text:
OOhhh.. It's a miracle. It's a miracle! It's A MIRACLE!! NO, really. The fact that you're reading this now is a god-damned miracle! That, of course, means that the bits and bytes of this post finally got through those damaged Asia Pacific submarine cables. Let's not get reaally technical about it but the recent slowdown has made achieving anything on the internet, a miracle.
Yes, receiving a reply on an instant message you sent 20 minutes ago is a miracle. Heck, even successfully signing into Windows Live Messenger is a miracle. Yeah well, I bet everyone is going through this anyway so you'll know pretty much what I'm trying to get across.
So, sorry for that rather short post down there which was done in a rush. Most of you would have known know, that I went to KL on the 17th of December despite the fact that I was going around declaring that I won't be returning to West M'sia this holidays. And yeah, I'm back in Kuching now, after 13 days.
KL was fun, as always. I made my very first trip to Sungei Wang this time. Yeah, seriously. Every Kuchingnite who had been to KL had at least stepped foot in that mall except, me. We walked there after visiting my aunt's office which was just a few blocks away from Lot 10 and Sungei Wang.
A word of warning though if you're planning a trip there — wear your very best! Entering the Sungei Wang crowd in nothing but Khaki pants, your school prefect camp tee and your sandals could cause psychological stress throughout the course of your shopping at Sungei Wang, unless you'd wanna earn some unwanted attention to your dressing, 'cos that's what I did and I swear I was the most 'out' person walking around the mall. Don't say I didn't warn you. XD
Oh yeah, I betcha' didn't know that ice-skating is addictive! It was my second time though (I skated once a few years ago, couldn't remember when) in none other than the Sunway Pyramid mall. Even though it was my second time, I, no — we (sister and cousins) hadn't the slightest idea of knowing how to skate. So we spent a better half of the day before practising in roller skates around my aunt's house. XD So the next day with partially sore feet, we stormed to the ice rink at Sunway Pyramid.
It only took about 1 hour to get the feel of it and before we were skating alongside the pros. Wuahaha! And then we spent the next three hours racing around while perfecting our ice skating skills and stunts. =P
Ice-skating for three hours does has it's side effects though, apart from addiction. I woke up the next morning walking like a penguin with my mind still drifting on the ice rink. XD And not to mention my sore, throbbing feet! Ah, but it's all worth it. The feeling of skating through the icy wind at high speed and overtaking all the rookies is one that I'll be looking forward for next year. XD
There are lot's more to blog but I'm afraid time doesn't allow. Also, photos have to wait, if they will ever come.
So I'm finally back here again and I'll be going again next monday (2 days later) for National Service at Kem Puncak Permai, Bau. As such, this blog is going to be, once again, inactive. Unless we do get to come home on weekends. Let's just hope that comes true. Anyway for those who had not known, the first batch of NS I'm in will start at 1st of January till 11th of March, so don't expect to see much posts within that time. But please, do check back here once awhile in case we do get to come home on weekends where I shall be posting updates on the camp.
Other than that, it's good bye and happy new year to everyone out there!


text:
At Seattle University's Human Performance Lab, we pride ourselves in the hands-on experience that students gain. While we believe having a solid foundation built upon rigorous academic curriculum is important, we also challenge our students to answer their own questions in the laboratory. Every day is a new challenge in the lab and we want to empower our students to pursue their dreams.
Students often ask us: "How can I apply what I learned in the classroom?" Having access to research grade tools as an undergraduate enables them to speak from a greater platform of competence and experience as they are going forth into the world. Better student outcomes arise from this kind of student engagement. Student passions are ignited within the lab and seeing our students grow by exploring their aspirations is what drives us.
Sean Machak
Exercise Scientist & Laboratory Supervisor
Hunthausen 090A

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Diet Clinic helps you to get a slim, healthy and well proportionate body through scientifically proven and effective diet programs. Dietitian Sheela Seharawat and her team of trained nutritionists/ dietitians are here to help you to get your body in good and healthy shape.
Your love for rich food helps you to gain weight which is both medically and physically risky. Here at Diet Clinic we understand your food habits and take care about your taste buds and belly, both at the same time. We help you to go with your plan diet by filtering your food habits in such a way that your nutritional intake remains balanced and so you become slim, healthy and look confident.
Each individual is different from another because of factors which are supporting his/her living. We prescribe you your diet plan considering your taste buds and lifestyle.
It is really magical to sleep with light belly at night and wake up feeling fresh and full of energy.READ MORE


