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[As always, Josh Sibley's opinions do not reflect those of the JKP! group at large or, indeed, most reasonable people. Gird your loins.]
I'm glad that I sat on this article for a while. Recently Irrational Games closed, saying that Ken Levine and fifteen dudes would henceforth be working on smaller titles. This brought a lot of things into sharp contrast, the big one being that maybe AAA games on consoles ARE in danger of oblivion, just not for the reasons most reactionaries have stated. So my original thesis remains essentially unchanged: Yes, tons of studios have closed, and almost every single one of them was due to them being run poorly, doing something stupid, or being bought out, FORCED to do something stupid, THEN closed. There's almost not a single instance of a game being really good, the studio being really smart, and then closing because no one cared… at least in my collection.
With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to go through my collection of games from last generation and see what's happened to the companies that made them.
Okay, so here's a picture of my game collection. This is what we're starting with.
My collection is cut to about half when I take out the games that I either know for certain have defunct developers, or I'm unsure (not pictured but talked about: The Incredible Hulk, the game based on the movie, as it's in one of those awful Gamestop cases). Some of these developers will no doubt still be in business, so they're kind of moot.
A lot of the games whose companies are still going strong also put out incredible series that did well for good reason: Rocksteady, Ubisoft, Capcom (grr), Criterion, EA, Traveler's Tales, Avalanche, and a couple others. They're also not known for being dumb or lazy. That's the key: None of those companies grabbed at one of the many shiny distractions that plagued last generation, the act of grabbing basically being an admittance of "I would really like to make the same amount or more money and not work as hard". Soon after you take that attitude, down goes your company. And, as mentioned before, some companies just chose poorly on various things that deflated them, despite their best efforts. It happens, but it's never indicative of lack of interest in games in general. Finally, some of these companies were just helmed by utter tools, entire toolsheds, a virtual Home Depot's worth of tool-ness.
First up, let's talk about the game that basically made me get the system and one of my favorites of all time: Crackdown.
Crackdown looks really dated these days, but there's still nothing like it. No game has captured the addictive exploration and stunt shenanigans combined with open world base infiltration. What I'm saying is, that it's really good. It also sold well, to the tune of 1.5 million copies by the end of 2007. So what happened?
Crackdown's devs, Realtime Worlds decided that, after their success, Microsoft took a little too long greenlighting a second installment, so they did what any rational company would do: Immediately set about making a massive MMO in a time when everyone else was trying to make one too due to WoW earning money hand over fist, and they called it APB. Almost all of these me-too MMO's failed, but none like APB did: Realtime Worlds shit itself and died a mere six weeks after releasing APB, a game that cost them $100 million to make. Had they just made a solid co-op open world game that wasn't an MMO-constant-revenue-stream-cash-grab, we'd probably be hearing about Crackdown 3 by now.
Speaking of poorly run companies, this one's pretty recent: Lucasarts, represented here by The Force Unleashed.
I liked The Force Unleashed. It had two things that almost always secure a purchase from me: new, experimental tech and Star Wars. I thought the story was way better than it had any right to be, flinging troopers around was a blast, and the material physics in the game is truly something to behold. So what happened?
Poor, shifting, unfocused management. Lucasarts mad long made the habit of teaming up with other teams to get their products out: Raven Software, Bioware, Pandemic (more on them later) and many others worked with them on varying titles to varying degrees of success, but Lucasarts themselves had a couple of massive successes: The Force Unleashed and Battlefront II were both at one point the best selling Star Wars games of all time. Instead of doing more of what they had been doing, the revolving door of upper management led them to make the Force Unleashed 2 quickly and shittily with a completely different crew, and to mistreat Free Radical so hard when they tried to develop Battlefront III for them, they bankrupted them. When Disney acquired All That Is Lucas, they took one look at this idiotic company and went "Uh, no".
Next, let's look at another game that I actually had a blast with, made by a company I liked: Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, made by Pandemic.
Mercenaries 1 on the Xbox was a pretty neat open world game that I rented but never got to finish. Mercenaries 2 has the distinction of having the biggest, bestest, Bay-est explosions of any game I've played to date. There a mission that takes place entirely on a big oil rig in the middle of the ocean, and it's a full, multi tiered level. At the end of the mission, you call down a missile right on the middle of it as you jump off the side, and you watch the entire huge thing crumble into the ocean as you swim away. Not even Just Cause 2, king of Over the Top did something like that.
It was also one of the buggiest games I've ever played, and the only one where most of the bugs were beneficial: There's a side mission that's impossible unless the game bugs out and enemies stop firing at you, and you can re-collect money and collectibles just by flying over their general area in a helicopter. Still, it was a blast. So what happened?
It's not quite clear why EA closed Pandemic. They were acquired in the same big swoop that grabbed them Bioware, and were shutdown in 2009 right after they released Saboteur. I don't know how well that one sold, but its review scores are strictly in the mediocre column. Not a soul I can find was impressed with it at all, so I'm going to go ahead and blame it on that. Was it EA's influence? Too big a budget? Poor timing? Straight up lack of talent? These things are rarely clear cut, but a mediocre game failing and its studio being shut down isn't an indication of the AAA market not working, it's just an example of someone's best not being good enough.
Why, is that Stranglehold? It IS Stranglehold!
I picked up Stranglehold for 14$ used and it's worth every penny. It's a movie sequel as a video game, it's a high-octane, arcadey Max Payne, it has some of the best destructible terrain I've ever seen on a console, and it has a dedicated ball-shoot supermove (well, it's called Precision Aim, but why would you shoot the bad guys anywhere but their balls?). It is pure, shallow, gun-based joy. So what happened?
This one actually has a happy ending: Although parent company Midway shat its pants so hard its Mom had to come pick it up from school, before that happened Midway Chicago (the subsidiary that made Stranglehold) was sold to WB Entertainment and is now known as Netherrealm Studios, who has been knocking it out of the park lately. As for Midway, they were bleeding money constantly since the early 2000's, well before any AAA console doom and gloom nonsense started.
Ah, Prototype. This one's a sad tale.
So Prototype was developed by Radical Entertainment, who had done some Crash Bandicoot games and a Simpsons game. They also did Hulk: Ultimate Destruction which to this day is in my top five favorite games of all time, and was the best superhero game ever made until Batman: Arkham City came out. Prototype's a whole shitload of fun too. So what happened?
Activision happened, and the "crash of the Vancouver video game scene". Long story short, Radical was their own little entity, doing really well, until they were snapped up by Activision. Under them they made Prototype, but several other projects were cancelled along the way, including multiple Crash titles, a Jason Bourne game, and Scarface 2. However, the bulk of work was done on a sequel, Prototype 2.
Prototype 2, contrary to popular belief, sold very well and was fairly well received. The only problem was that its parent company was Activision, and it didn't sell world-endingly, pants-wettingly well, like the other big release from around that time, Diablo 3. Activision is notoriously arrogant and stupid, and thus downsized Radical for Prototype 2 failing to "find a broad commercial audience", whatever the fuck THAT means. Radical isn't gone, just heavily downsized and marginalized. Apparently they have something big brewing in the wings, though whether Activision will slice their heads off again for not doing Call of Duty numbers remains to be seen. This falls under the purview of being run shittily by a shitty parent company. Again, nothing to do with AAA games not being able to do well or lack of interest in consoles.
"Josh", I hear you saying across the internet, "Why did you buy the freaking Watchmen game? Is your time and money really of that little value to you?"
Turns out, this game isn't bad. The cutscenes, while using Nite Owl's movie design, have an art style that apes the comic. The story is an interesting one, and very much feels like it fits in the Watchmen universe. For what was originally a couple of XBLA games, the graphics are actually pretty nice. The combo system is interesting (if a little cumbersome), it's one of the few 3d same screen co-op beat-em-ups this generation, and who doesn't want to beat up people in bellbottoms, afros and gimp suits? So what happened?
Watchmen: The End is Nigh was made by Deadline Games, and very little info is available about them, other than they folded shortly after making the game. They had done relatively little before this, most notably Chili Con Carnage. This seems to be a case of an unremarkable company doing their best on a property that was destined to not be well received. It's a shame, because as far as "game based on a movie based on a comic" games go, this could have turned out a LOT worse.
If you ever managed to see a copy of Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard in a Gamestop and said to yourself "Who would have ever bought something like THAT?", it was me. I would. I was the one person who purchased that game day one, full price. Not a great decision, in hindsight, but I bought it on principle more than anything.
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is the only game I've ever seen that is a full fledged parody/satire of gaming. Something like Borderlands or the older-yet-still-excellent Blood has lots of humor and references, but when you get right down to it, its goal is to be a kickass videogame. Matt Hazard as a pure game isn't terrible, but its main goal is to lampoon the AAA videogame market. Some of the parodies are lazy, some of them are brilliant, but there is no other game quite like it. In theory, if Tim Schaefer can make mediocre games that fly entirely by the strength of the weird writing and worlds, a mediocre shooter can be elevated by its wholly original premise and the voice talents of Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris. So what happened?
As far as I can tell, Vicious Cycle Software is still around, subsisting wholly on Dora the Explorer and Ben 10 games. Either that, or no one has cared to tell their Wikipedia page that they're out of business. That could entirely be possible, as their last listed releases were in 2012. If they're still in business, they've resigned themselves to doing bottom of the barrel Ben 10 work.
Ah, the Ghostbusters game. Oddly enough, the second game on my list here that's a game-as-movie-sequel.
If you like things that are good, this game needs only a one sentence review: This game perfectly captures what it's like to be a Ghostbuster. That's all you need to know as to whether you need to play this game or not (you do). My only gripes are minor ones: I wish the trap throwing was a little more meaty and solid feeling, I wish the pack upgrades didn't alter the look of your proton pack so much, and I wish that they basically cut out every part of the game that WASN'T trapping ghosts with the proton beam, but I literally couldn't have asked for more. So what happened?
Ghostbusters was made by Terminal Reality, whose original claim to fame was Terminal Velocity. They also made Fury3, one of the earliest Microsoft attempts at gaming. Fury3 was one of those early "3d is just getting its footing" flight sim alien shooters you probably tried to play on your dad's work computer in 1995. In addition, they made both Bloodrayne 1 and 2, and they also made several impressive game engines throughout their lifetime.
However, three of their last games were Def Jam Rapstar, Star Wars Kinect, and The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. All three of those games aren't just bad, they're legendarily bad, the kind of games that developers talk about around late night campfires as cautionary tales. "And on the end of the handle…. was a copy of Big Rigs! WOOOOOOOO!" Most game companies only have to fail once in order to die off: Terminal Reality failed hard three times before going down fairly recently: They closed forever on Dec. 12, 2013.
Enslaved. This is an oddity amongst the themes we've seen so far: A major game that didn't do well at all, and a dev team who is still alive and kicking because of it.
