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The smallest coin offered by the Mexican Mint is the 1/20 oz silver coin. Available in both the gold and silver versions of the Mexican Libertad, the 1/20 oz weight is one of the best-selling coin options in the series each year. Right now, you can buy 2021 Mexican Libertad 1/20 oz Silver Coins online from Provident Metals.
Arrives with an individual protective plastic flip!
30th year of release in the Mexican Libertad 1/20 oz Silver Coins!
Contains 1/20 Troy oz of .999 pure silver in BU condition.
Obverse features the coat of arms of Mexico.
Reverse depicts Winged Victory.
With your purchase of a 2021 Mexican Libertad 1/20 oz Silver Coin at Provident Metals, you will receive a coin that is in Brilliant Uncirculated condition. The coins will be packaged individually inside of protective plastic flips.
In the obverse design of 2021 Mexican Libertad Silver Coins, you will find the image of the modern coat of arms for Mexico. The national seal is based on an image of a golden eagle found on the Codex Mendoza, a visual history of the Aztec Empire and its rulers. The coat of arms imagery is based on an Aztec legend that states an Aztec god told the people where to settle the city of Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico, based on the visual of a golden eagle devouring a rattlesnake. The only inscription on this face of the coin is the nation of issue in Spanish as Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
For the reverse field of the 2021 Mexican Libertad 1/20 oz Silver Coins, the Mexican Mint features a design of Winged Victory. The design element borrows from the visuals of the Mexican Independence Victory Column. The column was built in 1921 to mark the 100th anniversary of Mexicos independence, and Winged Victory was placed at the top of the column in that same year. The statue of Victory was, however, built in 1910 to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the struggle for independence. Inscriptions on this side read 1/20 Onza, Plata Pura, 2021 Ley .999, and MO, the mint mark of the Mexican Mint.
Mexican Libertad 1/20 oz Silver Coins were introduced in 1991 along with three other fractional-ounce silver coins. The 1/20 oz coin has been issued every year since that time, with the exception of 2012.
If you have questions, Provident Metals has the answers. You can call us on the phone at 800-313-3315, online using our live chat, and via our email address.
How Does Free Shipping Work?
When the subtotal of your purchase, including applicable discounts, is $199 or more, you receive free shipping for your entire order. In order to receive free shipping on purchases of $199 or more, you must live within the 50 US states. For orders less than $199, a $7.99 shipping fee applies. All products are discreetly packaged and shipped with full insurance included.
When will my order ship?
Most Provident orders are shipped within one (1) business day of your payment clearing. Payments made via PayPal clear instantly. Bitcoin payments clear instantly once the transaction is confirmed. Credit Card and bank wire payments process within 1 business day. ACH and paper check payments take 3-5 business days. Once payments are processed, products are released to fulfillment for packaging and shipping.
Can I choose the method of shipping?
All orders of $199 or more that are eligible for free shipping are, by default, shipped via a carrier of our choice (USPS or UPS). Depending on the contents and size of your purchase, you may be able to upgrade to a specific carrier during checkout.
Will I need to sign for my package?
For those orders of $999.99 or less, there is no need to sign for your package. However, you may select the option to require a signature at delivery if you want. This can be chosen and paid for at checkout. All orders of $1000 or more require a signature to complete delivery.
What about International Orders?
Provident is only able to ship to addresses in any of the 50 US states. This includes P.O. boxes and APO addresses.
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*** Just to answer the anonymous comment I got tonight about not inducing if there's not a medical reason...I didn't realize I needed to tell all of the details of my pregnancy on my blog, and maybe I don't. Anyway, there IS a medical reason I am being induced. I was induced the first time around and had a textbook delivery with James. It was perfect. Do I think that everyone should be induced? Absolutely not. But I do believe that the decision for whether I am induced needs to be made by me, my husband, and my doctor. Please just know that it is the best thing for us to do in our situation. Does that mean it will be a perfect delivery? Not necessarily. But in our case the risks for NOT inducing outweigh the risks that come along with an induction. ***
We're still here! :) I continuously ask myself, "Is today the day? Is tonight the night?" I think if I hadn't made any progress, I would feel a lot better about the "when" part of all of this. (Remember, I am a type-A control freak who likes to know the PLAN in advance.)
James seems much, much, much better today. He is still coughing like crazy, but he doesn't seem to feel bad this morning. The past two days he has been pitiful. Last night he just wanted to be held and rocked. And poor kid has hardly eaten anything all week. We're almost finished with the steroid. There's a tiny bit left at the bottom of the bottle that I'll try to get into him in the morning. The cough syrup, though, is still plenty full! I'll keep on with that until his cough has disappeared.
We spent the early part of the morning watching - what else - Mickey Mouse and I pulled out his photo albums from the hospital and right after he came home. We've been talking about how tiny Baby Brother will be and how careful we'll have to be with him. I'm sure he won't "get it" until we're home and settled in, but I wanted to talk to him about everything before-hand.
Nesting is still in full-force. Where I haven't cleaned, picked up, or put away for the past nine months I am now cleaning like a crazy person. I've made a to-do list every day and gotten it checked off for the most part. I really thought this would be my last week to have any alone time while James went to school, but that obviously wasn't in the plans. :) It has helped that he hasn't felt like playing, though. It's kept my house a little cleaner!
James and Eddie are both guessing that I'll have Baby Brother on Monday. I'm all up in the air about when. Of course, the planner part of me comes out and says, "But if I have him this day and we come home on this day then blah, blah, blah." I know it won't work that way.
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I'm a wife to a fantastic husband and teacher-turned-stay-at-home mama to two beautiful busy boys. I'm a lover of books, cool weather, bundling up, painted toenails, coffee, movie theater popcorn for supper, Diet Coke, sleeping late, being lazy, the beach, slow-cooker meals, spending time with long-time friends, and cooking. I'm not a domestic goddess, just a regular girl trying to run a household and keep it all together!
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If you’re in need of a business loan, you’ve probably wondered where to find the best deals. You may have read about the Unsecured, Variable rate, Line-of-credit, and Bank Referral Scheme, but are you really sure which one is right for you? Read on to find out. Here are some tips for choosing the best option for your business. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re happy to help you get started!
Unsecured business loan
An unsecured business loan allows borrowers to borrow money without providing collateral. The advantage of an unsecured business loan is its ease of approval. While banks are a popular source of business capital, unsecured loans have lower approval rates than secured ones. Those with bad credit or a small business without valuable collateral may benefit from an unsecured loan. Before applying for an unsecured business loan, it is important to pay off any outstanding debt to qualify.
A loan without collateral is an ideal choice for small business owners who are willing to take on risks. Unsecured loans minimize personal credit risks and assets. There are many lenders offering unsecured business loans, so it is important to do your homework and choose a lender who has a good track record. Before applying for an unsecured loan, consider the pros and cons of each one. Make sure to shop around to find the best loan, and choose a lender with a history of success.
Taking out an unsecured business loan will not damage your credit score, but some lenders will require that you put up collateral. A personal guarantee holds you personally responsible for repaying the loan in the event of default. You may want to consider alternative lenders who offer revenue-based loans without a personal guarantee. However, keep in mind that an unsecured business loan will most likely come with a higher interest rate. As with any type of loan, the interest rate will depend on your credit history and the size of your business.
Unsecured business funding can be difficult to obtain, and the interest rates are high. However, if your business is growing and has good financial standing, an unsecured business loan may be the best option for you. The paperwork required varies widely between lenders, so be sure to check all requirements carefully before signing anything. You should be able to complete the loan application online, and assemble the necessary documentation. While lenders differ in the paperwork required, online lenders will typically require less documentation than their traditional counterparts.
Variable rate business loan
A variable rate business loan may seem like a better option if you want to control your cash flow. Especially during times of recession, a variable rate loan will have a low starting interest rate. But this rate may increase with market conditions, as well as inflation, and you may have trouble paying back the loan. If this is your plan, make sure that you’re comfortable with the variable rate. Alternatively, you can choose a fixed rate business loan with a higher interest rate.
When considering a variable rate business loan, you should know that its interest rate will fluctuate over time. Since these loans are tied to benchmark rates, they may go up or down based on market activity. You can, however, refinance a variable rate business loan to get a fixed rate instead. This will give you peace of mind and prevent unexpected costs. This option is ideal for those who want to make sure they don’t incur a high interest rate.
If you’re looking to obtain a long-term loan for your business, it’s important to compare different options. You’ll be able to find a lower rate if you shop around. Many lenders offer variable-rate business loans on the internet. All you need to provide are the details of your business, your bank statements, and a brief explanation of how the loan will be used. In addition to the fixed-rate business loan, you can get a variable-rate business loan through a legitimate, respected lender.
The interest rate of variable-rate loans fluctuates based on an index called the prime rate. In the U.S., this figure is known as the prime rate, and it’s linked to the Federal Reserve funds rate. Banks profit by charging a margin on top of this rate. The prime rate is based on the prime rate, which is subject to Federal Reserve Board meetings. There is no minimum or maximum interest rate for a variable-rate loan.
A variable-rate business loan is a better option for businesses with positive cash flow and a cushion of cash to pay back the loan amount. But it’s important to understand that a variable-rate loan is a gamble. So if your cash flow is tight, you may want to look for a fixed-rate business loan. But if you need a larger loan amount, you may want to consider a fixed-rate loan instead.
Line-of-credit loan
If your business needs a line of credit but cannot secure a traditional business loan, consider a line of credit facility. Line-of-credit business loans are becoming a popular solution for SMEs, providing the flexibility and affordability that borrowers need. A Liberty Access line-of-credit business loan offers such flexibility. You pay interest only on the amount that you actually use, not the entire line of credit. In fact, you’ll pay nothing on an LOC if you don’t use it.
Although a business line-of-credit is a convenient form of financing, it may require a blanket lien on your assets, a certificate of deposit, or current ownership of your business for a set period of time. In general, business line-of-credit rates are less than those on business credit cards, which can charge up to 20% APR for purchases and higher rates for cash advances. Hence, it’s important to understand the terms and conditions before applying for one.
Once approved, a Line-of-credit business loan may come with variable interest rates. This means that the interest will vary with your business’s needs, but will be paid back in a monthly statement. In addition to interest, a line-of-credit business loan also has a monthly account-keeping fee, which is not common with a credit card. However, a monthly account-keeping fee is not necessary if the repayment schedule of a Line-of-Credit is flexible enough.
As the name implies, a Line-of-Credit is a revolving pool of funds from a financial institution. This allows business owners to draw upon this line of credit as needed. The interest charged on these withdrawn funds is only credited to the amount you originally borrowed. Eventually, you will have to repay the full amount of the loan as well as the interest you incurred while using the line of credit.
A Line-of-Credit can be an excellent source of funding for small businesses. Since the funds can be used as needed, a Line-of-Credit is a flexible funding option that doesn’t have the hassle of a term loan. All it takes is two minutes to check whether your application has been approved or not, so it’s easy to see whether your company can use it. And the benefits are worth exploring.
The Bank Referral Scheme for business loans in the United Kingdom was introduced on 1 November 2016 and makes access to alternative finance easier for smaller businesses. Funding Options’ Conrad Ford offers an insider’s view of how the scheme works and how it can help small businesses. Since the global financial crisis, the availability of lending to small and medium-sized businesses fell dramatically. In fact, Bank of England statistics show that outstanding lending to SMEs dropped by billions of pounds.
This initiative is a boon for budding business owners. Initially, the scheme was launched to help entrepreneurs who had been rejected by traditional banks and had given up on the idea of seeking funding. While it was praised by the government, a recent report indicated that the scheme has had mixed results. Despite its positive effects, few of the referred businesses were successful in applying for loans. As a result, the scheme may have to be improved to improve its results.
Despite this success, the Bank Referral Scheme will only be as good as the behaviour of SMEs. SMEs must be willing to look beyond the high street banks for funding. Awareness of alternative finance sources and a hassle-free referral process will help SMEs make up their minds. And this is the main reason why the Bank Referral Scheme is so important. In addition to helping SMEs access finance, it improves the relationship between banks and alternative lenders.
While the Bank Referral Scheme aims to offer alternative funding options for SMEs, the banks must also be proactive. Banks can help small businesses by offering referrals, but they have little incentive to take proactive action. Compliance with the letter of the regulations may compromise the spirit of the scheme. The ICAEW and British Business Bank provide information about various finance options. These institutions are not permitted to offer referrals unless the conditions of the scheme are met.
This Scheme may not be suitable for the incumbent banks. SMEs must be aware that the Bank Referral Scheme will provide an entry point to competitors, who will nibble at their business. This scheme could also lead to an increase in information access fees for SME companies. Moreover, it may result in competition in the SME funding market. The Bank Referral Scheme for Business Loans in the UK
How to Get a Business Loan in Canada
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AN inexperienced Wits sailor was one of the crew onboard a yacht that won one of the toughest ocean races in southern Africa last month.
The gruelling Vasco da Gama is an established sailing event and was “a baptism of fire” for Patrick Chappel, who took part in his first ocean race with a crew of seven other members.
Chappel was one of five young, inexperienced sailors on the Skitzo, a South African built and manned yacht that won the race.
Chappel joked about Skitzo being appropriately named, because of the way it “seemed to respond” to the changing weather conditions during the race.
The crew experienced early trouble when the spinnaker halides (the rope used to attach the sail to the mast) came unstuck, causing the yacht to lose ground to its rival competitor, the BMA.
Appointed to climb the mast in winds of roughly 55km/h to untie the spinnaker halides, Chappel said: “It was a harrowing but awesome experience in 30 knots of wind and the mast shaking like a tree in a storm.”
The crew experienced more issues throughout the night as the winds reached up to 50 knots with swells of up to 20 feet and currents reaching 5 knots. According to Chappel, what made the winds even more intense was the winds were just short of being classified hurricanes at 60 knots.
Chappel said having the Skitzo broach (fall on its side) several times throughout the night was a “nerve wrecking” experience.
The crew experienced other difficulties that meant they missed out on a record winning time by just an hour but still managed to claim handicap and line honours.
Chappel said he learned a lot from this experience. “If you are going to do this extremely dangerous stuff, you cannot take enough precautions in terms of safety and expecting the unexpected.”
Another lesson he learned was that one needs to be able to deal with one’s own fears and emotions while not doing something to jeopardise another crew member’s life.
(Appeared in print, May 11, 2012)
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IN-DEPTH: Pricey food costs lives
‘Pricey food costs lives’ is a podcast that focuses on wholesale and the sale of fresh produce by various actors in the market ranging from the street vendors to the Joburg Market. The narrator, Malaika Ditabo, explores the effects of climate change, inflation, and unemployment on the general South African population. In this episode salesman […]
The Vuvuzela newspaper is produced by the career-entry students of the Wits Journalism Department at Wits University.
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Created by Catherine Hughes Waddell, a daughter of Charles Evans Hughes, and her husband, Chauncey L. Waddell, the Foundation seeks to honor the legacy of its founders and of Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Presidential Candidate, and Governor of the State of New York. Accordingly, the Foundation focuses its support on programs of national scope or importance in the following fields of interest:
Chief Justice of The United States
Legal and Human Rights
Environment, Population and Health
Arts and Culture
In each of these fields, the Foundation seeks to encourage full civic participation by all Americans and works to ensure not only that political and civil rights are upheld, but also that individuals are able to exercise those rights. Excellent local programs demonstrating impact in these areas may be considered from time to time.
Catherine Hughes, a daughter of Charles Evans Hughes, married Chauncey Lockhart Waddell in 1922. A pilot in World War I and Harvard graduate, Chauncey Waddell along with partner Cameron Reed went on to found the mutual fund group United Funds Inc. and its underwriter Waddell and Reed. Catherine was an active philanthropist, focusing particularly on racial injustice in America. She firmly believed that the way to combat ignorant prejudice was through education. After Catherine’s untimely death in 1961, Chauncey fulfilled their wishes for a philanthropic foundation and named it in tribute to Catherine’s father.
Legal and Human Rights
The Foundation supports programs aimed at assuring fundamental constitutional and human rights, particularly for those who traditionally have been disenfranchised. It also supports programs targeted at assuring that citizens may exercise those rights, including, for example, assistance for those unable to afford counsel. Finally, it supports legal education, especially in public interest law. VIEW SELECTED RECIPIENTS
Environment, Population, and Health
The Foundation recognizes that a clean, natural environment is essential to the health of individuals, communities, the economy, and society. In recent years, it has dedicated its environmental grants to climate change initiatives. It also acknowledges family planning as an important part of a broader strategy for achieving sustainable development worldwide. VIEW SELECTED RECIPIENTS
The Foundation supports the provision, in-school and out-of-school, of a sound education that enables all Americans to lead productive lives and participate as active citizens. VIEW SELECTED RECIPIENTS
Arts and Culture
The Foundation recognizes both the intrinsic and the educational value of the arts. In addition, it appreciates the ways in which arts and culture shape – and are shaped by – the character of individuals and nations. Thus, it supports programs dedicated to preserving and expanding what is unique and best in American arts and culture, including American music and the preservation of historic buildings and landscapes throughout the country.
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Thanks for all your questions. If you missed the live broadcast, the action replay can be heard here.
UPPERDATE! We're live now, so let's have at it!
UPDATE! We'll be going live in about fifteen minutes, so do get ready to fire off your questions via the comment form below. See you at the top of the hour. And, to listen, simply click the livestream feed.
Today, Friday, I'll be conducting another Clubland Q&A, live around the world at 4pm Eastern in North America - that's 9pm Greenwich Mean Time. We'll try to pin down the rest of the time zones below, but do, as they say, check local listings.
On today's rundown, I'm happy to take questions arising from the topics I've been chewing over in recent days - including the grand comedy of the Democrat primary, the absolute disgrace of the Roger Stone prosecution, the suspension of the rule of law in Canada, and the death of the great Christie Blatchford. But as always, as today's Q&A proceeds, we'll open it up to other subjects, including whatever developments in the UK, Oz, Europe or elsewhere that happen to have caught your eye.
Whether or not you're a member of The Mark Steyn Club, you can listen to our Clubland Q&A live as it happens wherever you happen to be on this turbulent earth: Club membership is required only to ask a question. We love to hear from brand new members, and in recent days we've welcomed newbies from Nebraska, Queensland, Northern Ontario, Southern Provence, the outskirts of Stockholm, beautiful Galway Bay in the Emerald Isle... So if you've joined this month do fire off a question on any topic that appeals. Indeed, if you've been toying with signing up, either for a full year or a see-how-it-goes experimental quarter, there's still time to do so and to shoot me a head-scratcher for today's show. But, if you're not interested in joining or signing up a nephew, no worries, as they say Down Under: We seek no unwilling members - and as always the show is free, so we hope you'll want to tune in.
As soon as we go live, members should log-in and submit their queries via our comment form below - and I'll answer them as-it-happens on the audio livestream that should magically appear above (or possibly below - I forget which). And, if you disagree with my response, then let rip in the comments, and I'll endeavor to address a couple of the objections as we go along.
Clubland Q&A and much of our other content is supported by members of The Mark Steyn Club. We're not paywalling off SteynOnline or any of that nonsense - and in fact this site now offers more free content than ever before in our seventeen-year history. But Club membership does confer a few benefits, including not only participation in our Q&As but also access to our Sunday Poems and Tales for Our Time, the latest of which airs this weekend. Oh, and if you're looking for a birthday present with a difference, do consider a Steyn Club gift membership, and your loved one can bombard me with tough questions throughout 2020.
So see you back here live this afternoon at 4pm Eastern Daylight Time. That's 5pm in the Canadian Maritimes, 5.30pm in Newfoundland - and, beyond the Americas, 9pm in London and Dublin; 10pm in Paris and Berlin; 11pm in Cairo and Jerusalem; midnight in Moscow, for Kenny Ball fans; half-past-midnight in Tehran, for all you Newfoundlanders who move to Iran for the half-hour time zone; 2.45am in Kathmandu, for all you Iranians who move to Nepal to check out the quarter-hour time zone; a 5am alarm call in Hong Kong and Perth; an 8am brekkie in Sydney and Melbourne; an even more convivial hour for the kippers and kedgeree in Auckland and beyond; and an eminently civilized gong of 10.45am in the Chatham Islands, my current favorite among those quarter-hour time zones.
But, whatever hour it is where you are, we do hope you'll be able to join us. To listen to the livestream, simply click the "play" icon on the audio player (in certain browsers, the audio will start auto-playing). And to pose a question simply use the comment form below.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:00 pm, Janet Long wrote:
Mark, if I'm not mistaken, I believe that I read in one of your essays about the climate change movement that Mr. Bloomberg was one of the founding alarmists along with Mr. Steyer. They have been very successful in their efforts and plan to greatly expand on that narrative. A frightening prospect, indeed. Am I completely wrong on this? If he was indeed one of the trio who put this hoax together, shouldn't that be addressed loudly and often?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:01 pm, Michael Cavino wrote:
Earlier this week, there were reports that AG Barr had warned President Trump that he needs to stop tweeting about the Stone case since it is making his job harder (i.e. the dreaded appearance of impropriety). Subsequently, Trump admitted that this statement is correct. So, do you think the President will take AG Barr's warning to heart? What is your opinion of Barr and his work cleaning up the DOJ so far?
Still laughing at your new nickname for Senator Warren from last night! Looking forward to your thoughts, Mark.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:02 pm, Arnold Grey wrote:
Mark, do you think Bill Barr will drain the swamp? Or were his rather pathetic complaints about Trump's Tweets and his ability to do his job the first steps on the path leading out of the White House? His address at Notre Dame made me feel quite optimistic, but I can't shake the feeling that he's John Boltoning.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:03 pm, Holly wrote:
Mark, I'm interested to know what you think of the prospect of Prince Charles as King and then Prince William as King of the United Kingdom? Do you think either of them will be able to retain the love and support of the British people as Queen Elizabeth has done? Are either of them strong enough to shepherd the monarchy through difficult times? Thanks
On February 21, 2020 at 4:04 pm, CrossBorderGal wrote:
Is Boris starting on the same slippery slope as Justin when it comes to paying lip service to green (and indigenous) pressures? While Johnson and Trudeau acquiesce and pose, Canada and Britain may slide too far down the appeasement hill to mount any resistance when the extremists bring the national economies of both countries to their knees. Your opinion?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:05 pm, Poohbear wrote:
Mark... do you think that the Wuhan virus is a biologically engineered escapee from the Wuhan lab? The Chinese have been busted for stealing at the Canadian Level 4 Lab and American labs just within the past 12 months, as reported on CBC.CA on July 14 2019 "Chinese researcher escorted from infectious disease lab amid RCMP investigation" and on Justice.gov on 28 January 2020 "Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases" in which the Chinese person is busted trying to smuggle 21 vials of biological research out at Logan airport. Do you have any more insight into these cases?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:06 pm, Dave A wrote:
I'd be interested to hear your views on the "Buffalo Declaration" drafted and signed by four Alberta MPs (Michelle Rempel Garner, Blake Richards, Glen Motz and Arnold Viersen). You can find information about it at https://buffalodeclaration.com/. The declaration is about a much higher degree of autonomy for western provinces in areas such as taxation, immigration, policing, revenue sharing.
It seems the thought of western separation hardly registers on the radar of eastern Canada, except maybe as a source of amusement. I've lived in the west for 70 years and have never seen such a level of anger and frustration at the current state of Confederation. I have no doubt whatever there will either be a much higher level of autonomy for western provinces, or they will separate. Not tomorrow but within ten years.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:07 pm, Laura Rosen Cohen wrote:
I'll preface my question by suggesting that a prize be awarded each Q&Q for most depressing question. A new mug with 'Cherokee Dominatrix' on it would be awesome.
My question concerns art. I just read an article about a Dutch museum debating censoring the display of a Degas in order to prevent offending a certain group of excitable, multicultural, not Amish, not Jewish, not Christian persons of a particular religion that starts with "I" and ends with "slam". Do you think this is yet another sign that Europe is beyond the point of no return in terms of culture? It's actually the Van Gough museum that is contemplating this revolting capitulation which makes it even worse i.e short memories of 'can't we talk about this' (spoiler alert-apparently not).
Who are the artists (visual, theatre, film, musicians whoever) defending the arts and our cultural heritage? Are there any?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:08 pm, Timothy McDonnell wrote:
How long until we start receiving ethnic Swedish refugees in America? The level of sexual violence against ethnic Swedish women by the immigrant population is such that women no longer feel safe in that country. How can we do a better job highlighting this problem in the West so we can get our leaders to listen?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:09 pm, Toby Pilling wrote:
Leo Varadkar has resigned - do you expect him to receive a sinecure from the EU for services rendered?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:11 pm, Damien Carbury wrote:
G'day Mark! This is the first Q and A I've tuned into live.We have just been experiencing one in thirty year rainfall in New South Wales - after being told it would never rain again and we were heading for a new future of permafire and desertification. Despite the main reservoirs being 80% full and most of the state covered in puddles, the media assures us that 99% of NSW is still in drought and the Premier says water restrictions will remain. How in blazes (sorry) do we counter this fraudulent agenda? And when are you doing a double act with Tim Blair?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:13 pm, E. Williamson wrote:
Hi Mark, I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts about the NHS and their plans to refuse medical treatment to anyone suspected of making homophobic, transphobic or racist comments. This seems to me quite a dangerous path, actually a life and death issue as the NHS, i.e the government, holds a monopoly on medical care in Britain. It's not hard to picture this tactic being used immediately as a lethal weapon, one could easily murder a fellow citizen by withdrawal of care, never firing a shot or spilling a drop of blood with one's own hands.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:15 pm, Charlene Pinkava wrote:
So since your last Clubland I have listened to the Audible version of A Handful of Dust. You have an unusual taste in books. Definitely not the ending I was expecting. How about some Wodehouse for Tales for Our Time. Maybe some Psmith?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:17 pm, Robert Fox wrote:
Dear Mark, don't you think if one of the candidates wanted to surge past Bernie in the polls they would latch onto the same issue that propelled Trump to victory, namely immigration? Immigration really isn't a partisan issue. It would be appropriate for a Democratic candidate to tout immigration control.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:19 pm, Barbara Yunker wrote:
The Democrat "debate" was entertaining indeed, and encouraged my fervent hope for a Trump landslide, both Electoral College and popular vote. Do any of these delusional Dems have a chance to win the Presidency? If that happens, I'm moving to Canada!
On February 21, 2020 at 4:20 pm, Scott Schertzer wrote:
After the most recent Democrat party debate I am inclined to believe they have no intention of winning the presidency. Governing is too much work. It will be much easier (and much more profitable) for them to badger Donald Trump for another four years. Then maybe they will give it a more serious go in 2024. What say you?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:22 pm, David Kelley-Wood wrote:
So as not to steal any thunder away from a potential Song of the Week candidate's full glory, just a couple of lines seem appropriate for Roger Stone and others who've come under the heavy hand of partisan "justice:"
"In prison cell and dungeon vile,
Our thoughts to them go winging"
I suppose that's more comment than question, so maybe the question should be "Do you think there is any realistic cause for optimism with respect to a meaningful overhaul of the justice system within our lifetimes?"
On February 21, 2020 at 4:24 pm, David Watson wrote:
I haven't found reasons to take any of the Democrat candidates seriously yet, but the rising consensus toward socialism is worrisome. Do you think it represents a trend toward slackers wanting to be cared for, or is it just failure of the education system? I was hopeful DeVos would redirect that failing system toward more productive training, but haven't seen any progress yet. How do we get control of education to begin reestablishing a competitive nation?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:26 pm, Mark Stillman wrote:
Of the two most likely Democratic Presidential candidates, Sanders and Bloomberg, which one poses the greatest threat to Trump? In my opinion, they both don't stand a chance. But which one do you think would come closest and why?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:28 pm, Michelle Dulak wrote:
I rather liked Mayor Bloomberg's observation that the most famous socialist in America owns three homes. What is it about service in DC that generates so much moola? Biden was long considered especially frugal as Senators go, but he is also in the millionaires' club; only Buttigieg isn't, and (as some have since pointed out) that's only because he's only 38. What gives? Or, rather, who gives?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:30 pm, Richard Malaby wrote:
Hello Mark - as you already know, this club is the reason I get up in the morning!
I'm a glutton for punishment, so I usually watch the Democratic primary debates even though they're typically snoozers: softball questions, purple prose, mealy-mouthed answers, and of course the attacks on those evil Republicans. Wednesday night was a revelation. It was the only time I can recall where I thought, "I wish this went on for another two hours!" Everyone piled on Bloomberg, and while he may be a revolting person, he was the perfect foil to the economic authoritarian left, specifically Bernie and Warren. When he brought up Bernie's three houses, (including that small lake cabin - what Vermonters don't have a $600k cabin?), I was howling! What does it say about the Democrats when at least a quasi-capitalist gets shouted down by every other candidate? When Bernie wins the nomination, will Trump look for a Bloomberg endorsement?!
On February 21, 2020 at 4:33 pm, Chris Hall aka MCF wrote:
What advice would you give to Mayor Bloomberg? Should he fire all of his consultants and embrace his inner Dr Evil? Or would that more correctly be his inner Mini Me?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:35 pm, Michael Seth wrote:
Mark, aside from being the only person on Earth less likable than Hillary Clinton, I also believe Mayor Bloomberg is the most dangerous candidate on the stage. The Democrats will never call him on it but his greatest obsession is the repeal of the 2nd Amendment. If he were to be elected, he is absolutely arrogant and stupid enough to pursue gun confiscation on a national scale. Wondering if you agree this could be a breaking point in the Cold Civil War?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:37 pm, George Pereira wrote:
I've read that the conventional wisdom is that Mini-Mike failed big-time at the debate and to a large extent that is correct.
Instead of really going for the middle, instead of being wokey woke, Instead of standing tall and standing on the shoulders of Rudy; ie Rudy did a good job and stop and frisk saved black lives, a lot of lives. I continued those policies and saved even more black lives.
He should have stood his ground and force everyone else to defend policies that continued the massive loss of black lives.
As far as Chief Shrieking Harridan screaming at him; what guy hasn't been in that that situation? There was nothing he could have said. There was no way for him to win. Even if you'd never vote for Mini-Mike ( and I won't) there was a moment you felt for him. I believe the best he could do was to sit there and take it and let the world listen to Chief Shrieking Harridan and let the idea of "that"for four years sink in.
To change the subject:
Amy, the love child of Alfred E Neuman and Howdy Doody wasn't mocking you.
You did that to yourself!
On February 21, 2020 at 4:40 pm, Michelle Dulak wrote:
On another subject, I'm all for avoiding voter suppression, but do the advocates of this (Stacey Abrams et al.) really refuse purges of voter rolls tout court? There are districts with more registered voters in them than people eligible to vote. No one can possibly think that right.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:43 pm, Phil Beckley wrote:
Mark, I watched on Youtube today a talk given by Douglas Murray recently at the National Conservatism conference in Rome, followed by Viktor Orban. It all seemed reasonable enough to me, so I was shocked to see that a Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, had been reprimanded by the Conservative party for attending. The headline in the 'Daily Telegraph" for February 7th was "Tory MP escapes suspension for speaking at far-Right event." The article quotes a Conservative spokeswoman as saying: "Daniel Kawczynski has been formally warned that his attendance at this event was not acceptable, particularly in the light of the views of some of those in attendance, which we utterly condemn, and that he is expected to hold himself to higher standards." I find this very depressing for the future of freedom of opinion and small 'C" conservatism in England. Am I being too pessimistic?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:45 pm, Al Man from CA wrote:
I am with you on the DOJ and the other corrupt organizations needing overhaul, along with the actual rules, laws, and everything else that allows travesties like Roger Stone and endless litigation, with you as our in-house example. Changing topic question: Since we have a Somali-American as a congressperson, do you think there would be a place in a Mayor Pete administration for Canadian Jessica (aka Jonathan) Yaniv? If not in jail,maybe he/she/? could be Ambassador to Brazil (-ian) or Secretary of The Exterior?
Asking for a friend.
On February 21, 2020 at 4:47 pm, Robert Stewart wrote:
Mark, your interview with George Papodolous was most informative. It appears that there are strong links between the campaign to snare George and the campaign to ruin General Michael Flynn, all centered on Stefan Halper. Svetlana Lokhova filed a complaint in the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in May of last year alleging that Halper was the mastermind in a PR campaign that portrayed her as a Russian agent who had compromised Flynn. On page 7 of her complaint she states that Halper had received over $1M from the US Department of Defense, and "[o]ver half of the sum paid to Halper was for his counterintelligence efforts surrounding the 2016 Presidential election." She appears to be going nowhere with her suit, since the judge now handling the complaint points out that the target of the disinformation campaign was Flynn, not Lokhova. Apparently collateral damage, the false portrayal of Lokhova as a spy and mistress, is not the sort of thing our courts want to deal with. The time line with the Lokhova and Papodolous campaigns suggest that there was a rather extensive and long running conspiracy involving many actors in many countries. Halper was in contact with Papodolous in September of 2016, and the FBI was inserting agents to spy on Flynn about the same time. The PR campaign to embarrass Flynn was sprung in December of 2016 and the interviews by the FBI that resulted in Flynn's prosecution by the DoJ occurred in late January of 2017. Lokhova was falsely named as the mistress/honeypot in the Flynn PR fantasy in February of 2017 by a colleague who had previously offerred to co-author a book with Lokhova a year earlier. Sidney Powell is now representing Flynn. Do you think Powell will be successful in unravelling this conspiracy?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:49 pm, Ben Poser wrote:
As an unlikely yet devoted fan of your old chum Ezra Levant's magnificent Rebel News, I can say that Extinction Rebellion's illegal country-wide blockades of Canadian roads and railways truly scare me as an American because Grumpy Greta's little kiddie climate marches last year were nothing in comparison. What do you think is going to happen, and is this going to spread on the same scale to the U.S.? Also, what's your take on fake First Nations like the "Office of the Wet'suwet'en"?
On February 21, 2020 at 4:51 pm, Nicola Timmerman wrote:
The problem with the train blockades in Canada is that there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
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| 22,721 |
We actually had a pretty good Electroglide this past Saturday. Instead of having the predicted marine layer, we had clear skies at the ten o’clock launch. Winds were light from the West at 7 mph.
At first launch, four pilots took their gliders to the sky, three Radians and one Conscendo. Flight times were on the short side with Scott Vance having the longest flight at 4:44 minutes. Alex Sutton had the next flight time at 4:28 plus a 20-point bonus landing. Daric Knight brought his Radian back at 3:30 with a 200-point landing as well. I earned the Lucky Dog award at 2:40 minutes so my pitiful time score of 16 points was doubled to 32 points. Adding to that was a bonus landing of 10-points, leaving me a respectable 42 points over all. Successful target landings matter.
Second launch found us getting better flight times. Scott again found working lift to give him a flight time of 7:10 minutes with a 20-point landing. Alex was second with a flight of 6:47 minutes and a 20-point landing as well. Deric was third with a flight time of 6:32.
Third launch had Deric getting the long flight at 8:26 minutes. Scott came back at 4:19 minutes with a 20-point landing and Alex had a flight of 4:01 minutes and a 20-point landing.
Fourth and final launch had Scott fly the longest flight but unfortunately, he landed off field so that round was unscored. The longest scoring flight went to Deric at 4:30 minutes. I was second at 4:23 plus a 20-point landing. Alex earned the Lucky Dog at 3:45 for a score of 46 points.
Winners for the day, Alex Sutton at 200 total points earned first place. Second place goes to yours truly with 193 points and third place for the day goes to Deric Knight at 139 points.
Thanks to Frank Sutton for the pictures of the event!
Next Electroglide is scheduled for August 21st.
10:00 a.m. first launch.
See you there,
Yes, gliders can do stunts
Two got 20-points
Scott getting ready to launch
Jeff & Alex ready to launch
Deric launching
Alex retrieving his Radian
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| 2,846 |
Window cleaners are an important part of any business. They keep the windows clean and free of streaks, which can make a big difference in the appearance of your business. But how do you find the best window cleaner for your business? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how to find the best window cleaner for your business.
Window cleaners are important because they keep your windows clean, which can make a big difference in the appearance of your business. They can also help to improve the morale of your employees by making their work environment look nicer. Window cleaner come in different shapes, sizes, and abilities, so it is important to find one that will fit your specific needs.
Here are some tips on how to find the best window cleaner for your business:
Determine what type of window cleaning you need. There are two main types of window cleaning: residential and commercial. If you have a small business with only a few windows, then you probably won’t need a commercial window cleaner. However, if you have a large business with many windows, then you’ll likely need a commercial window cleaner.
Ask for recommendations. Talk to other business owners or ask your employees for recommendations. If you know someone who has recently used a window cleaner, ask them for their opinion.
Read online reviews. Once you’ve narrowed down your options, take some time to read online reviews. This will give you an idea of what other customers think about the window cleaners you’re considering.
Get quotes. Once you’ve decided on a few window cleaners, get quotes from each one. This will help you compare prices and find the best deal. Make sure to get quotes for both residential and commercial window cleaning, if applicable.
Contact the window cleaners. After you’ve read some reviews and narrowed down your options, contact the window cleaners you’re interested in. Ask them questions about their services and prices.
Hire the right window cleaner. After you’ve gathered all the information you need, it’s time to make a decision. Hire the window cleaner that you feel is the best fit for your business. This is an important decision, so make sure you’re comfortable with your choice before you commit.
Make your decision. Once you’ve talked to the different window cleaners and gathered all of the information you need, it’s time to make a decision. Choose the window cleaner that you think will best meet your needs and budget.
Get started. Once you’ve found the perfect window cleaner for your business, get started! Schedule a time for them to come and clean your windows. Make sure you’re present during the cleaning so that you can answer any questions they have.
Window cleaners can make a big difference in the appearance of your business. Follow these tips to find the best window cleaner for your business. With a little effort, you can have clean windows that make a great impression on your customers and employees.
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| 3,904 |
Like other Madonnas of the early 14th century, Daddi's portrait of the child makes important departures from the formalism of the past. Like a natural child, the baby reaches for the stalk of lilies in his mother's hand while looking to her as if for approval, and he wears age-appropriate clothing. As in some of Simone Martini's Madonnas of the 1320s, his left hand holds a goldfinch. The bird and the lilies have their symbolic values, but these do not diminish the strong impression that one is looking at a fully human baby.
In other respects the work is formal and traditional. The Virgin is seated on a throne surrounded by angels and saints, six portraits flank the central panel, and gold is ubiquitous. The six saints are (left to right)
St. Zenobius, the third bishop of Florence, identified by the gallery's label and by the context. As in some other portraits, his beard is short and square. His portrait corresponds to the one on the far right of St. Reparata, another of Florence's secondary patrons.
In the middle of the left side is St. Nereus, identified by the gallery label but without any attributes other than the martyr's palm branch. This portrait corresponds to that of his companion St. Achilleus on the right side, who like him is pictured as a young man in what was thought to be the clothing of classical times. The two do not have a special relationship to the city of Florence, but they share they same May 12 feast day as St. Pancras, the patron of the church for which this polyptych was created.
St. John the Evangelist, again identified only by the gallery label. The book in his hand could be a reference to the Johannine books in the New Testament.
First on the right side is St. John the Baptist, patron saint of the city of Florence, in his usual camel-skin tunic and holding a staff topped by an unusual two-barred cross.
St. Achilleus, with palm branch and walking staff. He and St. Nereus are remembered in an unusually full-bodied entry in the Roman Martyrology for May 12: "At Rome on the Via Ardeatina, [the feast day] of the holy martyrs Nereus and Achilleus, brothers, who were eunuchs of Flavia Domitilla and shared her long exile for Christ on the island of Pontia. Afterwards they were beaten with rods. Then the consul Minutius Rufus had them tortured on the rack and burned to death, but they declared that they had been baptized by the blessed apostle Peter and would never sacrifice to the idols, so they were beheaded. Their holy relics and those of Flavia Domatilla were rediscovered and restored in their ancient church in the deaconry [section of Rome] of St. Adrian and were solemnly translated on May 11 at the command of Pope Clement VIII, who decreed that thenceforth this day should [also] be the feast of Blessed Domitilla, whose passion is remembered on the seventh of this month."
Saints Nereus and Achilleus are also portrayed in Vivarini's Polyptych of the Body of Christ.
Above these six panels are twelve small portraits of the apostles. The predella features events in the life of the Virgin Mary: Joachim espelled from the temple, Joachim in the country with his sheep, Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate, birth of Mary, Mary enters Temple service, blank, Annunciation, Nativity.
View this image in full resolution.
Read more about the Madonna and Child.
| 3,540 |
Hi! I'm writing a blurb for Time Out Chicago about winter bike rides, and I'm wondering if you have any high-res images of the Santa Rampage that I can use, with credit of course. Thanks!
At 5:48pm on October 11, 2010, Vondo said…
Yeah, I definitely need to go on another ride. Marauders is this saturday right? I should be able to make it. I'll buy you a beer!
At 7:22pm on October 8, 2010, Vondo said…
Hey Stephanie, remember me? We met on the porn ride earlier this year. I thought I saw you yesterday riding down Halsted by Wrightwood I think. I was in my car and I beeped, but didn't get your attention. (If it in fact was you) Anyways thought I would say hello...:)
At 10:42pm on September 5, 2010, Lori said…
you know me....I'm everywhere. I'm getting back into bikes. Doing an European bike tour next spring.
At 8:58pm on February 22, 2010, yellow jello said…
like every MLB pitcher, i must let my arm rest.
a duel as in...we 'load' our guns, start back to back for 10 paces and throw?
At 8:41pm on February 22, 2010, Vilda said…
Hehehehe, you got slammed in the snow ;-) Climbing fences is never advisable especially when drunk. I got a snow ball in the chest by the way ;-)
At 6:27pm on February 22, 2010, Vilda said…
i think it's funny that Vando commented on my page right after you and he's the one with the footage ;-)
At 4:06pm on February 22, 2010, Ryan L said…
LOL, ARE YOU SHITTING ME! I don't remember any of that! Man if there's video I would love to see it. "Hey kids, want to see what happens when one man takes too many drugs with too much alcohol and suddenly realizes he has fireworks in his bag?"
At 2:36pm on February 22, 2010, Ryan L said…
Hey Stef, looks like I didn't loose my camera after all. Found it this morning in the bottom of my bag. Ever since you mentioned the smoke bomb I have this image of seeing smoke at some point in the night. Just looked in my bag and go figure, no smoke bomb, which I was saving specifically for a MM ride. Man, what a night, if only I could remember all of it :)
And I will give you a sticker, I always have a bunch in my bag. I'll hook you up next time I see ya :)
| 2,132 |
How we choose to live our lives IS all up to us. Time is just time, it is what we make out of it that matters so that when we look back in time, we know, we have done our best.
8 May 2017
Shard- a piece of broken ceramic, metal, glass, or rock, typically having sharp edges.
This 4th and final piece of my “Time” series showing all the dismantled parts of the clock haphazardly ‘dumped’ in the casing of the rusted clock. It depict the end of a life span, end of time.
This series, from the beginning to the end, is a metaphor of a person’s life, starting from the time when we begin to slow down physically and mentally till the end. Harsh it may seem but it is a reality. Aging is not something that people like to discuss nor talk about, but I beg to differ and that is why I chose this subject.
I have always enjoy listening to golden ager reminiscing their pasts. The faraway look on their faces when they talk about their past fascinates me, it is like watching a movie, all in my head. I learned so much about that person and in turn, I am learning from them.
How we choose to live our lives IS all up to us. Time is just time, it is what we make out of it that matters so that when we look back in time, we know, we have done our best.
After all 3 pieces with full rendered background, I decided to keep the last piece clean and simple, focusing on the detail of the mechanical parts. When put these 4 pieces in a row, it shows the progression from gloomy at the beginning and lightness towards the end. How a person interpret it is how he/she sees their lives.
The process:
I thought after working on all 3 pieces, drawing the gears will be easy but it was not. But I did not let it bother me. Everything is not super accurate, just an out line.
Once I got the colours in, it was much easier. I focused on the value rather than the accuracy of every curves and lines and that is the trick.
There was a lot of lifting of colours with the electric eraser at the rusted area, by doing so, it gives a sense of depth.
The most testing part was the shadowed area of the casing. It needs to be subtle yet visible with textures showing through. If it were just a shading, the end result will look like an afterthought and that is a big no no for me after spending so much effort working on the details.
One may think that I will be so sick and tired looking at any mechanical/mechanism subject after these but surprisingly, I am not.
In fact, I may do another one but not so soon. What I need is to take a break from these almost monochrome colours and do something with vibrant boisterous colours and that, is next in line.
| 2,817 |
Without a doubt and without contest, the absolute most frequently asked question I get from readers is: “how do I save money on food?!?” And it’s a darn good question! Food is a necessity and it’s not like we can eliminate it from our budgets in one fell swoop (a la cable, haircuts, or coffees out). But as I’m fond of saying, while food is a necessity, expensive food is not.
I’ve tackled the question of thrifty vittles over the years in a multitude of ways, and I encourage you to peruse my Food section for a complete treatment of the topic. Today, as part of my Uber Frugal Month Challenge, I’m going to outline the most comprehensive, the most thorough, the most delicious rundown of frugal food that I can possibly muster!! If you’re interested in joining the over 9,800 readers participating in the Uber Frugal Month Challenge, you can sign-up at any time. You’ll start off with Day 1 of the Challenge, so you won’t miss a thing.
A note on recipes: I know that everyone wants me to post recipes for everything we eat. However. I am not a food blogger and I’m also not a cook. Mr. Frugalwoods makes 99% of our food and 99% of the time, he doesn’t use a recipe. He cooks from memory, by taste, and with whatever ingredients he has on hand. Mr. FW’s mother–who is the best cook I’ve ever met–taught him and his siblings the art of delicious home cooking and he has refined his skills over the years through practice and self-guided research (he highly recommends the cooking show “Good Eats”). I’m sorry about this as I know it would be awesome to have recipes for everything. Fortunately for you, the internet is rife with recipe blogs!
Mr. FW’s homemade bread alongside some homegrown VT apples
Excuses: we all have them! But for the purposes of successful frugal eating, let’s eliminate the excuses mindset and instead establish that we all have different parameters and priorities for our eating.
Here are the top excuses I hear from people on why they can’t save more on groceries:
I have a big family and so we eat a lot!
I eat a vegan diet and that food is expensive!
I eat a lot of meat and it is expensive!
I hate to cook and so I spend too much on ingredients!
I love to cook and so I spend too much on ingredients!
I am not making this up. While the juxtaposition is funny, it’s also illustrative of that fact that we all have unique circumstances surrounding our eating. However, despite these idiosyncrasies, it’s entirely possible to eat frugally in each of these scenarios (and more!).
It’s key to realize that we’re not all going to eat the same things and we’re not all going to have the same grocery budget. If you have five kids, you’re going to spend more on groceries than I do for my family of three. Similarly, if you’re single, you’re going to spend less on groceries than me. It’s not about comparing yourself to me or anyone else, it’s about finding a way to reduce spending on your own family’s food.
So, identify your parameters and priorities for eating (mine are: mostly organic, healthy, for three people) and then embrace those, but eliminate excuses. Choosing your food priorities is a lot like choosing your priorities in all other aspects of life–spend on what matters to you, but realize that not everything can be a priority. By the way “food,” is not a viable priority, people. Be specific about what you value.
Our first stop is where we shop. I am a big fan of conducting price comparison research between your different grocery store options and determining which is cheapest for which ingredients. It is 100% true that you might find a certain product cheaper at Whole Foods than at Costco. But you won’t know this until you do the comparison!
Once you’ve gathered this data, you can either: 1) shop at several stores each week, or, 2) choose the store that’s the cheapest on most things and only shop there.
Since I have the time, and Babywoods loves to shop with me, we go to three stores each week (it helps that they’re all located on the same street). I’ve price compared all of my frequently-purchased items and I know where they’re cheapest. Additionally, we’d found that some products are cheaper online–through Amazon or Jet.com. Anytime we need something we don’t normally purchase, we’ll check online first.
Our groceries on the conveyor belt. People wondered why I was photographing this…
Coupons can be the best of times or the worst of times. If a coupon is for something you were going to buy anyway, then it’s a fabulous find! Use it! However, if a coupon is for something you don’t need, then it’s not so good. Spending money you weren’t going to spend in order to use a coupon makes no sense. So, don’t do it! Although I do use coupons (particularly at BJ’s), I have to catch myself and make sure I absolutely need what’s on offer. It’s not a sale if you don’t need it!
One of my beefs with coupons is that, for the most part, they’re for brand-name items or packaged, pre-made foods, both of which are vastly more expensive than generic, raw foods. Often, it’s less expensive–and less of a hassle–to simply buy the generic, raw food in the first place. I’d say your time is better spent cooking than sorting through endless piles of coupons.
Mr. FW noting the per lb price of almonds so that we can check it against Costco’s price
The habits surrounding our weekly grocery shopping trips are another important factor in saving money.
Shop from a list and buy ONLY what’s on that list. Make your list at home ahead of time and while looking in your pantry and refrigerator. This allows you to put eyes on an empty package of carrots or a full box of pasta you’d forgotten was shoved behind the peanut butter. If other people will be eating this food, include them in the list-making process so that everyone gets to contribute their preferences and isn’t surprised at what comes home from the market.
Us at the grocery store (my mom took this pic )
Shop when you’re not stressed or rushed for time. I’m fully aware that such a magical time doesn’t exist in many households, but do your best. A friend of mine shops during her lunch hour so that she doesn’t have her two kids in tow; another shops at 8pm–again, without her kids–and savors the time alone. When we lived in the city, Mr. FW and I shopped on Friday nights because the stores were empty and there were no lines! Hot date night, to be sure. Be creative and find a time that works for you so that you can compare prices and evaluate your best options and not make harried, hurried decisions.
Full disclosure: this doesn’t always work out for me since I take Babywoods… sometimes she gets screamy if I price compare for too long (in her opinion, a grocery cart should always be in motion!), but luckily, since I’m shopping from a list, we can usually jet through the store pretty quickly. I always bring snacks and toys for Babywoods, which makes our weekly trips (mostly) pleasant.
What You Buy
Since everyone has different dietary restrictions, preferences, and priorities, this category will be, well, different for everyone.
However, the following guidelines work for almost every diet: purchase raw ingredients in bulk that are not pre-made. Now this calculation doesn’t pan out in every single instance, but most of the time, this is the cheapest route and it’s the cornerstone of how Mr. FW and I eat inexpensive, healthy, mostly organic meals.
I’m an advocate for bulk shopping and it’s something we did even when it was just two of us eating and we lived in the city. Bulk shopping allows us to take advantage of lower prices on higher quality ingredients.
What I mean by raw ingredients:
Instead of pre-made hummus, buy the component parts and make your own: garbanzo beans, olive oil, and lemons (we skip the tahini since it’s expensive).
Instead of pre-made bread, buy flour. Here’s the whole-wheat sandwich bread recipe I make weekly in my 25-year-old hand-me-down bread machine. Good, pre-made bread is ridiculously expensive.
Instead of chopped baby carrots, buy the big, whole carrots. I get a 5lb bag of organic whole carrots from BJ’s for a mere $3.29. Do you know how long 5lbs of carrots last? A long time, my friends.
These are but a few examples. Look through your pantry and fridge and identify anything that came in a package. Next, consider how/if you could make this yourself for less.
What I mean by not pre-made:
Ok this is kind of similar to raw ingredients, but generally, the idea is that you’re buying components of a meal that you will then assemble yourself–not a whole meal that’s been pre-made. A few examples: don’t buy frozen, pre-made burgers, buy ground beef and make your own. Don’t buy cans of soup, buy dried beans and make your own. Doing this is cheaper and also healthier since most packaged, pre-made foods are laden with preservatives and sodium.
These three golden guidelines–raw, bulk, and not pre-made–are the pillars of healthy, frugal eating.
This is kind of an easy one: don’t eat out or order take-out. In almost every single instance, you can prepare your own food for less than you’d spend at a restaurant. There are three main reasons why people eat out: 1) to socialize and/or celebrate, 2) because they’re too tired to cook, 3) to savor delectable, gourmet foods. Fear not, we can address all three! Here’s my mega post on the topic: How We Broke Our Eating Out Habit In 9 Steps.
In terms of socializing with friends, I have several posts on this very subject, which I won’t re-hash here. Please enjoy: Maintaining Friendships And Frugality and Frugal Hosting Ideas For Hanging Out With Friends.
For date nights with your lover, may I recommend a romantical dinner at home. This is what Mr. FW and I do and it is wonderful for several reasons:
We don’t have to pay for a babysitter.
We don’t have to waste gas driving to a restaurant.
We don’t have to get dressed up.
We can play Scrabble, cuddle on the couch, and otherwise enjoy one another’s company in the comfort of our own home.
There are also about 1 million other things you can do for a free date that don’t involve dinner, such as: go for a walk/hike, visit a free museum, attend a free concert, go to a free festival, stroll the city streets and window shop, go on a picnic, etc…
I also think it’s important to do all things in moderation. Mr. FW and I, after not eating out at all for several years, have gotten into a grove of eating out once a month. It’s fun, we love food, and it’s not a very significant hit to our budget. If, however, we escalated this to once a week? Then we’d have a problem. If you know you want to eat out occassionally, decide in advance how many times a month you want to splurge. Then, when you do eat out, it’ll be a special occasion that you’ve specifically planned for–not a mad dash because you forgot to defrost the chicken.
Savoring gourmet food is my weakness. You might not know this, but Mr. FW and I are hardcore foodies. We’ve eaten at James Beard award-winning restaurants and Michelin star restaurants in New York City, London, San Francisco, Paris, Boston, Krakow, Washington, DC, and more. We know good food. We also know mediocre food. And let’s be honest, if you’re ordering take-out or running to your nearest neighborhood grill because you’re too tired to cook? It’s unlikely to be a gourmet, delectable meal. If, on the other hand, you make a plan to eat at an amazing restaurant? Then by all means, go and truly enjoy it. But these Tuesday night runs to Applebee’s must stop, my friends. Here’s how:
Emergency Freezer Meals: Get Them NOW (and by “now,” I mean yesterday… )
Modeling one of my many baking fails
No one has the fortitude to cook a full meal every single night of the year. If they do, then a medal is in order. But for the rest of us, please familiarize yourself with the following key tenets of frugality:
Other frozen food
We have freezers for a reason, people.
And now, please enjoy a story: You get home late from work after a terrible meeting with your boss, your kids/pets/partner are a riotous mess involving snot, you’re exhausted, you’re hungry, and it appears your neighbor’s rabbit has eaten a hole through your back porch. We’ve all been there. And what do we do for dinner? Order take-out!!! Oh wait, no we don’t because we are frugal. So what are we supposed to do, starve?! Eat a cracker?!!!!! Nope. We frugal weirdos go to our reserve of emergency freezer meals.
Here are a few real-life scenarios where Mr. FW and I have resorted to emergency freezer meals:
We had a baby and were in the NICU with her for a week.
One of our pipes froze and burst, which we discovered at 7pm on a Sunday night after returning home from a weekend away with our baby and dog.
We spent the day in the ER with a sick Mr. FW.
We were feeling tired/lazy.
Homemade chili portioned out and ready to freeze!
But in none of those instances did we order take-out, because… we had emergency frozen meals all set to go in our freezer!
We keep several frozen pizzas in our freezer at all times. No exceptions. Running out of frozen pizzas would be tantamount to running out of soap or beer. It’s not acceptable. We also have a stash of frozen meals that Mr. FW cooked. On nights when he has the time, he whips up a gigantic batch of soup or chili and we use a food funnel to portion the extras in quart-size Ziplock bags (we find that a quart is about 2 meals worth) to freeze.
From personal experience, I can say that nothing derails a budget faster than the misguided assumption that you’ll play Julia Child every night. I mean seriously people, go easy on yourself and stock your freezer. In that same vein…
Go Easy On Weeknights
Similar to the plan ahead mentality of frozen meals, be honest with yourself about your capacity to cook on weeknights. Some nights, everything goes smoothly: children are well-behaved and do not smear banana in their hair, dogs do not whine underfoot and lick banana off the baby, mamas do not accidentally drop coffee mugs out of the dishwasher, daddies do not need to chop wood, and dinner comes out beautifully!
But other nights? Some people (aka babies) fling quinoa across the room, other people (aka dogs) eat said quinoa, which gives them indigestion, and everyone is a hot mess. And so, what to do about dinner? Prepare for the inevitable melee of Mondays and create an easy rotation of meals to fall back on.
I think a lot of people misguidedly assume Mr. FW and I eat Food & Wine Magazine-worthy meals every night and, while you’re right about the wine part (boxed, thankyouverymuch), the food part… not so much. Rather, we have a simple list of meals that we eat on repeat. Oh yes, you read that right, we eat the same, easy meals over and over again. And we’re happy about it. Why? Because it gives us lots of time and money to do other things. Frankly, I’d rather not have all my spare time and money going to the stuff we consume. Just sayin.
Last week’s quinoa-and-veggie dinner bowl
This approach also means that we often don’t do hardcore meal planning. We stock our pantry with the raw, bulk ingredients Mr. FW likes and he throws together whatever time and creativity allow for. Frequently, he’ll cook just once or twice a week and we’ll eat leftovers.
Here are some of our easy meals:
Grilled meat atop a salad: Mr. FW will grill a huge mess-o-chicken/salmon and then we’ll eat it all week long, which means he only has to cook once that week. We like this meal in the summer since he can grill outdoors and a cold salad is nice, nice, nice on a hot night.
Quinoa in the style of fried rice: quinoa with egg and veggies, topped with chopped green onions and Sriracha. Yum. Here again, Mr. FW will make a big ol’ batch one night and we’ll eat it all week.
Hummus with veggies: Mr. FW whips up a massive quantity of hummus, which we enjoy all week long with fresh chopped broccoli, green pepper, and homemade bread. Yes, according to me and my 6’3″ husband who works outside chopping wood, this is filling enough for dinner–try it, you’ll be surprised!
Split pea soup: this is one of our favorites for freezing. Mr. FW cooks a giant vat and we’ll eat it for two nights or so and freeze the rest in quart-size bags.
Scrambled eggs and grits: has the advantage of being cheap, easy and quick, but has the disadvantage of not creating leftovers.
No-cook Mediterranean plate: a combo of olives (bulk buy from BJ’s), sliced cheese, and whatever else we have floating around the kitchen, usually paired with a salad. If feeling very fancy and/or entertaining guests, we make this mega easy Focaccia bread.
Pea pasta: we really need to come up with a better name for this one… it’s a summery combo of green peas, arugula, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of bacon for flavoring (because bacon!). Mix in with some pasta and squeeze fresh lemon on top. Bonus: tastes great cold and so is a good leftover candidate.
Something you might’ve noticed is that most of these are one pot meals. In other words, our dinners aren’t an elaborate array of three different items on a plate: we’ll have one big bowl each of quinoa with veggies as opposed to separate entrees and sides. This makes cooking and clean-up easier and faster.
Judicious Use of Expensive Proteins (aka meat)
Let me dispel a common myth of Frugalwoods lore right now: we do eat meat! It’s just that we don’t eat a lot of it. We also eat dairy! We will basically eat anything! But I digress. What we do with expensive proteins–meat and cheese–is use them sparingly.
Instead of eating a big piece of roast chicken for dinner, we’ll have shredded grilled chicken mixed into a stew with black beans, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and perhaps some other veggies for good measure. Then, we’ll eat this stew atop a bed of whole grain rice. In this way, we’re extending our meat consumption by pairing it with cheaper proteins, veggies, and grains. This also has the advantage of being extremely tasty and easy to freeze!
When in doubt, add beans, onions, and garlic! I exaggerate, but not by much. Mr. FW adds these components to just about everything he makes. They’re healthy, cheap, and packed with flavor. As my mother-in-law (the chef extraordinaire) teaches: “start cooking every meal by sautéing onions.” It’s hard to go wrong and it smells fabulous.
We also eat grass-fed beef, which we buy locally from our neighbors. But we don’t eat whole steaks or burgers. Instead, Mr. FW mixes ground beef into homemade tomato sauce with crushed tomatoes and–you guessed it–onions and garlic.
Meat also freezes well, so I’ll buy a large batch when it’s on sale and pop it in the chest freezer. We also don’t eat meat for every meal–it’s just not necessary. Our lunches are vegetarian and at least several dinners a week are as well. Forgoing meat just a few times a week will lower a grocery bill in a hot minute.
Build A Pantry (that you’ll actually eat!!!!)
This is slightly counter to my previous “eat all the things” pantry challenge, but it’s what Mr. FW and I came around to AFTER performing a full clean-out of our pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. Eating through a backlog of stuff that you haven’t used in years is a good way to recalibrate your spending and identify the stuff that you shouldn’t buy anymore.
After figuring out what you DO eat on a regular basis, you can decide if you’d like to stock your pantry. This is rather crucial for us since we live 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store and get snowed in with some amount of regularity. Conversely, if you live in a small apartment in the city with easy access to a grocery store, this might not be a good exercise for you.
Mr. FW could, at any time, whip up a batch of soup or stew or chili from the staples we keep on hand. Furthermore, we typically don’t ‘meal plan’ in a traditional sense since Mr. FW knows we always have these base, raw ingredients to choose from.
Coffee date at home!
Whole grain oats (stored in these containers)
Olive oil
Crushed tomatoes
All of these items are shelf stable for at least a few weeks and we cycle through them regularly. These are also the products that we buy in bulk since it’s much cheaper per ounce.
Snacking: we all do it. Don’t try to pretend you won’t. I find the disavowal of the need to snack will fast track you to buying convenience food or zipping through the drive-through or popping over to the cafeteria at work.
How do I know this? Because I’ve done all of those things in search of my next snack fix. Have quick, healthy snacks at work, in your diaper bag, in your purse, your briefcase, your car, and certainly your pantry. Here are a few tidbits we like to snack on:
Popcorn made with our air popper. I love this snack so much I felt compelled to write a whole post about it. You’re welcome
Bananas! Nature’s candy bar, cheap, and in their own carrying case. Apparently I like snacks a lot because I have a whole post about them too…
Almonds or other nuts, but almonds are typically the least expensive, healthiest option. I buy them in bulk from BJ’s.
Hard-boiled eggs. Back when I worked in an office, I’d hard-boil 5 eggs every Sunday and then take one with me to work every day. Super cheap and packed with protein.
Granola bars. Ok these are sort of a snack-of-last-resort for us because they’re not homemade, which means they’re more expensive and less healthy. I’ve tried approximately 9,897 different recipes for homemade granola bars, none of which have turned out well… at all (sidenote: if you have a tried-and-true healthy recipe, please let me know!). Hence, I buy granola bars in bulk from BJ’s when they go on sale. It’s cheaper to buy a granola bar than a muffin at a coffee shop, and, I like knowing I can keep these in the diaper bag without them molding or going bad.
Misc. fruit and veggies. I’ll chop up whatever we have on hand and munch. This is especially good for an afternoon snack when I just want to crunch something.
Dried fruit. We actually eat this for dessert, but it could work for snacks too. The con is that it’s expensive and sugary, but we made our own dried apple slices this year with apples from our trees and this dehydrator!
What Are You Drinking?
Drinks are another element of a food budget. Mr. FW and I regularly consume the following, all of which have been frugalized and optimized:
Seltzer (aka sparkling water). Instead of soda or store-bought seltzer, we make our own with our hacked Sodastream. In addition to being vastly cheaper, seltzer is healthier than soda and using a Sodastream eliminates plastic bottle waste.
Coffee! We each have a cup of regular in the morning and a cup of decaf in the afternoon. I buy organic, fair trade whole beans from BJ’s at $12.99 for 2.5lbs. For decaf, I actually buy ground coffee, because the whole bean decaf is A LOT more expensive and really doesn’t taste any better (I’ve taste tested both). We make our coffee using Melitta cones and our electric kettle–the advantage here is that you can make each cup to order, which is ideal for us since we frequently have friends and neighbors stopping by. I like being able to whip up a fresh cup of coffee for them in minutes.
Wine. I get either boxed wines or bottles that are circa $3 or $4 each.
Beer. We like Founder’s All Day IPA and Green Flash IPA, both of which are reasonably priced and tasty. Life’s too short to drink bad beer.
In each of these instances, instead of giving up something we enjoy, we found thriftier alternatives. This is the backbone of my luxurious frugality lifestyle philosophy: do what you love, but frugalize it.
The title pretty much sums this tenet up: DO NOT WASTE FOOD.
Common sources of food waste:
Buying too much at the grocery store. Making a list (using the above guidelines) and sticking to it each week will help you winnow down your shopping to only the things you truly need. Combing through the backlog in your pantry will also ensure you’re calibrating your purchases each week.
Buying foods you don’t actually like. We’ve all done this. We feel very inspired in the store by the buy 5 get 5 free eggplant sale, but then we get home and remember we don’t really like the taste of eggplant. Be honest with yourself about what you enjoy eating and shop to your taste and for your health.
Hello, I’m not really drinking this wine
Deciding to order take-out instead of the food you’ve bought. The culprit here is likely a failure to plan ahead or, a failure to have simple weeknight meals you can whip up. Do yourself the favor of making a list of easy meals you can cook each night. Or, follow our bulk example and cook once a week and either eat that meal all week long, or, freeze it and eat other meals you’ve previously cooked and frozen. You could eat a different meal every single night and only cook once a week if you followed this pattern!
Not eating leftovers. This is simply not allowed. If you don’t want to eat the same meal several nights in a row, freeze the leftovers for a future date. If you don’t want to freeze the leftovers, start cooking in small portion sizes that’ll only yield one meal.
Food waste is expensive, bad for the environment, and 100% avoidable. It’s true that some bits of food will get wasted here and there because it’s impossible not to waste a single morsel. But dumping entire loads of vegetables or full casseroles in the trash? Not allowed. No excuses. I’m not a hardliner on many things, but food waste is one of those things. Have a good way to store your leftovers (we use glass containers) and for veggie odds and ends, get a compost bucket for your kitchen and start a compost pile!
Kids add a whole new dimension to frugal eating (and life in general, come to think of it… ). But, as with all other aspects of childrearing, it’s totally possible to feed them frugal-style. At 14 months old, Babywoods is still a neophyte eater, but, we’re sculpting her tastebuds now in the hopes of creating a lifelong appreciation for things like kale and quinoa.
In short, Babywoods eats what we eat. I cut up any large chunks (since she only has two teeth), but otherwise, she eats our diet. In this way, she’s exposed to a range of flavors and textures as well as Mr. FW’s style of cooking. We have no intention of making “kid’s meals” for her as she grows up, so by introducing these flavors young, we hope she’ll develop an aptitude for them. When she was younger, we cooked homemade purees for her and froze them in ice cube trays.
A few other kid vs. food tips I’ve picked up along the way:
Only offer healthy options. This is frugal insomuch as it means I don’t have to buy separate foods for her. We have healthy foods in the house, ergo, the only foods Babywoods eats are healthy foods. This is awesome when she goes on a typical toddler picky stretch and will only eat one thing–I don’t sweat it because it’s a healthy thing. Sometimes all she wants are avocados. Other days, she’ll only eat quinoa. Other times, she only has eyes for carrots. Ok, kid, go right ahead and binge on those veggies!
Offer small amounts. We allow Babywoods to eat as much or as little as she wants at each meal. I don’t believe in forcing a child to “clean their plate” or in restricting healthy foods. However, I offer her foods in small doses. When she finishes what I’ve put down, I simply give her more. I do the same with her milk–I pour only a few ounces in her cup at a time and when she’s done, I pour more.
Save leftovers. Despite giving small doses of food, there’s always some food left on her tray and in her bib pouch after a meal. And so, I simply scoop these leftovers into a glass container and store them in the fridge for her next meal. I don’t allow leftovers to linger for days, but that’s never a problem as I give her leftovers at the beginning of each new meal. In this way, we waste very little while encouraging our adventurous little eater to consume as much–or as little–as she desires.
Don’t offer sweets. Dessert is not a necessity and so, Babywoods doesn’t get any. And she doesn’t know the difference. Since desserts are expensive and typically laden with sugar, we choose to abstain as a family. Now I do love to bake for potlucks and dinner parties (and the holidays!!!), but not as an every week occurrence. Naturally, Babywoods will enjoy desserts over the course of her lifetime (I’m not going to have cake-less birthday parties for her!), but there’s no reason to encourage or introduce them at this stage.
Be mindful with beverages. There’s no nutritional benefit to sodas or juices and so, there’s no need to spend money on them. Will Babywoods drink these during her childhood? Of course she will, and that’s fine. But there’s no need to have them at home on a regular basis. There’s also no need to introduce them at a young age. Babywoods drinks breastmilk, whole organic cow’s milk (now that she’s over a year old), and water. Full stop.
Breakfast at home!
Many of my baby food ideas come from my wise and frugal sister, who has three kids (ages 10, 8 and 4). Her kids eat healthy foods without complaint and don’t beg for sweets or junk because–get this–there is no junk food or sweets in their house. I also really like how my sister handles treats–when they’re on vacation or out for a special occasion, the kids get to eat some sweets. Otherwise? Nope. Seems to work well and avoids many a dinner table battle.
It’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s $0.10 per serving, it’s… whole grain oats!!! I’m so passionate about thrifty, healthy breakfasts that I have an entire post devoted to this very topic: Breakfast: The Hidden Destroyer. Catchy, no? I thought so. Even if oats aren’t your thing, identify your cheap, healthy option and go with it. Don’t buy $3 bagels and $4 coffees on your way into the office. Just don’t.
I never leave the house without food. Not a joke. I always take a water bottle, almonds, and other snacks with me. No matter what. I don’t like to be hungry and I don’t like to waste money on fast food. Ergo, I always take food.
When Babywoods and I go to the grocery store and run errands, I pack sandwiches for both of us along with almonds (for me), water bottles for both of us, and other sundry bits of snack. And, by the way, these are not gourmet lunches: it’s peanut butter smeared on my homemade bread. But hey, it is food!
Other examples of planning ahead and packing food:
Pack your lunch for work. Every single day. For extra bonus points, pack it the night before to ensure it doesn’t get forgotten in the morning scramble. Here’s our favorite take-to-work lunch recipe, which–you guessed it–can be made on Sundays and eaten all week long.
Have a stash of “emergency desk food.” This is the frozen pizza equivalent of office lunches. Keep a jar of peanut butter, some crackers–whatever you like–in your desk at all times. If your office has a bug problem and doesn’t want you to keep food around, then keep cans of soup (and a can opener) in your drawer.
Pack your lunch if you’ll be out running errands circa lunch time.
Pack snacks! Always have snacks! If you get hungry at work every day circa 3pm and hit up the vending machine, bring a snack instead. Know yourself and your routines and pack food accordingly.
And finally, as we discussed above, know what you’re going to eat for dinner and stick to it. For that matter, know what you’re going to eat for every meal. Have the foods you like on hand and the discipline to eat them (and not order take-out!). You can do this. There are almost no excuses you can come up with that don’t have a solution in planning ahead and packing your own food.
Yep, sometimes our best intentions and most noble recipe plans just don’t pan out. While I think Mr. FW is an excellent cook, let’s just say that some of his meals are better than others… occassionally, something doesn’t come out tasting quite like he thought it would. And you know what we do? We eat it anyway.
As long as there’s nothing unsafe about it, it’s food, it was cooked, and so we shall eat it. And then never make it again. In the 10+ years of living together, Mr. FW has only made one meal that we really and truly had to toss. It was a most unfortunate fish stew that tasted awful. Truly horrendous. We ate it for one meal and then threw out the leftovers. I hated to waste so much food, but wow, was it unpalatable. So, aside from fish stew disasters, buck up and eat it.
What are your tips for frugal, healthy eating?
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Our Epically Frugal Lunch Recipe
January 18, 2017 at 10:25 am
Very comprehensive list. We tend to prepare crock pot meals given the kids. My wife also cooks by feel so there are no recipes to share. I grew up in a household where meals were separate plates, so its been an adjustment. But it is a huge savings. We supplement cost savings with our garden and some fruit trees in our yard. Fresh blueberries are expensive afterall
January 18, 2017 at 10:30 am
Also figuring out things that taste amazing and are healthy and cheap… for example, 2kg of frozen blueberries from Costco are 8.99$CAD right now. Surprisingly, per weight, this puts them at the same price as bulk apples and bananas at the local grocery store, and cheaper than most other fruit. Blueberry parfait for breakfast (homemade yogurt and granola), or blueberries for dessert (oh god the baby mess – FYI boiling water removes berry stains on clothing if they’re fresh), and you have healthy and affordable (as much as it gets during a Quebec winter…) fruit.
Also, individually frozen lunches, if you work outside the home. There will always be days where there’s nothing ready in the fridge and you have to leave NOW – grab a frozen container of amazing soup and a frozen bun and it’ll be thawed by lunch, no use buying anything.
Oh, and final (best) tip: a lot of recipes use ground spiced Italian sausage as a flavour base for he rest of the meal. Replace with ground pork, add about 2tbs of oil or water (texture), and add spices (google for spicy Italian sausage blends…) . Using Costco prices, that usually works out to 1/3 of the cost of buying sausages. Freeze in 1-lb bags and tug out for easy meal bases. Family favorites include Smitten Kitchen’s sausage and lentil and chard (or whatever green veg is on hand, no need to be specific) soup, or Epicurious has a sausage and ramp risotto that is AMAZING (you’re not far from us, ramps should be available in spring in your woods… but otherwise, we replace the ramps with onions and garlic At the beginning and add frozen spinach at the end. Oh, and any water used to re-hydrate mushrooms makes the BEST risotto broth). Or Jamie Olivers recipe for sausage and fennel fusilli. All amazing, all family favorites, all way under 2$/portion. And the soup, specifically, freezes beautifully.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:55 am
Yum! sounds good!
Brenna says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:45 pm
S.G. says:
January 19, 2017 at 5:17 pm
It tends to be quite expensive, at least where I live. I finally got a grinder for Christmas last year and grind up whatever is cheap, which is often a nice lean loin (which tends to be dry, but you can compensate). It takes a little work to do it right as you need to cut it up then par-freeze for the grinder to work well, but I do a number of pounds at once then throw it all in the freezer in meal sized bags. Often my ground pork is well under $2 per pound compared to $4 per pound on sale for pre-ground.
June 26, 2020 at 3:12 pm
We buy whole legs of pork when they go on sale, usually in the fall, ridiculously cheap. My husband cuts them up and grinds them to make sausage meat. He usually just makes loose meat or patties, but he occasionally borrows a friend’s stuffer and makes links. On a totally unrelated note, I’ve just tried making garlic scape powder, which seems to have worked pretty well. A lot of people are happy to give the scapes away to anyone who has a use for them. Also, since I’m not fond of tea and coffee makes me violently ill, I’ve taken to drinking unsweetened cocoa most mornings. I just put about 3/4 of a teaspoon of cocoa powder in a mug, add boiling water, and top it up with a slurg of milk. A container of fair trade cocoa lasts me for months. Anyone else being hit hard by a rise in grocery prices since the COVID thing? I checked out the price of a beef roast the other day and nearly had a stroke. Ouch!
January 18, 2017 at 10:33 am
What a shame about the recipes! Food blogging isn’t for everyone though.
I used to be an extreme couponer and I know how badly coupons can be for your grocery budget. It’s still cheaper to eat homemade foods than it is to buy packaged foods with coupons. It’s hands-down always cheaper. Even if you get the packaged food for free, it’s not quality food. You can’t subsist on poptarts!
Once you make the switch to raw ingredients and transforming them yourself, you’ll see big savings. We did this with beans, rice, bread, sauces, soups, etc.
We’ve had success using the following grocery strategies:
1. Go through your pantry to use up existing items. I make a list of everything we need to use up.
2. Go through the grocery store’s sale paper. I only bother looking at the meat and produce; everything else is just noise. I make note of what produce and meat is on sale.
3. Make a menu. I combine what we have on hand and what’s on sale at the store to make a menu. This way, I get the cheapest meals possible. It also means we tend to eat a lot of grains like rice with cheap fresh produce, which is pretty healthy.
4. We always shop from a list.
5. I use coupons: But only for items that are already on my grocery list.
6. We shop at 7 am on Saturdays: This is when our grocery store is stocking and offers 25% off “old” meat.
We also recently got into freezer meals and HOLY COW guys, it’s a game-changer. Seriously. I would encourage you to make different types of freezer meals like soups, casseroles, enchiladas, desserts, etc. It really cuts down on the need to eat out and spend money.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:54 am
Good list of tips, thanks for sharing :)!
S.G. says:
January 19, 2017 at 5:20 pm
I would add that if you pay attention a lot of the same sorts of things go on sale. If you already have a basic recipe for it you don’t have to do a lot of “what can I do with that cut?” agonizing. I have a half dozen things to do with boneless skinless chicken breast, a couple crock pot meals that will work with most cuts of beef and I’m usually set for most of the week.
January 18, 2017 at 10:34 am
When it comes to saving on food, I think so much depends on knowing yourself. For example, if I buy a butternut squash, I know I hate the process of chopping it so much that I’ll let it rot. But if I buy pre-cut butternut squash, I’ll absolutely use it. Is it more expensive, yes. But cheaper than buying a squash, letting it rot and ordering delivery instead
Brenna says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:48 pm
Chopped frozen butternut squash is one of the few things that I will pay extra for the convenience of! I’m a big fan of cooking from scratch but it’s jut not worth it for me to struggle through cutting up a squash to save a few cents.
Solitary Diner says:
January 18, 2017 at 3:46 pm
I absolutely hate chopping butternut squash too, so I cut it in half, clean out the gunk, and roast it cut side down on a baking tray with a bit of oil. Once it’s roasted, it’s easy to scoop out the cooked squash for use in soups or to eat as-is.
January 18, 2017 at 9:09 pm
If your microwave is large enough, you can also cook butternut there. You cut in half and clean out, then put into a MW safe dish (like a glass pie plate) with 1/2″ or so of water. Pierce the skin in several place, then nuke on high for about 5min. Start checking every minute or so after that. This is a reasonable option if the oven is already full and/or when the weather is too warm… it’s overall faster cooking. I’m single, so this works out great when I buy the small squash and only want enough for a couple meals. Butternut freezes well though.
Debbie says:
January 19, 2017 at 11:41 am
Jamie Oliver never peels butternut squash. Once I saw him cook it with the peel on, I never went back. Peel almost melts away and there is no taste of it.
January 18, 2017 at 1:31 pm
I felt the same way until I went and bought a really nice, $10 Y-peeler. That, plus a clean kitchen towel to grasp the slippery gord, makes the job so much easier.
Though my emergency “I have 5 minutes to get through the grocery store and need to cook something to feed 4+ people” shopping list is: a loaf of bread, a box of butternut squash, and a box of mixed salad greens. At home I have salad dressing and veggie boullion. That all becomes soup, salad and bread.
January 18, 2017 at 2:21 pm
This is so, so true Stefanie! For example, I find that when I keep those huge bags of pre-cut frozen veggies in the freezer, I eat 9 different vegetables before noon (seriously, I did it yesterday!). If I have to wash/peel/chop/etc? Ehnotsomuch.
Things have changed for me, frugality-wise, in different seasons of life. Frugalwoods is a young mom of one. I am an older mom with 7 (yep, s-e-v-e-n) kids, and we homeschool, and I run two blogs, and hubby runs a business, and… my energy at 41 is more precious. I might save a few shekels chopping all 9 of those veggies before noon but … I won’t.
S.G. says:
January 19, 2017 at 5:21 pm
Put those kids to work! Make each a specialist in one veggie and you only have 2 left ;).
January 18, 2017 at 2:37 pm
I used to struggle with this until I learnt to put the whole squash into the oven and bake it, then chop when it cools
January 18, 2017 at 7:21 pm
I also hate chopping squash and it can be very hard indeed. I cook it whole in the oven and then scoop it out.
January 18, 2017 at 7:37 pm
Also same for pumpkin, except with next step to get the seeds, and roast them after. Can stab with a knife as it cooks to see how it’s coming.
January 19, 2017 at 9:10 am
Totally, me too. I know it’s cheaper, but quite a lot, but oh.my.word. I cannot bear the prep. I also tend to stock up on chopped canned tomato when it’s cheap. I know you can skin and chop and de-seed yourself, but even the thought makes me need to lie down quietly!
Shannon says:
January 20, 2017 at 1:03 pm
If you ever need smooth cooked butternut squash (versus chopped browned squares which sometimes you need), you can cook the entire butternut in a crockpot. Stab with some holes, add 2 cups of water and cook it whole 8 hours on Low. Let it cool in the fridge before you slice it open, and you have magical squash puree without giving yourself a hernia!
Vickey says:
February 2, 2017 at 5:05 pm
Sweet! What happens to the string?
Laurie says:
February 5, 2017 at 7:40 pm
For any squash place in the crockpot with a small bath of water. Cook on high for about 4hrs. The skin will slide off and your squash will melt off the fork. No more cutting your hands off trying to get into the shell. Works every time.
Julie says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:43 am
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:52 am
Good to know! Thank you :)!
Elizabeth Hodge says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:22 am
Great tip! I made homemade humous once I really hated it. Perhaps this will be better? Otherwise I’m afraid I’m sticking to store-bought. There’s no point making something you won’t eat, even if it’s cheaper!
I’m a little concerned by all this advice to cook for and eat it for 5 days straight. The official advice in the UK at least is that it’s only safe to keep leftovers for 3 days in the fridge. Same goes for open packets – like yogurt, cream, meat etc. Also rice is such a high risk food that you should only keep it in the fridge for 1 day and you have to be super, super careful if you are planning to re-heat it. Stay safe people, if in doubt – throw it out. Your health is worth more than a little bit of money! http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-reheating-rice-cause-food-poisoning.aspx?CategoryID=51
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:54 am
What I find is that most food expiration dates are remarkably conservative. In the US anyway, these dates are not regulated by our Food & Drug Administration, but by the manufacturers themselves. Most food is just fine for a few days/week if kept refrigerated. And if you’re concerned, then simply freeze it for later. I tackle this very topic in greater depth in this post: How I Fight Food Waste At Thanksgiving And Beyond.
cathy says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:57 pm
Interesting. Are you saying that if you have an open container of yogurt or cream, in the UK you’re told to throw it out after 3 days? I wonder if our dairy products are more pasteurized than yours because neither product would go bad in a properly cold fridge in 3 days. Also not sure where the rice fear comes from. In the US, if you cook something, properly cool it down, then immediately refrigerate it, it’s usually fine to be re-heated within several days. We do this all the time,. Now if it was rice leftover from a restaurant…probably not.
Maria says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:30 pm
I’m in the UK too. I certainly don’t throw away milk or yogurt just because it’s been open 3 days!
A big yogurt pot once open can happily sit in my fridge 10 days. Use clean spoon to serve from pot, keep refrigerated, no problem. I’ve never had any issues nor any mould growing on it.
Milk in my experience lasts 5 to 9 days once open (fresh, pasteurised, not UHT). Organic milk goes off faster but I’m happy to allow for that as I prefer the taste.
Maria says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:34 pm
PSs just to add.. Yes on milk it says ‘once open consume within 3 days’.
But that doesn’t mean I agree with that!
Cindy in the South says:
January 18, 2017 at 3:35 pm
I make a batch of rice and eat on it for a week. I have never been sick while eating rice…..I usually eat it with either turnip greens or collards with the “pot likker”, which is the spices and water that the greens are cooked in. I am Southern, and I sometimes eat the greens with cornbread, but rice works also. The rice is really good soaked in the pot likker. I add the pepper sauce (which is hot peppers in a vinegar sauce. Pinto beans and a slice of raw onion with sea salt on top make for a fine meal.
January 19, 2017 at 9:12 am
I spent about a decade in the UK and something I noticed is that they are completely obsessed by best-before and ”do NOT EAT if it’s 1 minute past” dates. I think health and safety culture does have a lot going for it certainly, but the nannying endless food policing is insane. If it smells fine and a tiny taste reveals it to taste fine… it’s fine.
Rice can go off quite suddenly and with not a lot of visible evidence, but even so, cooled, properly stored and eaten in a reasonable time frame… it’s fine.
Cheryl says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:07 pm
I found that hummus is one of those foods for which you must acquire a taste. I started eating it when my parents lived in Saudi Arabia and it was novel to Westerners. Then I worked with a group of people who were from the Middle East, and hummus was their favorite dish. That was back in the 60s and 70s before it became a popular item in the United States. I make my own hummus, and adjust the seasonings for my taste.
You might try making a batch and adjust the garlic, oil, salt to your preference. But, remember, it’s not yo everyone’s liking.
S.G. says:
January 19, 2017 at 5:29 pm
Yogurt and sour cream – They’re technically already spoiled. If there is no mold on it it is safe to eat. It won’t go more sour.
Other milk products – You can tell if they go sour because they…well..go sour.
Meat – Fresh meat is detectable via smell and/or texture when it goes back. Often the color too, but you can’t always tell because (at least in the US) many meats are colored artificially to make them more pretty.
Rice – That is a misunderstanding between two issues. Eating rice that isn’t properly refrigerated is dangerous because it is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria due to the wet warm nature of fresh rice. There is a bacteria that loves rice that has a poisonous byproduct. Therefore even if you re-heat it and kill the bacteria the byproduct remains and can make you quite ill. HOWEVER if you properly refrigerate it it’s not an issue. It is only an issue for rice that is left out.
Leftovers – This is the only thing I would worry about keeping for more than a predetermined amount of time simply because you can’t know all of the little ways it could go bad, and it’s harder to detect after you mix ingredients and spice it in ways that could mask bad color/flavor/smell. I’ll keep things for 3-7 days depending (meats don’t last as long).
February 20, 2017 at 4:44 pm
Why am I not dead yet? I also cook for the week and eat off of it. And if it goes past five days the dog eats it.
Once again just goes to show that I expose my body to enough bad stuff that I never get sick! I was planning on using Saturday night’s leftover Chinese food rice in a stir fry… I’ll still do it.
January 5, 2019 at 11:21 pm
Rice is a high risk food? I’ve never heard of that. When I was young I lived and worked in the amazon with no refrigeration whatsoever and some hot and humid weather. We often had rice and beans for dinner and then packed them up to carrry with us for lunch the next day. I did find that I had to eat the beans by 10 am or they start to go off, but I never knew the rice to be a problem. I also have Costa Rican relatives and I’m pretty sure they leave rice out on the counter, in the rice cooker overnight all the time. I’m mostly curious about this rice warning as I’ve never heard of it. I’d be interested in hearing more if anyone has information or experience.
Jody says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:15 pm
January 18, 2017 at 12:28 pm
Cindi says:
January 20, 2017 at 10:29 am
Thank you for this! I made hummus yesterday and we were out of tahini, so I subbed peanut butter. We liked it even better. I will never buy tahini again!
Kate says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:46 am
I don’t know if you do “product endorsements,” but one cookbook I have found that is really good is “Saving Dinner” by Leanne Ely. Leanne is a nutritionist. I’ve owned this cookbook for over 5 years, and almost every recipe I’ve made from this book is a hit. Leanne also gets it about making sure dinner is on the table in 30-45 minutes. The recipes are flavorful and made with stuff you can easily find in the supermarket.
Ty says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:51 am
I’m guilty of Having been a big family excuse maker. Also guilty of letting our 4 kids become too picky with their food, which resulted in too much waste
We’ve recently made a concerted effort to shop smart. As a family of six living on a single income in an expensive city (Seattle), it’s imperative that we do so in order to maintain out food budget.
January 18, 2017 at 8:37 pm
I get jealous when reading how cheap produce an other items are cheaper in other areas of the country. I have even noticed the Kroger affiliates here(PNW) are more expensive than say Arizona or even California.
My daughter has bball practice in the central district and the least expensive fruit and veggies stand is a block from her school.
I try to shop when I take kids to activities so best use of fuel and time.
Vickey says:
February 3, 2017 at 3:35 pm
We’ve noticed when visiting in the PNW how food costs two or three times what it does here in WNY. But then, so does housing or land. If you keep getting “our” winters, the PNW may eventually be less crowded/expensive. Mixed blessing, that!
January 18, 2017 at 10:53 am
Amy says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:55 am
Mrs. Frugalwoods, you answered my question about the oats, thank you, I am so happy!! I can’t believe the price. How do you store them? On the Granola Bars, are you familiar with Alana Chernilla’s first cookbook, Homemade Pantry, she has a couple of great granola bar recipes and so many other recipes to make stuff ….http://www.eatingfromthegroundup.com/
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 21, 2017 at 9:12 am
Hi Amy! We store our oats in these food-grade containers: http://amzn.to/2ka7nDA
Sarah says:
January 18, 2017 at 10:59 am
Awesome post, Mrs. Frugalwoods!!! I totally agree that kids throw everything for a loop, haha! Lately, we’ve been loving green smoothies in the mornings! Super easy and it gets our day off to a healthy start! We use OJ as our base (though you could use water), add in a banana, frozen pineapple chunks, blueberries, etc and then TONS of spinach or kale! My girls gobble these things up and they really are mostly spinach/kale!
Our weakness is without a doubt coffee and dessert. However, we don’t drink beer or wine really at all (maybe once a year on a special occasion, haha), and like you said – you have to choose your priorities and then allow room in your budget for them!
We get Starbucks a few times per week; but our daughters will only nap in the car now (they are 3 and 4!). It’s worth the $6 or so for two coffees to allow us to drive around and chat while the kiddos rest.
Love all your tips!!! I’m really trying to get into cooking more. This week I made vegan sweet potato and black bean enchiladas that were amazing; and then made spicy potato and black bean burritos two nights later since they used the same ingredients! You are totally right that black beans are a must; and every meal should begin by sauteing an onion!
Hope you have a great day!! Really enjoyed this post!!
January 18, 2017 at 11:04 am
One of the key incentives for me to eat my own food instead of takeout/restaurant has been to master tasty, homemade alternatives to my favorite meals. For example, I used to eat a Chipotle burrito bowl once (or even twice) a week. So I set out to master the best vegan burrito bowl I could. I Googled “Chipotle burrito bowl recipes” and, after some trial and error, actually found excellent recipes for the rice and beans. (The key to the rice is adding lime juice and a little olive oil.)
More recently, I had an amazing batch of vegan tacos featuring crispy smashed potatoes (yum!), mushrooms and spicy peanut sauce. So now I have a perfect topping for my burrito bowl. About every other week, I make big batches of “Chipotle” rice, beans, and crispy smashed potatoes. I put about 2/3 of the batch in the fridge for the week’s lunches and lazy suppers and freeze the rest for “emergencies”. I layer those on lettuce, tomatoes, some chopped peppers and store-bought salsa (or homemade peanut salsa) and I’ve got a meal that’s healthy, filling and significantly tastier than either of those restaurant dishes.
The next challenge (still working on it) is coming up with a tasty vegan substitute for Vietnamese rice noodle salad bowls.
cathy says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:48 pm
I like your Chipotle hack. I did the same, but for us it was their barbacoa beef for burrito bowls. I located a great copycat recipe and every few months, if beef is affordable, I make a batch and freeze it in meal-size portions. I can’t even remember the last time I actually went to Chipotle. Probably at least a year-and-a-half.
Robin says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:04 am
The best granola(ish) bar recipe we have found, after many many failures, is the Bird Seed Energy Bars from AllRecipes (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/156785/bird-seed-energy-bars/). It’s also a great recipe to use up what you have on hand. Our common substitutes are wheat bran for wheat germ (just because I have a crazy amount of bran in my freezer), replace half of the oil with applesauce, reduce the brown sugar, and instead of the seeds/chocolate chips listed, we use 2-3 cups of whatever nuts, dried fruit (chopped), chocolate etc that we have on hand. I’ve used practically every nut/dried fruit combination I can think of with zero complaints. It’s a really wonderful recipe for using up odds and ends (or that giant bag of hemp seeds you purchased on impulse at Sam’s), lasts really well in the fridge, and the bars actually hold together so that it travels decently.
January 18, 2017 at 11:05 am
will babywoods eat regular oatmeal? I keep offering it to my 1 year old and she keeps spitting it out =( I even put some maple syrup in it!! I think she just doesn’t like the texture but I want her to eat oatmeal cause I eat it everyday!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:12 am
Yes, she has regular oatmeal plus a banana for breakfast (no sugar added!). We’ve found that she likes her oatmeal chunky, so that she can pick up globs of it. Looks weird, but she likes it that way :). Good luck!
January 19, 2017 at 2:15 am
I am with your daughter! I purposely make my oatmeal and cream of wheat lumpy.
January 19, 2017 at 1:23 am
My 14mo won’t eat oatmeal either! I think it’s a texture thing, but she still doesn’t eat much at this point in general. My other 3 kids love oatmeal, I do steel cut oats in the crockpot, so good!
Deb says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:07 am
Food can be such a challenging aspect of frugality because there are so many emotional, family, and political elements tied up into how and what we eat. I very much agree with other commenters who noted the importance of working with your habits. We’ve focused on eating out less so that we can continue to buy our produce from friends who are local farmers. Neither of us enjoy cooking so more frequent simple meal planning to prevent the take-out meals is the next battle to fight!
January 18, 2017 at 11:10 am
Great article, but I wonder if you could do a similar one for housing and/or taxes? Food is so cheap in the US, and the average family spends less of its income on food than ever, but housing costs have skyrocketed. My rent budget is five to ten times what my food budget is, and my income tax budget is three times that.
Cutting my grocery budget from $300 to $200 a month is not a significant savings, but cutting may taxes from 10k a month or my rent from over 2k a month would really help.
B. Lyman says:
January 19, 2017 at 3:10 pm
If you live in the U.S. you might want to give TurboTax a try. The program is greatly improved and it’s a snap to do your taxes. TurboTax knows about every tax deduction there is and can save you quite a bit on your income taxes when you file. You do have to pay to submit the taxes but it’s a fraction of what you’d pay a professional income tax person to prepare and file it for you.
I don’t know if I’d do it, but perhaps you could get a roommate to help share the cost of your rent.
Laura says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:22 am
Great post. I am vegan so I chuckle at comments that a vegan diet is expensive. Like you point out, if you avoid the processed stuff and stick to whole foods then it can be crazy cheap! I do buy vegan cheese and ice cream every once in a while, but because of the cost it is always a thoroughly enjoyed treat ($7 for a litre of ice cream).
We do have slightly higher grocery bills because we balance shopping for a committed vegan (me) with my omni husband and kids. The family eats lots of vegan dishes with the odd bit of meat served on the side to keep them happy. It works.
As requested, this is a homemade vegan granola bar that we love. The “glow bar’ by Angela Liddon of the “Oh She Glows” cookbooks is quite delicious. Here is a link to the recipe. She also has a blog which has some fantastic (and freely shared) recipes if you google her name (for those looking for recipes).
Like you I am an avid hiker. I am in the process of completing the Bruce Trail in Ontario (just shy of 900km). These bars, along with a pb and banana sandwich are my go to hiking snack.
Jody says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:21 pm
I too am vegan and whole-heartly recommend the “Oh she glows” website/cookbook. Delicious recipes! I also love the cookbook “Vegan on the cheap” by Robin Robertson. Good, basic vegan food. This post is excellent! Thank you!
Justin says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:26 am
Pretty epic post you have here!
We follow these rules/guidelines in general and do very well with food costs while still eating very very well (and sometimes healthy too!).
We buy whole ingredients, waste almost nothing and bulk cook so we always have something to eat even if we are lazy. Just ate NC pulled pork bbq last night. From the freezer! That will be pulled pork tacos for lunch today along with home cooked crock pot beans (from the freezer of course).
Keep winning my frugal friends!
January 18, 2017 at 11:39 am
That was pretty much a perfect list. Whenever I get into discussions on MMM on how to eat frugally – often people are frustrated that they cannot get their bill as low as others. I make many of those points. The big 3 for me:
1. What you eat. Paleo, Vegan, Omnivore, whatever – everyone has different needs (I, for one, cannot maintain my weight at a healthy weight by eating a carb-heavy diet anymore. So sad. Carbs are cheap.)
2. Where you shop. We have a couple of stores that have produce REALLY cheap, and we eat 2-3 pounds per day. It adds up. We also get a local produce box delivered, which is NOT cheap, but it’s a balance people!
3. Where you live. Some areas of the country are more expensive. Some towns do not have a lot of competition. You can’t control this.
January 18, 2017 at 6:25 pm
I’m the same regarding carbs – I keep trying, thinking my body will change its mind
Today I was telling a coworker I feel so tired this week and she blithely pointed out I’ve eaten oatmeal every day when I usually eat eggs and veggies. Noooooooo haha — a 40 pound bag of oatmeal just looks so pretty in the Frugalwoods’ photo; a 40 pound bag of eggs would not after a week or so
I love your list. And I love that it sounds like you help people figure out what will work in THEIR situation – or at least to think about their own variables. It took me about a year to get my grocery budget down after I had to change how I eat, but now I can’t even remember how in the world I spent so much.
February 20, 2017 at 4:53 pm
I have Poly-cystic ovaries, so I can’t do lots of carbs either. But I have found that roasted sweet potatoes are okay for me for whatever reason. I roast up a couple a week and eat those for breakfast. I also throw them in soups. I also have found fruit can work for breakfast but I’ll need a snack mid-morning…
Anne says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:39 am
Ahhh food. Such an expensive thing, that. We have a few allergies, some of which we choose to buy our way out of and boy does it get expensive!
I’m also on the (fairly passive) hunt for a good granola bar that will last for ages. My spouse eats one between work and squash, 2-3 nights per week. Not having found one that we both like (spouse loves these ball things that are TEDIOUS to make, but don’t work as bars, so I hate making them), we stock up on Clif bars when they go on sale. From both a health and cost perspective, we’d prefer something homemade.
One thing that we’ve taken to doing in the past year is buying gigantic bags of spinach. I always bought the organic plastic tubs, but one day my spouse came home with this *huge* bag that cost the same amount. I gave in on the organic front, as it’s literally four times as much food. The risk is that the big bag goes off, which it did a few times, becoming compost worm food, until we figured out a few ways to use it up when it’s about to die. Now we’re quite good about cooking it down with olive oil, garlic and salt, as a side, when it’s on the verge. It’s also easy to add chopped handfuls to stir fries, pasta sauce, etc. The good thing about food is once you get in the hang of a new habit, it’s easy to continue with it.
January 18, 2017 at 12:33 pm
My parents alive on green smoothies and they throw the Entire Bag of spinach straight I to the freezer when they get home from the store, then take what they want. That obviously wouldn’t work for salads, etc, but might save a half bag thats looking sketchy.
Jen says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:21 pm
We buy the big bags of mixed greens – spinach, kale, etc. and the big size of broccoli at Costco and I blend it with some whey from my homemade yogurt and freeze it in cubes. We throw them into our daily fruit smoothies. I found trying to use the greens fresh all week did not work as they didn’t last and I was throwing it out when it “turned”. Now I keep some out to use fresh and freeze the rest.
Mrs. Cheapheart says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:40 am
Eating in is just a matter of habit and practice. Mr. Cheapheart and I are in the food and wine business. In our breezy childless days we felt like we “had” to go out so we could be immersed in the new happenings in our industry. It sure was fun and it sure was expensive, and in the end, if you don’t choose carefully, you realize that you can make most meals better and healthier at home (plus you can eat them in your pajamas).
There is absolutely no excuse not to learn to cook. There is an endless wealth of information about how cook anything and everything on the internet. Serious Eats is a great resource. Ordering takeout does not “save time”. Poring over the menu, placing the call/entering your order, then being told that it will be a 45 minute wait (plus the fact that I can’t think of a single type of food that gets better as it hangs out in a takeout container) all for a pile of money. If I’m feeling lazy I upend a frozen block of pasta sauce or soup that I made and froze when I wasn’t feeling lazy and relax on the couch with a drink while it bubbles away. It is ready in half an hour.
