text:
Once again it was a fantastic day at the Claydon open day. With around 55-60 people attending it was a packed out hall for the 3 speakers, plus Geoff Claydon giving a presentation for the morning. After lunch we had a farm/factory tour with much interest being taken in the new 'wet weather' kit available amongst many other new developments in the pipeline... Watch this space!
Frank Claydon came down with his drill to give us a hand getting finished so I thought I would take a few pictures to show the difference between the 'wet weather' kit and the 'conventional' Claydon kit.
Wet Weather kit, spring wheat:
Conventional kit, spring wheat:
Linseed, not drilled into the best of conditions but still looking promising:
Wet weather kit, spring beans:
Conventional kit, spring beans:
Conventional kit, winter rape:
Would just like to thank all at Claydons for a great day and continued support throughout the year that is second to none. The open day allows Claydon users to all get together and pick up tips from each other as well as potential new customers to hear first hand experience's with the drill from all across the country.


text: Featured Post Twin Cities Law Enforcement Coordinate Multi-County Online Prostitution Sting Posted on Oct 16, 2015 Caplan & Tamburino Law Firm, P.A. By: Joseph Tamburino The Star Tribune recently reported that law enforcement agencies in the Twin Cities are coordinating a multi-county, multi-police department sting operation on people who allegedly use prostitution services from online sites. (See "Stings to fight sex trafficking lead to charges ... Read More Latest Posts Attorney Charles Clas Discusses DWI Blood Test Ruling on Fox 9 Caplan & Tamburino Law Firm, P.A. Posted on Oct 14, 2015 The Minnesota Court of Appeals has recently overturned the conviction of a man who was arrested and accused of DWI in October of 2012. The judge ruled ... Read More Page of 1

