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Home for the Holidays
Just a few days before Christmas, Erin Broderick, a transition specialist for the Division of Aging's Money Follows the Person (MFP) program, was asked by a family to coordinate moving their sister from a nursing facility in time to be home for the holidays. Knowing the chance of a successful transition in such a short time would be slim, Erin grudgingly verified the client's eligibility and planned a discharge meeting for that same day.
The client, her family, the state, and the nursing facility had to work together—and work quickly. At the meeting, everyone focused on making the client and her family's wishes come true. Once it was clear that the move would take place, the client's sister was in tears thanking everyone as she said that having her home for the holidays was the best Christmas present she had ever received.
Erin later went to meet with the client. She learned that the 39 year old woman was a former employee with the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington DC who had earned many awards and honors for her service. When Erin explained to the client that she would be going home to her family, she could not stop laughing and smiling and asking for hugs. This response overwhelmed Erin with emotion. "It was one of the best experiences I've had," she said. "It made me realize that any stress we have is all worth it. We're changing people's lives!"
MFP, a program of the FSSA Division of Aging, was developed by the federal government to help eligible Hoosiers moving from a nursing facility or hospital to a residential setting in the community, such as to the home of the client or a family member, an assisted living facility or other qualified location. Go online to http://www.in.gov/fssa/da/3475.htm to learn more about the requirements and qualifications for MFP.

subset: commoncrawl


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With 43 days until the election, all this week we're focusing on the social issues most important to voters.
Tonight we'll discuss gay marriage, which was number five on our poll of top domestic issues for registered voters.
You'll hear from Zach Wahls of Iowa, whose speech entitled "What Makes a Family" in support of gay marriage to his state legislature went viral on the internet last year.
He's the son of two lesbian mothers and author of the book "My Two Moms."
"My family really isn't so different from any other Iowa family," Wahls told state lawmakers. "We just hope for equal and fair treatment for our government," he added.
Most recently, Wahls spoke last month at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"People want to know what it's like having lesbian parents. I'll let you in on a secret: I'm awesome at putting the seat down. Otherwise, we're like any other family," Wahls told delegates. Watch the video for more of his speech.
Hear from Wahls tonight on AC360° and each day this week we'll countdown to the #1 social issue for voters. Don't miss our special election coverage tonight at 8 and 10 p.m. ET.
Filed under: 2012 Election • Gay & Lesbian Issues
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


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Nursing + Health Sciences
Grant opportunities
Here is a list of public and private sponsors who support initiatives in nursing and health sciences.
You can also review a list of common federal granting agencies or search the COS database.
Aetna Foundation: Supports programs and ideas that improve health and the health care system, specifically in the areas of obesity, racial and ethnic health care equity, and integrated health care. Awards are $250,000 maximum.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Supports activities to further the agency's mission to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Example programs:
- Small Grant Program for Conference Support: Supports conferences for research development; research design and methodology; dissemination and implementation; research training, infrastructure, and career development. Awards are $50,000 maximum.
- Small Research Grant Program: Supports different types of health services research projects including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology. Awards are up to $100,000 over two years.
American Association of University Women (AAUW): Seeks to advance educational and professional opportunities for women in the United States and around the globe. Provides grants and fellowships, including:
- American Fellowships: Supports women scholars completing doctoral dissertations, conducting postdoctoral research, or finishing research for publication. Awards for research leave fellowships are $30,000; awards for short-term or summer research publication grants are $6,000.
- Community Action Grants: Provides seed money to women and local community-based nonprofit organizations for innovative programs or non-degree research projects that promote education and equity for women and girls. Awards range from $2,000 to $10,000 over one to two years.
American Philosophical Society (APS): Provides fellowships and research grants for a variety of areas, including general publication support, exploratory field studies, APS Library residency, and Native American studies. Programs include:
- Franklin Research Grants: Supports the cost of research leading to publication in all areas of knowledge. Provides up to $6,000 for supplies/expenses.
Helen Bader Foundation: Through its Alzheimer's and Aging program, seeks to make Wisconsin a leader, not just in how we address the challenges posed by Alzheimer's disease, but in how we view growing older and the later stages of life. Through an emphasis on program development, applied research, and public policy, the Foundation aims to offer hope to families grappling with Alzheimer's. In the broader interest of healthy aging, the Foundation supports education and training efforts that raise the capacity of professionals who serve older adults. Recent awards ranged from $7,500 to $75,000.
Otto Bremer Foundation: Assists people in achieving full economic, civic, and social participation in and for the betterment of their communities. Awards typically range from $5,000 to $75,000.
John A. Hartford Foundation: Seeks to increase the nation's capacity to provide effective and affordable care to its rapidly increasing elderly population. Grants are made in two priority areas: Academic Geriatrics and Training, Integrating and Improving Health-Related Services. Funding averages from $50,000 to over $1 million.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Supports health-related research and professional development across the following program areas: childhood obesity, coverage, human capital, pioneer, public health, quality/equality, and vulnerable populations. Average awards range from $100,000 to $300,000.
Plum Creek Foundation: Supports a variety of projects, including improvement of education, cultural activities, and environmental education/conservation. Awards range from $5,000 to $10,000.
Reiman Foundation: Broadly supports three types of endeavors: education, health care, and children's initiatives. Average awards range from $5,000 to $500,000.
John Templeton Foundation: Supports research across many topics, including creativity, freedom, gratitude, love, and purpose. The Foundation welcomes proposals that bring together these overlapping elements, especially by combining the tools and approaches of different disciplines. Awards range from $10,000 to over $1 million.
U.S. Department of Education (ED): Promotes student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. Example program:
- Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education: Supports and disseminates innovative reform projects that promise to be models for improving the quality of postsecondary education and increasing student access. Awards average $700,000.
Wisconsin Historical Society: The Society Research Fellowships program supports research and writing for publication of books by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. Awards of $1,000 to $2,000 are made to individuals.


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Hey guys,
Here is our scenario: We have a web application for our customers, so, when a problem occurs, we know what was it.
Since we know what the problem is in our application, we would like to auto send the username and the problem as variables to our liveadmin chat, so the user doesn't have to do that.
Any suggestions?


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FreedomPop Free Wireless 4G Internet
FreedomPop's mission is to deliver free and fast mobile services to all Americans.
FreedomPop is a new wave telecom company launched publicly in October 2012. It is headquartered in Los Angeles and backed by Skype Founder Niklas Zennstom's Atomico, Mangrove Capital, and DCM. Delivering unprecedented value and convenience to the mobile market, FreedomPop ensures that no American is left off the digital grid.
The FreedomPop Team consists of seasoned web and telecom entrepreneurs who are committed to providing to customers free mobile services in the same way Skype provides free voice, Dropbox free data and Spotify free music. Through its innovative model and approach, FreedomPop currently offers customers free 4G mobile phone service, free wireless internet, and free home broadband.
FreedomPop's high speed wireless internet service runs across Sprint's LTE network, 4G WiMax and 3G CDMA networks.


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It'd make a great story: vet TV scribe Melissa Rosenberg ("Dexter," "The OC") beats out every top screenwriter in Hollywood to land the hottest gig around — adapting Stephenie Meyer's wildly successful "Twilight" saga.
"But the truth is, it just landed in my lap," Rosenberg says. "I'd done 'Step Up' with Summit, just eight months before they got the 'Twilight' books' rights, and it was such a great creative collaboration that I guess they called me first, and I jumped on board as soon as I read it. It was all embarrassingly easy."
Initially hired to adapt just the first novel, Rosenberg quickly realized, "There was a very solid movie in it, so my pitch was, I want to adapt the book and stay faithful to the material" — an approach that immediately endeared her to Meyer. "A previous adaptation had used the book as a launching pad for a totally different story, involving Bella as a CIA operative or something and that'd made Stephenie very gun-shy."
So much so that Meyer had a contract-binding list of elements for the film, such as the vampires not having fangs, she states. "And for me, it was all about the mythology anyway. That's what really attracted me to the whole project."
For Rosenberg, the hardest character to crack was Bella. "The books are all from her point of view and very internal. And Bella's very introverted and passive on top of that, which is fine in a book, but not in a movie. Your lead cannot be passive. So how do you externalize all those thoughts and experiences and make it cinematic? That was the biggest challenge, always making her proactive in a scene, and empowering her."
While rabid fans of the books may not have been thrilled with this subtle shift, Summit recognized that she'd solved the tricky book-to-screen alchemy then offered Rosenberg a deal for the next two films, which she wrote before the first was even released.
"The schedule — along with the changing directors — was very similar to TV, which I prefer," she says. "Most movies take forever to make, but they had these coming out once a year, so it was a very natural fit because of my TV background."
And while Rosenberg consciously "filtered out" both negative and positive fan reaction to her work, and was initially wary of "letting anyone into my work process," she increasingly came to rely on Meyer as a close collaborator. "She's not at all precious about the material, and was a great source for research, as she has this incredibly detailed backstory and history on every character."
Despite the enormous success of the first three films (worldwide box office gross for the franchise is more than $3 billion and counting), both Rosenberg and Meyer had doubts about doing the final two movies, it turns out.
"I didn't want to get pigeonholed, I had some political issues with the book's 'choice' elements — which would have been a deal-breaker if I hadn't figured them out, and Stephenie was also debating whether she even wanted the fourth book to be made. She knew the book ending wasn't cinematic enough for a movie, and she was afraid it'd all get changed too much, so both of us were on the fence."
All was finally resolved over dinner in Vancouver during the "Eclipse" shoot, she says, "when we came up with the twist at the end of 'Breaking Dawn — Part 2.' It was a real light-bulb moment for both of us, and we were back on board."
"It's been a dream job, and what I'll miss most of all is the great creative collaboration we all had," sums up Rosenberg, "and the great chemistry. That's pretty rare."
"The biggest challenge was trying to figure Bella out, and then the middle of the movie, where she discovers that Edward's a vampire. Then you get into that second half of the second act, where you usually have people running to each other in a slow-motion montage. That was the problem, as there's a lot of talking in the book. So how do you make that interesting in a movie? Unfortunately, due to budget constraints and other issues, it ended up being them talking on a rock. If I could redo that, I'd find a more creative solution."
"New Moon"
"That was the trickiest of all, as Edward isn't in the book — and there's also this new guy, Taylor Lautner. In the book, Bella hears Edward's voice, so it seemed natural to turn that into visions of him."
"Keeping Bella more proactive, and adapting the tent scene, which was Stephenie's personal favorite. So the bar was very high, and it took many attempts to get it right."
"Breaking Dawn — Part 1"
"How do I write about the issue of 'choice' and not violate my own beliefs — and Stephenie's? I solved it after talking with my sister-in-law, a former ACLU feminist lawyer and a big fan of the books. She reminded me that having a child is a choice, and that perspective got me in."
"Breaking Dawn — Part 2"
"My favorite to write because Bella's a vampire now, so she gets to kick ass, and as embodied by Kristen, the character's so much fun."
— As told Melissa Rosenberg to Iain Blair


