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June 10, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)'s proposal to extend its supervision to any nonbank auto finance company that makes, acquires or refinances 10,000 or more loan or leases in a year has cleared its last hurdle, with the bureau publishing today its finalized rule and the examination procedures it will employ to ensure finance companies are complying with consumer financial laws. The rule will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
The finalized rule, which officials said remained largely unchanged from the bureau's original proposal last September, marks the first time auto finance companies will be regulated at the federal level. And under the rule, the bureau estimates it will have authority to supervise about 34 of the largest nonbank auto finance companies and their affiliated companies that engage in auto financing. These companies, according to the CFPB, originate around 90% of nonbank auto loans and leases.
"Auto loans and leases are among the most significant and complex financial transactions in a typical consumer's life," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "Today's rule will help ensure the largest auto finance companies treat consumers fairly."
The finalized rule also broadens the category of transactions involving asset-backed securities that are not counted toward the 10,000 transaction threshold. It also makes a minor modification to the definition of refinancing for the purpose of the threshold. The rule also defines additional automobile leasing activities for coverage by certain consumer protections afforded by the Dodd-Frank Act.
On Dec. 8, the last day of the rule's public comment period, the American Financial Services Association submitted a memo requesting that the bureau "exercise great care" as it moved to redefine larger participants in the auto finance market. "In order to avoid creating further regulatory burdens, uncertainty and potential restriction of access to credit for auto loans, the CFPB should make several changes to the proposed rules," the memo read, in part.
The association listed seven suggested changes it believed would help the bureau avoid creating regulatory burdens and potentially restricting consumers' access to credit. Among them was a recommendation that the CFPB use the Equal Credit Opportunity Act's Regulation Z definition of "refinancing" as opposed to its proposed expanded definition.
"The proposed definition of refinancing significantly increases the number of nonbank covered persons who may meet (and who have no way of knowing whether they meet) the proposed threshold for larger participants of the automobile financing market, but whose main business is not automobile financing," the memo read. "Additionally, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether a refinancing meets the proposed definition."
The AFSA also asked that the bureau retain the exclusion for asset-backed securities from the definition of "annual originations" and modify the exclusion to clearly cover asset-backed securities. It also suggested that the bureau raise its larger participant threshold to 50,000 aggregate annual originations and modify the test used to determine larger participants to ensure that it truly captures the "larger" participants.
"A threshold of 10,000, coupled with the overly broad definition of refinancing, is so low that covered persons who qualify as small businesses under the Small Business Administration (SBA)'s definition could also qualify as larger participants under the proposed rule," the AFSA stated in its December 2014 memo. "It seems contradictory that a covered person could be a small business and larger participant at the same time …"
The AFSA was still reviewing the finalized rule when contacted by F&I and Showroom.
To coincide with its new authority, the bureau updated its Supervisory and Examination Manual to provide guidance on how it will monitor the bank and nonbank auto finance companies that it supervises. Among other things, examiners will be evaluating whether auto finance companies are:
A copy of the rule can be accessed by clicking here, while the Examination Procedures for Auto Finance can be accessed by clicking here.
Severe Delinquencies Fall to 10-Year Low, Equifax Reports
Despite new auto loan originations reaching a record high, the auto finance industry saw severe delinquency rates fall to their lowest level in nearly a decade.
© 2018 Auto Dealer Today. All Rights Reserved.


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Skinner & Van der Walt Street; Private Bag X290
South Africa
Phone: 0123227685
Library details: GDE Education Library is a Public library.
This library is affiliated with Gauteng Deptment of Education Libraries (view map) .
Permalink: https://librarytechnology.org/library/38297
(Use this link to refer back to this listing.)
Administration: The director of the library is ThOranje Van Rooyen .
|libraries.org ID
Record History: This listing was created on Aug 2, 2008 and was last modified on Dec 23, 2014.
Updates: Corrections or Updates? Registered members of Library Technology Guides can submit updates to library listings in libraries.org. Registration is free and easy. Already registered? login. Or, you can report corrections just by sending a message to Marshall Breeding.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
What's New
Bug Fixes
App Description
Cox TV Connect allows you to watch live TV on your iPhone, anywhere in your house:
• Watch TV on your iPhone in any room of your house
• Choose from dozens of popular channels
• Jump to a certain channel on the guide
• Sort channels either by channel number or alphabetical
• Easily View and Sort TV Listings for All Channels
• Remotely schedule recordings on your DVR
• Access the Guide outside the home
• Closed Captioning
• Helpful FAQs and trouble shooting steps
• Yours to enjoy for free as a subscriber to Cox TV Essential and Cox Essential, Preferred, Premier or Ultimate Internet service.
Cox TV Connect allows customers with Cox TV Essential or Advanced TV and Cox Essential, Preferred, Premier or Ultimate Internet service to watch a selection of channels live on an iPad in their home, and to view TV listings for all channels inside and outside the home. Not all channels available on the TV are available to view on the iPhone at this time.
If you're a campus TV customer of Cox through your university, use this application and the instructions provided by your college to access the TV services available via Campus Connect from Cox.
Want to manage your Home Phone calls and Voice Mail, or get helpful tips about your Cox services? Check out Cox Mobile Connect, available for iPad, iPhone and iTouch in the App store!
App Changes
- November 28, 2012 Initial release
- December 18, 2012 New version 1.0.1
- March 29, 2013 New version 1.0.2
- April 28, 2013 New version 1.0.3
- September 19, 2013 New version 1.0.4
- November 15, 2013 New version 1.0.5
- April 18, 2014 New version 1.0.6
- May 13, 2014 New version 1.0.7
- September 09, 2014 New version 1.1.0
- January 12, 2015 New version 1.1.2
- September 30, 2015 New version 1.1.3
- October 14, 2015 New version 1.1.4


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If you know me you know that I care about food. I care about food a lot. For years I have studied food, read about food, planned around food. I've avoided some foods and Vitamixed up large quantities of others. I have researched food, I have experimented with food. I have talked about food, talked about food. Talked. About. Food.
I have obsessed about food. I have worried about food. I have coached so many others who worried, obsessed, and talked about food.
Imagine my surprise to learn a while back that it's not about food. Happiness, joy? Not about food.
All the time I was coaching my clients about healthy lifestyle and we'd focus so much on their eating habits. Eating habits are important. You probably have some foods that make you feel great and others that make you feel awful. But your lists and your calories and your X liters of water a day are not, I can almost guarantee you, the things that will make you happy. So for me to give advice about eating habits no longer interests me because at the end of the day I haven't seen it make my clients happy. Can you believe that? Helping clients micromanage their diets and workout schedules and yes, even their dry brushing regimes was not what was making my clients happy.
What makes my clients happy? Connection. Purpose. Novelty. A trusted listener. A group of like-minded travelers all heading in the same direction. (Happiness City: pop. You.)
Being a mom, particularly being a stay at home or work at home mom, can be stressful, isolating. It can be lonely. Being a parent in general can be stressful. We have our priorities. We want creative, meaningful work. Happy children. Healthy family. Nurturing relationships. A sense of purpose, to change the world. So often we are our own last priority.
My commitment to my clients has always been to help them achieve their happiest, best lives . But here in this culture we can focus too much on some of the wrong tools. I have been part of the problem. I come from nutrition schools that have the audacity to claim that there is probably a right diet for everyone and it probably includes a lot of thinking and work and expensive ingredients that not everyone can get their hands on. How ridiculous is that?
Look, I don't claim any more to know what you should eat. And from now on I don't even want to try to guess. I only know what makes me feel good. I know that Goji berries and green smoothies don't make much of a difference in my joy, and that nothing has made me happier than enough sleep, a good cup of coffee, and a feeling that I am making a difference in the world, that I belong, and that people care about me. You can't whip that up into a smoothie or weigh it or measure it in inches.
So I don't coach clients anymore who want me to help them lose weight or gain weight or change their bodies. I work with moms who want to lose isolation, anger, shame, and loneliness. I work with moms who want to gain peace, meaning, connection, and joy.
Because those things – not a "bikini-ready" body or a clean diet, whatever that is – are the point of living. The point of living is to be happy. It's really, truly not about food.
Kirsten Quint Fairbanks is health coach and holistic living expert who loves offering real-world holistic coaching for mamas who want to consciously cultivate big lives that get them totally fired up. Kirsten lives happily, works gratefully, home-schools secularly, dances inexpertly, paints badly, cooks traditionally, and nurses on cue in the San Francisco Bay Area. She believes that connection can change your life. Read more about her here.