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Booking Terms & Conditions
The not so small small print
- Before you book
- Booking
- Your security
- If you want to change your booking
- If we change your booking
- Termination and compensation
- Conditions of use
1. Before you book
General booking conditions
These booking conditions contain some exclusions and limitations of liability. If any part of the conditions proves to be invalid or unenforceable, the rest of the conditions will remain valid. This agreement will be governed by laws of England and Wales and any disputes will be dealt with by the English courts.
- "Us", "We" or "Our" means Kim L Corthine doing business as 'orlandovillahire.com'.
- "You" or "Party Leader" means you, the person entering into this agreement with orlandovillahire.com, and "your" shall be interpreted accordingly.
- "Party" means any person listed on the booking form.
- "Villa", "Property", "House" or "Accommodation" means the structure, contents, fixtures and fittings of the property described within the www.orlandovillahire.com website.
- "Website" or "Site" means www.orlandovillahire.com
Website accuracy
We or our representatives inspect our property and resort regularly to ensure that the contents of this website are accurate. However, circumstances can change after publication and we reserve the right to make these changes. For example, all the facilities in a resort might not be fully functional in early or late season. Sometimes the facilities at the property may be removed or added to. Public holidays and religious festivals may also affect the availability of resort's facilities.
Rates were accurate at the date of web site publication, but could have changed since then. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the web site and rates at the time of publication, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. We reserve the right to change our rates throughout the season depending on the availability of places. Rates may go up as well as down. Please contact us to obtain the latest rates for the property. The rate will be confirmed at the time of booking. When booking by telephone, any rate quoted over the telephone will be regarded as provisional until a final rate has been calculated and a confirmation invoice has been sent by us.
Once you have made a booking and paid a deposit the rate will not change. Our rates are based on the occupation of the property up to the maximum number of 8 persons. When your vacation overlaps different date bands, additional nights/weeks are charged at the applicable rate for the relevant date band(s).
Items included in your booking - the basic component cost as shown on the 'Rates' page does include:
- Self-catering occupation of the property up to the maximum occupancy of 8 persons, as described in the website.
- All local and state taxes.
- Electricity, water, air-conditioning, heating, local telephone calls, cable television, cleaning & maintenance of pool, housekeeping (cleaning before and after your stay), use of linens, towels and use of all facilities of the property and resort.
Items available at extra cost - the basic component cost as shown on the 'Rates' page does not include:
- Charges for pre-bookable items such as pool and spa heating, welcome packs, etc.
- Excursions/Theme park admissions etc. and other personal expenditure.
- Travel insurance.
Property security deposit
Florida Statute requires that all guests, lodging in the State of Florida, must register. We require you do this with our management company within 24 hours of your arrival. On registration we require that you either provide our management company with a security deposit or purchase a damage waiver.
You must agree to take reasonable and prudent measures to protect our property and its contents for the duration of your stay. You must inform our management company within 24 hours of any incidents of damage which may occur. Any concerns you have relating to pre-existing wear and tear issues should be reported to our management company within 24 hours of your arrival. Please remember this is our vacation home too which we have spent much time and money on to keep it to a high standard so please treat it respectfully, accidents can happen and should any damage occur to the property or contents then please contact our management company as soon as possible so that the incident can be resolved quickly.
Payment of this is compulsory and forms part of our booking conditions, and you have two options:
Option 1: Non-Refundable Accidental Damage Waiver
The damage waiver fee for stays of up to 28 nights is $55.00, and for over 28 nights is $100.00. For this one time only payment we will waive your liability up to $750.00 for minor accidental damages or breakages to the property and its contents. This will typically include, but is not limited to:
- Breakages to kitchen and table wear
- Removable stains on the carpets due to split beverages and food
- Broken windows and pool screens
Option 2: Refundable Security Deposit
Our management company will debit a sum of $500.00 from your credit/debit card at time of registration. The security deposit will be returned within 10 business days of your departure from the USA and will reflect daily currency exchange rate fluctuations.
Whichever option you select the house will be inspected upon your departure by our management company for any non-reported damage, breakages or removal of items. This includes but is not limited to relocating either internal or external fixtures, fittings, furniture, appliances (such as televisions or games consoles). Any repair or replacement costs will be deducted from the security deposit prior to refund. Reports and images relating to such damage will made be available upon request.
You and your party must behave reasonably while staying at our property. We reserve the right, at our or our representative's reasonable discretion, to terminate the booking of persons who indulge in serious misconduct (including but not limited to tampering with or wilful removal/damage of contents and furnishings, or pool safety systems). If we do so, we will have no further responsibility or liability to you. If you or any member of your party wilfully, recklessly or negligently damages our property, you agree to indemnify us fully for any direct and consequential loss we may suffer, including legal costs.
Building and maintenance work
From time to time, building and maintenance work and its associated noise is unavoidable in the resort. We do not control such work, and we do not always receive advance notice of when it will begin. We will notify you as soon as possible if we think that building work will affect your vacation.
Local laws
Local laws and religious observance can lead to the withdrawal of certain facilities.
Your accommodation
Arriving at, and vacating your accommodation
The property will be available to check-in to from 4pm, and it must be vacated by 10am at the latest on the day of departure. Your cooperation in complying with this condition would be greatly appreciated in order that the house may be prepared for incoming guests. If arranged with our Property Managers locally, sometimes you may be able to vacate the property later up to 2pm, this will be at a charge of $25/£15/€17. The property is offered on a self-catering basis and so no food and/or cleaning supplies are provided, for your health and safety any such items left by a previous guest are disposed of by the housekeeper.
Villa occupancy
The accommodation must only be used by you and your party as shown on the booking form; sub-letting, sharing or assignment is prohibited. Charges may be levied by our representative for any persons occupying the accommodation who have not been named. Prior to this charge being paid there will be no contractual agreement between us and any person not named on the booking form. On no account may the number of persons, including children, exceed the maximum occupancy of 8 persons. Failure to observe these conditions will be considered unacceptable behaviour and we reserve the right to carry out the action detailed in the Termination and compensation section.
Accommodation description
Swimming pool and spa
The description of our pool is as accurate as possible, but the dimensions are only approximate. Please note that pool towels are not provided. Our swimming pool and spa is not heated, however, both can be heated but will take time to warm up (2-3 days). Please advise us at the time of booking if heating is required. Pool heating charges are payable at the time of booking and prior to arrival. Should the ambient temperature fall below 7°C/45°F the heating system will be unable to function. No refunds will be issued unless the average temperature remains below this level for 3 consecutive days during your stay.
Use of this facility is entirely at your own and your party's risk. In no circumstances shall we be liable for any injury, loss, claim, damage or any incidental or consequential damages arising out of, or in any way connected with the improper use of this facility.
Alarm system
The house's alarm system must be activated at all times when the property is left unoccupied during your stay. The alarm system is monitored and should you cause a false alarm (activated either by accident or negligence) it will result in a $100 charge being deducted from the Property security deposit as we are charged for false alarm events by the Sheriff's department. This charge will apply for each false alarm you cause. To avoid these potential costs, we may at our sole discretion elect to disable the alarm during your stay.
Telephone calls
The house has two telephone lines from which free calls can be made to anywhere in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The property's telephone numbers will be provided to you prior to your arrival.
In addition from one of the telephone lines there is free unlimited local and long distance calling to anywhere in the following territories:
- Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas*, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei*, Bulgaria, Canada*, Chile, China*, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Guam*, Hong Kong*, Hungary, Iceland, India*, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Macau*, Malaysia*, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico*, Romania, Russia, Saipan*, San Marino*, Singapore*, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand*, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States*, U.S. Virgin Islands*, Venezuela, Zambia *Calls to cellular phones included.
Calls made to cellular or mobile phone numbers (unless indicated) or to special services numbers such as toll-free or caller-paid information services or national rate 0845 or 900 numbers are chargeable as are calls made to any territories outside of the defined list. All chargeable calls, please visit Vonage (www.vonage.com/intrates) for further details, made during your stay will be invoiced and deducted from the Property security deposit.
Cable television
Digital high definition cable (300+ SD channels & 100+ HD channels) is provided to the television in the main family room, all bedrooms have analogue cable (80+ channels) television.
Unlimited access to the Netflix streaming movie and TV show library is provided free of charge.
Internet access and computer
High-speed wireless internet service and use of a computer are provided free of charge. When using the computer or accessing the internet, you or your party will not:
- commit or encourage a criminal offence;
- send proactively, receive, upload, download, use or re-use any information or material which is offensive, abusive, indecent, defamatory, obscene or menacing, or in breach of confidence, copyright, privacy or any other rights;
- do anything which is contrary to the acceptable use policies of any connected networks and Internet standards;
- insert or knowingly or recklessly transmit or distribute a virus.
Failure to observe these conditions will be considered unacceptable behaviour and we reserve the right to carry out the action detailed in the Termination and compensation section.
Gas barbeque grill
A propane outdoor grill can be rented from our management company for a nominal daily change.
Please bear in mind that facilities at the property or in the resort may occasionally be unavailable due to maintenance, bad weather, public holidays, religious festivals or other reasons. Lack of availability will not be a breach of contract on our part.
Single sex parties
We reserve the right to refuse single sex parties. An additional property security deposit may be required.
No smoking is permitted in any part of the house, with the exception of the pool and deck area. Failure to observe this condition will be considered unacceptable behaviour and we reserve the right to retain your entire security deposit to cover the cost of cleaning and deodorizing the property, and/or carry out the action detailed in the Termination and compensation section.
With the exception of guide dogs, and only with our prior approval, no pets may stay at the property. Failure to observe this condition will be considered unacceptable behaviour and we reserve the right to carry out the action detailed in the Termination and compensation section.
Florida is in a sub-tropical zone and as such insects and other pests are commonplace and are not a cause for complaint or compensation. Their presence is no reflection on the cleanliness of the property. Our villa is treated regularly as part of a pest and termite control program. Please do not leave food on counter tops or in the pool area. Clean up all spillages immediately and do not eat in the bedrooms. We advise you to keep all windows and external doors closed whenever possible; not only will this help to keep pests from entering the property, but it will also enable the air-conditioning system to function more efficiently.
Property maintenance
Please bear in mind that the house is not the same as your own home and it is not always possible to arrange for someone to immediately repair or replace broken/damaged equipment and items, although we will of course do our utmost to ensure that the necessary work is carried out as quickly as possible to cause you minimum inconvenience.
Safety matters
Health and safety standards and regulations in the USA may differ from those that you are used to, and take for granted, at home. Our property always complies with local safety regulations. You will receive more detailed information relating to health and safety at the property in your Welcome Guide sent to you prior to your vacation. Points you should consider:
- glass doors and windows, which may be difficult to see in bright sunlight;
- the swimming pool, spa and deck area can be potentially hazardous if used incorrectly.
2. Booking
How to book our villa
The Party Leader must be at least 25 and must have the authority to take responsibility for the booking on behalf of all the other travellers in the group. When the Party Leader accepts our booking conditions, he/she confirms that the people named on your invoice also accept the booking conditions. The Party Leader is responsible for the full cost of renting the property, including cancellation or amendment charges. We will send all documents and other information to the Party Leader, who must inform other members of the party.
Paying for your booking
You must pay a deposit when you book the property:
- if your booking is for more than 6 days then you will pay $160/£100/€115 per week for each whole week of your reservation;
- if your booking is for less than 7 days then you will pay 25% of the total booking rate, or;
- from time to time we may offer special discounts and your booking quote will detail the deposit amount.
Except as set out below, all telephone bookings will be provisional and will be held for 10 days pending receipt of your deposit/full payment as applicable. If your payment is not received within 10 days, the booking will automatically lapse. The balance of your booking price must be paid at least 8 weeks before arrival. Checks require 5 working days to clear. We cannot accept checks that will not clear at least 8 weeks before arrival. If you fail to pay in full 8 weeks before arrival your booking will be cancelled and you will lose your deposit. If you book within 8 weeks of arrival this will be classed as a late booking and we must receive full payment by before we can confirm your booking.
Exchange rates:
We have used the following exchange rates to the GB Pound to calculate our rates:
- US Dollar: 1.60
- Euro: 1.15
Paying by credit card
Should you use chose to pay by credit card we will use PayPal to process your transaction securely. To complete the transaction personal data relevant to processing the payment will be passed to PayPal, and this data may be held on their servers for a period of time. All credit card payments will be subject to a 2% fee, which will be added to your booking cost. Please visit PayPal (www.paypal.com/uk) for further details.
Travel Documents
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are in possession of all necessary travel and health documents before departure. All costs incurred in obtaining such documentation must be paid by you. We regret we cannot accept any liability if you are refused entry onto any transport or into the USA due to failure on your or your party's part to carry correct documentation.
Travel Insurance
It is your responsibility to ensure any policy meets your needs. Your insurance should cover the cost of cancellation by you and the cost of assistance, including return to your country of residence, if you suffer an accident or illness, as the cost of medical expenses in the USA can be very high. We cannot help you pay these costs.
Our contract with you is made when you confirm your booking. If we accept your booking we will reserve your booking and send you a confirmation invoice within 24 hours. Please check that the reservations dates on the invoice are correct. We are responsible for providing the booking we have confirmed to you. If you cancel or alter your booking later on, you may have to pay an amendment charge. A contract between us will exist when we confirm your booking. We reserve the right to refuse your booking. If we do this we will refund any money already paid to us.
3. Your Security
Our responsibility
We accept responsibility for the proper performance of our obligations under this contract. We will perform such obligations with reasonable skill and care. We are not responsible for any failure that is:
- attributable to you or a member of your party;
- attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services to you, and is unforeseeable or unavoidable;
- due to Force Majeure (see section 5 in these Booking Conditions).
Limitations on our liability
Our liability to you for any loss or damage which you may suffer is limited to the total cost of your booking. This excludes personal injury resulting from the non-performance or improper performance of the services involved in the booking, and is subject to the limitation of liability described below.
If you have a complaint you must tell us or our local representative immediately. If we cannot resolve the problem at the property, you must notify us of your claim within 35 days of your return. If you do not tell us about your complaint, our ability to investigate it could be seriously hampered, and we will not deal with it unless there is a valid reason why you did not inform us. You can, of course, pursue your claim elsewhere.
4. If you want to change your booking
If you make changes
If one of your party withdraws from the booking, someone else can take their place providing they satisfy the conditions of the original booking, and you inform us in writing at least 14 days before departure. Except for a change of name, any change you make within 8 weeks of your departure will be treated as a cancellation and the cancellation charges shown in the table below will apply. Other changes you request may alter the price of your vacation. For example, if you increase the duration of your vacation. We will tell you of any price changes before we confirm alterations to your vacation.
If you cancel
To cancel your booking, the Party Leader must write to our contact address. Cancellation takes effect on the date we receive your letter. If you cancel after we confirm your booking, you must compensate us for losses, as we incur costs from the moment you make the booking. The closer your cancellation is to the departure date, the less likely we are to recover the costs by re-renting our villa at the website price. Our cancellation charges therefore increase as the departure date approaches. If you have to cancel for a reason covered by your insurance policy, you should be able to recover your cancellation charges. The charges are listed in the table below.
|Time before departure when cancellation instruction is received by us
|Cancellation charge as a % of total booking cost
|56 days or more
|Loss of deposit
|55 - 29 days
|50% or deposit if greater
|28 - 22 days
|70% or deposit if greater
|21 - 15 days
|80% or deposit if greater
|14 - 4 days
|90% or deposit if greater
|3 days or less
5. If we change your booking
A "Major Change" includes (but is not limited to) the following:
- a significant change of resort;
- a change of accommodation;
Force Majeure means unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control or the control of our suppliers, resulting in events that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable care had been taken. Such circumstances include (but are not limited to) war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, industrial dispute, unavoidable technical problems with transport, closure or congestion of airports, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire and adverse weather conditions.
we change or cancel your booking
We may have to make changes to your booking, or cancel it, after we accept your booking. Most changes are minor and we will always tell you as soon as possible before your departure. Occasionally we may need to make a Major Change (see the Definitions section). If we do, you must tell us as soon as possible if you wish to accept the change or cancel the booking with a full refund. If we cancel your booking before it starts, and it is not your fault, or if you cancel because you decline a Major Change, you have the following options:
- accept our offer of a replacement villa of lower quality (if available), and we will refund the difference in cost;
- accept our offer of a replacement villa of equivalent or higher quality (if available);
- ask for a refund of the monies you have paid.
If you accept a Major Change, or if we cancel your vacation and you choose options 1 or 2, we will compensate you according to Scale 1 below, in addition to any refund. If you choose option 3, we will compensate you according to Scale 1. We will not pay compensation when the change or cancellation is due to Force Majeure.
|Notice of cancellation
|Compensation for each full week(s) of booking
|Scale 1
|Scale 2
|0 - 7 days
|8 - 14 days
|15 - 28 days
|29 - 42 days
|43 - 55 days
|56 days or more
6. Termination and compensation
You and your party must behave reasonably while staying at our property. We reserve the right, at our reasonable discretion, to terminate the booking of persons who indulge in serious misconduct. If we do so, we will have no further responsibility or liability to you. If you or any member of your party wilfully, recklessly or negligently damages our property, you agree to compensate us for any loss we may suffer, including legal costs.
7. Conditions of use
Liability Disclaimer
We have taken reasonable steps to ensure the information provided by us on this web site is accurate at the time you view it. However, we cannot and have not checked the accuracy of all information provided by outside sources. All such information is provided in good faith and we are excluded from liability for any errors, omissions or misleading information (unless made recklessly or fraudulently) to the maximum extent permitted by law, together with all implied warranties in connection with such information. We make no warranty or representation relating to the availability of this website and have no liability to you should this web site become unavailable to you for any reason. In no circumstances shall we be liable for any injury, loss, claim, damage or any incidental or consequential damages, including but not limited to loss of profits or savings, arising out of, or in any way connected with, the use of any data or services displayed on this site. The use of this website and these Terms and Conditions shall be subject to the laws of England and Wales and the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
Changes to these Terms and Conditions
We may at any time change or modify all or any part of these Terms and Conditions. The current Terms and Conditions are always available on our web site. It is your responsibility to check if any changes have been made.


