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Frequently Asked Questions
As the leading developer, manufacturer, and marketer of medical devices designed to provide high-level disinfection of ultrasound TEE/TOE probes, CS Medical continues to innovate through superior technologies and products. We are committed to providing the best possible solutions for infection prevention that support healthcare professionals worldwide.
CS Medical goes beyond high-level disinfection of TEE/TOE probes, CS Medical believes in managing the quality of care given to delicate TEE/TOE probes. Our TEE Complete Care® offering provides solutions for the healthcare facility to minimize TEE/TOE ultrasound probe damage and reduce the potential of contaminating high-level disinfected probes prior to use. These products address the following areas: bedside cleaning, electrical leakage testing, drying, transporting and storing the TEE/TOE ultrasound probe. Our objective is to manage the care given to each TEE/TOE probe thus allowing for a reduction in healthcare associated infections.
A: No, the TD 100 is only FDA cleared for TEE/TOE probes.
A: Yes, It is trademarked as TD-8® and is single-use with no MRC testing required.
A: Both are aldehydes; Glutaraldehyde (TD-5) and OPA (Ortho-phthalaldehyde) (TD-8). They both have the same IFU for use in the TD 100. Both provide 5-minute high-level disinfection per probe.
A: Yes, both the machine and the chemistries have been evaluated and approved by Philips Healthcare, GE HealthCare and Siemens. Contact the individual probe manufacturer for your specific model details.
A: No, both chemistries have the same IFU so the same machine can use either chemistry.
A: No, the TD 100 does not store data but at the conclusion of a successful disinfection a written printout is provided with time, date, operator ID, probe ID, chemical type, lot number, contact time and contact temperature. If the machine does not complete the high-level disinfection, another print out is produced to indicate high-level disinfection has not occurred and diagnostic details of the aborted cycle are provided. The print out can be stored in the HLD TRACKER™ which holds 200 records per record book. Additionally, the HLD TRACKER allows for documentation of the electrical leakage testing and any other patient details desired by the healthcare facility.
A: An advanced bonded carbon vapor management filter is incorporated inside the main device where all fumes or vapors are captured and neutralized. The vapor management filter has been tested and will last 12 months from the date of installation. Due to the molecular weight of aldehydes, a good mass of carbon is needed to effectively absorb the fumes. Residence time within the filter is critical as well as carbon mass.
A: Either chemical will have the correct MRC to complete high-level disinfection of a TEE/TOE probe for 12 months from the date of manufacturing.
A: This depends on a couple factors. Does your hospital have a method for handling untreated waste before entering into the municipal water supply? What are the requirements or regulations by your municipal water supply in relation to untreated waste? Typically, all waste that is sent to a municipal water supply must be treated due to the potential harm it can cause the overall water system.
A: The IFU outlines methods for incorporating both a betweeen-use surface disinfectant with a more intensive monthly disinfection through low temperature sterilization. Consult the IFU for complete details.
A: No, the TD 100 is only designed to high-level disinfect a TEE/TOE probe after it has been properly bed-side cleaned per TEE/TOE manufacturers' direction.
A: QwikDry is effective in removing moisture from the TEE/TOE probe shaft after high-level disinfection has occurred. A wet probe can capture airborne particulate present in the environment and contaminate the TEE/TOE probe. Storage of a wet TEE/TOE probe can lead to contamination via waterborne bacteria. A properly dried TEE/TOE probe is critical in all aspects of the reprocessing cycle.
A: No, the TD 100 is much like a filtered or ductless hood. The TD 100 has a built-in vapor management system that effectively captures any fugitive high-level disinfectant vapor.
A: The TD 100 is designed to high-level disinfect one TEE/TOE probe in five minutes followed by five cold water rinses. The total cycle time for the TD 100 is 17 minutes. When reviewing the total process time from patient extraction to high-level disinfection you will note the work flow requires about 15 minutes to properly bed-side clean, enzymatic soak for cleaning and rinse prior to high-level disinfection.
A: Yes, cold potable water regulated at 20-25 psi and a 15 Amp 6CFI outlet.
A: Yes, the successful high-level disinfection print out records the following data for retention and can be affixed to the HLD TRACKER: Date, Time, Operator ID, Probe ID, HLD Type, Contact Time, Contact Temperature, HLD Lot number.
A: The TD 100 provides a printed ticket at the conclusion of every cycle; successful or aborted. The ticket can be affixed to the HLD TRACKER sheet for later audit or verification purposes. In addition, the HLD TRACKER allows the technician to verify an electrical leakage test was performed on the TEE/TOE probe and then document the results of this test. HLD TRACKER aids in the proper handling of the TEE/TOE probe though documentation of electrical leakage testing and high-level disinfection.
A: No, bedside cleaning is done when the TEE/TOE probe is removed from the patient's mouth. The use of an enzymatic with an applicator is required to begin the process of removal of inorganic and organic matter than can dry on the TEE/TOE probe and result in biofilm being formed. Cleaning, also known as the manufacturers' recommended cleaning method, is performed prior to high-level disinfection. This process utilizes an enzymatic solution in the form of a bath. This process allows the probe to soak for 2-3 minutes before removing, rinsing and then drying.
A: The TD 100 overall height is 44 inches but the point at where insertion of the distal tip and shaft is only 38 inches.
A: The TD 100 is 24 inches wide and has all the services on the left side of the device to include; power, intake water, discharge waste line and air filter exhaust. Typically, an additional 12 inches is desired to allow for easy setup and maintenance but less has been done depending on specific facility requirements.
A: The foot print of the TD 100 is 24 inches wide and 8 inches deep. Depending on operator or overall work flow functional space will vary. The TD 100 is mounted to the wall by four specialized brackets.
A: A factory trained CS Medical service technician completes the final onsite installation, conducts a performance verification of the device and trains staff on the safe operation and scheduled maintenance for the device prior to handoff of the TD 100 to the healthcare facility.
A: No, the TPorter is designed only for TEE/TOE probes with special compartments to protect and hold all aspects of the TEE/TOE probe safely and securely during transport.
A: The foam is easily removed for surface disinfection. The foam pad is closed cell and will not adsorb moisture or foster bacteria growth. An approved surface disinfectant should be used to ensure material compatibility.
A: CS Medical has validated two hard surface disinfectants for use on the exterior of the TD 100. Solucide® and Sporicidin® are both approved and will not cause damage to the device.
A: The TD 100 heats disinfectant to 38 degrees C and completes high-level disinfection in 5 minutes.
A: The TD 100 is self venting through bonded carbon filtration that captures any vapors generated during the disinfection and rinse cycles. It operates like a ductless hood as outlined in AAMI/ANSI ST.58. The TD 100 does not require either a positive or negative pressure room. Local, state and federal guidelines should be followed for room ventilation requirements.


text: Hair and Nails > Hairstyles Hairstyles by Age What Can You Get Away With for Every Decade Share Pin Email Evan Agostini//Getty Images Hair and Nails Hairstyles Hair Removal Nails Tattoos and Piercings by Julyne Derrick updated January 10, 2018 Wondering what hairstyles look best at age 20, 30, 40, 50 and beyond? Just because you're 65, you don't have to get a helmet hairstyle with your Social Security check. In fact, a younger look and lighter color can take years off your face. And just because you're 21, you don't have to have long hair. You can do just about anything (lucky you!).The key to a great haircut at any age is two-fold. First, you must find a hairstyle that flatters your face shape, then you must consider your hair texture. Coarse hair usually needs to be worn longer and fine hair should be worn shorter and layered if you want any sort of body.In this article and the related galleries, I show you what hairstyles you can get away with at age 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and even older.Your 20sThis is the best time of your life to try out all types of haircuts and styles. Short hairstyles, done right, can help you appear more mature (or like a kid), while long looks can be sexy and romantic.Here are a few things to consider in a haircut:Consider your career goals. In your 20s, you're looking to establish yourself in a career. If you're in a more artsy profession, you can get away with a funky look, but if you are in a more conservative profession you might opt for a more professional look. You might consider chopping off that long hair for a shorter cut. Check out this photo gallery of bob hairstyles.Experiment with length and color. Now is the time to see how you look with super long hair, then cut it off and see if you take to short hair. At your age, your hair will grow faster and thicker than at any time in your life. So enjoy it while you have it. Hair color is the key to reinvention. If you had blonde hair as a kid, you'll look great blonde now. Blessed with black hair? Try a lighter brown or red. Beware the wrong short cut. What you don't want to look like is a stock "mom" character. Choose a short look that fits your age and the latest trends.Your 30sThese are the years you may be starting a family or powering ahead in your career (or both). While you can get away with all sorts of styles at this age, you'll want to pick a style that fits your lifestyle. Single in the city? Go for long, sexy waves. At home with a toddler or two? Skip the all-one-length long hair and try a shoulder-length cut that can go in a ponytail during the day but with a curling iron or flat-iron, can look great while out with your husband.Just because you're a mom doesn't mean you can't be sexy. If you want long locks, go for it. Just make sure you have the time to keep up your style.Don't be afraid to go short. I kept my hair long for years thinking someday I would HAVE to go short. But then I decided I'd look better in short hair, so I cut it. I got a ton of compliments. After all, you can always grow out your hair if you don't love, love, love it short.Do you have gray hair popping up? Most women see a few strands of gray hair in the mid-to-late 30s. African-American women tend to get gray later in their 40s. If you have just a few strands, ask your stylist to hand-paint the strands instead of applying a full head of color. But if more than a third of your hair is gray, go with full color and camouflage gray hair in between coloring with hair mascara.Your 40sBelieve it or not, you don't have to go short in your 40s. Forty really is the new 30 (think about Jennifer Aniston). In these years, your personality might drive your hairstyle. If you ooze sexuality, go for sexy waves that hit just below the collarbone. Funky and athletic? Opt for a short, sleek look that is as befitting to a 20-year-old as you.Take care of your hair. As we age, our hair gets brittle. Treat your locks to a hot-oil treatment once a week and get your hair trimmed every six weeks.Layered hair is very flattering, flat hair isn't. Give your fine hair body with layers, no matter your hair length. If you have coarse hair, weigh it down with length and consider thinning it out with a razor cut or layers.Go for color. If you're blonde, try highlights. If you have dark hair, go for caramel highlights or go a shade or two lighter all over. Get the scoop on finding the perfect hair color for you.Your 50sAt 50, you are not doomed to a short haircut. As long as your hair is healthy, you can grow your hair long and look fantastic. A super flattering cut on all women is shoulder-length. Or consider a bob.If you're looking for a job or hoping to move up the ladder at this age, you might be competing with younger women. Shave years off your look by coloring your hair and getting a chic hairstyle that flatters your face shape.Try layers. Piece-y layers around the face are flattering. Or go one-length with under layers. This will give hair body and looks great dried under.Hair that is too styled can make you look dated. Even if hair is short, don't go for a spiky look, instead ask for longer layers. Cut out pictures and bring them to the stylist with you.A lighter color can take years off your face. Ask your stylist what color works best for your skin tone.Your 60sShort hairstyles, whether you opt for sweet or spiky, are a great bet for you. They frame your face, showing off and highlighting your best features. You'll be glad to know they are also low-maintenance. That said, you don't have to go short at your age. Follow these style rules:Silver hair can be very sexy. However, not all women embrace their natural hair color. Many women become blondes as they get older, a natural move considering gray is a softer, lighter color than a natural brown. But blonde hair doesn't complement all skin tones. A better bet for naturally dark-haired women is to color your hair a dark base and get lighter highlights.Skip the old-lady salons where they cut your hair short and give you curls tight to your scalp, spray it into a helmet, and send you off on your way until next week. Go to your daughter's salon and ask for a new look. Better yet, take your daughter along and ask her advice.Yes, you can have longer hair. Just don't let hair grow below your shoulders unless it's very thick and healthy like Maria Shriver's. Pull your hair back into a sophisticated chignon and show off your beautiful features.Your 70sThrow out the old-fashioned beauty rules for women over age 70. You can wear your hair longer and blonder if you please, or let it go gray if that's your choice. In the photo gallery featuring amazing women over age 60, you'll see how great you can look with a classic bob, a long bob, shoulder-length hair and even spiky cuts. Show Full Article

