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It will hopefully be some time before the products currently being placed on the market end up as waste, but on the day they do, money will have been set aside to pay for collection and recovery.
According to the Ordinance on Producer Responsibility for Electrical and Electronic Equipment (2014:1075), money should be set aside for the disposal of all products placed on the market, regardless of when they are collected for recovery.
The producer's responsibility is to ensure that a collection system has undertaken to finance this.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has produced general advice describing the criteria that the 'financial guarantee' must fulfil for approval. For example, the scope of the financing is calculated considering the product's expected life and the fact that the collection and recovery cost may change.
Recipo has produced adapted recycling insurance as a cost-efficient way of securing financing to discharge producer responsibility. The insurance procedure is attended to by our subsidiary European Insurance Solution PCC Ltd (EIS PCC Ltd).


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DIY: Tassel & Twine Gift Topper
There's nothing quite like adding a few final personal touches to a special gift. For this DIY, we'll show you how to create a playful gift topper, using materials you likely already have at home. The best part? Not only are they simple to make, but they're also easily customizable! Keep scrolling for a step-by-step guide for this craft that's a perfect project for a snowy day indoors.
What you'll need:
- Sheets of tissue paper; we used a cheerful green to match with our holiday palette, but also think mixing colours by layering tissue could make for an interesting effect!
- Twine, ribbon, or embroidery string to finish the tassel
- A pair of scissors
- A hot glue gun
- - -
Step 1: After deciding on a colour of tissue, fold a single sheet across its longest side. Unfold the sheet and, using the crease of the fold, cut the sheet in half and fold one of the remaining pieces once more across its longest side.
Step 2: Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut the tissue into a fringe from the open end towards the folded top, leaving roughly 1/4 inch of tissue paper uncut from the top. Do this from one end of the folded tissue to the other.
Step 3: Fashion a loop out of your twine, typing the bottom into a knot to secure it. Using a small dot of glue, attach the tied end of your twine to the top of the band of fringe.
Step 4: Tightly roll the attached knot along the length of the fringe, using small dots of glue to secure the tissue as it is being rolled. If your tassel is fuller than you'd like, try trimming some of the tissue, rather than using its full length. Once the tissue has been fully rolled, secure it with a dot of glue.
Step 5: Finally, attach the end of a new strand of twine near the middle of there the tissue was rolled and twist the strand upwards to the top of the tissue and, using a dot of glue when and where needed, continue to wrap the twine back downwards and fasten it with one final dot of glue.
And that's it! To make for a fuller gift topper, we decided to bundle three tassels together, and chose the same twine used to finish each tassel to tie around our gift, which has been wrapped in a recycled piece of kraft paper. We'd love to see your versions of this DIY project! If you give this DIY a try, be sure to share it online and tag @cambiedesign and use #mycambie to share your photo with the Cambie community.

subset: commoncrawl


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A-DATA may be a little late to the party, but they have designed and released a variety of flash memory modules with a PotC theme. Available is a regular flash drive bearing Depp's character. Also available are SD Duo cards. These are like regular SD memory cards but have a USB module so they can be directly plugged in to a computer. Normally I would rip on A-DATA for showing up to the PotC bandwagon party very late, but I can't hate against anything featuring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. SD Duo pictures after the fold.
A DATA Pirates of the Caribbean Limited Edition Flash Drive and Memory Card [Fareastgizmos]


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You are here: start » courses » order20 » vforder20 » vfcalculating
Calculating Potentials
Students should be able to:
- Find the electric potential from a system of discrete point sources.
- Write the difference vector between two vectors (and its magnitude).
- (Optional) Write charge densities in terms of delta functions.
- Compute line integrals.
- Find power series approximations.
In-class Content
Lecture: Electric Potential
Students may be familiar with the iconic equation for the electric potential (due to a point charge): $$\text{Iconic:} \qquad V=\frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \frac{Q}{r}$$ With information about the type of source distribution, one can write or select the appropriate coordinate independent equation for $V$. For example, if the source is a line of charge: $$\text{Coordinate Independent:} \qquad V=\frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \int\frac{\lambda | d\vec r' |}{| \vec r - \vec r' |}$$ Looking at symmetries of the source, one can choose a coordinate system and write the equation for the potential in terms of this coordinate system. Note that this step is often combined with the following step, though one may wish to keep them separate for the sake of careful instruction. $$\text{Coordinate Dependent:} \qquad V=\frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \int\frac{\lambda |ds'\ \hat s + s'\ d\phi'\ \hat \phi + dz'\ \hat z|}{| s'^2 + s^2 +2ss' \cos(\phi-\phi') + z^2|}$$ Using what you one about the geometry of the situation, one can possibly simplify the numerator. For example: $$\text{Coordinate and Geometry Dependent:} \qquad V=\frac{1}{4 \pi \epsilon_0} \int\frac{\lambda s'\ d\phi'}{| s'^2 + s^2 +2ss' \cos(\phi-\phi') + z^2|}$$ Emphasize that "primes" (i.e., $s'$, $\phi'$, $z'$, etc.) are used to indicate the location of charge in the charge distribution.
Lecture: Chop, Calculate, and Add
- To find the area under a curve, one may chop up the x-axis into small pieces (of width $dx$). The area under the curve is then found by calculating the area for each region of $dx$ (which is $f(x) dx$) and then summing up all of those areas. In the limit where $dx$ is small enough, the sum becomes an integral.
- One could also find the area under a curve by chopping up both the x- and y-axes (chop), calculating the area of each small area under the curve (calculate), and adding all of those together with a double sum or double integral.
- This approach can be used to find the area of a cone, where the 'horizontal' length of each area is $r d\phi$ and the 'vertical' length is $dr$, giving an area of $dA = r d\phi dr$. It is important to make sure that the limits of integration are appropriate so that the integrals range over the whole area of interest.
- If one wants to calculate something other than length, area, or volume, such as if one sprinkled charge over a thin bar, then chop, calculate, and add still works. Again, chop the bar up into small lengths of $dx$. Then calculate the charge $dQ$ on each length ($dQ = \lambda dx$), and add all of the $dQ$s together in a sum or integral.
- This also works for calculating something (such as charge) over a volume. For a thick cylindrical shell with a charge density $\rho(\vec r)$, chop the shell into small volumes of $d \tau$ (which will be a product of 3 small lengths, e.g. $d \tau = r d\phi\ dr\ dz$), multiply this volume by the charge density at each part of the shell (defined by e.g. $r, \phi,$ and $z$), and add the resulting $dQ$s together.
- Lines of Charge (Lecture: 30 min)
Homework for Symmetries
- (FiniteDisk)
Starting with the integral expression for the electrostatic potential due to a ring of charge, find the value of the potential everywhere along the axis of symmetry.
Find the electrostatic potential everywhere along the axis of symmetry due to a finite disk of charge with uniform (surface) charge density $\sigma$. Start with your answer to part (a)
Find two nonzero terms in a series expansion of your answer to part (b) for the value of the potential very far away from the disk.
- (InfiniteDisk)
Find the electrostatic potential due to an infinite disk, using your results from the finite disk problem.
- (PotentialConeGEM227)
A conical surface (an empty ice-cream cone) carries a uniform charge density $\sigma$. The height of the cone is $a$, as is the radius of the top. Find the potential at point $P$ (in the center of the opening of the cone), letting the potential at infinity be zero.
- (WritingII)
Using the handout "Guiding Questions for Science Writing" as a guide, write up your solution for finding the electrostatic potential everywhere in space due to a uniform ring of charge. Be sure to include a series expansion along one of the axes of interest.


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What we are going to talk about in this article has a number of consequences that can impact your life as much as your partner's and more than a half of the population suffer from it!
Snoring occurs when air is not able to move freely through your nose and mouth during sleep. This is due to a narrowing of your airway, which causes the tissues to vibrate and make an audible sound. In extreme cases the airway can become blocked which is known as obstructive sleep apnea. Many factors can contribute to snoring such as age, nasal and sinus problems, being overweight, alcohol, smoking, medications, and sleep posture.
What is the impact of snoring?
The question is...Is there a non-surgical solution for it? The answer is simply YES!
What is NightLase™?
NightLase is a leading-edge laser procedure for the treatment of snoring. It is non-invasive, simple and an effective way of reducing or eliminating snoring.
How does NightLase™ work?
Laser energy is used to heat the tissues of the airway causing a tightening effect which helps to keep your airway open. NightLase is performed with approximately three short treatments spaced over two months. Each treatment lasts 15 minutes and requires no anesthesia. The procedure is comfortable and you can resume your daily routine immediately afterwards. Results are often seen after the first session.