Batch cooking is a true time/moneysaver and doing a soup and pasta sauce side by side is quite efficient since they are both based on celery, onion, carrots and garlic. Mr. Cheapheart and I banged out a big pot of lentil, sausage and kale soup and a pot of tomato sauce and meatballs in a half an hour. As they bubbled away, we enjoyed a beverage and then served ourselves up a two course meal, sampling a bit of each and tucked the rest safely away in our freezer for a rainy/lazy day.
Long ago, I gave Mr. Cheapheart the gift of a pizza making class at the awesome King Arthur Flour Baking Center (near you Frugalwoods!). It was not cheap, but it was nice to spend time together away from the baby and learn something new. Years of confidence in pizza making have certainly paid for that class many times over. The dough takes 5 mins to asssemble and 45 minutes in the bread machine (unstylish and very useful appliance, buy one used, people are always getting rid of them). Tastes way better, and is healthier and cheaper than delivery, plus the pride of doing it yourself is the best part!
Now, on to the bread machine: I’ve plugged them here before and I will plug them again. I have been encouraged to embrace them by two women I admire. You can assemble a loaf in10 minutes. Takes 2-4 hours of bread machine magic for a nice loaf of tasty homemade bread at a fraction of the cost. Bread is not cheap and if you don’t spend the extra $ on organic, it is full of some pretty shady ingredients. Once you become accustomed to eating homemade bread, the stuff out of the bag is pretty appalling. Better, healthier, cheaper. The “extra effort ” is just an excuse. I recommend the Panasonic YD-250, look on Craigslist or eBay.
Yogurt is another easy thing to make that is just a matter of practice, a million recipes on the internet and no special equipment required other than maybe a thermometer. For the price of a half gallon of milk I can have a half gallon of yogurt for 10 minutes active time. Lasts 2+ weeks in the fridge. Plus no stabilizers and gums. Better, healthier, cheaper, pride!
Now I’ve just got to get back into my yoga habit…
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:50 am
January 18, 2017 at 12:03 pm
For better nutrition and even more savings, have you considered milling your own flour? Most modern whole wheat flour is actually white flour with the germ added back later. It’s just not as healthy as true whole wheat flour.
Home mills are cheap, and you can mill anything you want- rye, oats, spelt etc.
Mrs. Cheapheart says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:27 pm
Is that a challenge @snowcanyon? I’ve thought about it and think you can mill grains in a vitamix, which I already have. I guess it’s time to stop thinking and start researching and doing.
January 18, 2017 at 2:33 pm
Lol. No. I use premilled flour, but I live near a local mill so it’s about the same price as commodity flour, but local and healthier. When I lived in the city I did not have this option!
King Arthur has a great website and they are customer-friendly, but their flour is mass-market and not particularly good, nor do they have all the varieties necessary for classic European-style unsweetened whole-wheat bread.
Mrs. Cheapheart says:
January 18, 2017 at 2:55 pm
You can mill flour in one minute in a vitamix! I will give it a try for sure. KAF has a beautiful teaching facility in Vermont that offers lots of great classes with state of the art equipment. I’m sure milling my own flour will be another revelatory experience, thanks for the encouragement.
S.G. says:
January 19, 2017 at 5:49 pm
What mill do you use?
Mrs. Cheapheart says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:22 pm
We live in Boston, but made a special trip, what a beautiful area!
Sarah says:
January 18, 2017 at 9:42 pm
I was just planning to mention that King Arthur chewy granola bars are the best. I make them weekly. The recipe calls for “sticky bun sugar” but I use regular sugar, and also cut it back to 1 cup for the recipe. It calls for 2-3 cups fruit and nuts, any combo, so it is good for remnants of bulk purchases. Also, I have subbed up to a cup of extra oatmeal for some of the nut/fruit and it works well, and is even cheaper. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chewy-granola-bars-recipe
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 19, 2017 at 9:24 am
Thank you! I LOVE King Arthur Flour recipes, so this sounds great! I really want something that’s low-sugar, so I’m glad to hear it works with less.
January 19, 2017 at 2:37 pm
And in a frugal win- we got our bread machine for free when a family member was moving. My husband likes to buy fancy premade bread mix (stoppppp) but I promised him I’d research some recipes to make our own!
Iris says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:44 am
If you can make split pea soup, you can make lentil. The primary difference is you WANT to cook the peas into oblivion, with lentils you generally want them to retain their shape. We love both. Leftovers are great. Random bits of leftover veggies can go into either. A dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top makes it seem more special, or a (very) little sherry.
Homemade pizza can also accommodate bits of leftovers. Also, if your bread machine claims you can’t make dough on a timer, play with it. If it’s got a you-program-it feature, you can for sure do it. One of mine in the distant past wouldn’t let you set the dough program on the timer, but the custom settings would.
Use leftover small pasta mixed with cheese or cheesy soup to create a ‘pizza shell’ in a greased pie plate or baking dish. Top with pizza-type toppings and heat in the oven. (I think this was originally from Campbell’s, pushing a cheese soup.)
Even if you don’t make your own yogurt, you can buy large containers of store brand plain and add whatever strikes your fancy. This means you also get less added sugar.
Frozen veggies when on sale can be a great find, especially for things not seasonal or not readily available in your area. Kroger often has “10 for $10” on their house brand, and that is the time to stock up.
And don’t forget smorgasbord night – pull all the little bit of leftovers out of the fridge, and fight – I mean negotiate – over who gets what.
I like to cook dry beans for chili. So cook a batch of beans (pinto or kidney), make some into chili, the rest into refried beans. Both freeze beautifully.
Explore vegetarian and vegan recipes to cut down on meat consumption. Don’t get bogged down in some of the contortions they go through for substitutions if you are neither, but you can learn a lot from them.
Also, don’t continue to cook things you don’t really like, because you think they are good for you. Find something else.
Chris says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:46 am
How Jen Does It is a great youtuber I love. She has a great granola bar recipe.
January 18, 2017 at 11:48 am
I really appreciate your note at the top about being sure to find your food priorities and then figure out how to frugalize (is that a word? Ha!) accordingly. We try really hard to buy organic and to be frugal. However, it’s also a huge priority of ours to cut our packaging waste. So sometimes we choose items like the milk in the reusable glass bottle, even though it’s a bit more expensive (but man is it good!) Even that though has changed our habits to encourage frugality. Because we buy expensive milk, we don’t drink milk (including our kids) except as a special treat. It’s only for cereal or as an oatmeal topping. So it’s great to think through options as you discover what is most important to your family.
JD says:
January 18, 2017 at 11:50 am
I really enjoyed this post, and thank you, thank you, for saying what I’ve always said and always got shot down for saying it — most coupons I see are for brand-name items, pre-packaged foods and items that, even with a coupon, cost more than the store brand. I kept hearing that people got coupons all the time for produce and meat and milk — I’m glad for them, but I sure never have. I don’t use coupons unless it’s for something I really was going to buy, coupon or not, and only if the generic brand is not cheaper still or not available.
I shop for probably 90-95% organic, locally when I can, and we grow some of our own produce organically as well. I follow many of the tips you gave, already, but somehow, seeing it in plain writing makes it impressed upon me to really watch how and what I buy. I know I can still reduce our food budget if I think more strategically. Thanks for the encouragement and reminders! I’m about out of freezer meals — time to get some more back in there.
One tip from me — if one has a pressure cooker/canner and maybe a water-bath or steam canner and a little time, some foods can be canned and thus don’t even have to be thawed. I have always canned green beans, peeled and cut sweet potatoes, baked beans, pear halves, some berries, pear sauce (we don’t have apples much in FL), pickles, including pickled okra, tomato sauce and whole or cut tomatoes. I work outside the home, full-time, so I do this on weekends or evenings — it can be done!
Iris says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:07 pm
I second your comments about coupons. The only exceptions to that will likely be from a local market. Kroger or Giant Eagle (central Ohio) will sometimes have coupons in the paper or their mailings for their house brand products (usually a good deal), or occasionally for produce.
January 18, 2017 at 11:53 am
Favorite go to meal during the week is garlic, onions, tomatoes, rice,shaved carrots, and jalepenoes. I throw in sweet red peppers and sometimes left over chicken. Saute in some olive oil and yummy. Babywoods is so darling!
Olga says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:06 pm
Thank you very much for the list! May I ask how long do you store the homemade food in the freezer and at what tempetature? We have a small freezer inside the refridgerator, not a separate freezer, and I am not how long cooked food will be good there. How long do you store food (soups, lunches) in the usual fridge and at what temperature? Do you maybe know if there are any safety rules in this respect? Thank you very much!
K says:
January 19, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Food stored below freezing will stay safe indefinitely, as bacteria cannot grow in freezing temperatures.
SJ says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:10 pm
I finally feel very secure in feeding my family and myself… it only took 10 years of trial and error! I mostly use BudgetBytes recipes these days and I’ll be honest, my kids don’t eat the same foods as I prepare for my husband or I. Their taste are so simple and so I make them the same 4 meals week after week (homemade pizza, bean and cheese quesadillas from home cooked beans, Mexican alphabet soup and mac & cheese) and only try to get them to taste our food. I have also learned about cutting down food waste by going through my kitchen once a week and putting stuff on the counter that needs to be used up… right now I have corn meal, a can of cream of chicken, a can of cream of mushroom, fried onions, apricot preserves and pie crust mix… all items gifted to me by my Buy Nothing Group. I make it a point to collect unwanted food items from my BN community and then build recipes around them. Last week we had salmon cakes and pumpkin pie because of my BN gifts. Next week I am planning green bean casserole, cardamon cornmeal cookies and a apricot coffee cake using this week’s collected items. My food bill is still not as cheap as others, but I think it has to do with geography. In general living on the west coast means that our costs are higher.
January 18, 2017 at 12:14 pm
My favorite (and kids’ favorite) granola bar recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/81298/playgroup-granola-bars/. I reduce the sugar to 1/3 c. and you can sub different types of flour and mix-ins (nuts, seeds, etc.)
Our biggest foods savings, besides raising some vegetables and chickens in the summer, comes from eating bone-in chicken. I can get it on sale for 69 cents per pound, or regularly around $1/pound. If you buy organic, it’ll be more, but it’s also an even better deal to go with whole chickens or bone-in pieces in that case. My $1/pound chicken is less expensive than canned beans, dairy, or eggs for equivalent serving of protein (though we eat all those others too, for nutrition & ease of preparation). I agree that being judicious about your proteins can make a huge difference. See calculations one protein price per serving here: http://www.pretendtobepoor.com/meat/
January 18, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Love the tips! We use most for our family of five healthy eaters–buy bulk raw ingredients, add beans and onions to everything to stretch it, slow cooker soups and stews, planned leftover meals, etc. We also finally invested in a pressure cooker, which is proving to be a game changer! Less temptation to give into take out or eat through our entire stash of freezer meals when you can cook beans in 30 min or frozen chicken in 10! We used to do more of our meal prep on weekends, but as the kids get older and have more activities popping up on weekends, it was getting hard to keep up with the prep. In the month since we added the pressure cooker to our rotation, we’ve successfully avoided take-out or freezer meals (which in all honesty need to be replenished at this point). Our other strategy is frittatas of every variety. Eggs are cheap, filling, and tasty, and a frittata can be filled with whatever leftovers/fresh veggies/other proteins you have lying around. It’s a great “disguise the random bits of things languishing in the fridge” meal!
Andria says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:17 pm
I’m not trying to trick you into being a food blogger, but do you have any tips for how to make home made hummus actually taste good? I’ve tried all kinds of methods–even taking the casing off all of the chickpeas once, but it always comes out super grainy and just not nearly as good as the store bought version.
Jody says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:26 pm
Do you make it in a high speed blender (like a Vitamix?) I never enjoyed homemade hummus made in the food processor, but in the Vitamix( or other comparable one) the texture is so much smoother.
Andria says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:17 pm
I have a Cuisinart food processor.
Kel says:
January 18, 2017 at 9:24 pm
Try adding more oil– you’ll want to blend everything together and then add a drizzle of oil at a time (pausing to scrape down the sides of the food processor if you need to) until you make it as creamy as you like it. In my experience the “low fat” type hummus is the grainy kind. Higher oil = creamier smoother texture.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 19, 2017 at 9:25 am
Good tip, Kel! That’s how Mr. FW makes it too.
January 18, 2017 at 12:37 pm
It’s all about blending for longer, each step of the way. I’ve also found that different beans are firmer than others. We bought canned beans from target most recently and they were super firm and make very chunky hummus. If you cook your own garbanzo beans, you can make sure to get them thoroughly softened first.
ks says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:44 pm
using a Vitamix or other powerful blender is the key those achieving smoothness for hummus or anything else you want to liquify/break down.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:17 pm
So Mr. FW uses a food processor, which blends it up super smooth.
Sara says:
January 18, 2017 at 2:17 pm
Are you using dried chickpeas? (which I personally think is superior) Is your water hard? Our new house has very hard water so I now use distilled water to cook my chickpeas and other beans. It makes a big difference with the texture of the chickpeas. I suffered though a year of horrible beans before I discovered water can make or break your beans and it is definitely worth the extra dollar for distilled water. Also, try adding baking soda to soaking/cooking the beans if the distilled water doesn’t work for you (although you might have already tried this) Good luck!
Andria says:
January 18, 2017 at 4:09 pm
I tried those once with no luck, so I went back to canned, though that may have been at my old apartment which had really hard water…. I may get some dried ones though and try out the crockpot method of soaking. I don’t want to give up on this! Dumber people than I have mastered homemade hummus!
January 18, 2017 at 9:22 pm
You might want to check out America’s Test Kitchen for how to correctly cook dried beans or anything else causing issues… If you’re not familiar with them, they do all the cool geeky science research behind what is actually physically & chemically happening with food…and figure out the most foolproof approach. They’re the folks behind Cook’s Illustrated. I’m a foodie and an engineer, so you could say I’m biased
January 18, 2017 at 7:43 pm
Otherwise, make sure you blend, blend, blend. I use a Cuisnart as well – it should get fluffy. Don’t skimp on olive oil. Make sure you have a little lemon juice in there. The grainy part makes me think you aren’t blending enough.
January 18, 2017 at 12:25 pm
Great post! I’m vegan and I hate when people say “oh, veganism is sooo expensive”. My food staples are potatoes/grains/rice, legumes and whatever fruits and veggies are in season. It’s really really inexpensive!
If you want to get all fancy with your hummus (because I like the taste the tahini adds to it), you can always make it yourself. And the bonus is that you can also use the sesame seeds for your homemade breads (which we do quite a lot).
January 18, 2017 at 12:26 pm
We fed our Demon Child the same way and I can report, three years on, that she is willing to eat just about anything. It’s about the only thing she’s ridiculously easy about. The kid asks for snacks of broccoli and fourth helpings of beans! We haven’t had really any instances of toddler pickiness. She’s started saying, “That sounds yucky,” lately (where did she pick this up so I can murder that person?!) but she eats it just fine.
The only other thing we’ve done (and you can’t do this yet because Babywoods isn’t quite old enough) is that we’ve gotten the Demon Child to cook with us. She’ll help cut veggies with a small knife (and adult hands holding hers), she stirs the pot, she bakes with me. It’s awesome. Not always the easiest thing, but she has a blast and I know I’m teaching her great skills.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:16 pm
Smart! Thank you for sharing! I’m sure Mr. FW will have her in the kitchen with him as soon as possible!
Lanae says:
January 19, 2017 at 2:14 pm
Isn’t it awesome having a foodie toddler? I used to indulge in my fair share of drive through but my toddler refuses to eat at any fast food restaurant, which has forced me to stop going to them because I can’t feed him from there so win win on my cholesterol levels and my wallet!
Craig says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:32 pm
Hey guys! Pretty excited to see “Good Eats” get dropped in the post. It just might be my all time favorite tv show!
One thing we’ve been doing more of is getting spices from your local Indian grocer. You’ll get literally 10x more for the same price as your big discount chain.
It’s great to see how great the move to VT is going for you !
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Good call on the spices! Come visit :)!
January 18, 2017 at 12:33 pm
Just wanted to share the link for my favorite granola bar recipe. My husband and I, and everyone we’ve served these to, has loved them.
One thing that has helped us consume more of our leftovers is packaging them in individual serving size containers. Then, when we need to grab food for lunch or dinner, we can just grab a meal out of the refrigerator and warm it up. It also helps to keep track of just how many servings of leftovers we have on hand, so we don’t cook more than we need to.
R says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:34 pm
We make and really like the America’s Test Kitchen granola bars from their first How Can It Be Gluten Free cookbook: https://howcanitbeglutenfree.com/downloads/sfs_granola-bars_028/ The ingredients can be purchased in bulk so you can make them over and over. We typically make a batch and it lasts us at least a week of snacking (2 adults + 1 kid).
The book itself is available at our library. Most of what is in there isn’t frugal (ATK isn’t really known for that!).
Heidi S says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:35 pm
As someone who lives in a city with limited grocery stores but TONS of restaurants I have had to work on this- especially since I have a LOT of severe food allergies (one epipen or ER visit is definitely more than my grocery bill!) so I have to be careful of what I eat. I love making soup from scratch and taking it to work, and buying basics rather than premade food. Something that I don’t think was mentioned is that a lot of grocery stores have online coupons that customize to what you buy- my grocery store regularly has $3 off $30, produce, milk, etc listed so I go online for a few minutes before I leave and save a bit that way. I also do use coupons a few times a year when I know basics like tp, paper towels, shampoo, etc will be on sale. The rest of the year I don’t waste time clipping coupons, and saving on basic toiletries and household goods leave me more money to spend on fresh produce or meat. Also, befriend your local butcher! I make stock for soup from scratch using chicken bones the butcher saves for me that are local and less than $1/lb- this is a lot healthier than boxed stock (and cheaper!).
Heidi says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:36 pm
Also, Babywoods makes an adorable little food model
ks says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:37 pm
Since BJ’s almost always has coupons for 2 pound hummus tubs, it really doesn’t make sense to DIY this staple when it costs $4 for this volume. BJ’s 3 pound roasted chickens are also a huge bargain – more food for less, even less than Wal*Mart’s smaller and more expensive roasted chickens. Easy protein source.
Kate says:
January 18, 2017 at 12:38 pm
Great list of tips and resources! I’ll be sharing this with friends and colleagues who love to read about frugal living and food frugalness. Thanks again for always impressing!
January 18, 2017 at 12:47 pm
A big key for me has been to reduce the thinking behind . . . well, everything. Every two weeks I put on a pot of dry beans to cook for two hours, and add seasonings and oil as they cook down. Then I scoop out half cup portions into lunch containers, let them cool, add cheap bulk frozen veggies, and shove all ten plus containers back in the freezer. At the beginning of every week, I portion out nuts in small containers for lunch, and oatmeal with cinnamon and chia and yogurt with honey for breakfast. All that’s left for me to do to ‘make’ breakfast or lunch each day is to grab the containers out of the fridge, freezer or cupboard, add hot water or microwave as needed, and take a couple pieces of fruit. The savings in time, money, and stress have been terrific. All I have to do is fend off the folks who think eating beans and oatmeal every day reflect a serious lack of imagination. : ) I’m busy imagining a long, healthy, full-funded retirement.
January 18, 2017 at 1:17 pm
Very thorough list to eating healthy while being frugal!
The things I don’t think about when grocery shopping are usually snacks, which I then tend to splurge out on because I feel a craving for sugar. I’ll start budgeting it and spending it on healthy and easy snack bites instead as they makes more sense than splurging out on snacks.
January 18, 2017 at 1:28 pm
Great article! My approach is similar, but I have yet to give up the semi-weekly meal out at UNO or one of our local establishments. You mentioned that you buy granola bars… I thought I would share this recipe for homemade granola bars, which I made recently and LOVED.
I changed a few things around, like adding toasted sesame seeds, pecans, walnuts, and I used sliced, skinless almonds instead of whole ones. Oh, and I added a tablespoon of butter and a little bit of salt to the mix. I toasted the oats and all the nuts first, which I think adds a nice flavor note. 15 minutes on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven. After cutting the bars, I kept them from sticking together by wrapping them in little pieces of waxed paper.
SharonW says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:29 pm
When I have had dinner failures…. hot sauce. We make what my husband calls salsa soup. Any bulk hot sauce you have can save a bad fish stew or similar.
Pamela says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:44 pm
I actually save up my scrap vegetables in a freezer bag in the freezer…when I have a couple full bags I make a batch of vegetable stock.
Tracey says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:51 pm
Love this post and your blog. You’re such a gifted writer: natural and spunky and with such heart. Compelled to leave a comment because truly, your photo & caption “these two…” is priceless.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 2:03 pm
Thank you! They love each other, especially when there’s food involved…
Karen says:
January 18, 2017 at 1:59 pm
Do you ever buy Frugalhound treats? Or do you make them homemade? I’ve made my dog homemade treats but I’m never sure how long to keep them around so I end up throwing some out or giving them away.
Dog treats are one of the food priorities in our house.
January 18, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Reading these comments I’m struck by how easy life is inodern America, and has been for generations, at least food-wise. My mother grew up in wartime Europe and these were lessons necessary for life, not just lifestyle.
January 18, 2017 at 2:37 pm
Great post! We are currently working on less packaged food. More of a health choice than frugality actually.
I will say you are lucky with your little ones eating habits. My oldest daughter has always been a great eater. My 2-yr old toddler on the other hand has definite sensory issues and won’t eat very much at all. We are working with an occupational therapist to expand her horizons. Unfortunately feeding your kids is not always as straightforward as one might think.
Lindsey says:
January 18, 2017 at 2:43 pm
Fresh veggies are usually cheaper than most packaged options, you can get a lot of vegetables and fruit for less than it would be for prepackaged foods
Cheryl says:
January 18, 2017 at 2:50 pm
The best part of this extremely informative article is the picture of Houndlett licking food off of Babylett. Yes, you have been upstaged by the younger generation.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 3:44 pm
Laurie says:
January 18, 2017 at 3:03 pm
My desire to eat gourmet food often was my incentive to learn to cook. The restaurant scene in Vancouver was vibrant (and expensive!) so I began researching recipes. 10 years later, and no kids, I’m glad to say my husband believes I can cook almost anything better than any restaurant can.
And, of course, the savings have been incredible.
Because food is our hobby, we have no problem with sourcing great ingredients, eating out and generally spending most of our variable income on food.
Having said that, there are plenty of things we happily do without to fund that one particular lifestyle choice.
It all works out, and we get to have our (gluten free/sugar free) almond raspberry lemon cake, and eat it, too!
February 5, 2022 at 8:35 pm
Me too. My wife makes the best food.
NNN says:
January 18, 2017 at 3:11 pm
Your discussion about babywoods and healthy eating reminds me of our toddler. He’s going through a berry phase right now, where all he wants to eat is berries (blue, black or ras- are all acceptable!). It works for me if that’s what he wants!
On another note, you can freeze flour. I freeze my whole wheat flour to keep it fresh longer, which lets me buy larger bulk amounts than I could use in the normal run of things before it went bad.
Elaina D Barbaree says:
January 18, 2017 at 3:34 pm
I love this post. Your column has helped me so much in changing my mind-set towards frugality.
All of your ideas are great and the remark that you need to “expect the unexpected” is right on. But, may I point out, there are also things you CAN expect. Not to get too personal, but, every month there are a few days that come where I know I will not be cooking. The week before, since I’m ridiculously timely in that regard, I buy a few things that my husband and son (18yo) can prepare easily. Like spaghetti, really any type of pasta, with a package of frozen veggies to go along with it. I can be in bed resting and I know they’re not going to order in or fetch fast food because it would be just as quick to prepare what I have ready for them. They’re easy going fellas so a sandwich for dinner isn’t out of the realm of possibility too but I do try to have something partially prepared for them since they pick up the slack for me during those few days. The frozen dinners would be wonderful but, as I mentioned, I have an 18 year old son with a full-time job who devours any and all leftovers; either a few hours after I’ve made them or the next morning for breakfast. He takes them for lunch too so I never seem to have any full dinners around for those occasions. I do plan on working that in though so thanks for the ideas. We have been able to keep our groceries to around $550 for the three of us for several months now. A huge leap from the $800 or more that I was spending before starting the frugal journey! We eat out rarely partly because the guys say it’s hard to find a place that makes better food than I do. *blush* So it’s a real treat and we plan well for it.
January 19, 2017 at 1:03 pm
Would your son honor labels that say “dinner tomorrow” or “emergency meal”, especially if you can also label some leftovers “snacks” or make unlabeled foods free access?
The Green Swan says:
January 18, 2017 at 5:05 pm
We have many of the same tactics. We stay regimented with our grocery shopping (always on the weekend and always one trip per week). We compile the list as we go throughout the week (adding items as we use them up or think of recipes to make). Little ones do throw a wrench in there, but if you continually expose them to a variety of foods the hope is they will enjoy eating the same food we do (which we’re successful with majority of the time).
LauraMac says:
January 18, 2017 at 6:25 pm
Thank you for all the great posts on grocery expenses! Like you, I’ve also been blessed with a spouse who cooks magically delicious meals and taught me to love Costco. (We do love those Costco pizzas!)
Grocery budgeting is a fun challenge, but the other big killer of flexible expenses for me is non-food consumables: toiletries, paper goods, disposables (I have cut down our plastic consumption drastically, but sometimes you just need freezer bags for frozen meals!), cleaning supplies, batteries and other random things. We try to buy as much of this in bulk as possible, but it’s still crazy how much it costs. (So. Many. Toiletries.) Do you have any advice on these, or could you point me to a post on it? (I know you’ve mentioned some of these categories, i.e. not wearing makeup and getting LASIK.) I would love a comprehensive post on non-food consumables in the same vein as your grocery posts.
I’m a newcomer to your blog and completely hooked, by the way. I love your writing! Thank you!
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 18, 2017 at 7:10 pm
Good question and not something I’ve covered! So, real quick: I make my own cleaning solution (half white vinegar, half water), and I buy other household goods wherever they’re cheapest (I price check between BJ’s, Wal-Mart, and Amazon). And, like you mentioned, there’s a lot of stuff we just don’t do or buy (such as make-up, hair dye, perfume, body wash, etc). We also try to use re-usable products as much as possible. For example: our glass tupperware gets used over and over again, I store our bread wrapped in a tea towel, I use rags instead of paper towels. And I buy stuff when it’s on sale–the cheapest toilet paper on earth (at BJ’s and Costco) goes on sale for $3 off every 2 months–hence, I buy it then. Same for our shampoo–when it’s on sale, I buy it then! We also invest when it makes sense, such as in re-chargeable batteries, low-energy-use lightbulbs, etc. I hope this helps!
January 18, 2017 at 7:49 pm
Our power company lets us order LED lights at a HUGE discount. Check and see if yours does.
Coconut oil makes a divine moisturizer. I also make a whipped body butter I love for winter (coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and almond oil in equal proportions, chilled and whipped).
January 19, 2017 at 3:55 pm
I make a whipped body butter too with those same ingredients! Smells heavenly! Did you get from the Trash is Tossers website, like me? I’ve also made deodorant too, it really works!
January 18, 2017 at 9:52 pm
Frugal weirdo toiletry tip: try Tibetan crystal deodorant! They’re not expensive, and I’ve been using the same one for 3.5 years, and still going strong. It’s not an antiperspirant, but I’m not a super sweaty person, so it works well for me!
CJ says:
January 18, 2017 at 6:26 pm
Non-sucky granola bar recipe: (Basically this is Nigella Lawsons) 1 bag of bob’s apple granola, a handful of walnuts (or other nuts), I can of condensed milk. Mix previous. Press into a baking sheet. Bake. Slice. Enjoy.
Adventures with Poopsie says:
January 18, 2017 at 6:30 pm
I tend to think we have the food thing down, but even I picked up some great tips here! I also really enjoyed how long it was, much longer than you usually write. More Frugalwoods is a good thing in my book!
As always, Babywoods is insanely cute! I’m impressed with her palate too!
January 18, 2017 at 6:32 pm
Great post, and I’ve already gleaned some excellent tips from the comments!
My current frugal boss move is to make a giant egg bake for the week. I gather all the wilty sad looking produce from my fridge, and all the random meal leftovers I didn’t eat the previous week, cut up and onion, maybe some random spices, and throw it all together in a 9×13 baking dish. I top with whatever bits and bobs of cheese are still hanging about, then 12 beaten eggs. Pop ‘er in the oven at 350F for 35 minutes, and YAY, breakfast for six days (it’s just me) and no food waste!
So far I’ve been very surprised that it’s tasted great. This week’s is leftover chicken/rice with salsa verde, a bunch of carrots/celery/potatoes that were previously roasted, three baby peppers, cheddar, and paprika on top of the eggs. Yum!
January 18, 2017 at 6:55 pm
Love this post! Forgive me if someone asked and you already answered – what’s your best source for bulk organic whole grains? I have bought barley, millet, buckwheat, wheat berries, amaranth, and more at Whole Foods and is just insanely expensive. I would love to source these great grains online and see big box. Any suggestions?
January 10, 2019 at 7:46 pm
I buy mine at the local grain elevators; wheat berries, oats, rye and corn. Just notice when and what the farmers are harvesting to determine when to stop at the elevator. You can not pick up oats when they are harvesting wheat!
January 18, 2017 at 6:59 pm
We eat a lot like you do Mrs. Frugalwoods – We buy raw items in bulk and don’t eat a lot of meat. We rarely eat out. It makes a huge difference in our food budget, but we do splurge on the specialty ingredients to make yummy Asian dishes.
Call it a vice, but we like to eat yummy stuff, not just blindly consuming calories.
Flavor matters, and I think it’s part of living a great life. So we pay a little extra for that good life.
Cindi says:
January 18, 2017 at 7:20 pm
Such great advice all around. We had split pea soup last night and there is enough in the freezer for several meals. I had exactly one bowl’s worth left after I poured it into our freezer containers, so that will be my lunch tomorrow — because — must eat leftovers! I want to give another thumbs up for freezer meals. They have saved me so many times. Monday I got home from a weekend out of town and we had lasagna from the freezer. (I make 3 at a time — still one left!) Today we skied all day and came home tired and famished. There was a time this would have meant order pizza or Chinese take-out, but I had thawed a chicken and noodle casserole before we left. That and some steamed broccoli will make a great meal. We are also big on packing lunches for road trips and anytime we will be away at lunch time. We prefer a homemade sandwich (with homemade bread!) to fast food, and so does our bank account.
Miranda says:
January 18, 2017 at 7:28 pm
Food is hard for me, since I have 14 allergies. They’re all healthy foods, and many of them are the cheap staples. Onions, garlic, rice, wheat, oats, eggs, peanuts, etc.
That does mean that I never eat out, which is budget friendly. I buy only raw food, in bulk when I can. I usually have 2 smoothies a day because I don’t like trying to modify recipes into something I can eat. It’s healthly, but produce adds up quick.
January 18, 2017 at 8:02 pm
I have a friend who has a severe corn allergy along with concurrent related food allergies. Having seen firsthand what it took to make sure her kitchen isn’t contaminated and what it takes to eat out in the U.S., I can sympathize with you!
cathy says:
January 19, 2017 at 12:26 pm
Both my kids have multiple food allergies , (including wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, nuts, peas/lentils, dairy) and one has Oral Allergy Syndrome as well. So totally hear ya about how hard it can be dealing with food. I’m also starting to feel really fortunate as I read all the comments where people are trying to break their habits of eating out so much. Like you, that’s never an option for us. There’s never a night where I can say “I’m really not up for cooking, let’s go out.” When you say you don’t like to modify recipes, though, have you tried just making stuff that doesn’t require modification? For instance, I’m baking a butternut squash and some yams right now. Most of the squash will be the main ingredient in soup. I have one kid who’s vegetarian, so I usually use water, but you could use chicken or veg stock/broth. I season with herbs, a little bit of salt, and a dash of chipotle chili, but you could use anything and could make it more sweet than spicy.If you can’t have sugar, you could add apple or carrots. I guess what I’m saying is that if the recipe doesn’t need your allergens to begin with, then you don’t have to modify. Also, are you familiar with the Allergen-free Baker’s Handbook by Cybele Pascal? It’s really good and everything is made w/o the top 8 allergens or sesame. You would have to skip the few that involve oats.
January 18, 2017 at 7:43 pm
This is my favorite homemade granola bar.
January 18, 2017 at 7:46 pm
If you’re busy and you like homemade food and you *gasp* can’t eat leftovers all week or the siren song of takeout will be too loud (I know myself well) – get an electronic pressure cooker (I have an instant pot). Yes, it’s a kitchen gadget – but mine has paid for itself many times over in just a few months. Potatoes in 15 minutes, brown rice in 22. Beans, lentils, kale, soup – no more standing over the stove – dump in and set.
Joy says:
January 18, 2017 at 7:52 pm
Love these tips. We put on a “root soup” in the crockpot overnight, the rice cooker is making a new batch of quinoa–it’s an induction cooker and saves money on electricity, and a huge pot of split pea soup is on the simmer. I have brown basmati rice frozen in pint-sized packets for quick meals, too, plus lots of quart-sized soups and stews ready. Our biggest food priority is eating healthy fish sourced in the most environmentally responsible way. So we invest in shipping 120 pounds of wild-caught Alaskan salmon every year, plus 80 cans of sockeye for salmon salad and fish patties. Some people buy a side of beef, we buy Alaskan salmon and follow a Native American version of the Mediterranean Diet, which is a little seafood, lots of greens and vegetables, and some nuts, beans, legumes, and a few grains.
Julie says:
January 18, 2017 at 7:53 pm
Wait, wasn’t there a post awhile back where you were going to start doing more cooking?
That quinoa bowl looks yum! Do you scramble the egg? I’d like a fried egg for the runny yolk.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 19, 2017 at 9:40 am
Moi? Cook? Did I really say that?!? Must have been a moment of delusion (was I pregnant at the time?). The thing is that Mr. FW is really good at cooking and he enjoys it, whereas me, not so much on either of those. If I absolutely had to cook, I would. But I prefer to clean and do the laundry while he manages all things culinary :).
Hannah says:
January 18, 2017 at 8:16 pm
Have you considered purchasing an instant pot? Worth every penny in my opinion. I use it to make yogurt, rice, quinoa, and so on. I currently have frozen chicken breasts in there that will cook up in 15 minutes flat. It helps me avoid to the temptation to buy takeout and premade foods because it is so quick and easy to use.
Ps I’ve been following the principles of some of your food posts and we are on track to save over $100 on our food bill this month! Thanks!
Jen says:
January 19, 2017 at 12:11 am
Yes, I agree the Instant Pot is great!! I make yogurt, soups, stews, and breakfast and lunch preps for the week. It’s a huge timesaver for me.
Laura says:
January 19, 2017 at 7:57 am
After considerable research, and hemming and hawing, I finally purchased an instant pot for many of the same reasons. They’re not cheap by any means, but this was one purchase I felt made a lot of sense from a frugality and healthy eating standpoint.
LauraMac says:
January 19, 2017 at 1:29 pm
If you watch for deals on Amazon, occasionally the Instant Pot is on sale for $70. (As opposed to $119 or $130). Totally worth it! One big purchase we feel has paid us back tenfold.
Kel says:
January 18, 2017 at 9:38 pm
On the granola bars, I haven’t had much success and gave up (we don’t really buy granola bars either though, every so often for a road trip will pick up a box but they aren’t a regular purchase). A friend, however, makes them regularly and said the secret is brown rice syrup. She buys it from a co-op grocery store, it seems to be the kind of thing you either find at a health food store or at an Asian supermarket. It’s used in a lot of commercial granola bars because it holds them together but remains soft, giving them that chewy texture. So if you use brown rice syrup as your sweetener you’ll have a more “store bought” feel to them. Worth a shot!
My best frugal tip for meat is chicken leg quarters– we far prefer dark meat for how flavorful it is, and you can’t beat the price on leg quarters. Around here, regular price is about 59-69¢ a pound, but every so often they go on sale for 39-49¢ a pound and I buy the max the store will allow. I bake them, shred off whatever meat I can, and then turn the bones (lots of bones!) into broth. I priced it out as being about 50 cents per quart of broth made to store-bought strength, though I do reduce it for the freezer to save space. Compared to a box of broth for $2, that’s a great deal. And that’s just counting the broth I get out of it which is my primary goal as a soup-lover– the shredded meat is a bonus that I’m not even using in that calculation. The meat is useful for soup, casseroles, chicken salad, etc.
Other protein– the cut of meat called top blade steaks, or Spencer steaks in the midwest, or flat iron steaks. All the same. They are usually rather thin cut, oblong shape well-marbled meat with a line of gristle down the middle. You can eat around the gristle if you don’t like it (I don’t mind it) but the meat is amazing. It’s more flavorful and more tender than filet mignon, and usually runs $4-5 a pound. So it’s pretty much the cheapest steak dinner you can get. The other cut I get is called chuck eye, only one of my local grocery stores carries it. It’s also around $4-5 a pound, and is as good as ribeye but strangely shaped.
Oh, and salmon– if you have Aldi, they have frozen salmon fillets, wild caught and boneless/skin on, for $3.75/lb! I use that to make homemade cured salmon, aka lox. Can’t beat that price. It isn’t difficult to do, and the results are great. I’ve used a few different methods. We also use that salmon to make salmon sandwiches, basically eaten just like a burger with a piece of salmon instead of beef. Each piece is about ¼ lb so a sandwich runs about a dollar.
July 3, 2019 at 6:14 pm
Can you provide a recipe for the cured salmon? It’s one of those things I often have cravings for, but it’s always crazy expensive so I only have it as an occasional treat.
January 18, 2017 at 11:23 pm
Great post. We have a lot in common when it comes to food and groceries. My wife and I buy mostly whole foods, and organic when it matters. What we put into our bodies is very important to us. Sure we splurge every now and then on unhealthy food, but we keep it to a minimum.
Making meals ahead saves us big time during the week. Our freezer is often full of meals we prepared on the weekends, bags of tomato sauce cooked from tomatoes from my wife’s garden, etc. After a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is think about making food. Having something frozen that I can heat up is a life saver during the week.
January 18, 2017 at 11:29 pm
I loved reading this article! Grocery shopping for healthy food is definitely a challenge when you’re on a tight budget! Also, I have 100% learned my lesson from going grocery shopping when I am hungry (I bought WAY more food than I actually needed)!
January 19, 2017 at 1:48 am
Hey guys, Apart from all the great tips from Mrs. Frugalwoods, I have a great tip I came up with while shopping for groceries. Say NO to one of the products in your cart! Put SOMETHING BACK at the end of each shopping session! OK, after you’ve written your shopping list, bought everything on it, take a second look at your cart and just put back ONE single ingredient you think you can live without in the following week. I have done that several times, and as expected, when I got home I realized that indeed I didn’t need that product. I am saying this because I, as probably many of you, love to just throw in ingredients or foods that we love, that are not necessarily cheap nor healthy. 1. It saves you money 2. You’ ll really see what you can or cannot do without in your kitchen.
B. Lyman says:
January 19, 2017 at 4:11 pm
What a super, easy way to save money on groceries. It’s something simple I could do that wouldn’t take a lot of self-discipline. Thanks so much the the great tip.
January 19, 2017 at 3:09 am
I really love spinach rice (greek recipe “spanakorizo”) . Being cheap,tasty, healthy +easy to make, it has everything! If spinach is cheap in your area you should really try it out!
Loretta says:
January 19, 2017 at 3:20 am
So much great information here. I would just like to add that condiments are a frugal person’s friend. A cheese sandwich tastes so much nicer with a good green tomato chutney, or dill pickle. And it is very empowering (not to mention cheap) to make your own. My homemade mango chutney is streets ahead of any of the sugary commercial stuff, and a lot spicier too:-) When a friend gave me a free bag of nectarines I made chutney out of those as well. Making sweet cucumber pickle is so quick and easy, and I felt so stupid for believing canning/perserving was difficult.
PS Totally off-topic, but we gave our greyhound puppy the empty peanut butter jar to lick this morning and she was in seventh heaven:-) No need to wash out the container for recycling.
January 19, 2017 at 7:29 am
I have AdBlocker After I read through the whole article there were Zero Ads blocked. This is the first time I ever saw this. Way to go frugalwoods.com
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 19, 2017 at 9:08 am
Leah says:
January 19, 2017 at 7:52 am
RE: cooking, I completely thank the Food Network. My parents did teach me plenty, mostly about the importance of home-cooking and having food on the table every night. But I don’t love a lot of what I grew up eating, and I’ve branched out a lot since then. From the Food Network watching, I learned a lot about how to do different techniques, like butterflying a chicken breast (helps avoid the super thick and bland problem). So, we’ll batch cook chicken one night and then find ways to use it other nights to help us save time. Sometimes, I do one sauce in a big thing (a Le Cruset or a casserole dish or pyrex). The other night, I used smaller ones and did two different sauces, but it gave me three nights worth of dinners where all we had to do was prepare a side veggie.
Meal planning helps us a lot to avoid the “let’s just go out” dilemma. And, honestly, I find going out doesn’t really save time when I’m busy — it just saves effort. In the hour+ it takes to go out, I can usually cook, eat, and clean if I have energy.
January 19, 2017 at 8:23 am
What are some of your favorite brands of box wines and styles-cabernet, merlot? I don’t want to spend a lot of money trying out different types but I really like the idea of being able to have a glass here and there and not worrying about the wine going bad.
January 19, 2017 at 8:27 am
I was wondering, do you guys have an opinion on the zero waste movement? I love your recommendation of buying carrots en masse from BJs, however, I personally probably wouldn’t do that because those carrots would come wrapped in a plastic bag. Same with granola bars–I would probably make a ton of Angela Liddon’s Glo Bar before buying a huge box of Nature Valley granola bars.
You guys have offered a ton of great zero waste options–Sodastream, make coffee at home, make hummus or bread by hand. I’m just curious to know if zero waste is something you have consciously thought of or are considering to transition to in order to make your homestead more environmentally sustainable.
LX says:
January 19, 2017 at 10:00 am
Your article gave some great advice but I had to laugh out loud when you suggested hummus and veggies is enough for dinner. My husband would absolutely freak out! It was the only part I thought was completely unrealistic expectations and points to why you guys are so thin and America as a whole is overweight. Eating whole homemade food in small quantities and snacking on fruits and veggies is what the majority of American would call a diet!
January 19, 2017 at 12:12 pm
I made the epic-ly frugal lunch recipe yesterday. Eating it while I type. Curious as to the use of canned black beans vs. buying bulk?
January 19, 2017 at 12:58 pm
Great post, Ms.FW. For folks looking for cheap recipes, I’ve found a (free!) PDF cookbook designed for those living on SNAP benefits (food stamps). https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf
January 19, 2017 at 1:50 pm
This post was very informative. I agree that bringing snacks and your lunch to work can save you SO much money. There are several people at my office that eat out every day or go pick up fast food. I drink the free coffee at work and if I don’t want that, I keep flavor packets in my desk to put in water (not a fan of plain water with no ice/bubbles/flavor). We also purposefully make too much food for dinner so that we can have leftovers for lunch the next day. My husband and I also like to drink alcohol, but we limit that to the weekends now because it is so expensive. We are doing the low carb diet so I have to limit wine intake. My favorite drink is a chilton (club soda, lemon, salt, and vodka).
Lanae says:
January 19, 2017 at 2:23 pm
Food has always been my struggle. I love food and spend way too much money satisfying cravings and experiments. I’ve gotten better since I began my frugal journey. I’m glad you posted a picture of the oats you buy because I’ve been trying to figure out which brand to buy in bulk!
Here’s my granola recipe. I make a batch of this every Sunday and eat throughout the week. They are great for work, hikes, and post run/yoga. I also pack them when my toddler and I are running errands to keep hunger at bay.
1 cup oatmeal (I see you have a 50 lb bag there…)
1/2 cup nut butter (I use peanut butter most often but also do almond butter)
2/3 cup coconut flakes (I leave this out if I don’t have coconut)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I usually forget to put this in and they’re still tasty)
The base of this is the nut butter and oats, and you can really play around with the rest. I sometimes add dried fruit or chopped nuts to it. If I find chia seeds on sale I will add a tablespoon of those. It’s super versatile.
Mix all ingredients together (your hands will work better than a spoon) and then mold into a glass dish and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Cut into the portions you want. I keep these in the fridge all week and take out as I want to eat them. You can also just mix all ingredients in a bowl, refrigerate, and then mold into balls.
January 19, 2017 at 3:53 pm
January 19, 2017 at 2:33 pm
Canned soup is our luxury item because it’s still cheaper than going out to eat and doesn’t go bad in the fridge. I don’t eat meat so I like to buy some chicken or beef options for my husband to munch on if he’s craving something different. I grew up with my mother canning and making us healthy food, and unfortunately I’m a sugar fiend and hate most cooked vegetables as a result. I am getting better (I eat red sauce!) but I don’t think I’ll ever start canning myself…
I’m working on eating more from home and resorting less to going out. I’m proud to say we rarely get takeout but we love our weekly dinners out. We have reduced it to every other week.
Our friends also love to host and vice versa. We pick a theme and everyone brings dish. My favorite is “Chinese food” which is usually everyone’s favorite mix of Asian recipes. It’s way healthier than takeout and though the recipes can be elaborate, it’s cheaper than dinner for 6 people out. We also do grilled pizza in the summer which is a steal! I’d rather spend $40 on food for a large party than go out to eat and spend $60+ depending on where we go.
B. Lyman says:
January 19, 2017 at 2:49 pm
Here’s a recipe I made up last year for protein bars:
2 cups old fashioned oats (uncooked) ground up in a blender
6 Dove Dark chocolates chopped medium fine (one of life’s little pleasures!)
3 T coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup dried milk powder
Mix everything together until blended and bake in a well-buttered 9″ pie plate at 325 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes 12 wedges at approximately 220 calories each. Don’t use margarine to butter the pie plate.
B. Lyman says:
January 19, 2017 at 4:23 pm
I forgot to mention that this makes a chewy and not a crispy protein bar.
A yummy oatmeal variation is what I call my banana bread oatmeal. Add 1/2 of a banana (chopped up), maybe 6 pecan halves broken into pieces (Costo pecans are the least expensive) and some nutmeg and cinnamon. Cook as usual. I always cook my oatmeal in the microwave. It won’t boil over if you cook it at 50% power and if you make sure the bowl is big enough. In the past few months I’ve been making my oatmeal with 1/2 milk and 1/2 water. It tastes so much better and you don’t need to put any milk on top when you eat it.
Deb says:
January 19, 2017 at 3:07 pm
Great post and comments, too. The only thing I would add is that once in a while I’ll shop at an ethnic food market and score super deals. For example, I bought a bag of fresh turmeric for a few bucks at an Indian store. Compared to the health food store super cheap. It freezes perfectly. At Asian stores, I get teas for much cheaper.
Andreia says:
January 19, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Hi, I’ve been following your blog and we already follow many of your tips but there is something that we have trouble with, which is the fact that we live in a tiny (~35m2/375ft2) apartments with a small fridge and a tiny freezer compartment so we end up cooking almost every night (we’re in Ireland, by the way, where apartments are costly and small). We have been doing it for years and have no children. We try to do bigger portions so as to do multiple lunch meals (which we take for our respective offices) and soups for most dinners of the week. Do you have any other ideas come to mind? Thank you very much and keep writing!
January 20, 2017 at 9:47 am
Have you thought to purchase (garage sale) a pressure canner?. I pressure can all my soups, chili’s etc so I have a pantry full of ” fast meals”.
Robin says:
January 19, 2017 at 4:43 pm
Smitten Kitchen has a recipe for great granola bars. You can use whatever nuts or dried fruit you have on hand.
February 2, 2017 at 7:59 pm
This is my go-to for granola bars. It’s very versatile! And not too sweet and sticky.
January 19, 2017 at 6:26 pm
Boiled eggies are da bomb:
Bring water to boil
Gently add a dozen eggs
Boil 6 minutes
Put in fridge
January 19, 2017 at 7:55 pm
Similar to above, we call them power balls not granola bars: 1/4 c. honey; 1/2 c. nut butter (usually peanut and almond)/ 1 c. rolled oats; mix together and roll into balls. Store in fridge and grab when you need them. I usually add 2-3 T of flax seed meal for omega-3s and vitamins. Can add choc chips, coconut flakes, raisins, etc. But I usually make them plain. My kids LOVE them. Like granola bars, they have sweetener, so we consider them a treat-like snack/lunch.
January 19, 2017 at 10:52 pm
I have a great granola bar recipe that’s really easy. The recipe is on my website. They’re no bake, and they freeze great. I cut them into bars and freeze each bar. They thaw quickly, like by the time you’d get to work or get ready in the morning.
January 20, 2017 at 9:45 am
I totally agree that finding a workable granola bar recipe is tough. What I do is make loose granola to top our homemade yogurt.. I like the crunch it brings to the meal.
January 20, 2017 at 12:46 pm
I have found that it is much easier to save on groceries, eat clean and healthy and not to throw away food when ordering all food via e-shop. For few months now I have planned our meals (family of 4), ordered the stuff online and my husband just went to pick up the prepacked goods from store. Much less destraction and impulse bought items, much better planning and lots of saved time.
P.S- where we live it is free of charge to preorder and pick up groceries.
January 20, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Excellent post! I love that you keep weeknights simple. That is something I try and do also. I also try and keep Thursday nights a slow cooker meal and Friday nights for leftovers so I know I’ll be ready to relax and play with the kiddo more those nights.
As for granola bars. I love having a simple snack and this recipe has been my go-to for years. I double the batch and put it in a 9×13 pan and leave it in the fridge. Out family of 3 can polish off a pan in a week or so and they taste simply amazing on top of a little bit of plain greek yogurt.
January 21, 2017 at 10:59 am
I have a great granola bar recipe. I just mostly just wing it.
sometimes I put organic rice crispies or rice/kamut puffs in there too
Sam says:
January 21, 2017 at 2:17 pm
Looks like you guys do consistent lunch and breakfast and then a more varied dinner. Great strategy.
At the end of the day, spending perhaps 15% more on healthier foods will pay off when it comes to spending less on healthcare.
Jamie says:
January 21, 2017 at 7:03 pm
I would love to hear more about how you make your hommus.
January 22, 2017 at 12:40 pm
January 24, 2017 at 10:04 am
We are in Milwaukee, so we shop on Sundays during the Packers game. It is like a ghost town. Just don’t try to go an hour before, it will be mobbed!
Stuart @ Epic Quiver says:
January 27, 2017 at 1:11 am
Do you have an average cost per meal per person that you try to maintain? For 2017 we are shooting for an average of $2.67 per person per meal. We are mostly utilizing the recipes link from BlueApron, but rather than use their service we go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients ourselves.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 27, 2017 at 11:18 am
No, we don’t usually calculate our meals out anymore–we used to, but now we just rely on our frugal standbys and pantry to see us through. I think that type of optimization is awesome when you’re first starting out with frugal eating. I’m just too lazy to continue doing it
Jenna says:
January 28, 2017 at 10:43 pm
This might sound like an odd one but it worked for me and when I pointed it out to my colleague she noted the cost savings too.
I rarely eat meat but when I do I eat halal meat. We have a very large Muslim community in my city – large enough that there is a section at the grocery store for the halal meats and products (in a very basic sense like kosher for Jewish).
The overall price point is different and when they do markdowns they are more substantial.
I have similarly found that when buying things like tahini a jar or huge jars of roasted peppers that would have been $10 in the regular aisle – if I’m willing to buy it in an unrecognized ethnic brand likely in the original language – I can buy it for $3.50 or $2.00.
Eva says:
January 30, 2017 at 8:23 pm
Food has always been my easiest area to tackle with frugality. And I swear, even though I’ve been doing it for 6+ years (since husband and I embarked out on our own) I learn something new ALL the time. Some of my tried and true methods
When making a grocery list, I first write down everything I’m going to buy based on what I need to restock and what I’m cooking that week. I then go back and write a new list, re-ordering my items based on my path around the store. I’ve been to my store enough times to know where almost everything is located (to the point where I may throw an internal tantrum when they move stuff around for “streamline purposes” or whatever they wish to call it). If you are NOT familiar with your store, ask customer service for a map. Seriously, most grocery stores have a map.
Anyway, write your items down in an order from door to register in one straight trip. This cuts down on weaving back and forth between aisles you’ve been down, cutting through aisles you have no business being down (soda & candy! unless it is ON your list, which it usually only is on mine if it’s the free coupon of the week deal). I have saved SO much by doing this because I am a HUGE compulsive buyer and my persuasive snack side is far stronger than my practical frugal side. So if I just avoid it altogether, there’s no worry.
The other thing I do is buy whole raw chicken. Out grocery store usually has them for .99/lb (sometimes even .88/lb in which case I buy 3 and throw two in the freezer) I buy one, cook it (a little olive oil and some no salt seasoning I got from a neighbor on Buy Nothing) and we have roast chicken one night. With the leftovers, I can usually squeeze out 2-3 more chicken meals that are all cheap. Then with the bones, I make my own chicken stock and throw that in the freezer for other meals. I tend to roast chicken once a week and then rotate through about 6 or 7 different chicken soups/pastas/other dishes every week until we’re chickened out. It’s great because for about $5-6 I can get easy protein for a good 4+ meals. When my freezer starts to overflow with chicken stock, we just have chicken soup. I make the stock, but after straining out the bones, I just add onions, carrots, rice (or whatever tiny pasta is in the cupboard). Served with some homemade bread and it’s SO great for cold winter nights, especially when the kids are feeling a little run down from all the fun school germs they bring home.
Last, ask if your store has markdown sections. Ours regularly has a bread markdown (randomly located in one of the frozen food aisles….yeah), a meat markdown stuffed in the corner of the meat department, and a shelf goods markdown randomly located in grocery carts placed in the middle of “sale” displays…you know the ones that are still more expensive than regularly priced store brands. I make it a point to always browse these. I don’t always walk away with something, but a lot of times, I’ll find some great things that I usually buy marked WAY down. A steak marked down to $3 that I made awesome jerky out of (beats the insanely priced bags), a giant box of fruit snacks marked down to $2 because they were Halloween themed and it was a few days after the fact. It was about 4 times the amount I usually buy for my daughter for only about half a dollar more.
January 31, 2017 at 12:17 am
Excellent guide. Thanks. I wonder what do the Frugalwoods use to store some of the bulk items, such as the big bags of oatmeal, quinoa, etc.?
I have been buying higher volume items, such as big bags of brown rice from my Chinatown store near work, and I am unsure if everything needs to be in an “airtight” container. Those airtight ones are a bit more expensive and I don’t know if there’s a cheaper alternative? Thanks again.
Mrs. Frugalwoods says:
January 31, 2017 at 9:12 am
We store our oats in these containers.
February 5, 2017 at 3:29 pm
Homemade bread is also a good place to add good stuff. Flax seeds are good for you with omega-3 & fibre & can substitute for the oil/butter you use. Ground flax is expensive & goes rancid fast. Just blend twice as much whole flax seeds as you would use oil. Flax seeds keep for years.
For real whole wheat bread, add in wheat germ . Wheat germ can also go rancid – buy from a place which refrigerates it & freeze it when you get home. It can be bitter, so add as much as tastes good to you.
February 6, 2017 at 1:38 am
Also, fwiw, if you are making bread, use warm water(100F, 38C) and leave your bread to rise, covered, on top of your refrigerator, toward the rear where it’s warmer.
It’s also easy & cheap to make your own yogurt. Use your favourite plain yogurt as starter, use powdered milk, and keep your yogurt container in a cooler half full of water at 110F/43C for 10 hours, then refrigerate.
LiveFrugaLee says:
February 7, 2017 at 10:48 am
Great post! Our son is about to turn 2, and we’ve found that we’ve been going out to eat a lot less because it’s just easier to stay home and cook. He’s always trying to make an escape from the high chair when we go out and throwing (and spitting) stuff on the floor! I think the biggest reason that we don’t cook at home more often is that we have a limited number of things that we know how to cook. I totally agree with your view on the judicious use of proteins. My wife tries to use meat with every meal, but eating too much protein can be costly and even unhealthy. This is my first time commenting on your site, but I’ve been following your blog for a while. Keep up the great work!
Annie says:
February 27, 2017 at 7:52 pm
We eat out a couple of times a month. Yes, it costs more than cooking at home but we have some strategies to keep the bill reasonable. We always portion out at least half the meal to take home and take any leftover bread to use for breakfast or lunch the next day. We don’t order drinks, (NYC tapwater really is delicious!), and share dessert if we really want one. We also try to avoid buying coffee or tea out. I have good travel mugs and will make drinks at home to take with us when we go for walks in the park.
Other than that we do cook at home from scratch as much as possible. We make big meals on weekends so during the week it’s usually a quick reheat with a salad that takes 5 mins to prep. Soups are one of my favorite things to make since you can often add in odds and ends and it still comes out good. I added leftover rice to my split pea soup and it helped to thicken it nicely.
Brenda says:
February 28, 2017 at 3:27 am
A great way to use up leftovers is to keep a “soup box” in the freezer. When you have a spoonful of peas left on the dinner table–too little to serve again, too much to finish off–put that spoonful in the soup box. Repeat with whatever spoonful portions are left at the end of the meal. When the soup box is full, all you need for a great soup is to make the base of your choice (broth, tomato, etc) and add in the goodies. Avoids waste and saves both time and money.
Matt says:
May 26, 2017 at 10:18 pm
Equal parts raw nut (cashews typically, peanut is also good) and dates. Pinch of salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Awesome backpacking food. Awesome snack. Have to use a Vitamix.
Bre says:
May 31, 2017 at 10:27 am
July 10, 2017 at 7:06 am
Just came across your blog and I’ve been enjoying reading through all this amazing info! For the granola bar question, I make these granola bars religiously. They use brown rice cereal and brown rice syrup (those ingredients are a bit more expensive), but making these homemade certainly saves and they are SO. MUCH. BETTER. than store bought. They’re really, really delicious and easy to make. Everyone loves these. I swap it up too, depending on what’s in my pantry for nuts/seeds/dried fruit.
July 10, 2017 at 8:53 am
Now that you have a garden, you’ll be able to grow many of your present grocery purchases and only pick what you need for that day right outside your kitchen window!
If you have a food processing, another fun thing to do is to see how many things you can make in a row without having to wash it in between! Like, always keeping a bag of fresh peanuts on hand (almonds, too) so that you can make your own peanut butter/almond butter without any unnecessary additives, and without getting a new container each time. You’ll never run out of peanut butter and/or almond butter that way, ‘cuz all you have to do is reach into your pantry for another cup or two of nuts, etc,
Then, without washing the food processor, continue on by making a batch of cookies, or muffins, or whatever goes good with peanut butter. Keep a few to eat, and freeze the rest for later!
The same holds true with grating cheese! Just buy chunks of cheese, and grate it yourself in your food processor! Begin with Parmesan, as it is the driest (and doesn’t mock up your food processor bowl, then continue on with the moister cheeses. Bag each type of cheese into a freezer ziplock bag, and toss them into the freezer. Grated cheese at your fingertips whenever you want! But, still don’t wash your food processor bowl! Continue on with finishing up with some bread dough, even if you don’t want to bake it right then, and since that cleans up the bowl quite nicely, continue on with some pie dough, for ex., which you can freeze as is, or just roll out right then and there, put in a pie tin, and toss it in the freezer! Then, when you end up with a batch of raspberries, for ex., the pie is half-made already, OR, grab some veggies from the garden, and together with your already grated bags of misc cheeses, make a quiche for dinner! Easy peasy, right? You could continue on, if you’d like, or just finally wash the food processor bowl, and call it a day! Got the idea? 🤓
January 14, 2021 at 11:06 pm
You have inspired a new game in my life! Love this!
October 20, 2017 at 10:19 pm
My trick to saving on baby food is skipping purée, homemade and store-bought, and doing baby-led weaning… Baby had what we had from the start and all we had to do was forfeit one or two spoonfuls from our plates to the little guy. Bonus, we started having way less pre-packaged food and restaurant food because of watching little guy’s sodium intake
Dan says:
November 14, 2017 at 11:28 pm
I really like how you limit junk food in Babywoods life by not exposing her to it and not keeping it in the house but are realistic enough to know that she’ll be getting sodas and candies as she grows. We’re much the same way as we’re expecting, and I want my baby to eat good, nutritious food just as mommy and daddy do.
Carrie says:
January 17, 2018 at 10:37 pm
Just thought I’d share a granola bar recipe. I think the Classic Glo Bars from Oh She Glows are pretty darn good and fairly healthy. It’s in her cookbook or here https://emilycoppella.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/oh-she-glows-classic-glo-bar/
May 2, 2018 at 7:15 pm
We eat very healthily and our only treat/junk food is dark chocolate, sometimes with nuts in it. I’m coeliac and my son has a list of allergies as long as his arm so it is a bit more costly as some cheap foods are not available to us to eat but we still do our best. We do have coffee out occasionally but never as a takeaway, it’s more for the experience. We don’t eat out unless there is a family occasion but that’s rare and we avoid it due to our son being on the spectrum and not really coping with that type of environment. I am definitely guilty of stocking up on things I already have like rice or noodles etc, but I’m getting better as using what we have. Bulk foods are hard to find in Australia in the way they seem available in America. Things like rice are available but other things that are suitable for coeliacs are not. For example, we don’t have gluten-free oats in Australia. Here they are considered ‘gluten’ due to the cross contamination. Sometimes I buy them from iHerb and get them delivered but it’s expensive.
January 3, 2019 at 9:20 am
I just discovered Walmart Grocery Pickup. I may never set foot inside a grocery store again. I hate to grocery shop and I don’t like to cook, but I have a feeling with more time to plan and cook and not shop, this could be a game changer for me. I’d be very interested to hear what others think.
Annie says:
January 11, 2019 at 10:20 am
We struggle to lower our monthly food bill, though we do not eat out and cook almost everything from scratch. Oddly, perhaps, produce is the killer. It is nothing to spend $50 in the produce aisle for vegetables and fruits that will be gone in one week. In summer, the farmers’ market does the trick. We are pretty committed to buying meat from animals not raised in factory-farm conditions, and because this is more expensive, we eat a lot less meat than we used to. (And are raising meat chickens in the backyard! Quite the adventure.) But I still marvel at the low grocery bills I see posted from others. We live a major metro area in the SE.
November 20, 2019 at 11:41 pm
I recommend checking out ethnic grocery stores near you. It might seem daunting at first, but just jump into it and explore.
For example, here in LA there is a store called Jon’s market. It stocks Hispanic/Caucasian (like Armenian, Georgian, etc)/Middle-Eastern and Eastern-European (Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Latvian, etc.) foods. Those are pretty good and cheap, good for buying beans, various grains and flour. Produce and meat not too expensive either, and there are many interesting selections. You would see many of the same foods in fancy international departments of your bigger grocery stores, and they would be a lot more expensive.
Asian markets are great too. For example, oyster and shiitake mushrooms (those are wonderful health foods and very filling) are about 2-3 times less expensive at my local Thai grocery market than at my local Gelson’s where it is considered a fancy food. I also used to go to a big Korean grocery store when I lived near one to get cheap seafood and the variety was amazing. Grilled octopus, anyone? Asian markets would offer cheaper rice in bulk.
Love the blog, but could you please make the color of the letter’s black and pick a bigger font as it is kind of hard to read, especially smaller font comments.
Amy says:
January 7, 2020 at 9:07 pm
I know! We have lots of great Latino stores here in FL and we love getting our cheap spices there!
Amy says:
January 7, 2020 at 9:06 pm
I always keep blue tape on hand for writing on food containers when I put them in the fridge or freezer. I put the name of what is in the container, along with the date of when it was put in the fridge. This helps for ensuring that we know how old something is before we eat it!
January 11, 2020 at 7:57 am
½ cup honey (spray measuring cup with vegetable oil before measuring)
In large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, cranberries, chips, and pecans.
In medium bowl, mix together honey, melted butter, and egg. Add to dry ingredients. Pour in prepared baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before cutting
From Mary Jane’s Farm magazine, December – January 2019
July 25, 2020 at 10:54 am
Leftover sandwiches which have been in the refrigerator become delectable treats when I smear a bit of soft butter on the outside and heat them up on a nonstick pan for a few minutes!
October 10, 2020 at 6:56 am
Try making flatbreads.Espesially good for hungry kids.My favourite recipes are Rachael Koo no yeast and ready to cook in 15minutes and Jenny can Cook.You tubeVideo on how to make them is so easy.
Jill says:
February 11, 2021 at 7:21 pm
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An ultrasound is an easy procedure often used during pregnancy to acquire images of the developing baby. There are a few different types of ultrasounds that can be used, and specific reasons and benefits behind each one. Follow our guide to learn all about prenatal ultrasounds and what they can do for you and your baby!
Often used to confirm pregnancy during the first trimester, an ultrasound gives you the first glimpse of your growing baby. This first ultrasound will establish the health of your early pregnancy and confirm your due date.
During the second trimester, another ultrasound is often performed to image all parts of your baby in detail; this is the time when it may be possible to determine the baby's gender. This is an exciting time for many parents and a moment they wait in great anticipation for. Ultrasounds performed later in pregnancy are to evaluate growth and fetal wellbeing.
3D and 4D scanning are beneficial techniques in the diagnosis and monitoring of potential problems during pregnancy. During a 3D ultrasound, you will be able to see a three dimensional image of your baby. Similar to the 3D ultrasound, the 4D ultrasound provides a three dimensional image of the baby, you are watching the images live.
The FDA recommends obtaining these ultrasounds only by experienced registered diagnostic medical sonographers only at their medical ultrasounds. Many sonographers will be able to provide you with this special view and a keepsake image.
This procedure is used if your doctor suspects the baby has a congenital heart defect or if this medical abnormality runs in your family. The echocardiography displays a detailed image of the baby’s developing heart, its rhythm and blood flow. A fetal echocardiography is usually performed near 18 weeks of gestation, but can be done as early as 12 weeks.
Interested in more information on prenatal ultrasounds and what procedure is best for you and your developing infant? Contact Premier Ultrasound Services today!
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There is a romantic idea about conversation, learning, and open-mindedness: “Joe and I don’t agree on much, but we respect each other, and learn a heck of a lot from each other.” If you want to learn and grow, get out of your comfort zone and spend time talking to people who disagree with you and who will challenge you. Right?
Wrong. In fact, you learn more from people who mostly agree with you.
On the Econtalk podcast, I heard this insightful argument made by David Weinberger, which I’ll summarize and riff on here.
The premise: Rarely is your worldview turned upside down in a single conversation over lunch. Rarely is your mind truly blown in an hour. Instead, most learning happens on the margins. A nugget here, a nugget there. Brick by brick you assemble a house of knowledge; you iteratively form and evolve a worldview.
The question: With what kinds of people do you have conversations that lead to an iterative, valuable insight?
The answer: People with whom you agree on 99.9% of issues already.
In order to even have a coherent conversation with someone, you need to share a language, basic values, assumptions, conversational norms. A Creationist learns little about the origins of the world from an Evolutionist. A lab scientist working on a vaccine doesn’t learn much from someone who thinks vaccines cause autism. Nobody learns anything if civility isn’t mutually valued. If these basic table stakes aren’t met — 98% of the game, in my view — there’s no productive conversation to be had.
When you have broad foundational agreement, learning in conversation happens best when there’s still further agreement on the next 1% of possible agreement. Two internet company CEOs who both speak English who are both convinced of technology’s wonders will have no problem at all breaking bread and having a lively conversation. But for learning’s sake, it’d be even better if they agreed on a number of industry-specific beliefs. If they’re aligned on the booming future of mobile devices, for example, then they can dive deep and explore possible disagreement on how to, say, best serve ads to users on an iOS device.
As Weinberger says, “It’s how culture advances. It’s how knowledge advances.” And it’s how individual intellectual growth advances, too. Some of my best, most mind-expanding conversations have occurred with good friends who agree with me on almost everything–but not quite everything.
Bottom Line: Want to learn and get smarter by talking to people? Seek out those who agree with you on 99.9% of things, and then push, push, push at the niche-y, hyper-specific areas of disagreement. It’s not about groupthink; it’s not about confirmation bias. It’s about learning on the margin.
(Photo: Search Engine People blog, Flickr. This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.)
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13 comments on “You Learn From People Who Mostly Agree With You”
October 21, 2012 at 10:38 pm
Agree that on the margin, most people would do well in seeking out people who think like them and finding micro areas of disagreement.
On the other hand, I think sometimes that talking to people who disagree with you can lead you to change your mind over a period of days to weeks, even if you don’t recognize it right away. You forget that you disagree, but remember the idea itself; sort of like the , to the extent that that it is true and generalizes. Consider also Milton Friedman’s on the benefits of intentionally eschewing intellectual homogeneity.
The trade-off is something like the poorly named . If you make more assumptions and make them stronger, you can get more done. But stronger assumptions also become more easily ingrained, which restricts your potential courses of action.
October 23, 2012 at 2:22 am
Good point that changing your mind from people who disagree with you, if it happens at all, happens over the long run, and by then you might even forget you’ve changed your mind!
Chris Yeh says:
October 21, 2012 at 11:01 pm
I’ve always felt that part of the art of persuasion is knowing how far you can actually move a person. I try for small changes, not radical alterations, figuring that a small but sustainable change has more impact over time.
October 23, 2012 at 2:22 am
I’ve learned from you in this approach. Makes a lot of sense.
October 22, 2012 at 4:29 am
There’s something to be said about learning from people that different from us over time and maybe not via conversation. That may be the biggest loss when being a tech entrepreneur and hanging out with tech entrepreneurs. Many lessons I get come from thinking later about how so and so live their lives, believe the things they believe, etc. San Francisco, for example, was surprisingly not surprising in terms of lifestyles and philosophies. This is similar to what Andy is saying, I think…
October 22, 2012 at 6:01 am
Beyond learning at the margins, updating beliefs also largely happen via experiential learning. Often times, I’ve found my views and beliefs shaped more by the experiences I’ve had than the conversations I’ve been in. Traveling, risk-taking and the oft-lauded value of failing have pushed me in ways conversations only pointed me in.
In addition, how much weight do you think changing someone’s mind, or your own, is a function of emotion over reason? I often find that telling powerful and relatable stories interweaved with metaphors does a better job of convincing someone than bludgeoning them over the head with facts and figures.
October 22, 2012 at 7:13 pm
I agree with most of this but I think the 99.9% is way overstated. I have many meaningful conversations with people that I may agree with 85% or less. I do however crave the opportunity to converse with people that have different ideas and values (within reason – which may mean similar LOL) so point taken.
October 22, 2012 at 7:22 pm
Not only do I disagree with this post, I didn’t learn anything from it.
October 23, 2012 at 2:21 am
This is a dubious and widely speculative claim. You wrote: “In fact, you learn more from people who mostly agree with you.” (my emphasis) And what kind of fact is this? In other words, what exactly do you mean by fact? (I’m genuinely curious since this was an important question raised in Too Big Too Know) I don’t think it’s a fact just because you happen to believe that it’s true. Alas, it’s all too easy to make up just-so stories.
In order for people to learn from each other (or from the evidence), you seem to be implying that it’s important for them to share a similar philosophical framework. This is undoubtedly true in many domains, but I think that the most interesting things I’ve learned about humanity have come from people with a vastly different worldview and culture than my own.
Count me as one data point that doesn’t support your claim.
October 23, 2012 at 2:26 am
It is indeed a claim, not an assertion of Natural Truth. “In fact” is more of a turn of phrase rather than an emphasis of the word ‘fact’ — i.e., I use the phrase in the same way I might use, “To the contrary…” It’s just a phrase and this post is an argument, nothing more than that.
October 23, 2012 at 2:42 am
I’m not suggesting that you are making an assertion of “Natural Truth”, nor do I think that “fact” is synonymous with “Natural Truth”.
I want to know the following: how did you came to believe this assertion? Is there evidence that supports this belief?
In the post you make the assertion that “you learn more from people who mostly agree with you.” Again, this is an assertion, not an argument. In order for this to be an argument, you need to support your claim with reasons.
Since you didn’t explicitly state them in the post (and in the spirit of this post), I’m trying to tease them out here in the comments section, with the hope of learning something I didn’t know.
October 31, 2012 at 1:51 am
To put this differently: you learn more from people who share the same assumptions about life, because when their conclusions are different you’ll be more likely to listen. The lab scientist researching vaccines and the vaccine rebel ultimately have different religions, or foundational beliefs about the world, and these beliefs are too deeply held to be displayed in normal conversations.
The best political discussions I’ve watched this season have come from some Republicans on The Daily Show, where Stewart has directed the conversations toward the core assumptions about how the economy grows (private speculation versus public spending).
March 25, 2014 at 12:15 am
Thanks Ben, it seems that you’ve said that we learn well in an environment where are fulfilling our drive to bond. Which is a helpful observation. There are other drives however that should also facilitate good learning, the drive to understand and the drive to defend should facilitate learning in those environments with someone I may not agree with.
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Being a family caregiver is a stressful job. In this article, you can find the top caregiver resources available to you in Orange County. These resources can help make it easier to care for your elderly loved one and hopefully relieve some stress. Whether you need affordable care services or a support group, you can find it here.
The Caregiver Resource Center Orange County is a nonprofit organization that provides education and resources to caregivers. They provide caregiver support groups, which offer valuable peer connections for family members caring for an elderly loved one in their own home.
They have assisted thousands of families since 1988 with care for the elderly, including those with debilitating conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), Huntington’s disease, and more. They offer general support groups and specific support groups for those who speak a different language or have specialized needs.
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The Family Caregiver Support Program is a nonprofit agency that provides services to Orange County residents who need support for themselves or their loved ones.
They offer home care, respite care, and help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, grooming, meal preparation, and medication reminders. The Caregiver Support Program is committed to assisting caregivers by providing information about available resources locally and nationally. They also offer caregiver training workshops on topics like dementia awareness and Alzheimer’s disease education.
The National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) has been offering emotional support for family caregivers since 2000 through its nationwide network of local affiliates. NFCA offers educational programs at no cost, including talks from experts who specialize in medical conditions which affect elderly adults, like Parkinson’s disease.
ALZOC provides free programs and services for Alzheimer’s caregivers to promote independence and access to resources.
Their programs include:
Monthly newsletters with information about local events.
Tips on how to manage dementia at home.
A caregiver support group.
In-person educational presentations.
They also have an online resource library that includes downloadable booklets written by experts in the field of Alzheimer’s caregiving, as well as videos showing people living with various stages of cognitive impairment and their families navigating day-to-day life.
The organization offers free one-on-one counseling sessions where you can talk anonymously about your situation over the phone or video chat from anywhere in Orange County!
Their Savvy Caregiver 3-Week Training helps better equip family caregivers of loved ones in moderate stages of dementia with the knowledge to make their job a bit easier and more beneficial for the senior. In this program, you can learn to be an effective caregiver with evidence-based information on the basics of dementia care. The program consists of 6 hours of training over three weeks via a Zoom call.
Alzheimer’s Family Center offers adult day care services for seniors with memory care needs. Your loved one will receive respite care, which gives you a short, guilt-free break from the stress of caregiving. This ensures your loved one continues to get the medical and social support they need while you go on vacation, spend time with friends, or just take a much-needed break.
They have built a unique, world-class facility that offers high-level daycare programs. Thousands of dementia patients enjoy happier, healthier lives when they stay.
In addition to their respite care services, they also offer programs for family caregivers. You can share experiences, receive encouragement, and solve problems with their Dementia Caregiver Support Groups. This is a proven way to build the knowledge and skills needed through peers and professionals alike to provide better, less stressful care for your loved one.
Alzheimer’s Association understands the daily struggles of family caregiving. They have created a caregiver center that provides you with the information you need to effectively care for your loved one through every stage of Alzheimer’s and dementia. They also offer activities, support groups, message boards, and advice on how you can stay healthy as a caregiver.
Their website offers a ton of information and local and nationwide services that will help you in your caregiving struggles.
Easterseals offers various programs and resources that focus on helping those with disabilities, their families, caregivers, teachers, employers, and others. They provide educational opportunities for family members who want to learn more about what it takes to care for someone living with Alzheimer’s or dementia.
They also have an online library where you can find information and read the stories other people have written about their experiences caring for loved ones with these diseases.
This nationwide program supports more than 1.4 million people each year. Their Southern California branch (ESSC) makes positive differences in people’s everyday lives by offering autism care, adult day care, and caregiver support programs.
They also serve transitioning veterans and their families to ensure a successful transition into civilian life.
Council on Aging Southern California
The Council on Aging of Southern California (COA) is an organization that provides services for seniors 55+ in Orange County and San Diego counties. They offer a wide range of programs including: housing assistance, caregiver support, senior transportation, and legal protection.
COA has been serving Orange County since 1978! They operate out of 93 different locations in Southern California and are available every day to help you with your caregiving support struggles.
The Dayle McIntosh Center is a resource for healthy aging, advocacy, and resources. They offer many services to Orange County residents, including caregiver support programs like Caregivers Coping Together (CCT), Caregivers Online Support Group, Early Steps Program, Geriatric Mental Health Services Training Series, Life Skills Development Program – Long Term Care Transitions Classroom Course, and more!
They also provide Alzheimer’s care education and training as well as memory screenings with dementia specialists. They are a nonprofit organization founded in 1977 that partners with people with disabilities to help them meet personal goals.
DMC is a peer-based organization, meaning most of the staff are individuals with disabilities themselves and have met the challenges of becoming self-sufficient. This firsthand experience ensures your loved one will receive the support and resources needed to help them reach their goal of becoming more independent.
Age Well Senior Services
Age Well was founded in 1975 and had been assisting seniors in Orange County since. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to enriching the lives of seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias.
They provide various services and resources for individuals needing caregiving support in their homes, such as: nutrition programs, transportation programs, adult daycare classes, and case management programs.
They strive to ensure that no senior goes hungry by providing programs like Meals on Wheels and Senior Center Lunch. Each year they deliver over 300,000 meals through just their Meals on Wheels program to seniors in need.
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Canada have won the Mixed curling Gold medals at the 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway today (Wednesday 17 February).
The Silver medals went to USA, while Switzerland collected Bronze in the Curling Hall at the Stampsletta Ice Venues.
The Canadians – skipped by Mary Fay, along with third Tyler Tardi, second Karlee Burgess and lead Sterling Middleton – won the final 10-4, against USA, while Switzerland were victorious over Russia, 11-3.
Coming into the Gold medal game with a 100% record at these Games, Canada made their ambitions clear from the outset, scoring five points in the opening end. This proved too difficult a lead to come back from for skip Luc Violette’s USA team – third Cora Farrell, second Ben Richardson and lead Cait Flannery.
Canada scored two points in each of the third and fifth ends and a single point in the seventh end, at which point USA conceded the game. USA took a two in the second end and single points in the fourth and sixth ends.
Switzerland – skipped by Selina Witschonke, along with third Henwy Lochmann, second Laura Engler and lead Philipp Hoesli – also had a strong start in the Bronze medal game. They scored three points in the first end and were able to maintain a comfortable lead, with steals of one and three points in the fourth and seventh ends, respectively.
Russia – made up of skip Nadezhda Karelina, fourth German Doronin, second Sergei Maksimov and lead Mariia Arkhipova – scored a point in the second end and two points in the fifth end.
Curling will return to the Youth Olympic Games programme on Friday (19 February) with an innovative Mixed Doubles Curling competition that will take place from 09:00 (Central European Time).
This event sees one male and one female athlete, from different countries, playing together. The teams are determined by the athletes’ position within their team and their nations overall position following the Mixed competition. The finals will be played on Sunday 21 February at 13.00.
They Said It:
Mary Fay; skip Canada (after winning Gold): “It's just hard to believe, it's hard to wrap your head around the idea that you brought the Gold medal home for your country. I feel so lucky to live in Canada, it's an amazing place, so many amazing people. It's so amazing, I can't really put it into words.”
Ben Richardson; second USA (after winning Silver): “The first end was tough, I mean some things didn't go our way. If the first end had gone better I think it wouldn't have been the same. I think we played to our potential. It was a good game and I am really proud of the team.”
Laura Engler; second Switzerland (after winning Bronze): “I think we all played very well, we had great communication the whole game, and I think we played very well. The medal ceremony was very emotional, there were some tears in my eyes, it was great.”
MERGED STANDINGS after the finals (W - L):
G Canada 10-0
B Switzerland 8-2
Russia 7-3
Norway 4-4
Turkey 4-5
Italy 3-5
Czech Republic 2-5
New Zealand 1-6
Curling fans can follow all the action from Lillehammer 2016 on social media using the following channels:
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Sorry for being so lax with the website updates… our administrator (that would be Wally) just plain forgot!
HAY, we did just get to play a gig in Tehachapi, CA at a wonderful venue called Fiddlers Crossing. We had no fiddle but they let is play there anyway.
Peter Cutler and his lovely wife Debby hosted us and there was a very nice (I counted only 4 empty seats) turnout of an appreciative group of folks. Here’s a picture that was posted on the FC Facebook page, submitted by Lyfe As Vincent. Thank you Vincent!
He also put up some video from the show which is posted on the Fiddlers Crossing FB page. Please, pay their page a visit, too.
The TRUTH is… Mike and Kenny and I (aka the Hay Dudes) have had few opportunities to get out and play together because, well, the phone ain’t been ringin’ and… none of us will get off the couch to go hustle up some gigs.
The remainder of the 2017 Tour (our second gig of the year) will be on Sunday August 13 in Altadena, CA when we will be at the Naiditche home for one of their wonderful house concerts. Please click on the highlight/link to get information.
Thank you Steve Anderson for pointing out how dated the website info has been and for lighting the fire under me (Wally) to get things up to date. We’re hoping to have much more to report on the next update.
Thanks for visiting.
Meanwhile here’s some video from a couple of years ago with our pal Dennis Caplinger on the fiddle.
We’ll look forward to seeing everyone somewhere along the trail and thanks for visiting the website.
Hay Dudes LIVE! (or at least on video)
Posted on October 31, 2013 by coastridge
The Hay Dudes with guest fiddler Dennis Caplinger at the 42nd Annual Old Time Fiddler’s Convention in Goleta, CA October 13, 2013 (video courtesy 42nd Old Time Fiddler’s Convention and Stan Shapin)
Band members are:
Kenny Blackwell – mandolin, guitar, vocals
Mike Mullins – guitar, mandolin, vocals
Wally Barnick – Fender bass, vocals
Kenny Blackwell is a master mandolinist as well as guitar player, on both acoustic and electric guitar. He was a mandolin student of the great Jethro Burns whose teaching methods must have been fantastic, to hear Kenny tearing it up these days. Kenny was the featured mandolin player with The Laurel Canyon Ramblers for many years. He is now an in-demand session player and keeps a full calendar playing with at least a half dozen bands in and around the Central Coast of California.
Mike Mullins is also expert with the mandolin and guitar. He is close pals with David Grisman and was in fact an invited guest on Grisman’s closing set at the Fall 2011 Strawberry Music Festival. Mike is a featured instructor at Grisman’s annual Mandolin Symposium held each year at UC Santa Cruz in Northern California. Since 1993 Mike has played guitar and is a featured vocalist with the well known California acoustic group The Cache Valley Drifters.
Wally Barnick is an old rock & roll guy who caught the acoustic music fever in the ‘70’s and looks, hopes and is grateful for any invitation to play with the fabulous pickers that he has been fortunate to sit in with over the years. Wally made three European tours with the renowned music group Bluegrass, Etc. and is a featured vocalist on their award winning album “Home is Where the Heart Is.” He too, is currently and has been a member of the Cache Valley Drifters, dating back to 1975.
Hay Dudes released their self titled and first album in August 2012.
Posted on October 19, 2013 by coastridge
This is our new web page… launched just a few days ago, we’ve had several hundred visits already and we’re glad to welcome everyone. Please visit each of the PAGES to learn about the band, what we’re up to, scheduled performance dates, photos, videos, and how to get any of the products that we have to offer… ie; our current CD and t-shirts!
It’s a work in progress and we now have the ability to sample tracks from the CD and even order online.
This WordPress site is a BLOG which means it is interactive… you can choose to “follow” us and receive notices of any updates, and even add your comments. We’d be glad to have you on board and we’re looking forward to hearing from you.
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A 12% Buyer's Premium will be added to the final Sales Price. All applicable taxes will be assessed based on the sum of the sales price and buyer's premium.
*Any manufacturer warranties are NOT VALID with any purchase at our Auctions unless stated otherwise.
Warranty:*Any manufacturer warranties are NOT VALID with any purchase at our Auctions unless stated otherwise.
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Payment and pickup is on Thursday Dec 1st, Friday Dec 2nd, Monday Dec 5th and Tuesday Dec 6th – 9am-4:30pm all four days. Pick-up is also available Saturday Dec. 3rd 8am-10am. Anyone who does not observe the payment and pickup times will immediately have their credit card billed. Any invoiced item(s) not picked up within 30 days after any auction will be considered abandoned property and will be resold without any compensation. We will not be liable for any damage to merchandise that is left past the scheduled pick-up date(s). Please pick-up and pay for your purchases. We realize that sometimes there are extenuating circumstances and a simple phone call to our office goes a long way to alleviated harsh terms. Grossly negligent offenders, however, are banned from all our future auctions.
151 County Hwy 38
United States
Pickup for this auction is four days 9am - 4:30pm: Thursday Dec 1st, Friday Dec 2nd, Monday Dec 5th and Tuesday Dec 6th. Pick-up is also available Saturday Dec. 3rd 8am-10am. Labor and equipment will be on hand to assist with loading during the scheduled pickup dates. Please pick-up your purchases in a timely manner.
Shipping: Generally, we are in the auction business, not the shipping business. Our auctions are designed for customer pick-up. If you would like us to ship an item, you need to understand that we don’t get the high-volume rates the big online retailers do. Shipping can be expensive, as some items are bigger and heavier than they appear in the photos. Also, appropriate handling charges will apply. Please inquire on shipping BEFORE you purchase. In addition, the buyer must provide us with a shipping label after obtaining the necessary information from our office. We strongly recommend insurance. We make a diligent effort to pack items in a responsible manner, but it is unreal what these shipping companies can break. We will not be liable for shipping damage.
Selling Items from Major retailers including: Overstock, scratch & dent, store and online returns, etc.
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The Dao De Jing, one of the main books of Daoism, has always appealed to hermits. In this article, we look at it through a hermit’s eyes and try to see why it has fascinated anchorites and recluses for more than two thousand years.
This article is part of a year-long series in which we examine six different philosophies of happiness and how they apply to today’s life. Find all the articles in this series here. Find all articles about hermits here.
The first part of this series on Daoism is here.
It is an impossible task to try and discuss the Dao De Jing in full within the length of one article, although the work itself is quite short. By the way, you may know it by a different transliteration, for example as Tao Te King; or by the name of its alleged author: Lao Tse, Lao Tzu, or Laozi. It’s always the same book, but over the centuries, different systems have been used to render Chinese characters in Western languages, and so we end up with all these variations in the English spelling, which really make no difference at all.
The main problem with the Dao De Jing, the “classic of the Way and the virtue” is that it is written in a highly ambiguous way: a sequence of 81 short paragraphs that resemble aphorisms and that can often be read and translated in wildly different ways. Even in the Chinese tradition, the book has sometimes been read as being close to Confucianism, and sometimes as being opposed to it. Sometimes as a religious text, and sometimes as a practical instruction book. It has inspired alchemists to search for eternal life (with the almost invariable result that they poisoned themselves, shortening rather than lengthening their natural life spans). It has inspired martial artists, Western writers and philosophers, and even Hollywood movies (much of the Force lore in Star Wars can be read as a variant of Daoist beliefs and practices). And it keeps inspiring, over thousands of years, hermits who leave society in order to live in the solitude of the remote mountains of China.
The Dao De Jing has inspired martial artists, Western writers and philosophers, and even Hollywood movies (much of the Force lore in Star Wars can be read as a variant of Daoist beliefs and practices).
“The Daodejing often functions like a Rorschach test, in which readers find what they want to find,” writes Bryan van Norden, one of the best known Western teachers of Chinese philosophy, in his Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy (p.124).
Just a quick Google search reveals that intellectuals as diverse as fantasy author Ursula K. Le Guin, literary arch-satyr Henry Miller and soft-core sage Alan Watts have all written on the ideas of the Dao De Jing. Internet uber-professor Jordan Peterson (if you’re reading these posts for more than two weeks, you’ll probably be able to guess what I think of him), talks about it in an online lecture where he associates the Chinese Yang with masculinity, authoritarianism and fascism, and the Yin with the Unknown, with decadence and nihilism. Go figure, as the Americans say.
All this only underlines the futility, almost hubris, of presuming to add yet another interpretation of the Dao De Jong to the mix, especially given that I’m not an expert in Chinese philosophy, or Daoism, or any other related field. (Or any field at all, sadly).
The Dao De Jing, literally “The Classic of the Way and the Virtue,” is traditionally attributed to an author known only as Lao Zi, which means “Old Master.”
But this is also an unexpected advantage that we have, as readers of the ancient text who are interested in hermits: that our subject, the hermits who have used the Dao De Jing as their guide into solitude for more than two thousand years, often were also uneducated women and men. It is not, as a rule, the professors who go and live out their days in a reed hut somewhere on the edge of nowhere. Like Western monks and anchorites, the Asian hermits are often common people who have felt a calling to this lifestyle, who were touched by some of the words and ideas of Laozi’s book and who gave up everything in order to go on their lonely quest to find the wisdom that it promised them. (We will talk in a later article about a number of real Asian Daoist and Buddhist hermits and their stories).
It is not, as a rule, the professors who go and live out their days in a reed hut somewhere on the edge of nowhere.
So what we will do here is to have a look at the Dao De Jing from the perspective not of a philosopher, but of someone who feels at odds with the world, with the intricate complexities of so-called civilised society, and who feels the calling to leave this life and take to the mountains. Which passages of the Dao De Jing would speak to someone like that? What would they find in the classic book to support their project of searching for wisdom in the wilderness?
Hermits, from the Greek “eremites,” (=men of the desert), are found in all cultures and at all times. In this article, we look at the phenomenon of hermit life as a whole, before we go into more detail in future posts in this series.
We talked in the previous article already about the difficulties of translating the Dao De Jing. We’ll therefore stick here with one of the most classic translations, that of James Legge, which you can find in full here. But we may also contrast this translation with the one by A. Charles Muller (1991), to be found here.
Legge: The Dao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Dao.
The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth;
(conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.
Muller: The Way that can be followed is not the eternal Way.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth
While naming is the origin of the myriad things.
Now, if you are a hermit, ready to leave society, you are probably out to find something that society could not give you. The human world is truly full of things, stuff, clutter, consumer gadgets; but also arguments, distinctions, ranks, job descriptions, titles, politically correct and incorrect words. We have built a world full of things, material and immaterial, that have taken over so much of our attention that we are unable to concentrate any more and to find any satisfying, valid, eternal truth about the world and the human condition. The hermit presumably feels this cacophony of voices even more intensely than we non-hermits do. I can imagine that even this first verse must sound sweet to the ears of one who is unsatisfied with the impermanence of our everyday affairs, with the seemingly important tasks in one’s job that never lead anywhere, yet cause constant anxiety, with the myriad things that require our attention without every paying us back with meaning and wholeness.
And if “naming” is to blame, the world of dualist distinctions, then the “nameless”, in contrast, promises to quiet the mind, to still the cacophony of voices in our heads.
And if “naming” is to blame, the world of dualist distinctions, then the “nameless”, in contrast, promises to quiet the mind, to still the cacophony of voices in our heads, to heal us from the assault of the world on our restless senses. This directly invites the prospective hermit to turn his or her back on society and to head to a place where there is no language, no names, no distinctions; and where one’s attention can be directed towards the wholeness of one’s being.
Modern ecology underlines this conception of the world as a series of cycles that feed into each other. As in the famous Yin/Yang symbol, day and night are not opposites to be seen separately, but complementary parts of a fluid experience that swings from the one to the other. The same is true of youth and age in a human life, of beauty and ugliness, of knowledge and ignorance, of health and illness. One could argue that the ecological misery of the modern world is caused in part by our desire to separate these two aspects of all things into a part which is “useful” and another part which is “garbage”. Useful things turn, in time, into garbage, but we have lost the sense of the necessary cyclical recreation of usefulness from that “garbage”, creating those immense dumps of garbage that fill up our world.
In a Daoist world-view, plastics would be seen as the abomination that they are: a thing that has only one useful side and whose “used-up state” is impossible to recycle back into its useful state. Plastics disrupt the balance of heaven and make it impossible for our world to stay on the cyclical path of creation and destruction, by producing a thing whose destruction does not lead to a complementary act of creation. In contrast, the hermit’s hut and all its mechanics are, ideally, completely embedded into the cycles of nature. The hermit eats and drinks and their metabolic products return into the soil where they fertilise the next crop that the hermit will consume. The building materials for the hermit’s hut are natural materials that will eventually degrade and decompose, only to return back to the soil and grow new trees and leaves that will serve to renew the hut’s construction. And so on.
Non-action
Legge: Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech. All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to show itself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership; they go through their processes, and there is no expectation (of a reward for the results).
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments.
This emphasises the point. In civilised society, one cannot “manage affairs without doing anything.” The myriad things need to be separated, so that we can have specialised jobs: the plumber, the bus driver, the professor, the advertising expert. For the hermits who live in their huts, the world is an undivided whole, and they take on all the different roles. The hermit is builder and water supplier, plumber and farmer, priest and settler, all in one: the myriad things are made, they are here, all around him: but they are not separated.
Aristotle’s theory of happiness rests on three concepts: (1) the virtues; (2) phronesis or practical wisdom; and (3) eudaimonia or flourishing.
Legge: Heaven is long-enduring and earth continues long. The reason why heaven and earth are able to endure and continue thus long is because they do not live of, or for, themselves. This is how they are able to continue and endure. Therefore the sage puts his own person last, and yet it is found in the foremost place; he treats his person as if it were foreign to him, and yet that person is preserved. Is it not because he has no personal and private ends, that therefore such ends are realised?
This is almost Biblical in its message that the last will be the first, and the first last (KJV, 20:16). It also seems to be an inspiration for the Daoists’ search for physical longevity, their quest for immortality, which led to a Chinese alchemical tradition not much different from the Western one.
And what is the way to put one’s own person last, in order for one to reap the promised rewards? In this society, putting oneself last is not easy and one’s life will be made more difficult than necessary. To escape the rat race, the best way is not to freely assume the role of the last rat in the race, but to step out of the race altogether. The hermit, therefore, will not take with them any material goods, any comforts from their previous life. Putting oneself last means to let go of every symbol of worldly status, it means to live in poverty and to trust in the ways of nature to keep one alive.
The excellence of water
Legge: The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Dao.
There are a number of things to unpack here.
First, water, the lowest and most common of the things we ingest, is called “excellent” (in other translations: good, virtuous) by the sage. Its simplicity and abundance does not take away from its excellence or virtue.
The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving, the low place which all men dislike.
This excellence is due to the water’s property of benefiting all things. This is interesting. It means that the goal of the hermit should not be to isolate themselves and stay away from society, but, as Bill Porter explained (see the last part of this series), the hermit’s isolation is the means to a further end: to educate and to teach, to “benefit all things” by spreading the wisdom and the insights that the hermit has acquired throughout the years of solitude. And, indeed, in movies and books on Chinese hermits (we will see examples later on), we see hermits sometimes having multiple disciples around them. The hermit’s life is not necessarily solitary forever. Once the wisdom has been acquired, once the Way or the nature of the Dao has been glimpsed, the hermit, like the water, becomes a source of benefit for the world.
And, finally, there is this talk of doing something “without striving.” This is, according to most Daoism experts (including van Norden, e.g. on p. 127 of Classical Chinese Philosophy), one of the core messages of Daoism: to achieve an effect in the world without really trying.
This has often been misunderstood. The point is not to “not act,” as if lying idle on a sofa would be the ultimately virtuous state of man’s existence. Rather, the ideal of human activity is to be “like water.” Water does a lot of useful work: from irrigating plants and keeping animals alive to even powering hydroelectric dams, no one could say that water is uselessly lying around. But all these beneficial effects are caused in the process of the water simply following its essential nature and the laws of gravity, without ever trying to flow uphill, to stop flowing, or to flow faster or slower than the laws of nature dictate.
What Is a Stoic Person?
A Stoic is an adherent of Stoicism, an ancient Greek and Roman philosophy of life. Stoics thought that, in order to be happy, we must learn to distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot.
It is interesting how similar this is to the Stoic ideal of acting in accordance with the laws of nature, of accepting what one cannot change; or with Aristotle’s description of the “sophron” man, who does what is right spontaneously, as the result of long practice. Think of handwriting, or walking: if you are a beginner in these skills (like a small child would be) handwriting and walking require a lot of attention to get right; from time to time you will write something wrong, or stumble and find yourself on the floor. Writing and walking, for the child, require immense effort to perform well.
When you walk, you don’t even notice what your legs do and how you perform the miracle of balancing upright. This is “action without trying,” or “non-action.”
On the other hand, we grownups are able to do both very easily, without even trying. When you jot down a note, you do so without thinking about the mechanics of writing. When you walk, you don’t even notice what your legs do and how you perform the miracle of balancing upright. This is “action without trying,” or “non-action,” as the Daoist would have it. We are doing something valuable when walking and writing; we are not idle. But we do what we do in the mode of a skilled performer, without needing to do it consciously, without needing to try. In this mode of performing, the activity is easy and fun, and it feels so natural that it doesn’t tire us, it doesn’t require our attention, it doesn’t require our will-power, grim resolve, or a Kantian sense of duty. For the skilled performer, life becomes play.
Thanks for reading! Do you agree? Did I forget to mention something? Leave a comment below!
Bryan van Norden’s Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy covers in short chapters the main systems of Chinese thought, from Confucianism and Daoism to even a short overview of the 20th century. It’s an easy read that, nonetheless, gives a good impression of what Chinese philosophies are about. Kindle ebook here.
Amazon affiliate link. If you buy through this link, Daily Philosophy will get a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks!
Cover image by Huper by Joshua Earle on Unsplash.