subset: commoncrawl


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January 29, 2008 - Amicas signed more than 60 new contracts in 2007, including seven for Vision Series Financials, AMICAS' next generation radiology management and billing software system, designed to automate revenue cycle management for radiology groups, imaging centers, multispecialty practices and billing services.
Vision Reach is a distribution tool and portal designed specifically for referring physicians, and Vision Series Financials is a modern Windows-based platform. The new contracts establish partnerships with a variety of radiology groups, imaging centers, teleradiology businesses, multi-pecialty groups and hospitals. Several of these customers have signed multiproduct contracts.
AMICAS also signed its first RadStream contract in Q3 2007 with St. Mary's Health Care System of Athens, GA. RadStream is a next generation software product designed to streamline the communication of, and mitigate the risks associated with, communicating critical results to referring physicians.
For more information: www.amicas.com


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June 4, 2013
Lake-side Maternity Session
Filed under: Lifestyle, Fashion, Photography, Notebook, Maternity
By admin
Hayley Lord Photography shared this super stunning mom to be session with us. I love these shots near the water, it makes me ready for summer!
"Mallory and Ruben have already welcomed their baby boy, Noah James into the world, however I just adore their sweet and lighthearted maternity session. There's something so calming just before you bring a newborn baby in to your life. This earthy session was shot on a cool February day, just as the leaves were beginning to change, on an inlet right off the Atlantic ocean in Jacksonville, FL."
Mallory is wearing a dress form A Pea in the Pod and Ruben is wearing a JCREW shirt and Ralph Lauren shorts!
Categories: Lifestyle, Fashion, Photography, Notebook, Maternity
Tags: , family photography, maternity, mom to be, photography, Hayley Lord Photography, lake, Lake-side Maternity Session, maternity photography, photo session by the lake
Posted on June 4, 2013
1 Comment
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You also get the Mindful Mama Workbook for FREE just for subscribing!
YAY! looks beautiful! 🙂on


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Jason hatch single dating dating services older women
"He'll do physical therapy again (Wednesday and Thursday) and, right now, we're planning on playing him." Tucker is a big part of Morgan's offense, along with running back Austin Francis — who has rushed for 15 touchdowns and 868 yards in 2016, "(Francis) is a really strong running back and he's got good athletic ability, pretty good size, and he's a handful," Delta head coach Russ Fowles said.
Summer movie season seems to stretch wider and wider as blockbusters' budgets swell.
Just look at this month's "Furious 7," the latest behemoth in a franchise whose first three installments opened in June.
That movie is cruising around with summer-style box-office figures, marking the first in a long line of films gunning for the coveted billion threshold -- and we haven't even hit the May benchmark yet.
Come August, we'll still be awaiting titles like "Fantastic Four," which could also coast to 10-figure sums.
Here are 31 movies -- most of which we are quite excited for -- that are competing to win the picnic days' blockbuster crown.
Actor Ian Somerhalder with volunteers from International Bird Rescue, Scott Steeper and Nancy Kaump, celebrating the launch of the Dawn "We All Love Wildlife" video series at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro, Calif.


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Title:PET HEAD Oatmeal Paw Butter
Oatmeal Paw Butter soothes & relieves dry cracked paws. Combining shea butter, oatmeal, mango, vitamins E & F, jojoba, coconut oil, olive oil & aloe vera to help keep paws super smooth. Just gently massage into paws and go play!
Product Category: Health & HygieneProblems: Smelly Pet Brand: Pet Head Tags: Bathing Cleaning Dirty Dog Shampoo Spray Washing


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By Bob Copper and RK Kliebenstein
The Ten Commandments were chiseled into stone tablets, but your rental rates should not be. Many well-intentioned owners and managers are leaving a great deal of revenue on the table as a result of rental rates that appear to be "chiseled in stone." This causes distress to the overall self-storage market.
Self-storage is a supply-and-demand business. In many markets, occupancies are higher than they have been in years, and many operators are doing a great job of managing that demand by maximizing their rates and balancing their inventory. Others, however, are reluctant to increase rates, despite running at or near 100 percent occupancy. A recent study of several markets across the country showed that despite high demand, rates are still lagging behind at many sites.
In today's competitive environment, even incremental increases in revenue through effective rate management can have a dramatic effect on your facility value. For every dollar of rate increase, you improve your facility value by at least $120 ($1 multiplied by 12 months at a 10 percent cap rate). Given the ebb and flow of business cycles, we all need to maximize revenue when we can. Following are some things to think about when it comes to rental-rate management.
» Basing Rates
Do you manage your rates based on the competition? When you consider the development of a new site or your site is in lease-up, your competitors' rates are important. You have to know what the market can bear, especially when you're in a race to fill your site. Once your facility is stabilized, however, its rates should be minimally impacted by competitors.
Quite simply, if you have few or no units of a particular size to rent, you should raise the rate, because the demand has exceeded the supply. It doesn't matter what your competitor charges for that size. You cannot be completely oblivious to the market, but you should base rates on personal inventory more so than competition. We recently found a huge disparity in rates between two facilities in St. Petersburg, Fla.:
We couldn't rent a unit at Site B for any price, yet the facility still lists its rates 80 percent below the closest competitor. Rates should be managed per unit size, not site occupancy. You never want to be in a position where you don't have a unit to rent to a new tenant.
Take a page from the motel-management handbook: If you only have one or two of a popular size unit to rent, increase your rate. If your 10-by-10 drive-up units are full but you have vacancies in your 10-by-10 climate-controlled units, raise the rate on your driveups instead of lowering the rate on the others. It's simple: If you are 95 percent or more occupied on a particular size, your rate is too low.
Finally, flexibility is key. Don't print your prices on your business cards or anywhere else. Once you're committed to the rates, it's difficult to change them "on the fly" as supply and demand changes.
» Micromanaging
Do you review your rental rates at least once per month? Do you have an evaluation system in place? People generally consider "micromanage" to be a dirty word, but when it comes to rates, micromanagement is a necessity. Across all markets, the self-storage operators with established revenue-management processes have higher rates and revenue than those without them.
Develop a system for managing rates or seek outside help. After many years of using a manual, twice-per-year system, one of the larger self-storage operators now has an automatic system that reviews rates twice a month. As a result, its rates and revenues are significantly higher. There are even software programs that offer revenue-management assistance. Work with your consultant to determine which product will work best for your situation.
» Increases for Existing Tenants
An effective revenue-management process also includes regular, systematic rate increases for existing tenants. When (not if) you decide to increase rates depends on various factors, but you should introduce at least modest increases annually. Your timing and the amount of the increase, as well as its success, will depend on current occupancy levels, street-rate increases, market factors and the ability of your manager to deal well with customers.
» Discounting
Believe it or not, there are still self-storage operators offering move-in discounts on every unit size, despite occupancy levels. Why would you offer 50 percent off the first month's rent on your last available 10-by-10, or offer to match a lower rate on your only vacant 10-by-20? Move-in incentives should only be used during lease-up or to help fill a high-vacancy unit size.
» Sales Training
Your ability to "sell" storage greatly influences your confidence to increase rents. Owners' reluctance to raise rates is often related to fear of upsetting customers or a resignation that their managers cannot sell the higher rates and it's easier to leave things alone. Ensuring managers are well-trained to sell units—instead of hoping they can rent them—is a small investment to make to create greater facility value. An effective sales presentation can overcome rate-related anxiety.
So while it may have been necessary that the Ten Commandments were chiseled into stone, you will be better served to have your rates written in pencil and keep a large eraser close at hand.
Bob Copper is the founder of Self-Storage 101, a provider of do-it-yourself management tools. The company empowers managers and owners to take control of their assets and compete with institutional players at a fraction of the cost. For more information, call 866.269.1311; e-mail email@example.com; visit www.selfstorage101.com.
RK Kliebenstein is the president of Coast-To-Coast Storage. He can be reached at 561.638.1851 or via e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Article can be found at:
» http://www.insideselfstorage.com/articles/521stor101.html 02/01/05


