they're going back to 2D and they're playing it safe, but then again, they always played safe. My expectations were probably too high.
SomeGuy on Sep 9, 2009
Hopefully this will be good, but . . . 2 butt jokes and a fart joke in a single 2 minute trailer? Not a good sign.
scm1000 on Sep 9, 2009
Randy Newman AGAIN?????
moif on Sep 9, 2009
What's wrong with Randy Newman? He has a great style.
Luke on Sep 9, 2009
As someone that currently lives in the French Quarter, I will say the film looks at least beautiful. Hope the story is done well!
DJSNOLA` on Sep 9, 2009
Alex, I recommend you watch 5 cm per second.
danielvutran on Sep 9, 2009
I wasn't that impressed with the music but I'll see this for sure...I miss these kind of movies from Disney.
janet on Sep 9, 2009
I am not too excited bout this movie. Walt Disney is trying very hard to make good ones, harder they try the worst it gets. I am gonna predict this is just gonna be a normal movie, nothing fantastic.
Cindarr on Sep 10, 2009
hmm nice video but check out the latest video of The Princess and the Frog at http://indiantopactress.blogspot.com
saad on Sep 10, 2009
Does anyone else think that the voice of the princess sounds like she's sitting in some bean-bag chair just running off the lines, it sounds horrible
TINMAN on Sep 14, 2009
want to loose weight or want build your body just visit this site
jack on Oct 20, 2009
want to loose weight or want build your body just visit this site http://www.exercisesandtips.blogspot.com
jack on Oct 21, 2009
hmm nice video but check out the latest video of The Princess and the Frog at see full nude katrina kaif bollywood sex
sara on Dec 6, 2009
All The Latest Movies In Theaters can be seen for free at Fly75.com
Daisy mcdonald on Dec 27, 2009
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Danaher, Patrick Alan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2289-7774 (2006) The social control–social capital debate about distance and online teacher education: critical reflections on two courses at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Journal of Open Learning and Teacher Education, 1 (3). pp. 81-93. ISSN 1596-6348
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[Abstract]: One among several crucial conceptual lenses that should be deployed in interrogating the effectiveness of an open learning approach to teacher education is the social control–social capital debate. This debate centres on whether and how such an approach bends the thinking of the individual to the institutional or systemic view on the one hand and/or enables that individual to acquire capital that can be expended to the benefit of students and other stakeholders on the other.
This paper reflects critically on two distance and online teacher education courses (co-)developed and (co-)taught by the author at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. One course is a graduate, pre-service, teacher education course offered for the first time in 2006. The other course is a postgraduate, in-service, teacher education course offered for several years but significantly revised in late 2005. The focus and scope of the two courses differ considerably, yet in combination they constitute a worthwhile site for an analysis of their intentions and perceived effects as teacher education courses provided by means of open learning.
The author argues that, despite sustained efforts being directed at promoting students' social capital and despite some students demonstrating such capital through their critical engagement with each course, institutional and systemic imperatives continue to exercise a constraining impact that for some students might be experienced as social control. There are no easy solutions to this situation, which mirrors the uneasy tension between social control and social capital in formal educational provision.
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|Item Type:
|Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
|Item Status:
|Live Archive
|Additional Information:
|No evidence of copyright restrictions - and journal had a very short life.
|Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:
|Historic - Faculty of Education (Up to 30 Jun 2013)
|Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:
|Historic - Faculty of Education (Up to 30 Jun 2013)
|Date Deposited:
|08 May 2008 23:30
|Last Modified:
|02 Jul 2013 22:52
|Uncontrolled Keywords:
|Australia, distance education, online education, social capital, social control, teacher education, University of Southern Queensland
|Fields of Research (2008):
|13 Education > 1303 Specialist Studies in Education > 130306 Educational Technology and Computing
13 Education > 1303 Specialist Studies in Education > 130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators
|Fields of Research (2020):
|39 EDUCATION > 3904 Specialist studies in education > 390405 Educational technology and computing
39 EDUCATION > 3903 Education systems > 390307 Teacher education and professional development of educators
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text:
Scroll down to read Gibbons' deposition
Embattled Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons was under oath this month to answer questions about the alleged assault and threatened rape of Las Vegas resident Chrissy Mazzeo in 2006. Although criminal charges were never pursued, Mazzeo's civil suit is ongoing -- and the information to come out of the deposition seems conflicted, to say the least. Today, the governor claimed in his sworn deposition that he hasn't had sex since 1995 -- with his wife or any other woman -- adding, "I'm living proof that you can survive without sex for that long," reports Las Vegas Now.
Mazzeo's alleged assault is not the only incident weighing down Gibbons's personal and political life, and his recent deposition reflected that turmoil. As LVN put it, "Mazzeo and her attorney Bob Kossack think the governor is lying, not only about events on the night in question but about his personal life."
The governor filed for divorce in 2008, after he was linked with alleged mistress, Playboy model Leslie Durant, and Kathy Karrasch, to whom he sent 860 text messages from his state-owned cell phone.
From Las Vegas Now
Gibbons testified that he had never been unfaithful to his wife and specifically denied having sexual relations with two women linked to him in media accounts -- Leslie Sferraza Durant, the ex-Playboy model who accompanied Gibbons to a Reno rodeo and has been seen with him at various restaurants and Kathy Karrasch, the married woman who exchanged hundreds of late night text messages with Gibbons.
Both women now say that their relationships with Gibbons were platonic. As for his alleged assault of Mazzeo, the governor denies it all:
When asked whether he had been flirty or had told any raunchy jokes while having cocktails with Mazzeo and others, Gibbons said he wasn't a good joke teller and said he did not know the meaning of the term "double entendre."
He denied playing footsie with Mazzeo under the table because, he said, he was wearing cowboy boots...
Gibbons says the only time he touched Mazzeo was when she stumbled as he helped her find her vehicle.
"I don't have any claim to being a bright individual," Gibbons later added.
Read the full deposition below:


text:
ListPlanIt has a brand new look! However, we have some bugs to work out and the lists may temporarily be unavailable. If you have trouble logging in, please check back in a few hours. We are constantly working to get it back up and running. . .better than ever!
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text:
A popular Filipino cookie delicacy made from cornstarch and mochiko flour and this recipe is a very easy way to make puto seko. These cookies are very economical to make and tasty, nutritious and melts in your mouth. Actually I'm not sure why it is called "puto" in the first place because it is not soft and fluffy which is the characteristics of puto which is very similar to muffin. It is a very sweet cookie or a biscuit.
How to Make Puto Seko
- 300 grams cornstarch
- 1 cup flour or mochiko flour
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine
- 4 pcs eggs
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 cup white sugar
How to make puto seko:
- Mix all ingredients together. Transfer to cookie molds and bake at 300 °F oven until golden brown. About 15 to 20 minutes.


text:
Leggings Brand Name Ideas Generator (2022)
Generate business name ideas for your leggings store.
Instant brand-names with Shopify's store name generator.
Use Shopify's leggings name generator to search for business names and check domain availability instantly.
Get the domain name that fits your leggings store and your personality (before someone else does).
Hop out of the brand name generator and into your free 3-day trial.
Frequently asked questions
How does the leggings name generator work?
How does the leggings name generator work?
The leggings shop name generator provides instant suggestions in three simple steps:
- Think of a word that best describes your leggings brand
- Enter it into the name generator field
- Click on the "Generate names" button
And there you go! You now have 100 possibilities to select from or use as inspiration.
How do I come up with legging company name ideas?
How do I come up with legging company name ideas?
When it comes to legging company names, it's all about authenticity. What sets your leggings apart? Are they sleek and professional or cute and fun? Are they made from a special material? Consider the type of leggings you're selling and who your customers will be. In general, successful business names are:
- Universal: this means the brand name makes sense across different languages
- Easy to pronounce: you want your leggings brand name to be easy to find and remember
- Non-specific: if you have a vision of expanding your leggings business, you may want to ensure your brand name isn't too specific so you can include other products or services
These days business names are as diverse as the products and services themselves. Shopify's free name generator is here to help inspire a creative and unique name for your business.
How do I find catchy brand name ideas for leggings?
How do I find catchy brand name ideas for leggings?
Catchy brand name ideas for leggings are original, fresh, and memorable. As you brainstorm a name, consider employing these methods to inject a little fun into it:
- Alliterate (e.g. Triangle Tights)
- Use acronyms (e.g. LLC - Lovely Leggings Company)
- Rhyme (e.g. Grace & Lace Leggings)
- Abbreviate (e.g. Yoga Pant Inc.)
What are some creative legging business names?
What are some creative legging business names?
You can search words in Shopify's free business name generator tool, but here are some examples of creative words to include in a leggings business name:
- Hello (Hello Tights)
- Breathe (Breathe Leggings)
- Squad (A Squad Tights)
- Bare (Barely Pants)
- Mood (MOOD Wear)
- Damn (Damn Girl Leggings)
Is the legging brand name generator free?
Is the legging brand name generator free?
Yes. The leggings brand name generator tool from Shopify is free to use for all businesses and entrepreneurs. You can run as many searches as you like!
The names generated above are examples only and may be used by other businesses or subject to third-party rights. By using them, you agree to these Terms.


text:
New Hope Ministry and Counseling Center
Centerville, IA
.925 Sterling Silver, Champagne and Chocolate Sparkling Cubic Zirconia Double Cross Pendant Necklace
Sparkling Champagne and Chocolate Cubic Zirconia Crystals
16″ or 18" .925 Sterling Silver 1mm (fine) Chain
Top Quality Craftsmanship
Exceptional Styling
Pendant and chain are finished in Rhodium to prevent tarnish.
Comes in hinged leatherette jewelry box with outer white cardboard gift box.
Pendant Size – 50mmX35mm
Suggested Retail Price is $119
When you purchase this lovely inspirational necklace, handmade by a local jewelry designer, $10 goes to benefit New Hope Ministry & Counseling Center.
16" Chain, 18" Chain