text:
|This book is an amazing testimony to some of the most secret thoughts of gay men of our times. In a total of 508 quotes, some longer, some just a short sound bite, the author has put together a collection of images and fantasies, as well as "reports" of what really happened that might help you understand multiple aspects of gay life today. As the introduction says: "May be too intense for mature audiences." You have been warned.It should be required reading for any and all authors of gay fiction and romance, as well as those who like to read it. The level of detail and honesty in these pages will open your eyes, and will put much of what you read in stories or books about gay (and bi) men into perspective. It made me laugh, smile, and gasp, and impressed me with its straightforward and direct style. Nothing added, no reflections or interpretations, just quotes.
If you are curious about your fellow human beings, if you want to find out some of the thoughts of gay men that they might never voice out loud, and if you want honesty, you will probably like this book.
I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the read. It made me feel like I was eavesdropping on the private conversation of a therapist and his charge. It raises feelings of excitement and edginess at the same time. Your style of recounting your conversations is very vivid and truly descriptive. The fact that there is no hold barred makes it very real for me -J.O.
|"It's very shocking and I thought I was unshockable." -Bill
|"I read it every night. I can't get it out of my head." -Maria
|"It was very intense and unsettling. It was so intense, at times I had to put it down. Ten minutes later I was reaching for it again." -Donna
|"I thoroughly enjoyed it. Outstanding. When is the next one coming out." -Bob M.
"I'm no longer sure I want to know what men think. But I still read the book cover to cover." -Phyllis
|"I read the whole book in one sitting. I could'nt put it down. I'm reading it again. It needs to be read atleast twice to get the most out of the quotes." -Phil
|"It's cool. We all sit around reading it at work, cracking up." -Christine
"Parts of it disgust me and parts of it excite me. I find I can only read it in small doses. It's dark and it scares me a little." -Diane
|"There are quotes in there for everyone. It's things you think about atleast once in your life, but would never do." -Ann
|The books are exhilarating, attention getting, can't-put-it-down reading. Raw, funny, sick, sensual, passionate, caring – about every emotion you can imagine is covered. They are a quick read and not for the prudish – but rather for the open-minded individual who enjoys knowing what is going on in the minds of those around them! – Ken
|For a gay man, all the talk about pussy is a bit off putting, but I love the rather brutal honesty in the observations and quotes. -Rob S.
|Gay Men Talk was so captivating I truly had a difficult time putting it down. I started reading "Gay Men Talk" Mini Book 1 and could not stop until I got to quote 120. Then I took a short break and went right back to finish. When I realized I had read the last quote I thought "oh no that's the end?" So I went on line and got the 2nd mini. I read the entire "Gay Men Talk Mini Book 2″ in the same evening, which is very unlike me. It was as good and captivating as Mini Book 1.-Ed
|I finished your book. I enjoyed it. I laughed a couple of times recalling similar experiences I'd had. I like that fact that your writing is often so raw. No sugar coating, just raw content and imagery- TG
|I read a lot of the quotes in the book. I think they're amazing. A lot of them put me in the mood. -Regan
Thanks for another HOT book. I really did enjoy it. I really enjoy reading all of the books now when I travel. Very erotic, sexually stimulating and some parts are even "inspirational".-KG
|Wow! TJ Peterson has done it once again with "Gay Men Talk". Another "edgy" but captivating collection of thoughts that go through the minds of men (and some women). As with the previous "Men Talk" series of books, I found myself not able to put it down. Sometimes nodding in agreement, sometimes blushing with embarrassment, and sometimes wondering "who would think of such things", but all the while very erotically turned on!! The thing I enjoy most about the author's books is they are raw and honest – thoughts are often unspoken or even denied publicly, but I think, are thought and/or considered by MOST men if they would admit it. Whether straight, bi-sexual or gay, every man should read these books with an open mind. You'll soon realize you're not as "alone with our thoughts", as you thought! I love it. You write with a great passion. I would give it 2 thumbs up – KS
|I've enjoyed what I've read so far. I don't know what everyone's problem is with it. To me it's nothing more than people's observations. You did a very good job putting it together. There were some parts that made me… Excited and other parts I could really relate to from an emotional standpoint – JS
|I did read your book. I found it to be a very good book. It was a very true and accurate insight into the minds of men and sex-RW
|Very steeeeeamy!!


text:
In Honor Of Fallen Heroes, Soldiers Play Emotional Rendition Of "Battle Hymn"
Thousands of men and women of the United States military give their lives every year in order to protect us here at home. And one band wanted to honor those brave souls.
To be honest, thousands per year is too many men and women dying, but that is the case in today's world. In honor of those folks, the Six-String Soldiers, a four-member acoustic group, visited a war memorial to pay their respects to these fallen soldiers.
They stood among tombstones of the heroes of this country with their instruments — mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar, and acoustic bass — and played a simple rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."
They don't sing or say a word in the entire video, but the emotion and heart is felt in every frame. We do see them place American flags in the ground next to the tombstones in honor of those fallen.
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic" is a patriotic hymn penned by American writer Julia Ward Howe, and the tune is often played at military funerals.
The Six-String Soldiers met while serving in the US Army. They started the band to share their personal experiences they've had during their service.
You can watch the full video below.
For those that made the ultimate sacrifice#MemorialDay #HonorTheFallenU.S. Army Veterans of Foreign Wars VFW American Legion Rolling Thunder Washington, DC Inc. Association of the United States Army – AUSA National U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Posted by Six-String Soldiers on Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Many times, soldiers and veterans don't get this kind of respect nowadays. Just recently, a veteran was shot and robbed at gunpoint right after cashing his $600 benefit check.