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Wow, the past eight weeks just kind of flew by, now didn't they? Sheesh. Eight weeks being the last time I posted here, there's been so much that's transpired since that I've failed to comment on that I could write a multi-volume encyclopedia on. But I won't. I'm lazy.
Let's touch up on a few things, though, that are worth a mention:
1. The Revolution - top of the table. It's June 26th. I'll give you a word: incredible.
Yes, my lexicon isn't exactly running on 93 octane this afternoon, but think about it: The club's top three goalscorers from 2007 are either gone or hurt. Yet, here are the Revolution, with the likes of such who-dats as Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally, Sainey Nyassi and Adam Cristman leading the way. Dube, the pride of Coastal Carolina College, has four goals in seven matches. Mansally and Nyassi are the most popular scoring tandem around outside of the Jonas Brothers. Then, there is Cristman and his injured toe. Despite his early-season relegation to bench duty, injuries and national team call-ups have opened the door for the former Cavalier to break through with four goals of his own on the season.
I am singing the praises of a first place Revolution without typing "T-W-E-L-L-M-A-N." Chew on that for second.
Ok, come back.
2. What the hell is wrong with my motherland Portugal? I don't know if I was wearing my Nuno Gomes or Ricardo Quaresma jersey when the thought crossed my mind, but this team is becoming the Giambi-era Yankees. Severe overachievers, if you will. Portugal has the best player in the world (CR7), two potent wingers (Nani and Quaresma), a world-class attacking mid (Deco), and a talented backline. But God, when crunch time comes, they wilter. They fall. The manager takes a job at Chelsea. The best player can't keep his mouth shut about Real Madrid. I'm thinking of three letters, in this succession: W, T, and F.


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Pinterest Power: Market Your Business, Sell Your Product, and Build Your Brand on the World's Hottest Social Network
Authors: Jason Miles, Karen Lacey
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
Pub Date: Oct 9 2012
This book walks the reader through various uses of Pinterest. Not only does it show the reader how to market the a product, but it provides the history and the many uses of this social network.
The book provided some great insight into the development and use of Pinterest. I just recently began developing my own boards in Pinterest for personal and professional use. This book makes a lot of things very clear about how to use Pinterest.
Pinterest is a great new social media, not a communication, but a visual form of communication with other people. I really like this form of visual communication with other people. The boards are kind of addictive and I can see how business can utilize this social media to promote businesses, products and share ideas and journeys with other people.
It is a good book!
Michelle Dragalin


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Robert Sinskey Vineyards
For over twenty years, Robert Sinskey Vineyards has produced luxurious, 100% organic wines in California's Napa and Sonoma Valleys.
Rob constantly improves his wines by carefully managing how his grapes are grown and processed, and he constantly improves his website with innovative designs and interactions from dojo4.
But don't take our word for it, see for yourself.


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The bios below are for the 2018 San Francisco Writing For Change
The man behind the Pentagon Papers and bestselling/award winning author. He is an activist on the dangers of the nuclear era and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing.
After graduating from Harvard in 1952 with a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics, he studied for a year at King's College, Cambridge University, on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. Between 1954 and 1957, Ellsberg spent three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as rifle platoon leader, operations officer, and rifle company commander. From 1957-59 he was a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows, Harvard University. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at Harvard in 1962 with his thesis, Risk, Ambiguity and Decision. The research for it has become known as the "Ellsberg Paradox." It is widely considered a landmark in decision theory and behavioral economics.
Ellsberg joined the Defense Department in 1964 as Special Assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs) John McNaughton, working on the escalation of the war in Vietnam. He transferred to the State Department in 1965 to serve two years at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, evaluating pacification in the field.
At the RAND Corporation in 1967, Ellsberg worked on the top secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.
NINA AMIRis an international speaker, award-winning blogger and journalist, bestselling author, and one of 300 elite Certified High Performance Coaches in the world. Known as the Inspiration to Creation Coach, she helps people Achieve More Inspired Results. Amir is the author of How to Blog a Book, The Author Training Manual, and Creative Visualization for Writers, and she has 12 ebooks toher name as well. She created the Author of Change Transformational Coaching Program and founded National Nonfiction Writing Month (NaNonFiWriMO) and the Nonfiction Writers' University (NFWU). She also developed two proprietary training programs, one for aspiring authors and author coaches and another for authors who want to plan all aspects of their careers.
JIM AZEVEDO is the marketing director at Smashwords, the largest distributor of self-published ebooks serving over 130,000 independent authors, publishers, and literary agents. Since 2008, Smashwords has helped authors around the world release more than 470,000 titles to top ebook retailers, subscription services, and public libraries.. For best practices: Smart Author Podcast at smashwords.com/podcast or another podcasting service, @smashwords, Jim@jazzervedo.
BRENDA KNIGHT began her career at HarperCollins, working with Marianne Williamson, Huston Smith, and Paolo Coelho. Brenda was Publisher of Cleis Press and was awarded IndieFab's Publisher of the Year in 2014. She is the author of Wild Women and Books, Be a Good in the World, and Women of the Beat Generation, which won an American Book Award. She is the cofounder of PI: Promotional Intelligence for Authors, Publisher and other Creatives and Publishing Consultant to Mango Media.
MARY E. KNIPPEL, Writer Unleashed, author, publisher, and speaker, is committed to helping women in transition claim their voice…to Live a Life Unleashed! A two-time breast cancer survivor, Mary chronicles moving from survive to thrive in her upcoming book, The Secret Artist. She has served as president of the WNBA-SF chapter and past board member of CWC-Peninsula branch. Visit http://yourwritingmentor.com to learn about coaching, classes and workshops.
DAVID LANDAU has been a recognized writer all his adult life. In 1971, as managing editor of The Harvard Crimson, he struck up a friendship with Daniel Ellsberg before the release of the Pentagon Papers. Since then, David has been a journalist, novelist, publisher and playwright. Because of its magical power to transform even the best writing, editing is his greatest passion.
LAURIE McLEAN is the co-founder and partner of Fuse Literary, actively creating the literary agency of the future and igniting author careers. Laurie ran her own eponymous publicity agency for 20 years and then spent 8 years as an agent before forming Fuse in 2013. Laurie specializes in adult/young adult/middle grade genre fiction, but also listens to pitches at conferences for the entire agency of 8 agents. Query her at email@example.com.
BRIGID O'FARRELL, author of She Was One of Us: Eleanor Roosevelt and the American Worker, is an independent scholar affiliated with the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, George Washington University. Her writing in sociology and labor history focuses on changing public policy and gender equality in the workplace. Earlier books include Beyond Gender: The New Politics of Work and Family with Betty Freidan. Publications span academic journals, newspapers, magazines, and on-line. National Writers Union, UAW 1981: email@example.com.
JOAN GELFAND reviews, stories and poetry have appeared in over 100 national and international literary journals and magazines including Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Kalliope, California Quarterly, the Toronto Review, Marsh Hawk Review and Levure Litteraire. She has been a featured reader at numerous venues in the United States and Mexico including Bowery Poetry Club, the Southern Festival of Books, The Public Library of New York, and Litquake. Development Chair of the Women's National Book Association, a member of the National Book Critics Circle and a juror for the Northern California Book Awards, Joan blogs for the Huffington Post and coaches writers.
BARBARA SANTOS helps writers connect with the right people. As the marketing director of the San Francisco Writers Conference and former co-director of the Maui Writers Conference, she has worked with the biggest names in publishing. She has written and edited two cookbooks and, along with co-author Mark Ellman, created a guide to living Hawaiian style with the anthology, Practice Aloha. It features essays (and even a few recipes!) from contributors who agree that if people lived their life with aloha, the world would be a much better place.
EDITOR CONSULTATIONS by:
CRISTINA DEPTULA is a creative writer, former science and technology journalist, and editor of the literary magazine Synchronized Chaos. She leads the literary publicity team of Authors, Large and Small, which helps writers of all sorts find and reach audiences for their work.
TANYA EGAN GIBSON is a freelance editor and the author of the novel How to Buy a Love of Reading (Dutton), in which a bibliophobic girl's entire life changes in the weeks leading up to her Sweet 16 because of a book her parents buy her—one she absolutely does not want. Tanya's articles have appeared in Writer's Digest, The Writer, and Parents, and her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. www.tanyaegangibson.com
MARY RAKOW, Ph.D.'s name appears in the acknowledgments of Garth Greenwell's What Belongs to You, long-listed for the National Book Award, and Gregory Boyle's Amazon bestseller Barking to the Choir. "Rakow is a legendary editor," says Tupelo Prize winner Ilya Kaminski. A San Franciscan, Mary also meets with clients. Her latest novel, This Is Why I Came, received outstanding reviews in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Atlantic, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and Christian Century, maryrakow.com, thisiswhybook.com.
MONICA WESOLOWSKA is an author, teacher, and independent editor. Her memoir, Holding Silvan: A Brief Life, was named a "Best Book of 2013" by Library Journal and The Boston Globe. She publishes fiction and essays and has a children's picture book forthcoming from Scholastic. She teaches at UC Berkeley Extension, Stanford Continuing Studies and elsewhere and has worked one-on-one as an editor for over a decade. Read more at www.monicawesolowska.com


