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Simple Shashlik.
Simple Shashlik
Ingredients of Simple Shashlik
- Prepare 500 gr of tenderloin, cubed.
- It's 2 of medium zucchini, sliced about 1-1.5 cm thickness.
- It's 1 of red bell pepper, cubed.
- Prepare 1 of eggplant, sliced about 1-1.5 cm thickness.
- You need 1 of onion, cubed.
- You need 2 tbsp of grape juice (the original recipe calls for wine).
- It's 1 tbsp of lemon juice.
- It's 1.5 tsp of lemon pepper salt.
- You need 1 tbsp of oil.
- It's 1 tsp of olive oil (for pouring).
Simple Shashlik step by step
- Combine all ingredients except olive oil and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour..
- Heat a nonstick pan. (I used a cast iron skillet for this) Add the meat and turn the pieces around until they're cooked to your liking..
- Remove the meat and clean the grease from the pan. Add the rest until the vegetable pieces are cooked to your liking. Stir now and then..
- Skewer the meat pieces alternatively with the vegetable pieces. Drizzle with olive oil before serving..


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Weddings can be stressful, and we totally get it that's why we're here to help. Wedding photography is one thing we promise you won't have to worry about.
Our clients love photography and want to look and feel like supermodels on one of the biggest days of their lives. They appreciate our guidance and expertise and rave about our timeless and elegant style.
If that sounds like you, drop us a line and we'll get in touch!
The most common question is about pricing so I've outlined starting prices below. As every wedding is so different please include as much information as possible so we can work on an exact proposal for you.
To start we'll check if we have your date available. Clients typically book between 12-18 months in advance, but we've booked weddings as little as a few weeks away so don't hesitate to ask.
- Weddings (Up to 12 Hours) – Start at $3800.
- NYC Elopements (Up to 2 Hours) – Start at $1000
- Engagement Sessions With Wedding Package – Start at $700
- Engagement Sessions Without Wedding Package – Start at $850
- Boudoir Sessions – Start at $650. Average investment between 1500-2000+ Learn More
- Destination Weddings – Start at $5200 Learn More

subset: commoncrawl


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Product Description
Whether it's bacon and eggs, avo on toast or sushi, they got brunch covered with these delicious new prints. Designed with a cooling and comfortable poly blend, which is very durable with high tensile strength, wrinkle and colour fade-resistant qualities. It also features Supawear's iconic form fitted styling that everyone has come to love and adore.
- Slim fitted to give a slimming silhouette
- Wrinkle and colour-fade resistant qualities
- Lightweight and cooling
- Single layered scoop pouch to give you a natural enhanced lift
- CURV technology which creates a 'contact-less' support to reduce chaffing sweating
- Thick and soft waistband for extra comfort and reduces bending and folding.
Material: 85% Polymide, 15% Elastane
Size Guide
|68-74 cm (27-29″)
|76-79 cm (30-31″)
|81-84 cm (32-33″)
|86-89 cm (34-35″)
|91-94 cm (36-37″)


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Innovo Pelvic Floor Exerciser Shorts with 250ml Conductive Spray
- 93% of users showed a significant reduction in urinary leaks within just 4 weeks
- An easy to use, non-invasive and long-lasting solution for men and women to combat bladder weakness; ideal for those who do not wish to use an internal probe/device for pelvic floor strengthening
- Using for just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 12 weeks gives remarkable, sustainable results
- A long-lasting answer to your bladder weakness issues – no more 'padding the problem' with incontinence pads, towels or underwear
- Please note: The X large and X small sizes are distributed directly from our supplier and can take up to 1 week to arrive
Suffering Bladder Leaks? You Are Not Alone
If you are one of the many men or women in the country who suffer bladder leaks due to pelvic floor weakness, you may not be aware that leaks are not an inevitable part of getting older or simply a side effect of having given birth. Dealing with bladder leaks on a daily basis can impact your life in many countless ways, meaning you can't always do the things you love, travel to all the places you'd like to visit or enjoy a healthy and worry-free sex life. Studies show that thousands upon thousands of people in the UK alone suffer a form of incontinence, 25-30% of whom are women aged 45 to 65. The great news is that you do not have to put up with this condition, you CAN regain control of your bladder and once again live your life to the full!
Introducing the Innovo Pelvic Floor Exerciser Shorts
For those who do not wish to use an internal probe to strengthen their pelvic floor, Innovo has created these revolutionary, unisex shorts that are convenient, comfortable, effective and clinically proven to treat the root cause of bladder weakness. Over a 12-week period you can regain not just bladder control, but confidence and the ability to live your life free from the constant worry of bladder leakages. Wouldn't it be marvellous to let out a hearty laugh without those all-too-common 'oops moments' that so many men and women have to deal with?
How Do the Innovo Pelvic Floor Exerciser Shorts Work?
By using Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS), your Innovo shorts deliver 180 complete pelvic floor contractions with every 30-minute session. The pulses are delivered through pads on the inside of the shorts that are perfectly situated to reach every important muscle of the pelvic floor. These contractions encourage your pelvic floor to tense and release, thus strengthening those all-important pelvic floor muscles that support your bladder and give it the strength it needs to control unwanted leakages. It works the same way as doing bicep curls to strengthen and build the muscles in your arms, the only difference is that you can't see the pelvic floor muscles being worked as they are part of an internal structure, an incredibly important internal structure!
The targeted impulses strengthen the muscles of the entire pelvic floor and re-educate the muscles that control bladder function.
Take A Little Time to Concentrate on You
Your Innovo Pelvic Floor Exerciser Shorts work with your body to tackle stress incontinence, urge incontinence and mixed incontinence. There are separate programmes for each condition and easy to follow instructions are included in the box.
The fantastic thing about the Innovo Pelvic Floor Exerciser Shorts, is that you can put them on before you settle in for the night and do your pelvic floor strengthening exercises as you sit and watch the television or read a book. You don't have to concentrate or move; the EMS does all the work for you.
So Simple, Yet So Effective
It may be hard to believe something so simple could have an effect, but the efficacy of these shorts has been clinically proven with 93% of users reporting a significant reduction of leaks within the first 4 weeks of use, and 86% of users defined as completely or almost completely dry after following the 12-week exercise programme. The only effort you need to put in is dedicating that 30 minutes per day, 5 days a week for the first 12 weeks of use. Thereafter you need only use your Innovo Pelvic Floor Exerciser Shorts 1-2 times per week for maintenance. By this point you will have developed a much stronger awareness of your pelvic floor, meaning you will know yourself if you require more frequent maintenance sessions. Your ongoing exercises will also depend on the severity of your condition. If you are unsure, you should discuss this with your doctor or health care professional.
|Stress Incontinence, Urge Incontinence, Mixed Incontinence
|Recommended For
|Bladder leaks, incontinence, weak pelvic floor
|Included Contents
|Innovo shorts with connectors | Innovo Controller | Conductive Spray | Lead Wire | Neck strap | Charger & adaptor | Instruction manual | Quick start guide
|Rechargeable battery using mains power
|Washing Instructions
|Hand wash in luke warm water only, Please refer to full washing guide in the enclosed instruction booklet.


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HAIR FORCE 1 Hair Loss Treatment - Shampoo
Hair Force Shampoo and Lotion helps to stop hair loss.
HAIR FORCE ONE is specially formulated by our team of pharmacists to help men and women who:
- Suffer from hair loss (Alopecia)
- Want to stimulate hair growth
HAIR FORCE ONE lotion and shampoo contain two powerful ingredients, Capigen and Capilectine, that stop hair loss within a few days and accelerate new hair growth*.
Our treatment can even be used if you do not suffer from hair loss but simply wish to make them grow faster and stronger.
* Provided that hair follicles have not completely disappeared. The shampoo also contains extracts from Baobab, also known as "the Tree of Life".
Carried out by the independent laboratory SEDERMA. These clinical tests show that HAIR FORCE ONE:
Decreases seborrheic activity by 62%,
Brings hair loss to a halt,
Increases the amount of visible hair by 69%,
Accelerates new hair growth by 33%,
Stimulates new hair growth,
Accelerates overall hair growth up to 152% (117% on average).
Individual results are not guaranteed and can be different considering usage intensity and health.
For best results, use HAIR FORCE ONE Shampoo two or three times a week during the course of the treatment.
Rub the lotion on the scalp every morning for two months - your hair can be either wet or dry. Do not rinse.