text:
MyEnvironment Inc / Work / Forests / Forest Resources / Baw Baw Report / Roadmap to the Baw Baw Report
The purpose of this report is to provide the reader with a comprehensive reference to the significance of and threats to Mount Baw Baw and its associated escarpments. The report is a collation of scientific data and contextual layering to provide the reader with a coherent overview. As a reference document, it has been complied by a number of experts under the co-ordination of The Central Highlands Alliance Inc. Many of the contributors have requested to remain anonymous given their close working relationship to the issues as outlined below.
The current section provides the reader with a roadmap to the main body of the report. The appendix is inclusive of previously unavailable material detailing the significance of Mount Baw Baw.
During the early 1980's, the Ministry for Conservation carried out several studies and surveys on the Central Gippsland region of Victoria to identify sites of natural significance. The results of these studies were published in several reports and all identified Mount Baw Baw and its associated escarpments as containing sites of outstanding natural value. These are listed below:
•Site of Global Zoological Significance (Section 2.2)
•Site of National Botanical Significance (Section 2.3)
•Site of National Geological and Geomorphological Significance (Section 2.4)
Further to these, later studies by the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments revealed that the area surrounding Mount Baw Baw also contained:
•Sites of National Estate Value (Section 2.5)
•Sites of Landscape Value recognised under the National Trust (Section 2.6)
Chapter 2 explores the significance of each of these attributes and provides reference to the source documents from which they are detailed. The combination of the studies found that the forests surrounding Mount Baw Baw provide habitat for significant species including:
•The Global Population of the Critically Endangered Baw Baw Frog
•The Endangered Leadbeater's Possum
•The Critically Endangered Spotted Tree Frog
•The Endangered Smoky Mouse
•The Vulnerable Sooty Owl
•The Endangered Powerful Owl
•The Endangered Spotted Tail Quoll
And significant ecological vegetation species and communities including:
•Montane Fen Community
•Alpine Fen Community
•Cool Temperate Rainforest Community
•Several endemic species
•Over 400 native vascular flora species
•45 rare or threatened plant species
•Over 70 mosses and 41 liverworts with one species listed under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act
•Several species yet to be fully described
The Baw Baw Frog (Philoria frosti) is endemic to Mount Baw Baw and its associated escarpments and is listed under the IUCN red list as 'critically endangered (IUCN 2004). The confinement of the Frog to the mountainous environment of Mount Baw Baw predisposes it to rarity as they have a restricted distribution (Hollis 2004). The species has recently experienced a massive population decline and is extremely sensitive to logging and other forms of environmental stress (Hollis 2004). In 1996, the majority of the current known population was found on the western and southern escarpments of Mount Baw Baw. These forests were to be logged under existing licensing arrangements. In response to the discovery and given the significance of the Baw Baw Frog, the Department of Sustainability and
Environment (DSE) proposed a 'scientific logging experiment' to take place in these forests to determine whether the frog can survive a 'logging operation'. This experiment will be further explored in Chapter 6.
Chapter 3 will provide an overview of:
•Key findings of current scientific research on the Baw Baw Frog (Section 3.2)
•The cause of the decline in the species' population (Section 3.3)
The lower and middle forested slopes of Mount Baw Baw have been subjected to extensive clearfell logging operations for over the past 20 years. Mount Baw Baw is located in close proximity to some of the largest pulp and timber mill facilities operating in Victoria. These Include:
•Australian Paper (Maryvale Pulp Mill)
•Neville Smith Timber (Heyfield Timber Mill)
•Drouin West Sawmill (Drouin and Morwell Mills)
To supply these mills, the Victorian Government subjected the forests around Mount Baw Baw to an unsustainable management regime. In order to maintain existing license commitments administered under the Forests Act 1958, the region was 'overlogged' to where in 2002, it was recommended to the Victorian Government that the sawlog yield be reduced by 50 percent. This chapter explores these pressures and its resulting impact on forest biodiversity. This is detailed in a mapping analysis showing past and proposed logging coupes onto sites significance as detailed in Chapter 2. An overview on current and proposed logging operations as outlined by the DSE is then provided. All of this is further explored within the following sections:
•The Forest Industry and Mount Baw Baw (Section 4.2)
•The impact of logging on Mount Baw Baw and its escarpments (Section 4.3)
•Current forest management in Sites of Significance (Section 4.4)
•Proposed Logging within Sites of Significance (Section 4.5)
It is recommended that proposed logging not proceed in the sites of significance surrounding Mount Baw Baw. It is also recommended that the Australian Paper for the Maryvale Pulp Mill request for additional wood pulp supply not come from VicForests as the RFA, upon which the extensions refers to, falls short of ensuring adequate protection for significant ecological communities. This will be explored further in the following chapters.
Scientific Reporting and Suppression of Recommendations
In late 1993, the then Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) completed a study, 'Ecological Survey Report No.46 - Flora and Fauna of the Eastern and Western Tyers Forest Blocks and Adjacent South-Eastern Slopes of Baw Baw National Park, Central Gippsland, Victoria' (Davies et al 1993). The report was the first DCNR ecological survey for the Central Highlands' Gippsland area and was carried out by the Flora and Fauna Survey Team set up by the State-wide Planning Policy Advisory Group – an initiative of the then Minister for Conservation, Forests and Lands. The report was commissioned as the result of public concern over the potential impacts of major road networks and logging on environmental values in the forests of the Central Highlands of Victoria. The report initially comprised of the following chapters:
1.General aspects of the Upper Tyers River Catchment
5.Amphibians and Reptiles
8.Conservation of Flora and Fauna
9.Significant Communities and Habitats
10.Effects of Land Use Activities on Flora and Fauna
11.Biologically Significant Sites and Wildlife Corridors
Upon the publishing of the report in 1994, Chapters 8, 9 and 10 were removed. Chapter 11 became Chapter 8, however, the biologists' recommendations for the management of Biologically Significant Sites and wildlife corridors were removed. Upon being published, the report was withdrawn by the DCNR, and what remained of chapter 8 (originally chapter 11) and the map locating the sites, were removed. The report was reissued with the pages of chapter 8 and the map simply 'missing'. The removal of this information prevented forest management from being properly informed about the significance of the region (Hansard 1999). Since then, the Upper Tyers River Catchment has been subject to extensive clearfell logging. The Central Highlands Alliance Inc. located the deleted chapters and presents its findings and recommendations in Chapter 5. Testimony of why the chapters were deleted is also included. These are covered in the following sections:
•Purpose for reporting on the Upper Tyers River Catchment (Section 5.2)
•Details of the 'Deleted' Chapters (Section 5.3)
•Biologically Significant Sites and Wildlife Corridors (Section 5.4)
•Significance of Sites Identified (Section 5.5)
•Why were the Chapters and the Map detailing the Sites deleted? (Section 5.6)
•What are the Impacts? (Section 5.7)
•Sites of significance as outlined in the Central Highlands Forest Management Plan (Section 5.8)
•Implications for future management (Section 5.9)
The Chair of the Senate hearing on the Regional Forest Agreement Bill described the act of suppressing this information as a fairly serious charge (Hansard 1999). It revealed that forest management acted in the interest of meeting 'unsustainable' timber and pulp license commitments at the expense of forest biodiversity and the public good.
In 1996, significant populations of the critically endangered Baw Baw Frog were discovered in the State Forests on the southern escarpments of Mount Baw Baw (Hollis 2004). In response, the Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) called for an interim 'precautionary approach' to be taken in forest above the 1000m contour where coupes would not be logged upon where Baw Baw Frogs were known to occur and additional buffering would be implemented around known sites. The Central Highlands RFA calls for further study on the species, including surveying the response of the species to 'disturbance in Montane Wet Forest' (Commonwealth of Australia 1998). The Baw Baw Frog Action Statement and the Baw Baw Frog Draft Recovery Plan later referred the 'response to disturbance' as 'experimental timber harvesting', upon where the habitat of Baw Baw Frog occurring around Mount Baw Baw would be logged employing various methods of silviculture, including clearfelling. Following this, monitoring is to take place to establish whether the critically endangered species can survive logging within their habitat. Chapter 6 explores the issues surrounding the experiment under the following sections:
•Logging Experiment Overview (Section 6.2)
•Scientific Critique (Section 6.3)
•The Baw Baw Frog Recovery Plan and the EPBC Act 1999 (Section 6.4)
•The Baw Baw Frog Action Statement (Section 6.5)
•Logging within the Baw Baw Frog Habitat after the RFA (Section 6.6)
The experiment commenced in December 2004 despite it not yet being approved by the Federal Minister for Environment. However, the experiment was placed under an informal moratorium within days of commencing as a result of opposition from scientists and environmental Non-Government Organisations (NGO's). Associate Professor Jean-Marc Hero described the 'experiment' to the Victorian Government as 'ludicrous at best and unethical at worst', as the species has been found to be extremely sensitive to environmental change.
The Leadbeater's Possum is a small arboreal marsupial that is one of the significant species inhabiting the forests surrounding Mount Baw Baw. It was thought to be extinct for the first half of the 20th Century until it was rediscovered in 1961 (Lindenmayer and Possingham 1996). Upon its rediscovery near Lake Mountain in 1961, the known global population range of the Leadbeater's Possum is currently restricted to the Central Highlands of Victoria. These include populations throughout the Mountain Ash, Shining Gum, Alpine Ash Forests and Snow Gum Woodlands surrounding Mount Baw Baw (Lindenmayer and Possingham 1996, DSE 2003, DSE BioMap 2006). The species is listed as 'Endangered' under the IUCN red list and its population trend is in decline (last count as of 2006 stands at approx. 2,500 individuals) (IUCN Red List). It has been widely documented that clearfell logging poses a serious threat to the survival of the species through the loss of hollow bearing trees. As most logged sites around Mount Baw Baw are clearfelled, the forest structure has been undergoing dramatic change rendering the landscape unsuitable for the species to inhabit. These issues are explored in the following sections:
•Habitat requirements for the Leadbeater's Possum (Section 7.2)
•Impacts of Logging on the Leadbeater's Possum at Mount Baw Baw (Section 7.3)
•Impacts of Logging on Dead Stags (Section 7.4)
•Surveys at Tyers River West Branch (Section 7.5)
•Protection requirements for the Leadbeater's Possum (Section 7.6)
A significant number of Leadbeater's Possum colonies have been found around Mount Baw Baw that fall outside the Zone 1A Special Protection Zones set aside under the Central Highlands Forest Management Plan. These unprotected colonies are under extreme risk of being destroyed by logging as the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 has exempted all logging carried out under a Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). A number of these colonies fall within the boundaries of the coupes listed as part of the Baw Baw Frog Logging experiment.
In 1995, the then Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) began substantial works of its largest and most complex infrastructure project, the South Face Road (EPA 2001). The majority of the road straddles the mid southern escarpments of Mount Baw Baw within the Upper Tyers River Catchment and opened previously inaccessible forests for logging. The purpose of the South Face Road was to provide a permanent transport route to move timber from coupes west of Mount Baw Baw to mills located in the east (EPA 2001). These include the major Gippsland facility, the Maryvale Pulp Mill and the Neville Smith Timber Mill at Heyfield. The construction of the road has had a wide spread negative impact on the sites of significance along the escarpments of Mount Baw Baw. These include increased erosion and turbidity for the many rivers in the region, degradation of Rainforest Sites of Significance (detailed in Chapter 9), degradation of Sites of Biological Significance (detailed in Chapter 5) and the destruction of Sites of National Geological and Geomorphological Significance through rock blasting. Chapter 8 provides an overview of:
•The EPA Tyers River Catchment Audit Findings (Section 8.2)
•Onsite observations made by The Central Highlands Alliance Inc (Section 8.3)
•Quarrying of Granite Tors (Section 8.4)
•Assessment of Quarrying made by Neville Rosengren (Section 8.5)
The construction of the South Face Road poses a severe environmental risk to the region. As the granodiorite derived soils in the region are highly susceptible to erosion, several sections of the road have 'collapsed', exposing the Upper Tyers and Tanjil River Catchments to continued erosion and increased sedimentation. The road has also permanently fragmented the forest, disrupting connectivity for 'non-flying' species, such as the Leadbeater's Possum, to forage (Lindenmayer and Franklin 2002).
The issue of rainforest conservation has been the centre of intense debate for several decades. The escarpments of Mount Baw Baw contain several Rainforest Sites of Significance and these have been impacted by forestry operations, especially in the construction of the South Face Road. Chapter 9 provides an overview of the issues and the impacts of forest management on rainforest sites throughout the Mount Baw Baw area in the following:
•By providing recognised definitions of Rainforest (Section 9.2)
•Listing Rainforest Sites of Significance around Mount Baw Baw (Section 9.3)
•Describing inconsistencies between scientific surveys and the Central Highlands Forest Management Plan listing Rainforest Sites of Significance (Section 9.4)
•Rainforest Sites of Significance and the Impacts of road construction and Logging (Section 9.5)
•The impacts of Logging Cool Temperate Mixed Rainforest (Section 9.6)
The construction of the South Face Road has resulted in the degradation of a Rainforest Site of State Significance through the permanent removal of a section of the stand. The infection of the fatal pathogen 'Myrtle Wilt' of the forest following the intrusion significantly furthered degradation. In addition, the extensive clearfelling of Cool Temperate Mixed Rainforest has also changed the floristics of the region. These rainforest communities provide important habitat and refuge for the Baw Baw Frog.
The Thomson Reservoir is situated along the eastern escarpments of Mount Baw Baw and carries approximately 60 percent of Melbourne's water storage capacity (Howe et al 2005). It is surrounded by 48,700 hectares of forested catchment that includes the northern and eastern slopes of Mount Baw Baw, the southern slopes of Mount Matlock on the Great Dividing Range and the western slopes of the Aberfeldy Range. The Thomson is the largest of four major water supply catchments for Melbourne, with the others being Maroondah, Upper Yarra and O'Shannassy. All are located within the Central Highlands of Victoria (Howe et al 2005). The Thomson is the only large catchment upon which logging is permitted. The forest industry considers the Mountain Ash, Alpine Ash and Shining Gum forests within the catchment as highly valuable for timber and pulp and targets them for logging. These forests cover 33.5 percent of the Thomson Catchment (Alaouze 2004) and occur within the high rainfall areas, mostly along the escarpments of Mount Baw Baw. When regenerating after logging, these species have been observed to double their use of water through having a higher Leaf Area Index (LAI) (Peel et al 2000, Vertessy et al 1998). The Strategy Directions Report stated that if logging were to be phased out of the Thomson Catchment by 2020, it is estimated that it will provide an additional volume of water in the order of 20,000ML (Victorian Government 2002). This is almost the equivalent holding capacity of the Maroondah Reservoir. Chapter 10 provides an overview of the issues concerning logging in the Thomson Catchment and implications for future management. These are covered in the following sections:
•Annual Rainfall within the Thomson Catchment (Section 10.2)
•Forests and Water Use (Section 10.3)
•Predicting Impacts on Water Yield within the Thomson Catchment (Section 10.4)
•Logging within the Thomson Catchment (Section 10.5)
•Global Warming and the Thomson (Section 10.6)
•Implications for Future Management (Section 10.7)
Chapter 10 reveals significant problems with past and continued logging within the Thomson Catchment. It reveals that logging Ash Forests results in the greatest water yield loss for any forest type in the catchment. Almost 69 percent of the Ash forest area within the Thomson Catchment has been or will be logged. This exceeds the minimum of 20 percent for changes in the water yield to be detected.
In the winter of 2006, coupe 353-501-0001 was logged. Part of this coupe falls within Thomson Water Catchment. The catchment is closed to logging operations between May 1st and November 30th as stipulated in Appendix R of the Central Highlands Forest Management Plan. In addition, the location of the coupe was not revealed in the Timber Release Plan issued by VicForests. The Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 requires that the details of the location of logging to be included in the Timber Release Plans. This did not occur. As a result, the community was not adequately informed about VicForests' and DSE's intent to log an area of what scientists and the community regard as a significant site for water catchment and biodiversity. Therefore, in reference to the above, the logging of coupe 353-501-0001 was 'unlawful'. This is covered in the following sections:
•Details of the Logging Operation (Section 11.2)
•Non-compliance with Forest Management Plans and Legislation (Section 11.3)
The outcome of this investigation reveals that the current reserve system around Mount Baw Baw is inadequate and that current forest management practices are degrading sites of significance. Chapter 11 details the recommended expansion of the current Baw Baw National Park to be inclusive of:
•The entire site of Global Zoological Significance,
•Sites of National and State Botanical Significance,
•Site of National Geological and Geomorphological Significance
•The global distribution of the Baw Baw Frog,
•Rainforest Sites of Significance
•Sites of National Estate Value
•Areas of high rainfall within the Thomson Catchment
As large areas of forest surrounding Mount Baw Baw have been degraded through extensive logging operations, the reserve agenda proposes a 'restorative management zone' upon where proactive conservation measures are implemented to rehabilitate these areas. The agenda is supportive of Associate Professor Jean marc Hero's recommendation for the recovery action of the Baw Baw Frog, which include:
•Complete protection of all known and predicted habitat for the Baw Baw Frog
•Proactive actions to mitigate the known threats
•Monitoring to determine if mitigating actions are effective
•Research to determine new or unknown threats to the species
•Proactive actions to mitigate new threats
(Hero 2004 – Pers Comm)
This proposal provides a continuous reserve system that joins the Baw Baw National Park with the Yarra Ranges National Park and the Moondarra State Park. It will incorporate the diverse Ecological Vegetation Communities found within the region that fall outside the current reserve system.
As Mount Baw Baw and its associated escarpments have been recognised as a site of outstanding natural significance, appropriate conservation, protection and management need to be immediately implemented. The Victorian Government must ensure the community that the abuse and degradation of significant natural sites do not re-occur. Informed by the following report, The Central Highlands Alliance Inc., along with other stakeholders, request the following:
•That all logging immediately cease within sites of zoological, botanical, geological and geomorphological significance on Baw Baw and the Victorian Government subject these sites to a moratorium
•The cancellation of the Baw Baw Frog 'Timber Harvesting Experiment'
•The immediate protection of forest where the Baw Baw Frog is located
•Allow for informed and broad stakeholder approval of the Baw Baw Frog Recovery Plan under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999
•To allow for informed and broad stakeholder review of the Baw Baw Frog Action Statement under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988
•A formal investigation into the suppression of biologists recommendations in the report titled 'Flora and Fauna of the Eastern and Western Tyers Forest Blocks and Adjacent South-Eastern Slopes of Baw Baw National Park, Central Gippsland, Victoria'
•An investigation to the impacts of logging in the Thomson Catchment with all logging suspended to minimise any further potential degradation
•To cease any further planning and construction of the South Face Road
•An independent and transparent investigation into the planning and construction of the South Face Road and the impacts that it has had on forest biodiversity and catchment integrity
•An independent assessment into the quarrying of the granite tors within sites of geological and geomorphological significance
•Areas degraded by past logging operations restored as part of a long term restoration program
•That roads built for the purposes of logging throughout high conservation forest and/or on eroding soils be closed and rehabilitated
•The reserve proposal be implemented as detailed in Chapter 11