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[Featured image: Julie Cockburn, The Telepath © the artist.]
With embroidery, scissors and glue, Julie Cockburn transforms found photographs and paintings. Much of her interventions focuses on portraits, which she manipulates to both reflect on the original meaning of the image, and to undermine it. You can see her work at the Eagle Gallery show, Migrations, on until 3 March 2017.
What are you doing today?
I've been in the studio today, experimenting with large-scale prints onto fabric of some of my smaller works. I'm in the process of making new embroidered photographs for a group show in Belgium at Hop Street Gallery. Also, a bit of hoovering and watching Columbo. It's Sunday.
Tell us about your creative process
I tend to be quite disciplined about my working day as it often involves working long hours stitching or making collage. I walk my dog first thing in the morning which clears my head and gets me in the right frame of mind for what is often monotonous work. I generally use found objects and images, so my starting point is trawling the internet or car boot sales and junk shops for materials to work with.
Describe where you do most of your creative work
I sketch out designs in Photoshop onto a scanned image of a photograph before committing them to the original. This can be a quick process – it's like sketching really – and I love the juxtaposition between the computer's quick solution and the hand-made crafted objects that I ultimately create.
What's the most exciting project you've worked on?
It's generally the most recent one. It's an amazing feeling when you can't wait to get back to the studio to see how something looks since you left it the night before, or trying a new technique etc. My latest show at The Photographers' Gallery involved sourcing objects that Google had matched to my artworks and showing them alongside each other. There was something that seemed quite new to me about this process and I hope to expand on this for my next exhibition at Flowers Gallery in September.
What made you decide to become an artist?
I suppose going to art college was a definite step in this direction, but I never decided as such. I have always loved being creative and took a path that enabled my love of making. I studied sculpture at Central St Martins, but it could just as easily have been theatre design or graphics. I love it all.
What are the key themes in your work?
I'm interested in identity, craft and how we read photographs. My work is also concerned with formal composition, and a truth to materials.
What would you like people to notice in your work?
It is wonderful when I see people peering closely at my work to see my handicraft. I am often asked if I embroider by hand, which I do. It's rewarding that the time and effort I put in is appreciated.
What attracts you to the mediums you work in?
I think the main attraction has something to do with integrity. They are what they are, not pastiche or pretence. There is a generic quality, not only to the images I choose, but to the photograph as object. This gives me the room to add my interventions.
What equipment could you not do without?
My glasses. My eyes are terrible and my work is so precise. Also, Radio 4. It keeps me informed, sane and lulls me through the day. I use computer programmes, tiny needles, and pH neutral adhesives in my work. It is enabled and constrained by other people's inventions.
Who or what inspires you?
I never know how to answer this question. I tend to be inspired by the found objects and photos that I work with – it's like entering into a sort of conversation with them. But I'm sure there are things I've seen, felt, read, either recently or in the distant past, that unconsciously inform my work.
How does gender affect your work?
I find it easier to interact with images of women when working with portrait photographs. I hope to convey a sense of the undisclosed emotions not apparent in a head and shoulders shot, and being a woman gives me a better insight I suppose.
What's your favourite gallery, or place to see or experience art?
I look at a lot of art online. My favourite place to visit is the British Museum, just for the eclectic nature of their collection. I go there more often in my head – a museum of my imagination where I see 5th Century BC bronze amulets and Chinese porcelain from some Dynasty or other. I recently went to Charleston, the home of the Bloomsbury Group in East Sussex, which is extraordinary.
If you could own one piece of art, what would it be and why?
One of Picasso's portraits.
If you could collaborate with one artist, from any time, who would it be, and why?
Carl Fabergé. His use of design, colour and materials is immaculate. I have, for some time now, wanted to make some jewels.
Is there an artist, movement or collective you'd like to see re-evaluated, or a contemporary artist who is underrated?
Historical women artists. I am sure there were many more women making important art than are celebrated.
Website: www.juliecockburn.com/


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Create an Account - Increase your productivity, customize your experience, and engage in information you care about.
Livingston Youth and Community Services (LYCS) is a community based after-school program that teaches leadership skills, healthy choices, and life skills to Grades 1 to 12 in Livingston school district.
Classes start in October and run to May with an End of Year Party in June. In addition, LYCS provides opportunities for family socials, special events, volunteer opportunities, and community programming. Our curriculum is developmentally age appropriate.
LYCS is comprised of five programs:


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It's great having friends we can call in the middle of the night, although it would be nice if we didn't need to call them...
To start with, we've just had a somewhat...challenging...three weeks with a
visitor, so I started off the evening last night tired. I do know that I've
gotten better and better at packing over the years, all the same, it puzzled me
how it could take a single guy about 4 times longer to pack for himself than it
takes me to pack for seven people. At the end, despite the fact that he'd taken
dozens of stones from the beach here (not entirely sure that that's legal...)
and bought hundreds of Euros' worth of clothes (much cheaper here than in
Germany, apparently--I wouldn't know, as I don't shop either place...), he was
surprised to find that his suitcase was seven kilograms overweight. At 1:15 this
morning, as my husband (Jörn) was more than ready to leave for the airport, "G"
started going on and on about how they'd be sure to look the other way, etc. and
that he was just going to risk it. (On the way here he had six kilos too much
and got away with it by saying, "Look, I'm visiting a family with five children
who moved to Cyprus seven months ago--they need their chocolate and Haribo!" The
lady apparently said, "I shouldn't do this, but..." and let him get away with
it. He thinks he charmed her, I think she was tired of listening to him talk.
I'm not feeling very charitable, I have to admit.)
But we asked what his plan of action was if they didn't (at 22 Euros per kilo
too much, that would be an expensive seven kilos!!), and he was quite surprised
to realize that Jörn, who was supposed to work at 7:00 a.m. today, only intended
to drop him off at the airport and come back home--not hang around for an hour
or so. So G decided to re-pack and leave things here for us to ship to him.
Then just before 1:30, as they (Jörn and G) were about to head out the door,
half an hour later than intended, Lukas came into the living room and said
sleepily, "Jacob fell out of bed." That was rather surprising, not only as Jacob
is ten years old and has never fallen out of bed before , but also because he
very rarely sleeps IN bed--he usually sleeps on the floor. I asked if he was
crying or bleeding and Lukas said yes to both, so I headed to see what was
up--Jörn, the less lazy and more compassionate parent of the two, had already
gone to Jacob. I found Jacob sitting on the bathroom floor, Jörn cleaning blood
from Jacob's face and trying to locate the source of the bleeding to stop it.
Jacob had a gash on his cheek over an inch long. It wasn't until we got to the
hospital that we realized that the blood caked all over his eyebrow was not from
the same wound, but from a similar gash on his eyebrow.
The thought of G missing his flight just did not bear thinking of, and Jacob
was dizzy and there was an awful lot of blood on his bedroom floor and leading
to the bathroom, so we didn't want to wait for Jörn to take G to the airport and
come back, and even though we temporarily (as of yesterday afternoon) have two
cars, we also didn't want to leave sleeping children on their own. (I might have
been tempted to if they'd all been asleep--I would have woken up Marie and told
her what we were doing--but Lukas was still awake and had started crying again
because G was leaving. Having no idea how long I'd be gone, it wouldn't have
been a good idea anyway.) So Jörn took G to the aiport in the borrowed car and I
called Richard.
Richard answered his phone extremely coherently for 1:30 a.m. and came over
right away, and I put Helen (who had been awake since 12:30 and I hadn't even
bothered trying to get back to sleep, as she was useful in helping keep me awake
until G's departure) and Jacob into our car and drove to the hospital.
The emergency room looked crowded when we walked in, but I quickly realized
that all the people there were with only one person, who was already being seen
to, and we were taken straight into an examining room. When Jörn and I had taken
Lukas to the emergency room in April (while, incidentally, Richard's wife, Sue,
babysat the other children), they hadn't let me go with him because of Helen, so
being there on my own this time I was prepared to fight to stay with him, but
they didn't blink an eye at Helen this time. (Well, actually, they all blinked
lots of eyes at Helen, flirting madly with her as she flirted back!!) They
discussed back and forth about whether they should stitch or use Steri-Strips (I
didn't get a whole lot of the conversation, as it was in Greek, but
"Steri-Strips" in Greek is...roll of drums..."Steri-Strips") and finally
settled on Steri-Strips.
Jacob was great, squeezing my hand tight and groaning a tiny bit, but holding
his head perfectly still, as three people worked on him. We of course were asked
how it happened, and I said that Jacob said he fell out of bed and must have
landed on Legos or something--who knows, as he has a ten-year-old boy's bedroom.
The doctor looked rather skeptical, which made me very uncomfortable, and he
examined Jacob all over, also finding two bruises on his leg. Jacob said he was
coming down the ladder (his bed is a "captain's bed"--higher than a regular bed,
but not by a lot--the ladder only has two rungs) and slipped, and he didn't know
what he'd hit. After they'd finished with the Steri-Strips and were filling out
a form for getting an x-ray, Jörn arrived. Yes, I CAN manage an emergency run to
the hospital on my own (have a bit too much experience as it is), but it's SO
much easier with my husband there, too, and I was very glad to see him!
Jacob had the x-ray (he said they took three or four, all of his head), they
checked the x-rays and said that he was fine, and we were told to keep him quiet
and not to let the wounds get wet for four or five days. The doctor told Jacob
no skateboarding or football, that this was a time to sit inside and play
computer games, at which Jacob looked insulted and said, "I'll read." (That
cracked me up, as he likes computer games at least as much as his mother does
and plays even more, but I'm glad he also thought of reading!) Anyway, fun
fun--keep him quiet and dry. We've gone to the beach nearly every day for the
last three months, and on the evenings we don't go, Jacob plays loud and wild
games of hide-and-seek and tag with the neighborhood children. I figure I'll at
least catch up on the reading-aloud that I've meant to do but haven't, because
Jacob is usually running around outside...
To finish the story, we got home and let Richard go home to his own bed,
Jacob went to bed in our bed, and Helen and I went to bed in Katie's bed. (Katie
and Marie have a bunk bed with a single bed on top and a double bed underneath.
On any given night they might both be on the top, both be on the bottom, or one
in each--last night Marie was in the top bunk and Katie was in the bottom.) I
first removed a coloring book, several marking pens, three stones, and a
spinning top, then there was plenty of room for us. Katie woke up and was very,
very pleased to see us in her bed, but Helen was not at all pleased to have
Katie's arm around her. Despite the fact that it was 3:00 a.m. I had a hard time
falling asleep, not being able to read first, but eventually managed, and the
next thing I knew it was 7:15. Jörn had set his alarm for 7:00, so he could call
and say he's not going to work this morning and was already back asleep. And now
it's time to leave to take the children to the last day of holiday club (VBS for
U.S.ians), and Jacob wants to go too, so I'm going to be staying. My bet is that
within half an hour, Jacob will decide it's too loud anyway and want to come


