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Partnerships Are Essential – But How Do Ours Really Work?
October 1, 2016 By Karen Ferriere
How do we go about the business of saving the mountain? What exactly is it we are saving these days? Our land conservation work is an effective but convoluted mix of land use advocacy, policy and legislation, acquisition, stewardship and education—we depend on strong working relationships with our partners for all of it.
But how do our partnerships with the California State Parks, the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy (Habitat Conservancy) actually work? As with any set of relationships worth having, it's complicated.
A few years ago I took a call from a property owner out on Marsh Creek Road who wanted to sell the family land but the family also wanted it to be preserved. Were we interested? Yes.
"A handful of volunteers started with a modest following and a huge goal: to protect Mount Diablo and its foothills."
Through the process of securing an option to acquire the property that allowed us time to raise the money to buy the ranch, we got to know the Hanson family and learned about the land their family lived on for over 100 years. The Hanson children, now all in their eighties, remember fishing for steelhead in Marsh Creek on SMD's Big Bend property and camping out on warm nights atop their pyramidal peak with its 755-foot picture perfect views of Mount Diablo. By the spring of 2015 we raised the funds and closed escrow on the property. We then turned our attention to securing it forever by working with our partners at EBRPD and the Habitat Conservancy to transfer Hanson Hills into the regional park system.
Located outside the Urban Limit Line and in the middle of the target area called out for preservation by the Habitat Conservancy, Hanson Hills just became the newest addition to EBRPD's Deer Valley Regional Preserve last spring. Here is how the deal worked—the bulk of the funds for the purchase from SMD came from the Habitat Conservancy's grant funds, with the rest provided by EBRPD using Measure WW money. The Habitat Conservancy staff sought the necessary approvals from its Governing Board, as well as from state and federal wildlife agencies. EBRPD moved the project through their Board of Directors in parallel. SMD agreed to sell EBRPD the property for appraised fair market value and used the proceeds of the transaction to invest in other conservation lands.
SMD purchased the property knowing it was within the priority habitat areas for the Habitat Conservancy and the recent expansion work of EBRPD in the Deer Valley area. The sale of Hanson Hills to EBRPD makes a protected north-south habitat corridor (from Roddy Ranch to Marsh Creek) one step closer to completion.
It also replenished SMD's acquisition funds so that other land could be preserved.
"Save Mount Diablo staff have built relationships in the region with landowners who are interested in seeing their ranches and family lands conserved. SMD staff are also effective working with partner agencies like EBRPD and the Habitat Conservancy to secure funding and to help property owners sell their land and know that it will be conserved. The Hanson Hills acquisition is the most recent property in a long line of successful conservation stories," said Abby Fateman, Executive Director of the Habitat Conservancy.
Signing of the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservation Plan on Kreiger Peak in July 25, 2007. SMD worked with Contra Costa County, the East Bay Regional Park District, Contra Costa Water District, state and federal wildlife agencies, 4 cities, and many other community stakeholders to create the plan which will help raise $300 million to protect more than 30,000 acres of wildlife habitat over 30 years.
Remarkably, our partnership with the East Bay Regional Park District dates back 45 years because one of our founding board members was Robert Doyle, now the General Manager of the EBRPD. Doyle notes that, "In the last 45 years, there has been an incredible success story here in the East Bay. I was lucky to be a part of Save Mount Diablo's early creation. A handful of volunteers started with a modest following and a huge goal: to protect Mount Diablo and its foothills."
He adds, "Today, eight Regional Parks surround Mount Diablo State Park, forming an incredible landscape of protected and connected parklands. This has been a lasting legacy of the many partnerships Save Mount Diablo has worked so hard to make happen. Much has been accomplished working together."
More recently, the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy was launched in 20 08 (after a 10-year planning effort) and directs mitigation funding, leveraged with conservation funding for acquisit ion, restorat ion and management of up to 30,300 acres of the lands we care about.
The Habitat Conservancy provides streamlined endangered species and wetland permitting for development and infrastructure projects in exchange for collecting fees for those projects. The Conservancy also raises grant funds, allowing for a more holistic approach to mitigation and conservation on the east side of the mountain.
PROTECTED LAND: 1971 TO 2016
In 1971, there was just one park on Mount Diablo. Working first with partners such as State Parks and Contra Costa County, then with the East Bay Regional Park District, and cities, the Coastal Conservancy, the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy, Contra Costa Water District – we and our allies have pieced together an expanse of Diablo wild lands that is greater than 110,000 acres, an area bigger than Point Reyes National Seashore or the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
SMD was at the table helping to create the Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan and to define the habitat priorities. Many of the goals of the Habitat Conservancy are enacted in concert with our mission.
According to Fateman, "Save Mount Diablo was active in the stakeholder process during Plan development. They were at the table with the development community, agriculturalists, and local residents to help shape the Plan's conservation strategy. As the process moved from planning to implementation, SMD continued its engagement on the Habitat Conservancy's Public Advisory Committee and is a valuable implementation partner."
Although regional parks have expanded rapidly, it has been over ten years since land was added to Mount Diablo State Park and while we hope that changes soon, our efforts over that time have been focused on supporting research on the mountain and on funding for the park system, primarily through efforts at the ballot. We worked behind the scenes this summer on a park bond proposal that ultimately never made it to the Governor's desk but which should be revived by the legislature next year. We have also provided support to the park itself, including partially funding the new volunteer coordinator and renovating the historic beacon on the summit.
"Our long-standing partnership with Save Mount Diablo was born while acquiring important lands for Mount Diablo State Park. These critical landscapes provide necessary space for unique and significant species which are only found in this region." said Danita Rodriguez, Superintendent of the Bay Area District for California State Parks.
She continued, "Our current relationship goes beyond acquisitions as Save Mount Diablo supports our volunteer program; provides connections with subject matter experts while coordinating and sponsoring occurrences such as the Bioblitz and the Pearl Harbor Survivors remembrance event; and restoration of the beacon with substantial political and community support."
Beacon restoration partnership agreement, 2012. Left to Right: Former Director of State Parks Major General Anthony Jackson, former Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, retired SMD Executive Director Ron Brown, retired Mount Diablo State Park Superintendent Roland Gaebert, State Parks Bay Area District
Superintendent Danita Rodriguez.
Our partnerships and thanks are not limited to these three agencies. We are also very active with a number of other non-profits and volunteer groups, including other land conservation organizations, smart growth, affordable housing and transit groups, and we co-founded the Environmental-Labor Coalition of Contra Costa County.
It's a little bit like diversifying an investment portfolio. We balance our relationships and work to protect habitat on and around Mount Diablo so as not to rely totally on any one approach. Partnering with diverse stakeholders, including our amazing members and donors, helps us tap into the kind of creative, entrepreneurial thinking needed to preserve land in the face of significant development pressures in the Bay Area.
Together with Mount Diablo Interpretive Association and Lindsay Wildlife Experience, SMD will offer the Diablo California Naturalist Program beginning in January of 2017, a program of the University of California Naturalist Program. The certification program is designed to allow citizen scientists to help protect and preserve unique ecosystems with a focus on Mount Diablo. Participants will receive training in a number of fields including ecology, geology, resource management and interpretation to bolster their work as volunteers for the host organizations.
Volunteers are essential to SMD and we are lucky to have hike leaders and property stewards dedicated enough to become certified naturalists, reinforcing our science-based founding.
Preserving a mountain, a landscape, is tough stuff. It requires many people all agreeing over and over again that it is the right thing to do. Our partners help us maintain a strong line of defense, preventing vulnerabilities and bolstering our resolve. They work alongside us to restore habitat to give plants and wildlife the best shot at survival.
And in these ways we take care of the mountain together so it is intact for all to enjoy


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The Isle of Man Aircraft Registry are pleased to be attending the 9th annual Isle of Man Aviation conference at the Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man on Thursday 27th June 2019.
The Isle of Man Aircraft Registry is pleased to be attending the 9th annual Isle of Man Aviation conference at the Villa Marina, Douglas, Isle of Man on Thursday 27th June 2019.
Now in its ninth year, this Martyn Fiddler event has become a must-attend for all business aviation industry professionals and continues to attract a large, high profile audience from across the industry worldwide, working in regulation, manufacture, operations, ownership and management.
The team are delighted to announce Graham Williamson as conference chairman for the second year running. Until recently Graham was responsible for all TAG Aviation Operations in Europe and the Middle East. He joined the company in November 2005 as Director of Operations and was later promoted to Managing Director of TAG Aviation (UK) Ltd with additional responsibility for Flight and Ground Operations across Europe. He was subsequently promoted to President TAG Aviation Europe. Graham left TAG at the end of October 2018 to embark on an exciting new adventure, launching a new Irish aircraft management company based at Shannon airport in west Ireland.
This event has become an important gathering point for the business aviation industry. Attendees can meet Government Departments that help make the business aviation community unique and a success, and hear first-hand from Simon Williams, Director of Civil Aviation, Isle of Man Aircraft Registry.
Register for the event now to take advantage of the early bird offer!
If you are on the Isle of Man for the Aviation Conference and would like to make a meeting with the Isle of Man Aircraft Registry, please email [email protected].


