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Gorman Playground
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30 Ave., 25 Ave. Bet. 84 St. And 85 St.
- Basketball Courts
- Bathrooms
- Eateries
- Fitness Equipment
- Handball Courts
- Playgrounds
- Spray Showers


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One of the UK's leading general insurance and financial services companies, NFU Mutual has been meeting our customers' needs for over 100 years.
Our employees are important to us. We empower and inspire them to perform,offer opportunities to grow and we recognise and reward their contribution.They are proud to work for a company that respects them and broader communities, and they trust us to be financially sustainable so we are successful now, and in the future.
For more information on NFU Mutual and the roles they recruit for, click here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Project Description
Hotel Hviezdoslav, Kežmarok
The hotel Hviezdoslav was opened to public on 6th April 2011. It was reconstructed and finished on the basis of EU funds contributions. Our hotel is named after great Slovak poet and writer Pavol Orságh Hviezdoslav, who privately lived in the house during his studies at the famous lyceum of Kežmarok. The memorial tablet hanging on the face of building shows evidence of it. The hotel is situated in a historical object from the 17th century in a Renaissance burgher´s house built on Gothic foundations, which has been recorded in the General list of Monuments Fund of the Slovak Republic.
The hotel offers accommodation in 8 comfortably and cosy equipped double-bedded rooms and in 4 elegant suites, 2 of which are furnished in historical style. The suites have convenient extra beds. The hotel accommodation capacity is 24 beds, including extra beds 32.
In the hotel you can find a style restaurant Poetry, where we offer culinary specialties of Slovak gastronomy in stylish arrangement, but also the meals of international cuisine. When preparing meals we focus on seasonality of foodstuffs and willingly satisfy the needs of guests with health diet restrictions in catering as well. Except for restaurant there is also Literary coffee-bar having an interesting library and portraits of poets and writers who studied at our lyceum. Pleasant atmosphere of our coffee-bar enables our guests to savour a cup of good coffee, a glass of quality wine or refreshing mixed drink; to taste cakes and desserts from own production. During warm and sunny days the cosy summer terrace in hotel atrium is available to the guests, and which may be suitable for mothers and children. For sure you will visit our wellness centre Harmony to regain vitality and to have ideal relaxation. The wellness centre provides visitors with 4 kinds of saunas/steam, herb, Finish and infra- cabin/, Jacuzzi, relaxation room, ice rain and tapidarium, moreover various kinds of massages and relaxation compresses. The accommodated guests have 2-hour free wellness admission included in accommodation price; massages and compression are to be paid extra. The guests have nice and soft dressing-gowns and slippers or wellness bags at their disposal in the rooms. Car parking is included in accommodation price. We take care of the guests' cars at the car park in hotel atrium with a surveillance camera. In the framework of good cooperation we secure horse riding and horse ride training for the guests on the nearby ranch in beautiful environs, the river Dunajec rafting, bathing in thermal water in Vrbov, in winter skiing and skiering and other interesting activities. It is possible to combine work with pleasure stay in cosy hotel atmosphere, and it is offered by our conference room, suitable for smaller conferences, seminars, sessions, business dealings, etc. It is equipped with necessary technique. During the dealings there is also offered a professional coffee break.
Hotel Hviezdoslav, Kežmarok
Hlavné námestie 95/49
060 01 Kežmarok
Slovenská republika
Tel: 02-33 00 67 58


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I love joined up thinking on building a healthy, economically thriving population. Unfortunately my penchant for analysing everything that comes in my direction tells me that's not what we got today on sugar.
A taxing issue
The Chancellor has announced in the Budget, within the last couple of hours, a levy on the manufacturers of sugar sweetened drinks. I nearly fell off my chair. There are various bits of various devils to be included in detail but:
- it will be graded,
- it will come in two years from now,
- there will be a consultation (but basically we know it'll happen)
- it will raise £530m for spending on school sports
- some drinks may be banned altogether
- Some speculation breakfast clubs included (good idea and wholeheartedly support this)
A victory for public health, I hear some acclaim. Well, I can agree that health motives were stated as front and centre in the Chancellor's thinking today on this one.
But a victory? I'm not so sure. A little cool-headed policy analysis suggests to some of us that this is only one measure – however welcome it is – among a range of measures we need to get our population to a healthy weight.
The Cabinet Minister and Paymaster General Matt Hancock MP is saying on BBC news as I write this that the evidence for sugar tax is "pretty strong, and overwhelming." I think that's a little overstated. The evidence suggests a tax would lead to reduction in consumption, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470179/Sugar_reduction_The_evidence_for_action.pdf but we also need other measures too. The BBC suggest this is a government turnaround from what was said earlier in the year.
What's good about this
It's great that money is being pumped into school sport. Sport is great for children for all sorts of biological, psychological and social reasons. Wonderful! A rousing cheer. Brilliant move. I couldn't be happier in and of itself just because of the wonderful benefits physical activity can bring to physical, cognitive and social development of young people. And putting some money behind our vital schools in their role of socialising the future of our country – our children – is great. But let's remember some schools are struggling to deliver free school meals with the money they have already.
Here comes the but…
But however welcome the £530m is, sport in and of itself is not the answer to obesity. It can and should be part of an answer. But a nuanced reading of the evidence suggests that however useful a tax might be it isnt a solution in and of itself . This tax measure wasn't nuanced. There are all sorts of sources of junk calories in childrens' diets way beyond sugary drinks, and all sorts of influences to help us gain weight that no amount of sports lessons will outweigh. This tax wont touch any of that. We still need a joined up obesity strategy.
Diet is hugely important for healthy weight. Physical activity is also hugely important but no amount of sport will save you from an appalling diet. The best way to keep a healthy weight is eat right AND exercise, not just exercise.
So from my own public health perspective, the logic here feels a bit awry. I know others disagree with me. Spending more money on school sports is immensely welcome, but that won't replace the cuts to obesity programmes because of cuts in public health money.
We've had 16% cuts announced over four years to public health budgets, budgets which fund child healthy weight services. However much putting money into schools and school sports is something I think is great, it does feel like with one hand a significant amount of money at least some of which was being spent on effective obesity reduction interventions has been taken away, to be replaced by £530m from a tax source to fund something which however good it is will not of itself be even the major factor in getting our population back to a healthy weight.
Whatever else it is, this is not a victory for joined up public health, or joined up thinking.
Better ways of spending £530m
I don't want to appear churlish; but this in and of itself will not give us the answer to child obesity. We need other measures too, so we still await the obesity strategy coming later in the year. Using the money to deliver whole school approaches to healthy weight (cooking classes, healthy eating across the day, engaging parents in those, physical activity across the day) would be better.
Please, Sir, I want some more…
Tomorrow we have the LGA national event to look at what we'd like from the Obesity Strategy. Reformulation of food, access to services, ability of local councils to fund healthy weight services, whole school day approaches to nutrition and restrictions on marketing to kids. Local and National measures have to work together to reduce the growth in unhealthy weight. This tax, and the money it generates, is just one measure. And frankly I doubt it's the most important.
If this tax is all we get, it will not deliver the change we need as a population. As one measure among others, it is welcome. But it isn't comprehensive and we shouldnt be distracted by the fact that this is political move as much as it is a public health one.
It's brilliant that government really wants to do something on keeping our population healthy. Now let's have something more effective than this.


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The following 37 (NOW 47) games come with this Xbox lot. Not sure if most are compatible with XBOX One.
Scene it Lights camera action!! Scene it Box office smash. Lara Croft Tomb Raider Legend. Soul Calibur 2 (XBOX exclusive Spawn character).WWE Smack vs Raw 2007. Just added another 10 games to the list. Gears of war 1 & 2. PocketBike Racer (Burger king Exclusive).
All games are in working condition. The item "Xbox & Xbox 360 Games Lot 47 Games AUTHENTIC" is in sale since Tuesday, April 25, 2017. This item is in the category "Video Games & Consoles\Wholesale Lots\Games". The seller is "profits2profit" and is located in Brooklyn, New York. This item can be shipped to United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czech republic, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Estonia, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, Norway, Saudi arabia, Ukraine, United arab emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Croatia, Malaysia, Chile, Colombia, Costa rica, Panama, Trinidad and tobago, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica.


