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Having your eyes dilated can feel like an inconvenience, but there's a good reason for a comprehensive dilated eye exam. Here we learn more about why this is necessary (and if it's ever ok to ask your doctor to skip it).
You're probably familiar with the pupil of your eye, the black center. Its purpose is to let light in and focus it on the bundle of nerve cells at the back of your eye called the retina. Your eyes have muscles located in your iris that control the function of the pupil. If you're in a dark room, for example, those muscles will effectively pull the pupils open to let in more light so you can see better. The reverse happens if you go from a darker area to a bright one.
But why is dilation an important part of examining your eye?
Dilating your pupils is the very best way for your eye doctor to check for certain eye diseases, especially those that don't have early warning signs. Because dilation allows more light to enter your eye, that enables your doctor to get a much better look at the retina than if your eyes weren't dilated.
Your eye doctor will administer dilation drops to widen your pupil, then he or she will be able to check for certain eye diseases including:
- Age-related macular degeneration
- Retinal detachment
- Glaucoma
Your eye health is also a good indicator of your overall health. In fact, your eye doctor may be able to notice the effects of certain health conditions (such as diabetes and high blood pressure) as part of your routine dilated eye exam.
What's with the special dark glasses you get after having your eyes dilated?
Dilation can make your eyes sensitive to light for a few hours after you have your exam, so your doctor will either offer you disposable sunglasses or you might be able to wear your own sunglasses.
Because of your eye's increased sensitivity to light following dilation, you may experience blurry vision and find it difficult to do routine tasks, such as drive or read. It's a good idea to arrange to have someone drive you home from your appointment, and avoid spending time in the sun or on screens.
Is it ever ok to ask your doctor not to perform dilation?
It's important to have a fully dilated exam on a regular basis, but depending on a number of factors, you may not need one every time you visit the eye doctor. Here are a few things your doctor will consider:
First, your age: The risk of eye diseases increases with age, so if you're older than 40, your eye doctor will likely recommend a dilated eye exam.
Second, your health history: Certain health conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, can lead to vision problems, so if you have one of those present, your doctor will probably want to perform a dilated exam.
Your exam history: If you've been to this eye doctor previously, don't have any health problems and don't have a history of eye issues, then your doctor may determine that it's ok to go without dilation.
The purpose for your exam: If the reason for your visit is to get an updated glasses or contact lens prescription, and there are no other worries, eye dilation may not be required. On the other hand, if you're there because you have been experiencing troubles with your vision, your doctor will probably recommend dilation to rule out any serious concerns.
Regular dilated eye exams are an important part of good eye care. If you have concerns about dilation, we'd love to learn about your situation and find out how we can help. Schedule an exam today.


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Stanley Black & Decker Inc Stock Institutional Ownership and Insider Ownership -
Shares Outstanding
123.07 (Mil)
Institutional Ownership
2.86 (Mil)
Insider Ownership
134.5709 (Mil)
Float Percentage of TSO
Short Interest History (%)
Due to a license agreement change with our data vendor, Short Interest related data is no longer available on GuruFocus' website, except for certain Australian stocks.
Institutional Ownership History (%)
This the Institutional Ownership History of Stanley Black & Decker Inc. Peter Lynch prefers to buy companies with low institutional ownership.
Insider ownership (%)
This is the historical insider ownership of Stanley Black & Decker Inc. It is usually better to buy companies with large insider ownership. The company insiders' interest are more aligned with external shareholders in this case.

subset: commoncrawl


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PICPA Member: $139
Nonmember: $189
Course No. IAA4-2022-01-WEBNR-228-01
Level: Intermediate
Prerequisites: Experience in financial accounting and reporting
This webinar is hosted by PICPA's partner, Surgent CPE. After registering, you will receive an email from Surgent CPE with the log-in information.
Richard Daisley, CPA
Rich is a CPA and has over 25 years of experience in the accounting and auditing field. He has worked in both the client service setting as well as in internal capacities as a facilitator of accounting and auditing courses. He was an assurance manager with PwC, spending time in both the assurance practice as well as with PwC's Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory Services group, where he advised clients on the implementation of new accounting pronouncements as well as on issues related to public offerings. Rich also worked in PECO Energy's Merger and Acquisition group, where he performed financial due diligence that supported PECO's acquisition activity in the energy sector. He has experience in the manufacturing, health care, energy, and pharmaceutical industries.
Prior to joining Surgent, Rich also has more than 10 years of experience as a course developer and facilitator, creating and leading training courses on such topics as revenue recognition, stock based compensation, equity instruments and performing integrated audits under the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation. He also designed and delivered courses on instructor development and facilitation skills to senior PwC internal course instructors.
In 2015 he joined Surgent as Director, Accounting & Financial Reporting Content. In this role, he researches and develops the technical content for Surgent's Accounting and Financial Reporting curriculum.


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Toilet Paper History: How America Convinced the World to Wipe
Since the dawn of time, people have found nifty ways to clean up after the bathroom act. The most common solution was simply to grab what was at hand: coconuts, shells, snow, moss, hay, leaves, grass, corncobs, sheep's wool, and later—thanks to the printing press—newspapers, magazines, and pages of books. The ancient Greeks used clay and stone. The Romans, sponges and salt water. But the idea of a commercial product designed solely to wipe one's bum? That started about 150 years ago, right here in the U.S.A. In less than a century, Uncle Sam's marketing genius turned something disposable into something indispensable.
How toilet paper got its start.
The first products designed specifically to wipe one's nethers were aloe-infused sheets of manila hemp dispensed from Kleenex-like boxes. They were invented in 1857 by a New York entrepreneur named Joseph Gayetty, who claimed his sheets prevented hemorrhoids. Gayetty was so proud of his therapeutic bathroom paper that he had his name printed on each sheet. But his success was limited. Americans soon grew accustomed to wiping with the Sears Roebuck catalog, and they saw no need to spend money on something that came in the mail for free.
Toilet paper took its next leap forward in 1890, when two brothers named Clarence and E. Irvin Scott popularized the concept of toilet paper on a roll. The Scotts' brand became more successful than Gayetty's medicated wipes, in part because they built a steady trade selling toilet paper to hotels and drugstores. But it was still an uphill battle to get the public to openly buy the product, largely because Americans remained embarrassed by bodily functions. In fact, the Scott brothers were so ashamed of the nature of their work that they didn't take proper credit for their innovation until 1902.
"No one wanted to ask for it by name," says Dave Praeger, author of Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product. "It was so taboo that you couldn't even talk about the product." By 1930, the German paper company Hakle began using the tag line, "Ask for a roll of Hakle and you won't have to say toilet paper!"
As time passed, toilet tissues slowly became an American staple. But widespread acceptance of the product didn't officially occur until a new technology demanded it.
At the end of the 19th century, more and more homes were being built with sit-down flush toilets tied to indoor plumbing systems. And because people required a product that could be flushed away with minimal damage to the pipes, corncobs and moss no longer cut it. In no time, toilet paper ads boasted that the product was recommended by both doctors and plumbers.
Toilet paper goes soft.
In the early 1900s, toilet paper was still being marketed as a medicinal item. But in 1928, the Hoberg Paper Company tried a different tack. On the advice of its ad men, the company introduced a brand called Charmin and fitted the product with a feminine logo that depicted a beautiful woman. The genius of the campaign was that by evincing softness and femininity, the company could avoid talking about toilet paper's actual purpose. Charmin was enormously successful, and the tactic helped the brand survive the Great Depression. (It also helped that, in 1932, Charmin began marketing economy-size packs of four rolls.) Decades later, the dainty ladies were replaced with babies and bear cubs—advertising vehicles that still stock the aisles today.
By the 1970s, America could no longer conceive of life without toilet paper. Case in point: In December 1973, Tonight Show host Johnny Carson joked about a toilet paper shortage during his opening monologue. But America didn't laugh. Instead, TV watchers across the country ran out to their local grocery stores and bought up as much of the stuff as they could. In 1978, a TV Guide poll named Mr. Whipple—the affable grocer who implored customers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin"—the third best-known man in America, behind former president Richard Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham.
Currently, the United States spends more than $6 billion a year on toilet tissue—more than any other nation in the world. Americans, on average, use 57 squares a day and 50 lbs. a year.
Even still, the toilet paper market in the United States has largely plateaued. The real growth in the industry is happening in developing countries. There, it's booming. Toilet paper revenues in Brazil alone have more than doubled since 2004. The radical upswing in sales is believed to be driven by a combination of changing demographics, social expectations, and disposable income.
"The spread of globalization can kind of be measured by the spread of Western bathroom practices," says Praeger. When average citizens in a country start buying toilet paper, wealth and consumerism have arrived. It signifies that people not only have extra cash to spend, but they've also come under the influence of Western marketing.
Will America ever leave toilet paper behind?
Even as the markets boom in developing nations, toilet paper manufacturers find themselves needing to charge more per roll to make a profit. That's because production costs are rising. During the past few years, pulp has become more expensive, energy costs are rising, and even water is becoming scarce. Toilet paper companies may need to keep hiking up their prices. The question is, if toilet paper becomes a luxury item, can Americans live without it?
The truth is that we did live without it, for a very long time. And even now, a lot of people do. In Japan, the Washlet—a toilet that comes equipped with a bidet and an air-blower—is growing increasingly popular. And all over the world, water remains one of the most common methods of self-cleaning. Many places in India, the Middle East, and Asia, for instance, still depend on a bucket and a spigot. Will Americans ever part with their beloved toilet paper in order to adopt more money-saving measures? Or will we keep flushing our cash away? Praeger, for one, believes a toilet-paper apocalypse is hardly likely. After all, the American marketing machine is a powerful thing.
This article originally appeared in Mental Floss magazine.