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"The next chapter of Destiny 2" will be revealed on June 6
By Austin Wood 30 May 2019
We're about to find out what comes after the annual pass
Update 2: Show producer Geoff Keighley said Bungie will also host a panel titled "The Future of Bungie and Destiny 2" on Tuesday, June 11 during E3. This panel will likely expand on whatever is shown during the stream on June 6. Hopefully it also explores Bungie's future as an independent studio.
Update: Bungie recently teased a "new era" of Destiny 2 - the next big step after its separation from Activision - and it seems we're going to find out what that means sooner than expected. In a tweet posted today, Bungie said "the next chapter of Destiny 2" will be unveiled next week on Thursday, June 6 through a live stream starting at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET / 6 pm BT. Specifics haven't been announced, but the stream will presumably be on Bungie's Twitch channel. That's just two days after the start of the Destiny 2 Season of Opulence, the first day of which will see a new raid, so it's going to be a busy week for Guardians.
When Activision and Bungie split up in January, Bungie affirmed that it would finish off the three-part Annual Pass it previously announced. The final piece of the Annual Pass, Destiny 2 Season of Opulence, is scheduled to release on June 4 and continue for about three months. Once it's over, Bungie will officially be creating and releasing Destiny content entirely of its own volition. It's unclear what post-Activision Destiny will look like, but Bungie is certainly gung-ho about it.
In the latest This Week at Bungie blog post, Destiny community manager David 'Deej' Dague said, "Right now, our focus is on Opulence. But after the Season has launched and Raid belts have been awarded, we'll be looking deeper into the future, and sharing with you more about a new era for Bungie and Destiny 2. Buckle up and stay tuned."
By the time the Season of Opulence is over, around eight months will have passed since Bungie announced its separation from Activision. I won't pretend to know the particulars, but I imagine Bungie's been using that time to finalize the separation, take stock of its newfound island, and get some internal housekeeping done (several design leads have left or moved around Bungie in the past few months, for instance). It sounds like most of that will be out of the way soon so the studio will be ready to talk about what comes next - hopefully by the end of 2019.
This lines up with Bungie's previous comments regarding its separation from Activision. In a January 2019 blog post, game director Luke Smith said, "We're thinking about what it means to be truly independent, what it means to self-publish, and crucially, what Destiny's future can now look like for our players. It was a busy Fall, and it is going to be a busy year. When I look ahead and think about Destiny and where it could go, I see a bright future, with roots in a memorable past."
Likewise, in the Season of the Drifter ViDoc released in February 2019, Smith said "We're starting to figure out the roadmap for what a Bungie-controlled Destiny looks like. This is just the beginning of a conversation that we're gonna have about where Destiny can go."
In the same video, design lead Ryan Paradis added that, "This is one of the most exciting times. We're beginning to form up the muscles to make Destiny a quick-reacting live game, and I can only see it getting better from here."
An unconfirmed but not-unbelievable rumor suggests that Destiny 2's current Annual Pass will be followed by another, more ambitious Annual Pass which will reportedly kick off with a bigger content drop. The word is that the first release in this Annual Pass will rival Forsaken in terms of scale, but not quite equal it. Many players agree that Destiny 2 needs regular updates like Black Armory and Joker's Wild in addition to major reinvigorations like Forsaken, so this could be a healthy direction for the game - again, assuming there's any truth to this rumor.
In any case, it's encouraging that Bungie is openly talking about the long-term future of Destiny once again. We'll have to wait a while before we get to play it for ourselves, but we should learn more about Destiny 2's next content cycle before too terribly long.
From rumors to our personal wish list, here's everything we have on Destiny 3.
Austin Wood
As a staff writer and former freelancer, Austin focuses on day-to-day news happenings which serve as the perfect cover-up for his Destiny 2 column. He majored in journalism, loves to hate headlines, and never takes his Switch out of the dock.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


In the Open qualifying round robins, Gal was down 4-8 in the fifth against Xu Rui (2294), but with a series of attacks came back to win 11-9 and avoid a big upset. I've noticed in the past, both with myself and others, that often when a player struggles early on and has his back to the wall, but manages to overcome it and pull out a close match against a "weaker" player, he often goes to the opposite extreme - and that's what happened!
After struggling with Xu, Gal went up against Jishan Liang (2650) in the quarterfinals. Jishan, who has won several MDTTC Opens (including our last one in April) and was rated over 2700 last year, was thought by many to be a lock to make the final, most likely against top-seeded Sharon, especially after seeing Gal struggle earlier. But there's a reason they play it out, and Gal won 3-0, 12,8,9! Meanwhile, Sharon won against Lui Xue, 7,8,5. (Lui's a former member of the Chinese Sechuan Province Women's team, and was Chinese National Junior Girls' Team Champion and Women's Team Finalist.) Alas, Bruno Ventura Dos Ani, from Brazil but now a member of the Texas Wesleyan College Table Tennis Team, hurt his neck and had to default to Lidney Castro. The big battle in the quarterfinals was powerlooping penholder Bowen Chen vs. the third Alguetti brother, 18-year-old Adar, with Chen winning in a close battle, 10,-11,9,9, or else we'd have had a 75% Alguetti semifinals.
Sharon and Gal both had to battle in the semifinals, with Sharon over Chen, 10,-10,6,10,4, and Gal with an even tougher struggle with Castro. Up 3-2, Gal lost the sixth 11-1, but won the seventh 11-7. Talk about momentum changes!
On Saturday, Gabriel Skolnick won Under 2400 over Thomas Sampson, 7,-9,5,9. Talk about wild swings - Thomas, who is rated 1979, upset Xu - yes, the 2294 player who almost beat Gal Alguetti - in the semifinals in a wild one, 9,9,-8,-8,10. In the other semis, Skolnick defeated Vikash Sahu, 9,7,8. But Vikash would then win Under 2200 over Spencer Chen, 3,4,9. In the semifinals Chen came back to win against 12-year-old Connor Lee, -11,-11,8,9,7. But Connor would then win Under 2000 over Ali Paryavi, 8,-9,9,6.
On Sunday, Sean Hwang defeated Andrew Nolan, 6,-6,9,-8,8, to win Under 1900. In the semifinals Hwang defeated 13-year-old Todd Klinger, 2,6,9. But Todd would go on to make the final of Under 1600, losing the final to Mahmoud Youssef, -9,8,7,8. Andrew, who had made the final of Under 1900, was also in the semifinals of Under 1600, losing to Mahmoud in a long battle, -9,11,10,-12,6. (Mahmoud would also make the semifinals of Over 50.) In Under 1300 it was David Xiao over Chris Buckley, 8,5,5, while Jiang Weiguo, a penhold pushblocker (i.e. blocking everything with long pips) won over 14-year-old Joseph Cho, 8,6,5. In the semifinals was promising 10-year-old James Zhang from Pennsylvania, who lost to Cho, 9,9,8.
In Over 50 it was Thomas Sampson again, over Sun Xiao Jian, 8,7,8. In Under 15, it was 12-year-old Jackson Beaver over 11-year-old James Zhang, 8,5,6. James would then win Under 12 over Kay O'Hara. But to avoid confusion - this was a different James Zhang than the one who made the semifinals of Under 1000 and gained the most rating points in the tournament, 242. If only the two could meet in an all-James Zhang final!
As usual, a great thanks goes to sponsors Butterfly, PongMobile, and HW Global Foundation, the latter which runs the Talent Development program that trains at MDTTC – which swept all four finalists in the junior events. A great thanks also goes to Mossa Barandao of PongMobile, who helped run the tournament – he's at the control desk the entire tournament doing much of the data input, plus taking pictures - see links below in results. (Mossa also sets up a station at our tournaments and leagues so players can easily look up via PongMobile, their ratings and ratings histories, both in numbers and graphic form. The station is always surrounded by players looking up all their friends, coaches, and rivals. Mossa and I argue continuously over whether PongMobile is pronounced like "automobile" - as I stubbornly do - or so it rhymes as if it were "Pong" followed by "Mobile" as he, the co-owner and founder, claims.) Jackson Beaver, who won Under 15 on Saturday, switched hats on Sunday and got about six hours of school SSL (Student Service Learning) as he helped run the control desk, mostly doing inputs. (He also coined the term "rating disability," for a player who loses a lot of rating points.) And finally, a great thanks goes to referee Paul Kovac and umpire Stephen Yeh.
Here are the complete results, care of Omnipong.
Open Singles - Final: Sharon Alguetti d. Gal Alguetti, def.; SF: S.Alguetti d. Chen Bo Wen, 10,-10,6,10,4; G.Alguetti d. Lidney Castro, -7,9,8,-7,11,-1,7; QF: S.Alguetti d. Luo Xue, 7,8,5; Chen d. Adar Alguetti, 10,-11,9,9; Castro d. Bruno Ventura Dos Ani, def.; G. Alguetti d. Jishan Liang, 12,8,9.
U2400 - Final: Gabriel Skolnick d. Thomas Sampson, 7,-9,5,9; SF: Skolnick d. Vikash Sahu, 9,7,8; Sampson d. Xu Rui, 9,9,-8,-8,10; QF: Skolnick d. Tony Ma, 6,11,-10,11; Sahu d. Abbas Paryavi, 4,6,6; Sampson d. Louis Levene, 7,-8,5,3; Xu d. William Huang, 7,9,9.
U2200 - Final: Vikash Sahu d. Spencer Chen, 3,4,9; SF: Sahu d. Mohan Yang, 6,3,6; Chen d. Connor Lee, -11,-11,8,9,7.
U2000 - Final: Connor Lee d. Ali Paryavi, 8,-9,9,6; SF: Lee d. Daniel Gong, 4,6,3; Paryavi d. Jerred Miklowcidc, 10,6,-9,5.
U1900 - Final: Sean Hwang d. Andrew Nolan, 6,-6,9,-8,8; SF: Hwang d. Todd Klinger, 2,6,9; Nolan d. Wang Zhantong, 8,9,9.
U1600 - Final: Mahmoud Youssef d. Todd Klinger, -9,8,7,8; SF: Youssef d. Andrew Nolan, -9,11,10,-12,6; Klinger d. Danny Wan, -12,6,9,10.
U1300 - Final: David Xiao d. Chris Buckley, 8,5,5; SF: Xiao d. Wu Di, 7,-6,9,6; Buckley d. Barry Dancis, 12,9,9.
U1000 - Final: Jiang Weiguo d. Joseph Cho, 8,6,5; SF: Jiang d. Brett Hanna, 7,7,9; Cho d. James Zhang, 9,9,8.
Over 50 - Final: Thomas Sampson d. Sun Xiao Jian, 8,7,8; SF: Sampson d. Lin Cheng, 5,2,4; Sun d. Mahmoud Youssef, 7,10,10.
Under 15 - Final RR: 1st Jackson Beaver, 3-0; 2nd James Zhang, 2-1; 3rd Todd Klinger, 1-2; 4th Corbin Aquino, 0-3.
Under 12 - Final: James Zhang d. Kay O'Hara, 4,6,9.