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To order images and/or obtain permission to use them commercially, please contact the KSHS Reference Desk at email@example.com or 785-272-8681, ext. 117.
For more information see the Copyright and Permission FAQ.
The photograph shows an early view of Main Street in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas. Note the roof being built on a church in the upper-right background and in the distance the Arkansas River.
Date: Between 1890 and 1900
Item Number: 215018
Call Number: FK2.F1 G. *1
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 215018
Collections - Photograph
Community Life - Scenes and views - Business districts
Community Life - Scenes and views - Residential
Community Life - Town development
Date - 1890s
Home and Family - Residences
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Photograph
Places - Cities and towns - Garden City
Places - Counties - Finney
Places - Rivers - Arkansas
Type of Material - Photographs


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Roy (Boogie) Edward Yates Jr., DVM is a veterinarian who is residency trained in Neurology. He has been a part of the teams at MedVet New Orleans and MedVet Mandeville since 2016. Dr. Yates attended Louisiana State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 2002, followed by St. George's University School of Veterinary Medicine where he earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 2008. Following his graduation from veterinary school, he completed a yearlong internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Louisiana Veterinary Referral Center, in Mandeville, Louisiana, now known as MedVet Mandeville. Dr. Yates spent a year working in the emergency service at MedVet Mandeville and at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species (ACRES), before completing a three-year residency in Veterinary Neurology and Neurosurgery at Metropolitan Veterinary Referral Group, in Ohio. Prior to joining MedVet, Dr. Yates was the Neurology and Neurosurgery Department head at the Veterinary Referral and Emergency Center in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Yates is an active advocate of continuing education for veterinary professionals and has lectured to veterinarians on a variety of neurology topics including the management of seizures, intervertebral disc disease, and head trauma. He has also authored and co-authored several articles in veterinary journals. Dr. Yates is experienced in all aspects of small animal neurology with particular interests in the management of seizures, meningitis, and intervertebral disc disease (IVDD). When not treating patients, Dr. Yates enjoys distance running, woodworking and anything Disney.
- Bachelors of Science: Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Doctor of Veterinary Medicine: St. George's University, School of Veterinary Medicine, Grenada, West Indies
- Internship: Louisiana Veterinary Referral Center, Mandeville, Louisiana
- Residency: Metropolitan Veterinary Referral Group, Copley, Ohio
- Residency Trained in Neurology
- American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
- Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society
- American Veterinary Medical Association
- American Animal Hospital Association
- Large Animal Society


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Web ID: 5450211
Bulwark® Flame-Resistant Short-Sleeve Polo - Big & Tall
colorSelect a Color
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- Moisture Wicking
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Our tough short-sleeve polo is flame resistant to help you get through a hard day's work.
- flame resistant
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- chest pocket with pencil stall
- cotton/polyester/other
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This garment meets or exceeds the standards for HRC2, Arc Rating ATPV 8.2 calories/cm², NFPA® 2112 Compliant Certified by Underwriters Laboratories to meet the requirements of NFPA® 2112 Standard on Flame Resistant Garments for Protection of Industrial Personnel Against Flash Fire, 2012 Edition.
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If you have any questions, please get in contact with us.
Supporting customers with their noise control issues during development and after sales projects. Sorama can help customers with a noise control service and also with high end Sound imaging solutions. By using the new Sound Imaging technique Sorama is able to pinpoint noise sources and understand dynamic behavior in a shorter time span and with higher accuracy than ever before. For more information please don't hesitate to contact us.
Visualizing sound and vibrations by using a patented Sound Imaging technique.
Chassis Dyno Semi - Anechoic chamber
Product developers in a wide range of products: - Customer electronics - Automotive industry (Wide range) - Buildings and contractors - Yachts - Heating & ventilatiion (also boiler systems) - high end chip manufacturers


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A MyPE.co.za selected video for you:
The Stone Aged Souls live in The Little Theatre in Port Elizabeth, April 2013 www.stoneagedsouls.com.
Video Rating: 5 / 5
CLICK HERE to submit your favourite Port Elizabeth video.
Visit the MyPE YouTube Channel.
The following two tabs change content below.
- Bio
- Latest Posts
Read More Here: http://mype.co.za/new/mmagoletsatsi-stone-aged-souls-live-in-port-elizabeth/45577/2015/02


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In the contest for John Peterson's 5th district congressional seat, there are a lot of candidates--and a lot of issues. What do voters think about all this? This morning we take you on a road trip by phone, to talk with some folks who live along historic Route 6, the highway that runs across the northern part of the district. WPSU news intern Heather Adamic is your guide.
Stories: Route 6 Road Trip
March 4, 2008


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Arizona State One Win From NCAA Softball Title
June 2, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -Freshman Krista Donnenwirth homered and had two RBI singles, and Katie Burkhart threw a two-hitter to lead Arizona State past Texas A&M 3-0 Monday night in Game 1 of the Women's College World Series finals.
Donnenwirth, who leads all freshmen with 73 RBIs, went the opposite way for a pair of run-scoring singles to right and also pulled an inside pitch over the left-field fence for a solo home run to provide all of the offense for the Sun Devils.
Burkhart (40-5) struck out 11 and yielded only a pair of doubles, never allowing Texas A&M (57-9) to put a runner on third. The senior left-hander retired the last eight batters in order and didn't give up a hit after the fourth inning.
The sixth-seeded Sun Devils (65-5) are one win away from their first national championship. Game 2 of the best-of-three championship series will be played Tuesday night.
Kaitlin Cochran, who'd been intentionally walked in her first six World Series plate appearances to spark Arizona State rallies, finally got her first hit with a fifth-inning single. But it was Donnenwirth who gave Aggies starter Megan Gibson (41-3) the most trouble.
One pitch after Jackie Vasquez moved into scoring position on a wild pitch, Donnenwirth lined a single down the right-field line to give Arizona State a 1-0 first-inning lead.
She followed that with her line-drive home run to left in the third and then brought in Cochran on a grounder through the hole on the right side, one pitch after Cochran stole second.
The Sun Devils came in trying to avoid another 'two and barbecue' exit from the World Series after being the first team eliminated at last year's event.
They brought in three freshmen in the heart of their lineup, and the trio has combined for all but one of the big hits needed to put Arizona State one step away from joining UCLA, Arizona and California in bringing NCAA softball titles to the Pacific 10.
A win in Game 1 hardly guarantees a title, though. Two of the three titles won since the three-game championship series began were taken by teams that rallied after losing the first game.
Kohlloeffel One Win Away From NCAA TitleMay 28 '06
Bradley/Fisher One Win Away From NCAA TitleMay 24 '02
Pac-12 PlaylistThu 4/2 | 7:00pm PTLive
Pac-12 PlaylistMon 4/6 | 7:00pm PTLive
Pac-12 PlaylistThu 4/9 | 7:00pm PTLive


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The Yakima "Hop" - Stainless Steel
Each Yakima is turned from solid Stainless Steel, includes knurling at the grip and your choice of a Ceramic (Silicone Nitride) or Tungsten Carbide contact point!
From the mecca of micro-brews, we designed this 3/4" spinner to look like a hop right before harvest. This top spins between 3-5 minutes and finishes whirling on its side. Check out our video for a 4:30 spin: Yakima on YouTube
Average Weight: 38 grams
Why the name Yakima? Glad you asked; the Pacific NorthWest produces 96% of all hops in the US and the Yakima Valley accounts for most of that production. Most hop farms are family-owned and independently run operations, just like us! Source: USA Hops.org


text: I have a 73 Duster that I got as a restoration project. It was a 6 cylinder car that the guy I got it from had already put a built 318 w/904 in it. He changed the K frame. I restored the body and am now to the point of trying to start it. I am about ready to try to start it so I put a new battery in it to see if the lights and the dash work but I have nothing . No power to anything. I have 12+ volts at the battery, 12+ at the hot wire wiring hookup on the fender well, 12+ at the bulkhead on the firewall, the starter is brand new and connected. II can't figure it out. Any thoughts or suggestions before I haul it off to an auto electric shop? View attachment 1715378541


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Released: 28/05/2017
eISBN: 9781788031288
Format: Paperback/eBook
David's father was a young man of seventeen when he joined the Merchant Navy in the early spring of 1939. He may well have been imagining a new life of excitement, and long voyages overseas to faraway places. Within six months of him beginning work as a 'bellboy' on the grand P & O luxury liner, Strathallan, Britain found itself at war with Germany once again. This story centres around my father's experiences of this long hard conflict.
Be the first to review this book


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BMW ICOM NEXT A Latest Generation Diagnostic Head For BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce BMW-Model.Can Replace BMW ICOM A2, including all function of ICOM A2.Not only can works together with ICOM Software we provided.
Software Version : V2018.12
ISTA – D:V4.12.12,with SDP data V4.12.12
ISTA – P:22.214.171.1240 with Engineer Programming
can program F/G/I/K chassis for car (through the ICOM, not other cable)
Vin: V2018.08
Not connected 9000 days remaining
BMW KSD:11.2018 Multilanguage
BMW FSC Navigation Code Generator
BMWAiCoder for BMW Coding
Top 5 Reasons to Get BMW ICOM NEXT A+B+C:
1. Gbit workshop LAN,backwards compatible
2. Preparation for Gbit LAN on vehicle OBD(cars do not yet supportthis and interface not yet defined,ICOM Next hardware adaptation will be necessary for future Gbit car interface,will cause adaptation costs)
3. Faster start-up times and high throughput,Improved handling
4. Through high-performance,low-power ARM SoC
5.. More flexible OBD cable, Lighted button for logs etc
Note: There is no hdd in the package, you can buy from our shop: BMW ICOM NEXT A+B+C plus V2017.9 BMW ICOM Software HDD ISTA-D 4.04.12 ISTA-P 3.60.2.001
QC Mark:
YOU have to know before you buy ICOM A2 or ICOM A3 or ICOM Next:
ICOM NEXT A vs ICOM A2
-> more stable during programming
-> be necessary for the future Gbit cars
-> faster start-up times and high throughput
-> through high-performance,low-power ARM SoC
-> improved handling
-> more flexible OBD cable
-> lighted button for logs
ICOM A vs ICOM A2 vs ICOM A3
Modified ICOM A2 for vehicles with OBD access receives a significantly more powerful processor and more storage capacity. And robust aluminium case
will help to avoid damage when using in harsh environments. It works better in cooling, runs faster and works more stable, not easier broken than older ICOM A.
ICOM A3 can program all units for all BMW series expect media system, and work more stable and has stronger compatibility than ICOM A2, A1.
ICOM NEXT A+B+C Diadnostic Head Overview?
Functionally compatible to ICOM A2
Mechanical design similar ICOM A2
Backwards compatible to car adapters (ICOM B, C) and motorcycle adapters (ICOM D, E)
ICOM NEXT ABC Specifications:
Zeroization of data on tamper detection
Secure supply chain assurance
Key storage using physically un-clonable function
CRI Pass-Through DPA Patent Portfolio
Advanced cryptographic Services
BMW ICOM Next-The Next genareation
ICOM Next – The next generation of its diagnostic hardware was recently announced. Units are starting to trickle in around the world,
as of today they are backordered on ICOM Next A 1,143 units. The price has been reduced dramatically over the previous ICOM A2.
ICOM NEXT A Inside
Web interface is the same, Wi-Fi interface is Atheros AR9382 based mini PCI-E half sized card made by SparkLAN.
Cypress CPU and gigabit Ethernet.
Package including:
1pc x BMW ICOM NEXT A+B+C
1pc x BMW ICOM B Most
1pc x BMW 20pin Cable
1pc x USB Cable
1pc x LAN Cable
1pc x OBD Cable