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I just came across this clip from Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World (2007). What you can hear in it is fascinating: the sound of seals in the Antarctic are like nothing you could have imagined.
Is AI Moving Too Fast? | Future Tech
Personally, I learnt two things: a) that seals under Antarctica's ice sound like alien spaceships or Pink Floyd (more or less the same) and b) that the McMurdo Station is manned by a nun and a monk. Both are fascinating facts. [Thanks Andrés!]


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© 2021 The Travelling Roadshow Of The Countess Maritsa
All Rights Reserved
On The Road- Mt.Shasta 1983
The Travelling Roadshow Of The Countess Maritsa is a memoir written by Morgain McGovern, who grew up in a gypsy-like family of four rebellious sisters headed by their mother, Maureen, a brilliant con-woman on the run.
The book starts when I was seventeen, hiding out in a Parisian hotel room with my fugitive mother, who was wanted by the French authorities, British authorities, Interpol and the FBI.
As I lay in bed watching old "Kojack" reruns in a pill induced haze in our hotel room, I saw my Father's episode dubbed over in French. The story then melts into our family's history in "The Bionic Woman" and against the backdrop of his acting career in 1970's Los Angeles.
Some of my earliest memories were stories of trashed movie trailers and tales of adventure with his wild actor friends: John Quade (Clint Eastwood films), Roscoe Lee Brown, Julius Harris, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper and Warren Beatty.
But after one too many affairs on movie sets and theatre tours, Mom left her womanizing husband & took her four little girls (and a furry menagerie of our animals) on the road in a Winnebago.
Mom had a Samsonite case full of pills and borderline personality disorder, but her gift was a sharp knack for crime.
Mom and Paul Zindel 1959?
Her story is in some of his books.
In the "Mad Men" era of the mid-nineteen sixties, New York Herald Tribune journalist Maureen Smith met Don McGovern, a Broadway actor and stage manager (1963-66) of Lincoln Center in the East Village-who also moonlighted as a Mafia henchman.
He taught her everything he learned about crime, and while running a nightclub for a famous mob family in the meat market district, Dad got knifed in an argument with a "made" man- his boss- and the couple knew it was time to hit the road and drive to a new life in California.
At first, it was an ideal family life, having four little girls and living on our ranch in trendy Agoura. Mom's sisters lived nearby in Los Angeles and provided some stability and guidance. We visited our father's movie sets and went to studio parties with the glitterati, but the sepia toned memories and happiness were soon fleeting.
My father's roles (Easy Rider, The Wicked Die Slow, The Bionic Woman, Killer Bees, the Last Detail, Sleeper, Kojack and others) gave him the acclaim he needed, but alcoholism and the lure of other women soon engulfed him.
The Wicked Die Slow 1968
One of his favorite stories was when he and his best friend Mike Whitney (Twiggy's ex-husband) got drunk at our house in Laurel Canyon and then decided to cement over Ali McGraw's footprints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, because they didn't think she deserved the honor.
Dad, Mom, Lana Saunders, Mike Whitney
About the time Dad & Mike Whitney
cemented over Ali MacGraw's footprints at
Graumanns' Chinese Theatre
Caravanning across America, we lived in gorgeous houses in affluent areas then when luck ran out, we crashed in run-down motels across the country & abroad. Rarely staying in one town for more than six months, Mom raised us with artistic ideals, to seek truth and beauty, kindness and compassion.
Mom's regular form of income was fraud, of all kinds, but she really came alive when she got on the phone- wheeling and dealing, putting deals together with rich people. Some of them were spectacular. She was gifted at real estate and quit claims-because she had the knack of knowing what land was about to be valuable, get the rights to buy it somehow and sell it to whoever really wanted it at a much higher price. She did this with no actual money of her own and it was dazzling. When it was working in her favor, her mind was her greatest asset.
Mom loved big, rambling farmhouses out in the country and my sisters and I would pick wildflowers and plant gardens at whatever new house we lived in, putting down roots in the ground, as if it were some sort of magic spell to make us stay in one place. As I planted, I knew we wouldn't be there the next spring to see hollyhocks come up-but I left my mark on the earth, I had been there.
Wherever we moved, Mom would invite strange people to live with us.
She'd find them at the DMV or pick up people spare-changing for food outside of the local grocery store. We were a family like Robin Hood, doing the right thing and helping these strange drifters that Mom had found. She told us that it was the kind thing to do, people should help each other. But as I got older, I realized they were her henchmen.
They would live in our guesthouse, attic or basement and fixed things around the property. As time went by, Mom's choice of house guests would get scruffier and lower on the moral ladder. Drug addicts, dealers, low-lifes, crackers, swamp trash, anti-socials, squatters, whores, trailer trash, junkies, whatever she could find-the dumber, the better. The more affluent ones had their van or trailer they'd been living in towed to our newest property.
They would lights cars on fire, burn things down, return stolen items back to a pricey store (for cash or store credit), stage a robbery or whatever else she could think of to collect the insurance money.
Sometimes, they would get high, drunk or just completely misunderstand Mom's directions and fuck things up so badly that we'd have to move sooner than anticipated. Most of her vagabond victims would only be around for a few months and the smart ones moved on to roam after they collected their share.
She'd order one of them to roll a dying car with a shot transmission off of a cliff or flood the basement of whatever house we were renting. We would gather up all of our clothes we were sick of, broken electronics (and anything else we didn't want or feel like packing) and throw it into the dark, smelly lake that used to be our playroom. She told us that the basement had flooded overnight and while it was an unfortunate accident, we could get new stuff this way.
When my oldest sister Meagan was about ten, she got electrocuted when she flipped on the basement light before Mom could warn her. She looked down and realized she was standing in deep, electrified water on the top step but her puffy rubber-soled moon boots saved her from death.
Before we'd leave town and move on to our next new life, our basements morphed into something that looked like the end scene of the movie Titanic, with a shaved head Barbie doll floating face down in the black water, dismembered and abandoned to a watery death.
But when Mom was really upset or nervous, she would set things on fire. Torching rental houses was her signature way of letting the world know that she was angry, horrifying hysterical landlords who wanted their three-month's of back rent.
My sisters and I would wave goodbye from the back of the station wagon with our cats and dogs to the bad town that wasn't right for us. We knew other people led normal lives but Mom told us the new town was going to be better. This town was bad luck.
In some classrooms we'd be popular and never want to leave, in others, we'd be pariahs and didn't bother with doing our homework. We knew it was only a matter of time before we were on the road again.
After our eighth or ninth school, my sisters and I began to create cover stories to tell our newfound friends. Growing up in chaos created a defiant kind of camaraderie for us. The secrets of our sisterhood banded us together to kept us sane.We began to realize what our Mom was, but we didn't have the word for it. I told friends that my mom was freelance writer with a gypsy streak. We knew that soon she'd find a real job as a writer, eventually.
The magic box of pills that also doubled as a seat for me in the front of the van.
With warrants and detectives trailing us, the bills were paid with insurance fraud, clever scams and bad checks.We wanted to believe our mother- that the next move was permanent and we would settle down, but we all knew better.
Our father called occasionally, and told us he never wanted to be a parent, just an artist in a garret.
Mom's brilliant mind would come through and save us every once in awhile.
When I was in the 3rd grade, she auditioned and became a contestant on a trivia game show called "Sale Of The Century". She gave the other contestants a beating, and after a long week of tapings, she won $75,000 in cash, plus a bunch of prizes and a trip up to Monterrey, California.
Her winnings on the show changed our nomadic lives. For the first time, we went to a school for two years in a row and even though we still took road trips in our custom van up to Oregon, Washington and Idaho; we had a home to go back to in Los Angeles. We had food in the refrigerator and the cops didn't come by to arrest Mom every few months. It was peaceful.
Things got bad again once the money ran out. We ended up living in a motel on Sepulveda Boulevard for three months until Mom could think of something. I've driven by that motel recently and families are still living there.
Three years later, we were living in a motel in Upstate New York when Mom found out that the game show was hosting a "Return Of The Champions" and wanted her to be a contestant on the show to defend her game show queen title-in Australia.