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After the eradication of smallpox in 1980, the World Health Organization called for destruction of known remaining stocks of the virus. The United States and Russia, which hold the known stocks of smallpox virus, have not destroyed their stocks. The WHO met in January 2011 to debate the future of smallpox, and a committee will issue a final recommendation sometime this year. For further information on this topic, there is an editorial in Vaccine entitled "Why not destroy remaining smallpox virus stocks", and a WHO review on smallpox research.
During TWiV #124, I was surprised to learn that the remaining stocks of smallpox are not just a few tubes of virus, but a substantial strain collection. Here is a transcript of the relevant portion of the podcast, beginning at 1:13:00, where Rich Condit and Grant McFadden discuss the nature of smallpox virus stocks:
Rich Condit: One thing that people don€™t fully appreciate is that we are not just talking about one strain of virus, we are talking about a repository of hundreds, at least, strains collected over time, and globally€¦not all of them have been studied, not all of them have been sequenced. And so there is an incredibly rich repository of information about virus virulence, pathogenesis, evolution, etc, that has not been tapped.
Grant McFadden: Yes, and in fact it€™s very hard to tap some of those things right now with our current technologies, and one of the big unknown issues is what will the technologies be like in the future, might some of those things be tappable in the future.
With this information in mind, please take the poll below and register your position on the fate of smallpox virus.
Update: An analyst at the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC alerted me to a commentary by DA Henderson, the architect of smallpox eradication, entitled "Smallpox Virus Destruction and the Implications of a New Vaccine". According to the analyst, Dr. Henderson "raises a number of the questions that have yet to be considered in the literature, but are absolutely essential to formulating well informed policy, particularly regarding the cost of developing and stockpiling vaccines against smallpox."
Update 2: The WHO has voted to keep the remaining stocks of smallpox virus. They will revisit the issue in 2014 and in the meantime only permit completion of ongoing studies of the virus. Notice in the article the author writes "a committee of world leaders decided to keep, for now, the world's two remaining vials of the deadly disease smallpox". As Rich and Grant discuss above, the remaining stocks comprise hundreds of vials of the virus.


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NRA's "Massive Obama Conspiracy": Rahm Emanuel Edition
In an April 25 op-ed for the Daily Caller, National Rifle Association CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre took to the opinion pages to once again deploy faulty logic to claim that the reelection of President Barack Obama will precipitate an "all-out war on the Second Amendment."
LaPierre's primary piece of evidence concerning what he calls "the web of lies spun about the president's phony, claimed support of the Second Amendment," is that current Chicago mayor and former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has been "tapped as the star co-chair for Obama's re-election effort." LaPierre claims that this is "no honorary job" but rather "real power linking Obama's re-election with Emanual's fanaticism for destroying the Second Amendment." But if Emanuel wanted to work with Obama to push gun bans nationwide he most certainly missed his best chance, which would have occurred when he worked in the highest levels of the Obama Administration.
The record is clear that the Obama Administration did not enact any gun violence prevention legislation during the time that Emanuel served as the highly influential White House chief of staff. Between January 2009 and October 2010, President Obama signed only two gun-related bills into law, both of which expanded, rather than restricted, the right to carry firearms.
In May 2009 President Obama signed into law legislation allowing firearms to be carried in national parks. A later bill allowing guns onto Amtrak trains was enacted in December 2009. At the time, the NRA called the legislation "a major step forward." Gun violence prevention groups, however, were furious. The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence gave President Obama an "F" rating in every category that it assesses. The failing report card was accompanied by a scathing publication entitled, "President Obama's First Year: Failed Leadership, Lost Lives," that called the president's record on gun violence prevention "an abject failure."
Even the way that LaPierre sketched out the Obama-Emanuel gun ban connection is disingenuous. He did so by slightly misquoting Obama campaign manager Jim Messina concerning Emanuel's role as one of 35 Obama campaign co-chairs:
Obama's Chicago-based campaign manager [Jim Messina] characterized the mayor [Rahm Emanuel] as key among those who "share the president's vision of [sic] a future. ..." The focus of that Obama-Emanuel shared vision for the nation's gun owners can be summed up in Emanuel's pursuit of gun bans by any means.
One problem. Messina was talking about a commitment by the Obama Administration to provide increased economic opportunities for Americans. Firearms policy was never mentioned. According to Messina's full statement:
The president's national co-chairs will be tremendous assets on the ground as we build the biggest grassroots campaign in history. They each share the president's vision for a future where every American can have a fair shot at success, where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded.
The truth is that LaPierre has been pushing conspiracy theories about the elimination of private gun ownership since before the Obama presidency. And recently the rhetoric has reached a boiling point with increasingly desperate attempts to sound the firearm confiscation alarm. After all, the NRA has never been shy about using fear to pad its coffers or those of the gun industry. But evidence shows that, beyond the NRA faithful, LaPierre has not been persuasive in the realm of public opinion concerning the regulation of firearms. An October 2011 Gallup poll found that 87 percent of respondents supported keeping or expanding current gun violence prevention measures. Meanwhile, the NRA's culture of conspiracy theory may have started to backfire on the gun rights organization.
Following the spread of false internet rumors that a transportation bill passed by the U.S. Senate contained a provision allowing for the confiscation of firearms, the NRA issued a press release entitled, "Rumor Control" in order to temper gun seizure paranoia. Perhaps the NRA, or its collaborator the Daily Caller, should consider attaching a similar disclaimer to LaPierre's opinion pieces.