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Here's a brand new image from Squigglefly artist Pamela Lehto called Country Kids 1. This image is the boy stamp. I colored him up in violet and green and then found the perfect papers from Paper Temptress to match up with him. The background of this card is a beautiful striped paper in a dark brown called Canyon Brown Skinny Columns. I highlighted the columns texture with a little white ink. The next layer is some Clear Transparency from Hambly Studio. It's Lime Brick. I printed out my digital image on Neenah Solar White cardstock and colored it with copic markers.
I hope this quick and cute card inspires you to make something fun this week. Pull out those great overlays you got, or think about picking up one of the kits that she sells that has the 6×6″ selections in there. They are perfect for cardmaking and you get a huge selection.
Cheers, Holley
Project materials: Cardstock (Paper Temptress); Ink (Colorbox Chalk); Image (Squigglefly); Die Cuts (Nestabilities); Brads (Basic Grey); Color (Copic markers);


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The clinic is able to provide cutting-edge, personalized IV medicine and the most up-to-date protocols with respect to the study and efficacy of various nutrients and pharmaco-botanical compounds, and availability of pharmaceutical products for infusion. The AMT IV department is better stocked, expertly versed in a wide variety of IV formulas, and more adaptable than most other clinic infusion centers. All IV related services that were formerly offered at Anderson Medical Specialty Associates are now at AMT and will continue to offer the same level of quality, commitment, and concern.
Because of Dr. Anderson's decades of research and experience in IV Therapy, AMT is the clinic established to help deliver these IV therapies. Many of the benchmark formulations in nutrient IV medicine used at AMT and by other doctors have been developed by Dr. Anderson and his colleagues.
What Kinds of IV treatments does AMT Offer?
Here at advanced medical therapies we offer a wide variety of infusions, ranging from nutritional IVs with vitamins, minerals, and amino acids to chelation and detox services, to ozone and pharmaceutical therapies, including treatments such as antibiotics. With regard to nutritional IVs, these are infusions that have been designed and formulated from the collective experience of over three decades from the minds of Dr. Anderson and the other physicians at AMT, guaranteeing that you are given a customized and tailored approach for whatever symptoms or condition you may be experiencing.
How long do infusions last?
Infusions at AMT can last anywhere from 25 minutes all the way up to 6 hours depending upon what you are receiving. On average, most of our infusions take about 1 to 2.5 hours to complete.
Additionally this is always a process that is subject to change based upon how well you tolerate any particular infusion. Safety is our main prerogative here at AMT, and we monitor you closely to make sure that you are at your most comfortable for the duration of your treatment.
What kinds of conditions can IVs treat?
IV therapies are particularly powerful because of their capacity to immediately affect our bodies. Oftentimes and especially in this day and age, many patients have difficulties getting all of the nutrients they need from food and supplements from nutritionally bereft food and difficulties with absorption, and as such IVs can be a unique and powerful solution to this problem.
Additionally, when evaluating really any disorder or symptom, oftentimes at its root is an elegant solution based upon your complex biochemistry and physiology. Providing nutrients or cofactors for certain biological processes or tailoring nutrients for your genetics may be the missing piece in your treatment.
There is always a place for infusion services in your treatment; however, at AMT we specialize in complex, chronic degenerative diseases and conditions which generally do not respond to conventional medicine. IVs are used alongside the other treatments to assist with a variety of conditions such as for those suffering with chronic infections, neuropsychiatric conditions, pediatric disorders, and supporting persons with cancer.
What Can I do to Prepare for an IV?
There is not much for you to do to prepare for an IV except to make sure that you are taking care of yourself as best as you are able in between treatments! By this I mean that you are getting adequate rest and hydrating quite well before treatments. Hydration is especially important when receiving IVs as this dictates quite frequently how well you tolerate any given treatment. For some reason, there is the notion that because we are receiving liquids directly into a vein that we don't need to hydrate before, during, and after the IV, but this is often a recipe for a bad time. Without going into a complex lecture on fluid dynamics, many of the infusions we offer are actually dehydrating in nature, affecting how well you feel during and after a treatment. Additionally, making sure you are hydrated improves the ease with which our physicians and staff are able to access your veins.
Beyond the logistics of an IV, this is your opportunity to ask questions and let us know how you are doing. Here at AMT, all staff work as a team and we are kept abreast of the status of your case as well as your treatment. As such, you can feel free to let us know when things are not going the way you expected. We are then able to adjust course and see if other avenues should be explored. This is the nature of healing: that sometimes as some problems go away, new or old problems can arise. This is to be expected, and our model is designed to attend to those subtle and sometimes not so subtle changes to your health.
Custom Ordered Infusions
Since we have many other custom ordered infusion prescriptions those not in categories above are available. Price will vary and be calculated individually based on the formula and protocol ordered by your provider.
Specific Price Information
Please note that until your provider orders your customized IV formula we cannot provide more specific price information on the website or over the phone. Thank you!