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Earn & further your education
Explore your journey at Treasure Island Job Corps Center
Learn more about our program by diving into the pillars of success.
Long Text Title
Academic Training Overview
In addition to career training, Treasure Island Job Corps Center also provides academic training, including basic reading and math. Courses in independent living, employability skills, and career success skills are offered to help students transition into the workplace. We also have several academic programs to help our students achieve their full potential.
Long Text Title
Academic Training Overview
In addition to career training, Treasure Island Job Corps Center also provides academic training, including basic reading and math. Courses in independent living, employability skills, and career success skills are offered to help students transition into the workplace. We also have several academic programs to help our students achieve their full potential.
Academic Programs
Job Corps provides a very structured environment that will prepare you for the workplace.
Our self-paced online high school diploma program re-engages students through an innovative curriculum that integrates technology with academics and provides them the opportunity to earn their diploma. The program is provided through SIATech Charter High School, Penn Foster, and New Learning Resources Online high school under the auspices of the Vista Unified School District. To receive their diplomas, students must complete a career technical training program.
One of our top goals at [CENTER NAME] is to ensure that every qualified student obtains his or her GED or high school diploma prior to leaving the center. Our GED program provides detailed training for the five subject areas of the GED battery test.
We are able to offer this HSE program through partnerships with Berkeley Adult School, Contra Costa County, Hayward Adult School, and Santa Clara County.
Students needing to learn English can enter the English Language Learning (ELL) program we offer through a partnership with Community College of San Francisco. Students in the ELL program are tested regularly with the California Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) test to determine their language proficiency levels.
Tutoring programs are available where students are tutored in math, reading, social studies, writing, and the Test of Adult Basic Education by instructors or by fellow students (Peer Student Tutors). Students interested in getting into a tutoring program may contact their instructors or the Academic Manager.
The College Program is an advanced training program. To qualify for this program, a student must have a high school diploma or GED (from our center or another educational facility) and have successfully completed a vocational trade at Job Corps.
Benefits of the College Program include:
- academic advisement, mentoring, and tutoring
- paid tuition, fees, books, and supplies
- housing and recreation
- meals provided by Job Corps, on-and-off center
- transportation to and from college of choice
We are able to offer this program through partnerships with San Francisco City College and Peralta Colleges.
Driver's Education is available to all students needing their driver's license.
Career Success Standards (CSS)
Behavioral expectations in the areas of employability, social development, and independent living skills
Workplace Relationships and Ethics
Productively interact with co-workers and deal with problems and situations with honesty, integrity and responsibility.
Listen actively, follow directions and communicate with others to solve problems and accomplish tasks.
Personal Growth and Development
Personal skills, attributes and behaviors that foster confidence and drive for life-long growth.
Interpersonal Skills
Get along with others and adjust to a variety of social and professional situations.
Information Management
Interpret and evaluate data, organize and maintain information, and use technology to perform work.
Multicultural Awareness
Value diversity, while practicing cultural sensitivity, and the ability to work with people of different backgrounds and cultures.
Career and Personal Planning
A personal plan that outlines a step-by-step process for entering and advancing in a fulfilling career.
Independent Living
Find, manage and use resources to maintain employment, satisfy physical and emotional needs, and lead a productive and independent life.
Continuous Learning
Continually grow and assess personal strengths and areas for development, set learning goals, and identify and access learning opportunities.
Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
Solve problems by seeking and evaluating different points of view and utilizing different resources to reach decisions.


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Overnight closure planned on Bridge Road in Exeter
Posted on: 19 August 2016
Bridge Road in Exeter will be closed overnight on Thursday 25 August.
The road will be closed from 10pm until 5am the following morning to change the traffic management. Traffic will be moved to the east (downstream) side of Countess Wear Bridge, to enable work to start on the upstream area.
For more information or to subscribe to regular updates visit https://new.devon.gov.uk/bridgeroad/
Posted in: Business and Economy | Environment


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Results 1 to 3 of 3
Thread: Girth plateau
- 06-15-2013 #1
- Join Date
- Jan 2013
- Posts
- 2
I've been checking out pegym for the last three months, and also doing PE, but this is my first post.
I started at 18cm nbpel (7" I think) and am now at 20cm nbpel (8" I think), the basic stretch and jelq makes me gain length, even though it's not really my focus.
Want I really want is to increase girth. I started at 13.5cm (5.3") and am now at 14cm (5.5").
In the first 3 months, I kept gaining length from 18 to 21cm nbpel, 7 to 8 inches I think, but I didn't gain any girth at all, or only very few millimeters. Then I tried the slinky bend, and almost instantly gained half a centimeter (0.25"), in one or two weeks, from 13.5 to 14cm, 5.3 to 5.5 ca.
But now it's the same as before, girth has come to a complete halt, even though length is still improving, and I am hitting 21cm+ nbpel post workout, but still it stays at 14cm girth.
Jelq and stretch just keeps me gaining length, and the slinky bend has been the only girth improver for me, but now this epic exercise has also stopped working.
What kind of exercises have helped you guys gain girth?? I've tried the flaccid bend and the squeeze, but they don't really do anything for me.
- 06-15-2013 #2
PE Gym Editor
PEGym Hero
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Posts
- 2,672
You could start to do some uli's, and other squeezes - this would be the next step i would recommend before even considering clamping. Also, many gain girth from pumping and some ~ base girth from hanging. I have only just started clamping + would say that at least 6 months of pe experience is a good idea before clamping. Nb, any new exercise needs to be introduced V gradually after reading and understanding.Vulcan
7.25 (start July 2009)>>>>>>8.125"BPEL (current)
5.25 (start July 2009)>>>>>>5.75"EG (current)
- 06-15-2013 #3
You could do more girth focused exercises (use of the search function will answer your next question), but I want to point out that your length gains were VERY rapid, and this may be giving you a skewed perception of how rapid your girth gains should be. As far as I can tell by reading what others have written, many people have the potential for very quick newbie length gains due to ligament stretching. But there is no reason to expect the same sort of early girth gains. You are in this for the long haul.Ziege
My Log: https://www.pegym.com/forums/progres...s-journey.html
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Four Points by Sheraton Mississauga Meadowvale
2501 Argentia Road, Mississauga, ON, L5N 4G8, Canada
Phone: 905-858-2424
3.7/5 261 reviews
Kick back and enjoy our Mississauga hotel.
Four Points Mississauga Meadowvale is located in the Meadowvale Business Park, only minutes from the Mississauga Convention Centre. The city is less than 30 minutes east of our Mississauga hotel. We're also close to the area's major highways, a short drive from Toronto Pearson International Airport, and one block from the GO train station.
Effective April 1, 2018: A 4% accommodation tax will be added to all stays.
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Enjoy Two Craft Beers Every Day of Your Stay
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Whether traveling for business or pleasure, book our Best Brews package and kick back with two local craft brews every day of your stay.
Book online, or call 866-716-8133 and mention rate plan FPBRWPKG.
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Hear from our guests about their stay from 261 verified guest reviews
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The staff is the best for a frequent traveler
3.7 /5
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Hotel Information
- Check-in time: 3 PM
- Checkout time: 12 PM
- Fast & free WiFi
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- Free local area shuttle
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- TaZa Grill
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Four Points Mississauga Meadowvale is located minutes from the Convention Centre and a short drive from Toronto Pearson International Airport.
What's Nearby
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Food & Drink
Enjoy casual dining at our restaurant and bar
TaZa Grill offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily. Reserve our private dining space for your group or meeting.
- TaZa Grill
Hours Of Operation
Meetings & Events
Host a meeting in our Mississauga event space
Allow us to take care of all the details for your next event or meeting at Four Points by Sheraton Mississauga Meadowvale.
- 7,060 square feet of space
- 10 meeting rooms
- Flexible set-up options
- On-site catering
- Fast & free WiFi


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Commercial machines used for vacuuming and sealing food items are used widely in the food industry for preserving freshness and lengthening the life span of food items. They are especially suitable for foods with high liquid content and pre set meals which are used for immediate consumption. Commercial vacuum packaging machines are mainly of two types; internal chamber vacuum sealers and external chamber vacuum sealers.
How do commercial vacuum machines operate?
Commercial vacuum packaging machines are typically used for the proper preservation of perishable food items. These machines first evacuate the air content of the food items and then make them suitable for long term preservation. If fruits are treated with these vacuum machines then the ripening is delayed and they remain fresher for a longer time. These vacuum packaging machines are used to pack meats, vegetables, fruits, liquids and bakery items. Packaged materials stay safe from the effects of oxidation including electric parts.
The vacuuming machines are fitted with many sizes of chambers all consisting of different widths, lengths and depths. The chambers can accommodate packages sized six ounces to large beef sides. Vacuum packaging machines are instrumental in reducing overall food costs because they reduce excessive wastage. You will also find inert gas kits for longer shelf life applications. These machines are very convenient as they can be manufactured in accordance to the specific requirements of the customer.
In internal chamber vacuuming machines, the product is placed internally in a chamber and then the lid is closed while a vacuum pump with a high speed extracts air out of the product. After the necessary amount of air has been extracted, an automated strip seals the packet.