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Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings by Sue Monk Kidd
Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings, by Sue Monk Kidd, 2006
227 pages
Much of this book was first published in Guideposts and Weavings. In her early thirties, Sue Monk Kidd joined a creative writing class, wrote a story and sent it off for publication – an assignment the teacher gave everyone in the class. Guideposts not only accepted this first attempt at writing for publication, but also extended to her one of fifteen invitations to a writing workshop in New York.
She said, "I barely opened my mouth the entire time."
The Secret Life of Bees sold over six million copies. But Sue Monk Kidd's spiritual memoirs have opened my heart. In this book from thirteen different directions she points me toward God.
There are short essays, short stories, and many smaller stories, snippets from her life. She writes about her family, her retreats, the natural world around her, her friends. She tells stories from the hospital, from when she was a nurse. She finds words for her thoughts, and her thoughtlessness. She is willing to tell stories on herself.
Why? She wonders that too. She tries to answer the question. Essentially, Sue Monk Kidd knows herself only as she knows others, and she only knows others she knows herself. In her writing, she shares herself so I can do something of the same. This is a path that leads toward God, and not away.
Paul says that what can be known about God is clearly seen and understood from what has been made. Between you and me, there is God. Within you and me, there is God. Here is God, there is God, everywhere is God … God.
Outline of the Book
- The Crucible of Story
- Awareness
- Availability
- Compassion
- Solitude
- The Sacred Ordinary
- Simplicity of Spirit
- Gracious Space
- Severe Grace
- A Taste of Silence
- Standing Fast
- Letting Go
- Reborn to Love
Quotations compiled from Firstlight
Thomas Merton referred to God's presence in the soul as the pointe vierge. This French phrase refers to the "virgin point" that comes just before dawn, those ripening moments before the first ray of light flares into the darkness. Whatever name we give this hidden incandescence, this "firstlight," I believe it exists in all of us. I believe, too, in the impulse to capture its flickerings through words. – p. 3
The question, "Who am I?" reverberates quietly in these pages, as does a willingness to be known. I wonder sometimes why I chose to make my spiritual musings visible. I want to believe it is mostly because such vulnerability creates what we might call "a soulful being together" between the reader and the author. – p. 10-11
I have come to love the following words by the French Nobel laureate, Albert Camus: "A person's life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover, through the detours of art, or love, or passionate work, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened." – p. 11
Through solitude and silence I began to find an inner music, a love song being sung in the spaces of my own heart. In the mystery of contemplative prayer I learned to enter God's presence within and experience myself loved beyond reason. – p. 15-16
As we are exiled from our stories and from forums where stories are told, we lose the narrative edge of our spiritual existence. We can no longer draw on the power of metaphors, symbols and inner parables to express our faith. When we fail to tend to our inner stories we risk creating a rift between what we believe and how we live. – p. 17
The inner story creates identity, transforming our vision of who we are … And it sustains us in the midst of suffering; it can become a holy container for confronting and overcoming pain and fear … Finally, it reorients us to new truth and insight. – p. 17-19
The word story actually means "to know." (From Greek historia, "a learning/knowing/seeing by inquiry, record, narrative" – dictionary.com) – p. 19
God surprises us with glimpses and truths we did not grasp until we tried to tell the story. – p. 19
Through story we draw connections between the happenings of life and the lessons of God … Such awareness transforms life from a series of random events to the poetic realm of a sacred tale. – p. 20
I believe in stories. The world has enough dogma. It's stories we need more of, stories that reverence the still, small voice that sings our life. As Anthony de Mello observed, "The shortest distance between a human being and Truth is a story." Jesus told stories about the most common things in the world: a lost sheep, a seed that falls on rocky ground, a woman who sweeps her house in search of a coin, a man whose son runs away from home.
All personal theology should begin with the words: Let me tell you a story. – p. 34-35
Because in the beginning I forgot to remember, I used reminders. When the clock bonged on the hour in my house, it was an invitation to be attentive. Every time I climbed stairs, for some reason it was a cue to be attentive. In such ways, awareness spreads out … This becomes an intentionality that penetrates other aspects of life. – p. 36-37
Someone pointed out to me that the words now, here and nowhere have the same arrangement of letters, but differ when a small space is inserted … Attentiveness is entering fully the moment you are currently in, no matter how hassling and mundane, and simply being present with it. – p. 37
I glanced at a common white lily in a vase, and honestly, the sight nearly wiped me out. It was that impertinently gorgeous. Out of nowhere, plain and simple objects were rising up to show off their flame … It was as if something fell from my eyes and I saw everything just as it is. – p. 42-43
I spent far more time wishing for contemplative experiences that actually having them. It was excruciatingly easy to lose touch with the inner life of the soul … When I read that the Chinese pictograph for busyness is "heart killing," I felt the truth of that in my bones.
In William Wordsworth's poem "The Prelude," he writes about "spots of time" that nourish and repair the soul … I began to search for spots of time here and there in my day. I found them by stopping. Just stopping … five minutes or less sitting still and receding into the quiet core of myself … Spots of time in which to be. – p. 45-46
(After ignoring a lady who looked lonely on the train, I had a dream about her.) She sits across from me, this time in a rowboat. Her tears gush over the tiny precipice of her eyelids like waterfalls. The boat is filling up with this sad water, and I realize that if don't do something, we're going to sink. Both of us. I try bailing the tears, but that gets us nowhere. She keeps crying. Finally I stop and stare into those irrepressible eyes. When I do, the tears start to dry up, but if I look away they start again.
The dream cracks my heart, and I wake with solemn wonder, reunited with an old truth: People with profound human needs and suffering do not, as I have half-imagined and half-wished, travel in a boat separate from mine. – p. 48-49
I begin to observe myself in the presence of others, friends and strangers alike, and I'm surprised by the (low) level of my availability. I watch my restless heart, the mercurial way my mind sweeps from one thing to another, the way my ego holds forth, keeping me abreast of my own expectations, wants, and preoccupations, criticizing, comparing, competing, imposing views … I have attention disorder deficit of the soul. – p. 50
I decide to take up availability as a discipline, as a form of spiritual practice, like meditation, prayer, or Scripture reading … what might be called mindful availability … When you eat, just eat. When you sit, just sit. When you sit with a crying woman on a train, just sit with her. Do it with all your mind and heart and soul. Be fully present to her without other agendas going on at the sidelines … without passing judgment, without converting her to your point of view (no matter how helpful), without desiring her appreciation, without wondering what others on the train might be thinking … Do it the way Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, with an undivided heart. – p. 50-51
(I become more convicted of my) overcrowded heart … and how my fullness undermines my ability to be present. A friendly empty space must be created within the host. I wan to create a vessel of emptiness, a thing to hold a beautiful nothing. – p. 52-53
I discover that while I'm making progress emptying myself and making my availability more mindful, I have a whole secret ledger of restrictions concerning who's deserving of it. There are some folks, I realize, so ideologically and politically different from me I have no real intention of being available to them.
"Welcome all, Mechtild wrote. All. Jesus practiced unrestricted availability. "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also." Welcome them on their own terms and not your own.
At the nursing home I didn't want to visit, an ancient-looking woman looked at me, a look that pierced me to the marrow of my twelve-year-old bones. Then she spoke the words I haven't forgotten all these years. "You didn't want to come, did you, child?"
The words stunned me. They were too painful, too powerful, too naked in their honesty. "Oh yes, I wanted to come," I protested.
A smile lifted one side of her mouth. "It's okay," she said. "You can't force the heart." – p. 68
Genuine compassion cannot be imposed from without … You don't arbitrarily make up your mind to be compassionate so much as you choose a journey that transforms your heart into a compassionate space … Compassion happens through a process, which is how God nearly always works, by the way. – p. 69
Unraveling external selves and coming home to our real identity (our "True" Self) is the true meaning of soul work … Shifting my awareness to an Authentic I is the necessary prelude for real compassion. It awakens me to a fresh awareness that God is the life of us all and we are one in God together. – p. 74-75
When compassion wakes up in us, we find ourselves more willing to be vulnerable, to take the risk of entering the pain of others. We open our lives to them in a genuine willingness to be known. – p. 75
The heart cannot be forced, but it can become a womb where compassion is gestated and birthed. There we birth God. There we birth the name We. And with this holy name we will look with the eyes of the heart at all creatures, great and small, and walk gently upon God's bruised planet. – p. 76
Being alone in order to find the world again sounds ridiculously paradoxical. – p. 85
Left to itself, unchecked by the contemplative moment, my ego has created a small thunder of wants … I'm replete with experiences, ideas, and projects – some meaningful, some trivial. – p. 87
A person today receives more information in a single edition of The New York Times than a person who lived a hundred years ago read in an entire year. Is it any wonder there is so little space inside me for true relating? – p. 88
Solitude brings me back to an inner poverty that I need in order to clear room inside. It allows me to empty myself out so there is gracious space within where I can receive myself, then God, and eventually others. – p. 88
Solitude is no dainty hug. God's is a fierce embrace … Solitude allows me to confront my anger, hurt, greed, self-absorption, envy, apathy, hatred, busyness, cynicism – all the soul-fraying compulsions. – p. 89
Solitude is the School of Death … Go sit in it, and it will teach you everything you need to know about living the spiritual life … how to die to ego, to the patterns that keep your heart walled up, to those things inside that prevent you from planting your heart in the world. – p. 90
In my own thread of the Protestant tradition we seemed to talk a lot about the Word of God, and what to believe, and how to act – shepherding great flocks of shoulds and oughts – but to say very little about how to grow God organically in our own soul, how to incubate the divine life, and birth God. – p. 95
It was Monday. The housekeeper's vacuum cleaner whined loudly in the corridor off the sanctuary … What does a running vacuum cleaner have to do with God? The question seemed important, crucial. This incident may sound small and silly, but it was a turning point for me. God, I realized, is not partial to stained glass. – p. 97
That same afternoon I was downtown, sitting on a bench while my son played on an old cannon in front of the courthouse. I looked especially at one old woman who had a blue sweater on her head, buttoned under her chin like a scarf. Sitting there enveloped in bus fumes, I somehow situated myself in the silence of my own heart, and I remember being knocked nearly breathless by the sudden love I felt welling up in me for the lady with the sweater on her head. The whole moment was pregnant with divinity. God was the fume-laden air, and the sun slanting off the courthouse roof, and the groan of the bus, and the old woman. It was as if a veil had slipped off my illusions and I saw what Is. That was the God-life breaking into the here and now. The noise became the music. – p. 97-98
As we join the vast exodus leaving the site of soon-to-be Hurricane Floyd, everything seems heightened and lived close to the bone. I grow aware of something unusual happening inside of me. It's as if I'm being pared down like a piece of fruit, stripped, peeled, distilled to a simplicity of spirit. The events are exfoliating. They shuck me down to some place that is thick with luminosity and resilience, an enduring inner ground. What comes rising to my lips is the word God, and in the next breath, home. p. 115
Southerners often have what Wordsworth called "a wise passiveness." It might look like laziness but it is not. Sometimes one makes the deepest progress sitting still. – p. 129
When Beethoven played his "Moonlight Sonata" at a house concert for the first time, someone came up afterward and asked, "What does this music mean?"
"I'll tell you what it means," Beethoven said. Then he sat down and played it again. – p. 135
I visited a woman in the hospital. She was in a lot of pain, but she said with confounding vibrancy, "Today, I have discovered God as the awful throbbing in my joints. God is the pitiful crying of the woman in the next bed. God is my loneliness. God is the angry nurse who avoids me. I did not expect God to be these things. But here in the hospital before all these agonies, I keep wanting to drop to my knees. Do you think I'm strange?"
"No," I said. "Not strange. Blessed." – p. 140-141
A rabbi asked his students a question. "When does night end and day begin?"
"Is it the moment you can see the difference between an olive tree and a fig tree?" one student asked.
"No," said the rabbi. "That's not it."
"Is it the moment you can tell the difference between a sheep and a dog?" asked another.
The rabbi shook his head. "No, that's not it either. Rather, it is the moment you look at the face of a stranger and recognize that it is really the face of your brother." – p. 155-156
Somehow, as a young woman with a husband, two children, a station wagon, a dog, a demanding career, a busy social life, and endless church activities, I stumbled headlong upon a contemplative path. It was very disconcerting.
I embarked on my immense journey, quite timidly, hip-deep in American life. I began to read the contemplative literature, moving through volumes of Western spiritual classics, finding particular heroes in St. Teresa, John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, and most especially, Thomas Merton, whose work became a wise and provocative mentor. – p. 160-161
I have a monk living inside of me. She is the part of me that wants to come out in cataphatic celebration – dancing, writing, and painting my spiritual journey. She is also the part of me that wants to enter the apophatic darkness of no-thing. – p. 162
(Cataphatic: that God can be known to humans positively or affirmatively)
(Apophatic: that God can be known to humans only in terms of what He is not)
When I was four, I heard a scratching at the window. I could have been afraid, but I was not. I did go to tell my mother, "Mama, there is an angel scratching at my window."
She put her blessing on my first foray into holy imaginings. Even in her grogginess, she said, "An angel? Wonderful. Say hello for me."
That small, whimsical fragment of my childhood was the beginning of an awareness that has shaped much of my life since: Common noises are not always what they appear to be. They can also be the eloquence of God. It is all in the richness of listening … There is an integration in the contemplative journey when dualities collapse, when the noise and the music become one sound. – p. 163-165
Enduring comes from arriving at our own earned truth, knowing it inside not because someone else tells us it is so or because we read it in a fine book, but because we have experienced it ourselves. – p. 169
My father often said, "A person must stand on his scruples." What I only found out later is that a scruple means " small, sharp stone." To stand on your scruples derived from the idea of being bothered by a small, sharp stone in one's shoe, but standing there anyway. Standing firm, but doing so with tender feet. With sensitivity. – p. 170
People (like Gandhi) who are able to hold the balance between love and principle are those who carry the humbling awareness that they are capable of breaking every principle they hold. This keeps them human and saves them from being arrogant and intractable in their righteousness.
We must stand with grit – yes, of course. But we must do with tenderness for the smallest thing. – p. 171-172
(Sue's husband Sandy saved one special piece of the house they moved from after so many years. Months after they move into the new place, she still feels homesick for the old. So many memories, so much time with their children) …
That evening a cold front presses down from the North Carolina mountains. Sandy puts down his magazine and leaves the room. He reappears with a box, a moving carton. I groan. "I thought we'd unpacked all those."
"I've been saving this one in the garage." He smiles. "Open it."
I peel back the lid. Beneath the rustle of newspaper is a sooty, half-burned log.
A smoky scent drifts up. "You saved the log from our old house!"
"For the first fire in our new one," he says.
As he lays the log in the fireplace, I add some kindling and strike a match. The old log ignites, leaping to flame, an incandescent bridge between old and new. We sit before it on the carpet, not speaking, staring at the tendrils of fire.
I think about the unceasing migration of the human heart. How we move not only from house to house, but from one phase of life to another, from relationship to relationship, career to career, awareness to awareness. The saving grace in these moments is our willingness to leave the old – taking the cherished lessons and experiences with us and embracing the new with acceptance and grace. – p. 203-205
God can be experienced in the act of lovemaking in profound and beautiful ways, just as God can be experienced in the act of meditation … Sexuality is a sacrament. For a woman, especially, Eros is experienced as Divine. Lovemaking brings her into the holy experience of hieros gamos, the sacred marriage of her deep feminine and creative masculine. – p. 207-208
The spiritual life is an expanding awareness of the Divine as all in all, vividly and actually present in all external reality, without dualistic separations. – p. 208
Here is the simple truth I keep trying to own, the one that breaks the bonds of beauty: everything is in God and God is in everything. – p. 208
The human family, and indeed all creation, is fashioned something like a Russian nesting doll. Each part is unique and independent, but nevertheless inextricably linked, every belonging to the larger whole. We contain the other and are ourselves contained. – p. 213
I was crying in my bedroom. I'd offered my hurt to God, but the aching hadn't stopped yet. That's how my husband Sandy found me when he arrived home from work. He didn't say a word, but in what is surely one of the most precious moments of our marriage, he touched his finger to the tears winding down my face, then touched his wet finger to his own cheek.
His gesture went straight to my heart, saying more than words ever could. Inexplicably, my sadness lightened, as if he had taken half of it into himself. – p. 213-214
(My daughter Ann fell in love with her new goldfish. She watched it blow kisses at her. Sometimes she stopped playing and just watched her friend Spanky the goldfish for a long time.)
One day her goldfish lay on his side in the water. Small, golden, and obviously gone.
"Do fish sleep," she asked.
Before I could answer, she ran to me and buried herself in my arms. "Oh, Mama!"
I held her tight … I thought how innocently I'd plunged into loving my grandfather when I was her age, and how much hurt had come when he'd died. Every experience of love had the potential of being a heart shot through with an arrow.
Ann looked at me and sniffed deeply. "Spanky was a good fish," she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling.
Shining in her eyes was the growth, strength and beauty that comes from having loved with one's whole heart. I felt then what I'd always wanted to believe. Love is more joyful than the hurt is painful. It's worth the risk. – p. 215-216
An elderly African woman in Kenya was carving ebony, a beautiful black wood. She was making a ujama. In Swahili ujama means "community or family."
"This is the family of Mungu." In Swahili, Mungu is the word for God.
Perhaps you would like to know what God's family looks like through her eyes? Picture a twenty-inch totem, and at the bottom, a cluster of five humans, and on top of them another cluster, and then another. They seemed to grow out of one another – their heads joined, their faces blending, this one's foot flowing from that one's hand, and all their arms wrapped around one another like vines circling a great tree. – p. 219-220
God's ujama. The image shatters my illusion of separateness and peels open my heart. How can I not help but twine my arms around this vast family? How can I not know the depth of my belonging? – p. 220
Ultimately, we are reborn to love because in this expanding, gracious space within us, we arrive at the astonishing presence of God at the core of our life. We blunder into the heart of God and find our own. – p. 227
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taylor swift has a precious song on her new album about her father that my brother pointed out pretty well describes our dad, who is not only the greatest earthly father i know of, but also happens to be one of my best friends in the world. i have been listening to this song almost as much as i've been listening to the aforeposted "abide with me."
i wanted to share it with you. (it's been hard for me to think of stuff to say here, in case you hadn't noticed, but i have been wracking up the lyrics, so maybe that will help my brain get going with more original stuff to say.)
The Best Day
i'm five years old, it's getting cold,
i've got my big coat on.
i hear your laugh and look up smiling at you.
i run and run past
the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides -
look now! the sky is gold!
i hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home.
i don't know why all the trees change in the fall.
but i know you're not scared of anything at all.
don't know if snow white's house is near or far away,
but i know i had the best day with you today.
i'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends
could be so mean.
i come home crying and you hold me tight
and grab the keys.
and we drive and drive until we find a town
far enough away,
and we talk and window-shop till i've forgotten
all their names.
i don't know who i'm gonna talk to now at school.
but i know i'm laughing on the car ride home with you.
don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay,
but i know i had the best day with you today.
i have an excellent father;
his strength is making me stronger.
God smiles on my little brother -
inside and out, he's better than i am.
i grew up in a pretty house and i had space to run
and i had the best days with you.
there is a video i found from back
when i was three:
you set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're
talking to me.
it's the age of princesses and pirate ships
and the seven dwarves.
my daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady
in the whole wide world.
now i know why all the trees change in the fall.
i know you were on my side even when i was wrong.
and i love you for giving me your eyes, staying back and watching me shine,
and i didn't know if you knew, so i'm taking this time to say
that i had the best day with you today.
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A Tribute to My Awesome FatherPosted by Lauren
taylor swift has a precious song on her new album about her father that my brother pointed out pretty well describes our dad, who is not only the greatest earthly father i know of, but also happens to be one of my best friends in the world. i have been listening to this song almost as much as i've been listening to the aforeposted "abide with me."
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Abide with MePosted by Lauren
abide with me; fast falls the eventide
the darkness deepens - Lord, with me abide.
when other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, abide with me.
Thou on my head in early youth did smile,
and though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, though i oft left Thee.
on to the close, Lord, abide with me.
i need Thy presence every passing hour;
what, but Thy grace, can foil the tempter's pow'r?
who like Thyself my guide and stay can be?
through cloud and sunshine, abide with me.
i fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless;
ills have no weight; tears lose their bitterness.
where is thy sting, death? where, grave, thy victory?
i triumph still; abide with me.
hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes,
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
as morning breaks and earthly shadows flee,
in life and death, Lord, abide with me.
this song is my new obsession. it is definitely going to play at my funeral (hopefully like 70 years from now hehe). a delightful version is on the altogether excellent album recently put out by the kevin twit and the RUF folks at Belmont, wake Thy slumbering children.
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Labels: hymns