text:
We're shaking off the shackles of January in style. On Saturday the 28th we invite you to our new monthly soiree and end of month blow out. We'll be celebrating all things crafty! Expect DJs, street food, art and of course... BEER!
We have FOUR new, exclusively brewed beers for CraftWorks.
They are:
Mango IPA 4.1% - A sweet sessionable IPA with a blast of fresh mangos.
Panna Cotta White Stout 7% - A white stout brewed with lactose, oatmeal and lemon zest.
Ahtanum vs Citra. IPA 5.5% - This is one for you to decide. We brewed an IPA, divided it in half and dry-hopped them both. One with Citra hops and the other with Ahtanum, creating two distinctly different beers and you can decide which you prefer.
Street food this month comes from our good friends at the Fat Hippo, bringing one of the North Easts best burger joints to our front door, serving from 4pm till late.
Spinning the night away on the decks until late will be JOHN EDGELL and DAN MURRAY!
We'll also be running brewery tours, to book a slot email firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
- Case study
- Open Access
Encouraging compassion through teaching and learning: a case study in Cyprus
© The Author(s). 2016
- Received: 15 February 2016
- Accepted: 1 October 2016
- Published: 22 October 2016
It has been suggested that the biomedical approach towards healthcare professional training may neglect the humanistic nature and personal values of care. As such, discussions with regard to the importance of introducing compassion training into undergraduate programmes and throughout professional practice are of interest. Within this paper, we report on a compassionate care programme designed for, and delivered to, healthcare professionals and managerial/administrative staff at a private hospital in Limassol, Cyprus.
Case description
Six modules were developed, each of a 6 h duration. Each module was delivered twice to two separate groups of participants. Participants included 60 healthcare professionals along with 5 managerial and administrative staff. Using a range of innovative teaching methods and activities, the programme covered a number of issues relevant to compassion including patient centred care, therapeutic relationships, empathy, cultural awareness, conflict resolution, and advanced communication skills. The programme was evaluated using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Quantitative and qualitative feedback demonstrated high satisfaction and interest in the programme. Likewise, attending managerial and administrative staff considered the programme important for quality improvement and organizational culture change.
Our findings demonstrate that programmes covering the topic of compassion are welcomed by both healthcare professionals and managerial/administrative staff. The impact of compassionate care training will be assessed effectively through a future longitudinal study.
- Compassion
- Education
- Teaching methods
- Organizational culture
Interest in the topic of compassion, often defined as 'sensitivity to the pain or suffering of another, coupled with a deep desire to alleviate that suffering' [1], has escalated in recent years attracting much discussion and work at a multidisciplinary level to integrate the concept [2, 3]. Concerns that healthcare sometimes fails at a fundamental level have received much attention globally, particularly following the release of the Francis Report which was based on an enquiry into devastating events concerning care of patients at Mid-Staffordshire Hospital in the UK [4].
Evidence suggests that a compassionate approach could facilitate a faster recovery from acute illness, better management of chronic illness, and improvement of psychological symptoms such as anxiety and depression. Studies have also shown that kindness and touch alter the heart rhythm and brain function – both for the person providing compassion and the person receiving it [5–7]. Furthermore, a compassionate approach is believed to alter the brain's response to stress and assist in increasing pain tolerance [2].
According to Chrousos [8], expression of compassion represents an interaction between two emotionally resonating stressed persons: the caring and the cared. In addition, Cole-King and Gilbert [9] draw attention to the fact that the scientific understanding of such relationships and their profound physiological effects ought to make compassionate care a more central concern in medical and nursing training and practice. It is often considered that the biomedical approach of nurse/medical training may lead to a decrease in compassion. Haslam [10] reports that research has shown that some medical students may lose the ability to empathise with their patients during clinical training. Indeed as early as 1961, Howard Becker suggested that values in healthcare may be 'taught out' of medical students during their training [11], whilst Newton et al. [12], referred to the 'hardening of the heart' during medical school. This issue is believed to be common in many countries, whereby an emphasis on promoting biomedical knowledge in doctors and nurses may over-ride a focus on clinical reasoning, practical skills, and development of character and compassion [13].
Compassion is a virtue that can be potentially strengthened and cultivated through training. Indeed the Francis Report, advocates training in compassionate care, and recommends that aptitude tests for compassion should be introduced [4].
It would seem logical that whilst compassion may be viewed by some as an innate quality, efforts to sustain and encourage the concept should be included within undergraduate training, and should also form an ongoing part of professional development for trained practitioners. Saunders [14] suggests that although our dispositions vary, compassion is a quality that can be developed in all of us. However, compassion extends further than the relationship between patient and practitioner, and should also be encouraged across the healthcare team and should include all of those involved in the healthcare setting. Factors such as time pressure, lack of teamwork and communication, and structure of the organisation in general, may all lead to a decrease in compassion. Thus, if we are to develop a compassionate organization, training programmes should be developed to include not only doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, but also managerial/administrative staff and policy makers.
Can compassion be taught?
'educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all'
(Aristotle – from Nicomachean Ethics (Book II, Chapter 9, Paragraph 1)
A key question that is often asked, is can compassion be taught? Following a symposium held at Greenwich University in 2011 [15], participants were invited to address this question, which led to a discussion on various aspects in relation to teaching and assessing compassion, such as the process of life-long learning and the need to encourage suitable role models. The process of learning was considered just as important as the method of teaching.
Debate as to whether or not compassion can be taught has existed for some time, and as far back as 1983, Pence [16] raised this question in a well-cited essay, utilizing the differing views of ancient philosophers with regard to general virtues. Pence drew on the opinions of Socrates (who claimed that virtues cannot be taught), and Protagoras (who claimed that everyone teaches virtues), concluding that compassion can be taught if medical education systems reward this virtue alongside other medical virtues, thus ensuring its sustainability.
In a systematic review by Lee et al. [17] compassion was considered as a subjective emotion which is challenging to define. These authors concluded that educators need innovative ways to evoke emotions in healthcare professionals to enhance compassionate care. Improving communication skills, self-compassion, and self-reflection could help to determine this.
Many feel that the integration and utilisation of the arts and humanities can be useful for enhancing compassion. Chochinov [18] reports that compassion can be arrived at through various channels, and may be cultivated by exposure to the humanities, social sciences and arts. Such a multidisciplinary approach can help to offer an insight into the human condition and the pathos that accompanies illness. Likewise, Haslam [10], suggests that 'indeed empathy is a trainable quality if we cultivate the habit of self-reflection, and learn from humanities such as literature, film, theatre, and poetry which will help us imagine the lives of others.' Egan [19] additionally suggests that an important quality that helpers need to develop is relationship flexibility, the ability to adjust their communication styles in order to strengthen the therapeutic relationship with each patient while remaining true to themselves. This notion of genuineness is at the crux of many theories, particularly Carl Roger's [20] person-centered phenomenological approach. Rogers believes that the meaningful therapeutic relationship is developed and maintained when the helper communicates to the patient unconditional positive regard, empathy, and genuineness.
There are various indications that compassion can be taught, or that it can at least be brought to the forefront and encouraged in both medical/nursing students and practising healthcare professionals. Initiatives in this area are ongoing, and one such example is a course that has been developed on the island of Crete, Greece, for delivery to first year medical students [21]. This course attracts great interest from students, with many of them reporting that it improves their understanding of compassion. A further example is that of the Leadership in Compassionate Care Programme (LCCP) offered at Edinburgh Napier University and NHS Lothian in Scotland. The LCCP aims to 'embed compassionate nursing within clinical practice and pre-registration nursing education' and has received very positive feedback from student nurses [22].
If compassion is to be encouraged and sustained, then it could perhaps be helpful to initiate courses not only within undergraduate training, but also for ongoing professional development to utilise the concept by way of courses, reflective learning, and learning from 'what goes right' in practice as well as 'what goes wrong' [23].
Given the above, and the perceived importance of investigating whether compassion can be taught, within the remainder of this paper we report on a compassion training programme that was developed with the purpose of involving not only clinical staff, but administration and managerial staff as well. The course was delivered in 2015 to staff at Ygeia Hospital in Limassol, Cyprus.
Case presentation: 'Cultivating compassion in hospitals - improving quality of care' Limassol, Cyprus 2015
The impetus for the above programme resulted from discussions initiated in Cyprus concerning the potential need and usefulness of enhancing and encouraging non-clinical aspects of care such as patient-centredness, the therapeutic relationship, advanced communication skills, empathy, and other elements relevant to the delivery of compassionate healthcare. Following discussions with management staff and relevant healthcare professional leads at a private hospital in Limassol, Cyprus, a tailored training programme was developed with the intention of providing a practical framework for developing compassion for one's self and others.
The aims and expected benefits for programme participants included the following: increased ability to handle stressful work situations; more meaningful connections with patients and co-workers; better ability to engage and collaborate with team members; greater job satisfaction, reduced compassion fatigue, and an overall increase in productivity and quality of care.
The resulting educational course was expected to improve the quality of care through improvement of the culture of the organization, patient contacts (administrative staff, healthcare professionals etc.), improved patient satisfaction, reduced medical errors and liability risks, and improved collaboration and communication resulting in enhanced efficiency and productivity. The intention was to achieve these goals through enhancing and deepening the qualities of compassion, empathy, kindness, self awareness, self-reflection, conflict resolution, mindful and effective communication, and compassionate care skills. An increasing body of evidence clearly suggests the causal relationship between compassion and quality of care. For example, Del Canale et al. (2012) [24] report that physician empathy is significantly associated with clinical outcome for patients with diabetes mellitus and should be considered an important component of clinical competence. Moreover, a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs suggest that the patient-clinician relationship has a small, but statistically significant effect on healthcare outcomes [25].
A unique feature of the programme rested in its intended function as a vehicle for bringing both practicing healthcare professionals and managerial/administrative staff together in unison to reflect on and discuss the importance of a compassionate approach across the healthcare setting, as well as to improve the culture of the organization. Participants were challenged to reflect on their own capacity for compassion and empathy and to discuss how interpersonal and organizational factors could help develop and enhance, or instead compromise, the quality and effectiveness of various work setting relationships.
Programme delivery
The programme was delivered at Ygeia hospital in Cyprus. Ygeia Hospital is a general hospital with 27 specialties and a capacity of 152 beds. The hospital employs more than 200 associate physicians and 473 medical, nursing and administrative staff, thus making it one of the largest employers in Cyprus.
The programme was offered to nurses, doctors, and administrative staff employed by the hospital. Participants consisted of mainly nurses, although 8 doctors and 5 managerial/administrative staff also attended. All participants were offered CPD credits.
The vast majority of the participants were selected by the medical and nursing management team as part of their continuing professional development. The selected participants were able to take time away from work to attend the course.
Demographic details of participating HCPs
Male = 20 (33.3 %)
Female =40 (66.7 %)
m = 32 years (minimum 23, maximum 55)
Years of Service
m = 4.6 years (minimum 0.5, maximum 20)
Nurse participants
Physician participants
Administrative staff participants
The programme consisted of six modules delivered over a period of 6 months. Each module was delivered twice to two separate groups of participants. The design of the modules was based on the outcome of focus group meetings with the hospital Board of Directors, Human Resources staff, and healthcare professionals, in terms of their needs, ideas, and expectations. The modules were cumulative so that each session would build on the previous ones.
At the beginning of the first module, participants were each given a randomly distributed colour-coded card, and were then asked to join other members of the group who held the same colour card. This initiative was intended to encourage meeting new people and working with colleagues other than those encountered on a usual daily basis.
A number of innovative teaching methods were utilized, in order to engage the participants and encourage interactive learning. Teaching methods included the use of presentations, theory-based discussion, videos, role play, stories, real-life examples, and a range of other activities. The teaching methodology was based on a combination of didactic, practical and experiential modes of learning. The first refers to theoretical tuition in seminar form, the second to practice of set skills through role playing, and the third refers to exposure to planned settings that experientially are comparable to actual application situations. The modules covered a range of relevant issues including: applying compassion in the healthcare setting; patient-centred care; conflict transformation; intercultural communication; advanced communication skills; and the therapeutic compassionate relationship.
The training methods that we used were based on Kolb's experiential learning cycle, which is described as a progression through 4 stages, these being experience, reflection, conceptualization to action and further experience [26] Moreover, we stressed that participants pursue meaningful change with reflections on experiences or actions [27]. Futhermore, a case based approach was also used during the trainings [28].
Module descriptions
Module title
1. Applying Compassion within the context of the hospital setting
Historical and religious backgrounds; attention to basic needs; example approaches to specific conditions; compassion across the organisation; cultural awareness; compassionate care during financial crisis; barriers and sustainability; can compassion be taught
2. Patient centred care in hospitals
Main concepts and measurements; how to apply, what we need to change among the health care workforce, organizations and patients; seeing the person in the patient; implementation in the local setting – barriers and constraints
3. Applied compassionate care
Developing a culture of compassionate care; enabling compassionate care in acute hospital settings; applied compassionate care; conflict transformation
4. Intercultural Communication Competence in Healthcare; Teamwork Communication in Healthcare
The impact of culture in doctor-patient relationships as well as among staff members in healthcare settings; communication dynamics and strategies for effective and compassionate self-care, patient care, and in healthcare work teams.
5. Advanced communication skills
Impact of consultation and communication style on the patient's experience; advanced communication skills; employing effective communication tools; assessment of improvement of communication and consultation skills
6. The therapeutic compassionate relationship
The healthcare Professional as a drug; impact of a good quality therapeutic relationship in patient satisfaction, professional fulfillment, compliance, complaints and effective time management; measuring the therapeutic relationship
The programme was delivered by a multidisciplinary team including HCPs, psychologists, sociologists, and an Associate Professor in clinical communication who was responsible for the clinical communication component of the course.
In addition, a further unique feature was the involvement of the programme leader's son who assisted in the organization and delivery of various activities.
The modules were presented mainly in the Greek language, except in cases where the presenter's native language was English. In such cases, translation was provided (where necessary) by the programme leader and his young son – both of whom are fluent in English as well as Greek or, in one case, by one of the other presenters.
Finally, the success of each module was evaluated by participants at the end of the session, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Quantitative responses
% Excellent/V. Good
Both Groups
% Excellent/V. Good
Group A
% Excellent/V. Good
Group B
1. Does he/she present material in a well organized fashion?
92 %
95 %
89 %
2. Does he/she use enough examples or illustrations to clarify the material?
91 %
95 %
85 %
3. Is he/she helpful when the participants have difficulty?
88 %
93 %
82 %
4. Is he/she enthusiastic about the subject taught?
91 %
95 %
86 %
5. Does he/she make students feel free to participate?
82 %
96 %
87 %
6. Does he/she make the subject interesting?
89 %
93 %
85 %
7. Does he/she treat all students equally?
90 %
91 %
88 %
8. Does he/she explain material clearly?
87 %
90 %
84 %
9. Does he/she seem to know his/her subject?
91 %
93 %
88 %
10. Does he/she manage the class well?
88 %
87 %
88 %
11. Considering all the above qualities, how would you rate the module overall?
86 %
93 %
88 %
Examples of quantitative responses
Participants were invited to respond to the following question:
'Please share with us your views regarding the subjects of the course, and the teaching methodology – were these successful, and could they be improved?'
This module was perfect all the time and very helpful
The explaining and trainings has been very clear
Delighted to have both languages as this made it so much more interesting, understandable by all, thank you and well done
The positive atmosphere
Very interesting
All excellent
It was very interesting, thank you
A very pleasant presentation of the subject
It improves the way that I communicate
A most comprehensive approach to humans particularly the patient
'A great experience that gave us the chance to touch upon sensitive and burning issues i.e. relationships and collaboration between HCPs, cultural awareness, communication skills, empathy etc'.
'Excellent motivator for our HCPs to deliver patient centred care'
'Experiential learning that will facilitate our efforts for quality improvement and organizational culture changes'.
The programme described in this paper provided us with a valuable opportunity to deliver in-depth structured teaching in order to enhance non-clinical aspects of care and to identify the needs of our participants. Although the programme was somewhat experimental, in that this was the first time it had been delivered, the organization of it allowed for flexibility and adaptation throughout in terms of the content and selecting which material was appropriate for our target audience. Positive feedback was received from both the participating HCPs and managerial/administrative staff.
On the basis of our experience with regards to the above mentioned course, and the success of other compassion based courses, we suggest that the introduction of courses on compassionate care within medical and nurse training is both feasible and can greatly support quality improvement strategies of the local organizations. Thus, we advocate and encourage discussion on the importance of training and encouraging the importance of a compassionate approach.
Many undergraduate health care degrees, have now adopted compassionate care teaching especially in medical education which is also recommended by the General Medical Council (GMC) [29]. Ideally, such courses could be delivered as part of undergraduate training in all healthcare programmes and could feature as part of continuous professional development across the entire healthcare setting. The course reported here is expected to improve the quality of care through improvement of the culture of the organization, and the impact of compassionate care training programmes on quality improvement will be assessed effectively through a future longitudinal study.
Following the success and the feedback that was received from the management, healthcare professionals, and tutors of the Cyprus course, the organizers have established the non for profit "International Institute for Compassionate Care". The purpose of the institute is to bring together individuals, non for profit initiatives, patient organizations and academic institutions from all over the world and synergistically foster collaboration, research, and networking, together with the provision of face to face and on-line state of the art training courses.
Young people and compassion
Having the involvement of the programme director's 15 year old son, brought our attention to the importance of cultivating the concept in young people as well as in adults, and this is an issue that the authors would like to further develop and encourage.
According to a blog by Whitson in the Huffington Post [30], experts agree that fostering compassion in young people is among the best ways to prevent verbal, physical, and emotional aggression from taking root. Likewise in a recent study wherein investigators trained young adults to engage in compassion meditation, remarkable alterations in brain function were observed, compared to a control group [31]. These researchers conclude that compassion, like physical and academic skills, appears to be something that is not fixed, but rather can be enhanced with training and practice.
It would appear that the cultivation and encouragement of compassion in young people should also represent an important focus. As such, we would like to draw attention to the importance of cultivating compassion in young people as well as adults, and encouraging their participation in activities such as the training programme outlined here.
An important feature of the course lies in the involvement of managerial and administrative staff in addition to a range of HCPs from different clinical backgrounds within the hospital. Managerial staff welcomed the opportunity to participate, which is of paramount importance in terms of facilitating organizational cultural changes. An additional strength was the flexibility of the programme in that it allowed for the course material to be adapted to suit the target audience.
However, certain limitations were observed. Of the participating HCPs, most of them were nursing staff, and the hospital management has since indicated that they would like to encourage more doctors to participate in future courses. Another potential limitation is that some participants felt that at 6 h per session, the programme was rather long. Members of the first group of participants attended the workshop at the conclusion of their 7-h early morning to afternoon work shifts, which could have potentially compromised their ability to focus on the content, meaningfully participate in discussion, and/or to retain information. The programme team will address these issues by making the necessary adjustments when planning future courses. In general it is felt that the delivery of a blended programme (face to face and e-learning teaching methodology) would be desirable. In addition, a number of measurements (e.g. confidence in ability to communicate and empathise) could be used to assess the participants' compassion before and after they receive the training. A further limitation was that on this occasion it was not possible to conduct a follow up evaluation of the programme, but the programme team will ensure that future courses are evaluated 6 months after the programme as well as at the time of the programme delivery.
Involvement in this training programme was a useful learning experience for all of us. We realised the importance of including administrative and managerial staff in the programme, and learned that this was very much welcomed. In future programmes we aim to address certain issues such as the encouragement of moredoctors onto the programme, and shortening the length of the programme.
In conclusion, it appears that compassion and compassion-reflective behaviors can be taught or enhanced in sustainable ways through continuing education in short course format or through inclusion in the medical/nursing curricula. Such education should extend to all involved in the healthcare team. Ongoing training, reflective learning, learning by experience, role-modelling, blended teaching or other innovative teaching methods and long-term evaluation may all help to sustain the virtue of compassion in the longer term thus continuously improving the quality of care. Programmes such as the training outlined here can have a wide impact in healthcare by exposing participants to the important humanistic values in healthcare. The impact of compassionate care training will be assessed effectively through a future longitudinal study.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Availability of data and material
Not applicable.
Authors' contributions
SS contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and prepared the main text of the manuscript. GS conceived and directed the idea for the programme, contributed to the design and delivery, and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. RW contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. AS contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. CL contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. An.A contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. Al.A contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. AP contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. RP contributed to the design and delivery of the programme and assisted in the revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Competing interests
The authors declare they have no competing interests.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Authors' Affiliations
- Goetz JL, Keltner D, Simon-Thomas E. Compassion: an evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychol Bull. 2010;136(3):351–74.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar
- Youngson R. Time to care: how to love your patients and your job. New Zealand: Rebelheart Publishers; 2012.Google Scholar
- Shea S, Wynyard R, Lionis C, editors. Providing compassionate healthcare: challenges in policy and practice. Oxon and New York: Routledge; 2014.Google Scholar
- Francis R QC. Report of the mid staffordshire NHS foundation trust public inquiry. House of Commons: Stationary Office 2013, Vols 1–3Google Scholar
- Fogarty LA, Curbow BA, Wingard JR, McDonnell K, Summerfield MR. Can 40 seconds of compassion reduce patient anxiety? J Clin Oncol. 1999;17(1):371.PubMedGoogle Scholar
- Shaltout HA, Toozer JA, Rosenberger MA, Kemper KJ. Time, touch, and compassion: effects on autonomic nervous system and well-being. Explore. 2012;8(3):177–84.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Science Daily website. http://www.sciencedaily.com. Accessed Jan 2015
- Chrousos GP. Empathy, stress and compassion: resonance between the caring and the cared. In: Shea S, Wynyard R, Lionis C, editors. Providing compassionate healthcare: challenges in policy and practice. London: Routledge; 2014.Google Scholar
- Cole-King A, Gilbert P. Compassionate care: the theory and the reality. In: Shea S, Wynyard R, Lionis C, editors. Providing compassionate healthcare: challenges in policy and practice. London: Routledge; 2014.Google Scholar
- Haslam D. "More than kindness" Journal of Compassionate Health Care 2015;2(6) (online)Google Scholar
- Becker H, Geer B, Hughes EC, Strauss AL. Boys in white: student culture in medical school. USA and London: Transaction Publishers; 1961.Google Scholar
- Newton B, Barber L, Clardy J, Cleveland E, O'Sullivan P. Is there hardening of the heart during medical school? Acad Med. 2008;83(3):244–9.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Danielsen RD, Cawley JF. Compassion and integrity in health professions education. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. 2007;5(2):1–9.Google Scholar
- Saunders J. Compassion. Clin Med. 2015;15(2):121–4.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Shea S, Wynyard R, West E, Lionis C. Reaching a consensus in defining and moving forward with the science and art of compassion in healthcare. Journal of Holistic Health Care. 2011;8:58–60.Google Scholar
- Pence GE. Can compassion be taught? J Med Ethics. 1983;9:189–91.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar
- Lee M, Laurenson M, Whitfield C. Can compassion be taught to lessen the effects of compassion fatigue? Journal of Care Services Management. 2012;6(3):121–30.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- Chochinov HM. Dignity and the essence of medicine: the A, B, C, and D of dignity conserving care. BMJ. 2007;335:184.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar
- Egan G. The skilled helper: a problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping/edition 10. 2013.Google Scholar
- Rogers C. A way of being. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1980.Google Scholar
- Lionis C, Shea S, Markaki A. Introducing and implementing a compassionate care effective for medical students in Crete. Journal of Holistic Healthcare. 2011;8:38–41.Google Scholar
- Adamson L, Smith S. Can compassion be taught/experiences from the leadership in compassionate care programme, Edinburgh Napier University and NHS Lothian. In: Shea S, Wynyard R, Lionis C, editors. Providing compassionate health care challenges in policy and practice. Oxon and New York: Routledge; 2014.Google Scholar
- Lionis C, Shea S. Compassion in medicine or medicine with compassion? Eurodigest. 2015;2(1):9–12.Google Scholar
- Del Canale S, Louis DZ, Maio V, Wang X, Rossi G, Hojat M, et al. The relationship between physician empathy and disease complications: an empirical study of primary care physicians and their diabetic patients in Parma, Italy. Acad Med. 2012;87(9):1243–9.View ArticlePubMedGoogle Scholar
- Kelley JM, Kraft-Todd G, Schapira L, Kossowsky J, Riess H. The influence of the patient-clinician relationship on healthcare outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS One. 2014;9(4):e94207.View ArticlePubMedPubMed CentralGoogle Scholar
- Kolb DA. Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall; 1984.Google Scholar
- Schon D. The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books; 1990.Google Scholar
- Hays R. A practical guide to curriculum design: problem-based, case-based or traditional? Clin Teach. 2008;5:73–5.View ArticleGoogle Scholar
- General Medical Council (GMC) (http://www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/25070.asp) Accessed Jan 2015
- Whitson, S. 8 ways to teach compassion to kids (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/signe-whitson/8-ways-to-teach-compassio_b_5568451.html) Accessed Jan 2015
- Brain can be trained in compassion, study shows. (http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/compassion-training.html) Accessed Jan 2015


