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So you've got that coveted unconditional offer – you're going to nursing school! But how should you prepare? Should you buy any books? What about pens, pencils, and laptops?
These were questions most of us asked after we realised that yep, we're going to uni. Yep, we're going to become a nurse. While some will say make the most of the time you have before induction and freshers to relax, I couldn't disagree more. Here are a few suggestions I wish someone had told me this time last year to help you prepare and settle in to academic life at university.
How to prepare for your first year of nursing school
Download the following apps right now:
Guidelines from the Resuscitation Council (UK) on Basic Life Support, including CPR, DRSABC and everything else you need to save a life. It's packed with flowcharts and algorithms with the most up-to-date information and policy.
With plans to phase out the bulky book, definitely download the British National Formulary. If you've not heard of it before, it lists drugs and medication by order of classification and contains all guidelines for use – incuding how much it costs.
NICE Guidelines
Everything you need to know about good practice, policy and procedure.
Packed with all kinds of cases, Figure1 is the Instagram of the medical world. Often, senior medical professionals will post cases that make you really think about the causes and outcomes behind them.
Khan Academy
No self-respecting student will be without this super useful app. Perfect for those who love bioscience (and even better for those who hate it) each video explains in depth everything from neuroscience to the respiratory system using handy drawings and simple terms. This is one that helped me pass my exams, for sure.
Seriously, don't buy ANY until you know your reading list. Unless they're, like, a quid from a charity shop your uni will tell you which books you MUST HAVE and which are suggested reading. Many can be found in the library, and if you join the RCN you'll have access to thousands of books and journals that can be ordered in if you prefer a physical copy, or viewed online.
You don't need books yet.
Create your own study space
Whether it's clearing out the cubby under the stairs or ditching the spare bed and converting an entire room into a student's dream office, get your workspace prepared now. You'll be spending hours tapping away at your computer and reading through books (from the library, as above) so you need to find a space that's quiet, relaxing and conducive to working and meeting those deadlines. A good desk, a comfy chair, decent light and a handy Nespresso machine should work wonders!
Oh, and give your house a deep clean. Literally everything you've been meaning to do – from painting that peeling wall to scrubbing out carpet stains – needs to be done now. Ain't no way you're going to be doing it after night shifts.
Stationery and pretty things
At this stage, ensure you've got a laptop in decent nick. Ain't nothing worse than completing a 5,000 word esay for your laptop to grind to a slow halt. I use a MacBook Air as it's light enough to take to uni, but any reliable laptop will work.
As for the rest, just stock up on Pukka pads, black pens (buy loads – doctors WILL steal them) a few highlighters. Until you know the size of your tunic's pockets, don't bother buying anything you think will fit. Most are the weirdest shape ever.
Do you need a stethoscope?
No. Not for practice anyway. If you want to get one to master the art of manual blood pressure just buy a cheap one from Amazon. Wait until you're working as a cardiac nurse before investing in a Littmann.
Do you need a fob watch?
Maybe. But until you know which trust you're in, don't splash out. Some won't allow metal watches for fear of infection, and if you join a union they'll probably bang one in with their little goodie bag when you join.
Should you get a super-duper, all singing, all brush lettered student planner?
This depends. Honestly, a full day to page diary (so, one page can be allocated for each day) should be fine. I bought a cheap academic diary from The Works and in all fairness, it's been sat in the bottom drawer of my super organised desk space the entire year.
If you've used a diary before and you're good at keeping it up to date, it's probably a good idea to think about getting one. But when you're carrying around hundreds of books and dread the thought of all that extra weight, they'll easily be tossed aside. Plus, is the expense worth it? Not at all in my opinion.
I prefer my whiteboard planner. It allows the boy and I to add our schedules on there, and I'll usually take a picture of it to refer to during the week.
What should you revise?
Start by watching some Khan Academy videos on the basic systems: cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, etc. Get to grips with the cell, what it's made of, what the organelles are etc. Basically, revise to a GCSE standard and you'll be more than prepared. Exams are tough and many, many in our cohort failed their exams – I was convinced I'd barely scrape a pass and I LOVE anatomy. By taking the time to get up to speed with at least the basics (could you tell me what the duodenum does? Where the kidneys are located? How a lymph node works?) you'll find lectures easy. Well. Easier.
Referencing will be your life now
Whether it's Harvard style, Vancouver, or something your uni has created especially, referencing your essays and reflections will haunt your dreams (Laura Zito, 2017). Get to grips with your uni's referencing guide – usually, this can be found online – and read it cover to cover. Know how an appendix contrasts with a bibliography. Understand how to reference e-journals. Getting this under grips will prevent many, many tears later.
So, I've covered pretty much everything. In essence, the key is in preparation. Getting your study space, stationery and, well, yourself ready means you'll be less overwhelmed when induction begins.
Oh, and prepare to see the next three years go by in a flash. Before you know it, it'll be the next cohort asking for advice as you prepare to get your pin number and step into a staff tunic!
Laura Zito. (2017). How students should prepare before their first year of nursing school. Available: http://wp.me/p5suIb-2GC. Last accessed 01 September 2017.
Some images via shutterstock.com


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What is a weighing sensor?
A weighing sensor is actually a device that converts a mass signal into a measurable output of an electrical signal. Weighing sensor to take into account the actual working environment of the sensor, it is related to the weighing sensor can work as well as safety and service life, even the entire weighing apparatus reliability and security.
Error for the precision of the instrument is existing, but the error size of the problem, then the weighing sensor in our use of the error produced by what types?
1, weighing the use of the sensor error is the operator, which also means that there are many reasons, for example, the temperature does not happen at the same time, Load Cell includes the probe to place the fault or the probe and the measurement address between the improper insulation, other application errors include air or other gases in the process of purification of the fault, the use of errors also touched the fault of the transmitter, so positive or negative pressure will affect the correct reading.
2, the characteristic mistake is inherent to the equipment, it is the difference between the equipment, the accepted characteristic of transporting function and the real characteristic, Load Cell this kind of mistake includes the DC drift value, the slant incorrect or the slant's non-linear.
3, dynamic error: Many of the sensor's characteristics and calibration are applicable to static conditions, this means that the input parameters used are static or similar to static, many of the sensors have strong damping, so they do not respond to the changes in the input parameters, such as, Load Cell thermistor demand for a number of seconds to echo the step change in temperature.
4, Thermistor will not immediately jump to the new impedance, or a sudden change, on the contrary, it is slowly changed to the new value, and then, if the delay characteristics of the weighing sensor to the temperature of the rapid changes in the echo, the output waveform will be distorted, Load Cell due to the dynamic error. The factors of dynamic error are echo time, amplitude distortion and phase distortion.
5, insertion error is when the system into a sensor, due to change the measurement parameters and errors occurred, the common is in the electronic measurement will present such problems, but in other methods of measurement will also present similar problems, for example, a voltmeter in the loop to measure the voltage, it will certainly have a natural impedance, than the loop impedance is much larger, Load Cell perhaps the circuit load, at this time, reading will have a great error, this type of error occurred in the reason is the use of a system (such as, pressure system) too large a transmitter; perhaps the dynamic nature of the system is too slow, and perhaps the system is loaded with too much heat from the heat.
6, environmental error comes from the use of the sensor environment, weighing sensor elements include temperature, or swing, sensation, elevation, chemical evaporation or other elements, which often affect the characteristics of the sensor, so in practice, these elements are always sorted together.

subset: commoncrawl


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In the United States, 44% percent of full-time Millennial employees and over 30% of all other full-time employees also do something entrepreneurial on the side. For some, its a matter of personal fulfillment or generating extra income for travel or fun, and yet for others its matter of survival; paying-off student loans and helping to make ends meet. No matter your reason for choosing #TheDoubleHustle lifestyle, it isn't for the faint of heart.
If you do it correctly, however, your side-hustle will make you a better professional and your job will make you a better side-hustler. To #DoubleHustle successfully, it takes a special set of skills and this workshop was created to teach them to you. We will show you how to build a thriving side business that can generate hundreds to thousands of dollars each month, all while you are fully engaged and thriving in your day job. We've done it.
The workshop is organized as follows:
Part 1: Defining Your Success - We will teach you to define who you want to be as a person, what you aspire to do and what you aspire to have over the next twelve months. We will guide you in using that information to frame what your side-hustle needs to be, while also teaching you to catalog your skills and turn them into side-hustle ideas that make money.
Part 2: Validating & Building Your Side-Hustle - I will tell you the story of how I built a side-hustle that afforded me a summer of weekend travel, paid off a car, and put a few extra thousand dollars in my pocket...all while working a demanding, full-time, MBA level job. I will use my story to teach you to validate your best ideas. Most importantly I will tell you how I was able to scale from 15 customers to 1,500 within 12 months and how you can do the same.
During this portion of the workshop, we will cover everything from business design, how to use system automation, creating digital products and using digital advertising.
Part3: "Guaranteed" Profitability - Profitability is simply what you sell minus your costs. Most entrepreneurs don't know that no matter your business size, there are only five moves that you can make that affect your profit. We will teach you all five moves, why they are important and how you can execute them to "guarantee" you make money.
This is one workshop you do not want to miss! Register via the link.