It was a cold, snowy day around three decades ago. A prolonged streak of cold weather helped give the eight inch snowfall added opportunity to not only cover the ground, it also gripped the roadway.
I was assigned to the ambulance. The emergency calls for the day had been steady, but nothing serious. Although, those in emergency service know this can change without notice.
We were rounding up restock supplies for the emergency call that just brought us out of our station and to the hospital. That call was insignificant, so much so, that recall of what it was eludes the memory. What one does recall is the hospital is three and a half miles from the fire station.
The family was enjoying the warmth of their home not far from the fire station where we were housed. Pizza was the choice of meal for this evening. The baby boy sitting in the high chair was just starting to eat adult food. First one bite, then the next, and then coughing.
At first it wasn't panic. But, mother's finger sweep of the mouth didn't correct the problem. Still coughing and a slight discoloration of the face. Now panic was the reaction. Mother yells at father to call 911.
We grabbed our gear, jumped into the ambulance, and headed the ambulance towards our call. But, almost immediately thereafter we got another Dispatcher message. "Mother advises that baby is still not breathing and is becoming unresponsive." Immediately, we pushed the ambulance as best we could on the snow-packed roadway.
On arrival we were handed a limp, ashen-faced child. Back blows, followed by chest thrusts, and then repeated. Check the airway, nothing.
My partner grabbed a tool called a laryngoscope. The tool has a round handle (housing two C-sized batteries) with a straight blade coming 90 degrees off the end of the handle, sporting a miniature light on its end.
The blade was inserted by my partner into the baby's mouth lifting the tongue and lighting the airway. There lied the pizza chunk. A long, goofy bent tweezers was inserted, grabbed the pizza and removed it.
Unfortunately, the baby had gone without breathing long enough that he was now in cardiac arrest. CPR was administered as we headed to the hospital. Half way there we got a return of pulse.
Sounds like a wonderful ending doesn't it. Unfortunately, it wasn't.
The child survived but was severely brain damaged. His very basic functioning life would continue for approximately nine years.
Just one sad beyond sad event that medics handle. Some they never forget.
Jeff was eating when it happened. That last bite just didn't go down quite right.
Sister Linda was in the other room. She called for Jeff and there was no answer. When she went to find out why he didn't answer she found him lying on the floor. So, she did what you do when you have an emergency – she called 911.
The call came in as a "Unconscious Unknown". Fire, EMS, and Police immediately responded.
Law officers were the first to arrive. They made sure the scene was safe.
The fire station is in close proximity to the home on Vine Street, so the firefighter's arrival was expedient. Firefighter Chris triaged Code Red. The Heimlich Maneuver was tried repeatedly, but it didn't seem to help. Jeff's condition went from emergent to dire.
EMS arrived and re-triaged Code Blue. A couple rounds of CPR were performed when suddenly Jeff began to breathe on his own. Jeff's triage condition went back to Red and then one step better to Yellow.
Jeff was transported by EMS to Susan B. Allen Hospital. Jeff was released the next day to sister Linda.
Emergencies happen everyday. Sometimes people do the right things in the right time, sometimes they don't. This time everybody performed flawlessly. The consequence?
Early this morning, April 3rd, at approximately 1:30 am, the El Dorado Fire Department along with Butler County EMS responded to a report of a residential structure collapse with people injured.
When crews arrived on scene they found that high winds had completely destroyed a single wide mobile home.
The couple who lived in the home were injured, but those injuries were non-life threatening and were quickly transported to SBA Hospital for treatment and evaluation. EFD personnel remained on scene to assist some friends of the family round up several dogs that were on the loose.
Once the animals and the utilities were secures, the property was turned back over to family of the homeowners.
The young lady had been feeling "Under the Weather" for several months. Her name was Michelle Linson.
It all started in the fall of 2013 with headaches and a general tired and exhausted feeling. Sometimes a fever, sometimes cold symptoms.
But, the conditions continued on longer than any sickness she had ever experienced. Moderate headaches became migraine headaches. The headaches were so severe they started causing her to miss work. And Michelle wasn't the type person to miss work.
Her lymph nodes under her jaw seemed to be a bit swollen, but only if you really studied it. But to most everybody nothing out of the normal.
The migraine headaches started getting worse. Michelle described them as "debilitating." It now was a pain not an ache, not what someone might consider a migraine as she thought she had been having. And it had now widened to the area going up from behind her cheek bone and made her ear hurt too. At times it even made her "dizzy." The conditions then got worse.
She saw the ENT physician on the 19th and he ordered an ultrasound scan for the 21st. The physician saw just what seemed to be swollen lymph nodules, nothing to unusual in the scan.
She was told that she needed to go to the emergency room immediately – either by ambulance or by car. She chose the car option. Her dad drove her, she was unable to drive.
With a blood pressure of 186/109 the emergency room physician wanted her to get a CT SCAN. There was a discrepancy with the size from the original test that was performed the week prior.
Her ENT physician then ordered a LIVE ultra-sound guided biopsy to be done on March 12th. During this biopsy she experienced incredible pain. Afterwards the swelling increased to the size of a softball on the side of her neck. And more high blood pressure and continued head pains.
After another CTA on the 20th, several of the physicians consulted each other and agreed upon the problem. It was a "Carotid Bifurcation Tumor" or also known as a paraganglioma. She would need surgery.
The surgeon told Michelle that he only did this type of surgery maybe once a year. He drew a diagram of the tumor for Michelle. Michelle remembers him as being very thorough – and very concerned.
He also explained that had she waited any longer the tumor could have became "inoperable." If the first scan was accurate the tumor had grown in size from a grape to a golf ball – tripling in size.
The surgeon wanted to do the 2 1/2 hour surgery "as soon as possible." But Michelle being Michelle, she scheduled the surgery – with the surgeon's approval – for just over two weeks out.
The reason? It would cause as little as possible impact on her employer.
It was Tuesday, May 13th. The surgery took longer than expected – 4 hours & needed 2 units of blood. The tumor was dangerously entrapped around the carotid artery. One of the nerves had to be literally "stretched" to make room for the surgeon's instruments and the tumor's removal.
Michelle made it through the surgery in remarkable fashion. For a period of time she wasn't able to speak, then began to speak with a slur, but this was an expected affect explained beforehand. A little numbness on her neck & in the mouth remains and she says there's an occasional drool. And, of course there's the scar. But, considering the alternative it's a Mighty Beautiful Scar.
Nobody knows your body as well as you know your body.
Seemingly healthy young people can have serious underlying medical conditions. Everybody in the medical "ladder of care" needs to be vigilant.
Michelle Linson is an amazing young lady.
We thank Michelle for allowing her story to be told.


