If my fellow Americans recall their American history, you remember the state of Virginia suffered from a great deal of political turmoil during the Civil War. As a result, residents from West Virginia decided to secede from Virginia and create a new state. This was not a quick and easy process. In fact, from the first stirrings of creating West Virginia until the day the federal government recognized West Virginia as a state, took about 60 years.
Today, there is a great deal of political contention in the state of California. As a result, there are a number of movements among California residents to secede from California and create a new state.
Treasonous socialists are looking to leave the United States and turn California into an independent country. As a patriotic American, I do not support them, as they are traitors to the United States.
Others are proposing the creation of three states – Northern California, Southern California and Central California. While this is a better solution, it's unrealistic. Dividing California into two states offers a difficult challenge. Dividing it into three states only further complicates things and therefore makes it less likely to succeed. Plus, that type of secession doesn't unite the proper political demographics. I can't support that either.
In the past few weeks, I heard about a movement that I passionately support. The idea is to create a state called New California from the central and eastern counties of California, while leaving the coastal cities and counties untouched. In my opinion, this is a brilliant idea. It's simple. It requires none of the coastal counties to change anything. They would still remain California. But the rest of us, the patriots who believe in the Bill of Rights, devoted Americans who hold the Declaration of Independence as sacred, and who have sworn to kill and die in defense of the Constitution, can live as free men and women in New California.
Personally, I have complete faith in New California and I think it is only a matter of time before it becomes a reality. Hopefully, unlike West Virginia, it won't take 60 years to happen.
Being inspired by the ideology of this movement, I decided I could contribute by designing the state flag of New California. There was one being used already, but I felt I could improve upon it.
Most modern flags are designed to follow rules of color combinations, established centuries ago, from medieval coats of arms. The artistry of drawing and establishing these guidelines was known as "heraldry".
All heraldic designs used a number of primary colors known as "tinctures". These tinctures were divided into two main groups. There were two "metals" and five "colors".
One of the most basic and important rules regarding tinctures in heraldic design is to never overlap colors or metals. The reason being – the human eye has a difficult time seeing the contrast between these color combinations from a distance.
You can only place metals on colors, or colors on metals.
The whole point of flags and coats of arms painted upon shields was to quickly identify friend from foe on the battlefield. When you were preparing to fire an arrow at someone 600 feet away, you had to make sure the person holding that shield was your enemy, not your ally.
Modern state flags follow these rules as well. For those who may think these "rules" are outdated and never used anymore, you use them every day. Modern traffic signs follow the standards of "colors on metals" and "metals on colors", as a way to assure they can be read from a distance, while driving at high speeds.
Here, we can see the original New California flag design proposed by Sutter County, California.
Based upon the previous explaination of the history of heraldry and some of the rationale and reasoning behind flag designs, you can quickly spot numerous flaws in the layout of this flag.
The field is an odd coloring of maroon, instead of a primary color. Plus, it uses a gradient, slowly blending from a dark, almost black maroon on top, to a much lighter maroon on the bottom.
The center stripe is azure on top of maroon. This is a color atop a color and goes against the rules of vivid contrast. Likewise, the canton in the upper left contains a gold star in a silver field, which is a metal on top of a metal.
The gold star is not a solid color, but rather an embossed image with a beveled edge. Again, this kind of embellishment is never used on flags or shield devices. Colors are solid, so they can be easily seen and reproduced. Gradients and beveling are not design elements that are ever used.
The text of "New California" is strangely offset. Instead of being centered in the stripe, it is pushed to the right in a way that looks unbalanced.
The motto of "A More Perfect Union" conforms to the tincture rules properly (gold atop a color) but again, it is offset in a rather uneven way. Pushed slightly to the right of center, it feels unbalanced and awkward.
Despite the numerous tincture flaws with this design, the overall layout is very balanced and aesthetically pleasing. In my design, I have tried to mirror some of these design elements (a similarly-positioned stripe and canton) in honor of this first flag design.
There are numerous historical flags which served as an inspiration for my design of the New California flag.
First is the "Gadsden Flag" from the Revolutionary War. This symbol of the rattlesnake was one of the first flags used by American colonists as the initial stirrings against the British Empire began.
Another inspiration is the current national flag of the United States of America, Old Glory with her blue canton of 50 white stars and 13 stripes to represent our founding colonies.
A flag that has been adopted in recent years as a way to honor the efforts of police and firefighter first responders are the "thin blue line" and the "thin red line" flags, which are black and white versions of the American flag, with a single stripe turned to blue or red.
Finally, there are design elements from the California State flag (namely the upper left star) which serves as a reminder of the origins of the state of New California.
Here is my proposed design for the state flag of New California including all the reasons and symbolism behind the design.
First, the aspect ratio of the flag is 19:10 which matches the current national flag of the United States of America.
The foundation of the flag is a yellow field, in honor of the "Gadsden Flag" from the American Revolution.
In the upper left is a blue quarter, matching the blue used in the canton of Old Glory. For balance and symmetry, it is a quarter instead of a canton.
Beneath the quarter is a red stripe 1/13 the height of the flag, as a way to represent the current American flag stripes. This design also respects and pays homage to the "thin red line" and "thin blue line" honorary flags for police and firefighters.
Within the red stripe are 13 five-pointed stars (known as a "mullet" in medieval heraldry) to honor the original 13 colonies of the United States.
Finally, the blue quarter contains a large yellow star to represent an individual state and an acknowledgement hearkening back to the red star on the California Republic flag.
Coloring conforms to medieval heraldic rules of tinctures and metals for maximum visibility.
The red and blue colors are designed to match the colors of Old Glory as faithfully as possible. Based on color information published by the American Legion, these are the color standards which should be used.


text:
James Good
How do you get employees proactive? Go to Sun Tzu's Art
First think about it, before we called "personnel management", now we suddenly changed to "human resource management", think about this is progress? I think this should be a step backwards!
People are not resources! People are the main body that uses resources! People have human nature, emotions, and autonomy. This is also one of the necessary reasons for the existence of management.
So what is human nature?
Human nature is yin and yang, and yin and yang itself are the greatest conflicts (the essential source of conflict in Ye Maozhong's conflict strategy). Interested can go to understand the yin and yang thinking....
Zhu Xi also explained the first sentence of the Zhongyong in the Commentary on the Four Books: "The destiny of heaven is sex", which is as follows: fate, Ju Lingye. Sex, both rational and rational. Heaven incarnates all things with the five elements of yin and yang, qi takes shape, and reason is also endowed, and Judas commands it.
What is emotion?
Emotions are a reflection of the environment, both internal and external.
So treating people as people is one of our most basic understandings. Personnel management should really be the management of people's affairs, and we should manage affairs, not people. Because as soon as you manage him, he is very resistant and prone to problems.
We do things well through people, so that it is called management, and we should not regard people as slaves, nor should we regard people as tools.
After the above basic concepts are clarified, then let's talk about what is the ultimate in employing people?
Use a man spontaneously and willingly, and handle everything perfectly. Instead of doing it, because there can be no problems in the back, this is the ultimate in employing people.
Human automatic and passive, the effect is completely different. When a person gets up automatically, he is very active, willing to work, finds problems on his own, solves them by himself, and does not ask for credit, he will think that this is what I should do.
People actually like automatic, because people have autonomy!
Why do leaders always feel that employees are passive?
Because you didn't create his automatic environment;
Because he didn't want to;
Because of the lack of good leadership
How can we make employees spontaneous? We must learn from Sun Tzu's Art of War. Since the mall is like a battlefield, what is the Latest Mailing Database difference between taking employees and leading soldiers! The most capable of leading soldiers and people in the world is "Sun Tzu's Art of War".
We don't object to the Japanese using Sun Tzu's Art of War for sales, but that's only a small part. What is the real mystery of Sun Tzu's Art of War? It's about using it on people!
We need to learn two levels like Sun Tzu's Art of War:
One is people-centered;
The second is to take water as the learning object.
Divided into two parts, today we will explain how to be human-centered.
With people as the center, Sun Tzu proposed the four rules.
Governance: Governing the hearts of employees
Let's start with the question: What is cure?
As a word often mentioned in our culture, the simple rule is the rule of governance, and the broad sense of governance is to make use of the niche that I have, and then guide the other party to the direction I want, where I ask, and give play to the will I want them.
Popular science:
If I manage in the West, I will put pressure on the employee, give him some norms, propose some standards, and force the employee to achieve the goals I expect. So they have to manage people, and they control the hands and feet of employees. For example, the job analyzes that an employee normally does 60 in an hour, and then 60 is the standard, whether you like it or not, you have to make 60 for me. This is standardized management, but also Taylor's scientific management.
In this way, in order to achieve the work effect, the employees are very nervous and tired, because there is pressure all the time. And if an employee is willing, he is completely stress-free.
How to Get Started With They Ask, You Answer: Your

