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A healthy raw caramel spread. Very creamy and gooey and tastes just like caramel! All natural ingredients and great on apples, in oatmeal, on icecream, in desserts, spread on toast, on pancakes, waffles…Just blend up all the ingredients until smooth and you're ready to eat some yummy caramel. 🙂
Prep time
Total time
Serves: 6-8
- 15 pitted dates, soaked for a few minutes and drained
- pinch of pink sea salt
- ½ heaping tbs mesquite powder
- 1 tbs coconut oil, liquid
- 1 tbs peanut butter / almond butter
- optional: apple slices, cacao nibs, cinnamon, raisins, dried cranberries...for toppings 🙂
- Add all ingredients (except for the "optional" ingredients) to a blender/food processor and blend well until everything is smooth and a uniform colour. This may take a bit of time if you don't have a powerful machine. I had to scrape down the sides with a spatula a few times. Probably took me about 4-5 minutes...not too long. Definitely worth it in any case. 🙂
- Then you are done! Tastes great when placed in the fridge for 10-20 minutes. If you want a less thick consistency, I would try adding a tsp of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency. Keep stored in the fridge and use within 3-5 days.


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Henry Gallacher Limited
Formed in 1965 for the express purpose of providing a fast emergency gasket cutting service for the Petrochemical, Power Generation, Pharmaceutical and Steel plant operators on Teesside.
Henry Gallacher Limited – First for Flange Insulation Kits & Flange Protection
We are the UK leading manufacturer of Flange Insulation Kits, essentially used for isolating flanges to prevent pipeline flange corrosion typically where a seal is required between dissimilar metals. All components are quality checked during and after manufacture, components are separately bagged and packaged in plain cartons.
Quality and Experience
For over 50 years our expertise and reputation has developed to enable us to serve industry sectors including Fabrication, Power Generation Shutdowns, Petrochemical, Oil & Gas ,Marine & Steel throughout the UK, Europe, Far, Near and Middle East and across the World.
Shutdown Services
Henry Gallacher Ltd specialises in Power Generation Rapid Shutdown emergency gasket services. Our unrivalled lightning fast turnaround, usually with same day despatch, saves you time and money.
Wide Range of Sealing Products
We manufacture, stock and supply an extensive range of sealing products from Metallic & Semi-Metallic gaskets, all types of soft cut gaskets in materials such as: Compressed Synthetic Fibre, High Performance PTFE jointing (SIGMA Range), High Temperature materials (Thermiculite Range), WRAS Approved EPDM Rubber, Neoprene, High Grade Nitrile, Silicone, Viton, Expanded PTFE Joint Sealant & Sheet, Glass Webbings & Ladder Tape, Valve,Pump &Gland Packings,Cork Sheet, Closed Cell Neoprene.
Always Ready!
Our experience and expertise ensures you will get the right gasket for the application exactly when you need it. All the team at Henry Gallacher Ltd pride ourselves in our ability to provide superb quality and a rapid delivery for both manufactured and stock items. With our factory being open 7 days a week, supported by an emergency 24 hour call out service when needed, you can be sure that we will be there when you need us.
Henry Gallacher Limited and Flexitallic
Since 2002 Henry Gallacher Ltd has been proud to be a Key Allied Distributor for Global Gasket Materials manufacturer Flexitallic. As a result we are able to advise on and supply unique products such as the CHANGE Gasket.Thermiculite High Temperature Products, the new Corriculite Gasket and a complete range of I-Flex Flange Insulation Kits. Flexitallic, supported by Henry Gallacher Ltd, are always at the forefront of sealing technology which allows us to provide technical expertise.These close links mean that we are always able to supply, with confidence, the latest quality products as they arrive on the market

subset: commoncrawl


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If you're looking for a full-time job, there are two things you shouldn't do: Don't let disappointing employment figures and talks of a double-dip recession dishearten you. Don't rule out temporary or contract assignments. In a tough economy, temporary and contract positions offer a viable path to direct employment. Why? More and more, employers are… Read More »
Posts Tagged: UNITEMP
New Jersey Employers Recognize the Need for Benefits that Appeal to a Multi-generational Workforce
Employers in New Jersey and across the country are faced with a difficult balancing act – attracting new talent, while also holding onto experienced workers. Achieving this balance is driving employers to create financial benefit plans that appeal to workers of all ages. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Workforce Benefits Report (published April,… Read More »
How to Retain and Inspire Top Talent, Even in this Tough Economy
If you've watched the news lately, or followed the markets, you've probably found the economic data as puzzling and disconcerting as I have. Up one day, way down the next. One economic analyst talks about a slow recovery, the other warns us of the next recession. The roller coaster we're on isn't showing any signs… Read More »
Time Out! U.S. Workers are Foregoing Vacation Plans, But is This Really in Your Company's Best Interest?
Work/life balance. It's one of those nebulous issues with which employers continually wrestle. On the one hand, work needs to be done. On the other hand, the pressure to get that work done can lead to a host of problems which zap employees' productivity. Financial constraints and demanding work schedules have made work a higher… Read More »
The Value of Workplace Flexibility
Do you offer flexible work options to your employees? Does it really matter? Take a look at what two recent studies showed about the prevalence and importance of workplace flexibility. The first, a recent Survey on Workplace Flexibility from WorldatWork, found that: The vast majority (98 percent) of U.S. employers offer at least one workplace… Read More »
The ASA Staffing Index: Timely Employment Trend Info for NJ Employers
How's business? The ASA Staffing Index can help you answer this question. The ASA Staffing Index, developed by the American Staffing Association, provides a current measure of staffing industry employment trends. Published weekly, the index estimates the weekly changes in the number of people employed in temporary and contract work. Index numbers are reported just… Read More »
Profitable Temporaries: Ways Temps Can Drive Profits in Your Organization
Admittedly, business is not quite "booming" again, yet. But if your business is like most in New Jersey, you've probably maxed out the productivity of your existing workforce. Budget cuts, layoffs and uncertainty about the recovery have forced employers to stretch their core workforces to the limit. If increasing productivity of core staff isn't feasible… Read More »
HR Responds as Older Workers Delay Retirement
U.S. workers are working longer – and retiring later. Why? According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute's Retirement Confidence Survey (as reported by Workforce.com): about 36 percent of respondents cite the poor economy; 16 percent say their lack of faith in Social Security is forcing them to postpone retirement; 13 percent claim they simply can't… Read More »
Top Staffing Myths and Misconceptions
The staffing industry is not what it used to be. In decades past, employers typically viewed staffing services as a "necessary evil" – a last resort when a low-level employee called in sick. But not anymore. Today's staffing industry is comprised of diverse, robust organizations whose services can greatly enhance your company's productivity and profitability… Read More »
Working as a Temporary Employee? Use These Six Tips for Success
UNITEMP employees choose temporary work for a variety of reasons. Some like the extra cash and freedom temporary work provides; others want to gain experience; still others seek a full-time, direct position. No matter what your reasons are for working as a UNITEMP temporary, you can use these six tips to succeed while on assignment:… Read More »


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USA 2014Video Coverage
Mitch Zamara is Creating a Global Gaming Community | Casual Connect Video
"To me, there is three really big things that are forgotten when you want to launch a game around the world: localization, testing, and live operations," Mitch Zamara explained during Casual Connect USA 2014.
Mitch Zamara, game design lead at FunPlus Game, says that for him, the greatest fun in the games industry comes from seeing his ideas become reality and knowing he is creating entertainment for millions of people.
It All Started At School
While at school working on a degree in computer science, Zamara decided he wanted to be a game designer. He decided the first step towards this goal would be taking the Game Design Workshop which was offered at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Unfortunately, the workshop was held the same week as his finals at school; he was left with an incredibly difficult decision. He chose to attend the workshop and the rest of the conference, which meant he had to drop out of school. But only two weeks later, he was offered a job with Zynga, and two months after that, he was officially a game designer.
Heading East
Zamara has now been with FunPlus Game for 11 months. They offered him the opportunity to go to China to build the next generation of social mobile games and lead the creative vision of the projects he works on. And there would be no holiday crunch time. The year-and-a-half he spent with Storm8 working on mobile games has been a definite help in his role with FunPlus. It has also been an advantage to have his close friend, Steven Johnson, who worked with him at Storm8, join the team to work with him at FunPlus. Zamara has also been helped by the experience he gained at Zynga in understanding the value of metrics and analysis.
Negative Tactics
The biggest challenge the game industry is currently facing, in Zamara's opinion, is the negative stigma mobile and social games have acquired as a result of the tactics used in gaining virality. Although there are people who are happy to receive requests and notifications, the majority of people are not. He says, "Making these channels more approachable, without feeling like spam, will help a great deal." He also sees mobile repeating some of the same mistakes of the first few generations of Facebook games, with lack of innovation and too much drive to clone competitors.
Grow The Community
At FunPlus, they are confronting this problem by creating games that are about more than sending requests to friends. They are making it about creating a global community of people who enjoy playing games. Zamara is also innovating in every way possible in the projects he is working on.
The next important trend he expects to come to the games industry is multiple platform play. He notes that a few games, like Candy Crush and Zynga Poker, have already shown the power of being able to play on almost any device and platform. So he expects AAA games to be launched with companion apps that extend and support the play experience. He emphasizes, "People already want to continue their gaming experience on whatever app they are using at the time. Hopefully, anyone making games today recognizes there is an audience growing that wants more than they are being offered now."
Zamara says his two biggest passions are travel and food. In fact, he claims if he were not a game designer, he would be a chef because he loves to cook and eat all kinds of food. He also loves travel and has recently returned from his honeymoon in South Africa and Mozambique.
Lately, his gaming has consisted of playing Diablo 3, Hearthstone, League of Legends, and TitanFall; his platform of choice is PC. He also owns consoles, including 3DS for on-the-go gaming and an Xbox to play Rock Band with friends. And he feels the iPad and iPhone are the biggest consoles out there right now.
Catherine Quinton
Catherine Quinton is a staff writer for www.gamesauce.org. Catherine loves her hobby farm, long walks in the country and reading great novels.