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Physicians Disability Income Protection
Disability Income Insurance pays you a monthly benefit so you can continue to support yourself, your family, and pay the bills.
Our agency administers the Disability Income Programs we offer for Physicians. That means that you will receive personalized service directly from our agency – including at time of claim if you are injured or sick.
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When it comes to Narendra Modi, even
the doyens of Indian journalism forget the most elementary norms of ethical
journalism. When Justice Mehta wrote a letter refusing to take charge as the
Lokayukta and making all manners of allegations against the Gujarat government, every newspaper
published his version in full, making him out to be a knight in shining armour
and a martyr to the authoritarian whims of Narendra Modi. No newspaper or TV
channel reporting this story thought it fit to publish the version of Gujarat
Government. Now that I am studying post 2002 Gujarat, I decided to dig out the facts for
myself. Here is a summary of what I found:
The Partisan role of
the Governor: The Congress party has a long
tradition of misusing the office of the Governor tocreate trouble for
non-Congress state governments—from arbitrarily dismissing duly elected state
governments to creating endless hurdles in the day to day functioning of State
Governor Kamla Beniwal has taken
this adversarial role to unprecedented heights. Her predecessor Nawal Kishore Sharma,
though a Congressman, had an extremely cordial and warm relationship with
Gujarat chief minister and often praised Narendra Modi's development centric
governance. He is remembered for upholding the dignity of the Governor's
office in letter and spirit.
However, Governor Kamla Beniwal has
been at loggerheads with the Gujarat government from the very day she was
appointed on 27 November 2009. She herself is far from an epitome of integrity.
Among other things, she has been accused of grabbing land in Rajasthan through
a farmers' cooperative society -- Kisan Samuhik Krishi Sahkari Samiti--which is
alleged to have committed a lot of irregularities. According to the Registrar
of Cooperative Societies, Jaipur, in 2010, Beniwal pressured the Ashok Gehlot government to
drop the proceedings for dissolution of this cooperative society.
Restraints Expected of Governor: Article
163 of the Indian Constitution mandates that the Council of Ministers is to aid
and advice the Governor in the exercise of his/her functions. The Council of
Ministers is headed by the Chief Minister and therefore, in all important
matters requiring Governor's participation, she cannot ride roughshod over the
views of the Chief Minister and his council of ministers. Nor can the Governor
initiate and take arbitrary decisions or make appointments at her will, leave
alone of a crucial office such as that of the Lokayukta. The Chief Minister as
the Head of the Council of Ministers is an important player in such
But Governor Beniwal has acted as
the fighting sword of the Congress Party in Gujarat, obstructing any and every
move of the Gujarat government—from enactment of new laws or appointments that
require her signatures—with a view to making life as difficult as she can for
the Narendra Modi government. Several new laws passed by the Gujarat Assembly
to streamline administration have been withheld consent of the Governor.
The legal position as well as the
protocol expected with regard to the appointment of the Lokayukta is that there
be effective and meaningful consultation between the executive head of the
state, namely the Chief Minister, the Chief Justice of the state and the Leader
of the Opposition for selecting a suitable person for this important post.
However, the Gujarat Governor acted as though she alone was the appointing
authority. The Supreme Court has in fact passed strong strictures against her
trying to overreach and step far beyond the powers granted to her under the
Sequence of events
pertaining to appointment of Justice R. A. Mehta as Lokayukta: Modi Bashers have indulged in a systematic misinformation
campaign through a pliant media that the Gujarat government has resisted the
appointment of Lokayukta for 7 long years. Facts tell a contrary story.
Way back in 2006, Chief Minister Narendra
Modi himself initiated the process for the appointment of Lokayukta. The State
Government wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court
eliciting his views on the proposed appointment of Justice K. R. Vyas, former
Chief justice of Bombay High Court as the Lokayukta.
1.The then Chief Justice
of Gujarat High Court consented to the name.
2. Simultaneously, the Governor was also requested to consider
the appointment of Justice K. R. Vyas. Several months later, the proposal was
returned back from the Raj Bhavan expressing reservations and seeking
clarifications regarding the appointment of Justice Vyas.
3. The clarifications sought for by the Raj Bhavan were
provided to her with a request to consider the name of Justice K. R. Vyas for
appointment as Lokayukta. However, the Governor turned down the request.
4. Thereafter, the Chief Minister requested the Chief Justice
to suggest a panel of three retired Judges of the High Court of Gujarat for
consideration for appointment as Lokayukta, on receipt of which, the formal
procedure for appointment as stipulated in the Act would be undertaken afresh.
The Chief Justice proposed four names: 1)
Justice Pravinsingh Motisinh Chauhan2)
Justice Babulal Chandulal Patel 3)
Justice Ramesh Prabhudas Dholakia4)
Justice Jayprakash Ramakant Vora (in no order of preference)
Governor Beniwal
Exceeds Her Brief & Collaborates with Leader of Opposition: The Chief Minister then requested the Leader of Opposition
to participate in the process of consultation for appointment of Lokayukta.
However, the latter raised an objection that under the provisions of the
Gujarat Lokayukta Act, there is no scope for consultation with the Chief
Minister of the State either by the Governor or by the leader of opposition.
In blatant violation of her
constitutional role, in September 2009, the Governor while turning down the
proposal to appoint Justice K. R. Vyas sent a confidential letter to the Chief
Justice of the Gujarat High Court requesting him to suggest a panel of names
for consideration for appointment as Lokayukta of Gujarat.
Meanwhile Governor Beniwal
independently carried out consultation with the Leader of the Opposition
without informing the Chief Minister. At this, the State Government
requested for a factual clarification of her role. She communicated to the
Chief Minister that she had already held meetings with the Leader of Opposition
for deciding on the Lokayukta. She further stated that the Lokayukta Act did
not provide for Chief Minister holding consultation with the Leader of
Opposition and that the CM had no role in the appointment of Lokayukta.
The Chief Minister did not accept
the Governor's interpretation of the Lokayukta Act and considering the
importance of the institution and the protocol requirements, again requested
the Leader of Opposition to attend the next meeting for consultation process to
finalize the name of the Lokayukta. The latter declined to participate and
requested the Chief Minister to terminate the process of consultation forthwith
as the Governor had already held the necessary consultation.
Meanwhile the formal process of
consultation that had been initiated earlier by the Chief Minister was
scheduled on 5th March, 2010 in
which the Leader of Opposition chose to remain absent. Thereafter,
Governor Beniwal invited the Chief Minister to discuss the issue and this
meeting took place on the 8th March,
Following this meeting the Chief
Minister made one last attempt to secure the cooperation of the Leader of the
Opposition in the consultation process and sent him a letter on 18.3.2010 that a meeting had been convened on 22.3.2010 for arriving at an agreement on the name
of the Lokayukta. He
also let it be known that it was for the last time that he was making a request
to attend the meeting for consultation process in the matter. Chief Minister
quoted all the relevant judgments of the High Courts/ Supreme Court including
the relevant and operative portion to emphasize the factual, legal and
constitutional position in the matter.
On 22.3.2010, the CM received a letter from the
Leader of Opposition stating that he had already been called for the
consultation process by the Governor on 4.3.2010 and
since the consultative process was already over and there cannot be two
consultations on the same subject-- once by the Governor and second by the
Chief Minister and/or the Council of Ministers. At the end of the letter, the
Leader of Opposition mentioned that Chief Minister should not persist in
undertaking an exercise of consultation by him which lacks legal, moral and
constitutional authority.
Governor Sabotages
Justice Vora's name: The formal meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on 22.3.2010 considered all the four names as
recommended by the Chief Justice vide his letter dated 24.2.2010 and found that only Justice J. R. Vora
was available for appointment. Since he was found suitable, the CM decided to
recommend his name for approval by Council of Ministers. The State Council of
Ministers approved the proposal to appoint Justice J. R. Vora as Lokayukta on 31.3. 2010 and his name was forwarded to the
Governor for her consent. It is important to
remember that Justice Vora's name had not been arbitrarily picked by the CM; it
had come from the Chief Justice.
Nearly 5 weeks later, the Governor
chose to refer the matter to the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court without
informing the State Government or the Chief Minister. Seven months later, the
Chief Justice of the High Court informed the Government that he had given
Justice J. R. Vora an alternative appointment as the Director, Gujarat State
Judicial Academy even though he had been recommended for appointment as
Lokayukta by the State Council of Ministers. It is noteworthy that Justice
Vora's alternative appointment happened without keeping the State Government
either informed or taking it into confidence.
Arbitrary Appointment
of Justice Dave by the Governor: More
than one year from the date of the Council of Ministers' resolution approving
the appointment of Justice J. R. Vora, the Governor of Gujarat responded on 7.6. 2011 informing the Government for the first
time that some parallel process occurred between the Governor and the Chief
Justice following which the name of Justice Dave has emerged as the candidate
for appointment as Lokayukta and hence, this matter be expeditiously processed.
Responding to this, the State Government, through the Chief Minister
responded to the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court stating that it
considers Justice Dave to be inappropriate for the appointment, and that given
his age ( 80 years at that time) and state of health, Justice Dave was himself
unwilling to assume the responsibility. The CM again requested that the name of
Justice J. R. Vora be reconsidered for appointment, especially since Justice
Vora had shown willingness to take on the job.
The Chief Justice chose to ignore
the request and suggested the name of Justice R. A. Mehta for appointment vide
his letter dated 7.7.2011. Responding to this, Chief Minister in his
letter dated16.7.2011brought to the
attention of the Chief Justice certain valid reasons for objecting to the
appointment of Justice Mehta as the Lokayukta.Firstly, Justice Mehta had
crossed the age of 75 years and given 5 year tenure of this jobstate government
felt that Mehta may not be suitable for the arduous duties of Lokayukta. More
importantly, Justice Mehta had provided enough evidence of being openly biased
by making public statements on several forums against the state government.
Gujarat government argued that given his ideological predilections, open
hostility to the state government as well as involvement with NGOs who had been
running a vilification campaign against Gujarat Government, he was not really
qualified for the job. The CM once again requested the Chief Justice that since
Justice J. R. Vora was a part of panel recommended by the Chief Justice
himself, his name should be reconsidered.
The Chief Justice responded by
saying that there was nothing on record which would make Shri Mehta ineligible
for the post of Lokayukta. Meanwhile, the Governor sent further reminders to
the State Government to expeditiously send a formal recommendation to her as
regards Shri Mehta's name for appointment. The Leader of Opposition also
conveyed to the Chief Minister that he had already given his consent to the
Governor on the recommendation of name of Shri Mehta.
Chief Minister's Case
against Justice Mehta: On 18.08.2011, the Chief Minister, once again,
addressed the following letter to the Chief Justice raising several questions
regarding the suitability of Justice (Retired) R.A.Mehta for the post of
Lokayukta citing concrete instances which displayed a prejudiced mind on the
part of Justice Mehta against the present administration. The Chief Minister
pointed out that the job of a Lokayukta required a person known to be impartial
and fair minded while Mehta had been openly hostile to the state government
from the very start. Therefore, the CM requested that another name of a
recently retired judge may be recommended. The contents of the above letter
dated 18.8.2011 deserve to be read in full:
refer to your confidential d.o. letter dated 2nd August, 2011
wherein you have again recommended the name of Hon'bleMr. Justice (Retired)
R.A. Mehta for appointment as Lokayukta, Gujarat State.While there cannot be
any question of "ineligibility" of a person for appointment to the post of
Lokayukta, Gujarat State merely because of his association with one or more
NGOs, nor can it be said that a person who is working for a social cause
after retirement would be "disqualified" for appointment to the post of
Lokayukta. But the question in the case of Hon'ble Mr. Justice (Retired) R.A.
Mehta is of his evident preconceived notion of bias against the present
political dispensation. I am not making this statement without any basis. You
may like to peruse some of the utterances of Hon'ble Mr. Justice (Retired)
R.A. Mehta in different public fora:-
Shri R.A. Mehta was a Jury Member for Anhad and Centre for
Social Justice which held public hearing on 22nd February,
2011. (Source : daily.bhaskar.com – copy enclosed)
Shri R.A. Mehta was a Jury Member at the public hearing
"Tracing Lives of Muslims in Gujarat Post – 2002 – organized jointly in
Ahmedabad by several Human Rights Associations. (Source : IMO admin
Communalism, Indian State, 17th March, 2011 – copy enclosed)
can be seen from the above that the question is not of Shri R.A. Mehta
maintaining high standards in the society, or of not having made any public
statement which is detrimental to the society, but the question is of his
preconceived opinion and strong prejudiced mind-set against the present
political dispensation in the State. While he may be technically eligible for
being considered for appointment as Lokayukta, the moot question is whether
such a person having a strong biased perspective for the Government in the State
if appointed as Lokayukta, will be able to perform his duty with the high
level of objectivity, judiciousness and impartiality expected of the
Lokayukta. In all fairness, the answer to this question will be in the
negative. Although, I have no personal reservation against the name of
Hon'bleMr. Justice (Retired) R.A. Mehta, but as the Head of the State
Government, I am afraid, I may not be able to accept the name of Hon'bleMr.
Justice (Retired) R.A. Mehta, who, in my view, cannot be considered the most suitable
choice for the august post of Lokayukta, Gujarat State.
other important aspect of the age is also not in his favour. We need to have
a relatively younger person for the office of Lokayukta, Gujarat State, as
the term for the Lokayukta is of five years. Hence, it would be in the
fitness of things, if you could recommend the name of a Judge who has
recently retired from the service.
am sure you will take the contents of this letter in proper perspective and
in right spirit, and recommend another name for the vacant post of Lokayukta,
Gujarat State."
The Chief Minister simultaneously
addressed a letter to the Governor refuting allegations of delay on behalf of
the State Government and pointing out that the delay was owing to a number of
constitutional, legal and procedural issues raised from time to time by the
different functionaries involved in the process of the appointment. He pointed
out that the Governor's view that the Chief Justice must recommend a single
name for the concerned Lokayukta post instead of a panel of names was misplaced
as it was not being followed by any of the other States while appointing
Lokayukta. Moreover, the State Government had raised certain specific and valid
reasons for not accepting the recommended name and which had been communicated
to the Chief Justice as well as the Governor and a response was awaited.
This letter was followed up by
another request on 18.8.2011 by the Chief
Minister stating that the name of any other recently retired judge may be
recommended for appointment as the Lokayukta.
However, in brazen departure from
established administrative norms and constitutional decorum, on 25.8.2011 the Governor of Gujarat chose to appoint
Justice R. A. Mehta as the Lokayukta of Gujarat and issued the Warrant,
ignoring the recommendations of the Council of Ministers.
High Court Gives Split
Verdict: The State Government decided to seek
judicial redress and filed a petition before the High Court of Gujarat
challenging the appointment of Justice R. A. Mehta and issuance of Warrant.A
Division Bench (2-Judge Bench) heard the matter and gave a split decision,
with Justice Akil Kureshi holding the appointment to be valid
and constitutional and Justice Sonia Gokani in favour of
quashing the appointment. Consequently, the Chief Justice nominated a third
Judge, Justice V.M. Sahai to hear and decide the matter. Justice Sahai, on
18.1.2012 gave a judgment, concurring with Justice Akil Kureshi, and
consequently the appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta was upheld. But the State