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Title: Medical Units of 2 NZEF in Middle East and Italy
Author: McKinney, J. B.
Publication details: Historical Publications Branch, 1952, Wellington
Part of: The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945
This text is the subject of: 'Something of Them Is Here Recorded': Official History in New Zealand
Medical Units of 2 NZEF in Middle East and Italy
6 ADS Snowed Under
There was little activity at 6 ADS. The cold was numbing and the men remained in their bivvies, crouched around potato-tin braziers. They emerged only at meal-times to slosh through the deep mud to the cooks' truck. Early on New Year's Day the weight of snow became too much for the bivvies. One after another they collapsed; many of the occupants, startled out of sleep, had some difficulty in getting clear. A 180-pound tent followed almost immediately; it crashed and lay thrashing on the snow as the men it had sheltered fought their way out to join other refugees in the tarpaulin shelter. Two hours or so later, when everyone had settled down again, one of the supporting poles snapped, the canvas split across, and the whole shelter subsided in a heap of snow, canvas, and struggling men. Someone mournfully, if tunefully, informed the unappreciative company that he was 'dreaming of a white Christmas'.
Bundling up what gear they could salvage, the unhappy company set off into the snowstorm and located a small bamboo-cane hut into which they all squeezed together. They shared the blankets and remained there until morning, when heavy rain turned the foot of snow and the mud beneath to a knee-deep slush.
The ADS was out of action. Walking to the cookhouse for meals presented some difficulty, and it was impossible for vehicles to enter the area. For two days casualties were taken direct from the car post to the MDS. They were few, as the snow made any big attacks impossible.
The new year brought a succession of fine days. The wind remained cold, but the skies were clear and the snow-covered hills and valleys sparkled in the sunshine. The Italian women and girls searched the fields for fuel, and plodded up the road through the snow in their pitifully inadequate makeshift footwear, carrying bundles of twigs and branches on their heads. At meal-times they gathered around the cookhouses, waiting patiently for scraps. The contribution of the Italian men to the support of homes and families was wrapped in mystery.
On 3 January 5 ADS took over from 6 ADS, 5 Brigade having relieved 6 Brigade during the night. Fortunately a heavy frost had left the ground hard enough for the vehicles to move out under their own power. On 12 January a warning order was received stating that 2 NZ Division was to be withdrawn at short notice, ostensibly to a training area south of San Severo. The medical units prepared to leave after an exacting two months' work under wintry conditions.
At Atessa, from 20 November to 31 December, 4 MDS admitted 751 battle casualties and performed 198 major operations, while at Castelfrentano from 14 December to 7 January 6 MDS received 657 wounded and performed 178 major operations. After taking over from 6 MDS at Castelfrentano on 7 January, 5 MDS under Lt-Col R. A. Elliott admitted 152 battle casualties. During its two months at Vasto the CCS handled approximately 3500 patients, including the sickness cases admitted from 5 Field Ambulance.
The withdrawal of the division took place in mid-January. As a red herring the 'training area south of San Severo' was a complete success. Even the Italian civilians had no idea where the Division was going. Once the convoys were under way, however, rumours containing a grain of truth began to circulate among the troops. Before long belief changed to conviction; the destination was the Fifth Army front.


Each and every day we get absolutely bombarded by information, demanding our attention and fighting its way into our neural pathways, cluttering our worlds like never before.
Think about this for a second, picture life about 50 years ago, we'd maybe watch a bit of TV, read the paper, but we we're not tethered to the world, we would turn off, go play etc. Go back 100 years, and again even simpler.
All this takes it toll on our brain waves, stress patterns and in turn our ability to live optimally.
We can exercise, do hobbies, chill out or read a book etc.
All those are great ways to decompress, some less than ideal methods are turning to drugs and alcohol – which is so so prevalent again in today's world. These only compound the stress.
But even with exercise and hobbies (mines surfing love it nearly as much as meditation) they still do not get down to the depths of our being, so our stresses can remain compounding and stewing under the surface.
This is where Vedic Meditation is second to none.
It helps you transcend to a deeper state of rest then merely relaxing or resting, in fact it is indicated that just 20 minutes of meditation is the equivalent of 2 hours deep sleep.
And over time the continued practice continues to unwind the hidden stresses we store in our bodies, wave after wave of our unconscious stress releasing till you start to feel lighter, more vibrant, more energised and calm. This is the hidden benefit of meditation, not only will you experience a sense of peace and relaxation after your meditation but over time you will feel totally reinvigorated in your self.
Think of it like this, imagine you get a new car and never clean the windscreen.
Gradually, day by day, it slowly gets dirtier but as it is a gradual thing you don't notice it as much and it becomes just the way it is.
Until it gets to the point where it is near impossible to see out of, maybe you scrub a bit clean just in front of you, so you get a small tunnel vision effect and can see a little. But I am sure you will agree it is far from optimal?
Now with your Vedic Meditation practice, it is like each day we wake up and clear the windscreen before we start the day, helping us to perform better with our chosen pathways, being more creative, more focused, more attentive and better at communicating. Then at the end of the day we get home and meditate again, we clear the windscreen from the day's stresses and tensions, leaving us much better equipped to deal with family and ease into a night of rest and relaxation.
Now since we have been building up our stresses over a long long time, we don't get a crystal clear windscreen immediately but you will straight away start to notice your vision is far clearer than before, and over time one day you will have crystal clear clarity from all perspectives and at any angle you look at.


text:
Rising food prices raising risk of war, warns IMF
Published Sunday, April 13, 2008
Rising food prices could have terrible consequences for the world, including the risk of war, the IMF said Saturday, calling for action to keep inflation in check.
"Food prices, if they go on like they are doing today ... the consequences will be terrible," International Monetary Fund managing director Dominque Strauss-Kahn said.
"Hundreds of thousands of people will be starving ... (leading) to disruption of the economic environment," Strauss-Kahn told a news conference at the close of the IMF spring meeting here.
Development gains made in the past five or 10 years could be "totally destroyed," he said, warning that social unrest could even lead to war.
"As we know, learning from the past, those kind of questions sometimes end in war," he said. If the world wanted to avoid "these terrible consequences," then rising prices had to be tackled.
Skyrocketing prices on rice, wheat, corn and other staple foods like milk particularly hurt developing nations, where the bulk of income is spent on the bare necessities for survival.
Higher energy prices, too, are driving up the cost of food, as well as stoking broader inflation.
In recent months, rising food costs have lead to social unrest in several countries such as Haiti and Egypt. Thirty-seven countries currently face food crises, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Escalating inflation is complicating the already complex challenges of a global financial crisis battering the world economy, Strauss-Kahn said.
The 185-nation IMF called for a strong front to put the reeling world economy back on track.
"The global crisis has to be addressed with a global view and by strengthening the role of multilateral institutions," Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, chair of the the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC), the IMF's top policy-making body, told reporters in a briefing.
In a statement, the IMF said that "policymakers should continue to respond to the challenge of dealing with the financial crisis and supporting activity, while making sure that inflation is kept under control."
The IMF stressed that "the challenges facing the world economy are of a global nature, requiring strong action and close cooperation among the membership."
Unlike the last IMF meeting in October, where internal reforms were high on the agenda, this time the multilateral institution faces a full-blown, and still unfolding, financial shock that began in August amid rising defaults on US high-risk subprime home loans.
Tasked with maintaining global financial stability, the IMF, whose own finances are strained, insists its expertise and global range make it a key player in resolving what Strauss-Kahn earlier called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The IMF last week warned the global economy is slowing so rapidly it could slide effectively into recession this year and next.
IMF policymakers also welcomed moves by central banks to provide liquidity support to ease strains in the credit markets.
The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and others have pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the money markets that seized up in the spreading subprime contagion.
The IMF also applauded Financial Stability Forum policy recommendations adopted Friday by the Group of Seven industrialised countries in the hope of improving transparency and resiliency in the financial markets within 100 days.
Regarding internal reforms, the IMF said it hoped governors would soon approve key voting and financial measures approved by the executive board.
It said it looked forward to approval of a reform of voting rights, long demanded by developing countries, by April 28, and a new income model that includes the sale of 403 tonnes of gold to raise cash, by May 5. (AFP)


text:
Krisztus király szobor, Almada, Portugália
 Krisztus király szobor, Cali, Kolumbia
 Krisztus király szobor, Dabas, Magyarország
 Krisztus király szobor, Dili, Kelet-Timor
 Krisztus király szobor, Garajau, Portugália
 Krisztus király szobor, Guanajuato és Silao között, Mexikó
 Krisztus király szobor, Świebodzin, Lengyelország
 Krisztus király szobor, Vũng Tàu, Vietnam