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Hong Kong girls has won the World Team Women Championship
- Written by Vivek Pathak - Media Officer, IBSF
Team Hong Kong-1 is the new champion of IBSF World Team Women Championship. In the final they defeated India-1 in a very interesting match 4-3.
Hong Kong-1 team comprises of former World Champion Ng On Yee and her partner Ka Kai Wan played dominating game initially and secured first two frames with a break of 62 in first.
Team India (Vidya Pillai and Amee Kamani) made an extraordinary comeback in third frame to win 65-47 but Vidya couldn't save the fourth and lost the frame on black ball to go down 1-3.
In next frame, Amee Kamani curtailed Ka Kai Wan with the score of 55-39 and continued the same momentum in next doubles frame to win 58-47 and set the decider.
In last frame, Ng On Yee potted well and took lead of around 40 points when Amee got a chance to recover. She had a very good chance to go ahead but missed an easy pink in centre pocket leaving all open for Ng On Yee, which she controlled once again and won the frame 82-27 to lift the title.


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I've been a bit quiet about In This Our Life, Ellen Glasgow's soap-operatic look into the sordid (but not especially compelling) lives of a down-on-their-luck family from somewhere in the Upper South (Virginia?), and that's for two reasons. One is that I've been busy enough (and uninterested enough in the book) that I haven't made a ton of progress on it, although recently I've gotten further in, close to the book's half-way point. The other is that it's hard to say much about the book, which is largely failing to be bad in an interesting way.
The main focus of the plot, which I addressed myself to earlier, is on the relationship of the father, Asa Timberlake, to his daughters, Roy and Stanley, which is strained by his inability to understand this wild and unconventional young generation, and by the weird fact that although it's absolutely crystal clear from the information available that Stanley will ditch her fiancé and run off with Roy's husband, no one (least of all Asa) seems to see it coming. The only secondary plot of note is about a young African-American man named Parry, who is ambitious and whose skin is very light in color, and his attempts to get Asa's family's support as he intends to make something of himself (Parry is associated with the family's long-time black servant, Virgie, and may I think come from a family that the Timberlakes once owned). Veterans of this blog will recognize, I think, that the first plot is associated in some ways with Early Autumn, 1927's winner which reflects on infidelity and fidelity over a couple of generations of a down-on-their-luck family in New England, and a woman's relationship to her daughter. And the second plot might as well be carbon-copied (at least at this summary level) from the relationship between Toussaint Vaiden and Colonel Miltiades Vaiden in 1933's winner, The Store. Glasgow hasn't done a bunch with either plot at this point—Stanley has, at least, run off with Roy's husband, so now the cat's out of the bag, but it's not clear she has any notion of what to do about this or where to go now that the tension has been set loose. Parry, poor soul, just keeps showing up to ask a white man for help, and gets some nonsense—in some cases, nonsensically kind but useless suggestions about "helping if I can" when the speaker clearly can't, and in other cases nonsensically racist and condescending crap like "there are plenty of white lawyers to help black folks in trouble if they haven't done any wrong, so why get uppity notions about being a lawyer when you can have a happy life as a postman or something?" The wheels are spinning for characters and reader alike. Given that, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on why the plots aren't working here, in a book that will avoid the bottom spots on my list only by mostly avoiding crass offensiveness, when they worked moderately to very well in two books that currently rank 5th and 8th out of 22 (soon to be 23) Pulitzer winners.
To take Early Autumn in hand first—the lesser of my two "good" examples—I think what Glasgow is missing is a sense of context and broader significance. In Louis Bromfield's book, I got the sense that I was seeing events that went beyond the family in question (in his case, the Pentlands): their diminishing social stature was tied (however subtly) to changes in America and the region they lived in, and the family's sense of itself and its history helped add a certain grandeur (however decaying) to the anxieties of the older generations as they dealt with the family chaos. Conversations between characters add to what we already know about the situation as people reveal (or conceal) their emotions in recognizably human fashion, and when in the later stages of the novel the characters confront each other to express hard truths about love and their relationships to each other, I felt the talk was somehow "earned" by having been built up to. Glasgow's book, by comparison, gives us a Timberlake family whose moorings are unclear—there's a lot of talk about wealth in the book, and it opens with Asa looking forlornly at his family's old home, now lost to their poverty, but none of the characters seem to have walked away with any ideas about the family and what it means to be a Timberlake. The book (for the sake of the plot) contrives at some pre-existing tensions and relationships but they all feel hollow—I can't believe that the characters I see in front of me could believably have behaved in the past in such a way as to make the backstory real. As a result, all the back-and-forth between Asa's generation and Roy and Stanley's feels odd—the parents and elders don't feel like they have much added perspective (other than commenting all the time about "how different these young people are!") and the young people seem sometimes terribly old. I think Glasgow is driving at some pretty heavy attacks on modernity and what it does to love and youth (especially for these poor helpless young women, if I may paraphrase the vibe I'm getting from her), but it's never clear what's making all this happen, or where these people came from. Furthermore, as I've complained before, the characters wear everything on their sleeves, saying almost everything they might be thinking out loud and to the people they feel it towards—the only exception being explicit mention of the affair between Stanley and Peter. Anyway, since no human being actually acts this way all of the time, and most of us never act this way more than 5% of the time, it's irritating to navigate through, since the characters feel like felt puppets bobbing their way through a script. Some parts of the script are plausibly interesting—Roy, for example, and her feelings about the way she wishes people would treat her after her husband runs off with her sister—but I can't buy into the emotions because they don't feel authentic. Bromfield's novel is, oddly enough, able to make me feel far more by telling me far less.
T. S. Stribling's book, The Store, really is the book Glasgow wanted to write, although it's much smarter about race than hers is, with livelier characters and more complicated and interesting interpersonal relationships. The Vaidens of Stribling's book, though, have fallen down from somewhere specific, and it's easy to see how that's affected them and what it pushes them to do. Even the relationship between the Colonel and his wife (one of the few things I complained about with this book) is more nuanced than Asa's relationship with his wife, Lavinia—at least I am forced to work out their relationship to each other and try to make sense of it, rather than read the narrator flatly telling me things like "Asa no longer loved his wife, and could not believe that he ever had, but now adopted an attitude towards her as of a stranger, although one who felt obligated to care for her." I mean, what's the point of writing a book when you can give it all to me in synopsis form? Anyway, to dial in on the racial subplot in Glasgow's novel and contrast it with Stribling, Stribling makes the world of freed slaves and their descendants a living one. People have fights with each other, are complex enough to be both wise and foolish, saintly and sinful, and ultimately it's not always clear how we're supposed to take them. Toussaint Vaiden, the upwardly mobile, light-skinned black man of Stribling's novel, is so ambitious as to be almost a scoundrel in some ways, but his arrogance and confidence make sense because of who he is and where he comes from, and they do not diminish the sympathy his character rightly gets from the reader in the novel's tragic conclusion. By comparison, Glasgow has given us a poor man's copy in the figure of Parry Clay—a young black man who never loses his temper or speaks out of turn, who studies hard and merely needs a loan (which he will pay back! every penny!) to get his schooling to become a lawyer. Parry never feels as urgent as Toussaint, and he arises out of almost nowhere in Glasgow's novel, which treats the African-American characters as a real sideline—despite this novel being set 40ish years after Stribling's, the black characters seem more obsessed with the lives of the white family they know, and more unmoored from any larger African-American community, and it feels like laziness (or impoverished imagination) on the part of the author, rather than any kind of real statement about the fracturing of communities, etc.
Anyway, I could go on, but given that I'm comparing a novel no one has read to two other novels no one has read, this is more for my benefit than anyone else's, I suppose! All I really need to do for those of you who, for reasons best known to yourselves, follow my aimless path through the Pulitzers is to tell you that I've read another 100 pages or so of a book I wish I didn't have to read, and that once I've read another 300 pages or so, I'll never have to pick it up again. I may post again on this one if I manage to get anywhere worth relating, but something tells me I may just take my medicine as fast as I can and then write a review when all's said and done.