text:
|This site is completely ad-free. Please Support us by making a donation.
It seems odd that such a thing as one's schedule could be a topic for insults, but apparently it can be.
I know someone who frequently makes jabs about my schedule. "I get up early in the morning like normal people." He'll say. Or "If you had a real schedule you could do other stuff." They're small pokes, but still rude and unnecessary. I've tried to explain that one person's schedule is no better than another, but it has never sunk in.
I run a "late shift" schedule of sorts. I'm up between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM and go to bed between 4:00 AM and 5:00 AM. It's been this way for years. At one point it was a compromise so everyone in the house slept at the same time, then it was a way to have private time after the roommates went to bed. At any rate, our schedule is what it is, and there's nothing wrong with it.
Unfortunately I have encountered people over the years who think that if you're not up at dawn and asleep before midnight you're doing something wrong. Some even go so far as to equate a late schedule with laziness. I'm sure that second and third shift workers would heartily argue with the idea that they're lazy simply because they're not up at 6:00 AM.
What would give someone this idea? What would make anyone think one schedule is better than another? Do they truly believe that someone with a first-shift job is superior to those who work other shifts? What about people with rotating schedules? Dad sometimes goes into work at 7:00 AM, sometimes 3:00 PM, sometimes 11:00 PM. Is he lazy or crazy or wrong? I think not.
There are already too many things people hate and insult each other over. Please let this one go. No scheduling plan makes one person better than another. No work hours make someone less than any other. We do what we do for whatever reasons we do them. Have some respect and let people live their lives.


