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The point of this discussion is to get people's perspective on abortion. Why people do it. And why people are against it.
From Catholic.org I found a video on abortion, but it didn't look like the normal procedures performed in the United States. It looks like they purposely chose the worst pictures possible to convince Christians that abortion is wrong. Where did they get such graphic material?
Video Link: http://www.catholic.org/video/watch.php?v=13
A legal abortion in the United States looks more like this: http://www.thisismyabortion.com
I believe if you get pregnant by accident that you should keep it. But if you are forced (rape) (incest) then it definitely changes things. How can we force her to bring a rapist's baby to term? I also heard that giving birth to a rapist's baby is like being raped all over again.
I think that making abortion illegal is wrong. This takes away women's rights. I believe women should choose, but I think it's recommended that women take counseling before taking any action.
This is my opinion, but I would like to know others point of view on the subject.
I got two questions for you:
Views: 855
I think there are SO many different factors, but generally I think that regardless of whether or not it's an accident, you should have the right to keep it, or not keep it up to a certain time in the unborn baby's existence. For instance, I would be against someone choosing to abort the pregnancy at 30 weeks. I wouldn't say I'm Pro-Choice or Pro-Life, but if I had to choose, I would label myself as Pro-Choice.
Sometimes you can't find out if the baby has a disease, or if something is wrong until a certain number of weeks, and depending on the severity of the situation I think that also changes things. Like, if you were to find out at 20 weeks the child would be a complete "vegetable", unable to function or live on its own, that might change things for you.
My decision on this has been made from my life experience. I've not had to choose for myself on this topic so I don't *really* know what it's like to have to choose, but as a woman, I can say that you can not take away this right from people.
No one should be born unwanted in this world. I think the only one that should have a say for an abortion is the woman in whose body the unwanted offspring is located (plus there should equally be a way to back out for the men of any support for any "oops" pregnancy a woman may way "accidentally" have happen). If she doesn't want it should be enough for a reason.
It's not realistic to expect everyone who doesn't want to breed at a given time to have a sterilization or a vasectomy.
If you don't like abortion, don't have one.
I should qualify everything I say with the following; I'm a man, and thus can't really claim to know what the internal moral struggle over getting an abortion might be like, and that I'll probably never even get anyone pregnant unintentionally. However, I think I have compelling points to make regarding the issue, even while recognizing the extremely personal nature of an individual's decision.
Point 1: Anyone who claims to be 'pro-life' rests this position on a fundamentally made-up series of claims that have their eventual root in religious nonsense. Most conspicuous in this regard is the idea of a Soul, without which the debate on abortion is pretty meaningless. Christians, and theists, have been getting their feathers raised for centuries over the notion that science might someday discredit the notion of a soul, and today, repression-of-evidence-disguised-as-religious-tolerance notwithstanding, the disciplines of embryology, evolutionary biology and neurology have effectively done away with any notion of a 'Ghost in the Machine', i.e. the little Homunculus we sometimes imagine sitting in our head running our body. This poses a problem for pro-life activists, who attempt to rationalize their position by equating a zygote with a baby. This argument's weakness have been probed by the rational for so long that the Catholic church, among others, has had to resort to the ridiculous notion of 'Ensoulment', i.e. the moment of conception being the moment that a new soul enters a body and becomes a person. Besides the obvious you-just-made-that-up nature of this arguement (where was the idea of ensoulment 100 years ago), it's perfectly obvious to anyone willing to learn about embryological development that bodies and brains form gradually, and that there's no definite point at which pre-human bundles of cells become human. Even after birth, there's no longer any sense in believing in a unified consciouness, personality, or 'self'. We are our brains, nothing more or less. There is no magic moment of ensoulment, and no sense in the belief that a tiny ball of cells, or even a first-trimester fetus, is in any way comparable to a post-natal infant.
The second point; It is perfectly obvious that pro-life people's concern about abortion is much more based on a ruffled-feathers discomfort over the fact that some of their basic beliefs about human nature are challenged, than on a concern for human life. Once we recognize the stuff above, it's apparent that aborting a fetus is very, very dissimilar to killing a baby, and we can thus turn our attention to other issues, like the ones that make an abortion seem like a prudent option. Without even mentioning the cases of rape and incest, so much in the news lately, I would hope that most people can recognize that abortion as a form of last-resort birth control can, and probably often is, a moral option. A pro-lifer who would ruin the life of a woman by saddling her with an unplanned, unprepared-for child, and condemn that child to whatever life this circumstance results in, is clearly not concerned about the child, but about their own ideology. He should recognize that abortions aren't often performed lightly by hedonistic harlots who sleep around and then have their insides callously scraped out. It's common knowledge that getting an abortion is a deeply troubling decision, which tells us two things. First, that women are naturally inclined to want to keep the baby, and that to give it up is against their basic instinct; second, that some other factor, probably their life circumstances, causes them to override this instinct, for the good of their future children and themselves. Any objective observer can see that it's far more moral to forgo having a child that one can't handle than to bring a kid into the world without being in some way prepared for it. It's a quality of life issue, and the pro-life concern for Life seems to end at birth (and, as the saying goes, seems to pick up again at age 18, when they're eligible to join the military).
Pro-Life for me, although there are quite a bit of situations and factors that would make it okay. For example:
If the child is the result of a rape, the baby would have been born with a severe mental or physical defect, if the child would not be able to be cared for properly due to circumstances that popped up after its conception, etc.
Really there are a ridiculous amount of factors, but in the end I believe that people should be responsible for their actions. I admit, "If you didn't want it then you shouldn't have had it." is horribly cold, but sometimes life needs to be harsh. Self control is better than birth control.
Pro Choice - I believe that if a woman has to carry the child it should be up to her to decide what she wants to do with it, period. Just because a man drops his seed in a moment of passion I don't think gives him the right to dictate what the woman should have to do with her body.
I realized early on that my mom was two months pregnate with me before they were hitched! Always wondered if this affected my father/son relationship..;p). I quess I turned out ok, mostly...
Pro-Life VS Pro-Choice, seems like a false dicotomy and hides details. People that are Pro-Choice, are not by definition Pro-Death. People that are Pro-Life, still make choices with their chidren's future, and given their religious convictions, could kill their children by not allowing medical aide or intervention. People that are Pro-Choice, do not, at every opportunity, kill their offspring(in womb), but do want to preserve their 'right' to make this decision if necessary. While only a few folks of the 'Pro-Life camp, want the religious right to 'kill or let die' (out of womb) their offspring, they are still exercising this option. Recently, a few 'religious' families have taken even more trastic measures, torture/starvation.
Children die, by the hands of family and strangers, accidents, war time, and disasters. Some death we can prevent, some goes unnoticed or in mass. It is a sad world at times, and madness is sometimes in the drivers seat..;p(.
I'm pro-life and I recognize that a pregnancy involves two lives. There is the mother, who will ultimately be responsible for the second life, should she choose to accept that responsibility, and then there is the fetus, which up to a certain point is a hypothetical life. Obviously, being pro-life, I'm rooting for both of them. I'm not pro-choice because it isn't my business to be making choices for that mother or that potential child.
I guess I'm kind of obliquely with Heather. I don't see pro-choice and pro-life as all that mutually exclusive.
When two lives are involved, sometimes a choice has to be made, and the choice will be in favor of (pro-) one or the other of the lives when that is the nature of the choice.
The real question is, and should be, who makes the choice? Can the state force a woman to keep a pregnancy?
How? Lock her up and chain her to a hospital bed until she comes to term?
How about euthanasia?
I lived in Oregon for many years, and they have legal assisted suicide there. I think it's a good idea.
Not here. If someone talks about killing themselves, they try to stop you. But shouldn't they just let you do it? Basically, it seems to me that any government that allows abortion should allow assisted suicide...it seems to me the arguments that apply to one apply equally well to the other.
Until the fetus becomes sentient, it's just a blob of cells.