Government filed an SLP to the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the
High Court.
Supreme Court's
Indictment of the Role of Governor: However,
ignoring the SLP, the Governor of Gujarat chose to arbitrarily appoint Justice R.
A. Mehta as the Lokayukta. The contention of the Gujarat government that
under Article 163 the Governor is required to be guided by the advice tendered
by the council of ministers has been upheld by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its
judgment dated 2.1.2013:
Governor consulted the Attorney General of India for legal advice, and
communicated with the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court directly, without
taking into confidence the Council of Ministers. In this respect,
she was wrongly advised to the effect that she had to act as a Statutory
Authority and not as the Head of the State …."
The Supreme Court further made the
following observation, regarding the role of the Governor:
"i) "it appears
that the governor had been inappropriately advised and mistook her role, as a
result of which, she remained under the impression that she was required to act
as a statutory authority in the Act, 1986, and not as the Head of the State.
ii) The present
Governor has misjudged her role and has insisted that under the Act, 1986, the
Council of Ministers has no role to play in the appointment of the Lokayukta,
and that she could therefore fill it up in consultation with the Chief Justice
of the Gujarat High Court and the Leader of Opposition. Such attitude is not in
conformity or in consonance with the democratic set up of Government envisaged.
Therefore, the appointment of the Lokayukta can be made by the Governor, as the
Head of the State, only with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers and
not independently as a Statutory Authority.
iii) The
Governor consulted Attorney General of India for legal advice and communicated
with the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High court directly without taking in to
confidence the Council of Ministers. In this respect, she was wrongly advised
to the effect that she had to act as a Statutory Authority and not as the Head
of the State."
All Required
Courtesies Extended to Justice Mehta Pending Apex court's Decision Even though
his Appointment Itself was Malafide: Despite
all this, the State Government accorded all courtesies that are due to the
Lokayukta designate. For example, the Supreme Court of India delivered its
judgment on 2.1.2013 disallowing the appeal
of the State Government. Thereafter, the State Government, speaking
through the Cabinet Minister for Law welcomed Justice R. A. Mehta's appointment
as Lokayukta and deputed K. Srinivas, Secretary of the General Administration
Department and Kamal Trivedi, Advocate General of the Gujarat State to formally
invite Justice R. A. Mehta to assume office. Both these functionaries
called on Justice R. A. Mehta at his residence on 6.1.2013
and communicated the State Government's decision.
Contrary to allegations made by
Justice Mehta in his letter dated 9. 8. 2013,
the State Government extended him full cooperation. In the meeting of 6.1.2013 at the residence of the Justice Mehta, he
was given a copy of the current staffing pattern of the Lokayukta establishment
and it was indicated that Government was willing to make any changes deemed
appropriate. It was also brought to the notice of the Lokayukta designate
that the State Government would be making adequate budgetary provision in the
ensuing budget to meet with all required expenditure. Accordingly, budget
provision for the office of the Lokayukta was raised to Rs. 63.40 lakh from Rs.
33.40 lakh in the year 2009-10. In addition, to enable the assumption of office
by the Lokayukta designate arrangements for transportation including intent for
a new car was made.
Charges of Delay in
holding Swearing in Ceremony: It
is an established administrative convention that a swearing in Ceremony for
high public offices is organized to enable the dignitary to enter into office
after completing due formalities. Thereafter on assumption of office, a
notification is issued intimating the public at large that the dignitary has
commenced work in the office. This is the practice with respect to appointments
of Governors, the Chief Ministers, Members of the Council of Ministers and so on.
In the case of appointment to the
office of Lokayukta also a similar procedure was under way. The Governor of
Gujarat had issued a warrant of appointment. After the culmination of judicial
inquiry on the subject, the Secretary of the General Administration Deptt.,
Govt. of Gujarat, K. Srinivas wrote a letter dated 26.
7. 2013 informing the Lokayukta designate to intimate a convenient date
to organize a swearing-in Ceremony. A Notification would have followed this
swearing in. This letter was issued and delivered to the residence of Justice
Mehta and it was learnt that he was abroad during that period and was likely to
return on around the 6.8.2013.
While the State Government was
making all preparations for organizing the swearing in ceremony and while
office complex of the Lokayukta was under speedy preparation by the State Roads
and Buildings Department, the State government received through the media the letter written by the Lokayukta Designate
to the Governor declining the post of Lokayukta while levelling false charges
against the state government.
Justice Mehta's charges amount to
challenging the right of the state government to seek redress from the higher
judiciary to establish whether India's federal structure allows the Governor of
a State to act in a unilateral, arbitrary manner or should he/she function as
per the Constitution under the aid and advice of the Council of the Ministers?
The Supreme Court has upheld this contention of the State Government and has
held in categorical terms that the Governor's action was "ill advised".
Justice Mehta also charged the state
government of spending "Rs 45 crore of public money" in this litigation.
Here again there is a factual error, not expected of a High Court judge.
As per the state government which has to get its accounts audited, the amount
spent on prolonged litigation forced by the Governor is Rs 1.6 crores, not 45
Subverting India's
Federal Structure: The issue is not just of
constitutional proprieties being violated by the Governor in appointing the
Lokayukta. The issue is of much deeper importance- consistent misuse of the
office of the Governor by the Central Government to undermine India's federal
structure and subvert the functioning of duly elected state governments.
However, instead of highlighting the unconstitutional and arbitrary acts of the
Governor, the media as always has chosen to publish highly partisan version to
lend support to their on-going incessant campaign to demonize Modi.
Contradictory Judgements
by the Supreme Court in the case of Karnataka &Gujarat Lokayukta
Appointment: In a similar matter a parallel bench
of the Supreme Court has even upheld the primacy of the views of the political
executive in the selection process of the Lokayukta in Karnataka case and this
judgment was delivered less than 9 days after the Gujarat case. The SLP was
decided by the Supreme Court in State of Gujarat &Anr. Vs. Hon'ble Justice
(Retd.) R.A Mehta hereinafter known as the 'Gujarat case' on the 2nd
of January 2013 by a bench of Justice B.S Chauhan and Justice Fakkir Mohammad
Kalifulla in the matter of the appointment of Justice R.A Mehta as the
Lokayukta for the state of Gujarat. (State of Gujarat & Anr. Vs. Hon'ble
Justice (Retd.) R.A Mehta, 2nd January 2013. (http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/182101909/)
On the 11th of January,
2013, a similar case was decided by the Supreme Court in Mr. Justice
Chandrashekhariah (Retd. )Vs. Jankere C. Krishna & Anr.
hereinafter known as the 'Karnataka case' by Justice K.S Radhakrishnan and
Justice Madan Lokur in separate judgments which together form one judgement, in
the matter of the appointment of Justice Chandrashekhariah (Retd.) as the Upa
Lokayukta of Karnataka. (Mr Justice Chandrashekharaiah( Retd.) vs. Jankere C.
Krishna & Anr.,11th January 2013 (http://indiankanoon.org/doc/15999541/)
However, even though the sum and
substance of the matters in both the cases were very similar, the decisions
were quite contrary.
When such obvious contradiction
emerged, the State Government felt it was well within its rights to approach
the Supreme Court of India to clarify the legal position. This was in addition
to the ambiguity that resulted due to the unilateral action of the Governor in
deciding on the appointment.
There are three main grounds on
which the judgments spell out differently.
Primacy of the Chief Justice Vs Chief Minister: In the Gujarat case, it was inferred that the Chief Justice
has primacy of opinion in the matter of consultation on the basis of the fact
"…the Chief Justice of the High Court
of the concerned State, is the most appropriate person to judge the suitability
of a retired Judge, who will act as the Lokayukta and the object of the Act
would not be served, if the final decision is left to the executive. The
opinion of the Chief Justice would be entirely independent, and he would most
certainly be in a position to determine who the most suitable candidate for
appointment to the said office is. This Court has, therefore, explained that,
the primacy of the opinion of the Chief Justice must be accepted, except for
cogent reasons, and that the term consultation, for such purpose shall mean
The functions of the Lokayukta and
the Upa Lokayukta do not change from state to state. It is unclear how the
Chief Justice is the authority of primacy in one state, but not in another. In
the Karnataka case, para 33 of Justice Radhakrishnan's judgment states that Lokayukta
and Upa Lokayukta, while investigating the matters are discharging
quasi-judicial functions, though the nature of functions is investigative.
And on the basis of this, it is decided that the Chief Justice need not be the
supreme authority in making the decision of appointing the upa Lokayukta.
In Karnataka case Supreme Court
declared appointment of Lokayukta invalid due to the absence of effective
consultations with the CM:
In para 66, Justice Radhakrishnan
specifies that:
"The Chief Minister, in my view, has
however committed an error in not consulting the Chief Justice of the High
Court in the matter of appointment of Justice Chandrashekaraiah as Upa
Lokayukta. Records indicate that there was no meaningful and effective
consultation or discussion of the names suggested among the consultees before
advising the Governor for appointment to the post of Upa Lokayukta. The appointment
of Justice Chandrashekaraiah as Upa Lokayukta, therefore, is in violation of
Section 3(2)(b) of the Act since the Chief Justice of the High Court was not
consulted nor was the name deliberated upon before advising or appointing him
as Upa Lokayukta, consequently, the appointment of Justice Chandrasekharaiah as
Upa Lokayukta cannot stand in the eye of law and he has no authority to
continue or hold the post of Upa Lokayukta of the State.'
The decision was thus declared void
when it was proved that the Chief Minister had acted in an erroneous manner and
appointed the Upa Lokayukta without consulting the Chief Justice, who was to be
one of the consulting authorities mentioned in section 3 (1) of the Act.. It
quashed the appointment mainly because the Chief Minister did not have an
effective consultation with the then Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court.
However, in the Gujarat case,
although the
Bench agreed in Para 42 that-- 'the
judgments referred to hereinabove, do not leave any room for doubt with respect
to the fact that, when the Governor does not act as a statutory authority, but
as the Head of the State, being Head of the executive and appoints someone
under his seal and signature, he is bound to act upon the aid and advice of the
Council of Ministers. The Governor's version of events, stated in her letter
dated 3.3.2010, to the effect that she was not bound by the aid and advice of
the Council of Ministers, and that she had the exclusive right to appoint the
Lokayukta, is most certainly not in accordance with the spirit of the
Constitution. It seems that this was an outcome of an improper legal advice and
the opinion expressed is not in conformity with the Rule of Law. The view of
the Governor was unwarranted and logically insupportable'--they did not declare the decision as void.
In spite of deciding the above, it
is unclear how in Para 45, it is claimed that the 'consultation' was complete,
when actually the Chief Minister of the State was never asked for any opinion before
making the appointment:
"The facts mentioned hereinabove,
make it crystal clear that the process of consultation stood complete as on
2.8.2011, as 3 out of 4 statutory authorities had approved the name of Justice R.A.
Mehta and the Chief Justice provided an explanation to the Chief Minister
regarding the objections raised by the latter, with respect to the appointment
of Justice R.A. Mehta to the post of Lokayukta, vide letter dated 16.6.2011.
They still upheld the appointment of
Justice Mehta as the Lokayukta even though the decision had been made without
consulting one of the key authorities mentioned in section 3 of the Gujarat
Lokayukta Act, 1986.
The Supreme Court claimed in the
judgment of the review petition filed by the Gujarat government that the
provisions of the Gujarat Lokayukta Act and Karnataka Lokayukta Act are
different from each other and hence have to be interpreted differently.
However, on using the golden rule for interpretation (also known as the literal
rule), it is clear that the consultations with the Chief Minister and Chief
Justice are definitely a vital part in the decision of appointment of the
Lokayukta and the Upa Lokayukta.
Justice Radhakrishnan, has expressed
"If the Chief Minister
proposes to suggest or advise any name from the source earmarked in the
statute, that must also be made available to the consultees so that they can
also express their views on the name, or names, suggested by the Chief
Minister. Consultees can express their honest and free opinion about the names
suggested by the other consultees, including the Chief Justice or the Chief
Minister. After due deliberations and making a meaningful consultation, the
Chief Minister of the State is free to advise a name which has come up for
consideration among the consultees to the Governor of the State. The advice
tendered by the Chief Minister will have primacy and not that of the consultees
including the Chief Justice of the High Court. The Governor cannot appoint a person
who does not fall in that source and satisfies the other eligibility criteria…"
If the schemes of both the acts for the states of Gujarat and Karnataka are
similar in nature, why is the Supreme Court not upholding this rule for the
appointment of the Lokayukta in Gujarat?
It is ironic that even after
indicting the conduct of Governor Beniwal, the Supreme Court upheld the
appointment of Justice Mehta despite the fact that it recognized that due
process had not been followed in his selection.
Post script: Gujarat Government's Position Upheld also in
Bihar Universities Case: On the 19th of August, 2013, the Supreme Court bench
comprising Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Kurian Joseph stayed the
appointment of nine Vice Chancellors in various universities in Bihar made
unilaterally by the then Governor cum Chancellor Devanand Konwar. These
appointments were declared illegal simply because they were made without any
effective consultation with the state government. Mr. Konwar had already been
reprimanded once in the past for making two VC appointments without complying
with the provisions mentioned in the Bihar Universities Act, 1976 and the Patna
University Act, 1976. The government had then moved the Patna High Court and
obtained orders declaring the two appointments void. The High Court had also
asked the chancellor to prepare a fresh panel and send it to the government for
consultation. When this panel of names was rejected by the government, the
governor still went ahead and made appointments just before his tenure ended.
This decision was looked at by the court as "contemptuous disregard" of orders
passed by the high court and as illegal because "effective consultation" had
not been invited by the governor.
The facts leading to
this Supreme Court judgment are uncannily similar in nature to the facts in the
appointment of the Gujarat Lokayukta. If the Supreme Court can give orders
staying/ quashing appointments in situations where the Governor has taken a
decision without fulfilling his constitutional responsibility of consulting the
government, it is baffling how it failed to notice this discrepancy in the
Gujarat Lokayukta case.
To be continued...
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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry do NOT have full custody of baby Archie
MEGHAN MARKLE, the Duchess of Sussex, and husband Prince Harry do not have full custody of their new son, a royal expert has revealed.
Expert Marlene Koenig has claimed that a royal quirk means the Queen actually has full legal custody of Archie. According to The Sun, there is an agreement with Her Majesty that means she is responsible for the care and charge of all royal family children. These include Archie's cousins Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Princess Louis.
Ms Koenig said: "The sovereign has legal custody of the minor grandchildren. Legislation passed during the reign of George I. It was known as The Grand Opinion for the Prerogative Concerning the Royal Family and it was about the King's control over the education, the raising and the marriage of his grandchildren. He did it because he had a very poor relationship with his son, the future King George II, so they had this law passed that meant the King was the guardian of his grandchildren. When contacted, it was reported that Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the revelation".
Reports suggest that the law was first created in 1717 when the monarch's right of supervision extended to his grandchildren.
In theory it would mean that when Prince Charles goes on to be King, he will inherit custody.
Ms Koenig argues that the law means the Queen even has to sign off on trips abroad for her great-grandchildren.
Source Express