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Medication plays an important role in the treatment of and recovery from psychosis, including prevention of future episodes There are a variety of medications which target psychotic symptoms, as well as related anxiety and distress. Your prescriber will work with you to find what type of medication works best for you, including the:
- timing
- form,
- and amounts
of medication you should take.
It is important to participate in on-going evaluation in case you develop side-effects (which can be distressing) or your medication and dosage become less effective.


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Japanese have a very effective healing procedure that can treat numerous health problems in only 3-5 minutes. Japanese experts say that every fingers is connected to 2 organs from the body.
This amazing technique is also known as Shin Jitsu and implies the stimulating of certain points on the body, such that you will equilibrate the energy, that is so important for your emotional and physical health. All you have to do is to maintain your finger on these areas for few minutes, while you take some deep breaths.
Organs: stomach and spleen
Emotions: depression and anxiety
Organs: bladder and kidney
Emotions: discontent, fear and confusion
The most common symptoms: digestive disorders, back pain, muscle pain, tooth etc.
The middle finger
Organs: liver and gallbladder
Emotions: indecision, anger
The most common symptoms: menstrual pain, migraine headaches, especially in the front, fatigue, poor circulation.
Ring finger
Organs: lungs and large intestine
Emotions: grief, negativity, fear
The most common symptoms: asthma and other respiratory problems, digestive problems, skin disorders
Little finger
Organs: heart and small intestine
Emotions: lack of self-esteem and anxiety
The most common symptoms: heart disease, problems with bones, sore throat, etc.
Depending on the health problems or symptoms that you have a simple finger massage will relieve your pain or will improve the functioning of organs related to each finger. Rub each finger for 3-5 minutes and you will see how problems disappear!


text: We are a dynamic office located in the heart of Murphys, CA and are looking for a very few honest and trustworthy sales people who currently have a real estate license to join our firm. If you have integrity and want to pursue an interesting and profitable career, please contact Terri Bowman, Broker. Your success is our business. Leads provided, generous splits, floor time, great office on Main Street Murphys!


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Inside Scoop on the New Apprentice
Before the newest Celebrity Apprentice had been hired, Donald Trump, Mark Burnett and NBC decided they wanted to reach out beyond Hollywood, rock and sports glitterati and try to help the everyday people out there who have been hardest hit by the current economic downturn. So they concocted an extra season of the hit reality show The Apprentice, and sent out a call for the most likely candidates to fit nicely into Trump's world.
But this time things have changed. Trump is not favoring the hot young Ivy League lawyers and MBAs, as he has in the past, according to casting director Scott Salyers. "We're looking at people in their 20s, 30s, 40s. We have candidates up into their 80s," Salyers explains. "And we'll have a greater diversity of professions; there will be teachers, people who were working in middle management -- people from all walks of life."
After accepting video-recorded submissions and holding open casting calls in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit, producers have thousands of candidates to chose from -- probably more than ever before. That's partially because the unemployed actually have time to stand in line to attend a casting call during the week, which has never before been the case, Saylers says.
Mr. Moms and more
"There were a lot of Mr. Mom types who came out to the auditions," he relates. They'd lost their jobs, their wives had gone to work, and they had the time to come while their children were in school."
Some of the candidates' stories are truly heart-rending, Salyers notes. Some sent in videos showing the nice home they had lived in, as well the tiny apartment they had to move into with their families after they lost their jobs and their homes. Some displayed their storage units. "Some even showed us that they were living in their cars. And these people didn't do anything wrong. They were just victims of the economy," he says.
"Many had to move back in with their parents," Salyers adds. "Some parents had to move in with their children. One hopeful contestant even showed us footage of going into a pawn shop and pawning her wedding ring so she could put food on the table. Another showed himself on the phone with a creditor, trying to work out his debt."
The secret to success
But it will take more than just a sad story to win an opportunity to vie for an apprenticeship and a six-figure salary in the Trump Empire. "It all boils down to finding someone who can work for Mr. Trump," says Salyers, adding that just because your house went into foreclosure, doesn't make you a good candidate. "They need to have leadership quality, and it doesn't hurt if they're fun to watch." This IS televised entertainment, after all.
Salyers notes that the bottom line is that Trump is a businessman, and is open to anyone who can help him make money. But this season, Salyers notes, Trump has spent much more time than he usually does watching auditions and listening to people's stories. When Trump says he's trying to get America back to work, Salyers truly believes it's not just hype.
An official air date has not been set yet, but this cycle of The Apprentice is expected to run sometime in fall 2010. Right now the casting staff and producers are narrowing down the thousands of applications to the top 100, and ultimately down to 14. Celebrity Apprentice is scheduled to reappear in 2011.


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Using Bitseed v2 Bitcoin Edition
This device is delivered with bitcoind installed and the blockchain synchronized up to the date of shipment.
Information and updates can be found at bitseed.org/blog.
Basic Use
- Connect the device to your router using the provided Cat5 Ethernet cable.
- Plug in the power adapter and connect to the USB power port on the device (it is labeled 5V on the top cover above the connector).
- Once powered, the device will automatically start bitcoind within 2 hours. Bitcoin will catch up with the current block height and then run continuously, hosting a full bitcoin node.
- It is best to keep Bitseed running 24 hours per day.
Accessing the device
Status and Admin Panel via Browser
- The device has a web browser accessible interface.
- The local network ip address can be discovered by logging into your router and finding the list of network devices. It will have the format xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
- IP address scanning tools such as Angry IP scanner may be helpful – http://angryip.org/
- The hostname of the device is "bitseed"
- The device hosts two web pages:
- A simple status page on port 80. This page has basic status info and can be displayed publicly. http://[ip.add.re.ss]:80
- A full admin panel on port 81, which includes menus that allow more detailed status info and controls. This is intended to be kept private. http://[ip.add.re.ss]:81
SSH Access
- You can access the device via SSH.
- Username and Password are on the bottom of the device.
- Browse to your router's control panel to see what IP address the Bitseed device is using. Instructions for accessing your router's control panel are available from your ISP and/or included in the box for your router. The network host name of the device is "btc."
- Linux command line: ssh linaro@{paste device IP address here then press enter}
- Putty is a good Windows app for SSH.
Direct access via monitor, mouse and keyboard
- The device can be connected to an HDMI monitor with the HDMI input.
- A USB mouse and USB keyboard can be connected.
- The Ubuntu operating system provides a GUI, and you can open a terminal window to enter commands.
- Bitseed scripts will not run from the GUI. Access the command line via a terminal window.
Shutting down the device
The best way to shutdown the device is to stop bitcoind first. This avoids potential blockchain database corruption. The status panel has a shutdown button.
Or, at the command line enter:
Wait until the script says bitcoin has stopped, then enter:
shutdown -h now
System Configuration
- The latest version of Bitcoin Core as of the ship date is installed
- The OS is installed on the 4GB internal NAND flash
- The hard drive is mounted as /home/linaro
Advanced Use
The device contains some scripts that may be useful
./blockstatus.sh – current highest synced block ./btcstop.sh – stop bitcoind ./btcinfo.sh – basic status ./btcwatch.sh – watch dog script, run bitcoind if not running
Bitseed run several scripts automatically. These are initiated via
crontab -e
sudo crontab -e
Port 8333 for Bitcoin peer connections
Bitcoin uses port 8333 to connect with other nodes. To allow other nodes to find your node, Bitcoin will attempt to open port 8333 of your router using the UPnP protocol. If UPnP is not enabled, then the node will only have eight peers. If no more than eight peers are connected, check that UPnP is enabled in the router. If UPnP is not supported, you can manually open port 8333 with the router port forwarding controls.
Other notes
- It is best to keep the device running 24/7. If the device is offline for weeks or months, it could take many days for it to catch up with the current block height.
- The automatic scripts will make a full backup of the blockchain database every day. Bitcoind will shutdown for about 30 minutes each week during backup and then restart.
- A power outage or hard shutdown can cause the blockchain database to report an error. If this happens, the device will delete the damaged database and restore it from backup. This takes about an hour and should occur automatically.
- If for some reason the restore fails, bitcoind can build a new blockchain from scratch, but this will likely take about 1-2 weeks due to the large size of the Bitcoin blockchain.
Subscribe to our newsletter at https://bitseed.org/subscribe/ for Bitseed announcements, news, and updates.