text:
Water ionizers convert tap water into ionized alkaline mineral water. Water ozonators generate water with ozone – a molecule made of three oxygen atoms – in it. The minerals that a water ionizer concentrates in your water are good for your health. You need to get calcium and magnesium from your water every day according to the World Health Organization. But is there any benefit to drinking water with ozone in it? Ozone is a disinfectant, not a nutrient, your body has no actual use for ozone.
Is drinking ozonated water good for your health?
Proponents of ozonated water systems claim that drinking ozonated water will oxygenate your body, but there's a problem with that claim. You can't absorb oxygen from your stomach or intestines. Ozonated water has no effect on oxygen levels in your blood because you don't breathe through your intestines.
Ozonated water may actually be bad for your digestion. Your gut is home to billions of microbes – some good and some bad. The important thing to remember is that you need the good microbes in your gut for your body to be able to absorb some nutrients. If you kill the microbes in your gut by disinfecting it, you will suffer severe health consequences.
Thankfully, ozonated water only contains a small amount of ozone, not enough to wipe out the microbes in your gut. If there was more ozone in ozonated water, it would make you sick to your stomach. The only known use of ozone in water is for disinfection. Ozone is used at some water treatment plants to kill bacteria in water. Ozone is useful for disinfecting drinking water because it evaporates into the air quickly after disinfecting water. There is no known medical use for ozonated water.
Why alkaline water is good for your health
There are over 40 studies that document health benefits from drinking alkaline water. Even the prestigious Mayo Clinic states that there is a link between alkaline water and better bone health. Alkaline water is rapidly becoming recognized as a good choice for improving or maintaining your health.
A water ionizer converts the calcium and magnesium bicarbonate in tap water into calcium and magnesium hydroxides. Converting those bicarbonate minerals to mineral hydroxides makes water easier for your body to absorb. It is because of those mineral hydroxides that alkaline water hydrates your body better than plain water. Two studies from Montana State University showed that alkaline water hydrates better than plain water, and it improves your acid/alkaline pH balance.
The world Health Organization recommends that you get 10 – 20% of your daily needs for calcium and magnesium from the water you drink. A water ionizer makes it easy to get your Recommended Daily Intake of calcium and magnesium because the machine concentrates those minerals in your water, so you get more mineral nutrition in every glass of water you drink.
Alkaline water from a water ionizer has antioxidant benefits. A water ionizer is the only way you can get antioxidant benefit in the water you drink. The antioxidant potential in alkaline water is beneficial to probiotic microbes in your gut. It also helps hold back the growth of harmful microbes along with many other health benefits.
Alkaline water and ozonated water compared
Alkaline water has over 40 studies that support drinking it for better health. Ozonated water isn't backed by any studies, and drinking it may be bad for your health. Alkaline water contains easy-to-absorb mineral hydrates, ozonated water doesn't.
The most important difference is that ozonated water is a disinfectant, and alkaline water is an antioxidant. Because of this, ozonated water can kill the beneficial probiotic microbes in your gut. Alkaline waters' antioxidant potential is beneficial to probiotic microbes, so drinking it can actually lead to better gut health.
The hydrate minerals in alkaline water are recognized by the FDA for their contribution to good health. Ozone is seen as a disinfectant by the FDA, it is not recommended for human consumption.
Bottom line: Alkaline water is good for you, ozonated water can be dangerous!
Need to know how water ionizer can benefit your health? Call us at 877-959-7977 for a free, no obligation alkaline health consultation
Heil, P and Seifert, J. Influence of bottled water on rehydration following a dehydrating bout of cycling exercise. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition Springerlink July 2009. http://www.springerlink.com/content/kn41764j65165u3x/fulltext.pdf
Heil, D. "Acid-base balance and hydration status following consumption of mineral-based alkaline bottled water.." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 13 Sep 2010. Web. 26 Mar 2014. <http://www.jissn.com/content/7/1/29>.
Ong, Choon. "Minerals from drinking-water: Bioavailability for various world populations and health implications." WHO | Water Sanitation Health. World Health Organization, 17 Aug 2004. Web. 4 Jul 2013. <http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/nutbioavailability/en/>.


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Corey Cadby has withdrawn from the 2018 bwin Grand Slam of Darts, which opens up a potential qualification route for Polish star Krzysztof Ratajski.
Cadby had sealed his qualification to the Grand Slam by virtue of reaching the final of March's UK Open Finals, where he was beaten by Gary Anderson.
The former World Youth champion featured in last year's Grand Slam in Wolverhampton but exited the tournament in the group-stage. He suffered defeat against Alan Norris and Peter Wright, but victory over BDO world champion Glen Durrant came too late for 'The King'.
Cadby's last appearance in a PDC event came back in August, where he competed on home soil in the Brisbane Darts Masters. He defeated his compatriot Simon Whitlock to reach the quarter-finals, before losing out to eventual winner Rob Cross in the last eight.
Nevertheless, he's been unable to compete in any PDC ranking events since March after experiencing visa problems in his homeland, therefore he's been restricted to competing on the DPA circuit, where he's already scooped seven titles this year.
Earlier this month, Cadby withdrew from the World Series of Darts Finals after breaking his left arm as a passenger in a car accident. However, he has since returned to competitive action and won a local event in Australia last week; registering two ton-plus averages en route, therefore the reason behind his absence has yet to be confirmed.
The Australian's withdrawal means that former World Masters winner Krzysztof Ratajski moves into the provisional qualification places, after winning back-to-back Players Championship events at the start of October.
Players have a final chance to secure automatic qualification in this weekend's bwin World Series of Darts Finals in Vienna. However, if both finalists from that event are already qualified for the Grand Slam, then Ratajski would be in line to make his Grand Slam debut.
There is also a last-chance qualifier for PDC Tour Card holders on November 5th, which gives eight players the opportunity to seal their spots at the unique cross-code event, which will be held at Aldersley Leisure Village this year.
Photo Credit: Chris Dean/PDC