text: Ooty or Udhagai is an abbreviation of Udhagamandalam or Ootacamund and is one of the most visited and most desirable fun/honeymoon destinations among the local as well as foreign tourists. Locating itself in the beautiful Nilgiri Hills of the attractive Tamil Nadu, this town is the capital of Nilgiris district and is located 80 kilometers north of Coimbatore. This hill station offers plenty of natural and green beauty and settings.


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.... Even so, there is more that the government could be doing. For instance, if a woman is unhappy with her male guardian it is extremely difficult to have someone else appointed in his place unless the woman can show that she has been beaten or prove that her guardian is incapable (e.g. through old age).
As with most reform issues in Saudi Arabia, however, the underlying problem is the royal family's reluctance to confront the religious establishment in any serious way. Unless it does so, change is likely to remain painfully slow. Going into battle with the clerics would be a dangerous move, however, because the royal family's main claim to legitimacy is its religious credentials. [al-bab.com] Read more


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If Jesus Christ returned to Earth today, would He get through US immigration? After all, Jesus is a bearded, Middle-Eastern man, who wants to die as a religious martyr. And he has just walked out of a cave.
Olympic race to the White House
Barack Obama made recent news headlines by urging President George W. Bush not to go to attend the Opening Ceremony at the Beijing Olympic Games.
"By Example"
"You will find poetry nowhere unless you bring some of it with you." – Joseph Joubert
Slovenian report
A report for Happy people in Europe and that is the Slovenians!