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
[sci.astro] Solar System (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (5/9)
Section - E.14.2 Why does the Moon always show the same face to the Earth?
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See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Author: Laz Marhenke <laz@leland.Stanford.EDU>
When it first formed, the Moon probably did not always show the same
face to the Earth.  However, the Earth's gravity distorts the Moon,
producing tides in it just as the Moon produces tides in the Earth.
As the Moon rotated, the slight elongation of its tidal bulge was
dragged a bit in the direction of its rotation, providing the Earth
with a "handle" to slow down the Moon's rotation.  More specifically,
the tidal bulge near the Earth is attracted to the Earth more strongly
than the bulge away from the Earth.  Unless the bulge points toward
the Earth, a torque is produced on the Moon.
If we imagine looking down on the Earth-Moon system from the north
pole, here's what we'd see with the Moon rotating at the same rate as
it goes around the Earth:
Earth 					Moon
/  \ 				       ____	      ^
|    |				      /    \	      |
\__/ 				      \____/	   Orbiting
this way
Tidal bulge *greatly*
exaggerated.
What if the Moon were rotating faster?  Then the picture would look like:
/  \ 					___	      ^
|    |				       /   )	      |
\__/ 				      (___/        Orbiting
counterclockwise;
If it isn't clear why the tidal bulge should move the way the picture
shows, think about it this way: Take the Moon in the top picture, with
its tidal bulges lined up with the Earth.  Now, grab it and rotate it
counterclockwise 90 degrees.  Its tidal bulge is now lined up the
"wrong" way.  The Moon will eventually return to a shape with tidal
bulges lined up with the Earth, but it won't happen instantly; it will
take some time.  If, instead of rotating the Moon 90 degrees, you did
something less drastic, like rotating it one degree, the tidal bulge
would still be slightly misaligned, and it would still take some time
to return to its proper place.  If the Moon is rotating faster than
once per orbit, it's like a constant series of such little
adjustments.  The tidal bulge is perpetually trying to regain its
correct position, but the Moon keeps rotating and pushing it a bit out
of the way.
Returning to the second picture above, the Earth's gravitational
forces on the Moon look like this:
F1	  <-----/   )
F2 <-------(___/
F2 is larger than F1, because that part of the Moon (the "bottom" half
in the drawing, or the half that's "rearward" in the orbit) is a bit
closer to the Earth.  As a result, the two forces together tend to
twist the Moon clockwise, slowing its spin.  Over time, the result is
that the Moon ends up with one face always facing, or "locked," to the
Earth.  If you drew this picture for the first case, (where the Moon
rotates at the same rate that it orbits, and the tidal bulges are in
line with the Earth), the forces would be acting along the same line,
and wouldn't produce any twist.
Another way to explain this is to say that the Moon's energy of
rotation is dissipated by internal friction as the Moon spins and its
tidal bulge doesn't, but I think the detailed force analysis above
makes things a little clearer.
This same effect occurs elsewhere in the solar system as well.  The
vast majority of satellites whose rotation rates have been measured
are tidally locked (the jargon for having the same rotation and
orbital periods).  The few exceptions are satellites whose orbits are
very distant from their primaries, so that the tidal forces on them
are very small. (There could be, in principle, other exceptions among
some of the close-in satellites whose rotation rates haven't been
measured, but this is unlikely as tidal forces grow stronger the
closer to the planet the satellite is.)
Pluto's satellite Charon is so massive (compared to Pluto) that it has
locked Pluto, as well as Pluto locking Charon.  This will happen to
the Earth eventually too, assuming we survive the late stages of the
Sun's evolution intact.  :')
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Camp Lutherwood Oregon is ready to engage congregations and campers in the theme, "What Matters Most"!
Through the experiences of Old Testament friends and the words of Jesus, campers of all ages will discover What Matters Most in our lives. As we journey along with Abraham, Jonah, Ruth, Israel and Jeremiah, their stories will encourage us to live boldly, remembering God's truth and promises every day. The lessons we learn from their lives point to what Jesus said was The Greatest Commandment, to love God and love others. Join us this summer for a grand adventure that will encourage and challenge us to live out What Matters Most!
See the 2015 Staff Training video for more about how the staff is learning What Matters Most when it comes to the diversity of people who come and go at camp.
Here is how the camp describes itself: "Camp Lutherwood is an association of Lutheran congregations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. We are a not-for-profit organization committed to serving people of all ages through our staff, our programs, and our facilities. All are welcome to participate in our ministry. Camp Lutherwood is located on 71 forested acres in the foothills of the Coast Range in Oregon. We have a variety of facilities available year-round for day and overnight use."


text:
Home > News > Industry News > What is the cause of rust spot.....
What is the cause of rust spots on stone?
Rust spots are mainly formed by the oxidation reaction of iron in the stone.
Iron, water, and oxygen are the three major factors that contribute to the formation of rust spots.
First, we divide rust spots into two categories according to the different levels of reaction:
(4 Inch Polishing Pad For Angle Grinder Polishing Machines)
Deep Rust Spots
The Reason:
Many stone varieties, especially granite, contain a certain proportion of iron components. When these iron components are in full contact with water and oxygen, they will cause oxidation reactions and generate rust spots.
The alkali in the cement reacts with the iron in the stone under the action of water, and rust spots are also formed.
Treatment: When dealing with surface rust spots, you only need to brush on the surface with rust remover, or you can use the method of surface grinding and polishing.
(Triangle Electroplated Diamond Grinding Pad for Suppliers)
Surface Rust Spots.
Reason: In the process of mining, processing, transportation and installation of stone, a small amount of iron residues are left after the surface comes into contact with iron objects. These iron residues will react with moisture and oxygen in the air to form rust spots. .
Treatment: The treatment of deep rust spots is relatively more complicated. It needs to maintain a certain dosage and reaction time, and sometimes requires a wet compress of the medicine to achieve better results.
(100mm Diamond Resin Pad For Stone)
When choosing rust remover, be sure to choose good quality products
The treatment method of rust spots is mainly to use rust remover to deal with
When dealing with rust spots on the surface, just brush on the surface with a rust remover.
Due to the different material structure of marble and granite, the physical and chemical properties are also different.


I hand dyed this pillow with indigo and used a stitched shibori technique to create the circle pattern. The cover consists of upcycled and reclaimed materials.
Care: Remove pillow cover. Machine wash, gently, in cold water with mild soap. Tumble dry low or hand to dry. Keep out of direct sun. Some fading may occur over time. Down pillow should be dry cleaned as needed.


Why do people have trouble swallowing after surgery?
I hope someone can explain to me why people have trouble swallowing after surgery. Is it due to nausea, and you just feel like you're going to throw up? The surgery doesnt involve the esophagus or throat, so I just don't get it!! My RNY is in 5 days, so maybe I'll figure it out the hard way, but I hope I don't have problems swallowing!! Thanks in advance!
I'm not sure as I didn't have any troubles with swallowing.
Thanks for your reply Green Tealael! I hope I don't have any problems swallowing too! BTW, I just love reading your posts. Always encouraging and helpful.
Thanks GradyCat! I'm glad to hear you didn't have problems. From reading on here it seems common!!
I lost my ability to swallow after surgery. I don't know why. I felt like it would get stuck on the way down. I relied on pill crushers and pill splitters. My ability to swallow returned after a couple months.
Sorry to hear that, James, but so glad you got back your ability to swallow. That must've been a pain!
I had sleeve and I counted myself as someone with no complications, but like most I struggled to get any more than a tiny sip down initially. That's just because anything hitting a stomach that has been so severely messed about with is going to get a reaction. For me the reaction was a tightening (think a stomach wincing) and I had to take a pause before another sip.
Over first ten days went to shorter and shorter pauses between sips, to two or three sips in a row, to mouthfuls, to two to three mouthfuls in a row. Everyone repeats 'sip, sip, sip' as a mantra, so worried that meant I had a baggy sleeve, but surgeon and dietician said no, just less sore and swollen stomach tolerating more.