Enslaved was one big missed opportunity. You could tell that it was done by a dev team that had a lot of big ideas and a lot of heart, because its major failing wasn't that it was bad or poorly done, it was just unfocused. Climbing, puzzling, fighting, platforming, hover-boarding, it did it all, just none of it amazingly. In the end, the thing that killed Enslaved is that they took the premise they started off so strong with and drove it directly into the ground. So much of the game has completely beautiful settings and a heavy air of sad mystery and guess what? The whole reason for all of it is a pouty Andy Serkis in a tech pyramid you'll never go to, the end. Oh, spoilers. So what happened?
Ninja Theory went on to do the Devil May Cry reboot that everyone was surprised to find out they loved. It made a ton of money and Ninja Theory was saved. However, this may soon change as their next project is a mobile only game for iOS.
I'm lumping in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 1 and 2 into one entry here, because both developers are not only still around, but doing very well. Both of them combined are some of the best superhero video games ever made, and even Marvel Heroes that I'm currently all about doesn't live up in several respects. So what happened?
Marvel:UA1 was done by Raven Software, who is responsible for not only that great game, but the incredible Jedi Knight II and Jedi Academy. They went on to do a little title you might have heard of called Every Call of Duty, so they're doing fine. Marvel 2 was handled by Vicarious Visions, who have been steadily the go to guys for Activision's milking projects, including all Guitar Heroes and all Skylanders spin offs. They're not going anywhere anytime soon either.
Uh… what? Why do you own this, you might be saying. What could possess you to own a Marvel Movie game?
Well, The Incredible Hulk has the same open world shenanigans that Ultimate Destruction had, and while it's not nearly as good, it DOES allow you to literally destroy every building on the island of Manhattan, so that's new. It also has a lot of the Hulk's villains, like the U-foes. It's honestly not a bad purchase if you can get it for a couple bucks and just want some Smash Time. Also, U-Foes. Can't stress that enough. So what happened?
Hulk was made by Edge of Reality, a company that's done mostly ports (Most notably Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect on PS3). As far as I can tell, they're still around. Seems like a steady stream of ports can keep you afloat if need be.
WET? WET. WET joins the very, very short list of games that I tried to play seriously and never beat. Not because it was hard, but because fuck this game. It would have been bargain bin fodder in the PS2 era, except it came out in 2009. I don't even know how you make fun of that. Remember when you could launch a tactical nuke at a table with some bottles on it and have the bottles be as untouched as the bottom of the Marianas Trench? I thought we were past that shit, WET. So what happened?
WET was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement, which turned into Behavior Interactive. I almost feel bad for them, because they only have three games in their massive library that aren't shitty Spongebob ports, and that's Naughty Bear, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, and WET. It's clear they wanted to get out of the MySims Racing ghetto, swung for the fences and ended up hitting themselves in the face with their own bat so hard that three of the worst games of the last generation popped out of the resulting skull fracture. Hey, at least they all have jobs, which is more than I can say for some of the other people on this list who committed far less hateful crimes.
Now, we have a representative from one of the most egregious offenders on this list: Saint's Row the Third and THQ. If you haven't played Saint's Row the Third, go rectify that immediately. One of the best games this generation, one that really captures the "fun above all else" mentality. So what happened?
THQ is tossed about as a big example of why the traditional console/publisher/AAA game framework is crumbling. After all, THQ had several profitable franchises going and they still couldn't hack it!
THQ is lesson number one in bad corporate leadership ruining an otherwise good thing. As the story goes, THQ was trundling along fine, raking in money from various UFC titles and things like Saint's Row II, as well as various licensed kids properties like Spongebob. Then, a couple of things happened: Number one, the bottom fell out of the market for console-based shitty kid's games, as all of those had moved over to apps or in-browser affairs. Number two, THQ decided that the UDraw tablet they had released for the Wii for 70$ to middling success would all of a sudden be the backbone of their entire 360 and PS3 efforts, and invested so heavily in it that it literally destroyed the company. One point four MILLION UDraw tablets went unsold, leaving a revenue shortfall of about one hundred MILLION dollars. Simply put, whoever was in charge was a complete idiot.
Volition actually made Saint's Row the Third, and have since moved over to Deep Silver, where they're still knocking it out of the park.
Finally, we come to the newest entry, the one that broke my heart. My personal superhero company for years, Irrational games and BioShock Infinite.
First, read this. Then, read this. All right?
What we see from that post and that article, when mooshed together, is that Take-Two was content to write blank checks to its superstar developer, and the head of the superstar developer used those blank checks to install himself into the five star Auteur Hotel, where he was no longer making a product, but chasing a vision. It happens to movies all the time, ballooning budgets to achieve the "perfect" end result, which doesn't exist. Once that happens, failure is certain, unavoidable. Something as complex as games require a firm hand and a clear plan, and that's something Bioshock Infinite didn't have.
The first thing I did after completing Infinite was look at all the preview videos from all the previous E3's, and I noticed the sheer amount of things that were cut. The things that weren't cut were cutscenes. Setpieces that were part of the story, and not gameplay elements. It's clear that Levine spent way more money that he should have thinking up and then discarding things on the fly, and also that his parent company let him do such in the first place. This falls clearly under "poor management", just from multiple angles. So what does this change?
If Levine can't wrangle the traditional AAA machine to come up with something that can be both a breath of fresh air AND under budget, then aren't AAA games done? Isn't it too big a monster to wrangle, collapsing under its own weight?
Nah. It's not that the demand isn't there, it's not that profit can't be made, it's just that mistakes are more costly. Bioshock Infinite didn't sell enough to be profitable, but it didn't sell poorly. That's an important distinction to be made. To be blunt, you can't have out of touch corporate nimrods that insist their money means they know better than their talent running the show, nor can you hand a superstar a blank check and say "Do just like, whatever man". You've got to be on the ball. You've got to have a publisher with a firm hand and the experience to not set sales projections through the roof just because they're sort of following a formula, and you've got to have project leads that have a clear goal they're shooting for and can get their entire team of hundreds of people working as one unit. This is not unlike THQ's situation, except less dumb.
So that's it. Some companies on the list went out of business trying to drag themselves out of the Nickelodeon game hell they started in. Some of them simply slid back into that pit where they will remain forevermore, barely profitable. Some did decent work and vanished, some did awful work and survived.
There are some running themes though. The bigger names who had done more than Dora The Explorer: Awkward Silence Master and tanked did so because of parent company shenanigans usually unrelated to lack of sales. The smaller studios that had saved up to make their own unique thing usually failed to produce anything impressive. And a couple names just made some absolute garbage that rightfully lost everyone involved their jobs.
If you take out the people being mismanaged from the top down, we're not losing top tier, promising companies. We're losing people that make Ben 10: Balls On Your Chin, and we're doing so because they decided to compete in a AAA game market with AA or even A products. In other words, we're not seeing the death of the demand for consoles or the death of the AAA game. We're actually seeing the BIRTH of the indie game scene as a major force, a good stepping stone. We're seeing the industry shifting priorities, changing, growing up. We're seeing the game industry no longer being a subsidiary of the toy industry, where artists make their magic in between obligations to Spongebob Squarepants: Shut Your Fucking Mouth Already, but an industry of its own that's not beholden to things like that anymore. Those shitty games have migrated off to the web and the tablet forever, which resulted in two things happening: The companies that relied on that kind of console business and weren't quick enough to adapt died off, and the industry had no more time for middle of the road companies trying to make a name for themselves doing "so-so" titles. It's morphed into an arena where you go big or go home. If that seems harsh, it's not, because instead of making a WET or Enslaved, now you make a smaller but more ambitious title on something like Steam or iOS and make your name there, and maybe someday try your hand at something truly AAA. Consoles aren't dying, they're the place you go when it's time for the big leagues, but the newly birthed indie scene is where you practice in the minors. These closures aren't death throes, they're growing pains. AAA development has its own pitfalls and perils as we've seen, but hopefully the people that labored all their lives under tight budget restraints will keep that sense of money and urgency in the future when they move on up.
We actually saw this happen with Matt Hazard. His first title was a console, disc-based affair. It didn't do well, and his second title was an XBLA game (the exquisitely named Blood Bath and Beyond). Not sure how well it did there, but had Matt Hazard come out now as an indie game, it probably would have fared a lot better from the get go.
As for corporate mismanagement, well, that problem generally takes care of itself (in theory). The downsized people from, say, Radical Entertainment will go on to other companies and do great work for them, making our future AAA games better. The CEO that ordered one hundred million iSuppositoryU peripherals made because he saw how excited his 3 year old was about the Wii will drive his company directly into the ground, and those properties he oversaw and the talent therein will disperse, working elsewhere. Meanwhile, the CEO will go on to run a chicken company or something.
Everything's not roses, however. To a huge, monolithic publisher, "You can't do massive budget, AAA titles if one or both sides of the equation is going to be an idiot" looks a whole lot like "You can't do massive budget, AAA titles". THIS would be the death of the console market (and the PC market), not because there's no profit in it, but because the industry at large goes "Eh, we don't wanna. Too hard". Nintendo's been doing this exact thing while still trying to make mainstream video games since the death of the N64, and they just shat away billions of dollars because of it. A very real possibility for Nintendo's next big step is getting out of games altogether. Games are screwed if publishers go "The risk isn't worth the investment" and if hotshot devs go "The triple A game machine won't let me make that game about reconnecting with my estranged father I've always wanted to make". If that happens, games are done. Find another hobby. I hear Harrison has some ideas.
Some of you might be going "What about indies!?", but while Braid and Broken Planet and Limbo are cute and all, the future doesn't happen on a Kickstarter budget, the art form doesn't move forward with sidescrollers, and you don't create the massive virtual worlds that separate this art form from books and movies with a fifteen man team. Arkham City and Skyrim and Just Cause 2 and all the other big triumphs of this generation need big teams and budgets to be made, and those games are the ones that push the art form forward. Like it or not, AAA games give the experiences that make this art form its own thing. As incredible as Fez was, no one's building on what that game accomplished to make something bigger and better. These small games are neat and worth your time (sometimes), but very rarely are they doing something that A) could not be achieved in a more economical manner via animation, film or even a comic, and B) isn't jerking off over a genre that was last genuinely popular in 1989. The video game scene isn't complete without both sides, the big and small filling all the gaps.
Ironically, my original last line for this article was "Don't panic when the makers of Rugrats: Tommy Shit His Pants Because We're All Babies goes out of business. Panic when Irrational or Naughty Dog goes out of business". Well, fucking shit, Irrational just went out of business. That's not nothing. Maybe panic a little? I think a little panic is okay in this situation.