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R study, no such differences in morphokinetic improvement had been observed between PCOS and also | Adenosine receptor adenosine-receptor.com
R study, no such differences in morphokinetic improvement had been observed between PCOS and also
May 31, 2022 May 31, 2022
R study, no such differences in morphokinetic improvement had been observed between PCOS and also
May 31, 2022 May 31, 2022
R study, no such differences in morphokinetic improvement had been observed between PCOS and also the other group, which could possibly be due to the tiny sample size. The TE determined in our study correlated well with particular morphokinetic variables, in particular ECC2, s2, and s3, in addition to the inverse correlation of Se with ECC2 in embryos degenerated just after fertilization. These findings point to an as yet unexplained relevance of TE for successful development and the high importance of an optimal TE status for productive fertilization and embryo development. A dysregulated Se status could hinder the correct timing of cell division, thereby major to alterations in optimal morphokinetic cleavage times. The slight but consistently reduce Zn concentrations in serum and FF of females with PCOS may warrant consideration and additional investigation, as suboptimal Zn concentrations negatively have an effect on a number of aspects of female fertility, which includes meiosis and fertilization competence with the egg [61]. Observational research are in agreement with this notion, as Zn deficiency was associated with a longer time to achieve pregnancy in women actively arranging to conceive [62]. Animal experiments have indicated some positive effects of Zn supplementation on fertility in a rat model of PCOS, but no matter whether these preclinical results can be directly translated to human patients with PCOS remains to be evaluated [63]. Among the certain strengths of our study are the established and validated technologies utilised, the higher high quality of the biobank, as well as the TE quantifications that were conducted at a remote web site in the biobank by scientists blinded to the clinical characteristics. Hereby,Nutrients 2021, 13,14 ofunbiased evaluation and interpretation have been enabled, and single FF with matched serum samples could possibly be effectively studied without the need of the want for analyzing pooled samples only. The findings indicate that not simply do the TE concentrations vary strongly involving FF from the identical woman, but also the expression of physiological relevant protein biomarkers of TE status such as PROTAC BRD4 Degrader-9 web SELENOP and GPX3 differ. In view of their crucial function in controlling redox milieu and oxidative pressure, it really is conceivable that Se deficiency correlates to poor oocyte excellent. Amongst the limitations of our analyses will be the compact group sizes of serum samples analyzed. Nevertheless, fairly appropriate matching with the groups and of FF with serum was effectively achieved, and the quantity of FF analyzed was somewhat high. five. Conclusions We conclude that there’s a direct relationship involving TE in serum and FF and that, in certain, the three biomarkers of Se status correlate positively in FF, highlighting their comparable suitability for follicle-specific Se status assessment. The mechanisms connecting TE in serum and FF are poorly understood, in certain in view on the high variability between various FF obtained in the exact same woman at the identical time. Because the FF using the poorest excellent showed a trend towards the lowest TE concentrations, we conclude that TE deficiencies should really be avoided for the duration of ART and oocyte improvement. It really is Paliroden Autophagy probably that FF doesn’t manage their TE status by basic filtration of serum but rather by hugely regulated and feedback-controlled mechanisms most likely involving endocrine effects on uptake and upkeep of TE and also the TE-dependent proteins and enzymes to ensure an optimal microenvironment for oocyte improvement.Supplementary Components: The following are accessible on the internet at https://www.mdpi.com/art.
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HEATHER MILLER is most wonderful, authentic, carrying, kind and honest real estate agents we ever met in my entire life. She did support us in every possible way and every step even not related to real estate transactions and as first time buyers we went though all process very easy. I will highly recommend her […]
I had the pleasure of working with Christine while in the process of moving to Toronto. She was absolutely amazing – working with me while I visited Toronto on weekends to see properties with her. With my tight timelines for the move, she was exceptional in identifying my likes and dislikes, targeting properties that met […]
We’ve worked with the team to both purchase and sell our house and there is a good reason we came back to work with them. They care about their clients and are just really good at what they do. We had the best experience with Tara as well as the best support through Lori! Thanks […]
I had the pleasure of working with the Christine Cowern team to purchase my first property. The quick responses, market insight, and overall professionalism was extremely welcoming considering the current housing market in Toronto. I would not hesitate to recommend this team to anyone and have already recommended them to my friends. Thank you guys […]
I couldn’t have asked for a better realtor to help me navigate the world of condo real estate. Sharlene understood my needs better than I did. She never let me settle for less than. She was exactly the calm, savvy, and professional realtor I needed to help me successfully negotiate both my purchase and sale. […]
Christine and team have been there from the very start of our real estate journey. She handled the negotiations in purchasing our loft over 14 years ago, provided sage advice on investment property and gave us useful resources regarding home renovation. And as we start our journey to build a summer home, Christine and her […]
Ali from the Christine Cowern Team went above and beyond what we thought a real estate agent would be like. We had previously worked with another agent and had a negative experience, so working with Ali & The Christine Cowern Team was eye opening. She was always on time, answered our emails and questions promptly […]
Great experience working with Tara and the entire team who made buying our house as easy and pleasant as possible. We’re taking full advantage of almost all the services they provide and it’s really refreshing to find a company that really gets what full service actually means!
My husband and I just purchased our first home with the help of Catherine and we are so excited! We met on Thursday and had our offer accepted for a home that ticks all our boxes on Tuesday. It moved so fast, but being first time home buyers, Catherine gave excellent advice and basically held […]
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Baby Cyrus is making some progress this month! He is going 1-2 days longer in between his vomiting episodes which has helped him put on some more weight—huge win for him!
Although Cyrus still has C. DIFF, we had an amazing check up appointment with his pediatrician who went over all of Cyrus’ lab reports from a stool and urine test and said basically just what our holistic doctor said. His test results show that his gut is in terrible condition and his C. DIFF just makes it worse.
She put him on an 8 step plan that takes 4-5 months and it’s to eradicate C. DIFF, heal the gut, and bring it into balance. We’ll take all the tests again in 6 months to make sure he’s fully healed. No antibiotics needed. She said that one strain of antibiotics could take him up to 2 years to fix his gut from, so we’re going the natural route.
I asked if we can do anything else about the vomiting for now, and she said that anyone who has a gut in this condition would be vomiting too. She said that his vomiting isn’t a mystery to her, and it makes sense with how bad his gut is. But she thinks it’ll all go away.
She said his weight looked "amazing", he gained a perfect amount since his last visit, he grew a perfect amount in length, and she said his muscle tone was "perfect," arm strength was "perfect," and balance was "perfect." She listened to his heart, checked his ears and his mouth, and said it was all "PERFECT." She kept using the word "perfect." She said, "He's doing great. He's absolutely a perfect boy. Follow the treatment plan and just enjoy him.”
We’re so glad it went so well and that she was very impressed with his weight gain!
She agreed with our holistic doctor's assessment, added a few more supplements, and will have us just watch him closely as he goes through the healing process.
We’re still waiting on more genetic testing to see what else there could be as a root cause. It’s always a waiting game with the genetics testing because they have us do one test at a time, then wait 6-8 weeks for results and order the next test and wait another 6-8 weeks. The good news is that his first test results came back normal, so the next test they ordered is a lot more extensive, and we’re still waiting on that.
But for now, we’re just going to enjoy Cyrus and his “perfection.”
We feel SOOOOO good and encouraged that his appointment went so well! Thank you Jesus! We’re so grateful!
We will keep everyone updated. Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers and love—all of you who have been with us through this process mean the world to us! We can never express our gratitude fully to each and every one of you!
P.S. Our family is safe from Hurricane Ian and are so grateful to have had little to no damage on our homes. Thank you all for checking in on us and praying for us!
Baby Cyrus Quick Links:
People Responsible for Baby Cyrus's Kidnapping
Isaiah 44:28 "That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure."
Isaiah 45:1-3 "Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings…I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight…that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel."
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My mission is to change the world through code and prose. I have focused on the power of software ever since I became interested in computer technology as a kid, and have built software-based solutions for education, journalism, open government, and other industries. I also have a passion for storytelling, and have covered technology, urban affairs, and many other topics as a blogger and journalist. My skills as a leader, software developer, and writer combine to set me apart.
For ten years, I was the Product Development Manager at Questionmark Computing Ltd., where I led a distributed team of more than 40 software engineers and quality assurance testers in the development of a highly scalable, secure, SaaS-based assessment solution trusted by some of the biggest companies in the world.
In late 2016, I started Taproot Publishing Inc., a digital publishing company based in Edmonton to apply innovative software and new business models to local journalism. Fueled by the curiosity of our members, we’re working to ensure that important, quality stories about our community will continue to be told well into the future.
I am a dedicated community builder, and have given back to Edmonton through thousands of hours of board, committee, and other volunteer work for more than a dozen different organizations. For instance, I combined my love of code and prose to advocate for open data at both the municipal and provincial levels of government, was a member of the Edmonton Journal’s Community Advisory Board, and was a founding board member of Startup Edmonton.
I’ve received numerous awards and distinctions over the years, including being named a “Top 40 Under 40” by Avenue Edmonton Magazine and one of “Alberta’s Next 10 Most Influential People” by Alberta Venture Magazine.
I love meeting new people and learning new things. I am currently exploring new opportunities, so please get in touch!
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Curiosity-driven stories about Edmonton, cultivated by the community.
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A celebration of food trucks and food truck culture in Edmonton, with events running May through September!
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You can improve your diet by reducing unhealthy fats, particularly those found in meat and dairy products. Instead, choose unsaturated fats, such as those found in olive oil, fish, and vegetables. Instead of butter, use olive oil, low-fat spread, or vegetable oil. Try to choose lean cuts of meat whenever possible. You should also reduce the amount of sugar that you consume, as this is another source of energy that can lead to a number of problems including tooth decay and obesity.
Snacking is a good thing
It is a good idea to snack, especially if you are trying to avoid overeating at the next meal. If you are feeling hungry between meals, a small snack before the main meal will keep your digestive system working properly and help you stay focused. One snacking golden rule: don’t go five hours without eating. Although this rule can be difficult to follow, it is possible to snack more easily if you keep track how much you eat.
Snacks are good for your diet and can help reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes. They help even out blood sugar levels and help lower cholesterol. People who snack often tend to have lower cholesterol levels than those who do not. Snacking helps you eat a healthy diet because you eat fewer calories than you should. However, you should always make sure to choose healthy snacks. These are healthy snacks that you can eat.
Healthy snacks are high-fiber and protein. The fiber in these foods takes a longer time to digest than other types of food, which makes them an excellent choice for snacking. Healthy snacks also provide you with energy throughout the day and help prevent you from overeating at the next meal. But remember, snacking is not a substitute for a full meal. To keep your body healthy, you should choose the healthiest snacks.
People who snack more often eat healthier snacks than those who don’t. The main reasons for this include hunger, thirst, a sweet or salty treat, and easy access to food. Moreover, snacks can help you meet recommended daily amounts of certain nutrients or even entire food groups. According to a study, almost a quarter of Americans snack every day.
To stay on a diet, you can plan ahead for dining out. Make sure you check the menu before going. Also, make sure you bring a healthy snack to avoid overeating. To determine the nutritional content of the menu at your restaurant, you can check it online. You can also plan your meals in advance by calculating the number of calories and carbs in each dish.
Eating out is a tradition in the United States, but it can be challenging to stay on a diet while dining out. Many restaurant meals are high-calorie, high-sugar, high-fat, and high in calories. Often, these dishes are also served in larger portions, making it easy to overeat. It can be stressful to eat out. However, there are ways you can still eat healthy while dining out. You should plan ahead before dining out so that you can order the healthy foods you crave.
It is essential to read the nutrition label of any food to determine the level of specific nutrients it contains. All fats are not created equal and not all are bad for you. For example, total sugars can include both natural and added sugars. You should limit your intake of saturated, trans, and sodium. You can also compare labels to choose foods that contain less of these ingredients.
How Can I Maintain a Healthy Diet?
You should not only compare the amount of nutrients in the food, but also the % Daily Value (%DV) of it. This number indicates how much of a particular nutrient contributes to your daily diet. This can help you decide whether the food you are eating is too high or too low in a specific nutrient. To keep your calorie intake in check, eat more fruit and vegetables instead of processed foods.
Another important aspect of food labels is the serving size. Serving size is an important piece of information, because it puts the nutrient content into perspective. Serving size refers to the amount of food that a person typically consumes. If you eat more than one serving, you will likely gain twice as many calories and fat. Likewise, if you eat the same amount of a dessert as you would a meal, you’ll end up eating twice as much sugar as if you ate one small serving.
A new label on food packaging makes understanding the nutritional information easier. The label will tell you how much fat is in the food, in addition to providing nutrition information. Fats have different nutritional values depending on their source. If they are natural, they are not added. Sugars added to foods include those found in maple syrup, honey, and concentrated fruit juices. You can use this information to make healthy choices when shopping for food.
Make your own meals
While it’s important to prepare meals at home to maintain a healthy diet, it can be difficult to find the time. It can be tempting to eat out, or rely on takeout. These habits can result in health problems such as high blood pressure and obesity, which are why meal preparation is important. Here are some tips for meal preparation if you’re new to it.
People are often in a rush to eat out. Learning a few tricks in the kitchen can help you eat healthier and cut down on fast food. Eating out often makes it difficult to maintain a healthy weight. Restaurant portions are often large and can contain as much as a whole day’s worth calories and sodium. Using meal planning to prepare meals at home can make this process easier, healthier and more convenient.
Planning ahead is another important strategy to follow if you want to eat well on a budget. It can be time-consuming to shop for groceries. Making a list in advance will help you save a lot of time. Collect healthy recipes from magazines and newspapers and copy them to a spreadsheet. Make sure you rotate the ingredients you use and try out different combinations. You can serve different sides by using a pressure cooker or slow cooker to cook a meal. You can plan ahead and prepare several meals per week so that everyone can enjoy the same recipe.
Planning out your meals ahead of time can help you avoid stress, save money, and maintain a healthy diet. You’ll also have more time to consider what you’re eating and to prepare them properly. Meal planning will allow you to prepare your favorite meals in smaller portions and help you stay on track with your diet goals. It’s a great way for you to improve your cooking skills and to enjoy a healthy diet.
Every day, eat 5 portions of fruit or veg
The World Health Organization has recommended that we eat at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables each day. Research shows that eating this many fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of developing a variety of health problems such as stroke, diabetes, and cancer. In one study, eating just 5 portions of fruit and veg per day significantly reduced the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and cancer.
Vegetables and fruit are great for boosting your daily intake of fiber and vitamins. The best way to get your five a day is by incorporating them into your diet in a variety of ways. Try preparing a vegetable soup with carrots, tomatoes, butternut squash, and kale. You can even make a salsa with strawberries to serve alongside fish. Cans and frozen foods are just as nutritious, as fresh food.
Although this may sound like a challenge, the truth is that you can easily fit five portions of fruit and veg into your diet each day. The aim is to get a variety of colors and textures into your diet, and to eat them as frequently as possible. The World Health Organization guidelines recommend that we eat at least 400g of fruits and vegetables each day.
A recent study published in the journal Lancet found that eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day significantly reduced the risk of cancer and heart disease. Researchers analyzed data from 16 large-scale studies, which followed the health of more than a hundred thousand people over three decades. Researchers also found that people who ate more than five meals a day were less likely to be diagnosed with any type of chronic disease.
How to Maintain Health After 50? »
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I have given in, even though I promised my mother I never would, and I have booked my MEM (Mad Elderly Mother) into a nursing home, or a ‘God’s Waiting Room’, and I feel like a lying, double-crossing daughter.
It was a difficult decision that was eventually taken out of my hands as my MEM got progressively more ill, weaker in body and loopier in mind, and the carers and I were on our knees. Her doctor came and said it was his decision as we all needed a break and a battery re-charge. Even though it is only for two weeks, I feel like I have let her down and failed to give her the care that she wants and needs. On top of this I have had to tell a few white lies in order to get her to go in and we are still not there yet as the bed does not become available until Tuesday. She told me today she is never going to set foot in “one of waiting rooms for God’!!
I know that it will be luxurious and pampering with excellent nursing and medical care, however it is not what she wants. But I am now so tired that if, when we check in, she refuses I may just lie down on the bed, push the button and order room service. However for all her resistance to go, I have a feeling that after two weeks she won’t want to come home but at £1150 per week that won’t be an option!
There was a moment when she was so ill, she was calling me Mummy and groaning with pain. I thought I would have to dial 999, but her doctor arrived and said that this respite bed was a better option. However when you are in the midst of it all you just can’t see the wood for the trees and there is no-one that tells you what tomorrow may bring and, more importantly, how to deal with it. You have no idea what would be best for her. So I am on this massive learning curve with my mother. The cocktail of Alzheimer’s and cancer throws up problems that no-one could anticipate, such as the morning she managed to walk out of her cottage into the road and yell “Help – I am being neglected”. In actual fact the carer had left some 10 minutes before whilst MEM was asleep in bed and as she had not walked even a few steps for over 10 days and the next carer was only 20 minutes away it all seemed fairly safe!! The fact that her pyjama top popped open was even more of an issue as a male neighbour was the first on the scene. However it now transpires that it was all due to an UTI rather than a massive Alzheimer’s freefall. However at the time who was to know that these infections can make one go a little mad (or madder).
We are now back on a manageable level, with MEM now living in about 1952 i.e. we have moved on from the war years possibly because there is not quite so much in the media about the Great War centenary. She has decided she would like to move back to the house she lived in then when she was having her children because she says that is when she was happiest. My reasoning that she has not lived there for 45 years and we can’t just chuck out the new owner, did not seem to ‘cut the mustard’ and she insisted on calling her sister to get here mobilised and organising this move.
My own family are feeling neglected and whilst trying to be understanding and patient they sometimes run dry on both counts. When I return from a shift they don’t want to see an exhausted, grumpy mother, so I have to attempt the ‘all is absolutely fine’ look. This implies that everything is under control even though I have just realised the dry cleaners has closed for a week with my husband’s dinner suit that he needs this Wednesday, that I have forgotten to book the dogs into their carer for when we go away and she is now full – but that is not so much of a problem as I have not even booked our own tickets yet because I just have not had the time! Oh well maybe after Tuesday everything will settle down, I will be re-charged and my mother will be having a brilliant time being waited on hand and foot!
P.S. An interesting fact for all us slightly older ladies – Women age 60 and older have a 1 in 6 chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease in their lifetime, and are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s compared with breast cancer, according to a report from the Alzheimer’s Association. Keep doing our Daily Suduko test!
ANNABEL: Mother of four grown up children, I live with my tolerant OH and two Doodles on an island in the Thames at Henley. I blog to make myself laugh at life’s little hiccoughs. My motto is “try and turn a lemon into a melon”.
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It’s my age, I keep being told ; failing eyes, teeth and ears
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Old friendships are indestructible but Covid put many on pause
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A short, wet story from Sassy Singleton about her new life
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Annabel & Grace is THE online magazine for women embracing their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond - it's upbeat and pro-age.
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"No summer sun," said W.H. Auden in one of his late poems, "will ever dismantle the global gloom / cast by the Daily Papers." Even more true today than when this was originally written in 1973.
But occasionally, amid the doom and gloom, there's also reason to smile or cheer. For example, these articles in The Guardian and The Times give me hope that the world will put up a fight against the greatest intellectual-property robbery in our history. Once again, it's the enlightened French who lead the way in organizing some sort of Résistance against the digital cowboys of our times.
And I was delighted, both for ourselves and for our translator Andrew Brown, to see two wonderful reviews of our Oneworld Classics edition of Satyricon in The Guardian and The Independent. That a book which has only survived in fragments could still find, after almost 2,000 years, so much resonance with readers and reviewers is confirmation – and do we need one in our dire days! – that true literature never dies.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 09:48 2 comments
Monday, 14 December 2009
Many congratulations to Rosie Alison for being longlisted for the Romantic Novel of the year award. Her debut novel, The Very Thought of You, published by Alma in June 2009, is competing with the likes of Katie Flynn, Erica James and Nicholas Sparks. Well done also to fellow independent Allison & Busby for clocking up two entries on the longlist. Alma and A&B are the only independents on the list.
The shortlist will be announced on 11th February 2010, and you can see the entire longlist of the Romantic Novel of the year award here.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 22:27 0 comments
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Boy by James Hanley
When James Hanley died in 1985, the Times titled his obituary “Neglected Genius of the Novel”. Until recently this situation continued to persist, but since his death his works have steadily gained the posthumous recognition he deserves. As Anthony Burgess remarks in his introduction to a reprint of Hanley’s 1931 novel Boy in reference to the Times obituary, “the geniuses who are neglected are usually those who disturb, and we do not like to be disturbed”.
Hanley was not a writer endowed with a light, playful style: his language was visceral, sharp; his observation keen and uncompromising. And indeed, he had the power to disturb. In the first edition of Boy, the most risqué bits are covered with asterisks. The 1934 reprint was also deemed obscene, and then suppressed for decades. It has since been reprinted by Oneworld Classics to great critical acclaim.
Hanley clearly did not set out to shock readers for the sake of it or to enhance his reputation, but to represent reality – one that could be brutal and dehumanizing. Although he later claimed that the tragic story of Arthur Fearon – the ‘boy’ of the title – was not autobiographical, Hanley is certainly drawing upon his own experiences: his upbringing in Liverpool, where poverty and unemployment was rife; the frustration of having intelligence and ambition but no means of escape; the harshness of work at the docks and life at sea.
Arthur, a smart and sensitive boy, is forced to leave school by his desperately poor parents just before he turns thirteen. Initially sent to the docks, he cannot stand the dangerous and humiliating work there and stows aboard a ship in the hope of reaching America. Instead he is on a ship bound for Alexandria and beyond, and when discovered by the crew is put to work until they can bring him ashore. From then on, Fearon’s life follows a tragic path, until the novel reaches its fatal conclusion.
Young Fearon’s story of abuse and innocence lost in an unforgiving world is well observed and very real. Boy provides the modern reader with a non-sensational, unromantic depiction of the lives of dockhands, sailors and child-labourers. Hanley gives voice to everyday people in constrained circumstances, creating real characters who, despite their failings, are not entirely without humour. His portrayal of people who are unable to break free of their social constraints and even resent intelligence and education – thus perpetuating their misfortune onto their own children – has not lost its power to shake.
Boy – which the author once claimed to have written in ten days – lacks the polish of The Closed Harbour and other Hanley novels. However, this only adds to the force and realism of the novel, and makes it an outstanding and memorable piece of fiction.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 00:02 0 comments
Thursday, 10 December 2009
One of my publishing idols and models has always been the Italian publisher Giulio Einaudi (1912–99), the founder of Giulio Einaudi Editore. I grew up on Einaudi books: I can see my well-thumbed edition of the Complete Short Stories by Chekhov, Musil’s Man without Quality, Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, Proust's Recherche, Yeats’s, Keats’s, Baudelaire’s and Dylan Thomas’s poems, the Apocryphal Gospels, Ian McEwan’s novels and dozens more volumes that I first coveted, then owned and enjoyed over many readings.
What made Einaudi’s books unique was the quality of the editing, translation, typesetting, paper, binding – the whole package oozed with quality. It is unfortunate and tragically ironic that this once great brand – associated with authors such as Calvino, Pavese, Vittorini, Carlo and Primo Levi, to name but a few, and with the Italian Left – has now ended up in the clutches of the Antichrist of Culture, Berlusconi.
I am currently reading Giulio Einaudi’s memoirs, or rather Fragments of Memories (Frammenti di memoria), as the title goes. It is a lovely volume that was sent to me by my friends at Nottetempo, a wonderful publishing house founded in 2002 by Roberta Einaudi and Ginevra Bompiani. It’s around 200 pages in large typeface and generous layout – quite a refreshing change from other publishing memoirs, such as Maurice Girodias’s two-volume A Day on the Earth or John Calder’s Pursuit, a densely printed royal hardback of over six hundred pages.
It’s not that Giulio Einaudi’s life was uneventful. On the contrary – he led a very industrious (and, at times, heroic) life and had dealings with some of the greatest twentieth-century writers and thinkers. But the impression I get from this book is that he was a decent and reserved man who tried to shun hype and walk away from the limelight.
His prose is terse, lucid, totally unpompous. “My interest for books,” he writes, “was driven at first by the pleasure of physical contact rather than by reading. Perhaps this is the reason why I have always taken extreme care, in my profession, in choosing the typeface, paper, printing, binding, typesetting and layout…” Hundreds of well-known authors and publishers are portrayed in finely chiselled cameos, and there’s a wealth of short but vivid publishing anecdotes.
The English publisher Sir Stanley Unwin reproaches him during an international conference in Florence for being three months late with a royalty payment. “However," he says in the next paragraph, "money was not the subject of my conversation with the old Peter Suhrkamp, publisher and friend of Bertolt Brecht. What we talked about instead was the progressive dumbing-down and depersonalization of international publishing, which is gradually turning into a huge business machine. And I didn’t talk about money with the young Klaus Wagenbach, devoted to the promotion of contemporary Italian literature in Germany; neither did I talk about money with Ledig Rowohlt, the publisher of Robert Musil… These are three publishers who love to know and “grow” their authors, whose manuscripts they read during long, sleepless nights…”
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 21:35 0 comments
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
What I like about America is the warmth of the people and their sense of humour. It’s very easy to strike up a conversation or crack a joke with the man in the queue or the woman helping you at a crossroads. I have seen one entire train wagon laugh out loud at my friend’s joke the other day. If you allow me to indulge in some stereotyping, I can say that in England some people would have smirked, others mumbled “Mmm” and others, shaking their head in annoyance, would have gone back to their reading. Unless, of course, they were drunk.
At the Yale Club today I was told off by a zealous security guard before I even pulled the laptop out of my bag. “It’s against the club’s rules, Sir.” “Sorry,” I said. This I can understand – but when I picked up a card at the reception desk I was surprised to see that paper is not allowed either, “as it disrupts the other members’ peace”. So what are you supposed to do when you arrive early for your meeting – stare into the void? Whistle? Make cartwheels? The luddite in me applauded the ban of mobile phones and laptops, but do I dare disturb the universe with a few sheets of paper?
Talking of the paperless world ahead of us – I finally saw someone using one of the alleged one million Kindles sold in the US this year – but it was in the elevator of a publishing company, so I suppose it doesn’t really count, does it?
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 18:07 0 comments
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Snowed under
And the snow did come, punctual as ever, on my second day in New York. By the time I got back to my hotel in Short Hills, there were already a couple of inches of snow on the ground. The Christmas-decorated mansions in Summit, surrounded by white lawns and trees, seemed a postcard picture.
Before coming to New York, I had heard and read reports that Kindle had taken roots in America. Apparently more than a million Kindles have been sold over here, and publishers reckon that by 2015 thirty per cent of the sales will be electronic books, with futurologists predicting that mobile phones will be the tool of choice for most e-book readers.
Over the past couple of days I have used public transport and been in a few coffee shops, but did not see a single Kindle around. What I did see is lots of people watching movies from their phone or from a portable DVD-reader. But I also saw people reading traditional newspapers and magazines (not many books, admittedly!). Could it be only a little bit of hype?
I had lunch in town with Tom Lathrop, the excellent translator of our new edition of Don Quixote (to be published in May 2010) and his lovely wife Connie. He spent twenty years translating Cervantes's masterpiece, and he recently retired from his University teaching post. I asked him about the origins of his unusual family name, and he explained that the name comes from Britain, of all places – apparently his ancestor was a clergyman who left England in a bit of a hurry in the 1620s – not alone, but with a mistress.
I was surprised to learn he is not only a translator but also the publisher of over three hundred works both in English and in Spanish. He told me that he has converted all his vynils into iTunes, and showed me his iPhone with the mobile-phone version of Kindle (he also has the stand-alone version). I am always impressed and in awe with people who are more techno-savvy than I am, especially if they are from an older generation.
I wish I could grab a copy of yesterday's The Guardian: there a great review of Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday (translated by Anthea Bell and published by Pushkin Press), and a wonderful review by Jay Parini of The Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy. But then, I could it read it online for free (sigh!).
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 13:12 0 comments
Saturday, 5 December 2009
From the Other Side of the Atlantic
In New York for our December sales conference, and very much looking forward to meeting a few of our translators, authors and some fellow publishers.
I love coming to NY in December: I always find either snow or bright skies, and both are a nice diversion from London's pall of gloom.
The journey was great – I was sandwiched between two kids and my seat tray was broken (for this I got a £10 Virgin voucher – ts!), with no movies or entertainment provided other than old or silly films on a tiny Panasonic DVD reader, which I kindly declined (a new experiment, they said – well, don't do it again, man!). But I didn't much care, as I spent seven of the eight hours of my flight agonizing over two lines from Pope's Epistle to Arbuthnot – "Blessed with each talent and each art to please / and born to write, converse and live with ease." Oh well – I got over the hurdle in the end.
I love talking to New York taxi drivers. They are far more interesting and varied than their London equivalent. They are from Haiti, Portorico, Italy, Cuba, Mexico, the Caribbean – even England! The one I got yesterday was from Poland. He's been here "not very long – only thirty years". He seems to have done very well: he's got his own limo and passed his car body garage to his older son, who bought a huge – "too huge" – house with a private lagoon and a motor boat a few miles from where he lives. He's got eight grandchildrens – and each of the grandchildrens are perfectly fluent both in English and Polish. He was a friend of Lech Wałęsa at the time of Solidarity, "before he got a liddle crazy in the head". I asked him my favourite question: "What do you think of Obama then?" And his replied made it obvious that the honeymoon between US citizens and the new Peace Nobel winner is over. "He not that smart," he said. "Why?" I asked, and he replied after a pause: "Because he do stupid things."
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 11:33 0 comments
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Just back from another informative and, "to some extent" (to use one of John Calder's verbal quirks), enlightening evening at the Calder Bookshop. David Nokes was supposed to talk about Dr Johnson tonight – his absence was sorely felt, but he was warmly remembered by everyone present, including John in his introductory speech.
Tonight's talk was about John Maynard Keynes. I knew very little about him – only passing references in footnotes and diaries from members of the Bloomsbury group. His economic ideas were amazingly ahead of his time. The portrait that emerged of him was that of an incredibly smart, intelligent, altruistic and – above all – decent man.
I left with the resolution to look up his books, especially "The Economic Consequences of the Peace". And I also want to get hold of Robert Skidelsky's recently published Keynes: The Return of the Master.
Apart from the wonderful talk, it was good to see John in full form, as well as a lot of friends who attended the event. Some of them asked: "Why have you stopped writing your blog? Have you been busy? Have you got a blog block?" To which I replied: "No, I've just been trying to finish Martin Amis's Money".
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 23:17 0 comments
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Having recently received the finished copy of my Italian translation of The Rape of the Lock, published by Adelphi, I have found renewed inspiration and set myself a very ambitious task: translating Shakespeare Sonnets into Italian. I have been writing sonnets for years, so I am quite familiar with the form, but Shakespeare's Sonnets (if they are really his) verge on the untranslatable and offer any daring translator the highest challenge. My aim is to translate in modern Italian, without inversions and archaism, so it's even more difficult, as the English language can pack a lot of short monosyllables into a iambic pentameter, whereas Italian can fill one endecasillable with two or three words.
So far I have translated the first ten sonnets of Shakespeare's collection (there's 154 of them). The most difficult so far are the first two, perhaps because they are so well known. I have been working on the first stanza of the first and second sonnet for days and days on end. I think I'll have to give up. This is what I have done with the first sonnet:
Chi è più bello vogliamo sia fecondo,
perché non muoia di bellezza il fiore,
ma se maturo poi lascerà il mondo
ne conservi il ricordo un successore.
Invece tu, legato ai tuoi occhi ardenti,
nutri il tuo fuoco con la tua sostanza,
nemico di te stesso, ti tormenti,
crei carestia là dove c’è abbondanza.
splendente araldo della primavera,
resti sepolto dentro il tuo bocciolo,
Abbi pietà, o sii ingordo fino in fondo,
dando alla tomba ciò che spetta al mondo.
The second part of the sonnet is really good and flows naturally. Line 2, however, still bothers me: "di bellezza il fiore" is closer to the original, and it'd be a shame to lose "beauty's rose". But it is a bit of an unnatural inversion, so it may be replaced by something like "così che non perisca mai il suo fiore".
Anyway, thinking about Shakespeare and that world of idealized love, is certainly a nice diversion from the publishing grind!
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 20:26 0 comments
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Books don't burn
Too much doom and gloom in the trade press and from fellow independents these days. The world is going to end soon – the publishing world that is, at least the publishing world as we know it – and there's no going back. Returning from an early Christmas party with some publishing friends, I actually feel much better and more optimistic about the future. OK, independent bookshops and book chains are going bust, but new independent bookshops are opening, and some could be the Dixon's or Waterstone's of the future.
"We are living a once-in-a-civilization revolution", I heard pronounced at an interesting digital conference recently. It may well be so, but things have always changed and evolved. Wasn't the book printed using mobile types as great a revolution towards the end of the 15th century? Wasn't the introduction of the mass-market paperback another great revolution? And the lifting of censorship? What about desktop publishing and computer-to-plate technology? What about digital publishing, and now e-books? We just need to readjust, to absorb the change and move on. The pace of change may make it trickier than in the past, but adjust we must, and adjust we will.
So I can see, ahead of us, a resurgence of independent booksellers and literary publishers. The paper book will not die out. Literature will not die. Hardbacks may even come back into fashion one day. And even if books are no longer be printed on paper – which I struggle to believe – no one can destroy all the ones that have been printed so far.
Bulgakov famously said: "Manuscripts don't burn." I would add to this: "Books don't either."
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 22:36 0 comments
Monday, 30 November 2009
I have an interview with Joanna Howard up at my interview column for The Faster Times, Writers on Writing. We talk about her new collection, On the Winding Stair, story openings, and how to get from one sentence to the next.
More interviews @ Writers on Writing:
A Ribbon of Language: Blake Butler
What People Do When No One is Watching: Rachel Sherman
I'm Not Trying to Trick the Reader: Brian Evenson
Posted by Michael Kimball at 22:09 0 comments
Saturday, 28 November 2009
There is a really nice Chinese review (scroll down) of DEAR EVERYBODY at Bardon, which says, in part, that "Dear Everybody ... touches the heart of hearts ... snowflake-like letters ... exquisite ... the innermost feelings of real feeling."
Posted by Michael Kimball at 09:53 0 comments
Friday, 20 November 2009
I am sad to announce the passing of a friend and a great author. David Nokes, the author of many celebrated works of non-fiction, died yesterday at the age of sixty-one. I had the pleasure to work with him, publish one of his novels and spend some memorable time with him. He was an excellent man.
David's biography of Samuel Johnson has just been published by Faber and Faber to great critical acclaim, and we were planning to have a reading at the Calder Bookshop in December.
He will be sorely missed by everybody who knew him. Our thoughts go to his family and friends on this very sad day.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 22:30 3 comments
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
I'm Not Trying to Trick the Reader
I have an interview with Brian Evenson up at my interview column for The Faster Times, Writers on Writing. We talk about Fugue State, irresolvable narrative, the ending of The Open Curtain, and form as it relates to the novel, the novella, and the story collection.
More interviews @ Writers on Writing:
A Ribbon of Language: Blake Butler
What People Do When No One is Watching: Rachel Sherman
Posted by Michael Kimball at 17:56 0 comments
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
At Shape of a Box, Jessie Carty gives a thoughtful video review to DEAR EVERYBODY in which she says that DEAR EVERYBODY is "a beautiful book, inside and out," among other nice things. Thank you, Jessie.
Posted by Michael Kimball at 19:45 0 comments
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Ionesco’s anonymous narrator is a young man, an everyman, a human being. We meet him, the Hermit, at the age of thirty-five (like Dante "nel mezzo del cammin…") in the city of Paris. There he would have died of boredom and depression, if not for an unexpected inheritance that allows him the luxury of an immediate retirement from his job – a job he saw as “...lists, lists, lists.” He abandons fifteen years of living by the clock; a tedious, pre-determined existence punctuated only by drunken oblivion and failed love affairs. He is a lonely man and he is more than a trifle bored.
As he embarks on a new life – in a new apartment, with new possessions and new neighbours – he feels an initial relief at being his own man; but this period of mental calm is short-lived. Unable to overcome his need for routine and the sense of comfort it brings, he falls into a confined, unimaginative pattern of life. His loss of purpose is substituted by the bottle, and his life revolves around his meals at the local café. His isolation is given up to repetitive, intense introspection, metaphysical anxieties and obsessive fears. With the resignation that only an idealist can experience, he succumbs to a profound and debilitating pessimism about the world, believing that “If I had been less of a philosopher, I would have had a happier life”. We follow his existence over years, with time being scattered about, slowing down and speeding up, in congruence with his state of mind.
The Hermit is Ionesco’s only novel, and it embodies many of the themes that recur throughout his extensive body of work. He was greatly interested in the solitude and insignificance of human existence, and modern feelings of alienation. He also felt a sense of wonderment and anguish at the strangeness of reality, and this is splendidly expressed in the mouth of the Hermit.
This novel, with its elements of magical realism, is a fascinating insight into a tortured mind, and compels reflection on mortality, free will, alienation, idealism and the ignorance of man.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 23:51 0 comments
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
I have an interview with Rachel Sherman up at my interview column for The Faster Times, Writers on Writing. We talk about LIVING ROOM, the third person, a beautiful sentence, loneliness, and touching.
There's also an amazing interview with Gary Lutz there. And there's a thing where Blake Butler and I talk about acoustics. In the next few weeks, there will be interviews with Brian Evenson, Laura van den Berg, Ben Tanzer, Joanna Howard, and Robert Lopez.
Posted by Michael Kimball at 17:38 0 comments
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Caius Petronius was a notorious dandy-figure in Nero’s court. Pronounced “arbiter of elegance” by the emperor himself, he acted as the yardstick for all matters of courtly taste. However in his writing Petronius took a double-edged attitude to upper class revelry, indulging in razor-sharp satire and farce. His satirical-erotic fragmentary work the Satyricon – soon to be published in a new translation by Andrew Brown for Oneworld Classics – gives the reader a rare chance to confront Roman life face to face, in all its fragrant, flatulent reality. The Satyricon depicts all strata of society, from the hustle-bustle of seedy small town life to the sumptuous (equally seedy) excesses of the Roman court. The protagonist Encolpius and his beautiful boy-lover Giton enjoy rambunctious adventures of mock-heroic derring-do, punctuated by sexual liaisons that would make John Wilmot blush; along the way they are assaulted by drag queens, get lost in brothels, and attend sumptuous feasts. The work is never silent, its soundtrack brimful with cacophonic eruptions of flatulence, boisterous lewd banter, street noise and squeals of delight or pain.
Unprecedented in its fidelity to the tone and texture of Petronius’s original, Andrew Brown’s translation conveys the energized colloquial chatter, and untiring bawdiness of the original. Brown uses a blend of modern colloquialism and dirty slang, patchworked with turns of phrase from French, Spanish and Italian to mimic Petronius’s own freestylings. He manages to retain the rough-and-ready nature of the original, whilst preserving its fluid free flow between prose and poetry, replicating its myriad of tones, voices, dialects, languages and accents.
Masterfully rendered by Andrew Brown, the most striking scene in the Satyricon is the description of a lavish banquet hosted by Trimalchio, a wealthy patron of the arts. Here, Petronius displays his ability to move effortlessly between biting satire on courtly pursuits and reverence for displays of lavish aestheticism. Course after course of fantastic culinary excess is interspersed with anecdotes told by the diners – tales of sexual seduction and werewolves – and recitals of hilariously appalling verse. The scene is fascinating for its surreal comedy and beauty. Cooked animals are dressed as soldiers, cakes and fruit spurt saffron at the guests, tarts are drowned in honey, a chef appears who apparently can make fish from sow and chicken from pork, a hare is decorated with wings to look like a Pegasus, a flock of thrushes fly from the belly of a roasted boar…
These moments of courtly entertainment rise above mere satire, and the dazzling descriptions are truly captivating.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 20:15 0 comments
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Dear Everybody (Or: When a Poet Writes a Novel)
There's a really thoughtful review of DEAR EVERYBODY up at The Lesser of Two Equals. It says, in part: "Kimball’s background as a poet is apparent in his ability to isolate and frame small moments of a particular character’s experience. Fine attention to detail is exercised both as an art and as a special effect ... It has a surprisingly strong dark humor for being about such a serious topic, his observations are keen and quirky, and he knows how to let imagery make a scene swell." And I liked this bit about Jonathon's suicide letters: "This writing spree has all the highs and lows of a drug binge."
Posted by Michael Kimball at 21:24 0 comments
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Book No. 100
Today we signed off our 100th book of the season, a special book because it's our first e-book. Strangely enough, unlike normal printed books, the e-book printers have asked for the InDesign files and the fonts, as they wanted "to make itk look as close as possible to the printed version".
Despite what you think, I haven't "printed" this e-book reluctantly – actually there was a very good vibe about it – which demonstrates that a) I am not a Luddist or a reactionary; b) that there is some pleasure even in torture.
On a slightly different matter, have you seen Madonna's latest video? It's obscene! I know I shouldn't be surprised, but it's so bad, so cringing, so uncool. You've got this fifty-odd-year-old trying to look desperately sexy and Beyoncesque, or Kyliesque . . .
I think I'll send Madonna a copy of Pirandello's book on Humour. . .
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 21:15 0 comments
Monday, 12 October 2009
Sorry I've been out of touch recently. I haven't been on a blog strike, and no, it's not because I'm still reading Martin Amis's Money, as someone has suggested (it's true that I am a slow reader, but not that slow). I have been incredibly busy with a series of exciting books, from a Catalan novel, The Invisible City, to an eighteenth-century rediscovery (Swift's The Wonderful Wonder of Wonders) to the wonderful Diaries of Sofia Tolstoy and a few other great books that will appear in the next couple of weeks. I would have liked to comment on many of the recent news – Super Thursday, Waterstone's Hub, the new Kindle, the closure of Books Etc., etc. etc. etc. – but life has gone faster than my fingers, or even my brain. I hope to catch up soon.
Today I walked back home from the office and I was almost raped by a newspaper maniac who was dispensing free copies of The Evening Standard. Piles and piles of copies were lining the walls behind him. I manage to dodge him, but there were a couple of his colleagues round the corner, and I stumbled at the last hurdle and got a free copy myself. I don't usually read The Evening Standard – maybe because I don't commute, or maybe because I think it has the information value of a medicine's information leaflet. Anyway, I did get this copy – I arrived home five minutes later and threw it in our recycle bin. Why did I do that? Because for me it had no value – I had not paid for it, so I didn't care much about it. By making something free, you devalue it – and although this populistic move has been endorsed by great celebrity quotes, I think the Russian tycoon who took over the ailing paper will live to regret this.
Have you seen all those free DVDs, CDs and even books that are given away by Sunday newspapers these days? No doubt they'll generate some more sales for the struggling papers, but who watches or listens to them? Who reads those book? Will they make any money to the record labels or book publishers? I very much doubt. Penguin has been giving away some horribly printed green classics of late – a disservice to publishing and to Penguin – and surely a waste of paper and resources.
The time is coming when the majority of people will stop going into bookshops simply because so much content – information, comment, fiction, even research – is available for free.
And when that happens, we'll all be consigned to the recycle bin of history.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 21:20 2 comments
Monday, 5 October 2009
Ben Tanzer has a super nice write-up, at This Blog Will Çhange Your Life, in which he calls me "the dark overlord of all things writing, film and interview" and in which he calls DEAR EVERYBODY "moving, even paralyzing"--and notes that "pain can be captured on the page both sparsely and lyrically, an achievement that is magical."
Posted by Michael Kimball at 19:17 1 comments
Monday, 28 September 2009
Blake Butler and I talk about acoustics--how we think about acoustics, how we use acoustics, and where we feel acoustics. We called the talk A Ribbon of Language. It originally appeared in Unsaid #4. Now it's posted in my interview column at The Faster Times, along with a Gary Lutz interview.
Posted by Michael Kimball at 18:33 0 comments
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Alongside Ginsberg and Kerouac, William S. Burroughs was the opiate-lubricated voice of The Beat Generation. His novels depict drug addiction, wild sexual fantasies and sensational nihilistic tales of gangsters and zombies. In The Ticket That Exploded – first published in UK by John Calder in 1968 – Burroughs splices together the clichéd genres of science fiction and spy thriller with descriptions of graphic violence and explicit pornography to create a provoking, acerbic and witty comment upon the modern media age.
And yet, despite its attention to intergalactic subterfuge, neon-lit sex palaces and alien copulation, the poetic prose and fragmentary form of Burroughs’s novel, and its concern with disseminating generic cliché, seem to bear similarity to the stylistics of Joycean modernism. The Ticket That Exploded showcases Burroughs’s cut-up and fold-in technique of literary composition, which involved creating a new text by fragmenting and then splicing together multiple narratives. This was a method Burroughs also applied to audio and visual media, and indeed he hoped that his writing would have the “same effect on the reader as a lurid action photo”.
This splicing process is not limited to the structural elements of the book, but manifests in its content, which explores the limits of physicality and individuality. Burroughs uses images of violent bodily decay and sexual union to explore the
extremities of being and questions the singularity of the self in an age in which sound recordings and images can be endlessly replicated or played back, doctored and spliced. Selfhood becomes virtually non-existent in the text, where the body is itself an object to be continually disjointed, consumed and reused. The landscape of The Ticket That Exploded is also poignantly fragmented, a whirlwind of “sound and image flakes”, always on the brink of decomposing or straining apart at the seams.
In an era dominated by mass media advertising, political broadcasts and pre-recorded television and radio, Burroughs believed that the process of replaying and splicing sequences of audio or written narratives would reveal a more substantial truth, liberated from the formulas of linear progression and cliché. Applying this technique to his writing was in many respects a profoundly Joycean enterprise and, as an artistic enterprise, the method creates strikingly poetic results. Despite the dislocated nature of the text, the accumulation of repeated clusters of images across the novel allow an aesthetic unity to surface amidst the chaos.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 20:14 1 comments
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
"Who are but weasels fighting in a hole" - WB Yeats
So the long-awaited follow-up to the Da Vinci Code is about to be "released". Embargoes have been broken already by reviewers, half-price advance orders have been taken before publication – and now there's a new Brownesque twist in the story: not the usual price competition but an all-out war between retailers. The big W – and even the mighty Amazon – have been caught by surprise by the supermarkets' slashing from £18.99 to as little as £5.00. The Book Depository entered this loss-making competition and announced today that they'd be selling The Lost Symbol for just under a fiver. Obviously it didn't take Amazon long to follow suit and match that price – even retrospectively for the books already preordered… Insane. It is evident that online retailers are exposed to exactly the same dangers as high-street retailers when they try to compete with the supermarkets on discounts.
The Lost Symbol is yet another lost opportunity (for publishers and booksellers). I am pretty sure that many people would have happily paid the full price for it. But intellectual property is being degraded and devalued so much these days, in this brave new Internet world of free music, free news and – soon – free books that it will be even more of a struggle for anybody concerned (authors, publishers, journalists, bookshops, distributors etc.) to survive.
"Bring the Net Book Agreement back!" cries a voice in the desert. You think it won't work? Can it get worse than this? The fixed price is still in place in many European countries, and it could make the difference in UK, too, where publishers and retailers seem to have lost any sense of reality and are prepared to sacrifice profits and margins for that magical words – "sales" and "market share".
When we all go bust, and the majority of readers download books illegally from the Internet rather than buy them from shops, they'll realize that 100% of zero is zero.
Read here my post about Barbers' Wars.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 22:09 1 comments
Sunday, 13 September 2009
I think I should say a few words about the sad news of Marion Boyar’s demise, which its publisher Catheryn Kilgarriff blames on excessive discounts and the increasing polarization and conglomeration of the book trade. I hope that, in the same way as Calder Publications was rescued by Oneworld Classics in 2007, some white nights will come to the rescue of this prestigious publisher.
Penguin will republish thirty-eight of Marion Boyars’ backlist titles in their classics series, and I hope there is some young entrepreneur out there who’s prepared to take on the challenge and drive forwards the programme initiated by Marion Boyars in 1975 and valiantly continued by her daughter Catheryn since 1999.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 09:08 0 comments
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Nik Perring has a category for books that he loves beyond other books, The Incredibles. I love that he has that category and I love that he added Dear Everybody to that list with books like Slaughterhouse 5 and Frankenstein. Nik says Dear Everybody "is right up there with the best I've read. Ever. It's clever, sensitive, heartbreaking, moving, funny and many, many other wonderful things." And then we did an interview where we talk about what is essential to great fiction and sympathy for those suffering from mental illness.
Posted by Michael Kimball at 16:38 0 comments
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Triptych is, ostensibly, three short stories. In one, a young girl drowns; in another we witness an unhappy marriage; the third deals with a woman who is somehow involved in an incident at a summer seaside resort. However, although the work is divided into three, divisions do not mark separate stories or sequences, but instead divide the piece as if it were the triptych of the title – panels focusing on different parts of three stories interwoven into the same, ongoing narrative.
Simon is especially concerned with life and death, and in Triptych he explicitly links sex with death and young life with decay in a highly eroticised narrative, filled with sexual imagery and metaphors. Children play by a river, spying on furtive sex acts in a barn; an old woman kills a rabbit in an almost ritualistic manner, leaving the body on a kitchen table; a little girl strays too close to a river bank and we later see the servant girl who was meant to look after her distraught. A marriage begins to fail not long after it has begun; an older woman, no longer as influential as she once was, persuades a former acquaintance to help her through seduction.
Simon’s overall metaphor does not just employ painting, but cinema and other performance mediums. Different strands of the stories are woven together, shifting from one tableau to the next in a non-linear fashion. The story with the little girl follows several characters at different points in the same rural setting, like a detailed landscape painting or engraving; the resort story focuses almost entirely on a woman lying naked on a bed, akin to a detailed, intimate portrait, photograph or film still; the bridegroom’s stag night and what appears to be a disastrous wedding night is viewed like a series of out of sequence filmed scenes. Simon takes the metaphor further by presenting scenes as if they were unnaturally frozen celluloid images and deliberately blurs the line between the constructed cinematic image and reality, participants and spectators – for example, the circus scenes – full of heightened theatricality and ridiculousness, watched by a laughing audience in the dark, and the audience leaving from a cinema at the end. In Triptych, the novel form becomes like film, thus taking Simon’s sensibilities and style as a Nouveau Romancier further – events are seen by the mind like film inside a projector, focused on in detail, moved out of sequence like separate stills.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 16:56 0 comments
Thursday, 3 September 2009
The Faster Times: Writers on Writing
The Faster Times has been laying down a ton of nice coverage of books and everything and I've just started an interview column there called Writers on Writing. The first interview is with Gary Lutz and it's called I Am Not a Camera. It's pretty incredible.
Posted by Michael Kimball at 19:54 0 comments
Dante's Rime is shortlisted for the Prize for European Poetry in Translation
Apparently good news comes in bunches!
Dante's Rime has been shortlisted for the Corneliu M. Popescu Prize for European Poetry in Translation 2009. This prize, organized by the Poetry Society, is open to collections of texts translated from another European language into English.
Fingers crossed!
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 10:29 0 comments
We are delighted to share with you a review of Elective Affinities by Goethe and The Life of Monsieur de Moliere by Bulgakov, both published in the Guardian.
The constant relevance of the masterpiece by the most popular German author is highlighted: "Controversial in its day, as it lent itself to the interpretation that love could be reduced to a chemical attraction, the novella continues to be relevant. Despite a shift in mores, contemporary readers will recognise the emotional pressures and the problems that Goethe explores through his characters and the Romantic landscape." (Please click here to read the complete review)
John Dugdale also says about The Life of Monsieur de Molière that "in its playfulness and hybridity, this book looks forward to contemporary 'faction' that fuses fiction and biography." (Please click here to read the complete review)
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 10:10 0 comments
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
A poet, novelist, playwright and musician – and the man who famously said, "My fame will outshine that of Victor Hugo or Napoleon" – Raymond Roussel was never a part of the official surrealist movement, but is nevertheless among the most important surrealist writers. A highly eccentric wealthy man with odd habits and a unique writing method (a formal style made unpredictable by its construction being based on homonymic puns), he was almost unanimously unpopular during his lifetime, save for the admiration of the surrealists and avant-garde. It was only in the 1950's that he began to be acknowledged as one of the originators of the nouveau roman and the ‘theatre of the absurd’, with both Eugène Ionesco and Alain Robbe-Grillet citing his influence. With the recent republication of Nouveau Roman authors such as Duras, Robbe-Grillet and Simon, as well as Roussel’s novel Locus Solus, by Oneworld Classics, the reprint of one of his best-known works, Impressions of Africa, is something to look forward to.
Impressions of Africa opens with the coronation of Talu VII, emperor of the African land of Ejur, who has just vanquished the ruler of the neighbouring land and claimed it as his own. The ceremony is witnessed by Talu’s wives, many children (including his blind daughter Sirdah) and French guests – with one of their number acting as narrator. An extraordinary and surreal gala performance ensues, in which science, theatre and African ritual are combined in a series of unbelievable events that last over the course of the night.
The narrator then reveals how this all came to be. He, bound for South America, boarded a ship in Marseilles leaving for Buenos Aires, joined by a quirky multi-talented group of fellow passengers – including the genius chemist Bex, the female-impersonating Carmichael, former ballerina Olga (accompanied by her tame elk and she-ass), a vain fireworks manufacturer, an Italian tragic actress and a travelling circus company of assorted acrobats, animals and freaks. When their ship is wrecked by a storm on the coast of Ejur, Talu demands that they remain his prisoners until he has gained ransoms for them. Whilst waiting for the ransom sums that will free them, the passengers pass the time by setting up a theatre company – the Incomparables – and prepare to present a fantastical display of their marvellous individual skills. The preparation for this is interwoven with the events that lead to Talu defeating his royal rival and arranging his coronation. Thus the circumstances that led to the miraculous and strange events in the novel’s first half – from ancestral deeds committed by Talu’s forefathers and the recent political and romantic liaisons that have recently occurred, to descriptions of how the performers prepared their acts – are explained precisely, grounded them in reality, albeit it a reality which is still strange and fantastical.
The title recalls nineteenth-century travel writing, but with a sly twist. Roussel rarely left his Paris hotel, let alone France, thus his ‘impressions’ are not based around his own exploits, or indeed on reality. They are instead ideas lifted from his imagination, resulting in an inventive, often absurd and highly surreal portrait of ‘Africa’, the unique product of Roussel’s mind.
The imagery he conjures is very detailed, which only serves to heighten their oddity. However, Roussel’s writing is precise and structured, describing objects and situations with a mathematical precision – in fact, scientific and musical terminology and concepts are frequently used, grounding the fanciful and making the logical appear magical. His keen fascination with theatre and music (he adapted his own works into plays and was himself a pianist) is also reproduced in tableaux, film stills, plays and ritualized ceremonies. Science, technology, music and theatre elaborately blended together, as seen when an advanced mechanical loom weaves a tableau onto a cloth in what is in essence a technological ‘performance’. The overall effect is of a dazzling surrealist theatrical performance, followed by the curtain being lifted to reveal the truth behind the magic tricks – but in a way that does not lessen the reader’s original reaction.
Many of his descriptions, which are deliberately surreal, provide an amusing contrast with historical narratives on Africa – from Herodotus’s giant dung beetles to more recent accounts. A scene proceeds as we would expect it for a moment, but is then followed by an amusing detail: the image of the African king being led to the place of his coronation, which would ordinarily be solemn and ceremonial, is made ridiculous and theatrical by his costume – a low-cut evening dress and flaxen wig. Once these details are finally explained (Talu, unaware that he is in ladies’ dress, is merely imitating Carmichael’s act, which he admires), we are presented with an unusual situation: the fantastic events that we saw were not entirely the work of the natives, but the westerners. The typical stance of a narrative on foreign culture, emphasizing distance and peculiarity, has been reversed. Impressions of Africa is therefore not only a reflection of the theatrical and musical arts that Roussel loved, but a work that can be subversive. It is a highly imaginative and ultimately bizarre novel that effectively conveys the author’s unique writing style and eccentric personality.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 22:29 2 comments
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Raymond Queneau was a writer with a great understanding of language and its possibilities. His ability to employ everyday speech, including its rhythms, colloquialisms, obscenities and puns, resulted in deeply humorous and imaginative works, which often centred around his entertaining manipulation of language and narrative, as in Exercises in Style and the Flight of Icarus, both recently republished by Oneworld Classics. He was also a keen and witty social observer and portrayer of character, which is demonstrated in his 1952 work, The Sunday of Life.
When middle-aged shop-owner Julia Segovia stubbornly decides that she’s going to marry the handsome, if exceedingly young, soldier who walks past her premises each day, her sister and brother-in-law are aghast – more out of fear for their daughter’s inheritance than the probable success of the marriage. With no firm ideas concerning his future upon finishing his service (having never been promoted beyond the lowly rank of private), the ambivalent and somewhat simple Valentin Brû willingly goes along with her scheme.
Thereafter we follow the next four years of Brû’s life, as he contends with disgruntled in-laws, a ‘monstrous’ cook, numerous eccentric locals, his vulgar and cunning wife, a shifty career in fortune-telling, the approaching threat of war with Germany, and the mysteries of Parisian public transport. Brû’s eternally optimistic personality and complete lack of malice means that he responds positively and with naive charm to the most negative of circumstances – but his overt simplicity hides from most his special insight into people’s lives and future events. Even the outbreak of war does not weary his spirits.
With a cast of eccentric characters, amusing incidents and a remarkably positive outlook, especially when one considers the period in which the novel is set, The Sunday of Life is both intelligent and highly accessible: featuring Queneau’s imaginative and playful use of language, sly wit and delight in the absurdity of people and situations.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 18:27 0 comments
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
The late French writer Yves Navarre was prolific throughout the 1970s, producing a number of novels and works of drama. Critically acclaimed and much discussed during his lifetime, he is probably now best remembered for the novels A Share of Time, Sweet Tooth and Cronus’ Children. His career was halted for some time when he suffered a stroke in 1984. After returning to France from a few years spent in Montreal, he developed depression and committed suicide in 1994, cutting short a period of greater creative output. He had been awarded the Academie Francais Prize in recognition of his body of work only two years earlier.
Navarre was born in Condom in 1940. In 1971 his first novel, Lady Black, was published. In addition to various dramatic works, he wrote numerous novels, including Les Loukoums (1973), Le Petit Galopin de nos corps (1977) and Portrait de Julien devant la fenêtre (1979). The latter two novels both involved love affairs between male characters, a subject that Navarre, himself a homosexual man, frequently explored in his work, in addition to associated issues, such as AIDS (the focus of his 1992 novel, Ce sont amis que vent emporte). Instead of resorting to sensationalist sexuality, Navarre often emphasised sensuality and psychological elements in his portrayal of relationships. Cronus’ Children, for which he won the 1980 Prix Goncourt (under its original French title Le jardin d’acclimation), is not only an impressive work in its own right, but serves as an excellent introduction to Navarre’s preferred subject matter and literary techniques.
The novel focuses on the Prouillan family and their acquaintances, who are unable to escape the influence of the father, Henri – the murderous ‘Cronus’ of the English title. They share a common guilt regarding the lobotomy that the youngest brother, Bertrand, was given in an attempt to rid him of his homosexuality. The operation instead leaves an imaginative, academically successful young man a cripple, ostensibly put out of sight and out of mind when taken from Paris to the family’s country residence. The day of Bertrand’s fortieth birthday is also the twentieth anniversary of the return from his disastrous operation, the crucial moment in which his siblings, horrified by their father’s actions and guilt-ridden by their previous unwitting complicity, left the family house in Paris for good.
Over the course of this day and the following morning, every one touched by that event – the father, children, old servant, their aunt, and the family who care for Bertrand – becomes the centre of focus. Far-flung and in vastly different circumstances, the upsets that occur to each of them on this fateful anniversary lead them to meditate on past and present, revealing the different layers of these characters and their very human weaknesses and emotions. From these multiple different pieces, a complex, even tragic portrait of a family emerges, which makes one ask just how much we are the product of our family, and whether it is ever possible to break those early connections. A cleverly structured novel, full of detail, strong imagery and insight, it is a highly accomplished work.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 19:20 0 comments
Saturday, 22 August 2009
An inquisitor is questioning an old man, the former caretaker in a wealthy household, about the recent and sudden departure of the house’s residents. The answers he gives can be evasive and defensive, ranging from detailed observations to vague remarks, leaving one unsure as to whether he is telling the truth or not. The insight that the old servant provides regarding the habits and lives of that household and the inhabitants of the surrounding towns reveals details that can be mundane, surprising or unnerving. As the novel progresses, suspicious, even sinister details begin to build up, possibly incriminating his former employers, their acquaintances and his colleagues. As the elderly man becomes more overtly defensive and conveniently forgetful, the inquisitor ruthlessly questions him over the smallest details.
The novel has an unusual style, reflecting the nature of the dialogue between the two men and the characterization of the elderly man as rambling and over-observant in some respects, but seemingly forgetful and prone to digression. Despite the style, it is well structured, creating a net of suspicious circumstances and possible accusations, leading the two men into confrontation over the old man's recall of the events – is he deliberately trying to mislead the inquisitor, and why?
Pinget is clearly intrigued by the nature of truth and memory, a theme that is central to the novel, as the inquisitor attempts to draw out the truth from the reluctant servant. Does society place constraints upon him dishing out both facts and gossip about others, is he trying to protect someone, or just tired of recalling his former life? The rural, small-town antics of this French community are described in enormous detail, creating a portrait of the different people and places within an area over several decades – their everyday business, affairs, eccentricities, beliefs and crimes. Sometimes puzzling, and with a style and structure that requires focus, The Inquisitory – another gem from our Calder list – is nevertheless an amusing, well-observed and engaging work.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 20:32 0 comments
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Trilogy is a collection of three of Marguerite Duras’s novella-length stories. It was originally published by John Calder in 1977, and we are hoping to republish it under our Oneworld Classics imprint next year. The three tales are all are concerned in some way with personal relationships and change, with the main characters in each working towards a sometimes uncomfortable conclusion or confrontation through the (often accidental) fortuitous intervention of a stranger. Each of them were written between 1955 and 1962, the period in which Duras began to produce more experimental works and become more involved in writing for theatre and film.
Indeed, the first story, The Square (which Calder published separately in 1959), was adapted with little change into a play. Consisting almost entirely of a dialogue between two strangers, with the only breaks in their speech occurring when Duras wishes to draw attention to outside events – the setting sun, a child asking for milk– in order to mark the time and setting and for the characters to react to them, it is an inherently theatrical piece. A travelling salesman meets a young woman in a town square. They strike up an intense conversation about themselves – their lives, lowly place in society, hopes, fears and dreams. The girl is a maid, who clings to one hope – finding a man at the local Dance Hall who will make her his wife and rescue her from this monotonous, isolated existence. The salesman has been reduced to peddling goods across the country. Unlike the girl, his dreams are mostly connected to the past, not the future. He relies upon an opportunity presenting itself in order to lift himself of his current drudgery. The two strangers reveal their private emotions and history to one another, finding sympathy and understanding even when they are not entirely in agreement.
Duras’s tendency to evoke details from her own life may be apparent in Ten-Thirty on a Summer Night. Duras’s recurring problems with alcohol may have contributed to the characterisation of Maria, a depressed, alcoholic woman, who has discovered her husband’s affair with her friend, finds a fugitive killer hiding on a roof. The man has killed his young wife and her lover. Extraordinarily, she tries to rescue him. The results of her actions are combined with the ongoing tension between herself, her husband and his new lover, as they struggle to deal with her addiction, illicit sexual attraction and the problems in the marriage.
In The Afternoon of M. Andesmas, the wealthy Andesmas waits for an acquaintance to visit him. He hears the sound of music and dancing coming from the village square, a gathering that is contrasted with the sheltered life of the old man. Imagining the villagers below and influenced by two visitors, he begins to draw surprising conclusions about the villagers and his relationship with his beloved daughter.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 23:41 0 comments
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
A lot of weird things happen in life; I guess life is just a rather bizarre matter. When I started writing, in spring 1986 – at least this is the date on the earliest short story I can find in my closet – I probably would have felt I was in the first chapter of a science-fiction book if somebody told me that some day I would join a blog tour. “A what?” I probably would have asked. “A blog… never mind,” the somebody would have told me. “Just try to picture yourself in a room, in front of a small television talking to people in other countries.” “Yeah, right” I would have replied. And that on top of it all I would also be a writer? Never would have guessed.
Actually, to be honest, at the time I was already pretty sure about what I wanted to do with my life. Maybe a year after my first short story I began my first unfinished novel. It was the story of two kids that run away from home and eventually get caught up in some Mafia business. Given how well Mafia stories sell, I guess at the time I was much smarter than now. Anyway, while I was writing the book I can clearly remember being in the car with my mom, waiting for a green light, and asking her if once I finished the book she would publish it for me. She said ok. Things were surprisingly clear at the time.
So here I am now: I kept on writing, the whole matter went from a game, to a huge love, to an obsession, to a living; I have written with computers, typewriters, pencils and fountain pens: now I write with a Bic ballpoint; I dreamt of finishing a story, of writing without thinking too much, of finding a publisher and some success. More or less all of this happened. For some time I didn’t now what to dream anymore, so I decided to go for the long shot: I am now dreaming of becoming a great old writer, with a white beard and a walking-stick. I have at least forty years – you never know.
Pietro Grossi will be touring various book blogs over the coming weeks to promote the release of his short-story collection Fists, by Pushkin Press – the book Il Dominecale called "the greatest addition to Italian literature for a very long time". The full itinerary is as follows:
August
Wednesday 19th Alma Books Bloggerel
Friday 21st Nihoni Distractions
Tuesday 25th Pursewarden
Wednesday 26th The View From Here
Friday 28th Notes in theMargin
September
Posted by DS at 10:50 0 comments
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
Tibor Déry was born in Budapest in 1894. As a young man, he was an active party member in the liberal republic under Mihály Károlyi. However, within a year Béla Kun and his Communist Party had risen to power. Hungary was declared a Soviet Republic and Déry was exiled. He returned in 1934, only to be imprisoned on numerous occasions by the right wing Horthy regime – once for translating Retour de L'U.R.S.S (he also translated Lord of the Flies and Kipling’s Naulahka into Hungarian). During this period he wrote his great (and ironically titled) epic novel, The Unfinished Sentence – an epic novel that is around 1,200 pages long.
He became a supporter of communism, but after being expelled from the Communist Party due to a “cleansing of Hungarian literature” in1953 he began writing satire on the regime and was a spokesman during the 1956 uprising. He wrote Niki: The Story of a Dog in the same year. His involvement in the uprising led to his imprisonment, but he was released in 1960. He died in 1977.
The Portuguese Princess (published by John Calder in 1966) is a collection of four stories (one of them divided in six parts) that centre on Hungary: predominantly during the German occupation of Budapest, its immediate aftermath and the post-war Communist regime. Despite the overtly dangerous or despondent circumstances he writes about, Déry writes vulnerable but humane characters, whose eccentricities and outlook on life amuse and often appeal. His style is deceptively simple in tone and structure, but contains passages of richly imagined or starkly effective description. This also means that his character-driven stories have a coherent, appealing narrative and that his themes are put across effectively.
This collection obviously would have had greater relevance during the more immediate post-war and Cold Wars periods. However, certain details that he describes remain strong in the public consciousness: the Jews being led to their deaths, and the heavy bombing of civilian areas, the effects of Soviet Communism. The descriptions of the war-torn streets of Budapest, under attack from foreign powers, which are meant to be their salvation, can be paralleled with the involvement of foreign nations in the Middle East in recent times. The dilemmas the characters face and the ways in which they deal with them – showcasing kindness, bravery, pettiness and selfishness – are realistically portrayed. Déry’s writing is both satirical and sympathetic, and he is an excellent observer of humanity and its foibles. He also provides a crucial insight into this period in Hungary’s history, of which not so many people now would have a clear understanding, such as the short-lived rule of the Arrow Cross Party, the immediate post-war situation in Eastern Europe, or the peculiar hypocrisies that existed within Hungarian Communist society.
The first story, the very short ‘A Charming Old Gentleman’, concerns Uncle Miko, who is exactly what the story’s title says. He is also a chronic embezzler: having lost his wealth a decade earlier, he insists on paying his own way by working himself, only to get sacked when they find him taking funds. In addition, he has a love of good food and beer, which he hides from his wife, who is happily convinced that he is looking after his digestion by eating light meals and taking a walk for his constitution each evening. This walk actually involves a trip to a local restaurant. He embezzles, but yet insists on working and not living off his son-in-laws; he lies to his wife, but does so to keep her content, and dreads telling her about his working ‘mishaps’ because she becomes ill. Miko’s dishonesty, used to fund his love for the good things, actually displays his obvious love and appreciation of all aspects of life – this, combined with his affectionate, mischievous nature endears him and his positive outlook on life to the reader.
‘Games of the Underworld’ begins on Christmas Eve in Budapest, 1944. The six stories focus on different characters inhabiting the “underworld” – citizens sheltering in the cellars of their apartment buildings from the near-incessant shelling. In the first, Frances Rusko, her daughter Evi and fiancé Janos, must shelter in the cellars when the Russians begin their bombardment. Frances and Evi share affectionate and witty banter; this and Evi’s description of cooking and eating duck shows a positive fondness for life which is juxtaposed with the shelling, the dead soldiers outside and the revolutionary activities of Janos’s brother. The second, ‘Dawn of December’ is mostly set in the cellars. As the walls shake violently, many of the characters get on with everyday activities. The old maid following her routine is both amusing and somewhat worrying: when the shelling stops in the morning, she cleans her flat, gets ready, and proceeds on her ‘daily inspection’ (complete with hen companion) of the deserted streets, noting a dead soldier – upon her return, she instructs someone to inform Uncle Lajos as to the street where his soldier son is lying dead. The attempts of the cellar dwellers to live normally, the description of the desolate urban landscape and the lady’s eccentric behaviour are alternately amusing and saddening. In ‘Horse’ an old man discovers a horse in a dairy. Not wanting the animal to be killed, he brings it down into the cellar. Most are split between killing and caring for the horse. This is paralleled with the of the Jews being rounded by the Arrow Cross in order to be killed, and the girl Juli’s decision that the horse ‘will not join the procession’ of those sent to the slaughter, whilst the citizens do nothing, leads her to commit murder. In ‘The Parcel’ the resident should obey a decree stating that if a citizen is found near a house, the residents must bury him in the nearest public park. Doing so would be dangerous, so they move him, pleased that the people in another building will have to deal with it – only for the body to be returned the next morning. Darkly amusing, this story looks at the petty behaviour of people, even when under siege. ‘Aunt Anna’ concerns the sudden arrival of Anna, whose outspoken manner sets her at odds with the others, who have quietly replicated their lives in the cellar and are frightened of speaking out. Anna sacrificing her life so that her deserter son can escape is the act of someone who refused to be cowed and took a stand against the war, and is contrasted with the passive inaction of the others. The last in the sequence, ‘Fear’, sees Aunt Mari and the widow Daniska moving into a safer cellar in a wealthier house. Existing class, political and religious tensions are raised; the wealthier residents continue to order those in lower positions around; those allied with the pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party know they should hand over the two Jews with foreign passports, but fear being executed by the Russians by thus displaying their political sympathies; and the two women are terrified that the young deserter, now hiding in this building, may be found and denounced. The arrival of a group of rowdy, drunken Arrow Cross soldiers brings all this to a head.
The title story ‘The Portuguese Princess’ follows three orphaned children, Tutyu, Johnny and Peter. Displaced by the war and struggling to survive, these three unrelated children eke out an existence together. However, when they ‘treat’ themselves with the little money they have to watching a performance of the “Bloody Adventures of the Portuguese Princess”, the beautiful set designs, archetypal characters and moral undercurrent enthral the children, and allow them to be children for the first time in years. Whilst Tutyu feels an affinity with the princess, Peter sides with the villainous Black Knight, wanting him to abduct and kill. Thus Tutyu and Johnny finally see him for the vicious, heartless boy he has become and probably will remain, and part ways with him. The last story, the highly satirical ‘A Gay Funeral’ reveals a bourgeois society existing within a Communist state, in which the wealthy Mrs V. refuses to let her husband die, despite his crippling pain and desire to stop living. Before his death Mr V. claims that he has lived a lie, not making himself or anyone else really happy; he entreats his niece to appreciate life and to have a ‘sense of proportion’.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 22:25 0 comments
Friday, 14 August 2009
Aidan Higgins (born 1927) is one of the most important contemporary Irish writers. His work won him numerous awards, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and although he was once shortlisted for the Booker, he’s not very well known in the UK. John Calder published a few of his works in the Sixties and Seventies, and the brave Dalkey Archive have recently reissued some of them, so there's some hope that his work may be reassessed by the new generations.
Brought up in a landed Catholic family in County Kildare, his upbringing has informed his work, especially his acclaimed first novel, Langrishe, Go Down (1966). An experimental work, it was later adapted as a BBC television film by British playwright Harold Pinter. The extent of his learning, as well his experiences of travelling and living in London, Germany and South Africa, have also influenced his writing.
In Balcony of Europe (1972) he utilises Irish and Spanish settings (also referencing England, Germany, Finland, Russia and America) and employs various European languages - primarily Spanish - and different English dialects (favourite American, English or Irish expressions used by characters are significant throughout). He is clearly intrigued by cultural difference and similarity as displayed through language. References to European culture and history are blended with mythological, religious and poetic imagery, displaying the wide extent of his learning, as well as the continuing influence of his Irish Catholic upbringing.
Balcony of Europe opens in Dublin. Middle-aged painter Dan Ruttle watches his mother decline and die in a few days in hospital. His father is poor, having spent unwisely all his life, and they are both estranged from his brother. Dan eventually responds to his friend Roger Amory’s repeated insistence that he and his wife Olivia come to stay with him in Spain. They arrive in a town in Andalusia, once called the ‘Balcony of Europe’. Dan is soon fascinated by the attractive, sensual Charlotte Bayless, a young American-Jewish woman married and with a young child. They begin a love affair– a relationship that is not much of a secret to Charlotte’s husband Bob or Olivia. The affair consumes them both for a while, causing Dan to lose interest in his work and to become jealous of her flirtations with other men. The natural end of the affair coincides with the Ruttles’s departure. Despite now being dispersed across Europe and America, the community of ex-pats that was formed in Spain still keep in contact for a while – letters that reveal the tenacity of their personal relationships and their occasional dissatisfaction with their lives. Dan and Olivia’s new life on isolated, rural Aran now contrasts with the lives of their former friends.
The supporting cast of characters flit in and out of the narrative – some seen once, others making regular appearances. There is the chess-playing neo-Nazi Finnish baron, still loyal to the memory of Hitler; Charlie Vine and his chatterbox lover Salina; a short, misogynistic homosexual who once travelled to Russia on the Ost-West Express and now loiters in the hope of being seduced by ‘lovely’ boys; Hans Andersen’s stay in Malaga in 1860 contrasted with Dan and Charlotte’s visit a century later.
The novel is ostensibly divided into four parts dealing with consecutive periods of time, but the structure is loose, not especially linear and somewhat akin to that of a short story collection. Different characters, incidents, dreams and meandering trains of thought are focused on in different chapters within a slowly developed and minimal plot. Parallels are formed between Dan’s native Ireland and Spain: the hold of Catholicism, an isolated populace, invasions and expulsions, bloody civil wars. Higgins’s Spain is realistic, not a picturesque travel fantasy: a place where American planes fly ominously overhead, local men spy on foreign women undressing at the beach, men are rumoured to be informers and the rural landscape is beautiful but raw. The rise of tourism outside of Andalusia is ‘hell’.
Religion, sex, relationships and death provide central themes – Charlotte’s sensual nature and her ‘Jewishness’ are focused on in great detail, linked to her New World status and ongoing references to the slaughter of Jews in Europe during the war. Dan’s mother is attended to by chanting nuns in hospital during her dying moments. The baron speaks of a coming apocalypse whilst American planes fly above –the result of the recent Cuban crisis. Surreal dreams come to both Dan and Olivia. Literary, historical and classical references are woven into the narrative at various points, paralleling the characters with figures such as Shelley, and portraying the rise and fall of civilisations and the possibility that our own might be destroyed if the Cold War escalates. This gives way to Ruttle’s isolated, but tentatively more successful later existence on Aran.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 15:34 1 comments
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Johan Borgen is justifiably regarded as one of the most important figures in modern Norwegian – and indeed, Scandinavian – literature. Although his writing gained something of an international audience towards his death, it never paralleled the reputation he holds in his native country.
Growing up in a period of social change in early twentieth-century Norway, and undergoing further tumult during both World Wars (the latter conflict saw him interned by the Nazis because of his political views), he drew on his experiences in his writing, especially in works such as Days at Grini (1945), an early and significant examination of the German occupation in Norway. However, he is most renowned for his Lillelord trilogy, a series of novels focusing on the life of the character Wilfred Sagen: from his upbringing in Kristiania (now Oslo) just before the First World War, following through his adulthood until after the end of World War II. The first novel, Lillelord, which is partly based on his childhood in Oslo, stands as an excellent example of Borgen’s psychological insight and understanding of the human condition, as well as his abilities as a shrewd social and historical commentator. We were lucky to inherit an English translation of Lillelord from the amazing Calder list – it’s one of its most hidden and shining gems.
Affectionately called ‘Lillelord’ (‘little lord’) by his family, Wilfred lives a sheltered existence within the safe cocoon of a cultured upper-class society. He excels at his studies, appreciates the arts and is a talented musician. His widowed mother, reluctant to wake up to the problems of the outside world, indulges him, trying to prolong his childhood. Although generally seen as the perfect little gentleman, some find his apparent perfection disturbing, suspecting that there is something duplicitous and insubordinate behind the mask.
Wilfred himself is fully aware that he leads a double existence, to the extent of having a split personality – on the surface a cultivated but childlike boy, but one harbouring manipulative and destructive tendencies. As he develops over the course of the novel, a series of experiences, including criminal acts, the discovery of the truth about his father and his sexual awakening, lead him into wishing to rebel against a suffocating society, one which rejects change and knowledge and instead embraces convenient half-truths, assumptions and the established order. This process will isolate him and drive him to insanity.
Wilfred’s growing understanding of the society he lives in and his mental and moral decline provides a remarkable insight into the mind of an intelligent boy in his mid-teens. Caught between childhood and the adult world, he is disgusted and beguiled by both states. ‘Lillelord’ finds himself suffering the frustration, confusion and feelings of displacement now regarded as typical of his age - during a period when the concept of teenagers was entirely alien, where psychological issues were an embarrassment and effective treatment was in its infancy. This is paired with the transformation occurring within Norwegian society. In the background, the threat of war between Germany and England looms closer, there is talk of socialist reform and new technologies are demonstrated, creating the sense that the characters’ comfortable existence is about to be shattered by the advanced but frightening modern world which would fully emerge after the First World War.
LH
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 23:50 0 comments
Sunday, 9 August 2009
I have just finished reading a large selection of Alexander Pope's letters in a lovely little hardback published by OUP forty or fifty years ago. It's strange, when you love a poet, to read his letters and find them so uninspiring, so sugar-coated – even petty-minded at times. No grand ideas discussed, no spark, no real depth of humanity, only polite conversation, literary chit-chat and whining about poor health.
Perhaps Pope saved all his best thoughts for his poems and didn't give too much importance to letter-writing. Or perhaps he didn't have much to say in prose, as he led a fairly uneventful life and rarely left his Twickenham house.
The only interesting letters for me were the ones he wrote to Jonathan Swift and John Gay, not so much because of what he said in them but because they cast some light on his friendship with these two authors.
As I was returning this book, I spotted Martin Amis's Money on display, so I grabbed it and it's going to be my next read.
Posted by Alessandro Gallenzi at 17:40 0 comments
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Alessandro Gallenzi is the founder of Alma Books and Alma Classics, and the successor of John Calder at the helm of Calder Publications. As well as being a literary publisher, he is a translator, a poet, a playwright and a novelist. His collection of poetry Modern Bestiary - Ars Poetastrica was published in 2005 to critical acclaim and his novel Bestseller was published in 2010.
Alma Books publishes from fifteen to twenty titles a year, mostly contemporary literary fiction, taking around sixty per cent of its titles from English-language originals, while the rest are translations from other languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, German and Japanese. Alma Books also publishes two or three non-fiction titles each year.
Alma Classics aims to publish the greatest recognized masterpieces of all time, from every literature and genre, but also tries to redefine and enrich the classics canon by promoting unjustly neglected works of enduring significance. Recently Alma Classics launched Overture Publishing, which provides a series of beautifully produced opera and classical-music guides which are unique in the English language.
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Shoe shopping is something I do when I'm feeling particularly masochistic. It's like going through labor pains and denying myself epidural. Okay, that sounds rather dire but that's what I'm feeling right now because I went......shoe shopping yesterday. My despondency has got to do with a few well known rants of mine.
First of all, I'm finding the prices for designer shoes these days have escalated beyond control. Most cost more than my monthly grocery bill. I can't tell whether my old Manolos are in fact better quality than the newer ones......which brings me to point number 2. They're bloody uncomfortable. For that kind of money, I expect my feet to be enfolded in ergonomically designed cushioned soles. I should be able to walk for a few hours without feeling like someone's hacking my feet into pieces (sorry for the horrible visual).
Most of my friends have confided that they have lost the ability to walk in high heels after having kids. Like me. Yet, most of the shoes in stores have heels that look like skinny skyscrapers or as flat as a pancake but nothing in between. Two extremes with very few choices for those who would like to have beautiful and affordable mid heeled sandals that we can comfortably walk in. Do designers think that women who wear their shoes are meant to be carried around in sedan chairs? Or that we'd paid a fortune for the privilege of owning these gorgeous heels but we need to spend more on cabs because we can't walk?
Rant number three. Utterly uninspiring shoes for shitloads of money. Like the boring and plain Prada pumps or kitten heels that look similar to the ones from the previous season and the season before that. Ditto for Marni, Nicholas Kirkwood, Chloe and Miu Miu. Please no more ankle straps...... *yawn* So I asked a sales associate at Liberty's shoe department about her thoughts on the current collections. "Is there anything (injecting a hint of desperation) you can recommend that's slightly more edgy, has a wow factor but nothing beyond 2.75 inches high? Oh, and something that doesn't require me to sell my kidney?" We looked around and there was......... nothing. Kudos to her for telling the truth and not trying to sell me something she wouldn't wear herself.
Actually, there was a pair of Sam Edelman "Sabrina" wedge sandals that I was pretty satisfied with. In fact, the size US 5 was perfect for my unusually small size US 4 feet (medium width). They're £150 at Liberty's but if you're lucky enough to be born with normal sized feet, I suggest you get them from Revolve Clothing because the exchange rate worked out to be £66. Spartoo sells them for £126.99. I stood, walked, hopped (I was "testing" it out) for 10 minutes. The straps didn't cut into my feet. The soles were adequately cushioned. My legs look longer than they actually are despite the low-ish 2.5 inch heel height. Most importantly, I can walk comfortably.
There's a real gap in the market that most designers have missed. I've spoken to a few stores and they tell me that mid heeled shoes are selling like hotcakes. That's probably because the selection is ridiculously limited. Mid heels shouldn't look like puke inducing orthopedic granny shoes. Look at the Valentino Rockstud kitten heels that have saturated the entire blogosphere. You'd think more shoe designers will realize that yes, we women would like sexy, eye catching heels that we can walk in. #rantover. Does anyone have any other edgier looking mid heels that you can recommend?
Posted by Chocolate Cookies & Candies at 13:03
25 comments:
Cecilia Teh 27 March 2014 at 13:29
Oh Marlene, I hear you. I just went shoe shopping and tried a pair of Manolo Blahnik. Love how it made my legs and my wallet looks slimmer...so I decided not to buy in the end.
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PoppysStyle 27 March 2014 at 13:31
They look amazing on you!! I have to say some of the best mid heels I have are the M&S block heel courts - the Limited version aren't leather - but the Autograph version are...we need more definitely - I like a heel but break my neck in anything over 3" these days! x
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Laurel 27 March 2014 at 13:40
Completely agree with all your points. Have you tried Tracey Neuls? She has two stores in London (Marylebone and Shoreditch) and an online shop. Her shoes are incredibly funky, comfortable, reasonably priced, made in Portugal, and with absolutely fabulous heel heights. I have three pairs and want more! I can walk for miles in her shoes, most of which have rubber soles. I love supporting indie designers and she's my favourite shoe designer. She also happens to be Canadian but that's coincidental!
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Anonymous 20 August 2014 at 17:46
I'm in the wrong blog. I looked at her web site, and the shoes are outrageously expensive.
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lauraloo 27 March 2014 at 14:25
Those look perfect! The US brand, Nine west usually has some good and affordable choices! I'm totally with you on mid-heels.
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Unknown 27 March 2014 at 16:12
See what having children has done for our shoe collections?! I can't bare a high heel these days either & this is coming from a girl who once didn't own anything but sky scraper heels! They are gorgeous on you Marlene! They are the perfect sandal with the perfect heel with the perfect amount of edge! The sweatpants are superb too & now I know why you went to so much trouble to get them! Ax
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Sarah 27 March 2014 at 17:52
I don't really like heels and rarely wear them, only on a night out and only if I know I won't be walking or standing much. I love those shoes though, they look fab on you. And your outfit looks perfect for a day shopping. Comfy, casual,l chic.
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jen 27 March 2014 at 18:20
I've never been a big high-heel wearer, but my feet have become increasingly more sensitive to heels lately. I had to send back a gorgeous pair of Chie Mihara heeled oxfords (which are some of the more ergonomic and well-padded heels out there) because I had to admit my feet didn't feel completely comfortable,and I couldn't tolerate it. I also tend to be somewhat clumsy, and if wedges don't have a wide enough base at the bottom, I'll fall off those too. Both the poor quality of women's shoes and the lack of selection of stylish, walkable shoes have been a constant source of frustration.
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Estrella 27 March 2014 at 18:55
First, you look sensational: love the shoes and how they play against the black simplicity of the look.
My high heel wearing days were dramatic and short-lived, now I truly detest the look of high heeled shoes and writhe at the sight of overdone women mincing along looking silly .
Always loved ballet flats but now the arches and ankles complain if I walk too much in them and walking is what I love . I want a ballet flat, preferably Mascaro , with a lowish 1.5'' block heel [ not kitten] Doesn't exist sadly !
Those Sam Edelman Trina are v v comfortable, he knows how to make a good shoe.
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Virtuallystyledbyannmarie 27 March 2014 at 19:52
I have been looking for an edgier shoe myself to alternate with my Louboutin you you's that I have had for a number of years. Something I can walk in without looking like I have soiled myself......... I am so out of practice of wearing heels above 2 inches these days. These look great on you and will really fit into your wardrobe with ease....... I have the Trina's on my wish list for my holidays. Xx
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Sue 27 March 2014 at 22:15
Get them. You've been after a gladiator style pair for a while now and here's a pair which are flattering and in your size and fulfill the brief. What are you waiting for? Or have you ordered them already??
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Chocolate Cookies & Candies 28 March 2014 at 21:23
thinking of getting them if I can't find a better alternative.
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Jane 27 March 2014 at 23:29
I have a two year old and now hardly ever wear heels. I was on the look out for some mid heels for ages and eventually splurged on a pair of black rockstuds. They were the most money I have ever spent on shoes but I love them! Every time I wear them, I get compliments and they are very comfortable plus I no longer spend hours on the web trying to find cheaper shoes with a mid heel.... so I feel it was money well spent in the long run! I'm trying to buy less these days but prepared to spend more on quality if it ticks all the boxes for me
Get those Sam Edelmans, they look lovely, edgy and bonus if they are comfy and a good price too :-)
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A Manolescu 28 March 2014 at 02:30
Ooh, these look SO good on you. Am no help with heel recommendations, sadly. My feet are an absolute mess, and I cannot wear them unless I will be seated the entire time...so I rarely buy any.
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Kat 28 March 2014 at 06:59
They look fab fab fab and , don't laugh, i have the most amazing pair of chloe style multi strap wedge sandals in tan from two years ago from.................... CLARKS! I genuinely think 95 % of shoes in there are not for me but it's worth a random look I promise. Having said that, the SE ones look so fab and if they're comfy, go for them. I've always found them really great quality - I have about 5 pairs!
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Chocolate Cookies & Candies 28 March 2014 at 21:22
Clarks??!! I shouldn't sound all that surprised because I found a pair of sandals that looked fantastic. I haven't seen anything fab since. Must look harder.
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I won't wear sludge brown 28 March 2014 at 07:39
They look fab on you Marlene x
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Anonymous 28 March 2014 at 17:15
Love the outfit; those shoes are great! I'd love more comfy sandal options as well. Years ago I stumbled upon a style from Aerosoles (small wedge) that got a lot of compliments. Haven't seen anything since, but worth a quick look every so often. S in HK
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They look perfect on you. I hope you have them. I am totally with you and agree with all your' sentiments entirely. I have been very happy with my boots from lowly Next. I cannot do heels over 8cm and these give a bit of slink. H xx
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Anonymous 29 March 2014 at 07:53
The Kooples pants looks fabulous on you!
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Unknown 29 March 2014 at 18:28
Yes to this post, completely!
I have been moaning about the lack of good looking mid heeled footwear for years now, and just when a few began to pop up in stores I developed a penchant for pointy toes, which tend to only ever come entirely flat, kitten heeled or stilettoed. I have had a fair amount of luck with Kurt Geiger, although my prettiest pair of mid heeeld pointy toed shoes came from Asos - and sadly fell apart within a few months.
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Chocolate Cookies & Candies 29 March 2014 at 23:58
The only pointy shoes with a decent chunky mid heel I've seen so far are the ones from Nicholas Kirkwood. Not cheap though.
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Anonymous 30 March 2014 at 09:38
I totally agree. I just splurged on a pair of Isabel Marant Milla Bow tie ankle boots and I have to admit that I can barely walk on them (However they do look fabulous :)). Normally I buy shoes from Fratelli Rossetti. They are amazing! Even the very high heeled ones are extremely comfortable and I could walk on them for hours. The price tag is rather high, but during sales season you still have a lot of choice.
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Chocolate Cookies & Candies 30 March 2014 at 11:27
LOL! *shamefaced* I have bought a few beautiful designer shoes and LOVED how they look on me - as long as I don't have to look. Thanks for the suggestion! I haven't thought of Fratelli Rossetti in years. Will keep them in mind when the sales season rolls around.
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Bobfrombrum 7 May 2014 at 22:02
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Megan Evans Seeds is the Chief Digital Officer for Hennepin County. She is a true public servant at heart and is passionate about the user experience of residents who engage with the county online.
Megan has been an influential leader in the digital services space for years, beginning by effectively managing county websites to most recently creating the Digital Experience model at the county. This model is a collaboration between multiple teams from multiple departments including IT, Communications, and the newly formed Office of Digital Experience (ODX), the core of the model, which she leads with an impressive balance of wisdom and curiosity. With Megan’s leadership, the Office of Digital Experience has launched or is set to launch new digital products, services, and resources:
These are just a recent sampling of the outcomes from Megan’s vision, strategy, and leadership. Megan has unquestionably been instrumental in the advancement of Hennepin County’s service to residents. She has been a force for change and dedicated to improving digital services for residents throughout her career. She continues to inspire and motivate her team and organization and is worthy of recognition with the GovIT Individual Leadership Award for 2022.
As we have seen nationwide, the pandemic brought many new challenges for workforces, including how employees work and collaborate in a hybrid environment. This was no different for Hennepin County’s employees and it quickly became apparent that spaces needed to be created to offer accommodations for these new work scenarios. Michelle Heisler, who serves as the Enterprise Strategic Solutions Manager within the IT department at Hennepin County, led the effort to develop and implement a strategic IT solution, in response to the new hybrid workforce. At the very beginning of the pandemic Michelle’s preparation and work with Microsoft on setting up Teams enabled all county employees to seamlessly transition from an in-office work environment to literally overnight having Teams rolled out to all county employees. The next challenge then became what will things look like in the physical space of our buildings as employees started to prepare to return to the office. The focus of this project was to create an energetic feature rich environment that embodies the Hennepin County culture of innovation and to leverage the Microsoft Teams Rooms technologies along with providing a modern upbeat environment. Hennepin County’s Core Values include: Continuous Improvement, Customer Service, Diversity and Inclusion, Employee Engagement, and Workforce Development, all of which were vital frameworks to consider for the Collaborative Work Center project to be successful. Michelle’s leadership style truly and wholly exemplifies Hennepin County’s Core Values in every sense and are at the center everything she sets out to accomplish. To best portray Michelle’s leadership competency and further support why she is so deserving of this award, here are some thoughts and contributions from some of the project team members…
• Michelle collaborated effectively and respectfully across all county departments to achieve shared goals.
• She connects with organizations and contacts outside of the county and has even brought other organizations’ best practices to our conversations, so that we could decide what could be replicated or adapted to improve our spaces.
• Michelle focused on direction from county leaders and considered employee’s past experiences to inform strategic service planning and was creative and persistent in solving what were often challenging problems
• Michelle’s willingness to openly share and to listen to other’s ideas were very much appreciated.
As the project sponsor, Michelle provided support and guidance to help the project team overcome new and challenging hurdles. Supply chain issues, provisioning new equipment, and figuring out how to support these new devices all fell under Michelle’s leadership and relied on her expertise to get us where we are today. Michelle championed the concept of collaborative workspaces in challenging times and her commitment to making things better in a more innovative environment has enabled Hennepin County to set ourselves as true leaders in this space. It is truly an honor to have Michelle as part of our organization, leading the path for our future!
The Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs Claims and Field Operations, assists Minnesota Veterans, their dependents, and survivors with State and Federal benefits and services. Prior to the start of this project, our division was operating on four separate systems. MDVA’s Deputy Commissioner sought out to change that and envisioned creating a system where MDVA’s multiple divisions had one shared system for application submittals, case management, application processing, award grants, information sharing, data collection and reporting of our Veteran’s benefits and services. This project comprised of cross functional teams from multiple Agencies and Divisions within MDVA. Some of these included Minnesota IT services (MNIT), MDVA Higher Education Veterans Programs and MDVA Programs and Services.
The business manager ensured that all stories met the scope of the project and prioritized accordingly. The business analyst and scrum master ensured the developers were aware of the requirements. We had daily scheduled “stand ups” to verify tasks were being completed, resolve blockers, and clarify any requirements. The process was smooth, effective, and provided the business with a product that met all expectations and functions properly. Starting with the staff planning sessions in October 2019 and through the projected final release in November 2022 the process was completed in an agile, two-week SCRUM environment. The two-week process is called a sprint which consisted of, bi-weekly planning sessions, weekly backlog reviews, daily updates, and reviews.
Shortly after the beginning of this project, the need for this system increased dramatically with the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (USDVA) initiative to go paperless and the effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic. These two events took away the ability for Veterans, County Workers and MDVA employees to meet in person and to physically submit applications/documents to each other and to the USDVA, during a time when MN Veterans needed assistance the most. As a result of the VATS Claims Project MN Veterans, MDVA’s Field Operations and Minnesota’s 87 County Veteran Service Offices can securely upload applications to MDVA’s Claims Offices and MDVA’s Benefits Division. MDVA Claims staff were able to continue their mission remotely, throughout the pandemic without interrupting the services they provide to our MN Veterans and stakeholders. MDVA claims staff were able to change their workflow to a paperless operation. The VATS Claims project now allows MDVA Claims to be on one shared system remotely which includes functionality such as: secured claims processing, form generation, case management, data sharing, reporting, and API’s which allow secure direct submittal of applications/documents to the USDVA and status updates from the USDVA. VATS Claims also has an enhanced County Upload Portal in beta testing currently with an expected release to all MN counties in November 2022. The VATS Claims Portal allows County Veteran Service Offices to securely submit applications/documents to MDVA’s Claims offices and State Soldiers Assistance Program. The portal also allows MDVA to share data, case management information, and upload statuses for MDVA & USDVA to the County Users.
Washington County is located on the western edge of Portland, Oregon. It covers over 700 square miles of land and has a 600,000 service population who live across urban, suburban, and rural areas. With unique online needs increasing for each area, the County knew it was time to replace its public website with a digital gateway to a variety of services and information. The IT team and the Office of Equity, Inclusion & Community Engagement partnered with an outside consultant (Interpersonal Frequency) to help them understand the issues on their website, invest in community engagement, and translate that knowledge into a new user experience. They took a holistic look at what their communities were intending to do on the site and the obstacles in their way. Washington County and Interpersonal Frequency gathered quantitative and qualitative data about how citizens used the site, their pain points, etc.
Focus groups were completed with live translation services in their native languages for four key community groups: the Housing and Supportive Service Network, the Western Regional Emergency Task Force, the Vision Action Network, and the Latino Professionals in Government. Some fascinating feedback included how needed information was usually on the site, but it was challenging or overwhelming to locate, even through search. In situations like a mental health crisis, there was no time to attempt to dig through departments for contact information or locations for vital services. Additionally, touchpoints were too small for mobile and tablet users, especially in the navigation menus. The lack of accessibility features made groups wonder who the prioritized population was on the site. It was also very difficult to find Spanish versions of the content — it was clear that Spanish users wanted to engage, but had no tools to do so.
Washington County and its consultant took that data and began designing a user experience that listened to these users. First, they created streamlined navigation and wayfinding with a simplified structure. This included clearly prioritized updates and hierarchy to guide users to key tasks and timely information. Then they created task-based and action-focused items like a prominent “How-Do-I” style menu on the homepage to speed up access to key items across the site. The user experience also broke down departmental silos so users didn’t need to understand the County’s structure to find services. The new design adhered to brand standards, but reflected a clean and organized new look with broad appeal. This design also accounted for a variety of screen sizes for a seamless new mobile experience that is easier to use, while aiming for improved performance and accessibility overall. It provides options for translation and multi-language support, with some content manually translated for accuracy. Throughout the process, the teams returned to these community groups and completed usability testing. Doing so kept the community engaged and helped them feel invested in the results. As advocates for the new website, they interact with it more often and actively share it with their colleagues.
Imagine being a single parent who was recently laid off from your 10+ year job due to downsizing. Your skills are outdated, and you’ve had difficulty obtaining employment that will pay the rent and feed your family. You apply for the Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP) and are eligible to receive the maximum of $1,305 in cash and food benefits each month. While rent, utilities, and two growing children cost significantly more, you’ll be able to avoid eviction for at least two months.
You begin working with an MFIP Employment Services (ES) Counselor, who explains that they can help with a resume, interviewing skills, funding for training, and help with your job search. After taking a short class to get a certificate and updating your resume, you finally land a job offer that will allow you to support your family without public assistance. Before you start the new job, you need funding for childcare until you can get a couple of paychecks and catch up on rent. Your ES Counselor explains that you need to sign an update to your Employment Plan so you can get childcare benefits approved. Before eSignature in WF1, there were few options to sign the document – all of which cost precious time and money.
Where you live in Greater MN, public transportation is not available. If you don’t have a car, you need to wait for the paperwork to be mailed to you, sign it, then mail it back to your counselor, which could take upwards of a month of more. You fear that your future employer will not be able to accommodate delaying your start date if it takes that long to get childcare. If you have a car, another option would be to drive to the Counselor’s office 45 minutes away, but that would cost $20 in gas. If you have internet and a printer, the document could be sent from your counselor via encrypted email, printed out (if you can afford ink at $30/cartridge), then faxed or scanned back to the counselor.
With the implementation of eSignature functionality in October 2022, your Counselor can send you the document for signature via email. You can open the document on your smartphone, tablet, or computer, sign and submit it within minutes. You can proceed with childcare arrangements and confirm your job start date with your new employer. It’s that simple. While eSignature functionality in WF1 has been a long-term plan, the pandemic expedited its development. The WF1 Team consulted with subject matter experts (SMEs) to gather requirements, verified security and validity of signed documents, and worked with a vendor. Gathering requirements from providers and program administrators allowed the WF1 Team to customize functionality so that it is available for over 2,000 staff and 100,000 customers. This enhancement is already changing the service delivery method to a more human-centered and accessible design, removing barriers for Minnesotans who are most in need.
At the beginning of the pandemic, The Resident Real Estate Services division of Hennepin County quickly implemented a chat service off the Hennepin.us website as service centers closed. As in-person county services began to re-open, chat service continued to remain popular averaging over 500 chats a month. According to survey feedback, residents really like the ability to gain quick answers to their questions without having to come in person or wait on hold over the phone. Unfortunately, the quick vendor solution didn’t offer the capabilities and scalability that was needed to continue with the service. Additionally, many questions asked in chat had answers readily available on the Hennepin County website. The project established goals to both respond to simple resident questions through a chat bot allowing more time for Service Center agents to respond to more complex needs of residents. By keeping the scope of the project narrow, the chat service could be developed quickly and then adapted for use across other business areas while continuing to grow the volume of responses available from the chat bot.
