text:
Orange County Executive Ed Diana's announcement on Wednesday that he needs a new liver puts him in the company of almost 1,600 New Yorkers awaiting liver transplants with varying degrees of urgency.
Orange County Executive Ed Diana's announcement on Wednesday that he needs a new liver puts him in the company of almost 1,600 New Yorkers awaiting liver transplants with varying degrees of urgency.
How long each must wait for a donor with the same blood type and body size is unpredictable. At his news conference, Diana said his call could come any day or might take months, although the wait is often longer. Seventy percent of people needing new livers in New York's transplant region have waited a year or more, and more than a quarter of them have been on a waiting list for at least five years, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Doctors have scored the severity of each candidate's liver ailment, and the sickest are considered first when a donated liver becomes available.
For each, the critical time comes when a potential organ donor dies or approaches death, and the government-sanctioned nonprofit that coordinates transplants for that region swings into action. In New York City and the surrounding area, including Orange County, that group is the New York Organ Donor Network.
Julia Rivera, a spokeswoman for the network, said her group immediately sends its workers to the would-be donor's hospital to gather more information, then calls the hospitals where potential recipients are set to undergo surgery. Surgeons must then ascertain an organ's suitability before contacting a waiting candidate.
Diana said Wednesday that his operation is planned for New York-Presbyterian Hospital, which is one of 14 transplant centers in New York and home to the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation. Doctors there performed 128 liver transplants in 2011 and 118 the year before.
Demand for donated organs far exceeds supply. Nationwide, there are roughly 115,000 transplant candidates, of whom about 94,000 are waiting for kidneys and 16,000 need livers. Last year, more than 6,500 Americans died while waiting for an organ transplant — almost 600 of them in New York.
"The miracle of a transplant is an amazing, special gift, and yet people are dying because we don't have donors," said Rivera, whose network promotes organ donation on its website, www.donatelifeny.org.
More than 6,000 Americans undergo liver transplants each year. The surgery lasts four to 12 hours, and patients typically remain hospitalized for up to three weeks, according to the American Liver Foundation.
Diana told reporters on Wednesday that the operation and his recovery could take him out of work for up to three months. But that may be optimistic. The liver foundation reports that recipients generally must wait six months to a year for normal life to resume.
Doctors rate the severity of a patient's liver disease through the so-called MELD system, a numerical score that ranges from 6 to 40 (for the most severely ill). Neither Diana nor his local doctor, who appeared with him at Wednesday's press conference, discussed how his stage of illness ranked.
Diana said he has been on the transplant waiting list for about six months and plans to continue working until undergoing surgery.


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Lucas Benitez: Dignity in the Fields
Meet 15 Extraordinary People Transforming the Way We Live
Lucas Benitez, 35, doesn't call himself an organizer but an "animator." This distinction says it all to me: My greatest heroes aren't those who perform acts of bravery that most of us would run from. They're those whose genius is enabling others to find courage within themselves—to act, not as lone heroes, but in common cause with others. Animators, says Lucas, are "people who animate the community to join and struggle together."
In this world, it's the courage of the animator we so desperately need.
Lucas, who arrived here at age 16 from Guerrero, Mexico, and helped found the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), is the first kind of hero, too. At great personal risk—sweating, he says, through his fear—Lucas was the driver for a daring 2001 rescue of four Florida farmworkers who were brutalized and effectively enslaved by growers. He played an important role in convicting those responsible: brothers Juan and Ramiro Ramos, who'd made millions holding workers against their will by, according to the FBI, "threaten[ing] them at gunpoint, promising torture and death if they tried to escape."
Selected by author Frances Moore Lappé: "Lucas shows us that no matter the odds, we have a choice. He chose courage, now thousands of others have discovered theirs."
CIW started in 1993 when Lucas and other workers got together to discuss working conditions. In 1995, they staged a weeklong protest that forced a grower to change his decision to lower pay. But an incident in 1996 galvanized Lucas and CIW. A teenage field worker had asked his foreman for a water break. The foreman refused; the worker stopped for a drink anyway. The foreman beat the worker brutally. Lucas helped spread news of the attack and more than 500 workers gathered in protest, waving the victim's bloody shirt. The action grew to a boycott of the foreman lasting several weeks. In keeping with his belief in acting as an animator, Lucas was not the leader of this action. Instead, he used it as an opportunity to build confidence among the farmworkers in their own power and the power of collective action. Lucas keeps the teenager's blood-stained shirt with him to this day.
Since then, CIW has grown to 4,000 members. Its work encompasses advocating for better working conditions and wages for the fieldworkers of Immokalee, Fla., and elsewhere, fighting against modern-day slavery, and working to bring justice to the American food system.
Lucas and his colleagues are strategic, systemic thinkers, both in how to build CIW's strength in the farmworker community and how to leverage its power within a corporate food system.
To build solidarity and shared knowledge, they created their CIW low-power radio station, "Radio Conciencia," as well as a co-op to help workers buy food and other necessities at fairer prices than the local stores charged. Their tactics have included a 30-day hunger strike by six members in 1998 and a 230-mile march from Ft. Myers to Orlando in 2000.
Slavery and Freedom
in Florida's Tomato Fields
See the side of tomatoes few
people ever think about.
Early on, CIW decided to focus demands for change beyond the growers themselves, targeting instead the centers of corporate power on which the growers depend. Yielding to a four-year, CIW-organized boycott, Yum! Brands (Taco Bell) agreed in 2005 to meet all the workers' demands. For the first time in history, a corporation paid money down the supply chain, directly to farmworkers. The corporation also used its leverage to force growers to provide better working conditions. Two years later McDonald's followed suit; Burger King and Subway have also signed "Fair Food" agreements guaranteeing better working conditions, a complaint-resolution procedure, health and safety programs, and worker-to-worker education.
Today CIW and Lucas are focusing their energies onthe supermarket industry. Only Whole Foods Market has stepped up to sign the Fair Food agreement, so they're ramping up the pressure on Trader Joe's and Publix.
Lucas says his goal is making "the Florida tomato industry a model of social accountability." His effectiveness, I believe—showing up in a string of critical alliances with
church and student organizations as well as remarkable victories by the CIW over two decades—lies in a steady, understated leadership style that exudes moral conviction. He embodies the dignity, grounded in clear purpose, that he seeks to enable all farm workers to experience. Lucas' life proves that courage is contagious.
Jennifer Kaye contributed reporting to this article.
When farmworkers needed a way to reach one another, they invited activists nationwide for a radio barn raising.
Hope requires care and feeding. Rebecca Solnit on how she keeps it alive.
Under an agreement between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and Taco Bell, workers will receive one cent more per pound of tomatoes picked.

subset: commoncrawl


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Luis Rosa necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 23 diseños de 8 diseñadores freelance.
Uriel is a new company whose goal is to sell electronic mobile recharges to operator subscribers in Angola. They previously buy the recharges and airtime from the operator and then resell them to mobile users.
There is a very specific way they are going to sell the recharges, as they are going to be provisioned in mobile phones, running an app on Android. These walking salesmen will then sell the recharges virtually and transfer the amount to the end user quickly.
Uriel is not a end-user company. Instead it sells to certified resellers that use the platform. As such the purpose of the website is to advertise Uriel services to small companies that want to sell mobile recharges to subscribers.
They can be 1 individual or a company of a few, in either scenario they must understand the business Uriel is selling and the margins that will be involved in the transactions.
Uriel doesn't have a corporate website, since it's a young company. We are looking for a complete design proposal, although we do have a company logo.
The homepage should provide a clear image of what the business is, as well as captivate visually potential resellers to work with Uriel.
The menu structure should be:
• About us
• Products
• Commercial rates
• Reseller Login
• Contacts
Since there isn't enough info it should be a graphical website, with plenty of images.
Ease of implementation with CSS and HTML is preferred.
Most of the websites are systems and not the distributor himself. But maybe we can get some idea from them:


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Featured 20 hours ago+15The biggest phony "what if" is the one about an infinite number of monkeys pounding away on an infinite number of typewriters (computers nowadays) the result of which is that eventually one of these simians will produce an exact copy of Shakespeare's Hamlet, amirite?
Featured 19 hours ago+26The EU's most wanted women website is pretty interesting. I guess it beats posters at the post office. amirite? Wanted by The Netherlands | Europe's most wantedDo you recognise one of Europe's most wanted criminals? They aren't always what they seem… #EUMostWantedhttps://eumostwanted.eu/crimehasnogender/mask/739
Share3 4
Featured 21 hours ago-16If major characters in tv shows were honest with other major characters, the show would no longer have the conflicts that make it interesting. amirite?
Share0 0
Featured 22 hours ago+14Heart symbols look nothing like hearts, but it has been universally agreed that they represent them. amirite?
Share0 4
Featured 23 hours ago+6Clicking "start" on a self checkout instead of scanning an item to start is akin to saying hi to the cashier before starting to put your items down, amirite?
Share1 1
Featured 1 day ago+18In life and love what actually happens isn't nearly as important as how we remember it, amirite?
Featured 1 day ago+33Goo Lagoon in Spongebob. Water under water. The Lagoon must have had a major density difference to be able to be underwater and to be noticeable under the water. Maybe it's the nuclear dump that made all of the fish walk and talk. amirite?
Share0 1
Featured 1 day ago+26A man born at 23:59 can legally drink on his birthday for 23 hours and 58 minutes before ACTUALLY turning 18 (or 21), while a man born at 00:00 can't legally drink even ONE minute before his birthday. amirite?
Featured 1 day ago+37We describe small things in foot and large things in feet. John is 6' and the mountain is 3000'. amirite?
Share0 3
Want to ask your own question? Make A Post No need to login!
Featured 1 day ago+17amiritarians always click green if they are unsure , amirite?
Share0 0
Featured 2 days ago+32The "pics or it didn't happen" phrase seems juvenile but is actually quite a philosophical / existential dilemma. amirite?
Share0 3
Featured 2 days ago+34One day robots will become so advanced they won't just work for us they'll become our friends, amirite?
Featured 2 days ago+27peace is impossible due to human greed and hate, the best we can do is mind our business and try not to get into anymore wars. Amirite?
Share0 0
Featured 2 days ago+48A lot of men think sharing their problems is a weakness, well in fact not using all your resources to fix your problems is the weakness. amirite?
Share0 6