text:
And here we are. New Year's Eve 2010, looking ahead to the still uncertain 2011. Though more on 2011 a year from now once it has actually occurred. Right now, let's have a look back at 2010. It's a year that from the get-go seemed rather, well, odd. Now through it, well, it was odd, certainly annoying much of the time, and certainly without a lot of the awesome encounters previous years had. Though with two heart-breaking losses. In any case, now for the recap!
January: Check Engine
-I think I'll make guacamole
-Wow, this guacamole is fucking gross. Ack! Is this earwax?!
-Oh, I got the wrong kind of avocados. Okay.
-I need to get NYRA's blog restarted.
-Ugh, NYRA online community is pissing me off, seriously.
-I'll try this guacamole again, with the right avocados this time…
-WTF?! Why is my check engine light on?
-Oh, I left the gas cap loose. Lulz
-I think I've got an idea for a hashtag Twitter campaign for NYRA.


text:
Posted on November 26th, 2019 by Moderator
World map marked with locations studied by the authors with digital 0s and 1s streaming in rows beneath and an artistic rendering of a colorful music score floating on top.
Posted In:
Tune in tonight 11/23 at 8pm ET for the #Sammies2022 television special honoring the Samuel J. Heyman Service to Am… https://t.co/Bfw1I0Uhrr 3 days ago
#Gratitude is a good way to boost your own sense of #wellbeing. With this in mind, find my reasons to feel… https://t.co/VRd4WnEesF 4 days ago
Preliminary findings from a small #NIH-funded study suggest that a specific type of genetic test—chromosomal testin… https://t.co/rbM2Nmu9X3 1 week ago
Kendall Morgan, Ph.D.
If you have comments or questions not related to the current discussions, please direct them to Ask NIH.
You are encouraged to share your thoughts and ideas. Please review the NIH Comments Policy


text:
I saw this video on a friend of mine's blog. He was talking about church marketing. It got me thinking but down a slightly different vein.
I think that how we do evangelism in todays church must change. Because who we are reaching has changed.
This video says it all. Watch it with different eyes. View it not as [advertiser/customer] but [Church/seeker] respectively.