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We decided to take the kids there for the first time yesterday.
Elden and Edith each got Superman ice cream, though I'm pretty sure Edith's favorite part of the experience was the complementary pretzels you're provided with when you first arrive. A kid sized scoop/cone is only $1 and the small hot fudge sundae I got was less than $3. The carousel was off when we got there but when we requested it be turned on the staff quickly obliged. If you are local (or ever visiting the area) I highly recommend you come to this location! It's unique, affordable and delicious. Malley's doesn't even know I'm writing this post, I just love it that much. Also, if you are not local, you can buy Malley's online, including the hot fudge.


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INVESTORS in open-ended investment companies (Oeics), unit and investment trusts could be paying twice as much in management charges as the advertised figures suggest.
That is the disturbing conclusion of new research into total expense ratios (TERs) which is expected to be used in fund league tables to be published by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) next year.
Ed Moisson, of London-based investment fund research group Fitzrovia, said: "I would not say that charges are exactly hidden, but the only annual charge that funds will quote, besides the one-off initial charge, is the management charge. There are also other annual charges involved, which are shown on your annual statement - if you know where to look for them."
These extra charges include registration, auditing, trustee, FSA and other administration fees for unit trusts. For Oeics, the list is even longer. Additional charges are for directors' and marketing fees.
Mr Moisson said: "These are all the costs that a US investor would be quoted before buying the fund but for which a UK investor must scrutinise their annual statement. These are the TER figures we show in our research of funds. The annual management charge alone is certainly an insufficient indicator.
"However, there are also the costs incurred when the fund trades - dealing and other charges that investors cannot calculate at all because they do not appear on public accounts."
Investment trusts can impose performance fees as well if they meet certain targets. Mr Moisson said that these are principally used for offshore funds but they are becoming more popular with UK investment trusts. Therefore, investors should ask if one will apply.
Mr Moisson said: "With the expense ratio alone, you can double the annual charge - although this is more likely for offshore funds than for UK-domiciled funds. The actual difference in cost between the quoted annual management charge and the actual annual cost could be just 0.2 of a percentage point."
Vivienne Starkey, of the independent financial adviser Equal Partners, said: "There is a reduction-in-yield figure, which takes account of all charges, in the key features document that a fund manager will send to you, but I don't think many people really read this. If you are going through an IFA, then ask what effect the charges will have on return. If you are doing it yourself or through a discount broker, then you will have to wade through the fine print to find this figure."
Mr Moisson said that the Financial Services Authority (FSA) ought to make charges more transparent when league tables of financial services products are launched next year. The FSA has already decided not to include past performance of funds in the tables, as it believes that this is not an indication of future performance.


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Table of Contents
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is an intestinal disorder that does not appear to present with actual physical damage to the intestines but nonetheless results in discomfort, pain in the abdominal area, frequent episodes of diarrhea or constipation, and numerous functional issues regarding the types of foods that individuals can eat or activities they can engage in.
The disorder appears to wax and wane in some individuals, and when it is at its peak, it is often associated with significant functional impairment. The estimates of the prevalence of IBS range from 7 percent to 21 percent worldwide.
According to a 2014 study in the journal Clinical Epidemiology, IBS occurs more often in women than in men (at estimated rates of 1.5-3 females per male) and across all age groups. It occurs more often in industrialized countries and twice as often in people with a family history of the disorder.
Causes of IBSThere is no definitive known cause for IBS, but there are numerous factors that may be associated with its development.
- Individuals may have a large intestine that has increased sensitivity to specific types of food.
- Stress is often associated with the development of IBS. Numerous sources still consider IBS to be a manifestation of a psychological disorder.
- Some research suggests that a bacterial infection may be associated with the development of IBS.
- Celiac disease occurs when the lining of the small intestine has been damaged, leading to difficulty digesting and absorbing certain types of foods. This has been hypothesized as a potential cause of IBS.
- Individuals with unusually high levels of serotonin in the gastrointestinal system may experience increased sensitivity and difficulty with the movement of food through the intestine.
- Overuse of antibiotics may result in the death of good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract that would normally aid in digestion.
- IBS may be the result of food allergies.
- Pain in the abdomen
- Abdominal bloating
- Cramps, particularly with bowel movements
- Urgency
- Excessive strain when passing a stool
- Repeated belching
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Fatigue
- Lethargy and tiredness
- Psychological symptoms that can include depression, a lack of motivation, apathy, etc.
The lifetime prevalence of alcohol use disorders worldwide is approximately 30 percent. Alcohol abuse costs billions of dollars yearly and takes a toll on society and individuals who suffer from it.
A handful of studies have investigated the relationship between IBS and alcohol abuse or alcohol use disorders. A 1998 research study published in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse compared 31 patients seeking treatment for alcohol abuse with 40 patients seeking treatment for other medical conditions. A total of 13 individuals seeking treatment for alcohol abuse met the criteria for IBS, whereas only one of the other 40 patients seeking treatment for other medical conditions met the criteria for IBS. The researchers concluded that individuals who abuse alcohol may have high rates of IBS. However, the study could not make any type of causal determination, such that having IBS leads people to drink more or that individuals who drink alcohol at significantly higher rates were more likely to suffer from the symptoms of IBS.Subsequent community and population-based research studies found little or no relationship between alcohol use and the diagnosis of IBS. However, other research studies noted a relationship between alcohol consumption and the symptoms of IBS. A 2013 study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology looked at drinking patterns and their effects in women diagnosed with IBS and a control group. The researchers found that the strongest associations between IBS symptoms in IBS patients and alcohol occurred after binge drinking events and on day following these events. The strongest associations occurred with diarrhea, stomach pain, indigestion, and nausea following binge drinking events. Moderate to light drinking produced no exacerbation of IBS symptoms in the IBS group or in the control group. The researchers concluded that the pattern of drinking individuals displayed could play a role in the inconsistent findings in the research on alcohol use and the symptoms of IBS.
Frequent and heavy alcohol use is also associated with discomforting gastrointestinal side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Individuals who already have these issues would be more likely to shy away from drinking alcohol to deal with issues related to stress and depression due to the gastrointestinal complications.
Thus, the general conclusion made by the researchers in these studies is that individuals with alcohol use disorders or who drink alcohol heavily are more likely to experience symptoms related to IBS. Individuals who already have IBS typically do not begin drinking alcohol at moderate to heavy levels.
Treatment for IBS and Alcoholism
There is no formal cure for IBS. The treatment often consists of symptom management techniques that may include:
- Limiting alcohol intake or avoiding alcohol
- Limiting caffeine intake
- Avoiding junk food, including carbonated beverages
- Antidepressant medications, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, to reduce abdominal pain and diarrhea
- Increasing fiber intake
- Eating moderate meals at regular intervals
- Taking laxatives for constipation
- Eating specific foods and taking probiotics and certain medicines to deal with symptoms
- Using behavioral methods to identify which foods exacerbate IBS symptoms
- Engaging in stress management techniques, including psychotherapy
Treatment for alcohol use disorder would begin with a physician-assisted withdrawal management program to help an individual negotiate any withdrawal symptoms they may experience when they stop drinking alcohol.
Most often, physicians prescribe benzodiazepines on a tapering schedule and then prescribe other medications as needed.
A reduction of alcohol intake would help to address the symptoms of IBS, and addressing stress-related symptoms that are associated with IBS would help to curb the desire to use alcohol.
Attempting to address IBS without addressing a co-occurring alcohol abuse issue or a formal alcohol use disorder would not be a successful approach and most likely would not significantly address one's gastrointestinal issues.