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Contributing to the DocumentationEdit this page
Warning: You are browsing the documentation for Symfony 4.2, which is no longer maintained.
Read the updated version of this page for Symfony 6.3 (the current stable version).
Contributing to the Documentation
Before Your First Contribution
Before contributing, you need to:
- Sign up for a free GitHub account, which is the service where the Symfony documentation is hosted.
- Be familiar with the reStructuredText markup language, which is used to write Symfony docs. Read this article for a quick overview.
Fast Online Contributions
If you're making a relatively small change - like fixing a typo or rewording something - the easiest way to contribute is directly on GitHub! You can do this while you're reading the Symfony documentation.
Step 1. Click on the edit this page button on the upper right corner and you'll be redirected to GitHub:
Step 2. Edit the contents, describe your changes and click on the Propose file change button.
Step 3. GitHub will now create a branch and a commit for your changes (forking the repository first if this is your first contribution) and it will also display a preview of your changes:
If everything is correct, click on the Create pull request button.
Step 4. GitHub will display a new page where you can do some last-minute changes to your pull request before creating it. For simple contributions, you can safely ignore these options and just click on the Create pull request button again.
Congratulations! You just created a pull request to the official Symfony documentation! The community will now review your pull request and (possibly) suggest tweaks.
If your contribution is large or if you prefer to work on your own computer, keep reading this guide to learn an alternative way to send pull requests to the Symfony Documentation.
Your First Documentation Contribution
In this section, you'll learn how to contribute to the Symfony documentation for the first time. The next section will explain the shorter process you'll follow in the future for every contribution after your first one.
Let's imagine that you want to improve the Setup guide. In order to make your changes, follow these steps:
Step 1. Go to the official Symfony documentation repository located at github.com/symfony/symfony-docs and click on the Fork button to fork the repository to your personal account. This is only needed the first time you contribute to Symfony.
Step 2. Clone the forked repository to your local machine (this example
uses the
projects/symfony-docs/ directory to store the documentation; change
this value accordingly):
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$ cd projects/
$ git clone git://github.com/YOUR-GITHUB-USERNAME/symfony-docs.git
Step 3. Add the original Symfony docs repository as a "Git remote" executing this command:
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$ cd symfony-docs/
$ git remote add upstream https://github.com/symfony/symfony-docs.git
If things went right, you'll see the following when listing the "remotes" of your project:
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$ git remote -v
origin email@example.com:YOUR-GITHUB-USERNAME/symfony-docs.git (fetch)
origin email@example.com:YOUR-GITHUB-USERNAME/symfony-docs.git (push)
upstream https://github.com/symfony/symfony-docs.git (fetch)
upstream https://github.com/symfony/symfony-docs.git (push)
Fetch all the commits of the upstream branches by executing this command:
$ git fetch upstream
The purpose of this step is to allow you work simultaneously on the official Symfony repository and on your own fork. You'll see this in action in a moment.
Step 4. Create a dedicated new branch for your changes. Use a short and
memorable name for the new branch (if you are fixing a reported issue, use
fix_XXX as the branch name, where
XXX is the number of the issue):
$ git checkout -b improve_install_article upstream/3.4
In this example, the name of the branch is
improve_install_article and the
upstream/3.4 value tells Git to create this branch based on the
branch of the
upstream remote, which is the original Symfony Docs repository.
Fixes should always be based on the oldest maintained branch which contains
the error. Nowadays this is the
3.4 branch. If you are instead documenting a
new feature, switch to the first Symfony version that included it, e.g.
upstream/3.1. Not sure? That's ok! Just use the
upstream/master branch.
Step 5. Now make your changes in the documentation. Add, tweak, reword and even remove any content and do your best to comply with the Documentation Standards. Then commit your changes!
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# if the modified content existed before
$ git add setup.rst
$ git commit setup.rst
Step 6. Push the changes to your forked repository:
$ git push origin improve_install_article
origin value is the name of the Git remote that corresponds to your
forked repository and
improve_install_article is the name of the branch you
created previously.
Step 7. Everything is now ready to initiate a pull request. Go to your
forked repository at
and click on the Pull Requests link located in the sidebar.
Then, click on the big New pull request button. As GitHub cannot guess the exact changes that you want to propose, select the appropriate branches where changes should be applied:
In this example, the base fork should be
symfony/symfony-docs and
the base branch should be the
3.4, which is the branch that you selected
to base your changes on. The head fork should be your forked copy
symfony-docs and the compare branch should be
which is the name of the branch you created and where you made your changes.
Step 8. The last step is to prepare the description of the pull request. A short phrase or paragraph describing the proposed changes is enough to ensure that your contribution can be reviewed.
Step 9. Now that you've successfully submitted your first contribution to the Symfony documentation, go and celebrate! The documentation managers will carefully review your work in short time and they will let you know about any required change.
In case you are asked to add or modify something, don't create a new pull request. Instead, make sure that you are on the correct branch, make your changes and push the new changes:
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$ cd projects/symfony-docs/
$ git checkout improve_install_article
# ... do your changes
$ git push
Step 10. After your pull request is eventually accepted and merged in the Symfony documentation, you will be included in the Symfony Documentation Contributors list. Moreover, if you happen to have a SymfonyConnect profile, you will get a cool Symfony Documentation Badge.
Your Next Documentation Contributions
Check you out! You've made your first contribution to the Symfony documentation! Somebody throw a party! Your first contribution took a little extra time because you needed to learn a few standards and setup your computer. But from now on, your contributions will be much easier to complete.
Here is a checklist of steps that will guide you through your next contribution to the Symfony docs:
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# create a new branch based on the oldest maintained version
$ cd projects/symfony-docs/
$ git fetch upstream
$ git checkout -b my_changes upstream/3.4
# ... do your changes
# (optional) add your changes if this is a new content
$ git add xxx.rst
# commit your changes and push them to your fork
$ git commit xxx.rst
$ git push origin my_changes
# ... go to GitHub and create the Pull Request
# (optional) make the changes requested by reviewers and commit them
$ git commit xxx.rst
$ git push
After completing your next contributions, also watch your ranking improve on the list of Symfony Documentation Contributors. You guessed right: after all this hard work, it's time to celebrate again!
Review your changes
Every GitHub Pull Request is automatically built and deployed by SymfonyCloud on a single environment that you can access on your browser to review your changes.
To access the SymfonyCloud environment URL, go to your Pull Request page on
GitHub, click on the Show all checks link and finally, click on the
Details link displayed for SymfonyCloud service.
Only Pull Requests to maintained branches are automatically built by SymfonyCloud. Check the roadmap for maintained branches.
Build the Documentation Locally
If you have Docker installed on your machine, run these commands to build the docs:
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# build the image...
$ docker build . -t symfony-docs
# ...and start the local web server
# (if it's already in use, change the '8080' port by any other port)
$ docker run --rm -p 8080:80 symfony-docs
You can now read the docs at
http://127.0.0.1:8080 (if you use a virtual
machine, browse its IP instead of localhost; e.g.
If you don't use Docker, follow these steps to build the docs locally:
- Install pip as explained in the pip installation article;
Install Sphinx and Sphinx Extensions for PHP and Symfony (depending on your system, you may need to execute this command as root user):
$ pip install sphinx~=1.3.0 git+https://github.com/fabpot/sphinx-php.git
Run the following command to build the documentation in HTML format:
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$ cd _build/ $ make html
The generated documentation is available in the
_build/html directory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Do my Changes Take so Long to Be Reviewed and/or Merged?
Please be patient. It can take up to several days before your pull request can be fully reviewed. After merging the changes, it could take again several hours before your changes appear on the symfony.com website.
Why Should I Use the Oldest Maintained Branch Instead of the Master Branch?
Consistent with Symfony's source code, the documentation repository is split
into multiple branches, corresponding to the different versions of Symfony itself.
master branch holds the documentation for the development branch of
the code.
Unless you're documenting a feature that was introduced after Symfony 3.4,
your changes should always be based on the
3.4 branch. Documentation managers
will use the necessary Git-magic to also apply your changes to all the active
branches of the documentation.
What If I Want to Submit my Work without Fully Finishing It?
You can do it. But please use one of these two prefixes to let reviewers know about the state of your work:
[WIP](Work in Progress) is used when you are not yet finished with your pull request, but you would like it to be reviewed. The pull request won't be merged until you say it is ready.
[WCM](Waiting Code Merge) is used when you're documenting a new feature or change that hasn't been accepted yet into the core code. The pull request will not be merged until it is merged in the core code (or closed if the change is rejected).
Would You Accept a Huge Pull Request with Lots of Changes?
First, make sure that the changes are somewhat related. Otherwise, please create separate pull requests. Anyway, before submitting a huge change, it's probably a good idea to open an issue in the Symfony Documentation repository to ask the managers if they agree with your proposed changes. Otherwise, they could refuse your proposal after you put all that hard work into making the changes. We definitely don't want you to waste your time!


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As the world turns its attention to Afghanistan and President Obama sends additional troops to that volatile region, pivotal events happening in Africa are falling further below the radar. The global economic crisis has brought negative impacts to the continent, such as a dramatic fall in commodity prices, from cotton to iron ore. There has also been a steep decline in remittances, as Africans in the diaspora lose their jobs and homes. And meanwhile, international development funds have cut back on the amount of money they are disbursing. Nevertheless, the financial crisis and economic recession create an opportunity to challenge flawed existing models and assert new strategies for Africa's economic progress.
This was the message of a multi-stakeholder forum convened in Tunis at the end of November that brought together leading economists, government officials, and civil society representatives.
Forging a New Model
Decades of World Bank prescriptions have reduced the size and role of the state, in Africa and around the world. The current crisis, however, has dictated a more central role for African governments in regulating their economies, preventing capital flight, and creative taxation, so that Africa's resources benefit her people. Africa's focus must be on creating decent jobs by supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises that add productive value to Africa's vast natural resources. For too long, Africa's raw materials have been shipped elsewhere, leaving others to profit from higher-value manufacturing. Africa in the 21st century must reverse this trend.
"The crisis is an opportunity for transformative change, not just a threat to manage," progressive economist Charles Abugre asserted at the meeting. "At the heart of that change agenda should be to address the continent's crisis of production and productivity and slow pace of industrialization. This is a precondition to eradicate poverty and minimize social conflicts and inequality."
As co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, I emphasized the disproportionate impact of the crises on women and workers, while also drawing attention to opportunities being created by the climate crisis. I was pleased to be able to share information on new sources of financing like the financial transaction tax recently introduced in the U.S. Congress. This tax is an innovative way to raise revenue for job creation in a new global green economy.
The forum was the first high-profile event of the newly formed Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA), chaired by Botswana's former President, Festus Mogae. CoDA is a rare common platform bringing together the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in a pivotal dialogue with African civil society leaders. CoDA successfully shifts power away from the World Bank-dominated Global Coalition for Africa (GCA) and the European-dominated Big Table (Africa – OECD), which were policy forums established in the 1990s to promote dialogue on Africa's development. CoDA is driven by African institutions and carves out greater space for civil society to set the agenda. At the forum, Professor Fantu Cheru of the Nordic Africa Institute urged support for "knowledge production on the continent." The establishment of CoDA is a big step in that direction.
In Timbuktu
Another key development this week — the launch of a new Institute in Timbuktu, Mali — provides a timely reminder that knowledge production is not a new phenomenon in Africa. Timbuktu, often thought of as a remote place, was in fact Africa's ancient center for learning. Reclaiming this legacy, Timbuktu now is home to the Ahmed Baba Institute, built to honor, protect, and celebrate Africa's ancient manuscripts while also resurrecting Africa's legacy as an intellectual powerhouse.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Timbuktu was the preeminent center for learning and intellectual life. The University of Sankoré, one of three universities in Timbuktu, was once one of the best centers of learning in the world. Centuries before Harvard and Yale, the Sankoré had facilities to accommodate 25,000 students and boasted one of the largest libraries in the world, with between 400,000 to 700,000 manuscripts. Students from all over the world came to learn about science, mathematics, geography, religion, philosophy, and more. At one time, books were the most valuable commodity in the city with numerous libraries throughout the community and private book collections in homes of local scholars.
With the onset of colonialism, the Sankoré and many other African institutions were decimated. Western universities and mainstream media further denigrated Africa's knowledge centers. Today, much of the genius of Sankoré is in disarray. However, over the last few years, leading families of Timbuktu, civil society leaders, and Malian scholars have been working with the Malian government to resurrect and reclaim the powerful legacy of Timbuktu. These efforts culminated in the opening of the state-of-the-art library at the Ahmed Baba Institute, with its over 100,000 handwritten manuscripts dating back as far as the 12th century.
Capturing traditional knowledge (from Timbuktu and elsewhere on the continent) and generating new ideas (via new institutions that bring a common Africa platform) will position Africa well in this 21st century. We must, as the Tunis Forum convener Abdoulaye Bathily, Senegalese academic and former minister of environment, urges "redefine Africa's development paradigm, and above all, support the emergence of new practices and citizen actions in Africa's public space." Far from the media spotlight, these new practices are taking root in Africa.