text:
STOP ABSOLUTE DISCRETION OF FAMILY COURT JUDGES
958 people have helped this campaign
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Power Over Poverty Under Laws of America Restored
Calling on all Americans who do not want the ruling class through major media to keep unrest focused exclusively on blue collar cops while elite lawyers, powerful prosecutors, and judges operate with virtual impunity in this country. Please join us in PUMPING…
Update #4 · about 4 years ago
Has a judge violated your constitutional rights?
Have you been discriminated against by being treated differently than other people in similar situations by reason of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual preference or political opinion? Have you lost certain rights without a meaningful hearing or…
Florida Commission on Access to Civil Justice
Children are human beings, not belongings. Children need the love, caring, nurturing, and guidance of both their mother and father throughout their lives. "Awarding" custody of a child to either the mother or father in divorce creates an atmosphere of contempt and competition, but more importantly it deprives the child of the benefit of the day to day nurturing of either their mother or father.
Research has shown in a dramatic fashion the long term devastating effects removal of a parent has on children. The following statistics from the American Psychological Association found along with other shared parenting research gathered together online at www.HelpStopPAS.com have been duplicated in a number of studies, including those from the U.S. Department of Education.
Psychologist Robert Bauserman, Ph.D., of Administration/Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in Baltimore, Maryland conducted a meta-analysis of 33 studies between 1982 to 1999 that examined 1,846 sole-custody and 814 joint-custody children. The studies compared child adjustment in joint physical or joint legal custody with sole-custody settings and 251 intact families. Joint custody was defined as either physical custody - where a child spends equal or substantial amounts of time with both parents or shared legal custody - where a child lives with primarily one parent but both parents are involved in all aspects of the child's life. This article will appear in the March issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Children in joint custody arrangements had less behavior and emotional problems, had higher self-esteem, better family relations and school performance than children in sole custody arrangements. And these children were as well-adjusted as intact family children on the same measures, said Bauserman, "probably because joint custody provides the child with an opportunity to have ongoing contact with both parents.
These findings indicate that children do not actually need to be in a joint physical custody to show better adjustment but just need to spend substantial time with both parents, especially with their fathers, said Bauserman. Also, joint custody couples reported less conflict, possibly because both parents could participate in their children's lives equally and not spend the time arguing over childcare decisions. Unfortunately a perception exists that joint custody is more harmful because it exposes children to ongoing parental conflict. In fact, the studies in this review found that sole-custody parents reported higher levels of conflict.
Harvard also conducted studies with the following results:
Adolescents After Divorce, Buchanan, C., Maccoby, and Dornbusch, Harvard University Press,1996.
A study of 517 families with children ranging in age from 10.5 years to 18 years, across a four and a half year period. Measures were: assessed depression, deviance, school effort, and school grades. Children in shared parenting arrangements were found to have better adjustment on these measures than those in sole custody.
With these statistics it is easy to see that shared parenting is in the best interest of the child. Shared parenting legislation would also strengthen our family values and society as a whole. A study conducted by Richard Kuhn et al with The Children's Rights Council showed a decline in divorce rates in states that allow joint physical custody.
The evidence reported in the paper indicates that widespread acceptance of joint physical custody will not increase the divorce rate, and may in fact reduce divorce. States whose family law policies - either by statute or through judicial practice - encourage joint custody have shown a much greater decline in their divorce rates than those that favor sole custody. REMEMBER THE $50 BILLION DOLLARS.
The decline was attributed to a number of factors. States that favor sole custody in divorce may thus expect to see more divorce than states that encourage joint custody. On a practical level, joint physical custody makes it less likely that a parent can move to another city to eliminate interaction with the other parent. Because both parents provide for the child directly, child support payments may be somewhat lower with joint custody, reducing financial motives for divorce. Perhaps most significant, joint custody also removes the capacity for one spouse to hurt the other by denying participation in raising the children.
A vast amount of research has found that shared parenting will not only strengthen the institution of marriage in our country but also give our nation's children the love and companionship they need from both their mother and father to mature into productive and respected members of our society. Shared parenting is no longer a concept that needs to be debated; it has been tested and proven to be the preferred custody arrangement in a divorce situation. In absence of mental illness or abuse children are entitled to the right of a close continued relationship with both parents without interference from either parent or the court.
With this information it would be abusive towards parents and children not to act in the children's best interest. The best interest of the children is equal time with both parents; shared parenting.
With this in mind consider the findings from the United States Department of Education:
"More than a quarter of American Children, 24 MILLION, do not live with their father. Girls without a father in their life are two and a half times as likely to get pregnant and 53 percent more likely to commit suicide. Boys without a father in their life are 63 percent more likely to run away and 37 percent more likely to abuse drugs. Both girls and boys are twice as likely to drop out of high school, twice as likely to end up in jail and nearly four times as likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems." -- HHS Press Release, Friday, March 26, 1999.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent and serious matter.
Respectfully Submitted
Childrens Rights Florida
JUSTICE FOR OUR CHILDREN - A Cause For Family Court Judicial Reform
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Lawyers and Judges have fiduciary duties under their codes of...
Lawyers and Judges have fiduciary duties under their codes of conduct to "insure the Integrity of the judiciary and the legal system" (Canon 1 and RPC Preamble #1 )" and to report to the appropriate authority if a lawyer or judge engages in conduct that runs contrary to promoting "public confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law" (RPC 8.3, Canon 3(b)(5) and Canon 1 and RPC Preamble #6 respectively) which may "injure our system of government under law" (Canon 1).
The problem: these self-regulating privileges devolved to a point where judges and lawyers have absolved themselves of these "fiduciary duties" and in fact have absolved themselves of their lawful duties. Said another way, the public's confidence in the judiciary and in the rule of law has been severely injured by the moral and ethical inbreeding in self-regulation. Richard A. Posner, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, writes, "Moral inbreeding may be as dangerous as biological inbreeding". Clearly the legal profession has been inbreeding for decades and this accounts for the ethical and moral mutations that now plague our justice system.
FIT-TV - www.UncheckedPower.org
And please visit The Pink Slip Project ~ A Solution To Overhaul The Dysfunctional Family Court System In Florida And The Rest Of The USA.
The story of child abuse and... (Tambien en Español)


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Press Release No. 2
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced the arrival in Liberia of a three-man business delegation from Suadi Arabia, who are in the country to explore investment possibilities.
The delegation, headed by Mr. Mohammed S.H. Shama, and including Messrs Abdulrahman M. Deeb and Nageb Bakhos, disclosed its interest to invest in Liberia especially in the fishing and agricultural sectors and extractive industry. The delegation made the disclosure of their interest to invest in Liberia during a meeting over the weekend with the Foreign Minister of Liberia, Hon. George W. Wallace, Jr., who received them in audience at his Foreign Ministry Offices. The delegation was accompanied to the Foreign Ministry by Mr. Zaidan M. Sheriff, the Minister Counsellor and Head of Mission at the Liberian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Welcoming the delegation, Foreign Minister Wallace apprised the delegation of Liberia's vast natural resources, and the determination of the Liberian Government to harness these resources towards the socio-economic transformation and development of the country, and for the benefit of all Liberians.
Towards this end, the Government of Liberia, he said, has put in place various investment incentive codes to attract direct foreign investment in the country for the mutual benefit of both the country and the investors.
Disclosing their intension to do business in Liberia, the Head of Delegation informed the Foreign Minister that their business venture which has its base in Sadui Arabia, extends to several parts of the world including Asia, USA, Europe and Arab countries, which they are willing and ready to mobilize and put at Liberia's disposal.


TASTE OF FIRE IS NUMBER ONE!
Writing is a lot like applying makeup; sometimes less is more and sometimes you can't have enough. Lines, curves, shades, and shadows emerge from the creases and corners to produce a brilliant balance of beauty.
A pallet of color-tinted words can take the writer, or reader, to faraway countries, bustling cities, paradise islands, or to back wood forests where perhaps home-spun history has become legend.
Jeannie, welcome to authors.com …from The Chuck!
I write sci-fi novels filled with adventure, mystery, romance, drama, horror, and many more genres all mixed in... Sci-fi for everyone to enjoy. I'm also a published poet. When you have a moment, please check out my Authors page and a few of my videos and blogs I've recently added. Many of my blogs consist of free to read enjoyable sci-fi short stories I plan to unite within a book titled: 'Epic Marvels'. My newest sci-fi novel is 'They!', which is related to the 1954 sci-fi classic movie, 'Them!'.
It is now on Kindle and Nook, as well.
I have a Facebook Fan Page and would be very grateful if you'd 'like' it, too.
Please stop by and check it out. Let me know if I can return the favors.
I've checked out some of your work...very impressive. Did you do your videos yourself? A friend and I are 'learning' how to do book trailers....even though my editor/publisher can do them, too. So much fun finding the items and putting it all together.
God bless you, Lori.....it is amazing where our 'strength' comes from some times....or our creativity. God's plan is always the best one. I know I won't become 'rich and famous' , but my writing has left a bit of a legacy for my kids and grandkids. When my 11 yr old granddaughter, Savannah, tell me ...Grandma, I am SO proud of you!...that is priceless. Thank you for the invitation to check out your sites and information. I definitely will. Yes, I will be looking for you on here, too, Lori. I've made some great friends on sites like these. Like I say...God is SO good. Hugs!
thanks for telling me about authors.com and inviting me to join. I've just about finished reading your book.
Nice to meet you Jeannie. Welcome aboard. :) I hope you enjoy being amongst us and I'll look forward to hearing more about your writing.
Hello Jeannie. Welcome to this corner of my world.
Thanks everyone for the warmest welcome! I actually found Authors.com through Stacey Eaton who belongs to Women's Literary Cafe! If you don't mind, I'll give a little info on my debut co-authored suspense.
Cheryl Norman, who is an AWESOME author I invited to join us here, too...commented, she is just about through reading my book.
If you can, stop by and check it out. PLEASE let me know if I can return the favors for any of these sites you might be on, as well!
Thanks Jeannie for your request for friendship. Of course I will. Sorry for the late reply, but I have been lost in Africa for a few days. Have fun and keep writing!


