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For more than 30 years, corneal refractive laser surgery has been widely used to correct vision and help patients reduce or eliminate their dependence on glasses. While advances in technology continue, three generations of techniques have shaped the field of laser vision correction. In the early 1990s, excimer laser vision correction with photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) revolutionized refractive surgery with its precision and accuracy in reshaping the cornea and improving patients' vision. Soon after, laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) was approved, which combined the accuracy of the excimer laser with accelerated visual recovery. In its current configuration, LASIK involves two laser platforms and is a two-step procedure: a femtosecond laser or microkeratome blade creates a corneal flap, and an excimer laser performs the stromal ablation to change the curvature of the cornea, resulting in the targeted refractive outcome.
The refractive surgery revolution continues with small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) for the correction of myopia. SMILE combines many of the features of LASIK and PRK in a single treatment step that requires only one laser. Today, SMILE has turned into a compelling alternative in refractive correction, and its popularity continues to grow worldwide. Most importantly, many believe that the excellent patient outcomes coupled with fewer side effects make it more advanced compared to PRK and LASIK.
The SMILE Procedure
More than 750,000 SMILE procedures have been performed internationally since its introduction in 2011. SMILE became available to U.S. surgeons in 2016 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the VisuMax femtosecond laser (Carl Zeiss Meditec) for SMILE to reduce or eliminate myopia.
In the SMILE procedure, the femtosecond laser is used to create a lenticule of stromal tissue within the cornea without lifting a flap or removing the epithelium. The laser photoablates the refractive lenticule with a diameter of 6.0mm to 6.8mm at a depth of 100µm to 120µm. The same femtosecond laser then creates a single incision with a width of 2.5mm to 4.0mm at the edge of the lenticule. Once the laser treatment is complete, the surgeon extracts the lenticule through the side-cut with forceps, removing the small piece of corneal tissue. Removal of the lenticule produces the same effect as myopic LASIK in that the surgeon removes the same amount of tissue and flattens the cornea.
LASIK and SMILE Outcomes
The true judge of any surgical procedure is safety and efficacy. Visual and refractive outcomes for SMILE have been shown to be similar to those achieved with femtosecond LASIK (FS-LASIK) (Reinstein et al, 2014). This study showed that safety in terms of change in corrected distance visual acuity is similar to LASIK. In some circles, SMILE is thought to be potentially more accurate compared to LASIK, as it is not associated with the variability of environmental factors that can influence excimer stromal ablation, such as laser fluence and differences in stromal hydration (Aristeidou et al, 2015).
With initial clinical experience, it appears that SMILE compares favorably with both wavefront-guided and -optimized LASIK. Results of the first clinical study performed in the United States and submitted to the FDA were impressive, with 88% of eyes achieving 20/20 or better vision (Carl Zeiss Meditec, 2016). However, in comparison, the FDA trial for the iDesign advanced aberrometer and wavefront-guided procedure (Abbott Medical Optics) had 93.4% of patients achieving 20/20 and 79% 20/16 (Shallhorn et al, 2014). The Alcon FDA filing for the topography-guided procedure, Contoura Vision, demonstrated similar results, with 92.7% of Contoura Vision patients achieving uncorrected vision of 20/20, while 68.8% of eyes reached 20/16 or better (WaveLight GMBH, 2013).
Patient Selection
SMILE is FDA approved for the correction of myopia of –1.00D to –8.00D, with –0.50D or less of cylinder and with manifest refraction spherical equivalent of –8.25D, in patients at least 22 years of age who have documentation of stable manifest refraction over the past year (FDA, 2015).
Screening criteria for SMILE are similar to those used for FS-LASIK. As with any refractive procedure, it is important to make sure that the ocular surface is healthy and that there are no clinical signs or symptoms of dry eye. A thorough pre-operative assessment should also include corneal topography to rule out any evidence of keratoconus or forme fruste keratoconus. There should be no sign of early cataract, retina, or glaucoma problems. Patients who have done well with spherical contact lenses are generally good candidates for SMILE, considering that astigmatism is not indicated in its FDA clearance.
Notable Differences
SMILE offers several theoretical advantages over LASIK. Because the SMILE technique does not require the creation of a flap, many of the known flap-related early or late complications, such as displaced flap, flap striae, and epithelial ingrowth, are eliminated. In addition, the amputation of corneal nerve fibers during creation of a flap and subsequent laser ablation reduces corneal sensitivity (Piñero and Teus, 2016). Dry eye is believed to be, in part, caused by the decreased corneal sensation from those severed corneal nerves. Because no flap is needed in the SMILE procedure, it theoretically severs less anterior stromal corneal nerves and causes less dry eye.
A recent meta-analysis found that SMILE may create fewer dry eye symptoms compared to FS-LASIK, and corneal sensitivity was restored faster after SMILE compared with FS-LASIK (Zhang et al, 2016). Schirmer test data obtained at any time after surgery did not differ significantly between the two procedures. However, the tear breakup time (TBUT) was longer in the SMILE group than in the FS-LASIK group at one and six months after surgery. Also, the corneal sensitivity was lower in the FS-LASIK group than in the SMILE group at any time after surgery. It should be noted that the TBUTs after surgery were usually lower than normal in both groups, indicating that the TBUT fell after surgery in both groups, but to a greater extent in the FS-LASIK group than in the SMILE group (Zhang et al, 2016).
The absence of flap creation with minimal disruption of the anterior stromal architecture as the corneal lenticule is extracted from the mid-stroma allows for much greater preservation of the structural integrity of the cornea (Reinstein et al, 2014). Theoretically, leaving the cornea in a stronger state could reduce the possibility of corneal ectasia. However, it is important to understand that SMILE still loosens the fibers in the anterior part of the cornea, and a post-SMILE cornea may still be weakened compared to a non-dissected cornea. Rare cases of post-SMILE ectasia have been reported. However, it appears that the patients in question had some signs of subclinical keratoconus before the SMILE procedure, such as corneal asymmetry (Mattila and Holopainen, 2016).
SMILE also has some other disadvantages. Under the current FDA approval, treatment parameters are narrower compared to those for LASIK and PRK and are only FDA-approved to treat spherical myopia. In Europe, SMILE is approved to treat up to –5.00D of cylinder.
A second disadvantage of SMILE is in the rare case that a patient requires an enhancement. Currently, there is not an accepted standard for performing an enhancement or a secondary procedure when the primary procedure was SMILE; however, removing a lenticule does not appear to be an option at this time. Therefore, most surgeons currently prefer to perform the secondary procedure as PRK on the SMILE cap. This would be similar to performing PRK over a LASIK flap.
Lastly, SMILE demonstrates a slightly slower visual recovery when compared to FS-LASIK. Refinement of the laser settings, specifically the energy and spot spacing settings, has made this difference very small; it is approximately one to two lines in uncorrected distance visual acuity at one day post-op, which typically resolves after two to three weeks (Reinstein, 2015).
Is This the End of LASIK?
While some feel that the SMILE procedure threatens the current LASIK or PRK market, most see it as a next-generation procedure that could stimulate and invigorate the U.S. refractive surgery market; many believe SMILE is a complementary innovation to what already exists. In all likelihood, refractive surgeons will continue to offer all three corneal procedures, depending on an individual patient's requirements and which procedure will provide the best possible success.
While SMILE is an exciting approach, and the idea of having only one laser is quite attractive, some surgeons may be hesitant to perform the relatively new refractive procedure until more long-term safety data is available. The SMILE procedure does show promise to increase the number of people who will undergo refractive surgery. As with all refractive surgeries, the ideal procedure for each individual depends on a number of factors and is determined after comprehensive testing. Also, clinicians should make sure that patients' expectations are in line with what the surgical procedure can provide. CLS
For references, please visit www.clspectrum.com/references and click on document #261.


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thumb|300px|Miss Piggy & Sharon Osbourne hash it out. The Talk is a CBS talk show produced and hosted by actress Sara Gilbert, co-hosted by Sharon Osbourne, Julie Chen, Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler. The show debuted in 2010.
Former hosts include Matt Robinson's daughter Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini and Marissa Jaret Winokur.
- March 21, 2012: Miss Piggy appeared to promote The Muppets home video release. After Sharon Osbourne admitted to giving the frog foot massages, Miss Piggy and Osbourne hashed it out over each of the ladies' flirtatious advances toward the other one's man, Ozzy Osbourne and Kermit the Frog, respectively.
- September 20, 2012: Elmo will appear on the show to promote the 43rd season of Sesame Street.
External links
- Official site
- The Talk - The Talk - Miss Piggy vs. Mrs. O! (brief clip)
- The Talk - 3/21/2012 (full episode video, blocked outside USA)
- The Talk clip on Entertainment Tonight - 3/21/2012 (video clip, accessible outside USA)

subset: commoncrawl


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You don't need to get fired to be a Problogger
I've always watched in admiration a lot of bloggers from the western world and how they manage to make it in the pro-blogging world. But wait, what is pro-blogging really?
I've been looking around for some earlier thoughts on this and found one at ProBlogger.net ; 'Pro blogging' is a pretty wide term and is being used to talk about everyone from 'business blogs' to 'blog consultants' to 'bloggers who make money from their blogs directly' to 'those who provide blog tools/services' for blogging.'
Darren adds "I personally have a pretty wide definition of Professional Blogger – anyone who earns (or attempts to earn) a significant part of their income from their blogging, whether that be directly from their readership, from their consulting clients, from their advertisers, from their business (ie it is a job or part of their job), from the sales of books that came about out of their blogging etc…."
Then, Duncan at BlogHerald just got fired form his regular day job and spun it out announcing "OMG! I'm a Problogger!" following the earlier experience of Jeremy Wright last January when he too was fired for blogging. (btw, these 3 guys are the head hunchos over at b5media, along with Shai Coggins). And if history is to be the basis of it all, looks like you need to get fired before going full time problogging.
I think Jeremy and Duncan were already professional bloggers before they even got fired from their job. They just become full-time probloggers after they got the axe (full-time being taken as majority of your daily work is spent on improving/monetizing all your blog properties).
My question here really is "What will make you go on full-time pro-blogging?"