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EEOC Office of Legal Counsel staff members wrote the following informal discussion letter in response to an inquiry from a member of the public. This letter is intended to provide an informal discussion of the noted issue and does not constitute an official opinion of the Commission.
May 25, 2007
Dear :
This is in response to your letter of May 2, 2007, regarding the coverage of transgendered workers under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which, among other things, prohibits sex-based employment discrimination.
Historically, courts and the EEOC have held that Title VII does not prohibit discrimination against an individual because of transgendered status. See, e.g., Ulane v. Eastern Air Lines, Inc., 742 F.2d 1081 (7th Cir. 1984); EEOC Dec. 75-030, ∂ 6499 (CCH) (1974). In the past few years, however, some courts have determined that discrimination against a transgendered individual may constitute unlawful gender stereotyping in violation of Title VIIís prohibition against sex discrimination. See Smith v. City of Salem, 378 F.3d 566 (6th Cir. 2004); Mitchell v. Axcan Scandipharm Inc., 2006 WL 456173 (W.D. Pa. Feb. 21, 2006); Tronetti v. TLC Healthnet Lakeshore Hosp., 2003 WL 22757935 (W.D.N.Y. Sept. 26, 2003); cf. Schroer v. Billington, 424 F. Supp. 2d 203 (D.D.C. 2006) (disagreeing with Ulane and holding that discrimination based on sexual identity may be discrimination based on sex). Other courts, however, have adhered to the view that discrimination based on transgendered status does not violate Title VII. See Etsitty v. Utah Transit Auth., 2005 WL 1505610 (D. Utah June 24, 2005); Oiler v. Winn-Dixie La., Inc., 2002 WL 31098541 (E.D. La. Sept. 16, 2002). Whether discrimination against a transgendered individual may constitute discrimination based on sex in violation of Title VII is a factual question that cannot be determined outside the context of specific charges of discrimination and a complete investigation.
We hope this information has been helpful. Please note that this letter does not constitute an opinion or interpretation of the EEOC within the meaning of section 713(b) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. ß 2000e-12(b).
ñ s ñ
Dianna B. Johnston
Assistant Legal Counsel
This page was last modified on July 16, 2007.
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Carolbea on Family Tree Circles
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Journals and Posts
Anne STARRETT and William BOLTON
I am looking for information in relation to the family of Anne STARRETT who married William BOLTON ( born abt 1814)in the Londonderry region.
They lived at either Lismoyle of Ballynian in the Bann Valley region.Anne STARRETT was the daughter of Stewart STARRET of Lismoyle and Jane WALKER of Timaconway, Ireland.
The had a family of six:
possibly a child called Margeret
son JOHN BOLTON( 1851- 1941 ) married Mary Ann BLOOMFIELD who stayed on Lismoyle farm Ireland
sons JOSEPH, WILLIAM and HUGH BOLTON moved to Glasgow Scotland to work in the Singer Factory some time between before 1877.
daughetr ANN MARGERET BOLTON who married 1st Alexander GILMORE and later WILLIE ( WILLIAM JAMES) BOLTON.
Anne STARRETT and William BOLTON
I am looking for information in relation to the family of Anne STARRETT who married William BOLTON ( born abt 1814)in the Londonderry region.
They lived at either Lismoyle of Ballynian in the Bann Valley region.Anne STARRETT was the daughter of Stewart STARRET of Lismoyle and Jane WALKER of Timaconway, Ireland.
The had a family of six:
possibly a child called Margeret
son JOHN BOLTON( 1851- 1941 ) married Mary Ann BLOOMFIELD who stayed on Lismoyle farm Ireland
sons JOSEPH, WILLIAM and HUGH BOLTON moved to Glasgow Scotland to work in the Singer Factory some time between before 1877.
daughetr ANN MARGERET BOLTON who married 1st Alexander GILMORE and later WILLIE ( WILLIAM JAMES) BOLTON.
Looking for children of James WHYTE and Mary GREIG, of Canterbury/Feilding , New Zealand
James Whyte, son of George WHYTE and Margaret BEATON,Cust,New Zealand, previously of New Aberdour, Scotland married Mary GREIG in 1879, Canterbury, New Zealand. They had three children:
Alexander William WHYTE, Elesphet Louise WHYTE and child unknown.
Mary WHYTE died in Feilding , New Zealand in Feb 1884 after a long illness. In October 1884 James filed for bankruptcy in Christchurch.
The three children were later taken into care and placed in the Burnham Institute, period of time unknown and then placed with their grandfather George WHYTE of Cust, Canterbury. In 1891 there is a court case between George WHYTE and his son James Whyte for maintainence. James WHYTE states that he has four illigitimate children who he is caring for and wishes to take care of his other three children. The court refused his application for care of his children due to James being in an unmarried relationship. Have no further information after 1891.
Who was Mary Greig? There is a Grieg Road, in Ohaka, Canterbury and it is known that George and Margaret Whyte and son James lived for a period of time in that district before farming at Cust.
Interested in any information on WHYTE/ GREIG children, other family of James Whyte and where James WHYTE lived until his death. Also interested in GREIG family?
"AVERLEY" house, Ballykelly, Ireland - Home of the Atkinson family
Searching for a photograph of the house "AVERLEY".
The ATKINSON's of Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland lived in a house called "AVERLEY". It has been described as a beautiful large home in the main street of Ballykelly. The property stood there until 2001 when it was sold to a company called Nicholl Fuels and the site is now one for petrol station.
I am looking for a photograph of the house and also interested in how the house was named?
William Atkinson ( 1842-1928)- Ireland, Victoria and NZ -Closing the Gaps
William ATKINSON married Sarah ATTWOOD in Southbridge, Canterbury New Zealand in 1872. I am a descendant of his grandchild Albert Charles sometime known as Albert Edward ATKINSON.
William ATKINSON's obituary in 1928 states that William went to Australia at the age of twenty, where for a time he was a member of the Melborne constabulary. There is a William Atkinson aged twenty years, Irish on the sailing of the " Lightning" from Liverpool to Victoria in 1861. Communication with an Atkinson family researcher in Australia indicates that William may have been the son of John ATKINSON and Sarah McCAULEY of Ballykelly in Ireland and grandson of Marmadule and Mary ATKINSON. Marmadule ATKINSON was a Solicitor in Londonderry, Ireland. There is much annocdotal evidence to support this assumption.
If this assumption is correct then William ATKINSON farmed at Magherafelt in Ireland in 1860( ref: Griffiths Register), went to Australia in 1861, was in the Melbourne Constabulary and got married in New Zealand in 1872. His application to marry states that he had been in the Southbridge area for a period of four months. There were other ATKINSON's in Southbridge when William and Sarah lived there - Thomas and Annie ATKINSON and a Joseph ATKINSON who was a sponsor of one of Thomas and Annie's children.
Can anyone assist in closing the gaps?
Is there a record of the Melbourne Constabulary in the 1860- 1872 period?
To date have not been able to establish when William came to New Zealand.
Who are the other Atkinsons in Southbridge, Canterbury, New Zealand?
Looking for Charles Robert Whyte of New Zealand
Charles Robert WHYTE , son of George Whyte and wife Hannah nee Cherry was born in Cust, South Island,New Zealand possibly June 1890. After his father George Whyte died in July 1900, Hannah married a widower, William Brown and they moved their two families to Taranaki in 1902( ref: School transfers to North Island remark as to next school)
I have found a Robert Whyte as a private in the Taranaki Rifles in 1903-1911 but after that there is a "brick wall".
Verbal family has varying information - from a step sister Margaret Brown it is possible he went to Australia to another that thought he may have been killed at Gallopoli but while able to identify a Robert Whyte at Gallopoli this is not " our" Robert Whyte.
I have found a reference in the NSW Australia Police gazette in 1914 for a gunner Robert Charles WHYTE, born in Canterbury, New Zealand aged 23 1/2 yrs who deserted from the Royal Australian Garrison Artillery at Queenscliff in December 1913 after a years service. However cannot find an Australian army record to match name and check if this is my man.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Robert and Matilda POTTS
Robert and Matilda (nee Crombie) Potts arrived in HawkesBay New Zealand on the "Waitara" in 1856 , orginally from Newcastle on Tyne . Their daughter Matilda Potts( born in NZ) married Richard Rogers, son of William Rogers and Eliza Scandlyn, and grandson of Mary Rogers nee Faull who was the first European woman to be murdered in 1854, in the developing New Plymouth settlement in New Zealand. I am descended from this family line.
At some stage, perhaps 1919, a R POTTS was managing a hotel for anglers and tourists at Makuri. Is this the father Robert who came out from the UK or his son Robert?
In 1895,a Miss POTTS was the school teachers at Egmont Vilage School. My assumption is that this maybe the sixteen year Matilda who later married Richard but she would have been very young to be in sole charge of a school th size shown in a photograph of the school in 1895. At this time Robert and Matilda Potts were living in Midhurst.
I am interested in closing any gaps in the life of this POTTS family in New Zealand, but also interested in members of the family members who remained in the UK. A letter to the son Albert Potts from two aunts during the first world war indicates that there were still family members remaining in the UK.
Charles Robert WHYTE
Charles Robert Whyte was born 7 June,1889, son of George Whyte and Hannah nee Cherry and they lived in the Cust area of Canterbury in New Zealand. Charles Robert Whyte had 13 other brothers and sisters and later a step- sister. After George's death Hannah remarried widower William BROWN and they moved to the Taranaki area finally settling in Straford. Some of the older children of George and Hannah stayed in the South Island and others came north about 1903- 1904. The family separated throughout New Zealand and it was not until researching the family that we became away that there was such a large family.
Until recently I had not been able to find any further information on Charles Robert WHYTE execept that he had attended school in Cust, Canterbury, New Zealand Recently I found information in Taranaki Puke Ariki records that a Charles Robert WHYTE had been a member of the 11th Taranaki Rifles from 1905- 1907. He is identified as being a groom. It would appear from this that it is possible that he mayhave come North with his Mother and siblings.
My grandfather and another brother were Mounted Riflemen with the New Zealand forces during WW1. Most of the brothers who came up to Stratford saw action in either of the two wars. Family verbal history states that there may have been a brother killed at Gallopi but searches to date do not confirm this. While a Charles Robert WHYTE was killed at Gallipoli this is not our family member. His step-sister Margaret Brown born 1904 when I met her in the late 1980's thought he may have gone across to Australia so it may be possible that our search maybe in Australia.
Sons of George Whyte and Margaret Beaton , New Aberdour, Aberdeenshire , Scotland
George Whyte and wife Margaret Beaton came to Canterbury, New Zealand in 1863 on the " Lancashire Witch". They brought their son James born 1856 with them but not their son Alexander born 1854. The Whyte/White family have a long association with the New Aberdour area in Aberdeenshire.
George and Margaret farmed in the Cust area on Poynters Road.
When Margaret Whyte nee BEATON died in 1879, her death certificate shows both sons as being alive at this time. George married Hannah Cherry and they had a large family- one being Arthur Whyte who married EMMA ROGERS my grandparents.
While there is considerable knowledge in the family on the lives of the WHYTE children from the second marriage , there is almost no knowledge on either of the two sons from the first marriage.
It is believed that George's brother James Whyte later came to Canterbury, New Zealand and I would be interested to verify this fact.
After George's death on the 4th July, 1902 Hannah married a widower William Brown and they moved to the Straford area in Taranaki with some of the WHYTE children. The older WHYTE family members remained in the South Island.
I have considerable information on the family of George and Hannah WHYTE.
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Leiden University Student Platform
The Leiden University Student Platform (LUS) advises the Executive Board on matters of education and student affairs. The platform is also responsible for the awarding of the Leiden Teaching prize (Leidse Onderwijsprijs). All students are entitled to play an active role in the LUS.
The LUS was established in 2013 with the aim of providing advice to the Executive Board, primarily via the Vice-Rector who is the portfolio holder for teaching and student affairs. It consists of eight members, one for each faculty, and a chairperson.
The platform brings together different groups of students for ad hoc thematic meetings, which address current issues arising from Leiden's teaching agenda. It also organises breakfast meetings during which students can speak with members of the Executive Board.
|Chair (LUMC)
Nienke Wit
Anika Hellemons
Governance and Global Affairs
Dennis Hulsbosch
Lian Hof
Anne van Zuijlen
Elise van Wijk
Dominique Vis
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Martzen Groenveld
The LUS is responsible for organising and awarding the Leiden Teaching Prize, which is presented during the annual Dies Natalis celebrations to the Leiden lecturer who has made the greatest contribution to teaching within the university.
Nominate your teacher
Do you have a great teacher who inspires you through innovative classes and interactive teaching? Why don't you nominate him or her for the Leiden Teaching Prize! The winner will be admitted to the Leiden Teachers' Academy and receive 25,000 euros towards teaching or research costs.
Let us know why your teacher deserves to win by submitting a nomination form till 12 April 2019. Four students must support each nomination. Your nominee must:
- be actively engaged in improving education and his/her own teaching.
- have creative ideas about new ways of lecturing and assessment.
- have a clear affinity with his/her discipline and communicates this to students by creating links to the labour market, current affairs and research.
- guide students in their personal development.
- motivate students and encourage active participation in lectures.
After this initial phase there are three subsequent rounds during which you can again nominate your teacher.
If you want to know more about the nomination procedure please contact the LUS chairperson via: email@example.com.
Read about the winner of the Leiden Teaching Prize of 2018 (in Dutch).
LUS holds frequent thematic meetings during which specific issues are discussed with members of the Executive Board. The themes of recent meetings have included diversity, inspirational education and the short-term future of the university.
LUS also arranges breakfast clubs during which students can discuss educational matters with the Vice-Rector. These take place approximately every six weeks.
All Leiden University students are welcome to attend LUS meetings and breakfast clubs. Most are held in Dutch but can be switched to English upon request. There are also occasional meetings specifically intended for international students.
Upcoming events
LUS breakfastclubs meeting:
- Wednesday 19 September van 9.00 – 11.00
- Wednesday 17 October van 9.00 – 11.00
- Friday 16 November van 9.00 – 11.00
- Friday 14 December van 9.00 – 11.00
- Friday 14 January van 9.00 – 11.00
- Thursday 21 February van 9.00 – 11.00
- Monday 11 March van 9.00 – 11.00
- Friday 26 April van 9.00 – 11.00
You can find information on upcoming thematic meetings and breakfast clubs on the LUS Facebook page, or by sending an email to: email@example.com.
- Breakfastclub: Integration
- Breakfastclub: Sustainability
- Breakfastclub: Healthy Studying
- Breakfastclub 1: Studying in The Hague and Student Participation
- Breakfastclub 2: FOS and Student Participation
- Breakfastclub 3: Englishization of education
- Breakfastclub 4: LGBTQ+
- Theme meeting 1: Career Perspectives
- Symposium: Stressloos studeren (in Dutch)


