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Only a freshman, it's easy to see that Carroll County pitcher Sydney Nester is already one of those once-in-a-generation players.
No matter if she were to retire from the game today, Nester would have already secured her place to at least be in the conversation for the Mount Rushmore of Carroll County athletics. Just 5-6, she completed an unparalleled freshman season on Saturday by hurling the Cavaliers to the first team state championship in school history, allowing just two total runs in the victories over Deep Creek and Woodgrove.
In those two games, Nester showed amazing composure – not getting rattled while falling behind Deep Creek early, then fending off a miraculous at bat with two outs and the tying run on third in the final inning of the state semis. She coupled that with amazing determination, dominating defending state champ Woodgrove with 13 strikeouts and no walks in a two-hit shutout just one day after throwing 107 pitches.
For the season, Nester went a perfect 19-0. She tossed the first perfect game in school history against Blacksburg and hurled multiple one- and two-hit shutouts. She also recorded a miniscule earned run average of 0.82. The freshman also had an unprecedented strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 10 to 1, whiffing 222 batters while only walking 24. She gave up 60 hits (an average of just over three per start) and allowed just 15 earned runs.
And finally, consider these statistics. Nester started six of Carroll's eight postseason games this year, earning wins over Bassett, Jefferson Forest, Chancellor, Fluvanna, Deep Creek and Woodgrove. In those six games, Nester gave up just three runs and 16 hits in 40 innings of action.
"I've only been in softball three years, but coaching baseball, I have never had a pitcher with the skill level she has. She is above any pitcher," Carroll County head softball coach Rick Nester said of his many years of coaching at Carroll County. "You don't have much separation there. You have athletes. It doesn't matter if they are male or female, I've never had a pitcher with the skills and velocity that she brings to the game."
The Carroll skipper said Nester is easily a Division I prospect with multiple ACC and SEC schools already looking at the dominating right hander. The school has never had a Division I pitcher, he said.
"Mike Montgomery was probably the best pitcher we ever had. I never had the opportunity to coach Mike," who played at East Tennessee State University. "He got drafted by the pros and he was probably one of our better pitchers. Rod Bryant was another one. Rod was All-State. But you look at Sydney, here she is going against the defending state champs and they get two hits. One of them was a bloop hit to right field and the other was an infield hit in the seventh."
Nester's success is a combination of many factors. Her head coach said she not only has great velocity on her pitches – having been clocked near the mid-60s – but she also has great control of her full pitch arsenal. She also has a wicked change-up that has made many batters look downright silly this season.
"Her change-up is a nice change of speed to where if they are sitting there on a fastball count or down in the count, she can throw the change to keep them guessing. We try to do that at the top of the lineup on stronger hitters," Coach Nester said. "We try not to let them see the same pitch during the at bat. And with her, she is able to throw multiple pitches. She can throw the fastball in or out, go up with it, and she has a screwball that runs in on the hitters."
During the last part of the season, Sydney Nester didn't really go up with her screwball. But the coaching staff decided to change that once the playoffs started, going in high above the hands to give hitters a different look. Her repertoire also includes a curveball and a rise ball. She threw the riser quite a bit against Woodgrove.
"If they are going to chase it, we are going to stay up there with it. With her throwing that many pitches and in and out on the girls, we try not to throw the same pitch twice during an at bat, and that just keeps them guessing what's next," Rick Nester said. "She has confidence in any of the pitches we throw."
Nester said his ace has composure on the mound extremely rare to find in a high school pitcher. That trait was on full display in the two state tournament games. Much of that has come from playing travel ball in the summer and fall, having already pitched in big games in pressure situations.
"It has helped her play much older than what she is," Nester said. "We've also noticed in a lot of games she gets stronger in the last three or four innings than in the first three. It seems like she picks up velocity during the latter part of the games. In some of the bigger games, the more hyped up she has been, it has been coming in with more velocity on her pitches, which helps set up the change and her pitches with movement on them."
Coach Nester was unsure how Sydney would respond to pitching on back-to-back days. She had not pitched on one day's rest this season, much less on back-to-back days. That is where having such a high-quality No. 2 pitcher in Gracie Davidson, who was Carroll's number one pitcher two years ago and split starts with Eden Durnil last season, is a huge advantage for the Cavaliers.
"Sydney said it would be no problem throwing back-to-back days, but that is not something we have done this year," Rick Nester said. "It's been a pleasant thing to have two quality pitchers. Gracie is able to throw when we have three games a week so we can keep both pitchers fresh all year long. If we could have gotten her a couple of runs, we would have had an excellent shot at a regional championship as well this year, but we were competitive and that kept Sydney fresh. Gracie had a no-hitter against William Fleming in the conference tournament and would have had a perfect game if not for a third strike on a strike out that went off the catcher's shin guard."
Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on Twitter@AWorrellTCN


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We've been paying attention to the launch of Google App Engine over the past day and a half and we will continue to keep an eye on it on behalf of our consulting clients. As is often the case with paradigm-challenging products, people often try to characterize the new thing in terms of what they already know. But we don't believe that Google App Engine is directly competitive with Amazon EC2 today, although it could be in the future. We also don't believe, as a few people have asserted, that it's competitive with social networks like Facebook either. Here's why.
Amazon EC2 is one of the most open platform products in existence today. When you spin up an instance of an EC2 server, you get to make all the choices regarding operating system and software. You log in as root. You can write applications on an EC2 instance using any language and tools you want. You pay only for what you use.
Google App Engine, on the other hand, is a walled garden. In the words of Tim Bray, if you go the App Engine route, particularly if you choose to use Google authentication, you are essentially a sharecropper, working on Google's farm. You write the application, but Google owns the infrastructure and, more importantly, they own your users.
Ah, you say, but it's certainly true that closed platforms can be spectacularly successful, at least some of the time. Look at Facebook, for example, one of the most popular walled gardens in existence today. Facebook exerts a great deal of control over what applications running on its platform can do through frequently-changing terms of service and rules enforced in its technology stack. But the difference here is that Facebook asks you to trade off openness and control of your application in exchange for something valuable — its users' attention. The deal you make with them goes something like this: give me access to your millions of users, and in exchange I'll adhere to your terms of service and accept your proprietary application framework — I'll even go so far as to learn the only programming language that you really support well (which in Facebook's case is PHP).
Google App Engine is neither fish nor fowl. It requires developers to write to their framework without the commensurate benefit of access to a huge built-in audience of users.
Google is providing access to App Engine for free for now, although traffic and storage is limited and we haven't seen information about commercial licensing, which is troublesome and probably a deal-killer for all but the most trivial applications. It's true that in many cases "free" can trump "open" or "complete", but in the case of Google App Engine we believe that "free" won't make a huge difference. It may attract experimenters and people writing demonstration applications, but virtual hosting (through EC2 or fixed-price virtual hosting providers such as Slicehost) is so close to free today that the "free" part of Google App Engine should not make a difference to anyone who is looking to write a non-trivial application.
The design choices that Google made with this product are pornographically good news for Python developers, who now have their own dedicated application server and a way to build web applications using their language of choice. This may well put Python on the map (as the second language of choice alongside Java, PHP and C#) as one of the Languages That Matter. But it's also important to remember that consumers don't use Python (or any other programming language), they use applications. In this respect, Google App Engine is one of many Google products that seems to have been created with technologists, as opposed to consumers, in mind.
On the consulting side we've been getting a ton of inquiries from customers regarding strategies and tactics for virtualization on platforms like Amazon EC2, and we're in the process of adding a formal software development practice dedicated to supporting Amazon's EC2 and S3 products. That doesn't mean that we wouldn't support something like Google App Engine if a client asked us to and there was a good reason to, but for the reasons we've described here, we'd prefer to take a wait-and-see attitude towards this and carefully weigh the drawbacks and limitations before devoting serious time or development effort to the platform.
All that having been said, we still believe that Amazon has missed an opportunity by positioning EC2 as a developer product as opposed to a hosting product. If the Google App Engine product were to make a dent in EC2's momentum, we'd recommend that Amazon provide better support for multi-server scalability scenarios. Amazon recently started moving in this direction with the release of new features intended to give administrators the ability to assign IP addresses and machine instances to specific data centers, but providing explicit support for an adaptive clustering package like Scalr would give EC2 a vital edge, particularly for professional applications.