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As the year begins to draw to an eventful close, we've been blessed with our fair share of epic performances across the year. Some of the major performances have come from obvious names, some less obvious. Let's take a look, though, at what some of the top-selling tours were across the world in 2018.
With music more accessible than ever, and global travel easier than ever, tour sales are through the roof for so many. Let's take a look at why that might be, and who benefitted most musically in 2018.
Naturally, all-around acoustic star Ed Sheeran led the way with his tour sales. He brought in a barely believable $432m from tour sales, showing you just how big a name he is. Rags to riches story mixed with catchy lyrics ensures that, for many, Sheeran is seen as one of the faces of the modern music industry.
Some might have less positive opinions of the man, but its' hard to deny his impact on the music industry overall.
The country star turned mega star is one of the most popular artists in the world, and it is very easy indeed to see why. Her creative style of music mixed with her stylish charm ensures she is a hit for the parents as much as the kids.
Her growth as a musician has been rather meteoric, and her massive tour sales – a whopping $277m in North America alone – $345m worldwide shows the incredible skill and style that she boasts on-stage.
The rapper has been one of the biggest names in showbiz for a long time, and he managed to pull in a comical $254.1m alongside Beyonce for their joint tour in 2018. While they obviously don't pocket all of that themselves, one of the most powerful couples in showbiz more than certainly don well out of this experience.
The tour was a huge hit, and was easily one of the most well-received in the world: and it's so easy to see why.
Pink was high up on the list, too, contributing to the incredible $5.6bn raised across the world in ticket sales. Her own tour was not far of the size of the Beyonce/Jay-Z one, so it's easy to see why so many were entranced by her performances. The glamor and the richness of her performance, not to mention her exceptional vocal range in person, ensures that she is one of the best artists to go and see live.
The former Pink Floyd frontman came 7th in the Top 25 list for 2018, but we wanted to give him a special mention. His politically empowered tour seen him stand up against the likes of Bolsonaro in Brazil, and it ensured that he passed on a message that his own generation fought so much for.
Waters is a legend, and his immense tours were one of the most exciting of the year – it just goes to show that you don't need to be an up and comer to make it big on the tour scene: sometimes, the classics are the best.
We want to be better...So if you found a mistake in this article, please let us know


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The holiday countdown is officially here! As your glam squad, we have the best 'travel ready' beauty products that you can pop straight into your bag. Your 'slaycation" is about to kick into overdrive. No matter your destination, we've got you covered.
Our top travel products to keep you covered for YOUR STAYCATION:
- Sunscreen
Exposure to the sun not only tans the skin but also damages it so when packing for your spring vacation its very essential to have the best sunscreen. An spf30 or higher is essential.
2. Make up brush
Mini makeup brush sets is your on the go necessity. When purchasing these travel brushes ensure that you buy the contouring, blending and smudging brushes.
3. BB cream
Packing BB cream is a great way to keep your items to a minimum, as it works as a moisturiser, sunscreen & foundation in one. Maybelline does a great BB cream but so do many other cosmetic houses.
4. Lip Balm
Whether you're a glamour gal or a low key lady, every beauty swipes on a dash of lip balm. A lightweight moisture boosting lipbalm will keep your pout nourished and soft.
5. Dry Shampoo
As we all know no one wants to waste time washing and styling hair on vacation so a dry shampoo is a travel must go for any vacay! We love the Tresemme one, it works wonders and smells divine.
6. Travel Manicure kit
Make hotel grooming easy: Get yourself a travel manicure set. Don't be distracted by that chipped nail or stray brow hair.


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The Team
Miss A Blythe, Deputy Subject Leader - Textiles: Fashion and Fabrics
Mr R Lewis - Resistant materials: Wood, Metal, Plastics; Graphics: Paper and Card
Mr M Smith - Graphics: Paper and Card; Head of Sixth Form
Mr M Hughes - DT Technician
Mrs H Westbury - DT Technician
Miss J Cavalla - DT Technician
In the Design and Technology Department we aim to inspire our students through promoting an environment of creativity, active learning and practical application providing the opportunity to develop both subject specific and transferable skills.
Our curriculum aims to provide, rigorous academic and practical projects taught through a wide range of discreet disciplines providing different contexts for Designing and Making. Increasingly students are encouraged to develop ideas, skills and techniques to design and manufacture products that solve problems using the range of equipment and materials available within the comprehensively equipped department where we have kept up with the fast paced changing world of technology, and benefit from a range of CAD/CAM machines including a Laser Cutter, 3D printer, HASS CNC Milling Machine, CNC Router, Versa Camm wide format digital printer as well as two suites of PCs that run Photoshop, 2D Design V2 and Solidworks 3D.
Projects challenge students to consider their own and other's needs, wants and values and enable them to gain an understanding of political, social and environmental factors to work towards informed and enterprising young people. We aim to broaden our student's minds by promoting understanding of the impact of these on daily life and the wider world. Design & Technology has a major role to play in the rapidly changing world where it makes an essential contribution to culture, wealth and well-being of all.
Key Stage 3
KS3 Design and Technology at The Warriner School is taught through combined Year 7 and 8 rotations, where all students will experience each of the subject areas once during a 12 week module, students then also experience each subject area again during Year 9 for a shorter 6 week module before making choices for KS4 study.
Years 7, 8 and 9 undertake the National Curriculum through a series of joint and separate projects between the different focus areas within Design and Technology comprising: Wood, Metal and plastics, Engineering, Paper and Card, Fibres and Fabrics, Food Preparation and Nutrition and finally Product Design.
Over the three years students undertake projects such as Acrylic clocks, wooden photo frames, LMP Casting, board games, CD/music covers, travel activity packs, screen printed packaging, movie standees, gift cards, event branding and advertising, metal padlocks, incense burners, screwdrivers and food science and preparation projects.
In each of these specialisms, students will be involved in developing ideas, planning, manufacturing products and evaluating them alongside learning subject specific technical knowledge.
Key Stage 4
At KS4, students have the opportunity to choose to study a Design and Technology course.
At KS4 we offer a suite of qualifications: GCSE Resistant Materials, GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition, GCSE Graphic Products, GCSE Engineering, GCSE Textiles and NCFE Creative Crafts, L1 BTEC Construction, L1/2 BTEC Fashion and Clothing. At KS4, students have the opportunity to study a Design and Technology course to GCSE. We currently offer Food Technology, Product Design and Textiles Technology.
Examination Information
Other Information
Students are able to participate in a wide variety of clubs, trips and activities within Design and Technology.


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Try at least once in your life to be in the saddle on a horse – and then you've certainly never want to give up this pleasure.
Kiev racecourse is a favourite recreation place for horse lovers.
The size of Kiev racecourse is 42 ha. Due to its advanced infrastructure, the racetrack could easily hold any public events.
or this running tracks, field, stands may be involved. There is a parking and a restaurant "Yakitoria". The Racetrack is ready to provide any part of its territory both for parties for employees and family holidays in the open air.
There are schools of riding art "Avanguard", where you can learn to stay in the saddle, and understand horses.
The youngest are taught in the pony club. By the way, communicating with such intelligent animals, like horses, has a very positive effect on mental development of personality, helps to balance nature, and calms the nerves. Passion for riding is not only nice, but also prestigious.
Regularly testing of thoroughbred horses, sports events, performances Cossacks, horse-drawn carriage are hold at the racecourse.
For visitors the racecourse is open every Sunday from 13-00. Entrance is free.
Additional Information:
Address: Kyiv, Academician Glushkov Avenue, 10
Phone: 044 256 2053
Hours: Sunday – 13:00
Price: Free
Age group: children from 3 years
Getting there:
Drive any vehicle that goes through the Odeska square, and further down the Glushkova Street to stop "Hippodrome".
Aachen parking – secure parking in Aachen
Bielefeld parking – parking spots in Bielefeld
Bochum parking – park and go in Bochum