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The Unitarian Universalist Association's Standing on the Side of Love campaign (SSL) is celebrating its first anniversary. Launched in June 2009 at General Assembly in Salt Lake City, the campaign's mission is to harness the power of love to stop oppression, exclusion, and violence based on people's identity. Organizers have created banners, signs, and other resources that allow congregations to use the SSL message to address issues in their own communities.
"It's been a huge success," said Adam Gerhardstein, SSL campaign manager until this past June when Dan Furmansky, the former director of Equality Maryland, became manager. Gerhardstein noted that SSL has been part of more than 200 events across the country organized on behalf of marriage equality, GLBT rights, and immigrant justice. The campaign has generated more than 130 news stories, has 26,000 people on its email list, and 17,000 followers on Facebook.
"People write to us telling how they've used SSL in their communities," said Gerhardstein. "In Ogden, Utah, our congregation used it to rally the entire community to protect GLBT people in the workplace by supporting an antidiscrimination measure. In Maine it was used to promote marriage equality, and it was used in Washington State to support domestic partnerships."
"On Valentine's Day more than 150 congregations used SSL materials to take action on things that were important in their local communities," he noted. He said the campaign has been so successful because, "It resonates with why people go to church, with what the core of our faith is." It helps, he added, that the bright yellow and black banners and signs are visually striking. "They're very identifiable, the type of thing that people want to hang in front of their church."
When hundreds of UUs went to Arizona at the end of May to stand against anti-immigrant measure SB 1070, they became known as "the love people," he said, because they could be easily seen in their bright yellow Standing on the Side of Love T-shirts.
The campaign also provides multiple ways for congregations to engage with it, Gerhardstein said. "Whether they want to sign petitions, invite the city council to a forum, or just hold a committee meeting, we have the resources to make each of those things happen."
The Rev. Theresa Novak, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ogden, said the campaign has been helpful in her congregation's ongoing effort to pass an antidiscrimination measure. "The SSL slogan, the buttons, the signs, have all really helped energize the church and communicate our values to the wider community," she said. "SSL is one of the best things the UUA has done in recent years."
The Rev. Meg Riley, who is director of the UUA's Advocacy and Witness office until August 16, when she becomes senior minister of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, was instrumental in SSL's formation.
Knoxville was one of the inspirations for SSL she said. Two years ago a gunman walked into the sanctuary of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church during a Sunday morning service put on by children from that congregation and Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, and opened fire, killing two people and injuring six. He did it, according to a letter found in his car, because of a hatred of liberal values. After the tragedy, both congregations insisted on staying open and welcoming. When UUA President William G. Sinkford went to Knoxville to minister to the two congregations, he came home wanting the UUA to take up the spirit of the witness that he saw in the people in Knoxville. "The UUA already had a marketing campaign going," said Riley, "but we decided that a public advocacy campaign based on the spirit of Knoxville would better represent the good news that we had to share with the world. It was to be a campaign about our values, not about Unitarian Universalism itself."
The message "Standing on the Side of Love" first emerged as a rallying point for people of faith in Massachusetts during their efforts to promote marriage equality around 2004. It was used again in 2008 during the fight against California's Proposition 8, a law revoking marriage equality in California.
After Knoxville, media consultant Helio Fred Garcia was commissioned to write a concept paper for the campaign. The movement already had an anthem. The Rev. Jason Shelton, minister of music at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Nashville, had written "Standing on the Side of Love" in 2004 for the successful marriage campaign in Massachusetts.
Several moments stand out for Riley from this past year. "In Texas a congregation took banners to a high school in response to a bullying incident. Another group took a banner and stood outside a detention center near Boston after an immigration raid. We learned later that the people inside cried when they saw the word 'Love.'"
Furmansky, SSL's new director, believes the future of the campaign could include more interfaith work. "I think this is a special moment in time where the campaign can branch into serving as an umbrella for the interfaith community to come together," he said. "The heart of the campaign will always be the UU community, but there is shared language that could bring a bigger community of people together."
He said the campaign is now at the point where participants are learning from each other. "There's a huge online community for emails, Twitter, and Facebook," he said. "As people post photos and share stories and blog posts it will inspire and motivate the rest of us. It's also a place to toss around ideas."
He added, "Now in its second year, the campaign is moving from infancy to toddlerhood. It's full of energy and very much feeling its way in the world."
Related Resources
- Standing on the Side of Love.UUA campaign designed to counter identity-based oppression, exclusion, and violence.


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EDB gives farmers battered by Irene 3-month break on loan payments
In the wake of the destruction Hurricane Irene inflicted upon the agriculture sector, currently estimated at some $20 million, the Economic Development Bank has granted an automatic three-month stay on loans held by insured farmers, agency chief Ivonne Otero said Thursday.
Through its decision, the EDB could be benefitting 572 farmers, 82 of which are under the Farm Insurance Loan Program. The remaining farmers have received financing through the EDB's Agricultural Financing Direct Loan Program, which will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, Otero said.
"Hurricane Irene's incessant rains wreaked havoc on our island's agriculture and in many cases there are farmers who have lost months of work due to this situation," Otero said. "We can not be insensitive to this and we're giving this three-month moratorium on payments of loans under the Farm Insurance Program so that they have the opportunity to work the land and their credit is not affected."
Furthermore, farmers who are suffering the consequences of the atmospheric event that wiped out a significant number of crops earlier this week and are under the EDB's Agricultural Financing Direct Loan Program must deliver to the agency their insurance inspection documents, so that their case may be reviewed, she said.
"We urge them to contact their account executive to find ways we can reach out to them in these difficult times," she said.
The agriculture sector's loss estimates are likely to exceed $20 million and dozens of farms in Yabucoa, Maunabo, Jayuya, Orocovis, Maricao, Adjuntas, Santa Isabel, Juana Díaz, Guánica and Aibonito. The hardest-hit crops are plantains, bananas, coffee, vegetables and ornamental plants.
"In the coming days we will have a much more complete picture of the damage, but what we've seen in the visits we're conducting tells us that the losses could be much higher," said Agronomist Juan Reyes, vice president of the Puerto Rico Farm Bureau.
Bureau members are visiting farms and supporting farmers in reviewing damages and orienting them, so they can apply for emergency assistance. Farmers who paid for insurance through the Agriculture Department's Farm Insurance Corp. have until today to file their claims.
On a slightly positive note, Hurricane Irene affected just 10 percent of the island's dairy operations, so milk supplies have not been compromised, Bureau officials said.