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Join us on August 1 for the fourth in our series of webinars to update AXIS clients about solutions to the challenges of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 for insurers. This webinar will cover the following useful information:
If you have queries, or need assistance with registration or attendance at this webinar, please contact AXIS Client Support.
David Fihrer
Director Actuary
David is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries and Associate of the Society of Actuaries. An IFRS 17 subject matter expert. David is currently involved in the interpretation of IFRS 17, working with insurers across the globe on the key aspects of the new standard. David has been with GGY and now Moody's Analytics since 2004. Prior to joining GGY, he spent 16 years working as an actuary for insurance companies across a number of lines of business and functional roles. David's experience includes various GAAP reporting frameworks, earnings analysis, long-term care, and other health protection products.
Please note this webinar has now concluded.
Questions? Email: email@example.com


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Question about Dell Inspiron 1525 Notebook
Posted by bluehat03 on
Since it sounds like an issue with the Power first try to release flea power.Disconnect the charger,remove battery,press and hold down the power button for 30 seconds.Reconnect the battery and charger.Turn on system and check if it turns on. For further help please check Dell Inspiron 1525 Manual. Also confirm if the light on the charger stays on,when connected to the system.
Posted on May 19, 2017
Press the Fn Key plus F2 to activate wireless, it is off by default
Posted on Jul 10, 2008
SOURCE: Dell Inspiron 5160 Black screen on power up
There is a small board that the power button is integrated into that connects to the motherboard. When this power board malfunctions it will cause this issue with the machine. It can, and quite often does, damage the motherboard when it malfinctions. You should take the machine in for a power board replacement and a diagnostic to make sure that the power board hasn't damaged the motherboard.
Posted on Jul 15, 2008
SOURCE: Can I use ther Targus Adaptor for Inspiron 1525
On the long term, a power adapter with a bigger amperage can damage battery and battery charger.
Better to get an adapter with same specs as the 65/70W one , or an original replacemant:
Dell Inspiron 1525 New AC Power Adapter Supply $14.29 - Buy.com Dell Inspiron 1525 65 Watt Original AC Adapter $25.00 - parts4nb.com Dell Inspiron 1525 Power Cord PA-12 $16.95 - AmeriMax Advance
DELL Inspiron 1525 DC Power Laptop Adapter ... £25.23 - B2C Shopping UK DELL Inspiron 1525 Laptop AC Adapter power adapter £38.99 - Very Good Battery Dell Inspiron 1525 Ac Adapter Charger Power ... £16.50 - eBay UK
AU/NZ - DELL INSPIRON 1505 E1405 E1505 AC Adapter Power Supply
Dell : Lind Electronics 70-Watt DC Power Adapter for Dell Inspiron
Posted on Apr 22, 2009
SOURCE: Inspiron Battery Light Flashing Orange
Dell has a chip internal to the battery programed to shut down after a certain number of charge cycles. This means every time you plug the laptop in with the battery installed. When it reaches this determined number the battery effectively shuts down, even though technically it's still good. There have been loads of complaints on the net toward Dell over this issue. I have myself experience this. Battery good one day, powered down, went home, powered up... only to receive the deadly flashing light. Only cure is to replace battery. Several hacks trying to get around this but they're all horrible. Bad Dell - bad, bad Dell!
Posted on Jun 29, 2009
SOURCE: dell inspiron 1525 does not power up. i powered
Thank you for yuor query
Please can you try the following
1) Remove battery
2) Remove wall charger
3) Press and hold the power button in for 30 seconds
4) Plug in wall charger only
5) Retry powering the laptop and if it switches on plug battery in after 5 minutes
Posted on Apr 28, 2010
Tips for a great answer:
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Rising political pemperature
The Election Bill 2017 has been rejected by the opposition. It was bulldozed through National Assembly despite protest from opposition lawmakers. Among the bill clauses is a controversial amendment that will allow politicians disqualified from holding public office to head a political party. The bill was passed amidst a ruckus as opposition lawmakers protested what they saw a law designed to accommodate a single individual, the ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The enraged opposition tore the copies of the bill and threw them to the Speaker's dais as he announced its passage.
The leadership of Pakistan Tehrik Insaf (PTI) and Sheikh Rashid Ahmad of Awami Muslim League have decided to challenge Election Bill 2017 in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Speaking to media hours before the passage of this bill PTI chairman Imran Khan made his intention clear for approaching the Apex Court in this regard. The PTI chief also said that he has already planned protest rallies against this legislation. Criticizing the ruling PML (N) on several fronts, he reiterated his call for fresh election. The former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not whole heartedly accept the Supreme Court verdict disqualifying him from holding public office. He has made his ouster from power under the Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution a matter of self-esteem and misplaced vanity. He spearheaded a tirade and vilification campaign against the judiciary which is highly deplorable. His speeches in the GT road rally from Islamabad to Lahore revealed the disrespect for an important State Institution. The show of power by the federal ministers by bringing party workers and PML (N) supporters to the premises of National Accountability Court of Islamabad on the eve disqualified former Prime Minister hearing does not augur well for the democracy and rule of law in the country.
The politics of blatant defiance against the state institutions, disregard for rule of law and protest rallies will push up the political temperature beyond control. If past experience is any guide, the PML (N) government in the Centre and Punjab will resort to massive use of force against PTI rallies. The tremendous use of force in the form of teargasing and firing on protest rally led by KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Motor Way M-1 last year amply demonstrate the ruthless mood of PML (N) leadership. This tremendous use of force on the rally of KP CM was monitored personally by the then Punjab IGP and now federal tax ombudsman Mushtaq Sukhera. Deploring this incident, senior PPP leader Senator Itezaz Ahsan described the use of force against the sitting Chief Minister of a small province a deep cut on the roots of federation.
The headlong collision against the state's institutions by the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is still under trial in graft cases, with the active support of Federal and Punjab governments will create disorder and chaos in the country and harm the moving forward democratic system. The PML (N) leadership must observe the established norms of democracy and emulate the examples of political leaderships of the countries where real democracy is functioning. One man say is the order of day attitude well not bode well for the future of democracy in Pakistan.
Threat of
diphtheria in Fata
KP Health Department has cautioned the Director Health services FATA against the emerging threat of the fatal disease of Diphtheria and suggested him preventive measure well in advance. The Director Health Services FATA has been informed that Provincial Health Department does not have sufficient stock of Diphtheria antitoxin vaccine and if proper preventive measure were not taken then control of this disease will be extremely difficult. According to KP Extended Program on Immunization (EPI), Diphtheria took an endemic form in children of the North and South Waziristan Agencies of FATA last year. Later the disease spread to the adjoining settled district of Bannu. The North and South Waziristan Agencies were largely affected by this disease. The report indicates fresh cases of Diphtheria in these areas and urges Director Health Service FATA to make proper arrangements for its control so that the disease may not once again take the unmanageable form and cast a spillover effect on the people of settled districts adjacent to FATA agencies.
Diphtheria is communicative fatal disease of children and the isolation of patients is mandatory, but the isolation wards in the Agency Headquarter Hospital do not exist. Same is the case with the hospitals in the settled areas. Diphtheria antitoxin vaccine can be purchased from National Health Laboratories in Islamabad, but transportation and preservation of available stock need special arrangements to maintain the efficacy of the vaccine. The Diphtheria antitoxin vaccine has to be put in optimal temperature for which specially designed refrigerators are required. It may be recalled that some 50 years back World Health Organization (WHO) provided these specially designed refrigerators for FATA hospitals. To overcome the problem of non-availability of electric power the WHO refrigerators were operated by Kerosene Oil combustion. Now electricity run refrigerators to ensure the optimum set of conditions can be purchased for keeping the vaccine. KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jaghra should take notice of Diphtheria cases reported from the FATA by print media and issue strong directives to ACS of his secretariat to immediately release sufficient funds to the Director Health Services for the purchase and safe supply of this vaccine to Agency Headquarter Hospitals.


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JT To Partner And Produce Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival
#MakeThePilgrimage To Franklin, TN
Franklin, TN – August 23, 2016 – Actor and Musician Justin Timberlake continues to expand his role in the music industry by signing on as a partner and producer of the Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival. The two-day event transforms The Park At Harlinsdale Farm into an oasis of music, food, and culture set against the natural setting of this former walking horse farm located in Franklin, TN taking place September 24 and 25, 2016.
Born and raised in Memphis, Justin Timberlake will return to his Tennessee roots to not only come on board as a producer of the festival but to lay down roots literally.
"I couldn't be more excited about becoming part of The Pilgrimage Music & Culture Festival. Being a Tennessee native and now a member of the community in Franklin, I have been watching the development of the festival over the past two years. For me, this is an amazing opportunity to help build an exceptional event and contribute to my community," says Justin Timberlake.
Timberlake's creative director Trace Ayala who is also a Franklin resident, couldn't agree more. "Being a resident of Leiper's Fork and the Franklin community, I'm thrilled to have this event right here in my own backyard! As Justin's creative director, I'm looking forward to putting our stamp on this thing! It'll also serve as a great stage to showcase the artists we've signed to our artist development company, Villa 40."
Original Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival producers (Kevin Griffin, Brandt Wood, Michael Whelan) will work closely with Justin Timberlake, although he will not be performing this year, and Trace Ayala on the creative direction of the upcoming festival taking place September 24 + 25 as well as years to come.
"It really is a perfect fit to have Justin on board as a partner not only for his knowledge and accomplishments in the music industry but also his love for the Tennessee area," says co-founder Kevin Griffin. "We are looking forward to introducing new fans to Pilgrimage and to the music, food, and culture of the southern region."
The two-day festival, which is going into its sophomore year, has been hailed by Rolling Stone as having "established itself as a festival to watch" and will return with another incredibly curated lineup. Heavy hitters such as Beck, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Jason Isbel, and Kacey Musgraves will #MakeThePilgrimage to Franklin along with indie favorites including Kaleo, The Strumbellas, Shakey Graves and more. In addition to artists performing their own sets, Pilgrimage will feature Pilgri-mashups where one-of-a-kind pairings of musicians collaborate with one another on stage as well as the Kimbro's Pickin' Parlor stage featuring local artists. The family friendly festival also features world renowned children's musicians as well as interactive activities throughout the day. REMEMBER: Kids under 10 get in FREE when accompanied by an adult GA Ticket. Last but not least, the region's best food and drink will be on display as well as numerous local artists and artisans creating an all-encompassing festival experience. To watch the highlights from last year's inaugural year, PRESS HERE.
Not only will the festival drive tourism dollars to Williamson County but a portion of each ticket sale will benefit the City of Franklin and Franklin Parks. In addition, a portion of ticket sales will also benefit MusiCares®, a nonprofit organization that was established by The Recording Academy® to provide a wide range of emergency financial assistance and addiction recovery resources to members of the music community.
To post artist announce video, PRESS HERE