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A few months ago I wrote about the Irish in England. This article takes a look at the English in Scotland, a topic that receives little attention. However, in recent years, and from a modern perspective, academics and others in the UK are taking an interest. In 2001 the number of people living in Scotland who were born in England was at its highest level ever–more than 400,000, just above 8 percent of the population. These same numbers are reflected in the make-up of the elected members of the Scottish parliament, and it comes as a surprise to many that Scottish lawmakers are not all Scottish.
The English are the largest ethnic minority group in Scotland. They took over the number one position back in 1921, from the Irish. As for the Irish-born, their numbers were largest in 1881 at 218,745. In 2001 they had fallen to only 21,774. Keep in mind these numbers relate to birthplace and not to what people state as their ethnic origin.
Numbers and politics are interesting but it is the history that fascinates me and it should also be of interest to anyone researching in Scotland. Some of your assumptions about the depth of your Scottish roots could be wrong. In the past 200 years, more than 1 million English have moved north of the border to what was once referred to as North Britain.
Not many of those migrants were wealthy people looking for fishing and hunting retreats. They were laborers, the skilled and unskilled–riveters, framework knitters, and domestic servants, to describe a few. It was the Industrial Revolution that speeded up the flow of people northward. Workers went to Glasgow and the Clyde for the ship building and to border towns such as Hawick where the woolen and hosiery industries were growing. Numbers of English-born workers were highest in the border counties.
Genealogical Considerations
You cannot always recognize a name as English or Scottish. Part of your research should include reading about surnames in sources such as the Surnames of Scotland (Black, 1989). You should also check the distribution of the surname in Scotland and England, easy to do for the census year of 1881 using the surname profiler at the website of the English National Trust.
Once you know the parish where your ancestors lived, read about its history, in particular about the local economy and whether any manufacturing grew in the nineteenth century. The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Groome, 1884-85) is a good place to start, and it can be found at Ancestry.
When your research is crossing into Scotland, pay particular attention to the differences between records. Take the time to consult information about contents, indexes, and access before starting research. Here are a few notes about six types of records.
Civil Registration: Civil registration began at the beginning of 1855, eighteen years later in Scotland than in England. Scottish records have the advantage of being more informative than their English counterparts, and complete surviving indexes are on the Web at ScotlandsPeople.
Census: Census records are available for the same years and in the same format as the England censuses. Indexes and transcripts are at Ancestry, indexes and images are available at ScotlandsPeople, and quite a large proportion of 1841 and 1851 can be searched at FreeCen.
Church registers: The Church of Scotland was the established church and in 1855 all its records were gathered together in Edinburgh and are part of the holdings of the General Register Office for Scotland. (In the twelve or so years before 1855, less than half the population of Scotland belonged to the Established Church.) Christenings and marriages are in the International Genealogical Index at FamilySearch and are also available at ScotlandsPeople.
Directories: Similar to England, the earliest and more inclusive directories were for larger cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh. Check the U.S. and UK Directories 1680-1830 collection at Ancestry for these.
Voters' lists: Before the first British Reform Bill of 1832 there was a much smaller percentage of people in Scotland who were qualified to vote.
Wills: These are far easier to check in Scotland because they had a civil system dating from the sixteenth century; a free index (you must register) to all wills and inventories is at the ScotlandsPeople website.
Your immigrant to the U.S., Canada, Australia, or even England, could be something other than a Scot. So many English moved north, particularly after the union of the two countries in 1707, that you really must consider the possibility. One final bit of advice, if your roots are in the Borders, whether in England or Scotland, read The Steel Bonnets, by George MacDonald Fraser. It is the well-told history of the fighting families of the area–the "Border Reivers.†They and their descendents lived their lives as though no government had drawn a line between England and Scotland.
Black, George F. Surnames of Scotland. New York: New York Public Library, 1989.
Fraser, George MacDonald. The Steel Bonnets. London: Pan Books, 1971.
Groome, Frances. Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1884-85.
Irvine, Sherry. Scottish Ancestry: Research Methods for Family Historians. Provo, Utah: Ancestry Publishing, 2003.
Watson, Murray. Scotland's English Clan. History Today, June 2005, Vol. 55, Issue 6.
Click here for a printer friendly version of this article.
Sherry Irvine, CG, is an author, teacher and lecturer specializing in English, Scottish and Irish family history. She is the Course Director and co-owner of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring (www.pharostutors.com), a British company. Her books include Your English Ancestry" (2d ed., 1998) and "Scottish Ancestry" (2003). From 1996 to 2006 she was a study tour leader, course coordinator, and instructor for English and Scottish programs at the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research at Samford University. She is vice-president of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History.


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Choosing the most suitable form of business for your company is essential, because it will determine how the money flow in and out, how much tax you pay, how the business is organized and how it is handles. Although the forms of ownership vary by jurisdiction, there are some basic types you will certainly encounter:
Sole proprietorship
A sole proprietorship is a business owned by a single person who can operate alone or hire other employees. That person owns all the equipment and may even own the building where the business is housed. This is one of the simplest forms of ownership, because it permits a high degree of flexibility for the owner. Due to the of the unlimited liability for the owner, some creditors are more willing to give money. Moreover, the owner receives all the profit. However, a sole proprietorship has some disadvantages. The single owner is responsible for all business debts and risks losing his personal assets in case of a lawsuit or bankruptcy. Moreover, some banks are reluctant to grant loans because of the high mortality rates and limited assets.
A partnership is a business owned by two or more people, so each partner has unlimited liability for business debts. There are three categories of partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership and general partnership. The advantages of this business form is that it is easy to start, because it should have all the agreements established ahead of time, it is not difficult to raise capital and there are not many regulations. The disadvantages are that there is a limited life of the business, the partners have unlimited liability, the profits are shared and disagreements may occur.
A corporation is one of the forms of ownership that have separate legal personality from its owners. This limited liability business is owned by stockholders or investors, but it is operated by officers. This type of business can be privately owned or owned by the government. The shareholders of a privately owned, for-profit corporation elect a board of directors to manage the staff and direct the course of action. Its advantages are an unlimited life of business, limited liability, quick access to capital (loans, stocks) and shared risks. However, it is difficult to start a corporation, owners have less direct control and there is a double taxation for individual and corporate tax.
These forms of ownership can be organized for both non-profit and for-profit. A not-for-profit cooperative has members who share the authority, as opposed to shareholders. This business type follows the economic democracy ideology and has limited liability. Forming a cooperative is slightly different from other business entities, because a group of potential members must agree on a strategy and a common need.
The type of business ownership that one chooses depends on the type of business that they want to build. Therefore, before choosing the ownership, a future business owner must develop the business plan and the future strategies while also keeping in touch with the latest business trends. If you want to know more about these matters, you should try www.paydiddy.com. This website is very useful for both small business owners as well as big company managers. It is important to understand that one cannot make the best decisions for a business unless they understand all the aspects of that business as well as the financial situations and the present economic fluctuations which will affect it. Therefore, all business owners and managers who want to achieve success should subscribe to various business websites and magazines. The business world is constantly changing and the only way to keep up with it is to find a way to be connected to it at all times.


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Ok, this was posted a few years back, but by mere accident or luck? I stumbled upon it a few moments ago.
It's just hillarious.
English written articles
Ok, this was posted a few years back, but by mere accident or luck? I stumbled upon it a few moments ago.
It's just hillarious.
You might be wondering why nothing has happend here for quite a while.
Well I'm very busy scanning and publishing Retro Commodore stuff.
For the time being I'm focusing on Danish magazines, manuals and books. Though I will sneak in some magazines that aren't danish every now and then.
Why don't you head over to Retro-Commodore and check out my scans?
I found a pretty great Amiga Assembler tutorial made by Photon from Scoopex.
Tutorial 1 can be seen below, click here to go to the full playlist.
I'm doing a lot of scanning related to retro Commodore stuff. I've created a new site for this which can be found at http://retro-commodore.eu. For now it contains Magazines, but at a later point, programs and games scans will be added there too.
Since this site is dedicated Commodore, there are other sites for magazines and scans you can visit.
I've received a lot of contributions of magazines, so this project will take quite a long time. I've set myself a target: atleast 1 new magazine will be added each week. I can do more but this depends on the scan results, how much work they need i.e. rotate, crop and white balancing.
More about scanning tips/graphics.
Since I (re)started on the 24th of November 2012, the progress of recovering my drive went from fast to slow. More on my recovery.
What happend with my Maxtor drive was that it stopped working when it tried accessing defective blocks. A restart of the drive was required to continue the work.
Using recoverdisk on FreeBSD eventually saved the data.
Though for some reason, which I don't know, I had multiple entries telling the software to copy the same block multiple times, a quick sample of 3 bytes showed 2 of them was going to be copied approx 500 times each, and the last one was going to be copied approx 1200 times, I don't doubt there were plenty of these entries. The log file that recoverdisk used was > 400 megs in size. I used the…
cat logfile | sort -u > newlogfile
…command to sort all the unique entries, which ended up in giving me a 3.3 meg log file.
This was more manageable, and after 2 hours of intensive work, I finished my recovery lacking only 17kB of a 1TB disk.
When recoverdisk was finished, I could use the image file to write back to disk. I didn't want to use the original image in case something went wrong. Recoverdisk image output can be used with "dd".
The easiest for me was to write the image to disk, rather than making a copy of the file to a disk with enough space. That was just in case mounting the vmfs filesystem failed, and I would have to install the cloned disk into the original hardware, and boot from there.
Since the original disk had vmware ESXi installed I needed to access the vmfs filesystem.
For this I mounted it on Ubuntu, after installing vmfs-tools
sudo apt-get install vmfs-tools
The disk was formatted with default settings during the ESXi installation, and Ubuntu could see the many partitions. Most of the partitions are FAT formated, but not the one that contains the virtual machine. The disk was seen as "sdd" and after some struggling finding the correct partition I found it was sdd3.
sudo vmfs-fuse /dev/sdd3 /mnt
Accessing the mountpoint had to be done by root, but copying the virtual machine which was stored in it's named dir in the root of the mountpoint was quite easy.
In general it was an easy task but took a very long time.
And since I had plenty of articles I forgot about, I was quite happy getting everything back.
Now you can see that I've gotten my articles back that to when I installed WP in 2011.
I've created a few more GIMP tutorials. The first one is a small "how-to-change-a-brush".
The second will show how to fix scratches.
Some of you know that I do a lot of preserving-the-past-on-present-day-media, which is not only about dumping software for Commodore computers to PC, but also scanning boxes, manuals, disks, codewheels, maps etc.
The scanning doesn't take long, but the post processing do. I've made a short video showing some of the stuff that I regularly do to improve the result of the scans.
When you scan an image, the result isn't the same as what you scan. Colours can seem faded, it could also be that the material that you scan is faded itself, gotten dirty, coffee stains etc etc.
I always keep atleast 2 copies of my scans. The original unmodified, cropped with a good margin outside the scanned material, and the modified version.
After doing some processing work you can see the differences, of what doing a little work can do.
Well now that I've shown you the result, I'll show you the tricks in the video below.
The video was meant as a crash test tutorial for some friends whom also work with images so the quality of the video isn't set up to my normal high standards, sorry about that, I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.
Download latest version of Gimp which is available for Windows, MacOS, Linux and Unix.
ED: I saw this in my boss' office today, and had to Google it. I agree with the author 100%. It's an old article, and I wonder why I never saw this before.
Original post can be found by clicking on the title below.
March 14, 2006 @ 10:02 am by Alexander Kjerulf
When the geeks at NCR in Australia threatened to go on strike, it was a move that could have paralyzed ATMs, supermarket cash registers and airplane check-in. This underlines the fact that IT has become so central to almost all corporations, that any disruption may cost a lot of time and money, which again means that keeping the geeks happy at work is an absolute requirement for a modern business. Happy geeks are effective geeks.
The main reason IT people are unhappy at work is bad relations with management, often because geeks and managers have fundamentally different personalities, professional backgrounds and ambitions.
Some people conclude that geeks hate managers and are impossible to lead. The expression "managing geeks is like herding cats" is sometimes used, but that's just plain wrong. The fact is that IT people hate bad management and have even less tolerance for it than most other kinds of employees.
So where does it go wrong? I started out as a geek and later became a leader and an IT company founder so I've been lucky enough to have tried both camps. Here are the top 10 mistakes I've seen managers make when leading geeks:
I had a boss once who said that "training is a waste of money, just teach yourself". That company tanked 2 years later. Training matters, especially in IT, and managers must realize that and budget for it. Sometimes you get the argument that "if I give them training a competitor will hire them away." That may be true, but the alternative is to only have employees who are too unskilled to work anywhere else.
Since managers may not understand the work geeks do very well, it's hard for them to recognize and reward a job well done, which hurts motivation. The solution is to work together to define a set of goals that both parties agree on. When these goals are met the geeks are doing a great job.
"Let's wring the most work out of our geeks, they don't have lives anyway," seems to the approach of some managers. That's a huge mistake and overworked geeks burn out or simply quit. In one famous case, a young IT-worker had a stress-induced stroke on the job, was hospitalized, returned to work soon after and promptly had another stroke. This post further examines the myth that long work hours are good for business.
Geeks hate management-speak and see it as superficial and dishonest. Managers shouldn't learn to speak tech, but they should drop the biz-buzzwords. A manager can say "We need to proactively impact our time-to-market" or simply use english and stick to "We gotta be on time with this project".
When managers don't know anything about a technical question, they should simply admit it. Geeks respect them for that, but not for pretending to know. And they will catch it – geeks are smart.
Geeks have an ingrained sense of fairness, probably related to the fact that in IT, structure and consistency is critical. The documentation can't say one thing while the code does something else, and similarly, managers can't say one thing and then do something else.
Because managers and geeks are different types of people, managers may end up leaving the geeks alone. This makes leading them difficult, and geeks need good leadership the same as all other personnel groups.
Geeks usually know the technical side of the business better than the manager, so making a technical decision without consulting them is the biggest mistake a leader can make.
A fast computer may cost more money than an older one and it may not be corporate standard, but geeks use computers differently. A slow computer lowers productivity and is a daily annoyance. So is outdated software. Give them the tools they need.
Programming is a creative process, not an industrial one. Geeks must constantly come up with solutions to new problems and rarely ever solve the same problem twice. Therefore they need leeway and flexibility. Strict dress codes and too much red tape kill all inovation. They also need creative surroundings to avoid "death by cubicle".
Making one or more of these 10 mistakes (and I've seen managers who make all 10) has serious consequences, including:
Happy geeks are productive geeks, and the most important factor is good management, tailored to their situation.
As a PHP developer I find the pointers in C are weird and I always mess up trying to use them, hopefully I'll have a better understanding now. I found this pretty great video tutorial with Richard Buckland, whom gives a great description about pointers. Start from 4:30 as the prior is just gossip.
There are a great number of lectures for this course. I can recommend watching them if you're interested in getting to learn how to program.