subset: commoncrawl


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Start/Car Parking - National Trust car park at Martin's Haven, grid reference 761090. From St. Bride's drive through Marloes village and continue to the end of the road.
Lengths of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path beyond Marloes are linked by a cross country route to provide an excellent circuit, first rate underfoot and with minimal stiles.
Martin's Haven is the embarkation point for boat trips to Skomer; there is a small exhibition centre and public toilets behind the cove, and an important inscribed stone. Beyond St Martin's, the 'Deer Park', almost an island, extends towards Skomer, providing the best mainland viewpoint for that island. There have never been deer on this headland, but the substantial boundary wall is evidence of the intentions of the then landowner. The deer park has footpaths to Wooltack Point and circling the headland; a circuit can readily be added to the route set out below.
The views enjoyed on this walk include lovely coastal scenery, including the islands of Skomer, Skokholm and Gateholm.
Start through the little gate at the bottom left corner of the car park, along a track on the right edge of a field.
1) Go through another gate to join the coast path, turning left. The fine coastal scenery includes Skomer and Skokholm. Continue on the fine path just inland of the top of the cliffs for approximately one mile.
2) At a signpost fork left, through two gates, to follow a fenced track. Go through another gate and cross a ditch before turning left at another signpost to keep to the left edge of a field. After the next signpost there is a gate and the start of an unsurfaced lane. Along the lane, look out for a bird hide to the left, overlooking a pool. Pass a 'car park' signpost and the youth hostel before joining the public road by the entrance to the National Trust Marloes Sands car park.
3) Turn left to walk through the car park, continuing along a broad track at the far end to reach the Martin's Haven access road. Turn left to walk by the roadside for just over a half mile, passing Trehill Farm.
4) Turn right to leave the road at a signpost, go through the gate. Walk along the left edge of the field towards the sea. There is a gate and a left/right/left manoeuvre before the coast path is reached.
5) Turn left to follow the path above the cliffs and coves back to Martin's Haven, reached down a long flight of rough steps. Turn left to ascend the road back to the car park.
Disclaimer: This route was correct at time of writing. However, alterations can happen if development or boundary changes occur, and there is no guarantee of permanent access. These walks have been published for use by site visitors on the understanding that neither HPB Management Limited nor any other person connected with Holiday Property Bond is responsible for the safety or wellbeing of those following the routes as described. It is walkers' own responsibility to be adequately prepared and equipped for the level of walk and the weather conditions and to assess the safety and accessibility of the walk.
St Brides Castle is part of the Holiday Property Bond's growing portfolio of outstanding holiday properties throughout the UK and Europe, imaginatively created over 32 years to combine "home from home" comfort with total relaxation. Currently the portfolio features 35 holiday developments, all in stunningly beautiful locations across 13 countries, with over 1,400 individual villas, apartments and cottages.
For a summary of how HPB can give you and your family a lifetime of wonderful holidays and the risks as well as the benefits of an investment please read "How and how much" below.
Then we would be delighted to send you our brochure, including our property portfolio, along with our full length DVD introduced by Bondholder Sue Barker and a list of forthcoming Open Days and Exhibitions. Please just complete and submit this form or telephone our FREE brochure line on 0800 230 0391.
We will use the details you provide above to send you our detailed HPB brochure and keep you updated about HPB holiday offers.
This advertisement is issued by HPB Management Limited ("HPBM") registered at HPB House, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 8EH. HPBM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is the main UK agent and the property manager for HPB, issued by HPB Assurance Limited ("HPBA") registered in the Isle of Man and authorised by the Financial Services Authority there. The Trustee of HPB is HSBC Trustee (C.I.) Limited registered at HSBC House, Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey, JE1 1GT. The Securities Manager is Stanhope Capital LLP of 35 Portman Square, London, W1H 6LR.
Holders of policies issued by HPBA will not be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the company becomes unable to meet its liabilities to them but Isle of Man compensation arrangements apply to new policies. No medical examination required. HPB is available exclusively through HPBM who will only charge for their services if you invest. HPBM promotes only HPB and is not independent of HPBA.
➤ You will receive our beautiful property portfolio
➤ Our full length DVD introduced by Bondholder & presenter Sue Barker
➤ And a list of forthcoming Open Days and Exhibitions
An initial payment from £5,000 and a quarterly fee of around £30 (that is around £120 a year), linked to RPI, gives you access to all HPB's holiday homes. For each visit you will pay a no profit user charge, level throughout the year, to cover property running and maintenance costs, such as electricity, cleaning, gardening, refurbishment and local taxes and use of on-site facilities. For a studio for two this will average about £300 a week, for a two- bedroom property for four around £460 a week. Larger properties are also available.
HPB is all about holidays. There is no other return from your investment and your capital is at risk. You can surrender your investment back to the company after two years or more (subject to deferral in exceptional circumstances) but you will not get back the full amount you invested. What you do get back will reflect initial (25%) and annual (2.5%) charges, costs and changes in the value of the properties and securities in the fund in which your money, after charges, is invested.


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This post is part of a series of posts about self-publishing. I'm revising my book Self Publish Your Novel and posting the chapters as I finish them. If you'd like to be alerted when the new version of Self Publish Your Novel is available, please click here.
Getting published is easier than ever, but getting people to buy and read your book is still very difficult. Many struggling authors tend to focus on marketing, pricing, and the mechanics of publishing in an attempt to figure out where they went wrong, but the most likely reason a book isn't attracting readers is that it simply isn't good enough. I didn't intend this to be a writing book, per se, but in some ways the content of your novel is so inextricably tied up with your efforts to market it that I would be remiss not to mention this aspect.
Your novel doesn't have to be great literature. In fact, while quality is definitely an important factor in determining a book's success, it's far from the most important factor. There's only one surefire way to write a bestseller, and that's to be famous before you write it. Stephen King could put together a book of stories about his visits to the supermarket and it would sell ten million copies. Sarah Palin's book is outselling the Bible because she's pretty and she's been on TV, not because she has anything interesting to say. Yes, Stephen King was once an unknown too, but the point is that as an aspiring author it's a mistake for you to compare your work to Stephen King's and think, "My book is as good as that, so it will sell millions of copies." First, it probably isn't. Second, your book is going to be missing the one element that has been critical to the success of every Stephen King book since Carrie: the name "Stephen King" on the cover.
The good and bad news about marketing fiction is that beyond being a celebrity (or at least a known author), no one really knows what goes into making a successful novel. Look at J.K. Rowling, who is one of the bestselling authors of all time (and the twelfth richest woman in Britain). The first of her phenomenally successful Harry Potter books was rejected by twelve publishers – and that's after she had gotten a reputable literary agent to represent her. If any of those publishers had had the slightest inkling that the Harry Potter books would be even a tenth as successful as they turned out to be, they would have snapped it up in a second, but they had absolutely no idea.
Imagine if you were to take the Hope Diamond to twelve of the most reputable jewelers in New York and not a single one of them would give you a dollar for it. It would make you start to think that the whole profession of jewelry appraisal is a lot of bollocks, wouldn't it? Now imagine that someone in the know about the jewelry business informed you that most jewelers lose money on most of their sales and only manage to stay in business thanks to a handful of fluke successes. At the very least, you would think twice about trusting one of those jewelers with the success of your own gem. You'd be well advised, in fact, to eschew the guidance of professional jewelers altogether and take matters into your own hands. Replace "jewelry" with "manuscripts" and "jewelers" with "publishers" and you'll have a pretty good sense of how the publishing industry works (or doesn't work).
A moment ago I stated that no one knows what causes a novel to be a success, which isn't entirely true. The one characteristic shared by all successful novels (other than those written by known authors) is that they are books that people tell their friends about. The rub, of course, is that no one knows what exactly causes someone to be filled with the urge to tell another person about a book. Quality helps, sure, but when's the last time a co-worker brought in a copy of Charles Dickens' Bleak House or Voltaire's Candide and said "You have to read this"? What makes people do this with the Harry Potter books and The Da Vinci Code and Twilight? Like most people, I have no idea. But I do know this: for someone to want to recommend a book to other people, they have to be excited about it. And how do you know what people are going to be excited about? The best way to answer that question, in my opinion, is to ask yourself what you are excited about – and then write about that.
This is a critical point. Writers are often told to "keep your audience in mind," which is good advice – unless, when you think of your audience, you imagine some amorphous crowd of people who fit some particular demographic. If you target your book at 30something college-educated male science fiction fans or 20something white single mothers, you're going to fail. No one wants to read a book targeted at a demographic. You want your reader to think, as they are reading your novel, "Wow, this author knows me." How do you accomplish this? Again, write what you are excited about. No matter how eclectic your interests, there are other people out there like you – and they have friends. Did J.K. Rowling know that there was an untapped market of tens of millions dying to read about British children attending a school of wizardry? Probably not. But she was excited by the idea, and that excitement is infectious.
Don't write for a demographic. Don't write for publishers, reviewers or agents. Write for yourself and maybe for that handful of people who really "get" you. Don't worry about the appeal of your book being too narrow. My first novel, Mercury Falls, certainly isn't for everybody. To be honest, I'm surprised that its appeal has turned out to be as broad as it is, considering that it's filled with obscure references to everything from Occam's Razor to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Wargames. What I've learned is that, ironically, by intentionally refusing to pander to my audience, I actually made Mercury Falls more interesting for readers outside of what I originally thought was my target demographic. Readers respond to authenticity, originality and excitement, even if it's not packaged in a way they expect.
The other huge advantage to writing a book that you're excited about is that it's much easier to market. Those of who have witnessed my marketing onslaught for Mercury Falls may be surprised to learn that I absolutely abhor sales. I'm probably the worst salesperson in the history of humankind. And yet, I have no problem wholeheartedly recommending my book at every opportunity because it's a book I believe in. I don't mean that I believe that it will sell millions of copies; I have no idea how many people will ultimately want to read it. It's not a book calculated to generate sales; it's simply the best book I could write, and as such it's something that I want to share with people. I'd stack that enthusiasm against the cold calculations of the clueless publishing houses any day. And that's why I'll say again: Write the book that you want to read. If you can do that, you're a long way toward creating a successful book. Too many writers worry about getting "published" when they should be worried about writing a book that people will want to read.
It's true that the odds of a self-published book being successful are extremely small. But to say that self-publishing generally results in failure is to confuse cause and effect. The odds of any book being successful are extremely small. Books published by traditional publishers are more likely to succeed because publishers have the luxury of cherry-picking the one book out of a thousand that they think will sell (and they are still wrong most of the time!). Saying that publishers create bestsellers is like saying the NFL creates great football players. The NFL doesn't create great players; all they do is try to predict which players will be great. Similarly, if a publisher decides to publish your book it's because your book has a good chance at success. The difference between writing and playing football is that writing is a solitary endeavor. While a professional football player would have a hard time succeeding outside the NFL, you don't need the approval of a Big Publisher any more than a marathon runner needs the approval of the National Marathon Runners Association. If you have a book in you, write it.
This post is part of a series of posts about self-publishing. I'm revising my book Self Publish Your Novel and posting the chapters as I finish them. If you'd like to be alerted when the new version of Self Publish Your Novel is available, please click here.