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Animals >>
Ostrich Facts
|Scientific Name
|Struthio Camelus
|Size (H)
|1.8m - 2.7m (6ft - 9ft)
|1.5m - 2m (4.9ft - 6.5ft)
|63kg - 130kg (140lbs - 290lbs)
|Top Speed
|74km/h (42mph)
|50 - 70 years
|Conservation Status
|Least Concern
|Brown, Black, Grey, White, Pink
|Skin Type
|Favourite Food
|Desert and savanna areas
|Average Clutch Size
|Main Prey
|Grass, Roots, Seeds, Flowers
|Hyena, Lion, Cheetah
|Distinctive Features
|Small wings and long neck and legs
Ostrich Location
Map of Africa
The ostrich is the biggest bird in the world with a male ostrich often growing more than 2 metres tall. The ostrich is also the world's fastest bird on the ground being able to run at speeds of up to 50 mph for short periods of time.
Despite the fact that the ostrich is a bird, the ostrich cannot fly and instead will run away when threatened. The ostrich weighs more than 100kg which is the main reason as to why the ostrich is unable to fly. The ostrich will also lay flat on the ground to hide from predators.
The ostrich mainly eats grubs and insects, often found in the ground. The ostrich is well known for putting its head into the ground to get the bugs in the soil. The ostrich also has a kick so powerful that it can be fatal to most mammals.
The ostrich is found natively in Africa (and also used to be found in the Middle East) but the ostrich is farmed for its meat, skin and feathers all around the world.
The ostrich lays the biggest eggs of any bird species with an ostrich egg generally being more than 10 times bigger than the average chicken egg. Due to its sheer size, the egg of the ostrich is considered a culinary delicacy in many human cultures.
There are five different species of ostrich that are generally found around central and eastern Africa. The different species of ostrich are all very similar but vary in size and colour depending on the species of ostrich. The ostrich is most closely related to the Australian emu and the New Zealand kiwi.
The ostrich is an omnivore and therefore eats a variety of both plants and animals. The diet of the ostrich mainly consists of leaves, grass, seeds, roots, flowers and berries along with insects and occasionally small mammals and reptiles.
Due to the sheer size and immense power of the ostrich, the ostrich has few natural predators in its environment. The main predators of the ostrich are lions and cheetahs, and also hyenas and crocodiles if they are able to catch one. Humans are one of the main predators of the ostrich as they hunt the ostrich for it's meat and feathers.
Ostriches live in herds that usually include the dominant male, his hens (female ostriches) and their young offspring (ostrich babies). During the mating season, the alpha male will make a communal nest around 3 meters wide in the ground for his female ostriches to lay their eggs in. There are often more than 20 eggs in the nest but it is rare that more than a couple of these eggs actually hatch as they are preyed upon by predators like jackals and hyenas. After an incubation period of around 6 weeks, the ostrich chicks hatch out of their eggs. It is the alpha male ostrich that defends the ostrich chicks from danger and teaches them to feed.


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Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'project'.
Found 2 results
Redesigning logos (Radio 101, 3 out of who knows how many)
OliverP posted a topic in General DesignA while ago I saw a project on Behance that really inspired me to maybe start a similar project. This is the link of the one I saw: https://www.behance.net/gallery/35060175/Reform-Redesigned-Logos Muskat is a wonderfully creative team of two designers from Germany and lets say I started following them ever since I first glanced at their projects. They focused on German brands and stores, making them look better, I on the other hand, will focus on the stores I see in my town of Zagreb, no matter what country a brand comes from. I just might put in a Croatian one, maybe... Sooooo, long story short, I started with Müller, a German trade company that basically sells everything from perfumes to cosmetics, from notebooks and pens to toys (lots and lots of toys). Lets say they are part one of my project. https://dribbble.com/shots/2857281-M-ller <--------dribbble link I hope you leave a like and a comment. Thank you! EDIT: The image is a GIF, so if you click it you'll see the logo on different color backgrounds.
MLB SuperCardNot sure if anyone plays the IOS apps NHL or WWE SuperCard, but I have always wanted to work on a project that would bring all the goodness of those games to my favorite sport, Major League Baseball! My friend and I had worked on a template to make "cards" for this planned game...which look like this... The template took a bit to make, but changing the players, logo and font around don't take that long. Around 10 player cards are done so far, I will post more later. Heres a little background on the planned internet game that would revolve around these cards; There are five tiers of cards Basic - the lowest level, your bench players, minor leaguers...you get the gist Rare - guys who aren't that bad, but maybe not all that good either Ultra Rare - the middle tier, there are some solid players in this group Epic - the really good players, consistent talents (the card pictured above is in this tier) Legendary - these guys are awesome, the stars of the game These cards are acquired for "playing" games, collecting cards, achieving new ranks and taking part in tournaments and contests! Then there are these numbers on the cards... CTL (control), BRK (break) and VEL (velocity) are the three stats that pitcher cards use to get the hitters out. Im not going to go into the actual formula for calculating, because this is a design board. I AM LOOKING FOR HELP WITH THIS PROJECT, IF YOUD BE INTERESTED IN HELPING ME MAKE CARDS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! The psd file is here http://www.mediafire.com/download/5btf0p8y55nme9y/card.psd Cheers!


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Samsung's new flagship is worth mega-bucks,
and here's the two main reasons why:
1) Screen/Body Ratio:
The S8 has an exceptionall good screen-to-body ratio. The top and bottom bezels are much smaller than in most other devices, and the result is what Samsung calls "Ininity Display". So now you don't need an super-large phone, just to get a large screen. Just compare them to the old S7 and S7 Edge below:
2) DeX Station:
This little stand is a docking station to hookup your S8 or S8+ to a monitor, effectively emulating a full-blown desk-top PC. First reports suggest pretty close to a Windows 10 experience. While its been done before with mixed results, we are pretty exited about this, as it would be a major step towards bridging the gap between desktop and ultimate portability.
Otherswise, most other spcifications and designs are pretty much in-line with what you would expect in an incremental step up to a next generation device: Faster processors, more this, better that. Most pleasing to see the headphone jack remaining, as well as water and dust resistance and expandable memory. Special mention should me made of Samsung's new user interface, GraceUX, running on Android 7.0 Nougat, and replacing their old much debated TouchWiz UI. So far we've heard caustious mumbles of approval only.
So there yuou have it: If you're in the market for an up-market mobile phone that makes some big strides into new territory, the S8 or S8+ might be worth a clos look.


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It's riskier to be yourself but it's the only way you'll win
by elizabethbrantley
The truth is that the only chance you have at winning anything- especially the the desires of your heart- is by being fully and totally yourself. The gift you can give to the world is a gift because no one else can bring it to creation. Its development, its birth, its distribution is dependent upon nothing but you being you.
The hiccup in this overly simple process is that for you to be you is actually one of the riskiest things we feel we can do. The ego argues that if we are fully ourselves and the world rejects it then we are worthless. It even goes to the extreme of having us think of the death of our dreams and inspiration. It's ironic that the ego's argument involves us hoarding our greatest gifts, instead of sharing them. Yet the reality is, as we have discussed before, that the only chance of something surviving and thriving is giving it away. While the ego argues the risks of giving ourselves completely, while it whispers strongly that vulnerability is weakness, Life knows the Truth which is directly opposite. If you aren't fully yourself, if your gifts to the world aren't all that you are, then the gifts back from Life won't be exact matches for your soul. Life gives in direct proportion to your own giving. The risk is not found in being and sharing ourselves fully. The risk lies in not doing so.