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|Sighting Report
|Occurred : 6/30/2006 13:00 (Entered as : 06/30/2006 13:00)
Reported: 6/21/2012 12:07:32 AM 00:07
Posted: 7/4/2012
Location: Woodland Hills, CA
Shape: Disk
Duration:5 minutes
|Saw a black saucer like object fly out of the Woodland Hills, CA area south of Ventura Boulevard.
I'm not sure what year this happened. I was surprised by the event and have not reported it until now. Not sure if this will be helpful at all, but here goes.
I know it was after the year 2003 and before the year 2008. I was in the parking lot of the shopping mall at Ventura Blvd. and Topanga Canyon. I was in my car in front of the then PetSmart.
My car was oriented towards the south so I was looking at the hills just south of Ventura Blvd. around Mulholland.
I saw what seemed to be a small black saucer shaped object rise up out of the neighborhood south of Ventura Blvd.
I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched this object rise quickly into the sky. I wanted to grab my cell phone and take a picture, but I didn't want to take my eyes off the object for fear of losing it.
It was a bright blue skied afternoon with a few white fluffy clouds. I watched intently and looked around a bit to see if anyone else was noticing and saw no one, just a parking a lot with cars.
I kept my eye on the object trying to figure out if it was a balloon or what. It did not look like a balloon.
It quickly rose and then I could see it way up and glistening against a cloud. The western sun must have caught it and it was shining now, not black.
That is it. I have never even told any friends about this. I don't know what I saw, but it was surely strange and seemed to be what I have heard others describe.
((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD))


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This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. If you purchase something through any link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Any supplies used may be given to me free of charge, however, all projects and opinions are my own.
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Community Book Grab
Event box
Community Book Grab
Community members are encouraged to browse our lightly used, discarded library materials. The items are suitable for all age groups & are free. Please feel free to select any item(s) that you may want and keep them.
- Date:
- Friday, July 17, 2020 Show more dates
- Time:
- 12:00pm - 2:00pm
- Location:
- Garden Patio
- Library:
- Seaford Public Library
- Audience:
- All Ages
- Categories:
- Community and Culture