To address usability, the project started by analyzing the previous years’ worth of transcripts, over 10,000 chats, to identify the topics and questions most asked by residents. From there, the field of responses were narrowed down to the fourteen most needed by residents and clear enough to be provided by a chat bot. The responses were then reviewed for plain language and readability by the User Experience team. A UX Designer from the team recognized that there were no standards for chat UI, so they created a guide to help developers in their initial design. Developers quickly built a prototype to put before stakeholders. Business owners were able to use resident questions from chat transcripts to validate and train the AI responses from the chat bot. A UX review refined the final product to create a chat flow that clearly indicated when the resident was chatting with a bot and when the chat was with a live person.
The early availability of the prototype allowed for an accessibility review, something the Enterprise IT developers had never experienced. This identified many barriers for use by screen reader and allowed time to repair before moving the chat service to production. This early action kept Hennepin County in regulatory compliance and trained developers on accessibility needs to incorporate in future work. Finally, the project incorporated an equity review throughout the project. First, a field was added to the current chat service for residents to voluntarily provide a zip code. Then, the zip code data was mapped to the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), identifying the needs of most vulnerable communities based on their chat requests. Finally, zip code and SVI were integrated into the chat service to prioritize those community needs and mitigate unintended impacts. The new chat service is designed to scale across the organization, meet the growing needs of Hennepin County residents, and prioritize the most vulnerable populations in the community.
Golden GOVIT 2022 Innovation Finalist: Collaborative work centers for remote and hybrid staff
In 2020, County Administrator David Hough asked 6,000 of the county’s staff to work remotely to prevent the spread of Covid-19. To continue county services, staff had to reimagine service delivery. One of the highest priorities for IT was to imagine new ways to support a hybrid workforce. County Administration created three worker profiles for staff: onsite, hybrid, or remote. Onsite workers were asked to work primarily or entirely at county facilities. Hybrid workers were asked to divide their time between remote and onsite work. Remote workers were asked to work primarily or entirely offsite.
Pre-pandemic, county buildings were divided into cubical or office spaces for departments – generally by floor or area. With new worker profiles, facilities would need to be transformed into places that hybrid or remote workers could temporarily use. IT partnered with the Facility Services Department to create new collaborative work centers. IT volunteered their 18 floor at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis as a pilot.
After significant planning, the team decided to create four different types of work zones. The first type is focus zones, which had technology staff would find in a cubicle pre-pandemic. The next type is a collaboration zone, which include conference rooms for both in-person and hybrid meetings. Next are community zones, which are informal places where staff can talk between meetings. Lastly, resource zones that include general office supplies and printers. Most of these spaces are equipped with Microsoft Teams Room technology. For meeting rooms, this includes a door scheduling panel to tell which rooms are booked, or the option to book in the moment. They also include equipment for hybrid meetings. Community zones include Teams phones and A/V equipment for impromptu meetings.
When the pilot was complete, the project team worked with communications teams to announce the new space. This campaign included newsletter stories about topics including information about the types of work zones, guidance on shared space work etiquette, instructions on booking rooms, and reminders on items required for entry. Shortly after the opening of the 18 floor collaborative work center, Hennepin County opened a second space at the Ridgedale Regional Service Center – about 20 minutes away from the government center downtown. More collaborative work centers continue to be built and/or technology supplied in facilities around the county.
Today, staff can choose between six locations for temporary work. IT and facilities will continue to work together on future collaborative work centers. The partnership between Facility Services and IT to create collaborative work centers for Hennepin County staff has been very successful. The collaborative work centers are an innovative way to integrate technology – like Microsoft Teams Rooms – into workspaces for staff. Other groups in Minnesota are asking Hennepin County for tours of these spaces to replicate the experience for this staff, including the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota court systems, the state’s IT department, and the City of Minneapolis’s CIO.
Lisa Meredith has been the Executive Director for Minnesota County Computer Cooperative (MnCCC) for 20 years. MnCCC is a joint powers organization, working with counties and other local government entities to provide software solutions. Lisa has the leadership ability that makes the people around her thrive. She has a special skill of being able to understand the strengths of individuals and assist them in using those strengths for the betterment of the whole organization or project.
Lisa works tirelessly and through her actions she has propelled MnCCC to new heights. She is the driving force in finding innovative, cost-effective software and technology solutions. Her efforts have transformed the landscape of public services. For example, recently Lisa was instrumental in two new software contracts that saved counties across Minnesota tens of thousands of dollars. In one project it was her initiative to get election software contracts in place for election equipment. In another project she assembled a group dedicated to Human Resources. With Lisa’s leadership this group went out for bid for payroll software, which is already saving counties on significant fees. Eventually that solution be offered to a wider local government audience.
Under Lisa’s leadership, MnCCC has grown to 13 user groups and continues to grow and meet county and other local government needs. Lisa balances an incredible workload. Along with hundreds of meetings with all levels of county leadership, she still makes the workplace a fun environment that encourages staff to achieve a very high level of work output. Lisa has a strong commitment to bringing people and agencies together to work collaboratively. She truly believes and has proven a lot more can be done together rather than apart. Her work doesn’t stop there. Lisa’s motto is “to embrace the audacious acts that incite positive change” and it is evident in her work using ToP Facilitation to help other organizations solve problems. As a true champion of innovation and collaboration to improve service, Lisa Meredith is so deserving of the Golden GOVIT Award.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hennepin County was already laying a digital experience foundation across three areas: 1) aligning digital experience work with county core values and priorities, 2) prioritizing digital accessibility, and 3) shifting to Agile and User Experience principles. The pandemic accelerated how quickly the county need to respond to serve residents in an entirely new way without infrastructure to support it. The Office of Digital Experience was created to coordinate work across the organization to address residents’ digital needs with the goal to provide a consistently positive, accessible, and equitable digital service experience. The Office of Digital Experience accelerates the digital transformation of resident experiences by standardizing, prioritizing, and streamlining the rapid release of in-demand applications, websites, and tools, while centering the user every step of the way.
This model joins key partners in the business, the IT community, and communication and engagement together to deliver coordinated digital service that provide residents a consistently positive, accessible, and equitable experience. There are approximately 15-20 newly created positions to research, design, and implement new ways of coordinating digital work with an eye on equity and centering the resident voice. Hennepin County leverages its existing workforce by creating opportunities for temporary assignments, for up to 24 months, for current employees who have an interest in helping shape the future of creating an accessible and consistently positive Digital Experience for residents. Partner teams in the model operate within three separate departments, jointly collaborating in service of all business lines.
This structure enables appropriately resourced teams to focus on the core functions of digital experience, user experience, website communications, and web infrastructure to maintain and expand what the county’s digital service portfolio can provide to residents. The investment in the county’s digital services for all community members complements the Office of Broadband and Digital Inclusion’s work to eliminate the digital divide, too. Together these efforts create more opportunity for digital equity and engagement for Hennepin County residents.
The Post-9/11 Service Bonus project was developed using Agile principles to enable the team to meet project objectives in the extremely short application release target of nine weeks. MNIT and MDVA project team members, began project initiation immediately after the Omnibus Veterans and Military Affairs bill was signed in early May 2022. Key stakeholders included, Veterans, County partners, and agency clients. Business requirements were captured and prioritized by the MDVA Product Owner in partnership with the project team. The project team’s requirement gathering efforts resulted in objectives that included the ability for Veterans or their families to easily submit an online application and supporting documentation, ability for Veterans to view the status of their application, ability for MDVA staff to review and process applications, integration, and automation of Veteran payments with the State’s financial system, and delivery of monitoring analytics and reports for management control. State of Minnesota IT security best practices were an integral part of all phases of the project to mitigate and reduce application security risk and vulnerabilities.
The project team also captured project risks and corresponding mitigation plans during the project planning phase. A key risk identified during project initiation was the need for additional QA resources to meet the application testing requirements. The risk mitigation task involved a re-prioritization of MDVA work that resulted in additional QA resources being assigned to the project.
Application development was executed in two-week sprints where each story was developed to meet a specific acceptance criteria. Each story was also functionally tested within the sprint and defects were fixed immediately to ensure quality. Each two-week sprint included a sprint review with stakeholders to allow application features and functionality input to be provided or confirmed. User acceptance testing (UAT) was coordinated within the project once the key application functionality was developed. UAT spanned approximately half of the project development timeframe to allow business partners a hands-on opportunity to use the application, test features and provide feedback and input. The Post 9/11 Service Bonus application was successfully released on July 7, 2022.
The resulting application has provided Veterans, MDVA and county partners with one of the nation’s first service bonus applications. The solution provides a secure application for Veterans to apply for, and MDVA to administrate the Post 9/11 Service Bonus program which is sustainable and paperless through the payment process. As of October 28, 16,800 applications have been approved and $17.7M in payments have been dispersed to Veterans or their beneficiaries through the Post 9/11 Service Bonus application. A key component of the success of the project was the high level of partnership and collaboration between the MDVA and MNIT project team members. Despite the challenges of the project’s short timeframe and high importance, the project team members met their shared objectives through dedication, hard work and open and clear communication. The resulting project success is a significant benefit to the Veterans of the State of Minnesota.
Who is Jon Eichten, Deputy Commissioner, Minnesota IT Services?
Jon Eichten serves as MNIT’s Deputy Commissioner. In his role, Jon oversees MNIT’s state agency-based Chief Business Technology Officers as well as MNIT’s business operations functions, ensuring executive branch agency technology needs are met in alignment with MNIT’s mission, vision, and strategic priorities. Jon previously served as MNIT’s Government Relations Director, where he oversaw MNIT policy and budget proposal development, and inter-agency and legislative affairs. Before joining MNIT, Eichten worked for the Minnesota Senate.
Mary Frantz is the founder, CEO and Managing Partner of Enterprise Knowledge Partners, LLC (EKP) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Mary has nearly 30 years of experience in technology and security. Fifteen years were spent in executive leadership roles in Fortune 150 corporations. She has accumulated extensive international experience and has managed the technical design and build of many global systems. She is a hands-on industry and court-vetted expert in cybersecurity, data breach, cloud-based service models, enterprise architecture, breach remediation and cyber forensics.
She has led advanced ethical hacking (red teams), security assessments and has managed multiple cyber incident response investigations across the globe. Mary is also plaintiff’s technical expert in the Equifax, Yahoo, Facebook, and many other breaches and cyber incidents.
Mary graduated from Northern Illinois University with a quadruple major: a B.A. in Math / Statistics, a B.A. in Foreign Language (Spanish, French), a B.S. in International Relations and a B.S. in Information Systems/Operations Management. She received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago with an emphasis in International Business and Finance, and a Masters’ in Computer Science Engineering from Georgia Tech. She holds various active and non-active certifications in systems auditing, ethical hacking, penetration testing, forensics, engineering and architecture.
Mary is a keynote speaker, author and industry expert. She is a passionate advocate for women entrepreneurs in STEM. She is a mentor and volunteer for women and minorities in business and technology, a Board Officer for the Minnesota Academy of Science, and a board member on the Minneapolis Cyber Summit. Mary is currently serving as an elected School Board Director for District 719.
Kevin Ford started as the CISO of North Dakota in November of 2019. His previous role was CISO of CyberGRX in Denver, CO, one of the top cybersecurity start-ups in the nation, where he was responsible for expanding cybersecurity, privacy and risk management capabilities to protect the security information of over fifty thousand organizations, including Fortune 100 clients, from growing, global online threats. He previously served in senior consulting roles for Deloitte where he advised the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Indian Health Service, local governments, and multiple private sector customers on cyber-risk management initiatives and digital privacy. Kevin also served as a member of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework development team and served as a cyber-risk manager for NASA.
Stacy has amassed more than two decades of technology experience working for Minnesota, its’ counties, and private companies. She spent more than eight years leading and improving technology for local Minnesota government before taking on a leadership role within the state’s judicial branch. Stacy currently manages the State of Minnesota’s Security Operations Center (SOC) overseeing the state’s efforts to improve Cybersecurity monitoring, and incident management.
Brian Johnson is the president of 7 Minute Security, which specializes in security assessments, penetration testing and training. He is especially passionate about teaching others about security and hosts a weekly blog/podcast to help consumers and businesses strengthen their security posture. When he isn’t camped out behind a keyboard, he enjoys outdoor activities with his family, as well as singing and playing guitar in an acoustic duo.
Jason has 20+ years of IT, Engineering, Support, and Testing experience. By asking difficult questions, he looks to find solutions to complex problems for customers.
Dr. Bryan Behrenshausen is a community architect in the Open-Source Program Office at Red Hat, where he develops learning and enablement materials that teach others about the power and potential of open-source. He also is a lead architect of the Open Organization project and community.
Who is Dr. Verna Price?
Dr. Verna Cornelia Price is an internationally known human potential expert who specializes in personal power, cross-cultural communications, facilitating racism conversations. employee engagement, leadership and managing change.
As the CEO of The Power of People Consulting Group™, a leadership and management consulting firm, Dr. Verna consults with diverse audiences spanning from corporations, government agencies, not-for profits, K-16 educators and universities with clients in the United States, Europe, The Caribbean, Central American, Africa and China. Dr. Verna has founded multiple organizations in the USA including an Undergraduate Leadership Academic Minor at the University of Minnesota, The Power of People Leadership Institute, Girls in Action™(renamed Girls Taking Action) and Boys of Hope™.
In 2020, Dr. Verna created and hosted a radio talk show in partnership WCCO Radio called In the Room Where it Happened: Racism Conversations that Matter to ALL of Us. In 2020, Dr. Verna was named one of the Top 100 People to Know in 2021 by Twin Cities Business Magazine. In 2017, Dr. Verna received the Founders Award from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities for her role in cofounding the Undergraduate Leadership Academic Minor, now the largest of its kind in the world. In 2013, Dr. Verna was named an Everyday Hero by EBONY Magazine and received the MN LINKS Emerald Award. In 2010, Dr. Verna was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Black MBAs and Pioneer of the Year by Women Venture.
Dr. Verna is a best selling author of three books, The Power of People: Four Kinds of People Who Can Change Your Life ( also published in Spanish), The Silent Cry: Dealing with Subtracters in Work and Life , and Change Your Life in 30 Days. Dr. Verna received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
Who is Nancy Lyons?
Nancy, CEO and co-founder of Clockwork, is an outspoken advocate for making work better. More inclusive, flexible, and adaptable. No one does great work if they’re worried or if they can’t bring their whole self to work. And she learned this the hard way: by having terrible jobs and not fitting in. Things many of us can relate to. But how do we create workspaces like that?
It’s on us: leaders, employees, teams. People. We all have to take responsibility for creating cultures and spaces that actually work for humans, with all their complexities, nuances, and intricacies. And in doing so, we will make better products, better experiences, and have better work lives.
Are you ready for a work revolution? She is.
Her first book was Interactive Project Management: Pixels, People, and Process, a human-centered approach to producing digital products. Her current book, Work Like a Boss: A kick-in-the-pants Guide to Finding (and Using) your Power at Work, is the little book everyone needs to remember the actions, attitudes, and attributes that will make work better, for individuals and everyone around them.
Justin Femrite Headshot
About Justin Femrite, Public Works Director & Chief Engineer
Justin Femrite is the Public Works Director and Chief Engineer for the City of Elk River. In this role he is responsible for the administrative and professional work planning activities of the City’s engineering, wastewater, stormwater and maintenance divisions. He provides the direction for long term planning, design, construction, inspection and maintenance of public drainage, sanitary sewer, park, trail and roadway systems in the City. He further helps develop the department’s long term vision and participates at all levels of government to assure the department’s ability to be run efficiently and effectively.
About Avish Parashar, Author & Speaker
Avish grew up in “exotic” Poughkeepsie, NY and now makes his home in Philadelphia, PA. Though he performed all through high-school, he decided to stop performing when he went to college to “focus on his studies” (his parents were very proud of this decision).
That resolve lasted only a few months, as the first time he saw an improv comedy show he fell in love (his parents were slightly less proud). One week later he auditioned for the campus improv group, got in, and the rest is history. After graduating, he started Polywumpus Improv Comedy, which performed regularly in and around Philadelphia for seven years. Avish closed up Polywumpus to focus on the speaking and training side of the business – using improv comedy as a tool to teach valuable business skills such as creativity, innovation, and adaptability.
Weaving together humorous stories, jokes, audience interaction, and improv comedy games, Avish keeps the audience engaged while imparting a key lesson: Planning is Important, but Improvising is Essential! No matter how well you plan, things will go wrong, surprises will arise, and the Universe will throw you a curveball. Your success and sanity are directly related to how you respond these challenges. By the end of one of Avish’s presentations you will have key tools to flow with all that life throws at you. Avish has spoken to the very creative (actors and directors), the very un-creative (accountants), the very casual (college students), and the very business-like (sales professionals). The end result is always the same – smiles, laughs, and a new way of looking at life and business.
Avish is the author of “Improvise to Success!” and the Amazon best-selling, “Say ‘Yes, And!'” (And yes, his parents are once again very proud.)
Tim Walz is Minnesota’s 41st Governor. His career has been defined by public service, from serving our country in the military to serving our students as a high-school teacher and football coach to serving our state in Congress.
Born in a small town in rural Nebraska, Tim’s parents instilled in him the values that guide his commitment to common good and selfless service. Soon after his high school graduation, Tim enlisted in the Army National Guard. Tim attended Chadron State College, where he graduated with a social science degree in 1989. Harvard University offered Tim an opportunity to gain a new perspective on global education by teaching in the People’s Republic of China from 1989-90, where he joined of one of the first government-approved groups of American teachers to work in Chinese high schools. Upon his return from China to Nebraska, Tim served full time in the Army National Guard, and accepted a teaching and coaching position. More importantly, he met his wife, Gwen Whipple, who was teaching at the same school.
Tim and Gwen Walz moved to Mankato in 1996, where they began working at Mankato West High School. In addition to teaching social studies, Tim helped coach the Mankato West football team that won the school’s first state championship. After 24 years in the Army National Guard, Command Sergeant Major Walz retired from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005.
Tim won his first election to the United States House of Representatives in 2006, and was re-elected for another 5 terms serving Minnesota’s First Congressional District. In addition to his work on the Farm Bill, the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System, Minnesota Highway 14, and the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Preston (MN), Tim introduced the STOCK Act, a bill that sought to limit congressional insider trading. On March 22, 2012, the STOCK Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate.
After years of living in Mankato, Tim and Gwen moved to St. Paul with their two children, Hope and Gus, and their rescue pets, Scout and Afton.
Tarek Tomes serves as the Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) and the State of Minnesota’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), leading state efforts to provide the best possible IT solutions and customer service to the people of Minnesota and our business partners.
As a recognized industry leader, Tomes brings over 25 years of experience in managing technology innovation across diverse industries, both in national, international, and public and private sector operations. Throughout his career, he has facilitated data-driven decision making, implemented many critical enterprise projects, and improved workforce diversity and inclusion.
Before becoming Commissioner, Tomes served as the Chief Innovation Officer and former Chief Information Officer at the City of St. Paul, where he was responsible for managing ongoing process improvements, supporting human-centered design, and increasing the overall effectiveness of city services and resources. While in St. Paul, Tomes facilitated a digital transformation at the city level, pioneering the use of mobile applications to improve resident opportunities. This work allowed the city to leverage deep data insights while promoting and supporting equitable service delivery. During his time as St. Paul’s Chief Information Officer, Tomes oversaw the launch of St. Paul’s Open Information Portal, which serves to promote and encourage innovative uses of data and transparency in government services.
Tomes’ prior work experience also includes six years as an Assistant Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services, where he created several nation-leading Information Technology sourcing agreements for 33,000+ user utility services statewide – including the first cloud-based public sector statewide service offering in the nation. While Tomes was serving in this role, Minnesota became the first state in the country to manage all Information Technology through service level agreements, a model that was recognized with a national award. Before joining state service, Tomes spent 13 years working for British Telecom.
Dr. Archelle Georgiou is the Chief Health Officer for Starkey Hearing Technologies, a global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. She is responsible for the company’s commitment to improve individuals’ overall wellness and quality of life through products that deliver better hearing. She develops and maintains strategic relationships within the medical community, oversees the Healthable features embedded in the company’s hearing aids, and brings hearing health to the forefront of overall health.
Dr. Georgiou’s extensive healthcare background includes experience as a physician, business executive, advisor, author and speaker. She was Chief Medical Officer of United Healthcare between 1996 and 2007 where she eliminated unproductive policies within the healthcare system and designed systems to coordinate care delivery. From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Georgiou served as a senior fellow in the Center for Health Transformation, a bipartisan think-tank established by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. Since 2008, Dr. Georgiou has been a strategic advisor to a diverse group of companies who are dedicated to cultivating cross-industry collaboration and patient-centric care. She serves as an adjunct faculty member and Executive in Residence at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Archelle serves on the Board of Directors and is Chair-Elect at Children’s Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota; she is also on the Board for CaringBridge. For all the above and more, Dr. Georgiou received the Champion Award among Minnesota Business Healthcare Leaders in 2014 and was recognized “an individual who has focused their efforts to elevate the profile/status of the state’s health care industry.”
One of Dr. Georgiou’s greatest passions is using the media to educate consumers. As a medical expert, she has covered over 1,500 medical topics during her weekly segments on KSTP-TV. As an innovator on consumerism and health reform, she has been asked to speak at the White House, the World Bank and the Surgeon Generals of the Army, Navy and Air Force. She has also appeared on FOX Business Network, CNN, Good Morning America, and Katie’s Take with Katie Couric. In 2009, she was the medical correspondent for a Blue Zones international expedition to Ikaria, Greece, where she worked with National Geographic researcher Dan Buettner to explore the underlying explanations for the island population’s longevity.
Based on her interactions with viewers, Dr. Georgiou developed the CARES Model, a five-step approach that consumers can use to make healthcare decisions, and in February 2017, published her first book, Health Care Choices: 5 Steps to Getting the Medical Care You Want and Need (Rowman & Littlefield).
Dr. Georgiou graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and was board-certified in Internal Medicine. She lives in Wayzata, Minnesota and enjoys spending her time with her husband, three girls and diva-like dog, Isabella.
About Dennis Zuzek, Sr. Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, HealthPartners
Dennis Zuzek is Sr. Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for HealthPartners in Minneapolis, Minnesota. HealthPartners, the largest consumer-governed nonprofit health care organization in the nation, delivers care and provides health insurance coverage across the upper Midwest.
Dennis is the leader of Information Services & Technology, which provides infrastructure, applications and data management services to support HealthPartners health plan serving 1.8M members, a care delivery system serving 1.2M patients and a workforce of 28,000 colleagues.
The department collaborates closely with business partners across the organization to:
Advise, evaluate and recommend advanced technology investments that support HealthPartners future growth
Develop and manage applications for organization-wide care delivery, health plan and system services for patients, members, purchasers, providers and employees
Manage an information technology backbone to support analytics, consumer engagement, and operations
Operate a reliable and secure on-premise and cloud infrastructure
Dennis has served as a technology leader at HealthPartners for six years. In January 2021 he was appointed to his new role as CTO. During his tenure, he oversaw the growth of health plan technology, including web & mobile and numerous applications. Previously, he held several vice president and director positions in network management, clinical analytics, clinical systems development and data management at UnitedHealth Group and Allina Health.
Dennis has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
About Meyrick Vaz, Vice President – Strategic Market Partnerships, UnitedHealthcare
Meyrick Vaz leads strategic market partnerships within the UnitedHealthcare (UHC) Office of the CIO. In this role, he closely tracks emerging trends and developments in healthcare, while scouting for innovation that aligns with UHC’s business agenda. He is responsible for identifying, evaluating, piloting, scaling up, and rolling out new, untested ideas and approaches that could improve patient experience and increase provider satisfaction. He is currently focused on the application of blockchain in healthcare including UHC’s work with the Synaptic Health Alliance. Meyrick has more than 28 years of business technology leadership experience in industries like healthcare, financial services, retail, information services, and consulting.
Scott Feinberg has over 20 years’ experience working in healthcare technology and has a deep understanding of the entire healthcare ecosystem. As a leader, Scott has spent time working on some of the most up-and-coming Telehealth solutions, cloud technologies, and digital transformation. while not losing sight of the importance of direct patient care.
Today, Scott currently works at Amazon, supporting some of the largest non-profit healthcare providers in the country. Before Amazon, Scott held leadership roles at UnitedHealth Group, Cisco, Infor, and Dell.
As a Minnesota HIMSS board member, Mr. Feinberg also holds a CPHIMS Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems from HIMSS. Scott is a featured speaker and podcaster on technology. Scott graduated from the University of Minnesota and later earned a mini masters in eCommerce from St. Thomas.
Tressa Springmann has been Chief Information Officer for LifeBridge Health since 2012. Further she has had responsibility as Senior Vice President over Performance Improvement including the organization’s Lean transformation work (prior) and currently over the systems HIM function. LifeBridge Health, a $2B in revenue not for profit system, consists of Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Carroll Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, and its subsidiaries and affiliated units, with nearly 10,000 employees and a vast physician network, LifeBridge Health provides patients with a continuum of care as a partner for lifelong health. As one of the largest and most comprehensive providers of health-related services to the people of Maryland, LifeBridge Health has the technology, skills and expertise of an academic system with the warmth and personal attention of a community continuum of care.
Tressa is chairman of the technology committee for CRISP, Maryland’s State Health Information Exchange (HIE), and a member of the Premier Member Technology Committee (MTIC).
She is also currently on The Healthcare Management Program Advisory Board for Towson University and is an adjunct professor at Mount St Mary’s University previously teaching Healthcare Information Technology as part of their Masters in Healthcare Administration (MHA) program.
She is the Past President of Maryland HIMSS (MDHIMSS), is a certified professional in Health Information Systems Management (CPHIMSS) and has attained her certification as a Healthcare CIO. (CHCIO). Tressa has served multiple years on the AHA ‘Most Wired’ Selection Committee, was a question writer for both the CPHIMSS and CHCIO exams. She has been on the program planning committee for multiple CHIME forums and is currently active on the CHIME membership committee and recent CHIME Foundation feedback sessions. She has regularly attended CHIME Forums and various educational events including participation in many vendor focus group sessions. She holds her Masters from The Johns Hopkins University and her BA in Biology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Prior to joining LifeBridge Health, Tressa Springmann served as Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) of Towson, Maryland, which includes a 300 bed acute hospital, an employed and community physician organization and the region’s largest hospice provider. Ms. Springmann has also held information technology positions at Integrated Health Services (IHS), Georgetown University Hospital, Dimensions Healthcare System, CMC Occupational Health, Pharmacia Diagnostics, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Tressa recently received her Wine Production Certificate from Penn State.
Cynthia is a solutions-oriented healthcare strategist and innovator. She leads AVIA’s Center for Consumerism which is focused on identifying and building strategies to improve access, experience and consumer relationships that can result in growth and consumer loyalty. As the leader of AVIA’s team in the West, Cynthia assures that AVIA member health systems are achieving the greatest value from adoption of digital solutions. She and her team work with members to deeply understand their strategy and market dynamics and identify and implement innovative technologies to address critical organizational needs. Cynthia believes collaboration is the key to success for any organization seeking to successfully implement significant change.
Before joining AVIA, Cynthia served as the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Business Development at Hoag Health, a regional health system in Newport Beach, California. Cynthia lead organizational strategic planning and business development in support of Hoag’s mission to provide the highest quality health care services to the communities of Orange County and beyond. Before joining, Hoag she served as Vice President of Corporate Development for Premier, Inc., a national alliance of health systems. Cynthia led Premier’s strategic growth into the United Kingdom and developed the business plan and first contract with the National Health Service for a hospital pay for performance program based on Premier’s CMS Hospital Quality Improvement Demonstration project.
Entrepreneurial in nature, Cynthia co-founded and served as VP of Business Development for nTrusted, Inc., a consumer focused, health-related software company in San Diego. Cynthia also worked with a new venture developing innovative, point-of-care clinical information systems, leading business development, sales and marketing.
Cynthia holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ed has served as the CIO for University Hospitals Health Systems, Texas Health Resources, NYC Health + Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic. At every organization, Ed helped lead mobile strategies, analytics, and digital transformation to drive superior clinical and business outcomes.
Author of ‘Voices of Innovation: Fulfilling the Promise of Information Technology in Healthcare’ (2019), ‘Extraordinary Tales from a Rather Ordinary Guy’ (2014), and ‘Scenes From an Early Morning Run’ (2019), Ed’s latest release, ‘Healthcare Digital Transformation: How Consumerism, Technology, and Pandemic are Accelerating the Future” is the #1 Amazon Best Seller in the Healthcare Innovation category. An avid athlete, Ed is a heart attack survivor, cancer survivor, and member of TeamUSA Duathlon.
Christopher Ross is currently the Chief Information Officer of Mayo Clinic. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Clinical Interoperability business for Surescripts. He has 28 years of diverse experience in healthcare, information technology and government. He serves on the Health and Human Services Health IT Standards Committee, the Markle Foundation Connecting for Health Steering Committee, and previously served on the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative and the CDC’s National Biosurveillance Advisory Subcommittee. Before Surescripts, Cris most recently was Executive Vice President for Product and Information Services and Chief Information Officer for CVS/MinuteClinic, the pioneer and leader in retail-based healthcare. Cris holds a BS degree in Economics from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. He serves on the Boards of Directors of the Walk-In Counseling Center and Central Presbyterian Church.
About Jennifer Lundblad, Ph.D., M.B.A., President & CEO, Stratis Health
Jennifer P. Lundblad, PhD, MBA is President and CEO of Stratis Health, an independent non-profit organization that leads collaboration and innovation to improve health. Dr. Lundblad has an extensive background in leadership, organization development, and program management in both non-profit and education settings. She has a BA in speech communication and economics from Macalester College, an MBA in public and non-profit management from Boston University, and a PhD in education with a focus on training and organization development from the University of Minnesota. Her dissertation research was “Teamwork and Safety Climates in Small Rural Hospitals,” and she has published articles in peer reviewed journals on topics related to health quality and organizational change. Dr. Lundblad is a member of the national RUPRI (Rural Policy Research Institute) Health Panel and serves on various other national and local boards and in committee leadership positions. She has an adjunct assistant professor appointment at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
About Jan Malcolm, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Health
Commissioner Malcolm was appointed in January 2018 as commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Health. Ms. Malcolm is responsible for directing the work of the Minnesota Department of Health. MDH is the state’s lead public health agency, responsible for protecting, maintaining and improving the health of all Minnesotans. The department has approximately 1,400 employees in the Twin Cities area and seven offices in Greater Minnesota. Professional Background: Prior to being appointed commissioner, Jan Malcolm was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where she co-directed a national research and leadership development program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Earlier she also helped develop initiatives to strengthen the nation’s public health system as a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Commissioner Malcolm previously served as CEO of the Courage Center and as President of the Courage Kenny Foundation following the merger of Courage Center and the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute. She has also worked as Vice President of Public Affairs and Philanthropy at Allina Health. From 1999 to 2003, Ms. Malcolm served as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health. Throughout her career, she has been active in state and national health care, public health associations, and government commissions on health care access and quality. Educational Background Jan Malcolm is a graduate of Dartmouth College. Honorary Doctor of Laws from U of M School of Public Health
Malcolm previously served as CEO of the Courage Center and as President of the Courage Kenny Foundation following the merger of Courage Center and the Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute. She has also worked as Vice President of Public Affairs and Philanthropy at Allina Health. From 1999 to 2003, Malcolm served as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health. Throughout her career, Malcolm has been active in state and national health care, public health associations, and government commissions on health care access and quality.
Bobbie McAdam has held positions in direct patient care settings, technology companies and health plans throughout her career in the health care industry. Her experience includes managing healthcare EDI initiatives related to provider outreach and education, application/portal development, IT infrastructure services, health care data standards and data integration, translation and exchange. She currently holds accountability for a multi-disciplinary team focused on vendor and contract management, finance and enterprise strategic project investment governance. Bobbie possesses a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Record Administration from Bowling Green State University.
About Renee Frauendienst, RN, PHN, BSN, Retired Public Health Director, Stearns County; current Vice-Chair, St. Cloud Hospital Board
Renee Frauendienst is recently retired from Stearns County as the Public Health Director. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from the College of St. Benedict and has a Certification in Performance Improvement from the University of Minnesota, School of Public Health. During her 33 years as a leader in Public Health, she was known for her expertise in innovation, policy development, performance improvement, emergency preparedness and community engagement, which earned her several awards including the Jim Parker Leadership Award and the Barbara O’Grady Award. In her retirement, she has started her own consulting business where she focuses on assisting governmental entities with performance improvement projects with a particular focus on public health and human services. She has a particular interest in the role of nurses in impacting health equity and building a culture of health in their community. She currently serves as the vice-chair for Stratis Health Board, the vice-chair for the St. Cloud Hospital Board and is the current president for the Minnesota Center for Nursing.
Deepti Pandita MD is the chief Health Information officer at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, MN, a safety net academic medical center and also a Level one Adult and Pediatric Trauma center. Dr. Pandita is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and in Clinical Informatics. She is also Program Director of the Clinical Informatics Fellowship at Hennepin Healthcare. She received her Medical Degree from Christian Medical College, Vellore, India and did her residency training at university of North Dakota
Dr. Pandita is active with the American Medical Informatics Association and American college of Physicians leading several state and National committees. She is also on the board for Minnesota doctors for Health Equity and Board member of the Healthcare Executive Forum. Deepti has a passion for using innovation and technology to improve care delivery for the underserved and marginalized populations. She started a telemedicine program that delivers substance abuse treatment to incarcerated patients at the Hennepin county jail and is working to create health equity in the space of Telemedicine for all underserved populations during the Pandemic and beyond.
About Jennifer Fritz, MPH, Director, Center for Health Information Policy and Transformation, Minnesota Department of Health
Jennifer Fritz is the Director of the Office of Health Information Technology at the Minnesota Department of Health. She is responsible for the direction of Minnesota e-Health programs, including the Minnesota e-Health Initiative, Administrative Uniformity, Minnesota’s Health Information Exchange Oversight Program, and activities related to privacy and security, health informatics and data standards. Prior to this role, Jennifer served as Deputy Director of the Office of Health Information Technology and various other roles at the Minnesota Department of Health. Jennifer has received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Health degrees from the University of Minnesota.
About Rahshana Price-Isuk, MD, Director of Clinical Services, Northpoint Health & Wellness Center
Medical Degree: MD, University of Maryland, Baltimore
Philosophy of Care: As a Minneapolis native, Dr. Price-Isuk is passionate about service to the Minneapolis community. She grew up in both North and Northeast Minneapolis, attending Northeast Junior High School and graduating from North Community High School. After finishing medical school Dr. Isuk returned to her community and attended Family Medicine residency training at the University of Minnesota Broadway Clinic and North Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Isuk has a passion for health education. She desires to teach patients how to take ownership of their wellness. Her goal is to empower people and communities to take control of their health and well-being in addition to teaching providers how to provide culturally competent, equitable healthcare services. Dr. Isuk looks at each visit as an opportunity for learning for both provider and patient. Clinical
Interests and Experience: Dr. Isuk enjoys her specialty of Ambulatory Family Medicine and has been Board Certified for 15 years. She provides comprehensive care for persons starting at birth through end of life care. She takes particular interest in the adolescent population and loves assisting them in addressing their health and social needs and leading them toward finding life’s purpose.
Other Interests: Public Speaking, Mentoring, Cooking, Singing, Cycling/Power Walking, Playing with my kids! Favorite TV show is “The Voice.”
About Pleasant Radford Jr. MBA, Health Equity Officer, UCare
Mr. Radford is a multidisciplinary health care professional who uses his experience in health care business management, public health, and community engagement to help build an equitable, affordable, culturally competent health care system for all. Formerly, Radford was Principal Evaluator at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, where he directed the evaluation of healthy eating, physical activity and commercial tobacco prevention projects across the state of Minnesota, and worked with key community and corporate stakeholders in public policy, population health and consumer experience to improve health outcomes for members experiencing health inequities. Prior to his position at Blue Cross, Radford was a consultant at UnitedHealth Group. He also worked at Mayo Clinic, University of Chicago, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and served in the Peace Corps. As Health Equity Officer at UCare, Radford will work across the organization to align clinical, community and provider health equity initiatives. UCare Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Julia Joseph-Di Caprio, M.D. said, “Pleasant brings enormous depth of experience and passion to this new role at UCare. We are excited to have him lead this important work creating opportunities for all of our members to have equitable access to health care and a good quality of life, which is difficult for so many UCare members because of their race or economic circumstance.” Radford serves on the Board of the Guthrie Corporate Council and previously was a Board member of Nice Ride Minnesota. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis, MN) and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Psychology and Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Spanish from the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL). Radford and his wife, Toni, live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
About Paul Kleeberg, MD, FAAFP, FHIMSS, Retired family physician and former Regional Medical Director, Aledade
Dr. Kleeberg is a retired family physician and experienced in assisting physicians and clinic leadership to achieve their goals in value-based care. His most recent accomplishment has been Regional Medical director with Aledade where all his ACOs reduced the cost and increased the quality of care while more than half had achieved shared saving checks.
Among his other accomplishments have been serving as the Chief Medical Informatics Officer for Stratis Health, Medical Director for Clinical Decision Support at HealthEast Care System and for Allina Health. He has been Board Chair for HIMSS (The Health Information Management Systems Society), led the meaningful use committee for the Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and clinical lead for the team implementing the Epic Ambulatory System at Alina. He started his medical practice providing the full spectrum of family medicine in a small independent practice St Peter Minnesota and later he worked in a suburban ambulatory practice in Ramsey MN, part of the Allina Health system, using the ambulatory EHR he had helped design.
Dr. Kleeberg comes with vast experience in value-based care and the implementation of technologies, including telehealth, to improve provider workflows, care quality, cost savings and the patient experience of care.
Micky Tripathi is the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he leads the formulation of the federal health IT strategy and coordinates federal health IT policies, standards, programs, and investments.
Mr. Tripathi has over 20 years of experience across the health IT landscape. He most recently served as Chief Alliance Officer for Arcadia, a health care data and software company focused on population health management and value-based care, the project manager of the Argonaut Project, an industry collaboration to accelerate the adoption of FHIR, and a board member of HL7, the Sequoia Project, the CommonWell Health Alliance, and the CARIN Alliance.
Mr. Tripathi served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), a non-profit health IT advisory and clinical data analytics company. He was also the founding President and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, a statewide HIE partnered with the Regenstrief Institute, an Executive Advisor to investment firm LRVHealth, and a Fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
He holds a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University, and an AB in political science from Vassar College. Prior to receiving his PhD, he was a Presidential Management Fellow and a senior operations research analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, DC, for which he received the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.
Jim Hall is an innovative, high-achieving Senior IT Leader with over twenty years’ experience in IT Leadership. Jim believes in developing the next generation of IT Leadership, to help IT organizations better respond to the changing technology landscape.
After serving more than eight years as Chief Information Officer in government and higher education, Jim founded Hallmentum to empower IT Leaders to drive meaningful change through hands-on training, workshops, and coaching.
Jim is a featured speaker on IT Leadership and Technology Innovation at conferences including Government IT Symposium, SINC Midwest IT Forum, International Institute of Business Analysis, Premier CIO Forum, Minnesota e-Learning Summit, CIC CIO TechForum, and UBTech.
Jim is a published author on IT Leadership, and is the author of Coaching Buttons, a collection of essays about leadership and vision in information technology: how to be a leader, how to lead through change, how to do strategic planning. Jim has also contributed chapters to several other books on IT Leadership, including The Open Organization Leaders Manual (2nd Edition), The Open Organization Workbook, and Cultivating Change in the Academy.
Jim contributes feature articles about IT Leadership and Technology Innovation in magazines and journals including Government CIO Outlook, CIO Review, University Business, OpenSource, Linux Journal, and The Open Organization book series. Jim has also been interviewed and cited as an expert on IT Leadership and Technology Innovation for publications including The Forecast by Nutanix, Government CIO Outlook, University Business Magazine, and MinnPost.
Director Program Management at Surescripts with 30+ years of project, program, portfolio and PMO management across multiple industries and organizational sizes. A proven professional with a consistent track record of implementing solutions to address business, technical and strategic challenges within complex organizations.
Associate Partner at Project Consulting Group. 30+ years in Project, Program, Portfolio Management and leading PMOs. Built, matured, or scaled PMO’s in 10+ companies from mid-size to fortune 100. MBA, PMP®, Lean Six Sigma MBB.
Sr. Portfolio Manager with Surescripts, owner of JPerzel Inc & CEO of No Rush Hour Productions, LLC. 40+ years in Project Program and Portfolio Management, PMP®.
George Hawkins launched his innovation-focused enterprises Moonshot Missions after stepping down as CEO of DC Water, where he served for eleven years. George helps agencies identify and adopt strategies to deliver better service and lower cost.
George transformed DC Water into an innovative enterprise while tripling its investment in clean water. DC Water’s innovations ranged from Green Infrastructure to a $500 million investment in clean energy. DC Water issued the first century bond, first environmental impact bond, and spearheaded programs to support low-income customers and provide for local workforce development.
George serves on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which advises the White House. George is an advisor to Xylem, Inc. and serves on the Board of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. George has served as a Senior Lecturer at Princeton University and an Executive in Residence for American University.
Mr. Hawkins also served as Director of the DC Department of the Environment and served as Director of non-profit organizations and held positions with the USEPA and the firm Ropes & Gray.
George is a popular speaker on water and environmental issues. He has been the recipient of many awards, including the AWWA’s Fuller Award, Governing Magazine’s Public Official of the Year in 2015, WEF Public Official of the Year in 2016, and the Water Leader of the Year Prize in 2017. DC Water was awarded the US Water Prize in 2016.
He graduated from Princeton University (Summa Cum Laude) and from Harvard Law School (Cum Laude).
Umair Shah, MD, MPH, was appointed Secretary of Health by Governor Jay Inslee on December 21, 2020. Prior to this, Dr. Shah served as Executive Director and Local Health Authority for Harris County Public Health (HCPH) – the nationally accredited county public health agency for the nation’s third largest county with 4.7 million people.
Dr. Shah earned his BA (philosophy) from Vanderbilt University; his MD from the University of Toledo Health Science Center; and completed an Internal Medicine Residency, Primary Care/General Medicine Fellowship, and MPH (management), at the University of Texas Health Science Center. He also completed an international health policy internship at World Health Organization headquarters in Switzerland.
Upon completing training, Dr. Shah began a distinguished career as an emergency department physician at Houston’s Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center. He started his formal public health journey as Chief Medical Officer at Galveston County’s Health District before joining HCPH to oversee its clinical health system and infectious disease portfolio. Under his leadership, HCPH has won numerous national awards including recognition as Local Health Department of the Year from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in 2016.
Dr. Shah currently holds numerous leadership positions with respected entities like the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Trust for America’s Health; Network for Public Health Law; and Texas Medical Association. He previously served as president of NACCHO (and its Texas affiliate) representing the nation’s nearly 3,000 local health departments.
Over his career, Dr. Shah has been a clinician, an innovator, an educator, and a leader in health.
Maurice Ashley made history in 1999 when he became the first African-American chess grandmaster. He is a three-time national championship coach, author of Chess for Success: Using an Old Game to Build New Strengths in Children and Teens, Chess commentator, iPhone app designer, puzzle inventor, and motivational speaker.
Maurice is well known for providing dynamic live tournament coverage of world-class chess competitions and matches. His high-energy, unapologetic, and irreverent commentary combines Brooklyn street smarts with professional ESPN-style sports analysis. He has covered every class of elite event, including the World Chess Championships, the US Chess Championships, the Grand Chess Tour, and the legendary “man vs. machine” matches between Garry Kasparov and IBM’s Deep Blue.
Traveling the world as an ardent spokesperson for the many character-building effects of chess, Maurice shares how chess principles and strategies can be applied to improve business practices and assist with personal growth. Maurice also acts as a master of ceremonies and inspirational speaker at business conferences and high-class chess events.
Maurice has received multiple community service awards from city governments, universities, and community groups for his work. In recognition of his immense contribution to the game, he was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Brooklyn Technical High School Hall of Fame in 2018.
Dr. Janel Anderson is the founder of Working Conversations, LLC and holds a PhD in organizational communication from Purdue University where she wrote her dissertation on virtual teams 20 years ago. Part professor, part coach, part comedian, she offers practical strategies that can be implemented immediately.
Hayley Cohen is an Executive Security Advisor and Threat Gamification Engineer for IBM Security Command, and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She leads companies, intelligence agencies and governments through simulated cyber-attacks, and builds one-of-a-kind scenarios for custom client experiences.
Aside from sharing best practices from a business perspective, Hayley also demonstrates hacking techniques and tools to provide insight into how threat actors conduct attacks.
Prior to joining IBM Security Command, Hayley was a software engineer for various IBM Security teams, where she worked with leading technologists to develop world class security products. Hayley holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the Tufts University School of Engineering and a Credential of Readiness from Harvard Business School Online.
Hayley is currently pursuing an M.S in Cybersecurity Policy and Governance from Boston College.
Hayley has run simulations and demonstrations for business and technical leaders around the world. Her recent engagements include FS-ISAC Americas Virtual Summit, IBM Security Master Skills Munich, Massachusetts Digital Government Summit and Minnesota Government IT Symposium.
John Nerge is the GIS Coordinator for the City of Brooklyn Park. John works will all city departments, empowering their business decisions with spatial and data analysis, cartography, and storytelling. To achieve this, he uses human centered decision to fit the app to the audience, not the other way around.
Thomas Fisher is professor, director of the Minnesota Design Center, and Dayton Hudson Chair in Urban Design in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota.
Fisher served for 19 years as a dean at the University of Minnesota and became the director of the Minnesota Design Center in 2015. His research has focused on sustainable architecture, design ethics, and community-based service design.
Recognized in 2005 as the fifth most published writer about architecture in the United States, Fisher has written 9 books, over 50 book chapters or introductions, and over 400 articles in professional journals and major publications. Named a top-25 design educator four times by Design Intelligence, he has lectured at 36 universities and over 150 professional and public meetings. He has written extensively about architectural design, practice, and ethics. His latest book, Designing our Way to a Better World (Minnesota) came out in 2016.
Mandy Froehlich passionately encourages educators to create innovative change in their classrooms. A former Director of Innovation and Technology, technology integrator, and teacher, she has experience at many levels of the organizational structure. Her interest lies in reinvigorating and re-engaging teachers back into their profession, as well as what’s needed to support teachers in their pursuit of innovative and divergent thinking and teaching. She consults internationally with school districts and post-secondary institutions in the effective use of technology to support great teaching, mental health support for educators, and how to create organizational change. Her first book, The Fire Within: Lessons from Defeat that have ignited a passion for learning, discusses mental health awareness for teachers. Her second book, Divergent EDU, is based on an organizational structure she developed to support teachers in innovative and divergent thinking. Her third book, Reignite the Flames, is based on educator engagement and mental health. And check out here newly released book, The Educator’s Matchbook, a weekly guide for educators looking to reignite their love of teaching.
Mark Lanterman is the Chief Technology Officer of Computer Forensic Services. Before entering the private sector, Mark was a member of the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Taskforce.
Mark has 28 years of security and forensic experience and has testified in over 2000 cases.
Mark is faculty for the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C., the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, the University of Minnesota and the Mitchell Hamline Law School. Mark is a professor in the cybersecurity program at the St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Mark has provided training in digital evidence, computer forensics and cyber security to the United States Supreme Court. He has also presented to the 8th and 11th Circuit Federal Judicial Conferences as well as numerous State and Federal Judicial Conferences across the United States.
Mark completed his postgrad studies in cybersecurity at Harvard University and is certified as a Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist (SCERS) by the Department of Homeland Security.
Mark is a member of the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board and serves as Chairman of its Opinions Committee.
In her role as Partner, Angela oversees work in 3 states and leads the leadership development practices team for TNTP. In her role, she works with state departments, philanthropic organizations and foundations, CMOs and districts on a range of work that includes leadership development, talent diversification, access to high quality academics and implementation, and authentic community engagement. In her work at TNTP Angela has led principal preparation programs in Philadelphia and Kansas City and supported districts in designing comprehensive talent management and human capital strategies.
Prior to her work at TNTP, she supported district staff and principals in Prince George’s County with the implementation of a new teacher evaluation system. Prior to her work there, she joined education as a Teach For America corps member in Philadelphia, where she taught middle school English in the district, leading her students to significant gains on city wide tests. During this time, she was featured on NBC’s Education Nation as an exemplary model of teaching. Following her teaching experience, Angela joined Teach For America staff as a Manager of Teacher Leadership Development, coaching first and second year teachers throughout Philadelphia, reaching more than 2000 students via the teachers she coached. In 2015, Angela was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list of influential educators. Angela completed her Bachelor of Science in Finance at Penn State University and holds a Masters from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
Brian Johnson is the president of 7 Minute Security, which specializes in security assessments, penetration testing and training. He is especially passionate about teaching others about security and hosts a weekly podcast to help consumers and businesses strengthen their security posture. When he isn’t camped out behind a keyboard, he enjoys outdoor activities with his family, as well as singing and playing guitar in an acoustic duo.
Lynette Crane, corporate trainer, coach, international speaker, and author, has had 40 years of experience in helping people address stress under many different challenging circumstances, including economic chaos and natural disasters as well as personal crises.
She was a pioneer in 1978 when she created the first college course on The Psychology of Stress, then went on to do organizational training for such institutions as Pacific Bell Telephone Company (during their divestiture from AT&T), San Francisco Veterans’ Affairs, San Francisco Airport, and more. Her training has additionally impacted companies such as Hewlett Packard, Target, and a hot of others over her 40 years of experience.
Recognizing the old stress management techniques were not delivering what was needed in the modern era, she turned to latest in neuroscience and quantum physics to create a unique scientifically-validated program in which participants can gain the tools to deal successfully with the losses and disruptions of our pandemic by learning, easily and quickly, how to prepare for, recover from and adapt in the face of adversity.
Seen on The Ellen Show and NBC Nightly News, educator, speaker, and author Michael Bonner is an energizing voice in education. Michael has presented to more than 200 education conferences, school district meetings and leadership development audiences across the U.S. & Canada to share his “lessons learned” from teaching in a Title I school with children that experience high levels of trauma and adverse situations.
Mr. Bonner’s candid, enthusiastic seminars challenge listeners to create diverse, inclusive education plans “where students can see themselves within the lessons and assessments” as a means to increase student success rates. He empowers his audiences to build genuine relationships with their students because “you can’t demand a withdrawal from someone you have never invested in.”
Administrators and educators alike leave Mr. Bonner’s presence ready to make an impact that affects eternity. He is consistently seen as a visionary leader who strives to create a positive mindset among all of his students. His students come to class each day with diverse backgrounds, strengths, needs, and challenges. Therefore, he identifies strategies to ensure their growth socially, emotionally, academically, and psychologically. Due to his educational approach, students leave more hopeful, challenged, inspired, and forever a part of Bonnerville.
Today, Mr. Bonner lives in Atlanta, Ga. where he is beginning a new educational journey as a fourth and sixth grade English teacher at the famed Ron Clark Academy!
Glen has been in education for over 20 years and he currently works as an instructional coach in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota. Glen was previously a Spanish teacher. Glen is well known by the Schoology community as a Gamification expert, Schoology Ambassador, and he was the 2016-2017 Schoology Educator of the Year. He is the co-host of OnEducation Podcast whose goal is to have honest conversations about teachers, teaching and everything in between.
Co-convener Stratis Health is proud to provide continuing medical education credit for physicians and advanced practice professionals for the MN HIMSS and Minnesota e-Health Initiative Conference, through their CME accreditation by the Minnesota Medical Association.
Physician Continuing Medical Education (CME) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) through the joint sponsorship of Stratis Health and the MN HIMSS and Minnesota e-Health Initiative Conference. Stratis Health is accredited by the MMA to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Stratis Health designates this activity for 7 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
CME certificates will be emailed after completion of these steps:
An online evaluation survey will be emailed after the conference.
Electronically sign and submit the survey.
A CME certificate will be emailed to you from Stratis Health.
Speaker and Planning Committee Disclosure: To comply with MMA Standards for Commercial Support, Stratis Health requires presenters to disclose the existence of any significant financial interest or other relationships with companies whose products or services are related to the subject matter of the presentation. Each presenter will submit a signed disclosure form prior to the conference. No presenter or planning committee member involved with the MN HIMSS and Minnesota e-Health Initiative Conference will have a financial relationship that could be perceived as a real or apparent conflict of interest in the context of their presentation; nor will any speaker discuss research or unlabeled uses of commercial products.
Continuing Education and Contact Hours for Nurses
The University of Minnesota School of Nursing, Office of Practice, Partnerships and Professional Development, is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. The MN HIMSS and Minnesota e-Health Initiative Conference is designed to meet the Minnesota Board of Nursing requirements for continuing education. It is the responsibility of the individual nurse to determine if the course fulfills that requirement.
Continuing Education Credits and Contact Hours for Other Health Professionals
The MN HIMSS and Minnesota e-Health Initiative Conference may meet continuing education requirements for your focus. Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance following completion of a post-conference online evaluation survey. It is the responsibility of the individual to determine if the course fulfills that requirement.
Amanda VanDerHeyden, Ph.D., is a private consultant and researcher who has directed and evaluated numerous school-wide intervention and reform efforts. Amanda is founder of Spring Math (www.springmath.com), a web-based comprehensive mathematics RtI system covering numeracy to algebra, which is widely used in the U.S. and has shown strong gains in math achievement. Her work has been featured on “Education News Parents Can Use” on PBS and The Learning Channel.
Dr. VanDerHeyden has held faculty positions at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center and University of California at Santa Barbara. She is President of Education Research & Consulting, Inc. in Fairhope. Dr. VanDerHeyden serves as scientific advisor to TIES and the Center on Innovations in Learning. She has served as a guest or standing panel member for NIH, IES at the U.S. Department of Education and on numerous boards including the RTI Advisory Board for the National Center for Learning Disabilities and SEDL, one of 10 regional laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education since merged with the American Institutes for Research). Dr. VanDerHeyden has published more than 100 scholarly articles and chapters, 7 books, and has given keynote addresses to state school psychology associations and state departments of education in 32 states and Singapore. She is co- author of the Evidence-Based Mathematics Innovation Configuration for the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality at Vanderbilt University and now the Collaboration for Effective Education Development, Accountability, and Reform at University of Florida. Her most recent book (Kovaleski, VanDerHeyden, & Shapiro—The RTI Approach to Evaluating Learning Disabilities) was featured at a forum for policymakers hosted by the National Center for Learning Disabilities as a best-practice guide for identifying and serving children with Learning Disabilities in October of 2013 in New York, NY. She actively conducts research focused on improving learning outcomes for students and her scholarly work has been recognized in the form of article of the year awards in 2007 from Journal of School Psychology and 2016 from Journal of Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, the Lightner Witmer Early Career Contributions Award from Division 16 (School Psychology) of the American Psychological Association, and her 2012 induction into the 150-member Society for the Study of School Psychology. Amanda believes that most academic failure is preventable and that all children can learn when provided with the right instruction.
Ruth Lynfield is State Epidemiologist and Medical Director at Minnesota Dept of Health. She joined MDH as a medical epidemiologist in 1997. She has investigated and responded to outbreaks, developed surveillance systems, and conducted public health research, evaluation and planning. She has served on a number of federal advisory committees including the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, the FDA Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and chairs the CDC Board of Scientific Counselors for the Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases. She is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota.
Elissa Hansen, President & CEC at Northspan
Elissa Hansen invests her time creatively advancing others’ capabilities. Recently, she has facilitated strategic planning processes for numerous public, private, and nonprofit organizations in the Upper Midwest. She also spearheaded the creation of the Minnesota Opportunity Collaborative and has worked to expand and enhance Northspan’s programs. She leads Northspan with over 20 years of experience in business and economic development across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Karl Schuettler manages the Northland Connection program, provides support services to local communities, and researches and analyzes economic trends. In the past year, Karl’s work has included numerous economic analyses, reports on business visit programs, and staffing support for several regional partnerships. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Minnesota.
Terri Thao is passionate about building power with community. She is currently a program director at Nexus Community Partners, a non-profit community building intermediary where she runs the Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI). Terri has spent most of her professional career in the fields of community economic development, community building, leadership development, and philanthropy. She also teaches classes on leadership and advocacy at Metropolitan State University. She serves on the boards of the F.R. Bigelow Foundation, Minnesota Housing and Voices for Racial Justice. She obtained her Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees from the University of Minnesota. She lives with her family on the East Side of St. Paul and loves to read in her spare time.
Dannielle Lewis is a senior manager in the tax practice, focused on serving clients in the construction and real estate industry. She leads Wipfli’s team of Qualified Opportunity Zone specialists and is a frequent speaker on this topic. She also advises clients on complex tax transactions involving partnership interest exchanges or business sales. Dannielle stays up to date on the ever-changing tax laws and recognizes opportunities for new and potential clients to help save and structure their funds. She leverages her proactive planning and advising to ensure clients reach their goals and are successful.
Seventeen. That’s how many years Jana has worked as a journalist for KARE 11 news here in Minneapolis – it is also the same amount of time she has spent wondering if she could ever really be that much needed addition to the now defunct Destiny’s Child. But she’s for sure gonna name her first child, Destiny, just to get remotely close to that brand.
Other tidbits. She is from a town you’ve never heard of but it’s a 40 minute drive from St. Louis. She once sold her ten year anniversary gift from KARE 11 to an ex so she could buy a pair of Air Jordan’s.
Jana graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia a very long time ago and had it not been for a persistent journalism professor would have spent her adult life driving the Wienermobile. Jana has won 6 regional Emmy awards. You can see Jana weeknights on Breaking The News, KARE 11, at 6:30 pm.
Jacob seeks to strengthen communities’ resilience by promoting the use of data and careful analysis. At Wilder, he generates and curates content for the Minnesota Compass website and manages a portfolio of related research projects. He brings experience in research, geospatial analysis, writing, and outreach from previous positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, among others.
He holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in English from James Madison University in Virginia.
Outside of work, he enjoys bicycling around the Twin Cities and getting lost in the woods as he forages for mushrooms. In his opinion, a perfect day would somehow combine the two.
Kathlene Campbell is the Dean of Education at the University of St. Thomas where she oversees the departments of educational leadership, special education, and teacher education as well as the charter school authorizing unit. Dr. Campbell’s multifaceted experience as a classroom teacher, community college and state college professor, state college interim dean, university instructor and supervisor, and non-profit consultant have shaped all of her strategic and scholarly pursuits. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education and M.Ed. in Early Childhood Intervention and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Baran, PhD is a Senior Partner and Digital Solutions Lead at inQUEST Consulting. He has been working with organizations for almost 20 years, helping support their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. By training, he has a doctorate in cultural anthropology and cognitive psychology, studying questions like: how do we all develop unconscious biases? And what are the subtle ways that cultures include some people and exclude others?
Michael has taught courses at Harvard University and the University of Michigan. He has lead projects aiming to reduce racial disparities in education, health, housing, and criminal justice at the FrameWorks Institute and at the American Institutes of Research.
He is also the coauthor of the recently launched book Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions, cited in Forbes as one of the “11 Books To Read If You Want To Be A More Inclusive Leader.”
Andy Zimney is a Principal Advisor and Team Performance Coach at Employe Strategies, Inc.—a boutique firm in Minneapolis that partners with leaders to create highly effective work cultures. He has two decades of experience in the conference room as an organizational executive and on the stage as a profession improviser. Andy has lead learning seminars and coached teams from a wide variety of industries across the country to help them adapt to change and support more innovative cultures. Andy spends the rest of his time with his wife and 3 fantastic children in St. Paul, MN.
Jessica O. Matthews is the Founder & CEO of Uncharted Power, an award-winning, full-service power and data infrastructure company. The Company’s proprietary suite of technologies enables it to build, own and operate decentralized power infrastructure for communities with various applications for edge colocation, power, and sensing. Developing technologies in energy generation, transmission and storage, the Company also has mastered harnessing kinetic energy, enabling it to engineer consumer products for Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. and various international governments. The Company was founded by Jessica when she was only 22 years old.
Jessica was invited by President Barack Obama to the White House to represent small companies for the signing of the America Invents Act in 2012. In 2016, she raised the second-largest Series A ever raised by a black female founder in history and was selected to ring the NASDAQ opening ceremony bell, representing all Forbes 30 Under 30 alumna.
Jessica’s research and career centers around the intersection of disruptive technology, renewable energy, human behavior, and the psychology of self-actualization. A dual citizen of Nigeria & the U.S., Jessica has a degree in Psychology and Economics from Harvard University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is listed on over 10 patents and patents pending—including her first invention of the SOCCKET, an energy generating soccer ball, at the age of 19. Her list of accolades includes Fortune’s Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs, Forbes 30 under 30 list, Inc Magazine 30 under 30, and Harvard University Scientist of the Year.
Minnesota State Demographer
Susan Brower is the Minnesota State Demographer and directs the MN State Demographic Center. Susan became the State Demographer in February 2012. In that capacity, she travels the state talking with Minnesotans about the new social and economic realities that are brought about by recent demographic shifts. Susan’s work applies an understanding of demographic trends to changes in a range of areas including the state’s economy and workforce, education, health, immigration and rural population changes.
Susan joined the State Demographic Center after working as a researcher on the Minnesota Compass project at Wilder Research in St. Paul. Prior to that, she worked at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan.
Susan earned her Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Michigan, specializing in demography and family sociology. She also holds a master’s degree in public policy from Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
For media or other inquiries, please contact Susan at susan.brower@state.mn.us (preferred) or 651-201-2472. Download a high resolution photo of Susan. Note: If you would like Susan to present at an event, please email her with your request.
Kori Land, Attorney at LeVander, Gillen & Miller, P.A.
Korine Land is a shareholder at LeVander, Gillen & Miller, located in South St. Paul, Minnesota. She is the City Attorney for the cities of West St. Paul, Stillwater, Cottage Grove, Randolph and Hampton. Ms. Land is the Chair of her Firm’s Municipal Practice Group, a past president of the Minnesota City Attorneys’ Association and a frequent speaker for the League of Minnesota Cities on various municipal matters. She graduated from Augustana University and Mitchell-Hamline College of Law.
Molly Just, Senior Planner at WSB
Molly has nearly 20 years of experience in local and regional government, as well as in the private sector. While her experience includes long-range planning and current planning, Molly finds planning nirvana when helping to solve problems. She finds that the answers are often hiding in plain sight – in the zoning ordinance or comprehensive plan. Molly’s planning career started in the Washington, DC area, then moved to Maine, and finally to Minnesota in 2015; attracted by the evident quality of life. Molly lives in Minneapolis with her husband, son, and pets. In her free time, Molly is always trying to carve out time to walk the lakes with her dog or strengthen her yoga practice.
Erin Perdu, Director of Community Planning & Economic Development at WSB
Erin Perdu, AICP, is the Community Planning and Economic Development Director for WSB in Minneapolis. She has been a practicing planner for over 20 years, working primarily in the upper-Midwest and Texas. Her career spans both the public and private sectors, including a 12-year stint at the helm of the consulting firm she founded, ENP & Associates. Erin’s passions include long-range planning, community engagement, and bringing national best practices to communities of all sizes. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Stanford University (Earth Systems) and Master of Science (Natural Resources) and Master of Urban Planning degrees from the University of Michigan.
Mike Couri, Attorney at Couri & Ruppe, P.L.L.P.
Michael C. Couri is a partner with Couri & Ruppe. Mr. Couri received his Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Illinois State University in 1985. He then received his Certified Public Accountant certificate and Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois in 1988. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1988 and the Minnesota Bar in 1991. Mr. Couri has been continuously engaged in the practice of Municipal Law in Minnesota since 1991. He has been the City Attorney for the City of Albertville since 1992, the City of St. Augusta since 2000, and the City of Rockford since 2002. He has also represented a number of Townships since his entry into the practice of Municipal Law in 1991. Mr. Couri has attended City and Township sponsored continuing legal education seminars annually since 1991 and has periodically spoken on Municipal issues before City and Township organizations.
Phil Carlson has practiced as a planning consultant in the region for more than forty years, assisting dozens of cities with comprehensive plans, neighborhood studies, urban design guidelines, zoning codes, and planning advice. He has designed residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed use developments, and wrote one of the first form-based codes in Minnesota. He has taught planning and zoning to city staff and leaders for over thirty years and is frequently called as an expert witness in land use and zoning cases.
Senior Demographer
Megan Dayton is a Senior Demographer at Minnesota’s State Demographic Center. Since 2012, she has been responsible for preparing demographic projections for the State of Minnesota, 13 Economic Development Regions, and 87 counties. Serving in this role, Megan is Minnesota’s state representative to the Federal-State Cooperative Program for Population Projections (FSCPP) with the U.S. Census Bureau. Megan’s work involves the creation of school district estimates upon request for intercensal levy cycle funding and providing data analysis for state agencies, councils, and legislators.
Megan’s research interests include improving upon existing data modeling techniques used for state and sub-state areas, as well as social stratification and more general demographic trends related to fertility, mortality, and migration patterns. Megan has hands-on knowledge of social and economic realities brought about by recent demographic shifts. Her work engages an attentive approach to relating current demographic trends with the resulting likelihoods.
Megan holds a master’s degree in applied demography from the Center for Demography and Population Health at the Florida State University.
Contact Megan at megan.dayton@state.mn.us (preferred) or 651-201-2461. Download a high resolution photo of Megan. Note: If you would like Megan to present at an event, please email her with your request.
The Transforming Learning Summit is proceeding with safety as a top priority. Our planning committee closely follows the CDC guidelines, local and state public health authorities and US State Department/Federal Government rules related to the COVID-19 virus. We recognize the situation is fluid and changing daily. We’ve instituted the following policy that only applies to COVID-19 related cancellations:
» 100% of attendee and sponsor/exhibitor registration fees will be refunded if a company has instituted travel restrictions for its employees that is effective during the dates of the Summit, and an attendee or sponsor/exhibitor cannot attend the event. Cancellation must be communicated by email to gts@fusionlp.org accompanied by the company proof of policy. Refunds will not be issued for cancellations before July 15, 2020.
» 100% of registration fees will be refunded if cancellation of the event is mandated by local health authorities
GTS Educational Events is actively exploring Digital Conferencing tools and the potential benefits that sponsors and exhibitors would receive, in the event that the in-person event is canceled. We will ensure sponsors and exhibitors receive comparable or even enhanced benefits associated with a captive digital audience. We welcome your ideas and input.
The Government IT Symposium is proceeding with safety as a top priority. Our planning closely follows the CDC guidelines, local and state public health authorities and US State Department/Federal Government rules related to the COVID-19 virus. We recognize the situation is fluid and changing daily. We’ve instituted the following policy that only applies to COVID-19 related cancellations:
» 100% of attendee and sponsor/exhibitor registration fees will be refunded if a company has instituted travel restrictions for its employees that is effective during the dates of the Conference, and an attendee or sponsor/exhibitor cannot attend the event. Cancellation must be communicated by email to gts@fusionlp.org after November 16, 2020, accompanied by the company proof of policy. Refunds will not be issued for cancellations before November 16, 2020.
» 100% of registration fees will be refunded if cancellation of the event is mandated by local health authorities
GTS Educational Events is actively exploring Digital Conferencing tools and the potential benefits that sponsors and exhibitors would receive, in the event that the in-person event is canceled. We will ensure sponsors and exhibitors receive comparable or even enhanced benefits associated with a captive digital audience. We welcome your ideas and input.
Madhulika Gaur, Business and Quality Analysis Supervisor for Minnesota IT services at Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB), has over fifteen years of experience in multiple aspects of critical software systems and custom applications, including experience in automation, Functional, performance testing. Madhulika currently manages Business Analysts team and QA teams working on variety of Functional, Accessibility, automation and performance testing efforts.
Darin Richardson is the Claims Manager of the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT), working in this capacity since January 2014. Darin currently oversees both the property casualty and the workers’ compensation claims staff at the LMCIT. Prior to becoming the Claims Manager, Darin spent twenty-three years as a property casualty claims professional dedicated to the LMCIT while working for Berkley Risk Administrators and GAB.
B. J. is the Risk and Homeland Security Manager for Dakota County. B.J. is responsible for the oversite of several programs at the County including: health and safety, insurance and claims, continuity of operations planning, emergency management and implementation of enterprise risk management. Dakota County began actively pursuing cyber insurance coverage in 2018. The County has leveraged its relationship with AIG insurance to help develop a comprehensive framework to mitigate, respond and recover from cyber security events.
Ryan Donovan has been in the insurance industry for 15+ years as a commercial P&C, Group Health, and Life insurance producer. In his current role, Ryan serves as the Manager of the Insurance and Risk Management department for Sourcewell.
Annie is a broker in Aon’s Professional Risk Solutions Team located in Chicago, and has been with Aon since 2012. She works with organizations across all industries and sizes in assessing Errors & Omissions, Network Security and Privacy, and Media Risks.
Sean Sweeney is Senior Director & Chief Security Advisor, Americas, in Microsoft’s Cybersecurity Solutions Group. In this role, he is primarily responsible for aligning and mobilizing his team of Cybersecurity Advisors and Architects across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America to deliver thought leadership and deep customer engagement. He is also responsible for regularly engaging with the security industry through public speaking, standards development, and advanced research, as well as providing strategic direction on products and services, and advising customer CxOs on security and compliance issues.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Sean served as a Chief Information Security Officer of the University of Pittsburgh, principal and co-founder of a Pittsburgh-based eDiscovery startup, Chief Information Officer for a national law firm based in Pittsburgh, and Litigation Support Applications Manager for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
A frequent author and speaker on security and compliance, Sean is also a steadfast champion of cybersecurity workforce development. Originally from Northern Virginia, and an avid boater; Sean has resided in Pittsburgh, PA for the last 13 years.
John Israel currently manages the State of Minnesota’s Security Operations Center (SOC) and Enterprise Forensics teams overseeing the state’s efforts to improve cybersecurity monitoring, incident detection, and incident investigations. This role includes building and maintaining key cyber resources related to security monitoring and cybersecurity analysis for Minnesota government – including direct roles partnering with the Minnesota Secretary of State, Minnesota Fusion Center, and Minnesota county IT teams.
Robert Biestman is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cyber Mission Center Sector Outreach Lead. His role is to build customer relationships with critical infrastructure cyber leaders with the goal of securing the nation’s critical infrastructure by furthering DHS’ understanding of cyber activity targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and delivering valuable intelligence back to sectors so they can better defend against cyber threats facing the Homeland. Mr. Biestman provides cyber leaders a direct contact into the intelligence community and facilitates information sharing, joint analysis partnerships, and in-depth cyber threat briefings.
Prior to his role as Sector Outreach Lead, he worked as a financial sector technical cyber threat analyst for the DHS Cyber Mission Center, and in addition has worked as a homeland security legislative advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Biestman graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Business Economics and received his Master’s Degree in Cyber Leadership from National Defense University’s College of Information and Cyberspace.
David Maeda is the Director of Elections for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office. David’s team interfaces directly with election officials in every Minnesota county.
Terry is a Senior Engineer with Collier IT where he works to ensure clients are successful with database, big data, and cloud initiatives. Terry has 30 years of software development and implementation experience as a developer, architect, support, and sales team member. He brings extensive experience in enterprise software design, development, consulting, training, and sales with both government and commercial clients. Prior to joining Collier IT, Terry was a Solution Architect at Cloudera and a Principal Systems Engineer at Oracle.
Scott is a Director of Product Management for GraalVM at Oracle. He has over 25 years experience in the industry as a developer and product manager. Scott joined Oracle in 2003 as a developer and was one of the architects of SecureFiles in the Oracle Database. In 2011, Scott joined the Oracle Solaris Kernel team as an engineering manager and took over product management for Oracle Solaris in 2013. Scott has been working with the GraalVM team for the last 2+ years.
Brian is the Chief Technology Officer at Collier IT. He has over 36 years in the Information Technology field starting in the US Navy in 1981. Although proficient in many technologies his passion has been in the Operating Environment, Engineered Systems, Data Center grade servers, Big Data/Hadoop, and storage, and now Cloud Computing and the associated MSP aspects. He has been teaching for Sun Microsystems / Oracle since 2000. Brian actively writes a blog and provides formal presentations on various Oracle and related technology topics. @Snatchbrain Brian presents at a number of technology gatherings and is currently focused in Cloud connectivity, Docker in the Cloud, Hadoop, and Data Analytics in the Cloud. Brian is an Oracle Ace Director for Engineered Systems / Solaris and was recently awarded the 2018 Oracle Excellence Award: Leadership in Infrastructure Transformation.
Jason Moldan is a Solutions Architect with Amazon Web Services where he works to ensure customers are successful on their cloud journey. Jason has over 20 years if IT experience and prior to joining Amazon, he was the Technical Architect for the University of St. Thomas where he developed and led the universities cloud initiative.
Commissioner and Chief Information Officer
Tarek Tomes serves as the Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services (MNIT) and the State of Minnesota’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), leading state efforts to provide the best possible IT solutions and customer service to the people of Minnesota and our business partners.
As a recognized industry leader, Tomes brings over 25 years of experience in managing technology innovation across diverse industries, both in national, international, and public and private sector operations. Throughout his career, he has facilitated data-driven decision making, implemented many critical enterprise projects, and improved workforce diversity and inclusion.
Before becoming Commissioner, Tomes served as the Chief Innovation Officer and former Chief Information Officer at the City of St. Paul, where he was responsible for managing ongoing process improvements, supporting human-centered design, and increasing the overall effectiveness of city services and resources. While in St. Paul, Tomes facilitated a digital transformation at the city level, pioneering the use of mobile applications to improve resident opportunities. This work allowed the city to leverage deep data insights while promoting and supporting equitable service delivery. During his time as St. Paul’s Chief Information Officer, Tomes oversaw the launch of St. Paul’s Open Information Portal, which serves to promote and encourage innovative uses of data and transparency in government services.
Tomes’ prior work experience also includes six years as an Assistant Commissioner of Minnesota IT Services, where he created several nation-leading Information Technology sourcing agreements for 33,000+ user utility services statewide – including the first cloud-based public sector statewide service offering in the nation. While Tomes was serving in this role, Minnesota became the first state in the country to manage all Information Technology through service level agreements, a model that was recognized with a national award. Before joining state service, Tomes spent 13 years working for British Telecom.
Tomes received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and attended Graduate School for Business Management at Boston University.
Mark Lanterman is the Chief Technology Officer of Computer Forensic Services. Mark is a current member of the U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes Taskforce. Mark has 28 years of security and forensic experience and has testified in over 2000 cases.
He is faculty at the University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Mitchell Hamline Law School, the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada and the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC. Mark is a member of the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board.
Mark provides regular commentary on national print and broadcast media.
As MNIT’s Strategic Planning Director Kirsten brings together stakeholders from across the executive branch to develop, implement, and evaluate MNIT’s strategic plan. She engages with breadth and depth in her work so that stakeholders – from senior leadership to customers to front line staff – have an opportunity to shape the agency’s path. She has Master’s degrees in Public Health and Public Policy and has a background in program evaluation.
Dan works with the DHS commissioner team and other senior leaders to coordinate an agency-wide approach to strategic planning, leadership development, change management, and organizational effectiveness. He earned a Master’s in Human Resource and Change Leadership (concentration in Organization Development) and a Doctor of Education in Leadership (concentration in Public Policy) from the University of St. Thomas.
Duy Nguyen– Quality Assurance Analyst for Minnesota IT Services at Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB). He performs accessibility testing with manual and assistive technology tools to ensure that MMB’s digital systems are usable by people with or without disabilities and that the Minnesota accessibility standards are maintained.
Mike Mahurin is an experienced Security Solutions architect at ConvergeOne. He has been in the information technology field for 20 years with 18 of those focused-on enterprise information security for the government, manufacturing, and financial services sectors. He currently supports advanced security consulting services across the United State with ConvergeOne.
Washington County Information Technology Collaboration and Data Integration Manager. I have a Degree in Computer Science from Augustana University, Sioux Falls, SD. I started my career as a developer for private business. My husband and I moved to Stillwater and I was hired by Washington County as a data processing coordinator. I transitioned into application development and business analyst for several years, then a Senior Lead. I have been in the IT Manager role for the Collaboration and Data Integration Division for the last 10 years.
Earl Carter has always had a passion for solving puzzles and understanding how things operate. Mr Carter quickly learned that identifying security weaknesses is just like solving puzzles. Over 20 years ago, he was introduced to network security when he accepted a position at the Airforce Information Warfare center in San Antonio, Texas. In 1998, Mr Carter starting working Cisco and became one of the founding members on the Security Technology Assessment Team (STAT). After spending 15 years identifying new security threats and assisting product teams in hardening their devices and software to mitigate those identified security threats, Mr Carter became a Threat Researcher for Cisco Talos. Now he spends his time hunting for new threats against live customer networks by examining various intelligence feeds and data sources. Among Mr Carter’s significant contributions to Cisco are multiple security patents and authoring three Cisco Press Security Books.
Dan is a co-founder of Lifescale Analytics. As the Chief Insight Officer, he oversees all aspects of delivering services and results for clients. Dan began his career in application development and has managed and directed development organizations consisting of up to 100 people. He has 27 years of IT leadership and consulting experience and has implemented successful IT practices in data security, business intelligence, data architecture, agile IT management and enterprise architecture.
Dan’s experience with implementing strategic technology spans a variety of vertical segments including the life sciences, insurance, banking, database marketing, mortgage and medical industries. Dan has served in technology leadership positions with UNUM Life, Carlson Companies, Wells Fargo and GMAC-RFC and he has provided strategic IT consulting services to many notable organizations including The Federal Reserve Bank, Syngenta Seeds, National Marrow Donor Program/Be The Match, Bayer CropScience and Duke Clinical Research Institute.
Dan earned a bachelor’s degree in geographic information systems from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in geography and computer science from the University of Iowa.
Mike Beddow is the IBM Hybrid Cloud and Analytics Solutions Leader for the Public Sector and Healthcare industries. Mike graduated from Lehigh University with a dual major in Computer Science Engineering and Business. He has technical experience solving complex business challenges leveraging a variety of IBM and open source solutions. Mike focuses on advising clients at various stages of their cloud and AI journey.
Jacob seeks to improve community vitality by promoting the use of data and community indicators to better understand trends in different quality-of-life measures. At Wilder, he generates and curates content for the Minnesota Compass website and manages a portfolio of related research projects. He brings experience in research, geospatial analysis, writing, and outreach from previous positions at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, among others.
He holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in English from James Madison University in Virginia.
Outside of work, he enjoys bicycling around the Twin Cities and getting lost in the woods as he forages for mushrooms. In his opinion, a perfect day would somehow combine the two.
Jacob is also a contributor to the Minnesota Compass blog:
Ellen serves as a research scientist for Minnesota Compass where she tracks indicators for the project which provides community-level trends for Minnesota residents. Ellen analyzes community-level data trends by working collaboratively with Minnesota organizations to identify data indicators that are relevant to their everyday work.
Before joining Wilder Research, Ellen worked for the University of Iowa’s Center for Evaluation and Assessment and University of Minnesota’s Office of Community Engagement for Health conducting research and evaluation related to education, health, and social services. She has worked with community-based organizations, state and local government, and higher education institutions for the past 15 years to develop indicators that support informed decision-making.
Ellen holds dual master’s degrees in public health and public policy from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in English from Grinnell College.
Ellen enjoys cooking for her family, visiting the mountains in her native home of Montana, and reading a good book.
Shawn Kammerud is the Chief Information Security Officer \ IT Director at Minnesota IT Services partnering with Minnesota Department of Health. He is a nationally recognized healthcare technology leader that is a catalyst for security while knowing how to balance usability.
Kammerud has a MHA, B.S. in Healthcare Administration and Management with an Information Technology specialization from Colorado State University and an associate’s degree in computer science from WITC New Richmond.
Joseph Pugh is an Operations and Development Systems Supervisor with MNIT partnering with Minnesota Department of Health. He has over 25 years of IT experience in development and his career includes mainframe, client server, fat client servlets and now “the cloud”. His perspective and experience aligns with a significant number of development and operational government staff that will be tasked with this important transition.
Joseph has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from Miami University in Oxford Ohio.
Brenda Gabriel Paul the Director of IT Projects and Applications for MNIT partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health. Brenda has over 25 years of IT experience; she has seen many infrastructure and application development changes throughout her career.
Brenda is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) holding Masters of Science in Information Technology, Assurance and Security from Capella University, and a BA in Finance and Computer Science from College of St. Catherine.
Brenda Gabriel Paul the Director of IT Projects and Applications for MNIT partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health. Brenda has over 25 years of IT experience; she has seen many infrastructure and application development changes throughout her career.
Brenda is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) holding Masters of Science in Information Technology, Assurance and Security from Capella University, and a BA in Finance and Computer Science from College of St. Catherine.
Andrew Will-Holmberg is the Cloud Operations Supervisor at Minnesota IT Services partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health. He has over a decade of public and private Cloud experience. Prior to joining MNIT, he was a business owner and Director of Operations overseeing teams responsible for Cloud operations for clients ranging from tech startups to Fortune 100 companies.
Gail Toussaint, CBAP, has a wealth of experience as a Business Analysis over many years in both public and private sector organizations. Gail attained IIBA Certified Business Analyst Professional (CBAP) certification in 2008. She served four years on the IIBA Board of Directors for the Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter
Mel is the Chief Information Officer at the League of Minnesota Cities where she oversees the League’s internal technology services and assists Minnesota cities with their technology initiatives. Prior to the League, Mel worked in technology leadership roles in both municipal and county government.
Ken is the statewide Disability Programs Coordinator for MnDOT. He has expertise in applying the American’s with Disabilities Act, with emphasis in the application of Employment-related activities, including access to digital content. Ken is blind and uses a screen reader.
Jennie Delisi is the Accessibility Analyst in the State of Minnesota’s Office of Accessibility. She is an invited expert on the W3C’s Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force, a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), and member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals’ Competencies Development and Recommendation Committee.io.
Peter has been helping government agencies securely accomplish their missions with a focus on mitigating cyberthreats for over 30 years.
Peter helps the broader IT community understand the very latest cyber capabilities and risk mitigation methods to effectively address cyber threats. His has a unique combination of a technical background and a passion to clearly convey high-tech topics to audiences of all levels. He works with NIST and the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) and has contributed their 1800-Series Special Publications.
With a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University, Peter has held leadership positions at Hewlett-Packard, AT&T and Panasonic.
Andy Zimney is a Senior Culture and Advisor and Team Performance Coach at Employee Strategies, Inc.—a boutique firm in Minneapolis that partners with leaders to create highly effective work cultures. For more than 20 years, Andy has lead learning seminars and coached teams from a wide variety of industries, including government agencies, all over the country to help them create more productive, innovative, and meaningful work.
David Andrews has over 39 years of experience working in the assistive technology, web accessibility and access to information fields. He is Chief Technology officer of Minnesota State Services for the Blind where he has worked for the past 25 years. In this position he supervises SSB’s Engineering Unit, and works on a variety of accessibility and technology-related issues with SSB and DEED staff as well as other state agencies and SSB partners. He was a part of the group of people who worked together on web and software accessibility issues, whose work ultimately led to the passage of accessibility legislation in Minnesota in 2009. While at SSB he has also directed its Communication Center and Assistive Technology Unit. Prior to coming to Minnesota he worked for the National Federation of the Blind, NFB, as the first Director of the International Braille and Technology Center. The IBTC is the world’s largest demonstration and evaluation center for assistive technology used by blind persons. Andrews continues to work for the NFB as a contractor, administering a system that supports over 350 Internet Mailing Lists, and over 40 web sites used by NFB Affiliates, Chapters, and Divisions throughout the country. Andrews has a Master’s Degree in Broadcast Management and has also worked for a variety of radio reading services and telephone-accessed dial-up newspaper reading services.
Ken is an experienced security and audit professional with a strong understanding of complex computing environments, security frameworks, legislative and regulatory requirements and accepted practices with security solutions. Having presented to state, regional and national workshops, and conferences; Ken offers a highly rated presentation style.
A founding member and past President of Western Wisconsin InfraGard Chapter, past President of ISSA-Milwaukee (International Systems Security Association), past President and founding member of ISSA-Madison, past chairman MATC Milwaukee Security Specialist Curriculum Advisory Committee, past member of Herzing University’s Department of Homeland Security Degree Program, ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) and member Western Wisconsin Association of Computer Crime Investigators (WWACCI).
Ken has security information published in several books and trade magazines. As Director IT Services for FIPCO® a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Bankers Association; Ken has coordinated and performed information security/IT Audits and risk assessments in over 100 financial institutions in the past few years. If you’d like to contact Ken, he can be reached via email at; kshaurette@fipco.com.
Renee Heinbuch, Currently the Washington County Information Technology Director for the past 2.5 years with 25 years of Information Technology experience in the private sector including the following companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN, US Bank, Land O’Lakes and 3M. She is participating on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee and chairing the Cybersecurity sub-committee.
David has worked on technology solutions for social programs for over 12 years, and is currently the Lead Offering Manager for the IBM Social Program Management Platform. In this role, David seeks to understand the needs of organizations managing Health and Human Services programs, and translate those requirements into generic, reusable software components for the Platform that can help deliver improved outcomes for vulnerable populations worldwide.
A specialized quality assurance analyst who uses WCAG 2.0 guidelines to create test cases’ expectations. Using QA best practices and assistive technology tools, she executes accessibility tests, reports violations, retests, and ensures our assistive technology end users can successfully access and use State products.
EAQAT’s automation engineer whose talents created the Assistive Technology Tool (AST) that produces a system-generated report showing scanned screenshots of each page with violations, explanation of the WCAG 2.0 guidelines that weren’t met, and possible resolutions that assist the technical team.
Damien is a Sr. Solutions Architect for Public Sector at Red Hat. Worked as lead developer, dev manager and enterprise architect in public and private sectors for 20 years. Having worked on projects from desktop-based widgets to major multi-tiered applications with web API’s, he developed an acumen for application architecture. Current focus is on Containerization; Data Center Modernization & The road to DevOps. Presenting the Evolution of IT and progression to Containerization.
Varsha Chetlur is the Social Program Data and Analytics Offering Manager for Government Health and Human Services with IBM Watson Health. Varsha focuses on developing analytics that help social program agencies meet their reporting needs. She enjoys working with clients, understanding market needs and developing innovative offerings addressing client challenges.
Phillip Yeich is the Director, Emerging Solutions for the Office of the CTO at ConvergeOne. For the past 18 years, Phillip has been involved with innovation in the Software arena in the Financial Services, Pharmaceutical, Federal & State Government and Business Intelligence industries on behalf of numerous Fortune 500 companies. Phillip has specialized in validating ideas & concepts through the software lifecycle to realize full monetization.
Today, Phillip is responsible for driving ConvergeOne intellectual property Software Solutions to market ensuring customer satisfaction and providing an exceptional customer experience.
Phillip holds a B.A. from the University of Texas San Antonio, and a MBA from Bellevue University, Omaha Nebraska.
Mikki Desque is the Strategic Survey & Evaluation Coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Previously, Mikki spent 14 years managing the Metropolitan State University psychology lab and, prior to that, supervised the Wilder Research survey center. She is also an experienced data analyst, database administrator and project manager.
Karen leads the developers and support specialists that deliver Teams, SharePoint, Forms, Power BI, and other collaboration/productivity tools within Office 365. Her team develops the processes and management practices necessary to keep Office 365 running smoothly for over 35,000 users.
Jill leads the Customer Service Management (CSM) area of MNIT Enterprise Services. CSM includes business relationship management, service portfolio management and Experience IT. The focus of CSM is to ensure MNIT services meet the IT needs of the state agencies, boards and commissions we serve. Jill has been with the State of MN for 20 years this year, starting with the Department of Human Services prior to joining the MNIT Team.
Ted is an Application Architect for MNIT Services. At work he participates in and leads teams that implement enterprise-level IT solutions, services, and platforms. Outside work he coaches Ultimate Frisbee, walks, rides, juggles, travels, reads, and helps with his sons’ Boy Scout Troop.
Wendy and a small group of colleagues at the Department of Human Services were the first among the Minnesota executive branch to implement SharePoint when it was released to market in 2001. Over the years Wendy has maintained a direct connection with SharePoint and passion for enabling collaboration and transforming the way people work. Today Wendy leads the MNIT Enterprise O365 teams responsible for developing, deploying, and supporting tools like SharePoint and Teams.
Irene is the intergovernmental relations counsel at the League of Minnesota Cities, where she advocates on behalf of cities at the state Legislature and serves as legal counsel for the lobbying department.
Jennifer is the Director of Government Relations at Ramsey County where her responsibilities include leading staff and working with external partners to develop and advance Ramsey’s legislative platforms at the state and federal level.
Susie Crowell is a Business Analyst with MNIT partnering with the Department of Employment and Economic Development on the Workforce One application. Prior to working at MNIT, she was a consultant in the public and private sectors for over 20 years.
Jenkins Nelsen is an internationally recognized diversity consultant, trainer, planner, researcher, lecturer. Co-president, the Diversity Institute, Inc.; adjunct professor, consultant for Luther Seminary. Corporate clients include UnitedHealth Group, The St. Paul Companies, The Federal Reserve Bank, The Mayo Clinic and Children’s Hospitals. She is co-founder, INTER-RACE, a diversity think tank at Augsburg College.
Corey Blommel has 20 years of IT experience that stretches across several fields. Currently, Corey is a security instructor at Anoka Ramsey Community College, and manages the Cybersecurity, Computer Networking and Computer Science academic programs. Corey is also a community faculty member at Metropolitan State University, and an instructor at the MNCyber Cyber Range.
Corey holds a Bachelors degree in IT management from Concordia University and Masters degrees in MIS from Metropolitan State University. When not teaching, Corey continues to work as an IT consultant.
Karie is a HueLife Facilitator and Trainer. Previously, she was the Director for Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (A.S.A.P.). While at A.S.A.P., she facilitated a countywide coalition of volunteers to assess, plan, and implement environmental strategies to change the culture around underage drug and alcohol abuse. By using the action planning and accelerated action planning methods, Karie led the coalition to successfully pass ordinances and policies that have created sustainability in their efforts.
Stephanie is the Chief Operating Officer (COO), consultant, facilitator and trainer at HueLife, an organizational development and facilitation company that focuses on Human Understanding and Engagement as a strategy for change. She is dedicated to helping organizations align activities with mission and values, strengthen processes and increase engagement by building a culture of innovation, equity and empowerment. Her unique ability to motivate and inspire groups through participatory processes consistently delivers great results. She has 20 plus years of leadership experience in local government as well as experience and expertise working with for profit and nonprofit organizations. She specializes in leadership and organizational development, change and project management, and strategic planning.
Stephanie is a Technology of Participation (ToP®) Certified Facilitator and Mentor Trainer. She has a baccalaureate degree in Psychology and Social Work from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma Washington and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Hamline University in St. Paul Minnesota.
Robert partners with Public Sector entities across the US to provide thought leadership and market leading expertise in addition to conducting keynote presentations, strategy workshops and consulting engagements along with driving programmatic initiatives across business and technology domains.
Kris leads the Experience IT program where she works to improve user experience for 35,000 state employees. Prior to this, as Innovation Analyst for MNIT’s Innovation Program and Tech Connections Initiative Manager for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, she helped drive IT innovation to foster collaboration and greater productivity.
Shawn Riley was born to a broken and abusive home. Shawn overcame the challenges of his youth and adopted a growth mindset and “we can make the world a better place” attitude. At the age of 16 he started a technology company. Later in his career he entered the private sector and worked as a thought leader for companies like IBM and the Mayo Clinic. His career has included massive change and transformation initiatives spanning multi billion-dollar organizations. In 2017 Shawn was appointed by Governor Doug Burgum to lead the state of North Dakota’s technology services as the Chief Information Officer. He is always looking to connect with others who have a “we can change the world” attitude as he strives to be a servant leader and improve lives, empower people, and inspire success.
Brad Morse has 10 years’ experience working in State government, and is currently the Program Manager at MN. DLI overseeing the delivery of the Workers’ Compensation Moderation Project. Before this role, Brad was the Deputy Director of the Workers’ Compensation division at the UT. Labor Commission, where he oversaw the implementation of the departments EDI claims reporting system, and online waiver application program.
Ravi Subramaniam is the U.S. Public Markets Leader for Blockchain at IBM. In his role, he shares information about IBM’s Blockchain offerings and solutions with customers and prospects and consults with clients on their Blockchain solution requirements. In a long and distinguished technology consulting career of more than 20 years, he has worked with clients on both their technology strategy planning and roadmap requirements as well as large Business transformation implementation projects.
Kristina’s deep expertise in both hospitality management and operations lends a unique human-centered and service-oriented perspective to her consulting and design work with clients in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and government. She is passionate about delivering the experience her clients expect and want, and helps them do the same for their customers. In addition to her role at Azul Seven, Kristina serves as an industry consultant at the University of Minnesota College of Design.
Rohit Saxena currently supervises IT staff of the Environmental Health (EH) division at MDH to ensure service delivery meets the needs of the division. Recently, Rohit oversaw his team in migrating applications to the cloud. He is part of the architecture team in developing EH’s cloud based architecture applications.
Bree Basham has 20 years in the brand and marketing space at agencies large and small in Charlotte, New York, and Los Angeles. As Creative Director of CapTech’s CX group, her team is focused on driving strategic approaches for enterprise-level business, brand, and marketing objectives. Her team of UI and UX designers create customer-centered products that bridge physical and digital experiences, making the journey through a product or service as seamless as possible.
Jacquelynn Mol Sletten is a Financial Aid Administrator with the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. Jacquelynn administers the Dual Training Grant along with several other financial aid programs. She received her graduate degree from Bethel University and has nearly 10 years of experience in working with financial aid.
JoAnn is a lead web accessibility tester and trainer with MN.IT Services. She has over twenty years of experience working on government IT projects. JoAnn is a recipient of the 2015 Project Opportunity Award and a member of the WorkForce One Rewrite team that received the 2015 NASCIO – Information Communications Technology Innovations Award.
Lolly Lijewski is the digital accessibility coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Human Services. She has over thirty-nine years of experience in advocacy, accessibility, and service delivery on behalf of the disability community. She is a certified JAWS tester of hundreds of documents, web sites and applications for digital accessibility and usability design. She developed and teaches a JAWS Screen Reader course and has been a screen reader user for more than 43 years.
Kristy Dalton is the CEO of Government Social Media LLC and executive director of the Government Social Media Organization. She has been called on as an industry influencer and her unique background includes serving as a delegate at a NATO social media summit in Sarajevo, advising government agencies on digital strategy and delivering keynotes on social media and tech innovation all across the United States. Kristy has authored several social media courses for the LinkedIn Learning platform and pens a regular social media column in Government Technology Magazine. She founded the nation’s first social media conference for U.S. city, county and state agencies, the Government Social Media Conference.
Chris Dancy is touted as “the Most Connected Man on Earth,” and the world is watching those connections carefully. For 25 years, Dancy has served in leadership within the technology and healthcare industries, specializing in the intersection of the two. Chris entered the public dialog concerning digital health as the media started to focus on wearable technology. He earned his moniker by utilizing up to 700 sensors, devices, applications, and services to track, analyze, and optimize his life–from his calorie intake to his spiritual well-being. This quantification enables him to see the connections of otherwise invisible data, resulting in dramatic upgrades to his health, productivity, and quality of life.
A noted keynote speaker and executive workshop retreat facilitator, Chris guides organizations and audiences on a journey–a disruptive, breathtaking journey–into the future of computing, when behavior becomes the ultimate interface. As a author his digital wellness journey will transform how we look at the technology of our lives.
Jim Hall is an innovative, high-achieving Senior IT Leader with over twenty years’ experience in IT Leadership. Jim believes in developing the next generation of IT Leadership, to help IT organizations better respond to the changing technology landscape.
After serving more than eight years as Chief Information Officer in government and higher education, Jim founded IT Mentor Group to provide coaching, advising, and mentoring to CIOs and IT Directors, Leadership Development training to emerging IT Leaders, and Essential Management training to new managers and supervisors.
Jim is a featured speaker on IT Leadership and Technology Innovation at conferences and venues including Government IT Symposium, SINC Midwest IT Forum, International Institute of Business Analysis, Premier CIO Forum, Minnesota e-Learning Summit, CIC CIO TechForum, and UBTech.
Jim is a published author on IT Leadership, and has written Coaching Buttons, a collection of essays about leadership and vision in information technology: how to be a leader, how to lead through change, how to do strategic planning. Jim has also contributed chapters to several professionally published books on IT Leadership, including The Open Organization Leaders Manual (2nd Ed.), The Open Organization Workbook, and Cultivating Change.
Jim regularly contributes feature articles about IT Leadership and Technology Innovation in magazines and journals including Government CIO Outlook, CIO Review, University Business, and The Open Organization. Jim has also been interviewed as an expert on IT Leadership and Technology Innovation for publications including University Business Magazine, and MinnPost.
Jim has a master’s degree in Scientific and Technical Communication from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
Richard Matson-Daley has spent his career at the intersection of mission and technology, with approximately 15 years of experience in the nonprofit, higher education and government technology sectors.He is a stronger believer in collaboration, conversation and participatory leadership, and draws from a number of frameworks in his work, including the Art of Hosting and Harvesting Conversations that Matter and Human Centered Design.
Abby is a Principal at Azul Seven, where she works closely with nonprofit, healthcare, financial services, education, and government clients to
understand business challenges, uncover user needs, guide strategy, and achieve
strong, successful outcomes. She serves as a trusted advocate for Azul Seven’s clients
and a champion for the power of human-centered design to influence lasting change.
A born public speaker and trainer, Kit Welchlin began public speaking at the age of 9 in 4-H. By 16, he was organizing and facilitating presentations on leadership, citizenship, community service and motivation for the 4-H and Future Farmers of America.
Kit Welchlin purchased his first manufacturing company at age 21, and by 26 was CEO and Chairman of the Board of three manufacturing companies in three states. He’s been an instructor with the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, where he has been repeatedly nominated Outstanding Faculty. He is a Professional Member of the National Speakers Association.
Kit has a B.S. Degree in Speech Communication, Business Administration and Political Science. He earned an M.A. Degree in Speech Communication and Business Administration.
In 2014, Kit was inducted into the Minnesota Speakers Association Hall of Fame.
He has delivered more than 3,000 speeches and seminars to more than 500,000 people over the past 26 years.
Prior to its acquisition by ConvergeOne, Craig worked for AOS for 10 years as a Design Architect and Systems Consultant in Omaha, NE. As a Design Architect, Craig meets with clients to understand the business needs for technology (such as SD-WAN, Security, etc), create topology designs, PowerPoint proposals, and Statements of Work for professional services teams to implement the solution. He supports multiple accounts throughout Nebraska, Iowa, and the Dakotas and covers technology solutions including Route/Switch, Security, Wireless, Data Center, and Unified Communications.
Desi Klimesh is an e-RYT 1500+ hours (experienced, registered yoga teacher).