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SAN JOSE, Calif. — The public can follow along on the Web as a team of scientists explore a massive volcano that's submerged thousands of feet under water in Monterey Bay.
Scientists on a research ship exploring the Davidson Seamount, rising from 12,000 feet (3,660 meters) below the ocean's surface, have been posting images, video clips and journal entries from the site since leaving Moss Landing last Thursday.
A BBC crew also is on board filming a documentary scheduled to air next year.
"We had heard many reports about how spectacular this place was, and they certainly proved to be no exaggeration," BBC producer Penny Allen wrote in the expedition's Web journal. "Spectacular forests of colorful corals, sponges and anemones stretched as far as the eye could see; a gorgeous expanse of pink, yellow, orange and white."
The volcano, which is twice as tall as Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County, is located 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Monterey and boasts coral gardens as high as 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall.
Most of the seamount had been unexplored despite two previous expeditions to the site, when scientists used a robotic submersible to take pictures and grab marine life specimens.
Scientists have already found what appears to be a new sponge species that "looks a bit like a lovely white stringy, spiny cactus," Jim Barry, a scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, wrote in an e-mail from the ship.
The volcano itself is believed to have erupted some 10 million to 15 million years ago, said David Clague, a geologist with the research institute.
The entries are available online via the NOAA Ocean Explorer site or the Monterey Bay Research Institute's site.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text: This teaser video from agency AKQA for the Xbox 360′s upcoming Kinect Star Wars game features comedy actor Chris Pratt (from U.S. TV show Parks & Recreation) taking over the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He has a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader in a homage to the famous scene from the movie Episode IV: A New Hope. Unfortunately, Pratt's lightsaber skills leave a lot to be desired and Darth Vader gets rather annoyed with the bathrobe-wearing actor. The new game lets players explore the Star Wars universe (featuring iconic settings, characters and action) with no controller. Check out the video below:


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Find out how the Collège prepares its Fellows for key management positions in the business world.
25% of the European engineering & science graduates under 30 pursuing an MBA are at Collège des Ingénieurs.
Innovation is a critical aspect of our MBA and Ph.D. programmes. Every Fellow is provided with several opportunities to develop his or her own innovation.
The Collège's MBA programme is at the heart of a larger ecosystem.
Here you can access the most recent news regarding classes, events and stories. Browse our newsroom to have a 360º view on the Collège des Ingénieurs!
Find out more about the history and core values of the Collège des Ingénieurs.
Philippe Knoche, CEO of Orano, delivered a Masterclass to the Fellows, dealing with interesting topics such as innovation, competition, leadership, geopolitics.
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Other than noting that Republicans bore me, and that it's sometimes very, very embarrassing to live in NH (as in, every election cycle), what hit my radar was...
...Michele Bachmann.
Michele Bachmann is not Sarah Palin. Palin does whatever the hell she wants to do, and she's obviously enjoying herself doing it. Certainly, she spends a lot of time interpreting her conduct and comments within a self-consciously conservative framework. In doing so, she's constantly rereading the text and the script to suit the needs of her immediate performance. Palin is a performer. A natural, at that.
Unlike Palin, who expands that framework and forces its adherents to adapt to her moves or condemn themselves to a contest with a chimaera, Bachmann has (at least in tonight's debate) taken a more genuinely conservative approach to the issues. Bachmann has bound herself to them, replete with sworn pledges.
Palin is a genius, in her own way. Palin mouths what her followers want to hear, and she talks in their idiom with practiced expertise - but she is not bound by their self-imposed moral restrictions, especially within the arena of contest she's chosen as her public domain. Palin uses her gender as wedge - as a motherhood position - in a constant struggle with a male dominated conservative hierarchy. Palin's womanhood is not bound to men. She is the prime mover, in her family. She is the breadwinner, and yet she's managed to avoid the pigeonholing of her conduct according to perceptions of her gender. Regardless of her stump speeches, her family values utterances and her lip service to the conservative social canon, Palin as an actual person is a remarkable deviation from that canon. She's not Schlafly's heir. She's an anti-Schlafly, doing all the public things which the back-to-the-household old guard have spent four decades railing against.
Bachmann is not Palin.
Bachmann is a woman in chains.
It's not in her approach to the issues which reveals her condition, or which held my attention. Her treatment of the issues was so much boiler plate. Without any indication of tone, posture, enunciation or inflection, it would be difficult to tell Palin and Bachmann apart on the issues.
Palin does not try to compete with her male counterparts on their terms. She's comfortable as a woman, and she's comfortable as a powerful woman. She commends her followers for their adherence to traditional gender roles, as she continuously violates them.
Palin doesn't compensate.
Michele Bachmann, by comparison, appears to believe those roles deeply. Which puts her in a noticeable bind, as was plainly evident during this evening's debates.
So there she was, on the stage.
Dwarfed by the man-troll and the two tall, smug man-boys vying for whitest, blandest mommy's dearest:
And Bachmann spent the whole night compensating. As each Republican man offered his prescription for completely savaging the commons, for privatizing everything from education to space to environmental protection, Bachmann took it further. She tried to out-man them. She pledged, and promised and took solemn oaths like a two dimensional cookie cutter king in some bad YA fantasy or fan fiction.
When asked by a local college administrator what ought to be done to return manufacturing jobs to the States, the candidates each talked about shrinking government, getting out of the way of business, trade imbalances and deregulation. Bachmann went for the inordinate, declaring,
"Well, the United States federal government and the states have done numerous job training programs over the year with mixed results. This is what we need to do to turn job creation around and bring manufacturing back to the United States .
What we need to do is today the United States has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. I'm a former federal tax lawyer. I've seen the devastation. We've got to bring that tax rate down substantially so that we're among the lowest in the industrialized world.
Here's the other thing. Every time the liberals get into office, they pass an omnibus bill of big spending projects. What we need to do is pass the mother of all repeal bills, but it's the repeal bill that will get a job killing regulations. And I would begin with the EPA, because there is no other agency like the EPA. It should really be renamed the job-killing organization of America."
As write this, literally as I type, Anderson Vanderbilt and his guests are gushing over Michele Bachmann, as a "surprise winner" of the debate, musing over how she spoke in clear, precise sentences. She had her points in order. She "peppered" her arguments with interesting facts and data and argued in a "rational" fashion.
In short, on how she argued like a traditional male candidate.
Those expectations are Bachmann's chains. Because to be taken seriously beyond this debate and from here on forward, she cannot give the impression that she lacks the solidity of the traditionally masculine role, and its associated traits of aggression and assertion. By assuming them tonight, she has set her own minimum standard. She was taken seriously on those terms, and a failure to meet them again and again will consign her to public failure.
As this campaign continues, these are the qualities which will isolate her against the background of her male competitors and within the environment in which they all share a less than congenial competition. The further she progresses as a serious competitor, the more likely she will fall into the trap which caught Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, assuming the mediated role of the harridan, the scold and the woman who forgot her place. As the woman-thing trying to be serious while the menfolk talk shop, and politics and the rough salvation of a womanly nation.
Unlike Palin.
Who is so much cagier than that.
Palin slipped her chains.
And tonight, watching Bachmann try to out assert*, out gun and out man the men, we got to watch her assume the weight of them voluntarily.
I felt bad for Michele Bachmann, tonight. Not because she was a victim. She wasn't. She held her own. I felt bad for her because, as she wrapped those chains around her own self, slipped the key into the lock and turned it closed, I knew that the press and her competitors would never let her take them off again...
* - I'm not suggesting that there are innate gender traits. I'm suggesting that Bachmann was attempting to compete with utterly traditional men by assuming traditionally masculine traits.


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It's pretty easy to be a good father. If you are seen on the town with your kids and your wife is not with you, people will think you are a good father. If you read books and change your kids' diapers occasionally, if you tell them you love them and feed them well, don't deprive them but don't spoil them either, if you seem genuinely happy to be around them, you will in all likelihood be a good father. Your kids will love you and that may be all that matters.
But things can blow up in your face and that's why being a good father requires taking no time off. (more…)