text:
|Help Search Members Calendar Shoutbox
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Posted: Jul 6, 2017 | 3:10 am
It was a normal day, except for the funeral this afternoon. Libitina left work early, to get the horses and carriage ready. The funeral was for a WWII veteran, and she felt honoured that the wife had chosen her establishment to run the proceedings. Getting into her black Jagauar X-Type, she pressed the stop/start button, and put on her seatbelt (not that she needed it). She drove off in a southwards direction.
Pulling up at the stables, Libitina shut off the engine and climbed out. However, it was quiet... Too quiet. The Reaper began searching the grounds, and found another Reaper taking a poor human away. It looked like their body had been mutilated by something. Demons first came to mind, but they wouldn't leave a body like this even if they were pissed off. Lily got out her phone, dailled her assistant and told him to take over the funeral. Something was going on, and she was determined to find out.
Going back to her workplace, she pressed a brick in the wall and headed down some stairs. Running a long finger, over centuries old books, she stopped on one that seemed to offer answers. Flicking through it, she came across a picture. Werewolf. She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the doorbell ring, siganlling someone was here.
[a.d.m.i.n. n.o.t.e.s.]
Post originally made by former player of Libitina Grimm who left the board due to disciplinary circumstances. Changing this first post to the Quidam account for archiving purposes.
|Simon Lewis
Posted: Jul 25, 2017 | 11:35 am
The Undertaker is a Reaper?
This was pathetic…
Simon sat, curled up in the far back of his van, huddled underneath a weighted blanket. He had rolled over onto his side, not because he needed to sleep, but mostly because it was the most comfortable position that he could find when it came to staying in one position for the long haul. The chord to his phone was plugged into his portable charger, the battery pack promising to offer up 100 hours of battery life. Well, Simon was going to test those limits with 8 consecutive hours of Candy Crush. Plus the regular text back and forth to Clary. Plus however long it would take for him to get home.
He had already gotten the text from the other members of the band that they were on the plane and heading towards New York City. They would probably be there days before him with how long it would take him to get across the country. Raphael had warned him that trying to take a plane to get anywhere anymore was going to be impossible. TSA alone would be a nightmare, much less trying to find way to fly that would outrun the sun. All of the vampire movies, books, and shows did not prepare him for this new undead life. It was filled with a lot more lies than he had expected…
Clary was slow in replying to his texts, but he couldn't blame her for that. She was spending the day with her mom, and if anyone deserved some time together, it was those two. Jocelyn did just wake up from a supernatural coma, and Clary did have a lot of questions. Besides, Simon needed the break from all the whatever-they-called-it drama of the east coast.
His phone went off, interrupting the 7X combo he had going. It was the band on their layover…. Apparently they had been talking and they were not so sure about the name of the group. "Horizontal Sushi" came off too much like a J-Pop song title, and that really wasn't what they were about. Simon sighed, reluctantly agreeing with them. He texted back that they would pow-wow about it once he got back into town, also mentioning that the side of the van still had their previous name, "Chasing Windmills" spray painted over it. (The name had been an awesome one, but had ultimately failed for being too obscure of a literary reference, and for all of them ultimately not being men.)
He was about to send the text off to Clary when there was a sudden knock on the front passenger window of the van. He jumped in shock, but didn't move from his place pressed against the back door of the van. He had stacked most of the band equipment around him in an attempt to keep out any errant beam of light that might come for him, and it ended up forming a 75% wall between him and the front. Inching his face up, he peaked over the top of the wall, and saw the face of a Seattle city cop looking in. Simon jumped again, going absolutely still, realizing that a combination of the glare from the sun outside and the darkness of the van's cab inside had the cop mostly blind to the actual interior of the van. Simon sighed in relief. Doubly so when the cop started to walk away.
The relief was short lived, though, when Simon realized that the cop was not returning to his squad car, but walking to the door of… whatever business Simon had parked behind that morning. He looked through the dirty windshield, triyng to see past all the insect guts that he had not cleaned of from his previous cross country try to get to Seattle. What was this place? A…. funeral home…? Of course it was… Could Simon had found a more disrespectful place for person of the undead variety to squat for the night?
Oh shit… The cop rang the bell, and Simon started to panic. They would ask the people who worked there if it was their van. Oh shit… Of course, they would say "no" and come out to investigate the van. It was the middle of the day… Oh shit… Simon couldn't safely leave the van without confronting the sun… Maybe, he could drive the van away, if he could find something more than just the blanket to protect his hands and face from the sun. He scrambled around inside the van for a moment, and found… nothing. Nothing! Oh shit…
The door to the funeral home was opening, but Simon did not wait to see who answered. Instead, he ducked himself back behind the equipment, hoping that the locks would be enough for someone to just tow the freaking vehicle rather than open it up and inspect it. He wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, and made himself as small as he could in the back corner of the van.
Oh shit… Oh shit… Oh shit…
[-] words: 837 {-} tag: Libitina Grimm [-]
[-] notes: Hopeful, this helps! [-]
|Libitina Grimm
Posted: Aug 1, 2017 | 9:28 am
Libitina exited her study. She sensed something was here, and it wasn't human. Her Reaper's abilities were sharpened, as she looked through the parlor. Her heels clicked on the marble floors, the depressing classical music was the only other thing that could be heard. She sharply turned her head as she heard something clatter in the preparation room. She moved forward and slammed the doors open.
She noticed no one was there. Libitina looked around and saw a van. Shaking her head she put her hands on her hips. "You can come out, vampire. I'm not in the mood for killing people not today." She spoke. She leant on the refrigerators, she was bored and not in the best of moods. "If you don't get out of that stupid contraption, so help me I'll drag you out." Libitina had her slender arms folded, and even though she didn't look like it, she could happily tear someone limb from limb. Reapers were one of the most powerful supernatural beings to walk the universe, and Libitina loved reminding people of that.
She got too impatient and ripped the doors off the van, to see said vampire curled up in a blanket, to protect himself from the sun. She flicked a switch and black out blinds covered the windows. "You can come out. The sun is blocked out. If you're after blood, I can provide some for now. However I won't provide endless supplies. I'm a Reaper not a happy go lucky meat bag." She sighed, heading over to what seemed to be an everyday fridge. She pulled out a pouch of blood and got a beaker out of one of the cupboards. She opened the pouch and poured out the liquid into the beaker. She went back to the vampire and offered him the blood.
|Simon Lewis
Posted: Aug 2, 2017 | 2:08 pm
The Undertaker is a Reaper?
Simon watched with his heart in his throat as the officer approached the door. He tried to hold on to every "what if" that his mind could latch onto, but found nothing coming up to bar. He could see is now: The owner of the funeral home would open the door, they would talk to the cop, and they would come over and investigate the van. Maybe Simon could play dead? Literally? He could be taken to the morgue, and could sneak out later when no one was looking… Then the van would be impounded… and all the band's equipment would be gone… and an investigation would be opened… someone would call his mom…
And then time was up and the door was opening. But the scenario that had played out in Simon's head was nothing like what happened in reality. A woman, with dark hair and kohl rimmed eyes, stormed out of the funeral home. She did not even seem to notice the cop on her doorstep, but made a beeline for the van. He was too stunned to really react in any way for a moment, and he even jumped, startled, when she started banging on the side of the van. What the…? Was she screaming? At him? She was ordering the vampire to come out of the van. For a moment there, Simon was relieved. She would look like a crazy person, in front of an officer of the law. He would call it in, maybe even arrest her, and have to deal with it. It would kill time, which is really what Simon needed.
But the surprises just kept on coming! The banging stopped just long enough for Simon to think that something was happening. And something did happen… With a loud, metallic rip, the doors of the van came flying off, tossed to the side like confetti. The sun came streaming into the back of the van, and no amount of band equipment was tall enough to protect Simon anymore. He instinctively dove away from the rays. Now he was stuck, showing himself in the small space between the back and the front.
Simon bore his fangs and hissed at the sun and the woman. It was almost humiliating, he was sure of it, but the instinct had just kicked in. He was told that it was like how it worked for cats, and sometimes the hissed or growls just came out. But he was scared… She ordered him out of the van. "No way in Hell, lady!" he shouted at her, and stood by it. There was no way he was walking himself out into the sun. Who the hell did something like that, in broad daylight, with a mundane witness?
Oh, God, the cop… Simon just remembered him seconds before he heard three shots ring out, burst fire from his left. He could see the shots land home in the strange woman, the bullets finding a place in her, a non-moving target, that clearly had the cop freaking out. The cop was calling for backup, and who wouldn't? Maybe it was because Clary's sorta-father was a cop, or because this weird woman was personally assaulting him, but Simon sided with the boy in blue on this one.
The cop was ordering her to stand down, no doubt with his gun leveled at her… this strange woman… screaming about vampires in vans… in the middle of the day… and ripping doors off vans. Simon was frightened again, but this time less for himself, and more for the cop. If she had proven to be this irrational already, who was to say what she would do next. "Don't hurt him!" he called, still huddled in the little sliver of shade in the van. "Please, don't!" He didn't know this poor officer from Adam, but Simon knew he didn't deserve this, just because he took the wrong call.
[-] words: 652 {-} tag: Libitina Grimm [-]
[-] notes: --- [-]
|Libitina Grimm
Posted: Aug 2, 2017 | 2:39 pm
Libitina looked at the bullets in her. "Really? I know I shouldn't do this, as Death will be upset with me if I did..." she sighed. The reaper shook her head, and pulled the bullets out of her body, healing rapidly. This was enough to freak any human out. She looked at the vampire. "Get inside, before I throw you inside. " she growled. Reapers were one of the strongest beings on earth, and Libitina had been working since 1066. Looking furious , she grabbed the gun and snapped it like it was nothing. Taking off one of her gloves, she touched the officer's face. "The afterlife won't be as harsh." she said. Hearing sirens, she made herself invisible only letting other supernatural beings see her.
Libitina went back inside, and to her secret room. "Damn vampires... Always have to ruin everything." She thought about summoning her boss, but then decided against it. It was too risky, and there was a ninety percent chance he would be in a foul mood. She flicked through her books and slammed her fist against a wall. Reapers were known for their patience but hers was wearing thin. She had a werewolf issue at large, and Sam and Dean were unreachable. Libitina went back upstairs, and sat down at her desk... She swore if that vampire said one word, she would decapitate him, herself.
Her eyes were stern, her face stoic. She had sworn off reaping, and yet here she was saving a vampire's ungrateful ass. Opening a drawer in her desk, she pulled out a bag of Skittles and proceeded to open and eat them. She held her head in her deathly pale hands, and screamed in anger. "VAMPIRE! Your kind is not only a pain, but causes unimaginable suffering towards humans. You have twenty four hours to sort yourself out, or I swaer to Death himself you won't have a head by the end of it." she growled. Yep, she was pissed. She hated being thrown off course.
|Simon Lewis
Posted: Aug 4, 2017 | 10:17 am
The Undertaker is a Reaper?
Still cornered in the little part of the van between the front and the back of the van, Simon could only watch the events as they unfolded outside. The stranger still insisted on him getting out of the van, and he shook his head insistently. "If you know what I am" and she did, since she kept using the v-word, "you know why I am not doing that." Even a small touch from the sun, and he could go up like a tinder. He had seen what just a little bit of sunlight could do to a vamp, and Simon was not strong enough to take that kind of damage.
But when the woman reached out her hand toward the cop, he could feel every muscle in his body tense up. She said something about the afterlife, and Simon realized do late what was going on, as the light of life left the cop's eyes. He fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Simon could feel the press of his fangs again, not in an involuntary hiss as before, but in a snarl of anger. Horror mixed with disgust on his features. He had said not to hurt the cop. He had practically begged for her not to. And now there was an innocent, dead in the streets, a death that he probably didn't deserve, all because he was just that unlucky. "I said not to hurt him!"
A part of him saw Luke in his mind's eye, lying on the pavement, when he lunged from the back of the van and at the murdering woman. He had forgotten all about it; the sun, and its deathly waves. The moment it touched his features, he felt the sharp, rending pain streak through the exposed skin. He had tossed aside his thick blanket, leaving his face and hands exposed. The hoodie was still pulled tight, but he still felt the harsh daylight tears at his cheeks and eyes. He rushed back on instinct, even though the rage in him still burned.
In the frenzy that came with pain, he tore at his face, knocking his hoodie off at the same time, completely freeing his head. He could see his hands as he moved, the fire of them only dying when he wildly beat at the flames. He could feel his face pucker. He had only been in it for a second or two, and it had been a stupid move. He would heal. It might take a day or two (or if he fed from fresh human blood, but he was not doing that) but the wounds would mend. The pain, though, was something he felt so, so deep, and not just because of the sun burns.
He looked at the body of that cop, lifeless on the ground outside the van, and felt a sense of great personal failure. He growled, another involuntary function but this time he didn't feel the least bit embarrassed. That man had died, while Simon was pinned, helpless, by the sun… And when the woman tried to order him again, telling him he needed to "sort himself out" he could feel the frenzy rising in him again, His fangs would not slide away, but this time he did not want them to.
"Me!?" Still calling from the van, still refusing to come out. "Sort myself out? You're the killer here! You ripped the doors off my van! You terrified that cop, and I am pretty sure broke some supernatural rules about staying hidden in the process! And you killed him! But, I'm the bad guy here?" And yet, from the back of his van, he could do nothing. But maybe there was someone who wasn't.
He tried something he never had before… super speed and texting was something that never dawned on him, but he needed to get a text off before she could stop him. A few flicks of his fingers, and the text was off. He hated to drag Clary out like this, and for all he knew the text would not get to her in time, but he could not do this on his own. With the text sent, he dropped the phone in the van, letting it disappear under the driver's seat while the woman ranted and rushed off, babbling about Death and some other shit he did not care about. "The only person causing suffering I see here is you!"
[-] words: 748{-} tag: Libitina Grimm [-]
[-] notes: --- [-]
|Clary Fray
Posted: Aug 4, 2017 | 1:19 pm
Posted: Aug 4, 2017 | 6:48 pm
Posted: Jan 3, 2018 | 5:38 pm
|Simon Lewis
Posted: Jan 9, 2018 | 10:00 pm
It seemed like this... this... whatever or whoever it was was hellbent on causing some kind of destruction. It did not take no for an answer. That kind of mentality never sat right with Simon. He had no real authority in the a place like this. In fact, he was at a distinct disadvantage. He felt the itch to do something, though. To make this all right. That cop might not have been killed if Simon had not chosen to park the van right here. He knew that it had been this crazy lady's decision to pull the proverbial trigger. Logically, Simon knew that he had nothing to do with the death of that man, and that he should not feel guilty, but... he knew cops. How often had he visited Luke's precinct with Clary. It wasn't just Luke. They had met his partners, and his bosses, and the desk sergeants, and spotted the family pictures on their desks. He couldn't do anything now, but the second that this bitch was within arms' reach, oh... she was gonna get it...
But he wouldn't necessarily need to be the person to give it. He had been around enough portals to know what one sounded like. He resisted the urge to peek around the edge of the van, since that would be sticking his head directly into the rays of sun he was hiding from in the first place, but something told him that he already knew who it was, and that he wanted to get a front row seat. He scurried back into the van, allowing the moment of the portal's appearance to distract the... whatever the Hell she was.
With her eyes drawn somewhere out of Simon's point of view, he would need to make his way to the front of the van to look out the passenger side door just to get a glimpse. He would need to play spy. Well, he was already wearing his hoodie, and he snatched a pair of sunglasses as he moved through the van. A quick pause and he had the hoodie pulled up completely around his head and pulled right, with the sunglasses covering what little of his face was still exposed. He looked like a Muppet, but one that been made in the basement of a madman.
He picked over the edge of the window and got a good look outside. He resisted the urge to smile too widely, and then realized that his face was obscured from the only person who would be offended by it, and that it was a person that he did not care about offending, so he just let the smile fly free. If he had a pair of gloves or something he might actively clap, but instead, he settled for using the sleeves of the hoodie to cover his hands, and manually crank down the window and shout out of it. "Kick her ass, Fray!" he said, not too subtle. Frankly, the things he had learned about Downworlder society was that it could be merciless. The pre-vampire Simon might be squeamish about a fight, but he was starting to learn that sometimes fighting fire with fire was the only option.
With little else for him to do, for now, he settled down to watch the fight. She had come. He never doubted that she would, but he was always in awe with it. He would come running for her in an instant, too. This was just them being who they were. If she needed him, he would tumble out into the sunlight, too. She would probably kill him if he survived the experience, but he would still do it. He also knew, though, that she had this. "Just don't let her touch you." he followed up, cluing her in on something that might be a problem. That bitch had killed a cop with a touch and a thought. Like Hell he was going to let that happen to his best friend. If he even saw the funeral goth make a gesture towards Clary the wrong way, he would be out of this van (and burning) before she could think twice.
It was just then that the woman advanced on Clary. She looked... frenzied. Like she had taken one too many humiliations and had enough. If she knew what the Accords were, then she was not adhering to them at all. Simon listened out the other side of the car for those sirens. It was hard to tell how much time they had... so he turned to face forward in the van. They might need to make a quick get away, which meant that he needed to get the van ready to go. He tried turning over the engine, and while he heard the starter go off, and the engine sputter, it did not turn over. Shit... He would just need to keep trying...
a battle or a dance
tag: CLARY! / word count: 818 / kick her ass!
|Clary Fray
Posted: Jun 1, 2018 | 8:25 pm
Posted: Jun 18, 2018 | 11:43 pm
Clary Fray was a Fairchild. Clary Fray was a Morgenstern. But back in her heritage, possibly reaching out to her without even being away of it, Clary Fray was descended from the Branwells. She did not need to be the most experienced warrior, or the strongest in physical might. She was the most cunning, and the most creative, and knew how to think about the whole picture. Details that might have been forgotten by a more battle ready Shadowhunter were clear paths of victory in the hands of a woman who needs to think outside the box.
When she held up the dagger and called out the name of her enemy, Libitina did not even know what was happening... until divine light sparked from the blade, and resonated in the eyes of the Reaper herself. She tried to charge, but that only quickened her destiny. Another couple of flashes later, in a fantastic light display "Libitina Grimm" had disappeared into the seraph blade. And the world would not miss her.
But that did not stop the sound of the oncoming sirens. One threat down, and, as it so often happened, it was the Shadow World that proved to be the easiest to deal with. Those approaching cops, though, would be an entirely different story...
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by Giuseppe Petruzzellis
Indian Flow Documentary Film
Indian Flow is the travel journal of a trip to India. The hinduist funeral of a holy man in Agra; two sari dressed women 'recycling; cow's dung in a village in Uttar Pradesh; a string puppet show in a gipsy's hovel in Jaipur; the disappeared Pushkar's lake; the human tide gathering in Haridwar every 12 years for the Kumbha Mela: these are only some of the places, events and characters protagonists of this documentary.
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Life Update: 8/27/2014
I figure this is way overdue, but here's what I have been and am going to be up to.
Past adventures:
• Gradumacated College (with an English Degree no less). Oh wait, you already knew that.
• Went to freaking Disneyland (courtesy of a graduation present from Kris' parents, who are incredibly awesome). To be clear, it was Kris' present, I just happened to get dragged along. I also celebrated my birthday there, which was simply icing on the Disney cake, a cake which is already made entirely of icing.
• Worked as a raspberry lab-tester all summer. And by "testing" I mean "mixing chemicals with and investigating under a microscope," not "taste-testing." Unfortunately.
• Went on vacation and crashed my bike into a tree at high speeds. This is why I can't wear nice shirts.
• Watched Sharknado and Sharknado 2: The Second One all the way through for the first time in my life. I'm still recovering from the experience. Also, Wil and Anne Wheaton cameo in S2 = fabulous.
Future Adventures:
• I will be moving to California in four days. Specifically Redding. Cheers.
• Oh yeah, and Sue Games. (I really need to finish that, don't I?)
• There's something else I'm forgetting to mention, I'm sure. Oh well. . .
Posted on August 27, 2014, in Uncategorized and tagged bike riding, Disneyland, Gradumacated College, life update, living the life, moving to california, raspberry testing, sharknado, vacations. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.