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The III International Conference "Energy Efficiency in Industry, Agribusiness and Communal Services" will take place in Kyiv, Ukraine on October 4, 2016.
Key issues:
- Energy efficiency market in Ukraine and abroad;
- Changes in legislation: prospects and opportunities;
- Innovative solutions in agriculture;
- Implementation of RES and energy efficiency projects in defined sectors;
- Financial and legal instruments for projects implementation;
- National and international initiatives to support the implementation of measures in the relevant spheres;
- Technologies and methods of energy efficient construction and much more.
Organizer - Association on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving (AEE)
Supported by: Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving of Ukraine, Embassy of France to Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine to the USA, Project "Energy Efficiency in municipalities", implemented by GIZ, Austrian Energy Agency.
The preliminary draft Program is available here: http://energy-efficiency.in.ua/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Draft-7_09-eng....
Details about the format and guests of the event can be found here: http://energy-efficiency.in.ua/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/General-Confer....
Registration in the Conference is required and is possible via link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1P7cU1Cm3va9iubK3gJxxcs5BPELtorBVgpcRPKN....
To become a sponsor or/and to make a presentation please contact by e-mail: email@example.com or by phone: + 97 38097834 08.
For more information please contact: firstname.lastname@example.com or call: +38 093 29 577 51, +38 096 146 26 11, +38 044 228 62 30 or visit the web-site: www.energy-efficiency.in.ua, www.facebook.com/A.E.E.Ukraine.