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Tagged: film
A Quick Analysis of The Final Scene of "Birdman"
By Gregory J. M. Kasunich
[Please note, the following article is a look at the final scene of BIRDMAN, it will contain SPOILERS.]
Shortly after the credits rolled and the lights came up and the combination exhilaration/exhaustion wore off on Alejandro González Iñárritu's BIRDMAN, the question everyone seemed to be asking themselves, and each other was, "What is the deal with Emma Stones final gaze upwards into the heavens after Riggan, her father, the once titular Birdman, jumps through the window?"
Yesterday, David Chen, of the fantastic site Slashfilm, posted an article called Let's Talk About the Ending of 'Birdman' where he examines the final scene of the film. The article contains a nice lead up and exploration of the scene. Since he does a great job of setting up the scene and making his case, I won't repeat what he wrote. That being said, with regards to the final moments of the picture, he had this to say:
"Thus, I posit that the very last shot of the film is Innaritu's way of joining the metaphorical/imagined with the real. Riggan still can't fly, nor does he actually jump out a window in that last scene. The movie is just conveying that for the first time, Sam is seeing her father the way he sees himself."
It's a great article and it worth a read, but after seeing the film [full disclosure: unlike Scott Tobias of The Dissolve, I loved it] I've had some time to think about it, the ending in particular and I figured I would weigh in here with my interpretation of the final, and seemingly divisive, scene of BIRDMAN.
Since so much has already been written about this picture I'll cut to the case: I believe that Riggan's life, and career, ends abruptly on stage after he fires a bullet (from an almost literal Chekhov's gun) into his skull. Therefore, what this means is that the final scene, as Riggan astonishingly, miraculously, unbelievably awakes in a hospital bed, actually takes place in a heaven-like afterlife where Riggan finally achieves a soupçon of all that yearned for in the penultimate days of his tortured existence.
First, let's look at the cinematic language employed by Alejandro González Iñárritu to hint at this conclusion at least in terms of editorial and photographic continuity. Prior to Riggan's self inflicted gunshot wound the film is presented in one, seemingly continuous, take planting the audience firmly in Riggan's headspace and subjective perspective. This is Riggan's story, which is reinforced by the fact that, although the camera does wander away from Riggan, from time to time, in order to train its unrelenting eye on other members of the ensamble, it is the narration and hallucinogenic/telepathic manifestations only inside of Riggan's head to which the audience is granted narrative access. The camera never cuts away from this continuous take, that is, until Riggan fires the gun and drops to the stage, only then does the film waver and cut, multiple times, to a fever dream of images, and ultimately to a tilt skyward towards the light.
A bit on the nose? Maybe, maybe not. Speaking of noses, when Riggan does awake in the impossible hospital his face is now covered in gauze which strikingly resembles the cowl of his alter ego Birdman. He is informed, by what may be his only friend and exasperated lawyer, Jake, that he survived the ordeal due to the fact that when Riggan fired the gun he had missed his head and instead just blasted off his nose, and that this, in fact, is a good thing.
During the film he twice expresses concern over being overshadowed on the front page of the newspaper. First after lamenting the fact that if he had perished during a flight he shared with George Clooney, it would have been Clooney's face on the front page not his. And again, after he is upstaged by Edward Norton, it is Norton's face printed on the front page of the paper, not Riggan's regardless of the fact that it was Riggan's idea, investment, etc. But now, in the hospital room, Jake shows him the newspaper, its font page plastered with Riggan. The newpaper itself containing even more incredible news. The review that was promised to end his career, and perhaps another reason he killed himself, never materializes, instead he receives an incredible review validating his choices, applauding his bravery on stage, not his cowardly exit from life. There's more. His ex-wife, whom he still loves, is there by his bedside. Earlier we see him regretting cheating on her so much so that he attempts suicide, another hint that Riggan is all to ready to kill himself when he can't emotionally handle the consequences of his choices. Also, let's not forget to mention the play is a hit, the television spits images of people from all over praying for him and lighting candles, his celebrity restored, his money troubles over, all stacked together it sounds absurd, and it is, unless you look at it as if this is a version of Riggan's nirvana.
In his final moments, alone in the room, he pulls of the bandages and looks at his new face while Birdman, in full spandex, watches from the toilet. This suggests that perhaps, even though Birdman will always be a part of him, a part of his legacy and identity, that in death Riggan is able to remove the mask, to assume a new face, a new identity, and demote Birdman, the public version of him anyway, to the crapper. Riggan then leaves the bathroom, steps through the window of his hospital room (a metaphor for purgatory if there ever was one) and leaps.
Which brings us to Sam, his daughter, who enters the room, goes to the window, first looks down, then up as a strange smile creeps across her face. Earlier, Sam blasts Riggan with one of the more scathing speeches in the film. She runs her father straight through with a barrage of pellets seething with every emotion she has felt for her father; anger, disgust, exasperation, and honesty. But now, she arrives with flowers that are anything but the not-so-passively-aggressively delivered roses (a flower which Riggan hates) she gives him earlier in the film, only this time he smell them (due to the nose he shot off to spite his aging face.) They share a tender moment, things are now better than they have ever been in the past. After Sam comes back into the room and looks out the window I believe she does see her father, unbound by his earthy burdens, free to fly as he always imagined he could.
In this way Riggan goes out completely on his own terms. Yes, maybe this was not the ideal ending to his story, but it surely is one fitting of his character.
THE PAST RECEDES: Revisionist History as a Form of Self-Therapy.
[The following article has been edited from it's original form. The review section of Mike Doughty's new record has been removed and will be published later as a stand alone piece.]
I first came across the musician Mike Doughty by pure providence late one rainy Valentines Day evening among the remnants of a Philadelphia winter in early 2005. He was the unassuming opening act for the somewhat avant-garde, twenty-six member independent pop-rock group that called themselves The Polyphonic Spree. His performance was, unexpectedly, the general antithesis to the main event. The Spree, as their fans have come to call them, clad themselves in colorful robes, dance manically around the stage, each member playing a different and increasingly exotic instrument. The band plucked and played everything from a harp to a Theremin, lending the group the appearance of an eclectic and benevolent musical cult. Doughty on the other hand with his thinning blond-brown hair, three day beard, jeans and un-tucked button down shirt looked less like a rock star and more like any middle aged man you might pass on the subway without a second thought or lingering glance. In fact, if not for the sundry tattoos adorning his arms, one would be more likely to mistake him for a gap-toothed clerk rather than a musician. He took the stage with nothing more than a guitar and microphone and proceeded to pour out song after song, each one filled with tales of drug addiction, debt, recovery, loss, love, and yearning to the soggy and enraptured audience. Pausing intermittently only to shift the position of his capo or trade quips with the audience about the contentious relationships between cheese steak vendors and the merits of the day's holiday, he confidently commanded the small venue. He was engaging, charming, and funny. His songs, all which had begun to sound a bit the same when played back to back, ran together into an evocative and poetic movement of jangly folk rock. After Doughty left the stage and The Spree stepped in to offer up their signature bombast, I was left thinking about this gravel voiced troubadour, I had to know more.
As it turned out, this Mike Doughty, the heart-bearing solo guitar slinger, used to be known by the truncated moniker, M. Doughty, the front man, vocalist, and song writer of the genre hopping acid-jazz-alternative-rock band Soul Coughing which had some minor hits in the early 2000's with the tunes "Super Bon Bon" and "Circles", the former used by professional wrestler Danny Dorning as his entrance music and the latter used as the soundtrack to a Hannah-Barbarra cartoon mash-up for the Cartoon Network. M. (Doughty, interestingly enough, was also the voice behind the syncopated emphasis shifting "Fall Into the Gap" commercials where he spouted the kaki vendor's slogan over and over on top of footage of kids cartwheeling around in overalls and branded hoodies.) After enjoying the two discs of solo material, 2000's full length release Skittish (which Doughty recorded in one day and was promptly rejected by his label at the time Warner Bros.) and 2003's Rockity Roll EP acquired at the merchandise table after the show, I had to have more, and here is was, a back catalogue of tunes I could consume while I waited for Doughty's next solo release.
In the late 1990's and early 2000's Soul Coughing released three full length LP's each one brimming with the bizarre morphed, pitched samples of Mark Degli Antoni, the fat circling bouncing bass lines of Sebastian Steinberg, the tight schizophrenic hip-hop beat of drummer Yuval Gabay, and of course the slinking stuttering guitar and the unmistakable scatting, trumpeting vocals of one (M)ike Doughty. Here was a full, slickly produced, funky-fun, awkwardly named band that was the candy coating to Doughty chocolate center. At times, more often than not, the production, arrangements, and instrumentation undercut the smart beat poetry and simplicity of Doughty's lyrics and guitar lines, but still there remained innumerable inspired moments throughout the three records. In fact, the band in many ways elevated Doughty's sound. There, alone on the stage at the South Street venue Doughty's tunes blended together, a result of his affinity for the same three or four chord progressions and strumming patterns (using the capo to change the key and give his tunes some form of variety). That is to say nothing disapproving of his gift for melodies, which deftly bob and weave through his simplistic guitar work. With his former band, the songs found teeth. Beats pounding aggressively propelled forward by the sometimes-manic-sometimes-beautifully-restrained bass and jittery atmospheric samples. The music was interesting, fun, and, purely in retrospect, the logical predecessor to Doughty's stripped down solo work. One can very clearly hear each of the individual band members contributions, which is to say most of the songs Doughty played that first night could have been demos for future Soul Coughing songs had the band not been slain by Doughty's own hand.
Mike Doughty is hardly the first front man to eschew his band mates and pursue a stripped down solo career, but in Doughty's case this move seemed less of a sea change in artistic direction and more of a past life amputation. See, after Soul Coughing started to get some mainstream traction, with a music video on MTV (when MTV still played music videos), Mike quit the band. His reasons he later recorded in his succinctly written and disarmingly honest memoir The Book of Drugs, the title itself an indication as to why he stepped away from the band. At the time Doughty was abusing a number of drugs including heroine and found his relationship with his band mates to be uneven, unfair, confusing and toxic. So he left, got clean, and headed out on the road with an acoustic guitar in the trunk of a rented car and his rejected album Skittish, which, thanks to the file sharing website Napster, found an audience even before Mike had a chance to play the songs live. Of course during these shows any number of fans would request some of Soul Coughing songs. Sometimes Mike would oblige, other times he would become defensive or dismissive of the requests, insisting on only performing post-Soul Coughing songs. He even has gone on the record several times in magazines, personal blog posts, radio interviews and even in is memoir, to document his disdain for the way the Soul Coughing songs were realized. In fact, it was during the promotion of The Book of Drugs where he was forced to speak about exorcising his demons and his experiences with Soul Coughing that he formulated a plan to recapture ownership of his creative output with his former band.
So here it is, after years of gestation and rumination, the truest true vision of what these songs should have sounded like. Thirteen songs, which are all, according to Doughty, the ontologically perfect representations of Mike Doughty original intent, finally recorded. And the audience has to believe him. He is the original author. He wrote those songs alone, just him and his guitar. He knew what he wanted his audience to hear when they played those records at home and now he can share that vision with the world. The only reason they never turned out this way originally was that he claims to have been hindered at the time by abusive, delusional, obtrusive band mates and label executives. But now, the songs can finally be heard the way they are supposed to be heard, and Mike Doughty can finally put all the pain of those formative musical years behind him; or can he?
This all begs the question; just because something is possible, should it be done? Just because Doughty could quickly and easily, whithout interference from a label or a large financial burden, rerecord songs recorded nearly two decades ago, should he have, and since he did, what purpose does it serve? In 2004 Brian Wilson, famously of the 1960's surf-rock band The Beach Boys, released a record somewhat confusingly, titled "Brian Wilson Presents Smile". This release was a reworking of a number of tunes the he had originally written with his band back in 1966. Originally Smile was meant to be a follow up to the widely successful and historically influential album Pet Sounds. As the band worked on the new record the concept album bloomed into an unwieldy endeavor for the band and for Wilson himself who suffered from emotional instability and substance abuse. Ultimately the project was all but mostly abandoned. The Beach Boy's did end up releasing an album called Smiley Smile in the wake of the discarded sessions, which was a stripped down version of some of the songs from the Smile sessions which ended up being recorded in Brian Wilson's home studio. The resulting album entered the charts at the lowest position in the bands career. So, some twenty-five years later, Brian, still sore from those deserted, unrealized, songs, and perhaps as a way to rid himself of the mistakes he made, both personally and professionally in the past, decided to rerecord and release the material himself.
Wilson made several changes to the tunes from the originally period of recording with his band going as far as to even change the lyrics of the much loved and instantly recognizable Good Vibrations back to the "original" lyrics that he wrote stating that this new version was how he had always intended the lyrics be recorded. The reviews of the album were mixed if not at least reverent. The story of The Beach Boys is one steeped in the Mythology of Americana. It has it all, relative rags to riches, family drama, success, fame, money, drugs, loss, creative brilliance, cultural impact, redemption, and music. When the world finally got to hear "the real" version of the mysterious Smile record the band never completed, it was ready, but like looking back at an old photograph of yourself, the result was both a mix of recaptured glory and youth as well as melancholic nostalgia for things forever lost to time. The tunes sounds similar to a Beach Boys record, but they were not recorded and realized by the Beach Boys. It stands to reason that those dusty tapes, ageing in a vault somewhere, containing the remnants of the failed record persisted in Wilson's mind as an unkind specter reminding him through the years of one of the lowest points of his life and by reclaiming those songs, finishing the un-finished, he could put a new coat of paint on his past. He could take a memory of the past and rather than run from it or deny it, he could dive straight into it, reclaim it, and therefore he could finally be set free from the self imposed manacles of unrealized dreams.
Here we have a musician Brian Wilson, divorced from his band, revisiting songs that have already been released and embraced by the public in order to show the world how these songs should have sounded. Although it is unfair to put Mike Doughty and Brian Wilson in the same category of songwriters, the fact remains; both stories bear some meaningful similarities.
One more: George Lucas's hotly debated, and what some consider arbitrary, revisions to the original version of the 1977 film Star Wars. Casual fans of the series have come off as ambivalent if not confused by the alterations, whereas die-hard fans have vilified the film's writer/director George Lucas for both betraying the art form and for being a hypocrite. A younger George Lucas years before he first took to the edit room to revisit his most famous contribution to film history famously sat before congress in 1988 during a public hearing on the colorization process of film. He lambasted the process and harangued the studios decision to add color to black and white films. Lucas said during the testimony, "People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarian." He Continued, "Today, engineers with their computers can add color to black-and-white movies, change the soundtrack, speed up the pace, and add or subtract material to the philosophical tastes of the copyright holder. Tommorrow, more advanced technology will be able to replace actors with "fresher faces," or alter dialogue and change the movement of the actor's lips to match." All of which flies in the face of Lucas's later decision to alter his own films in a similar fashion. Since the initial release of Star Wars, the film has undergone a myriad of changes over the years. From changing the title from simply Star Wars to the more complex Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, to more egregious modifications including adding computer generated creatures into the film and reordering crucial character moments to change the characters original intent. Over and over the film has been enhanced and updated by digitally restoring the negative to changing the soundtrack to recreating the skies to retiming lines of dialogue all of which has been documented in detail by film preservationists. Lucas claims that these films are his, and that with each change he is bringing the film closer to its truest incarnation. At the time when the movie was originally filmed there were obstacles preventing George from fully realizing his vision, but years later, with new, cheaper, processes, he could revisit and rerelease the films as he saw fit. Each time he does he is met with a chorus of detractors as well as capital gains for his efforts.
What some do not know, or easily forget (in no small part due to George's own efforts to black ball her in the filmmaking community) is that Star Wars owes a debt of gratitude for its success to one Marcia Lucas: George's ex-wife. Marcia was by all accounts the warm, open, heart to George's cool, logical, head. She balanced him, encouraged him, and, literally, helped him craft his films and career; she was not only his wife, but also his editor. She convinced him to leave in some of the more heartfelt moments in the original Star Wars film that George would have rather seen on the cutting room floor. To this day George Lucas has not received an Academy Award, yet in 1978 Marcia took one home for editing Star Wars.
After Lucas's initial success with Star Wars he set about building an empire of his own called Skywalker Ranch. In 1978, after Star Wars and before The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas began acquiring land in Marin County and laying the groundwork for his independent film studio conceived as a creative, professional, facility that would recreate the culture and atmosphere of collaboration and communication between filmmakers that he experienced during film school. The ranch would also act as the unrealized dream of his friend and mentor Francis Ford Coppola. Years earlier, under Coppola's tutelage, Lucas adopted the independent spirit as Coppola set about building American Zoetrope, an independent studio free of the bureaucracy, culture and politics of Hollywood, which Coppola found stifling, in San Francisco. After Zoetrope all but collapsed and Coppola was saddled with the bill, Lucas set out to make films on his own. As time pushed on, George became more and more involved in his films, overseeing both Return of the Jedi and Temple of Doom at the same time while still pressing forward with the construction of the ranch, sparing less and less time and for his family. Something was bound to break, and finally in 1983, after fourteen years of marriage, Marcia left George.
His long time friend and collaborator Steven Spielberg said of the divorce, "It pulverized him. George and Marcia, for me, were the reason you got married, because it was an insurance policy that marriages do work…and when that marriage didn't work, I lost my faith in marriage for a long time." After George lost Marcia he was left living with the ghosts of her contributions, both in his films and in his life. That film remains to Lucas both his greatest achievement and deepest wound. The film that built his empire was recognized by the Academy not for George's writing and directing, but rather for Marcia's editing. The most successful and creatively productive years of George's life were spent with this woman binding her memory and influence to everything that George had accomplished. It stands to reason that George would then go about using all his power and time and money and influence to slowly chip away at what Marcia had done in terms of her contribution to Star Wars. With each iteration the film becomes, in some small way, more George's and less Marcia's. It is George's way of reclaiming his film, to say to himself and the world that there are his films, no one else's, and he alone has the power to rewrite his own past as he sees fit. Every time a new version of Star Wars is released, another layer of George's past erodes away taking him farther from Marcia and closer to a future of his own design.
Side note: A friend of mine once had a girl friend in the formative years of his life with whom he shared his most loved musical discoveries. Songs he felt he had personally unearthed which expressed to others the parts of him he was unable to express himself. When the relationship finally broke apart these songs had become tainted with the memories of his failed romance. But he still loved those songs dearly and he was not about to throw the baby out with the bath water. Sure, she had taken a part of him with her when she left, but she was not going to get the music too. So, in order to reclaim the songs he made a number of mixed tapes containing the songs with the most heart-retching memories and then, over the next year or so, played the songs during the most fun, joyous, and exciting occasions he could find, essentially reprogramming his brains associations with the music. It worked.
So the question remains, who is Mike Doughty's re-interpreted album for? Who was Brian Wilson Presents Smile for? Who are the revised Star Wars films for? Is there a vocal minority of pop culture consumers what are incessantly clamoring for changes, updates, revisions, and additions to previously-released and widely-embraced popular art? Or is it that artists and creators themselves are never satisfied with their own creative output. Picasso, Van Gough, and Dali all painted over completed paintings, deeming them unworthy of themselves regardless of what others felt when they saw the original paintings. They wrote and rewrote their own art, over and over again. Martin Scorsese once said that his films are never completed they are just released. What he meant is that as a filmmaker he always feels like something could be better, finessed, perfected. As an artist, perfection, either in conceit or execution, is essentially the goal. Even artists that embrace improvisation, spontaneity, and imperfection still strive to convey their conceit in the most meaningful way possible. When complications and limitations arise, creatively, physically, or otherwise, concession and compromises are inevitable. It is those decisions, it is every decision, that an author makes as they create and navigate the limitations that ultimately shape the final product. Sometimes the wrong choices are made, sometimes the product is a failure, but sometimes it's not. Screenwriter William Goldman, when speaking about how to choose a Hollywood project said "nobody knows anything". Artists are unable to effectively predict the impact of their art, but what they can do is create art with intention and hope.
Perhaps is something more than just the inability to let go of imperfect representations of the artist intent, but rather the artists reclamation of their past work is a form of self therapy in order to rewrite a period of their life so that they can finally move on. With Mike Doughty, he is closing the chapter on a section of his life that essentially made him who he is today as a musician despite his best efforts to take his music in a different creative direction. By rereleasing these songs he is saying to himself, and to the world, that he is the true creator of this music, that he never needed his band. He is shedding the skin he had finally grown into. His solo career is successful, it pays the bills, and he has a doggedly faithful and sincere fan base, but people still see him as Mike Doughty of Soul Coughing instead of just Mike Doughty, which is perhaps all he ever wanted to be; just Mike Doughty. Wilson has recently reunited with his old band mates and has released a new album under the Beach Boys banner. He has moved past his failures. He has moved past Smile. In fact, the entirety of the original Smile has now been released in a beautiful box set and contains all the stems, alternate takes, mixes, etc. of those sessions from long ago effectively trumping Brian's earlier effort to bring those songs to light. Lucas also is entering a new phase in his life and career. He is now engaged to be married, he has sold off the Star Wars franchise to Disney, he is starting a museum, and he seems happy. He no longer tinkers and tweaks the film edited by his ex-wife. He no longer is rewriting the past, instead he is writing his future.
In each example, these re-releases are not disingenuous cash grabs or an artists inability to stop striving for perfection, but rather, somewhat successful, attempts to sooth the wounds of the past. These are not cries for help, but instead creative individuals serving themselves. These records and films are not for the world, they are for an audience of one: their creators. The world will always have the originals. Soul Coughing records of still for sale online and in used record stores, as is Brian Wilson Present's Smile. Dusty VHS copies containing the unmolested version of Star Wars languish on thrift store shelves or can be snapped up online. Once art is released into the world it no longer belongs wholly to it's author but instead it is claimed by those who have a personal experience with it. These revisions to the past might be nothing more than public self-therapy, but then again, all art in someway or another is created as a means of momentarily quelling that relentless voice inside us all.