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On Wednesday July 13, Nautica showcased its Spring 2017 Collection at New York Men's Fashion Week.
The collection, designed by Steve McSween, Nautica's head of Men's Design, was inspired by the French Riviera. The classic Mediterranean-coast style of stripes and navy tones was a strong theme throughout the show which was styled by Grant Woolhead & Michael Cook.
Designers also teamed up with Sea Bags to create limited edition bags exclusively for Nautica's standing presentation, which was held at Skylight Clarkson Square studios in downtown New York City.
Check out some of the collection's best looks and highlights of the presentation below!


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We just had to share this post about one of our favorite west coasts Neapolitan-style pizzerias, Tutta Bella in Seattle.
In 2012, Tutta Bella's owner Joe Fugere made pizza for President Obama on the tarmac at the Seattle Airport, write the editors of L'Italo-Americano, a historic Italian-American weekly newspaper and a popular online portal devoted to Italian culture in the U.S. and beyond.
Evidently, POTUS didn't have time to make it out to the restaurant, so the owner brought his pizza oven to the airport.
We're huge fans of Tutta Bella and have written about the restaurants here in the past.
When in Seattle, how could you miss tasting #POTUS #pizza?
The Tutta Bella staff recently visited us here at the winery and we couldn't be more proud the its wine list features Cantele wines.
Tutta Bella (Westlake)
2200 Westlake Ave
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 624-4422
Image via Tutta Bella.


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Recent News & Articles
Fulfilling Our Mission - Net Zero Energy + Community
With Heapy Engineering's Corporate Mission to "Reduce the Energy Impact of the Built Environment," what a better place to start than with the young and creative minds at our regional Universities! To assist the Miami University student project team in the US Department of Energy's Annual Race to Zero Student… more...
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Heapy Engineering's Cleveland Office has completed a recent expansion doubling the size of our office in The Hanna Building. This expansion enables us to accelerate growth with our Clients in Northeastern Ohio. Heapy Engineering has established excellent client relationships in this region, with our most recent projects being with Cleveland… more...
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Heapy Engineering was presented the 2016 Dayton Builders Exchange Green Award for the University of Dayton 1700 ETM Lab project. As the project is within an existing building, the space had to be compatible with the existing building systems and square footage available. The new mechanical equipment was… more...
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Heapy Engineering Employees Participate in BBBS Bowl for Kids
Heapy Engineering had 17 employees (3 teams) participate in the 2017 Bowl for Kids' Sake. The three teams Energy to Spare, Healthcare Headpins and Commercial King Pins had a friendly competition and raised a total of $3,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley. Heapy Engineering is… more...
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Congratulations to Rick Bennett and Aaron Weber for earning the certification of Certified Healthcare Constructor (CHC). CHCs enjoy the pride of recognition of being among the elite in a critical field of healthcare. And CHC is a premier credential based on a sound assessment that provides distinction in an increasingly… more...
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Heapy Engineering in the Press - Ohio can be a Leader
Heapy Engineering's Sustainability Director Michael Berning's Op-Ed piece was featured in the Dayton Daily News recently. His article was titled and addressed the idea of Ohio can be a Leader in the New Green Industrial Revolution. "Some of the world's smartest business people are prioritizing sustainability and re-envisioning what manufacturing… more...
Monday, February 13, 2017
Heapy Mission: Reducing Energy Impact of the Built Environment
Now under construction, the $25 million Health and Life Sciences Center will house the medical, dental and PT programs at Sinclair Community College. Heapy Engineering's design team significantly reduced the overall energy impact of the facility with a lighting solution that will perform nearly 40% better than ASHRAE 90.1-2013.… more...
Monday, February 13, 2017
UAS (Drone) Program Approved for Night Flights
Heapy Engineering's UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) flight team has been approved by the FAA as one of only a few in the country for night-time flights. Our Certified Thermography staff can readily take advantage of this night-flight approval since infrared scanning of a building's envelope and roof is most effective… more...
Monday, February 13, 2017
Congratulations to the following 2016 AIA Award Winners! Sullivant Hall and Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (Acock Associates Architects - Merit Award, Columbus AIA) Heapy Engineering designed the Mechanical-Electrical systems for the renovation of Sullivant Hall. The scope included renovations to existing library space, dance studios, classrooms, office… more...
Monday, January 23, 2017
LEED is Pushing the Green Building Industry
LEED is Pushing the Green Building. The LEED certification process is designed to inspire project teams to seek innovative solutions that are better for our environment and better for our communities. LEED works for all buildings-from homes to corporate headquarters-at all phases of development. Projects pursuing LEED certification earn points… more...
Monday, January 23, 2017


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Vicky & Armando's wedding
These two young and lovely couple had the best wedding Mexican style here in Las Vegas. The wedding started with a traditional catholic wedding ceremony at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Church .
Their wedding portraits turned out AMAZING!!!
The Mariachi gave a warmed welcome to Mr. & Mrs. Chavez at their reception wedding at Palacio del Sol.
Keywords: best las vegas wedding, ceremony, wedding, wedding photographer
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[Part of the Pagan Blog Project]
So, today I want to talk about context. Which basically means "how does this thing I'm doing fit with the me that's doing it, and the where I'm doing it, and the why I care about it."
One of my library professors referred to "collection" – as in 'collection development, how we select stuff to be in the library' – as the interrelationships between a given item, the other items in the library, and the people who use them. There are also more subtle interactions with the space (you may run out of room physically, but there are also ways in which you can keep more from a smaller collection in your head at a time, and form connections between different pieces more easily.)
Right. Let me stop and back up.
Resources are sort of like stars. We stand here, on earth, and we can see one really nearby star (the sun) and we can see a lot of more distant stars. If we use some more tools – binoculars, telescopes, missions into deep space – we can see a lot more.
But from where we're standing, how do we make sense of them? We might look at stars that appear to be near each other in the sky. Which is to say, we stand somewhere, and we look north, and we go "Oh, right, there's a star, and there's some other stars, and they all circle around that star, which is Polaris." (If you live where in the northern hemisphere as I do, anyway.)
And people being pattern makers the way we are, we stand there and we go "That bit there looks like a bear. And that looks like another bear. And that bit is a dog. And that bit is someone's belt." and so on and so forth. Even though, really, it's all about us and where we are at this moment in space and time.
We do that with books, too. And web pages. And resources. And things people tell us. We want so desperately to make connections between pieces that we forget that we're just seeing from this current moment in time.
And yet, some of those stars might be connected in ways we don't see. Stars that form out of the same nebulae might be moving in the same direction at sorta roughly the same speed. But over millions of years, they may spread out when we view them, and be in very different parts of the sky. And yet, they're far more connected than stuff that looks like a constellation.
Here's the other thing. All those stars? They're constantly moving. Where they are when we look up at the sky varies, of course (but that's our perspective changing, as the earth spins). But they also move – the entire universe is expanding – and so the relationships shift and change.
Finally, what we know about them changes. As we've discovered more and more ways to look at the universe, ways to hear the universe, ways to map the universe, and even ways to move through the universe, we learn more stuff. Lots and lots of stuff.
Back to the library.
A good library is an ever-changing organism. That's true of the physical items (we get new books, old books may eventually be discarded), but we need the same sort of mental flexibility, the chance to remember that the way the world was five years ago is different than the way the world is now. And it's different than a hundred years ago, or a hundred years from now.
(As an example: Netflix recently put The West Wing into streaming, and I have been watching lots of it (again) while I knit. For a show about politics written a decade ago, tons of it is amazingly, stunningly relevant. And yet, there are all the places that aren't. Because it was always an alternate universe, but also because where we are now in political discourse, in social discourse, in community understanding, is different.)
So, back to Pagans and research. The point here, is, of course, that you stand there, looking at the stars around you, the books and the websites and the people and the places and the experiences that make up your personal research cosmos. As you stand there, remember that they're moving and relating to each other, and changing, just as you're changing and moving and shifting.
The best researchers are the ones who remember the world changes. That it's vast and huge and always has something new, something they don't know yet, some shiny new relationship to be discovered.
And they remember not to be fooled by the resources that seem right and true, but don't necessarily tell you what you think they tell you. (Is that point of light really the star you think it is? And do you know where it came from?)
"That publisher is lousy, they never put out anything good" is one of my favourite examples of this problem: To understand why, you need to understand the stars you're seeing and how they relate to the business of publishing, to the variety of opportunities and resources, to the ongoing conversations within separate subfields and practices, and much much more.
By looking beyond the obvious patterns, we do better research. We learn more cool stuff. And we can do more with it.