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I'm going to be examining Doctor Who... every single episode. I'm going to take you on a journey through the 50+ years worth of this show, showcasing the good and the bad along the way. For each episode I'm going to give you a very brief rundown of the plot, how good/bad the story is, and anything interesting about the episode. Basically I'll just talk about whatever comes to mind for each of them. These will be a more in-depth overview of the series as a whole so you can see which stories or episodes (if any) you want to check out for yourself. Today I'm going to be talking about
The Tenth Doctor
David Tennant
After the end of Series Four, both Russel T. Davies and David Tennant were leaving Doctor Who. I'm not entirely sure how much of a surprise this came to the production crew overall. I suspect this may have been a slight surprise or just involved a lack of planning/communication due to how 2009 was spent... I could be very wrong there and this was part of the plan overall. It's just that nothing else like this particular set of episodes has happened before or since really... though I honestly prefer this to having an entire year of nothing (Cough2016MoffatCough).
The David Tennant Specials ran intermittently from 12/25/2008 till 1/1/2010 and included five episodes total. Also included in this grouping is the second animated special because that just seems like the best place to put it in all honesty. It was during this time that the Doctor had no companion at all. He would have helpers in every episode but no constant companion...though I would include Donna's Grandfather, Wilfred Mott as a companion. This season has "lovingly" been referred to as the David Tennant Dance of Death by many people. This is because every single special during this story mentions or insinuates that the Doctor is going to die/regenerate. While watching these over the course of the year might not have made it so obvious, watching them back to back made it seem like that simple fact was lording over all like some big villain we needed to be wary of and it got old REALLY fast. That's partially my issue with something that happens in Series 9 but I'll get to that later.
The Next Doctor
The Doctor lands in London on Christmas Eve in 1851 where he hears calls for help. However he meets a man calling himself "The Doctor" and his companion Rosita who are chasing a Cybershade, an animalistic version of Cybermen. The Doctor believes this man may be his future incarnation, the Next Doctor, having suffered amnesia from regeneration...though some things just seem off about him. The Next Doctor takes the Doctor to the house of a recently deceased man that the Next Doctor believes involved with recent missing people and the Cybershade. There they find and take Cyberman data-storage infostamps which the Next Doctor remembers using against the Cybermen the day he lost his memory. Two Cybermen attack but the Next Doctor destroys them by using the electrical discharge of the infostamp. The pair go to his home base with Rosita where he has been collecting information on the missing people and housing his TARDIS. To the Doctor's surprise, the TARDIS is a gas balloon. After looking around, the Doctor realizes that this man is not his future self but a human; the first man to go missing named Jackson Lake. He apparently became so distraught by his encounter with the Cybermen that his discharge of the infostamp embedded his own brain with knowledge of the Doctor. The Doctor and Rosita go to find the base of the Cybermen and find children working in a steam engine having been brought there as slave labor by Miss Hartigan, the Cybermen's human ally. The Cybermen update their info with a stamp and identify the Doctor as their enemy but Jackson appears with more stamps and distracts the Cybermen allowing all to escape. The Cybermen then turn on Miss Hartigan and convert her into the controller of the Cyberking, a gigantic robot powered by the steam engines the children are working on. Eventually the Doctor, Rosita, and Jackson find the second entrance to the Cybermen base and rescue the children including Jackson's son whose kidnapping cause his mental state to begin with. The Doctor then uses the gas balloon to speak with the converted Hartigan and offered to take them to a new planet. When they refuse he uses the infostamps to sever her connection with the Cyberking. Her raw emotion of seeing what has become to her overloads the cybermen and cyberking causing them to malfunction. Using some tech, the Doctor sends them off into the Time Vortex and saves London. The episode concludes as Jackson convinces the Doctor to stay for Christmas Dinner in honor of those whom they lost over the years.
*sigh* This one tried, bless it's heart... it honestly tried. There's some really really good ideas inside this story. The Doctor meeting up with a future version of himself with extreme amnesia? That's a good idea. A man truthfully believing himself to be the Doctor when he isn't? That's a neat idea to explore. Figuring out how the Cybermen would survive in a time without adequate technology to keep them running properly? That's brilliant. However his whole thing just sort of fell a little flat between the corniness of things like having Jackson's son be abducted when the rest of us could see it from a mile away just sort of made it... just ok. Let's not forget the insane science of the Cyberking not really adding up. And what's the deal with the Cybershade? Aren't they supposed to be converted cats and stuff? Why are they that big and that ridiculous looking? I... I don't know. It's not terrible it's just not that good.
Planet of the Dead
After a thrill-seeking burglar, Lady Christina de Souza, steals a golden chalice from the London museum, she avoids the police by hopping on a bus. The Doctor, trying to track down a strange wormhole on the planet joins her as the police spot her on the bus. However, before they can stop the bus, the bus travels through the wormhole and disappears, reappearing on a desert planet. The Doctor theorizes that the metal exterior of the bus is the only thing that protected. The bus driver doesn't listen and walks back through the wormhole only to appear as a skeleton on the other side. The police call UNIT who send Captain Magambo and scientist Malcolm Taylor to the scene. The Doctor contacts Malcom and get him to work analyzing the wormhole from that side. After meeting with the passengers including a low level psychic, The Doctor and Christina scout out the planet while the others attempt to repair the bus. The pair notice a large sandstorm on the horizon but are captured by two fly-like aliens and taken to their ship. It is revealed there that the planet used to be a thriving planet with billions of lifeforms but it suddenly became a barren dessert. The Doctor convinces them to send out a probe into the storm where they discover it is actually a group of metal-skinned sting ray creatures who eat everything on an entire planet then circle the planet with such speed it rips a wormhole open to their next destination, which of course will be Earth. In order to get them back to Earth they will need the crystal and clamps from the alien ship which Christina obtains. However, her body heat caused a coupe of the sting rays to awaken on the ship and eat the fly aliens. The Doctor and Christina rush back to the bus and attach the anti-gravity clamps to it with the help of the golden chalice Christina had stolen. They emerge back on Earth just in time as Malcolm had refused to close it sooner even at gunpoint from his superior. Malcolm closes the wormhole and UNIT takes out the three sting rays that came through. Christina begs to be his companion but the Doctor refuses as he doesn't want to lose any more companions; she is arrested for theft by the police. The psychic, Carmen then tells the Doctor that his song is ending and that... he will knock four times. As a last act of kindness, the Doctor uses his sonic to undo Christina's handcuffs allowing her to climb aboard the flying bus and escape.
This was a pretty solid episode with a nice sense of danger. It also served as what should have been the perfect companion origin story. Christina would have made for a fantastic companion and it's a real shame that she wasn't given the opportunity as the pair worked wonderfully together and, with the exception of Malcolm, stole the show. This type of character was such a good idea that had the classic series continued another season, a character just like this would have been the companion. Oh well, at least we have a good solid performance from a pretty decent episode.
The Waters of Mars
The Doctor lands on Marsh in 2059 where he comes across the first human settlement on the planet. Quickly he is detained by the crew lead by Adelaide Brooke. The Doctor learns the date and remembers that it is on this day that the base is destroyed by a nuclear blast and it's destruction cause humanity to reach out for the stars to meet other life forms. It's a fixed point in time and he really cannot interfere with what is about to happen. However he becomes involved without his will when Adelaide suddenly can't communicate with two of her crew memers. The two members have become infected by a water-based virus and begin spewing large amounts of water from their body while becoming zombie-like. The virus takes over their whole bodies and tries to infect others, successfully infecting one. The Doctor and Adelaide quarantine the infected crew member and by observation learn it is an intelligent virus known as The Flood and it desires to go to Earth so it can spread to all beings there. The Doctor and Adelaide examine the source of the base's water, a glacier on the surface, and the Doctor theorizes that it was trapped there by the Ice Warriors at some point only to be awoken by the base and a faulty filter. Adelaide orders for the ship to be abandoned at once so the Flood cannot infect anyone else and asks the Doctor what he knows. Reluctantly, the Doctor tells her their fate and why it is important and fixed. She agrees to let him leave. The Flood however has started attacking everyone it can from all directions infecting most of the other crew members, including the pilot who detonates the rocket so the Flood cannot leave Mars. With only Adelaide and two others remaining, she starts the site detonation. However, the Doctor hears their screams and cries and decides to return to the base to save them. He sends a robot out to bring the TARDIS to them and evacuates the three of them back to Earth before the station explodes. Adelaide asks why he interfered and he explains that he is the last Time Lord Victorious. He is going to do whatever he wishes because he's earned that right. She disagrees, goes into her house and commits suicide. The Doctor then sees that is is her death that ensured the future. The Doctor sees a vision of the Ood Leader and realizes he's gone too far, however he refuses to die just yet and flies off in the TARDIS.
This next sentence is weird but it'll make sense eventually. This story makes me think a lot of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The first time I read that book I focused on the wrong thing...all the high school drama and kissing. I didn't really like the book until I got to the end and realized what I should have been focusing on. The second time I read it, I focused on the right things and it was an amazing book. That's basically the same thing here. The first time, I focused entirely on the Flood, the weird makeup, and the annoying robot so I thought this episode was terrible. However a second viewing showed me the tragedy of the Doctor not being able to help someone in a fixed point in time, and the consequences of attempting to do so. Although the whole reason behind Adelaide killing herself was a little...weird and rushed... it still made an impact. Overall this is a fairly decent story.
The Doctor lands in New Mexico 1958 where he enters a diner and activates some alien tech that the waitress Cassie had been holding on to since the 1947 alien crash landing in Roswell. The pair along with Native American Jimmy investigate Jimmy's claim of a space monster. The monster turns out to be an insectoid alien known as a Viperox. However, the US Military destroy the alien and take the three of them into custody at Area 51 (or as the Doctor calls it, Dreamland.) While there Colonel Stark attempts to wipe their minds with gas but the Doctor breaks free and the three escape to find a female gray alien in custody while Colonel Stark is revealed to be working with the Viperox leader, Lord Azlok. The trio escape using the gray alien's ship and crash near the town of Solitude which turns out to be the egg laying grounds of the Viperox Queen. The trio escape to find Jimmy's grandfather, Night Eagle who takes them to a cave where a male gray alien is being kept. The alien explains that their people lost a war against the Viperox and the alien tech Cassie found is actually a genetic weapon to wipe them all out. However, Colonel Stark appears in the tunnel and takes the alien hostage as well as the Doctor, Jimmy, and Cassie. It turns out the male grey alien can modify the DNA code of the weapon and Colonel Stark wants it to wipe out the Russians hence his alliance with the Viperox, but after a conversation with the Doctor, Stark realizes the Viperox will just take over earth despite their alliance and turns on the aliens. Lord Azlok begins hatching the Viperox to attack nearby towns and eventually the Doctor creates a deafening soundwave from the TARDIS causing the Viperox to stop. The Doctor explains that one day the Viperox will become a peaceful race and tell them to leave Earth. For once the villains actually listen and flee the planet with the knowledge that the Doctor has the DNA weapon. The Doctor leaves the weapon with Stark and flies off.
First, I would like to point out that they included WAAAAAYYYYYYYY too much material in this special. I left out a whole bunch like the Men in Black looking androids, searching for the cure to revive the male alien, and a bunch of other things. Despite that, look how much I still had to write for 45 minutes of airtime?? Geez. This one is... weird. That's the best way to describe it...weird. It's animated and it kind of runs on animation logic of people just sort of showing up because it's convenient for the plot to move forward. It's not terrible by any means it's just got far too much content, it jumps around too much, and it's really really weird.
The End of Time Pt 1 / The End of Time Pt 2
The Doctor returns to the Oodsphere where he learns through the Ood that his nemesis, the Master is going to return soon. On earth, a cult loyal the Master attempt to revive him but his ex-wife Lucy Saxon sabotages the ritual causing the Master to return in an ever hungry and non-stable state. The Doctor returns to Earth in search of the Master but finds Wilfred Mott instead before hearing an oil drum be beaten four times. The Doctor tracks the Master down to some wastelands where he discovers the drumming sound that the Master mentioned in his previous encounter is actually real; someone had placed that ever-present sound in his head. Before he can learn more, the Master is abducted by troops and taken in custody to the home of billionaire Joshua Naismith who is in possession of an alien "Immortality Gate" and wishes to employ the Master to fix it and provide eternal life for Naismith's daughter. The Doctor meets back up with Wilfred and explains the prophesy of his death being preceded by someone knocking four times. After getting a spectral visit from a woman asking Wilfred to arm himself before joining the Doctor, Wilfred gets his gun and goes with the Doctor to the Naismith estate. There, they learn from two undercover aliens that the device is actually just a medical unit from their homeworld, but the Master has been hard at work turning it into a DNA modifier. He quickly jumps into the machine and transforms every human being on the planet into an exact replica of himself with the exception of Wilfred who was shielded at the time, and Donna who was still part Time Lord despite having no knowledge of this. It is then that the narrator of the episode is revealed to be the Time Lord Preseident and he announced that this was the day that the Time Lords returned.
This two-parter was fairly ok. There were a lot of things that honestly didn't make much sense in the overall scheme like why they needed a reason for the Master to return and a manner in which he could when he always just sort of showed up in the past. Not to mention all the junk about exactly how Gallifrey came out of the Time Lock... it just kind of doesn't make much sense. It was an OK two-parter but it had some really fantastic individual moments. Wilfred Mott grouping the old people together to find the Doctor was hilarious. Wilfred and the Doctor's conversation about how everyone, even the dead, were transformed into the Master was fairly chilling. Actually basically every single thing involving Wilfred was funny, great, or made you cry. Wilfred treated the Doctor like a son. He begged him to take his gun because he didn't want him to die. He was willing to take the full force of the radiation because he was old and had lived his life. His tearful final goodbye to the Doctor makes me cry EVERY single time I watch the episode. Bernard Cribbins is a treasure and he brightens every scene he's in tenfold. While the lead-up to his eventual regeneration did seem like it took awhile, it was nice to see Martha, Mickey, Sarah Jane, and Rose one final time. A pretty decent episode with some glorious moments.
This was an interesting change in the Doctor Who formula by just having a bunch of specials spread throughout the year. In all honesty, spread out is the best way to view these. As I said in my introduction, every single episode just jackhammers in the fact that he's going to regenerate soon. The Next Doctor? Yes there will be a next Doctor soon. "Your song is ending" Yes we know this. "I've gone too far but I won't let it end here." YES we get it. "I'm going to die soon" WE KNOW!! Watching them back to back just kinda makes you sit here and go
This is Ghost, fading into the darkness
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You can click here if you wish to see my introduction to Doctor Who
If you want to check out all of my Doctor Who content please click here.
If you want to check out all of my Doctor Who content please click here.