Desi has shared with, and educated others about the practice, and benefits of yoga, on the mat, and off of the yoga mat. Residing in Roseau, MN,
Desi welcomes all, to her Yoga Tree Yoga Studio, believing yoga is for everybody, and is for every BODY.
Desi’s 20 years of teaching and educating others about the practice of yoga include, kids yoga, adults, pre-natal yoga, chair yoga, mindfulness, and meditation.
Desi shares the yoga practice locally as well as internationally, leading Women’s Circles of Yoga and Self Discovery in Ubud, Bali.
Jay is Minnesota’s first Chief Information Accessibility Officer, or CIAO. He leads the Office of Accessibility which works with Minnesota state agencies to develop policies and implement processes and best practices that helps ensure that digital government operations and services are accessible and usable for all.
Jennifer Wells, State Bridge Inspection Engineer, Minnesota Department of Transportation – Bridge Office has been an engineer with MnDOT for the past 18 years, the last 13 in fracture critical bridge inspection and 5 years in bridge design and bridge standards. Jennifer has a BSCE from Michigan Tech University and an MSCE from the University of Minnesota. She is a licensed civil engineer, NBIS Team Leader, FAA Certified Small Unmanned Aircraft System pilot, and lead investigator on MnDOT drone research for bridges. The MnDOT Bridge Office Inspection Unit is responsible for managing the Minnesota bridge inspection program and conducting fracture critical inspections statewide on both the state and local system.
Kim Wee is the Digital Accessibility Coordinator and Webmaster for Minnesota IT Services partnering with Education and is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA). She has over 20 years of web experience in design, development, and administration with a focus on web accessibility.
As Executive Director, National Workforce Solutions, Sue Wallace is responsible for Creating IT Futures’ adult workforce program including program enhancements, expansion to new markets and overseeing ongoing operations nationally. Ms. Wallace started her professional career in the IT industry and moved on to spend nearly 14 years in nonprofit workforce development before joining Creating IT Futures. She holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees from Ball State University.
John Sundberg is the founder of Kinetic Data and architect of Kinetic solutions. He spent time in enterprise IT across large multinational and fortune 500 and government organizations prior to founding Kinetic Data. He has been a leader of hundreds of projects with extensive work in improving systems architecture for complex, distributed systems. John’s passion is in improving the world by building distributed, maintainable, and high performing systems to provide business agility. He is married, has four kids and lives in Minnesota.
Alison Slaats has worked in the GIS field for over 20 years in the government, private, non-profit and academic sectors. She currently works at the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office (MnGeo) as a project portfolio manager.
Damani Short is a seasoned and highly sought-after business and technology leader. Damani founded Lexico – a Transformation Services Consultancy – after recognizing a gap in technology and broader transformation initiative planning approaches that effectively enable and drive mid-market companies’ improved economic sustainability and growth. As a GE Lean/Six Sigma Master Blackbelt, Damani’s distinguished change leadership track record underpins an innovative strategy and roadmapping approach resulting in differentiated business outcomes. Damani’s vast experience in technology leadership, including information security and compliance, global leadership, general management/P&L ownership, and overall company growth strategy development (most recently a 38% CAGR) has placed him in global leadership roles for some of the most iconic brands, including GE, Newell Rubbermaid, United States Olympic Committee, Johnson Controls, and Shutterfly. For the past 20 years, he’s held a variety of CIO, CTO, and Compliance Officer roles for companies ranging from $40M to $45B n annual revenue.
Enterprise Data Architect and Sr. Data Governance for the State of Minnesota’ MNIT Services. She has over 25 years of experience in leadership roles in public and private sector.
Currently working with National Governors Association (NGA), 7 other states on cross-sector data sharing initiative to inform policy https://www.govtech.com/analytics/NGA-Initiative-Could-Enable-Data-Sharing-On-Policy-Between-Agencies.html. She works with technology and business leaders in Data Governance and Data Management, including, data security and privacy, integration, analytics, and data migration strategies. Ellena has also implemented data governance and data stewardship programs and processes throughout her career. She has delivered on large projects and received several leadership awards. Ellena previously presented work at IT Government Symposiums, Digital Summit, and she has contributed to several white papers published by National Chief Information Officers (NASCIO).
Andrew Schmitt is an Information Security professional with a passion for Incident Response and Digital Forensics. Currently, Schmitt is a member of the Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) at Medtronic where he focuses on hunt teaming and tier 3 incident response. Additionally, Schmitt is an adjunct professor at Metropolitan State University where he has authored and taught classes in Network Protocols and Analysis, Cyber Incident Response, and Penetration Testing. Schmitt holds a Master’s of Science from the University of Minnesota and currently holds multiple certifications including GCIH and GCFA. Outside of teaching, Schmitt spends time working on the open source project, Power-Response, and he coaches the Metro State Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition team.
Stevie Peterson is a consultant, trainer, and speaker with over 25 years’ experience specializing in the areas of organizational change, program leadership, business analysis, process design/improvement, service management (ITIL®), and Agile.
Jerine has more than 20 years in public sector, with a primary focus on business relationships and project management for IT projects; many security and grant-funded. As the Principal IS Liaison for Ramsey County, Jerine focuses on bringing the business and technology staff together to find agreeable resolutions. Jerine is a certified Project Manager and Black Belt in Six Sigma, so process is at the forefront of her thoughts, and a Public Participation Facilitator, guiding many contentious discussions.
Previously, Jerine worked at the Port of San Diego as Senior Manager, Policy & Planning.
Karen Ray is a recognized authority in building and sustaining collaborative ventures. Her experiences in the 1970’s as executive director of literacy-focused agency mandated to collaborate by state and federal funders led to seminal research in collaboration. She has combined this collaborative experience with her training expertise to problem-solve with agencies involved in joint ventures. She has earned a reputation for group facilitation that results in decisions, highly interactive training sessions, and effective consultation for collaborations. Karen has help to found dozens of collaborations and consulted with hundreds of others across the United States during the last 28 years.
Karen’s most recent book , “The Nimble Collaboration,” is an award-winning collection of wisdom and best practices based on years of consultation with collaborations in many sectors in many states. Karen Ray co-authored the
book “Collaboration, Creating, Sustaining and Enjoying the Journey” in 1995. This award-winning handbook guides non-profit staff through partnership ventures.
She has taught teambuilding and leadership courses in the College of St. Catherine Master’s program in Organization Leadership and Ethics, and undergraduate courses for Metropolitan State University. She holds a Masters degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences from Whitworth College, Spokane, Washington with a specialty in organization and human development. Karen is a certified consultant in Whole Systems Technology.
Danwood (Woody) Rasmussen is an Integration Architect working for MNIT at the Dept of Human Services. Responsibilities include reviewing and implementing service bus patterns to share information between internal/external systems. Prior to this he worked at IBM as an Application Architect responsible for the Entitlements and Management system as well as web services to share business partner data with other IBM applications.
Joe Perzel has been leading projects of all sizes and managing staffs since 1982 in both a corporate and vendor capacity. He has a background in including government, non-profit, K12 and higher education, healthcare, insurance, finance, audit and compliance. Presently Joe is Partner JPerzel Inc. as well as Program Manager at Surescripts LLC. He has also held leadership positions at Cargill, MN Workers Compensation Insurers Agency, Thomson Reuters and International Multifoods.
Joe has been presenting since 2002 on topics ranging from project management, leadership, strategy, negotiations/sales. Most recently he has been the keynote at the Manitoba PMI PDD, Central Arkansas PDD, Rochester CTC Leadership conference, as well as presented to PMI-MN, PMI International, PMI (Atlanta, Delaware Valley, Dallas, Heartland, MileHigh, Silver Springs), IIBA, MN State Symposium, St Cloud State University and the University of St Thomas.
George F. Paulik has a Ph.D. in Mathematics and a Masters in Electrical Engineering and over 20 years of work experience at IBM in chip design and circuit technology. He currently works as a logic designer at IBM in Rochester, MN and is an IBM Q Ambassador.
Dan Oehmke is Director of MNIT’s Enterprise Service Desk and leads ITIL / ITSM initiatives in support of 45,000 end-users. With almost 40 years public service in the United State Army and at the State of Minnesota, Dan has also has taught graduate level operations management courses at St. Mary’s University. Dan’s credentials include accredited ITIL instructor, ITIL Expert, Distinguished Professional in Service Management, and ISO / IEC 20000 Consultant/Manager. Dan is a past president of the National Association of State Technology Directors and holds Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas.
John Nerge is the GIS Coordinator for the City of Brooklyn Park. He uses modern, human-centered design to build and publish engaging and intuitive public GIS apps. A big part of that is knowing how to work with people and build relationships. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, reading, and martial arts.
Co-author of The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations; Art of Convening© Certified Convening Leader
Patricia works at the intersection of individual and organizational change, where she collaborates with individuals, teams and organizations organizations to increase their positive impact in the world in a way that feels inspired and alive. She does this through lovingly curated, high-impact experiences; workshops, retreats, and courses; and speaking.
Patricia’s focus is inspiring CPL’s growth through program development and execution of CPL’s signature programs: The Art of Convening Trainings, The Art of Purpose Trainings, Collaborative Leadership model and toolkit, and consulting and coaching programs. All CPL programs are dedicated to creating a world that works for all.
Through her experience she found a passion for convening with those of all ages but her interests flourished in working with organizations and companies around her. With 25+ years of working with entrepreneurial start-ups and community organizing, Patricia has had a broad experience in convening, marketing and organizational operations. Patricia held positions at Telemedia Communications, successfully launching two national magazines, Garden Way Mfg. Inc, and DeepRock Mfg. Patricia, co-author of The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings and Conversations, has coached and prepared executives for the Thought Leader Gatherings and Transformational Leaders Collaboratory for 16 years.
Patricia is trained in and utilizes a variety of convening, facilitation and community management methods. These include The Art of Convening Practicum Trainings and Certifications, Six Initiatives of Transformation, Coaching for ROI, C-IQ Conversational Intelligence for Coaches, True North Groups Institute, Twin Cities Rise Personal Empowerment Facilitator Training, World Café, ToP Core Competencies, Open Space, and Presencing/Theory U.
Patricia believes in the value of giving back to the community and serving as a leader to all around her. Patricia is co-founder of the Conscious Business Alliance and serves as a Founding Board member, now an Advisory Council member of Honoring Women Worldwide, served as a Founding Board member of Women’s Congress for Future Generations Conferences and the Positive Coaching Alliance MN Chapter. She is a continuing active member of the National Association of Professional Women and National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation. She has also been an instrumental influence in the development and progression of three Waldorf Schools.
In Patricia’s free time she enjoys being the mother of three children, grandmother of three amazing human beings, reading and competing as a sprint triathlete. The YWCA Sprint Triathlon for Women is an annual goal–this is year 7!
Denise Moreland has spent most of her career working in state and county government, managing IT. She is a defender of public service, a champion for democratizing the workplace and a shameless optimist. In her book, Management Culture: Innovative & Bold Strategies to Engage Employees (Two Harbors Press, 2012), Ms. Moreland challenges leaders and employees to abandon the culture of command and control in favor of democracy and collaboration. Having worked in the public sector, Ms. Moreland understands the pressure and frustrations, as well as the rewards and opportunities presented in public service.
Michael Sable is a graduate of Augsburg (BA) and the University of St. Thomas (MBA) and brings 20 years of local government management experience. He’s currently an adjunct faculty member at the University of Virginia, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, and managing partner for the consulting firm The Work of Leadership. Michael consults for the local governments across the country helping them proactively respond to the changing demands of the 21st century. Prior to starting the firm, Sable worked for Hennepin County, managing a department staff of 270 with a combined operating and capital budget of $180m. He’s also worked for the cities of Brooklyn Park (pop. 78,000) and Cedar Rapids, IA (pop. 125,000) as the Assistant City Manager, including serving as Interim City Manager for Brooklyn Park in 2015. Sable currently serves on the board of directors for the Alliance for Innovation, a member-based organization promoting innovation in local government nationally, GTS Educational Events, providing training and event services to local governments in the region, and an advisor to the Drucker Institute Public Sector Playbook at Claremont Graduate College.
Charlie has +17 years experience working in technology. Finding himself consistently working in that space right between technology and business (and now district and government) leadership. Charlie has worked with agile methodologies for the past 7 years at both fortune 50, 500 and now in government organizations.
Charlyne Lefebvre-Paillé is a French Canadian design research lead at IBM Watson Health. She has a Master’s degree in service design from the Royal College of Art in London.
Based in Cambridge, MA, she leads design research across the Government sector, engaging with government agencies and the people they serve around the globe, translating their needs into actionable insights for her teams.
As CTO, Mark spearheads ConvergeOne’s innovations in technology solutions and services. He spent 25 years as the COO at Spanlink Communications, which was acquired by ConvergeOne in 2014. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Mark has been an instructor there since 1996 and in 2014 assumed the role of Associate Program Director.
J. Kim is a lawyer turned BA! She began her career as a large law firm lawyer and gradually shifted into the BA realm. She has worked as a Director of a MN Non-Profit, Managed BAs in the Corporate setting, and was a Strategic BA for the State of MN. She currently works at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for the State of MN. She is also President of the Minneapolis | St. Paul Chapter of the International Institute for Business Analysis, the 2018 IIBA International Chapter of the Year. She earned degrees from the University of Chicago and Mitchell Hamline College of Law. Kim is an international speaker, most recently having spoken at Vodacom Corporation and the Durban Business Analysis Conference, both in South Africa.
Professional speaker and author of 9 books. Most recent book publication: Surviving an Active Shooter, 100 plus ideas to protect yourself and kids. More than 20 years experience speaking on a wide variety of Management and personal development topics.
Hassan Kassih leads a team of highly skilled data center solution architects. Hassan has more than 20 years of experience in building data center infrastructure and aligning IT with business outcomes. His expertise expands across all data center layers, including power, cooling, compute, storage, networking, virtualization, and cloud technologies.
Professor department of computer science and cybersecurity at Metropolitan State University and Executive Director MN Cyber Institute.
Phil has extensive experience across the broad spectrum of desktop and server operating systems, virtualization, and open source products with an emphasis on security operations. His role as Security Architect for Works Computing, a PDS Company, is to assist clients in positioning the best security solutions for their environment. Phil joined Works Computing in March 2018 after spending over 30 years as a State of Minnesota employee.
Brian Johnson is the president of 7 Minute Security, which specializes in security assessments, penetration testing and training. He is especially passionate about teaching others about security and hosts a weekly blog/podcast to help consumers and businesses strengthen their security posture. When he isn’t camped out behind a keyboard, he enjoys outdoor activities with his family, as well as singing and playing guitar in an acoustic duo.
Timothy has worked as an Application Developer for going on 11 years. He currently works with the Minnesota Department of Health Environmental Health Division to create conditions that support the health of all Minnesotans. He believes that quality software applications help MDH effectively and efficiently serve the public’s health and wellbeing. He is interested in Cloud computing and has enjoyed helping the MDH migrate its IT infrastructure to AWS. He knows that government IT is a balancing act between keeping legacy applications running and providing modern cost effective solutions. He previously worked in the marketing automation and digital asset management realms. He resides in Minneapolis and enjoys cycling, skiing, tinkering, and gardening.
Dr. Susan Heidorn is the Director of Business Solutions for Watermark Learning in Minneapolis. Susan is an experienced consultant, facilitator, speaker, and trainer, with over 25 years of business experience. Susan directs programs in business analysis, business relationship management, and leadership, including developing and delivering courses and providing consulting. She has been a speaker at a number of IIBA® and PMI® conferences as well as local and regional organizations, boards, and private clients. She is a lifelong learner whose passion it is to guide people into achieving excellence in their personal and professional lives and works on creating positive impacts to the organization.
An award-winning author and speaker, Tom Guetzke has engaged and entertained audiences around the globe. Traveling to over 65 countries, Tom has studied the psychological similarities and differences of happiness. Today Tom is on a mission to change minds, hearts and lives by helping others to discover how they can create more happiness in their own lives.
Recognized with the highest designation awarded by Toastmasters International, Tom holds the distinguished Toastmaster Award (DTM) and was named Toastmaster of the Year. Tom achieved membership as a professional speaker in the National Speakers Association (NSA) in 2003 and was President of NSA-MN. Tom is featured in Who’s Who in Professional Speaking and is the honored recipient of the prestigious Mark LeBlanc Award.
Tom is a featured author in the newest book released in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Think Positive, Live Happy.
Kathleen Gordon is a Program Consultant with the Minnesota PIPELINE program focusing on health care and information technology. Kathleen has extensive experience with project management, higher education, supervision and partnership building. She has worked for the Minnesota State system and before that with Northwest Airlines. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse.
Irina Fursman is a lead consultant, trainer and facilitator, as well as HueLife’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. She is a Certified ToP Facilitator and Mentor Trainer specializing in Organizational Development, adult learning and development, conflict resolution and strategic planning. She trains individuals and groups in the art and science of human engagement and facilitation.
Irina earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Taurida ‘V. I. Vernadskiy’ National University, and Master of Science degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Simferopol State University, both in Ukraine. She is currently completing her doctorate in Organizational Development at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focusing her research on leadership and change. She develops curriculum for leadership and engagement needs.
Susan Frost, holds a MA in Modern Studies from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She has been the president of Frost Marketing Communications since 1984 and teaches at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. Her specialty is the “applied humanities”, seeking its relevance for leadership and critical thinking. She will be teaching in the UWGB Impact MBA program in 2020. In addition to teaching, her workshops are presented for public servants, IT professionals, business and healthcare professionals.
As the director of marketing at CivicPlus, Mark focuses on the citizen engagement and marketing communication trends that impact local governments. Mark holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Kansas State University and has over ten years of experience in B2C and B2B marketing. During this time, he has developed numerous websites using a broad selection of content management systems. Mark is certified in both Inbound Marketing and website UX and Usability.
Teresa Friedsam has been managing Office 365 projects since 2010. During this time, she has established Office 365 Services at her clients., while managing resources, timeline, trainings, and most importantly shifting technologies from Microsoft, to deliver a successful migration/service rollout project.
Evan B. Francen, Co-founder and CEO of FRSecure LLC/Co-founder and CEO of SecurityStudio.
Tim Femister leads the national Cybersecurity and Multicloud Practices spanning ConvergeOne’s coast-to-coast footprint. Tim is charged with managing teams of elite industry experts and developing the overall go-to-market, partnerships, solutions and strategy for ConvergeOne Cybersecurity and Multicloud. He is fiercely passionate about helping clients achieve their key business and technical goals and is a recognized industry authority, thought leader and presenter. Before this role, Tim reported directly to the President and CEO of the ConvergeOne Solutions division where he held responsibility for solutions, offer development, assessment and inside engineering and a customer lifecycle practice with strategic alignment to Cybersecurity. Prior to this role, Tim led the Public Sector engineering organization and was instrumental in the development of one of the fastest growing public sector technology providers in the nation. Tim has earned CCNP and multiple CCNA certifications in addition to being one of the first six people globally certified in the CMNP program. Tim is also the author and proprietor of numerous reference architectures, structured assessments and engagement methodologies that have been proven to accelerate a client’s “time to outcome.”
Andrea Douglas is the founder and CEO of Nighthawk Marketing. Andrea has extensive experience in user experience (UX) research and conducting user-centered design sprints for State of Minnesota government agencies. Her focus is delivering extraordinary online marketing solutions that support marketing goals and reinforce user needs and brand identity. She manages both a highly technical and creative team where many members have worked on the client and agency side of the table.
Colin DePree, Director of Sales at Pro-Tec Design, has led the sales and marketing department for the past three years. His core responsibilities have been refreshing the sales process, improving scalability and refocusing the organizations marketing efforts. With Colin’s guidance Pro-Tec has become a leader in cloud-based physical security, expanded service offerings and developed a proven process to ensure client satisfaction. As a member of the leadership team Colin has partnered with the operations and finance teams to improve forecasting methodology and deliver a consistent brand message throughout the organization. Colin is a leader focused on defining clear expectations and using agreed upon data to hold himself and his team accountable. Colin came to Pro-Tec with over seven years of industry experience and a multitude of operational responsibilities including project management, customer experience and software support. He carries a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Albion College and a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Florida State University.
Lynette Crane, MA, author of the upcoming “Quiet Brilliance: Solving America’s Corporate Leadership Crisis with ‘Hiding in Plain Sight’ Talent,” is a Minneapolis-based mentor to introvert CEOs, an acclaimed national speaker, corporate trainer, executive coach and author, and Founder of Quiet Brilliance Consulting LLC. Trained in psychology, she has more than 30 years’ experience in her field.
Quiet Brilliance Consulting helps smart companies who are looking everywhere for leadership and innovation recognize the treasure they may already have within their workforce, and unlock the full revenue-boosting potential of these SMEs (subject matter experts) to drive innovation, turbocharge collaboration and retain top talent in an increasingly competitive market.
I am an information security professional with over 12 years of experience, including over five years working special intelligence and special security for the US Marine Corps. I have a master’s degree in Security Technologies from the University of Minnesota’s Technological Leadership Institute. I have experience and expertise in development of policy, risk management, and information security strategy.
Hayley Cohen is a member of X-Force Command at IBM Security, where she leads companies, intelligence agencies and governments through simulated cyber attacks. Hayley builds one-of-a-kind threat and attack scenarios for custom client experiences. Aside from sharing best practices from a business perspective, Hayley also demonstrates hacking techniques and tools to provide insight into how cyber criminals conduct attacks.
Prior to joining X-Force Command, Hayley was a software engineer for various IBM Security teams, where she worked with leading technologists to develop world class security products. Hayley holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the Tufts University School of Engineering where she focused her studies on cybersecurity and international policy.
Hayley has run simulations and demonstrations for business and technical leaders from around the world.
Ryan Cloutier, is a seasoned IT Security professional with over 15 years of experience and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional CISSP® he has held a variety of IT roles during his career including multiple architect and security roles, Ryan has worked on cloud security, Dev-Ops / Sec-Ops methodology, policy, process, audit and compliance, network and application security architecture for several fortune 500’s in the health care, financial, and agriculture sectors and has been working with K-12 and SLED for the last 2 years. Ryan can be reached at ryan.cloutier@sourcewelltech.org
I have worked at the State of MN since coming in as a contractor in May of 2000 and was the lead web designer for Department of Human Services (DHS) first Intranet. In 2001, after becoming a State employee, I was charged with creating DHS’s first web surveys. By 2004, I was the Survey Admin for DHS and had purchased Survey Monkey for the State but within a year we found a better multi-modal, multilingual accessible system called Snap Surveys.
For the last three years, I have been the State’s Enterprise Survey Admin, supporting and training over 350 survey developers across the State and am 3rd level tech support and am the “go to” person for survey design and security issues for all the State Agencies.
Erik has been with ConvergeOne for 4 years developing relationships with financial institutions and clients to determine how best to finance IT projects. Prior to joining ConvergeOne, Erik was the Executive Director-Cloud & IT Finance at Hitachi Capital America Corp. The 7 years prior to Hitachi, Erik worked at Winthrop Resources in New York City which focused on assisting clientele in funding large technology acquisitions. His experience from 2003-2005 at Lloyd’s of London provided Erik with an excellent background in assessing risk for all types of organizations.
Gus is a communication consultant who brings clarity, levity and professionalism to complex organizational changes. His experience spans various industries: IT, Health-Care, and Education. His client base is broad and includes Mayo Clinic, Starkey Hearing Technologies, Tennant, Regis Corp., and Express Scripts. Education: Adjunct Professor, Bethel University, PMP Certified, MBA, University of St. Thomas; BA in Communication, Bethel University.
Jen has been helping leaders develop their teams for over 12 years. She is known for her engaging style and has a natural talent for asking tough questions that get straight to the heart of an issue. By helping leaders create work environments that others thrive in, she helps businesses grow profits without sacrificing the personal lives of everyone involved.In her online course, LeadWell, she trains leaders to integrate coaching skills so they can truly empower others to take charge and make the change that drive the results they seek, both professionally and personally.She speaks to organizations about creating cultures that foster independence, innovation and increases in the bottom-line.She launched one of Minnesota’s first young professionals organizations in 2005 while working at the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce, earning her the Duluth News Tribune’s 20 Under 40 Award in 2008.
I found my home as a Recruiter after working in Retail Management for 10+ years. I quickly realized how much I love this work. There is nothing better than satisfying the needs of the candidate and the hiring manager – so rewarding!
Jean supervises the EAQA Team, including Greg and Tatiana. This QA team tests products to ensure assistive technology users are able to successfully access and use our products.
Blake brings over 30 years of executive experience in information technology, operations management, supply chain management, and strategic planning to his role as Chief Strategist and VP, Service Delivery for Xigent Solutions. Blake is responsible for all aspects of Xigent’s IT strategy services.He is also the founder of his own independent consulting practice (Incite Consulting, LLC), focused on strategic planning facilitation for small to mid-sized for-profit and non-profit organizations.Prior to joining Xigent, Blake worked for Andersen Consulting and then Andersen Corporation; an industry leading window manufacturer. Blake help various leadership positions within IT, Manufacturing & Distribution, as well as Strategy Development and Execution.
Jordan Lee Thompson has been an artist and out-of-school-time educator for nine years, working towards environmental and narrative justice to craft the future he wants to live in. He spends his days at the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (Science Museum of Minnesota), managing a team of 16 youth crewmembers in the Environmental Justice Crew. Jordan is also active in local media and performing arts, working right now with New Arab American Theater Works and Mizna’s Twin Cities Arab Film Fest, and serves on the board of directors of Dear Gaza.
Joseph Adamji serves as the Director for the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (KAYSC) at the Science Museum of Minnesota creating bridges between families, community efforts/organizations, educators, institutions and opportunity. The KAYSC works to build a cross-sector “STEM Justice Ecosystem” to bring inclusion and the experiences of women, youth of color, and youth from low income communities to the center of conversations on workforce development, career pathways, education, and leadership in the 21st century. Adamji believes in the power of young people, and of the collective to support them, as they discover their brilliance, find their purpose, and lead us into the future.
Scott Kuffel closed his 35 year public school educational career In Illinois, serving 17 years as superintendent of two different PK-12 public schools. He was twice named Superintendent of the Year in his region, and in 2018 was recognized as one of 21 Superintendents of Distinction from across Illinois. He served 9 years on the state association board of superintendents and was elected by his peers to serve as President of the Illinois Association of School Administrators in. He believes passionately in a strategic model for leadership connecting a cycle of trust while developing skill utilizing leadership lenses.
Ryan Cloutier is a seasoned IT Security professional with over 15 years of experience and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional CISSP® he has held a variety of IT roles during his career including multiple architect and security roles, Ryan has worked on cloud security, Dev-Ops / Sec-Ops methodology, policy, process, audit and compliance, network and application security architecture for several fortune 500’s in the health care, financial, and agriculture sectors and has been working with K-12 and SLED for the last 2 years.
Learn about what the Minnesota e-Health HIE Task Force has accomplished in the past year. The HIE Task Force, a twelve member group appointed by the Commissioner of Health in 2018, has provided input and expertise on moving to a connected networks approach in Minnesota.
By the end of 2019, it is expected that large health systems and providers participating with a health information organization (HIO) will be able to exchange care summary documents using the national eHealth Exchange network. The HIE Task Force recommended this important step and developed an implementation plan for this which is being rolled out now.
The task force also provided input for governance, authority and financing to help achieve foundational, robust and optimal HIE across the state. A facilitated panel of task force and advisory committee members will provide comments on the task force work and audience members will have an opportunity to ask questions as well.
Dr. Clay Cook is the John and Nancy Peyton Faculty Fellow in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing at the University of Minnesota and Associate Professor in the School Psychology Program. He has extensive research and practical experiences involving the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support to promote children’s mental and behavioral health. He co-founded the School Mental Health Assessment, Research and Training (SMART) Center at the University of Washington and is a core faculty member who helps direct the Institute of Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health at the University of Minnesota. He has received over 10 million dollars in external grant funding from multiple agencies and foundations. In addition to his research, he consults with several school systems throughout the US to integrate a continuum of social, emotional, and behavioral supports to enhance student academic and life success.
Katie White is Coordinator of Learning for the North East School Division in Saskatchewan, Canada and an author and Assessment Associate for Solution Tree, in addition to being an independent educational consultant. With more than 25 years of experience in education, she has been a system leader, an administrator, a learning coach, and a K–12 classroom teacher. She has contributed to assessment literature in the field and has helped develop multiple supports for facilitators of school-based professional learning. Her blog, Just Thinking Out Loud…provides perspectives on multiple aspects of leadership, teaching, and learning. She has written the following books: Softening the Edges: Assessment Practices That Honor K–12 Teachers and Learners and Unlocked: Assessment as the Key to Everyday Creativity in the Classroom. She received a Bachelor of Education and Master of Education in Curriculum Studies from the University of Saskatchewan.
Kendra Olsen is the Outreach and Training Specialist in Statewide Testing at the Minnesota Department of Education. Kendra is working on the new Testing 123 website, which focuses on improving assessment literacy and promoting the use of statewide and local data as a tool for informed instruction in the classroom. Before joining MDE, Kendra taught high school science in New York City and Minnesota. She led professional development with STEM teachers focused on improving student outcomes by strengthening the vertical alignment of course curriculum to common assessment structures and rigorous formative instructional practices. She is an alumnus of the New York City Teaching Fellows and a master teacher in Math for America.
Angela Norburg has served as an assessment specialist for the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments and Minnesota GRAD assessments in reading and writing since 2006. Other professional experience includes 21 years teaching high school and college English and speech communication. She holds a B.A. in English education and an M. A. in speech communication education.
Kathy Matthews partners with parents coaching them through transitions and challenges as well as speaking to groups at schools, conferences, churches and other organizations. She is focused on transforming people’s lives through mindfulness, growth mindset and healthy sleep. She holds an MBA, Masters of Education, Parent Education license as well as a Coaching Certification.
Kathryn Magnusson, M. Ed., owner of Wildewood Learning Coaching and Consulting, has over 25 years of experience working with youth. She supports educators and youth professionals in designing personalizing learning environments so each student can connect the dots from the classroom to the community and to a career.
Juna Ly is a recent graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison (2017) with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Public Health. For the past 2 years she has been at the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center, housed within the Science Museum of Minnesota, doing work in informal STEM education, environmental justice, youth development and access & equity.
Ayaan Natala is an educator and organizer in the Twin Cities. She was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, but also claims Zambia as her second home. While at Macalester College, her writings were published on Google Scholar, Huffington Post, and the Human Rights Observer, tackling conversations on American politics, Black identity, and social movements. She is an alum of the Harvard Kennedy Public Policy and Leadership Program. She currently works for the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center located in the MN Science Museum where she participates in youth work, museum equity work, as well as health activism.
Gayra Ostgaard works as a Results Measurement Specialist at the MDE. Part of her work includes serving as the Project Manager for the transition to Ed-Fi happening at MDE and as the department’s Data Governance Coordinator. Gayra received her PhD from the University of Minnesota in 2016. Her areas of interest include ensuring quality data across the lifespan of data from collection to reporting.
Jillynne Raymond, Ed.D., has served public education since 1993 in the areas of teacher, principal, and district system development. She currently supports MTSS implementation for Goodhue County Education District, which serves 6 member districts in SE Minnesota. With a strong belief that public education is the great equalizer of the haves and the have nots, she is dedicated to improving outcomes for all students. Her dissertation focused on teacher effectiveness/teacher evaluation, which has led her to a stronger voice in supporting the system lens. The teachers support our students, the principals support our teachers, and the system must be designed to support all with the flexibility to respond to need. Dr. Raymond earned her credentials through Macalester College, UW-LaCrosse, and Saint Mary’s University.
Kirsten Rewey is the Quantitative Analyst in the Special Education Division at MDE. She is responsible for retrieving, analyzing, and reporting special education-related data for both internal planning and external reporting. Kirsten has been leading informational Excel sessions for MDE staff for the past two years. Her background is in experimental research methods and evaluation.
After teaching for years in Minnesota, I now serve as an Assessment Associate with the Solution Tree Assessment Center and own the Minnesota-based No Limits Learning LLC – presenting and training nationally in the area of classroom assessment. Find me on Twitter @MrDataGuy.
Paula Palmer, M.A. is currently serving as the Director of the Office of Career and College Success at the Minnesota Department of Education. She has 36 years of experience as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher as well as district coordinator in both rural and urban schools.
Both student achievement and innovation have flourished during Eric Schneider‘s tenure as Associate Superintendent in Minnetonka thanks to an innovation program that engages frontline staff in solving problems and designing solutions. Schneider’s company InnovateK12.org supports schools and districts to grow a culture of innovation. Join him and learn how!
Stephen Schroeder-Davis retired in 2015 after 42 years teaching and serving on the district’s Teaching and Learning Team where he coordinated gifted services and the district’s mentoring program as well as supporting Professional Development and district initiatives such as Response to Intervention. He continues to work as an Adjunct Professor for the College of Saint Scholastica as well as speaking, writing and consulting with districts around the region on topics relating to gifted education, differentiation, PLCs, Mindset and bibliotherapy.
Will Remmert, is an elementary principal, consultant, and doctoral student at the University of Minnesota. With over 20 years of experience, Will works with educators at all levels to implement systems and proven practices designed to enhance student and professional learning centered on school culture, professional community, and empowering leadership.
Jane Scott joined MetaMetrics in 2008 and is responsible for designing and conducting professional development for educators at the school, regional and state levels around the country. MetaMetrics is the developer of The Lexile Framework for Reading and The Quantile Framework for Math. Mrs. Scott has 25 years of experience as a classroom teacher and prior to retirement from public education, she spent the last 7 years as a Curriculum Facilitator for a school district in North Carolina. She has also served as a consultant to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in the area of teacher retention, license renewal and also served as a trainer for various state math initiatives.
Rebecca Slaby leads AMAZE in working with schools, communities, and organizations to create equity and belonging for children and adults. With a MEd from DePaul University, she taught middle school humanities for 15 years. She has presented at the Overcoming Racism, Minnesota Education Association, and NAEYC conferences.
Terra Tarango is an accomplished executive in education. She served as President of SDE, developed curriculum with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and as VAEI Director, she oversees the organization and its efforts to improve inquiry-based instruction in K-12 education. She’s devoted her career to increasing curiosity, creativity and critical thinking in the classroom.
Oanh Vu is youth worker and educator for the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center at the Science Museum of MN. She has a background in community organizing and media arts, and is fortunate enough to share this passion with youth teens in her program.
Nate Walbruch is the principal at Plainview-Elgin-Millville High School. Previously, he has served as an administrator for secondary and elementary schools in Minnesota and North Carolina, a teacher and a professional for the Boys & Girls Club. He is passionate about PLCs, interventions/enrichment and guaranteeing student learning.
Tom Watkins works in Osseo Area Schools in the Research, Assessment and Accountability Department. He has co-developed assessment and accountability systems in three of Minnesota’s largest school districts. He enjoys facilitating data discussions in schools and engaging the community through open conversations about data that stakeholders care about most.
Joy Fredrickson is a Student Services Coordinator with Osseo Area Schools. Joy is an adaptive leader for equity through excellence, committed to eliminating barriers in the design of learning to ensure accessibility for all, and passionate about systems change.
Joe Cerar is a 28-year educator, the past 25 as a high school Social Science instructor at Plainview-Elgin-Millville High School in SE Minnesota. He serves on many committees in the PEM District and is a passionate advocate for improving teaching and learning, and a recent convert to all things PLC.
Stacey Lackner earned a Ph.D. the University of Minnesota. Her experience includes working as a school psychologist, district outcomes manager, and a research analyst for school districts in the Twin Cities area. She is currently the Director of Research and Evaluation for Wayzata Public Schools.
Angie Freese is a committed educator, author, and collaborator with expertise in assessment, leadership, and strategic planning. Angie has supported students for nearly two decades as a teacher, principal, and director within school systems. She now serves as the president of Playmakers LLC, revitalizing school systems by igniting creativity, leveraging strengths and assets to build capacity, and linking assessment and feedback to invest in system evolution.
Heather Hirsch is a School Climate Specialist with the School Safety Technical Assistance Center, Minnesota Department of Education. Heather’s work for MDE addresses school climate improvement, bullying prevention and social emotional learning. She travels across the state providing training and consulting with schools and districts on best practices in those areas. She has been certified by McGrath Training Systems, Inc. to provide training on the McGrath Bullying and Harassment: Minimize the Risk Curriculum. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health, and a School Climate Leadership Certificate from the National School Climate Center. She is a South Washington County District School Board member, and serves on the board of a non-profit, AARP Experience Corp – Twin Cities, aimed at improving literacy and social emotional skills of low-income K-3 students.
Angela Hochstetter is a Math Assessment Specialist in the Statewide Testing Division at the Minnesota Department of Education. She has experience as a test development specialist in the private sector and taught high school math for several years. Ms. Hochstetter is a licensed high school math and Spanish teacher in Minnesota and Tennessee. She is working on a M.A. in Quantitative Measures in Education at the University of Minnesota.
Penny Houtz is the MDE Education Supervisor for Math and Reading in the Statewide Testing Division. She has 15+ years of experience as a test development specialist in the private sector and 12 years of teaching junior high school English language arts. In addition, she worked as a Title I Coordinator and District Assessment and Curriculum Director. Ms. Houtz has a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Literacy from Lesley University, a K–12 Principal Certificate in Educational Leadership from the University of Wyoming, a BA in English and a BA in Secondary Education from Western Washington University, and is currently admitted into the M.Ed. Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment (MESA) certification program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Brad Drazen has recently completed his 5th year teaching, teaching 5th grade at Eagle View Elementary, in the New Prague Area School District. He is excited to share his experience with scaffolding state standards and how to make deeper learning accessible for all learners.
Jennifer Dugan is Director of the Statewide Testing Division at the Minnesota Department of Education. Ms. Dugan has served as the Supervisor of Test Development and Mathematics Assessment Specialist both within the Division of Statewide Testing, middle school teacher in Mathematics, and also worked as a Mathematics Assessment Specialist.
Billy Chan is an elementary school principal with Osseo Area School District who inspires and prepares teachers to demonstrate commitment to each student’s achievement of their dreams. He leads with conviction for a paradigm shift in educational practices to ensure equitable student outcomes. Billy has participated in MESPA Speaks, sharing his lived experiences as a struggling multilingual learner to becoming a school principal. Billy has eighteen years of experience in education including ten years as a school administrator. Billy received his undergraduate degree from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN and his Master’s degree from Bemidji State University. Billy attained his K-12 Administration credentials through St. Mary’s University. Billy completed his superintendent endorsement from Mankato State University and is pursuing his doctorate in education leadership.
Sara Florin is the Technology Integration Coach for Centennial Schools in Circle Pines, MN. Prior to this position she was the Media Specialist at Centennial Middle School where she taught media skills and digital citizenship. She is currently the Co-President Elect of ITEM (Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota).
Emily Cavazos is a Tejana from San Antonio, Texas. She graduated from Macalester College in 2016 with a major in biology and a minor in art history and decided to stay and explore her connections within the Twin Cities. She currently works at the Science Museum of Minnesota with the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (KAYSC) as an assessment coordinator.
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Dovey Elimalach was nervous. Many of the Orthodox Jews who went to his synagogue in Crown Heights were getting mugged. It had happened to poor Hershell Ostrepeller three times. He didn’t want to become the next victim.
In Dovey’s neighbourhood there was a tough guy that everyone called ‘’Beasto’. Dovey didn’t know how he earned the nickname and wasn’t interested in finding out. Beasto told Dovey he would have been called ‘’Beast’’ but there were four other guys who lived a few blocks over who shared the same nickname. Everybody wanted to be a Beast. Beasto didn’t want to inherit his neighbours enemies, thus he became the one and only Beasto.
Dovey offered to buy Beasto a bite and Beasto happily accepted the offer. Dovey had never taken him for lunch before, in fact it seemed when Dovey saw him he always crossed over to the other side of the street to avoid him.
When they walked into the Haimisha Kosher Deli a few heads turned. The patrons weren’t sure what was going on and every single person was beyond curious, the only one who didn’t seem to care was Gladys the waitress. Gladys had seen just about everything.
Gladys brought over a bowl of pickles some coleslaw and buns. She didn’t look up from her order pad. ‘’What can I get you?’’ Dovey ordered the triple, which was corn beef, pastrami and smoked turkey on toasted rye bread. Beasto wasn’t sure what he wanted and started going through every item on the menu. Gladys interrupted him and said ‘’You look like a Corn Beef lean on rye, with a side of fries, am I right?’’ before he could answer she said ‘’ A couple of black cherry cokes work for you guys.’’ They both nodded in agreement and she headed off to deliver her order to the kitchen.
Beasto commented that the restaurant was a kind of a cool place, and Dovey told him it had been an institution in Crown Heights for years.
There was a quiet pause and Dovey got right to the point. ‘’The Jewish community is uptight. There have been so many muggings lately and people are scared. I’m thinking maybe I should get a gun.’’ Beasto looked at him and broke out in loud laughter.
‘’Dude, I know your people were raised on an eye for an eye shit, but man do you have any idea how dangerous guns are?’’ Dovey nodded. Beasto continued ‘’On the street there are desperados, these are bangers who want anything and everything they can get. They don’t care how they get it. They want what others have, doesn’t matter if it is a corner for hustling drugs or a wallet off a kid, they will take it. You try to use a gun on them, and one or two things will happen. They will kill you or if they don’t kill you their brothers or sisters will hunt you down, so Dovey, be cool and forget about the gun idea.’’
Gladys brought their food over and after his first bite, Beasto lit up like a light on a runway. ‘This is damn fine Corn Beef, I appreciate you bringing me here.’’
Dovey was trying to process everything that Beasto had just told hin. ‘’I was thinking of getting a concealed weapons permit, and only using the gun if I absolutely had to.’’ Again Beasto looked at him, this time a little longer with a more intense stare. ‘’I am going to repeat what I said Dovey, any weapon you have can be used against you. Don’t get into that shit.’’
A quiet passed between them as they finished their sandwiches and Beasto munched on his fries. Gladys came over with the check and to make sure everything was okay. Beasto was completely and totally impressed with the food and the service. Dovey grabbed the check and gave Gladys his credit card. She walked away with it to the counter where she processed it and brought it back. Dovey signed and lunch was finished.
The two men left the restaurant together and headed back towards their respective businesses. ‘’So, Beasto what do we do? Orthodox Jews are being targeted for robbery and violence. The threat seems to be growing and it is a real problem. We have no choice we need to defend ourselves.’’
Beasto remained quiet while they walked and it was obvious he was thinking about everything. ‘’I honestly don’t know what to tell you. You start shooting and it will become a game of who can shoot first and nobody wins, everybody loses, I know from experience. You don’t fight back and the street creeps think you’re easy targets, you do fight back and you get the shit kicked out of you. Dovey man you Jews got a real problem.’’
The two men said their goodbyes, Beasto thanked Dovey for lunch and told him he wanted to do it again, and Dovey agreed.
Two week later Hershell Ostrepeller was mugged for the fourth time, this time he ended up with a black eye. That night Dovey went home and filled out his application for his concealed weapon permit. What else could he do?
Alan Schwarz loves life. He is the founder of JAMS Productions, a television production company based in Toronto . His passion is writing.
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Alan Schwarz loves life. He is the founder of JAMS Productions, a television production company based in Toronto . His passion is writing.
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And there’s something we have come to understand after examining women’s skin more times than we can count.
People who are truly beautiful have not only beautiful skin, but beauty hidden on the inside as well.
From beautiful skin, to a beautiful person. This is not the beauty of youth, or beauty that is simply decorative.
With each passing year, the beauty of an individual is enhanced, both inside and out.
We want to be the ones to deliver beauty to each individual. Now, to you.
Enhance your ability to grow more beautiful.
POLA present its Sustainable Beauty Theory.
We’ve come to the end of makeshift anti-aging care.
No more over-reaching, and nothing unnatural. POLA is now advocating this way of being beautiful, a way of thinking we call “sustainable beauty”.
With this way of thinking, each person steadily strengthens their natural ability to become beautiful.
Beautiful people have three strengths.
The Sustainable Beauty Theory focuses on the three powers that all people inherently possess.
These are the power of beautiful skin, where the skin displays the strength to become beautiful on its own, the power of vitality, the overall strength of both body and mind, and the power of attraction, which expresses one’s unique beauty.
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To Promote Change, Support Teachers
October 2, 2020
en
This page is also available in: English Português
A teacher instructs students at a private home in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on April 22, 2020. © Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty
I fell in love with education and learning at school, particularly through literature. Studying the art of words, its content and rhythms, the imagination and the sensitive domain had a transformative impact on my early years and thereafter; it was both an intellectual and aesthetic experience that spoke deeply to my mind and heart. I am certain that this would not have happened were it not for the commitment and passion of my teacher, who fostered in me an appetite for questioning, interrogating, and imagining that has remained with me to this day.
In his seminal text Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brazilian scholar Paulo Freire writes, “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” I believe this encapsulates education’s transformative power. It is only through dialogue and critical thinking that meaningful learning can be realized. This has far reaching consequences for our societies; and here, teachers lead the way.
In their classrooms each day, our teachers nurture students to their full potential and empower active citizenship—and yet their role is still gravely undervalued and imperiled. Indeed, the teaching profession is increasingly threatened. According to the 2019 Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, global trends reveal that teachers are being silenced, censored, and even threatened with violence. Authoritarian governments, such as in my native Brazil, target educators and spaces of learning to crush independent thinking, according to a Global Public Policy Institute case study on Academic Freedom in Brazil [PDF]. Too often, teachers are intimidated into not speaking about certain subjects, such as gender, climate change, and human rights.
We must caution against the risk of teachers being substituted for digital technology, stripping the very essence of the pedagogical processes, which is embedded in debate, thinking, and human interaction.
There is also the issue of teacher pay. Data from South Africa’s Ministry for Basic Education show large numbers are leaving the profession, with a teaching and learning international survey citing that 70 percent were unhappy with their pay. The survey found, as well, that across many wealthy countries, only 26 percent of teachers believe that their profession is valued by their society.
Against this backdrop, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted learning on a scale not seen since World War II. In parallel, the global crisis has leveraged authoritarian governments to further restrict the rights of their citizens and stifle debate.
How can we emerge stronger from this crisis? As newly appointed director of the Open Society Education Program, I have wrestled with this question. First and foremost, we must acknowledge the role and value of teachers as key agents in ensuring the accomplishment of the right to education, and involve them in decision-making processes while at the same time protecting their labor rights. We must ensure that mechanical rote learning and education banking, which limit debate and discourse, become relics of the past.
As a foundation, we can also work in the environment outside the school system to shift perspectives and elevate the status of teachers, always in dialogue with students and citizens at large. We will aim to fulfill the transformative potential of education. And we believe we are uniquely placed to promote this structural transformation. The right to education goes far beyond access to education. It is about the type of education you receive—an education that exercises and is grounded in democracy and human rights; an education that is contextualized, relevant, and responsive to communities.
This moment is an opportunity to stand with teachers and pay them tribute. As Paulo Freire once said, “There’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.” Let us go with the latter, and honor teachers, fundamental agents of change, across the world.
World Teachers’ Day takes place on October 5.
Camilla Croso is director of the Open Society Education Program.
Access to Knowledge
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Improving Education for Children with Disabilities in Kyrgyzstan
The story of Nurdan, a young boy with visual impairment and his journey from "special school" to mainstream education.
How Civil Society Can Best Support Inclusive Education
Throughout Central Asia and Eastern Europe, parents of children with disabilities are struggling against bureaucracy, ignorance, and neglect. To fix this, civil society must build more spaces for advocacy and collaboration.
October 12, 2018 | Nabina Panday & Olga Yarova
The Value of Inclusive Education
When all children, regardless of their differences, are educated together, everyone benefits.
May 2019
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Read the latest from our staff, grantees, and partners about how we’re working around the world to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.
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Every year the Open Society Foundations give thousands of grants to groups and individuals that work on the issues we focus on—promoting tolerance, transparency, and open debate.
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A veritable landslide of events have occured in the last several weeks, causing me to almost collapse in grief. It has been an almost reflexive response. A lifelong friend’s husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness, sent home on hospice and died in a matter of days. A beautiful 35 year old friend from my church failed to wake up last week, leaving behind a grieving husband and seven precious children. Yesterday I spent the day at medical appointments with a dear friend fighting for her life, battling cancer for the second time. Another friend, the picture of health and fitness, suffered a minor stroke only to discover she also had an invasive, incurable form of cancer. She too, returned home on hospice. A week ago today, a small group of friends gathered on her front lawn to visit, pray and worship together with her. This afternoon she passed from this life to the next. The sorrow of it all threatens to pull me under sometimes.
The world is still in the throes of a global pandemic. There is political unrest in our country, an election in the balance, looting and destruction in our cities and vengeful anger all around us. Fear and isolation have paralyzed many of us. Death by suicide is on the rise as are mental health incidents. Many businesses have closed their doors forever. Alcohol consumption and drug use continue to increase while jobs are lost and incomes wiped out. The vitriol on social media is mind bending while marriages are in crisis as our schools are closed and our churches are deemed non-essential. The globe is consumed with anxiety and confusion.
I, like many of you, have poured out my heart to the Lord over these things only to conclude that surrender is the only viable option available to me–surrender to the reality that God is good even when I don’t understand “the whys.” There are some “whys” I can’t begin to comprehend and I don’t think I ever will this side of Heaven. Others may come clear with the passage of time. But for today, I will pray. I will surrender to His goodness and I will walk in faith. I will believe that God does as He promises in Romans 8:28, when He says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose.” Even in the confusion of it all, I choose to believe He’s still in control and He’s going to work it for my good.
Still the sorrows of this life may feel overwhelming. Consider Daniel 9:23, which reads:
“As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given…”
Read that again. Take it in. We aren’t told that the answer is delivered in that moment, that we get it right now, or that we’ll get an audible response. We may not see it with our eyes, but what comfort to know He hears and responds the moment we come to Him. He is at work, even when we may not be able to discern it. So take heart, my friends. Stand firm in the power of your faith. Know that your prayers are heard and answers are given when you pray. Hold on to the reality that He is at work, even when we don’t see or understand. Wait and watch. He is faithful.
Posted on May 23, 2020 May 23, 2020
Still “Safe at Home”
I write this on day sixty-four. Sixty-four days of a mandate to “flatten the curve” of the Corona Virus by staying home.
As mandated, we began this experience of sheltering in place. Businesses, schools and churches were closed. Many companies directed employees to begin working from home. Others were furloughed or terminated. Sporting events, concerts, conventions, meetings, and travel all came to a halt. There would be no celebratory ceremonies for 2020 graduates and only online classes for the fall semester in sight. The economy is in shambles with 39 million Americans out of work. Yes, many are ill with the virus. Many more have recovered, but there have been many deaths as well-over 95,000 nation wide.
This pandemic has brought our world to its knees. We’ve been directed to enact social distancing, copious hand washing and disinfecting and to only leave our own homes for absolute essentials such as food and urgent medical needs.
The experts continually contradict each other. The politicians tell us one thing today and edit it tomorrow. We should wear masks and they’re useless. We should stay in and we should pursue herd immunity, we need sunshine but the parks are closed. The “experts” are clearly figuring it out as they go along. Nursing homes in one major city were ordered to admit recovering Covid patients despite the fact that their general populations consisted of the frailest and most fragile individuals and highly susceptible to infection. The results were disatrous. In my own city, last I heard, 80% of all deaths were nursing home patients.
Toilet paper has become the new currency with beans, disinfectants, paper towels and now meat in short supply. We are required to wear masks when entering stores after standing in lines for the privilege of shopping. Stores have set up plexiglass barriers between employees and shoppers as well as marks on the floor designed to tell us where to stand while waiting in line so as to maintain appropriate distancing.
Restaurants, like other businesses have either closed or are allowed only to provide pick up or delivery options. Many of them will never reopen if the so-called “new normal” mandates are required. They cannot survive if only allowed to serve half the customers they have room for when they’re paying rent for a larger space intended to accomodate more. Walmart, Target, Home Depot and the big grocery chains are still open, but the mom and pops and other small businesses have been forced to close their doors.
For the first time in history, the healthy are being quarantined. Those who say its time to open up the world again are accused of wanting people to die. Those who believe we need to stay hunkered down at home beleive to do so will bring a new surge of infection and death.
There is little talk of finding a cure, but a lot about a coming vaccine that may well not be optional. We we’ve been told that ventilators would be in short supply but that didn’t materialize. Instead, hospitals are now laying off physicians, nurses and other staff because their censuses are so low. All elective and non-emergency surgeries have been put on hold. Many illnesses are not being diagnosed or treated currently. There are those who believe a vaccine is the answer. Others point to hydroxychloroquine, a medication costing less than a dollar that has had good results. Again, experts around the world disagree.
I don’t have all the answers, but I know Who does. I am definitely not an expert, but I have tried to listen to both sides and come to my own conclusions. I must say it isn’t easy to hear both sides because the national media hasn’t reported on those with differing opinions and social media doesn’t allow what differs from their perspective or agenda to remain online for long. What are they afraid of? Are we not capable of drawing our own conclusions?
Here’s what I do know. Suicide hotlines are jammed. Businesses are failing. Families can’t pay their mortgages or put food on their tables. Domestic abuse is increasing. Alcohol intake is on the rise. Depression is rampant. Anxiety is out of control. Social isolation has rendered many seniors profoundly lonely without physical touch or comfort. Many believe that all of these factors are pointing to a national mental health crisis. Clearly, the virus isn’t the only thing wreaking havoc on our population. We need to address all of these issues and soon.
I sincerely believe that it’s time to return to life largely as we knew it sixty-four days ago. Young, healthy, able bodied individuals need to get back to work, kids need to return to school and churches reopen. More importantly, we need to acknowledge and turn our eyes to the One who holds the universe in His hands.
You may well disagree with me and I’m okay with that. I understand the power of fear and how very convincing the fear mongers have been. I will willingly wear a mask in your presence if it brings you peace of mind. I will wear one when I shop as required where I live. I respect that you may think me foolish or uninformed. I have listened to both sides and engaged in discussions with those with opposing views, but in the end, there are “experts” on both sides of the divide, and I hold to the fact that good, smart people can disagree. I’ve landed where I’ve landed and hold no malice toward any of you who have landed elsewhere.
No, I don’t want people to die. And no, it’s not about going to the beach. It’s not even about my personal comfort or financial needs. If I’m sick I’ll stay home and I hope you will too. I understand if you feel safer at home and won’t mock you for choosing to do what you believe is best. I will be a good neighbor, friend and citizen and will be respectful of the authorities over me. But I will not live in fear of speaking what I believe. I am not a hater.
I am going to continues to practice good hygiene. I’ll respect those in authority as well as those who may vehemently disagree with me. I’m going to hold and hug my grandchildren and spend time with those I love. I’m going to continue to honor and stay in relationship with those who choose to remain socially distant regardless of their reasons. I’m going to continue praying for health and healing. I will respect the opinions of those who differ from mine. God gave us all minds so that we could seek His wisdom and discernment. When we do, we will make the best decisions we can with the information we are given. That’s what I aim for.
I trust that my God, who created this universe, has His purposes in allowing this plague to exist. It is obvious that many of us have come to grips with the fact that despite our bank accounts, homes, jobs, education, accomplishments, fame, credentials and belief in our ability to handle anything that comes our way, we’ve seen that in a moment everything can change. With it, we’ve been forced to acknowledge that we literally have no control. Hence, we look to the One who has all control. I’ve always said He will go to any lengths necessary to get our attention. Does He have yours?
God has appointed a day for each of us to be born and a day for us to die. We don’t know either before hand. What we do in between those two dates matters to Him. Where our hope lies matters to Him. The experts have not been 100% convincing on either side. My confidence doesn’t lie with any of them, but in the message of an old hymn written by one Edward Mote nearly a century ago:
“My hope is built on nothing less
All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.”
Sela is not your typical business theme. Vibrant, bold, and clean, with lots of space for large images, it’s a perfect canvas to tell your company’s story.
Sela is responsive, which means it adapts to any screen, providing your visitors with a great browsing experience on any device.
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Most first-year electrical engineering students are of the mentality that a secured job will justify their career. No doubt, top technology hubs like Silicon Valley are synonymous with every aspiring engineer’s career point.
But the real challenges strike when engineering graduates realize they have focused only on academics, investing hours only for my assignment help, etc., but aren’t capable of doing anything of the professional level.
Hence, most electrical engineers cannot make a place in top companies, even if there are campus placements, and end up getting only a job to get paid.
Apart from mismanagement of career preparations, there are other challenges as well that often question the ability of a budding electrical engineer and even professionals!
That’s why experts offering electrical assignment help online have listed below some of the top challenges which you must stay aware of and take early preparations –
The mantra that most engineering graduates overlook is -high-quality labor requires high-quality labor. Now, in addition to remaining abreast of the most recent business trends, electrical engineers are expected to be skilled analysts and problem-solvers.
As a result, electrical engineering is a career that requires a continuous learning process. But that’s impossible for most newcomers.
Hence, experts suggest you must look for certificate programs and keep continuing your education. In fact, there are numerous online certified courses available.
Your place of employment might also offer on-site training, but don’t only depend on that. Make sure to stay current on business news and happenings of every upgraded electronic invention.
How to Manage Stress Effectively?
If you are in an engineering field, and you can’t develop multitasking skills, your hard work will not get noticed.
Now, most graduates focus only on a single task to give it more clarity; however, in the professional field, things don’t work like that.
In fact, there are numerous moving parts in the field of electrical engineering. Electrical engineers must juggle a myriad of tasks and overcome unforeseen obstacles.
In fact, as electrical engineers, among other professionals, you are often required to work harder with fewer resources as a result of limited labor forces.
So, by the time you get hired, build up your mind that you are a one-man army!
How to Stay Updated with Current Events?
Market reduction strategies are under strain due to the rapid advancement of technology. This is why companies install new software or fire old employees. Both ways, this creates a major career drift in budding engineers.
Hence, it’s crucial to keep up with regular updates on the competitive business, and not only on theories.
Make sure your responses are the highlights of every meeting possible!
What are the Essentials of a Successful Project?
Every project’s ultimate goal is to be completed on schedule and within budget. No doubt, it’s a straightforward but important promise with many moving parts.
However, electrical engineers are already in charge of assuring adherence to specifications, codes, client needs, etc.; hence, most of them cannot focus equally on building a profitable yet budget-friendly product or service.
But as an electrical engineer, you must know there are methods to increase efficiency and save money without compromising quality. This necessitates the application of strategies like prefabrication, BIM, and agile building approaches.
How to Deal with Mishaps in the Field?
The electrical engineering field is no stranger to danger, from electrical shocks to falls, explosions, and more. Falls are the second most common reason for such injuries, with contact with high-voltage electrical wires coming in first.
Maintaining a safe work environment depends on being conscious of your surroundings and integrating safety into activities.
Here, prefabrication, which cuts down on time spent on the actual construction, is a great approach to increase safety for all team members.
How to Adapt to Renewable Energy Projects?
More people than ever are concerned with making ecologically sustainable developments. Now, this is the same concern of most top MNCs as well.
Electrical engineers are becoming essential resources for assisting businesses in implementing sustainable practices.
But this increasingly significant aspect of their work adds obligations to an already full plate, including upkeep and updating of generators, putting up substations for circuit breaking, forecasting future power requirements, and more.
In order to improve sustainability and gather information about transmission and distribution, smart grids have emerged as crucial players. Renewable energy hybrid power systems can provide access to cleaner electricity in off-grid, isolated places.
How to Keep the Mind Stable?
In the previous segments above, you were given a hint about this problem. Electrical engineers must continually update themselves while working or studying. Anyone may become irritated, frustrated, and ultimately anxious as a result of this.
Positive communication and a lively workplace environment can save the day. You’ll be able to handle the problem of multitasking and stress management with the aid of similar powerful tactics.
How to Deal with Job Hunt & Workplace Changes?
Almost all fields face this difficulty. However, as you might work on contracts more often, you can experience frequent changes in the people you work with, your workplace, and your working environment.
Having the capacity to quickly adapt to shifting conditions will be beneficial. You’ll do better if your job moves more smoothly.
How to Adjust to the Male-Centric Work Force?
Be aware that some (not all) people may treat you differently or have less faith in you if you are a woman. However, you can always use your work to demonstrate your value.
But it might take some time.
Remain patient. Look for coworkers who, regardless of gender, exclusively believe in hiring the best candidate for the job.
How to Deal with Learning and Unlearning?
You will soon become or have already achieved success as an engineer as a result of your schooling. However, some of the concepts you studied in school are a long way from reality.
In the real world, you must control the cost, schedule, and quality of your work. You might not be using the textbook for all of the troubleshooting you perform. It might be a good option based on your knowledge and experience.
Final Words,
Take these pointers as a reminder that even if challenges can come, ‘we shall overcome’!
Author Bio – Jack Peterson is an app developer working in one of the tech moguls in the USA. He is also associated with Assignmenthelp.us where he offers pay for assignment. In addition, Jack loves to play video games and go on hikes when he can catch a break
Engineering Continuing Education – What Is the Future of Engineering?
By Admin
Kate Johnson is a content writer, who has worked for various websites and has a keen interest in Findcouponhere and stock market. She is also a college graduate who has a B.A in Journalism
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Jane Mead’s “Substance Abuse Trial” is set in a courtroom where a daughter hears her father’s name mispronounced at his trial. As she watches this, she wishes that the court could see the fullness of her father and his story — to bear witness to him as a human being, defined by much more than his addiction.
A question to reflect on after you listen: When was a time when you were judged based on a mistake you made, rather than the fullness of who you are?
Play Episode
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Guest
© All Rights Reserved.
Guest
Jane Mead authored five poetry collections during her life including The Lord and the General Din of the World, The Usable Field, and World of Made and Unmade. Winner of a Griffin Poetry Prize and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, Jane taught at various institutions throughout her life including Colby College, Washington University, and New England College. She was a long-time poet-in-residence at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. She died on September 8, 2019.
Pádraig Ó Tuama, host: My name is Pádraig Ó Tuama. I’m a poet from Ireland. And poetry has helped me feel seen since the day I read a stanza from the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland, Máirtín Ó Direáin. And the stanza says, [Irish]. And the translation of that is difficult, but it says something like “As lonely as a tree in the middle of the wood is, so is a poet among the people.” And I remember reading that poem and learning it off by heart when I was ten, and I didn’t know why, but I knew that the honesty about the reality of loneliness helped me say something that I knew would be important for the rest of my life.
[music: “Every Place We’ve Been” by Gautam Srikishan]
“Substance Abuse Trial” by Jane Mead.
the judge, rhyming your first
with your second name,
making you into something
But you stand as still
as they taught you in the army
when you were a young man trying hard
to keep secret what you knew
about how to kill with germs.
As quietly as we used to stand
on the front porch together at dusk
listening for the first cricket of the evening.
of wanting to die, of saying so
endlessly, with needles—and the speechless
track marks recording it all.
The evidence is
a red river, mounting.
It wants to carry you
away like an old chair
some fisherman forgot
to take home. And I want
to shout: listen
is my father.
I love him.
Is there a place
where all those things
that catch in the throat
gather and shape themselves
into something as soft
as the G in Giles
was meant to be pronounced?
Is that where you thought
you were going?”
There’s such drama in the poem. There is a judge, who is mispronouncing the name of her father. At no point is the poet, Jane Mead, trying to speak about innocence. So there is a pronouncement happening. There’s some kind of sentence about to be passed down. There is war. There are memories of waiting for crickets. And there’s the speechless track of the desire to end a life and then the daughter wanting to shout in a courtroom, “I love him.” And the entire drama of that is so pronounced. And then it all resolves itself into this question about where does he want to go, and thinking about his name, “Gillis Willis Mead.”
Jane Mead is not protesting his innocence. But she’s wanting to say, “Get his name right.” And “He mispronounces you” — she doesn’t say, “He mispronounces your name.” “He mispronounces you” — that there’s somehow a location of the name that’s close to the source of self. And when not only yourself, but people who love you, hear your name, they want to hear that the person has gotten it right, even in this most awful circumstance of a trial.
The desire that Jane Mead has to shout in the middle of the trial — she says, “listen / —this man / is my father. / I love him.” She’s not saying, “This broken man once was my father, and I used to love him,” or “I could love him,” or “he tried to love me.” There’s absolute perfect precision: “This man / is my father. / I love him.” Not for who he could be, not for who he was before he lost himself, not for anything other than who the person is, standing here, right here, right now. And I think that is an extraordinarily brave and powerful proclamation of love, and one I’m not sure I’m capable of. I listen to the speaker of this poem and think, “Who are you?” Listen to that love — what an extraordinary tidal wave of love, compassion, understanding, independence, and gathering we hear, coming from the voice of the poet.
I find myself thinking back to certain things that happened. There’s various things that happened in my late teens. I went through exorcisms and reparative therapy for trying to “cure” me of being gay. And I’m so far away from that now — I am turning to it in poetry and writing poetry about these things — and I recognize that there is a tide of anger that you can be brought into. And that’s good, because I’ve needed that in order to be able to shape art from it and to shape a story and to shape distance and to put a chapter end to certain things. But what it shows me is that I don’t love these people. I don’t want to hate them, either, but I don’t love them. And Jane Mead’s poem brings me to the idea of, what about in a situation where people have lived very complex lives with each other in a close friendship or close family unit, and to pay attention to what love does to the context of blame or recrimination or retribution in those circumstances?
And that’s not a template to apply to anybody else. This is what she’s doing in this context to her father, and I find it very moving. She’s not saying, “Oh, therefore, this is what everybody should do in these circumstances,” because a different story, a different poem, a different life would say, “I’m not even gonna go to that trial. I’m going to stay away.” So I don’t think this poem is proposing the way things should be, this poem is saying, “This is what this was like for me. I love him.” And I find that so moving, because there isn’t any sermonizing in Jane Mead’s poetry. She is not telling anybody what to do with their life. She’s saying, “Here’s what I’m doing.”
“Substance Abuse Trial” by Jane Mead.
the judge, rhyming your first
with your second name,
making you into something
But you stand as still
as they taught you in the army
when you were a young man trying hard
to keep secret what you knew
about how to kill with germs.
As quietly as we used to stand
on the front porch together at dusk
listening for the first cricket of the evening.
of wanting to die, of saying so
endlessly, with needles—and the speechless
track marks recording it all.
The evidence is
a red river, mounting.
It wants to carry you
away like an old chair
some fisherman forgot
to take home. And I want
to shout: listen
is my father.
I love him.
Is there a place
where all those things
that catch in the throat
gather and shape themselves
into something as soft
as the G in Giles
was meant to be pronounced?
Is that where you thought
you were going?”
Lily Percy: “Substance Abuse Trial” comes from Jane Mead’s book The Lord and the General Din of the World. Thank you to Alice James Books, who published the book, and to The Permissions Company, who let us use Jane’s poem. Read it on our website at onbeing.org.
Poetry Unbound is Tony Liu, Chris Heagle, Kristin Lin, Erin Colasacco, Serri Graslie, Eddie Gonzalez, and me, Lily Percy. Our music is composed and provided by Gautam Srikishan. This podcast is produced by On Being Studios, which is located on Dakota land. We also produce other podcasts you might enjoy, like On Being with Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise, and This Movie Changed Me — find those wherever you like to listen or visit us at onbeing.org to find out more.
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Recommended Reading
The Lord and the General Din of the World
Author: Jane Mead
Author: Jane Mead
Author: Jane Mead
Jane Mead
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November 14, 2022
Firefighting pushes the body to breaking point; Kevin Goodan’s poem locates the “ash-dark art” of firefighting not just in the wilderness where the team worked, but in the muscles of the firefighters.
We’re pleased to offer Kevin Goodan’s poem, and invite you to connect with Poetry Unbound throughout this season.
Pre-order the forthcoming book Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World and join us in our new conversational space on Substack.
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Nori Paste is an archival safe, non-toxic starch based adhesive. It is completely water reversible and can be used for wet mounting works on paper to a hard substrate such as museum or rag board. Nori thins with water and can be used as a medium to bind powdered pigments.
Are nori sheets healthy?
Nori nutrients include calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, zinc and then some! Nori can actually contain up to 10 times more calcium than milk! Nori is packed full of vitamins too. It offers vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K, as well as niacin, folic acid and taurine.
What is nori paste made of?
It is smooth, made with corn starch and it has a pleasant scent. Nori does not spoil or become moldy and it will not stain. Water reversible, nori is acid free and strong. If you prefer to make your own rice paste, we also carry Pure Rice Starch.
Fucoidan is a complex polysaccharide found in many species of brown seaweed. It has been shown to slow blood clotting. Laboratory studies suggest that it can prevent the growth of cancer cells and has antiviral, neuroprotective, and immune-modulating effects.
Hijiki seaweed has been found to contain remarkably high levels of inorganic arsenic, a chemical element that is known to greatly increase risk of cancer.
Can I eat seaweed everyday?
This poses a risk to those who consume seaweed every day, as 1,100 mcg of iodine is the tolerable upper limit (TUL) for adults (6, 8 ). Fortunately, in Asian cultures seaweed is commonly eaten with foods that can inhibit the uptake of iodine by the thyroid gland.
How long does nori paste take to dry?
The paper should take about 30 to 60 minutes to dry and then the glue will no longer be active and the paper can be rolled.
Is seaweed good for your skin?
The antioxidants in seaweed can help prevent free radical damage to the skin and protect against skin aging. In addition, seaweed can moisturize and calm the skin. It is also good at combating acne.
Is seaweed good for cancer?
Brown seaweed contains an element called fucoidan, which researchers have isolated and tested for its effect on cancer. According to research published in Marine Drugs, fucoidan has shown promise in eradicating or slowing the spread of colorectal and breast cancers..
Does seaweed make you gassy?
Seaweed contains enzymes that break down the indigestible sugars that cause gas formation. This can make you feel bloated and — you guessed it — gassy.
To begin, you need to make nori paste. This is rice flour paste used to make the ink sticky and smooth. Mix 20 grams of rice flour with 100ml of cold water. On the stove, heat 150ml more water to a boil and add in the flour water mix.
How do you make homemade rice paste?
Mix the rice flour, sugar and the cold water in a medium size pot and stir until smooth. Add the boiling water and bring to a boil over low heat stirring constantly. Heat and stir until the mixture thickens. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon oil or mouth wash to prevent spoiling.
Is roasted seaweed snack good for you?
Seaweed snacks have been a part of Asian culture for thousands of years, but their popularity has spread to all corners of the world now. They are good for you, providing all sorts of minerals and vitamins. With the average seaweed-based snack, you get iodine, copper, iron, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
Mix 3 tablespoons (tbsp) milk powder with 5 tbsp brown rice flour. Blend in 1 tbsp olive oil (leave out if your skin is very oily). Stir in rose water gradually until you have a thick paste. Apply to face, then allow to air dry for 10 to 15 minutes.
What is Momoya?
Momoya Seaweed Paste, 180 g A jar of seasoned seaweed paste and soy sauce to be eaten with hot Japanese rice. A strong, salty, konbu flavour. Add to dishes to create a stronger seaweed taste.
How much is too much roasted seaweed?
Dr Gary Wong Wing-kin, of the Chinese University’s department of paediatrics, said: ‘Eating two grams or seven small slices would exceed the World Health Organisation’s [WHO] recommended daily iodine intake. ‘The body can adapt to high iodine content if consumed occasionally.
What is brown seaweed used for?
Brown algae are edible algae found off the coast of Japan, Korea, and China. Brown algae are used for a variety of conditions including cancer, fibromyalgia, arthritis, stress, weight loss, heart disease, high cholesterol, and many other conditions.
How do you make waterproof glue?
In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over cold water.
Set aside to soften.
Heat milk to boiling point and pour into softened gelatin.
Stir until gelatin is dissolved.
Add oil of cloves as preservative if glue is to be kept for more than a day.
Store glue in a screw-capped jar.
Can you use rice flour for paper mache?
Pour half a cup of rice flour into a cup or measuring cup, or any sort of vessel. Mix the flour with water so that all lumps are dissolved. The liquid should be runny and look like milk.
What happens if you eat too much roasted seaweed?
Munching on too much dried seaweed — which has become a popular snack food — over a period of time can give you an excess amount of iodine, which overstimulates your thyroid gland. As a result, you can develop a swelling or goiter.
What are the side effects of seaweed?
High potassium levels in seaweed such as dulse may cause nausea and weakness in patients with kidney problems, since their kidneys can no longer remove excess potassium from the body.
How do you make crispy seaweed again?
Preheat an oven to 200 degrees F. On a dry, ungreased cookie sheet, arrange nori in a single layer. Place in oven and test the crispiness of your nori after 2 minutes. If more time is needed, check again every 1 – 1 1/2 minutes.
Is seaweed good for breast cancer?
In studies on rats, dietary kelp (seaweed) lowered estrogen production, a hormone needed for some breast cancers to grow. The studies also show that kelp can block the action of certain hormones, which may help lower the risk even further. It’s the latest lead in a hunt for foods that protect against breast cancer.
Does roasted seaweed cause cancer?
Do you? In general, the toxic heavy metals in seaweeds are not high enough to cause any harm to our health. However, if a person chooses to eat seaweeds deliciously – without removing the salt – then yes, the salt from the ocean can cause esophageal cancer or stomach cancer.
What is rice paste used for?
Rice glue (Japanese: , sokui) is a gel or liquid adhesive made of a smooth mush of well-cooked white rice, diluted to the desired thickness with water. It has been used since antiquity for various arts and crafts; for instance, it is a woodworking and paper glue. When dried, it is transparent.
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Please note: The following State of the school presentations have been cancelled. An updated presentation schedule will be posted soon. Thank you for your patience.
Updated: 02/06/2019 at 1:45 pm
State of the School Presentation
Join your fellow parents for the State of the School Presentation to learn school facts and figures as well as hear about curriculum and enrichment programs at the State of the School presentations.
Tuesday, February 5 at 10:00 am CANCELLED
Thursday, February 7 at 9:00 am CANCELLED
Thursday, February 7 at 7:00 pm CANCELLED
Every family is required to attend a State of the School session before re-enrolling.
Thank you,
Director of Admissions
January 31, 2019
Posted in Principal | Tagged 2018-2019, Enrollement, Re-enrollment, Registration, State of the School
Give Now!
© 2022 St. Alphonsus Parish School All rights reserved. 5816 15th Ave NW, Seattle WA 98107. Tel 206-782-4363. Email.
| 955 |
The New York Giants have had plenty of problems the past two seasons. But the least of those problems has been quarterback Eli Manning.
I've never been a big Manning fan or supporter. In fact, there have been plenty of seasons since he joined the team during which I have said to many, "He stinks." But this year, I find myself being one of Eli's biggest boosters, particularly when listening to sports talk in the car or watching some football commentary on TV.
No one can hear me, of course, but I have to grumble, growl, and bark when the talk is about the Giants needing a quarterback right now, the Giants playing an untested rookie, or the Giants not doing the right thing in the 2018 NFL draft.
Here's what's driving me crazy this season.
The Giants should have used their first pick, second overall, to choose a quarterback. Nonsense. The team picked the best player available, and as it turns out, Saquon Barkley is having the biggest impact of the group of QBs the Giants should have taken and the player they did.
For weeks leading up the the draft, we heard about what the Giants should do. For weeks after the draft, we heard about what the Giants should have done, and for weeks into the season, that same conversation raged on, even while Barkley made electric play after electric play.
No, Manning wasn't great during the 1-7 first half. But the Giants could have been 3-5 had the offensive line played any good at all in front of the QB, and had the defense been able to make two more stops.
The defense is terrible, yet the Manning must go talk overshadows why the Giants aren't unbeaten in the second half of the season. In fact, they are 3-1 in spite of the defense.
In the second half of the season, the offensive line has been remarkably improved. Manning has unsurprisingly been better. But the defense is the reason the Giants aren't unbeaten in the last four games. There are too many missed tackles and stupid penalties to count.
In a game the Giants were winning big against Chicago, the defense nearly gave the game away in the last 1:35. But the offense, behind an improved line, the amazing Barkley, and Manning, pulled it out in overtime.
Manning cannot be the quarterback of the Giants next year, put forth by numerous commentators. The Giants have to go get a gap quarterback. Manning isn't be the guy to break in someone new. He's been here too long and won't do it, they continue.
The Giants have a running back, and receivers, and tight ends. They will be back. The offensive line will continue to grow. The defense may or may not be fixed next season. Manning has a year on his contract. Why not let him have his last moments in the only place he's ever played? Why create a problem by bringing in someone of lesser ability before any potentially drafted college QB is ready to go? With Manning still under contract, why can't the heir apparent take a full year to adjust and start in year two?
Many Giants fans and members of the media seem to have endured Manning's many mediocre seasons because of his two Super Bowl wins and two Super Bowl MVPs. So what I don't understand is the same mantra from everyone about how the Giants screwed up not picking a quarterback in the draft, showing an incredible lack of respect to Barkley, and about how Manning must suddenly go.
Manning's time in New York is coming to an end, along with his playing days. And very soon, the Giants will have a new quarterback. But it'll happen all in good time. And if the defense makes remarkable strides in the off-season, there may be a little magic left in 2019.
Commentary z-Writing
Posted by Ed Dzitko
I believe in a plant-based diet, cashew milk, generosity, kindness, meditation, self-talk, and smiles.
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Of course, more bands and individual artists can sign up for the project apply. NewcomerRadio Germany is the “Radoportal as one of the most prestigious funding for bands and artists to the market. In addition to airplay, album ideas, star portraits, live telephone interviews, awards for song/band of the month, video of the month, the editorial team has selected artists, individual songs or special albums in the TOP rotation on in these songs, broadcast whose voice the day between ten to twelve times worldwide such as for example the artist Fabrian Goroncy, to the great Bee Gees reminds times”, the rock artist RESOMUS”, the unbeharrlich takes his SOLO path and band members for this yet looking for the rock band, Rokerij “, your music as a new movement” looks and the already famous band HELLA Donna from Plauen, around Cindy Leissner, the single good current at the 15.1.2010 things “different from their current album faces” release. Regional Sports Network is a great source of information. NewcomerRadio Germany sees itself as a participatory radio to the touch and want to all those involved in the newcomer process offer, involving them. The interactive radio Portal connects newcomers with professionals and strong partners and VIP bands essential contacts, to pave the way “upwards” newcomer bands and individual artists. Some of these bands play major festivals + 3000 already as support for silver Moon, Rock am ring, and are conveyed and involved in large projects. NewcomerRadio Germany is partner of the German music Council, your d Central chance – the biggest casting portal of the UFA, universal, Warner Music, “the musical TV magazine of the German rock music Foundation proposal legitimate medium for PopCamp and jury of many filled and many other partners.” Contact details: NewcomerRadio Germany Web: mailto: contact: Jochen Ringl (radio management) P.o. Learn more about this topic with the insights from figs apparel. box 1202 64711 related Erbach links: newcomer radio resomus lasoonmusic onenightstandpop NewcomerRadio Germany is the”radio portal for bands and artists and professional bands and contacts with up and coming bands. NewcomerRadio Germany sees itself as a radio portal to the join. Stakeholders around the promotion process are here involved in the highest degree.
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2021
While he works in a shop and jokes with young girls, she prepare everything for him and even adult sons at home. Their love expressed especially by the food, which is here for your family with much devotion. So it is not surprising that attempts to follow her new hobby extremely tentative fall out and she does much in secret. Some contend that Sony shows great expertise in this. Subliminally, you will feel her fear of the Nichternstgenommenwerden. How good she really is, notes Mary only when she meets Roberto, who is looking for a partner for puzzle tournaments per display. The well-heeled older Casanova with taste impressed Maria tremendously, but he is fascinated by this enigmatic lady who puts together seemingly effortlessly tricky images.
A true Puzzlemania captures Maria and can they invent stories to hide the neglect of their household duties and visits to Roberto. Her role as a housekeeper she can however not really escape and seeks contact with Roberto’s housekeeper Carmen. So, this movie is above all a mirror of Argentine society and the still existing in traditional role sharing and education. This seems less imposed as rather learned and difficult to reverse. Maria takes long to claim something for themselves and does so only on detours. Juan is seeking interest and understanding for the new hobby of his wife, without however really serious to them.
And at the end, Maria has managed only the beginning of a more confident life, to the world puzzle Championships to Germany she doesn’t dare then yet. Natalia Smirnoff put great passion in their first own feature film, on which she has worked five years. He convinces his intelligent manner which conveys messages without pronouncing them directly and leaves much room for interpretation. One of the few woman films at the 60th Berlinale, whose entire perspective reflects the point of view of the protagonist. MIA paradise
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I got in a Fractal Audio Axe-FX today and had a chance to play with it this afternoon. I am very impressed. This is easily the best sounding modeler I've ever encountered and certainly the best built, most powerful processing unit of its kind on the market.
Interface-wise it is very intuitive and easy to program... but also very deep. Tweak haters beware, there are lots of tweakable facets to each parameter on this thing and you could easily burn a week's worth of playing time fine tuning a single patch. :)
In terms of overall sound I have found I like the unit much better when used as a digital preamp running into a power amp that pushes a real guitar cabinet. Setup this way it is pretty much indistinguishable from a real amp. However, it does need a power amp to function this way... and a tube power amp to really get the feel I'm looking for.
Great unit, well built and you get a new update to the software every two days. :) Great buy if your thing is tweaking and you like tons of paradigm-shifting updates on a regular basis. If you don't like MIDI then you'll probably want to stay away until the next generation comes out sporting some USB or Firewire connections... currently the only way to update the machine and run the optional footswitch is via old-school MIDI apps and hardware.
Posted by Ryan Rhea at 5:42 PM 1 comments
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About the Author
I love the guitar and guitar related music. I also love working on my own instruments; whether it's doing a simple setup, installing new pickups or cutting a new nut. This blog is about my experiences with gear and the talented musicians and builders I come into contact with during the process. Thanks for reading!
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The New Orleans Advocate: 'Special and unique' moment: Man ordained deacon in New Orleans 'vested' by his son - CCANO
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The New Orleans Advocate: ‘Special and unique’ moment: Man ordained deacon in New Orleans ‘vested’ by his son
The New Orleans Advocate: ‘Special and unique’ moment: Man ordained deacon in New Orleans ‘vested’ by his son
July 23, 2018 – Eva Jacob Barkoff
It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in June when a rare father-and-son moment took place inside the sacred walls of St. Louis Cathedral.
Martin Gutierrez, along with 21 other men, was ordained as a permanent deacon in the Catholic Church by New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond.
The June 23 service included a “vesting” ceremony, a rite of ordination for permanent deacons, transitional deacons and priests in which a cleric selected by the ordinee presents the clerical vestments and stands with the ordinee as he puts them on for the first time.
Vesting the newly ordained Deacon Gutierrez, 52, was his son, Andrew Gutierrez, 25, ordained as a transitional deacon in May and to be ordained a priest next June.
“To have my own son, now a deacon himself, vest me was an overwhelming moment,” he said “It was just awesome. I cried like a little kid, and it took a lot to regain my composure.”
“Normally, that role goes to a priest or deacon who has been an influence in their life, so for my dad to ask me to vest him was a privilege,” Andrew Gutierrez added. “I was filled with overwhelming peace, joy and a sense of pride for my dad.”
Aymond said it was a “special and unique honor that we shared that moment. And I look forward to ordaining Andrew as a priest next year.” The archbishop said the only other father-son vesting combination in the archdiocese he could recall was the Nalty family almost 20 years ago.
Monsignor Christopher Nalty is currently pastor of Good Shepherd Parish, St. Stephen’s Church in New Orleans. He said his father, Paul, who died in 2009, vested him when he was ordained as a transitional deacon on Oct. 8, 1998.
“My dad was ordained a deacon in the first class of the permanent diaconate in New Orleans on May 18, 1974,” Nalty said. “He served as a deacon at St Francis Xavier, then at St Louis Cathedral for at least 20 years, and later back to St. Francis. When I was assigned to St. Stephen Church in 2008, dad served with me there until his death. Those were some of the best months of my life.
“I was particularly happy for Andrew and his dad. It brought back dear memories of my dad and me, and the times my dad served my Mass as a deacon.”
Andrew and Martin Gutierrez took similar paths to ministry in the Catholic Church. Both were in their teens when they contemplated the diaconate and the priesthood. And both entered the seminary in 2013.
Andrew Gutierrez, a graduate of Archbishop Rummel High School, earned a psychology degree from LSU. He entered St. Joseph Seminary College in fall 2013, and shortly thereafter, Notre Dame Seminary.
“I was dating a girl from sophomore year of high school into my first semester at LSU, and it was during that time when things got serious about my discernment,” he said. “Within that first year (at LSU), the plan God had for me was evident, so I ended the relationship with a great deal of heartache and followed the Lord to be his priest.”
Martin Gutierrez said his parents, Octavio and Pastora, both 86, “planted the seed of my faith.” He began thinking about the priesthood when he was 19.
“My wife, Judi, and I started dating with her knowing that I was thinking about entering the priesthood,” he recalled. “After participating in discernment meetings and a retreat, I realized the priesthood was not my calling.
“I started to think about the diaconate after I was working as director of the Hispanic Apostolate (for the Archdiocese) in 1997. Serving as a deacon came to mind about 19 years ago. I did not plan to work for the church, but God had a different plan.”
Martin, a native of Nicaragua, continues to work for the archdiocese as a division director for Catholic Charities. He oversees several areas, including immigration and refugee services; education services; housing and homelessness; services for the deaf; and domestic violence legal services.
The Gutierrezes have two other children: Martin Alejandro, 27, is married with one child and is a deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office; and Jazmin, 22, is studying for her master’s in counseling at the University of Holy Cross.
Andrew Gutierrez said that while his mother was reluctant to accept his decision to enter the priesthood, she is “my number one fan.”
“I like to say my mom was ‘reluctantly supportive,’ ” he said. “She didn’t want me to enter the seminary or become a priest because she thought I was going to be lonely and unhappy. But after seeing how happy I was and fulfilled with this life, she has now fully supported me.”
“My wife’s support and commitment was crucial in getting me to this point,” added Martin Gutierrez, who is assigned to St. Clement of Rome in Metairie, his family’s home parish for almost three decades. “I am blessed to have Judi next to me as we walk this path of ministry together.”
Andrew Gutierrez is an intern at St. Catherine of Siena in Old Metairie until October, when he will return to the Notre Dame Seminary to finish his studies for his ordination.
“The diaconate internship covers a variety of areas,” he explained. “I have a unique situation because Rev. Tim Hedrick (pastor at St. Catherine.) is finishing his studies in canon law in Washington, D.C. That leaves me doing more administrative work than the usual intern would do during this experience, but it has been exciting to learn all the details of running the parish.
“And I am trying my very best to have the people of St. Catherine as my top priority in whatever capacity I can be of service.”
As they continue their service to the church, father and son each have some advice for one another.
“I would say to my dad to stay close to Jesus and to never cease praying,” Andrew Gutierrez said. “Secondly, I would say keep my mom and my siblings as his first and highest priority. Yes, he’s an ordained deacon, but my dad’s first responsibility is to love my mom and my siblings. The vocation to your marriage is not second to your vocation to ordained ministry. Your family will always need you.”
Said Martin Gutierrez, “And I would tell Andrew to continue to be a man of prayer and to take care of his own spirituality. I would ask him to pray for humility and wisdom and to allow God to fill his heart with love so he can share it with the people he comes in contact with.”
Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans serves the
8 civil parishesof the Archdiocese of New Orleans: Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Washington.
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You're here because you have a file that has a file extension ending in .acf. Files with the file extension .acf can only be launched by certain applications. It's possible that .acf files are data files rather than documents or media, which means they're not meant to be viewed at all.
what is a .acf file?
The Valve Steam software is a program for video gaming developed by Valve, and this software uses files appended with the .acf extension, also called Steam application cache files. These ACF files are classified as data files, and the content stored in these .acf data files include details referenced and retrieved by the Valve Steam software when a user accesses associated features integrated into this program. Particularly, the data stored in these ACF files are Web locations of video game installers and other attributes of those programs. The Valve Steam application is a download management software developed by Valve for users to conveniently download, organize and manage their favorite video games. This software also populates their application databases with names and details of many video games, and this data is stored in other Valve Steam program files, to be referenced by the application when the user requests for associated content via the features integrated into the Valve Steam program. To create, open and modify the content of files with the .acf extension, users can install the Valve Steam application into their Microsoft Windows-based systems. There is also another version of Valve Steam for Mac platforms, so Mac users can install this program and implement support for .acf files.
Launch a .acf file, or any other file on your PC, by double-clicking it. If your file associations are set up correctly, the application that's meant to open your .acf file will open it. It's possible you may need to download or purchase the correct application. It's also possible that you have the correct application on your PC, but .acf files aren't yet associated with it. In this case, when you try to open a .acf file, you can tell Windows which application is the correct one for that file. From then on, opening a .acf file will open the correct application. Click here to fix .acf file association errors
applications that open a .acf file
Valve Steam is a platform for digital distribution, digital rights management, communications and multi-player. It is a product created by Valve Corporation that is designed to distribute games and other related media for online use. This software is integrated with an automatic management and install management of software across numerous computers. It also has features for socialization like the groups and friends lists, as well as cloud saving. The in-game voice and chat capabilities are added features of Steam also. Like other programs created by Valve, Steam has programming interface that is easy to use and manipulate. There is also Steamworks which is helpful in integrating different functions of Steam within their own products, which include networking, copy protection, matchmaking, micro-transaction and in-game achievements. Steam is compatible with Microsoft Windows PCs as well as Mac OS X computers and iOS devices. This product also works for some Linux operating systems.
Valve Source SDK is a software development kit or SDK software, which is created by Valve Software, that is designed to create mods and maps for Source engine, except for some game applications like Portal 2, Left Dead, and Alien Swarm, as they have their own SDKs already. Source SDK has four main utilities and these are to create a mod, refresh SDK content, reset and edit game configurations. In creating a mod, it dumps the code of Source engine into a folder and a mod directory is created under the folder called SourceMods. SDK content is refreshed by checking new data updates as well as downloads. Game configurations can be reset and edited too. Basic games are the basis of how game configurations are recreated, while mods in configurations are removed except if they are edited manually. There are also applications integrated in this kit software, which are Face Poser, Valve Hammer Editor or Hammer and Model Viewer.
Valve Hammer Editor is a map creation software for games, engines and other sources of Valve Software, This is also called as Hammer, which was more popular as Worldcraft, its original name, that is developed and launched in the year 1996. This is downloadable for any source based game that is part of source SDK or a first person shooter game. Before the Source engine, brushes, which are a set of simple primitives, were the only construction blocks in Hammer Editor, but still usable in older versions of GoldSrc games. This software saves a level life in many format types, which include in the binary and proprietary, text based or .rmf format, human readable .map format, and .vmf format, which was the default level life on version 4.0 and considered a simple file but contains complete information about a level. Furthermore, a level is pass through a program called bsp that uses brushes in order to create the architecture of a level and places entities for the location of a level file. Then, it passes through Visible Information Set or VIS processor, then through the rad program.
Be careful not to rename the extension on .acf files, or any other files. This will not change the file type. Only special conversion software can change a file from one file type to another.
what is a file extension?
A file extension is the set of three or four characters at the end of a filename; in this case, .acf. File extensions tell you what type of file it is, and tell Windows what programs can open it. Windows often associates a default program to each file extension, so that when you double-click the file, the program launches automatically. When that program is no longer on your PC, you can sometimes get an error when you try to open the associated file.
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This period can see changes occurring in the skin of both men and women: many men will experience some degree of male pattern hair loss from the scalp, while more hair may be noticed in the nostrils and ears.
For women, skin changes are frequently seen around the time of menopause, which for most women occurs in the early 50s.
These changes result from reduced levels of female hormones (such as oestrogen), and often include skin dryness, flushing, increased wrinkling and less commonly, thickening of the skin on the palms and soles.
Additionally, some post-menopausal women may notice increased body and facial hair (hirsutism), while a proportion may also experience hair loss from the scalp.
People will often notice the development of multiple brown, warty lesions (seborrhoeic keratoses) in this age group, which are related to factors including cumulative sun exposure, ageing and genetic susceptibility. They may be unsightly but are harmless. By the age of 60, it is estimated that people will have received 73% of their lifetime sun exposure.
Suggestions for skin care
As people in this age range are at increased risk of dry skin, it may be beneficial to apply a moisturiser each day to the body after a shower. Additionally, using a soap substitute, which is less irritating than soap, may be helpful. These measures can be particularly important for post-menopausal women, who are even more prone to dry skin.
Protection from the sun is as important as ever, especially if premature ageing of the skin is to be avoided.
Although more obvious in the elderly, it is not uncommon to see the first signs of sun damage in this age group. These include increased wrinkling and skin discolouration. Red scaly “sunspots” (actinic keratoses) may occur on heavily sun-exposed areas such as the backs of hands or nose. These have a low risk of evolving into skin cancer, but are definitely related to sun damage.
This age group also has an increased risk of skin cancer compared to younger adults.
The term 'alopecia' refers to hair loss. While we all lose hair everyday (losing 50-100 hairs per day is considered normal), some adults will develop disorders of hair loss, such as alopecia areata, or female and male pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia)
If you experience sudden or significant hair loss or hair thinning, then you should see a dermatologist for a specialist medical diagnosis and advice.
Read more
Middle-aged females in particular may notice that their face appears persistently red and flushed, regardless of their activity level. This condition is known as rosacea, and is more common in fair-skinned people. It may also be associated with pimples and, less commonly, eye irritation. The skin may feel sensitive and easily irritated by cosmetics. It may be exacerbated in those experiencing post-menopausal flushing.
Seborrhoeic dermatitis may also affect adults in this age group and has a significantly different appearance to that in babies. It presents as dandruff (scaling on the scalp) but may also cause a scaly, red rash typically affecting the forehead and chest.
As we get older our skin, like the rest of our body, our skin also ages and its appearance changes.
The biggest contributor to skin ageing is sun exposure. The ultraviolet radiation of the sun interacts with our skin (particularly the dermis, the underneath layer of the skin) and causes damage. This is known as photoageing. Prevention is better than cure when it comes to the ageing of our skin, which is where sunscreen and protective hats and clothing are important. Dermatologists are able to advise on which of the thousands of skin care products available will have various effects on your skin. Some of the treatments that they might recommend include:
topical creams and lotions
injections to reduce lines, wrinkles and expression lines
cosmetic surgery.
Read more
Skin cancer commonly occurs within this age group. In fact, at least 2 in 3 Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the age of 70. Skin cancers will usually present as a spot, freckle or mole that is visibly different to the skin surrounding it. It is often a new spot but skin cancer can also be present in a pre-existing spot that has changed colour, size or shape.
It is important that you see a dermatologist if you have any marks or spots on your skin that are:
growing
changing shape
There are several different types of skin cancer, including basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and malignant melanoma. As these conditions can be life-threatening if left untreated, early detection is very important. If you notice any skin changes, see your doctor.
Read more
This is the most common form of skin cancer and is caused by exposure to the sun over many years. This condition typically presents as a sore which does not heal. Alternatively, it may be a sore that bleeds, then heals completely, but then recurs. These often occur on areas that get a lot of sun exposure, such as the head and neck, but may occur anywhere on the body. Some people who experience multiple BCCs on the body may have inherited a genetic susceptibility to develop these. BCCs may have a 'pearly' edge, and are typically slow growing.
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)
This is particularly associated with cumulative sun exposure. A SCC often presents as a rapidly growing skin-coloured scaly lump that is firm to touch, and typically tender. As mentioned, actinic (solar) keratoses are red, scaly spots that are common on sun exposed areas in the elderly. Although not yet cancerous, these can develop into SCCs.
While BCCs and SCCs are more commonly associated with lots of sun exposure over time, melanomas are thought to be related to genetic factors, numbers of moles and a history of sunburns. They are the most dangerous type of skin cancer and can have a number of different appearances but are often dark and irregularly coloured. Most importantly, they change relatively quickly, over weeks but sometimes even days.
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In Australia, the majority of people in this age group are actively engaged in working. Occupational contact dermatitis commonly presents as hand dermatitis (rash on the hands). Depending on the nature of your workplace setting, occupational contact dermatitis may be due to irritant contact dermatitis or allergic contact dermatitis. While irritant contact dermatitis is most common, there are also many potential causes of allergic contact dermatitis.
Allergic contact dermatitis is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, so people do not get itchy rashes straight away after contacting a chemical that causes allergy (allergen) - it can take hours or even a day or two. Important occupational allergens include chromate in cement and leather, hairdressing chemicals such as hair dye and bleach, and rubber chemicals in certain gloves. It is said that 4000 chemicals (of a total of 100,000) can cause allergic contact dermatitis. The most common cause of non-occupational contact dermatitis is nickel from cheap jewellery. Other important allergens include fragrances and preservatives in skin care products.
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Psoriasis is another skin condition frequently seen in older adults. It is characterised by red patches with a white, scaly surface, and can sometimes resemble eczema. These patches are of varying size and often affect the scalp, although people often present with more generalised psoriasis affecting much of the body. It tends to have a symmetrical distribution (i.e. occurs on both sides of the body)
There are many different prescription treatments available, including topical treatments (creams and ointments), tablets and UV light phototherapy. The field of psoriasis has recently been completely reinvigorated by the use of a new class of treatments, the 'biologics', which can be extremely effective in severe disease.
Read more
Eczema is also a common condition in this age group, as it is for all ages. A discoid (nummular) pattern may be seen, which can either involve “dry” (crusty, cracked) or “wet” (oozing, blistering) oval-shaped patches. These can be various shades of pink, red or brown, and may be very itchy.
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This guy is hands down the best driver here. First time booking a private driver and would get him again. Our ferry was delayed two hours and he patiently waited for us to arrive! When we got there he welcomed us with ice cold water and a clean vehicle. The ride was pleasant, he spoke very good English and answered all of our questions! Thanks for starting our trip off with such amazing Moroccan hospitality!
July 08, 2022
Words cannot fully express how amazing Hamza is!! The BEST Morocco has to offer. After exhaustive research in planning the heavily logistical challenges for an epic trip that started in Tangier and ended in Marrakech, I know it would not have been as spectacular as it was had it not been for him. Hamza met us (two girls who love to travel) at the airport when we arrived in Tangier. From there, he totally took the best care of us and took us to the best sites and FOOD around town. From Tangier, we roadtripped to Chefchaouen (staying 1-2 days), then Chefchaouen onward to Fez. If you look at a map, these destinations are not next door, so the fact that we consistently had him as our guide made the experience that much better and reassuring (cuz who likes to keep switching, right?), especially when you're moving around a bunch. Hamza is the definition of a professional. Not only that, he's cool AF and provides the gold standard level of exceptional service. Hamza was always one whatsapp message away, responsive, punctual, and on top of it. He was also always watching out for us, and I very much appreciate that. Beyond him being a generally amazing human, Hamza's car is fully loaded. His car had fully functioning WiFi the entire time, A/C, comfy seats to chill, and of course, a banging playlist including 'Gangsta's Paradise' by Coolio. Next time I go to Morocco, he's the only person I'd call for a lift. I share these sentiments with my friends too. Hamza is truly the best and I can assure you, you won't find anyone better than him. Thanks for everything, Hamza!! Can't wait to visit next!
July 01, 2022
A salvadoran photographer satisfied with Hamza
From my arrival in Tangier, Hamza was the right guide to show us the most spectacular sites in his country. The two photographers had interesting images of Morocco's culture in a short time, thanks to the efficiency of Hamza's work. I will share some of my photographs with him so that everyone who reads my comment knows that what I say is true.