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By Meredith Corporation; Better Homes & Gardens, Special for USDR Better Homes & Gardens, Meredith [...]
A Day Dedicated to Food Policy
By Food Tank, Special for USDR Food Tank (FoodTank.com), in partnership with The George Washington University and the [...]
Avoiding a Famine in Nigeria
By Action Against Hunger, Special for USDR Multiple experts, including Action Against Hunger, have validated new analysis [...]
Making Healthy Choices Fun
By Family Features Editorial Syndicate, Special for USDR More than nine in 10 millennial moms think it's important [...]
Merry Made Easy
By Family Features Editorial Syndicate, Special for USDR (Family Features) The holidays are the time of year when [...]
Easy Upgrades for Holiday Entertaining
By Family Features Editorial Syndicate, Special for USDR (Family Features) Holiday gatherings call for an extra touch to [...]
Millennials Leading the Way to Healthier Diets
By Coast Packing Company, Special for USDR Affirming that changes in how we eat aren't part of some food fad, a new [...]
Get a Boost with an Ingredient that Sticks
By Family Features Editorial Syndicate, Special for USDR Whether you're a fitness junkie, busy parent or [...]
SeaWorld Adopts New Food Sourcing Policy
By SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Special for USDR SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, a leading theme park and [...]
How to Overcome Emotional Eating
By Epsom Salt Council, Special for USDR Negative emotions often cause people to eat when they are bored, angry or already [...]
Tackling a Touchdown Tailgate
By Family Features Editorial Syndicate, Special for USDR As fall settles in, the air gets crisper and the kids head back [...]
Traveling with Kids? OpenTable Creates List of the Top Kid Friendly Restaurants
By Opentable, Special for USDR As families hit the road and take to the skies on summer travels, OpenTable, the [...]
Cox Target Media Gets Involved in the Healthy Consumer Market
By Cox Target Media, Special for USDR Cox Target Media (CTM) stays ahead of consumer health trends by focusing on the [...]
And the GMO Debate Continues
By The Harris Poll, Special for USDR The presence and labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our food has [...]
Trusting in Food
By Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Special for USDR Only one third of consumers think the agriculture community and food [...]
New App Helps Users Find Best Dishes on the Menu
By Toast Labs, Inc., Special for USDR Restaurant-hoppers, choosey foodies and indecisive diners alike will now be able [...]
American Comfort Food: What is the Most Popular?
By The Harris Poll, Special for USDR There's really no debate that food can be a comfort. Whether stressed or [...]
Denny's Commits to Using 100% Cage Free Eggs
By USDR Denny's, one of America's largest full-service restaurant chains, today announced its commitment to sourcing [...]
Hispanic Poverty in America is Higher than National Average
By USDR Bread for the World has released new information detailing hunger and poverty rates among Hispanics in the United [...]


(CNN) — The nasty weather tantrum that has already left a mess on its march from California through Texas and soaked the South is now expected to ice up roads in the Northeast.
"All of these interstates, all of these roads across Pennsylvania — the Thruway, the Turnpike, 80, 90, 66 — they all will have ice and snow," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
On Saturday, Willie Nelson's concert tour bus slid off a road in Texas and struck an embankment, sending three band members to the hospital. The 80-year-old singer was not on board.
"We decided to leave early, and we're just going to keep our fingers crossed," said Beth Hundley, who was taking a flight from Washington Dulles International Airport to Des Moines, Iowa.
"The issue they run into is if you cancel one flight, there may not be capacity on the later flights to accommodate all the displaced passengers," said Daniel Baker, who runs flight tracking website FlightAware.com.
And then you'll have to deal with an angry boss.
CNN's Dave Alsup, Rene Marsh and Holly Yan contributed to his report.


What does it mean when the ServiceClass property has the value 0? The documented values are just 1 (Orchestration), 2 (Tracking), 4 (Messaging), 8 (MSMQT), 16 (Other), Isolated Adapter (32), Routing Failure Report (64); so, what does this 0 mean?
Now, I know exactly what's triggering the event (since I'm explicitly creating the condition): A message delivered to a FILE receive location and no matching subscriptions for the message. Any clues?
While I'm at it, I might as well ask this: Why doesn't this particular situation also raise a MSBTS_MessageInstanceSuspendedEvent?


French Company Zoook that recently Launched first CB certified power bank in India has now come up with a product in the Car Air Purifier category, the Zoook ZMT-PURE SENSE at an price of INR 3,499.
It comes with a HEPA filter that can clean Air with upto 99.50% efficiency and also has a double layer active carbon filter to freshen up the Air inside your car. It also has a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) of 7 m³/hour and is suitable for all kind of cars according to the company.
You can read more about selecting an Air Purifier and other precautions for Air Pollution here.
It has one button control, power consumption of 12 V DC, Low noise and do-it -yourself installation and filter replacement procedure. It can be purchased from Amazon.in website for INR 3,499.


Duke reclaimed its spot on top of the AP poll this week after Kansas' loss to Arizona State opened it up. After losing to Gonzaga, whose loss to UNC led to their fall from #1 and Kansas' immediate assumption, Duke fell in the rankings but will now become the latest best in he NCAA. Merry Christmas to us!
The Coaches' Poll puts Virginia at #1, but if I'm being honest that's pretty bogus. The Hoos' best win comes against Wisconsin, which was then ranked 24th and only scored 53 points. Of course, they're 15th now, but Duke beat Kentucky, who was then #2 (Duke then at #4) BY 41, and Kentucky has rejoined the top 20 just behind the Badgers. Also, that Auburn win is pretty sweet and Texas Tech is really, really good and we beat them on an adverse night. Just sayin'.
Happy Holidays, Krazies! Wishing you a very happy holiday season and a wonderful New Year from the authors of Krazies' Korner (okay, there's only one of me but this sounds more impressive).
Bleed blue. Duke won't play this week, but look for my preview as they'll return from a two-week, well-deserved holiday respite next Saturday to take on Clemson in the first ACC challenge of the year.
Duke lost to Gonzaga in the Maui Invitational, 87-89, but there's so little that you can genuinely be mad at. This team fought their butts off. Most of the game was awful, don't get me wrong: at most, Duke trailed by 16 and Gonzaga just looked more composed, more experienced, and just a better team. Duke obviously wasn't on their A-game but the fight and togetherness that the Blue Devils showed defeated anything Gonzaga could say about a November win, period. Get ready- there's going to be a flurry of people saying that we're too young, will Duke bounce back, the usual. But believe me when I say that they win that game in March, period.
RJ Barrett scored a game-high 23 points, with teammate Zion Williamson coming in second with 22. Tre Jones hit a career high (a career of 6 games, but still) 17 points. Zion also had 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals.
The only thing that I was really not happy with was the final minute. Duke missed seven shots in the final minute of this game, and late game protocol will come in time. This team is so young, but the shots weren't well selected in that final minute and the one-on-two final shot taken by RJ Barrett with open teammates was not good at all. But it's November, so I'm not terribly worried and Coach K knows how to deal with that sort of thing. That happens again, though, and we've got issues.
Duke plays Indiana at home in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday as they get a brief respite after a grueling three straight days of play in Maui. The biggest focus will easily be Romeo Langford, an athletic star who looks to light up the Big Ten this year.
Duke gets today what is easily their most difficult test of the season tonight in the Maui Invitational Championship vs. third-ranked Gonzaga. Much to be said for Duke's SOS (strength of schedule)- a third top-10 matchup in the first six games? Yet we've excelled, and look to keep it rolling against a very talented Gonzaga team. This will be must-see TV, people. Here we go!
Player to Watch, Gonz.: PF/SF R. Hachimura, 6'8, 234 lbs.
Player to Watch, Duke: Positionless Z. Williamson, 6'7, 285 lbs.
Duke, 16-0 in the Maui Invitational, has been invited back to Hawaii for the first time since 2011 when Kyrie Irving played. The Blue Devils will be tested, with West Coast giants Arizona and Gonzaga also participating. You may remember that Duke faced SDSU in 2015 during the Round of 32, which the Blue Devils won, 68-49, and would go on to win the 2015 National Championship against Wisconsin. This year's tournament will take place at the Lahaina Civic Center.
Bleed blue, Duke fans. Let's get ready for the football season! I will cover Duke's football season starting in August. Bull City Proud!


text:
target = $(target_rescue_dir)
src    = $(src_rescue_dir)

CC = gcc-cris -mlinux $(LINUXINCLUDE)
CFLAGS = -O2
LD = gcc-cris -mlinux -nostdlib
OBJCOPY = objcopy-cris
OBJCOPYFLAGS = -O binary --remove-section=.bss

all: $(target)/rescue.bin $(target)/testrescue.bin $(target)/kimagerescue.bin

$(target)/rescue.bin: $(target) $(target)/head.o
	$(LD) -T $(src)/rescue.ld -o $(target)/rescue.o $(target)/head.o
	$(OBJCOPY) $(OBJCOPYFLAGS) $(target)/rescue.o $(target)/rescue.bin
# Place a copy in top-level build directory
	cp -p $(target)/rescue.bin $(objtree)

$(target)/testrescue.bin: $(target) $(target)/testrescue.o
	$(OBJCOPY) $(OBJCOPYFLAGS) $(target)/testrescue.o tr.bin
# Pad it to 784 bytes
	dd if=/dev/zero of=tmp2423 bs=1 count=784
	cat tr.bin tmp2423 >testrescue_tmp.bin
	dd if=testrescue_tmp.bin of=$(target)/testrescue.bin bs=1 count=784
	rm tr.bin tmp2423 testrescue_tmp.bin

$(target)/kimagerescue.bin: $(target) $(target)/kimagerescue.o
	$(OBJCOPY) $(OBJCOPYFLAGS) $(target)/kimagerescue.o ktr.bin
# Pad it to 784 bytes, that's what the rescue loader expects
	dd if=/dev/zero of=tmp2423 bs=1 count=784
	cat ktr.bin tmp2423 >kimagerescue_tmp.bin
	dd if=kimagerescue_tmp.bin of=$(target)/kimagerescue.bin bs=1 count=784
	rm ktr.bin tmp2423 kimagerescue_tmp.bin

$(target):
	mkdir -p $(target)

$(target)/head.o: $(src)/head.S
	$(CC) -D__ASSEMBLY__ -traditional -c $< -o $*.o

$(target)/testrescue.o: $(src)/testrescue.S
	$(CC) -D__ASSEMBLY__ -traditional -c $< -o $*.o