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Great Britain, with a disabled population roughly 11 million strong, is predicted to clean up in the Paralympics medal tally thanks to years of encouragement and investment in its disabled athletes.
But while the achievements of the athletes are to be celebrated, millions of non-sporting disabled people face an ongoing battle in finding success and competing at the highest level in industry.
According to government statistics, in 2011, just 48.8% of people of working age with physical or mental impairments were employed, next to a national average of 77.5%
Although figures for the private sector are difficult to obtain, the gulf is probably worse still if you exclude public sector workers, suggests Liz Sayce, chief executive of Disability Rights UK and the author of a recent government-sponsored review which recommended expanding state funded access to work support for disabled employees.
The problem, she says, is due in part to a "built-in risk aversion" among many companies. "Big organisations sometimes have a lot of procedures around safety. [Others] don't really know what is involved and have anxieties about what it would mean to employ disabled people."
Even when a disabled person makes it onto the payroll it can be tough to break through the corporate glass ceiling, she says.
A survey of over 1,400 professionals conducted by Disability Rights UK's predecessor, Radar, in 2010, found that non-disabled staff are three times more likely than disabled counterparts to earn over £80,000 and are twice as likely to become board-level directors.
"The odds are stacked against you," concludes Sayce, who blames a corporate culture of overprotectiveness and lowered expectations.
"Managers, with the best intentions, just overlook people for promotion. They think, 'Oh, we wouldn't want to put more stress on the person.' Of course for a disabled person who is ambitious, they want the opportunity. It's not at first discrimination, but it results in discrimination."
Companies that fail to encourage disabled employees are however missing out, insists Tim Taylor, diversity and inclusion manager at Lloyds Banking Group, Britain's largest retail bank.
In refusing to take a chance on perfectly well qualified disabled candidates, firms put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, he says.
"Many of our customers have disabilities and if we are going to understand their needs it helps us to have disabled people in the organisation. [In addition] a lot of disabled people bring a unique life experience: they can be good at problem solving, innovation and planning. These are all skills which are really helpful to us."
Lloyds was one of the founders of Radar's Radiate national network for senior and talented disabled professionals. The business also has its own internal employees network, a personal development programme and a workplace adjustment scheme to help disabled staff adapt office space and IT.
Taylor explains that the company, which has over 104,000 employees, is hoping to raise the level of debate among employers and managers across the country. "For too many people it is about wheelchairs and white sticks [and] not about people who are actually very talented and happen to have a disability."
This is not to say that Lloyds is quite there yet. Internal surveys show that only about 3.5% of staff – and just over 1% of senior managers – identify as being disabled. Under-reporting could be an issue here, he suggests. Employees may choose not to disclose an impairment or may not recognise that a minor condition even qualifies. But with the right support he is confident of improvements.
Leadership from the top has been vital, he says. But Lloyds' standpoint does not come from a sense of corporate social responsibility. "[CSR] has been the traditional approach and there is a lot of merit in that, but at Lloyds we tend to want to lead on the business case. It's good for the customer, it's good for colleagues, and it can help to make or save money. That argument resonates more."
Susan Scott-Parker, founder and chief executive of the Employers' Forum on Disability, an NGO with 120 global firms of the likes of Barclays and Accenture among its members, is one leading advocate who sees the potential of business as a driving factor in instituting positive change.
"What [employers] can do differently that will make it easier [for people] to succeed, get promoted and contribute to the business is the essence of this new approach to disability," she says, pointing to the Business Taskforce on Accessible Technology EFD launched in 2008. The initiative commits members to only buy technologies that conform to a common accessibility standard.
Another case in point, Scott-Parker says, is drug maker GlaxoSmithKline, which has adopted a work placement scheme known as Project Search. The initiative helps young people with learning or other disabilities to gain the skills that will enable them to make the transition from education to work.
"What GSK is doing," she says, "is enabling a group of, say, 10 people with disabilities to become more employable. They may take six or eight of them in the knowledge that the rest will go on and work for other employers."
The idea is to not just recruit good people for the company but to also build a pipeline of talent for the entire community. "The point is, it has to be right for the person, and right for the company. We don't want companies to think that when they do something in this space they are doing people a favour."
But while much onus lies with business behaviour, other sectors also have a vital role, the chief executive adds, noting the challenge facing employment agencies such as Job Centre Plus in educating unemployed disabled people – and in turn firms – about available government funded access support.
"Business has to behave differently, welfare to work agencies have to behave differently, and government has to learn how to fund the system in a different way. All three have to change their behaviour," she says.
In this way, improving the lot of disabled people in the workplace and giving companies the best possible pool of talent is not quite a marathon, much less a sprint. It's more of a relay. Those affected will be hoping that business doesn't drop the baton.
Will Henley is a journalist, communications specialist and executive member of the Commonwealth Journalists Association.
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What is it to be techno-flattened? My definition is:
Is this a problem? I'm wondering if it may be. Much of the richness of experience is drawn from the variety of activities which we undertake. Even now, email co-exists with the telephone - and often face-to-face contact. But increasingly, the computer is at the centre of things. And the experience of the computer, importantly, is the same whatever we happen to be doing. It is basically:
"to have the variety of human experience attenuated in the name of functional equivalence and labour-saving."What does that mean? It means that the experience of 'doing everything with a computer' is less rich than the variety of experiences that one would have were you not to use a computer: writing and sending a letter is a richer experience than writing and sending an email; face-to-face meetings are richer than online meetings, and so on. Of course, sending an email is labour-saving, and much of the experience of writing a letter which is 'attenuated' might be regarded as a 'waste of time' (queuing at the post office, pen not working, etc). But nevertheless, something is clearly lost in terms of the richness of experience.
Is this a problem? I'm wondering if it may be. Much of the richness of experience is drawn from the variety of activities which we undertake. Even now, email co-exists with the telephone - and often face-to-face contact. But increasingly, the computer is at the centre of things. And the experience of the computer, importantly, is the same whatever we happen to be doing. It is basically:
- Screen
- Keyboard
- Mouse/trackpad/touch
That is what we directly perceive, and all we have to do is manage the purpose to which we wish to coordinate our actions with the computer. All we see is that THE SCREEN CHANGES! I have wrestled over whether this single point of coordination is a good thing. Certainly, when we did work on the Personal Learning Environment, the idea of a single point of coordination under the control of the user was seen as a good thing, avoiding the cognitive overload involved in having to coordinate too many types of action with too many types of tools.
But now I'm not so sure, and I'm certainly sure that the homogenizing of educational experience through the computer is not a good thing.
I've been thinking about this particularly with regard to the iTEC project, which has sought to make technical interventions in education around the construction of 'innovative technological scenarios'. Each of these involves technology in one form or another. But the most revealing result of this process of scenario creation is the fact that all the scenarios appear to be the same. Because the computer is introduced in various guises (as a homework collaboration tool; as a data collection tool; as a means of engaging with outside experts; etc) in situations which would not normally require a computer, the richness of the experience of the not-with-computer homework task, or the not-with-computer data collection task is attenuated with the experience of "screen, keyboard, mouse". And no matter how much one attempts to be innovative with the scenarios, the inevitable branding of "screen, keyboard, mouse" has an inevitable (and rather dull) ring to it.
This I think is a problem, and it raises the deeper issue of the place for technology in education. Variety of experience is a fundamental component of education. But in our current conception of technology which is very user-focused, where the technology directly serves the learning process, the variety of experience is under threat. One might hope that teachers with iTEC scenarios will have the ingenuity to create rich experiences, although there is a risk that the scenarios themselves (and the technology) might get in the way of this.
But technology is with us. It is part of the environment within which we try to educate our children. Its effects are highly complex, but one of the principal effects has been to challenge the meaningfulness of what happens in the classroom over what happens online (my daughter constantly complains that she could learn more from Wikipedia). There is nothing new in this. Education has always tried to justify the meaningfulness of what happens in the classroom in comparison to daily life.
But schools are more like families than Wikipedia. They are not primarily instruments for information transfer - Wikipedia can, as my daughter knows, do that much better. They are instead social microcosms - safe places where human attachments can be explored against the context of norms and rules. We might think that even those processes can happen online in Facebook - but Facebook is no more similar to school life than to family life.
The significance of this is that within families, schools and the online world communications are exchanged and different kinds of meaning are established. When my daughter complains about what happens in school it is because she cannot reconcile the meaning of what happens in the classroom with what happens online. In some ways, technology could serve to make that reconciliation of meanings even more difficult by being forced inappropriately on education - just as well-intentioned attempts to teach ICT actually led to one of the most disastrously boring subjects on the curriculum!
Technology is clearly tied-up in the process of meaning-making. But Facebook may feel more meaningful because the coordination mechanisms within Facebook work better than the coordination mechanisms within the classroom. And those coordination mechanisms in the classroom (classroom management by teachers, curriculum, timetable, etc) appear less effective in the light of the effectiveness of technology. I believe the key is to see the link between meaning-making and coordination. Seeing that would mean that we wouldn't make the mistake of thinking that we have to put Facebook into the classroom (because that would confuse the coordination situation, not strengthen it), but rather we have to use technology to establish more effective coordination mechanisms in the classroom which can also serve to create conduits of meaning between the form of life in the school and the form of life online.
In short, the problem lies in the dissonance between different domains of meaning. The challenge is to help resolve the dissonance whilst maintaining the richness of the variety of experience in school.


