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Family members, elected officials and other leaders will gather in Newtown on Friday for a day of remembrance and a call to action. The reading of names is expected to take 12 hours.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns will launch a bus tour that will travel to 25 states over 100 days to build support for background checks legislation. Legislation to expand background checks for gun buyers failed in the Senate in April.
The mayors group is also holding events in 10 states calling for lawmakers to expand background checks and urging senators who opposed the bill to reconsider. Those events, which include gun violence survivors and gun owners, will be held in Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The gunman in Newtown killed his mother and then 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14 before committing suicide as police arrived.
Some of the victims' families are in Washington this week lobbying lawmakers for action.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who co-founded the mayor's group, this week sent a letter asking donors not to support Democratic senators who opposed the bill to expand background checks.
On the other side of the debate, the National Rifle Association is focusing on Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who co-sponsored the bill to expand background checks, with a TV ad urging viewers to phone Manchin's office and tell him "to honor his commitment to the 2nd Amendment." The NRA plans to spend $100,000 airing the ad in West Virginia markets over the next two weeks.


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The innovative camera tripod for your BMW. We have created several camera racks for every different BMWs model, individually tailored and discrete for GoPro Hero/GoPro and similar cameras. Furthermore our product range is constantly expanding. Our goal is the same by every type: we want to guarantee an absolutely stable camera operating and wish to create an harmonic and coordinated design to every motorbike style. Wed like to provide you a product that satisfies every exclusive demand of the GuardConcept-Series, to all intents and purposes.
Unshakeable, stable and absolutely vibration-free.

subset: commoncrawl


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NASA has released the first 360-degree view of the entire sun today, just in time for Super Bowl Sunday.
The photo comes courtesy of NASA's twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) spacecraft, which aligned exactly opposite each other on opposite sides of the sun to capture the image.
The ability to see the whole sun, front to back, will allow scientists to better understand complicated solar weather patterns and plan for future robotic or crewed spacecraft missions throughout the solar system, researchers said.
"The sun is a truly complex object which influences many aspects of our lives," Richard Harrison, principal investigator for the U.K. instruments on STEREO, said in a statement. "In the same way that you would not expect to understand the workings of the brain by studying just a small part of it, a global investigation into the nature of our star as a complete object is essential to understanding how it works."
Harrison is also co-investigator of NASA's SDO mission (Solar Dynamics Observatory), which contributed to the new 360-degree view with high-resolution sun photos taken from orbit.
Scientists particularly want to better predict space weather and the violent eruptions that can spout from the sun's surface. These eruptions can damage satellites, disrupt communications and disable power systems on Earth.
"Solar missions such as STEREO and SDO not only give us more information about star formation and evolution throughout our universe, but are of vital importance in our quest to further understand the sun's processes and the effect they can have on our planet and way of life," said David Parker, director of space science and exploration for the U.K. Space Agency. "This spectacular 360-degree view is another triumph for the STEREO mission, which continues to obtain some of the best images yet of the sun."
The two identical spacecraft of the NASA STEREO mission were launched in October 2006. They are offset from one another, one flying ahead of the Earth and the other behind.
SDO is the first mission in NASA's Living with a Star program and was launched in February 2010. SDO's unique orbit allows high-resolution images of the sun to be recorded every three-quarters of a second.


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Starting a company on the cheap has never been easier, thanks to free software for handling everything from building a website to billing clients. Here are 10 must-haves for bootstrapped businesses.
Starting a company on the cheap has never been easier, thanks to free software that lets you do everything from build a website to bill clients. Here are 10 must-haves for bootstrapped businesses. By Inc. Staff
Send E-mail and Manage Documents: Google Apps A veritable Swiss Army Knife for the digital age, Google Apps gives you access to web-based e-mail, calendars, and documents from anywhere. You can store, share, and collaborate on documents using Google Drive, a cloud-based system accessible on the Web and a variety of mobile devices, including the iPad, iPhone, and Android phones and tablets. Cost: Free for up to 10 users and 5GB of Drive storage
Hold Mobile Video Chats: Fring Remote working is quickly becoming the norm, but face-to-face conversations are still important. Shorten the miles between you and co-workers with Fring, a free Web-based videoconference service that can connect up to four people at the same time. You can make video calls from a Web browser, Android device, iPad, or iPhone. It also accommodates voice-only calls, chat rooms, and live texting. Cost: Free for calls made between Fring users; hourly rates apply for international calls to non-Fring numbers
Manage Payroll: Intuit Snap Payroll Think of it as pain-free payroll management: Simply type in an employee's hours, work dates, and pay rate and this handy iPhone app shows you how much to pay and what to deduct in taxes. The app also keeps a record of every check written, so you can track payroll history without slogging through spreadsheets. The app is currently available in 12 states, including New York, Colorado, and Washington.
Best For Accounting: FreshBooks Another way to minimize accounting headaches, this Web-based service lets you log hours spent on tasks, prepare work estimates, and send invoices. It also lets you accept payments from customers on your website by credit card, PayPal or 13 other payment gateways. FreshBooks provides detailed reports on sales, expenses, and other financials. The FreshBook iPhone app also lets users snap photographs of paper receipts to capture the expenses and automatically create invoices for clients. Cost: Free for companies with up to three clients
Manage Social Media: Social Mention Curious to know what the social media world thinks about your company or brand? Find out through Social Mention, which aggregates user-generated content in real time. The search engine and analysis platform monitors more than 100 social network sites including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Digg. To use the service, enter a search term or phrase. Social Mention then offers measurements of the buzz around the query, like the ratio of positive mentions to negative ones. It also provides daily social media alerts and updated data on trending topics.
Brainstorm Online: Mural.ly A great way to brainstorm with far-flung co-workers, this free social bookmarking service lets you organize your thoughts and share them with others. Drag and drop photos, documents and videos onto a blank Mural page. Then personalize it by moving items around and adding text boxes, shapes, and stickers. You can invite colleagues to collaborate on a page or switch to full-screen mode to make an online presentation.
Share Digital Business Cards: CardFlick This free app for iPhones and Android phones lets you flick a finger to share a digital business card with a nearby CardFlick user. You can go to the CardFlick site to create a digital business card with your contact information, social-media accounts, and a photo. On the app, you can also see a history of people with whom you have swapped digital cards. One drawback: Both people must have the app to exchange details.
Build Pre-Launch Buzz: LaunchRock Looking to generate some excitement before going live? This service helps you create a Coming Soon page for your website. After creating an account on LaunchRock.com, select a background design or upload your own, then add information about your business. A box will appear on the homepage encouraging people to sign up to receive e-mails with company news and earn incentives for spreading the word via e-mail or on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and other websites. Go to your LaunchRock dashboard to track a variety of information, including daily sign-ups and page views.
Design a Website: Weebly This easy-to-use online tool lets you pick a website template from about 150 choices and add photos and text using drag-and-drop tools. You can also add a full e-commerce portal, photo galleries, and slide shows, and register your domain right on Weebly.com. The result? A polished, professional site that's up and running in a day, if not hours. Cost: Free for a basic site, then starting at $3 a month for a custom URL and advanced features
Create Newsletter Campaigns: MailChimp Publishing newsletters is a cinch with MailChimp. The service lets you design e-mail newsletters and share them on social networks. Then, you can log on to your MailChimp dashboard to see who's opening your newsletters, clicking on content, and more. Cost: Free for fewer than 2,000 subscribers across all lists and up to 12,000 e-mails per month
More from Inc.com:


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Far be it from me to back away from a pin that has a "may explode" warning attached to it, but when I found this crockpot version of dulce de leche made from a can of sweetened condensed milk, I felt a little better about it than the "boil on the stove, may explode" version. So I decided to give it a go.
I guess you're supposed to have some idea of what you're going to use your dulce de leche for once you've made it. Planning fail. But it was too late, and I had already forged ahead.
I followed the directions and took the label off the can and got a saucer to set the can on so that my crockpot wouldn't get a rusty ring in the bottom. I threw it all in and fired it up.
And then the power went out for about 2 seconds, and I did not think to check the crockpot to see if it actually turned back on along with the power… It didn't. So two hours later, I restarted the whole thing.
And then the damn power went out again. This is America. The power is not supposed to go out while I am attempting to make my own dulce de leche from a can of sweetened condensed milk in my fancy crockpot while watching The Bachelorette and singing My Country Tis of Thee. But go out it did, so I reset it again, and I honestly have no idea how many hours it ended up being in there for.
On top of that, the eight hours was up at like 3 a.m., so it sat on "warm" for another 4 hours until I could drag my ass out of bed to get it out of there. So I probably overcooked it. Ok, definitely overcooked it.
Good thing I put a saucer in the bottom.
What I don't know is if the rust is going to come off of my saucer. I neglected to think about that when I followed the directions. Now the question is: would I have rather had a rust ring in my crockpot or on my saucer? I guess it's probably a toss-up.
It was time for the moment of truth, and I must admit to a little fluttery excitement as I opened the can. I mean, there could be anything in there: dulce de leche (the most boring option), sweetened condensed milk (a slightly less boring option, and funnier), a weird combination of the two (now we're getting somewhere), or a strange chemical substance the likes of which I had not even begun to contemplate (which, honestly, I was hoping for).
I got a brownish substance with oily shit on the top that (sort of) resembled dulce de leche.
It was underwhelming.
After I stirred it with a knife, it looked pretty similar to the one in the demo blog, although maybe a bit thicker and darker. (Heh.)
And it tasted like… well, sort of still like sweetened condensed milk, which isn't a bad thing.
Now I just have to decide what I'm going to do with it…
To be continued. DUN DUN DUN.


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The United States has a military presence in two thirds of countries around the world
A group of 12 have had enough and initiate a terror ultimatum called the Blacklist – a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks on U.S interests. Sam Fisher is the leader of the newly formed 4th Echelon unit: a clandestine unit that answers solely to the President of the United States. Sam and his team must hunt down these terrorists by any means necessary and stop the Blacklist countdown before it reaches zero.