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Join Bill Robbins for an in-depth discussion in this video Creating a chill effect, part of Learning Food and Drink Photography.
In this movie, let's look at how you can create your very own real-looking chill. So what I have here is an example of the chill effect that we are going to create in this movie. We're working with bottles from Island Brewery, a great local Brewery in Carpinteria, California. So the first question you might ask yourself is, well, why do you need to create chill? Can't I just pull it out of the refrigerator and shoot it? You can do that, but you better be quick, because the chilled look will go away within a few minutes.
What we want to do is create a situation where we can take our time and then light, compose, and tweak. We can do that, with a few easy steps, by creating different layers that will give us the chill look. So what it does, in essence, is gives you a lot more control. All right! So let's get started. So first let's take our bottle. We're going to do a little prep work actually when we go to pick up the bottles at the store. We want to find bottles that the label is on straight, and we also want to look for the glass seam that happens on every bottle and try and find the seam where it runs down the side of the bottles as opposed down through the center of the label.
Okay, so that's our first thing that we want to look at. Now the first layer that we are going to do is going to give us the frosted effect that comes right out of the refrigerator. So I am going to use, to begin with, on our bottle, some surf wax, and I am just going to apply it, and we want to use cold-water surf wax, which I found to work really well. So we are going to just put a little bit on here and then the next stage -- and I would do the whole bottle--the next stage is we'd rub this in using our body temperature to help smooth it out, and you can see, that starts to give us a really nice frosted look.
Now, I have one over here that I am going to bring in, that I've done that whole process on, and you can see how good that looks. That looks like it just got pulled out of the refrigerator. So we're going to come back to this in a minute. First, let's talk about another way of creating a frosted look. And on the glass, I am going to use some dulling spray. So we can use dulling spray or matte spray. One of the first things we want to do in prep, you'll notice, is put on some masking tape where I'm figuring the head of the beer is going to be, because we wouldn't have the condensation up there when we do the pour.
So first I put the can in a little lukewarm water to help refine the spray as it comes out, it will be a finer spray, and we don't want big globby spray on our glass. So part of the technique of this is to keep everything moving as we spray. And we are constantly moving the glass, we are moving the spray, and we don't want to bring this too close because that will give us that clumpy look. I think we've got a pretty good layer down there, and we'll put this on here so you can take a look.
I think that looks really pretty nice. All right! Let's go to our second stage, and I am going to come back to our bottle of beer. And the second stage that we want to do is add water droplets to this. So I've got two different ways of doing that. The first one that we are going to look at is with this small atomizer, and again, these come in different sizes. The different sizes are going to give you different-sized droplets. So our first solution that I have in here is Karo syrup mixed with water. I use probably anywhere from a 15% to 20% mixture of Karo to water.
You have to be sort of careful an experiment with this depending upon the size of the atomizer because the Karo can clog up the nozzle if you use too much of it. The advantage of the Karo syrup is that when it goes on the bottle, or any other surface, the water is going to evaporate and leave you the Karo droplets, which look like water. So, make sure that you get the clear Karo syrup and we'll spray. Again, the spray technique you can play with, and you'll find that if you bring this in really close, you are going to get some bigger drops; if you pull it back, you get a little finer drop.
So we've got a really nice surface going there, and you can see how genuine that looks. Let's go to our glass. We'll set this over here, bring our glass out, and we want to hold the glass by the inside. In this mixture, I am going to be using glycerine. Now, glycerine and water mixed at a 50-50 relationship--and it's the same thing, you don't want to put too much glycerine in with the water or it will clog the nozzle. So, it's just an alternative to the Karo.
Again, we are going to spray in tight. You can see the droplets are a little bit bigger. If I pull this back, they are going to be a little bit finer. So you can sort of play with how you want this to be. So that's what that looks like. Let's go to our next stage. We're going to use something called crystal ice. So, crystal ice we are going to put on the surface of this to enhance that chilled look. This is a commercial product that's sold by Trengove Studios in Chicago.
So let me just take a little bit of this, and we'll just place it onto our glass. And we don't want quite too much. You have to be careful that we don't smudge the surface that we've sprayed on, but you get a nice look with the crystal ice. Let's go over here, and we'll do the same thing with the bottle of beer, add on the crystal ice, and we are just going to place a few ice chips in the strategic spots.
Okay, so you can see that it starts to look nice and chilled. You can even put some up here on the cap, along the neck--gives us a really nice look. So our last layer is to create a run, a droplet run, going down the front or the side surface, and we are going to do that with another commercial product called Aqua Gel. Aqua Gel is also distributed by Trengove Studios in Chicago. So the technique with this is going to take a few times of practice, but we're using a wooden skewer. We dip into this Aqua Gel, which is a really thick gel and will not run.
So we are going to actually create the run. So we are going to start down here at the bottom and as we bring this up, we are going to twist and move this around a little bit to make it as real as possible, because a droplet wouldn't necessarily go down in a straight path. You can see down here that that looks really very real, how the run goes down the surface of the bottle. Okay, let's bring in the glass and we'll do the same thing. And we are going to create that run going down the glass.
Now, you want to be also planning, by looking through your viewfinder, where you want this run to happen. I found that the side, like where I have it here, or right down the center, gives a really nice effect to the camera, and you can see how nice that looks. That's just going to stay there. All right! So there you have it. That's how you would create an artificial chill effect so you can have bottles and glasses that look like they are ice cold in front of your camera for hours.
- Understanding what makes a food photo appetizing
- Comparing emotional and graphic compositional styles
- Choosing the right camera
- Evaluating lens options
- Choosing light reflectors
- Finding creative backgrounds
- Creating specular and diffuse lighting setups
- Creating different looks for each dish
- Creating a chill effect for drinks
- Shooting on location at a restaurant
- Editing photos


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Hi, I'm a human, a real one. My name is Matias, and everybody knows me as Lechu (sounds like "let you")
I'm from Argentina and I have what it takes to get this job done. I have vast experience working with Windows and Linux instances running in EC2 in an AWS environment.
Next, a few answered questions about my working hours profile:
Please let me tell you that I have all that knowledge (and more) about that. Of course I'm not an expert in all technologies that you'll surely need for your system, but let me tell you that I have enough contacts who help me on the cases where customers needs the knowledge that I can't deliver to them.
At the same time, I'll like to let you know that when you contract my services, you are getting not jus the job but a continues point of contact to clear and help you to resolve all your issues and future implementations.
Feel free to contact me to adjust the budget for long term services. I'll be more than happy to adjust it for you.
With best regards,


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3 Beds
1 full, 1 half Baths
1,482 Sqft
Status: Featured and Pocket Listings
Property Type: Single Family
Fantastic opportunity for someone, will it be you? Wonderful one story on a spacious corner lot, with curved driveway; light and bright too. Newer dual-pane windows, laminate floors, white tile counters and a 2 car garage. Good roof and charming yard. With a little TLC, this cold be a very special home. the back yard features a patio and deck, a playhouse, shed or even man cave. The avocado tree in the back yard is fabulous and will soon be ready for picking. This is a pre-approved short sale and can close quickly. Sorry no VA or FHA at this time as there is no oven.
Property Details and Features
Street:43 Madera Ave
Zip Code:93003
Listing ID:215010781
List Price:$425,000
3 bedrooms


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The Edible Landscape was a project of the Dutchess County Master Gardeners. The garden was located at the Dutchess County Farm & Home Center, Rt. 44, Millbrook, NY, along the side of the building facing the road. The Edible Landscape was discontinued in early 2012 and has been replaced by a more traditional vegetable garden. I am leaving this page on my blog to document this three year project.
The purpose of the Edible Landscape (EL) demonstration garden is to encourage gardeners to mix fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers into their landscapes. We have chosen to plant only edibles in this garden, although not every part of every plant is edible.
The EL was first planted in 2008. The EL contains permanent plants which are the back bone of the design. Permanent plants include small fruiting trees, berry bushes, and some perennial herbs and flowers.
The remainder of the plants in the EL are annual vegetables, herbs, and flowers. We practice crop rotation, to help control pests and diseases, thus the design changes every year.
Warning: Do not touch or sample. Some plants contain poisonous parts. We eat the stalks of rhubarb, but the leaves are poisonous. In rare instances contact with the foliage of celery and celeriac can cause a severe rash caused by the plant's sap on the skin reacting with sunlight.
The following lines link to the garden plan for each year. Each plan consists of three sections. The end near the parking lot is the east end. Each year I update the designs to show the current size of shrubs in the winter before planting.
The 2008 design was done with pencil of graph paper and then scanned. I apologize because it is a bit difficult to read.
2008 EL west end design, 2008 EL center design, 2008 EL east end design
In 2009 was the first year I tried succession planting in the EL. The spring east end design is the planting plan for April and early May. The summer plan shows whats left after the spring plants are harvested or removed. What is not shown is the time in June when warm weather plants were interplanted with spring crops and all were in the garden together. In the spring mustard was planted in the front bed spaced to allow planting room for peppers and eggplants in late May. The mustard was removed when it bolted in June. The sugar snap peas and sweet potatoes also comprise a succession planting. The peas were removed in early July, just as the sweet potatoes started to spread.
The beet and carrot combination in the east end was very striking. BTW S.C. is Swiss Chard.
In 2009 I started using "The GIMP" , an open-source image editing program, to document the design.
2009 EL west end design, 2009 EL center design, 2009 EL east end spring design, 2009 EL east end summer design
In 2010 I continued with succession planting, although it is all documented on a single page. There were some problems with this design. In the east end the intermixed loops of purple and green kohlrabi just looked muddy and the carrot and beet plantings in the front were too small to be effective. Both the pineapple and purple tomatillos needed far more space. A purple tomatillo plant needs as much room as a tomato and must be staked. The Three Sisters planting needed twice the room.
2010 EL west end design, 2010 EL center design, 2010 EL east end design
The next file is a spread sheet listing all the vegetable varieties used in the Edible Landscape since its start. Do NOT attempt to print it unless you know a lot about spread sheet printing; the file is huge. I've sorted the data so the records are alphabetical by the common name of the vegetable – which appears in the second column. There is something crazy happening to the formatting which is why the column headers are messed up. If I figure it out, I'll update the file.
Database of plants used in the Edible Landscape
The next set of files show only the permanent features of the Edible Landscape, including shrubs and trees, paths, and perennial vegetables, herbs and flowers. They can be printed and used for designing the layout of annuals for 2011.
West layout perennials, Center layout perennials, East layout perennials
3/6/2011 The next file shows the planting schedule for vegetable varieties in the 2011 design. It is sorted by the planting date in the right-most column.
We will be planting the 2011 Edible Landscape using the following layouts. The succession plantings in the east end of the garden are so complicated that there is a spring layout and s summer layout. The succession planting in the west end is a bit simpler, and it is all contained on a single sheet.
2011 EL West end design, 2011 EL Center design, 2011 EL East spring design, 2011 EL summer design.