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Keith Jacobson, Lead Pastor – e-mail
My military father introduced me to the mobile family life. It has continued for me in ministry. My family has enjoyed a variety of communities before coming to Carmichael: Eugene and Portland, Oregon; Spokane and Puyallup, Washington; Napa Valley and Redding in Northern California; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
With more than 30 years in ministry, I currently serve as lead pastor at Carmichael where it is my joy to serve with dynamic staff members who have a deep love for Jesus and people. I look forward to our weekly times for worship, and I thoroughly enjoy the various opportunities to open scripture.
I am blessed with a wonderful wife who has shared so many adventures with me, Kari and I have been married for 29 years, and each year opens a new chapter of exploration rich with memories to be made! We have two children, Zach and Karissa, who as young adults are exploring their futures, shaping their careers and they still enjoy time at home!
The location of Sacramento matches our love of the outdoors. Bike rides along the river trail, sailing our Snipe, hiking, camping, snow skiing, and any time at the coast! It is a real pleasure to live so close to so many natural adventures!
The greatest joy is Jesus-He came to this earth so that we might have a more abundant life. I am blessed to be sharing this abundant life with family and friends while growing in ministry here at Carmichael.
Kari Jacobson, Visitation Chaplain – e-mail
I was born in Japan where my parents served as missionaries. My early years were spent in remote farming communities in Japan and the tropical island of Guam. Portland, Oregon was my first home in the U.S.
I did my nursing training at Walla Walla College and Portland Adventist Hospital. I met Keith while I was a nursing student in Portland. He was the ministerial intern at my home church! We have shared in ministry and life for 29 years!
One of my greatest joys has been sharing Jesus with people of all ages. I have had the joy to share with all age groups –letting others know that Jesus, who is very real to me, is interested in each person.
Currently, I am doing visitation ministry here at Carmichael, which includes home bound and hospital care. It is our desire at Carmichael for members to know support in every part of their life journey. The Jesus who stepped out of heaven for us is interested in every need of our lives – I celebrate this truth with joy!
Our two young adult children continue to be so much fun as we watch them pursue their dreams in career and college. Zach and Karissa continue to bring home their friends, which we thoroughly enjoy.
In addition to my church and family work, I am a nurse working part time in outpatient care for Mercy General and Mercy San Juan. It seems my life is constantly involving people – which I enjoy!
Benji Ferguson, Youth Pastor – e-mail
I was born in Colorado, but consider myself a native Californian.
I graduated from Pacific Union College in 1999 then spent a year as a Youth Pastor in Orange County, California. I then returned to California after spending 12 years at the Minnetonka Church in Minnesota.
I have a passion for student ministries and especially developing student leaders. That is why I pursued an M.A. in Transformational Leadership from Bethel University. I love working with students and especially enjoy seeing new faces come to our church programs. I'm in charge of our Jr.High and High School programs. Make sure to check out the youth page on this website for all of our activities!
I enjoy most sports, including golf, tennis, skiing and surfing. I also enjoy time with my family. My wife Stephanie is my partner in ministry and we are the proud parents of of Dylan, Holly and Liesl and our Goldendoodles Belle and Rey.
Caleb Henry, Discipleship and Outreach Pastor – e-mail
I came to Carmichael to be pastor of Discipleship and Outreach. Born in San Diego, California, I moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, at age six. When it came time to pursue a higher education, I chose to attain a Theology degree from Walla Walla University. I am now studying for a Master of Arts in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Following college I served at the University Church in College Place, Washington as an assistant pastor. I was also a mentor coach for incoming freshman, helping them with the transition to college. I then accepted a position as the associate pastor of youth and discipleship at Connections Adventist Church in Yakima, Washington.
Fortunately, I was already familiar with the Sacramento area before accepting the position at Carmichael Church. My grandfather, Bill Henry, pastored in the Northern California Conference before he retired and Bill's brother, Weiland Henry, designed and pastored the Sacramento Central Church.
I chose to accept the call to Carmichael Church for many reasons. I wanted a church that was outreach focused, liked discipleship, and had a team I knew I would enjoy working with. The thing that impressed me about Carmichael was how much the staff and elders enjoy working together. I am excited to be a part of a team that is focused on partnering with God to bring salvation, healing, and restoration to the people of Sacramento.
I am also excited to explore new outreach opportunities and reach new people. One thing I love to do is help our young people focus on others. We need to meet people where they are at in their spiritual journey. I want us to grow in faith. To have greater faith in ourselves as people God can work through, and greater faith in God, that He rewards those who seek him.
When I am not at work, I enjoy playing basketball, snowboarding, board games and working on my culinary skills.
Melissa Howell, Family Life Pastor – e-mail
I was born and raised in Glendale, CA but later went to Phoenix, AZ for High School at Thunderbird Academy. From there, I traveled to Union College, and Andrews University, and picked up my husband Greg along the way, in Greek class of all places.
We have a family of four children: Caleb is eight, Toby is five, Wyatt and Brooke are two-year-old twins. Having been a stay-at-home mom for almost a decade, I accepted the position as the family life pastor of the Carmichael SDA Church, in June of 2015 and returned to full-time ministry. I've worked as an Academy Dean, a High School Bible teacher and through those experiences I've also been able to publish several books geared towards Teens and Young Mothers. I currently hold a BA in Theology from Union College, and an MDiv from Andrews University.
My passion is for the families in our church to grow organically in their love for Jesus, and I am constantly looking for ways to help parents introduce and enrich their childrens' spiritual journeys. My other passions are cooking, and writing and if you want to check either of those out give me a call, or check out my blog at www.rainydaywritings.com.
Richard Clark
Facilities Administrator
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Kimberly Jones
Administrative Assistant
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Bryce Hickerson
Assistant Treasurer
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Church Clerk
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Larry Pena
Community Services Director
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Sidney Todd Comm
Audio Visual Director
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
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No matter who you are, or what you have done, or what's been done to you: THERE IS HOPE!
You don't have to hurt. Free, confidential online help is available for you right now!
Women's Course: My Healing Choice for Women
Men's Course: My Healing Choice for Men