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WASHINGTON – WASHINGTON (AP) — It's all so last millennium, that filthy business in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico.
It reeks of yesterday's fuel, yesterday's sweaty labor — a hands-on way of life from another time. Today's Americans don't care to know how the gas comes to the pump, the food to the table, the iPad to the store.
Just make sure they do.
But now they're staring, transfixed, at where things come from. And what people still do to get it to you, and the death and devastation that can result when something goes wrong and it can't be fixed with a call to technical support.
"Top kill" wasn't a video game. It was a desperate injection of mud and junk into the primeval muck near the wreck of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. It was the most ambitious effort yet for a temporary fix, and it failed. So the oil spews, the search goes on and long-term hopes rest on relief wells still two months or more away.
In this age of microchip miracles, people are seeing brute mass, old tools and ancient physics at work in the weirdly lunar undersea landscape. The atmospherics could be from a moon mission.
A mile down, supersized vise grips clench a pipe forcing a flotsam into the ruptured well like oil workers have done on land.
All so yesterday in look and feel — even if it is the first ever top kill at such great ocean depths.
The enormity of the Gulf, its depths and the engineering challenges are beyond ordinary comprehension. (The Gulf alone is punctured with more than 2,300 deep wells. Who knew?) No fancy touch-sensitive chart on TV conveys the vastness. Even experts wildly disagree on fundamental questions such as how much oil is coming out.
The United States is a seafaring nation whose encounters with the sea now tend to be Red Lobster in the suburbs or Memorial Day at the beach.
It's historically a farming, industrial and exploring nation, most of whose people now are distant from the elemental struggles of living and working in the physical environment, much less understanding it.
Only 14 percent of the modern U.S. work force is engaged in production: manufacturing, mining, logging, construction and the like. The rest are in services.
While it is often considered an alien place, too, Washington is a product of that nation.
The president and many lawmakers are lawyers by training, not engineers, roustabouts or farmers. No wonder members of Congress met to discuss legal liability among their first orders of business in the oil spill response. For many in Washington, the talk is of blame, accountability and political consequences.
No wonder, perhaps, that President Barack Obama assumed that something so terrible would not happen because it had not happened before.
Like most Americans, he lacks the sixth sense of a mariner in foul weather or a miner listening to the earth speak.
He does, though, hail from Hawaii, where, as he noted last week, the ocean is sacred. Not to mention, all around.
Obama touched on the disconnect between those of the grounded physical world and everyone else during his news conference. He showed that he knows what he can't really feel.
"When I hear folks down in Louisiana expressing frustrations, I may not always think that their comments are fair," he said. "On the other hand, I probably think to myself, these are folks who grew up fishing in these wetlands and seeing this as an integral part of who they are."
The land, sea and factory are less and less an integral part of Americans.
If Aristotle were blogging about all of this, he would probably have little patience with the armchair experts and the pontificators who think the solution should be as easy as Malia Obama suggested when she asked her father, "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?"
The Greek philosopher said "those who dwell in intimate association with nature" are apt to understand the big picture. "Lack of experience diminishes our power of taking a comprehensive view."
His way of saying, you have to be there to get it. Americans, these days, are not.
Live video of oil spill: http://tinyurl.com/2c8y3rj


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During the summer, when school is out, our Summer Feeding Program provides FREE meals to children under the age of 19 in various community areas throughout the county and your children are invited. For more information or to locate a site near you, please contact Melody Chelstrom, School Food Service Director at 273-5257.
Dear Parent/Guardian,
The School Breakfast Program is available to all students every weekday morning. You do not have to register your child in advance. Your child can eat breakfast at school every day or only occasionally. School breakfast makes good sense – every day, students are offered meals that include servings of fruit, whole grain-rich items, and low fat or fat free milk. These breakfasts are well balanced and follow standards backed by the best nutritional science available. Participation in the program also affords children a chance to enjoy a morning meal with their friends.
School Breakfast is an ideal solution on busy mornings when kids are running late or parents have to be at work early. Whatever the reason, if breakfast at home is not convenient, please have your child take advantage of breakfast here at school so that they may enjoy the numerous benefits of starting their day with a healthy meal.
Thank you for helping us to make sure that all of our students start the school day alert, well fed, and ready to learn.
Melody Chelstrom
School Food Service Director
McLean County Schools
For more information contact: Vicki Hughes, School Food Service Director, at 270-273-5257
USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race,
color, national origin, sex, religious creed, disability, age, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA.
Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.), should contact the Agency (State or local) where they applied for benefits. Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities may contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.
To file a program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, (AD-3027) found online at: http://www.ascr.usda.gov/complaint_filing_cust.html, and at any USDA office, or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by:
(1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410;
(2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or
(3) email: email@example.com.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.


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Target dangles designer Jason Wu to lure Canadians
'Pop-up' store in Toronto previews U.S. chain's planned 2013 Canadian retail debut
The buzz surrounding Target Corporation's move into Canada could quickly turn into a backlash if the U.S. retailing giant can't deliver quality goods at prices similar to what it charges south of the border, experts say.
On Thursday, a year ahead of the official launch of its 135 stores across Canada, Target opened a temporary store on King Street West in Toronto to give consumers a taste of what to expect. The pop-up store featured clothing by Vancouver designer Jason Wu, with 100 per cent of sales going to United Way Toronto.
Thursday's soft launch was greeted with a long line of eager customers and much fanfare, a reaction that wouldn't surprise Detlev Zwick, a professor of marketing at York University. Many Canadians know the brand from U.S. shopping trips, and many expat Americans long for it. Target also fills a gap in this country, Zwick says.
"It's going to be greeted with a lot of enthusiasm, especially by middle-class consumers in urban areas, where there is a gap in the retail landscape between the high end, with Harry Rosen and Holt Renfrew, and the low end, with Zellers and Wal-Mart," he said.
"The prices are excellent and the quality of the stuff you can buy in Target would cost 30 to 40 per cent more in other stores, if you can even find those brands."
Zwick moved to Canada 10 years ago from the U.S., where the Minneapolis-based Target has 1,763 stores. The lack of Target stores in Canada has been a constant lament among fellow expats, he said.
However, Target will run up against the same challenge as other U.S. retailers that have made a foray north – significantly higher operating costs, which are typically passed on to consumers through higher prices.
Higher taxes and retail labour costs that are about 20 per cent more in Canada are among the factors that affect pricing here, along with a smaller population, higher transportation costs and economies of scale that allow U.S. retailers to reduce costs.
Do pop-up stores make you more likely to shop at a retailer? Take our survey.
The price differential issue resurfaced last month after popular U.S. fashion retailer J.Crew opened its first Canadian store and first Canadian website, charging more here than in the U.S. and causing an uproar among consumers. Last November, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney told a Senate committee that Canadians pay on average 11 to 20 per cent more than Americans for the same goods.
It's not a question of whether Target will charge more in Canada but of how much more it will charge.
"Target will be an interesting case study for what they do in terms of their pricing strategy – how far they go before they piss off consumers," Zwick said. "Consumers can quickly turn against them if they feel they're being gouged. Canadian nationalist sentiment might be flared up with feelings of U.S. retailers coming to fleece us."
But Zwick suggests Target might still get away with charging prices about 10 per cent higher in Canada than in the U.S., as consumers factor in savings from not having to drive across the border to shop.
"If Target is willing to replicate the value proposition they offer in the U.S., it will be a very successful move for them and for consumers, who will flock to them."
For retailers, Target's move into Canada will ratchet up the pressure in an already competitive retail marketplace, said Kenric Tyghe, a consumer and retail analyst with Raymond James Capital in Toronto.
"It marks the beginning of the next wave of U.S. entrants to the mass Canadian retailing landscape. It's the single largest change to the retail environment since the entry of Wal-Mart."
Because the majority of Target's Canadian stores will be based in Ontario initially, its main competitors will be Wal-Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws and the Bay, Tyghe said.
Consumers stand to gain from potential price wars.
"Target can afford to compete on price to take market share because they are starting from zero, where the Canadian guys have to defend their market share."


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The Original Knicker - Emerald Green
This product is sold out
The Original Knicker in emerald green finished with lace trim, packaged with love in a gift box.
• Made from 95% biodegradable TENCEL™ Micro Modal (AKA trees!)
• The perfect cut, no VPL or riding up
• Super-soft, breathable, feminine & comfortable
• Sustainable underwear designed by women, for women
• One tree planted with every order
Fabric: 95% TENCEL™ Modal, 5% Elastane. Lace: 91% Nylon, 9% Elastane. B-Edit: 71% TENCEL™ Modal, 19% SeaCell™ and 10% Roica V550.
As with all luxury fabrics, we recommend hand washing under warm water. If you choose to machine wash, please pop your knickers in a net bag on a cool 30 degree wash. No need to tumble dry. Dry flat.
Please note with bright and neon dyes, there will be colour rub when new but with wash and wear the colour will fade subtly. To preserve the vibrancy we recommend hand washing bright colours in a cool wash.