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Architects: LOVE architecture and urbanism: Love Architecture
- Area: 1100 m²
Photographs:Jasmin Schuller
Text description provided by the architects. The first energy self-sufficient store that produces more energy than it uses. Organic products and a healthy lifestyle are mega trends in our society and therefore in the food industry as well. When building supermarkets, environmental friendliness and sustainability are becoming increasingly important. Economically and ecologically sustainable construction and operation minimize the ecological footprint and reduce the life-cycle cost of buildings.
This market is a 3rd generation climate protection store with a gold certification from the ÖGNI (Austrian Green Building Council). In fact, the site produces more energy than the store uses, making it Austria's first energy self-sufficient supermarket. Architecturally speaking, the structure consists of a simple folded shell that arches over the triangular-shaped property. The store opens onto the parking lot in all three dimensions, to the front, sideways and upwards, which creates very broad and inviting entry from this direction.
On the south side, where the store tapers, a glass façade offers a "front side" to the Floßlendplatz. This reinforces the virtual effect of being drawn in and through the store and makes it appear as an open, bright and friendly market place. The building envelope itself features slight folds and wrinkles. This creates a different effect from each perspective, and the building thereby achieves a significant dynamic and tension: "like an athlete before jumping." For the façade, the goal was to create a strong haptic quality with materials that convey the themes of climate protection and naturalness, but also modernity and innovation.
The façade consists of galvanized sheet steel and wood. Due to their contrast, the two materials convey the different themes, while also creating additional excitement. The roof was designed as a fifth façade, with circular, hill-shaped green spaces. Climate protection store – technical implementation: In order to achieve the goal of a climate protection store, a wide variety of measures were necessary, which can be summarized in five large areas:
The highly-insulating building envelope minimizes both energy loss and energy input. The building technology includes room ventilation, heat recovery and a sectional foundation slab for cooling and heating; lighting with LED technology and daylight control systems. The use of sustainable, separable and reusable building materials, preferably solvent-free and non-toxic. The micro climate at the site. This means the creation of as many green spaces as possible, including on the roof, which were designed to achieve a hydrologic balance by leaching all of the surface water on the property. In addition, the delivery area is enclosed to minimize noise emissions.
The energy generation. In addition, a photovoltaic power plant is located in the parking lot, and a hydropower turbine will be installed in the adjacent Mühlgang stream for energy generation. These features create more energy than the store uses, and the excess energy can be fed back into the grid. The overall result is an energy self-sufficient climate protection store that offers an inviting atmosphere for shoppers and a high-quality workplace for employees.


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This is from Valencia, Spain, about ten hours ago. But you wouldn't know from watching the media, because they've already made the decision not to televise the revolution.
Share this widely if you stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Spain, who continue to fight the culture of banking corruption and greed that rules governments worldwide.
Coal miners joined by thousands of supporters, marched in protest across Madrid (Spain's capital) last month, angry at government cuts. Spain is facing austerity across the board, in return for 30 billion Euros to rescue its ailing banks and a year's grace to reduce its deficit. The Prime Minister is slashing social security and unemployment benefits, while raising taxes.


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RALEIGH, NC—A coalition of geologists are challenging the way we look at global stone reserves, claiming that, unless smarter methods of preservation are developed, mankind will eventually run out of rocks.
"If we do not stop using them up at our current rate, rocks as we know them will be a thing of the past," renowned geologist Henry Kaiser said at a press conference Tuesday. "Igneous, metamorphic, even sedimentary: all of them could be gone in as little as 500,000 years."
"Think about it," Kaiser added. "When was the last time you even saw a boulder?"
The scientists warned that, although people have long considered the world's rock supply to be inexhaustible, it has not created a significant number of new rocks since the planet cooled some 3.5 billion years ago. Moreover, the earth's rocks have been very slowly depleting in the last century due to growing demand for fireplace mantels, rock gardens, gravel, and paperweights.
Kaiser claims that humanity has "wreaked havoc" on the earth's stones by picking them up, carrying them around, and displacing them from their natural habitat.
"A rock can take millions of years to form, but it only takes a second for someone to skip a smooth pebble into a lake, and then it is gone." Dr. Kaiser said. "Perhaps these thoughtless rock-skippers don't care if they leave our planet completely devoid of rocks, but what about our children? Don't they deserve the chance to hold a rock and toss it up and down a few times?"
Continued Kaiser, "We are on a collision course to a world without rocks."
Geologist Victoria Merrill, who has been at the forefront of the rock conservation battle since 2004, said there are simple steps people can take to reduce their rock consumption.
"Only take as many rocks as you absolutely need," said Dr. Merrill, author of the book No Stone Unturned: Methods For Modern Rock Conservation. "And once you are finished with your rocks, do not simply huck them into the woods. Place the rock down gently where you found it so that others may look at the rock and enjoy it for years to come."
Merrill went on to point out that, even if there were some "magic hole" in the earth's crust that could miraculously spew out rocks every 10 years or so, modern society's obsession with rocks means that we would still run out of them far more quickly than they could be replenished.
"Just look at the pet rock craze: In 10 years, millions upon millions of rocks were painted, played with, and discarded like trash," Merrill said. "Looking back, mankind's arrogance and hubris is startling."
But critics of the movement have already begun to surface, claiming that Kaiser and his colleagues are simply preying on people's fears of losing rocks.
While acknowledging that we should reduce our dependence on foreign rocks, many have argued that the current rock supply could easily last for the next 2 million years, by which time technology will have advanced enough to allow for the production of endless quantities of cheap, durable basalt.
Others who oppose the rock-loss theory claim that rocks were put on the earth to be used by humans in marble statues or kitchen countertops as they see fit.
"Take the Rocky Mountains, for example: There's plenty of rocks right there," Colorado resident Kyle Peters said. "It's our right as Americans to use as many rocks as we need for whatever purposes we decide, and no scientist is going to scare me into thinking otherwise."
"This country was built on rocks," he added. "Remember that."


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The academic face of the anti-fracking movement — Cornell marine ecologist Robert Howarth — increasingly looks like he's willing to turn science into farce.
Last spring, the once-obscure professor became the go-to expert for anti-fracking journalists and lawmakers when he published a report claiming shale gas pollutes more than coal. The New York Times featured his study in two uncritical articles in one week, he was interviewed on dozens of talk shows — and the media echo chamber did the rest: He was a star.
Since then, other scientists have almost universally challenged his findings — but now he's doubled down.
Last week, Howarth released another scientifically questionable study, now warning that fracking could push the world over a tipping point, sending temperatures irreversibly higher — an inflammatory and demonstrably incorrect assertion.
Here's the backstory. Shale gas is acknowledged as an ideal "bridge fuel" to a cleaner energy future. It's become cost-attractive thanks to fracking: a proven extraction technique used for decades, technologically tweaked to mine shale gas — notably the Marcellus Formation beneath a large swath of New York.
Thanks to fracking, America is poised to transform itself from a fuel pauper, dependent upon the whims of Mideast madmen and Russian oligarchs, into an energy exporter.
But hard leftists have always opposed any energy other than wind or solar. That's where Howarth and the anti-fracking Park Foundation come in.
In an interview, Howarth told me his goal was to make the anti-fracking movement mainstream and fashionable. He said he met with the Ithaca-based foundation two years ago, agreeing to produce a study challenging the conventional wisdom that shale gas is comparatively clean.
The polluting impact of shale gas revolves around one key issue: how much methane gas is released during extraction. Methane has more short-term global-warming impact than any other fossil fuel. Howarth emerged from academic nowhere when he claimed shale-gas wells leak like sieves, venting methane half the time, spewing 7 percent to 8 percent of reserves into the atmosphere.
"That's absurd," says Michael Levi, director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council of Foreign Relations. "Most methane gas is either 'delivered to sales' with no leakage, or it's burnt off through flaring, which diminishes its greenhouse impact."
Renowned geologist Lawrence Cathles, also at Cornell, who published a scathing deconstruction of Howarth's paper this month, says that he "doesn't document venting but what the industry calls 'capture.'"
Almost every independent researcher — at the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Energy Department and numerous independent university teams — has slammed Howarth's conclusions. At a minimum, the evidence suggests he either acted in bad faith or is ignorant of gas technology.
The core problem: Howarth uses Environmental Protection Agency estimates dating to 2007 — ancient data, given how quickly the technology is evolving.
Crucially, he fails to account for innovation. Gas lost through leakage is money lost, literally into thin air. For that reason, new wells are now "green completed" — meaning most leaking gas is captured and sold rather than vented.
Cathles notes the latest Devon study, now being verified by the EPA, documenting that shale gas is vented in only 5 percent of wells. The Energy Department estimates only 1 percent to 2 percent of methane is now lost during production.
Bottom line, almost all nonindustry-linked researchers believe Howarth exaggerates the impact of shale-gas leakage by 10 to 20 times. "His conclusions are more a politically charged articulation than a balanced scientific assessment," Cathles says.
Howarth hired an aggressive PR firm, the Hastings Group, to promote his politicized viewpoint. Scientists aren't buying it, but many journalists fall for the fear-mongering.
Howarth doesn't have to convince anyone he's right to devastate New York's budding shale industry and put tens of thousands of jobs into question. He wins if he muddies the waters enough to give cautious Albany bureaucrats reason to stall.
Almost every news story now frames this issue as a standoff between equally valid scientific experts. In fact, it's really a debate between science and ideology.
on Entine is a senior research fellow at the Center for Health & Risk Communication at George Mason University/STATS.