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Essential oils are exactly that—they are natural oils derived from fruits, leaves, flowers, seeds, and even bark. They are extracted from plants through cold pressing or steam distillation, and contain the scent and characteristics of the plant.
For thousands of years, pure essential oils have been used for cosmetic, therapeutic, and dietary purposes. They offer a plant-based alternative to the chemicals in many of the products we use every day.
How to Use Essential Oils
Diffusing is one of my favorite ways to use essential oils. They are a natural replacement for artificially scented candles and air fresheners, and provide aromatherapy benefits. You can even use essential oils to create your own DIY cosmetic and cleaning products.
You can also use them for cooking up your favorite paleo recipes—like Peppermint Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Orange Pots de Crème. Essential oils come in a variety of flavors, including citrus, herbs, and spices. Their rich aromas and flavors add a splash of zest to any dish.
Because not all essential oils are edible, be sure to purchase only pure therapeutic grade essential oils and read each label carefully. The easy way to know if your essential oils are edible is to use the Vitality line of dietary essential oils from Young Living. All of the Vitality oils are edible and are labeled for culinary use.
Where to Buy Essentials Oils
It's important to know how your oils are being processed before using them, and to be sure you are getting therapeutic grade essential oils. Not all essential oils are "extracted" equally.
Young Living is the only company that has their own farms, guarantees that no pesticides or herbicides are used in the growing of any of their oils (they guarantee absolutely no pesticides and they do all of the weeding by hand), has their own testing equipment (they do both in-house and 3rd party testing), and only uses the first distillation of oils instead of adding chemicals to get more out of the plant.
Getting Started with Essential Oils
The best way to get started and try essential oils is with one of the Premium Starter Kits. The starter kits are a great deal and include helpful tools and products to introduce you to Young Living Essential Oils. I bought my starter kit last spring and I use the oils every day!
There are a few different options. You'll likely want to choose the Member option when you sign up so that you'll get the 24% discount (if you choose Retail Customer, you pay full retail price). One thing I really love about Young Living is that there is absolutely no obligation to sell anything when you become a wholesale member. You can if you want to, but it's in no way a requirement, and most people become members just to get the discount on Young Living Essential Oils.
Next you get to choose your starter kit and select your diffuser. I'd recommend the Premium Starter Kit with the Home Diffuser or the Dewdrop Diffuser. The Premium Starter Kit is by far the best value. It comes with 11 essential oils (including Peppermint Vitality, Lemon Vitality, and Lavender), your choice of diffuser, product guide, sample packets, and accessories.
How to sign up
- Head over to the Young Living page here and fill out your information. It only takes a few seconds, I promise!
- Be sure the "Member" option is checked so that you don't end up paying retail prices (which are 24% more than wholesale).
- Be sure the "sponsor ID" and "enroller ID" say 2780804.
- Select which starter kit you want to get. My recommendation would be the Premium Starter Kit with the Home or Dewdrop Diffuser. Those are the oils that I use almost every single day (especially the lemon and peppermint)!
- *OPTIONAL* If you already know that you want to be ordering regularly, then you can go ahead and sign up for Essential Rewards when you order your starter kit! It's an amazing way to earn FREE oils with your order every month! It's a completely OPTIONAL program, so if you just want the starter kit for now then you can just skip this part of the sign-up process.
- Fill in your information. Note, if you do not feel comfortable putting in your social security number (this is only for tax purposes if you decide to turn this into a business) then you can get an EIN from the IRS in just a few seconds here and use that number instead (the IRS just needs to be able to connect some number with you for tax purposes). They need a Social Security Number or an EIN because if you make $600 or more per year selling Young Living products, you will receive a 1099 form in the mail (which is required by law). Young Living will never share this info with anyone.
- Complete the checkout process. That's it!
If you would prefer to watch the instructions, here's a short video on how to sign up:
Click here to get your starter kit
Frequently Asked Questions
Does signing up make me a "distributor"?
Nope! You are not required to sell anything at all to anyone. When you become a wholesale member, you get a special link that you can share with friends and get credit from their purchases, but there are no minimum sales amounts at all. In fact, 90% of the wholesale members in Young Living don't do the business side at all. They are buying from Young Living because of the quality alone.
Am I required to make a minimum purchase each month?
There are absolutely NO minimum monthly purchase requirements. To remain a wholesale member, you have to make $50 worth of purchases per year to keep your membership. But if there's a year that you don't make a $50 purchase, you can reinstate your wholesale membership discount by just placing a $50 order.
If you do find yourself making regular purchases each month, then Young Living has a rewards program (called Essential Rewards) where you can make a nice percentage back in product credit each month on all of your purchases. So that's a neat program to join if you find that you *want* to purchase regularly (but it's not a requirement for being a wholesale member).
Why should I buy from Young Living instead of other essential oils companies?
It does seem like a new essential oils company pops up every day, doesn't it?
I can't speak to the quality of other companies, but I can say that Young Living was the only company in my research of essential oil companies that could answer all of my questions about purity in a way that was satisfactory to me.
Young Living was the only company that has their own farms (in the regions where the plants should be grown), could absolutely guarantee that no pesticides or herbicides were used in the growing of any of their oils (they guarantee no pesticides and they do all of the weeding by hand), has their own testing equipment (they do both in-house and 3rd party testing, and use many different testing methods not just GC/MS which only tests for certain chemicals, not whether those chemicals are synthetic or not), and only uses the first distillation of oils instead of adding chemicals to get more out of the plant.
Young Living also was the only company that was directly in charge of essential oil farming operations. Every other company I researched goes through some kind of an "oil broker" to buy their oils. They have to trust that the oil broker is telling the truth, who has to trust that the essential oil distilleries are telling the truth, who have to trust that the farmers are telling the truth about what they say they are doing.
With Young Living, you just have to trust one company instead of several.
I feel like it's a trust step either way (anyone could be lying) but I felt the most comfortable trusting Young Living since they are a full-disclosure company. ANYONE can visit the farms, participate in the harvesting and distillation, view the Young Living labs, and see the entire process. That's not an option with any other company.
How will I know how to use my oils?
One of the benefits of getting a starter kit through this promotion is that you also get to join our private Facebook group!
Does Young Living only sell essential oils?
The answer to this one was surprising to me when I first got my starter kit! Young Living actually has an entire line of personal care products, supplements, natural cleaning products, animal care, and more! Almost every product incorporates essential oils (for example, frankincense is absolutely wonderful in facial products), but there's a wide variety of products available.
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text: Golf-Crazed Celebs\nAs celebrities descend on Pebble Beach, a look at the most passionate golfers among them\n\n• Related: Celebrities we wish played golf but don't\nMichael Phelps\n\nThe Olympic star's golf career has been fruitful enough to land a Golf Digest cover\n\n, a Golf Channel show, and an endorsement contract with Ping\n\n. "This is a passion that I have and I'm going to do everything I can to improve and get to where I want to be. I have friends that are single-digit and scratch golfers that I would love to be able to compete with," Phelps told Golf World's E. Michael Johnson. "I know it is a very challenging sport. It's the most humbling sport I've ever played in my life."\nAdam Levine\n\nAs the Maroon 5 frontman and star of "The Voice" explained, golf wasn't always an obvious choice. "I grew up programmed to hate everything about it," he said. "It's very proper." But the touring lifestyle and the sense he was missing out on something forced Levine to change his mind. The result of his new passion was a stint under Hank Haney's tutelage in a season of "The Haney Project." "All my buddies play and I kind of want to be included in it because it seems like they had so much fun together going golfing," he said on the show.\nThe teen star has had his recent run-ins with the law, but his passion for golf dates back much longer. In fact, according to a Rolling Stone profile, Bieber's music career is a byproduct of his not having enough money for golf. When he sought to scrounge up $20 for green fees, Bieber took his guitar to the steps of a downtown theater and played for cash. When he came home with $200, Biebermania was born.\nMinka Kelly\n\nThe former "Friday Night Lights" star was one of several celebrities to play in the Mission Hills World Celebrity Pro-Am in Haikou, China in October of 2012. Did she play well? "I'm learning," Kelly told reporters. "It's not easy." At the time Kelly said Ian Woosnam is her favorite golfer -- presumably not because she watched endless footage of the 1991 Masters as a little girl, but because Woosnam gave her swing tips during their pairing together in the pro-am.\nCatherine Zeta-Jones\n\nThe Welsh beauty is a popular draw on the celebrity circuit, and a perfect companion to husband Michael Douglas. "I was just bowled over by Catherine," Douglas told the Daily Telegraph last fall. "When I discovered she loved golf, I realized all my fantasies had come true." Jones was 88th in Golf Digest's last Hollywood ranking\n\n with a 25.4 index.\nJustin Timberlake\n\nThe only two-time participant in the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge, the singer/actor has taken his golf passion to a whole other level. Timberlake not only works with famed instructor Butch Harmon, he is also responsible for restoring a municipal course in his native Memphis, and was until recently the official host of the PGA Tour stop in Las Vegas. "Golf is my getaway," Timberlake told Craig Bestrom in a 2008 Golf Digest Interview\n\n. "For me, golf is one of those things where you go out and forget about everything else."\nAndy Roddick\n\nThe retired tennis star is the rare celebrity who can say he played in the Masters . . . sort of. As a guest caddie for Zach Johnson in the 2011 par 3 contest, Roddick was able to get in a swing himself (above), although his ball landed in the pond. Roddick will get another crack at the big stage when he plays in the 2014 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He's also the star of a series of Travis Mathew golf ads\n\n.\nMark Wahlberg\n\nThe star and producer of the Oscar-nominated film, "The Fighter," Wahlberg's 97 at Pebble Beach made him the lone participant in the 2010 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge to break 100 (he was also the only non-athlete to earn medalist honors). He was 26th in our last ranking of Hollywood's 100 Best Golfers with an 8.7 index, but as instructor Jim Flick learned when meeting Wahlberg in preparation for the Challenge\n\n, the actor could be closer to a scratch if he didn't work so hard.\nMatthew McConaughey\n\nOff screen, the actor is likely to be photographed one of two ways: without a shirt; or with a shirt on and playing golf. He was among a group of celebs who played in the 2010 Mission Hills Star Trophy, which didn't always treat him kindly (This clip, for instance,\n\n shows him shanking a tee shot), but he is mostly competent on the course. McConaughey was listed as having an 8.6 index in our last Hollywood ranking\n\n.\nTony Romo\n\nThe Dallas Cowboys quarterback has made an annual rite of trying to qualify for the U.S. Open, although he has yet to make it past local qualifying. Still, he earned the top spot in our 2009 ranking of athlete golfers\n\n with a plus-3.3 index, and with an 84, was low man in the inaugural Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge at Torrey Pines.\nCameron Diaz\n\nThe starlet's breakthrough role in "There's Something About Mary" included a scene of her hitting balls opposite Matt Dillon at the driving range, but Diaz's golf passion is real. "It's kind of like crack cocaine to me... I'm getting my clubs fitted... and I'm very excited," Diaz said in a 2011 interview with Starpulse.com.\nBill Murray\n\nFair or not, Murray will forever be identified in golf circles as the loopy assistant greenkeeper Carl Spackler from "Caddyshack," meaning he can't step on a golf course without hearing the words, "It's in the hole!" or "Cinderella story" (*read more on "Caddyshack"\n\n*). That hasn't scared him off too much. Murray is a mainstay at the AT&T, and carries a single-digit index. He backed that up by winning the pro-am in 2011 with partner D.A. Points.\nGeorge Lopez\n\nThe comedian and host of "Lopez Tonight" had a 10.8 index in our last Hollywood ranking.\n\n He is even better when it comes to entertaining on the course, however, having served as the host of the Bob Hope Classic. In recent years, he has been a staple at the AT&T. That shouldn't be too surprising, though, since he has a house in Pebble Beach.\nRay Romano\n\nThe "Everybody Loves Raymond" star has never been shy about sharing his golf frustrations with the masses. He made a documentary with buddy Kevin James about trying to make the cut in the AT&T, and was the star of the second season of Golf Channel's "The Haney Project." Romano also wrote in the April 2006 issue of Golf Digest about trying to break 100 from the tips at Augusta National (he shot 101). "Here's the beauty of playing Augusta," Romano wrote. "Even after six-putting, the smile never left my face."\nSamuel L. Jackson\n\nJackson's golf addiction is significant enough he reportedly had a clause written into his contract that says he can take two days off a week to play. When he was filming "Star Wars II," Jackson said he carried a light saber around in his golf bag. "I had to practice whenever I could because there were 109 movements to learn," he said in a 2005 My Shot with Golf Digest's Guy Yocom\n\n. "One of those moves is similar to a golf swing, used to block an overhand blow. The hands lead, like you're playing a knockdown shot, and the block comes high in the follow-through." Jackson was 11th in our last Hollywood ranking\n\n with a 6.9 index.\nKevin Costner\n\nHe once had a chance to win the U.S. Open at Pinehurst with one hole to play. OK, so maybe it was in his fictional role as a West Texas driving range pro in the film, "Tin Cup," but Costner at least had the golf swing to make it look plausible. A regular at the AT&T, Costner was ranked 39th in our last ranking of Hollywood golfers,\n\n with an 11.2 index.\nWayne Gretzky\n\nThe Great One became the greatest scorer in hockey history playing left-handed, but he only had access to righty clubs when first taking up golf. "I wish I'd have learned as a left-handed player," he told GolfDigest.com's John Strege in 2009\n\n. "I hit balls left-handed on the range from time to time and probably hit the ball better from that side." Not that Gretzky, 53, has fared all that poorly as a right-handed golfer. He provided the highlight of the 2010 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge\n\n when he holed out for birdie from a bunker on the famed seventh hole at Pebble Beach. He's likely to get help from his soon-to-be son-in-law Dustin Johnson, who is engaged to Gretzky's daughter Paulina.\nJack Wagner\n\nThe veteran of daytime TV and "Melrose Place," Wagner was ranked first in our most recent ranking of Hollywood's top golfers\n\n with a plus-0.3 index, surpassing fellow Bel-Air member Dennis Quaid, who was first in 2005. "It actually inspired me to win the next Lake Tahoe event," Wagner says of his 11th-place ranking in 2005. His golf success dates back much further, however, having won the 1980 Missouri junior college championship.\nKenny G\n\nThe face and sound of smooth jazz, Kenneth Gorelick told Jaime Diaz in 2006\n\n that he originally made the golf team in high school, but not the jazz band. He has since gone on to thrive with both a golf club and a saxophone, earning the top spot in Golf Digest's original ranking of the top 100 Golfers In Music (although he was surpassed in the second ranking in 2008\n\n by Rudy Gatlin).\nMichael Jordan\n\nThe basketball legend said he was never more nervous than when he shot 86 in the 2009 Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge at Bethpage Black. "When you step outside your field, it's a whole different atmosphere. You become human, and I was nervous," Jordan said. It's not that Jordan is out of his depth on the course. He has played often with his friend Tiger Woods, and carried a 3 index according to our 2009 ranking of athlete golfers\n\n.\nJack Nicholson\n\nThe three-time Oscar winner and 2007 Golf Digest cover boy, who sharpens his game by bombing range balls off his back porch and into a canyon below, joined a bunch of L.A.-area clubs, including Riviera, Bel-Air, and Lakeside when he first took up the game at age 50. Which is not to say he embraced all aspects of golf culture. "Frankly I was joining a golf course, not a social club," he said in a 2007 Golf Digest Interview.\n\n So if you expect me to attend the fish soiree, don't have me in."\nSelena Gomez\n\nDoes Selena Gomez really play golf? We can't say for sure. What we do know is that A) she was photographed playing at least once alongside another teen idol Nick Jonas; B) she played "Shoe Golf" once on Jimmy Fallon; C) she prefers Chuck Taylor lowtops over, say, Foot-Joys; and D) she has more than 17 million Twitter followers -- which is about 14 million more followers than another celebrity golfer, Tiger Woods.