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LED Montreal offers you a wide variety of battery powered mini LED accessories, which can be used in various occasions. They are perfect, affordable decorations for your wedding, office or house party, school dance, concert, play and many more types of events. They're easy to carry, manipulate and install which makes them a great investment.
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What is CBP®?
In December 1980, Chiropractic BioPhysics® or CBP® Technique, was originally named by Drs. Donald Harrison, Deanne Harrison, and Daniel Murphy for "physics applied to biology in chiropractic".
Since that time, Drs. Donald and Deed Harrison, (along with a number of other contributors) have authored Seven CBP® Texts Books and published more than 130 scientific studies investigating different aspects of CBP®.1-7
Thus, today, CBP® Technique is one of the foremost investigated techniques in Chiropractic and both Dr. Donald and Dr. Deed Harrison are among the leaders in the profession's researchers.
CBP® Goals of Care
CBP® Technique emphasizes optimal posture and spinal alignment as the primary goals of chiropractic care while simultaneously documenting improvements in pain and functional based outcomes (See Figure 1). The uniqueness of CBP® treatment is in structural rehabilitation of the spine and posture. In general the goals of CBP® Care are:
1. Normal Front & Side View Posture 1. Center of mass of head, rib cage & pelvis vertically aligned in Front and Side views. 2. Normal Spinal Alignment a. Front view: vertical alignment b. Side View: Harrison Ideal or Average Spinal Model 3. Normal function a. Improved Range of Motion and quality of movement, b. Improved muscle strength, 1. Improved Health & Symptom Improvements 1. Neck disability index 2. Oswestry low back index, 3. SF 36 or Health Status Questionaire
Ideal Postural Alignment:
Figure 1. Ideal postural alignment is depicted in both the frontal and side views. In each view, the center of mass of the skull, thorax, and pelvis are in a vertical line with respect to gravity. In the frontal view, the spinal column is vertically aligned-a straight column- with respect to gravity. In the side view, the spine has three primary curvatures which will be described below:
1. Neck Curve - Cervical Lordosis, 2. Ribcage Curve - Thoracic Kyphosis, 3. Low back Curve - Lumbar Lordosis
Ideal Spinal Alignment: Harrison Full Spine Model
As in all fields of study dealing with the human body, i.e. physiology, hematology, anatomy, etc., there exist normal values for alignment of the spine. The Harrison Spinal Model is an evidenced based model for side view spinal alignment. It is the geometric path of the posterior longitudinal ligament or the backs of the vertebra from the 1st neck vertebra to the bottom of the lower back or top of the sacrum. See Figures 2-6 below detailing the Harrison Spinal Model.
CBP® researchers have extensively published ideal and average models for the human spinal curvatures as viewed from the side. This research has lead to the finding of the 'Harrison Spinal Model'. This model details both Ideal and Average geometric shapes for the curves of the spine from the side. Additionally, ideal and average ranges for the spinal segmental angles for each of the spinal regions have been identified. The neck or cervical spine should have a geometric shape that approximates a 'piece of a circle'. The ribcage or thoracic spine should have a geometric shape that approximates an oval-elliptical shape. And the low back or lumbar spine should have a geometric shape that approximates an oval-elliptical shape.26-31
These are "evidence based" models. In fact, the CBP® neck-cervical circular model27 and the low back- lumbar elliptical model29 have both been found to have discriminative validity between pain and non pain subjects. In other words, the Harrison Spinal Model has been found to be able identify pain subjects versus non-pain subjects by what their spinal x-ray shapes are.
Figure 3. The three figures above demonstrate the concept that each spinal region has a normal geometry or shape of the spinal curves. On the readers left is the Neck or Cervical spine-Here the shape in the neck curve should approximate a piece of a circle. In the Center is the Ribcage or Thoracic spineHere the shape in the ribcage should approximate a piece of an oval or ellipse. On the Right is the Low back or Lumbar spine. Here the shape in the low back should approximate a piece of an oval or ellipse.
Figure 4. The Harrison Full Spine Model. On the readers left is the exact geometric model of the side view of the spinal curves as identified by Harrison and colleagues. This model can be used to determine what is wrong-abnormal with a given patients side view of the spine. For example, a full spine x-ray on the right is shown. The red-curved line represents the Harrison spinal model and this shows where the patients spinal vertebra should be lined up. It is apparent that this patient has altered spinal alignment as they do not fit even close to the Harrison Idealized Spinal Model.
Figure 5. The Harrison Spinal Model in the Neck-Cervical region. The Harrison spinal model is depicted as the GREEN curved line in this figure. On the Right is a normal curved patient x-ray. On the Left is an abnormal curved patient x-ray; where the patients abnormal shape is shown by the Red dashed line. The Harrison Spinal Model in the neck has been shown to reasonably predict which person will have neck pain compared to normal subjects.
Figure 6. The Harrison Spinal Model in the Low back or Lumbar region. The Harrison spinal model is depicted as the RED curved line in this figure. On the Right is a normal curved patient x-ray. On the Left is an abnormal curved patient x-ray; where the patients abnormal shape is shown by the faint dashed line. The Harrison Spinal Model in the low back has been shown to reasonably predict which person will have low back pain compared to normal subjects.
X-Ray Analysis and Utilization
To establish optimal and average sagittal models, x-ray analysis and line drawing procedures are utilized. CBP® protocols require that the doctor must measure the displacements on spinal radiographs (segmental Subluxation). Both lateral-side view and anterior to posterior (AP) or frontal view CBP® x-ray line drawing procedures have been studied and found to be reliable.32-36 Furthermore, CBP® utilizes standardized x-ray positioning procedures that have been studied and found to be reliable.36
As with measures of pain intensity, range of motion, and quality of life, periodic assessment of spinal structural alignment is important to evaluate progress and determine when maximum patient improvement has been reached. In CBP® Technique, the use of initial and follow-up spinal x-rays or radiographs is deemed necessary; however, some in chiropractic have condemned the use of follow-radiographs to collect alignment data.37-39 Importantly, there is data to show that the use of medical/chiropractic x-rays constitutes a very minor health risk and in fact has been shown to be of benefit (decreased sickness and cancer mortality rates) in some studies.40-42
In reality, the only way to see what an individual patients spine alignment looks likes, is to obtain spinal imaging such as Radiography or X-ray. No-one would not take their car to the mechanic and say: Somethings wrong with my engine but dont look under the hood–Would you? Then why would anyone want a Chiropractor to adjust-treat their spine without having an x-ray to see what the persons spine looked like? Would You?
CBP® Postural Analysis
Previously, engineering concepts were used to describe all spinal-vertebral segmental movements as rotations and translations in 3-dimensions.10 However, Dr. Don Harrison was the first to describe abnormal postures of the head, rib cage, and pelvis in this manner.1-3,9 Figures 7 and 8 depict the twelve simple motions in six-degrees of freedom as rotations and translations of the human head, ribcage, and pelvis:
• Rotation is a turning, twisting, or tilting movement and is an angular movement • Translation is a straight line movement (up, down, left, right, forward, backward)
Figure 7. The possible translation postures (Tx, Ty, Tz) of the head, rib cage, and pelvis are depicted in 3-dimensions. In 1980, Dr. Don Harrison termed these pairs on any one axis as Mirror Images®. Whichever Abnormal postures were found to exist in the patient, these postures would be placed into their Mirror Image® before a force was applied with an adjusting instrument, drop table, exercise and/or traction.
Figure 8. The possible postural rotations (Rx, Ry, Rz) of the head rib cage and pelvis are depicted in 3-dimenesions. In 1980, Dr. Don Harrison termed these pairs on any one axis as Mirror Images®. Whichever postures were found to exist in the patient, these postures would be placed into their Mirror Image® before a force was applied with an adjusting instrument, drop table, exercise and/or traction.
The postural and spinal displacements are the determining factors for deriving a patients individualized program of care. Prior to performing CBP® Mirror Image® postural set-ups, the patients initial presenting abnormal posture(s) must be exactly determined. Ideal posture can be precisely described as vertical alignment of the centers of mass of the head, ribcage, and pelvis with respect to gravity (Figure 1 above). In other words, none of the rotations and translations in Figures 7 and 8 can be present. Using this definition, abnormal postural rotations and translations can be determined.
Mirror Image® Postural Adjustments
In March 1980, Dr. Don Harrison originated postural Chiropractic adjusting procedures that he coined Mirror Image®. Clinically, these adjusting set-ups were found to result in postural and spinal alignment improvements verified with follow up x-ray; this impression would be subjected to studies later as shown in Table 1 above.
For each of these postures illustrated in Figures 7 and 8, Dr. Don Harrison and his brother Glenn Harrison originated drop table adjustments, instrument adjustments (both table and hand-held). For these new Mirror Image® patient positions, Dr. Don Harrison placed the patient in their opposite posture. These Harrison Mirror Image® positions can be described as reflecting the patients head, rib cage, and/or pelvis across the median-sagittal plane in the AP view, and positioning the head, rib cage, and/or pelvis across the mid-frontal plane in the lateral view.9 Figures 9 and 10 demonstrate two examples (there are literally thousands more as there can be many postural combinations of each region) of Mirror Image® Adjustments utilized in CBP® Technique.
Mirror Image Adjustments, assists the Chiropractor in the rehabilitation of the patients posture. In theory, these adjustments re-balance the bodies sense of proper balance or alignment by way of triggering improved muscle and nerve reflexes. Thus, postural adjustments as performed with drop table, hand-held instrument, or even mirror imageÒ manipulation procedures, are performed for resetting the nervous system regulation of postural muscle balance.51
Figure 9. Mirror Image adjustment example for the head posture. The patient has forward head posture (translation) and the skeletal animation shows what happens to the spine with this posture. On the right is the CBP Mirror Image adjustment. The posture is placed in its opposite position and then a Chiropractic adjustment is performed.
Figure 10. Mirror Image adjustment example for the ribcage posture. The patient has right lateral ribcage posture (translation) and the skeletal animation shows what happens to the spine with this posture. On the right is the CBP® Mirror Image adjustment. The posture is placed in its opposite position and then a Chiropractic adjustment is performed.
Mirror Image® Postural Exercises
Further, in 1980-1986, Dr. Don and Dr. Glenn Harrison began developing and testing Mirror Image®posture exercises.1-3 Mirror image® exercises are performed to stretch shortened muscles and to strengthen those muscles that have weakened in areas where postural muscles have adapted to asymmetric abnormal postures. Although strength and conditioning exercise has not proven to correct posture,46 postural exercises performed in the mirror image have shown initial promise in the reduction of posture and spinal displacements.47-50 Figures 11 and 12 demonstrate Corrective Mirror Image exercises for the same postures as in Figures 10-11.
Figure 11. Mirror Image exercise example for the abnormal forward head posture. The patient has an abnormal forward head (translation) posture and the skeletal animation shows what happens to the spine with this posture. On the right is two different CBP® Mirror Image exercisesone with just the patients muscles and body as resistance and the other with an elastic band for increased contraction effort. The patient actively maneuvers their posture into the opposite or Mirror Imageposition.
Figure 12. Mirror Image exercise example for an abnormal lateral shifted (translated) ribcage posture. The patient has right lateral ribcage posture (translation) and the skeletal animation shows what happens to the spine with this posture. On the right is two different CBP® Mirror Image exercisesone with just the patients muscles and body as resistance and the other with an elastic band for increased contraction effort. The patient actively maneuvers their posture into the opposite or Mirror Image position.
Mirror Image® Postural and Spinal Traction
Additionally from 1980-1986, for use in difficult cases, Dr. Don Harrison and Dr. Glenn Harrison originated several Mirror Image® postural traction (rotations and translations of the head, rib cage, and pelvis) and cervical extension (backwards bending) traction methods to restore the sagittal cervical curve. These CBP® Technique cervical extension traction methods were improved upon over the years by several other CBP® practitioners.
From 1996-2000, several postural and spinal traction methods to restore thoracic and lumbar sagittal curvatures were developed by Dr. Deed Harrison; Dr. Don Harrisons son.11-13 Dr. Deed began to further refine the CBP® Technique cervical traction methods with an analysis of head posture, curve configuration, thoracic curvature, gender, and body size.4 From 1992-2004, six non-randomized clinical control trials,13-18 one randomized clinical control trial,19 and five case studies20-24 have been performed on these CBP® Technique Mirror Image® procedures.
Postural mirror image and extension traction for the side view spinal curves provides sustained loading periods of 10-20 minutes and is necessary to cause visco-elastic deformation to the resting length of the spinal ligaments, muscles, and discs.52 In clinical controlled trials, extension traction, as done in CBP® Technique, is the only proven method (without surgery) shown to consistently correct abnormal spinal curvatures back towards their normal alignment.
There are MANY types of spinal extension traction methods used in CBP® Technique; some are more aggressive and technical than others. Whereas some forms of spinal extension traction are available for patients to use at home; the examples shown in Figures 13-14 are in office types only. Note: Each patients spine is unique and thus, a variety of traction devices are used depending upon the exact condition of the patient.
Figure 13. Three different subluxations (abnormal alignment) of the cervical curve and their respective Mirror Image traction methods. In A, hypolordosis with mild anterior head translation requires compression extension traction in B. In C, slight kyphosis with posterior head translation requires 2-way non-compression traction in D. In E, reversal of the upper cervical curve with mild anterior head translation requires compression extension 2-way traction in F.4,14-16
Figure 14. Two different subluxations of the lumbar curve and one of the thoracic curve and their respective Mirror Image traction methods. In A, lumbar kyphosis with anterior thoracic translation requires 3-point bending extension traction in B (shown standing). In C, slight lumbar kyphosis with posterior thoracic translation requires 3-point bending in D (shown supine). In E, hyper-kyphosis of the thoracic curve requires 3-point bending thoracic traction in F (shown standing).
Treatment Interventions
The CBP® protocol of care recommends that relief care (traditional chiropractic management) be separated from structural rehabilitation of the spine and posture. In this regard, the typical patient would receive an initial 3 weeks of care (4 times per week or 12 visits) aimed at improving segmental and overall spinal range of motion (RoM) and pain intensity/frequency. Treatment interventions/methods would consist of any number of segmental adjusting techniques the chiropractor prefers to utilize (Diversified, Gonstead, Activator, etc ).
After, the initial relief care examination (average 12 visits), CBP® structural rehabilitation procedures would begin and include Mirror Image® exercises, adjustments, and traction (referred to as the E.A.T protocol). The mirror image® posture positions are the rotation and translation pairs in or about each coordinate axis (Figures 3 and 4 above). Thus, CBP® care is multi-modal and is consistent with Boltons ideas of clinical applications in evidence based practice.45 Table 2 outlines treatment interventions recommended by CBP® for each of relief and structural rehabilitative care.
The reason for postural mirror image exercises, adjustments, and traction procedures is to address all the tissues involved in spine and posture alignment.
Unlike the relief care phase (approximately 12 visits), which includes segmental adjusting procedures from other named techniques, the E.A.T corrective care protocol is unique to CBP®. In combination, these E.A.T. methods are unique to CBP® Technique.
Table 2
CBP® recommended treatment methods for each phase of care, relief and structural rehabilitation of the spine and posture.
|Spinal Manipulative Therapy
|Palpatory Pain and Range of Motion
|Mirror Image® Adjustment
|PosturePrint® & Clinical Visualization
|Spinal Stretching
|Range of Motion
|Mirror Image® Exercise
|PosturePrint® & Clinical Visualization
|Ice / Heat
|Injury / Inflammation
|Mirror Image® Postural Traction
|PosturePrint® & Clinical Visualization
|Mirror Image® Sagittal Curve Traction
|Lateral View X-Ray (PostureRay® X-Ray Digitalization Preferred)
Frequency & Duration of CBP® Technique Care
Previously it was stated that a typical patient is started with relief care at a frequency of 4 times per week for 3 weeks or 12 visits. After this 12 visit relief care regiment, a patient is re-evaluated to document improvements in initial (visit 1) positive exam findings, pain scales, disability indices, health status, and range of motion. Following this re-evaluation, the patient is transitioned into CBP® structural rehabilitative E.A.T. procedures.4
To determine if the CBP® E.A.T protocol of corrective care for each individual (based on his/her posture and spinal displacements) is achieving the desired normalization of posture and spinal alignment, re-examinations are suggested at 36 visit intervals. In other words after 24 visits of CBP® E.A.T interventions added to the initial 12 visits of relief care. This 36 visit number is not based on personal opinion, but rather is an average duration from our six CBP® clinical control trials.13-18 In order to arrive at this 36 visit time period, one could use a frequency of 4 visits per week for 9 weeks or 3 visits per week for 12 weeks.
In six clinical control trials detailing the outcomes of chronic pain patients with CBP® Treatment interventions, the average chronic pain patient achieved a 75-80% improvement in their chronic pain and a 50% correction of their initial subluxated (abnormal spine alignment) position towards ideal and average spine alignment.13-18 This data indicates that, on average, a typical chronic pain patient may need 2 blocks of 36 visits of intensive structural rehabilitative care (defined as 3 or 4 visits per week) to achieve as near normal spinal alignment as possible.
Table 3
CBP® Protocol and Phases of Care showing the timing of different Treatment methods.
The frequency and duration of further care recommended to the patient at the 36 visit re-evaluation depends on their improvement in both structural and functional based outcomes. For example, if a patient achieves near-normal posture and spinal alignment at the 36 visit re-evaluation, then a reduced frequency of treatment is recommended for stabilization care (1-4 times per month depending upon the case). However, if at the first corrective care re-evaluation, less than average improvement is attained on comparative radiographs and postural examination (PosturePrint), then this is indication that another block of 36 visits may be necessary for continued spinal correction. With CBP®'s six completed clinical control trials, our methods have moved from the clinical opinion arena to having foundation in the category of evidence based care.
In our present era, evidence-based medicine was coined as a means to improve patient outcomes and quality of care. CBP® Technique uses postural and radiographic analysis procedures that have been shown to be reliable and valid. Significantly, CBP® Technique has multiple types of peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals as evidence for its patient treatment methods. What remains for CBP® technique is further refinement of technique protocols and evaluating the effects of subluxation reduction using the E.A.T. procedures in more advanced study designs. CBP is a technique practiced by a large number of practitioners, is a leader in the chiropractic technique and biomechanics research arena, and has shown good potential to improve chronic pain conditions in several patient populations and selected case studies.
2 Harrison DD. Spinal Biomechanics: A Chiropractic Perspective. National Library of Medicine #WE 725 4318C, 1982-97. Harrison DD. CBP Technique: The Physiscs of Spinal Correction.
3 Harrison DD. CBP X-ray Work Book. National Library of Medicine #WE 725 4318C, 1982-97. Harrison DD. CBP Technique: The Physiscs of Spinal Correction.
4 Harrison DE, Harrison, DD, Haas JW. CBP® Structural Rehabilitation of the Cervical Spine. Evanston, WY: Harrison CBP Seminars, 2002.
5 Harrison DE, Harrison, DD, Haas JW, Oakley PA. Spinal Biomechanics for Clinicians, Volume I. Evanston, WY: Harrison CBP Seminars, 2003.
6 Harrison DE, Harrison, DD, Haas JW, Oakley PA. CBP® Structural Rehabilitation of the Lumbar Spine. Evanston, WY: Harrison CBP Seminars, 2005.
7 Harrison DE, Betz J, Harrison, DD. CBP® Structural Rehabilitation of the Thoracic Spine. Evanston, WY: Harrison CBP Seminars, 2005.
8 Chiropractic Biophysics Online. http://www.idealspine.com/. Services/research papers. Accessed 12-15-04.
9 Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Harrison GR, Troyanovich SJ, Harrison DE, Harrison SO. Chiropractic Biophysics Technique: A Linear Algebra Approach to Posture in Chiropractic. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1996;19(8):525-535.
10 Panjabi MM, White AA, Brand RA. A Note on Defining Body Parts Configurations. J Biomech 1974; 7:385.
11 Harrison DE, Harrson DD. The Lumbar Spine: Rehabilitation with the CBPâ method. National Library of Medicine #WE 725 4318C, 1997.
12 Harrison DE, et al. Changes in sagittal lumbar configuration with a new method of extension traction. Presented at the 27th annual meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar spine. Adelaide, Australia April 9-13, 2000;151.
13 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Cailliet R, Janik TJ, Holland B. Changes in Sagittal Lumbar Configuration with a New Method of Extension Traction: Non-randomized Clinical Control Trial. Arch Phys Med Rehab 2002;83(11):1585-1591.
14 Harrison DD, Jackson BL, Troyanovich SJ, Robertson GA, DeGeorge D, Barker WF. The Efficacy of Cervical Extension-Compression Traction Combined with Diversified Manipulation and Drop Table Adjustments in the Rehabilitation of Cervical Lordosis. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1994;17(7):454-464.
15 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Betz J, Colloca CJ, Janik TJ, Holland B. Increasing the Cervical Lordosis with Seated Combined Extension-Compression and Transverse Load Cervical Traction with Cervical Manipulation: Non-randomized Clinical Control Trial. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2003; 26(3): 139-151.
16 Harrison DE, Cailliet R, Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Holland B. New 3-Point Bending Traction Method of Restoring Cervical Lordosis Combined with Cervical Manipulation: Non-randomized Clinical Control Trial. Arch Phys Med Rehab 2002; 83(4): 447-453.
17 Harrison DE, Cailliet R, Betz JW, Harrison DD, Haas JW, Janik TJ, Holland B. Harrison Mirror Image Methods for Correcting Trunk List: A Non-randomized Clinical Control Trial. Eur Spine J 2004; In Press.
18 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Haas JW, Betz JW, Janik TJ, Holland B. Conservative Methods to Correct Lateral Translations of the Head: A Non-randomized Clinical Control Trial. J Rehab Res Devel 2004;41(4):631-640.
19 Zaleski BW, Wood J. A comparison of Palmer package and Chiropractic Biophysics for the treatment of pain. Proceedings of the International Conference on Spinal Manipulation 1992; Chicago, IL., May 15-17.
20 Paulk GP, Bennett DL, Harrison DE. Management of a chronic lumbar disk herniation with CBP methods following failed chiropractic manipulative intervention. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005;in press.
21 Ferrantelli JR, Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Steward D. Conservative management of previously unresponsive whiplash associated disorders with CBP methods: a case report. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005;in press.
22 Haas JW, Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Bymers B. Reduction of symptoms in a patient with syringomyelia, cluster headaches, and cervical kyphosis. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2005;in press.
23 Harrison DE, Bula J. Non-operative correction of the flexible flat back using lumbar extension traction: A case study of three. J Chiropractic Education 2002;16(1).
24 Bastecki A, Harrison DE, Haas JW. ADHD: A CBP case study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2004; 27(8):e14.
25 Harrison DE, Harrison DD. Chiropractic Biophysics Technique. Part I: The Scientific Basis. Eur Chiropractic J 2005;
26 Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Troyanovich SJ, Holland B. Comparisons of Lordotic Cervical Spine Curvatures to a Theoretical Ideal Model of the Static Sagittal Cervical Spine. Spine 1996;21(6):667-675.
27 Harrison DD, Harrison DE, Janik TJ, Cailliet R, Haas JW, Ferrantelli J, Holland B. Modeling of the Sagittal Cervical Spine as a Method to Discriminate Hypo-Lordosis: Results of Elliptical and Circular Modeling in 72 Asymptomatic Subjects, 52 Acute Neck Pain Subjects, and 70 Chronic Neck Pain Subjects. Spine 2004; 29:2485-2492.
28 Janik TJ, Harrison DD, Cailliet R, Troyanovich SJ, Harrison DE. Can the Sagittal Lumbar Curvature be Closely Approximated by an Ellipse? J Orthop Res 1998; 16(6):766-70.
29 Harrison DD, Cailliet R, Janik TJ, Troyanovich SJ, Harrison DE, Holland B. Elliptical Modeling of the Sagittal Lumbar Lordosis and Segmental Rotation Angles as a Method to Discriminate Between Normal and Low Back Pain Subjects. J Spinal Disord 1998; 11(5): 430-439.
30 Harrison DE, Janik TJ, Harrison DD, Cailliet R, Harmon S. Can the Thoracic Kyphosis be Modeled with a Simple Geometric Shape? The Results of Circular and Elliptical Modeling in 80 Asymptomatic Subjects. J Spinal Disord Tech 2002; 15(3): 213-220.
31 Harrison DD, Harrison DE, Janik TJ, Cailliet R, Haas JW. Do Alterations in Vertebral and Disc Dimensions Affect an Elliptical Model of the Thoracic Kyphosis? Spine 2003; 28(5):463-469.
32 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Cailliet R, Troyanovich SJ, Janik TJ. Cobb Method or Harrison Posterior Tangent Method: Which is Better for Lateral Cervical Analysis? Spine 2000; 25: 2072-78.
33 Harrison DE, Cailliet R, Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Holland B. Centroid, Cobb or Harrison Posterior Tangents: Which to Choose for Analysis of Thoracic Kyphosis? Spine 2001; 26(11): E227-E234.
34 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Harrison SO, Holland B. Determination of Lumbar Lordosis: Cobb Method, Centroidal Method, TRALL or Harrison Posterior Tangents? Spine 2001; 26(11): E236-E242.
35 Harrison DE, Holland B, Harrison DD, Janik TJ. Further Reliability Analysis of the Harrison Radiographic Line Drawing Methods: Crossed ICCs for Lateral Posterior Tangents and AP Modified Risser-Ferguson. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2002; 25: 93-98.
36 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Colloca CJ, Betz J, Janik TJ, Holland B. Repeatability of Posture Overtime, X-ray Positioning, and X-ray Line Drawing: An Analysis of Six Control Groups. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2003; 26(2): 87-98.
37 Haas M, Taylor JAM, Gillette RG. The routine use of radiographic spinal displacement analysis: a dissent. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999;22:254-259.
38 Phillips RB. Plain film radiography in chiropractic. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1992;15:47-50.
39 Taylor JAM. Full-spine radiography: a review. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1993;16:460-474.
40 Kauffman JM. Diagnostic radiation: are the risks exaggerated? J Amer Phys Surg 2003;8(2):54-55.
41 Cohen BL, Lee IS. A catalog of risks. Health Physics 1979;36:707-722.
42 International Atomic Energy Agency. Facts about low-level radiation. American Nuclear Society, 1982.
43 Janik TJ, Harrison DE, Cailliet R, Harrison DD, Normand MC, Black P. Validity of an algorithm to estimate 3-D rotations and translations of the head in upright posture from three 2-D digital images. 2005; In Review.
44 Harrison DE, Janik TJ, Cailliet R, Harrison DD, Normand MC, Black P, Perron DL. Validation of an algorithm to estimate 3-D rotations and translations of the thorax and pelvis in upright posture from three 2-D digital images. 2005 In Review.
45 Bolton JE. The evidence in evidence-based practice: what counts and what doesn't count? J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2001;24:362-366.
46 Hrysomallis C, Goodman C. A review of resistance exercise and posture realignment. J Strength Cond Res 2001;15:385-390
47 Den Boer WA, Anderson PG, Limbek JV, Kooijman MAP. Treatment of idiopathic scoliosis with side shift therapy: An initial comparison with a brace treatment historical cohort. European Spine J 1999;8:406-410.
48 Weiss HR. Influence of an in-patient exercise program on scoliotic curve. Ital J Orthop Traumatol 1992; 18:395-406.
49 Weiss HR, Lohschmidt K, el-Obeidi N, Verres C. Preliminary results and worst-case analysis of in patient scoliosis rehabilitation. Pediatr Rehabil 1997;1:35-40.
50 Pearson ND, Walmsley RP. Trial into the effects of repeated neck retractions in normal subjects. Spine 1995; 20(11): 1245-51.).
51 DeVocht JW, Pickar JG, Wilder DG. EMG activity levels of paraspinal muscles during spinal manipulation. Proceedings from the 29th annual meeting of ISSLS 2002; Vancouver, Canada.
52 Oliver MJ, Twomey LT. Extension creep in the lumbar spine. Clin Biomech 1995;10:363-368.
53 Harrison DE, Harrison DD, Troyanovich SJ. Three-Dimensional Spinal Coupling Mechanics. Part II: Implications for Chiropractic Theories and Practice. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1998; 21(3): 177-86.
54 Harrison DE, Cailliet R, Harrison DD, Troyanovich SJ, Janik TJ. Cervical Coupling on AP Radiographs During Lateral Translations of the Head Creates an S-Configuration. Clin Biomech 2000; 15(6): 436-440.
55 Harrison DE, Cailliet R, Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Troyanovich SJ, Coleman RR. Lumbar Coupling During Lateral Traction.