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Mindset is half the battle…
One of the many truths of life is that people struggle with the feeling that they aren't good enough every minute of every day. I prefer not to call it low-self esteem or shyness or the many names associated with it because they doesn't quite cut it, let's call them GREEN. There are over 7billion people in the world and one out of every 5 is green.
Several people fail to see it still, but, I'm green in certain situations. I cannot stand in a room full of people and not feel my heart pounding faster than a speeding train. We are all green, some just really know how to contain it or move past it. Tell me to write something or do something in the shadows and I'm up for it, but put me in front of an audience and I suddenly lose my tongue and you wonder if my work is actually my work… It happens, don't beat yourself up.
We' set certain standards for ourselves and we're constantly comparing our present achievements to our perfectly cooked up standards and when they don't measure up, we ostracize ourselves and the feeling of self rejection and unworthiness creeps in. It happens, the human mind yearns for perfection…
True self-esteem goes deeper. It's finding the source of power and aliveness deep inside, realizing that within the depth of your being, there is the continuous source of intense aliveness and power, which is the stillness out of which everything comes. – Don Miguel Ruiz
A very common mistake is the concept of self-esteem being confused for self-image. The two terms basically entail the same thing with an emphasis on self; while Self image is what others think of you, Self-esteem is what you think of yourself. The downside to this is the fact that one's self-esteem is sometimes affected by one's self-image, which is really wrong because it actually means you're letting others brand or validate you. If you're green, it means;
- You're looking at yourself all wrong
- You're letting your popularity or social status define you
- Your idea of self-worth is affected by how you think you look
- Your accomplishments become you
- You are constantly afraid to converse with others because you think you might not make sense (Most of the time you realize your ideas were point on)
How do you correct this, how do you see yourself in a better light, how do you measure up to your own standards, how do you get better? Well, there are certain ideas to nudge you in the right direction to leave the green world be.
- Inner Critic – Well, the first thing to know is that perfection is a fool's errand so set realistic goals that are easily attainable in the real world, keep your fantasies of perfection separate from your hopes and dreams. That way, your standards aren't impossible to live up to, let your standards urge you to aim for effort…The mind is a very powerful tool, you basically become what you think so try not to talk down on yourself (Encourage instead of criticising).
- Know Thyself – I'm sure y'all know something about the SWOT analysis matrix. It's a tool used to analyze the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of a business or for oneself. It simply spells out your abilities and points out your weakness for proper self-evaluation, encouraging you to appreciate your strengths and explore them to create opportunities for self growth/improvement and acknowledge your weaknesses. To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom – Socrates.
- Accept Criticisms – Criticisms are part of life, friends and family may notice something about you and draw your attention to it, it's their way of helping you grow. The delivery may be intense or careless sometimes but try to see it from another perspective; a complaint was made, an advice was given, don't simply nod and hold a grudge for the remnant of your life. Accept the criticism, go home and reflect on it, if it holds water, learn from it. Some of ours weaknesses are mostly things others see. Other people aren't validating you, you're simply learning to pave your own unique part from the criticisms of others.
- The last fact is this; stop comparing yourself to others. An obsession with self-image only leads to a life of constant comparison which in turn leads to a Green life and pertinent sadness because you're never worthy. Success means totally different things to each one of us, learn to not focus your esteem on the experiences or lifestyle of other, cultivate your own expectations and standards for others and let them live up to it instead.
- I also suggest you go out, try new things, meet new people, join an real social group concerned with a cause you're passionate about. As you build your people and communication skills, you slowly start to leave the greenness behind. True story…
Most importantly, you aren't alone. There are so many of us out there, fighting this green battle alongside you. Find a connection with the spiritual and learn to achieve self-esteem through the cultivation of a relationship with God whilst applying these steps as guidelines, one day at a time…


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This publication examines the case for distributing naloxone, an emergency medication, to people who inject opioids such as heroin and to others who might witness an opioid overdose. Through its capacity to reverse opioid overdose, naloxone can save lives if administered in time. This comprehensive review looks at opioid overdose and how naloxone counteracts it, and discusses the circumstances of opioid overdose deaths and the use of naloxone in regular clinical practice. As well as documenting the historical development and spread of take-home naloxone programmes in Europe and beyond, the study looks at the practical side of their implementation, including the training of naloxone recipients in how to recognise and respond to an overdose. Although take-home naloxone is supported by the World Health Organization, the report finds that barriers to its access exist in Europe and considers how the availability of the intervention may be expanded.
drug-related deaths [2] harm reduction [3] health harms of drug use [4] heroin [5] high-risk drug use [6] hospital emergencies [7] opioids [8] overdose [9]
[1] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/publications/2089/TDXD15020ENN.pdf
[2] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/drug-related-deaths_hu
[3] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/taxonomy/term/1204_hu
[4] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/health-harms-drug-use_hu
[5] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/heroin_hu
[6] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/high-risk-drug-use_hu
[7] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/hospital-emergencies_hu
[8] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/opioids_hu
[9] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/keywords/overdose_hu
[10] http://bookshop.europa.eu/uri?target=EUB:NOTICE:TDXD15020:EN:HTML
[11] http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/news/2016/1/preventing-opioid-overdose-naloxone


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Today could be described as disappointed, fun and heartaches.
Tech Yann, Ji Yang and I had planned to go down to Digital Mall, PJ to go for some shopping. They had this massive discounts for today's so called Grand Opening. When we reach there about 10.30am, the place was crowded and you had to line up all the way to the back of the building to get in. Imagine waiting outside on this tropical weather AND just to buy RM1 items. Just for RM1, but you burn time. I can imagine people have been queuing in the wee hours of the morning.
Disappointed, we then headed to Sunway Pyramid since Tech Yann wanted to buy some stuff. We randomly popped into Toy City and Tech Yann bought another yoyo. We then headed to Giant to search for marshmallows, but turned out blank. Instead we picked up 2 6packs of shandy. We went round and round and I bought a 50-dvd+r pack.
Later on they went to my house, watched some animes, pop shandies and then later on Tech Yann played some nfs:carbon. He got high from shandy(drink and drive, literally). He played like till 7pm and then I fetched him home.
I went out for dinner and later on TT'ed at McD SS15. By god, I HATE THEM MCD. the exit cracked my bumper lips(FREAKING MOFO STEEP DOWN), and this time it is really going to break unless i reinforce it again. Rain and cold weather made it really chilly. Out of the 10 people who were supposed to come, only 4 of us actually went. We just chit chatted and then Zeist wanted to take pictures. We headed to Shell just behind McD and parked our cars in a line for a photoshoot. I'll post the pictures later when I get my hands of them. We left at midnight and went our seperate ways...
Sunday, January 21, 2007
nbtd post by Kclee at 12:56 AM
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Transparent glass bookcase with mirror base and user-adjustable feet. Also available with wooden drawers mat in white or RAL colors.
Design Luca Papini
Starting From: €2.812,81
Transparent glass bookcase with mirror base and user-adjustable feet. Also available with wooden drawers mat in white or RAL colors.
|Drawer C2
1 Wood Mat Lacquered RAL, 1 Wood Mat Lacquered White, 2 Wood Mat Lacquered RAL, 2 Wood Mat Lacquered White, No Drawer
Tonelli Design was born in the 80s from a passion for research and experimentation, Tonelli is specialized in manufacturing of glass furniture and complements. Its philosophy is based on a combination of tradition and innovation. Resistant, ecological and fascinating, glass belongs to human history since over five thousand years. Tonelli stands out for its natural capacity of innovating itself and its products, experimenting new forms of creativity and looking into new ways of living. The company, in fact, introduced in the 80s a new technique of welding straight glass sheets. Over the years, the process has become more refined reaching extremely high quality standards. This did not arrest the brand's evolution, that nowadays offers vanguard solutions to furnish any kind of space. More liquid than solid: that is glass.
Shipping Available Worldwide
Message below for any information related to your Country delivery.