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Toilets are an essential part of your home; some houses have one toilet while others have more. It is undoubtedly a major aspect of your house and needs your attention. Toilets last for years, but when they do start to have problems, it's best to address them right away. After all, it's easier now more than ever to buy a toilet. You don't need to check out one home improvement store after another. Just go online, read reviews, and buy the toilet that's best for your needs.
If you have ordered toilets online, you would know that there are a lot of factors to consider when choosing your toilet. You would want a nice-looking toilet that is easy to install and fits perfectly in your bathrooms. You would also want the toilet to be comfortable to use and easy to clean. It should be an excellent water-saver, too, so you won't get hit by huge water bills every month. Getting all these features in a single toilet may prove difficult especially if you are ordering the older two-piece toilet models.
You can save yourself the trouble of a prolonged search by buying a one-piece toilet. They are more compact, making them easier to transport and clean. One major drawback to ordering a two-piece toilet is the fact that the two parts sometimes arrive separately, which can be up to a week. This affects your installation plans, as it is difficult to plan for the installation when the two pieces are not together. However, you will not have this problem with a toilet.
We have put together a list of the 7 best one-piece toilets on the market today to make your choice an easier one.
Best One Piece Toilets in 2020: Quick Comparision
|Product Name
|Latest Price
|TOTO MS604114CEFG#01 Ultramax II Het Double Cyclone
|35 x 33 x 23 inches
|Check Price
|WOODBRIDGE T-0001 W Dual Flush Elongated One-Piece Toilet
|31 x 18 x 28 inches
|Check Price
|TOTO MS854114S#12 Ultramax Elongated One-Piece Toilet
|28 x 17 x 28 inches
|Check Price
|American Standard Champion-4 Right Height One-Piece Elongated Toilet
|17.8 x 29.8 x 29.5 inches
|Check Price
|WinZo WZ5027 3 Cyclone Elongated ADA One Piece Toilet
|17.3 x 16.5 x 15 inches
|Check Price
|WoodBridge T-0008 Luxury Bidet Toilet
|28.5 x 14.5 x 27.5 inches
|Check Price
|Duravit 2157010005 Durastyle Toilet
|14.6 x 28.4 x 29 inches
|Check Price
1. TOTO Ultramax II Het Double Cyclone Toilet
Toto is a well-respected manufacturer known for the high-quality toilets they have on the market. The Toto MS604114CEFG#01 Ultramax II toilet is a popular choice among users because of its design and functionality. It has an elongated bowl and a universal seat height, making it comfortable to use. The toilet uses only 1.28 gallons of water per flush (GPF), which meets EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) WaterSense requirements.
The toilet features a SoftClose seat and a quiet flush that makes it one of the best rated one-piece toilets today. The impressive SanaGloss technology used on this toilet forms an ionized barrier around the body, making it easy to clean and prevent molds and bacteria from growing on it. This Toto-patented technology also makes this toilet retain its shine for a long time.
- The toilet is comfortable to use and clean.
- It uses 1.28 GPF, making it an excellent choice for saving water.
- The elongated bowl and universal seat height make it comfortable to use.
- The toilet has a SoftClose seat.
- It uses a powerful and quiet flush.
- This toilet is designed to give you maximum comfort.
- The toilet is a bit on the pricey side.
- Although the height is ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant, it is still a little too high for some users.
The SanaGloss technology used in building this toilet is unique. The ionized barrier prevents dirt from sticking to the surface of the toilet, making it easy to clean. It also repels molds, bacteria, and particles. It uses a Double Cyclone system of flushing, which forces waste out of the toilet from two nozzles.
2. WOODBRIDGE W Dual Flush Elongated One-Piece Toilet
If you are looking for a well-designed, easy-to-use toilet, the Woodbridge T-0001 W Dual Flush model is an excellent choice. It has a classy look that adds to the modern finish of your bathroom. The SoftClose seat means you do not have to worry about the seat slamming down after each use. This dual flush toilet is a good water-saving option, using only 1.6 GPF for the full flush and 1.0 GPF for the partial flush.
Just like most one-piece toilets, the Woodbridge T-0001 W toilet is easy to install and comfortable to clean. This toilet is designed for a comfortable installation, as it comes with a pre-fitted seat, instructions, bolts, and a wrench tool. The seat height makes it suitable for use by most adults. The toilet has a small and compact design, which is why it is usually recommended for small bathrooms.
- The toilet is easy to install and clean.
- Using this toilet is a great way to save water.
- It has a comfortable seat height, making it suitable for most adults
- It has a SoftClose seat.
- The flushing action of this toilet is quiet and powerful.
- This toilet is also suitable for use in small bathrooms.
- The flush buttons have to be held down for flushing to begin.
- The toilet is not certified by EPA WaterSense.
- It comes only in white.
The Woodbridge T-0001 W Dual Flush toilet uses a siphon flush system that makes flushing very quiet and powerful. It has a skirted trapway, which is also a factor that makes it easy to clean.
3. TOTO Ultramax Elongated One-Piece Toilet
This toilet is another excellent product from Toto. While older than most of the other toilets reviewed, its sturdy design and excellent functionality make it popular among users. The one-piece construction makes installation and cleaning of the toilet a breeze. It has a 3-inch flush valve that produces a very powerful flushing action that is also quiet.
The toilet uses 1.6 GPF, which is lower than the amount used by many other toilet models. This toilet also takes less space because of its round bowl, making it perfect for small bathrooms. These features make it deserving of a place on the list of the best one-piece toilets on the market today.
- This is pretty easy to clean and install.
- The toilet features a powerful flushing system.
- It has a convenient SoftClose seat.
- It uses only 1.6 GPF, making it an excellent water-saving option.
- The round bowl makes it suitable for use in small spaces.
- The toilet is a bit expensive.
- It requires regular cleaning.
- It is made of porcelain, so it is less durable than toilets made of vitreous china.
The Toto MS854114S#12 Ultramax toilet uses SanaGloss finish, which prevents bacteria and mold from growing on the toilet. It also preserves the shiny finish of the toilet. The 3-inch G-Max flush valve gives the toilet a very powerful and quiet flush.
4. American Standard Champion-4 Right Height One-Piece Elongated Toilet
When it comes to toilets, few brands are more established than American Standard. They have built their glowing reputation on years of producing excellent products. The American Standard 2034314.020 Champion-4 toilet is one of these products. This toilet is easy to install and use, and the 1.6 GPF makes it an excellent water saver. It also comes with a SoftClose seat.
The bowl is made of vitreous china, making it very durable, while the EverClean glaze prevents the growth of mold, bacteria, and mildew. It has a standard seat height that meets the ADA requirements, making it a comfortable toilet to use. A 4-inch piston activates the flush valve, giving the toilet one of the most potent flushing systems on the market. No wonder it does pretty well on one-piece toilet reviews!
- This toilet does an excellent job of saving water.
- The standard seat height makes it comfortable to use.
- The toilet is easy to install and clean.
- It boasts a powerful flushing system.
- The EverClean surface prevents mold, bacteria, and mildew from growing.
- The toilet can flush up to 1,000 grams of solid waste at a time.
- This toilet is not for the budget-conscious.
- Some users have complained about the cheap-looking plastic seats.
- The toilet is not certified by EPA WaterSense.
The American Standard 2034314.020 Champion-4 has a flush valve that is powered by a 4-inch piston. This produces a very powerful flushing action that is both effective and quiet. The EverClean glaze on the body of this toilet makes it easy to clean because it prevents stain and odor from sticking.
5. WinZo Cyclone Elongated ADA One Piece Toilet
The WinZo WZ5027 3 Cyclone One-Piece toilet is another favorite among users. Not many toilets are as easy to clean as this one. This can be attributed to the fact that it does not have corners or grooves where dirt and germs can hide. One drawback to using this toilet is the fact that it is not very durable, and it comes with a warning that highlights this.
This toilet is efficient at saving water, and it has EPA WaterSense certification. This toilet boasts a robust, fast flushing system because of its 360-degree 3 cyclone technology. The standard seat height makes the toilet comfortable for most adults, and it meets the ADA requirements.
- This toilet is designed to be easy to clean and install.
- The standard seat height makes using it very comfortable.
- The toilet is an efficient water saver.
- It boasts a fast and powerful flushing system.
- This toilet has a lightweight build, making transportation and installation easy.
- The toilet has a sleek design that adds to the beauty of your bathroom.
- This toilet is a little more fragile than most other one-piece toilets.
- The toilet does not come with any form of installation instructions.
The WinZo WZ5027 3 Cyclone One-Piece toilet uses a 360-degree cyclone flushing technology that gives a powerful and fast flush. The water seal of this toilet has a scientific design that reduces spill, odor, and keeps the fresh look of your bathroom.
6. WoodBridge Luxury Bidet Toilet
The WoodBridge T-0008 Luxury Bidet Toilet is one of their most elegantly designed toilets that complements the look of your bathroom. This dual flush toilet saves a lot of water by using 1.6 GPF for the full flush and 1.0 GPF for the partial flush.
The bidet seat gives the toilet a classy look and improves the comfort you get from using it. The pre-installed lid makes the toilet easy to install, and the different hygiene wash options it offers makes it easy to clean. The toilet comes with a remote control that makes using it fun and easy.
- This toilet has a sleek modern design.
- It comes with the lid pre-installed.
- The dual flush action helps conserve water.
- The toilet has an LED light that helps you find your way in the dark.
- It has a powerful but quiet flushing action.
- The toilet has a heated seat, making it a very comfortable toilet even during cold months.
- The seat is a little high, making it difficult for shorter people to use the toilet.
- The remote control does not have a flush function.
- It is a bit pricey.
This toilet is in a league of its own when it comes to comfort. When you are done passing waste, a stainless steel self-cleaning nozzle will clean up for you. After this, you get a gentle massage, and an air dryer dries you up. All these features make it one of the best one-piece toilets on the market today. It supplies warm water, and it also has a heated seat that can be adjusted through five temperatures.
7. Duravit Durastyle Toilet
This Duravit toilet has a simple and functional design. Its rectangular shape complements its elongated bowl and would look great in any bathroom. It is dual flush, using 1.6 GPF for the full flush and 0.8 GPF for the partial flush. One drawback to buying this toilet is that it does not come with the seat, so you will have to get one separately. The toilet is reasonably priced, and it is highly rated in most one-piece toilet reviews.
The Duravit 2157010005 Durastyle toilet uses an open rim flushing technology that gives it a perfect flushing action. This technology is also easily accessible, making the toilet easy to clean.
- The simple design gives your bathroom a simple, low-profile look.
- This toilet is a great choice for saving water.
- The open rim technology makes cleaning easier.
- The toilet has a powerful flushing system.
- The installation process is straightforward.
- The toilet has a standard seat height, making it suitable for use by most adults.
- The toilet does not come with a toilet seat.
- The toilet does not offer much regarding color options, as it comes only in white.
- Negative #3
The Duravit 2157010005 features an open rim flushing technology that results in a perfect flush. It also makes cleaning more comfortable. The compact size and the 12-inch rough-in makes it a suitable toilet for small spaces.
Best One-Piece Toilets Buying Guide
Picking a toilet (or two) for your home is one decision that you would have to make at some point. It is crucial that you get this decision right the first time, so as to make every visit to the bathroom a relaxing and comfortable one. Here are some things you should consider before choosing a one-piece toilet for your bathroom:
The size of your bathroom determines the size of the toilet you should buy. If you have a very spacious bathroom, the size of the toilet is of little consequence. When space is at a premium, however, it is very important to put the toilet size first. Aside from its fit, the size of the toilet also affects its portability and to a degree, how easy it is to clean.
Whichever toilet you decide to get, always remember that you will be stuck with it for several years. You should make sure, therefore, that the toilet you choose will be easy and comfortable to use. Different features affect how comfortable a toilet is. The height of the seat, how easy it is to use and clean, and the ease of installation are some of the things to consider.
Apart from the comfort offered by the toilet, one other essential thing to look at is the overall comfort in the bathroom. A toilet that fits perfectly into your bathroom increases the total comfort you get from using it.
Flushing System
There are many flushing system options on the market, so selecting the right one may prove to be a little tricky. It is reasonable to expect that some of these flushing systems are not as good as others. The minimum requirement though is that the toilet should be able to handle any waste.
The flushing system used by a toilet sometimes determines how efficient it is in disposing of waste. The G-Max, Double Cyclone, and the Siphonic Dual Flush systems are some of the most effective technologies on the market. Make sure you confirm the flushing ability of the toilet before purchasing it.
Your budget is one of the biggest determining factors if you want to purchase a one-piece toilet or not. No matter how good a fit a toilet is if the price is beyond your budget, there is no way to get it. Most people believe that its cost defines the quality of a product. While this may hold true sometimes, you can still get the perfect toilet at a reasonable price.
Many low-cost toilets are efficient and durable, so no matter what your budget is, you can get a toilet that fits right into your bathroom. Of course, this is not an issue if you plan to spare no cost, in which case you have to consider other factors first before making your decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
They are becoming more popular nowadays. They fit even in small bathrooms, are easy to clean, and look great. Check out these frequently asked questions about this type of toilet:
1. What are the advantages of one-piece toilets over two-piece toilets?
Some of the benefits you will get from using a one-piece over a two-piece toilet include:
- Installation – One-piece toilets are generally easier to install than two-piece toilets. This is mainly because they have fewer parts to install.
- Size – Most toilets are a bit smaller than two-piece toilets because of the compact nature of the single unit. This makes them excellent choices for small bathrooms.
- Cleaning – The skirted bowl that is featured in toilets covers many gaps that are found in standard toilets. These gaps are usually home to dirt, bacteria, and dust but the smooth surface of the one-piece toilet prevents their buildup.
- Durability – It is generally believed that the fewer the parts equipment has, the easier it is to maintain, and the higher the durability. One-piece toilets are one piece of ceramic, which means they have fewer elements exposed to moisture and other factors that may cause damage. This makes them generally more durable than two-piece toilets.
2. Is there any disadvantage in using a one-piece toilet?
One-piece toilets are preferred to two-piece toilets because of a number of reasons. However, there is one significant disadvantage that one-piece toilets have over two-piece toilets, and that is the price. One-piece toilets generally cost more than two-piece toilets because of their more robust construction. The durability and look of one-piece toilets also make them more expensive.
3. How can I properly take care of my one-piece toilet?
It is not enough to buy a toilet with the best available specifications, as without proper maintenance, it may not perform as well as expected. A toilet that is properly maintained will last longer than one that is not adequately maintained. Proper maintenance procedures must be carried so that your toilet will remain in good condition for a long time. Some of the ways you can take care of your one-piece toilet include:
- Disinfect the toilet – It is vital that you disinfect your toilet regularly to stop any growth of bacteria. Many products can be used for disinfecting the toilet, and most of them are readily available.
- Prevent stains caused by hard water – Hard water is known to cause a stain on the surface of the toilet, so you should deal with the stain promptly. You can use vinegar to remove the stains.
- The buildup of calcium and lime – It is common to find an accumulation of lime and calcium on your toilet over time. This can affect the longevity of your toilet as it starts to affect the finish of the toilet. Get a cleaning product that will help remove this buildup of lime and calcium.
Selecting a toilet is not a decision you should rush into because the type of toilet you choose will define your long-term bathroom experience. You should put enough effort into getting the toilet that is most comfortable and fits best into your bathroom.
They are an excellent choice for several reasons. They are compact and small, making them suitable for small bathrooms. They are also easy to install and maintain. Using one of these toilets helps you save water and consequently save money on water bills. One-piece toilets are not without their flaws, but they remain a great choice, especially when you consider the number of features you get.
If you are looking for a well-designed toilet that is compact and offers a comfortable experience, you should consider getting a one-piece toilet. You can expect that they are not of the same quality. You can start your search by checking out the toilets reviewed here- whichever model you choose, you can be sure of getting a one-piece toilet that doesn't only look great in your bathroom but is easy and comfortable to use, too.
Related Reviews:


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RALEIGH, N.C. — More North Carolinians suffering the deadliest type of heart attack are receiving life-saving treatment faster through a unique statewide collaboration among paramedics, doctors and hospitals.
Twenty years of medical studies have shown that when a heart attack is caused by a blood clot blocking the patient's artery, clearing the vessel within 90 minutes saves lives. But too often that wasn't happening. Poor coordination of care caused delays.
Two Duke University cardiologists launched an ambitious effort to streamline care about two years ago. Sunday morning, at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Fla., they reported that the effort has significantly sped up time to treatment. The results were also published in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Hospitals that provide emergency balloon angioplasty — the preferred treatment to unclog arteries — saw the percentage of patients receiving such care rise to 72 percent, up from just 57 percent, according to the study. The median "door-to-balloon" time fell to 74 minutes, down from 85 minutes.
Smaller hospitals that can't do emergency angioplasty improved the time to treatment with clot-busting medications. The median door-to-infusion time was 29 minutes, down from 35 minutes.
Treating patients with either balloon angioplasty or clot-busting drugs within 90 minutes cuts the risk of death from heart attack by 40 percent, said Dr. Christopher Granger, director of Duke Hospital's cardiac care unit and co-director of the improvement project.
Putting more responsibility for treatment decisions in the hands of first responders — for example, by empowering even mid-level paramedics to diagnose heart attacks in the field — and other changes helped eliminate needless delays.
"In some cases, paramedics called to mobilize the [heart catheterization] lab from the patient's living room," Granger said in an interview.
Before the project, patients' heart attacks often weren't officially diagnosed until they reached a hospital emergency room. Then it typically took even more time for a cardiologist to be called in to order treatment and several minutes more for the angioplasty team to assemble.
At UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, which participated in the improvement project, ambulances carrying heart attack patients now go directly to the heart catheterization lab, bypassing the lengthy process of bringing patients through the emergency room. Dr. George Stouffer III, chief of clinical cardiology at UNC Hospitals, said that one change saves at least 15 minutes.
Other changes are mundane: Emergency room nurses may now get patients ready for transport to the heart catheterization lab when the cardiologist is paged, rather than waiting until the specialist arrives.
It's the little things
"There were a lot of little things that, when you add them all up, created a big delay," said Dr. James Jollis, a Duke cardiologist and co-director of the improvement project.
Two-thirds of the state's hospitals, also including Duke University Hospital in Durham, and their county emergency medical services participated in the project. The effort was supported by a $1 million grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
Wake County already uses some of the strategies the project advocates to streamline heart attack care, such as having ambulances carry patients only to the county's two 24-hour cardiac care hospitals: WakeMed Raleigh and Rex Hospital. Paramedics in Wake County also transmit electrocardiogram readings directly to hospitals from the field, speeding diagnosis.
Wake will be part of the next phase of the effort, which is expanding to include all 100 of North Carolina's acute-care hospitals and the emergency medical services that cover them.
Collaboration was critical in speeding up care that required multiple organizations to work together, such as transferring patients from rural centers to larger hospitals that perform emergency catheterizations. The project saw the biggest improvements in transfer times.
Before the collaboration, the median time it took for a patient taken to a smaller hospital to be transferred to a larger facility was two hours. After weeding out unnecessary delays, the median transfer time fell 41 percent to 71 minutes.
In most cases, heart attack patients thought to be likely candidates for transfer are now kept on the ambulance stretcher with heart monitors instead of being admitted to their local hospitals. The local emergency room doctors confirm the diagnosis and start heart-protective medicines. Once the receiving hospital gives the OK, the patient is whisked right back into the same ambulance and carried to the larger facility.
"We've had patients in and out in 10 minutes," said Dr. Kimberly Yarborough, medical director of emergency medicine at Person Memorial Hospital in Roxboro, about 30 miles north of Durham. She is also medical director of Person County EMS.
Yarborough said that before the project to speed up care, most patients seeking care for heart attacks at Person Memorial were treated with clot-busting drugs, even though emergency angioplasty was considered the best treatment. Transfers to Duke just took too long. Now, they go so smoothly that door-to-balloon times routinely clock in at 60 minutes.
Not all feeder hospitals are so close to an angioplasty center, though, and the median door-to-balloon time for transfer hospitals is still outside the 90-minute target. It fell to 106 minutes, down from 149 minutes.Patients can help ensure they get the fastest treatment by calling 911 immediately if they experience heart attack symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath, Jollis said. About half of patients suffering heart attacks in North Carolina drive themselves to the emergency room or are brought in by someone else, which burns up precious minutes.