text:
2017 Average Costs For House Painting
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While many people think that painting the exterior of their home is a DIY project that they can easily accomplish, the truth of the matter is that it is a massive undertaking best left to the professionals. When it comes to house painting in Bryant, call only the best. Call Furthur. Their experts are certified, trained professionals able to provide you with service that you can rely on in Bryant. From the beginning of the project to the very end, they will stay with you and provide excellent advice and work.
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Long-Lasting House Painting in Bryant, AR
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Bryant house painting starts by power washing or handwashing the space in order to remove dirt, mildew, and debris from your home. House painting contractors in Bryant then prepare the surface, so all that loose paint is scraped and the glossy areas are sanded, while gaps are filled to prevent water damage. Furthur is able to provide you with the best exterior house painting in Bryant thanks to their methods of painting, cleaning, and inspection, all to make sure the job is done well.
Researching house painters in Bryant and house painting in Bryant can be a little overwhelming, but save time and money by contacting Furthur today.
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When do I need a house painting in Bryant?
As soon as your home's paint is starting to fade, that is an indication that you need a house painting in Bryant. A paint job usually lasts up to ten years depending on the quality of the paint and many more external contributing factors. Also, the climate, weather conditions, humidity, and where you live can affect the longevity of the paint job. If your walls and ceilings have flaking paint, peeling paint, and small cracks, that is also the time when you call a professional for a house painting in Bryant. If you leave your walls untreated, the wood that should have been protected by the paint will get damaged and you'll be risking the integrity of your home. What's more, you will be dealing with more serious and costly repairs. You may be unsure whether you need a house painting in Bryant. Consult with a painter for an evaluation of your home's paint job.
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You don't have to do any prep work before your hired painting specialists arrive. The painters have already taken into account the prep work that's needed during the assessment of your home. Unless you are a professional in house painting in Bryant, it is best that you just sit back and relax while the specialists take care of your home for you.
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You should not hire a professional for a house painting in Bryant if it's below 40 degrees outside. However, there are specially formulated paints that can be used during the cold season. Talk to a professional to evaluate your home and the situation. If you insist, an expert should work out something to make sure you get your desired results.
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Elite Coatings Inc605 S Main St Beebe, AR 72012