The show was a huge hit in Australia and the producers were willing to fly her and one other person to Melbourne and put her up in a hotel for at least a week or so. She convinced them to pay for Me and Erin to go, since we were both under fifteen. Mom had warrants out and detectives looking for her in New York-so a trip to Australia to escape certain jail time in New York was an opportunity that Mom couldn't refuse.
Crocodile Mumdee
When we got to Melbourne, There were about thirty other "champions" from various "Sale Of The Century" shows around the world, mostly Britons, Americans and Australians. I've never seen people who loved to drink so much (and for free) in a hotel bar.
All the contestants were shuttled to the studio every day, and the producers would randomly pick the contestants who would be on the show for the day. Everyone would come back by five or six for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the lounge. Mom finally had a 9 to 5 job.
Erin and I would take the trolley all around Melbourne and explore. It was brilliant.
It was in the lounge where Mom picked off her prey. Mom liked pills more than the drink, so she would wait it out while the other contestants got drunk and mingled. In 1989, there was no Internet. It was hard to tell if a credit card was stolen and they were run by hand machines and carbon copies. The stores would only phone in a suspiciously large purchase, so it would be weeks before English banks would know anything was up.
Mom's day to finally be a contestant on the show came-and she didn't do well at all. She was very sick on the day of the taping and only made about $1700. It was time to go back home to the states.
We tried to look on the bright side, even though she didn't bring in the kind of money we needed, at least we had gotten a free trip to Australia. We tried to reassure her, the cops from New York were probably looking for somebody else by now.
For a last hurrah, Mom rented a car and drove us to see the fairy penguins march up the beach at dusk, back to burrow in their sand cave homes, all nestled in and warm with their furry families in the cliffs overlooking the Tasmanian sea.
We started to drive the car north, through the Snowy River Forest and then up to ninety mile beach where massive waves and a blue wall of water could come up slowly or quickly, and if you weren't paying attention, you'd get soaked sitting 100 feet from the faded water lines. We were on our way to Sydney-we were going to fly back to the States from there.
After we got back to New York, we crashed at Katie and Meagan's apartment. My sisters and I couldn't joke about this anymore, we all started to unravel. We needed a Mom and she was wanted by the police all over New York for various thefts and fraud.
Mom checked herself into fancy mental hospital because she said that the cops can't arrest you if you're a patient. The four of us were on our own until she could figure something out. She was there for a few weeks when the cops found her and it was a matter of time before they figured out a loophole in the mental patient protection law. Mom checked herself out and announced that we were moving to Hilton Head Island, in South Carolina. Tomorrow.
Rich people from Ohio, New York and Connecticut usually go to the Carolinas for a vacation and expect to find golf, warm weather and Margaritaville. They'd have someone safe watch their kids at the hotel so they could go out and party.
Mom was waiting for them like a grandma spider nanny in a beautiful hotel. After the kids came back from swimming, tennis or golf lessons, Mom would put them to bed and help herself to whatever cash or jewelry she didn't think the parents would miss. Most of the time, they hadn't realized they'd been robbed until they got back to their northern homeland and sobered up.
Mom had a way of making sure she only robbed super rich people who on their last day of vacation and were leaving early for the next flight back home.
"I was a boutique thief, I never robbed anyone who'd be left with nothing", she told me recently. "Morgain, there is no honor among thieves, I've never seen it. But I never stole from someone who'd be left with nothing. I stole from the rich."
Detectives were searching the house on a regular basis and Mom got arrested for grand theft, robbery and insurance fraud. Meanwhile, New York State had several warrants out for her and was trying to extradite her back.
My sisters were done. They decided to move back to upstate New York and break free from Mom, but I couldn't. For years, we had been raised on a roller coaster ride of torched houses, cross country road trips, international hotel rooms, run down motels, a gunfight, foreign authorities, Australian game shows, addiction and madness.
After Mom posted bail on Hilton Head, my sisters had already left and I was alone with her. Mom presented me with a new plan. We were going to start a new life in England. I knew how sick she was, but I couldn't leave her. She had already programmed me to protect her.
In England, I started going to a posh school in Kensington and started hanging out with my friends. I tried to stay away from home as much as possible. While I was at school, Mom had started doing some very bad things and ended up in Holloway Women's Prison, in London. The detectives confiscated my passport and I was trapped in London, homeless for the rest of the winter.
After Mom escaped from her bail hostel in Oxford, we left England in the night. From there, our journey took us to Spain, France and back to the United States-which escalated into a FBI manhunt and America's Most Wanted.
For years, we were raised on a roller coaster ride of torched houses, cross country road trips, international hotel rooms, run down motels, a gunfight, foreign authorities, Australian game shows, drug and alcohol abuse, a Parisian dungeon, French nuns, a house chicken and madness.
The Travelling Roadshow of the Countess Maritsa a story about the American dream unraveling.
As the Internet age came upon her, Mom was caught just before her segment on "America's Most Wanted" aired, and she was sent to Federal prison for several years. One detective in Fort Bend, Texas thought she was affiliated with the notorious "Irish Travelers" band of gypsies, but nothing has ever been proven.
As this story has progressed and I started doing more research , I began a quest to find the men who sexually assaulted me as a child and reported them to the police and FBI.
What I have discovered has created several more layers to this story that I am still documenting.
I was also exploited by several people in law enforcement and media and have been reporting & documenting the victimization they inflicted on me and there is a current active fraud investigation after I filed a complaint about Paul Holes to the Contra Costa District Attorney's office. I reported Peter & Jim Clemente to the LAPD and their fraud and the LAPD recommended filing restraining orders against them.
Writing my story and having an emotional breakdown after what the LAPD put me through has taken an enormous toll on my health so I'm taking a break right now and healing.
I have enrolled in school to finish my film degree and going back to classes in January 2021.
I plan to do a documentary about my journey to find closure to my child sex crime cases and the people in the media and ex law enforcement & current members of law enforcement who exploited me along the way.
I found one of my attackers. His name is Steven Dale Davis & he is a convicted child rapist in prison in Utah. He's been there since 1984 and nobody wanted me to find him. Because Steven Dale Davis & William Birch Davis leads to their crime/burglarly/rape partner Joseph James DeAngelo & their criminal father Paul Otto Davis & his crime partner / relative / family member Terry Peder Rasmussen. Terry Peder Rasmussen is not his real name. The real Terry Peder Rasmussen died in Colorado in 1972 and the serial killer known as Terry Rasmussen stole his identity.
I figured it out when I was searching the social security death index. The serial killer Terry Peder Rasmussen supposedly died in December 2010 and he doesn't come up on the social security death index, only the Terry Rasmussen who died in 1972.
I called the prison in Santa Susanna where Terry Rasmussen supposedly died & they told me he could be there under a different name.
Regarding my other child sex crime / stalking / trafficking that happened in 1986, Ben Stein gave a public statement about me and my claims that he stalked me and attempted to rape me from 1986-1988 and my mother trafficked me to him and used me as bait to get money out of him. He lied and stated that he has no idea who I am and that he's never met me, even though I have the two newspaper articles he wrote about my mother in 1986 for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, statements from witnesses who were there at the time he stalked me when I was 12-14 years old , the photographs he took of me and how my mother sexually trafficked me to him for money and he attempted to rape me in the 7th grade. I also told my school, Tomlinson Middle School in Fairfield, CT to my school counselor Mr. Lawerence Peacock. I told him about Ben Stein stalking me, his attempted rape and my mother sexually trafficking me to him and I told Mr. Peacock about the rape and torture and sexual assault I endured with my sister in 1980 involving Steven Dale Davis and the other men who were in our bedroom attacking us.
I posted my LAPD police report and statement I gave to the LAPD in 2016 and posted the two articles Ben Stein wrote about my family and my mother in 1986 for the LA Herald Tribune.
I've written in my other posts about XG Productions Peter Clemente, Tim Clemente & Jim Clemente's exploitation of me and the current Paul Holes fraud investigation at the Contra Costa District Attorney's office regarding his exploitation of me and my active child sex crime cases.
The story continues …..