text:
Monday, February 27th 2017, 16:29:21 PM Published at Yesenia Andreeff Konovalov, Bathroom. Overall, a rest room with a beach theme toilet specific vogue square measure getting to be tons, a mixture between up to date and up to date vogue throughout that every gift a simple bit, an informal still such plenty detail as carving or decorating material with lace. along with blue and white colors and accessories at intervals often a suggestion for you if your bathroom is not notably the labyrinthine detail. The first begin of the colors, blue and white combination is that the quite arrange of the correct bathroom depict beach often though you'll jointly add another colors like inexperienced or maybe red for if you want to use to the walls blue thus white on the bottom or otherwise. Another arrange is to forms of wallpaper unit of measurement wise for a beach theme.
Recent Posts
Static Pages
About • Contact • Privacy Policy • Terms & Conditions • Copyright
Copyright © 2013–2018 ~ yustusa. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Christmas at The Winery
San Ducerro Vineyards
Join us for the weekend of December 23rd and 24th as we Celebrate Christmas at The Winery. Bring your family for a relaxing sip of wine on our Star Patio or inside as we celebrate togetherness and all the holiday joy! Open Saturday, December 23 10am to 6pm and Sunday, December 24 1pm to 5pm. Pick up your last minute holiday gifts and bottles. We'll have yummy Chilli and Tamales ready to fill you up! Avaliable while supplies last!
Date & Time
- December 24, 2017
LocationGet Directions
More Info
- 832-248-2225
- Prices vary on wines
- Food & Drink


text:
Zaccardi: Yulia Efimova apologetic, Lilly King steadfast in 100m breaststroke press conference
RIO DE JANEIRO – Yulia Efimova looked straight at Lilly King after tearfully pleading her case to be allowed at the Olympics.
King was looking the other way.
That was the most poignant moment of a 15-minute news conference following the women's 100m breaststroke at the Olympic Aquatic Stadium just after midnight Tuesday.
Ninety minutes earlier, King took gold in an Olympic record time, with the Russian Efimova getting silver.
This came one day after King wagged her finger in the ready room at a video screen showing Efimova, pouring kerosene on the Russian doping scandal. (King never meant for that scene to be seen by millions worldwide; more on that later.)
This time last week, Efimova was banned from the Olympics after the International Olympic Committee said any Russian athlete who previously served a doping ban was ineligible for Rio. Efimova was previously suspended for 16 months from 2013 to 2015 for a positive test.
Efimova appealed and was reinstated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Saturday, a victory that was a foregone conclusion as world anti-doping rules dictate athletes can compete in the Olympics once they've served their bans.
My colleague Alan Abrahamson has more on Efimova's case here, but that's the drive-thru version leading into one of the tensest victory conferences in Olympic history.
The medalists marched single file into a room of 40 journalists, Efimova followed by bronze medalist Katie Meili, followed by King.
Meili sat between Efimova and King, perhaps by design.
The first question went to Efimova, who took a big gulp of blue Powerade and paused before answering. She may have been trying to compose her best broken English; she may have been trying to keep from pouring tears.
How do you feel about how the crowd booed you?
"Right now I feel like really happy for all stuff that came with me the last half-year," Efimova said, referencing a messy meldonium positive test and resulting ban that was lifted. "This is best, where I actually do prefer right now after everything. I can't explain it. You can just try and understand me, like if you switch you and I."
King mostly looked straight ahead, certainly not at Efimova, and expressionless. The 19-year-old Indiana University student ran her hand through her long brown hair..
The second question went to King.
Can you speak to the Russians being here, and what it means to back up your words tonight?
"I do stand by what I said yesterday, but I still have to respect the IOC's decision that they made and swim my race like I planned and not let that affect me," she said.
Efimova put her hand on her chin during the answer and peeked at King, who did not return the look.
Next came Efimova's emotional plea.
The Russian was asked if she believed it was fair that she gets to compete and Russian runner and whistleblower Yulia Stepanova is not allowed. Efimova pleaded her own case, ignoring Stepanova.
"I have once when I made mistakes, and I have been banned for 16 months," Efimova said of her 2013-15 ban, before going into this year's meldonium case. "For second time, it's not my mistakes. Like, I don't know why actually I need to explain everybody or not. I just like have some [hypothetical] question."
Efimova dives into her meldonium explanation:
"Like if WADA say, like, tomorrow, stop like yogurt, or nicotine or, I don't know, protein, that every athlete use, and they say tomorrow now it's on banned list. And you stop. But this is stay [in] your body like six months and doping control is coming, like, after two months, tested you, and you're positive. This is your fault?"
Efimova turned her head to her right, looked past Meili and stared directly at King, who was looking away. Efimova wasn't asking King to converse, but punctuating her case.
King had no reaction.
The questions continued, first to King.
How were the last 24 hours?
"A lot of pressure, obviously," she said. "Even just going into your first Olympic final, any Olympic final for that matter, the pressure's going to be on. But especially standing for what I believe is right, I felt that I needed to perform better tonight than I had in the past. So that's where I was at."
Then Efimova was asked if she regretted even coming to Rio after all that has happened.
"I'm happy to be here, and for me it's very hard," she said. "I feel very happy because after everything it's a good time. It's the best I can do right now."
King was asked if sprinter Justin Gatlin, who has also served a doping ban, should be allowed to compete for Team USA.
"Do I think people who have been caught for doping offenses should be on the team?" she said. "No, they shouldn't."
Another question: Why didn't King congratulate Efimova after the race?
"One, I was really in the moment with Katie and celebrating the U.S. victory," she said. "Also, if I had been in Yulia's position, I would not have wanted to be congratulated by someone who was not speaking highly of me. So if she was wishing to be congratulated, I apologize. She had a fantastic swim. I always look forward to racing her, but I was really just in the moment celebrating with Katie."
Finally, concluding 15 minutes of back-and-forth, Efimova fielded one more question.
Should Russian sports officials have acted more decisively against doping to prevent the situation you're in right now?
"I'm like last four years training in the USA," said Efimova, who has trained in southern California. "I have been in Russia just like maybe one month a year. I don't know what's going on in Russia. … Usually in the Olympic Games, all wars stopping. Now they like try to do, they like can find a way how they can like beat Russia. … This is unfair."
With that, the three women were excused. King, followed by Meili and then Efimova walked from behind the table out a side door.
King and Meili exited together.
Once Efimova left the room, she met an older man in Russian apparel and a credential, likely a coach or team official.
They emotionally hugged. The man kissed her on the cheek and put his right arm around her back. They slowly walked through a hallway.
If they looked straight ahead, they would have seen the backs of King and Meili.
There is a postscript to the last two days.
King never meant for her true thoughts on Efimova to come out in that finger-wag, ready-room video, her coach said Monday.
"We had a team meeting today, and she said, hey girls, I just want you all to know that they film you in the ready room," Ray Looze said. "It was hilarious. She goes, you may want to watch what you're doing in there. So it wasn't something she wanted to make public."
Regardless, Looze said that King "cracked open" the thoughts shared by the U.S. team.
"We really are trying to take the high road," he said. "I told Lilly tonight, I said, this is about a race. Do not say anything. Enough's enough. Now we've got to race."


text:
Funding Options
Going to law is never a cheap option and research indicates that many people miss out on justice simply because they cannot afford the legal fees.
We have therefore developed a range of funding options for contested will cases, the most popular of which is No Win-No Fee.
Not all contested will cases are suitable for No Win-No Fee funding, especially at the outset when the supporting evidence has not yet been gathered. Like any business we have to take a commercial view. We can only take cases on under a No Win-No Fee agreement where there is sufficient evidence available to support the case case and the prospects of success are good.
At the beginning of a contested will claim there can often be too many unknown factors to enable us to offer No Win- No Fee, but we are always happy to review the case and give a view.
Sometimes further investigations will need to be carried out before we are able to make a decision. These investigations can be funded on an initial limited fee basis, where we work to a set budget. We are always prepared to reassess a contested will case as the evidence develops and reconsider its suitability for No Win-No Fee funding going forward.
If we decide to take a contested will case on under a No Win-No Fee agreement then, if you win, we will charge a success fee, which is an uplift on the base legal costs.
If the case is lost then we will not charge for the time we have spent on your case.
We can also deal with contested wills under a Damages-Based Agreement, or DBA.
We always endeavour to recover your legal fees, expenses and disbursements from your opponent or the estate.
Where you are paying privately we can advise you on taking out Legal Expenses Insurance to cover any potential liability for your opponents legal fees.
If you are contesting a will and would like us to review your funding options then send us an email with details of your case or give us a call on 0808 1391596.


text:
Maria Ryan
Maria Ryan is a third-year musicology doctoral student. She is interested in contemporary opera, the interplay between the visual, the imagined, and the musical, and the politics of access to Western art music. Her dissertation will be focusing on race and classical music in the nineteenth-century British Empire, and the ways in which black people under British rule were able to engage with music both to subvert and to reinforce imperial ideas. As well as her work in the Music Department, Maria is also working towards the graduate certificate in Africana Studies. Prior to joining Penn, she worked at the Cultural Institute at King's College London and the music department of Westminster Abbey, both of which hugely influenced how she thinks about institutional memory, arts and the state, and the role of arts in childhood. Maria holds a BA in music from the University of Nottingham and an MMus from King's College London.


text:
2018 Minimum Wage Laws - Info
Effective January 1, 2017, the minimum wage for all industries will be increased yearly. From January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2022, the minimum wage will increase for employers employing 26 or more employees. This increase will be delayed one year for employers employing 25 or fewer employees, from January 1, 2018, to January 1, 2023. The scheduled increases may be temporarily suspended by the Governor, based on certain determinations.
California Minimum Wage Official Notice
Copyright © MercedHCC.com 2013. All Rights Reserved.
Designed by atjoomla.


text:
Actor Colton Haynes is expanding his resume by making his live singing debut at a George Michael tribute concert in New York in April (17).
The Arrow star will be among performers like Tituss Burgess, Cheyenne Jackson, Hamilton star Javier Munoz, Eric Hutchinson, and Jon McLaughlin at the Gotta Have Faith, VH1 Save The Music show at the Highline Ballroom on 24 April (17).
Haynes is not sure what he will be singing, but he is thrilled to be able to perform.
"I'm just so excited to be a part of this because I've been a fan since I was a kid and he's such an iconic inspiration to so many people and never strayed away from his own sound and being himself, and that's so admirable," he tells E! News. "He's made so many people feel deep emotion through his music, myself included and to be a part of this incredible night is truly an honor."
The show will be produced by Madam Secretary's Erich Bergen, who reveals he was adamant to have the 28-year-old perform.
"We're thrilled to have Colton on board," he says. "I had to corner him at Men's Fashion Week and beg him to do this. And he said yes! What a thrill! I'm equally as thrilled about our whole roster of performers. It's gonna be a wild night. Can't wait!"
Michael passed away at the age of 53 in December (16).