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A new nonprofit group is making strides to establish a coastal trail along the inland marine waters of Washington and British Columbia.
The Bellingham-based Salish Sea Foundation also wants those waters designated as an international marine sanctuary.
Doug Tolchin, an organizer of the foundation, said the effort is in its early stages, but the goal is firm.
"We recognize the Salish Sea as an international treasure of exceptional importance, where mountains, rivers, creeks, estuaries and islands come together in an explosion of amazing landscapes," Tolchin said. "Its wildlife populations deserve all the protection and restoration they can get."
Four years ago, a Western Washington University professor convinced the U.S. and Canadian governments to ascribe the name Salish Sea to the regional name for the complex 5,500-square-mile body of water that includes the Georgia Strait, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.
In Snohomish County, those bodies of water include Port Susan, Possession Sound, Tulalip Bay and Port Gardner. Salish Sea hasn't replaced the names of the many canals, straits, bays, ports, sounds and inlets that make up the inland waters, but the term has helped naturalists and scientists describe a unified ecosystem.
The term "sea" is a good one because it's a large body of salt water partly enclosed by land and protected from the open ocean, said Bert Webber, the retired marine biology professor who championed the Salish Sea name. The name Salish recognizes the indigenous people of the same region who are connected by various Coast Salish languages, he said.
Officials with the Tulalip Tribes and other regional American Indian tribes and First Nations in Canada supported naming the region the Salish Sea and to the effort to restore and improve its ecosystem.
Hundreds of years after the first European exploration in the region, about 8 million people now live on or near the shores of the inland sea. Their accompanying activity has taken a toll on the Salish Sea, Tolchin said.
"The biggest source of pollution here is us," he said. "We have to get people to stop their use of detergents and chemicals that pollute the waterways, to keep pet waste out of the storm water runoff and other simple changes."
Tolchin said there is another way people can get involved.
"We would like to see people study our Salish Sea marine sanctuary vision map, so that they can clearly understand where and what is the Salish Sea," Tolchin said. "People also can take a look at their own watershed areas and see what they can do to keep those clean."
The foundation's trail map is not set in stone, but generally gives the viewer an idea about how existing trails might be linked together along the water, he said.
Salish Sea Foundation also is in the process of assembling the group's board of directors and advisers. Suggestions are welcome at www.salishsea.org, Tolchin said.
"Our big effort will be to get the marine sanctuary designation on the ballots in Washington and British Columbia in 2014," Tolchin said. "We want people to feel ownership in this project."
In a statement from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia, tribal leader Rueben George said protection of the Salish Sea as a marine sanctuary will benefit all people.
"There is no price for the sacred, whether it is the mineral, plant, animal or human. This is not just an environmental challenge; it is an issue that pertains to all of us, including our future generations and all life on Mother Earth. …," George said. "The creation of the Salish Sea Marine Sanctuary (will be) a beautiful example of protecting and restoring the sacred."
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; firstname.lastname@example.com.
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More information about the Salish Sea Foundation is at www.salishsea.org.
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At its May meeting, the Board of Trustees unanimously elected five new members who bring a diverse array of professional experience and strong College connections to their service on the board.
"As we begin our second century, we are very fortunate to have this outstanding group of new trustees in this important leadership role," said President Lee Higdon.
The newly elected trustees are:
Debo P. Adegbile '91 of New York City is associate director-counsel/director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). As an alumnus he has served as a distinguished speaker/panelist, a class agent and a member of the prelaw advisory committee. He was honored with the Agnes Berkeley Leahy Award in recognition of his service to the College at Centennial Reunion 2011.
Christy Burke '93 of New York, N.Y. is founder and president of Burke & Co., a communications agency specializing in public relations, marketing and organizational management. She serves on the Alumni Board and is a Reunion Committee member. Burke and Jim Moran '92 founded the Connecticut College Entrepreneurs Forum, which offers lunchtime events about business strategies in midtown Manhattan.
Jonathan H. Cohen '87 of Greenwich, Conn., is CEO of both Technology Investment Capital Corp. and Oxford Lane Capital Corp. and is the managing member of BDC Partners. He was named one of the 25 best U.S. analysts by both Bloomberg and Financial World magazine. Cohen has participated in the College's Passport Program for the past several years.
George S. Rogers '82 of Bloomfield, Mich., is president and CEO of WPP-Team Detroit, a joint venture comprising the Detroit-based marketing communication offices of WPP, the world's largest communications services group. Rogers is currently a director of Think Detroit Police Athletic League Inc. and St. Andrews Endowment.
Gary Ng '11 was elected by the Class of 2011 to be a Young Alumni Trustee. An international student from Singapore, he double majored in economics and mathematics and minored in psychology. A Winthrop Scholar, Ng is also the recipient of the Ruby Turner Morris Prize for Economics and the Walter Brady Prize for Statistics.
Additionally, David B. Kelso P'09 of Summit, N.J., was re-elected to a second board term. A member since 2007, he is vice-chair of the Committee on Student Life & Enrollment Design and a member of the Finance Committee. The founder of Kelso Advisory Services, Kelso serves as a senior adviser in the areas of financial expertise, strategy and corporate governance to hedge fund and private equity clients.
Six trustees retire; one earns emeritus status
Six members of board have retired and a longtime member was honored with emeritus status. Raymond J. Debbane P'09 '13, Menzi Lukhele '08, John F. Niblack P'98, Thomas A. Sargent '82, W. Carter Sullivan '79, and Sally Susman '84 all retired this year.
Rae Downes Koshetz '67, who served on the board from 2003-10, was named an emeritus trustee. As a trustee, she served on the Advancement & Communications Committee and the Audit Committee and was vice chair of the Faculty Liaison Committee. She also served as the president of the Alumni Board of Directors.