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1:36pm PT by Billboard Staff
Arcade Fire Frontman Responds to Criticism Over Andrew Garfield Transgender Video
Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler has responded to criticism from Against Me! singer Laura Jane Grace about a music video for Arcade Fire's gay-rights anthem "We Exist," starring Andrew Garfield as a transgender woman who finds peace while rocking out on onstage with the band at Coachella.
The video features The Amazing Spider-Man 2 star shaving his head, donning a wig and dress, and delivering an elaborate dance sequence after surviving a scary situation at a bar. It earned rave reviews, but didn't sit well with Grace, a transgender woman, who tweeted last week: "Dear @arcadefire, maybe when making a video for a song called "We Exist" you should get an actual "Trans" actor instead of Spider-Man?"
STORY: Arcade Fire's Secret Post-Coachella Show
Butler responded in a recent interview with the Advocate by saying the casting of a film star like Garfield in "We Exist," a song about a son trying to tell his father that he's gay, helped make the video more impactful with viewers.
"For a gay kid in Jamaica to see the actor who played Spider-Man in that role is pretty damn powerful, in my opinion," Butler told The Advocate, also admitting that he could "see the sensitivity of the issue."
"We Exist" director David Wilson told The Advocate that he considered casting a trans person for the video, but chose Garfield because of his passion for the project.
"Before I got on the call, I thought, Is this the right person -- should we be using a transgender person?" Wilson said. "But then getting on the phone with Andrew, and Andrew's commitment and passion toward the project was just overwhelming. For an actor of that caliber to be that emotionally invested in a music video is just a very special thing. It just completely made sense."
This article first appeared on Billboard.com.
Billboard firstname.lastname@example.com @thr


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Thursday, March 6, 2008
5 years of WMAP data yield best-ever map, confirm & refine standard cosmology
In other news first pictures of the Moon very close to Venus are coming in, be it a low contrast close-up in daytime or nice conjunction views from New Zealand or Argentina. • Swiss TV just had a big story on the March 1 fireball in its evening news - click on the image next to the story but beware: While the off-voice speaks German, the people interviewed use Schwyzerdütsch. • And finally, here's how to build a globe of Phobos, the strangely shaped Martian moon ...
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- January 20, 2009 at 6:45 AM


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Property Location With a stay at Golden Orchid Hotel, you'll be centrally located in Hanoi, steps from Thang Long Ca Tru Theatre and minutes from Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. This hotel is within close proximity of Ngoc Son Temple and Bach Ma Temple. Rooms Make yourself at home in one of the 35 air-conditioned rooms featuring LCD televisions. Complimentary wired and wireless Internet access keeps you connected, and cable programming provides entertainment. Private bathrooms with showers feature rainfall showerheads and complimentary toiletries. Conveniences include desks and coffee/tea makers, as well as phones with free local calls. Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities Make use of convenient amenities such as complimentary wireless Internet access, complimentary babysitting/childcare, and tour/ticket assistance. Dining Enjoy a bite to eat at a coffee shop/café, or stay in and take advantage of the hotel's 24-hour room service. Mingle with other guests at a complimentary reception, held daily. Business, Other Amenities Featured amenities include complimentary high-speed (wired) Internet access, a 24-hour business center, and a computer station. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available on request).
Club Travel Destinations


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After more than 40 years of living in the British countryside, any day I see a badger is precious. I knew the location of every sett in the woods around my childhood home, but rarely saw them with my own eyes. Even now I'm a professional naturalist, the majority of my badger encounters come from tracking their teddy bear paw prints, probing richly scented communal latrines, or plucking stiff guard hairs from where low-slung bellies have caught barbed wire fences or tree roots. Sightings are usually limited to monochrome images from the camera traps I put out behind my house. I know plenty of people who live in the country who have never seen a badger. They are definitely there, but these nocturnal delights remain elusive, and thus are still a thrill.
Those who support the badger cull would say my passion for wild things makes me subjective, emotive and irrational; they would accuse me of letting cuddly sentiment get in the way of common sense. Fair enough. Many of the animals that are traditionally seen as vermin are my life's fascination. I am biased. For this reason, neither I nor any farmer whose livelihood, family and future depends on cattle should be making the big decisions on this subject. Instead, our government must rely on science.
The definitive study on the impact of badger culling on the spread of bovine TB in cattle is the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) undertaken by the last government between 1997 and 2007. It cost more than £50m, resulted in the deaths of 11,000 badgers and is widely regarded as the best piece of peer-reviewed research on the issue undertaken anywhere in the world.
In the wake of this trial, the Independent Scientific Group on Cattle TB (ISG) concluded: "Given its high costs and low benefits, badger culling is unlikely to contribute usefully to the control of cattle TB in Britain and we recommend that TB control efforts focus on measures other than badger culling."
Certain facts about badgers and bovine TB are not in dispute. Badgers are definitely a reservoir of the disease in the wild, with about 4% possibly being infected. Defra research carried out to justify the present cull policy shows that nine continuous years of badger culling in one area will at best reduce the incidence of TB in cattle by 12-16%.
However, these reductions are not guaranteed, as removing badgers from an established population changes the behaviour of the survivors. The disturbance caused by shooting or gassing badgers results in artificially changed dynamics inside the sett, forcing the animals to move. Dispersal puts diseased badgers into contact with more healthy ones, and more cattle too. Simply put, unless you kill every single badger, the survivors move around, resulting in an increase in bovine TB. This increase will undoubtedly be more significant with a badly organised, shambolic cull such as we have seen over the past year.
Even a total eradication of badgers will not end bTB (bovine tuberculosis), for one simple reason: almost every other animal in the British countryside is a vector of the disease. Defra research has detected TB in moles, foxes, mink, rats, ferrets, cats, sheep, llamas, alpacas and all our deer species. It can reside in the environment itself for months, or years in some cases. Not to mention the prime carrier, which is cattle themselves. Based on the use of current skin tests for TB, developed in the 1930s, for every 100 cows infected with bTB the test will, on average, miss 20, leaving large numbers of cattle in herds spreading a disease that badgers are being blamed for.
It's inevitable that farmers who see badgers in their fields will perceive them as the cause of bTB in their cattle, but badgers with TB don't clasp bloody hankies to their faces like actors in period dramas; the disease is generally not visible, and infection rates are very low. Of the 11,000 badgers killed during the RBCT only 1.65% were found to have late-stage TB with visible lesions, where they were at high risk of spreading TB. Of the 3,000 plus badgers vaccinated by the Welsh government in the past three years in a TB hotspot, not one of the animals had to be removed and euthanised as a result of being visibly ill with TB; all were vaccinated and returned in good health to the wild.
The government has refused to test any of the badgers killed in the pilot badger culls undertaken in Gloucestershire and Somerset over the past two years. However, it is clear that the majority of the 2,500-plus badgers killed so far would have been TB free.
We all have a vested interest in the correct and long-term control of bTB. The spread of the disease needs to be significantly reduced for the interests of taxpayers, farmers and the future protection of our wildlife.
So what is the solution? It's all very well criticising the status quo, but much harder to come up with a proper answer. The definitive long-term response has to be an effective strategy to reduce the spread of the disease based on cattle control measures and the vaccination of badgers and cattle.
At present, a cattle TB vaccination is being tested in Ethiopia and this needs to be brought to the UK for field trials as soon as possible. The European commission has put in place a 10-year timetable for its approved use in relation to meat and dairy exports to the EU.
However, this could be sidestepped if the UK government (with the support of the farming industry and major food retailers) were willing to seek derogation from the European commission to allow the use of the vaccine in livestock products used in the UK supply chain only.
Defra's Edge Badger Vaccination Scheme will see a significant increase in the level of badger vaccination across England in TB hotspot edge areas. But over the longer term we must move forward with oral vaccine research for badgers as this offers the best solution to fighting the disease in the badger population, without the costs and complexities of the trap and vaccination methods currently being used.
Another key approach would be to improve TB testing techniques for cattle – and then introduce annual TB testing for cattle across the UK, not just in Wales as is currently the case.
Why does this mean so much to me? Living my life in conservation, I see far greater tragedies and crimes against wildlife than the loss of a few thousand badgers. The real reason so many people are so unsettled by the cull is its sinister reflection on the democratic process, on our government's attitude to conservation and to science. The RBCTs were highly controversial, and deplored by conservationists due to the number of animals killed. However, this thorough study clearly showed a cull would not work, so … it's being discarded in favour of ill-thought, rushed pilot culls solely designed to placate the powerful farmers' unions.
The former environment secretary, Owen Paterson, travelled the world looking for justification for a cull, pointing to "Other countries, where a cull has had results". More specifically, to the Republic of Ireland, where the period of a cull coincided with a reduction of bTB. This conveniently ignores the fact that, in the same time period, Northern Ireland achieved comparable results in reducing bTB by cattle-based measures and without a single badger being killed. The other two countries he refers to are Australia and New Zealand. Two countries with entirely different ecosystems, which do not have badgers. None. Results were achieved in New Zealand by culling invasive possums and ferrets. You have to ask yourself why our politicians are even mentioning something so irrelevant, when the RBCT completed in this country with our farms and our animals, paid for by British taxpayers, is totally specific to our countryside.
The government is so desperate to be seen to be doing something, anything, to appease the countryside lobby, that it is willing to ride roughshod over facts, science, and the wildlife that belongs to each and every one of us lucky enough to live in Britain. It cannot afford to ignore public opinion though. Over the past 12 months more than 300,000 people have signed a petition against badger culling; the issue has been debated in parliament three times; the Badger Trust has challenged the policy in the high court; and thousands of people have taken to the streets of 25 of our towns and cities to march for badgers in the biggest rolling wildlife campaign seen in Europe in decades. A recent Mori poll showed badger culling was the fifth most common issue of complaint to MPs. This was backed up by a recent ComRes poll for Care for the Wild and Badger Trust, which showed that nine out of 10 people believe badger culling is cruel and ineffective. This disastrous policy has to end.