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Ruby is a wife and mother to 2 little ones. She is the Blogger at www.growingupblackxican.com where she blogs about raising her kids to be proud of their 2 cultures- Black and Mexican. Her family recently moved from the West Coast to the East Coast and are transitioning from being a military family to a civilian family. She is passionate about family, education and all things crafty.
Twitter: rubydw


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Catherine Middleton stepped out in front of Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. wearing a wedding gown designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.
Middleton's dress featured an ivory lace bodice with a restrained, high lace collar, long lace sleeves and sweeping ivory satin skirts. Clarence House said Middleton chose the label "for the beauty of its craftsmanship." "Miss Middleton wished for her dress to combine tradition and modernity with the artistic vision that characterizes Alexander McQueen's work."
Clarence House noted that the dress' design "pays tribute to the Arts and Crafts tradition…Ms. Burton's design draws on this heritage, giving the cut and the intricate embellishment a distinctive, contemporary and feminine character."
The dress featured a lace appliquéd bodice and skirt, along with long lace sleeves and a high lace collar. The lace was hand-made at London's Royal School of Needlework based at Hampton Court Palace.
The design was appliquéd with individual flowers that were hand cut from lace, and then hand engineered onto ivory silk tulle. The bodice and skirt were made from hand-cut English lace and French Chantilly lace, while ivory and white satin gazar was also used in the body of the dress and its skirts. The ivory satin bodice, narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips, drew on the tradition of Victorian corsetry. The train measured eight feet long.
Middleton also wore a full veil, made from layers of soft ivory silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers. The veil was held in place with a Cartier halo tiara, lent to Middleton by Queen Elizabeth. The tiara was made by Cartier in 1936, and was presented to the Queen on her 18th birthday, when she was still Princess Elizabeth.
It was presented to her by her mother, who originally owned the tiara. Middleton wore earrings in the design of diamond-set oak leaves, designed by Robinson Pelham, a gift to Middleton from her parents.
Her shoes were hand-made by the team at Alexander McQueen, in ivory duchesse satin with hand embroidered lace. Middleton's bouquet, meanwhile, was made up of myrtle, lily of the valley, sweet William and hyacinth.
Discussing the dress, Burton said in a statement that, "It has been the experience of a lifetime to work with Catherine Middleton to create her wedding dress, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. It was such an incredible honor to be asked, and I am so proud of what we and the Alexander McQueen team have created. I am delighted that the dress represents the best of British craftsmanship. Alexander McQueen's designs are all about bringing contrasts together to create startling and beautiful clothes and I hope that by marrying traditional fabrics and lacework, with a modern structure and design we have created a beautiful dress for Catherine on her wedding day. The last few months have been very exciting and an incredible experience for my team and I as we have worked closely with Catherine to create this dress under conditions of the strictest secrecy."
And in an attempt to explain why the house of McQueen repeatedly denied over the last few weeks that it had any involvement in the design of the dress, Burton said: "Understandably, Catherine has been very keen to keep the details of her dress a secret, which is every bride's prerogative, and we gave an undertaking to keep our role confidential until the day of the wedding."
Burton continued: "Catherine looked absolutely stunning today, and the team at Alexander McQueen are very proud of what we have created. The dress was just one component of a spectacular day, and I do not think it is appropriate to comment any further beyond saying that I personally am very grateful and honoured to have been given the opportunity to work on this project, and I wish TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge every good wish for the future."
Princess Beatrice wore a design by Valentino haute couture, made up of a blush colored coat dress with a lattice detail at the collar, which she wore with a bold Philip Treacy head-piece in a bow design. Charlene Wittstock, Prince Albert of Monaco's fiancée, wore a light gray, double faced coat and dress by Akris' Albert Kriemler. She accessorized with a wide-brimmed light gray hat and crocheted gray gloves. Elie Saab dressed Princess Victoria of Sweden's outfit of a long sleeved, peach knee-length dress and matching suede platform shoes, from the label's spring collection. Elie Saab also dressed the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg in a blue stretch crepe dress with a matching jacket, also from its spring collection.
And Milliner Stephen Jones designed hats for a slew of guests at the wedding. Those who wore Stephen Jones hats included Serena, Vicountess Linley, who wore her cream satin head band with a chalk-colored Roland Mouret dress, while Sara Parker Bowles, Camilla's daughter in law, wore a navy veiled boater with heart-shaped hat pins. She paired the hat with an Osman dress. Jones also designed hats for Lady Sarah Chatto, Fiona, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, Patti Palmer-Tomkinson, Santa Sebag-Montefiore, Tessa Traeger, Candida Lycett Green and Nouneh Sarkissian.
London was in a party mood from early in the morning, with hordes of people congregating along the Mall, in Trafalgar Square, in front of Westminster Abbey and even in Hyde Park, where huge screens had been set up for people to watch the event.
"Kate is a role model for our young girls," mused a bystander as the tension built up in Trafalgar Square prior to the bride's arrival. "It's rare to have someone young and beautiful who dresses so elegantly and demurely — I think it'll set a new standard."
And the standard was certainly set with a crowd who'd dressed up to the nines to come and watch the wedding. Flamboyant hats and confections of fascinators bobbed vigorously as bucks fizz was poured and strawberries were passed around, and though the sky was gray the crowd was anything but. Cross dressing queens and painted ladies, groups of girls painting each other's nails in patriotic colors, and white haired gents sporting golden crowns all jostled together for a view.
Two octegenarians from Minnesota had plundered the souvenir shops and were sporting Will and Kate paraphernalia top to toe, from the ribbons in their blue-rinsed hair to the faux sapphire ring on their fingers. "We got a little carried away," they confessed, but they planned to buy more sophisticated souvenirs for the folks who stayed at home.
A running commentary on the outfits of each distinguished guest kept the crowd animated in the build up to the main event. Victoria Beckham was deemed to look "a bit trussed up and uncomfortable" by a group of suburban mothers who disproved of her choice to wear black. Prime Minister David Cameron's wife Samantha caused a stir when she showed up sans chapeau (choosing instead to wear Erdem jewels in her hair). "She's not doing herself any favors there," muttered one disparaging spectator.
Carole Middleton hit all the right notes, however, with her sleek ice blue outfit by the studio of the late Catherine Walker — a favorite designer of Princess Diana's. But of course, the main topic on the tips of thousands of tongues was The Dress. The rampant rumours pointing to Sarah Burton meant most people were hoping to see a McQueen dress. Others were hoping that the honor would be bestowed on a lesser known designer. "Kate has the chance to change somebody's life with the dress she chooses," said a visiting student from Philadelphia, who had travelled with friends especially for the event, "so I want to see her wearing a niche English designer that isn't necessarily well known." Others thought McQueen might be on the flamboyant side for a princess-in-waiting who has already earned praise for her conservative dress. "It's never been her style to take risks," said another onlooker, "so why would she start on her wedding day?"
But whatever people were hoping for, whether conservative or statement, famous or niche, all expectations were fulfilled — and surpassed — the moment the elegant lace decolletage of the bride was first glimpsed in the back of the car taking her to Westminster Abbey from the Goring Hotel. Ripples of approval built up to rapturous applause and even a few high fives from keen fashion followers when the bride stepped out of the car and the designer was announced. A few raised eyebrows from some French spectators about the appropriateness of the virginal veil covering her face, but apart from that the crowd was unanimous in its praise.
"We were watching two young people in love — young people who just happened to be royal," said Buki Obakin, whose husband is chief executive of Prince William's charity Centrepoint. "The atmosphere was really warm, which is not surprising because when you meet William, he makes you feel like a friend."
"It was a joyful ceremony, and very simple really," said Monica Main, one of Queen Elizabeth's personal representatives in Scotland. "Catherine's dress was very plain but wonderful."
"We had Becks and Posh behind us," said Natalie Lake, a friend of the bride's family. "There was an electric atmosphere." Her friend, Alex Williams, said she was seated near Ian Thorpe, the Australian swimmer and Olympic gold medalist. "There was such warmth! Everyone was chatting before the service and making friends with people they didn't know."
"In the beginning, when the guests began to arrive, there was a lot of hustle and bustle, and people moving around or getting up to go to the toilet," said Sam Williams, a guest of the groom's. "But when the royals started coming in, everything got very quiet, and then when Catherine came, it was so still you could hear a pin drop. The whole experience was just lovely."
Following the service, Queen Elizabeth held a lunch-time reception at Buckingham Palace for 650 guests, drawn from the wedding service congregation and representing William and Kate's official and private lives.
There, guests were served canapés made using U.K.-based ingredients, which included miniature watercress and asparagus tarts, quail eggs with celery salt and miniature Yorkshire puddings with roast fillet of beef. The 10,000 canapés were prepared by a team of 21 chefs led by royal chef Mark Flanagan.
Guests also sipped Pol Roger NV Brut Reserve Champagne, and witnessed the cutting of the cake. The eight-tier wedding cake — which was decorated with cream and white icing, worked into 17 different varieties of iced flowers and leaves — was served at the reception. A chocolate biscuit cake, made at the request of Prince William and using a royal family recipe, was also served.
Following the reception, William and Kate drove from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House in a blue open-top vintage Aston Martin, strewn with balloons and bearing the number plate "JU5T WED" on the back, to cheers from the crowds.


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In order to run the installation system a working network setup and ssh session is needed on S/390.
The booting process starts with a network setup that prompts you for several network parameters. If the setup is successful, you will login to the system by starting an ssh session which will launch the standard installation system.