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Crepe soled chelsea boot
Pick up in store | Choose a Store
The Fit Expert
Monika from our San Francisco (Union Square) store says:
The are slightly snug at first, but soften quickly.
More Colours
For the (many) days when you just can't be bothered to think in the morning, we urge you to embrace the Slacker life. Basic, everyday chelsea boots with no-nonsense crepe soles, The Nap is just what you need when that workaholic brain of yours needs a break. Modest and trouble-free at heart, they'll go with whatever you've got on and their 2" crepe heels will provide that feel-good lift. Let it go!
- Made in Portugal
- Soft nubuck cordovan and/or specialty embossed leathers
- Crepe soles
- 2" crepe heel
- Reheelable
Monika from our San Francisco (Union Square) store says:
The are slightly snug at first, but soften quickly.
Nap boot heel problem
I ordered her a new pair with a small discount from fluevog. Perhaps a new combined heel and sole design would last longer? The heel seems attached to the sole in a separate piece? I have not been the first one to comment on this same issue. I'd still love a full credit as I feel this is a design problem and boots should last longer than a year
Thank you


text:
Home >> Course Descriptions >> College of Education
Research in Communication Sciences and Disorders
Three semester hours.
This course is designed to encourage students to become researchers in the field of speech/language pathology. The student will analyze research in the content areas of speech, language and hearing. An overview of both basic and applied research in the field of speech/language pathology will be presented to the class. The course is designed so that the student will complete and present an initial research project in the field of communication sciences and disorders. There will be an emphasis on evaluation of information.
Home - General Information - Student Services -
Academic Undergraduate Regulations -
Undergraduate Degrees - Academic Graduate Regulations -
Graduate Degrees - Course Descriptions - Faculty -
Appendix A - Appendix B - Appendix C - Appendix D


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ThemeForest Mentor Premium Responsive HTML5 WordPress Theme 2560147
Site Template \ WordPress Theme \ Corporate
Custom \ Support \ Responsive \ Gallery \ Images \ Options \ Import \ Slider
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Credits: Design & Development of the Mentor WordPress Theme by Pixelentity .
While this template has been fully tested on both Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) version of the Android operating system, it has been optimized for devices running ICS and Mac iOS.
Last Update: 12 April 14; High Resolution: No; Widget Ready: Yes; Compatible Browsers: IE8, IE9, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome; Compatible With: Bootstrap 2.0; Software Version: WordPress 4.0, WordPress 3.9, WordPress 3.8, WordPress 3.7, WordPress 3.6, WordPress 3.5, WordPress 3.4, WordPress 3.3; ThemeForest Files Included: PHP Files, CSS Files, JS Files; Documentation: Well Documented; Layout: Liquid.
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Family 4.0
October 20, 2008
Duuuudes. WTF day is it? Childbirth brain ate words not forming so good also boobs. Booobs! Dude. Etc.
Ezra Harrington Storch was discharged from the hospital Saturday morning, weighing in at a rather puny six pounds, 12 ounces.
He was put on a strict regimen of Moar Boobage. Expectations were low, as the boobs in question are known for their losing record in past seasons.
Young Storch is also having problems with his frenulum (AKA that stretchy bit of uselessness under the tongue), a condition his mother first started pointing out to people on Thursday morning, but oh, do you think anyone listened to her? Do you think she ever got the visit from a lactation consultant she requested over and over and OVER? Do you think it was at all helpful when the LC showed up AS WE WERE WALKING OUT THE DOOR POST-DISCHARGE to announce that hey! This baby is tongue-tied! How about that? I bet your boobs are KILLING YOU.
Do you think maybe someone is still just a tad annoyed by this, a little bit?
However, the teeth were gritted and the milks came in and the Soothie gel pads were applied and GODDAMN, this kid is cute and at today's weigh-in we are back up to seven pounds even and the tongue-tie will be dealt with on Thursday and GODDAMN, this kid is cute.
Anyway. I am tired, but Internet, I am so HAPPY. I know! I'm shocked too. I remember these days from last time, and I distinctly remember my hormones crashing through the floor sometime around day five. I remember much weeping.
I love him so much already. I love looking at him, feeding him, praising him for such good pooping! Best pooping ever! My in-laws left today and for now we're on our own, and yeah, I sure would like a little more sleep and a LOT more patience for Noah and his Terrible Attack of the Threes, Oh My God, I Love You So Much Too But Get A Freaking Grip On Yourself Already. But then he hugs and kisses the baby and the baby smells so good and is so tiny and Noah is so handsome and gigantic and there's little to do but just drink in the chaos and admit that it's still all kinds of awesome.
This, however, is not so awesome.
This is what happens when you bring home an infant who is a good
three pounds under your clothing expectations, so even after a frantic
trip to Target for some newborn footie sleepers you still aren't
particularly well-stocked in clothing that won't swallow your baby's
head up whole, and then you promptly go through every single one of those outfits in one
And then the dryer breaks.
Grill pan or pants? Take your pick.
(At least it wasn't a leg this time. I definitely prefer a busted appliance to a busted-up dog.)