text:
This Mid-Century house was published in the book "Dream Homes of Pacific Northwest," and was part of a New York Times "Home and Garden" article on bathrooms.
Previously a non-distinct ranch house, it was completely renovated to meet the needs of a growing family. The central roof was raised to admit generous overhead light to the kitchen and living spaces. New metal windows were enlarged and repositioned to capture distant views. Interior finishes were replaced, and the mechanical system revised to provide radiantly heated floors.


text:
Definitely suitable for the most showy formal dinners, the wearer of this belt is probably style-conscious with a liking for a touch of purple.
Entirely made by hand in the workshop of a National award-winning craftsman
Gift box is bubble wrap and tissue-lined, and sent in a bubble envelope.
Shipping is free and insured
Please contact us for combined postage
Please allow up to 28 days for your belt to be made to your order specifications and dispatched
Please do check our returns information
All sizes quoted are approximate
Accessories not included
We offer six different size options, from XS-XXL and can also cater for sizes outside these ranges, available to order. Just ask.
Obtained from the supplier with the Royal Warrant, the Sedgwick leather used in this belt is world renowned for its strength, durability, density and lustre. As the belt is worn in, in a similar way to wearing in new boots and shoes, the leather will react to the natural oils in your hands and to your body heat, becoming more supple over time. Subsequently, as it moulds beautifully to your shape and develops its unique natural patina, it will result in a wonderfully personal leather accessory, thus making it a firm favourite for years to come.
Leather is, of course, a natural material so a little slight marking and colour variation are expected. No two belts will be the same.
Take care when wearing with light coloured items as, with all coloured leather products, some colour transfer may occur.
TBM belts are handmade rather than hand machined. Please see the about pages for more information.
© TBM The Belt Makers 2003 - 2018
'The Belt Makers' Partners: Mark and Marie Buckfield


text:
Monday 8:00 - 5:00
Clinic Director: Brett Bartlett
Overview and Map
Rocky Mountain Therapy Services (RMTS) has been providing services in Grantsville since 2007. We enjoy working with the physicians in our community as well as those in surrounding communities. Through our valued relationship with physicians, we are able to provide a quality outcome and patient education focus to clients. RMTS works with the community, area employers and student athletes and their parents and coaching staff to assist in a positive outcome. Under the Direction of Brett Bartlett, MPT, and a great support staff, the clinic has reached out and become a partner facility to the community.
Located on East Main Street in Grantsville, in close proximity to physicians our facility offers a comfortable and warm atmosphere for our patient's recovery from an injury or surgery. This facility has been updated and offers a great environment for healing and education.
Our Services
- Treatment of Orthopedic and Spine Injuries
- Joint Replacement Program
- Wellness
Coverage Options
|Deseret Mutual Benefit Association
|Gallagher Bassett
|Medicare HMO
|Public Employes Health Program
|United Healthcare
|Workers Comp Fund of Utah
Our Team
Clinic Director: Brett Bartlett, MPT
Brett graduated from the University of Utah in 1999 and received his Master's in physical therapy from Elon University in North Carolina in 2002. In 2007 he became the Clinical Director of Rocky Mountain Physical Therapy in Grantsville. Brett treats all areas of the body with the goal of reaching a patients' maximal potential with as little pain as possible. His individual hands on approach has proven beneficial in many difficult treatment situations.Brett is highly involved in the community volunteering his time with Grantsville high school athletics and local youth recreational sports programs. He lives in Grantsville with his wife Brook and their 3 children. He enjoys spending time with his family, anything University of Utah, golf and the outdoors.
Office Manager: Kelly Thompson
Kelly has been with Rocky Mountain Therapy Services for 11 years and in Grantsville 9 years. She has been an instrumental part in the growth of our clinic. Her experience as an EMT and CNA shows in her quality care with our patient's. Many of our patient's comment that Kelly's compassionate care has made their physical therapy experience enjoyable and they look forward to their visits.


text:
BigFootCat's Collectibles
2961 E. Sequoia Drive
Phoenix, AZ 85050
(480) 522-7842
About Us
Sales Policy
Battler by Sandy Thorne
This entertaining book was published in 1984 by The Dominion Press-Hedges & Bell and printed in Australia. The author, Sandy Thorne, wrote two other books that are both Australian bestsellers. "Battler O'Brien had been a battler all his life...riding the rodeo circuit... droving sheep with Mum on the drought-ravaged stock routes. But with four kids on the ground and another bun in the oven, Battler saw that the only chance for his family lay with the 'Bundaroo' land ballot. He was prepared to do anything to win..." Our copy (no D/J) has a very good illustrated cover with only slight bumping on the edges. The interior of the book is in very fine condition without any marks or tears (almost appears unread). The ISBN# and National Library of Australia Card No. is 0-7255-1712-3. Kindly E-Mail us if you have any questions.
Collectibles and Antiques ~ Est. 1996 ©
browse similar items >
Books and Publications:Fiction
~ hosting vibrant online markets


text:
Security forces are preparing for a Paris-style terrorist attack in the UK as counter-terror sources reveal up 450 radicalised Britons have returned from Syria, while Scotland Yard investigates 600 terror cases.
Special forces have been deployed onto Britain's streets to monitor major stations, shopping districts and other public places amid fears the UK could be the next target.
Charles Farr, director of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, told the Sunday Telegraph that Islamic State was inspiring followers who "couldn't go" to Syria to stay at home and "undertake attacks".
He added that "about 750 [British citizens] of interest to the security and intelligence services" had travelled to Iraq and Syria, and that "about 60 per cent have returned."
He described Islamic State as a form of "ideological grooming" that inspires young people to take up arms against Western democracies, and said those travelling were getting "much younger."
Speaking about the special forces deployment, one defence source said: "They will be wandering around shopping centres, stations and other crowded potential targets watching what's going on. They will not be armed."
Speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr Show this morning, Home Secretary Theresa May said that the SAS are already preparing to tackle simultaneous, co-ordinated attacks in the UK.
"Since the Mumbai attack in 2008 we have been building our capability here, building the capability of our police to be able to react to a firearms attack of that sort. We have been increasing the ability of the emergency services to save lives in high-risk conditions. But we will now review that and see if there are any further lessons we need to learn."
She is due to chair a Cabinet Office Briefing Room meeting – commonly known as COBRA – today to discuss how the British government will deal with the devastating attacks in Paris.
The government will not raise Britain's terror threat level, however:
"[MI5] has kept the threat level at severe. That still means a terrorist attack is highly likely.
"We've been at that threat level for over a year now and of course we operate at that threat level and since the attacks [in Paris] that took place on Friday and there's been an increase in peace presence on the streets and at some events.
"Our border force have increased checks they're making at the border, more screenings of freight vehicles and other vehicles as well. People going through our ports will see a greater police presence."


text:
The College of Education will honor Sandra Coffey Hofmann (B.S. '74) as the 2011 Distinguished Alumnus at its annual Honors Day celebration on April 21.
Hofmann graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor of science in education degree in 1974. She currently serves as the president and board director of Women in Technology, a networking, career building and leadership development organization for women in the technology field, and the CIO-in-Residence at the Advanced Technology Development Center, a nationally-recognized science and technology incubator housed at the Georgia Institute of Technology that helps Georgia entrepreneurs launch and build successful companies.
In her 25-year career, Hofmann has successfully provided leadership to technology and manufacturing professionals at companies such as IBM, Simplex, MAPICS and Closets and More. She was named the Georgia CIO of the Year by the Georgia CIO Leadership Association (GCLA), which honors individuals who have demonstrated outstanding technology leadership in Georgia and excellence in managing their organization's enterprise wide information systems, and received GCLA's inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the technology community.
In addition to her professional commitments, Hofmann works with several community organizations. She is a member of TechBridge and the Technology Association of Georgia Board of Directors, and she serves on a number of advisory boards, including AAA Auto Club Georgia, Virima, Turknett Leadership Group and the University of Georgia Terry College of Business Atlanta Leadership Symposium. Previously, she served on the board of directors for AAA Auto Club South, chair of the board of directors for the Society for Human Resource Management-Atlanta, and compensation committee chair for the AkroMetrix Board of Directors.
"Receiving the Distinguished Alumnus Award honors the teachers and leaders who I've been so fortunate to encounter," Hofmann said. "I credit them for providing me with skills and experiences needed to succeed and for serving as role models and mentors along the way. I am sincerely touched to be seen as a positive reflection of the caliber of GSU College of Education alumni."
The College of Education will hold its annual Honors Day ceremony at 4 p.m. in the Speakers Auditorium at the Georgia State University Student Center (44 Courtland Street, Atlanta).
For more information, visit http://education.gsu.edu.