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Review: Sicko
Now, he takes aim at America's healthcare system by contrasting the horror stories of patients mistreated by insurance companies domestically with the relatively-utopian benefits of socialized medicine
Film Review
Michael Moore has made a career of exposing hypocrisy in the ranks of
corporate and political bureaucracies.
His first film, Roger and Me (1989), delineated the economic blight
visited upon Flint, Michigan in the wake of General Motors' business
decision to close down its factories in his hometown and to outsource
those jobs to Mexico.
The controversial gadfly's next target was the gun lobby was in Bowling
for Columbine (2002), a picture for which he won the Academy Award for
Best Documentary. Next, with Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), he questioned
whether President Bush might have had a hidden agenda in declaring war
on Iraq.
Now, he takes aim at America's healthcare system by contrasting the
horror stories of patients mistreated by insurance companies
domestically with the relatively-utopian benefits of socialized
medicine as enjoyed by citizens of such countries as Canada, France,
England and Cuba. Only closed-minded arch-conservatives are likely to
reject the case Moore makes for universal healthcare out of hand, for
Sicko is undoubtedly the iconoclastic filmmaker's least divisive
documentary to date.
Wisely, he has opted to rely less on his trademark self-aggrandizing
and showboating in favor of simply giving his victimized interviewees
the limelight, and every one has a very telling and compelling
nightmare to relate. This couple goes bankrupt and moves in with their
daughter due to medical bills. That widow tearfully recounts how her
late husband had dies of kidney cancer after being denied coverage for
a potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant, despite the fact that
he had a willing donor in a brother who was an exact match.
A father talks about how his insurance company approved cochlear
implant surgery in only one of his totally deaf daughter's ears. A guy
who accidentally sawed off two fingers recalls having to choose which
one he wanted reattached. And a woman knocked unconscious in a car
accident is forced to pay her ambulance bill because the ride had not
been pre-approved by her HMO. And so forth.
It doesn't take long to figure out that the tail is currently wagging
the dog, and that the powerful insurance industry is dictating to
doctors how to conduct their practices. Profit has become more
important than service and more than one guilty physician confesses on
camera to having relied on the flimsiest of excuses to turn away
patients, to refuse reimbursement for a valid claim or to drop a
seriously ill patient altogether.
Moore shows how frustrated Americans have begun looking elsewhere for
affordable healthcare, and how foreigners are content with socialized
medicine. Towards the end, he finally has a little fun when he leads a
flotilla of some of the fed-up folks we've just watched to Cuba for
free treatment of maladies not covered by their insurance in the States.
This flick makes it abundantly clear that the U.S. is a very dangerous
place to be any combination of poor, sick or old. Perhaps the American
Medical Association ought to consider changing the Hippocratic Oath
here from "First, do no harm," to "First, check the wallet."
Excellent (4 stars). Rated PG-13 for brief strong profanity. Running time: 113 minutes
Studio: The Weinstein Company
To subscribe to or advertise in New York's leading Pan African weekly
investigative newspaper, please call (212) 481-7745 or send a note to
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Latest comments
- Ann GarrisonFebruary 22,2018 @ 08:03 PM
I think you have "Filtered HTML" turned on here. If you switch to "Full HTML," it will probably...
googletag.pubads().definePassback('6785150/BENN/BlackStarNews', [[300,250]]).setTargeting('fold',['BTF']).display();


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Jessica Rector has not received any gifts yet
Hi there and welcome from The Girlz Korner where you'll find light, witty and rather entertaining articles on every topic imaginable from beauty, health, fashion, parenting, recipes and everything else in between. So if you get a chance to kick back and exhale, if only for a brief moment, we'd love to have you. Hope you enjoy your stay :) http://www.thegirlzkorner.com
Posted on February 11, 2013 at 1:52am 0 Comments 0 Likes
No sleep is not an option for me. My sense of security is back in tact since I think we are on the same page in trying to work things out. I lean over and kiss his lips. I say goodbye and don't hear a response before I walk out the door….not knowing what is in store next.
I text Jason the next day apologizing for leaving and explaining how he knows that his loud snoring keeps me awake.
He doesn't reply. I text him again later in the day, and he doesn't respond to that text…Continue
Posted on January 30, 2013 at 2:06pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
The next week passes rather quickly. In addition to the Pre-existing Conditional Insurance Plan, I decide to apply to Medicaid. Not sure if I'll qualify, but it's worth a try anyway. Since I'm still waiting on any insurance to take effect, I haven't been to the doctor.
The first time it occurred I was at work and didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure what was happening, and it scared me. I was fine throughout the day. Then around 6 pm, it happens. As I'm walking around at work, I…Continue
Posted on December 30, 2012 at 11:15am 4 Comments 0 Likes
Sunday arrives. I still haven't decided if I'm going to tell my family or not. I just don't know what to say or how to say it. Well, let me be honest, my younger sister and my younger brother already know. So basically who's left to tell are my older sister and older brother and my parents. My older brother won't be there today, and my older sister is easy going and will probably be excited. She loves babies. My parents are my concern. I have no idea what reaction to expect from them. And…Continue
Posted on December 19, 2012 at 11:16am 1 Comment 0 Likes
I wake up the next day, and before I'm out of bed, BOOM it hits me just like that. Everything in my mind has changed. This isn't just a good thing, it's a great thing. It is a blessing. I want kids. So maybe it didn't happen the way that I thought it would. It definitely didn't happen the way I envisioned, but that doesn't mean it's anything but great. I say it again to myself It is a blessing!
My brother's statement from last night plays again in my head, "If you think of it…Continue


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Outsmart the other tourists, book your Fast View-tickets from home and skip the long lines to the Berlin TV Tower! Enjoy the beautiful view from 207 meters above the city. It's a must when visiting Berlin!
- Skip the line to the popular Berlin TV Tower
- Choose the date and time you wish to visit the TV Tower
- Experience the incredible view over Berlin
- Enjoy the 360-degree panoramic view
- Visit Berlin's highest bar 'Bar 203'
- Get free entrance for children under age 4
Admire Berlin from Above
Enjoy the best view of Berlin from the TV Tower at Alexanderplatz.
From 203 and 207 meters high you can look over all of Berlin and many of the city's attractions, such as the Reichstag (Parliament building), the Brandenburg Tor, the Main Railway Station, the Olympic Stadium, the Museum Island, and Potsdamer Platz.
With almost 1.2 million visitors every year, the Berlin TV tower is one of the most popular attractions for tourists in Berlin. Considering the large number of visitors, it is well worth booking your tickets in advance.
Book your Fast View tickets here and choose a date and time for your visit to the panorama level of the TV Tower!
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When arriving at the TV Tower, please hold the bar code imprinted at the top of your e-ticket in front of the scanner and then pass through the turnstile.
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BerlinTV Tower is located at Alexanderplatz. The address will be on your e-ticket.
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"Fungerade bra"
Fredrik fri, 28 jun 2019
"Kan varmt rekommendera att åka upp i tv-tornet. Man får en helt underbar panoramabild över staden. Jag är höjdrädd så det kändes lite jobbigt i början, men det var absolut värt att åka upp =)"
Camilla, Malmö
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Swaziland Safe Generations
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01891799
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : July 3, 2013
Last Update Posted : February 12, 2018
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Other: Option B+
Show Detailed Description
|Study Type :
|Actual Enrollment :
|2518 participants
|Observational Model:
|Time Perspective:
|Official Title:
|Situkulwane Lesiphephile-Safe Generations: Improving Approaches to Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV-Positive Pregnant Women
|Study Start Date :
|August 2013
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|October 30, 2016
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|October 30, 2016
PMTCT Options Evaluation
All HIV positive pregnant women not on ART engaging in PMTCT services at the study sites will be included. This will include HIV+ women not on ART enrolling in PMTCT services and pregnant women newly testing HIV+ in the ANC. All women will eventually receive the intervention of Option B+ as each clinic transitions from Option A to B+.
Other: Option B+
- Number of (1) infant HIV positive PCR at six months postpartum OR (2) mother lost to follow-up from at six months postpartum [ Time Frame: Up to 24 months ]Combined maternal-child endpoint: The primary outcome will be measured on all HIV+ pregnant women not on ART at their first ANC visit at a participating study site, approximately 2600 women(becoming mother-infant pairs postpartum). This includes women entering PMTCT with known HIV+ status, not on ART, and women testing HIV+ on entry into ANC.
- Proportion of pregnant women with CD4+<350 cells/mm3 initiating ART during pregnancy [ Time Frame: Up to 24 months ]ART Initiation During Pregnancy: Proportion of pregnant women with CD4+<350 cells/mm3 initiating ART during pregnancy
- Proportion of women and children retained in HIV care at 12 and 18 months postpartum [ Time Frame: Up to 24 months ]Maternal/Infant Retention in Care: Proportion of women and children retained in HIV care at 12 and 18 months postpartum
- Duration of ART/ARV received prior to delivery [ Time Frame: Up to 24 months ]ART/ARV Duration: Duration of ART/ARV received prior to delivery
Biospecimen Retention: None Retained
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Inclusion Criteria:
- Women at least 18 years of age
- Documented pregnancy (per routine ANC protocol in this setting)
- Documented HIV-infection (per routine ANC protocol in this setting)
- Infants born to eligible and enrolled women
Exclusion Criteria:
• Women already on ART when entering ANC
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01891799
|Good Shepherd Hospital
|Siteki, Lubombo, Swaziland
|Siteki, Lubombo, Swaziland
|Siteki PHU
|Siteki, Lubombo, Swaziland
|Family Life Association Clinic
|Manzini, Swaziland
|King Soghuza II PHU
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Lamvelase Clinic
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Luyengo Clinic
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Mankayane PHU
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Mbabane Government Hospital
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Mbikhwakhe Clinic
|Manzini, Swaziland
|MSF Matsapha
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital
|Manzini, Swaziland
|Principal Investigator:
|Elaine J Abrams, MD
|Columbia University
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
|Responsible Party:
|Elaine J. Abrams, MD, Professor of Epidemiology, Columbia University
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01891799 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
AID-OAA-A-12-000020 ( Other Grant/Funding Number: USAID )
|First Posted:
|July 3, 2013 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|February 12, 2018
|Last Verified:
|February 2018
Option B+