text: Mohamed Osman Mohamud, then 19, is shown after his arrest on Nov. 26, 2010, in Portland, Ore. Mohamud was convicted of planning to detonate a bomb during a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, but his sentencing is on hold after revelations that investigators relied to some degree on NSA surveillance. Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Getty Images The Two-Way Judge Suspends Sentencing Of Would-Be Bomber After NSA Revelations November 26, 2013 The sentencing of a Somali-American man convicted of trying to bomb a holiday tree-lighting ceremony in Portland, Ore., in 2010 is in limbo. The hold comes days after the Justice Department notified his lawyers that part of the case against him had been "derived from" secret NSA electronic surveillance.


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Recipe and photo courtesy of National Pork Board.
1 pound bulk, fresh pork sausage, seasoned as desired
8 slices bread, cubed
2 cups cubed Cheddar cheese (8 ounces)
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed or golden cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
Cook sausage in large skillet until brown, breaking up with wooden spoon; drain. Pat sausage dry with paper towels.
Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Place bread cubes in baking dish. Sprinkle cubed Cheddar cheese over bread. Sprinkle sausage over cheese. Combine eggs, 2 1/2 cups milk and dry mustard in medium bowl; beat with rotary beater or fork until well mixed. Pour egg mixture over layered mixture in baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.
Heat oven to 300 degrees F.
Stir together cream of mushroom soup and 1/2 cup milk in small bowl. Pour over mixture in baking dish. Place baking dish on baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, about 1 1/2 hours or until center is set when baking dish is slightly jiggled. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 8.


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Ger Sligte was an artist for the Arbeiders Jeugd Centrale (AJC) between 1918 and 1958. Born in Den Helder, Sligte got his artistic education in Amsterdam, and had his first job as a house painter. He got his apprenticeship as a painter from his friend Bob Buys. He then worked for an advertising agency, and eventually became an independent illustrator.
For the JAC, he made illustrations for Het Jonge Volk, and the silent gag comic 'Mieke Meijer' in the monthly De Wiekslag in 1934. The strip ran until 1959 in several incarnations of this magazine. During the late 1930s, he also contributed 'Hilvert en Hille' to the children's supplement of the magazine Wij.
In 1949, Sligte began a second silent gag comic, 'Bertje Branie' in De Snelwiek, also published by AJC. In addition to his work for AJC, Sligte drew 'Ali Kruuk' in De Spiegel between 1949 and 1953. He continued to work on this series in this series in the 1970s. However, he had to cancel his activities in 1975 due to illness.