$(target)/kimagerescue.o: $(src)/kimagerescue.S
	$(CC) -D__ASSEMBLY__ -traditional -c $< -o $*.o

clean:
	rm -f $(target)/*.o $(target)/*.bin

fastdep:

modules:

modules-install:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Illustrated Edition
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Illustrated Edition Reviews | Toppsta
This glorious new edition of Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (considered a classic throughout the wizarding world) features an extraordinary array of magical creatures, from Acromantula to Yeti via ten different breeds of dragon - all beautifully illustrated in full colour by the brilliantly inventive, Greenaway Medal shortlisted Olivia Lomenech Gill.
Famed Magizoologist Newt Scamander's years of adventure and exploration have yielded a work of unparalleled importance, admired by scholars, devoured by young witches and wizards, and even made available to Muggles in the early years of this century. With this dazzling illustrated edition, readers can explore the magical fauna of five continents from the comfort of their own armchairs. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is essential reading at Hogwarts.
This new edition features the fully updated 2017 text - which includes new profiles of six magnificent beasts that inhabit North America and a new foreword by J.K. Rowling, writing as Newt Scamander.
9781408885260 J. K. Rowling https://toppsta.com/authors/profile/j-k-rowling
Pub Date: 7th November 2017
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
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About J. K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling Biography
Joanne Rowling (J.K Rowling) is a British author and screenwriter, best known for her internationally best-selling and award winning Harry Potter children's series of books.
J.K. Rowling was born on 31st July 1965 and spent her childhood in Gloucestershire and Gwent,
More about J. K. Rowling
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Medusa: The Girl Behind the Myth (Illustrated Gift Edition)
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The legendary comedian Jason Manford is our host for the 2016 UK Search Awards!
If you're having a little case of déja-vu, you're right, we did already announce that Jimmy Carr would be hosting, but due to a change in the 8 Out Of 10 Cats filming schedule he was unable to join us. We happen to think this is a classic case of one door opening as another door closes, and we already can't wait to enjoy a fabulous celebration with the nation's favourite Mancunian, following on from his sell-out UK tour!
August is the perfect time to get together a winning entry – the 23 September deadline will be here before you know it, so while everyone is on holiday, it's time to get busy! We are rewarding the best search agencies and in-house teams across 28 unique categories, including Best Agency, Best Use Of PR and Best Use Of Search across a huge range of sectors.
There is something for everyone – so what are you waiting for? Make sure you and your team come out on top this year, place your UK Search Awards entry! For any further information about the awards, please get in touch with joe@dontpanicprojects.com, or you can visit the site here. We can't wait to see your entries!


Between the fields where the flag is planted there are 9+ miles of flower fields that go all the way to the ocean. The flowers are grown by seed companies. It's a beautiful place close to Vandenberg AFB. Checkout the dimensions of the flag.
And not a single weed!