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This morning was perfect...it was a bad morning but it was perfect because it was mine. The boys wouldn't eat fast enough, the baby cried, my husband yelled but it was perfect. My children go to school, are able to learn and be functioning 6 year olds. I have a baby, and he cries, and he's spoiled, and always needs a diaper change and they're expensive and breast feeding is frustrating and confusing and my body doesn't always work the way I want it to. And Todd is my husband, and he's cranky and moody and I sometimes blame Iraq but he came home and he gets up with the baby at night. So my bad morning was perfect. So perfect that I was even able to step outside of the bad morning, the undone dishes, the vomit on the floor, the rain on the windows (2 months late) and realize what a perfect morning this was. While Todd was driving and we didn't have Baby Ryan, life was good, money in the bank and we plugged along but in the morning it was just me, I barely had time for a shower, let alone make-up. I would dream of the day when Todd would be home with us in the mornings, we would drink coffee and talk about what we'd do after work, I'd hold the baby, kiss this kids and be off to the office...now I have that, and I wouldn't trade it for anything...even money in the bank!
Friday, October 23, 2009
A Day I Thought I'd Never See...
Posted by Unknown at 6:15 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Submissive Wife...
I didn't know I had it in me until I started feeling the tug at my heart, to be submissive to my husband. Do I always "give it up" when he desires? No. Do I always make the decisions he would like for me to? No. But I notice that sometimes when I blatently ignore him when he has put his foot down it doesn't work out like I would like for it to. I have loaned things out when he has said not to and they never get returned...and it's usually something we need. My husband has our best interest at heart, and doesn't allow feeling to get involved. He can see things in a different light...I don't want to say a jaded light but he makes decisions based on facts and concrete evidence as opposed to feelings. I am better with financial decisions so he leaves most financial decisions to me but I discuss everything with him and involve him as much as needed, and if he has a question, he doesn't hesitate to ask. I take care of the stuff that he doesn't care about...what the kids wear, the shoes I get them. We've had several big decisions to make in our marriage. He's from Missouri, we had to decide if we wanted to live in Ohio or Missouri, I told him how I felt about it and he made an educated decision after a lot of discussions, and prayer. Decisions like that, decisions that will pop up later on he will have the final say because he is the head of my house appointed by God. Some decisions that he will make include when the boys can date, drive, when and where we'll move, when the boys can work a job, how much we'll help with their first car and college...I have very strong opinions about all of these things but ultimately the decision is his. I struggle with this daily but daily I make the decision to be submissive to my husband.
Posted by Unknown at 10:02 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Six Things About Lane Michael
1. Lane Michael likes school, he's excited to go every morning and last year when I asked the principal how he was doing socially, I was told not to worry...he's a bit of a social butterfly...everyone knows him and really enjoys him!
2. He loves TV...loves it...obsessively! It's hard to make him turn it off, he loves it, he can't help it. He would rather watch TV than do anything! He would never turn it off if that was an option...he even fights me when I tell him to turn it off...it's strange the love he has for TV
3. Lane loves to play board games...he'll take his turn and my turn both, he doesn't care if I'm actually playing as long as I'm sitting with him...and every once in awhile ask who's winning...he's pretty honest about it too! LOL
4. He's a morning person...up before any one else and very happy about it...he tiptoes past our door and heads straight for the basement...to watch cartoons of course!
5. Lane is clumsy....like really REALLY clumsy! He falls UP the stairs at least once a day...at least! It's hysterical!
6. He's really sensitive...he doesn't want to be laughed at and it really hurts his feelings if he is but has no problem laughing at others. He's also easy to cry...Todd and I aren't so dealing with his sensitive side is hard for us...but I've noticed that if we don't brush him off but validate his feelings, he comes around much quicker!
That's my boy...6 things about his super sized personality!
Posted by Unknown at 9:50 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: boys, Lane Michael
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Six Things about Ethan!
This seems to be the perfect time to record 6 things I want to remember about Ethan:
1. He's cute...not photogenic cute but handsome. He has dark hair, blue eyes, a crooked smile and will be an amazing man, at whatever he chooses to be amazing at.
2. Ethan has always had this amazing physical ability. He's strong and coordinated. He loves to skateboard and play ball but more than loving it, he has an amazing natural talent.
3. Ethan wants to be a scientist. He wants to study animals....he loves toads, snakes, frogs and turtles...yuck!
4. Ethan found every toad at Grandma Laura's house and loved them dearly...they all have names and spent the summer being toted around from one side of the yard to the other...RIP Butch
5. He's a good big brother...he loves Ryan, is helpful, kisses on him, holds him and can soothe him when no one else can! He's protective and loving...we saw a whole new wonderful side to Ethan when Ryan was born.
6. He jumped off the roof this summer. Srsly? Yeh for real! He was aiming for the trampoline and missed it, but his foot hit the metal frame...3 broken bones! But since he doesn't feel much pain, he seemed to be fine...hm.
Posted by Unknown at 9:06 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Baby wearing
I love baby wearing! Ryan loves it too! I can still do all my daily activities while he rides along, happy as can be! Ryan gets overstimulated very easily, wearing him helps to minimize how much others hold him and even talk to him, he still gets to be held but isn't constantly being stimulated by others wanting to hold and play with him. He's much younger than he looks and people tend to expect more from him...trying to coax a constant smile (he's a very smiley baby so this is easy) but they also expect babbling, and he's just now getting there. He's a happy baby but truly enjoys his down time...his "me" time! LOL! Anyway, baby wearing helps...a lot! People in stores, on streets and other random places, don't seem to "talk" to him as much, they respect my personal space enough to leave us alone...don't get me wrong, I LOVE people admiring Man Cub...but he doesn't appreciate it the way I do...and if he doesn't appreciate the attention, then we all pay the price! LOL! A couple of weeks ago, we were with my family (lots of loud women trying to all talk over each other passing around Alexis and Ryan - - the two newest babies in the family) and Ryan was fed, changed and still grumpy...I set him in his car seat in the next room, where he could see us but wasn't being held...he loved it! He had just had too much! I wish now that I had just scooped him up and kept him close! Lane Michael is easily over stimulated and when he gets to that point he needs down time...time to sit, relax and calm down...sort out his feelings....it's very sad because people don't always get to see the "real" Lane Michael...if there are new people around, it's the worst...Ryan may just be a lot like Lane Michael in that way.
Posted by Unknown at 10:05 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Ryan's Birth Story
August 17th we had dinner on the living room floor, watched a couple of movies and then drove Lane and Ethan out to my Mom's house...we had an early day the next day and didn't want to make it earlier by adding a trip out to Mom's, so off we went, we stayed late, talking on the porch about the day we had ahead of us. On Tuesday we woke up at about 3:30...not because we had to but because we couldn't sleep...our minds were racing with the possiblities...the fact that Baby AC wasn't out of the woods was not lost on us...in the end, we gave our fears to God. We lay awake until 4 when we resolved to just get up...we took a shower, dressed, checked our bags to make sure we had everything and off we went. We stopped at the donut shop down town for treats for the nurses and some moon rocks (if you're ever in Wapak, stop at the Downtown Bakery for moon rocks...they're creamed filled donut holes...AKA a small peice of Heaven that explodes in your mouth when you bite into them!). We got to Lima about an hour early so we wandered through WalMart looking for a nursing bra...I didn't have one yet! Then we were off to the hospital. They got us into our room, started the meds and left us to our devices. We watched TV, played on the laptop, updated people and just hung out. At about 12 they checked me and I was 4 cm, at 3 they checked me again and I was 8. Todd called my Mom and she and the boys came to the hospital, they walked in the room at 4:15 we hugged and chatted for a few minutes, I had 2 contractions while they were there and at 4:30 they were shewed out so I could be checked...17 minutes later we had a baby Boy! Ryan Michael was born at 4:47 pm on August 18th 2009 weighing 9 pounds 5 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. He was perfect...not really crying but pink and just checkin' us out...cold and confused. Two hours later I was in the shower and we were a family of Five! We called him everything but Ryan! We called him AC, Daron, Aaron, and Braden but never Ryan...slowly we've gotten better but we still hesitate before calling him by name....he looks like a Ryan though and that helps! He was hungry and was great at latching on but I didnt' make enough milk to feed him so he's being supplemented with formula and I'm now taking meds to help my milk production...it's frustrating and angering! You want to feed your baby but your body won't cooperate and you're hungry because he's taking your calories but you don't want to gain weight AFTER the baby! It's just agrivating but SO worth it!
Posted by Unknown at 6:19 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Look Who Dropped in on Lane and Ethan
Posted by Unknown at 7:49 AM 1 comments Links to this post