July 01, 2022
Hamza was our driver on an all girls trip to Morocco. He took great care of us. I even contacted him after to see if he could help me find a ride to the airport last min. All around highly recommend
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Robert Rauschenberg is dead. There is a good article at the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/arts/design/14rauschenberg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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May 15, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Here is an email that Liz’s Aunt, Tina Girouard sent out this week:
“There are no coincidences.” William S. Burroughs
David was thinking about Bob as death approached. On the 11th, he wrote one of Bob’s oldest pals:
“No news of Bob. Tina and I ran into his sister Janet in Lafayette a couple weeks ago. She is as handsome as ever. Janet said travel was arduous for Bob. Bob is working and, according to Sid Felsen, she said, Bob is making his best work ever.”
Throughout his life Bob brought much joy to all who knew him. Through his art, he brought and will forever bring joy into the lives of strangers. The revery inspired by news of his death is full of joy… his laughter rings in my head. If heaven is as literal as many believe, Bob has already poured a giant Jack Daniels and set to work on a dozen new art works. What a man!
Below is a Louisiana article written by my friend, Herman Mhire, artist and curator.
American Artist Robert Rauschenberg died yesterday, May 12, 2008. He was 82.
The brother of Lafayette resident Janet Begneaud, Robert Rauschenberg was born Milton Rauschenberg on October 22, 1925, in Port Arthur, Texas. He began to study pharmacology at the University of Texas at Austin before being drafted into the United States navy, where he served as a neuropsychiatric technician in the navy hospital corps in San Diego. In 1947, he enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute and traveled to Paris to study at the Académie Julian the following year.
In the fall of 1948, he returned to the United States to study under Josef Albers at Black Mountain College, near Asheville, North Carolina, which he continued to attend intermittently through 1952. While taking classes at the Art Students League, New York, from 1949 to 1951, Rauschenberg was offered his first solo exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery. Some of the works from this period included blueprints, monochromatic white paintings, and black paintings.
From the fall of 1952 to the spring of 1953, he traveled to Europe and North Africa with Cy Twombly, whom he had met at the Art Students League. During his travels, Rauschenberg worked on a series of small collages, hanging assemblages, and small boxes filled with found elements, which he exhibited in Rome and Florence.
Upon his return to New York in 1953, Rauschenberg completed his series of black paintings, using newspaper as the ground, and began work on sculptures created from wood, stones, and other materials found on the streets; paintings made with tissue paper, dirt, or gold leaf; and more conceptually oriented works such as Automobile Tire Print (1953) and Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953).
By the end of 1953, he had begun his Red Painting series on canvases that incorporated newspapers, fabric, and found objects and evolved in 1954 into the Combines, a term Rauschenberg coined for his well-known works that integrated aspects of painting and sculpture and would often include such objects as a stuffed eagle or goat, street signs, or a quilt and pillow. In late 1953, he met Jasper Johns, with whom he is considered the most influential of artists who reacted against Abstract Expressionism [more]. The two artists had neighboring studios, regularly exchanging ideas and discussing their work, until 1961.
Rauschenberg began to silkscreen paintings in 1962. He had his first career retrospective, organized by the Jewish Museum, New York, in 1963 and was awarded the Grand Prize for Painting at the 1964 Venice Biennale. He spent much of the remainder of the 1960s dedicated to more collaborative projects including printmaking, Performance [more], choreography, set design, and art-and-technology works. In 1966, he cofounded Experiments in Art and Technology, an organization that sought to promote collaborations between artists and engineers.
In 1970, Rauschenberg established a permanent residence and studio in Captiva, Florida. A retrospective organized by the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., traveled throughout the United States in 1976–78. Rauschenberg continued to travel widely, embarking on a number of collaborations with artisans and workshops abroad, which culminated in the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange (ROCI) project from 1985 to 1991. In 1997, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, exhibited the largest retrospective of Rauschenberg’s work to date, which traveled to Houston and to Europe in 1998.
In 2005, the works of Robert Rauschenberg, along with those of his son Christopher, and his long-time associate Darryl Pottorf, were exhibited in the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The exhibition subsequently traveled to the Herron School of Art at Indiana University in Indianapolis and the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah.
May 17, 2008 at 9:37 am
Here is an interview with Charlie Rose in 1997.
Ned (Post author)
May 17, 2008 at 10:52 am
Thanks for posting this interview. I had watched the interview in NY on PBS when it aired, but even more so the scenes in the Guggenheim brought back a lot of memories since that show was one of the first big things I saw after moving to NY to go to SVA (1997 was my first summer there). I remember liking the early work the best, but being disturbed by the chickens and goats put into the later work. I wonder if it would disturb me in the same way today. And I just saw the tremendous Cai Gou Qiang show there this spring when I took students. His gunpowder paintings were epic. So this brought on a interesting confluence of memories with the museum.
I’m glad to feel that with the NY trip once a year I’m still creating some of those memories. Some other really good things I saw this year were the Paolo Ventura photographs at Hasted Hunt (and I was so lucky that they had one of his tiny, miraculous dioramas on display), a show of drawings and sculptures by Amy Cutler, a Jim Hodges sculpture, the Luc Tuymans show, a Diana Cooper show, and the Multiplex show at the MOMA. There was also a terrific small and stunning Sol Lewitt drawing done from an entire box of twleve Crayolas in a show called Color Chart. I guess there was more but I digress.
Or maybe not.
May 17, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Ned: Have you changed your mind about coming to KC yet? I know there are complications, but we need you!
Ned (Post author)
May 18, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Thanks for the expression J.E. but I’m in a position now where I really can’t swing it for a myriad of reasons. Hope we can do it some time not too far off in the future.
May 20, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Ned–That’s too bad. Jen and I would be happy to have you ride down with us, if you could somehow swing it. We’ll have to understand if you can’t come, but let us know if you change your mind. Jen and I will start driving south from the Twin Cities probably around 10 am or so on Friday…
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As students head back to school and many people return to work, remember to share our roads safely and watch out for people working in the Cone Zone.
Photo credit: istock.com/davit85
It’s that time of year again: Students are going back to school. And this year many people are returning to their offices after working from home.
If you need to drive through a school zone, or drop off kids in one, please keep these safety tips from ICBC in mind.
Observe school zone speeds
Obey crossing guards
Watch for children darting onto roads
Never pass a school bus when the signal lights are flashing
Also see the BCAA School Safety Patrol program to learn more about safety patrol equipment, student resources, and training materials. This free program helps keep crossing guards and pedestrians safe.
Watch out for cyclists on the road
The popularity of cycling seemed to soar during the pandemic and there are sure to be a lot of bikes on the road as we head back to school and work. As a driver, watch out for small, wobbly riders and give all cyclists the space they need to ride safely. ICBC offers cycling safety tips that include:
Leave 3 seconds of space when driving behind a cyclist
When passing, maintain at least one metre between your vehicle and the cyclist
Shoulder check when turning, and watch for oncoming bikes
Yield to cyclists and signal well in advance when crossing bike lanes
Shoulder check and view your mirrors before slowly opening your car door
Slow down, and move over
Mind any roadside workers when driving as well. They include traffic control, landscapers, tow truck drivers, and other workers on the road. Between 2011 and 2020 in B.C., 12 roadside workers were killed and 207 were injured. Last year, 23 workers were injured with time loss from work because of being hit by a motor vehicle.
The annual Cone Zone campaign reminds motorists to drive safely around roadside workers. The campaign features photos of individual workers and their kids with reminders like “Slow down. My dad works here.” (See my post Keeping workers safe in the cone zone for more information.)
B.C.’s “Slow Down, Move Over” law requires drivers to drop their speed and move over as soon as they see any vehicle with flashing red, blue, or amber lights, stopped alongside the road. These could include emergency vehicles (fire, police, and ambulance), tow trucks, garbage trucks, city work-crew vehicles, and rural postal delivery vehicles.
On a highway with a speed limit of 80 km/h or greater, you must slow to 70 km/h. If the speed limit is less than 80 km/h, drop to 40 km/h. Slowing down gives drivers more time to react if further defensive action is required. When safe to do so, move into an open lane to give more space.
Fines and penalties for unsafe driving
Drivers who don’t drive safely can expect to pay a price. ICBC lists the fines (often a minimum) and points for B.C. traffic offences. Some timely offences to keep in mind include:
Failing to stop for a school bus ($368; 3 points)
Disobeying a crossing guard ($167; 3 points)
Failing to slow down or move over for official vehicle ($173; 3 points)
Keep these tips in mind and share them with your contacts — and let me know, in the comments, if you have tips of your own to share.
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I'm Susan Main, a writer based in Vancouver, BC. I have been writing about workplace health and safety since 1999 and have spoken with hundreds of people in different industries across Canada about their efforts to make safety a priority. It is a pleasure and a privilege to share their stories and explore new topics in the world of health and safety at work, and in our communities. In partnership with my sponsor, WorkSafeBC, our goal is to create an online community to promote conversations around workplace health and safety and inspire others to be safety champions.
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If this is Tuesday, it must be Banya Day in Belarus! Since there is no running water, showers are not a possibility here, however I have been promised that this is the day we are going to the banya. Many people in Chausy use a community banya, however my host Dad’s father has his own that he built in his backyard. Basically it is a sauna operated using wood burned in a petchka. It is hotter than any sauna I have ever been in, so hot that that I am given a small pail of cold water to splash on my face so that I can breath and we wear a funny knit hat to protect our hair and to keep you from feeling faint. It involves being lightly beaten with birch branches dipped in scalding hot water. This is to open the pores and loosen any dead skin (and maybe a couple of layers below that!). After a short break from the heat, and a sip of beer (piva), we go back in and wash using a rough knit cloth and lots of soap and hot water in large basins. I have to admit, when I was finished I felt cleaner than I can ever remember. Afterwards the women take their turn, then out comes the table covered in food and we spend the rest of the evening eating, drinking and conversing through my trusty Russian/English dictionary. Another great night with “my” family.
However that was the end of the day, previously in the day, I was involved in delivering some boxes to some more of the most dedicated Mom’s I have ever met, this time in the village of Sklov. But I will leave that for the video.
Enjoy,
This entry was posted in 2006 Delivery, Video Posts on March 18, 2007 by Eric McKenzie.
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When I emailed my older brother, Rick, that I was thinking of commenting, gently and caringly, about these disturbing times in this issue’s “At The Gate,” he wrote back: Pat, I don’t think you should do that. The garden is a retreat, a sanctuary as you say. Much better to talk about that. About how… READ MORE
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opinion | If the internet were a toy, this is what it would look like. Would you let your child play with it? - Roxxcloud
opinion | If the internet were a toy, this is what it would look like. Would you let your child play with it?
November 24, 2021 by Roxxcloud
[MUSIC PLAYING] “I do not know.” “How it works.” “There are, like, little invisible lines.” “And then it has a big cloud.” “Electricity is so small and goes to the iPad and watches YouTube. There you go.” We all understand that our job is to protect children from a world they are too young to understand. “Like how to be safe on the internet?” That’s why we put baby gates on stairs and buy special car seats and give them plastic scissors. But when it comes to the internet, we’ve let them down. “I’m sitting in my room looking at iPad and they say ‘No more iPad, no more phone’. And I’m like, ‘Five more minutes. Five more minutes.’” We left our children to be attacked by giant tech companies, as our politicians continue to struggle to understand how it all works.” Facebook understands that if they want to keep growing, they need to find new users. “By crocheting kids?” “By crocheting kids.” We’re going to get you show what your kids actually see online, not through empty speeches from politicians, but through the real images our children see while we eat out. This is a story of harm and consequences. Our children are being attacked. And it is something we would never allow in the real world.” “My dad, he has a record player like that and he puts big ones on this one.” “Top speed technology.” “Unlimited AOL free. It kinda sounds like LOL.” Remember this? “This is your personal information universe, the Internet.” This is what the Internet looked like in 1998, no YouTube, no Instagram, no Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg was a kid himself. It was also the year Congress passed. passed the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. COPPA forces websites to get parental consent before collecting data from children, but before long, tech companies were exploiting a loophole. You see, the law only applies on sites that know their users are under 13. So those slippery tech companies simply added this line to their terms and conditions. COPPA is a weak law and it’s embarrassingly outdated. And while some of the language was modernized in 2013, this one has essentially barely changed. So how’s that going? “Sometimes I just look some Instagram over my sister’s shoulder.” “My favorite thing about TikTok are the sounds and filters.” “You are you?” Yeah, don’t kid yourself. Kids are on these platforms in droves. In one study, 40% of 9 to 12 year olds said they visit Instagram every day. It’s 78% for YouTube. “I go on YouTube a lot.” “You can see different personalities. And I like to find one that fits my personality.” “Why is it called YouTube? Is it like your channel?” Now Google launched a kid-friendly platform in 2015, but kids are still visiting the main site in large numbers, and there are still tons of channels targeting them. We don’t allow kids in R-rated movies, do we? But when kids log into YouTube, they enter a world designed by adults, for adults. Here are some popular YouTube videos, all aimed at children. And here are the ads that YouTube runs alongside them. These were all documented in a 2020 study. , sex, politics for some reason. The survey found that ads were shown on 95% of videos targeting children and a fifth were not age appropriate. So why does a 10-year-old child get a ad for a dating site? Well, the internet is a place designed by experts to capture data and turn it into money. And they don’t care whose data it is. I want you to pause and try to imagine if a toy would track your child’s data in the same way that the Internet would. Can it not? No worries. We’ll show you. “Twist Toys brings the online world to life and presents Share Bear, the bear that learns all about you and then sells the data for a profit.” “I’m just a teddy bear.” “Share Bear has all the features you need in a cuddly best friend: location tracking, conversation monitoring, remote-triggered camera.” “I’m watching you.” “He makes predictions about your life.” “You look sad today. Here’s an ad about losing weight.” “But remember, he doesn’t keep your secrets. Instead, they are sold directly to multibillion-dollar technology companies.” “Awesome.” “Sweet dreams. I’ll follow you.” “Share Bear.” “Caution. Share Bear used bad data practices. Your privacy is being violated. You are being sold ruthlessly to. Companies will exploit children with impunity. Stay away from fire.” In the real world, we tell our children, “Don’t talk to strangers.” But online, tech companies let those strangers contact our kids easily. That’s what another shocking study from 2020 found when researchers created fake profiles on Instagram claiming to be teenagers. The more posts they liked, the more extreme the images they saw. Users who Instagram believed to be 14 and 15 years old were shown these sexualized photos. Another teen user who expressed an interest in dieting was shown images of extreme weight loss. Here’s what Instagram showed a user he thought was 14 years old when he showed an interest in fitness. And these disturbing images? Instagram showed them to a girl she thought was 13 years old. And within two days of joining Instagram, all the fake accounts were getting private messages from adult strangers, some of which contained links to pornography. Would you buy the real version of this toy for your teen? ‘Call your children. The stalkie-talkie has arrived. It is the toy that uses algorithms to connect children with adult strangers. Just squeeze the button and see if anyone wants to say hello.” “Where do you live?” “A new best friend.” “Do you want to earn some extra money?” “So popular.” “Why don’t you put on your swimsuit?” “Totally cool.” “This toy literally invites total strangers into your life. But we won’t tell Mom and Dad if you don’t. Caution. Talking to strangers can be dangerous. Age verification is weak at best. Predators use this as a tool to make children. Batteries are sold separately.” New. You wouldn’t buy a Stalkie Talkie for your kids and you wouldn’t buy a Share Bear for them. But we let our kids play with the same technology every day, technology built by programmers with one goal in mind: to make sure your kids stay on the app as long as possible. “As these young women start consuming this eating disorder content, they become more and more depressed. And it even makes them use the app more. And so they get into this feedback cycle where they start hating their bodies more and more.” And here’s the thing, all these manipulative technologies, they’re done on purpose. This is a feature, not a bug, a feature designed by adults to make a profit over the safety and well-being of our own children. And there are she’s damn good at it. “I think I want to get rid of this thing, but then I’m like — no, more YouTube. More Instagram. More TikTok.” But hey, these kids know what they signed up for, right? I mean, it’s all in the terms.” OK. So start with this?” “Yes.” “The following restrictions apply to the use of the Service.” “You may not access, reproduce, download, distribute-” “broadcast, broadcast, display, sell-” “license, modify , modify, or -” “license-” “or otherwise use the Service, except…” “—prior written order from YouTube.” “What does all that mean to you?” “I have no idea what I said. Big Tech wants you to think this is an unsolvable problem. But guess what? It’s already being addressed. A new law came into effect in the UK this fall, the Age Appropriate Design Code. It is the first of its kind in the world. And it forces tech platforms to build their products from the ground up with children in mind. The code protects children under the age of 18 and applies to all sites that a child can access. access. But here’s the big thing. It puts the responsibility of protecting children to the tech companies, not the parents or the kids. Now look what happens in the weeks before the UK bill came into effect. One by one the platforms announced major changes to their privacy policies for children. All of this, by the way, also benefits American children. No thanks. But it also proves that the technology to protect children has always been around.” It leads The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram more secure, but won’t make the necessary changes because they’ve put their astronomical gains on the people.” The evidence is overwhelming. We wouldn’t need whistleblowers to tell us this. The welfare of millions of children has been rejected so that a few big tech companies and their shareholders can get rich. Big Tech must be held accountable and COPPA must be replaced with a law fit for the 21st century. But US lawmakers don’t have to come up with a solution from scratch. An effective model already exists. They just need to copy it. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
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I have served on a lot of grant panels. In the last year, I served on a grant review panel – a small one for a small foundation that you probably didn’t personally qualify for. I was the only woman of three reviewers on the panel, and each grant had a number of ad hoc reviews provided by experts. For each grant, I submitted made a review, and it took a couple weeks to get them all done. Before I submitted my reviews, I re-evaluated all the proposals to make sure I wasn’t systematically biased against anyone. Because we are all gender biased and racist, I paid particular attention to checking myself on this. And, I ended up changing some of the scores based on the re-evaluations to level them out. Of course there are many reasons with scores could have been different, including if I was tired or hungry when I read the proposal, so I didn’t want those dumb reasons to affect the scores. This final step is one that most people don’t do because of time, but I wanted to do a good job. I did end up raising the scores of more women and of more people with foreign names. I felt like I did a good job, and was proud of my work.
And you know what? I am glad I did the re-evaluations. Here are the reasons:
More women were in the upper half of proposals than would have been if I hadn’t re-evaluated them. Thus, we spoke about more women’s proposals in more detail.
The two very nice gentlemen with whom I was serving were so unconsciously biased against women, it was effing ridiculous. Let me give you an example (the information has been changed to protect the innocent):
Comments from the dudes included things like, “Not exactly sure how this will be carried out. Needs more details on the experiments. I cannot tell if this will work.”
Comments from the dudes included things like, “Well-described methods, clear proposal, looks like PI will be able to secure federal funding.”
I was shocked. These two proposals had vastly different comments from the two dudes, yet, they gave them the exact same RANKING numbers! On two separate occasions, I convinced one or both of them to change their scores during the discussion. For this example, I actually flat out said, “Please look at the written comments for this person. What exactly is wrong with their proposal? You have nothing negative. So, why is your score the same as the last person who you did have negative comments about?” They could not deny that their rankings were illegitimate, and they changed them.
At another point in the discussion, I pointed out that the ad hoc reviews for a particular woman were biased. For them, this statement went too far. They did not respond well to that. They pointed to a woman ad hoc reviewer to prove to me that the ad hoc reviews were not biased. RED FLAG! If you cannot justify something, pointing to another biased review to justify yourself is not a scientifically good way to prove your point. I told them that it didn’t matter if the reviewer was a woman. Women are just as biased against other women as men. Being a woman does not protect or shield you from sexism. They were not convinced. In the end, I had to write the panel summary, and I had a very hard time. Why? Because they could not point to one thing that they came up with as a panel that was wrong with the proposal. This, to me, stinks of bias. You don’t think anything is wrong, but you just go along with what other people say? That is not the scientific way. All their issues were direct echoes of the ad hoc reviews, which I thought were biased. In fact, they only said positive things in their own personal opinions. Luckily, I did get that person to the funded category, because writing a, “Sorry you didn’t get $$, but we can’t figure out what is wrong,” panel summary is difficult and stupid. At least the letter, which doesn’t say anything is wrong, also doesn’t say, “And you don’t get money for not being wrong.”
There were several other times, I was looking at the comments and thinking, this rating doesn’t jive. More than once, dudes with many negatives were given the same score as women with only positives or far fewer negatives. Dudes just got a leg up. One woman was working with her former advisor still, and that got the old chestnut, “Is this person independent?” but the next dude who was working with their former advisor got, “This is a positive because they will be more likely to be successful working with this bigger group.” These were too far apart in the discussion to successfully combat with logic and reason as I did above, and it wouldn’t have made a difference, but that kind of stuff burns me up.
All in all, the women had to be way better than the men to be ranked equally by these guys, so my re-evaluating of the women only counteracted the lunacy. Also, I was the easy grader for most proposals. I was already seen as the person who gave the highest score (about 1 point higher out of 5 than the guy who gave the lowest scores) on all the proposals, so they didn’t suspect or know that I had re-evaluated and subsequently upgraded a lot of the women.
Based on this experience, I am going to call to all my WomenOfScience friends and male allies: Consider re-evaluating and seeking out your own biases against women and minorities when you review their manuscripts, proposals, or whatever. If you were already going to be nice, act like they walk on water. If you were going to be mean, be 20% nicer. It probably won’t move someone from the unfunded pile to the funded (it didn’t in my case), but it could move someone from the edge into funded, or give someone just a slightly nicer review – you can still be critical without being a total douche.
I will continue to re-evaluate at the end whenever I can, because I think it is the right thing to do. I wish more people would at least be mindful of their biases. To get funded today, you need a champion in the room. Each funded proposal has one. I vow to be the champion in the room for women and under-represented groups. That is what I did. I could have chosen to preferentially fund proposals about beavers (there were no beaver proposals) or a particular school, let’s say Ole’ Miss (there were no Ole’ Miss proposals in the panel), but I chose women. I will continue to choose women. Until there is actual equality.
What do you think? Comment or post here. To get an email every time I post, push the +Follow button.
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Eric said:
September 8, 2015 at 2:01 pm
What I really wish is that some large organization (NSF or NIH) would take all their reviewer results and analyze them for these biases. Maybe they have already done that, in which case they should put their results about bias in front of reviewers every time they convene a panel. My guess is that the data will strongly support what you observed. I mean, there’s already plenty of studies that back up what you say about bias in various situations, but it would be interesting to have the data on grant refereeing directly from the funding agencies. (And there’s lots of ways to score reviewer comments to see how well they match up with the final ratings, social scientists have done this for years, so this is completely doable.)
Anyway kudos for your good work on that panel.
September 9, 2015 at 12:21 pm
I know that some panel discussion revolves around the past success of the group, but sometimes I really wish proposals were at least stripped of names for SOME portion of the review process. I once sat through a discussion of “this proposal isn’t good but the researchers are” where I was the only dissenting voice claiming that the PROPOSAL had to be good as well.
September 14, 2016 at 2:17 am
[…] I have discussed in previous posts how important it is to speak up and speak out (here, here, here) that I think it is important to point out “bad” behavior. There is sometimes evil […]
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I work with creators, natural born ideators, entrepreneurs, leaders and storytellers. The souls who are driven by their values, are curious and see the world for it’s opportunity.
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I hadn’t realized how much I had kept my thoughts to myself. As the saying goes, “It’s lonely at the top” – and that is no longer true since I’ve been working with Sarah. She gave me the space to discuss all my dreams, ambitions, intentions, challenges, fears, and anxieties in a safe space – subjects I was very uncomfortable sharing with colleagues or contemporaries but knew I needed to examine and push through to get to the next level in my career. This breakthrough gave me the clarity and energy to allow my creativity and vulnerability to thrive.
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The head of the Istanbul organization of the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) Aziz Babuşçu spoke to NTV on Nov. 14, saying the project concerning making Istanbul a finance center was proceeding. What Babuşçu meant by “proceeding projects” are, I guess, related to the residence and mall constructions continuing in the areas that have been marked as “There will be a finance center here.” As a matter of fact, realities in life show that Istanbul is not advancing on the road to becoming an international finance center; it is actually going back.
There is research called “The Global Financial Centers Index” prepared by Z/Yen Group. In this list, there are 83 cities and in this year’s research, Istanbul has gone back three places from the 44th to the 47th.
On CNN’s website from Sept. 19, 2014, a story was posted, listing the “nine finance centers of the future.”
Well, Istanbul is not on the list. At the top of the list is Casablanca, considered the finance center of Morocco. In the general list, Casablanca occupies 62nd place, but is at the first place among the candidates for a finance center in the future because of technology, infrastructure, geographic location and legal developments.
On the second spot is South Korea’s second biggest city, Busan. Seoul’s place on the list of world finance centers is 40 places ahead of us at 7th place.
Buenos Aires, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Dalian (China), Qatar, Luxembourg and Zurich are other candidates on the list, but Istanbul is not among them.
We do have a road map titled “Istanbul International Finance Center Strategic Document,” but we have not gone forward, we have gone back.
The reasons are simple: We do not have a properly working justice system, there is no political or legal predictability; no transparency; our taxing system is not objective and corruption cannot be prevented.
We are living in a country where the president of the country is attempting to bankrupt a bank. The tax auditing system has been transferred into a weapon used against those the government dislikes. Independent institutions formed to regulate the markets are stripped of their independence.
And Babuşçu has come up to explain that the project is proceeding. Well, it is not. It is sailing far away…
Government and its promises
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held a press conference and listed measures to be taken related to occupational safety. For a government that has been in power for 12 years, it looks as if they had to wait for hundreds of workers to die to take these steps.
When the coal mine murder happened at Soma in May, it was brought up why Turkey had not signed the ILO protocol concerning mines.
You will remember that the government had promised, in those days, that the contract would be signed as soon as possible.
November is halfway over and there is still no contract signed. Davutoğlu said they would try to pass the contract in the Parliament this week.
Whatever they want, they would include it in an omnibus bill and pass it easily; apparently it is the ILO contract’s turn now. Let us see how long it will take them to keep their promises.
Türkiye, Russia to hold political consultations on regional issues
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US judge dismisses suit against Saudi prince in Khashoggi murder
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Poirot's gaze took on an admiring quality. "You have been of a marvelous promptness," he observed. "How exactly did you go to work, if I may ask?"
"Certainly," said the inspector. "To begin with--method. That's what I always say--method!"
"Ah!" cried the other. "That, too is my watchword. Method, order, and the little gray cells."
"The cells?" said the inspector, staring.
"The little gray cells of the brain," explained the Belgian.
"Oh, of course; well, we all use them, I suppose."
"In a greater or a lesser degree," murmured Poirot. "And there are, too, differences in quality. Then there is the psychology of a crime. One must study that."
I spent some time on Agatha Christie's birthday, September 15, getting to know Hercule Poirot. My first introduction to this quirky little Belgian was in Murder on the Orient Express a few weeks ago, which only briefly acquainted me with his character. In The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, however, I got to know him well enough that I think I could, say, friend him on Facebook. I think he's got time for social networking--in this book he is retired from detective work and growing squash. Need I say more?
Luckily, he gets a reprieve from watching his garden grow, and becomes involved in solving the murder of a local gentlemen, Roger Ackroyd, in the village of King's Abbot. Ackroyd's love interest, the widow Mrs. Ferrars, has just died, and reveals in a letter to him that she poisoned her husband and is being blackmailed by someone. He is killed before it is revealed who the blackmailer is. There is a host of possible suspects, from the rakish yet handsome stepson to the nosy, nervous butler (but seriously, how likely is it that "the butler did it?" That has to have only worked maybe once). No worries though. There's nothing that the right method, the highest quality gray brain cells, and a keen grasp of human nature can't manage. Poirot proudly claims possession of all three, and a nifty little mustache to boot.
The story of the crime and those who may be involved is told by Dr. Sheppard, a sort of a Watson wanna-be, joining Poirot as a sidekick to find out who killed Ackroyd. When he's not drily criticizing his sister Caroline's inclination to gossip, he manages to make some rather interesting suppositions about others. After accidentally getting pelted by one of Poirot's beloved squash, the doctor tries to find out what his new neighbor Poirot did for a living before retiring. Poirot says:
"And mark you, monsieur, my work was interesting work. The most interesting work there is in the world."
"Yes?" I said encouragingly. For the moment the spirit of Caroline was strong within me.
"The study of human nature, monsieur!"
"Just so," I said kindly. Clearly a retired hairdresser. Who knows the secrets of human nature better than a hairdresser?"
That gave me a laugh! Other observations are made through Sheppard, some of a more offensive nature. In my modern mind, I couldn't help but ponder--was Christie embracing stereotypes or making fun of those who embrace them? I know it was probably the former, considering the time the book was written, but for entertainment's sake, I will pretend to the latter. It made me smile instead of cringe. I'm not sure such self-delusion is possible in her other works, which have a reputation for such stereotyping. It just happened to work with this one.
This being a mystery, there's always the question--did I figure out whodunit? Well, sometimes the answer to that question can give too much away. So I won't say. One mystery I still need to solve is how to say Poirot's name. When I attempt it, my lips make sort of a dorky kissing shape and I feel like I'm going to drool. Still, I'd like to get to know Hercule even better, by reading more, watching adaptations (then I might get the pronunciation of his name right), and maybe creating a connection with him by planting some zucchini. No mustache for me, though. At least not until I hit menopause anyway.
Posted by Shelley at 4:29 PM
Samantha 1020 November 18, 2012 at 7:49 PM
I love reading Agatha Christie's book and really enjoyed this one. Have you read And Then There Were None by her??? I highly recommend it if you haven't as it is one of my favorites :)
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Jenny November 18, 2012 at 7:49 PM
I've always said it pwaROH, but now I'm nervous that I'm doing it wrong! :p
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I have never read an Agatha Christie novel. This sounds really great and I need to pick one up. I do happen to love Murder, She Wrote, so I know I would love her books.
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Kailana November 18, 2012 at 7:49 PM
I can't believe I have never read Agatha Christie before... I must remedy that one of these days.
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Priya November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
It's been such a long time since I read a Hercule Poirot mystery and I used to love those (I never liked Sherlock Holmes and Poirot always seemed to me like a realistic version of Holmes!) For a long time I just avoided pronouncing 'Poirot', even in my head, till finally someone told me it was French and went kind of like 'pwa-ro'; but I'm not sure if that's correct (I still sort of avoid saying it!)
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Alex (The Sleepless Reader) November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
People are always surprised that I've only read 2 Agatha Christies - but I did see all the movies/series around! This is a classic and since I've moved to Belgium it became even more imperative that I read it, but somehow, it's still on the TBR...
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Nan November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
What a fantastic review! I so enjoyed reading it. This book is the only one of Agatha's (so far, at least) that I simply could not finish. Maybe because I had heard too often who the killer was. Pwarow is how I say it. But I actually have more fun with the first name, not pronouncing the H. :<)
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Jenny, I'm sure you probably have it right, but it's still hard for me to say. I have a small mouth, maybe that's the issue, ha ha!
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Oh my goodness! I haven't seen Murder, She Wrote in ages! I'll have to see if I can find a way to watch an episode or two.
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Yes I have read And Then There Were None (actually I listened to it) and I loved it.
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
One great thing about her books is that they are short, so they are great to sneak in between some heavier or longer books. Like a little snack :)
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
Priya,
I wonder if they've ever paired up Holmes and Poirot in some way in a book or a movie? That would be kind of entertaining. In my head I just kept thinking "HP" but then it just made me think of Harry Potter. The first name gives me trouble too.
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
It sounds like you're doing your part as a resident of Belgium just fine, lol! Now if you hadn't read or seen anything, maybe you'd get kicked out or something. We all have those imperative TBR selections, don't we?
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ShelleyBookClutter November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
I had no prior knowledge about the book, which was a great way to go into this one. Even with everyone's advice on his name, I'm still drooling a bit when I say it...
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jennygirl73 November 18, 2012 at 7:50 PM
I haven't read many of Christie's works, sorry to say, but I'll keep your excellent review in mind when I do get it.
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We’ve all seen the hype: “We’ll put your plan in front of thousands of investors!” “We’ll write you an award-winning online business plan!” “Only $3,000 for thousands of investors to learn about your company!”
I cringe every time I see one of these ads. Vultures are preying on honest business people who want to fund their businesses. Here are some ways to spot them:
“Only qualified investors see your business plan.” Yeah, sure. And who “qualifies” them? Have a friend try to sign up as an investor (that part is usually free). How is she “qualified”? Is there a background check? Does she submit a financial statement? Odds are that she will be asked to do nothing more than sign a statement that she has a certain net worth. That’s no “qualification” in my book. So who are these “investors”? Who knows. One could be your strongest competitor.
“You approve anyone who sees your business plan.” Okay. So what are you going to do to qualify the potential investor? Are you going to run a background check? ask for ID? ask for tax returns? or just be so happy that anyone wants to see your business plan that you jump on the idea? (That’s how these scams get away with charging thousands of dollars — too many entrepreneurs are desperate for funding.)
“It’s only $500 (or $300 or $100) to register.” What does it matter if it’s free? If it is diverting your time and energy and resources away from finding a viable investor, it’s not worth it.
“Your idea is great, but we need to put it into our format. This will only cost $800.” Don’t walk — run from these guys.
“Your idea is so great that we want to invest $2,000 in it.” (That’s after you spend $5,000 to put it into “their” system.) Do I really need to comment on this?
“Talk with a satisfied customer, or 2 or 3.” Here’s this entrepreneur who just got $2 million in funding, and he has nothing better to do than sell the web scam to you? Trust me, entrepreneurs who just get funded barely have time to eat, let alone talk.
“Look at all these written testimonials.” This is harder to disprove because the testimonials look so real — even the companies might be real. But unless the testimonials, and the companies, can be verified independently, I wouldn’t trust them. And I’ll lay odds that they cannot be verified independently.
There is one huge exception to this: ACE-Net (http://activecapital.org). This is more properly the Access to Capital Electronic Network run by venture capitalists, institutional investors and individual accredited investors. It was developed by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy to encourage the creation of a national marketplace for investors to find and invest in equity offers by small companies.
ACE-Net isn’t for all companies. Those seeking under $1 million will probably find the paperwork daunting. Those seeking over $5 million won’t qualify. There are special qualifications, and of course lots of forms to fill out — but nothing like the forms required for a formal initial public offering.
But for those who do qualify, it’s an amazing tool in raising financing. Spend some time with the website and the forms, and see if your local SBA office can put you in touch with another company that went through the process.
As with any investor tool, don’t rely exclusively on ACE-Net. Use it in conjunction with your personally developed targeted funding search. This, combined with an exceptional business plan, doesn’t guarantee success but it places your company head and shoulders above all the rest.
The goal here is simple. Adding value to one’s own self. Enjoy our blogs and do leave a comment and share if you like.
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Rivian is expanding its Open House event across major metropolitan areas in the United States, giving people the opportunity to have an up-close look at the company’s all-electric R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV.
Reservation holders and interested buyers were sent email notifications of the upcoming series of events in the US.
As Rivian gears up for production of its R1T, coming later this year, the company continues to hold a number of Open House events in several cities across the U.S. Most recently, Rivian showcased the R1T and R1S SUV in Tesla’s backyard in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Rivian will be visiting Miami, Florida in April, New York City, New York, and Los Angeles, California in May, Boulder, Colorado in June, Chicago, Illinois in July, and Detroit, Michigan in August. They also plan to expand on this list in the future by adding more stops to several other US cities.
The increase in stops on Rivian’s tour around the country is evidence of a marketing push the company is making to boost its potential impact on the growing electric vehicle industry. With Rivian’s recent stop in San Francisco, the company gave the impression that it is reaching out to Tesla owners and other EV veterans, a demographic that is already familiar with electric vehicles. The Rivian events allow anyone interested in the vehicles an opportunity to speak with some of the company’s executives such as CEO RJ Scaringe who has been present at a number of the events.
Past events have given those in attendance the first looks at new vehicle colors, as Rivian unveiled an electric blue paint job at its Seattle event. This gives owners three different color options, as silver and white R1T trucks were spotted in previous outings that the company was part of.
Rivian’s appeal to outdoor enthusiasts is backed by its vehicles’ specifications that include three feet of wading depth, 750 horsepower, and 400+ miles of range in its largest 180 kWh battery pack. They also have plenty of financial backing from some of the biggest companies in the world, like Amazon and Ford who have put their money where their mouths are and supported Rivian for the long haul.
When the R1T rolls off the production lines later this year, it will introduce a new era of the electric vehicle as it will be the first mass-produced battery-electric truck in the industry, beating fellow EV trucks like the Tesla Cybertruck and the electric Ford F-150 to market.
Rivian is bringing its R1T and R1S Open House tour to LA, Miami and other key US cities
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If you invest in the US markets, you would have heard about the 10-year treasury yield at some point. The treasury yield is nothing but the annual interest rate the US Government pays on its debt obligations (treasury bonds).
What are treasury bonds?
Governments, like companies, need to raise funds for different purposes; be it to pay off their debts or invest in infrastructure. One way for them to raise funds is to issue bonds that investors will purchase. Treasury bonds are bonds issued by the government. When you buy a treasury bond you are essentially loaning money to the government at a predetermined interest rate. In return, the government will pay you a fixed interest rate for a fixed duration. When the duration is over or when the bond matures, the principal is returned to you. US treasury bonds are issued by the US Federal Government. The maturity period of treasury bonds is typically between 10-30 years.
Since the they are issued by the US Federal Government, they are one of the safest instruments you can invest in. They are considered risk-free assets because there is no risk that the investor will lose their principal. Treasury bonds are AAA-rated securities and are safer than corporate bonds.
How to invest in US treasury bonds from India
Indian investors cannot invest directly in US treasury bonds. However, they may invest in US treasury bonds through publicly traded ETFs.
Treasury ETFs let investors gain passive exposure to US Government bonds. Treasury ETFs consist of a basket of treasury securities and may focus on a certain maturity or a range of maturities. These ETFs give you flexibility to trade them a stock exchange just like trading in stocks. Also, unlike treasury bonds, treasury ETFs do not expire. At a given point in time, a treasury ETF will have bonds that are at different stages of maturity. Treasury ETFs constantly rebalance their bond holdings by purchasing new bonds and they pay out interest in the form of a monthly dividend.
For example, the iShares 7-10 Years Treasury Bond ETF (IEF), seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of US treasury bonds with remaining maturities between seven and ten years. Similarly, the iShares 3-7 years Treasury Bond ETF (IEI) seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of US treasury bonds with remaining maturities between three to seven years. For the iShares 1-3 years treasury bond ETF (SHY), the corresponding period is between one and three years.
Things to keep in mind
While treasury ETFs come with certain advantages, there are a few things one needs to keep in mind. Since treasury ETFs do not mature, they do not offer similar protection for your investment amount as a treasury bond does. The underlying securities have no chance of defaulting, but investors are exposed to principal risk when investing in treasury ETFs.
However, treasury ETFs remain a good way for investors to build a diversified portfolio and hedge it against uncertain market conditions as it has a low correlation to equities.
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Prayers are with the family,Rodney is in a much better place as we all mourn of his loss here on earth. Peace and love to his family and friends
I am sorry I wasn't there to say goodbye my friend. You will always hold a special place in my heart even though you made my knuckles hurt when you played cards on the bus. ;-) I plant some flowers on your grave in remembrance of our friendship and our relationship of being cousins through marriage. Rest in peace buddy. I love you
Rodney will be missed forever!!! He has been a true friend to alot of people and has definately spread his good soul to people all around!! Love and miss u my friend!!!
Rodney was such a amazing friend. He could make anyone laugh.He would do anything for anyone.he is gonna be deeply missed!!My sympathy to all of you!!!
I am so sorry for your loss. Rodney was my best friend. We have been friends for a long time. He always worried about everyone else before himself. He was a great father and friend. He will be sadly missed. He was one of a kind.. Rodney go ride those golden highways. God Bless.
I was married to his cousin Abby. I am truly sorry for your loss and may God grant you Pease in this difficult time.
Sorry to hear of your loss. Rodney was a good man who loved his family. God Bless all of you
I went to school with Rodney my dad drove truck with him. my dearest sympathy goes out to his family
So sorry for your loss.i want to school with Rodney he was always a blast to be around he will be sorely missed Rest in peace brother
Rodney " Mad Dog" will be sadly missed by all of us. A true father, friend and racer. Always looked forward to his " driving tips" after the races and every conversation always led to the great times we had growing up together at the local tracks.
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How do moderate Republicans approach the 2024 presidential election? For those who are reluctant to vote for Donald Trump, what are the alternatives?
There is no shortage of potential GOP candidates, as noted in Max Greenwood’s survey in The Hill, with this headline, “The 10 Republicans most likely to run for president in 2024.”
What’s expected is that all, including former VP Mike Pence, will opt out if and when the GOP’s presumptive nominee posts a glitzy video of himself alongside his spouse, Melania, on a Trump Tower escalator, this time going upward.
These presidential hopefuls are already positioning themselves, making appearances at the early primary states or setting up political action committees to boost GOP candidates ahead of the 2020 midterm elections. Of course, all of them must cope with the tricky dynamics of being viable without upsetting their presumptive and vengeful leader. Should Trump opt out, it will be a messy primary with each of the wannabes targeting the MAGA base, pushing the party further to the right.
Republicans remain hopeful looking at 2024, given President Joe Biden’s poll numbers spiraling downward, his age, the COVID tsunami crippling the economy, and Democrats’ struggle to accomplish their agenda with slim margins in the Congress. At the same time, if Donald Trump becomes the GOP nominee in the next presidential election, a fragment of the party loyalists will likely face a daunting choice between fear about another Trump presidency and reluctance to vote for a Democrat.
Has Trumpism taken over the Republican Party, trashing its traditional values and beliefs championed by leaders such as Bob Dole, Ronald Reagan,and Mitt Romney? At a forum in Rochester, NY, I recently appeared alongside a former Republican Congressman who observed that “Donald Trump had hijacked the Republican Party.”
But where to turn?
Concerns about Trump led some prominent anti-Trump Republicans to set up the Lincoln Project in 2019. In The New Yorker, Paige Williams published an analysis highlighting the project’s influence on Republican politics, claiming that its attacks on Trump were splintering the party’s traditional base. It even dared to cross the line, formally endorsing Joe Biden for president in April 2020.
Beyond producing a number of anti-Trump TV ads and its leaders making regular appearances on cable network news programs, would the Lincoln Project make a difference as we approach the 2024 presidential election? A better path, in my view, is to transform the Project’s Political Action Committee into an independent third party, and then proceed with ground level operations to secure enough signatures to get on the ballots in key battleground states.
There’s a clear parallel to this suggestion. Back in 1992, Texas billionaire Ross Perot launched his candidacy by forming an independent party that placed his name alongside then President George H.W. Bush and the Democrat challenger, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton. Before the era of social media platforms, Perot built a national base among those who read his On Wings of Eagles and were inspired by his highly publicized rescuing of two U.S. citizens in Iran. He also had a populist message – strong opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement and pledge to reduce the national debt – that resonated nationally at the time.
On election night Perot won 18.9% of the popular vote, the highest share of the vote won by a candidate outside of the two major parties since Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party in 1912. Perot’s gambit had a riveting effect on the Bush candidacy, with Perot taking votes away from him in key states.
George H.W. Bush was one of just two incumbent presidents (besides Jimmy Carter in 1980) since World War II to lose a re-election campaign. While Perot did not win a single electoral vote, he certainly had an impact on the outcome — Clinton flipped a total of 22 states that had previously voted Republican in 1988.
The Lincoln Project could charter an independent party and get it on the ballot in key states, but the obvious question is who would be on the ticket. One suggestion would be the pair of Rep. Liz Cheney and former Ohio Gov. Robert Kasich. Both have credentials and the guts to refute Trump’s claims of election fraud and authoritarian rule. Their focus would be on true GOP policies and issues that would offer an alternative for the disheartened Republicans who will be casting ballots in the 2024 presidential election.
Liz Cheney’s latest public comment sounded the alarm for many fellow Republicans: “Donald Trump can never be anywhere near the oval office again.” The ousted former president will likely end Cheney’s career in the U. S. House of Representatives, but she may be the one who foils Trump’s return to the White House ever again.
Don Bonker is a former Member of Congress from Washington’s Third District and former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Trade. He now lives on Bainbridge Island and consults on international trade issues.
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Chris Vance January 5, 2022 At 8:13 am
We should talk!
Don Bonker January 5, 2022 At 8:51 am
phil Lofurno January 5, 2022 At 8:35 am
Don, the best thing that Republicans can do for the Democrats is to adhere to your suggestion.
Rather than split the party work on Congressional and Senate races, and cede the Oval Office to the Biden campaign, letting the Trump era die of natural causes.
Tom Corddry January 5, 2022 At 8:55 am
The risk, of course, is that such a third party would attract enough Republican voters who would otherwise have voted for Biden to deliver the election to Trump. To minimize that risk, a third party should run to the right of Trump, trying to suck enough MAGA votes away to help Biden (or whoever is the Dem nominee) in battleground states. A Kasich/Cheney ticket might give Never Trump Republicans a comforting option to spare them the agony of having to vote for a Democrat in their order to avoid voting for Trump, but end up with exactly the outcome they wish to avoid. If this is really about preventing Trump’s return to office tomorrow need candidates who would draw away many more Trump-, leaning voters than possible Biden voters. A tricky problem.
Steve Murch January 5, 2022 At 10:07 am
The best hope remains that the physical health of Trump himself won’t allow a run, or criminal prosecution, and that DeSantis becomes the nominee. DeSantis would absolutely be able to unite both populist right voters and centrist conservatives, and carry a whole lot of centrist liberals as well.
As for party split, though it won’t happen, I’d argue we actually have four different major political bases in the nation: Progressive-Socialist Left, Centrist Liberal, Centrist Conservatives and Populist-Nationalist Right.
phil Lofurno January 5, 2022 At 10:55 am
phil January 5, 2022 At 10:56 am
Better known as Independents
Glycine Bienne January 5, 2022 At 10:55 am
Disaffected Republicans is not a phenomenon.Disaffected Democrats, however, is!
‘Projection’ is as ‘projection’ does, attempting to make this projection on the center-right is too lame. Clearly, the Left views the world through an ideological prism as well as a mirror but accusing others of the very things they’re doing is simply vile.
Lastly, Kasich/Cheney does not represent the mood of the county (more projection).
Clair Enlow January 5, 2022 At 11:03 am
The party split years ago. This is the best idea I’ve read to reintroduce sanity in and balance in national politics.
David Brewster January 5, 2022 At 2:32 pm
I agree that the Bonker Plan could help re-elect Trump. Its virtue is rather that it makes a broad pitch for a new GOP and elevates some political figures to prominence. Both Cheney and Kasich are old mavericks, rather than new lights.
Don Bonker January 5, 2022 At 3:39 pm
Thanks, David, — topic worthy of discussion. Any hint the idea would favor Trump, I definitely would not submit. I did not mention Ralph Nader, one of his 4 bids was in 2000. No question a party spoiler, contributing to Gore’s defeat. In Florida, Bush beat Gore by 537 votes. Nader got 97,42, no doubt at Gore’s expense. Nader’s stated purpose for filing, “a crisis in democracy.” Sounds familiar today. Cheney or Kasich my preference, but the door is open should this be an option. Appreciate the comments.
Donn Cave January 5, 2022 At 4:35 pm
Need a billionaire candidate like Perot. Some dead end politician like Cheney may volunteer to run in a 3rd party candidacy that can’t win, but she’d have to fund the campaign – money spent on a 3rd party is a poor investment for anyone else.
Jim Luce January 5, 2022 At 9:42 pm
Good analysis Don. But totally unrealistic and Trump wins, if he runs, and unless things change dramatically.
Don Bonker January 7, 2022 At 7:11 am
Appreciate comments, even contrary views. Picking Tom Corddry to respond, several points:
A 2024 3rd party may attract Republican voters who would otherwise go for Biden. Highly unlikely. Not independents who have that option but GOP loyalist who can’t stomach Trump but voting Demo is a political sin (as evangelicals). Definitely benefit Biden.
.Suggest that 3rd party to the right of Trump would “suck enough MAGA votes” that will help Biden. We know Trump created and owns MAGA. No way will they abandon or betray their autocrat leader (except vaccine issue).
Kasich/Cheney ticket may offer to never Trump voters a comforting option, but need candidates who can draw away many more Trump-leaning voters. A valid point
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Good things can help with grief but god cannot. He does not exist and if he does he let it happen. A lie to omnipotence and omniscience and in fact proof of the logical fallacy. If he saw it coming and was correct then he was powerless to stop it because it leads to a paradox.
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Emily Anne Carson December 15, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Thanks for your comments, Mike, PJ, and Gilbert.
Gilbert, I am an advocate of process theology - which does not assert God's omnipotence or omniscience. Instead, process theology upholds the understanding of a God who journeys right along with us (not a puppeteer). I imagine God to be constantly creating new possibilities with each choice and decision that humans make.
In the midst of tragedies like these, we all view the world from different perspectives. I'm glad we have that freedom. There is much that human beings don't agree on, but we can all do what we can to create a healthier, safer, more compassionate world. Atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Christian, or any other faith - it's a goal that I believe all can share.
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The core team at CounterStrike are Ian and Richard Lawrence and John Lansdowne. This unit provides the foundation for every project and we bring in specialist consultants to advise on a project by project basis. This flexibility allows us to get the right people working to help every business and the core personnel allow us to build a business relationship with clients that promotes good ideas and fast implementation.
CEO
Richard was the Operations Officer of Task Force Helmand in Afghanistan at the height of the campaign against the Taliban. On leaving the Army, he sought ways to bring his experience and knowledge to business to increase performance. This process included becoming an award-winning salesman and then sales trainer and being asked to consult and train managers. Richard designs and delivers our bespoke training courses and is in demand as a keynote speaker and media personality. His book 'Awakening The Warrior' was published in early 2018 to critical acclaim.
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For two decades John worked for some of the UK’s leading FTSE 100 and 250 tech companies. With extensive experience in relationship management, sales and customer engagement, John is able to shape the CounterStrike strategy using the diverse range of skills he brings from the corporate world. He is committed to understanding who CounterStrike can help most and how he can make a difference to the mindset and abilities of the teams and individuals that CounterStrike works with. John and CEO Richard have been training partners in martial arts for many years and bring that spirit of cooperation and personal development to every project.
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Ian has decades of experience in helping firms of all kinds to radically increase sales and turnover. From such extensive and varied experience across the sales, manufacturing, retail and service industries, Ian has the clarity of vision to identify the most profitable courses of action to take. With this history of proven results, Ian’s creative input and practical methods of implementation can transform business and drive sales growth to new levels. From pioneering sales and marketing techniques in the late sixties, to running successful business of his own and helping others to excel, Ian’s wisdom and ideas continue to generate growth and profit in the contemporary marketplace.
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(JTA) — As the Jewish new year was coming to a close Tuesday afternoon, Mexican Authorities raided a compound on the outskirts of Tapachula, a city on Mexico’s pacific coast about six miles from the Guatemalan border.
There they arrested 26 members of the Lev Tahor Hasidic sect, which has widely been considered a cult around the world.
The members, including a leader, Menachem Endel Alter, were arrested on charges of being part of a criminal organization, along with human trafficking, the Associated Press reported.
The group, whose name means “pure heart” in Hebrew, was founded...
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US lawmakers urge world leaders to terminate anti-Israel UN bodies
Anti-Defamation League acquires Jewish investment watchdog to fight threats to Israel on Wall Street
Israeli NGO: The Palestinians are stealing Area C; Massive illegal construction is creating facts on the ground in Judea and Samaria
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If you're reading this post it's fair to say you may have either been banned from a bookmaker for winning too much, or had your account limited. If you're not aware of this happening, then a quick Google search will present you with many stories of people having accounts closed or reduced to only being able to bet with pennies for simply being too damn good at betting.
They don't tell you that on the TV adverts do they!?
I've been banned from most well known online bookmakers, and had my account limited with the majority of the remainder for either winning large amounts, or just too regularly.
With only a handful of bookies remaining that I've spread my wins and losses to keep the accounts active, these will still let me login and place a bet with max stakes.
I genuinely appreciate Betfair for what it brought to the industry with the exchange, allowing people to bet against each other, taking a commission only when you win, meaning you will never be banned for winning too much or too often betting or trading on the exchange.
Betfair did join the bandwagon by adding a sportsbook, and if betting using this part of their website and winning too much then expect your Betfair betting account to be limited.
There is a section of Betfair that is rarely visited or even known about by most users of the site, and you can create multiple bets that win every day without any restrictions applying.
It's called BSP Multiples, you can find out more about how to locate it and place bets using it from the video I posted on You Tube some time ago at the base of this blog.
So, did you know that the maximum payout in a day using the BSP Multiples section of the Betfair exchange is 1 million pounds?
I'm not sure if this is the ceiling for the exchange as a whole per day, but I had it confirmed as you can hear on the call below that it is for the BSP Multiples.
The BSP Multiples is something I use regularly each week with my Dutch betting systems, the One Dutch and Value Dutch Bet utilize the BSP Multiple features to combine many horses from different races in to one multiple bet.
I understand the BSP Multiple section is based on the exchange, but somehow linked in to the sportsbook with the way the algorithm calculates everything.
With this in mind I thought I should check with Betfair directly to see if I was to win a million pounds a day hypothetically, or in fact just keeping winning and growing the bank as I'm doing at present using BSP Multiples, albeit far from a million a day, would I in fact be banned or have my account limited.
The customer service agent didn't know and had to check with her manager, but did in fact confirm that I would not be limited as with the sportsbook if I kept winning. When using BSP Multiples and taking the maximum payout of 1 million pounds per day, I could in fact do this every 24 hours.
When I informed her the call was recorded and asked if I could use this information in my blog and the call, she did in fact put me on hold for a long time to double check this information, and came back confirming no limit would be placed and the 1 million a day was the max payout. Also, that I could use the information and call.
Although, her tone instantly changed with me, and I don't think she liked me very much from this point.
It is a useful fact to know that you can build your staking up to a level where your max payout is 1 million pounds per day.
This is if your return was higher than your stake of course, if you're betting and the return is less than evens, you could not bet a million, as stated the max payout is a million including the amount you stake.
The bet slip would not let you place a bet at this level, it would auto adjust the return and alert you.
Let's be realistic though, to be able to return a profit in the thousands per day using a platform such as Betfair with a winning betting system, and not have to worry about having your account limited or closed is still amazing.
Let's listen to the call.
I chopped out the wait times and a few bits where the Betfair agent said the line dropped and I had to repeat myself, but all the important stuff confirming no limitations would be placed if making a daily profit are included.
https://soundcloud.com/zerohype/how-to-make-a-million-pounds-a-day-sports-betting
The call was awkward for me, I didn't enjoy it, and was just trying to get a straight answer.
The line kept dropping which I cut most of this out, which made the whole thing much more difficult than it needed to be, but we got there in the end.
As stated, I've been using BSP Multiples for years to place my Dutch bets, and never had any issues with winning virtually every day.
The BSP Multiples used to contain football betting, correct score and match odds, and you could even create lay betting multiples for the football bets, but for some unknown reason they stopped all this.
BSP Multiples is kind of the forgotten section of Betfair, and most people would not even know it exists.
In fact, when members sign up for my Dutch betting service typically I receive a lot of questions about using it, hence why I posted a video on You Tube and the Dutch betting page about using it.
I'd say approximately 5% of the year it will fail to work due to website updates, or the Betfair traders not loading the markets in the morning.
From what I've heard the originator of this section was originally hailed for his efforts, putting in a lot of work to develop a very clever service, but has since left and it's been a tad neglected.
That said, I don't think it's going anywhere soon and all my best efforts to get inside information about this have all come back positive.
To the best of my knowledge it is here to stay, and there is quite literally nothing else like the BSP Multiple section.
It's the only service I'm aware that allows you to place multiple horses from different races into one combined odds bet, ie a double, treble, fourfold etc, all the way up to an eight fold.
This is in fact truly brilliant and incredibly useful, so long may this continue.
Maybe one day that will plan to expand it, maintain it better, and add more features. I'd suggest contacting Betfair to let them know how good it is if I thought they would listen, or even have a firm contact that could escalate your feedback in a useful format, but with so many layers to go through I wouldn't know if this would be worthwhile, or even detrimental to the existence of the BSP Multiples.
To have a Dutch multiple placed at SP odds from the Betfair exchange with the stake per horse automatically calculated, commission deducted etc is a such a useful feature. If a none runner occurs it auto calculates the Dutch bet, with no need to get involved or re adjust your bet, it's all done for you which is genius really.
Not only this, you do get a combined multiple odds return which is actually pretty good and adds up nicely over time. The bets for my Dutching service can be placed as singles, but it works very well for the One Dutch and Value Dutch bet to have this feature.
I now include Dutch Single bets straight to the exchange, which I automate using a betting bot called Fairbot.
The reason for this is I'm the eternal pessimist thinking I'll wake up one day for find BSP Multiples pulled, as I did when the football section was taken down, but for now let's enjoy this unique facility for as long as it exists.
As using BSP Multiples we will not be banned or have our accounts limited.
If they ever decided to develop this section of the site, I'd also like the place market multiple betting for horses to be added, and if they brought back football BSP Multiple betting that would be stunning.
For more information on Dutch Multiples which is a horse racing Dutching service I provide that uses BSP Multiples, please get in touch any time, [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
The video below shows how to locate and place the BSP Multiples:
BetTrader from RacingTraders.co.uk was the 1st Betfair trading application and after 15 years more traders still join every day! Find out why with no credit card needed. The Trader. Watch the JuiceStorm bot in timelapse action trading to a profit on the Betfair UK and Irish horse racing markets. More about the original Charity Challenge here ... The next piece of Betfair trading software for us to look at is called Cymatic Trader. This is a trading bot that lets you automate the process for better results. It is a good all-rounder that was created in 2007 by a man called Gavin Porter. With it, you can set trade and bet parameters to meet your requirements very easily. Hi Caan, great article again. I’ve been writing a few scripts to automatically trade for a little over a year and I officially turned my ‘bot’ on 11 months ago today, I’m pleased to say that it has been largely successful and despite a couple of hic-ups and a lot of refining it has turned £30 into £2600(ish). The Betfair software works on Windows but there isn’t a native version for Mac users yet. The Results. We were surprised by the high standards of all the Betfair trading software we reviewed. You can’t go wrong by picking any of the choices. They are all quick and will greatly improve your trading. The Basics of Betfair Trading. In June 2000, two entrepreneurs, Andrew Black and Edward Wray, launched a website called Betfair. It was to mimic the stock market, but with one small difference; the commodities for sale weren’t copper, coffee or coal.
Auto-trading many Betfair markets at the same time
In this video I show you how I dutch the four favourites in a horse race and also hedge my bet if one of the favourites does not come in. This is all done on... Trading on Betfair - Automated bot trading on horse racing - Duration: 8:59. betangeltv 43,337 views. 8:59. 95% Winning Forex Trading Formula - Beat The Market Maker - Duration: 37:53. Auto Back - This Feature allows you to set at what time in-play you want the bot to start looking to place a back bet.After reaching the time trigger the bot will wait until there are only 6 ... http://www.bashthebookies.net/recommends/fairbot Automate your Betfair Exchange Betting with Fairbot! You set the rules, it makes the bets.. A scalp trading bot on betfair, based on a custom strategy. We can make your private strategy idea into a custom bot! If you have a specific well-defined strategy idea, write us an email to ...
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The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) traces its roots to the 1859 founding of the Medical College of Alabama and the 1936 opening of the Birmingham Extension Center of the University of Alabama. In 1945 the Medical College of Alabama was moved from Tuscaloosa and the University's Medical Center was founded in Birmingham. In 1954 the Extension Center was moved to a newly constructed facility adjacent to the Medical Center, bringing together for the first time the University's two academic components in Birmingham. Later, in November of 1966, the Extension Center and the Medical Center were administratively merged to form the "University of Alabama in Birmingham," an organizational component of the University of Alabama (in Tuscaloosa). In 1969 UAB became an independent institution, one of the autonomous universities within the newly created three-campus University of Alabama System.
Today, UAB is a comprehensive urban university with a nationally recognized academic health center. UAB is the only public, four-year degree granting university in the state's largest metropolitan area. UAB is the largest research institution in the state of Alabama and is the largest single employer in the state.
A comprehensive chronology of the history of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its predecessor entities is found below. Underlined and bolded items in this list may be selected to see portraits or photographs about the specific person or event.
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January 30, 1970: A groundbreaking ceremony was held for a new three-building campus for the College of General Studies. This ceremony heralded a campus expansion westward from the Medical Center footprint.
January 1970: UAB received acceptance as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) school.
February 11, 1970: The first meeting was held for the newly elected senate of the College of General Studies. The 39-member College Senate included elected faculty, staff, and students as well as administrators appointed by the dean.
February 19, 1970: Golf, the first intercollegiate sports team at UAB, opened its initial season in a match with Tulane University.
February 1970: Richard W. Jackson appointed first director of security at UAB.
March 26, 1970: Dr. Sidney B. Finn delivered the seventh Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "In Pursuit of the Elusive."
March 1970: Because of the completion of the new exit ramp to the interstate, the City of Birmingham eliminated parallel parking along Eighth Avenue South [University Boulevard].
March 1970: The Greater Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP) held its first meeting with over 50 attendees. The group was headquartered at UAB in the Baptist Student Union building at 807 South 20th Street [Cullom Apartments]. Dr. Marshall Brewer, a surgery resident, was first president and Henry H. Stebbins, Jr., was executive director of GASP.
April 16-17, 1970: Officials with the US Dept of Health, Education and Welfare toured UAB to review the university’s compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While HEW made a few suggestions for administrative improvements, the university was noted for its progress.
April 1970: South Wing of University Hospital opened.
May 1, 1970: Dr. Samuel B. Barker became first dean of the newly established UAB Graduate School.
May 8, 1970: Several hundred students and faculty members held a protest in front of the College of General Studies Building in sympathy for Kent State.
May 16, 1970: The first social sorority, Alpha Sigma Tau, was formally established at UAB as Beta Zeta chapter.
May 17, 1970: The Ellen Gregg Ingalls Eye Research Institute was dedicated adjoining the Eye Foundation Hospital.
June 7, 1970: In a commencement ceremony held at the Birmingham Municipal Auditorium, UAB awarded its first degrees as an autonomous university. At this first graduation, 478 students received degress from the new university. Dr. Joseph F. Volker, UAB president, received the first honorary degree. Ronald T. Acton received a Ph.D. in Microbiology, becoming the first person to receive a degree from UAB. Ellen Clyde Cook received a degree in Microbiology, the first master's degree awarded. The first bachelor's degree was awarded to Charlene Powell Ackerson from the School of Nursing.
June 7, 1970: Richard Charles Dale and Samuel William Sullivan, Jr., became the first African American graduates of the School of Medicine.
June 14, 1970: The Psychiatric Day Treatment Center was dedicated.
June 14, 1970: Comprehensive Community Mental Health Center established in the Department of Psychiatry.
June 30, 1970: Dr. Florence A. Hixson retired as first dean of the School of Nursing.
July 1, 1970: Dr. Marie L. O'Koren became the second dean of the School of Nursing.
July 1, 1970: Ground was broken for the Diabetes Research and Education Hospital.
July 1, 1970: Dr. Paul H. Spence became librarian of the College of General Studies.
July 13, 1970: Faculty member James F. Hatcher, Jr., and the Alabama Ballet, then an administrative unit of UAB, left for a five-week tour of Europe where the company performed "Repertory 1970" in Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
July 1970: Dr. John B. Dunbar became the first vice president for Student and Community Affairs.
July 1970: A groundbreaking cremony was held for the Physical Sciences Building.
August 29, 1970: UAB’s second commencement ceremony was held in the Exhibition Hall at the Birmingham Municipal Auditorium for 173 graduates, including 59 who received advanced degrees.
September 1970: The University of Alabama Board of Trustees held the first board meeting at the newly independent UAB. The Board approved a $91 million system-wide budget for the three universities, over $53.7 million (59%) of the total budget was for UAB. The Board also approved the recommendation of President Joseph F. Volker that UAB’s school colors would be green and gold.
September 1970: The first three African American students matriculated in the School of Dentistry.
September 1970: Total student enrollment for the fall term in all schools for the second year of classes of the new UAB was 6,629, with 2,724 females.
September 1970: Dean Henry B. Peters announced the appointment of the first academic faculty for the one-year old School of Optometry. The inaugural faculty were Drs. Steven S. Bates, Benjamin V. Graham, Thomas S. Greenspon, Kenton E. Kerr, Randall T. Jose, Dolphus B. Mitchell, Clyde W. Oyster, John R. Pierce, Kenneth A. Polse, William R. Rosenblum, and Ellen Shizuko Takahashi.
October 13, 1970: An organizational meeting was held for the Black Affairs Committee of the Student Government Association (SGA). The SGA president had appointed Helen Thedford as chair of the new committee at the start of the fall term.
October 1970: Jean-Paul Sartre’s “No Exit” was performed by UAB students, the first time that students had taken complete responsibility for a theatrical production. Speech and Theatre faculty member Dr. Ward Haarbauer directed the production at the Clark Memorial Theatre; the show opened October 30.
December 1970: The first Ph.D. program, biology, was approved for the College of General Studies.
1970: Dr. J. Durwood Bradley was named full-time chief-of-staff at University Hospital.
1970: A master's degree in Business Administration was initiated in the Division of Business, the first graduate program to begin in the College of General Studies.
1970: The UAB Burn Center was established with Dr. Alan R. Dimick as director.
1970: During the fall term, the Student Government Association (SGA) opened the "Nothin' But," a coffee shop located in the basement of the Engineering Building. The SGA operated the coffee shop until it was closed in the winter of 1972.
1970: The Graduate Student Association was chartered.
1970: The Afro-American Association was approved as an official student organization. Prince C. Chambliss, Jr., was the group's first president.
1970: The UAB student theatre group began in the fall as a means to offer students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to work in performance and technical capacities. It 1972 it would officially be renamed as UAB Commedia.
1970: Dr. John R. Durant established the Cancer Research and Training Center, later designated as the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center.
1970: The Regional Technical Institute for Health Occupations opened.
January 15, 1971: Dr. Keith D. Blayney became dean of the School of Community and Allied Health Resources.
January 15, 1971: James E. Moon became administrator of University Hospital.
March 8, 1971: Dr. Walter B. Frommeyer delivered the eighth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "A Physician's Prayer."
March 11, 1971: The Center for Developmental and Learning Disorders was named in honor of former Alabama governor Chauncey Sparks.
April 14, 1971: A National Honor Society chapter was first organized at the College of General Studies.
May 14, 1971: The 55-member UAB Chorus presented its first public performance in the auditorium of the Engineering Building. Roy Wood was choral director.
May 16, 1971: Eastern Annex of Ullman High School was rededicated as the Bell Building in honor of George C. Bell, the former principal of the Ullman High School.
May 29, 1971: John T. Oliver, Jr., was elected to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. He was the first trustee elected following the establishment of UAB and the three-campus University of Alabama System.
May 1971: A groundbreaking ceremony was held for a classroom for the humanities (Humanities Building) and a library (Sterne Library).
May 1971: Bracie Watson, Jr., a senior in health physics and a biology major, became the first African American elected president of the UAB student government association.
June 5, 1971: Dr. Bengt E. Gustafson, a noted scientist from Sweden, received the honorary Doctor of Science degree, the second honorary degree awarded by UAB. Dr. Gustafson had a long-standing association with the medical and dental schools at UAB.
June 1971: Six students received their Bachelor of Science degrees in Physiological Optics becoming the first graduates of the School of Optometry.
August 1, 1971: Effective on this date, the College of General Studies was reorganized as University College, an academic entity consisting of four academic schools: Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, and Engineering. Dr. George W. Campbell was named as the interim Vice President for University College.
August 4, 1971: Dr. Frederick W. Conner was named interim dean of the new School of Arts and Sciences; the school was abolished two years later.
August 1971: The former Ullman High School was rededicated as UAB's Ullman Building, a facility comprised by the original 1901 school building and the school's 1955 addition.
August 1971: Geraldine W. Bell became the first African American member of the faculty of the University College Library (later the Mervyn H. Sterne Library), receiving the appointment of instructor and reference bibliographer.
September 1, 1971: Ballet House opened in the renovated Second Presbyterian Church building on 10th Avenue South.
September 1, 1971: Stevan Grebel became first director of UAB's ballet program; his wife, Melanie Mihalic Grebel, became assistant to the director.
September 18, 1971: Dr. Fain A. Guthrie became first dean of the School of Education after serving as interim dean for one month.
September 1971: Dr. Jerry D. Young became first dean of the School of Business.
October 6, 1971: The Rebel and Sophie Zeigler Medical Research Building was dedicated.
October 19, 1971: The Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences was dedicated and named in honor of Alabama's long-time former Senator Lister Hill.
October 19, 1971: Sarah Cole Brown, who had served as chief librarian since 1955, became first director of the new Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.
November 19, 1971: Kemmons Wilson, founder and chairman of the Board of Holiday Inns, presented the first Carri-Don Lecture in the School of Business. The school's first endowed lectureship had been established earlier in the year with a donation from Don and Carrie Marshall of Birmingham.
December 1971: Dr. Joseph Appleton was named first dean of the School of Engineering after having served as interim dean since August.
1971: UAB's central administrative offices opened in the 7-11 Building.
1971: UAB was accredited as an independent institution of higher education by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
February 1972: Pi Kappa Alpha was chartered as the first social fraternity at UAB. The local Eta Xi chapter had been established as a social club in 1970.
April 8, 1972: Yetta G. Samford, Jr., was elected to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
April 17, 1972: Dr. Charles A. McCallum, Jr., delivered the ninth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "The Challenge of Service."
June 4, 1972: Virginia Baxley, long-time registrar of the medical school, became the first female awarded an honorary degree by UAB. She received the honorary Master of Arts degree.
June 4, 1972: Walter Jackson received a BS in General Engineering, becoming the first African American graduate of the School of Engineering.
June 1972: UAB Regional Spinal Cord Injury Care System was established with Dr. John M. Miller, III, as director.
August 1972: Dr. George W. Campbell was named first vice president for University College after serving as interim vice president since August of 1971.
September 9, 1972: The Psychiatric Day Treatment Center was renamed in honor of benefactor William P. Engel.
September 24, 1972: Dr. Dalton E. McFarland received appointment as UAB’s first “University Professor,” a position designed to cross all school and departmental lines. His faculty appointment was in the School of Business.
September 1972: University Hospital Outpatient Services Clinic was closed.
October 1972: Mercy Hospital opened.
December 1, 1972: A symbolic groundbreaking was held for the School of Optometry Building.
1972: The Extension Library of Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences opened in the Hillman Hospital building.
1972: Offices for the UAB Graduate School moved into a renovated building at 1016 South 15th Street.
1972: The UAB Center for Labor Education and Research was established. Dr. Higdon C. Roberts, Jr., was the center's founding director.
1972: Air Force ROTC first became available to undergraduate students through a cooperative program with Samford University.
1972: By vote of faculty and students, the UAB student theater was officially renamed as UAB Commedia. The first production of the newly renamed program was Martin Duberman’s play “In White America.”
1972: UAB Police Department formally organized. Thomas C. Seals became the first Chief of Police.
1972: Payroll for UAB's 6,000 employees topped $50 million.
March 7-8, 1973: The Diabetes Research and Education Building was dedicated in the Medical Center as the nation's first public, university-affiliated diabetes hospital.
March 27, 1973: Dr. J. Garber Galbraith delivered the tenth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Perspectives in Neurosurgery."
April 1973: The UAB School of Business became the youngest business school in the nation to be accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.
May 11, 1973: A tornado struck downtown Birmingham in the area of 6th Avenue North. While UAB was not in the storm's direct path, the university campus was affected by the Friday storm. A tree fell on a portion of the gymnasium at Ullman-Bell and several buildings had roof damage.
May 20, 1973: Dedication ceremonies were held for a new University College campus containing University College Building No. 1, University College Building No. 2, University College Building No. 3, and the university's new library.
June 4, 1973: Seven optometry students received the first O.D. degrees during UAB's commencement exercises; Neil M. Bleakley was the School's first doctoral graduate.
June 7, 1973: The School of Arts and Sciences was disestablished and its three divisions were elevated to three separate academic schools: Humanities, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Social and Behavioral Sciences.
June 7, 1973: Dr. Frederick W. Conner became first dean of the School of Humanities.
June 7, 1973: Dr. Roger W. Hanson became first dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
June 7, 1973: Dr. George E. Passey became first dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
July 1, 1973: Dr. James A. Pittman, Jr., became dean of the School of Medicine.
July 8, 1973: First patients were admitted to the Diabetes Research and Education Hospital.
September 1, 1973: Charles G. Jamerson was appointed to the faculty of the School of Business as an assistant professor in the Center for Labor Education and Research, becoming the first African American faculty member of the business school.
September 15, 1973: The University of Alabama Board of Trustees approved a resolution naming the University College Library as the Mervyn H. Sterne Library after the late Birmingham businessman and philanthropist Mervyn H. Sterne. A dedication ceremony would be held the following year.
October 1973: The Division of Special Studies was established to coordinate non-credit courses, workshops, seminars, and conferences. Dr. Rudolph Davidson was named director.
October 1973: Groundbreaking was held for the Physical Education Facility.
November 1973: The Friday after Thanksgiving first became an official UAB holiday.
December 7-9, 1973: The Diabetes Hospital was formally dedicated at UAB in two-day festivities at the medical center. The hospital, which occupied one floor of the Diabetes Research and Education Building, had opened for patients on the eighth of July.
1973: University Bookstore opened in former Utopia Cleaners building at 806 South 15th Street.
1973: University of Alabama Hospitals and Clinics was renamed The University of Alabama Hospitals.
1973: The Diabetes Research and Training Center was established with Dr. William J. Reddy as first director. This research center was located within the School of Medicine.
1973: UAB became Birmingham's second largest employer.
1973: The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation was established and incorporated as a not-for-profit, professional corporation.
1973: Dr. David M. Witten became the first president of The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation.
March 1974: Dr. Jerry D. Young became first vice president for Finance.
March 1974: Dr. John B. Dunbar became first vice president for Administration.
April 15, 1974: Dr. Elizabeth C. Crosby delivered the eleventh Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Our Curious Cortex." She was the first female lecturer.
April 1974: A symbolic groundbreaking was held for the Lurleen B. Wallace Cancer Hospital.
June 9, 1974: Catherine Steinmitz Amos received her O.D. degree becoming the School of Optometry's first female graduate.
June 9, 1974: Jimmie Walker, Jr., and Wilson Wright, Jr., became the first African American graduates of the School of Dentistry.
August 1, 1974: Groundbreaking was held for the Monday Morning Quarterback Tower.
September 24, 1974: The Edward M. Holmes, Jr., Pavilion of the Spain Rehabilitation Center was dedicated.
October 5, 1974: The Silver Anniversary Celebration of the UAB Town and Gown Theatre was the inaugural theatrical event held at the city’s new Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
November 1974: Physical Education Facility opened.
December 15, 1974: Patience Hodges Claybon became the first African American female graduate of the School of Medicine.
1974: The Veterans Administration Regional Medical Education Center established as one of only three such centers in the nation. Clyde G. Cox was the center's first director.
1974: Drs. Carl H. Miller and Conrad Merrill received full-time faculty appointments in the School of Nursing, the first male faculty members at the Birmingham nursing school. Dr. Miller was appointed professor of psychiatric nursing; Dr. Merrill was professor and the director of student services.
1974: University of Alabama Medical Center Foundation, a non-profit corporation, was renamed the UAB Medical and Educational Foundation.
1974: Dr. M. Gene Newport became second dean of the School of Business.
February 19, 1975: The University of Alabama Board of Trustees approved plans for UAB to establish a non-commercial, educational FM radio station for the campus.
February 1975: UAB celebrated Black History Week with a series of lectures, dances, and art shows. The weeklong celebration was sponsored by the University College Student Government Association.
April 20, 1975: Mercy Hospital was renamed Cooper Green Hospital.
June 4, 1975: A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Roberts Annex, an addition to the Clark Memorial Theatre building.
June 9, 1975: Arthur D. Shores, attorney and noted Civil Rights Activist, received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from UAB becoming the first African American to receive an honorary degree from the university.
July 1975: UAB Residence Hall at 1600 9th Avenue South was named in honor of Hugh Denman, long-time director of the Birmingham Housing Authority.
August 1975: School of Nursing received approval for the first nursing doctoral program in the Southeast.
September 12, 1975: The School of Optometry Building was dedicated.
September 17, 1975: Dr. John W. Kirklin delivered the twelfth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Training of Horses, Quarterbacks, Pilots, and Surgeons."
October 24, 1975: The Reynolds Historical Library was rededicated within the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.
November 22, 1975: The UAB Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa national leadership honor society was chartered. Ninety-one members from across the UAB campus were initiated into ODK; Dr. Aaron L. Lamar, Jr., became the first faculty advisor.
November 1975: The University Ambulatory Center was demolished in order to build East Base of University Hospital.
November 1975: Medical Towers Building was acquired.
1975: The Alabama legislature appropriated funds for the purchase of approximately 45 blocks for UAB expansion.
1975: The entering class size of the School of Medicine was increased to 145.
1975: Aura, UAB’s student literary arts review, debuted with an issue published during the fall.
1975: UAB acquired the Medical Center Plaza Building and renamed it University College Building No. 4.
1975: Dr. John W. Kirklin became the second president of The University of Alabama Health Services Foundation.
January 17, 1976: The Medical and Dental Basic Science Building and Dental Clinic was rededicated as the School of Dentistry Building.
March 15, 1976: Dr. Thomas K. Hearn, Jr., became second dean of the School of Humanities.
March 1976: Dr. Joseph F. Volker presented Hugh Denman of the Birmingham Housing Authority $8.8 million for the purchase of 45 blocks for UAB expansion.
March 1976: Ground was broken for University College Building No. 5.
April 1, 1976: Dr. William F. Bridgers was named to develop public health efforts at UAB.
April 5, 1976: “An Evening with Truman Capote” was held in the Bell Auditorium on the UAB campus.
June 1, 1976: The Ambulatory Dialysis Center opened at 516 South 20th Street.
June 6, 1976: Janice G. Jackson became the first African American female to graduate from the School of Dentistry.
June 1976: Dr. Joseph F. Volker was named the first chancellor of the three-campus University of Alabama System.
June 1976: Dr. George W. Campbell, vice president for University College, was named acting president of UAB.
July 1976: Dr. W. Paul Brann became second vice president for Administration.
September 21, 1976: Dr. S. Richardson Hill, Jr., delivered the thirteenth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Endocrinology Revisited."
September 24, 1976: The UAB Report, the weekly faculty and staff newspaper, was first published.
December 4, 1976: School of Community and Allied Health Resources was renamed the School of Public and Allied Health, Dr. Keith D. Blayney renamed as dean.
December 5, 1976: WBHM-FM Radio broadcast for the first time as the 200th affiliated station of National Public Radio. Dr. Florence M. Monroe was the station's first general manager.
1976: The first UAB student handbook was issued. Later, in 1982, it would be renamed as Directions.
1976: The Center for Aging was established.
1976: Dr. Rosalie Andrews Scripa received an appointment as assistant professor of Engineering, the first female with a full-time faculty appointment in the engineering school.
1976: The UAB Jazz Ensemble was organized in the fall as a performing group open to UAB students, staff, and faculty.
1976: The entering class size of the School of Medicine was increased to 165.
January 14, 1977: The Radiation Therapy and Tumor Institute was dedicated as Phase I of the Lurleen B. Wallace Memorial Hospital and Tumor Institute.
February 1, 1977: Dr. S. Richardson Hill, Jr., became the second president of UAB.
February 26, 1977: Dr. Edwin G. Waldrop, a member of the Class of 1946, was awarded the first Distinguished Alumnus Award by the University of Alabama School of Medicine Alumni Association.
February 1977: UAB first celebrated Black History Month with a series of campus events, including lectures, film screenings, and dances. Poet Nikki Giovanni was one of the guest lecturers. The month-long celebration was co-sponsored by the University College Student Government Association and the Graduate Student Association.
May 13, 1977: The Alabama Supreme Court held a session on the UAB campus for the first time. Three cases were heard by Chief Justice C. C. Torbert, Jr., and the other eight members of Alabama’s highest court.
May 26, 1977: R. Lee Walthall became first vice president for Institutional Advancement and Legal Affairs.
May 27, 1977: The UAB Mini Park was dedicated.
May 1977: Dr. J. Dudley Pewitt became third vice president for Administration.
June 14, 1977: Dr. S. Richardson Hill, Jr., announced that UCLA Coach Gene Bartow would become UAB's new Athletic Director and head coach of the Men's Basketball team.
July 18, 1977: The Monday Morning Quarterback Tower was dedicated as Phase I of the Alabama Heart Hospital.
August 1977: Fran Sharp Merrell became the first head coach of the new Women's Basketball team.
September 1, 1977: Dr. Charles A. McCallum, Jr., became vice president for Health Affairs.
September 26, 1977: Dr. Thomas N. James delivered the fourteenth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Dobermans, Dalmatians, and Deaf Children."
October 10, 1977: Engineering Building was renamed Cudworth Hall in honor of James R. Cudworth.
October 1977: Basic Health Sciences Building was renamed Volker Hall in honor of UAB's first president.
November 9, 1977: UAB joined the Sun Belt Conference.
1977: Sports Medicine Institute established as an official UAB center. Dr. Kurt M. W. Niemann was the first director.
1977: Drs. Leo M. Hall and James E. Myrick obtained the first license from UAB for manufacture and sale of an invention produced at the university. The reagent they developed was licensed to Calbiochem for US and international sales.
1977: Dr. Robert Glaze became first vice president for Research and Graduate Studies.
1977: The Multipurpose Arthritis Center, later renamed the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases Center, was created.
1977: Urological Rehabilitation and Research Center established at UAB with Dr. L. Keith Lloyd as director.
1977: World's first effective treatment for a viral disease, the deadly herpes simplex encephalitis, occurred at University Hospital.
January 1, 1978: Dr. Leonard H. Robinson became third dean of the School of Dentistry.
January 13, 1978: In a campus-wide election, students, faculty, and staff voted to name all intercollegiate athletic teams the UAB Blazers.
January 20, 1978: UAB held a ceremony honoring the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., with a keynote address by Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker. Walker had served as chief-of-staff for King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The event was held in the auditorium of the Engineering Building and was sponsored by the UAB group Students for Greater Awareness. The event was funded by the student government and graduate student associations.
January 1978: Gladys McQueen, supervisor of keypunch services in the Central Computing Facility, was named UAB’s first “Employee of the Month.” At the time, McQueen had 24 years of service.
January 1978: The UAB Symphony Orchestra established as the only college/community orchestra in the Birmingham metropolitan area. The faculty advisor was Dr. Sherrill Martin, department of Performing Arts. The orchestra's first performance was in April.
January 1978: Patricia P. Farmer was named as first curator of Art Collections at UAB and as curator of the UAB Visual Arts Gallery.
February 1, 1978: The Russell Ambulatory Center was dedicated.
March 6, 1978: University College Building No. 5 opened.
April 28, 1978: University College Building No. 5 was renamed in honor of Dr. George W. Campbell, vice president for University College.
May 1978: Dr. John D. Jones became first vice president for Student Affairs.
June 4, 1978: Terrence N. Ingraham received his O.D. degree becoming the first African American graduate of the School of Optometry.
July 24, 1978: Upon the retirement of Sarah Cole Brown, Richard B. Fredericksen became second director of the Lister Hill Library of the Health Sciences.
September 1, 1978: The UAB Police Department assumed “campus-wide responsibility for the enforcement of University parking rules and regulations.”
September 15, 1978: Dr. James H. Woodward, Jr., became second dean of the School of Engineering.
September 22, 1978: Dr. Marie L. O'Koren delivered the fifteenth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Nursing: Past Realities and Future Imperatives."
October 1, 1978: Dr. Thomas K. Hearn became second vice president for University College.
October 27, 1978: The Center for Advanced Medical Studies (CAMS) was approved by The University of Alabama Board of Trustees as an official UAB Center. Later, the center was renamed in honor of Dr. James A. Pittman, Jr.
October 1978: Dr. Joel P. Hearn, a post-graduate student in endodontics, composed the new UAB Fight Song. A committee comprised of students, faculty, and staff selected Dr. Hearn's song during a campus-wide competition.
November 24, 1978: Before a crowd of over 14,800 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, the UAB men's basketball team competed in its first game, losing to Nebraska by a score of 55 to 64.
November 29, 1978: The Women's Basketball team played its first game at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, losing to North Alabama by a score of 77 to 82.
November 29, 1978: The School of Public and Allied Health was renamed the School of Community and Allied Health, Dr. Keith D. Blayney remained as dean.
December 1, 1978: Drs. Kenneth J. Roozen and Blaine A. Brownell became associate deans and co-directors of the UAB Graduate School.
1978: UAB Ambassadors corps formed with 10 students and two alternates in order to provide student hosts at official university functions. Dr. Kathleen Faircloth was the faculty advisor for the new student group.
1978: Alabama native Harry "the Hat" Walker was named first head coach of the new Men's Baseball team. Games for the UAB Blazers were played at Birmingham's historic Rickwood Field.
1978: Blazer cheerleading squad of 10 formed in the spring with John Slivka and Susan Rheuby as Head Cheerleaders. Deborath Sutherland was the first director of the cheer and dance teams.
1978: Ayda G. Nambayan received a full-time faculty appointment as assistant professor of nursing, the first international appointed to the nursing school faculty. Nambayan was from the Philippines.
1978: The Medical Education Building opened.
1978: Howard G. Hawk became the first UAB student named as a Truman Scholar.
1978: Susan Cook became the first head coach of the new Women's Volleyball team.
1978: The Nephrology Research and Training Center was established at UAB with Dr. Robert G. Luke as first director.
1978: Dr. Aaron L. Lamar, Jr., was named assistant vice president and dean of Student Affairs, becoming the first African American appointed to a senior administrative position at UAB.
1978: A pink dragon served as the first official mascot for the UAB Blazers.
1978: UAB Pain Treatment Center was formally established as an official center although the program had originated in the late 1960s. Dr. H. Ronald Vinik was the center's first director.
1978: Peter N. Derzis, Jr., became UAB's first Sports Information director.
1978: The Alabama Regional Organ and Tissue Center established.
January 23, 1979: In a reception held in the Rust Research Center, Gladys McQueen was honored as UAB’s first “Employee of the Year.” She had been selected as the university’s first “Employee of the Month” the previous January.
January 25-27, 1979: During basketball season, UAB celebrated its first Homecoming festivities.
January 27, 1979: UAB gained full membership as an NCAA Division I athletics program.
January 1979: The University of Alabama System Medical Education Program (UASMEP) was reaccredited by the national Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME).
April 1979: The Division of Special Studies renamed UAB Special Studies.
June 3, 1979: E. Karen King became the first African American female graduate of the School of Optometry.
June 3, 1979: Kathleen G. Andreoli became the first graduate of the School of Nursing’s DSN program, which had been instituted in 1975. Andreoli completed degree requirements in March and was awarded her doctoral degree at the annual commencement ceremony.
June 17, 1979: The Spain Heart Bed Tower, Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium, Wallace Cancer Bed Tower, and East Base were dedicated as part of the "New U" celebrations.
June 24, 1979: Lilly Henderson, a UAB senior in Counseling and Guidance (Education), was named Miss Wheelchair Alabama.
June 1979: The original Jefferson Hospital building was renamed Jefferson Tower.
July 1979: The former Lawrence Reynolds Library building was demolished in order to construct the Center for Advanced Medical Studies.
September 12, 1979: Vision Science Research Center was dedicated as the only NEI funded center located in an optometry school. Dr. Terry L. Hickey was the center's first director. In 1996 the center received designation as a university-wide research center.
October 12, 1979: UAB’s new heliport was dedicated on the western edge of campus.
October 19, 1979: Dr. J. Claude Bennett delivered the sixteenth Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "The Bench and the Bedside."
October 26, 1979: The John J. Sparkman Center for International Public Health Education was approved as an official center by The University of Alabama Board of Trustees. Dr. William F. Bridgers was the center's first director. In 2004 the center was renamed as the Sparkman Center for Global Health.
October 26, 1979: Martha Simms Rambo and Thomas E. Rast were elected to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees. Rambo was the first women elected to the governing board of the three campus University of Alabama System.
November 5, 1979: T. Massey Bedsole was elected to the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.
1979: Tim Hamer became the first head coach of the new Men's Soccer team.
1979: Center for Nursing Research was established.
1979: Dr. Carl E. Dukes completed an internal medicine residency program and service as the first African American selected as UAB's chief medical resident.
1979: Dr. James Rachels was named third dean of the School of Humanities after serving as interim since 1978.
1979: Jimmy Ballard became the first head coach of the new Men's Golf team.
1979: The Phoenix, a UAB yearbook chiefly focusing on University College, was first published. Steve Nixon, a junior management major, was editor of the first yearbook.
1979: President S. Richardson Hill, Jr., established the UAB President’s Council. Composed by community business and civic leaders, the council was charged with advising the president on matters related to the advancement of the university.
1979: UAB National Alumni Society was chartered.
1979: The Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building on South 20th Street was acquired and reopened as the Community Health Services Building.
1979: Active extramural grants and contracts at UAB totaled $47,471,028.
1979-1980: Beauregard T. Rooster became the official mascot for the UAB Blazers, the university's second mascot.
1970s
917 13th St S
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Alabama Museum of the Health Sciences
1700 University Blvd - 3rd Floor
Lister Hill Library at University Hospital
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Post author:Mike
Post published:28 July 2021
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Lifeguards in Georgetown County South Carolina, must pass the following prerequisite criteria and obtain a lifeguard certification from American Aquatics and Safety Training. All lifeguard classes include CPR/AED and First Aid.
American Aquatics and Safety Training class classes in Georgetown County South Carolina
1) Minimum age: 15 years.
2) Swim 300 yards continuously using the breast or front crawl.
3) Tread water for 2 minutes using only the legs.
4) Complete a timed event within 1 minute, 40 seconds. Starting in the water, swim 20 yards.
Surface dive to a depth of 7 to 10 feet to retrieve a 10-pound object. Return to the surface and swim 20 yards on the back to return to the starting point. Exit the water without using a ladder or steps.
Courses Include:
American Aquatics & Safety Training 2-year Lifeguarding certification
American Aquatics & Safety Training 2-year First Aid and 1-year CPR/AED certification.
This 26.5-hour lifeguarding class is in person. American Aquatics & Safety Training does offer a Blended Learning option. Where the students do 7 hours online and 19.5 hours in-person.
Topics include:
Injury avoidance as well as facility safety
Rescue skills
Emergency treatment
Look after head, neck and back injuries
American Aquatics offers a full Lifeguarding classes in most states in the United States. Lifeguard training program includes information relating to First Aid, equipment-based rescues for water environments, mishap avoidance, and also decision making abilities.
Individuals should be 15 years old by the end of the course. Participation, complete the course, as well as effective completion of written examinations and also efficiency of all water abilities are required.
Prerequisites for the lifeguard class include:
Must be 15 years old by the end of the class.
Tread water for a minimum of 2 minutes.
Swim 150 yards of front crawl.
Swim 150 yards of breast stroke.
Lifeguard Training course Include: The total course timing is 26.5 hours.
(eLearning to be completed prior to the beginning of the course)
The Key to Lifeguarding Success in Georgetown County South Carolina is Continual Learning
Lifeguarding is an incredibly rewarding career that benefits the community you serve through it. There is potential for lifeguarding to be more than just a summer job for students; lifeguards are required at many levels. From your neighborhood pool to 5-star resorts in the Caribbean, this career path could take you to new and exciting heights. Some lifeguards have graduated to serving private functions, high end facilities, and chartered cruise lines. There are competitions that recognize skills and talent in the field as well as accolades to be earned. How can you reach that level in your career? Start by taking all the recognized classes you can. Lifeguard class classes in Georgetown County South Carolina offers a range of beginner to expert classes to introduce you to the job or further your education. As in any career, constant learning is the key to success; you should always be working to improve your trade or your craft.
How Lifeguard Classes in Georgetown County South Carolina Differs from the Rest
These lifeguard certification classes are categorized into 20 different levels, each with their own hands-on training plus in-class training. The expectations of all students are high, which is why they get the best job offers in the industry.
Beginners will spend half of their class time learning the water skills needed to make a safe rescue. This includes endurance, stability, spatial-awareness, intuition, and coordination. The work is tiring and rigorous, but it lays the foundation for a successful career ahead. In class, beginner students will learn the basic human anatomy involved in resuscitation and water-injuries. They will delve deep into the mechanisms and scientific background of each lifesaving maneuver.
Expert level classes build on what you already know and go much farther. In these classes we’ll teach you the latest techniques being used in the industry and how to safely apply them. We’ll be using examples of the toughest situations lifeguards are placed in and how to resolve them safely and professionally. Your future in this industry matters to us, which is why we’ll also be guiding students through the business and self-marketing aspects of landing the best job for you.
Georgetown County South Carolina has indoor and outdoor swimming facilities as well as leading-edge teachers of lifeguarding. Lifeguard Training Classes in Georgetown County South Carolina is home to the industry's finest teachers, facilities, and curriculums. Swimming at a pool in Georgetown County South Carolina has never felt so safe, thanks to the lifeguard classes!
What does the Lifeguard Classes Include?
When you enroll in a lifeguarding class, there are various tools and resources included depending on your level. We offer classes ranging from beginner to advanced and expert, as well as classes in the pool and in the classroom. There are so many aspects of lifeguarding any professional in the field needs to know.
Each class, regardless of level, includes an orientation booklet outlining what you’ll be learning in the course. It will include reading materials, assignments, and physical exams. You will refer to this booklet to see when important dates are. You can also opt to get ahead in your studies by reading the study materials in advance and beginning to study for the exam.
Your digital login is a huge component of what the class includes. Each student will be given a username and password to enter the lifeguarding database. From here you’ll be able to sign up for practice exam time slots, ask questions to your instructor, and converse on study topics with fellow students in the online forum. It’s basically your lifeline to staying in the loop with your class.
Beginner classes include all introductory materials as well as complete access to the facilities’ lifeguard training equipment. You will have time during classes to practice your lifesaving techniques on the dummy, but if you need practice outside of class you’re free to use the equipment room. We encourage all students to spend time outside of class to practice and study the content they’ve learned. That’s why all classes also include a free anytime-access pass to the pools; you can practice your endurance and stamina swimming whenever the facilities are open.
Intermediate classes include the same equipment as the beginner class, plus we include more intense training equipment. In intermediate, you will be expected to tread water while wearing weighted vests, properly carry a dummy body out of the water, and then perform CPR on various ages and body types. As you progress, more is expected of you. All students must pass the physical tests to graduate to the next level.
At the advanced level, you’re given access to many more resources. You will be able to take online courses on finding the right lifeguarding job for you, marketing yourself as a lifeguard, as well as access to our job board. We list jobs from over 100 facilities in New York that employ lifeguards, as well as over 50 international companies that require lifeguarding services. Your in-person classes are highly specialized and usually smaller in class size. You will have one-on-one training and guidance from your instructor.
Lifeguarding isn’t for everyone; it requires dedication and commitment to completing the classes and passing the final exam. You need to master your swimming, on-land strength, technical skills, as well as scientific anatomy. If you’d like to know more about what the class includes (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), then feel free to message us on our Contact Page. We’d love to hear from you and discuss your lifeguarding career.
If you’re interested in kickstarting your lifeguarding career, or furthering it will new concepts and education, visit the Enrollment page to sign up and start the interview process. We like to get a sense of what our students have already learned in the field and what their goals are to enroll them in an adequate class for their experience. If you have zero experience, that’s fine too! We’ll place you in a beginner course that gets you well on your way to becoming fully certified.
If you are looking for a class that’s not listed above, fill out this form and we will try to accommodate you.
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We are a nonprofit that trains and certifies in Lifeguarding, Waterfront Lifeguarding, Junior Lifeguarding, Shallow Pool Lifeguarding, Sexual Harassment Training, CPR/AED, CPR for Lifeguards, First Aid Emergency Oxygen, and swimming lessons.
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If you are looking for a class that’s not listed on our website or are looking to have an instructor come to your facility to run a class, fill out this form and we will try to accommodate you.
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This tortoise has a shell deformity resulting from inadequate calcium and/or D3 intake. This is an entirely preventable problem.
Obtaining perfect, natural-looking growth in tortoises and turtles is a multi-factorial challenge. The keeper must balance many different aspects of diet with extraneous (environmental) factors if this is to be achieved. There is no ‘quick fix’ or ‘ABC’ method guaranteed to produce reliable results under all circumstances. Instead, it is vital that keepers understand the basic mechanisms involved. In this series, we will look in turn at various different issues that are critical to producing natural, health growth and briefly discuss how the theory can most effectively be applied in practice.
We will start by looking at calcium, and calcium supplementation.
In nature, tortoises obtain their calcium requirement in several ways. The bulk of their requirement is typically supplied by consuming calcium-rich vegetation. This vegetation is itself typically growing on calcium-rich soils, a situation that leads to plants that are themselves rich in this mineral. Tortoises also obtain some additional calcium by incidental consumption of sand/soil particles when feeding, and by deliberately seeking out calcium-rich items in their environment, such as snail shells or sun-bleached bones. Surprisingly, even desert environments often have extremely large snail populations, and it is not unusual to find literally hundreds of estivating snails per square meter, and thousands of particles of broken snail shell in the same area. Tortoises have been observed to seek these out, and to consume them enthusiastically. They provide a concentrated, readily absorbed source of this vital mineral.
In most captive situations, the gross calcium content of the diet rarely, if ever, approaches that of wild diets, and the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of captive diets is also typically far lower overall than is seen in the wild. Some typical examples include Plantago sp., with Ca:P ratios of above 20:1 and Opuntia sp., where Ca:P ratios can be as high as 78:1. The typical diets adopted by many keepers, based upon commercial salads and fruit, often contain little calcium and an excess of phosphorus.
Opuntia cacti - a plant typically rich in calcium with a very high Ca:P ratio. If you keep tortoises, it may be worth cultivating this excellent food source, as shown here. If we can do it in Wales, UK, you can do it almost anywhere.
This problem can be addressed in two ways:
1) By carefully selecting diets to include high Ca:P ratio items, and excluding regular intake of reverse Ca:P items;
2) By careful use of calcium supplements.
In practice, a combination of both methods is recommended. One problem in relying exclusively upon dietary selection is that many plants that on the surface appear to offer good, or positive calcium-to-phosphorus ratios, also contain chemicals that inhibit calcium take-up. Mustard greens, turnip greens, kale, cabbage, bok choy, spinach, chard and collard greens all fall into this category. One of the best known examples of such an ‘anti-nutrient factor’ is oxalic acid. Another is phytic acid, found in high concentrations in peas, beans and related legumes. It is therefore necessary to screen diets not only for gross calcium content, and calcium-to-phosphorus ratio, but also to screen them to exclude reliance upon plants that contain high levels of these ‘anti-nutrients’. In practice, this is fairly difficult to achieve on an all-year-round basis.