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Join us as we pull together for the love of our rescued horses to minimise the impact of Covid-19.
"We Love Donkeys" returns 20th December to 6th January.
Local artist Rebecca Judge presented Jay with his portrait!
Proceeds from their horsey Christmas Advent Calendar and Crackers are being donated to Redwings!
Our popular Redwings Oxhill resident has sadly passed away.
"We Love Horses" returns on Friday 18th October.
Download your free copy here.
Meet Lady, Lily and Noah!
Our "We Love" activities are returning for the school holidays!
The party will take place on Sunday 14th July!
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Dhaka, Apr 22 (UNB) – BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Monday said it is not possible to 'restore' democracy in the country without freeing Khaleda Zia from jail.
Speaking at a sit-in programme, he urged BNP leaders and activists to get ready for launching a mass movement to have Khaleda released from jail.
"It's not possible to restore democracy keeping 'mother of democracy' Khaleda Zia in jail. We must free Khaleda Zia first to bring back democracy and people's rights under her leadership," the BNP leader said.
He called upon the people of all walks of life to get united and involve in the movement to be initiated by their party soon.
Swadhinata Forum, a pro-BNP platform, arranged the programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding the withdrawal of 'false' cases filed against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and its acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
Mosharraf, a BNP standing committee member, said the country is passing through a very critical time as the ruling party men have shattered the economy by indulging in widespread plundering and corruption.
He said people are now worried about their personal security the way untoward incidents are growing across the country. "Now, people don't have the sense of security in the country. The brutal killing of our sister Nusrat in Sonagzai has exposed that no is now safe."
To get rid of the current 'unusual' situation, the BNP leader said there is no alternative to restoring democracy in the country.
He alleged that the government has kept Khaleda in jail 'unfairly' as it fears her popularity. "She has been subjected to political vengeance for her struggle for democracy and people's rights."
After the programme, Mosharraf visited ailing BNP chairperson's media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan at Islami Bank Hospital in the capital's Kakrail.
He talked to doctors and inquired about Sayrul's health condition. He was admitted to the hospital on Sunday after he fell sick at BNP's Nayapaltan central office.


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Online quiz questions on the Manhattan Project in the United States of America is the actual pivotal concern of the quiz on this page. The Manhattan project happened several years ago in Manhattan in the United States where the project took place in 1942 for many who don't know Manhattan, Manhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City. This online quiz questions seeks to bring about understanding to those kids, students, historians, immigrants to know what was the Manhattan project all about by using or through simple online quiz questions. This online quiz questions has the right answers at the end of the quiz so that the quiz player might be able the grasp the correct answer.


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Water! What a clean, clear, refreshing, healthy beverage, or is it? As the population of our earth continues to grow our clean potable water sources are getting smaller. For the most part our bodies are able to overpower the pollutants, but for how long? We are now seeing more and more diseases that come from water pollution. These are referred to as water pollution diseases. These pollutions come from contaminated surface waters and ground waters. Water filters help eliminate the pollutants but none are 100%. And unless we use extreme measures to constantly purify our water things will get passed these filters and into our bodies. The pollution in the water is not as obvious as air pollution and moves much slower so the effects aren't as quickly identified.
Water pollutants fall into two different categories: dissolved or suspended.
Chemicals are dissolved pollutants. They can be natural are man-made and most often go undetected by our senses. Remember water is clear so you may not even know what may or may not be in there. As our environment continues to grow we are crossing boundaries at a very rapid pace. Things like pesticides, petroleum, mercury, PCB's, and so many other unknown things. This is becoming an increasing problem as we continue to meet the needs of large population.
Living organisms fall under the suspended categories. These are induced by human activity, but waters that aren't affected by human population can still be affected by these same organisms but may not be recognized as water pollutant diseases. Worms, viruses, bacteria, and fungi are all potentially floating around in that water you are drinking right now. Also there are things that grow naturally but can and are toxic if consumed. Algae are found all around water sources and in the presence of nitrates phosphates can produce very rapidly. In some cases this is so rapid that swimming in the water or eating food from that water source can be toxic. When this happens the terms "Red Tide" or "Brown Tide" come to mind. This not only affects humans but kills thousands of fish each year as the Algae will consume the oxygen out of the water.
The effects of these pollutants have a wide range of possibilities, and all depend on many different factors. The healthier you are the less like you may be affected, but not completely immune to them.
While the most common water pollution diseases involve poisoning episodes affecting the digestive system and human infectious diseases, water pollution may cause a large variety of health diseases including:
- Typhoid
- Giardiasis
- Amoebiasis
- Ascariasis
- Hookworm
Everybody is different and will be affected as such. The more you are exposed the worse it may be. Here is how it may affect you.
- Directly – through consumption or bathing in a polluted stream (that involve consumption of municipal water, as well as bathing in polluted lakes or beach water).
- Indirectly – through the consumption of vegetables irrigated with contaminated water, as well as of fish or other animals that live in the polluted water or consume animals grown in the polluted water. This is many times more dangerous than being directly affected through consumption of water because some pollutants bioaccumulate in fish and living organisms (their concentration in fish could be several orders of magnitude higher than their water concentration). Additionally the toxins from the brown tide are strong and can travel via air affecting homeowners close to the beach.
We will never get rid of all the pollutants but changing our behaviors, businesses, procedures, and way of life, water based pollution diseases will become a major epidemic. According to Cornell University 80% of infectious diseases can be traced back to water pollution.
PSC Distribution offers several products to help detoxify the effects of water pollution:
- As Good As New PSC® is a dietary supplement that supports and aids the elimination of body's burden toxins and is a good general blood cleanser.
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- As Good As New PSC® is a dietary supplement that supports and aids the elimination of body's burden toxins and is a good general blood cleanser.
Think about this the next time you ask for a glass of water. Where did it come from? How clean and clear is it really?