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Cognitive Transformation, Dementia, and the Moral Weight of Advance Directives
Today's post is by Em Walsh (McGill University).
Em Walsh
The following is a real-life case study of a woman referred to as Mrs Black (Sokolowski 2018, 45-83). Mrs Black received a diagnosis of mid-stage dementia at the age of eighty-five. Mrs Black's dementia impacted her ability to recall both the names and faces of her family members. Nevertheless, Mrs Black was noted by nurses who cared for her as always being an exceptionally happy woman, who took great pleasure in her daily activities in the residential care home in which she lived. Whilst in care, however, Mrs Black developed a serious bacterial infection, which posed a risk to her life if left untreated. Mrs Black's primary caregivers wanted to treat the infection, but Mrs Black's son noted that she had an advance directive stipulating that if she ever developed a condition which resulted in her inability to recognize her family members, she would not wish to receive any medical treatment to prolong her life. Her advance directive was implemented, and Mrs Black died shortly thereafter, leaving the medical team who cared for her devastated (Sokolowski 2018).
The dominant view in the philosophical literature suggests that advance directives, documents which allow individuals to set out directions for their future medical care in the eventuality that they lose decisional capacity (de Boer et al 2010, 202), ought to hold decisive moral weight. Thus, defenders of this view such as, Ronald Dworkin (1994), Jeff McMahan (2005), and Govind Persad (2019) would maintain that the decision made in the case of Mrs Black was the correct one. The reason for this is that such views suggest documents such as advance directives reflect an individual's judgements about their own lives and should therefore be given significant moral weight, even when the price of so doing is the life of the individual in question.
In my paper, "Cognitive Transformation, Dementia, and the Moral Weight of Advance Directives", I suggest that the dominant philosophical view does not best align with current clinical practice. In current clinical practice, clinician's show great reluctance to implement advance directives which undermine the dementia patient's overall well-being. I put forward a philosophical defence of current clinical practice which gives moral weight to the preferences of dementia patients after the onset of their disease. In particular, I use L.A. Paul's transformative experience framework [Paul 2016] to argue that having dementia is a cognitive transformative experience and that preference changes which arise from this are legitimate and ought to be given moral-weight in medical decision-making.
This paper has been responded to by various bioethicists, clinicians, lawyers, and psychologists. These responses have also been published in the American Journal of Bioethics, and so too has my own response to these open peer commentaries. I invite those interested in the debate to email me if they have any comments or questions, as I would love to continue the dialogue on this issue further.
Posted by Lisa at 08:00 No comments:
Labels: advance directives, dementia, new research, self-transformation, transformative experience
Intellectual Humility and Prejudice
Today's post is by Matteo Colombo, Kevin Strangmann, Lieke Houkes, Zhasmina Kostadinova and Mark J. Brandt.
How does intellectual humility relate to prejudice? If I am more intellectually humble than you are, will I also be less prejudiced? Some would say yes. In much of the early monastic Christian tradition, for example, humility is understood as a virtuous form of abasement grounded in self-knowledge and self-appraisal. In his Demonstrations, Aphrahat the Persian Sage—a Syriac Christian author of the third-fourth century—writes that "humility is the dwelling place of righteousness. Instruction is found with the humble, and their lips pour forth knowledge. Humility brings forth wisdom and understanding." Aphrahat's suggestion that intellectual humility is the antidote to vanity, pride, and prejudice, is representative of one traditional way of understanding this character trait.
Some would say no. The idea is that the self-abnegation and abasement constituting humility are not virtuous, since they can reinforce existing structures of oppression and self-denigration. In Section IX of An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, David Hume, for example, includes humility in his list of "monkish virtues," which "stupefy the understanding and harden the heart, obscure the fancy and sour the temper." According to Hume's view, being intellectually humble is generally a vice, which need not weaken one's pride and prejudices against others. Contributing to the recent boom of philosophical and psychological work on intellectual humility, our paper "Intellectually Humble, but Prejudiced People. A Paradox of Intellectual Virtue" presents four empirical studies that clarify the relationship between intellectual humility and prejudice. We find support for three conclusions.
First, people are prejudiced towards groups perceived as dissimilar. If I perceive you belong to a group very different from the type of human I happen to be, then I will probably dislike you, even if I know nothing about you.
Second, intellectual humility weakens the association between perceived dissimilarity and prejudice. This suggests that intellectual humility helps break the link (or at least weaken the link) between seeing a group as dissimilar and prejudice. Aphrahat could use such a finding as an empirical basis for his account of humility.
Third, and paradoxically, more intellectual humility is associated with more prejudice overall. When looking across groups who are perceived as most similar to most dissimilar people with more intellectual humility express more prejudice towards these groups than people with less intellectual humility. Intellectual humility might make prejudice more severe! Such a finding might help Hume ground his view empirically.
When juxtaposed, these three conclusions suggest that we should not think about Aphrahat vs. Hume, but rather Aphrahat and Hume. Both are identifying some truth of intellectual humility. From our studies, we believe that whether and how intellectual humility emerges and a virtue or a vice likely depends on the situation or the target of judgment.
Evaluating when and to what extent intellectual humility promotes (or hinders) the attainment of certain epistemic goods requires we clarify its mechanism, its causal relationships with other beliefs, attitudes and traits, and the functions it performs across different situations.
Zhasmina
Posted by Lisa at 08:00 1 comment:
Labels: character traits, intellectual humility, intellectual virtue, judgements, new research, prejudice
Belief's Minimal Rationality
Today's post is by Marianna Bergamaschi Ganapini who talks about a recently published article in Philosophical Studies.
In this paper, I defend the claim that a mental attitude is a belief if it shows at least a minimal degree of doxastic rationality. More specifically, beliefs are minimally rational in the sense that they respond to perceived irrationality by re-establishing internal coherence (or at least by clearly attempting to do so).
A traditional view in philosophy is that it is a necessary condition for being a belief that an attitude behaves largely in a rational way (I call this view "Traditionalism"). That it, belief is typically (i) an attitude sensitive to the relevant evidence. It is also (ii) inferentially connected with other beliefs and other mental attitudes (e.g. emotions), and (iii) it typically causes actions when linked to a relevant desire.
Contrary to this view, there is now strong empirical evidence that that some of the attitudes that we comfortably call 'beliefs' show signs of doxastic irrationality: they are at times behaviorally inert, immune to counter-evidence, or inferentially compartmentalized. The Traditionalist approach would definitely exclude these attitudes from the category 'belief'.
This has led some philosophers to reject Traditionalism and propose a much more lenient approach (Bortolotti, 2010). On this "Revisionist" view, for attitude A to be a belief, it suffices that A is expressed through a sincere assertion. That means that for the Revisionist, it is not expected that beliefs will behave in a mostly rational way: some beliefs show the same immunity to evidence and behavioral inertness we see with other attitudes such as imagination and acceptance.
Unfortunately, using sincere assertion as the mark of belief, is not the enough to uniquely individuate beliefs: people sincerely assert that p even when they mistakenly take themselves to believe that p. The Revisionist proposal is thus at risk of inflating the category 'belief' to include attitudes that are not in fact beliefs.
The view I propose in the paper is a midway position between Traditionalism and Revisionism.
On this view, irrational, inert, and patchy beliefs are possible, but belief's key marker is exemplified in its reaction to irrationality. This reaction shows that belief is at least minimally rational in the following ways. One: minimal rational constrains will aim at establishing internal coherence (e.g. by eliminating one of the conflicting attitudes). Second: this kind of rational constrains will be applied when doxastic irrationality is detected.
In the paper, I refer to empirical evidence supporting my view while also showing that it is compatible with different kinds of mental architectures. This approach also offers a plausible picture of what makes belief unique: when belief's fragmentation and irrationality are revealed, there will be a contrary push for coherence.
In contrast, attitudes such as imagination are governed by a decoupling mechanism that allows our imaginative episodes to be compartmentalized (Bayne 2010; Leslie 1987). Compartmentalization in the case of imagination (supposition, or acceptance) allows us to engage in complicated hypothetical reasoning by keeping track of multiple possible scenarios at the same time. In contrast, belief's push for coherence applies across the board and tries to prevent the kind of fragmentation we see with imagination and the rest (Currie & Ravenscroft 2002).
Labels: belief, imagination, irrationality, minimal rationality, new research
Delusion Formation as an Inevitable Consequence of a Radical Alteration in Lived Experience
This post is by Rachel Gunn summarising an article co-authored with Michael Larkin and published in Psychosis. The article is based on Rachel's PhD work at Birmingham. The research findings and conclusions, framed in terms of the Enactive Approach, are a move towards a need for understanding the phenomenology of a person's experience in terms of sense-making within a person-environment system.
Rachel Gunn
A person ordinarily understands and negotiates the world based on familiar patterns derived from her cultural and historical experience. She is born into a family, the family consists of particular relationships and the family lives within a relatively circumscribed culture. Humans are flexible and adaptive. The difference between the lived experience of a hunter-gatherer in the Amazon Rainforest and an investment banker in the City of London highlights this flexibility.
There might be circumstances under which an alteration in a person's lived experience would be so radical that rapid adjustment is not possible (Parnas & Handest, 2003) and when someone becomes mentally ill, there are many factors that might contribute to this (see Bentall, 2016 for an extensive list of candidates). People are dynamic and complex, and in most cases, so are the factors that causally contribute to their psychological distress.
Drawing on interviews conducted with people experiencing clinically significant delusions and analysing the data using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), we show how this alteration in lived experience manifests as emotional, affective and/or perceptual anomalies.
Writing about IPA Smith and colleagues use Heidegger's notion of appearing and liken interpretation to a kind of detective work where the researcher is mining the material for possible meanings, thus allowing the phenomenon of interest to shine forth (Smith et al., 2009, p. 35). The double hermeneutic means that the researcher is always trying to make sense of the participant, who is in turn trying to make sense of what is happening in the context of her lifeworld as an embodied, situated person.
For example, one research participant (who I have called Andrew) was severely bullied at work and described it thus:
It's that awful. You've seen the original 'Planet of the Apes'… film, 1964 I think it is with Charlton Heston… and you know how he's treated during it? Management treat you the… similar to that. That's how it felt.
(In the film 'Planet of the Apes' human beings are treated like animals, used for slave labour, kept in cages and experiments are done on them.)
This constituted a radical alteration in his experience and his world-view. He had never experienced anything like this before and could not really understand what was happening or why it was happening to him. He went on to develop voice-hearing experiences which he described as God talking to him – these experiences assured him that justice would be done and perhaps prevented him from feeling utterly powerless in an impossibly difficult and distressing work situation.
The framework of the Enactive Approach posits that a person interacts with her environment in terms of sense-making and a vast array of factors (biological, psychological and environmental) are intermeshed to create a 'person-environment system'. A person is not a discrete object; persons are comprised of bodies, stories, concepts, origins, commitments, connections, affordances - and so on - and are constantly reacting with their environment.
Cognition emerges from the complex mereology of these many components. The mereology of the cognising (person-environment) system supposes that the parts (which include relational and environmental parts as well as bodily (person-level) parts) are arranged in a particular way, and that the relationship of the parts to each other is vital for the function of the whole (Varela et al., 1991).
From a clinical perspective, this demands an attempt to understand the phenomenology of the experience.
In this context the focus of treatment might then be directed towards affective, perceptual and emotional aspects of a person's lived experience as well as environmental and relational factors. To think of delusion simply in terms of 'false beliefs' which are 'firmly sustained despite… obvious proof or evidence to the contrary…' (DSM-V, American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 819) is to limit them to cognitive anomalies, over-simplify the experience and deny the meaning an experience might hold for a given individual.
There is a wide literature on the nature of stigma in mental illness (see for example Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, 2013; Mehta & Farina, 1997) and framing delusion formation in this way helps us to reduce stigma: how can a person who is doing her best to make sense of her world be 'at fault' or 'bad'?
We suggest that if the alteration in lived experience is sufficiently radical, then delusion formation is inevitable. A person strives for sense-making in whatever environment she finds herself. We are all susceptible to this possibility.
Labels: delusion, delusion formation, DSM, interpretive phenomenological analysis, lived experience, new research
Delusions as Hetero-Dynamic Property Clusters
Today's post is by Shelby Clipp. If you want to know more, check her thesis, "Delusions as Hetero-Dynamic Property Clusters."
The standard position about the nature of delusions is doxasticism, according to which delusions are best characterized as a type of belief. However, the features of clinical delusions often differ from those typically associated with belief. For example, delusions tend to be highly resistant to counterevidence; and unlike typical beliefs they tend to exhibit limited or inconsistent behavioral guidance.
The discrepancy between the features of delusions and 'normal' beliefs has inspired an ongoing debate between doxasticists: those who take delusions to be beliefs and non-doxasticists: those who take delusions to be instances of some other kind of state, such as imaginings or acceptances. In my thesis, "Delusions as Hetero-Dynamic Property Clusters," I refer to this debate as the doxastic status debate. Despite efforts, the doxastic status debate remains unresolved.
I've argued that this is in part because as the debate stands, it fits the bill for what Chalmers's (2011) has described as a largely verbal dispute -- a dispute in which two parties agree on all of the relevant facts about a domain in question yet disagree on whether a certain term applies to a particular object of that domain. I attempt to advance the debate into more substantive territory, by putting forward the hetero-dynamic property cluster (HDPC) model, a new descriptive model for characterizing delusions.
I develop the HDPC model against the background of Boyd's (1991) homeostatic property cluster (HPC) approach to categories, according to which category membership is determined by a cluster of features which tend to mutually reinforce each other. On this view, states such as beliefs and imaginings are each HPCs. An example of such reinforcement is the way in which the responsiveness to evidence of beliefs tends to enable it to guide behavior productively.
However, on the HDPC model, delusions are best understood as mental states characterized by an odd and unstable cluster of features: Odd, insofar as unlike with attitudes such as beliefs and imaginings, the combinations of features characteristic of delusions tend to resist one another rather than reinforce. For instance, unlike with beliefs which tend to be revised in light of counterevidence, an individual with Capgras delusion might cling to the assertion that their spouse is an impostor despite ample counterevidence, and this resistance to counterevidence subsequently creates problems for letting that state guide behavior -- e.g., one won't find their 'actual' wife by searching for her.
By not reinforcing one another, the features of delusions are unstable in that there's nothing to hold them together as a cluster, so to speak. This instability essentially loosens restrictions on the mental state's movement both within the property space of a particular attitude and among one property space to another, thereby allowing the features of an HDPC attitude to freely waver between distinct property clusters. To some extent then, delusion's odd and unstable nature has served as a catalysis to the doxastic status debate in that it inexorably contributes to delusion's failure to resolve neatly into any one kind of more familiar cognitive attitude.
Labels: belief, delusion, imagination, new research, property clusters
Cognitive Transformation, Dementia, and the Moral ...
Delusion Formation as an Inevitable Consequence of...