text:
Westminster shopping center in receivership
The Jefferson County District Court has appointed a Phoenix-based real estate firm as the receiver for a shopping center in Westminster.
Hannay Investment Properties has been appointed the receiver for the 300,000-square-foot Towne Center at Brookhill, an open-air mall occupied by tenants such as Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond and Ross.
Towne Center at Brookhill is encumbered by a $32 million loan serviced by CW Capital Asset Management.


text:
The PLUS Coalition is an international non-profit organization with a tightly focused mission: to simplify and facilitate the communication and management of image rights.Organized by respected associations, leading companies, standards bodies, scholars and industry experts, the PLUS Coalition is operated by and for all communities involved in creating, distributing, using and preserving images. Spanning more than seventy countries, these diverse stakeholders have collaborated to develop both the PLUS Registry and a system of industry standards that together make it easier to communicate, understand and manage images.The PLUS Coalition exists at the crossroads between technology, commerce, the arts, preservation and education. More Info.
See all news items at the LATEST NEWS PAGE.
Get Your Free Listing in the PLUS Registry! The non-profit PLUS Registry is a global online resource that provides instant identification of image creators, image rights holders, images and related image rights information. Visit the PLUS Registry Beta site now at www.PLUSregistry.org.
PLUS Registry Browser Lookup of PLUS IDs The PLUS Registry allows for lookups of PLUS IDs written in URL format, such as http://plus-id.org/[your ID here]. To register and to reserve your PLUS ID and custom PLUS IDs, visit the Registry at www.PLUSregistry.org.
Stanford Law School publishes paper on the future of copyright licensing, recommending PLUS. The US Copyright Office asked Stanford to develop a feasibility study for a copyright clearance system. The resulting study highlights the use of the PLUS Standards and PLUS Registry. more
Selling Stock. A founding PLUS Coalition member, Selling Stock is the leading publication on the business of stock photography, with breaking industry news, opinions and advice. Subscribe.
PLUS in the US Copyright Office Report. The US Register of Copyrights repeatedly references the successes of the PLUS Coalition in her report "Orphan Works and Mass Digitization." Read the report.
Amazon Web Services Supports PLUS with a significant grant of technology services. Amazon is a supporter of the PLUS Coalition and PLUS Registry.
Imagewiki joins PLUS. Imagewiki is working to compensate photographers and businesses for unlicensed uses on the web, and will collaborate with PLUS in linking images to rights holders and rights information. Visit imagewiki at www.imagewiki.org
ascribe joins PLUS. leveraging the bitcoin blockchain, Ascribe helps creators to manage their valuable digital creations by providing secure attribution, easy sharing and visibility. www.ascribe.io
AuthSMTP supports PLUS with a generous contribution of SMTP services for the PLUS website, PLUS Registry, PLUSnews and other outbound PLUS email communications. AuthSMTP is the leading provider of global authenticated SMTP email services. Visit AuthSMTP at www.AuthSMTP.com...
UserVoice Supports PLUS, providing UserVoice Feedback and Helpdesk for the PLUS Registry. UserVoice is the most effective way for software companies and web app developers to incorporate feedback tools into their product websites, extending feedback channels to give users an easy way to voice their thoughts on new features, roadmaps, etc. More.
Support PLUS:."Like" the PLUS Facebook Page.
PLUS appreciates the support of participants in more than seventy countries. We especially thank our most significant contributors, the PLUS "Leadership Circle" for providing an extraordinary level of financial and logistical support:
The PLUS Coalition | USA 866.669.7587 or 626.405.8100 | PLUS-Europe +44 800.756.1126 | e-mail email@example.com This site is best viewed using the latest versions of Safari for Macintosh and Internet Explorer or Firefox for PC.
�2004-2016 PLUS Coalition Inc. (USA), and PLUS Coalition LTD. (Europe). The PLUS Coalition is a Non-Profit Organization.


text:
When Dreamworks Animation calls...
The Shrek Castle - Our largest, most complex structure, ever
I received a phone call from Stage Nine Exhibits, "Could you make something out of KEVA planks that resembles any part of Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon or Kung Fu Panda?" They were putting together a traveling exhibit about animation that would feature Dreamworks productions. They wanted something spectacular to look at and lots of loose KEVA planks so people could enjoy an interactive experience building something themselves. Every Dreamworks movie begins with a scale model of the setting for the story. The animators need to be able to physically move around the set to visualize camera angles, staging etc. Below see our visit to Dreamworks Animation Studios when we provided a KEVA planks creative session with the Dreamworks staff.
Touring the USA
Stage Nine exhibit featuring Dreamworks Animation and KEVA planks will travel the country for three years. The most recent venue was the LA County Fair which is attended by 500,000 people each year.


text:
Protection for business-critical databases
McAfee database security offers real-time protection for business-critical databases from all types of threats: external, internal, and even intra-database exploits. This software-based offering provides robust security, streamlined database security management, and continuous compliance without requiring architecture changes, costly hardware, or downtime. In other words, it's an efficient, affordable way to protect databases while preserving database performance and helping to ensure continuous business operations.
McAfee and AWS teamup brings new database security monitoring tools to the cloud
Beyond the Patch: Reducing the Risk of Database and Application Vulnerabilities
This report from Aberdeen examines the security and business benefits of virtual patching.
The Case for Virtual Patching
In comparison to traditional vendor patching, virtual patching can be a highly effective strategy for addressing both the likelihood and business impact of security-related risk.
Database security products
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Patent-pending design meets most stringent saturation diving standards
Online PR News – 05-October-2012 – Vista, California – To meet the changing needs of deepwater saturation diving, Amron International has developed the new 450M BIBS Mask and the 350M BIBS Mask. These new masks have been exhaustively performance tested and are certified to meet the toughest industry requirements, ensuring divers will have a reliable supply of air, oxygen or mixed gas.
Amron engineers designed the masks completely from scratch, using advanced technologies to improve on traditional BIBS Breathing Systems. The patent-pending mask features rugged housing and stainless steel valve assemblies, greatly improving durability over competitors' masks. The breathing system uses minimal resistance for both inhaling and exhaling, requiring less effort for normal breathing. The inhaler side uses a pneumatically balanced second-stage regulator with fine-tune adjustment that allows the diver to control the amount of incoming gas. The exhaust side is a pneumatically balanced second-stage regulator with a valve that expels gases overboard, eliminating carbon dioxide build-up.
"We're very excited to bring these advanced BIBS masks to the market because they are extremely reliable during extended usage and will stand up to the tough conditions usually found in hyperbaric chambers," said Scott Ritchie, VP Manufacturing, Amron International. "Most others masks can't take the abuse and they're built using decades-old designs. We wanted to build a new mask from the ground up, giving divers in the deepest waters the best BIBS mask possible in the event of hyperbaric environment contamination. These divers have extremely difficult jobs, and the last thing they should have to worry about is their equipment. Both the divers and operators can rest assured these new Amron BIBS masks will perform to the designed depth limits of their deepwater saturation system."
Both the Amron BIBS 450M Mask and the BIBS 350M Mask were tested and approved by NUI/Thelma in Norway and have been certified to meet the Norsok U-101:1999 requirements. The masks can be used with Air, Oxygen or Heliox.
Great care was also taken to make sure the masks would be as comfortable as possible. A flexible silicone oral-nasal has been designed to fit a wide range of face shapes. It surrounds both the nose and mouth, reducing strain on the nasal bridge and jaw. A new, mesh full-head support is lighter and more breathable, which greatly improves comfort. A unique microphone jack can be linked to an external speaker for clear communications with people outside the saturation system.
The BIBS 450M Mask and the BIBS 350M Mask are currently available for purchase on the Amron International website at http://www.amronintl.com/hyperbaric-chamber-equipment/gas-systems/bibs-therapy-mask.html.
Both the 350M and the 450M have an MSRP of $1,525.00. To learn more about Amron International's full line of manufactured products, visit http://www.amronintl.com/amron-products.html.