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Chair Care Patio is based in Dallas, Texas, USA. We are a family owned company that employs approximately 30 hard working people. We love our employees and our company. We also love our customers. The crew at Chair Care Patio works hard to provide you great products such as patio sling replacement, custom outdoor patio furniture cushions, contract sewing services, patio furniture repair parts and more for your better quality outdoor patio furniture.
Starting in March, we work 6 days a week. Please take a look at our hours below if you are trying to reach us or come to our warehouse for replacement slings, outdoor cushions or just to say Hi!Our store is located at 8700 Sovereign Row in Dallas, Texas. We want you to find what you need to repair your outdoor furniture and we want your experience with our company to be the best it can be. We are a small company with a limited number of people to take calls. We are happy to answer your questions but please place all of your orders online if possible. We know there may be exceptions at times and we are glade to help. You can send an email to throught the contact us link to inquire about repair, sling replacement, custom cushions or any of our local or online services.
Please note that emails are answered only during business hours. On the weekends, and evenings we still have groceries to buy, houses to clean, laundry to do and grass to cut just like you.
Calling Our Office
Our goal is to provide the best customer service possible. During peak season there are not enough hours in the day to respond to every email and request for information we receive. Before you write or call, please take a look at our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page to see if we have already provided an answer to your question. If we do not reply to your email, you may find your answer in the "Frequently Asked Questions FAQ" section of our web site.
Our nationwide phone number is 214-638-6416 -
Phone Orders
We prefer that you place all of your orders online. If you are having trouble placing an order please call us so we can help. We can take an order over the phone but please know that all our orders are placed through the same online ordering system. We use this system to generate our order tracking and production paper work. Our web site is safe and secure. You will see the "HTTPS" secure encryption at checkout. We do not encrypt product pages since there is no secure data on them and this can cause problems with certain browsers. We want you to be in control of the products, colors and dimensions of your order as well as your personal information and credit card numbers. By entering your own data, we eliminate any errors in transcription that might occur if we take your order. Also, it is important to read and understand our return policy prior to ordering. Please let us know if we can assist you in your order.
Order Returns Or Cancellations
If you wish to return an item for repair or if you have ordered the wrong item by mistake please call us as quickly as possible.
Please use the link for RETURNS at the bottom of our site to read more about our Cancellations and Returns Policies.
Items On Sale
Please do not call about refunds or credit for orders placed before or after a posted sale. While we do our best to send out free samples in a timely manner, sale prices cannot be extended no matter when those samples are received. Our employees are not responsible nor can they make customers aware of an upcoming sale because they do not know the sale schedule. Sale prices will not be honored after a sale ends. Sale pricing applies to online orders only and not for in-store sales.
Yes, we are a real store with a real address
8700 Sovereign Row
Dallas, TX 75247
Too Many Samples!
We love offering free fabric swatches to our customers.
However, they are expensive to make so we have a maximum limit of 8 samples per order.
Please remove samples from the cart to make sure you get the fabrics you want.
We will only process the first 8 fabric samples regardless.


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Nigerian prostitutes promise "week of free sex" if they win Africa Cup of Nations
Nigeria overcame Africa Cup of Nations favourites Ivory Coast on Sunday, putting the Super Eagles in the final four of the competition. Stephen Keshi's side now face dark horse Mali in the semi-finals on Wednesday, after which the winner may face current favourites Ghana in the final on Sunday.
Defeating Mali and the Black Stars will be no easy feat, but to encourage the West African nation to bring home their third Africa Cup of Nations trophy, the Association of Nigerian Prostitutes — yes, there is an official Association of Nigerian Prostitutes — have promised seven days of free sex if they win.
A statement from ANP secretary Jessica Elvis reads (via ynaija.com):
"We want to congratulate the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, for qualifying for the next round of the competition.
"To show our support for the national team, we'll be declaring one week [of] free sex if the Super Eagles can win the trophy."
It's not clear who would be entitled to the free sex (just the players? anybody in Nigeria with ten minutes to spare?) or if there are any restrictions (one free lovemaking session per customer per day? Offer only valid with orders over $50?), but don't be surprised if Cristiano Ronaldo announces a seven-day African sabbatical on Sunday.


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"Tap away and let us be bound by our love of puzzles," a man tells you during your adventures through Misthallery — the latest haunted, puzzle-infested English town that investigator Layton and his pint-size sidekick Luke must plod through.
Like past Layton titles, the appeal of Professor Layton and the Last Specter lies in its challenging puzzles, eccentric characters, and the narrative's surrounding mysteries. More so than past titles, the mysteries of Misthallery are so well threaded together that you'll want to finish the game, not for the sake of completion, but for the sake of putting your curiosity at ease.
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (Nintendo DS)
Developer: Level-5, Brownie Brown (London Life only)
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: October 17, 2011
Whereas last year's Layton entry, The Unwound Future, gave us a glimpse at future Luke and Layton, Last Specter takes us back to the beginning of their friendship. Professor Layton is the same charming, famous, and brainy man he's always been. Luke, on the other hand, is a social misfit in search of his true calling.
After receiving a mysterious letter from the mayor of the sleepy, comfy town of Misthallery, Layton and his attractive and confident assistant Emmy go to investigate. The mayor happens to be an old friend of Layton, though they haven't kept in touch over the years. Nevertheless, Layton feels sympathy for the mayor's son Luke (yes, that Luke), who is troubled by the strange disappearance of his mother and even more so by apocalyptic visions that he's been having lately.
An ominous, lumbering mystical creature has been attacking the town every night, and Luke seems to be the only one with a clue. On the mayor's order, Emmy and Layton investigate the situation. Unbeknownst to the mayor, they take Luke out of the house for the investigation as well, though Luke's reluctant father doesn't seem to mind or even notice.
The story and cast of The Last Specter are the best yet in the series, which alone makes the game worth picking up. You'll be happy to hear than that the puzzles are also just as worthwhile. The variety of puzzles and increasing challenges will entertain both returning fans and newbies. Sliding blocks, riddles, mazes, math puzzles — man, I hate math puzzles — they're all here! Well, all except matchstick puzzles, which should make most sane people happy.
Being the fourth entry in a yearly series, it shouldn't come as a surprise that some puzzles are recycled from past entries. The graphics and wording are redone, but the tricks and solution at the puzzles' core remain the same. This doesn't happen as nearly as much as you would think, though, given the numerous amount of puzzles (150+). If nothing else, it's a collection of greatest hits for newbies and a welcome break in challenge for veterans.
The biggest problem with Last Specter, which has plagued all series entries, is the over-arching design of the game. A Professor Layton game is two things: a visual mystery novel and a collection of interactive Akira Tago puzzles. The series has always struggled to find ways to seamlessly blend the two. The transitions from character introduction to puzzle are less awkward in Last Specter — largely thanks to a referential, humorous script — but I still find much to complain about here.
I absolutely hate tollways in games. Like, when an RPG won't let you enter an area until you are at a certain level, or when you can't progress to the next mission in a game until you have completed enough side-missions. As with past titles, Last Specter has moments where it will tell you that you can't continue until you do 25, 50, or 80 puzzles. It really kills the momentum and flow of the narrative.
As a result, these games make me feel like I'm rubbing my stomach and patting my head at the same time. When I want to just enjoy the narrative and the main, plot-based puzzles, it stops me and sends me packing in the other direction. When I want to just relax and play some puzzles, the game inconveniences me with plot and poorly organized systems. For example, why must I search for the location of a previous puzzle I chose to leave undone? What does that add to anything? Why not just let me enjoy that puzzle from anywhere? I already discovered it, right?
Although exploration is still time-consuming, Last Specter has a warp system (via Bucky's boat rides on the city's canals) that makes things easier. You'll enjoy your first couple of trips through areas on foot, since Misthallery is full of early-1900s decor and zany citizens that makes the world of Layton such a romantic and comfortable one.
Misthallery sets a new bar for amusing, eccentric Layton inhabitants. It's hard to say why exactly they are crazier than usual, but it definitely keeps things interesting. My favorite character is a toss-up between a boy who thinks he is a bird, a homeless maniac who laughs at everyone's misfortune (including his own), and Goosey, a fat, mentally-stunted teenager who hides — despite being too fat to hide anywhere — and exclaims "That's Goosey!" when he's found. It's kind of creepy yet adorable.
In nearly every aspect, Last Specter feels most faithful to the original in its design, story, and structure. It improves on the format in subtle ways but fails to evolve the series in others. Instead of chasing more ambitious ideas (how about a Professor Layton where players can create/share puzzles?), implementing full voice acting (still limited to animated scenes and specific events, though this may just be a limitation of the DS), or tying puzzles and story closer together, Level-5 have churned out just another series entry. Mind you, it's the best one yet, but it still comes short of reaching the concept's full potential.
Still, it's difficult to damn the game's shortcomings, since no other developer has come close to achieving what Level-5 have done. Professor Layton is the only game I can get my mom to play, yet I can still enjoy it. Last Specter may not have any big twist on the format, but it's the most well designed entry yet. Perhaps there is comfort to be found in repeating a winning formula.
In short, Last Specter is the best Layton yet. The inclusion of a warp system, lack of matchstick puzzles, and memorable cast makes it just a notch better than the Curious Village. However, the series still inconveniences players who play primarily for the story or those, like me, who want to enjoy the story first and puzzles later. There are many players who feel a need to complete every puzzle as they progress. These players won't run into the problem of puzzle tollways or losing track of a previous puzzle's location. However, until the series finds a way to accommodate both types of players, I can't say the game is a must-have for all.
Professor Layton's London Life
"From the team behind Mother 3! One hundred hours of gameplay! RPG! RPG! YAY! OH GOD YES!!! FUUUUUuuu… just give it to me! That's it! I'm taking off my pants! I'm dancing! I'm dancing! Look at me, ma! I'm dancing!"
That's me regurgitating PR sheets and blind enthusiasm for what I thought London Life may be before its release. Here's what it actually is: Shit. It's free shit that comes attached to a worthwhile game, but it's still a bummer that it's a worthless and dull bonus.
Let's dispel some of this PR hogwash. First of all, the game is not really the team behind Mother 3 — Brownie Brown primarily (only?) did that game's art. As a result, London Life looks a lot like Mother 3, which is to say that it's gorgeous.
One hundred hours of gameplay? I doubt it, but we'll probably never know since most sane players will give up on it after two hours or less. I certainly wasn't going to put myself through playing the entire thing for review purposes — it's a bonus, after all, and one that is not fun at all to play, at that.
RPG? Hardly. The game is like Animal Crossing or The Sims stripped down to its bare components. You go buy things, talk to townsfolk, and decorate your minuscule apartment. The problem is that there is little else to do, and the jobs you must take, in order to acquire wealth, are as mind-numbing as they come. The entire game is based around talking to a character on one side of the map, walking to a character on the other side of the map, and repeating until you are a rich dude with a beret and large sofa. In case you want something equally dull, you can hunt for trash on the street.
You'll probably end up spending less time on London Life than the puzzles within Last Specter, except those are actually worthwhile and fun. London Life may not indicate the quality of the forthcoming Fantasy Life project between Brownie Brown and Level-5, but it definitely hasn't increased my confidence. If London Life's goal was to present what it's like to be a boring, senseless peasant in the world of Layton … well, mission accomplished!