text:
Friend's Email:
Subject: I have found a DVD that I think you would enjoy
|Killing Jar
Actors: Brett Cullen, Tamlyn Tomita, Wes Studi, Carlos Bernard, Xander Berkeley
Director: Evan Crooke
Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense
R 1998 1hr 41min
Larger Image
Movie Details
Similar Movies
Similarly Requested DVDs
Movie Reviews
A Surprisingly Good Thriller!
Rosemary | Providence, RI | 03/06/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I saw this movie the other day on cable and thought it was done really well. The opening scenes with the flashbacks were great, and the music was errie. The performances were pretty good as well. It definitely kept my attention until the very end. I thought I knew who the killer was, but as in all good thrillers, I was wrong. I'm glad I could purchase this movie from AMAZON, a surprisingly good thriller that I'm glad I own!"
Errie, Suspense, Thriller
Johnboy1 | 10/27/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Killing Jar is a B-Budget movie with a very good story line. The Scenes are run smoothly, and details in the story are tightly used to tell the story. Great performances by the Leads, and in particular Tamlyn Tomita, who's character didn't have to be asian to fill this role. Often, when asian characters are in the story it's because the story calls for it. Her character could have been played by anyone, and that is good for an Asian actress to be able to play parts outside of being Asian"
A fair 'thriller'
Kevin Stanton | Pittsburgh | 09/15/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"First of all... the cover is decieving. The human in a jar never happens, so points off for that.
Secondly, the plot is good but not carried out well. This movie reminded me of the old 'Movie of the Week' or 'Made for TV' movies by its quality.
It had a very strong story line, but the translation onto film just didn't work too well.
The plot was not seamless and the majority is delivered through flashback. That can work at times, but here too much time is spent in the buildup. It takes most of the film to lead to the 'juicy' parts and then it's over quickly.
The music doesn't go well either. It seems to lessen the effects of the moment.
The acting is middle of the road. The main character's mood swings are too severe with little tangible reasons for it and little credibility to the scenes.
I would like to see this movie reworked (I cannot believe I'm saying that with how poorly remakes are done). I would hope emphasis would be on delivering a more taut and tense film with less buildup and more action."
Right Up There
Johnboy1 | Arlington, Texas United States | 05/26/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The Killing Jar turned out to be a neat little "B" movie, complete with just the right amount of excitement, good acting, and suspense. It had me wondering all the way to the end. Lots of gore, if you are turned off by such things, but just right for me. The only flaw that I noticed is that at the end, they left some strings untied, such as did a couple of the guys who were very badly wounded actually die, or not. Otherwise, I enjoyed it, and I'm glad that I purchased it. My kind of flick!"