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Let's start our little journey into scripting by getting a few orders of business out of the way quickly. First, I don't intend to spend too much time talking about the details and syntax of the Ruby language, or about programming theory, and concepts in object-oriented programming. These things are all part of scripting for RGSS, of course. However, they are very deep topics that would take dozens of tutorials to cover adequately, and are already well documented elsewhere, so there's no sense in duplicating the effort here.
Second, before delving into scripting, be sure to have a strong knowledge of using the maker on it's own, in particular, the details of the database, and a strong understanding of writing events. Although not identical, complicated events that utilize conditional branching, switches, and variable handling, have a lot in common with writing scripts. A good event writer will likely have an easy time starting to learn scripting.
Lastly, realize that when one first starts modifying scripts, it's unlikely they are going to write a new custom battle system within their first few days. On the contrary, the longest and most complicated scripts come from those who have substantial experience in the various versions of RGSS, or a programming background in other areas. With all of that said and out of the way, we can't learn to swim without getting into the water, so let's start taking a look at the existing scripts, and then we'll learn how to implement a simple change to how the default engine works, as an example.
Almost all of the scripts used are divided into classes, which themselves typically have several methods. It may help to think of a class as a definition of an object that includes all of the information about that object, as well as all of the different functions that can be performed on that object. A common example (drawing an analogy to a real-world object we all know and understand) is a light switch. A light switch contains data for its current position–on or off–and a method, which we'll call "flip". A house may contain many objects which are themselves instances of the light switch class, but they all have behavior that can be outlined in the same single definition. In RGSS, enemies, maps, events, items, etc, follow a similar model. Each may have different properties, but we can outline the behavioral elements with a single definition for each class.
A typical piece of scripting code will look something like this (using our light switch example):
class Lightswitch attr_accessor :status def initialize @status = "off" end def flip if @status == "off" @status = "on" else @status = "off" end end end
The class declaration wraps all of the properties and methods for our class, and each def block defines a method (in this case, only one). Notice how each name that is used anywhere in our code is somewhat self-explanatory in what it represents or what it does. Though not strictly necessary, it is generally good practice to do this, as it will make your life easier when you go to edit your scripts later, or even more so, if someone else has to edit your scripts. This same good practice is typically the case with the default scripts, as well. As such, reading through them is often enough to at least get an idea of what is happening in each part of the code. The naming of the classes is also done in such a way that they can be easily grouped together. Each of the "Game_" classes defines some object or aspect of the game. The "Sprite_" classes define the behavior of specific visual elements on screen. "Window_" classes are a specific type of visual elements that look like independent sections of the screen. And, "Scene_" classes can be described as different portions of the game play.
It's worth calling attention to one specific class, Game_Interpreter, as it is a bit unique. The sole function of the class is to process a list of event commands. As it turns out, there are several comments in the code itself, that make it very easy to follow. The bulk of the methods in this class are named commandXXX, with (more or less) one method for each type of event command. Reading over the code here is a great way to see how event commands actually translate to the data and programming behind the scenes.
So, let's look at an actual example. In fact, this is the very first scripting change I ever made on my own. Coming from a background in the Dragon Quest series, I was frustrated that there were no battles while riding on a boat or ship. So, how do we change the script so that we get battles while in the boat? First, we need to find the right section of code. As one becomes more familiar with the code base, this gets easier. There are a couple of approaches to this, at first. We can either look at classes that sound promising, or we can try searching for keywords in the code, such as "battle", "encounter", etc.
We might start by looking in Scene_Battle, since that's what controls battles. However, it turns out we won't find anything there that helps us. Scene_Battle only controls what happens in the battle itself. What we need is the section of code that decides when to initiate a battle. So, let's ask ourselves where that might be; in what scene would we find ourselves entering into a battle? Ah ha! While we're on the map! So, we can guess that we need to look at either Game_Map or Scene_Map. If we look in these two classes, and search for the word "encounter", it's easy enough to find the section that determines when to start a new battle. The method is copied here, so we can examine it:
def update_encounter return if $game_player.encounter_count > 0 # Check steps return if $game_map.interpreter.running? # Event being executed? return if $game_system.encounter_disabled # Encounters forbidden? troop_id = $game_player.make_encounter_troop_id # Determine troop return if $data_troops[troop_id] == nil # Troop is invalid? $game_troop.setup(troop_id) $game_troop.can_escape = true $game_temp.battle_proc = nil $game_temp.next_scene = "battle" preemptive_or_surprise end
Now, it's helpful to know that, in Ruby syntax, the pound sign (#) signals a comment; everything after the # in a line is not part of the script code, but rather is just a note, often made to help identify what a particular line is doing. That said, the first five lines of this method make some determinations about whether or not now is the right time to start a new battle. The comments help us to determine which line(s) might be relevant to our end goal. Starting from the top, we'll now investigate each line, until we find what we want. The first line deal with the "encounter_count" in the "game_player" class. Looking at the game_player class, there are several references to encounter count.
def make_encounter_count if $game_map.map_id != 0 n = $game_map.encounter_step @encounter_count = rand(n) + rand(n) + 1 # As if rolling 2 dice end end
This first example shown above dictates how the scripts determine when you will have your next encounter. $game_map.encounter_step should be familiar from the map editor… the default value for a new map is 30. The line that's commented "as if rolling 2 dice" literally tells us what it's doing. It's picking two random numbers (from 0..29) and adding 1. Remember how in the Scene_Map class, it will not trigger an enemy encounter while the count is greater than 0? So, essentially, our next encounter with an enemy will be anywhere from 1..59 steps from now. Interesting. However, there is nothing here that deals with the issue of encounters while in the boat. So, let's find the next method that deals with the encounter_count:
def make_encounter_troop_id encounter_list = $game_map.encounter_list.clone for area in $data_areas.values encounter_list += area.encounter_list if in_area?(area) end if encounter_list.empty? make_encounter_count return 0 end return encounter_list[rand(encounter_list.size)] end
As the name somewhat implies, this is the method that is called to determine, once it's time to go into battle, which troop id the player will face. Notice, however, that there is nothing here, either, that deals with vehicles at all. So, continuing along:
def update_encounter return if $TEST and Input.press?(Input::CTRL) # During test play? return if in_vehicle? # Riding in vehicle? if $game_map.bush?(@x, @y) # If in bush @encounter_count -= 2 # Reduce encounters by 2 else # If not in bush @encounter_count -= 1 # Reduce encounters by 1 end end
The "update_encounter" method appears to be called each time the player moves, and it decreases the "encounter_count" variable. Notice that it checks if the current location is "bush?", and if so, decreases the count by 2 instead of 1. Essentially, this is what makes encounters more likely when in the deep brush. If we were so inclined, we could change that 2 to a different value to either remove or amplify that affect. Notice also the very first line of this method that checks if we are in testplay mode, and currently holding down the Control key. If both of those things are true, then it returns immediately before updating the count, and thus we are guaranteed to not hit an enemy encounter.
But, for our original goal of getting enemies to attack while we're in the boat, we need to look at the second line. Exactly as the comment implies, and the script code confirms, this line checks if we are riding in a vehicle, and if so, bails out of the method early, without updating the count. Pay dirt! This is what needs to be updated! If we look at the "in_vehicle?" method, we can get a little more clarity on what's happening:
def in_vehicle? return @vehicle_type >= 0 end
This is fairly simple to understand. There is a variable within the Game_Player class called "vehicle_type", that determines what type of vehicle we are in currently. The obvious question being, what values indicate which type of vehicle? If we actually search for "vehicle_type" in this same class, we'll soon find the following method:
def map_passable?(x, y) case @vehicle_type when 0 # Boat return $game_map.boat_passable?(x, y) when 1 # Ship return $game_map.ship_passable?(x, y) when 2 # Airship return true else # Walking return $game_map.passable?(x, y) end end
Just peeking at the small comments here makes it clear that 0 = boat, 1 = ship, and 2 = airship. Now we know enough to make some changes! We already identified the crucial line: "return if in_vehicle?" and determined that the method will bail out if @vehicle_type is 0, 1, or 2. There are many ways we could change this line, to get slightly different effects:
return if @vehicle_type >= 1 # Encounters in boat, not ship or airship return if @vehicle_type == 2 # Encounters in boat/ship, but not airship return unless @vehicle_type == 1 # Encounters in boat, never otherwise # (Not even when walking!)
We could also remove the line entirely, and find ourselves with encounters regardless of vehicle.
Of course, this was a simple example, but hopefully provides at least a little guidance on how to start knowing where to look to make little changes. Such small changes are important, because as one becomes more familiar with the codebase, it will be easier to know where and how to make larger adjustments. Next time, we will expand upon this with a slightly larger change, and will introduce the concept of method redefinition and aliasing, as cleaner approaches to updating the scripts, without having to overwrite the default scripts.
Tim is a software engineer and member of rpgmakervxace.net


text:
A note on the blog
Viewed: 713
Once again, thanks to those who read all this, it's appreciated.
Another country finished and on to Vietnam next. I've actually left Vietnam a few days ago and am now in Cambodia. The writing is already completed but uploading journals and photos is still about a month behind. But, as it wasn't long ago that it was two months behind, this is still excellent progress. I'm sure it'll be up to date again soon.
I've promised myself that I will start putting captions on some of the photos again, from Vietnam onwards. That way you will at least know what it is you're looking at.
Wishing you well
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text:
The Houston Dynamo partnered with the American Red Cross for the second year in a row to promote their Sound the Alarm campaign. This year, the Dynamo and Red Cross visited the Magnolia Park neighborhood to go door-to-door installing fire alarms and reviewing fire safety plans with residents.
Houston Dynamo partner with American Red Cross to Sound the Alarm


text:
About Killision Course
Through cinematic reenactments of real-life stories, Killision Course recreates the shocking series of events that led to a deadly crime. Each episode dramatizes the weeks prior to the fateful incident and introduces the key individuals involved, setting the stage for the eventual murder. The identities of the killer and the victim are not revealed until the end of each episode, increasing the suspense and enabling the viewers to piece together the clues for themselves. With characters that all know each other and several possible motives, anyone could be the murderer or the victim.


text:
CALGARY - Alberta's beef and pork producers praised Wednesday's news of a pending free trade deal between Canada and the European Union, saying an agreement would translate into a multi-million dollar opportunity for farmers.
But the organization that represents Alberta's dairy producers said cheese makers will suffer, and stated the dairy industry will do everything it can to persuade the government not to ratify the deal.
After four years of sometimes rocky bargaining, Canadian and European officials have confirmed that a completed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement is within reach.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads to Brussels on Thursday to conclude an agreement-in-principle. A source told The Canadian Press that the agreement still needs approval from key Canadian provinces, as well as individual European nations.John Masswohl, director of government and international relations for the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, said he has a good sense of what is in the agreement and called it "outstanding" for the country's beef industry.
According to Canadian Press and Postmedia sources, Ottawa has agreed to double the amount of European cheese allowed into Canada — to around 30,000 tonnes a year — in exchange for greater E.U. access for Canadian beef and pork producers. Right now, Canada's beef and pork industries have very limited access to European markets.
"We've calculated that the value of (new) beef exports has the potential to exceed $600 million a year from Canada to Europe," Masswohl said. "It's a very good deal."
Masswohl's enthusiasm was echoed by Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director of Alberta Pork. Like the beef industry, the Canadian pork industry has suffered as a result of the U.S. government's mandatory country of origin labelling program. Securing a deal with the E.U would open up a whole new avenue for Canadian exporters and reduce reliance on the United States.
"We think it's around $400 to $500 million, just to start with, that we'll see in new sales," Fitzgerald said.
But the news that European cheese producers may soon have greater access to Canadian customers isn't sitting well with Canada's supply-managed dairy sector. Under the current system, Canada applies high tariffs to the majority of imported dairy products. Canadian dairy production also operates on a quota system, allowing the Canadian Dairy Commission to control the amount of milk produced and set prices based on the cost of production.
Mike Southwood, general manager of Alberta Milk, said allowing greater access to Canadian markets would mean displacing local products in favour of highly subsidized European cheese. He said that could put an end to small, artisan cheese producers — a sector Canadian dairy farmers and processors have been working hard to develop.
"It really impacts the small, niche cheese makers that service a local market," Southwood said, citing examples like Calgary's Alberta Cheese, Sunnyrose near Lethbridge, and Silver Star near Red Deer. "We'll be spending the next few days meeting with the federal government, meeting with MPs, to see if something can be done before this deal is ratified."
A spokesman for federal International Trade Minister Ed Fast maintained Wednesday negotiations with the European Union continue and that any agreement will protect Canadian dairy farmers. The government insists the three pillars of Canada's supply-management system must remain intact: production controls, import controls and price controls.
Masswohl said that dairy farmers have never "seen a trade agreement they liked," adding the country's 80,000 beef producers need this deal.
"Exports are the lifeblood of our industry," Masswohl said. "Throughout the negotiations some of these supply managed groups made a point of saying they have never prevented a deal from going ahead in the past — so hopefully they won't throw us under the bus this time."
With files from Postmedia and The Canadian Press