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Hi Guys … I'm back with joyous news…
Lung Health Screening – FREE
Silverdale, Mickelberry Road
Pharmacy Phone: 360-308-2118
Saturday, 2 November 2013
Start time: 10:00am
End time: 3:00pm
"Oh, no! I can't breathe! I should have gone for an early detection Spirometry test at Costco in Silverdale!"
Here it is – tomorrow at Silverdale's Costco – FREE!
Thank you, Costco – for the early warning testing to avoid COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) – now I'm playing basketball without worry of smothering lungs!
Please – get checked.
You do not want COPD – ever. I promise you…get checked
Thanks for listening…. firstname.lastname@example.com
Stay tuned for more Northwoods – I'm a little late …
Sharon O'Hara


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Kiss FM Staff
Police Say Texas Mom Drove Home Drunk With 6 Kids On Top Of Her Car – VIDEO
A mother from Crowley, Texas, is in jail now after allegedly driving home from a pool party intoxicated. But wait, this gets worse! Not only did she drive home drunk, but police said she drove with 6 kids on top of her car.


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Hey friends!
And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful mother! I honestly thank God every single day for that women. She's my best friend. We're one heart in two bodies. And I couldn't be more grateful to have her as my mom. 🙂
OK – so enough sappy stuff.
I could not believe it when I went online this morning and saw that a bunch of kids were going back to school today!
I mean, seriously? Has the summer already come and gone, just like that? August is doin' us dirty. For real.
Well, this recipe is sure to offer a ray of purple sunshine.
Because really, you can't eat purple food and not feel happy — am I right?
Introducing: My Roasted Beet and Fennel Pesto Flatbread!
AKA – a delicious Cauliflower Crust Pizza!
Flatbreads are a standby for me. They're so delicious, filling, easy to make, and seriously good eats!
And you did read that correctly: it's made out of Cauliflower! Cauliflower and almond flour to be exact. 🙂
And this particular one is Grain and Gluten Free, Specific Carb Diet friendly, Paleo, and with a Vegan option!
Here's What You Need: (Serves One)
1/3 cup almond flour
2 egg whites (Vegan option: 1 flax/chia egg)
1 cup cauliflower florets (riced in a food processor)
3 pinches of salt
1 beet, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 bulb of fennel, halved, and cut into wedges, and shaved on the mandolin
Pesto Sauce:
1 cup, packed fresh basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
juice 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper
3/4 cup green peas, microwaved for 2 minutes
2-3 Tbsp EVOO
fresh basil, chopped
sunflower seeds
Mandoline Slicer
Food Processor
2 Baking Sheets
Parchment Paper
Good Chef's Knife (This is the one I use and love)
Pyrex measuring measuring cup
Medium sized mixing bowl
Tinfoil (I use nonstick and it is a game changer!)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place your cauliflower florets in the food processor, and pulse until it resembles rice. Then, place the riced cauliflower in either paper towels, cheesecloth, or a clean kitchen tool, and wring out all the excess liquid. (This is a really important step!!)
Combine the riced cauliflower with the egg, almond flour and salt in a medium sized bowl. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (NOT wax paper!) Place your "dough" in the center of the parchment paper. Place another pice of parchment onto, and "smoosh" out the dough to about an 8 inch circle. Leave the top paper on, and bake as a "parchment sandwich" for about 30 – 35 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown.
Next, scrub and dry the beet, and slice it into 1/4 inch rounds. Place them in a single layer on a tinfoil- lined, olive oil-sprayed baking sheet. (I use non stick tinfoil and it is a game changer!) Spritz the beets with olive oil. Set aside.
Take the fennel bulb and remove the two outer layers. Cut in half. Reserve one half. With the other half, cut it into wedges, keeping the button intact, so the layers stay together in a wedge. Place the wedges in a single layer on the baking sheet with the beets. Spritz with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the fennel off the baking sheet and set aside. Flip the beets and return the baking sheet to the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
With the reserved 1/2 fennel bulb, carefully shave it on the mandolin slicer into paper-thin slices. These will be scattered raw, on the pizza.
Meanwhile, make the pesto by combining all the pesto ingredients in the food processor and blitz until smooth. You'll need to scrape the sides several times.
To assemble, place a thin layer of the pesto sauce on the crust. Top with slices of the beets, the roasted fennel, and raw fennel, and garnish with basil and sunflower seeds.
Oh my goodness, this pizza was SO GOOD! Holy cow, what a treat. For those of you who are skeptical of a crust made out of cauliflower, I assure you, you do NOT taste the cauliflower at all. No kidding. I passed it around the table for my family to try, and they all couldn't believe that there was cauliflower in it. Even my dad — and that's saying something!
The textures were so great. The crust was chewy and ready, and a little crispy/crunchy on the edges. The creamy pesto, chewy beets and roasted fennel went perfectly with the crunchy sunflower seeds and raw fennel.
And the flavors were fabulous! The pesto was so bright and fresh, and the beets had a wonderful earthy sweetness to them that paired perfectly with the sweet and licorice-y fennel. There's something magical about fennel when you roast it in the oven — its inherent sweetness comes out and caramelizes. SO GOOD! And the sunflower seeds gave it a nice nutty and salty *pop!*
Finally, it was a stunning dish with the bright green and deep purple. Simply beautiful.
Alright that's all for tonight!
See ya tomorrow morning on the Podcast!
A big thank you to my foundational sponsor, BetterHelp Online Therapy. I cannot begin to express how beneficial therapy was for my recovery from anorexia. Speak with an online therapist. Or check out content about eating disorders from BetterHelp.
Be sure to check out my affiliate, Audible. Listening to audiobooks while I cook is literally my new favorite thing. And just for you, they're offering a Free 30-Day Trial Membership. And with this free membership, you're going to get 2 free audiobooks! Literally. Free. It is the best deal ever. And if for some reason, you decide it's not for you, you can cancel within those 30 days and it's zero money out of your pocket, plus, you get to keep the 2 audiobooks. Soooo…it's pretty much a no brainer. Plus, it's a free and easy way to support this blog! So thank you!!
Lastly…Did you see my FabFitFun summer unboxing video!? Well…it's time for the SUMMER BOX!! It is valued at over $367 and includes my favorite makeup brand, Tarte! It's a quarterly box of beauty, fashion, home and fitness products for only 39.99? YES. PLEASE. You can get $10 off when you use my code HEATWAVE at check out too 🙂
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For Podcast versions of my posts, please check out Patreon! It's only $2 a month!! You make this blog possible 🙂


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Ever dream of being a star? See your name in lights? Get invited to all the big celebrity parties? Ever dream of being a star-struck fan? Or maybe paparazzi? ORRR a normal everyday person? This is the real life experience for you.
hollywood, ever, dream, being, star?, your, name, lights?, invited, celebrity, parties?, star-struck, fan?, maybe, paparazzi?, #orrr, normal, everyday, person?, this