text:
Collection Review
Collection Review Collection Review articles synthesize in narrative form the best available evidence on a topic. Submission of Collection Review articles is by invitation only, and they are only published as part of a PLOS Collection as agreed in advance by the PLOS Medicine Editors.
See all article types »
Progress in the HIV epidemic: Identifying goals and measuring success
Jeb Jones ,
* E-mail: jeb.jones@emory.edu
Affiliation Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Patrick S. Sullivan,
James W. Curran
Jeb Jones,
Jeb Jones Patrick S. Sullivan James W. Curran
Substantial progress has been made towards the goal of ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic due to advancements in both prevention and treatment of HIV. However, major challenges still remain. We describe basic principles of epidemic control in the context of HIV and identify a number of attainable goals in terms of control and elimination of HIV in specific populations and risk groups, given currently available HIV prevention and treatment methods. Currently available HIV prevention methods make it a feasible goal to eliminate HIV transmission attributable to mother-to-child transmission and blood transfusions. Reductions in transmission attributable to sexual behavior and injection drug use are feasible, but elimination of these modes of transmission will require further advancements in behavioral and biomedical HIV prevention. With regard to HIV-related mortality, we argue that elimination of death due to HIV-related causes is a feasible goal. HIV-related deaths should be treated as sentinel events triggering epidemiological investigation into the breakdowns in the HIV care continuum that led to them. We briefly discuss additional considerations that will affect the success of HIV prevention programs.
Citation: Jones J, Sullivan PS, Curran JW (2019) Progress in the HIV epidemic: Identifying goals and measuring success. PLoS Med 16(1): e1002729. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002729
Copyright: © 2019 Jones et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: An earlier version of this paper was commissioned by UNAIDS for a meeting convened in October 2017. JJ received compensation for producing the earlier version of the paper. UNAIDS reviewed and provided feedback on earlier drafts of the paper; however, final editorial decisions were made by coauthors.
Competing interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: PSS reports research funding from NIH, research grants and personal fees from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, research fees from Gilead Sciences, and research fees from MAC AIDS Fund.
Abbreviations: ARV, antiretroviral; MSM, men who have sex with men; PLWH, persons living with HIV; PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis; UNAIDS, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS; VMMC, voluntary medical male circumcision
Provenance: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed
The United Nations has declared a goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 [1], an aspiration echoed by many individual countries. To achieve this goal, targets have been set for each step in the HIV diagnosis and care continuum. Specifically, besides primary prevention targets for voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) [2,3], pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) [4,5], use of condoms [6], harm reduction [7], and opioid substitution treatment [8], the 90-90-90 goals aim for 90% of individuals infected with HIV to be aware of their status, 90% of those diagnosed to initiate antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, and 90% of those on ARVs to have viral loads suppressed below levels of detection, by 2020 [9,10]. These aspirational goals are laudable and, to the degree that they can be achieved, will have a meaningful impact on HIV incidence as well as mortality globally. However, the heterogeneity of the HIV epidemic globally raises challenges in terms of measuring success along the way. In a recently published article, Peter Ghys and colleagues have proposed six different metrics to measure transitions in different aspects (e.g., incidence, mortality) of the HIV epidemic [11].
Differing definitions of what it means for the epidemic to be "over" or "under control" can lead to confusion among stakeholders and the public. It is crucial to define quantifiable goals that will be clearly understood and can be used to measure progress toward vanquishing HIV/AIDS as a major public health problem. This will bring focus and provide benchmarks to measure success of HIV prevention and care programs globally. The purpose of this paper is to review concepts of epidemic control and apply them to the case of HIV. We identify aspirational but feasible goals for control and elimination of HIV transmission and HIV-related mortality. Finally, we will briefly discuss additional challenges and considerations that play an important role in controlling the HIV epidemic.
Epidemiological principles
Disease occurrence is typically measured in terms of incidence (all new cases of a disease during a given period of time) and prevalence (all existing cases of disease at a given point in time). Incidence and prevalence represent measures that we aspire to accurately count or estimate to characterize a certain disease at the population level. However, there are practical considerations, particularly with respect to HIV, that make estimating these measures difficult.
HIV incidence is difficult to measure because HIV infections are initially asymptomatic or cause minimal nonspecific symptoms. Therefore, most newly infected persons do not immediately seek HIV testing and are often diagnosed many months or years after infection. In addition, HIV infection is associated with a window period of one to three months, during which antibody tests cannot detect infection, meaning that early infection may be missed, even when people with very recent HIV infections are tested for antibodies to HIV. Because of these challenges, new infections are frequently measured in terms of new HIV diagnoses. Although this is a pragmatic approach, reporting diagnoses instead of incidence can be problematic in terms of understanding prevailing disease dynamics. For example, increases in diagnoses might be due to more effective HIV testing campaigns that identify previously undiagnosed individuals. The proportion of new diagnoses that occur among individuals with CD4 cell counts <350 (i.e., late-stage diagnosis) highlight the fact that many new diagnoses are not new cases of HIV. For example, a 2015 Dutch study found that 28% of men who have sex with men (MSM) had a CD4 count <350 at the time of diagnosis [12]. Similarly, the proportion of late-stage diagnoses in a 2013 South African study was 34% [13]. It is a goal to reduce the time between HIV infection and HIV diagnosis in order for persons to access ARV treatment and to reduce incident infections. As an alternative to using new HIV diagnoses as a proxy for HIV incidence, statistical modeling methods can be used to obtain estimates of HIV incidence in general and within specific populations [14,15].
In the absence of curative therapy, HIV is a lifelong infection. Thus, prevalence measures alone cannot provide a meaningful indication of changes in the epidemic in the short or near term; changes in prevalence must be interpreted in the context of HIV incidence, treatment outcomes, and mortality. Reducing HIV transmission and incidence requires identifying and counselling persons with HIV infection and providing lifelong ARV treatment in order to decrease the probability of transmission of the virus and reduce HIV-associated mortality, in addition to increasing coverage of primary HIV prevention methods among those at risk of infection. Programmatically, these are costly endeavors; estimates suggest that the cost of mounting a comprehensive AIDS response will be US$26–$36 billion annually [1,10,16].
Standard measures of epidemic control include control, elimination, eradication, and extinction (Box 1) [17,18]. These measures represent increasing levels of success with respect to ending disease incidence. The language surrounding epidemic control can be confusing, because the terms describing each level of control have common and imprecise meanings in colloquial language. In this paper, we use the words control, elimination, eradication, and extinction only in accord with their technical definitions.
Box 1. Relationship between incidence, prevalence, and duration of disease under steady state
Prevalence = Incidence * Average duration of disease
This equation demonstrates that reductions in prevalence can be achieved by reducing incidence of a disease or the average duration of a disease. Conversely, increases in incidence or duration will increase prevalence. This is why public health successes, such as increasing coverage of ARV therapy, which increases the average duration of HIV infection by extending the life span, leads to increases in HIV prevalence.
Measures of disease control
Control: reduction of disease incidence, prevalence, or mortality in a geographically defined area to a locally acceptable level via effective interventions.
Elimination: complete cessation of incidence in a geographically defined area. Because the disease-causing agent persists, elimination requires ongoing intervention to be maintained.
Eradication: complete removal of the disease-causing agent from the natural environment. The disease-causing agent might persist in controlled laboratory environments. Prevention interventions are no longer needed.
Extinction: complete removal of the disease-causing agent from all natural and laboratory environments.
Formulating goals for controlling the HIV epidemic
HIV has unique characteristics that affect the interpretation and utility of standard measures of epidemic control. Any measurable goals that are put forward in terms of reducing incidence of HIV must take into account the biological and sociological characteristics of the epidemic. Because eradication requires that a disease-causing agent is entirely removed from the natural environment on a global scale, eradication of HIV will not be an attainable goal until a vaccine and cure are developed and uniformly utilized. Table 1 presents aspirational epidemic control goals in terms of HIV transmission and HIV mortality that are attainable using current prevention methods. Control of the HIV epidemic includes both primary prevention of HIV among those at risk of infection and treatment of persons living with HIV (PLWH) to prevent HIV-related mortality and reduce the risk of onward transmission. Although these are distinct processes, there are some overlapping approaches that contribute to both.
Table 1. Aspirational but feasible goals for control and elimination of HIV incidence and HIV-related mortality based on existing methods.
HIV transmission
Elimination achieved within a given geographic region by mode of transmission is defined as a reduction of incidence to zero. Unlike with eradication, the disease-causing agent continues to persist in the population, and prevention efforts are necessary to ensure that elimination persists. Elimination of incident infections could thus theoretically be achieved even as HIV prevalence persists, using existing prevention methods like treatment as prevention [19], PrEP [4,5], condoms [6], VMMC [2,3], harm reduction [7], and opioid substitution programs [8], but only if these interventions are universally and continually utilized over time. Thus, goals related to transmission differ by risk populations.
The aspirational goal of elimination of transmission is more feasible for transmission attributable to blood transfusions and mother-to-child transmission because prevention methods are currently available that are very effective [20,21], and because these modes of transmission largely occur within medical settings, in which interventions can be scaled up universally. HIV infections caused by blood transfusions can be eliminated by testing all donated blood. Mother-to-child transmission can be eliminated by HIV testing all pregnant women, by providing lifelong ARV therapy to mothers who are diagnosed, by providing appropriate prophylaxis at the time of birth, and by following the breastfeeding guidelines established by the World Health Organization [22]. Transmission events due to these causes should be investigated to understand where the breakdown in systems to identify mothers living with HIV and systems to protect infants occurred, so that necessary systems and policies can be put in place to ensure universal coverage of these prevention methods. Of note, new HIV infections among children had reduced 35% to 180,000 in 2017 compared to 270,000 in 2010 [23].
HIV transmission due to sexual behavior and injection drug use can be controlled, but elimination is not currently realistic in that the number of transmissions is considerably higher and the structural opportunities for intervention (such as in the context of perinatal care) do not exist. A realistic goal will therefore be epidemic control (e.g., to reduce HIV incidence to locally acceptable low levels, which should be defined clearly and represent considerable improvement over the status quo). Many prevention tools, both old and new, are available to reduce the transmission of HIV due to these risk behaviors. The effectiveness of ARV therapy [19] and PrEP [4,24]—in addition to condom use [25,26], needle and syringe exchange programs [27], and VMMC [2,3]—in reducing the risk of HIV transmission following strong adherence by HIV+ and HIV− individuals, respectively, demonstrates that existing methods have the potential to greatly reduce HIV transmission. Delivering these tools in combinations and in appropriate service settings, monitoring the uptake in target populations, and monitoring for inequities in uptake will be important to maximize impact. Current ARV-based prevention strategies require substantial levels of adherence for prevention efficacy; these tools can be improved by considering long-acting formulations or shorter, on-demand approaches. A safe and effective vaccine and curative therapy, neither of which are currently available, would change the HIV prevention and treatment landscape. These types of future advancements in biomedical and behavioral prevention research are needed to achieve a goal of elimination of sexual and injection drug use transmission.
HIV mortality
Given current treatment options, elimination of HIV mortality should be an aspirational yet feasible goal. Combination ARV therapy with substantial adherence has been shown to be effective in reducing viral loads and extending the life span of PLWH [28]. Expanding testing programs to identify all PLWH followed by treatment initiation and adherence support for those persons who are diagnosed could lead to the elimination of mortality due to AIDS-related complications. Deaths from HIV-related causes should be treated as sentinel events, instigating a public health investigation to understand the factors leading to treatment failure. In 2017 there were approximately 940,000 AIDS-related deaths globally [23]. Appropriate resources will need to be made available to investigate the complex, multilevel failures that likely contribute to HIV-related mortality, including limited healthcare access, poverty, substance use, and mental health problems.
Current progress in controlling the HIV epidemic
Since the 90-90-90 targets were announced in 2014, substantial progress has been made. Compiling country-level data from around the world, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has summarized progress through the end of 2017 [29]. Although progress—in some countries, substantial progress—has been made, a number of gaps and challenges remain. It is beyond the scope of this paper to fully review global progress, but there are some conspicuous trends. Gains in epidemic control have been notably slower among men and young people, highlighting that existing interventions and programs are not equally effective across demographic groups. This is evident in the faster declines in mortality from AIDS-related causes among women compared with men since 2000. This suggests that additional work will be necessary to increase uptake of HIV testing and treatment among groups that lag behind in the current environment. Additional marginal gains towards the 90-90-90 targets will require engaging these harder-to-reach groups.
There have also been consistent increases in HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in Eastern Europe and Central Asia since 2000. This is in contrast to generally stable or declining rates of HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in other regions globally. This suggests additional dynamics that need to be understood and managed in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in order to halt the growing epidemic in this region.
Varying definitions of control: Defining feasibility
Control of the HIV epidemic should be measured at the local, national, and global levels. To achieve control of the HIV epidemic will mean identifying local goals that result in forward progress but are achievable for a given epidemiological context, as well as identifying and implementing the means to achieve those goals. In the 2016 Prevention Gap Report, UNAIDS identified a target of fewer than 500,000 new HIV infections globally by 2020 [30]. To achieve this goal, the report recommends implementing the Fast-Track strategy, including achieving the 90-90-90 targets in combination with primary prevention programs. Substantial progress will be required to achieve the 90-90-90 targets globally by 2020, and, under this aspirational goal, a substantial proportion, that is 27% of PLWH, will continue to have unsuppressed viral loads (i.e., if the goals are met, about 73% of PLWH will have a suppressed viral load [90% * 90% * 90% = 73%]).
Beyond identifying methods most appropriate to measure successes and identify challenges in HIV prevention, defining epidemic control also requires identifying aspirational yet feasible goals for a given geographical region and epidemiological context. Because control is achieved within a specific geographic region, the local dynamics and epidemic characteristics must be considered in order to identify appropriate goals. Thus, although benchmarks such as the 90-90-90 goals are helpful in planning at a global level, the target epidemiologic measures of incidence, prevalence, transmission rate, or mortality might need to be different depending on local epidemic characteristics. Goals must be identified in terms of what is aspirational, feasible, and measurable at the local, national, and global levels.
Any discussion of epidemic control must acknowledge the sociocultural context in which HIV exists. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve control of the HIV epidemic without addressing other factors that contribute to the epidemic, such as stigma and criminalization associated with HIV infection and the need for ancillary health services.
Stigma associated with HIV infection and HIV risk behaviors continues to pose a challenge to public health programs designed to reduce HIV incidence [31]. Stigma can reduce the likelihood that an individual is aware of their status and seeking treatment or effective prevention tools owing to fear of testing and disclosure. Joseph Amon and colleagues [32] have described the importance of measuring stigma in addition to other disease-specific indicators (e.g., HIV incidence, AIDS-related mortality) in order to track changes in the epidemic over time.
HIV prevention and treatment programs exist within larger healthcare and economic systems and PLWH, and those at risk of HIV seroconversion, have health needs beyond HIV treatment and prevention services. Mental health services, drug treatment programs, and programs ensuring continuity of care for incarcerated populations are all necessary components of a holistic approach to HIV prevention. Furthermore, these issues serve as a reminder that the populations of PLWH without a diagnosis and those at high risk of HIV infection are very heterogeneous, and there are additional challenges that can be barriers to reaching them. As programs approach the 90-90-90 goals, continued progress might be increasingly challenging because certain key populations have not been reached in individual settings, or different strategies might be required to make further progress.
In this paper, we have reviewed concepts related to epidemiological control in the context of the biology and epidemiology of HIV infection and considered sociobehavioral factors that contribute to the HIV epidemic. Substantial progress has been made in the past 35 years with regard to HIV prevention, treatment, and surveillance methods; however, significant challenges remain. The global commitment to ending the HIV epidemic, exemplified through the United Nations' Political Declaration On HIV and AIDS [1], indicates a high degree of motivation from countries around the world to reduce morbidity and mortality due to HIV/AIDS. Existing strategies to measure and evaluate progress of HIV prevention interventions should be examined, and additional new measures should be considered in order to most effectively characterize current and future progress in stemming the epidemic. Targets related to controlling HIV incidence and AIDS-related mortality should reflect realistic capabilities of currently available interventions.
In addition to reliable data to track progress in controlling the HIV epidemic, continued research, including implementation science, will be needed to further our understanding of the most effective HIV prevention interventions and how to most effectively deploy these interventions. As outlined above, we identified elimination of HIV transmission due to mother-to-child transmission and blood transfusions as currently attainable. In order to meet this goal, however, resources will need to be allocated appropriately to ensure that appropriate interventions are broadly available, and studies will need to be conducted to understand barriers to implementation when those interventions are underutilized or ineffective. A holistic approach including surveillance, appropriate measures to track epidemic transition, and implementation science is key to continued progress in meeting global targets for control of the HIV epidemic.
1. United Nations General Assembly. Political Declaration On HIV And AIDS: On The Fast-Track To Accelerate The Fight Against HIV And To End The AIDS Epidemic By 2030. 2016.
2. Gray RH, Kigozi G, Serwadda D, Makumbi F, Watya S, Nalugoda F, et al. Male circumcision for HIV prevention in men in Rakai, Uganda: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2007;369(9562):657–66. pmid:17321311.
3. Auvert B, Taljaard D, Lagarde E, Sobngwi-Tambekou J, Sitta R, Puren A. Randomized, controlled intervention trial of male circumcision for reduction of HIV infection risk: the ANRS 1265 Trial. PLoS Med. 2005;2(11):e298. pmid:16231970; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1262556.
4. Grant RM, Lama JR, Anderson PL, McMahan V, Liu AY, Vargas L, et al. Preexposure chemoprophylaxis for HIV prevention in men who have sex with men. N Engl J Med. 2010;363(27):2587–99. pmid:21091279; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3079639.
5. Baeten JM, Donnell D, Ndase P, Mugo NR, Campbell JD, Wangisi J, et al. Antiretroviral prophylaxis for HIV prevention in heterosexual men and women. N Engl J Med. 2012;367(5):399–410. pmid:22784037; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3770474.
6. Stover J, Rosen JE, Carvalho MN, Korenromp EL, Friedman HS, Cogan M, et al. The case for investing in the male condom. PLoS ONE. 2017;12(5):e0177108. pmid:28510591; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5433691.
7. Wilson DP, Donald B, Shattock AJ, Wilson D, Fraser-Hurt N. The cost-effectiveness of harm reduction. Int J Drug Policy. 2015;26 Suppl 1:S5–11. pmid:25727260.
8. Mukandavire C, Low A, Mburu G, Trickey A, May MT, Davies CF, et al. Impact of opioid substitution therapy on the HIV prevention benefit of antiretroviral therapy for people who inject drugs. AIDS. 2017;31(8):1181–90. pmid:28323752.
9. UNAIDS. 90-90-90: An ambitious treatment target to help end the AIDS epidemic 2014 [cited 2018 Mar 1]. Available from: http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2017/90-90-90.
10. Stover J, Bollinger L, Izazola JA, Loures L, DeLay P, Ghys PD, et al. What Is Required to End the AIDS Epidemic as a Public Health Threat by 2030? The Cost and Impact of the Fast-Track Approach. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(5):e0154893. pmid:27159260; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4861332.
11. Ghys PD, Williams BG, Over M, Hallett TB, Godfrey-Faussett P. Epidemiological metrics and benchmarks for a transition in the HIV epidemic. PLoS Med. 2018;15(10):e1002678. pmid:30359372
12. van Sighem A, Nakagawa F, De Angelis D, Quinten C, Bezemer D, de Coul EO, et al. Estimating HIV Incidence, Time to Diagnosis, and the Undiagnosed HIV Epidemic Using Routine Surveillance Data. Epidemiology. 2015;26(5):653–60. pmid:26214334; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4521901.
13. Drain PK, Losina E, Parker G, Giddy J, Ross D, Katz JN, et al. Risk factors for late-stage HIV disease presentation at initial HIV diagnosis in Durban, South Africa. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(1):e55305. pmid:23383147; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3557232.
14. UNAIDS. Methods for estimating HIV incidence 2010 [cited 2018 Mar 1]. Available from: http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/epi_alert_1stqtr2010_en_0.pdf.
15. Purcell DW, Johnson CH, Lansky A, Prejean J, Stein R, Denning P, et al. Estimating the population size of men who have sex with men in the United States to obtain HIV and syphilis rates. Open AIDS J. 2012;6:98–107. pmid:23049658; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3462414.
16. Piot P, Abdool Karim SS, Hecht R, Legido-Quigley H, Buse K, Stover J, et al. Defeating AIDS—advancing global health. Lancet. 2015;386(9989):171–218. pmid:26117719.
17. Dowdle WR. The Principles of Disease Elimination and Eradication. MMWR. 1999;48(SU01):23–7.
18. Miller M, Barrett S, Henderson DA. Chapter 62. Control and Eradication. In: Jamison DT, Breman JG, Measham AR, Alleyne G, Claeson M, Evans DB, et al., editors. Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006.
19. Cohen MS, Chen YQ, McCauley M, Gamble T, Hosseinipour MC, Kumarasamy N, et al. Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy. N Engl J Med. 2011;365(6):493–505. pmid:21767103; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3200068.
20. World Health Organization. Screening donated blood for transfusion-transmissible infections: recommendations. Geneva: 2009.
21. World Health Organization. PMTCT Strategic Vision 2010–2015: Preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV to reach the UNGASS and Millennium Development Goals. Geneva: 2010.
22. World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund. Guideline: updates on HIV and infant feeding: the duration of breastfeeding and support from health services to improve feeding practices among mothers living with HIV. Geneva: 2016.
23. UNAIDS. Global HIV & AIDS statistics—2018 fact sheet 2018 [cited 2019 Jan 2]. Available from: http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet.
24. Grant RM, Anderson PL, McMahan V, Liu A, Amico KR, Mehrotra M, et al. Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis, sexual practices, and HIV incidence in men and transgender women who have sex with men: a cohort study. Lancet Infect Dis. 2014;14(9):820–9. pmid:25065857.
25. Holmes KK, Levine R, Weaver M. Effectiveness of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted infections. Bull World Health Organ. 2004;82(6):454–61. pmid:15356939; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2622864.
26. Weller S, Davis K. Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002;(1):CD003255. pmid:11869658.
27. Organization WH. Effectiveness of sterile needle and syringe programming in reducing HIV/AIDS among injecting drug users. Geneva: 2004.
28. May MT, Gompels M, Delpech V, Porter K, Orkin C, Kegg S, et al. Impact on life expectancy of HIV-1 positive individuals of CD4+ cell count and viral load response to antiretroviral therapy. AIDS. 2014;28(8):1193–202. pmid:24556869; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4004637.
29. UNAIDS. UNAIDS Data 2017. 2017.
30. UNAIDS. Prevention Gap Report 2016 [cited 2018 Mar 1]. Available from: http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2016-prevention-gap-report_en.pdf.
31. Buchbinder SP, Liu AY. CROI 2016: Hot Spots in HIV Infection and Advances in HIV Prevention. Top Antivir Med. 2016;24(1):10–28. pmid:27398859.
32. Amon JJ, Eba P, Sprague L, Edwards O, Beyrer C. Defining rights-based indicators for HIV epidemic transition. PLoS Med. 2018;15(12):e1002720.
Is the Subject Area "HIV epidemiology" applicable to this article?
Is the Subject Area "HIV prevention" applicable to this article?
HIV diagnosis and management
Is the Subject Area "HIV diagnosis and management" applicable to this article?
Is the Subject Area "HIV infections" applicable to this article?
Is the Subject Area "HIV" applicable to this article?
Is the Subject Area "Epidemiology" applicable to this article?
Is the Subject Area "Infectious disease control" applicable to this article?
Medical risk factors
Is the Subject Area "Medical risk factors" applicable to this article?