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This week, I will be featuring blog posts from some of my favorite sites and today we begin with my favorite beauty site, The Beauty Department. If you are not familiar with this site, it's time to start falling in love! They have the best beauty advice and their tutorial photos are adorable! The whole website is actually designed really well and it is very easy to navigate. I pretty much want to work there but haven't figured out a way to swindle my way in yet! One day people, one day.
This post is about finding your perfect foundation shade, which I still struggle with from time to time. Like most women, I have 4 different shades of foundation in my vanity at one time and most of the time my skin is a mixture of multiple shades which can really get intense! If you are one of the many that need help in this area, this post is a great place to start!


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Financing types and considerations abstract
This content was COPIED from BrainMass.com - View the original, and get the already-completed solution here!
ABC Ltd. produces an MP3 player. The market for this product is increasing, and for this reason, ABC is planning to expand its production capacity. This plan requires new machinery and an increase in working capital that would be financed with borrowing.
Complete the following:
1. What are the main sources of finance that can be considered?
2. What are the main factors that should be taken into consideration when deciding on the mix of long-term and short-term borrowing necessary to finance the expansion?
3. Identify and discuss the major factors that a bank would take into account before deciding whether to grant a loan to ABC Ltd.
Solution Preview
There are several types of capital that a corporation such as ABC Ltd. can use to finance its production expansion. It is this type of capital that is used when financing is required above and beyond the normal on-going revenues. Each type of capital financing has its own pros and cons associated with it. It is important to know all of the aspects of financing to be able to make an informed decision. The first is equity capital or equity financing. This is when a company has a higher amount of current assets verses its current liabilities. It is also known as the net worth of the company. This occurs when the owner or shareholders input cash into the company without incurring any other liabilities. It also occurs when the company has the option to issue stock to raise funds. It is favored approach as it raised money without incurring extra debt. A ...
Solution Summary


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My wife Elicia and I parted from our stable, comfortable lives and jobs in Madison, WI in April 2013. Things were going great: nice duplex, easy commute to work together, double income, amazing friends, close to family, etc. Why would we think about picking up and moving our life to South Korea to teach English? I'll try to exlpain as best I can.
Background: Traveling has been in Elicia's heart since elementary school when she lived near London. She does a great job explaining her story and point of view on our move to Korea in her blog. I became intrigued with traveling when I traveled to Europe and Taiwan for my previous job. Together, Elicia and I loved getting out there and seeing things. We got married in Dominican Republic and since then, we tossed around ideas and locations to move to. What could we do? Where could we go? How could we make money and travel? We had a desire to explore the world together… the problem was finding work that provided a decent wage; after all, we have a nice chunk of student loans we need to pay off.
The Spark: I'll be clear when I say that Asia wouldn't have been my top pick. Would I have preferred Spain or somewhere in South America? Sure. I'd love to pick up Spanish again and become fluent. More on this later! Anyways, we attended University Wisconsin-La Crosse and we watched three of our mutual friends (two were Elicia's roomates) move to South Korea to teach English. At first we didn't know much about it. Then Elicia kept showing me pictures of mountains, beaches, and beautiful countries in SE Asia our friends were experiencing. It was the lifestyle Elicia and I were seeking. We reached out and got information from our friends and the web. Within a few weeks, it was clear to me that teaching in Asia had so many benefits… it quickly rose to #1 on our list on where we wanted to move.
The Process: In my opinion, most grand adventures like this start with a referral. I feel so thankful our friends provided the referral to us. To teach in Korea, you can either teach in public schools or private schools (called Hagwons). Our three friends used a company called Canadian Connection. I was always thinking, "wait, is this legit?" Answer = 100% !! Companies like this filter through potential teachers via application and Skype interview and connect teachers to Korean public schools. You generally have the choice of what province you will live, and what age kids you'd prefer to teach. We applied for the April 2013 contract, but we started the application process in October/November of 2012. Why so early? It takes time! At first it's busy. You could gather frequent flyer miles for municipal buildings and the post office if they had such a program. You need fingerprints, background check, diplomas, official stamps/seals/signatures, application and essay, letters of recommendation, etc. Is it a daunting task? Nope. Does Canadian Connection do an amazing job laying it out in an easy-to-accomplish guide? Yes! Our last task was going to Chicago to the Korean embassy (driving was faster & easier than mailing passports) to obtain our one-year work visas. Once we received our visas and had our one-way plane tickets booked, everything started to seem real!
Leaving Comfort: For me, a hard part about packing it all up and moving to a completely foreign country was leaving what was comfortable. Having been married since August 2012, we finally felt settled into our duplex in Belleville (just outside Madison, WI). If we were to move to Korea, what will do will with all our stuff? 2 cars? Phones, credit cards, bikes, bank account(s), insurance, etc.? For some reason, this is what I worried about most. I wanted to protect Elicia and I and make sure we'd be ok. What would happen to our things, and how would we coordinate all this? Looking back on it now, it kind of just makes me laugh. Everything fell into place, just like it was supposed to. We sold my car that I loved so dearly. But why do we need two in the first place? Here in Korea, we have so little but I've never been happier. I'm reminded of a quote by Yvon Chouinard, "The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life. It's so easy to make it complex." We found a 10'x10′ storage for our things we wanted to keep and two or three trips to donation centers for the others. I must say that simpler is better.
Telling my employer of our departure was a difficult thing to do, and I can't be more thankful for their understanding and well-wishes. Saying goodbye to friends and family was also tough, but we threw a little get-together in Madison for dinner the night before our flight to Korea. In my opinion, moving to a foreign place is like taking a leap of faith. During the application process sometimes a week or two will go by and you wonder, "am I really accepted? Where will I live? Who will I teach? How will I get paid?" Those are questions Elicia and I asked eachother all the time. We trusted the plan and the process. You have to trust. After all, thousands had done it before us, so we felt safe by going through the system. Leaving comfort is something Elicia is better at than me. Now, my thought is this: if you leave what is comfortable, and make a new home elsewhere, anywhere at all… you can always make that new home just as comfortable as before, right? YES!
Lifestyle: Teaching English is work. We are here on a one-year contract to teach English, and I have found that being in front of 32-36 students per class takes a lot of energy! We live in the Jeollanamdo Province, which is in the SW corner of South Korea. A bit more rural, and about as far away from Seoul as you can get. This province's public schools have native English teachers (NETs) teach a maximum of 22 classroom hours per week. We are at school from 8:40am until 5:00pm and get an hour lunch break. Is teaching really stressful? Nope, not at all. There is plenty of time to plan lessons, research, interact with colleagues and students, surf the web, plan vacations, follow American sports, etc. Overall the stress level is way, way less here. I teach 17 classes of 45 minutes each per week, and I'm at an all-boys middle school. I also have three hours of teacher workshop every week, where I help Korean teachers learn English. I wouldn't have it any other way! I am loving it here. We do, however, live for the weekends. Monday through Friday we are settled into the routine of teaching: wake up, bus to school, teach, bus home, eat dinner, relax, sleep. Repeat. We often go on a short hikes, meet friends for dinner, or explore parts of Yeosu we haven't seen yet. Weekends? Amazing. We often plan weekend trips to go hiking, find secluded beaches, meet with our friends, camp, find festivals/music, etc. We don't have a car (yet) but we have found inter-Korean travel very easy with public transportation like express buses and trains. Our weekends fill up quickly, there is always something to do. Overall, the lifestyle here is second-to-none. We are here to work. But boy oh boy, we get to experience amazing things Monday through Sunday.
Financial Freedom: This is arguably the one thing we all want. But what is financial freedom, really? I think it depends on what you'll do with the extra cash. What are your needs? Wants? Goals? Desires? Dreams? In my opinion, I often think lifestyles expand as budgets expand. I've been guilty of it, too. More cash = more spending. It's so easy to do. So how do we get freedom if we keep spending more? While we were in Madison, we each had good jobs that allowed us to pay the bills and even save a little each month, allowing us to slowly pick away at our credit card debt and student loans. But there were problems, and they are called bills. I needed two hands + toes to count our monthly, reoccuring bills. When we moved to Korea, we watched virtually all of these bills vanish. HOW?
The big incentive is in the pay structure and benefits. We make a modest wage here, but we are able to save way more every month because we have exactly three bills to pay. Rent is provided by schools, along with our cable TV, internet and water bill. We pay electricity and gas along with our fancy iPhone5 bills, but those are even less than in the States. What is the cost of living in Korea? Food, drinks, travel and general items are about the same as Madison. But it's cheaper to camp (free!) and enter National Parks (usually $2). Just like at home, if you shop around, you can find some deals. For some reason I'm not quite sure yet, I feel as though our desire to spend money has subsided. Maybe it's because we're in a foreign place and we don't know how to spend money because of the language barrier. Or maybe it's because our focus has instead shifted to saving to pay off debt and tavel. Either way, we are spending less on petty things, allowing us to save more to combat students loans.
Big Picture: Finding financial freedom is very achievable by teaching English in Korea. I'd lie if I said it wasn't a reason we moved to Korea. If we teach one year, our loans will be 2/3 paid off. Stay a second year? You get a pay-bump, signing bonus, and other financial incentives when you're done with your two year tenure. If Elicia and I stay two years we will leave debt-free with a hefty chunk of change left over. What a blessing! Whether it's 12 months or 24 months of teaching, our goal is to become more financially free. Debt is burden. A thick, dark cloud. Sure, it's a way of life and sometimes ok to have, but it makes me feel uncomfortable. The big picture is that moving to Korea will enable us to do amazing things during our stay, but more importantly, it will give us flexibility when we are finished teaching in Korea. What will we do after we're done teaching? We have absolutely no idea. There is comfort in knowing that, let me tell you. We can carve our own path. We can re-locate anywhere. Our stuff's in storage. Our things are taken care of for now. We will be in control of where go, what we do, what we see, and what jobs we apply for. Moving to South Korea has enabled us. Remember how I wanted to pick up Spanish again? We will be in a position to travel Europe, South America, or other destinations for one month or longer. We will have resources to help us find teaching jobs in virtually any country. We could volunteer somewhere. We could donate our time and efforts to help a good cause or something we believe in. Best part of this? We won't need to stress about finances to make that dream possible.
That is why I am so content with our decision to move to Korea. We are having a blast in Korea. Experiencing new cultures, being able to travel SE Asia during our vacations, and all our weekend shenanigans are so cool. It will be sad when we eventually say goodbye to Korea, but, I look forward to and welcome the opportunity to say hello to our next chapter, wherever that may be. I know for certain that it will be together, with Elicia, and we will have open minds and hearts. Korea is the catalyst that will fuel the next journey, and that is why we picked Korea.
"The best journeys answer questions that, in the beginning, you didn't even think to ask." – Jeff Johnson, "180° South"