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Mindful Hike Registration Form
Thank you for your interest in our upcoming Mindful Hike. Please take the time to fill out the following registration form. We will be contacting all whom submit a registration form.
This is a mindful hiking retreat. Additional information about the retreat, including its exact location and what to bring, will be provided to all participants who are selected to attend.
A lottery will be used to select retreatants. The lottery will occur 2 weeks prior to the retreat. Those not selected can be placed on the Waiting List. If an applicant is not selected in the lottery after applying for a retreat, the probability of getting accepted increases with each subsequent retreat they apply for.


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KCOM Craven Park the home of Hull Kingston Rovers RLFC is just not a rugby stadium for a the super league giants but has four fantastic function rooms to hold your party or wedding for up to 220 people. We regularly entertain at the KC Lightstream stadium from weddings to birthday parties our DJ's provide a professional, friendly...
March 24, 2013
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Oct 23, 2016 by Comfort KeepersAs we age our body experiences numerous progressions and begins to weaken as we reach our senior years. The changes take place both internally and externally. Our entire digestive framework likewise experiences a few changes. For these reasons, the significance of ensuring food safety for seniors and taking after a solid and healthy diet and other rules of wellbeing turn out to be progressively essential as we age. Read Article
Oct 9, 2016 by Comfort KeepersBack pain turns into a perpetually recurring ghost as we age. National Institute for Health reports that no less than 25% of American grown-ups experience back pain regularly. In spite of the fact that it has a tendency to happen after we cross our 30s, step by step it turns out to be more common as we achieve our senior years. Read Article


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Wooden family play set
Montesorri inspired wooden family play set with colour accents and matching felt pouches.
This wooden family set is inspired by the much loved Waldorf and Montessori theories of learning and development.
When placed out on table, children need no encouragement in placing each wooden doll in their coordinating pouch. They are a fabulous addition to your doll house!
✔ fine motor skills - pincer grasp
✔ hand eye coordination
✔ positional language/concepts of "in" "out"
✔ imaginary play
✔ problem solving
✔ seriation/patterning
✔ sensory play
✔ colour recognition and matching concepts
Each piece has been hand painted with a nontoxic, vegetable based dye and lightly sealed with organic balm of beeswax, eucalyptus and grapeseed oil to keep the colors vibrant and the pieces durable. Raw finish can be requested if you prefer.
Contains Small parts -not suitable for under 3years old.


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The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University has released a white paper identifying 11 megatrends expected to impact the local, national and global philanthropic sectors this year.
The paper covers trends forecasted by Executive Director Kyle Caldwell and a number of his colleagues.
They range from how nonprofits are operating to the new ways funders are operating and the interaction happening between the for-profit, nonprofit and government sectors, a trend that's especially prevalent here in Southeast Michigan, Caldwell told Crain's in December.
Among the other trends highlighted are:
- Growth in the number of foundations
- Increased focus on data and measurable progress
- Generational transfer of wealth and leadership and the increased concentration of wealth
- Political change and polarization
- Crowdfunding


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Swim Rotorua has enjoyed a successful campaign at the National Short Course Championships in Auckland.
The event, held at the Sir Owen Glenn National Aquatic Centre on the North Shore last week, attracted a record breaking 780 swimmers from New Zealand and Australia.
The standard of swimming was particularly high with more than a dozen national records broken along with world para records from household names Sophie Pascoe and Mary Fisher.
As in previous years the format is designed to produce fast times with age group medals declared from the morning heats, and then the fastest 40 swimmers of all ages progressing to the A,B, C and D finals.
Bianca Donelley showed her racing prowess in her favoured freestyle and backstroke events. Bianca held her nerve to take the silver medal in the girls 15 years 100m backstroke with a best time of 1:04.29 in the 100m freestyle.
Her third medal came in the 100m medley where another best time secured bronze.
Additional finals came in the 50m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 200m backstroke.
Paddy Baylis, just back from international duty in Australia, enjoyed a great week of racing producing a string of best times and big improvement across all his events.
His best placing came in his signature 1500m freestyle where he posted a best time of 15:51.02 to take the 17-18 years age group silver medal and fifth overall.
Paddy made four finals which came in the 200m medley, 400m medley, 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke.
Damon Cowie, 15, achieved 100 per cent best times in all his eight events coming within 0.01 seconds of taking the bronze medal in the boys 50m breaststroke with a swift time of 31.68s. That was fast enough to take him through to the D final. Damon also made two further appearances in the D finals competing in the 100m and 200m breaststroke.
David Boles produced a great effort in the 200m backstroke D final where his time of 2:06.73 was just a whisker away from breaking the Bay of Plenty record.
David also won the D final in the 400m medley and secured a 10th place in the 1500m freestyle.
James Baldwin showed his sprinting pedigree with two best times in the freestyle sprints. His time of 24.98s gained him sixth place in his 15 years age group. James backed that up with an excellent 54.98s in the 100m freestyle which took him up to eighth place.
Joe Nagera grabbed his opportunity in his favourite 50m backstroke where he placed fourth in the D final with a best time of 27.86s.
Annelyse Cowie competed in the youngest age group in the girls 13 years events and was very consistent to take home three top 10 spots in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke.
Completing the Swim Rotorua top 10 spots was 14-year-old Kapua Warbrick who took 10th place in the girls 200m breaststroke. Other team members who competed and who all achieved best times were Emily Spear, 14, Skye Cox, 15, and Ryan Wilkinson, 18.
Head coach Alastair Johnson said overall they had enjoyed a solid team performance.
"The standard of swimming was pretty high. It was great to have five of our team members make it through to the evening finals, and eight of the team achieve a top 10 age group placing.
"I have no doubt that the whole team will take home some inspiration as they seek to do even better next year."


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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first NJ.com user to add photos or videos of Market Day Corp
Market Day is located at 403 Dultys Ln Ste 2, Burlington Township, NJ. This business specializes in Other Organizations and Food & Agriculture.


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Ardan Özmenoğlu was born in Ankara in 1979. She graduated from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design in the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Bilkent University in 2002. Between 2003 and 2006, Özmenoğlu worked as a part time landscape architecture and urban designer at Kentimaj Urban Design & Architecture Company in Ankara. In 2005, she worked as a teaching assistant in the course named "Introduction to Printmaking" for a summer school session at Bilkent University. She completed master's degree in the Department of Graphic Design at her alma mater in 2006. Özmenoğlu worked as a guest artist at the Kala Art Institute, Berkeley in the USA (2007), Ateliergemeinschaft Milchhof e. V., in Berlin (2007) and Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee in Belgium (2008). In 2007, she was a part of San Francisco Art Institute Visiting Artist Summer Lecture Series.
Since 2002, Özmenoğlu has had her solo exhibitions and participated in many group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. She generally creates her arts using original print onto different materials. Among galleries she worked with are: Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin and Lower East Side Print shop, New York. As of today, Özmenoğlu continues to work at her workshop in Istanbul.
For questions and inquiries regarding the
Huma Kabakcı Collection, you may contact:


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(KMOV.com) – Police are investigating after a man was shot late Saturday night in north St. Louis.
According to police, one man and three females were walking up the front steps of a home in the 5800 block of Lotus when they heard gunshots from behind.
Police say the male victim ran to a rear alley, then east to a convenience store in the 1900 block of Goodfellow before calling police.
The victim had gunshot wounds to his thigh, rib cage and wrist. He was transported to an area hospital in serious, stable condition.
The three females were not injured in the shooting.
There are no known suspects.
The investigation is ongoing.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2018 KMOV. All Rights Reserved. For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service, and Ad Choices.