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Found 14 resultsAuthor Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is Stefan M. Genennig [Clear All Filters]
08. Conference Presentations, Tracks and Workshops
Service Systems Management: Realizing Digitization-enabled Innovation. European Academy of Management Conference 2018 (EURAM) Doctoral Colloquium, Reykjavík, Iceland.(2018).
The integration of digital resources into service systems: drivers and challenges. 9th Service Operations Management Forum (SOMF 2017), Copenhagen, Denmark.(2017).
Innovation in Service Ecosystems: A role perspective. RESER annual conference (Naples).(2016).
06. Project Reports
Data-Driven Service Business Models . Open Service Lab Notes. 4,(2018).
Smart Services. Open Service Lab Notes. 3,(2017).
04. Conference Papers
Data analytics in the sports industry – new service, new revenue. European Academy of Management (EURAM) Conference 2019, Lisbon, Portugal.(2019).
Digitization-Enabled Innovation in Sports - A Service Systems' Perspective on Professional Soccer Players. European Academy of Management (EURAM) Conference 2019, Lisbon, Portugal.(2019).
Digitization-enabled Innovation in Service Systems: An Empirical Analysis of the German MDAX Companies. European Academy of Management (EURAM) Conference 2018, Reykjavík, Iceland.(2018).
How Digitization is Changing Technology Management for Service Innovation – an Integrated Method. RESER annual conference 2018, Gothenburg, Sweden.(2018).
The integration of digital technologies into service systems. R&D Management Conference 2017 (RADMA), Leuven, Belgium.(2017).
Service Systems Engineering Triggered by Digitization - Evidence from German Manufacturing SMEs. Paper presented at the 16th European Association for Research on Services Conference (RESER). Naples, Italy.(2016).
03. Journal Papers
Value Propositions in Service Systems Enabled by Digital Technology: a Field Based Design Science Approach. SMR - Journal of Service Management Research. 2(4),(2018).
02. Edited Books and Volumes
Industrial Service Clouds. Entwicklung eines Kriterienkatalogs und Identifikation von Entwicklungsbedarfen.(2018).


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The final district lines that will go before the City Council were released on Monday, February 4, with moderate changes to the map that was released just two months ago. The new maps were released two days before the Districting Commission was to vote on the lines and discuss the changes district-by-district and borough-by-borough.
Several neighborhoods opposed the lines released in early December, mainly insisting the plans would divide neighborhoods and certain demographics. Independent residents and civic organizations made their unhappiness known at several hearings.
The Woodhaven Residents' Block Association (WRBA) opposed the December map, as the neighborhood would continue to be divided between two councilmembers. The district currently represented by Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley was essentially flipped with that represented by Councilmember Eric Ulrich.
Members spoke out against the lines at a January 14 hearing. WRBA President Ed Wendell said he was disappointed, but realized at this point change probably would not have come. He said the WRBA would "have to work twice as hard to get our elected officials' attention."
Kris Gounden, an Ozone Park resident who's been active in the West Indian community, said he was disappointed that parts of South Ozone Park were still incorporated into the 32nd District, despite pleas by residents.
"We want someone that's born of us," he said. "That looks like us. That's more likely to speak of our own interest.


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Lone Tree Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Moundridge, Kansas, USA)
Lone Tree Church of God in Christ Mennonite Church, located 5.5 miles (8.85 kilometers) north and one mile (1.6 kilometers) east of Moundridge, Kansas, was organized in 1878, when 70 persons were baptized by John Holdeman, one of the first congregations of the denomination in Kansas. As the congregation increased the original sod meetinghouse was replaced by a larger building in 1880, which was in turn replaced in 1890 and 1906, and enlarged in 1925, with a seating capacity of 900. Benjamin Schmidt and Henry Koehn were the first residing ministers. Other ministers who have served the church prior to the 1955 ministers are Tobias A. Unruh, John Holdeman, and Jesse Johnson. In 1955, the church had a membership of 540. Most of the members were of Dutch descent and many still spoke Low German at home, but the services were conducted in English. Since this was the largest congregation of the denomination, it had been host to nine conferences by 1955. About 1,200 persons were baptized here from the beginning of the congregation to 1955.
|Jesse Johnson
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Johnson, Jesse. "Lone Tree Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Moundridge, Kansas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 15 Sep 2019. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lone_Tree_Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(Moundridge,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=121594.
APA style
Johnson, Jesse. (1957). Lone Tree Church of God in Christ, Mennonite (Moundridge, Kansas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 15 September 2019, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lone_Tree_Church_of_God_in_Christ,_Mennonite_(Moundridge,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=121594.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 388. All rights reserved.
©1996-2019 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


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Crafted by the Associates
of our local Blind Association
Joining Macro Monday 2
Ventures: an undertaking involving uncertainty of the outcome. ---my field of view through photography.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing my ventures in photos. I look forward to every comment and especially discovering your Blogs with their wonderful photos, conversation and words of wisdom and encouragement.
Each of you are a blessing to my day.


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Issue Transparency
of 18
Senator, NH Senate (1998 - present); Representative, NH House of Representatives (1996 - 1998); Chair, New England Board of Higher Education; Adjunct Faculty, Saint Anselm College
Legislator Activity Profile
These objective, nonpartisan measures are used to show this elected official's activities at the Statehouse. They are not intended to present a ranking or rating of any kind. Average is that of all state elected officials in this chamber. The data below is based on legislative activity during 2017 and 2018, with the exception of the committee measures, which reflect data through October 1, 2018, due to delays in the release of certain committee records.
These issue positions are derived from the annual Citizens Count issue surveys or candidate websites, social media posts, media interviews, voting records, and other sources.


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Have you been huffing paint?Originally Posted by coolguy0621
Ok guys please post any caves or cool places you know or are interseted in, in or around the general area of the San Fernado Valley, Southern Cali.
Have you been huffing paint?Originally Posted by coolguy0621
There is a bat cave in West hills off of Valley Circle and Vanowen. Take the 101, get off at valley circle and head north to vanowen. At vanowen make a left (west), and the trail head's up on the left about 400 feet. Hit the trail and keep on the upper trail to the left untill the trail runs into a fence and splits, this will probally take about 15-20 minutes. Take the north trail that heads to the stream. Once you pass the stream stay on the trail and the cave is up on hill right in front of you 500 feet. You can climb up in side of it and end up on top. If you get to the ridge line, directly to your east on the edge of the ridge line was castle peak, untill some kid blew it up. There still is some cool rock formations there.
You could look here for some info: http://p073.ezboard.com/bancientlosttreasures
They have a cave forum and other interesting stuff. Most of the caves I've found are from folks in the local spelunker group. You should be able to find a local chapter here: http://www.caves.org/
This is the link site to the local chapter in my home town: http://www.guanopage.com/links/links.html
Hey thanks for the info. man! I'm still going to post stuff here in hopes that someone will write back and tell where some cool spots are.
Ok guys, NME is right; no one wants to share their places with everyone else. So Post away if you want to but I'm not going to post anymore caves untill I see some good notes here first !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the problem is not many on here are into caves per say. I know of a few around here, but they are so well known and recorded on some sites that they are almost impossible not to find. Most spelunkers tend to be protective because of the bad apples. Can't blame them really, since the same bad apples are why a few of us are tight lipped about some of our prized little towns and mines. I've looked and looked for a few places I really wanted to go to and myself have found how hard it is to get any valid info.
I'd hook up with the nearest cave group and after a few times with them and they feel they can trust you, they can open you eyes to some new places with out fear of you being a "bad apple".
Thanks Gary B, I did take a look at the site you talked about. I was having problems locating the local chapters you were talking about. I'm not a computer ninja at all. So at any rate I will search more in-depth. And let you know here!
And you are right about the bad apples, I can't blame anyone eather. I would not want most of my spots on the world wide web for everyone to read, I geuss I was not thinking about every one else who is watching when I started this post.
I geuss the way to link up with good people who know what you want to know is not on the web. Because I'm sure people use the web to pass on info. to their buddies and no one knows who is watching on public fourms like this one. And how are you going to get on a private one with out knowing anyone? Your not. I'm still going to heed Gary B's advice, and I thank him for being cool about it too. And I'll still check places like this one for stuff once and a while, but this is very discouraging.
Most cavers I know practice some sort of secrecy concerning cave locations. People have this urge to write their name on the wall or break the formations off for a souvenir.
Like Gary said, we do the same thing with our favorite little known ghost town/mining areas.
Some Grottos (caving club) can be real leary of outsiders. I had the same treatment when I got involved in organized caving.
The NSS has a message forum which might be a good place to start.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)