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Creating a United Team
As an innovative growth company, we value and seek out a diverse workforce. Today 40% of Acxiom employees are female—which is significantly better than most technology companies. Yet diversity extends way beyond gender; it's multidimensional, extending to global experience, veteran status, gender preference, ethnicity, geographic location, leadership style, generation, and other factors.
When you acquire and retain a workforce with a rich mix of experiences, your employees are happier, your solutions are more innovative, and your business is stronger. So in addition to finding applicants with leadership potential, excellent technical skills, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a results-oriented mindset, we try to uncover the individuality in each applicant and make sure every candidate has the opportunity to showcase their personality and aspirations. We look for insightful individuals who are strategic, willing to challenge the status quo, and have a "yes, we can!" attitude.
Here's how we accomplish this feat: Our structured hiring process starts by understanding the business need and how the role will fill that need. From there, our team works with the hiring manager and interview team to understand who our ideal candidate will be. Throughout the process, we ensure timely communication, clear feedback, and a candidate-focused approach. Here, it's a "two-way" interview where candidates feel comfortable asking questions to ensure the role is a mutual fit.
Hiring the Talent of Tomorrow
Our college recruiting program helps us attract and develop up-and-coming talent and accelerate performance and growth. To form relationships with students early on, Acxiom creates numerous touchpoints throughout the year, including community engagement functions, targeted on-campus events, career fairs, and interview opportunities.
We are especially proud to attend and sponsor Grace Hopper, a three-day conference where women in computing gather to discuss research and career prospects. Co-founded by Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney in 1994, this event was inspired by Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, a trailblazing women in tech history. We use this platform to share the career possibilities at Acxiom, facilitate networking between women at Acxiom with their peers in the industry, and recruit the conference's brightest minds.
Diversity Scholarships
As part of our commitment to build a strong pipeline, hire a diverse workforce, and nurture a "win together" philosophy, we're proud to offer scholarships to students who are enrolled in a full-time, post-secondary degree program in select technology fields. Since 2012, we've awarded 31 scholarships to students within an underrepresented population in the technology workforce.
Winners of our $5,000 Diversity Scholarship demonstrate a combination of academic achievement, field of study aimed at Information Technology, and professional interest as it relates to our business. We also offer winners a paid internship at one of our locations, providing the opportunity to gain real-world experience and develop practical IT skills.
Welcome to the Acxiom Family!
We want new hires to feel connected and confident long before their first day of work, so we invest significant time and resources to start inspiring their trust from the get-go. Our annual New Hire Survey informs our onboarding processes and has been a great way to measure the success of our new programs and processes.
Nailing the First Impression
86% of new hires rate the Acxiom first day experience better than at other companies, which is up 3% from 2016. When the big day finally arrives, new hires are greeted with an office tour, fresh Acxiom t-shirt, and lunch with their leader or team members. At our Central Arkansas location, the welcoming team includes volunteer ambassadors who accompany our new hires from orientation to their team and provide a campus tour at the same time. This lets new hires ask questions and get to know a familiar face on campus.
To create a more inclusive environment, orientations are conducted either virtually or in person, depending on where and how the employee will be working. During orientation, new hires participate in a one-hour tech session where they get 1-on-1 time with helpdesk and desktop support teams. This improvement has decreased the time to productivity for our new hires because they're up and running by the time orientation ends. We also introduce associates to our unique company benefits and philanthropic opportunities like Acxiom Cares.
Feedback from our new hires continues to be overwhelmingly positive:
Fostering a Culture of Growth and Belonging
We recognize that it takes time to empower new employees to reach their full potential and integrate them into our culture and work processes. To ease this transition and develop a strong workforce, Acxiom created a few programs just for new hires:
New Hire Social
Every six weeks, our San Francisco offices hosts a new hire social with IT'S-IT ice cream. We set up an ice cream station in the team room at lunch, and associates can only claim a treat if they name two new hires and two fun facts about them. New hires wear little sombreros so they can be identified. Most people don't remember the fun facts from our introductory email, so it's a great time to strike up a conversation with a new hire.
New Hire Leadership Chat Series
This one-hour, monthly Q&A session allows new hires to personally chat with senior leadership members. In the 2017 Chat Series Survey, an associate noted that the series "provided a sense of the direction of the enterprise. It offered insight into our organization and demonstrated the commitment Acxiom has to its associates simply by having it."
Empowering New Leaders
Leadership Kickstart is a six-month development program for leaders who are new to Acxiom or beginning their first leadership role at the company. With in-person workshops, short on-demand videos, and other resources, we hope to create effective leaders in the shortest amount of time possible.
Leadership Kickstart
● Transition to Leadership: This short module is based on "What Got You Here Won't Get Your There" and "The First 90 Days," and includes recommendations for making a successful transition into a leadership role.
● People Processes Overview—All That "HR Stuff" Leaders Need to Know: This virtual, instructor-led class gives new leaders an overview of their responsibilities in several key HR areas.
● Leadership Toolkit: Tools to Make Your Life Easier: This short module introduces leaders to the tools available to them in their leadership roles: Workday, Birkman On Demand (a web-based reporting tool that makes sense of behavioral assessments and insights from The Birkman Method), Leadership Toolkit, and more.
● Foundations of Leadership: This immersive session teaches new leaders the Expectations of an Acxiom Leader and equips them with leadership skills necessary to be effective. The program includes a variety of learning methods, including instruction from Talent Performance experts and leader-teachers. A key component to the success of our Foundations of Leadership program is tapping into the knowledge and experience of our existing leaders through their role of leader-teachers in the program. The leaders share their experiences with the key leadership concepts that are being taught.
● Birkman One on One: The Birkman Method is a scientifically developed, multi-dimensional assessment that helps leaders dive deep into an associate's personality to better understand their behavior and improve work satisfaction. Acxiom uses Birkman to provide insight into a person's motivations, perceptions, and behaviors. We find it helpful to review a new leader's personal Birkman profile, as well as the profiles of their direct reports. The goal is to identify behavioral differences and discuss strategies to overcome them.
Internship Leader Chats and Lunches
Members of the leadership team spoke to interns about their personal career journeys, offered career advice, and discussed the value that interns bring to the company. Recognizing that to win together, even interns can and do make valuable contributions to the company's overall success, these leaders provided important feedback and made a huge impact on the interns. Our executives who spent time with our interns included:
- cott Howe - Chief Executive Officer
- Warren Jenson – Chief Financial Officer and President of International
- Terilyn Monroe - Chief People and Culture Officer, Senior Vice President, HR
- Art Kellam - Chief Accounting Officer and Senior Vice President
- Janet Cinfio - Chief Information Officer and Senior Vice President
- Rick Erwin - President and General Manager, Audience Solutions
- Anneka Gupta – Vice President of Products, Connectivity LiveRamp
- Dennis Self - President and General Manager, Marketing Services
How Associates Were the Architects of Our Refreshed Values
When Acxiom acquired LiveRamp, LiveRamp had its own set of core values. Those values, which come from LiveRamp's founding days, still hold true today. Yet in early 2017, we saw a need to also have a shared set of values—a way to help Acxiom's businesses collaborate effectively and recognize one another using a shared language.
From the start, we knew that our associates' involvement was key to making our value refresh stick. This was no top-down approach! In April 2017, over 20 associates from each division spent two days in Austin, Texas kicking off our values refresh effort by learning what it meant to be a "team of teams." From here, our Values Team was born! After they learned the importance of empathy and teamwork in our situational workshop facilitated by General Stanley McCrystal's team from the McCrystal group, this cross-divisional team embarked on a journey to refresh our company values.
Grounded in our business, the team reflected on the current state of our company, what we needed to be successful in the future, what was important to each division, and what an ideal company culture would look like. What the team realized was that there were more similarities than differences across our divisions and regions.
Through constructive debate, over 700 post-its, 650 associate survey responses, and 10 executive interviews, this "all-star" Values Team had looked at every angle.
Since then, the Values Team has continued to iterate value themes, supporting statements, and antonyms to ensure our leaders and associates understand exactly what these values are intended to mean and not mean. It was important that these refreshed values be flexible enough to stand the test of time and evolve with our company.
Bringing Our Values to the Team
● Division Senior Leadership Meetings: Members of the Values Team spoke to senior leadership in their respective divisions to share the values journey and its importance, and outline what was expected of leaders.
● Values Team Panel at Divisional Town Halls: Once senior leaders understood the story, it was time to educate the rest of the associates. As a united, cross-divisional values panel, the Values Team shared their perspectives and answered associate questions.
● Values Team Vlogs and Video Series: Using their iPhone or webcam, each Values Team member recorded a video explaining the mindsets and behaviors they felt it was important to model. These were compiled into content for our company intranet, newsletters, and town halls. Eventually they will be posted on our social media sites and shared with prospective candidates and the public.
● Values Challenge Coin: A tradition the military has used since World War I, our values challenge coin is a visual representation of our values and a way we build camaraderie and pride around them. Our associates keep this with them at all times, and when they see their peers role-modeling one of our values, they give them the challenge coin to publicly recognize and reinforce the exemplary behavior.
Living Out Our Values
Many companies claim to live by their values, but few truly embody them in their day-to-day activities. Our refreshed values are still new so training our leaders to live out these values is key to encouraging our associates' participation. The following programs and activities (some of which have yet to be launched) demonstrate our commitment to our values:
● Scott's Thoughts: Once a month, CEO Scott Howe sends a companywide email to share stories that reinforce our vision, mission, values, and strategy in a humorous yet relatable way. Not only does Scott demonstrate his commitment to remaining transparent, but he also provides real, tangible examples of associates' exemplary actions and inspires community.
● Companywide and Division Town Halls: These events inspire trust by providing associates with a two-way dialogue between themselves and leadership. Associates are encouraged to comment, question, and hold leaders accountable by providing their thoughts in pre-town hall surveys. Executives and leaders then candidly address and respond to associate concerns in a very public forum.
● 29-Minute Meeting: Our San Francisco-based Connectivity division hosts a 29-minute meeting over lunch to share company news, office updates, product updates, and other important business strategy information. Why just 29 minutes? Because time is precious!
● Sharing From the Front Lines: Leaders aren't the only people holding each other accountable by celebrating success. We encourage associates to share inspiring news and brag on their peers with enterprise-wide social networking tools like Slack.
Remembering the Why
Our thorough hiring and onboarding processes ensure that candidates understand the Acxiom culture well before their first day of work. Yet it doesn't stop there. The homepage on Acxiom Connect, our intranet, always features a large news banner with company highlights, product launches, wins, executive insights, and other information that celebrates the work we do and reminds associates of their importance within the company. We also place artistic renderings of our vision, mission, and values in various places, such as:
● Acxiom Connect
● Posters hung throughout our offices
● Our VPN login page (for remote employees)
● The first slide of most presentations, commonly referred to the "Line of Sight" slide, as it helps programs, initiatives, and presentations stay connected to the big picture