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The Case for Christmas/The Case for Easter Study Guides with DVD
- Regular price
- $49.99
- Sale price
Save 30%
In The Case for Christmas, Lee Strobel investigates the story of Jesus' birth and reveals how we can know it is true. He examines the Bible's claim that Jesus was born of a virgin, some of the "puzzles" we find in the Gospel that don't seem to match up with the historical record, and the great mystery of the incarnation–how Jesus could be both fully God and fully human. Lee shows how the evidence points to the inescapable conclusion that Jesus was who he said he was: the divine Son of God.
In The Case for Easter, Lee looks at the story of Jesus' resurrection and reveals how we can know that it actually took place. He explores the "discrepancies" critics have pointed to in the Gospel accounts, looks at the evidence that Jesus' tomb was truly empty, and shows how the eyewitness accounts of those who saw Jesus alive after the crucifixion are credible. Lee reveals how all the facts point to the conclusion that led him from atheism to Christianity: Jesus was the Son of God who conquered the grave.
This pack contains one The Case for Christmas Study Guide, one The Case for Easter Study Guide, and one DVD case containing both The Case for Christmas and The Case for Easter Video Study.Read Less
- Contributor(s)Lee Strobel , Bill Butterworth
- About the Contributor(s) Lee Strobel was the award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune and is the bestselling author of The Case for...
Lee Strobel was the award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune and is the bestselling author of The Case for Christ, The Case for Christ Devotional, The Case for Christianity Answer Book, The Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator, The Case for Miracles, and The Miracles Answer Book. With a journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a Master of Studies in Law degree from Yale, Lee has won four Gold Medallions for publishing excellence and coauthored the Christian Book of the Year. Lee is President of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics at Colorado Christian University. Visit Lee's website at: leestrobel.com
Bill Butterworth is a sought-after speaker in venues throughout North America. A highly regarded author, Butterworth has written books on topics ranging from sports to psychology and self-help issues; he's been a columnist, editor, and script writer. He lives with his wife, Kathi, in Newport Beach, California. show more
- Publish Date11/20/2018
- PublisherZondervan
- Format DVD and Trade Paper
- LanguageEnglish
- Weight (lbs)0.7 lb
- Case Weight (lbs)16.83 lb
- Dimensions 8.5(h) x 5.5(w) x 1.25(d) inches
- Pages0
- Price $34.99
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We wanted to serve Prosecco. But Italian law states that Prosecco must be sold in bottles of 3L or less. We wanted to serve our fizz from a tap, so we offer a sparkling Italian white wine, made in the Veneto region of North Italy from the same grape (Glera) that Prosecco is made from. If this was in a bottle, it would be called Prosecco but as it comes in kegs, it must be called fizz! Much like us, our wine is fruity, smooth and a little bit aromatic and with 11% vol, this wine is great as an aperitif or cracking in a cocktail - perfect for Twelve Lemons.
We are proud of our Scottish heritage and are delighted there are so many fine Scottish gins to choose from. We carry approximately 15 gins, mainly from Scotland but a few from foreign lands have also sneaked into the mix - afterall you have to stock your mums tipple of choice! Our gin collection will constantly be evolving as we make new discoveries. Recommendations and personal favourites can of course be catered for so please ask at time of booking.
What else can you do with 12 Lemons? Make lemonade of course. When making our journey south to buy the trailer, a much needed services stop was had and moments later, Ali had a basket filled with prosecco, gin and a book on homemade lemonade. We wanted to offer something for the drivers, the kids or those that just prefer something soft and so we turned our hand to creating the 12 Lemons signature lemonade. This can be chosen as part of the package for your event.
Strange though it may be, we heard that bubbles arent for everyone! Luckily we are not a one trick pony and also offer buckets of local craft beer for those whose prefer their drinks to be more hoppy than fruity. If you have particular favourite thats not on our radar, let us know and we will do the donkey work and source it for you.
We tend to save these for food festivals but we're always happy to dust off our cocktail shakers if thats your thing. We focus on fizz and gin cocktails but can turn our hand to whatever you fancy.
Other Options
So its pretty obvious that we love fizz and gin! That said, if you like the look of us but want something different we will be delighted to discuss. We love random thoughts and ideas, we can get creative. Our business started from being inspired by others so if we inspire you but you feel we're missing something - just ask.


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"When you're young everything feels like the end of the world. But it's not; it's just the beginning (Mike O'Donnell, 'Seventeen Again')."
I'm living proof that this couldn't be more true, especially when God is in the mix.
Losing both of my parents when I was only sixteen was the end of the world… The end of my world at least.
I'll never forget laying in bed with my brother and sister-in-law just hours after we found out, crying and saying, "I will never smile again."
For me… this was the end.
This was the end of everything I knew. Everything I loved. Everything I was.
Yes, I was still Bethany, John and Lavada's daughter, but now I was also the girl whose parents were tragically killed by a drunk driver. Now, I was the girl whose future was permanently altered.
This was the end of so many different things for me, but it was also the beginning of so much more.
• This was the end of relying on my parents prayers and faith to carry me – and the beginning of truly developing my own personal relationship with God.
• This was the end of security and expectation for the future – and the beginning of complete faith and hope in God to be my protection and provision.
• This was the end of thinking that God was a scary tyrant – and the beginning of learning that God is my loving Father who holds and corrects me with love.
What was the end of my life then became the beginning of my life now.
The story of God's presence in the loss of my parents has become my biggest platform for sharing how wonderful God is and how faithful He is to meet you where you are.
In the midst of it all I couldn't possibly see how good would ever come from this tragedy, but now I see that it wasn't the end of the story, it was simply the transition into the next book in the series.
Wherever you are today, God is waiting to meet with you. Let Him in. Let Him hold and protect you during this time of pain, and trust that He has a plan to turn your greatest struggle into your most God-glorifying Story.
The end of a matter is better than its beginning…
Ecc. 7:8 ♡


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Architectural Engineering student builds sustainability into design
Architectural Engineering student builds sustainability into design
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For Yumna Kurdi, it started with a love for architecture and a passion for sustainability. It's ending up with a chance to help reshape the future of Penn State.
After taking a graduate course in sustainability at Penn State, Kurdi, an architectural engineering doctoral student, was introduced to the Office of Physical Plant (OPP) staff and presented with its hopes and challenges about formulating a revised policy on how to build sustainability into construction standards on the University Park campus. As she became more involved, Kurdi began working with John Betchel, assistant director of design and construction.
OPP began funding Kurdi's research and had her work with others on a team — led by Bechtel and consisting of OPP staff and other researchers — to evolve OPP's sustainability policies. Currently Penn State requires all new and renovated facility construction to be guided by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The LEED rating system is the most widely used green-building rating system in the world, involving high standards for indoor air quality, energy efficiency, water conservation and use of recycled, renewable or locally-sourced materials.
Kurdi, whose focus is on how architecture interacts with the environment and whose adviser is Somayeh Asadi, assistant professor in architectural engineering, is exploring additional aspects of sustainability — such as economic and social values — that can be captured in the evolving building policy, by exploring and adapting different requirements from other sustainability rating systems. The goal is to understand Penn State's unique place and values and to try to reflect these values in a healthy, comfortable and highly efficient built environment.
"Penn State is unique in so many different ways; the architecture of a building is no different," Kurdi says. "Each one requires careful consideration to make it suit the needs of its users and environment."
The current LEED policy, version 4, provides a common sustainability language for OPP and the design teams for individual projects. Kurdi and the team she works with are trying to further increase the engagement of OPP staff in the design process to ensure the implementation of all of Penn State's sustainability priorities, in addition to LEED standards.
Kurdi is also creating communications channels that invite more students on campus to become involved in the University's efforts to evolve green building policies. Through in-class presentations about how buildings interact with the environment around them and through arranging student help with data collection about potential new green building systems, Kurdi is encouraging other students to share their voices and offer advice for new building designs and ways to improve the current policies in a way that could help reshape Penn State in the future.
"From my experience so far, the OPP staff is very open, encouraging and welcoming to new ideas and is excited for upcoming projects," Kurdi said. "Everyone is working so hard to evolve the Penn State sustainability policy into something great."


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The reason why an ashram becomes a center of energy is because of a dedication.
You can transform the place you live in, in a glorious centre of shining power and energy!
All you have to do is start taking action in that direction, so that your outer reality reflects your inner state of mind.
If you start touching the space of yoga in you, let it reflect on your personal space.
Make it more than an altar in some corner of your house.
This energy is truly ready to embody itself where you are. All you have to do is give it space.
- Clean!
- Get rid of junk and clutter.
- Let go of past memories you no longer need.
- Harmonize your personal space
- Practice right where you are
- Sing
- Write mantras on the walls and on objects in your personal space
- Use sound and mantric power in your space
- Yoga postures and dance
- And more!
It can easily take a year of focus to rebuild your personal space's energy and empower it in this new way.
To your Yoga!


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Dallas Black Dance Theatre collaborated with Association MakeDox, a filmmaking nonprofit in the Republic of North Macedonia, to facilitate an 8-month cultural exchange between young artists. All 13 dancers in DBDT's main company participated in the program with 12 Macedonian filmmakers and Romani musicians.
Together they learned about African American history and dance, especially within Dallas, and Macedonian and Romani heritage and music. The dancers and musicians preserved and interpreted this heritage in site-specific performances in both countries. Filmmakers recorded their creativity and interactions in both countries, resulting in the medium-length creative documentary: Way of the Clave.
The film will be approximately 40 minutes long, followed by a Q&A with select DBDT dancers.
The 1 pm screening will be followed by a synchronous Q&A live with participants in North Macedonia on the screen.
Funding for this cultural exchange project was provided by Communities Connecting Heritage, a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by World Learning.
The screening venue is provided by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.