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Nicolas Roche: 'I went head first and my bike went one way and I went another. Andriy Grivko fell behind me and his bike landed on my head'
Nicolas Roche's Tour de France diary
Wednesday July 9, Stage 5: Ypres to Arenberg Porte de Hainault, 152.5km
Surprisingly for the Tour de France, today's stage didn't start until 2pm, so while it made for a long morning of hanging around, it gave me plenty of time to tidy my room and pack my suitcase for the next hotel.
The soigneurs usually call to the rooms to collect our cases about five minutes before we leave for the stage, but today I noticed my room-mate Michael Rogers' stuff was still all over the place, so I called to remind him.
"Hey Michael, you'd want to pack your bags. It's nearly time to go."
You can imagine my disappointment when he just started laughing.
"Nico, we're staying here again tonight!"
We were greeted by pouring rain at the start this morning, but at least we arrived a bit early and had plenty of time to get ready and decide what we were going to wear for the stage ahead.
To help our wrists cope with the continuous pounding from the cobbled sections sprinkled towards the end of the stage, each of our bikes were fitted with an extra layer of handlebar tape, while we used wider 28mm tyres instead of the usual 23mm.
Normally, I have 8.5 bar of pressure in both tyres, but this morning, with the rain and the cobbles ahead, I had five bar in the back and 4.5 in the front, which felt a bit strange for the first few hundred metres. The atrocious weather conditions saw the race organisation cut two sections of cobbles from today's route, but at the pre-stage meeting on the bus, team manager Bjarne Riis left us in no doubt that we were still in for a bumpy ride.
"Listen guys," he announced. "Today is one of those days that in 10 years' time, when you meet each other at dinner or somewhere, you will always talk about as one of those epic days in cycling."
I remembered him saying something similar before a stage of the recent Giro d'Italia, where we rode through 12ft snow drifts at the side of the road in the mountains.
"You said that to me before the Stelvio stage at the Giro," I smiled.
"Well, look how lucky you are! You will have ridden two of the most unforgettable days in cycling in three months!"
The team plan today was for myself and my room-mate Michael Rogers to ride at the front from the very start, with our team leader Alberto Contador sheltered behind us, so that we could keep the cobble specialists Daniele Bennati, Matteo Tossatto and Michael Morkov fresh to help him later on.
While riding at the front expended a huge amount of energy, by doing so we all managed to avoid the carnage caused by the slippery roads behind us.
With about 80km to go, triple-stage winner Marcel Kittel fell in front of us and almost brought Alberto down. Michael had to ride straight into the grass to avoid falling, while I was on the inside and also just managed to escape. As we entered the first section of cobbles with about 68km to go, 'Benna' hit the front and kept a steady pace with Alberto riding comfortably behind him in third wheel.
Coming back on to the tarmac, we tried to put teams under pressure by riding in the gutter and managed to split the peloton in three, but most of them came back up about 5km from the second section.
This 1.4km-long section saw huge trenches full of muddy water at the side of the road and some of the cobbles may as well have been land mines as guys were flung left, right and centre in front of us. Alberto was a bit worried and wasn't in the best position, so I rode just behind him in case he needed a wheel or even my bike.
"Nico just stay there whatever happens," he said. "We'll see where we are when we get back on to the road."
By the time we got back on the road, however, the peloton had disintegrated and we were in the third group, about 35 seconds down on race leader Vincenzo Nibali, while 'Benna' and 'Tosso' were somewhere in between.
I hit the front and tried to pull Alberto back up to the next group, while the two guys waited for us up ahead, to help with the chase. Although we were losing time, the plan was to stay together to the finish and not panic. We didn't want Alberto to be left alone in the last 20km in case he crashed or had a mechanical problem.
On the fourth section of cobbles, with about 25km to go, my luck ran out and I hit the deck.
Although I was riding in a straight line in the centre of the cobbles and was positioned well towards the front of the group, there was a lot of grass and muck on the surface and my front wheel just went from under me.
I went head first and my bike went one way and I went another. I slid into the ditch at the side of the road and Astana's Andriy Grivko fell behind me and his bike landed on my head.
Whatever way I fell on my hip and arm, I couldn't get up. Luckily, one of the team staff that we had positioned at the beginning, middle and end of each section, ran down the road and helped me out of the ditch.
After the belt in the head, it took me a while to gather myself before remounting, but I knew there was no point in riding like a maniac to try and catch the group because the race was all over the place. As I rolled off, I could hear something rattle and looked down to see my rear wheel skewer open. I slowed down, stopped and tightened it before continuing to the finish in a group of about 15 riders and ending the stage about 13 minutes down.
Upon crossing the line, I got stripped and showered on the bus and examined myself to see that I've a big bruise on my calf, scrapes on my back and hip and a huge lump on my right shoulder.
Although the shoulder was a bit sore while riding, I was able to finish and only realised when I took my jersey off how swollen it was.
I'll see the physio tonight and get it checked out, but it's probably only bruised and I should be okay tomorrow. I'm a bit disappointed to have crashed today after riding at the front for a lot of the stage. I would have got more satisfaction from finishing alongside Alberto, just to be there to help.
Race leader Nibali had a storming ride today to finish third on the stage and took just more than two and a half minutes out of Alberto and most of the favourites, but I don't think today was a catastrophe for us. Alberto limited his losses and it could have been a whole lot worse.
Unfortunately, defending champion Chris Froome of Sky was forced to pull out today. He'd already crashed yesterday and crashed twice again today and it was just too much for him, which is a real pity because I think he would have had a hell of a battle with Nibali, Alberto and the others for overall victory.
I'm looking forward to nice lie down now, but first I have to give my shoes and helmet to the mechanics to power hose.
TOUR DE FRANCE, LIVE TG4 1.10pm/EUROSPORT 1.15pm/ITV4 2.00pm
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Related Content
- Nicolas Roche falls away as carnage hits stage five of the Tour de France
- nibali in pole position after froome departure
- 'I saw the footage and it looked like someone's back wheel took him out'