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Great Ocean Gulf
The Story of a Strategic Planning Fiasco
11 November 2017
The Power of Good People
4 November 2017
Letter from P Fillmore
21 October 2017
2017 Annual General Meeting
Apollo Bay Resort Proposal
19 October 2017
Large Public Meeting in Apollo Bay Rejects Resort Proposal
18 October 2017
Open Letter from W Ballinger re proposed Barham River Rd Development
17 October 2017
On Sunday 17 September, more than 5,500 bike riders, families and friends will visit the region of the Great Ocean Road and Otway Ranges as part of the annual Wiggle Amy's Gran Fondo.
Q&A Panel Discussions
It is with great pleasure that we announce a new community initiative which we hope will interest every Apollo Bay resident.
Wonderfully Wild and Literate Weekend in Apollo Bay
2nd August, 2017
Creating an Arts and Industry Integrator in Apollo Bay
29th June 2017
Call for Grant Applications
19th June 2017
The Apollo Bay & District Health Foundation is pleased to call for Applications for 2017 Grants from complying organisations in our catchment area.
Great Ocean Road Running Festival
Raising important issues for Apollo Bay in the nation's Parliament
24th March 2017
Apollo Bay's Health Service Crisis - Community Meeting
21st March 2017
- Great Ocean Road Summit
- Preferred Charity For The Great Ocean Road Running Festival
- New Winter Festival for Apollo Bay
- Apollo Bay & District Community Bank® Grants
- Battery Operated Rescue Tools Power Brigade
- Surfcoast Bushfire Appeal Closed
- ABDHF 2016 Call for Grants
- The 2016 GMHBA Great Ocean Road Marathon's HEALTHY COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
- Our Health Foundation - The Buck starts here!
- Great Ocean Road Marathon 2016
- 1511 Discussion Group
- 1411 Health Foundation AGM
- Australia & New Zealand Internet Awards (ANZIA) Winners announced for 2014
- 1408 Marengo House Fire


text: The large volume of traffic in and out of schools and universities every day increases the potential risk of slips-and-falls for students and staff. From a small elementary school to the largest university in the country, slips and trips can occur anywhere and anytime. Slip and fall prevention at schools begins with officials, architects, and facility managers being diligent with protecting students and staff from harm.


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Please recall that September bill payments are due Monday, September 25th. Payments must be by check or money order. If you haven't paid your bill yet, now is the time. Payments may be
- mailed or delivered to 16 Welden Drive, Doylestown, PA 18901.
- If you need to drop off outside of office hours, place your check in a tightly sealed plastic bag and use one of the drop boxes attached to the building.
- Mail takes longer than you think (especially if you're using your bank's online bill pay) so please take care of this today if you'll be mailing payment.
- placed in the drop box inside at CB South during our practice times.
Please note that if your observance of Yom Kippur and/or Rosh Hashannah interferes with practice attendance it is fine to miss practice.
There will be no age group practice on the following October dates:
October 6 (football game)
October 13 (football game)
October 27 (football game)
October 31 (holiday)
As additional conflict dates approach they will be included in team emails. They will also be on the team calendar soon.
CBST Fall Apparel Sale
CBST is holding a Fall Apparel sale via Kampus Klothes. Please utilize the link below if you are interested in purchasing apparel during this sale. The sale will be open through Sunday, September 24 , 2017 and it will be the only opportunity to purchase CBST apparel via this vendor for the fall of our Short Course season. Payment for apparel items will be handled directly through the Kampus Klothes website and delivery of apparel items will be during our CBST Autumn Festival swim meet. If you have any questions, please contact Julie Kline at email@example.com.
Have a great day


text:
Jennifer Aniston and Larry King both reveal their hair routines, Eva Mendes reveals her secret to a happy marriage, and Idina Menzel reveals a new hair color, all in today's Alluring Links.
Jennifer Aniston reveals the one hair trick she's yet to master, and her super-low-key hair routine. [Style.com]
Larry King gets his hair washed and combed at a salon every day. [The Washington Post]
A healthier, hangover-free wine could be in our future (we're happy to be the guinea pigs!). [Eureka Alert]
Shh…there's a secret cure for hormonal acne. [Into the Gloss]
Mirror check: Is your eyeliner right for your eye shape? [Refinery 29]
Women are dominating SXSW, especially these ten female acts.
[The Cut]
Natural brunette Idina Menzel debuted a honey-blonde hair color on Instagram. Perhaps she's channeling her Frozen character, Elsa? [Us Weekly]
Eva Mendes's rule for a happy marriage? No sweatpants. Does that apply to Ryan, too? [Extra]
Bradley Cooper and Suki Waterhouse, one of Hollywood's most beautiful couples, have split. [E! Online]
This might be the easiest new way to remove your waterproof mascara. [The Cut]
The rumors are true. There are big changes happening at Marc Jacobs.
Gag. Burger King perfume is coming to Japan, and we really hope it's an April Fool's joke. [Kotaku]
Like Allure on Facebook and get more beauty news and daily tips in your feed.


text:
The infamous disappearance of 5-year-old foster child Rilya Wilson--and the fact that it took Florida's Department of Children and Families 15 months to notice she was gone--is the most egregious example of the mess the agency is in. Here's another: DCF has spent eight years and some $170 million developing a computer system to track the children in its care better--and it still doesn't work. HomeSafenet took five years to plan, and then no contractor could be found to implement it. DCF itself introduced the first phase, which was met by complaints that the system was riddled with problems. Florida legislators...
Not Home Safe Yet
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text:
This is a reader-submitted post written as part of the "It's time for you to 'take over' OTE for a few weeks" feature running while Kristi Gustafson, blog moderator and author, is out of the office.
The post is not written by Kristi Gustafson. Megan McRae is the author.
I read a lot. So far I've read 33 books this year – my Goodreads reading challenge tracker says I'm 12 books ahead of my 50 book goal. One thing I've noticed, especially in the modern/current books, is that they all talk about sex, no matter the subject of the actual book.
And it's not usually just one scene – sex is a dominant factor in a lot of books today. I recently read Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt, in which there are quite a few pages dedicated to an S&M party the main character attends. This section of the book is actually related to the rest because one of the characters is a "sex wizard" (it's fantasy, what can I say?). But my question is, why did that character specifically have to thrive on sexual energy? With all the other ways this character could have gathered his powers, why did it need to be sex? How did that enhance the story? He could have taken his power from chocolate, or the sun, or what have you.
It seems that every book I've read (with the exception of SOME young adult novels) this year and for many years contains mention, if not graphic details of two (or more) characters getting it on (some even in zero-gravity!). While I'm far from conservative, and I'd be the last person on Earth screaming to ban anything in literature, I have to wonder what the purpose of this constant inclusion is.
There are a lot of books that are the exception to my question, such as Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which is a YA book about the aftermath of a rape. Sex, specifically the rape of a young girl, is a central part of the story. But why do authors, when writing books about something else entirely, seem to feel the need to throw in a sex scene or two (or three)? It doesn't seem to enhance the story at all, it seems like it's there simply to titillate the reader. And for me, that's not what reading is about.
Another thing I've noticed in my reading adventures is that authors LOVE talking about breasts. Large breasts, small breasts, almost always perfectly perky and on display. Are breasts really so important to the story that they need to be described in more detail than the character's face? And it's not only male authors who do this – plenty of women are jumping on the bandwagon too.
Do you find the sex in books to be cumbersome, or do you enjoy opening a book, any book, and knowing you're going to get to read about people getting busy?