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May 20, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas, NV
May 20, 2020
Garrison Keillor hits Las Vegas with a new solo show!
April 18, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Rochester, MN
Rochester, MN
April 18, 2020
Garrison Keillor comes to the Rochester Civic Theatre for a night of stories, songs, poetry, and humor. Tickets $50 and up
February 19, 2020
7:00 p.m.
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis, MN
February 19, 2020
Garrison Keillor with Heather Masse at the Dakota. Night 2 of 2. Tickets $30+
February 18, 2020
7:00 p.m.
Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis, MN
February 18, 2020
Garrison Keillor with Heather Masse at the Dakota. Night 1 of 2. Tickets $30+
February 14, 2020
8:00 p.m.
Madison, WI
Madison, WI
February 14, 2020
Garrison Keillor: Stories, Songs, Poetry, Humor. Tickets $40.00 and up
by George Bilgere
First it was five above, then two,
then one morning just plain zero.
There was a strange thrill in saying it.
It's zero,
I said when you got up.
I was pouring your coffee
and suddenly the whole house made sense:
the roof, the walls, the little heat registers
rattling on the floor. Even the mortgage. Zero,
you said, still in your robe.
And you walked to the window and looked out
at the blanket of snow on the garden
where last summer you planted carrots
and radishes, sweet peas and onions,
and a tiny rainforest of tomatoes
in the hot delirium of June.
Yes, I said, with a certain grim finality,
staring at the white cap of snow on the barbecue grill
I'd neglected to put in the garage for winter.
And the radio says it could go lower.
I like that robe, it's white and shimmery,
and has a habit of falling open
unless you tie it just right.
This wasn't the barbarians at the gate.
It wasn't Carthage in flames, or even
the Donner Party. But it was zero, by God,
and the robe fell open.
"Zero" by George Bilgere. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)
It's the third Monday in January, so today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In 1983, after years of petitions, conferences, and advocacy on behalf of the holiday, Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law that made Martin Luther King Jr. Day a federal holiday.
On this day in 1926, 33-year-old novelist Vita Sackville-West (books by this author) wrote an impassioned love letter to 43-year-old novelist Virginia Woolf. (books by this author) Vita was a distinguished English writer, had been married for more than a decade, loved her husband, and was attracted to other women. All of these things applied to Virginia Woolf as well.
The two women had met through the Bloomsbury Group of London, which gathered to discuss things like philosophy, literature, and art. Their romance started cautiously, but by the time Vita composed this letter four years after they'd met, she was deeply smitten, languishing and lovesick. She was on a bumpy train ride from Milan to Trieste 85 years ago today when she wrote:
"I am reduced to a thing that wants Virginia. I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way. You, with all your un-dumb letters, would never write so elementary a phrase as that; perhaps you wouldn't even feel it. And yet I believe you'll be sensible of a little gap. But you'd clothe it in so exquisite a phrase that it would lose a little of its reality. Whereas with me it is quite stark: I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal. So this letter is just really a squeal of pain. It is incredible how essential to me you have become. I suppose you are accustomed to people saying these things. Damn you, spoilt creature; I shan't make you love me any the more by giving myself away like this — But oh my dear, I can't be clever and stand-offish with you: I love you too much for that. Too truly. You have no idea how stand-offish I can be with people I don't love. I have brought it to a fine art. But you have broken down my defences. And I don't really resent it."
About a year later, Virginia Woolf came up with the idea for a new novel, inspired by Vita, who often liked to dress up in men's clothes. That novel was Orlando: A Biography (1928), about a transgender writer who lives for hundreds of years. Vita's son Nigel wrote, "The effect of Vita on Virginia is all contained in Orlando … in which she explores Vita, weaves her in and out of the centuries, tosses her from one sex to the other, plays with her, dresses her in furs, lace and emeralds, teases her, flirts with her, drops a veil of mist around her." He calls Orlando "the longest and most charming love letter in literature."
They two ended their affair in the late 1920s but stayed friends until Virginia Woolf's death in 1941. There's a book out from Oxford University Press that chronicles their relationship: Vita and Virginia: The Work and Friendship of V. Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf (1993), written by Suzanne Raitt.
On this date in 1952, William Shawn (books by this author) took up the reins of The New Yorker, after the death of his predecessor and the magazine's founder, Harold Ross. Ross, a lifelong heavy smoker, was diagnosed with cancer of the windpipe the previous summer. In December, Ross went up to Boston for a surgery to remove his right lung and died of heart failure on the operating table. William Shawn edited the magazine for 35 years thereafter. Shawn guided the magazine toward a more serious tone. He was quiet, and gentle, but on this point and many others, he was firm. He wanted The New Yorker to reflect a "new awareness" among its writers and readers. In the 1960s, Dorothy Parker criticized the magazine's utter lack of humor, and Shawn himself later expressed some regret that he hadn't had many humorists on staff, but in 1975, New York Times book critic John Leonard said, "Shawn changed The New Yorker from a smarty-pants parish tip sheet into a journal that altered our experience instead of just posturing in front of it."


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Ok, I'm gonna finish this story---or at least try to clarify it.
Alright, I told you that I did have a read of the worlds best selling book---No not Harry Fucking Potter, the Bible you fucking heathens.
Now it was fucking confusing---book after book--(it is divided into fucking books you ignorant arseholes)---so where was I---Yep, ok---book after book seemed to be at odds with another book
Now this didn't happen with J K Rowling ---her books just flowed---so do my stick books.
So lets have a little look at it
So the son of GOD was born to some chick who was married to a carpenter but she was a virgin----geez, he must have been busy---not even time to knock up the missus on the wedding night-----yep, we are gonna believe that.
Oh, historians have found that Joseph, who didnt get a root in this case, had been married before and had a few kids---and him and Mary had a few more kids, before and after---so dont pity this dude---he got his end in eventually.
Geez, what a great little puller at the local---my Mum is the mother of the son of God---I'm a half prick relation to the son of God----now theres a winner with the girls----I reckon I could even get a root with that story.
Ok lets get into the the big gathering feeding----normally the big BBQ---but this Jebus bloke fed the multitude (thats lots of people) with a few loaves and fishes---shit, they must have all been on the Jenny Craig and eating fuck all.
Now here's one for Wolf Blass-(bloody top Australian wine maker you ignorant bastards)---this Jebus bloke turned the water into wine at some dinner-----geez Wolf, that will save you growing grapes---just get this bloke to turn the tap on.
Ok, now we have this bloke Moses
So he wanders up onto a mountain in bushfire season, past a burning bush and then wanders on down and tells everyone that they SHALT NOT----and it was that they shalt not enjoy everything that they had been doing-----
Me thinks that Moses wasnt getting a root off the neighbours wife so he was gonna get it banned in the name of God----go big Mo---we will believe----personally Mo, she is 84 and I dont really want to try her on.
So Mo, we really want to know about this parting the of sea bit----there's a few escapees who would like to learn this trick and a few ferry operators hope you dont come back with JC
Alright, we are gonna talk about the come back kid.
There are so many "Christian Religions" who each have their own interpretations on the BOOK but they all have this commonality of the great great JC is gonna make a comeback
Ok, the biggest premature ejaculators are the "Black Suits"----yes the Mormons--yes it is basically a Christian religion with a big interpretation by one Joseph Smith of some "Golden Plates"(similar to Mo's tablets) in the 1820s-----
Now these dudes made a declaration of a return date in the 1950/60s and said he was coming to Salt Lake City.
So all of these poor bastards, all over the world, sold up and moved to said city and built a big landing area AND----the cunt did not turn up----guess they were wrong but they will keep on trying and are selling lots of Amway
The rest of them havent been game to name a date---smart people---you dont want to be as big a dick as the Mormons but lets be prepareded and do the right things.
They all want to be the chosen ones.
Ok, Catholics---well actually Roman Catholics---church of Rome---priests never been married but give great experienced advice on marriage and sex--(must be with choir boys)
Now you Anglicans, your religion is Catholisism---but an English interpretation because the church of Rome didnt want Henry VIII killing off all of those wives.
The Methodist Church was surely only formed to allow for the non drinking Catholics.
The Lutherans after some German interpretation of Christianity obviously designed to take over the world---because the Germans try
Presbyterians, now thats the church of Scotland, so I'm guessing that was formed to allow sex with small woolly animals.
Jehovas Witnesses---mostly disenchanted Roman Catholics who wanted to use a condom.
Chritadelphians--strange little masturbators who will find you a wife if you join the club.
Now they all believe that they are the chose ones and that they will be there at the second coming.
I dont want to be around if the Chritadelphians are right----they believe that they will spring from their graves----there is gonna be some aweful ugly sights---
OK---I'm all finished---as one very talented Irish comedian said---MAY YOUR GOD GO WITH YOU
Oh---the champagne---well I drank it to write this shite
Hope you are right
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Ok, I'm gonna finish this story---or at least try to clarify it.
Posted by Clyde at 9:33 pm
16 comments:
- UBERMOUTH said...
I have always wondered about that- if Jesus is the son of God how can he also be the son of Mary and Joseph?
or was Joseph duped ?
Great bible study- but I suspect you are going to get your head blown off by some overzealous bible basher.
- 4 April 2008 at 1:36 am
- Clyde said...
You dont think I've offended anyone, do you.
If Joseph believed that virgin birth bit, no wonder he ended up in a stable with a bare Ass
- 4 April 2008 at 9:04 am
- Bag said...
I'm sure that you have offended about 99% of the planet with this but look on the bright side most over 98.99% will not do much more than think about it and whine. The remainder will consider sending an EMail but will be unable to work out how to do it. Very few will actually comment as they wont want to deal with infidels and out of the rest Uber won't say anything too bad coz she seems to like you.
Look on the plus side. If things do go pear shaped you can expect police protection for the rest of your life whilst you right your book on the right to defend your religion. You will be quids in.
- 4 April 2008 at 10:48 pm
- Stacy The Peanut Queen said...
Yeah...about your post..ooo...how do I put this delicately?
Well, guess there's not easy way to say this.
I am totally and COMPLETELY offended.
You didn't offer me any damn champagne.
- 4 April 2008 at 11:30 pm
- Clyde said...
Me thinks that you exaggerate sir.
If you take into account Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics and a multitude of American goat fucking cults, I doubt that I have offended more than 50% of the world. Add in the Calvinists who dont have access to the net, Wiccans, and Hindus and I'm in a large majority.
As long as I keep, my cow and a goat in the back yard, I dont think I need police protection.
There is always champagne in the fridge and the door is always open.
I have the good cheeses, so just bring the strawberries
- 5 April 2008 at 11:19 am
- Steph said...
Pssht! Religion. Just give me the champers.
- 5 April 2008 at 12:18 pm
- Clyde said...
Just the champers?
No cheese, no strawberries and no sinning
- 5 April 2008 at 1:00 pm
- UBERMOUTH said...
Well sinnce you asked..if you ARE NOT OFFENDING THE MASSES, YOU AREN'T BLOGGING PROPERLY!
- 5 April 2008 at 1:33 pm
- Spiky Zora Jones said...
clyde...What the hell! I come back from vacay and read your ideas on religion and then you tell me you drank up all the fucking champagne! excuse me for surrendering to profanity, but you are so going to go to hell for that. Share babes.
Dude...I thought it was Larry...MO and Curley that came down the mountainwith a screen play.
I loved your post...it rocks.
ciao babes.
- 7 April 2008 at 2:33 am
- Clyde said...
Spiky Z
I think it could be a religious experience drinking champagne with you. After we had got throgh you confessions we could see how many of the BIG 10 we could break
Like I said to Stacy, there is always champagne in the fridge--right next to the Sav Blanc and the beer and the door is always open
- 7 April 2008 at 11:06 am
- Sister Christian said...
I love love LOVE the way you write. I didn't feel like much of a loser when I read this 'cause I understood the stuff you were talking about ie. the Bible being comprised of a bunch of books and Wolf Blass.
I'm trying to read the Bible, but I still have much more to read and I gotta say-there's some pretty freaky shizz in there.
I would write more, but my internets a bitch and likes to disappear on me.
- 8 April 2008 at 4:23 pm
- Clyde said...
Hi, I've been over to your place a read and commented.---thanks for the visit.
Hey, it's a very popular book---worlds best seller.
But it is a hard read and and it is harder to read it as non fiction when one book after another gives a different interpretation on similar suposed facts.
And then "Christian" religion after "Christian" religion gives a different interpretation to suit their own agendas.
People in the US are much more the believers with a modernisation of the "facts" and a greater variety of interpretations giving rise to a number of hybrid "Christian" religions.
But when these sects involve followers giving up their free will, giving up their participation in the 21st century, living in communes, worshipping some leader, or having sex with children or a multitude of parners, all in the name of religion, then there is something drastically wrong.
Now not that I am against having sex with multiple partners. Do with your body what you wish, but dont do it for the sake of an interpretation on a religion---do it because you want to and you enjoy it.
- 9 April 2008 at 7:11 pm
- Spiky Zora Jones said...
clyde...bring out the Sav Blanc as well. I'll party with you. I am a light weight though. So fill my glass every 15 minutes till I pass out...then every half hour after that. hehehe.
- 11 April 2008 at 4:22 am
- Clyde said...
Spiky Z
Done deal
I'll even get the cheese varieties out
- 11 April 2008 at 9:35 am
- Fanny said...
Not the cheese! Since Steph's post about dick cheese I haven't been able to even look at a block of cheese.
Champers and a copy of "God is not Great" for me.
- 11 April 2008 at 8:50 pm
- Clyde said...
From a little read at your place, I think its champers and a rabbit
- 11 April 2008 at 10:56 pm