text:
Bergère de France has been making yarn since 1946 and is still a family owned business and the only working woollen mill in France. We stock a small selection of their core yarns that have sold well in our shop since we opened. Ideal is a lovely 4 ply (has been used as a double knit) machine washable wool blend yarn. Chinaillon is another favourite tweed double knit great for kids sweaters. Recyclaine is a gorgeous super chunky yarn with a lovely oversized cardigan pattern.
Knitting Groups
Privacy Policy
Delivery Policy
Returns Policy
©Knit One
Our shop is now located at 11 Pocklingtons Walk, Leicester LE1 6BT
Click on this map to find your way to us
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
The new LivingSocial Rewards Visa Card offers $30 in Deal Bucks instantly upon approval, plus you'll earn LivingSocial Rewards points on all of your purchases with no annual fee.
The bonus $30 Deal Bucks will automatically be credited to your LivingSocial account upon approval for the LivingSocial Rewards credit card.
Plus, for all billing cycles that begin in 2012 in which you make at least 10 purchases, you will earn 1,000 points (which equals $10 in Deal Bucks at LivingSocial).
You'll also earn 5 points per $1 spent on LivingSocial purchases, 3 points per $1 spent on dining, and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
Every 100 points that you earn equals $1 Deal Buck, which will automatically be applied to your next eligible purchase at LivingSocial.com.
Apply for the LivingSocial Rewards Visa Card with no annual fee if you make regular purchases on LivingSocial.com.
The LivingSocial card is issued by Chase Bank, so you may wish to compare this offer with other Chase Credit Card Bonuses.
Get $30 Deal Bucks instantly upon approval and earn $10 Deal Bucks for your first 10 purchases on your LivingSocial Rewards Card within each billing cycle throughout 2012.
You can also get a when you open a new LivingSocial account.
Consider the new LivingSocial Rewards card offer if you regularly purchase deals at LivingSocial.com.


text:
[Photo from Eater]
Omg what? Shake Shack will be making Cronut Hole Concretes in an extremely limited supply! (Eater)
So, there's a Facebook-flavored ice cream now… (Oddity Central)
Someone invited spreadable beer?! (Geekosystem)
Brooklyn Brewery's newest superhero beer. (New York Comic Con)
Can't get cronuts? Uh, how about D's Nutz? (Zagat)
In case anyone was wondering – here's where the candidates for the NYC primaries love to dine! (WNYC)
Who's checking out Taste Talks in Brooklyn this weekend? (Taste Talks)
Girly wines with girly labels, what's up with that? (The Kitchn)
Food truck favorites of the Food Network clan. (Food Network)
Snap photos of your food, and feed a child. (ABC News)
The 50 best dessert trucks in America. (The Daily Meal)
Yes – Maxwell's is sticking around! (Gothamist)


text:
Michelle Obama Hilariously Breaks Down Why Melania Trump's Inauguration Gift Exchange Appeared So Awkward
The former FLOTUS also explained to Ellen Degeneres how Barack stepped in and saved the day.
The NBA doesn't hate Drake.
Late Tuesday, Toronto's Globe and Mail posted a story alleging that the NBA notified the Toronto Raptors that they'd drop the $25,000 tampering fine against them if they stripped Drake of his global brand ambassador title with the team.
On Wednesday, the NBA responded, denying that they ever asked the Raptors to do such a thing with the Young Money MC, but warned that Drizzy must play by the same rules as anybody else affiliated with an NBA team.
"As the Raptors' global ambassador, Drake must follow our anti-tampering rules," Tim Frank, the league's senior vice-president of basketball communications, wrote in an email to the Canadian Press on Wednesday. "At no point did we suggest his title be removed but we were clear that as long as he acted as a representative of the team, he is subject to the league's rules."
This all stems from comments Drake made about Kevin Durant at the fifth annual OVO Fest concert last weekend in Toronto. At one point during the show, Drizzy stopped to recognize KD and the crowd roared in approval. Durant, the league's current MVP and Oklahoma City Thunder's superstar forward, is set to become a free agent in the summer of 2016.
"You know, my brother Kevin Durant was kind enough to come to the show tonight and watch us," Drake said during the concert. "I just want him to see what would happen if he came to play in Toronto. Let him know what would happen."
Drake publicly recognizing Durant coupled with his connection to the Raptors triggered the league into fining Toronto $25,000 on tampering charges Monday. The NBA insists, however, that it didn't ask the franchise to remove Drake from his position with the team.
BET Sports News - Get the latest news and information about African-Americans in sports including weekly recaps, celebrity news and photos of your favorite Black athletes. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
The former FLOTUS also explained to Ellen Degeneres how Barack stepped in and saved the day.
"When my teacher asks me a question thinking I'm not paying attention, but I get it right."


text: Welcome home to Haddon in Ross Bridge! This immaculate home features REAL HARDWOOD floors, master suite on the main level, stone counter tops, and a large lot for buyers looking for a little extra space between homes!! The upstairs room sizes are a kids dream! 3 car garage, outdoor fire pit in the backyard, perfect for entertaining friends and family. Backyard is also fenced and perfect for someone seeking low maintenance. The basement has a dropzone for the kid's backpacks and the coolest finished space for exercise or a movie theater! Don't miss this one, it is a MUST SEE!