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Vets have urged dog owners to be aware of an increased threat of lungworm.
Cooler nights and a decrease in daylight means dogs are likely to come into frequent contact with snails and slugs which are the most common hosts of the lungworm parasite.
But even keeping pets from accidentally or deliberately eating the molluscs might not help in the fight against the spread of the disease, as Dr Huw Stacey, director of clinical services at Vets4Pets, explained: "The risk of lungworm is gradually increasing in the UK with examples of the disease now occurring in all counties.
"It was first documented in Cornwall and South Wales in 1979 and has spread with cases now confirmed in Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
"Lungworm is a parasite and has a life-cycle which starts and ends with snails and slugs.
"The lungworm larvae are found in dogs' faeces and are eaten by molluscs which then infect other dogs that either eat these slugs and snails or come into contact with their slime.
"Symptoms of lungworm can include changes to breathing, such as coughing or running out of breath easily, weight loss and a reduced appetite. In advanced cases it can cause life threatening bleeding disorders.
"None of these signs are a guarantee of the presence of lungworm, so further tests would need to be carried out by a vet to diagnose the infection."
"Lungworm is a condition that can be treated successfully by vets, if diagnosed in time," added Dr Stacey.
"Preventative products are available and with regular use, prevention is easily achieved. You should always speak to your vet as not all worming products are effective against this parasite.
"There are a number of other steps that can help prevent your pet from getting lungworm.
"These include stopping your dog putting snails or slugs in their mouth, bringing your dog's toys in from the garden at night and not throwing your dog sticks because as well as the risk of causing injury a stick can harbour lungworm larvae if a snail or slug has been on it."
Further information can be found at vets4pets


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Difference between revisions of "PDAs"
(Fixed Linux link)
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[http://www.forensicswiki.org/index.php/RIM_Blackberry Blackberry]

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[http://www.forensicswiki.org/index.php/Palm Palm OS]

[http://www.forensicswiki.org/index.php/Palm Palm OS]

Symbian OS

Symbian OS

Revision as of 07:46, 22 February 2006
The following links provide information regarding various technologies and operating systems. Again, feel free to contribute and/or edit.
The first PDA was introduced by Apple Inc. with the release of the Newton in 1993. The CEO at Apple at the time, John Sculley, coined the device a "Personal Digital Assistent" at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He claimed that PDA's would become "ubiquitous tools that would hold telephone numbers, keep your calendar, store notes, plus send and receive data wirelessly." While the Newton could not do all that he predicted at the time, his claim would ultimately become a reality many years later.
While the Apple Newton went practically unnoticed in the consumer market, the introduction of the Palm Pilot by Palm, Inc in 1996 started the popularity of the PDA. The device was a highly effective method of information management because you could store your calendar, to-do lists, notes, and address book all in one simple handheld.
The addition of third party software/hardware vendors have made the PDA a portable device that can scan barcodes, play music, and run many small applications that used to only be done by a laptop computer.
Current Popular Operating Systems
- Blackberry
- Linux
- Palm OS
- Symbian OS
- [Windows Mobile]


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At its recent, annual general assembly, held in Boston, Doctors for Global Health (DGH), celebrated 17 years of supporting volunteers who work with community members in developing nations toward implementing solutions that address healthcare, educational and economic issues. The weekend's activities included a glimpse of videos that have been submitted to DGH's first-ever video contest, for which the theme is "Challenging Scarcity: Health Justice for All." The non-governmental organization, established by Einstein faculty member Dr. Lanny Smith, also announced a deadline extension for the contest, which is now Monday, November 12, 2012.
Through the contest, DGH invites individuals and/or groups of up to four to submit an original, creative video that explores their vision of scarcity in the world today in support and in celebration of health justice.
"It's our hope that folks will explore the social determinants of health while sharing their perspectives for achieving health justice for all," noted Dr. Linnea Capps, current president of DGH and recent addition to the Einstein faculty, in the department of family & social medicine. "We encourage everyone, from students and filmmakers to anyone with an idea on the theme, to submit an original video."
She added, "We're also accepting excerpts from films in the making and extracts from longer films, since the contest is an opportunity to share insights and exchange views on the subject of health justice and scarcity today. And, for those who submitted films before our original July deadline, there is the opportunity to edit and re-submit before the new deadline on November 12."
Videos up to five minutes long may be submitted in any style or genre, including narrative, experimental, video art, documentary, music and animation. All submissions to the contest will be posted online at dghonline.org, as well as on the DGH Facebook page. Those creating the winning video will have the opportunity to participate in a documentary of DGH work in the field. Other prizes include a selection of fair-trade handicrafts and relevant literature on global health.
Entries will be judged by a panel of expert professionals who include Oscar-nominated director Ben Achtenberg; Jasmina Bojic, founder of the United Nations Association Film Festival; director/producer Mel Halbach; documentary filmmaker Luke Walden; Michael Bonner, former investigative reporter for CBS News/60 Minutes; Tony Nelson, community organizer, teacher and human rights activist; and DGH Europe liaison and board member Michele Brothers.
"Our judges will evaluate each video based on several criteria, including creativity, how well the content expresses and connects to the values and them of "Challenging Scarcity: Health Justice for All," and the production value and artistic merit of the video itself," noted Dr. Smith.
For details on how to submit videos to the competition, visit the DGH Video Contest web page. And for further information, e-mail email@example.com.
Doctors for Global Health is a private, not-for-profit organization promoting health, education, art and other human rights throughout the world. DGH is comprised of hundreds of health professionals, students, educators, artists, attorneys, engineers, retirees and others who, working together, build long-term relationships between people and communities around the world – in locations including Chiapas and Oaxaca in Mexico, Estancia and Santa Marta in El Salvador, Guatemala, Uganda and the United States – to find effective solutions to social justice issues.
Posted on: Friday, August 10, 2012
All Stories


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Recently I did a video post spotlighting Stephanie Wonderlin host of Tweetheart TV, an interactive video show that highlights, social media news, tips and reviews. Tweetheart TV is a true interactive show that allows the viewer to watch more contact through a video menu. Stephanie asked her viewers to submit a video response for ideas for her upcoming shows on Tweetheart TV.
Here is Stephanie's Video with her viewers feedback. I am glad that I made the video directors cut. I look forward to more episodes on Tweetheart TV.