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If there is joy in being an educator, I can't seem to find it underneath the stress, the anxiety, and the overwhelmingness of the burden of having to go it alone. That last one is indeed the most important part of it all.
You'd probably think it's the students, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, they are the best part of what I do, however I cannot truly appreciate them. I cannot appreciate this experience because I am not in my best place.
I don't enjoy complaining although I find myself doing it way more than I care to these day. Instead I search of reasons to be grateful, to be joyful, to be thankful yet I cannot ignore this sinking feeling that I feel. I don't want to do this anymore. It's not at all as fulfilling as I imagined it to be. I never expected it to be easy, but I certainly did not think for a second it would be this difficult.
Psychologically and emotionally draining, desperation invades every cell of my body as I beg the Universe for a peaceful escape. It never comes. I rage over the tiniest little things. My children cry out for my sanity to return. I'm sorry. I'm sorry is something I say too often. I'm just doing my best to cope with this mania marked by intense moments of euphoria right before plummeting into the darkest place I've ever been in my life. I'm a Capricorn; naturally prone to depression. I just wish I could disappear.
Anxiety has become my best friend; an omnipotent companion. Patiently waiting to send my world into a tizzy of spinning rooms, shifting hallways, and dizzying blackouts. This isn't safe nor healthy yet I can't quite afford to do anything about it…yet.
Yet….this word is a constant in my life. I've come so far yet I have not arrived.
Do you know what it's like to be a single parent with no help at all? And I don't mean no help as in no other parent: no grandparents, aunts, uncles, or just a good friend to help out. When my children are sick or the daycare is closed there is only me. When there are places to be and things to get done, there is only me. Doctor's, dentist, dance, and dinner…it's all me. This society is by no means, single parent friendly.
My kids think I'm super woman. They believe I can do anything and everything. I plead for their help. There is no-one else to ask. I'm constantly on the brink of a break down as I try to get them to understand that I cannot do everything. It's just not possible. They don't understand. Perhaps one day they will. Until then, I grow resentful of the fact that my children handcuff me to my every promising word yet they do nothing more than make excuses for their father. I try not to say ugly things about him even when I know they are my truth, because it only makes me look bitter. I promise myself I'll do better.
It not easy to not pass on your stress to the persons closest to you like flu to a weakened immune system. Everyday I tell myself, I'm doing the best with what I have and somehow that doesn't feel true. Truth is, I'm afraid. Fear is an overseer; a slave driver and I am the slave. Everyday, I think of just getting in my car and driving away. Then why don't I just do it. Nothing is stopping me…nothing but fear. Fear has me tethered to this life; bound under ball and chain; a cage bird, no locks on the door. Even as I feel how much I don't want to be here.
I've been jobless. I've been car-less with two kids and no access to public transportation. I've been homeless. I've been dependent. I've been broke and broken. I've been in all these spaces, left feeling like I never want to be in such a place of vulnerability in my life. There is no rest for the weary. I'm afraid to go back to these places. I'm afraid of being a burden to someone else. The mere memory of it gives me anxiety. I just want to be able to do this without all these feelings of icky-ness.
Where is my tribe? Where is my village to help me raise brilliance? Why is the world so "every man for himself"?
I feel so displaced even as things finally seem to be falling into place. A little voice whispers to me constantly….spiritual blocks leave me with pain in my lower back, tightness in my chest, and labored breathing. My words come out jumbled. My vision is sometimes blurry. I reassure my body, I am listening.
Between being a mother, working this day job and the million things that each of those encompass, there has been so little room left to invest in my passion, my experiences….to invest in myself. Every fiber of my being is resisting this way of life. Everyday I have to coach myself to get through the day; cheering myself on at each milestone; celebrating the short lived victories only to begrudgingly wake up and do it all again tomorrow. I wish to meet my days with joy instead of dread.
I love this blog. I love doing this. I love talking about sexuality and all the things I talk about here. This is what I want to do. Summer 2017 was hands down, the best summer ever. For the first time I experienced what it felt like to find a sure thing; to discover something I'm truly passionate about. You have no idea. My personality oozes disinterest. I do not easily excite except when it comes to sex. It's obvious why I never made this connection about myself before this stage of life. I had been too busy hiding and being ever so careful to separate myself from social stigmas I hadn't been consciously aware of….conditioned to believe that I was the one in the wrong. I'm still hiding; still for protection, only now for a different reason.
Not being able to do this and feeling like I "have" to do something else instead in order to fulfill the basic human needs of me and my offspring has be feeling angry and defeated. Feeling like I have to choose this or that makes me feel sick.
The sin of a double life is such a fucking burden. I want off this rollercoaster.