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Monday, July 12, 2010
MiM Mailbag: Question from a student
I've seen people submit questions to your blog, so I thought I'd ask one myself!
I recently started reading this blog, and I love hearing such a real perspective on medicine. I'm a grad student, and my plan has always been to apply to med school. All my pre-reqs, MCAT, etc. are complete. However, a discussion with a dental student recently got me thinking about dentistry. My main concern with medicine has been the lifestyle and strain on family. Not to say that dentists have it easy, but I get the impression that they generally have more manageable schedules. Of course, I would need to find the same passion for dentistry that I have for medicine. But I'm curious if any of you considered any other health professions. Would a career in health care with a friendlier lifestyle still fulfill you?
This blog is such a great resource. Thank you all for your insightful writing!
Take care,
10 comments:
- AnonymousJuly 12, 2010 at 9:21 AM
As the daughter of a dentist, I always associated the field with great hours (Dad always worked 4 days a week) and great pay, but a lot of stress since most dentists are self-employed. It can be a lonely field. I also didn't want to feel limited in scope or specialty from the beginning, so I went to med school. Now I'm a married mother of two and a physician employed by a hospital. I have great hours and a great job, but I don't have the pressure of running my own business.ReplyDelete
I say go with what you love, keeping the lifestyle you want in mind. I see my own dentist struggle with business stress, and I know a lot of doctors who do this as well, if they are not going to work for a hospital or into a well established practice.ReplyDelete
Residency training is rough, and you and your partner would have to be prepared for that. In retrospect, it was not the right time to have two kids with a physician husband. But I have two great kids! So nothing lost.
I see a lot of women, including pathologists, carve out a career with part-time when their kids are younger. And they seem happy and fulfilled. Alternately, your partner could choose to take the bulk of the childcare while you are the breadwinner.
I would not sacrifice your passion (whatever that may be) for lifestyle - I don't think they are really that much different. You can find that "dentist lifestyle" in medicine, somewhere, if you want to.
I was always jealous of the med techs, when I was a resident. Shift work, with lots of time off with their kids. I wondered what the heck I was doing with my life. That was residency stress, and I am happy I stuck it out.
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 12, 2010 at 1:26 PM
I am a family medicine doctor, and having adequate time and energy for my family is of utmost importance to me. I have often wished that I went into a field (ie, other than medicine) that had more family-friendly schedules and was less stressful. That being said, now that I'm finished with training, I work 2-3 days/wk and find that leaves me with plenty of time and energy for my family (and myself!). The benefit of medicine is that a doctor's part-time salary is still more than most full-time people make. The drawback is that the culture is such that working part-time is not always highly regarded (although I think that is changing some) and may limit your job prospects. I do think that a career in another healthcare profession would fulfill me, even if I were somewhat less excited by it, but I am less career-oriented than most doctors I know.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 12, 2010 at 6:54 PM
There are a good number of fields in medicine that have manageable schedules, and it seems that working part-time is becoming more accepted. I know it's hard to know what aspect of medicine you might be interested in at this point without having much exposure, but I'd say dermatology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, anesthesiology, radiology, peds, PM&R, pathology, radiation oncology are some of the areas with more 'regular' office hours. Even going the hospitalist route offers a good bit of time off.ReplyDelete
I agree with the advice to follow your passion. That's the most important part because school and training both have long hours and hard work. If it's not really your thing, your threshold for burning out or losing interest will be much lower.
Good luck with your decision!
I strongly considered going to pharmacy school instead of med school. In the end, I chose med school, largely thinking along the lines that to be a clinical pharmacist would require essentially the same number of years of training as med school plus residency. I failed to realize, however, that those years spent in pharmacy training would have been far less demanding than pretty much any field of medicine. When I get really down about the lack of time with my family now (currently PGY 4 in anesthesiology residency with a 19-month old daughter), I still wish I had chosen either the PA route or the pharmacy route. Then, I'm reminded of how much cooler my job will be in the end, once I'm through with residency and that helps me to get through the rough weeks. I do think that I could have been fulfilled with other medical-related fields. Basically, I agree with the others: you need to do what your passion is. Just realize that if you choose medical school, the work-life balance will be totally out of balance for at least the time of your residency and likely during med school clinicals as well. Also, just to note, as I'm starting the job search process for post-residency, I have always desired to work part-time. I'm finding from talking with many in my field that finding part-time work is not as easy as you would think. It seems that most groups have a 2-3 year track to partnership, during which time your hours/schedule are only slightly better than during residency (although with a significant pay increase). Part time jobs are out there, but you may have to sacrifice something on that end as well (location, pay/benefits, type of practice, etc). Good luck whatever you choose!ReplyDelete
I am a dentist (an orthodontist in fact). I chose dentistry not so much because of its lifestyle but because I was very inspired by my own orthodontist. ( you don't want to see me before i had my braces done) I agree with everyone else about follow your passion. If it's the lifestyle you are after, there are plenty of lifestyle specialities in medicine too. (have you heard of the ROAD to happiness? radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, dermatology)ReplyDelete
My Ob/gyn asked me once whether it's difficult to look at people's teeth everyday. I told her it's definitely easier than looking at vaginas.
I'm in PM&R and I just started a job where I'm working only 4 days a week. Could have done 3 days, but I wanted the extra money (plus I would get bored being home so much!). I won't lie and say that my training never put a strain on my family, but it's not like dental school is a total walk in the park either. I agree with the people who said to do what you love and you'll find a balance.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJuly 13, 2010 at 10:48 PM
A lot of people say to do what you love, or find your passion, but for many people their passion is not in their career. I am still in school to be an Optometrist, and while I am interested enough about being one in the future, I am way more passionate about my family. Most women agree that their priorities change after they have children, but as to how much they will change, it's impossible to predict. Also, most people (including much of the population in western europe) find that they are more interested in the activities they do outside of work, i.e. working to live versus living to work.ReplyDelete
It's hard to tell if a career will fulfill you until you are actually in that career, and it is important not to put too much pressure on your career to do so. I know in medicine (and dentistry and optometry) that you are essentially stuck in that career once you pass a certain level of debt. What's most important is to find a career that allows you the opportunity to pursue interests that you have currently, those may not have developed yet, and for the amount of time you may want to spend with your family. Whether or not medicine or dentistry does this, or will be able to make changes in the future to allow this, is completely up to you to decide.
Have you considered nursing? I am a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner trained in Primary Care. I love, love, love my job & lifestyle. I was able to work full time until I had my kids, work 20-30 hours a week after, and now I have a per diem position in a large inner-city teaching hospital. I make killer money and make my own hours, according to the needs of my family. I diagnose, treat, follow-up... everything. I have prescriptive authority and function completely on my own. I was on the path to medical school and for a variety of reasons went into nursing instead. 16 years later, I am thrilled that I chose this path. I have no school debt, great flexibility, and make great money. I also have a panel of patients that I love, many of whom I have taken care of since they were born and have followed over the years. Something to consider. Hope this is helpful.ReplyDelete


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Hi, we're Seventeen, and we're addicted to 2048.
If you haven't downloaded the latest mobile game obsession, 2048, then you're probably doing yourself a favor, because the app is so can't-stop-playing addictive that all you will do for the next 3 hours is slide numbers left and right in hopes of getting the ultimate ~2048 tile~.
We've rounded up the most hilarious tweets that explain just what it's like to be totally and completely obsessed with 2048.
More From Seventeen
Are you obsessed with 2048? What other games do you love? Sound off in the comments!
10 Emotions Only Candy Crush Addicts Will Understand
11 Most Hilarious Twitter Reactions To Flappy Bird Being Taken Down


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When: Thursday, August 24, 2017
Where: Larter's at St. Andrews Golf and Country Club, Winnipeg, MB
Enjoy a fabulous day of golf in support of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Lots of chances to win great prizes.
Take advantage of early bird pricing by registering early!
Sponsorship opportunities available.
Contact Markus Chambers at 204.791.1950 or email@example.com or the Friends office at email@example.com.


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American drinking at 25-year high: Gallup
Americans are consuming alcohol at the highest rate in 25 years, reports a new Gallup Poll, and I say, there's nothing surprising about that! I've never seen so many people so gloomy about America's future and their own economic situation. Everywhere I go, it's topic #1. I was talking with the Master Sommelier, Fred Dame, at Sunday night's gala Top Sommelier event, and he mentioned some very big Napa Valley wineries that might collapse. In my own candid conversations with winemakers and winery owners, when people are being honest with me, they tell me how much they're struggling. Here in California, the official unemployment rate in June was 12.2%, but unofficially, it's far higher. And I heard on the radio yesterday morning that Napa County has lost more jobs, as a percentage of its work force, than any other in California, mainly because construction there has ground to a halt.
According to that Gallup Poll, beer is more popular than wine, but wine is more popular than liquor. I also liked the finding that "People who seldom or never attend church are 'substantially more likely' to say they drink than people who go to church on a regular basis." Since Gallup also reported just last month, in a different poll, that "Americans are beginning to go to church more than they have in recent years," I wonder if those church-goers are telling the truth to Gallup's pollsters. I, myself, would have no problem telling a pollster (should one call me) that I'm drinking a lot these days because I am. But I don't think I'm necessarily drinking more than I used to.
Drinking wine, or beer or even the occasional cocktail makes me feel good. Wine is balm for the spirit. If there's a God, He created the miracle of fermentation in order to please the human spirit and give people a way to kick back and chill after a long, hard day of work. You'd think that church-going Americans would be the first ones to say, proudly, that they love alcohol, but I guess that's not true. On some level they seem to be ashamed of it, and I don't know why.
The Gallup Poll also said that the high point for American drinking was 1976-1978, when 71% said they consumed alcohol (the current number is 67%). I don't know why 1976-1978 set a drinking record, except maybe that Carter was President, and Americans seemed pretty glum in those post-Watergate, post-Vietnam days (although Carter never used the word "malaise"). On the other hand, America's lowest year of drinking was way back in 1958, when only 55% of the people told Gallup they drank. When I was a little boy, I can't remember anybody drinking anything, not even beer. It was a very white-bread era. People could have used a good shot of something to jolt them out of their tedium, but the zeitgeist didn't encourage it.
It's also interesting in the new poll that the biggest drinkers are the youngest Americans (18-34 and 35-54). Also, the biggest drinkers are college grads, and the more money Americans earn, the more they drink. Maybe that's because they can afford booze, although being poor never stopped anyone from drinking. Non-Christians drink the most, which I guess includes Jews. Most Jews I know love to drink. Alcohol has always been a big part of Jewish culture.
Women prefer wine over beer, 48% to 27%, while for men it's just the opposite, 54% to 17%. Beer is still seen as a masculine beverage. This is because beer started in Northern Europe, where the Prussians always thought the wine-loving southerners were pansies, and that perception continues today via generations of Budweiser and Miller ads linking beer to sports and masculinity. Oddly, although senior citizens drink least of all the age groups, the highest percentage, 58%, of wine drinkers is women 50 and older. I hope they're not secret drinkers who drown their sorrows alone, like Betty Draper, in Mad Men.
As onw who attends church most every week, my pastor has pointed out on more than one occasion that Jesus' first miracle was transforming water into wine. His thoughts are that it's proof that God wants us to be happy, as long as we don't overdo it.
I grew up in the 50's and while I don't remember much socialization of drinking, it seems that it was always around (more beer & spirits than wine). It was just something that one did, not something one participated in and talked about its finer points.
I saw this Gallup Poll yesterday. The numbers were pretty interesting, but not nearly as good without your commentary. Thanks for the insights!
"If there's a God, He created the miracle of fermentation in order to please the human spirit." I agree.
Perhaps the reason a high percentage of women age 50 years and older admit to drinking wine is that we realize how wine enhances the experience of breaking bread with family and friends. And how each meal is a celebration of not only of life's milestones but of life itself.
I echo Brooklyn's comment.. saw the results, but enjoyed your insight. a couple other things: the Chardonnay Symposium that you recommended, though couldn't attend, was VERY good.. informative seminar in the morning, nice lunch and tasting with ample opportunities to talk with winemakers. AND, since Jeff Pisoni was one of the speakers at the seminar we attended, I went back and read your chapter on him, his brother and dad in your "Classic New Winemakers" book.. was interesting as background and gave a nice foundation for a good talk with him.. so, thanks for that, too.. : )