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Makeup top tips
Now everyone applies their makeup different and everyone watches or reads different ways of applying makeup. Seeing as though I have been asked a few times recently on how I apply my own makeup and if I have any tips I can give out.. So I thought I would share 5 of my biggest makeup top tips I share with people on shoots, weddings etc..
Hope you have a pen and paper to take note on all of these;
1. SPF. I always tell people to use an spf on their face, neck and hands when you are out and about. You can apply it under neath your makeup. SPF in your moisturiser is like your wearing sun screen, to protect you from the sun. You only need a little bit as if you use to much you can become a little oily on your face. I personally like the Malibu SPF Moisturiser.
2. Brows. Thick fluffy brows are one of my best features on my face. I would suggest using a clear brow gel to brush those rouge hairs into place. I then use an angled eye brush and a light brown eye shadow to create depth and thickness to the brows, Its the best way to create nice brows.
3. Lip Balm. When applying makeup, I always before I start apply lip balm to my lips. Lips are the last thing in the makeup process, so why not keep them soft and moisturised during the process. I am not a fan of cracked lips, so lip balm has a permanent home in my handbag.
4. Makeup Setting Spray. You don't have any setting spray left, I always use a little bit of hairspray on the makeup, Just a little mist. Hairspray is used 30cm away from the hair, but if i need to use it on my makeup I hold it even further away just so I don't get it in my face.
5. Eyeliner. If I am unsure on eyeliner. I always start with liquid liner to create 3 small dots ready to join into a slick feline flick. After I have done this and I am happy with the shape, I then go over it with a kohl pencil. That helps seal the liquid liner in and stay put all day. That way you can also smudge it out a little to create a smoke liner eye look. Which is very chic for a simple day look for work or school.
I hope these top tips have helped you. I am uploading a skincare top tips post tomorrow. So hopefully this may help you.