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Cornerstone is fully committed to carrying out the Great Commission. Fulfilling the Great Commission encompasses not only global missions, but also mission work in Central Arkansas.
Global Missions
Cornerstone is leading three international mission trips this year, including a trip to Honduras, a trip to Mexico and a trip to Central Asia. The three trips all contain different dynamics, encompassing everything from medical mission work to prayer walking and relationship building in unreached regions of the world. Regular attenders and members of Cornerstone will have some of their trip subsidized, but fund-raising is a necessity to help cover trips. Trips are likely to fill up early, so if you feel called to participate in an international mission trip, you need to know sooner rather than later.
South Dakota
This summer will be the fifth year that Cornerstone will join Next Step Ministries in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, to help build and rebuild houses for families on the reservation. This year, our trip will begin on Saturday, July 15th, and we will return on July 23rd. We have 45 spots reserved and would love for you to prayerfully consider joining us. This trip is open to all Cornerstonians, and we especially encourage families of ONE students to go. The cost of the South Dakota trip is $350 for members and regular attenders of CBF and ONE Student Ministry, which includes lodging and all meals except travel meals to and from Pine Ridge. For more information, please contact Nic @ email@example.com or 501-412-0419.
Central Arkansas
Cornerstone is heavily involved in mission work within the Central Arkansas area. We work closely with a number of ministries in the area, including S.T.E.P. Ministries and The C.A.L.L. Cornerstone also hosts Church Under the Bridge, a ministry that provides food and a church service for homeless residents of the area, once a month. The largest body of mission work within the community occurs once a year though, when Cornerstone cancels its Sunday services to lead our Be the Church Sunday, when all attendees of Cornerstone go out into the community and perform various service projects.