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- 02/01/2019
- 10:30 am - 11:00 am
- Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church
1001 Encinitas Blvd
Encinitas, CA 92024
Lead by 7M
Lead by 7M
Rainy day? That's ok! Planned visit from @kickforcema just moved the presentation inside to share some martial arts with Preschool! Cool indoor field trip on campus! ... See MoreSee Less
Congratulations to all the #gsdsef2023 Science Fair winners from #SaintJohnSchoolEncinitas!Ribbons, society awards, certificates… way to go Saint John School! ... See MoreSee Less
The luck of the Irish is with SJS today! 🍀☘We made T-R-A-P's but so far, no leprechauns have been spotted! ... See MoreSee Less
A big congratulations to these middle school science fair participants! Good luck and way to represent #saintjohnschool at the #greatersandiegosciencefair ... See MoreSee Less
Middle School Art! A look behind the scenes and the process. Masterpieces! #SaintJohnSchoolEncinitas ... See MoreSee Less
Our campus is looking RAD today! 90's flashbacks everywhere! Looking forward to seeing so many at the Belly Up on March 24th. Send in your RSVP today if you haven't already! ... See MoreSee Less
A perfect morning to take in a play! Kinder field trip to the San Diego Junior Theatre in Balboa Park to see "How I Became a Pirate" 🎭 ... See MoreSee Less
A time honored tradition at Saint John School- mosaic crosses during Lent for those who will be making their 1st Communion this spring! ... See MoreSee Less
When life gives you oranges…
You grab a few friends and create a fresh squeezed OJ stand to support the food pantry! 👏🏼 big hearts from these girls! Great job! ... See MoreSee Less
Hi Mrs. Roberts!! ❤ how was that over 15 years ago I was in your class..?!
Booyah! The auction is right around the corner! 90's or bust! ... See MoreSee Less


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West Frankfort Union Meeting
December 1 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
General Membership meeting for any and all IBEW Local 702 members.
Retirees and Travelers are also welcome to attend.
Meetings are held on the 1st Friday of every month, beginning at 7:30 p.m. @ IBEW Local Union No. 702, located at 106 N. Monroe, West Frankfort, IL.


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Wise Program Uninstaller is the perfect solution for uninstalling Windows software, allowing you to uninstall programs quickly and completely using its simple and user-friendly interface. The built-in scan engine will scan and delete all the left associated files, folders and registry items after the de-installation, making sure the software is completely removed from your computer. You can add 'Uninstall with Wise Program Uninstaller' option to context menu in settings, then you can uninstall software by right-clicking its icon without opening Wise Program Uninstaller.
For some stubborn software or software with a broken uninstaller, they can't be uninstalled by conventional means. The 'Forced Uninstall' option of Wise Program comes in handy. It scans your system for all the files and registries, that are associated with this software and deletes them thoroughly, just like you have never installed the software.
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Wise Program Uninstaller is freeware that allows you to completely uninstall programs (64 and 32-bit) installed on your system. It has been developed and fully tested to work great on Windows 8 and 8.1 and other Windows operating systems, from Windows XP and up. No matter what you own - a desktop or a laptop.
What's new in version 1.69.89:
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- Minor GUI improvements and bug fixes.
Download: Portable Wise Program Uninstaller 1.69.89 | 1.9 MB (Freeware)
View: Wise Uninstaller Home Page


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|this diet to other popular diets.
A three-phase plan created by cardiologist Arthur Agatston, M.D., that calls for banishing bad fats and bad carbohydrates. Agatston recommends limiting saturated fats to protect heart health while also encouraging weight loss. Phase 1 is a strict two-week period, which eliminates many foods like fruit, starches, and dairy. Phase 2, which lasts as long as the dieter wants to lose weight, adds back fruit, high-fiber breads and starches, and low-fat dairy. Phase 3 is a weight-maintenance phase that features more flexibility, allowing dieters to pick and choose occasional indulgences. Dieters experience accelerated weight loss in the first phase, thanks to strict carbohydrate restrictions, then can expect a one- to two-pounds-per-week loss during phase 2. The plan promotes foods like whole grains, lean protein, and fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, which take longer to digest than simple carbohydrates like white breads, potatoes, and pasta. Includes sample meal plans and lists of foods to enjoy avoid.
What you will eat
Three balanced meals, two snacks, and dessert, including slow-to-digest foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and modest portions of lean meats and seafood. The plan starts by severely limiting carbs. Dairy (except for low-fat cheese) is also taboo. Agatston recommends steering clear of saturated fat, sugar, and refined grains. So, instead of limiting the amount of carbohydrates, South Beach is focused on making sure you eat the right ones.
Alcohol and Caffeine
Both are fine, in moderation. Be careful with beer, though. It has a greater impact on blood sugar levels.
More From Good Housekeeping
Dining Out
Sure, but ask for double veggies and half portions. No bread, potatoes, or starchy foods -- and no dairy in phase 1.
Family Friendly
Yes. Meals are balanced and emphasize fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Chances are, your family will like the recipes, too.
Amount of Cooking
As much or as little as you like. Includes lots of creative recipes, like Artichokes Benedict, Spinach-Stuffed Salmon Fillets, Mashed Potatoes (made with cauliflower), and Chocolate-Stuffed Pears.
Best for
People who want to try a low-carb diet with less stringent restrictions on fruits and vegetables -- and less allowable fat.
Setbacks to Watch Out for
Phase 1 is extremely restrictive, excluding everything from bread and potatoes to fruits and dairy products. It also promotes accelerated weight loss, which is mostly water weight and may be difficult to maintain.


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Reminders of a couple of worthwhile events that are coming up this weekend, each intended to give a hand to those who could use it:
On Saturday, Mets fan Tommy LaBella, who passed away earlier this year at the way-too-soon age of 22, will be remembered at the first annual Tommy LaBella Softball Tournament at D'Onofrio Field in New Rochelle, beginning at 9 AM. Proceeds will benefit the Tommy LaBella Sky's The Limit Fund — whose mission is to "allow Tommy's spirit to continue to touch the lives of many by giving back to his community" — and the New Rochelle Little League. There'll be a silent auction of sports memorabilia (autographed by the likes of Cliff Floyd, Johan Santana, David Wright and Ike Davis) and all kinds of fun and games to honor the memory of someone who remains in the hearts of those who knew him best. Visit the fund's Facebook page here for more information on the event and get a sense of what Tommy meant to his loved ones here.
On Sunday, Ike Davis will be doing his usual big part for Solving Kids' Cancer and the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative. Ike and several Met teammates will be on hand guest-bartending, and country music star Lee Brice will provide the entertainment. The good times for a good cause start to roll at City Winery on Varick Street at 7 PM, after the Mets kiss off Chipper Jones for the last time at Citi Field. Details here.


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I have always believed that better tools give better results.
For many years, farmers in West Africa have been struggling with low yields because good-quality seeds are not easily available. Most people need a little convincing to upgrade, especially when they are used to a certain way of doing things. In Africa, the majority of farmers use seeds saved from the previous year's harvest, which often results in lower yields and vulnerability to disease. They don't have access to affordable improved seeds: new varieties that have greater yields and are pest- and disease-resistant. Also, using saved seeds costs nothing and farmers are wary of paying for something when they are not sure of the return they will get.
My dream was to involve our local farmers in producing adapted high-quality seeds that can bring much better returns to smallholder farmers. And this is what's happening now, enabled by Mali's revised seed laws and support from initiatives like Feed the Future. To my knowledge, I am the first woman in Mali to develop a successful seed business through producing and marketing high-quality seeds.
The right support makes all the difference. Since 2008, my company, Faso Kaba, and a Feed the Future-supported seed project in Mali have been promoting improved seeds together on demonstration plots using seeds produced by four seed farmer cooperatives trained by the project. The seeds are then sold at Faso Kaba stores. This year, the West Africa Finance Fund (supported by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) enabled me to invest in a seed cleaning and packaging assembly line to ensure quality standards and facilitate packing. In return, we will clean, at reduced costs, the seeds produced by the seed farmer partners involved in the project.
The Feed the Future seed project has also helped me grow and develop Faso Kaba through business management training and international seed industry best practices. I have just returned from a visit to the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in India where I discussed the possibility of creating a seed venture incubator in Mali. I want Faso Kaba to be able to train Malian farmers to become local seed entrepreneurs producing improved varieties. They could then supply the seeds to farmers in their district, helping build local seed industries. Faso Kaba would ensure the supply of improved varieties, provide quality control, and help market the seeds.
I am very proud of Faso Kaba, which shows that a woman can drive this type of pioneering agribusiness in Mali. My mother was my inspiration; she used to produce a very respectable 500 kilograms of sorghum every season, but she didn't have access to improved seeds. That is why distributing these seeds to both male and female farmers is a real source of pride for us.
I'm an ambitious person and I want to see more women involved in agribusiness. This is a tough challenge because women here are juggling so many responsibilities; they don't have the time or support to develop businesses like this.
I hope that I can help show them the way.
Learn more about how Feed the Future is working to empower women farmers.