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One place I always find inspiration for my home and new creative projects is, without fail, from the Country Homes and Interiors magazine which I like to pick up most months. I find that flicking through and seeing lots of images really sparks my own thoughts and ideas, not only introducing me to a host of new brands, shops and designers, but prompting me to conjure my own 'blue sky' imaginings of my own home (in the future!)
I always love the challenge of what I can do now to make things more practical, pretty, or just to update tired pieces around the home.
I love to flick through these mags on my way to bed, or in the afternoon if I have a few minutes to spare and i'll often sit with a pen and circle websites or images that get my creative juices flowing so that I can quickly come back to them when I want to research a bit deeper.
I find this magazine really epitomises where my own personal taste for home decor lies at the moment and so it is definitely worth having! As well as being a great resource for ideas, it looks nice on my coffee table for visitors to enjoy a peruse, or just for me to reach for when there's a quiet moment.
What inspires your home projects?
Happy Tuesday all!
Love Bunty


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"Watch the Video Summary"
1. Mujtaba BG, Cavico FJ. A Review of Employee Health and Wellness Programs in the United States. Public Policy and Administration Research 2013; 3: 1–15.
2. Sizemore SC. A Fatter Butt Equals a Skinnier Wallet: Why Workplace Wellness Programs Discriminate Against the Obese and Violate Federal Employment Law. Wyoming Law Review 2011; 11: 639–72.
3. Santich Kate. The price of poor health. Sun-Sentinel 2013, April 28: 4D.
4. Kwoh L. Shape Up or Pay Up: Firms Put in New Health Penalties. Wall St J 2013, April 6-7: A1–10.
5. Schmidt H, Voigt K, Wikler D. Carrots, sticks, and health care reform--problems with wellness incentives. N Engl J Med 2010; 362: e3. doi: 10.1056/nejmp0911552
6. Cavico FJ, Mujtaba BG. Business Ethics: The Moral Foundation of Effective Leadership, Management, and Entrepreneurship. Boston: Pearson; 2009.
7. Cavico FJ, Mujtaba BG. Legal Challenges for the Global Manager and Entrepreneur. Iowa: Kendall-Hunt; 2008.


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Roofers are most often employed by the Construction industry. The average yearly wage for Roofers was $33,042 in 2016. The top 3 most similar occupations to Roofers by wage are Correspondence clerks & order clerks, Drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, & tapers, and Word processors & typists.
Roofers are part of the Construction & Extraction Occupations, along with Firstline supervisors of construction trades & extraction workers, Boilermakers, Carpenters, Carpet, floor, & tile installers & finishers, Cement masons, concrete finishers, & terrazzo workers, Construction laborers, Paving, surfacing, & tamping equipment operators, Construction equipment operators except paving, surfacing, & tamping equipment operators, Drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, & tapers, Electricians, Glaziers, Insulation workers, Painters & paperhangers, Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, & steamfitters, Plasterers & stucco masons, Roofers, Sheet metal workers, Structural iron & steel workers, Brickmasons, blockmasons, stonemasons, & reinforcing iron & rebar workers, Helpers, construction trades, Construction & building inspectors, Elevator installers & repairers, Fence erectors, Hazardous materials removal workers, Highway maintenance workers, Railtrack laying & maintenance equipment operators, Earth drillers, except oil & gas, Explosives workers, ordnance handling experts, & blasters, Mining machine operators, Miscellaneous extraction workers, including roof bolters & helpers, Derrick, rotary drill, & service unit operators, & roustabouts, oil, gas, & mining, and Miscellaneous construction workers, including solar photovoltaic installers, septic tank servicers & sewer pipe cleaners
The top 3 locations that employ the most Roofers are Inside Loop I-820 PUMA, TX, South of I-30 & West of I-635 PUMA, TX, and Dallas (Far North) & Richardson (Southwest) Cities PUMA, TX. The top 3 locations with a relatively high concentration of Roofers are Inside Loop I-820 PUMA, TX, South of I-30 & West of I-635 PUMA, TX, and Dallas (Far North) & Richardson (Southwest) Cities PUMA, TX.