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Last year's semi-finalist from Germany was two points from victory in her second-round match against Kaia Kanepi after winning the first set and storming to a 5-1 tiebreak lead in the second. However, the seventh seed then lost six points in a row, allowing Kanepi to kick-start an amazing fightback and win 3-6, 7-6, 6-3.
The manner of the defeat led to a flurry of abusive messages posted on seventh seed Kerber's Facebook page, with one visitor positing that he wished she was dead. The account from which the message was posted then appeared to have been deleted.
The message included vicious swearing and ended: "5-1 in tie brejk and u lost it i wish u dead." The same poster labelled Kerber "retarded" and said, "can u burn in hell ... leave the tennis pls do it just for me kanepi beat u shame on u".
Further posts from different users were also highly critical, with one writing: "Just embarassing Angelique. Horrible horrible performance today. Very disappointed." One even urged the Women's Tennis Association, the body that runs the women's tour, to investigate the result.
Kerber's loss meant half of the top 10 men's and women's seeds failed to reach the third round of a major for only the third time in the Open era. The previous occasions were at Wimbledon in 1996 and the French Open two years later. It also set a record for the worst performance by women's top-10 seeds at a grand slam, with only four having won their opening two matches.
The 25-year-old felt Friday's turnaround was purely down to how her opponent played — Kanepi hit 52 winners — than any slump in her form. "I had my chances in the second set but I didn't take them," Kerber said. "In the third, she was playing unbelievably and I couldn't do anything.
"Maybe I could have played a little bit more aggressively on one or two balls [in the tiebreak], but she played good on the important points."
Kerber's defeat ensured 'Wipeout Wimbledon' continued to live up to its name. It has already witnessed two of the greatest shocks in grand slam history, with Rafael Nadal ousted in round one and Roger Federer following one match later.
Jo Wilfied-Tsonga and Marin Cilic were forced to pull out injured from their second-round matches, as was women's No 2 seed Victoria Azarenka. Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Kirilenko and Sara Errani also lost in the opening two rounds.
The six men's top-10 seeds left standing were Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Juan Martín del Potro and Richard Gasquet. The four women were Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska, Li Na and Petra Kvitova.
Twelve players have also withdrawn injured from singles competition, one short of the record of 13 set in 2008.
The opening two rounds of the men's singles witnessed another record, with only 12 matches going the full five sets. That was the fewest in the Open era at Wimbledon, beating the previous mark of 13 set in 1981.


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Title: Chrysalis
Rating: PG
Fandom: Harry Potter
Characters/Pairing: Nymphadora Tonks, others – gen.
Genre: Humor/Angst
Summary: There are some things that are great about being able to change your shape at will, and there are other things that are complete rubbish. All Nymphadora Tonks ever really wanted was to fit in.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement had a very enthusiastic recruitment policy for Metamorphmagi. There was just something about being able to change your appearance without a wand, or a potion or a spell that was appealing to them.
Nymphadora Tonks couldn't imagine why.
She had her first visit from the Ministry of Magic when she was twelve years old, touting the benefits of catching Dark Wizards for a living. Of course, twelve-year-old Nymphadora Tonks was not particularly interested in catching Dark Wizards. She was interested in catching the attention of the cute Ravenclaw boy in her Charms class.
'You'd be able to use your talents for the good of the Wizarding World,' the Auror had told her. She didn't really believe him. After all, to her, they weren't really a talent. They were just an inconvenience.
It was a well known fact, that before a certain age, children were incapable of controlling their magic. It was the reason why Hogwarts tuition began at eleven, rather than an earlier age. Wizarding families were expected to teach their own children basic skills – the kind that might have been taught in a Muggle school.
Unfortunately for Tonks, the same lack of control could be applied to the art of shape-shifting. She'd seen the baby photos – hair a different colour in every photo, but not just hair. She'd change her nose, her hands, her feet. An automatic process that couldn't be helped. The healers couldn't really do anything about it – Metamorphmagi were so rare that anti-shifting methods hadn't been perfected yet.
Learning to walk was difficult when your feet weren't guaranteed to be the same size with every step, and that was one problem that had always persisted – no matter which body, which shape she was in, it never seemed to fit right.
Fitting in was one of the most important things to teenage girls, and it was quite simply the one thing that Nymphadora Tonks couldn't do. She made them laugh, sometimes, but mostly they were laughing at her, rather than with her. Laughing when she tripped over her feet at the Quidditch tryout, laughing when she set the goblet she was trying to transfigure on fire.
The second time the Ministry visited was a marked difference to the first time. The second time, it wasn't a bland man in an ill-fitting Muggle suit. The second time it was Alastor Moody, who seemed to think that blending in was for other people.
He gave it to her frankly. 'Nymphadora, I-'
'Tonks,' she corrected him. 'Only my mother calls my Nymphadora. And Professor Snape,' she added, a little bitterly.
He chuckled – whether it was at her choice of name, or at the mention of Professor Snape, she couldn't be sure.
'Tonks, I'm not here to tell you that being an Auror is all glitz and glamour. That's a bald-faced lie that they use for recruitment. In all honesty, becoming an Auror is perhaps the worst career choice for anyone looking to live to a ripe, old age. The hours are terrible, and you'll probably see more hospital visits than Galleons.'
'Why are you telling me this?' she asked, curious. It didn't seem a particularly effective technique.
'I'm telling you because the best Aurors aren't the ones that we recruit. They're the ones that come to us out of their own free will. Now Professor Dumbledore tells me you have a penchant for troublemaking.'
She grinned at that – while the rest of her professors were tolerant at best, Dumbledore always gave a mischievous smile when he passed her in the hallways.
'Your marks aren't too terrible, but I'd say that's about execution rather than skill. You come from a long line of powerful witches and wizards.' His voice took a dark tone as he said that, and Tonks knew exactly why. She was fairly sure that her relatives had given him trouble in the past.
Six years after the end of the war, things were still chaotic – Tonks didn't need to be an adult to know that much. She could tell just by watching Moody – the way his eye was constantly moving as they spoke, looking for trouble in all directions. The hand in his pocket was probably clutching his wand, just waiting for someone to attack.
'I can tell just by looking at you that you don't want to be a healer, or a banker, or any of those boring things. You want excitement. You don't fit in, so you'd rather stand out.'
She didn't respond to that, but he didn't continue anyway. He bid her farewell, eye spinning violently as he disappeared with a loud crack.
Things didn't exactly change when she went back to Hogwarts, but some days she found herself subconsciously correcting her wandwork, or trying a little bit harder to not set her cauldron on fire when she tipped in the newt eyeballs. She barely scraped the marks needed for her N.E.W.T-level subjects, an event which had a bittersweet sting to it, because it meant spending another two years under the tutelage of Severus Snape.
She thought, perhaps that becoming an Auror would fill that need for companionship, the need for approval. It was hard to feel approved, though, when Mad-Eye Moody, veritable psychotic, spent nine hours a day hurling spells at her. He was right. There was no glitz. No glamour. It was mostly nausea and unconsciousness. Yet somehow, it was downright satisfying.
And then things started going downhill.
Being a Dark Wizard Catcher in the beginnings of the Second War was a very different ball game. Events were less isolated, more omens of dark times ahead. At least, that's what she saw. Fudge and his band of yes-men denied it vehemently, which frustrated some Aurors to no end.
That's how she ended up in a London pub with Kingsley Shacklebolt, and, to her eternal surprise, Albus Dumbledore. Really, she shouldn't have been surprised that Dumbledore was heading the fight against Voldemort. She was, however, a little surprised that he was asking her to join that fight.
It wasn't a glamorous job. It was a downright dangerous job. Even more dangerous than being and Auror. She wasn't quite sure why she said yes. Maybe it was that urge to fit in, to be a part of something. Maybe it was because the majority of her blood relatives were on the other side of the fight. Maybe it was just for the thrill.
She wasn't particularly surprised to find herself dying on a battlefield. Blood seeping from the wound in her stomach, her fingers soaked in crimson as she tried to keep it all in, but she knew it was too late. She thought about her husband, and she thought about her child, and she thought about the words that Alastor Moody had spoken to her so long ago: "You don't fit in, so you'd rather stand out." She was kind of glad that she had the chance to do both.
At least, for a little while.