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New developments in the brutal killing of Seaman August Provost III, the black gay sailor found murdered at Camp Pendleton near San Diego on June 30th. Three weeks after the Navy seaman was found shot to death and his body burned, the Navy still has not decided if the case is "serious enough" to go before the military equivalent of a grand jury.
Navy Region Southwest spokesman Matt Brown tells KPBS-TV "there's no time limit" on the investigation which remains under the authority of Provost's former commander—not the Pentagon.
"The commander of Assault Craft Unit Five (ACU 5) will determine, based on the information provided by investigators, if this is a case that perhaps should be considered by a higher level review, such as a general court martial," says Brown.
A suspect is being held in the brig on Camp Pendleton. Brown says under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, he can be held indefinitely, as long as investigators can show a military judge they are aggressively pursuing the case.
The 29-year-old Provost's body was discovered in a guard shack on the morning of June 30, shot three times, apparently gagged and bound, and his body burned. The seaman told his family he was harassed and ostracized at Pendleton for at least a year because he was gay and black. The Navy says the torture, shooting and burning was not related to the victim's sexuality and was a "random act" of violence. Over the weekend, the late sailor's aunt advanced a new theory, that her nephew's killer is gay and feared being outed by Provost.
Several congressmen, including San Diego's Bob Filner (D), chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Sheila Jackson-Lee, who represents the family, want independent investigations.
If there is "no time limit" on the investigation and the "person of interest" can be held without charges "indefinitely", will we ever learn who killed August Provost and why? And if the shooting, torture and burning of a United States Seaman is not "serious enough" for a general court martial, what is?
Thanks REP. JACKSON LEE's OFFICE!


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The most interesting places near Vienna
Vienna is an Austrian city with a century history, middle-aged sighngseeings and classic music in the air. However, worth a visit both city and its suburbs.
What you need to explore in Vienna? Except capital, it is worth paying attention to Innsbruck, Salzburg, Tyrol and other settlements. There are many exiting routs from Vienna. You can go here by public and private transport. Go to ski resorts and do not forget to book a transfer for roundtrips on GetTransfer.com.
Routes from Vienna
Vienna - Hinterglemm
Saalbach and Hinterglemm are well-known ski resorts located 4 kilometers each ...Read more
Vienna Airport - Bad Gastein
The expensive ski resort Bad Gastein is located at an altitude of 1600 km in t ...Read more
Vienna Airport - Kaprun
Kaprun is a small resort town in Austria. It is located 10 kilometers from the ...Read more
Vienna Airport - Zell am See
Zell am See is an Austrian ski resort located 80 kilometers from Salzburg. The ...Read more
Vienna airport - Flachgau
Flachau is a popular ski resort in Austria. It is located in the centre of the ...Read more


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NBA TV Laces Up Pre-Season NBA Games
NBA TV will launch its National Basketball Association pre-season coverage this weekend with two live games and team preview shows, the network announced Friday.
The network will air 29 pre-season games this month beginning Oct 6 with the contest between the Dallas Mavericks take on Alba Berlin from Germany and the Boston Celtics/EA7 Emporio Armani game from Italy, said network officials.
On Oct. 7 the network will feature the Orlando Magic/New Orleans Hornets game from Mexico City.
Pre-season programming will also include new episodes of NBA Real Training Camp and previews for all 30 NBA teams, said network officials.


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This autumn-inspired cheesecake is handmade from scratch with the highest quality ingredients and baked with the utmost care, producing a rich and creamy flavor that will have them coming back for more. Thrill your favorite cheesecake lover by sending one today!
Gift Includes:
- One Premium Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Real pumpkin, pure cream cheese, fresh eggs, and real vanilla extract.
- A special gingersnap crust to enhance the sweet pumpkin flavors.
Serves 8.Gift #17003
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Pumpkin Cheesecake has been purchased most frequently by our customers for the following occasions:


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Toboggan was one of the 17th Earl of Derby's incredible 20 Classic winners and won the Epsom Oaks for her owner in 1928. The toboggan is a traditional Christmas gift, and this filly would feature high on any owner's wish list.
Foaled in 1925, Toboggan was the best racing daughter of the excellent stallion Hurry On, but was a real throwback to her damsire, the legendary St. Simon. Although more finely built than Hurry On, she inherited ample ability and stamina from him. Due to George Lambton's retirement from active training, Toboggan was sent for conditioning with the great Frank Butters, who won no less than six renewals of the Epsom Oaks, and helped to propel the Earl of Derby to the head of the owner lists on two occasions.
A big filly, Toboggan took time to mature and did not make her racing debut until August of her two year old year. Even then she was not fully ready for competition, but still managed to finish third in a maiden plate at Kempton. With this experience under her belt, she went unbeaten for the rest of her two year old season. A first win in the Champion Breeders' Foal Plate at Newmarket preceded a four length triumph in the Boscawen Stakes, and a six length romp in the Dewhurst Stakes. Toboggan was the top rated two year old filly of 1927, and the filly rated just below her, Scuttle, was owned by King George V, and went on to be her top rival the following season.
Toboggan took a long time to come to hand in the Spring of 1928, and took until the Oaks to round into top form. In a trial run over a mile prior to the 1000 Guineas, she displayed her lack of condition by finishing fourth and last, but in the race itself she managed to finish third to the classy Scuttle and Jurisdiction.
With these two runs under belt, Toboggan showed dramatic improvement before the Oaks, but was rated only a 100/15 shot behind the evens favourite Scuttle. Although Lord Derby was a popular owner, many of the attending crowd hoped to see a Royal victory if Scuttle followed up her Guineas success.
Unfortunately, their hopes were 'scuttled' as Toboggan, under the popular jockey Tommy Weston, led the field from pillar to post and defeated the King's filly by a clear four lengths.
Toboggan's next race came in the one mile Coronation Stakes, and she again showed her dominance by easily beating Scuttle and Romany Queen. A walkover in the Welsh Oaks followed, before she ran a poor third in the St George Stakes at Liverpool in a rough race with plenty of bumping and jostling.
As the season came to a close, it was clear that Toboggan was developing a problematic tendon, which would eventually spell her retirement to the paddocks. Nonetheless, she was entered in the Jockey Club Stakes against such opponents as the excellent mare Foliation, recent winner of the Hardwicke Stakes, and Derby third placer Cyclonic. Receiving 9lbs from her older rival, Toboggan shrugged off doubts about her tendon in winning by two lengths. It was her last race, and she was retired to become a broodmare with earnings of £25,050.
Despite her excellent pedigree and race record, Toboggan's only good offspring was (the appropriately named) Bobsleigh, sired by Gainsborough and winner of the Richmond and Newmarket Stales.
By Alice Kay