text:
Decades ago in a barbershop in Barryville, N.Y., a coverless comic book would forever change the 30th and 31st centuries. That comic, "Adventure #310," featured the Legion of Super-Heroes. It was discovered by a young Paul Levitz, who would grow up to be one of the primary architects of the futuristic franchise.
The writer and longtime DC Comics executive was the subject of a Comic-Con International in San Diego spotlight session moderated by DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. A crowd of eager fans was on hand in San Diego to hear from Levitz, who recently stepped down as president and publisher of DC Comics and has returned to writing "Legion of Super-Heroes." The most notable fan on hand was definitely Johns, who thanked Levitz for being an inspiration. Johns was also "excited to have Paul in a creative role again."
From there, Johns moved the conversation to Levitz's "fan boy" past, noting that his former boss basically created the concept. Levitz started publishing in 5th grade - something he blames on his parents, who he watched publish the PTA newsletter -Â and went on to become publisher of "The Comics Reader" at 14 years old. In the pre-Internet days, "TCR" was one of the first ways fans got information about what publishers had planned next. It also introduced young Levitz to many industry professionals, which eventually helped him land a job at DC.
Levitz start with the company came when Joe Orlando asked him to write some of the company's letter columns. But, at just 17, the young writer got a chance to launch his first series - "Stalker" - which was illustrated by industry legends Steve Ditko and Wally Wood. Then-publisher Carmine Infantino wasn't a fan of the book, and it was canceled before the first issue even hit the stands. But Levitz was now on his way to a writing career that would see about 25 million copies of his comics sold in North America alone.
The bulk of those comics would involve the Legion of Super-Heroes, a group a characters Levitz has been involved with, on and off, throughout his career. His first run on the book started in 1977, when he replaced outgoing writer Jim Shooter. "It was my favorite book as a kid," Levitz said of "Legion." "I probably would have knifed anyone who tried to beat me to (then-Legion-editor Denny O'Neil's) office."
Despite his fondness for the characters, Levitz was very unhappy with his first tenure on the book: "I just wasn't there yet." When the so-called DC Implosion hit in 1978, during which a number of titles were canceled, he stepped down from writing the series. With fewer books being published, there just wasn't enough work to go around. "I had a staff job and I couldn't be a pig."
He returned to the book in 1982, teaming with artist Keith Giffen to create one of the legendary runs in the franchise's history. He described their relationship as truly collaborative, with Giffen adding whole new scenes to his plots, to which Levitz would in turn make further additions. The highlight of their work together was "The Great Darkness Saga," a story whose mention garnered much applause from the crowd. Levitz stayed with "Legion" after Giffen left, and ended up writing 100 issues in a row. He said going in, "If I'm coming back this time, I'm not screwing it up."
With his day job as a DC executive keeping him busy during the week, Levitz had been writing "Legion" on the weekends. He eventually stepped down from his second run to spend more time with his family. Now that he's stepped down from that executive job, a return to the 31st century made sense. "I sorta ended up needing something to do." He plans to stay on the book "as long as I can get away with" and would be happy to do another 100 issues. Along the way, he's hoping to "corrupt" a few new Legion fans.
When questions turned to his legacy, Levitz said he was most proud that "people remember." The writer believes that "what matters is what you leave behind," be it your children or your stories. He's amazed the tales he's written have affected so many people. That includes some of today's creators: "It's one of the coolest feelings when you've touched someone's creative life."
As the Spotlight wrapped up, Levitz had a parting shot for the crowd who had come to sing his praises: "Thanks for enabling me to avoid honest employment in my lifetime!"
Some other interesting tidbits from Levitz:
- Jack Kirby's original cover to "The Comics Reader #100" is still hanging in Levitz's study.
- When his house was being built, Levitz's attic required steel beams to support the weight of his comic and book collection.
- On editors' opinions about comics during the 1970s: "It was fish wrap. It was bird-cage liner."
- His mother briefly studied under "Seduction of the Innocent" author Frederic Wertham, making her not too fond of comic books.
- One of his high-school English teachers was Pulitzer-Prize-winning memoirist Frank McCourt.
- On Steve Ditko: :"I enjoyed working with Steve tremendously."
- For years he wanted to write "The Avengers," but now can't see himself working for Marvel.
- He also doesn't see himself writing for other media. "I'm a print guy."
- On working with Keith Giffen again: "We're going to do something. There's a plan afoot."
- He believes his gifts as a writer are speed and a knack for serial melodrama, but notes that Mark Evanier is faster.


text:
STEP the Assets™
STEP the Assets™ is a core process for creating insights, solutions and results that brings the minds and experience of external practitioners and the talent and industry specific skills of the organisation to deliver break through solutions to deep seated internal issues related to technology, production, manufacturing. Typical projects last 30 to 90 days, covering the full cycle of work beginning with Problem Definition, Theoretical and Practical Solutions and finally to delivery.
Each phase has specific outcomes, always defined in advance, and each phase may draw on a variety of proven methods and tools. A senior member of Hargraves team works with you from beginning to end.
Our STEP the Assets™ process brings our proven methods, tools, frameworks and expertise in high performance collaboration to help you understand, create, innovate, and solve tough problems in a fraction of the time.


text:
Earlier this year, long before I was even THINKING about holiday projects, I found this set of nesting Christmas tree baskets. As I mulled over different makeover ideas, I realized they could be used as Christmas table decor in December, but continue on into the New Year as winter wonderland decorations.Read more ›
Harvest Basket Upcycled into Flower Basket for Front Porch Decor
For this month's Thrift Store Decor Team project, I decided to make some front porch decor to welcome Spring. Mild weather is settling in nicely around here, and I wanted to celebrate that with a fun and easy project that would bring fresh color to the porch. I found a harvest basket (or peach basket) at a thrift store and decided that I'd use it as a flower basket filled with Spring flowers on our front porch.Read more ›
Christmas Magazine Storage in a Vintage Picnic Basket
This, my friends, is what I like to call a "Post-Christmas Christmas Project", if that makes any sense. It all started with this little vintage picnic basket that I found on a thrift store shelf. I thought it had the cutest shape (like a briefcase) and I chuckled over how dainty it seemed…compared to normal picnic baskets.Read more ›
Independence Day Decorations with Faux Vintage Firecrackers
I'll be perfectly honest…in the months leading up to summer, I struggled to come up with a single patriotic project idea. I bemoaned this to everyone- my husband, my friends, and my mom/ But it all changed on a dime when I went to a new favorite thrift store and found this white wicker basket that was star-shaped. I knew immediately that it was destined to become Independence Day decorations. Read more ›
A Thriftastic Woven-Ribbon Easter Basket
Here we are again with my latest installment for The Good Life Blog! If you're new to my blog, I write a post (or 2) every month for The Good Life Blog, which is the official blogging page for Goodwill Industries of the Upstate/Midlands South Carolina. And because it's March and Easter is right around the corner, I decided to create my own Easter basket!Read more ›
From Basket to Candy Bowl – A Halloween Makeover!
October is almost over- how is that possible? But before it slips away, I wanted to bring to you my latest upcycled project for The Good Life Blog! If you'll recall, I was asked to be a part of this fun group of thrifty bloggers, brought together by Goodwill Industries of the Upstate/Midlands South Carolina. So far for Goodwill, I've blogged about DIY Wall Art and Creating a Thrifty Gift, and this month I went with a Halloween theme. And this is a project that is SO SIMPLE that literally anyone can do it, I promise. It uses just three things- a basket, orange paint, and some black felt- that's it!Read more ›


text:
Popular Flying Games
Lamb Chop Drop
Lamb Chop Drop is a fast action skydiving game where you must control Lamb Chop through the air and collect the stars. Collecting the bonus bubbles will either release a flurry of stars or change the way Lamb Chop soars through the air.
Caras Pocket Launcher
Confused.com has bought us Caras latest adventure! Load Cara into a cannon and launch her as far as you can using your skill and precision. Pop the balloons and collect the coins attached as she is hurtles through the air. Spend your colelcted coins Berthas Bazaar and buy exciting upgrades from high speed rockets, spacemen suits and paper planes to help you launch Cara further on her next flight.
Eruption Disruption
A volcano has erupted and its up to you to fly through the ash clouds and collect the missing research balloons! Avoid contact with the ash cloud as it affects engine performance and windscreen visibilty.