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EDAL case summaries
The criminalisation of homosexuality and aggressions at the place of residence of the applicant constitute indications as to the existence of persecution. However, if it is only in the appearance, then internal flight is a possibility if the applicant stops his prostitution activities.
The Court quashed the decision of the Office of Immigration and Nationality (OIN) because it did not assess the Applicant's fear of persecution in a due manner and held that there is a real internal flight alternative in an erroneous way, without due regard to the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU)
Ireland - A.O. V Refugee Applications Commissioner, Refugee Appeals Tribunal, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Attorney General and Ireland (Respondent) and Human Rights Commission (Notice Party) No. 2009 1194 JR
Discrepancies within evidence brought before the decision maker does not eschew the duty upon said decision maker to investigate the authenticity of the document. A person's age is to be taken into account when evaluating evidential inconsistencies.
When relying on internal relocation a thorough assessment of all available evidence must be undertaken, including personal circumstances pertaining to the applicant.
Czech Republic - Supreme Administrative Court, 27 October 2011, D.K. v Ministry of Interior, 6 Azs 22/2011
The Supreme Administrative Court considered the application of the internal protection principle. The Court held inter alia that effective protection cannot be provided by non-governmental organisations which do not control the state or a substantial part of its territory.
Women who are subjected to the norms and customary laws of FGM and forced marriage in rural areas in Nigeria cannot avail themselves of the protection of the State authorities, and their attitude is perceived as an infringement by the community members. They therefore form a social group within the meaning of Article 1 A (2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Furthermore, the impossibility of marrying another person constitutes an obstacle to leading a normal life in another part of the country and an alternative protection alternative cannot be considered.
The Refugee Appeals Tribunal had found that state protection was available to an applicant who claimed to have suffered many years of sexual abuse by her father and his associates in Nigeria. The High Court quashed the decision on the basis that, as the Tribunal decision had not made a clear finding as to credibility, it was not clear that the Tribunal had considered the personal circumstances and, in particular, the past persecution of the applicant in considering the availability of state protection.
The Court found that a simple finding that the applicant could relocate within Nigeria because the population of the country is so large was devoid of any substantiation by reference to the facts of the case or to the circumstances of the applicant and of his family or to the nature of the threat of persecution which relocation would serve to avoid.
The Court indicated that that a finding that internal relocation will provide protection involves a two- fold consideration:
(a) First, the identification - if only in general terms - of an area or place in the country of origin...
Ireland - High Court, 9 December 2009, A.S.O v Refugee Appeals Tribunal and Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform [2009] IEHC 607
This case concerned the refusal of a Refugee appeal on the basis that Sate protection was available and/or that the applicant could relocate within Nigeria and avoid persecution. In support of the finding that State was available; the Tribunal Member relied upon part of a UK Home Office Operational Guidance Note (OGN) on Nigeria that had not been provided to the applicant. The Court found that the applicant not afforded fair procedures. She had no opportunity to comment upon the information in the OGN. The Court also found that the issue of whether or not State protection is available...
This case concerned actors of protection and found with reference to Art 7 of the Qualification Directive that the existence of an effective legal system is not an independent factor for considering the question of whether adequate protection can be provided.
Ireland - High Court, 27 June 2008, A.B.O. v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform [2008] IEHC 191
This case concerned the test to be applied by the Minister as the decision-maker in applications for subsidiary protection. The Court held that it was permissible for the Minister to have regard to the reports and findings of other decision-makers in the asylum process (specifically the Refugee Appeals Tribunal). However, a particularly careful and thorough analysis will be required if the case for subsidiary protection is put on an entirely new basis which has never been considered at any stage of the process. In relation to state protection, the Court reiterated that the onus lies on an...
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When Jesus prayed in the garden before His crucifixion, He prayed that the Father would glorify Him with the same glory that He had with Him before the world was formed. This glory would come through His death, burial and resurrection, which would exalt Jesus and reveal Him as Savior and Lord and King. When He rose from the dead, He did two physical things so that we could see His glory. He rolled the stone away and He left His garment laying to the side. With these removed, nothing hid His glory from plain view. His glory wasn't hid behind the stone and it was covered by the linen clothes.
We should pray daily that others would see Jesus in us. But is He hidden from view in our lives? Is there a "stone" blocking their view so that can't see Him? Is there a stone of hypocrisy? Unforgiveness? Immorality, lying, cheating, compromise? Is He hidden by our "clothes"-- our own flesh? Selfishness, self-centeredness, pride, arrogance, etc.?
When the disciples saw Jesus after the resurrection, they glorified Him. We want Him to be glorified in our lives. Therefore, we must by His help and grace, remove the "stone" and "clothes" that shroud Him from view. We must lay aside everything that would cover Him so that He is not seen. We must remove everything that hides His glory from being openly revealed in our lives. Is there anything that is hiding His glory from view in your life?
Have a great day. For others to see Jesus in our lives, everything that hides Him from view must be removed out of the way.
For further reading:
John 17:1-5
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Packing for a long trip is something that I have perfected. Learn from my experience, less is more. The purpose of this post is to tell you how I pack for a trip when I am going overseas.
Why I know how to pack my suitcase?
I would say I am an experienced traveler. I am an American that has lived or traveled to about 3 dozen countries, have a couple of passports and speak a handful of languages. I now live in Poland. It is not that I am anyone special. I am not. I just love to travel and have a sense of adventure. And yes I am married and have a family and a job. How do I do it? I make it work some how and my family does not seem to mind. They go along as we are a team. Am I rich? No, or at least not yet. You can travel the world on a shoe string if you really want to.
What I pack when I pack for a long trip
When I started to travel my packing was based on how much I could put into two suitcases. I remember when I traveled to Russia I even jammed a protein bar with 34 grams of protein for every day I would be there, if I could not get enough to eat. Boy I was a rookie.
This is what I pack for anything over two weeks. Lets say I could even move to the country I am traveling to if I had to.
- Laptop
- Electrical adapter as modern laptops only need the prong head not a full converter.
- Copy of all travel documents and credit cards etc. or you can just write the information down on one sheet.
- About 500 dollars cash and about 50 dollars in the local currency. I also use a bank machine and have not had a problem on the five continents I have traveled to.
- seven pairs of underwear, that t-short, boxers and socks.
- one bathing suit – I do not bring gym clothes anymore as when you are travelling you do enough walking and can do push ups and sit ups in your under wear if you really want to in your room.
- two pairs of jeans, one of which I wear. You can replace this with one pair of shorts if you are going somewhere warm.
- Digital Camera
- Vitamins. I think something like the Vitamin shoppe daily 3 is good. Before the trip I take about two weeks worth of probiotic. I have only taken antibiotics in my once in my whole life and I really did not need it, I wanted to try it. I use probiotic and in emergencies I eat a couple of bulbs of garlic. I would take it, just never needed it, thank God.
- Sunblock SPF 50+ for my face
- One bar of natural soap from Whole Foods, something that will last and I can use for my hair and body and it strong but natural. Since I cleaned up my diet I have not needed deordorant. Really.
- Dental Floss and tooth-brush and natural tooth paste, nail clippers. If your a woman you need a couple of girly things.
- One pair of high quality running or hiking shoes, I wear this and do not take a second pair. I would rather spend a few hundred dollars on the best pair and use it all the time then two pairs of discount shoes.
- A couple of climbing shirts. These are shirts that breath in summer and keep you warm in winter.
- A real map, not twenty print outs from Google maps or a GPS. Keep it simple a map.
- Good hat for protection from the sun. And sun glasses if your glasses do not have UV protection.
- I can not think of anything else
What I do not bring when traveling
- Anything you have back home you can buy in your traveling country and at a fraction of the price in many cases so do not worry.
- Cell phone. Do not need it, I have Skype on my laptop and can call the world. What about in emergencies? No such thing. It is easier to deal with people face to face than try to talk on a cell phone. If you are travelling to meet people, such as if you are single, then OK. But I do not like to be plugged in on vacation.
- Dress clothes. Jeans and a nice shirt, if you are a man or woman does fine. You can substitute one pair of jeans for a pair of khakis
- Creams and lotions and beauty stuff that fills my bathroom back home. I think it is good to take a break from your normal routine, even if its three months.
- Razor, I just do not shave on vacation, its more fun.
- Books – well maybe one good one, but I prefer to see and experience more than read.
- Travel guides. A lot are pure junk written by people who sometimes have not been there or at least in years. I live in Krakow and I read reviews on restaurants that do not make sense. When you get there it is a lot more fun to use your wits and brains and figure out and explore by yourself. You can read up on it when you get back home to fill in the gaps.
How do you pack for a trip? What does your checklist consist of? Do you think this is packing light? With the above mentioned I can live away from the USA indefinitely. In fact when I came to Poland for my vacation, that is all I had and I have been here for years.


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We have returned with our bag of good reads, helpful strategies and inspiration.
During the month of April we have visited all the blogs participating in the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum Bloggers' Promoting health and wellness in the gifted/2E child blog hop. http://giftedhomeschoolers.org/blog-hops/promoting-health-wellness-gifted-2e-child/
We left comments at each post but some did not appear to have been received.
So here are all the posts we visited and the comments we left (or intended to leave)
Being Smart About Health and Wellness Wenda Sheard, J.D. Ph.D. Thoughts on Life & Learning "I believe that parents should tell their children the truth about health and wellness, warts and all. Let children know that we can no longer pretend that the first world lifestyle is benign. Teach children about society's health and wellness foibles as well as our own personal foibles. Teach children about moderation, and teach them the dangers of assuming that moderation will work seamlessly or sufficiently to bring us health and wellness." http://wendasheard.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/being-smart-about-health-and-wellness-2/
Thank you, Wenda! The vastness of the problems surrounding health and wellness and environmental issues can seem overwhelming; but you have shown how teaching our children about it openly and making small changes in habits can lead to improved health.
The Care and Feeding of Your Gifted Child ~ Homeschooling Hatters http://homeschoolinghatters.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-care-and-feeding-of-your-gifted.html
Cara, thank you for sharing what is working for you; while we wait for the appearance of that manual that was supposed to accompany our own individual, asynchronous, eccentric, atypical, outlier child. Establishing routines, spending time in exercise outdoors, setting some quiet time and ensuring that mum takes adequate care of herself are all wise measures!
Keeping Balanced: Promoting Health and Wellness in the Gifted/2E Child Gluten-Free Mum "As I have talked about before, both my kids have LDs. My son has SPD and ideopathic toe walking (plus another unknown disability we're going through the wringer to get diagnosed). My daughter has anxiety disorder – she gets stressed and then is unable to feel pain – which causes her to be a sensory seeker – she likes throwing herself onto the floor for the bump. I cried the first time she complained about a minor injury. Because it was a big deal – it meant that she was able to feel it, and therapy was working. So today I'm going to talk about how we incorporate strategies into our day to keep everyone on an even keel. Some of these are for the disabilities, some for the OEs. They all help." http://yellowreadis.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/promoting-health-and-wellness-in.html
Thank you for sharing some of your strategies for dealing with the sensitivities and OEs – the bean bags, stretches, swinging and spinning, the animal walks and breathing exercises!
Little Ones and Car Seat Fury ~ Through a Stronger Lens http://throughastrongerlens.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/the-case-of-car-seat-fury.html
I am glad she is happy with the new seat! That will make life so much happier all round!
Minimizing Stress, Anxiety and Emotional Outbursts ~ A Voracious Mind Minimising stress, anxiety and potential emotional outbursts by carefully choosing how, where and with whom we spend our time is omnipresent.
Knowing who you are and therefore lessening stress, anxiety and potential emotional outbursts by careful choice of activities is such wisdom. Thank you for sharing.
Physical Fitness for Kids Who Like to Sit Ecletic Homeschool "Several years ago I realized that we had to do something different if I wanted to give my kids the gift of a healthy lifestyle. I had to make it a priority in our life and in our school day." http://eclectic-homeschool.com/physical-fitness-with-kids-who-like-to-sit/
What fun ways of including incentives to exercise! I need to read Dr Sears L.E.A.N. kids book!
School Lunches versus Packing a Lunch: How to Keep Both Healthy ~ Mama in the Kitchen
There is a wealth of study topics offered here which would help the children learn to make informed choices about nutrition and health. Thank you for a great post!
Simple ways to nurture wellness in gifted/2e kids (and grown-ups!) ~ RedWhiteandGrew http://redwhiteandgrew.com/2014/04/21/wellness_in_gifted/
Yes Absentminded Professor meal distraction could be a problem for us too; particularly if circumstances caused us not to be eating together at the same meal time.
Sometimes western medicine has no answers. Holistic medicine and my 2e kid ~ Laughing at Chaos
Jen, I am just SO delighted to hear this good news!
Steps for dealing with anxiety, feelings/emotions, and your 2e child ~ A 2e Fox Revived Steps for dealing with feelings/emotions…. such as identifying feelings (sad, mad, bad, glad), validating those feelings, and sharing the feelings http://a2efoxrevived.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/steps-for-dealing-with-anxiety.html
Thank you for a great post with lots of helpful suggestions and reference links! You are so right the key is getting them to recognize their feelings and when they're getting anxious.
Tips for Taking Your Kids to the Dentist ~ Scleratus Classical Academy Strategies for first time visitors and sensitive kids, co-authored by an experienced dental assistant and father
Thank you and Principal Daddy very much for such helpful tips! I wish we could rewind and try those early dentist visits again using some of these suggestions!
Tips from a Coach for Keeping Gifted Children Active ~ Great Peace Academy "An Interview with the Coach of The HomeSchool Gym, a unique program designed specifically for homeschool students. He shares his principles for including, interacting and managing expectations for his students, specifically gifted and special needs children."
Coach Chris sounds like an excellent inspiring teacher! I love his emphasis on helping each individual student to achieve the best possible results and enjoy the activities.
Your Shame is Their Shame ~ Building WingSpan http://buildingwingspan.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/your-shame-is-their-shame.html
Thank you so much for a great post! I love your words "You have to show them how to appreciate the unmeasurables." and "But you can give them a road map for loving themselves anyway and embracing those parts of themselves that are so very different to others."
Sprite's Site missed the blog hop, but she has been visiting the posts! Here's what she has to say about it: April Blog Hop
And we are home again. We have left messages where we could and will post about our experiences on the hop soon.
Sprite's Site has been nominated in the Australian Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs 2014 Competition
If you would like to vote for Sprite's Site (and Gifted Resources blog and as many other great Australian blogs as you wish) in the People's Choice section click on the badge in the sidebar of the blog and follow the link to the Survey monkey poll. Gifted Resources blog is on Page 2 and Sprite's Site is on Page 4.
Please visit this month's Blog Hop contributors and leave a comment. Be part of the conversation!