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Class Action :
Active Cases
Residental Capital, LLC et al.
Dates and Deadlines
Class Notice
Court Documents
Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to the GMAC Mortgage Lender Placed Insurance Class Action Settlement Website
United States Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York
Case No. 12-12020 (MG)
NOTICE OF PENDENCY OF CLASS ACTION: Please be advised that your rights may be affected by a class action settlement that has been proposed in the above-captioned bankruptcy before this Court, if you are a residential mortgage loan borrower whose loan was serviced by GMAC Mortgage, LLC ("GMACM") and from whose payments GMACM recouped or recovered, in whole or part, charges for lender-placed hazard insurance on residential real property ("Lender-Placed Insurance"), including, without limitation, any borrower whose payment was applied, in whole or part, to charges for Lender-Placed Insurance, at any time from February 3, 2004 through October 2, 2013 (the "Class Period"). Members of the Settlement Class will be affected by the Settlement, if approved by the Court, and may be eligible to receive a payment from the Settlement.
As an "Allowed Borrower Claim" in Class GS-5 under the Chapter 11 Plan, the Allowed Claim is estimated under the Disclosure Statement to yield a $0.30 per $1 recovery under the Borrower Claims Trust. Distribution of the Net Settlement Fund is estimated by Plaintiffs' Counsel to yield a recovery of 2.7¢ per $1 of Recognized Loss.
NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT: The Court-appointed Class Representatives, on behalf of themselves and the Settlement Class, have reached an agreement to settle the Bankruptcy Proofs of Claim for an allowed unsecured claim not subject to subordination in the amount of $13 million (the "Settlement"). If the Settlement is approved by the Court, all claims asserted by the Named Plaintiffs in the Bankruptcy Proofs of Claim on behalf of themselves and the Settlement Class Members against all the Settling Defendants, as well as other Released Parties, will be resolved.
A class action is a type of lawsuit in which similar claims of a large number of individuals or entities are resolved together, thereby allowing for the efficient and consistent resolution of the claims of all class members in a single proceeding. In a class action lawsuit, the court appoints one or more people, known as class representatives, to sue on behalf of all people with similar claims, commonly known as the class or the class members. In this proceeding, the Court has appointed Named Plaintiffs Landon Rothstein, Jennifer Davidson, Robert Davidson, and Ihor Kobryn to serve as the class representatives (hereinafter "Class Representatives"), and the Court has approved the Class Representatives' selection of the law firm of Kirby McInerney LLP to serve as Class Counsel in the proceeding.
The Settlement Class, certified by the Court, includes all residential mortgage loan borrowers whose loans were serviced by GMACM and from whose payments GMACM recouped or recovered, in whole or part, charges for Lender-Placed Insurance, including, without limitation, any borrowers whose payments were applied, in whole or part, to charges for Lender-Placed Insurance, at any time from February 3, 2004 through October 2, 2013.
Dates and Deadlines
Class Notice
Court Documents
Frequently Asked Questions
Terms of Use
Privacy Statement


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Net::SIP::DTMF - DTMF RTP packet generating and extracting
use Net::SIP::DTMF;
my $sub = dtmf_generator(
11, # event '#'
100, # duration 100ms
rfc2833_type => 101, # RTP type 101 for telephone-event/8000
# audio_type => 0, # RTP type 0 for PCMU/8000, 8 for PCMA/8000
while (...) {
my @pkt = $sub->($sequence,$timestamp,$srcid);
last if ! @pkt; # dtmf done
next if $buf[0] eq ''; # more coming, but no data this time (pause)
.. send @pkts ...
use Net::SIP::DTMF;
my $sub = dtmf_extractor(
rfc2833_type => 101, # RTP type 101 for telephone-event/8000
audio_type => 0, # RTP type 0 for PCMU/8000, 8 for PCMA/8000
while (...) {
if ( my ($event,$duration,$type) = $sub->($packet)) {
# event received
This package provides functions for generating RTP packets containing DTMF events or extracting DTMF events from RTP packets.
Generates a function which is used to generate packets for the given EVENT.
EVENT is the event numer (0..15) or undef if it should just generate silence or pause. DURATION is the time for the event in ms. ARGS contain information how the event should be packed: either as RFC2833 RTP event or as RTP audio PCMU/8000 or PCMA/8000. %ARGS can be
Gives the RTP payload type number for rfc2833 RTP events (telephone-event/8000). If not given will try audio_type instead.
Gives the RTP payload type number. 8 for PCMA/8000 and 0 for PCMU/8000. If not given and no rfc2833_type given it will croak.
Sets the volume for RTP event according to rfc2833.
The generated function should then be called with SEQUENCE,TIMESTAMP,SRCID to generate the RTP packets and will return @RTP_PACKETS, with
Generates a function which is used to extract DTMF events. Keys rfc2833_type and audio_type have the same meaning as in generate_dtmf. It will only attempt to extract DTMF events from rfc2833 RTP events or audio if the relevant rtp_type is given.
The function will be called with the RTP packet as the only argument and will return () if no new events where found or (EVENT,DURATION,TYPE) if an event finished, where DURATION is the duration in ms and TYPE is audio|rfc2833.
For performance reasons it is best to use only rfc2833 if the peer supports it.
To install Net::SIP, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
cpanm Net::SIP
CPAN shell
perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Net::SIP
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.


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Another good news for us coffee lovers.
Coffee has been shown to have good effects on the vessels and has been shown to improve the vessels capacity to dilate. This finding is another plus factor for us drinkers of coffee because it helps reduce the stress of the heart in pushing blood out of the vessels.
And this plus effect is on top of previous studies showing coffee to be protective against developing diabetes.
The study will be presented during the European Society of Cardiology meeting as an abstract. The abstract was discussed online in MedPage today.
One to two cups a day correlated with greater aortic distensibility compared with rarely consuming coffee (P=0.45) in a cohort of men and women 65 and older on the Greek island of Ikaria
Likewise, Chrysohoou and colleagues found that, compared with rarely drinking coffee, moderate consumption of one or two cups a day was associated with:
- Lower prevalence of diabetes (22% versus 34%, P=0.02)
- Lower prevalence of high cholesterol (41% versus 55%, P=0.001)
- Lower body mass index (28 versus 29 kg/m2, P=0.04)
- Higher creatinine clearance levels (70.2 versus 65 mL/min, P=0.01)
- Lower prevalence of cardiovascular disease (19% versus 26%, P=0.04)
- Higher values of aortic distensibility (P<0.05)
The coffee blend that was used according to the authors were of the traditional Greek blends, which apprently have higher levels of phenol compounds thought to be protective for the heart than coffee typically consumed in the U.S.
This study tells us to drink coffee in moderation and advises us to drink only 1-2 cups per day.
There you go guys…another toast to more days of fun with coffee……


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16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, May 20, 1911: Oh psh aw, this is hardly worth writing. I planted some popcorn this morning, and was kept busy nearly all afternoon.
Her middle-aged granddaughter's comments 100 years later:
A 1911 book called How to Grow Vegetables by Allen French describes how popcorn (and sweetcorn) were grown a hundred years ago. The book says that the same methods were used for both types of corn. According to the book :
Being very tender it is not planted till all danger of frost is over. The warmest and "quickest" of all soils should be chosen. The ground should be rich, and well supplied with quickly available fertilizers.
Sow— If the ground is cold or wet, sow thickly in the rows.
Thin—Twelve to eighteen inches apart, according to height of variety.
Culture—Preserve the surface mulch, and keep down the weeds.
Fertilizer—Any good general fertilizer, liberally applied, as corn is an exhaustive crop; should be rich in nitrogen for a sandy soil. Dress once with nitrate of soda or liquid manure when the plants are up.


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Dosage and use
The total daily amount of a protein supplement depends on age, body weight and individual metabolic status and is determined under medical supervision. The daily quantity of the protein supplement should be taken in 3 - 5 single portions during the day. The daily dose of amino acid mixture may consist either exclusively of ZeroMet minis or of a combination of several amino acid mixtures suitable for the dietary management of Homocystinuria. The diet must be supplemented with energy, natural protein and other nutrients.


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A Tokyo court ruled Thursday that Apple did not infringe a Samsung patent, a small win for Apple in the continuing legal wrangling between the two companies.
The patent in question was related to a wireless transmission technology, according to Japanese media reports. Samsung spokesman Nam Ki Yung confirmed the lawsuit was filed in Japan against Apple for a "standards-related patent."
"We are disappointed by today's court decision. Following a thorough review of the ruling, we will take the measures necessary to protect our intellectual property rights," Samsung said in a statement.
An Apple spokesman in Tokyo said the company did not have a comment.
The decision by the Tokyo District Court follows a ruling in August that Samsung did not infringe a patent related to synching smartphones and tablets with media devices.
Several patent lawsuits between the two companies are still ongoing in the country. Japanese legal monetary awards are typically smaller than in other countries, and the courts sometimes issue separate rulings for individual patents in a single case.
Apple's iPhones and tablets are dominant in the Japanese market, far outselling rival devices from Samsung and domestic manufacturers.
Earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division a judge signaled she would like to put the second of two patent cases between the companies on hold while the first is resolved.
Apple is pursuing the two against Samsung before the same judge at the same time, with both accusing Samsung of violating patents in products including smartphones and tablets. Samsung denies the allegations and has filed countersuits of its own.
The iPhone maker scored a massive victory in August when a jury awarded it $1.05 billion in damages, but it is still fighting to get an injunction on some Samsung products. Samsung has appealed that case.


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1345.4 - SA Stats, Nov 2009
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/11/2009
|Page tools: Print Page Print All
In the year ended September 2009, the number of dwelling units approved in South Australia fell 17.0%. Decreases occurred across all statistical divisions with the South East Statistical Division recording the largest decrease (30.2%). This follows a 50.3% increase for this statistical division during the year ended September 2008.
Map of South Australia's Statistical Divisions (PDF 2.44MB)
In the June quarter 2009, the total value of building work done (in trend terms) in South Australia rose slightly to $1,050.7m, an increase of 0.4% from the March quarter 2009. The trend estimate for the value of engineering work done in the June quarter 2009 was $964.8m, an increase of 11.8% from the March quarter ($862.7m). This is the sixth consecutive increase in this series with the June quarter estimate 61.8% higher than the value recorded in the December quarter 2007.
Document Selection
These documents will be presented in a new window.