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Los Angeles will always be known for one thing above all others: Hollywood. With all the veterans of the entertainment industry bouncing around the area, it's no surprise there are so many digital media startups in Southern California. Here are 29 media companies in Los Angeles you should know.
Top Media Companies in LA
- Pluto TV
- Quibi
- Cie
- Leaf Group
- Ranker
- Mashable
- Collab
- Tastemade
Being a free online TV broadcasting service with over 100 live channels that has an entire channel dedicated to James Bond is pretty, well, unique. These two elements are just a couple of the differentiators Pluto TV's CEO and Co-founder Tom Ryan said are baked into the company's DNA. Ryan said he wants the company to break the rules of the media industry, very similar to the way 007 likes to operate.
Quibi is a media company creating content designed for smartphones. Founded by former chairman of Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg and former CEO of Hewlett Packard Meg Whitman, Quibi is a marriage of entertainment and tech.
Irvine-based Cie Digital Labs isn't just an interactive development firm, it's also a well-known tech startup studio. CDL serves as an innovation lab for several prominent global brands and acts as a platform to develop ideas.
Santa Monica-based Leaf Group (previously Demand Media) builds platforms across its collection of media (eHow and LIVESTRONG.com) and marketplace (Society6 and Saatchi Art) properties. The company's headquarters are definitely worth checking out.
Ranker is a ranking site that relies on its 27 million monthly visitors to crowdsource and curate lists on a wide range of media topics. Ever wonder what the "best horror movie reboots that no one asked for" are? Have you ever needed a definitive list of the greatest members of the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame? From music to movies and pop culture, Ranker most certainly has a list that will pique your interest in the world of entertainment.
Deluxe Entertainment provides tools and services to the media, advertising and entertainment industries, offering everything from animation and sound to visual effects and restoration. The Burbank-based media company got its start as a film lab in 1915 and has consistently evolved with the ever-changing media landscape for the last 100 years.
Santa Monica based Mobcrush creates streaming tools that enable creators — there are currently over 210,000 on the platform — to reach a wider audience and connect with big brands on partnership opportunities.
Brainjolt is a media network bringing content to over 75 million unique users a month. With brands like 22 Words, Happiness Heroes and Bad Parenting Moments in its portfolio, Brainjolt focuses on spreading silly, interesting and viral content to huge audiences.
There might not be a more esteemed member on this list than tronc. While everyone might know the 92 Pulitzers, it's the media company's focus on creating personalized content to a global audience in real time that has the company still very much relevant today.
Collab is a digital content studio that helps independent video creators earn a living doing what they love. The company helps producers get the most out of their content while also providing software to build audiences and generate revenue on major social platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube.
Mashable is a popular major-media platform for all things tech, digital culture and entertainment. With 45 million unique visitors a month and 29 million social media followers, Mashable is quickly becoming a global force in the digital domain. Headquartered in New York, the company opened its Culver City office in 2015.
ZEFR provides professional solutions for YouTube content creators, boasting a network that features a diverse collection of movies, television, music and sports content. With more than 700 million monthly visitors, the Venice-based startup is now partnering with major Hollywood studios.
Uproxx Media Group, formerly known as Woven Digital, manages male-focused content for a number of its sites, including Uproxx and BroBible, reaching more than 85 million users per month. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in LA, with additional offices in NYC and Chicago.
Another in a series of LA-based YouTube networks, Jukin Media operates its network to build unique content brands and partner with channel creators. The company's diverse content portfolio includes fails, wins, extreme sports and many, many more.
Civilized is a digital lifestyle publication with content for people who enjoy cannabis. With the strong likelihood of Californians being able to legally purchase and use marijuana in the near future, Civilized hopes to be both resourceful and entertaining.
DEFY Media is one of the largest owners of YouTube channels and leading media brands around, with headquarters in LA and New York. The digital producer and programmer creates content for 13-34 year olds, and generates 600 million video views a month. In September 2016, the company scored a giant $70 million round of funding.
Verizon Digital Media Services, which acquired LA-based EdgeCast Networks in 2013 for $350 million, has developed end-to-end digital media platform that can deliver, display and enable the monetization of online content.
FilmTrack, based in Studio City, is a digital media company that operates in the cloud, helping clients in the media and entertainment industries manage their intellectual property life cycles.
Fuisz Media has developed a way for users to interact with the videos they are watching, allowing the viewer to touch, hover or click on any object in the video in order to discover new content.
It's hard to imagine, but way back in 2006 Santa Monica-based Hulu was just another digital media startup operating in a private beta. Things, of course, have taken off in the decade since then, and Hulu has become a brand recognized virtually everywhere for the content it delivers.
Kin Community unites some of the world's most popular lifestyle content creators across social platforms. The company's creators deliver female-focused video content across a number of lifestyle verticals.
With nearly 2.5 billion monthly video views and reaching over 175 million viewers each month, Machinima has solidified its role as the destination for video gamers. The company's content is aimed at 13-34 year-olds, with a whopping 70 percent of the audience being male.
Maker Studios was founded in 2009 as a way to provide a wide network of independent content creators with the resources they need to grow. The LA-based company helps content creators partner with brands to feature products in fun, unique ways.
MERRY JANE MEDIA, which was founded by Snoop Dogg, is a lifestyle website with a focus on delivering video and written content to cannabis enthusiasts across the globe. The site also produces a number of video series, featuring Snoop Dogg narrating National Geographic videos, as well as business leaders all over the US that recreationally consume cannabis.
Santa Monica-based MiTú is a content curation network focused on creating relevant content for young Latinos. To date, the company has well over 100 million global subscribers and has partnered with brands like Discovery, Disney's Maker Studios, Televisa and Univision.
A relative newcomer, Polymaze develops a cloud-based platform that helps media companies, brands and publishers connect, contract and pay independent freelancers through a secure, simple and easy-to-use application.
Based in Sherman Oaks, PublishThis uses semantic search technology with easy-to-use content production tools to help clients increase audience engagement. The eight-year-old company has won a number of awards, and counts publishers like Fox Sports and Cox Media as users.
SendUs has developed a video and photo crowdsourcing platform that allows users to solicit, acquire and monetize targeted content from their audience. The Culver City-based company enables brands to diversify their content efforts by seeking out content produced by customers and supporters, in addition to content created in-house.
Founded in 2015, it's easy to see why there is so much buzz surrounding Social Native — the executive team includes veterans of Google, Salesforce, Scopely Yahoo and Intuit. The company developed a platform that connects brands with more than 14 million independent content creators around the globe.
TasteMade is a lifestyle site dedicated to the finer things in life: travel and food. The company, which finished out 2015 on a high note, sees itself as a technology platform and community dedicated to enabling a new creative class of "Tastemakers" to come together to connect, collaborate and create.
Sherman Oaks-based Thoughtful Media Company, which received a sizable funding in July 2016, is a hybrid digital media agency and multi-channel YouTube network. Founded by entertainment and media representatives, the company aims to help brands reach consumers in a meaningful manner.
TV TIME, formerly Whipclip, develops an app that allows users to clip and share videos they enjoy, but this media company is focused more on helping users discover and engage with fun content. Founded by former Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt, WhipClip is changing the way users share digital content with each other.


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I've started using a new time tracking tool. I have never been good at using those, but I do see their importance and I have used my own.
At any rate, as a result, being a couple of weeks into the job I have tended to forget to turn on my time tracker and so tend to fall short some hours. Even when I don't forget or don't think I forget, I am falling short some hours.
What should I look at to figure out why I am not capturing a full 8 hours on my time tracker? I mean aside from forgetting, as I have gotten better with that, but still losing time.
Could it be context switching and putting out fires? How can I measure what is going on?


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There has been a pretty big push in the last few years for fashion to take an eco-friendly turn. Unsurprisingly, H&M has been leading the way when it comes to fast fashion, and its latest initiative—the Exclusive Conscious collection—has us particularly excited. The Exclusive Conscious collection is a line of red carpet-ready pieces, each of which has been made from sustainable materials. Key pieces include a lilac tuxedo gown with an electric-purple bodice, a strapless orange cocktail dress, a neon yellow embroidered shift dress, and a series of bold floral pieces. And if you were wondering just how red carpet-ready these pieces actually are, check out the blue tux above. If it rings a bell, that's because Amanda Seyfried wore it to an event a few months back. The Exclusive Conscious collection will be available in select H&M stores on April 12.In the meantime, click inside for more images.
1 Comment
I love the floral dresses and the ultra-pleated/ruffle dress featured last. I hope my local H&M has these looks.


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Labour & European Law Review
29 July 2015
The government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission last week published a report showing that one in nine new mothers lose their job every year as a result of their pregnancy. This is despite the fact that most employers said that it was in their interests to support pregnant women and those on maternity leave. They also agreed that statutory rights relating to pregnancy and maternity are reasonable and easy to implement.
Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), there is a service provision change when activities which used to be carried out by one person (the client) are carried out by someone else (the contractor) on their behalf. In Jinks v London Borough of Havering, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that when a service is sub-contracted out, there can be more than one client.
It is established law that employees can owe a duty to their employers to disclose their own misconduct in certain circumstances. However, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has clarified in The Basildon Academies v Amadi that, in the absence of an express contractual term, tribunals cannot imply a duty to disclose an allegation of impropriety, however ill-founded.