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Thursday, July 18, 2013
Comfortable in Stirrups
Fast forward to now. 3 years of infertility and a miscarriage in between. My lady parts have never been more on display in those 3 years than my entire life. Various doctors poking and prodding in those 3 years. Numerous internal ultrasounds and various checks whether it was to check before, during, and after miscarriage, how the reproduction system is holding up during treatment, or if I am responding. I realized at my last ultrasound appointment that I am relaxed. What? Strip from the waste down is no longer embarrassing and I have been conditioned to this experience as my new norm. I have dropped my pants more this month for my RE than I have for my husband.
I laughed when I came to this realization. I am actually comfortable in stirrups! As the ultrasound was taken place last time, the woman asked if my ovaries are usually difficult to find. I told her, "No, they move sometimes they are either 'here I am' others they are stubborn and hiding". She told me it may hurt a little since she has to move the wand around to find them. And it didn't even phase me. A female nurse is probing me with medical equipment shaped like a dildo and it was as if I was getting a haircut. IUI was the same thing. A little nervous on the procedure but not waste down part or laying there for 15-20 minutes with no pants on.
I wondered if other women going through this, lost the embarrassment with continuous clinical pelvic exposure? Felt it to be as routine as brushing your teeth? Were they as well desensitized to this? I am not sure if this is a good thing or not but it sure is funny how things can become routine! I haven't even given birth yet!
5 comments:
- AnonymousJuly 19, 2013 at 7:41 AM
Oh yes! None of the poking or prodding or lying pantless with my legs spread eagle bothers me. When I get the dildo cam, the tech is always fussing with the sheet to minimize exposure (even though there is always a curtain and closed door between me and the hallway). They really need not bother, at least not for my sake.ReplyDelete
"dildo cam" LOL. I am pretty sure I was flashing the world after IUI. The doc was talking to me after IUI telling me the instructions if I get any bleeding or cramping blah blah blah, knees bent, half naked, and facing that direction. Move over Sharon Stone!ReplyDelete
But do you still hide your underpants beneath your pants that you took off? I remember telling a newer U/S tech that she didn't have the ultrasound in far enough to see my ovaries, and she gave me a look, but, hey, I had been through so many, I cold have done it myself!ReplyDelete
LOL!! I do!! I think it is funny the panic on their face... where is your ovary. Well, it was there last week they just don't get up and leave. They move around! But don't some of them seem more weirded out than you do?ReplyDelete
I am barely aware of the exams. That dildo cam really hurt one ovary as the tech pressed to that side, trying to find it. Yes, I know I am late to the party.ReplyDelete


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Galea crash concept
Ahead in Safety.
Galea Crash Concept. Maximum Energy Adsorption in All Cases.
For passenger trains up to 200 km/h, we have developed a crash concept that satisfies all safety requirements despite being considerably lighter than its predecessor.
Energy absorption has been built into the structure of the vehicle head. The head is made mostly from composite fiber materials. A concept that combines light weight, high security and a variable design.
Galea: The Integrated Crash Structure
The reduced weight of the vehicle head offers several advantages. The axle loads and wear on the train and track are minimized.. This also results in reduced CO2 emission. We replace the earlier heavy steel constructions with a lightweight structure, made preferably from fiber composite. In this process, we take particular care to ensure that all requirements regarding collision safety (EN 15227), fire protection (EN 45545) and noise and heat insulation are met. The complete head module also contains a multistage crash concept with energy absorption elements that can be replaced in the event of a collision.
Voith Turbo Scharfenberg GmbH & Co. KG
Gottfried-Linke-Straße 205
38239 Salzgitter, Germany
Tel. +49 5341 21-02
Related Links
The Energy Absorption Concept of the Galea Vehicle Front
Safety plays a major role in rail traffic, with ever increasing importance. To meet these high demands, the Galea integrates a multiple-stage crash concept. It was designed to cover the main aspects of the EN 15227 standard, when integrated into a trainset. Crashworthiness and fire protection, as well as noise protection and thermal insulation were taken into account. What stands out: Even the crash elements are made from GFRP. The Galea was developed for Intercity trains up to 200 km / h.
Just like every other Scharfenberg product, the Galea has been designed in a modular way. The entire vehicle head is characterised by short mounting times, and – when damaged – can be easily replaced. The same applies to the individual energy absorbing components. This way, train down times are minimised. The entire vehicle head will be delivered ready for installation. Apart from pre-installed pneumatic and electric components, it contains the interior panelling and driver's desk (according to European drivers desk specifications).
The heavy-weight steel constructions in operation to date were replaced by lightweight structures using fibre composite materials. The weight reduction results in a higher economic efficiency and environmental acceptability. The load on every wheel is minimised, thus reducing the wear of train and tracks or respectively allowing an increased passenger volume.
The base of the Galea concept is its internal crash structure. This structure can be adapted to different vehicle heights and widths, but the design and the components making it up remain the same.
For the external shell covering this crash structure any design can be realised. The result: individual design paired with optimum safety.
- More economical and environmentally friendly due to significant weight reduction and recycling capabilities
- High standard of safety assured by compliance with the standards governing collision safety and fire protection
- Replaceable energy absorption elements
- Modular construction makes for short installation times
- Variable design allows simple adaptation to various vehicle geometries


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Teen bride Courtney Stodden plans to have a long future in the public spotlight, and no one is more certain she'll succeed than her mother-manager, Krista Keller, who wouldn't mind a little fame of her own.
"I am the momager. I started out producing a little show for Courtney, and it just grew and grew," Krista tells The Huffington Post. "It's a fine line between being mom and manager, but we are very careful. Courtney is the star, but we all work as a team. I always knew there was something very special about her."
Having stepped before the camera on her daughter's VH1 reality show, "Couples Therapy," it now seems mama has caught showbiz fever herself.
"I have been asked to do interviews all over the world, but wasn't comfortable until I sat down with the 'Couples Therapy' lead therapist, Dr. Jenn Berman. After that, I felt great. The producers told me I was incredible, and [they] wished there had been more of me in the show," says Krista. "Now there is talk about doing a momager reality show, and I'm very interested."
Krista notes that she had to sign papers before her daughter could marry 52-year-old Doug Hutchison because Courtney was not yet 18 years old. She also says that even after the marriage, she remained her daughter's legal guardian until Courtney came of age and, because of child labor laws, she had to sign her daughter's contract to do "Couples Therapy."
"We are getting so many different offers, so you will be seeing more of Courtney, and maybe me," said Krista.


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Amazon Gobbles Up Whole Foods?
- June 20, 2017
- 1
Everyone is going bananas over Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods. Mergers often get some immediate buzz, but this particular merger has prognosticators reporting that groceries will never be the same, some jesting that soon enough Alexa would take our orders for Unity Vibration Kombucha and drones would deliver Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss vegan ice cream. A colleague hoped there would be a Dash button for organic goji berries.
Whole Foods Chief Executive John Mackey suggested that Amazon would not be "stupid enough" to change the natural grocer's high standards, but I wonder if Whole Foods will actually be swallowed whole. The cultures and brand values of these two companies could not be more different.
As a purveyor of premium and specialty foods, Whole Foods built its brand and competitive advantage on purpose, enlightened values and a unique in-store experience delivered by passionate, engaging employees. Whole Foods became an upmarket darling of millennials and others willing to pay more for natural and organic food.
In contrast, Amazon built its brand on technology and efficiency, with its competitive advantage coming from the ability to get a vast selection of goods at very low costs. Amazon wins customers with the get of everything being cheaper and more convenient. Many see Amazon and its algorithms as the prime driver in retail's decline. The Washington Post, owned by Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos, reported: "People are worried Amazon will replace Whole Foods workers with robots."
LRW recently acquired 3 companies and continues to seek out others to help us deliver value for our clients. Knowing that the success of our business depends on our people, their shared values, and the culture in which we all work day to day, purpose, values and brand promise are key criteria used in evaluating future partners. All this has me wondering if the Amazon and Whole Foods merger will be like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the union of two great things that taste great together, or will it be more like that palate-zapping experience of mixing orange juice and toothpaste. Bezos is a man with a vision and for the most part, he has made strong investments. Prior acquisitions for Amazon have largely been tech companies and other online retailers, likely with more aligned brand values than Amazon and Whole Foods seem to have.
We will all be watching to see how it plays out for the grocery industry, employees and customers of both brands. The merger may help Whole Foods shed some of its negative brand associations because of new capabilities, but it will be interesting to see if Amazon will be able to keep the Whole Foods brand intact and live up to the Whole Foods mission and purpose statement.


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A student art installation at Temple University curiously reads, "White People. Do Something," and has provoked polarizing reactions across social media.
Up right now! An installation in the Tyler courtyard created by Kara Springer, a Sculpture graduate student! pic.twitter.com/8O63qWybPG
— Tyler School of Art (@TylerArtSchool) September 22, 2016
The Tyler School of Art at Temple University took to their Twitter account to brag about the art installation, which is located on a central quad at the Philadelphia-based institution. Although the project's meaning remains unclear, it hasn't stopped community members and internet commentators from speculating about the artist's motivation.
The "sculpture" was created by graduate art student Kara Springer and has provoked an assortment of confusion, anger, and praise across social media.
Tyler School of Art student made a sculpture saying "white people. Do something" and I have never loved my school more😭
— CK (@camrynkira) September 24, 2016
Not sure how to read this. Is it commanding white people to do something, or is it a panicked warning that white people are around? https://t.co/AyMepT6qje
— Robert Kroese (@robkroese) September 25, 2016
No offense but what's the point of makin a sign that says "white people do something" lol
— t4t (@twerkfortara) September 26, 2016
@TylerArtSchool Kara Springer shows the world that a talentless hack can get attention just by whoring her race.
— thespian (@thespianorion) September 26, 2016
@TylerArtSchool You mean besides art, innovations, the Internet, airplanes, satellites, medicins etc.?
— CW (@C_Westling) September 25, 2016
@TylerArtSchool cool i didnt know this school offered a degree in Victimhood :D
— TheGeckoNinja (@TheGeckoNinja) September 26, 2016
.@TylerArtSchool This isn't art by any stretch of the imagination.
— Miss Adele McFly 😺 (@PennyDreadful81) September 26, 2016
Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at email@example.com


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Tony Kummer has developed another great idea. He's the brain-power behind sites like SBC Voices and Devotional Christian. He has now birthed another brain-child called My Christian Blogs. It seems to be another clearinghouse site to feed the need for Christian thought. You'll find feed from a variety of Christian bloggers such as Tim Challies and Al Mohler, as well as Internet Monk.
Why am I telling you all this? For two reasons: (1) It's just nice to have another place to find "one stop shopping" when you're looking for all that's going on in the world of C'hristian thought. (2) I'm hoping to re-charge my blogging batteries and be a bit more disciplined about posting here. I need to think more, journal more, and converse more with those who can teach me. So check out My Christian Blogs; official "launch" details this summer.