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It's Open Access Week, in this, the sixth year of my blog (AKA 2015). Like many younger scholars and people who have grown up with the most recent incarnations of digital humanities, I've been an open access enthusiast for a long time. But since I haven't had a lot of my own publications, my version of openly sharing knowledge has normally been to post talks that I've given here in this space.
Earlier this year, however, I had an article come out in American Imago. It was exciting for a number of reasons. First, PUBLICATION! 🎉 Second, it was an essay that I'd been working on getting published since 2009 but that had been interrupted for years at a time because of family health problems and the challenges of working as a low-wage adjunct and then the changing nature of my work. Third, it was the first publication to come directly out of my dissertation research. I remain proud of the work that I did on that project, but also don't really expect to see much more of it come to light given the different sorts of research I do these days. Fourth, I was excited to be working with The Johns Hopkins University Press because their author agreement was really very generous with what I could do with my own work. Past publications have seen me trying to use the SPARC Author Addendum to try to argue for expanded access to my own research. JHUP was going to give me those rights without me having to convince them.
And so, at the beginning of this week, I thought: I should make this essay open access, since I have the right to do so. I decided that I would share it via the MLA's Commons Open Repository Exchange, or CORE. Part of the innovative community structure that the MLA has built for its members to share and discuss their work, CORE is a disciplinary-focused, "permanent, open access storage facility for [members'] scholarly output." Not only does CORE allow researchers to share their work with the world, but it makes it easy to let others in the MLA who have interests in common with you know about the article. And did I mention that CORE handles a lot more types of research output than just PDFs? My good friend and steampunk collaborator, Rachel Bowser, and I submitted a talk we gave earlier this year to CORE, and it was a good experience. So with all of that and some institutional loyalty to the MLA as a member of the Executive Council, CORE was a perfect fit for my article.
One of the last lines of the CORE deposit asked me how I wanted to license the article for use by others in the future. I tend to prefer the CC-BY license, as that gives the most possible avenues for my work to be used again by others, and it's what applies to everything I share on this site. I decided to check the author agreement one more time to see if that had any specific instructions about what I should do in this case. Here's what I found:
Rights of the Author: You have the following nonexclusive rights: (1) to use the Article in your own teaching activities; (2) to publish the Article, or permit its publication, as a part of any book you may write or edit; (3) to include the Article in your own personal or departmental institutional database or on-line site; (4) to include the Article in your institutional repository provided the repository is institution specific and not a discipline-based database that accepts contributions from outside the institution; (5) to include your Article, if required by law, in an open access archive such as PubMedCentral.
When I had first reviewed the author agreement in February, I paid particular attention to point 3, which meant that I could put the essay on my website and share it that way. I had also noticed that point 4 meant that I could put it in an institutional repository. But this week, it was the second half of the point 4 that caught my attention: I can't share the article in a "discipline-based database that accepts contributions from outside the institution." When I signed this, MLA CORE wasn't yet live and I just didn't notice the prohibition.
While I don't like this particular clause in the agreement, it is nevertheless an agreement and one to which I was a willing party. As much as I would like to support the MLA and to share the article in what I think would be the most useful means for my disciplinary peers, that's not an option. In the future, I will certainly negotiate my author agreements to try to get permissions to submit to CORE. I might not always get it, but at least I will know to ask.
The other thing worth mentioning is that I'm currently serving the second year of a four-year term on the MLA's Executive Council. It's been a tremendous learning experience to this point, and I'm proud to be working with an organization that I care about. (You may consequently call my above comments about CORE "boosterism," but please note that I speak only for myself and not for the MLA.) But from this vantage point, I have the opportunity (as do all MLA members) to bring items to the attention of the organization. You can be sure I'll be talking to MLA staff and fellow Council members at our meeting next week about how the MLA might advocate to publishers—even ones with liberal and good starting places like JHUP—to re-consider clauses like point 4 in their author agreements.
Was this a bait and switch? "Where's the article?" you clamor. Nope, not at all. Please help yourself to your very own copy of "'Becoming Another Thing': Traumatic and Technological Transformation in The Red Badge of Courage." What? You can't tell what it's about given that title? Of course not! This is academia!
Here's how I described the argument in the abstract:
This essay examines the traumatic transformation of Stephen Crane's young protagonist in battle. It argues that this metamorphosis is brought on by the technologies on the battlefield and the youth's outdated expectations about their speed. Further, it explores how Crane deploys tropes of mechanical and media technologies—especially the phonograph and the camera—to describe the protagonist's psychically dissociated state and to account for the processing of traumatic memories. It closes by demonstrating that The Red Badge of Courage deploys metaphors of technology as a way to demonstrate the continuing relevance of the novel as genre in the face of rapidly evolving media ecologies.
That captures it pretty well. But it's probably more accurate to say that this is what you get when you take someone who has been reading a lot of Virilio, Kittler, and Bolter and Grusin and then let them loose on Freud and Crane. Whether that's something anyone actually wants is something else altogether.
Image found at https://flic.kr/p/pmiM4F / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/


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Buxna Agency trying to move forward, to work with talented people that no big comanies want to support. BA main mission still will be booking of Reggae artists and some other genres of music. BA concentrate to East European market, hardest market in Europe. Last few years we was doing market research and see great potential in Russia, Bielarussia, all Balkans....There is lot of open minded people who still dotn know that Reggae music is only Bob Marley and thats it. No artist want to go there. This people didnt saw good reggae show. When i was playing some modern, younger artist people there was, like... woow, great music, what is this? I told them, this is Reggae music. Answer was face that i didnt saw for long time, last time i saw face like this when Red Star Belgrade win Olimpic Marseille in finalle of Champions league, face that say: Noooo, dont joke with me, tell me really what is this. This is not reggae for sure. And on my play list was Dub Inc and after Anthony B. After this conference BA get mission, even that none ask for some. We come back from conference in St. Petersburg around April 25th and from May 1st we are working on huge educational project for 2018. Mission is to show to this people good Reggae festival. Idea is that around 4 artists different kind of reggae go on tour. One roots artist ( for example M. Rose ), one younger, energetic artist ( for example Anthony B ), we call this world reggae ( Dub Inc ) and maybe one dancehall artist.
Now is coming part what new will BA do in future. BA become partner with Geek Picnic festival.
Group of entusiastic Russians decide to make this festival with same mission as BA have with reggae, only they say: lets promote new technoligy and to show to people that wotn have chance to see in their life, not even dream to buy it and have it. They do great job last 3 years. They travel all around world and they have big succes in lasst 3 years. Check more on their site. As we have same mission we join forces. So BA will from now also book Geek Picnic all around world.
Then last, new thing that BA will do. Last few years we are interested in hologram. Now, finally product is finlised and BA will offer this product to open minded people and to people who have ambition, like new and original things. I would love that Reggae artist release next albums with this hologram app. Their fans will have option to have hologram of their favorite artist at home and non stop with him. For artists this product should be interesting coz it can be used to release new album. Who want to buy new album of some artist they will need to download some app, order cover/cardboard, ( all oniline ), pay it online and then they can download new album of theri favourite artist at their mobile phone, then put phone in this cover that they will get and when they press play..... miracle :), Favorite artist is in front of them and ..... Now, this is up to artist what he will record. he can record greetings, or even one song, part of live show.... imagination is limit.
So BA is still into reggae and after longer pause we will work on some other projects that we think, that are worthy our time and that we can finally make something new, original, put Reggae to main stream, where it should be and....We are open for any good suggestion, any good business plan that can work ( but that is into art, originality, future, open mind...)
As we use to say:
We dotn talk, we do. I hope now finally we wil do like this for real.
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NOTTINGHAM — Seacoast's own violin troubadour, Joyce Andersen, will be performing songs from the traditional to the psychedelic, as well as her originals (as heard on her acclaimed 2012 SWERVE CD) in her only seacoast area concert of the Spring. The Nottingham Community Church, a great room for music, will host Andersen as part of their concert series celebrating top notch "under-the-radar" music on Saturday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.Andersen has made her way from side-gal gigs in country, folk and bluegrass bands, a Celtic band that played Carnegie Hall, a rock band on the Conan O'Brien Show, Irish fiddle sessions and a gypsy jazz band, through countless collaborations and studio sessions to center stage as a powerful singer, creator and instrumentalist. After 4 solo singer-songwriter albums and 4 acoustic folk collaborations with Harvey Reid, Andersen has found a sound that is all her own as an "electro-acoustic fiddle troubadour" and has created an exciting new body of new music for solo violin and voice. Wire NH said her new solo CD will "forever alter your perception of the violin." The Portsmouth Herald called her a " folk/roots inspired songstress on one side, psychedelic shape-shifter on the other." Whatever you call it, Joyce is definitely finding her own musical path, literally dancing with all four limbs as she takes the audience on a ride through genres and musical landscapes that emanate from her acoustic and electro-acoustic violin & vocal creations.
Nottingham Community Church is located at 106 Church St. Tickets are $20 door or $15 advance at email@example.com and 207-351-1985.
For more information, visit http://www.joyscream.com.