text:
Fabricated Metals in Flat-Plate and Trough-Style Solar-Thermal Collectors
Just within the last couple of months, the U.S. Dept. of Energy granted a $1.37 billion loan guarantee to Brightsource Energy that is expected to clear the for more than 15 gigawatts of solar projects in California. Says industry expert and manufacturers' representative Rick Hames of Global Sourcing Solutions, who represents some 10 solar-energy companies: "There are several huge solar-thermal projects in the prototype stage right now that we expect to close later this year and early in 2011. So while many solar applications are still using solar panels with photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight directly into electricity, there is a small but rapidly growing group of manufacturers using the more cost-effective solar-thermal design. The systems employ a sheetmetal substrate with a thin-film reflective surface to capture solar energy. Manufacturers that can process the millions of square feet of sheetmetal and fabricate and assemble the frames for these systems will have plenty of opportunities in this industry very soon."
Cosma and Tower Already in the Game
Big automotive-industry suppliers already are supplying solar OEMs, so it's only a matter of time until opportunities open up for others in the supply chain. Magna's Cosma stamping facility in Troy, MI, has adapted its press lines and robotic resistance-welding cells to manufacture and assemble reflective racking and structural components for OEM manufacturer Skyline Solar, Mountain View, CA.
Likewise, Scottsdale, AZ-based OEM Stirling Energy Systems contracts with
Summing up this expanding market, Hames adds that, "during just the last two years, this industry has installed more than 40 million lb. of extruded-aluminum frames for solar applications, and we're only at the tip of the iceberg."
Solar-Thermal on a Smaller Scale
Solar-thermal systems on a much smaller scale, for water heating in homes and businesses, including community swimming pools, also have gained a foothold. And in my hometown of Cleveland, OH, one metal-service center has carved a substantial niche in the market, processing specialized sheetmetal and then laser-welding the material to fabricate collector fins.
German-based Alanod-Solar has begun to manufacture its Miro-Fin absorbers at a metal-processing facility it purchased late in 2007—Alanod-Westlake Metal Industries, in North Ridgeville, OH, just a few miles west of Cleveland. Alanod, which takes a different approach to collecting solar energy by offering systems that absorb rather than reflect the sun's rays, made its name in the lighting industry by marketing reflective-aluminum fixtures for the energy-efficient T5 lamps that have taken over the market. And, likewise, for several years Alanod-Westlake Metals has enjoyed—and continues to do so—tremendous success turning the specially coated coils of aluminum into blanks for light-fixture OEMs all over the United States.
Now Alanod-Westlake Metals is accompanying its parent company on a venture to expand the solar-thermal industry in North America, hoping to mirror the success it's had in Europe with its absorptive solar collectors.
"The company recognized starting in 2000-2001 that its retrofit lighting products had probably a 10- to 15-yr. run in the market, as large companies changed over their lighting fixtures to become more energy efficient," says Alanod-Westlake Metals vice president Frank Lee. "When they learned that the PVD coating process they use to apply the reflective material to aluminum also could be used to apply an absorptive coating to aluminum as well as copper substrate, it quickly made a move into the solar-thermal industry. Its solar-energy presence in Europe has grown tremendously since then, and now Alanod looks to do the same here."
Alanod-Westlake Metals historically has specialized in processing light-gauge prepainted steel and coated aluminum—blanking and slitting primarily, with a bit of stamping and fabricating thrown in. Nearly all of its work is surface critical.
"We got into that work in the late '70s and through the '90s primarily for the appliance industry," says Lee. "In the mid-'90s Alanod began contracting us to blank its coated reflective material for lighting OEMs, and in 1999 asked us to install a slitter specifically to support its lighting customers. By 2007 we were slitting more than 1 million lb. of the material per month, accounting for 60 percent of our overall throughput. Finally, in November 2007, Alanod acquired 75 percent of the company."
Solar-Fin Production Line the First in North America
When the parent company sought an entry point to the North American market for its solar-thermal collector materials, called mirotherm (coated aluminum sheet) and sunselect (coatedcopper sheet), its Ohio entity was the obvious choice.
|A flying cutoff die cuts welded fins to length. Note the gentle corrugation pattern to the strip to add rigidity. A protective film on the top of the strip maintains the critical surface integrity during processing.
To enable mass production of the laser-welded fins, Alanod Solar worked with Swiss company SunLaser Consulting GmbH to develop an automated laser-welding line that in 2008 was declared by the European solar industry as "the new industrial standard."
Since 2006, SunLaser, working with system integrator MiniTec Schweiz AG, has delivered 13 of its turnkey laser-welding systems worldwide. In March, it installed one of the lines at Alanod-Westlake Metals.
"We dedicated and kicked off production of our new high-capacity laser-welding line on March 9," says Lee, "with great fanfare and expectations. The line runs twelve 10-hr. shifts/month, processing the fins at 7.5 m/min. and accounts for about 15 percent of our overall sales. The hope is that, as it has done in Europe, SunLaser will eventually install its laser-welding production lines in several facilities throughout North America. That would allow us then to focus on providing slit mirotherm and sunselect coils to numerous collector-production facilities," says Lee.
The market potential is definitely there, as the solar-thermal industry grows and collector manufacturers become more automated and productive. "Most U.S. collector manufacturers assemble the units manually," says Lee, "at a rate of 20 to 25/day. Automated lines in Europe produce as many as 30 collectors/hr."
Tube Straightening,
|U.S. at the Ground Level in Solar Water Heating
In 2008 (the last year for which data is available) U.S. solar-thermal collector manufacturers sold 30,000 units for residential hot-water heating, according to Alanod -Westlake Metals' vice president Frank Lee. Typically at 64 sq. ft. (or 6 sq. m) per installation, that equates to about 180,000 sq. m.
Worldwide, solar installations for hot-water heating totaled 37 million sq. m., "so we're at the ground level here in the United States," Lee says. "The solar-thermal process is five-times more efficient than photovoltaic production. There's a lot of marketing to be done, but if the incentives remain in place and productivity at the manufacturers continues to improve to bring costs down, industry growth should be significant for a long time to come."
Tube runs through a straightener as the strip feeds over the top of the tube and through a punching die that punches a rectangular
The laser pulses at 10 Hz with beam-on time of 1.2-1.8 msec., creating 1-mm-long stitch welds on 2-mm centers
to join strip to tube.
The welded material then feeds through a roll-profiler that imparts a gentle corrugation pattern to the strip to add rigidity; a protective film on the top of the strip maintains the critical surface integrity during processing. Finally, a cutoff die, signaled by presence sensing of the punched pilot hole, cuts the absorber fins to length, anywhere from 4 to 10 ft.
Laser Stitch-Welding Sheet to Tube
At the heart of the system is a 500-W pulsed-Nd:Yag solid-state laser (an FLS N-Series model from Lasag Industrial Lasers, Buffalo Grove, IL) outfitted with a beam splitter to deliver a beam to each side of the weld joint. Fiberoptic cables deliver the beams to the welding heads fixtured on each side of and underneath the feeding strip and tube.
Weld-joint position tolerance is ±3 mm. Cameras installed on each side help line operators set up the line and ensure good fitup. During production, the laser pulses to create 1-mm-long stitch welds on 2-mm centers.
Each hour or so—at the beginning and end of each shift and every time it changes coils—operators cut off samples from the production line to test weld strength in a tensile-test setup.
"The industry standard for weld strength is 100 N/cm," says Lee. "We're getting 180 to 200 N/cm or more." MF
Related Enterprise Zones: Materials/Coatings, Tool & Die, Welding
Reader Comments
Quality content is the crucial to be a focus for the viewers to pay a visit the website, that's what this web page is providing.
Great. Is there more information on the laser welding line somewhere????


text:
There are currently no dealers available that match the selections you have made, but we are working on it. Please select another make, state or city to view.
This list of B M W Dealers located in Belen, New Mexico (NM) is believed to have been correct at the time of posting. If your Belen, New Mexico B M W Dealership is not listed here or you see an error in your listing, you may tell us about it here. Standard listings are free, but they are neither guaranteed nor warranteed.


text:
Dispensary Assistant Manager – West Palm Beach – VidaCann – Palm Beach Gardens, FL
VidaCann, based in Jacksonville, Florida, is opening a new medical marijuana dispensary in West Palm Beach in the coming weeks, and is seeking an experienced and professional Assistant Manager to support the Dispensary Manager and help manage all aspects of the retail dispensary as well as home delivery sales.
- have 5+ years of experience as a "Key-Holding" MANAGER or ASSISTANT MANAGER of a retail or restaurant establishment with 20-50 employees
- are willing to work a minimum 40hr work week, including some weekends,
- are able and willing to work in a very busy and sometimes hectic retail environment,
- have excellent work history with verifiable references,
- and have a clean criminal record (a FL State Level 2 Background Check is required).
- Applicants with a medical, pharmaceutical, or related background are preferred
- College degree is desired but not required
- Bilingual is also desired but not required
Job Type: Full-time
Salary: $17.00 to $18.00 /hour


text:
The Normandy Review of Books
a Tetradki book reviews blog
About this blog
Monday, August 15, 2011
Audrey Tautou on English Men
Audrey Tautou thinks English men are more 'elegant and gentlemanly' than French men.
And listen to her on on today's
Woman's Hour
. The actress is England promoting her new film Beautiful Lies.
Posted by
Alexander Anichkin
Email This
Share to Twitter
Share to Facebook
Share to Pinterest
No comments:
Post a Comment
Newer Post
Older Post
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Subscribe To Bomberman Live: Battlefest Coming To XBLA Next Week Updates
I've already subscribed
Already out and about for the WiiWare and PSN platforms, Hudson Entertainment's Bomberman Live: Battlefest is set to release on the Xbox Live Arcade starting next week, December 8th. After scoring up more than 500,000 downloads with Bomberman Live, Hudson decided it was time to cash in on the experience and advance the gameplay experience with new modes, more customization options and even more maps in which to bomb the crap out of fellow Bombermen.
Sabine Duvall, Vice President of Digital Download at Hudson Entertainment commented in the press release about Battlefest's appearance on XBL, saying…
"It's Bomberman time again, and we're thrilled to give fans another installment with much-demanded new features," …"Bomberman is one of the most beloved figures in gaming and it's a blast to continue the legacy of this fun and frenetic classic with Bomberman Live: Battlefest."The game sports support from anywhere between two and four players, and offers up a lot of strategy, hard-boiled action and lots of explosions across multiple maps and featuring various time periods and themes to keep the interest levels high and the entertainment values intact.
You can look for Bomberman Live: Battlefest to land on the Xbox Live Arcade beginning December 8th. For more info feel free to visit the Hudson Entertainment's Official Website.


text:
Dinners and Events
Experiences that Evoke the Best of Italy.
Dinner at the Chef's Table
Inspired by our favorite meals, we host a communal and social experience with great food, wine and conversation.
Bottomless Brunches
Enjoy a three course Italian-style Brunch each Sunday in our demo kitchen around our communal table.
Discover new flavors and learn to appreciate old ones at our curated food and wine tastings.
Cheese Lovers
Celebrate cheese at our monthly Cheese of the Month Club Party and other special cheese events.
Movie Night!
Join us for a movie screening accompanied by a delicious dinner served buffet style.
Classes & Demos
Roll up your sleeves and roll out some dough. Our classes are fun, informative, social and delicious.


text:
At the 2006 PMI Global Conference a few days ago, Microsoft announced three new Microsoft Project 2007 Certifications. The details are a bit hazy as Project 2007 won't be released until next year, but the basic idea is that: Three... read more.>
Posted on October 25, 2006 3:01 PM
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries tagged 'education'. [What is this?]
Other tags used on this blog:


text:
1. Download The Latest Version (268 KB):
(or try it online)
2. Donate (optional, yet wonderful!):
GetSocial is totally free, but manufacturing and maintaining it isn't! Please consider donating – you can give as much (or as little) as you like. Thanks! :)
3. Download Older Versions:
4. Subscribe to RSS updates about new versions:
System requirements: Most Windows systems will run GetSocial without any additional installations. If you get error (0xc0000135) or a message that says .net Framework 2.0 is required you need to install the Redistributable Package. Use Windows Update, or download it directly from the Microsoft download center.