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Section Three: Dating your Victor Phonograph
You've probably found a sticker or metal tag on your Victor Talking Machine that says "1904" or "1906" on it. There is likely some Chinese and Spanish writing on it someplace as well. These dates are not the manufacture date of your phonograph. The dates you see on those tags or stickers are the patent or license dates for certain component designs.
Your Victor product did not come from China or from a Spanish-speaking country. The Chinese and Spanish writing is to protect the patents in those regions, and the translation is: "Registered Trademark".
As a general rule:
External Horn Victors were made between 1901 and 1920, although the vast majority of these were produced in the 1902-1913 timeframe.
Internal Horn Victrolas were made between 1906 and 1925, and the vast majority were produced in the 1914-1922 timeframe
Orthophonic Victrolas (improved sound) were made between 1925 and 1929.
Electrola (electrically powered) models were made between 1913 and 1929.
All Victor phonographs were originally delivered to the dealer with a paper license sticker attached, which often has a veritable plethora of patent dates printed all over it. The sticker may be located on the back, the bottom or on an inside wall of the cabinet, depending on model. It is common for these stickers to have fallen off, or become damaged over time, and consequently, your phonograph may not have an intact one remaining. If you do find it, the most obvious date (Month, Day, Year) on the lower left corner of the sticker is often mistaken for the date that the machine was manufactured. In some cases, that license date is accurate within 1-2 years of the actual build date, but in other examples, it may not match the build date very well at all. The sticker was put there to indicate the licensing date to establish retail pricing, and in some instances, new stickers were re-applied by dealers many years after the machine was built. Victor didn't always keep the sticker dates current either. The sticker date can be as much as 4-5 years earlier than the actual date the machine was manufactured.
No matter when it was built, they often still left those "1904" or "1906" patent dates on the tags, and the license sticker dates didn't change much. Little did they suspect that it would create so much confusion a century later (if you don't believe this, look at the Ebay auctions showing 1906 as the build date on about half the Victrolas listed).
In most cases, we can accurately determine the date that many Victor products were manufactured by correlating the model and serial number information with the original production logs. However, this only applies to the post-1906 models. Factory documentation for early external horn models is poor, and to further complicate matters, some external horn products underwent a company-wide serial number "reset" in 1909, which makes accurate dating nearly impossible for many of these machines. However, we can come close by looking at a few clues in the design. Internal horn Victrolas are all easily dated via the serial number.
At the end of this introductory section, you can follow the simple instructions to date most Victor and Victrola phonographs in a matter of minutes.
Now, let's look at value...