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Coming to Italy I wanted to somehow capture the Tuscan lifestyle in my paintings. How to do such a thing, I couldn't begin in imagine. That didn't stop me from trying.
Five weeks in Tuscany, I have met people who capture the essence of the earth in their wines, olive oils, pastas, tiramisus and laughter. They take their time. Let fruits ripen. Draw moisture from deep roots. Squeeze the essence of every precious drop.
Tuscan Lifestyle
Two days of heavy rain gave me the opportunity to do some fermenting of my own. I laid out all of my paintings, side by side. I grouped them by palette, size and subject.
I began with the landscapes. Are these the finest essence of this landscape I can paint? I sorted them by color and size. As with grapes or olives, their differences and similarities became apparent.
For two days I painted, refining colors. At the beginning of the second day I noticed a dream-like quality emerging. I like the idea that this collection instills dreams with landscapes. How might I further this quality?
Val d'Arno is a painting I started en plein air the first week we arrived in Poggio Alla Croce. I have continued refining it every few days. In the process, I feel the connection to my early work in pastel.
It has been my dream for many years to have my paint brush speak in unison with the raw earthy pigments of pastel.


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Cub Scout Summer Camp 2018
For Scouts ages 6-10
Click one of the links below to explore our summer camp options.
Click here for
Click here for
|Access your Units Account
|Parent Portal
Click here for Cub Scout Camp promotion materials
Why Cub Scout Camp? Simple, Cub Scouts is fun with a purpose, and Cub Scout Camp is too! Your Scouts will enjoy outdoor adventure like swimming, hiking, camping, archery, and much more while earning advancements and awards and making lifelong friends and memories.
Do parents need to attend? All Cub Scouts need to have adult supervision while at camp. Some camps offer a Cub Scout youth provisional option (with a slightly higher fee) allowing Scouts to attend without an adult. When provisional leadership is not offered, adults from the Cub Scout Pack are required to attend with their Scouts to ensure adequate leadership. Please note, we encourage parents and unit leaders to register and attend with their Scouts whenever possible.
- What's new in 2018?
We are going all out for STEM! The day camp theme is Weird Wacky Science, and overnight camp will have new STEM-related advancements, including a NOVA Award at Arrow of Light Camp.
- Family Camp has been reduced by $10 to $30 per participant.
- Everyone loves to learn! That's why we have increased our focus on advancements, ensuring more Scouts leave camp with more accomplished.
- We know you're busy, and it can be hard to fit camp into an already packed schedule. We are offering more camps at more locations to help your family find a camp session that works for you!
- Does your unit have a great Den Chief? S/he is welcome to register and attend with your den this summer.
- We now offer a provisional leader option at overnight camps. Scouts who could not go to camp because parents nor leaders could attend can now go under the "Provisional" option on the registration page.
Cub Scout Summer Camp is the best opportunity for boys to build friendships, experience new adventures, and advance through the Scouting program, all in a safe outdoor experience at one of our Scout camps!
Thank you to our summer camp sponsors
Title Sponsors


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ZARLOR HIKE - A FLOWER FILLED PARADISE 1 day
Guided walk + snack + lunch
Explore this stunning wild corner of Dos d'Ane on a much underused path.
Walking with our guide to the West, you will discover a flower filled paradise with yellow flowers and ambavilla plants offering their nectar to the scores of green and white birds and other stonechats which live here.
Towering over Mafate, Piton Fougères and Piton Batard dominate the landscape and provide breathtaking views of the cirque and the west coast.
After this special moment, a hearty traditional lunch awaits you in the village of Dos d'Ane.
Technical information
Duration: 5 hours
Distance: 7 km
Elevation gain: 411
Elevation loss: 439
About this activity
Phone number (booking)262 0810797797
E-mail (Organizer)


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San Antonio is a city known for maintaining high quality standards. The downtown renewal and the river walk revitalized the city. Is your home keeping pace with the beautiful city you live? Have you had your home revitalized and renovated? If not, now is the time to undertake a remodeling project. Kitchen remodels and bathroom renovations are two of the quickest ways to get your house looking better and worth more money as well
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SDN Blog
Charities will be the real winners in SDN IT Games
Posted on Wednesday, August 10, 2016 in CommunityBlog written by Rob Swenson
Participants in the SDN IT Games are playing for more than fun and bragging rights. The winners of three competitions get to pick which charitable organization gets a nice financial contribution.
The SDN IT Games, which began July 21, are light-hearted, office-oriented competitions that feature three unique games.
- Beat the Buzzer: a contest in which participants toss crumped paper into a trash can.
- Coffee Cup Relay: teams of four people toss objects such as paper clips or pens into a coffee cup.
- Backup: tests participants' ability to flip and catch a collection of pencils.
SDN Communications is the official host of the games, but all of the contestants get a home-office advantage. That's because the actual competition happens in the participants' work place.
Entries and video recordings of performances are submitted online. Entrants also may watch game demonstrations and get an explanation of rules on the official IT Games website. That's also where contestants can check out competitors' videos and monitor the leaderboard.
Other than paper cuts, the biggest risk to the losers might be that rivals will tease them for a poor performance.
Businesses throughout the Sioux Falls region - not just three charitable organizations designated to benefit - are encouraged to form teams, compete and have fun. The competition might be especially fitting for companies with multiple offices. That could provide for some intracompany competition. Friendly trash talking is allowed, even encouraged.
SDN, the leading provider of broadband connectivity and cybersecurity services for businesses in the region, will donate $500 to the charitable organization designated by the winner in each of the three competitions.
- Lutheran Social Services is a private social service agency. Last year, its statewide services touched 50,700 lives. The agency serves people of all ages, races, faiths, and economic levels. It offers professional, confidential and affordable services in areas such as adoption, pregnancy, mental health and financial counseling, foster care, childcare, disaster assistance, residential services for children and independent living services for young adults, mentoring, and assisting new Americans.
- The Children's Home Society protects and supports children, women and families by providing refuge, nourishment, love and limits to children whose homes have been violated. It also shelters and serves battered women. However, any gifts from this competition are being designated to the Children's Home Society, which has residential centers in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
- The Washington Pavilion is a nonprofit, multiple-purpose entertainment, arts and science center Sioux Falls. Its features include two performance theaters, six art galleries, and three floors of hands-on science exhibits. The complex also includes the Wells Fargo CineDome, which shows films on a screen that is four stories high and 60 feet wide.
Executives with the three organizations appreciate the attention and possible support the SDN IT Games might bring.
"We're very grateful to be included in this fun and creative fundraising opportunity. We appreciate that SDN included the Children's Home Society as one of the possible beneficiaries," said Rick Weber, director of development for the organization.
Jon Loos, vice president of operations at the Washington Pavilion, also is pleased by the inclusion of his organization.
"SDN is really good partner, and we like to play with our partners," he said.
The Washington Pavilion staff has gotten into the good-natured spirit of the games.
"We realize that a lot of folks think we are a bunch of science, art and theatre nerds within these walls," said Michele Wellman, director of public relations. "But don't kid yourself. We can toss it down with the best of 'em. We have been training in Trashketball, Backup, and Coffee Cup Relay for the past 17 years. Bring it on!"


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S tudent
A thlete
L eadership
T raining
The purpose of the FCA internship is to provide an opportunity for college students to work with high school and middle school students through the ministry of FCA and to provide a training ground for students who desire to explore the possibility of full-time ministry.
This is primarily a summer program; however, this program can be adapted for students to participate in throughout the school year in order to experience "school-year" ministry.
All applications must be received by March 31.
Please click here to complete the online application. Interns should complete the Ministry Leader Application (MLA) which will serve as your application and permission for a background check.
If you have any questions about the FCA SALT internship, please call Kraig Cabe at (260) 672-8482 or email at email@example.com.
© Copyright 2018, Indiana FCA. All Rights Reserved. Login. Site Map.