text:
Russ and I spent a lot on our first real Christmas tree the first year in our house. Well we were determined to get a better deal the second year. Of course we were a little late on getting the tree up but we wanted it not to be crispy by Christmas. BUT the downside is that we didn't have the best selection when we went looking. We went to a few Christmas tree lots and the trees were expensive and ugly. We should have said yes when Russ dad offered to pick on up from Costco but I really wanted to pick it out myself. We ended up finding a really cute tree at the Home Depot lot for, get this.... $20! Smokin deal! I loved our tree that year! (and the price...) We will see if we can do the same this year. =-)
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Catch up - December 2012 - Temple lights
Russ and I decided to take the drive out with Brynn to see the Temple lights with our friends Chelsea and TJ. It was fun to get out and see them although all Brynn wanted to do is get out of her stroller and run into the crowds of people (I swear we are going to lose her one day....she totally just takes off and never looks back!). The lights are so pretty and I always enjoy going down to look at them. I remember this night was a chilly one too! You know it is cold if Russ puts on a hoody! But it does make me miss the cold of Utah sometimes. Arizona just doesn't feel all that wintery!
Catch up - December 2012- Brynn on the stairs and everywhere!
Sometimes people think I am crazy because I say things like "I don't have enough photos of Brynn!" The reality is I probably have more photos of Brynn than most people have of all their children combined. But what I mean when I say that is she is growing so fast I feel like I don't want to miss any moments! I want pictures of all her firsts, funny things she does, messes she makes, playtime, bathtime, bedtime....everything! I just have such a bad memory it's the only way I can remember the things she does at what age she did it at. Brynn now id almost 2 and looking at these older photos I just know I will never get these special times back with her! Russ always gets mad at me for always having the camera out but it is what makes me happy! I love looking at these photos!
Here is a little photoshoot I did with her at home in her element. She was loving climbing the stiars and playing outside. She could probably do both for hours......especially play outside. I remember taking these photos I loved how long her hair was! Looking back she still looks bald! haha. Love this girl!
Here is a little photoshoot I did with her at home in her element. She was loving climbing the stiars and playing outside. She could probably do both for hours......especially play outside. I remember taking these photos I loved how long her hair was! Looking back she still looks bald! haha. Love this girl!
CATCH UP - Oct-Nov - IPHONE PHOTOS!
I have been so bad since I got an iphone at carrying a camera on me. It's just so much more convenient to snap it on your phone. I mean your phone is always on you, not your big bulky camera! So of course there are some photos I want to document from my IPhone! These are fron October and November! So many photos!!!
I promise as soon as I am caught up to present day these blogs will be more exciting. I am just trying to get as much done during Brynn's naptime! =-)
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text: Obama's jobs speech stressed that he was not proposing class warfare - but given the situation in the US, some more extreme sloganising might be needed [GALLO/GETTY] The Hill newspaper reports President Obama will again press Congress to pass his American Jobs Act during a Rose Garden event on Monday. Obama has begun a full-on campaign to rally the public behind his plan in an effort to both spur the economy and put Republicans on defense. "The Speech" did what it was supposed to do - associate President Barack Obama with a bold programme for creating jobs, even though skeptics and critics alike thought it was more about keeping one job - his own. The rhetoric and style of delivery was classic campaign-mode Obama, soaring along the high road, calling on his adversaries to embrace it, appealing to the public to support a new multi-billion dollar jobs act. The next day he was off and running, "selling" his plan and himself at a variety of venues organised by his reelection apparatus. To disenchanted liberals, it sounded like an energised, even passionate gloves-off clarion call by a president who seems to have been more comfortable projecting a cool persona, playing to the independent in the centre more than to his left-leaning base. The BBC's Mark Mardell commented, "This was not of course a new President Obama, but it was a style of speech I have never heard him make before. Fired up, yes, but using plain language. The call, if not the response, of a preacher. The chorus line: "You should pass this jobs plan right away." Jumping in to back the president was the AFL-CIO, the union federation that has grown more critical of the Democrats lately. Union President Richard Trumka said the American Jobs Act that President Obama proposed shows that he "is willing to go to the mat to create new jobs on a substantial scale". Really? Another long-time booster, liberal journalist Howard Fineman, was taken somewhat aback, noting, "Friends and foes alike had to wonder watching him tonight: Where has that Barack Obama been? The other question, of course, is: Why did it take so long for 'Give 'Em Hell, Barry' to appear?" No doubt this not-so-new Obama is aware that his declining polls and the growing disenchantment of weary supporters requires a new, more militant public tone. But The Hill newspaper that covers Congress reported that many Democrats "say that President Obama is great at delivering speeches, but they claim that if he is going to govern effectively, he must walk the walk and not just talk the talk". How likely is that with Wall Street now his biggest support of campaign cash? How likely is that given that Obama has also raised the prospect that the future of Social Security may be on the chopping block? And how likely is it that with businesses all saying that they won't do what he asks because the economy is too perilous to invest in new jobs? The people he is counting on to come through seem to be saying he is through! Two organisations that support Social Security issued a statement of critical support because they worry Obama will chop entitlements: "As advocates of a strong Social Security programme, we would be remiss if we did not note our concern that the Administration is also proposing a potentially harmful change to the programme's financing." So here we go again: Obama postures left but moves right, making big-money blue-sky proposals that seem likely to be shot down by a rigidly right-wing congress. At the heart of his $447bn package are tax cuts that are not likely to cause much job creation. Comments economist Dean Baker: "At the top of the list of job-creating measures is extending the two percentage-point reduction in the social security payroll tax. This provides no boost to the economy, since it just keeps in place a tax cut that was already there, but if the cut is allowed to end at the start of 2012, it will be a drag on growth." And at a time of a crisis brought about in part by banks, the golden bullet also being touted is a National Infrastructure Bank. The idea: Give investors who already have too much a chance to make even more by bailing out an economy they helped wreck. Obama's timing and political environment couldn't be worse. Republicans were attacking his plan before he even outlined it. His efforts to get conservatives on board seem to be a non-starter. Despite his efforts to reach out across the aisle, most of his adversaries began denouncing it on cue as a rehash even if he incorporated some of their ideas into it Why is this happening? The smart folks at the Economic Cycle Research Institute point to structural problems beyond the reach of any president. Ed Harrison reports on Credit Writedowns: "We are in a decade-long post-credit crisis struggle which will mean high unemployment even if policy makers focused on jobs (which they have not, I would add) ... The likely outcome for the next decade is one of sub-par global growth with short business cycles punctuated by fits of recession." What's taken Obama so long? So, yes, while it may be wrong to blame Obama for forces beyond his control - beyond any president's control - it isn't wrong to ask what has taken him so long to make jobs a priority. Just as justice delayed is justice denied, waiting too long to do what has to be done ensures that we may be beyond the tipping point, too late to get much accomplished, given the political realities and uncertainties in this government-killing environment. Concludes Harrison: "Obama's failure to understand where we are in the economic cycle and the relationship to historical precedent has been catastrophic to the conduct of economic policy and critical in his missteps. There is more to Obama's misfortune than a bad economy." Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism says that Obama is on the wrong road: "We need more debt restructurings and writedowns to get the debt overhang resolved faster, and fiscal deficits to offset the deflationary effects. Monetary policy is not an adequate substitute, as we have seen, and barely stimulative stimulus programmes, like inadequate doses of medicine, destroy faith in the remedy when the flaw is in how it is being administered." Financier Eric Jantzen of iTulip.com says that the time is up: "Attempts to restart the FIRE Economy - the economy oriented around the finance, insurance, and real estate industries - will fail at the expense of the Productive Economy - the economy of goods and services produces that employs over 90 per cent of consumers. If policy makers persist with this wrong-headed approach ... the result will be persistent high unemployment, a depreciating dollar, rising consumer price inflation, falling home prices, and rising budget deficits." And let's not talk about our divided, ineffective Federal Reserve and squeamish Justice Department, which has never seen a big bank it is willing to prosecute. Not to mention the deficit-buster gang in Congress who won't provide a single centavo to do what needs doing and should have been done in the first place: a sizable investment plan to seriously stimulate job creation. Each day brings new reports of more jobs lost, not found - at banks; in local, state and federal government agencies; in manufacturing. When you hear the term job creation, think job destruction. But confidence artists on Wall Street say that if it is adopted - a big if - it can create jobs. Bloomberg reports: "The proposal, which would raise infrastructure spending and cut in half payroll taxes paid by workers and small businesses, would add 2 per cent to next year's GDP, create 1.9 million jobs and lower the unemployment rate by one percentage point compared with current policy," according to Moody's chief economist Mark Zandi. The problem here is that Zandi has been wrong so often in the past that his prediction is just raising eyebrows. Former Clinton Labour Secretary Robert Reich asked, "Why did the President include so many tax cuts, and why didn't he make his proposal sufficiently large to make a real impact on jobs and growth? Because he crafted it in order to appeal to Republicans. To get it enacted, he needs their votes. I'm having a dizzying sense of deja vu." Also, no one is taking any bets on it becoming law, either. Economist and columnist Paul Krugman asserts: "Of course, it isn't likely to become law, thanks to GOP opposition. Nor is anything else likely to happen that will do much to help the 14 million Americans out of work. And that is both a tragedy and an outrage." In his speech, the president was quick to say he was not proposing class warfare. But, given the extreme realities we are facing, some more extreme sloganising might be exactly what's needed. News Dissector Danny Schechter is a blogger (Newsdissector.com,) author and filmmaker. His latest DVD is Plunder the Crime of Our Time. (Plunderthecrimeofourtime.com.) He also hosts News Dissector Radio on ProgressiveRadioNetwork.com. Comments to email@example.com Follow Danny Schechter on Twitter: @dissectorevents The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy. SOURCE: Al Jazeera ABOUT THE AUTHOR Danny SchechterNews Dissector Danny Schechter edits MediaChannel.org. He is the author of The Crime of Our Time. @ @DannySchechter US & Canada United States


text:
Laboratory Services
Hocking Valley Community Hospital has a full service laboratory offering timely, accurate, state-of-the-art testing. Our staff is dedicated to a high level of technical expertise and excellent customer service.
The Laboratory maintains a staff of qualified Clinical Laboratory Scientists, Medical Laboratory Technicians, and Phlebotomists on a 24-hour per day basis. The services provided include:
- Blood Bank - performs typing and compatibility testing and supplies blood components as necessary for patient care.
- Chemistry/Urinalysis - provides a variety of routine and esoteric procedures
- Hematology - provides a variety of routine and special procedures including coagulation.
- Microbiology/Serology - performs bacterial identification and determines sensitivities to antibiotics. Provides routine serological testing procedures.
- Phlebotomy - obtains specimens by venipuncture and capillary puncture for inpatients and outpatients.
- Point of Care - reviews and monitors patient care, trains personnel, and consults regarding all laboratory testing done outside the Laboratory in the Health System.
The Laboratory maintains and assures quality through a comprehensive in-house quality program and participates in external proficiency testing by the American Proficiency Institute.
Laboratory accreditation is by the Joint Commission, 1-630-792-5000 or email@example.com.
Laboratory phone (740)-380-8218, fax (740)-380-8194. The Laboratory Director is Amy Scarberry, B.S., M.T., (ASCP) and can be reached at (740)-380-8201, email email@example.com.