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(Series 5, eps. 4&5) Double header recap for Stella for me this week, and if the anniversaries, arranged marriages and trekkie funerals hadn't made it hard enough to fit even one in, you can bet the investitures, boxing classes and Frisky Strictly have pumped it to exploding point. It's been new loves and old loves dominating over in Pontyberry and as always things are never that simple in the valleys.
While Big Alan may not be delighting our screens at the moment, it seems that Steve Spiers is still gracing the writers room, offering up episode 4 and delivering his usual mix of unassuming humour with deeper, conflicting personal hardships. With Rob insisting that he wants to tell Luke about his illness in his own time and hoping that Stella will let him do so before anyone else knows, their painful secrecy looms over Michael and Stella's anniversary. Despite continuing her lucky streak by securing Michael a luxury night of pampering, free underpants and comfort (well, apart from the Eternally Soft chest waxing) their plans get put on hold for a family meal Rob contrives in a panic to avert Luke's suspicions. Rob wants his relationship with his son to be marred by illness about as much as Luke wants charity from his dad which leaves both of them trying to find ways around their personal problems. Luckily for Luke his is an easier problem to solve. Inspired by a returning Keckers (a welcome return to both him and the long running bog roll joke) Luke has a plan for his dad to invest in a project instead. Rob jumps at the idea, but as much as he is willing to risk money on his son's future he is still not willing to risk him knowing he may not be there long enough to see it succeed. Rob's (frankly, selfish) reluctance to tell his son continues to be more punishing for Stella than himself as the dinner turns into what you'd expect from any other public Pontyberry last-minute-cover-up family event. While there is some lightness from Stella forcing Ben to be the only "17 year old who doesn't drink" (that exchange was so needed after 3 weeks of Nobbish Ben) and a cracking line from Aunty Brenda to Maria "the swinger from London", things take a turn for the worse for the leading lady as Stella manages to lose both Michael and Rob within seconds of each other, one storming out the door and the other plummeting to the floor.
As Stella fails to balance her loyalties to Michael and Rob, Aunty Brenda is somehow succeeding in fulfilling her duties for the "Slosh Emporium" downstairs at Eric the Vulcan's Trekkie themed wake while also managing to convince the council to support her campaign for mayor (but then how could they refuse, what with the maniwhatsunims flowing from her noodle like streamers in the whatchacall?). Not only does she find out that the all the council really need is a promise of a weekly pub lunch but also that her blancmanged themed campaign-wear works two-fold as a Trekkie costume. Mayor Mătuşică Brenda manages to keep her job and ascend to her coveted position of power in one fell swoop.
Also succeeding this week is Jasminder who after begrudgingly agreeing to woo a prospective husband purely to stop the guilt trips from her grandma Nina finds out that arranged marriages aren't nearly as bad as she feared. After they jump through a string of mortifying hoops the two youngsters contradict their title of being "of the water" and retreat to the bar. Akin to an "ugly duckling" in a 90s teen movie, Daniel takes off his glasses, ruffles his hair and Jasminder sees him for the badboy rebel she could really go for. The two ride off into the sunset for a life of debauchery leaving Jag to cope with his hysterical mother and his yearning to be able to sweep Carol off her feet in a similar way.
Set a few days after its predecessor, Episode 5 picked up a lot of the pieces of the fallout from the Saturday afternoon at the Frisky. Although not long has passed, Aunty Brenda has managed to rope the whole town in to help with her investiture (the biggest day since Magna Carta) recruiting Ben as cameraman, Stella for refreshments and Yanto to find a Pigeon of Peace. As much preparation has gone into the pomp and circumcision, she failed to anticipate the arrival of her ex-husband Clem. She's convinced he will never change from the deceitful sponger he's always been, but he does his best to try and woo her back including trying to rekindle the fond memories of their youth by ordering her favourite Hippy Trippy Shake (Ice, lemon, babycham and absinthe) and singing her a song. By the end of the episode his warm demeanour charms her into letting him stay at the house and I am looking forward to having more of the ever-reliable (and my fellow Fifer) Clive Russell on our screens.
Elsewhere, Michael is still giving Stella the cold shoulder after their spat and Rob is still somehow managing to avoid telling his son the truth. I know the sensitivity of the subject, but really Stella, now is the time to flaunt some of that Pontyberry bluntness and force Rob to come clean so you can fix your relationship! Luke, who I am fast believing has to be the most oblivious character on the show (and that's saying something) bought Rob's pathetic excuse of being on a health kick and having had one lager top too many and is still none the wiser that his dad is on death's door. In fairness though, he does have a few distractions this week, what with the return of Zoe and starting up his new business. As he brags to Stella and Michael about how half the village are happily signing up, including his Dad, the couple have mixed reactions. Stella is probably torn between hoping a swift blow to the head may knock some sense into Rob and abject fear that it could be the final blow he has. Michael however, spurred on by Maria, is desperate to exert his manliness. He used to spend his summers punching steaks in the backroom of his French Gite and he'll be damned if he's going to let some Pontyberry ex-pat one up him. A little light teasing is all well and good, but once Michael admits his paranoia is due to thinking Stella is going to stray she takes him through a few verbal rounds of her own before Michael takes his own anger out on Rob during the session. Finally waking up the the destruction he is causing, Rob finally does the right thing and comes clean to Michael, sending him to Stella with his tail between his legs. Finally after a pep talk from Bobby, Michael picks the hazelnut out from his teeth and wins Stella back at the Frisky.
Once a reconciled Stella and Michael are kicked off the dancefloor, the long anticipated Strictly at the Frisky is able to occur. As little interest as I've had in the dancing storyline this series, this week it made the episode for me for two reasons 1) Scott 'F***ing' Quinnell and 2) Conchita. Yes, this week finally saw the return of Pontyberry's rent-a-cameo who despite not being as qualified as Gavin Henson he was commandeered as guest judge alongside Mayor Auntie Brenda and Nina. While the two most demanding women in Wales make for every contestant's worst nightmares, the contestants are wittled down to the dream pairing I never knew I had of Cheryl and Bobby up against Ivan and Nadine (a.k.a. El Lobo and Conchita). It's been a rough few days for Nadine's confidence, what with Stella's Digustin' insinuations that she and Ivan may share more than just dancing passion but with some help from Ivan she managed to suppress her guilt by diving into a Spanish waitress alter ego named Conchita and assigning one of El Lobo to her partner. She explains the inspiration (her time as a tour guide in Magaluf and an Argentinian cruise) in an unexpected and perfectly timed burst of español and so is born probably my favourite moment of series 5 so far. Back at the dance, Scott Quinnell takes charge of the deciding vote between his bickering co-judges and crowns Nadine and Ivan Los Ganadores. Unfortunately in winning the competition, their characters overtake their senses and their chemistry finally spills from the dancefloor to the pavement as they finally share the kiss that has been looming since Nadine first laid eyes on his moves. Love is also brewing for two other couples. Young Ben's dislike of Cerys seems to be more of a crush and Jag finally gets his moment with Carol in a fashion just as adorkable as I imagined.
As you can always rely on with any Stella silliness, the episode isn't over until it's managed to catapult us back down to earth by the heartstrings. After some urging from the reformed Michael, Stella and Rob finally pluck up the courage to tell Luke the truth. In a moving display from Craig Gallivan, their son is furious that they have been keeping it from him for this long and I'm reminded that it's not just Ruth Jones who can pack an emotional punch. With their boy having stormed off in a rage at their secrecy, they drives home and Rob trickles out a little more of the bad news (he is infuriating even more than usual this series). He isn't going to be able to have a bypass and has all but run out of options. Ruth Jones once again takes up the class acting baton and explodes in a blast of conflicted emotion just like the bomb that goes off every time Rob is back in her life. What really moved me about this scene is that it's easy to forget that this pair have been in each other's lives since they were children. This is her childhood sweetheart and father of her first child. It's really in that moment I understood why she let this illness affect her so much and could see that regardless of everything he has put her through she has no concept of a life without him being somewhere in the world. She gently takes his hand and they face the world crashing down around them no less than had it taken place in one of the many shared memories of their youth. They linger too long though and the real world jolts them into remembering that this is not their youth and they both have others in their life. While admiring the delicacy and the poetry of this relationship, I can't help but fear where this is headed and can only hope that Stella doesn't regress too far into the mistakes of her past.