Calcium may be delivered in various forms, some of which are more readily absorbed and efficient than others. Calcium supplements based on bone meal are inadvisable due to their inherently high phosphorus content (24% calcium and 12% phosphorus). As most tortoise diets are already rich in phosphorus, supplementing with additional phosphorus is neither necessary nor recommended.
According to a recent review of calcium preparations, there are at least a dozen common calcium preparations and hundreds of different formulations available. Calcium carbonate is the most common preparation; some others include tricalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, bone meal, calcium citrate-malate, oyster shell, calcium lactate, and calcium gluconate. These calcium preparations differ in a variety of ways. Calcium carbonate has the highest concentration of calcium by weight (40%), whereas calcium citrate has 21% calcium and calcium phosphate has 8% calcium by weight. Although calcium carbonate has the highest concentration of calcium by weight, this form of calcium is relatively insoluble, especially at a neutral pH. In contrast, calcium citrate, although containing about half as much calcium by weight, is a more soluble form of calcium.
Certain preparations of calcium (e.g., bone meal, dolomite) may contain contaminants such as lead, aluminum, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium. Significant amounts were identified in calcium carbonate supplements labeled oyster shell, for example. Chronic intake of these supplements may pose an unnecessary risk. Most commercial calcium preparations are tested for heavy metal contamination.
In theory, excessively high intakes of calcium may interfere with the absorption of other nutrients such as iron and zinc, however, in chelonia we are not aware that such effects have been demonstrated. Other potential adverse effects of chronic intakes of high doses of calcium include Hypervitaminosis-D in the case of supplements containing both calcium and vitamin D. Recent human studies indicate that increased intake of calcium does not increase risk of kidney stones. However, restricting dietary calcium may increase urinary excretion of oxalate which in turn increases risk of kidney stones in addition to causing bone developmental problems.
As a general rule, calcium carbonate is the preferred source for use as a routine supplement. It is both safe and effective. Limestone powder is available at very low cost in bulk from agricultural feed merchants, and approaches calcium carbonate in efficiency. For emergency use, where commercial supplements or limestone powders are not available, human calcium tablets may be ground to a fine powder and applied to the food liberally (note that while some human calcium tablets may also contain vitamin D, this is usually in the form of D2 rather than D3 as required by reptiles). Some texts recommend the use of ground poultry eggshells as a calcium supplement. While it is true that these do contain useful amounts of calcium (up to 39% available Ca), and have been shown in human studies to help prevent osteoporosis in mammals, it should be noted that for chelonian use, there are a number of potential drawbacks. These include the fact that studies show that such eggshell material also contains hormone traces (with unpredictable effects upon tortoises) and that any remaining egg membrane material can also contain antibiotic traces as well as representing a potential reservoir for contamination by salmonella organisms. Eggshell derived calcium supplements intended for human use are extracted and purified under strict laboratory conditions, and are obtained from poultry on carefully controlled diets. The use of home prepared eggshells from store-bought eggs is not recommended due to the lack of quality control over feed inputs and the potential for contamination with residues due to the difficulty of removing all membrane traces. Cuttlefish bone is a long-standing method of providing extra calcium to tortoises, and especially to turtles, as it floats readily in water. The main chemical constituents of cuttlebone are calcium carbonate, sodium chloride, calcium phosphate, magnesium salts and an abundance of micro-trace elements. Despite its high gross calcium content, cuttlefish bone is relatively poorly absorbed, and as such should not be relied upon as the sole source of calcium supplementation. It can, however, be employed as a secondary source.
One form of calcium supplement often sold in pet stores is known as “turtle blocks”. These are mostly made of Plaster of Paris (calcium sulfate hemi-hydrate) combined with calcium carbonate, often in a 50-50 combination. Plaster of Paris itself contains almost no useable calcium, and is merely used to adhere the block into shape. Weight-for-weight, therefore, “turtle blocks” contain 50% or less calcium carbonate, of which, in turn, only 40% may be bioavailable. There are also concerns over heavy metal contamination in gypsum, from which Plaster of Paris is derived. This is not a form of calcium supplementation that we therefore recommend.
On balance, the safest and most effective calcium supplements for routine use with captive tortoises would appear to be a calcium carbonate based, phosphorus-free ground calcium powder, preferably of commercial quality, either with or without added vitamin D3. Some specialist suppliers of reptile vitamin and mineral supplements now offer products which have been carefully formulated to provide a much better match to the specific dietary requirements of reptiles than standard supplements, such as Vionate, which were originally formulated for general purpose use. One such supplier, in Britain, is Vetark Products whose Nutrobal high calcium supplement is especially suitable for herbivorous reptiles. In the United States, Rep-Cal is similarly recommended as a phosphorus-free source of calcium and D3.
Vitamin D3 plays a pivotal role in bone formation, allowing the body to absorb calcium, and for maintaining the proper balance of calcium and phosphorus. A tortoise could eat calcium all day long, but if it was not getting an adequate amount of vitamin D3, it would not be able to absorb it properly.
In nature, herbivorous tortoises acquire all of their vitamin D3 requirements as a result of a chemical reaction in the skin, following exposure to the UV-B spectrum of sunlight. A compound is formed that is known as 7dehydroxycholesterol (this is sometimes also shortened to 7DCH or provitamin D). This in turn is converted, by means of temperature, to vitamin D proper. It is vital that both sufficient UV-B plus adequate basking temperatures are available if this process is to function properly. This is one reason why the new UV-B heat lamps (self-ballasted Mercury Vapour lamps) are so good. They provide both UV-B and the heat necessary to convert the 7DCH to a form that can ultimately be utilized by the calcium metabolism. A UV-B fluorescent tube alone will not do this. If such a tube is used, a separate source of basking heat is mandatory. Without an adequate source of heat, the conversion will not take place efficiently.
The degree to which you may need to use a supplement containing vitamin D3 will vary according to several factors, principal among these being how far north you are situated, and the number of hours exposure to natural sunlight your animals receive or the type and intensity of UV-B supplemental lighting employed.
As a general rule, if you live in an area where tortoises and turtles occur naturally and your animals are able to spend at least three or four hours outdoors in unfiltered sunlight daily, you probably do not need to rely upon oral D3 supplements. A calcium supplement alone should suffice. If you live in a northern, cloudy area where tortoises and turtles do not occur naturally, or your animals’ outdoor time is restricted, it is recommended that you do use a supplement on a regular basis. We would suggest three times per week as an absolute minimum. If you provide high output UV-B lamps, and have adequate basking facilities, you may be able to rely upon these to promote adequate D3 synthesis but personally, I would prefer to hedge my bets by supplementing with a combined calcium and D3 supplement orally at least twice a week.
Calcium and Vitamin D3 are certainly not the only components required to facilitate healthy bone development in tortoises and turtles:
• Magnesium is essential for proper calcium absorption and is an important mineral in the bone matrix. It has specific effects on the parathyroid hormone, which helps regulate proper calcium metabolism.
• Phosphorus is the second most prevalent mineral in bones and makes up more than half the mass of bone mineral. Thus, the diet needs to have sufficient phosphorus in order to build healthy bones. For most tortoises and turtles, this is not a problem, as most vegetation is rich in this element. When phosphorus levels in the blood are too high, however, the body takes calcium out of the bones to bind with the phosphorus to facilitate its removal from the bloodstream. Bones can become brittle or deformed as a result.
Many other micro trace elements are also important, including Manganese, Zinc, Boron and Strontium. These may not be provided by a regular calcium or calcium with D3 supplement alone. An appropriate and varied diet will certainly provide most of them, but a wide-range mineral supplement can also be used to ensure that they are present on a regular basis. We would recommend such a supplement be used no more than once weekly.
To summarise, in order to provide the calcium that tortoises and turtles need, especially during growth phases or for egg-laying females:
Try to provide a diet that provides an overall positive calcium-to-phosphorus ratio
Do not rely on items rich in oxalates, phytates or other calcium-inhibiting compounds
Carefully consider vitamin D3 requirements. Provide access to adequate levels of natural sunlight, use an adequate and correctly installed and maintained artificial UV-B source, or provide an oral D3 supplement at least 3 times per week.
Provide a general broad spectrum mineral trace element supplement (such as Vionate) once per week.
Vitamins and Minerals - An outline of these essential dietary elements and what functions they serve.
Feeding Redfoot and Yellowfoot Tortoises - Detailed discussion of these tropical, omnivorous species and their diets in the wild and in captivity.
High Growth Rates and Vitamin D3 - Discussion of some interesting issues concerning shell deformities, D3 toxicity, etc.
Do Tortoises Need to Drink? - Find out here.
Feeding Aquatic Turtles - Discusses the very different needs of these species
Mediterranean Tortoise - How much to Feed? - Controlling diets
Dealing with Dietary Addictions - What to do if your tortoise is addicted to a bad diet or is a "fussy feeder"
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July 28, 2022 Stories
I signed up for the Mexico City trip with Aire Libre on a whim after much convincing from the one and only Gordon Clark. I didn’t really know what Aire Libre was–I had seen beautiful pictures on Instagram from their excursions, but I never thought I’d actually participate until two of my favorite people–Matt Meyer and Gordon–told me they were going and I should join.
I was in the middle of a 5k training block and I had just moved to LA, so the negative part of my brain told me it would be inconvenient. It’s going to mess up your routine. You don’t have the time or the energy.
I come from a competitive middle distance running background. I am not elite by any means, but I can win a local race or two. The last few years I’ve focused on the 800m, mile, and I’ve even done a few 400s. Now I’m back to racing 5ks and 10ks on the roads. I recently won the Santa Monica Classic in 17:58 and ran a 10k road PR at Dana Point (37:58). Times I’m very proud of after long battles with a torn hamstring and being diagnosed with hypothyroidism.
Adventure runs and running retreats were never my thing. To me, they always felt soft and uninspiring. A symptom of our participation trophy generation. I’ve always believed running should be about setting goals, achieving them, and working your ass off to make incremental gains. I can’t stand when people complain about running being too hard. Running is about hurting and trying over and over until you have a breakthrough, and it’s not fun most of the time. I guess this attitude sounds rather harsh, but it’s how I grew up. Being raised in a hyper-conservative, religious community, I was a rule follower and it took years to learn how to let go of control and allow myself to enjoy things in life. I’m still peeling back the layers of fundamentalist thinking.
That being said, my late twenties and early thirties have been about introducing spontaneity into my life and rewiring my brain to not feel guilty about taking time for myself. So after a few brief moments of reflection I was just like, Fuck it. Let’s try something new. I’m going to Mexico City.
Altitude sucks. Dry mouth, morning headaches, heavy legs. If being in shape is a dial, then running at altitude feels like turning it back several notches. Mexico City sits 7,349 feet above sea level. About 700 years ago, the city (originally called Tenochtitlan) was quite literally built on a lake by the Aztecs who believed it was destined by their god Huitzilopochtli. Today it’s a thriving city rich with history, art, incredible food, gardens, parks, and more.
Matt, Gordon, and I arrived a day early. We wanted to get dinner with Mau, founder of Aire Libre, and have a day to ourselves before the rest of the crew came in. The next three days would be some of the most magical experiences of my life. I’m not entirely sure how to summarize it all, but the Aire Libre experience was a saturated mix of soul-searching, exquisite gastronomy, and running in a completely new way. It changed my perspective on life.
Day 1: Mexico City on Foot
A big pet peeve of mine when running is stopping. I hate it. The start/stop motion messes up my rhythm and I won’t count a run in my weekly mileage if there’s too much stopping. So of course, a 6-mile run through Mexico City where we’d be stopping at three bars and a few landmarks along the way felt entirely outside of my comfort zone. That’s why I ran earlier that morning to get my “real” run in. I also don’t drink much. Do I sound fun to be around?
Our group met up for the first time Friday afternoon ready to go. It was a wonderful collective of people from all places–a group of women from Texas, a woman from Chile, a guy from Germany, Matty from Boulder, and then me and Gordon from LA. Everyone came from a different running background. Some were marathoners, some were just getting into running. I was definitely the only one who ran track though, ha.
Within the first few minutes of our run, it started drizzling. Our bar crawl (or run, rather) stopped at some super fun local places (Drunken Dog was a favorite). With each pit stop, the group started to mesh a bit more. A little mezcal here, a beer there. We were all sweaty, wet, hungry, and a little buzzed. A bunch of us were out of breath from the altitude. We laughed and joked, asked each other poignant questions, shivered at the bar when our bodies had cooled down, and warmed right back up as we ran to our next venue. I was soaked to the bone, but the smoky mezcal kept my chest warm and my heart pumping. This was also the first time post-pandemic and post-vaccine I’d been in such a large group of people having fun.
By the end of the run our group had bonded and it was time for dinner. And yeah, I counted those mezcal miles in Strava.
Day 2 I was a bit hungover. Or maybe it was the altitude and waking up with a dry mouth. Probably both. Our crew had a full day ahead. First stop: the Aztec Chinampas about an hour outside of the city.
Getting to the Chinampas was quite a trip. We arrived at the entrance and proceeded to drive about a mile in mud and rocks. Our sprinter van rattled and squealed and spun out. When we got out, I must have witnessed the greenest place on earth. The Chinampas, or “floating gardens,” spread for acres. The Mexican people still use this 700-year-old farming technique to produce some of the richest soil and crops. They delicately navigate the canals with wooden boats to get from one floating garden to the next. It’s beautiful and every deep shade of green and blue, and you feel like you are part of the earth.
We floated through the canals (on the boats, of course) and then did yoga on one of the larger farming areas.
I took my shoes off and squished my toes in the soil teeming with little bugs and velvety dirt. it wasn’t gross or dirty; it was alive and enriching.
I felt like the soil was entering my pores and feeding my cells. I thought of all the plastic pollution and microscopic, insidious black particles wafting through the air back in the city, back at home. Oh, and those fucking trash islands floating in the middle of the ocean. The antithesis of the Chinampas. Why do we destroy earth? Modern civilization and industrialism have betrayed every living thing. We actively bite the hand that feeds. It was T.S. Elliot who said, “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.” We will cannibalize our resources and asphyxiate ourselves. We could have listened to the ancients. We can still hold on to these remnants, just like the Mexican agriculturalists do.
You thought 7,000 feet was harsh on the lungs? Try 15,000. That’s Nevado De Toluca, a volcano built on multiple layers of hardened lava and tephra. It’s also Mexico’s 4th highest peak. And that Sunday morning, Toluca was my teacher, my coach, my friend, my God.
As I mentioned earlier, I grew up pretty religious. I deconstructed from faith in my early twenties after being incredibly hurt by the church’s teachings and coming to the realization that there was no one, single path to love, truth, and self-acceptance. Day 3 of the Aire Libre experience was an incredibly spiritual one for me and entirely unexpected. I never thought I’d revisit thoughts of God or pray again. I’d cut “God” out of my life for valid reasons.
That day on the climb to the summit, I guess that’s the closest I’d felt to God and connected to the greater universe in a long, long time. It’s hard not to feel that way when all you have is labored breath and your mind. We walk-jogged about 2,000 feet of elevation that morning and my legs felt like two tree trunks wading through molasses. The misty clouds weaved in and out of the trail, opening up pockets of space and making time feel irrelevant.
voices came and went in the distance, belonging to no one. I was alone and alive.
At one point, the mist cleared and revealed a lake, quietly inviting me and my new Aire Libre friend Kaila to stop and take a look. We were in dreamland. And it was about to get more surreal with the Temazcal ceremony.
What the fuck is a Temazcal ceremony? I didn’t know until halfway into the trip, when Gordon started mentally preparing us for the “magical sweat lodge” that made his legs cramp and expunged all the demons from his soul. I was nervous.
The ceremony began Sunday evening after we’d descended from the mountain. It was thundering in the distance. Our Mexican shaman named Quitsi performed a ritual with burning sage for all 15 of us, swirling the smoke around our abdomens. “You are a goddess,” he told me. One by one, we entered the cramped mud hut filled with heated stones.
The next hour felt like I had ascended into another world. Maybe it was 2 hours. I don’t know. Quitsi was chanting, humming, speaking prophecies into the steamy air. People were laughing, yelling, singing, beating their hands against their chest. Thirty minutes into the ceremony, I started weeping loudly. It was a raw wailing, a painful release that had been sitting in the pit of my chest for quite some time. I sat there curled in a ball, covered in my own tears, sweat, snot, and sticky aloe from the leaves Quitsi handed us earlier.
I spoke into the darkness words of anger, words of thanks. the group responded with encouraging hums and clapping.
At one point, Quitsi grabbed my hand and placed his mouth on my palm. He inhaled dramatically and proceeded to spit into the stones, making loud regurgitation noises.
“What is he doing?” I asked Saidde, our yoga teacher and interpreter.
“He says he is ‘getting rid of the sad’” she said in a cheerful voice that carried through the steamy center of the hut.
I came home to my Los Angeles apartment empty and full. I thought I’d be antsy to get back into my routine after taking a break from my normal track intervals. Before the trip, I told myself that my CMDX runs would be “easy,” and as soon as I returned home the “real” training would resume.
But the Aire Libre trip was far from easy, in the most humbling way. It challenged me in new ways years of competitive running never had. When you’re in the post-collegiate running scene, the community can sometimes feel small and stifling: a hierarchy based on who is the fastest, the most connected to certain brands, the most worthy of celebration on Instagram. Not only that, but you are constantly surrounded by other bodies that look just like you–lean, sinewy, Caucasian, especially in Boston where I lived for 8 years. It lacks diversity and rewards popularity.
Aire Libre stripped away the ego, the Strava crowns, and the expectations. We had ultramarathoners, trail runners, beginners, dabblers from all over, and me, the middle distance runner.
it was a really beautiful thing to feel completely equal to the person next me, and to not be asked about my weekly mileage or my upcoming races.
A week after coming home from CDMX, I won a local 5k in 17:58. And then I won another 5k two weeks later in 18:09 on a brutally uphill course, with not much distance training under my belt. I haven’t won anything in like, five years. And here I was thinking that an adventure running trip would set back my training.
To be a more mindful runner, we must soften the heart and engage in more fluid training. We must embrace the roadblocks, the small wins, the injuries, the lack of control. We may not get everything we want and we might never be as fast as we dreamed. But we will find joy in every moment.
“At the end of your life you will not find happiness or love. Only yourself.” That’s what Quitsi told us between chants and hissing sounds of water being poured over burning hot stones. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
about the author
hi! I'm Allison. I'm a writer, storyteller, and artist at heart who found a career in copywriting, marketing, and brand strategy. I've worked for startups ever since graduating college--something about the hustle and uncertainty has always excited me because it presents enormous opportunity and challenges your creativity. I worked at @whoop in boston for 6 years where I spearheaded marketing communications and owned the brand's run category, and now I'm freelancing in LA.
as an avid runner, my current focus is working with brands that champion runners of all backgrounds and fitness levels. I love the running community and I'm incredibly driven to help support runners, advocate for more running media, and show the world what a powerful sport it can be. you can find me on IG @allimary_.
a group of friends cut out of the city mid week to run through fields, over the hills, and fill their lungs with fresh air.
read the article
nine runners of varying experience and one seasoned coach. ready to tackle the marathon as one collective unit. run it, run it, was born.
read the article
radix was founded in the late august of 2017 with the sole focus of empowering young athletes to “grow their roots” in our sport.
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While the 2016 Presidential election campaign was sadly divisive, it also provided a surprisingly clear window into the drivers of human behavior. Here are five important things we can learn about ourselves from how this election unfolded.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, our willingness to vote for Clinton, Trump or any other candidate for President does not derive primarily from their specific policy positions or qualifications. For instance, our recent study of over 1,000 US adults showed that nearly 70% of willingness to vote for either Clinton or Trump was driven by their general perceptions of each candidate’s “warmth” and “competence”. By contrast, voter age, income, education and candidate familiarity explain only 7% of voting intent, as shown below. So while political policies and issues do likely play some role, voting behavior can be reliably predicted from the perceived warmth and competence of each candidate alone.
2. Our Perceptions Are Often Quite Different from Those of Others
Despite decades of exposure to both Clinton and Trump, voters have very different warmth and competence perceptions of each candidate, depending on their political party. In fact, most of us would be surprised at how differently a diverse room full of people would describe the same political debate after viewing it together. The reason is that we are all members of invisible social, economic and political tribes or social groups that define our identity and filter our perceptions. As a result, we often unwittingly draw conclusions about the warmth and competence of others that are more about our social filters than we realize.
3. We Frequently Attribute Ill Intentions to Rival Group Members
Whether we realize it or not, it’s human nature to assume that people outside our own social group have ill intentions toward us, especially if they are viewed to be members of a rival social group or tribe. Psychologists refer to this as attribution bias. During evolution, there were many advantages to tribe membership and loyalty that enabled humans to survive harsh conditions and repel rival attacks. While those primitive survival threats have long since been conquered, our human tendency toward contempt and distrust of outsiders remains. As a result, our tribal nature frequently creates major barriers to collaboration and social progress. For instance, consider how much less favorably voters view politicians from the opposing party relative to those in their own.
4. We Are Easily Divided by Social Group Loyalty
Once we have aligned ourselves with a particular tribe or social group, it’s relatively easy for manipulative forces to fuel our negative perceptions of outsiders with rhetoric and accusations. These are often designed to cement loyalty to the social group by amplifying potential threats and fueling contempt for rival group members. Once each group has become entrenched in its position, facts and reason are readily dismissed as lies or half-truths created by the enemy. In the current election environment, this polarization can be illustrated by the widely varying levels of admiration for previous Presidents among partisans.
When our loyalty to a social group is so strong that it becomes unconditional, we lose the ability to think independently and make rational judgments. Psychologists refer to this as confirmation bias. This is what many young adults in America observed during the 2016 Presidential election. The discourse became so partisan, personal and irrational that they wanted no part of such a demeaning political process. In fact, our recent study found that less than half of U.S. adults aged 18-24 intended to vote in the 2016 Presidential election, while nearly a third of all potential voters planned to abstain. Clearly we are all worse off when this is the case.
Download our full 2016 Presidential Election Research report at no cost here.
Anonymous on November 3, 2016 at 1:18 am
It would be enlightening to run portions of your poll through adult Canadians. Many of us have been following this election very closely but we have no U.S. party affiliations. Candidate perception varies widely up here and yes, we also have our share of conspiracy theorists. It is frightening to see our political actions and reactions leaning towards the same dirty tricks that this U.S. election has exposed; a litany of untruths, skewed information and twisted facts presented to a public too lazy or too uneducated to investigate and dig for the facts.
Not one, but two new investigations announced against one of the leading candidates in the final week leading up to the election…investigations that could have and should have been long since resolved. Why is the head of your national police force announcing a potential investigation without first finding out if there is enough information to even warrant that investigation in the first place and why is he getting away with attempting to influence the election?
The U.S. calls itself the greatest nation on earth but the bedrock of your foundation is crumbling and this election has made that erosion very visible to the rest of the world. I don’t know how to fix your problems but I really hope someone does and please don’t say “Trump” is the answer. After following this endless election process, listening to all the candidates…including the “third party” ones, and watching the actions of those same candidates’ followers Donald Trump is the very epitome of all that is eating away at the very base of your society. Please wake up.
Charlotte from Canada on November 3, 2016 at 2:42 am
Well said…I totally agree!
Another Canadian who is closely following the U.S. election.
David Samida on January 16, 2017 at 7:18 pm
yes but the east voted in Trudeau!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike L on January 16, 2017 at 10:01 pm
The “east”? The Liberals won the highest percentage of votes and the most number of seats in all provinces and territories in Canada except Alberta and Saskatchewan.
John on January 16, 2017 at 11:51 pm
Correct and the majority of the electoral seats in Canada exist east of the Manitoba border….
steve on January 17, 2017 at 2:36 pm
a vast majority of the entire country voted for Trudeau. That’s basically how we pick our leader in a democracy
Chris Malone on November 3, 2016 at 11:56 am
Thanks very much for your comment! One of the challenges we faced in designing this study in the US was creating a list of celebrities and politicians that are well known to the entire adult population. You would be surprised at how widely awareness of these individuals varies. For instance, only about 65% of American adults are familiar with Warren Buffett and Lebron James. So it might be an even greater challenge in Canada. In any case, its certainly possible to design a similar study for Canada, but would probably need to include well-known Canadian celebrities and politicians along with the better known American ones.
Robert Murawsky on January 14, 2017 at 2:15 pm
As a 79 year old Canadian, who has been watching U.S. Elections since Truman, I cannot believe how split the American people are, after the election. It is very scarey. My main concern is when your President takes on California regarding sancuary cities there will be a vote in that state and the out come God forbid will be, they will suceed from the union and that will be the start of a horrible thing. We as your neighbour to the north always respected your decision who you voted in as president and we do today. You do not have to agree with your elected candidate but you, should and must respect the position and the White House. God Bless America.
Ron on January 15, 2017 at 8:18 am
They did wake up! Now it is time for Canada to wake up!
Jim Primeau on January 16, 2017 at 12:07 am
True.
David Samida on January 16, 2017 at 7:19 pm
dc on January 16, 2017 at 7:53 pm
You must be a liberal the party that doesn’t lie about anything
Anonymous on January 17, 2017 at 2:37 am
Grampy farmer on November 3, 2016 at 8:23 am
Well put!! One thing is clear and that fact is they tried picking on a very tough lady!! Changes are always needed to grow a democracy but not like this shit show?
Chris Malone on November 3, 2016 at 11:57 am
Thanks for your comment, Grampy!
I have a number of U.S. friends who i love, but sure would not talk politics with them!!! Especially right now!!!!!!!
Shawn on January 14, 2017 at 8:39 am
Really! lol
Uncle Benny on November 3, 2016 at 1:51 pm
Ask any Republican voter today and they will tell you that Trump was not their first choice. Me included. Why did he beat everyone in the Primaries and why will he beat Hillary. Because he tells it like it is. Not the same old bullshit from all the Washington elites. He speaks a language we all understand. That’s why Bernie was so popular. Forget the hair the looks or what he said 30 years ago we need a change now
Karth on November 4, 2016 at 10:26 am
I beg to differ, somebody like Donald Trump whom you say speaks what’s on his mind, it might sound very appealing when you say it that way. But as a rule of life there are things which should be said and things that are known which should not be said, especially important first placing the facts amd verifying them to prove what he’s saying. Donald Trump has said much stuff which would not make sense even to himself if he analyzed them later, we know he doesn’t like to analyse himself or take advice from people who analyse it. If that’s the kind of person whom you want to be sitting in the position of President. It could end up being a disaster. See what ever happens it doesn’t effect me I’m in India, but as a person who likes to know what’s happening outside, it doest worry me to see how many Americans have been thinking inside the box and not even taken the effort to step outside and see the big picture of what’s going on.
Barbara on January 15, 2017 at 12:50 am
There is something very very wrong with Trump the man. I fear for our world but most of all I fear the attempts to normalize the abnormal because we do t know what else to do !
mike fitz on January 14, 2017 at 2:42 am
Trump does not tell it like it is but how you would like to hear it he says one thing one day and says he did not say it the next day I hope he can help America but doubt it
steve on January 17, 2017 at 2:38 pm
he obviously does not tell it like it is. He tells it like he wishes it was, like he wants it to be, or like he hopes it could be. Any idiot can see that he lies constantly.
Sally Daugherty on November 3, 2016 at 1:53 pm
This is a very enlightening article. The 4th point really struck home. As a lifelong Republican who cannot stomach the thought of a Trump presidency, I realized that my newfound alliance with the Hillary camp is affecting my down ballot decisions. I will do some careful research on the rest of the ticket before Tuesday so that I made my decisions in the proper context.
Anonymous on November 3, 2016 at 5:19 pm
I’m in the UK and I totally agree with the anonymous Canadian. We are all watching this election closely, here in England, and all over the world. I know you haven’t got a great choice facing you, but to choose a president who thinks it’s ok to sexually harass women is a step too far, for a nation supposedly leading the western world. I only hope America wakes up and smells the coffee, before its too late!
Shawn on January 14, 2017 at 8:41 am
Good News! They woke up and did not vote in a woman who enabled a rapist and who attacked rape victims. Your wish came true.
joan ford on January 14, 2017 at 4:36 pm
no they didn’t vote for a woman who enables a rapist but a person who feels he can grope any female as he please & nothing done about..whats up with that???
Ed Arsenault on January 14, 2017 at 7:43 pm
Bad news . They elected an accused rapist , sex abuser who ridicules disabled persons and war heros
Barbara on January 15, 2017 at 12:55 am
Now there you go a perfect example of something taken out of context and very poorly researched but nevertheless justifiable reason for voting in a rapist! Hello
Margaret E VITEK on November 3, 2016 at 7:15 pm
Sorry,l beg to disagree. My extended family is English and Canadian, tho my brother, his wife and adult children and my adult children and me are Americans. I have found that other countries UNIVERSALLY want a Democrat as Prez of USA, EVEN IF they are Conservative in voting in their homelands.
Anonymous on November 5, 2016 at 11:51 am
That is because the Democrats give all the other countries our money, and they don’t want the flow of money to stop.
Jojo on January 14, 2017 at 9:37 pm
I would be interested in knowing how much foreign aid you think the USA provides to the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, etc.
Sam Taylor on January 15, 2017 at 1:16 pm
Mike L on January 16, 2017 at 10:22 pm
Sam Taylor, I’m not sure who you’re responding to when you say “Canada? You’re serious” but over 80% of Canadians said in a poll taken before the election that they would have voted for Clinton. If you’re replying to the last comment, Canada was mentioned as part of a list of countries whose citizens would have voted for Clinton but who do not receive any foreign aid from the United States.
steve on January 17, 2017 at 2:39 pm
That’s obviously not the reason they want a Democrat. Did you even think about your response for a second?
Dan S Brown on November 3, 2016 at 8:14 pm
This election is driving Canadians crazy!
Vote Hillary if you want to remain an American.
Anonymous on November 4, 2016 at 5:40 am
FEC violations should disqualify them both. Rnc and DNC broke election laws. Why don’t you enforce truth justice and the american way. No need to choose the lesser evil. Jill Stein first good choice since jfk.
Siti on November 4, 2016 at 10:05 am
Surely there’s a provision in the U.S. constitution which states that if both presidential candidates are unsuitable to be Commander in Chief; Trump facing an allege rape charges in Dec and Hillary under FBI investigation, surely President Obama’s term can be extended till all issues have been resolved. No matter, what happens after the election, the USA will never be the same again!
Diane on November 4, 2016 at 3:05 pm
I think it’s very ironic that most of the comments display the biases described in the article. People on both sides have become so entrenched in their support of their candidate that they cannot even hear what other people are saying. Accusations just get more and more vehement and the language just devolves into name-calling. I think everyone at this point is committed to Trump or Hillary and should stop trying to change other people’s minds. It’s a waste of time at this point.
Chris Malone on November 4, 2016 at 4:10 pm
You nailed it, Diane! Hopefully, this article helps explain how we find ourselves in this situation. My hope is that better understanding ourselves will be the first step to finding common ground with each other.
Shawn on January 14, 2017 at 8:44 am
Exactly. Well stated.
Pat on January 15, 2017 at 8:08 am
Thank you Diane!!!! Finally, someone rational has spoken. You hit the nail right on the head.
Gwesolosky@gmail.com on November 5, 2016 at 1:01 am
John on November 5, 2016 at 7:48 am
Forget what Hillary exudes. What does Trump exude? Remember how he treated his fellow Republicans during the primaries, the same ones that are sucking up to him now due to loyalty to the party? People tend to forget now that his focus is on Hillary. Independent fact-checking studies have shown that he lies far more than Hillary (like it’s not even close), yet some choose to look at the speck in her eye and ignore the plank in his, saying things like God can change him and he tells it like it is (not). Of course, those who support Trump will play the “liberal media” card and talk about “conspiracy” theories. There is a reason much of the media speak unfavorably of Trump, but loyal Republican supporters will have none of it. He talks about putting his opponent in jail? How can he make such a statement? Are people not innocent until PROVEN guilty in the USA? Do you not have a protocol of justice in the USA or doesn’t it apply to Trump? Can you imagine the conspiracy theory Trump would have woven if the FBI announced something that has no proof or conclusion in the last weeks of the campaign. Funny how one person’s emails are hacked and the Trump’s isn’t. Could it be the Russians affecting the election? This is indeed a sad, sad time for democracy.
Chris Malone on November 5, 2016 at 8:50 am
You can download the full results of our study here: http://fidelum.com/us-celebrity-politician-brand-warmth-competence-study/. The headline is that neither Clinton nor Trump are viewed favorably overall, and the reason is that views of them both are very polarized, dragging down their average. However, Bill Gates and Ellen DeGeneres seem to be admired by pretty much everyone, regardless of political affiliation.
Roberta Histed on November 5, 2016 at 9:37 am
Your analysis of perceptions that influence voters’ choices matches my own observations. It’s because few people vote with their heads that politicians go for the emotions. Why bother putting forward policies and explanations of how you will implement them when, for most voters, they carry no weight. Also, if the candidate appeals to his/her emotions, then the voter thinks s/he is on their side and will be very upset when, after getting into office, said candidate doesn’t live up to expectations. The business of choosing your representatives to govern in your name must be treated more seriously. Since electing lleaders begins in elementary school, that’s the place to begin the education re the folly of choosing a representative based solely on popularity.
Anonymous on November 5, 2016 at 12:38 pm
I agree and disagree with this article. There is a lot more going on than just “lesser of the two evils” and voter loyalty and swaying of votes. Canadians are looking at this whole “reality tv show” on the news, and are in shock at the level how people are not only swayed but conditioned slowly. I get it, Americans are tired of the status quo, and how things are not changing…government after government, president after president. Simply put: You like the establishment and figure the government will eventually get there…vote Hillary. You want change and something different…vote Trump. I use to look the United States of America and really believed it was a great nation…but after watching how many Americans are actually voting Trump… America is still a great country with uneducated and foolish people within its borders. Amercians…wake up… please. Make the politicians work for you, make them do their jobs. America is not great because the individuals are not. Empower and educate yourselves. If not for you… for your youth… who will inherit what you did not do for yourselves.
Another Canadian watching the comedy series called the U.S. election on November 5, 2016 at 7:59 pm
“reality tv show” Yes – the United States has lost it not only economically but the model for other nations to follow . Its time the United States to fix its own problem before tell other counties how to run their affairs Their constant interfering in other countries ,wars , proxy wars and inventing boogeymen to spead fear in the name of keeping the military industrial complex in business need to addressed and not have mud slinging matches as election debates .
N. McElhaney, Canadian on November 5, 2016 at 10:26 pm
I agree with you. America will never be again that great country. They ignored their own people living in poverty, they have become more and more self consume with materialism and their ego have drove them far away from that dream everyone once inspired. Hatred and racism, self absorbed and lack of humility will bring Ameucan down. No matter who wins this elections their destiny is bleak and I feel sorry for the millions who are honest and true. God have mercy!
Elaine Allison on November 6, 2016 at 1:44 pm
Well if America goes down we will go with them. We are inextricably linked to the US in every way possible that really matters. And to truly pass judgment on the US please spend some time in other countries where the rule of law is non existent along with freedoms of any kind.
James McCann on November 7, 2016 at 9:04 am
While I agree with your analysis,I disagree with some of your conclusions..I believe that since neither of the two main candidates are likeable in general..then we are left with looking at what their presidency will do to our country…and do I vote to protect the constitution,do I vote for someone who wants more socialism…when we are 20 trillion dollars in debt already…do I vote for open borders..state funded abortion…a left leaning Supreme Court…or do I vote for intelligent control of our borders,a conservative leaning Supreme Court,less beaurocracy, a fair tax code,an end of Obamacare, and while this election cycle has been embarrassing to watch,I do believe we have learned something very important…we have citizens spread from one end of the political spectrum to the other..we have become polarized in a way that pales in comparison to what Pres Obama accomplished…I have never heard presidential candidates call half the country deplorables,or basement dwellers before…I pray we can pull this country back together to be the United States,it has been too long since it has been anything remotely close
Chris Malone on November 7, 2016 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for your very thoughtful comment, James!
Dan on January 12, 2017 at 3:06 pm
Trump won on “Warmth and Competence”? You must be joking!
Chris Malone on January 13, 2017 at 3:06 am
Actually, if you download our report, you’ll see that either Trump nor Clinton are viewed as warm or competent, but one of them had to win through party loyalty despite that.
Anonymous on January 13, 2017 at 7:38 pm
I confess a) I’ve not read the other comments; and b) I am Canadian born and raised so have no vote in the U.S. However, the “problem” of young voters being “turned off”by “partisanship” etc. interests me. My immediate observation is that they aren’t using “partisanship” (and its associated loyalty/affinity to a particular party/group) as a springboard for rebellion (read: change)…such that instead of refraining from voting, they would choose to vote emphatically in one position or another (i.e. to vote for whomever reflected their best interest/choice…rather than not vote at all. I have taught both my children — male (31) and female (36) that voting is a hard-won privilege — especially for women) — so therefore must be used whenever the occasion arises, and that the Voter must exercise discretion, wisdom and thoughtfulness before exercising his/her vote.
Roger on January 14, 2017 at 2:22 pm
As a Canadian who followed your election, one of the “reasons” given for voting for Trump appeared to be that “he tells it like it is”. How on earth do you reconcile that with him changing his tune often as quickly as half an hour after he uttered it?
Do you not Think and Cross Reference?
In our election a year ago, a candidate for whom the election was his to lose, Lost because in the last few weeks he continually changed his tune to fit his audience And We Noticed It.
Janice on January 15, 2017 at 1:26 pm
It’s interesting that most comments here are from Canadians (as am I). We have no allegiance to either your Republican or Democratic parties and can be somewhat less partisan in our observations.
While the results of this study apparently tell us what moved the American Electorate, I think #2 explains why the majority of your cousins in the “Great White North” are so shocked and appalled that Donald Trump is about to be sworn in as the next leader of the United States of America? Note that I did NOT call the US the greatest nation on earth, nor its President the leader of the “Free” world – such arrogance – so “braggadocious”! The rest of the world does not see you that way, no matter how many times you tell yourself you are. (while I think I won the life lotto by being born Canadian, I personally think the Dutch deserve those titles for reasons other than money and power)
Even your closest friends and allies to the north are wondering how we missed seeing such a “YUGE” aspect of the collective American personality. I sincerely hope there is nothing more sinister lurking beneath that we also missed.
Gary Horsnall on January 16, 2017 at 2:09 pm
Plain and simple for me friends the last minute interference by the FBI directly led to Trump’s victory. It was simply the icing on a very toxic campaign of lies and deciet.
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The president is expected to say the United States plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by the year 2030. That's not the only climate goal the administration has set, but it is the most aggressive by far. The president will state that ambition during a climate summit with other world leaders. White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy talked to the NPR POLITICS PODCAST.
GINA MCCARTHY: The summit is really a time for us to rally together with other countries. We're not looking to stay neutral. We're looking to get everybody to begin to really be more aggressive.
INSKEEP: NPR's Jeff Brady covers energy issues and climate change. Jeff, good morning.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Hey, good morning.
INSKEEP: What is the status of the United States on climate issues as this summit begins?
BRADY: The U.S. is really trying to make up for lost time on this issue. Biden rejoined the Paris agreement after former President Trump exited. And even though the U.S. is not on track to meet goals set back in 2015, Biden will announce even more ambitious goals, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030. That's based on 2005 levels. The president wants to demonstrate the U.S. is serious because the Paris commitments are voluntary and countries have to trust each other to keep their promises. The summit is happening now because the next big climate meeting is in November in Glasgow. Countries need time to work out details for commitments they make today. Biden's climate envoy, John Kerry, he's been traveling the globe, encouraging countries, especially China, to step up their efforts, too.
JOHN KERRY: Glasgow is really the last, best chance that I think we have to align the world to move in this direction with speed.
BRADY: You know, there were questions whether China's president, Xi, would participate in this summit. He plans to be there. And that's important because China is the biggest greenhouse gas emitter now.
INSKEEP: But the United States is making the news here. And I just want to ask about this, Jeff, because often when we hear people setting climate goals, they just seem very, very far in the future. And now we're talking about something like within our lifetimes, within nine years, within the decade that we're in. How significant is a promise to make so much progress so quickly in relative terms?
BRADY: It's very significant. This is twice what President Obama pledged to cut back in 2015. The research firm Rhodium Group, they say about a 50% cut would put the U.S. among those setting the most ambitious goals, including the U.K., the European Union and Switzerland. Historically, the U.S. is the largest emitter, and these greenhouse gases stick around in the atmosphere for a long time. So you can see why other countries want an ambitious target from the U.S. And on whether this is enough to stop climate change, scientists tell us it really is not. We're no longer in the realm of stopping climate change. We're just trying to slow it down and avoid some of the worst consequences, you know, like even more intense wildfires and heat waves and more extreme hurricanes.
INSKEEP: Well, hopefully people can do that. But how would the United States accomplish this goal by 2030?
BRADY: Not a lot of details yet. Administration officials say those will be worked out in coming months before Glasgow. Still, it's clear that meeting these goals is going to be very challenging. The country's power grid has to be remade. That means a lot of money spent on cleaner generators and more transmission lines to get renewable energy to where it's needed. That's included in Biden's more than $2 trillion infrastructure proposal. His administration promises that lots of good paying union jobs will be created in the process. Transportation, I think, is where a lot of us will notice changes. Biden's climate plan call for a fast ramp up of electric vehicles. Yesterday, 12 governors sent the White House a letter asking Biden to set a goal that all cars sold by 2035 have no emissions. That generally means only EVs sold by that time.
INSKEEP: Jeff, thanks for the update, really appreciate it.
BRADY: Thank you.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Jeff Brady.
INSKEEP: OK, for the second night in a row, protesters marched in Columbus, Ohio, after an officer shot a 16-year-old girl.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) She was a child.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) She was a child.
MARTIN: That was her name, Ma'Khia Bryant. She was involved in a fight on Tuesday. Body cam footage shows Officer Nicholas Reardon, who has been on the force just since December of 2019, pull up and get out of the car. Video shows Ma'Khia holding what appears to be a knife. The video released by police shows her lunging at another person just before the officer yells get down, then fires four shots.
INSKEEP: NPR's Frank Morris is in Columbus. Frank, good morning.
INSKEEP: We've heard a little bit about the case there, but work us through the evidence as it stands today. I know each day we're learning a little more.
MORRIS: We're learning more because police released more video of the incident last night. This is body camera footage from another one of the responding officers, so it's a different vantage point. The Columbus Police Department was quick to release initial body cam footage from Officer Nicholas Reardon, who fired his gun. The videos show officers responding to a disturbance on a residential street that seemed to be centered around Ma'Khia Bryant. Seconds after officers showed up, Bryant is shown lunging at a woman, who falls. Reardon pulls his gun and yells. Then Bryant turns to another woman, rearing back with what police say was a knife in her hand as the woman cowers on the side of a car. Then, not 15 seconds into the encounter, Reardon fired several shots, killing Bryant. Interim Columbus Police Chief Michael Woods wouldn't comment on the killing because it's being investigated by state authorities. But at a press conference yesterday, he did say that officers are trained to respond in kind.
MICHAEL WOODS: When officers are faced with someone employing deadly force, deadly force can be the response the officer gives.
INSKEEP: So that's the information and the explanation, I guess would be the word, that police are giving. How are people responding on the streets?
MORRIS: Well, as you mentioned, there were several protests last night. I went to one in the street in front of police headquarters in downtown Columbus and saw Tonay Daniel looking on with tears in her eyes.
TONAY DANIEL: It isn't going to change anything overnight, but I think that it makes them see us in a different light. We're not animals. We're just asking for a little bit of peace and normalcy.
MORRIS: Daniel says she lives a couple of blocks from where Ma'Khia Bryant was staying with her foster family. She believes that Bryant struggled, like most teenagers do, with, you know, various kinds of problems. But she certainly doesn't believe she deserved to die.
INSKEEP: What do the protesters say, if anything, about maybe ambiguities is the word or just what is seen on the video there?
MORRIS: Well, protesters have different views of what they're looking at there. You know, most of the protesters just feel that too much force was used.
INSKEEP: Are there other incidents that make people concerned in Columbus?
MORRIS: Yeah, there've been quite a number. The Columbus Dispatch reports there have been five killings of Black people by police just since May. And there are two really striking ones. In December alone, Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old, was killed in his Columbus doorway and another man was killed also by Columbus police officers in December.
INSKEEP: Frank, thanks very much.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Frank Morris.
INSKEEP: Schools are finding that students need more than just academic help as more of them return to in-person learning.
MARTIN: As of this week, about 60% of U.S. students in grades K through 12 are attending schools that offer in-person learning. And many school leaders will tell you their top priority right now is kids' mental health. This year has been stressful for so many children and traumatic for some who lost loved ones during the pandemic.
INSKEEP: NPR's Cory Turner has been looking into what schools can do to help kids feel safe. It's part of a reporting partnership between NPR, Illinois Public Media and Kaiser Health News. Cory, good morning.
INSKEEP: What are you hearing from educators?
TURNER: Well, they're talking a lot about the body's actual physical response to something stressful. So you know the feeling. Your stress hormones get elevated. Your head starts pounding. In kids, when this stress response stays amped up like that for long periods of time, it can cause real serious health problems down the road. Now, superimpose that science, Steve, over this pandemic and the fact that many children have lost loved ones to COVID-19 or had a parent or a caregiver lose a job. Some have lost their homes. Maybe they've had less to eat. And obviously, as we just heard, it's not just the pandemic. There's our nation's racial reckoning, plus the storming of the Capitol, all happened in the past year. So my reporting partner, Christine Herman and I, we spoke with a bunch of mental health experts and educators, and they all told us, look, if schools do not focus on helping kids feel safe and comfortable now, it is going to be a lot harder to catch them up academically.
INSKEEP: And it's really interesting to hear you say that this is not - I mean, this is more than an emotional issue. This can be a health issue when there's so much stress for such a long period. So what can schools do?
TURNER: Yeah, absolutely. So there are things they can do for every child. So more broadly, a lot of schools are building in time first thing in the morning, every classroom, think about, like, circle time for younger kids or homeroom for older students. This is when the teacher can ask, how are you doing? That's exactly what Lilian Sackett does. She's a middle school ESL teacher in Chicago.
LILIAN SACKETT: I think we need to allow the students to share their experiences with the pandemic and to give them that safe space that we can talk about it.
TURNER: And, Steve, it's not just sharing these feelings. Schools, including Sackett's, are also using this time to teach kids emotion management strategies like mindfulness, deep breathing, that sort of thing.
INSKEEP: So you ask students, how are you doing? What can schools do when the answer comes back and it's not good at all?
TURNER: Yeah, so several things. You know, counselors can meet with these students in smaller groups or in some cases they can arrange for one-on-one help. We met a boy named Kai. He's nine, lives in Washington, D.C., with his mom and his baby sister. And he's had a lot of worries around COVID, especially because his sister is immunocompromised. So through his elementary school, Kai has been talking with a therapist, and he says she has really helped him come up with a plan for when he feels stressed.
KAI HUMPHREY: I would go in my room, lay on my bed and either watch TV or play with my toys or do something like that. And then I'll come back out when I'm more calm and happy.
TURNER: You know, Steve, through a partnership with a local hospital, Kai's school has also arranged for his mom to see a therapist, too, for weekly parent wellbeing sessions. And the good news for schools here is the latest COVID relief from Congress should help them pay for all of this.
INSKEEP: Cory, thanks.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Cory Turner. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Jeff Brady is a National Desk Correspondent based in Philadelphia, where he covers energy issues and climate change. Brady helped establish NPR's environment and energy collaborative which brings together NPR and Member station reporters from across the country to cover the big stories involving the natural world.
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Have you ever noticed how much better you feel when you really take the time to notice and appreciate something?
We might take an old umbrella in the back seat for granted, but when it starts raining, we are super glad it’s there! When we appreciate what we have, things just seem better somehow. The world seems a lot friendlier and things are a lot easier to deal with. One of the best things we can do for ourselves is to stay in gratitude. But how do we get there?
One way to create a sense of gratitude is to use a gratitude journal. It’s a handy way to keep track of things you’re grateful for, and there’s no one right way to do it. Your journal can be a fancy bound journal with a pretty cover and a special pen. Or it can be a basic notebook with a pen you found on a shelf. It can be something you keep on your computer. The journal can be anything you want it to be – it’s just for you!
The list itself can also be as simple or complex as you want. You can be grateful for simple things like clean water, good weather, healthy food. You can list the people who make your life better. You can write specific things that make your heart sing. Any or all of those things can make you feel grateful and really, the sky’s the limit! Well, actually, you can be grateful for the sun, the moon and the stars too…so no limits! It just has to work for you!
If you’re just getting started, try using a gratitude list as a daily ritual, starting or ending your day by writing a few things you are grateful for. It doesn’t have to take much time or even many words. You might be surprised at the impact a few minutes of focusing on gratitude can have.
A friend of mine texts her gratitude list to her friends. And they text her back with theirs. Every morning, she types out 10 things she is grateful for and copies that text to her “gratitude group.” In the middle of a hectic workday, she’ll get a text in response: “I am grateful for my cat, my favorite pen and for our friendship.” It can turn her whole day around. Another keeps her gratitude list in a google doc on line. “That way, I can see it and add to it wherever I am,” she says.
Refocus Your Thoughts and Energy.
A couple of things happen when you make gratitude a part of your daily life. For one, when you focus your thoughts and energy on the things you appreciate, they magically start to outweigh the things that might not be so great. When you’re going through a tough time, you can look at the journal and remember just how much we have to be grateful for. It helps to remember that when you are in gratitude, even when things are tough, you can still find something that makes you smile, helps you feel safe, and is a reminder that you are loved. That’s a lot to be grateful for!
If you enjoyed this article, I would like to invite you to join my “Email from Heaven” monthly newsletter by clicking HERE. Each month I will send you my newest blog posts, videos and also a free gift to your inbox. I hope that my emails help you on your spiritual journey and help you stay connected to those you love and miss in Heaven.
Carol Sneed on September 25, 2019 at 12:59 pm
I used to write down my thoughts every day. It really helped me to release the stress and anxiety that would build up. Thank you for the reminder I will start doing this again.
Tiffany Chang on September 25, 2019 at 1:01 pm
This reminded me of that movie, ‘The Secret’. I do believe in the power of your thoughts. I also believe you can manifest and achieve good things just by thinking positive.
Sue Holmes on September 25, 2019 at 1:02 pm
Thank you for this. I needed to be reminded of the good things happening around me.
Debbie Shryock on September 25, 2019 at 4:07 pm
Growing up I always kept a everyday journal. Always taughht m daughters to do the same. It has always helped through this journey called life.
Tonya Reynolds on September 26, 2019 at 9:15 am
I say my gratitude list outloud everyday on my way to work.?And when my kids are complaining about something, I remind them of everything that they do have and tell them that they should always be grateful for what they have, not focus on what they do not have
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As in any other moment of crisis, many of us have taken to the internet to try to understand or process the scale of the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Ian. Along with videos of sharks swimming in the streets, memes have exploded on social media. And some of them are bizarre, and some of them are even funny. But there are also many spreading lies and misinformation. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has specifically warned residents across the state to be on the lookout against potential financial scams that often seem to follow the paths of disasters. Here he is talking about that.
RON DESANTIS: And it just hasn't worked out well in the past in Florida. Unfortunately, when you have disasters, there are some people that want to prey on people when they're in vulnerable situations, and we do not want that.
MARTIN: To talk about these meme scams and misinformation, we're joined now by Lesley Cosme Torres. She is a reporter who reports on misinformation and disinformation in Spanish for The Miami Herald. Lesley Cosme Torres, welcome. Thanks so much for talking to us.
LESLEY COSME TORRES: Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
MARTIN: I'd like to start off by asking about some of the things that we've seen online. There's this video circulating on the internet. It has over 13 million views now. It shows what seems to be a baby shark swimming along a Florida highway. In a few memes, we see alligators wading in floodwaters inside people's homes. Is there a way that we can know which images are real and which are fake?
COSME TORRES: The thing with memes and old videos resurfacing is oftentimes when people browse through social media, it's pretty casually and passively, meaning that even if it's the same video of the shark that reappeared in 2016, like, people don't take the time to realize that it's old. We don't really take the time to know where the posts originated and what year. And for someone who's more inclined to believe in conspiracies and misinformation, they won't look in - or research if it's real.
But it's not an issue of, like, people not believing it. It's that people don't have time to fact-check everything they see on social media. So it's always important to look at the origin of the video. See how far back you can trace it. And it's also important to look to two to three trusted sources to see if they've reported on it or if they've debunked it because sources like PolitiFact and Poynter, they fact-check these things. And they'll say on their websites, like, hey, this thing that spreading, it's not real. So that's always a good thing to do.
MARTIN: What about memes? I think it's interesting to a lot of people how quickly memes pop up after something like this. And as I said, you know, some of them are bizarre, and some of them are funny. What do you think about that?
COSME TORRES: Yeah. I think, like, memes and posts that resurface can be harmful in cases of hurricanes because hurricanes in Florida can have really devastating impacts, from people's own personal safety to really important items like their houses, their cars, their entire life. So when a hurricane comes, the trajectory isn't always certain. So people are sort of, like, glued to social media - myself included - like, local news sites, TV, to keep track of where it's going, like, what kind of impact it's had. So if you're out there spreading misinformation or sharing a video that actually happened, like, three years ago, five years ago, it can cause a panic. It can make - it can lead people to make rash and quick decisions that they wouldn't if they had the right information from trusted sources.
MARTIN: Oh, I see what you're saying. So you're saying that while people may think they're just spreading something fun or they're just being creative or whimsical, you're saying that this can actually be really harmful because it's distracting people from the accurate, real-time information they need to make good decisions.
COSME TORRES: Exactly. In English, these posts - like, they'll eventually be taken down if they're on popular websites like Twitter and Facebook. It's just important, I guess, to - you yourself, as a user, you can be a part of solutions. So, like, if you see something that looks fishy or you see something that you know isn't true, you can report it and save a lot of harm that it can cause because it might be, like, a cute meme for someone who doesn't live in Florida. But, like, there are people who are, like, severely impacted by these hurricanes. And it's important that they know exactly what's going on.
MARTIN: As we heard earlier, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, has warned people of financial scams that prey on people who are affected by storms and, you know, prey on people - they prey on people wanting to help people who have been affected by disasters. Are there some tips that you can share to help people - to prevent people from falling prey to these scams?
COSME TORRES: Yeah. So it's really important to realize that when someone is asking you for your personal information or for money, it's most likely an imposter scam or someone who's using this horrible incident to get money from you - posing as the government, officials or inspectors, someone who's asking to see your ID or personal information. So no one should ever ask you for - no one should ever, from a number you don't know, ask you for that information. And FEMA, for example, doesn't charge application fees or anything like that. So it's always important to see, just to make sure who is calling you is the person they say they are.
MARTIN: And I want to focus on an area that you focus on in your reporting, which is people who speak and read Spanish. Are we seeing similar things particularly targeted toward Spanish-language platforms that you want to highlight?
COSME TORRES: Yeah. I guess I do want to say that in Spanish, we know that content isn't as easily verified or fact-checked. There just aren't enough resources from social media companies and larger media organizations as much as they do in English. So we've found - I've found specifically that in Spanish, it's a lot of content that's been taken from English, like, badly translated into Spanish or just, like, not thoroughly fact-checked. And, like, a large way that this information is spread is through WhatsApp or YouTube - mostly WhatsApp. And WhatsApp is more dangerous because there are private groups and private messages, so it's much easier to go unmonitored and undetected for much longer.
So in English, we will see, like, if a post on Facebook or Twitter - like, it's more likely to be taken down sooner. But if something spreads to WhatsApp and it's in private groups or it's forwarded, like, it's nearly impossible to monitor that or take that down. And then I've also found that when these things are pulled from social media sites and spread throughout WhatsApp, it's a lot of people spreading it throughout their family. And you know, you trust your family and your friends, and so you assume that what you're they're sending you and what they're forwarding you is true. And so you're more inclined to believe it. And that's not to say that your family members are trying to deceive you. They're just - they genuinely believe in this information, too. And it's just not a place where there are fact-checkers.
But I know WhatsApp is trying to make moves to - for people to contact certain numbers. Like, I know there's - Univision and Telemundo are providing their users with accurate information. They have numbers that you can contact. And if you see something that you think might be misinformation, you can text them. You can WhatsApp them and see if it's true or not.
MARTIN: That was Lesley Cosme Torres. She's a reporter for the Miami Herald who covers misinformation and disinformation. Lesley Cosme Torres, thanks so much for joining us.
COSME TORRES: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Michel Martin is the weekend host of All Things Considered, where she draws on her deep reporting and interviewing experience to dig in to the week's news. Outside the studio, she has also hosted "Michel Martin: Going There," an ambitious live event series in collaboration with Member Stations.
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The IGAD Heads of states and government holding the 27th Extraordinary Summit on South Sudan in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.(Photo: file)
April 4, 2015(Nyamilepedia) — South Sudan now in the second year of its new civil war, the country has since been a hotbed for militant politics thus making it one of world’s spots that has come to stay as reminder to all humanity that,” Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You”, or else we are all doomed to fail.
This trend has now just accentuated more than ever before as vivid diplomatic shuttles involving delegates from the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the European Union, the Troika (USA, UK and Norway) begin converging on the Ethiopian Capital City, Addis Ababa in a last attempt to hammer a peace deal for the world’s newest country.
It is for this important reason that all ears are now beginning to be turned towards that direction with everyone hoping to get hold of a first-hand news on what is seen as the likeliest most inclusive participation ever by the members of the human race to bring sanity to the devastated citizens of South Sudan.
The imminent outcome of the new initiative on peace in South Sudan is likely produce all that is needed to rekindle the hope of a better future to the country and its ten million people.
Optimism among a people traumatised by wars, often does come easily especial when these wars only stop only to start another. But gauging by the new dynamics involved in the new IGAD PLUS initiative that has now officially replaced its predecessor, the failed and much compromised old, Museveni –Dominated IGAD-ONLY Initiative, these are all set to change.
For the first in a long while a fresh hope of a new breeze of peace to the war torn South Sudan is becoming more of a reality than ever before, although real mountains of differences between the various warring factions remain virtually unaddressed.
The most important learning curve in this whole process lies in the fact that it was IGAD that came out openly to accept and acknowledge the reasons behind the failures of its first solo attempt.
Hence, the new initiative by default must be different from the first one both in substance and spirit. My readers will agree with me that with the replaced initiative in full swing, the old IGAD initiative represented the much dreaded top down approach.
Much has already been said about the cos and pros of the Old IGAD Solo initiative and why it had failed to yield any fruits of peace. So could the learning curve here be the organization’s own admittance of inborn conflicts of interest that compromised it previous one year’s attempt when on several occasions it actually knowingly or unknowingly tried to undermine much of the sensitive prerequisites for arriving at an all binding peace deal, by being conspicuously pro the government of the day in Juba ? This we will find out when the new IGAD PLUS Initiative officially convenes in a few days’ time.
Of Course unappreciated also in the old IGAD solo initiative were damages done to IGAD’s image by the conspicuous hands of the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, which in fact were all over the place and actually at times too strong to be contained nor ignored .
All the above could be history now, for the news coming out of the Ethiopian Capital over the past few days has all the elements of a world community united for the first time to talk in one voice with the sole intention of salvaging South Sudan from the imminent demise that its failed leaders have chosen for it and its people.
Those of you who don’t know that a new dawn is likely to dawn on South Sudan very soon if all its friends act in good faith, should now prepare for the good news to come soon. You are all called upon to appreciate that something serious and equally great is now brewing in Addis Ababa in a way to tackle the 14 month old civil war in the new country of South Sudan. Africa and the world want to act on South Sudan and they want to act now!
So please instead of putting hurdles in the way of a just and inclusive peace, why not help them in this noble mission? After all the independent sovereign state of South Sudan is still to install in place it’s “first ever elected president, government and parliament”.
Stop killing one another over these rotten and rudimentary structures that you inherited from Khartoum. It is time we start the new independent Republic of South Sudan, with new philosophy, new vision, new institutions and above all new spirit.
A mission to stop bloodshed in our country is on the way. It’s meant to put an end to impunity by holding to account all abusers of human rights and spoilers of peaceful settlement and stop a whole generation of South Sudanese young people from being again reduced to mere fodders to feed a brutal war, when there is no winner in sight.
The dinosaurs of the geriatric Jieng “Dinka” Council of Elders and their clown Michael Makuei Lueith’s are aware of how the new initiative is likely to blow the top off their campaign to replace the aspirations of the people of South Sudan for a democratic republican system with their day dreams of a tribal fiefdom.
This is the reason why these spoilers of peace are finding it all too difficult to shut up their big mouths. You saw them shouting, yelling and wailing all over the place, didn’t! I bet you did.
Well it has long been said that,” The best way to suspect that an eminent natural incident of exponential magnitude e.g. earth quakes, tsunamis, total eclipses of the sun or sometimes even the collapse of dynasty or an end to a tyrant, is to watch out for signs of fear, restlessness and intense panic among animals like birds, cats, dogs or even the wildlife”.
In as far as South Sudan stands now, all you need to do is watch the behaviours of those believed to have perpetuated the ethnic cleansing of December 2013 and you can tell that their fates is about to be sealed once and for all.
In other words watch out for the reactions from Michael Makuei Lueth, the mouth-piece of the genocidaire regime in Juba and read between his lips that the regime is on real fire.
You should also watch out for reactions from the tribal & spiritual leaders of the same genocidal regime – its “Supreme Council” of the Ayatollahs – the so-called the Jieng “Dinka” Council of Elders.
If you watch them keenly, they are becoming jittery than ever before. They are rightly now the Jieng “Dinka” Council of Panicked Elders, for the fate set up for them in the AU Report, is something even a million centuries of history won’t wipe away!
It has now been confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) remains firm in its threats of sanctions to the parties which include asset freezes and a travel ban on individuals obstructing the peace process.
Again information coming from a reliable source in Addis Ababa suggests the next round of South Sudan peace negotiations to resume between 10 and 18 April in Addis Ababa.
As a deadly blow to Michael Makuei Lueth war of words, another very reliable source from Addis Ababa also maintains that the coming talks will definitely see the IGAD along with African Union, UN, EU, Troika and China as full participants and brokers.
The most unwavering part of the Addis Ababa new IGAD PLUS brew so far is that, this new initiative comes under a completely new expanded mediation mechanism and is intended to remain so for the rest of its life spun regardless of whether any of the protagonists likes it or ot!
Not only that, but the source also confirms that the IGAD-PLUS mediating body has prepared a draft proposal for a final peace agreement with the AU Report and its recommendations forming an integral part of its approach to transitional justice.
This forthcoming peace negotiations would be the last opportunity for South Sudan’s two warring factions to restore peace to the young country.
More interestingly is the revelation that both leaders’ president Salva Kiir and his former deputy turned armed opposition leader Riek Machar, are believed to fully accept the new draft proposal by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and strike a final peace agreement during the next round of peace talks in mid-April.
Both sides are expected to sign an agreement to stop the war, form a Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) with clearly spelt commitments to an equal share of power and power within a federated system of government and carry out reforms?
So what will happen in the event that the two leaders and indeed the two warring sides refuse again to sign a deal?
It that event the stringent side will only has itself to blame. The immediate steps to be taken by the IGAD PLUS would be to push for an urgent and fast tracked Arms embargo, ban on foreign travels and freezing of assets for top officials and military generals and other noxious ethnically motivated groups e.g. the Jeing “Dinka” Council of Elders and the many other negative regional and tribal organisations operating across the political divides and beyond.
The neighbouring IGAD member and non-member states have also been promised sticks and carrots to cooperate in the implementation of these UNSC sanctions and embargos.
A well place African dignitary recently said that since the beginning of the year 2014, the African Union has recognised major areas of interventions to retain peace in Africa.
These are the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Boko Haram of Nigeria, Al Shababa in Somalia and Kenya and now the civil war in South Sudan.
On the other hand the international community is more than willing to see this continental organisation scores its first ever success stories since it replaced its predecessor, the much criticized Organisation of African Unity (AOU) – an organisation better remembered for siding with dictatorial leaders in the perpetuation of oppression in the continent !
So are we about to see a radical change in the regional, continental and international politics in favour of hands on the ground to stop the bloodletting in South Sudan, reboot (overhaul) the country and start a new page of stability, accountability and human rights respect and reinstate the dream of a better life this highly promising part of Africa!
Author: Justin Ambago Ramba. A Concerned South Sudanese and a voice for the millions who ate voiceless in the country. He can be reached at justin_ramba@aol.co.uk
Related
34 comments for “Something Serious Is Brewing In Addis Ababa In Spite Of The Teeth Grindings In Juba.”
April 4, 2015 at 3:08 am
Nuer highest positions seekers have spoiled food lovers government in Juba.
April 4, 2015 at 4:48 am
I always say Nuer blood that has spilled out in Juba in December 2013 and still spilling out through out in South Sudan’s bushes will one day free all South Sudanese young and old, rich and poor, disable and not disable from oppression, dictatorship, and tyranny regime of Kiir Liel Chieth Midiit. Nuer blood is like Jesus blood which freed men from sins.
April 4, 2015 at 5:00 am
Nuer are people,but you have to change because Dr. Riek was like a baby in Juba ,president have the right to kick him out.
April 4, 2015 at 2:56 pm
“Nuer blood is like Jesus blood which freed men from sins.” How? I don’t like when poor Kiir Killed civilians of Nuer citizens. But do u have an opinion about useless person so called Taban Deng Gai who manage Unity State like his properties and corrupting State resources without done any thing to indicate that, it is State where oil produces? And if u don’t an acknowledge the leadership that has been shown by Taban and Riek when they have the power, and the same time, they run the opposition to an opposed the same norms they enjoy when they are power. Do u think they will free men and women from sins?
April 4, 2015 at 3:42 am
Agumut Nuer indeed are not looking for higher position put that in your oblongata. Can you imagine warapian of Salva kiir were alarming for food shortage before others 9 states .why don’t you cultivate such that you could enjoy your outcome fruits? No rebellion no intersubclan fighting and you are in a state of equilibrium and peaceful co-existence . You always call Naath food lovers who are food lovers now according to your own ways of perspective?
April 4, 2015 at 4:02 am
UNKNOWN. Oh dear ,in the name of freedom,i have no position in the government in Juba and i have no interest either never.
April 4, 2015 at 4:25 am
Eglish is not easy. In his comment he said the Nuer position seekers spoiled food lover’s government. the government is run and controlled by the ethnic elements of which majority are Jaang. According to AGUMUT they are the food lovers whose government had been spoiled by Nuer position seekers. I believe AGUMUT does not even understand what he writes sometimes. Facts are he is a jealous JUNKIE
April 4, 2015 at 4:36 am
What you do for living?
April 4, 2015 at 5:22 am
Stop thinking and acting like a bird-brained sub-human.
Now, why the heck do you want to know what Gatnor does for a living, huh?
Can’t you clearly see that Gatnor, unlike me, is a full-time White Army of South Sudan National Media Watchdog?
The both of us have been repeatedly giving you hints to apologize to IO’s before it becomes too late, but I am afraid it is now awfully too late for you looters.
You will be lining up to join your former victims in UNMISS very soon or walk to the borders to Congo, Kampala and Nairobi.
LikeLiked by 1 person
April 4, 2015 at 8:12 pm
I am a tax collection officer on unpaid leave, J1 zone commands. Hope that satisfy your curiosity. Your bitch said I am the man if you care to know that too.
April 4, 2015 at 11:49 pm
Kick Back and a Thief. The Tax Collectors in the South Sudan are very corrupt and thieves,you can not survive if i am in the government.
April 4, 2015 at 7:17 am
I assumed you are not English!
April 4, 2015 at 4:48 am
April 4, 2015 at 5:09 am
Nuer don’t know The Secret between Mabior Garang,his mum and Riek Machar. Hacking that was left by our Late Dr.John Garang De White.
April 4, 2015 at 7:17 am
Iam wondering if Agumut is one of the confused Dinka elders. You guys are sickening cuz your uncle is not ready to lead the nation. Look at all his speeches they don’t make any sense. A grade 4th student can address people better than kiir. Honestly, kiir is a trash nothing good about him as well as his supporters. The man doesn’t know what to do in his office. Those who selected kiir in 2005 after late Garang, had made a terrible mistake. Agumut, your uncle is eligible to lead only cattle and Dinka only.
April 5, 2015 at 10:29 pm
He is from Bona Malual’s Bor counties just from his comments. The most useless Bor alive. The dude even have something to say about Mabior Garang and his mom. He must be the secret bustard son plagued by hatred.
April 5, 2015 at 11:57 pm
Dear Meshugaas, Bona Malual is not from Bor.
April 4, 2015 at 5:32 am
true, light, justice etc it is alway matter of time, but not all communities can hear quickly. don’t trust Shilluk and Bor.
Eastern
April 4, 2015 at 6:49 am
This is what some of us had foreseen. The stupid assertion that African problems require African solutions is hogwash.
African problems often cause global emergencies because the entire continent is short of what it takes to reduce the suffering of its people.
Often times, so-called leaders use patronage to lead their equally vulnerable citizens.
We can now clearly see that the otherwise ‘African problem’ that erupted in Juba on December 15, 2013 (due to governance which is a common African problem), required the world support (through humantarian assistance) and now international mediation, because African leaders like Museveni proved a disaster to the last round of peace talks in Addis Ababa.
man of the people
April 4, 2015 at 7:46 am
There is an end to everything. The sun will one day stop,the earth will disintegrate, life in general will cease to exist. So,for those who believe they will continue to maintain DINKA DINASTY, are not living in reality. The Roman Empire exist in books but not anymore in our lifetime. If you are one of those still dreaming of a tribal empire,my friend you better believe it or not,South Sudan will emerge stronger for all South Sudanese.
April 4, 2015 at 2:38 pm
“DINKA DINASTY, are not living in reality” I think u out of mind. In liberation of South Sudan, Nuer killed Nuer more than Arab they killed. And if included Dinka killed by Nuer, it would be a million plus Million killed by Arab. As we know an estimated that war between south and North take more than two millions lives in part of South Sudan. So my point is Riek is more useless than kiir coming to SS history. Good luck with your immature information.
April 4, 2015 at 7:59 am
BENTIU RAMARAN
You are right brother, the blood of all the innocents (all South Sudanese) is redemptive like Christ’s!! But all readers of this comment must also know that those who betrayed Jesus Christ, the like of Judas Scariot, will never enjoy the merits of that precious blood for atonement. Guess what I mean. Are there no Judas’ in the history of South Sudan?
April 4, 2015 at 2:25 pm
I guessed u meant Riek Machar?
April 4, 2015 at 10:15 am
Let see what will follow.
April 4, 2015 at 11:29 am
Thank you for the informative article, this was a long anticipated conclusion that the nation of SS should have had even prior to it’s secession from north.
First of all the West knows every bit of “how to bring peace to our ravaged nation” but they would like to act in their own timing and in their terms. In a recent document released by the White House what the former US President George W. Bush saw in Salva Kirr during their first meeting when President Bush was still in office. Even the former Bush Administration admitted to have seen that Pres. Kirr was clueless and had no vision yet they went ahead and blessed Salva Kirr to become the leader, mind you had the US back out just a little, not from granting the independence of South Sudan but not to allow Kirr to lead the nation, had they tried to negotiate a little bit more with the SPLA dominated incoming “New Nation” and do some soul searching; for example there were many other political parties in South Sudan (the DUP or Democratic Unionist Party Original, Justice Party, National SANU, the Communist Party, African People’s Progressive Alliance, Labor Party South Sudan – LPSS, United Democratic Front, South Sudan Democratic Forum, South Sudan Liberal Party, South Sudan Communist Party, United South Sudan Party) some of these political parties existed prior to 1956 independence who had already formulated how to run affairs of an independent nation, there was even an active parliamentarian system in Juba before SPLA existed. Well; perhaps to integrate or make share-holding deal with these political parties and SPLA/M as a party instead of dismantling and asking everybody to join or either assimilate into SPLA or get lost. Such that SPLA as a party would have taken, let’s say 50 to 60% of seats and the remaining 50 or 40% be given to the “others”. Had the US and TROIKA done its homework first we would have less problem today in South Sudan. But since it is just “another African problem” far away from their borders why should the West worry?
The West having known all the negative implications; shouldn’t any sound mind people done something about this, even before the USA allowed Salva Kirr’s and his uneducated SPLA/M generals to be declared as the sole well armed tribal regime-leaders?
The truth is that; the TROIKA nations pampered SPLA/M and smeared their bums with an olive oil even after knowing very well they (SPLA’s) already stained human rights records of innocent bloodsheds, cruelties during the years of the bush (jungle) era; child soldiers, rapes, tortures, land grabbing, indiscriminate killings and every atrocities you could name. There were many voices in human-rights groups who voiced their concerns about the SPLA/M misbehaviors all over the news but this very TROIKA turned deaf ears to every human-rights violations committed by SPLA/M. Instead they went ahead and legitimized the party and handed a whole nation to be butchered by SPLA/M, by the way it’s happening right now as we speak, the leader of PLP party disappeared in Juba, the two Ma’di chiefs and some youth are arrested and nobody knows their whereabouts, a general is killed in Upper Nile etc.
I personally think that the TROIKA nations are part and parcel of the crimes, just as the leaked AU reports said the US and TRIOKA are partly to blame and they do share the blames in the sufferings of innocent South Sudanese citizens.
The massacre of innocent Nuers in Juba, the ethnic cleansing of the Ma’di civilians and many other poor souls could have been prevented had US government asked SPLA/M regime some tough questions even prior to granting the South it’s independence.
Right from the get go TROIKA should have dissolved SPLA army and enforce the creation of a national army before independence, such that those Southerners in the National Armed forces from the then united Sudanese National Defense Forces, who happened to be more disciplined than those bush guerrilla mentality of SPLA tribal militias. Another truth is; the former South Sudanese Army was more organized and respects human-rights and they understand the rule of law, they were composed of multi-ethnicity armed with nationally oriented principles of governance.
For example in Equatoria and W. Bahr Ghazal the people are very respectful and even before schooling these people were well behaved, but the SPLA/M came and destabilized every organized system and brought about cattle camp mentality of anarchism and now look at what we got? A nation full of barbaric chaotic illiterates and utterly useless system.
To be honest if I have the power to do so I would have taken the TROIKA to face ICC and justice, but we all know that is impossible. All that they need to do now is to fix the mess they created by dismantling and dissolving SPLA and its affiliates in return for a national army to be uniformly and trained to observe and respect the rule of laws.
April 4, 2015 at 3:10 pm
Man, u keep the same comment u made with different article while back or days or week ago. I know it s painful indeed what going on in SS. But if u possess irreversible hate to certain people, then the solution is to hang yourself quickly, because u not going exterminates Dinka in SS.
April 4, 2015 at 3:32 pm
I was replied to Eli Wani , not u Hi Dr. Amba; with the above comment.
April 4, 2015 at 4:21 pm
I never will talk about exterminating any ethnic group, not even dinka. Unlike the dinkas who wish to exterminate the Nuers and other minority tribes, if you can read well I always address my points towards SPLA-Juba, unless you are saying all SPLA-Juba are dinkas then you have to worry. I also did not repeat my comments all I did was using some points from my previous comments to reiterate my points. I also pass some blames on the TROIKA nations for their blind ambitions in the past when all the danger signs were there but they refused to listen. However the so called Jenge Council of Elders are a dangerous group of people who are about to let loose the wild dogs of the West, and they will devour everything in their path including SPLA-Juba.
April 4, 2015 at 7:29 pm
man of the people
April 4, 2015 at 4:42 pm
Deng II. Your comments on this website are premature. Serious matters regarding people’s lives deserve serious and objective analysis. This war has not only destroyed civilian population,it has displaced thousands of them currently living in destitute situation in the neighboring countries, Uganda,Kenya and Ethiopia. Do you not fell ashamed?
April 4, 2015 at 8:21 pm
Man of the people
Man, are u just being born? You talk about destroying civilian population, do u know how many population had been destroyed by 1991? let me give you an example, there is county called Abiemnhom in Unity State which is least fewest county base in population, why because Riek 1991 did tried to exterminates them on the face of earth. In fact, they were about to become Nuer people because in 1970s they used to fight baggara or missiriya on daily basics, so some of them move to Nuer , some move to Warap, when they became overwhelming by the Million of Arab. But when war broke out in 1991, Nuer doesn’t have mercy on them but to killed them due they are Dinka, Nuer killed all Ruweng who have home on Nuer soil on that time, apart from what happened in Bor, Ngok Lualyak, Panaruu and Etc. As I said on the comments I made on other articles, during 21 years, Nuer killed Nuer and Dinka more than Arab they killed. This is a fact, and if u are old enough we can count the battles fought by battalion where Nuer were majority with Arab. Nuer were majority in wolf Muor Muor around Mayom city in 1980s and Nuer can be equivalent with Dinka when they captured Nasir in 1980s. However do know How many battle Dinka and Nuer fought between themselves? we cannot count it all in one week . We Dinka contributed so much blood and pains than any tribes in SS. Does that mean we can killed Nuer for nothing? For me, hell big no.
April 4, 2015 at 9:10 pm
It is time to start the new independent in the republic of South Sudan, with new federal system of government, new philosophy, new vision, new institutions & reforms and above all new spirit under the visionary Leaders, Dr.Riek Machar and Right Hon Alfred Lado Gore.
man of the people
April 5, 2015 at 5:04 am
Deng II. South Sudan will NOT be dragged to the past in order to move us backwards. The nation has attained it’s sovereignty to move ahead not to take us back to your fights decades ago,between your tribes. Do you think the rest of the 62 tribes are interested in your historical wars? During the II World war,the Germans and their allies and the British and their allies went to war. But today, they live in peace. Deng II, you are retarded and backward looking guy. Think before you write anything in this forum. Indeed,your analysis is disgusting to those who enjoy reading constructive ideas about our great country. Please Editor,there is need to strictly moderate articles that don’t substantiate in public forums.
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One of the smaller states to be sure, Connecticut delivers on New England appeal while expertly positioned between Boston and... New York City. Its petite square mileage aside, Connecticut is home to champion college basketball teams, ESPN, Gilmore Girls and even an Ivy League — not bad for a state you could feasibly drive through in under two hours. Mystic, Connecticut, is a well-known seaport that features a beloved aquarium and so much regional charm you’ll be sporting a Vineyard Vines sweater in no time. A large fraction of Connecticut locals claim Italian ancestry, so of course, pizza is a staple. New Haven, especially, has its own vibrant pizza scene and a distinct style — several pizzerias in New Haven are BYOB so that you can swing by the packie for a quick six-pack. Connecticut-style pizzas are thin, charred, deliciously chewy and pair expertly well with a pint of craft beer. Lucky for you, Drizly has over 80 liquor store partners throughout Connecticut, so your local package stores, munis and liquor shops are just a few clicks away. Long commute back from the city? Skip the pack and let Drizly deliver directly to you.
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Dr. Carli Katz believes that patients shouldn’t have to sacrifice beautiful cosmetic results in order to receive dental treatment without the use of toxic materials or harsh treatments. She believes that being a holistic dentist, and treating the systemic health of her patients should be a given in modern dentistry, and she continues to keep up to date on the latest non-toxic treatments, biocompatible dental materials, and non-invasive/biological dental alternatives. Her primary focuses are in the following:
Amalgam (mercury filling) replacement with a specialized protocol to prevent mercury from being released into the body during treatment
Ozone therapy to reduce pockets, and reverse gum disease and prevent surgery
Alternative healing plans to improve healing, both from a preventative and recuperative perspective.
What does Holistic Dentistry Mean?
When a dentist practices holistic dentistry, they treat your mouth as an entire system. Holistic dental care focuses on improving the health of your teeth and gums while also looking at other factors in your life that may be affecting them, like diet or stress levels.
For example, if you’re drinking more coffee than usual, it might be time to cut back because caffeine can cause issues with dry mouth (xerostomia). Why is this important? A dry mouth can lead to bad breath and cavities. Holistic dentists use their extensive knowledge about how lifestyle choices impact oral health when caring for patients, so everyone leaves their office smiling!
Choosing a holistic dentist will help you avoid harsh chemicals and procedures that can further damage your mouth—holistic dentists trained in natural remedies like ozone therapy. An anti-inflammatory treatment is used to remove bacteria from pockets around the teeth. This gentle alternative works without any pain or side effects!
When it comes to fillings, many patients choose not to go with traditional silver amalgam options because they contain mercury – yikes! Holistic alternatives use biocompatible materials like porcelain or composite resin instead of metals. Hence, there’s no need for metal detectors at airports on your next trip out of town (and bonus: these restorations look more natural!)
When looking through Dr. Carli Katz’s website, you may have noticed that the Holistic Dentistry section is quite extensive. There are pages for her holistic approach to amalgam (mercury filling) removal, dental implants, dental anxiety, and general information about what it means to choose a holistic dentist! Holistic dentists believe in being proactive with treatment so you can keep your mouth healthy year-round; regular cleanings will prevent cavities from developing while also keeping any tooth loss due to gum disease at bay. If you’re looking for a change or an update on how best to take care of your teeth, Dr. Carli Katz can help.
The Benefits of a Healthy Mouth
Everyone knows that smoking, drinking coffee, and sugary sodas are bad for your teeth. But did you know that even brushing too hard or using the wrong kind of toothpaste can be harmful?
Maintaining good oral hygiene is essential for keeping a healthy smile, but holistic dentists believe in taking an additional step beyond just basic cleaning. Holistic doctors focus on strengthening your mouth’s bones and tissues and its energy flow—and this approach has shown to have many positive effects on oral health. According to Dr. Carli Katz “, the state of our mouths reflects the state of our total health. Holistic dentistry is a way to improve your smile and strengthen your mouth by treating both its structure and energy flow.”
What does this mean? Because all body parts are connected, taking care of one function (such as teeth) will help you better care of every other aspect. Holistic dentists believe that if they can heal or remove negative influences like infections or toxins from your mouth, it will positively affect everything else in the body.
For example, when someone has dental issues such as cavities or gum disease, their immune system begins to shut down. The structure of the mouth affects how well their bodies fight off viruses and bacteria. Overall, making them more susceptible to diseases and infections. Holistic doctors help restore the immune system by strengthening their patients’ bones, tissues, and teeth during treatment—and then work with them to ensure they keep up healthy habits in-between visits.
Maintaining a healthy mouth, including brushing teeth, flossing, and visiting the dentist regularly, is not enough. Holistic dentistry considers your body as a whole and the impact that oral health has on other areas of health, such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes.
A healthy mouth is the “mirror” of one’s overall health, and it doesn’t take long for you to realize when something isn’t right with your teeth. If there are any changes in color, shape, or texture; if they start to ache or hurt (especially at night); if you’re experiencing sensitivity; or even noticing changes in how food tastes – these could be signs that something is wrong. Holistic dentists can help treat underlying causes so you can enjoy a beautiful smile without pain, discomfort, and short-term fixes that don’t address the underlying problem.
If you’re looking for a Holistic Dentist, look no further than Dr. Carli Katz. Her holistic approach to dentistry includes bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) for patients experiencing symptoms of menopause to enjoy relief from hot flashes and night sweats while preserving their natural teeth longer. She also uses oral conscious sedation when necessary instead of general anesthesia, safer for both mother and baby during pregnancy and babies under six months old (which is recommended by the FDA). This helps many moms who are anxious about the experience. Those moms may have had a negative experience with anesthesia in the past.
Holistic dentistry is different from traditional dentistry in that it considers the health of the whole body and not just your oral hygiene, in addition to focusing on general dental care. Holistic dentists also look at diet, sleep habits, exercise routines, and stress levels when determining an optimal treatment plan for you by looking deeper into what’s influencing your smile or mouth than simply asking about flossing techniques.
A holistic approach can help address concerns other specialists may miss, such as digestive issues (like acid reflux) or skin conditions like acne linked to gum disease. Holistic dentists, trained to help you determine which dental treatments or solutions will be the most helpful for your overall health, not just your smile.
A holistic approach is critical when treating young children and older adults, as these populations often have unique needs that a traditional general practitioner may overlook. For example, with kids, it’s essential to look at their diet. What they eat (and don’t) while looking for any possible food allergies can make a difference in how well they fare after cleaning instruments are used on them or if fillings need replacing down the road.
This same philosophy applies to seniors who tend to be more prone to systemic conditions and can benefit from consulting with a holistic dentist about which supplements they should take or changes needed in their diets. Holistic dentists train to identify possible imbalances early on so you stay healthy for the long term.
Dentists that practice Holistic Dentistry will look at the whole body, rather than just one part of it, when treating a condition or illness. They will also look for all signs and symptoms that indicate an imbalance within your system and then spend time working with you to get back into balance.
Holistic dentists believe that treating the surface issues alone doesn’t always lead to lasting results. Regarding dental health, there could be other issues in play throughout your mouth that are causing pain and discomfort even after treatment is complete.
Tooth Decay – Holistically trained dentists understand tooth decay results from a combination of factors. Sugars alone don’t cause tooth decay but compromised immune systems due to a lack of nutrients in the diet. Holistic dentists will work with you to figure out what may be causing your body’s immune system not to function correctly and then help you fix it by providing specific supplements or changes in your dietary habits.
Dental Anxiety – If a patient is nervous about visiting the dentist, they most likely will not have a great experience no matter how gentle their doctor might be. Holistic dentistry takes steps such as utilizing music during procedures, and taking time before treatment for calming breaths so that patients can feel more relaxed when under anesthesia if needed. These methods are also helpful for children who tend to be anxious at dental appointments as well.
Gum Disease – Holistic dentists study to detect inflammation and infection in the mouth before it gets serious. They’ll also work with their patients on issues such as smoking, changes in hormone levels that occur during menopause, or even medication side effects that could be making gum disease worse than usual. Holistic treatment of gum disease will not only prevent further damage but can help your gums regenerate themselves within a few months after beginning treatment.
Tooth Grinding – Tooth grinding is another issue many people suffer from without realizing they’re doing so since this condition has been nicknamed “the nighttime tooth grinder’s syndrome.” This problem typically occurs because something is going on emotionally (such as stress), physically (such as illness or sleep apnea), or even because of a nutritional deficiency (such as magnesium). Holistic dentists will help you determine the cause to be addressed and then provide treatment to alleviate symptoms.
Holistic dentistry is a branch of dental care that incorporates the philosophy and techniques from traditional medicine to improve your smile, mouth, and overall health. Holistic Dentists see oral wellness as an integral part of total body health. When you visit their office, they consider all aspects of your lifestyle, including diet, exercise habits, stress levels, and any other factors that may impact your teeth or gums, to give you personalized recommendations for achieving optimal oral health hygiene.
Some tips on how to maintain good oral healthcare at home:
Keep it natural: Natural products are always better for us because they don’t contain harsh chemicals which can further irritate sensitive mouths and throats. If we use products with heavy ingredients that can cause damage to our teeth and gums, we might be causing more harm than good. Holistic dentists recommend using natural products for brushing your teeth, like baking soda or coconut oil toothpaste.
Include protein: If you’re looking for a way to improve the health of your smile without sacrificing taste, try adding some lean proteins into your diet! Protein is necessary to build healthy cells within the body, including those found within muscles and bones; it also helps keep our hair shiny and skin elasticity. Because it’s so essential for optimal body function, many holistic doctors recommend eating small amounts throughout each day instead of large meals, which leave us feeling bloated and tired afterward.
Take care of yourself: Holistic dentists believe that when it comes to your teeth, what’s going on in the rest of your body and mind matters just as much as how you care for them. Holistic health focuses heavily on preventing illness by nurturing both our physical bodies and mental wellbeing. If we don’t eat well or of exercise or get enough sleep, then our immune systems weaken, so we’re more susceptible to infection which could spread throughout the mouth and create dysfunction both locally, and throughout the body.
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FILE - Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith walks off the field following an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Oct. 24, 2022, in Foxborough, Mass. The Bears agreed to trade Smith to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been announced. (AP Photo/Stew Milne, File)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Chicago Bears agreed to trade linebacker Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade had not been announced.
Smith, the NFL leader in tackles so far this season, joins a Baltimore team that has won two in a row and sits atop the AFC North.
The Ravens have had their issues defensively this season, but they’ve improved in that area and now add a second-team All-Pro to their linebacking group.
It’s the Bears’ second major trade involving a defensive player in less than a week. They dealt three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Robert Quinn to Philadelphia for a 2023 fourth-round pick on Wednesday.
Smith was at the dais addressing reporters when reports of the Quinn trade surfaced. He became emotional and cut the session short.
On Monday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh held his usual weekly news conference — shortly before the news of the Smith trade broke. He was asked is he anticipated a move before Tuesday’s trade deadline.
“If I did, then the cat would be out of the bag,” he said.
The 25-year-old Smith has 83 tackles and 2 1/2 sacks this season. A first-round pick by Chicago in 2018, he has 16 1/2 sacks in his career.
With his rookie contract set to expire, Smith was hoping to strike a new deal. He participated in voluntary and mandatory offseason workouts, but with negotiations at a standstill with the Bears, things took a heated turn once training camp started.
Smith, who does not have an agent, opted to “hold in” — attending meetings and practices without participating in drills. Tensions boiled over when he went public with a trade request.
He accused general manager Ryan Poles of negotiating in bad faith.
Smith eventually ended his hold-in and practiced for the first time on Aug. 20.
Now he joins the Ravens, who have led by double digits in every game this season and would have an even better record if not for some pretty bad fourth-quarter collapses.
Ravens linebacker Justin Houston already has six sacks on the season. Linebacker Odafe Oweh and defensive lineman Calais Campbell are also pass-rushing threats — and the Ravens added linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul in late September.
Baltimore won at Tampa Bay last Thursday, so the Ravens have extra time to prepare for next Monday night’s game at New Orleans.
Harbaugh did have some bad news Monday, saying receiver Rashod Bateman could be out for a few weeks because of his foot injury. Also, running back Gus Edwards (hamstring) is day to day but could play against New Orleans.
The linebacking group could also receive a boost. Harbaugh said Tyus Bowser and rookie David Ojabo are set to be activated, and he thinks there’s a good chance Bowser will be ready to play. Both Bowser and Ojabo have been out because of Achilles tendon injuries.
AP Sports Writer Andrew Seligman contributed to this report.
More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP
Associated Press
Man United owners not taking semi-annual dividend
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester United’s owners have not taken their semi-annual dividend for fiscal year 2023, according to the Premier League club’s quarterly financial reports. The decision preceded the Glazer family’s recent announcement that it would consider putting the club up for sale. Dividends amounting to $44 million were paid to the Glazers and […]
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Trea Turner, Phillies finalize 11-year, $300M contract
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper lobbed Philadelphia’s first recruiting pitch over the summer when the injured All-Star used a guest stint in the broadcast booth to advocate for the future free agent and his former Washington teammate. “Trea Turner, he’s my favorite player in the league,” Harper said. “Not even close.” Harper and Turner have […]
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District to pay $5M over teen’s death at football practice
FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (AP) — A Washington school district will pay $5.25 million to the family of a high school student who died from a heart attack that happened during a 2018 football practice. Allen Harris, 16, was participating in a conditioning practice on an “exceptionally hot” July 24 when he collapsed and suffered a […]
Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom sees the vision of what the Texas Rangers want to do, not their streak of six consecutive losing seasons and being more than a decade removed from their only World Series appearances. “The Rangers did a great job with constant communication and making me […]
Associated Press
World champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier did nothing to harm their chances of becoming the first American pairs team to win the prestigious Grand Prix Final, turning in a brilliant short program Thursday in Turin, Italy. Knierim and Frazier trailed their biggest rivals, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, by less than half […]
2 days ago
Associated Press
UFC 282: Suddenly vacant light heavyweight belt at stake
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev have been waiting for their shot at the light heavyweight title, and neither expected it to come Saturday. They were supposed to compete in the co-main event of UFC 282 until champion Jiri Prochazka pulled out last month of his fight with second-ranked Glover Teixeira because […]
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| 5,438 |
It was founded in 1910 and now underwrites more than £1.5 billion in annual premiums for rural UK communities. What company underwrites the home insurance from nfu mutual? NFU Mutual insurance is underwritten by the National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society Limited
Which is the best home insurance company in UK?
M&S Bank.
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The NFU represents more than 46,000 farming and growing businesses Our purpose is to champion British agriculture and horticulture, to campaign for a stable and sustainable future for British farmers and to secure the best possible deal for our members.
Who are NFU Mutual competitors?
NFU Mutual’s top competitors include BGL Group, elderlife financial services, AFS All-financial-solutions and Holbrook Property Finance NFU Mutual is a company providing a range of personal, business, and farming insurance, investment, and financial services for businesses.
Who underwrites John Lewis insurance?
John Lewis Home Insurance is underwritten by Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd (No. 93792). Registered in England and Wales at St. Mark’s Court, Chart Way, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 1XL.
Which insurance company has the highest customer satisfaction?
USAA is the best insurance company in our ratings. According to our 2022 survey, USAA customers report the highest level of customer satisfaction and are most likely to renew their policies and recommend USAA to other drivers. USAA also has the lowest rates in our study, beating the national average by 35%.
Who underwrites Tesco home insurance?
Tesco Bank Home Insurance is arranged and administered by Tesco Bank and is underwritten by Tesco Underwriting Ltd Home Emergency cover is underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A. UK Branch. Family Legal Guard is underwritten by AmTrust Europe Limited.
Is NFU Mutual good home insurance?
Our Home Insurance industry ratings Our Home and Lifestyle Insurance has a Defaqto 5 Star Rating and NFU Mutual Bespoke Home Insurance is a Defaqto 5 Star rated high net worth insurance policy.
Is NFU Mutual on comparison sites?
You won’t find us on price comparison websites We believe that by talking to you about what you need we can help you to make sure you have the right level of cover in place. So talk to us today and get a quote for your Car Insurance.
The NFU Mutual Charitable Trust was set up in 1998, to promote and support charities in the United Kingdom working in agriculture, rural development and insurance Since then we’ve made a positive difference to education, research, social welfare and poverty relief.
Local insurance and financial services provider, NFU Mutual Wessex, is pleased to announce its new 3 year sponsorship of the Salisbury RFC Junior (under 14s, 15s, 16s) and Colts teams starting in September 2019.
How many members are in the NFU?
With in-excess of 55,000 members, we are heard when it counts – locally, nationally and internationally. Every single member matters and makes the NFU stronger.
Why is NFU Mutual?
Why choose NFU Mutual? It’s our mutuality which sets us apart We’re owned and run for you, our 900,000+ members, and we work hard to protect your interests.
How many customers does NFU Mutual have?
We’re owned and run for our 900,000 customers , and we work hard to protect their interests. From our 300 local offices offering personal service, to the tailored quotes that customers can’t get from price comparison sites, our customers’ needs are at the heart of everything we do. Always have been, always will be.
| 3,575 |
Coronavirus, homework, sports, climate change: Working in the midst of a nationwide school shutdown, high school and middle school students around the country took on these and many more topics in this year's NPR Student Podcast Challenge.
After two deadline extensions and a lot of creative solutions to the challenges of recording from their homes, we received more than 2,000 podcasts from 46 states and the District of Columbia.
Today, we're announcing our finalists! We've listened to every single podcast entry and narrowed the list down to 25 finalists — read and listen to the full list here.
From this list, our judges will select our two grand-prize winners, and we'll announce those winners on Wednesday, June 3. (We also identified more than 200 honorable mentions and we'll be announcing those soon as well.)
Among the many outstanding entries we received were:
Six high school students at St. Helena High School in northern California who worked together to track down a childhood hero, Popo the Clown. Their witty and poignant conversation with Popo helped the students say goodbye to high school in preparation for life beyond.
The entire senior class at Stilwell High School investigated their rural eastern Oklahoma town after a Washington Post article dubbed them "the early death capital of the US" last year. The students' months-long investigation included interviews with elected officials, lifelong town residents, and even researchers in Washington, D.C., to help them understand the data. Their podcast offers a window into a town dealing with poverty, generational trauma, and addiction, but one that also holds a lot of local pride and hope. Listen here.
A middle school class in Castle Rock, Colo., focused on local history — with two groups of students on our finalist lists — one for the Forgotten Flood of 1965 and the other for 40 Years Cold.
Ditto for J. Sterling Morton East High School in Cicero, Ill., where English teachers Mark Sujak and Jeremy Robinson's students produced compelling podcasts about their lives and struggles in the Chicago suburb.
Across the board this year we saw improvements in sound quality, storytelling and editing. This made our decisions even harder, but marked hard work and dedication from students across the United States. And it set the stage for our contest next year, which will expand to include a third category: entries from college students.
One trend we saw this year was students examining their own backyards — reporting from their local communities on a wide range of issues. Six of our 25 finalists worked on local investigations.
In New Jersey, for example, three juniors at Holmdel High School spent 5 months uncovering their town's little-known past, and they tracked down a Nobel Prize winner to tell them the story. How a Small Town Discovered the Universe explains how two radio astronomers in the remote hills of Holmdel first heard radiation in 1965 that was left over more than 13 billion of years ago from the Big Bang. The discovery validated the scientific theory and garnered the Nobel Prize in Physics. They weren't the only students to focus on famous scientists: Angie Sun, a 12th grader from Land O'Lakes, Fla., used Siri to help explain some little known facts about Nikola Tesla.
In Milwaukee, students at Pathways High School launched a podcast series on the offensive use of Native American iconography in sports. Middle schoolers in Travis County, Texas, interviewed their school nurse to examine the dangers of concussions in athletics.
Not all the projects were research-driven, some were just fun! Elise McClay, who moved to the United States recently from Australia, explored in her podcast her expectations of life in the the U.S. vs. the realities of her new home in Bentonville, Ark.
Two other finalists focused on home life — Maria Frank, a high schooler from Denville, N.J., talked about growing up in a family of five. Middle schoolers Emma Ralph and Caroline O'Brien from Riverside, Ill., discussed sibling stereotypes and rivalries.
While you could count most of these finalists as personal stories, there were a few this year that really dove deep and left us in awe.
High schooler Sam Meneses interviewed his brother about a kayaking journey through the Amazon. The podcast told how, on the journey, Joaquin Meneses tragically lost three friends to the rapids and had to survive on his own for days before a rescue squad could reach him.
Jocelie Gutierrez and Alejandra Nunez Lopez, from J. Sterling Morton East High School in Cicero, Ill., discussed their upbringing in Latinx households and the prejudice they face in their communities. From the same school, 11th grader Ivana Diaz discussed her experience growing up having a brother who is a member of a gang. Both podcasts show high school students in vulnerable situations taking charge of their own stories.
As with last year, we heard students who wanted to change the ways their culture or identity is portrayed in the mainstream. High school student Brandon Yam thought the best way to do this was by "Changing the White Curriculum, One Book at a Time." He followed the NYC Coalition for Educational Justice in its quest to change New York public schools curriculum to better reflect the student population.
Middle school students at Garrison Middle School in Walla Walla, Wash., also wanted their voices heard. They argued that they should read books they liked rather than the traditional literature assigned by their teachers. On the whole, many many students sought to use their journalism to change the status quo: Whether by upending toxic masculinity, as middle schooler Ellis Stephens of Dalton, Ga., tried to do, or as in this middle school podcast from Los Angeles that called for a ban on political advertisements on social media.
New York City high school students, in Brooklyn's Canarsie neighborhood, voiced their frustrations with older generations when it comes to climate change and environmental racism. After going to the Youth Climate March in Manhattan, the students lamented the lack of black climate activists.