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Looks like the stonewalling strategy has failed for Elizabeth Warren, and now more questions about her honesty and integrity will arise. The Boston Globe reports today that Warren has reversed her earlier position of ignorance on her listing as a Native American, admitting that she listed herself at both Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania after being hired:
Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren acknowledged for the first time late Wednesday night that she told Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania that she was Native American, but she continued to insist that race played no role in her recruitment.
"At some point after I was hired by them, I . . . provided that information to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard,'' she said in a statement issued by her campaign. "My Native American heritage is part of who I am, I'm proud of it and I have been open about it.''
Warren's statement is her first acknowledgment that she identified herself as Native American to the Ivy League schools. While she has said she identified herself as a minority in a legal directory, she has carefully avoided any suggestion during the last month that she took further actions to promote her purported heritage.
When the issue first surfaced last month, Warren said she only learned Harvard was claiming her as a minority when she read it in the Boston Herald.
Warren's new statement came after the Globe asked her campaign about documents it obtained Wednesday from Harvard's library showing that the university's law school began reporting a Native American female professor in federal statistics for the 1992-93 school year, the first year Warren worked at Harvard, as a visiting professor.
Earlier, I wrote that having the Boston Globe on the case was bad news for Warren. The campaign could no longer ignore the story as an artifact of the Boston Herald, which first started asking questions about Warren's long-time identification as a Native American at Harvard, and Harvard Law's promotion of the pale Warren as their sole "woman of color" on the faculty. When the Globe began digging up the contradictions, Warren had no option but to respond to it.
The attention to Warren's claims in the Globe isn't restricted to the news section, either. Local columnist Brian McGrory blasted Warren for pretending that a claim to an employer of membership in a protected EEOC class was only for social interaction. This issue may not be as newsworthy as taxes and economic policy, but integrity matters in public officials — and McGrory writes that this is entirely about integrity:
Of course, the stubbornly mediocre economy, fair taxes, the partisan rift that is swallowing Washington whole, these are all critical issues that should be discussed and debated almost every day in this US Senate campaign.
But let's not ever lose sight of one true thing in this or any other political race: The most important issues are the candidates themselves, and more specifically, their integrity, credibility, and authenticity.
Which is why Elizabeth Warren's Cherokee ancestry, almost certainly declared on federal forms by Warren herself and used by a pair of Ivy League universities to tout their diversity efforts, all without an ounce of proof that she has a drop of Indian blood flowing through her veins, matters. It matters a great deal.
Speaking as adults here, the elephant in the room is whether Warren wrongly claimed minority status to improve her prospects for being hired to teach at Harvard Law School, and before that, the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The more obvious question might even be, why else would she have done it? The public utterances of this uncommonly accomplished and otherwise eloquent candidate have so far ranged from lunacy to comedy, highlighted by her explanation about wanting to "meet others like me" and her recollection of an aunt describing her grandfather's "high cheekbones."
Now that Warren has admitted to telling a lie about how she got listed at both Harvard and Pennsylvania, the integrity questions will only intensify. At some point, Massachusetts Democrats will start calling Vicki Kennedy for the Toricelli option.


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Here's how it begins. You are in a bookstore on the main drag of a small town. You walk along the mystery and western paperback sections, and then you see a wicker basket overflowing with Life magazines. You idly flip through the stack because you know Life was once an important cultural force but have never seen the magazine in person. The copies of Life are musty and torn, and in the middle of the heap you come across something called Holiday. It has the same heft as Life, more than a foot tall and surprisingly heavy, but in place of a black-and-white photograph on the cover there is a colorful swirling yellow illustration of the sun and the words "California Without Cliches." The magazine is from 1965 and you think it would look good on your coffee table. Also the ads are campy and fun ("San Diego Is a See-Do Vacationland!"), so you buy the magazine—why not, it's only a few bucks—and take it home. You turn on the TV and half watch Seinfeld as you flip through for the ads. Then you come upon "Notes from a Native Daughter," the Joan Didion essay you read in college but don't really remember. You read how California is only five hours from New York by jet but really that is just a delusion: "California is somewhere else." Now you are somewhere else. Seinfeld ends and another Seinfeld begins and you read the entire essay and then discover a piece by Ray Bradbury, your old pal from high school English. You read his rhapsodic paean to Disneyland ("No beatniks here. No Cool people with Cool faces pretending not to care, thus swindling themselves out of life or any chance for life"), and you think that's pretty good, too. You head back to the bookstore to see if they have any more issues of Holiday.
The Term Paper on Early Mission system in California
Although the settlement of California did not begin until 1769, forces were at work only the year after the first voyage of Columbus, which ultimately brought Spanish missionaries to the Golden State of today. In 1493 Pope Alexander VI drew an arbitrary line on the map which was to divide the spheres of interest of Spain and Portugal, and declared that all explorers should be accompanied by ...
Whenever I mention to someone that I've started collecting old issues of Holiday, the excellent yet forgotten monthly travel magazine that was born after World War II and lived until the late seventies, the response generally falls between bafflement and irritation. "Why would you do that?" people ask, as though I've just admitted to hoarding old shoehorns or something truly sinister.


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Pastel Marshmallow Square Pillow
Pastel Marshmallow Square Pillow
Room accents shouldn't be underrated. These beautiful indoor pillows in various sizes serve as statement pieces, creating a personalized environment.
.: 100% Polyester cover
.: 100% Polyester pillow included
.: Double sided print
.: Concealed zipper
.: Note: Pre-constructed item. Size variance +/- 0.5"
Care Instructions
Care Instructions
Remove the pillow cover. Pre-treat the stains with soft cloth or bristle brush that had been soaked in warm soapy water. Machine wash, max 40°C (104°F), normal cycle. Do not bleach, tumble dry on low, do not dry-clean. Iron, steam, or dry low heat only. Fluff to reshape when assembling it back together.