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Genuine Provisions is a food hub, founded in 2014 as a project of GROW North Texas and located at the historic Dallas Farmers Market in Dallas, TX. Food hubs are aggregation and distribution facilities that allow farmers to make one delivery, and have their food sold to multiple outlets, saving the farmer much needed time and effort. By working with multiple farmers, a food hub has the quantity of products necessary to make large scale ordering possible by chefs and grocery stores. Our ultimate goal is to make it easy for farmers to sell, and for chef's to source the delicious, seasonal and locally grown food in North Texas, and in doing, support the hard working farmers of North Texas, grow our local economy and put more local, sustainable and healthy food on the plates of consumers across our region.
Why a Food Hub
The Dallas / Ft. Worth Metroplex is roughly the size of Vermont, with most farms located outside the urban area. In order for a farmer to make an income, he or she must not only grow a quality product, but also find a market for that product and spend time making deliveries. Often that involves working with several restaurants, in addition to other wholesale and direct marketing ventures, which takes a lot of time and effort. Genuine Provisions offers the opportunity for a farmer to make one delivery for all of their products, and then go back to farming, or even take a little time off! Conversely, chefs can source a large amount of a certain product, not have to keep track of multiple invoices, and save time coordinating orders and deliveries.
In "Farm to Table" the farmer is the "farm" the restaurant is the "table" and we are the "to".
GROW North Texas is a growing nonprofit that seeks to connect North Texans to food, farms, and community in order to create a sustainable, secure regional food system that enriches the land, encourages economic opportunity through food and agriculture, and supports equitable access to healthy, nutritious food for all.
Genuine Provisions was founded with support from the USDA Local Food Promotion Program.


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Dec 18 (Reuters) - The world's supply of maple syrup just got a little safer.
Police in Canada's French-speaking province of Quebec announced a breakthrough in the mysterious disappearance last August of truckloads of Canadian maple syrup.
Three suspects were arrested, vehicles were seized and syrup-making equipment recovered after a manhunt in Canada and the United States, the Quebec provincial police force said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Quebec police statement did not say what happened to the syrup or how much was stolen, but Canadian news sources said $18 million to $22 million worth was taken and two-thirds of it was recovered.
Five other suspects were still being "actively" sought in the investigation that also netted two elevator carts, four syrup kettles, platform lifts and six electronic scales.
The syrup heist was uncovered by a routine inventory check by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers earlier this year. The federation said the loss was significant but did not specify the size of the loss from the warehouse that held 10 million pounds of maple syrup, worth some $30 million.
Quebec produces about 75 percent of the world's maple syrup, a favorite on pancakes and waffles and also used in foods ranging from sweets and pastries to bacon and sausage. (Reporting By Russ Blinch; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


text:
Core Strategy - Consultation Draft
Ensuring Safe and Healthy Communities
CS25: Children, Young People and Higher Education
Where local provision for children and young people will be inadequate to meet the needs of new residential developments, improved facilities/services or new learning facilities (i.e. schools, pre-schools, children's centres, childminding provision, youth provisions etc) will be sought to meet any identified shortfall.
These learning facilities will be provided in tandem with population growth. Where appropriate, new schools will become focal points for communities and act as a venue for a wide range of community activities.
New schools/children and young people facilities will be sited in a location that would facilitate safe routes to the venue and be directly accessible to a pedestrian and cycleway network.
The provision of further and higher education and training initiatives and facilities, particularly with regards to the role and expansion of Weston College as a focus for higher education within the district, will be supported.
This policy contributes towards achieving Priority Objective 8.
With a large amount of development planned up to 2026 there is going to be increasing pressure on the children services system to meet the needs of residents. New housing developments can increase the number of children in an area and place greater demand for pupil places in local schools and other children focused services.
This is particularly true in the case of the expansion of Weston. Here six new primary schools (with possible co-located community facilities such as children's centres, pre-schools etc), up to two new secondary schools, and the probable relocation and expansion of other existing schools will be required to serve the new developments.
For smaller developments any deficiencies can be more problematic to solve as needs are often greater than the provision of just a classroom(s) and associated servicing and supporting facilities such as toilets, play space etc. Class organisational structures may necessitate the need for a range of additional facilities to support the council's policy of working towards having single aged teaching bases and the legal requirement for infant-aged pupils to be taught within teacher pupil ratios of 1:30. In addition, any supporting accommodation such as the hall, play areas, green fields and other teaching rooms also need to adequately cater for the rising school population. These education facilities will need to be provided in tandem with population growth to ensure that all children have safe and convenient access to school facilities that meet their needs.
Weston College also plays an important role in Weston-super-Mare in terms of provision of higher education. Weston College now offers degree courses and has many sites across the town including its new University Campus which opened in 2007 and is leading in a range of new initiatives including work based learning and higher education.
A successful Weston College can provide the workforce with skills to support local businesses and its continued success is critical to the future of the town. The town centre with its good public transport links is ideally located to support the future expansion of the college including facilities such as students' halls of residence.
The Core Strategy approach
Developer contributions will be sought to meet the children and young people's educational and play needs of new developments. Depending on the extent of the shortfall and the scale of development proposed contributions could be required for secondary, primary and special schools as well as pre-schools, youth centres, play needs and children's centres. As well as built accommodation, contributions towards improving safe routes to school or home to school transport may be required.
Any contributions will be influenced by the North Somerset School Organisational Plan (2007-2012). This strategic document includes an assessment of future demand for school places and how these may be accommodated. The main conclusions arising from the document which are relevant to the Core Strategy are:
- To ensure that there is a surplus of around 5 - 7% of places in all schools to enable parental preferences to be realised as much as possible;
- To enable the council to support school organisational structures that enable approved curriculum planning structures to be put in place by all schools;
- To progress amalgamations and federations where they contribute to academic achievement, improve standards and give greater financial sustainability;
- To progress Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and the Primary Capital Programme (PCP) where funding permits;
- To expand primary and secondary school place provision in Portishead and Weston-super-Mare to meet residential needs;
- To promote extended services and children's centre provision across the district to match Government requirements;
- To review school place provision across all clusters and make changes as necessary.
Schools are often focal points for communities and can provide a valuable community resource outside of school. They can act as a venue for clubs, societies and community groups as well as more active recreation and sport. The design and layout of new education facilities should therefore include features aimed at facilitating community use.
How and where the policy will be delivered
Most of the new schools in the district will be associated with the expansion of Weston-super-Mare although the policy will apply to any development that requires the expansion of facilities for children and young people.
The strategy will be developed through the implementation of the North Somerset School Organisational Plan (2007-2012) which will be funded mainly by a combination of developer contributions and also, where available, through public sector finance. Developer's contributions will be set out in a forthcoming Supplementary Planning Document.
There will be effective co-ordination with the council's children and young people directorate and local community groups to ensure that local needs are clearly identified and implemented.
Alternative options and contingency planning
One of the aims of the Sustainable Community Strategy is to "meet the learning, social and cultural needs of North Somerset communities" and there are no alternative approaches that would meet this aim. It would be unrealistic to expect these facilities to be totally funded and provided from the public purse.
Monitoring and review
Monitoring will assess the provision of facilities.
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text:
Children who show self-control in the face of temptation may be less likely to have weight problems as adults.
In a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, 4-year-olds participated in a test measuring self-control between 1968 and 1974. Kids were asked to choose between an immediate small food reward (for example, one marshmallow) or to wait for an unspecified time for an even bigger treat -- two marshmallows.
According to the study, being able to wait it out was linked to lower body mass index as adults 30 years later. For each minute they delayed reaching for the tasty treat as children, there was a 0.2-point decrease in their body mass index as adults. At follow-up, 24% of 164 participants were overweight and 9% were obese.
Wait for It...
"We know that we are living in a toxic food environment," says researcher Tanya Schlam, PhD. She is an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention in Madison. "Fast foods are available everywhere and it's so easy to not get any exercise and lead a sedentary life."
The findings suggest that "having self-control seems to help mitigate or lessen that risk in terms of being able to resist the temptations that are all around us," she says.
The study may also help identify kids at risk for obesity. Some seemed to know how to distract themselves in the face of temptation, while others did not, she says.
"Since our toxic food environment seems unlikely to change a lot in the near future, high self-control can help people resist overeating and stay at a healthy weight despite temptations."
Teaching Kids to Make Healthier Food Choices
So how can one teach or foster self-control and delayed gratification? Schoolyard games such as other "Mother May I" and "Red Light, Green Light" can help kids learn self-control. These games encourage patience and listening skills.
Martial arts and mindfulness meditation may also increase children's self-control, Schlam says.
"Parents may want to consider encouraging their child to learn martial arts, mindfulness meditation, or yoga," she suggests. "Programs that help children increase their self-control involve lots of practice, with the tasks becoming progressively more challenging."
Lawrence Hammer, MD, says the solution starts at the family dinner table, not necessarily in the schoolyard.
This means no more bribing your kids to eat their veggies at dinner. "Parents need to provide healthy options and offer healthy foods, but not push foods or use food as a reward to reinforce healthy eating ," says Hammer, a professor of pediatrics and medical director of the Pediatric Weight Clinic at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Center for Healthy Weight in Stanford, Calif.
If kids have more control over their diet, they will learn to make better decisions over time.
Scott Kahan, MD, MPH, says the study should not be interpreted to say that some kids lack self-control. He is the director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness in Washington, D.C.
"The study should not be taken to say some children are bad and others are good based on their self-control," he says. "All kids have different heights, weights, attention spans, and so forth."
More structure may help fight childhood obesity , he says. "Lots of kids, particularly in our society, have fairly unstructured upbringings and that does often lead to difficulties with delayed gratification," Kahan says.
Temptation abounds. "There is so much engineered, highly palatable, and highly sugary foods all around which make it much more difficult for kids to delay gratification," he says.
SOURCES: Lawrence Hammer, MD, professor of pediatrics; medical director, Pediatric Weight Clinic, Lucille Packard Children's Hospital Center for Healthy Weight, Stanford, Calif. Tanya Schlam, PhD, an assistant scientist, University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, Madison. Scott Kahan, MD, MPH, director, the National Center for Weight and Wellness, Washington, D.C. Schlam, T.R. Pediatrics, 2012, study received ahead of print.
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