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Saturday, May 6, 2017
Cancer Treatment: Tell or not tell?
50 comments:
- AnonymousSeptember 30, 2007 at 7:48 PM
It is true that cancer is a very traumatic and devastating disease. If you learn suddenly that a love one is afflicted with this most dreaded disease it could easily make you feel as if the world has already crushed on you. It's as if your world has suddenly changed. That no matter what the doctor will say, one would always feel scared and will continue to fear of what's going to happen next. To tell or not to tell, I think, depends on what the circumstances are for each individual. Sometimes, the patient is strong enough and we think that it would be helpful for him or her to know about the condition but sometimes there are cases where it is more beneficial for the patient not to know.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 6, 2007 at 1:47 AM
I would like to express a brief account of my own experience. AS everyone knows , "Men Are Mortal",however man do value their physical and mental cirscumstances of external and internal Disturbances. Now my grandfather is facing the disease so called brutal no.1 killer tounge cancer. He is sustainable with the help ofReplyDelete
gana medicine.Thank you. I would like to tell about my story as much time as I get from my busy days.
I had a experience about this. My father had a cancer. He was operated and two times a year he is checked. It was very big shock for our family. But at that time our family realized the important of father. Before I knew my father's condition, I had never said "I love father" to him. So I think that doctors let a patient and his family know the truth is better.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousDecember 31, 2007 at 10:02 AM
The doctors suspect that my uncle may suffer from pancreatic cancer but we still don't know the final diagnosis or my uncle and aunt don't tell us the truth. Anyway they seem to be very stressed by all the situation, when my uncle called my mother on the Christmas day his voice was trembling. They are both terribly afraid of this illness and of his potential death. When they are together at home they don't almost talk one to another, they try not to look one at another and my uncle said that he could die at the moment after having eaten the Christmas meal preapared by my aunt. They were both thinking that it was their last Christmas together. If they don't want to, they don't have to tell us about the dire prognosis but if my uncle dies we will know the truth.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJune 9, 2008 at 11:02 AM
In my personal experience is better if the pacient knows the illness that he has for several reasons.ReplyDelete
The first reason is because the patient can be all that he can to save his life, for example take his pills or attent some treatments.
Second, is better if the family try to help their relative that is sick, the family is the base and the family give us force to survive.
Third, the cancer is a very traumatic illness, the patients suffer a lot and also the family.
- AnonymousSeptember 21, 2008 at 12:52 PM
well in my personal experience i think that the illness should be informed to the patient and also to the family, because in my case my older sisters tried to encover my mom disease (i was 16), she died because of a kidney cancerwith methastasis , but i didn´t know it was a terminal disease until my mom died, this was really difficoult for me because i always thought that my mother would be ok and someday she would be recovered but it wasnt like that and the shock was even harder for me because i wasn´t informed. I really miss her and i would like to have had say goodbye in a different wayReplyDelete
In my point of view, I consider that to inform the patient about his desease is very important for several reasons. First because if he knows about his desease, he can help with the treatment, I mean he can cooperate. In addition if he knows about it, he can try to find other ways to feel better. In my country in Mexico, in general the patients know about their desease, some cooperate with the problem and others prefer enjoy their last days. The core is to do their last days the best.ReplyDelete
such bizarre disease was killing people, is killing people, and will be killing people. Nobody is safe to get this disease. furthermore, this sickness is unpredictable. Even people who have been in good shape their whole life can get this illness, so we have to be prepare in a mentally, spiritually, and emotionally manner. we have to know how to deal with the crab.ReplyDelete
I think it is very important to tell the patient what's going on because if you don't, he can't be carefull with his life.When you finish to tell him what's wrong,you suppose to protect him because he can be very violent.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 3, 2009 at 9:23 PM
Everyone is bound to die after birth. Death is a natural law and it is objective. Imagin what would the world be if we live forever!ReplyDelete
There are so many ways to death and cancer is just one of these ways. Personnally, I don't fear death because I think death is a starting point of a new life! In my opinion, what is important to us is not the quantity of life but the quality. When we are alive, we should appreciate every day i.e. hard working, caring more about our familly members and helping others in tire conditions. Then when we face to terminal illness like cancer, we have no regrets to our life so we don't fear death. God tells us that we die and suffer because we are guilty. So, when I were diagnosed with cancer, I would pray to God to reduce the suffering and calmly face to death.
In conclusion, there is no use to fear the death when we suffer from cancer. What we should do are to ponder the meaning of life and to persuade our familly members to face calmly to our situation and encourage them to appreciate every day of their life.
AS SAID RANDAL IN HIS COMMENTARY, THE CANCER CAN BE A DIRE EXPERIENCE, FOR BOTH THE PATIENT, AND THE FAMILY. IN FACT, IN MY FAMILY NEVER HAD APPEARED A CANCER CASE UNTIL TWO YEARS AGO, WHEN MY SECOND BROTHER FELL ILL AND DOCTORS DIAGNOSED HIM A THROAT CANCER. HE WAS MY LAST BROTHER ALIVE AND FOR HIS KIDS, HIS WIFE AND I, WAS A SITUATION NOT TOO EASY TO ACCEPT. LUCKYLY IT WAS A RELATIVELY SHORT SUFFERING. AFTER AN OPERATION TO EXTIRPATE THE TUMOR, FINALLY HE PASSED AWAY. THEY WERE THREE MONTHS IN WHICH WE SAW SLOWLY EXTINGUISH HIMSELF, AS A CANDLE. HOWEVER, HE HAD A GOD APPROACH, WHICH ALLOWED HIM TO HAVE A VERY CALM END AND PEACEFULLY, WITH HIMSELF, HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 24, 2009 at 8:36 AM
Hello my name is Joel and I think that doctors must tell their patients about what they have and what they would happen with them.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 24, 2009 at 2:05 PM
hi.. I´m Meloni, i think that cancer is a very dangerous desease that can change our lives and the lives of our family, and friend exist diferents factors that can cause canser!but exists a lot of treatements that may be don´t disapear the canser but can help to control this desease!! maybe some types of cancer are terminal but Only God can heal any disease and cancer if you have faithReplyDelete
- omarmosqueralozanoJuly 24, 2009 at 9:31 PM
In my country Ecuador the cancer is very common and I think the doctors always said the true becaues if a person with cancer know that have cancer the person can look for help so Is necessary to know the true but cancer is a very bad disease I f you have cancer you have to follow God and trust in him but no only in problems you always have to follow and trust in him.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 24, 2009 at 9:38 PM
Cancer in Ecuador exist a lot and always said the diagnostic of the person that have cancerReplyDelete
sebastian garzon
The Cancer Treatment in my country is very hard, becouse the cure, or treatment damage all the spirit and auto-confidence. So in my country some persons that really are scare about the cancer prefer not follow any medication and treatment, becouse they prefer to enjoy all the life that have until they died. In my country, the doctors don't have fear to say to their patients that they have cancer. And if i will sick with cancer i would like died to live with a medication that damages my self.ReplyDelete
My sister had cancer. She was 22, and underwent for two years in chemotherapies and radiotherapies sessions. However, she faced that battle, and is very well now. When we realize that her disease wasn't a simple flu, accompanied with a high fever, we all literally became paralyzed. The world became darker for all of us, and every little situation seam to be a big challenge. But she is gorgeous and taught us how powerful the life is. At that time, she supposed to be the weakest of us, due to her quite vulnerable heath situation. But, she faced everything and everybody with her power. She took uncountable radiotherapies sessions by bus and after, she yet went to the school. The doctors always were sincere with her. She never was discredited by the doctors, but they always were very direct with her, saying exactly the words they needed to convince her that if she didn't undergo the treatment, she would die. Now, she is in a very good situation, living in Australia. That's my little sister.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 20, 2009 at 11:52 AM
The disaster of our century, cancer. Even its name is enough to give us the creeps. So it requires the coopartion of patients and families. İ think, both of them have the right of knowing . When everybody has idea about the situation, things,probably, gets better. Together they can keep the patient away from demoralizing. Morale is the biggest power in fighting against cancer. And families have it. "hndsss"ReplyDelete
Although the disease has been strongly related with death, during the last years medical advances has let us to know in advance if we have some posibility of developing cancer. For instance, a couple of months ago my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, it was in its first stages which allows my mom to react on time and to begin a medical treatment. A week ago, she had a mastectomy which is the worst thing for a woman, but at least she can be with us for many years more.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 7, 2009 at 10:36 AM
This a dificult task to answer properly. From my point of view both family and patitent must have the oportunity to know the situation and the actual impact of the illness in their lives. I'm trying to guess how hard the situation might be... but anyway i think they have the right to know and do whatever consequently.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2009 at 2:28 PM
hello, I am viviana from colombia, I´ve never had this kind of illness in my family but, it is not necesary to understand how much you can suffer when cancer is diagnosed, and how much you will suffer if your family does not know what is happening to you, is not advisable to hide this feelings because you can find a shelter in your family and friends. In that circumstancies there is not time for heart feelings.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousNovember 2, 2009 at 10:50 AM
hello. I am Erika, from Pamplona, Colombia.ReplyDelete
I would like to share my point of view with you respect to cancer treatment.
First of all, Cancer is an awful disease which affects to the patient phisically and psicologically. I consider it is important to tell someone the truth in order to he is prepared and he or she can attack the illness in a good way.
In addition, it is important that the family get on well with that person and give a lot of support, patience and love.
Thank you very much and God bless you.
- AnonymousNovember 2, 2009 at 9:49 PM
hello, I am Diana Barón, from Colombia.ReplyDelete
I would like to express my personal experience about this topic. I had an aunt who died of breast cancer. I can say that it is one of the most terrible illnesses that somebody can suffer since this kind of disease kills slowly and the pain is unbearable. Based on this, I think that it is so important to tell the situation to the patients in time, in order to get them ready for one of the most difficult event in life.
- AnonymousNovember 24, 2009 at 11:51 AM
Hi my name is Osleyner Diaz cancer is a very traumatic disease that affects not only the person who suffers, in addition to the family, as was my brother suffered from this terrible disease and unfortunately is no longer with us ..... My recommendation is to motivate people who suffer from this problem fulfilling our role as brothers, friends, parent-child pair mates etcReplyDelete
in the colombian people culture that situation about the cancel disease is view like something, which is hard for both patient and relatives, however it is deal with firmness and the truth is confronting for all.ReplyDelete
the colombian society has been fighing agains the cancer even there had been made ¨the league agains the cancer¨ this is a organization, which help the people that suffer this illness.
In all case the treatment is very difficult to take for all patients.
- AnonymousNovember 24, 2009 at 3:56 PM
Hi, everyone, I`m Carlos Espinosa From Medellin Colombia.ReplyDelete
I think prevention is the better way to defeat this terrible desease, My grandfather suffered a skin cancer and thanks god he survived, but if he had pay attention of several signs, maybe the disease could have been defeated more easily.
- AnonymousNovember 28, 2009 at 9:07 AM
The cancer is a disease that represents a huge emotional burden for the person, family and friends. On my family there was a cancer patient and I can say from my self - experience that commend that person to god is the only thing that comforts and gives the family some peace and hope. In Colombia there are several entities responsible for providing services, medical and psychological care to people padencen this illness, however treatments are expensive and some procedures aren´t precented within mandatory health plans, making it harder to deal with the diseas.ReplyDelete
Lilian Cabrera
- Olga Lucia mejiaNovember 28, 2009 at 7:03 PM
In my country, Colombia, we are still very fearful about any cancer..my personal experience was with my mother, who is a person very optimistic not only with her disease, but with all around her. So she was very enthusiastic during treatment and it Works! My personal view about death is that the death is inevitable but I hope not to die young, and my mother felt..ReplyDelete
In other way, Unfortunately most people are afraid to tell his disease and isolation, which is worse, because it is very important to feel supported to overcome.
- Olga Lucia MejiaNovember 28, 2009 at 7:06 PM
Hii, my name is Olga Lucia Mejia.ReplyDelete
In my country, Colombia, we are still very fearful about any cancer..my personal experience was with my mother, who is a person very optimistic not only with her disease, but with all around her. So she was very enthusiastic during treatment and it Works! My personal view about death is that the death is inevitable but I hope not to die young, and my mother felt..
In other way, Unfortunately most people are afraid to tell his disease and isolation, which is worse, because it is very important to feel supported to overcome.
- Samara HerreraNovember 30, 2009 at 8:21 PM
Absolutely it is better to know and say the truth; in any circunstance of life people can`t act because the don´t find the real point to begin. Knowing about an own disease, allows taking inmediat care of oneself and provides the urgent posibility to care about the real life sense. One of the most important things in life is the conscience of death because giving its importance to this topic we realy give to live its value. Most of us in the most part of life ignore this reality, going thru life "without living live", some of us die ignoring it, but we can notice this important sense sadly in adverse circunstances sometimes, and maybe despite of physical pain, people live a more honest and good life, in faith, love and hope.ReplyDelete
A disease like this expresses in many ways, it is maybe impossible not to see that something is going very wrong, so that, is useless not telling the truth to the family, besides,they represent a necesary and important material and spiritual help. And I want to say finally, that I admire and thank to all the persons who help whose are in need.
Samara Herrera
- morristhecallingFebruary 28, 2010 at 2:25 AM
When diagnosed with fatal deseases like caner, one will inevitably face with the ultimate issue: life and death. The issue always has a strong impact on both the patient and his or her significant others. To me, it's necessary that one be informed of the genuine situation so that he or she can decide how to live with the given time. Of course people respond to the situation very differently. If the patient is kept away from knowing the truth, chances are he or she will miss the last opportunity of living the life wanted and the significant others will suffer from hiding the truth after the patient dies.ReplyDelete
Cancer is today a dire desease that we do not know who will have and who will not have it during life. One of the big worries about this desease is if the person who suffer should know about his own situation or not.ReplyDelete
For instance, we do not know the cure for cancer, but most of the people who had cancer survived after made the treatment. In addition, if the desease was discovered early the chances to survive will increase highly.
However, there are cases that a person have a terminal cancer and there is no way to survive. In this situation, I think that the family should tell to the pacient what is happen, because is the right of the person knows what will occur.
To illustrate, my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. In fact, his cancer was diagnosed early, but my father was refusing to say to him what was happening. Despite of the fear of the reaction of my grandfather my father told about the desease and he was upbeat. After this he made the treatment and survived.
To conclude, we know that cancer is a dire desease, but the person who have it should know the truth and after this make the treatment believing that the desease will not take away his life.
- AnonymousMay 3, 2010 at 8:16 PM
Nowadays there're more interests of the right for patient. Mostly when there're some patient in comma,ReplyDelete
it was a commen sense to make him/her alive even their life is lasting in bed, and the family getting ruined their lifes. So if there're were some comment before the patient was dignosed terminal illness, we have to admire their opinion too. and make them to prepare for how to face their death,how to spend the rest of their life.
If I was the family member, I'd rather share the situation with the patint and try to get over together. However the situation is too bad to cured, I think I have to have more valuable moment with all.
- AnonymousSeptember 18, 2010 at 5:09 PM
Doctors have a psychological role in relation to their patients. I think that if a patient is diagnosed with a terminal disease, the patient's family should know about it. A great deal of prevention should be done to inform the people about terminal disease. People can now go to hospital for free to know whether they are HIV positive or not. That is a great leap forward whose impetus is given by the government. Still, more should be done using the media. Publicities made in partnership with the Health Ministry and the government should encourage people to see their doctor to diagnose whether they are affected by breast cancer, heart disease, or any other disease. This should be so because what is at stake is the future of humanity. If no treatment is found, the number of people peopling a country or the planet might shrink. This is why governments encourage people to make babies.ReplyDelete
- Alex- BrazilOctober 11, 2010 at 8:27 AM
My father has liver cancer. He's, in this moment, following the treatment while he waiting for a new liver, in the other words, he's queued to be transplanted. In the begin it was very hard for us because we didn't know what to do regarding his ill. But, now, one year after, I think we're more experienced about what to do when he get sick and he's following the right treatment. That,s why we believe he'll overtake this situation.ReplyDelete
My father and mother passed away 5 and 10 years ago respectively. They were all suffered from cancer. It was hard to see them suffer from the disease. Fortunately my mother accepted Jesus's salvation and was born again just 1 week before she was called to her eternal rest. Thanks to my mother, our family started believing in God. I expect to meet my father and mother in heaven.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 28, 2010 at 5:33 AM
My father and mother passed away 5 and 10 years ago respectively. They were all suffered from cancer. It was the hard time to see them suffer from the disease. Fortunately my mother accepted Jesus's salvation and was born again just 1 week before she was called to her eternal rest. Thanks to my mother, our family started believing in God. I expect to meet my father and mother in heaven.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 28, 2010 at 9:41 AM
It dependens on the situation and the patient in the time of happening. However, the petient has the right to know the real situation and make decision what is next to do. It is true life lession to face and experience.ReplyDelete
we should blieve in God and whatever happen to us is for our benifitReplyDelete
- AnonymousJune 12, 2011 at 12:20 AM
its been a year since my family experience this kind of illness. My aunt suffer from lung cancer and it's only takes her 6 months to live after she learned her disease. What makes it difficult for us is that we learned it to late because she keep it to her self not knowing that she has a family back home waiting to take care and nursing her. when we knew it its like the world crushed on us.ReplyDelete
- Ana Lidia Barrera VerduzcoOctober 20, 2012 at 10:43 PM
Ana Lidia BarreraReplyDelete
In my point of view, I consider that to inform the patient about his desease is very important for several reasons. First because if he knows about his desease, he can help with the treatment, I mean he can cooperate. In addition if he knows about it, he can try to find other ways to feel better. In my country in Mexico, in general the patients know about their desease, some cooperate with the problem and others prefer enjoy their last days. The core is to do their last days the best.
- AnonymousDecember 11, 2012 at 1:12 PM
My mother found out that her best fiends and workmate was suffering of cancer.So , from that day, she had to faced the situation and also, to help her friend believe in the future and in her recovery.The biggest pain, as she said, was caused by her son because, even though he was 21, he was suffering a lot and most of the times, trying to sleep holding her mother in his arms.ReplyDelete
She died, though, and we all felt a great lose, but no once cpould understand her son.
Cancer is curable but depends on how fast a person discovers the disease.The big problem is that we go to analyses rarely and we discover these diseases too late.
I do hope that God will help people be wise and take the right decision to go to a doctor everytime they feel a pain.
- AnonymousMay 2, 2013 at 9:24 PM
I have one friend suffering cancer. He has taken it in a positive and natural way.When I talk to him I do not feel he is sick. I think his positive attitude has been key for keeping him with a healthy look. At the beginning I felt uncomfortable about talking with him because sometimes I felt happy and I forgot he was sick so I thought he would be angry because the way I took his illness. However I realized that this was the correct way for making him feel better.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 22, 2013 at 5:33 PM
Cancer is a traumatic and scary disease. But we need to accept this brief reality , as everyone knows "man is mortal" . we have to prepare ourselves to the inevitable :we will die. so , we must not get depressed because of this fact. Anyway we will leave this place we call earth and go to where God will be waiting for us. While this waiting, we have to show the best of us. Leave positive actions, smile and simple contributions for others , what will make those people never forget you. If we are here, we need to make some difference, go for you want to, do not wait for it come, live with intensity, show your emotions, do good for others, say what you want and the most important : seize your time, you do not know when it will be taken from you.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 8, 2014 at 10:57 AM
hi, I think we should thank god that men are mortal. This world is full of misarable and the world after dead has endless happiness. It should be hard to know you will die soon but we all know that our life will end one day. Maybe we may die before our relative who has been diagnosed with terminal disease. The most important point is to be ready to die anytime.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousAugust 23, 2018 at 3:46 AM
I had a relative that was diagnosed with cancer and it was a terrible experience for us (family) and for her. The predominant religion of my family is catholic and the only thing that it influenced on the process was that catholic persons are very insistant when they are wishing, in that case, my aunt's health. Other types of religious thoughts were not influenced because there are other types of religions in my family, like mine. My aunt's ill was very intense and when she was on the final of her life, we did not tell her what was happening because it could be frustrating for her.In this situation, the only thing that you can do is wish positive vibrations to the people that are fighting against cancer and hope that he or she will be in a good place, does not matter where!ReplyDelete
- Fuong MaiSeptember 11, 2018 at 10:46 PM
Cancer, the name of disease that can be real blow any one who unfortunately diagnose with it because this means you have limited time to live. While some people allow self-pity to enter their mind in traumatic situation, I believe that patients should remains in a jovial mood and enjoy their lives while they can.ReplyDelete
The reality that dire disease would bring to patients traumatic experiences that make them have negative mental attitude. Firstly, their physical bodies would be suffer from the repeated pains, they can not eat, drink, and sleep. These pains make them feel powerless because they think they could do nothing in the bad health situation. Secondly, they knew that they have limited time to live, so they become hopeless and without doing any thing. They spend time for waiting death.
On the other hand, I know many patients, who had diagnosed with cancer, choose to live really meaningful with their remaining time. Although the prognosis, they remain in a very jovial mood, and don't allow self-pity to enter their mind. With the certain valuable time they know they have to live, they enjoy spending almost of this time for their families such as playing with their children, caring for their parents. For personal, they might like writing a book to appear their emotions and memories to others after they die. In addition, they have never wasted any time for regret or sadness. They've just lived at present.
In conclusion, although cancer is traumatic disease, it seems to me that it would be better for both patients and their families to remain upbeat and pray for a magical appear. This is the best way to help patients have more hope and vitality to extend their lives.
I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer in August of 2010. A precious friend told me about Dr Itua Herbal Center in West Africa,She gave me his contact number and email address,I contacted him quickly so he give me guaranty that his herbal medicine will cure my cancer and i will be heal forever I said Okay.I ask him about the process for the cure,he ask me to pay for the fees which i did and within 7 working days he sent me the herbal medicine then he instructed me on how to drink it for two weeks to cure.I told Gomez my friend about the herbal medicine so he gave me go ahead to drink it.So after drinking it for two weeks i was cured I'm so grateful and i promise i will recommend anyone with cancer to him and that what i'm doing.Dr Itua Herbal Medicine makes me believes there is a hope for people suffering from,Parkinson's disease,Schizophrenia,Cancer,Scoliosis,Bladder Cancer,Colorectal Cancer,Breast Cancer,Kidney Cancer,Leukemia,Lung Cancer,Skin Cancer,Uterine Cancer,Prostate Cancer,Fibromyalgia,aReplyDelete
Syndrome Fibrodysplasia ,Epilepsy Dupuytren's disease, Diabetes ,Coeliac disease, Angiopathy, Ataxia,Arthritis,Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,Alzheimer's disease,Adrenocortical carcinoma.Asthma,Allergic diseases.Hiv_ Aids,Herpes,Inflammatory bowel disease ,Copd,Diabetes.
Here Is His Contact Info......[Email...email@example.com/Whatsapp...+2348149277967]
You have done a brilliant job making sure that people understand where you are coming from. And let me tell you, I get it. Please post more updates to cure.ReplyDelete
Failed Back Surgery
Hip Pain Treatments
Chronic Headache Causes
Joint Pain Frankfort
Musculoskeletal Pain Frankfort
Neck Pain Frankfort
Pelvic Pain Frankfort
In Vietnam, it is very important to speak about the situation of cancer that you are dealing with. People in my country usually care about these problems,like trying to talk to help them better or simply help them to come across this tough situation.ReplyDelete