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The captioned essay is by organic farmer Bry Lynas who happens to be the father of Mark Lynas. Like his son Mark, Bry Lynas was an anti-GM activist:
(…) I have undergone a slow conversion in my thinking over the last 15 years from strongly anti-GM to cautiously pro. Here, I want to explain why.
But as the years have passed and as it has become abundantly clear that people are not dying in droves because of GM, I've changed my mind. The famous economist John Maynard Keynes is alleged to have said to a critic who accused him of a U-turn, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" I am a scientist by training and so I constantly question and revise my views according to the evidence available. Sadly, the organic movement and other mainstream 'green' organisations remain as intransigent as ever in their views on genetic engineering: they seem to be stuck in a time warp 30 years out of date. Perhaps they, like politicians, don't wish to be seen performing a U-turn despite good reasons for doing so.
Basically, I don't understand why certain types of GM crops can't be approved for use with organic systems. It's hard enough growing organically as it is without constantly shooting yourself in the foot by refusing to move with the times. Let's just take one example. Last year, potato blight struck early in the soggy, damp non-summer. The result was that my potato crop was about a quarter of what it normally is. Yet there is a blight resistant GM potato which has been developed in the public domain. If only I could have used that! But I can't because it's against the organic regulations and even if I wasn't organic, I still wouldn't be able to use it because of all the 'green' protests which have made sure that it never sees the light of day; not for organic growers nor for any conventional growers.
What's so terrible about this potato? Is it Frankenfood? No, it's just an ordinary potato with one gene inserted from a wild potato which happens to show resistance to the dreaded Phytophthera infestans, the fungal late blight which caused the Irish potato famine in the 1840s when over a million people died of starvation. Alarmingly the fungus has begun to reproduce sexually over recent years which makes it much more virulent. It had previously reproduced itself asexually and was relatively easily controlled by spraying fungicides or growing somewhat resistant potato varieties.
So why not embrace this GM potato? The introduced gene comes from the same genus – Solanum – and so is not even transgenic. Why is this potato 'bad' whereas the blight resistant Sárpo potato, bred over many years by conventional means, is good? (I was growing a Sárpo variety and it succumbed to the blight like the others.) Of course, blight resistant GM potatoes, like the Sárpo varieties, will sooner or later be overcome by P. infestans. It's an arms race and this is where GM potatoes can leap ahead because it only takes a year or two to splice blight resistance into the genome and grow the resulting plant. It took the Sarvari family, who developed the Sárpo potatoes, some 40 years of careful selection of resistance traits to produce truly blight resistant varieties. As Pamela Ronald, Professor of Plant Pathology and Chair of the Plant Genomics Program at the University of California, Davis says: "To meet the appetites of the world's population without drastically hurting the environment requires a visionary new approach: combining genetic engineering and organic farming". She and her husband co-authored 'Tomorrow's Table' which, argues Stewart Brand, makes "a persuasive case that, far from contradictory, the merging of genetic engineering and organic farming offers our best shot at truly sustainable agriculture".


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An Aborted Postcard from Lindley
6 weeks is a long time in politics, just ask Jeremy Corbyn; but here, the last month and a half of summer holiday from the blog has flown by. But as the last of our 'sunny weather' (!) visitors wave goodbye, the beech leaves start to turn and a definite nip creeps into the air - autumn has arrived and it's time to get back into some kind of routine again.
I've taken to writing today as a way of dealing with a hostage situation - well two. I'm currently barricaded in my office and somewhere beyond the door there is a cat.
And a mouse.
When I first heard the muffled mewing that I've come to dread, I really didn't think things through. Perhaps I deserve some points for having the presence of mind to wait long enough to catch a glimpse of the gift I am being offered, but there's a creeping realisation now as my bladder fills, that just shutting the door isn't the most astute of long-term plans. I have no idea if the mouse is alive or dead - finding a dead mouse later on will be horrible, but a relief; seeing a live mouse running around will be very bad; no mouse and I'll be left with a constant sense of unease....is it lurking in a corner waiting to wreak revenge or has it been eaten? Schrodinger's mouse?
I don't think I can physically put it off any longer, I'm going to have to venture out. More stories soon, but for now some photos from the last month.......
Wish me luck.


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This is just a poem I wrote, dont read too much into it.....lol, its just a poem. I am not telling my friends to not call me, lol. I just wrote a poem only. Bill
I am tired. I am weak, I am overwhelmed and want to sleep.
I feel dead, I want to cry, I wish I could be alone and die
All this pain, all this hurt, fills my life, I feel like dirt
But I don't care, I am depressed, I will live on, in my distress
People lie, they say they care, but their actions only cause despair.
And though I try to do what's right, I always fail them in their sight.
I just cant, live for them, its to draining, as they condemn
So I will simply take a break, don't bother me, for its too late.
Leave me alone, I done with all. Don't bother me, and please don't call.
I will live without you all, you have hurt me, there's now a wall.
Its up high and built of stone, its purpose is for you, to leave me alone.
I am tired, I am weak, I am overwhelmed and want to sleep.


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The quality of our life is directly related to the quality of our relationships.
That's why I'm so excited to release Episode 14: How To Stop The Struggling In Your Relationships TODAY!
In Episode 14, we're bringing you some major truth bombs and mindset shifts that are going to help you stop the struggle….
💖 Stop the struggle in your intimate relationships.
💖 Stop the struggle in your family & friend relationships.
💖 Stop the struggle of falling in love with the wrong man or woman time after time.
Wait, have I told you yet about all of the crazy truth bombs 💣💣 in this episode? Seriously…
We break down how to release anger and resentments from your relationship
Why you keep making the same mistakes in your relationship, and how to break free of the destructive patterns, and
How we can use our current relationships to heal from our past hurts.
It's powerful stuff...so come on over and take a listen!
After you listen 🎧 to Episode 14, we'd love to hear about how your going to improve your relationships in 2019?? Just leave a comment below!
Subscribe & Review in iTunes
Are you subscribed to the Heal To Transform podcast? If you're not, I'd love to have you, because you don't want to miss an episode. Wendy, my amazing co-host, and I are adding new life-transforming and heart & mind healing episodes often, and if you're not subscribed you may miss out on the episode that will create change in your life, or relationship! Just click here to subscribe now.
If you're already loving the show, and this challenge, I would send you extra virtual healing vibes and energy if you left us a review on iTunes, too! These review help others find my podcast and of course we love reading them! Just click here to review, select "Ratings and Reviews" and "Write a Review" an let me know what your favorite part of the podcast has been.
Oh yeah, and please remember….sharing is caring! You're on this mission with us to transform and bring healing to the world - so make sure to share the podcast and spread the word!


text:
By Kyle Shachmut|
AS STUDENTS return to school this fall, most will find a plethora of new technologies and virtual environments, on which their institutions have been spending millions of dollars to bring into the classroom. Yet many of these resources will be needlessly discriminatory. What would happen if an institution constructed a new state-of-the-art building but neglected to make it accessible to the disabled? People would rightly be outraged. Yet even as new technology-rich environments revolutionize the classroom, few make provision for people who are blind, dyslexic, or otherwise print-disabled.
Just like buildings, digital resources can be made accessible to all through good design and planning. Electronic resources should be inherently accessible; for most people, the zeroes and ones that make up digital content are translated for display on screens, but the same information can be transmitted audibly or connected to an accessory that puts it into Braille. Mainstream touchscreen devices like the iPad and iPhone are fully accessible to blind users right out of the box.
Read the full article at Boston Globe