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I knew I'd have to deal with Elvis sooner or later, and since I've been building up my inventory of 1950's reviews recently, sooner seemed better than later.
Though I loathe almost everything he did after he entered the U. S. Army, I love the Elvis of the Sun and early RCA years. That Elvis was a young man whose entire body and soul became electric when playing the music he loved. His many biographers describe a kid who everyone else considered a little weird, carrying his guitar wherever he went and singing to no one in particular. When he tried to hook up with bands in Memphis, he was rejected by several who told him he'd never make it as a singer.
You may think that the musicians who rejected him were out of their minds, but not really. Elvis was an original. He didn't fit the mold of a singer at that time. He synthesized the feel of gospel and blues with a rockabilly kick and a love of Hank Snow, so you couldn't peg him to any of the existing genres. What made him seem even more alien was that he had to move while singing, something that would later drive the recording engineers at RCA up a wall because the bastard kept moving off the spot they had marked for him. Finally, they gave in, surrounded him with mikes and let Elvis be Elvis.
He wouldn't have made it that far had it not been for a lucky accident. Sam Phillips of Sun considered him little more than a possible ballad singer until, at the end of an unfruitful recording session, Elvis and his boys started playing around with "That's All Right" and Sam heard exactly what he'd been looking for: a white guy who captured the sound of the black guys.
To his credit, Elvis always gave the black guys the credit they deserved.
Elvis had a tragic flaw, though. He was clearly a submissive person. You see this in his relationship with his mother and later in his relationship with Colonel Parker and the U. S. Army. The word submission implies weakness in our macho culture, but that's based on a one-dimensional view of power. A submissive person is one who manifests strong devotion to a cause or to a person. Mother Teresa was certainly a submissive, and she was certainly no wimp. The fact that Elvis demonstrated incredible perseverance during the years when everyone thought he was an odd duck is clear evidence that Elvis wasn't a wimp either. What happened to Elvis was he picked the wrong object of devotion to manage his career. Once Colonel Parker arrived on the scene, the songs started to get cute, the delivery more polished and that marvelous kinetic energy faded into memory. A stint in the military only served to strengthen his devotion to conformity, and while he still topped the charts for a while and made oodles on his movies, the thrill was gone.
This album captures the real Elvis, the Elvis consumed by the music, the outcast with the guitar. The first rock 'n' roll album to top the charts, it represents a very special moment in musical and cultural history. I'm reviewing the original release, not the extended version that appeared in the 90's. That release really pissed me off because the powers that be chose to open the extended version with "Heartbreak Hotel," which lacks the revolutionary impact of the original opener, "Blue Suede Shoes."
Imagine you're a teenager in the 1950's, and puberty is starting to rear its hairy head. You haven't paid much attention to music because the music your parents play is pure elevator music. You know if you hear Patti Page singing "Doggie in the Window" one more time you're going to throw some bricks through the window of the local pet store. You're hanging around in your room after dinner, thinking about how much you hate the frozen peas you had to eat to earn a scoop of Neapolitan for dessert. You know you should do your homework, but you just don't feel like it. While you're suspended in this state of Sartrean nothingness, your mother yells down the hall that one of your friends is on the phone. "Wanna go to the malt shop?" "Yeah, sure." You lie about having done your homework and head down to get a malted fix from the soda jerk. Your friend sidles up to the jukebox and says, "Wait until you hear this," drops a dime into the slot and presses a couple of buttons. This is what you hear:
You feel every cell in your body come alive and get a dawning sense of why you've been having funny sensations in your nether regions. You can't help it: you've got to dance. When it's over, you reach for a dime to play that song one more time. After about five more spins, you see it's time to go home because your mother would kill you if you missed watching Uncle Milty with the family. You arrive in time, fling yourself on the floor in front of the bulbous tube, and lo and behold! Uncle Milty is introducing . . . Elvis Presley!
Look at that sucker move! How does he make his legs go every which way? You consume the visuals in a way you've never consumed green peas, greedily taking in the way he combs his hair, the clothes, the shoes, that guitar he's banging like there's no tomorrow. Man, this is it! This is what I want to be! I want to make music and drive those people wild!
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a hell of an opener, in large part because of the shock of the stop-time opening where Elvis belts it out with maximum intensity. While I love Carl Perkins' version, and bemoan the fact that he rarely gets credit for his contributions to rock, Elvis' version is so much sexier. The best rock 'n' roll has the curious effect of lifting our spirits and fanning our flames, and Elvis was one of the first to work that kind of magic.
I think one aspect of Elvis' music that made him a bit more palatable to the mass audience than Little Richard or Chuck Berry had nothing to do with race, but with his willingness to sing tender ballads. Practically speaking, if you can make mothers all over America love you, then they're more likely to let their kids have some fun with the rougher material. While that kind of marketing mentality would never have occurred to Elvis, his balladeering did the trick. "I'm Counting on You" allows him to show his softer side and demonstrate that his voice can be sweet as well as rough. His vibrato is superb and his range combined with his feel for the song make it a keeper.
Now that he's made it safe for us to proceed, Elvis kicks in with a rockabilly version of Ray Charles' "I Got a Woman." His breathy vocal in the stop-time verse is killer, and makes me forgive him for the "she knows her place" message in the lyrics. Elvis sings this one with trembling restraint, slight cockiness and flashes of power. The classic wrap-up coda is a kick! Next up is "One-Sided Love Affair," a bouncy honky-tonk boogie number with Shorty Long having a great time on the ivories. This is where Elvis shows his command of tone and phrasing, creating syllables like "you-ah", "co-ohs" and "love-ah" while occasionally echoing the cadence of a pulpit preacher. The coda features three different approaches to the final line, all expressing a different mood: head-shaking, coy and finally, determined.
"I Love You Because" opens with whistling and acoustic guitar before Scotty Moore introduces a rather complex counterpoint to Elvis' crooning. The effect is rather charming. The song is quite simple, but flows better than the rather stiff "Love Me Tender" that helped launch his forgettable movie career. The boys get moving again with "Just Because," where Scotty shines with that oh-so primitive sounding electric guitar that captures a magic that the software of today can never emulate.
Elvis' version of "Tutti Frutti" can't touch Little Richard's original, and he almost sings it like he knows it and can't wait to get it over with. He does much, much better with "Trying to Get to You," where his varied phrasing and dynamics can really shine. He really lets it go on the bridges, growling it out at a comfortable spot in his high range, and what he does with the word "true" (something like true-ooh-uh-ooh-ooh flittering over the scale) is Elvis at his best. I love the way he returns to the higher register to belt out that closing line.
The low-register Elvis opens "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)," a rockabilly number enhanced with a flurry of blue notes on the piano and a solid attack on the ride cymbal during the bridges. Once again, the combination of Elvis' deft movement through the scale and his delightfully twisted drawls are the high points. It's followed by a sweet country song, "I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')" where Elvis sings in a soft, almost meek voice over Scotty's mandolin-style guitar picking . . . until they kick it up a notch and add some toe-tapping rhythm to the mix. The rhythmic shift doesn't really work very well, but who knows—maybe they just got antsy playing the slow stuff.
Elvis takes on that hoary classic, "Blue Moon," a song I loathe no matter who's doing it. What I like about this track, though, is that the sound is terribly primitive, as if recorded in someone's living room with a tape recorder that could have used some extra head cleaning fluid. The original album ends with the criminally ignored "Money Honey," clearly the equal of Clyde McPhatter's original chart-topper. The chord slide that runs through the song (like what you hear on Dave Clark's "Catch Us If You Can") is fabulous, and D. J. Fontana has his best outing on the entire album with his drum work, demonstrating command of both the high hat and the good old-fashioned drum roll. Everybody's on fire on this cut: Floyd Cramer on piano, Scotty with an unusually dissonant guitar solo and of course, Elvis, who works this one as more of a band member than a front man.
When the album is over, you know you've heard something very special that captures one of the exciting moments at the birth of rock 'n' roll. You couldn't have invented anyone as perfect as Elvis Presley to serve as the point man for the rock revolution—and that's not because of his race. His race gave him a huge advantage with the mass market of the time, but that's certainly not his fault. He wouldn't have even made a tiny dent into that market if he had been a run-of-the-mill white guy offering the same old slop. It was his stark originality, his devotion to his music and his insistence on singing in his unique style that made him a star.
The question of his influence is another story. While Elvis inspired millions to pick up a guitar, his musical influence is actually quite limited. His vocal approach is so singular that when people try to emulate it, the sound is a weak shadow of the original. More importantly, he wasn't a songwriter, making him dependent on other people to supply the music. While he worked with some great craftsmen like Lieber and Stoller, that set-up could never lead to a Revolver or a Village Green Preservation Society. The deliberate destruction of his talent at the hands of Colonel Parker further weakened his impact. From the standpoint of musical influence, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Little Richard had far more. Elvis' real influence came from his unrestrained enthusiasm and the feeling that you get from listening to his early work that he was truly, genuinely and unmistakably into his music.
Most of the people in my generation consider Elvis a joke. They were brought up on stories of the bloated Elvis, the drugged-up Elvis, the strange recluse living in a strange house in Memphis. His sad decline and the legions of impersonators make Elvis as much an object of derision as an object of worship today. Personally, I'd rather remember him as the kid on this album, playing his heart out with exuberant joy and helping create a whole new universe of music without even trying.


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Chloe & Gracie are stopping by to wish you Happy New Year. . .
I made this Happy New Year card with PicMonkey template, Sparkleblocks.
Have you tried PicMonkey templates yet? There are lots of fun templates to play around with to create a card, invitation or announcement. Start by clicking on a template to open it in editor and customize it. Right click on the photo to replace it with your own photo, add overlays and text. You can customize template colors by using the color picker from your images and graphics. When you're done, save to your computer.
Chloe and Gracie received sparkly new sweaters for Christmas from Santa Paws.
Every girl likes to wear a little bling on New Year's Eve ;)
Glittery 2017 headbands were at the Dollar Spot at Target. Getting them to 'sit' and 'stay' (the headbands and the girls) is a real trick and takes a lot of treats!
Wishing you a sparkling new year . . .
And hoping that 2017 brings you plenty of treats. . .