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Best definition
Term describing two or more males who only practice rimming because they are too weak to fuck.
Jack : Are you guys gay?
John and Timmy : No, we're actually less-bians!
Less-bian: define #2
a hetereosexual woman that does not fit into the ultra-feminine girly-girl mold. She is straight but appears a bit(or a lot) butchy, she is LESS likely to wear make-up, dresses, high heels, stockings, lingerie, style her hair, wax eyebrows, shave, tan, get manicures, pedicures,etc, and LESS likely to be gay. Thus she is a LESSbian.
lessbians are everywhere, most straight female athletes, feminists, hippies


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The "hole" that the dark ages left. How much truth does this graph have? Because every now and then when i stumble unto this picture i always get infuriated by the "potential" of 1000 years that science could have had to prosper were not not for the dark ages. We could have been terraforming other planets at the rate that science discoveries are being made today. That is though if this graph holds any truth.
Views: 127
Probably netter not to dwell on this much...


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removed my own rant. Good unit and if you have problems easily sorted.
The Lezyne Macro Drive front light's versatility and construction quality make it very good value indeed. At this price, there aren't many other lights that can match it.
A sleek CNC machined housing holds a Cree LED providing a claimed maximum output of 300 lumen. The 18650 Li-ion battery is integrated into the housing eliminating the hassle of power cables and separate battery packs. All in (minus mount) weight is a very respectable 94g which, combined with the small form, makes for a very unobtrusive light once on the handlebars.
The Macro Drive provides 5 different lighting modes – 3 constant power levels and 2 flashing. These are scrolled through by a simple short press of the rubber button located within easy reach on the top of the housing. The modes provide quite a wide range of power levels and associated run times so you can maximise battery life depending on your current lighting requirements. The two flashing modes both output the same power but at slightly different frequencies. A long press will either turn the light on or off, whilst the rubber button itself glows green or red depending on the battery charge level.
The Macro Drive mounts via a stout plastic clip which is held in place using a ladder-like rubber strap. A number of thin rubber shims are also provided to prevent any bar scratching nastiness. The rubber strap can be adjusted to two different lengths to suit 25.4mm and 31.8mm diameter handlebars - the two major sizes - but with the addition of the shims, any size handlebar can be accommodated.
The light itself clips neatly and firmly into the plastic clip with no chance of it popping out of its own volition. The beauty of the system is that you just pop the light off when leaving your bike unobserved for any length of time - easy as.
Despite the simplicity of the system, the Macro Drive works well over rough terrain without the need for any re-adjustment. The lack of any nuts or bolts also means that it's super easy to swap the mount between bikes, or to adjust its angle quickly whilst on the move. Once clipped in, the Macro Drive can be slid forwards and backwards to achieve the correct weight balance.
The beam pattern is quite circular in shape, projecting a noticeable spot of light onto the road. Side cutaways are there to improve light dispersion off to the side, though these are more about being seen by traffic than providing additional visibility to the rider. For a handlebar mounted light, I would have liked a little more flood to the beam, though the spot does provide some punch when travelling at higher speeds.
The light works well in commuting situations where the flashing modes are powerful enough to catch the attention of oncoming traffic. However, its 300 lumen power enables the Macro Drive to venture beyond the realm of simple commuter light, and into night riding territory.
The power and beam shape provide enough light so that road riding at 20mph is possible on unlit roads. OK, it's not the most care free experience – you'll have to pay very close attention to pot holes and other irregularities – but it is doable. Heading out on early morning rides, I would often grab the Macro Drive over more powerful (and hence heavier) lights for that hour or so pre-dawn when I needed lights to see.
In conjunction with a more powerful (say, 1000 lumen) flood beam on the handlebars, the Macro Drive would be an ideal helmet mounted companion, for off road blasts. Indeed, Lezyne sell a plastic helmet mount separately, for precisely this purpose.
Charging is performed via the provided USB cable which engages with a port at the rear of the light. To access this, you'll need to unscrew the cap at the rear of the light, exposing some of the circuitry inside. Despite looking quite precarious and vulnerable, it's difficult to see how you could damage the electronics without being neglectful in some way, but it's worth taking care at this point. As such, charging is probably best done is away from any errant pets or children, or potential water spillage zones.
The cap itself is well sealed via a rubber o-ring and the threads provide little opportunity for water ingress when fully screwed in. Overall reliability looks promising - despite the torrential rain and flooding we've experienced in these parts, the Macro Drive is still going strong having been used almost daily. If previous Lezyne products are anything to go by, then this one should last the distance.
The Macro Drive is also available in silver, and in pairing with the Micro rear light for £84.99.
Extremely versatile, well made, and good value commuter light that's powerful enough for forays out in to the real dark.
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
road.cc test report
Make and model: Lezyne Macro Drive front light
Size tested: black
Tell us what the light is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
Lezyne describe the Macro Drive as the "ideal Road, commuter and MTB helmet light". We'd have to agree.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the light?
*Simple to re-charge, Micro USB charging cable included (common EU standard)
* Easy to fit: no tools required, silicon band and Composite Matrix snap fit bracket
* Quality materials: CNC alloy body; Composite Matrix end cap
* Highly water resistant, O-ring sealed to FL1 standard
* Side visibility design improves safety
* Uniform beam pattern: even distribution of light optimised for cycling
* High Quality Lezyne Lithium Ion Battery (built in) LIR18650
* Battery indicator: traffic light style intelligent power button when riding
* Battery check: with light off, charge can be checked with quick press of button
* Small: 26mm diameter x102mm
* Lightweight: 108g with handlebar bracket
* Helmet mount accessory available separately
5 lighting modes available:
1) Enduro (medium): 200 lumens/4.5hrs
2) Blast (high): 300 lumens/3hrs
3) Economy (low): 100 lumens/9hrs
4) Rapid flash: 200 lumens / 9hrs
5) Slow flash: 200 lumens / 9hrs
A quality machined aluminium housing - a sturdy feel belies its light weight.
Very simple. A single button is used for operation: a short push scrolls through the light modes whilst a long push turns the light on or off.
Very simple mount makes transferring the light to and from the bike very easy. Adjusting the light direction and angle is tool free and extremely easy to do. In use, the mount holds the light firmly with no rotation or movement over rough surfaces.
It has held up well to daily rainy commutes. It's rated to IPX4 so no totally waterproof, but capable of being "splashed from all directions".
The quoted burn times are quite accurate. Unfortunately, so is the charge time of 5 hrs. In practice though, charging is so easy that you should rarely need to perform a full charge.
As a handlebar mounted light, it could do with a little more spill to the sides. However, full power is good for road riding at 20mph which is pretty good for such a small unit.
Impact resistant up to 1m. We've not had any problems with it so far.
Very light and compact.
Excellent value considering the performance and its versatility.
Tell us how the light performed overall when used for its designed purpose
Extremely well.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the light
Light weight, small form factor and ease of swapping between bikes.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the light
Dislike is maybe a strong word, but the beam could have been a bit wider.
Did you enjoy using the light? Yes.
Would you consider buying the light? Yes.
Would you recommend the light to a friend? Yes.
About the tester
Age: 20 Height: 190cm Weight: 70kg
I usually ride: Giant TCR Advanced 2 My best bike is: Canyon Ultimate CF7
I've been riding for: Under 5 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, sportives, mtb,
For 5 years, racing was my life and I went all the way from a newbie bonking after 40 miles, to a full-timer plying my trade on the Belgian kermesse scene. Unfortunately, the pro dream wasn't meant to be and these days, you're more likely to find me bimbling about country lanes and sleeping in a bush on the side of the road.