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Thursday, August 31, 2006
elephants on a branch part deux
clumsy clumsy clumsy elephants...and..oh wait... is that a wild Squirrel just about to beat the top elephant's fingers with an Acorn!
i'm still a little sick but i'm getting better!
Posted by pascal at 9:59 AM 5 comments:
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
elephants on a branch
Posted by pascal at 9:03 AM 6 comments:
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
zombies in feudal japan
One of my friends who works in a big BIG film/game company does this things with his co workers where they pick worda out of different boxes and match them.
the two words that came up last time were feudal Japan and Zombies.
I thought I'd give it a try .
I'm not( as you may have guessed by now) a big zombie guy, but, heck, it's nice to play around with different ideas here and there!
Posted by pascal at 10:58 AM 1 comment:
Monday, August 28, 2006
the dinner party
This is actually for a little side project That I'm trying to work on now!
sniff.. i'm sick today, and staying home!
It would be so cool to stay home WITHOUT being sick, but, hey, take off the TWO hour commute , and what's a little headache, hey?
Posted by pascal at 9:18 AM 10 comments:
Friday, August 25, 2006
dog fight over provence
I just finished reading this book"A year in Provence, by Peter Mayle.
A very funny book, about this english couple who decides to buy a house in the south region of france called Provence, and live there.
The book has twelve chapters, one for each month, and is very very funny, and OH , so acurate!
Anyhow...it has inspired the last "old town" drawing, and this one, which is a combination of the flying pigs, and some houses from provence( style wise at least!).
Also, believe it or not...these birds ARE typical from the south of France!
That's probably where they come from!
and, while I'm at it...here's another image of the pigs in a more "charming" environment.
I like putting the two together, since they were pretty much done in the same sitting..., and both are not for work!
Mister cow...just in case you wonder.. I do work as well!
but I can't show any of it here!( and that wouldn't be the point anyhow!)
Posted by pascal at 9:19 AM 4 comments:
Thursday, August 24, 2006
old town
I little experiment.
Took a paper skecth and applied different digital techniques to it.
It's a little rough, but it's really exciting to see how i can now start blending different medias and get faster and very interesting results.
Posted by pascal at 8:08 AM 12 comments:
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
the bunny Pirate
One of my friends, Justin, came up with this idea.
I just drew one for him, but there should be a whole crew of them..they're below, out of frame( of course!)
Posted by pascal at 7:51 AM 4 comments:
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Lil jim and the moon thief
I wrote a stroy for a short film a while ago about a kid, a tumbling cloud, and a thief that wants to steal the moon.
I did it a few years ago, but put it to the side because of other projects.
I brought it out recently and started doodling around with it.
Here are a few of these sketches.
Posted by pascal at 8:11 AM 6 comments:
Monday, August 21, 2006
on my mark, guys....
Posted by pascal at 7:44 AM 2 comments:
Friday, August 18, 2006
swinging into the friday
Posted by pascal at 10:14 AM 9 comments:
Thursday, August 17, 2006
random drawing
Ok.. honestly.. this is what happens to a skecth when I screw it up.
I was working on a whole different concept, and, when it was done, I showed it to kat, who( bless her heart) canno't lie about my work to save her life.
in short, it didn't pass her test.
So..I took that sketch and butchered it a bit before deciding to trhow it away.
and since I don't have a sketch of the day now... this "eror" will have to do!
Kat, I love you.
Thank you!
Posted by pascal at 8:48 AM 4 comments:
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
This started as a phone doodle,
I just liked the shape of the animal with that little guy on it after the phone call.
I'm always surprised at the type of images and stories we all have in our heads.
Other than that.
Kat and I had indian food again last night.
For anybody that knows me, i'm generally know as a health freak, but , dude, put me in front of some saag dahl, some chicken tandoori, and some bengan bartha, and I become a ..a...a...
a something not very nice to watch!
For all of you who live in the city(san francsico) and haven't tried the llittle polk street restaurant"star of india", I higly recommand it!
Posted by pascal at 8:31 AM 7 comments:
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
The chase
Back to our little morning series.....
Chase over the pacific islands....
I know..they have really fast planes to go from the arctic to the pacific island in just a few drawings....but that's what
s so cool about sequential art: You control time!
Posted by pascal at 8:02 AM 1 comment:
Monday, August 14, 2006
welcome to the baker boys
these three little pigs not only do the best chocolate eclair in town during the day, they are also the smartes detectives by night!
Watch out!
Posted by pascal at 9:26 AM 3 comments:
Friday, August 11, 2006
strange encounter
Posted by pascal at 9:16 AM 4 comments:
Thursday, August 10, 2006
running running....
Busy day today, for various reasons.
Good and just allright.
It does seem that things never settle down for long , do they?
just a marker skecth.
I don't even have time to color it today!
Posted by pascal at 5:44 PM 3 comments:
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
and the flight continues...
sorry guys... there might be a few planes in the upcoming days and weeks...im just having a lot of fun exploring this!
(allthough, I'll probably want to move the story along at some point!)
Posted by pascal at 9:35 AM 4 comments:
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
first flight
Posted by pascal at 9:23 AM 6 comments:
Monday, August 07, 2006
It's monday and I had a pretty rough start.
Funny how it does work like that on Mondays.
anyhow..here's the surprise.
Posted by pascal at 9:02 AM 2 comments:
Friday, August 04, 2006
Posted by pascal at 8:12 AM 3 comments:
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Posted by pascal at 9:02 AM 5 comments:
dooooooooooooooooooooooouce nuit(it means.. sweet night!)
Posted by pascal at 7:26 AM 2 comments:
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
night plan
a sketch to continue the tradition of the"SKETCH" of the day( too often do we forget what the real point is here!...that is .. to have fun drawing and telling stories!)
Posted by pascal at 12:14 PM 5 comments:
opening the box
ok.. not my best, but , it moves the story along.
I think I'm feeling a little blah today..
hmm... could be the counter effects of all that's been going on lately, with work, the con, and the wedding.
Posted by pascal at 9:59 AM 9 comments:
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The origins of the Christian Reformed Church will be highlighted during a lecture at Hope College on Thursday, Feb. 16.
Dr. James A. De Jong, who is a visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute at Hope, will present the address "Reassessing 1857: Overlooked Considerations in the Birth of the Christian Reformed Church of North America" on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 3:30 p.m. in the Herrick Room of the DeWitt Center.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
De Jong is president and professor of historical theology, emeritus, of Calvin Theological Seminary. He taught theology at Trinity Christian College and Dordt College, before serving as president of Calvin Theological Seminary from 1981 to 2001. He retired in 2003.
De Jong has been a visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute since September 2005, working on the topic of the history of Reformed Church in America and Christian Reformed Church relations between 1857 and the present. His research has used resources available at the Van Raalte Institute and the Joint Archives of Holland, such as "De Hoop," "Christian Intelligencer," "Holland City News" and others.
A native of Paterson, N.J., and the son and grandson of pastors in the Christian Reformed Church, De Jong graduated from Calvin College in 1963 and Calvin Theological Seminary in 1966, and earned a Th.D. from the Free University of Amsterdam in 1970. He specializes in church history, particularly the history of Reformed theology and the history of missions. He is the author, editor, or contributor to numerous books and encyclopedias. His articles have appeared in more than 20 professional journals, and he has had more than 90 reviews published in journals and magazines.
The Van Raalte Institute, located in the Theil Research Center at 9 E. 10th St., specializes in scholarly research and writing on immigration and the contributions of the Dutch and their descendants in the United States, but is also dedicated to the study of the history of all the people who have comprised the community of Holland throughout its history.
The Herrick Room is in the southwest corner of the second floor of the DeWitt Center, which is located on Columbia Avenue at 12th Street. Refreshments will be available prior to the lecture.


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Suffering has been a popular topic with my friends and family for the last few weeks. So today I'm posting one of the most popular posts on suffering from God Running. From the archives . . .
So in a previous post we saw my friend Mike's miracle: how he had a heart attack but was healed. It really was remarkable the way things turned out. But when you read that post, you may have said in your head, "Yes, that's great that your friend Mike was healed. But what about Christians who aren't healed? What about Christians who have a thousand people praying for them, but then they die anyway?"
That's a fair question.
Of course that happens often. By definition a miracle is something out of the ordinary, and ordinarily when someone has a terminal illness, they die, whether they're a Christian or not. Here are a few things to consider concerning prayer, terminal injury or illness, and dying.
Jesus Christ Cares About You And Your Terminal Illness
When Jesus arrived on the scene after Lazarus died and he saw Lazarus's sister grieving, "He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled…" And he wept. And when Jairus's only daughter, who was just twelve, died, Jesus responded. So God cares about your illness.
And we also know God cares about you personally because He gave His only Son to die, on your behalf, so you could be reconciled to Him, so you could spend eternity with Him. He paid the heaviest price, His own son's life, so you could dwell with Him forever. (John chapter 11, Luke 8:40-56)
God cares.
The Best Day Of Your Life
Because God gave His only Son to die to reconcile you to Him, the best day in the life of a Christian is the last day in the life of a Christian. Because that's the day you enter into eternity with your Father and your Savior His Son. That's the day you enter into heaven. We all want to enter in. And the process of dying is not the end, but it's the way we enter in. For the Christian, death is without sting. For the Christian, death is birth, into heaven. I don't know about you but for me, I don't want to hang around on this earth forever. I want to die when God wants me to die. I want to experience heaven, with Him and His Son. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
In Hebrews the Bible says Jesus endured suffering and death on the cross for the joy set before Him. You can draw strength and endurance from the same source. Your joy awaits you, in heaven.
Your Illness Doesn't Mean God Is Punishing
If you have a serious injury or illness that could end in death, one thing you need to know is that it doesn't mean it's a result of your sin. Each of our deaths is a part of God's plan for us. God has decided we will all die of something. We're all terminal, every one of us. Sometimes people experiencing the process of dying forget this and think their illness is because of past or present sin. But remember the blind man from John chapter 9. As Jesus passed by him Jesus' disciples asked if he was blind because of his sin (or his parent's sin–a popular idea at that time). Jesus said it was neither. Jesus said he was blind so God could be glorified. (John chapter 9)
God's Glory
Death is a part of God's plan. And injury or a slow passing from illness is often the way it happens. We won't know all the reasons why this side of heaven, but one reason is to glorify God. There are people who wouldn't be influenced in the least by a healthy Christian leading a normal life, but some of those same people can see Christ in a Christian who is suffering and/or dying well.
I just read about a lady with terminal lung cancer who initially focused almost exclusively on her disease. Her prayers revolved around petition for healing. But over time she learned to take inventory on the good God sent her way. And she realized she was blessed way beyond what she previously thought. Her prayers changed and so did her attitude. Through thanksgiving she learned to lean on her Father one day at a time. The result was friends and family were blessed and inspired by her faith and her courage. She was transformed into the likeness of God's Son as a result of her illness. (Romans 8:29) (Wylie)
Ed Dobson's story is the same. His amazing film series is about dying over a period of years from ALS. If you're interested, you can check it out here: Ed's Story
And of course Jesus provides the ultimate inspiration for leaving a legacy of love through suffering and death. His suffering and death had the ultimate meaning. His suffering and death reconciled us to our Father. But your suffering and death has meaning too. Your suffering and death can draw the people in your circles closer to Christ.
So you have to ask yourself, "How do I want these years to be remembered after I die? And what do I want my last years to be like before I'm face to face with my Father in heaven?" If you really think it through, glorifying God in your illness is the answer to those questions.
The Bottom Line
One of the bottom line foundations of faith in Christ is the belief that God has your best interests at heart, even if you don't understand what He is allowing to happen to you. "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." God tells us in Romans 8:28. Job displayed this kind of faith throughout the book of Job, but especially so when he said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…"
When life is through, at the end of the day, your greatest triumph in life will spring from your greatest trial in life: your death. When you're really hurt, when it's really ugly, when it's really painful, when it totally seems unfair, choose to do what Job did. Ignore those who say, "Curse God and die." Ignore those who say, "Stay home and watch Netflix–and die." Trust God as Job did. Run toward Him as Job did. (Courson)
Job is one of the greatest men in history. We talk about Job today in these terms because Job did not curse God and die. (Job did not commit suicide. And if anyone had a good enough reason, Job did.)
So when that person, or that thought comes into your mind, the one that says, "Curse God and die." The one that says, "Give up." The one that says, "Quit." Maybe it even says, "You've become a burden to the very people you love the most, they are better off without you."
Don't give up. Don't quit. Don't curse God and die. Stay, like Job stayed. And in the end, you'll be great even as Job was great. You'll enter into heaven with joy.
You'll live to hear those words, "Well done good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:23)
What does the Bible say about coping/dealing with a terminal illness?, gotQuestions.org
Ed Dobson, Ed's Story
Lorraine Wylie, Living With Terminal Illness, Rejoice Always
Jon Courson, 8/13/14 Bible study
Jim Davis, Why Me? (And Why That's the Wrong Question), Leafwood, 2014
Image via Hartwig HKD – Creative Commons