text:
Free ideas from a human-centered designer for hospitals that want to be (or make it seem like they are) patient-centric.
I had the recent misfortune of watching my husband in severe pain and as a result stay in the hospital for a week. As a human-centered designer, it's hard for me to turn off my observational and ideation skills so I figured I'd channel my frustrations and provide some free consulting.
(This is part 1 of a 3 part series of rants about the healthcare system. Read part 2 here. Part 3 is on it's way.)
Fucking introduce yourself already.
Who are you? You walk into the room and we don't know your level, specialty, name, or role. Should we listen to you? What questions can we ask you? Who the fuck knows?
If you are too busy/self-important to introduce yourself, hand over a laminated sheet with a picture, name, and specialty like this:
We will waste your time much less with our annoying, time-consuming questions if we know who you are.
Decouple decision making from communicating.
Upon asking a simple question: who was in charge of my husband's care, the head of a certain specialty (in front of all her silent and obedient resident ducklings) told me:
"We are like a five-wheeled car being driven by five drivers".
I responded:
"Well, cars don't have five wheels or five drivers for a reason."
She then responded:
"Well, we all may argue but we come to one conclusion at the end of it."
That wasn't what I was asking. I wanted to know WHO we should listen to for the final word, not HOW they make decisions. Before this gaggle of 8 people entered the room without knocking, waking up my husband and sucking all the air out, a DIFFERENT group of 5 doctors do the same thing and give us DIFFERENT information. I simply wanted to know who to listen to. Just trying to understand what the fuck is going to happen with the person I've decided to share my life with who is in intense pain that's all. NO BIG DEAL.
If they don't want to have a hierarchy for decision making, fine. There should still be a designated point person for communication of next steps. Argue and make your decisions behind the scenes, and then send that decision off to ONE person who can come into the room and explain it clearly to the patient.
Stop defaulting to the nurse.
After going back and forth with the arrogant 5-driver/5-wheel car doctor and not getting anywhere (just like an actual 5-driver/5-wheeled car), she said "well, the nurse should have all the information."
Yes, the nurse is often the more patient-centric person in the hospital. However, relying on the nurse is a band-aid solution to doctors who are too busy or important to stay on top of shit. It's an inaccurate assumption that the nurse is available to communicate what is going on and what the next steps are. Why? Well, we have a different nurse almost every day and every night. The only way she knows what's going on is if she has the time to thoroughly scrutinize the electronic medical records (assuming they've been updated). The thing is that she has ~30 other needy patients to attend to so I'm not sure that's a good solution. The nurse knows what needs to be done in the moment, but can't stay on top of the possible future scenarios. That's the job of the doctor.
Maybe as empathy training, doctors should shadow and/or do everything the nurses do for a month. Ever see the show Undercover Boss? It's a shitty show, but it's all about getting CEOs to ACTUALLY understand what is involved at the lower levels of their organization and the impact is has on the bigger picture. For example, McDonalds separates the order taking/change-giving role from the food-assembly role because it's too much cognitive load for one person. They know that giving too many tasks to one person can mean order mistakes and result in lower customer satisfaction. They actually care about customer satisfaction! So they've optimized their operations to deliver as accurately as possible. BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT CUSTOMER SATIFACTION.
Okay, so now there are people who play the role of PCT (Patient Care Technicians? No one ever told us what the acronym means) And again, their presence is just a reminder that the nurses are OVERWORKED.
I don't know if I have an easy solution here, but assuming the nurse handles everything is an indicator you need to take a long, hard look at your operations.
Decide which is more important to do in front of the patient: teaching or providing medical service.
I understand and realize that residents shadowing doctors is an important way that they learn. However, their presence is disruptive. In one day, we had 5 different groups of residents and their arrogant leaders come by and wake my husband up to ask the same set of questions that have been documented in his chart (that 5-wheel car doctor seems to think everyone is reading).
If patients are in pain, had a rough night of sleep (all of this documented, RIGHT?) then give them a fucking break and pick on the other patients who slept better and are more in the 1–5 pain range.
Really understand why you became a doctor & adjust accordingly.
Do you REALLY want to help people or do you like solving medical problems? If it's the latter, maybe you should stay behind the scenes and let the people who are good at caregiving and communicating do what they are good at.
Ok, but you are still a control freak and want to stroke your ego by talking with the patient in front of all your resident minions? Fine, but then adjust your comunication style when you cross the threshold. Don't use acronyms, don't assume we understand medical terminology, let us speak occasionally…etc.
When a patient is on a shit-ton of pain meds, provide the same information to the caregiver.
I can't even believe I have to write this. Duh.
Apologies aren't good enough.
We were in the hospital for an extra day because of a misscheduling/miscommunication about a surgical procedure (long story for another time). To the hospital's credit, the doctor who was in charge of the floor was very, genuinely apologetic.
Although I was appreciative, I couldn't help but think that if this was a different kind of service provider, like a restaurant or hotel, they would have offered to take it off our bill. I understand that hospitals are not restaurants or hotels, but small actions can go along way. How about offering to buy lunch? Pay for parking? Bring in a masseuse? $5 Starbucks gift card? Okay, that might feel cheap. But like I tell my 6 year old son, it's not enough to say you are sorry. You also have to ask "how can I make it right?"
Identify and learn the secrets from the good ones.
After two days, I can tell you who the best nurses, PCTs and doctors are. The ones who are good with patients — who actually behave and deliver in a patient-centric manner. What are their secrets? How does one nurse manage to always be on time with the pain medication whereas the other nurse is consistently 30–40 minutes late? I'm going to guess the good nurse has figured out in her head a prioritization of tasks, or has created solutions/workarounds to manage her work load so she can be available for what's important. I bet she has secrets that others can learn from.
Sure, I recognize I am not seeing the whole picture. She might be shitty at some behind-the-scenes task, but then why not make her the "front-stage" nurse and let the other ones do all the shit behind the scenes where they can be loud and gossip and ignore patients.
In the field of Service Design, we call this the line of visibility. Sometimes you don't want the customer to see how the sausage is made so you keep it behind the scenes. Sometimes, it's helpful for the customer to see the sausage made because it helps them set expectations or value the process. Medical service providers need to figure out where the line of visibilty is and adjust roles and operations accordingly. Of course, that is if they actually care about providing meaningful service.
I recognize that all of this is naive. These observations and ideas are based on one experience, one hospital, one week. I also recognize that medical care isn't as easy as ensuring a cheeseburger gets delivered out a window in a timely fashion. I just think that it's disingeniune to say you have patient-centric care when you actually have medical education-centric care, or cost-minimizing-centric care, or ego-stroking-centric care.


text:
Nathaniel Green Down To You Then, Supergirl
Published Nov 01, 2001The latest trend in punk rock is the musical antithesis to what punk has traditionally been about. Instead of loud thrashing anthems, some bands are now turning off their amps and encouraging the kids to sit and listen attentively to their music. I like to call it coffee house core - Dashboard Confessional being the best known of the genre. But these two records shows that there are no shortage of angry punk rockers that just want to chill out and show another side of their songwriting, and these records go beyond traditional whiny emo pap. Nathaniel Green features Dugong vocalist Matthew Broadbent on guitar with friend Rob Taylor filling in the sound with electric piano and organ. SOTS features the Now's Josh Jakubowski, along with Kevin Hardy, trading vocal and guitar harmonies. In both cases the records hearken back to a folkier era, when songs were more therapeutic in nature. Of course, neither band are Bob Dylan or anything, but it's nice to see that some punks still appreciate the simple things in music. (Subjugation)