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The Football Medical Association has confirmed Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro's lawyers will handle her case after she parted company with the club.
The FMA – the body for medical staff in the game – has been representing Carneiro in negotiating with Chelsea and says it is "extremely disappointed" she will not resume her full duties.
A statement said: "The FMA is extremely disappointed that Dr Eva Carneiro will not be resuming her full duties as first team doctor at Chelsea Football Club.
"As the representative body for medicine and science personnel in the professional game, the FMA aims to protect the rights of its members.
"Having recently been contacted by Eva, we have offered our full support in attempting to negotiate a satisfactory outcome.
"Unfortunately this has not resulted in our preferred outcome. Chelsea considers this now to be an internal matter and it is for Chelsea and Eva's appointed lawyers to discuss any further action."
The FMA said it will continue to support Carneiro and stated that priority should be given to protecting players' safety.
It added: "The FMA strongly believe that in matters pertaining to a player's health and safety, respect for the integrity of the medical professional is paramount.
"The FMA will continue to offer support to Eva on a professional level through what is likely to be a difficult time."
Caneiro parted company with Chelsea following the incident on the opening day of the season when she was criticised by manager Jose Mourinho for going on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard. It is likely she will launch legal action claiming constructive dismissal.
Mourinho was unhappy with Carneiro because it meant Hazard had to leave the field and Chelsea were temporarily down to nine men. As a result she was dropped from first-team duties.
The incident against Swansea saw head physiotherapist Jon Fearn also go onto the pitch and Mourinho said at the time: "I was unhappy with my medical staff. They were impulsive and naive.
"Whether you are a kit man, doctor or secretary on the bench you have to understand the game."
Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor said the system – where referees and players judge whether to call doctors onto the pitch - worked well.
He believes players' health should not be put at risk if team doctors feel any reluctance to go on the field in the wake of Carneiro's departure.
Taylor told Press Association Sport: "The health and safety of our members is of paramount importance and the need, when required, for prompt assessment and treatment is critical in ensuring this.
"The player and the referee are the initial judges as to whether treatment is required and, the matter is then the responsibility of the highly qualified and trained medical staff.
"This protocol has worked successfully in past seasons and we can see no justifiable reason to move away from this."
Football Association board member Heather Rabbatts, the chair of the FA's inclusion advisory board, has expressed her "anger and sadness" at news of Carneiro's departure from the club.
Chelsea said they could not comment on internal staffing matters.


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PARCC assessments in the District of Columbia are designed to provide accurate information so that teachers, parents and students can work together now to ensure kids are on track for the next grade and prepared for what comes after high school.
View a sample score report here.
Parents and guardians will receive score reports from D.C. Public Schools in late summer, summarizing how their student performed on the English language arts/literacy and mathematics tests. The score reports feature valuable, customized information on student score results, in an easy-to-read, simple format.
For more information and resources to help you get the most from the score reports, please visit the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. We also encourage you to review the Parent Curriculum Guides, which give you the tools you need at each grade level to support your child's learning at home.Visit D.C.'s PARCC Resources Page For More Resources
For state specific questions or to contact your local state official, fill out this form.
Families of students in grades 3-8 can take advantage of the GreatKids Test Guide for Parents to better understand what their child was tested on and how to support their child's learning, grade-by-grade and subject-by-subject. To get started, grab your score report and choose your state and the grade your child was in last year. Also available en Espanol.


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16Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. 17The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, "A son has been born to Naomi." They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.
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As the weather begins to change, life for those who are hungry and homeless becomes even more difficult. Please bring non-perishable food items and place them in the baskets at the sanctuary entrance. The food we collect will be taken to the food pantry at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lower Eastside.
We offer brief healing services on the 1st and 3rd Sundays each month. These are powerful times of anointing and prayer. They are held in the sanctuary after the 11 AM service.


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Consultant Profile: Catherine Lavelle BSc (Hons), Higher Dip OH, RGN
Catherine has extensive experience in the field of Occupational health and in managing OH projects over the last 15 years. Catherine is highly motivated Occupational health practitioner with experience in a variety of organisations including steel industry, public utility, NHS, manufacturing and engineering organisations. She has worked at the Foreign Office and the Employers Engineering Federation. She has excellent communication and presentation skills to influence at all levels of an organisation.
Key skills:
- OH policy and strategy development
- Excellent OH clinical skills encompassing all aspects of case management and health surveillance
- Experience of developing and implementing wellness and health promotion initiatives including Scottish Healthy Working lives Award scheme
- Advise on fitness for work in the light of pre-employment, re-deployment, disability, and attendance management
- Collaboration with internal/external stakeholders such as GP's Health and Safety personnel, Counsellors, other community health resources in delivery of OH service
- Provision of advice, assistance and rehabilitation to employees returning to work following illness and injury
- Participation in the analysis of occupational accidents and occupational disease
- Undertaking absence management programmes and advising on appropriate health intervention and referral systems
- To actively seek to prevent ill-health through use of OH skills, i.e., environmental surveys and reports, training and briefing sessions, workplace audits, as well as interpretation of legislation and codes of practice in the provision of OH remit
- Undertaking Clinical audit
we are passionate about the development of Occupational Health in this current climate and has a flexible approach in meeting employee and employer needs. So whatever your OH concerns, please get in touch, no query is too small
We also have other Associates such as Physiotherapy, Counselling, Ergonomics and Health and safety to enable us to deliver a comprehensive occupational health service


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The IP DECT – SME VoIP is a complete turnkey solution offering a scalability not seen before in this segment. This allows the system to grow from 1 to 40 bases and up to 200 users. Furthermore, RTX also provides two different high quality color screen CAT-iq handsets supporting the wideband audio functionality in the base station.
The IP DECT – SME VoIP supports DECT standards in all major regions in the world. Seamless handover and repeater support are two major advantages besides the superior scalability and audio quality.
Show 1 to 5 (from a total of 5 products)


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Housefull 3 2nd Week Box Office Collection Total Earning Report Income :- Well, Housefull 3 did fabulous business in box office and that's great. People loved this movie and I am sure that the movie going to collect more bucks in upcoming days and that's great. I think movie has everything in place and thats great.
Housefull 3 Box Office Collection
Akki's recent release Housefull 3 beat the record earnings of Rowady rathore and became the highest earning movie in box office of India and that's awesome. People coming out to watch the movie in good numbers. People have not that much option to watch this week and that's why they all are attracting towards this movie and that's awesome.
People still coming out to watch the movie and the reason is they don't have that much option to watch. Also few people coming out with their loveones, kids and family to watch the movie and that's quite good. because movie is not all about family Comedy but people taking everything in lightly and that's awesome.
2nd week box office collection of the movie-
Movie collected more than expectations and that's great I am sure that the movie going to set the life time record in India for the Akki Movie collected between 15.21 crore from the very first day of release and 16.30 Crore from the very second day of release. Also Movie collected between 21.30 Crore from the first Sunday and that's banger. I think movie going to be the good deal or the makers and that's good.
Movie collected between 8.25 and 7.07 Crore from the fourth and fifth day of release and that's quite impressive. Also movie surely going to collect much more from upcoming days and that's awesome. Movie collected more than 82.20 Crore from the first week and that's awesome.
#Housefull3 [Week 2] Fri 3.50 cr, Sat 5.05 cr, Sun 6.65 cr, Mon 2.30 cr, Tue 2.05 cr. Total: ₹ 99.65 cr. India biz… #HF3
Movie collected more than expectation and by the end of this week movie collected more than 100 Crore and that's exciting.


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Stream Fettuccine, the newest drop from Future which features Pusha T & Emilio Rojas. The cut was released on Saturday, March 24th, 2012. Things are looking better for Future with each new release, which Fettuccine has proven yet again. It's worthy addition to the impressive body of work Future has been developing over the years. We're looking forward to hearing what's next.
Check out Future on Splurge (No DJ), featuring Alley Boy & Young Scooter. Check out Future's profile page for the most recent info, news, songs, and mixtapes. Check out Future's Facebook and Twitter.
How's the chemistry here? How do you feel about the production here?


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Did you know I have the most awesome little brother in the world?
Well, let me tell you about how he is graduating from college this weekend. And how he has a job lined up in NYC this summer (thank goodness I have more excused to go there). And how he's this hilarious sarcastic boy. And how lucky I am he's my little brother. And how awesome it is that he's one of my best friends and I'm so happy for him and his awesome life and accomplishments.
That was sappy. I'm not sorry about it though.
CONGRATS Jakie Pants I LOVE YOU!!!