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Why You Scared Off the Ninja
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The saying goes you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and it is well-documented that this is never more true than in the effort to hire great technical talent. Complaints about the interview practices of some companies and anecdotes about how recruiters make foolish approaches are quite popular reads lately. As someone in the hiring business, the criticism can be painful to hear, but when justified with evidence of ineptitude it is certainly understandable.
Demand for elite developers is so competitive (and talent is so hyperaware of this fact) that both recruiters and company representatives rarely get a second chance if their first contact or the ensuing hiring process is received negatively. The best case scenario for the headhunter approach gone awry is to have the attempt ignored, and the worst case is public shaming by a tech celebrity. It is particularly painful when a recruiter or company turns off an attractive candidate (whether through an email or hiring process) that possesses a very rare skill or experience, or worse yet a high degree of both skill and community influence.
Accomplished technologists can be brutally unforgiving to even the slightest perceived breaches by recruiters, and the level of outrage is often congruent to the programmer's self-perceived industry status. This is most likely a function of the sheer volume of noise received by high-end talent with status, and the frustration that noise can cause. Junior level candidates tend to appreciate any type of attention, while the more senior or recognizable professionals seem to rarely find any recruiter contact worthy of a positive response. Beyond just the recruiter problem, the interview process and practices used by companies cause very strong negative reactions by many in the industry. When offended, those that feel they've earned ninja status (used ironically, please stop saying ninja) seem most likely to wield the sword.
Applicants that appear average will probably be treated that way. But when a recruiter or a company hiring manager discover what could be that once-in-a-lifetime potential hire, or even a candidate that would seem to fall into the top 10%, they must be flexible enough to change their standard hiring protocol while exercising an abundance of both caution and tact at every contact. Many companies homogenize the process for all candidates to their own detriment, and when dealing with in-demand talent that typically comes with a bit of ego thrown in for good measure, treating the ninja like a common commodity is a critical error.
What are the most obvious ways that recruiters and companies turn off the most qualified candidates during first contact and the subsequent hiring process?
First, mistakes in the approach:
- Impersonal contact and lack of research – The link earlier in the article referencing a recruiter approaching DHH for a Rails role happened more than once, and notably a recruiter for Groupon made the same mistake. These examples are well beyond a typical recruiter infraction, as most Rails engineers are not DHH and most recruiters are not this lazy and clueless. The 'Let's connect on LinkedIn' invite without any point of reference also applies to this category. Recruiters are given little leeway and must conduct at least minimal research before contact, and then must choose their words wisely. Once you know a bit about the candidate, tell him/her why you felt it was appropriate to reach out. Be specific.
- Referral requests - Recruiters are trained from birth to end every communication with 'Do you know anyone else who might be qualified?', and they are often asking complete strangers. Technologists at the lower levels look at this as an opportunity to help a colleague find work (and maybe even get a referral bonus), while ninjas who make plenty of money have no interest in helping most recruiters and view the request itself as a breach. Don't ask top people for referrals until you have at least developed some form of relationship, and even then only with caution.
- Technical ignorance or irrelevance - Recruiters who confuse Java for JavaScript get crucified, and will be forever remembered as being 'that guy/gal'. Whether you are a non-technical CEO or a recruiter, be sure that your communication is technically sound.
- Approached by the wrong person - When courting high-end talent (particularly for a small company), it is wise to get an internal talent or leader involved as early as possible. Your junior recruiter that started last week should be kept in check until he/she knows how to market the company, and that marketing skill should be honed in conversations with junior candidates that generally require a lower degree of difficulty and thus reduced potential risk. Startup CEO, CTO or Development Managers should be willing to send a quick note from their own email in order to get a ninja's attention early in the process. Recruiters need to know when it may be appropriate to step aside for first contact.
- Lack of details - Vague, boilerplate company descriptions rarely get the attention of top talent, and may turn off the candidate completely without ever getting the chance to show them more. Provide as much detail as reasonably possible to demonstrate that you have no intention of wasting their time.
And in the hiring process:
- The HR phone screen – I cringe when a client responds to my submittal of a top talent with 'This one looks great! We'll have Joe from HR do a quick phone screen'. NO! Some recruiters vet engineers better than others, but if a candidate looks stronger on paper than most you see, forgo the pleasantries and get down to business.
- Standardized tests – These are fairly rare with startups and small companies and for midsize and large companies these tests serve as just another way to scare off top talent. Tests for IQ, personality types, and even third-party technical tests tend to give the wrong impression to talent. Development managers at companies that employ standardized tests could be frustrated with the skill level of their applicants, and should want to promote policy change or at least allow for exceptions.
- Disorganized interview process and inflexibility – Missed phone calls and making candidates languish in a lobby while waiting for an interviewer is inexcusable when wooing a strong candidate, and tech talent may feel these indiscretions could reflect on your work environment. Even if you traditionally like to keep interviews very loose and informal, use at least a small amount of choreography when entertaining the ninja to keep their engagement level high. Accommodating a request for a call either before or after hours could also be the difference when interviewing candidates that are unable to use business hours for meetings.
- Lowball offers and negotiation games – After investing a fair amount of time building mutual trust and admiration during the interview process, the last thing you should do is play games when it comes to sealing the deal. The long term value of the hire should not be risked for a few thousand dollars saved through negotiations.
Conclusion: Companies and recruiters need to do a better job of customizing their approach and treatment of top technical talent. While technical recruiting is generally considered a numbers game focused on high-volume, the courting of the most elite developers requires a completely different and more time consuming campaign to be implemented by your most competent resources.
Published at DZone with permission of Dave Fecak, DZone MVB. See the original article here.
Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.


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The last federal vote in Saskatchewan might have been a bit of a yawn, but Conservative moves in the province and the redrawing of the electoral map are making 2015 a whole new ballgame.
As with Alberta, there were no changes to the party standings after the 2011 election. Now, up to six Tory MPs might be calling it quits before the writ drops and a major new riding redistribution has everyone revising their calculations.
Already three MPs have said they won't run again: Maurice Vellacott, Ray Boughen and Ed Komarnicki.
Spokespeople for cabinet ministers Gerry Ritz and Lynne Yelich say their bosses intend on running in 2015. But privately Conservatives say question marks remain around the pair's plans, as well as those of 68-year-old veteran parliamentarian Garry Breitkreuz.
The province has 14 ridings. For now, 13 of them are held by the Conservatives and one by longtime Liberal Ralph Goodale. Historically, however, the province has been known for its Conservative-NDP battles. The NDP did not win a single seat in the last election – a major setback for the party that was born in Saskatchewan of the 1960s.
Many of the districts, including Ritz's and Breitkreuz's, are considered safe Conservative ridings having been won by wide margins in the last election and encompassing large rural areas. Goodale is also considered safe in Regina-Wascana, a riding that has become even more urban with redistribution.
But other areas appear more volatile with redistribution of the population into differently configured ridings. Conservatives fought unsuccessfully to stop changes that did away with hybrid rural-urban ridings.
A new, exclusively urban riding in Saskatoon, called Saskatoon West, has been red-circled by the NDP as a possible gain. University professor and former farm union leader Nettie Wiebe says she will seek the nomination there.
"The Harper government has run in some ways a wayward course, and it's not going to be nearly as clear-cut now that they've shown how a majority government actually works on the ground," said Wiebe, who has run unsuccessfully three previous times.
Wiebe might wind up facing Randy Donauer, a city councillor who is seeking the Conservative nomination.
Conservative MP Brad Trost notes that the riding contains suburban pockets and certain ethnic communities that tilt towards his party.
"To be very blunt, the Saskatoon West riding favours the NDP, but if we run a good campaign we're not out of it. It will be competitive," said Trost, who will run for the nomination in neighbouring Saskatoon-University.
Trost said there remains a strong polarization between urban and suburban voters within city ridings, which makes predictions difficult.
"Even when you just go inside boundaries of Saskatoon or Regina, the Conservatives win seats," said Trost. "It's not just the urban-rural split that people have always thought."
In Regina, redistribution has created the new riding of Regina-Lewvan. Again, the Conservatives will have to field an entirely new candidate. However, a widely-rumoured Liberal candidate – former Regina mayor Pat Fiacco – says he is not seeking the nomination.
"Saskatchewan is not going to be the totally static and predictable place that it has been for the last little while," said Goodale.
In the northern part of the riding, opposition parties weren't sad to see more rural, farming areas lopped off. Conservative Rob Clarke beat the New Democrat there in 2011 by 800 votes.
Both Conservatives and the NDP concede that one of the big unknowns is Justin Trudeau. Will the new Liberal leader create more three-way races across the province?
"We have no idea how Trudeaumania 2.0 is going to play out in Saskatchewan," says former provincial NDP leadership candidate Ryan Meili.
"Will it have an impact, or will we see a continuation of the traditional Conservative-NDP battles? It's going to be really interesting to watch."
Wiebe said one can't declare a split on the left just yet.
"Of course Trudeau will have an impact, but it's not clear what the effects will be because quite frankly, a lot of erstwhile Saskatchewan Liberals have been voting Conservative, and some have been voting NDP, and it's very unclear what the percentages there are," said Wiebe.
"My sense is that it will take a small bite out of each of those and the size of the bite is unknown."


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Happy New Year everyone! 2011 has a bunch of goodies in store for us as we check out some bangin' releases by artists such as His Majesty Andre, Shadow Dancer, SebastiAn, and many more.
Take a trip back to 1998 in the Roulé/Crydamoure era, when French house ruled the nation. However in 2011, His Majesty Andre of Cheap Thrills Records brings you his new release "Battle of the Spurs EP", which has the hi-hats, the basslines, and the funky rhythm you would expect from classic, house tracks from the 90s. The EP is scheduled to release on February 6, 2011. If you like this, buy Strip Steve's Delta Disco EP & Remixes.
What beats can get darker than BNR's one-and-only Shadow Dancer? We of course remember some of his heavy bangers like "Soap" and "Cowbois". In 2011, Shadow Dancer brings you "Murder Room EP". The morbid artwork is pretty self explanatory as to how dark the tunes are . Check out the preview for the release below!
At last, the long awaited LP by SebastiAn is scheduled to release in 2011. No album cover or LP title has been announced yet, however one track has been confirmed so far. According to many, the track is rumored to be named "Crevasse". For those of you who remember, Busy P has dropped this track at Coachella Music Festival for about 2 years already, and it's about time we have the opportunity to listen to it in the car, or drop it yourself! Here's a rip of the track for all you Cool Cats!
- Télécharger MP3: SebastiAn – Crevasse