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Berkshire Community College introduces three new non-credit certificates designed to provide the skills and experience needed to cultivate preferred service professionals and foster an inspired Berkshire experience.
Student Benefits
Practical part-time classes and hands-on training begin March 18, 2019
No-Cost for a Limited Time – the program is free during the 2019 spring semester only due to the funding received by a Training Resources and Internship Network (TRAIN) grant from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Three Non-Credit Certificates - Option of taking one of these three work-ready certificates:
- Certificate in Hospitality Core Skills (for Front-of-the-House Staff)
- Certificate in Culinary Core Skills (for Back-of-the House Staff)
- Certificate in Hospitality Leadership Skills (for Rising Managers)
Please contact 413-236-2127
Gain Effective Hospitality Skills from the Experts
- If you are looking to gain skills for a career in hospitality…
- If you are looking to change careers…
- If you are a part-time or seasonal employee looking for full-time work…
- If you are an employer looking to provide staff training…
Expert Instructors
Our expert instructors include celebrated chefs, restauranteurs, sommeliers, hotel executives and operations managers.
- Paid Internship Opportunity – Upon coursework completion, students will be eligible to apply for a paid internship to train in the field, further their skill set and potential for permanent employment.
- Two Locations – classes will be offered at BCC's Main Pittsfield Campus and BCC's South County Center in Great Barrington.
Attention Employers!
Recommend the Programs to your Staff: Employers are encouraged to recommend current or aspiring staff to apply for these certificate programs. For those employers are encouraging staff to apply for the Hospitality Leadership (Rising Mangers) certificate, please provide a letter of recommendation to accompany his/her application.
Host Internships: Interested hospitality organization should apply to become an internship host site.


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Gold medallist Abdellatif Baka finished 1.7 seconds faster than Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz along with three other Paralympic athletes
A disabled middle-distance runner shattered the 1500m world record after winning gold at the Rio Paralympic Games, beating Olympic champion Matthew Centrowitz by more than 1.7 seconds.
Abdellatif Baka of Algeria won the T13 1500m final on Monday night in a stunning performance that not only set a new Paralympic world record, but stands as the fastest 1500m time ever recorded by an able-bodied or disabled athlete.
Baka clinched gold in the T13 class where athletes suffer from visual impairment. There are two other classes for visually impaired athletes in the form of T11 and T12, with the lower numbers indicating a more severe impairment.
Baka crossed the line in a time of three minutes and 48.29 seconds to win gold, with American Olympic champion Centrowicz only managing three minutes and 50.00 seconds at the Olympic Games last month.
The feat was made all the more stunning given the fact that the second, third and fourth-placed finishers all recorded times faster than Centrowicz, meaning that four Paralympic athletes had run times fast enough to win gold had they competed in the Olympic Games.
Ethiopia's Tamiru Demisse claimed silver with a time of three minutes and 48.49 seconds, with Kenya's Henry Kirwa taking bronze in three minutes and 49.59 seconds. Incredibly, Baka's brother, Fouad Baka, finished fourth in a time of three minutes and 49.84 seconds to also finish faster than Centrowicz.
"It wasn't easy to get this gold medal," Baka said after winning Paralympic gold. "I've been working one or two years non-stop and it's been very, very hard for me."


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Joan Heffler Photography Wins Award
Joan Heffler Photgraphy (dba Creative Expressions) has announced she has won an award from The Schenectady Award Program. The annual awards program honors the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Schenectady area. Awards and recognition are given to companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value. For more information on Joan Heffler Photography, visit www.joanhefflerphotography.com


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6" Minimal Planter | Stoneware
In Stock & Ready to Ship
The Stoneware Planters are a part of our Minimal Collection and are available in 4", 6", 8", and 10" sizes. The warm, minimalist design is intended to be placed on tables, counters and shelving that brings a subtle, sophisticated touch to any space. The planter and drainage dish are hand glazed to provide a durable finish for both indoor or outdoor use.
Each piece is handmade using our proprietary sand stoneware and finished in our signature ivory glaze. The glaze on the rim of each piece has been removed to allow the warmth of the sand clay to be highlighted.
Product Dimensions:
6" Planter: 6" d x 5.5" h | Bottom Dish : 6.5" d x .5" h (included)
Product Specifications:
Material: Sand Stoneware
Glaze: Ivory
Drainage: Drainage dish + drainage hole
6" Minimal Planter | Stoneware


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Your inner guidance system (aka: inner compass) is always right. It keeps you balanced and gives you refuge from feeling "off." It is a beacon in times of… Continue reading
Time to release old patterns? Notice your subtle changes.
Are you wondering why it feels like you aren't changing? Why old patterns seem to act like static cling? The subtlety of inner change requires you to pay… Continue reading
Key to Choiceful Responses? It's the Feeling Body.
Does this sound familiar? Every day you juggle the demands of family, job and social commitments. You crave more time to take care of your personal wants and… Continue reading