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The river of legend in the American Southwest and Mexico, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo is a strand of water tracing over 1,800 miles from the peaks of Colorado, through the pueblos and Spanish-founded towns of New Mexico and the frontiers of Mexico and Texas.
Contested for over 400 years this fragile line through the deserts of Texas and northern Mexico continues to be mark the edge of two political worlds, yet crossed over by peoples with historic and cultural roots on both sides.
Contested for over 400 years this fragile line through the deserts of Texas and northern Mexico continues to be mark the edge of two political worlds, yet crossed over by peoples with historic and cultural roots on both sides.
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63 imagesPhotos here picture the beginning stages of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo. At the headwaters west of Creede, Colorado, the river is prime trout fishing territory. Soon it is dammed and diverted for irrigation in the San Luis Valley before heading south into New Mexico.
24 imagesPhotos picture the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo as it carves a dramatic canyon near Taos, New Mexico on its way south. Eventually irrigating the rich Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico, the river makes its way toward Texas and Mexico.
92 imagesPhotos at El Paso/Cd. Juarez picture the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo on a critical part of its voyage. Here, by 100 year treaty, the waters are divided between the two cities, largely for irrigation - although in the future - municipal water will be a major demand on the river. Leaving this rich agricultural valley near Ft. Quitman, the river is essentially dry.
50 imagesPhotos and pictures of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo as it forms the border between Texas and Mexico. Rich variation along the way, beginning in the desert west, flowing through the dramatic canyons of the Big Bend, then filling reservoirs at Amastad and Falcon for irrigation of the rich valley region before reaching the Gulf of Mexico at Boca Chica.
16 imagesThis series began in 2007 as a protest against GW Bush's border fence as it was called at the time. Simply stated, "This is not my country!" What does this look like? From the inside???? From the outside??? I wanted to complete the series looking from the outside in. What does the fence look like to the people of Mexico? But the project became overwhelmed by issues of climate change and I never completed it. I could not conceive the America of immigrants - my own people landed in the midwest in the early 1900's - now rejecting immigrants. These photos showed the absurdity of the wall a decade before Trump. It has now become a national nightmare as we separate immigrant families and become a land of fear rather than a welcoming nation. Photos of the border picture the El Paso/Cd. Juarez boundary in a new set of images uses the triptych form to amplify the story. These 15 triptychs are part of a larger and ongoing work to image the Rio Grande / Rio Bravo in contemporary terms. Selections from this series created in January 2010 have been exhibited at The People's Gallery, City Hall, Austin Texas; The Texas National 2010 Show at Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas; The 24th Annual Member's Show of the Texas Photographic Society at Baylor University, Waco, Texas; and the 28th Annual Member's Show at the Houston Center for Photography, Houston, Texas.


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This range of Fleetguard filtration solutions has a history of long-lasting performance in a range of applications across sub-Saharan Africa.
Fleetguard filtration products are available in sub-Saharan Africa through Hytec Fluid Technology.
Fleetguard air filtration technology extends engine life with improved contaminant trapping and increased air throughput in all operating environments.View Fleetguard Air Filters
Fleetguard supplies a complete fuel filtration range, consisting of off-engine, remote on-chassis, on-engine and water separation fuel filtration for total fuel line protection.View Fleetguard Fuel Filters
Fleetguard coolant filtration systems provide superior freeze and boil-over protection, while protecting engines from the most damaging cooling system problems.View Fleetguard Coolant Filtration
Fleetguard lube filtration systems increase engine life over all service intervals, and increase vehicle uptime.View Fleetguard Lube Filtration
Fleetguard, part of the Cummins Group, is an international supplier of filtration systems. In addition, Fleetguard is ranked as the top two global brands in the international filtration market.
Not only does this mean Fleetguard products backed by state-of-the-art technologies and global R&D, but that they conform to the world's highest quality and safety standards.
This range of Fleetguard filters conform to the following standards:
Hytec Fluid Technology (HFT) was recently appointed as the Mega Distributor of the entire range of 8 300 Fleetguard filtration products.
This distribution agreement allows HFT to offer this popular range of Fleetguard filtration systems at a more competitive price.
Fleetguard will benefit from HFT's growing demand for this world-renowned product range as well as the Group's extensive distribution network in sub-Saharan and Southern Africa.
Through this new Mega Distributorship agreement, HFT is able to offer a one-stop-shop for all filtration systems that can be adapted to the needs of Africa's toughest environments.
Fleetguard is the only filter manufacturer that is also part of an engine manufacturing company. Through the Fleetguard collaboration with Cummins, Fleetguard knows precisely how to provide the very best in engine protection.
This means that Fleetguard products are developed and manufactured directly alongside the development of each engine! This allows Fleetguard to test its filters in real applications and develop new Fleetguard products as and when required.
You can find Fleetguard's range of filtration systems throughout sub-Saharan Africa through its Master Distributor agreement with HFT!
This agreement means that HFT, the hydraulic fluid specialists in the Bosch Rexroth South Africa Group of Companies, now offers complete engine protection in addition to its total hydraulic fluid management offering across the sub-continent.
Fleetguard mobile air filters deliver maximum output with precise filtration for all types of engines in all operating environments.
These Fleetguard filters provide significant reductions in the engine's ingestion of abrasive contaminants.
The decreased restriction allows the engine to operate at its preferred power rating more consistently. The result is prolonged engine life and increased service intervals!
Fleetguard fuel filters are ideal for diesel and fuel engines in industry, construction, marine and consumer applications.
Fleetguard on-engine filters ensure optimal fuel system protection as per demanding OEM specifications.
Cleaner fuel means greater fuel economy, prolonging equipment life and reducing operating costs.
Fleetguard coolant filtration products assist with cooling system maintenance.
Control of the coolant pH is extremely important and most OEMs require the use of a 40% to 60% anti-freeze based coolant be used year-round, regardless of ambient temperatures.
We provide various Fleetguard test kits and refractometers to check coolant quality, freeze protection and key inhibitor quantity levels and water quality as quality maintenance solutions.
Fleetguard lube filtration innovations have accompanied engines' progressive development since 1950. Our lube filtration systems provide:


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Visit the Pine Rivers Show in Lawnton from Friday 29th July to Sunday 31st July. There is fireworks, stalls, animals and entertainment and loads more.
The Pine Rivers Showgrounds are conveniently located next to Lawnton Swimming Pool and walking distance to Lawnton Train Station allowing easy access to and from Brisbane, right through to Caboolture. The location also has ample off-street parking, and street parking in surrounding streets during large events.
Getting There
If you are driving to Pine Rivers A H & I Association Showgrounds, there is free onsite parking at 757 Gympie Road, Lawnton (Not available during the Pine Rivers Show). During the show, Pine Rivers Special School (10 Lawnton Pocket Road) will be fundraising, offering affordable and secure off-street parking in their grounds. Free on-street parking is also available along Lawnton Pocket Road.


text: Enter our latest Blender Giveaway! HOMEMADE BREAD CRUMBS RECIPE Why buy bread crumbs when you can make homemade ones... even with "old" bread??! Fresh homemade bread crumbs are great to have on hand whether you want to make meatballs, bread some meat, or need a few bread crumbs to thicken soup. Whether using a Blendtec or Vitamix blender, either is perfect for grinding bread into course or fine crumbs! Increase the speed to speed 3 for fine bread crumbs. Blender Babes likes to use healthy whole wheat and grain bread but of course any bread … [Read more...]