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Watching vs. Taking
Watching vs. Taking
"Get over here ...It's back," whispers a stone-faced Philadelphia man into his walkie-talkie. He's crouched at a campsite in the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in southernmost Texas. A short distance away, two forty-something men launch into a fervent but silent race-walk. The site, festooned with bird feeders, backs up to a dense curtain of granjeno, catclaw, and other native brush that harbors some of North America's rarest birds. Eight binocular-toting bird watchers (or "birders," as they call themselves) already ring the site, peering through their optics at a brown, sparrow-sized bird-a female blue bunting. Unaccompanied by a colorful male companion, this Mexican bird is the only member of her species known to be visiting the United States.
"Where's the blue?" asks a woman, a native Texan who is camping nearby.
"You won't find any. That's the female," says a Maryland birder who, tipped off by the local rare bird alert, pulled up in his rental car just a few minutes before.
"Yes!" whispers one of the just-arrived racewalkers, his teeth and fist clenched.
"That's a big tick for you," comments his friend-the "tick" referring to a check on his lifetime list of birds seen.
"Look at the warm brown tone all over the bird," says another watcher, perhaps talking herself out of any disappointment at not seeing the bright blue of the missing male. "She's a real beauty in her own right."
The blue bunting encounter, which I witnessed during a December 1999 trip to South Texas, could have taken place in any of a thousand locations across North America. The species of bird might vary-it might be a piping plover or an elegant trogon or a northern hawk owl-but the intensity of the fascination would be much the same. Birding has become one of the continent's fastest growing outdoor pastimes, and it's leading a whole parade of newly popular wildlife-watching avocations: there are also people (and organizations) devoted to sighting butterflies, wildflowers, wolves, mountain lions, and whales. Nor is this growing fascination with wildlife confined to North America; it appears to be a global phenomenon, with large economic and ecological implications.
It has come on fast. Today, some species are worth as much-if not more-in their natural habitat, alive and free, than they bring as game. In parts of Africa where tourists pay well to see lions, for example, a lion that remains alive has been estimated to be worth $575,000. In many cases, where wildlife-watching tourism has grown, poaching has declined. In Belize, as manatee-watching tours have brought a growing income, illegal hunting of the big mammals has become less of a problem. And in South Texas, there is now hope that the remaining habitats of the blue bunting, the small wild cats called ocelots, and other rare species won't fall to bulldozers.
The growing interest in wildlife watching draws attention to a growing perceptual chasm, or difference of fundamental values and sensibilities, between those who view wildlife as a resource to be exploited, and those who share a resurgent awareness of wild animals as our co-inhabitants on a fragile planet. The interest in watching may also reflect a new kind of frontier for human curiosity. Over the past millennium, the goals of exploration were geographical-and strange beasts or trees encountered along the way were seen mainly as curiosities. Now, the goals of exploration are increasingly those of understanding the nature of the world we have conquered. The geographical mysteries have given way to new ecological and biological ones. Close watching of wildlife has led to the realization that many animals have surprising levels of intelligence and social organization, and that many plants play powerful and complex ecological roles as well. In an era of dangerously unsustainable human domination, it is of growing interest that many of the animals we have considered our inferiors have in fact thrived for millions of years longer than we have, and have proven to be masters of adaptability and survival. Whatever our reasons for watching, we are less inclined now to take wildlife for granted.
Down on the Rio Grande
Once best known for citrus, cotton, cabbage, and as a haven for winter-fleeing "snowbirds" (people in Winnebagos or Airstreams) from the north, towns in the southern tip of Texas now herald themselves as wildlife-watching paradises. Birders, butterfly watchers, and other nature lovers arrive to take in subtropical sights that can be found nowhere else north of the U.S.-Mexican border. The new tourism may have arrived just in time. By 1999, after decades of conversion to cattle pastures, farm fields, and housing subdivisions, more than 95 percent of the natural environment of the region had disappeared. Today, Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park and other protected areas account for most of the remaining natural habitat of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Although birders have been coming to southern Texas for more than 30 years, their growing numbers only recently caught the attention of many local businesses. Now, visitors to the Best Western Inn in Harlingen are greeted by paintings not of cowboys,
bucking broncos, and ten gallon hats, but of the _red-crowned parrot and ringed kingfisher. A Harlingen Area Chamber of Commerce brochure, titled "Hooters, Hawks, and Hummingbirds," contains alluring photos of the green jay, chachalaca, kiskadee flycatcher, buff-bellied hummingbird, groove-billed ani, and other local birds. Three South Texas cities-Harlingen, McAllen, and Raymondville-now hold annual birding festivals that lure crowds of out-of-state bird lovers for field trips, seminars, and specialty sales, where they snap up the latest binoculars, books, and spotting scopes. These were among the first such events on the continent; now more than 200 annual nature-oriented festivals are scheduled throughout the United States and Canada. "A lot of things coalesced about five years ago," says Frank Judd, a 30-year Texas resident and biology professor at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg. "Ecotourism is being championed in the local press and other media, and this has made local people aware that they can derive income from it. And it doesn't hurt anything-it just brings in money."
Just how much money? One measure is the worth of the only known U.S. nesting pair of yellow-green vireos, which resided in South Texas's Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge for several years in the early 1990s. These chickadee-sized songbirds generated an estimated $150,000 per year for local businesses near the refuge. About a three-hour drive to the north, 200 wintering whooping cranes attract an annual $1.2 million in tourist dollars for the small town of Rockport. The cranes arrive on the central Texas coast each fall, after breeding in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park. Most of the cranes spend the winter at nearby Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Visitors staying in Rockport can buy tickets for boat rides that ferry them past spots where the birds can be seen searching for crabs, fish, and frogs in the shallow water. Down on the Rio Grande, the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge draws 100,000 birders each year, who annually contribute about $14 million to the local economy.
While the full economic impact of wildlife-related activities can't always be so easily quantified, a study by the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commerce, the "National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-associated Recreation," suggests that watching has become more than a fringe industry. In 1996, according to the report, 77 million adults-about 40 percent of the U.S. adult population-participated in some form of wildlife-related recreation. Their activities generated $100 billion from sales of equipment, transportation, permits, lodging, food, and other expenses relating to their outdoor interests. Of course, these figures include those for whom wildlife-related recreation means hunting or fishing, and a lot of that $100 billion was spent on guns, bullets, and lures. But if those who watch wildlife are broken out, the number still comes to 63 million people, who generated $29 billion. Between 1991 and 1996, wildlife watching trip and equipment expenditures rose 21 percent. Almost equal numbers of men and women reported participating in these activities.
Wildlife watching has gained popularity in other regions of the world as well. In 1994, an Australian government report indicated that 53 percent of adult Australians planned to take nature-based trips within the following year. And according to a survey conducted by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), more than 1 million people in Britain, out of a total population of some 59 million, are regular birders. "Birdwatching in this country is the third most popular leisure pursuit, only beaten by angling and golf," says Graham Madge, an RSPB spokesman. Madge adds that an interest in birds often evolves into broader interests in butterflies, small mammals, and wildflowers that share bird habitats.
Why Watch?
Undoubtedly, at least some of the millions of people who watch birds or whales do so for reasons that have little to do with raising ecological awareness. Keeping personal lists of species sighted can be like keeping score in a game, and weekend outings may be more satisfying for the social experience than for any bonding with nature they induce. Nonetheless, it would be hard to imagine any activity having more potential to heighten people's interest in-and their willingness to seriously protect-the other life of the planet than that of closely observing some of that life. It could be of considerable interest to know what really motivates most wildlife watchers, and to what degree that motivation can be harnessed to larger ends.
Certainly, one factor in this movement has been the sharply increased media coverage of environmental issues over the past three decades-particularly the escalating documentation of global biodiversity loss. Articles in World Watch over the past few years, for example, have documented sharp declines in thousands of species of birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, marine mammals, and primates. As a species becomes rarer, it acquires a greater curiosity value. When only a few hundred members of a species remain, those last members may ironically attract thousands of humans who paid little attention when the species was common: witness the crowds that gather to observe captive pandas, gorillas, or California condors.
Threatened species lists-and the rescue movements they engender-have also produced a plethora of TV documentaries and coffee-table books celebrating the wonder those embattled creatures inspire. The movements have been aided by advances in camera technology, allowing photographers and filmmakers to record aspects of the private lives of animals that had never been seen before the last decade or so. And for people who want to see the real thing, the advent of compact field guides has greatly eased the way. Beginning in 1934, Roger Tory Peterson, using arrow-marked and simplified paintings, revolutionized field identification with his North American and European bird field guides. Since then, the market has burgeoned and diversified; you can walk into almost any major bookstore and find the Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas, or a Field Guide to the Orchids of Costa Rica and Panama.
Beyond the rising concern about threatened species and biodiversity loss, some scientists believe humans may harbor an innate affinity for other species-what the evolutionary biologist E.O. Wilson calls "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life," or "biophilia." Over time, what was a physical connection with its origins in hunting and gathering also became one of culture, religion, and spirit. "We are a biological species [that] will find little ultimate meaning apart from the remainder of life," writes Wilson.
This link has always been apparent-as reflected in the great prevalence of animals in the myths, religions, and art of human cultures since prehistoric times. Cro-Magnon cave painters, for example, drew pictures of the creatures they hunted and observed more than 30,000 years ago. Many of the same or similar animals dominate children's story books today. (In 1983, Yale environmental scholar Stephen Kellert found that more than 90 percent of the characters featured in pre-school reading and counting books were animals.) There is the myth of Romulus and Remus, being raised by wolves and then founding Rome. There is the bald eagle becoming a symbol of the United States. Or, there is the turtle recurring as a native American symbol of the world itself. Animals have always been a part of human culture, but what may have happened in the past few decades is that the world's dominant cultures-increasingly overwhelmed by technological and industrial development-have become traumatically separated from what once sustained them.
In any case, we know that across economic, ethnic, and regional lines, people appear to be universally moved by nature-whether in the form of a flying bird, a rolling surf, or the blaze of fall foliage. For many, it takes only a bit of inspiration, perhaps a nature walk led by a school teacher or naturalist, to draw them in. Once hooked, some birding and butterfly-watching enthusiasts research and stalk their quarry almost as though conducting ritualized, non-lethal hunts. Whatever the initial inspiration, most wildlife watchers are driven to learn more about the animals or plants they love.
Citizen Science
This growing interest in watching has brought more than just a surge in hotel reservations and binocular sales. News about impending extinctions, for example, arouses not only curiosity but-often-deep concern. The concern may lead to participation in habitat-saving or species-saving activities, and to a more informed and organized kind of watching-creating a feedback loop that brings still more intensity to the watch. One result has been the rise of a kind of citizen science, in which thousands of watchers collect sightings not just as a pastime, but as a form of data collection for a highly consequential branch of science.
Citizen science now plays a critical role in gathering long-term data on vulnerable wildlife and habitats. For example, the North American Butterfly Association, a nonprofit, 3,500-member conservation organization, holds an annual Fourth of July count, a continent-wide effort in which volunteers identify and tally butterflies living near their homes. The resulting database will provide important insights into butterfly distribution and abundance. Among other findings, the past seven years of observation have enabled researchers to plot major summer concentration areas of the monarch, a widespread migratory butterfly that worries conservationists because much of the population winters in only a few localized and dwindling forests of central Mexico.
Since 1996, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has done the same for toads and frogs with its North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, or NAAMP-an effort spurred by growing global concern over widespread amphibian declines. Volunteers track frog and toad calls during the spring and summer breeding seasons. "It's as close as you're going to get to an idea of what's happening all over the whole patchwork of U.S. and Canadian landscapes," says NAAMP coordinator Linda Weir, who works with states and provinces to set up affiliated monitoring efforts. So far, groups in 29 states have joined, using more than a thousand volunteers to cover about 1,000 designated roadside routes. A similar program recently started in Australia, while regular monitoring programs have been ongoing in Great Britain and a few other European countries. In Britain, for example, the Common Birds Census, conducted since 1970 and carried out primarily by volunteers, has helped create an index on national bird populations. The census has tracked dramatic drops in populations of once-common farmland birds that are thought to be declining due to the destruction of farm hedgerows and increases in pesticide use, and due to harvesting practices that destroy nests and habitat during the birds' breeding seasons. Between 1970 and 1998, for example, the Common Birds Census found an 82-percent decline in grey partridge numbers, a 55-percent decline in song thrush populations, and a 52-percent drop in skylark populations.
One of the oldest citizen science programs is the Christmas Bird Count, which is sponsored by the National Audubon Society and is now in its 100th year. More than 50,000 volunteer birders participated in December 1999 and January 2000, canvassing the wintering grounds of various North American birds. Another well established project is the U.S. Geological Survey's Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), which began in 1966. Volunteers annually cover 3,000 roadside routes, tallying singing and breeding birds across the United States and Canada. Similar surveys are conducted locally in various U.S. states and in Spain, Great Britain, and Australia.
All of this counting of other species could ultimately help drive further shifts toward sustainability in human life itself, by providing inputs to basic policies governing land use, habitat protection, and the like. The Common Birds Census has been instrumental, for example, in persuading the government of the United Kingdom to press for such changes in national agricultural practices as setting harvest times that don't coincide with prime nesting times.
The Backyard Eden
Most of the media's attention to wildlife watching has focused on ecotourism, largely because that's where much of the money is. With tourism booming all over the world, reporters and investors are eager to know what, exactly, people are looking for in their travels. If they'd just as soon choose a ticket for a whooping crane-watching boat as for a theme park ride, that's a significant piece of information. But in fact, the lion's share of nature lovers practice their avocation at home. Of the 63 million wildlife watchers counted in the 1996 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-associated Recreation, 44 million reported observing wildlife, mostly birds and mammals, around their own backyards. "Nearly one-third of the adult population of North America dispenses about a billion pounds of birdseed each year, as well as tons of suet and gourmet seed cakes," writes Stephen W. Kress in Audubon magazine. Backyard wildlife enthusiasts spend billions of dollars each year on food, feeders, and binoculars. In Britain, the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds estimates that two out of three people put out food for garden birds during winter months. Many backyard wildlife watchers also landscape their yards with plants that provide food in more natural forms, such as holly berries or cherries.
Citizen science has come to the backyards, as well as to public parks and refuges. Project FeederWatch, a joint effort among the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the National Audubon Society, Bird Studies Canada, and the Canadian Nature Federation, has recruited 14,000 backyard watchers to submit data on their homes' winged visitors. The project tracks long-term distribution patterns such as the expanding range of the recently introduced Eurasian collared dove; short-term irruptions of species outside their normal ranges; and the spread of some easily identified diseases, such as conjunctivitis in finches.
Backyards may also engender a greater sense of responsibility because they are small, and stewardship for a small area may make people more conscious of any threats to the area than they'd be in a large park or wilderness. In Great Britain, for example, many gardens are quite tiny, and birders don't have to look far to see beyond their own property lines. A natural outgrowth of their backyard watching has been the fostering of community projects such as the RSPB's defense of the cirl bunting, a colorful (rust, yellow, _and black) European songbird whose last British stronghold is in South Devon. The villages of _Bishopsteignton and Stokeinfeignhead, after learning that they were among the cirl bunting's last refuges, each adopted it as their village bird. The upshot is that local farmers have become conscious of its plight and have changed some of their old practices to save it. "There are no real areas of wilderness left in the U.K. and there is not a bit of land that isn't managed for something," says Sue Ellis, a spokesperson for English Nature, an organization that promotes the conservation of England's wildlife and habitats. "Wildlife is on people's doorsteps, so when something happens, people are very, very aware."
Is This a Good Thing, or Not?
While backyard wildlife watchers get less media attention than ecotourists, many of them-in addition to expanding their attentions to community projects-will eventually become ecotourists. In 1998, world tourism as a whole generated an estimated $441 billion, according to the Spain-based World Tourism Organization. In her book Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?, Martha Honey calls ecotourism "...the most rapidly growing and most dynamic sector of the tourism market." It is big enough to sway critical decisions in biologically rich but cash-poor countries.
A notable example is Costa Rica, which was little known as a tourist destination two or three decades ago. But as word of the country's verdant rainforests, whitewater rivers, and gaudy tropical birds spread, the number of visitors arriving each year from Europe, Japan, and North America jumped from 200,000 to 1 million. Many of them came to see the country's outstanding national parks and reserves, which comprise about a quarter of its total area. Ecotourism has become one of Costa Rica's largest sources of foreign exchange.
In Kenya and Tanzania, too, safari-style ecotourism has become a key revenue source. In 1995, the Kenya Wildlife Service estimated that tourism, 80 percent of which was wildlife watching, was bringing in one-third of the country's foreign exchange. Other countries for which nature-based tourism provides needed foreign exchange include South Africa, Botswana, Belize, Zambia, Ecuador, and Indonesia. In the United States, a group called the Tourism Works for America Council estimated that in 1996, National Park Service lands brought $14.2 billion dollars to local communities and supported almost 300,000 tourism-related jobs.
This isn't always unmitigated good news for local communities and ecosystems, however. The benefits of ecotourism-economic, ecological, and educational-can be offset by all sorts of disbenefits. People eager to see charismatic species can trample less conspicuous ones; building hotels for the visitors cuts large pieces out of the very ecosystems they are coming to see; and the nature trails and jeep roads they use typically lead to increasing fragmentation of what remains. Jet planes and Land Cruisers emit greenhouse gases, the eventual effects of which may weaken ecosystems still further. What ecotourists assume to be harmless observation can turn out to be painful intrusion.
I unwittingly contributed to such an intrusion on Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve, when I joined a safari trip to Kenya in 1995. While traversing the reserve, our van driver suddenly pulled off the road and crashed through the grassland, flushing nesting birds before rumbling within a few feet of a male lion that was lying next to a freshly killed young giraffe. The lion, clearly disturbed by our presence, strained to drag his meal to cover as other safari vehicles rolled through the tall grass towards us. Some of us felt horrible, but I could see that others-their telephoto lenses swiveling-relished being so close.
At the time of my visit, Kenyan tour operators were not forbidden to leave the roads in national reserves. Over the past few years, partly as a result of visitors' outcries, the practice has been banned. But other problems, including water pollution caused by sewage leaching from hotel toilets into nearby wetlands and the widespread gathering of firewood for hotel "safari" campfires and wood-burning furnaces, remain.
As sites grow more popular, other park and reserve managers are beginning to control visitors' movements more carefully. For instance, many parks, including Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, now ban vehicular traffic much of the time, with the result that interactions between walkers, bikers, and wildlife are no longer so disruptive. Visitors to Alaska's Denali National Park must leave their cars behind and may only enter the park's wilderness in scheduled buses. The same is true in such parks as Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary in India, where visitors ride in on jeeps, buses, or on elephant back to observe wild Asian _elephants, tigers, gaur (a kind of undomesticated _cattle), and other large, sensitive, and potentially dangerous animals.
Unfortunately, it's often difficult for a group of travelers to know if their tour operator is green or just going for the green. "We need to [have] some kind of reviewable ethical standard," says Megan Epler Wood, president of the Vermont-based Ecotourism Society. The Ecotourism Society defines ecotourism as "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people." But no global standard or certification process currently exists for tour operations, although Costa Rica and Australia now have strict ecotourism grading standards and efforts are underway to establish them in Kenya.
"We see ecotourism as part of an integrated conservation strategy," says Greta Ryan, manager of _ecotourism enterprise development and support at Washington, D.C.-based Conservation International (CI). The nonprofit CI works in 23 countries, with ecotourism now constituting an important component of its work in 17 of them. The key, says Ryan, is to make sure the benefits stay within the community. When this happens, ecotourism tends to reinforce CI's overall program in three ways. By generating local income, it encourages communities to welcome other conservation projects. By alleviating poverty, it reduces the rates of poaching and deforestation. And by making natural assets the centerpieces of the economy, it heightens environmental awareness among both the local people and their visitors.
Often, nature tourists enjoy the sights unaware that their money is being siphoned away from local communities by big-city or out-of-country tour operators who have little ultimate interest in conserving wildlife. "In Kenya, those communities that do not realize a benefit are less likely to consider wildlife positively, and are more likely to want to remove the wildlife from the land," says Neel Inamdar, a director of Eco-Resorts, an ecotourism-oriented travel company, and a board member of the Kenya-based African Center for Conservation. "Basically, a lot of __the parks are not viable by themselves-we have to consider the people on the periphery of the parks. After all, wildlife moves from one place to another." Recent initiatives in areas adjacent to African parks include pilot programs in which villagers or farmers run cooperative wildlifereserves on their lands, guiding and hosting paying visitors instead of converting the areas into agricultural land or livestock range.
Some fragile areas, or those within reserves, may simply be unsuited for any nature tourism. For instance, there are the rainforest pools once used by golden toads within Costa Rica's Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. In the September/October 1990 issue of World Watch, I quoted Ray Ashton, director of an international consulting firm called Water and Air Research, as saying, "People are tripping over golden toads so they can go see quetzals." Today, the exotic red and green streamer-tailed birds still breed in the reserve, but the golden toad may be extinct. In fact, no one has seen a golden toad since shortly before my article went to press in 1990. While one widely accepted hypothesis suggests that climate change caused the die-off, another suggests that tourists may have unwittingly contributed to the toad's disappearance by bringing in pathogens on their shoe soles.
On balance, if carefully managed, nature tourism offers large benefits to the environment. Wildlife watchers, a relatively affluent and well educated lot on the whole, are usually willing to pay for their watching-and their economic clout favors protection of the places where they like to do it. A 1995 survey by the Travel Industry Association of America found that 83 percent of U.S. travelers are inclined to support "green" travel companies and are willing to spend, on average, 6.2 percent more for travel services and products provided by environmentally responsible travel suppliers.
In the United States, national parks and wildlife refuges now charge entrance fees, and park fees in other countries are being raised. Private landowners, too, are finding they can charge visitors a fee. South Texas ranches that were off-limits a decade or two ago now court birders as a side business. In Cape May, New Jersey, farmers Les and Diane Rea have managed to supplement the income from their 80-acre lima bean farm, which they feared losing a few years ago because of rising costs and pressure from developers, by maintaining habitat for one of the East Coast's most popular birding areas. In 1999, the Cape May Bird Observatory struck an agreement with the Reas to lease birding rights for the property, paying for the lease with funds collected from permit-buying visitors. Now, each spring and fall they welcome scores of paying visitors. The farm draws a dazzling array of winged migrants, including the elusive Connecticut warbler and about three dozen other warbler species.
"Certainly the precedent existed," says Pete Dunne, vice president for natural history information at the New Jersey Audubon Society, who helped the Reas get the program up and running. "Hunters have been doing this for years. We didn't see any reason not to extend it to birding as a way of showing that birders certainly are willing to pay to support their hobby-and as a way of combatting development pressures. Most farmers want to hold onto their farms," says Dunne. "In this case, birders are just another cash crop. You don't have to water them, fertilize them, or till them, and on top of that, they will go to your farm stands and buy vegetables."
Birder, writer, ecotourist, and former World Watch associate editor Howard Youth lives in Rockville, Maryland.