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VCEDA Seed Capital Grant Approved for Nancy's Downtown Boutique
by e-Region | Nov 17, 2021 | Homepage Feature, News Releases | 0 comments
Nancy Grant spent more than 25 years in the retail sector before deciding earlier this year to open her own store, Nancy's Downtown Boutique, a recent recipient of a VCEDA seed capital matching grant.
BLUEFIELD, VA – NOVEMBER 17, 2021 – After working in the retail clothing sector for more than 20 years, Nancy Grant decided the time was right to venture out on her own and instead of working in retail for others, to own and operate her own store, Nancy's Downtown Boutique.
Nancy's Downtown Boutique, located on 532 Virginia Avenue in Bluefield, is a recent recipient of a $6,500 VCEDA seed capital grant.
"Working with area small business start-ups to help them grow and create additional jobs is a key focus of our seed capital matching grant program," said VCEDA Executive Director/General Counsel Jonathan Belcher. "Nancy's Downtown Boutique projects two full time and two part-time employees within two years."
From live feed fashion shows on the boutique Facebook page, to a future e-commerce website, Grant has pursued a number of ways to market the new business, which officially opened earlier this year in the space formerly occupied by Leslie Ann's Boutique, which shut down at the end of 2020.
In January, Grant began remodeling the space, giving it a new look, updating it and achieving what she describes as a friendly, comfortable and welcoming vibe for customers of all ages.
Featured items carried in the store include 'Just For You' Jewelry, Spring Step Footwear, Germån Fuentes handbags, scarves and Women's clothing (from XS to XXL sizes). Clothing lines in stock include those made by Azura, Boho Chic, Charlie B, Claire Desiardins, Clara Sun Woo, Exé, Flora & Ashley, Fun Sport, Germån Fuentes, Just For You, Kunky's, L 'artiste, Lyssé, Margaret Winters, Michael Tyler, Orly, Paparazzi, Parsley & Sage, Picadilly, Radzoli, Reneau, Soft Works, Spanx, Spring Step, Sympli, Thin Her Jeans and Umgee.
"Everything we carry is casual and has a good price point," Grant said. "Customer service is the number one prerequisite in a small one-on-one service setting. Customers appreciate the service we provide."
She noted that the VCEDA grant has been used primarily for inventory for the store.
"It was so helpful to us in every way," Grant said of the seed capital grant. "It was a real shot in the arm, especially as fall approached and the need to select fall merchandise was on us. It gave us the ability to look at a few more clothing and accessory lines, which in turn helps us offer more to our customers at the store."
Grant noted the store has a regular customer base which ranges in age from those in their upper teens and twenties to 70 and older.
Grant worked with the Small Business Development Center at Southwest Virginia Community College (SWCC) in the development of her application to VCEDA and received a letter of support from the Tazewell County Industrial Development Authority.
"The Small Business Development Center at Southwest Virginia Community College was happy to provide Nancy Grant with guidance in applying for the VCEDA Seed Capital Matching Fund program," said Brittani Clarke Clayman, SBDC advisor. "Her previous retail experience and entrepreneurial spirit will prove most beneficial to her new women's retail store, Nancy's Downtown Boutique.
"By working with the SBDC (a requirement for any applicant of the Seed Capital Matching Fund), small business owners are better prepared to apply for funding and better equipped to make their business a success," Clayman said. "When a small business owner works with the SBDC they receive guidance from experienced advisors and learn how to utilize available tools to evaluate their business and develop a formal plan of action."
Nancy's Downtown Boutique may be found on the web at www.nancysdowntownboutique.com or may also be found on Facebook. The store is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
About the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority Seed Capital Matching Grant Fund: VCEDA region for-profit businesses one year and under with less than 10 full-time employees are eligible to apply for dollar-for-dollar matching grants up to $10,000 from the VCEDA Seed Capital Matching Fund. Applicants work with the Small Business Development Centers at Mountain Empire and Southwest Virginia community colleges to prepare the applications to VCEDA that include detailed business and financial plans. Businesses must be located in or plan to operate in the VCEDA region in southwestern Virginia that includes Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell, and Wise counties and the City of Norton.