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This might be part of your maintenance category in the post, but I'd add the need to check the condition of the foundation and the roof. Both are vitally important to the overall condition of the house. Also, check the plumbing, HVAC and electrical panel. All three can be very costly and inconvenient to repair. Too many people are focused on whether they have dual sinks in the bathroom but don't even flush the toilet to see if the water pressure is sufficient for that task.
How long would it take you to save up $200,000? 4 years? 7 years? 10 years? Heck, maybe 20 years? The average house price in the U.S. is $200,000 and that's certainly no chump-change. Yet, when it comes to buying a house, many people spend just a few hours trying to figure out what house would be best for them. In the end, they just end up picking the one that looks the biggest from the outside and has the nicest kitchen (as if the average person really stays home and cooks anymore).
If you plan on buying a house within the next two years, you really need to start planning now.
Top 10 Things to Consider When Buying a House
So what are these top things that you need to consider when buying a house? Are there really 10 that are truly important?
In fact, there are probably more, but these are just the biggies. Ignore these, and you'll likely be kicking yourself soon after the purchase…
1) Location
What are the three most important things when buying a property?
Location, location, location – that's the old realtor's joke. It's not a very good one, but it does nail down the point. Location is UBER important!!
- Is your home in a good area of town where property values have been consistently increasing?
- Are you close to many urban areas that are full of employment?
- Are there any low-income housing projects nearby or registered sex offenders?
- How many rental properties are in the area (the more there are, the less likely your house will increase in value)
If you're considering buying a house, go walk the streets at different times of the day. If there are kids running around, people jogging the streets, and no crazy loud noises (music, trains, domestic disputes, etc.), then you've probably pegged a pretty good area.
2) The Size of the House
Is the size of your prospective house appropriate to your family's needs? Or…is the house you're looking at more of a mini-mansion with 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms….for your family of four…?
Just 30 years ago, the average new home was built with 1,700 square feet. Today, new construction homes average more than 2,600 square feet! And, the size of our families have gone down!
When you're looking for your next house, be careful not to fall in love with a house just because it has a ton of space.
More space often means:
- A more expensive home, which will force you to…
- Work more hours…which means you're…
- Spending even less time in the home that you supposedly love!
If you truly want to enjoy your home, be realistic about its size. One spare bedroom is totally fine. But if you suddenly have two or three…plus a workout room, a man-cave, and a pole barn…you might actually become less happy because of the space and all that stuff that's taking over your life.
Related: 6 Reasons You Should Avoid Buying a Huge House
3) The Down-Payment Percentage
How much do you plan to put down on your next house? If it's your first home purchase, I'd shoot for at least 10% down (that's what I did), but 20% is better. (Oh, and on a 15-year mortgage too – you'll be happy with this decision when you're in your 40's and no longer have a house payment :)).
If you're getting ready to buy your second house – target a 50% down payment (after all, you should have a ton of equity coming from your first house at this point.
And, if you're buying house #3 or greater, you should be focusing on the 100% down payment plan.
If this freaks you out and you think it's impossible, consider the alternative:
- You put very little down on the house
- Much of your money now goes toward interest in the first five years
- When it's time to move, you'll have little-to-no equity in your home and you'll be forced to put nothing down on the next house…
…sooooo when is it that you'll actually own your house…??? Sounds like never. Do your best to save up a hefty down-payment and work to pay off your mortgage over time. If you're having issues saving up enough for your next home purchase, then the house is likely just too big or in too elite of an area for you. It might be time to reset your wants and needs when it comes to buying a house.
4) Your Future Life Plans
If you currently live in Indiana, but you've always dreamed of moving out to California, should you still buy a house in Indiana?
Absolutely not!
Here's my rule of thumb. If you're not going to live somewhere for at least five years, don't buy a house there.
- This could lead to becoming a default landlord – where decide to move, but can't sell your first house, so you end up renting it out to the first slime-bag that comes along and promises to pay you money each month…you all know how this story ends…
- If not a landlord by default, you end up selling your house and losing money it after the realtor fees, closing costs, interest payments, etc. It would have been better for you just to rent something cheap and save up your cash for your real long-term home.
If you have absolutely found the location of your dreams and want to stay there for 5 years, 10 years, or more likely – your whole life, it's time to buy! Home ownership is awesome when you're in it for the long haul.
5) The Cost of Houses Nearby
Where I live, houses cost between $150,000 and $200,000. If I walk three blocks east, houses suddenly jump into the $400,000+ range. Then, walk another two blocks and you can buy up a nice home for $130,000… The people that live in those $400,000 houses are absolutely delusional – not because of the price of the home, but because of the low value of all the homes around it! In a hot market like this one where everyone seems to have money to throw around, it's not that apparent. But, when the market cools down, how many people do you think will be willing to spend $400,000 to live in a $150,000 neighborhood?
Not many. (Which means what? That you'll have a hard time finding a buyer, and you'll have to accept less money than you'd like for your home when it's time to sell it!)
Before you fall in love with your next house, be sure to look around at the houses nearby. If your home is the most expensive, be ready to live there for the absolute long-haul. Either that, or just plan on losing money when it's time to move.
6) The Price of the House vs. Your Income
If you want to be wealthy later in life, then stop buying houses that the bank claims you can afford. All the bank is worried is getting paid. If they think you can eek by on your earnings and pay them your mortgage payment, that's all they care about. Will you have money left over for saving or investing? Most likely not.