text:
Tonight I heard Matthew talking in his room. Since I knew there was no one else in there I glanced in to see what was going on. He was lying on his back in bed holding two pieces of "Thomas" track bent at an angle and saying things like, "Hurry up!" "Move out of the way!" and "Crabby Patties" when he was angry. So, of course I asked, "What cha doing?" He said, "Playing a video game, Mom. It's a Monster Truck race and I'm trying to get past this guy!" It was time for his bath so I asked him to "put it on pause". All during his bath time he was filling me in on ALL the details of the race (the names of the racers, who got stuck in the mud, who pushed who, how he had run out of gas, how the shooter trucks (I figured out those were tanks) were shooting everyone). I could hardly get him quiet long enough to brush his teeth. Then he wanted me to come in and see the end of the race, which I did. Boy, does this kid have an active imagination. And now I don't have to plan on buying a video game for him for Christmas!
5 responses to ""
lol Wow…he can entertain himself. must be because you live out of the states and dont see all the Commerials for "whats new" for Christmas. Hope this week is a good one.
RYC. It would be so fun if our boys could play together! I can tottaly see Josh playing the "video game" right next to him! Take care! Carrie
Imagination, what a great thing! My nephew is constantly talking to and with his trains….which gives my ears a break once in a while lol! Be blessed that you don't have to hear "Will you buy me that?" with every commercial that comes on! SpongeBob and Thomas…..the staples of 4 & 5 year olds! Blessings to you!
It's a handheld gaming system. They are about $100. Insane!! But it is also a calendar, etc.
Awww! Tell Evelyn that I did get her letter and that I say hello. It made me very happy to recieve a letter from her!