City Ranked as 10th Most Vegan-Friendly City in the U.S.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) notified Mayor Dwight C. Jones today that the city of Richmond has been ranked as the 10th Most Vegan-Friendly City in the U.S. PETA, in releasing its Top Ten listing, noted the fact that the capital of the Commonwealth hosted festivals celebrating compassionate culture and is home to many vegan-friendly restaurants, bakeries, bars and businesses led to the city's ranking.
Mayor Jones introduced the Healthy Richmond Campaign in October 2011 to actively engage the public with a variety of health promotions and health education activities, while encouraging individuals and the community at large to embrace the healthy Richmond concept of getting healthy and staying healthy. "I commend all of the eateries and festivals in the city that are geared towards a healthy and active lifestyle for helping RVA earn this PETA recognition. Let us continue to work to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors," said Mayor Jones.
Upcoming festivals in the city that not only aided in obtaining the PETA 10th vegan-friendly city ranking, but also promote a healthier Richmond are the Richmond Vegetarian Festival and RVA Streets Alive!. This year's Richmond Vegetarian Festival takes place on Saturday, June 15 from noon to 6 p.m. in the Azalea Gardens in Joseph Bryan Park. On Saturday, June 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., RVA Streets Alive! will close a 2.5-mile loop of city streets to automobile traffic to allow residents and visitors to use these streets to be active through running, walking, biking, and many other physical activities. Both events are free and the public is strongly encouraged to attend.