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Share this Story: Wildrose FOIP shows Redford's aborted 'Sky Palace' costs hovered close to $1 million
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Wildrose FOIP shows Redford's aborted 'Sky Palace' costs hovered close to $1 million
Matt Dykstra
The provincial government and the Wildrose Opposition debated the true cost of former premier Alison Redford's aborted "sky palace" suite on Monday as critics estimated the extravagant upgrades cost taxpayers nearly $1 million.
Releasing documents detailing over $70 million in change orders issued for the $375-million Federal Building renovation between Nov. 2009 and April 2014, the Wildrose said $2 million was spent on changes to the 11th floor. Of that, $760,432 was related to specific design work ordered by Redford's office that cost $173,100.
The party's total estimate for known "sky palace" upgrades is $933,532.86.
"It's way worse than we ever thought," said Wildrose MLA Kerry Towle. "The luxury upgrades to take the 11th floor from basic meeting space to the sky palace two-bedroom penthouse were ordered so the space would reflect the style of the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington D.C., a five-star hotel where suites start at $1,200 a night."
The change orders show the government spent $43,000 on stone and porcelain wall and ceiling tiles, $97,385 on custom millwork, $25,851 on paint and and vinyl wall coverings and $45,000 on custom draperies.
Further, Towle said the change order documents show other "bizarre" change orders not attributed to the 11th floor, including a $32,501 soap dispenser that "we can't be sure was for the two bedroom sky palace, but you have to wonder."
The government later clarified that the cost was for 68 motion-sensing soap dispensers.
Infrastructure Minister Manmeet Bhullar said in a statement that the Wildrose estimates are "grossly in error," citing "associated costs" related to the 11th floor suite of $239,500.
"This includes $138,500 in design fees explicitly related to the project, less than originally reported, and about $100,000 in construction costs spent before the project was cancelled," Bhullar said, adding the Prentice government will "not spend another nickel on changes to the 11th floor of the Federal Building."
Redford stepped down in March during intense caucus unrest after it was reported that she took a $45,000 flight home to Alberta from South Africa. Redford refused to comment on the 11th floor suite when reporters asked this spring.
Towle said former infrastructure ministers Wayne Drysdale and Ric McIver are responsible for the "ridiculous" upgrades. During a news conference Monday, McIver repeated that he killed the suite in January 2014.
"There's no claim to be made, it's facts," he said. "It's good the information is coming out because it's public dollars and the public deserves to know but at the end of the day, when the building opens up there won't be a residence there."
Documents posted online show Redford's former office required the 11th floor suite to have a formal dining area for between eight and 12 people, a private study with an entertainment space, and "sleeping and grooming quarters with clothing storage for an adult and one teenager." Redford has a young daughter."‹
In August, former premier Dave Hancock confirmed the government pulled the residential permit for the suite. The renovations to the provincially-owned Federal Building, 9820 107 St., are expected to wrap up in early 2015.
- with files from Catherine Griwkowsky
matthew.dykstra@sunmedia.ca
@SunMattDykstra"‹
Wildrose FOIP shows Redford's aborted 'Sky Palace' costs hovered close to $1 million Back to video
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text:
package com.microsoft.azure.management.cosmosdb.v2019_12_12.implementation;

import com.microsoft.azure.arm.model.implementation.WrapperImpl;
import com.microsoft.azure.management.cosmosdb.v2019_12_12.Collections;
import rx.Observable;
import rx.functions.Func1;
import java.util.List;
import com.microsoft.azure.management.cosmosdb.v2019_12_12.CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinition;
import com.microsoft.azure.management.cosmosdb.v2019_12_12.CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetric;
import com.microsoft.azure.management.cosmosdb.v2019_12_12.CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsage;

class CollectionsImpl extends WrapperImpl<CollectionsInner> implements Collections {
    private final CosmosDBManager manager;

    CollectionsImpl(CosmosDBManager manager) {
        super(manager.inner().collections());
        this.manager = manager;
    }

    public CosmosDBManager manager() {
        return this.manager;
    }

    private CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinitionImpl wrapCollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinitionModel(MetricDefinitionInner inner) {
        return  new CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinitionImpl(inner, manager());
    }

    private CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricImpl wrapCollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricModel(MetricInner inner) {
        return  new CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricImpl(inner, manager());
    }

    private CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsageImpl wrapCollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsageModel(UsageInner inner) {
        return  new CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsageImpl(inner, manager());
    }

    @Override
    public Observable<CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinition> listMetricDefinitionsAsync(String resourceGroupName, String accountName, String databaseRid, String collectionRid) {
        CollectionsInner client = this.inner();
        return client.listMetricDefinitionsAsync(resourceGroupName, accountName, databaseRid, collectionRid)
        .flatMap(new Func1<List<MetricDefinitionInner>, Observable<MetricDefinitionInner>>() {
            @Override
            public Observable<MetricDefinitionInner> call(List<MetricDefinitionInner> innerList) {
                return Observable.from(innerList);
            }
        })
        .map(new Func1<MetricDefinitionInner, CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinition>() {
            @Override
            public CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinition call(MetricDefinitionInner inner) {
                return wrapCollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricDefinitionModel(inner);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    public Observable<CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetric> listMetricsAsync(String resourceGroupName, String accountName, String databaseRid, String collectionRid, String filter) {
        CollectionsInner client = this.inner();
        return client.listMetricsAsync(resourceGroupName, accountName, databaseRid, collectionRid, filter)
        .flatMap(new Func1<List<MetricInner>, Observable<MetricInner>>() {
            @Override
            public Observable<MetricInner> call(List<MetricInner> innerList) {
                return Observable.from(innerList);
            }
        })
        .map(new Func1<MetricInner, CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetric>() {
            @Override
            public CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetric call(MetricInner inner) {
                return wrapCollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountMetricModel(inner);
            }
        });
    }

    @Override
    public Observable<CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsage> listUsagesAsync(String resourceGroupName, String accountName, String databaseRid, String collectionRid) {
        CollectionsInner client = this.inner();
        return client.listUsagesAsync(resourceGroupName, accountName, databaseRid, collectionRid)
        .flatMap(new Func1<List<UsageInner>, Observable<UsageInner>>() {
            @Override
            public Observable<UsageInner> call(List<UsageInner> innerList) {
                return Observable.from(innerList);
            }
        })
        .map(new Func1<UsageInner, CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsage>() {
            @Override
            public CollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsage call(UsageInner inner) {
                return wrapCollectionDatabasisDatabaseAccountUsageModel(inner);
            }
        });
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
In Memoriam: Simon Porter (1950-2017)
We remember Nuffield's first full-time Bursar, Simon Porter.
After completing his DPhil in Engineering, Simon Porter decided on an administrative career, becoming Bursar of St Cross. He moved to Nuffield as its first full-time Bursar in August 1988. Previously the Bursar on a part-time basis was the late A.H. (Chelly) Halsey. David Cox, who one month after Simon started at Nuffield, came from Imperial College, London to be Warden, writes: "Simon was an outstanding academic administrator. He combined well-judged speed and decisiveness with careful discussion as the situation merited. He was supportive to any with personal problems, notably but by no means only students and non-academic staff. I believe that after a while he was widely regarded as one of the two most able and effective College Bursars in Oxford. The very occasional crisis in the College concerning an individual student was handled with subtlety, effectiveness and speed. A private man, I hope Simon realized how deeply and widely he was appreciated." Simon Porter was a fine cricketer, of essentially professional standard. After leaving Nuffield in 1996, he made a large contribution to the organization of cricket both in Oxfordshire and nationally. An obituary appeared in the Oxford Mail on 16th February and is available online.