text:
How to find a suitable ecommerce solution? What is the best ecommerce solutions provider for startups and small businesses? Read this article and find out!
The most important element of online retail experience is without a doubt the ecommerce platform. Why any type of website might refer to the ecommerce platform as a basket or a shopping cart, no online store or ecommerce site can function or succeed without a checkout solution.
It is very expensive, difficult, and almost impossible for businesses to successfully implement these solutions in-house. This creates an unnecessary problem that businesses need to overcome in order to effectively do their job and accomplish their tasks.
Luckily for you, there are many affordable and effective ecommerce websites solutions available to individuals and companies today. As best solutions, we are going to mention Magento, Shopify, and WooCommerce. They are among the most used, most popular, easiest to implement, and easiest to use. The truth is that each of these solutions providers has its own weaknesses and strengths, so our advice is to work out until you find the right platform for your business, the type of products you are selling, and your customers.
What everyone loss for in an online shopping experience?
It is challenging to determine what online shoppers want from their shopping experience, as people are different and they have different taste, needs, budget, and requirements. And since no two businesses have the same customer profiles, no two businesses are meeting the needs of identical groups of people.
Even though insights are available, it is not possible to conclude what customers want exactly from their shopping experience. According to one research, the online shoppers are usually looking for these key elements:
- Quick and easy navigation
- A personalized shopping experience
- Mobile and cross-channel abilities
- Friendly, polite, and helpful customer service
- Exciting and appealing store design
- Convenience and discretion
It is worth keeping these key elements in mind when choosing the ecommerce software solution. When choosing, you should also consider ease of use, speed, and responsive capability.
➢ Magento
This platform can offer you an effective and attractive shopping solution. The reason why this platform is so popular among individuals and businesses is because it is endlessly customizable, meaning you can personalize it according to your own needs, preferences, and style. This is pretty useful for stores that sell unique items, which might need to be divided into categories. You do need some basic knowledge to use the platform, but it is nothing complicated. It requires some technical know-how and some experience of coding language if you want take to a full advantage of the platform. Magento allows its users to offer a wide range of payment options.
➢ Shopify
This is the most popular and the most widely known ecommerce solution. We can say that Shopify is the ultimate winner when it comes to what people are looking for and how many people are showing interest. This ecommerce solution provides a range of benefits such as shipping rates, automatic taxes, support for multiple languages, and much more. By using this platform, you will also be able to offer free shipping and accept multiple credit cards such as American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and more.
➢ WooCommerce
A platform designed especially for WordPress. Given the ease of use and popularity of the WordPress platform, for a lot of people, WooCommerce can be added to their current website. It is a perfect way for small businesses to convert their current website into an effective ecommerce site.
All the latest Blogs
Few Word about These Alternative Ecommerce Solutions Providers in 2018
When you are the owner of an ecommerce the design is one of the main things that you need to worry
Let's Resonate – This is Why the Best Ecommerce Solution for You is Shopify
Building an ecommerce store can be very challenging and when people underestimate that, that's when they tend to fail because it
Getting Trendy with Ecommerce Solutions for Your New Online Store
It is a well-known fact that the design of an ecommerce website is one of the most important parts of the
Subscribe to our Newsletter


text:
Format: LP
Style: EBM
Label: Complete Control Productions
A2 Kick
A3 Outside
A4 Wired
B1 Running red
B2 There will be blood
B3 Damage
B4 Like ice
Wow! Knocked out and feeling great. First came the awesome Guilt Trip album from Complete Control Productions and now this. The new album Restart from The Pain Machinery shows that this label has some of swedens best electronic music talents under it's roof. I am of course extra happy 'bout the decision to also make this a ltd vinyl release.
Really nice, simple cover and translucent blue vinyl makes this record look very good. But more important, it sounds fantastic. This is like the perfect merge of the soundscapes I love the most. It's a blend of british and belgian ebm and oldschool synth with a dash of acid and Detroit techno thrown in the mix. They even have the good taste to collaborate with on of my recent favorite artists Robert Lane from //Tense// on the track There will be blood.
Favorite tracks are Running red, Kick and Outside. But all tracks on this release are great. Now I just wish that they will pay Göteborg a visit really soon.


text: tell a friend LOL no seriously. so a week late, 恭禧發財~ 새해 복 많이 받으세요^^~ Happy Lunar New Year~ Year of the Rooster, I wonder what you'll have in store for me. So far surprisingly its been great!!~ I got a new puppy^^~ Yes I'm a mommy again. A Australian Shepherd. You know, that herding … Continue reading Yay guess who's back


text: As mentioned in an earlier post, Chrysler is bent on giving the Demon its second coming. Now, there is more evidence being released online to prepare everyone for the event. The Dodge Demon first made a mark in the automotive scene during the rise of the muscle cars more than four decades ago. It shared some semblance with its … [Read more...] about The Dodge Demon is Staged for the Second Coming


text:
We regret to announce that for reasons beyond our control, The Thruxtonian is closing and will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
We hope that you enjoyed the content on our blog; we truly enjoyed bringing it to you.
So long and Enjoy the Ride,
Marc Michon
The Thruxtonian
Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA


text:
Sikkim is a small state of India located among the Himalayas and nestled between Nepal and Bhutan. It is a lush paradise of greenery with charming trekking and mountain views. Sikkim lies in the region around Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world. Amidst the distinction of mountain peaks, tender valleys, swift rivers and terraced fields, Sikkim always bestows its exceptional experience upon everyone who comes to explore it.
Similarly, Darjeeling is also a small mountain valley which has been entirely decorated with its splendid panoramic views and friendly people. Although a part of India, this beautiful hill station has a large population of Nepalese people. It is one of the genuine tourist destinations which never fails to grant you with an unforgettable experience. Darjeeling tour has always been described as "an experience to be involved" at least once in the span of life.
Akin to its very nomenclature, the "Enchanting Sikkim & Darjeeling Tours" is a truly enchanting and compact trip that familiarizes you to the two stunning hill stations in the Indian state of West Bengal. While Sikkim is beautifully tucked under the canopy of the mighty Kanchenjunga (8586 m), Darjeeling is another equally enticing town known for its lush tea garden, Tiger Hill an...View Details
The "Best of Sikkim and Darjeeling Tour" offers the travel bugs, an opportunity to get acquainted to two of the most picturesque hill stations-viz. Sikkim and Darjeeling, located in the Indian state of West Bengal. If you are eying for a short vacation in the serene hills, the deal for you is right here. In less than a fortnight, you will be able to cruise around all the famed touris...View Details
Sikkim, Darjeeling with Nepal Tour is a comprehensive holiday package that not only encapsulates the charisma of Sikkim and Darjeeling- the two splendid hill stations in the Indian state of West Bengal, but also unfolds the grandeur of the historical, cultural and natural wonders of Nepal- another serene Himalayan terra firma. This luxury trip offers you the opportunity to take a comfy c...View Details
Mr Moriya Yuichi
To send email, please click here
M/s Kathy Day, USA
We went with Marron Treks on the Kanchenjunga Trek on october 2014. We chose them because of the gooView more
Dear Shikhar First I want to thank you for the Kanchenjunga Trek. The trek was quite difficult mainView more
OCT 4 - 18, 2014 - Our days in Nepal were unbelievable and unforgettable, and the Marron TreksView more
We attempted the Annapurna Base Camp Trek in October, 2014. Due to weather and illness, weView more
Mr. Ram and Marron Staffs, Namaste and I would like to thank you very much for your kind support. ItView more
I am so happy that our trip to Nepal was arranged and guided by your company, Marron Treks. From ourView more
Hola Ram!! Namaste!! OS RECOMENDAMOS LA AGENCIA DE RAM KUMAR POR SU GRAN PROFESSINOALIDAD Y TRATO REView more
Although my husband has been here for trek many times, Nepal had been a remotest country for me untiView more
Hi ! Ram San and Pema. The everest trek towards the shayangboche was a great experience. And I knowView more
Due to blessing of weather, this trip was remained very much wonderful with delicious meal. I foundView more


text:
Archive for October, 2015
Pancake Breakfast Sunday Dec. 20th for Autism Speaks
Holiday Pancake Breakfast Sunday December 20th 8am-12pm. $4.00 per person. Proceeds go to Autism Speaks. Come see Santa! Presents for kids 13 and under. Click left image to view flyer or download flyer here
Posted under: Post 170 Events
New Member Boot Camp Picture
Scholarship and Boys State Update
Press Release: Legion Scholarship Applications Bergen County American Legion is pleased to announce the following scholarship applications and requirements are available: Oratorical Contest: http://bcnjal.org/oratorical-scholarship-program/ For the below scholarships go to: http://bcnjal.org/scholarships/ (see note) 2016 Eagle Scout Scholarship Bergen County American Legion Gene Howell/Don Holmes Scholarship (must be a Bergen County…
Posted under: American Legion, Scholarship Applications
Legion Scholarships Available
Some of the scholarship applications are out you can use the below links to get to them. Scholarship Applications Oratorical Contest Application
Post 136 and 170 Monthly Pancake Breakfast
On behalf of the members of Lodi American Legion Post 136 and Rochelle Park Post 170, we would like to thank all who supported our monthly pancake breakfast over the past few years. It has been a pleasure working the breakfast and socializing with you all but do to a…