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No. Of People
Star Rating
Lendy Cowes Week Accommodation 2018 Accommodation, Cowes Isle of Wight
Cowes Week 2018 is a fusion of many exciting elements, with its great mix of competitive sailing and social activities. The 8,500 competitors range from Olympic and world class professionals to weekend sailors. In excess of 100,000 spectators come to watch the sailing, enjoy the parties and live entertainment, and to experience the unique atmosphere.
Property Ref: 119
A fantasticaly presented, modern Maze! Bright 4 bedroomed home with all mod cons and 2 balconies, over 4 floors.+ More details
Property Ref: 98
Charming modern cottage in a secluded development close to the centre of Cowes. Three bedrooms, a double and two rooms with a double and an additional single. Two bathrooms and comfortable lounge and well equipped kitchen. Patio area outdoors with table, chairs and BBQ. Best quality Egyptian cotton bedlinen and towels. This house also has the benefit of a lockable garage for wet gear. Ideal for regatta lets, holiday accommodation and corporate lets.+ More details


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Espaillat endorsed by CWA and Workers United
Stephon Johnson | 6/30/2016, 11:49 a.m.
New York State Sen. Adriano Espaillat got some more good news this month after being endorsed by both the CWA Local 1101 and the SEIU affiliate Workers United for New York's 13th Congressional District.
"From the beginning, Senator Adriano Espaillat stood on the picket line side by side with our workers calling for fairness," said Keith Pruce, president of CWA Local 1101, in a statement. "Adriano has done more to advance the cause of labor than any other candidate in this race. For his entire career, he has stood on the side of working men and women seeking a fair shake and decent wage. And we are proud to stand with him, as he has always stood us."
Espaillat can add this endorsement to the list of endorsements that include New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverto, New York City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Transport Workers Union Local 100 and NYCHA tenant leaders.
Espaillat gladly accepted CWA's endorsement.
"I was proud to stand with the workers of CWA in their fight for good paying jobs and decent benefits," he said. "In Congress, I will continue to lead the fight for working families to be treated with the basic fairness and respect they deserve. I couldn't be prouder to have the support of CWA Local 1101, and I can't wait to carry the cause of workers to Washington."
A Workers United official explained the union's endorsement of Espaillat.
"We can always count on Senator Adriano Espaillat to champion the cause of working men and women across this city," said Alberto Arroyo, secretary-treasurer of the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU Affiliate, in a statement. "From organizing 35,000 day care workers to receive the pay and benefits they deserve to standing against antiunion intimidation to his early and vocal support in the 'Fight for 15,' Senator Espaillat never backs down from a fight for workers' rights. Adriano will go to Washington and be the staunch advocate we have always known him to be. We proudly endorse Senator Espaillat, because he will be there for our working families."
Both CWA and Workers United cited Espaillat's work to help livery drivers get compensation and his work with building service employees who dealt with antiunion intimidation as reasons for their endorsements.
"My grandmother was a member of Workers United and she taught me to fight for people who could not fight for themselves," said Espaillat in a statement. "This lesson shaped my career. It's the reason I went into organizing and eventually into government. In Congress, I will continue to fight for workers' rights to protect working and middle class New Yorkers. I am honored to have the endorsement of Workers United, and I know my grandmother would be proud."


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ITIL® is used by a wide range of organisations around the world. Some these are:
The Walt Disney Company is a world famous and renowned media conglomerate known for its animation studios.
In the mid-2000s, their Theme Parks & Resorts (TP&R) division decided to adopt ITIL. This adoption was kick started by the hiring of Glen Taylor, who became Vice President of Technology and encouraged the move towards ITIL in order to improve the level of IT service offered. The ultimate objective was to provide 100% availability, reliability and maintainability.
In an organisation the size of Walt Disney, the change was not going to come easily. Glen's approach was to sell the benefits of ITIL to executives first, moving down the levels from there so that everybody in the organisation could understand what ITIL was and how it could be used to address the organisation's problems.
To help everybody get ITIL trained, Disney launched an ITIL Foundation training programme. To save time, the training was shortened from three days to two days and incorporated examples which were specific to Disney's needs and challenges. Although training was mandatory for many staff, certification was optional. 50% of those trained chose to receive ITIL certification.
The next step was to elect 20 people to champion the adoption of ITIL, based on certain criteria. These 20 were trained up to ITIL Expert level using a program of online training. These champions were chosen from across the business and consisted of staff from both executive and management levels, to ensure a varied spread.
Disney TP&R has used the best practices from ITIL to discover a myriad of new ways to use technology to help and engage with their customers. Some of these are: a partnership with Verizon Mobile to give guests park information on their phones, a handheld device to keep track of retail stock and order more, and a global costume management system which uses radio frequency identification to scan what items staff take and ensure they have the right items for their role on that day.
Ohio State University is a large public university based in Columbus, Ohio in the Midwest of the United States.
With an IT department which supports over 120,000 staff and students, OSU is depended upon to deliver fully available services around campus 24/7.When it came to using a standard approach to service management, OSU chose ITIL because it was based on best practices and would help to organise the university's services using a proven framework.
The main area of service that the university was looking to improve was their service desk, which had gained a reputation for untimeliness, so they started their ITIL implementation from there, looking at the Incident Management process, before adding the Request and Change Management processes.
They began their implementation by identifying a process champion who would help them to build these new processes. Once these were finished and signed off, they were communicated to the relevant staff, with training included ensuring they were fully on board with the terminology and processes. This resulted in buy-in from the entire organisation.
Since implementing ITIL, OSU has won the 2010 ITIL Project of the Year for Incident Management. They also used ITIL to help build and implement a self-service help portal. Over its time of operation, the portal has had no complaints and no downtime. The third version managed a 60% increase in traffic, with over a million visits in the space of nine months.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is the arm of the UK government which handles the collection of taxes in Britain. As a large department, they serve over 38 million customers every year.
In 2010 it was established that HMRC needed to reduce their IT spend by 25% by 2015, mainly by implementing a new payment engine. In addition, IT services needed to be aligned to match the latest financial legislation, and a legacy system from the 1980s had to be decommissioned. As it is a British government institution, HMRC already had ITIL processes in place, so the project was to be delivered using established best practice processes.
The most important thing to get right was the timing. With so many customers depending on HMRC services, there could be no downtime or reverting to a paper-based system. This required planning far in advance to ensure everything could be implemented on time. To guarantee their processes were up to standard, the team involved gained ISO certification for quality management, IT service management, and information security management. Many staff also received ITIL training in the latest v3 standard.
With detailed processes and meticulous planning, HMRC used ITIL to deliver or improve all services on time and in accordance with the required schedule. They met all performance objectives and only a few minor problems followed the implementation. Following this, HMRC received their highest-ever user satisfaction score. In addition, a £8.2 million reduction in operating costs was achieved through meeting the goals of implementing the new payment engine, decommissioning the legacy service and updating their IT infrastructure. Ultimately, the success of the project has shown how IT at HMRC can communicate and work effectively with other departments to enable change.