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June 2015
Letter from the Editor
Letter from the Editor >
Trends Analyses
Domestic Protein Supplies Building >
Farmers and Ranchers Must Raise Their Voices Louder Than Ever Before >
Questions and Answers
Q & A with Dr. Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein on Transportation Quality Assurance >
Issues Updates
Media Reaction to Chipotle's GMO Announcement May Signal Shift in Coverage of Pseudoscience >
International Agency for Research on Cancer Evaluates Red and Processed Meat - Backgrounder >
Water Use in Beef: Where Is It Really Coming From and How Can the Water Footprint Differ Across the U.S.? >
Research Findings
Beef Demand: Spring 2015 Optimism in the Consumer Beef Index >
Issues Monitoring
Issues Media Monitoring and Response Analysis: March 2015 – May 2015 >
CattleFax Insight
CattleFax Insight - Summer 2015 Vol. 28 No. 2 >
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Water Use in Beef: Where Is It Really Coming From and How Can the Water Footprint Differ Across the U.S.?
Consumptive water use is one of 14 sustainability indicators measured in the beef industry sustainability assessment that was completed in 2013, so it would make sense that the number generated from that study would represent beef's water footprint – but in reality – water isn't that simple.
By Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, Executive Director Global Sustainability, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff
Consumptive water use is one of 14 sustainability indicators measured in the beef industry sustainability assessment that was completed in 2013, so it would make sense that the number generated from that study would represent beef's water footprint – but in reality – water isn't that simple.
To accurately measure the total water used to produce one pound of boneless edible beef we first need to understand where water is utilized along the beef value chain. Let's start at the beginning of the value chain with feed production and forage growth. Water is necessary to grow forage for grazing animals, crops (hay, grain, silage etc.), for cattle in feedlots or to feed animals during the non-growing season (i.e. the winter). To produce this necessary feed resource, water can either be pumped from an irrigation system or can come from precipitation. Where the water comes from makes a difference in measuring the water footprint according to life cycle assessment methodology; in the beef industry life cycle assessment, we measured water which is pumped from an irrigation system – or another way to look at is we did not include precipitation or rain water.
While, this may seem like a straightforward approach, it is important to note that there is no standard method of water "counting" for beef, so our method of accounting for "blue" water may result in major differences when compared to an assessment that also included "green" water. Another method used when assessing water use is to apply a "damage factor" to consumptive water whereby an assessed value is applied to a region where water may be scarce or ample. Unfortunately, since there are so many different methodologies to measure water use, it is difficult to compare and/or refute results. For example, if rain water is included the water footprint of beef could be doubled and wouldn't necessarily be wrong – it would just be another way to look at the impact. Likewise, if a damage factor is applied to a region where water is scarce the "assessed" water use could be multiple of actual water consumed by 1/3 or greater. All of this makes understanding the true water footprint of food production challenging for farmers and ranchers and consumers, alike.
It is also noteworthy that beef-producing regions may have a vastly different water footprint based on cattle and land management and available resources. For example, our current beef industry sustainability life cycle assessment is based on the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center; we did this to ensure accuracy of the model and are currently working to collect region-specific data from producers across the country to improve regional precision. The U.S. Meat Animal Research Center irrigates all of its cropland and even some of its pastures – so it is safe to say that when compared to a production region that feeds mostly dry-land crops and doesn't irrigate pastures, we can expect a smaller water footprint. Furthermore, we could also expect that cattle finished on grass that is not irrigated (like grass-finished animals in the North East) would also have a comparatively smaller water footprint. However, it is important to note that improvement in one sustainability indicator does not necessarily result in an overall improvement of sustainability. For example, grass-finished animals also tend to have higher carbon footprints associated with their production due to their increase life span on high forage diets that result in more methane production. It is important to recognize that true sustainability is about every beef production method working to be more sustainable rather than comparing one system to another.
The next step in the value chain is the animal itself. Drinking water for animals accounts for less than 1 percent of total consumptive water in beef production. Of that 1 percent, approximately 70 percent of drinking water is consumed in the cow-calf phase, 12 percent in the stocker phase and 18 percent in the feedlot. Such a large percentage is consumed in the cow-calf phase due to the cow, bull, and heifers necessary to get one market animal to slaughter. Put into the context of a consumer – to get one steer to the packer he has a mother, father and part of a heifer that will return to the herd (his sister) which all drink water as he moves through the value chain to eventually become beef for the consumer.
The packing plant is the next water user in the beef value chain and is where water use gets just a little more complex. The major contribution to the water footprint for the packing plant is from pre-chain water consumption specifically related to corrugated cardboard used to package and ship beef to the retail and foodservice sectors of the supply chain. Also, direct consumptive water use occurs in packing plants and advances in wastewater recycling can drastically improve the water footprint of beef.
In total, according to the 2013 beef industry sustainability life cycle assessment, one pound of boneless edible consumed beef requires 617 gallons of water to produce; 95 percent of which comes from irrigating forage and crops for feed. Since 2005, beef has reduced its water footprint by 3 percent by reducing irrigation water per unit of feed and increasing feed efficiencies, reducing packaging requirements, and new recycling technology in packing plants. Perhaps most important is that water is cleaner than ever before – since 2005 water quality has improved 10 percent. This improvement in water quality is a result of improved manure application, increased crop yields, increased feed efficiencies, packaging optimizations, and packing facilities wastewater emission reductions.
Water is one of the most complicated sustainability indicators to measure and compare due to the many methods of measurement. It is also extremely complex due to the differences in cattle management techniques across cattle-producing regions. However, as we continue to build more accurate databases that represent regional beef production, we will begin to tell a more comprehensive and transparent story about the water required to produce beef and will continue to build consumer confidence in beef.
Additional Resources
Tags: Beef Issues Quarterly, Issues Updates, Summer 2015
June 17, 2015


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Business Recovery
Following a disaster in San Luis Obispo County, information will be posted to assist affected business in the recovery process.
Following a disaster in San Luis Obispo County, information will be posted to assist affected business in the recovery process.
As the community recovers following a disaster, it will be a priority to help those who have lost their homes with the rebuilding process.
View Debris Removal page.
If a disaster in San Luis Obispo County results in residents unable to inhabit their homes, resources on temporary housing and rebuilding will be provided.
Following a disaster, this page will be updated with information regarding public health and safety such as public health, behavioral health, environmental health, and mental health.
You should not return home following an emergency unless told to do so by emergency officials. Take caution even when told it is safe to return home.
Following an emergency in San Luis Obispo County, property owners who suffered damages may be eligible for property tax and assessment relief through the Assessor's Office.
Following a disaster, financial assistance may be available to those who have been displaced or lost their homes. The availability of financial assistance for the public following a disaster will be determined by many factors.


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Board of Directors
Neal Goldman
Director and Chairman of the Board
Neal Goldman has served as a director with Charles & Colvard since June 2014 and as Chairman since January 2015. Mr. Goldman has served as President of Goldman Capital Management, Inc., an investment advisory firm, since he founded the firm in 1985. Prior to that, Mr. Goldman was an analyst and portfolio manager at Shearson/American Express Inc. Mr. Goldman served on the Board of Directors of Blyth, Inc. (NYSE: BTH), a multi-channel company focused on the direct-to-consumer market, and includes in its portfolio two direct sales companies, PartyLite Gifts and ViSalus. He serves on the Board of Imageware Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: IWSY), a leading company in the emerging market for biometrically enabled software-based identity management solutions.
Chairman of the Board
Suzanne Miglucci
President and Chief Executive Officer
Suzanne Miglucci serves as President & Chief Executive Officer for Charles & Colvard, the original and leading worldwide source of moissanite gemstones and jewelry. Suzanne delivers shareholder value by executing on the company's vision to be an innovative leader in the jewelry industry by offering a socially-responsible gemstone that will last forever at a revolutionary value. She leverages her expertise in marketing and e-commerce to create brand awareness for Charles & Colvard, and lead the company's omni-channel strategy. Prior to Charles & Colvard, Suzanne served as Chief Marketing Officer of ChannelAdvisor Corporation, an e-commerce software-as-a-service solution provider, where she oversaw marketing, product management, client services and business operations. Prior to joining ChannelAdvisor, Ms. Miglucci served as Senior Director at SAP, a worldwide leader of Enterprise Resource Planning solutions. She has also held executive positions at SciQuest, Inc., MicroMass Communications and Arsenal Digital Solutions. Suzanne holds a master's degree from Colorado State University, and undergraduate degrees from Fitchburg State University.
Anne M. Butler
Anne M. Butler has served as a director of Charles & Colvard since June 2012. As a leading executive in the direct selling industry, Ms. Butler has successfully run global businesses for Avon Products, Inc. , Aloette Cosmetics, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc., and PartyLite Gifts, Inc. Ms. Butler started her career with Avon, where she held a variety of progressive assignments across marketing, sales, new market expansion, and new business development while serving as Director of Marketing in Spain, Vice President of Avon Fashions in Brazil and as General Manager, Avon Fashions for Continental Europe. At Mary Kay, Ms. Butler served as President of the Western and Central Europe business. She then successfully expanded PartyLite's international business, and subsequently became President of PartyLite Worldwide from 2007 to 2012. Ms. Butler has held various board positions, including ViSalus Sciences, the Direct Selling Education Foundation, and the Direct Selling Association, where she served as Vice Chair. Ms. Butler currently serves on the Board of Directors for AdvoCare International, and is the Managing Partner of Butler Advisors.
Ollin B. Sykes
Ollin B. Sykes has served as a director of Charles & Colvard since May 2008. Since 1984, he has served as the President of Sykes & Company, P.A., a regional accounting firm specializing in accounting, tax, and financial advisory services. Mr. Sykes earned his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting at Mars Hill College and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Information Technology Professional, and a Certified Management Accountant.
Benedetta Casamento
Benedetta Casamento has served as a director of Charles & Colvard since May 2017. Ms. Casamento is Chairman and President of Allyke, Inc., an artificial intelligence company creating digital imagery insights for retail and other industries. Previously, Ms. Casamento served as CEO of luxury lifestyle brand, Calypso St. Barth. Prior to that, she served as Executive VP of Finance & Operations at The Talbots Inc. and she held various senior leadership positions at Liz Claiborne, Inc., including serving as President of Liz Claiborne Brands and President of the Ellen Tracy and Dana Buchman brands. Ms. Casamento started her career at Saks Fifth Avenue. Ms. Casamento is involved in various charitable organizations, including serving on the Board of Directors of Women In Need, Inc., a non-profit organization that provides housing, programs, and other services to New York City's homeless mothers and their children.