A ventral bone-plate assembly has a U-shaped base having a pair of legs bridged by a bight and each formed with an inner hole and an outer hole. A brace bar extends between outer ends of the legs and is formed with end holes alignable with the outer holes. Respective inner bone screws extend through the inner holes, and respective outer bone screws each extend through a respective one of the outer holes and a respective one of the end holes.
The present invention relates to a ventral plate. More particularly this invention concerns such a plate that is secured to two vertebras to stabilize a spine.
A typical such ventral plate is formed with a plurality of holes for receiving bone screws that pass through the holes and that are to be screwed into the vertebral bodies of adjacent vertebras.
Bone plates for osteosynthesis have been known for a long time and are employed in particular in order to cover sites of fractures. Moreover, they are also employed in surgery on the spinal column for stiffening adjacent vertebral bodies. However, it is disadvantageous that with the known bone plates the surgeon cannot see the areas covered by the plate, which is particularly disadvantageous in spinal column surgery when, after the plate has been placed, the surgery must be continued for adding bone, bone cement, or another substitute element for the spinal column.
It has been suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,738 of Mangione and EP 1,121,903 of Calisse to use an L-shaped or U-shaped bone plate, but such a structure is often insufficiently strong. The bone plate, which is secured at each end by two screws, is subjected to considerable stress and failure could result in a serious spinal injury.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved ventral bone plate.
Another object is the provision of such an improved ventral bone plate that overcomes the above-given disadvantages, in particular that does not block the surgeon's view of the surgical site, but that nonetheless is very strong once installed.
A ventral bone-plate assembly has according to the invention a U-shaped base having a pair of legs bridged by a bight and each formed with an inner hole and an outer hole. A separate brace bar extends between outer ends of the legs and is formed with end holes alignable with the outer holes. Respective inner bone screws extend through the inner holes and respective outer bone screws each extend through a respective one of the outer holes and a respective one of the end holes.
Such a configuration has the advantage that although it is possible to fix the plate to adjacent vertebral bodies using the bone screws that pass through the holes, the area between the vertebral bodies remains open and accessible because the area immediately between the legs of the base is left open. The legs provide a generously dimensioned positioning surface for the plate on the vertebral bodies so that forces can be transmitted without overstressing individual points.
In order to attain improved placement of the plate during ventral positioning on the vertebral bodies, the inner face on the side bearing on the vertebras is concave. Correct positioning of the plate relative to the vertebral bodies and any bone screws that are already inserted is assured when an oblong hole as well as a circular hole are formed in bight region of the base. This makes it possible not only to attach the ventral plate to the vertebral body using bones screws that pass through the holes, but additionally also to fix the base, it then being advantageous when the base and the legs are formed as two parts.
More particularly one of the legs of the base is actually formed by an insert slidable on the base toward and away form the other leg for length adjustment of the plate assembly. Thus for instance first the base or the legs are attached to the vertebral bodies in order thereafter to connect to the complementary component and assure its correct alignment. Naturally it is also still possible alternatively to attach the plate preassembled as a unit. For piece-by-piece attachment, it is advantageous when seats for the legs are formed in the base in order to ensure that the base and the insert hold together, even before the bone screws have been completely tightened. The displaceability desired and assured by the slot is retained even when such seats are used and formed if locking strips are formed in the slot extending in its longitudinal direction for interacting with locking tabs formed on the leg.
It is furthermore advantageous when two holes are formed on each leg because in this manner the second hole also makes it possible for the bone screw that passes through the slot or the circular hole to fix the leg relative to the base and relative to the vertebral body simultaneously.
The brace plate ensures that the space between the legs initially provides accessibility to the space behind the plate. The brace plate, which can be attached to the plate at a later time when accessibility is no longer required, changes the base's mechanical properties, in particular increasing its stiffness and resilience. A better, in particular positive-fit connection between the plate and the brace plate is attained in that seats are formed in the legs for positioning the brace plate.
So as not to have to provide any additional bone screws for the brace plate, the brace plate is formed with holes that align with the outer holes of the base holes when the brace plate is placed in the seats. In this case, it is particularly preferred when the holes on the side facing the vertebra are concave, since this provides the opportunity to orient the bone screws, in particular to modify the orientation of their longitudinal axis to the plate and to adapt it to the actual anatomical situation.
It is furthermore advantageous when the screws are present in two configurations, of which one has a convex screw head and the other has an annular collar on the screw head.
FIG. 11 is a view like FIG. 10 but showing the installation of a distractor.
As seen in FIGS. 1-10 a ventral-plate assembly 1 that stabilizes the spinal column and has a plurality of holes 2, 9, and 10 through which pass bone screws 3′ and 3″ in order to attach the plate assembly 1 to bodies 4 (FIGS. 9-11) of adjacent vertebras. The bone screws 3′ and 3″ are of two types, one of which has a raised screw head 17 and the other has an frustoconical flat head 5 (see FIG. 2). The heads 5 and 17 are both formed with a central drive socket 18.
The plate assembly 1 has a U-shaped plate body 6 with a bight portion 7 and two legs 8′ and 8″ extending therefrom in whose inner ends are formed holes 9 and 10 for the bone screws 3′ and in whose outer ends are formed circular-section holes 2 for the screws 3″. The inner face of the plate assembly 1 that sits against the vertebral body 4 has a concave shape.
As can be seen in particular in FIG. 2, the hole 9 formed at the bight is actually an oblong slot and the other hole 10 is of circular shape. The slot 9 extends in a line aligned with the hole 10 or with the bight 7. The leg 8″ is itself formed with an bar-shaped insert 8′″ that itself is formed with a pair of circular holes 2. A seat 11 for the insert 8′″ is formed in the leg 8″ and this seat is formed with grooves 12 in which can ride tabs 13 of the insert 8′″ to keep it aligned parallel to the leg 8′. Thus the two screws 3′ and 3″ passing through the leg 8″ can shift toward and away from the two screws 3′ and 3″ passing through the other leg 8′ for length adjustment of the assembly 1 as described below.
It can furthermore be seen from the drawing that the plate assembly 1 is associated with an brace bar or plate 14 for fastening to the legs 8′ and 8″, which plate can be used to bridge the space between the legs 8′ and 8″, the result of which is that the plate assembly 1 is greatly strengthened. Formed in the legs 8′ and 8″ are seats 16 into which the brace bar 14 can be inserted in a positive fit. Moreover, the brace bar 14 is formed at one end with a circular hole 2, at the other end with an elongated hole or slot 15′. The slot 15′ extends in use parallel to the inner hole or slot 9 for the above-mentioned length adjustability of the assembly 1 and the central hole 15″ serves merely to allow the surgeon to view the surgical site better, and also of course to allow bone and such to grow through the assembly 1.
As can be seen from FIGS. 6 and 8, the holes 2 are part-spherically concave on the side facing the vertebra 4 so that as a result the bone screws 3′ with the complementary head formations can fit in the holes 2.
FIGS. 9 through 11 show the inventive plate assembly 1 in installed condition attached laterally to two vertebral bodies 4 of a spinal column. It is possible for the surgeon first to screw the bone screws 3′ with the convex head formations s into the two adjacent vertebras and then to temporarily or permanently place or secure the legs 8′ and 8″ and the bight 7 by means of nuts 19 threaded to the outsides of their heads 18. Because of the U-shaped configuration, access between the two vertebral bodies 4 and visibility are retained so that the surgeon also has the opportunity to fit an extensible distractor 16 between the vertebral bodies 4 as a disk replacement. Given appropriate longitudinal extension of the plate assembly 1 for bridging the gap formed by a vertebral body 4 that has been removed, it is also possible to insert a vertebral replacement body between the correspondingly spaced adjacent vertebral bodies 4. Finally, the brace bar 14 is placed into the seats 16 of the leg 8′ and 8″ and attached by means of the bone screws 3″ with the heads 5.
FIGS. 6 and 8 indicate that the bone screws 3′ and 3″ are each formed with a central axially throughgoing passage 20 so an adhesive, in particular bone cement, can be forced through them for improving the seat of the bone screws 3′ and 3″ in the vertebral body 4. The outlet from the passage 20 does not have to be axial, but rather can also be radial.
respective inner and outer bone screws, the inner screws extending through the inner holes and the outer screws each extending through a respective one of the outer holes and a respective one of the end holes.
2. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 1 wherein the base has a concave inner face adapted to directly engage vertebras to be stabilized.
3. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 1 wherein one of the inner holes is formed as a slot elongated parallel to the bight and the other of the inner holes is of generally circular shape.
4. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 1 wherein one of the legs is provided with an insert forming the respective outer hole.
5. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 4 wherein the one leg is formed with a seat complementary fitting with the insert.
6. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 5 wherein the inner hole at the one leg is formed as a slot elongated parallel to the bight and the insert is shiftable in the seat parallel to the slot.
7. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 6 wherein the base and insert are formed with complementary interfitting formations permitting shifting of the insert toward and away from the other of the legs and maintaining the insert parallel to the other of the legs.
8. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 1 wherein the outer ends of the legs are formed with seats in which fit ends of the brace bar.
9. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 1 wherein the brace bar is formed with a central throughgoing hole.
10. The ventral bone-plate assembly defined in claim 1 wherein each of the holes has an inner face forming a part-spherical seat, each of the screws having a complementary part-spherical head formation.