text:
Join Morten Rand-Hendriksen for an in-depth discussion in this video When can we start using CSS Grid?, part of CSS Grid First Look.
- [Voiceover] Now that you know what CSS Grid is,…the next question is, "When can I start using it?"…The short answer is, "Not yet but soonish."…Here's the long answer.…As of this recording,…the CSS Grid layout module is a working draft…at the CR, or candidate recommendation, stage…in the W3C process.…For it to move to the next stage, proposed recommendation,…there must be at least two independent interoperable…implementations of each feature in the proposal.…That means two different browsers need to implement…the proposed features in the same way.…
We're not quite there yet.…CSS Grid was originally proposed by Microsoft…in April 2011 and has been available…in Internet Explorers 10 and 11 and in the framework…for Windows 8 and Windows 10 since then.…Currently, Microsoft uses the old implementation…in their browsers,…while the Blink and WebKit rendering engines…are rolling out CSS Grid's new level one specification…as experimental features in certain browsers.…In this course, I'll be using the level one specification…
Join Morten Rand-Hendriksen in this course for a first look at this emerging CSS module. He covers setting up CSS grids, positioning content, and working with named lines and template areas. The final videos in the course introduce practical uses for CSS grids, including online magazines and three-column layouts.
- What is CSS Grid?
- Using the CSS Grid playground
- Setting up a CSS grid
- Positioning content in a CSS grid
- Using template areas in a CSS grid
- Creating a responsive grid layout


text:
Can't see the Full Screen puzzle? Your pop-up blocker probably prevented it from opening. Click here to relaunch the pop-up.
Still can't get it to work? Please contact us for additional help
Free puzzle of a hippo with his mouth open in the water.
hippo • hippopotamus • animal • wild • water


text:
We're so glad you've come to visit today.
- Click here for a message from our Pastor
- Find out What We Believe at Orangeville Baptist Church
- Here's how to find us.
Join us each week for worship, fellowship and learning:
- Sunday School Classes (2 years-Adults) 9:45AM – 10:45AM
- Morning Worship 11:00AM
- Evening Service 6:00PM
- Men's Bible Study – 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
- Prayer Meeting and Bible Study 7:00-8:00 PM


text:
|I am having a lot of trouble controling dollar weed and it is only spreading over the last three years. Specialized dollar weed killer d/n seem to help. HELP please. Thank you from zip 33572 on Tampa Bay
|Dollarweed, also called Pennywort, is a small broadleaf plant. The best way to get rid of it is to hand pull it, roots and all. The problem is that it grows in large patches and it replaces itself quickly so that few find pulling it up a reasonable solution. There are, however, a plethora of avenues of attack to try. Try weed-killing chemicals. There are chemicals available including WipeOut by GreenLight which will kill the weeds but not their seeds so multiple applications will be needed. A product called Image is also an option. It?s especially good for use with St. Augustine grass. Or you can choose a natural weed killing herbicide whose main ingredient is 10 percent vinegar. You have to use 10 percent vinegar only--regular vinegar is of no use--check with your local nursery or gardening department. The formula for this is as follows: 1 gallon of 10 percent vinegar, 1 oz. orange oil, 1 tbsp. molasses (the ordinary kitchen type), 1 tsp. liquid soap. Shake well and use full strength on warm to hot days for best results. Don?t spray on plants you want to keep alive as it will harm any plant it touches. Best wishes with your project!


text:
Traffic Deaths Down, Drug Deaths Up
There is a story in this weekend's New York Times about a growing movement among insurers and health-care system administrators to discourage doctors from prescribing so many opiate pain-killers to patients who don't clearly need them. This is indeed a big problem. These opioids are powerful, dangerous, and extremely addictive. Twenty or thirty years ago, they were very rarely used outside of extreme suffering, typically among patients with terminal diseases. Now, thanks to aggressive marketing by big pharma, these pills are often dispensed like candy. I am amazed at how often, after even the most routine procedure (like getting a cavity filled), doctors will offer to write me up a prescription for Percocet or Vicodin or whatever.
Don't you ever just want to shout… Suck it Up, America! And as for doctors, geez, do they really have to be told these drugs are dangerous? Don't they already know?
But the real reason the article caught my attention was this paragraph:
Medical professionals have long been on high alert about powerful painkillers like OxyContin because of their widespread abuse by teenagers and others for recreational purposes.
My question: Why single out teenagers? In fact, kids in their teens and twenties are not the biggest-abusing age bracket for opioids. Not even close. Rather, the biggest abusers today are in midlife. The media needs to wake up to some basic generational shifts here. Accustomed to associating deadly drug use with youthful rebellion, journalists (even at the NYT!) are slow to recognize that drugs today are a much deadlier threat to the peers of Rush Limbaugh than to the peers of Lady Gaga.
It just so happens that we wrote a recent piece in Social Intelligence exploring this issue. It looks at the bad breaking trend in fatal drug overdoses—and it compares and contrasts it with a good breaking trend… in motor vehicle accidents. Here goes.
In recent years, the steady decline in traffic fatalities (now to a record low) has been a genuine good news story. Going back at least fifty years, motor-vehicle traffic accidents had long been America's leading cause of death by injury—so the big drop is welcome. Yet according to a new report by the CDC, this is actually a good news/bad news story. Between 1980 and 2008, at the same time that the traffic fatality rate decreased by nearly half, from 22.9 to 12.5 deaths per 100,000, the fatality rate from "poisonings" almost tripled, from 4.8 to 13.5. This growth in "poisoning" deaths has been entirely driven by the growth in drug overdoses, which now constitutes roughly 9 out of every 10 "poisoning" fatalities.
Bottom line: As of 2008, drugs—not cars—are America's leading cause of accidental death.
Let's look at the good news first. The CDC summarizes the broad range of positive trends that have helped to make driving safer. These include improvements in the safety of vehicles (air bags, auto-body "crumple zones"), improvements in roadways (better lighting and signage), increased use of seatbelts, stricter laws on child safety seats, reductions in speed, and a concerted law-enforcement effort to catch intoxicated drivers and keep them off the road. The rising use of child restraints in particular has been a great success. Researchers found that child safety seats have reduced the risk of fatal injury by 71 percent for infants (younger than 1-year-old) and by 54 percent for toddlers (ages 1-4). Between 1975 and 2008, according to one estimate, almost 9,000 Millennial and Homelander lives were saved by child restraints.
The dramatic decline in teenage traffic deaths is also very good news. Between 1980 and 2006, the motor vehicle death rates for teens (ages 15-19) declined from 42 to only 23 deaths per 100,000. Interestingly, the traffic death rate for teens today is down to the death rate for Americans of all ages back in 1980. One big reason for this decline is the spread of graduated drivers licensing (GDL) programs, which restrict (and often effectively delay) the teen use of cars. According to the CDC, these GDL programs are associated with reductions of 38 to 40 percent, respectively, in fatalities and injuries resulting from accidents involving 16-year-olds. It also helps that the share of teens who consume alcohol is falling. Today, the teen share of DUI arrests is only about half of what it was thirty years ago.
To be sure, teens and cars remain a dangerous mix: Auto accidents are still the leading cause of death among teens, and account for more than one in every three teen deaths. Yet the trend over time has been very favorable.
This youth trend, btw, reflects not just how kids are growing more risk-averse in general—but more specifically how they no longer enjoy the association between driving and risk. This has big implications for auto marketers. Where Boomers and Gen-Xers once saw their first chance at the wheel of a car as an exhilarating ticket to freedom and independence, Millennials see it as something you do under the watchful eye of parents and family. The iconic muscle car is no longer an effective youth attractor. In fact, most Millennials actually take some pride in how carefully they drive. It may make sense to design messages that appeal to that care and pride.
Now let's turn to the bad news—the shocking rise in deaths by poisoning. Again, this increase in "poisoning" has been driven entirely by the misuse of drugs. (Indeed, poisoning deaths not caused by drugs have actually been declining.) And among drugs, most of the growth has been in one category: opioid analgesics. The brand names of these drugs (such as OxyContin, Percocet, Avinza, Darvon, Vicodin, and Demerol) have become familiar to many Americans, as have the names of celebrities (from Heath Ledger to Michael Jackson) whose lives they have claimed.
Back in the 1980s, opioid addictions and deaths were relatively rare. By 1999, opioids were responsible for 30 percent of all deaths where the identity of the drug could be determined. By 2008, that share had risen to 54 percent. By all accounts, this scourge has been enabled by the increasingly casual distribution of prescription opioids by doctors, typically for pain relief. Medical use can then lead to addiction, and addiction to death. The magnitude of this human tragedy vastly exceeds the 15,000 Americans actually died from an opioid overdose in 2008. The CDC estimates that for every one prescription painkiller death, there are 10 admissions for addiction treatment, 32 emergency visits to the hospital, and 130 people who are chronically addicted.
Which generation has suffered most from opioid addition and death? Given lurid media accounts of youths who host "pharm" or "cocktail" parties (in which teens randomly mix prescription pills in a party bowl), one might suppose that it's Millennials. Wrong. It's Boomers. The overdose fatality rate for Americans ages 45-64 is now the highest and fastest-rising of all age brackets. Gen Xers are in second place. Millennials are last. Though overdose death rates have been rising over the last decade for the young as well as the old, the young started from a much lower level. Today's 50-year-old is now over three times more likely to die of a drug overdose than today's 20-year-old.
The good news/bad news story from the CDC thus reveals a generational subtext. Consider the good news on traffic fatalities. It wouldn't have happened without a range of policies—from child safety seats to graduated licenses—that reflect America's collective determination to protect Millennials and Homelanders, both as drivers and passengers. As for the bad news on drug overdose fatalities, here the important generational driver is Boomers (plus older Gen Xers) moving into their late 40s, 50s, and 60s. Throughout their lives, these cohorts have pushed up personal risk-taking in every age bracket they have passed through. When they were young, teens did more dangerous things with drugs than older people ever imagined. Now that they're older, they've taken the danger with them.


text:
Description: Ominous and threatening, dark and slightly dangerous, steady dirty urban beats with heavy synth bass. Ideal for Documentary, crime, police reality TV etc. Various cuts and mixes available
Description: Fresh, sparkling and crisp new landscape, after a fall of snow. Icicles glistening in the watery sunshine. Main mix, atmos mix, 40 and 30 sec versions.
Description: Ticking style 60 second timer bed that builds gradually to a cresendo crash