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June 21-23, 2016
with Theresa Welbourne and Lacey Leone McLaughlin
Data-Driven Storytellers help leaders use data to have highly interactive dialogues that lead to decisive action that fuels high-impact and measurable business results.Why think about your data differently? We know from neurological research that the brain does not respond positively to numbers. Providing leaders and managers with more and more bar charts and pie charts, whether in dashboards, research reports or presentations, are unlikely to drive results because numbers do not lead to the emotional connection needed for people to take action. Action requires an emotional connection to the story in the data. Learning to tell stories with data or creating power stories – stories powered with data – is a goal of the Data-Driven Storytelling workshop. Data-Driven Storytelling skills are used to transform your data meetings from one-way conversations to highly interactive, action-focused sessions.
Data-Driven Storytelling is a skill that helps your organization shift to results. Participants learn to use strategic decision processes to analyze their data. Whether for an organization or a small team, participants learn to build custom metrics strategies to help the managers they support achieve their own personal business goals. Data-Driven Storytelling is not a quest for more data but a process focused on helping professionals use the data they have to drive interactive dialogues that lead to action and results.
Participants use tools and processes from the science of the narrative, blended with traditional data analytics, to learn how to coach managers to take action with their data. Data-Driven Storytelling will take your metrics to the next level.
- Learn how to evaluate the data you have access to using a new tool called the measurement map.
- Use mind mapping systems and processes to learn to think about your data differently. Rather than using only linear logic, we experiment and use new tools to find the story in data.
- Blend story boarding with data analytics and go beyond your current data analysis systems.
- Walk away with a deep understanding of the conditions under which data do or do not drive action.
- Develop strategies to refine data and dialogue or to readjust which types of data are being used
- Learn how optimal data strategies drive results.
- Take back tools that are immediately applicable to your organization.
This program is focused on building skills. You will be given a pre-work assignment and will use a variety of tools to learn, practice, and build your Data-Driven Storytelling skills during the workshop. Participants will take part in team coaching and will actively practice the skills they learn with their peers in the program.
What do Participants Say About the Workshop?
- I found the content very valuable and applicable to any position. Presenters are very knowledgeable. Enjoyed both presenters! – René Wilkins, Northrop Grumman
- Loved the hands-on, case-study approach to the content … – Terry Gray, Cargill
- The program was good …I benefited from course and have tools to take with me. – Denise Avink, Northrop Grumman
Want to learn more today?
Three webinars are available to provide you with more detail on Data-Driven Storytelling.
- Data-Driven Storytelling is a skill that helps your organization shift to results. It is not a quest for more data but a process focused on helping professionals use the data they have to drive interactive dialogues that lead to action and results.
- Join Theresa and Sheri Marshall from GM to learn more about Data Coaching
Can't make the public program? Learn about our custom data audit and Data-Driven Storytelling programs.
In addition to the public program, we offer customized on-site workshops for organizations that have teams of HR, communications, or organization development professionals interested in the content. The custom Data-Driven Storytelling programs are accompanied by the data audit process, which provides not only feedback on the HR data being used in the organization but also results in cases that are then used in the data coaching program. Thus, participants in custom programs work on their own HR data when going through the workshop.
Data-Driven Storytelling for Leaders
We also offer a Data-Driven Storytelling program designed for leaders who want coach the managers who work for them. The focus is on development of their own story telling skills and then helping managers learn to use their own data to tell stories that impact their own employees toward action and results.
If you are with a sponsor company and do not have your discount code, log into your page by clicking on your organization's name on the CEO Sponsor Companies page (under Sponsor CEO tab) to get the code. If you do not have your password, please contact us.
Registration Pricing
- $3,150.00 per person
- $2,677.50 per person for three or more from the same company
- $2,550.00 per person
- $2,167.50 per person for three or more from the same company
To pay by check or invoice
Click on the registration link above. Once on the registration page, click the "Show other payment options" link below the green "Register" button. Select "Pay Offline," fill-in the form and choose "Send Invoice."
Registration Deadline
May 30, 2016 (extended to June 10, 2016)
Team Discount
Teams of 3 or more people from the same company who register at the same time receive a 15% discount. You must register all participants at the same time. Just choose this option when registering at the link above.
7701 Legacy Drive
Plano, TX 75024
Westin Stonebriar
1549 Legacy Dr.
Frisco, TX 75034
Room Rate: $189 per night
Hotel Reservations: 972-668-8000
Mention USC Data-Driven Storytelling Workshop
Deadline to reserve room: June 1, 2016
- On or before 5/30/16 the cancellation fee is $200.00.
- From 5/31/16 to 6/13/16, 50% of the fee will be refunded.
- Registration fees are non-refundable for cancellations received after 6/13/16 and for no-shows.
- 2 CEUs
- Course #: CEO-007
- Faculty: Theresa Welbourne
Additional Questions?
Event FAQ
Email Vivian Jimenez, or call (213) 740-9814


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In accordance with newly issued CETESB guidelines, Ecolab's facilties in the State of São Paulo make available the required information on our Reverse Logistic Program.
Download the CETESB-compliant Ecolab Reverse Logistics Program document below.
Ecolab Brasil
Av. Francisco Matarazzo
1350 – 11° andar. Água Branca
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil. CEP: 05001-100
For further information about Ecolab's products and solutions, fill out the form and an Ecolab representative will contact you.
Or call us at 0800 704 1409
Data Privacy Concerns? See our Privacy Policy.


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Open Daily 8:00am until 4:30pm
The Visitor Center/Museum is a great place to stop before visiting the reconstructed fort. It offers information on the area's history and artifacts that were excavated prior to the Fort's reconstruction.
A 15-minute film adds to the visitor's understanding of the period. It is located between the parking lot and the reconstructed fort.
Open Daily 8:00am until 4:30pm
While at the Fort Loudoun State Historic Area, we hope you will visit our bookstore and gift shop. Your purchase provides additional funding to this site.
Located convenient to the visitors center and reconstructed Fort Loudoun.
There are 30 tables, most with grills, scattered along the lakeside and in a wooded area. The tables are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Centrally located in the picnic area, a restroom facility is available which also houses a soft drink machine.
Fort Loudoun State Park has 1 picnic shelter/pavilion that may be reserved for your next event or gathering. The shelter has a maximum capacity of 64 people. The shelter is equipped with 8 picnic tables, a grill and access to restrooms. This shelter overlooks Tellico Lake.
Full day shelter reservations may be made online with the Tennessee State Parks Online Reservation System or by calling the park during business hours (8AM until 4:30 PM daily) at 423-420-2331. If you are interested in reserving a shelter for less than a full day, please contact the park office for availability information.
Picnic shelters or pavilions may be reserved online up to one year in advance with a paid reservation fee. There is a $5.00 cancellation fee for picnic shelter or pavilion reservations cancelled 8 days or more in advance of the reserved date. Reservations cancelled 7 days or less in advance of the reserved date forfeit all paid fees.
Fort Loudoun State Historic Area and Sequoyah Birthplace Museum share an island that was created by the damming of the Little Tennessee River.
The lake is approximately 15,000 acres in surface area.
There are a number of boat ramps and marinas servicing the Tellico Lake area. A simple docking facility can be found 150 yards west of the visitor center.
There are many opportunities for anglers by bank or by boat. Located in the picnic area visitors will find a handicap accessible fishing pier large enough to hold many anglers.
Resident and nonresident juveniles under age 13 need no license. There is no special permit required for fishing other than a valid TN Fishing License. Licenses may be purchased from most county clerks, sporting good stores, hardware stores, local gas stations and TWRA offices.
There are three hiking trails that range from easy to moderately strenuous.
The trails are the Ridgetop Loop Trail which is approximately 1.5 miles long and provides beautiful views of the mountains and valley; the Meadow Loop Trail which is approximately 2.25 miles long and the Lost Shoe Loop which is approximately .5 miles long.
The trails are for day use only and are open from 8 AM until sunset daily. Bicycles are not allowed on the trails and pets are to be leashed.
Trail maps are available in the visitor's center at no charge.


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Finding America: Love's Labor Lost
I've been reading Fred White's The Daily Writer (2008) and today's entry is "Writing As An Act of Love" (59). In this entry, White writes that "Love not only makes the world go 'round, as the cliche goes, it inspires us to go around the world; it makes us care enough about the world to get involved with it, to contemplate its beauty as well as its ugliness, its past glories and future possibilities."
It strikes me as a bit cheesy, but I think that is half the point. It is this idea that we need to see the world with a higher degree of innocence, that we can't let experience harden our hearts and build walls where doors belong. It is the human experience, I think, to love and to hate, "to murder and create" as we struggle to understand our place in history.
It is this capacity to love (and in loving to hate), that makes us human. If we lived by logic, like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, or Spock from Star Trek, or Sherlock Holmes, we would lose as much as we gained.


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That' s right. Forget what you hear in the news or from politicians, insurance companies and their lobbyist.
You see, medical malpractice is a result of a choice. Like everyone else in life, doctors, specialist, nurses, HMOs, hospitals, and healthcare companies all have choices.
When you drive your child home you have choices. Are you going to make her wear a seat belt? Are you going to stop at a red light? Are you going to look both ways before you cross the highway?
Medical malpractice means that a healthcare provider made a choice not to put a patient's safety first. It could be a choice based on cost, convenience, staffing, being in a rush, or any other excuse-it doesn't matter why, its a s choice that needlessly put a patient's health in danger.
What are the facts?
According to the Institute of Medicine, 98,000 people die every year due to preventable medical mistakes. And those are deaths - not amputations, cerebral palsy, brain damage or a host of other horrific injuries.
Patient safety means preventing mistakes using a variety or systems, guidelines, protocols and checks.
At Donahoe Kearney, LLP we help clients harmed by medical malpractice and their families. We hold hospitals, HMOs and healthcare corporations accountable for the harms they cause to patients. If you work with us, you will get our experience as nationally board certified trial lawyers to help solve some of the problems you face-whether you have a child with cerebral palsy due to hospital malpractice, have lost a loved one because of HMO medical errors or are a patient injured due to medical malpractice
Contact us and let us help you. With us you get individual attention. You get a thorough investigation. And you get answers. It's a process. And you can't go it alone.
Images courtesy of Google images


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The week started off with a review of our milestone and an adjustment to our schedule going forward. As previously mentioned, we were pretty happy with what we have achieved, but that we had not completed everything we had intended. Looking forward at what we promised for the next milestone, we still believed that we could complete all the desired tasks, but not if we kept progressing in the same manner.
We knew we had a pipeline problem that we had to fix. The problem being that so much of the content was contingent on the story and we were still in the early stages of its development. We hadn't noticed that this issue was going to occur because we had so much researching and experimentation to do. We had been working on the story in bits and pieces, which made us feel like we were on track. That all changed when we tried to make some pages for the comic. Suddenly it became very apparent that we had missed something very important. Once we identified the problem, we quickly to steps to remedy it. We broke our next milestone down into two sprints. Our first sprint is to lockdown the story and the art style so that we can move into production. The second sprint will be all about building assets.
Changing direction wasn't the only hiccup we had last week. Our individual schedules were a complete mess due to several things happening at the school itself. First we had an Industry Showcase, where all the students showed off their portfolios and projects developed during our first two semesters. This caused a lot of chaos as everyone was trying to pull something together to show off. It also meant that some of our other courses had to be rescheduled to other days. Needless to say, it was challenging to find time for everyone to get together and discuss the House Of Usher. Fortunately, we had anticipated this happening and had scheduled ourselves accordingly so we all had tasks we could do independently.
"I dread the events of the future, not in themselves but in their results."
― Edgar Allan Poe