Stop using the bank's rule of thumb to figure out how much house to by. It'll just leave you broke like all the other schmoes with big houses out there.
Instead, use this simple rule of thumb:
- Buy a house that costs no more than twice your annual income, and
- Do it on a 15-year fixed mortgage
That's it. You'll pay it off quickly, you'll pay very little interest, and you'll suddenly have a cash flow that you never dreamed possible!
Related: How Much House Can I Afford?
7) Maintenance Costs
There are two major factors that lead to high maintenance costs:
- The size of the house
- How old the house is
The bigger the house and the older it is, the more it's going to cost you to keep it looking and running as it should.
According to The Balance, the general rule of thumb on home maintenance costs is 1% of your home value each year. In other words, if your house is worth $300,000, it'll cost on average $3,000 a year to upkeep. If you have a newer house, it might be 0.5%. If your house is 100 years old, you might want to figure on 2%.
When you're thinking about buying a house, maintenance costs are definitely something you want to keep in mind.
8) Property Taxes and Insurance
You know when you go to the car lot and you find the car that's absolutely perfect for you? You buy it immediately, drive it off the lot, and then in about 5 minutes you learn that the insurance costs per month are more than double that of your last car…!!! Ugh…
This happens with houses too….
People fall so love with their next house that they forget to properly estimate the costs of property taxes and insurance.
- Is that home in a flood zone?
- Is it located in a high-tax area?
- Is the house more than double the square footage you're used to? (in this case, you'll pay more in taxes and insurance!)
Do your due diligence. Get solid estimates on the property tax and insurance for your next dream home. Chances are, it might actually be a nightmare.
9) Cost of Living
Are you moving from one city to another? Perhaps you're even moving out of state! Before you start buying a house, take note of the cost of living in your next area.
Sure, you might be earning 10% more by making the move, but home prices might be 50% more, and daycare costs 25% more! Sounds like you're going backward to me. If you're going to consider the costs of anything before your move, beware the cost of housing.
Related: Top 10 Cities to Grow Wealthy in the United States
10) Resale Value
Even if you think this next house is your "forever house"…it's not.
- neighborhoods change
- your lifestyle changes (with kids, grandkids, travel, your mobility, etc.)
- money situations change
- even your hobbies will change
Today, you might love riding horses and gardening. Tomorrow, you might have an itch to travel to places that you've never even dreamed existed. The fulfillment of each of these dreams would require a vastly different home life, wouldn't you say? One would have sprawling hills and acreage; the other a small space that's easily managed.
The point is, even on day 1, you've got to think about the resale value of your home…because you're going to sell it someday.
- Is the neighborhood established and growing?
- Does the house have any quirks that would make it difficult to sell (ie. It's tall and ugly, has a steep driveway, is on a horrendously small lot, is constantly flooded, etc.)
- Does it appeal to the masses, which would make the sale quite easy when it's time?
If the home is an exact depiction of your life and your loves (ie. It might have 3D sculptures of trees and plant life along the walls, or maybe murals of Hello Kitty are everywhere), then it's probably not suited for many other people.
Your house should work well for you and create joy in your life, but if your friends come over and are dumb-struck by the individuality of your home, that's likely going to be a problem when it's time to sell. Don't get caught in this trap when you're buying a home.
Lessons Learned For Buying a House
So what have you learned? Hopefully a ton! Mainly, you've got to think about more than where the home is and if it's bigger than the house of your annoyingly successful co-worker (you know, the snooty no-it-all that seems to be in every office).
In addition to the location and size, you should be concerned with:
- the down-payment amount
- how this home will suit your life down the road
- what you can truly afford
- the value of your house compared to others in the area
- the cost of living, maintenance, property tax, and insurance
- how easy the home will sell when it no longer fits your needs
When will you be buying a house? And what is your top lesson learned from the list above??
AUTHOR Derek
My name is Derek, and I have my Bachelors Degree in Finance from Grand Valley State University. After graduation, I was not able to find a job that fully utilized my degree, but I still had a passion for Finance! So, I decided to focus my passion in the stock market. I studied Cash Flows, Balance Sheets, and Income Statements, put some money into the market and saw a good return on my investment. As satisfying as this was, I still felt that something was missing. I have a passion for Finance, but I also have a passion for people. If you have a willingness to learn, I will continue to teach.
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Fashion is a fast-paced industry, and so is NASCAR! On May 14th, both of these industries joined together to create Catwalk for A Cause!
The 5th Annual Catwalk for A Cause, was started by NASCAR driver Martin Truex Jr. and girlfriend Sherry Pollex to sponsor patients battling cancer at the Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte, NC. Since its inception, the event has grown from a mere 75 attendees to 650!! Dale Earnhardt Jr., Danica Patrick and several other NASCAR drivers were also in attendance to support the cause.
Best Part! – Nine children from the hospital were able to walk alongside models during the fashion show; rocking the latest in summer style!
"It's a day when they don't have to worry about being sick," Truex said. "They get to come out and they're the stars of the show. They can forget about their treatments and all the stuff they're going through and just have a good day that's all about them." [read more]
Vroom, Vroom – Ready to check out some show pics? Here you go! –
The Martin Truex Jr. Foundation has touched the lives of thousands of children stricken by illness, poverty or neglect. They are committed to working collaboratively with organizations and individuals to help improve lives, inspire smiles and encourage dreams…one child at a time.
FASHION and NASCAR…that's one collision I could definitely see again! 😉
::Stacee Michelle::
[photo credits: Glenn Roberson Photography and Martin Truex Jr. Foundation Website]