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No long lines for Robin Thicke album, despite hot single
Robin Thicke performs at the BET Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, June 29, 2014. (AP / Chris Pizzello / Invision)
The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, July 9, 2014 3:42PM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, July 9, 2014 5:53PM EDT
NEW YORK -- Robin Thicke may be pleading to get his wife back, but he needs to work on getting his fans back, too.
The crooner's new album, "Paula," sold only 24,000 units in its debut week in the United States. That's a far cry from the "Blurred Lines" album, which sold 177,000 units when it debuted last July.
The Pharrell-produced "Blurred Lines" smash was the No. 1 song of 2013, selling 7 million tracks.
"In some ways Robin Thicke had an incredible year in 2013 ... but I think there can be a downside to that fame overload. You can be too famous, too big," Rolling Stone senior editor Simon Vozick-Levinson said Wednesday. "There was a backlash to 'Blurred Lines,' and I think we're really seeing the aftermath of that backlash play out."
"Paula," which has had mixed reviews, was named after Thicke's estranged wife, actress Paula Patton. The 37-year-old is hoping to win her back with the album, which he's promoted with performances on morning TV programs and awards shows that have all led with reconciliation pleas.
Experts say his pleas may be turning off fans.
"Last year 'Blurred Lines' walked a really careful line between making people dance and creeping them out; the way he sort of sang about pushing boundaries of women made a lot of people really uncomfortable," Vozick-Levinson said. "And I think unfortunately his new album has only made that impression worse."
In Canada, "Paula" only sold 550 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's in contrast to "Blurred Lines," which sold 13,000 units when it debuted last year.
"Paula" is a return to Thicke's R&B roots. It doesn't feature high-profile producers like Pharrell and Dr. Luke like "Blurred Lines," which veered into pop and electro-tinged territory, earning Grammy nominations and selling 730,000 units. But Thicke hasn't created a splash with his latest single, "Get Her Back," which debuted at No. 82 this week on the Hot 100 chart two months after its release.
Despite weak sales, "Paula" debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 albums chart -- just another sign of declining album sales in the music industry. M. Tye Comer, editor of Billboard.com, said he didn't expect the album to be a hit, but still thought the numbers were shocking.
"I was a little surprised that the numbers were so low, especially considering the fact that it hasn't been that long since 'Blurred Lines,"' said Comer.
Representatives for Thicke and his label didn't respond to requests for an interview.
Pre-album buzz crashed last week when Thicke attempted to chat with fans about "Paula" via Twitter. VH1 hosted the Q&A, where fans angrily tweeted about "Blurred Lines" and accused Thicke of misogyny. It was a reminder that the controversy surrounding "Blurred Lines," including a lawsuit claiming the song stole from Marvin Gaye and Thicke's disastrous MTV Video Music Awards performance with Miley Cyrus, is still strong.
Thicke's 2003 debut album was unsuccessful, but his 2006 sophomore album, "The Evolution of Robin Thicke," marked his official breakthrough. He had signed with Pharrell, hit the top of the R&B charts with "Lost Without U" and opened on a tour for Beyonce -- all helping the album sell 1.7 million copies. What followed were gold-selling efforts and mediocre R&B hits, until "Blurred Lines" helped him tap into a younger audience and reach international fame.
"I think it's hard for any artist of any calibre to come back after a song that was sort of that big and that ubiquitous," Comer said. "The tone of his new music and the subject matter is the complete antithesis of what 'Blurred Lines' was."
Vozick-Levinson said Thicke is dealing with the repercussions of crossing over to the mainstream.
"Last year he kind of in some ways cashed that in and went for this mainstream, pop, Top 40 crossover, which worked for him in the short term, but there are long-term risks with doing that," he said. "You run the risk of alienating your first fan base or alternatively you run the risk of weirding out your new fan base when you go back to your more normal, typical sound."


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Prime Timers Minneapolis/St. Paul is a social organization for older gay or bisexual men (and younger adult men who admire mature men). Our members are men who choose to have their social lives enriched by the diverse activities of our chapter. Members in Minneapolis/St. Paul enjoy various opportunities to socialize and develop friendships with other Prime Timers locally and throughout the world.
The Prime Timers Minneapolis/St. Paul organization is also active in advocating for our members, educating our members and the larger GLBTQ community regarding aging issues and quality of life issues for seniors. We are an emerging force in the gay and bisexual communities. While we are not a political organization, our members are concerned and engaged with our society and work to benefit the community as it effects the aging gay and bisexual population.
Our members embrace the Prime Timer's commitment to Community, Connections, and Caring. We welcome new members and do all we can to provide opportunities for our members to socialize and build relationships that go beyond Prime Timers Minneapolis/St. Paul. We value our members and respect where they are in life. We strive to protect our members privacy at all times.
Regional Prime Timers chapters:
Copyright © 2014 Prime Timers Minneapolis/St. Paul. All Rights Reserved.Website design and intellectual property © 2014 Tom Hammond. Copying or modification of its content and underlying structure is forbidden without express written permission.


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Wild Florida Photo
Nature Photography by Paul Rebmann
Click on the thumbnail to open the full size photo.
Click any of the thumbnails above to view the full sized photo in a lightbox.
Once opened, click on the right or left side of the images to scroll through the other images above.
Matelea floridana
Florida native
Endangered Florida speciesTweet
Other species of the Matelea genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
View Matelea pubiflora - TRAILING MILKVINE
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
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Aug 07, 2016