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Special Needs Pediatric Sleep Specialist in PA
From Parents!
Matyas | 6 years old
This is such a huge achievement that I have to share it with the world! I lived for 6 years with just a hope of seeing my 6 years old child sleep through the night. Before the sleeping program, I never slept a single night without waking up every 2 hours by my child's request of water, food or company. Of course I had to ask for help of my mom and aunts, but for them it was also a sleepless night. One of the first things I learned with the program is that it was all about habits, really bad habits, I had helped him to acquire through the years, making me, the water and the 4am snack the most important thing he needed to sleep. With determination I started this challenge… I did not break any rule and achieved every goal for every day. He adapted to the sleeping routine very easily and mastered the art of falling asleep without props. We continue working on his waking time and don't have any doubt he will finally get that 7am start of his day. I can only thank Melissa for her support during this challenge, her coaching through the weeks was perfect and the program is superb for those parents who don't see the light in the dark, sleepless tunnel. I am a happy mom who enjoys a good night sleep while knowing my child is sleeping too! Muchas Gracias!
isla | 5 years old
Isla was only sleeping 8 hours a night and would be fully awake by 5:30am. The whole family was exhausted! After sleep training, Isla got at least 11 hours of sleep at night without any wake-ups. Mom started to get over 8 hours of sleep a night herself!
Mom says:"She is way more active during the day now. Her endurance in physical activities has improved. Isla even looks well rested! We are enjoying our time together during the day homeschooling and being physically active." She has even made daily improvements in her "speech and energy!" She started "asking for snacks less, going to bed very easily. We enjoy our time before bed now and it has turned into a really nice bonding time for our family at the end of the day. With a solid plan and consistency your child will start to sleep better. Drop everything and do Melissa's program — it will benefit your entire family."
Before implementing his customized sleep plan, Isaac only knew how to fall asleep with mom being right beside him. Sometimes, he could sleep through the night, but often he was up 10 times a night and struggling to sleep without help. This left Isaac and his momma exhausted! In just a few weeks, Isaac learned not only how to sleep on his own but through the night. He now wakes up just briefly, and sleeps with great quality.
Isaac's mom says: "I have found 1-2 hours of evening time for myself that I use to have to lie down with Isaac to get him to sleep. I can trust someone else to put Isaac to sleep now and practice the "routine" we developed. Isaac is sleeping better at night, too! He doesn't cry as much during the day, he use to cry for everything and demand mom. This helped him become a little more independent during the day. Make a decision and commit to getting some help, don't waiver in your decision or doubt the results. Stay confident and press on no matter what. Have a goal in mind and you will get there!"
penny | 3 years old
Before starting the sleep training program, Penny was waking many times a night and just not getting the hours she needed. She relied on parents help to get to sleep, which was exhausting everyone. After the program, Penny was sleeping 10 hours through the night, and mom was getting 8+ hours of sleep herself.
Here's what mom had to say about the program: "I SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT! She eats much better during the day now that she's not drinking milk in her bottle all night. I would highly recommend [to parents] they contact Melissa. Melissa put into place structures that help focus us so that we can help our child…you really did everything we hoped you would!"
Liam | 4 years old
Liam had a lot of difficulty falling asleep, often taking hours past the time we put him to bed. He also would get up at least once a night, and wake up very early. In the mornings after a bad night, he would have issues getting ready for school or doing simple tasks without a meltdown.
Now, Liam falls asleep very soon after putting him to bed, rarely having issues falling asleep. He sleeps through the night, and even if he does wake up early, he rests in his bedroom until an appropriate hour. Liam sleeps almost 12 hours a night, and is a lot less irritable. He seems more level headed and I believe it is because he's well rested. I like the fact that with just a few small changes to our routine, and items in Liam's room, we saw a big change. I also like that Melissa would check in regularly to see how Liam was doing, and suggested resolutions to any issues that arose as we worked through the program.
I have referred Melissa before, and I would suggest other families to look into sleeping programs for their children. A short consultation really helped our daily lives. It's amazing that we see how much better Liam feels with a good nights sleep, and I and my partner are feeling better getting a good night sleep as well!
ANNA | 2 years
We sleep trained our daughter since she was young, so we thought we knew all about sleep training. At one year of age, while she was able to fall sleep at 7PM, she never really slept past 6:30AM. This was a drain on both myself and my husband. Then as she grew older, she started having major sleep regression and was waking up at 6AM, then 5:30AM and 4:30AM, and she even told us she wanted to sleep with us. This lasted for a few months and no matter what we did – let her cry it out, controlled crying, reward system, etc. – nothing worked. Both my husband and I were walking zombies during the day and I was depressed, exhausted and on the verge of a break down.
So I decided to ask Melissa for help. On the first day of the Melissa's sleep training, my husband basically rolled his eyes as I followed Melissa's technique…. BUT IT WORKED! Three days later she became an angel again, sleeping from 7PM to 6:15AM. While Melissa told us it was possible to train our daughter to sleep past 7AM, we weren't very hopeful but were happy with her waking up past 6AM instead of between 5:30 and 6AM. We continued to religiously follow the routine and guess what, one month later, she is sleeping 12 hours at night and doesn't wake up until 7:10am. Sometimes she even sleeps later. Better yet, she used to be a light sleeper and would wake up to different sounds, but now she is a much deeper sleeper and is much less sensitive to sound and light.
This has been life changing for all three of us. Not only do we get our life and health back, but we see major differences in our daughter – she starts gaining weight, her complexion is much healthier, she is much calmer and happier, and most importantly, she is improving everyday now she has enough sleep. Thank you so much Melissa. My husband and I can't be more grateful for what you have done for our family!
Jack | 18 Months
Jack was born extremely prematurely and after developing hydrocephalus at 1 month old, needed a shunt. At a young age, Jack was diagnosed with severe cerebral palsy and parents were told he was blind and deaf. Before sleep training, Jack slept less than 6 hours a night — needing to be rocked, fed, and held to go to sleep. Parents were exhausted!
Here's what they had to say: "Jack had made big improvements! Now, he stops waking up every 2 hours and can be in his own bed. Everything is different and now we can sleep as well. Compared to before, my husband and I were like zombies. Sometimes, Jack would cry and cry all night. Now, the whole family is in bed at 8pm. Jack still takes some time to fall asleep and wakes once or twice, but it's a big improvement! Now he is gaining weight, he eats more, and he is a happy baby.
JAANVI | 16 months
Sid | 9 years old
My son Sid is 9 yrs old. His sleep was always messed up since he was baby. He couldn't sleep more then 4-5 hrs during night. So our days were tiring, we were zombies. Hardly functional, we tried everything (no nap in the afternoon, melatonin,..Etc) but couldn't get him sleep more then 4-5 hrs. He used to sleep very late in the night by midnight or 1am and then wake up fresh at 5am, ready to play.
We consulted Ms. Melissa for this and she suggested something which I thought was impossible! She told me to put him to bed very early, at 8pm and this is the evening for us! I was sure it was not going to work. But, I gave it a shot. To my surprise, the very first day he slept 8 hours without melatonin or any other sleep support.
Since then, we are putting him early to bed and he is sleeping for a good 7-8 hours and that's a blessing! She told us many more tips and tools for making him sleep independently and we are doing this in steps.
He is happy and has no more frequent headaches during the day! Thanks to Ms. Melissa from the bottom of my heart!
Om | 5 Years
Before sleep training, Om would not fall asleep until 3am! Parents were lucky if he got 5 hours of sleep a night.
Now parents say: "Om is now sleeping more between 8pm and 8am and his long naps in the after noon have decreased. Now, he is more active during the day and his time schedule is set. Now, my child is not dependent on anyone to make him sleep. Please follow this program as instructed — it works!"
Emerson | 5 Months
"To parents whose child has a sleep problem, I totally get it. I was there, frustrated and tired and I finally got to the point where I couldn't take it anymore. I knew I had to teach my son to sleep as his older sister spoiled my husband and I by being a great sleeper from day one. I never like to hear my son cry, but once I finally decided to hire Melissa I was all in. There was no turning back. I knew I could do it, even though there would be trying nights and days. And for sure there were, but I kept thinking about my ultimate goal for my son and that was to get him to learn how to sleep."
To read more about Emerson and his sleep story, please click here.
Noah | 3 years old
Noah is now sleeping 3 more hours a night and having fewer and fewer wake ups.
"Noah is able to sleep independently. His behavior has improved significantly. We atrribute Noah's improvements in behavior, mental alterness, receptiveness, stamina to his more restful sleep. Even his therapists have noticed a difference in Noah! After completing our sleep program, we are now realizing how critical restful sleep can be for a child's development…Our only regret is that we did not request help earlier!"
Levi | 11 years old
Levi feels much more confident about being alone if he wakes up in the middle of the night, and can usually put himself back to sleep. If he wakes me up, I can put him back to bed and go back to sleep without having to stay up with him. His mood is much better now that he gets more sleep on must days. Even if you think nothing will help, there is help to be found. It took me months to find Melissa and I had given up all hope; but once I found her, she was able to help us in ways that I could not have done alone. The coaching and prep on how to prepare Levi to make a change was invaluable.


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States are split as to whether faulty workmanship constitutes an "occurrence." A majority holds that defective workmanship, standing alone, is not an "occurrence," whereas the minority finds that faulty workmanship is an "occurrence." Under the majority view, it's an "occurrence" only if something other than the insured's own work product sustains physical injury. Last week, Ohio officially joined the majority.
In Westfield Ins. Co. v. Custom Agri Sys., Inc., the Supreme Court of Ohio, answering a question certified by the Sixth Circuit, determined that claims of defective construction or workmanship brought by a property owner are not claims for "property damage" caused by an "occurrence" under a commercial general liability policy.
The coverage dispute in Westfield arose when a general contractor brought suit for payment against the owner of the plant who had contracted with the general contractor for the construction of a feed manufacturing plant. The plant owner then filed a counterclaim for defective construction of a steel bin that had been built by a subcontractor. The general contractor, in turn, brought suit against the subcontractor, alleging defective construction and consequential damages resulting from the defective construction. The subcontractor tendered its defense to its general liability insurer, Westfield. Westfield intervened in order to obtain a declaratory judgment declaring that it had no duty to defend under the terms of its CGL policy with the subcontractor. Westfield argued that none of the "property damage" was caused by an "occurrence" and therefore, none of the claims were covered under the CGL policy.
The coverage litigation proceeded to federal court and was appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which certified two questions to the Supreme Court of Ohio: (1) whether defective construction or workmanship constitutes an "occurrence" within the meaning of a CGL policy, and (2) if such claims are considered "property damage" caused by an "occurrence," does the contractual liability exclusion in the CGL policy preclude coverage for claims for defective construction or workmanship. (The Court's holding on the first certified question rendered the second certified question moot.) The Court cited a leading insurance law journal and decisions of Ohio's appellate courts to support its proposition that:
CGL policies are not intended to protect business owners against every risk of operating a business. In particular, [these] policies . . . are not intended to insure "business risks" …. Courts generally conclude that the policies are intended to insure the risks of an insured causing damage to other persons and their property, but that the policies are not intended to insure the risks of an insured causing damage to the insured's own work. In other words, the policies do not insure an insured's work itself; rather, the policies generally insure consequential risks that stem from the insured's work.
The court went on to examine case law from other states to inform its decision, noting that "it is a widely accepted principle that such claims are not covered by CGL policies, [but] our inquiry cannot and must not end there." The court stated that it was required to determine whether the alleged defective construction and workmanship constitutes "property damage" caused by an "occurrence."
On this issue, the court's analysis began by examining the CGL's definition of "occurrence" which is defined as "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions." The court explained that although "accident" is not defined in the policy, the "fortuity principle" is inherent in the plain meaning of "accident," and concluded:
[C]laims for faulty workmanship, such as the one in the present case, are not fortuitous in the context of a CGL policy like the one here. In keeping with the spirit of fortuity that is fundamental to insurance coverage, we hold that the CGL policy does not provide coverage to Custom for its alleged defective construction of and workmanship on the steel grain bin. Our holding is consistent with the majority of Ohio courts that have denied coverage for this type of claim. The majority view is that claims of defective construction or workmanship are not claims for "property damage" caused by an "occurrence" under a CGL policy.
The consequences of decisions like Westfield are far-reaching, and courts across the country continue to grapple with whether a construction defect is an "occurrence" under a CGL policy. Stay tuned for developments in this continually changing area.