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Common Law Marriage Louisiana Common Law Marriage Massachusetts Common Law Marriage Nevada Marriage Certificate Putative Marriage Definition Common Law Marriage Ohio Free Marriage Records Common Law Marriage Alaska Oklahoma Gay Marriage Common Law Marriage Pennsylvania Ohio Gay Marriage Common Law Marriage New Mexico
In Maine, gay marriage is not currently legal. Although a bill was passed in April 2009, that would have legalized gay marriage, the bill was overturned. However, domestic partnership is legal in Maine. While Maine has enacted the Defense of Marriage Act, a state constitutional amendment that would have banned gay marriage failed to pass. However, registering as domestic partners, remains legal.
In Maine, marriage is defined as a union between an opposite sex couple. However, gay marriage was briefly legalized in Maine. A bill was signed into law in 2009 that would have approved the right to gay marriage in Maine.Marriages were never performed however, because a referendum on the bill was lost. After the Senate and House of Representatives approved the bill, the governor signed it into law.
In fact, Maine was the first state to sign such a bill into law with out a court decision that forced them to do so. However, the citizens of the state collected signatures to force a referendum in Maine. Gay marriages were not to be legally allowed in Maine because the bill was overturned during a vote by the public.
However, Maine's Domestic partnership laws still allow for some legal recognition of same sex relationships. In Maine, marriages afford couples many more rights than domestic partnerships do. However, domestic partnerships at least allow for some rights normally reserved for marriages. In Maine, gay couples that register as domestic partners, are considered to be the closest next of kin for their partner.
In addition, partners can be inherit property in the absence of a will and may make all funeral arrangements. In Maine, gay couples can also be named as health care representatives, thereby being legally able to make medical decisions, including issues relating to organ transplants. In addition, In Maine, marriages and domestic partnerships entitled individuals to protection under the domestic violence laws of the state.
In Maine, gay marriage is still illegal. However, couples can register as domestic partners after living together in Maine for one full year. In Maine, marriage creates an inability for an individual to register as a domestic partner. In addition, couples cannot legally be a part of more than one domestic partnership. Domestic partnerships can be made void by either parties consent, as long as the other person is properly notified.
In addition, domestic partnerships are automatically void if either party gets married. In essence, domestic partnerships in Maine can provide rights and responsibilities to same sex couples, that are not afforded by other states. Maine is obviously aiming to create a state with equal rights for all citizens.


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GP counselling service should be rolled out nationwide, says new GMC chair
Exclusive The new chair of the GMC has said a confidential counselling service to support GPs should be rolled out nationwide and that the profession has 'added stress' compared with other doctors.
In his first major media interview since taking up the post, Professor Terence Stephenson said that he supported the wider rollout of a scheme similar to the Practitioner Health Programme in London and as called for by Pulse in its Battling Burnout campaign.
Professor Stephenson told MPs at a parliamentary hearing earlier this year that doctors should expect to face a GMC investigation during their career as an 'occupational hazard' and should build up resilience to deal with it similar to soldiers in Afghanistan.
Professor Stephenson told Pulse that complaints against GPs 'provide an added stress' compared with hospital doctors because they work within the same community as their patients 'every day of their practising lives'.
The comments follow the publication of long awaited independent review, which revealed that 28 doctors died by suicide during an GMC investigation. This was followed by a study by Imperial College London that found complaints procedures 'may do more overall harm than good in terms of patient care'.
When asked what could be done to support GPs, Professor Stephenson said that a helpline for doctors going through fitness-to-practise investigations commissioned by the GMC had been a 'success', but that he would also support a national support service being provided for all doctors, as recommended by the GMC review.
He said: 'Anyone being investigated by the GMC could speak to a doctor confidentially for emotional support – and could be accompanied to a hearing. It seems to have been a success and we want now to make that service permanent.
'One of the review's other recommendations, which we also support although it's not in our gift to provide, is the Practitioner Health Programme in London, run by… Professor Gerada.'
He said the GMC 'absolutely support' the principle of rolling it out across the UK, but added 'we don't provide health services or pay for health services for doctors'.
He said: '[GPs] may not live in that community but they´re in that community every day of their practising lives.
'And I can see that that may provide an added pressure than as a hospital doctor where you're perhaps seeing people referred to you or people who've travelled to come to the A&E department that you´re then not meeting them. You´re not meeting them in the supermarket or the bank the next day, so I fully accept that provides an added stress.'
The GMC chair told Pulse that he stands by his comment that doctors should have resilience training like soldiers in Afghanistan, and that 'we can learn from other disciplines'.
The GMC has said more needs to be done to improve its fitness-to-practise process, and that it fully accepts the recommendations outlined in its internal review - including establishing a culture of innocent until proven guilty and reducing the length of investigations.
Professor Stephenson took over from Professor Sir Peter Rubin as the chair of the GMC at the start of 2015.
Readers' comments (24)
No amount of counselling will alleviate the new risks GPs face with covert recording of consultations by patients. http://www.mddus.com/risk-management/risk-alerts/2015/march/covert-recording-of-consultations/
A GP shared she was covertly audio recorded and a complaint was made as she refused to prescribe antibiotics. If I were her, I would feel violated that the parent did not request permission to record the consultation as we GPs must ask consent if the shoe was on the other foot. Nope, we have no rights. And patients may audio or video record and post online too!
How do you counsel a GP who was falsely accused of sexual assault for doing an abdominal exam (not an intimate exam)? Or even when the complaint is fabricated? I.e. no record was found of a patient seen that fit the complaint?
How do you counsel a GP whose medical defence organisation has refused to represent them legally, ie used their discretion?
Perhaps it is better to deal with the root cause, than offer counselling for a doctor accused of negligence manslaughter for maternal death due to postpartum haemorrhage. My cousin in America almost bled to death from PPH and had multiple blood transfusions, lucky to be alive. Her doctors worked hard to save her life. Doctors cannot be held to perfection when treating medical conditions. Some people do die! We cannot save them all.
"...If I were her, I would feel violated that the parent did not request permission to record the consultation as we GPs must ask consent if the shoe was on the other foot. Nope, we have no rights. And patients may audio or video record and post online too! "
GPs can record what they like in the patient notes and the patient has no right to have any false written recordings (made by GPs) changed.
Having an actual audio recording should place decent GPs in good stead. If GPs are good at their job, a recording of a consultation should not present any problem for them.