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XMind Review
Mind mapping tool
XMind took the open source route in 2008, changing their
business model to offer a free version of the software in the hope that it will
entice users to cough up for the Professional version. But is the free version
too crippled to be useful, or just a cynical marketing ploy? Happily the answer
to both those questions is no. The free version does without some of the
features that business users are likely to want but academics and dabblers can
probably do without. The result is a good looking and useful tool with the
choice to upgrade there for those who need and want to.
Ultimate Portability
Being written in Java Xmind can easily cover a wide variety of platforms. The version tested was 3.1.0 and the website says that it should run on Mac OS X and Debian/Ubuntu Linux variants as well as the Windows distributions currently in play, XP, Vista and 7. The readme adds that Windows 2000 SP4 and 2003 are also supported and there is an option to obtain the previous widely distributed version, XMind 2.3, for those needing that level of backward compatibility
One neat trick that will appeal to travelling mind map users is the ability to put your own distribution on a USB drive and run it from there. This frees you up from your own PC and means that you can access your mind maps from any compatible PC. This could prove a boon for those using mind maps in presentations, releasing them from the need to lug laptops everywhere.
Getting Started
The installation and startup process is quick and simple and a couple of tricks show that there is a commercial organisation behind this product rather than a loose coalition. The first is that the installation offers to change the associations on your operating system for Freemind and MindManager so that they are automatically opened in the future by XMind. Some people might not like that but it's a trick employed by Microsoft and Apple, particularly with their media players, so it has inherent legitimacy. It certainly tells you, in no uncertain terms, which products XMind consider to be the predominate players in the market.
The second hint at commercialism is that on startup the package asks you for the email address and password for your account, offering registration for those who haven't yet joined the fold. Registration is an essential part of the collaboration and sharing elements of XMind (and many other mind mapping products, to be fair) but the fact that you can simply close the box and carry on regardless is not advertised. Again it's a little sign of the commercial heritage of the product.
First impressions
When you do decide to sign up the signup page is a little odd. There's nothing too unusual in what it presents, fields for username, password and email and a Captcha field. But if you use tab to move between fields, as those of us who use a keyboard a lot tend to do, you get error messages as the web page you are using (without really knowing it) interprets the empty fields before you have had a chance to populate them. It's no big problem, you just get red error messages to ignore. This is perhaps less about XMind than about getting used to new ways of using software. These are emerging as we deal with the offline/online shift affecting software while moving towards a permanently online world.
The Help menu in the application leads you to a local help file accessed by a browser within XMind rather than spawning an instance of the user's browser. This isn't necessarily good or bad but you soon realise that you are missing the features that you regularly use in your own browser environment. It would be nice, for example, if the browser supported mouse buttons for going back and forth in the browser history as we've got very used to them XMind please take note.
Getting to Grips with the Keyboard
As a product aimed at an academic or educational market as much, if not more than, business users, there is added emphasis on keyboard shortcuts. It's nice to see a direct link on the top level Help menu to a pop-up list of the most common keyboard shortcuts. With programs like Freemind you need to go through the help system to find the relevant section, with XMind you are two clicks away, maximum. And right there on the top level Help menu item there is also a keyboard shortcut for the list of keyboard shortcuts! It's a little thing but shows an understanding of the facilities that can make mind map construction faster and easier, particularly for people who spend a lot of time at a keyboard. It's also strange not seeing that thinking running through to the registration and login dialogue box mentioned above, but in time we will have everything.
Compared to Freemind, another popular Open Source mind mapping application, look and feel is much more professional and slick. Multiple browser or main map windows are accessible in tabs like a modern browser and there is a small toolbar on the right with icons for layout options. The configurability of the interface is good, with moveable toolbars and the ability to hide or reveal sets of functions depending on what you're doing to make the most of screen real estate.
Spell Checker
Editing text in boxes demonstrates the spell checker, improved in this version and a valuable tool that is missing from many other free mind mapping tools such as Compendium. This is spoilt slightly by the spell check being in real time rather than waiting for a space to indicate the end of a word. This means that you are constantly seeing the red wiggly underline come and go as you type and an irritating 'checking spelling' legend appearing and disappearing in the bottom right hand corner. For touch typists this means the screen is always flashing, very irritating. I'm not sure we need to be told that the program is spell checking in the status bar. The red wiggly line tells you that anyway and we can't see why users would need to be told that the application is spell checking anyway.
This is minor fault though and there is much else to recommend the mind map creation and editing facilitates. It is easy to stretch and drag text box shapes to help the boxes fit into the shape of a map. Adding items in a list can be done in a pop-up window or, by hitting F4, in a Notes window at the bottom of the screen. Notes like this can have rich text attributes assigned to them and internal or external links to documents and web pages.
Diagram Flexibility
When considering the layout of your map XMind shies away from the free-for-all approach of Compendium or the one-type fits all approach of MindManager. XMind offers five types of map structure and numerous versions, giving nine options to choose from in all. Although many of them aren't strictly mind map formats that doesn't detract from their usefulness. The project management style is in a spreadsheet style and there is a fishbone structure too. Mind map purists might rail against a product that forces their maps into any structure but for people just beginning to find out the power of a properly arrange map, a form to follow makes the process less scary.
The great thing about XMind's approach is that you can change the format at any time. Select the origin of the chart, click on the properties icon on the right hand toolbar and then select a different type of chart from the 'Structure' drop down box. It's easy and it's also a great indication of why the different types of diagram exist. Changing our simple test project plan from Spreadsheet to Fishbone (Right Headed) demonstrated exactly why a fishbone structure simply doesn't work as a tool to manage a project at task level. But XMind's flexibility means that if you think your structure choice is wrong, you can simply try another one.
Get Moving Quickly
In pure brainstorm mode the traditional mind map style is offered and the keyboard shortcuts come into play again. Populating a map from scratch takes a little getting used to but works well after a few minutes of playing around and looking at the help file. Using it for a novel structure was frustrating as the chapters kept jumping out of order until the 'Map (Clockwise)' structure was discovered. Once that was applied everything fell into place and the chapters resumed their correct order.
All mind map users know that you start a map thinking it will fill out a certain way but then it grows exponentially in the most unexpected directions. XMind provides a number of ways to deal with that. For overall management of different diagrams XMind is similar to Excel, with workbooks and separate sheets. Given the numerous different formats of map this works well in that you can place a traditional mind map, related fishbone diagram and an organisational chart for the project team all in the same file, on separate sheets.
Of course you can link nodes on one sheet to other worksheets just as easily as external sources or those on the web. It's worth pointing out here that these different formats can be mixed as well, so, for example, a child of a traditional mind map format can be a fishbone diagram. The different formats can even exist on the same sheet, although as the screenshot shows, this can be less helpful than you might think.
As the maps grow use can be made of the Drilldown and Drillup features, a quick
and easy way to bring sections of a map into focus then come back up for the
strategic overview. As with nearly every other XMind feature it can be activated
from a menu selection, a mouse click or the ubiquitous keyboard shortcut, in
this case F6.
Collaboration and Sharing
As with many other leading mind map products collaborating and sharing of maps is the big growth area, in terms of features if not usage. After eagerly uploading our first test map clicking on the button to 'see your map now' was a bit of a disappointment. The internal browser took us to an 'oops' page, although copying and pasting the url into Firefox did show that it was actually there. Uploaded maps can be featured on the XMind site and there are links to push them out to all the usual social networking sites as well. Maps can be commented on and you can look up the person responsible for uploading any public maps (private maps being a Pro feature). As it was just a small test map we immediately wanted to remove it from the XMind website. We are still trying.... perhaps it's in the Pro version?
Free or Professional?
All of which brings us neatly to the issue of the free version versus the Professional upgrade. XMind Professional may well be worth purchasing for business users because the extras are largely to do with linking into other productivity tools and processes. You can integrate your mind maps into an organisation with Gantt chart views, the Presentation modules and the ability to share maps with a restricted audience. There are productivity tools like a task information tool which hooks into the Gantt view, something that project managers would need to use if XMind were to be used as a full-on project management tool.
More Images / screen shots
Click for larger pictures
There are more export options with XMind Professional as well. The free version will produce maps in HTML and a variety of graphic formats but it's only in the Professional version that youd be able to export to PDF, Microsoft Office formats as well as other mind mapping products such as FreeMind and MindManager. You also get more features to help merge maps or isolate sections of them for distribution and there are look and feel enhancements like a clip-art gallery, audio note attachment and theme creation and management. XMind makes it easy to upgrade as the package is the same and unlocking the professional features is done by changing your online account rather than the software.
As it costs nothing to have a go, anyone considering mind mapping software would not be wasting their time with XMind. It is a well produced tool with a professional look and feel. The only thing that lets it down in this regard is the proliferation of spelling mistakes in the product, the help and on the website but then it is a Chinese product so that is understandable.
It is obvious from the start that XMind is a commercial company offering a free version as an enticement to sign up to the paid version. This allows a different approach to a pure open source hobby project such as FreeMind or an institutional approach as with Compendium and the user is the winner.