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Little Timothy is playing with his older brother Geoffrey, when he comes running to his mother.
"Mommy, Mommy," he starts in. "I was playing with my truck, and then Geoffrey came and he said it was his turn to play with the truck even though it's my truck and then he pushed me."
"Timothy!" his mother says, silencing him. "Don't be a tattletale."
Timothy has heard that phrase—"Don't be a tattletale"—countless times, and it always stops him short. He has offered his mother an eyewitness account of a crime. His mother, furthermore, in no way disputes the truth of his story. Yet what does she do? She rejects it in favor of a simplistic social formula: Don't be a tattletale. It makes no sense. Timothy's mother would never use such a formula to trump a story if she were talking to his father. On the contrary, his mother and father tattle to each other about Geoffrey all the time. And, if Timothy were to tattle on Geoffrey to his best friend, Bruce, Bruce wouldn't reject the story in favor of a formula, either. Narratives are the basis of Timothy's friendship with Bruce. They explain not just effects but causes. They matter—except in this instance, of a story told by Timothy to Mommy about Geoffrey, in which Mommy is suddenly indifferent to stories altogether. What is this don't-be-a-tattletale business about?
In "Why?" (Princeton; $24.95), the Columbia University scholar Charles Tilly sets out to make sense of our reasons for giving reasons. In the tradition of the legendary sociologist Erving Goffman, Tilly seeks to decode the structure of everyday social interaction, and the result is a book that forces readers to reëxamine everything from the way they talk to their children to the way they argue about politics.
In Tilly's view, we rely on four general categories of reasons. The first is what he calls conventions—conventionally accepted explanations. Tilly would call "Don't be a tattletale" a convention. The second is stories, and what distinguishes a story ("I was playing with my truck, and then Geoffrey came in . . .") is a very specific account of cause and effect. Tilly cites the sociologist Francesca Polletta's interviews with people who were active in the civil-rights sit-ins of the nineteen-sixties. Polletta repeatedly heard stories that stressed the spontaneity of the protests, leaving out the role of civil-rights organizations, teachers, and churches. That's what stories do. As Tilly writes, they circumscribe time and space, limit the number of actors and actions, situate all causes "in the consciousness of the actors," and elevate the personal over the institutional.
Then there are codes, which are high-level conventions, formulas that invoke sometimes recondite procedural rules and categories. If a loan officer turns you down for a mortgage, the reason he gives has to do with your inability to conform to a prescribed standard of creditworthiness. Finally, there are technical accounts: stories informed by specialized knowledge and authority. An academic history of civil-rights sit-ins wouldn't leave out the role of institutions, and it probably wouldn't focus on a few actors and actions; it would aim at giving patient and expert attention to every sort of nuance and detail.
Tilly argues that we make two common errors when it comes to understanding reasons. The first is to assume that some kinds of reasons are always better than others—that there is a hierarchy of reasons, with conventions (the least sophisticated) at the bottom and technical accounts at the top. That's wrong, Tilly says: each type of reason has its own role.
Tilly's second point flows from the first, and it's that the reasons people give aren't a function of their character—that is, there aren't people who always favor technical accounts and people who always favor stories. Rather, reasons arise out of situations and roles. Imagine, he says, the following possible responses to one person's knocking some books off the desk of another:
**{: .break one} ** 1. Sorry, buddy. I'm just plain awkward. 2. I'm sorry. I didn't see your book. 3. Nuts! I did it again. 4. Why did you put that book there? 5. I told you to stack up your books neatly. **
The lesson is not that the kind of person who uses reason No. 1 or No. 2 is polite and the kind of person who uses reason No. 4 or No. 5 is a jerk. The point is that any of us might use any of those five reasons depending on our relation to the person whose books we knocked over. Reason-giving, Tilly says, reflects, establishes, repairs, and negotiates relationships. The husband who uses a story to explain his unhappiness to his wife—"Ever since I got my new job, I feel like I've just been so busy that I haven't had time for us"—is attempting to salvage the relationship. But when he wants out of the marriage, he'll say, "It's not you—it's me." He switches to a convention. As his wife realizes, it's not the content of what he has said that matters. It's his shift from the kind of reason-giving that signals commitment to the kind that signals disengagement. Marriages thrive on stories. They die on conventions.
Consider the orgy of reason-giving that followed Vice-President Dick Cheney's quail-hunting accident involving his friend Harry Whittington. Allies of the Vice-President insisted that the media were making way too much of it. "Accidents happen," they said, relying on a convention. Cheney, in a subsequent interview, looked penitently into the camera and said, "The image of him falling is something I'll never be able to get out of my mind. I fired, and there's Harry falling. And it was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life." Cheney told a story. Some of Cheney's critics, meanwhile, focussed on whether he conformed to legal and ethical standards. Did he have a valid license? Was he too slow to notify the White House? They were interested in codes. Then came the response of hunting experts. They retold the narrative of Cheney's accident, using their specialized knowledge of hunting procedure. The Cheney party had three guns, and on a quail shoot, some of them said, you should never have more than two. Why did Whittington retrieve the downed bird? A dog should have done that. Had Cheney's shotgun been aimed more than thirty degrees from the ground, as it should have been? And what were they doing in the bush at five-thirty in the afternoon, when the light isn't nearly good enough for safe hunting? The experts gave a technical account.
Here are four kinds of reasons, all relational in nature. If you like Cheney and are eager to relieve him of responsibility, you want the disengagement offered by a convention. For a beleaguered P.R. agent, the first line of defense in any burgeoning scandal is, inevitably, There is no story here. When, in Cheney's case, this failed, the Vice-President had to convey his concern and regret while not admitting that he had done anything procedurally wrong. Only a story can accomplish that. Anything else—to shrug and say that accidents happen, for instance—would have been perceived as unpardonably callous. Cheney's critics, for their part, wanted the finality and precision of a code: he acted improperly. And hunting experts wanted to display their authority and educate the public about how to hunt safely, so they retold the story of Cheney's accident with the benefit of their specialized knowledge.
Effective reason-giving, then, involves matching the kind of reason we give to the particular role that we happen to be playing at the time a reason is necessary. The fact that Timothy's mother accepts tattling from his father but rejects it from Timothy is not evidence of capriciousness; it just means that a husband's relationship to his wife gives him access to a reasongiving category that a son's role does not. The lesson "Don't be a tattletale"—which may well be one of the hardest childhood lessons to learn—is that in the adult world it is sometimes more important to be appropriate than it is to be truthful.
Two years ago, a young man named Anthony mugged a woman named Anne on a London street. Anthony was caught and convicted, and a few days before he was sentenced he sat down with Anne for a face-to-face meeting, as an exercise in what is known as "restorative justice." The meeting was videotaped by a criminal-justice research group, and to watch the video is to get an even deeper sense of the usefulness of Tilly's thinking.
"We're going to talk about what's happened," the policeman moderating the meeting begins. "Who's been affected, and how they've been affected, and see what we can do to make things better."
Anthony starts. He has a shaved head, a tattoo on his neck, and multiple piercings in his eyebrows and ears. Beside him is his partner, Christy, holding their baby boy. "What happened is I had a bad week. Been out of work for a couple of weeks. Had my kneecap broken. . . . I only had my dad in this country, who I don't get on with. We had no gas in our flat. Me and Christy were arguing all that morning. The baby had been screaming. We were hungry." His story comes out painfully and haltingly. "It was a bit too much. All my friends I was asking to loan me a couple of pounds. They just couldn't afford to give it to me. . . . I don't know what got into me. I just reached over and took your bag. And I'm really sorry for it. And if there is anything I can do to make up for it, I'm willing to do it. I know you probably don't want me anywhere near you."
Anne has been listening closely, her husband, Terry, next to her. Now she tells her side of the story. She heard a sound like male laughter. She turned, and felt her purse being pulled away. She saw a man pulling up his hood. She ran after him, feeling like a "complete idiot." In the struggle over her bag, her arm was injured. She is a journalist and has since had difficulty typing. "The mugging was very small," she says. "But the effect is not going away as fast as I expected. . . . It makes life one notch less bearable."
It was Christy's turn. She got the call at home. She didn't know exactly what had happened. She took the baby and walked to the police station, angry and frightened. "We got ourselves in a situation where we were relying on the state, and we just can't live off the money," Christy says. "And that's not your problem." She starts to cry. "He's not a drug addict," she continues, looking at her husband. Anthony takes the baby from her and holds him. "If we go to court on Monday, and he does get three years for what he's done, or six years, that's his problem. He done it. And he's got to pay for what he's done. I wake up and hear him cry"—she looks at the baby—"and it kills me. I'm in a situation where I can't do anything to make this better. . . . I just want you to know. The first thing he said to me when he walked in was 'I apologized.' And I said, 'That makes what difference?' "
Watching the conference is a strange experience, because it is utterly foreign to the criminal process of which it is ostensibly a part. There is none of the oppressive legalese of the courtroom. Nothing is "alleged"; there are no "perpetrators." The formal back-and-forth between questioner and answerer, the emotionally protective structure of courtroom procedure, is absent. Anne and Terry sit on comfortable chairs facing Christy and Anthony. They have a conversation, not a confrontation. They are telling stories, in Tilly's sense of that word: repairing their relationship by crafting a cause-and-effect account of what happened on the street.
Why is such storytelling, in the wake of a crime, so important? Because, Tilly would argue, some social situations don't lend themselves to the easy reconciliation of reason and role. In Jonathan Franzen's novel "The Corrections," for example, one of the characters, Gary, is in the midst of a frosty conversation with his wife, Caroline. Gary had the sense, Franzen writes, "that Caroline was on the verge of accusing him of being 'depressed,' and he was afraid that if the idea that he was depressed gained currency, he would forfeit his right to his opinions. . . . Every word he spoke would become a symptom of disease; he would never again win an argument." Gary was afraid, in other words, that a technical account of his behavior—the explanation that he was clinically depressed—would trump his efforts to use the stories and conventions that permitted him to be human. But what was his wife to do? She wanted him to change.
When we say that two parties in a conflict are "talking past each other," this is what we mean: that both sides have a legitimate attachment to mutually exclusive reasons. Proponents of abortion often rely on a convention (choice) and a technical account (concerning the viability of a fetus in the first trimester). Opponents of abortion turn the fate of each individual fetus into a story: a life created and then abruptly terminated. Is it any surprise that the issue has proved to be so intractable? If you believe that stories are the most appropriate form of reason-giving, then those who use conventions and technical accounts will seem morally indifferent—regardless of whether you agree with them. And, if you believe that a problem is best adjudicated through conventions or technical accounts, it is hard not to look upon storytellers as sensationalistic and intellectually unserious. By Tilly's logic, abortion proponents who want to engage their critics will have to become better storytellers—and that, according to the relational principles of such reason-giving, may require them to acknowledge an emotional connection between a mother and a fetus. (Ironically, many of the same members of the religious right who have so emphatically demonstrated the emotional superiority of stories when it comes to abortion insist, when it comes to Genesis, on a reading of the Bible as a technical account. Thus do creationists, in the service of reasongiving exigency, force the Holy Scripture to do double duty as a high-school biology textbook.)
Tilly argues that these conflicts are endemic to the legal system. Laws are established in opposition to stories. In a criminal trial, we take a complicated narrative of cause and effect and match it to a simple, impersonal code: first-degree murder, or second-degree murder, or manslaughter. The impersonality of codes is what makes the law fair. But it is also what can make the legal system so painful for victims, who find no room for their voices and their anger and their experiences. Codes punish, but they cannot heal.
So what do you do? You put Anne and her husband in a room with Anthony and Christy and their baby boy and you let them talk. In a series of such experiments, conducted in Britain and Australia by the criminologists Lawrence Sherman and Heather Strang, restorative-justice programs have shown encouraging results in reducing recidivism rates among offenders and psychological trauma among victims. If you view the tape of the Anthony-Anne exchange, it's not hard to see why. Sherman said that when the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales watched it at home one night he wept.
"If there is anything I can do, please say it," Anthony says.
"I think most of what you can do is between the two of you, actually," Anne says to Anthony and Christy. "I think if you can put your lives back together again, then that's what needs to be done."
The moderator tells them all to take a break and help themselves to "Metropolitan Police tea and coffee and chocolate biscuits."
Anne asks Christy how old the baby is, and where they are living. It turns out that their apartment has been condemned.Terry stands up and offers the baby a chocolate biscuit, and the adults experience the kind of moment that adults have in the company of babies, where nothing matters except the child in front of them.
"He's a good baby," Christy says. A convention. One kind of reason is never really enough. ♦