text:
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text:
An Interview with Leslie Hawthorn
>Leslie Hawthorn, leader of the Google Summer of Code, talks about GSoC, mentoring, the GNOME Advisory Board and GNOME Foundation, women's participation in FOSS, and her advice to new contributors.
Leslie Hawthorn held various roles at Google before joining the Open Source Programs Office in March 2006. Her first project after joining the team was spinning up Google Summer of Code 2006 and she has managed the program ever since. She also conceived, launched and managed the Google Highly Open Participation Contest, an initiative inspired by GSoC that helps pre-university students get involved with all aspects of open source development. She represents Google on the GNOME Advisory Board. Mentoring in open source communities is one of her personal passions, along with humanitarian uses for open source software. She loves to cook, read and can occasionally be found pining for illuminated manuscripts. She also likes to think of herself as a superb filker. She can be found on identi.ca (@lh) or at http://www.hawthornlandings.org.
This interview took place in late October 2009.
Hi, Leslie. You've been involved in the free software world for a while now, most notably with Google Summer of Code. What's the goal behind Google Summer of Code?
The program has several goals:
- Get more open source code written and released for the benefit of all.
- Inspire young developers to begin participating in open source development.
- Help open source projects identify and bring in new developers.
- Provide students the opportunity to do work related to their academic pursuits during the summer: "flip bits, not burgers".
- Give students more exposure to real-world software development scenarios (e.g., distributed development and version control, software licensing issues and mailing list etiquette).
We've been incredibly successful in achieving each of these goals. Most projects report gaining at least one new committer from among their GSoC students and many students go on to mentor for the program. We repeatedly hear from students that their participation in GSoC helped them land the job of their dreams and I have heard from one mentor that his first interview question to candidates is "Have you been a Google Summer of Code student?" We estimate that the program has produced more than 6 million lines of Free and Open Source code over the past five years, all available for anyone to use free of charge.
How many students have been introduced to free software through Google Summer of Code and GHOP?
We've had more than 3,300 students successfully complete their projects over the past five years. We've only run the Google Highly Open Participation Contest, a companion program to GSoC to help get pre-university students involved in Open Source, once so far. Our first foray with GHOP was very successful, as well – more than 350 students in 40 countries completed over 1,000 bite-sized chunks of work in areas like coding, documentation, user experience research and testing in just a two-month period.
What has surprised you the most about GSoC?
The enthusiasm for the program never ceases to amaze me. Sure, I think it's cool because it's my day job and personal passion. But I constantly get emails from both mentors and students telling me that participating in GSoC changed their lives, transformed their communities to be more open to new contributors and helped them realize where they could be more helpful to the overall world of Free and Open Source software. I feel privileged that I get to spend my time working to help empower such an amazing group of people.
One of the things that surprised the GNOME project a few years ago was that we didn't get any women applying for our projects through Google Summer of Code, so we created the Women's Outreach Program, which Google sponsored. How do women fare overall in GSoC?
I feel like the women participants in the program get a great deal of support from the mentoring organizations and many projects specifically attempt to recruit women when selecting GSoC students. One of GSoC's greatest success stories, Angela Byron, joined the Drupal project as a brand new contributor in 2005 and is now the maintainer of Drupal 7. The Systers project also participated for the first time this year and I think their presence really helped us to show the community in a tangible way that we welcome and encourage women to join the Summer of Code community. I also want to give a shout out to all of our women mentors, as there are many of them and they actively maintain a presence in our program IRC channel (#gsoc on Freenode) so women know they are not alone and have role models for their participation in GSoC and FOSS.
You recently attended the Women's Free Software Summit. What can we expect to see from that?
We're working on some great projects, like outreach to conference organizers to help them recruit more female speakers and a Couch Surfing like network for women so they have fewer economic barriers to attending FOSS conferences. This group has had some of the most productive conversations I've seen around diversity in FOSS and one of the express goals is to provide solutions, not just complaints. I am proud to volunteer my time here and would encourage any like-minded souls to join us for the monthly IRC meeting in #glofs on Freenode (every 4th Tuesday at 18:30 UTC).
You sit on the GNOME Advisory Board; what do you hope to accomplish in that role?
I'm excited to sit on the Advisory Board since it helps me learn more about how a successful FOSS non-profit runs and to network with other business folks who are working in FOSS. I'm honored to serve and provide expertise in any area where I can, but I primarily hope to help the Foundation's marketing and outreach efforts, current and future.
What do you hope to see the GNOME Foundation accomplish in the next couple of years?
I know the Foundation has been working on another Women's Program and I'm very pleased to see that happening in the community once again. I know that GNOME has had incredible success with focused hackfests and I'm excited about the first marketing team sprint, which will take place in the next few weeks in Chicago. I'd also like to see more work done to expand the GNOME Love program, as any efforts that help bring more newbies into FOSS and contributing to GNOME would be useful to the community.
You've had a successful career, launched some amazingly successful programs – GSoC and GHOP – as well as sit on advisory boards and steering committees like the GNOME Advisory Board and the HFOSS Steering Committee. What advice would you offer to a young person looking to create a career in free software?
1) Remember when you receive criticism, even when it is harshly worded, to look for the good in that criticism and use it to improve yourself. The FOSS world is sometimes a blunt place and it can be easy to get discouraged. Recall that contributors to FOSS are often volunteers and their time is extremely limited, so taking the time to send criticism means your work is valued and they see potential in your contributions and your ability to make your work even better. If you do not come from the free software world, check out Randy Pausch's Last Lecture – there's a great bit in there where he talks about being harshly criticized by his football coach. This anecdote is a great illustration of how things work in the FOSS world with respect to criticism.
2) Focus on your greatest passions. There are many areas in FOSS to contribute, so concentrate on one or two areas at first. It's natural to move on to other projects later, so dip a toe in before taking a swim in the deep blue ocean.
3) Look for answers on your own at first, but don't be afraid to ask for help. When you do ask for help, be sure to let folks know where you've already looked to find your answer. This ensures that they don't send you back to a resource that did not solve your problem and, most importantly, shows that you value their time since you tried to solve your own problem first. Some folks recommend Eric Raymond's Asking Questions the Smart Way. My rule of thumb is that I ask for help if I cannot figure out how to solve my problem within 30 minutes.
4) Have fun. While you are busy having fun and making cool stuff, remember that the code you write helps businesses run, non-profits care for your fellow people, governments recover from disasters, etc. Doing the right thing was never so cool or enjoyable as in FOSS.
About the Interviewer
Stormy Peters is the Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation.
Discuss this story with other readers on the GNOME forums.
Posted on November 6, 2009, in November 2009. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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Happy New Year! Resolutions for 2018
(It took me a hot minute to post this because my blog was hacked…again. It happens every few years, regardless of the extra money I pay to my host to prevent it. Ahhhh, the joys of the Internet.)Happy New Year from all of us!
2018 I have big small plans for you.
I've taken a few weeks […]