The IRS has a $400 billion debt that they have not been able to collect! Starting in the spring of 2017, the IRS has hired private debt collection agencies to go after these back taxes. Collectors from four private contractors will begin calling Americans who owe overdue taxes and penalties to demand payment.
People who know that they owe back taxes should be aware that they may receive written notice from the IRS that their account is being transferred to a private collection agency. The designated private agency will then send a second letter to the taxpayer (and their tax-preparer representative if they have one) confirming this transfer.
checks made payable to the US Treasury and sent directly to the IRS, not the collection agency.
But Beware! There are still scammers out there masquerading as the IRS who may call, threaten and try to trick you into sending money to them. If you get such a call from someone you believe may be a scammer, you should report it to www.tigta.gov (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration) or call 1-800-366-4484. If you know you owe taxes or think you may owe taxes, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS staff can help you.
Threaten to immediately bring local police or law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.


PlayStation VR Safety Notice Spotted - Do You Plan to Get PS VR?
Recently KGrizzly spotted a PlayStation VR Safety Notice in the PS4 Firmware v3.50 Beta 2 for Sony's upcoming virtual reality platform geared towards PlayStation consoles.
With a release expected later this year, today's poll question is... Do you plan to get Sony's PlayStation Virtual Reality headset?
PlayStation VR combines a landscape-scanning, full-HD LCD 1080p display and a uniquely developed optical unit with an approximate 100 degree field of view to create a vast 3D space in front of your eyes.
PlayStation VR allows you to experience the future of gaming through virtual reality with just the visor, your PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Camera.
Utilizing technology developed for the platform, PlayStation VR delivers a deeply immersive audio experience, putting you in the middle of the world with sound that comes from any direction in a 360-degree sphere.
PlayStation VR features a visor-style design, engineered to be balanced and comfortable for extended use. Its dual-banded form also adjusts to fit comfortably around various head sizes and over glasses.
The visor's high-sensitivity accelerometer and gyroscope run at a frequency of 1000Hz, allowing PlayStation VR to detect your head's movement with almost no latency. When used with a PlayStation Camera, your head's movement, and the movement of controller can be tracked and reflected in the game's images in real time.
Multiple PlayStation VR units connected to PS4 systems can be networked to play in the same virtual world. Additionally, PlayStation VR can also display what you're looking at as a 2D image on your TV screen, allowing others to participate.
Do You Plan to Get Sony's PlayStation Virtual Reality Headset?
OMG hell yes - it's awesome technology!
Heck no - it's just another sales gimmick!
VR / AR is the future!! It has the potential to alter the way the world works. why can't people see this? i see someone voted for "Heck no - it's just another sales gimmick!"
And then you have the PS5.
Now look at the pdf and tell me if it looks like a regular disc machine. of course this is from way back when.. SO THIS PDF IS ACTUALLY OUTDATED.
from Microsoft Their own stamp of approval.
Sorry. Couldn't find the official tweet. just a small re-posting from scratch.
I still don't see myself getting VR for PS4, but in other aspects of life I definitely welcome the tech!
Yeah Okay But why don't i leave a link for you then??
I dont see myself walking through the living room as robocop.
I have a DK2 laying around since last year, only used it for some POCs and when friends come by for rollercoaster.
VR is really useless as long as you can't move inside the world phisically and also without your real hands/arms inside the VR.


text:
Sanfo goes public
MarketsTrendLAB Retail - Experience digital trends in retail together with ISPO Digitize and Trendforum Retail
CompaniesNike Shows Its Vision of Shopping in Paris
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All about Retail
Retail I 12/08/2015
Retail: Chinese authorities give the go-ahead
News about Chinese sports-business: The specialty outdoor chain Sanfo is on the stock exchange. The Beijing-based retailer now needs to raise the money to ensure the future expansion of the Chinese outdoor chain.
What can possibly stop him now? Heng Zhang is permitted to have his outdoor retail chain Sanfo traded publicly at last. Opening of new outlets is the order of the day.
Image credit: Markus Huber
"We've been waiting in a long line," Sanfo CEO Heng Zhang commented to ispo.com last summer. The reason for the long wait was Beijing's general ban on initial public offerings in order to cool down the economy. The authorities have now decided to let Sanfo go public.
Sales developed strongly last year when Sanfo booked sales of €52.0 million compared with €43.3 million in 2013. Nonetheless, profitability has been an issue. At the end of 2014, the retailer counted 36 outlets in 12 cities – of which about one third was said to be not profitable. Two stores had to be shut down, while four new doors opened. The share of online sales of the total turnover – usually in the high single digits – was pushed to 15 percent last year.
Profitability shrank by 10 percent last year over 2013. The net margin reached 8 percent. That was partly due to considerable overstocks. The IPO is expected to bring in fresh money, which will be used to expand the chain across the country. The plan is to have 37 new locations in 26 cities over the next three years.
Find out more about ISPO SHANGHAI und BEIJING.
More on the topic Retail
Experience digital trends in retail together with ISPO Digitize and Trendforum Retail
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text:
Religious Affairs Ministry to promote wedding reform
Naftali Bennett and Eli Ben Dahan announce their support of the 'Tzohar laws' to ease access to marriage in Israel
By Asher Zeiger	19 May 2013, 5:33 pm 0 Edit
Illustrative photo of a couple posing for pictures before their wedding. (Kobi Gideon/Flash90)
The Religious Affairs Ministry will push forward marriage reform legislation in order to initiate a "revolution" in the country's religious services, Naftali Bennett announced Sunday.
Currently, couples who wish to wed in Israel must register with the rabbinate in the city where at least one of them resides. Religious Affairs Minister Bennett and his deputy, Eli Ben Dahan, said the new legislation, known as the "Tzohar laws" — named for a Modern Orthodox group that performs alternative religious wedding ceremonies for nonreligious couples — would allow couples to register wherever they wish, "thus creating a healthy competition among religious councils," instead of limiting them to a rabbi employed by the religious council where they live.
"This is a significant change," Ben Dahan said. "The public will no longer be held hostage to any one religious council." Rather, councils now will have to offer better service to the couples if they wish to earn their registration fee — some NIS 600 ($160).
The Tzohar laws would, in addition, ease the path of rabbis from that organization to perform officially recognized weddings. The state rabbinate has effectively discouraged such ceremonies by selectively enforcing that geographical restriction, since the Tzohar rabbi whom a couple has chosen to preside over its union often lives in a different town from both bride and groom.
Bennett recalled that when he registered to wed in 1999, "The rabbi who received us attempted to convince us to vote for a particular party." Today, he said, he wants to make religious services more accessible and thereby help the general public view Judaism more positively.
"There is no competition in Judaism," Bennett said. "But there is competition for religious services, and we are making history."
Besides removing the restrictions as to where a couple may register to marry, the Tzohar laws would consolidate the number of religious councils in Israel, from the current 133 to about 80.
In a swipe at the ultra-Orthodox parties that were until recently in charge of religious affairs in Israel, Bennett said that "from now on appointments [to the religious councils] will be on a professional basis, not a political one."
The legislation being promoted by Bennett and Ben Dahan comprises two bills that were first proposed in the previous government by MK Faina Kirshenbaum (Yisrael Beytenu) and Otniel Schneller, who was then an MK with the Kadima party. The bills passed the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee in March 2012.
Eli Ben Dahan
Tzohar Law
Religious Affairs Ministry
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Krishna Institute of IT & Management
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KRISHNA INSTITUTE OF IT & MANAGEMENT is run under S.K. Mandal Foundation, Road No. 03, East Patel Nagar, Patna- 800023 which is registered under Charitable and Religious Trust Act. 1920. The Trust which aims to open chain of technical institutes is also credited with organizing Health Camp's, rehabilitation programs, women welfare programs, mass education programs etc.
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The Information Technology industries is growing at a rapid pace. With the advent of globalization computers grew in prominence.
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1. It is official. I am in. In October I will be running again the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I am very excited!!
2. Last week I attended a reception at Fleet Feet Chicago for the premiere of "Finding Strong". I was in class most of the evening but made it with enough time to talk to Bart Yasso and David Willey. They're both really cool guys!
3. It's been 11 days since the last time I ran. I finally ran yesterday. I went to the gym and only managed 3 miles. Boo me. That brings me up to a grand total of 34.22 miles. I am behind in the Nike+ Leaderboard.
I guess I am still in recovery mode because I am so tired every single day. I was supposed to go to Utah this weekend for a half marathon but decided against it. No desire to race this weekend. Ha, better get out of this weird mood and be ready for the Nike Women's Half Marathon on the 27th.
Congratulations on getting selected in the Chicago Marathon lottery! And how cool that you got to meet Bart Yasso and David Wiley. I am also envious that you got to meet Jeff Galloway a couple of times before, too!


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I had this printer for about a year and a half.