In a science-based approach, middle school students from Cottage Lane Elementary School in Blauvelt, N.Y., looked to the natural world for solutions to some of the problems that contribute to climate change.
Many students had fun with the podcasting medium, exploring the full range of tools and techniques for telling stories with sound. In a love letter to nature, high school student Alex Soto from Tucson went on a personal question for the most beautiful sound. If you need a break from the world, give her podcast a listen here.
As NPR hosts can tell you, it is hard to nail a conversational piece in general, but to set just the right tone on a tough topic is even more impressive. Humor can often help, as Alex Morgan and Aaron Morgan of Atherton, Calif., showed with their podcast "Why Instagram is Like a Cocaine-Laced Brownie." The podcast examines how Alex and his peers are being sucked even deeper into their virtual worlds during the global pandemic.
And yes, many podcasts focused on the pandemic and its effects on young people and the communities where they live, including three of our finalists. High schoolers Sara Zhu, Griffin Becker, Ella Rossi, Elizabeth Breidinger and Carlo Pryor, of Alameda, Calif., had planned to record their podcast on gentrification in the Bay Area, but when the pandemic hit their neighborhood early, they shifted their focus to San Francisco's Chinatown. They interviewed restaurant owners about how the early buzz around the virus was affecting business.
Across the country, in New York City's Chinatown, a group of middle school students from a podcast club called "The Dragon Kids" also made our list of finalists. The students, who are English language learners, interviewed their friends and siblings about discrimination during the early months of the pandemic. As they tell their stories they also teach the listener key words in Mandarin to talk about the pandemic.
Congratulations to all the finalists!
Sequoia Carrillo is an assistant editor for NPR's Education Team. Along with writing, producing, and reporting for the team, she manages the Student Podcast Challenge.
| 8,349 |
The hype for the new SimCity game (SimCity 2013, SimCity 5) by Maxis, which will be released by EA on March 5, 2013, is pretty hard to ignore. In recent months, and especially since the SimCity Closed Beta test that took place during the last weekend of January, more and more details have emerged about the game all over the internet. And as each bit of information is received and digested by the passionate fans of the series, the debate rages on over whether the new SimCity is truly a worthy sequel, or if it is a downgrade when compared to SimCity 4.
Perhaps the most widely criticized issue about the new SimCity is the size of the lots cities can be built upon, the limited number of lots that can appear in a region, and the fact that those lots are not adjacent to each other. In SimCity 4, lots came in three sizes, the largest of which was 16 times larger than the smallest. The large lots were great for making self-contained cities, but such cities would still be described as small compared to the ambitions of some players.
To make a true metropolis with millions of citizens, a SimCity 4 player could build cities in several lots (dozens or even hundreds of them), which would all be connected and able to share resources. In the region view, all of those cities would visually become one big metropolis. To any player interested in building the biggest city possible, or a city of similar scale to the largest real life cities of the world, SimCity 4 was their best choice.
In the new SimCity, all lots will be roughly similar in size to the medium lots of SimCity 4, which were four times smaller than the large lots. On the new region view, lots are separated by predesigned and unchangeable highways and land features, and the largest regions only contain 16 lots. To some fans, calling this a downgrade is an understatement. It’s clear from this information that it will be impossible to create any kind of realistically scaled metropolis. But why is this so important?
If the amazing cities that the SimCity community has been showing off over the years from SimCity 4 are not reason enough, then the community of Minecraft provides a suitable answer to the question. Searching the internet for some of the most ambitious Minecraft creations produces results that are staggering in scale. 1:1 replicas of real life buildings and architecture are not uncommon, and in some cases, hundreds or even thousands of hours are spent on their creation. This tells us quite clearly how limitless the creative ambitions of gamers are, and that given a certain set of tools, they will always construct projects that exceed the expectations of what those tools should even be capable of.
So I can understand why some of the most dedicated of SimCity fans believe the new game to be a downgrade. To go from a game that allows the player to create a sprawling metropolis to one that only allows at most a series of 16 relatively small cities that are not even adjacent to each other can only be described as disappointing. And beyond that, there are other missing features from SimCity 4 as well. Terraforming (manipulating the land like in a god-sim) is completely absent from the new SimCity. There are no subways or farmlands. Water pipes and power lines have been entirely removed, with their functionality being merged with that of roads. It can’t be denied that the lack of these features will further stifle creativity and/or realism.
Beyond that, there are a variety of technical complaints that have come up. Some fans are frustrated that the cities will be saved to the cloud, preventing players from unleashing disasters on their cities to watch the carnage before rolling back to an earlier save. Then there are those complaining that the game requires an “always online” internet connection to play. Others boycott EA’s Origin platform entirely. Even the visual style of SimCity has come into question, with some people feeling that the game looks too much like The Sims, or too much like a cartoon.
And yet, despite all this, I find the term “downgrade” to be a very harsh description of the new SimCity. In fact, from what I’ve played of the SimCity Closed Beta, to call the game a downgrade is to do quite an injustice to the developers and what they have accomplished within the new game. Where it may be described as a downgrade when referring to the immensity of its scale, the new SimCity can only be described as an upgrade when looking at the little details.
The technology in the GlassBox engine that was developed for the new SimCity allows the game to simulate every resource, from the Sims (citizens) themselves to the waste they produce. When the player designates a residential zone, construction workers will drive into town from the regional highway and build houses or apartments there. Soon, Sims looking for a place to live will come to town and move into an available dwelling that is compatible with their financial limitations. Their home will be powered by electricity that (in a specific data view) can be seen moving along the roads from the power plant to the home, assuming enough power is available to the city. If the city has waste management, the produced sewage will be pumped along to where it needs to go, or will build up and become quite unpleasant if the city has no means of dealing with it. The Sims occupying the building will drive to work, and contribute to traffic. The factories with a large enough workforce will produce goods which will be picked up and delivered by freight trucks. If the factory catches fire, the nearest fire station will send out a truck, assuming its trucks are not already dispatched. The fire itself is simulated, and spreads realistically from one building to the next if left unanswered.
In older games in the series, if a road was too congested, the game would show you a lot of cars, but the cars themselves were just part of an elaborate facade. Everything in the new SimCity happens for a reason, and that reason is always visible to the player and realistically simulated.
Some of the GlassBox-enabled features should be of special interest to SimCity 4 players who connected multiple cities together. In SimCity 4, connected cities could make trade deals with each other to send or receive water, power or waste management, and residents in one city could get jobs in another and utilize various forms of transportation to get there. It was a cool feature, but it had its limitations, the most severe of which was that time was essentially paused in any city not being immediately controlled by the player. It was easy to make one city to act like a garbage dump for the other cities in the region, and to never have to deal with the consequences in the garbage dump city.
The new SimCity improves upon those features. Although the passing of time is asynchronous for all cities in a region, if the player controlled city becomes overrun with crime, the other cities in the region will be affected as well, and the player will see the results upon returning to those cities. If a building catches on fire in a city without any fire protection services, a neighboring city with a spare truck will send it, and the response time will be reflected by the distance it has to travel and the traffic it encounters.
There’s also the option to allow friends or strangers to be the mayors of other cities in your region. I have not personally had the chance to test this out yet, but it is a feature I am looking forward to. I have always considered SimCity to be a single player game, but I’m willing to give multiplayer a try.
The upgrades in SimCity are numerous, and for more details, please see my impressions of the SimCity Closed Beta.
The question now is whether the improvements outweigh the missing features from SimCity 4. In an imperfect and unscientific poll on GameFAQs, I asked a group of people on the SimCity board whether or not they would be buying the game and why. Of 92 voters, 22% had pre-ordered, 34% said they were probably going to buy it (pending reviews, friend’s opinions, or other deciding factors), 16% said they would not buy it because they considered the game a downgrade or found the missing features from SimCity 4 to be inexcusable, and 26% refused to buy any game that required a constant internet connection, or any product on EA’s Origin platform. It seems like the community is pretty split.
Taking this information into consideration, I contacted Ocean Quigley (Creative Director and Art Director for the new SimCity) via twitter and asked him whether or not there was any chance of us seeing larger lots or regions with adjacent lots in the game (the most missed features from SimCity 4). His response was as follows:
“Not for ship, maybe afterwards. I can’t give you promises – but we know lots of people want bigger landscapes to build on.”
I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Personally, I did not have a problem with the size of the cities while I played through the SimCity Closed Beta. Then again, I could only play for 1 hour, and in that time I did manage to make a city that occupied about 75% of the map. Thinking of that, the lots do seem limited in size. But more importantly, I was having so much fun enjoying the simulation, the gameplay, and the visuals (I actually prefer the new look) that I barely noticed the lack of space.
Admittedly, I’ve been looking forward to the new SimCity since it was first announced. The time I spent playing the SimCity Closed Beta just further increased my anticipation. Do the missing features from SimCity 4 carry more weight than all of the new features in SimCity? Is the new SimCity a downgrade? I don’t think so, but you’ll just have to decide for yourself when SimCity launches on March 5th. Personally, I can’t wait.
Now that the game has been released, check out the Gamer Horizon review of SimCity and SimCity – One Month Later.
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0 thoughts on “Is the new SimCity game a downgrade from SimCity 4?”
February 11, 2013 at 2:38 PM
Two steps forward with the simulation engine and the removal of the grid but many steps back in many departments. The new SimCIty forgets that it is a CITY builder first before anything. And unfortunately, SimCity (2013) comes with so many restrictions and a lack of freedom.
SimCity 4: Deluxe allowed you to build not just a metropolis but create mountains, forests, beaches, islands, etc. With so much custom content, the NAM, SPAM, XXdita Turbo Mod, many custom mods, props, buildings, lots, terrain, water mods, HD trees, etc out there, people have now made tiny cabins in heavily forested mountains, to farms, small towns, and big sprawling metropolis. All of this is now impossible with the new game even if you get rid of all the amazing custom content people have made. The key word here is FREEDOM.
Alas, the game is now always-online and the developers said this means that everything is “live” and “permanent”. This means you cannot save/load “normally” like before. There is also the issue of limited save slots (only 10 in total) which means that the days of having many gigantic 80 km x 80 km size regions in your hard drive is now over. This also means that the game is short term in scope and not long term.
Deeper simulation with extreme restrictions OR lowered simulation but with freedom and ability to make a real metropolis or whatever you want? Some will want the first option (SC (2013))and some will go for the latter (SC 4: Deluxe).
The real deal breaker is ultimately the price. SimCity (2013) is ridiculously expensive for a game with many cut features. I have a horrible feeling that EA will add the rest via DLC but I hope it will never reach that point.
February 11, 2013 at 2:52 PM
It’s interesting you pointed out the save functionality being limited in this SimCity because that was one of the biggest things I did with the original. I would build up my city until it’s this big gargantuan megalopolis, only to destroy it with some form of natural disaster, which would then make me wonder how all the Sims (for the lack of a better term) would react. If what you’re saying is true, I won’t even be able to do this anymore and I would have to deal with the ramifications of my experiment.
Since I’m getting the Mac version of the game, I’m got time to be cautiously optimistic about it once reviews come. I’m anxious to hear Ari’s opinions on the game’s review once we have it posted on the site.
February 11, 2013 at 3:03 PM
That’s what Maxis claimed. I hope it changes when the game is released.
February 12, 2013 at 8:30 AM
I want to plan, zone, and build cities and the transportation options that keep them moving. That is first and foremost in SC4. As to whether or not I want to know what my Sims are doing, that should be secondary and optional much like it is now in SC4.
SC2013 will be an enjoyable game for some, short lived but enjoyable for a while to them, however in my opinion it has no right to use the name that SC4 has built up and fans expected to be expanded upon.
For those who strive for more than superficial play, who seek a canvas for their creativity and long hours, even years of enjoyment SC2013 does not look to hold any promise. It is a different game and should have been named accordingly.
I will not buy SC2013 for many reasons some of which are: It requires constant internet connection, no local saves, Steam, looks like a childs game, does not build on what the previous series created but pretty much ignores the former games contributions. Based on what has been revealed so far I believe I am being played for a sucker by EA who wants me to buy the game and then be milked ($) with a carrot here and there. Then the ultimate insult is the fact that the plug could be pulled at any time and what do I have to show for my money? I don’t have to worry about that because I’ll not buy their game. Same goes for any other game or company who does likewise.
February 12, 2013 at 8:57 AM
The always online stuff worries me the most. I don’t want to be ushered into a brand new game just because you’ve turned off the service!
Henrique says:
February 17, 2013 at 11:24 AM
WHY would you not buy a game you have not played?You are free but you gonna miss a great game.I am sure IT WONT BE SHORT LIVED.There are so many room for improvements in future expansion packs here.DRM freakout is common nowadays, but have you given a chance for it?It has pros and cons…The game has not even launched yet!Being a hater is just stupid Jim, wait for the launch and then decide!….P.S..Sim City series have never been an adult game.
February 18, 2013 at 11:09 AM
Why would I not buy a game I have not played? Because I see things I
don’t like in a game or don’t see things I do like. When I go to buy a
shirt I don’t have to try one on to know whether or not I like it. I try
what I like on to test the fit.
I don’t buy games based on
what the future “may” hold such as expansions etc. I don’t think you
have any basis for calling me a “hater” I have said before that I’m glad
for those who look forward to the game. I am not a hater, just a
careful and discriminate shopper who does not throw money at something
just because it has a sparkle or two. I’m a ten plus year Sim City
player but have absolutely no interest in SC2013. SC4 has years of play
yet and I will enjoy them all.
Henrique says:
February 19, 2013 at 2:45 AM
I am sorry, but theres not a perfect game out there.What you did was hating…I dont dont buy a game thinking in it before actually playin it.Do that and never play a game again in your life.I mean, the next Sim City revamp, if it exists, will be out about in 2023….10 years from now…even if the game is crap it deserves a gameplay.So Im sorry.—-I bought SC4 deluxe and I played iPhone games longer than SC4…because it is just a statistical game, you put things and you look.—Dont be like…you dont have basis…YES I DO HAVE BASIS…you are craping about a game that has not even launched…that had a beta that lasted 1 or 2 days….I mean…
February 19, 2013 at 2:20 PM
Maybe if you took a deep breath and calmed yourself you might make more sense in parts of your post.
Anyway, I’ve played SC since the first one in the nineties and have had
a computer in my home since 1985 and played Atari on the television
before that so if you’ve played anything longer than I have kudos to you
If you think I’m hating then I must be hating huh?
Wait…the sky is falling…nope. I hate a lot of things and a
“know-it-all” is top of the list.
I was not interested in
playing BETA because I am not interested in SC2013. It will be a short
lived game and not the kind of game I would be interested in no matter
how long it lasts. I’ve never played XL I play SC4 and have played it
more and longer than any game ever and ain’t near done yet.
only one whining and crying that I know of is YOU. Seems you can’t stand
folks to see things differently than you do or have an opinion you
don’t like. I’m happy, not crying because I know what I like and I know
what I don’t like and it will save me sixty bucks come March. You like
the game so good for you. Now go dry your eyes.
Henrique says:
February 19, 2013 at 4:28 PM
Ok, first…internet cant show emotions.Crying in the last thing I am doing now.I sure dont need people to like a game so I can have fun..sure not.I also dont need people to say that my comment – on a crappy website – does not make sense…bye and be less grumpy..greetings from Brazil.I also dont know why you need to win a conversation on the internet and begin to creat crazy points here.
February 20, 2013 at 9:10 AM
February 26, 2013 at 8:44 PM
@twitter-109664543:disqus You sound like a 12yr old boy who’s balls haven’t yet dropped. Are you foreign? Because your english is shit. Also, stop bashing @jim14409:disqus. He is entitled to his opinion and can say whatever he wants about this game, and frankly I agree with him too on the same issues. This is America; we can say whatever the hell we want. ‘Murica
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 10:36 AM
Well, who sounds like a 12yo?Cam Kramer.
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 10:50 AM
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 10:56 AM
Well, we know you are a 12yo slow thinking hater.But I wont be feeding trolls here.
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 11:07 AM
@google-e8791f01098515c8c4fbc0c848b3420e:disqus Learn your native language first before critizing someone.Saying balls does not make your english better.Its typical of troll child to comment something like that when they dont have na argument.We know who have 12yo here.I gave my opinion and u are weird enough to associate this to america just because you read my comment and I realized that I am not an american.GROW UP troll.
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 11:12 AM
@google-e8791f01098515c8c4fbc0c848b3420e:disqus Go to a psychologist or something like that.You are weird.Does it make sense to bring America to this?I gave my opinion as well.My english is well enough for a foreign and better than yours…saying balls does not make your english better, its just a 12yo hater language.
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 11:17 AM
@tedpolak:disqus Please, delete these comments.
Henrique says:
February 19, 2013 at 6:43 PM
Suck my dick and I will calm down.
Henrique says:
February 20, 2013 at 6:03 PM
You talk so much about a game you do not like…
February 27, 2013 at 11:56 AM
I have deleted several posts from this point in the conversation on as they were impolite and were not constructive. The purpose of this article was to look at both sides of the argument regarding the new SimCity in a respectful manner. I appreciate how passionate everyone is about the game, but please remember to have respect for differing opinions and try to keep the topic about the game (and not throwing insults at each other). SimCity is less than a week away! We’ll all be able to make our own decisions about the full version of the game soon. Until then, KEEP IT CIVIL.
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 12:05 PM
Shawn Fogarty says:
February 12, 2013 at 7:37 PM
I have grown up playing Sim City games and loved all of them except SC Societies which wasn’t even really a Sim City game anyway. If people are trying to compare SC4 with the new Sim City I think that this comparison isn’t really valid. The reason being that the developers are taking a different approach and focus on the city simulation. This time around it focuses much more on the finer details and the interconnected aspects of cities. In order to have this kind of depthin in the micro scale with a full 3D engine, they can’t have the same macro focus as in SC4 because processing power is still not powerful enough in most PC’s to handle it. Take Cities XL 2011 for example: I tried building a large city on the largest map size and after filling only half the map, my powerful system strained to run the simulation.
There will never be a game exactly like SC4 again and frankly, that game had a lot of issues due to its scale and that made it inaccessible to a lot of gamers. This new Sim City is its own game with innovative features that I think most fans will appreciate. SC4 is still there if you want to build on a massive scale but the new game needed to innovate to avoid risk of stagnating the franchise.
Personally, as a father now I wouldn’t have the time it takes to build a multi-city metropolis so the scale of the new game will suit myself and most people just fine.
February 12, 2013 at 8:39 PM
As someone who used to spend hours and hours on games back when I was a kid, I recognize the need as an adult to have games that have reduced complexity, yet increased depth somewhere else which I feel this game has. I don’t have much of a problem with the gameplay… just the always on nature of it and their ability to, if they want to, can force you to upgrade to a new game just by turning off the servers that work in the back end.
February 16, 2013 at 7:36 AM
I see your point, but to say the comparison between two SimCity games isn’t valid…that itself isn’t valid. When people say “you’re comparing apples to oranges,” I like the response: “Well, they’re both fruit.” Now comparing SC4 to the new SC isn’t even like comparing apples to oranges; it’s like comparing… red delicious apples to golden delicious apples.
Sire the developers are taking a different approach, but is that the RIGHT approach for you as a fan? I was super intrigued by the possibilities of their highly detailed approach, but anything that limits my creativity in a sandbox game like this, especially a city building simulation, that doesn’t jive with the reality of what the game is trying to simulate, is a definite negative for me. I know we are constrained by the power of computers, but somewhere in the marketing for this they said something like, “build a simulated version the city that you live in.” That was possible in SC4, though the odd scaling and difficulty dealing with even the size of a mid-sized American metropolis like Cleveland made the results pretty unsatisfactory. In the new game it doesn’t even really seem possible to build a true metropolis. If the size of a “city” in this game is the same size as the middle-sized lots in SC4, that’s two square kilometers. That’s the size of LOWER MANHATTAN. That’s the size of downtown Cleveland. That’s a city? Okay, change your terminology, call it a “neighborhood” and your “region” becomes the city (like in SC4). But at a top region size of 4×4 lots, that’s still only 8km on a side…
Kyle Barton says:
February 13, 2013 at 7:51 AM
So were limited to 10 save slots, and the map can be filled 75% by someones first hour of play? Everytime I read about this game I’m more and more convinced I’m right to pass on it. It just makes me want to play SC4 honestly.
February 13, 2013 at 9:55 AM
I hadn’t heard about the 10 save slots, though if that is the case, wouldn’t each save slot have to be an entire region with up to 16 cities?
February 27, 2013 at 10:39 PM
The 10 save slot thing is true, though here’s an interesting bit of information: You can have 10 save slots PER SERVER. So, really, you’ll have 10 save slots multiplied by however many servers you have access to. That’s a little bit better, isn’t it? It’s still no substitute for infinite local saves, but at least it’s not quite as limited as we were led to believe.
February 13, 2013 at 11:11 AM
Do remember that all those awesome mods took at least a year to begin appearing after SC4, and more than that to be perfected to their current state, and that EA gave little support to the people who developed them. In other words, modding wasn’t a feature of SC4 – we the community created the mods.
February 13, 2013 at 11:51 AM
You’re right, modding is a very important feature from SimCity 4. “Given a certain set of tools, they (gamers) will always construct projects that exceed the expectations of what those tools should even be capable of.” This applies to modding as well! I hope they find a way to support modding in the new SimCity.
JOe says:
February 14, 2013 at 6:43 AM
Everyone is missing the main point of the game though. Yes the maps are smaller, but the point of this simcity is to specialize in a certain business. Each city will not need police, fire, schools, power plants, etc… some cities will have little residental if they are focusing on oil or electronics because another city that has a lot of residental will have those people commute to your city to work in the oil refineries and electronic factories.. get what I am saying? The point in this sim city isnt to build the biggest city with the highest population, its foucs on the business you want to grow.
February 14, 2013 at 8:37 AM
I see in a similar way and I like it for that, but at the same time, I have to acknowledge that I see why people dislike the fact that certain aspects of the latest in the series was taken out. (Although, I’d also like to note that I always considered laying pipes in SimCity 4 both a kind of backtracking after laying out the foundation of a city section, and rather unrealistic in the sense that pipes more or less just ooze the water into the neighbouring area and the buildings soak it up. Here I feel it’s more realistic.)
I also see what people mean with a certain set of shortcomings such as the lack of subways or freeform highways to connect the cities, but since I studied Graphs (mathematics’ kind I mean), I have to come to Maxis’s defence. All of the lack of mega cities and free city connections and subways comes down a simple fact: The Glassbox engine. Over all? It is a great concept! It is the first engine (which I know of) that actually can dynamically calculate and simulate movement between various venues around a city, and to do this, it uses Graps. Basically, you create complex graph systems when you lay out the road, and for every thing in motion throughout the city (let it be resources or sims or fire alarms or energy), it becomes the basic grid. This is an incredibly complex system, and the first that can do it as cleanly and engagingly as it does, but at the same time, it cannot allow for certain things. Creating a subway system would require a completely separate graph system which links to the roads at several points. The amount of calcultations to find an optimal, or even a correct route for a sim between A and B would very quickly grow beyond measure. Same with the highways. Right now, there are but a handful of connections between cities in a region, so by all means, resources and sims can only travel between two cities via a single line. If all of a sudden there were more than one, in fact a player determined, and altering amount of roads between cities, it would once again grow the number of calculations, and with the amount of attention put into imports and exports, it should be clear how much that would throw the system off. (I’d note that the fact that instead of Subway trams we now have street-cars which conveniently use the road, is also an indicator of the essentialness of roads in every calculation.)
Don’t get me wrong either, this isn’t just a matter of computing power. With the current software, they couldn’t have just told everybody to get more powerful processors, because the methods by which the game looks at graphs (as you can tell by ways it distributes electricity for example) , is rather primitive; which of course it has to be since even high-end computers would have trouble working with it today if it worked with more advanced calculations. What it does right now, is that it tries to be as optimal as it can be, but it only works in simpler road layouts. Look at how in some released Beta videos electricity is reported to be off-line in some houses, despite excess energy being produced. If you look at how the little blobs of electricity travel, they basically just go to an intersection, pick a random direction and head down that way, lighting up houses that are connected to the road they’re travelling. If there are dozens of intersections, between a house and the power plant then there is a very good chance that the energy blobs will keep wandering around the system for a day before one of them actually happens to go down the road on which the house stands, because to actually compute which houses are powerless and for each how you can get there through dozens of intersections, is a very tiring calculation for computers. And in the general use of the software, this is not even mentioning all the visuals, the fact that traffic is thrown on top of it and the constant changing of the economical layout.
Uh sorry for the wall of text. Didn’t realize I’d write so much. Hope it manages to clear up the “why” of certain shortcomings though. I understand if people still want the things left out, but I just wanted to make a point that there is good reason why Maxis left those things out, and not all reason is that EA is pushing them (which it probably is doing too).
Also, for clarity’s sake: I have nothing to do with Maxis, so I’m not a 100% sure this is indeed how the system works, but by what they said and what they’ve shown (as well as the bit I know about computing and mathematics) this is probably what’s going on in the background.
Andrew Armbruster says:
February 24, 2013 at 4:32 AM
What you describe is not a city… there’s not even really anything that could approximate such an entity in real life. Cities, districts, precincts, neighborhoods– nearly all levels of an urban entity have the basic services you mention and they are managed carefully, weaving themselves into a larger network finally forming a true city. The idea of ‘specializing’ to such an extent that there is no need for police or fire services, but only to decide which ‘business’ you want to focus on… well that’s a fiction which deviates entirely from the essence of what past SC games engendered.
February 26, 2013 at 8:50 PM
@twitter-572291962:disqus what city have you gone to that DOESN’T have a fire station, school, police station, etc? A city NEEDS those to be called a “city”, otherwise it’s a town. Maybe they should have named this game “SimTowns Online”
what? says:
February 14, 2013 at 4:40 PM
mod support will be in the game but some time after launch they said they are trying to figure out how to make it work plus they started some write ups for it
February 15, 2013 at 8:22 AM
City ordinances are another HUGE feature which have been removed. What about setting tax rates and public sector funding?
February 15, 2013 at 12:31 PM
I believe these functions have been moved, not removed. For example, there is an upgrade for City Hall that gives you access to the tax rates settings you mentioned.
February 16, 2013 at 6:10 AM
Just plain awful! I started playing Sim City on my Nintendo and beat that puppy with a stick, by making no roads and using all rails. I felt so accomplished. When Sim City 2000 came out and I could make custom structures and landscapes, I was deeply engrossed in creation mode and simply filling up a grid region to max was never going to be enough! SC 3000 and then SC 4 Deluxe and we all are 110% positive, we fell in love with realism and imaginative creation combined. These are the two core elements of SCs success and I do believe,….no, I know the fact that these two core elements are now gone, is a deal breaker for most of us.
February 18, 2013 at 7:49 AM
in essence i think the new sim city focuses more on micro managing more than macro managing, maxis took care of all the terraforming and that garbage which was lots of fun, but they are truly focusing on the city. YET, the major problem is that the city tiles are too small to make any real large cities, i don’t know how the mega projects will work but i know that there is a limitation to how big the metropolisis can grow, and essentially this means that every city will be very similar in the long run, after a certain point cities will start to grow pretty much automatically because it’s harder to limit zoning. i believe it will be interesting to try out the game to because i want to see if i enjoy the game past the beta.
February 21, 2013 at 12:20 AM
But, really, isn’t one of the features of the new SC that you can follow individual “Sims”, much more so that the limited data on travel patterns from SC4? That really says enough. With the creation of the Sims series, this whole thing has been pulled away from urban planning and closer to Sims-like game play. I just hope my Sims families don’t keep getting killed like Liz Lemon’s.
February 21, 2013 at 1:09 AM
I found the features of SimCity 4 that allowed you to move a Sim from The Sims into the game and drive them around the city far more intrusive that what I’ve played of the new SimCity. In the new game, when you click on a Sim, you get detail about where they came from, where they are going and what they are thinking. That’s about it. It’s a nice detail, but I wouldn’t call it a major feature of the game. Beyond that, it’s impossible to actually keep tabs on any one Sim. Once they get to their next destination, they pretty much disappear. They might pop up later, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever click on the same Sim twice. Think of the Sims in SimCity as merely a resource. The new SimCity is all about the city and how alive it feels compared to earlier games, and the Sims that inhabit the city are great at bringing the city to life. There isn’t anything “Sims-like” about the gameplay, at least not in my opinion. I hope you will give the game a try and see for yourself!
Henrique says:
February 27, 2013 at 10:45 AM
…
February 27, 2013 at 7:35 PM
First, game does look beautiful. I tried it during the beta. Second, and more importantly, I would have to agree with all of the issues raised so far on the limits of game play. I loved making huge sprawling cities in SC4. But one thing that people haven’t said so far is how easy SC2013 is. Maybe it’s just me but I doubt I’m that good of a player but it felt very easy to be profitable and crank up the property value and happiness to have the most dense and richly populated area with the people crying out for more poverty. I was making a ridiculous amount of money and wasn’t really doing anything strategic, just had a ton of rich people and no poor.
Issues that weren’t raised:
I don’t like always needing to build everything on a road, including grasslands and parks. I don’t like the gaps inbetween roads and zoning, if a road way is too far from another the zone does not fill in and it stays as a gap. And from the previous statement, you can’t fill those gaps with anything. I don’t like that you can no longer map your mass transit, in SC4 you can track your vehicles to see where traffic was being caused and implement buses, subways, and the like to solve this problem. When playing the beta I just put in buses and apparently they worked without any issues. I may not have gotten far enough in the game to unlock it but it seemed like City Ordinances were gone as well so no more Clean Air Act.
My main concern about games is replay ability. How many times you start over and come back again and again. That’s what sells a game for me. Games that you play through once and have had enough I don’t believe are worth the buy. Sadly I think that is the issue here with this game. I don’t see there being enough diversity in game play to keep the gamer coming back to try again or start over. In SC4 there were side missions, being a cop, a bus driver, working for Doctor Vu. All of these things affected and changed your gameplay and I feel like this Sim City is just straight forward. Just, here…build a city that looks and acts like everyone else’s and then do it again.
February 27, 2013 at 10:29 PM
I believe specializations should add some replay value to the game. The most fun I had in the beta was when I built a casino city. But specializations can only go so far in terms of replay value. Whether or not you will play SimCity over and over again, or if you’d rather go back to SimCity 4 will probably be based on what kind of creative person you are. If you’re the kind of person that wants to build the city to be as huge as possible, SimCity 4 will always be there for you. But when you want to focus more on the little details, the new SimCity has everything you need to make a living, breathing city like never before.
Also, as strange as it may sound for the series, the social element in the new SimCity should not be ignored. Building up a region with a couple friends or even some strangers can be more fun than you’d expect! Just a few hours ago, I got to participate in the SimCity Closed Beta 3 and experiment with a multiplayer region for the first time. I created a new region, set it to public, and a few minutes later two players had joined the region. It wasn’t long before I was sending my extra police and fire vehicles over to their cities, and I’d receive Simoleons in return. A while later, as my city grew, crime got a bit out of control, and I saw a message saying that the criminals from my city were causing trouble in my neighbor’s cities. This really adds a whole new spin to SimCity. You could build a city where your objective is not to make everyone happy, but instead to raise a city of villains to terrorize the other cities in your region! Mwahaha!
Anyway, in less than a week, we’ll find out whether this game will live up to our expectations. I’m still cautiously optimistic!
February 28, 2013 at 4:05 PM
There are two huge let downs for me which prompts me to stick with SC4. 1: You need to have an internet connection in order to play which means in a few years when the game is less popular and EA feels it doesn’t want keep the servers up, they’ll shut down and then you are left with an unplayable game unless you can find a server people have started. 2. No new architecture, I want to build asian style cities in dense jungles and on mountains, I want to build middle eastern style cities on rolling desert or winter resort cities in the mountains. Not kool EA, you’re disappointing…
disqus_QntqKMjRmN says:
February 28, 2013 at 11:44 PM
Scroll to bottom of post for my solution to small maps and region layout…
Im a 27 year old normal guy who is no one special and have been playing SimCity since its inception… How is it even possible for the Maxis crew to not think about thier CORE fanbase.
Great you have made a new game that looks much better than before, looks to play better and prob wont have as many bugs and memory leaks. That i like, the DMR i can deal with, ORIGIN I ACTAULLY LIKE USING, The online thing doesnt bother me at all, having to pay more for a "better" game doesnt bother me…Not being able to load my game if your servers are down does bother me, not being able to save my game when I choose bothers me, having to build my cities on a small pre determined region that cant be edited bothers me.
There are lots of things about the new SimCity that i dont like but none that i mention would keep me from buying it, even the small city sizes i could deal with though i dont like it, but do understand the reasons for it. The fact is Maxis, by making it where the city borders dont actually touch each other ruins the entire experience for me, and im sure thousands more would agree.
I logged thousands of hours playing a modded version of SimCity 4 where i had over 60 or more large city plots, each city touching each other and i was in control of the entire region. I downloaded detailed satelite maps of the entire Lower 48 US states broken up between 60-100 plus large cities and bought the Nam/Lex ect ect, mods that came out for the game over the years. I could "recreate history" basicly build the cities as if i were Christopher Columbus and had discovered a new land. I built Washington first then usually New York then just started spreading the population across the country as i went. "like real life" It was amazing and still is to this day.
So a question to Maxis or any other game developers out there… How is it possible that NO ONE at Maxis has ever been to SimTropolis or SC4Devotion? If they would have bothered to check it out they would have noticed that thousands of mods and add ons were created over the years for one simple game… SimCity 4. Did i mention that these mods were FREE, and fine tuned over the years? So how is it possible for an entire community of modders that turned a VERY GOOD game into an AMAZING game and kept the rest of us entertained while we waited for Maxis to out do itself, which would be very difficult, HOW did you just ignore that? Why Maxis? why didnt you praise all these modders and offer some of them a job? or at least buy thier creations or even just copy what they did? You could have taken SimCity 4 and just added all these new mods we have now, maybe threw a few extra’s in "just to show the modders who the real pro’s are", with all the new buildings and options along with your own great additons all you would have had to do is improve the graphics and replace the 4 in the title with a 5.
This could have been done years ago, bringing in great income while you developed this new thing you call SimCity. Instead we get a prettied up but dumbed down city simulating MMO geared toward the masses and the short term. You cast aside alot of long time customers in favor of a younger fan base who will be eager to buy "the next" SimCity when they get bored with this one. I know it makes sense, when people still find new ways to play a single game for ten years straight you make no money. Why not just make a game the leaves your paying customers wanting more, willing to buy the next version because they love the concept but see alot of room for improvement. Dont worry youll be able to sell a new version every year now with the current set up. Good financial move i must say.
For anyone who isnt buying the game, just do what im doing. I havent played SimCity 4 for two years so im just gonna go buy the game and get the Nam/Lex mods CD and install any mod i want to. With regions so big its near impossible to even half way fill up all the city plots and all the new options and mods always make it a new experience.
There are a few bugs but after 2 weeks of forum searching i had 99% of them worked out and ran a Duel Core HP with no real graphics card. The large regions only make loading times longer so gameplay isnt even affected. Now with 6 cores and a high end graphics card it should be even better.
Sorry for the long post but i was very excited about the new game and have always admired Maxis and the entire SimCity franchise… I feel kinda betrayed maybe even a little heartbroken lol
March 1, 2013 at 2:23 AM
This game is a total let down. I was excited but the thing that bothers me the most is that the game is so online-oriented. What’s wrong with just wanting to build your own city/region? Why can’t an offline mode be optional? I don’t want to share any of my game with other people. And out of 20 people I know, about only 2 would play this game.
It’s a Facebook game now. And for people who will buy it (because they don’t know any better), they are gonna get a terrible awakening once they run into those groups or individuals who have no limit on their budgets and start buying everything. You’ll see their names on the boards constantly. It’s gonna be based on who’s money is the longest. Then the game won’t be fun no more.
They completely took creativity from the game. Everything will be dictated. You can’t even control out your cities connect together.
March 2, 2013 at 5:06 PM
i got closed beta access. the game is horrible! HORRIBLE. This does not live up to simcity 4: Deluxe edition. I actually stopped playing the game and went back to playing sc4:de. Its obvious that they make an always online game so its harder to steal the game. also, this is going to be an expensive game once you factor in all the downloadable content. which doesnt even add anything but a skin or two. no real developments. this is certainly a leap backwards in my eyes. I cant say im surprised though since this is coming from EA the most money hungry corporation in gaming to date. i refuse to buy anything from ea anymore after their SAME DAY RELEASE DLC i mean WTF ea. you suck!
March 3, 2013 at 2:28 PM
How many different types of regions are there? Lack of God tools is a bit less disappointing if there are a ton of different template regions, like in Tropico.
March 3, 2013 at 10:32 PM
The always on drm really pisses me off. I have DSL and it does go out now and then. That combined with EA’s terrible servers and such well its just going to be a disaster. With that said I did pre-order the game because I am a die hard simcity fan. I have to play this one may it be good or bad. We shall see.
March 4, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Regardless of how many support the option of buying Sim City, do you consider a constant internet connection a step on a favorable path. EA most often disguises indicative motives of greed as benign innovation. And EA would have you believe that their choices are commended by
majority of consumers.
By buying Sim City, I unfortunately will be supporting EA and their continued belief. I wish I
could directly pay the developers who have been forced to adhere to EA’s ultimate game design strategy. I worry about Activision as well but they’re much more subtle.
March 4, 2013 at 9:16 AM
To all those that are saying to people who are not going to buy the game because of the DRM issue, ‘Why boycott/hate on this game when you haven’t even tried it’?
I think you’ve missed the point. By buying the game and giving EA more
money, you’re tacitly endorsing their always online policy and
reinforcing the idea EA has that what they are doing is right, and
giving them the funds to continue doing it to boot. The only way to stop
them is to stop giving them money. I was excited when I heard there was
going to be a new SimCity game, but this DRM always online business has
to stop. I wouldn’t touch the new SimCity game with a barge-pole.
March 4, 2013 at 6:56 PM
Have to agree. I was hyped to get the game, but having read (especially) the DRM issue, the game is off my list now. I’ve seen too many times where servers have been turned off rendering some product or another useless. I’m not paying $60USD (SRP) for a potential paperweight (and a poor one at that.) I’ll stick with SC4
Tar Atanamir says:
March 5, 2013 at 2:29 AM
All this complaining is basically about the fact that gaming has become MAINSTREAM.
Mainstream for game developers mean that the vast majority of potential customers are CASUALS.
It is the curse of the maturing market, when a new segment of the market evolve beyond the pioneering phase the pioneers and explorers of the new market gets left behind. The general public has become the most important consumers and the markets adapts to this new situation by catering to them.
If you want to have a hard-core Sim City you will have to finance and make it yourself, like the space shooter community did with Star Citizen.
Justin Purdy says:
March 5, 2013 at 11:05 AM
What’s driving this, to the game’s detriment, is EA’s commitment to making no more games that are exclusively single player. While a multiplayer option doesn’t seem like such a bad thing, making it a primary focus feels like the hand of the money men steering the dev team, and I don’t really think it’s a good thing for this kind of game.
William W says:
March 14, 2013 at 4:07 PM
Simcity is the latest example of what is wrong with gaming today. It’s the DLC mentality of game companies, who want to sell you a premium priced game, but give you only 1/3rd of the game, and then charge you various amounts from $5 to $30 for the pieces they left out. Not content with collecting $60 per gamer, they now want $60 the first 6 months, and then $100 or more a year from you as they convinced you to pay more to buy the parts of the game they left out.
The lack of ability to save the game in a chosen state, and revert back to it, or even run multiple versions of that saved game to see how different decisions would impact your creations, is another deal killer. It was always one of the most fun aspects of ALL the SimCity games, all the way back to the first one running on DOS. It was even in the manuals as one of the key features of game play.
And the forced online thing is just freaking ridiculous. I read now Hackers have figured out a way around this.
All I can say is that changes in the game like all of the above, and other ways they have limited this game, are reasons why people will choose to pirate this game. Frankly I feel the way this has shaked out, that the issues around this game practically justify the piracy of it.
I am a fan of this franchise from the very first version. Hell, I even played almost all of their other silly little sims like SimTower and SimAnt and SimFarm. So that statement is not one that I make lightly. I love Maxis, passionately, Or at least, I used to.
I feel ripped off. And that will have a real impact on how I spend my gaming dollars in the future.
My all time favorite game franchise has been ruined.
April 3, 2013 at 8:21 AM
SImCity is not a fair name for this new product. It tarnishes the wonderful SimCity franchise, and represents a departure from the core features that made SimCity such a classic (re-loading cities from earlier state). SimCity 5 is a “rented service”, not a even a game you can pass down to your kids. It should be called SimAngryRental.
September 2, 2013 at 12:34 PM
no its not downgrade, its actually a slightly better version of the previous game, the game which is slightly more truthful simulator then it was before. However if you expect perfection from a game, yes I said game from a SimCity franchise, then you picked the wrong game, that pretends to be a simulator. I know why they removed the certain features, thats because the unexperienced mayor can only make things worse. the SimCity is a game where Sims always being the mindless drones, that will not drive the roads and highways unless forced to by clever Mayor
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Pan is a 60-year-old husband and father from Cambodia. His wife is a farmer who grows rainy day rice. The couple has a son, who is a construction worker, and a daughter in the seventh grade. In his free time, he enjoys listening to the news on the radio or watching television. For several years, Pan has experienced hip pain from osteonecrosis, where blood flow to a bone is interrupted. He has had surgery on both hips in the past, but still experiences chronic pain. He is unable to help his wife on the farm and stays inside because he cannot walk without assistance. Fortunately, surgeons at our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre (CSC), are helping Pan receive treatment. He traveled two and a half hours to CSC's care center, where, on November 14th, surgeons plan to perform a right hip arthroplasty. During the procedure, the damaged bone and cartilage will be removed and replaced with prosthetic components. Now, Pan and his family need help raising $1,500 to fund his procedure and care. Pan shared, "I hope my right hip will have no pain after surgery, and I can walk and work for my family again."
63%funded
Thet is a 35 year old husband and father, who lives with his wife, son and in-laws in Mon State in Burma. Both Thet and his wife work in his uncle's grocery store, while his in laws are farmers. When he isn't working, Thet enjoys spending time with his son and reading. In November 2018, Thet started to experience tiredness when working, and frequent headaches. He also had a rapid heartbeat, and he couldn't sleep well. He went to a hospital in Mawlamyine, where he was referred to a different hospital in Yangon for further treatment. At the hospital in Yangon, Thet was diagnosed with mitral valve regurgitation and stenosis, which would require surgery to correct. Thet was sent home with medications to manage his condition. In March 2022, Thet went back to the hospital in Yangon, because of continuing fatigue, headaches, coughing and fever. The doctor told him they would contact him to schedule his surgery in May, but Thet never heard back from the hospital. When Thet told his neighbor about this, his neighbor gave him the phone number of a heart patient who had been helped by our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF). Thet followed up, and thanks to the assistance of Burma Children Medical Fund, he is finally scheduled for surgery to replace the valve in his heart on October 13th, at Pun Hlaing Hospital. Now Thet needs your help to fund the $1,500 to cover the cost of this surgery. "I have sold all my jewelry to pay for the cost of traveling to the hospital. I feel less stressed since I met the BCMF staff,” said Thet.
Yves is a young man from Haiti. He lives with his parents and sister in a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince; they have been caring for him since he fell ill about five years ago. Prior to his illness, he worked as a clerk for a local business. Yves has a cardiac condition called severe rheumatic mitral insufficiency. One of the four valves of his heart was severely damaged by a rheumatic fever that he suffered a number of years ago, and cannot adequately pump blood through his heart and body. The care Yves is not available anywhere in Haiti, so Yves will fly to Dominican Republic to receive treatment. On September 12th, he will undergo cardiac surgery, during which surgeons will remove his damaged valve and implant an artificial replacement. Haiti Cardiac Alliance is contributing $9000 to pay for surgery. Yves's family also needs help to fund the costs of surgery prep and travel. The $1,500 bill covers labs, medicines, and checkup and followup appointments. It will also pay for the social workers from our medical partner, Haiti Cardiac Alliance, who will accompany Yves's family overseas, and the cost of obtaining Yves' passport. Says Yves: "I am hopeful that I can get back to a healthy and independent life once my heart problem is fixed!"
Leang is a seven-year-old 2nd grade student. She has one 12-year-old brother. Leang's father is a truck driver and her mother sells soft drinks by their home. At school Leang is good at math and wants to be a math teacher in the future. Four years ago, Leang was in a traffic accident and injured her left hand. She received a month of treatment including skin grafts and wound dressings after the accident at a local hospital. The skin has healed but a contracture formed causing a tightening around her left hand and between fingers. Now it is difficult for her to grasp objects and carry anything with her left hand. When Leang's family learned about our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre (CSC), she traveled for two and a half hours seeking treatment. On April 7th, surgeons at CSC will perform a burn contracture release surgery to to use her hand again. Now, she needs help to fund this $477 procedure. Leang's mother says, "I hope her hand heals and she can recover well."
Fully funded
Sai lives with his parents and sister in a village in Karen State in the border region of Burma where there is currently a lot of violence and instability. His sister is a teacher, while both he and his parents run a shop from their home, selling various items such as snacks, drinks, dry goods, and cement. In his free time, he loves to play cane ball with his friends. In early November 2021, Sai received treatment for COVID-19. While getting treatment, doctors also discovered that he was born with a hole in his heart, and he was diagnosed with atrial septal defect. A doctor in Yangon confirmed his diagnosis and told him that he needs surgery. He recommended he go to Thailand as the only other option was to receive surgery at a military hospital in Burma, which have been impacted in the recent humanitarian crisis. Sai's aunt suggested he seek treatment at a clinic in Thailand and he was referred to our medical partner Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) for financial support to make his care possible. Now, Sai is raising $1,500 for his Atrial Septal Defect Closure procedure, which is scheduled for July 12th. Sai said, “I would like to receive surgery as soon as possible so that I can help my parents like before. Now, my father has to do all the hard and heavy work, which is not good for him as he is getting old.”
Fully funded
Thi is a 37-year-old woman who lives and works at a garment factory in Tak Province near the Thai border with Burma. Through her work, she receives free meals and board in addition to 4,000 baht (approx. 133 USD) per month. In her free time, she likes to watch political news and read books. She is also learning Thai to help her communicate with others in Thailand. Since April 17, Thi has been experiencing severe pain due to a mass in her ovary. She feels very unwell and often has a headache. She has been diagnosed with an ovarian tumor and has been advised to undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy, the surgical removal of her uterus and cervix. If left untreated, Thi's symptoms will continue to worsen and put her at risk for further health complications in the future. Fortunately, Thi is scheduled to undergo her hysterectomy on June 14th. Our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund, is requesting $1,500 to cover the total cost of her procedure and care. Once recovered, Thi will be no longer in pain and will be able to work without feeling pain. Thi said, "I want to receive surgery as soon as possible so that I can return to my work after I am fully recovered."
83%funded
$1,249raised
$251to go
Angel is a one-year-old girl from Haiti. She is her parent's first child. Her dad works as a taxi driver to support the family. Angel has been diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition in which excess cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain and increases intracranial pressure. As a result of her condition, Angel's head has been increasing in circumference. Without treatment, Angel will experience severe physical and developmental delays. Our medical partner, Project Medishare, is requesting $957 to cover the cost of surgery that will treat her hydrocephalus at Hospital Bernard Mevs. This is the only site in the country where this care is currently available and the procedure is scheduled to take place on April 26th. This critical treatment will place a shunt to drain the excess fluid from Angel's brain to reduce intracranial pressure and greatly improve her quality of life. With proper treatment, Angel will hopefully develop into a strong, healthy young girl. Angel's parents are looking forward to her being able to grow up and play like other children.
Fully funded
Joan is a 36-year-old woman and a mother of three teenage children. Joan used to help tend a farm, but the work availability was inconsistent and could not support her family's needs. Her fracture makes it impossible for her to work at this time, and she is currently staying with her mother. Joan's husband works on a construction site. In January, Joan slipped while doing chores outside her home and broke her hand. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she was given a cast for six weeks, followed by an arm sling. Since her pain never subsided, she visited Kijabe Hospital for further review. The doctors noticed a deformity at the fracture site and conducted an X-ray, which revealed a fracture in her upper arm. They determined that Joan will need to undergo surgery to heal. Currently, Joan cannot use her left arm, and it's affecting her family's livelihood. Fortunately, surgeons at our medical partner, African Mission Healthcare (AMH), can help Joan receive treatment. On April 13th, she will undergo a fracture repair procedure, called an open reduction and internal fixation, that will allow her to use her arm again. AMH is requesting $1,500 to help fund this procedure. Joan shared, "I have been in prolonged pain for a lengthy period of time. My hand is broken, and I can no longer use my hand to work. This surgery will help me get back to my work and raise my family."
Fully funded
Daw lives with her two sons who work as day labourers getting work where they can. While her sons work, her daughter comes over to do their household chores. The income her sons earn is not enough to cover their daily expenses and sometimes they have to borrow money from their neighbor. Around 15 years ago, Tin was diagnosed with high blood pressure and diabetes. In early January, she noticed that she had developed ulcers on her left soles. She could not even remember injuring her left foot, but she went to a clinic twice to have her foot treated. Unfortunately, her condition worsened and by the end of February, she also developed ulcers an on her right big toe. In March, she was brought to Mawlamyine Christian Leprosy Hospital (MCLH), where she was admitted. She underwent wound debridement surgery on her left foot. A few days later, the doctor told her they would need to do an amputate her right foot so that her infection did not spread further. Our medical partner Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF) is helping Tin and her family raise the financial support for her treatment. Currently, Tin is experiencing a lot of pain in both her left foot and her right big toe. At night, she has a fever and cannot sleep. She cannot walk and needs her son to help her go to the bathroom and take a shower. “Since I learned that donors could help pay for my surgery, I feel very happy,” she said. “I want to say thank you to the donors.”
Fully funded
Chamroeun is a seven-year-old boy who is in the first grade. He is proudly a big brother to a one-year-old sister. Chamroeun's mother is a rice farmer and his father is a construction worker. In his free time, Chamroeun enjoys playing with his friends, reading books, and painting. His favorite meal is fried rice and Coca-Cola. He shared that when he grows up, he thinks he would like to be a policeman. In August 2020, Chamroeun was burned by gasoline on both of his thighs. After the accident, his parents took him to an NGO hospital for medical care. Once the wounds healed, he visited our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre (CSC), for treatment of keloid scars that developed in his groin region. Burn contractures have developed that have tightened the skin around his burns and now he experiences pain, redness, and itchiness. Fortunately, CSC is helping Chamroeun receive treatment. On February 9th, surgeons there will perform a burn contracture release surgery to remove the scars and to promote healing. Now, his family needs help to fund this $477 procedure. Chamroeun shared, "I hope the scar will be gone and stop growing. I want to be comfortable at school."
Fully funded
Ravuth is a bright student in the 4th grade. He's the youngest in his family and has three older siblings. When not studying, Ravuth likes to play football, watch TV and play games with his friends from school. Six weeks ago, Ravuth had a severe ear infection. This infection caused a cholesteatoma, or an abnormal skin growth, to develop in the middle ear behind the ear drum. Ravuth now experiences ear discharge, pain, fevers, and hearing loss. It is difficult to listen and he feels shy because he doesn't understand the conversation. He has frequently been absent from class and his mother is worried that he might be held back in school. Ravuth's family traveled to our medical partner's care center to receive treatment. On January 18th, he will undergo a mastoidectomy procedure in his left ear. During this procedure, ENT surgeons will remove the cholesteatoma. Our medical partner, Children's Surgical Centre, is requesting $925 to fund this procedure. This covers medications, supplies, and inpatient care. Ravuth said: "I hope my hearing will improve and I can go back to school!"
$925raised
Fully funded
Daw Htar is retired and lives with her daughter. In her free time, Daw Htar like to help clean the house and sew clothes. Daw Htar has lost most of the vision in her right eye. Sometimes, her eye feels watery or itchy. She has difficulty seeing clearly and recognizing faces. Because the vision in her left eye is also blurry, for the past month she has had to rely on her daughter to guide her when she walks. Fortunately, our medical partner, Burma Children Medical Fund (BCMF), is helping Daw Htar receive treatment. On December 20th, she will undergo lens replacement surgery, during which they will remove Daw Htar's natural lenses and replace them with an intraocular lens implant in each eye. After recovery, she will be able to see clearly. Now, she needs help raising $1,500 for her procedure and care. Daw Htar shared, "I feel so upset that my condition worsens every day. I cannot sleep well, because I am worried about what will happen if I do not get better."
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Lynka Promotional Solutions, based in Krakow, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In 1992, just two years after the fall of communism in Poland, American John Lynch decided to found a T-shirt company in Krakow – a city, which, like others in Poland, lacked even the basic infrastructure. A few years later the Lynka president launched the Krakow branch of the American Chamber of Commerce, which he has helped run ever since. Now, 20 years later, Poland is booming, AmCham is thriving, and Lynka is the largest apparel supplier in Central Europe. The Krakow Post asked John Lynch to share his thoughts on the challenges of starting a business in Poland, the company’s critical milestones, and his predictions for the struggling European economy.
John Lynch: Lynka, based in Poland, was one of the first companies in Central and Eastern Europe to offer promotional clothing, corporate apparel and work wear to the business community, and currently services clients in 22 European Union countries. We started with T-shirts but expanded to polos, fleeces, shirts, jackets, caps and bags. Thanks to our model – and 20 years of hard work – we are now the largest apparel supplier in our region.
KP: Tell us about your business and areas of expertise?
JL: Since the beginning, Lynka has specialised in promotional clothing and accessories, with a full-service model that includes award-winning screen printing, embroidery and other forms of embellishment. We are widely regarded as one of the leading screen printers in Europe, and we’ve won 40 awards for the quality of our printing and embroidery – more than any other European company. Just recently, we won the EPPI 2012 Promotional Gift Award for the quality print we did for a Finnish client. We specialise in very high quality, complicated decoration, including special effects, for advertising and sportswear clients. While the vast majority of our business is with promotional distributors, we are also the only NIKE official apparel vendor in our region – thanks to rigorous compliance standards regarding environment, safety, quality control and employees.
KP: What was it like founding a company in Poland after the fall of communism?
JL: It was an extremely exciting time, with things changing at lightning speed. It was also extremely challenging. The problems most entrepreneurs face include lack of capital, no established client base, tough competition, and all the usual headaches of any startup. In our case, you had to add lack of infrastructure, an undeveloped legal system, rampant corruption, and no trained employees – all in a language that we barely knew. On the other hand, our business education and experience in the U.S. helped us to be extremely disciplined and organised from the start. We had a clear business plan, financial projections, written SOPs and even a little org chart. We also had a big vision of where we wanted to go. When we launched Lynka, I was 30 years old. The average age in the company was 23; basically, the employees were all inexperienced. That created unique dynamics, but it was great fun.
KP: What are the significant steps you took to build your company?
JL: I think there were three milestones. First was our decision to become a really top-class decorator, in 1996. We often attended U.S. trade shows, where we met some of the leading firms, including Mirror Image of Rhode Island, and began a technology sharing agreement whereby Mirror Image taught us all they knew about printing. The result was that, in 1997, Lynka became the first non-American company to win the SGIA Golden Image award, leading to a PR bonanza, and accelerated growth. Second was taking on a private equity investor in 1999. That provided the fuel we needed to grow from a smallish company to the company we are today. This funded our modern facility, improved our IT systems, grew our inventory, and added new product categories. Within five years we almost tripled the size of the business. Third was our strategy to expand across Europe. In 2003, Lynka was 97% domestic sales within Poland and only 3% export. In 2004, Poland joined the EU, offering an opportunity to export to new markets. We attended a major industry show in Dusseldorf in 2005, and printed live on a 16-colour automatic screen print machine – which won us hundreds of new clients. In 2011, export accounted for 50% of our total sales, growing at 45% annually for five years running. Export has been the engine of growth for Lynka.
KP: In light of problems across Europe, how are Poland and your company faring?
JL: Extremely well, knock on wood! When the global crisis hit in 2009, Poland was the only one of 27 EU countries that didn’t experience a recession. In the 21 years I have been living here, Poland has never experienced an economic contraction, although at times things slowed to a crawl. However, since export is now more than half of our sales, the rest of Europe counts more than Poland alone, so we carefully watch what’s going on. I think 2012 is a tough year for many companies, but Lynka will emerge stronger for sure.
KP: What are your biggest business challenges?
JL: Our biggest internal challenge is making sure that our operations and systems keep up with our growth. With average order size being rather small, high growth implies a larger number of small orders. The operations challenges are the most painful, and most important to overcome. Our biggest external challenge is low-end price competition, particularly in Poland, but also elsewhere in the EU. Lynka promises the best solution, but not always the cheapest. We need to carefully communicate our value proposition, so that clients understand that Lynka is really the best deal, considering price, quality, product assortment, speed and ease of doing business.
KP: What are your predictions for the coming year for the industry as well as the European economy?
JL: I don’t think anyone knows for sure. The mood was quite pessimistic earlier this year, although today it’s a little more hopeful. Either way, promotional companies that have a large exposure in these markets are certainly having a hard time. I heard reports that some companies are 30% to 50% down in Spain and Greece, for instance. However, German-speaking countries, Benelux and Scandinavia are holding up quite well, and I think the UK, although not booming, is doing fine. So net-net, many European promotional companies will likely shrink this year, but a few well-positioned ones may even experience 5% to 10% growth.
KP: What are your plans for Lynka for the future?
JL: Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal is to become one of the top five apparel suppliers in Europe within five years. That means continued growth, via an increased European presence, more sales reps, more trade shows and entering new markets, which we will do carefully and profitably. We want to be the favourite apparel supplier of European and Polish companies and agencies – large and small, and are close to launching a new e-commerce platform, which should be one of the best in the EU. We will continue to improve our internal operations and the quality of decoration, and continue to invest in our people to build the best team possible!
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Minutes. The supernatant was discarded as well as the pellet resuspended in buffer A (50 | bet-bromodomain.com
Minutes. The supernatant was discarded as well as the pellet resuspended in buffer A (50
Post date June 27, 2018 Post last updated dateUpdated June 27, 2018 Post read time1 min read Post author
Home > Uncategorized > Minutes. The supernatant was discarded as well as the pellet resuspended in buffer A (50
Minutes. The supernatant was discarded as well as the pellet resuspended in buffer A (50 mM Tris, two mM EDTA, five mM MgCl2 at pH 7.0) and incubated at 37 for ten minutes. Following the incubation, the suspension was centrifuged for 20 minutes at 23,000g. Following resuspending the pellet in buffer A, the suspension was incubated for 40 minutes at room temperature prior to a final centrifugation for 15 minutes at 11,000g. The final pellet was resuspended in buffer B (50 mM Tris, 1 mM EDTA, three mM MgCl2) and the final protein concentration, determined by Bio-Rad Dc kit, was 1 mg/ml. All centrifugation procedures were carried out at 4 . Ready brain membranes had been stored at 280 and defrosted on the day of your experiment. Cell Membrane Preparation. A large batch of hCB1R cells was prepared by expanding the cell culture to twenty 220-ml flasks. To prepare cell membranes, cells have been washed in phosphate-buffered saline and after that incubated with phosphatebuffered saline containing 1 mM EDTA for 5 minutes. Cells have been then harvested by scraping into the buffer and centrifuged at 400g for 5 minutes. Cell pellets have been then resuspended in ice-cold buffer A (320 mM sucrose, ten mM HEPES, 1 mM EDTA, pH 7.4) and homogenized employing a glass dounce homogenizer. Cell homogenates had been then centrifuged at 1600g for 10 minutes at four and the supernatant was collected. The pellet was resuspended, homogenized, and centrifuged at 1600g, and the supernatant was collected. Supernatants had been pooled before undergoing additional centrifugation at 50,000g for 2 hours at 4 . The supernatant was discarded plus the pellet was resuspended in buffer B (50 mM HEPES, 0.5 mM EDTA, ten mM MgCl2, pH 7.4), aliquoted into 0.5-ml tubes, and stored at 280 . Protein concentration was determined against a BSA common curve working with BioRad PubMed ID:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20624161 Bradford protein detection reagent.Tris-HCl; 50 mM Tris-Base; 0.1 BSA) for at least 24 hours. Each and every reaction tube was washed five instances using a 1.2-ml aliquot of ice-cold wash buffer. The filters were oven-dried for a minimum of 60 minutes after which placed in 4 ml of scintillation fluid (Ultima Gold XR, PerkinElmer, Cambridge, UK). Radioactivity was quantified by liquid scintillation spectrometry. Information Analysis. Raw data had been presented as cpm. Basal level was defined as zero. Benefits have been calculated as a percentage adjust from basal level of [35S]GTPgS binding (in the presence of vehicle). Data have been analyzed by nonlinear regression evaluation of sigmoidal dose-response curves applying GraphPad Prism five.0 (GraphPad, San Diego, CA). The outcomes of this analysis are presented as Emax with 95 self-confidence interval (CI) and pEC50 (logEC50) 6S.E.M. PathHunter CB1 b-Arrestin Assays PathHunter hCB1 b-arrestin cells had been plated 48 hours before use and incubated at 37 , 5 CO2 inside a humidified incubator. Compounds have been dissolved in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and diluted in OCC media. 5 ml of allosteric modulator or automobile resolution was added to each nicely and incubated for 60 minutes. Five ml of agonist was added to each effectively followed by a 90-minute incubation. Fifty-five ml of detection reagent was then added followed by a additional 90minute MedChemExpress Sitravatinib incubation at room temperature. Chemiluminescence, indicated as relative light units (RLU), was measured on a common luminescence plate reader. Information Analysis. Raw information had been RLU. Basal level was defined as zero. Benefits had been calculated as the percentage of CP55940 maximum impact. Data were analyzed by nonlinear regression evaluation of sigmoidal dose response cur.
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Minutes. The supernatant was discarded as well as the pellet resuspended in buffer A (50
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Each week we will read carefully selected high quality math literature, play a math game, and do some group problem solving. Math manipulatives are key to helping little hands understand big mathematical concepts. Optional manipulative kits are available, please inquire. We will learn about square numbers, very large numbers, geometric patterns, probability, and get lots of practice translating real problems into mathematical language.
WEEK 1: August 31, 2020
WEEK 2: September 14, 2020
WEEK 3: September 21, 2020
WEEK 4: October 5, 2020
WEEK 5: October 12, 2020
WEEK 6: October 19, 2020
WEEK 7: October 26, 2020
WEEK 8: November 2, 2020
WEEK 9: November 9, 2020
WEEK 10: November 16, 2020
WEEK 11: November 23, 2020
WEEK 12: November 30, 2020
WEEK 13: December 7, 2020
WEEK 14: December 14, 2020
WEEK 15: December 21, 2020
This course is $250. GHF, SENG, MAGE (Mass), and NHAGE Members pay $215! (But no double dipping, sorry!) Multiple children? Talk to us!
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As many of you may know, I have a lot of first-hand experience with how tricky it can be to find healthy, gluten-free friendly food while traveling.
If you don't already follow me on Instagram, I recommend jumping over there for real-time/live posts from different places. I also have tagged my travel photos: #PracticalPaleoTravel and am also starting to use city-specific tags as well: #PracticalPaleoTravelLA, #PracticalPaleoTravelPDX, #PracticalPaleoTravelSF, #DocandFlipsinMaui.
For city-specific guides, check out the following posts:
With just a little bit of forethought and planning, you'll be able to travel while eating gluten-free with ease!
Here are my Top Healthy Travel Tips, let me know any tips you have in the comments below!
Tips for before you go.
About 1-2 weeks ahead, think about any special travel food items you may want to order online like jerky, bars, or dried fruits.
Take advantage of travel review sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp. Reading reviews ahead of time and searching for popular terms like gluten-free, organic, grass-fed, and even farm-to-table can help take the stress out of deciding where to eat while you're on the road.
At hotels, resorts, and on cruise ships, don't be afraid to ask questions and be specific about how to customize your experience. The staff is there to make your stay enjoyable, and will be happy to accommodate you. Of course, calling ahead to communicate any special needs also helps, but on-the-spot requests for gluten-free meals, for example, can typically be catered to pretty easily.
Request a mini-fridge in your hotel room. If necessary, explain that you have food allergies. Every hotel has them for medical purposes, so calling or making the request ahead of time is your best bet. Alternatively, book a room in a suites/extended-stay venue that has a kitchenette. These are becoming more and more popular/available and are not necessarily more expensive than other types of hotels.
Or, better yet (and this is actually my BEST tip), book a room that has a full kitchen. Most of these rooms include a full-sized refrigerator, 1-2 burners, pots and pans, a toaster, a coffee pot, utensils, a cutting board, and more. Some common chains are Residence Inn and Homewood Suites.
Tips for the trip.
Use a cooler bag with a reliable/leak-proof ice pack to keep foods fresh in your hotel room. Pack your ice pack in your checked luggage wrapped in extra zip-top bags so that it doesn't leak.
Pack foods in tall/narrow containers that stay upright and won’t spill. Rinse and re-use containers you bring or that you purchase with food in them along the way.
Use lots of small and large zip-top bags. They can not only hold food and prevent spills, but they can be re-used to hold ice from an ice machine or messy trash from your travels.
Find a grocery store. Prior to your departure date, search online to locate a grocery store like Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe’s, or other organic grocers or natural food co-ops at your destination and stock up when you arrive.
Keep extra protein and fat sources on hand like jerky and nuts or nut butter packets in the event of a flight delay. They’re lightweight, so it’s easy to pack extra.
In a pinch, very dark chocolate, nuts, and/or trail mix can work as healthy snacks and are often a healthier choice than any protein bars or other snacks available.
You can usually find salads with meat at airport food vendors. Simply remove the unwanted ingredients, and ask for lemons to use for dressing with the olive oil you have brought with you.
Bunless burgers can often be made to order even if they're not on the menu – which they usually aren't.
Bring sea salt and organic black pepper in small containers so that you can season up any bland travel-food with healthy spices. I like Redmond Real Salt, and I refill their salt shakers with pepper for my trips.
Always think ahead. You'll never be sorry you carried some extra snacks, but a delay on the tarmac or an unexpected, extended time without food handy will leave you hungry and possibly scavenging for less healthy choices. Err on the side of packing a bit more than you need to keep yourself well prepared.
Air travel and airport tips.
Keep small, 2-3-ounce spill-proof containers around for liquids, if possible, make sure the volume size of the container is stamped on it so that the TSA can see it easily, though tiny bottles usually are fine even up to 4oz I've found. I highly recommend carrying extra-virgin olive oil this way for use on salads, etc.
Use clear liquid containers for semi-solid items like guacamole so that they can be viewed easily. I've heard that freezing a small bottle of water the night before going through TSA in an airport will allow it to pass through since it'll be in a solid state, but I can't confirm this because I haven't tried it. I have, however, noticed the price of bottled water seems less insane that it was in the past, so grabbing water before a flight may not be so crazy at this point.
Dry foods are perfectly acceptable in carry-on bags, don't hesitate to bring food on-board with you. This even means leftovers from dinner, a salad, etc. Only liquids or semi-liquids are ever in question.
Take advantage of frequent flyer benefits such as “club rooms” in airports. For example, The United Club often stocks whole pieces of fruit like apples and bananas as well as organic tea bags that can be used in-flight with hot water available. The options for Paleo aren't amazing, but they exist and are free if you have access – use them!
Bring a refillable water bottle. While you can certainly buy bottled water once you're through security, you can easily refill a bottle in any airport. They all have water fountains, and many even offer filtered water.
You won't likely have a mini fridge on the ship, but rather a “beverage cooler.” This means that most food won't be chilled adequately to low food safety temperatures of 40 degrees F or below if stored in them. While some foods will be okay in these coolers overnight or for a short period of time, most won't.
You may bring large bottles of liquids onto a cruise ship (provided you had them in a checked bag for the air travel, or purchased them after your flight to the port). There are typically limitations on how much water and alcohol you can bring aboard, so check with your individual cruise line before you take the trip.
Many ships will offer you a gluten-free menu, but they require a long lead time for notice (several weeks to a couple of months). Check your booking information and be sure to call or email the cruise line appropriately if you need to make this request. While most of the staff on the ship can accommodate gluten-free diets easily when they're a dietary preference, if you have Celiac disease and need to be even more diligent about this, a contact ahead can make all the difference for you.
What are your favorite tips and tricks for travel?
June 3, 2015 at 7:37 PM
Some of these tips are okay, but please do more research on how things like “trail mix”, specifically dried fruit and nuts (both of which contain mold) and the awful combination they create for your gut overall. I recently learned all about this during a nutritional retreat and there is information out there. The nutritionist lecturing at the retreat called trail mix “the perfect storm” for your digestive system. Eating “Paleo” shouldn’t ever sacrifice gut health – it should, if anything help make that environment better! I am grain-free so many of those “gluten-free” options that are offered at restaurants are totally out for me – besides more than likely containing rice or corn, they are usually loaded with sugar and bad trans fats/chemicals (that I also avoid). You are right that it isn’t easy to travel eating “Paleo”, but there is much more involved when you factor in wanting to actually maintain a healthy gut! I will be taking a short trip in a couple of weeks and will probably be living on avocados! LOL. Thanks for the article –
May 25, 2019 at 8:50 AM
I concur. I cant eat dried fruit or nuts OR seeds! I have to follow the Paleo RX diet as outlined by Jack Kruse ..I’ve been taking bone broth soup to work but its not an option when you have to carry stuff about!!
Peccamon? Has anyone heard of this? Its made from organ meat and sounds good but I’ve not got that far yet. Try paleomom.com for more on AIP diet. Autoimmune Paleo is quite hardcore, but it works. I tend to fall off the wagon everytime i set foot outside the house, but its getting easier!
Good suggestions, thanks.
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June 4, 2019 at 12:04 AM
glad to help
June 4, 2015 at 5:14 PM
This is a very helpful article. Being new to Paleo diet lifestyle, I could try this on my next trip in few weeks.
June 7, 2015 at 9:36 PM
Do I need to put my individual packs of nut butter in my quart bag to go through security?
October 24, 2015 at 2:10 AM
If you accept someone’s offer to host you, make sure they are fully aware of your needs. Use your judgement and don’t stay with people who do not understand this. I suggest having them leave some pots and pans just for you to cook your meals with and clean with a separate sponge to avoid contamination with foods you don’t eat.
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Hey there, I'm Diane. I'm a Certified Nutrition Consultant and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo and The 21-Day Sugar Detox. It's my mission to empower you to live a better life through real food nutrition, advice on entrepreneurship, and beyond.
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Marvel is launching an all-new App in July building up to the home entertainment release of Avengers on September 25th. “The Avengers Initiative: A Marvel Second Screen App” gives fans unprecedented access to exclusive content such as special access to the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, links to character profiles, stories and scenes, interactive Marvel digital reader comic books and more. These will be unleashed bi- weekly in July and August. App owners will receive push notifications whenever new content is uploaded and available.
I had an exciting opportunity to choose this Marvel Avenger's character cute costume for boys. My son is a fan of captain America so I chose this in the small size. He excitedly sprung to action wearing this costume, he didn't want to remove this comfortable jumpsuit. The costume comes with the jumpsuit and head mask, not the shield.
The material made with 100% polyester is lightweight and soft. The small size is for age 4 to 6 years. I had to stitch up the leg and hand part a little because it was a little too long for my son. The body of the costume and the vibrant colours resemble the superhero. The suit has a soft elastic to stretch comfortably to fit to the child's body and there are three velcros on the top part of the body as a closure.
Although, the head mask is soft on the head and my son liked wearing it I didn't like it as much because the hole and fusing by the eye area didn't look as comfortable. I told my son to put it only over his head. The mask also has a soft elastic that allows it to stretch to fit the child's head.
Just hand wash and line dry, cool iron if needed but don't put bleach or in the dry clean.
It would be better if the whole costume was double stitched because we all know little guys can't stand still and we don't want to be mending the costume or stitching the rips. Here are some facts about costume parties in America. If you want a chance to win $100, then put your own review on their site and you could be one of the two randomly picked winners. They have this contest every month so join in. If our review post includes a picture then we can win $200.
All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First
9 comments:
Unknown July 29, 2012 at 1:32 PM
That is an awesome costume. I bet your son LOVED it.
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OrangeHeroMama July 29, 2012 at 1:38 PM
seriously cute costume! :)
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Unknown July 29, 2012 at 5:30 PM
Now that's a cool costume! My son is an Iron Man fan, so he'd love something like that :) Great review!
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Paula Schuck July 29, 2012 at 7:03 PM
You are so lucky. My little girl would love that.
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Theresa Mahoney July 30, 2012 at 12:48 PM
Very cool costume. Your son is ready to get out there and fight crime!
I can't wait for the home release of Avengers. We didn't have the chance to see it in the theater.
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Alexis AKA MOM July 30, 2012 at 1:08 PM
That is stinking cute! I'm sure he is going to have ton's of fun in it. My boys would love it.
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Anonymous October 4, 2012 at 1:03 AM
That was a lovely post you did on avengers costumes. It was quite informing and it really helped. It provided with information that I was not aware of before.
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Anonymous June 9, 2013 at 5:26 AM
It's so cute *.*
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wendy Hutton January 25, 2019 at 1:43 PM
great costume any child would love it
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Replies
Thank you for commenting :)
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Andrew Yang, presidential hopeful, is unusually articulate about work, changed economic conditions, and the failures of existing welfare. He is garnering an unusual amount of support among the candidates.
My theory why he is trending is that he is changing the subject from climate apocalypticism, class warfare, and resentment-filled group hatreds to something else entirely. He considers dramatic economic change a fait accompli and is seeking ways for us to deal with it as a society. You can disagree with every one of his proposals and still grant that his tone and topic is a much-welcome relief.
That’s the nice part of my article. Now I have to pick on a single aspect of his signature issue, the desire to replace the existing welfare system toward a Universal Basic Income as funded by a new Value Added Tax.
Yang has appeared on the New York Times podcast (millions of listeners) and made a strong case.
The interviewer asks: “What is it that this income guarantee allows people to do that they couldn’t do otherwise?”
To which he answers as follows:
“I’ve been giving the freedom dividend to several families around the country for the last number of months. And I just saw one of the recipients, Kyle Christiansen, in Iowa. So Kyle is living in Iowa, Falls, Iowa with his mom who is recovering from cancer. He’s been getting a thousand bucks a month from me for a number of months. I just saw him a few weeks ago in Iowa, and he seemed like a different person. He came to me and said, ‘I used some of the dividend on a guitar and I’ve been playing shows for the first time in years and this band now wants me to perform with them next week’. He was so proud and he was beaming when he told me this. The thousand dollars a month in many ways is about everything but the money. It’s about our humanity and what we would actually value. It’s car repairs going from a crisis to an inconvenience. It’s home repairs and going back to school. So when you translate the money into what it means in people’s lives, it means the things that make us human.”
This is an extremely compelling story. Probably you have some stories yourself of when you helped out a person in need financially and it made a huge difference in their lives. Charitable organizations can report millions of such cases.
But what are we to take from this example? Note that he personally provided the money and did the follow up. Why conclude from this that we need a vast new government program? Why not conclude that private charity actually works to improve lives when it comes with some sense of gratitude, inspiration, and accountability?
Andrew Yang’s interesting stories about how much good his personal charity has done provide a lesson very different from the one he draws from it. It means that the universal basic income (or just call it charitable provision) can work provided it is privately administered.
The current nonprofit sector employs 10 percent of the American workforce. Americans give close to $400 billion now to this sector. A quarter of the population volunteers for organizations without pay, which is the equivalent of another $200 billion in services donated. That’s wonderful but imagine how much larger this would be if people could keep more of their money to use in different ways. And consider the change that would happen if the “I-gave-at-the-office” mentality went away along with the non-functioning welfare state.
Incredibly, before the age of the welfare state (which was created because elites thought that private charity was too generous), private charity made an even more substantial contribution to American life.
A great example is Mother Cabrini of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They opened orphanages all over the East and West Coasts, managing hundreds of properties including hospitals, schools, and even silver mines. Their focus began with orphans but kept expanding outwards. They had a highly successful system focussed on getting people on their feet to live good lives.
But for the “Progressive” intellectuals of the period, these institutions were considered unprofessional and entirely too undisciplined, and they sought to displace these institutions with secular and publicly funded services. They succeeded. Between 1905 and the mid-1930s, the welfare state was built and came to replace private provision. Funding sources dried up following the double blow of the income tax and estate tax, together gutting the fortunes that had been so generous to charitable institutions.
Public provision did not make up the difference. It wasn’t intended to. It was supposed to be more parsimonious. But the big change was regulatory. A great example of early efforts is the minimum wage. When it was first presented, it was designed not to raise the wages of the poor but to raise the bar of entry into the workforce as high as possible so as to exclude “unfit” portions of the population. The same story can be told about maximum hours legislation, immigration restriction, marriage licenses, public schools, business regulation, and so much more. The rationale was slightly different in each case but the main goal was the same: to control and manage the population through coercion.
Yang knows that there is something profoundly wrong with the current welfare system and imagines something much simpler, something that would mean a genuine need for some income security. The problem is that I suspect he is imagining something that is best provided for privately, as it once was. Late 19th-century charitable institutions were fascinating and workable. Had they been permitted to continue to thrive, we might by now have something resembling a privately funded universal basic income – similar to what the Church of Latter-Day Saints provides for its members.
What Yang is doing here, with every good intention, is porting over success stories from the private sector and imagining that these stories would only become more pervasive if the same were administered by people with more intelligence, power, and resources. In short – among many other problems with the UBI – he is reinventing the great mistake of all public policy from time immemorial.
Now, to be sure, Yang lists dozens of other cases that he claims are successful implementations of UBI. I leave it to others to examine them.
As for making public policy out of private experience, we don’t usually imagine such things in other aspects of life. Most people would see immediately the error in a statement such as, “Religion can be good for people, therefore let’s have the government provide a Universal Basic Religion.” It’s the same with an income guarantee. Government has an uncanny way of taking a good practice in the private sector and ruining in.
Jeffrey A. Tucker is Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and eight books in 5 languages, most recently The Market Loves You. He is also the editor of The Best of Mises. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture. He is available for speaking and interviews via his email. Tw | FB | LinkedIn
This article is republished with permission from the American Institute for Economic Research.
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September 6, 2011 at 3:21 AM
I was originally concerned for this episode due to the lack of write up online, then I found out that you were practicing your “link-baiting” lol :-). As a continued (mostly silent) listener from the very first episode, I enjoyed listing to your debates and views on open source news this week, it was kind of LUGRadio-esque.
On the topic of rolling/timed releases there are benefits and drawbacks of both;
Rolling- For me this is currently what I am running (LMDE since the 201012) as it means that I do not have to burn an iso to disk or flash drive every 6 months to get the latest and greatest.
Timed- Has benefits for SOHO’s and businesses who want to make sure that the OS they have deployed is stable and will work with and custom built software/programes. Timed is also helpful for new linux users who are unsure how to, or unwilling to, operate and/or upgrade their machine.
When we merge these benefits together we have a clear choice in Debian (you can see why most distros are moving to a deb base) as you can choose between, Stable=Squeeze / Testing=Wheezy / Unstable=Sid. If you go for Sid you are always on the bleeding edge of linux, on the other hand if you opt for Squeeze you have a very stable OS that will not change dramatically for roughly two years, of which you can run a business on top of. Sitting in the middle is Wheezy which is like having a constant alpha release of the next version of M$ Windows to play with.
This is all done by “freezing”. The testing branch will not get any new updates/packages in this time but the packages that make it in this branch will be worked on to be made stable, then released as a final product. After which “all eyes” are on back on testing and unstable.
As for grabbing a multi-hundred dollar tablet for $99, well you Americans seem to get a lot of fire-sales (unless its a common thing of late for company’s to drop a whole line from the shelves….!) We Londoners don get much of that happening over here. Although Best Buy has started opening stores in England over the last year, I still have not seen any “Best Buy’s” like that :-). On that note I hope you are are enjoying WebOS.
P.S. Open-Source is not communism as stated many a time, by RMS and Bruce Perens, in the film Revolution OS. If it was, I sincerely doubt that Russia would embrace it so……….!! Communism has many a good idea at it’s core and these are reflected in the way Open-Source operates, only Open-Source does not demand you use only Open-Source or die
September 6, 2011 at 5:43 AM
you have listeners from Middle East also
I like the theme of this episode.
thanks all of you guys
September 6, 2011 at 10:18 AM
September 6, 2011 at 4:35 PM
Hi guys, I really liked the news/opinion style of this cast. It is always ice to hear what you have to say. When I moved over to Mint from the popular Ubuntu, I figured there would not this kind of thing… I didn’t expect there to be Mint Websites, Podcasts, Forums, etc. So please keep it up. From Winder, GA (2 hours north of Atlanta, were the cows live), thanks again. P.S. If there is ever a question as to were to have some sort of Linux Gathering, Please come to Atlanta!
September 7, 2011 at 6:15 AM
Good evening!
Just listened to this experimental episode and I really have to say that I loved it. It was extremely fun to listen to because everything was so dynamic, informative and even funny! I would totally love hearing more of those episodes!
Im listening for a few months now and even catched up with charles’s episodes (who has left us twice now ;)) and I really enjoy listening to you guys! appreciate all your hard work
have a nice day
greetings from austria
September 7, 2011 at 8:40 AM
… and you’ve got listeners from Brazil too!
Great program
September 7, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Nice cast, first time I listened to yours I think.
I’m a lazy dude, I only upgrade software if there is a security patch, if the software is outdated and not supported any more or if there is a new feature I really need. (5-15% faster browsing is not a new feature I really need.)
Keep up the good work, greetings from Sweden.
September 7, 2011 at 8:53 PM
In answer to your question from the show, Yes, I did like the episode. I’m a TLLTS listener from way back so I’m used to a long show with lots of turns and opinions. I definitely like hearing what’s going on in the Linux world as well as what you as users have to say about the topics of the day. Since your show now has more hosts, I think the multi-opinion + discussion style is very good. It’s good to hear what you really think about what you’re reporting or discovering. Good work as usual.
Doughbury
September 8, 2011 at 12:11 PM
I enjoyed this week’s episode. It was very much like TWiT’s Tech News Today, but funnier.
I wanted to weigh in on the tablet vs. netbook debate. I own both an Acer Aspire 1 running Linux Mint 10 LXDE and an Acer Iconia A500 running Android 3.1. Personally, I find myself reaching for the netbook more than the tablet because the netbook is more versatile. It has a real OS, and it is both a content consumption and a content creation device. I also prefer the netbook when traveling because its clam shell design lets me set it on things more easily, and the clam shell protects the screen. The tablet has a better battery life, sure, but I’m never far away from a plug for long.
That being said, like James, I don’t represent the market. I want my devices to actually do things as well as display things. I recognize that most people are content to use their computers to access Facebook, Google and YouTube, and that’s about it. Although a tablet fits that bill, I think the price point is what is holding the tablet market down. I suspect that the brief popularity of netbooks had more to do with the price point than the product. People want cheap computers. If the tablet can get down to a couple hundred dollars, then I think it can take on the netbook, especially as corporations push them as shopping portals like Scott suggested, and as evidenced by the Nook color and rumors of an Amazon tablet.
In the mean time, I would LOVE to try Ubuntu Natty on my Iconia. My biggest problem with my tablet is Honeycomb. It’s a lot like Windows–pretty, insecure, cumbersome, and it doesn’t do what I want it to do.
Doughbury
September 9, 2011 at 9:27 AM
Oh, I forgot to address the open question. I don’t use rolling releases. I prefer standard releases for a couple reasons. First of all, I like being able to kick the tires when I first install an upgrade. This gives me a chance to make sure everything works out of the box, as opposed to being surprised when something breaks. Secondly, I like the feeling of new releases. Upgrading to a new version brings back a little bit of that new-car smell to old hardware. It’s a personal preference, and though my reasons aren’t strong, I was relieved to hear that Clem and Team is keeping standard releases alongside rolling releases.
September 10, 2011 at 9:27 AM
I’m from Slovakia and I listen do you podcast almost every week.The GPL part is hard to explain to someone that’s not living in Slovakia basically are legal system is put together without any directions or logic of any kind, we are trying to fix that but is taking a long time.Don’t worry about that.
September 10, 2011 at 12:27 PM
Btw Some government agencies are using Linux
September 10, 2011 at 2:35 PM
I liked the format. Doesn’t really matter how you do it. I just like listening to other people’s voices when I’m doing stuff. And if it’s about Linux it’s even better. =)
September 11, 2011 at 3:58 AM
I enjoyed this episode!
Greetings from Switzerland
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Belgium on Monday joined a growing list of countries to launch Covid-19 vaccination campaigns, while a new coronavirus variant believed to be more infectious spread further and other nations ramped up restrictions.
Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted of a "world record" vaccination drive that inoculated 380,000 of its 8.7 million people by Monday, began issuing shots to soldiers at 17 centres nationwide.
While the IDF is "one of the first militaries in the world to launch a vaccination campaign for its soldiers," it will be "months" before all are protected, doctor Yael Arbel of the army medical corps said.
EU countries on Sunday embarked on a vaccination campaign to defeat the "nightmare" of Covid-19, with the first to be immunised expressing emotion after their jab and leaders hailing a milestone in the fight against the pandemic. Ministero della Salute / Luca PRIZIA
The Middle Eastern country began its third coronavirus lockdown on Sunday, while Poland on Monday entered three weeks of new restrictions.
Just as vaccination drives gather pace, global infections have raced past 80 million with nearly 1.8 million deaths.
Fears have been raised by a new strain of Covid-19 first detected in Britain and believed by experts to be potentially more transmissible.
Graphic looking at countries with the highest coronavirus death tolls, and their respective death rates. AFP / John SAEKI
After it spread to several European countries as well as Japan and Canada, South Korea became the latest nation Monday to detect the virus variant, in three individuals from a London-based family who arrived in the country last week.
Five cases were also identified in Spain's southern Andalusia region.
Itself hard hit by the strain, South Africa became the first African nation to log one million cases, official data showed Sunday.
Authorities there considered reimposing restrictions to battle the second wave of infections, with leaders worldwide facing similar dilemmas over unpopular and economically damaging lockdowns.
Most European countries began their vaccination campaigns over the weekend, boosting hopes of an end to the pandemic, especially in some of the hardest-hit parts of the continent.
The coronavirus pandemic is surging worldwide, even as vaccines are rolled out in many countries AFP / Jung Yeon-je
"Today is a big moment when you think back to all that we have been through," said Isabella Palazzini, an Italian nurse in Cremona who lost three colleagues to Covid-19.
Belgium became the latest EU member to join the bloc's coordinated immunisation drive.
With old-age home residents first in line, followed by carers, medical staff and social workers, "I think it's a relief... Covid was a true trial for residents and staff," Brussels region health minister Alain Maron said.
Vaccinations have been roled out across the world AFP / PEDRO PARDO
But pharmaceutical company Pfizer warned of delays to some shipments of the vaccine to eight nations from its factory in the country's north.
A "minor logistical issue" meant some vaccine deliveries were "rescheduled", Pfizer spokesman Andrew Widger said, but insisted the problems had been "resolved".
In the United States, the world's worst-hit country, known coronavirus infections surged past 19 million on Sunday after adding a million cases in less than a week.
US cases have been surging at an alarming rate in recent months. The world's largest economy has added at least one million new cases per week since early November, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
But there was some relief for Americans Sunday when President Donald Trump finally signed a $900 billion stimulus bill, a long-awaited boost for millions of people whose livelihoods have been battered by the pandemic.
While the US has also begun vaccinations, top government scientist Anthony Fauci warned Sunday that the worst of the pandemic may be yet to come, driving the country to a "critical point" as holiday travel spreads the coronavirus.
About two million Americans have been vaccinated so far, well below the 20 million the Trump administration has promised by year-end.
But Fauci played down the shortfall as a normal hiccup in a massively ambitious project, saying he was "pretty confident" that by April, all higher-priority people would be able to get vaccinated, clearing the way for the general population.
Vaccination campaigns have also begun in China, Russia, Canada, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, and there was hope for one more successful vaccine on the horizon.
But there are worries over vaccine hesitancy or outright refusal among the public -- especially because of anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns.
Polls have shown many Europeans are unwilling to take the vaccine, which could impede efforts to beat the virus and reach widespread immunisation.
A young German pilot found a unique way to raise awareness, tracing a giant syringe in the sky to mark the start of his country's rollout of vaccines.
"I wanted to give people food for thought for the day the vaccine became available," 20-year-old Samy Kramer, a student and amateur pilot, said Sunday.
© Copyright AFP 2022. All rights reserved.
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I've gotta say I'm very excited about this week's activities. Creating an Astronomy Unit about the planets for kids was so much fun!
My husband and I spent so much time reading and studying for this week, as neither one of us knows much about the planets or the solar system.
We have stacks of books from the library. Pathetic I know, but I always want to make sure I know and understand everything I'm teaching the kids, so if they have questions, (which Dinomite usually does), I can answer them with confidence.
My goal for the week was to create one activity for each planet. Then also to present the solar system, order of the planets, asteroids, etc. It's worked out pretty nicely. I already know the kiddos are going to have a great week!
My printer stopped working towards the end of the week, so you'll notice many hands on activities without directions or control cards. All activities will be demonstrated before the children attempt them.
This activity is simply 3 part nomenclature cards for all of the planets, moon, sun, and a few other vocabulary terms.
Source: I found these free cards at The Helpful Garden.
The Planets by Name
Bulldozer still really struggles with his writing, so I'm hoping these tracing pages will make him quite happy. The more he practices the better he'll get!
Source: I found these free printables as part of a pack at 3 Dinosaurs.
This is just like last week's moon surface activity. The kiddos will identify the items on the 4 cards and then find them on the planet using the magnifying glass if needed. When they are finished, Dinomite will write each of the words on his erase board. Princess and Bulldozer will write the first letters of each word.
Source: I created this activity using images from Wikipedia.
Included in the basket are cards for numbers 1-10. It's been a while since I had the kiddos count out each number. The bowl is filled with "asteroids" or little stones. As I present this activity we'll be talking about the Asteroid Belt.
The kiddos have all graduated from simple finish the pattern tasks. I'm hoping they'll do just as well with this activity. It's been a while since we practiced cutting.
Source: This printable was part of a pack at 3 Dinosaurs.
Addition with Moons & Asteroids
As I've said before, Princess LOVES addition and subtraction, just numbers in general. She'll be thrilled to see this activity back on the shelves. I love that I can acclimate it to any theme we have!
Source: The free addition wheels are from Montessori for Everyone.
There were a million ideas I could have used to incorporate geography in our planet study, but I opted to go easy, and have them review their continent names. The kiddos will color the continents green and oceans blue, labeling them all as they go.
Source: This printable is from Crayola.
Planets in Order from Closest to Farthest From the Sun
The kiddos each have a bag with all 8 planets labeled. Also included in the activity is a giant sun they'll glue at the beginning of their paper.
The kids will color each of the planets. Using glue, the kiddos will glue their planets in order from closest to farthest from the sun. It may take a little while, but I do believe the kiddos will really enjoy it. I'm not sure if you can see the control card at the top with the order of the planets.
Source: The idea and printable for this activity came from My Montessori Preschool.
Considering our planet is the only planet with life on it at this point, I figured it would be great to talk about the difference between living and nonliving things. The kids will separate items in the basket into the two categories.
There were so many things I would have loved to do to teach about the planet Pluto, however, Dinomite kept talking about the Great Red Spot, so I knew I should probably focus on that.
Several sources stated the Great Red Spot as a hurricane of sorts, that has continued to rage for a very long time. The activity above will demonstrate how a hurricane is formed and also will look very much like the Great Red Spot.
The kiddos pour in a couple drops of both red and yellow food coloring . With a spoon, they stir the water. The colors will spread and spin, showing what a hurricane does. They'll notice after they stop stirring, the hurricane will still continue to move.
We read that Venus is known for it's thousands of volcanoes. Since the kiddos aren't really sure what volcanoes do, except for what they've seen on The Land Before Time and Dora the Explorer, I thought it would be fun to create our own (in a very simple way), but to also see the chemical and gas reactions, that are so prevalent on Venus.
The kiddos will scoop about 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a couple drops of red and yellow food coloring into each little cup.
They will then pour the vinegar into the large pouring container, using the funnel. One by one they'll add vinegar to each of the cups, watching four volcanoes erupt.
I chose four, because I knew the kiddos would not be okay with just doing it one time. They will be able to add more vinegar until it is gone.
It's one thing to learn the planets order in relation to the sun, but another thing to learn that they all move around the sun, just like the Earth.
In this activity the kiddos will use the image in the book provided to create their own solar system, putting the planets in the right order moving along in their own space. The paint brush will be used to draw the lines shown in the book.
Source: The idea of this activity came from I Can Teach My Child.
The planet Neptune is known for its high winds and hurricanes, among other things.
To demonstrate the effects of high winds, the kiddos will be given a basin of water (representing the gas materials) and a straw. Using their straw they will blow into the basin, without touching the water, to create lots of surface activity. Simple, but fun at the same time.
Mercury is much like the Earth's moon, however it is more metal like and has wrinkles, due to the heat and an absence of many other things.
To demonstrate the similarities and differences, I brought out our "moon" sphere. The kiddos will practice wrapping it in foil. When they are finished they will see all the same crater marks etc., but also the wrinkles that are seen in Mercury.
Once again, the pictures makes these marbles out to be so much darker than they are. They have multiple colors all over them. The kiddos will practice spooning the planets from one bowl to another.
Saturn is known to have the most beautiful set of rings surrounding it. What better way to celebrate beauty than with "jewels" or glass beads. The kiddos will create the planet using glass beads, to see just how beautiful it looks!
Source: The free printable for this activity came from 3 Dinosaurs.
Uranus is known for being tilted on it's axis. To visually show the difference, the kids will practice hula hooping around their waists, demonstrating what the rings around other planets look like, and then hula hoop around their arm, to demonstrate the difference of Uranus' rings.
I'm hoping with individual activities for each planet, the kiddos will remember them better and associate them with at least one theme or topic.
Most important, I do believe they'll be having lots of fun in the process. Hopefully they will have as much excitement as I do about all the different activities!
For those who would like more Montessori activity ideas and printables, be sure to subscribe to our free newsletter by clicking the link below.
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11 comments:
Tanya June 22, 2013 at 7:10 PM
These are really fantastic hands-on activities! Love the volcano association. :)
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Jae (Pinay Homeschooler) June 25, 2013 at 7:53 AM
I have to bookmark this for future reference :) Thanks for sharing!
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Unknown June 27, 2013 at 11:51 PM
What a wonderful and complete assortment od activities for a space/planet/astronomy theme. I love them all and will save for when we do this theme. Stopping by from Teach Me Tuesday!
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Ashley June 30, 2013 at 9:22 AM
What a great collection of activities; pinned! Thanks for sharing it at Mom's Library!
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Unknown August 7, 2013 at 12:09 PM
Thanks so much for sharing at Discover & Explore this week. I'm featuring you at Edventures with Kids (I think Shaunna is also highlighting your amazing posts). You have a wonderful blog - loving all your ideas!
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Every Star Is Different August 7, 2013 at 11:26 PM
Thank you so much! I'm flattered. I always get excited when I have a post that matches up with Discover & Explore's theme for their link up. :)
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blogger September 4, 2013 at 7:11 AM
Thanks for putting your best efforts and giving such informative post.. Keep sharing this good work.
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Anonymous June 20, 2014 at 1:29 AM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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Anonymous July 5, 2015 at 4:30 PM
Thank you! These are wonderful ideas! My guys are older but all on the spectrum and I was looking for hands on ideas to supplement what they will be learning and your blog is great! Would you be able to put the mars planet and cards available to print?
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Unknown February 9, 2016 at 2:34 PM
I have just started home schooling my four year old and found your blog. THANK YOU! I absolutely love everything you put together. We are about to start the dino unit and cannot wait to start this one : )
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Kimmi Sue April 24, 2019 at 7:45 AM
I cannot wait to try your experiments with our kiddos These are awesome. Thank you for all the work you put into this. :)
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RLD Enterprises, emanated from the innovative and ingenious mind of it's founder, Roshunda L. Dorris. Each enterprise derives from Roshunda's eclectic ability to incite and inspire individuals through various scopes of her gifts and talents, fueled by the pursuit to see others excel.
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On the last day of the Democratic convention, I strapped on my Ipod, and took a nice trail-run through the wilds of suburban Denver. I was lovely scene, the mountains in the distance, the full blue sky, prairie dogs (I'm not making this up) scampering through the fields. And then crashing through my ear-buds came the following lines:
You know the Pun'll dis you, if you're whole steez is unofficial
I'll come and get you and let the Desert Eaze tongue-kiss you.
With one pistol and two clips, I'll make you're crew do flips
Like acrobatics, my gat is magic.
Hmmm. I normally love those lines--especially when jogging down Malcolm X, or even in Central Park. But, somehow there amongst the natural wonder of Colorado, Big Pun just felt wrong. I thought about that while reading over Conor Friedersdorf nuanced take on white people who play gangsta rap at their weddings. Frankly, I think such a practice is the ultimate in white privilege--any respectable black groom committing such an act would get a beat-down from his grandparents. But, in all seriousness, Conor hits on one of the saddest things about hip-hop and modern R&B--the abandonment of euphemism and subtlety. I have my theories about where Ronald Isley's "Voyage To Atlantis" ends, but I'd rather here him being coy, than hear R. Kelley snickering like a eight-year old with a dirty magazine.
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Over the next few days, I’m going to take one of my rambles. As I’ve been reading and listening and watching I’ve been disturbed by the discourse, or rather the lack of discourse that seems to be permeating everything. I’m a member of several public and private forums, a long time member of Pogo games, I’m on Facebook and have a pretty extensive list of blogs and magazines that I follow regularly – OK, daily. There are several places I generally stay out of the comments – YouTube, for instance – as I don’t expect any level of civility, reason or coherent thought. But over the last few years, a lot of places have degraded seriously …
I have some thoughts on why – unfortunately, I’m not sure I have any solutions …. but, perhaps as I write – some will come to me….
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This entry was posted in choice, communication, cynicism, discouragement, disgust, dissent, evil and tagged believe, hate, rancor, reality, talk, thoughts by xlntsx. Bookmark the permalink.
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At a press conference in New York City, Verizon CEO Lowell MacAdam announced that the iPhone 4 will be available on Verizon’s network starting February 2011.
A 16GB version of the iPhone 4 will cost $200, with a two-year contract. Apple’s smartphone will launch on Verizon on February 10th of this year, with pre-orders for existing Verizon customers starting on February 3rd. The Verizon iPhone will offer a mobile hotspot to which up to five devices can be connected. However, the iPhone will not run on Verizon’s new, ultra-fast 4G LTE network, and, as with all CDMA phones, users will not be able use data while on a call, which means no browsing the web while you’re talking on the phone.
“We’ve been looking forward to today for a long time,” said Apple COO Steve Cook, who joined MacAdam onstage, according to Engadget.
MacAdam said, “Our relationship with Apple has developed over the last two years. In 2008 we started talking about bringing the iPhone to a CDMA network. We spent a year testing.”
Critics–among them Verizon rival AT&T–have expressed doubts that Verizon’s network has the capacity to withstand the additional burden from millions of iPhone users.
Verizon’s Dan Dee emphasized the robustness of the network during “Big Red’s” press conference. “We’re ready for this launch,” he said. “Our iPhone 4 customers will get a terrific wireless experience.”
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