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The number one reason to have a home office is that you need a convenient place to work at home, even if only for occasional projects. As independent workers, telecommuting workers or independent professionals, the home office has become a key place in their working ecosystem. While scanning equipment and technology has reduced (if not nearly eliminated paper), there still seems to be business records and paperwork projects that can be more easily completed in a home office. In addition, a home office can be more convenient, easier to access (most days) and spending time at the home office can be efficient (less interruptions and no travel). However, the virtues of the home office can also be characterized by its limiting factors. Easy access to your home office can blur the line between "work life" and "home life". While the close proximity of a home office can be an advantage (no travel time, less rental cost, the ability to work flexible hours), it can also be a disadvantage (all to easy to work at night versus spending time with family or hobbies, much too easy to be distracted by home chores or family member interruptions).
The new addition to your work ecosystem is coworking, the best way to expand your professional capacity and professional productivity. At DurangoSpace, we encourage our members to maintain some type of home office workspace. At the same time, we recognize that our DurangoSpace members need higher speed Internet connections, private meeting space, a community of coworkers and enhanced levels of interaction with other independent workers and professionals. As an expansion of your workplace ecosystem, DurangoSpace has quiet and private workspaces for our member coworkers, including 14 workspaces (2-members per workspace) in Crossroads/AlpineBank starting in January 2018. In addition to productive workspace, coworking offers a community of coworker peers and a variety of social and training events. Thus, coworking expands the home-based office to include other essential elements of a health work environment.
Here are some reasons that our coworking members have shared with us regarding why coworking has enhanced their working options:
A) Our members are part of a professional community, with either coworkers that you can team with while at DurangoSpace or simply that you are a part of a larger coworking community right here in Durango, CO.
B) Professional meeting space for team meetings, client meetings or vendor meetings at DurangoSpace. Many home offices are not well suited nor equipped for quality meeting space. Nor do you want "strangers" or folks you may not know "at your house". At DurangoSpace we have PolyCom conference call capacity, white Boards, coffee & tea service and a simple reservations system (to reserve your space in advance).
C) Higher Internet speeds that are solid and reliable at DurangoSpace (50 Mbps+ down & 50 Mbps up). We have fiber connection via FastTrack Communications for "always up" connectivity! Parts of western Colorado technically have Internet; when it works and when it is fast enough to send larger files. But there are times that your "home-based Internet" may not be working well enough for business purposes.
D) Downtown Durango is convenient and within walking distance to banking, shopping, Post Office and business support services (everyone has to go to "town" to get some things done). Plus DurangoSpace is nearby Durango's restaurants, entertainment venues and retail shopping experiences that are located in downtown Durango. Our new location on the first floor of Crossroads/Alpine Bank building is in the "heart of Durango" at 11th & Main. We're located in Suites 108 & 109, accessed from the 101 W 11th Street (north side) entrance, across from Ernie's Bar /Taste Coffee and the food trucks.
E) Coworking spaces, such as DurangoSpace, improve members' visibility and connections within the community and peers. Coworking is good for marketing, making connections and expanding your business footprint. And you'll meet peer professionals to broaden your thinking, contacts and gather feedback. There is a vibrant professional community of fellow coworkers everyday at DurangoSpace.
So why have a home office? Clearly it is a home base and location to work in ways that can be customized to your working schedule and client interactions. However, with coworking access to DurangoSpace, you can enhance your "home base" and expand your working productivity, professional visibility and community involvement. The best choice is to have a home office AND enjoy a coworking membership at DurangoSpace! Call us at 970-828-1340 to enhance your home office with a coworking membership today!


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text: Sintesi Sans builds together with Sintesi (SemiSerif) and Sintesi SemiSans an extended family. However each of the three member of the Sintesi-family accomplish the «synthesis» between Sans and Serif on its own way. Sintesi Sans scores because of its readability, robustness and contemporary style. Its is a true Sans Serif and therefore really flexible, universally applicable especially as a body text font and in a broad number of other applications. Thanks to the good readability and the wide set of styles and glyphs, Sintesi Sans suits to a wide spectrum of applications.


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February 28, 2013 | Alex
I think we're witness a key shift in the evolution of Etsy. Etsy began as a celebration of craft and community. It's business function was to connect crafts people with each other, and provide them with an opportunity to reach buyers outside of their local market. That is to say that participating in the Etsy community was the end goal.
Now, due in large part to the growth of the blogosphere's influence and in even larger part to the trend of retailers (like West Elm and One Kings Lane) partnering with Etsy, the online community seems to have evolved into a stepping stone for creatives. It's now a weigh station on the road to discovery.
As a consumer, I'm so happy to see my favorite Etsy sellers (like OneFortyThree or Lisa Golightly of Kiki and Polly) move on to the next stage of their careers-- whether it's launching their own e-commerce site in order to accommodate increased demand or partnering with a retailer.
I do sometimes wonder, though, what the founders of Etsy think about the shift. When you read their mission statement, you don't get exactly get the impression that they intended to be a stepping stone to partnership with big box retailers. But you can't argue with the benefit to the individual craftspeople. And, after all, aren't big box retailers just furthering Etsy's mission to make craft more accessible to the broader public?
Since all this was on my mind, I thought I'd do a round up of some recent discoveries on Etsy in one of my favorite color schemes-- Navy and Persimmon. Enjoy!
Sources (clockwise from top left)
- Moab I, 16 x 20" Archival Print - Limited Edition, Callie Helen @Etsy - $100
- Ouija Board, Melamine Decorative Plate, Burke Hare Co. @Etsy - $16
- Red Cardinal, A4 Print of Original Illustration, Tiny Kiwi Illustrations @Etsy - $14
- Modern Table Lamp, Ample Furniture @Etsy - $395
- 16 x 16" Vintage Turkish Kilim Pillow Cover, Sukan @Etsy - $170
- Urban Tote in Navy Waxed Canvas and Distressed Leather, Red Staggerwing @Etsy - $95


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Atlanta Police DepartmentHome Menu
Major James shaw
Zone 2 Commander
Major Barry Shaw is an Atlanta native that joined the Atlanta Police Department in 1990, after serving four years in the United States Air Force. In January 2014, Major Shaw was appointed to the rank of Major. He was assigned to the Code Enforcement Section and was transferred to Zone 2 at the end of 2016.
After graduating from the Atlanta Police Academy as the valedictorian of Class 142, he was assigned to Zone One Evening Watch as a patrol officer. In 1995, he was assigned to the Auto Theft Task Force as one of the original six members. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1998 and served as the watch supervisor in Zone 3 and Zone 5.
In 2001, He was promoted to Lieutenant and assigned to Zone 5 as the Evening Watch Commander. As a Lieutenant, Shaw also served as the commander of the Auto Theft Unit. In this position, he helped design and coordinate how the Criminal Investigations Division would respond to crime in every zone. He has also served as the commander of the Zone Six Investigations and Property Control Units. In November 2010, he was appointed to the rank of Captain and served as an Assistant Zone Commander for Zones One and Six.
Major Shaw has more than 20 years of law enforcement experience and is the proud father of four children. He is active with coaching youth athletics and graduated Summa Cum Laude from Saint Leo University with a Criminal Justice degree.


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By Kimia Raafat, KF9 Ecuador
Like the galloping horsemen on a Ralph Lauren polo shirt, Kiva's leafy "loans that change lives" logo has come to symbolize a certain status in the world of microfinance institutions (MFIs). The Kiva stamp of approval signifies that after careful due diligence, an institution has been deemed dependable and successful in their mission to make a significant social impact.
It was only a few months ago that Fundacion D-MIRO Mision Alianza had been approved to join Kiva's network of 105 field partners. D-MIRO's employees are delighted and proud to use kiva.org to showcase their organization's efforts online, but as I quickly learned, it is truly the financial savings made possible by Kiva that proved more pressing to this field partner…
I was warmly greeted by D-MIRO's staff two months ago, when I arrived in Guayaquil. They pleasantly bombarded me with introductions, lunch invitations, hugs, and (my personal favorite) famous phrases in broken English. After about a week or so, the excitement of having the new American in the office died down and the staff (while remaining friendly) carried on their normal business practices, typing furiously at their desks.
Truthfully, I had no idea how to get the Kiva ball rolling in D-MIRO's office. So, I began with the most obvious task: uploading borrower profiles on Kiva.org. There was a steep learning curve the first month (my first 3 loans had to be refunded due to errors) as I learned how to coordinate the borrower's stories, repayment schedules and photos into one concise package. After a few weeks, all I had to show for my efforts was 18 borrower profiles (and D-MIRO needs about 90 to reach its monthly goal). Looking around the office, I quickly noticed that I had become so engrossed in reaching the "goal" that I failed to see that I had uploaded 90% of the profiles. Which led me to my next thought "Im leaving in 7 weeks and there are no field staff members available to keep these practices sustainable…"
The problem: D-MIRO's designated "Kiva Coordinator" has a full time job as a treasury's assistant, his schedule does not provide him with the flexibility to upload borrower's stories all day. Also, with the tough economic environment, D-MIRO's directors believed that they were in no condition to hire a new staff member and they were definitely unable to give the loan officers any financial incentives to help with the Kiva Project.
It was around week 7 that I left my duties as the unofficial Kiva Coordinator in order to dedicate myself full time to convincing D-MIRO's directors of the financial value of Kiva and the importance of paying for the administrative costs associated with Kiva. Kiva does not charge the organization any interest, but it does cost time, and time = money! They need time to interview borrowers, take their pictures, upload all the information online and track repayments! After each director's meeting, I played the waiting game. The directors wanted to help but they were concerned about the financial feasibility of hiring a Kiva Coordinator. The terms "poco a poco" (little by little) or "manana" (tomorrow) became common place. They usually told me that I would have an answer soon, but depending on the approximate timeframe they gave me, I could only estimate how long something would actually take. 5 minutes meant 1 hour, 1 hour meant tomorrow and tomorrow meant 3 days from now.
The perfect storm of events: I finally decided to put together a sort of "cost vs benefit" presentation to show the directors that D-MIRO can save around $18,400 per year by getting 0% interest loans from Kiva's lenders. This is based on the fact that D-MIRO pays an average of 8.5% interest to outside funders. The directors were pleasantly surprised by the amount of money Kiva could save DMIRO, which is especially valuable in this tough economic climate. During the same week, there was a companywide "restructurization" meeting about the current state of DMIRO. Due to the global financial crisis, employees were asked to cut back on spending and go the extra mile to exceed their monthly targets; otherwise jobs were going to be lost.
We walked out of the "restructurization" meeting and they looked at me and said "what can we do right NOW to get the Kiva Projects underway; we want to capitalize on this opportunity to help D-MIRO's clients and staff". I smiled because "now" had not been in our vocabulary before this moment…
Kimia Raafat is a Kiva Fellow (KF9) at a new Kiva partner, D-MIRO in Guayaquil, Ecuador. If you would like to know more about D-MIRO please visit the Partner page or Lend!/>