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The world's biggest banks have now paid more than $142 billion in fines for wrongdoing tied to the financial crisis. That's a huge number -- but it pales compared to what tobacco companies have paid for their transgressions.
The top five U.S tobacco companies paid a combined $246 billion to settle with 46 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia in 1998. The states had successfully argued that tobacco companies should cover the exorbitant cost of treatment for health issues related to smoking.
For both industries, the settlements also led to heavy regulation and other significant changes to how companies do business.
For banks, the Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed by Congress in 2010, forced them to scale back risk and increase the amount of capital held in reserve. The Federal Reserve also required the biggest banks to undergo "stress tests" that showed whether they could survive another crisis without taxpayer-funded bailouts.
For their part, the tobacco industry agreed to accept federal regulations, which included advertising bans and a halt to marketing that targets the young.
The following are some of the biggest fines that banks have paid:
Bank of America Corp. has paid a staggering $74.65 billion in fines and tops our table. The bank announced a record settlement of $16.65 billion with the Justice Department on Thursday for charges stemming from its purchase of mortgage lender Countrywide in 2007 and Merrill Lynch. This is the largest-ever government settlement with a single U.S. company.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has paid about $27 billion of fines. In November, the bank agreed what was at the time a record $13 billion settlement of charges also related to mortgages.
Citigroup Inc. has paid about $12.14 billion in fines. The latest came in July, when the bank said it would pay $7 billion to the Justice Department, several state attorneys general and the FDIC, over mortgage-related charges.
On Wednesday, Standard Chartered Plc said it will pay a $300 million penalty for lapses in its money-laundering procedures, its second such penalty after a $340 million fine levied in 2012.
By comparison, the five largest tobacco makers, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds (now renamed Reynolds American Inc. ra, Brown & Williamson, Lorillard and Liggett & Meyers made the biggest litigation settlement to date in corporate America.
-- Sital S. Patel
More must-reads from MarketWatch:
Bank's second-quarter profits land close to record levels
New York cracks down on payday lenders charging up to 650% interest