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Liver Transplant
Duke has Best Liver Transplant Outcomes in U.S.
Liver transplant surgery may be in your future if you have liver failure due to chronic liver disease. An expert liver transplant program can ensure you live a long, productive life after your liver transplant. At Duke, our team of specialists works together to manage your care before, during and long after your liver transplant surgery. Our efforts pay off. National data shows the Duke adult liver transplant outcomes are among the nation's best.
One Year Liver Transplant Survival Rate
Choosing a Liver Transplant Program
When considering a liver transplant program, you'll want to focus on these factors:
- How fast do patients on the wait list receive a transplant?
- What is the risk of dying while waiting for a liver transplant?
- How well do your patients do following the liver transplant procedure?
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) tracks these and other data for the nation's transplant programs. When comparing Duke's liver program to the national average, the registry finds:
- Patients on Duke's waitlist receive a liver at a rate almost three times the national average.
- Our patients are 50% more likely to survive while waiting for a transplant when compared to our expected outcomes.
- Duke's liver program achieves the best outcomes in the nation.
Average Wait Time for Liver Transplant
Why Duke is One of the Best Liver Transplant Hospitals
Several factors contribute to our being one of the ten liver transplant programs with a five-bar rating from the SRTR.
- We are your medical partners for life. In addition to managing your liver disease, we work with specialists throughout Duke to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and mood disorders that may impact your health before, during and after your liver transplant. Our pre- and post-transplant coordinators are with you every step of the way. We want you to enjoy your new liver for many years to come.
- We look for every opportunity to get you a liver. Duke's liver transplant team includes six surgeons and a surgical liver procurement specialist. We have the technical ability and resources to evaluate and procure organs that other institutions don't have the expertise to use.
- We do split liver transplants. We're one of the few liver transplant hospitals to divide a healthy liver from one donor between two patients – typically an adult and a child. These split liver transplants allow us to save two lives rather than just one.
- Our surgeons have performed thousands of liver transplants. Each of our seasoned transplant surgeons has unparalleled training and expertise in liver transplant surgery. Many hold leadership positions in UNOS and other national transplant organizations. Our team has the collective experience needed to handle virtually every situation that arises.
- We identify and reduce your risk of dangerous infections. Our survival rates are so high because our infectious disease experts work quickly to employ highly effective therapies when infections are identified.
- Research helps us do a better job for you. We participate in research that studies how to improve the liver transplant process. Right now, we are looking at ways to tailor immunosuppression medications to prevent rejection and limit side effects. We are also studying how to make more organs viable. This may one day increase the supply of livers available for transplantation.
We maintain excellent outcomes for our patients despite the fact that we place very sick patients on the liver transplant wait list. Many have multiple medical problems and have been turned down by other centers. In fact, our largest referral sources are other transplant programs.
Often, our sickest patients are those who need more than one organ. Since 2010, our survival rate for patients who have received combined liver-kidney transplants is 100 percent. We are one of the few centers in the U.S. who do liver-lung transplants. We have also achieved excellent results performing liver-kidney, liver-lung-heart, and liver-small bowel-pancreas transplants.
Living Liver Donor Program Expands your Options
Our living donor program allows compatible family members and close friends to donate a portion of their healthy liver to adult and pediatric patients with end-stage liver disease, acute liver failure, or other serious liver disease. This option may decrease the time spent waiting for an organ to become available. Shorter wait times usually mean patients are likely to be healthier at the time of the transplant, which often results in a better liver health following the transplant.
The recipient's new liver grows to normal size and is fully functional within two months. Our living donors undergo an extensive medical evaluation to determine if they are healthy and a suitable match for liver donation. This approach shortens wait times to transplant and improves outcomes.
For more information about becoming a living liver donor, please call 800-249-5864.
Before your Liver Transplant
An extensive evaluation determined whether liver transplantation is the best therapy for you. The process may take several days, depending on what tests or screenings you need. A transplant coordinator will help you plan your visit. Testing may include:
- Blood and tissue tests. Check blood type and compatibility, assess kidney, liver and immune system function, and screen for viruses or infections that could affect your outcome.
- Liver biopsy. Involves the removal of a small amount of tissue from your liver to help diagnose the severity of your liver disease.
- Abdominal imaging tests. Doppler ultrasound, CT scan and MRI provide images of your liver and surrounding organs, blood vessels and lymph nodes.
If you are considered a candidate for liver transplantation, you will be listed in the national database maintained and administered by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Once you receive notification that a healthy liver is available, you will need to arrive at Duke within six hours. If you need to relocate to the Durham area, a transplant coordinator can assist you.
All transplant candidates at Duke participate in transplant education classes, led by our transplant coordinators, to teach you and your caregivers about the transplant process, the medications you need to take and the recovery process.
We involve your designated caregivers (family members or friends) from the time of your first evaluation through recovery. They attend your appointments, and we educate them about their important role in your care after surgery. They are our partners in restoring your liver health, and overall health, as quickly as possible.
After your Liver Transplant
Although organ rejection may occur following transplants, our innovative strategies to prevent organ rejection and injury are a documented success. We provide you and your caregivers the resources and support you need to live a healthy life after transplantation. Our transplant coordinators are always available to answer your questions or address your concerns.
We offer support groups for all of our transplant patients to maximize their liver health. These sessions, led by social workers, give transplant patients and their loved ones a chance to meet with others for emotional support, to ask questions and share information about issues such as medications, nutrition and exercise.


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You are no doubt aware that most new businesses fail, so you need to do all you can to ensure that yours will not be one of them. Sometimes great business ideas do not succeed because of a lack of attention to a few key practical areas. By paying attention to the following you can make sure you give your new businesses every chance of success in the long term.
1. Plan Before You Start
The best way to get to grips with all the things you are going to have to do in order to get your business off to a good start is to create a proper Business Plan. This is not just something you put together to persuade investors to come on board, it is primarily a tool to help ensure that you understand every aspect of what you are about to do, making it far less likely that you will be knocked off course by the unexpected. Make sure that a good accountant is part of your planning so that you properly consider things like tax liability, VAT and company structure.
2. Understand Your Finances
You can't leave financial matters entirely up to your accountant. As the business owner you must understand and be responsible for how your business works financially. Unless you really know what is going on, you are not going to be able to prepare a realistic cash flow forecast, and if you don't do that you are not going to know whether you need to borrow money, when you need it or for how long. Get this under your belt and take steps to secure the funding you need to cover the times when you may need a cash injection. Cash flow problems are the thing most likely to kill off your business, so knowing when you are going to need cash and making sure you have it in place is vital.
3. Put Agreements In Writing
You are almost certainly going to be relying on various other companies and individuals to provide goods or services that you need in order to carry out your own business. Do not be tempted to be too casual about such vitally important arrangements. Where appropriate use proper contracts, but always confirm everything in writing, paying attention to the detail. When everything is going well it can seem like an unnecessary waste of time, but you have to consider what could happen further down the line if you are not getting what you were promised and when relationships are no longer so rosy.
4. Keep It Lean And Mean
When you are starting up it is wise to try to keep your commitments to those that you can get rid of easily if you need to. Avoid being a direct employer if you can use a freelance person or outsource the function instead. If you suffer a drop in turnover and need to reduce your overheads you need to be able to react quickly to avoid financial problems. Work in partnership if you can and look at ways to share responsibilities with other companies.
5. Spend As Little As Possible On Premises
The type of premises you require will depend to a great extent on the nature of your business, but take care not to commit to fancy or large premises if you could manage without. Ideally you should work from home if your business allows. If you need to meet people you can always go out to them or hire meeting rooms locally if you really need to. Spending money on occasional meeting space is far less costly than the ongoing overhead of having your own premises. You can expand and improve your premises as your business grows. Keep the two things in proportion.
6. Give Some Thought To Health And Safety
Not exactly the thing that gets you out of bed in the morning (unless your business idea is to do with health and safety of course), but this is an area where you must at least have some awareness of your responsibilities as an employer and business owner. Working for yourself at home, this is going to be no problem, but if you have premises, employ staff, have hazardous materials on site or engage in potentially dangerous processes, then you must take is seriously and may need professional input.
7. Take Out Appropriate Insurance
Insurance may not excite you, but not having it could put you out of business. Some insurance, such as employers' liability, is compulsory, whereas other types of business insurance are a matter of protecting yourself against claims that could damage the viability of your business. Public liability cover is the most obvious one and this is to defend you against claims by any third party for injury or damages. This is particularly important if you have clients or members of the public on your premises, or if you or your staff work on other people's property. Other options include stock cover, fixtures and fittings, building and contents insurance and professional indemnity.
8. Build Relationships And Networks
Networking is not only a good way to generate leads and new business, but can be a great source of keeping up to date with other issues and developments that can affect your business. The more people in your local area or in your market sector that you have good relationships with, the more options you have for calling in favours or getting help or special deals if you ever need to. People running any sort of business will encounter the same problems that you do, and having people that you can bounce problems and ideas off can be a great help too.
Photo Credit: Business Graph