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Home » Senior housing locators for elderly care, dementia and memory homes
Concepts for Living
6351 Owensmouth Ave #203
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
Toll Free: 800-414-4242
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To send us an email, please fill out the form below. If you wish to send an email directly to a specific individual, pick their name from the drop-down list.
"It was such a pleasure to meet with you on Friday. It is apparent why Bill and Victoria speak so highly of you. You are sensitive, knowledgeable, gentle, well-informed and so easy. David was not looking forward to the meeting but was quickly comfortable and enjoyed the interaction even though the subject was so serious. I felt that, in spite of my embarrassment at perhaps wasting your time, we got some valuable information and resources. Also, you opened up our thinking in providing some things for us to consider and begin to get organized. Thank you again for meeting with us. It takes a special person to work with families at this stage of transition and you are exactly the right person for this work."
Fondly, Sheila
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The search for memory care or assisted living for a parent is part of one of the most difficult phases in an adult child's life. You want only the best for your parent, and finding it requires navigating a maze of logistical and financial considerations. The hardest thing about it is that you have to do this navigating while drowning in a sea of emotional turmoil. In my view, the best way to successfully navigate is to partner with an experienced and trusted captain. Sue Pomerantz and her agency are tremendous guides, not only during the initial process, but continuing later. They are knowledgeable, skilled, supportive, understanding and nurturing. They stay on your side as the voyage continues, long after the initial placement. I have been on this voyage for many years, and am grateful for Sue's continued support throughout. I highly recommend her.
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Susan spent time and effort in assisting me with finding a place for my mother. She is very knowledgeable in this area, and pointed out several things that I wouldn't have thought of. Susan is calm, upbeat and has a great sense of humor, which I found comforting when dealing with the many details of this matter. In the end, I decided to leave my mom where she is and not make a move after all. Susan was happy to have assisted and only wished the very best for us. If you are looking for a hand to hold in this process, Susan is a compassionate ally with a great deal of expertise and connections. I highly recommend her!
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Concepts for Living played a major role in my recent search for a home in the senior community. Susan Pomerantz began by really listening to my story: my background, needs, desires and financial situation. She then selected the six most suitable senior residences for my needs and took me to each one for an in-depth visit. She chose well…any of the six would have worked quite nicely, making my final choice difficult indeed. But with Sue's help, I made the right choice and could not be happier with the result. My new home is a simply wonderful place to be. Thanks Sue.
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Marcia H.
God bless you, Concepts for Living, for your efforts on behalf of all who are dependent on others for the best care giving "homes away from home" available.
Name Withheld on Request
I would like to share how grateful I am for the help we received from Sue Pomerantz. It was a relief to have learned of independent living options through Sue's list knowing that Sue had only recommended the best locations. This very difficult process was eased by having access to Concepts for Living and Sue Pomerantz.
Dear Concepts for Living, I've started this letter several times and have never been satisfied that it adequately conveyed my thanks to you for your assistance with my friend, Pat. My personal consultant was such a wonderful listener as I explained what was happening with her. She had a vast amount of knowledge about what is available for assisted living care, and it was apparent that she had actually visited the places that she referred me to, and had already eliminated those that were substandard. She was very prompt in returning my phone calls, and I knew I could count on her to do what she said you would. I appreciated how she helped me step by step through the difficult process of exploring places for Pat. What seemed like such a daunting task became doable with her calm and reassuring assistance. I was especially impressed when she continued to assist me after it became apparent that I had selected my community. She reassured me that they would do a go…
Kathy A.